this Worship did as he says many things utterly inconsistent with it as Burning in some Churches what remained of the Holy Sacrament permitting the People to carry it home that had communicated sending it abroad by Sea and Land without any regard that we can find had to its Worship burying it with their Dead making Plaisters of the Bread mixing the Wine with their Ink which certainly says he are no instances of Adoration Before I begin to Answer this Objection §. 92. I must beg leave to shew our Belief in this matter and the Grounds we go upon First we believe It is lawful to Adore God and Christ wherever they are whoever acknowledges Jesus Christ to be God and Man may lawfully Adore him wherever he has a Rational ground to believe him to be present yet is he not at all times obliged to pay this actual Adoration because otherwise the Apostles must have done nothing else but Adore when ever they were in the presence of their Lord. Secondly the Grounds of our Belief that our Blessed Saviour is really Present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist are undoubtedly Rational as I think I have sufficiently shewn and therefore all those who believe him Present may lawfully Adore him there We cannot always pay this actual adoration tho' they are not always Obliged actually to pay that Adoration otherwise they must do nothing in presence of the Sacrament but Adore Him. Thirdly It is worthy our Remark that the words Sacrament Host or Eucharist are sometimes taken for Christ alone sometimes for the Species alone VVe adore Christ in the Sacrament not what is sensible and sometimes for both Christ and the Species but when we speak properly of Adoring the Sacrament we speak only of Adoring Christ in the Sacrament For we do not adore what is Visible Tangible or any ways Sensible in the Sacrament but only Christ Jesus whom we believe to be under those Visible Tangible and Sensible Elements Lastly The Church being confirmed in this Belief has Authority as occasion serves to command the payment of this Adoration which is Due at all times and to set apart some solemn Festivals or Ceremonial Rites to invite her Children to perform this Duty These Considerations being premised I deny his Antecedent §. 93. and to his Proofs I answer To the first I say the Scriptures silence is no more an Argument against us in this I. The Scriptures silence no Argument against a perpetual practice than it is against the Adoration of our Lord when present in the flesh for tho' we find there a Command of going to Christ and following him yet will he scarce find an express place in the Gospels where Christ commands his Disciples to Adore him This Adoration depending wholly on his being God it was sufficient that he convinced them of his Divinity and we being thus convinced by his own words that he is present in the Sacrament we are obliged to adore him there And if St. Paul did not Argue as our Defender would have had him yet does he do it with no less force and Energy It was sufficient to tell them it was the Body and Blood of Christ that to receive it was an Annunciation of his Death that they who received it unworthily were guilty of the Body and Blood of their Lord that they cat and drunk their own Condemnation not Discerning the Lords Body That therefore there were many sick and weak amongst them and many died These as they were sufficient Arguments to perswade them not to profane the Sacrament so were they sufficient Arguments to convince them and us of the Obligation to Adore him Present in it tho' St. Paul did not put them in mind of that Necessary consequence To the Second §. c 4. II. The Church condemns arising Herefies by Her practice It has always been the custom of the Church to condemn Heresies by her Practice as well as her Anathema's commanding the Glory be to the Father c. to be said or sung after every Psalm in opposition to the Arian Error and the Feast of the Blessed Trinity to condemn the Antitrinitarians c. no wonder therefore if when this pernicious Heresy of the Sacramentarians begun Atque sic quidem operâ—uit victrâ—cem reâ— itatem de mendacio heresi triumphum agere ut ejus adversarts in conspectu tanti splendoris in tanta untversae Ecclesiae laetitia positi vel debilitati fracti tabescant vel pudore affecti confusi allquendo resipiscant Conc. Trid. Sess 13. c. 5. she testified her Adorations by new practices and solemnities Tho' therefore the Feast of Corpus Christi the Exposition the Elevation c. May not be very Antient yet was it no new thing to Adore Christ in the Sacrament And it was but necessary that when Heretics begun to offer Indignities to that Sacred Mystery the Church should injoyn new Prayses Honours and Adorations to her celestial Spouse to the end as the Council says that Truth might by this means triumph over Lyes and Heresy and that its Adversaries at the sight of so much splendor and amidst such an universal joy of the Church being weakned and disenabled might decay or through shame and confusion at last repent To the last I answer §. 95. III. Particular practices hurt not the Universal Doctrin That if some things were done to avoid inconveniencies or others out of a heat of Zeal which are not agreeable to our practices at present they were not generally received nay censured by the Church when once they grew more public or layd aside when the inconveniencies were removed But these practices did not shew a disbelief of the Real Presence tho' our Defender may perhaps shew that they tended to a disrespect upon which account it was that the Church abolished them If it was a custom for some time Hesych in Levit. l. 2. c. 8. in the Church of Jerusalem to burn what remained after Communion Was it not a shew of Reverence and Respect lest perhaps the Sacred Symbols might fall into the hands of those Burgr hist l. 4. c. 35. who would Profane them And the same may be said of the custom in the Church of Constantinople of giving the remaining particles of the immaculate Body of Jesus Christ our God as the Historian expresses it to young Children But this I hope was consistent with a belief of the real Prerence If also the Primitive Christians permitted the Faithful to carry it home with them or sent it by Sea or Land to the Sick or to them with whom they would testify their unity it was not I hope any sign of their disrespect but rather a testimony of their Veneration and a practice which did not derogate from their belief of its being the Body of their Lord. If a St. Benedict caused the Blessed Sacrament to be laid upon the breast of a dead Corps which the Grave
A REPLY TO THE DEFENCE OF THE EXPOSITION of the DOCTRIN OF THE Church of England Being a Further VINDICATION OF THE Bishop of CONDOM'S Exposition of the Doctrin of the CATHOLIC CHURCH With a second Letter from the Bishop of Meaux Permissu Superiorum LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1687. THE PREFACE THEY who consider seriously the mischief which Heresie and Schism bring along with them §. 1. The mischief of Heresie and Schism not only to the individual persons that are guilty of them but also to the Nations in which they are propagated will certainly commend the endeavors of those Sons of Peace who labor to Establish Truth and Unity and condemn theirs who seek all means possible to obscure the one and obstruct the other They also who cast an Eye upon the Controversies about Religion which have been agitated in this and the last Age and the miserable Broyls and other worse consequences that have attended them cannot but deplore the unhappy fate of Europe which has for so long time been the Seat of this Religious War. And they who will but impartially consider matters will find Catholics seek the best means to obtain Peace that Catholics have upon all occasions sought the most advantagious means to procure this Christian Peace tho' to their grief they have still been hindred from effecting this good work by the ignorance of some and the malice or self-interest of others The Defender tells us in the beginning of his Preface that several Methods have been made use of in our Neighboring Nation to reduce the pretended Reformed to the Catholic Communion but that this of the Bishop of Meaux was looked upon as exceeding all others in order to that end This shews indeed the great Zeal those persons bad for the Salvation of their Brethren And tho' the Defender is pleased to call those excellent Discourses of the Perpetuity of the Faith and the Just Prejudices against Calvinists and M. Maimbourg's peaceable Method c. Sophistical and to represent M. de Meaux's Exposition as either palliating or perverting the Doctrin of his Church Yet seeing he only asserts the former without going about to prove it and has been so unsuccesful in the later charge as I shall fully shew in the following Treatise I hope the judicious Reader will suspend his Judgment till he has examined things himself and not take all for Gospel that is said with confidence He tells us also that the Great design of these several Methods Pag 4. has been to prevent the Entring upon particular Disputes And pretends it was because Experience had taught us that such particular Disputes had been the least favorable to us of any of them But the Truth is §. 