City Is it of the Canonicall Hours of Port-Royall which were condemn'd at Rome Is it of the Defence of the secret Rosary which undertakes to justifie the impieties and extravagances of that Libell Is it of those he esteems so profiâ—able to the publique and recommends withouâ— naming them for fear the people should be infoâ—med that there is hardly any work set forth by Port-Royal which is not ranked in the number of prohibited Books taking up a great deal of room in the Roman Catalogue Have you no other proofs wherewith to justifie your Faith then that which gives us cause to suspect it Can you alledge no other Writings to prove your opinions Catholique save those which the Roman Church has prohibited because full of Hereticall Maximes Be it that all the Texts you have drawn out of them appear most Orthodox it follows not that those which I have quoted render you not suspect of Intelligence with Geneva All that can be gather'd from that diversity is that you are contrary to your self that in your Books are found many conradictions but no appearance of your justification that they all have two faces which you shew or hide according to the time the one Catholique the other Calvinist If men cry heretick when you shew the Geneva-face you make it vanish and dexterously turning the Medall shew the Catholique face in an instant So you never publish an Heresie but you have your Apology ready made you couple together Truth and Errour Poyson and its Antidote and by an artifice common to all the enemies of the true Faith you employ one part of your works to defend the other excusing the crime at the same time that you commit iâ— This craft I confesse may surprize the ignorant but cannot justifie you before the wise You are accus'd for instance of this Maxime of Aurelius That every â—in that violates chastity destroyes Priesthood which differs in nothing from the Heresie of the Husâ—ites and you answer that he sayes in the same Book That the Church cannot take away the power of Order because the Character is Indelible Behold indeed a manifest contradiction but that is no justification You are tax'd for saying That Christ admits us in time to the participation of the same food which the Blessed enjoy in eternity without other difference save that here be affords us not the senâ—ible sight and taste of it which is the language of the Calvinists and you answer That the Author of the Letters to a Provincial says that there are many other differences between the manner of his communicating himself to Christians here and to the Saints above I know not whether he be avowed by you for he averres that he has no establishment at Port-Royall fearing least you should be oblig'd to warrant all his Letters But in fine though he were his testimony would be at most but a manifest contradiction not a just defence You are accus'd of saying that the practice of the Church favours the generall impenitence of all men and to divert the blame you answer in your Apology that you condemn not the ordinary practice of Penance which is now in the Church 'T is clear that this is only to crosse and contradict not to purge and justifie your selves You are charg'd with writing in the Book of Frequent Communion that the Church is corrupted in her Doctrine of Manners and you answer the contrary is also found in your Apology to wit that the Church is in corruptible not onely in her Faith but even in her Doctrine of Manners Thâ—s evidently shews the truth of what I say that you fill your Books with contradictions But it proves not what you pretend that men ought to receive them for justifications 'T is not enough to shew for your defence that of two contrary Propositions whereof one is Orthodox the other Hereticall the former is in your Books It must be shewn that the latter the Hereticall one is not there which done you will have right to burst out in reproaches and say to every one of your Accusers mentiris impudentissimè But if effectively it be there if of all the Hereâ—ies I have tax'd you with there is not one but what is faithfully extracted out of your Works who sees not that all the opprobâ—ious accusations you return men for their good advice fall upon your selves and that instead of evincing your divorce from Geneva they prove you culpable not onely of the Errours but even of the Insolence of Heretiques Think on it Sirs I conjure you and if you would have us entertain more favourable thoughts of your Faith brag no more as Mr. Arnauld does that you never fell into errour Acknowledge that you are subject to failings yet that as you have the weaknesse of men to be mistaken so have you their docility to be undeceiv'd and admit of purer lights Retract your errours re-enter Sorbon by a generous disavowment of your evill opinions and submit your private judgements to the Pope What ever else you do that is lesse then this I may say without Raillery You will never be good Catholiques An ANSWER to the JANSENISTS Seventeenth Letter By Father Annat of the Society of Jesus Argument 1. THat the Jansenists quitting the defence of the other Accusations and Impostures laid to their charge endeavour to clear themselves in their last two Letters onely of the crime of Heresie and therefore by their silence are convicted of the other crimes viz. Imposture and Calumny 2. That the Summe of their excuse is reduced to two Mediums The