Church for promoting imaginary Enthusiasms and on St. Ignatius for practising them However though perchance his Buffooning Disease may be past cure yet for the disabusing those who possibly may be so far impos'd on as to take a meer Romance for a real Story I shall make a short Reply to a long Fable Though I am convinc'd indeed that Many may be pleas'd with the Slander yet Few will approve it and Fewer the Author The most Favourable perchance may rank him among the Merry Andrews But I am sure the more Judicious will place him among Those who profess little Religion and exercise less Virtue I do not intend in my Reply to follow this Gentleman so close by the Heels as he has done Dr. Stillingfleet for I find the greatest Part of his Calumnies long since wip'd-of in the Second Letter to A. B. But I will only touch those Accusations which either slipt by the Doctor 's Memory or were so notoriously false as he thought fit to conceal them SECT I. Whether St. Ignatius had the Qualities which the Author requires to make up a Phanatick AFter an Invective of Twenty Pages against Phanaticism and an Hundred Compliments to the Saints of the Catholick Church of which Mad Frenzical Brain-sick c. are the most endearing Epithetes as if the Gentleman had lost his Breath he stops of a suddain and thus very gravely reads the Indictment against St. Ignatius In forming this Inquiry I shall begin with the Qualities necessarily requisit to compleat an affected Enthusiast among which an ardent Desire of Glory and immoderate Ambition obtain the first place for none could prostitute the Dignity of his Nature to the Follies and Impertinencies of Enthusiasm deny to himself the common Benefits of Life and undergo Poverty Nakedness Hunger and a thousand other Inconveniences incident to that Profession if he were not transported with a violent Ambition I confess ingenuously that Pride is a necessary Ingredient to make a Phanatick but that such a Self-denial as you mention is incident to Men of that Profession is in my Opinion a most groundless Assertion No Man in England I believe is such a Recluse as not to be acquainted with some of that Perswasion and yet I dare affirm That no Body can point me out any considerable number of those Proselytes of Phanaticism who ever esteem'd Voluntary Poverty Nakedness Hunger and a Thousand other Inconveniences to be necessary Compliments of their Religion Indeed the Church of England seems to be convinc'd that a Renunciation of those Common Benefits of Life is an essential part of their Obligation and therefore mov'd with a Pious Indignation to see so Christian Duties laid aside thought fit some Years past to call straying Phanaticks to a severe Account for the Contempt of so laudable a Tenet She tormented their Bodies with loathsom Prisons for the good of their Souls drain'd their Purses with Weekly and Monthly Fines and in fine forc'd them to undergo Poverty Nakedness Hunger and a Thousand other Inconveniences incident to that Perswasion Nay the no less Provident than Pious Mother-Church went further She knew full well that Human Nature is frail and that Men are far more prone to Fall than to Rise and for this Reason She judges it most convenient to keep the Rod viz. the Penal Laws in her Hand that now and then with a gentle Lash She may admonish them of their Duties Poverty Nakedness c And 't is for this end too that She stickles for the Test lest poor Phanaticks by intruding themselves into gainful Offices should cut a new Channel for their Ambition to run in and pride rather in Opulence than in the wanâ— of the Common Benefits of Nature It being then no Principle of our English Phanaticks to feed their Ambition with such an Aversion from the Creature as rather to expose their naked Backs to publick View their Stomachs to the inward Knawings of a biting Hunger rather than enjoy it Without doubt your piercing Genius has found out a new Sect which Modesty commands you to conceal But to satisfie the Reader 's Curiosity and to contribute as much as I am able to the Increase of your Reputation and the Credit of that pure Church of which you are a spotless Member I shall communicate your Discovery that the World may be Witness as well of your Piety as of your Railery And that I may explain your Meaning without all Debate let the Reader take notice of your Words For none would prostitute the Dignity of his Nature c. deny to himself the common Benefits of Life and undergo Poverty c. if he were not transported with a violent Ambition So that if we do but form one Syllogism this new Discovery will lie at the Tail of it Those who deny themselves the common Benefits of Life who undergo Poverty c. have the first Quality to compleat an Enthusiast But The Apostles the Primitive Christians and to be short Christ himself did deny themselves the common Benefits of Life Ergo. Christ and his Apostles c. had the first Quality to compleat an Enthusiast This is a Discovery worthy indeed of a Julian or Porphyrius but for my Life I