Deus qui fecit Imperatorem dum se super Imperatorem extollit jam quasi hominum excesserat metas se ut deum non ut hominem aestimârat from thence it is manifest that the Pope makes himself equal to God Almighty since as I have shewed before he raises himself above Kings and the Emperors But he is not contented with that he maintains he may give dispensations against that which the Apostles have ordained even against that which is contained in the Old and New Testament Papa dispensat contra Apostolum Papa dispensat contra vetus Testamentum say the Interpreters of the Pope in the Gloss upon the Chap. (b) Decretal In. 3. lib. 8. de concess praebendis Proposuit and upon the Canon (c) Causa 25. q. 1. sunt quidam Papa dispensat in Evangelio interpretando ipsum and Thomas Aquinas holds (d) 2ª 2 a◠quest 1. Artic. 10. that the edition of a new Crred belongs to the Authority of the Pope According to those principles Luther was condemned because he held that it was not at all in the power of the Church nor in the power of the Pope to establish new Articles of Faith as it is to be seen in the Bull of Leo X. that begins Exurge which is to be found in the end of the first Council of Lateran You may give to that Theologie what name you please but for my part I cannot chuse but think that to give dispensations against the Laws of the Apostle St. Paul to release men from observing what is written in the Old and New Testament may well be called more than Judaisme more than Mahometisme must be stiled Heathenisme and monstrous Impiety 2. The Pope takes upon himself the same Titles that we use to give but to God Almighty and unto Jesus Christ our Saviour the true Son of God IN the Book of Decretals of Gregory the IX (a) Titul 7. ad caput quanto personam Innocent III. saies that the Pope upon the earth holds the place not of a mere man but of God himself and according to that upon one of the Gates of Rome these words are to be found Paulo III. Optimo maximo in terris Deo To Paul III. the best and mightiest God upon the earth after that what title can one give to God Almighty Optimo maximo to attribute those titles to men who dares maintain that it is not an Impiety And lest some should believe that it is the fault of him who built that Gate who gave to the Pope titles which the Pope does not assume we are but to read the titles which the Pope takes to himself Martin V. sends his Embassadors to Constantinople and in the beginning of the instructions he gives them concerning the business of which he commands them to treat these are the titles which he takes upon himself sanctissimus beatissimus qui habet coeleste arbitrium qui est dominus in terris successor Petri Christus domini dominus universi Regum pater orbis lumen c. The most holy and most blessed who has celestial Authority who is Lordin the earth successor of Peter the Christ of the Lord the Lord of the Vniverse the Father of Kings the Light of the World c. Truly when you hear those great Tibles do not you believe that it is Christ himself which is spoken of the most holy and most blessed there is none but God who can be the most Holy and the most Blessed who is Arbitrator of Heaven and the Lord of Heaven and Earth What think you is it not God Almighty is it not to give him a Rival and A Competitour in his mighty power to give unto the Pope titles which belong but to the Divinity In fine these other titles following the Christ of the Lord the Lord of the Vniverse Father of Kings the light of the World c. Could you find in all the Scripture and in the Holy Fathers more stately and more magnificent titles to express the Kingdom the supream power the goodness and the highness of Christ our Lord If the Pope doth attribute to himelf the same titles and the same power which are attributed only to God Almighty is not this a good cause to say that it is a manifest Impiety And if the Roman Church be grounded upon the power of the Pope is there not good cause to say that it is grounded upon Impiety Such is the Religion of Rome it is not God Almighty who is worshipped in that Church it is the Pope Paulo III. Maximo optimo in terris Deo it is not the word of God which is received there for the word of truth it is the word of the Pope dispensat super Evangelium in the Roman Church it is not Jesus Christ who is the most holy one it is Martin it is Alexander Sixtus Innocent Clement or some other which you please who is Bishop of Rome Sanctissimus Beatissimus in the Roman Church it is not Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ of the Lord the Lord of the Vniverse the Father of Kings the Light of the World it is the Pople Martin Alexander Innocent Clement Christus Domini c. And to be brief it is not Jesus Christ if I may dare rehearse that Blasphemie who participates the human and the Divine nature it is the Pope who participates those two natures as it was proved in the Theologie of the Papists about the time that Luther began to be known in the world * Erasm in Epist ad Timoth and some while after Could ever Impiety have been raised up to an higher degree could the Devil himself have devised any thing more profane and do you think that the ambition which cast him down head-long into Hell was more criminal and more opposed to God Almighty's Majesty than the ambition of the Bishops of Rome SECTION II. The Covetousness of the Popes THE second point whereupon doth turn all the frame of the Roman Church is covetousness 'T was to heap up riches that Pope Boniface VIII began to traffick with Indulgences and Forgivenesses and to declare that the Popes Bulls had efficacy even in Purgatory and that they were therein exactly executed in favour of those souls for whose deliverance a sum of mony was given 't is to heap up great Treasures that the Roman Church doth hold that the Pope for a certain sum of mony may dispense in the degrees in which it is forbidden by the Law of God to contract Matrimony 't is by reason of a certain sum of mony that your sins are forgiven you how great and horrid soever they be It is to heap up riches that the Church of Rome sells Bishopricks Archbishopricks Cardinalships all kind of Dispensations and all kind of Ecclesiastical preferments in a word it is to heap up riches that the Pope sends his Legates into all the Kingdoms which would receive them to preach there Croisadoes and Jubilees and to distribute
