of Discourses of Purity and Charity of Repentance and of seeking the Kingdom of God. Published by Dean Tillotson 8 o. His Second Volume of Discourses on several Practical Subjects 8 o. Sir Thomas Mores Vtopia newly made English by Dr. Burnet 8 o. Mr. Sellers Devout Communicant assisted with Rules Meditations Prayers and Anthems 12. Dr. Towerson of the Sacraments in General Of the Sacrament of Baptism in particular 8 o. The History of the COVNCIL OF TRENT in which besides the ordinary Acts of the Council are declared many notable occurrences which hapned in Christendom for 40 Years and particularly the Practices of the COVRT of ROME to hinder the Râ—formation of their Errors and to maintain Their Greatness Written by Father Paul of the Servi To which is added the Life of the Author and the History of the Inquisition Dr. Bâ—rnets History of the Reformation of the Church of Eng. in 2 Vol Fol. A Collection of sixteen several Tracts and Discourses written in the Years from 16â—8 to 1685. inclusive by Gilbert Barnet D. D. To which is added A Letter written to Dr Barnet giving an Account of Cardinal Pools secret Powers The History of the Powder Treason with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuits dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Pâ—ot 1679. 4 o. A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees By WILLIAM CAVE D.D. 8 vo An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Fâ—ith With some other Discourses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. 4 o. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Anâ—wer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D D. An Abridâ—ment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILB BVRNET D D. 8 vo The APOLOGY of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God IOHN IEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand 8 vo The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and Iames Waddesworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil in Matters of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience 8 vo The Decree made at ROME the Second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Iesiuts and other Casuists 4 o. A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome 4 o. First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue 9 o. A Papist no Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented 4 o. An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church 4 o. Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4 o. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 8 vo A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and not Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM truly Representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome 4 o. The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures 4 o. The Plain man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24 o. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England 4 o A Vindication of the Answer to the said THREE PAPERS 4 o. Mr Chillingworths Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvâ—tion made more generally useful by omitting personal contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworths never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his confutation of the said motives An Historical Treatise written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome touching Transubstantiation Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of that Church this Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith 4 o. The Protestants Companion or an Impartial survey and comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewn that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 4 o. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be that Church and the Pillar of that Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy chap. 3. ver 15.4 o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scriptures Asserted 4 o. A short summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of Engl. and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture proofs 4 o. An Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special Branch of the Kings Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4 o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4 o. With a Table to the Whole Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died by W. Wake M. A 12 o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A Private Prayer to be used in difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29. 1687. between
A. Pulton Jesuit and Th. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4 o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4 o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an Account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom A Second Letter from the Author of the Discourse concerning Extreme Unction to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations These are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six Conferences A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 4 o. A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the New Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The SECOND PART In which the Romish Doctrines concerning the Nature and Object of Religious Worship of the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images and Relicks are considered and the Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome upon the account of them made good 4 o. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4 o. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto published in his True Account his True and Fuâ— Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he 〈◊〉 Dr. Tâ—â— Rule of Faith. By Th. