that she pleases Methinks it is very unjust to wrangle with People and impose it for a Crime on them that they will not believe but God alone speaking in the Scriptures and by the Pen of his Prophets and Apostles With what Justice would they have us to regard as a small business that Enterprize to have taken away the Word of God in the Book thereof from the hands of the People Is not that a Capital Affair Where shall Knowledge be drawn if the Spring thereof be shut up Where shall Men learn to know God aright if they rob the People of that Book where God himself makes himself known When I see that they say with Confidence That it is not true that they have forbidden the Lecture of the Word of God that dismays me and drives my Patience to the utmost I know not how Men can contradict so a Publick Authority It is true that there are some in the Roman Church which condemn that Prohibition made to the People of Reading the Holy Scripture and I could wish no fairer Discourse thereon than what hath said the Author of the Dialogues between the two Parishioners of Saint Hilary du Mont. But what was said of those Persons They say they have borrowed the Weapons of Hereticks and have brightned them the more They accuse them to oppose the Sentiments of the Church because that the Church conducted by Gods Spirit permits not indifferently the Reading of Holy Scripture to all Persons without the Advice and Explication of Ecclesiastical Superiours for fear lest the Difficulty or Obscurity of Understanding in some places should produce Scruples and Errours in Mens Spirits It being certain that all Heresies which are born in its bosom have always their foundation and their defence in the Words of the Holy Scripture ill understood It is the Lord Bishop of Ambrun who speaks in his Ordinance against the Traduction of Mons. I think he knows what he saith for the least thing that may be granted to an Archbishop it is that he should know Religion And indeed doth not all the World know that the Rules which are at the Head of the Index Expurgatorius forbid the Lecture of the Holy Word of God excepting those who shall have permission from their Ordinary of the Curate or the Confessor It is not a Decree of the Council of Trent will they say No but it is the Spirit of the Council They are Theologians deputed by the Council of Trent that speak it It is Pope Pius the Fourth who presided in that Council and who possessed the Spirit thereof Sixtus the Fifth and Clement the Eighth Successours of Pius the Fourth ought to have had the Spirit of the Church Methinks it is they that say That by the Command and Use of the Holy Inquisition Romaine Universella the Power of permitting the reading or retaining the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue both of the Old and of the New Testament hath been taken away from Bishops Inquisitors or Superiours of the Regulars Let Men but read the last Writings which have been made thereabout upon the occasion of the Version of Mons the Ordinances of my Lords of Paris and of Ambrun the Writings of Father Annat and all the Apologies which have been made for the Defence of those Pieces and Men shall see whether it be true That the Reading of Scripture be permitted and ordained to all the World I must remit those that will be instructed in this Matter to the Book of Monsieur Mallet where Men shall see the Councils Popes Cordinals Bishops Faculties of Theology and the Theologues agreeing in this Article It is That the Reading of the Word of God is dangerous when it is permitted to all the World But is there need of Proofs for a thing that is seen Where is there a Reading of the Word of God in favour of the People Is it in the Church If they Read any part thereof it is in a strange Tongue it is no more for Instruction It is for Prayer as said a Franciscan in the Council of Trent Is it in Private Houses But in what Country doth the People know the Word of God of himself Certainly in Spain and in Italy the Bible is that of all Books that the People knows least of In France some honest Persons read it but their Number is very small It is not charged as a Duty upon any Person happily there are not of a Thousand One that hath cast his Eyes upon this Sacred Book Thence comes the profound Ignorance of most People even of those who distinguish themselves by their quality or by their Character We must not flatter our selves We shall never regard that Conduct as coming from the Spirit of God and we shall never re-enter into a Church which treats Holy Scripture with so much Injustice ARTICLE XV. Of the Church AS for the Authority of the Church it cannot be an Affair of little Importance seeing the Question is whether the Tribunal of it shall be lifted up above the Holy Scripture Monsieur de Condom cannot be ignorant that this Controversie of the Infallible Authority of the Church is an Article so Capital that thereon depends all the Re-union whereto they invite us Whilst that the Roman Church shall call it self Infallible she will shut the Door against all Reformation and as long as she shall refuse all Reformation she cannot hope that we shall return into her Bosom This Doctrine of Infallibility is the most dangerous that could ever enter into the Church because it opens the way to all sorts of Errours and Superstitions and takes away all liberty of Examining those things which Use or Authority have once established A Church that calls her self Infallible boldly establishes boldly what she wills and what may be found