first is the Pretext of Difference betwixt Decisions of Fact and of Right which is answered fully in the Tract called The Answer to the Jansenists Complaint of being called Heretiques 3. The second Medium which is by the Tomists opinion of Efficacious Grace which is Catholique to defend the Jansenian opinion is here refuted and it is shewed that Jansenius neither explicateth nor defendeth his opinion as the Tomists do but as the Calvinists do asserting what Geneva asserteth and denying what Geneva denieth Therefore Calvins Disciples allow of Jansenius as hath already been shewen and again is recapitulated but the Church condemneth him Consequently his Opinions are Heresies Dear Reader THe seventeenth Letter of the Secretary of Port-Royall is now newly arriv'd dated the 23. of January and published the 29. of February All the Interim was but requisite for its journey from Osuabruck where he affirms it was Printed the Jansenists being unwilling to put it to the Press at Paâ—â—s so obedient they are to the Civil State and to the Ordinances of the Magistrate It is a long Letter of the size of the other sixteen which like the precedent by me newly answered tends to prove that the Jansenists are no Hereticks For as to their merited title of Impostors and Falsifiers in their Letters to the Provincial which was all I pretended to demonstrate in my Book of The fair dealing of the Jansenists their Secretary yields us
Again suppose I do not hear him speak but hear from irrefragable witnesse of many honest and understanding men that he hath made this profession deliberately or that he printeth and teacheth this without controversie I may judge him an Heretique and yet it is not matter of Faith that these witnesses tell me true But it is enough to have either a Physical or Morall Evidence to judge one an Heretique And this as I said is common to all crimes as well as Heresie The Iudge when he condemneth a man to death for murther needeth not put it in his Creed that infallibly this man hath committed Murther nor needeth he have Physicall Certainty but 't is enough that he have a Morall Evidence Secundum allegata probata as the Law saith according to what is alledged and proved by witnesses which notwithstanding may all erre Iust so in cur case though it were allowed not to be of Faith that the Five condemned Propositions are in Jansenius his Book yet without scruple we may and in reason ought to condemn the Book as Hereticall the Church having condemned it for such This proceeding is authorized in Scripture and that fitly to our case Hereticum â—ominem saith St. Paul ad Titum 3. post unam alteram correptionem devita sciens quia subversus est Avoid the Heretique after having once or twice reprehended him knowing that he is subverted Where the Apostle telleth us that after a man hath been once or twice admonished of his Heresie if he mend not he is to be avoided as one with whom the Church holds no Communion and his refusing to submit after one or two admonitions St. Paul calleth a knowing that he is subverted in matter of Faith Now if this were ever clear in any case it is in this we handle of Jansenius For to say nothing of the severall Briefs made by Pope Urban against Jansenius his Book the Five Propositions were extracted out of his Book by the Synod of France who professe to have used all diligence in examining them These Bishops presented the Five Propositions to Pope Innocent He having made the matter be examined with all diligence the Jansenists themselves being present at Rome and acknowledging them to be in Jansenius and defending them as his Doctrine after all condemned them as appeareth in his Bull. After him Pope Alexander now sitting renewed the condemnation testifying that the Propositions are in Jansenius and defining that they are condemned in his sense as they lie in his Book To these two Censures all the Bishops and the whole Catholique Church have subscribed Here are then two Admonitions and more by which it is made known that the Book of Jansenius containeth Hereticall Doctrine we therefore unlesse we will contradict the rule of St. Paul must esteem it Hereticall and know that it is subâ—erted We need not examine whether it be matter of Faith that the Five Propositions be in Jansenius or no it is enough that it hath been once and twice and so many times declared to us that we cannot but esteem it sufficiently certain here being far more then that which St. Paul requireth So Sir you see that your main Argument which is the summe and substance of all is so far from proving what you would inferte that though your Antecedent were granted yet the Consequence were of no force at all 2. Objection It were ridiculous say you Letter 18. pag. 338. to pretend there should be any Heretiques in the Church for matter of Fact But whether the Five Propositions be in Janseniuâ— or no is pure matter of Fact Therefore it is ridiculous to pretend that Jansenius or those that maintain his Doctrine should be Heretiques This Argument is veâ—y oftâ—n inculcated in many places though I cite but one I answer That understanding as you do Propositions written in any Book to be matter of Fact 't is a perfect madnesse to assert that none can be declared Heretiques for matter of Fact And the Consequences of that Assertion are so evidently absurd and Hereticall that nothing can be more For first it would