Again suppose I do not hear him speak but hear from irrefragable witnesse of many honest and understanding men that he hath made this profession deliberately or that he printeth and teacheth this without controversie I may judge him an Heretique and yet it is not matter of Faith that these witnesses tell me true But it is enough to have either a Physical or Morall Evidence to judge one an Heretique And this as I said is common to all crimes as well as Heresie The Iudge when he condemneth a man to death for murther needeth not put it in his Creed that infallibly this man hath committed Murther nor needeth he have Physicall Certainty but 't is enough that he have a Morall Evidence Secundum allegata probata as the Law saith according to what is alledged and proved by witnesses which notwithstanding may all erre Iust so in cur case though it were allowed not to be of Faith that the Five condemned Propositions are in Jansenius his Book yet without scruple we may and in reason ought to condemn the Book as Hereticall the Church having condemned it for such This proceeding is authorized in Scripture and that fitly to our case Hereticum â—ominem saith St. Paul ad Titum 3. post unam alteram correptionem devita sciens quia subversus est Avoid the Heretique after having once or twice reprehended him knowing that he is subverted Where the Apostle telleth us that after a man hath been once or twice admonished of his Heresie if he mend not he is to be avoided as one with whom the Church holds no Communion and his refusing to submit after one or two admonitions St. Paul calleth a knowing that he is subverted in matter of Faith Now if this were ever clear in any case it is in this we handle of Jansenius For to say nothing of the severall Briefs made by Pope Urban against Jansenius his Book the Five Propositions were extracted out of his Book by the Synod of France who professe to have used all diligence in examining them These Bishops presented the Five Propositions to Pope Innocent He having made the matter be examined with all diligence the Jansenists themselves being present at Rome and acknowledging them to be in Jansenius and defending them as his Doctrine after all condemned them as appeareth in his Bull. After him Pope Alexander now sitting renewed the condemnation testifying that the Propositions are in Jansenius and defining that they are condemned in his sense as they lie in his Book To these two Censures all the Bishops and the whole Catholique Church have subscribed Here are then two Admonitions and more by which it is made known that the Book of Jansenius containeth Hereticall Doctrine we therefore unlesse we will contradict the rule of St. Paul must esteem it Hereticall and know that it is subâ—erted We need not examine whether it be matter of Faith that the Five Propositions be in Jansenius or no it is enough that it hath been once and twice and so many times declared to us that we cannot but esteem it sufficiently certain here being far more then that which St. Paul requireth So Sir you see that your main Argument which is the summe and substance of all is so far from proving what you would inferte that though your Antecedent were granted yet the Consequence were of no force at all 2. Objection It were ridiculous say you Letter 18. pag. 338. to pretend there should be any Heretiques in the Church for matter of Fact But whether the Five Propositions be in Janseniuâ— or no is pure matter of Fact Therefore it is ridiculous to pretend that Jansenius or those that maintain his Doctrine should be Heretiques This Argument is veâ—y oftâ—n inculcated in many places though I cite but one I answer That understanding as you do Propositions written in any Book to be matter of Fact 't is a perfect madnesse to assert that none can be declared Heretiques for matter of Fact And the Consequences of that Assertion are so evidently absurd and Hereticall that nothing can be more For first it would follow that never any Proposition in any Book could be declared Hereticall for still you would say it is ridiculous that any man should be an Heretique for matter of Fact and still it would be matter of Fact whether the Proposition were in the Book or no and so no Books could be condemned in the Church Secondly it would follow that no person whatsoever could be condemned and that we must not believe that ever there was any Heretique in the Church that can be named except those that are mentioned in Scripture though St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 9. Oportet haereses esse and so we should never be obliged to avoid any one as an Heretique contrary to what I alledged in the first Objection out of the Apostle For still it will be made matter of Fact whether Arius for example and so of the rest did hold this or that For that Arius writ or said thâ—s or that is matter of Fact Thirdly it would follow that as no Proposition in any Book could be defined by the Church to be Hereticall so on the contrary no Proposition in any Book could be defined Orthodox or to be consonant to the word of God or the true word of God And so we should by your wise argument come to doubt of every Proposition even in the Holy Scripture For still it will be according to your ridiculous Maxime â—matter of Fact whether that Proposition be in Scripture And certainly it is as clear matter of Fact whether the Scripture saith God will have all men saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth as it is whether Jansenius in his Book saith Christ did not die for all men And so by this argument we shall never be obliged to admit any Proposition as Scripture which is to say we may deny by your argument all Scripture And further as to the whole Bible it is as much matter of Fact whether this or that Edition of Scripture be true Scripture as whether the Five Propositions be in Jansenius yet the Councell of Trent hath declared that the Vulgat Edition shall be held Authenticall and he would be an Heretique that would not allow it 3. Objection Popes and Councells * Letter 17. pag. 307. may â—rre in matter of Fact as many stories alledged in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Letters prove Therefore perhaps they have â—rred here and so it cannot be matter of Faith I answer That this may all be said as well of Arius or Nestorius or of any Heretique who is not named in Scripture as of Jansenius his Book yet the Church hath said Anathema to many Heretiques by name And look what crime he should commit that should say Arius never was an Heretique the self same should that man incur that should dare to say Jansenius his book containeth no Heresie And certainly the Phrase of the Church hath alwayes been
pro omnibus omnino hominibus mortuum esse aut Sanguinem suum fudisse Quod Semipelagianis tribuat â—ansâ—â—ius 〈◊〉 assertionem Christus pro omnibus mortuus est seu Christus est omnium Redemptor patet ex Libro Tertio de Gratia Christi Salvatoris Capite 20. Quod sic inâ—ipit Sed aliud Argumentum pro Gâ—aâ—â—â sufficienti omnium proferri solet quod Christus est Redemptor omnium juxta illud 1. ad Tim. â— Qui dedit semetipsum redemptionem pro omnibus Et paulò post Respondetur hoc Argumentum ad nause am usque à Pelagianiâ— pâ—aeserâ—â—mque Massiliensibus incuâ—catum suiâ— ut mirum sit recentiores tanto studio trita Haereticorum arâ—a colligere obsoleta recudere Et paulò post rursùm de iâ—sdem Masâ—liensibus lit D. Haec habet Tanquam firmâ—ssimam Basim errori suo collocaverunt illa Scripturae loca quibuâ— Deus dicitur omnes velle Salvos sieri atque esse Redemptor omnium Jam vero suam sententiam Jansenius eodem capite pag. 164. col 1. lit A. sic exprimit Nec enim juxta doctrinam Antiquorum pro omnibus omnino Christus passus aut mortuus est aut pro omnibus omninâ— tam generaliâ—èr sanguinem suum fudit Cum hoc potius tanquam errorem à fide Catholicâ abhorrentem â—oceant esse reâ—puâ—ndum Omnibuâ— vero illis pro quibus sanguinem suum fudit quatenus pro â—s fudit eâ—iam Sufficiens Auxilium donat quo non solum possint sed reipsa veliâ—t faciant id quâ—d â—b iiâ— volendum faciendum esse decreviâ— Nam per illa occultissimè justa justissimè occuâ—ta conâ—â—â—iâ— sua quibusdam â—â—minâ—bâ—s dare praeâ—estinavit Fidem Charitatem in â—â Perseverantiam usque in finem qâ—os absoluâ—è pâ—aedestinatos eâ—â—ctos Salvandos dicimus aliis Charitatâ—m fine Perseverantiâ aliis Fidem fine Charitate Pro primi generis hominibus tanquam veris ovibus suis vero populo suo tanquâ—m absolutè salvando semetipsum dedit ac tradidit pro istorum peccatis omnibus omninò delendis aeternâ oblivionâ— sepeliendis Propitiatio est pro istis in aeternum vivisicandis mortuus esâ— pro istis ab omni malo liberandis rogavâ—t Patrem suum non pro caeâ—eris qui à Fide Charitate desicientes in iniquitate moriuntur Pro his enim in tantum morâ—uus est in tantum rogavit Patrem in quantum temporalibus quibuâ—dam gratiae â—ffectibus exornandi sunt Et ut alia innumera loca omittam in fine hujus Capitis 20. quod ultimum est coâ—elusio libri pag. 165. col 2. lit E. sic loquitur Nullo modo principiis ejus Augustini consentaneum est ut Christus Dominus vel pro infidelium in infidelitate morientium vel pro justorum non perseverantium aeâ—errâ salute morâ—uus esse sanguinem fudisse semetipsum redemptiâ—nem dedisle Patrem orasse seâ—iatur Sâ—ivit enim quò quisque ab aeterno praedestinatus eâ—at Scivit hoâ— decreâ—um neque ullius pretii oblatione mutandum esse nec seâ—psum velle mutaâ—e Ex quo factum est ut juxta Sanctissimum Doctorem non magis Patrem pro aeternâ liberatione ipsorum quam pro Diaboli deprecatus fuerit And now Sir I hope you will not say that the places cannot be cited since there is nothing said in any of the Five condemned Propositions which is not in the Quotations I have here brought And besides these there are innumerable other places wherein Jansenius abâ—seth the Auâ—hoâ—ity of St. Augustin and under his name delivereth the same Heresies For you knâ—w Sir that 't is Jansenius his Mode to make St. Augustin say what he would have thought wherein he hath been very injâ—rious to that Learned Doctour and â—iâ—ht of the Church whom after so many â—gâ—â— he hath perverted to make him become a Dâ—â—ender of Heresie Buâ— I go on to your other Objections The sixth Objection a Letter 17. pag. 305. Jansenius in these Five Propositions teacheth nothing but what the Tomists and Dominicans teach But the Tomists are not Heretiques Therefore the Propositions in Jansenius are not Hereticall I answer This is one of those means by which you endeavour to evade the force of the Popes Definitions which Pope Alexander in his Bull points at when he telâ—eth us that â—â—rtaine perturbatours of the publique Tranquiâ—lity endeavour by subtle interpretations to clude the sorce of Pope Innocents Constitution For here you would either bring the Dominicans Doctrinâ— under the same censure of Heresie by telling us they teach the same with Jansenius or else 〈◊〉 your selves under their shadow by telling us the Dominicans are good Catholiques and therefore you who teach nothing but what they teach are also good Cathosiques But I suppose the Dominicans will noâ— be much troubled at you and Jansenius for this For since Jansenius saith though falsly that St. Augustin tâ—acheth these Propositions 't is not to be wondred that he abuseth the Dominicans as much as he doth so great a Doctour of the Church and the othâ—r Sâ—ints and Fathers of whom he either telleth us that they were in an errâ—â—r or else that thâ—y taught his opinions Nor was Jansenius the first that used this way of disâ—â—uâ—â—e The Câ—â—vinistâ— carried the Lanthorn bâ—fore him who attribute to Sâ— Augustin all their Errours in this matter and cite the Dominicans for their opinions as may be seen particularly in Prideaux his Dâ—cem Lectiones in which he useth the same Arguments which Jansenius afterward used so fully that I believe there is scarce an Argument which Jansenius hath in all his Tomes to prove any of the Five Propositions or to confute the contrary Arguments which may not be found in Pridâ—aux In particular he groundeth his opinion upon St. Augustin and proveth it by the Tomists and namely by Alvarez as may be seen in his Second and Fourth Lections and in all the fiâ—st six generally where he often as Jansenius also doth attributes to the Jesuits Semipelagianisme and would make the Dominicans defenders of rigid Calvinisme To the Argument then I answer that the Major is false The Tomists Doctrine is very different from Jansenius his Doctrine as it is from Calvins I could easily prove this But the Tomists as they have vertue enough to kâ—ep themselves within the Church so they have learning enough to defend their own Doctrine In the mean time it is enough to say that never any Tomist advanced the Five Propositions of Jansenius or any of them in his sense and that Jansenius himself impugneth the Tomists And as to the Argument of this Objection it is a great deal better to put it thus The Tomists Doctrine is Catholique as all allow But the Five Propositions are not Catholique as the Church believeth Therefore the Tomists do not teach the same with Jansenius his five Propositions This discourse you snarle at yet it is a great deal
