he see Altars and thereon a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of a God-man who every day after some Mystical Ceremonies descends from Heaven and comes to place himself really under the Accidents of the Consecrated Bread and Wine He sees I say a Sacrifice of Human Flesh but invisible which is done with a great Shew and Attendance of Ceremonies for the Propitiation of the Sins of the Dead and for all the Necessities of the Living He sees an Object which appears to be meer Bread which he must be made to adore as his God his Redeemer and Master He sees Men that make their Prayers and that sing Sacred Hymns but he meets with the Veil of a Language strange and unknown which is diffused through all this Worship and doth conceal it quite from Vulgar Eyes By the favour of an Interpreter he penetrates through this Veil and under it he sees Prayers and Invocations addressed to Creatures whereto are given the magnificent Names of Mediators Mother of Mercifulness Queen of Heaven Refuge of Sinners Gate of Paradice c. from whom Men do request to be delivered from Maladies recovery of Health to be cured of the Languors of their Souls to be loosed from the Bonds of their Sins to receive increase of Virtues to be delivered from Hell and to be put into the possession of the Glory of Heaven by their Merits and by their Intercession He sees a Religion abounding in Ceremonies whereof the Ministers are cloath'd with Habits extraordinary and mystical He sees their Crosses Holy Water and a great external Shew altogether pompous and compounded with an incredible Number of different Parts Piercing yet further he sees Men set upon their Tribunals at the feet whereof they shew him other Men on their Knees confessing their Sins to them and expect Remission from them and he hears those Spiritual Judges on those Tribunals who impose on Sinners Penitences Fastings Pilgrimages Hair-Cloth Cilices rough Shifts to satisfie thereby God and the Church who preach to them That all the Sins committed before Baptism are expiated solely and entirely by the Blood of Jesus Christ but that every Man must satisfie for his Sins committed after Baptism That tell them That Men must labour to merit Eternal life by good Works That teach them That the good Works wherein God takes pleasure are among other Devotions for the Saints Pilgrimages Vows tedious Tautologies of certain Prayers observed in the Honour of some of those Saints and of their Images Who give them to observe a long List of Ecclesiastical Laws about Fasts distinctions of Meats Corporal Mortifications That declare to them That the Non-observance of those Laws of the Church will damn them as much as the violation of Gods Commands Which tell them also That after this life they cannot hope to enter immediately into Heaven but that they must pass through a place of Torment where they shall be examined happily for many Ages by a cruel Fire until they have intirely satisfied for those Sins for which they could not make Satisfaction during this life He sees Priests upon those Tribunals to give with a Tone of Authority and of Power the Remission of Sins to those Penitents and to tell them I absolve you They hear them say That Men must receive their Orders and those of the Church as so many Sentences from Heaven That this Church is infallible and exempt from Errour that She is Judge without Appeal of all Debates That the Holy Scripture in regard of us holds her Authority but only from Her that we could not know the Divinity of the Word of God but only by the Testimony of the Church that She is the Interpreter of her Sense and that the Interpretations which she gives though they seem contrary to Sense to Reason and even to some places of this very Scripture ought to be received with a Soveraign Submission Above those Men which are only called Priests he sees several Dignities but above all he sees a great Monarch Spiritual and Temporal who calls himself Jesus Christs Lieutenant the Vible Head of the Church the Mouth of God who pronounces Oracles and who can never Erre who is above Emperours and Kings who can establish them and who can destroy them Behold what our Infidel may see in the Roman Church Neither he nor I do pronounce any thing we say not whether it be good or bad Going out from thence he enters into the Temples of the Protestants wherein he sees nothing of what he had seen in that place whence he came forth He sees there no Images no Altars no Sacrifices no Pomp no Ceremony They tell him for a reason of this difference God is jealous of his Honour he would not have any Service done to Images he hath expresly forbidden it in the Second Command of his Law The Sacrifices of Christians are Praises and Thanksgivings Works of Mercy Offerings and Alms these are the Oblation of the Heart and Affections and their Perfumes are their Prayers We have no Altars for since that Jesus Christ did Sacrifice his Sacred Person for our Salvation having no more Sacrifices we need no more Altars Our Infidel lending his Ear to what is said hears indeed nothing but Prayers and Hymns which are Sung Sermons Prayers addressed to God no Angels no Saints invoak'd They tell him Prayer is the Principal of our Homages and the first act of our Adoration therefore we reserve it for God We believe that we should offer a great Wrong to the Divinity if we did divide his Honour between Him and his Creatures They shew to this Infidel a small number of Sacraments administred with great simplicity Nothing is disguised from him They tell him What you see on this Table is true Bread and true Wine but it 's Bread and Wine mystical It is the Sacrament of Jesus Christ crucified it is the Symbol of his Flesh and Blood and the precious Pledge of the Love of God the Seal of our Justification