themselves to give an Account as they do r Carthagena de arcan deip l. 1. hom 4. why this was kept as a Secret in former Ages and why God did hide the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception from them The reason of this is worth setting down as well as the Confession of the Novelty of the Opinion Non pauci homines rudes c. The rude and vulgar sort of People if they had found for certain that the Blessed Virgin had never contracted Original Sin would have been apt to have committed a Mistake and thought her to have been a Goddess For if the Inhabitants of Melita when they saw the Viper fastning on S. Paul's Hand and yet neither biting him nor vomiting any Poison upon him cried out that he was a God how much more easily would unlearned Men when they saw that the Viper of Original Sin had envenom'd all the Children of Adam and that it had not touched her have concluded that she was a Goddess By which admirable Reason God must be supposed to keep it as a Secret still for there are rude and unlearned People still in as much Danger as ever of this or rather more for even in the Days of Epiphanius when the Collyridians venerated her she was not magnified nor her Privileges manifested near so much as now From all which it appears that the Maculists Opinion has the Advantage of Prescription and immemorial Possession if they are sufficiently provided to keep and maintain it And here too they question not their Furniture habent quo se tueantur olim Ista hominum communis erat sententia s Mantuan parthen Mar. 1. That is They plead the ancient Churches common Sence And store of Arguments for its defence The sacred Writings secure their Title and they produce them with more Advantage than their Adversaries they can flourish sometimes with a Scripture Allegory indeed and tell the Immaculists that tenebra erant super faciem abyssi t Rich. a S. Laurentio Darkness was upon the Face of the Abyss to signify that she was conceived in Sin yet this is needless when so many Places in their plain and literal Sence offer themselves to their Service Such as these All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God u Rom. 3. As by one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed over all Men for that all have sinned x Rom. 5. The Scripture hath concluded y Gal. 3. all under Sin. He gave himself a Ransom z 1 Tim. 2. for all If Christ dyed for all a 2 Cor. 5. then are all dead c. Where the Antecedent being universal the Consequent must be so too From these and such like Texts they have raised several strong Arguments As 1. That it is a bold Presumption when the Scripture so plainly involves all under Sin that derived from Adam in the way of ordinary Generation to make an Exception in her Case who so derives without the least Countenance from it Besides 2. Redemption and Salvation by Christ is declared there to be as general and universal as Sin and Death by Adam and the Blessed Virgin rejoices in God her Saviour but all these suppose Sin And therefore Christ is called our Saviour and hers because he saves his People from their Sins And in her case it must be from Original Sin because the Maculists as well as their Adversaries grant that she was guilty of no actual Sin And there are few of them that will assert with Card. Cusanus b Exercit. l. 8. That the Virgin needed no Redeemer to absolve her from the Sentence against Adam and his Posterity to which she was never subject That she alone after the Fall of Adam never stood in want but was created full of Original Righteousness as Eve was and much more just as Christ according to his Human Nature was created in all Fulness of Righteousness much more than Adam To talk of a preservative Redemption c Scotus in 3. dist 3. qu. 1. from the Sin she might have incurred is to say that Christ was the Redeemer of Angels And if Bellarmine's Answer be allow'd d De Amiss grat l 4. c. 16. Dicimus ei remissa fuisse peccata non in quae inciderat sed in quae incidisset nisi gratia Dei per merita Christi praeventa fuisset Her Sins were remitted not those which she had committed but which she might have committed if not prevented by Gods Grace through Christ's Merits You may as well say of the Blessed Angels which yet was never heard of That they had their Sins forgiven for if it had not been for Gods Grace they also might have fallen into Sin. And Christ might be said to shed his Blood for them too if the Jesuit Coster e Medit. de B. Virg. p. 76. says right That Christ did not purge her Soul from Sin by his Blood sed mundam praeservavit but preserved it clean Antiquity never understood these Distinctions and the former Popes were against them So Zosimus f Apud Augustin Epist 157. ad Optatum Nullus nisi qui peccati servus est liber efficitur nec redemptus dici