of San-Cyrans Sanctity But the Disciples I speak of were men who in a Quarter joyning to the Nuns Monastery were brought up according to the principles of that Doctrine which now beareth the â—ame of Jansenisme There is also another House called Port-Royall in the Suburbs of St. James at Paris which sometimes is meant by Port-Royall in this Treatise the Nuns whereof and their Directours hold the same strain of Doctrine with the other San-Cyran then being Prisoner in the Bois de Vincennes and the Informations fully made by the Commissaries and Judges deputed by the King and the Archbishop of Paris he was found evidently criminall in divers points which concerned the Catholique Faith and the Doctrine of Christian Duty The Judges inclining to mildnesse would not proceed to rigour against him but by the Kings advice a Paper was presented to him containing the Catholique Doctrine contrary to his Maximes which if he would have signed and promised to observe he had been set free But the Abbot notwithstanding he had the impudence to deny all that of which by evident witnesse of irreproachable persons and by his own Letters as likewise of his Friends to him he was convinced yet he would not be brought to sign the Catholique Articles but chose rather to remain Prisoner then by professing the Catholique Faith to unsay in publick what he had privately taught Some time after the King who now drew towards an end of his days resolved to close up his life by a Royall act of Clemency which was the freeing of prisoners and recalling â—xiles from their banishment He had very great difficulty to resolve on the liberty of San-Cyran but being sollicited by many of the Abbots Friends who undertook for him that he should never meddle with writing or spreading his venomous Doctrine at length his Majâ—sty condescended that this Abbot also among others should be set at liberty But the King was no sooner dead but that San-Cyran fell to his old trade of venting his pernicious Maximes and laid down the draught of the Book now called Frequent Communion which though he never lived to see finished yet it came out afterward under the name of Arnauld a Doctour of Sorbon of whom we shall speak in the third Paragraph All this relation I have out of the Book called the Progresse of Jansenisme dedicated to the Chauncellour of France by Monsieur Preville and printed in the year 1655. In which Book is contained the whole Information made against San-Cyran by persons of worth who were acquainted with him and who having answered upon oath to the Interrogotories made by the Justice did at length every one of them sign what they had deposed Now out of this Authentique Information the Originall whereof is in Clermont Colledge and may be seen by any man that will I have taken that which I thought sufficient to set down what kinde of Doctrine this man vented I conceive all is not yet known For San-Cyran above all his other Maximes perpetually inculcated to his Confidents That they should be sure to keep secret what he taught them That if they spake of any thing he would deny it and that if ever they were examined about it they should deny all even upon oath His conscience dictated so clearly to him the malice of his Maximes that he was ever most unwilling to deliver his Doctrine by writing and when he could not avoid writing he endeavoured to be obscure and commanded those that received his papers to burn them as soon as they had read them Yet his Friends were not so faithfull to him nor he to himselfe but that many of his Writings and Letters either to him or from him were kept and since discovered all which make a great part of two Books in Quarto and out of them as concerning San-Cyrans Doctrine take what followeth First then for himself he teacheth That he hath his Mission from God That God giveth him particular Lights to know the Interiour of men That he learneth not his Maximes in Books but in God and that his conduct is in all things according to the interiour instincts which God giveth him Secondly for the Church and its Members he maintaineth that the Church is not now the same which Christ planted That for these six hundred years last past the Church is quite corrupted in Manners and not onely in Manners but also in Doctrine That God himself destroyeth the Church That the Bishops and Pastours of the Church that now are are destitute of the Spirit of Christianity of the Spirit of Grace and of the Spirit of the Church That the Religious Orders and other Spirituall men of these times understand not the Gospell nor the wayes of Christ and that he onely hath the true light of the Gospell and perfect Intelligence of the Scriptures That the Councell of Trent was made by the Pope and by School-men who have much changed the Doctrine of the Church That School-Divinity is a pernicious Science which ought to be destroyed That St. Thomas hath corrupted Divinity by Humane Reason That the Jesuites ought to be destroyed as most domageable to the Church of God Thirdly for what belongeth to the Commandments he denieth That all just men have sufficient Grace to keep them Further he maintaineth That every just person ought to steer his actions according to the interiour motions which God giveth him though contrary to the exteriour Law and this he maintaineth even in Murther for the committing whereof this interior instinct is warrant enough And according to this Doctrine he maintaineth in his Book called the Royall Question That men may lawfully kill themselves and that many times they are bound to kill themselves The Reader will note that this last Tenent of killing ones self is not mentioned in the Progresse of Jansenisme as the rest are but he defends it in his Book of the Royall Question as I said But I have here set it down for the similitude it hath with the precedent point Fourthly concerning the Sacraments he teacheth That Confirmation and the Sacrament of Orders and Episcopall Consecration that is the making of a Bishop blots out all sins quoad culpam poenam like Baptisme That the Sacrament of Confirmation is more perfect then Baptisme hath more force and more efficacy and requireth no other dispositions and therefore that a man in Mortall Sin hath no need of Confession for to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation That Veniall Sins are not matter sufficient for Absolution That perfect Contrition is absolutely necessary for the Sacrament of Penance That Absolution is to be deferred a long time till the Penance be first fulfilled That by Absolution the Priest doth not forgive sins but declare them forgiven by sorrow and penance That it is not necessary to confesse the number or Species of Mortall sins if the Contrition be sufficient That the Holy Communion hath more force to forgive sins then the Sacrament of Penance That the frequenting the Sacraments
and Define That those Five Propositions were drawn out of the Book of the same Cornelius Jansenius Bishop of Ipres entituled Augustinus as also that they were condemned in the sense intended by the same Cornelius and as such we condemn them anew applying to them the same censure wherewith every one of them was particularly branded in the forementioned Declaration and Definition And we again condemn and prohibit the same Book of the so oft recited Cornelius Jansenius entituled Augustinus and all other Books as well Manuscripts as Printed or which may hereafter happen to be printed wherein the above-condemned Doctrine of the same Cornelius Jansenius is or shall be defended asserted or maintained Prohibiting all Faithfull Christians to hold preach teach or expound the said Doctrine either by word or writing or to interpret it either in publique or in private or to cause it to be printed either openly or in secret and this under the Penalties and Censures specified in the Law against Heretiques instantly to be incurred ipso facto without further Declaration Wherefore we enjoyn all our Venerable Brethren Patriarchs Primates Metropolitans Archbishops Bishops Ordinaries of places Inquisitours of Heresie and all other Judges Ecclesiasticall to whom it shall belong to cause this above-said Constitution Declaration and Definition of Pope Innocent our Predecessour to be observed according to our present Determination and to restrain and punish all disobedient and Rebellious persons by the aforesaid Penalties and other remedies Juris facti even by imploring the assistance of the Secular Arm if it shall be necessary Given at Rome at St. Marie Major the Sixteenth of October in the year of our Lord God 1656. and of our Pontificate the second This Bull was received with the joy and approbation of all Catholique Princes Prelates and People notwithstanding in France there remained and do remain still to this day some who could not or would not be brought back to the unity of the Catholique Church The chief of these as for matter of Action are the Disciples of San-Cyran Inhabitants or Confederates of Port-Royall the Seminary of this Heresie and under-hand divers mutinous spirits glad to embrace any thing that looks like a Faction Among these one and as far as I hear the principall one is Arnauld of whom I will now treat § 3. Of Anthony Arnauld This man was a Disciple of San-Cyran and sometimes Directour of those at Port-Royall He was made Doctour of Sorbon before he set forth his Book of Frequent Communion I say His because the Book beareth his name though it were at least the Body and Substance of it made by San-Cyran as appeareth by San-Cyrans own Letter kept by the Reverend Fathers Minimes at Paris The Hereticall and condemned Maximes which this man hath taught in his Book of Frequent Communion and other Works are many Some few I here set down I have taken them out of the Answer to the Apology which Arnauld made for himself in a Letter to the Queen of France which Answer was printed in the Year 1644 and there for every one of these Hereticall Tenets several Texts of Arnaulds are produced His Doctrine then is this Arnauld's Doctrine taught in his Book of Frequent Communion 1. That the Church is corruptible in her Manners and Discipline that is her Doctrine of Manners 2. That there is no other Rule whereby to know Catholique Verities but onely Tradition So the Pope and Councells and Scriptures and Theologicall Demonstration are excluded from being any rule of knowing Catholique Verities 3. That St. Peter and St. Paul are two Heads of the Church which make but one 4. That the Absolution of the Priest gives not to the Penitent any thing else but the Grace of an exteriour Reconciliation but that it is the Canonicall Satisfaction which gives justifying Grace and revives the Soul And that it is therefore onely that Confession is necessary that the Priest may set a proportionable Penance 5. That the practise of Penance for all mortall Sins whether publique and scandalous or private is according to the Fathers and Primimitive Church to go thus First you must confesse and demand Penance Secondly the Penance is given Thirdly the Penance is to be fulfilled during a proportionable space of dayes moneths or years Fourthly cometh Absolution which is immediately followed with the Communion or receiving of the Blessed Sacrament And he that communicateth before he hath fullfilled his Penance communicateth unworthily 6. That the manner of doing Penance or frequenting the Sacrament of Penance now adays is different from what was practised for the first twelve hundred years that it is an abuse and wonderfull blindenesse 7. That the practice of Penance which is nowadayes favours the generall impenitence of the world In his second Edition he hath changed this Proposition thus That the Practice of Penance which is now-adayes most common is favoured by the generall impenitence of the world All this he hath in his Book of Frequent Communion and the long Preface