AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE Catholic Church IN MATTERS OF Controversie By the Right Reverend JAMES BENIGNE BOSSUET Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom and Preceptor to the Dauphin First Almoner to the Dauphiness Done into English from the Fifth Edition in French LONDON Printed in the Year 1685. The Approbation of the Right Reverend the Archbishops and Bishops WE have read the Treatise intituled An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie Composed by the Right Reverend James Benignus Bossuet Bishop and Lord of Condom Preceptor to his Royal Highness the Dauphin And we declare That after having examined it with as much application as the importance of the matter required we have found the Doctrine contained in it to be conformable to the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Faith And therefore we think our selves obliged to propose it as such to those whom God has committed to our charge We are certain the Faithful will be edified by it and we hope those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion who will read this Work with attention will receive from it so right an understanding as may conduce to put them into the way of Salvation CHARLES MAURICE LE TELLIER Archbishop and Duke of Reims CH. de ROSMADEC Bishop of Tours FELIX Bishop and Earl of Chalons De GRIGNAN Bishop of Usez D. DE LIGNY Bishop of Meaux NICHOLAS Bishop of Auxerre GABRIEL Bishop of Autun MARC Bishop of Tarbe ARMAND JOHN Bishop of Beziers STEPHEN Bishop and Prince of Grenoble JULIUS Bishop of Tule A Table of Articles contained in this Treatise I. DEsign of this Treatise Pag. 1 II. Those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion acknowledg That the Catholic Church embraces all the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Pag. 2 III. Religious Worship is terminated only in God Pag. 4 IV. Invocation of Saints Pag. 6 V. Images and Reliques Pag. 9 VI. Justification Pag. 12 VII Merits of Good Works Pag. 13 VIII Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences Pag. 16 IX Sacraments Pag. 19 Baptism Pag. 20 Confirmation Ibid. Pennance and Sacramental Confession Ibid. Exream Vnction Pag. 21 Marriage Ibid. Holy Orders Pag. 22 X. Doctrine of the Church touching the real Presence of the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist and how the Church understands these Words This is my Body Ibid. XI Explication of these Words Do this in remembrance of me Pag. 25 XII Explication of the Doctrine of the Calvinists concerning the real Presence Pag. 27 XIII Of Transubstantiation and Adoration and in what sense the Eucharist is a Sign Pag. 33 XIV Sacrifice of the Mass Pag. 34 XV. Epistle to the Hebrews Pag. 37 XVI Reflections upon the precedent Doctrine Pag. 39 XVII Communion under both Species Pag. 41 XVIII The Written and unwritten Word Pag. 43 XIX The Authority of the Church Pag. 44 XX. The Opinions of the Pretended Reform'd upon the Authority of of the Church Pag. 46 XXI Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy Pag. 50 XXII Conclusion of this Treatise Ibid. An Advertisement upon Account of this Present Edition ONE would have thought those of the pretended Reformed Religion in reading this Treatise should at least have granted that the Doctrine of the Church was faithfully Expounded in it The least they could have allowed a Bishop was to have understood his own Religion and to have spoke without disguise in a matter where to dissemble would be a crime But nevertheless it has fallen out otherwise This Treatise whilst a Manuscript was made use of to instruct several particular persons and many Copies of it were dispersed Upon which the sincerer part of the pretendedly Reform'd were almost every where heard to say That if it were approved it would in reality take away great difficulties But that the Author durst never publish it and if he should he would not escape the censure of all those of his Communion not particularly of Rome which would not frame it self to his Maxims After some time nevertheless this Book thus condemned to a perpetual obscurity appeared ushered in with the Approbation of several Bishops And the Author who knew very well he had only expressed in it the mind of the Council of Trent apprehended not those censures threatned by the Reformers It was not certainly probable that the Catholick Faith should be betrayed instead of being expounded by a Bishop who after having preached the Gospel all his life time without the least suspicion of his Doctrine had been newly called to instruct a Prince whom the greatest King in the World and the most zealous Defender of the Religion of his Ancestors causes to be Educated in such a manner that he may be one day one of its principal supports But these Gentlemen of the pretended Reformation ceased not to persevere in their first Opinion They expected every moment when Catholicks should oppose this Book and Rome it self condemn it The occasion of this their imagination was that the major part who know nothing of our Doctrine but as represented to them by their Ministers under the most hideous Ideas know it not again when shewn in its natural dress So that it was no hard task to represent to them the Author of the Exposition as one who mollified the Sentiments of his Religion and sought out proper and qualifying moderations to content all Parties There has appeared two Answers to this Treatise The Author of the first would not discover his name M. Claude de Langle Daille Alix and till he himself be pleased to declare it we will not reveal the secret It is enough to us that this work was approved by the Ministers of Charenton and sent to the Author of the Exposition by the late M. Conrart one endowed with all that Catholicks could desire in a Man An. p. 3. 112 113 124.137 c. excepting a better Religion The other Answer was written by M. Noguier a Minister who is amongst them of great repute and has the esteem of an able Divine Nog p. 63 94 95 109 110. An. p. 10. Nog p. 40. Nog p. 20 27. They both pretended the Exposition was contrary to the decisions of the Council of Trent They both affirm the very design it self of expounding the Doctrine of the Council to be prohibited by the Pope And they both take care to say that M. de Condom does only mince and extenuate the Doctrine of his Religion As they represent him one would think that he relents An. Avert p. 24. that he is coming over to them that he abandons the Sentiments of his own Church Rep. p. 3. An. p. 137. Nog p. 94. An Avert p. 25 26 27 28 29. and embraces those of the Pretended Reform'd In fine his Treatise agrees not with that Profession of Faith which the Roman Church proposes to all those who are of her Communion and they represent him at defiance with every Article If we believe the Anonymus this