2. We neither decline particulars nor refuse to fight with Protestants at their own Weapons We Appeal to Scripture we have never declined fighting with them at any Weapon nor refused upon occasion to enter upon each particular neither need we go to France for Instances we have enough at home Some even amongst the first pretended Reformers appealed to Scripture only neither would they admit of Primitive Fathers nor Councils and tho' these very persons who were for nothing but what was found in Scripture were convinced by the following Sects that their Reformation was defective if Scripture alone was to be the Rule of Reformation every Year almost since the first Revolt producing some new Reform of all those that had gone before And tho' Catholics might justly decline to argue from Scripture only till Protestants had proved it to be the Word of God by some of their own Principles yet were they not afraid to joyn Issue with them all even in the Point of Scriptures clearness for our Doctrins abstracting from the Primitive Fathers and Councils And thereupon besides several Catechisms the Catholic Scripturist and other excellent Books two Treatises were published here in England and never that I heard of Answered The first An Anchor of Christian Doctrin wherein the principal Points of Catholic Religion are proved by the only Written Word of God. in 4 Volums in 4o. Anno 1622. The other A Conference of the Catholic and Protestant Doctrin with the express words of Scripture being a second part of the Catholic Ballance Anno 1631. 4o. in which was shewn that in more than 260 Points of Controversie Catholics agree with the Holy Scripture both in words and Sense and Protestants disagree in both Other Protestants perceiving they could not maintain several Tenets and Practices of their own by the bare words of Scripture § 3. To the Fathers and Councils in all Ages and despairing of Fathers and Councils of later Ages pretended at least to admit the first four General Councils and the Fathers of the first three or four hundred Years But how meer a pretence this was appeared by the many Books Written abroad upon that Subject as Coccius his Thesaurus Gualterus his Chronology and others and at home Dr. Pierce found it too hard a task to make a reply to Dean Crecy 's Answer to his Court Sermon and the present nibling at the Nubes Testium shew how hard a task they find it to elude their plain expressions A third sort of Protestants ventured to name Tradition as an useful means to arrive at the True Faith §. 4. To an uninterrupted Tradition but many excellent Treatises have shewn that no other Doctrins will bide that Test but such as are taught by the Catholic Church For Novelty which is a distinctive mark of Error appearing in the very Name of Reformation an uninterrupted Tradition can never be laid claim to by them who pretend to be Reformers And indeed the exceptions which they usually make and the General Cry against Fathers Councils and Tradition shew how little they dare rely upon them Nay there has not been any thing like an Argument produced against our Faith or to justifie their Schism but what has been abundantly Answered and refuted and yet the same Sophisms are returned upon us as Current Coyn notwithstanding they have been often brought to the Test and could not stand it Moreover Catholics have so far complyed with the infirmities of their Adversaries that they have left no Stone unturned to reduce them to Unity of Faith and that by meekness as well as powerful reasonings They have not only condescended to satisfie the curiosity of them who have most leisure by Writing large Volums upon every particular Controversie proving what they hold by Scripture Councils Fathers Reason and all other pressing Arguments but because most persons cannot get time to peruse such vast Treatises they have gon a shorter way to work and some have manifested the Truth of our Doctrin from the unerrable Authority of the Church of Christ against which he had promised that the Gates of
the number of Italian Bishops answered Chap. 10. §. 167. that those who being present did set themselves to oppose Error and Corruption were perpetually run down and out voted by shoals of new made Bishops sent out of Italy for that purpose This has been answered beyond reply by the Author of the Considerations on the Council of Trent who has not only shewn how naturally it must have followed that more Italian Bishops would be there than of any other Country by reason of the nearness of the place and their not being impeded by National colloquies c. as the Germans were That their presence there cannot be blamed they having all of them Lawful Votes tho' the absence of others might be excused that as the Pope was diligent to send in these so was he earnest to procure a fuller Representative from other Nations and the Council had proceeded to lay heavy Mulcts upon the absent had not the Ambassadors interceded Sâ—ave pig 504.558 559. But he has also shewn from Soave his History That the Italian Bishops were much more addicted to their own Princes in things wherein their Ambassadors craved their assistance than to the Pope and that the Venetian and Florentine Bishops were upon such occasions divided from those of the Papacy That nothing could be passed in the Council if a considerable part contradicted tho' a major part favored it and certainly the Representatives of all other Nations were always esteemed a considerable part so that if the Italians might hinder any thing from being carried by Vote yet could they never of themselves obtain it to be carried That the Pope needed not any such contrivance for the Protestant Controversies in condemning of which Soave confesses the Votes of the whole Council concurred and that * Pag. 282 183. See the unanimous consent of the council as to these following points in Sâ—ave Original sin pig 175.184 Justification p. 223. Confession p. 348. Transubstantiation and Adoration of Christ in the Eucharist p. 324.326 Mass and a Propitiatory Sacrifice p. 544.554.738 Lawfulness and Sufficiency of Communicating under one kind p. 324.325.519 Purgatory Invocation of Saints and Veneration of Images p. 799.803 as to those points like a City Beleagred the Factions among Them ceased and all joyned against the common Enemy And lastly that where the Popes single interest was more nearly concerned he had no such assistance of the greatest part of the Italian Bishops nor the major part of the Council at his command § 168. If then these points being cleared we consider the Exceptions which Arius and his followers with the Socinians at this day make against the Council of Nice and the other condemned parties against the other Three Councils I think I had just reason to ask him whether the Council of Trent was not as General and Free a Council as any of the Four And if such I desire him to remember his promise to allow a much greater deference to it than to a National Church or Council If our Defender think it convenient to go on with his calumnies against this Council I would desire him first to peruse the Considerations of the Council of Trent and not to argue as if nothing had been ever said in defence of it §. 