the preceding But in truth one cannot resolve to say over always the same things I will only say That one must not treat of it as of a small business nor imagine it to be no obstacle to Reunion The Worship of Images is a Practise of all most opposite to the Spirit of Christianism and the most contrary to the dignity of Man It 's to do great wrong to a Man to oblige him to humble himself before Wood and Stone which are so far below him Men should not flatter themselves It 's the great Scandal of the Jew he hath Images in abhorrence and when he looks on Christian Religion on that side he conceives a mortal aversion from it So we cannot imagine that to be a small Affair an Article which retards that great Work of the Conversion of the Jews without which the Church will never be perfect But say they will Men never conceive that it 's a great Wrong to compare or confound us with Idolatrous Pagans It 's not true that we confound the Roman Church with the Pagans Pagans adored the Images of wicked Men and even the Idols of Demons the Roman Church serves the Images of Saints and of the Friends of God viz. Apostles Martyrs Confessors Those Gentlemen will nevertheless permit us to tell them That they put Pagans in places wherein they have not been so to put an infinite distance between those Pagans and themselves about the Service of Images and suppose that Pagans have ador'd their Images as gods We should have a little better Opinion of Men who resembled us so much for ordinary use of Reason They regarded their Images but as Pictures and Representations of their gods If I could here take the leisure I would prove it with the clearest Evidence possible My Lord of Condom justifies his Church about Images by these Words of the Council of Trent Which forbid to believe any Divinity or Vertue for which it should be rever'd have any Grace demanded thereof or fasten ones Confidence thereon I am surprized to see that after this Decree they suffer Prayers addressed to Images and that Men should say to the Cross O Cress more bright than all the Stars famous in the World amiable to all Men holier than all things which alone hast been worthy to bear the Talent of the World Sweet Wood that bearest the Nails and the Sweet Weights save this present Assembly that comes hither to celebrate thy Praises Every one knows the solemn Prayer made to the Cross on great Feasts particularly at Easter in Holy Week God save thee our only Hope in this time of the Passion augment the Righteousness of the Faithful and grant Pardon to the Guilty I know well what they say That these Prayers are referr'd to Jesus Christ Crucified It is not the Sense of Thomas Aquinas the Prince of the School for he maintains That the Worship of Latria ought to be deferr'd to the Cross and that Worship to be distinct from that which is rendred to Jesus Christ He proves it by the Hymn O Crux ave spes c. he concludes That the Cross whereon Christ Jesus hath been Crucified ought to be worship'd with Worship of Latria both because of the representation and that it hath touch'd the Members of Jesus Christ As for the Images of the Cross of whatever matter they be they must be adored with Latria only of the first sort viz. with a Relative Latria He seems to have reason for we cannot conceive how they can have Intention to speak to Jesus Christ speaking to his Cross seeing they expresly distinguish Christ from his Cross and that they say to it Arbor decora fulgida c. Thou art a fair and bright Tree adorn'd with the Kings Purple chosen cut of a precious Stock to touch his Holy Members I find that very good that the Council of Trent hath declared That there is no virtue at all within the Image but I cannot conceive how after that they have left in the Roman Pontifical Prayers which necessarily suppose that there is a Sanctifying virtue in the Images of the Cross For Example this which the Bishop utters in blessing a new Cross Take then this Cross in thy hands wherewith thou didst formerly embrace it and by the Sanctity of that sanctifie this as by that the World hath been purg'd of his Sins so the Souls of thy Servants that offer thee this Cross by its Merit may be preserv'd from all Sin After this Decree of the Council of Trent I know not why they tolerate the use of Agnus Dei whereto they attribute Virtue of preserving from the Crafts of the Devil and from the the Frauds of the Evil Spirits to keep from Shipwrack to put under shelter from all Adversity to preserve from the Pest from corrupt Air the Falling-sickness Storm Fires Peril in Childbirth and from all Iniquity I know not why they go in Pilgrimage to an Image of our Lady more than to another For in fine If Images have no other use than to recall the Memory of the Originals they are all alike If the Spirit of the Council of Trent was opposite to these Devotions why were they not retrench'd At the most will they say You cannot accuse the Church but of Negligence and Toleration but you cannot oppose