we remaine here in our earthly habitations imprisoned in our houses of clay as we cannot lift vp our heauy and drowsie eyes ād steddily fixe our dimme sight vpon the dazeling and indeed inuisible Deity nor entertaine an immediate communication with him like the childrē of Israel who desired that Moses not God might speake vnto them it was necessary that God himselfe should descend to some corporall substance that might be more familiar and lesse dazeling vnto vs And none was so conuenient as humane nature to the end that he might not onely conuerse freely and familiarly with vs and so in a gentle and a sweete manner teach vs what we should doe but also preach vnto vs by his example and himselfe be our leader in the way that he instructed vs to take The conclusion then of this discourse is that it was necessary Christ God and man should come into the world to teach vs what to belieue and what to doe 10. The tenth conclusion shall be that those vnto whom Christ did immediatly preach this faith and vnto whome he gaue commission to preach it vnto others and spread it through the world after he ascended to heauen ought to be belieued as firmely as he himselfe The reason of this assertion is that their doctrine though it be deliuered by secondary mouthes yet it proceedeth from the same fountaine which is God himselfe that is the prime verity and cannot deceiue nor be deceiued But all the difficulty here in is to know who had this immediate commission from Christ and by what seale we should discerne it to haue bin no forged one The solution of this ariseth out of the same argument which proueth that Christ himselfe was God and that the doctrine he taught was true and diuine which is the miracles and workes he did exceeding the power of nature and that could be effected by none but by God hmiselfe for he being truth it selfe cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him witnesse and confirme à falsehoode In like manner the Apostles doing such admirable workes and miracles as nether by nature nor by art magicke could be brought to passe that must necessarily inferre God himselfe cooperated with them to iustifie what they sayd it is euidēt that their doctrine which was not their owne but receaued from Christ must be true and Diuine 11. Te eleauenth conclusion shall be that this faith thus taught by Christ and propagated by the Apostles and necessary to mankinde to belieue as well that part of it which is written as the whole which is not dependeth intrinsecally vpon the testimony of the Catholicke Church which is ordayned to conserue and deliuer it from age to age By which Catholike Church I meane the congregation of the faithfull that is spread through-out the whole world for we haue proued before that the way to the true faith ought to be open and playne to all men of all abilities and in all ages that haue a desire to embrace it and this cannot be but ether by the immediate preaching of Christ or else by the information ether in writing or by word of mouth of them that learned it from him and their deliuering it ouer to others and so from hand to hand vntill any particular tyme you will pitch vpon But from Christs owne mouth none could haue it but those who liued in the age when he did therfore there remaineth no other meanes to haue it deriued downe to after ages then by this deliuery ouer from hand to hand of the whole congregation of fathers or elders dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sonnes or youngers which course of deducing faith from Christ we call tradition so that this conclusion proueth that the Church is the conseruer both of the whole doctrine of faith necessary for saluation and likewise of the diuine writ dictated by the Holy Ghost and written by the Prophetes Euangelists and Apostles which we are also bound to belieue And the same assent that we are to giue to the truth of Scriptures that is to say that the Scriptures we haue are true Scriptures the very same we are to giue to other articles of faith proposed vnto vs by the Church for they alike depend of the same authority which is the veracity of the Church proposing and deliuering thē vnto vs to be belieued And we may as well doubt that the Church hath corrupted the Scriptures as that she hath corrupted any article of fayth 12. The twelueth conclusion shall be that into the Catholike Church noe false doctrine in any age can be admitted or creepe in that is to say no false proposition whatsoeuer can euer be receiued and imbraced by the Catholike Church as a proposition of faith For whatsoeuer the Church beleeueth as a proposition of faith is vpon this ground that Christ taught it as such vnto the Church he planted himselfe and so it left it in truste to be by it deliuered ouer to the next age And the reason why the present Church belieueth any proposition to be of faith is because the immediate preceeding Church of the age before deliuered it as such And so you may driue it on frō age to age vntill you come to the Apostles and Christ. Therefore to haue any false proposition of faith admitted into the Church in any age doth Suppose that all they of that age must vnanimously