potest nisi qui verê per peccatum fuerit ante captivus c. No Person is made free by Christ who was not before a Servant of Sin nor can be said to be redeemed unless he were a Captive So also Pope Leo g Sicut nullum a reatu liberum reperit ita pro liberandis omnibus venit Serm. 1. de Nat. Christ says As he found none free from Guilt so he came to free all Men from it 3. They urge also that according to the Sentence upon all that derived from Adam she suffered the Punishments which were the Effect of it and was subject to Calamities and Death therefore it must be granted that the Cause of these must have place in her to wit Original Sin Especially since the Second Council of Aurange against the Pelagians Can. 2. defined it to be affixing Injustice to God to say that by one Man Death passed upon all Mankind and not Sin. 4. Lastly They think they have an Advantage over their Adversaries by this Question What if the Blessed Virgin had died before our Saviour's Passion for it is apparently foolish to say as Galatinus h L. 7. de arcan c. 10. does That it was impossible that the Mother of the Messias should die before her Son Now if she had died before him and had had no Sin she could not have gone to Purgatory but must have been received into Heaven and then this Absurdity would follow That the Kingdom of Heaven was opened before Christ had overcome the sharpness of Death Thus I have given an Account in some particulars what the Maculists have to plead for themselves And I shall pass over and not urge the Revelations of S. Catharine since they do not
Here now the door is set wide open to give admittance to all the throng of Fables that any one will invent under pretence to advance her Honour The Evangelists have said Truth enough to make Jesus glorious and they are resolved to try what may be done for Mary in the other way And every Monk or Nun of a busie Fancy is perpetually teeming forth some new privilege to grace the B. Virgin withal Albertus Magnus p De Land. Virg. super missus est had got them up to Fourteen Vinc. Bandelis q De Concept Virg. Part. 2. p. 183. reckons Twelve Privileges bestowed on her from the Fourteenth Year of her Age and afterwards which considering this date of them is an increase But Spinellus has made them up above a Score r Mariae Thronus Dei. c. 20. p. 252 253. which I will set down out of him that the Reader may try how many of them he could have Collected by perusing the Four Gospels without the help of those forenamed Principles They are these 1. She was not only elected by God but pre-elected before all others Cantic 6.8,9 There are Sixty Queens and Eighty Concubines and Virgins without number My Beloved my undefiled is but one the only one of her Mother the choice one of her that bare her 2. That she was promised by Heaven to the Fathers prefigured by mystical Miracles foretold by Prophetick Oracles and by the Sybils was honourably predicted 3. That she sprang by the kindness of God from barren Parents that vowed to give to God the Off-spring he should bestow on them that an Angel foretold her Nativity to her Parents which we do not read in the Scriptures concerning any other Woman no nor of her neither there 4. That she only of all the Children of Adam that descended from him by the ordinary way of Propagation per seminalem rationem was free from Original Sin. 5. That in the very beginning of her immaculate Conception she was so confirmed in Grace that ever after she was without stain of actual though but venial Sin. 6. That the Fomes peccati that which like Tinder so soon kindles in us was extinct in her so that she never was sensible of that Tyrannous Law of the Members or the Rebellion of the lower Part. 7. That in her very Conception she had the use of Reason and made a Vow of Virginity to God from which instant also she began to merit and that the merit of her Works was never interrupted no not so much as in her sleep 8. That in the same Conception of hers she was adorned with all Theological and Cardinal Vertues and that in that Heroick Degree as well as with all the gratiae gratis datae graces freely given 9. That at the Age of Three Years she was in the Temple according to her Parents Vow consecrated to God and there was most holily Educated 10. That this Blessed Person among Women escaped all that Curse to which mankind by reason of Adam's Sin was obnoxious 11. That she alone that had conceived without any lustful Pleasure did not undergo the Irksomness that other Women with Child are subject to 12. That by a Virgin Birth she brought forth God without pain 13. That the Lord's Body exhibited in the H. Eucharist is formed of her Blood in her Virgin Womb which therefore is compared Cant. 7. to a heap of Wheat set about with Lilies 14. That she in a singular manner