Cum inter Dectores non conveniat quando peccet mortaliter qui non facit elecmosynam non facile condemnandi sunt divites qui non faclunt Sa verb. Elcemos n. 2. pag. 201. The Doctors being not agreed when we sin mortally in not doing alms we must not easily condemn the rich who do them not at all And a little after citing Tolet in the place before alledged with some other Casuists and reporting that Judgment he concludes thus 3 Extra extremam necessitatem eleemosynam sub mortali peccato non esse praeceptam dicunt Ibid. They say that unless in case of extream necessity alms is not commanded under mortal sin That is to say that unless we see some person that hath his Soul in a manner hanging on his lips or who is in evident danger of death it is no great sin for him that is able to assist him to abandon him This is to speak properly to discharge men from the obligation of giving alms these extream necessities never falling out in a manner and there being few persons who see any such in many years or not at all in their whole lives and when such an one by great accident is presented we are not obliged any farther to provide for them according to these Doctors if we have not wealth to spare and riches that are superfluous and there being hardly any person who believes he hath such or who indeed hath such so much doth Covetousness Luxury House-keeping rack men at this day and makes all men in a manner necessitous so the obligation of giving alms shall be abolished and there shall hardly be any person found who shall think himself obliged to assist his neighbour to what necessity soever he be reduced But the words of Tolet are considerable and discover also with advantage the solidity of this Doctrine 4 Istam teneo propter communem Doctorum sententiam nec audeo obligare sub mortall quos tot tanti Doctores excusant I am saith he of this opinion because it is the common judgment of the Doctors and I dare not engage him in mortal sin whom so many great Doctors excuse He calls the Casuists of these last times great Doctors and he dares not depart from their opinion though he avows after that they are themselves departed from that of the holy Fathers who were the Doctors and Masters of the Church before them which hath proposed them as such to all the faithful of latter Ages and by much stronger reason to Priests and Divines who ought to be the most perfect amongst the faithful For he acknowledges that although the Scholasticks discharge the rich from the obligation they have to give alms of that which they have superfluous the holy Fathers for all that and the common judgment of Antiquity obligeth them thereunto 5 Etsi Scholasticorum communis sententia eos excuser tamen Doctores Sancti eos damnant ita ut profecto sit sententia probabilis illos obligari sub praecepto Tolet. l. 8. c. 35. n. 3. pag. 1242. Though the common opinion of the School-men excuse them saith he yet the holy Doctors condemn them So that it is very probable that they are obliged thereunto by Precept He is not content to say in general that this is the Judgment of the holy Fathers but he cites many passages of S. Ambrose S. Jerom S. Austin S. Basil and of S. Chrysostom who place in the rank of those who rob or detain unjustly the goods of others all them who give not to the poor what remains of their wealth after they have provided for their just and true necessities You see saith he after he had named all these Fathers 6 Vides tot Sanctos damnare superflui retentionem multùm ergo timendum est Ibid. so many of the Saints who condemn them that do not their alms of what they have of superfluity There is therefore herein much cause to fear He might have added to the Authority of these Fathers that are the most illustrious and the most famous of the Church that of all the rest for they all agree in this Point so that there is not one found to say the contrary So that if there be one Point of Doctrine established on the ancient and universal Tradition of the Church this is as clearly as any other and if that which is established upon this Tradition ought to pass for indubitable amongst Catholick Divines and amongst all the Faithful as it hath always certainly been until this present we cannot call this Doctrine into doubt without wounding the Authority of the Church and the foundations of the Faith and to say it is probable as Tolet saith Profecto sententia probablis est is not of much â—atter effect than to say that it is false because this is to hold always for doubtful the ancient and universal Tradition of the Church and to give men liberty to decide Points of Divinity and to expound Scripture against the consent of the Fathers which is expresly forbidden by the Council of Trent Another that hath not read the Fathers might be excused by his ignorance But this excuse hath no place in Tolet who forsakes them after he had cited them and which is yet more unsupportable and more injurious to these great Saints he renounces their Judgment after he had acknowledged it to follow that of the new Divines of our times 1 Et nisi esset tam unanimis Scholasticorum sentâ—ntia qua possunt exculari modo aliquo tales homines absque dubio damnanda esset talis retentio Ibid. If the School-men saith he did not agree so unanimouslâ— as they do in this very Judgment by which we may in some sort excuse these persens who give not in alms what they have of superfluity we must without doubt have condemned this sparingness so as the holy Fathers condemn it as he saith himself Vides tot Sanctos damnare superflui retentionem He pretends then that the holy Fathers on one side condemn those who give not in alms what they have of superfluous and on the other hand the new Scholasticks excuse them we must hold to the Judgment of these later if we will believe this Jesuit and follow his Example But if it be lawful in this manner to oppose the new Divines to the ancient Tradition in this Article and in this opposition to prefer the Judgment of the Casuists before that of the holy Fathers instead of judging and correcting the Moderns by the Tradition of Antiquity it will be lawful to do the same thing in all other Points which concern Manners or Religion and so there shall be nothing fixed in the Doctrine of the Church and Antiquity shall be no more a mark of Truth and Faith but Novelty shall be more considerable though until this present it hath passed for a Vice and a mark of Errour But for all that he hath over-reached in saying that this new Opinion
follow that which he believes to be less probable and to prove their opinion he lends them a reason of which he oftentimes made use before in like cases about other matters e Quia nec temere nec imprudenter agit utpote qui ratione probabili ducitur Ibid. n. 46. Because a Judge doth not herein behave himself rashly or imprudently guiding himself as he doth by a probable opinion Which obligeth him to approve the opinion of these Authors though he dares not follow it f Quamvis autem hoc sit probabile probabilius judico eum teneri sententiam serre juxta opinionem probabiliorem Ibid. n. 47. Because though it be probable yet he believes it to be more probable that a Judge is obliged to Judge according to the more probable opinion There are none therefore but Casuists and directors of consciences alone that are absolutely exempt from this obligation It is of them alone that we are to understand that which Filliutius said above g Licitum est sequi opinionem minus probabilem etiamsi minus tuta sit It is lawful to follow the less probable opinion though it be also less safe And it is to them onely that we are to referre all those maximes and conclusions which we have seen him and his fraternity draw from this principle And though in this they favour indeed those of other professions in fixing them more unto truth and Justice and leaving them less liberty to depart from it yet it is not this they regard particularly their principal design is to favour themselves in giving to themselves a power to dispose of the power of Jesus Christ of his ministry of the consciences and Salvation of men according to their fancy and do in the Church whatsoever they please without considering that there is no greater misery then to love licence and to be able to do what one will against justice and truth II. POINT The pernicious consequences and effects of the Jesuits Doctrine of probability IF the Tree may be known by its fruit and if a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit as Jesus Christ saith in the Gospel we may confidently affirm that the Doctrine of probability is the most dangerous that ever appeared in the Church and in the world because it overturns all things in them both There is no Chapter in this book that proves not this truth but because it is important and that there are it may be many persons that will hardly believeit and will not easily observe it through the whole extent of this treatise I will represent here some of the principal proofs of the pernicious consequences and unhappy effects of this Doctrine 1. It favours and nurses up weak and disorderly persons in their mistakes and disorders sinners and libertines in their bad courses hereticks in their heresies and Pagans in their infidelity 2. It teaches to elude the Commandments of God and the Church and it overturns Laws Civil Ecclesiastick and Divine 3. It destroys the authority of Princes over their Subjects of Pastors of the Church over the Faithful of Fathers over their children Masters over their Servants of Superiours in Religious Orders over their Inferiours and generally of all Superiours over their Inferiours 4. It introduces independence and leads to irreligion 5. It cannot be destroyed nor hindred from having course in the world if it be once therein received and taught Every one of these points are handled largely enough in diverse places of this Book where may beseen the passages of the Jesuits Authors which I have cited for their verification Wherefore to avoid repetitions I shall often onely give a short touch here as I passe of what they say upon the most part of these points relating upon the rest some other new passages of their Authors I will also recite some out of one of their principal and most faithful disciples and partakers Caramuel by name This is the onely exception to be found in all this work of my design which I have to rehearse onely the Authors of the Society if yet in this it can be said that I depart from my design since it is still onely the Jesuits that speak by the mouth of one of their disciples who doth nothing but deduce and explicate their opinions But if sometimes he seem to be transported and to expatiate too far in the licence of their Doctrine he draws always his conclusions from their Doctrines and he often supports them by their very reasons and in all the liberty of his stile and spirit he advances nothing but what is comprised and contained in the maximes of the Society which I have represented in the preceding Articles It had not been hard for me to have drawn the very same consequences with him But besides that I make some scruple to aggravate or publish the mischief before it appeares and breaks forth of its own accord it goes sometimes to such an excesse that it seems incredible if they themselves who are the Authors thereof did not both own and publish it And this hath caused me to take this disciple of the Jesuits for the interpreter of their opinions as being proper to represent most clearly and most surely the pernicious effects of their Doctrine of probability But because the matter is of great extent I will divide them into several Paragraphs according to the points I even now observed SECT I. That the Jesuits Doctrine of probability favours disorderly persons libertins and infideles 1. IT favours weak and disorderly persons and nuzzles them in their looseness because according to the rules of this probability there is no person of any condition who may not easily be excused of the most part of his duties general and particular continue to live in his disorder and in the abuse which the corruption of the age hath introduced and exempt himself from alms from fasting and from other good works which he may and ought to do according to the order of God and the Church that he might come out of his weaknesses and disorders since these holy exercises are the strength and nourishment of the faithful soul But all these proofs and others also which might be produced upon this point are contained in one sole maxime of the Jesuits Divinity reported by one of their chiefest disciples and defendours a Omnes opiniones probabiles sunt peraeque tutae ac securae benigniores etsi aliquando siut minus probabiles per accidens sunt semper utiliores securiores Caramuel Comment in Reg. S. Bened. l. 1. d. 6. n. 58. Item Theol. fundam p. 134. That all probable opinions are of themselves as safe the one as the other but the more pleasant although they be less probable are always more profitable and more safe by accident That is to say because of their sweetness which renders them more easie more proportionable to the inclinations of men and more favourable to their interest and softness And
32. But as according to these new Doctors a probable opinion which hath taken its original for an errour becoming common in processe of time become also safe and may be followed in conscience So although the Hereticks were convinced to have had their rise from errour they might according to this maxime pretend that time and custom have purged away this defect and have put them in possession by a good title which is sufficient to quiet their consciences and justifie them before God And to fortifie them yet more in this their imagination and to defend it against those that would trouble them they may say that though it were true that the Catholick Religion were more probable then the Lutherans or the Calvinists they would yet cease to be probable though they were not so much and that of two probable Religions as well as c Dico 2. licitum esse sequi opinionem minus probabilem â—tramsi minus tuta sit Filliutinâ— mor. qq rom 2. tr 21. c. 4. n. 128. pag. 12. two probable opinions we may follow that which is lesse probable according to the Jesuits Doctrine though it were also lesse safe and with much stronger reason when that which is the lesse probable is the more safe as they may pretend theirs to be For considering this other rule of the Doctrine of probabilty d Omnes opiniones probabiles sunt per se aeque tulae benigniores etsi â—…iquando sint minus probabiles per accidens sunt semper utiliores ac securiores Caramuel sup that of two probable opinions the more pleasant is always the more safe though it be lesse probable a Calvinist or a Lutheran may say that he hath more reason to continue in repose and security of conscience in his Religion then the Catholick in his since it is manifest that the Doctrine of Calvin and Luther is more pleasing and favourable to nature and the inclinations of men then that of the Catholick Church and by consequence it is more safe I should have refrained from reasoning in this sort and drawing these consequences from the Jesuits Doctrine though they be clear and evident knowing how far it is from the Spirit of the Church to raise new difficulties in the matters of Faith and to meet with the objections of the adversaries then especially when they notably dishonour the truth and when they are capable of hurting the weak spirited if the Jesuits themselves and their disciples had not raised these doubts and proposed these instances and if they had not put these reasons in the mouths of the