conspire to deceiue their children and youngers telling them that they were taught by theire fathers to belieue as of faith some proposition which indeed they were not Which being impossible as it will euidently appeare to any prudent person that shall reasonably ponder the matter that so many men spread throughout the whole world so different in their particular interests and endes and of such various dispositions and natures should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye it is impossible that any false doctrine should creepe into the Church But because the force of this argument may peraduenture not appeare at the first sight to your Ladyshipp that happily hath not had much occasion to make deepe reflection vpon the certainty that must needs be in the asseueration of any history of matter of fact subiect to the sense which shall be made by a great company of men so distant from one another and of such different interests and affections as they cannot conspire together in the forgery of a falsehood But that you may happily thinke since any one man is lyable to be deceiued or out of some indirect end may be iuduced to deceiue another it is also possible that a whole multitude of men be it neuer so great consisting of particular men may allso deceiue or be deceiued I will therefore for a further declaration of this matter propose for the thirteenth Conclusion that fayth thus deliuered is absolutly more certaine and infallible then any naturall science whatsoeuer And yet sciences are so certaine I meane such as depend of
whole world as would be requisite to extirpate and roote out a doctrine vniuersally spread ouer it all that was at the first taught and confirmed with such sâ—ales of truth as the miracles that Christ and the Apostles wrought that in it selfe is so pure and agreable to the seedes that euery man findeth sowed euen by nature in his owne soule that worketh such admirable effects as the reformation of manners in maÌ„kind that withdraweth mens affections from humane and wordly contentments and carryeth them with a sweete violence to intellectuall obiects and to hopes of immortality and happinesse in another life that prescribeth lawes for happy liuing euen in this world to all men of what condition soeuer ether publike or priuate as working a moderation in mens affections to the commodities and goods of this life which else in nature is apt to blinde mens mindes and is the cause of all michiefes and euills and lastly that is deliuered ouer from hand to hand from worlds of fathers to worlds of sonnes with such care and exactnesse as greater caÌ„not be imagined and as is requisite to the importance of that affaire which is infinitly beyond all others as on which the saluation and damnation of mankinde wholy dependeth Now vnto these rationall considerations let vs adde the promise which Christ made to his Church that the gates of hell should not preuaile against it and I thinke we haue sufficiently maintained that the Church of Christ in which the true doctrine of Christ is conserued can neuer faile but must infallibly continue vntill the worlds end Thus hauing proued that a supernaturall doctrine is necessary to bring mankind to beatitude that Christ taught this doctrine that from him the Churh receaued it and is the sacrary in which it is coÌ„serued that this Church cannot erre in the tradition of this doctrine that besides the infallibility of it this Church is perpetuall It remaineth now that we close vp this discourse by applying all these premisses vnto the question in hand which is where we shall find out this infallible Church that by it we may gaine the knowledge of the true faith of Christ whereby we are to be saued 16. For this end our sixteenth and last conclusion shall be that the congregation of men spred ouer the world ioyning in communion with the Church of Rome is the true Catholike Church in which is conserued and taught the true sauing faith of Christ. The truth of this conclusion will without bringing any new proofes appeare euideÌ„tly by reflecting vpon what we haue sayed and onely examining whether the Romane Church be such a one as we haue determined the true Church of Christ must be or whether the notes which me may inferre out of our discourse to belong inseparably to the true Church may not rather with more reason be acknowledged of some other then of that in coÌ„munion with the see of Rome this point after these groundes layed requireth no very subtill disquisition but is discernable euen by the weakest sights and therefore this way of arguing appeareth to me most satisfactory and contentfull when taking the whole body of the question into suruey and beginning with the first and remotest considerations of it we driue the difficulties still before vs and pursuing of them orderly at euery steppe we establish a solide principle and so become secure of the truth and certainty of all we leaue behind vs which course although it may at the first sight appeare to be a great way about and looking but superficially vpon the matter we may seeme to meete with difficulties which coÌ„cerne not our question yet in the effect we