and One of the Means of our Sanctification But the Grace which is adjoyned doth not destroy Nature Instead of causing him to adore what his Senses tell him to be Bread They tell him Take heed lest under any Pretence whatever you render to the Creature that Honour which is due only to the Creator for he that said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve will not be paid with any Excuses it will not avail to say I supposed that my Saviour came under that appearance of Bread Our Infidel sees a Religion which keeps nothing secret from him under pretence of Mystery They do not tell him about the Word of God Walk therein as in a dangerous Way either read not at all or read with a Spirit of Submission for all that the Church hath taught you Do not believe what your Eyes will seem to tell you about your Lectures and whatsoever you may meet withal conclude nothing that may be opposite to the Faith
there is no reason to say That Men must adore Images that there is no reason to fasten any virtue thereto to imagine that an Image of our Lady doth more Miracles than another that its blame worthy to carry them about in pomp to prostrate ones self before them to place them on Altars to make Vows and Pilgrimages to them and to buâ—n Incense to them as formerly they did to the false Gods If Invocation of Saints be done in the same Spirit as the Prayers which we present to the Faithful alive to pray for us It 's to accuse all those who do Invocate the Saints in another Spirit After all that I demand of those Gentlemen Why they do seek for an Extraordinary Turn That which they had used hitherto either was good reasonable and proper to give just Idea's of the Doctrine of the Roman Church or it was not so If it was not reason it is they should take another But how can it be that for so many years they have defended the Roman Church by so many Works without finding the proper Turn to give a just Idea of her Doctrine It 's a blindness of the preceding Doctors hardly to be conceived It 's a good hap for my Lord of Condom to have first found out the true sense of the Doctrine of the Church whereof one cannot suspect the cause But if the Turn which my Lord of Condom hath found out is different in that thing it self that it's different from others doth it not condemn them If that which he saith to us be the only true Sense of the Church all other Senses which Doctors have given it are false Senses and consequently he condemns all those that have not spoken like him Without doubt my Lord of Condom will say It was not his design to say any thing new that his Explications of the Doctrine of the Church are the Sense of the Canons of the Councils and of the decisions of the Doctors But if he pretended not to say any thing Extraordinary whence then comes the great Noise which those Gentlemen have made of that Work Can they look for so great Honour from a Thing that should have been said by all other Authors Whence is it that they have begg'd Approbations from all parts of the World That they put amongst those Approbators Cardinals Bishops yea the Pope himself For a thing which all the World had said should there be need of so mony Props seeing it could not be combated nor question'd Why doth my Lord of Condom at the end of his Work shew that he would not have us examine the different Means which the Catholick Theologues have used to establish or to cleaâ— up the Doctrine of the Council of Trent If he be agreed with the Doctors of his fide hath he cause to fear lest we should compare his Senses with theirs And is it not clear that he confesses thereby that he stands in great opposition to them If my Lord of Condom hath brought to light but the true and ancient Sense of the Church why doth he say at the end of his Book that he hath ruined all Disputes for that is it which these words signifie For to s y on this Treatise something solid c. they must shew that this Explication leaves all Disputes in their intire state He pretends then that his Explication must make all Disputes to cease I do not believe that he pretends thereto by the force of the Reasons whereby he hath upheld his cause For a little Book that only explains and which doth not prove cannot cause Disputes to cease by way of Discussion If it were true that the Sense which my Lord of Condom doth give is the Sense of the Roman Catholick Church that it should be received by both Parties and that it would not leave Disputes in their whole state it were true also that it would be some thing which the gravest Authors had not yet perceived For hitherto all the Divines of the Roman Catholick Church have verily believed that the Controversies about Images Invocation of Saints Indulgences Satisfactions were intire Disputes and most real The Council of Trent hath without doubt believed so for if their Sense had been that which my Lord of Condom gives and that it 's a Sense which leaves not Disputes whole why hath it pronounc'd Anathema's against the Lutherans and Zuinglians about things whereof it's decisions made all Disputes to vanish Let 's deal truly Did not the Council fulminate and condemn those People They did not then believe that the Sense of their Canons could easily be reconciled with the Doctrine of Zuinglius and of Luther Besides that I do not well conceive how my Lord of Condom can defend himself for having brought to light a Sense that was unknown to all that have Written and to the Prelates of the Council of Trent themselves Without doubt those Prelates pronounced Oracles without understanding them and more than an Age after an Interpreter is come who hath discovered that which the Holy Spirit had hitherto kept secret But it imports not whether my Lord of Condom be the first or only Man that hath understood the Council of