hereticks to teach them to answer those who would presse them to return to the union of the Church They go so far as to confesse that these instances and these reasons of which they acknowledge that the Hereticks may make use to nourish themselves in their obstinacy are taken from their Authors and are no other then the principles and consequences of their Doctrine of probability without troubling themselves to change or correct this evil Doctrine no more then to answer the Hereticks nor to let them see that they mistake their opinions and the fundamental Doctrines of their Divinity whereby they testifie that they disapprove not the reasonings of these Hereticks and that they are not far from believing that a man may be saved in the Religion of Calvin and Luther It cannot be but from this imagination and observations that one of their principal disciples from whom I have extracted all these reasons and all these consequences favourable unto herefie which we now above observed to be their product protesteth e Ad solamen coram qui in Germania habitant multos viros oliter probos infectos dolens haeresi aliquas periodos scribe verius ex selectissimis authoribus exscribo Caramuel Theol. fund p. 472. that he hath taken these discourses from good Authors as are all those of the Society for the comfort of the Germans and many others otherwise honest men whom he is troubled to behold infected with heresie For in matter of Religion we can give no consolation nor repose of conscience to any man but by giving him hope that he may be saved in that whereof he makes profession After this protestation he represents first of all a Man born in heresie amongst the Lutherans and well instructed in Lutheranisme He supposes in the second place that this Lutheran is entred into conference with many Catholicks and amongst others with a Capouchin one of the chief of their Order who to presse him to conversion represents unto him that it is necessary for him either to renounce Jesus Christ or to return to the Roman Church And in the processe of his discourse he teaches him to answer this Capouchin according to the rules of probability which we have represented above and he furnisheth him with all the reasons and all the instances which I now deduced being draw from the same principles See how he makes him speak f Christianismus probabilissima Religio est sub ipso dantur sectae antiquiores juniores severiores benigniores universaliores minus universales praecipue Romana Lutherana Calviniana quae si vere probabiles Ergo mihi Lutherano non est necessario redeundum ad Romanam Ecclesiam aut secedendum à Christo Nam praeter Romanam Ecclesiam cui probabilitatem non nego etiam Lutherana est Christiana probabilis multo Romana benignior Caram Theol. fund p. 472. Christianity is the most probable of all Religions and it contains in it many Sects of which some are more ancient and some others are more novel some more safe and some more pleasant some more diffused and other more narrow amongst which the Roman the Lutheran and the Calvinist are truly probable And by consequence being a Lutheran as I am it is not true that there is a necessity for me to return to the Roman Church or to renounce Jesus Christ For besides the Roman Church which I acknowledge to be probable the Lutheran is also Christian and probable and it is besides more pleasant then the Roman And by consequence more safe in conscience according to the rules of probability After that this Author had made this heretick to speak thus he interrupts his discourse that he might himself expound that which he said or rather that which he made him say And to give more weight unto him g Vim rationis jam penetras Jam vides quo respicit haereticus Tenet primo probabile quod Deus mentiri nequeat Secundo esse probabile quod revelarit sacram paginam si velis ut sic loquar dictaâ—crit Tertio esse probabile quod eandem Romana Ecclesia bene exponat Ibid. You see saith he the force of his reason and what it is he pretends First of all he holds that it is probable that God cannot lye In the second place that he hath revealed the Holy Scripture and even that he endited
cautiori It is lawfull for Father Valerian de Magnis the Capouchin to accuse the Doctrine of the Peripateticks of errour and Tyranny why is it not lawful for a Lutheran to take care of himself for fear of being deceived by retiring to the Roman Church and least instead of truth he find there errour as well as in other Sects n Cur non licebit dicere Romanam quidem Ecclesiam probabilissimam at que adeo in foro interno esse securissimam Et tamen hoc ipso non obstante Lutheranam quam ipse profitetur esse etiam probabilem atque aeque Christianam securam Imo securiorem omnino quoniam minus probabilis sententia si bâ—niguior etiam securior est Cur non licebit addere se esse in quieta conscientia apud Lutherum adeoque nec teneri redire ad Romanam Ecclesiam nec à Christi religione secedere Ibid. Wherefore may he not say the Church of Rome is as to truth very probable and for conscience very safe But this hinders not but that the Lutheran Doctrine which he professeth may be also probable Christian and safe and even more safe since an opinion less probable is more safe when it is more pleasant Wherefore may he not also say that he is in repose of conscience amongst the Lutherans and by consequence he is not obliged to return to the Roman Church or to forsake the Religion of Jesus Christ. It is not the Lutheran that talks thus but the disciple of the Jesuits who speaks for him and furnisheth him with answers whereby he believes that he may defend himself against those that presse him to forsake his Lutheranisme and with reasons wherewith to comfort himself according to the design of this whole discourse and to assure his conscience in his Religion because it is probable because therein he finds repose because being born therein and having been brought up and instructed therein from his childhood he hath continued therein and lived in it in simplicity with intention to serve God and save himself which are so many principles of the Jesuits Divinity one that he acts prudently and with a safe conscience in following a probable opinion the other that a pretended good intention covers all sorts of crimes and the third that to do evil it is necessary to know that evil is done and to have a will to do it so that when we think to do well as this Lutheran doth and that following conscience though erroneous we accustom our selves to evil so long till we loose all sense and cognisance thereof and therein find our repose we may according to this new Doctrine continue in this estate without fearing any thing And as if this Author kept intelligence with this Lutheran or as if he were convinced by the strength of his reasons and could not make answer unto him he concludes in this manner o Sic discurrit etiam nunc Barsanomeus debet à te lector erudite compesci Patrem Valerianum Magnum audivit alios audire desideras Ibid. It is thus that this Lutheran also argues at this day and it were well that some one of them that read this would undertake to refute him He hath already heard Father Valerian the Capouchin and he desires to hear others It is his duty who hath done the hurt to apply the remedy it is their duty who have put arms into the hands of the enemies of the Church to fight with her and to nourish themselves in rebellion against it to take them from them and to break them asunder in their hands but this man testifies either his malice in declaring that he will not do it or his weakness in affirming that he cannot and in discharging himself upon others deberet à te lector erudite compesci He doth not condemn even that which he makes the Lutheran himself say he complains not that he makes evil use of his Doctrine and of the Jesuits about probable opinions or that he interprets or applyes it ill He doth not onely not answer his reasons but he makes them avail as much as he can He enlarges them he expounds them he adds his own to them if they be not all his and though he dare not approve them directly and possitively declaring that all he saith is true he doth it yet indirectly inquiring why he may not so speak And leaving the question so without answer he testifies that he hath no true one and that he agrees that a Lutheran may in this manner defend himself against them that presse him to leave his Lutheranisme and return to the Church of Rome Also before he entred into this discourse he said plainly that he did it onely to this purpose to comfort the Germans and other honest people infected with heresie He pretends then to comfort them by the discourse of this Lutheran and he avouches that in the matter of Religion and Salvation there can be no consolation but in repose of conscience and in the perswasion of being united to the true Church and in an estate of Salvation making this Lutheran say that he is inrepose of conscience amongst the Lutherans se esse in quieta conscientia apud Lutherum and that a Lutheran Church is a probable Christian and safe Church Lutheranam Ecclesiam esse probabilem Christianam securam And so he testifies openly that one may be saved out of the Roman Church amongst Lutherans and Calvinists These are the consequences and fruits of the Doctrine which makes all things probable SECT III. That the Jesuits Doctrine of Probability destroys the Commands of God and the Church and teaches to clude all Laws Divine and Humane even that which forbids to do unto others that which we would not have done unto our selves IT is easie to prove this by reason and to make it apparent by evident and necessary consequences that it is a sequel of this Doctrine But it seems more to my purpose to shew it by the proper words and examples of the Masters and defenders of this very Doctrine Caramuel proposes this case a Proponi alterum casum Petrus die Sabbati sub mediam noctem ut primum audivit duodecimam comedit carnes postquam satur excessit è mensa audivit aliud horologium significans duodecimam Die sequenti communicare vult sic discurrit Horologia habent opinionum probabilium virtutem at ego comederam antequam tale horologium sonuerit ergo probabile est quod sum jejunus At opinioni probabili conformare conscientiam possum Ergo potere communicare Caram Theol. â—und p. 139. A man hears the clock strike twelve on Saturday at midnight and presently thereupon he eates flesh Rising from table after he hath filled himself with meat he hears another clock strike twelve also The day following being desirous to communicate he reasons thus Clocks are as it were probable opinions I have eaten before this clock struck It is therefore probable that I did eat
and that of Sanchez being well managed with that of Sancius may discharge of the whole in many occurrences There is also another more commodious and more easie which gives liberty to cut off therefrom what we please or to say or not say it at all absolutely if we please The foundation of this opinion is that the Church can neither command nor forbid condemn nor punish that whereof it cannot take cognisance Upon this principle Caramonel reasoneth in this manner h Lectio horarum occulta vel etiam omissio ejusdem lectionis occulta per accidens est incognoscibilis Superior enim qui externos subditorum actus vere occultos secretos cognosceret jam non esset homo sed Angelus Ergo per accidens est dijudicabilis Ergo per accidens est impraeceptibilis Ergo per accidens accidit Superiori quod non possit interdicere actiones aut omissiones secretas occultas per accidens Ibid. p. 205. Albeit that the action of him who saith his Breviary in secret or who faileth thereof in secret may be known by himself yet it cannot be known by any other man a Superiour must be an Angel and not a man to know all the secret actions or omissions of this subject Then this action in the same manner is incapable of being judged and if so of being punished and then also of being commanded And by consequence it is thus true that Superiours cannot forbid secret actions or omissions There is nothing required but to be secret and crafty enough to hide himself from men so that they know not whether he say his Breviary or no without thinking of God who sees all nor of the command of the Church who appoints the Office to be said every day nor by consequence of the penalties ordained against them that neglect it See how these Doctors teach to obey the Church and to keep its commands and they believe yet after all this to have done it great service and given it cause of being well contented with them i Cum Ecclesia ferat suas leges ita à gravibus Doctoribus explicari hoc ipso quod eorum explicationes permittit publice imprimi doceri censetur suum praeceptum secundum eas confiderare Mascarenhas tract 5. n. 491. The Church knowing well saith Mascarenhas that considerable Doctors do expound the Laws in this manner and permit these Explications to be taught publickly and printed it seems that she approves them and fits her Laws to them This is without doubt to explicate the Laws of the Church clearly and to leave no difficulty therein but it is to destroy the spirit of it and to preserve only an appearance thereof so that they neither say or demand any thing but what the particular persons would have By which it may be judged what esteem Jesuits have for Civil Laws and Laws of Princes there being no appearance that they will give more honour to them than to those of God and the Church For this cause all they say of the one may easily be applyed to the others and they must hold of necessity that they may all equally be contemned with a good conscience I will rehearse only two of their maxims which contain almost all that can be said on this subject 1. k Peccant non peceant subditi sine causa non recipientes legem à Principe legitime promulgatam Escobar Theol. Moral tom 1. l. 5. sect 2. c. 14. probl 13. p. 160. It may be said according to Escobar that the Subjects of a Prince who refuse to receive without just cause the just Laws which he hath caused to be legally published do sin and it may be said also that they sin not at all He speaketh of a lawfull Prince and he supposeth that the Law which he causes to be published is just and that his Subjects have no cause to complain thereof and yet he pretends that they have liberty to obey or not In pursuance hereof he alleadges Authors and Reasons which they produce on each side to make both the opinions probable and to give liberty to follow whether we please And it is apparent that if any demanded his advice he would counsel them to follow the more easie and more profitable after the rules of his Divinity that is to say that he would incite Subjects to disobey their Prince 2. This permission to despise the Laws of Princes is general for all sorts of persons but it gives also a particular license to Ecclesiasticks saying l Clerici non solum vi directiva sed vi coactiva subjiciuntur non subjiciuntur Principum secutarium legibus quae spectant ad Reipublicae gubernationem nec cum Clericorum pugnant statu Ibid. c. 15. probl 19. p. 162. It may be said that Ecclesiasticks are Subjects and that also they are not Subjects of necessity and obligation but only out of respect and good example towards Princes Laws which regard the Government of their Estates and which derogate not from the Ecclesiastick State The question is then problematical there being Reasons and Authors on both sides and though there were none it is enough that Escobar holds each of these opinions to render them both probable But as the principles and resolves of this Science are almost all favourable to looseness and disorder he concludes with some discourses that m Infero Clericos secluso scandalo non peccare mortaliter Principum secularium leges viâ—lando quia legibus hisce directe non tenentur Ibid. excepting in the case of scandal the Ecclesiasticks sin not mortally in violating the Laws of secular Princes because they are not directly Subjects He excepts no kind of Laws since he speaks of those which are just and derogate not from the Rights of the Church not allowing the Ecclesiasticks to be therein Subjects no more than the Princes themselves that make them This is without doubt to make themselves conformable to the example of Jesus Christ and the words which he spake unto Pilate Joan. 19. v. 11. Non haberes potestatem adversum me ullam nisi tibi datum esset desuper c. Thou wouldst have no power against me if it were not given thee from above and to the conduct of the Saints who believed they should have disobeyed God himself if they had disobeyed Princes who commanded them nothing against the honour of God and the Church It were easie to relate an infinite of like resolutions which the Jesuits give in all sorts of questions which respect Manners and Religion to make it appear by sensible examples that by their Rules of Probability they confound all things in the World in Divinity and almost generally in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church But besides that this truth is found sufficiently proved in this Extract which contains but one part of their corrupted maxims Tambourin will dispence with me for this labour having publickly acknowledged that which I say