shall perceiue it is the most summary method of handling any controuersie and the onely meanes to be secured of the truth of what we conclude and that will recompense the precedent difficulties by making the conclusion which is the knotte of the affayre plaine easy and open I say then first that vnity of doctrine in matters of faith is inseparable from the Romane Church and can neuer be found in any other it onely hauing a precise aÌ„d determinate rule of faith For it hath belieued in euery age all that hath bin plainely aÌ„d positiuely taught vnto it by theire fathers as the doctrine of faith deriued from Christ and admitteth noe other article whatsoeuer as an article of faith Whereas on the other side all other Christian Churches amoÌ„g vs that pretend reformation haueing no certaine and common rule of faith but euery particular man gouerning himselfe in this matter by the collections of his owne braine and by his owne priuate vnderstanding and interpretation of Scripture which onely he acknowledgeth as the entire rule of faith it must consequently follow that according to the variety of their tempers and iudgemeÌ„ts there must be a variety and difference of their opinions and beliefes which difference of temper happening for the most part betweene euery two men that are it likewise followeth scarse any two should in all particulars of their opinions agree together And accordingly we see by experience that scarce any two authors out of the Romane Church that haue written of matters of faith haue agreed in their tenets but rather haue dissented in fundamentall doctrine and haue inueighed against one another in their writings with great vehemence and bitternesse Whereas on the other side the Doctors of the Romane Church in all tymes in all places and of all tempers haue agreed vnanimously in all matters of faith although in the meane tyme seuerall of them haue in diuers other points great debates against one another and pursue them with much sharpnesse which strongly confirmeth the ground vpon which we frame this obseruation But to insist a little further vpon this materiall and important consideration it is euident that the proceeding of the reformers openeth the gate to all dissention schisme irreuerence pride of vnderstanding heresie and ruine of Christian religion for to iustify the new births of their rebellions braines the first stroke of their pen must be to lay a taint of ignorance and error vpon the whole current of Ancient fathers and Doctours of the Church and generall Councells and to blast their authority which is so precisely contrary to their doctrine whose names and recordes ought to be sacred with posterity Which when they haue done to settle a coÌ„stant and like beliefe in all men they giue noe generall and certayne rule but leauing euery man to the Dictamens of his owne priuate iudgement according to the seuerall tempers and circumstances as we sayd before that sway euery single man in particular there must result which we see by experience as great a variety of opinions as those are different And lastly since they quarell at Catholickes beliefe in those points where they differ from them because they captiuate their vnderstandings with reuerence to what the Church proposeth and teacheth and thereby admitt into their beliefe articles which may seeme absurd to common sense
they may as well with presumptuous hands graspe at and seeke to plucke vp the very fundations of Christian religion as namely the doctrine of the Trinity and of the incarnatiō of Christ and of the resurrection and state of life of the future world since there are greater seeming contradictions in them especially in the two first then in those misteryes the reformers cauill at In the next place we may consider that as infallibility is pretended by the Romane Church alone so it is apparantly entayled vpon it for we haue proued that no meanes or circumstāce ether morall naturall or supernaturall is wanting in it to begett infallibility in matters of faith Wheras on the other side from the reformers owne position we inferre by consequence that their doctrine cannot be hoped euen by thēselues to be infallible and therefore they that shall submiit their vnderstanding to their conduct though they belieue without controuersy all they say must needes euen by reason of what is taught them floate allwayes in a greate deale of incertitude and anxious apprehension and feare of error For they looking vpon the Church but with pure humane considerations as an ordinary company of men will haue it lyable to mistaking according to the naturall imbecillity of mens wits and vnderstandings and of humane passions and negligence and other such defects and weakenesses which euery man is by nature subiect vnto Against which they produce no antidote to preserue and secure thēselues from the infectiō and taint they lay vpon the Church For if they will haue the conferences of seuerall passages of Scripture to be that which must giue light in the seuerall cōtrouerted obscurities what eminency haue these few late reformers shewne other in knowledge of tongues insight into antiquity profoundnesse in sciēces and