useful for its Interest And after that there is no more any Means to return We must also be permitted to say That this is an Affair of the highest Importance seeing the Foundation of the Faith of our People depends thereon They would not have us to establish it on the Holy Scripture which is the Stay and Pillar of Truth and they would have us to knowledge all that we must believe as from the Church without being able to tell us which is this Church and where are the Titles of its Infallibility These Gentlemen do thrust us very hardly upon the Authority of Scripture the diversity of its Senses upon the liberty whereof they accuse us as given to Women and to Artificers to interpret it after their manner and to make themselves a new Religion if it seems good to them But I know not how they mind not that with all their Maxims of Submission and blind Obedience for their Interpretations of the Church they must cast the Faith of their People into an incertitude greater a thousand times than that wherein they say that we are It is the Church say they to whose Interpretations we must cleave I will but let them
of your Doctors On the contrary They lay before him the Scripture on the Tribunal of the Church They tell him Obey your Leaders suffer not your selves to be conducted by the false Lights of your own Reason Submit to the Mysteries but let not your Submission be blind consult the Scripture read instruct your selves and believe nothing upon the Witness of Men Do not rest but upon the Testimony of God His Word is clear solid sufficient for your Instruction His Authority is Soveraign and Independent of any other He sees not in the Worship of that Religion any strange Language which diffuses Darkness through all which conceals Mysteries from the Eyes of Ignorant Ones all is naked all is open all is simple He sees he hears all that is done all that is said every one Prays in the Tongue he understands and which is understood in the Country where he is This Infidel sees Preachers which exhort him to Repentance to Mortification to renouncing the Vanities and the Idols of the World but they do not impose on him the Necessity of declaring all the Motions of his Soul to a Man they order him to confess primarily to God then they advise him to make choice of a wise Director to discover with Liberty to him the Wounds of his own Conscience and to ask his Advices They tell him That all Human Satisfactions are incapable of paying the Justice of God That our Lord Jesus Christ hath paid for us abundantly That his Merit is granted to us by a gratuitous Mercy and that the true Satisfaction which God requires is the Contrition of the Heart Faith Charity and Amendment of Life They do not charge him with the multitude of External Observations of Fasts of Macerations of Pilgrimages They say to the contrary That bodily Exercise is profitable to little but that solid Piety hath the Promises of this present life and of that which is to come They labour to draw him out of the Security that the Worldlings are plunged in but they seek not to retain him in perpetual Terrours They tell him There is no Salvation for the Sinner that perseveres in Impenitency but that the true Penitent may be assured that God will shew him Mercy They assure him That if his Sins be pardoned him in this life they shall also be pardoned him in the other too and that there is no Purgatory nor Torments through which Men are to pass to arrive to Paradise They confess to him That they have not the power to remit Sins They tell him that that appertains to God only but they tell him That God never refuses that Grace to those that ask it with the Spirit of Humility In fine He sees nothing Pompous in the Government or that may relish of the Spirit of the World No Monarchs no Spiritual Soveraigns He sees none but Conductors that are Men of an equal Authority or if he sees in some places within that Church some Bishops and some Archbishops He understands that those Persons make Profession to have no other Head for the Spirituals but Jesus Christ and no other for their Temporals than those which God hath established in the World by his Providence If this Infidel who hath thus cast his Sight upon these two Religions be wise he will ask time to think of his Choice and will pronounce nothing upon what he hath seen But in Conscience can any Man believe that this Man who hath no other light but that of good Sense can perswade himself that these two Parties make up but one Religion that it is the same thing that their Differences are not Essential In one He sees Altars and Sacrifices in the other he sees none In the one he hears them invoke Saints and Angels in the other he sees they content themselves to reverence their Name and to invoke God In the one he sees Images to be served in the other he sees a mortal aversion for that Worship In the one he understands Nothing in the other he understands all If this Man suffers himself to be conducted by his Natural Lights he will without doubt believe that these two Religions are absolutely different and I cannot imagine that he could believe what my Lord of Condom saith That the Disputes of these two Parties can be nullified by explaining some Terms and that what remains hath nothing Capital and that can hurt the foundations of the Faith ARTICLE III. That we agree not about Fundamental Points BUt happily may some say That this general Review of the two Religions is proper only to make an Illusion because that in this Method Men judge only by appearances