in a Collection which he hath made of the principal decisions which are drawn from the principles of the Doctrine of Probability where after he had reported a great quantity according to the order of the Alphabet he declares that there are an infinite of others which he hath not nor can report because that would be very difficult and tedious and the maxims and use of the Rules of Probability extending themselves in a manner unto all sorts of matters there would need an entire Volume wherein to collect and report them simply Operosum id ita est prolixum quippe per omnes fere materias est percurrendum ut integrum merito volnmen exposcat yet I cannot abstain from reporting here also three taken out of this Author which shew an extraordinary and palpable corruption and a very peculiar deprivation of reason in those who are capable to approve or follow them 1. n Probabile est v. c. hoc vectigal injuste esse impositum probabile item esse impositum juste possumne ego bodie quia sum exocto Regius vectigalium exigere ejusmodi vectigal sequendo opinionem asserentem illud juste esse impositum atque adeo licere mihi sine injustiâ—ia illud exigere cras imo etiam hâ—die quia sum Mercator illud occulte defraudare sequendo opinionem asserentem illud à justitia deficere It is probable saith he for example that an Excise is justly established it is probable on the other side that it is unjust may I being at present established by the King to raise this Impost exact it according to the opinion which maintains that it is just and therefore lawfull for me to levy without doing any injustice and to morrow or the same day being I am a Merchant may I secretly defraud this very Impost following the opinion which condemns it of injustice 2. o Secundo probabile rursus est ablationem famae pecunia compensari probabile non compensari Possumne ego bodie infamatus velle ab infamante compensationem in pecunia cras imo bodie ego ipse alium insamans nolle famam proximi à me ablatam compensare pecunia It is probable that the loss of reputation may and may not be compensated with money May I to day being defamed desire satisfaction in money and to morrow or this very day having defamed another not be willing to allow him the same compensation 3. In the third place p Tertio probabile item reo licere aequivocare in judicio probabile non licere Possumne ego reus bodie aequivocare cras vero creatus Judex urgere reum ut non aequivocet Haec innumerabilia ejusdem generis hic in controversiam narrantur In casibus relatis num 1. 2. 3. atque in similibus licitam esse ejusmodi mutationem concedimus Tamb. l. 1. Theol. c. 3. sect 5. num 1. 2. 3. 21. It is probable that a Defendant may use equivocations in Justice May I being this day Defendant use equivocations and to morrow being chosen Judge constrain the Defendants not to make use of them In the process he answers In this case and other such like I grant that it is lawfull to change opinion He believes therefore that these persons may do that justly unto others which they would not have done unto themselves and which they would free themselves from as much as possible and he sees not that this is to overturn the prime Law of Nature and the Gospel which ordains That we should do unto others that which we would they should do unto us and not to do unto others that which we would not they should do unto us and that this is at once to violate all the Commandments of God which are founded on this principle of Nature and all the Law and Prophets which according to Jesus Christ's saying depend upon this rule and all the Holy Scripture which are nothing else but an extension and explication of this same principle SECT IV. That the Jesuits Doctrine of Probability ruines entirely the Authority of the Church of Pastors and Superiors of all sorts TO make this truth appear we must observe that there are four sorts of Principles for ruining the Authority of Superiors 1. By corrupting or destroying the principle of it 2. By bounding it and encroaching upon it 3. By rejecting or weakning its commands 4. By hindring Subjects from obeying The Jesuits by the Doctrine of Probability corrupt the Authority of the Church in the original of it in attributing to it no other than a mere humane power They retrench and destroy it in not consenting that it may prescribe the inward actions of vertue they bound it and encroach upon it by the irregularity of their Priviledges which they abuse to the contempt of the commands and Ordinances of Bishops and invading their Jurisdiction they utterly abolish some of their Laws and they weaken others of them and there are hardly any unto which they have not given some assault by the multitude of inventions they have found out to defeat and elude them These points are entirely verified in the whole process of this Book and some of them in entire Chapters But that which is remarkable and very proper to justifie what I pretend here is this that the means and the armes which they and those who follow their opinion make use of to fight against the Authority of the Church in all these manners are the maxims of their Doctrine of Probability The Authority of the Church is of it self assured and uncontroulable being supported by the firm rock of Gods Word For this cause there cannot be found a means more ready or more infallible to ruine or weaken it than to undermine its foundation and to make it depend on humane reason and authority submitting its Jurisdiction and its power to the disputes and contests of the Schools and rendring in that manner every thing probable that respects its power that they may afterwards become the Arbitrators and Masters thereof It is not needfull here to repeat all that is found in the body of this Book to prove this truth it is sufficient only to report some passages of their Authors and their Disciples in which they avow themselves that the Doctrine of Probability doth absolutely ruine the Authority of the Church and of all sorts of Superiors and they make it so clear in the examples that they produce that after they are read it seems not that any person can doubt thereof Hereof see one manifest proof in the case which Caramouel propounds in these terms q Petrus secutus opinionem benignam probabilem non satissacit mandato sui Abbatis in casu in quo probabiliter non tenetur obedire probabilius tenebatur Praelatus supscribens sententiae severiori judicat illum debuisse obedire proinde peccasse Petitur an possit contra illum procedere punire tanquam inobedientem Caram in com in reg S. Bened. l. 1. n.
being not willing to receive it sin by contempt And he answers in one word No. Which is so much more considerable because a little after he saith of this Sacrament after the opinion of one of his Brethren that where 2 Asserit praepesitus caeteris paribus majoâ—em gratiaâ—n per illam conferri quam per Baptismum quodvis allud Saâ— a nentum excepto Ordine Ib. n. 24. the disposition is equal it confers more Grace then Baptism or any other Sacrament except that of Orders So that according to the principles of the Jesuits we may without any considerable neglect indifferency or contempt resuse all the Graces that are contained in all the Sacraments of the faithful when God offers them by his extraordinary mercy and we may receive them without any inconvenience fince they will that we may refuse in that manner the Grace of Confirmation which they hold to be greater then that of all the Sacraments There are two occasions upon which the Sacrament of Confirmation seems to be most necessary that of persecution and peril of death and that of receiving holy Orders Escobar speaking of the first saith 3 Puto esse allquando per accidens peccatum veniale temeritatis sine confirmaâ—ione facile suscipienda periculis mortis tradi Ibid. n. 23. p. 796. I think that it may happen sometimes by accident that a man may sin Venially through rashness in exposing himself unto mortal danger without receiving Confirmation when it may easily be had He will not that we are obliged to receive Confirmation even then when we are exposed to danger of death during persecution and being in danger to lose the Faith through Torments though we might easily recieve it and so fortifie our selves by the incomparable Grace of this Sacrament But he cannot hinder truth from speaking by his mouth against himself For being constrained to avow that there is at least Venial sin in refusing or neglecting to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in this extremity he is obliged by the same means to confess that this sin is greater since it is a constant maxim with him and his Fraternity that we ought to judge of the greatness of an obligation and sin by that of their matter And so Confirmation and the Grace of Confirmation being so great that according to him it surpasseth that of all the Sacraments of the Faithful and the necessity of receiving it in the case he proposeth being so great that therein salvation and peril of renouncing the Faith are concerned if we be not fortified with the Grace of this Sacrament it must follow of necessity that the sin which we commit in voluntarily neglecting and rejecting it will be great or none at all And Mascarenhas makes use of this very reason to prove that there is neither any necessity nor precept which obligeth us to receive Confirmation 1 Confirmatur qu a cum haec res in se fir gravis si de illa dâ—retur aliquod praeceptum obligans sub mortall sed non obligas its sicut dictum est supra ergo signum est de hoc nullum dari praeceptum Mascarenhas tract 1. de â—acram in genere disp 4. cap. 5. pag. 47. This matter saith he being of great importance if there were any Commandment for it it would oblige under mortal sin and there being no such obligation as we have said before there is then no precept in this point And consequently it is no sin at all not to receive this Sacrament It must be observed here that the Jesuits have acknowledged at first a precept for receiving Confirmation and have contented themselves to confine and restrain it to the first ages of the Church in which persecutions were frequent pretending that it is expired in these our times Afterwards they have said that if this precept did yet oblige at present it was not with so great rigour as that it should be any great sin to go against it and that the Fathers and Councils that had ordained the Faithful to receive this Sacrament had ordained it only by way of Counsel and not of Precept 3. From thence they have inferred that it can be at most but a Venial sin to omit Confirmation and neglect the Precept of receiving it 4. They also at length wipe out even that Venial sin that they may entirely abolish the Commandment for this Sacrament and perhaps the Sacrament if self if they could so much passion and injustice do they express in fighting against it It is by this way and by these degrees that they have introduced many Novelties Errors and loose Principles both into the manners and doctrine of the Church which they maintain publickly at this day as Truths and Rules of Christian Piety As for the other case in which it seems that we are yet more obliged to receive Confirmation to wit before we present our selves to take Orders Escobar demands 2 Num Ordinibus necessario praemittenda Confirmatio Escobar Ibid. n. 25 p. 796. If it be necessary to take Confirmation before Orders He saith at first that there are some who hold it a crime to fail herein but he afterwards expresses his own opinion in these terms 3 Asserue rim receptionem prius Tonsurae absque praevia Confirmatione non excedere culpam venislem levem Ordinum verò minorum veniale commissum gravius Ibid. I am not afraid to say that to receive the rasure without having before-hand received Confirmation is but a Venial sin a very slight one and that it is a greater but yet still a simple Venial one thus to receive the lesser Orders He puts the same question again a little after in a Chapter which hath for its Title 4 Praxis circa materiam de Sacrameneo Ordinis ex Societatis Jesus Doctoribus Ibid. p. 888. The practice in the matter of the Sacrament of Orders drawn out of the Doctors of the Society of Jesus in which he demands 5 An Ordinandus debeat prius Sacramentum Confirmationis accipere Ibid. n. 32. whether he who is to be ordained ought first to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation He acknowledges that Tolet judges that they who do otherwise sin mortally and are irregular because of the express command of the Council of Trent which is conceived in these terms 6 Prima Tonsura non initientur qui Sacramentum Confirmationis non susceperunt Concil Trident. sess 22. cap. 4. That those who have not received the Sacrament of Confirmation be not received unto the rasure which hinders not Escobar from declaring that 7 Alii negant adeo strictis verbis uti Concilium Tridentinum sed solum consulere Episcopis ut non confirmatos non promoveant others say that the words of the Council are not to be taken rigorously but that it only counsels Bishops not to promote unto Orders those who have not been Confirmed Whence he concludes with them who hold this opinion 8
