Providence to find out all Articles of Faith is an Inward Light and an Immediate Revelation This I understand by Phanaticism And if you can prove St. Ignatius guilty of this Folly I will fling up the Cause if you cannot Justice obliges you to a speedy Repentance First For having so abus'd the World with loud Clamours of strange Discoveries concerning the Church of Rome 's Superstitious Practices and Enthusiastick Extravagancies Secondly For having betray'd your own Conscience in the Sight of GOD whil'st blind Temerity and intoxicating Fury guided your Pen to wound the Reputation of the Saints in the Judgment of Men. You therefore affirm St. Ignatius to have been a Phanatick because he pretended to Divine Visions and Illuminations and then you draw up an Inventory of some Apparitions and Ecstacies recounted in his Life which takes up a considerable Part of your Pamphlet All which you are pleas'd to attribute to the Effects of a strong Imagination and of a weak and disturb'd Brain But shall any ones Judgment be so byass'd as to take this for a Confutation Would any Man take bare Assertions for solid Reasons or false Aspersions for real Crimes your Discourse is I grant most perswasive But who-ever takes the pains to sift it will be able to find nothing but Scum above and Malice below Sir For my part I know no Catholick of so easie a Belief as presently to swallow down every fictitious Story for a real Miracle They measure their Assent by the Rules of Prudence Where the Authority is weak their Belief is suitable where strong and evident their Assent is without Hesitation In fine They always are of Opinion That to Believe All and to Deny All are Extreams equally reprehensible Now produce some Arguments which prove credibly That the Illuminations and Visions ascrib'd to St. Ignatius were but the Effect of a discompos'd Brain of a strong Imagination and disorderly Fancy and if I cannot oppose more weighty Reasons to the contrary I 'll fling up my Cards The only Ground of your Scruple as far as I can learn is this If indeed Ignatius receiv'd a perfect Knowledge of the Christian Religion c. How came it to pass that for many Years after he was still esteemed a Fool and an Ideot You have put a pretty Sophism in the Mouth of a Jew or a Turk If JESVS CHRIST was GOD How came it to pass that He was still esteem'd for a Fool and an Ideot To make us believe that such an Opinion was not a Popular Noise only you tell us Vpon a particular Examen by the Inquisitor of Alcala and Arch-Bishop of Toledo he was adjudg'd not to have been sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion You might as well have quoted your darling Romance Don Quixot as Bouhours and found as much to your Purpose in the One as in the Other For Bouhours in the Book cited mentions not one Word of St. Ignatius's appearing before the Inquisitor much less of a particular Examen And therefore any puny Logician may infer out of that Examen in Nubibus That you are far more meanly instructed in the Rules of Truth than St. Ignatius in Matters of Religion Indeed Bouhours tells us That the Great Vicar cast him in Prison upon the Account of the Indiscreet Fervor of Two Ladies abscrib'd by Dr. Cirol to the Perswasions of St. Ignatius and told him That not being a Divine he should abstain from explicating to the People the Mysteries of Religion till such Time he had studied Four Years in Divinity But here 's no mention either of an Inquisitor or of a particular Examen And as for Don Alphonso de Fonseca Arch-Bishop of Toledo he was so far from judging him not to have been Sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion that he very much Exhorted him to continue his Functions of Piety towards his Neighbour So that here lie chain'd one to the Heels of the other Two Forgeries without Dispute as well as without Excuse Had you been forc'd to Translate your Author out of Greek Charity might have oblig'd me rather to have fast'ned this Mistake on your Ignorance than to have imputed it to your Malice But the Book being Englisht to your Hands the most favourable Construction I can put on your Crime is That you have taken up that Principle so often laid at the Papists Door viz. All things are lawful if profitable to the Church and then working by this Maxim you concluded That a Forgery was but a small Price to buy Heaven for your self and the Dis-esteem of the World for St. Ignatius and those of his Society But Sir You have taken false Measures and as disadvantagious a Topick as you could have light upon Vent your Burlesquing Vein till Dooms-Day you will never so far unman Rational Creatures as to wheedle them into a Belief that the Jesuits and