did many ways co-operate to our Salvation 15. That the Fruit of Christ's Passion was in a singular manner communicated to her and standing courageously by the Cross of her Son was pierced through with the Sword of grief and therefore she first of all saw Christ when he arose from the Dead 16. That she was the Instructer and Mistress of the Apostles and Teachers 17. That her Body did not see Corruption but being assumed and taken up to Heaven in Body and Soul before the common Resurrection she was placed above the Choires of Angels and Orders of Saints at the Right-hand of her Son where she makes a distinct Order Chorus above them all and she alone obtained more glory than all the rest of the Saints and Angels put together 18. That her presence brought a great deal of accidental Joy to the Blessed in Heaven 19. That she is the Queen of Heaven and Lady of all the Angels and Saints 20. That she is the common Advocate of Sinners the Mother of Mercy the Mediatrix to intercede for them and that she is also the Mother of the Living and promotes the Salvation of all Men. 21. That she is so formidable and terrible to the Devils that they presently fly away at the mention of her Name and much more at her Command and that she hath powerfully broken their Head. 22. That all the Graces and Privileges that are dispersed among other Saints are found united in her after a far more perfect manner Thus far he But others * Paul Comitolus reckons up 130. Privileges Alegambe Bibl. p. 363. have enlarged her Privileges to above an Hundred These are a few Instances among many which will afterwards occurr that give the Reader a taste of the New Faith and Gospel concerning the Virgin Mary which is taught in this Church With such particulars as these the Hymns and Lessons of their Breviaries are stuffed For to establish the believe of them many of their Festivals are Instituted and to the Scandal of Christianity as well as the eternal reproach of their Missions Hierome Xaveriâ—s a Jesuit in the History of Christ which he published in the Persian Tongue An. Dom. 1602. being commanded to give an account of the Life and Actions of our Saviour by the Great Mâ—gol he not contenting himself with an Impartial delivery of that Faith which the Apostles taught and was once delivered to the Saints has together with the Gospel Story interwoven idle Tales and fabulous Legends derived from Gossiping Tradition or taken out of Books confessed by themselves to be Apocryphal and the Fictions of ancient Hereticks especially what refers to the Bl. Virgin which I suppose he intended for this end that all his Converts should set her up for an Object of their Religious Veneration otherwise that first Faith might have been sufficient for them which served those first Christians and made them wise to Salvation who only worshipped God the Father Son and Holy Ghost From all that has been said it cannot but appear that this Church has made a very bold attempt for which they must answer one day to God among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the many that have Adulterated the Word of God and corrupted it by their bad mixtures And there shame will still more appear when their sorry pretences for doing all this are laid down and examined which I shall now give a further account of They confess s Carthagena de S. arcan Deip. l. 13. hom 1. that it has been the
apis Marial p. 165. generally make to have been formed in its several parts at once and at the same instant animated and united to the Divinity yet he discovers another Mystery and he will quickly resolve you x Elucid l. 2. tract 5. c. 2. That this did that for her which Christ's being born of a Virgin did for him viz. made her not guilty of Original Sin because not included in the Covenant with Adam her Conception not being ordinary but Miraculous Nay he goes so far as to Assert that by reason of this Miraculous formation she was excused à debito originalis peccati from being liable to Original Sin as well as from the sin it self As wisely also in another place y Ibid. tract 7. c. 1. he concludes that although no violence was done to the B. Virgin when she was made of the Female Sex yet considering the perfection of her Soul and Body it was a Miracle that she was not a Man rather than a Woman since all the wonderful productions mentioned in the Scripture that sprang of barren and effoete Parents were all Males We are told by Aegid Gelenius z De Colon. Magnit p. 266. of a great rarity shown at Colen viz. some remains of the place I suppose of the Dust or Earth where the Blessed Virgin was Conceived And Xaverius has given us another Discovery a Hist Christi p. 18. and I think none has prevented him herein that S. Anne conceived the Blessed Virgin upon a Thursday But all this refers