comprehend the word Enim which the Church of Rome adds to the Consecration of the Body and Blood for besides that there is the †Tradition This is what she confidenâ—ly pretends to have for all her Nâ—â—elties Cardinal Bâ—â—a in the 23 Chap. of his first Book of Litargies passeth the following true judgment upon the common practice of the Church of Rome in all such Matters Orta deinde est 4 ferè seculis post 6 Synod â—mconâ—roveâ—sia de Azymo fermentato diu agitata inter Graecâ—s Latinos partium potius quam veritatis inveniende studio ut in similibus fieri solet atque hinc factum est ut pertinaciter contenderint suam quisque consuetudinem à Christo ab Apostolis ad nostra usque tempora derivari sed si omissis hac de re Scholasticorum subtilitatibus argumentis quae apud ipsos legi possunt veritatem sincerè sine affectu ad alterutram partem ex veterum Patrum monumentis ex praxi Ecclesiae investigare voluerimus inveniemus proculdubio quam parvi momenti sint in re quae à facto pendet Doctorum speculationes tum perspicuè cognoscemus multum interesse inter tempora quae praecesserunt quae postea secuta sunt eâ—sque turpiter errare qui ex praesenti rerum statu omnem aestimant antiquitatem which is what the Church of Rome has done above these 600 Years and will do for all that Cardinal Bona or any body else can tell her of the unreasonableness of it But the Cardinal goes on Quis non videt Scholasticos ad hanc rem pertractandam prâ—occupatis mentibus accessisse cum enim ab infantia sola azyma offerri viderint eaque sola in scholis in exedris praedicari audierint ea sola semper in usu fuisse crediderunt hoc posito varias subinde convenientias variaque argumenta excogâitrunt ut quod semel conceperant firmius stabilirent Never was there a truer description given of any thing than this the Cardinal gives of the Genius of the People that defend the Novelties of the Church of Rome Tradition of the Holy Apostles for our Lord Christ's having used it in the Consecration of the Body and that St. Matthew also relates it in the Consecration of the Cup it is no Clause or distinct Sentence but a conjunction to a Sentence of the words of Christ which immediately follow As also the word Aeterni in the Consecration of the Cup and the words Mysterium Fidei which tho' not mentioned by the Evangelists yet as it is proved by Apostolical Tradition were used by our Lord Christ in the Consecration of the Cup and for that reason the Holy Church continues to use them in the same but as for the words added to the Consecration of the Cup in the Syrian Missal Et hoc erit vobis pignus in saecula saeculorum they being no where in any of the four Evangelists nor in any Book of the New Testament and it not appearing to the Church by Apostolical Tradition that Christ used them in that Consecration the Synod doth prohibit them to be used therein any more but the words in themselves being good and Holy and agreeable to what Holy Church singeth of this Divine Sacrament that it is the pledge of the Glory that we expect that we may keep to the Old Missal so far as the sincerity of the Faith and the purity of this Divine Sacrifice will permit the Priest shall say them after the elevation of the Cup where making a profound Reverence he shall begin the following Prayers with them only changing the word Vobis which was used as spoke by Christ for Nobis as spoke by himself saying Hoc erit nobis pignus and for the words in saecula saeculorum which follow they being commonly said in the Church of such Matters only as are to last for ever or are wished to be Eternal seeing the use of this Divine Sacrament as well as of the rest is to continue but to the end of the World they having been instituted only as a remedy for our Spiritual necessities in this life for in the other we are to see our Lord no more under Sacramental Species but clearly as he is neither shall we in Heaven eat this Divine Bread of Angels Sacramentally but shall eat as the Angels do in the Vision of the Divine Word The words in saecula saeculorum shall be therefore left out and instead thereof shall be put usque ad consummationem saeculi saying hoc erit nobis pignus usque ad consummationem saeculi the Sacrament being a pledge only for so long as we do not see the Glory that we hope for but is and ever will be such a pledge in this life Christ having promised to his Church that he will be with her to the end of the World so that the Divine Sacraments which were instituted for our benefit can never fail till then after these words the Priest shall go on with what immediately follows in the Mass Gloria tibi Domine gloria tibi and so on Furthermore in the Consecration of the Cup there is added to the words of Christ novi testamenti qui pro vobis c. novi aeterni testamenti mysterium fidei qui pro vobis pro multis c. Therefore the Synod doth command That the words of Consecration of the Body and Blood be reformed and put in all their Missals according to the Canon of the Roman Missal used in the Universal Church without the least addition or diminution and with the same Adorations Inclinations and Ceremonies as are in the Roman Missal Furthermore where the Priest saith Dominus Deus