〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is ANOTHER PART OF The Mystery of Jesuitism OR The new Heresie of the Jesuites Publickly maintained At PARIS in the College of CLERMONT the XII of December MDCLXI Declar'd to all the Bishops of France According to the Copy printed at Paris Together with The Imaginary Heresie in three LETTERS With divers other Particulars relating to this Abominable Mysterie Never before published in English LONDON Printed by James Flesher for Richard Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred MAJESTY 1664. To my most honour'd Friend from whom I received the Copy SIR I Transmit you here the French Copy which you were pleased to consign to me and with it the best effects of your injunction that my weak Talent was able to reach to but with a Zeal so much the more propense as I judged the publication might concern the World of those miserably-abus'd Persons who resign themselves to the conduct of these bold Impostors and who may indeed be said to be what the Athenians mistook S. Paul for 17 Act. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Setters forth of strange Gods as well as of strange and unheard-of Doctrines whilst they take upon them thus to attribute as much to Dominus Deus Papa Gloss in Extr Jo. c. 22. Cum inter de verborum signif their Lord God the Pope as to God Almighty himself I stand amaz'd that a Church which pretends so much to Puritie and that is so furious against the least dissenters to her Novelties amongst Protestants should suffer such swarms of impure Insects amongst themselves lest these Cancerous Members in stead of edifying the Church and conducting Consciences eat out in fine the very heart and vitals of the common Christianity For my part Exetasis sive Tho. Albii Purgati◠after I have seen what Mr. White has lately publish'd concerning the Method of the Roman Court in her Decrees and of her rare abilities to discern as he there affords us the Prospect I have no great reason to hope for any redress of these Enormities and then to what a monstrous growth this Head is like to arrive let all the World compute by the strange pretences of these audacious Sycophants Nor let any man wonder how those other Errours are crept into their Religion who in a day of so universal light permit such pernicious Doctrines to be publickly asserted to the dishonour of our B. Lord the scandal of his beloved Spouse and the hinderance of that glorious Unity which none does more earnestly breath after then He who subscribes himself SIR Your most humble and most obedient Servant 21 Sept. 1664. LESSIVS MOLINA S. IGNATIVS LOYOLA SOCIETATIS IESV FVNDATOR VASQUEZ ESCOBAR Optabilior est Fur quam Mendax assiduus vtrique Perditionis haereditatem consequentur Eccles. 20. vers 25. THE New Heresie of the Jesuites publickly maintain'd at Paris in the College of Clermont by Positions printed the xij of December M DC LXI Declar'd to all the Bishops of France c. AS it is the constant duty of Bishops to stifle those Errours in their very birth and cradle which tend to the ruine and subversion of Faith so is it no less that of Divines to make discovery of those Errours to them and by giving timely notice of them to excite and stir up their Pastoral Vigilancy You will therefore My Lords doubtless approve of the Information which is made you of a New Heresie that has been publickly maintain'd by the Jesuites in their College at Paris in a Thesis printed and defended the twelfth of December last The Position bears this Title ASSERTIONES CATHOLICAE de Incarnatione contra Saeculorum omnium ab incarnato Verbo praecipuas Haereses CATHOLICK ASSERTIONS concerning the Incarnation against the principal Heresies of all Ages By which they sufficiently demonstrate that abating some few Subtilties of the Schools they pretend We should accept what-ever They oppose against these Heresies for Catholick Verities and Truths indubitable In order hereunto They propose for the Heresie of the Tenth Age the Schism of the Greek Church and by these words declare the Opinions to which they expect our Assent as a mark and characterism of our aversion from that Heresie X. SAECULUM Romanae Ecclesiae Caput contra Graecos Schismaticos Hoc tandem Saeculo Schisma Photii invalescens Graecos ab Ecclesiae Capite disjunxit Christum nos ità Caput agnoscimus ut illias Regimen dum in coelos abiit primùm Petro tum deinde Successoribus commiserit EANDEM QUAM HABEBAT IPSE INFALLIBILITATEM concesserit quoties ex Cathedra loquerentur DATUR ergo in E.R. Controversiarum Fidei Jadex infallibilis ETIAM EXTRA CONCILIUM GENERALE tum in Quaestionibus Juris tum FACTI Unde post Innocentii X. Alexandri VII Constitutiones FIDE DIVINA CREDI POTEST Librum cui titulus Augustinus Jansenii esse haereticum Quinque Propositiones ex eo decerptas esse Jansenii in sensu Jansenii damnatas Propugnabuntur Deo duce auspice Virgine in Aula Collegii Claromontani Societatis Jesu die 12 Decembris An. 1661. The TENTH AGE The Head of the Church of Rome against the Schismatical Greeks It was in this Age that the Schism of Photius prevailing did separate the Greeks from the Head of the Church We acknowledge Christ to be so the Head that during his absence in Heaven he hath delegated the Government thereof first to Peter and then to his Successors and does grant unto them THE VERY SAME INFALLIBILITY WHIGH HE HIMSELF HAD as often as they shall speak è Cathedra There is therefore in the Church of Rome an Infallible Judge of Controversies of Faith EVEN WITHOUT A GENERAL COUNCIL as well in Questions appertaining to Right as in matters of FACT Therefore since the Constitutions of Innocent the Xth and Alexander the VIIth WE MAY BELIEVE WITH A DIVINE FAITH that the Book intituled the Augustin of Jansenius is heretical and the Five Propositions which are gathered out of it to be Jansenius's and in the sense of Jansenius condemned These shall be defended by the assistance of God and the favour of the Virgin in the Hall of the College of Clermont belonging to the Society of Jesus the 12 day of December in the Year 1661. This Position contains in it two parts the one concerning the Primacy of the Pope in which all Catholicks do agree the other touching that Infallibility which these Jesuites do attribute to him We do not speak here of that which is by some Divines maintain'd and which onely concerns the Judgments which the Popes have of such Truths as are revealed by God in the Scriptures in Tradition It is sufficiently known what has been upon this Subject the sense and opinions of the Gallicane Church and of the University of Paris and what we are to understand by this expression Sententia Parisiensium when we find it upon this matter in the books even of the Jesuites themselves As evident is it also
and Father Ferrier the Jesuite In the mean time the Father has so dextrously manag'd his negotiation that he has brought it to this pass that it should not suffice to subscribe the Formularie Perhaps he has taken another resolution by the way and another Conscience too it may be For your Doctors of the Probabilitie such as is the Father Ferrier who has written a book of it have this privilege They change their Conscience as men do their Clothes and as the Rules of this Doctrine permit them so as they have one for Tolouse another for Paris and another for Rome I shall not wonder at all Sir if this astonish you for it is indeed most admirable But you are to understand that these Gentlemen the Casuists are a Corporation within themselves who have their Laws their Customs and Reasonings quite different from those of other people so as the surprise is commonly mutual on both sides The World is astonish'd when they hear the Maximes which they teach and they as much wonder when they learn that the world does by no means approve of them You were surpriz'd when I told you of the change of Conscience which these Casuists permit and which they name Mutatio dictaminis and the Parliament were amaz'd also when Father Coton publickly declar'd that as he maintain'd in France that the King was not subject to the Pope in Temporals so he would affirm the contrary if he were at Rome But Caramuel is wonderfully troubled that the Parliament should make any scruple at this double Conscience of F. Coton's and therefore does handsomly and ingeniously maintain it in his Fundamental Theologie n. 194. That F. Coton is no-waies to be blam'd for