to it This Book when it first came out was looked on by many who judged of it onely by the Title as a good and pious Work But the Jesuites at Paris who discovered the malice of the above mentioned Maximes preached and wrote against it and at length it was condemned By this the Iesuites got the ill will of the Jansenists and animated Port-Royall against them Yet all good Catholiques thanked the Jesuits for having stood up for the Church and hindred the consequences which were like to have followed and the errours into which many were running unawares Many things were writ to and fro The Jansenists defending Arnauld and the Jesuites with other Catholiques impugning him At length Arnauld who besides the above mentioned pernicious Maximes held also for Jansenius writ a little Tract called The Second Letter of Monsieur Arnauld to a Duke and Peer of France where he excuses Jansenius and the Jansenists from Heresie in the same manner which the Authour of the Provinciall Letters afterwards held to wit by saying that the Five Propositions could not be found in Jansenius that it was matter of Fact and not any Theologicall point wherein the Jansenists and others disagreed and consequently that they could not be called Heretiques This Letter was after a long Examen of it condemned in the Sorbon and Arnauld refusing to submit and further protesting against the Determination of the University was cashier'd the Sorbon and had his Title of Doctour taken from him in the Year 1656. the last of January as appeareth by the Act then passed in Sorbon This set the Jansenists in a rage And whereas hitherto they had defended themselves with some shew of modesty and pretense of learning and piety now they turned to write furious Satyrs which they call Provinciall Letters against the Sorbon first then against the Dominicans but their main fury they discharged against the Jesuites whom they would needs imagine to be the Authors of all their disgraces of which
many famous Writers and Masters of the Faculty of Paris of other Schools and many times of the Sorbon it self This I say to the end you may know that what they attribute to the Iesuites belongs lesse to them then to others and that oftentimes the Doctrine which this good Fellow would make passe as ridiculous false and contrary to good manners is not such in the opinion of many great Doctours whose Authority must countervail in Schools It is these we are bound to credit more then Heretiques and people that know neither speculative nor positive Divinity and far more then an ignorant Buffoon good for nothing but to jeast and play the Comedian as is the Author of these Letters who as himself vouches is neither Divine nor Casuist nor Clergy-man and cannot deny but that he is a â—ansenist and by a necessary consequence an Heretique since all Jansenists are so Whence comes it then that he sets upon the Iesuites rather then upon other Writers that teach the same Hence that it is the custome of Heretiques to be more against this Body then against all the rest It is also a badge of this Society to be persecuted by all the Wicked she hath been so dealt withall from her very Cradle and shall be so as long as she makes profession of pure Doctrine and true Vertue If this sleeveless Writer had had a zeal for the Truth or a just horror of false Doctrine he would have fought against errour where ever he had found it and would have sided with those who maintained Truth as the Iesuits do But it is apparent enough it was not the love of Truth made him write but the hatred of it under pretence of opposing the evil Doctrine of the Iesuits he would revenge himself on them although it were to the prejudice of Truth and his own Conscience if yet he have any for their accusing the Doctrine of Jansenius which has been condemned as Heretical But he has a Bone to pick he will never perswade the world that the Doctrine of the Iesuites deserves condemnation since it is that which carries on the War against Heresie Errour and Libertinisme Therefore the Iudicious laught at his Letters the honest Party detested them and the Ignorant were scandalized On the contrary the Heretiques hugged them and Libertines adored them Buffoons owned their stile in them Port Royall their Characters and Iansenists their mode of cavilling and vainly answering the just reproaches made to their wicked Doctrine After all this the Iesuites will not be without an Answer the Church without Censures nor the Magistrates without Punishment so soon as this wicked Writer shall have published his Name in concealing of which he cannot dissemble his being a Jansenist and by consequence an Heretique The second Answer Wherein the Authour of the Provincial Letters is convinced of IMPOSTURE The Preface THe Author of the Provincial Letters chargeth the Fathers of the Society of Jesus that they have brought into the world opinions in matter of Morality which corrupt the manners of Christians To make good this charge he instanceth in many cases from the beginning of his fifth Letter where he entereth upon his grand design of impugning the Society to the end of the tenth in all which he will have it clear that the Society hath introduced a Moral which breedeth corruption of manners in the whole world To prove this charge he ought to make good four things in the instances which he alledgeth The first is that the Doctrine against which he inveigheth is not ancienter then the Society For if it were taught in the Church by approved Authors before that Religious Order was in being it is false to charge the Society with introducing it Secondly when he chargeth them with any Doctrine he must cite their words truly according to the plain sense of the Authors Thirdly the Doctrine wherewith he chargeth the Society must be naught and unallowable otherwise he doth but shew his own either ignorance or malice and deserveth to be cast out of the Schools for censuring and deriding good and wholesome Doctrine Fourthly he must shew that the Doctrine which he objecteth to the whole Order is not onely the private Tenent of one or two single persons in it but taught by many or at least allowed by many and generally owned by the Society For it is false to call that the Doctrine of a Religious Order which though one or two have held is generally disclaimed by the whole Body That these four things ought to be observed is so unquestionable that no rationall man will dispute it I reflect on them because they are those by which the Authour of this Answer evidently convinceth the Impostor though he do no where set down these conditions And I do defie all the Jansenists and all their Cabal to make these four Conditions good in any one of all the great number of Cases which these Letters object It is easie to object great crimes to the greatest innocency it is easie to rail and taunt when Spleen and Choler furnish words to Fury But let them come to the point and prove what they say and then I le give them leave to boast and pardon all their Rhodomontadoes The Societies Answer is their Innocency There is not one objection of all that are made in this Book which is rightly made not one by which the Society may be made guilty of corrupt Doctrine Here are nine and twenty Impostures laid open there might have been as many more but these are enough to let the world see that this man deserveth no credit who in six Letters is convinced of twenty nine Impostures The whole Machin of the Objections made in the Provincial Letters is mainly built upon the Doctrine of Probable Opinions which though the Church hath alwayes allowed this Letter-writer and his Translatour into English who will needs become his Second call a Monster and Source of Irregularities I will therefore put that in the first place and set the rest of the Answers down as near as may be in the same order as the Objections all which are Impostures do lye in the Provincial Letters that the Reader may easily turn to them I invert the order a little in which they are printed in the French but it is to facilitate the matter The First Imposture which in the French Copy is the twentieth THe Doctrine of Probable Opinions is the Source of a Torrent of Irregularities Let. 5. page 84. The Casuists scarce evâ—r agree there are few questions wherein one does not hold the affirmative the other the negative Let. 5. page 94. And 't is this way they palliate Crimes tolerate Disorders and excuse all Vice Let. 5. Answer This is no new Imposture for 't is one part of the first Propositions in the Morall Divinity which is falsely imputed to the Jesuites and as Father Caussin sayes 'T is the Head of that Book a weak yet malignant Head which hath an influence into
fol. 62. p. 2. col 1. and both safely although another may take a safer then either Note that this Authority concludes a pari or a simili from the lesse security in states of life to the lesse security in probable that is safe opinions What can the Jansenist say to this Will he accuse St. Antonine for giving liberty of Conscience to Sinners Will he say that the rules he sets down in the same place are contrary both to Scripture and the Tradition of the Church when he affirms c Inter duram benignam circa praecepta sententiam benigna est potius caeteris paribus interpretatio faciendaâ— Quod etiam asserit Gulielmus Hujus ratio est quia praecepta Dei Ecclesiae non sunt ad tollendam omnem spiritualem dulcedinem qualis certè tollitur quando nimis scrupulosè timidè praecepta interpretantur St. Antonin ibid fol. 62. pag. 2. col 2. in fine That between two opinions concerning the Precepts of which one is more severe the other more milde we must make and consequently any may follow all things else being equall that interpretation which is lesse severe because neither the Commandments of God nor his Church are made to take away all spirituall delight which undoubtedly is done when one explains their Precepts with too scrupulous a timidity An Advertisement to the Jansenist If you were a little less self-conceited then you appear to be you would have spared this objection to have saved your own honour When that saying scap't from you in your Morall Divinity falsely imposed on the Society e 1. Proposit de la Theol. Mor. That the Jesuites permit any thing to Christians and that they believe all things to be probable you should at least have excepted your own Maximes and then we should have been lesse astonisht at your complaints when we had found out the subject of your griefs Those Fathers sure had much forgot themselves that they did not stretch the Science of Probable Opinions even to Heresies That spirituall Empite which in your opinion they have got by these probabilities f Let. 5. reaching forth their hand by an obliging and complying conduct to the whole world Let. 5. would have been become universall and without counting the Lutherans who persecute them in Germany the Calvinists in France and the Independents in England all those who are of your own side between Charenton and Port-royall would have been for them all those Letters you send abroad into the Provinces would speak honourably of their Function all those railing tongues which decry them would finde nothing but praises and applauses to give them Yet they would be very sorry to be in your good esteem while you maintain Opinions concerning Faith so dangerous and unworthy of a Christian as those are which you have already advanced Truly when I confer that which your selves broach with that which you censure in others I admire how you can say with so much arrogancy That you search the certain and not the probable You that have scarce any thing written which is not condemned as scandalous Hereticall and pernicious to the salvation of souls do you believe it the most safe way to defer Communion till the end of a mans life to submit secret sins to publique penance to hold two Heads of the Church which make but one to make your confession not that you sinned many times but that Grace failed you many times In a word do you hold it the most certain and secure way to follow the Jansenisticall Doctrine which has troubled the whole Church ever since your rebellion against the Pope The third Imposture French 22. THat the Authority of onely one good and learned Doctour according to Sanchez renders an opinion probable which granted one onely Doctour may turn mens Consciences topsie-turvie and yet all will be secure Letter 5. p. 92. Engl. edit Answer This judicious Writer confesses in the next page that he cannot stand to this rule What assurance have I