cannot find one Fig-leaf to cover your Impiety If it be a piece of Phanaticism to leave All for Christ's sake to obey our Great Master's Counsel we acknowledge the Accusation and plead Guilty But if it be a Crime of the first Magnitude to turn Christ's Life and his Doctrine into â—aileries Sir let me tell you You stand heavily guilty at God's Tribunal and will infallibly bear the smart of your Blasphemy in the next World unless you learn to repent in This. But perchance you will tell me That to quit all Worldly Pretensions to deny ones self the Common Benefits of Life meerly for Christ's sake is Praise-worthy But that St. Ignatius's Poverty sprung from a Principle as far different as Ambition is remote from Humility So 't is not precisely the Exterior Train of Self-Denial which qualifies him for a Phanatick but Interior Ambition Prove then Sir That Ambition was the fist Motive of all St. Ignatius's Austerities He is about it where he ushers in his Proof with a Division of Ambition to shew he loves to take things from the bottom Ignatius says he was in a most particular manner indu'd with this Heroick Quality and that both Natural and Acquir'd I suppose Sir the Natural Temper of a Man's Body is no more a Crime than the Natural Features of his Face because neither the One nor the Other falls under a Free Election which is a necessary Requisit to frame a Sin. So that the First Part of your Proof being null we must fall to the Examen of the Second This Natural Ambition of St. Ignatius was fomented and increased by his extraordinary Addiction to read Romances and the Lives of Saints p. 21. But it was the Reading of the Legends of Saints which finally compleated the Disease and render'd
to put on its Neck that of the LORD Yes And Dr. B. a Minister of the Church of England extols to the Skies the Wisdom of his New Lords for a Crime which I fear has pusht the Contrivers into Hell. The Wisdom of latter Years has produc'd the same Effects in every Kingdom where Protestancy the Religion of Latter Times got foot and I dare say That it seldom gain'd one Inch of Ground but by the Help of Carnal Weapons So that I am sure what-ever Mines the Jesuits have laid to propagate Popery the Propagation of the Gospel by Force of Arms is more connatural to Protestancy After an Hundred and Two Pages spent in wild Notions rambling Propositions and nonsensical Probations to back them as if he had intended all the while to give Scope only to a Whimsical Imagination or to teach the World That much Confidence and little Reason go far he resolves to knock down St. Ignatius's Sanctity as well as the Church's at one Blow The Design is great and suitable to Don Quixot's Bravo and the Method contriv'd to Admiration Be pleas'd therefore to attend In the Bull of his Canonization the Pope affirmeth That from the Time of his Conversion nothing proceeded from him which can be accounted a Mortal Sin. But St. Ignatius committed the Sin of Despair in the most aggravating Circumstances sometime after his Conversion Ergo The Pope was deceiv'd and St. Ignatius instead of a Throne among the Saints deserves a Place among the Sinners Here are Two Charges but GOD send they fall not on the Head of the Accuser I deny then Sir the Minor viz. That St. Ignatius was guilty of Despair But let me desire you not to run to Bouhours to make your Charge good for on my Word you will betray your Blindness as well as the Cause you have in Hand The Gentleman after so many unlucky Chances by Quotations will try another Hit for it He tells us then out of Bouhours That he Ignatius falls into a dark Melancholly and being one Day in his Cell he had the thought of throwing himself out of the Window to end his Misery Here is indeed a shrewd Temptation but yet no shadow of Sin. All the World knows well that it is not in the Power of any Man breathing to barr out of his Imagination Criminal Suggestions No no they lie within the reach of Satan who can imprint in them the Pictures of the most monstrous Crimes and oftentimes the best Men are assaulted with the worst Thoughts A bare Suggestion is no Fault 't is a voluntary embracing of it derives all its Malice into the Action Shew me then out of Bouhours that St. Ignatius deliberately yielded to the Temptation and I will cast aside all further Dispute But Heaven says he by Force restrain'd him against his Will. Ay here is Despair with a Vengeance indeed Does Bouhours affirm this Not one word of it upon my Credit Pray Reader condescend so far to Curiosity as to turn to Lib. 2. pag. 29. and you will find Boubours of a quite contrary Opinion But he was with-held from yielding to this Motion of Despair by the same Hand which struck him Thus he Which Words taken in the most natural Sense imaginable import only this That St. Ignatius was assail'd with the Temptation of Despair but by the Helping Grace of GOD he most happily triumphed over the Enemy And now Reader Shall such an Impudence go unpunish'd No no if a Searing Iron has not past over his Conscience