having in France embrac'd the opinion of the French concerning the Independence of Kings and at the same time to have declar'd that he should change his Sentiment when he chang'd the Country and that being at Rome he would be of the opinion that they were of at Rome For this same chopping of probable Conscience is so certainly indulged according to Caramuel that he assures us 't is as clear as the Sun at noon Thesim istam saies he judico luce meridianâ clariorem n. 285. Edit Francoford So as the poor Parliament who took it seems offence at it must needs be more blind then those who at mid-day see no light 'T is a prodigious thing saies one in the world that the Jesuite L' Amy should dare teach that it is lawfull for a Religious man to kill any who shall but mean the publishing of the notorious Crimes of his Society if there be no other means to hinder him and that 't is strange according to Caramuel that any one in the world should scruple at this pious doctrine of F. L' Amy since it is not onely saies he probable but the contrary improbable in the opinion of all the learned Casuists Doctrinam Amici solum probabilem contrariam improbabilem censemus omnes docti This was not an unprofitable Digression seeing it serves to inform us what there is contain'd in the quality of your Casuists and which is one of the most conspicuous of F. Ferrier's for this Father is a wonderfull Casuist And by this one may judge that it is not altogether unlikely but that as he came to Paris under pretence of pacifying the differences of the Divines so he now promotes the same differences to the end he may still continue there The Doctrine of Probability and of shifting Conscience may well be allow'd to goe so far because the prime Rule which it follows is Utility Now commonly these Provincial Jesuites conceive it very profitable to come to Paris when they are not there and to dwell there when they once are What-ever it be to tell you in one word who this Father Ferrier is You must understand he is a great Jesuite a great Casuist and a great friend of F. Annat he does all by corresponding with him is his prime Minister and the depositary of his most reserved and secret thoughts so that he is to be consider'd as a person totally illuminated with all that is in F. Annat and when you speak of F. Annat you have said all for who should know any thing of this business if he do not He is the sole Author of this Formularie that has made such a noise The late Archbishop of Tolouse was onely his property and therefore it behov'd him to know what he thought when he did it and on what grounds he settled it He is the principal instigator of all those persecutions which have happen'd to this pretended Heresie He therefore ought to know it better then any man and is the most capable to teach others to know it also And it is indeed what the Father Ferrier pretends to effect by his orders and what he promises by the very Title that he has given to this flying sheet THE TRUE IDEA OF JANSENISM He is to let us see that it is not an Imaginary Heresie as they have so confidently publish'd but an Heresie in good earnest and in effect the Conclusions which he gathers from them against those whom he accuses are very real ones for he causes them to be excommunicated by the Church and overwhelm'd by the Royal power and these are indeed consequences to the purpose The Question is whether the Principles thereof be also solid for it were a very strange thing if they should have no other support for these severe Conclusions but visible Falsities and palpable Equivocations Doubtless men are never more concern'd to reason discreetly then when they are upon positive resolutions of banishing persons from the Church and State If it should then appear that the whole Writing of F. Ferrier is but a mere extravagancy of spirit without example what may one conclude of the Rashness of this Father and of his fellow Jesuites and what are we to think of an Heresie which is founded onely upon these Imaginations But to understand them rightly we are to consider the state of the Dispute when F. Ferrier did first enter upon it and began to publish to the World his new lights The Jesuites accus'd the Divines of Heresie because they did not condemn the Five Propositions in the Sense of Jansenius and these Divines replied that this reproch was a visible criminal and inexcusable Calumny nor did they content themselves to have said it they prov'd it by a reason which is without contradiction All Heresie does consist in a certain precise and determinate Dogme opposite to the verity of Faith reveal'd in Scripture and Tradition and which may be known and express'd independently from the name of the Author since all the Verities of Faith are coevous with the Church it self though they are not often oppos'd till a long while after the beginning of the Divine revelation So that as these Verities of Faith were Truths long e're they were oppos'd so the Errours which were repugnant to these Truths were doubtless Errours
that those amongst some of the new Doctors who would be thought the most favourable to Popes as Monsieur du Val have not been afraid to maintain the Pope's being Infallible was no matter of Faith Duvallius de Suprema authorit Rom. Pontific l. 2. q. 1. Non est de fide Summum Pontificem esse Infallibilem And that the Opinion which assures us he is not is neither erroneous nor rash Ibid. Non est erroneum neque temerarium temeritate Opinionis dicere Summum Pontificem in decernendo errare posse But these very Divines however studious of exalting as much as they could possibly the Authority of the Soveraign Bishops do acknowledge as a thing certain indubitable and constant amongst all Catholicks That they are not Infallible in matters of Fact That therein they may erre and That indeed they are very frequently mistaken Bellarm de Sum. Pontif l. 4. c. 2. All Catholicks saies Cardinal Bellarmine accord in this That the Pope acting as Pope and with the Assembly of his Counsellers yea even with a General Council it self may be deceived in particular facts which depend upon the information and testimony of men And applying this general Maxime to a matter of Fact perfectly resembling that of Jansenius which is to consider whether the Heresie of the Monothelites be comprehended in the Epistles of Honorius as the VI. General Council confirm'd by so many Popes hath defin'd it he adds A General and Lawfull Council cannot erre in defining Points of Faith as neither has the Sixth Council erred therein but it may erre in Questions concerning matters of Fact Ibid. c. 11. Generale Concilium legitimum non potest errare ut neque erravit hoc Sextum in Dogmatibus Fidei definiendis tamen errare potest in Quaestionibus de Facto And Cardinal Baronius affirms the very same upon the same Subject of the Sixth Oecumenical Council We do not so strictly receive the Condemnation even of General Councils themselves as to what concerns mens Persons and their Writings For no body doubts but that who-ever it is he may be deceived in matters of Fact and then is that expression of S. Paul to take place We can doe nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Baron ad An. 681. n. 39. In his enim quae Facti sunt unumquemque contingere posse falli nemini dubium est All other Divines even the most devoted to the Court of Rome have hitherto contain'd themselves within these limits but the Jesuites will no more indure either bounds or Examples in their excess and extravagancies It suffices not them to render the Pope Infallible as some Divines may possibly have done They will have it that Jesus Christ has absolutely imparted to him the very same Infallibility which He himself possess'd upon the Earth and that as this Infallibility of Jesus Christ extended to all and not onely to things already reveal'd but to those things which had never yet been so reveal'd and that he made known himself in saying them so the Pope does also become Infallible not onely in proposing to the Church what is contain'd in the reveal'd Will of God but in proposing to her likewise matters of Fact which it is evident and certain God has never yet reveal'd as when for Instance the Question is Whether these Propositions are in a Book of the Seventeenth Age. Nor are these any Consequences which we may naturally deduce from their doctrine they draw them thence themselves and form Catholick Assertions