the world occasion to talke of them or running into some inconvenience thereby You tell me very good news Father said I there 's no more now to be said but that a man may make it his business to seek out those opportunities since it is lawful for him not to avoid them Nay it is lawful to do so added he the famous Casuist Bazilius Pontius affirmes it and Father Bauny citing him confirmes his judgment which in his Treatise Of Repentance Qu. 4 pag. 94. is this A man may seek out an opportunity directly and out of set purpose primò per se when the spiritual or temporal concernment of our selves or our neighbour inclines him thereto In troth Father said I I think my self not awake when I hear religious men talk after this rate speak conscientiously are you of this opinion No truly said the Father Then said I you speak against your conscience Not at all said he I did not speak in that according to my conscience but according to that of Pontius and Father Bauny And you may safely follow where they lead for they are excellent men How Father because they have put these three lines into their books shall it be lawful to seek the opportunities of sinning I thought we should have taken no other rule then that of the Scripture and the Tradition of the Church not that of your Casuists Nay then cries out the Father you put me in mind of these Jansenists Do you think that Father Bauny and Bazilius Pontius cannot make good their opinions as probable I am not satisfied with probability I look for security I see then sayes the good Father you understand nothing of the Doctrine of Probable Opinions which if you did you would talk after another rate I must needs take a little pains with you as to that point you will not repent your coming hither for without that you can understand nothing it being the foundation and A. B. C. of all our Morality I was very glad to see him fallen upon the subject where I would have had him whereupon I took occasion to entreat him to explain what a probable opinion was Our Authors said he will give you a better accout of it then I can Thus they generally describe it all and among others our twenty four An Opinion is then called probable when it is grounded upon reasons of some consideration Whence it sometimes comes to pass that the authority of one grave Doctor may render an opinion probable The reason this That a man absolutely devoted to study would not maintain an opinion if he were not induc'd to do it by a good and sufficient reason Which granted said I one onely Doctor may turn mens consciences topsie turvy and yet all will be secure You must neither laugh at nor think to oppose this doctrine the â—â—deavours of the Jansenists to do it proved ineffectual no it is too well grounded to be so shaken Mark what Sanchez one of the most eminent of our Fathers sayes You haply question whether the authority of one good and learned Doctor renders an opinion probable To Which I answer it does And this is affirmed by Angelus Sylv. Navarr Emanuel Sa. c. It is thus prov'd A probable opinion is that which is grounded upon something considerable But the authority of a knowing and godly man is of no small consideration but rather of great consideration For take the reason along with you if the testimony of such a man be of great weight to assure us that such a thing happened for instance at Rome why shall it not have the same effect in a question of Morality The comparison said I deduc'd from the things of this world to matters of conscience is very pleasant Have patience reply'd he Sanchez answers that in the lines next ensuing And the restriction which some Authors make in this case I do not approve viz. that the Authority of such a Doâ—tor is sufficient as to the things of humane right but not in those of Divine For it is of great weight in both Father said I to deal freely with you I shall not stand to this rule What assurance have I that your Doctors taking so much freedome to examine things by reason what seems certain to one will seem such to all the rest there being such a strange diversity of judgments You understand not the case sayes the Father interrupting my discourse they are indeed often of several opinions but that breaks no squares Every one makes his own good and probable There 's nothing so clear as that they are not all of the same judgment nay on the contrary they never almost agree and yet all this makes for the best There are few questions wherein one does not hold the affirmative the other the negative yet in all these cases both the one and the other of the contradictory opinions is probable Whence Diana upon a certain occasion said Pontius and Zanchez are of contrary opinions but being both learned men either makes his opinion probable But Father said I a man must needs be at a great loss which to embrace Not at all sayes he he is onely to follow the opinion he is most inclin'd to What though the other be the more probable It matters not said he And the other more certaine It matters not sayes the Father again take it explain'd by Emanuel Sa of our Society A man may do what he conceives lawful according to a probable opinion though the contrary be the more certain For this the opinion of one grave Doctor is sufficient But if an opinion be both less probable and less certain may a man lawfully follow it discarding what he believes more probable and more sure Once more he may said he hear Filiutius that great Jesuit of Rome It is lawful to follow the less probable opinion though it be the less certain It is the common opinion of the more modern Authors Are you not satisfied We are indeed now at randome Father said I gramercy your probable opinions