a true Sacrament as to the Sign I Answer That it is a true Sacrament as to the Thing signified It is certain that to speak exactly he doth not take with his Mouth the Sacrament of Jesus Christ for this Sacrament is composed of Two parts and he receives but One But he receives Jesus Christ signified by the Sacrament and receives as much of Graces as they that Communicate of the Sacrament it self Why Because the Sacrament is entirely presented to him because he receives it in his desire and heart and because only an insuperable Impossibility hinders him from communicating of the Sign Suppose we that a Man is found which hath the same aversion for the Bread as for the Wine that never was it may be found but it is not impossible This Man will come to the Lords Table he will take with his hand the one and the other Sign he 'l bring them near to his Mouth but he will return them not being able to pass further What doth that Man Doth he take a true Sacrament Not at all he takes not the Sacrament he recelves the Spiritual things presented under the Sacrament that is Grace But to what purpose doth he come near the Table to receive nothing there For he might have received Grace without stirring from home He comes to make unto God a solemn Protestation that his Impotency is the only cause that hinders him from partaking of the Signs that he thirsts after his Grace that he desires to have part in the efficacy of the Sacrament and to shew to all the Faithful that he doth not deprive himself of those Sacred Signs out of contempt of Religion If those Doctours do not relish this Theology I beseech them to hear St Bernard that tells them It is not Privation of the Sacrament that damns but Contempt I conjure them to consult all the Theologues of their School and examine what they say of Baptism of Vow or the Vow of Baptism There is none but saith That he who desires sincerely and ardently to receive Baptism and dies without partaking of the Sign doth nevertheless receive the Efficacy and all the Virtue of Baptism ARTICLE XIV Of Holy Scripture WE have upon this Article very important Controversies with the Roman Church of the Perfection of Scripture of its Obscurity of its Authority also touching the Utility and Necessity of Reading the said Holy Scripture of the Soveraign Judge of Controversies and of Traditions Monsieur de Condom passes almost all these under Silence and wraps it up in few Words except the Question of its Authority which he Treats of a little more largely I have no design neither to make here large Common places upon these Controversies Volumes have been sufficiently written on both sides to compose great Libraries I will only say That all the dexterity of Monsieur de Condom will never make us to pass this for a thing of small importance We shall never relish that any should make it their Task to speak ill of Holy Scripture It is a wicked Character and a bad Prejudice for these Doctours Cause When Men speak ill of their Judge and that they seek for Means of Recusation against him it is a Proof that they do not believe him favourable to their Interest If the Roman Church believed the Scripture to be on their side they would not seek out so many Means to make her lose her Credit with the People It is a thing that could never be believed if we did not see it That Christians should busie themselves to prove that the Book which includes the Doctrine that saves them from Hell is an imperfect and mutilate Book gnawed by the Teeth of Time depraved and corrupted by the Jews and by the Hereticks that it contains but a little part of the Doctrine of the Church that they must add thereto the Help of Traditions That it is an an Obscure Book that Men cannot understand it without the help of the Church that God hath filled it with Rocks and Shelfs that proud Spirits might be wracked thereon That it is a Leaden Rule which Men turn what way they please that Hereticks may easily abuse it to fight against the Truth that we find not Light enough therein to dissipate the Darkness of Errour that it is a Labyrinth wherein Men are necessarily lost when they are not conducted that it hath no Authority in regard to us without the Testimony of the Church that it hath not Characters of Divinity sufficient to prove it self that it cannot explain it self by clear Places of what it saith in obscure Passages that without the Authority of the Church we should be no more obliged to believe it to be Divine than any other Book that the Lecture of this Book is dangerous that one must extreamly distinguish the Persons to whom the Reading thereof should be permitted that Versions in the Vulgar Tongue cannot appear without peril that the People should not have liberty of handling these Sacred Books They would have us to hear all these things patiently and that we should keep Silence thereat But that cannot be We should be the most base and the most ungrateful of all Men if we should abandon the Defence of a Book to which alone we are