my self engaged upon pain of a mortal Sin to recite every day the 119th Psalm wherefore I did read it every day with as much application as I could Ch. 1. §. 1. The obligation to recite it so often did never make me to loath and though I were weary oftentimes to Read or to hear Read I do not know how many fabulous Stories which are to be found in the Roman Breviary several thwart applications of the Scripture several Orisons and Litanies wherein they Pray to all the Saints one after another to obtain of them the things which we are to hope only from God Almighty yet I was never loath to hear the Scripture especially this Psalm whereunto I had some most peculiar Attractions I went to Church with joy I opened my Breviary with pleasure to Read that Psalm and I discovered therein every day some new glimps of Light which inticed me to have a great deal of Esteem for the Word of God Psalm 119. It is in that Psalm I learned that the Wor of God is an excellent remedy to Cure all the Diseases of our Souls (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. drawing them out of their Deboachments and a miraculous Preservative (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. to keep them from falling again into Sin Therein I learned that an infallible mark to be sure whether a man fears God or no is to know whether he be glad (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 74 to see and frequent those who put all their trust in his Holy Word Therein I learned that a very good way to become (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 98. Wiser than all our Enemies to have more * 99. understanding than all our Teachers * 100. to be Wiser than the Ancients is to love the Scriptures so that our Study be in them all the day long Therein I learned that the Word of God is an Holy Contract full of a great many very obliging Promises wherein the Lord has been pleased to agree with men (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 82. to comfort them in their afflictions (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 107 to strengthen them in their troubles to fulfil them (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 58. with his loving Mercies to save them (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 81. to deal well with them (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 65. to take them in his Protection and to deliver them Therein I learned that the Saints are to love the Word of God (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 154. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 170. above all Silver and Gold in the World that (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 72. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 127. it is their Meditations all the day long That the cause of their grief and trouble is to see that their Enemies which are no others than the Enemies of God (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 97. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 148. have forgotten his Holy Words despised them and banished them out of their hearts therein I learned that the Word of God (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 139. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 158. is sweeter than any thing that it is (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 103. a LAMP unto our Feet and a LIGHT unto our Path that (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 105. the entrance of the word of God gives LIGHT that it gives understanding unto the simple that this holy Word is (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 130. very Pure that it is (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 140. true from the beginning and that it (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 160. endureth for ever These Holy thoughts of a Prophet full of the Holy Ghost presented themselves every day unto my eyes with some new inticements and made me conceive so high an esteem of the word of God that I fully resolved to make the Holy Writings my peculiar Study I read first many times that Translation of the Bible which is called the Vulgar Translation then having obtained the permission of Reading the Scripture in a Vulgar Tongue knowing that one 's own Tongue prints in his mind more pure and more lively Notions I read the Translation of the Bible by the Doctorsof Louvain But whereas I heard say every day by those I conversed withal that the Bible was a Book full of Darkness that the Translations thereof had been corrupted by the Hereticks I read the New Testament in the Togue in which every body confesses it has been first written and as for the Old Testament the places which they say have