Trent to the Exclusion of the Council it self he cannot hinder us from concluding That in establishing his Sense as the only good and as the Doctrine of his Church he condemns all others which the Doctors have given hitherto and therefore he acts for us and favours our Cause as much as it can be favoured Although the Explications of my Lord of Condom should terminate some different we should not be obliged to believe upon his Word that his Sense should be that of the Council of Trent It hath reproached to these Gentlemen that these Explications were against the Bull of Pius the Fourth which expresly forbids all Explications of that Council These be its own words To avoid the Confusions and Disorders that might arise if it were permitted to every One to bring to light their Commentaries and Interpretations upon the Decrees of the Council by Authority Apostolical we forbid all Persons Ecclesiastick or Laick of whatsoever Dignity Condition Honour or Power whatsoever and all Prelates under pain of being Interdicted the Entrance of the Church and others under pain of Excommunication to undertake without our Authority Commentaries Glosses Annotations Observations or any other kind of Interpretations under whatsoever Name neither under the very pretence of maintaining the Decrees better or Executing or any other Colour And if any find there is any thing obscure less clear needing Interpretation we Ordain he should ascend to the place which the Lord hath chosen that is to the Apostolick Seat which is the Master of all the Faithful and whereof the Holy Council it self hath acknowledged the Authority in a manner so full of respect After that should it be permitted to any private Man to give to the Council a Sense unknown to the whole Earth unknown even to the
Saints they are called St. Bonaventure St. Antonine St. Bernardine They dare not publickly condemn what they privately censure So all things do still remain and if any venture to publish any Writing against these Devouts it 's presently censur'd and suppress'd After that they would have us on the credit of four Words drawn out of a Catechism which the Council of Trent never saw nor approved we should belie our Eyes against what we read and what 's daily done before us We ask pardon of my Lord of Condom and of the Author of the Advertisement but we are bound to believe that their Church doth not simply invocate Saints as Intercessours but as Governours and Directors who distribute according to Gods Orders all the Good and Evil that befall the World We will believe that he and many others would fain have things to go otherwise But in fine they go so and apparently they will go so still yet for a long time The Archbishop and the Bishop of such and such a place suffer not that to be done in their Diocess say they to us That may be but an Archbishop and some Bishops are not all the Roman Church and maugre the Care of some Prelates of France the Devotion of Convents and Monks fails not to carry it on upon their Instructors And freely what may be said of Father Cresset's Devoti it 's that they follow the Principles of their Religion they shew it as clear as the day and the others forsake them Behold the second Excuse of my Lord of Condom We pray to the Saints glorified in the same Spirit wherein we pray the faithful which are on the Earth to pray for us This is a thing that I admire I had believed hitherto that a Cause remaining the same should produce the same effects If Men invoke the Saints which are in Heaven in the same Spirit wherein they pray the Saints that are on Earth why should not the same Spirit produce the same Effects In Conscience what would these Gentlemen say should they see a Man invoke one of his Friends or of his Neighbours of whose Sanctity he should have a good Opinion build Temples or Chappels to him name them with his Name erect Altars to him place him or his Images on those Altars prostrate himself at his feet kiss them and make devout Prayers to him consecrate Holy Days to him place him in his Oratories make long Pilgrimages to prostrate himself before him celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass in his honour and request his Merits and his Mediation before God it 's not enough to say That such a Man would pass for a Mad man I am assured he would pass for an Idolater Yet would he say I invoke and I serve this living Saint with the same Spirit wherewith you serve the glorious Saints I have no other End but to oblige him to have care of me in his Prayers Must there be so many Mysteries to sollicite the Charity of Saints who burn with Zeal for the Salvation of the whole Church How can Men say that Conducts more different than day and night should proceed from one and the same Spirit The Illusion which these Gentlemen would put upon us consists then in that they represent this Service which they render to Saints not so much as an Invocation but simply as a Prayer that we would present to a Friend to pray for us And they do not advertize us That the Service which is rendred to Saints is a Religious Service which embraces all the species of Services which are rendred to God Prayer Confidence Love Praises and Kneelings We cannot but complain there is no fair dealing in comparing things that are so different Was there ever any Man which hath called the Prayer presented to a Saint upon Earth for to pray for us a Service how much less a Religious Service My Lord of Condom grants That the Honour rendred to the Holy Virgin and to the Saints may be called Religious Would he also grant the same thing of the honour that is done to a Saint on Earth when he is pray'd to pray God for us If those Gentlemen would but say things as they know them would they not grant that the Worship that Men render to Saints