Now its true that they are in an Appearance of great distance whereas in examining things in particulars and at the bottom it may be that they would go near to accord about those things and should only dispute about Terms That might happily be and therefore I will not forbear entring into a particular Examen of each Article First My Lord of Condom saith That we all agree about the Foundations of the Faith that the Doctrines which we esteem Fundamental are all believed and professed in the Roman Church He brings for Witness thereof Monsieur Daillé who saith in his Book entituled Faith founded upon the Scriptures That all Fundamental Articles are without Contest that the Roman Church professes to believe them That in Truth we do not hold all the Opinions of that Church but that we hold all their Beliefs or Creances My Lord of Condom lays another Maxim which he draws from our Principles It's That if one agrees with the Foundations and then lays down Opinions which does overthrow those Foundations by Consequences we must not impute those Consequences to him who disavows The Opinion of the Lutherans about the real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist destroys the Human Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ by a lawful Consequence but the Lutherans disavow that Consequence therefore we will not impute it to them He would have us to have the same Equity for his Church For Example She establishes the Sacrifices of the Mass She lays down the Intercession of Saints She ordains Penances and Satisfactions We say That the first of them destroys the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ that the second prejudices his Mediation that the others are injurious to the Super-abounding fulness of his Merits But they say they are only Consequences which the Roman Church disowns therefore we may not impute the same to them without Calumny I might have many things to say thereabout If I had designed to make a great Book but I will restrain my self within this That this Consideration cannot be a Means of Reunion nor a Reason of our Re-entrance into the Roman Church First Because it 's not true that both Parties agree about all the Protestants esteem to be Fundamental There are Three general Foundations in Religion First That there is a God who is to be adored The
the Hymn called Maris Stella they say Oh singular Virgin Debonnair among all defend us from our Guils render us Chaste and Mild give us a pure Life prepare us in the sure Way to the end that seeing Jesus we may enjoy an eternal Joy We have an hundred times reproached those Gentlemen that of Jure Matris impera of the Old Missals and the Monstra te esse Matrem but we shall still have right to reproach them therewith till satisfaction be given us by Reason for it Instead thereof they renew the same and publish them in French that none might be ignorant thereof Oh bend by thy power both of Mother and Queen thy Son and our King That is but from the Year 1672. Methinks the Date is fresh enough and that they should not accuse us to have digg'd up Books buried in Oblivion and old Excesses that are no more in use One should Copy and Transcribe all the Missals Breviaries and all other Books of Devotion if one would relate all Why then do those Gentlemen say They only pray the Saints to pray for us It 's say they that in whatever Terms the Prayers are conceived that we address to Saints the Intention of the Church and of her Faithful Ones still reduces them to that form It s long since Bellarmine had advised us thereof As for Words it 's permitted to say Oh St. Peter have mercy on me save me open me the Gate of Heaven give me health of Body give me patience give me Courage c. So that we understand Save us and shew us Mercy in praying for us That might surprize us indeed First I would fain know what would these Gentlemen say of a Man that would say in good earnest to St. Peter Save me and pardon my Sins without reducing them to this Form St. Peter pray for me By those things which my Lord of Condom saith I have cause to believe he would look on him as an Idolater for he saith that the Church teaches That Men must cleave to God as to Him who alone can make up our felicity by the Communication of an Infinite Good which is himself But is it not a terrible thing to put into the Mouth of the People such Formularies as do cast them every day into the peril of Idolatry Where are the Men that are not naturally carried to take Words in their Literal sense The Literal sense of these Words of St. Peter Save me Pardon me carries Men to believe that St. Peter can Save and Pardon Must a simple Man have still at his Ear an Interpreter to tell him Take heed of taking these Words in their Literal sense you would commit an act of Idolatry reduce these Prayers to the Sense of the Church In a word I never could conceive what Prudence there can be in hiding a pious and devout Sense under Expressions altogether Criminal Is it not to lay a Snare continually for the Souls of the Simple 2. It Saints have no other Charge than that of Praying to God for us why are they made the Governours of the World under God It 's a Thesis that Bellarmine maintains with divers Proofs and which is not contested That the Faithful alive are not only conducted and governed by Angels but also by the blessed Spirits Another Author saith That if Kings destroy Armies of Enemies if the Rich relieve the Poor if Physicians with their Art heal Maladies Saints can do the same thing as well as the