proceed SECT II. A further Declaration of the Sanctity taught and practis'd in the Roman Church OUr Creed assures us that Holiness is a badge of the true Church that being one Article of the twelve I believe the Holy Catholick Church The Psalmist tells us That Holiness Beautifies the House of Ps l. 92. God for ever We learn from our Blessed Saviour That a tree is known Mat. 7. 16 17 18. by its fruit and therefore as a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit so a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit The great Apostle of the Gentiles informs us That Christ gave himself Eph 5. 26 27. for his Church cleansing her by the laver of Baptism in his word that he might present her to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle but that she might be holy and unspotted And beside Precepts the Evangelical Law doth councel us to walk in a way of sublime perfection by following Christ our Master with no ordinary Cross on our shoulders which Protestants think insupportable yea impossible and 't is so indeed to flesh and blood But he who invites us to it hath born the burden of it himself that it might become not only tolerable but easie and delightful to willing Souls Else we had never heard from his Sacred Lips Qui potest capere capiat He Mat. 19. â—2 that can receive it let him receive it After he had told us of those who make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven And afterwards If thou wilt be perfect go and ver 21. sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come and follow me And to make this Heavenly Counsel more operative assures us That whosoever forsakes House or Brethren ver 29. or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for his Name sake shall receive a hundred fold and also inherit everlasting life Now the rayes of this sublime Holiness do not only shine forth gloriously in the Lives of Catholicks among whom multitudes of Souls enflamed with the fire of Divine Love by forsaking whatsoever is near and dear to flesh and blood by a generous and wonderful contempt of the World the Honours Riches and Glory of it by Crucifying even the Lawful Pleasures of the Flesh by a perfect abnegation of their Wills in exact obedience to Spiritual Directors by wholly devoting themselves to a Life of Spirituality in the continual exercises of Prayer and Mortification Do perfect Holiness in the fear of God These are those Angels on earth who make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven who breathing after perfection and panting after Glory make God their only Treasure who with Mary chusing the better part which shall never be taken from them do forsake all things whatsoever to follow Christ These are those Virgin-Souls Who cleansing 2 Cor. 7. 1. themselves from all defilements of Flesh and Spirit or as St. Paul elsewhere Phrases it Sollicitous to be holy in Body and Spirit are altogether 1 Cor. 7. 32 c. busied about the things of our Lord how they may please him Who spend their lives in voluntary Afflictions in wonderful Austerities in much Patience in admired Chastity in Love unfeigned in profound Humility in Watchings and Fastings in Solitude and Silence in Prayer and Contemplation in abstraction from Temporal Affairs that no ordinary pollutions of sin contracted by conversing with the World may sully the purity of their hearts which only makes them precious in the Eyes of their Spiritual Bridegroom and in a most inexpressible manner united to him And indeed by these means vigorously prosecuted with perseverance they at length arrive to such a transcendency and forgetfulness of all created things to such a contempt and annihilation of themselves to such a Heavenly-mindedness and attention to God only to such glorious manifestations of him to such a gustful knowledge of his infinite perfections to such an experimental apprehension of the Divine presence within them to such an unspeakable fruition and repose in him with the full extent of their wills that in a manner they become deify'd and enjoy as much of Heaven as Souls are capable of in mortal Bodies Which most intime union and communion with God so sublime and ravishing none either are not can be partakers of who walk not in the use of the same means whereby it only is attainable For purity of heart is a necessary and the immediate disposition to divine union and according to the degrees of Holiness in the Soul this glorious union is more or less participated Now the nature of Sanctity consisting in a separation as well of persons as things and places from profane and common uses with a special reference to God or as some explain it importing principally two things First Purity in being wash'd from the filth of sin and drain'd from the polluting commixture of terene dregs which the Greeks had an eye to in expressing a Saint by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is one without Earth Secondly Firmness and Stability in the wayes of God it necessarily