Prelate is come to a fair composition about Transubstantiation He is willing to content himself with such a reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament as the Pretended Reform'd themselves believe An. Avert p. 27. When he treats of the Invocation of Saints He endeavours to mitigate and extenuate this worship of the Roman Church An. p. 24. both as to her Tenets and Practice Together with the Veneration of Saints he softens that of Images An. p. 24. An. p. 65. as also the Articles of Satisfaction Sacrifice of the Mass and the Popes Authority As for Images he is ashamed of the Excess to which the Doctrine as well as Practice has been carried The Anonymus who represents him as if he had changed the Council of Trents expression in the Article of Satisfaction p. 110. will needs have it that this change in the Expression proceeds from an alteration which he introduces in the Doctrine In fine he represents him as one who is going over to the Sentiments of the new Reformation or to use his own Expression like the Dove which returns to the Ark not finding where to rest his foot An. p. 104 368. He not only lays to his charge particular Opinions about the Merits of Good Works and the Authority of the Pope but seems ready if we would conform our selves to the Doctrine of the Exposition to admit of those two Articles which so much perplex those of his Communion There is nothing generally more frequently repeated in his Book An. Avert p. 23 26. Rep. p 3. c. than the reproaches he casts upon the Author of the Exposition for deserting the Communion of the Church of Rome He wishes all those of M. de Condoms Communion would reduce themselves to the moderations in this Book An. Avert p. 30. and write conformably to its sense This would says he a little after be a happy beginning of a Reformation which might have much more happy consequences Nay more he takes an advantage from these pretended allievations These Softnings of M. de Condom says he are so far from giving us an ill opinion of our Reformation An. p. 85. they confirm us that good and moderate Person themselves condemn at least a great deal that we do and by consequence in some measure acknowledge a Reformation to be useful and necessary He should have concluded quite otherwise For a Reformation such as theirs is which tends to a change in Doctrine ought not to regard those things which are condemned already by a common consent But the pretended Reform'd are willing to perswade themselves that the Honest and moderate Persons in Communion with Rome amongst which number they allow M. de Condom a place in many things abandon the Sentiments of their Church and come over as much as they can to the new Reformation Thus you see what they are made to believe by this strange manner of mis-representing the Catholick Doctrine Being accustomed to that hideous and terrible form in which their Ministers represent it in their Pulpits they imagine those Catholicks who lay it open in its natural Purity disguise and alter it The more justly we represent it as it is the less are they acquainted with it and they imagine we are going over to them when we only disabuse them of their false preocupations 'T is true they say not always the same thing The Anonymus who accuses M. de Condom of making such considerable alterations in the Doctrine of the Church p 61 6 tells us this Exposition has nothing new in it but a dextrous and delicate turn and in fine nothing but apparent qualifying which consisting only in some expressions or in things of small consequence gives no body any Satisfaction and only raises new difficulties instead of resolving old So that he seems to be sorry for having represented the Exposition as a Book which made an alteration in the Faith of the Church in all its principal points not only in the Expressions but in the Doctrine Let him take it which way he pleases If he continue to think a Book so truly Catholick as the Exposition contrary to so many important points of the Roman Faith he shews himself never to have had any thing but false Ideas of its Doctrine And if it be true that by sweetning only the expressions or retrenching as he says matters of small consequence the Catholick Doctrine seems to him so much more tractable he will in the end find the grounds of it were better then he imagined But the truth of the matter is M. de Condom has not betrayed his trust nor dissembled the Faith of the Church in which the Holy Ghost has placed him a Bishop And the pretended Reform'd could not perswade themselves that a Doctrine which already appears less strange by the sole exposition of it and that an Exposition so plain so easie and so 〈◊〉 should be that Doctrine which their Ministers represented to them full of Blasphemy and Idolatrous We ought no doubt to give God thanks for such a disposition because although it shew in them a strange prejudice against us yet it gives us hopes they will look upon our Tenets with a more equal temper when once they are satisfied that the Doctrine of this Treatise which seems to them already more pleasing is the pure Doctrine of the Church So that we are so far from being angry at them for making so great a difficulty to to believe us when we propose our Faith to them that we are obliged in Charity to give them Lights so clear and evident that they may not hereafter doubt but it was faithfully expounded to them The thing shews it self and we need but tell them that this Treatise of the Exposition which they believe is contrary not only to the Common Tenets of the Doctors of the Roman Church but also to the words and Doctrine of the Council is approved by the whole Church and that after having received divers Testimonies of Approbation from Rome as well as from other places it has at last been approved by the Pope himself in the most express and most Authentick manner that could be expected This Book had no sooner appeared in publick but the good repute it had throughout France was testified to the Author by Letters from all sorts of People from Lay Persons Ecclesiasticks Religious and Doctors but especially from the most Learned Prelates of the Church whose Testimonies he could even then have produced had the Subject been ever so little dubious or new But because the Pretended Reform'd are apt to believe us in France to have particular thoughts and Tenets which approach nearer unto theirs in matters of Faith than the rest of the Church and particularly than Rome it is convenient we should let them see how matters there were carried on As soon as this Treatise was come forth Cardinal Bouillon sent it to Cardinal Bona desiring him to examine it with
Doctrine has naturally as I may say passed through all the degrees of Approbation till it came to that of the Pope himself which confirms all the rest Those of the Pretended Reformed Religion may at present see how they were imposed upon An. Avert p. 23. when they were told The Person was known and that a Catholick too who writ against this Exposition of M. de Condom It would certainly be a strange thing this good Catholick unknown to all others of that Religion should make the Enemies of the Church his only Confidents in a Work which he designed against a Bishop of his own Communion But this Imaginary Writer makes the World stay too long and the Pretended Reform'd are too credulous if they suffer themselves hereafter to be amused by such like Promises Thus one of the necessary Questions to be answered in vindication of the Exposition is entirely dispatch'd We need not now go about to refute those Ministers who held the Doctrine of the Exposition not to be that of the Church Time and Truth have so refuted their allegations that no room is left for a reply M. Nogâ—ier would first hear the Oracle of Rome speak before he would admit M. de Condom to have rightly explicated the Catholock Faith p. 41. I give no credit says he to those Approbations which these Bishops give in Writing Other Doctors want not the like Approbations and after all the Oracle of Rome must speak in matters of Faith The Anonymus was of the same mind and both of them supposed nothing more could be said in this matter against M. de Condom if once this Oracle had but spoken This Oracle has now spoken this Oracle I say which the whole Catholick Church hearkned to with so much respect in the very origine of Christianity and the answer it has given has shewn what this Prelate had said hath nothing new or to be suspected in it nothing in a word which is not receiv'd throughout the whole Church Nay this Question being answered