This is an excelent liberty of conscience But for you Casuists may you take the same freedome in your Answers We do sayes he and so answer what we think good or rather what we conceive will prove most satisfactory to those that ask us For these are our directions taken out of our Fathers Layman Vasquez Sanchez and our 24. These are the words of Layman whom the book of our 24 hath followed A Doctor being consulted may give an advice not onely such as is probable according to his own opinion but what is contrary to his opinion if so it be accounted probable by others especially when this advice though contrary to his judgment happens to be more acceptable and more for the interest of him that consults him Si fortè haec illi favorabilior seu exoptatior sit But I hold further that it will be prudence in him to giue those who come to him such advice as is
better inform'd about the difference there is between them and the Jansenists concerning what they call actual grace I addressed my self to the good Father desiring him to afford me some little instruction and explaine that terme whereof I told him I knew not the meaning With all my heart reply'd he I have a particular affection for the curious Take the definition of it By actual grace we mean an inspiration of God whereby he discovers his will unto us and stirs up in us a desire to accomplish it And what controversie said I doth this breed between you and the Jansenists This reply'd he that we would have God bestow actuall graces on all men in every particular temptation for we hold that if a man have not in every temptation that actual grace to restrain him from sinning what sin soever he may commit cannot be imputed to him On the contrary the Jansenists affirm that sins committed without this presence of actual grace are nevertheless imputable But they are a sort of pittiful souls I guess'd at what he would say yet to clear it a little more fully Father said I to him this terme of actual grace I know not how to digest it 's a meat I am not us'd to would you but do me the favour to tell me the same thing without using that terme I should think it a great obligation To do that said the Father I am onely to put the definition instead of the definitum that alters not the sense of the discourse with all my heart We hold then as an undeniable principle That an action cannot be imputed as sin if God before it be committed give us not a knowledge of the evil of it and an inspiration exciting us to avoid it Have I now express'd my self home I was not a little astonish'd at the discourse which granted all sins of surprise and all committed out of a pure oblivion of God are not to be imputed whereupon turning to my Jansenist I knew by his countenance what little credit he gave it But he continuing silent Father said I I wish what you say were true and that you could make it good How said he you would have it prov'd you shall be satisfied be that upon my account Upon that he went for his Books while I and my friend fell into discourse Did ever mâ—n talk thus said I Is this such news to you reply'd he Assure your self that neither Fathers nor Popes nor Councils nor the Scâ—iptures nor any books of Devotion even in these last times ever spoke after this rate but indeed for Casuists and new Schoolmen he can easily furnish you But such reply'd I if they clash ever so little with Tradition I can as easily laugh at You are in the right said he to me at which word in comes the Father loaden with books and presenting me with the first came to his hand There said he read Father Bauny's Summary of sins 't is the fifth Edition whence you may infer the goodness of the Book 'T is pitty said my Jansenist to me whispering that this should be condemn'd at Rome and by the Bâ—shops of France Turn said the Father to pag. 906. I did and found these words For a man to sin and stand guilty in the sight of God he must know that the thing he is about to do is naught or at least doubt fear or imagine that God takes no pleasure in the action wherein he is employ'd that he forbids it and all this notwithstanding to do it to break through the hedge and exceed his bounds A very good beginning said I to him But note by the way what Envy is reply'd he This very passage gave Monsieur Haillor occasion before he became one of us to abuse Father Bauny applying to him these words Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Behold him that takes away the sins of the world It is said I a new kind of redemption this of Father Bauny's But would you have a more authentick proof continu'd he take this book of Father Annats This is the last of his writing against Monsieur Arnauld turn to pag. 34. where the leaf is turn'd down and read the lines I have mark'd with black lead they are golden ones There I found these words He who hath not any thought of God nor yet of his own sins nor any apprehension that is as he explain'd it any knowledge of the obligation lies upon him to exercise acts of the love of God or of contrition hath no actual grace to exercise those acts but it must be also acknowledg'd that he is not guilty of any sin if he omit them and that if he be damn'd it will not be for any thing relating to that omission And some few lines lower And the same thing may be affirm'd of sins of commission See now sayes the Father how he speaks of the sins of Omission and Commission he forgets nothing what say you to it I am extremely well satisfied reply'd I what excellent consequences may be deduced from it I am already over head and ears in them O what what mysteries am I rapt into I see a far greater number justified by this ignorance and forgetfulness of God then