to the Council of Trent any thing that may be of equal Authority I oppose thereto Books little less authorized than it as the Pontifical and Roman Ceremonial made by the Pope's Order approved and received by all the Roman Church review'd several times since the Council of Trent I oppose thereto the general and constant practise of all the Bishops even of the most moderate There is none of them that would bless a Cross in other Terms than those which are prescribed by the Pontifical I oppose thereto the practice of the whole Roman Church for if there be in France and elsewhere some honest persons who have purer Sentiments and which are disingaged from Popular Errours they make no Number in comparison of the People of Italy Spain Germany and France it self who are in this Practise My Lord of Condom about this matter goes farther than one could have believed He would fain perswade us that in the Roman Church they do not serve Images at all Our Intention is not so much to honour the Image as to honour the Apostle or Martyr in presence of the Image We use Images but to lift up our Spirit towards Heaven That is equivocal and they say That in Manuscript Copies of this Work which have ran through Mens hands long before it was printed my Lord of Condom spoke more strongly but having seen the Success of his Book and seeing himself upheld by so great Approbation he is return'd thither he goes freely through and makes the Author of the Advertisement say We serve not Images God forbid but we serve our selves of Images to raise us up to the Originals These
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
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
this Subject than the Lutherans do Before we conclude this Article it is good to mark that Monsieur de Condom doth suppose That all the Lutherans reject not Adoration Some of them saith he reject Adoration The most of them then do receive it since there are but some that reject it Monsieur de Condom teaches us there something new These are Facts important enough not to be advanc'd without Proof but that doth not very much concern us If Monsieur de Condom be not deceived we declare to him That the Lutherans which adore so are not those to whom we offer Union with a good heart we declare Anathema to such But let 's grant them also this Point Suppose that the Lutherans do Reason less congruously than the Roman Catholicks what imports it me To Reason ill not to know how to draw a Consequence is it a Crime against Piety and Religion A Man may have odd Opinions whereof if he perceives the Consequences he might see that they ruine all Religion but he abhors those Consequences and rejects them Another which hath the same Opinions hath more penetration he sees the true Attendants of his Principles he admits them he ruins all Because that my Charity obliges me to bear the Fancies of the former shall I be obliged to tolerate the Impiety of the latter The Lutheran believes That the Body of Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist if he did reason Consequentially he would say Then I must adore him there In so Reasoning and so Adoring he would commit according to us a very great Evil. But he doth not think good to Reason in that manner therefore he will not adore it he keeps to his Fantastical Opinion to believe That Jesus Christ is present in the Substance of the Bread The Roman Catholick holds with him the Real Presence but he goes further he Reasons better if they please and concludes that they must Adore according to me he becomes guilty of an extream Evil. Is it the same thing Because I tolerate the first with his Erroneous Opinions ought I to tolerate the second with his Worship which I find absolutely incompatible with the purity of Religion although he Reasons more Consequentially than the first In a word It imports us but little that People do not Reason well so that they do no Evil If any Man as Hercules furious should take his Children for little Monsters and yet ceases not from Caressing them he is not Criminal but if in supposing that these Children be Monsters and in reasoning Consequentially doth crush his Children to death because Monsters must be so served he is guilty of Murther I will only add now two Reflexions in favour of those for whom I write they are such who in good earnest do seek Instruction about the Truth The first is That we should not after all this trouble our selves to prove to the Roman Church that they adore the Creature with the Creatour in the Sacrament of the Eucharist for they agree thereto These are the Terms of the Council of Trent We must render to this Holy Sacrament the Adoration of Latria The Sacrament is composed of the Flesh of Jesus Christ invisible and of the sensible Accidents of Bread and Wine They adore the whole Sacrament they adore then the Accidents of Bread and Wine which are the Creatures And thereupon we may not forget to remark it to these Gentlemen that they are unjust to invite