all the others are in a manner insensibly dispatcht Mr. de Condom held the Catholick Doctrine was never rightly understood by the pretended Reform'd and that the Authors of their Separation had magnified the Objects to render them odious What he said appears now most certain seeing it is manifest on the one side the Exposition proposes to them the Catholick Faith in its Purity and on the other that it appeared less strange to them than they thought it was But if they find their Pretended Reformers to the end they might animate them against that Church in which their Ancestors served God and in which they themselves received Baptism were forced to fly to those Calumnies which we see now are not maintainable how can they dispence with themselves if they search not a new And why are they not afraid to persist in a Schism which is manifestly founded upon false Principles in even the most principal points They believ'd for example they had good grounds to separate from the Church under pretence that whilst she taught the merit of good Works she destroyed Free Justification Gratuite and that Confidence which a Christian ought to have in JESVS CHRIST only Their breach was principally founded upon this Article An. p. 86. The Anonymus thinks it enough to say The Article concerning Justification is one of the chief that gave occasion to the Reformation But M. Noguiers speaks more plainly Nog p. 83. Those says he who were the Authors of our Reformation had reason to propose the Article of Justification as the most principal of the rest and the most Essential Foundation of their separating At present then seeing M. de Condom tells them together with the whole Church Expos p. 14 15. That she believes we cannot have Life but in Jesus Christ in whom alone she puts all her Hope That she asks all things hopes all things and gives thanks for all things through our Lord JESVS CHRIST and in fine that she places all the hopes of Salvation on him What would they have more The Church tells us Expos p. 15. That all our Sins ars pardon'd by pure Mercy through JESVS CHRIST That we owe that Justice which is in us by the Holy Ghost to his free undeserved liberality and that all our good Works which we do are so many gifts of his Grace The Author of this Exposition who teaches this Doctrine does not teach it as his own God forbid Ibid. p. 15. He teaches it as the clear and manifest Doctrine of the Council of Trent and the Pope approves his Book After this shall it be again said That the Council of Trent and the Roman Church overthrow Free Justification and that trust which the Faithful ought to repose in Jesus Christ alone Is not this unsufferable And if we should hold our Tongues would not the Stones cry aloud and proclaim us injur'd It must be also granted as it was taken notice of in the Exposition Ex. p 15. that those Disputes which the Pretended Reform'd have raised upon so capital a Point are almost brought to nothing not to say wholly refuted No body will doubt of it if they consider what the Anonymus has writ concerning the merit of Good Works with the approbation of four Ministers of Charenton We acknowledge says he as in Justice we must M. de Condom and those of the Roman Church An. p. 104. who hold the most Orthodox Opinions concerning Grace express themselves almost in all things as we do We agree with them in the main But since he promised us so much Justice he ought to have acknowledged that M. de Condom whom he makes here to be of a particular Sect has not said one word concerning the merit of Good Works which is not taken from the Council Expos p. 13 14 15. He said Eternal Life ought to be proposed to the Children of God both as a Grace which is mercifully promised to them by the means of our Saviour Jesus Christ and as a Recompence which is faithfully rendred to their good Works and to their merits in virtue of that Promise He said That Merits are the gifts of God He said We can do nothing of our selves but that we can do all things with him who strengthens us and that our whole confidence is in JESVS CHRIST And the rest which you may see in their proper place By this means it is he has satisfied the Pretended Reform'd and made them say they agree with him in the main Seeing therefore these Propositions are taken word by word from the Council they cannot hereafter but acknowledge the Principal Subject of their complaints to be taken away by the sole proposing the Decrees and proper Terms of a Council so much hated and blamed amongst them What is it offends them most in the Satisfactions which the Church exacts from the Faithful but only that they think Catholicks looks upon those of
means to reunite our minds We may say the same to these of the Pretended Reform'd Religion If the Merit of Good Works if Prayers addressed to Saints if the Eucharist if the humble satisfactions of Penitents who endeavour to appease the wrath of God in voluntarily revenging upon themselves by Laborious Exercises his offended Justice if the Terms we use of a Tradition which claims its Origin from the first Ages for want of being rightly understood offend you The Author of the Exposition offers himself to give you the plain and natural explication of them which the Church has always faithfully conserv'd He says nothing of his own he alledges not particular Authors and to the end he may not be suspected of changing the Tenets of the Church he uses the proper Terms of the Council of Trent where she has explicated her self upon these matters in question what can there be more rational This was the second thing he promised and he has in this only followed the Example of the Pretended Reform'd They complain as well as we their Doctrines are not rightly understood and the means they propose to come to a true knowledge of them is not different from that which M. de Condom makes use of Their Synod of Dort requires that none judge of the Faith of their Churches from Calumnies picked up here and there Conclusio Synodi Dordrac in Syntag. Confess Fidei edit Genev. p. 2. or passages of particular Authors which are often falsely cited or wrested to a sense contrary to their Intentions but from the Confessions of Faith of their Churches and from the Declaration of their Orthodox Doctrine unanimously made in this Synod The Faith then of a Church must be learnt from its publick Definitions and not from Private Authors who may be falsely quoted mis-understood and may also themselves mis-explicate the Sentiments of their Religion Upon which account it will be only necessary that to expound ours to the Pretended Reform'd we produce the Decisions of the Council of Trent I know the very name of this Council offends those of the Reformation and the Anonymus often shews his ill humour against it But what do his Invectives avail him We go not here about to justifie the Council It suffices for this Author of the Exposition that the Doctrine of this Council is universally received without Contestation through the whole Catholic Church and that she admits of no other Decisions in these matters of controversie but of this Council The Pretended Reform'd have always endeavoured to have these Decisions thought ambiguous and the Anonymus reproaches us also with their being capable of a double or triple sense Those who have not read this Council An. p. 11.12 unless it were in the Invectives of their Ministers and in the History of Fa. Paul the declared Enemy of it believe them such but one word will satisfie them It is very true there was some Points the Council would not decide and they were those concerning which there was no settled Tradition and which were disputed of in the Schools It was but reasonable they should be