Angels whereof one killed 185000 in one Night another restored Sight to Toby and a third delivered St. Peter from Prison Governours do not always go to the Prince to present him the Requests of Suppliants they act of themselves according to the extent of their Commission 3. If Saints have no Superintendency on Inferiour things why then are Kingdoms Towns Families and particular Persons put under their Protection Why have Mens several Conditions differing Arts and differing Evils their particular Saints St. Luke is Patron of Physicians St. Yves of Advocates St. Crispin of Shoemakers They that are in danger of Shipwrack invoke St. Nicholas Bishop of Myre Women in labour pray to St. Margaret St. Roch is prayed to for the Plague and St. Apollony for the Toothach All that clearly supposes that the Saints have received Commission under God to have care of certain Persons and to preside over certain things for otherwise the first coming to hand of all the Saints would suffice to receive the Prayers of Men in whatever place they were and present them to God They do then something by themselves 4. If all Devotion for Saints be reduced to saying to them Pray for us why have they censur'd the Saving Advices of the Virgin to her indiscreet Devoti For in fine that Author had no other Aim but to bring thither the Prayers of Devout ones He would have them say Holy Mother of God supply by your Praises near the Almighty what our weakness cannot render to him and obtain for me from your beloved the Grace to know c. Yet hath that Book been censur'd at Rome and in Spain as containing Propositions suspected of Errour some Impieties and abuses of Scripture as withdrawing the Faithful from piety and Devotion to the Mother of God and from her Invocation This last word is very remarkable That Book withdraws from the Invocation of the Virgin He withdraws not from that Invocation Pray to God for us on the contrary he gives a Formulary express to invoke her so He withdraws then from the Invocation of the Virgin only because he would not have them to ask of her directly those things as if she were the Disposer thereof 5. Finally If the Sense of the Church be That Men pray the Saints to pray for us and no more why do they not censure so many Authors that tell us neatly That Saints give forgive save and distribute Graces themselves Câ—sterus writing on the Hymn Ave Maris Stella and explaining these words Loosen the Bonds of the Guilty thus Glosses thereon Solve Precibus Solve Merito Solve Auhoritate Solve Imperio Loosen with thy Prayers Loosen by thy Merit Loosen by thine Authority Loosen by thy Command I am tempted to add here all the like sayings of Bonaventure Gerson Cajetan Albert Ozorius Salazar Bernardine de Bustis and of Sienna Driedo Father Binet Viega Gabriel Biel Antonine and an hundred others that is to say the Ancients and Moderns the lesser the great and middle Authors But I will not yield to that Temptation for it would be an infinite work and we shall see anon that Father Cresset hath spared us that labour When they speak to us face to face they tell us Those are brave Authors indeed Must we judge of the Sense of the Church by little popular Books which ignorant Bigots put into the Peoples hands They are fallen into those Excesses which honest Men do condemn Yet these brave Authors are Canonized
there is no reason to say That Men must adore Images that there is no reason to fasten any virtue thereto to imagine that an Image of our Lady doth more Miracles than another that its blame worthy to carry them about in pomp to prostrate ones self before them to place them on Altars to make Vows and Pilgrimages to them and to buâ—n Incense to them as formerly they did to the false Gods If Invocation of Saints be done in the same Spirit as the Prayers which we present to the Faithful alive to pray for us It 's to accuse all those who do Invocate the Saints in another Spirit After all that I demand of those Gentlemen Why they do seek for an Extraordinary Turn That which they had used hitherto either was good reasonable and proper to give just Idea's of the Doctrine of the Roman Church or it was not so If it was not reason it is they should take another But how can it be that for so many years they have defended the Roman Church by so many Works without finding the proper Turn to give a just Idea of her Doctrine It 's a blindness of the preceding Doctors hardly to be conceived It 's a good hap for my Lord of Condom to have first found out the true sense of the Doctrine of the Church whereof one cannot suspect the cause But if the Turn which my Lord of Condom hath found out is different in that thing it self that it's different from others doth it not condemn them If that which he saith to us be the only true Sense of the Church all other Senses which Doctors have given it are false Senses and consequently he condemns all those that have not spoken like him Without doubt my Lord of Condom will say It was not his design to say any thing new that his Explications of the Doctrine of the Church are the Sense of the Canons of the Councils and of the decisions of the Doctors But if he pretended not to say any thing Extraordinary whence then comes the great Noise which those Gentlemen have made of that Work Can they look for so great Honour from a Thing that should have been said by all other Authors Whence is it that they have begg'd Approbations from all parts of the World That they put amongst those Approbators Cardinals Bishops yea the Pope himself