sayes he that your Doctours taking so much freedom to examine things by reason what seems certain to one will seem such to all the rest Is it possible to finde a more ridiculous discourse then this is If it be not lawfull to examine things by reason which way would he have a Doctour examine such things as are not evident in themselves nor certain by any principle of Faith nor determined by any Ecclesiasticall or Civill Law but are yet onely under a simple probability To confirm this judgement which he has made he tells us the diversity of Opinions is so great what then What can he conclude from that principle that therefore we must not examine such things as are disputable by force of argument and reason Judges are often divided in their opinions of Fact and of Right therefore we must neither minde their advice nor their reasons Certainly this manner of reasoning is very well be fitting a Jansenist It may be you will object that you shall then never be certain of truth if consulting Casuists one tells you it is and the other tells you it is not 'T is true but would you therefore have the Casuists change â—he nature of things and make that which is onely probable evident and undoubted But at least I would satisfie my Conscience say you your Conscience is secure enough if so be you follow the advice of some knowing and vertuous Doctour You reply again if it be so one onely Doctour may turn mens Consciences topsie-turvie Yes truly if he be a Jansenist he may and fling you into a precipice But if he be Orthodox learned and vertuous you may rest secure upon his advice For if he be learned he will not be deceived judging that probable which is not so and if he be vertuous he will have a care not to deceive you If you be not yet satisfied if you will yet talk like a Jansenist if you cry out still you cannot be satisfied with this rule I answer it is neverthelesse the opinion of Navarre who was no Jesuit whom the Jansenists in their Woâ—ks call one of the most esteemed Casuists of our time one who has most reverenced the power both of the Pope and Church he cannot be suspected of one side or other and yet hear what he sayes in the fifth Book of his Counsels a Respondeo quod si confessarius est vir eruditus egregiè pius insignitèr quales solent esse Magistri Doctores Confessarii illustrissimae Societatis Jesu procul dubio absque ullo scrupulo potest imo debet credere adeo quidem ut meâ sententâ non credendo non se cjus authoritate tranquillando peccaret Navarrus lib. 5. consil de poenitent remiss consil 2. pag. 232. edit Colon Anno 1616. If the Confessour be a man of any great capacity learning and noted piety such as ordinarily are the Masters the Doctours and the Confessours of the most
neither Doctour Priest nor Ecclesâ—â—stique Wherefore is it that of all the Casuists quoted by Du Moulin touching the Opinions you impâ—gn with him as Navarr St. Antonine and St. Thomas you onely attaque the Jesuits and with what artifice suppressing the names of those do you disguise falsifie and corrupt their Doctrine so as no man can know it to be theirs These are the Crimes you had been charged with before the last Answer of the Jesuits containing your Impostures and which without doubt you would never have dissembled but that you found it impossible to make any passable reply to it Wherefore Sir I take your silence for a forced avowment of the truth of those Accusations and declare that I shall henceforth look upon you as no other then one of Calvins Disciples blasted by the censure of the Pope as a Detractour condemned by the Sentence of Parliament and as a Scoffer decryed in the judgement of all wise men 'T is true Sir you glory in this last Title and employ the greatest part of your Letter in setting forth the praise of Raillery insomuch that you will needs perswade us that the Saints were Scoffers like your self and that God acted the part of a Derider from the beginning of the world and continues yet every day to do so in the moment which is most dreadfull to Sinners viz. that of Death But Sir to speak no more then the truth you abuse the Scripture with great boldnesse and much contemn the judgement of your Readers since you dare affirm that you scoff not in your Letters but by the example of the greatest Saints nay of God himself What Sir think you men obliged to believe you upon your bare word Can you fancy that having invented a thousand falsities publisht a thousand calumnies falsisied a thousand passages to finde matter for your prophane derisions men should hold you for a Saint and that your scandalous Letters which are but the scraps of expiring Calvinisme should passe for Copies whereof you glory to have found the Originall in God himself Tell me Sir whether you believe that God to mock the Casuists at the point of death will like you laugh at their names and whether at the sound of these that follow b Letter 5. Villalobes Koninck Llamas Akokier Dealkoser Dellacruz Veracruz Vgolin Tambourin c. whose clashing sillables are so apt to surprize and move such wise men as your self to laughter whether I say he will ask with amazement If all these men be Christians Will he make an affected scrutiny into the contract Mohatra the four living creatures of Escobar the story of John D' Alba and a thousand other Scurrilities wherewith you have stuffed the censure of so many Divines who doubtlesse deserve to be treated with more modesty by a secular person Will he jear at Potentia proxima at sufficient Grace at the Fulminations and Anathema's of the Church Will he on these Authours impose crimes they were never guilty of Decisions they never advanced corrupted Texts dismembred passages and resolutions forged at pleasure to make them seem ridiculous Will he scoff c Letter 9. as you do at Devotions towards the Mother of God For instance to salute the holy Virgin when you meet with any of her Images to say the short Beads of the ten Pleasures of the B. Virgin to pronounce of ten the Name of Mary to desire the Angels to do her reverence on our behalf to wish we could build her more Churches then all Christian Monarchs put together have done to bid her good morrow every morning and good night every evening to say every day an Ave Maria in honour of the heart of Mary You remember Sir that upon all these Subjects it is that you display the fairest draughts and touches of that Holy Raillery you intend to consecrate by your Writings But Sir do not blinde your self so far as to believe that such excesses and transports as these will be taken for the Raptures of the Saints and the Extasies of the Prophets who to cry down vice reprove it sometimes with a laughter of indignation you are at a greater distance from the conduct of those Worthies then is darknesse from day-light The Fathers treated Heretiques as ridiculous persons and you that are accused convicted and condemned of Heresie will make a mockery of Sorbon and Catholick Divines The Fathers rebuked publique disorders and reall crimes which they endeavour'd to render not onely odious but contemptible by the touches of a stinging Irony whereas you forge such as are meerly false and which you feign at pleasure to revenge your self of those that withstand your disorders and the pernicious Maximes of your Sect. The Fathers employed their Raillery like â—alt which must be used with discretion their Writings are full of solid ratiocinations generous and high conceptions strong and convincing arguments but their words of mockery are rarely met with Whereas on the contrary your Letters are stufe full with false Texts false citations and false reproaches accompanied with a perpetuall Sycophancy without so much as one observable ratiocination or one onely conception worthy of a Divine How comes it then to passe you will have men take your conduct for that of those great Saints which is so contrary to the spirit that governs you One may well compare your works to Calvins Antidote where that Heretique makes the Fathers of the Councell of Trent to speak just as you make the Jesuits in silly childish language to excite the laughter and contempt of the Readers but you shall never passe for a Prophet unlesse it be with those who for the hatred they have conceived against the Jesuites seek out Masters to deceive them and will believe against the conviction of their own consâ—iences that a lie is truth when it slatters their passion or wounds the Honour of those Religious Put off Sir put off that Masque of Justice and Charity wherewith you cover your detractions men discern you through it they know the motive that induces you to revenge they understand your designs this extraordinary animosity so dissonant to the spirit of Christianity is but too too visible 'T is not the zeal of Religion that gives you such violent motions but the regret you have for not having been able to overthrow it 'T is not the love of Truth but the despair you are in by seeing your â—rrors convinced and your Hypocrisie detected To what purpose so many passages of the Saints to prove that there are innocent Railleries since it has already been clearly shown you that those you use are criminall Why employ you Scripture to tell us there are charitable mockeries since yours are envenom'd with hatred Why in fine bring you examples of the Fathers of the Church since being a declared Heretique you are consequently an enemy of those Fathers and of the Church You should rather have remembred Sir how the Holy Ghost in the Scripture and the Fathers in the Councells do
that you had left out these words in your sixth Letter you are so accustom'd to these cheats that you here suppresse them again You see what it is to acquire ill habits But this is not all For as it commonly happens that one sin begets another so having engag'd your self to dismember the precedent Text you likewise maim the subsequent perfecting thereby the proof of your own fraudulent dealing which I was oblig'd to prove if you had not prevented me For thus you make Tannerus say We must affirm the same thing even though a man regard the temporall as his principall end nay preferr it before the spirituall though St. Thomas and others seem to say the contrary while they affirm that it is absolute Simony to give a spirituall good for a temporall when the latter is the end of the former 'T is true this Proposition is in Tannerus but it is as true that you have not given it intire which shews your unsincere practice for you have lopt off this ensuing part which is essentiall to its decision Esto quidem tali commutatione grave peccatum committatur ac simul in casibus jure expressis Simonia saltem juris positivi incurratur Although that in this exchange a man commits a grievous sin as also a Simony at least as to Positive Right in the cases expressed in the Law How comes it to passe Sir that being charg'd with suppressing two so remarkable parts of one onely place of Tannerus you do not vindicate your self Why do you suppresse them afresh as if you had never been accus'd of it Whence is it that by a ridiculous evasion you complain of being accus'd for having onely forgotten these two words of Divine Right which yet are not found in the whole passage Does the shame of this discovery so confound your memory that it makes you take Divine Right for Positive Right and two small words for so many lines Is it not befaln you as to those who being hurt complain of the blow but shew not the place where they received the wound You have been convinced of cutting off by the middle two of Tannerus's Propositions at a blow of leaving out one part of the Text to conclude from the other which remained imperfect that according to this Authour it is neither Simony nor sin to give a spirituall good for a temporall if one give it not as the price but onely as the motive And yet in the other part of the same Text which you maliciously retrenched he affirms the clean contrary that what he said in the first by you cited according to the sentiments of St. Thomas mark Sir exmente D. Thomae and according to the minde of Cajetan and Sylvester post Sylvestrum Cajetanum hinders not a man in the cases expressed in the Law from committing Simony be it that which is term'd of Positive Right or that which is presumed such in the exteriour Court See what a palpable Imposture you are guilty of Can you deny it See I have given you a reall wound Nor were you able to decline the blow And will you now dissemble it affirming that you are accus'd of forgetting two words which yet are not at all in the whole passage This is