follows that those Happy Souls more especially attain to this transcendent union with God who become perfect Nazarites in separating themselves from the World and the things of it that they may the better love and please and serve God with all their Heart with all their Mind and with all their Strength And to confirm their Wills in these endeavours after the perfecting of Holiness do by Religious vows offer themselves to God that he may be wholly theirs and they wholly his for Time and for Eternity Now I appeal to Protestants themselves whether these means of Sanctity are to be found among them who not only practice not but deride and Scoff at this sublime way to perfection in the Church of Rome making themselves merry with our Devotions But as Wisdom so Holiness is manifested by effects in her Children And there needs no more to testify who is their Father And if any doubt whether such earnest endeavours after Holiness and this sublime way of walking with God by having our Conversation in a manner continually in Heaven while we are on earth be the constant Doctrine of the Roman Church if they will be pleased to consult Catholick Authors they may receive abundant satisfaction from that incomparable Book of the imitation of Christ the Heavenly Writings of St. Francis de Sales Bishop of Geneva the excellent Works of Ludovicus Granatensis so famous for practical Divinity that sublime Piece of Spirituality the Scale of Perfection and to name no more Sancta Sophia for Books of this nature are infinite And if they desire to see the best Commentaries of such Heavenly Doctrines in those happy Countries where Catholick Religion is publickly profess'd they may waving the failures of some who like as in the Colledge of the Apostles such is humane weakness deviate from
Bullwark for the Catholick Faith against Cent. 4. Ep. ad ori Episc the Arrians is no less express and punctual to our purpose Sicut B. Petrus Apostles c. As Blessed Peter was chief of the Apostles so the Roman Church consecrated in his Name by our Lords institution was first and Head of the rest and all great Churches and Assemblies of Bishops should have recourse to her as to the Mother Church and Supreme I have put these too together because Popes which cannot derogate from their Authority our Adversaries having nothing justly to say against them St. Irenaeus surely was no Protestant in this point affirming The most ancient known Church to all men L. 3. cont haer c. 13. founded and establish'd at Rome by the two most famous Apostles Peter and Paul brought down by succession of Bishops to his time to be that Church to which by reason of its more powerful principality every Church that is all the Faithful over the World ought to resort Tertullian calls St. Peter The Rock of the Church and the Bishop In praeser c. 22 36. of Rome the High Priest and Bishop of Bishops Origen is clear When says he the chief charge of feeding Christs sheep was given to Peter and the In ca. 6. Ep. ad Roma Church founded upon him c. There was required of him the confession of no Virtue but Charity Relating to that place in the 21 of St. John's Gospel where is described when and how our Blessed Saviour invested him with this Supreme Pastorship and Jurisdiction We saith St. Cyprian as the Epist ad Ju mouth of the Church hold Peter the Head and Root of the Church But that famous place elsewhere is more full and convincing The enemy perceiving De vnit Eccles his Idols to be forsaken and his Temples to be deserted by the multitude of Believers invented a new deceit to gull the unwary by the name of Christian raising Heresies and Schismes to corrupt Verity and subvert Faith This is O Brethren because we have not recourse to the Origen nor seek to the Head Which if we would consider and examine there would need no long Treatise nor many arguments to find out the Truth Our Lord said to Peter Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And again after resurrection saying As my Father sent me so send I you c. Yet to John 20. 21 c. manifest unity he constituted one Chair and by his Authority he dispos'd the Origen of that Vnity to begin from oneâ— The rest of the Apostles were that which Peter was the Primacy was given to Peter that the Church of Christ might appear to be one and one Chair Here are couch'd many things remarkable First That all Hereticks and Schismaticks are not true Members of the Catholick Church but meer nominal Christians Secondly that Heresie and Schism in their own nature are as damning sins as flat Idolatry being Satan's new-invented snareâ— to catch poor Souls and his utmost endeavours to keep up his tottering Kingdom after the promulgation of the Gospel to all Nations Thirdly That unwary Souls are only taken by these ginns of the Enemy who have not recourse to the Visible Head of the Church in communion with whom Truth is only to be found Fourthly That St. Peter is this visible Head of the Church constituted by Christ himself first by Promise