and to indispose him towards that sickness whereof he dyed But nothing touched him more to the quick than the corruption which the Jesuits had introduced into the Morality of the Church He was a mortal enemy to their compliances and he could not bear with their presumption which bent them to consult no other in their Divinity than their own proper light He declared against their loosness in all the Ecclesiastick Conferences whereunto he was invited and he gave himself up particularly in the Sermons and Instructions which he made in the Churches to fortifie the Faithful against their pernicious Maxims His Discourses made so much deeper impression upon their Spirits because they were sustained by his own examples and the truths of Christianity were no less visible in his manners than they were intelligible in his words He handled all sorts of matters with such exactness and solidity as if he had employed all his life only in study of some one of them alone and it might be perceived that he studied in all his Discourses only to clear the understanding to touch hearts and heal diseases and not to puzzle the mind please the ears and flatter the diseased But the love which he had for the purity of Christian Morals was too great for to suffer him to rest so contented He believed that to heal well the mischiefs which the Jesuits had done the Church it was necessary to have a perfect knowledge thereof and to imitate Physitians who addict themselves to know the bottom of diseases before they apply themselves to any remedy He gave himself for this cause to read the Books of these Fathers and to extract out of them the principal Errours of which he hath composed this Book which we now publish but at length he could not but sink under so painful and afflicting a labour His patience found it self exhausted The grief he had to see the Morality of Jesus Christ so horribly disfigured seized his heart and cast him into such a languor as dryed him up by little and little and ravished him away from the Church after he had received with great resentments of Piety and Religion all the Sacraments at the hands of his upper Pastor I will not take in hand to give here an Idea of the design which this excellent Man hath had in this Work of the order which he hath observed of the reasons which he hath had to undertake it and of those in particular which have engaged him to cope with the Doctrine of the Jesuits because he hath himself given satisfaction in all these points in his Preface I shall only answer here to those who have wished that he had not discovered the Errours which are represented in this Work without refuting them by the true Principles of Christian Morality which are Scripture and Tradition They avow that this had been advantagious to the Church and it was the very design of the Author But this hinders not but that his labour although separated from the more large Refutation may have also its utility For they who are acquainted with the Affairs of the Church understand that it is no new thing simply to set down the Errours which the Corrupters of Faith and Manners have attempted to introduce into the Church without undertaking to combate them by long Reasoning and that S. Epiphanius as also S. Austin observed Historics narratione commemorans omnia nulla disputatione adversus falsitatem pro veritate decertans S. August de Hares hath only represented by way of History the pernicious Opinions of the greater part of Hereticks without taking in hand to refute them in particular rehearsing all things with an Historical Narration but not contending for the truth against falshood by any disputation I know well that there is cause to believe by that which S. Austin adds presently after that he had only an Abridgment of the Books of S. Epiphanius But I know also that if this Saint had seen them all entire he would still have discoursed after the same manner and that this Judgment may very justly be passed on them for that of eighty different Sects of which Epiphanius hath undertaken to report the Errours he only tracks the foot as I may say of them one by one and refutes in the manner of a Divine only four or five contenting himself in a few words and as it were on his way passing by them to shew the absurdity of the Conceits of those Hereticks and how far they were distanced from the truth See how he interprets himself in his Preface concerning the manner in which he had designed to handle these things In which truly this one thing we shall perform that we shall oppose against them as much as in us lies in a few words as it were an Antidote whereby we may expel their poysons and by Gods help may free any one who either wilfully or unawares happens to fall into these Heretical opinions as it were into the poyson of some Serpents In quo quidem hoc unum praestâ—bimus ut adversus illa quitquid in nobis situm erit paucis uno atque altero verbo velut antidotum apponamus quo illorum venens propulsemus secundum Deum quemlibet qui vel sponte vel invitus in haeretica illa dogmata velut serpentum virus inciderit si quidem velit ipse liberare possimus This is the same thing which the Author of this Book of Morals which is now made publick hath given us to see therein with a marvellous address and vivacity of Spirit For though he undertake not to refute these Errours of the Jesuits but only to discover them he does notwithstanding discover them without making their excesses to appear most plainly and the opposition also which they have to the truth and sound doctrine So that according to the progress by which we advance in reading this Book we find our selves insensibly convinced of the falsities of all the Maxims which are therein related and our minds filled with the opposite truths and our hearts piously animated against these so horrible corruptions and edified by the violence which we observe this Author hath done upon himself for to moderate his zeal and to keep himself back from refuting opinions so contrary to the common sense of the Faith For unto such evils deep sighs and groans are more agreeable than long discourses Cum talibuâ— malis magis prolixi gemitus fletus quam prolixi libri debeantur S. Aug. Epist 122. Indeed the arguings of the Jesuits which he relates and whereof they make use to authorize their monstrous opinions are so evidently contrary to the Principles and Maxims of the Gospel and to the light of Nature the abuse to which they put the words of Scripture and the Fathers is so visible and so gross and there needs so little discerning to see that they take them in a sense contrary to what they do indeed contain that these Authors
authorize vice and sin than to approve and tolerate all that which nourishes them and to abolish all that which is opposite to them and may destroy them 2. That the things which beget and nourish vice and sin are partly within man as corrupt seeds from whence proceed all the evil which he commits and partly without man as outward objects which beating upon his senses and his mind carry his will to consent unto evil and sin which abides and acts incessantly within him 3. That the things which are within man as the corrupt fountain from whence comes all the disorders and sins which he commits are lust ignorance and evil habits and hypocrisie or the secret malice of the heart covered with a veil of good intention and that the outward things which carry him on unto evil are the occasions of sin the objects which draw on the evil examples the evil customs which excite them and nourish them and above all humane Authority and humane Reason corrupted by sin which furnisheth Inventions for continuance in evil and in the occasions of evil wherein he is engaged and to justifie or excuse the most criminal actions by imaginary probabilities 4. That the things which destroy or expel sin are likewise of two sorts some as if it were internal and others external I call those internal which attract to and establish in the heart of man the Grace of God by which sin is destroyed such as are Faith Prayer Repentance good Works and a right use of the Sacraments I call these external which do from without represent sin unto a man whether it be by the knowledge which they give him of its malice of the hatred which God bears towards it of the punishments which he hath prepared for it in the other life and those with which he punisheth it sometimes even in this very life or which in any other like manner may give him an aversion from it and hinder him from committing it as are the Commandments of God those of the Church and generally all the holy Scriptures old and new which contain all the Promises which God hath made to good men and all the evils with which he doth threaten sinners There is no person I am confident who will not easily agree to these Truths and general Principles So that I have nothing to do but apply them to the particular Subject which I handle to acquit my self entirely of what I have undertaken to prove to wit that the Divinity of the Jesuits is as favourable to vice and sin as possibly it can be It suffices me for this purpose to make appear that it nourishes lust ignorance evil habits and the corruption of the will covered with a veil and pretence of a good intention That it entertains men in occasions of sin in evil customs in licences and abuses as well publick and common to all as peculiar to every Profession making use of humane and corrupt Reason for authorizing these disorders and to make them pass as good and indifferent and gives for a Rule of Christian life and the Foundation of eternal life not Faith and the Word of God but the Authority of Men and all the imaginations and thoughts which present themselves unto their minds provided they can render them probable and give them some colour and appearance of truth That it abolisheth or corrupts Repentance Prayers good Works the Sacraments the Commands of God of the Church and the Holy Scriptures That finally it introduceth and confirmeth corruption and loosness in all sorts of Professions Seculars and Ecclesiasticks attempting to justifie and excuse those vices and sins which are most opposite thereto and which are to them for all that most common as injustice in the Courts unfaithfulness in Traffick and other such like If I can justifie all these things I have all my design accomplished and I shall have shewed that the Jesuits Divinity favours and nourishes vice and sin as much as men can do and that they seem to be become thereof the Advocates and Professors Which I hope to do in this Writing with so much clearness that no person shalt be thereof unconvinced and with such perfect fidelity that those who are the least equitable because they are too scrupulous or too passionate shall have nothing to reproach me with on this Subject For I will do nothing else but report simply the Opinions of the Authors Jesuits as they have expressed themselves in their Books I will frequently add their proper Reasons and in the more important Points I shall sometimes ascend to the Principles from whence they draw their Conclusions I undertake not to refute their Errours but only to discover them and make them appear This is the cause why without engaging my self to produce the places of holy Scripture or of Tradition any more than the Reasons which may be alledged to refel them I content my self to consider and represent them in such sort that they may be understood what they are and many times I content my self to reherse them as they themselves express them when that is sufficient to raise an horrour against them When the malice is more concealed I endeavour to discover it and to make it evident by some Reflections or some Observations or by Examples and sensible Comparisons and if I make use of any Reasons I take them in a manner always from themselves or from Principles of Faith and natural Light which are altogether indubitable and so evident that to oppose them were to renounce common sense as well as Christian Piety and Religion I meddle not here with matters of Faith nor Mysteries of Religion where it was as easie to make appear that the Jesuits are no less transported than in the Maxims of Morality as will appear clearly by one Example out of the Chapter of Jesus Christ which I thought should be added to that of Grace There may be seen in what manner they speak of the Son of God of his Incarnation of his Humanity of his Divine Person and that they have thereof thoughts so base so unworthy so shameful that they are not more proper for any end than to expose our Mysteries to the scorn and contempt of Infidels and Libertines and to raise horrour and aversation in the Faithful themselves by their impious expressions and reasonings by which they profane Holiness it self and destroy the respect and veneration which ought to be given it I insist upon Moral matters only and even without design to contain them all I should need many Volumes only to make an Extract of that which may be found in their Books contrary to good Manners and to Christian Piety I intend only to collect some principal Propositions by which Judgment may be made of the rest I report them simply as they are in their Books And when I translate them I will set the passages on the Margent in Latine to the end that the fidelity and sincerity with which I recite them may appear
If amongst many passages which I commonly produce on the same Subject there be some which appear not clear enough there may be found in others that which seems to be wanting in them But I have reason to believe that there is no cause to reproach me herein for I have taken a particular care not only to speak things so as I understood them but also to enter as far as I could into the very thoughts of the Fathers whom I have alledged knowing that it is never lawful to wound Justice or Charity under a pretence of combating Errour and defending Truth and that Errour it self may not be assailed nor Truth defended by lying and disguisement I am so far from desiring to augment this evil or to exaggerate these things that I oftentimes abstain from speaking as I could without departing from my design They that have any love or knowledge of the Truth will easily perceive this my moderation and they will oftentimes find nothing else to reprove me for in many important points but that I have not spoken enough therein and that I give over many times where they would cry out to me that I ought to go on and follow my Subject to the utmost If there be any who find herein expressions which seem to them to be too vehement and far removed from that sweetness and moderation which they love I beseech them not to judge according to their disposition but according to the things whereof I speak The passion or the praeoccupation they may be under either for the pernicious Maxims which I represent or for the Authors or for the Defenders of them may be capable to perswade them that I ought to have spoken of them with so much respect and moderation as belongs to the most serious and holy things But the reason and the nature even of the things themselves may easily undeceive them if they consider that expressions ought to correspond with their subjects and that it would introduce a disproportion to represent those things which are ridiculous and contemptible as seriously as if they were not and that this were to give too much advantage to presumption and insolence which speaks proudly to make Errour triumph over Truth and to give it in some sort the victory to treat it otherwise than with such force and vigour as is capable to repress and humble it So it is that Truth would be defended and hath it self declared that it will one day revenge it self on them that have assailed it with scorn and obstinacy not only bruising their heads but also insulting over them that they may be covered with confusion So that I have some cause to fear in this point on the behalf of Truth that I have been rather too reserved than too free And it seems that they who have any love for it may complain of me that I have not defended it with force and ardour enough in an encounter where it hath been assaulted by a very extraordinary Conspiracy of persons who for their own interest sufficiently well known have endeavoured to blot out of the memory of the Faithful and Books of the Church the most pure and safe Maxims concerning the Regulation and Conduct of Christian life and Manners And I may perhaps have some trouble to defend my self from this reproach and to hinder that it be not believed That I have not defended