left undecided but for those it has decided it has spoken so precisely that amongst so many Decrees of this Council produced in the Exposition the Anonymus could not find so much as one in which there was this double or triple sence he objects against us In effect It is but reading them and one shall see they have not any ambiguity and that it is impossible for men to explicate themselves more clearly We may put the Exposition it self to the same Test and judge by that whether the Anonymus had reason to upbraid the Author of this Exposition with those rambling and general Terms in which says he he entanglingly wraps up the most difficult matters Avert p. 25. Rep. p. 12. The third thing the Author of the Exposition promised was to treat of those matters which gave occasion to the Separation This is precisely what ought to be done There is no one who knows not that in disputes there are always some certain principal points upon which mens minds are fixed It is to these a Person must apply himself who would make it his business to end or appease those contests Thus did the Author of the Exposition who immediately declared to the Pretended Reform'd that he would expound to them those points from which they took the Subject of their separation And to the end there should be no surprize Exp. p. 2. he again declares the same at the end that to keep himself fixed to what is principal Exp. p. 50. he omitted some questions which they of the Pretended Reform'd Religion did not look upon as a lawful Subject of separation He has kept his word most faithfully and the Titles alone of the Exposition will make it appear he has not omitted any one of those principal Articles So that the Anonymus should not have said that M. de Condom has some select Terms to avoid the difficulties which give him the most trouble Avert p. 22. that he leaves many questions untouched and makes hast to that of the Eucharist where he thought he could enlarge himself with less disadvantage Repl. p. 168. What an Idea would he give us of this Book of the Exposition but it destroys it self Every one sees it was M. de Condom's business to enlarge himself upon that point of the Eucharist not because he thought he could do it with less disadvantage but because this point is in reality the most difficult and full of great questions So that it will appear he has treated these matters with less or greater scope according as they appear'd less or more embroiling not to him but to those for whom he writes And if it be true that he lays aside those difficulties which give him the most trouble it must be allow'd those which give him the least are in reality those which are the most essential and those in which the Pretended Reform'd always thought themselves the most secure He has treated of the worship due to God of Prayers to Saints of the honour we render to them as also to their Images and Reliques He has spoken of justifying Grace of the Merit of Good Works of the necessity of Works of Satisfaction of Purgatory of Indulgences of Sacramental Confession and Absolution of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of our Saviour in the Eucharist of that Adoration which is therein due to him of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Altar of Communion under one Species of the Authority of Tradition and that of the Church of the Divine Institution of the Popes Primacy where he has in one word explained what is to be believed of Episcopacy He has expounded all these difficulties and there needs only a little honesty to grant that he has been so far from avoiding difficulties as the Anonymus would have it thought that he has principally applied
himself to those which the Pretended Reform'd find the greatest The Anonymus himself tells us the Invocation of Saints is one of the most essential Articles of Religion and at the same time he adds P. 61. this is one of those upon which M. de Condom has been most prolix What points are more exactly treated in the Exposition than those of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice that of Images of Merit of Good works of Satisfaction And is it not in these the Pretended Reform'd find the greatest difficulties In fine we will ask even themselves whether it be not true that if they were satisfied in all those points treated of in the Exposition they would no longer hesitate to embrace the Faith of the Church It is therefore certain the Author has treated all those Capital points upon which both of us agree the greatest difficulties move Nay more he has always fixed himself to the principal knot of the difficulty seeing he applies himself chiefly according to his first promise to those parts where the Catholic Doctrine is accused to strike at the Foundations of Faith and Christian Piety It is not therefore to avoid difficulties he has left some questions untouched which are but Consequences and fuller Explications of those which he has handled or at least are such as disturb no body But on the contrary he has done it to the end he might apply himself with less distraction to the chief difficulties upon which depend the Decision of our Controversies The Author of the Exposition has been no less Faithful in performance of his fourth promise which was to affirm nothing to make the Council to be better understood which was not manifestly conformable to it and approved of in the Church The Anonymus looks upon these words Exp. p. 2. and all the design of the Exposition as a Testimony which shows the Doctrine of the Roman Church though explained so clearly and decided in the Council of Trent not yet so clear An. rep p. 11. but that it needs an explication M. Noguier seems also to draw the same Consequence Nog p. 39.40 and they have both of them looked upon the Exposition as an explication which the obscurity of the Council stood in need of But we know how the obscurity of a Decision especially in matters of Faith is not always that which makes it to be taken in a wrong sence it is a preoccupation of mind the ardour of dispute the heat of Persons engaged which make them not understand one another and often attribute to an adversary what he believes the least So that when the Author of the Exposition proposes the Decisions of the Council of Trent to the Pretended Reform'd and adds what may be useful to remove those Impressions which hinder them from understanding them aright they ought not to conclude from thence that the Decisions are Ambiguous but only that nothing is so well digested nor so clear but may be understood amiss when prejudice and passion interpose To what purpose then do M. Noguier and the Anonymus object to the Author of the Exposition the Bull of Pope Pius IV. An. p. 10. Nog p. 40. The design of the Exposition has nothing of those Glosses and Commentaries which with great reason this Pope Condemned For what did those Commentators and Glossars especially those who have writ Glosses upon the Laws what did they for the most part but fill the margents with their own imaginations which most commonly serve only to confound the Text and which notwithstanding they give for the Text it self Let us add that for the conservation of Unity this Pope was obliged not to permit every Doctor to propose Decisions upon doubts which succeeding time and vain subtilties might give birth to Nor has any thing of this nature been done in the Exposition It is one thing to interpret what is obscure and doubtful another to propose what is clear and to make use of it to remove false impressions The last is what the Author of the Exposition has endeavour'd precisely And if he have added some of his own Reflexions to the Decisions of this Council to make them