Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	catholic_n	church_n	profess_v	6,124	5	9.0713	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26001	Some generall observations upon Dr. Stillingfleet's book, and way of wrighting with a vindication of St. Ignatius Loyola, and his followers the Iesuits, from the foul aspersions he has lately cast upon them, in his discourse concerning the idolatry, &c. : in four letters, written to A.B.	Ashby, Richard, 1614-1680.	1672 (1672)	Wing A3942; ESTC R7040	65,474	73

Ignatius was so far from despising it that he was not onely a great frequenter of the Sacraments himself but is held to have been the chief Author of reintroducing that pious practise which was much gone to decay before his time What shall I say of other holy exercises though he loved prayer yet he had so much zeal of souls that he neglected no charitable office which he could do for the good of his neighbour either in soul or body witness his laying hold of all occasions to exhort his neighbour to the detestation of vice and love of vertue his serving the sick in Hospitals and begging alms for the relief of poor people c. You see Sir not any one part of the character of the Illuminati can be applyed to St. Ignatius so unlucky is the Dr. in his arguments as if he took pleasure in throwing dirt though it fall short and cannot reach his adversary Now if you have a mind to see the true character of an Orthodox Christian in opposition to the Illuminati and other impure Sects read over those most excellent rules which St. Ignatius has set down in the end of his Spiritual exercises Reg. ut cum Ecclesia sentiamus 5 The Doctor will not let this fall so but to put the matter out of dispute brings in Melchior Canus a person says he of more learning and judgment then a thausand Ignatius's Compa●isons are odious yet let me tell him St. Ignatius has the general repute of a wise man even amongst Protestants who have lookt well into his Institute and it is wels known how Catholicks esteem him To omit Popes and Cardinal who when occasion serves know how to distinguish an English Quaker from a man in his wits Orland l. 16. n. 129. Ferdinand the first King of the Romans had a great value for him and John the third King of Portugal no fool thought him the fittest man in the world to succeed Julius the Third in the Chair of St. Peter But to return to Canus he would never believe otherwise but that St. Ignatius his companions were the fore-runners of Antichrist described by the Apostle in the last times 2 Tim. 3. 1. to the 8. But in this I am sure he shewed neither learning nor judgment For first a very little learning would have served to answer himself with the very same arguments which St. Thomas used S. Tho. lib. contra impugn Relig. c. 24. 25. to wipe off the like aspersions from his own Order Nor does it argue much judgement to be so singular and extravagant in his opinion as to condemn an Order which was confirmed by the Sea Apostolick and approved by his own whole Order For not onely Penna a grave Doctor of the same University and Convent with Canus stood up in defence of St. Ignatius and his Society but Franciscus Romaeus General of the Dominicans write a circular Letter to all his Subjects in which he not only commends the Fathers of the Society but commands them in vertue of holy obedience not to write or speak ill of them but defend them as their fellow labourers in Christs Vineyard as the Doctor might have seen in Orlandinus Hist Soc. Jesul 8. n. 46. in the very place he quotes out of him but it was not that he lookt for To his Text out of St. Paul it agrees no more with St. Ignatius and his followers then his character of the Illuminati but may well be applyed to his grand Patriarck Luther who was a great lover of himself covetous haughty proud blasphemous and wicked without peace incontinent unmerciful a lover of voluptuousness more then of God one that entered into a Religions House and lead captive a silly Nun laden with sins c. The story he relates how Ignatius boasted of his righteousness in presence of Canus and commended one of his brethren for a Saint who was Frantick in a certain conjunction of the Moon may go wirh the rest upon Schioppius his credit who is as good an Author as du Moulin but will never be credited by any sober persons who take not the Saint for a starck fool What he adds of St. Ignatius his flying out of Spain for fear of being layed hold on by the Inquisition and of his being absolved at Rome for want of accusers is as falls as you shall see anon for he was both clapt up in the Inquisition and honourably dismissed before he left Spain N. 20. and the malice of his accusers was not wanting at Rome nor the just Judgments of God upon them N. 29. Yet the Dr. draws out of these testimonies this wonderful conclusion See from what man the Jesuits derive the infallibility of their Faith I wonder in what conjunction of the Moon the Doctor writ this for there never was such a piece of non-sense as to make the Jesuits fetch the infallibility of their faith from St. Ignatius who