of them conformable to the Title of their Position There is then say they an Infallible Judge of Controversies of Faith even extrinsecal to a General Council it self as well for Questions appertaining to Right as for those which concern matters of Fact And that you should not doubt what it is they would signifie by these Questions of Fact albeit the word Fact oppos'd to Right renders it sufficiently perspicuous they produce for an Example and as a new Consequence of this Infallibility of Jesus Christ communicated to the Pope That since the Constitutions we may believe with a divine Faith that the Book of Jansenius is heretical and that the Five Propositions do belong to this Author Unde post Innocentii X. Alexandri VII Constitutiones fide divinâ credi potest Librum cui titulus est Jansenii Augustinus esse haereticum Quinque Propositiones ex eo decerptas esse Jansenii Behold then here the Proposition which these men assert publickly in one of the greatest Cities of the World and it is worth observing to note the Original and the date of it For those who now at present promote it so boldly had long since scatter'd the seeds thereof in some of their Writings and it was sufficiently evident that all their design was to be bottom'd upon this Errour they had likewise themselves advanced the Conclusions in one place and the Principles in another but it was still with certain windings and ambiguities of termes which as yet furnish'd them with lurking-holes and places of subterfuge but now they discover nakedly and without disguise to the Church what it is they pretend to establish in her Let the whole Church take notice of it then and record it That it was the 12 of December in the year 1661 that the Jesuites openly publish'd that monstrous Opinion which they have been so long a-brooding That it was upon this day they propos'd as a most Catholick Assertion That whenever the Pope does speak out of his Chair HE HATH THE SAME INFALLIBILITY THAT JESUS CHRIST HATH not onely in Questions of Right BUT ALSO IN MATTERS OF FACT and that hence we are to believe WITH A FAITH DIVINE that those Five Propositions are of Jansenius It will My Lords be needless to amplifie much in letting the world see that this is not here onely a solitary Errour or simple Heresie but a whole source of Errours and as one may say an Universal Heresie which overthrows all Religion For you know My Lords that the very prime Fundamental of Christian Religion is That our Faith is not supported upon the word of Men but upon the Word of God which is Truth it self and that it is That which renders it immoveable and altogether Divine whereas it would else prove but Humane were it upheld by any other Authority less then that of God and if we were not able to render our selves that Testimony which S. Paul gives the Christians of Thessalonica To have received the Word which God hath taught us by his Church and that not as the Word of Men but as the Word of God and as in truth it is Non ut verbum hominum sed sicut est verè verbum Dei De error Abailardi c. 4. Whatsoever is comprised in the Faith saies S. Bernard is built upon solid and certain Truth persuaded by the divine Oracles confirmed by Miracle and consecrated by the production of the Virgin by the bloud of
in Questions pertaining to Right as to those of Fact so as their Decisions concerning the Facts themselves may be believed by a divine Faith they are rank Hereticks as being engag'd to maintain this Blasphemy And in case they pretend that this is a true Opinion they are nevertheless Hereticks because they oppose the Faith not submitting to the Decision of so many Popes and General Councils in reference to the condemnation of Honorius who according to their Errour we are by divine Faith oblig'd to believe had been justly condemn'd because he was so by Judges as Infallible as Jesus Christ as well in matters of Right as those of Fact I insist too long my Lords in refuting an Errour so notorious Give me leave yet to represent to you one most pernicious Consequence You have seen what the design of this Position is and how specious a Title they have prefix'd before it Assertiones Catholicae contra Saeculorum omnium praecipuas Haereses This being so what may we else imagin when we shall see by the sequel of that which they oppose to these Heresies but that they are Catholick Truths maintain'd by the Church against these Hereticks and which we are oblig'd to acknowledge under censure of being our selves Hereticks and of Apostasie from the Communion of the Church Never then according to these Jesuites must we think of receiving the poor Greeks into the Communion of the Catholick Church or re-unite these divided Members sever'd by so deplorable a Schism but in obliging them to confess that J. Christ has bestowed the same Infallibility upon all the Popes which He himself has in all that they propose to the Universal Church yea even in matters which concern particular Facts And as all the Hereticks of these last Ages have embrac'd the Errour of the Greeks against the Primacy of the holy See we must never open the doors of the Church to them before they make profession of this fine new Article of Faith But admit we should not exact that so strictly of them what an Obstacle do we not lay in the way of their Conversion what Scandal are we not guilty of and what pretext do we not afford their Ministers to decry the Catholick Church before their abus'd People by rendering her odious and contemptible and by confirming them in those their ancient Calumnies and Reproches which they have so frequently objected to the Catholicks for equalling the Pope to Almighty God 'T is well known that it is from their Principles they have inspired Rebellion into so many People Should therefore Religious and Pious persons favour them in this detestable design that they furnish them with Armes to fight against us and suffer them to look upon the deference which the Faithfull owe to the Pope as an insupportable Yoak upon the Conscience in things that do not at all concern any point of Faith and whereof the knowledge does not in the least conduce to Salvation This is it my Lords which has chiefly oblig'd us to speak upon this occasion And it was highly necessary that the Catholick Divines should make hast to decry this Impiety lest those Uncircumcis'd should take occasion of insulting over the Armies of the living God We were obliged to prevent them to the end they may see that we do no less abhor this excess in the Catholick Church for the love of Truth then they appear to detest her by the design which they pretend to justifie their faulty separation But if it be sufficient to acquit Divines of their devoir that they represent this publick Complaint it is not enough for the honour of the Church and for the entire reparation of this Scandal that there have been onely Divines which have reprov'd it It is You my Lords who ought to be enflamed with Zeal for the Purity of the Doctrine whereof You are the Depositaries for the Salvation of the Faithfull of whom You are the Fathers for the Sanctity of the Church whereof You are the Spouses les Espouses for the Honour of J. Christ of whom You are the chief Ministers to consider as in the presence of God what your Duty is upon so important an Occasion in which the Faith of the Church is violated by a Capital Errour which subverts its very Foundation where the Faithfull are empoison'd with an Opinion which tends to the changing of that Veneration into Idolatry which they ought to bear to their soveraign Bishop where the Church is prophan'd by an Impiety that dishonors and exposes her to the outrages of her Enemies in summe where J. Christ is horribly offended by the Sacrilegious Parity which is put between the words of his Servant and his own most Sacred Dictates by making the one as well as the other the Object of a divine Faith Haply some there be may reply that this Extravagance deserves not half this aggravation and doubtless they will make use of it for a pretext to induce you to connive at so foul an excess But my Lords you ought to consider that how extravagant soever this Opinion may appear it is promoted by Persons who may give us just occasion to apprehend the strange Consequences of it For 't is sufficiently evident that it is not by chance or through the blindness of any particular man that it comes thus to appear in the World It is long