to her Body and if there should be nothing Rare and Extraordinary said of her Soul this better part would bear no Proportion with the other But they have taken care that it shall have no reason to complain though we have for obtruding upon us such raw and indigested Fancies We all know that our Reason comes very slowly upon us and that the first Life we live is meerly animal Our Understanding begins to dawn a little like the first Peep of Day some while after we are born and so proceeds by an imperceptible Progress as Light does till we arrive at our Noon which is very late But in her they tell us it was quite otherwise Nescit tarda molimina c. Her Understanding is anticipated b Vinc. Bruni Med. de B. Virg. p. 74. and they give her the use of her Reason in the first Moment of her Being c Raynaudus ibid. p. 158. she had the Use of Free-Will and perfect Light in her Mind says S. Bernardine d De concep Virg. Serm. 4. Art. 1. c. 2. even in her Mothers Womb so that she could from the first Moment exercise supernatural Acts both of Knowledge and Faith e Raynaud ib. p. 159. and by this Use of her Reason she disposed herself to all that Grace that she received in her first Sanctification just as the School-men say That the Angels disposed themselves to all that Grace in which they were created For her Sanctification was not in the way that other Infants are sanctified f Vasquez in 3 part tom 2. qu. 27. art 6. c. 3 4. only by the Infusion and Reception of habitual Grace but instar adulti like one of age by her own proper Act of Conversion to God proceeding from the Assistance of Divine Grace Only here is a great Doubt whether this use of Reason was granted as a Privilege to the Blessed Virgin only for that Moment of her first Justification and Conception as Vasquez speaks g Ibid. c. 4. and then ceased till she came at the ordinary time to find it again as some Infants have by a Wonder spoke once and no more in their Infancy This he says indeed was Cajetan's Opinion but it seems more probable That the Blessed Virgin from the instant of her Conception and so forward all the time of her Infancy without Interruption had the full use of her Reason at least in those things that appertained to God and Vertue Having an uninterrupted Influence says our late Contemplator h Contempl. L. Gl. of H. Mary p. 20. of actual Graces so quickening her great Soul that no one Moment of her Life from the first Conception of her Soul was vacant from divine Contemplations heavenly Affections and Ecstasies of supernatural Love or as he more fantastically expresses it elsewhere i Ibid. p. 45. She from the first positive Instant of the Infusion of her Soul ever exercised the most sublime Operations of the contemplative and unitive Life without Recourse to the Images of Imagination or Dependance on Sense Her great Soul was so compleatly actuated even in the Womb of her Mother that her Contemplations Sallies of Love and Vnions with God were restless ever increasing in their Vigour and still expatiating through the vast Motives and Methods of mystical Love. Nay She was says another k Novarini Umbr. Virg. n. 1323. in such perpetual Contemplation of God and divine Things that she was never so busied or so fast asleep but she directed her Mind towards God and thought of him so that in this Respect she was in the State of the Blessed par beatis If you have a mind to understand this still more particularly the Contemplator l Ibid. p. 45. tells us That by the Help of abstractive Lights divinely infused were represented 1. The several Essences Attributes and Motions of the whole Body of the Creation in their several Degrees and Stations 2. The Divinity of God with its manifold Emanations Operations and inexplicable Comprehensions And 3. The Humanity of Jesus with all the Orders of Grace Mysteries of Salvation and extatick Loves of the Saints But S. Bernardine m Loc. ante citat informs us of Seven things that according to some she understood perfectly in her first Sanctification viz. in her Mothers Womb. 1. Irrational created Nature 2. Rational created Nature 3. Spiritual created Nature 4. Divine increated Nature 5. All things that were to be avoided 6. All things to be followed and embraced 7. After what manner and to what degree all things were to be hated or loved He that could believe all this might well add That she was when imprisoned in the Womb in a more sublime State of Contemplation than any humane Creature ever was in its perfect Age and though she slept in her Mothers Womb as other Infants do yet Sleep did not effect that in her it does in us for in us it buries the Acts of Reason and Free-Will and by Consequence Acts of Merit but I believe her Soul by free and meritorious acting did then tend unto God so that she did more perfectly contemplate when she slept than any others ever did when they were awake The Jesuit Poza n Elucidar lib. 2. trac 15. cap. 4. tells us of Fr. Ximenes a Patriarch of Jerusalem who has given an account of some of her sorrowful Thoughts and also joyful Reflections she made in her Mothers Womb.