rare indeed But not contenting your self with so base an aâ—â—ifice to amuze the world you intend to shew us the excellency of your judgement while you affirm that Tannerus declares not in that place That it is a Simony as to Positive Right because he affirms it not generally but in the particular cases expressed in the Law in casibus jure expressis I think you are resolved to sacrifice your self to the laughter of the learned Had Tannerus affirm'd it generally as you maintain he ought to have done he must have been what you now are very little enlightned as to the question of Simony For it would thence follow that there are Simonies in respect of Positive Right which are not exprest in the Positive Law Râ—concile this contradiction It would follow against the opinion of St. Thomas and all other Divines that it should be Simony as to Positive Right to give money to have Masses said though one gives it not as the price of the Sacrifice but onely by way of acknowledgement or retribution in stipendium necessary to the maintenance of the Priest that offers it up Reconcile this with the practice of all the Parishes of Paris Many other absurdities would follow wherein you shamefully engage your self by reproving this Authour which I pass over to tell you that 't is besides the purpose to dispute whether Tannerus affirm'd in generall or in particular cases onely that it was a Simony as to Positive Right It is sufficient to shew he has affirm'd it as he ought to do generally in cases expressed in the Law and that you have omitted it even in the manner he affirm'd it Whence it follows that you have falsified his Text by a manifest Imposture which still remains upon you since you cannot deny it before all the world After all this you have the courage to propose certain cases of Conscience and to ask with your accustomed boldnesse whether a Beneficed Man shall be guilty of Simony if he dispose of a Benesice worth four hundred pounds a year receiving a thousand pound not as the price of the Benefice but as a motive inclining him to give it and you desire to be answered clearly without mention of Positive Right or presumption of the exteriour Tribunal Repair to the School Sir and all the Divinity Masters will teach you that setting aside the Positive Right youâ— Quâ—re is ridiculous being just as if one should ask whether abstracting from the precept of the Church it were a sin not to hear Masse on a Festivall day But you are to blame to think me oblig'd to read you Lectures of Divinity I should too slightly lose a thing no losse precious then time I have performed my duty in clearly evinâ—ing to you that your second Imposture remains still as well as the first and that you must needs be reduced to a great strait who are constrain'd to ask extravagant questions by not being able to give any solid Answers Wherefore I come to your third Imposture concerning Bankrupts which needs no long discourse to clear up the businesse being of all the most visible and grosse to speak in your own terms For indeed what can be more grosse then to make Lessius affiâ—m That he who turnâ— Bankrupt may with a safe conscience retain as much of his own goods as is requâ—site to maintain his family handsomely ne indecorè vivat though gotten unjustly by crimes notoriously known Seeing you were advertis'd in the Answer to this Calumny that he is so far from that opinion that he â—ffiâ—ms point-blank to the contrary That in the disorder of these times wherein we see many who become rich on a sudden raising themselves pâ—odigious fortunes built onely upon crimes frauds and injustices
to the Reply made in defence of the Twelfth Provinciall Letter Argument 1. THat the Authour of this Reply hath not excused the Authour of the Provinciall Letters from the main crimes objected to him but left him in the lurch 2. Vasquez his Conclusions of Alms set down out of his Treatise of Alms. 3. Out of these Conclusions the Authour of the Reply and the Jansenist are evidently convinced of notorious Imposture 4. Some generall Notions of Simony given 5. Clear Imposture discovered in forging words in the name of Valentia when Valentia hath no such words 6. The Author of the Reply convinced out of his own words of Imposture in his trifling discourse against Tanner SIR YOur Friend the Jansenist is very little obliged to you for instead of helping him out of the miâ—e you have plunged him deeper in You know he was told in the Answer to his Twelfth Letter that he was justly called Heretique since the Church calleth him so for defending the Hereticall Propositions of Jansenius What Answer do you make You know he was told that since as was shewed in the Impostures his objections against the Society were generally the same which Du Moulin had made against the Church he could not take it ill to be called Du Moulins Disciple What Answer do you make You know he was told that the Title of Impostor and Falsiâ—ier was given the Authour of the Book of Morall Divinity burnt by the Hangman and therefore he having formed his Letters on that mould ought not to count it a wrong done him that the Jesuites gave his Letters the Title which the Parliament of Bourdeoux gave the Originall from whence they were copied What Answer do you make The reall crimes which your Friend hath committed make him guilty of these Titles of Heretique of Disciple of Du Moulin of Impostour c. What say you for him If you will defend him you must speak here or else I must tell you as your Friend hath already been told That silence in such crimes as these argueth conviction You tell us You judge these things said to divert the Authour From what That you do not tell us But â—â—e tell you from what These things were said to divert the Author from falsifying and abusing learned Writers which he doth not understand They were said to divert him from stealing calumnies out of condemned Libells They were said to divert him from Heresies They were said to divert others from giving credit to a fabulous Slanderer convinced of so many grosse and ignorant Calumnies It was this diversion was aimed at for his good and the good of those whose facil credulity he abuseth He ought to have cleared himself had it been possible for him from these just accusations and yet you who will needs take up the Cudgels in his quarrel tell us You are glad to see his Thirteenth Letter come abroad without taking any notice of the Answer to his Eleventh and Twelfth Letters where these crimes were laid to his charge This indeed may help to embolden your Friend and make him a little more impudent in belying Authours since you clap him o' the back and are glad to see him slight his being convicted but it will never help to clear him But because you expresse your joy at the sight of the Thirteenth Letter I pray tell me were you glad to see that whereas in the beginning he undertakes to answer the Fourth Imposture in English the Fourteenth and with it Seven more he notwithstanding never toucheth one of those Seven Were you glad to see That that very Fourteenth Impostuâ—e which he handleth is so pittifully treated that it is but reading one short passage of Lâ—ssius which I have inserted in the end of this Book for to see his Ignominy written in undeniable Characters It is no friendly part to be glad that one for whom you have a kindenesse saith what he cannot prove and undertakes what he cannot perform yet you are glad to see this in your Friend which another man would be ashamed of in a Stranger And perhaps your Friend the Jansenist in whose vindication you write will be as glad to see your Letter which is much according to his palate full of falsity and errours You undertake to shew that he hath not wronged Vasquez nor Valentia nor Tanner Let 's see how you perform it And to proceed orderly let 's begin with Vasquez and first lay down the accusations on both sides and then come to you The Authour then of the Provinciall Letters speaketh thus in his Sixth Letter It is said in the Gospel Give Alms of your superfluity and yet divers Casuists have found out a way to exempt even the richest persons from this obligation of giving Alms by interpreting the word superfluity insomuch that it seldom or never happeneth that any man is troubled with any such thing And this is done by the learned Vasquez in this manner What ever men lay up out of a design to raise their fortunes or those of their relation is not called superfluous For which reason it will be hard to finde any among those that are worldly minded that have ought superfluous no not even among Kings And a little after he concludeth That it will be as sure a way according to Vasquez for a man that desires to work his Salvation to be guilty of ambition enough that so he may have nothing superfluous as it is according to the Gospel not to be ambitious at all To this the Jesuites answered That Vasquez taught quite contrary to what the Jansenist imposed on him Here was then the question to be decided in the Twelfth Letter and in its Answer viz. Whether the Authour of the Provinciall Letters â—ad cited Vasquez right or no And you Sir who undertake to second the Jansenist Authour of the Provinciall Letters maintain that Vasquez is not wronged but that he is really Authour of the Doctrine for which he is cited I undertake to prove the contrary Our question must be cleared by looking into Vasquez as he lieth in that Treatise of Alms which consisteth of four Chapters Of these four the first onely is that where he treateth the question in hand concerning Alms which secular men are bound to give I shall therefore draw out from thence all Vasquez his Conclusions concerning this question keeping as near as may be not onely the sense but the very expressions of Vasquez Vasquez his Conclusions concerning Alms which Secular Men are bound to give First all grant that the Precept of actually giving Alms is an Affirmative Precept which doth not oblige at all times Dub. 3. num 10. Secondly all agree that this Precept obligeth under mortall sin when our neighbour is in extream necessity Ibid. Thirdly all seem to agree though perhaps some dissent that no man is bound to give Alms when the necessity of the poor is not urgent but onely ordinary Ibid. Fourthly some say that though you have that which is superfluous not
man may say you have full as much boldnesse but more of addresse then your Master Indeed if all that afford you good advice accuse your insolence or condemn your false Doctrine be Traducers and Liars and that against such you employ the darts of your Lutheran Eloquence the Jesuites have no more to do but to bow down their heads to avoid the blow which you direct much higher your aim is at Miters and Diadems and you strike no heads but such as wear a Crown For in fine what is it you complain of and what injury has been done you Men call you Heretiques and you would make us believe it is a calumny You do but jest 't is not an Obliquy but an Oracle utter'd from the mouth of Christs Vicar f Constitutio Innocentii X. contra 5. Jansen Propositiones who assures us that your Maximes touching Grace are Hereticall Scandalous and Impious If you be offended thereat addresse your self to him declare your self and to justifie your Faith answer him accoring to your usuall stile mentiris impudentissimè You cannot endure to be call'd Jansenist It is a fair name are you asham'd to bear the name of your Father that celâ—brious name known over the whole world that illustrious name which Popes themselves have given you Vt Janseniani Apostolicis decretis tandem acquiescerent g Vrbanus VIII Francisco de Melo Belgii guber natori die 24. Octob. 1643. If you take it for an injury complain of his Holinesse and be not ashamed to say to him Mentiris impudentissimè Men tell you that you are an Impostour and that your boldnesse in corrupting and falsifying the Jesuits Morall is insupportable I do not onely say it but prove it and you cannot deny it I do noâ— whisper it I publish it on the house top I am not the first that sayes it I say it after Urban VIII who so often complains that you decry his Constitutions as false and surreptitious h Quamobrem impudens aliquorum temeritas satis improbari non potest Urbanus VIII Academiae Duacensi anno 1643. 