profess as all Catholicks do that they derive it from the infallible Word of God proposed unto them by the Catholick Church I have heard some laugh heartily at this passage This said they is that which we call pure non-sense we must confess others are but bunglers in comparison of him you must sometimes turn over a whole Book before you can find it out but here it lyes so close together you need not go far to seek it He has the true knack of it 6. I have done with his Sect. 12. sure in the next we shall have something in good earnest if he remember his promise p. 262. to prove St. Ignatius as great a Fanatick as ever has been in the world and we shall have fair dealing if he keep his word for he promises to bring no more Schioppius's for witnesses but only three Jesuits I shall only they are his words make use of those of his own Order who have writ his life Maffejus Orlandinus and Ribadeneira he means so he may use them after his own fashion for as I told you in my first Letter he has more tricks than one to compass his ends And first it is not without design that he slips over the Saints noble extraction from the Grandees of Spain both by his Fathers and his Mothers side and his education at Court for persons well born and bred do not use to turn sneaking Quakers and therefore he did prudently to conceal these circumstances least his Readers fancy should at first sight be drawn off to imagine him something better than a quaking Fanatick 7. He therefore begins his History of St. Ignatius his life from his happy conversion which as all Authors agree was in this manner In the defence of the Castle of Pampelona which was committed to his charge he received a dangerous wound which tyed him fast to his bed and kept him long under the Chirurgeons hands Wherefore to pass away the time he call'd for some profane Book as his custom was but the special providence of God had so ordained for his

by heart but this engin faild them for to their great shame and confusion it was found upon due examination that Ravillac knew not a word of Latin in which the book is written nor so much as Mariana's name And soon after the Queen Regent with the Princes and counsel in the Kings name issued out a Decree which cleared the Jesuits from all suspicion of having had any thing to do in that wicked Fact And because four dayes before the Parliament had condemned Cardinal Bellarmins book de potestate summi Pontificis in temporalibus in the same decree they revoked and annulled that Act. 12. His last fling at the Jesuits practise is to make Father Henry Garnet guilty of the Gunpowder Treason But it is manifest that mild man detested from his very heart all such bloody practises and laboured all he could to prevent them by suing to Rome for an excommunication against all those that should use any violent proceedings upon the account of Religion as is to be seen more at large in the History of the English Province Mar. l. 7. an 27. The main thing objected against him was his concealing the plot but you must know all the knowledge he had of it was in the Sacrament of Confession and all he could do there was to exhort and conjure his penitent to terrifie the Plotters from so wicked an attempt and he was not at all wanting in this point of duty but for revealing the plot it was more than he could do for Protestants must give us leave to beleive what all Catholick Princes and States allow to be of no prejudice but rather an advantage to their safety that the Sacred Seal of Confession is inviolable nor is this only the Jesuits doctrine but the known opinion of all Catholick Divines there is not that Priest amongst us that will not rather chuse to dye than reveal a Confession and if they dye for it Protestants must not think it strange that we honour them This was Father Garnets case who was condemned for not revealing Confessions and for being a Priest and Jesuit No wonder then if St. Arnour saw his picture in a Catholick countrey But I dare say he never saw Guerets or Guignards as the Dr. insinuates for though they dyed innocently yet they dyed not for the Faith as Father Garnet did Let St. Arnour say what he will he never acknowledged himself guilty of the Treason that 's a meer calumny and it is something strange the Dr. should travail into France to know what passed in London All he confessed was that having an inckling of suspicion out of confession that Catesby was bruing mischief though he knew not what it was he used all his power to perswade him to be quiet and not to run himself upon desperate courses which were neither pleasing to God nor man and that finding him to his thinking resolved to follow his counsel he did not take himself obliged to give informations against him as not judgeing it the part of a christian much less of a Priest to accuse his brother of a crime whereof he verily beleived he had repented After his death it pleased God in a wonderful manner to confirme his innocency ibid. n. 34. 