by Grace and the Sacraments But Father does this any more then bring me into a fools paradise Is not this something like that sufficiency which sufficeth not I am extremely afraid of the Distinguo I have been trapann'd there already do you speak sincerely How said the Father a little enflam'd this is no jesting matter here is not any equivocation I am in earnest said I to him but the excess of my desire it should be so puts me into some fear it may not Take then for your better information the writings of Monsieur le Moine who hath taught it openly in Sorbonne He indeed learnt it first from us but he hath unravell'd the business excellently well O what a noble structure hath he made of it He shews that to make an action to be a sin there is a necessity all these things be transacted in the soul Read and weigh every word I read in Latin what you find here in English 1. On the one side God infuses into the soul a certain love which inclines her towards the thing commandâ—d and on the other the rebellious concupiscence presses her to the contrary 2. God inspires her with a knowledge of her weakness 3. God inspires her with a knowledge of the physician that must cure her 4. God inspires her with a desire to be cur'd 5. God instills into her a desire to pray to him and implore his assistance Now if all these things pass not in the soul sayes the Jesuit the action is not properly sin and consequently not imputable as Monsieur le Moine affirmes in the same place and all throughout the discourse Are you not yet satisfied with Authorities But all modern whisper'd my Jansanist 'T is very well said I applying my self to the Father
but that they treat of questions of much curiosity and niceness as to that point and particularly when they have to do with persons that are either married or contracted This brought into play the most extravagant and the most obscene questions that can fall into mans imagination He cited as many as might very well furnish me with matter for divers Letters but I shall not so much as give you the citations because you shew my Letters to all persons indifferently and I should be loth to find entertainment for such as make no other advantage of their reading then their diversion The onely thing I dare quote to you of all he shewed me in their books is what you have in Father Bauny's Summary of Sins pag. 165 concerning certain little privacies which be there explaines provided a man direct his intention aright as to pass for a Gallant and you will wonder to find in pag. 148 a principle of Morality concerning the power which he sayes that Virgins have to dispose of their virginity without the consent of Parents to this effect When that is done with the consent of the Maid though the Father have just cause to be troubled at tâ— yet neither she nor the person to whom she hath prostituted herself hath done him any injury nor as to what concerns him violated any law For the Maid is in possession of her virginity as well as of her body she may dispose of it as she pleases to whom she pleases death or mutilation of members onely excepted But this pattern judge of the whole piece This put me in mind of a passage in a Heathen Poet who was certainly a better Casuist then these Fathers since he affirmes that a Maid's Virginity does not absolutely belong to her self that one part belâ—ngs to the Father and another to the Mother wi hâ—ut whom she cannot dispose of it no not in order to marriage And I much question whether there be any Judge that being to make a Law in this case would not take the clear contrary to this Maxime of Father Bauny This is all I can afford you of the whole discourse that passed between us and which lasted so long that I was forced to entreat the Father to pitch upon another subject He did so and entertain'd me with certain regulations about Womens cloths to this effect We shall say nothing of those who are guilty of any dishonest inclinations but the rest Escobar sayes tr 1. ex 8. n. 5. If a woman dress her self gorgeously without any evil intention but onely to comply with the natural inclination she hath to be vaine ob naturalem fastûs inclinationem either it is but a venial sin or it is no sin at all And Father Bauny in his Summary of Sins c. 46. pag. 1094. sayes that though a woman be sensible of the ill effect her curiosity in dressing her self would work both in the bodies and souls of those who should see her in rich and gorgeous apparel yet were it no sin at all in her to make use thereof And he cites among others our Father Sanchez as being of the same opinion But Father said I what answer can your Authors make to those passages of Scripture which speak so expresly against the least things of that kind Lessius reply'd he hath fully salv'd all in his book de Just l. 4. c. 4. d. 14. n. 11. saying that those places of Scripture were precepts directed onely to the women of that time that by their modesty they might give such example as should be for the edification of the heathen And whence took he that note said I It matters not whence he had it reply'd he it is sufficient that the sentiments of these great men do alwayes imply a probability in themselves But Father le Moine does somewhat moderate that general permission for he will not allow it in ancient women it is in his Easie Devotion and among other places in pag. 127. 157. 