130. The Authority of the Holy See from antient Fathers Exposit Doct. Ch. Engl. pag. 81. As to the Authority of the Holy See he told us he was content to yield him the Bishop of Rome whatsoever Authority the antient Councils of the Primitive Church have acknowledged and the Holy Fathers have always taught the Faithful to give him If he be serious in this I hope he will not refule to say with St. Irenaeus that (a) Ad bancenim Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam S. Iren. lib. 3. advers haer c. 3. it is necessary that every Church should have recourse to that of Rome by reason of its more powerful Principality And will with the same antient Father allow him a Power to (b) Euseb l. 5. Hist c. 23. p. 69. Excommunicate even the Eastern Bishops and much more those sure under the Western Patriarchate With * De Monogamia c. 8. p. 529. Edit Rigaâ—t â—Paris 1664. Tertullian (c) Epist 55. p. 91 Epist 71. ad Quintum Fra trem p. 140. Edit Paris 1648. St. Cyprian (d) Ad ps 131. St. Hilary and generally with all the antient Fathers before the Council of Nice that the Church was built upon St. Peter tho' some of those who lived after the rise of the Arian Heresy added also the Confession of St. Peter that Christ was the Son of the living God as a Fundamental Truth upon which the Church was built With (e) Et tamen Primatum non accepit Andreas sed Petrus Amb. Tom. 5. in crp. 12. Epist 2. ad Corinth St. Ambrose that St. Peter had the Primacy given him tho' St. Andrew was first called And that the (f) Scribo tibiut scias quemodo Ecclesiam ordines quae est domus Dei ut cum totus mundus Dei sit Eclesia tamen demâ—â—s ejus dicatur cujus hodie Redor est Damasus Tom. 5. in cap. 3. Epist 1. ad Tim. Pope is the Governor of the House of God the Church the Pillar and ground of Truth With (g) At dich super Petrum Pundatur â—eâ—â—â—sia licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos siat cunlli claves regni Coelorum accipiant ex aequo super cos Ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodecim unus elagitur ut capite constitute Schismatis tollatur occasio Tom. 2. lib. 1. contra Jovinian c. 14. St. Jerome that even amongst the Apostles a Head was chosen that an occasion of Schism might be taken away (h) Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens Beatnudini tuae i. e. Cathedrae Peâ—ri communione consocior Super illam petram aedificatam Ecclesiam scio Quicunque extra hane domum agnum comederit profanus est Si quis in Arca Noe non fuerit peribit regnante diluvio Quicunque â—ecum non colligit spar git Quam brem obtestor Beatitudinem â—uam per Crucifixum per mundi saluâ—em per Homousion Trinitatem at mihi Epistolis tuis five tacendarum sive dicendarum Hypostaseon detur Authoritos Hier. Epist 57. ad Damasum Papam That he following no other Leader but Christ is in Communion with his Holyness that is with the Chair of St. Peter Upon that Rock he knows the Church is built Whosoever Eats the Lamb out of this House is profane Whoever is not in the Ark of Noah shall perish in the Flood That whoever does not gather with him the Bishop of Rome scatters And therefore I hope as he did so will our Defender if he think good to stand to his promise conjure his Holyness by our Crucified Lord c. to give him Authority
Esprit qu'il a tort quand il dit si souvent dans l'Escriture que les Saincts ont fait ce que Dieu à fait par eux a leurs prieres Si ces facons de parler se trouvent dans l'Escriture pourquoy ne voudroit-t-on pas qu'elles se trouvent aussi dans les prieres de l'Eglise Mais peut-t-on s'expliquer plus clairement que fait l'Eglise sur ce sujet Puisque pour une fois quil se trouvera encors dans les Hymnes les ouvrages de Poësies que les Saincts sont prié de faire d'accorder quelque chose il se trouvera Cent fois tres biens expliqué qu'ils le font par leurs intercessions par leurs prieres Et si la chose n'estoit pas encors expliquées par les pricres de l'Eglise pouvoit il rester aucun doute apres les explications que jay raportées du Catechisme du Concile apres les decisions du Concile mesme Car je vous prie pensons un peu entre nous ce qu'il enseigne dans la Session 25. Ne pose-t-il pas pour fondement de l'invocation qu'on leur addresse qu'ils offrent des prieres pour nous Par consequent le dessein est d'enseigner que leur puissance est dans leurs prieres Et on nous demande apres cela des nouvelles explications comme si le Concil de Trent ne s'estoit pas assez expliqué sur une matiere d'aillieurs tres claire En Verité Mon Reverend Pere cela aslige un Coeur Chrestien de voir que le sens de l'Eglise estant si bien esclaircy dans ses decisions on continüe encors a nous chicaner sur des Mots Je ne vous parleray point de l'affair de Monsieur de Witte Pasteur de St. Marie de Maline je ne vois rien la dedans qui me regarde en particulier non plus que dans les lettres du Clergé sur le sujet de quelques Brefs du Pape On ne pretend jamais offenser sa Saincteté ni diminuer le moins du monde l'Authorité de son Siege en disant qu'il en peut emaner des choses ou l'on pretend que la regle nest pas toujours observée au contraire de tels Exemples deuroient fair voir aux Protestans comment une Eglise peut respecteusement soustenir ce quelle croit estre de ses droits sans rompre l'unité sans blesser la subordination Excusez Mon Reverend Pere si je vous fais si tard cette reponse d'autres occupations qui ne m'en ont pas laissé le loisir me serviront d'excuse s'il vous plaist Je finis en loüant vôtre Zele qui ne vous permet de vous relascher dans le desir qui vous presse de Sauver vos freres Je suis avec un Estime particuliere Mon Reverend Pere Vôstre tres humble tres Affectionè Serviteur ✚ J. Benigne de Meaux A Copy of the Bishop of Meaux's Letter to the Vindicator ✚ From Meaux May the 13th 1687. New Style Reverend Father THE new Objections you send me upon the Subject of my Exposition are so slight and inconsiderable that if I were not assured by a Person of your Merit they are thought of some weight by the English Protestants I should think my time lost to reply to them For after all this bustle what matters it whether this Book were reduced to what it is by the Censure of the Sorbon as they would have it thought or by my own proper reflections Which soever it was it is sufficient that the Sorbon has nothing now to say against it neither do's any Catholic contradict it on the contrary the whole Clergy of France and a multitude of Doctors of all other Nations as also of Cardinals famous for their Learning and Piety nay even the Pope himself approves it What needs any one who searcheth after Truth concern himself to inquire by what means I came to Write approved Doctrin seeing 't is certain they cannot deny mine to be so throughout the whole Church nor that I am in the Profession of this Doctrin Vniversally acknowledged to be an Orthodox Bishop in Communion with the Holy See and all other Catholic Bishops They who notwithstanding all this say he cannot be a Catholic who retains the Faith which I so loudly and so publickly profess take pains to blind themselves and will not see the light at Noon-day If after this I persist to say as I do that my Book was never submitted to the Censure of the Sorbon and that being supported by a greater Authority than That I never Dream't of asking it's Approbation It will plainly appear that it is not the Advantage of my Book but the Testimony of Truth that makes me say so I continue still to say there was never any Edition of my Book own'd and avowed by me but that which is now every where spread abroad and Translated into so many Languages But if some Body has been pleased to tack the Kings Approbation and Privilege with the Name of Cramoisy to some other Edition it is but a weak Argument to give the lie to what I say But what if I had made some Additions to a Printed Impression before it was made public what if I had corrected in it what I thought fit or if they please altogether changed it What consequence can they draw from thence against me upon account of those Alterations Let us put the case also if they please that some Body should have been so vainly curious as to take the trouble to find out this Impression before I had thus corrected it who has ever undertaken to quarrel with an Author for such trifles Is it not plain that such Men as take so much pains to publish such foolish things seek not the Truth but to juggle and perplex the World with Tricks After all Reverend Father if they still continue to talk of these Observations which do not deserve so much as to be reflected on and that you Judge it profitable for the Conviction of Opiniators to have an Attestation of the Sorbon to make it appear that their Approbation was not so much as demanded to my Book or that it was not at all submitted to their censure you may answer with assurance that they will send it in the most Authentic Form that contentious Spirits can desire This to the first Objection As to the Second I do readily acknowledge that the Edition of my Book which I published differs in some things from my Manuscript of which as I told you in my last many Copies had been scattered about for you must always remember that it was at first made for the instruction of some particulars and not to be Printed And for the same Reason I do not doubt but they may find in the Edition which I did not approve some things not