more intelligible to those people who would never look upon them without prejudice it is because their preocupation had need of such an assistance But why should we speak any more of a thing which is clear nough We have in few words given a certain method to enlighten the understandings of those who are the most zealous to maintain this ambiguity of the Council They need only read in this Exposition its Decrees which are there produced and convince themselves by their own eyes What is here the most important is that the Author of the Exposition was not deceived when he promised what he should say for the better understanding of this Council should be manifestly of the same Spirit and approved of in the Church The matter is in it self clear and the following Approbations will make it apparent It must not therefore be suppos'd henceforwards that the Sentiments explained in this work are the qualifying or the extenuating thoughts of one man but the Common Doctrine which we see is for this reason universally approved It will not therefore avail M. Noguires nor the Anonymus any thing after this An. p. 2. c. Nog 38 c. either to object to us those Practices which they call general or the particular opinion of Doctors For without examining these unnecessary things it suffices in one word to say those Practises and Opinions be they what they will which are not found to be conformable to the intent and Decisions of the Council are nothing to Religion nor to the body of the Catholic Church Exp. p. 2. Daille Apol. c. 6. pag. 8. nor ought by consequence as the Pretended Reform'd do themselves avouch give the least pretence to separate from us because no one is obliged either to approve or follow them But say they those abuses ought to be suppressed as if one of the ways to suppress them were not to shew the truth in its purity without prejudice to the other means with which Prudence and Zeal may inspire the Bishops As for the remedy of Schism practised by the pretended Reformers if it were not detestable in it self the miseries which it has caused and does at present cause throughout Christendom would give us a horrour of it I will not here reproach the Pretended Reform'd with the abuses which are amongst them This work of Charity does not permit such like Recriminations It suffices I advertise them that to attaque us in reality they must combat not those abuses which we Condemn as well as they but the Doctrines which we maintain But if in examining them more narrowly they find they give not scope enough to their invectives they ought at last to acknowledge we have reason to tell them the Faith which we profess is less worthy of blame than they believed it
Image of an Apostle or a Martyr our intention is not so much to honour the Image Pont. Com. de Bened. Imag. Sess 25. Dec. de Inv. c. as to honour the Apostle or the Martyr in presence of the Image Thus the Roman Pontifical tells us and the Council of Trent expresses the same thing when it say the honour we render to Images has such a reference to those they represent that by the means of those Images which we kiss and before which we kneel we adore JESUS CHRIST and honour the Saints whose Types they are In fine one may know with what intention the Church honours Images by that honour which she renders to the Cross and to the Bible All the world sees very well that before the Cross she adores him who bore our Iniquities upon the wood and that if her children bow the head before the Bible 1 Pet. 2. if they rise up out of respect when it is carried before them and if they kiss it reverently all this honour is referred to the eternal Verity which it proposeth to us They must have but little Justice who treat with the term of Idolatry that Religious Sentiment which moves us to uncover our heads and bow them before the Image of the Cross in remembrance of him who was crucified for the love of us and it would be too much blindness not to perceive the excessive difference betwixt those who put their trust in Idols out of an opinion that some divinity or some vertue was as I may say tyed to them and those who declare as we do that they will not make use of Images but to raise their minds towards heaven to the end they may there honour JESVS CHRIST or his Saints and in the Saints God himself who is the Author of all Sanctity and Grace After the same manner we ought to understand that honour which we pay to Reliques after the example of the Primitive Church and if our Adversaries would but consider that we look upon the bodies of Saints as having been Victimes offered up to God either by Martyrdom or by Penance they would not think the honour which we pay them upon this account could alienate us from that which we render to God himself We may say in general that if they would but consider how the affections which we bear to any one propagates it self without being divided to his children to his friends and after that by several degrees to the representation of him to any remains of him and to any thing which renews in us his remembrance If they did but conceive that honour has the like progression seeing honour is nothing else but Love mixed with respect and Fear in fine If they would but consider that all the exteriour worship of the Catholic Church has its source in God himself and returns back again to him they would never believe that this worship which he himself alone animates could excite his Jealousie They would on the contrary see that if God as Jealous as he is of the love of men does not look upon us as dividing our selves betwixt him and Creatures when we love our neighbour for the love of him the same God tho Jealous of the honour which his faithful pay him cannot look upon them as dividing that worship which is due to him alone when out of respect to him they honour those whom he had honoured It is true nevertheless that seeing the sensible marks of reverence are not all of them absolutely necessary the Church might without the least alteration in her doctrine extend these exteriour practices more or less according to the different exigences of times places or occurrences being desirous that her Children should not be slavishly subject to sensible things but only excited and as it were advertised by their means to fly to God and to offer up to him in Spirit and in the truth that rational service which he expects from his creatures One may see by this doctrine how truly I affirmed that a great part of our Controversies would vanish by the sole understanding of the Terms if these points were but discussed with charity and if our adversaries would but with moderation consider the foregoing Explications which comprehend the express doctrine of the Council of Trent they would cease to accuse us of injuring the mediation of JESVS CHRIST of Invocating the Saints and adoring Images after a manner which is peculiar to God alone It is true that seeing in one sense Adoration Invocation and the name of Mediator are only proper to God and JESVS CHRIST it is no hard matter to misapply these terms whereby to render our doctrine odious But if they be strictly kept to that sence in which we use them these objections and accusations will lose their force and if any other less important difficulties remain to these gentlemen of the pretended Reform'd Religion sincerity will oblige them to acknowledg they are satisfied as to the principal subject of their complaints Furthermore there is nothing so unjust as to accuse the Church of placing all her piety in these devotions to the Saints seeing as we have already observed Sess 25. Dec. de Inv. c. the Council of Trent contents it self to teach the Faithful that this practice is good and