163. Youth sayes he may by a certaine natural right dress it self more then ordinary Gorgeous attire is allowable in an age which is as it were the flower and prime of life But a man must accordingly confine himself thereto it were as extravagant to do it in a season contrary to that as to think to gather roses in the snow It is a prerogative of the stars onely to be alwayes as it were in the Ball as flourishing in perpetual youth The safest course then were for a man to take the advice of his reason and a good looking-glass and comply as well with decency as necessity and then withdraw when night approches This indeed argues abundance of judgment said I. But that you may see continu'd he how generally provident our Fathers have been I am to tell you that in regard it would be many times to no purpose to allow young women to trim up themselves if they have not money at their own disposall there is another maxime establish'd for their encouragement You have it in Escobar in the Chapter of Theft tr 1. ex 9. n. 13. A woman sayes he may take money from her hâ—sband upon divers occasions and among others she may take it to game withall to buy her clothes and to get other things that she stands in need of In troth Father this comes off excellently well There are a many other things reply'd he might be insisted on but we must omit them to speak of those important Maximes which facilitate the exercise of holy things as for instance the manner of hearing Masse Our greatest Divines Gasper Hurtado de Sacr. to 2. d. 5. dist 2. and Conink q. 83. a. 6. n. 197 have taught as to this business That it is enough to be bodily present at Masse though a man be absent as to the mind provided he behave himself with a certain external respectfulness Nay Vasquez is a little more indulgent for he sayes that a man fulfills the precept of hearing Masse even though he have not the least inâ—ention to hear it All this you may find also in Escobar tr 1. ex 11. num 74. and 107. and further in tr 1. ex 1. n. 116. where to make the business more evident he exemplifies in those that are brought by force to Masse and are fully resolvâ—d not to hear it I should never have believed it said I if another had told me so much To be short sayes he this is a thing which stands in some need of the authority of these great men as also what Escobar sayes in tr 1. ex 11. num 31. That a wicked intention as haply that of looking on women with an impure desire joyned with that of hearing Masse as a man ought hinders not a man from fully performing the duty nec obest alia prava intentio ut aspiciendi libidinosè faeminas But there is yet a thing of extraordinary convenience in our learned Turrianus Select p. 2. d. 16. dub 7. That a man may
that you have discovered so abominable a wish Nay so far have you been from having any secret desires of their salvation that you have publikly prayed for their damnation and after you had betray'd that impious wish in the City of Caen to the scandal of the whole Church you have not blush'd afterwards to maintain at Paris even in your printed books so diabolical an action To raile and speak unworthily of what is most sacred to traduce Virgins and Priests falsly and scandalously and after all to wish and pray for their damnation are certainly such excesses against Piety as cannot admit any thing beyond them I know not Fathers how you can avoid confusion and how it should come into your thoughts to charge me with want of charity who in all I have said have been strictly guided by Truth and Modesty without making reflections on the horrid breaches of charity which you your selves are guilty of by such deplorable extremities To conclude then Fathers with another reproch you fasten on me viz. that of the great number I produce of your Maximes there are some that you had been charg'd with before whence you take occasion to be troubled that I repeat some things that had been already said I make this answer to it that in regard you had made no advantage of what had been said to you before I have purposely minded you of it again For what benefit hath ensued after that so many learned Doctors nay the whole Universitie have by so many books reprov'd you for these things What have your Fathers Annat Causin Pintereau and le Moine done in the Answers they have made thereto but load those with calumnies who had given you such good counsel Have you suppressed the books wherein those wicked Maximes were taugâ—t Have you silenced the Authors Are you ever the more circumspect And is it not since that time that Escobar hath been so often printed in France and the Low-Countreys and that your Fathers Cellot Bagot Bauny Amicus le Moine and others make it their business more then ever to publish dayly the same things nay others tending more to Libertinisme then any before Be not therefore so much troubled Fathers either that I have reproched you with the Maximes you have not quitted or that I charge you with new ones or lastly that I have laugh'd at all You need do no more then consider them well to find therein your own confusion and my vindication Who can without laughter reflect on Father Bauny's decision for him that sets a mans barn on fire that of Father Cellot concerning restitution Sanchez's his regulation in favour of Fortune-tellers the manner how Hurtado makes a man avoid the sin of Duelling by walking in a field and there expecting another Father Bauney's Complements to avoid Usury the way to avoid Simony by a shift of the intention and that of avoiding lying by speaking one while aloud another low and such like opinions of the gravest among your Doctors Needs there any thing further for my justification and is there ought more suitable to vanity then Derision as Tertullian saith But Fathers the corruption of manners introduced by your Maximes deserves another manner of consideration and we may well make this question with the same Tertullian Ought we to laugh at their folly or bemoane their blindness Rideam