Hell should not prevail Others shewed it from the nature of Truth and Error and the impossibility that an Universal Tradition could fail especially when God had promised Isa 59.20 21. that the words he would put into their Mouths should not depart out of their Mouths nor out of the Mouth of their Seed nor out of the Mouth of their Seeds Seed from henceforth and for ever Others again as the Protestant Apology And shew the truth of our Doctrins from Protestants own Concessions proved the innocence and Antiquity of our Doctrin from the Testimony of Learned Protestants themselves of whom one held one Article and another another from whence they hoped at least to make our Doctrins be looked upon as less offensive But Protestants finding it a very difficult task to elude such strong Reasons as have and might be brought for the necessary and unerrable Authority of the Church §. 5. But Protestants fly to particular disputes and in them to the particular Tenets of Schoolmen still as if they were uneasie by all means endeavored to shuffle off such Arguments as would make short work of the business and flew out at every loop-hole to particular Disputes and the private Opinions of the Schools where they knew they could enlarge and talk so long that Years might pass before they could be silenced during which time they hoped the Readers as well as Writers would be tired and by that means they might get their ends And whereas Catholics all along desired them to inform themselves first what the Church held to be of necessary Faith before they entred into Dispute or Writ against us and thereupon to take their Doctrins from the Councils and Universally received Practices And at the last to down-right railing and not from Private Doctors or actions of particulars it was impossible to obtain of them to do it with calmeness but when ever any Argument pinched they fell to railing and began to blacken our Faith to misrepresent our Doctrins Caluminate our Practices and Ridicule our Ceremonies And as the World go's now he that could Rail the most being looked upon as having the better end of the Staff and Calumnies sinking deeper into the Memories of the Vulgar than solid Reasons Catholics grew by degrees to be looked upon as bad as Devils and their Doctrins as the Dictates of Hell it self Hence it was §. 6. Therefore a plain Exposition of our Doctrin was thought necessary that others again thought it necessary to deliver our Doctrin according to the Genuin and approved Sense of our Councils and abstracting from the private Disputes of School-men insist only upon those Doctrins which were universally and necessarily received Neither was the Bishop of Condom the first or only Man that did it Verron had preceded him in France and in the beginning of Queen Marys Days an Exposition was Published here in England much what of the same Nature tho' in a different Method To these I might add the Catechism of the Council of Trent and many others Published in every Country So 2 Tim. 4. that we may justly say we are now fallen into such like times as those which were foretold by St. Paul in which People will not endure sound Doctrin but having itching Ears after Novelties choose to themselves Teachers according to their own Desires Only this is our comfort that we have not been wanting in our Duty we have Preached the Word of God we have been instant in Season and out of Season we have reproved we have rebuked we have exhorted with all long-suffering and Doctrin but they have turned away their Ears from the Truth and believed Fables We have used all the means we can to calm the minds of People that being United in one Faith we might prove our selves to be the followers of Christ but hitherto all has been ineffectual through the ignorance of some whose credulity made them believe every Cry against Popery and the malice of others whose interest prompted them to defame us The Truth of which will appear more clearly §. 7. A Brief account of the Religion of our Ancestors from the first Conversion of this Nation till H. the 8ths Schism whilst I give a brief account of our Controversies in general and of that betwixt the Defender and me in particular In order to which I hope it will not be looked upon as too tedious if we cast an Eye backwards upon the Religion of our Ancestors It is not denyed by our Adversaries Catholic Religion early Established in our Nation but that the Christian Religion took very early Root in this Nation and some Remains of it were found when St. Augustin the Benedictin Monk was sent hither by St. Gregory the Great to reduce the Pagan Idolaters to the Faith of Christ St. Bede who Writes the History of his coming tells us there was carried before him a Banner with the Effigies of Christ upon the Cross and that he came in with a Procession Singing the Litanies c. He tells us also that notwithstanding the long want of intercourse with Rome and the Members of that Communion occasioned by great Oppressions and Persecutions during the Reign of Pagan Kings yet had there not many Errors crept into this Christian part of the Nation for St. Augustin only found two Customs amongst them which he could not Tollerate St. Augustin and the Brittans agree in all things but keeping Easter and some Ceremonies about Baptism the one their keeping Easter at a wrong time with the Quarto-decimani and the other some Errors in the Ceremonies of Administring Baptism these two he earnestly sollicited them to amend but they were obstinate and would not suffer any Reformation in those two Points till God was pleased to Testifie his Mission and the Authority he came with by the Authentic Seal of Miracles Our Adversaries also do most of them acknowledge that when St. Augustin came into England he taught most if not all the same Doctrins the Roman Catholic Church now Teaches and introduced those Practices which they now are pleased to call Superstitions But these Doctrins and Practices were either then Taught and exercised by the British Christians also or they were not If they were not taught by them certainly we should not have found them so easily submit to such Practices and Tenets as our Adversaries call plain and down-right Superstitions and Idolatries and if they were then taught also by the Brittish Christians they were certainly of a much longer standing than St. Augustins time and our Adversaries who pretend the reason why they separate from the Church of Rome is because she has introduced Novelties in matters of Faith may be from thence convinced of the Antiquity of those Doctrins they now call Novelties and must either grant they were introduced by the first Preachers of the Gospel here or shew evidently some other time before St. Augustin when this Church embraced them This Faith and these
