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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28839	An exposition of the doctrine of the Catholique Church in the points of controversie with those of the pretended reformation by James Benignus Bossüet, counseller in the King's counsels, Bishop and Lord of Condom, tutor to His Royal Hyghness the Dolphin of France ; translated into English by W.M.; Exposition de la doctrine de l'Eglise catholique sur les matières de controverse. English	Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne, 1627-1704.; Montagu, Walter, 1603?-1677.	1672 (1672)	Wing B3782; ESTC R30305	47,803	218

of deputation which were drawn vp agreed vpon at the Synode of Vitré in the year 1617. to be obserued by the Prouinces when they were to send deputies to the Nationall Synode is yet more positiue it runns in these termes We promise before God to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly and to obey execute it with all our power being perswaded as we are that God will preside in it and conduct you by his holy Spirit into all truth and equity by the rule of his Word Here the point is not the receau●ng of the resolution of a Synode after hauing discern'd that it hath ordain'd according to the Scripture but here is a submission made unto it euen before the assembling of it and this is done by reason they are perswaded that the holy spirit will preside in it If this perswasion be grounded vpon a humane presumption can one in conscience promise before God to submitt to all which shall be resolued and concluded and to obey execute it to the utmost of ones power And if this perswasion be grounded vpon an assured beleef of that assistance the holy Ghost affordeth the Church in her Finall ordinances the Catholiques themselues require no more of them Thus the proceedings of our Aduersariers doe manifest that they concurr with vs in the necessity of a Supreme Authority without which there can neuer be a Finall decision of any doubt in Religion and although when they cast of the yoke of Obedience they denied that the faithfull were obliged to resigne their iudgment vp to that of the Church yet the necessity of settling some order among themselues hath forced them in processe of time to acknowledg what their first engagement had moued them to contradict Nay they haue gone much farther in the National Synode held at Sainte Foy in the year 1578. There was some ouerture made of a reconcilement with the Lutherans by means of a forme of profession of Faith general and common to all the Churches which was proposed to be concerted and drawn vp The Churches of this Kingdome were inuited to depute vnto an Assembly to be held for that purpose virtuous persons approued and authorised by all the forenamed Churches with an ample Procuration TO TREAT AGREE VPON AND DECIDE ALL POINTS OF DOCTRINE and other matters concerning the vnion Vpon this proposition the resolution of the Synode of Sainte Foy was agreed vpon in these termes The National Synode of this Kingdome after having giuen God thanks for such an ouerture and commended the care and diligence as well as the good counsels of the fore-mentioned persons conuoked APPROVING THE REMEDIES THEY HAVE SVGGESTED viz principally that of framing a new Confession of Faith and giuing power to some certaine persons to compose it hath ordained that in case the copie of that aboue-named Confession of Faith shall be sent time enough it shall be examined in euery Prouinciall Synode or after some other manner according to the conueniency of each Prouince and in the mean time hath deputed four Ministers the best experienced in affairs of that nature to whome expresse order hath bin giuen to render themselves vpon the places and at the day with letters and ample Procurations of all the Ministers and ancient Deputies of the Prouinces of this Kingdome together with those of the Viscount of Turene to doe all things aboue mentioned and euen in case that MEANS COVLD NOT BE FOVND TO EXAMINE THE SAYD CONFESSION BY ALL THE PROVINCES it is referr'd to their prudence and sound iudgment to agree and CONCLVDE all the points which shall be brought into deliberation as well FOR THE DOCTRINE as for any other matter concerning the benefit vnion and quiet of all the Churches This in fine is the result of that feigned tendernesse of Conscience in the Ministers of the Pretended-Reformed Religion How often haue they reproached to us as a weakenesse that Submission we professe to the iudgment and Decrees of the Church which is say they but a company of men subiect to Error and yet they being assembled themselues in a Body at a Nationall Synode which represented all the Pretended-Reformed Churches of France haue nor scrupuled to leaue their Faith to the Arbitration of four persons with so Absolute a Resignation of their Iudgments that they transferr'd vpon them a full power to change the very Confession it self which they propose euen to this day to all Christian people as a Confession of Faith which containeth nothing but the pure Word of God and for which in presenting it to our Kings they haue said that an infinite number of people were ready to shed their blood I leaue the prudent Reader