to venerate her Memory who being a virgin did conceive thy only begotten Son and remaining a Virgin did bring forth our Lord Jesus Christ There also you find the Blessed Virgin included in a Gloria Patri Gloria Patri genitaeque proli Flamini Sancto Virginique Matri Quae Dei natum genuit hominem Sit laus perennis Amen Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and perpetual Praise to the Virgin Mother of whom the Son of God was born a Man. Amen The present Roman Breviaries though they are not so express in the Point of Immaculateness yet are full of other unwarrantable Applications Oratio Brev. Rom. Reform ad 8 Decemb. Famulis tuis quaesumus Domine coelestis gratiae munus impartire ut quibus Beatae Virginis partus extitit salutis exordium conceptionis ejus votiva solemnitas pacis tribuat incrementum Per Dominum c. A Prayer Lord we beseech thee bestow upon thy Servants the Gift of heavenly Grace that they to whom the Birth of the Virgin was the Beginning of Salvation the vow'd Solemnity of her Conception may contribute to the increase of their Peace Through our Lord c. Lect. 1. Ecclus 24. Ex Ore Altissimi prodivi primogenita ante omnem creaturam ego feci c. Lesson 1. I came out of the Mouth of the most High the First-Born of every Creature c. Lect. 2. Ab initio ante saecula creata sum usque ad futurum saeculum non desinam in habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi c. Less 2. From the Beginning and before all Ages I was created and I shall never fail in the holy Habitation I ministred before him c. Lect. 3. Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis timoris agnitionis sanctae Spei In me gratia omnis viae veritatis in me omnis spes vitae virtutis Transite ad me omnes qui concupiscitis me à generationibus meis implemini Qui audit me non confundetur qui operantur in me non peccabunt qui elucidant me vitam aeternam habebunt Less 3. I am the Mother of fair Love and Fear and Knowledge and holy Hope In me is the Grace of every Way and Truth in me is all the Hope of Life and Vertue Come unto me all ye that are desirous of me and from my Off-spring ye shall be filled He that heareth me shall not be confounded and they that work by me shall not do amiss they that brighten me shall have eternal Life REMARKS THere is no Controversy ever was started that has more busied the Wits of those of the Roman Communion nor any that ever was managed with greater Heats and Animosities in their Schools than this of the Immaculate Conception A Question that never entred into the Heads of any of the Ancient Fathers for as Vasquez a Part. 3. disp 117. c. 1. confesses it is manifest that before the times of S. Bernard there was no Dispute among the ancient Fathers concerning the Blessed Virgins Preservation from Original Sin since none of them so much as mention it Though in his time it appears by his 174 Epistle to the Canons of Lyons there was some Debate about it among Divines I shall make bold to add that this Controversy betwixt the Two Parties they who assert her Conception in Original Sin whom we shall call to avoid Circumlocution Maculists and those who deny it the Immaculists is not only Late and Novel but also extreamly foolish and ridiculous when you consider where the Difference lies betwixt them They themselves confess b Vasquez ibid. qu. 27. disp 114. c. 1. Bellarm. de amiss gratiae l. 4. c. 15. that it is agreed on all Hands in their Church that she was sanctified in her Mothers Womb before she was born so that the only Question and it is a very wise one is Whether in the first Moment of her Conception c Th. Raynaudus Dipt Mar. p. 132. she was immaculate yea or no Both Parties agreeing that she had the Use of her Reason as we heard before in the first Moment of her Conception one might have been tempted to think considering the Zeal of the opposite Side that the Maculists had brought her in loaded and labouring for some Months together in her Mothers Womb under a sense of Gods heavy Displeasure for Adam's Sin which the other side could not endure to suppose and that this made them so very angry But there is no such matter I assure you they are as civil to the Blessed Virgin in this Respect as one can possibly desir◠For one of their Adversaries d Franciscus a Christo praelect de Incarnat fol. 189. has given us an account of Three Opinions among them and all of them very favourable to her The Severest is that of S. Thomas who thinks that she was in Sin for a time but so short a time that