if ev'ry Spark of Christianity is not stifled I am sure he has felt the Bitings of a knawing Conscience and GOD send the Torment already began Here may not continue Hereafter where it is like to he without Redress because without End. I will appeal to any sober Man Whether this Gentleman hath not drawn up an undeniable Demonstration both of his own Forgery and Despair I say Despair and that in the most aggravating Circumstances because nothing beside the utmost Despair of making his Indictment good could ever throw a Man into such an Extremity as to oblige him to run bare-fac'd into a Guilt of the highest Nature to fasten a Crime on another Yet the Gentleman may in some sort be excus'd 't is the Epidemical Disease of the Climate His Church sprung from the Itch of Liberty was first wean'd with Forgery and stands yet on the same Crutches And this is so black a Patch in the Face of the Church of England that the Guardians not being able to wash it off have thought fit to perswade the World that the Papists are guilty of the same Defect But the Misery is the Blur is so minute in us that none can see it but the Ministerial Guides so that Others who believe it must pin their Faith on the Reverend Sleeves of their Divines Canonical Habit. The Gentleman is now piping-hot against the Pope The former Crime of Despair was mention'd to convince the World that his Holiness took ill Informations of St. Ignatius's Sanctity Ex abundanti he comes out with a Second However if it be a Venial Sin for a Man to sacrifice his Life to his Folly it is no less than a Mortal One deliberately to commit an Action which he is perswaded in his own Conscience to be unlawful Ignatius in his Voyage to Jerusalem thought it utterly unlawful and contrary to Evangelical Poverty to carry any Provisions with him yet being resolv'd by his Confessor to the contrary he boldly did that out of Obedience which he durst not do of himself By this Passage he pretends to demonstrate St. Ignatius guilty of a Mortal Sin but after having sifted it from top to bottom I protest I cannot find the very Shaddow of a Venial One. Let us put to the Test each Proposition It is no less than a Mortal Sin deliberately to commit an Action which he is perswaded in his own Conscience to be unlawful Certainly Sir your Closet turn'd round when you Penn'd this Proposition I suppose you are perswaded in your Conscience the least Untruth to be unlawful and yet I should not be so severe as to judge every slight Untruth to amount to a Mortal Sin To steal a Penny is an unlawful Action and yet I dare avouch that whosoever taxes such a petty Theft with a Mortal Sin stands accountable to GOD of a Mortal One himself And when it shall please you to call for my Reason you shall not fail to have it Let us go on Ignatius in his Voyage to Jerusalem thought it utterly unlawful and contrary to Evangelical Poverty to carry any Provisions with him Sir You are so innur'd to false Quotations that you cannot forbear 'T is utterly false that St. Ignatius thought it utterly unlawful to carry any Provisions along with him For Bouhours only tells us He was afraid he should deviate from Evangelical Poverty in carrying any thing along with him So that his Doubt was not of the Lawfulness of the Action but whether
Providence to find out all Articles of Faith is an Inward Light and an Immediate Revelation This I understand by Phanaticism And if you can prove St. Ignatius guilty of this Folly I will fling up the Cause if you cannot Justice obliges you to a speedy Repentance First For having so abus'd the World with loud Clamours of strange Discoveries concerning the Church of Rome 's Superstitious Practices and Enthusiastick Extravagancies Secondly For having betray'd your own Conscience in the Sight of GOD whil'st blind Temerity and intoxicating Fury guided your Pen to wound the Reputation of the Saints in the Judgment of Men. You therefore affirm St. Ignatius to have been a Phanatick because he pretended to Divine Visions and Illuminations and then you draw up an Inventory of some Apparitions and Ecstacies recounted in his Life which takes up a considerable Part of your Pamphlet All which you are pleas'd to attribute to the Effects of a strong Imagination and of a weak and disturb'd Brain But shall any ones Judgment be so byass'd as to take this for a Confutation Would any Man take bare Assertions for solid Reasons or false Aspersions for real Crimes your Discourse is I grant most perswasive But who-ever takes the pains to sift it will be able to find nothing but Scum above and Malice below Sir For my part I know no Catholick of so easie a Belief as presently to swallow down every fictitious Story for a real Miracle They measure their Assent by the Rules of Prudence Where the Authority is weak their Belief is suitable where strong and evident their Assent is without Hesitation In fine They always are of Opinion That to Believe All and to Deny All are Extreams equally reprehensible Now produce some Arguments which