the Cause of the Church and of Truth with the zeal which they deserved but that I have already declared that I have not at all undertaken properly to defend it or refute those who have assailed and hurt it so cruelly but to make appear only the Errours and the pernicious Maxims by which they have overturned all Discipline and all the Rules of Manners and Christian life even the most holy and best established upon the Scriptures and Books of the Saints and also by their Examples Hereunto I have limited and obliged my self in this Work It may be God will raise up some other who shall go on where I leave and will undertake to refute fully the Errours which I have discovered and to establish by the Principles of Faith and Tradition the Truths which I have only noted in my passage The manner in which this first Book shall be received and the profit which will come thereon may procure a disposition to receive also yet better another of greater importance and be a motive to engage God to stir up some other person to labour therein We are all in his hands our travels and our thoughts whereof the first and principal ought to be never in any thing to have other than his designs He knows that which he hath given me in this Work is no other than to perform some Service to his Church and my Neighbour I beseech him to bless it with success leaving it to his Providence to dispose of it according as he shall please and I do for the present accept with all respect and submission whatsoever he shall ordain thereof The Necessity and Utility of this Work IF the pernicious Maxims of the Jesuits Morality should for the present be presented no otherwise than in an extract without adding any thing thereto but what is found in their Authors the World is at this day so indifferent in things which respect their Salvation and Religion there would be found very few persons who would be touched therewith or who would take any pains to consider them But it is come to pass by the particular order of Divine Providence that he who hath enterprised to discover them some years ago hath exprest them in a manner so taking that hath attracted the whole World unto him to read them by the grace of his style and thereupon hath made them easily to appear odious and insupportable by their proper excesses and extravagancies This so happy beginning had hath success much more happy for mens minds being touched with a desire to know particularly things so important and so prejudicial to their Consciences and Salvation my Masters the Parochial Rectors of Rouen and Paris have in pursuit thereof published with a zeal worthy of their Charge many learned Writings which have given to all the World enough of instruction and light to conceive the distance and horrour they ought to keep towards that wicked Doctrine and the danger whereinto they put them who follow these Guides who pursue or practise them But as their design was only to make a speedy order against an evil which then did but begin to appear they believed that it was sufficient to advise their people thereof in general terms in notifying unto them some of the more pernicious propositions without extending them further to discover their principles consequences and unhappy effects as it had been easie for them to do and they thought that to strangle them in their birth it would have been sufficient only to expose them to the view of the whole World being in themselves so odious and monstrous
and to oppose themselves to those that teach them as the Shepherds obliged to resist the Wolves who would devour their stock Yet they omitted not to have recourse to the Authority of the Church and to address their complaints and requests to my Lords the Bishops and to the General Assembly of the Clergie of France in the year 1656. who seeing that it was not at all in their power at that time to do them justice did at least make it known to the whole Church that opportunity only was wanting unto them And for that cause ordained that the Instructions of S. Charles should be imprinted by the order of the Clergie with a circular Letter to all my Lords the Prelates which served to prejudge their opinions and to give as it were a commencement to the condemnation of all these Maxims in general expecting till some opportunity were offered to do it more solemnly The voice of these charitable Pastors was heard and faithfully followed by their sheep who by the submission they owed to them and through the confidence which they had in their honesty and sufficiency entred into an aversion against this new Doctrine as soon as it was declared unto them that it was contrary to the Doctrine of the Church and that of the holy Fathers It were also to be wished that this same voice which came from Heaven being Jesus Christ speaks in the Church by its Pastors had turned or at leastwise stayed the Authors of this Doctrine and had kept them in silence and that they had themselves also suppressed these strange opinions and pernicious Maxims against which they saw the whole World to rise with a general indignation and with a most just zeal But this did nothing but provoke them yet more so that instead of receiving Christian-like the charitable correction of these worthy Pastors of Souls they had the confidence to appear in publick to maintain so great Errours by Writings yet more wicked imitating those fierce beasts who issue in fury out of the Forests and Dens to defend their young when they are about to be taken from them My Masters the Parochial Rectors had by an extraordinary temperance and moderation suppressed the names of the Jesuits and not distinguished them from the other Casuists attacquing the Doctrine only without touching the persons of any particular Order But these good Fathers could neither lye hid nor keep silence and judged themselves unworthy of the favour which they had received upon this occasion And as if this Doctrine had been their own particularly they would needs declare themselves the Defenders of it as indeed they are the principal and even the first Authors thereof in many of its most important points They made for it an Apologie wherein so very far were they from disavowing and retracting those pernicious Maxims wherewith they were reproached that they did highly maintain them and to testifie that they never intended to recant them they have declared that in many matters wherein their excesses are most visible they can yet speak more and give yet more licence to their spirits An evil so publick and so obstinate cannot be healed nor stayed by simple words Which thing hath obliged my Masters the Parochial Rectors to renew their complaints and their instances to my Lords the Prelates Some of them have already worthily acquitted themselves in this their duty to the Church and People who depend on their charge And it is hoped that the zeal and charity of the rest will press them to give the same testimony unto the truth and that if some of them for some particular reasons cannot do it so solemnly as they desire yet they will not cease to condemn in their hearts and upon occasions which shall be offered this novel Doctrine and to keep those whom they can at a distance from it as a most pernicious Divinity After all this it was thought to be high time farther to discover this Doctrine and to represent it in the whole extent it hath in the Books of the Jesuits that the corruption and the venom of it might be better known It had been to little purpose to have done it sooner because that the excess and overthrow it hath given to all the true Rules of Morality and Christian piety are so great and so incredible that the world having yet never heard any thing like unto it would have been surprized at the novelty and impiety of the principal Maxims of these dreadful Morals so that many would have been troubled to believe it others would have been offended at it and many would have altogether neglected it and would not so much as have taken the pains only to have informed themselves so far as that they might not suffer themselves to be surprized therein The Jesuits themselves would not have failed to have broken out into complaints calumnies and impostures which are common with them in use against such as discover their secrets and the shame of their Divinity and they would have employed all their artifices and disguises to elude or obscure the most clear things wherewith they should have been reproached though they had been represented simply as they are expressed in their Books But yet notwithstanding that these pernicious Maxims had been confounded and decryed by my Masters the Parochial Rectors fulminated by the censures of the Bishops there is cause to hope that exposing them to the day will be useful to many of the Faithful and hereby will be seen more clearly the justice and necessity of the pursuits which the Parochial Rectors made for obtaining a censure of them the equity of the Judgment of the Prelates made in pursuance thereof and the obligation which all the Faithful have upon them to stiffle these Monsters of Errour and Impiety which multiply continually and prey upon the Church So that this will even contribute very much to redouble the submission and confidence which they ought to have towards their Pastors seeing from what mischiefs their vigilance and their zeal hath preserved them and with what prudence and wisdom they have conducted them in this affair having not discovered the greatness of the evil to them before as it may be said they had delivered them from it And it may also come to pass that the Authors and Defenders of these wicked Doctrines may themselves be surprized and have horrour when they see together in a sequence of Principles and Conclusions the opinions which they have maintained to this present Because it is very common for things good or evil which apart make no great impression upon the spirit surprize and touch it powerfully when as they are united and joyned together There is also cause to believe that many of those who have followed unto this present these novel Maxims of the Jesuits only because they did not perceive all the unhappy consequences and pernicious effects of them now coming to know them as this Book will give them means to do will relinquish them
its matter and subject THE SECOND PART OF THE FIRST BOOK Of the eternal principles of Sin That the Jesuits nourish them that they may gratifie the passions of men and by consequence excite them to Sin HItherto we have shewn that the Jesuits nourish sin by nourishing men in passions in evil habits and in vices in Ignorance and in a false pretence of good intentions wherewith they commonly shelter themselves which are as it were the Fountains and the internal principles of Sin I must now make it appear that they favour no less the outward principles of the same sin which are 1. Humaine reason and authority which furnish arms and expedients to defend them 2. With customs which produce examples to support them 3. The next occasions which draw men to them cause them to fall into them and retain them in them We will treat of every one of these outward principles of sin apart as we have done of the inward CHAP. I. Of the maximes of reason and humane authority FAith is not less elevated above reason then reason is above sense and it is no less disorder to regulate the lives of Christians who ought to live by Faith by the maximes of humane reason and much less of reason corrupted as it now is by sin then to desire to judge spiritual things by sense This were to transform men into Beasts and to subject them to follow their senses in the regulation of their life and to treat Christians like Heathens to give them no other rule for their conversations and actions then the maximes of Philosophie and humane reason Yet this is it which the Jesuits have done and all those who read their Divinity and principally that which treats of manners will find therein no other principles in a manner but those of the lowest Philosophie and humane reason and that corrupted They hardly know what it is to cite Scripture or Councils and if they rehearse any passages of the Holy Fathers it is for the most part for form onely or to resute them rather then to use them for foundations or solid proofs of their opinions in relying on the authority of these great men who have advanced nothing of themselves in points of consequence which belong to Faith or manners which they had not taken from those who went before them in the Church and which came not originally from the Apostles and from Jesus Christ by the Tradition of the Church But the Jesuits far enough from this conduct make profession to invent and to speak things of themselves to follow novelty to make every thing probable to leave to the ingenious to choose in all opinions Whence it comes that making use sometimes of one sometimes of another they accommodate themselves easily to the humours of all the world and have wherewith to content all how contrary soever they can be But this also makes them fall many times into contradictions which are inevitable for them who have no other rule but their own proper sence These are the things which I shall handle in this Chapter to shew what a wound they have given unto Divinity and by consequence thereof to good manners in substituting reason into the place of faith and particular and novel opinions to that of antiquity and the tradition of the Fathers I shall make apparent 1. That their Divinity is novel and that they make profession to follow novelty 2. That every thing in it is probable and that they will have the liberty to follow all sorts of opinions 3 That their School is venal and wholly complaisant to the world and that they will have wherewith to content all sorts of persons in answering every one according to his desire 4. That it is full of contradictions I will treat every one of these points severally dividing this Chapter into so many Articles ARTICLE I. The Jesuits make profession to follow novel maximes and to contemn tradition and antiquity NOvelty hath always been odious in the Church if at any time it were objected unto the Saints they did always defend themselves from it as from a calumny and have had an extream care to advance nothing in the Church which they had not learned in the Church it self so far that they have believed that it was no lesse crime to introduce or receive new Doctrines then to make or adore Idols This is the judgement of Saint Augustin upon these words of the 80. Psalm Non erit tibi Deus recens where he saith that a Deus recens aut lapis aut phantasma est S. August in Ps 80. this new God is an Image of stone or a false imagination And a little after he unfoldeth his thoughts more at large in these words b Non dixit à te quasi simulachrum forinsecus adhibitum sed in te in corde tuo in imagine phantasmatis tui in deceptione â—rroris tui tecum portabis Deum tuum recentem manens vetustus Ibid. it is not said thou shalt have no new God without thee as if he would onely mark the outward and visible forms but he saith you shall not have a new God within your selves That is to say you shall not bear within your hearts in your imaginations in the illusion of your errour a new God contining your selves old and corrupt All novel opinions contrary to the Tradition and ancient belief of our Fathers are to speak properly nothing but phantasmes imaginations and errours these are as it were so many Idols which some would introduce into the Church which they would put into the place of Divine truth which at once is the rule of our life the object of our Faith and of our adoration And as those who make Idols those who sell and those who buy them to adore them are all equally Idolaters so in the same manner those who invent novel opinions those who teach them and those who follow them are all complices of the same fault and though these last may be lesse guilty and are more to be lamented then the others because they do sin with more ignorance and wilder themselves by following blind guides yet they all find themselves involved in the same misery and subject to the same condemnation pronounced by the Fathers and by the Scripture who condemn this sin and forbid it as a sort of Idolatry According to these principles of the Scripture and the language of the Prophet and of God himself we may say there are so many Idolaters as there are writers at this day amongst the Jesuits there being none of them in a manner who are not jealous of their own proper thoughts and who have not introduced into Divinity some novel opinion or who do not make profession to maintain and teach some which have been introduced by their Fraternity to the prejudice of the ancients who have been always received and followed in the Church until these last times Poza hath composed a great volumn which he hath intitled Elucidarium