since that they have prepar'd and dispos'd all things for its production and entertainment though they never usher'd it in with pomp before they were well assur'd all things were favourable for its reception and that there was not a Champion remaining who had the courage or confidence to oppose it openly Perhaps indeed their Pretence is not yet so far advanc'd as to draw a formal Approbation from the Bishops But that which they hope for is since I am obliged to speak all that their credit and their power of being able to doe good or ill offices will be a means to retain all the Bishops in silence so as none of them shall dare to condemn them for fear of drawing upon them the strength and displeasure of so puissant a Society and that the Sorbonne which they now reckon to be in their dependence will never have the confidence to Censure this Doctrine whatever their aversion may be to it Thus they hope that during this Silence and whiles all the World is as it were snorting dum dormirent homines this Cockle which they have sown in the field of the Church will take root and in time get strength There they will leave it to ripen and as they use to say relinquent tempori maturandum and when it shall be arriv'd to full maturity produce the natural Consequences that must necessarily spring from it At present indeed they do but say onely One may believe Particular Facts with a divine Faith but they will shortly pronounce that men are bound to believe them which will be very easie for them to establish because it is but a
derives in his Writings That if it be lawfull to say the Pope did not well understand Jansenius in condemning him one might as well say of the Church that she did not rightly comprehend the Doctrine of S. Augustine in approving it since it being not permitted to doe either of them without Reason it were lawfull to doe both when Reason requir'd it And the truth is that one of them which is to affirm the Doctrine of Jansenius was never throughly understood at Rome is very lawfull because there is great Reason to believe it and the other that the Doctrine of S. Augustine was not well comprehended is very unlawfull because there is also no Reason for it as will be demonstrated in another Treatise One cannot therefore know in general whether it be lawfull or not to affirm that an Author has been ill understood by the Church since it depends on the particular Reasons which induce one to say it Nor can one also know in general whether those who dispute whether the Doctrine of an Author be Catholick or Heretical are at variance upon the Right or the Fact since it may be upon either of them but one may clearly understand it by examining in Particular what is agreed upon or contested both by the one and the other And hence it is they easily prove that the present Contestation about the Doctrine of Jansenius is a pure Question of Fact For it would in truth prove a Question of Right if there were a certain precise Dogm maintain'd by some for Catholick and condemn'd by others for heretical But seeing the contrary is true that there is no precise and determin'd Dogm in the present Contestation as appears clearly from F. Ferrier's not being able to specifie any 't is visible that the Question is but concerning matter of Fact And therefore it must be acknowledg'd F. Ferrier has not altogether fail'd of the promise which he makes in the Title of his Treatise to present us with the true Idea of Jansenism For this true Idea consisting in conceiving an Imaginary Heresie his Treatise is of excellent use for the forming of this Idea since in Heresie without Position and without any Question concerning Faith such as is what he presents us is the true Idea of an Imaginary Heresie 'T is true indeed this is not his intention in it but many times men doe things contrary to their intentions Nor was it doubtless his design to shew us that the Jesuites be Hereticks how-ever one might invincibly prove it by an argument like that which he produces against the Divines whom he strives to render Hereticks He acknowledges no other matter of Fact in the Pope's Decision which declares that the Doctrine of Jansenius on the Five Propositions is heretical then this Jansenius teaches some Doctrine on the Five Prepositions which is certain he will have all the rest to be of Right and thence concludes That the Divines whom he accuses not denying this Fact That Jansenius did teach some Dogm upon the Five Propositions and yet refusing to own that his sense is heretical deny a Right and are Hereticks If this argument be valid behold the Jesuites arrant Hereticks without remedy For there is no more to be said but the same That it being certain the Sixth Council has condemn'd the Doctrine of Honorius this Decision comprehends no other Fact then this That Honorius teaches some Doctrine concerning the Will of J. Christ which is indubitable and by consequent the Jesuites who do not deny this Fact yet denying Honorius's sense to be heretical deny a Right and are Hereticks This obligation therefore the Jesuites have to F. Ferrier that he has made them rank Hereticks if you will believe him But it were yet a great charity to draw them out of this Heresie they have a world of others where it is impossible to warrant them The expedient is easie it being onely to shew them after how extraordinary a manner their F. Ferrier is mistaken For it is very certain the matter of Fact which he specifies That Jansenius has taught some Doctrine is to be found in this Question whether the Doctrine of Jansenius be Catholick or Heretical But there yet occurrs another also very distinct and far separate from Right and which has been the whole subject of this Contestation and this it is he dissembles Perhaps F. Ferrier imagines that when one submits a Book to the Pope to judge whether the Doctrine in it be Catholick or heretical 't is sufficient for him to know that the Book teaches some Doctrine upon a certain matter and that thereupon addressing himself to God he reveals to him that this Doctrine of which he all this while knows nothing is Catholick or Heretical If Ecclesiastical judgements were made after this sort there would in effect be no need to examine any other Fact then this whether the Author in controversie do teach some Doctrine upon a certain subject and this Fact being alwaies evident there would hardly be ever any Questions of Fact because men seldom dispute whether an Author have some Doctrine upon a subject no matter what But because this Imagination comprehends in it a very gross Errour since it supposes particular Revelations in the Pope which should be the foundations of these Decisions it is evident that Ecclesiastical judgements are not made in this manner Neither the Pope nor Bishops can judge whether the Doctrine of a Book be Catholick or Heretical without comparing it with Tradition Now 't is impossible they should compare it with Tradition without they distinctly know it Men never compare a Doctrine with Tradition which they know not but under the general Idea of the Doctrine of an Author For 't is neither Catholick nor Heretical as Doctrine nor as Doctrine of an Author The Doctrine of God is essentially true as being the Doctrine of God because God is the essential Truth But the Doctrine of the Devil himself is not false as being the Doctrine of the Devil because the Devil is not false from his Essence and because he sometimes speaks truth as when he acknowledged that J. Christ was the Son of God A fortiori the Doctrine of a Catholick Author is not Heretical because it is a Doctrine and because it is his Of necessity therefore ought both the Pope and the Bishops to judge rightly whether the Doctrine of a Book be Heretical or Catholick pass through the examen of this point of Fact That it is the Doctrine of this Book and to reduce it to some precise Position distinct and determinate from whence first to establish this Judgment of Fact namely that This Dogm and Position is of such an Author and after that this Judgment of Right This Dogm is Heretical or Catholick It is of this distinct Dogm that they affirm these two things viz. That it is of such an Author That it is Heretical But they affirm it by two very separate and remote Judgments and form'd upon most different