is a kind of Religious Adoration and doth not my Lord of Condom grant it when he saith That in a sense Adoration belongs only to God and to Jesus Christ and that one may in regard of that sense abuse those terms to render their Doctrine odious but if we reduce sincerely those terms to the sense they give to them Objections then lose all their force Do they not distinguish Adoration and Worship in that of Latria Hyperdulia and Dulia The first is for God the second for the Virgin Mary the third for other Saints When a Gender is divided into its Species each of the Species may have the Name of the Genus If Religious Adoration be divided into Latria and Dulia then may Dulia retain the Name of Adoration It 's infinitely distant say they from the Adoration of Latria which is given only to God We are not agreed about that infinite distance but though there were the greatest difference of the one to the other that would not hinder but both the one and the other might bear the Name of Adoration There is a great distance between Man and Beast nevertheless doth this merit to bear the Name of Animal as well as that Father Cresset hath not scrupled that for he saith freely that there are three sorts of Religious Adoration and that one must not only honour the Saints but that he must adore them Finally To convince those Gentlemen the little Equity they shew in comparing the honour which we give to the Faithful when we recommend our selves to their Prayers to that which is rendred to the Saints I would pray them to consider what would be said of a Man that of his own Authority should Canonize a Dead man should build Temples and Altars to him and cause him to be publickly serv'd I am assured that there would not be Thunders enough in the Vatican to strike him down although he were well assured of the beatitude of his Saint by a Revelation For it 's not permitted to set any Person in the Kalendar nor make him to be served and invoked publickly before a solemn Canonization issuing from the Holy Seat But I would also willingly know if Men have need of Patents from Rome for permission to say in all occasions publick or private to a Faithful alive Pray for me There must be many Mysteries towards the one and none to the other Who sees not then that they put a prodigious difference between Serving or Invoking a glorified Saint and recommending One self to the Prayers of a living Saint And that things so different cannot be done in the same Spirit In fine Either let them tell us no more of the Service of the Saints as of a
as any thing can be so that their Adoration was referr'd to that God who had brought them out of Egypt whom they had design to adore under the Sign of that Calf In fine A Man that should take a Tree a Dog a Horse and should adore him referring his Worship to God in his Intention would not be guilty for his Worship would terminate in God We must know then that to the end our Adoration may terminate in God it suffices not that it be the Intention of him that adores but God must accept that Adoration Nothing terminates in God but what God is willing to receive It 's useless to have an Intention to serve God by certain Actions if those Actions be condemn'd of God they are against him and not for him Methinks I have read in the very Theology of those Gentlemen That the infinite Baseness of Sin arises from its establishing our last End different from God So every Sin so far as in it lies snatches away God from his Throne in taking away from him the Title of Ultimate End to give it the Creature and that is an infinite Crime But what shall we say to so many Actions Criminal that have God's Honour for their Object Of those Bloody Persecutions which have shed the Blood of the Faithful with the Thought That they did therein Service to God Of so many Superstitions which have been practised to the Honour of the Deity How can those Crimes be accused of setting up another End besides God seing they are done in honour to God It 's nevertheless certain that those Actions do not terminate in God and there is no other reason for it but that he abhors them and hath forbidden them They terminate then in the Vanity of their Imaginations and in the Illusions of the heart of those false Zealots and of that bad Devotion and do not reach God Semblably the Worship that Men render to the Creatures with Intention of referring it to God is carried out to the Creatures themselves because that God suffers it not to reach unto himself Here my Lord of Condom makes a Course into Antiquity and will draw his advantage from thence in that we acknowledge That Men began to invocate Saints about the end of the Fourth Century But that is a Proof and not an Explication I have not obliged my self to follow him through all I 'le only say That then they did not invocate Saints as they do at this day They did not pray to them in the Ordinary Service They constrained none thereto they did not build Temples to them they did not Sacrifice the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ to their honour Moreover we profess that we will only imitate the Apostles and their immediate Successors ARTICLE V. Of the Invocation of the Saints ALL that is general My Lord of Condom begins to descend to Particulars The Invocation and Worship of Saints is assuredly one of the things that doth most separate us from the Roman Church Mean while if he be believed the vain Terrors that we conceive therein proceed only from their having given an ill Turn to an Action the most innocent of all It 's nothing to see that Religious Worship that should be intirely given to God divided between Him and a thousand Creatures It 's nothing to hear Matins Masses Vespers filled with Litanies Songs and Praises that tend to the honour of those Creatures