35. by imprinting his picture upon a husk of straw where some of his blood had light King Iames himself and some other Protestants as well as many Catholicks were witnesses of it and although much endeavour was used to find out a Painter that would undertake to make such another picture by it none could be found all concluding it was beyond the art of man to contrive such a rare peice in so narrow a compass The Baron of Hobocque who was then Embassador from the Crown of Spain offered six hundred Crowns for the straw and his testimony is yet to be seen witnessing that he saw the picture upon it though he could not say it was like Father Garnet because he had never seen him There is also extant a large narrative which one Iohn Wilkinson signed at his death who was the very man that took up the Straw at the Execution and was also present when Father Garnets picture was first discovered upon the straw 13. One thing more I cannot omit in this place that if Jesuits were such desperate King-haters as the Dr. paints them Kings would not be such sooles as to build them Colledges and trust them with the education of youth and with their own Consciences too as we see most Catholick Kings and Princes do to this very day the Emperour the Kings of France and Poland the Queen of England Queen and Prince Regent of Portugal Dutchess of Orleans though but a late convert Dukes of Bavary Newburg and many other Princes of Germany and else where It is their nearest concern to look well to their own preservation and safety and not to have dangerous Persons about them Had not the Queen Regent of Spain taken Jesuits to be honest men She would never have preferred Father Nithard her Confessour to the first Ecclesiastical dignity in all Spain She would never have made him her first Minister of State Her extraordinary and now lately her ordinary Embassador at Rome and procured for him a Cardinals Cap and his Holinesse's command and dispensation to receive it and to undertake the other honourable Employments which he laboured to decline according to the Obligation of his Vow Believe me Princes are so far from conceiving Jesuits to be Enemies to Government that they are generally of Alexander the Prince of Parma's mind that they are necessary to keep Subjects in obedience to their Governours and that one of their Colledges is as good as a strong Cittadel to keep the People in their duty Strad To. 2. l. 3. And it seems the Magistrates of Embrick in Cleaveland thought so too for not many years ago when the Protestant Governour would have turn'd them out of the City they prevail'd with him to let them stay protesting that the Jesuits had such a powerful influence into the good order of the whole Town that they neither could nor would govern it without them and with a great deal of reason for what do the Jesuits Preach to the People but first that Soveraign Princes are the Lords annointed and therefore to be respected and honoured as holy and sacred things 2. That it is a damnable Heresie to think that their power does not come from God 3. That it is God that sets the Crown upon their Heads as it was wont antiently to be represented in Pictures by a hand stretcht out holding a Crown 4. That he who resists Kings purchases to himself his own damnation as the Apostle expresses himself Rom. 13. 1. 5. That obedience is due to them not because they are vertuous or wise or indued with any other good quality but for this only that they are Soveraigns and Gods Vicegerents 6. that it is not lawful to deny them obedience much less to rebel against them although

by the latter Decree● of the same Congregation under Alexander the 7th 1656. Sect. 11. His last Objection is about the Jesuits differences in matter of Doctrine for he saies truly they not only dissent from the Jansenists in the five known Propositions but also differ from the Dominicans in two man ●oints the immaculate conception of our blessed Lady and Physical Predeterminations Sir this Objection concerns other Catholick Drs. as well as the Jesuits for they all agree with the Jesuits that the five Iansenian Propositions condemned by his Holiness are heretical and many of them side also with the Jesuits against the Dominicans in the other two Controversies yet under debate However because the Jesuits are particularly named by the Dr. as the chief Dissenters you may expect a word or two from me in their justification It is their glory to have so stoutly opposed the Iansenists Doctrine which has been since blasted by the definitive Sentence of the Supream Pastors of the Church The Dr. might as well have objected their dissenting from the Calvinists for since his Holiness his censure has been generally received by Catholicks all over Christendom there can be no question but Iansenisme is condemned by the Church as well as Calvinisme and are both equally to be esteemed Heresie for I suppose we all agree that the whole Church cannot erre in condemning Heresie and when we say so our meaning must be not to include the opposite Party or to require that they submit and declare that they believe contrary to what they beleived before as the Dr. seems to require pag. 447. otherwise we may justify the Arians and all other