For a thing which all the World had said should there be need of so mony Props seeing it could not be combated nor question'd Why doth my Lord of Condom at the end of his Work shew that he would not have us examine the different Means which the Catholick Theologues have used to establish or to cleaâ— up the Doctrine of the Council of Trent If he be agreed with the Doctors of his fide hath he cause to fear lest we should compare his Senses with theirs And is it not clear that he confesses thereby that he stands in great opposition to them If my Lord of Condom hath brought to light but the true and ancient Sense of the Church why doth he say at the end of his Book that he hath ruined all Disputes for that is it which these words signifie For to s y on this Treatise something solid c. they must shew that this Explication leaves all Disputes in their intire state He pretends then that his Explication must make all Disputes to cease I do not believe that he pretends thereto by the force of the Reasons whereby he hath upheld his cause For a little Book that only explains and which doth not prove cannot cause Disputes to cease by way of Discussion If it were true that the Sense which my Lord of Condom doth give is the Sense of the Roman Catholick Church that it should be received by both Parties and that it would not leave Disputes in their whole state it were true also that it would be some thing which the gravest Authors had not yet perceived For hitherto all the Divines of the Roman Catholick Church have verily believed that the Controversies about Images Invocation of Saints Indulgences Satisfactions were intire Disputes and most real The Council of Trent hath without doubt believed so for if their Sense had been that which my Lord of Condom gives and that it 's a Sense which leaves not Disputes whole why hath it pronounc'd Anathema's against the Lutherans and Zuinglians about things whereof it's decisions made all Disputes to vanish Let 's deal truly Did not the Council fulminate and condemn those People They did not then believe that the Sense of their Canons could easily be reconciled with the Doctrine of Zuinglius and of Luther Besides that I do not well conceive how my Lord of Condom can defend himself for having brought to light a Sense that was unknown to all that have Written and to the Prelates of the Council of Trent themselves Without doubt those Prelates pronounced Oracles without understanding them and more than an Age after an Interpreter is come who hath discovered that which the Holy Spirit had hitherto kept secret But it imports not whether my Lord of Condom be the first or only Man that hath understood the Council of Trent to the Exclusion of the Council it self he cannot hinder us from concluding That in establishing his Sense as the only good and as the Doctrine of his Church he condemns all others which the Doctors have given hitherto and therefore he acts for us and favours our Cause as much as it can be favoured Although the Explications of my Lord of Condom should terminate some different we should not be obliged to believe upon his Word that his Sense should be that of the Council of Trent It hath reproached to these Gentlemen that these Explications were against the Bull of Pius the Fourth which expresly forbids all Explications of that Council These be its own words To avoid the Confusions and Disorders that might arise if it were permitted to every One to bring to light their Commentaries and Interpretations upon the Decrees of the Council by Authority Apostolical we forbid all Persons Ecclesiastick or Laick of whatsoever Dignity Condition Honour or Power whatsoever and all Prelates under pain of being Interdicted the Entrance of the Church and others under pain of Excommunication to undertake without our Authority Commentaries Glosses Annotations Observations or any other kind of Interpretations under whatsoever Name neither under the very pretence of maintaining the Decrees better or Executing or any other Colour And if any find there is any thing obscure less clear needing Interpretation we Ordain he should ascend to the place which the Lord hath chosen that is to the Apostolick Seat which is the Master of all the Faithful and whereof the Holy Council it self hath acknowledged the Authority in a manner so full of respect After that should it be permitted to any private Man to give to the Council a Sense unknown to the whole Earth unknown even to the
Fathers who made up the Council To that those Gentlemen say It s one thing to interpret what is obscure and doubtful another thing to propound what is clear and use it to destroy false Impressions It seems to me that those Words signifie that it is not true that Glosses have been made on the Council of Trent they have only related its Terms so clear that they are capable of destroying all the false Idea's that Men had of its Doctrine Can that be said in Conscience that they have related only the very Words of the Council It 's said about the Invocation of Saints That we pray to them in that same Spirit that we pray to our Brethren which are on the Earth to pray for us and with us to our Common Master in the Name of our Common Mediator who is Jesus Christ Are those the Words of the Council Doth it say They should not be invok'd but in that manner and in the same Spirit that we pray the Saints that are on Earth to pray for us I would make Judges thereof such as have Eyes and can but read for these be the Words of the Council according to my Lord