noster quando spirabit in nobis odor suavissimus it is said in the same Prayer cum animae nostrae veritatis tuae scientiâ fuerint illustratae tunc occurremus dilecto filio tuo c. speaking of the day of Judgment it shall be said Cum corporae nostra veritatis tuae splendore fuerint illustrata tunc occurremus dilecto filio tuo the Souls of the Just being illuminated and glorified in Heaven before the day of Judgment which is the time when the Bodies receive their Glory this Passage seeming to allude to the Nestorian Heresie which teacheth that the Souls of the Just do not see God nor are Glorified nor are in Bliss before the day of Judgment Furthermore where the Deacon saith Orando pro sanctis patribus nostris Patriarchâ nostro pastore universalis totius Ecclesiae Catholicae meaning the Schismatick of Babylon Episcopo hujus Metropolis it shall be said Pro sanctis Patribus nostris beatissimo Papâ nostro totius Ecclesiae Catholicae pastore naming him by his Name Episcopo hujus Metropolis naming him also Ministris ipsorum and a little lower where the Deacon praying saith praecipuè nos oportet orare pro incolumitate Patrum nostrorum sanctorum domini
Form of a Servant does not diminish the Form of God because he who is true God is also true Man God because in the beginning he was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word Man because the Word was made Flesh and died among us God because by his own Power he satisfied five Thousand Men with five Loaves and promised the Water of Eternal Life to the Samaritan Woman and raised Lazarus from the Grave when he had been dead four days and gave sight to the Blind cured the Sick and commanded the Winds and the Seas Man because he suffered Hunger and Thirst was weary in the Way was fastned with Nails to the Cross and died thereon Equal to the Eternal Father as to the Divinity and Inferior to the Father as to the Humanity and Mortal and Passible CHAP. III. FUrthermore That the same Son of God that was Incarnate was truly born of the Virgin Mary and had his Sacred Body formed of the pure Blood of the same most Blessed Virgin and is truly her Son for which reason we confess her to be truly the Mother of God and that she ought to be so called and invocated by the whole Catholick Church for that she really and truly brought forth according to the Flesh tho' without any Pain or Passion the true Son of God made Man and that the said Son of God Incarnate truly suffered for us and was truly dead and buried and in his Soul truly descended into Hell or Limbo to redeem the Souls of the Holy Fathers which were therein and did truly rise again from the dead the third day and afterwards for forty days taught his Disciples speaking with them of the Kingdom of Heaven and immediately by his own Power ascended into the Heavens where he sits at the right hand of the Majesty Glory and Power of the Father from whence he shall come to Judge the quick and the dead and to give to every one according to their Works CHAP. IV. FUrthermore That none that are descended from Adam ever were or can be saved by any other means than by Faith in the Mediator betwixt God and Man our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who by his Blood and Death reconciled us to the Eternal Father by having satisfied him for our Debts the Faith before our Saviour appeared in the World being to believe in him who was to come as after his appearance to believe in him who is come and by his Blood and Death has saved us CHAP. V. FUrthermore That all we who are born of Adam by the way of Natural Generation are born Children of Wrath with the guilt of Original Sin incurred by the disobedience of Adam in whom we all sinned and which we all committed in him for which sin Adam lost for himself and us Holiness and Righteousness and so that guilt of sin is derived to all of us by Generation we having all sinned in him as the Apostle St. Paul tells us that by one Man Sin entred into the World and by Sin Death and so Death passed upon all Men all having sinned in him but notwithstanding this guilt is derived to us by Generation nevertheless our Souls are not derived by Generation as our Bodies are but are created by God of nothing and by the Divine Ordination infused into our Bodies at the time when they are perfectly formed and organized and in the instant in which they are infused into our Bodies they contract the guilt of Original Sin which we committed in Adam and for which we were all expelled the Kingdom of Heaven and deprived of God for ever but which is now pardoned by Holy Baptism by which our Souls are cleansed from the guilt of that sin and of Children of Wrath and Aliens from Glory we are made the blessed Sons of God and Heirs of Heaven wherein likewise all our other sins and actual transgressions where there are any together with all the punishments due to the same are forgiven CHAP. VI. FUrthermore That the Souls of all those that have committed no sin after Baptism and of those who having committed sins have done condign Penance and have made an entire and equal satisfaction for them are carried immediately into Heaven where they behold God Three and One as he is and do partake of