perfection and sanctity of life which hath not shined admirably more not to taxe them here of the contrary in multitudes of the aduerse party And none will deny but these are the likelyest meanes to gaine à right intelligence of the true and deepe sense of Scriptures And besides we may obserue that the reason why they deny the seuerall articles wherin they differ from the Catholicke Church is because it teacheth a doctrine which is repugnant to sense and of hard digestion to Philosophy both which are vncompetent iudges of diuine and supernaturall truths And whosoeuer steereth by their compasse cannot hope for infalliblity in a matter that transcendeth their reach Thirdly we may consider that the vniuersality of the Church in regarde of place which is necessary to the end that all mankinde may haue sufficient meanes to gaine knowledge of the true faith can be attributed to none but to the Romane Catholicke Church which onely is diffused throughout the whole world whereas all others are circled in with narrow limits of particular prouinces And euen within them the professors scarce agree among themselues in any poynt of doctrine but in opposing the Romane Church And yet further besides this want of vniuersality in regarde of place the Religion taught by the reformers hath yet a greater restriction then that for euen in its owne nature it is not for all sorts of persons and for all capacities whereas the true saueing faith to bring men to beatitude ought to be obuious to all mankinde and open as well to the simple as to the learned For since they lay the Scriptures as the first and highest principle from whence they deduce all that ought to be belieued And that in all artes and sciences the primary and fundamentall principles thereof ought to be throughly knowne by thē that aspire to the perfect knowledge of those sciences it followeth that one must haue an exact knowledge of the learned tongues to examine punctually the true sense of the Scriptures and that one must be perfectly versed in logicke to be able to reason solidly and to deduce true consequēces from certaine principles for want of which we find by experience that great controuersies arise dayly among the learnedst men which would not be if the force of consequences were of their owne nature easily discernable and one must be throughly skilled in naturall philosophy and Metaphysickes since vnto appearing contradictions in subiects of those sciences they reduce most of their arguments against the supernaturall truths that Catholickes belieue And lastly one must be indowed with an excellent iudgemēt and strong naturall witt to be able to wield and make good vse of these weapons without which they would but aduāce him the faster to ruine and pernicious error With which excellencyes how few are there in the world fairely adorned Fourthly it is euident that the Romane Catholicke Church onely hath had a constant and vninterrupted succession of Pastors and Doctors and tradition of doctrine from age to age which we haue established as the onely meanes to deriue downe the true faith from Christ. Whereas it is apparant all others haue had late beginnings from vnworthy causes And yet euen in this little while haue not bene able to maintaine themselues for one age throughout or scarce for any considerable part of an age in one tenor of doctrine or forme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment Lastly we may consider how the effect of the holy Ghost his inhabiting in the Church in regard of manners making the hearts of men his liuing temples shineth eminently in the Catholike Church and is not so much as to be suspected in any other whatsoeuer For where this holy spirit raigneth it giueth a burning loue of God as we haue touched before and a vehement desire of approaching vnto him as neere as may be Now the soule of man moueth towards God not by corporeall steppes and progressions but by intellectuall actions the highest of which are mentall prayer and contēplation in which exercices a man shall aduance the more by how much he is the more sequestred from the thought and care of any wordly affayres and hath his passions quieted within him and is abstracted from cōmunication with materiall obiects and is vntied from humane interests and according to the counsailes of Christ in the Gospell hath cast off all sollicitude of the future and remitteth himselfe wholy to the prouidence of God liuing in the world as though he were not in it wholly intent to contēplation when the inferiour part of Charity calleth him not downe to comply with the necessity of his Neighbours This forme of life we see continually practised in the Catholicke Church by multitudes of persons of both sexes that through extreme desire of approaching as neere vnto God as this life will permitt doe banish themselues from all theyr frends kindred and what els in the world was naturally dearest vnto thē and either retire into extreme solitudes or shutt themselues vp for euer within the narrow limits of a straight Monastery and little cell where hauing renounced all the interest and propriety in the goods of this world and vsing no more of them then is