beholding next to God for our Eternal Salvation They will not fail to tell us that we are Calumniators and they speak not with that contempt of the Holy Scripture They will bring us the Testimonies of some particular Persons of the latter days which have spoken of it with grand Eloges and Praises And I could relate the Words of other particulars and would bring an hundred for one which speak thereof in the Terms which I expressed just now If Monsieur de Cedeau Bishop of Grass if the Gentlemen of Port-Royal have spoken of this Scripture with the Respect due thereto that hath not been regarded as their fair side and best Character And all the World knows the Violent Persecutions whereto some have been exposed because of that Monsieur de Condom may say what he pleases in favour of Tradition but we maintain That it is an opening of the Door to all the Corruptions of Doctrine and Worship There is none so strange and so opposite to the Spirit of Christianism that may not enter into the Church under this Name of Tradition Sad Experience teaches us enough thereof It is this Word that filled with Images the Temples of Christians to the great Scandal of those who are jealous of the Purity of Worship It is that which introduced into Religion the Service of Creatures Invocation of Saints the Worship of the Holy Virgin Pilgrimaget Adoration of Relicks and so many other such like things If the Roman Church were reduced to defend her self only by Scripture she should soon be driven to forsake the most part of her Worship and of her Devotions But where Scripture fails her Tradition is an obscure Spring entangled and Profound which furnishes with all
shew me that Church to whom I must submit I see in the Orient a Greek Church which they call Schismatick in the Occident I see there Societies of Men whom they call Eutychians Jacobites Nestorians Melchites and many others Each one of these Societies tells me that she is the true Church whom I must hear Which shall I believe Believe her say they that hath the Marks of Antiquity of Succession of Chairs and particularly of the Apostolick Chair But every one of those Societies doth boast to have all those Advantages to be the most Ancient to be Apostolical to have had the Apostles for Founders The Church of Alexandria saith that she was founded by St. Mark her first Bishop that of Jerusalem by St. James These are Matters of Fact and to clear my self thereof I must read whole Libraries I that neither have Latin nor Greek which have neither time enough nor piercing Wits to follow hard Studies Either I must remain uncertain or else I shall be reduced to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church upon her own simple Word and upon the Witness that she gives her self which is of all things in the World the most unjust for no Man ought to be believed in his own Cause Yea though I should believe that the Roman Church is the true Church and Infallible If I ask where that Infallible doth rest they cannot teach it me The one will say that it is in the Pope others will say that it is false and I must beware of that thought Some Doctours will tell me that the Infallible Oracle is not found but in Councils but others will call that Opinion Heresie and will Threaten the Tribunal of the Inquisition if I yield unto those Thoughts I know not then what side to turn to to find a solid Prop to my Faith for on all hands I see nothing but Doubts in that which they call the Church uncertainty and dividing of Opinions If I pierce into the bottom of that Church and that I examine the Sense thereof I see People that say with one Voice We must follow the Church One cannot go off from her without wandring But under that appearance of Uniformity I see a prodigious diversity of Opinions Some are Semi-Pelagians and teach That Grace is not efficacious but by the Will of Man others defend Efficacious Grace by it self and accuse the former of recalling Pelagianism Some say That the Command of Loving God obliges at all times and the others say that it never obliges I see some that accuse others to be the Corrupters of Morality and which indeed make the Truth of their Accusation palpable by ones Finger but they who are accused do by turns accuse their Adversaries to be Calvinists Hereticks to ruine the Virtues of Sacraments to estrange the Faithful from the Communion of the Body of Christ and to bind Conscience by unjust Chains All those People are in the Church they follow all the Sentiments of the Church as they say yet are they in Paths so opposite that Hell and Heaven are not more See the Uniformity of that Church whereto they would have me to give up my self It must be a concluded Affair We shall never resolve to leave the Foundation of the Word of God who always abides the same to engage our Selves in a Sea of Doubts and Uncertainties where we cannot set our Foot nor find a fixed Bottom That the important Controversie of Authority Infallible of the Church be not an Obstacle to our Re-union