contradict and clude this last and dreadful sentence than by correcting his errour to submit himself thereunto for he is not ashamed to say that the reason which Jesus Christ alledges and whereupon he grounds his judgment is not true and takes not place in the matter wherein he alledges it that is to say in the last Judgment It is not to purpose 1 Nec refert quod Dominus Matth. 25. formam judicii describens meminerit potius operum misericordiae quam aliorum Id enim fecit ut homines praesertim plebeios qui ad majora spiritualia parum sunt comparati in hec vita ad ea excitaret haec autem ratio cessat in extremo judicio quia tunc homines non erunt amplius ad optra misericordiae exciâ—tandi Lessim de perfect divin lib. 13. tract 22. pag. 142. saith he to alledge that our Lord in the 25. of S. Matthew representing unto us the form of the last Judgment speaks of the works of mercy rather than others For he doth it only to stir up men and especially the common people who are not capable of comprehending spiritual things to exercise these works in this life Now this reason cannot take place at the last Judgment because then there will be no need to excite men unto works of mercy I will not stay here to examine this excess which will appear strange enough of it self to them who are not void of the common resentments of Christianity because it will be more proper to do it elsewhere We will only observe in this place that one Jesuit hath undertaken to fight and destroy Gods first Commandment and another his last Judgment They who can have the patience to behold a multitude of Expositions of Scripture Councils and Holy Fathers false extravagant unheard of and many times impious need only read Poza's Book which he entituled Elucidarium Deiparae A Volume as big as his would be needful to represent all his excesses I have related some of them in the Chapter of Novelty and elsewhere which I repeat not here to avoid tediousness Father Adam hath surpassed all his Brethren in the same excess For he destroys not only the letter and the sense of Scripture he fights with the Authors themselves whom God hath made use of to impart them to us He decrys them and deprives them of all that authority and credit which is due unto sacred Writers and who were no other than the hand and tongue of the Holy Ghost by attributing unto them weaknesses and extravagancies and affirming by an horrible impiety that following their own imaginations and passions they are sometimes transported beyond truth and have written things otherwise than they were and that they did neither conceive nor believe them themselves in their consciences It will not easily be imagined that this conceit could ever come into the mind of a Monk I will not say but of a Christian who had not entirely renounced the Faith and Church if this Father had not written it in manifest terms and more forcibly than I can represent it in a Book whereto he gives this Title Calvin defeated by himself In the third Part of this Book Chap. 7. he saith That it is not only in criminal matters that zeal and hate inflame a Soul and transport it unto excest and violence but that the Saints themselves acknowledge that they are not exempt from this infirmity And flagrant passions sometimes push them on to actions so strange and ways of expressing themselves so far removed from truth that those who have written their lives have called them holy extravagancies innocent errours and Hyperboles more elevated than their apprehensions and which expressed more than they intended to say He adds also in the same Chapter and in the progress of the same discourse That this infirmity is not so criminal but that God did tolerate it in the person of those Authors whom he inspired and whom we call Canonical whom he left to the sway of their own judgments and the temper of their own spirits He compares the Saints and Fathers of the Church to persons full of passions and violence he excepts not the Canonical Authors themselves and he makes them all subject to the same infirmities and the Canonical Authors also to the greater and more inexcusable For if they be vicious in others they are yet more in these in whom the least faults and the least removes from the truth which in ordinary persons were but marks of infirmity would be as notorious and criminal as the greatest because they would be imputed unto God whose words the Canonical Authors have only rehearsed and it is as unworthy of God contrary to his nature and power to depart a little as much from the truth It is therefore manifest that what this Jesuit saith tends directly to destroy all Holy Scripture Faith and Religion For if the Canonical Writers could exceed and depart a little from the truth in one single point they were subject to do it in all the rest So their discourse is not of divine Authority neither are their Books the Books or Word of God because God is always equally infallible and can never go beyond or depart from the truth in the least whether he speaks himself or by the mouth of his Prophets CHAPTER II. Of the Commandments of God ARTICLE I. Of the first Commandment which is that of Love and Charity THis first Commandment of Love contains in it and requires of us three things to wit that we love God above all Creatures our selves for God and our neighbour as our selves These three coming from one and the same trunk and root shall make three Articles of this Chapter and I will handle all three severally that I may more distinctly represent the Jesuits opinions upon every obligation of the first Commandment and to make it evidently appear that they destroy it in every part I. POINT Of the Command to love God I will relate nothing here save only from Father Anthony Sirmond because he seems particularly to have undertaken to destroy this Precept and because he hath said upon this Subject alone all that may be found in the worst Books of his Fraternity 1. That he abolishes the Command of loving God and reduces it to a simple counsel 2. That according to him the Scripture hardly speaks at all of divine Love and Charity and that our Lord hath very little recommended it 3. That he declares that the love of God may very well consist and agree with the love of our selves 4. And that it is nothing else but self-love SECTION I. That there is no Command to love God according to the Maxims of the Jesuits Divinity OUr Lord speaking of the double Commandment of Love saith That all the Law and the Prophets do depend thereon In his duobus mandatis universa lex pendet Prophetae Matth. 22. He saith not that the command to love God doth depend on and is
Church and Nature it self since it can prevail without incurring any penalty against the Laws of the one and the other And since the Laws of the Church are also the Holy Ghost's who by it hath given us them and who guides it in all it doth and ordains if custom carry it against the Laws of the Church as this Casuists pretends it must needs be according to him that it hath more power than the Holy Ghost and that the Authority it hath in their School is more to be considered than that of 〈◊〉 himself since he believes that we ought to yield to the abuses it hath introduced into the Church to the prejudice of the primitive Orders and Laws which the Holy Ghost hath established But if these things seem extraordinary and incredible in themselves and considered according to the Rules of Truth and natural Sense alone yet they are not so in the Maxims of these new Doctors For it is not in this case only but in occasions of all other sorts that the custom being sound opposed and contrary to the Laws of God and the Church it ordinarily gains the cause by their Judgment as hath been observed in many places of these Writings Escobar follows the same Rules with Layman to determine what labour is lawful or forbidden on Feast-days that is 1 Servile opus est ad quod servi deputati sunt Nec opus servile fit quia â—b lucrum est factum si de se servile ante non erat Escobar tract 7. exam 5. cap. 2. num 4. pag. 99. Servile work saith he which is for servants and slaves And he adds as Layman that if a work be not servile in it self it doth not become servile when it is done for gain He afterwards sets down in the number of actions which are not servile studying writing travelling dancing And although he affirm that hunting and painting are servile actions he forbears not to say afterwards 2 Pingere ex suo genere servile est Venatio si fist ex officio servile est ut pictura ob voluptatem recrcaâ—ionem minime Ibid. num 8. Mundare scopis tapetibus vestire parietes Ecclesiarum hujusmodi nisi aliqua intercedat excusatio saltem venislia sunt Ibid. n. 6. Num misericordiae opera exercenda De se servilia non licent ut consuere vestem pauperi deferre ligna eidem c. Ibid. num 7. That if hunting be followed upon obligation and of duty as when a Hunts-man or a servant hunts at the command of his Master it is servile as well as painting but that it is not so if it be pursued of pleasure and for pastime That is to say that a servant may not go on hunting in obedience to his Master when he sends him but the Master may go for his pleasure and the servant also and by consequence that obedience in labour profanes a Holy day but pleasure in the same work profanes it not Speaking in the same place of those who labour in cleansing hanging and trimming Churches on Feast-days he saith that they sin at the least venially if they have not some lawful cause He saith the same thing of the outward works of mercy which are exercised towards our neighbour as to mend the cloaths of the poor to carry them wood or other things whereof they have need these actions according to him are servile and forbidden on Feast-days He would have it lawful to paint and hunt for pleasure on Feast-days and he will not have it lawful to sweep hang and adorn the Church for the Service of God He would have us have power to walk dance travel and go whither we will for our pastime but he will not have it lawful to visit the poor and sick and to give them some assistance pretending that works of mercy are more contrary to the Sanctification of Feasts than the sports and pastimes of the world He will not have it lawful to carry alms themselves unto the poor on Feast-days as he saith expresly a little after For having put the Question if those who by a motive of piety do actions which are called servile sin against this Commandment of the Church he answers in these terms 3 Excuiandine aliqui ratione pietatis Aliqui liberant à reatu exercentes die Festo opera servilia ad templa aedificanda vel resicienda gratis ad â—lâ—emosynam gerendam ad ornanda delubra c. At ego cum illis sentio qui laborantes vel hoc praetextu sint necessitate non excusant There are some who exempt them from sin who busie themselves in servile works on Feast-days to build or re-edifie Churches gratis to carry alms to the poor to adorn Temples c. But as for me I am of the opinion of those who exempt them not who labour without necessity on Feast-days though they do it under this pretence that is to say by a motive of piety He believes then that it is lawful to play dance walk abroad without necessity and for pleasure only on Feast-days because according to the Jesuits Divinity these actions are not servile He pretends also though painting and hunting be servile of themselves yet the motive of pleasure and contentment which we look for in them hinders them from being so and makes them lawful And yet he maintains that to sweep a Church for devotion or to take delight to dress an Altar to hang a Chappel to carry alms unto the poor are actions prohibited on Feast-days and that necessity only not pleasure can hinder them from being servile As if the pleasure taken in hunting or painting were more noble and holy â—…an that which is taken in serving the poor and God himself in the Churches He finds it difficult to exempt these actions of Piety and Religion from mortal fin so rigorous would he appear in this point They are saith he at the least venial sins Saltem venialia sunt Filliutius had said it before him in the same terms and yet more clearly 1 Mundate scopis templum vestice parietes tapetibus hâ—jusmedi vidertur servilia nisi aliqua excusatio intercedat erit saltem peccatum veniale non motrale secluâ—o contemptu Filliutius qq moral tom 2. tract â— cap. 9. n. 156. pag. 267. It seems that to sweep Churches to hang them and other such like actions are servile and to do them without lawful excuse is at least a venial sin though not mortal if not done through contempt Strange Divinity that we need not to fear to contemn the Command of God forbidding us to work on the Feast and Lords-days by working for our selves because we take our pleasure in the work as in hunting and that we ought to fear contempt and mortal sin in working only for the Service of God and the Church So that these days which God hath ordained particularly for his Service may be employed according to this Divinity to serve any thing but