follow that never any Proposition in any Book could be declared Hereticall for still you would say it is ridiculous that any man should be an Heretique for matter of Fact and still it would be matter of Fact whether the Proposition were in the Book or no and so no Books could be condemned in the Church Secondly it would follow that no person whatsoever could be condemned and that we must not believe that ever there was any Heretique in the Church that can be named except those that are mentioned in Scripture though St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 9. Oportet haereses esse and so we should never be obliged to avoid any one as an Heretique contrary to what I alledged in the first Objection out of the Apostle For still it will be made matter of Fact whether Arius for example and so of the rest did hold this or that For that Arius writ or said thâ—s or that is matter of Fact Thirdly it would follow that as no Proposition in any Book could be defined by the Church to be Hereticall so on the contrary no Proposition in any Book could be defined Orthodox or to be consonant to the word of God or the true word of God And so we should by your wise argument come to doubt of every Proposition even in the Holy Scripture For still it will be according to your ridiculous Maxime â—matter of Fact whether that Proposition be in Scripture And certainly it is as clear matter of Fact whether the Scripture saith God will have all men saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth as it is whether Jansenius in his Book saith Christ did not die for all men And so by this argument we shall never be obliged to admit any Proposition as Scripture which is to say we may deny by your argument all Scripture And further as to the whole Bible it is as much matter of Fact whether this or that Edition of Scripture be true Scripture as whether the Five Propositions be in Jansenius yet the Councell of Trent hath declared that the Vulgat Edition shall be held Authenticall and he would be an Heretique that would not allow it 3. Objection Popes and Councells * Letter 17. pag. 307. may â—rre in matter of Fact as many stories alledged in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Letters prove Therefore perhaps they have â—rred here and so it cannot be matter of Faith I answer That this may all be said as well of Arius or Nestorius or of any Heretique who is not named in Scripture as of Jansenius his Book yet the Church hath said Anathema to many Heretiques by name And look what crime he should commit that should say Arius never was an Heretique the self same should that man incur that should dare to say Jansenius his book containeth no Heresie And certainly the Phrase of the Church hath alwayes been
fol. 62. p. 2. col 1. and both safely although another may take a safer then either Note that this Authority concludes a pari or a simili from the lesse security in states of life to the lesse security in probable that is safe opinions What can the Jansenist say to this Will he accuse St. Antonine for giving liberty of Conscience to Sinners Will he say that the rules he sets down in the same place are contrary both to Scripture and the Tradition of the Church when he affirms c Inter duram benignam circa praecepta sententiam benigna est potius caeteris paribus interpretatio faciendaâ— Quod etiam asserit Gulielmus Hujus ratio est quia praecepta Dei Ecclesiae non sunt ad tollendam omnem spiritualem dulcedinem qualis certè tollitur quando nimis scrupulosè timidè praecepta interpretantur St. Antonin ibid fol. 62. pag. 2. col 2. in fine That between two opinions concerning the Precepts of which one is more severe the other more milde we must make and consequently any may follow all things else being equall that interpretation which is lesse severe because neither the Commandments of God nor his Church are made to take away all spirituall delight which undoubtedly is done when one explains their Precepts with too scrupulous a timidity An Advertisement to the Jansenist If you were a little less self-conceited then you appear to be you would have spared this objection to have saved your own honour When that saying scap't from you in your Morall Divinity falsely imposed on the Society e 1. Proposit de la Theol. Mor. That the Jesuites permit any thing to Christians and that they believe all things to be probable you should at least have excepted your own Maximes and then we should have been lesse astonisht at your complaints when we had found out the subject of your griefs Those Fathers sure had much forgot themselves that they did not stretch the Science of Probable Opinions even to Heresies That spirituall Empite which in your opinion they have got by these probabilities f Let. 5. reaching forth their hand by an obliging and complying conduct to the whole world Let. 5. would have been become universall and without counting the Lutherans who persecute them in Germany the Calvinists in France and the Independents in England all those who are of your own side between Charenton and Port-royall would have been for them all those Letters you send abroad into the Provinces would speak honourably of their Function all those railing tongues which decry them would finde nothing but praises and applauses to give them Yet they would be very sorry to be in your good esteem while you maintain Opinions