afterwards by Commission The Promise Thou art Peter and Mat. a6 upon this rock will I build my Church unto thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven The Commission Feed my Lambs feed my Joh. 21. Sheep Being words spoken to St. Peter and no other Apostle Fifthly To prevent an Objection that they were all Apostles as well as Peter and therefore equal in Authority he grants they were equal in the Apostleship as much as concerns an illimited Power and Commission to Preach the Gospel to all Nations and so they were all foundations of the Church But St. Peter in a more peculiar and eminent manner was a rock on which the Church was founded in as much as he was made their Head and supreme Pastor of the Faithful To whom St. Hierom wholly accords affirming That although all the Apostles were alike in Apostleship yet Christ for the better keeping of Vnity L. 1. adv Jouin. c. 14. and Truth would have one to be Head of them all that a Head being once constituted occasion of Schism might be taken away Neither is he less punctual in asserting the Bishop of Rome to succeed Peter in this Primacy writing thus to Pope Damasus Ego Beatudini tuae id est Cathedrae Petri communione consocior Ep. 57 58. c. I am joyn'd in Communion with your Holiness that is the Chair of Peter I know the Church is built upon that rock whosoever eates the Lamb out of his Family is a Prophane person Whosoever is not in Noah ' s Ark perishes in the flood Ask St. Austin his Faith in this Tract 56. in Joha point and he tells us The Primacy among the Apostles by special grace is pre-eminent in St. Peter And elsewhere he calls St. Peter The Head Ep. 86. of the Apostles the Gate-keeper of Heaven and the foundation of the Church And what he believ'd concerning the Power of his Successors is evident by these words Sedenti Ep. 162. in Cathedra Romanae Ecclesiae c. The whole Christian World in the transmarine and remotest parts of the Earth is subject to him who sits in the Chair of the Roman Church St. Gregory also assures us that he knows no Bishop but is subject to the See Apostolick And that the care and Principality of the Church L. 4. Epist 32. Ep. ad Maurit hath been committed to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and yet he is not called Vniversal Apostle That is as if there was no other Apostle but He. Thus vindicating the supreme jurisdiction and Primacy of the Roman Bishop as St Peter's Successor against John the proud Patriarch of Constantinople arrogating to himself the Title of Universal Bishop in a sense contrary to the Doctrine and practice of the Catholick Church To cite more at large would be tedious but to these might be added the Epistle of St. Marcellus Pope and Martyr to the Bishops of the Province of Antioch concerning the Primacy of the Chair of Rome Leo the great Ser. 3. Anniu Assump Ser. 2. in Nat. S. Petri. Epist 89. S. Athana Ep. ad Faelicem S. Ambr. in ca. 2. ad Galatas l. 6. ad Lucam c 2. S. Epipha haer 51. S. Chrysost Hom. 55. in Matt. Optatus Milevit l. 2. cont Parm. Fulgentius de Incar gratia c. 11. Prosp l. 2. de Voca Gentium ca. 6. Euseb Ep. 3. Campaniae c. And many others but these may suffice This harmony
use as most proportionably to our present capacity and consequently most likely to produce the effect for which 't is intended For Truth entring into the the closet of our Soul through he port of our Senses as by the innate light of the understanding with an ordinary concurrence of the prime cause man can attain to some degree of the knowledge of God by natural effects and is utterly inexcusable if he does not So to induce us to the belief of things wholly supernatural and unattainable but by Divine Revelation he 's pleas'd sometimes by extraordinary and supernatural effects namely Miracles to work upon our Senses that we might believe and be saved or we rendred inexcusable when unbelief shall be laid to our charge And therefore 't is said 〈◊〉 believes not Mar. 16. 16. are condemned already As having nothing to say for themselves in that they so wilfully shut their eyes in Sun-shine that they might not see and be converted And our Blessed Joh. 15. 22 c. Saviour says elsewhere If I had not done those works among them which none other hath done they had not sinn'd but now they have no excuse for their sin But as Miracles are to beget Faith where 't is not so the next use of them is to give strength and growth to it where 't is already planted least at any time we should have a heart of Infidelity to depart from the Truth received either by flat Apostacy which more rarely happens or by Schism and Heresie which are Satan's commonest snares wherein he catches unwary Souls to their destruction What can they say for themselves to whom in so much Heavenly Light the Cross becomes a stumbling-block so as to fall away from their stability or once fallen if they will not rise again and be recall'd into the bosom of the Catholick Church by the voice of such wonderful works crying