the Present Controversies as being the first thing that appeared in Print against Roman Catholics tho' the Author of the Present State of the Controversies would not take notice of it And they who seriously considered the timing of it the persons to whom it was spoken the severity of the accusation and the manner of Publishing it made their conjectures then that it was like a throwing out the Gantlet and bidding defiance to all the Catholics in England Some short remarks were made upon this Sermon in a Paper called a Remonstrance by way of Address from the Church of England to both Houses of Parliament This occasioned the Doctors reply in which he not only endeavored to vindicate himself but threw all the dirt he could upon the Catholic Church laying all the faults of particulars at the Churches Door after such a manner as shewed him neither to understand our Doctrin nor the Principles we go upon It appeared from hence that nothing was to be expected but clamor insincerity and misrepresentation and therefore tho' an Answer was prepared and approved of yet was it thought fit by those who were to be obeyed to let the Controversie dye rather than stir up a Religious Litigation upon a Point which not only the protestations of Catholics but their Practices had justified them in However seeing the Doctors Vindication as well as all the other Books Written since the Pretended Reformation had been chiefly filled up with mistakes or misrepresentations of our Doctrins all which were taken upon trust as Real Truths not only by the Vulgar but by many who tho' pretending to Learning had as appeared never Read any but their own party or at least but superficially Charity prompted a good Man to shew our Doctrins truly as they are in themselves without the Mixtures of the particular Opinions of Schoolmen or the Practices which are neither universally nor necessarily received And in order to this he Published a Book under the Title of a Papist Misrepresented and Represented Papist Misrepresented and Represented in which the Judicious and Learned Author shewed in one Column what was commonly received amongst the Vulgar as the Doctrin of Papists and in the opposite the true Doctrin of the Catholic Church was represented with all the sincerity and candor imaginable All moderate persons who would give themselves the liberty to Read and think acknowledged that Catholics and their Religion had been strangely misrepresented and were apt to lay great faults upon their Leaders who had even from their Pulpits seconded the common Cry. But that party being loath to be thought to have any faults could not endure to be looked upon as Misrepresenters and therefore notwithstanding they could not deny but all that was there exposed under the Title of a Misrepresenter was at least according to the common Notion People had of Popery yet was it not to be called Misrepresenting and tho' they could not deny but all Catholics believe according to that Doctrin which the Representer expresses yet must this pass for new Popery and we must be accused as if we receded from the Faith of our immediate Predecessors whilst we affirm that any change from the Faith delivered by a continual Succession from Christ and his Apostles must needs be damnable This occasioned several Tart Answers and Reply's till at last the Controversie dwindled into nothing but a Verbal Dispute whether telling the World that Popery is Idolatrous Disloyal bloody-minded c. be properly speaking a Misrepresentation or some other word During this dispute two Books were Published with the same Charitable and as was hoped inoffensive intention The first the Acts of the General Assembly of the French Clergy in the Year 1685. concerning Religion Acts of the General Assembly together with the complaint of the said General Assembly against the Calumnies Injuries and Falsities which the pretended Reformed have and do every day publish in their Books and Sermons against the Doctrin of the Church The Design of which Book was the same with that of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented with this only difference that in Representing the Tenets of Catholics it made use only of the words of the Council of Trent and the Profession of Faith extracted out of it and in Representing the Calumnies formed against our Doctrins observed Religiously the expressions of Protestant Authors whose very words were cited in the Margent This was so clear a proof of what the Representer had said that 't is supposed his Adversaries would not think fit to contest it longer against such plain and ample Testimonies The other was the Bishop of Meaux 's Exposition of the Doctrin of the Catholic Church in matters of Controversie The Exposition A Book received by all persons in the Catholic Church of all Ranks and Degrees as containing nothing in it but the Orthodox Doctrin of the Church But all the Repeated Testimonies of his Holiness and the Cardinals Prelates and Doctors of the Church were not enough to make our Adversaries believe it to contain our Doctrins truly so strangely had they been Misrepresented to them And therefore out comes presently another Exposition of the Doctrin of the Church of England c. In the Preface of which Book the Author pretended to shew that the Bishop of Meaux's design was only to palliate or pervert the Doctrins of his Church because forsooth his Manuscript Copy or if you will the Real first tho' not Authenticated impression differed in some points from what was Printed and allowed of as the first Impression But let us suppose for a moment if he will that what he says were true that the Bishop of Meaux's Manuscript was defective in some points and differently expressed from what it is now in others suppose the Bishop had permitted an impression to be made or as Cardinal Peron is said to have done and which it may be was all the Bishop did had caused a dozen or fourteen Copies to be Printed off to shew them to his friends before he would put the last hand to his Book nay if you will let us suppose that some of the Doctors of Sorbonne were of the number of those friends to whom he Communicated those Copies and that they had made some Corrections Observations or Additions what is all that as the Bishop says to the Book as it is at present We send them not to the Manuscript nor to the first Impression if a few such Copies could be properly called an Impression but to the Book as it is now Printed and and approved of as containing the Doctrin of the Catholic Church As for the Refutation of all the Defenders Arguments upon this head I shall refer my Reader to the Bishops own Letter Published in the Appendix Only whereas the Defender in his Preface to the Exposition page 2. insinuates that the late Mareschal de Turenne did not owe his Conversion to that Book but to some other personal Conferences or Papers to them unknown
necessary to Salvation but dare not positively exclude the others from being a kind of particular Sacraments And seeing the Scripture mentions not the number either of three or seven why should not the voice and constant practice of the Church be heard before particular clamours As to the matter of the Eucharist if People would but once take a right notion of what we mean by a Real Presence and rightly understand what we mean by the Terms Corporal and Spiritual we should not have such large Volumns Written by those who pretend to believe all that Christ has said And in our disputes about the Church The Church and it's Authority what perpetual mistakes are their committed for want of considering what we mean by the Roman Catholic Church and by her Infallibility In a word §. 17. The Rule of Faith. would People take notice that we affirm the Total and only Rule of Catholic Faith to which all are obliged under pain of Heresie and Excommunication to be Divine Revelation delivered to the Prophets and Apostles and proposed by the Catholic Church in her General received Councils or by her universal Practice as an Article of Catholic Faith and that if either this Divine Revelation to the Prophets and Apostles or this proposal by the universal Church be wanting to a Tenet it ceases to be an Article or Doctrin of Faith Protestants will not distinguish betwixt faith and private opinions tho' it may be a truth which it would be temerarious to deny would they I say take notice of this and then examin what are those Doctrins which we hold to have been thus taught and proposed we should not only find our Controversie brought into a narrow Room but all the odious Characters of Popery and the Calumnies that are thrown upon us with the ill consequences of fears and jealousies c. would be removed and we might hope for Peace and Unity Whereas by the methods by which we see Disputes now carried on But prolong disputes upon unnecessaries one would think our Adversaries had no other end in all their Controversial Books or Sermons but to cry down Popery at any rate least they should suffer prejudice by it's increase which they are conscious it would do if what is of Faith were separated in all their Discourses from Inferior Truths or probable opinions And because I am not willing to prolong disputes §. 