none can measure it to wit so much time as intervenes between two Moments inter duo instantia for in the first Instant of her Conception she contracted the Original Stain in the next Moment after it she was purged from it so that she was obnoxious to Sin only the time that must come between those Two Moments Others think that the Blessed Virgin was a whole Moment of Time in Sin integro temporis instanti but all the time that is coupled with that Instant was in Grace and so grant that her Son delivered his Mother from Guilt as soon as it was possible for Divine Omnipotency to effect it This will not please the Immaculists for this Reason because if they say that the first Instant she was in Sin tho they grant that in the next Instant Grace was infused to take it away yet because two Instants according to the Philosopher 6 Physic cannot immediately cohere no more than Two Atoms in continued Quantity without a middle Time between them therefore the Blessed Virgin must be in Sin according to this Opinion not only the first Instant but also the time between that and the second But he says there are a third Sort and they are the very Pinks of Courtesy who come thus far as to say That in the first Instant in which she contracted Guilt she was also delivered from the same by God Only they crave Leave to divide an Instant into Three in tria Signa In the first of which she contracted Sin in the second sanctifying Grace was infused into her Soul but more incompleat and transient abiding with Sin but ready to expel it In the third the same Grace is understood as permanent and actually to have expelled Sin. This indeed is too subtil to be Intelligible yet however one would think it should be kindly taken by those of the other Opinion since if they will but allow them the third Part of a Moment for her stay under the Original Guilt they then declare her to be as immaculate as the
other can imagine her to be And if the one Party apprehends a Wound to be given to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin by the Supposition of her being under that Sin it is healed you see by the other in far less time than the twinkling of an Eye or the quickness of the swiftest Thought And yet after all I assure you it is morally certain that these Two Parties will never be pieced together but eternally quarrel Fresh Combatants appear every day upon the Stage and they charge one another so furiously and engage the People in such Numbers in the Quarrel that neither General Council nor Pope whom both sides acknowledge only capable of doing it dare decide this doughty Matter for fear of worse Consequences to ensue thereupon So that all things considered never was a juster Censure than that severe one which a Poet of their own e Mantuan in S. Fest Decembr has passed upon them both Duae veniunt ista in certamina Sâ—ctae Non unquam magno implentes subsellia risu Aequanimes autem volamus si vera fateri Vanus uterque labor pieras temeraria praeceps Religio levitas velata scientiae amictu Nec Natura potest illuc extendere visum Nec Deus hoc docuit nec re dependet ab ista Nostra saluâ— Quae nos igitur dementia torquet Vt studeamus in his consumere litibus annos That is Whilst these Two Sects in furious Combats chafe Their pleas'd Spectators only louder laugh For if we 'll freely say the Truth 't is plain Their Piety is rash both strive in vain All the Religious Zeal they seem t' express Is only Folly cloath'd in skilful Dress Natures short Sight cannot so far extend What God ne'er taught on that can ne'er depend Our Happiness What Madness then t' engage Or in such Fruitless Quarrels spend our Age Since therefore we are made Spectators of this Combat and need not as they have stated the Question trouble our selves much about it it may not be amiss to take a View how they have listed themselves and with what Weapons Offensive and Defensive they come appointed into the Field The Maculists tho their Infantry be not so numerous yet they are no ways daunted as having they judge a better Cause and more experienced Leaders f 260 Famous Doctors are named and their Words cited by Vinc. de Bandelis in tract de sing purit praerog concept J. Christi and Old Commanders on their Side The Fathers tho you take S. Bernard into the Number are wholly theirs g M. Canus Loc. The. l. 7. c. 1. Sancti omnes uno ore asseverant c. So Pet. Cellensis Sententiae omnium retro Sanctorum lib. 6. Epist 23. so are also the most ancient Schoolmen and those of greatest Note They think they are sure of the Master of the Sentences h Estius l. 3. dist 3. Sect. 3. and their Claim is not questioned to the Great Albertus and Alexander Alensis to Bonaventure Durandus S. Antoninus and a little Army of other Chieftanes mentioned by Vasquez i Ibid. disp 117. c. 1. But there are Two especially whom they glory in and who spirit the whole Party the one a School-man and the other a Father Aquinas k Part. 3. qu. 27. art 2. in corp ad 2. 