Conference with a Lady about choice of Religion Printed at Paris 1638. MADAME My being conscious to my selfe how confusedly and intricately I haue deliuered my conceptions vnto your ladyshippe vpon the seuerall occasions of discourse we haue had together concerning that important subiect of what faith and religiō is the true one to bring vs to eternall happinesse wherein your Ladyshipp is so wisely and worthily inquisitiue and sollicitous hath begotten this following writing in the which I will as nere as I can summe vp the heads of those cōsiderations I haue somtimes discussed vnto you in conuersation And I will briefely and barely lay them before you without any long enlargement vpon them as haueing a better opinion of the reflections that your Ladyshipps great vnderstanding and strong reasoning soule will by your selfe make vpon the naked subiect sincerely proposed then of any commentary I can frame vpon it And indeed such discourses as these are deeper loked into whē they are pōdered by a prudentiall iudgement then when they are examined by scientificall speculations But with your leaue I shall take the matter a little higher then where the chiefe difficulty seemeth to be at which your Ladyshipp sticketh conceiuing that if we begin at the roote and proceede on steppe by steppe we shall find our search the easyer and the securer and our assent to the conclusions we shall collect wil be the more firme and vigorours We will therfore begin with considering why faith and Religion is needfull to a man before we determine the meanes how to find out the right faith for that being once setled in the vnderstāding we shall presently without further dispute reiect what Religiō soeuer is but proposed that hath not those proprieties which are required to bring that to passe that Religion in its owne nature aymeth at And this must be done by taking a suruey of some of the operations of a human soule and of the impressions made in it by the obiects it is conuersant withall 1. Your Ladyshipp may be pleased thē to cōsider in the first place That it is by nature ingrafted in the soules of all mankinde to desire beatitude By which word I meane an intire perfect and secure fruition of all such obiects as one hath vehement affections vnto without mixture of any thing one hath auersion from For the soule haueing a perpetuall actiuity in it must necessarily haue something to entertaine it selfe about and according to the two chiefe powers of it which are the vnderstanding and the will it employeth it selfe first in the search and inuestigatio of what is true and good and then according to the iudgement it maketh of it the will followeth and with affectiōs graspeth at it which if it happen to seize vpon the soule is at content and at rest but if it misse it is vnquiet and laboureth with all vehemence to compasse it and if any thing happen that is repugnant to the nature of it it vseth all industry and efficacious meanes to ouercome and banish it so that all the actions and motions of it tend to gaine contentment and beatitude 2. In the next place you may please to consider that this full beatitude which the soule thirsteth after cannot be enioyed in this life For it is apparent that intellectuall goods as sciēce contemplation and fruition of spirituall obiects and contentments in theire owne nature are the chiefe goods of the soule and affect her much more strongly and violently thē corporall and sensuall ones can doe for they are more agreeable to her nature ād therfore moue her more efficaciously when they are duely relished But such intellectuall goods cannot be perfectly relished and inioyed as long as the soule is immersed in the body by reason that the sensuall appetite maketh continuall warr against the rationall part of the soule and in most men mastereth it and in the perfectest this earthly habitation doth soe drawe downe and clogge and benumme the noble inhabitant of it which would allwayes busie it selfe in sublime contemplations as it may be sayd to be but in a iayle whiles it resideth heere And experience cōfirmeth vnto vs that the sparkes of knowledge we gaine heere are not pure but haue the nature of salt water that increaseth the thirst in them who drinke most of it and we swallowe the purest streames like men in a dropsie who the more they drinke are still the greedier of more Therfore to haue this greedinesse of knowing satisfied and to exercise the powers of our soule in the pure and abstracted contemplation of truth and in the sincere fruiction of spirituall obiects we must haue patience vntill she arriue vnto an other state of life wherein being separated from all corporall feces impediments and contradictions she may wholly giue herselfe vp to that which is her naturall operation and from whence resulteth her true and perfect delight Besides euen they who haue attayned to the greatest blessings both inward and outward that this world can afforde yet are farr from being completely happy for that state admitteth noe mixture of the contrary which who was euer yet free from were his fortune neuer so specious The very feare of loosing them that must allwayes