beneficial without saying any more of it So that the intention of the Church is only to condemn those who reject this practice either out of disrespect or Error She is obliged to condemn them because She is obliged not to suffer any practice which is beneficial to salvation to be despised nor a doctrine authorised by antiquity to be condemned by novellists SECT VI. Justification THE doctrine of Justification will shew yet more clearly how many difficulties may be ended by a plain exposition of our sentiments Those who are never so little versed in the history of the pretended Reformation are not ignorant that the first Authors proposed this Article to all the world as the principal of all the rest and as the most essential cause of their seperation So this is the most necessary to be well understood We believe in the first place that Our sins are freely forgiven us by the divine mercy Conc. Trid. Sess 6. c. 9. for JESVS CHRIST's sake These are the express terms of the Council of Trent which adds that we are said to be justified gratis Ibid. c. 8. because none of those acts which precede Justification whether they be Faith or good works can merit this Grace Seeing the Scripture explicates the remission of sins by sometimes telling us that God covers them and sometimes that he takes them away Tit. 3.5 6 7. and blots them out by the Grace of his Holy Spirit which makes us new creatures we believe that to form a perfect Idea of the Justification of a sinner we must joyn together both these Expressions For which reason we believe our sins not only to be covered but also
entirely washed away by the Blood of JESVS CHRIST and by the grace of regeneration which is so far from obscuring or lessening that Idea which we ought to have of the merit of this Blood on the contrary it heightens and augments it So that the Justice of JESVS CHRIST is not only imputed but actually communicated to the faithful by the operation of the Holy Spirit in so much that they are not only reputed but rendred just by his grace If that Righteousness which is in us were only such in the eyes of men it would not be the work of the holy Ghost It is then a righteousness and that before God seeing it is God himself who produces it in us by pouring forth his charity in our hearts Nevertheless it is too true that the flesh rebels against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 and the Spirit against the flesh and that we all offend in many things Jam. 3.2 So that tho our Justice be truly such by the infusion of his Charity yet it is not perfect Justice because of the combat of Concupiscence In so much that the continual sighings of a soul penitent for her offences is the most necessary duty of a Christian righteousness which obliges us to confess humbly with St. Augustin that our Justice in this life consists rather in the remission of sin than in the perfection of Vertues SECT VII Merits of Good Works AS to the merit of Good works Sess 6. c. 16. the Catholic Church teacheth us that eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God both as a Grace which is mercifully promised to them by the mediation of our Lord JESUS CHRIST and as a recompence which is faithfully rendred to their good works and merits in vertue of this promise These are the proper terms of the Council of Trent But least human pride should flatter it self with an opinion of a presumptuous merit the same Council teacheth us that all the price and value of a Christians works proceeds from the sanctifying grace which is given us gratis in the name of JESVS CHRIST Ibid. and that it is an effect of the continual influence of this divine Head upon its Members Really the Precepts Exhortations Promises Threatnings and Reproaches of the Gospel show clearly enough we must work out our salvation by the cooperation of our wills together with the grace of God assisting us But it is one of our first Principles that the free-will can act nothing conducing to eternal happiness but as it is moved and elevated by the Holy Ghost So that the Church knowing it is this divine Spirit which works in us by his Graces all the good we do she is obliged to believe the good works of the Faithful very acceptable to God and of great consideration before him and it is just she should make use of the word Merit with all Christian antiquity whereby she may principally denote the value the price and the dignity of those works which we perform through grace But seeing all their Sanctity comes from God who produces them in us the same Church has in the Council of Trent received these words of St. Augustin as a doctrine of Catholic Faith that God crowns his own gifts in crowning the merits of his Servants We beg of those who love Truth and Peace that they would be pleased here to read a little more at length the words of this Council to the end they may once for all disabuse themselves of those false inpressions which has been given them concerning our doctrine Although we see Sess 6. c. 16. say the Fathers in this Council that holy writ esteems Good works so much That JESUS CHRIST himself promises that a glass of cold water given to the poor shall not want its reward and that the Apostle testifies how a moment of light pain endured in this world shall produce an eternal weight of Glory nevertheless God forbid a Christian should glory in himself and not in our Lord whose bounty is so great to all men that he will have those gifts which he bestowes upon them to be their merits This doctrine is dispersed throughout the whole Council which teacheth us in another Session Sess 14. c. 8. that we who can do nothing of our selves can do all things with him who strengthens us in such sort that man has nothing of which he may glory nor for which he may confide in himself but all his confidence and all his glory is in JESUS CHRIST in whom we live in whom we merit in whom we satisfy bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance which draw their vertue from him and by him are offered to his Father and accepted of by his Father through him Wherefore we ask all things we hope all things we render thanks for all things through our Lord JESVS CHRIST We confess aloud we are not acceptable to God but in and by him and we cannot comprehend why any other thought should be attributed to us We so place all the hopes of our salvation in him that we dayly make use of these words to God in the Sacrifice Vouchsafe O God to grant to us sinners thy servants who hope in the multitude of thy mercies some part and society with the Blessed Apostles and Martyers into whose number we beseech thee to be pleased to receive us not looking upon our merits but gratiously pardoning us in the name of JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Will the Church never be able to perswade her Children now become her adversaries neither by the Exposition of her Faith nor by the Decisions of her Councils nor by the Prayers in her Sacrifice that her belief is that she can have no life but in JESVS CHRIST and that she has no hope but in him This hope is so firm it makes the Children of God who walk faithfully in his wayes to find a peace which surpasseth all understanding as the Apostle tells us Phil. 4.7 But tho this hope be stronger than the promises and menaces of the world and sufficient to calm the troubles of our Conciences yet it does not wholy extinguish Fear for tho we be assured God will never abandon us of his own accord yet we are never certain we shall not lose him by our own fault in rejecting his inspirations He has been pleased by this saving fear to mitigate that confidence which he has infused into his children because as St. Augustin tells us such is our infirmity in this place of Temptations and dangers that an absolute security would produce tepidity and pride in us whereas this fear which according to the Apostles command makes us work out our salvation with trembling Phil. 2.12 renders us more vigilant and makes us rely with a more humble dependance upon him who works in us by his Grace both to will and to do according to his good pleasure as the same St. Paul expresses it Thus you have seen what is most necessary in the