the Divine Vision in proportion to the diversity of their Merits some more perfectly than others and in the same manner they who die in any Actual Mortal sin without having done condign punishment for it or only in Original sin do go straightway down into Hell there to be tormented with Eternal punishments though unequal according to the measure of their guilt CHAP. VII FUrthermore That all Christians departing this life in Charity and having truly repented of the sins they have committed before they have made full satisfaction to the Divine Justice for the same are at their death carried into Purgatory where their guilt is purged away by Fire and other punishments in such a space of time as by the Divine Ordination is suitable to their Quality or until they have entirely satisfied for them after which they are carried up into Glory there to enjoy God and that in Purgatory the Prayers Alms and other Works of Piety that are performed by the Faithful that are alive for the Faithful that are dead are profitable to them but above all the holy Sacrifice of the Mass for their being relaxed from the punishments that they suffer and for the shortning of their banishment from Heaven CHAP. VIII FUrthermore That at the day of Judgment our Bodies tho' crumbled into dust and ashes shall be raised up the same that they were in this Life and be reunited to their Souls those of the Righteous to be cloathed with Glory and to reign with Christ for ever in the Heavens and those of the Wicked to be together with their souls tormented for ever in the Company of Devils in the Eternal and real Fire of Hell CHAP. IX FUrthermore That in the beginning and in Time God created all things Visible and Invisible Corporeal and Spiritual and the Empyrean Heavens full of Angels of whom those that continued subject to God were confirmed in Grace enjoying God with all the perfections and Gifts wherewith they were created as those who disobeyed him fell into Hell which God so soon as they sinned made for them where they are tormented for ever with the rigour of Justice not only with punishments of loss in being Eternally deprived of the Divine Vision which they were created to have enjoyed but with real Fire and other Eternal Torments also and do tempt men endeavouring to do them all the mischief they are able out of envy for the Blessings that are reserved for the Just and which they have forfeited by their sins and out of hatred they have for God and his Works and that intrinsical Malice they are hardned in CHAP. X. FUrthermore That the Blessed Angels and Saints that
all that are subject to her are immediately under Christ without owing any reverence to the Roman Bishop they say likewise That the Roman Church is fallen from the Faith having perverted the Canons of the Apostles by the force of Heretical Emperors Arms and that the Romans are Hereticks for not celebrating in leavened Bread which has been the inviolable Custom of the Church derived from our Saviour and his Holy Apostles that all the Bishops that followed Nestorius ought to be much esteemed and when named to be stiled Saints and to have their Reliques reverenced That Matrimony is not a Sacrament that it may be dissolved for the bad conditions of the Parties That Vsury is Lawful and there is no Sin in it Also the Book of Timothy the Patriarch where in three Chapters The most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is blasphemed it being impiously asserted in them That the true Body of our Lord Christ is not there but only the Figure thereof Also the Letter which they pretend came down from Heaven called the Letter of the Lord's day wherein the Roman Church is accused of having fallen from the Faith and having violated the Domingo or Lord's-day Letter Also the Book called Maclamatas wherein the distinction of two Persons in Christ and the accedental Union of the Incarnation are pretended to be proved at large and are confirmed with several false and Blasphemous Similitudes Also the Book intituled Vguarda or the Rose wherein it is said That there are two Persons in Christ that the Union of the Incarnation was Accidental that our Lady brought forth with Pain and the Sons of Joseph which he had by his other Wife being in company went for a Midwife to her with other Blasphemies Also the Book intituled Camiz wherein it is said That the Divine Word and the Son of the Virgin are not the same and that our Lady brought forth with Pain Also the Book intituled Menra wherein it is said That our Lord Christ is only the Image of the Word that the Substance of God dwelt in Christ as in a Temple that Christ is next to the Divinity that Christ was made the Companion of God Also the Book of Orders wherein it is said That the Form and not the Matter is necessary to Orders and the Forms therein are likewise Erroneous that there are only two Orders Diaconate and Priesthood that Altars of Wood and not of Stone are to be Consecrated there are also Prayers in it for those that are converted from any other Sect to Nestorianism in form of an Absolution from the Excommunication they had incurred for not having followed Nestorius and of a reconciliation to the Church Also the Book