necssarily accompagny those blessings is such a spoonefull of gall to make their whole draught bitter as that alone must needes take of the edge and vigour of the contentment that else they might enioy How little can any man relish the obiects of delight which with neuer so great affluence beset him round about when he knoweth a sharpe and heauy sword hangesh by a slender thread ouer his head and at length must fall and euer after seuer him from them A litle distemper an accidentall feauer and ill mingled draught such a one as the miracle of witt and learning Lucretius mett withall is enough to turne the braines of the wisest man that is and in a few houres to blott out all these notions he hath bin all his life labouring to possesse himselfe of and to render him of a more abiect and despicable condition then the meanest wretch liuing that hath but the common vse of reason The Genius that presideth ouer human affaires delighteth in perpetuall changes and variation of mēs fortunes so that he who late sate enthroned in greatest dignity is all of a suddaine precipitated head-long vnto a condition most opposite therunto he that but yesterday had all his ioyes enlarged and swelled vp to their full height by the communication of a perfect and entire friend without which can there by any true ioye hath to day lost the comfort of all that the world can afford him by the irrecouerable losse of that one friend In a word death growing dayly vpon him and encroaching vpon his outworks and by houres reducing him into a narrower circle at leingth seizeth vpon himselfe and maketh an eternall diuorce betweene him and what was dearest to him heere 3. Our next consideration then shall be to
notwithstanding all the miracles they had seene him worke in allmost 4. yeares tyme they continually cōuersed with him which appeareth plainely by the discourse of the disciples going to Emaus when they sayed we hoped c. And expressed their sadnesse for the contrary successe to their expectation and by saint Thomas his saying that he would not belieue his resurrectiō vnlesse he saw him and pnt his fingers into his woundes c. And by the rest of the Apostles that were so long before they would belieue his resurrection as hauing giuen ouer the thought of his diuinity and after his death considered him but as a pure man like other mē Therfore it was necessary that some inward light should be giuen them so cleare and so strōg and so powerfull as the senses should not be able to preuaile against it but that it should onerflowingly possesse ād fill all their vnderstandings and their soules and make them breake out in exteriour actions correspondent to the spirit that steered them within And the reason is euident for whiles on the one side the senses discerne apparantly miracles wrought in confirmation of a doctrine and on the other side the same senses doe stifly contradict the very possibility of the doctrine which those miracles testifye the soule within hauing no assistāce beyond the naturall powers she hath belonging originally vnto her is in great debate and anxiety which way to giue her assent and though reason doe preuaile to giue it to the party of the present miracles yet it is with great timidity But if it happen that the course of those miracles be stopped thē the particular seeming impossibilies of the proposed faith remayning alwayes alike liuely in their apprehension and the miracles wrought to confirme it residing but in the memory and the representatiōs of them wearing out dayly more and more and the present senses and fantasy growing proportionably stonger and stronger and withall obiecting continually new doubts about the reality of those miracles it cannot be expected otherwise but that the assent of the soule should range it selfe on the side of the impossibilityes appearing to the present senses and renounce the doctrine formerly confirmed by miracles vnlesse some inward and supernaturall light be giuen her to disperse all the mistes that the senses rayse against the truth of the doctrine Now the infusion of this light and feruour we call the giuing of the holy Ghost which Christ himselfe foreknowing how necessary it was promised them assuring thē that he would procure his father to send them the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth that should for euer remaine among them and within them and suggest vnto their memory and instruct them in the right vnderstāding of the faith he had preached vnto them And this was prophesied long before of the state of the law of grace by Hieremy whose authority S. Paule bringeth to proue that the law of the Gospell was to be written by the holy Ghost in mens hearts and in their mindes and accordingly he calleth the faithfull of the Corynthians the faith of Christ not written with inke but with the spirit of God nor grauen in stony tables but in the fleshy ones of their hearts And in performance of this prophesy and of Christs promise the hystorie telleth vs that on the tenth day after the ascension of Christ when all his disciples who were then all his Church and were to preach and deliuer it to all the world were assembled together