Doctrine of Justification Ibid. 13. and our Adversaries would be very unreasonable if they should not confess that this Doctrine suffices to teach Christians they ought to refer all the glory of their Salvation to God through JESVS CHRIST If the Ministers after this should go about to move questions about subtilties it is good to advertise them that it becomes them not now to be so scrupulous in our behalfs after having granted what they have done to the Lutherans and their own brethren concerning Predestination and Grace This their conduct towards them ought to have taught them in this matter to reduce themselves to what is absolutely necessary for the establishment of the foundations of Christian piety But if they could but once resolve to prefix these limits to themselves they would be presently satisfied and they would cease to accuse us of annulling the Grace of God by attributing all to our good works seeing we have shown them in such clear terms of the Council of Trent these 3 points so decisive as to this matter That our sins are pardoned us out of pure mercy for the sake of JESUS CHRIST That we are indebted for that Justice which is in us by the holy Ghost to a liberality gratis bestowed upon us and that all the good works we do are but so many gifts of his Grace And indeed we must acknowledge that the learned of their Party do not contend so much of late about this Subject as they did formerly and there are but few who do not now confess there ought not to have been a breach upon this point But if this important difficulty about Justification upon which their first Authors laid all their stress be not looked upon now as essential by the wisest persons amongst them we leave them to think what they ought to Judge of their separation and what hopes there would be of an union if they would but overcome their prejudice and quit the Spirit of contention SECT VIII Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences VVE must farther explicate after what manner we believe we can make satisfaction to God through his grace to the end we may not leave any doubt upon this matter uncleared Catholics unanimously teach that JESVS CHRIST God and Man was solely capable through the infinite dignity of his Person to offer up to God a sufficient satisfaction for our Sins But having satisfied superabundantly he could apply this infinite satisfaction after two manners either by an entire remission without reserving any punishment or else by changing a greater punishment into a less that is an eternal pain into a temporal This first manner being more compleat and more comformable to his goodness he makes use of it immediately in Baptism but we believe that he makes use of the second in the pardon he grants to those who fall after Baptism being carried in some manner to it by the ingratitude of those who have abused his first gifts so as they are to suffer some temporal pain tho the eternal be remitted It must not be hence concluded that JESVS CHRIST has not fully satisfied for us but on the contrary that having obtained an obsolute dominion over us by the infinite price which he has given for our salvation he grants us pardon upon what condition what law or with what restriction it pleases him We should be injurious and ungrateful to our Saviour should we dare to deny the infinite value of his merits under pretence that when he pardons us the sin of Adam he does not at the same time free us from all the consequences of it but leaves us still subject to death and so many other corporal and spiritual infirmities which this sin brought upon us If suffices that JESVS CHRIST has once paid the price by which we shall be one day entirely freed from the evils which overwhelme us it is our parts to embrace with humility and thanksgiving every part of his benefits by considering by what progress it pleases him to procure our deliverance according to that order which his wisdom has established for our good and for a more clear manifestation of his bounty and Justice Upon the like account we ought not to think it strange that he who has shown us so great mercy in Baptism should be more severe towards us after our having violated our holy promises It is just yes and beneficial to our salvation that God in remitting our sin together with the eternal pain which we deserved for it should exact of us some temporal pain to retain us in our duties lest if we should be too speedily freed from the Bonds of Justice we should abandon our selves to a temerarious Confidence abusing the facility of the Pardon It is then to satisfy this Obligation we are subjected to some painful works which we must accomplish in the Spirit of Humility and Penance and it was the necessity of these satisfactory works which obliged the primitive Church to impose upon Penitents those pains called Canonical When therefore she imposes upon Sinners painful and laborious works and they undergo them with humility this is called Satisfaction and when regarding the fervour of the Penitents or some other good works which she has prescribed them she pardons some part of that pain which is due to them this is called Indulgence The Council of Trent proposes nothing else to be believed concerning Indulgences Contin sest 25. Dec. d. Indulg but that the powe to grant them has been given to the Church by JESUS CHRIST and that the use of them is beneficial to salvation to which this Council adds That this power ought to be retained yet nevertheless used with moderation lest Ecclesiastical discipline should be weakned by an over great facility which shows the manner of granting Indulgences to regard discipline Those who depart this life in Grace and Charity but nevertheless indebted to the divine Justice some pains which it reserved are to suffer them in the other life This is what obliged all the Primitive Christians to offer up Prayers Alms deeds and Sacrifices for the faithful who departed in peace and communion of the Church Sess 25. de Purgator with a certain faith that they may be assisted by these means This is what the Council of Trent proposes to us to believe touching the Souls detained in Purgatory without determining in what their pains consist or many other such like things concerning which this Holy Council demands great moderation blaming those who divulge what is uncertain or suspected Such is the innocent and holy Doctrine of the Catholic Church touching Satisfactions which has been imputed to her as so great a crime If after this Explication those of the pretended Reform'd Religion accuse us of injuring the satisfactions of JESVS CHRIST they must have forgotten what we told them that our Blessed Saviour payed the full price of our Redemption that nothing is wanting in this price because it is infinite and how these remaining pains of which