Vanitatem an exprobrem caecitatem I conceive Fathers a man is at liberty either to laugh at or lament it Haec tolerabiliùs vel ridentur vel flentur saith Saint Augustine Acknowledge then that there is a time to laugh and a time to weep as the Scripture saith For my part Fathers it is my wish that I find not these words of the Proverbs verified in you viz. That if a wise man contend with a foolish man whether he be angry or laugh there is no rest Reverend Fathers At the closure of this Letter came to my hands a piece published by you wherein you charge me with imposture in relation to six of your Maximes cited by me as also with a correspondence with Hereticks I hope you will find a satisfactory answer thereto and that within a short time after which I presume you will not be over-earnest in continuing this kind of accusation To the same LETTER XII REVEREND FATHERS I Was ready to write something by way of answer to the reproches you have darted at me for this good space in your writings wherein you call me Reprobate Sycophant Ignorant the Fool in the Play Impostor Calumniator Cheat Heretick Calvin st disguis'd Disciple of Du-Mouliâ— a man possessed with a Legion of Devils and what you please your selves I was also desirous the world should understand why you treat me after this rate for I sh uld be much troubled it believed any such thing of me and so was resolv'd to call you to account for your Calumnies and impostures when there come to my hands your answers wherein you charge me with the same This hath oblig'd mâ— to change my resolution yet not so but that I shall still continue it in some sort since that my hope is in vindicating my selfe to convince you of more t u impostures then you have imputed false to me Certainly Fathers you are more to be suspected then I am For 't is not likely that being alone as I am without force or any humane assistance against so great a body and being not back'd by any thing but truth and sincerity I should put all at stake by exposing my selfe to be charg'd with impostures It is too too easie to discover falsities in questions of fact such as these are I should not were I faulty want accusers nor they justice Wi h you Fathers the case is much otherwise for you may say against me what you please and yet I have not any to make my complaint to This difference of our conditions must needs oblige me to a great caution though other considerations should not induce me thereto However you treat me as an eminent impostor and so you force me to reply and yet you know that cannot be done without exposing afresh and discovering more fully the severall heads of your Morality wh ch puts me into some doubt whether you are so great Polititians as you would seeme The warre is remov'd into your Quarters and carry'd on at your charge and though you have endeavoured so to pester the questions with Schoole termes that the answers thereto being long obscure and intricate might prove tedious and distastefu l yet will you not haply have your desires for I shall make it my maine businesse to avoid importunity as much as may be in this kind of writing Your Maximes must still have something of diversion in them wherewith the world iâ— extremely taken All I desire is that you would remember that you your selves engage me into this discovery and let the world see who shall get the better The first of your impostures is upon Vasquez's opinion concerning
declared that they are not separated from the Church as to what relates to that mysterie but onely by reason of the adoration which the Catholicks do to the Eucharist Get all the passages I have cited out of the books of Port-Royall subscribed at Geneva and not onely those passages but the whole treatises written concerning this mysterie as the book of Frequent Communion The Explication of the ceremonies of the Masse The Exercise during Mass Reasons of suspension from the Blessed Sacrament The Hymnes of the Houres of Port-Royal translated c. In a word cause that sacred institution of constantly adoring Jesus Christ enclos'd in the Eucharist to be establish'd at Charenton as it is at Port-Royal and it will be the most considerable service you can do the Church since that then Port-Royal shall not conspire with Geneva but Geneva with Port-Royal and the whole Church You could not certainly Fathers have been more unfortunate in any thing then in charging Port-Royal with not believing the Eucharist but I will discover what it was that engag'd you to do it You know I am a little acquainted with your Politicks you have stretch'd them very hard upon this occasion If Monsieur de Saint Cyran and Monsieur Arnauld had onely deliver'd what was to be believ'd concerning that mysterie and not what men ought to do to be prepar'd for it they had been the best Catholicks in the world and there had been no equivocations found in their termes of reall presence and trans-substantiation But since there is a necessitie that all those who oppose your degenerate principles should be Hereticks nay in that very point wherein they condemn them how could Monsieur Arnauld scape upon the Eucharist when he had writ an express Treatise against your profanations of that Sacrament How Fathers Should he say with hope not to be called to an account That the body of Jesus Christ ought not to be given those who fall often into the same crimes and discover not the least hope of amendment and that they ought to be kept for some time from the Altar that having purified themselves by a sincere repentance they may approch it afterwards to their comfort Do not Fathers by any means suffer such things to be spoken you would not be importun'd by so many people