the holy Ghost was giuen thē and that in so full à measure as they not onely were confirmed so perfectly in their faith as they neuer after admitted the least vacillation therein but they immediatly casting away all other desires and thoughts were inflamed with admirable loue of God and broke out into his prayses and into a vehement ardor of teaching and conuerting others and when by reason of that zeale of theirs any thing happened to them contrary to flesh and blood and humane nature as persecutions ignominies corporall punishmēts and euen death it selfe they not onely not shunned it as before but greedily rann to meete and embrace it and ioyed and gloryed in it all which were effects of the holy Ghost residing in them and filling their myndes and gouuerning their soules Where vppō by the way we may note that in what Church soeuer we find not à state of life for sanctitie and neere vnion with God and contempt of wordly and transitory things raysed aboue the pitch of nature and morality we may conclude the holy Ghost inhabiteth not there for euery agent produceth effects proportionable to the dignity of it and the excellency of any cause shineth eminently in the noblenesse of its effects Now that this guift of the holy Ghost is to remaine with the Church as long as the Church remaineth to illuminate it with the spirit of truth and to giue it a supernaturall and diuine vnction will appeare manifestly vpon consideratiō of the cause why the holy Ghost was to be giuen at the first which remaineth alwayes the same and therfore the same effect must alwayes follow and accordingly Christ promised his Church vpō his ascēding into heauen that he would alwayes ramaine with them vntill the end of the world to witt by this holy spirit for he was then at the point of withdrawing his corporall presence from them 15. Our next conclusion shall be that this Church or congregation of men spread ouer the world cōseruing and deliuering the faith of Christ from hand to hand is euen in its owne nature perpetuall in tyme and cannot faile as long as mankinde remayneth in the world This needeth noe further proofe then that which we haue already made which is deriued from the necessity of supernaturall faith to bring mankinde to the end it was created for and that there is no meanes to deliuer this faith to mankinde in the ages after Christ but by the traditiō of the Church and therefore as long as mankinde lasteth this meanes must be cōtinued Yet in this way of reasoning that I vse we are to examine our conclusions as well by the genuine and orderly causes that beget them and by their owne particular principles as to assent vnto them for the necessity that we see in them in regarde of the end that they are referred vnto And when we haue retriued those and euidently discerned theire force it giueth an admirable content and satisfaction to the vnderstanding Thus then as Philosophers conclude that it is impossible any whole species or kinde of beastes should euer be vtterly exterminated and destroyed that is diffused vp and downe ouer the whole face of the earth because the amplitude of the vniuerse is greater then the variety of causes can be from which such a generall and entire corruption must proceed In like manner we may confidently conclude that it is impossible any depraued affections should so vniuersally preuaile and so absolutly raigne in mens mindes throughout the
necessary for the poore sustenance of theyr exhausted bodyes which they mortify with great abstinences watchings and other austerityes that they may bring them into subiection and roote out as much as may bee the very fewell of concupiscence and passions and hauing of their owne accorde barred themselues of all propriety of disposing of thēselues in any action and renounced euen the freedome of their will and thus in somme hauing taken an eternall farewell of all the ioyes and delights that this world can afford and that carnall mē would be so loath to forgoe for any litle while yet by the internall ioyes that they find in their prayer and cōtemplation vnto which all these actions of retrenchment from superfluities or outward solaces doe serue as a ladder to ascend vnto the topp of it they liue so happily and cheerfully and with such tranquillity of minde and vpō occasions say so much of the ouerflowings of theyr blisse as it is apparant they inioy there the hundred-fold that Christ promised in this life Nor can it be obiected that men vsually betake themselues to this course of Religious life vpon being distempered by melancholy or for the ill successe and trauerses they haue had in affayres of the world or out of simplicitie and weakenesse of vnderstanding since it is euident that this Angelicall forme of liuing hath euer beene best practised by persons of the best cōposed and cheerfullest dispositions and by multitudes of such is and hath bene imbraced and that in the world ouerflowed with all the blessings it could afford them and were of strongest parts of vnderstanding and iudgement and were most eminent in learning So that it is apparent they had no other motiue thereunto but purely the loue of God and feruour of