It 's nothing to see those Devoti who having almost wholly neglected the Name of God do cause to resound in their Exercises of Piety only the Names of the holy Mother of God and of other Saints It 's nothing to see the Kalendar crouded with an infinite number of Days dedicated to the honour of Saints whilst that God hath appropriated to himself but fifty or fifty two All Religion is to be for God all first Notions are for that Pietas erga Parentes Religio erga Deum said the Pagans themselves Yet it 's nothing to give Religious Worship to the Creatures and to divide Religion between God and them My Lord of Condom hath prevented that difficulty telling us That this Worship is called Religious only because it terminates in God But I think also we have Answered it sufficiently and have well proved That Worships forbidden of God cannot be referr'd to him Behold another Colour which is diffused thereon The Church in telling us That it 's useful to pray to Saints teaches us to pray to them with the same Spirit of Charity and according to those Orders of fraternal Charity which carries us on to demand the Succour of our Brethren living on the Earth We pray to them in the same Spirit that we pray to our Brethren that are on Earth to pray with us and for us to our Common Master in the Name of our Common Mediatour Jesus Christ Therefore according to the Catechism of the Council of Trent we use two Forms of Prayer very different seeing that whereas in praying to God the proper manner is to say Have mercy on us Hear us We are content to say to the Saints Pray for us There is nothing more specious That is reduced to Two things One That they invoke Saints but in saying to them Pray for us The other That this Prayer is put up with the same Spirit that it 's done to the Saints that are on Earth Those Gentlemen should know that though all that were true yet could not we be satisfied for in matter of Religion we would have nothing but what is founded on Precept or Example God hath not commanded us any where to invocate glorified Saints in the same Spirit that we pray our Brethren that are on Earth to pray for us Besides they being perfectly assured that Souls separate from their Bodies do not understand us Reason would forbid us loading our Service with useless Invocations But it 's a strange thing that they will still produce to us the same Facts with so much confidence without having answer'd the Proofs that we bring to the contrary To see that air of Assurance wherewith these Gentlemen say we say nothing else to the Saints but Pray for us would not one believe that there is nothing more true Yet let him but read the Books of Devotion of the Roman Church to be soon perswaded of the contrary Why then in the Hymn that begins Exultat Coelum laudibus c. do they say to the Apostles You that shut up Heavens by your Word and who open them at your Command loosen us of our Sins we pray you for it You that have power over H alth and Sickness of all heal us of our ill Manners and inspire Vertues into us In the Hymn which begins Lux Mundi beatissima do not they speak thus to the Virgin We pray you with a Suppliant Voice that you would please to be present with us Come sweet Lady deliver us out of all our Evils and bestow on us the Gifts of Heaven In
the Hymn called Maris Stella they say Oh singular Virgin Debonnair among all defend us from our Guils render us Chaste and Mild give us a pure Life prepare us in the sure Way to the end that seeing Jesus we may enjoy an eternal Joy We have an hundred times reproached those Gentlemen that of Jure Matris impera of the Old Missals and the Monstra te esse Matrem but we shall still have right to reproach them therewith till satisfaction be given us by Reason for it Instead thereof they renew the same and publish them in French that none might be ignorant thereof Oh bend by thy power both of Mother and Queen thy Son and our King That is but from the Year 1672. Methinks the Date is fresh enough and that they should not accuse us to have digg'd up Books buried in Oblivion and old Excesses that are no more in use One should Copy and Transcribe all the Missals Breviaries and all other Books of Devotion if one would relate all Why then do those Gentlemen say They only pray the Saints to pray for us It 's say they that in whatever Terms the Prayers are conceived that we address to Saints the Intention of the Church and of her Faithful Ones still reduces them to that form It s long since Bellarmine had advised us thereof As for Words it 's permitted to say Oh St. Peter have mercy on me save me open me the Gate of Heaven give me health of Body give me patience give me Courage c. So that we understand Save us and shew us Mercy in praying for us That might surprize us indeed First I would fain know what would these Gentlemen say of a Man that would say in good earnest to St. Peter Save me and pardon my Sins without reducing them to this Form St. Peter pray for me By those things which my Lord of Condom saith I have cause to believe he would look on him as an Idolater for he saith that the Church teaches That Men must cleave to God as to Him who alone can make up our felicity by the Communication of an Infinite Good which is himself But is it not a terrible thing to put into the Mouth of the People such Formularies as do cast them every day into the peril of Idolatry Where are the Men that are not naturally carried to take Words in their Literal sense The Literal sense of these Words of St. Peter Save me Pardon me carries Men to believe that St. Peter can Save and Pardon Must a simple Man have still at his Ear an Interpreter to tell him Take heed of taking these Words in their Literal sense you would commit an act of Idolatry reduce these Prayers to the Sense of the