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrine and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of 〈…〉 Bâ—ing â— sufficient Confutation of Consensus Veterâ—â— Nâ—bis 〈◊〉 and other late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 4 â— An Answer to 〈…〉 Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy With 〈…〉 Vâ—â—dicator's Fâ—ll Answer shewing that the Vindicator has utterly ruâ—â—â—d the New Design of Expanding and Representing Popery 4 o. An Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. Popery not founded in Scripture or the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible for Proofs of the Points of their Râ—â—iâ—iâ—n examin'd and shew'd to be alledged without Ground In twenty Discourses Four whereof are published the rest will follow weekly in their Order An Abridgment of the Perogative of St. Ann Mother of the Mother of God with the Approbations of the 〈◊〉 of Paris thence done into English with a PREFACE concernining the Oâ—iginâ—l of the Story The â—â—â—â—nitive Fathers no Papiâ—tâ— in Answer to the Nubes Testium to which is added a Discourse concerning Iâ—vâ—cation of Saints in Answer to the Challenge of F. Sabran the Jesuit wherein is shewn that the Invocation of Saints was so far from being the Practice that it was expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers 4 o. An Answer to a Discourse concerning the Celibacy of the Clergy lately Printed at Oxford 4 o. The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church In the Traditions of that Church concerning her Life and Glory and in the Devotions paid to her as the Mother of God. Both shewed out of the Offices of that Church the Lessons on her Festivals and from their allowed Authors Reflections upon the â—â—oks of the Holy Scripture in order to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion in 3 Parts 8 vo 〈…〉 Dr. Tenisons Sermon of Discretion in giving Alms. 12 o. A Discourse concering the Merits of Good Works The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome demonstrated in some Observations upon the Life of Ignatius Loyala Founder of the Order of Jesus A Vindication of the Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. Vid. 2d part of the Vindication of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England (a) De Divin Offic. c. 4. (b) Not. in Martyrolog Rom. p. 3. Edit Paris 1645. (c) Annal. ad an 395. n 20. (d) Hist. Eccl. l. 6. c. 26. (e) Ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 3. c. 4. Paulo post princip In vita Aedesii prope fin (a) Superstitio error insanus est quos colit violat Quid enim interest utrum Deos neges an infames Epist. 123. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Superstitione Vid. Histoire de l' Inquisition de Goa chez Hortemels Paris 1688 cum Privilegio ⸫ De la vie de St. Ignac lib. 1. Vid. Orlandin Hist. Soc. Jesu l. 1. num 9. c. * Ibid. †De vita Ignat l. 1. c. 2. * Bouhours l. 1. ‖ Id. ibid. Bouhours l. 1. Maffeius l. 1. c. 2. Vie de St. Ignace l. 2. c. 5. Bouhours l. 2. Bonaventura de vita Fran. cap. 3. Id. cap. 1. Bouhours l. 3. Id. l. 4. Bouhours l. 1. * Ibid. Maffeius l. 1. c. 3. Bouhours l. 1. L. 1. c. 3. (a) L. 1. (b) Cap. 2. Rome 1629. â— vo Maffeius l. 1. c. 3. (a) Hist. Soc. Jesu l. 1. (b) Lib. 3. Philostratus de vit Apoll. â— â— c. 12. Id. l. 3. c. 15. Bonaventura cap. 15.6 †De vita Fr. cap. 14. Bussieres l. 2. c. 16. Philostrat l. 1. c. 15.9 Bonavent cap. 8. Vitelleschi cap. 7. Philostrat l. 1. c. 9. Philostrat l. 7. c. 6. Bonavent cap. 8. (a) L. 3. c. 3. (b) cap. 5. Bouhours l. 2. Id. l. 6. Philostr l. 8. c. 2. Bouhours l. 1. Id. l. 2. Gloria S. Ignatii Rothomagi 1630. cap. 8. Id. c. 14. Ribadeneira in vit ejus Philostrat l. 1. c. 13. l. 7. L. 1. l. 7. Bonaventur c. 7. Golden Legend fol. 262. London 1527. Bouhours l. 1. Id. l. 6. Gloria S. Ignatii cap. 7. Bouhours l. 6. * Vite ejus per Jac. Baccium Romae 1645. Bouhours l. 1. Gloria S. Ignatii cap. 8. * Bouhours l. 6. Vitelleschi c. 20. †Jac. Baccius in Vit. ejus l. 2. c. 19. Vitelleschi c. 19. Bouhours l. 6. *
taken the Almanack into the number of the Saints and canonized it under the name of St. Almachius solemnizeth its memory on the first day of January and giveth to it an illustrious Character in the Martyrology This probably proceeded from the mistake of some ignorant Monk about the seventh or eighth Age who finding the word S. Almanacum Sanctum Almanacum written in the front of the Calendar and not knowing what to make of that barbarous term with which he was before unacquainted imagined it to be some ancient obscure Saint who took up the first place in the Calendar Being possessed with this Error it was no hard matter to make S. Almachius of S. Almanacum written in the old way of Abbreviation Having thus framed the Saint out of good manners he placed him after the Circumcision of our Lord the memory of which is celebrated upon the same day but yet to keep the former Order as much as possible immediately after it as it now continueth in the Roman Martyrology This unhappy mistake was thence transcribed into many other Copies and so encreased the Rabble of the Romish Saints with the addition of St. Almanack Afterwards a goodly Story was framed of him that he suffered Martyrdom at Rome under the Presecture of Alipius where reprehending the Gladiators in the Amphitheater for their bloody sports he was killed by them That my Conjecture is just manifestly appears from the constant silence of all ancient Writers concerning any such Martyr None makes mention of him before Alcuinus and he doth it in such a manner as sheweth that he knew not what to make of him For as for the Martyrologies of Beda Usuardus and Ado they have received so many Interpolations from latter hands that no Arguments can be drawn from them Baronius is grievously perplexed about this S. Almachius One while he makes him to have suffered under Honorius another while under Theodosius and supposeth him to have been the same with the Martyr Telemachus of whom Theodoret makes mention But so prodigious a change of Telemachus into Almachius is somewhat incredible and that Telemachus was stoned whereas Almachius is said to have been stabbed Add to this universal silence of the Ancients that S. Almachius is placed exactly in the beginning of the Calendar on the first of January immediately