deuotion which being an effect of the holy Ghost residing in their heartes to his inspirations and admirable wayes of working in those his temples of flesh and blood these extraordinary effects are to be imputed Whereas on the other side noe such exāples or surpernaturall forme of life are to be mett withall in any other Church whatsoeuer Rather they disclaime from them and like men of this world which is the expression that Christ vseth in the Gospell to designe those that are not of his Church not being able to discerne things of the spiritt but being blinded with the luster of them too great for their weake eyes they neglect and disdayne them and imagine that all Christian perfection consisteth in an ordinary humane morall life which is the vttermost periode that any among them seeke to attaine vnto And therefore we may hence cōclude that they haue no interiour worker among them more sublime then their owne humane discourses and iudgements and that supernaturall sāctity an effect of the holy Ghost is confined only to the Catholicke Church Besides we may obserue by dayly experience how those persons that addict thēselues to such an extraordinary way of life doe absolutly proue ether the best or the worst of mankinde the one excelling in admirable piety feruour of denotion abstraction and sanctity of life and some of them soaring vp to a pitch euen aboue nature the other abounding in all sorts of impiety wickednesse and dissolution of manners till at length theire hearts become euen hardened against correction and all sense of spirituall things whereas it ordinarily happeneth that the most flagitious men among those who liue in a vulgar wordly estate of life doe vpon occasions frequently receaue notable impressions from diuine obiects to the amendement and change of their dissolute course And this being a constant and certaine effect noted at all tymes and in all places it must be attributed to a cōstant and powerfull cause which can be noe other thē the neere approaching of those persons to the originall fontaine of sainctity and goodnesse which being like a consuming fire worketh vehement effects in them according to the disposition they are in and to the neerenes that they haue vnto that fire so that as the sunne beames which are the authors of life and foe cundity to all plants and vegetables shinning vpon a tree that hath taken soide rootes in the earth maketh it budd flourish and beare fruit and on the other side if it bee weakely rooted their heate and operation vpon that tree maketh it the sooner to wither and die And as the fyre sendeth an influence of heate into a pott of water that is symply applyed vnto it but if that pott be sett in a vessell of snow or ice and so be held ouer the fire it driueth vnto the center the cold of the snowe formerly diffused with out and in a very short space turneth that water into ice which else might haue stayed there long enough without congealing in like manner they who being rooted in charity approach to that dinine sunne doe flourish and bring fourth excellent ād ofttymes supernaturall fruites of deuotion feruor and sanctitye butt those who haue depraued affections soe inuironing the rootes of theyr hearts as that the soyle of charity cānott introduce her nourishing sappe into them and whose soules are compassed in with the ice of sensuality and carnall cogitations if they come within the beames of this holy sunne or within the heate of this sanctifying fire they doe but wither a way the sooner and their hearts grow daily more and more to be ice till at lēgth like that of Pharao amidst the wonderous workes of the lord happy to others they become miserable and stony And againe we see that those who hauing addicted themselues wholy to such a course of Seraphy call life and that being allwayes vehemently intent to the loue and contemplation of the prime verity and that hauing no other obiect for their actions or thoughts doe thereby as wee may reasonably conceaue approach neerest to God allmighty and drawe immediatly from him who is the fonntaine of light and truth strongest emanations and cleerest influences to illustrate their vnderstanding and enflame their affections those persons I say haue euer beene most earnest in the maintenāce of those points of the Romane doctrine which are most repugnant to sense as in particular of that of the reall presence of Christs body in the blessed Sacrement vnto which all other Sacrements and acts of faith and deuotion are reduced and adore them with greatest reuerence and are enflamed with feruentest deuotion vnto them And therefore wee may conclude that this confidence religiousnesse and feruour proceedeth from hēce that these men and such among them as cannot be suspected for simplicity ignorance or sinister ends are thus cōfirmed in this faith and are thus sett on fire with this deuotion more vigorously and vehemētly then ordinary secular men by the immediate working and inspiration of the holy Ghost from whose streames it is likely they drinke purer and cleerer waters and neerer the well head then other men of a more worldly and vulgar conuersation And it were not agreeable to the