at your Confession-seats For your Father Brisacier sayes that if you follow'd not this method you should not apply the bloud of Jesus Christ to any one 'T were much better for you that men followed the practise of your Societie which your Father Mascarennas cites in a certain book approved by your Doctors nay even by your Reverend Father General and is this That all manner of persons even Priests themselves may receive the body of Jesus Christ the very day wherein they have defiled themselves with abominable sins That men are so far from being guilty of any irreverence in such communions that on the contrary they are to be commended when they frequent them in that manner That the Confessours ought not to divert them and that on the contrary it is their duty to advise those who have but newly committed those crimes to communicate immediately in as much as though the Church hath forbidden it yet that prohibition is abolish'd by the universal practise of the whole earth This it is Fathers to have Jesuits scatter'd over the whole earth This is the universal practise that you have introduc'd and which you endeavour to see establish'd It matters not that the tables of Jesus Christ be fill'd with abomination so your Churches be throng'd with people Be sure then to make the opposers hereof Hereticks upon the Blessed Sacrament it must be so what ever it cost But how will you be able to do it after so many irrefragable testimonies as they have given of their faith Are you not afraid I should quote the four grand proofs you produce of their heresie You might very well Fathers and I know no reason I should spare you so much shame Let us then examine the first Monsieur de Saint Cyran sayes Father Meynier comforting a friend of his upon the death of his Mother Tom. 1. Let. 14. saies that the most acceptable sacrifice that a man can offer to God upon these occasions is that of Patience ergo he is a Calvinist This is very subtilly argued Fathers and it is a question with me whether any one see the reason of this consequence Take it from himself Because saith this great Controvertist he therefore believes not the sacrifice of the Mass for that is it which is the most acceptable to God of any Who now dares say the Jesuits cannot dispute They can do it in such a manner that they are able to make heretical what discourses they please even to the Scripture it self For is it not an heresie to say as the wise man does There is nothing worse then to love money as if Adulteries Murthers and Idolatrie were not greater crimes And who is there almost who does not frequently fall into such expressions and that for instance the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart is the most acceptable in the sight of God for that in such discourses a man onely makes a comparison between certain interiour virtues among themselves without reflection on the sacrifice of the Mass which is of a different order and of an infinitely higher Nature Is not this to be ridiculous Fathers and must I needs to heighten your confusion acquaint you with the termes of that very Letter where Monsieur de Saint Cyran speaks of the sacrifice of the Mass as of the most excellent of all saying That men offer unto God every day and in all places the sacrifice o the Body of his Son who could not find A MORE EXCELLENT WAY then that whereby to honour his Father And afterwards That Jesus Christ at his death oblig'd us to take of his sacrificed body to make the sacrifice of ours to be the more acceptable to him and that he being also united to us when we die might strengthen us by sanctifying with his presence the last sacrifice we make unto God of our lives and of our bodies Now play the Sycophants take no notice of any thing of all this and confidently affirme that he avoided communicating at his death as you do pag. 33. and that he believ'd not the sacrifice of the Mass For there is nothing too difficult for such as are Detractors by Profession And that you are such your second proof is a great testimony To make late Monsieur de Saint Cyran to whom you attribute the book of Petrus Aurelius a Calvinist you produce a passage wherein Aurelius explaines pag. 89. the carriage of the Church towards such Priests and Bishops as she would depose or degrade The Church saith he not being able to take away the power of the order because the character of it is not to be blotted out she does all she can she puts out of her memory that
efficacious grace hath not been condemned And indeed it is so vigorously maintained by Saint Augustine by Saint Thomas and all his School by so many Popes and Councells and by universall Tradition that it were impiety to charge it with heresy Now all those that you treat as Hereticks declare that they find not any thing in Jansenius but that doctrine of efficacious grace And this is the onely thing they maintain at Rome You have acknowledged it your self Cavil p. 35. where you have declared that speaking before the Pope they said not a word of the Propositions ne verbum quidem and that they spent the whole time in discoursing of efficacious grace And so whether they are deceived or not in this supposition thus much is at least cleare that the sense they suppose is not hereticall and consequently they are no hereticks For to cut the knot in a word either Jansenius hath not taught any thing but efficacious grace or he hath taught something else in the former case he is charged with no errours in the latter he hath no compurgators All the question then is to know whether Jansenius hath taught any thing in effect besides efficacious grace and if it be found that he hath you shall have the reputation of having