3 4. of the first sort with his vast Train of Thomists must needs make a formidable Appearance to the Enemy when they cannot deny that Christ gave Approbation to his Writings in that fam'd saying Bene de me scripsisti Thoma Thomas thou hast written well of me And that Evasion is only to be laugh'd at which a Jesuit l Barth de Scobar conc 1. de concept B. Virg. p. 27. being sensible of the Force of it has given Forte dixit de me c. Perhaps he said on purpose those Words Of me by way of Restriction and Limitation lest any one should take Occasion to think that Christ approved whatsoever he wrote of Mary The Father I mentioned is S. Austin m 14 Places are cited out of him by Bandelis lib. citat part 1. c. 9. who may well stand for a great many because in his Writings against the Pelagians he had Occasion particularly to take Notice of it and always resolves it the same way making it the Privilege of Christ only to have no Original Sin but involving his Mother by Name in it To mention a few of the Places In his 5th Book against Julianus n C 9. thus he says Quod si dementis est dicere sine dubio caro christi non est caro peccati sed facilis carni peccati c. If it be undoubted and madness to affirm the Contrary that Christs Flesh is not sinful Flesh but like to sinful Flesh what can we conceive further but that excepting this all other human Flesh is of Sin And hence it appears that that Concupiscence by which Christ would not be conceived did cause in Mankind an evil Off-spring and altho the Body of Mary came from thence yet she did not transmit it into the Body which did not conceive from thence Now from hence it is that the Body of Christ is said to be in the Likeness of sinful Flesh because all other Flesh of Men is sinful Whoso denies this and so compares the Flesh of Christ with the Flesh of other Men that are born as to assert that both are of equal Purity he is found to be a detestable Heretick And elsewhere o De genes ad lit l. 10. c. 18. Virginis caro etiamsi de peccati propagatione venit c. The Flesh of the Virgin tho it came of a sinful Stock yet she did not conceive Christ from the Stock of Sin. Therefore the Body of Christ tho it was assumed from the Flesh of a Woman who was conceived of that Stock of sinful Flesh yet because his Body was not conceived in her as she was conceived neither was his Flesh sinful Flesh but the likeness of sinful Flesh In another place p De peccat merit remis l. 2. c. 24. Solus ergo ille homo factus manens Deus peccatum nullum habuit unquam nec sumpsit carnem peccati quamvis de natura carnis peccati alia Lect. Quamvis de materna carne peccati i. e. Therefore he alone who remaining God was made Man had never any Sin nor did he take sinful Flesh tho it was of the nature of sinful Flesh or tho it was of his Mothers sinful Flesh And again q In Psal 34. conc 2. Maria ex Adam mortua c. Mary deriving from Adam died because of Sin Adam dyed because of Sin and the Flesh of our Lord derived from Mary died to take away Sin. Saint Bernard also speaks the same Sence in his Words which were cited before p. 37. If their Adversaries were not convinced that the ancient Church knew no such Doctrine they need not trouble
him to wound thee with the Dart of Original Sin. The Characters which Solomon gives of the Spouse their Church has apply'd to her and they argue the same For She is among the Daughters as the Lily among the Thornes z See Delrio's Florida Mariana orat 1. applying this to her Cant. 2. Thou art all fair my Love there is no Spot in thee * Bellarm. Greg. Valentia ubi supra Cant. 4. Which we are told a Pelbartus l. 4. Stellar p. 1. art 3. were the Words of Alex. Ales which he spake when dying to the Virgin commending by her his Soul to God. Tota pulchra es amica mea nulla macula neque originalis neque actualis est in te Thou art Beautiful Comely as Jerusalem Terrible as an Army with Banners c. 6. My Dove my undefiled is but one The Daughters saw her and blessed her ibid. Who is she that looketh forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun c. Their Adversaries perhaps will say that these Texts rather agreed to her after-Sanctification than to her first Conception But Jac. de Valentia has one place in Reserve which he thinks comes home to the Point Psal 46.5 Adjuvabit eam deus manè diluculo God shall help her and that right early It had not been early enough if she had sinned in Adam before she was sanctified Thus we have seen as remarkable a Verification as can any where be met with of that usual Reproach they cast upon the Scriptures that it may be made a Nose of Wax to bend and stand any way