of Homilies wherein it is said That the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of Christ and is distinguished from him as an Image is from a true Man and that the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there nor no where else but in Heaven That the whole Trinity was Incarnate that Christ is only the Temple of the Divinity and God only by Representation that the Soul of Christ descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden that whosoever affirms the contrary errs and that we therefore err in our Creed There are therein likewise some Letters of some Heretical Synods in which it is said That the Patriarch of Babylon is not subject to the Roman Bishop with an Oath to be taken to the said Patriarch as the Head of the Church wherein People Swear to obey him and him only and not the Bishop of Rome Also a Book intituled An Exposition of the Gospels wherein it is every where pretended to be proved That there are two Persons in Christ and that Christ as a pure Creature was obliged to adore God and stood in need of Prayer that he was the Temple of the most Holy Trinity that Christ's Soul when he died descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden which was the place he promised to the Thief on the Cross That our Lady the Virgin deserved to be reproved for having vainly imagined that she was Mother to one that was to be a great King looking upon Christ as no other than a pure Man and presuming that he was to have a Temporal Empire as well as the resâ— of the Jews That the Evangelists did not Record all Christ's Actions in Truth as they were they not having been present at several of them which was the reason why they differed from one another so much That the Wise Men that came from the East received no favour from God for the Journey they took neither did they believe in Christ that Christ was the adopted Son of God it being as impossible that he should be Gods Natural Son as it is that Just Men should be so that he received new Grace in Baptism which he had not before that he is only the Image of the Word and the pure Temple of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of the Body of Christ which is only in Heaven at the right hand of the Father and not here on Earth That Christ as pure Man did not know when the day of Judgment was to be That when St. Thomas put his Hand into Christ's Side and said My Lord and my God! he did not speak to Christ for that he that was raised was not God but it was only an Exclamation made to God upon his beholding such a Miracle That the Authority that Christ gave to St. Peter over the Church was the same that he gave to other Priests so that his Successors have no more Power or Jurisdiction than other Bishops That our Lady the Virgin is not the Mother of God That the first Epistle of St. John and that of St. James are not the Writings of thole Holy Apostles but of some other Persons of the same Name and therefore are not Canonical Also the Book of Hormisda Raban who is stiled a Saint wherein it is said That Nestorius was a Saint and Martyr and suffered for the Truth and that St. Cyril who persecuted him was the Priest and Minister of the Devil and is now in Hell That Images are filthy and abominable Idols and ought not to be adored and that St. Cyril as a Heretick invented and introduced them There are also many false Miracles Recorded in this Book which are said to have been wrought by Hormisda in confirmation of the Nestorian Doctrine with an Account of what he suffered from the Catholicks for being obstinate in his Heresy Also the Book of Lots into which they put that they call the Ring of Solomon with a great many more Superstitions for the choice of good Days to Marry upon and for several other uses wherein are contained many Blasphemies and Heathenish Observances as also all other Books of Lots and for chusing of Days the Synod prohibits under the same Censure Also the Book written after the manner of â€
notwithstanding he knew him to be an Infidel The King who could not help standing amazed at the Arch-Bishop condemning the Arch-Deacon so much for endeavouring to interest him in a thing which he himself at the same time was swaggering him into perceiving that the more they talked the Arch-Bishop grew the more furious and talked the louder put on a pleasant Countenance and told him with great sweetness That there was nothing he had ever studied so much as to please His Lordship With this the Arch-Bishop's Passion being something mitigated he replied It was what he had always expected from His Highness and that he hoped he would not wonder to see him put into so great a Passion in a case wherein Christianity was so much concerned for the least of whose Interest he was bound in duty to sacrifice his Head The King told him That if he knew of any that sought after his Head they should not keep their own long upon their Shoulders After they had made an end of this hot business they talked for some time of indifferent matters and when the King was for going the Arch-Bishop accompanied him to the Caiz where they are said to have parted very good Friends which if they did the King considering how he had