Church In a word I never could conceive what Prudence there can be in hiding a pious and devout Sense under Expressions altogether Criminal Is it not to lay a Snare continually for the Souls of the Simple 2. It Saints have no other Charge than that of Praying to God for us why are they made the Governours of the World under God It 's a Thesis that Bellarmine maintains with divers Proofs and which is not contested That the Faithful alive are not only conducted and governed by Angels but also by the blessed Spirits Another Author saith That if Kings destroy Armies of Enemies if the Rich relieve the Poor if Physicians with their Art heal Maladies Saints can do the same thing as well as the Angels whereof one killed 185000 in one Night another restored Sight to Toby and a third delivered St. Peter from Prison Governours do not always go to the Prince to present him the Requests of Suppliants they act of themselves according to the extent of their Commission 3. If Saints have no Superintendency on Inferiour things why then are Kingdoms Towns Families and particular Persons put under their Protection Why have Mens several Conditions differing Arts and differing Evils their particular Saints St. Luke is Patron of Physicians St. Yves of Advocates St. Crispin of Shoemakers They that are in danger of Shipwrack invoke St. Nicholas Bishop of Myre Women in labour pray to St. Margaret St. Roch is prayed to for the Plague and St. Apollony for the Toothach All that clearly supposes that the Saints have received Commission under God to have care of certain Persons and to preside over certain things for otherwise the first coming to hand of all the Saints would suffice to receive the Prayers of Men in whatever place they were and present them to God They do then something by themselves 4. If all Devotion for Saints be reduced to saying to them Pray for us why have they censur'd the Saving Advices of the Virgin to her indiscreet Devoti For in fine that Author had no other Aim but to bring thither the Prayers of Devout ones He would have them say Holy Mother of God supply by your Praises near the Almighty what our weakness cannot render to him and obtain for me from your beloved the Grace to know c. Yet hath that Book been censur'd at Rome and in Spain as containing Propositions suspected of Errour some Impieties and abuses of Scripture as withdrawing the Faithful from piety and Devotion to the Mother of God and from her Invocation This last word is very remarkable That Book withdraws from the Invocation of the Virgin He withdraws not from that Invocation Pray to God for us on the contrary he gives a Formulary express to invoke her so He withdraws then from the Invocation of the Virgin only because he would not have them to ask of her directly those things as if she were the Disposer thereof 5. Finally If the Sense of the Church be That Men pray the Saints to pray for us and no more why do they not censure so many Authors that tell us neatly That Saints give forgive save and distribute Graces themselves Câ—sterus writing on the Hymn Ave Maris Stella and explaining these words Loosen the Bonds of the Guilty thus Glosses thereon Solve Precibus Solve Merito Solve Auhoritate Solve Imperio Loosen with thy Prayers Loosen by thy Merit Loosen by thine Authority Loosen by thy Command I am tempted to add here all the like sayings of Bonaventure Gerson Cajetan Albert Ozorius Salazar Bernardine de Bustis and of Sienna Driedo Father Binet Viega Gabriel Biel Antonine and an hundred others that is to say the Ancients and Moderns the lesser the great and middle Authors But I will not yield to that Temptation for it would be an infinite work and we shall see anon that Father Cresset hath spared us that labour When they speak to us face to face they tell us Those are brave Authors indeed Must we judge of the Sense of the Church by little popular Books which ignorant Bigots put into the Peoples hands They are fallen into those Excesses which honest Men do condemn Yet these brave Authors are Canonized
the Faithful Can there be any thing more opposite to the Rules of right Reason 5. Here is a turn of Devotion to obtain something of God which deserves to be admired They present to God a Sacrifice for to obtain the Protection of Saints and their Intercession with God It 's that which is expressed by these Words of the Mass Reverencing the Memory of the glorious always Virgin Mary Mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ and also of thy blessed Apostles and Martyrs c. by whose Prayers and by whose Names we pray thee that we may be furnished with the succour of thy Protection Either I comprehend nothing therein or that signifies That one goes first directly to God in offering directly the Sacrifice to him then God moved by the Sacrifice must turn himself towards the Saints and being appeased by the Sacrifice he obtains of the Saints to intercede with Jesus Christ to the intent that in fine the Lord Jesus Christ may intercede with him for them which have offered the Sacrifice Is it not true that this course is a singular one For if God be already moved and appeased by the Sacrifice why must he turn to the Saints for to oblige them to intercede for those People towards whom he is already appeased In a word what I conceive of it is That the Roman Church offers to God their Redeemer and Mediatour Jesus Christ that so God may render himself as Mediatour with the Saints to oblige them to become Intercessours and Mediatours for Men with him I beseech these Gentlemen to regard that with an uninterest'd Eye 6. I cannot finish without returning again to the distinction whereby they believed they might disentangle themselves of all troubles and perplexities It 's that they indeed offer the Sacrifice to the honour