18. Which the Vindicator resolves to decline I do here declare that if the Defender do hereafter medle with such points as those which are not of necessary Faith I shall not think my self obliged to answer him tho' after that he may perhaps boast how he had the last word But if he please to answer any thing positively to those Doctrins acknowledged by all Catholics to be of Faith or to the Arguments I have brought in the XXIII and and XXIV Articles to prove the Church in Communion with the Bishop of Rome to be the true Orthodox Catholic Church and that the voice of the Church in every Age is the best way to know what is Apostolical Tradition upon finishing which two last disputes all our Controversie would be ended he shall have a fair hearing But I may be bold to foretel without pretending to be a Prophet that nothing of all this will be done and that if he vouchsafe an Answer he will as to the first either still fly to the private Tenets and Practices of Particulars or Misrepresent our Doctrin and as to the others either fob my Arguments off with such an Answer as he thinks is sufficient against Monsieur Arnauld's Perpetuity Desence Pref. pag. 11. that is calling it a Logical subtilty which wants only Diogenes 's Demonstration to expose it's Sophistry A pretty quirk indeed were the case parallel or that it could be made out as clearly that the Church has erred as it could be shewn that Diogenes moved but what is the Point in Question must be always supposed as certain in our Defenders Logic or else he will send us to his beloved friends Monsieur Daille or Monsieur Claude as he has upon the like occasions or lastly endeavor to expose us by some contemptible Raillery as he has done the Bishop of Meaux to the Defenders own confusion amongst thinking Men. For It is not enough to Men of Sense to speak contemptibly of solid Arguments excellent Discourses or persons of known integrity Monsieur Arnauld 's Perpetuity of the Faith and the just Prejudices against the Calvinists will not loose their esteem amongst the Learned and Judicious because our Defender tels us they have been out-done by Huguenots neither will the Bishop of Meaux's credit be any ways impaired or his Exposition less esteemed because the Defender and such as he have endeavored to traduce him and make the World believe him to be Insincere or ignorant But such things as these are now a-days put upon the World without a blush and they who are this day ingenious Learned and honest Men shall be to morrow time-servers block-heads and knaves if they chance but to cast a favorable look towards Popery and hated abhorred and oppressed with injurles if they forsake their Errors to embrace the Truth even by those who pretend that Conscience ought not to be forced I must conclude this Preface with begging pardon of my Readers for the length of this work which will I fear deter some from the perusal of it but I hope they who are desirous to search for the True Faith which is but one amongst so many and without which it is impossible to please God will not think it much to spend a little time for their satisfaction which if they do I hope it will open their Eyes and they will see how much they have been hitherto kept in ignorance by those who pretend to be their guides but shew themselves by their Writing either to be blind or which is worse malitious For if they know our Doctrins and yet Misrepresent them to their People they must be convinced of Malice and if they know them not we are ready to inform them if they think we palliate or pervert our Doctrins to gain Proselites it shews how little they understand our Tenets For when they see us ready to lose our Estates our Liberties and our Lives rather than renounce one title of our Faith how can a reasonable Man be persuaded we would renounce it all to gain a Proselite who the very first time he should see us Practise contrary to our Doctrins would be sure to return and expose our Villany BEcause the Defender has been pleased to ask this Question in the close of his Discourse page 84. Where are the Vnsincere dealings the Falsifications the Authors Miscited or Misapplied I thought it might not be amiss to refer the Reader to some of them as they are detected in this following Treatise And tho' the Defender had not the sincerity to acknowledge them yet I dare
with such Idolatry We find indeed that their Twenty second Article tells us that the Invocation of Saints is one of those Practices which are fond things vainly invented c. but it proceeds not so far as to call it Idolatrous And if the Book of Homilies to which he flies upon other occasions when he is prest to shew the Doctrin of his Church be more severe he is little versed in his own Doctrins if he be ignorant that several Eminent Divines of his own Church do not allow that Book to contain in every part of it the publick Dogmatical Doctrin of the Church of England Bishop Montague Dr. Heylin Mr. Thorndike tho' they be all obliged to subscribe to it as containing a wholesome Doctrin I wish then there be not something more in the bottom of this than what appears at first sight Dr. Heylin tells us §. 2. The charge of Idolatry begun in Queen Eliz. time that when Queen Elizabeth beheld the Pope as her greatest Enemy in reference to her Mothers Marriage her own Birth and consequently her Title to the Crown of England Books were filled with bitter Revilings against the Church of Rome and all the Divine Offices Ceremonies and performances of it Cyprian Angl. pag. 342. 2d Edit but that in the next Ages the dangerous consequences of the Charge of Idolatry upon the Church of Rome began to be more calmly and maturely considered Rejected in King Charles the first 's time in so much that Arch-bishop Laud thought it necessary to endeavor with diligence to hinder the reprinting of those Books And what must the same Apprehensions be now again raised in the Peoples minds Must the Pope pass now for our greatest Enemy And must the common People be taught to hate Papists worse than Jews and Mahumetans Renewed at present to make us odious that the Pulpits ring again with such horrid accusations and every Book tho' pretending moderation brings now the charge of Idolatry along with it If this Author had not this design for I dare not accuse him of being a leading Man he might at least have foreseen the ill consequences which would follow in the Nation and for which I fear He and Those that set him on will one day answer before the Tribunal of the God of Peace and Unity But he thinks himself clear at least of Calumny Defence pa. 2. if he can shew that our Authors allow all that he has charged us with Calumny Not too fast I must in this also beg his pardon The consequence do's not follow that because some particular Members of the Church of Rome may have taught such Doctrins therefore the Church is guilty of them He has been often told and that according to all reason that we have nothing to do here with the Doctrin of the Schools that he must take our Doctrins from the Councils which contain the Public Authentic and Vniversally received Definitions and Decisions of the Church otherwise he touches not the necessary terms of Communion Des Pref. p. 19. But tho' he acknowledges this to be my Catholic Distinction yet he takes little or no notice of it throughout his whole Book but flies still to particular Authors to maintain his charge But what if our Authors allow not those things which he charges them with will he then acknowledge himself guilty of Calumny If he cannot bring any of our Authors that say Divine Worship is to be given to the Blessed Virgin and Saints departed unless their expressions be miserably distorted or any persons that do practice it if our Missals and Pontificals do not command us to adore the Cross taking the word Adoration in that strict Sense and if I shew him in the following Articles that he mistakes the Doctrin of the Council of Trent about the Sacrisice of the Mass and the Churches Tenet about Merit I hope he will be so ingenuous as to confess that we deserve not so ill a Character and if he be so sensible of the account which must be given for idle words Close pag. 86. I hope he will likewise consult the Salvation of his Soul and repent and make satisfaction for those which are injurious to the reputation of a Church to which if he be what he professes he must acknowledg he owes some obligations as to a Mother But I charged him also with Vnsincerity in stating the Question betwixt Catholics and Protestants Unsincerity and this also touches his reputation I must confess I would willingly be tender of it but where so great a concern as the reputation of an Innocent Church is joyned with his single Honor I think I may be excused if I let the dirt fall where it ought when by wiping it off from one it must necessarily stick upon the other That which I condemned in his stating of the Question was §. 