The Fourth is the opinion of several other Divines who are persuaded of one part that it is most false the Fact should be separated from Right or that it should be a point of Faith to hold the Doctrine of Jansenius heretical or that a man is obliged to believe it by humane Faith but who believe on the other part that the Fact being contain'd in this Formularie those who scruple it cannot sign it without restriction since the declarations which men make to the Church ought to be intirely sincere and free of all duplicity It is visible that in this difference of Divines each party condemns the others but after a sort very different The Jesuites who make the first ought by the necessary consequence of their Opinion to condemn for Heresie not onely the last who absolutely refuse to sign that the sense of Jansenius is heretical but those likewise who do not believe it of humane Faith or that believe it not at all albeit they sign it For Heresie consists in the opinion of the spirit and not in the omission of an exterior action of the hand A person who should not believe but with an humane Faith that the Body of J. Christ were in the Sacrament of the Eucharist or that should sign it in infidelity would be never the less an Heretick then he who should absolutely refuse to sign it So as all those many Bishops that have caus'd none to sign or that receive restrictions concerning the matter of Fact or that declare they do not require the belief of the Fact or that pretend not the Fact can be otherwise believ'd then by humane Faith are as much Hereticks in the judgement of the Jesuites and of F. Annat as these Divines whom they particularly persecute True it is their Politicks oblige them to distinguish of two sorts of Hereticks in France some of which they treat civilly and others most outrageously They place the Bishops Sorbonists the Fathers of the Oratory the Benedictines c. in the first order and whom they do not yet attacque but by consequence though by a very necessary one whiles they range in the other those whom they immediately design for ruine that so they may with the greater force surprize the other Therefore it is sufficiently evident that all those persons who have sign'd the Fact either of humane Faith or without believing it shall be never the more acquitted for that but be all Hereticks in their turn when they have left off oppressing the others seeing they must of necessity be so in the opinion of the Jesuites But on the contrary all these three last parties who accord in this point that this Fact of Jansenius is very separable from Right that it does not in the least concern the Faith and that one may safely deny it without Heresie ought from a necessary consequence of this their mutual Opinion condemn the Jesuites both of Calumny and Errour It is certain these four Parties reside in the Church and that if one would now consider which of them were the most numerous one might safely affirm that there are none more profligate and abandon'd and who have fewer sincere approbators then that of the Jesuites Nor is this an aiery Supposition but a real Verity to be discern'd by every one that has a mind to it that the Jesuites stand almost single in this pretension that matter of Fact is inseparable from matter of Right and that one cannot believe without being an Heretick the Doctrine of Jansenius not to be heretical The most devoted to the Jesuites of the Bishops ask for whom the World takes them that they should believe them capable of so monstrous a Folly as is that of affirming that a Fact should be inseparably joyn'd to Faith They express as much as one would wish in words that they do not require the assent of Fact They receive the Subscriptions of those whom they very well know do not believe it and who declare as much before they sign All the Curats of Paris do solemnly approve and by an authentick Act the Distinction between Fact and Right contain'd in the first Mandat of Paris In fine they proceed with confidence that the Jesuites cannot find six Bishops in all France and ten Divines of the least considerable persons who will sign this Proposition which F. Ferrier maintains and which is the basis of all his Treatise The Fact of Jansenius is inseparable from Faith and one cannot reject the Dogm which is condemned without acknowledging it to be Jansenius ' s. And in particular they affirm that he could not make M. Grandin sign nor M. Moret nor amongst the Doctors M. Chamillart nor Monsieur de Rouën amongst the Bishops It is certain therefore that the Jesuites are in a manner alone in their erroneous opinions And 't is as true that the Divines whom they persecute are almost wholly united to the Church in this difference which is between them I confess they have yet some dispute with the other Divines because against the one they maintain that one owes not so much as humane Faith to Decisions de facto when there is any cause of doubt administred and against the other that it was not altogether sincere in them to subscribe a Formularie which clearly comprizes a Fact without being fully persuaded of the Fact But this difference has relation to Manners onely and not to Faith and in this very difference they may make use of the authority of the one to defend themselves against the other Those who sign the Fact as of humane Faith approve of their Doctrine touching the Sincerity of Subscriptions Those who sign the Fact without believing it approve what they affirm That the Church obliges none to believe the Fact by way of command so as to the truth they have this consolation that in every of the Points whereof they are accus'd they are united in Opinion with the greatest part of the Divines of the Church Whoever shall take the pains diligently to inform himself of the bottom of these particulars will clearly find that what I say is most true And if any man ask why the contrary appears to the World that the Jesuites domineer every-where and the Divines are oppress'd it is not very difficult to give a reason for it They are onely to consider what Post F. Annat holds and what Power the place in which he is affords him both at Rome and at Paris to doe what he pleases as to this matter They know nothing at Rome but from the Instructions which he sends them and he stands at the gate of all the Benefices of France to exclude who-ever stands in his way in any thing Every one has his particular business at Court and those who have no other either for themselues or their Communalty enjoy their repose in which they will not be molested Jansenism is the onely affair of Father Annat so as that people may not be cross'd in their particular businesses
they let F. Annat alone with his Not that this Reverend Father with all his credit is yet arriv'd so far as to be able to procure the Bishops or the Pope by any formal Decisions to support these particular Absurdities of his Society That matter of Fact is inseparably annex'd to Faith and That he who denies it is an Heretick He is not so weak a man as to attempt that at present He satisfies himself that every one signs the Fact simply without taking notice of his intention to make use of these Subscriptions when time serves and as may best conduce to his ends nor for the most part does he find any difficulty in it since their spirits furnishing them with expedients to sign without believing the Fact either of divine or humane Faith their Interests easily persuade them to embrace them They fansie themselves not oblig'd openly to oppose F. Annat but that they may safely shelter themselves from this rowling tempest and therefore suffer him freely to oppress those against whom he is particularly animated because they conceive it their own fault that they do not seek their safety as they doe by a Subscription which as they affirm engages them to nothing By this means those who refuse to sign remain expos'd to the unjust violence of the Jesuites Those who agree with them in certain Points and condemn them in others blame them highly in those particulars about which they contest with them but they are very wary to defend them when they think they have reason on their side How infinitely are these Gentlemen mistaken saies honest M. Moret in all his Sermons not to believe the Decision de facto with an humane Faith But he is wary enough not to adde that the Jesuites are mistaken who require we should treat those as Hereticks who acknowledge no Fact which we can onely assent to but by humane Faith Yet is this manner of acting more tolerable then that of those who say