been corrupted by those of the Reformed Church I conferred with the Translation of the Sventy Interpreters which I thought free from Corruption since it was done about 272 Years afore the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ Good God! how marvellous are the means thou art pleased to use to act thy Miracles would some body had told me at that time Oh you are plunged in many Errors and all that Study of the Scripture to which you give your self with so great an application it is the work of God who begins to pluck you from the Errors of Rome Alas I should have been amazed very much Yet for all that it is very true for if I had been altogether Ignorant of the Original Tongues of the Scripture I should have had some Reason or at least some pretence to mistrust that the places of the Scripture which are directly contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome Ch. 1. §. 2. had not been Translated according to the Originals or that the Interpreters had changed the sense and the signification of them as it is cried out so often by those of the Roman Church § 2. The Errors of the Roman Church whereof I was perswaded made me find in the Scriptures many difficulties many insufficiencies and many contradictions THe reading of the Scripture raised in my mind many difficulties Difficulties of the Scripture not that the Scripture is dark in it self but because I had my understanding full of the Errors of Rome and I did endevour to find those Errors in the Scripture in the places from whence the Roman Writers are wont to draw them This place of (a) Matth. 16.18 St. Matthew Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will Build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it c. That of (b) Luke 22.32 St. Luke I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not and that (a) John 21.16 of St. John Feed my Sheep c. If all these Words do signifie nothing but what every body conceives by the natural notions which they do picture in our Soul these Words are very easie but if they do signifie that the Pope is the true Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Christ the High-Priest the Head
Roman Church not to be grounded on the belief of the Primitive Church neither on the Authority of the Holy Fathers INTRODUCTION The Reading of the Books concerning the Perpetuity of Faith in the Eucharist was an occasion to me to examin in particular the belief of Rome about that matter THus the affairs of my Conversion depended when Providence that watched after the means to work out my safety brought forth an Occasion that did contribute very much to reduce all my Difficulties to the Question of the Authority of the Church of Rome to the end that this Authority being proved false the Doctrin of Rome which is grounded upon it might be presently destroyed It was in the Time when the Dispute of the Perpetuity of Faith concerning the Eucharist made a great Rumor in the World among learned Men. I read with as much application as I was capable of the Books and the Replies both of Mr. Claude and of Mr. Arnaud the Triumph of the Eucharist by Mr. Pavillon the Book of Father Noüet and the Book of the Testimony of our Senses in the Eucharist I do not intend to make my self an arbitrator to judge those rare men who are accounted without contradiction the most Witty and Learned of France Since I do but tell the History of my Conversion I do only rehearse the effects the Reading of those Books wrought in my Soul and I am not so unjust as to hinder the rest of the World to think what they please of those learned Mens writings and to judge them at liberty The reading of those Books brought me abundance of light in the Question of the Holy Sacrament I did consider the Argument of Perpetuity as an Argument which being not Metaphysical was to be reduced at last to a multitude of Probabilities from which one could never conclude any thing with necessity though he would suppose as true with Mr. Arnauld the Principle whereupon it is grounded to wit the Belief of all the Churches in the point of * Which in the Sence of the Roman Church is Transubstantiation reality All the Christian Churches saith Mr. Arnauld believe the real Presence therefore it was the belief of the Primitive Church for in a matter of so great Importance it is impossible there should have been made any alteration in Doctrin This Argument found I know not what repugnancy to be received in my mind for though I supposed the first Proposition to be true which since by the Study of the Histories and Relations of several Countries I acknowledge to be false yet I could not consent to the consequence because the proof of it was not true to my thinking and what endeavour soever of Rhetorick Mr. Arnauld Used to expound and sustain his Thought yet I did ever conceive that it was very likely some alteration had been made in the Doctrin of the Eucharist as well as in other Articles in which every body acknowledges there has been On the contrary I found Mr. Claude's Answer very reasonable This alteration has been made saith he therefore it is not impossible and his proof the Church of Rome doth believe the real Presence with Transubstantiation but they did not believe so in the Primitive Church therefore there has been made an alteration and afterwards he proves in his Book by the Authority of Authors who lived in that time that truly in the Primitive Church they did not believe the real Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament This Argument seemed to me very natural sincere and