3. Catholics affirm that Protestants hold not all Fundamentals that he represented us as allowing them to hold the Antient and undoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith. I told him that we do not allow that Proposition especially if he mean all Fundamentals Pag. 24. and that tho' the Bishop of Meaux has a Section to shew how those of the Pretended Reformed Religion acknowledge the Catholic Church to embrace all the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Protestants grant that Catholics hold all Fundamentals yet it do's not from thence follow that Catholics reciprocally grant them also to hold the same And what I pray is his answer to this That whoso shall please to consider Monsieur de Meaux's arguing from Monsieur Daille's Concessions Defence pa. 4. as to this Point will find it clear enough that he did if the Foundation consist of Fundamental Articles But really I have again and again considered what Monsieur de Meaux says in that Section and can find no such thing in it but that his is only Argumentum ad hominem M. de Meaux sense perverted by the Defender an Argument drawn from the Concessions of Monsieur Daillé and from what is manifest to every one viz. That we believe all those Articles which Protestants call Fundamental But he neither says nor insinuates Expos Sect. 2. pag. 3. nor so much as shews it to be his Opinion that the Protestants hold all those Articles which Catholics call Fundamental But he who can find That in the Bishops Argument The Vindicators sense perverted by the Defender Def. pag. 5. can find also that I my self confess that the Articles which we hold and they contradict do by evident and undoubted consequence destroy those Truths that are on both sides agreed to be Fundamental I know not with what Spectacles he Reads but I think any judicious Reader will grant that I never said any such thing 'T is true I tell him Vindic. pa. 23. that were the Doctrins and Practices which he alledges the plain and confessed Doctrins and
this Note another which I desire the Defender to take notice of that that Act of Parliament tho' it ordained Communion under both kinds unless in cases of necessity yet was so moderate as not to condemn thereby the usage of any Church out of the Kings Majesties Dominions Which moderation had he been endowed with he would not have expressed such detestation of the Doctrin nor passed so severe a Sentence against the Catholic Church for the Practice PART III. ART XXIII Of the Written and Vnwritten Word THe Defender having so ingenuously confessed §. 103. Expos Doct. Ch. of England pag. 75.76 that the Vnwritten Word or Tradition as to that Gospel which our Blessed Saviour preached was the first Rule of Christians that this and the written Word are not two different Rules but as to all necessary matters of Faith one and the same and the unwritten Word was so far from losing its Authority by the addition of the written that it was indeed the more firmly established by it And having acknowledged for himself and his Church that they are ready to embrace any Tradition though not contained in the written Word provided that they can be assured it comes from the Apostles or that it can be made appear to have been received by All Churches in All Ages How to know Apostolic Tradition I thought it necessary to propose a certain means by which we might come to know what had been thus delivered and that grounded upon the very nature of Tradition But this the Defender now opposes and I shall endeavour to make clear In order to which we are to consider First §. 104. I. The nature of Tradition in this case Divine Truths surpass the reach of Human reason as to the thing it self that we speak here of Divine Truths which surpass the reach of human Reason revealed to the Apostles which Truths the Apostles were obliged to teach to the Faithful then living without addition or diminution and the Faithful then living were also tyed under the same Obligation to deliver the same Divine Truths in like manner without addition diminution or alteration to their Successors and they to theirs in every Age. 2ly II. They were taught by the Apostles to all Countries These Truths were to be taught in all Countries and Kingdoms by the Apostles and their Successors and not only taught but practised So that what one Country or Nation learned from one Apostle the same was another to learn from another and a third from a third a fourth from a fourth c. 3ly III. And they wre obliged to deliver them to their Posterity without any Eslential alterations The obligation of delivering these Truths without addition diminution or alteration was and is the strictest that can possibly be imagined viz. the forefeiture of eternal Happiness and the incurring of eternal Torments So that whoever should undertake to teach his own Invention for a revealed Truth or to deny a known revealed Truth because it ws not agreeable to his Fancy or Interest and taught others to do the same could not but know that he did not perform his Obligation and therefore justly incurred that penalty 4ly IV. There must be Heresies But if such Men did arise as there must be Heresies who would not rely upon what had been taught them but proud and conceited of their own abilities would form to themselves new Notions of things and rely upon their own Wit or Judgment even to contradict those delivered Truths A connivance at them is damnable or interpose others not delivered A silent Connivance in Pastors and Teachers in that case suffering their Flock to be seduced would be a Crime not much inferïor to that of the Seducers and would deserve no less a punishment 5ly V. This Age must necessarily know what was taught in the last It is absolutely impossible that any thing can be taught in this Age contrary to what had been delivered in the immediate foregoing Age but that this Age must necessarily know it to be an Innovation And therefore it is absolutely impossible to make a whole Age believe they had not been taught a Doctrin as a delivered Truth when their Fathers of the immediately preceding Age had actually taught them that it was delivered 6ly It being thus manifest VI. Error cannot spread it self insensibly that it would be absolutely impossible for an Error against a delivered Truth to spread it self over the Face of the World without being perceived by them to whom that Truth had been delivered so is it absolutely inconsistent with the nature of Man to think that such an universal Deluge of wickedness and delusion should happen that all Pastors and People of whole Christendom should in any one Age combine together to deceive the next Age and either deliver to them an Error as a delivered Truth or make a delivered Truth pass for an Error when they could not but know that the doing of it must necessarily be a Sin which unrepented of would bring Damnation and that no Repentance could be without making a just satisfaction 7ly VII From hence I conclude that if in any one Age we find all Christians agreeing that such a particular Doctrin or practice was delivered to them as coming from the Apostls it must necessarily follow