concerning Faith so dangerous and unworthy of a Christian as those are which you have already advanced Truly when I confer that which your selves broach with that which you censure in others I admire how you can say with so much arrogancy That you search the certain and not the probable You that have scarce any thing written which is not condemned as scandalous Hereticall and pernicious to the salvation of souls do you believe it the most safe way to defer Communion till the end of a mans life to submit secret sins to publique penance to hold two Heads of the Church which make but one to make your confession not that you sinned many times but that Grace failed you many times In a word do you hold it the most certain and secure way to follow the Jansenisticall Doctrine which has troubled the whole Church ever since your rebellion against the Pope The third Imposture French 22. THat the Authority of onely one good and learned Doctour according to Sanchez renders an opinion probable which granted one onely Doctour may turn mens Consciences topsie-turvie and yet all will be secure Letter 5. p. 92. Engl. edit Answer This judicious Writer confesses in the next page that he cannot stand to this rule What assurance have I sayes he that your Doctours taking so much freedom to examine things by reason what seems certain to one will seem such to all the rest Is it possible to finde a more ridiculous discourse then this is If it be not lawfull to examine things by reason which way would he have a Doctour examine such things as are not evident in themselves nor certain by any principle of Faith nor determined by any Ecclesiasticall or Civill Law but are yet onely under a simple probability To confirm this judgement which he has made he tells us the diversity of Opinions is so great what then What can he conclude from that principle that therefore we must not examine such things as are disputable by force of argument and reason Judges are often divided in their opinions of Fact and of Right therefore we must neither minde their advice nor their reasons Certainly this manner of reasoning is very well be fitting a Jansenist It may be you will object that you shall then never be certain of truth if consulting Casuists one tells you it is and the other tells you it is not 'T is true but would you therefore have the Casuists change â—he nature of things and make that which is onely probable evident and undoubted But at least I would satisfie my Conscience say you your Conscience is secure enough if so be you follow the advice of some knowing and vertuous Doctour You reply again if it be so one onely Doctour may turn mens Consciences topsie-turvie Yes truly if he be a Jansenist he may and fling you into a precipice But if he be Orthodox learned and vertuous you may rest secure upon his advice For if he be learned he will not be deceived judging that probable which is not so and if he be vertuous he will have a care not to deceive you If you be not yet satisfied if you will yet talk like a Jansenist if you cry out still you cannot be satisfied with this rule I answer it is neverthelesse the opinion of Navarre who was no Jesuit whom the Jansenists in their Woâ—ks call one of the most esteemed Casuists of our time one who has most reverenced the power both of the Pope and Church he cannot be suspected of one side or other and yet hear what he sayes in the fifth Book of his Counsels a Respondeo quod si confessarius est vir eruditus egregiè pius insignitèr quales solent esse Magistri Doctores Confessarii illustrissimae Societatis Jesu procul dubio absque ullo scrupulo potest imo debet credere adeo quidem ut meâ sententâ non credendo non se cjus authoritate tranquillando peccaret Navarrus lib. 5. consil de poenitent remiss consil 2. pag. 232. edit Colon Anno 1616. If the Confessour be a man of any great capacity learning and noted piety such as ordinarily are the Masters the Doctours and the Confessours of the most
neither Doctour Priest nor Ecclesâ—â—stique Wherefore is it that of all the Casuists quoted by Du Moulin touching the Opinions you impâ—gn with him as Navarr St. Antonine and St. Thomas you onely attaque the Jesuits and with what artifice suppressing the names of those do you disguise falsifie and corrupt their Doctrine so as no man can know it to be theirs These are the Crimes you had been charged with before the last Answer of the Jesuits containing your Impostures and which without doubt you would never have dissembled but that you found it impossible to make any passable reply to it Wherefore Sir I take your silence for a forced avowment of the truth of those Accusations and declare that I shall henceforth look upon you as no other then one of Calvins Disciples blasted by the censure of the Pope as a Detractour condemned by the Sentence of Parliament and as a Scoffer decryed in the judgement of all wise men 'T is true Sir you glory in this last Title and employ the greatest part of your Letter in setting forth the praise of Raillery insomuch that you will needs perswade us that the Saints were Scoffers like your self and that God acted the part of a Derider from the beginning of the world and continues yet every day to do so in the moment which is most dreadfull to Sinners viz. that of Death But Sir to speak no more then the truth you abuse the Scripture with great boldnesse and much