true the proof of it easie and well grounded But for that of Mr. Arnauld's it seemed to me rough uneasie intricate the proofs of it grounded upon suppositions in the Air which could not be reduced at last but to some appearances of truth proving nothing necessarily These Reasons incited me to judge in favour of Mr. Claude against Mr. Arnauld's Argument But though I was perswaded his Argument was not good yet I would not confess the Opinion he was for was not true May be said I Mr. Arnauld hath proceeded a little too far in a false proof and afterwards he hath been engaged for his honour sake to hold it earnestly But in fine Mr. Arnauld is but a private man the Church of Rome may disclaime his Argument and not hold with him So Mr. Arnauld's Reasons being false it doth not follow from thence that the belief of his Church is false since it could have other Proofs and other Reasons That was the cause why I resolved to examin the Question of the Eucharist for my own clearing and here is very near the Method I observed in it Division of the Errors of the Roman Church concerning the Matters of the Eucharist I supposed first as a principle which I received without examination that the Primitive Church was to be our Rule since that Church nearer to the Apostles and our Saviour Jesus Christ had the advantage to suck Truths out of their Source That being supposed I divided all that is to be said of the Eucharist in two parts First The Belief concerning the Sacrament Secondly The form of the Administration of it Since then said I the belief of the Council of (a) Consil Trid. sessi 33. Item sess 13. cap. 4. can 2. Trent touching the Eucharist is not to be found in the Scripture since the Form of Administrating the Sacrament in the Roman Church is so much different from that which is related by St. Paul in the First to the Corinthians chap. 11. and by the Evangelists we are to examin whether the Belief of Rome had not been the Belief of the Primitive Church and whether the Mass which is the Roman Form of Administring the Sacrament had not been instituted by the first Christians And whereas the Church of Rome believes the (b) Consil Trid. sess 33. sess 13. real Presence with (c) sess 13. cap. 4. can 2. Transubstantiation believes that the Mass is a propitiatory (d) Sess 22. cap. 1 2. can 1 2 3. Sacrifice both for the quick and for the dead believes that the Mass as it is now ordained by the Pope is the ancient Form of Celebrating the Eucharist I examined every one of those Questions Ch. 2. §. 1. and I found 1. That the Belief of Rome about Real Presence with Transubstantiation is a new Doctrin in the Church 2. That the Sacrifice of the Mass is contrary to the belief of the Primitive Church 3. That the manner of Celebrating the Eucharist is very much different and quite opposed to that which Christians were used to in the first Ages of the Church From whence I concluded that the Articles of Faith of Rome are not grounded upon the belief of the Primitive Church SECT I. The Belief of Rome about the real Presence with Transubstantiation is a new Doctrin in the Church I. First proof drawn out of the reasons wherewith the Fathers of the Church were used to dispute against the Heathens SEveral
be found in the Roman Church who durst prove against them as did Tertullian against Marcion that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Figure of Christs Body and that consequently Christ was not a Ghost On the contrary a Protestant would be able to bring against those Heresies the same Arguments which the first Christians used and he would be warranted therein by all his Church From whence comes that difference if not from that that a Protestant believes nothing concerning the Sacrament but what they believed in the Primitive Church whereas a Divine of the Church of Rome acknowledges several articlesof Faith which were unknown among the First Christians and which consequently are the cause he cannot speak the same Language nor use the same Arguments they used These two Reasons seemed to me so much the stronger because I looked upon them not as the opinion of a single man who may be deceived or some place of a Book which may be corrupted and drawn into an ill sense but I looked upon these Reasons as the Reasons of all the Church and publick Weapons both of Learned Men and of the People to fight the Heathens and the Hereticks with all III. Third Proof drawn out of the manner whereafter the Fathers were wont to speak of this Holy Sacrament THat which confirmed me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was the manner wherewith the Fathers both Greek and Latin were wont to speak of those Mysteries Theodoret (a) In 55 Quaestiosuper genesim says It is an extreme foclishness and extravagancy to Worship what one Eats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the same in (b) Dialog 1. Intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another place The LORD says he did the honour to the visible Signs to call them his BLOOD and his BODY not having changed their Nature but having added Grace to Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is there any appearance that the Fathers believed what the Council of Trent teaches A Divine of the Church of Rome who should say that it is an extreme extravagancy to Worship what one Eats That Christ hath not changed the Nature of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament would he not presently be sent to the Inquisition and condemned as an Heretick to be burnt a live The Eucharist say the Fathers