understood him best but they shall not be so unfortunate as to have err'd in matters of faith We are therefore to give God the praise Father that in effect there is no heresy in the Church since that the businesse in agitation concernes onely matter of fact whence there cannot any issue For the Church decides points of Faith with a divine authority and she cuts off all those that refuse to embrace them but she proceeds otherwise in matters of fact And the reason of it is that our Salvation is fastened to the faith that hath been revealed to us and is preserved in the Church by Tradition but it hath not any dependence on other particular matters of fact which have not been revealed from God Thus is a man obliged to believe that it is not impossible to keep the Commandements of God but is not obliged to know what Jansenius hath taught upon that subject God therefore in the determination of points of faith guides the Church by the assistance of his spirit which cannot erre whereas in matters of fact he leaves her to sence and reason the natural judges thereof For it is God only that can instruct the Church in matters of Faith but there needs no more then to read Jansenius to know whether such and such propositions be in his book And thence it comes that it is heresie to oppose decisions of faith because it is the opposition of a mans own spirit to the spirit of God But it is not heresie though it may haply be temeritie not to believe certain particular matters of fact because it is no more then opposing Reason which may be clear to an Authoritie that is great but in that not infallible This is generally acknowledg'd by all Divines as is apparent by this Maxime of Cardinal Bellarmine of your Societie General Councils legally conven'd cannot erre in defining articles of Faith but they erre in questions of fact And elsewhere The Pope as Pope though in the head of an Oecumenical Council may erre in particular controversies relating to matter of fact such as principally depend upon information and the deposition of witnesses And Cardinal Baronius in like manner We must absolutely submit to General Councils in point of Fai h but for what concerns particular persons and their writings the censures that have been past upon them have not haply been observ'd with the rigour they ought because there is not any one whose case iâ— may not be to be mistaken therein ' â—as upon this ground that my Lord Arch-Bishop of Tholouse drew this rule ouâ— of the Letters of two eminent Popes Saint Leo and Pelagius II. That the proper object of Councils is Faith and that whatsoever is resolved herein besides what relates to Faith may be review'd and examin'd whereas wh t hath once been decided in matter of faith ought not to be brought into any after examination because as Tertulian saith the rule of Faith is inalterable and irretractable Thence it comes to pass that whereas General and Legitimate Councils have never been found contrarie one to another in points of Faith because as Monsieur de Tholouse saies it is not allowed that what had been already decided in matter of faith shoul be brought into after-examination these very same Councils have been observ'd to differ in matters of fact where the d fference was abâ—ut the understanding of an Author because as the same Monsieur de Tholouse saies it is not allowed that what had been already decided in matter of faith should be brought into after examination these very same Councils have been observ'd to differ in matters of fact where the difference was about understanding of an Author because the same Monsieur de Tholouse saies after the Popes whom he cites whatsoever is determined in Councils out of the sphere of matters of Faith may be reviewed and re-examined Thus do the IV. and V. Councils seem to be contrary one to another in the interpretation of the same Authors and the same happened between two Popes upon a Proposition of certain Monks of Scythia For after that Pope Hormisdas had condemn'd it as understanding it in an ill sense Pope John II. his successor examining it anew and taking it in a good sensâ— approv'd and declar'd it to be Catholick Will you hereupon affirme that one of these Popes was an Heretick Or must you not rather confess that provided a man condemn the heretical sense which a Pope had suppos'd to have been in a writing he is not an heretick because he condemns not that writing taking it in a sense wherein it is certain the Pope hath not condemn'd it since that otherwise one of those Popes must needs have fallen into Errour I thought it not amiss Father to accustome you to those contrarieties that happen among Catholicks upon questions of fact about the understanding the sense of an Author by giving you thereupon instances of one Father of the Church against another of a Pope against a Pope and of a Council against a Council so to lead you by the hand to other examples of a like opposition but more disproportionate For in those you shall find Cou cils and Popes on the one side and Jesuits on the other opposing their decisions concerning the sense of an Author and yet you are so far from charging those of your Brotherhood with heresie for so doing that you think them not guiltie of temerity for it You know Father that the writings of Origen have been condemn'd by divers Councils and several Popes and particularly by the fifth general Council as containing heresie and among others that of reconciliati n of the Devils at the day of Judgment Do you think hereupon