to make his reflections vpon the Decree of this Synode and will conclude in few words my explication of the perswasions tenents of the Catholique Church The sonne of God hauing bin pleased that his Church should remaine one and be solidly built vpon this Vnity hath instituted founded the Primacy of S t Peter to maintaine and cement it whereupōwe acknowledgethe same Primacy in the Successors of the Prince of the Apostles vnto whome vpon that title we owe that Submission Obedience which the holy Councells Fathers haue taught and inioyn'd the faithfull As for those points which are so vsually disputed in the Schooles although the Ministers doe cōtinually alledge them to asperse and render that Authority odious it is to little purpose to mention them in this discourse since they are not points of Catholique Faith It is sufficient here to confesse a Head established by God which will freely be accorded by all such as affect Vnion Concord of Christian Fraternity Ecclesiasticall Vnanimity And certaine it is that if the Founders of the Pretended Reformation had loued Vnity in the Church they would neuer haue abolished Episcopall Gouernement which we finde established by IESVS-CHRIST himself and which we see impower'd authorised euen in the dayes of the Apostles nor would they haue despised the Authority of S. Peter's seate which hath so solid a foundation in the Ghospel and so euident a continuation in Ecclesiasticall Tradition they would rather haue zealously maintain'd Episcopall Iurisdiction which setleth preserueth Vnion in particular Churches and the Primacy of S. Peter's Chaire which is the common center of all Catholique Vniō This is the exposition of the Catholique Doctrine wherein to tye my self to what is most important in it I haue declined some questions which the Pretended-Reformers themselues doe not account a legitimate motiue for a Breach or Separation and I may hope that those of their Communion who shall examine fairely with Christian equity all the parts and consequences of this Treatise will by the reading thereof be better disposed to accept and acquiescevnto those proofs vpō which the Faith of the Church is established and will at least auowe that many of our Controuersies may be decided by a

vtility of Prayer to Saints aduiseth vs to pray in the same spirit of charity and according to that order of fraternall society which moues vs to request the succors of our bretheren liuing vpon the earth and the Catechisme of the Councel of Trent concludeth of this doctrine that if the quality of Mediator which the holy Scripture attributeth to CHRIST IESVS did receiue any preiudice by the intercession of Saints who reigne with God almighty that it would haue the same diminution by the offices and mediations of the faithfull who are liuing with us This Catechisme informeth vs clearly of the extreame difference between the manner of our imploring the succour of God that of our solliciting the contributions of the Saints for thus it says We pray to God either to giue vs good things or to deliuer vs from ill but by reason the Saints are more acceptable to him then we our selfs we request of them their protection sue to them they would obteyn for vs these things we stand in need of And hence it is that we vse two kinds of prayer very different since when we address to God the proper style is HAVE PITTY ON VS BEPLEASED TO HARKEN TO VS but we account it sufficient when we recurr to Saints to beseech them to PRAY FOR VS Whereby we must vnderstand that in what termes soeuer the prayers we offer to Saints are styled the intention of the Church of the Supplicants reduceth them alwayes vnto this forme as the same Catechisme confirmeth in the processe of that discourse But it will not be amisse to consider the words themselfs of the Councel which intending to prescribe to the Bishops in what manner they should speake of the inuocacation of Saints obligeth them to teach that the Saints who reigne with CHRIST IESVS offer to God their prayers for men that it is good and vsefull to inuoke them by way of supplication and to haue recourse to their succours assistances to obtayne of God his benefits through his Sonne our Lord CHRIST IESVS who alone is our Sauiour Redeemer And in order to this declaration the Councel condemneth those who teach a contrary doctrine whereby it is euident that to inuoke the Saints according to the intent of this Councel is to resort to their prayers for the obteyning the blessings and benefits of God by CHRIST IESVS And in truth what we obteyne by the interuention of Saints we acquire only by CHRIST IESVS and in his name since the Saintsthemselfs intercede but by CHRIST IESVS and obteyne their graunts but in his name This is the Faith of the Catholique Church wh ch the Councel of Trent hath cleerly explained in few words after which euidence we cannot conceaue how it can be obiected that we depart remoue our selfs from CHRIST IESVS when we supplicate his members which are also ours his children who are our brothers and his Saints who are our first fruits to ioyne their prayers to ours offering them both to our common Master in the name of our common Mediator The same Councel explaines cleerly in few words the