of the Church (a) Cyprian de Caena cap. 6. is a visible Sacrament whereupon the Divine Essence imparts it self after an unutterable manner It (b) Idem cap. 2. is an Holy Nutriment capable of rendering us Immortal which is very much different from the ordinary Nutriments we are daily fed withal It keeps indeed the kind of a corporeal substance but it makes known by an invisible efficacy that it possesses the Presence of a Divine Vertue (c) Hilary de Trinit lib. 8. we are in Christ by his corporeal Birth and he is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments (d) August cap. 12. cont Adimant The Lord did not doubt to say this is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body He (a) Idem in Psal 3. permitted Judas to be present at the Banquet wherein he committed and gave to his Disciples the Figure of his Body and Blood If a Roman Author should use these expressions which the Holy Fathers used would not a Bishop of the Roman Church zealous for the Interests of the Council of Trent say to him Sir 't is not enough to say with Cyprian tha tthe Divine Essence imparts it self in the Eucharist after an unutterable manner the Hereticks say all that You must say furthermore the Body and Soul of Christ are there really in the room of the substance of Bread 'T is not enough to say the Eucharist is an Holy Nutriment of a Divine Vertue the Hereticks do confess all that You must say moreover it contains the Real Presence of Christs Body and Blood 'T is not enough to say that Christ is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments the Hereticks do believe the same thing but you must say he is in us really his Body his Soul his Divinity In fine you must have a very great care of saying the Sacrament is the Sign and the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood as St. Austin said you must say to the contrary that it is not the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood you must say that it is Christ's own Body and Blood into which the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper is Transubstantiated Certainly this Bishop would speak well according to the belief of the new Roman Church but he would be far from the Doctrin of the holy Fathers He would forsake the Faith of the Primitive Church he would bring forth propositions of which the first Christians have been wholly ignorant he would even condemn the Belief of 330 Bishops of a general Council held at Constantinople in the year 754. for those 330 Bishops condemning as Idolatry the Worshiping of Images among the Reasons they brought did exhort the People to be contented with the Images that Christ has instituted giving in the Holy Sacrament Bread and Wine as Images and Figures of his own Body and Blood and speaking of the Bread of the Eucharist Behold there is said those Fathers the Image of his life-giving Body and a little after The Lord say they has commanded us to put upon the Table this Image especially chosen to wit the substance of Bread least Idolatry should slip in among the Christians if he had been represented under an Human Figure IV. Fourth Proof drawn out of the Novelty of the Doctrin teaching Transubstantiation ALl those Reasons perswaded me not only that the belief of the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was not the belief of the Primitive Church but furthermore that they were Articles of Faith newly devised And I knew afterwards they were no older than the beginning of the thirteenth Age when Pope Innocent the Third in the (a) Scotus in 4. Sent. dist 11. quaest 3. Council of Lateran in the year â—214 set among the Articles of Faith the Belief of Transubstantiation since we see that in the end of the Ninth Age about the Year of our Lord 870. Bertram or John Scot one of the most learned Men of that time wrote a Book by the command of Charles the Bauld King of France touching the question of the Eucharist wherein he maintains openly the Belief of the Protestant Church since we (a) Biblioteca Patr. de Div. Offi. find a letter of the Emperour Charles Magne to his Teacher Alcuinus wherein these words are to be read Jesus christ supping with his Disciples broke the Bread and gave it to them likewise the Cup in figure of his Body and Blood In fine since even in the Canon of the Mass instead of these words which are to be found there now Ut nobis Corpus Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui c. That it may become to us
with more maturity the reasons whereupon I was perswaded to hold that the Pope was infallible Alas said I all the reason the Monks have to refuse to obey the Bishops is because the Pope has held them excused from their jurisdiction what then could the Pope release Children from obeying their Fathers could he release Servants from their duty to their Masters can he free men from obedience to their Superiours can he take away the Sheep out of the conduct of their Pastors without exposing the flock to the fierceness of the Monks from the natural jurisdiction of the Bishops so that all the order of the Church shall not be overthrown and disturb'd with inevitable confusion Doth not one see every day the effects of those dispensations which are altogether the effects of that mighty power which is attributed to the Pope If a Bishop comes to make his visitation in some Churches belonging to the Monks they shut the door against him to the scandal of all the people If the matter comes into some of the Monk's Churches to perform therein some Ecclesiastical Functions there must be a great fighting before