of Saints but they offer it to God alone If those Sacrifices be offered only to God I see not what honour redounds thence to the Saint I conceive well that there is a Sense wherein it 's true to say that in honouring the Master men honour the Servant It 's a great honour to a Servant to appertain to a puissant Master to whom all the World pays homage and I consent that we may say in this Sense that in adoring God we honour the Saints But sincerely is that the Sense wherein they say they offer to God the Sacrifice of the Mass to the honour of Saints If that were true all the Prayers and all the Acts of Latria that those Gentlemen present to God should be done to the honour of the Saints Now it 's not so said If the Sacrifice of the Mass were done in honour to the Saints meerly by way of reflexion because the Saints should receive Honour and Joy to have a Master that is adored all the Masses should equally honour all the Saints For they have equally Honour and Joy from all the Acts of Adoration that are rendred to God But this is not the thought of these Gentlemen for there are certain Masses which are offered to the honour of the Saints and others not The Mass of St. Peter is not said to the honour of St. Roch and the Mass of St. Anthony doth not honour St. Paul This Consideration gives us cause to believe that besides the reflex honour which comes to the Saint from the celebration of the Mass there is also a direct Honour that goes strait to him And consequently my Lord of Condom must not think it strange that we look upon that as upon a Capital Affair seeing that all Christians hold this Principle That the honour of Sacrifices is to be reserved to the Deity After this if any be drawn into this Snare That the Invocation of Saints is done in the same Spirit as the Prayers that we make to the Faithful upon Earth to pray for us I 'le say without difficulty that he designs to deceive himself I have been somewhat long upon this Chapter of the Invocation of Saints yet I cannot leave it without making two important reflexions The first is upon the Council of Trent which hath used moderate Terms to establish this Invocation and which do not necessarily carry men to all the Excesses that we have blamed Thereupon I say two things First That the Council of Trent which hath authorized this great Abuse to offer the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ to the honour of Saints by that alone hath authorized all the rest for I esteem all the rest are nothing in comparison thereof The Second That the Council of Trent was assembled expresly to reform all Abuses so that it is judged to have authorized all those which he hath not touched The other Reflexion that I was willing to make it 's upon that saying of my Lord of Condom That the Council of Trent contents it self to teach the Faithful that this practice of invoking Saints is good and useful without saying any thing more Men understand well what that signifies Other Authors have expressed it more clearly and have said We make Profession to believe that it 's useless to invoke the Saints But we teach not as a Christian Verity That all Catholicks are obliged to an actual Exercise of this Invocation For one may be saved without it and may be some Catholicks are saved who never invoked any Canonized Saints in Heaven This is one of the great Snares into which our People are caught they tell them If you like not Invocation of Saints let it alone One may be saved well enough by Invocation of God First I say to that How can one enter into a Church wherein Saints are invoked in the Publick Service without invoking them One must first have retrench'd the Litanies Hymns and one half of the acts of the Publick Devotion One must either deprive himself of the Publick Service or partake of the Invocation of Saints That might have been said if Saints were only invok'd in private That is then a pure Illusion Moreover do they conceive that it 's but disowning the Worship in the Secret of one's Heart for to have no share therein When a Man is by choice of a Religion not willing to take another he hath a share in all the Devotions that are practised and which he approves not When the Publick Minister prays it 's in the Name of all present and who make Profession external of adhering to the Worship perform'd though they should reject it internally In fine I would ask those Gentlemen If Invocation of Saints be not necessary why do they impose it on Christians Why must so many Faithful Ones be scandalized for a Point they can be without Why not to be content with what all the World believes to be necessary viz. Invocation of God without adding that which at least is Superfluous ARTICLE VI. Of Images and Relicks WE pass to Images which is the Fifth of my Lord of Condom's Articles It is a Chapter whereon no fewer things were to be said than upon
did Ordain for the chastisement of Scandalous sins Ten years Twenty years and Thirty years of Penitence The Fear of being so long separate from the use of Holy things was a Bridle that restrained them from the violence of Passions These long Pennances were done in Publick and the dread of making Crimes so publick was another Bank to stop the fury of Lust At this day according to the Doctrine of Indulgences a Man that shall have committed in one day enormous Crimes enough to subject to Ten thousand years of Pennance shall need but to visit a Church or an Altar priviledged to be quit thereof Let him return to his Crimes a while after he may get out of the same Abyss by the same Means These Gentlemen that reproach with words of so much excess the ill Consequences which they please to draw from our Doctrines against the Moral of Jesus Christ would they have us to consider as innocent a point of Doctrine