Monsieur de Condom would perswade us by all means that we are in that regard in the same Practise and in the same Opinion with his Church In that we make our Church Judge Soveraign and Infallible of the Controversies which arise among us He proves it by two things First Because we condemn the Doctrine of the Independants which say That every Faithful Man is to follow the Motions of his own Conscience and that each Flock is to be governed by their proper Laws without dependance of any other in Matters Ecclesiastical Whereto we oppose That if that Doctrine had place there might be formed as many Religions as Parishes and we conclude That the Faithful ought to be Dependants in regard of their Faith that is they must depend upon a Superiour Authority which is that of the Church I conceive not what difficulty Monsieur de Condom finds therein Have we ever said That the Faithful ought to be absolutely Independant of the Church Do we deny the Authority of the Church to be great holy venerable Do we consider the Decisions of holy Councils Assembled in God's Name and who have decreed according to his Word as Nothing There is much difference between a Great Authority and an Infallible Authority between a blind and absolute Dependance and a Dependance conditional The Authority of the Church is great but it is not Infallible Councils ought not to be despised but their Decisions are not to be received blindfold The Faithful are to live in Dependance but they must examine by the Word of God those Decisions whereon they are to depend Not to make a New Religion if they think good but to submit to Decisions by a Principle of Reason lightned with Divine Faith and grounded on the Word of God But they will say If those Private Men in their Examen Judge that the Decision of the Church be not true what must they do Ought they to submit or no If they submit against the Judgment of their Reason that is it we ask If they submit not and that they follow their Thoughts there is a new Religion I Answer If those Private Men Judge that the Decision of a Council be false they cannot but follow the Judgmenr of their Heart although all the Popes and Bishops should oppose it but if they be wise they will not stick to their first Examination they will labour to have their Doubts clear'd If they cannot they will keep silence in case the Errour in hand be not Capital If they believe that their Salvation is concerned then their Consciences obliges them not to make a New Religion but to chuse that which they believe most conformed to the Truth of the Gospel I will not engage further into a Question which hath a long Train One may read thereon those who have Written to justifie our Separation and among others the excellent Answer of Monsieur Claude in his Book of Prejudices there may all see what are the Rights of Private Men and of Flocks when the Church begins to wander The other Proof which Monsieur de Condom brings to prove That we give â—â— our Synods an Infallible Authority is drawn from our Discipline That Discipline would have that when a Point of Doctrine is in Controversie after that the business hath passed the Judgment of the Consistory of the Colloques and of Synods Provincial In fine They should acquiesce in the Judgment of the Synod National The same Discipline Ordains
he see Altars and thereon a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of a God-man who every day after some Mystical Ceremonies descends from Heaven and comes to place himself really under the Accidents of the Consecrated Bread and Wine He sees I say a Sacrifice of Human Flesh but invisible which is done with a great Shew and Attendance of Ceremonies for the Propitiation of the Sins of the Dead and for all the Necessities of the Living He sees an Object which appears to be meer Bread which he must be made to adore as his God his Redeemer and Master He sees Men that make their Prayers and that sing Sacred Hymns but he meets with the Veil of a Language strange and unknown which is diffused through all this Worship and doth conceal it quite from Vulgar Eyes By the favour of an Interpreter he penetrates through this Veil and under it he sees Prayers and Invocations addressed to Creatures whereto are given the magnificent Names of Mediators Mother of Mercifulness Queen of Heaven Refuge of Sinners Gate of Paradice c. from whom Men do request to be delivered from Maladies recovery of Health to be cured of the Languors of their Souls to be loosed from the Bonds of their Sins to receive increase of Virtues to be delivered from Hell and to be put into the possession of the Glory of Heaven by their Merits and by their Intercession He sees a Religion abounding in Ceremonies whereof the Ministers are cloath'd with Habits extraordinary and mystical He sees their Crosses Holy Water and a great external Shew altogether pompous and compounded with an incredible Number of different Parts Piercing yet further he sees Men set upon their Tribunals at the feet whereof they