us to Re-union until they shall have proved that one may innocently render to the Creature this Adoration of Latria which even according to them ought to be rendred only to the Creatour The other Reflexion is That we may also exempt our selves from entring into the bottom of the Question and say That although it might be true that Jesus Christ is in the Eucharist and that one might adore him there I would still hold me to my practise which is to Worship only in the Heavens Reason suggests to us that in all things we should take the surest part and less dangerous If the Body of Christ Jesus be not in the Eucharist they that adore this Sacrament commit an infinite Evil. If the Body of Jesus Christ be there they that worship him not as there do no Evil at all or their fault is so light that Men know not what Name to give it I do not adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist because I know not whether he be there I am not the more Impious thereby because I adore him in Heaven where I know he is But he that adores the Sacrament if Jesus Christ be not there he adores the Creature and his fault is infinitely greater than mine I will make sensible by one Example the great difference that is between the Roman Catholick in case he be deceived about the Real Presence and that of the Protestant in case he be mistaken in holding Real Absence Suppose we that a King hath two sorts of Subjects some are scrupulous and fearful they will not render homage to their Prince whilst he lies hid in his Retirements inaccessible and invisible to all the World because they fear that the King is not there but as soon as this King comes forth to appear in publick that they hear his Voice they prostrate themselves before him and do render a perfect Obedience The other Subjects are in an Extremity quite opposite They not only Reverence the King without seeing him and without knowing him but meeting an unknown Person calling himself their King though he be not without further inquiry they suffer themselves to be seduced by light Appearances joyn this false Prince to their true King and render the same honour to this Imaginary Soveraign as to their true Prince Is it not very easie to discern the difference which is between these two sorts of Persons Hardly can one find the shadow of Sin in the first sort but it is clear that the Second sort are guilty of Treason Their Ignorance doth not excuse them seeing that in such Affairs Men are obliged to get Instruction We are those scrupulous Subjects we will not adore Jesus Christ where we are not sure that he is but we adore him where he is assuredly We are not then guilty neither of refusing to our Prince the Homage we owe him nor of giving to any other what we owe only to him The Roman Catholicks are those other Subjects so imprudent that they suffer themselves to be deceived by him who is not their Prince and which render him the same Honours as to their King This Reasoning and this Example do manifest evidently I think that the Roman Church could without any Risk adhere to our Worship and not adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist though he were there because that adoring Jesus Christ in Heaven that would suffice to keep them from being Impious But for us it is impossible to adhere to their Worship if Jesus Christ be not there since we should hazard the
question was only but about matter of Fact or their Controversies but of little Importance The Donatists upon that discovery had but unhandsomly said to the Catholicks Return to us that will be as commodious as if we our selves should come to you I am very sensible that this will be their Thought These Gentlemen say that they are in Possession It 's true among other things they are in Possession to suppose as certain that which is in dispute They are the Church It 's that whereof we agree not If they were the Church and that Church sound and entire we would not be so unreasonable to propose it them for to come to us The Church of St. Augustine was the true Church that of the Donatists was in Schism If they had perswaded us that which they assay to prove these many years that we are Schismaticks and Hereticks they would then have reason to invite us to make all these Advances and we should be in the wrong to expect them without moving our selves We are not Innovators we are Restorers of the Apostles Religion We have the advantage of Antiquity of Doctrines and Worship in comparison whereof Antiquity of Churches of Edifices of Chairs and Episcopal Seats is nothing at all We are in a perfect Conformity with the Scripture and the Church Apostolick that is better than Conformity with the Church of the Tenth Age and the following The Question then here is only of Fact thus for if we hold the Apostles Doctrine it s certainly their part who have forsaken it to return to us Time cannot prescribe against Truth It 's in vain to say They have for Title a long Possession The more ancient that such