been treated was certainly the best natured Prince that ever wore a Crown and in a very substantial point a much better Christian than the Arch-Bishop This rancounter was of no small advantage to the Arch-Bishop in the reduction of that Christianity for the King fearing to provoke one of the Arch-Bishop's Character and Temper so soon as he had left him writ away immediately to the Arch-Deacon to come and submit himself to the Arch-Bishop he writ also to the King of Mangate in case he found the Arch-Deacon not willing to do it to oblige him to it Upon the receipt of this Letter the Arch-Deacon sent away immediately to the Arch-Bishop to let him know That he was ready to throw himself at his Grace's Feet and to obey all his Commands and that within the time he had prefixed but withal desired to wait upon him some where else than in Cranganor which being a Fortress belonging to the Portuguezes he was afraid to trust himself in there being nothing that he dreaded so much as being some time or other kidnapped for Goa However the Arch-Bishop complyed so far with his Fears as to order him to meet him at the Jesuites-College in Vaipicotta They met first in the Church where the Arch-Deacon threw himself at the Arch-Bishop's Feet with the words of the Prodigal in his mouth Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son I do humbly beg Pardon for all my Errors which have been great The Arch-Bishop lifting him up and embracing him tenderly told him all that was past was forgot and that God's Mercy in reducing him to the Catholick Church was greater than the Malice of the Devil which had been the cause of his returning no sooner that he would certainly have that great Reward that is reserved in Heaven for those that bring so many Souls to the purity of the Faith as he was confident he would do by his Example that he would therefore have him subscribe the Profession of Faith and ten Articles immediately The Arch-Deacon beg'd to speak one word first with His Grace in private promising after that to do whatsoever His Grace should command him and being alone he told him That if His Grace would have it so he was ready to subscribe the Profession and Articles publickly tho' with submission he thought it would be better if he would allow him to do it in private for the sake of that Christianity who were not as yet so well instructed as they ought to be but that before the meeting of the Synod at which he promised to sign them publickly he hoped to be able to prepare them for the receiving of whatsoever should be therein determined which he believed he should be able to do the more effectually if they knew nothing of his having already submitted to the Roman Church The Arch-Bishop answered That notwithstanding a Profession of the Faith was by so much the better as it was the more publick nevertheless he so far approved of his Reason as to dispense with his making it openly Whereupon they and the Jesuite Francisco Roz repaired to the Arch-Bishop's Lodgings and having shut the doors the Arch-Deacon kneeled down before a Crucifix that stood on the Arch-Bishop's Table and laying his hands upon the Missal swore to the Ten Articles and to the Profession of Faith to which the Arch-Bishop obliged him to put his hand to prevent his denying it afterwards Next Morning all the Caçanares being called together the Arch-Bishop acquainted them with his intention of calling a Synod very speedily which they all agreed to It was then debated where it should meet some were for its being held at Angamale the Metropolis of the Diocess but the Arch-Bishop would not hear of its being held there for three Reasons the first was That the Christians of Angamale were the Christians of the whole Bishoprick that were most addicted to their old Religion Secondly It was not in the Dominions of the King of Cochim the Prince of Malabar that had the greatest dependence upon the Portuguezes And Lastly Because it was at too great a distance from the Portugueze Garrison of Cochim It was carried therefore that it should be held in the Town of Diamper which was but a little way from Cochim and should begin on the 20th of June being the 3d. Sunday after Whitsuntide In pursuance whereof the Arch-Bishop and Arch-Deacon did both issue forth their Ollas commanding all Priests and Procurators of the People who were four from every Town to assemble together at the Town of Diamper on the 20th of June next there to celebrate a Diocesan Synod The Ollas bore date the 11th of May so that there were six Weeks allowed for the preparing of business which the Arch-Bishop made good use of Before the Arch-Bishop left Vaipicotta the Caimal of Angamale who was called the black King of Malabar came to give him a visit The Arch-Bishop received him kindly and at parting presented him with some pieces of very rich Cloath which was what he went well furnished withal from Goa having laid out 18000 Pardaos in Goods to make Presents of in the Serra The Caimal who was a boisterous and bloody Prince was so well pleased with his Present that he promised the Arch-Bishop to see him obeyed in all things After which the Arch-Bishop returned to Cranganor where he composed the Decrees of the Synod which were all writ with his own Hand word for word as they are published As soon as he had finished them he had them translated out of Portugueze into Malavar He likewise Consecrated there a Stone Altar for every Church in the Serra which was what they all wanted What