shew him other Men on their Knees confessing their Sins to them and expect Remission from them and he hears those Spiritual Judges on those Tribunals who impose on Sinners Penitences Fastings Pilgrimages Hair-Cloth Cilices rough Shifts to satisfie thereby God and the Church who preach to them That all the Sins committed before Baptism are expiated solely and entirely by the Blood of Jesus Christ but that every Man must satisfie for his Sins committed after Baptism That tell them That Men must labour to merit Eternal life by good Works That teach them That the good Works wherein God takes pleasure are among other Devotions for the Saints Pilgrimages Vows tedious Tautologies of certain Prayers observed in the Honour of some of those Saints and of their Images Who give them to observe a long List of Ecclesiastical Laws about Fasts distinctions of Meats Corporal Mortifications That declare to them That the Non-observance of those Laws of the Church will damn them as much as the violation of Gods Commands Which tell them also That after this life they cannot hope to enter immediately into Heaven but that they must pass through a place of Torment where they shall be examined happily for many Ages by a cruel Fire until they have intirely satisfied for those Sins for which they could not make Satisfaction during this life He sees Priests upon those Tribunals to give with a Tone of Authority and of Power the Remission of Sins to those Penitents and to tell them I absolve you They hear them say That Men must receive their Orders and those of the Church as so many Sentences from Heaven That this Church is infallible and exempt from Errour that She is Judge without Appeal of all Debates That the Holy Scripture in regard of us holds her Authority but only from Her that we could not know the Divinity of the Word of God but only by the Testimony of the Church that She is the Interpreter of her Sense and that the Interpretations which she gives though they seem contrary to Sense to Reason and even to some places of this very Scripture ought to be received with a Soveraign Submission Above those Men which are only called Priests he sees several Dignities but above all he sees a great Monarch Spiritual and Temporal who calls himself Jesus Christs Lieutenant the Vible Head of the Church the Mouth of God who pronounces Oracles and who can never Erre who is above Emperours and Kings who can establish them and who can destroy them Behold what our Infidel may see in the Roman Church Neither he nor I do pronounce any thing we say not whether it be good or bad Going out from thence he enters into the Temples of the Protestants wherein he sees nothing of what he had seen in that place whence he came forth He sees there no Images no Altars no Sacrifices no Pomp no Ceremony They tell him for a reason of this difference God is jealous of his Honour he would not have any Service done to Images he hath expresly forbidden it in the Second Command of his Law The Sacrifices of Christians are Praises and Thanksgivings Works of Mercy Offerings and Alms these are the Oblation of the Heart and Affections and their Perfumes are their Prayers We have no Altars for since that Jesus Christ did Sacrifice his Sacred Person for our Salvation having no more Sacrifices we need no more Altars Our Infidel lending his Ear to what is said hears indeed nothing but Prayers and Hymns which are Sung Sermons Prayers addressed to God no Angels no Saints invoak'd They tell him Prayer is the Principal of our Homages and the first act of our Adoration therefore we reserve it for God We believe that we should offer a great Wrong to the Divinity if we did divide his Honour between Him and his Creatures They shew to this Infidel a small number of Sacraments administred with great simplicity Nothing is disguised from him They tell him What you see on this Table is true Bread and true Wine but it 's Bread and Wine mystical It is the Sacrament of Jesus Christ crucified it is the Symbol of his Flesh and Blood and the precious Pledge of the Love of God the Seal of our Justification and One of the Means of our Sanctification But the Grace which is adjoyned doth not destroy Nature Instead of causing him to adore what his Senses tell him to be Bread They tell him Take heed lest under any Pretence whatever you render to the Creature that Honour which is due only to the Creator for he that said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve will not be paid with any Excuses it will not avail to say I supposed that my Saviour came under that appearance of Bread Our Infidel sees a Religion which keeps nothing secret from him under pretence of Mystery They do not tell him about the Word of God Walk therein as in a dangerous Way either read not at all or read with a Spirit of Submission for all that the Church hath taught you Do not believe what your Eyes will seem to tell you about your Lectures and whatsoever you may meet withal conclude nothing that may be opposite to the Faith