nothing at all in publick concerning their intention but joyn simply with the Jesuites by an exteriour signature however different and remote in their sense If they did but say clearly what they reprove in those who do not sign the diversity of their opinions would render their authority less considerable but whiles they say nothing at all such as onely judge things by the out-side take them for approbators of the Opinions of the Jesuites 'T is not therefore an universal Illusion but an universal Baseness which makes these Divines to be oppress'd or rather 't is the Oppression of the Church in general which renders their Oppression particular Let every man speak as he thinks and they shall be fully justified Let every man also condemn them as he thinks and they shall yet be more fully justified seeing it will appear that in all the Points on which they are accus'd they are united with the greater number of the Divines of the Church But the terror and dread of F. Annat keeps all mens tongues bound to defend them and lets them all loose to condemn them uniting in one equivocal expression persons that are extremely distant in Opinion that so F. Annat may seem to be follow'd of the whole Church whenas in truth he is in effect condemn'd by the whole Church Were there indeed no other Life besides the present nor any other Judge save Men it must needs be confess'd that F. Annat were a marvelous able man for knowing how to conceal with so much address the weakness of his Party How victorious in appearance is he whenas in effect he is abandon'd by all the World But this Father whilest he thinks to cheat others cheats himself first because the business in agitation here is of things which depend upon the truth and will be judged by the truth and not on appearance It is not a deceitfull union in an equivocal expression which renders one orthodox but a real and veritable conformity of ones sense with that of the universal Church in matters which concern the Faith So as these Divines maintaining no other Doctrine upon the Fact of Jansenius but that of the whole Church which is that this Fact has no relation to Faith continue Orthodox whatever Cabal they contrive to oppress them And both F. Annat and the Jesuites who would make it a point of Faith are not Orthodox for all their power and credit forasmuch as in this they are really repugnant to the sense of the Church into which they do introduce a Real Heresie under pretence forsooth of destroying an Heresie which is but Imaginary One may therefore justly applie these words of J. Christ to the Jesuites which he spake to a Bishop in the Apocalypse Dicis quòd dives sum locupletatus nullius egeo nescis quia es miser miserabilis pauper cacus nudus You conceit your selves indeed rich and aboundant by the number of your Sectators whereas in the mean time you are miserable and objects of compassion You are poor abandon'd blind and naked since all those who seem so much to follow you do in effect condemn you And one may on the contrary applie to these persecuted Divines those other words of our B. Saviour to another Bishop in the same Book Scio tribulationem tuam paupertatem tuam sed dives es blasphemaris ab his qui se dicunt Judaeos esse non sunt I know the Oppressions which you suffer and the poverty which they reproch you of notwithstanding ye are rich because the most part of those who appear against you are in truth for you and you are born down but by people who pronounce themselves Orthodox but who are indeed replete with Errours Sir I am c. This 1. of March 1664. Since this Letter was finished I have receiv'd a large Writing of F. Ferrier's intituled Relation veritable c. A true Relation c. I conceive as to what relates to the Heresie of which he continues to accuse the Divines who are more Catholick then himself you will find nothing in it which is not here overthrown before-hand But as to the prodigious number of Falsities with which his Relation abounds this Father deserves to be particularly answered and I am assur'd there will some body be found out that will so doe it as the Jesuites will hardly find the advantage they expected of their Impostures The Third LETTER SIR I Have already told you and I repeat it again that within one fifty years men will look upon this pretended Heresie of Jansenism but as a rare example of the Vanity of mens spirits and rank the whole Dispute with that of the Cowls and the Cordeliers Bread They will then ask with astonishment what this Father Annat and F. Ferrier were that spake such impertinent things in the Age they liv'd in and who those silly persons were that suffer'd themselves to be led by their Dotages But these you 'l say are Prophecies and 't is no hard
matter to make others like them by taking 50 years time to prove the event of them I could easily answer you that they are true having already prov'd that the whole Concernment is but a Trifle as I conceive I have sufficiently done and that as one cannot pronounce the same of all sorts of Disputes one cannot reasonably make the like Predictions of them But it being beyond my power to advance and hasten the future to shew you the truth of my Prophecy I chuse to leave it off or rather present you with a picture of what is past which is certain and invariable and that will afford us the most certain conjectures how one may foresee what is like to fall out upon the like encounters 'T is a Glass which very few persons consult from I know not what weakness natural to mens spirits For as men live but in the time that is present so they are likewise concern'd but with things that are present What-ever is remote from the instant which takes them up vanishes and comes to nothing in respect of them and if possibly there remain any traces in their memory they are so weak and indiscernable that they serve them but in little stead for the reforming of those deceitfull impressions which they receive from the present Objects If a man seem to have the advantage during the moment which employs them he loses the remembrance of all the past which might have made him know that this advantage is false and but imaginarie Thus because the Jesuites make a great bustle and every-where cry out on Heresie men are astonish'd at the bruit and because there are but few that oppose them men easily imagine that they are in effect victorious In the interim it is evident that this manner of boulstring their Judgments but upon the present subjects it to an infinity of Illusions The passages of the World discover not themselves to us in every moment but by some of their parts as they succeed one another forasmuch as being thus consequent they do not subsist together in the mean time 't is by the union of the whole Body and of all its Members that we ought to form a Judgment It would be sometimes very difficult to see the Church victorious over Heresies in all its brightness did we consider it but in a small part of its permanency during which she may be so overcast with a mist of Errours that one can hardly tell who has the better of it Truth or Falshood Did not Arianism seem a conqueror at Rimini and the Catholick Doctrine so obscure that as S. Hierom saies All the World was astonish'd how they should become Arian To discover then the advantage of the Church over Errour our memories have need of a larger comprehension of time And then it is we shall see that after a swift and transitory blaze Errours do wither away of themselves and come to nothing whiles the Doctrine of the Church subsists and conserves it self in the bosome of the Church and in the hearts of her legitimate Children And thus Sir to judge rightly of the present Contestation between the Jesuites and their Adversaries we must not limit all our prospect at the Question of Fact and of Right to which 't is for the present totally reduc'd But we should consider the several steps of every of its parties the various Points agitated between them the success of their particular Disputes and by what progress they are arriv'd to the Point where they now stand seeing 't is by this onely we shall be able to discover who have lost or gain'd advanc'd or recoil'd whom we may believe sincere and whom for Cheats and Infidels In fine 't is from hence one may form reasonable conjectures of the Success of the remaining Contestation This is the Design which I have propos'd to my self in this Letter wherein I will present