of Purgatory to be an Article of Faith of no long standing in the Church Multa inquit sunt de quibus in primitivâ Ecclesiâ nulla quaestio factura fuerat quae tamen posteriorum diligentiâ subortis dubitationibus jam evaserunt perspicua Nemo certè jam dubitat Orthodoxus an Purgatorium sit de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel quà m rarissima fiebat mentio sed Graecis ad hunc usque diem non est creditum Purgatorium esse Legat qui velit Graecorum veterum Commentarios nullum quantum opinor aut quà m rarissimum de Purgatorio sermonem inveniet Quamdiu enim nulla fuerat de Purgatorio cura Nemo quaesivit Indulgentias nam ex illo pendet omnis Indulgentiarum existimatio quum itaque Pugatorium tam serò cognitum ac receptum Ecclesiae fuerit universae quis jam de Indulgentiis mirari potest quòd in principio nascentis Ecclesiae nullus fuerat earum usus coeperunt igitur Indulgentiae post quam ad Purgatorii cruciatus aliquando trepidatum est Purgatory and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful I do likewise affirm that †The Souls of the Iust This was the common Opinion of the Ancient Fathers namely Irenaeus at the end of his 5th Book Justin Quaest 76th Tertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion Origen in his 7th Homily upon Leviticus and a great many other places Lactantius in the 21st Chap. of his 7th Book Victorinus in his Commentary upon the words I saw under the Altar Ambrosius in his 2d Book of Cain and Abel Chrysostom in his 39th Homily upon those words If in this life only in the 1st to the Corinth The Author of the Imperfect Work in his 34th Homily upon St. Matthew Austin in his Enarration upon the 36th Psalm Theodoret in his Commentaries upon the 11th to the Heb. Oecumenius in his Commentaries upon the same place Theophylact in his Commentaries upon the 23d of St. Luke Aretho on those words How long O Lord c. Euthymius upon the 23d of St. Luke and Bernard in his Sermon upon All-Saints day And to Pope John the 22d being charged with having believed this Doctrine Bellarmin returns the following Answer Joannem hunc 22dum reverâ sensisse Animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectionem caeterum hoc sensisse quando adhuc sentire licebat sine periculo Haeresis nulla enim adhuc praecesserat Ecclesiae definitio Which Confession makes the Doctrines of praying to Saints and of Purgatory and of Indulgences to be very new Articles of Faith the Souls of the Just and Faithful which at their departure out of this Life have entirely satisfied for the Punishment due to the Sins that they have committed as also those in Purgatory which have made an end of satisfying for their sins according to the Divine Pleasure and Ordination as also those who after Baptism have committed no Sin do at the moment of their death go immediately into Heaven where they behold God as he is And I do condemn and anathematize the Heresy of those who think that the Souls of the Just are in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment and that the Damned are not Tormented any otherwise than by the certainty they have of the Torments they are to enter into after the day of Judgment And I do confess and affirm that the Saints now reigning with Christ in Heaven are to be Reverenced and Invoked and that they offer Prayers to God for us whose Relicks are likewise to be reverenced on Earth And moreover that the * Images Gyraldus a Learned Papist in the 18th Page of the History of the Gods speaking of Images in the Church of Rome saith At de istiusmodi magis mutire possumus quam palam loqui idcircò satius ea fuerit Hippocrati Angeronae consignare illud certè non praetermittam Nos dico Christianos ut aliquando Romanos fuisse sine Imaginibus in primitivâ quae vocatur Ecclesiâ Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the other Saints are to be kept used and reverenced with due Honour and Veneration I do also believe that our Lady the most Holy Virgin Mary is the proper and true Mother of God and ought to be called so by the Faithful for having brought forth according to the Flesh without any pain or passion the true Son of God and that she always continued a Virgin in and after her Deliverance having never been defiled by any actual Sin I do confess that the power of granting Indulgences was left to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ the use whereof I do affirm to be healthful and profitable to all Christian People I do acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Head Mother and Mistress of all other Churches in the World and do hold all that are not subject and obedient to her to be Heretical Schismatical and disobedient to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Commands and to the Order that he left in the Church and to be Aliens from Eternal Salvation I do promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope the Roman