24. Octob. and treats you with a just indignation as Light headed Temerarious Insolent Refractory Rebels who by a pernicious example seek to diminish his Authority to the prejudice of mens eternall salvation i Ob tam apertam quorundam contumaciam ingenti plane aegritudine affecti fuimus agitantes quà m pernicioso exemplo salutis suae discrimine id praesumant Idem Constitutionem nostram à quibusdam Jansenii asseclis impudenter atque inanibus prorsus rationibus oppugnari audivimus Urbanus VIII Episcopo Antuerpiensi anno 1643. die 24. Octob. If these high praises please you not wherefore do you fall upon me who do but barely report the words of that great Pope Fall upon your Judge and to shew that you are not insolent tell him aloud Mentiris impudentissimè You have done it Sir and that more then once you did upon the Bulls that were not favourable to you assay the art of Lye-giving to such as convinc'd you of Imposture and Errour by proofs so clear that you were not able to answer them and I am not astonisht at your high carriage against the Jesuits seeing you have begun your apprentiship upon the Popes When the Church denounced her first Anathema against your pernicious Errours and Pope Vrban VIII struck dead at one blow the true Jansenius and the false Augustine Port-Royall startled at the thunder-clap found no better shelter in that conjuncture which requir'd a quick and hardy resolution then by publique writings to give the lye to those that spâ—ke to you of the Bulls saying to every one of them it is false mentiris impudentissimè That was buâ— the triall of your skill which yet might have past for a Master-piece k The first and second observations on the false Bull of the Pope The Jesuites said you then have forged this Bull against the Doctrine of St. Augustin explain'd in the Lord Bishop of Ipre 's Book They could not defend their cause but by a proceeding so infamous and so unworthy not onely of Christians of Religious of Priests but even of Persons of reputation All Godly People are in hope that his Holinesse will not let such a Crime go unpunished and that he will shew by the condemnation of so great an excessâ— what injury they have â—one to the Holy Sea who endeavoured to make it a Complice of so many black and palpable â—aâ—sities The event did afterwards shew what Spirit of Divination it was that made you speak in the stilâ— of the Prophets when you were not indued with their lights Men knew the voice of their Pâ—stour whom yâ—u made passe for a Thief that Constitution which you had violated by two scandalous obseâ—vations was confiâ—m'd by above six of the Popes Breâ—fs and that which you had â—eâ—ry'd through all the stâ—eets of Paris was receiâ—'d in all Churches by his order Yet â—scapâ—d he not the lye and your Apology which had tried the â—orce of those two terms of your Politiques mentiâ—is impudentissime forgot not to make use of it cunningly strewing upon it this handfull of flowers l Second Apology of Jansenius l. 2. c. 14. A man must put out his eyes to doubt still that this Bull is not surreptitious and that the Bishop of â—pre 's Adversarics have not by under-hand working obstructed the prosecution of the Popes intentions and rendred this Bull as conformable to their passion as it is contrary to the will of his Holinesse Could any man give the lie with a better grace Could any man vindicate Jansenius more dexterously from the censure of Rome Could it be affirmed more tenderly that the Pope by condemning Jansenius had put out his own eyes and suffer'd himself to be led by the Jesuites like a blinde man Not long after this the thunderbolâ— fell upon your two heads which make but one and Pope Innocent X. beating down that two-headed Monster which came out of your desarts declaâ—'d to all the world that though there were many mâ—mbers in the Church yet there was but one Head and that he knew how to take the Sword of St. Paul without giving him the Keyes of St. Peter But after all he could not avoid that Serpenâ—s tongue the â—atall blow that bereâ—t that monster of life could not stifle his voice his hisâ—ings were still heard as he lay expiring and casting forth the last drops of his venom against his Vanquisher Mentirâ—s impudentissiâ—è This deadly cry resounded on the other side of the Mountains and Italy was amaz'd to hear men speak in the midst of the Church a language she had never heard m In notatioâ—ibâ—s ad deâ—retum Latinè Gallice scriptis That his Holinâ—ssâ— had suffer'd himself to be surpriz'd by false reports that the censurers of a Doctrine so holy and advantageous to the Sea Apostolique had not read it or if they had that they understood
City Is it of the Canonicall Hours of Port-Royall which were condemn'd at Rome Is it of the Defence of the secret Rosary which undertakes to justifie the impieties and extravagances of that Libell Is it of those he esteems so profiâ—able to the publique and recommends withouâ— naming them for fear the people should be infoâ—med that there is hardly any work set forth by Port-Royal which is not ranked in the number of prohibited Books taking up a great deal of room in the Roman Catalogue Have you no other proofs wherewith to justifie your Faith then that which gives us cause to suspect it Can you alledge no other Writings to prove your opinions Catholique save those which the Roman Church has prohibited because full of Hereticall Maximes Be it that all the Texts you have drawn out of them appear most Orthodox it follows not that those which I have quoted render you not suspect of Intelligence with Geneva All that can be gather'd from that diversity is that you are contrary to your self that in your Books are found many conradictions but no appearance of your justification that they all have two faces which you shew or hide according to the time the one Catholique the other Calvinist If men cry heretick when you shew the Geneva-face you make it vanish and dexterously turning the Medall shew the Catholique face in an instant So you never publish an Heresie but you have your Apology ready made you couple together Truth and Errour Poyson and its Antidote and by an artifice common to all the enemies of the true Faith you employ one part of your works to defend the other excusing the crime at the same time that you commit iâ— This craft I confesse may surprize the ignorant but cannot justifie you before the wise You are accus'd for instance of this Maxime of Aurelius That every â—in that violates chastity destroyes Priesthood which differs in nothing from the Heresie of the Husâ—ites and you answer that he sayes in the same Book That the Church cannot take away the power of Order because the Character is Indelible Behold indeed a manifest contradiction but that is no justification You are tax'd for saying That Christ admits us in time to the participation of the same food which the Blessed enjoy in eternity without other difference save that here be affords us not the senâ—ible sight and taste of it which is the language of the Calvinists and you answer That the Author of the Letters to a Provincial says that there are many other differences between the manner of his communicating himself to Christians here and to the Saints above I know not whether he be avowed by you for he averres that he has no establishment at Port-Royall fearing least you should be oblig'd to warrant all his Letters But in fine though he were his testimony would be at most but a manifest contradiction not a just defence You are accus'd of saying that the practice of the Church favours the generall impenitence of all men and to divert the blame you answer in your Apology that you condemn not the ordinary practice of Penance which is now in the Church 'T is clear that this is only to crosse and contradict not to purge and justifie your selves You are charg'd with writing in the Book of Frequent Communion that the Church is corrupted in her Doctrine of Manners and you answer the contrary is also found in your Apology to wit that the Church is in corruptible not onely in her Faith but even in her Doctrine of Manners Thâ—s evidently shews the truth of what I say that you fill your Books with contradictions But it proves not what you pretend that men ought to receive them for justifications 'T is not enough to shew for your defence that of two contrary Propositions whereof one is Orthodox the other Hereticall the former is in your Books It must be shewn that the latter the Hereticall one is not there which done you will have right to burst out in reproaches and say to every one of your Accusers mentiris impudentissimè But if effectively it be there if of all the Hereâ—ies I have tax'd you with there is not one but what is faithfully extracted out of your Works who sees not that all the opprobâ—ious accusations you return men for their good advice fall upon your selves and that instead of evincing your divorce from Geneva they prove you culpable not onely of the Errours but even of the Insolence of Heretiques Think on it Sirs I conjure you and if you would have us entertain more favourable thoughts of your Faith brag no more as Mr. Arnauld does that you never fell into errour Acknowledge that you are subject to failings yet that as you have the weaknesse of men to be mistaken so have you their docility to be undeceiv'd and admit of purer lights Retract your errours re-enter Sorbon by a generous disavowment of your evill opinions and submit your private judgements to the Pope What ever else you do that is lesse then this I may say without Raillery You will never be good Catholiques An ANSWER to the JANSENISTS Seventeenth Letter By Father Annat of the Society of Jesus Argument 1. THat the Jansenists quitting the defence of the other Accusations and Impostures laid to their charge endeavour to clear themselves in their last two Letters onely of the crime of Heresie and therefore by their silence are convicted of the other crimes viz. Imposture and Calumny 2. That the Summe of their excuse is reduced to two Mediums The first is the Pretext of Difference betwixt Decisions of Fact and of Right which is answered fully in the Tract called The Answer to the Jansenists Complaint of being called Heretiques 3. The second Medium which is by the Tomists opinion of Efficacious Grace which is Catholique to defend the Jansenian opinion is here refuted and it is shewed that Jansenius neither explicateth nor defendeth his opinion as the Tomists do but as the Calvinists do asserting what Geneva asserteth and denying what Geneva denieth Therefore Calvins Disciples allow of Jansenius as hath already been shewen and again is recapitulated but the Church condemneth him Consequently his Opinions are Heresies Dear Reader THe seventeenth Letter of the Secretary of Port-Royall is now newly arriv'd dated the 23. of January and published the 29. of February All the Interim was but requisite for its journey from Osuabruck where he affirms it was Printed the Jansenists being unwilling to put it to the Press at Paâ—â—s so obedient they are to the Civil State and to the Ordinances of the Magistrate It is a long Letter of the size of the other sixteen which like the precedent by me newly answered tends to prove that the Jansenists are no Hereticks For as to their merited title of Impostors and Falsifiers in their Letters to the Provincial which was all I pretended to demonstrate in my Book of The fair dealing of the Jansenists their Secretary yields us