meaning of the Church when it offers to God the holy sacrifice to honor the memory of the Saints That honor we render them in the act of Sacrifice consists in mentioning their names as of the faithfull seruants of God in the prayers we addresse to him thankes-giuings and prayses for the victories they haue obteyned and in humbly mouing his condescending in our fauor by their Intercessions S. Augustin hath declared 1200 years past that none ought to conceiue the Sacrifice as offered to the holy Martyrs although by the custome in practise euen in those tymes vniuersally by the Church the Sacrifice was offered vpon their holy bodies vnto their memories that is to be vnderstood before the places wherein their pretious Reliques were conserued and the same father sayth further that commemoration was made of the Martyrs at the holy table at the celebration of the Sacrifice not intending to pray for them as we doe for other dead but rather in order to their praying for vs. I alledge the perswasion of this holy Bishop by reason the Councel of Trent vseth almost the same words to instruct the faithfull that the Church offers not the Sacrifice vnto the Saints but to God alone who hath crown'd them and that the Priest doth not adresse himself to S. Peter or S. Paul saying I OFFER VNTO YOV THIS SACRIFICE but praysing God for their victories he implores their assistance to the end that they whose Commemoration we celebrate vpon Earth may be moued to pray for vs in Heauen This is the manner wherein we honour the Saints to obteyne graces and benefits from God by their Mediation and the cheifest of those fauors we hope to procure is that of being inabled for their imitation to which we are excited by contemplation of their admirable precedents and by the honour we pay in the presence of God to their blessed memories Whosoeuer shall rightly consider the doctrine we haue proposed will be forced to auowe that as we substract from God none of the perfections peculiar to his infinite essence so we doe not ascribe to Creatures any of those properties or operations the which can not sort but with God alone which doth so absolutely distinguish us from Idolaters that we can not conceiue vpon what ground they lay that imputation And when the Pretended Reformers obiect that in our addressing our prayer to Saints and in honouring them as if they were present all ouer the earth we attribute to them a kind of Immensity or at least the knowledge of the secret of harts which appears reserued singly to God by so many testimonies of the Scripture in this obiection they doe not apprehend our doctrine right for in fine abstracting from the ground we may haue to attribute to the Saints some certain degree of knowledge of such occurrencies as passe amongst vs or euen of our secret thoughts it is euident that it is no eleuation of the creature transcending its condition to affirme that it hath some notion of things by the light which God infuseth by his communication The example of the Prophets attests this clearly God hauing vouchsafed to discouer to them future euents although they seeme to be reserued much more specially to the Omniscience of God But besides this neuer any Catholique conceiued that the Saints by themselues did discerne our wants nor euen the desires for which we addresse particular prayers The Church is content to teach concurrently with all Antiquity that such prayers are very beneficiall to those who practise them whether the Saints apprehend them by the ministery commerce of Angels which according to the profession of the Church know what passeth amongst vs as being appointed by God's order as ministring spirits to concurre in the worke of our Saluation or be it that God himself acquainteth them with our

which comprehend the expresse Doctrine of the Councel of Trent they would forbeare to obiect to vs that we injure the Mediation of CHRIST IESVS and that we inuoke Saints adore Images in a manner peculiar to God himself It is granted by reason that in some sense Inuocation Adoration and the name of Mediator are competent only to God and CHRIST JESVS that it is easy by a perverse vse of those termes to traduce our Doctrine and render it odious but if they are ingenuously receiued in that sense we haue exhibited these obiections loose all their force and if there remayne in the minds of the Pretended Reformers any lesse important difficultyes naturall equity and syncerity will oblige them to auowe themselues satisfy'd in the principall exceptions Besides this there is nothing more vniust then to charge the Church with the stating of all piety in this devotion to Saints since as we haue already euinced the Councel of Trent iudgeth it sufficient to informe and teach Catholiques that this practise is Good Vsefull without advancing it further so that the Churches intent is to condemn such as reiect this practise either by Contempt or Misconstruction and the Church is obliged to condemn them by reason that she ought not to indure the condemning of salutary and usefull practises nor that a Doctrine which all Antiquity hath authorised should be reiected by the Nouellists Doctors The matter of iustification will manifest yet a greater light how many