contemn the judgement of your Readers since you dare affirm that you scoff not in your Letters but by the example of the greatest Saints nay of God himself What Sir think you men obliged to believe you upon your bare word Can you fancy that having invented a thousand falsities publisht a thousand calumnies falsisied a thousand passages to finde matter for your prophane derisions men should hold you for a Saint and that your scandalous Letters which are but the scraps of expiring Calvinisme should passe for Copies whereof you glory to have found the Originall in God himself Tell me Sir whether you believe that God to mock the Casuists at the point of death will like you laugh at their names and whether at the sound of these that follow b Letter 5. Villalobes Koninck Llamas Akokier Dealkoser Dellacruz Veracruz Vgolin Tambourin c. whose clashing sillables are so apt to surprize and move such wise men as your self to laughter whether I say he will ask with amazement If all these men be Christians Will he make an affected scrutiny into the contract Mohatra the four living creatures of Escobar the story of John D' Alba and a thousand other Scurrilities wherewith you have stuffed the censure of so many Divines who doubtlesse deserve to be treated with more modesty by a secular person Will he jear at Potentia proxima at sufficient Grace at the Fulminations and Anathema's of the Church Will he on these Authours impose crimes they were never guilty of Decisions they never advanced corrupted Texts dismembred passages and resolutions forged at pleasure to make them seem ridiculous Will he scoff c Letter 9. as you do at Devotions towards the Mother of God For instance to salute the holy Virgin when you meet with any of her Images to say the short Beads of the ten Pleasures of the B. Virgin to pronounce of ten the Name of Mary to desire the Angels to do her reverence on our behalf to wish we could build her more Churches then all Christian Monarchs put together have done to bid her good morrow every morning and good night every evening to say every day an Ave Maria in honour of the heart of Mary You remember Sir that upon all these Subjects it is that you display the fairest draughts and touches of that Holy Raillery you intend to consecrate by your Writings But Sir do not blinde your self so far as to believe that such excesses and transports as these will be taken for the Raptures of the Saints and the Extasies of the Prophets who to cry down vice reprove it sometimes with a laughter of indignation you are at a greater distance from the conduct of those Worthies then is darknesse from day-light The Fathers treated Heretiques as ridiculous persons and you that are accused convicted and condemned of Heresie will make a mockery of Sorbon and Catholick Divines The Fathers rebuked publique disorders and reall crimes which they endeavour'd to render not onely odious but contemptible by the touches of a stinging Irony whereas you forge such as are meerly false and which you feign at pleasure to revenge your self of those that withstand your disorders and the pernicious Maximes of your Sect. The Fathers employed their Raillery like â—alt which must be used with discretion their Writings are full of solid ratiocinations generous and high conceptions strong and convincing arguments but their words of mockery are rarely met with Whereas on the contrary your Letters are stufe full with false Texts false citations and false reproaches accompanied with a perpetuall Sycophancy without so much as one observable ratiocination or one onely conception worthy of a Divine How comes it then to passe you will have men take your conduct for that of those great Saints which is so contrary to the spirit that governs you One may well compare your works to Calvins Antidote where that Heretique makes the Fathers of the Councell of Trent to speak just as you make the Jesuits in silly childish language to excite the laughter and contempt of the Readers but you shall never passe for a Prophet unlesse it be with those who for the hatred they have conceived against the Jesuites seek out Masters to deceive them and will believe against the conviction of their own consâ—iences that a lie is truth when it slatters their passion or wounds the Honour of those Religious Put off Sir put off that Masque of Justice and Charity wherewith you cover your detractions men discern you through it they know the motive that induces you to revenge they understand your designs this extraordinary animosity so dissonant to the spirit of Christianity is but too too visible 'T is not the zeal of Religion that gives you such violent motions but the regret you have for not having been able to overthrow it 'T is not the love of Truth but the despair you are in by seeing your â—rrors convinced and your Hypocrisie detected To what purpose so many passages of the Saints to prove that there are innocent Railleries since it has already been clearly shown you that those you use are criminall Why employ you Scripture to tell us there are charitable mockeries since yours are envenom'd with hatred Why in fine bring you examples of the Fathers of the Church since being a declared Heretique you are consequently an enemy of those Fathers and of the Church You should rather have remembred Sir how the Holy Ghost in the Scripture and the Fathers in the Councells do