their Founder are Fools and Ideots Had you taken up your Quarters at Fox-Hall and from that Enchanted Castle popt in the Hawker's Mouths New Narratives of Popish Plots and Jesuitical Contrivances or ply'd them with White-Horse Consultations Armies of Jesuits in the Air and Thousands of Pilgrims in the Rear your Labour might 't is possible have met with some Success But on a suddain to Metamorphize their Plotting into Folly their intrieguing Genius into Stupidity is to raise a Scruple in the Wisest Part of the Nation Whether they did not want some Grains of Wit when they fear'd to be impos'd on by Fools Yet indeed to give the Gentleman his Due he dropt a Word or two Pag. 26. which insinuate That at first he intended rather to have charg'd the Jesuits with Knavery than Folly for thus he tells us It seems the Propagation of the Gospel by Force of Arms is connatural to the Order of Jesuits only the Wisdom of latter Years hath chang'd these Spiritual into Carnal Weapons You are in the right Sir The Wisdom of latter Years hath chang'd these Spiritual into Carnal Weapons But the Misery is the Wisdom of the little Lord Shaftsbury joyn'd with the indefatigable Industry of Sir William Waller was not able to find them in Jesuitical nor Popish Cabinets The Gentlemen of Rye-House engross'd them to themselves for a peculiar Use and then the Protestant Duke of the Church of England convey'd them to his Friends at Taunton for the Propagation of Liberty and Religion But Sir You are too wary You might without Scruple extend the Wisdom of latter Years to latter Ages for I find Protestancy and Carnal Weapons of the same Date Look over to the Godly Churches of Germany and you will see them making Elbow-Room with Drawn Daggers in their Hands and Christian Liberty in their Mouths Two pretty Protestancy-dilating Engines and both the Product of Modern Wisdom What think you Sir of the Wisdom of a Neighbouring Republick Did it not effect the Propagation of the Gospel by Force of Arms Did it not break in pieces the fretting Yoak of its Master the King of Spain
it were not a greater Perfection to embarque himself unprovided But suppose his own Judgment told him It was unlawful yet his Confessor brought so weighty Reasons against what he objected that at last he concluded his Confessor was in the Right and Himself in the Wrong and so accordingly he follow'd his Advice Where is the Sin in all this Proceeding Where is the Renouncing the Liberty of his Will and Vse of his Reason Do Men fling up their Reason I beseech you Sir when they leave a weak Motive to stick to a stronger At this rate we must conclude That Fools run loose in the World and that all the Wise Men of the Nation are confin'd to Bedlam Indeed I am not so great an Admirer of Blind Obedience as to judge it a Virtue in all Circumstances Men may command Things contrary to the Law of GOD and in this Case the Commander and the Obeyer are equally guilty Such a Case may be instanc'd in the Transactions of the last Week Thousands of well-meaning Men thought nothing so reasonable as to Read his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in the Churches But then their Reverend Confessors were of another Opinion and so the poor Penitents yielded Blind Obedience to their Directors although Obedience to the best of Princes oblig'd them to a contrary Procedure Here was I grant a Renouncing of the Liberty of Free-Will and Vse of Reason to the purpose and therefore according to your Logick a Sin of the deepest dye both against GOD and the King. But prompt Obedience to a Faction passes in Protestant Casuists for Virtue Yet when a Popish Saint lays aside his private Judgment upon good and rational Motives to follow the Sentiment of his Confessor no less than a Capital Crime is presently clapt on his Shoulders The Gentleman's Gall is still boyling against the Pope and nothing can quench it I see but another Push for it against both the Pope and St. Ignatius for you must know he frets at the One for being a Saint and at the Other for Canonizing him But what cries he in a pleasant Humor if after all Ignatius should be found an Heretick Ay marry Sir This is a necking Blow He would ill deserve the Dignity of a Saint Questionless you are in the right And at the next Reformation of the Calendar might be perhaps expung'd out of it p. 112. You might expunge your Perhaps and assert it confidently Nay I question not but all Catholicks would thank you for your Service could you unmask such a Cheat for they are well-meaning Men and are as loth to be impos'd on as their Neighbours But because I know if a bare Assertion be sufficient nothing is so surprizing which you cannot prove