difficulties may be avoyded by a syncere exposition of our opinions Those who are never so little acquainted with the history of the Pretended Reformation can not be ignorant that those who were the first Authors of it did propose this Article to all the world as the principall and as it were the most essentiall ground of their separation so that this seemes the most necessary point to be rightly understood First we beleeve that our sinns are forgiuen freely by the divine mercy for JESVS-CHRIST'S sake these are the expresse termes of the Councel of Trent which addeth further that we are said to be iustified freely because none of those things which precede our iustification either our faith or our works can merit this grace And by reason the holy scripture explains to us the remission of our sinns expressing it some times by saying that God couers them and others that he takes them quite away and effaceth them by the grace of the holy Ghost which renders vs new creatures we conceiue that we are to combine all these expressions to forme a compleate Idea or notion of the iustification of a sinner we doe therefore beleeue that our sinns are not only couered but intirely effaced by the blood of CHRIST IESVS and by the grace by which we are regenerated and this perswasion is so farr from detracting from that image we ought to frame of the merit of that blood as quite contrary it indeareth and eleuateth the value of it for by this meanes the righteousnes of Christ is not simply imputed but actually imparted to the faithfull by the operation of the holy Ghost in so much as they are not only imputed but euen rendered righteous by the grace of Christ. If our righteousnes were only in the sight of man it would not be the operation of the holy Ghost it must then be iustice euen before God since it is God himself who produceth it in vs by an effusion of his charity vpon our harts It is notwithstanding but too true that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and we all offend in many things Wherefore albeit our righteousnes be a true one by the infusion of Charity yet is it no perfect one by reason of the combat between it our concupiscence so that the sighing and sorrowing of a soule repenting her sinns performes the most necessary duty of Christian righteousnes which obligeth vs to confesse with S. Augustin that our righteousnes in this life consists rather in the remission of our sinns then in the perfection of our virtues Wherefore as to the point of Merit imputed to our workes the Catholique Church teacheth that Eternall life ought to be proposed to the children of God both as a Grace mercifully promised by the meanes of our Sauior IESVS CHRIST and as a Reward which is faithfully rendred to their good workes and to their deserts in virtue of that promise these are the expresse termes of the Councel of Trent but least the pride of humane nature should be flattered by the opinion of a persuming Merit the same Councel determineth that all the worth and value of Christian good workes is deriued from that sanctifying grace which is freely conferr'd vpon vs in the name of CHRIST JESVS and that is an effect of the continuall influence of that diuine head vpon his depending members True it is indeed that the exhortations the promises the menaces and reproaches of the Gospel doe declare sufficiently that we are to worke our saluation by the motion actings of our own wills concurring with the Grace of God which assists vs but it is a fixt principle that free will can performe nothing in order to Eternall beatitude but by the same degrees it is moued and eleuated by the holy Ghost Whereupon the Church knowing that it is the holy spirit which worketh in vs by his Grace all the good we doe she ought to rest perswaded that the good workes of the faithfull are very acceptable to God of great estimation in his sight and she doth rightfully vse the terme of Merit concurrently with all Christian Antiquity cheefly to signify the value dignity of our workes which we performe by the motion of his Grace But by reason all their sanctity is deriued from God who workes them in vs the same Church hath receiued from the Councel of Trent as the Doctrine of the Catholique Faith this saying of S. August that God crowns his own Gifts when he crowns the Merits of his seruants We intreate all such as loue truth peace to be pleased to read the whole context of the Councel of Trent's words that they once be disabused and deliuered from those wrong impressions which are suggested to them of our Docctrine Notwithstanding we discerne cleerly say the fathers of that Councel that the holy scriptures esteeme so much Good woorks that IESVS-CHRIST himself promiseth that a cupp of cold water giuen a poor body shall not want its reward and that the Apostle declareth that a moment of light payne suffered in this world shall produce an Eternall weight of glory yet God forbid that a Christian should trust glory in himself and not in our Lord whose goodness towards Man is so aboundant that he allowes his own Guifts to them to be accounted their Merits This Doctrine is spread through the whole Councel which teacheth in an other session that we who are not sufficient to doe