after the Circumcision of Christ and the matter will be rendred highly probable The only Objection which with any shew of reason can be opposed is that the word Almanacum seems not to have been so ancient as the time of Alcuinus as being received from the Arabians But this is no other than a vulgar Error For Porphyry used the word 1400. years since where speaking of the many different Horoscopes he saith of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose names are contained in the Almanacks which may also give a probable reason how the letter h crept into Almachius For as anciently in spelling words derived from the Greek they kept much more closely to the Greek Orthography than we now do it is not unlikely that when this word was first adopted by the Latins it was writ Almanachum These Arguments will at least create a probability of my Assertion that this fictitious Saint arose from the unhappy mistake of some ignorant Writer If our Adversaries of the Church of Rome shall yet persist to defend the honour and truth of their Calendar it will concern them to produce better Arguments for the existence of St. Almachius than I have now proposed against it But to return from St. Almanack to St. Ignatius it cannot be pretended by our Adversaries that the Character of Enthusiasm or Falsity which I have affixed to him and the Miracles attributed to him may equally be fastned on the Actions and Miracles of Christ and his Apostles altho both Ignatius and St. Francis in acting their Extravagances flattered themselves with the thoughts of a perfect imitation of Christ. As for the reception of the Faith by extraordinary Illumination and in many cases acting by Divine Impulse that in the first propagation of Christianity when it was both necessary and convenient was no argument or character of Enthusiasm but only in subsequent times after the Faith had been once published and an ordinary Rule whether Scripture or Tradition was fixed which by natural means might divulge the knowledge of it Nothing childish or ridiculous can be discovered in the Actions of Christ and his Apostles none of those frantick Motions or irrational Extravagances which are so eminently conspicuous in the whole Conduct of Ignatius At least none of their Miracles are subject to those Objections which intirely ruine the credit of those ascribed to Ignatius They were all well attested performed before whole multitudes of Enemies as well as Friends delivered to us by Eye-witnesses and that without any fluctuation or mutual repugnance of their Testimony were not destructive of the Laws of Corporeal Beings nor included any contradiction contained nothing monstrous or indecent in them and were in all respects intirely conformable to the Majesty of that God who wrought them and the gravity of that Religion which was confirmed by them It will perhaps be pretended with greater shew of reason that the actions and Histories of many famous Monks and Anchorets of the Ancient Church give no small countenance to the Conduct of Ignatius and by the authority of their Examples rescue it from the force of our Objections that consequently the Ancient Church is no less subject to the Charge of Enthusiasm than the Church of Rome and both equally concerned in it Altho the deformity of Enthusiasm cannot be palliated by any Authority whatsoever yet the regard which I have to Truth and the great reverence which the Church of England not unjustly beareth to the more pure and ancient times of Christianity obligeth me to remove this prejudice and preclude the force of any such Objection before I dismiss the Reader First then however it cannot be denied that many Persons who obtained to themselves an extraordinary repute of sanctity in the Ancient Church committed many gross irregularities in the conduct of their Devotion practised immoderate Austerities and were sometimes guilty of ridiculous Actions yet the Ancient Vniversal Church is not in the least concerned in all this nor receiveth any prejudice from the indiscreet Zeal of these private Bigots She gave no countenance to their Extravagances never recommended them to the practise or imitation of her Children much less approved them by any solemn and publick Act. Whereas the Church of Rome hath in the highest and most solemn manner espoused the Follies and Whimsies of her Enthusiastick Saints by canonizing them celebrating their Memories with Festivals and pompous Ceremonies invoking them in her publick Offices and recommending their Examples to the World as the best and greatest Patterns of Christian Perfection This alone might suffice to overthrow all pretence of Antiquity in this case Yet to clear the matter somewhat
Spain through Valentia into Italy he happened on Iohn de Castro a Religious Hermit to whom he made known his Intention of going into the Holy Land. Castro spends all the Night following in Prayer comes out of his Cell next Morning in a transport of joy and tells Ignatius that he was commissioned by Heaven to let him know that his Design should succeed and turn to the good of all Christendom and for a sign that he did not speak at random offered himself to be his Companion and Disciple Ignatius received this Testimony of Castro as an Oracle of the Holy Ghost but would not suffer him to accompany him Whence Bouhours concludeth that Persons inspired from Heaven in behalf of others are not always so for themselves He might more reasonably have concluded that the whole Inspiration was fictitious and a meer whimsie of the Hermites Brain with which both Parties were not unwillingly deluded For Ignatius his Design did not succeed He never went after that to Palestine as he intended and consequently his Design was not in the least beneficial to the Cause of Christianity and then Castro equally pretended a Divine Inspiration for his entrance into the same Design as for Ignatius his success in it so that either Castro received no real Inspiration or Ignatius resisted the Holy Ghost But to proceed Ignatius travelling from Venice to Rome he stept alone into a