ground your adversaries without errour and the Church without Heresie And this Father is the end I aim'd at which I thought so considerable in regard of Religion that I cannot easily apprehend how those whom you have given so much occasion to speak can still be silent Though they were not moved at the injuries you do them in particular yet those the Church endures should methinks engage them to some resentment thereof besides the question I make whether Ecclesiasticks may expose their reputation to calumny especially in matters of faith And yet they give you leave to say what you please insomuch that were it not for the occasion you have accidentally given me to say something it may be there had been no opposition made to those scandalous suggestions you so liberally scatter up and down So that I am astonish'd at their patience and that so much the more by reason I am confident it cannot proceed either from weakness or want of courage as knowing they cannot be unfurnish'd either with reasons for their own vindication or zeal for the truth And yet I find them so religiously silent that I fear me they are guilty of some excess as to that point For my part Father I thought it matter of duty to do what I have Disturb not the peace of the Church and I shall be tender of yours But while you make it your business to put all things into tumult and distraction the children of peace must needs be oblig'd to do all that lies in their power to have the peace kept therein March 24. 1657. S. N. The French Author having not by reason of the violent prosecutions of the JESUITS the liberty to print his Letters as he pleased was forced to send the XVII to OSNABRUK an obscure place in Germany where things are commonly ill Printed Being done there in a very small character it occasioned the ensuing Post-script Reverend Father IF you are troubled to read this Letter as being not in an handsome full character you have none to quarrel at but your self I cannot get priviledges as you can You have such whereby you oppose even MIRACLES I have not whereby to vindicate my self The printing houses are perpetually haunted Would you not advise me your self to forbear writing any more to you amidst these extremities For it is too great a distraction to be reduced to the impression of OSNABRUK In the Post-script to the XVII Letter is this expression you have priviledges to oppose MIRACLES meaning the Jesuits The Author alludes to a Miracle wrought the last year at Port-Royal upon a young Gentlewoman It was attested to be such by divers Physicians and others and yet the Jesuits would never acknowledge it to be any but writ against it with all the bitterness that could be the more to discredit it because done at that place ERRATA PAg 42. l. 23. r. met p. 48. l. 13. r. grounded p. 52. l. 6. r. as p. 62. l. 15. r. away with these p. 79. l. 25. r. dis-circumspection p. 82. l. 4. r. Directors p. 84. l. 7. r. by p. 86. l. 4. r. were as p. 105. l. 16. r. whether ib. l. 17. r. superfluity p 112. l. 14. r. probable ib. l. 25. r. persons p. 113. l. 1. r. to p. 114. l. 5. r. dispose p. 125. l. 22. r. when there p. 140. l. 4. r. et p. 142. l. 5. r. Tannerus p. 162. l. 19. r. that p. 166. l. 13. r. title p. 167. l. 16. r. was p. 168. l. 24. r. rather then p. 173. l. 3. r. even p. 188. r. over p. 191. l. 8. r. resolutions p. 200. l ult r. being p. 212. l. 17. r. change p. 228. l. 11. r. truly p. 237. l. 17. r. is not p. 256. l. 22. r. passages p. 285. l. 4. r. we p. 302. l. 24. r. may p. 304. l. 28. r. this p. 305. l. 4. dele and. p. 306. l. 19. r. probable p. 308. l. 13. r. one p. 318. l. 10. r. for p. 324. l. 11. r. must p. 364. l. 6. r. probable p. 379. l. 6. r. these p. 381. l. 19. r. it not p. 390. l. 22. r. hasty p. 398. l. 27. r. is p. 402. l. 7. r. it is p. 418. l. 14. r. fleshly p. 422. l. 27. r. impostures p. 423. l. 24. r. so as p. 433. l. 9. r. parishes p. 439. l. 20. r. is it not p 440. l. 16. r. at p. 449. l. 7. r. efficacious grace p. 473. l. 21. r. dis-acknowledge p. 475. l. 1. r. to clear p. 469. r. 1657. p. 489. l. 9. r. at mens THE END A CATALOGUE of some books Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane London I. Books written by H. Hammond D. D. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Test by H. Hammond D. D. in fol. 2. The Practical Catechisme with all other English Treatises of H. Hammond D. D. in two volumes in 4. 3. Dissertationes quatuor quibus Episcopatûs Jura ex S. Scripturis Primaeva Antiquitate adstruuntur contra sententiam D. Blondelii aliorum Authore Henrico Hammond D D. in 4. 4. A Letter of Resolution of six Queries in 12. 5. Of Schisme A Defence of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Romanists in 12. 6. Of Fundamentals in a notion referring to practice by H. Hammond D. D. in 12. 7. Paraenesis or seasonable exhortatory to all true sons of the Church of England in 12. 8. A Collection of several Replies and Vindications Published of late most of them in defence of the Church of England by H. Hammond D. D. Now put together in three Volumes Newly published in 4. 9. A Review of the Paraphrase and Annotations on all the Books of the New Testament with some Additions and alterations by H. Hammond D. D. in 8. II. Books and Sermons written by Jer. Taylor D. D. viz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundayes of the Year together with a Discourse of the Divine â—nstitution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministeal in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ second Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the dayes of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance rescued from Popular Errours in a large 8. Newly published 7. A Collection of Polemical and Moral Discourses in fol. Newly published 8. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12.