and of Practice which pours upon the Moral and upon all Manners such Malignant Influences There are Indulgences for five or six Hundred Thousand years unto 1500000. Few do conceive the meaning thereof for Indulgences are designed to deliver Souls out of Purgatory or to prevent the Pains now Purgatory is not to last 1500000 for it cannot last longer than the World This is the Case The Ancient Church during the Severity of its Discipline did impose for one Sin Ten Twenty or Thirty years of Penitence according to the Nature of the Crime For Example Suppose we that the Canons did impose Ten years of Penitence for a Murther a Man that should have committed ten Murthers would be subject according to these Canons to a Hundred years of publick Penitence He that should have committed an hundred Crimes Murthers Adulteries and other of this Nature would be obliged to 1000 years of Penitence It may happen that certain Men may have committed Crimes enough to be obliged to many Thousand years of Pennance In the place of Years of Pennance they have put the Years of Indulgences so that every Year of Indulgence delivers from the obligation of a Year of Pennance So they to whom are granted 1500000 years of Indulgence are they which have need of 1500000 years of Penitence It 's presently easie to see how terrible the Sequel of such a Theology is for the Moral It is to presuppose that a Man can commit without being a Reprobate almost an infinite number of enormous Crimes When the Discipline of the Church began to relax of this extream Rigour wherein she was at first instead of Ten years of Penance and Abstention she appointed but two Suppose 1500000 Indulgence and Relaxation for the years of Penitence at that sort of account you suppose a Man may have committed Seven or Eight hundred Thousand Mortal Sins for they impose no Pennance for Venial Sins I grant that this Consequence frightens me yet they would have me to account it for nothing Before I finish this Article I beseech those Gentlemen to conceive that for to know how much a Doctrine doth estrange one Religion from another we must not consider it in that which is Speculative because the People penetrate but little into the Speculative part of a Doctrine We must behold it by that which is reduc'd to practice In speaking of Satisfactions and Indulgences Monsieur Condom will only consider what they have of Speculative c. viz. the prejudice they can do to Jesus Christ to his Merit and to his Satisfaction If Men will without prejudice reflect on what we have said they shall see we have reason to make this Complaint against Indulgences But it is not that Consideration wherewith the People are most intangled Let them then take the pains to behold the Practise which follows this Doctrine and he shall see that there is nothing that separates us more from their Church than these Satisfactions and Indulgences This is the Spring of that incredible multitude of Ceremonies of Corporal Mortifications of Hair Shifts Iron Bonds Cloisters Monks Vows Pilgrimages Jubilees Stations Church Visits Prayers for the Dead Masses Consecrated Gifts Fraternities Devotions for certain Saints and Images for all that is done either to satisfie God or to obtain Indulgences So that we may say in truth That this Article which Monsieur de Condom reckons almost as Nothing doth between his Church and ours put up a Wall of Separation which cannot be beaten down but by the ruine of the one or of the other Party Purgatory is naturally tied with Satisfactions and Indulgences For Men do not labour to Satisfie during this life by Penal Works and Men have recourse to Indulgences then to avoid the Temporal Pains of the other World which omitting Eternity are altogether like those of Hell Monsieur de Condom saith nothing of it or but a short word by the by I conceive not the reason of that unless he hath judged that having no other Curtain to draw over this Object so frightful and terrible he ought at least cover himself with that of Silence Yet have we still made a great business thereof and had good Reason for it I pray them who are tempted to change their Religion to bethink themselves well of what they have to do and not to engage easily into one Party that offers them some Pleasures and some Advantages in this World but promises them to pay well for it in the other Seeing that Monsieur de Condom was not willing to plead for Purgatory I will speak a word in its favour Though all that is taught about it were not true what hurt can that do and what Venom is there in that Doctrine that could hinder Re-union Can we represent too much Terrour to Sinners And a Penitent that leaving this life would think to go to Purgatory would not he be very glad to meet immediately with Paradise It is a Bit which may serve to restrain the fierceness of Passions and which after all can do no hurt though it were a bond of Straw and an imaginary Object To that I Answer first That this Bit is indeed an Imaginary Bit and which produces not any Sanctification We see not that in the Communion wherein they teach this Doctrine there be a lesser number of Sinners Worldlings and Wicked men It is an errour to conceive that those which cannot be restrained by the Fear of Hell shall be so by that of Purgatory On the contrary Lust finds therein what to flatter it self withal Go to saith it Let 's refuse our Senses nothing we shall be quit for some years in Purgatory the longer and we will not lose any Pleasure We shall have all the pleasures of the Flesh in the World and we will obtain those of Heaven after some years of Torment We say besides That there are honester ways to retain Men in their Duty It is certain that in this the Roman Religion hath not the Character of an Evangelical Religion in that to bring Men