little ruinous Chappel upon the Road following the motion of the Spirit which possest him to recommend his Company to God. Scarce had he begun his Prayer but he was wrapt in spirit environed with a great brightness and saw the Eternal Father who presenting him to the Son who stood before him laden with an heavy Cross recommended him to his protection who receiving him graciously said I will be propitious to you at Rome Removing soon after to Monte Cassino he saw the Soul of Hozez one of his Companions who at that time died at Padua at the very moment of his expiring in a glorious and shining Habit enter into Heaven and thereby had the good fortune to equal St. Benedict who in that very place saw the Soul of his Sister Scholaria in form of a Dove and the Soul of Germanus Bishop of Capua environed with exceeding light ascending into Heaven But now for the Honour of Ignatius whereas St. Benedict had but a transient view of the ascending Souls our Saint had the same Vision more than once For presently after hearing Mass he saw Heaven open and his Companion in the middle of the Saints See the Merits of the Society more resplendent than the rest However it must be remembred in favour of St. Benedict that in his time Enthusiasm was but in its infancy which in latter Ages was advanced to greater perfection St. Ignatius scorned to draw his model from an imperfect Copy but chose rather to imitate St. Francis a more Illustrious Visionary He assured his Companions that he often enjoyed the Corporeal Presence of Jesus Christ who appeared to him in his private Prayers nailed to the Cross and at other times under the form of a Cherub having six wings bearing a Crucifix in his Breast and fluttering before him for a long while in the Air. Not only were Divine Visions of this nature frequently by Heaven granted to them but also liberally communicated to others whensoever their Interest or Advantage required it Thus Ignatius coming to Barcelona to take Ship for the Holy Land a certain Lady called Isabella Rosella saw him at Church and heard a Voice within her crying Call him Call him Hereupon she invites him to her House and desires him to lodge there But he declared that he was called by Heaven to another place and so denied her Request Certainly one of these Calls must have been an Illusion For if the Lady was indeed commanded by God to invite him he ought to have accepted the Invitation if he was sent by God to another Place she ought not to have diverted him But not to be too critical upon the Actions of the Saints since it is the peculiar privilege of the Church of Rome that no Contradictions can prejudice the truth of its Assertions From Barcelona Ignatius travelled to Venice where entring late he takes up his Lodging upon the stones in the Piazza Heaven thought this too mean a Lodging for so great a Saint and therefore Marco Antonio Trevisani a Senator was immediately commanded by a Voice in a Vision to rise and invite him into his House When Rodriguez one of his chief Disciples was tempted by the Devil to leave Ignatius and become an Hermite God to prevent so great a loss sent an Angel from Heaven who taking a Gigantick Body and putting on a terrible Aspect met him going out of Town with a naked Sword in his hand and brandishing his Sword against him forced him to return with all speed altho the Countrey People who admired the precipitate and as they imagined causeless flight of Rodriguez could see neither Sword nor Giant To produce but one Instance more A Recluse near Vicenza slighting Ignatius and esteeming him a Madman God to vindicate the honour of the Saint appeared to him and told him or as Bouhours hath it he understood by a Light from above that Ignatius was a Vessel of Election filled with the Spirit of God. In like manner a Priest of Assisium who despised Saint Francis was assured by a Divine Vision that he was some great and venerable Person Hitherto their Visions are pretty equal but St. Francis had one adventure which Ignatius could never equal Being prostrated one day before a Crucifix he received exceeding consolation of spirit in praying and with his bodily Ears thrice heard a Voice proceeding from the Cross saying Francis go and repair my ruined House This was wonderful indeed but Ignatius never attained to this perfection For as the Devils and Oracles vanished and disappeared at the coming of Christ so the Romish images ceased to speak at the first appearance of the Reformation The last which we can hear of is that of Bern in Switzerland which performed the Miracle few years before the Reformation These Visions and Apparitions are so plainly owing to the whimsies of a disturbed Imagination that no art can palliate the Delusion The Ideas which these Enthusiasts conceived of God Christ and Angels were so gross and corporeal and by long habit attended with such violent motions of the Spirit that every cloud in their Brain was mistaken for that Object whose Idea did then accompany it This is evident in the case of Ignatius who in Mount Cassino remembring the famous Vision of St. Benedict in that place and then hearing the death of Hozez imagined he saw a Vision of the like nature and in visiting the holy Places in Palestine always fancied to see Christ before his eyes in that habit which the remembrance of the Place suggested to his