proves that the figurative Sense is a By-way He calls to his help the Types of the Old Testament He abridges what the Gentlemen of Port-Royal have said of the Laws and Rules of the Language to prove that these Words This is my Body cannot be taken in a figurative Sense Yea he refutes and he answers he labours to elude the Proof which we draw from these Words Do this in remembrance of me he expounds our Doctrine and thence draws Arguments for himself I grant that all these ways agree not with my designed Method and I should reckon my self to wander if I should Monsieur of Condom therein I still remember his Prayer which he makes to him that shall desire to answer this Treatise He is intreated to consider that if he would advance any thing he must not undertake to confute the Doctrine which it contains Monsieur of Condom will permit me to tell him That for to advance in his design he should not have undertaken to prove his Doctrine which he had only a design to explain Between him and us at present the Question is not about the Truth of Doctrines but only about their importance The Question is Whether many Disputes may vanish away by the Explications of the Faith of the Roman Church And if the Disputes remaining be as Capital as we would at first have made Men to believe He had undertaken to prove that these latter Disputes according to our Principles do not hurt the foundations of the Faith These are his Words Behold what was his Business and what he should have done But he changes quite he puts an Illusion on us He had promised us one thing and doth another for instead of proving that the Doctrines of Reality and Transubstantiation according to our Principles do not wound the Foundations of the Faith he proves that they are true I confess that this Turn is dextrous having almost nothing to say to colour a Doctrine of that importance and not willing to pass it by without speaking thereof he hath taken the part of proving it Without scruple I will pass over his Proofs Not but that I would do Justice to Monsieur of Condom and would aknowledge here as every where else his Wit his Delicateness and his Dexterity in turning curiously his ways of Reasoning But in fine Methinks I have read nothing in this place but what hath been said many times and whereto sufficient Answers have been often return'd It 's very hard to terminate so grand an Affair with so short an Instruction so short as we find here I will content my self therefore to conjure those who have any care of their Salvation to consult such Authors as have written on this Matter if the difficulties they may find in this place do occasion any such Scruple to arise in them I can hardly believe that such a thing may happen and I think that those who shall suffer themselves to be taken thereby shall have first designed to be deceived In all that Monsieur de Condom saith about the Eucharist there is nothing that maketh for his Subject and tends to our purpose but the Explication which he giv s to our Doctrine and what he calls Reflexion on the Doctrine of the Eucharist There first he confesses that there is nothing wherein we are so effectually opposite So the Dispute cannot be nullified by the Explications of our Beliefs Very far from that the more we explain to the bottom our selves saith he the more we shall find our selves contrary He also grants that it is an important Affair There is nothing saith he which appears more important in our Controversies since the Question is about the Presence of Jesus Christ himself So that Monsieur de Condom cannot yet do here what he had at first proposed to do that is to shew That the remaining Disputes are not so Capital as we at first would have made Men believe He goes yet beyond all that He pretends that it is the only important Controversie and that if we can satisfie ovr selves about it the rest shall vanish easily away That is it which these Words signifie One may wholly dissipate or reduce to very few things the others Subjects of their Complaints so that things be explained About all that we have somewhat to say First We would fain have Monsieur de Condom and all those Gentlemen which do sollicite us to a Reunion to discharge themselves of that Conceit That this the sole important Matter I grant that Reality with all its Attendants is the most important of our Controversies And its Attendants are Transubstantiation Adoration the Sacrifice the Retranchment of the Cup and Masses without Communicants Yet though they could satisfie us about them these Doctors may know that the rest would suffice to retain us in the Separation that we are in We will never worship Creatures nor Images under whatsoever Pretence It is not a business less Capital than that of the Eucharist We never will partake of a Worship composed of so many Ceremonies so opposite to the Spirit of Christian Religion We never will suffer the Veil of an Unknown Tongue to cover Divine Service We never will yield to a Discipline so