and to be content with one meal a day which sometimes is not taken till in the evening after Even-song or at least after Noon in certain less solemn Fast-days as in the Vigils of Festivals which was practised also in the days of S. Bernard and long after as the Casuists themselves agree In our days they have anticipated the time of repast changing supper into dinner and they have of late introduced the custom of making Collations at night There is none who sees not that this change hath brought great relaxation in Fasting according to what was observed and instituted by all Antiquity and it is not without great condescension that the Church suffers that it should be discharged by such an observation The Jesuits in the mean time find it to severe and to sweeten and accommodate it to the world they have reduced it to such a point that to fast according to their Maxims is in truth not to fast at all and to make good chear To make this more clearly appear we will divide this Article into three Points In the first we shall see how they regulate eating and the hour of repast on Fasting-days In the second what they say of drinking and of the Collation at night And in the third their easieness to dispense with all sorts of persons for Fasting and upon all sorts of occasions even the most criminal and infamous I. POINT That according to the Jesuits Divinity we may prevent the hour of Repast make it as long and great as we please eat more than on another day and break out into all excess and intemperance without breaking our Fast BAuny in his Sum Chap. 16. pag. 251. declares that at present the hour of repast is at Noon but he adds that we may advance and anticipate this time one hour without sin and he cites for this opinion Layman Binsfield and Diana who saith that the Religious have this priviledge This is no great advantage nor honour for the Religious that they are the first to favour themselves and demand priviledge to fast more at their case But if we may prevent and anticipate the time of refection by an hour as he saith without sin there is no need of priviledge for this and the Religious do ill employ their credits to obtain it This Jesuit also seems not to make any great account of it saying afterwards that without any regard thereof they do it and all others also without fault and that altogether that is Seculars and Monasticks may prevent that time by two or three hours when necessity or convenience requires it That is that we may break fast on Fast-days instead of dining and sit down at the table at eight or nine of the clock in the morning Escobar saith the same thing in a manner He demands 1 Anticipaâ—ur sine causa hora comedendi die jejunii solviturne Whether the Fast be broken by anticipating the bour of refreshment on a Fast day without cause He answers 2 Minime quia determinatio horae non est de essentia jejunil Escobar tract 1. exam 3. num 72. pag. 213. That it is not broken because it is not of the essence of a Fast to eat at a determined hour This answer gives an absolute liberty and without bounds and first of all to prevent the hour of repast on Fast-days not only two or three hours as Bauny saith but more also and it gives power to eat absolutely at what hour we will because as this Casuist saith to eat at one or other determinate hour is not of the essence of a Fast But if any fault be committed in this disorder it can be at the most but a venial one according to this Doctor himself 1 Delinquetur vâ—nisliter nisi sit exigua anticipatio ut dimidiae horae Ibid. Colligo Religiosos habentes privilegium anticipandi prandium per horem posse sine ulla culpa per horam mediam ante meridiem prandere Ibid. It will be but a venial sin saith he if this anticipation be but a small one as of half an hour Whence he concludes in favour of the Religious who have the priviledge to prevent dinner-time by an hour that they may without sin dine at half an hour past ten The corrupt custom and loosness of the time gives them half an hour and their priviledges give them an hour to anticipate their repast So that they may dinc without scruple at half an hour past ten on Fast-days thereby giving a great example of Penance and Austerity to Seculars and ordinary Christians who prolong their Fast an hour and a half or two hours longer than they and in these times dine not till after-noon Tambourin flies yet higher than Escobar and maintains that the Religious may dine on Fast-days at nine of the clock and a half in Winter and at half an hour past eight in the Summer saying 2 Pro iis quos juvat putare meridiem esse horam le reficiendi stâ—…utam sub meresli nota eos posse prandere una hora circiter ante meridiem in hyeme Sanchâ—… d. 53. num 7. Trul. in d. n 3. cap. 2. dub 4. num 2. duabus in aestate Ita 2305. s 4. cap. 18. num 100. hine quoniam Mendicantes qui corum privilegia participant gaudent privilegio anticipandâ— refectionem per horam ita Comp privilegiorum Societatis Jesu ideo poterunt prandere duabus hotis hyeme tribus aestate ante meridiem Nam unam aut alteram dat moralitas meridiei reliquas Papae concessio Et quia multi probabiliter censent comedere semi-hora ante statutum vel concessum tempus etiam sine causa non esse notabilem culpam quia parum pro nihilo reputatur Dian. p. 5. tract 5. num 10. p. 1. tract 9. num 27. p. 2.19 num 53. idcirco hyeme poterunt hi duâ—bus horis cum dimidia aestate tribus cum dimidia ante folarem meridiem mensae accumbere Et quidem ex cause studiâ— icineris negotli c. â—…iam sine veniali Tambur decal lib. 4. cap. 5. sect 4. num 3. As for them who imagine that mid-day is appointed for repast under pain of mortal sin it is to be observed that they may dine an hour before noon in Winter and two hours in Summer Whence it follows that the Mendicant Fryars and those who participate of their priviledges to anticipate their dinners one hour on Fast-days as it is contained in the Abrigdment of the Priviledges of the Society of Jesus may by this reason dine two hours by the Sun before mid-day in Winter and three in Summer because the moral duration of Noon gives them one or two and the Papal Priviledge another And because many do grant with probability that to eat half an hour before the time appointed even without cause is no notable fault because a little matter is considered as nothing thence it comes that in Winter they may dine
we promise obedience to the Superiors of the Church in becoming Christians and we promise to render them this obedience as to them who hold the place of God according to the Word of Jesus Christ 1 Qui vos audit me audit Luc. 10. v. 16. He that obeys you obeys me And according to that of S. Paul 2 Pro Christo ergo legatione fungimur tanquam Deo exhortante per nos 2 Cor. 5. v. 20. Gods speaks unto you by us we are but the Ministers and Embassadors of Jesus Christ If then the Superiors of a Religious Order can command the internal actions because the submission rendred unto them depends on the will and promise of their Inferiors which regards God in them it must also be confessed by the same reason that the Ecclesiastick Superiors Prelates have the same power and may as well command the internal actions of them that are subject unto them for their Salvation Also it is incredible and contrary to the most common apprehensions of Christianity that the Superiors of Religious Orders should have more Power and Authority in their Congregations than the Bishops and Pope himself have in the Church and that the Power of the Pope and the Bishops should not be more internal and spiritual than that of Magistrates and Secular Princes unto whom these Jesuits compare them setting them all equally in the same inability to command internal things without acknowledging any difference betwixt them in this point and giving this advantage above them only unto Superiors of Religious Orders when they say 3 Discrimen est inter obligationem regularium ex voto obedientiae obâ—igationem aliorum ex lege civili vel Ecclesiastica That this is the difference which is betwixt the obligation of Regulars who come under a vow of obedience And if the Laws of the Church differ not in this point from the Civil Laws and the Prelates of the Church no more than Civil Magistrates have any power to command internal actions we must say that the Superiors of Religious Orders unto whom they ascribe this power hold it not from the Church and cannot receive from it that power which they say it hath not it self Also they pretend to hold it from the will of those who make vows of Religion since they say 4 Praeceptum Praelati regularis fundatur in voluntate voventis pacto seu promissione ejuâ— c. That the command of a Superior in a Religious Order is founded upon the will of him who makes the vow and on the covenant and promise by which he is obliged to obey him c. They would then that the Superiors of a Religious Order receive not from the Church the Authority and Power which they have to command but from the will of those who become Religious and they are herein soveraign and independent on the Church Which is both against the modesty of Religious persons the Order of the Church truth it self and evident reason the Superiors of the Religious Orders being not capable of so much only as to receive any Religious into their Order but by the power which they have received from the Superiors of the Church who consequently have all the power of the Superiors of the Religious Orders and much more but they have it in a manner more eminent as the Spring and Principle of this Power And if the Inferiors can by their will and by their vows give to the Superiors of Religious Orders Authority and Power to command them even internal things Jesus Christ might with stronger reason give it unto the Prelates of the Church over them and over all other the Faithful since Jesus Christ hath more power over us than we have over our selves and we are without comparison more his than our own So that he might give the Church all power over us which private persons can give over themselves to Superiors of Religious Orders by their vows and much more Which shews that the Ecclesiastick is far different from the Civil Jurisdiction with which the Jesuits nevertheless do confound it and the Ecclesiastick are other than the Civil Laws which they notwithstanding would make equal For the Jurisdiction which Jesus Christ hath given the Church over all Christians is more extended holy and divine than that of Secular Magistrates and it respects Souls more than bodies the inward than the outward since it respects eternal Salvation which depends altogether on the actions of the Soul and not of the body which do nothing without those of the Soul Also Jesus Christ hath not given unto Secular Powers the Holy Ghost to govern their people as he hath given it to his Church He hath not given them the power to open and shut Heaven unto them to cut them off and re-unite them to his body to nourish them with his flesh and blood and to fill them with his Spirit and he hath not said unto them that when they speak it is the Holy Ghost who speaks in them that it is the Holy Ghost who commands what they command that whoso despise and dishonour them despise and dishonour the Holy Ghost For thus the Apostles have spoken in the Scripture since S. Peter saith to Ananias and his Wife that they lyed unto the Holy Ghost because they had lyed unto one of the Ministers of the Church And this is the reason that the Councils and the Fathers so often call the Laws of the Church Sacred and Divine knowing that they proceed from the Holy Ghost who is always in the Church as Jesus Christ was with the Apostles and conducted them till his Passion and death Which is so true that Layman himself could not refrain from acknowledging it more than once in very clear terms 1 Quis enim neget quin lege vel praecepto Ecclesiae utpote animarum salutem sptctante praecipi possit ut ministri Ecclesiae vere non simulatorie orent Sacramenta ministrent Fidelibus omnibus ut Sacramenta vere non per fictionem suscipiant Qui autem sine interna intentione orant sine ullo animi dolore peccata confitentur c. si non vere sed ficte orant non verae sed fictae poenitentiae Sacramentum postulant Ergo non satissaciunt Ecclesiae praecepto Ibid. Who doubts saith he that the Church which in all its conduct regards the Salvation of Souls may command its Ministers to pray and administer the Sacraments with sincerity and not only in appearance and to all the Faithful to receive in like manner the Sacraments with a true internal disposition Now they who pray without inward attention and they who confess without a true sorrow for their sins neither pray nor confess truly but in appearance And by consequence they satisfie not the Commandment of the Church Which may be extended to all the Commandments and all the Laws of the Church since they are all of the same nature and all have reference to
true piety and true vertue and the eternal Salvation of Souls and not the appearances and shadows of falshood and hypocrisie He repeats the same thing afterwards and he saith it also more clearly and strongly in these terms 2 Duplex est lex legislatrix potestas Ecclesiastick civilis Differunt inter se tum ratione originis quia Ecclesiastica potestas proxime immediate à Deo instituta est civilis vero ab hominibus provenit tum ratione objecti finis quia Ecclesiastica versatur peâ— se directe â—rga res spirituales ad salutem vitam aeternam ordinatas sicut constat ex verbis Christi Matth. 16. Tibi dabo claves regni coelorum Joan. 21. Pasce oves meas ex Apostolo Paulo cap. 2. Act. Posuit nos Spiritus Sanctus Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei quam acquisivit sanguine suo Ibid. cap. 6. num 1. pag. 53. There are two sorts of Laws and two sorts of Powers to make Laws Ecclesiastick and Civil They are different as well in their original because the Ecclesiastick Power is instituted immediately from God and the Civil Power comes immediately from men as in their objects and their ends because the Ecclesiastick Power regards properly and directly spiritual things which conduct Souls unto Salvation and eternal life as those words of our Saviour in Matth. 16. do testifie I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and in S. John 21. Feed my lambs and those of S. Paul in Act. 20. The Holy Ghost hath established you Bishops to govern the Church of God which he hath purchased with his Blood He explicates the same truth yet more fully and discovers the principal foundation thereof pursuing his discourse and drawing this consequence from what he now said 3 Quare cum Christus sanguinem suum fuderit ut acquireret fundaret Ecclesiam sanctam ad vitam aeternam ordinatam idcirco etiam Pastores Episcopos el constituit qui ad cundem vitae aeâ—ernae finem Ecclesiam dirigerent gubernatent Civilis vero potestas per se ac directe temporalem tantum commoditatem ceu pacem spectat Ibid. Wherefore Jesus Christ having shed his Blood to purchase and found a Church which is holy and ordained to eternal life he hath also given it Pastors and Bishops to govern and conduct it to this very eternal life But Civil Power regards properly and directly wealth and peace temporal only Which shews clearly the difference which is betwixt Politick and Church power and betwixt the Laws of the one and the other For the Civil Power regards the outward order and civil tranquillity alone and prescribes none but outward and humane means to attain this end But the Church being established for procuring unto men eternal life inward and divine peace it ought to have power to ordain means and to give commands proportionate to that end whereunto we cannot attain but by actions of the Soul altogether spiritual and divine And for that cause it must needs be that its commands should be more internal than external spiritual than corporal divine than humane We need then no other proofs against the errours of Layman and his Brethren than his own confession which is more than sufficient to overturn all that they said before that we might satisfie the Commandments of the Church by actions of vain-glory lust avarice and Sacriledges That we may fulfil them without any will to fulfil them and even with an express will not to satisfie them and to despise them provided we do outwardly what is commanded For these actions thus done have no communication with the Salvation of Souls and eternal life and being rather formally opposite thereto they also have nothing common with the Commandments of the Church which ordains for its Children no other than means to attain unto eternal life and works which procure the Salvation of the Soul that is to say actions of vertue and charity sobriety penitence and obedience especially which is the Soul and Spirit of all other actions For to answer unto a truth so clear what Sanchez doth that the Church commands only a material obedience is to forget the respect due unto the Church and to oppose the light of reason as well as of Faith and the Gospel 1 Quod si objicias praecepra obligare ad â—bedientiam