Imagination born in the Grotto at Bethlehem crucified in Mount Calvary and ascending in Mount Olivet This was solely to be ascribed to the delusion of a violent and strong Imagination wherewith all the precedent Actions and Arguments demonstrate Ignatius to have been endued To which may be added this following Circumstance When Ignatius first set himself to learn Grammar at Barcelona he found his Spirits by long habit so stongly enclined to these Enthusiastick Imaginations that he could not divert them any other way Whence instead of conjugating the Verb Amo he did nothing but form Acts of Love. I love thee my God said he thou lovest me he could think of nothing else for many months However if this Illusion had stopt in his own Breast it had been no great loss but when it imposeth upon multitudes of credulous Believers and draws them into pernicious mistakes when after a juridical Inquiry the reality of such Apparitions is allowed and attested by the publick suffrage of a large Christian Church in the Canonization of the Visionary we cannot but deplore the Credulity of Mankind and Corruption of that Church If the truth of all Christian Religion depended upon the attestation of such a Church as is pretended well might all sober Heathens suspect the Miracles of Jesus Christ or even deny the existence of such a God who chooseth the greatest Fools for his highest Favourites and obsequiously attendeth the Motions of every petty Visionary More rationally did Philostratus proceed in writing the Legend of Apollonius Tyaneus to whom he ascribes no more than two Visions and both of them undertaken for the improvement of Knowledge the first an Apparition of Achilles's Ghost to him for the resolution of divers Critical Questions the other of himself after death to a company of Friends to assure them of the Immortality of the Soul. If the external Visions of Ignatius were rare and wonderful the internal Illuminations of his Understanding were more extraordinary From these he pretended to have received a more perfect knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion than could have been drawn from the ordinary Rule of Faith to have learned all the Secrets of the Trinity and seen the very Essence of God. The pretence of this Infused Knowledge is the chief and most essential Character of Enthusiasm others may be properties or effects of it but this constitutes the very nature of it Thus Apollonius pretended to know all things by Divine Inspiration to act by a particular Illumination to know the state and adventures of his own Soul before it was united to his Body according to his notion of Transmigration and to discern the Souls of Ancient Heroes imprisoned in the Bodies of Beasts By this Divine Illumination he knew Domitian had laid snares for him and if we may believe Hierocles performed all his Miracles not by Enchantments or Spells as was commonly believed but by an hidden and preternatural knowledge of Divine Matters Saint Francis understood many secret things by the Spirit knew all the Mysteries of Scripture not by the help of Learning but by Divine Revelation unfolded many things to his Disciples by the assistance of Divine Visions which transcended Humane Capacity preached always Sermons to the People not composed by his own Industry but ex tempore suggested by the Spirit and lest you should suspect these Discourses to have been highly impertinent Bonaventure assures you they were not empty or ridiculous but full of the vertue of the Spirit piercing the very marrow of the Heart and ravishing all his Hearers with mighty admiration But to raise your Opinion yet somewhat higher of the wonderful Illuminations of this Saint Christ corporally appearing to him revealed to him many things which it was unlawful for him while he lived to publish and the great and wonderful Mystery of the Cross wherein all the gifts of Graces and treasures of Wisdom lay hid concealed from the Wise and Learned Men of the World were at once fully revealed to St. Francis. Yet all this is inconsiderable when compared to the infused Knowledge of Ignatius Iohn de Avila a famous Spanish Doctor declared that he knew no man more interiour nor filled with more supernatural Wisdom than Ignatius and Oviedo one of his Disciples out of a long experience of him gave his Opinion when Ignatius desired to be eased of the Office of General that he ought not to be opposed since being a Saint he had Lights which ordinary Christians had not Soon after his Conversion at Manreze he began to receive Visions and Illuminations He was hitherto meanly instructed in the Mysteries of the Faith but now he is elevated in the Spirit and hath all particularly the Trinity so clearly represented and revealed to him by an internal Light that he can speak of nothing but the Trinity and that with so much unction and light in such proper and sublime Expressions that the most Learned admired him and the most Ignorant were instructed by him The Illustrations which were communicated to him upon this Subject cannot be expressed how often our Lady and the three Persons of the Holy Trinity appeared to him and taught him what was their will touching this Article how many internal Consolations he received and how great Secrets were revealed to him In one of his Visions he saw the Blessed Trinity as plainly as we do one another under a corporeal representation The very notions of his Institute were obtained by Illumination and all the rules of his Order composed by the assistance of an internal Light. Immediately after his Conversion in time of Mass at the elevation he had an intuitive knowledge that the Body and Blood of Christ were truly contained under the Elements and in what manner they were there nay He saw with his bodily Eyes Iesus Christ and his Blessed Mother which kindled in his Soul new desires of following the Cross. One day he had a profound knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion together and at another time praying before the Cross all which he had formerly learnt were set before his eyes in so full a light that the verities of Faith seemed to him to have nothing obscure in them and he remained so enlightned and convinced of them that he hath been heard to say that had they never been recorded in Scripture he should still have believed them and that had the Scriptures been lost no part of his Faith had been diminished But none raiseth the Merits of Ignatius in this respect so high as the Anonymous Author of his Glory who relateth his Divine Illuminations in these words Before he had yet learned any thing he was so fully instructed in a sublime manner by an intellectual Vision of the unity of the Essence and Persons of the Trinity that being but an Idiot he was enabled to write a Book concerning the Trinity in the beginning of his