of Peter is ours and on the contrary he that agreeth not with the Chair of Peter is not ours We ask with St. Ambâ—ose Orat de obitu fratris of every new Sect Whether it agrees with the Catholique Bishops that is with the Church of Rome Rogavit Si cum Episcopis Catholicis id est cum Ecclesiâ Romanâ consentiret We conclude with St. Irenaus Disciple to Saint Polycarp That it is necessary that every particular Church that is all the Faithfull should agree with the Roman Church by reason of her Prerogatioes Lib. 3. cap. 3. Ad Romanam Ecclesiam propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire â—cclesiam id est â—oâ— qui undique sunt â—ideles This is our sense and for this we must judge you an Heretique who speak a language unknown to Rome and do contradict that Auâ—hority which in all ages Fathers and Doctouâ—s and Councells have submitted unto I know Sir you bring many Arguments to vindicate your self and to prove That the Jansenists are no Heretiques But I shall God willing shew you the nullity of them But before I come to that to disintangle the matter I think fit to refute two Things which serve you for Bravadoes onely and matter of Calumny not for any argument to prove that the Jansenists are no Heretiques The one of these things is what you say concerning your self The other what you lay to the Jesuites which is so mixt with the Arguments you bring that it is necessary to take it apart that both it and the Arguments may be clearly answered For your self then Sir you say pag. 296. of the second English Edition which is that I alwayes follow in this Letter That you are alone And pray Sir how came you to be alone 'T was because you separated your self from the Catholique Church You are alone And so was Arius Eutyches Nestorius and all other Arch-Heretiques when they first began to oppose the Church You are alone and therefore suppose you cannot be argued of Heresie you should have discoursed quite contray You are alone and therefore to be suspected for Separatists cannot likely be sound in Faith But Sir if you be alone as you say you are without relation to any how cometh it that in the Eighteenth Letter pag. 337. c. you take upon you to make Proclamations in the publique cause of all the Jansenists Who intrusted you to speak in their name and to deliver their sense How shall we believe what you tell us That they will submit when the places are shewed them in Jansenius or when this Pope shall have again heard them at Rome How shall we know that they are not already satisfied in their conscience Since as you say you are alone and have no relation to them of Port-Royall that is to the Jansenists No No Sir you are not alone you speak for the whole Party you are the mouth of the Caball you act for all the Jansenists And if they should desert you you would not yet be alone for the Calvinists the Lutherans the Anabaptists the Quakers and all that renounce Obedience to the Church of Rome would shake hands with you You know well enough your Letters were welcome at Charenton and are made much of in Germany in Holland in England and all the Nations which are divided from the Faith of the Catholique Church Say therefore no more That you are alone The next thing that you say for your self is That you are hid and the Jesuites finde themselves wounded from your invisible hand pag. 297. A Thief might well comfort himself with this it is his happinesse to be hidden Omnis qui malè agit odit lucem Every one that doth evill would gladly be invisible But that Truth should seek hiding-holes in a place where it may safely appear as in France any Catholique Doctrine may that Sir I never heard Appear therefore or else every one will conclude against you for every one knoweth that he is to be suspected in all he saith who is forced to hide himself like an Out-law and is so forsaken of all that as you speak of your self he hath no relation to any Community nor to any person whatsoever Embrace therefore the Truth and you will not need to hide your self The Catholique Church is visible and you need not make your self invisible unlesse it be to become a member of the invisible Church which is not Catholique The third Thing you say for your self is That you make a Protestation of your Faith in these words pag. 296. I have not any dependance save that on the Catholique Apostolique Roman Church where I am resolved to live and die in the Communion of the Pope the Sovereign Head thereof out of which I am perswaded there is no Salvation Then you ask what course can be taken with one that talkes after this rate You know Sir what course can be and is taken with you for all this you know that the Decree made feriâ quintâ die sexto Septembris 1657. telleth us That Pope Alexander the Seventh condemneth this very Letter of yours together with all the rest notwithstanding this Protestation These words indeed if they be reall might prove you no Protestant but not no Jansenist For notwithstanding these words you maintain Jansenisme you spit your venome at his Holinesse you contemn his Bulls and calumniate those who endeavour to perswade all to submit to the censures of the Church I mean the Jesuites of whom to come to that you tell us In the first place this pag. 298. There is a vaste difference between the Jesuites and them that oppose them They do really make up one Body united under one Head and their Rules allow them not to print any thing without the Approbation of Superiours who by that means become accountable for their Errours whereas you are accountable to no body for what you write nor no body responsible for you All this you say to tax the Jesuites and prove your self irreprehensible and you do not mark that really you commend the Jesuites in it and disgrace your self and discover the Source of your errours Had any man advised you and reviewed your Papers before they went to the Presse they would not have been so full of grosse errours Had you had any dependance on any learned and vertuous man he would have told you that you could not impute to the Society the inventing of the Doctrine of Probabilities and the like which had been taught some hundred of years before the Society was in the world He would have told you That to cite Auhours falsely as you do almost perpetually was a direct means to disgrace your own Writings that to tax good opinions was but to discover the blindenesse of your own passion that to joyn with Jansenists was but to declare against the Church In fine he would have told you all that which since to your shame you have been told by those who answered your Letters
that were deputed to examine at Rome there was but one Jesuit For although Cardinall Lugo a Jesuit of Eminent Learning was also to have been one yet at the Jansenists petition he was excluded So that of Thirteen Examiners there was but one Jesuit and his Censures as you report them the furthest from taxing the Five Propositions that could be expected Where then did the Jesuites appear in all this businesse What did they do Whom did they work upon Certainly Sir you would not have been silent if you had any thing to produce against thâ—m You that have laid so many false Calumnies on the Society would never have dissembled any true fault which they had committed in so important a matter You tell us two things which are meer Surmises not Probations One is that Jansenius had taxed Molina a Jesuite of fifty errours What then Do you imagine Jansenius so great a Divine that Molina must fly for his censures I believe no Jesuit ever thought so and in effect it hath not proved so but quite contrary Jansenius his Book is censured as Hereticall and Molina standeth in as good repute as ever But allow that Jansenius had found five hundred true faults in Molina doth that prove that the â—esuites procured a Bull by false Information when it cannot be shewed that they ever did any thing which might make them suspected of such an intention You tell us then for a second Suâ—mise That the Jesuites hold this Maxime as one of the most Authentique of all their Theology viz. That they may without crime calumniate those by whom they think they are unjustly molested Letter 18. pag. 343. I will not answer this false reproach with that uncivill language which your Friend pag. 325. giveth Father Annat the Kings Confessour Though you deserve it yet I scorn foul language But you must give me leave to tell you that you are extreamly out Never any Jesuite taught this Maxime as you set it down so far are they from holding it one of the most Authentique Maximes of their Theology A Jesuite holdeth it a crime to lie and truly should I know any of them that should think they might calumniate others falsely I should esteem them far otherwise then I do You may therefore file this up with the other false Calnmnies you laid on the Jesuites for this Proposition cannot be found any where but in your Letters no Jesuite ever taught it no I dare say no Catholique Doctour ever imagined it Of like falsity with this are those unjust aspersions which you in several places of your Letters cast on the Jesuites which I note in the fourth place you say pag 351. That the Jesuits raise a disturbance in the Church whilest it is evident that they endeavour to allay the disturbance which you raise All they do is to preach and teach doctrine consonant to the Popes Bulls to the sense of the Church to that which Kings and Princes and all Catholique Bishops and Doctors allow of and agree in To be obedient is not to raise disturbance but to be refractory as you are is to raise disturbance Therefore Pope Alexander justly calleth the Jansenists perturbatores quietis publicae perturbatours of the publique peace because they raise disturbance in the Church Again you say pag. 303. That the Jesuits daily fasten new Heresies on the Jansenists First the Propositions were called Heretical then their quality was urged then it was translated to word for word then it was brought into the heart then into the hand To all this I answer that whereas you attribute to the Jesuites the fastening of Heresie on their Adversaries you cannot be ignorant that they never did call you Heretiques till the Pope had first defined it and the Bishops and whole Church allowed it Nor hath there been any change in the Church as to this point What Pope Innocent first defined that Pope Alexander did again define and because you had found new evasions he added a fuller declaration All the change was on your parts First you said the Propositions were in Jansenius but were not Hereticall then you said they were Hereticall but not in Jansenius And when the places were shâ—wed you you tell us they are not in Jansenius in the same sense which they are condemned in so it is you that change not the Jesuites who never desired more or lesse then that the Bulls should be received You are the Proteus's that change daily your shape to elude the force of the Popes Constitutions and so you are for this reason called by Pope Alexander in his Bull Filii iniquitatis Sonnes of Iniquity Finally to end this matter you say the Jesuites quarrel is at the person of Jansenius pag. 340. not at his errours But the contrary is manifest for you cannot say that ever they did any thing against his person and you will not deny but they have alwayes been against his errours But now I come to your arguments by which you would prove that the Jansenists are not to be called Heretiques I will set them down by way of Objections not as they lie in your Letters but according to the connexion of the substance of them nor will I observe your words which abound with Tautologies and frivolous excursions But I will put them in some-form as much as they will bear that when they are seen in their full force the answer may be the better understood For every argument I cite but one or two places though you repeat them over and over many times for to make your Letters the longer I hope you will noâ— be angry that I keep something of a School-form if you be it is no matter the Reader I am sure will be eased by the Order 1. Objection You object then in severall places of your Letters thus * Letter 17. pag. 316. It is not matter of Faith that the Five condemned Propositions are in Jansenius his Book Therefore they that defend Jansenius his Book are not to be called Heretiques The Antecedent you endeavour to prove by severall Arguments which make the following objections which I shall by and by refute But now I deny the Consequence and â—ell you that your Discourse is Null in this that though the Antecedent were true yet the Consequence doth not follow For to make the Consequence good you must suppose this Proposition true No man can be called an Heretique unless it be an Article of Faith that he be an Heretique which is extreamly false For as in other crimes so in Heresie a Moral or Physical evidence is enough to condemn any one of Heresie For example I hear one tell me seriously and often that he doth not believe the Three Persons of the Trinity and that though he know the Church believeth a Trinity yet he doth not nor will not believe it without any controversie I may judge this man an Heretique although it is not matter of Faith either that he is a man or that I hear him speak