that the Age next preceding that All persons would never combine to damn their own Souls by renouncing what they had been taught did also believe it to be a Truth so delivered because no reason can be given nor cause assigned why the Pastors and People of so many different Countries and Interests otherwise sollicitous for their Salvation should all combine together to damn their own and their Posterities Souls and deliver that as a Tradition to their Successors which they had not received from their Predecessors 8ly From hence I also conclude VIII The pres ent Church in every age is the best judge of what is universal Tradition that the present Church in every Age is the best Judge of what is universal Tradition and what not and that the way to know her Judgment is to regard the uniform voice of her Pastors and People either declared to us by the most universal Councils that Age can afford or by her universal practice 9ly Moreover IX This Church is secured from error by Gods Promise besides this moral Impossibility that the whole Church in any one Age should conspire to teach a Doctrin as traditionary which they had not been taught by Tradition we have further the Promise of Almighty God that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church that he will send the Holy Ghost the Comforter who shall remain with her Pastors and Teachers to the end of the World and teach them all Truth that these Pastors and Teachers shall be our Guides lest we should be led away with every Wind of Doctrin and several other the like Promises So that 10th
interesting my self for him any further in the business or to intercede for one in whom I had found nothing but weakness mixed with Ignorance Nevertheless Protestants Print this Mans Letter and the single Allegation of such a Witness must become God willing a proof against me I speak it in the Presence of God Reverend Father my Heart is grieved to see Objections of so poor a Nature seriously pressed in Books And I beg of Almighty God in the anguish of my Soul O Lord wilt thou still continue to suffer Christian Souls to let themselves be caught in such weak and miserable Snares The Extracts from Cardinal Bona which they bring in the last Objection regard the Common difficulty so often proposed by Protestants about Prayer to Saints The Difficulty consists in this that as they who Pray with efficacy and obtain the effect of their desires are sometimes considered as the doers of the things after their manner It happens also sometimes that instead of saying to the Saints Pray for us they say do this always understanding that it is by their Prayers they do it By such Objections the Holy Ghost might be blamed for saying so often in the Scriptures that the Saints have done that which God has done by them and at their Prayers If such manners of speaking be familiar in Scripture why will they not also have them used in the Prayers of the Church But is it possible to explain ones self more clearly than the Church does upon this Subject seeing for one time you find and that in the Hymns and other Poetical works that we Pray the Saints to do or to Grant some thing you will meet with it a Thousand times Explicated that they do it only by their Intercession and Prayers And had not the thing been already explicated by the Prayers of the Church could there yet remain any doubt after the Expositions I have brought out of the Councils Catechism and after the decision of the Council it self For I beseech you let us weigh a little with our selves what it Teaches in the Twenty fifth Session does it not put this as a Foundation of the Invocation which we make to them that they offer up Prayers for us And consequently it's design is to shew us their Power is in their Prayers and yet new Explications are still demanded as if the Council of Trent had not sufficiently declared her Doctrin in a matter otherwise very clear Truly Reverend Father it extreamly troubles a Christians Heart to see tho' the Sense of the Church be made so very Evident in her decisions People should continue still thus to Juggle and Cavil with us about words I will say nothing about Mr. De Witte Rector of St. Maries of Meckline I find nothing in that Objection which concerns me in particular nor in the Letters of the Clergy upon the Subject of some briefs from the Pope Nobody ever pretends to offend his Holiness or in the least title to diminish the Authority of his See by saying that things may proceed thence which may not always be according to Rule On the contrary Protestants my observe from such Examples that a Church may with respect maintain what she thinks to be her Right without either breaking Vnity or hurting Subordination Pardon me Reverend Father for making this return so late my Employments of another Nature which would not give me leisure sooner must with your leave be my excuse I conclude praising your Zeal which will not suffer you to mitigate the urgent desires you have for the Salvation of your Brethren I am with particular Esteem Reverend Father Your most humble and most Affectionate Servant ✚ J. Benigne de Meaux The INDEX to the PREFACE THE Mischief of Heresie and Schism § 1. Catholics seek the best means to obtain Peace Ib. We neither decline particulars nor refuse to fight with Protestants at their own Weapons § 2. We Appeal to Scripture Ib. To the Fathers and Councils in all Ages § 3. To an uninterrupted Tradition § 4. And shew the Truth of our Doctrins from Protestants own Concessions Ib. But Protestants fly to particular disputes and in them to the particular Tenets of School-men § 5. And at last to down-right rayling Therefore a plain Exposition of our Doctrin was thought necessary § 6. A Brief account of the Religion of our Ancestors from the first Conversion of this Nation till Henry the 8ths Schism § 7. A like account from Henry the 8ths time till his present Majesty § 8. The Rise of the present Controversie § 9. Of the betwixt the Vindicator and the Defender § 10. The state of the Controversie Misrepresented by Protestants who flie to Private Opinions and stick not to what is of necessary Faith. § 11. Honor due to Saints § 12. Images and Relics § 13. Justification Merit and Satisfaction § 14. Purgatory Indulgences § 15. Sacraments Church § 16. Rule of Faith. § 17. Protestants will not distinguish betwixt Faith and Private Opinions Ib. But prolong Disputes about unnecessaries which the Vindicator resolves to decline § 18. THE INDEX to the BOOK ARTICLE I. Introduction pag. 1. IDolatry and Superstition is the Protestant Cry and Calumny at present § 1. Other Protestants thought the Charge unjust Ib. It was begun in Queen Elizabeths time Rejected in King Charles the 1sts And now renewed to make us odious § 2. Catholics are allowed by Protestants to hold all Fundamentals but not Protestants by Catholics § 3. Monsieur de Meaux and the Vindicators Sense perverted by the Defender Catholics no more guilty of Idolatry than Protestants An Instance of the Defenders Charity and Moderation Ib. ARTICLE II. Religious Worship terminates ultimately in God alone page 6. A Necessary distinction in Respect Honor Worship Adoration c. Which are Equivocal Terms and misapplied by the Defender § 4. As also in Bowing Kneeling c. § 5. The Honor pay'd by these words or actions is distinguished by the Object § 6. Divine Honor call'd Latria is due to God only Inferior Honor called Doulia may be given to Creatures proved by 1. Scripture § 7. 2. and the Practice of Protestants § 7. ARTICLE III. Invocation of Saints pag. 10. PRayer Invocation c. are Equivocal terms misapplied by the Defender § 8. Saints may be Honored They Pray for us We may desire them to Pray for us proved Three sorts of such Prayers § 9. By the Practice of the Primitive Fathers in the Fourth Age as Protestants grant § 10. These Prayers were not Rhetorical flights § 11. in St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Ephrem St. Basil St. Gregory Nissen The Primitive Fathers wrongfully accused by the Defender as if they held that the Saints were not admitted to the sight of God till the day of Judgment § 12. Wrongfully accused as if they had departed from the Practice and Tradition of the foregoing Ages § 13. They prayed to Saints within the first 300 Years