Ghost with the same tears and in the same devotion it seemed to me that I saw him in a singular brightness in the colour of a flame of Fire in an extraordinary manner and that he spoke to me While the Altar was prepared and while I put on the Habits and while I celebrated Mass I had great interior Commotions strong Tears and vehement Palpitations which often hindred my Speech Afterwards I had a powerful Commotion and I saw the Holy Virgin near the Eternal Father who seemed to me mightily disposed to assist me Insomuch as in the Prayers addressed to the Father and at the Consecration it seemed to me that I comprehended and saw evidently that the Mother of God hath a very great share in the distribution of Grace and that she is the gate whereby to arrive at Glory I saw moreover at the Consecration that her Flesh was contained in the Flesh of her Son which I saw with so clear a perception and so tender a sentiment that it is not possible to express it In the ordinary Prayer from the beginning to the end I had a very great devotion and all full of light Without doors in the Church and in saying Mass I saw the Heavenly Countrey in its Sovereign Monarch as it were by knowledge of the three Divine Persons seeing the Second and Third Persons in the Father Entring into the Chappel to pray I received an illumination and supernatural assistance by the help of which I knew or to speak more properly I saw the most Holy Trinity and Jesus Christ who served me in quality of a Mediator and disposed me to this Intellectual Vision In this Sentiment and in this Vision I was overwhelmed with a torrent of tears and filled with an extraordinary love Saying Mass with the same tears and in the same devotion I had on the sudden the same Vision of the Holy Trinity my love for the Divine Majesty continually increasing In beginning the Te igitur I knew and saw not obscurely but with a vey clear light the Divine Existence or Essence as the Sun but much more luminous than that Sun which we see and it seemed to me that the Father proceeded from this Divine Essence yet so that the Essence appeared to me with the Father And in this representation of the Divine Existence without any distinction of Persons I felt a very ardent devotion for the thing represented with great emotions great effusion of tears and a great love towards the Holy Trinity After which having finished Mass and praying before the Altar I saw a-new the same Essence in the similitude of a Globe and I saw in some manner the three Persons to wit the Father on one side on the other the Son and on the third side the Holy Ghost which took their original from the Essence without being yet divided from the Globe which I saw And in this Vision I had new emotions and new tears He proceeds to relate other Visions and Representations of the Trinity his clear perception of its Essence and being swallowed up in the love of it his union with the Divine Majesty and fresh Visions of the Trinity sometimes with and sometimes without any distinction of Persons his wonderful Illuminations which gave him in a moment greater knowledge of Divine Matters than could have been obtained by the study of many years his elevated and innumerable perceptions in Spirit and those so clear that there remained nothing further to be comprehended in the Holy Trinity his flaming love towards the Person of the Father because in him the other Persons were especially contained his frequent sight of Jesus whithersoever he turned himself accompanied with abundant tears inexpressible sweetness and strong internal motions In short it appears from this extravagant Account of his Visions and Illuminations that no Enthusiast in any Age hath exceeded him either in the number or extravagancy of his Imaginary Visions That they were indeed imaginary and no other than the effects of a disturbed Brain I need not insist to prove since the very nature and constitution of Christianity requires it which would be dissolved if after a determinate Rule of Faith were setled extraordinary Revelations in matters of Faith should be admitted or Religion were to be learned not from that Rule but from private Inspiration Besides the absurdity and impertinence of these Pretended Revelations of Ignatius the crude and indigested Notions contained in them demonstrate them to have proceeded from a Principle of Disorder not the Divine Omniscience But since the Writers of his Life contend these Inspirations to have been real and Divine and the Church of Rome in the process of his Canonization alledgeth them as the grand argument of his Sanctity I will oppose one reason to the truth of them If indeed Ignatius received a perfect knowledge of the Christian Religon by extraordinary Illumination if in these inward Inspirations he obtained distinct Notions of all Matters of Faith and was enabled to publish his Inspirations in such proper and sublime Expressions that the most Learned admired him and the most Ignorant were instructed by him as is pretended how came it to pass that for many years after he was still esteemed a Fool and an Ideot that in learning of any Science whatsoever he was so insuperably dull and stupid that after some years study upon a particular examination by the Inquisitors of Alcala and Archbishop of Toledo he was adjudged not to have been sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion and therefore ordered by them to continue his studies of Divinity some years longer but above all how can it be imagined that after so many and so clear Illuminations any Learning should be necessary to him yet after all Bouhours tells us that being conscious to himself of his Ignorance and convinced that Learning was necessary to his intended purpose of Conversion he applied himself to study But to proceed when once the belief of Divine Illuminations is received by the deluded Enthusiast and he imagines himself to be frequently inspired by God it is natural for him to resign himself wholly to the supposed conduct of that inward Light and act solely in obedience to it Thus he mistaketh every whimsie of his Fancy for the Dictate of the Holy Ghost and every motion of his Brain for the Impulse of the Spirit Then he believeth himself infallible and pretends to act always by Divine Inspiration This indeed is an high degree of Fanaticism but which above all is apt to draw the admiration and delude the Judgment of the common People who being not willing to undertake the labour necessary for discovery of truth greedily embrace every pretence of infallibility which may ease them of a laborious search and in appearance secure them from all error Philostratus ascribes the Actions of Apollonius and Bonaventure of St. Francis to Divine Impulse The latter founded his Order by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost was incited