as it happened about 6 years ago with the Priests of St. Roch by the Capucin Nun's Church at Paris at the Burials of Madame la Duchesse de Vandôme they use the handles of Crosses instead of Halberds they fight with Links and Candle-sticks they burn the Surplesses of the Priests they rent their Ornaments in fine the strongest beat down the others some lose there their square Caps some their Hats and of an action which should be to replenish all the assistants with thoughts of death of eternity of the judgments of God they make it a Buffoonry a Puppet's fighting an action so ridiculous that the most serious can hardly forbear to burst with laughing a jeasting which is the subject of I know not how many Satyres and mock Poems so far that they must make of each side some verbal reports and obtain from the King an express inhibition to hinder the people from making Ballads thereupon and enterludes to make the people laugh at it on the Theaters of the King 's or the Duke's Play-houses These tragical and scandalous consequences which are the effects of the power of the Pope in the Roman Church freeted me and went against my mind which was the cause that I resolved to examine again whether that Authority which is given to the Pope was grounded upon some reasonable principles and to examine it if it was possible without any prejudice for my own instruction and to establish solidly the grounds of my Religion but God Almighty whose judgments are impenetrable permitted that the resolution I took was crossed again for some while The Curates of the Diocess of Sens at that time were to meet every month in the Synod where in my Lord Archbishop presided and there give their answers and opinions upon the Canonical and Ecclesiastical questions which had been propounded in the precedent meeting many of those Gentlemen who thought I had a peculiar knowledge of the Ecclesiastial History and of the Canons of the Church came to me and desired me to explain the propositions to which they were to answer in the next Conference and give them the resolutions and the proofs of them and so whereas I gave them every month their Conferences in writing that employed me wholly and gave me no other leasure during six or seven months but to study hard the Holy Fathers writings the Pope's decretals and the other Books of the Canons which I could find in the Monastery that I lived in 3. Circumstances wherewith I began to examine the Authority of the Roman Church and what is my design in the rehearsal of them AT last the divine providence furnished me with an opportunity which set me in a condition to give my self to the inquiry I intended to make I went with the obedience of our General to live in a Monastery which is called Font-Evrald by the River of Loire about nine miles from Saumur there I had the leasure to examine throughly the question of the Authority of the Roman Church and of the infallibility of the Pope which was the only principle which kept me in the Roman Church every thing did contribute to my design the solitude and the commodity of a fine and great library which I had at hand gave me all the facility that could be to give my self to that examination and I was no great while before I had acquaintance with one of the most learned men of that province who is Mr. Prior Pavilion who among the Books he has written made an answer to Mr Claude Minister of Charanton concerning the matter of the Eucharist I took an extream delight to converse with him and he took the pains as to come almost every day from about a mile off to the place where I dwelt and there we passed all the day long in Conferences and disputes upon matters of Religion it was with all those advantages having the convenience to learn the thoughts and to weigh the reasons of the learned men both of the quick and the dead that I examined that question whereupon depended my Religion and consequently my Salvation It would be a very hard matter to rehearse here all the questions which I thought to have some connection with that that I had proposed to examine and which I thought were either the principles or the consequences thereof and I should be tedious if I should rehearse here the thoughts of all the Authors I read upon that matter the reasons I examined in their principles and in their sources and the difficulties which I unwrapped in fine what I read what I wrote and what I thought during the space of almost one year Since I do intend here but to tell the faithful the means which God Almighty has used to draw me out of the captivity of the Roman Church and to make me one of his Church which professes to follow the purity of his word I will relate here only the motives which made at that time a mighty impression in my mind which were like Celestial influences of grace which ruled my conversion and my design in all this discourse is no other but to entice the holy and faithful people to praise God and to give thanks to his majesty for the marvellous things he works inlightening with his divine lights those who walk in the wandering of the truth and in being merciful even to those who seek after pretences to remain in their errors CHAPTER I. Chapt. I. The pretended grounds of the Authority of the Roman Church I Did understand well that there was in the world a true manner of worshiping God and I supposed as a principle not to be contested received of all those to whom God has given reason to govern themselves that the true manner of worshipping God was that which had been instituted by Christ but forasmuch as all the