prove credibly That the Illuminations and Visions ascrib'd to St. Ignatius were but the Effect of a discompos'd Brain of a strong Imagination and disorderly Fancy and if I cannot oppose more weighty Reasons to the contrary I 'll fling up my Cards The only Ground of your Scruple as far as I can learn is this If indeed Ignatius receiv'd a perfect Knowledge of the Christian Religion c. How came it to pass that for many Years after he was still esteemed a Fool and an Ideot You have put a pretty Sophism in the Mouth of a Jew or a Turk If JESVS CHRIST was GOD How came it to pass that He was still esteem'd for a Fool and an Ideot To make us believe that such an Opinion was not a Popular Noise only you tell us Vpon a particular Examen by the Inquisitor of Alcala and Arch-Bishop of Toledo he was adjudg'd not to have been sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion You might as well have quoted your darling Romance Don Quixot as Bouhours and found as much to your Purpose in the One as in the Other For Bouhours in the Book cited mentions not one Word of St. Ignatius's appearing before the Inquisitor much less of a particular Examen And therefore any puny Logician may infer out of that Examen in Nubibus That you are far more meanly instructed in the Rules of Truth than St. Ignatius in Matters of Religion Indeed Bouhours tells us That the Great Vicar cast him in Prison upon the Account of the Indiscreet Fervor of Two Ladies abscrib'd by Dr. Cirol to the Perswasions of St. Ignatius and told him That not being a Divine he should abstain from explicating to the People the Mysteries of Religion till such Time he had studied Four Years in Divinity But here 's no mention either of an Inquisitor or of a particular Examen And as for Don Alphonso de Fonseca Arch-Bishop of Toledo he was so far from judging him not to have been Sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion that he very much Exhorted him to continue his Functions of Piety towards his Neighbour So that here lie chain'd one to the Heels of the other Two Forgeries without Dispute as well as without Excuse Had you been forc'd to Translate your Author out of Greek Charity might have oblig'd me rather to have fast'ned this Mistake on your Ignorance than to have imputed it to your Malice But the Book being Englisht to your Hands the most favourable Construction I can put on your Crime is That you have taken up that Principle so often laid at the Papists Door viz. All things are lawful if profitable to the Church and then working by this Maxim you concluded That a Forgery was but a small Price to buy Heaven for your self and the Dis-esteem of the World for St. Ignatius and those of his Society But Sir You have taken false Measures and as disadvantagious a Topick as you could have light upon Vent your Burlesquing Vein till Dooms-Day you will never so far unman Rational Creatures as to wheedle them into a Belief that the Jesuits and their Founder are Fools and Ideots Had you taken up your Quarters at Fox-Hall and from that Enchanted Castle popt in the Hawker's Mouths New Narratives of Popish Plots and Jesuitical Contrivances or ply'd them with White-Horse Consultations Armies of Jesuits in the Air and Thousands of Pilgrims in the Rear your Labour might 't is possible have met with some Success But on a suddain to Metamorphize their Plotting into Folly their intrieguing Genius into Stupidity is to raise a Scruple in the Wisest Part of the Nation Whether they did not want some Grains of Wit when they fear'd to be impos'd on by Fools Yet indeed to give the Gentleman his Due he dropt a Word or two Pag. 26. which insinuate That at first he intended rather to have charg'd the Jesuits with Knavery than Folly for thus he tells us It seems the Propagation of the Gospel by Force of Arms is connatural to the Order of Jesuits only the Wisdom of latter Years hath chang'd these Spiritual into Carnal Weapons You are in the right Sir The Wisdom of latter Years hath chang'd these Spiritual into Carnal Weapons But the Misery is the Wisdom of the little Lord Shaftsbury joyn'd with the indefatigable Industry of Sir William Waller was not able to find them in Jesuitical nor Popish Cabinets The Gentlemen of Rye-House engross'd them to themselves for a peculiar Use and then the Protestant Duke of the Church of England convey'd them to his Friends at Taunton for the Propagation of Liberty and Religion But Sir You are too wary You might without Scruple extend the Wisdom of latter Years to latter Ages for I find Protestancy and Carnal Weapons of the same Date Look over to the Godly Churches of Germany and you will see them making Elbow-Room with Drawn Daggers in their Hands and Christian Liberty in their Mouths Two pretty Protestancy-dilating Engines and both the Product of Modern Wisdom What think you Sir of the Wisdom of a Neighbouring Republick Did it not effect the Propagation of the Gospel by Force of Arms Did it not break in pieces the fretting Yoak of its Master the King of Spain