goodly Story is like to be marred by the Imprudence of the Relators The Devil it seems owed them a turn and revenged himself upon their Memory For the same Historians relate that the Devil far from being afraid at their Names their Pictures or their Letters sometimes seized upon their very Bodies and handled them very roughly Thus St. Francis being once perswaded to betray his Humility so far as to accept a Lodging in a Cardinals Palace was at night most unmercifully beaten by the Devils and left for dead Ignatius was often most cruelly scourged by the Devil more especially one Night at Rome when the Devil catch't him by the Throat and squeezed him so hard that the Saint straining himself to call upon the Name of Jesus continued hoarse many days after However these Bastinadoes might for a while mortify the Saints and intirely blast the repute of their arbitrary command over the Devils yet at least they conferred this benefit upon them that hereby they more nearly resembled the ancient Heroes of the Legend among whom the Great St. Antony underwent the same fate For unadvisedly peeping into the hole of a Rock and discovering there a whole nest of Devils the Devils sallied out upon him and beat him so unmercifully that his Servant carried him away for dead Not only in this respect were the Writers of his Life injurious to the Memory of Ignatius in not telling their Story plausibly and without any repugnance between the several parts of it but also by their improvident zeal to raise the Honour and Grandeur of their Saint have so imprudently represented many of his most illustrious and wonderful Actions that we might justly suspect the concurrence of evil Spirits in the performance of them if we either believed the truth of those Actions or were ready to admit any such suspicions When he first dedicated himself to the Blessed Virgin as soon as he had ended his Prayer he heard a mighty noise the House trembled all the Windows of the Chamber were broke and a rent made in the Wall which remaineth to this day This Bouhours would gladly attribute to God testifying thereby the acceptance of Ignatius his Prayers as formerly of the Prayers of the Apostles by a like sign However he doth not deny that it might possibly have been caused by the Devil who by that Earthquake endeavoured to put a period to Ignatius his Life Bussieres makes no doubt of it but confidently affirms it to have been caused by the Devil A little after the Devil excited in him an extraordinary nauseousness of the Hospital into which he had voluntarily entred and shame to see himself in the company of Beggars At Manreze he appeared to him in the Habit of an honest Young man disswading him from the use of so great Austerities While he learned the Latin Tongue at Barcelona the Devil to hinder his Learning instigated him to practices of Piety filled him with Consolations raised in him such tender sentiments of God that all the time of his study was spent in devout Thoughts Of the Demoniacks which he dispossessed some were lifted up into the Air and himself in time of Prayer was often seen to be raised from the ground and be elevated in the Air. From this pendulous posture Procopius concludes that Iustinian the Emperor was a Devil and no man. That Apparition of the Devils hovering in the Air before his Eyes in form of Stars he mistook a long while for an Angelical Vision and effect of the Divine Favour to him When a Spanish Maid was brought to him under the notion of a Demoniack raging with violent contortions over all her Body he asserted she was not possest and that those extraordinary motions proceeded from a natural cause and that if the Devil had any part in it it was only in disturbing the Imagination of the sick Person Lastly being told of a Religious Woman at Bologna endued with an extraordinary gift of Prayer and having frequent Raptures and Extasies during which she had no sense of feeling altho fire were applied to her he assures Ribadeneira that God indeed did operate in his Soul and abundantly infuse into it the Vnction of his Spirit but that this happened rarely and only to Persons much in favour with God whereas the Devil who could act nothing upon the Soul I know not how this can be reconciled with the former assertion was wont to counterfeit externally Divine Operations and by such appearances impose upon the Credulous That this was the case of the Nun as in effect it was afterwards found out that all her pretended Holiness was but an Illusion of a Wicked Spirit If then the Devil can externally counterfeit Divine Operations suspend the Senses and cause extraordinary Extasies and Raptures of the Soul and by these Impostures procure to any one a great repute of sanctity and devotion in the Church of Rome If he can disturb the Imagination of Men without possessing their Bodies or taking from them the liberty of their Will If Ignatius actually mistook an Illusion of the Devil for a Divine Favour and was often observed in the same pendulous posture with Demoniacks If the Devil sometimes inspired him with good Thoughts and Resolutions as well as at other times diverted him from them Lastly if it be uncertain which miraculous Actions of Ignatius are to be ascribed to God and which to the Devil it cannot but