quae non adesse videtur ubi non adest intentio satisfaciendi praecepto Râ—spondeo non obligare ad obedientiam formalem sed materialem nempe ut fiâ—t quod praecipitur quamvis non fiat proprerea quod praecipitur Sanchez mor. qq lib. 1. cap. 13. num 9. pag. 63. But if you object saith this Jesuit that the Commandments oblige unto obedience and that it seems that he hath it not who hath no intent at all to satisfie the Commandment I answer that they oblige not to a formal but material obedience that is to do that which is commanded though it be not done for the reason it was commanded And if this Explication make you not to understand sufficiently what this material obedience is Layman will declare it unto you more perspicuously and will tell you that it is a corporal and purely external obedience maintaining that the Church demands no other and proving it by Seneca's Authority who was without doubt very intelligent in the Government of the Church and an excellent Judge of the Authority it hath received from Jesus Christ for conducting Souls unto eternal life 2 Convenienter videtur ut humana potestas fire jurisdictio solum se extendat ad actiones humanas quatenus in externam materiam transeunt ut signo aliquo produntur quod etiam Seneca notat lib. 3. de Beneficiis Etrat si quis puter servitutem in totum hominem descendere Pars enim melior excepta est Corpora obnoxia sunt adscripts dominis mens sui juris est Layman l. 1. tr 4. c 4. n. 5. pag 49. It seems saith Layman that it is reasonable that humane Power and Jurisdiction should not be extended farther than to humane actions which are discernable by their objects and some external sign Which Seneca also observes in 5. Book de Beneficiis It is an errour to believe that servitude extends it self over all that which is in man his best part is exempt from it The body only is subject to the will of a Master and depends on his power but his spirit is always independent and its own We must then believe according to the opinion of this Jesuit since he hath learned it of Seneca that the Church hath no power save over the bodies of Christians no more than Masters have over those of their slaves and Princes over their Subjects that Christ hath not subjected unto it the whole man but the least part of him which is his body and it hath no power over Souls which are free and independent in respect of it and in
the greatness of his Majesty to whom they speak pag. 333. He had already said the same thing in Chap. 13. pag. 165. where he makes of it a conclusion promoting it not only as his opinion but also as a manifest and certain thing 2. Saith he The said Beneficiaries are obliged to make restitution of the fruits received from their Benefices when they say their hours but imperfectly with voluntary distraction which endures throughout the whole Office or the greater part thereof And after he had cited many Authors who are of this opinion he gives this reason for it Because that not to recite their hours at all or to do it indecently with out respect attention and reverence is all one before God since he is equally despised and dishonoured in both pag. 165. Can we speak more clearly or more absolutely on this subject It is a resolved case saith he that prayer which is made without attention is but a vizor and an Idol of devetion that the Ecclesiasticks and Beneficiaries who recite the Office with voluntary wandring and distraction of mind are obliged to begin it anew and in default of doing this they are bound to restore the fruits received that the will of the Church is that by this action which it commands them they should praise and pray unto their Creator That the Church doth not intend to make the said Ecclesiasticks Possessors of the fruits of their said Benefices but on the condition that they pray unto God praise and honour him that they honour him not at all but rather dishonour and contemn him when they have only their lips occupied in his service and not their hearts because it is filled with unprofitable thoughts Who would not say after this that this Father is so perswaded of these things that he holds them almost for Articles of Faith or at least for indubitable truths whereto the whole world ought to consent And who would believe that he could say at the same time That we are not assured of the intention of the Church upon the same things that he could imagine that they were without reproach and blame who hold that Beneficiaries and Chanons satisfie their duties and earn their dividends who assisting in the Quire during the holy Service pass their time in scandalous discourse and in an employment altogether vicious as in langhing scoffing c. To which of the two opinions of this Jesuit ought we to hold or rather how shall we know which is his opinion what he saith and what he thinks He saith all and he saith nothing because he unsays and contradicts himself He is of what opinion you please and he is of none But if mens last words be more considerable than their first and if we may rely on them as their last resolution there is cause to believe that this Father hath related so clearly the judgment and intention of the Church concerning the abuse of those who pray and recite the Office without intention and without respect only to overturn it and to testifie the little account he makes of it because he hath confidence a little after to say that we may prudently presume that it was not the will of the Church to oblige Priests Beneficiaries and others to the divine Office with so great severity that they sin mortally if they have not an inward attention thereunto since it seems not in its precept for reciting the hours to erect any other thing of the Priests and others who are bound thereunto but to honour and praise God which they do in singing Psalms and chaunting though with voluntary distraction and in which they continue provided that this be done and they sing tunably and with reverence pag. 534. But the Argument he makes and the Example he brings to establish his Discourse and to confirm this strange Opinion is remarkable For the outward action saith he wherewith we attend on God is of the Diocess and an appurtenance of the vertue of Religion Wherefore as he who without intention to commit Idolatry bends his knee before an Idol is held for an Idolater nevertheless so we must believe that they pray who recite the Office though without intention yet not without outward decency and composure such as that action requires pag. 335 Coninck makes use of the same Reasoning and the same Example in this same matter as we have seen above and there is cause to believe that Father Bauny hath only copied and translated him but the one and the other ought to have called to mind that it is much easier to do harm than good and that what is evil in it self is always evil to what intention soever it be done But to do good it is not sufficient to do a thing which is good in it self if it be not well done that is with good intention according to this Rule Bona bene agenda The Reasoning which Father Bauny takes up at length upon this Point is as false and ridiculous as his Example And that this is true saith he may be collected from this that it imports not a little to the glory of God that we address our selves to him with outward respect which edifies the people and obtains his favours from Heaven whereto prayers are useful though said without attention We need not seek Reasons to make appear the extravagance of these words it is sufficient to make it known to represent what the same Jesuit pusht on by the force of the truth saith Chap. 16. pag. 165. That not to recite the hours at all and not to do it decently is all one before God since he is equally dishonoured and contemned in both After he hath advanced these so strange Maxims which overturn Religion and Prayer which is as it were the first-fruits and most common exercise thereof and after he hath established these Maxims by such Reasons and such Examples he draws from thence practical Conclusions as pernicious which he bestows on Confessors and Directors to serve them as a Rule in the conduct of Souls and in the resolution of all doubts and difficulties which may be proposed unto them in this matter According hereunto saith he the Confessor shall not reprove his Penitent as for any mortal fault for having applied his mind to frivelous things so long as his tongue resounded the praises of God with others in the Church if in outward appearance he did nothing that was incompatible with this action pag. 335. He shall not oblige him to the repetition of any thing said in that manner since in pronouncing them in that sort he hath fulfilled the precept nor yet to make restitution of the fruits received from his Benefice if he have any Which very thing he himself condemns but two pages before saying That Ecclesiasticks who pray with voluntary distraction and wandring minds ought for the performance of their duty begin their Office anew and in default of so doing if Beneficiaries they are bound to restore unto the Church where
their Benefice is or to the pâ—or the fruits received according to the rate of their omissions as he collects from the Bull of Pius V. So his mind appears floating betwixt errour and truth which dazles his eyes and constrains him to acknowledge and confess it and it would be hard to judge what may be concluded of Propositions so different and contrary if he did not himself discover throughout his Book a design he hath to let the Reins loose unto the corrupt inclinations of Nature and to give men liberty to follow their desires and lusts as well in Civil as Religious matters For there is nothing but the consideration of men and the fear of scandal that holds him back a little and hinders him from doing it so openly and this fear and this carriage engages him continually in these manifest contrarieties which are inevitable unto those who would flatter men and corrupt the truth Here would be a proper place to speak of the Dispensations which the Jesuits give Ecclesiasticks from reciting the Office upon Reasons so slight and oftentimes so ridiculous that they themselves unto whom this obligation seems most grievous and troublesom durst not demand them if they did not by offering them unto them prevent them and in some sort force them to receive them by assuring them that they may make use of them with a safe conscience though their own altogether corrupt as it is reproach them for it and that the light of Nature only suffices to discover that they ought not do it But because we have already produced some in the Treatise of Probability for Example sake I will content my self to add only one more here in this place out of Tambourin who saith 1 Hinc luscus quicunque ex oculis laborat si timet legendi vim ta legendo paulatim deperdere horas canonicas non legat 14. Quid si hic luscus vel ille valetudinarius legat voluntariè fabulas vel historias omittit autem officium peccabitne Respondeo non peccaturum contra obligationem recitandi officium peccaturum non ambigo illum quia fabulas cum sanitatis detrimento legit quod tamen detrimentum saltem notabile rarò eveniet quia hisce lectionibus quantum ex hoc capite recreatur animus non multum opprimitur Tambur l. 2. decal c. 5. sect 8. n. 14. That he who is purblind or any other who hath any disease in his eyâ—s if he fears to lose his sight by little and little in reading is not obliged to read his Breviary But if this purblind or otherwise of weak eyes do voluntarily read Fables or Histories whilst he dispenses with himself for reading his Breviary doth he sin I answer that he sins not against his obligation of saying his prayers But I am assured he sins in reading these Fables to the prejudice of his health which yet will rarely happen because that sort of reading is recreative and hurts not much This Ecclesiastick who hath eyes to read Fables and hath not to read his Office will easily be confirmed in so good a disposition by Tambourin This Jesuit is not troubled at all to dispense with the obligation of rehearsing his Office because of the weakness of his sight and though after that he durst not openly justifie him that weakens it yet more by reading of Fables yet to leave him this liberty nevertheless he pretends that he will not weaken it by this reading as by that of the Breviary or at least that this will rarely happen quod detrimentum saltem notabile rarò evenit And the reason is because he recreates his spirit and finds pleasure in reading Fables supposing that he cannot take any in that of his Office Which agrees very well with what he and his Fellows do commonly call the Divine Service the Charge the Burthen the Drudgery onus diei the load of the day Whence it comes that they teach the Ecclesiasticks to discharge themselves thereof the most they can as of some burthensom and odious thing assuring them as we have made appear that they sufficiently satisfie their obligation and the intent of the Church in reciting them externally without any attention with voluntary distraction and busying themselves with all sorts of extravagant dishonest impious thoughts and even with design not to satisfie the Precept of the Church CHAPTER IV. Of Good Works That the Jesuits Maxims destroy them GOod Works may be destroyed two ways either by inclining men to do them ill or by diverting them from doing them at all It would be easie to prove that the Jesuits teach to do them ill in this that they maintain that such may be done as are truly good without any succour of Grace and that we may do those which are ineritorious of eternal life without respect had unto God or eternal life and without once thinking thereof provided that in doing them we be not under mortal sin But because this Point is more subtle and I have spoken thereof already before I will not insist on it here contenting my self to make appear that they excuse and justifie those who do no good Works at all though they be able testifying unto them that they are not bound thereunto and by this means they divert men from the practice of them removing from them the obligation and abolishing the Commandment as much as in them lyes Escobar after he had acknowledged that there is a Commandment which obligeth us by divine and natural light to do alms inquires 1 Quandonam hoc obligat praeceptum Respondeo quaestioni teneri nos elâ—…mosynam exhibere in necessitate extrema ex rebus vitae superfluis licet statul sint necessariae quia proximi vita superat mei status decentiam Escob tr 5. ex 5. n. 43. p. 632. When this Precept obligeth He answers That in extream necessity we are obliged to do alms of such things as are not necessary unto life though they be needful to support us in our condition His Reason is Because the life of our neighbour ought to be preferred to the decency of our condition He presupposeth as he expounds himself before that by extream necessity we are to understand that on which the life of man depends So that if he be not assisted he will surely dye and in this estate he believes that we are obliged to give of what we have superfluous and which may help him to live more commodiously This is no great excess of Charity to give for saving our neighbours life what is not at all necessary unto us But he extends not this Charity much farther demanding concerning the same subject 2 Qâ—i vero statui habet superfluâ— teneturne communibus necessitatibus subvenite Probabile est teueri probabilius non teneri Ibâ—n 47. p. 633. If he that hath more than he needs for to live according to his condition be obliged to help the common necessities He answers That it is probable that he