to call those Heretiques whom the Pope condemneth as such whether there be matter of Fact or no contained in the condemnation So the Quartodecimani are by St. Augustin Hâ—res 29. and by the whole Church called Heretiques because they would not obey the Decrees of the Pope and Church and yet the observance of Easter on such a day had more of matter of Fact in it then what Pope Innocent or Pope Alexander declare concerning Jansenius And all this hath been ever practised in the Church of God upon Christs Authority who saith Qui Ecclesiam non audierit sit tibi sicut Ethnicus Publicanus He that heareth not the Church whether it be in matter of Fact or no let him be unto you as an Heathen and Publican that is as one quite out of the Church As for the stories you alledge I shall answer you when I have done with your Objections Now I observe that these three main Objections so often inculcated whereby you would prove that it is but matter of Fact and so not of Faith but a matter wherein Popes and Councells may erre do not prove any thing at all For notwithstanding the possibility of errour in matter of Fact which many Catholique Doctours allow yet it is not to be presumed that here is any errour but quite contrary it is to be supposed certain that there is none unlesse we will be temeâ—arious and refractory to the Church we having two Popes and a Synod of France's Assertion redoubled that all diligence was used and knowing also that the matter was very easily cleared the Question being onely whether the Book which they had in their â—ands had the Propositions or no finally the whole world being certified that all parties were agreed that the Propositions were in Jansenius before ever the condemnation was thought of as you may see in severall places of this Book namely in the Sixteenth Letter and Father Annats Answer to the Jansenists Complaint Now then I proceed to a fourth Objection by which you would prove not onely that the Popes and Councells may erre as hitherto but that in effect they have erred 4. Objection Many Learned men have read Jansenius all over and cannot finde the Five Propositions therefore they are not there and so the Synod of France and the Popes who condemned those Propositions as Jansenius's erred I answer first that this is a Negative Argument and so in effect proves nothing against the Positive Assertion of the Synod of France which found them there and the Definition of the Pope who defineth that they are there But to answer again I ask who were those sixty Persons that read Jansenius and could not finde those Propositions Perhaps Doctour St. Beauve was one whom pag. 300. you call the Kings Professour in Sorbon but you do not tell us that he was turn'd out of his place for Iansenisme which I have from a good hand Or were you one Sir If you were and the rest like you I do not wonder that you could not finde the Propositions in Jansenius though they be there You that could finde in so many Authours of the Jesuites as you have falsely cited that which is not there might have the trick of not finding in Jansenius that which is there It is a great deal easier to read an Author and not to find that which is there then to finde there that which is not there as you Sir are evidently convinced to have done The Fourteenth Imposture and the small piece of Lessius inserted in the end of this Book maketh this evident You can finde or say you finde in Lessius that which he hath not and why may you not more easily not finde or say you cannot finde in Jansenius that which is clearly there You therefore when you tell us that above sixty * Let. 18. pag 343. Persons have read Jansenius and cannot finde the Propositions there ought to let us know who those sâ—xty were and if they please to appear they shall be shewed the places 5. Objection The places cannot be cited * Letter 18. pag. 342. therefore they be not there and so still the Church erreth But pray Sir who is it that you challenge to cite the places Would you tell his Holinesse that you will not believe him till he citeth the places that is will not believe him till you see it That is not the duty of a Childe to his Father nor would any Servant be so â—aucy with his Master Or would you say this to the Synod of so many grave and learned Bishops as in France collected the Propositions out of Janseniâ—s and for the greater satisfaction of all the world have given it under their hands that the Propositions are truly in Jansenius to their knowledge as you may see in their Subscriptions put in the beginning of this Book in the History of Jansenisime Is it to these you would say they cannot cite the places That were to be very disrespectfull and to suspect them strangely either of grosse ignorance or of extream malice But you tell us Letter 18. pag. 330. 'T is the Jesuites you mean 't is they cannot cite the places and yet they call you Heretiques And what then Sir Suppose no Jesuite in the world could cite the places must the Church therefore be out or must the Iesuites not give the Propositions the same name which the Popes and universall Church gives them that is to call them Hereticall and condemned in Jansenius his sense and as they lie in Jansenius What if the Iesuites should answer that since the Popes and Synod of France thought not sit to cite the places they judge it a dutifull Deference not to cite them neither Or what if no Iesuite hath ever looked in Jansenius What is that to us Catholiques who dutifully and obediently believe the Church that telleth us they are in Jansenius We believe in the Catholique Church as our Creed teacheth us and the Iesuites believe in the same Church and whether they have read Jansenius or no we and they must say the Five condemned Propositions are in Jansenius Tâ—uly Sir I cannot hold laughing when I read page 342. that you define the Iesuits to cite the places of Jansenius as you have cited their corrupt Maximes which is to say that you desire them to cite wrong places for you know Sir you never cite right But Sir that the world may see how impudent you are and how resolved to deny Truth wheresoever you finde it I desire all to take notice that long before your Seventeenth or Eighteenth Letter where you urge this Argument so insolently the places were cited and publiquely allowed to be truly cited and that even by your own selves as is evidently convinced in Father Annats Answer to the Iansenists Complaint where you have the Iansenists own confession and the Soâ—bonists citing the places and besides Father Annat hath also cited the places All that can be râ—plied is that the a Letter 17.
both the parties concerned that is the Authour of the Apology and the Cuâ—â—z do acknowledge their Judge in this cause As indeed he is the sole â—udge in whose Arbiâ—rement the quarrel can cease For the matter being manifestly of those causes which are called Causae majores it apperttaineth not to any private Doctour or School to determine and by that means to give rules to all Christendome which cannot be done by any under the Pope For this reason the Archbishop of Roven answered the Curez of his Diocesse who first stirred in this business in these words as they are set down pag. 2. in â—ine in these Additionalls That this affair was of great concernment and reflected on the whole Church Therefore he refered them to the Synod of France then sitting at Paris Nor did that Synod define any thing as to particular cases or condemnation of opinions held by Learned Authors All which sheweth us the importance of the matter which being of the Causae majores or greater Causes belongeth to the Head of the Church This answer is according to the Doctrine of Gerson sometimes Chancellour of the University of Paris Tom. 1. de examin doctrin Consil 3. and not to cite others according to Du Val a learned Soâ—bonist and late Authour de potest Sum. Pont. p. 4. q. 5. who speaketh thus Constat ex pâ—rpetuâ Ecclesiae praxi quâ nihil unquam de Fide aut Moribus absque Romani Pontifiâ—is auctoritate consensu deâ—râ—â—um lâ—gimus Hinâ— est quod Primates Archiâ—piscopi in Provincialibuâ— Synodis praesertim ubi de Fide agâ—râ—tur Romani Pontificis auctoritatem semper exopt ârunt rati non aliter sua dâ—crâ—ta robur habcre This is certain saith he out of the perpetuall practice of the Church in which we finde that nothing hath ever been dâ—creed concerning Faith or Manners now all Morall Divinity or cases concern Manners as the rule of Manners without the Authority of the Pope of Rome Hence it cometh that Primates and Archbishops in their Provinciall Synods especially in matters of Faith have alwayes desired the Authority of the Bishop of Rome Knowing that their Dâ—crees would not otherwise have any strength So we ought in all reason to expect from his Holinesse and no other the condemnation or approbation of the Authour of the Apology I therefore will not go about to answer those things Yet because these Factums of the Curez are spread here in England for no other reason then to discredit the Doctrine of the Society I think it but reason to set down some Thoughts which may induce the Reader to suspend his judgement till the matter be decided at Rome The first is That it is not certain that these Factums or Representations of the Curez are really and truly legall acts because that some of the ablest Curez are said to have renounced them and some to have professed that their names were set by others to these Factums when they kâ—ew nothing of it This if when it cometh to the Test it proveth so will shew that the whole businesse is but a turbulent proceeding of some unquiet spirits and not really the Deed of the Curez in generall as is pretended I kâ—ow the last Piece in the Additionalls maintaineth that the Factum is truly the Deed of the Curez But I say That still it is not certain that either that or the former was really a Deed of all as is pretended and not rather the act of a factious party that usuâ—ped the name of all And althoâ—gh I will not interpose to decide the question yet I say we in England cannot at all be sure having no other ground but the Additioner or Printers assurance which no man can justly esteem any thing at all he being convinced in the former answers to the Additionalls to be maliciously bent to say any thing that â—eemeth against the Jesuites be it true or false not sparing even Blasphemy The Second Thought is That supposing it be allowed that these Factums are legall then all that followeth is contained in these two Consequences First That those Curez think that these opinions are taught by the Authours whom they alledge Secondly That the opinions in the judgements of these Curez are not tenible and ought not to be taught Now as to the first consequence that they are mistaken in divers of the opinions is most certain For example in the very first of the Catalogue pag. 17. there is a notable errour viz. They say That the Casuists teach that a man may be confident he doth not sin though he quit an opinion which he knoweth to be true and is more safe to follow that which is contrary thereto This is an errour For no Casuist doth teach That you may quit an opinion which you know to be true that were a meer madnesse no Probability can excuse you against a known Truth But the whole Doctrine of Probability according to all Casuists supposeth a doubt on each side See the four first Impostures and you will be satisfied of this Now as to the second Consequence which I said followed if it be allowed that these Factums are valid and legall to wit That the the Curez think that these opinions I speak now onely of those which are truly cited are not tenible and ought not to be taught I answer That though they think so yet we are not bound to joyn in their opinion till the Church hath spoken and declared for them The Curez are on the one side and the chiefest Divines of Christendom that have ever writ are on the contrary Whom shall we believe The Curez are not known to have taught Divinity nor writ Treatises of these matters in which they give their censure They bring no reasons nor cite no authorities For my part I shall rather believe one learned Authour who hath joyned long experience with solid study then forty unlearned men either Curez or Jesuits or others Which I do not say to villifie the Curez but to reflect on the Authority which they oppose For example many of the cases which are by the Curez supposed dangerous Propositions are Navarre's opinions though they do not cite Navarre but some Jesuit And I tell them I will sooner believe Navarre alone then a hundred such as never taught Divinity never studied Canon-Law the chief ground of Morall Divinity nor never had any Auctority or name in the Church whereas Navarre hath the approbation of all learned men in the world is read in all Universities and in the whole Church of God esteemed an Oracle of Learning What then shall we say when the Curez do not onely oppose Navarre alone but St. Antonine St. Thomas Gerson Sylvester Raymundus Cajetan Soto Medina Lopez Peter Navarre Angelus Corduba Sanchez Suarez Molina Vasquez Lessius Layman and an hundred others But of this again I advertise the Reader that I pretend not to diminish the Auctority of any Learned man Curé or other onely I say it is