ad evidentiam I beg a short Authentick Reason on Record It will relish well He Believ'd Scripture to be the only Rule of Faith Ibid. I deny it But go on He said That if the Articles of Faith had never been Recorded in the Scripture or as another Author expresseth it Although no Monuments or Testimonies of the Christian Religion had remain'd he should still have believ'd them c. Which manifestly supposeth him to have believ'd that the Knowledge of the Christian Religion must necessarily be receiv'd either from the Scripture or from Extraordinary Illumination and that there is no Medium which might serve the Ends of a Rule of Faith. What no Medium Look back to the 105th Page and there you will see your self of another Opinion for Do you not express your self in as intelligible Terms as possibly can be That he so much doted on Blind Obedience that if he adher'd to his own Principles he must have renounc'd Christianity and even Natural Religion if his Confessor had commanded him And That he propos'd this as a first Principle to all That true Christians ought to submit themselves to the Decision of the Church with the Simplicity of an Infant Methinks this is a Medium between Scripture alone and Extraordinary Illumination Had I been to have drawn up this Indictment of Heresie my utmost Care should have been to have stifled this But you never Look before you Leap and that makes you so often Fall. Your Invective against Blind Obedience jump'd handsomly into Pag. 105. and in Pag. 112. you sell connaturally into Heresie and so down they went though you knew they would never be kept from Clashing on the same Paper But let us wink at this trifling Mistake and grant what you affirm That St. Ignatius did say That if the Articles of Faith had never been Recorded in Scripture c. he would firmly have embrac'd them all Does it follow That he held Scripture alone or Illumination to be the Rules of Faith By no means He was of Opinion 't is true That an Extraordinary Rule might be an Extraordinary Illumination and that the Ordinary One is Scripture interpreted by the Church So that the Sense of his Words is this Although all Scripture and the Church its Interpreter had perished GOD had given him by an Extraordinary Illumination such a clear Knowledge of the Mysteries of our Religion that he would have believ'd them Here you see the Gentleman has not been sparing of Dirt but he grosly miss'd his Aim for I am throughly convinc'd a moderate Eye will easily discover that the greatest Part sticks closest to the Asperser Yet Passion will set his Pen afloat in spight of Fate Indeed he is come to an End of his Accusation and to say something runs in a Circle by making a Recapitulation If it be prov'd That in his Life-time he was esteem'd an Enthusiast an Impostor and an Heretick by many sober indifferent and learn'd Men of the Church of Rome it will be no small Confirmation of the Truth of whatsoever I have hitherto observ'd Yes if their Surmizes were sounded on Reason otherwise by no means For in this Case I am no greater a Friend to Infallibility than your Self I grant you Catholicks in their Estimates may be mistaken as well as Protestants and equally lie open to Prejudices At Alcala he was suspected by some of Sorcery Why The Gentleman begs your Pardon there he is not such a Fool as to tell the Reason No that would wipe off the Aspersion The Truth of the Business is St. Ignatius reclaim'd from his sinful Courses a Person of the first Rank and presently the Wise Populace concluded nothing but the Power of the Devil could draw such a noted Debauchee to GOD. A pretty Accusation you see and as well grounded as that against our Saviour In Belzebub Principe Daemoniorum ejicis Demonia You cast out Devils in Vertue of Beelzebub the Chief of the Devils By others of Heresie and put in the Inquisition for a Visionary 'T is true but How came he of After an Exact Enquiry into the Manners and Doctrine of Ignatius not finding any thing that might render him suspected and judging it not expedient to make him appear before