relaxed as is that which settles Indulgences and will never receive that great Pomp of Human Satisfactions We never will acknowledge an Authority Superiour to that of Gods Word and will never receive any other Universal Head of the Church but Jesus Christ Let none be deceived all that appears Capital to us It is a great Illusion which the Doctors of the Roman Church offer continually to our People They suppose to them that Real Presence is the only important Affair that we have with them and that to the end they may conclude that the rest is nothing seeing this Point is tolerable according to us seeing we tolerate it in the Lutherans I therefore Advertize all that have a care of their Salvation to keep well their Guard on that side to repulse this Temptation holding for certain what I now declared That besides Real Presence we have many more things than needs to separate us from the Communion of the Roman Church Another thing whereof Monsieur de Condom shall permit me to Advertize him is That granting the importance of the Controversie of Reality he considers Reality in it self severed from its Attendants He passes with an unconceiveable swiftness Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Eucharist as if it were nothing He saith not a word of Masses without Communicants and regards the Sacrifice of the Mass and Retranchment of the Cup as Consequences which do rise necessarily from the Doctrine of Reality according to our own Confession So he makes his Fort of the Real Presence only and all this because he thinks to have found about it a great advantage in that we have done in regard to the Lutherans It is a Point wherein we shall give satisfaction anon to them that sincerely seek their Salvation and
Theirs and to make Profession of the Real Presence We have offered only to them in remaining still separate from them as We are both by Assemblies and by some Ceremonies external little important to tolerate them to regard them as our Brethren to receive them when they will come to us without obliging them to an express abjuration of the Doctrines that separate us Behold what we have offered And it is demanded of us That abandoning our Assemblies our Ceremonies and our Doctrines and particularly that of the Real Presence we should re-unite that is to say that we re-enter without any more ado into the Roman Church to believe the Real Presence or at least to make Profession of believing it There is so great difference between tolerating an Errour and to make Profession of believing that Errour that the former may be an action of Charity and the second cannot be but an abominable Hypocrisie The one serves towards Salvation and by the other we evidently hazard our Salvation I can say with assurance that if we should re-enter into the Lutheran Church and that we should bring back our People to them to make their Profession of the Real Presence we should commit a Crime that God would never pardon us After that they would have Ministers to lead back their People into the Roman Church without Mystery to make their Profession of the Real Presence which is a thousand times more dangerous than what we tolerate in the Lutherans 2. We may further tolerate the Real Presence of the Lutherans without tolerating that of the Roman Church because there is a very great difference between the one and the other But before we pass further it is good to remark that what those Doctours say is not true That we regard that Real Presence of the Lutherans as a light Errour It is a great Evil and to cure our Brethren of it we would willingly have given half our own Blood And what we have offered to tolerate them it was principally in hope to bring them back by little and little from their wandring If then we say that their is no Venom in that Opinion we understand it of mortal Venom and a killing One. It is enough to confess some Venom in an Opinion to acknowledge therein some Absurdities which dishonour Reason and blast Christian Religion and we acknowledge it too much in the Real Presence of the Lutherans But it is true that we believe not that it destroys any foundation of Faith We regard it principally in that manner wherein it is expressed in their Confession which saith Touching the Lords Supper they teach that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are truly present and are distributed to them who eat at the Lords Supper and condemn those who say the contrary There is nothing in these general Words that we might not subscribe to As for the manner of this Presence they are reserved and define it not They say Jesus Christ is there but we know not how If there be any which do pass rashly further in setling what they call Ubiquity that is to say the Presence of Christ's Humanity in all places of the World that passes not among them for a Fundamental Point The Real Presence of the Lutherans doth not destroy the Bread for they confess that the Signs are of true Bread and true Wine and according to that they do