remain infinitely doubtful whether God or the Devil had the greater share in the Actions of Ignatius whether he acted by the power and impulse of the former or by the assistance and suggestion of the latter It cannot be pretended that the Church by giving attestation to the sanctity of his Life and the truth of his Miracles in his Canonization hath removed all suspicions of this nature and vindicated the Memory of Ignatius from all possibility of disadvantageous Scruples For till the late Jesuits of Clermont proposed their Theses it never was pretended that the Church much less the Pope is infallible in determining matters of fact and that the Pope in attesting the sanctity of Ignatius was actually deceived and imposed upon the credulous World I will undeniably demonstrate In the Bull of his Canonization the Pope affirmeth that from the time of his Conversion no word or action proceeded from him which can be accounted a mortal Sin. Despair of the Divine Mercy is by Divines commonly accounted the greatest of all Sins and even this may receive greater or less aggravations as it is more or less unreasonable Ignatius committed this sin in the most aggravating circumstances some while after his Conversion when he had received frequent Illuminations from Heaven had enjoyed infinite Raptures and Extasies performed stupendious acts of apparent Charity and undergone the most severe exercises of external Mortification which if they be indeed acceptable to God as the Admirers of Ignatius and the Church of
When St. Francis one Night earnestly desired to hear some Musick a Concert of Angels appeared to him and played most melodiously While Ignatius writ his Constitutions He often heard not only in his Imagination but with his outward Ears most sweet Lessons of the heavenly Musick And when his Body was exposed after Death divers Stars were seen upon his Sepulchre and a very harmonious Concert of Musick was heard about it for two whole days together But St. Dunstan was more modest in procuring to himself this miraculous Musick He scorned to put the Angels to any trouble and therefore his Harp usually played of its own accord as it hung upon the Wall. Such are the Miracles which in former Ages advanced the Doctrines of the Church of Rome and at this day continue to be none of the least Arguments of their truth to credulous and injudicious Persons Upon these is founded the honour of their Saints and upon their truth depends one of the most glorious Notes of their Church From the Miracles of Saint Francis alone Surius pretends that whatsoever Hereticks may prate it is abundantly proved that the departed Saints know our Concerns on Earth and hear our Petitions Thus the Controversie of the Invocation of Saints is decided Add to this the Visions of Ignatius and devotion of Saint Francis's Lamb and Transubstantiation will be irrefragably demonstrated and so in all other Articles peculiar to the Church of Rome Miracles will not be wanting to demonstrate their truth And indeed Miracles are now become the only refuge to which our Adversaries can recur when Reason and Learning runs so low among them and their Arguments have been so often baffled But by an unhappy incredulity we are no more inclined to believe their Miracles than Doctrines the latter we imagine to be false but the former both false and foolish It remains therefore that we receive a conviction of the truth of the Romish Religion as Ignatius did by supernatural Illumination and extraordinary Impulse which may be hoped for when God shall lose his Attribute of Immutability and Christianity cease to be Rational But to pass by that From what hath been hitherto said it appears that the Church of Rome is in the highest degree guilty of Enthusiasm and that Ignatius and whom he imitated Saint Francis were the greatest and most foolish Enthusiasts of any Age Persons so far unworthy the Glories of Heaven and Society of Angels that they deserved rather to be excluded from the number of rational Beings and upon that account be placed one degree beneath Fools and Madmen Yet to these are publick Prayers addressed in the Church of Rome Festivals celebrated Churches dedicated and Vows directed and as if all this were not sufficient God must be desired to save us through their Merits Thus Bonaventure concludes the Life of Saint Francis in these words May Iesus Christ bring us unto Heaven by the Merits of his Servant Francis and the Golden Legend thus Let us pray to Saint Francis that he would aid and assist us that by his Merits we may come to everlasting life And that somewhat more than humane may be conceived of them we are told of Ignatius that only by his Name writ in a piece of Paper he did more Miracles than Moses and not fewer than the Apostles that the Founders indeed of other Religious Orders were formerly sent by God for the benefit of the Church but that after all in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son Ignatius whom he hath made Heir of all things and to whom nothing else was wanting to the utmost perfection but the following Attribute By whom also he made the World. This was spoken of Ignatius before he was yet Canonized I know not whether his Canonization qualified him to receive that Attribute but I am sure it excused not his Memory from the just imputation of Folly and Enthusiasm nor the Church of Rome from the Charge of a most deplorable Fanaticism in celebrating his Memory and applauding his Folly. FINIS ERRATA PAge 1. l. 9. for convinceth r. convince p. 14. l. 11. for any r. an p. 39. l. 21. in marg for Vite r. Vita p. 24. l. 9. for first r. last p. 39. l. ult for Swound r. Swoon p. 79. l. 22. for Cap. grave r. Capgrave p. 105. l. 21. for do r. doth Books Printed for Richard Chiswell Dr. CAve's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2. Vol. Folio Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time. fol. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity fol. Sir. Iâ—hn Buâ—lâ—ce's History of the Irish Rebellion fol. 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