I suppose they would not think it safe to use the Laws of the Land in this manner but according to their Principles they may make bolder with God Almighty and his Oracles for this is but a small matter for their Patroness to obtain Pardon for an Abuse of Scripture when one that sealed a Writing giving his Soul to the Devil to enjoy a Wench b Tursellinus in Hist Lauret lib. 3. c. 33. and another that denied Christ himself in such another Bargain with the Devil to get an Estate c Caesarius l. 2. exempl c. 12. Vinc. Belluac spec Hist l. 7. c. 105 106. yet both of them were secured and forgiven by applying themselves to the Blessed Virgin. As for their Arguments from Reason they are of the same Strain with the former very witty and very ridiculous The chief Argument that Bellarmine d Loc. ante citat and most of the Schoolmen insist on is this That it being certain that God could have preserved her from this Guilt the only Reason why he should not must be because he would not do it And here they undertake a pretty hard Task as well as a very sawcy one to determine what is decent and fitting for God to will in this Case when he has not declared one Syllable concerning it God be thanked that he has told us what he himself thought was fitting with Reference to our Saviour otherwise these Reasoners would undoubtedly have concluded That it was no decent Preparation for the coming of the Son of God into the World to lie in a Cratch nor for his going out of it to hang upon a Cross But Gods Thoughts are not like ours nor his Ways like our Ways Esa 55. But let us hear their Proofs such as they are 1. Some urge e Francisc a Christo ubi supra that it was most fitting God should do this in respect of the Mother for if she had been obnoxious to Sin she had not been idonea Mater Dei a fit Mother of God. Rupertus has been so bold before them to assert That it was requisite that she should be sanctified that is cleansed from all Sin both actual and original that so Christ that was born of her might be altogether Holy though I find one Jesuit f Raynaudus ibid. p. 215. says Quamvis Mater Christi sorduisset peccato Christus ex ea nasci potuisset neque tamen minus sanctus fuisset quam nunc sit quique sanctificaâ—to orta ex unione ad verbum fons secundariae sanctitatis Christo communicatae fuit independens à sanctitate Matris so Ingenuous as to profess that His Sanctity did not at all depend upon Hers. Here again their Fancies work amain It 's altogether fitting and becoming God's Wisdom says Gab. Biel g In Fest Concept Serm. 3. that the Immaculate Lamb of God should proceed from one that was immaculate and if so in Body why not rather so in Soul Christ would sit says another h Bernar. de buft Serm. 8. p. 86. upon the Foal of an Ass on which no Man had sate before and would lie in a Sepulchre in which no Man had lain so also take Flesh of a Virgin where the Devil had never sate and in whose Soul Sin had never dwelt If the Host i Idem Serm. 9. p. 99. Si in aliquo calice semel stercorizatum fuisset licet postea purificatus esset non tamen honestum esset in eo consecrare SS sanguinem Domini nostâ—i J. Christi sic indecens fuisset in muliere in qua semel Diabolus peccati stercora projecisset dei filium procreari Christus noluit acceptare in matrem nec Deus pater in Conjugem should fall into stinking Mire or into the Mouth of a Mad Dog or a Swine who would consecrate it into the Body of Christ So absurd would it be if of her that had rolled in the Filth of Sin and been worried in the Mouth of a stinking Devil foetentis Diaboli the most pure Body of our Saviour should have been form'd A Maculist may easily with one Breath blow away all these pretty Similitudes like so many Bubbles For it 's to be hoped that in spight of original Sin and the Devil one that is guilty of it if no other Sin intervenes may still be a true and pure Virgin and then the Sanctification of her Soul being supposed the Son of God resolving to be made Flesh need no more abhor this Virgins Womb than the Holy Ghost does the Bodies of those that have been very Impure after they are washed and sanctified so far from it that he vouchsafes to dwell there and they become his Temple 2. Others insist much upon the Virulency of original Sin k Raynaud ibid. p. 145. plerique alii which Raynaudus says always seem'd to him to be the strongest Argument For this is a mortal Sin and makes a Man a Child of Wrath and the Devil's Slave by reason of this an Infant is a Monster in that Rank of Beings that is destinated to a supernatural End. It seems clear therefore that original Sin which has so frightful and horrid a Form had no Place in her for so the Throne of God would have become the Seat of the Devil If she had been conceived under this Guilt says another l Bernar. de bust