not suppose that God offers perpetually an Illusion to our Senses to make us see and feel a Body where there is not a Body They do not destroy the Sacrament seeing they leave the Signs entire The Real Presence of the Lutherans hath not for Attendants the Adoration of the Eucharist and obliges not Men to adore a Creature It doth not induce a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Among the Lutherans they have not retranched the Cup from the People In fine It is not accompanied with an infinite Number of Worships of Ceremonies and of Doctrines which be incompatible with the purity of the Faith In that Church they do not Worship Images they do not Invoke Saints they do not prostrate themselves before Relicks they serve God in a Known Tongue they acknowledge no Mediator but Jesus Christ no other Satisfaction but his Merit any other Indulgence but his Grace any other Soveraign Authority but his own and that of his Word In a word Let the Roman Church set her Real Presence in the same state as is that of the Lutherans and we will offer to them the same thing which we offer to these so they will not ask us any more that is to say that we will offer them a Toleration so that she will not demand us to re-enter into her Communion For yet once more We never offered to conjoyn with the Lutheran Church whilst they abide in the state wherein they are and we will never do it for any thing in the World 3. I must yet Advertize once more these Gentlemen that for to know the poyson of an Errour one must principally regard it in that which is diffused on practice both of the Worship and of Morality Then for to know how dangerous the Real Presence is we must not regard it in her self but in the Attendants given it that is Adoration the Sacrifice and the Retranchment of the Cup. There it is that the danger lies and that is it that the Lutherans have not No subtilty of the Ministers saith Monsieur de Condom shall ever be able to perswade Men of good Sense that bearing with the Reality which is the most important Point and the more difficult they ought not also to tolerate the rest How can the Ingenuity and Light of Monsieur of Condom permit him to say that What if they tolerate a Speculative Opinion which changes nothing in the Worship and in the Religion shall we be obliged to tolerate the Adoration of a Creature which is of all things most opposite to the Foundations of Faith If a Man be perswaded that God is in the Sun by a presence of Substance greater than that wherewith he is in the rest of the World it would be an absurd Opinion But I know not whether there be any Person that would damn a Man for that alone but if that Man would conclude from that Errour that Men ought to worship the Sun and should himself so worship it what Sentiment should we have of him As for me I would tolerate his Errour as a Visionary Thought but I would abhor him as an Idolater because of his Conclusion If then to perswade Men it may be sufficient to express things with a great Assurance I say there will never be any subtilty or disguise that may perswade Men of good Sense that Toleration for a Real Presence should induce to a Toleration for the Attendants which the Roman Church gives it They say to that That they are not Attendants given thereto but that they are Natural Attendants and that even the
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
That in the Letters of Mission whereof the Churches do charge the Deputies which go to Synods there be a Clause of Submission in these Terms We promise before God to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly being perswaded that God will preside by his Spirit c. To that Monsieur de Condom adds a Fact drawn from the Synod of Saint Foy Anno 1578. where some Overtures were made of Reconciliation with the Lutherans and deputed Four Men to whom was given an Absolute Power to terminate that Affair as should seem good to them Behold say they where ends the false delicateness of these Gentlemen They will not receive the Decisions of Councils they make no difficulty to put their Faith into the hands of Four Men who would be weary to be obliged to answer so many things that come to nothing What doth all that I pray you Doth that prove that we hold the Church for an Infallible Judge All that Monsieur de Condom says returns to this Reasoning or it returns to nothing Those who give their Synods power to judge Soveraignly of Points of Faith who promise Submission in the assurance that the Holy Ghost presides there and who retrench from the Communion of the Church those that would not submit to their Decision give to these Synods an Infallible Authority but the Calvinists do that therefore they give to to their Synods an Infallible Authority This Argument supposes false and concludes ill 1. It supposes false for it is not true that we promit our Synods a blind Submission What is said to them That we are perswaded that God will preside in the midst of them by his Spirit is a Clause