aloud after them even sufficient to engrave Faith in a rocky-hearted Jew and introduce belief into very Infidels From whence appears the absurdness of that Protestant Thesis That all Miracles are now ceased in the Church For besides indubitable testimonies from clouds of Witnesses enough to satisfy any rational man these causes yet continuing viz. Infidelity Heresie and Schism God will also still continue the same supernatural effects to beget or confirm supernatural Faith in the Souls of men But why they are not so frequent as in the first planting of the Gospel this may be one reason in that the true Church being manifested to the World by those Miracles which more or less in every Age are wrought in her Communion and her 's only entitle her justly to all the rest confirming the same Faith which others cannot claim by the like evidence For the principal end of Miracles being for the confirmation of true Faith taught by Christ and his Apostles to the World either to give it birth or growth if God did vouchsafe to work in the same manner such wonderful Signs and Prodigies by any persons in other Communions than his Catholick Church they could not be sufficient Testimonies from Heaven of Divine Truth but be instrumental likewise to set a lustre on deeds of Darkness and harden poor seduced Souls in erroneous Worship Neither had the Ancient Apologists for the Christian Faith rationally made use of Miracles as a convincing argument of the Truth thereof if Infidels or others could have produced justly the like evidences to give Testimony to their false Religion See Heb. 2. ver 3 4. St. Joh. 5. 36. ch 7. 31. ch 9. 30. ch 10. 28. ch 15. 22 24. Hence St. Gregory Quia carnales adhuc c. Hom. 2. in Evan. Because the Disciples being yet carnal could not understand his mysterious words he proceeds to a Miracle a blind man receives his sight before their eyes that who understood not the words of Divine Mystery Heavenly deeds might work Faith in them Thirdly God works Miracles in his Church to manifest the extraordinary Sanctity of some persons to whom he 's pleas'd to vouchsafe a special Honour and thereby proposes as singular examples for others to imitate in their glorious walkings And this is done either while they are living or after death by their Sacred Relicks and Intercession and sometimes in both they are alike glorified by him who only works Miracles whomsoever he makes choice of for the Instruments Which no false Worshipers in the World can challenge to their Profession Yet that such have been and are still wrought by Saints in the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church there are as good proofs to evidence it to the World as that there was such a man as Henry the 8th once King of England Which certainty none pretend to deny And though Protestants cannot lay claim to any true Miracles for the confirmation of their Faith and practice yet how fain they would have their new Religion so attested is manifest in that they greedily catch at shaddows and interpret any thing that 's somewhat strange and not ordinary as the singular actings of God in their behalf Or if any among them observe some austerities in the contempt of worldly Pleasures and Contentments which is so frequent among Catholicks presently this is a Sanctity without parallel and by the wind of vain-glory is puffed up to the Prodigious greatness of a wonder And I confess if all rare things are Miraculous this among them may justly be so accounted To these I might add the manifestation of the power of his Godhead and the riches of his Goodness towards his Church by such extraordinary workings beside the course of universal nature to make up the number of his Elect and consummate them in Glory But these last are not proper to my present purpose and the former related reasons are those for which God is pleased principally to work Miracles in the true Church and ought to be operative upon rational Souls to bring them to the knowledge and the embracing of the Truth SECT V. Some undoubted and most famous Miracles relating to the present Controversies between Us and Protestants ST Austin having related some De Civi Dei l. 22. c. 8. Miracles wrought upon Devotes at St. Stephens Shrine by his special intercession whereof himself was an eye-witness affirms That if he should record all that he knew to have been done in those Territories he must fill Books And so might I too with much more reason if I should set down but the tenth of those which concern the present Controversies between Protestants and Us having confin'd my self to no less limits then the Christian World affording innumerable Miracles the truth of which cannot justly be question'd because deliver'd to our knowledge with as much certainty as matters of fact are capable of However I shall be brief and only select out some few which I conceiv'd most convincing to Souls yet hardned with unbelief And had wholly spar'd this labour but that I know particulars are prâ—ssing