you with a compendious Image of all this tedious Warr of the Divines which though it be not bloudy is no less considerable then the temporal Warrs and whose Successes are altogether as great and important It was in the year 1626 that it began upon occasion of a Book published by a certain Jesuite nam'd Garasse intitled Somme de Veritez capitales de la Religion Chrestienne A Summe of the principal Verities of the Christian Religion c. The late Abbot of S. Cyran having noted therein a prodigious number of Falsifications of the Scripture and of the Fathers together with divers heretical and impious Propositions conceiv'd that the honour of the Church requir'd him to undertake their Refutation though at the same time also his modesty made him resolve to conceal his name as he has alwaies done in the rest of his Books While the first part of this was under the Press and the noise of it spread into all parts it gave occasion for a more through examination of Garasse's Treatise The Rector of the University complain'd of it to the Faculty who nam'd Commissioners to examine the Book But this alarming the Jesuites they quickly gave us to understand that it was not so easie an enterprise to censure a Book of a Jesuite For they so wrought with the Magistrates by their Cabal that M. de S. Cyran's Treatise was a long while stopped Moreover to traverse the Censure F. Garasse bethought himself of a Supercherie as worthy of the Jesuites as any thing had been practis'd during all the process of these Contestations There was a bruit in Paris that the Author of the Refutation was to shew above Fifty heretical Propositions or Errours in Garasse's Summe and it was true but that part which contain'd the conviction of Garasse's Errours was not yet come out of M. de S. Cyran's Study However Father Garasse conceited he had found out a way to know what they had to object against him He chose Fifty Propositions in his Book the most easie to defend that he could find and of which number there was not three of them of those which M. de S. Cyran had accus'd in his Work In consequence of this he form'd a Censure according to his own fancy and by this address dazzl'd the world for a time and disturb'd the Examination of his Book which was doing at the Sorbon so as his Examinators were much confounded and they began every-where to say that they extremely wronged de Garasse to accuse the Summe of so many Errours M. de S. Cyran had a thousand difficulties to take off the impediments which the Jesuites had contriv'd to hinder the publication of his Refutation and to disabuse the World of that wicked artifice of F. Garasse However he at last obtain'd it and maugre all the Cabals of the Society and the tedious delays which they granted F. Garasse to make his Retractation his Book was in fine censur'd for containing divers heretical Propositions Errours Scandals Temerities many Falsifications of passages of Scripture and of the holy Fathers falsly cited and perverted from
nice and subtile for many persons that being gross and carnal judge onely of things by the external and by the noise and that one cannot easily make them comprehend that the Cause of those who seem to be oppressed is in effect victorious and that of their Oppressors overcome The Miracles and incomparable Sanctity of the Primitive Christians could not for 300 years abate this impression of their Senses in the spirits of a world of Pagans nor persuade them that the persons whom they kill'd had any Reason on their side There is nothing more ordinary then this Argumentation He is persecuted It is therefore he is in the wrong because he has not the imagination which commonly joines the Idea of Pain with that of the Crime But God would make us see the errour of this in the Christian Religion on which subject this has been most experienc'd in causing on the contrary that this Oppression of the Christians during 300 years which incourag'd those Pagans to despise them should prove one of the brightest and most divine marks to distinguish it from the false Religions For whereas the Kingdoms of the World were established and subsisted by Temporal advantages of those onely who founded or maintain'd them God would on the contrary have his Empire which is that of the Truth should be founded and augmented by the Sufferings and Death of those persons whom he employ'd to establish it to shew that he was stronger then the World in surmounting the World by that very Victory which the World conceiv'd they had over his Servants The Cause of Truth has almost gain'd the same advantage in these our Times both from the excessive power of the Jesuites which attacqu'd them and the extreme weakness of the Divines who defended it all which contributed to its Establishment and to the making it appear with the greater Splendor since there is no man but must conclude that the Jesuites Doctrine must needs be very naught and their Morality extremely corrupted since all their power has not been able to hinder it from being blasted by so many Censures And that on the contrary the Doctrine of the Divines must needs be very orthodox since they have made the Church approve it against so mighty an Opposition The more puissant the Jesuites be the more the Censures which have past concerning their Doctrine should appear legitimate just and authentick since in regard of the Credit they have in the Church it should not be hard for them to procure reparation of the Church for the wrong which has been done them by her unjust Censures And the more the Divines are oppress'd and abandon'd the more ought that which has been done against them to be suspected and what has been done to their advantage esteem'd just and legitimate Thus by a most admirable effect of the Divine Providence the power of the Jesuites is the confusion of Jesuites since 't is an evident Conviction of the Falseness of a Doctrine which the Church has condemn'd in their Authors And the oppression of these Divines defenders of the Hierarchie of Penance of Morality and of Grace is in the mean time the reproch of the Jesuites who have so inhumanely persecuted them and the glory and establishment of the Truth which they have maintain'd with so much success against this insolent Society FINIS A Copy of a Letter FROM The Reverend Father VALERIAN a CAPUCHIN TO Pope ALEXANDER the 7th Most Blessed Father AFTER I have kissed your blessed Feet and made a most humble acknowledgment of my devout subjection c. I F. Valerian Milanese Priest of the Order of the Friers Minors call'd Capuchins being enjoin'd under pain of Excommunication and other Penalties express'd in the Bulls of the Popes your Predecessors declare to your Holiness that I have by a long series of years exactly observ'd that the Clerks Regular named Jesuites whilst they thirst after riches dominion and glory above all mortal men whatsoever publickly commit and perpetrate many things which are prohibited and omit many things that are commanded under the penalty of mortal Sin not shewing the least token of repentance without which they become suspected of Heresie whiles they suppose those enormous commissions not to be prohibited or if conscious of their Crimes they continue to wallow in them presumed guilty of Atheism But I explain my deduction by this Example Titius a Parish-Priest in a City induceth a publick Notarie and four Witnesses to frame a supposititious Testament by which fraud the right Heir is depriv'd of an Inheritance of a hundred thousand Crowns which Titius seizes for himself by perverting justice before the Judge whom notwithstanding together with the Notarie and Witnesses he in the Sacrament of Penance absolves from the Crime as not at all oblig'd to make Restitution defending himself against the parties oppressed and others that are highly scandaliz'd hereat with all manner of other pious Works those onely excepted which hinder the procuring of riches glory and dominion such as Praier Fasting Alms and whatever else have merit and commendation from the Austerity of Life This Fact involves 1. the Crime of Subornation and falsifying in the publick Notarie 2. Perjurie in the four Witnesses 3. the Theft of 100000 Crowns 4. the perverting of Justice before a Judge 5. the notorious Scandal of Impenitence and Impunitie for so many and so grievous Crimes and lastly the extreme abuse of the holy Sacrament of Penance These Six Errours under the guilt