Wandrings are the worse they are But that cannot take from us the right of solliciting those People to return Besides it would be more easie for those Gentlemen to return to us than for us to joyn to them for we should not oblige them to any thing that would be against their Conscience seeing we adore only what they adore But we cannot go to them whilst they do serve that which we cannot serve If this Worship of Images this Invocation of Saints this Adoration of the Eucharist are so little a thing and if that should not hinder us from Joyning to them why do they not abandon that little Thing which scandalizes us so greatly and which we reckon to be much Is nothing to be done for Charity Should not Men renounce their own Interest when it s but inconsiderable for our Neighbours Salvation I pretend not that these Reasons will perswade those Gentlemen to abandon their Party and enter into ours Nor that they are capable of doing it So great a Business is not dispatch'd in so little time But it may give us to understand that we have as much right as they to ask for a Reunion without obligation to change any thing and that all those By-ways which have been invented within this little time some while Ways of Prescription then Ways of Prejudices or Prejudgments then Ways of Sweetning are all Ways of Illusion which only hinder us from Treating of the Business to the bottom and from entring into the particulars of the Controversies Because those Gentlemen do not find it commodious to keep that right Method which hath been used hitherto they are searching indirect Ways I do not hope that those Sweetnings of my Lord of Condom and of his Followers will do any great thing for the general Peace of Christianism and for the Repose of particular Persons Yet I cannot but. Essay to get some little Advantage from it by the by Assuredly we should be thankful to my Lord of Condom for his Book Though it should not produce that effect which he hopes for from it to wit the Reunion of both Religions into one One at least naturally it should produce some Peace between both Parties Till now the Roman Catholick and the Protestant have almost considered one another as the two Antipodes of the World Christian At this day they labour to make them return from thence To make our Spirits reapproach they give us Explications tending to make us see that we are not at such a distance as Men were perswaded of These Explications of my Lord of Condom that do reapproach in some parts his Doctrine to ours do also without doubt cause to reapproach our Doctrine to his If Disputes can be annihilated by the Explications of some Terms If our Doctrine be not far distant from that of the Roman Church and do not hurt the Foundation as is insinuated Why then is it made a Phantasm to the People Why then are Men arm'd against us Why so much abhorring for those Men that do not Sin but in that they understand not the Doctrine of the Church Why are the Powers arm'd and the Arm of Flesh Why have heretofore Floods of our Blood been drawn out Why do they cast on us frightful Names of Hereticks and Excommunicate damned Synagogues of Satan and Organs of the Devil Methinks if Men do but deal in good earnest after those Sweetnings men should have a little Sweetness for us or if they continue that rigorous and severe Method against us it seems to be a proof that these Sweetnings were not made with a Spirit of Sincerity but only with a design to procure an Illusion to the Ignorant and to furnish Pretences for those that do seek their Conveniences in the World This is a little advantage which might accrue to us from my Lord of Condoms Book if those of his Party would but be of his mind but I will draw another much more considerable It 's that at the bottom there was never a Book more favourable to the Protestants If we do but consider well the Shape which my Lord of Condom gives to all the controverted Articles this is not a defence of the Dogma's of the Roman Church it 's not an Apology it 's properly an Excuse it 's a Palliative Book if I may so speak Now every man that excuses a Fact a Doctrine or an accused Person by that it self confesses there is some Evil he only tries to make good that the Evil is tolerable This is that whereto my Lord of Condom doth visibly lead us With all his delicate Manners and his Spiritual modelling every Person uninterest'd will conclude that he hath felt some Evil to be within that Church whereto he would have us Reunite and that his Design is only to insinuate That this Evil is tolerable and that it ought not to hinder our Re-union Methinks this appears therein easily by a little attention given thereto for Example if we believe my Lord of Condom An Image hath no other virtue but that of recalling the Memory of the Original there is properly no kind of Homage rendred to it only Men do serve the Original in the presence of the Image Is not that neatly enough to confess That they that go beyond it are most guilty that