Hereticks who were rarely known to have submited to the judgment of the Church that condemn'd them though assembled in general Councils It is clear then that such divisions as these between the Church and those that seperate themselves from her are not prejudicial to the Church's Unity which is entirely preserved by a due submission of all her members unto what the Church thinks fit to determine It were easy here to answer the Drs. question let them name one controversy that has been ended in their Church meerly by the Pope's decrees for to go no farther this very controversy of the Jansenists has been ended by the Popes decrees and so ended that the Jansenists themselves have submitted to them as is evident to all those that are not ignorant in those affairs for did they not the Bishops as well as others that had stood out so long at last submit and sign the Formulaire by which they not only acknowledged the 5 condemned Propositions to be Heretical but to be the very propositions of Iansenius and did not his Holiness upon the French Kings declaration of this their submission by a particular Breve restore peace to the Gallican Church How shamefully then does the Dr. cry out that there never was a fairer occasion given to the Pope to shew his authority for preservation of the Church's vnity then this of the sive propositions And yet that he could never be prevailed with to suffer the main controversy to be touch't and that there are so many wayes to avade his deffinitions that his Authority signifies nothing for you see for all the Jansenists ways and tricks to evade the Pope shewed his authority to preserve the Churches unity and was prevail'd with to define the main controversy so far that no body now dare call it in question or pro●es● himself a Iansenist whatsoever he may be in his heart But why says he does not the Pope or at least general Concils put an end to all controversies amongst Catholicks For example why does he not determine the differences about the Immaculate Conception and Predetermination which have made so great a noise in the world Let him first tell me why did not our Blessed Saviour leave all matters of Faith so clearly exprest in holy Scriptures as to prevent all disputes amongst Christians or why did not the first four general Councils whose Authority the Dr. allows give us a clear Comment upon all difficult places which are found in the sacred Text or why does not Dr. St. himself undertake out of Scripture to reconcile all the dissenting members of his Church for since all parties agree the Scripture to be Infallible it is his own rule there can be no more certain way for Unity Why I say does he not then make use of this most certain way to keep unity in his Church where we see they condemn one another of damnable errours I will not take upon me to enter into the secret Counsels of Christ and his holy Spouse the Church or to give you the reasons why they thought fit to leave things as they are But I may venture to guess why the Dr. with all his writing and preaching has not yet nor never will void all controversies out of Scripture for where the difficulty lyes in the sence of Scripture it self as it is our case let it be never so infallible there cannot be a less certain way to Unity or more endless way of taking up disputes then the Scripture unless it would speak for it self and declare its own meaning which will never be It is not so with Catholicks for the Pope or a General Council can declare their own meaning if there be any doubt of it as it happened in the case of the five Propsitions which the Jansenists would have drawn into different senses for his Holiness found a way to make them clearly understand his meaning And I think there never was Heretick condemned in a general Concil that doubted whether he were condemn'd or no as Protestants doubt whether Infants may be Baptized whether Bishops are de jure Divino c. For all their infallible Scriptures To maintain Scripture to be a better way to decide controversies then the living Voice of the Church is just as if a man should contend that the Law it self or God Almighty is a better means to end Suits at Law then the Judges upon the Bench for while the Law and God Almighty are silent unless the Judge pronounce sentence the Suite must of necessity be endless and so must all controversies in Religions for all the infallibility of Scripture so long as it does not explicate its own meaning and answer all difficulties As for the disputes between the Iesuits and the Dominicans about predetermination and the Immaculate Conception it is strange such School disputes should be still objected against the unity of our Church I say School disputes for so I must call them till the Church please to determin them for the Dr. must know that though these contentions are about matters of Faith in reality yet are they not matters of Faith quo ad nos till they be proposed unto us as such and therefore although we contend about them and are at variance among our selves yet our unity is still preserved by this that both parties are ready to