Miracles for What Miracle of CHRIST can be better attested than Her Majesty's being with Child Yet at the same time as if they had made a Vow never to act like Men they would scarce perswade themselves the Protestant-Duke was Dead Which gave occasion for these Two Verses In the Whigg's Creed Two Articles are read The Queen is not with Child nor Monmouth Dead Nay one Line from a Pulpit would have so far prevail'd on them as to have oblig'd many to take Horse to meet his Grace at Taunton Sixthly He desires the Reader p. 21. to believe that he has not imitated the Scavenger in stopping no where but at a Dunghil For I have says he quoted none but allow'd and approv'd Authors c. And as for what I have cited out of Protestant Books let them invalidate their Testimony if they can I will engage for the Truth of my Quotations and know of no Objections against any Author I have cited which are of any Force You are Sir either in some Ecstatick Transport or else endow'd with that great Virtue Ignorance beyond Expression which your Friend so highly commends in St. Ignatius Were not the Provincial Letters burnt by the publick Hang-man in France Did not La Pratique Morale run the same Fate in the Year 1669 And is not this as real and material an Objection against the Validity and Sufficiency of those Libels as Mr. Oats's yearly Pillory against the Authority of His and his Brethrens Narratives When you propose in your Second Part as you promise as convincing Reasons against Miracles as I have done against the Credit of these Two Authors I will come over to You. Again Your Arcana Societatis Jesu Instructiones Secretae are Chips of the same Block that is Pieces forg'd with Impudence and cited with a daring Confidence In a word They are of as great Credit and Reputation as Those who live by the Basket and receive Knight-hood from the Pillory Sir Had it been my Fortune to have been in London some Years ago I would not have stood in your Way I see by the Authority you give Varlets in Print how you esteem'd them in Westminster-Hall and Old-Baily Nay I fear that had the Balance stood equal you might have dropt in a single Oath to raise a Jesuite's Neck into an Halter Would Time permit me I could give as good an Account of some others of your Authorities as I have of These and by Consequence of your Book in which I find a Thousand more Impostures than I am sure can be found in Saint Ignatius's Life Is not this Proceeding the Effect of a Frenzy past the Vertue of Heblebore Shall the profess'd Enemies of our Religion and Order by the Omnipotent Power of a Defaming Faction be turn'd into Vnbyass'd Persons Substantial Witnesses c And shall their bare Words without any Shadow of Proof serve for Evidence against Us of all those Calumnies which took their Being from Malice and Prejudice and have no Reality but in the Imagination of Those whom confident Gown-Men malitiously impose on But when we recount any thing in Confirmation of our Church although back'd with irrefragable Witnesses presently it must be slighted as if all the Moral Honesty in the World was confin'd to the narrow Compass of this Island or as if the Church of England had engross'd all Truth to its self And now 't is high time to leave my Author and Reader too Only I must desire the Latter to turn to E. W. Printed at Antwerp in the Year 1676. and to the Second Letter by A. B. in the Year 1672. In the First you will find Dr. Stillingfleet's Exceptions against Miracles in the Second against St. Ignatius and the Jesuites fully Answer'd For I conceive the Answer to the Dean is a full Reply to my Author he having nothing material but an higher-flown Impudence which is not borrow'd from the Doctor And now Dear Author before we part I admonish you friendly to change your Method if you intend to advance your Church A Burlesque is only to convince Fools Wise Men are led by Reason of which you have been over-sparing in your Book So that if you intend to make any Progress increase This and diminish That And if you be over-confident that you have so much solid Reason as to convince any one of the Truth of your Religion and the Corruption of Ours be pleas'd to bring your Reason to the Test I promise you here on the Word of a Gentleman That I will Meet you Where and with Whom you please But it shall be upon this Condition That you promise to treat me more civilly than the Divines of St. Martins did some time ago a Priest who was call'd to a Sick Person I dare not venture to engage with Divines who have for Seconds a Populace for who knows but They may strengthen the Doctor 's Arguments with Blows and foul their Hands to bespatter Me as their Leaders have the Press to Asperse my Religion Bring then with You such a Company as hath heard of such a Thing as Civility and can distinguish solid Reason from loud Clamours concluding Syllogisms from patch'd-up Sophisms On these Conditions I pass my Word for my Appearance And that You may not miss of my Lodgings your Letter shall find Me at the Schools in the Savoy Where I am SIR YOURS William Darrel FINIS ERRATA PAge 1. Line 11. for Merirs read Merits p. 3. l. 16. for Tittle read Title p. 7. l. 32. for this read things p. 22. l. 8. for Lib. 2. read Lib. 1. p. 31. l. 25. for stumple read stumble p. 39. l. 10. for by A. B. read so A. B.