of Civility whereof the Terms are not to be abused That signifies nothing but that we wish and hope that the Holy Ghost will direct them It is not true neither that the Synod of Sainte Foy have put the Faith of the Protestant Churches of France in deposito into the hands of Four Men for what was committed to them was not to make new Articles of Faith but only to compose a Formulary in general Terms which all the World might receive And they did not so far refer themselves wholly to their Judgment but that they reserved liberty not to follow them if they should chance to make some false Advance 2. This Argument concludes ill for from what Power we give to our Synods to Judge of the Points of Doctrine and do cut off those that will not submit to their Judgment Monsieur de Condom concludes that we attribute to them an Infallible Authority This Reasoning is worth nothing or this is good The Bishops and Archbishops do give Ordinances Councils Provincial and National in the Roman Church decide Points of Faith and cut off those that will not submit therefore they believe themselves Infallible I do not therefore think that the Bishops neither separately nor in their whole Body out of a General Council esteem themselves Infallible Must then the Priviledge of Infallibility be had to have the Power to Judge of a Point of Faith There would then be none but the Pope or the Council that could Judge thereof There must be an Order Every Society is in right of Judging of Controversies which arise in its bosom and that Member thereof that will not submit to that Judgment may be cast out of the Body Therefore we do properly complain That the Roman Church having pronounc'd against us in the Council of Trent after that did cast us out of their Body They used in that the right which appertains to every Society but we complain that they have unjustly condemned us The Question touching the Rights and Authorities of Councils and Synods deserves an Examen much more ample we will leave it as an Incident which Monsieur de Condom hath brought into his Book without necessity and only to entangle the state of the Question It imports nothing at the bottom what Authority Synods may have to know whether the Roman Religion is far distant from the Protestant which is properly the Affair here in agitation ARTICLE XVI Of the POPE and of his Authority I Follow the Order of Monsieur de Condom I finish by the Head of that great Body into which they would have us re-enter that is the Pope Here also after him a Point whereof we have made a stumbling Block without any reason What is the Pope It is the Principle of Unity the Cement of Union It 's a Head whereto all the Members have a relation and who makes the Uniting of the Church for Men know there is no Goverment more solid and that contributes more to the Conservation of States than the Monarchical What hurt then can there be to set upon the Body of the Church a Spiritual Monarch a Visible Head that may watch for its Conservation and may govern it Must not People be very Captious to make of that a cause of Separation I will regard well this Article at first under the same face that Monsicur of Condom doth The Pope is a Visible Head a Spiritual Monarch but who hath appointed this Monarch Is it possible that Men do not feel that this puts a prodigious difference between the Religion of Protestants and the Roman Religion To make it appear I suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would have the Government of his Church should be Aristocratical and that he hath put it into the hands of such whom he hath called Bishops and Priests whom he hath invested with equal Power I know well that this Principle is contested but once more I am not oblig'd to prove any thing in this Work I am permitted to suppose my Principles and in supposing them I must shew how they are incompatible with those of that Church whereunto they would have us return If then the Lord Jesus Christ hath setled a Government Aristocratick in his Church this kind of Government is of Divine Right and if it be of Divine Right none must be permitted to change it under whatsoever pretence The kind of Government is so much of the Essence of a State That the State changes absolutely loses its Name and its Form when the Government is changed All the World knows that a Kingdom which by a general Revolt shakes off the Yoke of its legal Master and then a Popular Government a Republick which by the violence of an Usurper becomes a Monarchy are no more what they were before and they would that without ruining the Church they may make a Monarchy thereof against the intention and design of Jesus Christ We do not understand that Suppose we also that this Soveraign Power exercised at Rome be an Usurped Power It is the Principle of Protestants Selon ce Principe is it possible that they would oblige us to submit to an Usurped Power If a Tyrant or Rebel had taken the place of the Legal Prince were it not extream baseness and a Crime of