of mortal Sin prohibited all men both by the Divine natural and positive Laws whosoever does obstinately and contumaciously deny whether in these or others of like quality is an Heretick To this Doctrine I firmly adhere and having attested the verity of the Fact declare to your Holiness the foresaid Heresie or to say better Atheism of the Jesuites But before I proceed to explain not a few of these and the like Enormities together with the Circumstances of Place Time Persons and other particulars belonging to them I shall first assert to your Holiness the innocency of this my Declaration not from any advantage arising from this suppression of Heresie which of it self is sufficiently manifest but by the very Circumstances of my person Namely thus Since the year 1653 I have frequently signified to the holy Congregation De propaganda Fide and other Ministers of the Apostolical See this my opinion concerning the Heresie of the Jesuites nor hath any of them appear'd to disapprove my Zeal which therefore I have reason to think pious and not at all unacceptable to them Above twenty years since I signified to the same holy Congregation Fourteen Commissions and Omissions wherein the General and two Provincials of the Jesuites and divers others together with their Assistants and Councel remain'd contumaciously involv'd for many years which I condemn'd as including both Heresie and Atheism The Cardinals understanding by me that the Jesuites had spred a report as if I had been reprov'd for this Address
whole Church seems to become heretical For admitting what is most certain that the Church has decreed Calvinism Pelagianism and Semi-pelagianism to be Heresies and that the Doctors are those who sit in the Chair to be consulted withall upon points of Religion All Catholicks are reduc'd to a most strange perplexity For if a man shall address himself to those who are of the Jansenian party they will tell him that those who are term'd Molinists are Pelagians or at least Semi-pelagians and on the other side the Molinists will bear him down that their Adversaries are Calvinists or else Novatians Now all the Doctors of the Church Catholick are either of the one or the other party except it be some few which are not yet resolv'd whether side to embrace I leave you then to consider to what prodigious streights the minds of men are reduc'd since this is held as a Maxime That whoever fails in one point of Faith fails in all To what other refuge then does this necessity seem to compell us but to have recourse to the Faith of the Primitive Church and to limit our selves to that pure simplicity of Belief wherein we are assur'd that our first Christian Brethren attained to Salvation ANno Domini 1554. die verò primâ Decembris Sacratissima Theologiae Facultas Parisiensis post Missam de Sancto Spiritu in aede sacra Collegii Sorbonae ex more c. In the year of our Lord 1554. the first day of December the Venerable Faculty of Divinity at Paris after celebration of the Mass of the H. Ghost in the Chapell of the College of Sorbon and upon Oath taken now the fourth time assembled in the same place to determine on certain Bulls which two of our most holy Popes viz. Paul the Third and Julius the Third have as they give out granted to a sort of men who out of a singular affectation would be intitled of the Society of Jesus the which two Bulls the Senate or Court of Parliament of Paris had sent to the said Faculty by an Officer to be view'd and examin'd by them After recital of their obedience to the holy See c. it follows Sed quoniam omnes praesertim verò Theologos c. But for that all men and especially Divines should be prepar'd to give satisfaction to every one that desires to be enlightned in matters which concern the Faith Manners and Edification of the Church the said Faculty have esteem'd it their duty to satisfie what has been by the said Court commanded and requir'd Having therefore diligently and frequently read repeated and understood all the Articles of the said two Bulls and as the gravity of the thing requir'd for many months daies and hours as the manner is accurately discuss'd and examin'd it they have by an unanimous consent but with all reverence and humility to the correction of the Apostolical See thus at last concluded This novel Society insolently arrogating to themselves the Name of Jesus so licenciously and without any care in the choice admitting all sorts of persons how flagitious soever illegitimate and infamous differing nothing in their exteriour Habit from the Secular Priests in Tonsure in Canonical Hours which they repeat in private or sing publickly in the Churches in Cloisters and in silence in choice of Meats and Daies Abstinences and divers other different Ceremonies by which the state and order of Religions are preserv'd and distinguish'd as having receiv'd so many and ample Privileges Indulgences and Immunities especially in what concerns the administration of the Sacrament of Penitence and of the holy Eucharist and that without any difference or regard had to Places and Persons and even in the Office of Preaching Reading and Teaching to the great prejudice of the Ordinaries and Hierarchical function and that of other Religions yea even of Princes and Temporal Lords against the Privileges of all Universities and finally to the exceeding regret and burthen of the People This Society seems to us to violate the honour and discipline of the life Monastical and to enervate and weaken the studious pious and necessary exercise of the vertues of Abstinence Ceremonies and Austerity nay gives occasion of freely apostatizing from other Religions besides it evacuates the due obedience and subjection to Ordinaries it unjustly deprives as well the Temporal as the Ecclesiastical Lords of their just Rights excites troubles and perturbations as well in the one as the other Polity induces a world of quarrells amongst the common people multitudes of dissensions variances contentions emulations rebellions and in summe an infinity of Schisms All these particulars together with sundry others having been therefore most diligently weighed and consider'd We pronounce and judge this Society to be as to matter of Faith pernicious contrary to the peace of the Church subversive of the Monastical Religion and tending rather to Destruction then at all to Edification NOw whether this Censure of that Learned Faculty were not as prophetical as by the consequence and experience of one intire Age we have found it just and reasonable let the religious and impartial Reader candidly determine since in this fatal period and Catalysis of true Piety even this very Faculty it self the so famous Sorbon has been perverted by these Atheistical Sycophants blasphemous and profane Wretches from their primary station integrity We have produc'd this Decree to justifie what we affirm and to let all the world see how requisite it is to put a timely stop to their prodigious Exorbitancies by that noble and resolute example of the Gallican Church which God Almighty in his due season improve to the consummate unity of all devout Christians THE SENSE OF The FRENCH Church Concerning the Pope's Infallibility Power Lately declared by Authority SInce the Bishop of Rome got so much Authority in the Catholick part of the World as to be able by his Ministers and Negotiations to attempt to govern private Churches out of his own Metropolitan Diocese there has been wag'd a great War amongst Divines about the Quality of his Authority And as Man's Soul by her Powers and Operations is twofold of Understanding and Will Speculation and Practice so the Divines Questions the Gates by which such Tenets get entrance into the Church are also two-leav'd the one opens to the Power the Pope has to command assent to his Resolutions of Speculative Points the other to what Obedience is due to his Commands The party whose interest it is by application to the highest See to dilate their own privileges and exemptions from the ordinary Government of the Church instituted by Christ and received by continual Tradition to our daies have striven with all their might to possess the World that both for assent to Christian Truths and for regulating of Discipline Christ had given all power to Saint Peter and his Successor so that the whole Hierarchy in effect remain'd in him alone The rest as far as not infected by them maintained constantly the contrary and