RAIMUNDUS CAPISUCCHI Master of the Sacred Palace to the Author AFter having admired with all others so sublime a desert as yours I must also shew the particular Inclination I have to serve you occasioned by that excellent and learned Work you have composed for the defence of the Catholic Faith and which has been lately translated into Italian for it 's farther spreading I am indebted to you an infinite acknowledgment for having afforded me an occasion of rendring you some Service we are all of us here in great expectation of the publishing of this excellent piece that we may enjoy the fruits of your Labours No body will have a greater satisfaction than my self who do and shall always feel an ardent desire to render my self worthy of the honour of your Commands I end with assuring you of my Respects Rome 20 June 1675. The Approbations of the Roman Edition Anno 1678. The Approbation of Signor MICHEL ANGELO RICCI Secretary to the Congregation of I. and H. R. and Consultor of the Holy Office VVHAT the Council of Trent has with great care performed in making an entire separation betwixt Articles of Faith opinions and disputes of the Schools and explicating the same Doctrines of Faith in more clear and significant Terms what Tertullian had formerly done in condemning the secession of Heretics from the Church by several Prescriptions what others have practised whilst they ingenuously combated Heretics by their own Principles and Rules the same has the Right Reverend James Benign Bossuet Bishop of Condom performed in this Work in a clear and short Method proper to perswade manifesting to us the admirable parts of the Author Which work being now for the convenience of the Italians elegantly translated out of French into our Mother Language I esteem worthy to be Printed and Published Rome August the 5th 1678. The Approbation of the Reverend Father LAURENCE BRANCATI DE LAUERA of the Congregat Consist of I. Rites Visit Consultor and Qualificator of the Holy Office and Bibliothecarian of the Vatican Library c. I Esteem most worthy publishing the little Treatise or Discourse Printed in French and several other Languages and at present Translated out of French into Italian in which the most Illustrious James Benign Bossuet Bishop and Lord of Condom does forceably combat in a Noble Grave and Solid Stile the Ministers of the Pretended Reform'd Religion and their followers as well by the common and fundamental Rules of the Church as by their own Principles showing that it is not Catholics as those Ministers imagine but the Ministers themselves who by drawing unnatural Consequences have receded from those Tenets which are common to them and us and by taking the Scriptures and Councils in a wrong sense have separated themselves from the Catholic Church But if they would examin without passion the Rules of Catholics grounded upon their Councils and especially upon that of Trent they would without doubt by the Grace of God return again to a Holy Unity all which this Author shows them in a most pleasing and no less convincing manner running through all the points of Controversie Given in the Convent of the Twelve Apostles at Rome the 25. July 1678. F. Laurentius de Laurea Min. Conventualis The Approbation of the Abbot Stephen Gradi I Have with diligence and application read the excellent Work of the Lord James Benign Bossuet Bishop of Condom faithfully and elegantly Translated into Italian where the Doctrine of the Church is explicated after a manner both concise clear and full And it wrought the same Impression in me which ordinarily those nobler sort of Writings which are the products of a sound Doctrine and solid Reason do in their Readers when they are convinc'd they could not have said any thing more to the purpose nor spoken otherwise if they had undertaken to write of the same Subject But what Transported me the most was that Wisdom and Moderation of the Author in the choice of those things which he asserts he retrenches all those things which serve only to lengthen Disputes and render a good Cause odious and betakes himself to Truth alone as to a strong hold which he renders not only secure but inaccessable applying himself wholly to establish the true state of the Question which by that means is rendred clear and easie to be judged of Upon which account all those if they will believe me who are concerned for the Peace of the Church or the Salvation of their Souls ought day and night to turn over this Book and it is impossible but it should produce in them both shame and sorrow for holding Tenets contrary to the Orthodox Faith I am of this Opinion St. G. Consultor of the Congregation de l' Indice Prefect of the Vatican Library Let it be Printed if it so please the Very Reverend Father Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace J. de Angelis Archiep. Vrb Vicesger Let it be Printed F. Raimundus Capisuccus Ord. Pred S. P. A. Magister The Brief of our Holy Father Pope Innocent the XI VEnerable Brother Health and Apostolical Benediction Your Book of the Exposition of the Catholic Faith lately presented to us contains such Doctrine and is composed in such a method and with so much prudence that it is thereby rendred proper to instruct the Readers clearly in few words and to extort even from the unwilling a Confession of the Catholic Faith For which reasons we do not only think it worthy our commendation but also to be read and esteem'd by all We hope this Work by the Grace of God will bring forth much Fruit and will not a little help to propagate the Orthodox Faith which is our continual care and principal sollicitude And in the interim we are more and more confirmed in that good Opinion we have always had of your Vertue and Piety and we feel an increase of those hopes which we had long since formed in our selves of the Education of the Dauphin of France and that he who is intrusted to your care and endowed with inclinations worthy the King his Father and all his Ancestors will receive from you those instructions which are proper to the Son of a most Christian King whose Birth entitles him both to so flourishing a Kingdom and at the same time to be a Protector of the Catholic Religion And this King who has chosen you amongst so many great men with which France flourishes at this time to so great a Province as is the laying the Foundations of a public happiness will no doubt receive an Eternal Glory from the good success of your care according to that Oracle of Scripture which tells us that a Wise Son is the Glory of his Father Continue then to go forwards chearfully in so important a work especially since you have before your Eyes such mighty Fruits of your Industry For we hear and that from all Parts and we cannot but feel an excess of Joy and Consolation amidst our many Troubles when we hear how this young Prince is carried on to vertue with a noble Fervour and daily gives new Testimonies of Prudence and of Piety This we can assure you that nothing is capable of endearing our Paternal affection to you more than thus to employ your utmost Care to inspire into this young Kings Mind those Maxims which make a mighty King that in a riper Age being happy and victorious like the King his Father he may regulate by Holy Laws and reduce to Christian Manners Barbarous Nations and Enemies of the Name of Christian as we hope to see them shortly subdu'd to the Empire of this great King since Peace being restored to Europe he has so fair an opportunity to transfer his victorious Arms into the East To conclude Assure your self that the Submission and Kespect which your Letters show you to have towards the Apostolic See and Us who now possess it tho unworthy for the Government of the Catholic Church find in Us a mutual affection the Testimonies of which you shall perceive when any occasion shall present it self With a sincere affection we give you our Apostolic Benediction Given at Rome at St. Peters under the Fishers Ring the 4th of January 1679. the third year of our Popedom Signed Marius Spinula and on the outside To our Venerable Brother James Bishop of Condom FINIS