of Condom 's Version Because that the Saints who reign with Jesus Christ do offer to God their Prayers for Men it 's good and useful to invoke them in a Suppliant manner and to have recourse to their Aid and to their Succour to impetrate of God his Blessing by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who alone is our Saviour and our Redeemer About Satisfactions my Lord of Condom saith That which is called Satisfaction is after all but the Application of the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ And the Council of Trent saith That in suffering and satisfying for our sins we are made conformable to our Lord Jesus Christ who also hath satisfied for our Sins Upon the Subject of Images the Advertisement saith That we serve not Images but serve our selves of Images to raise up our selves to the Originals And the Council saith That Men must render to Images the Respect and Veneration which is due to them that they must be kissed mens Heads be uncovered and prostrate themselves before them These three Examples may suffice to shew that those Gentlemen do not deal fairly when they say That they go not against the Intention of Pius the Fourth his Bull and that they make no Glâ—ss upon the Conncil of Trent But I am not minded that we should draw a Process against them about it Let them avoid the Ordinance of Pius the Fourth I consent Let them interpret the Council against the Intention of the Bull. I do not think we have any right to oppose it Those Gentlemen do make Rules and have such regard to them as they think good That is not our business And after all that Prohibition of Pius the Fourth hath taken but little place A thousand Controversies have been raised or continued since that Council and every one of the Parties hath explained it to his own favour But what we say and have right to say is That we are not obliged to receive the Interpretations of the Council of Trent opposite to those that have been given us by all the Doctors of the School which we daily read in the universal Practice and constant Use of the Roman Church The Author of the Advertisement may well say That we will not believe neither the Council nor its Catechism nor their Confession of Faith nor the Bishops nor the Pope himself We believe our Eyes we believe what we read and what we see Though at this day all the Roman Church should tell us as this Author doth We do not serve Images God forbid but we serve our selves of Images to raise us up to the Originals We would not believe it and would not be obliged to believe it seeing we see every day the contrary What Obstinacy say they the Bishops Cardinals and the Pope himself approve all these Explications of my Lord of Condom and that of the Author of the Advertisement and you 'l believe that Persons of so great a Character are either Cheats that dissemble their Sentiments or Ignaro's that know not their Religion I wish they would not press us about that We do not believe those Gentlemen to be ignorant they know their Religion well enough but prudently men may often say of what they know that only which they think capable of leading them to the End that they aim at They would diminish the Aversion we have for the Worship and the Doctrines of the Roman Church Prudence therefore would have them to keep from our sight that which offends us and that a Curtain be drawn thereon Let 's do those Gentlemen as much Honour as they can ask to my understanding Let 's believe that they deal fairly that is that sincerely they would have things to be as they express them Really we no ways doubt but there are at this day in the Roman Church many Persons who disapprove the Excesses which are practised in that Church about devotion to the Creatures They willingly wish That Images were not served with Religious Worship they would bring a great allay to the Invocation of Saints if they m ght be believ'd yea happily they might go further I grant that my Lord of Condom and the Archbishops and Bishops his Approvers may have this Sentiment and that we may put into the same rank the Cardinals de Bona and Sigismund of Chigy the most Reverend P. Hyacinth Libâ—lli Archbishop of Avignions the most R. F. Capi Suâ—â—â—i Master of the Sacred Palace my Lord Michael Ange Ricci Secretary to the holy Congregation of Indulgences the Father M Laurent Branâ—ari de Laurea the Abbot Gradi the Bishop and Princes of Munster and the Pope himself Innocent the Eleventh now sitting What doth all that but confirm us in the Thoughts that we have reason to condemn the Excesses that are now condemn'd by Persons which had a great interest to justifie them Put can that oblige us not to believe our Eyes not to believe what we see and what we read Before they can have any right to press us thereabout things should be put into that state wherein they say that they are I hope that entring into the particulars we shall clearly shew that things are in that state wherein we conceive them and not in that wherein they would have us regard them Mean while I will say that the Providence of God permits for our Justification that in an Age wherein they would perswade us that White is black there arise from time to time some Father Cressets that do revive all that Alexis of Salo the Bernardine de Bustis and the Salazars have said most excessively and hainously upon this matter Those Works are printed in the Capital of the Kingdom with Approbation with Priviledge and with all the marks of Honour that might possibly be given in the very front thereof