Bishop the Successor of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth the Head of the whole Church on earth and Doctor and Master of the same and the Father Prelate and Pastor of all Christians and do confess that all who deny Obedience to the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ are Transgressors of the Divine Commands and cannot attain to Eternal Life I do without any scruple receive approve and confess all other Matters defined and declared in the Sacred Canons and General Councils and chiefly in the Holy Council of Trent and do in the same manner condemn reject and anathematize every thing that is contrary to the same together with all Heresies condemned rejected and anathematized by the said Church Namely the Diabolical and perverse Heresie of Nestorius together with its perverse Author Nestorius and its false Teachers * Theodorus They should not have been so hard upon Theodorus for Pope Honorius's sake who by Name was condemned together with him by the 5th General Council and I am mistaken if Pighius and some other Popish Writers have not for that very reason laboured hard to vindicate Theodorus's Memory Theodorus and †Diodorus Du Pin in his 4th Century of Christianity p. 189. saith As to what concerns his Doctrine of the Incarnation we could better judge of it if we had his Books but there is no great probability that one who was praised esteemed and cherished by Meletius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Epiphanius and even by St. Athanasius and his Successors Peter and Timothy of Alexandria who was also considered in a General Council as one of the
nor no need of any created assistance to help her to bring forth or afterwards there being nothing in her but what was pure the Eternal Word made Flesh springing out of her Womb the Claustrum of her pure Virginity being shut when the time determined in the Consistory of the Holy Trinity was come to the great Spiritual Joy and satisfaction of the said Blessed Virgin for which reason she ought truly to be stiled the Mother of God and not only the Mother of Christ and that when she departed this Life she was immediately carried up into Heaven where by a particular privilege due to her Merits she enjoys God both in Body and Soul without waiting for the general Resurrection there being no reason why that Body out of which there was most Holy Flesh formed for the Son of God made Man should as other Bodies be dissolved into Dust and Ashes but that it should be immediately exalted and glorified and placed high above all the Quires of Angels as Holy Mother Church sings and confesseth concerning the whole of which matter the Impious Nestorian Hereticks have spoke and writ even in the Breviaries used in this Bishoprick a great many Blasphemies and Heresies Decree VII THe Synod is with great sorrow sensible of that Heresy and perverse Error sown by the Schismaticks in this Diocess to the great prejudice of Souls which is That there was one Law of St. Thomas and another of St. Peter which made * Two different By all this which the Synod calls Two Laws the Christians of St. Thomas meant only That the Churches planted by the Apostles in divers Regions had nothing of Superiority or Jurisdiction over one another which is a most certain and ancient truth two different and distinct Churches and both immediately from Christ and that the one had nothing to do with the other neither did the Prelate of the one owe any obedience to the Prelate of the other and that they who had followed the Law of St. Peter had endeavoured to destroy the Law of St. Thomas for which they had been punished by him all which is a manifest Error Schism and Heresy there being but one Law to all Christians which is that which was given and declared by Jesus Christ the Son of God and preached by the Holy Apostles all over the World as one Faith one Baptism there being but one Lord of all and one Catholick and Apostolick Church of which our Lord Christ God and Man who Founded it is the only Spouse and one only Universal Pastor to whom all other Prelates owe obedience the Pope and Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles to whom our Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed that Supream Authority and by him to his Successors which Catholick Doctrine is necessary to Eternal Life Wherefore the Synod doth command all Parish Priests and Preachers to Treat often of this matter by reason of the great need there is of having this Bishoprick well instructed therein Decree VIII FOr that till the very time of the most Illustrious Metropolitan entring into this Diocess there was a certain Heresy twice repeated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and twice more in the Divine Office in calling the Patriarch of Babylon the Universal Pastor and Head of the Catholick Church in all places and as often as they happen to name him a Title that is due only to the most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome Successor of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth the Synod doth therefore command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of this Bishoprick Secular or Ecclesiastical shall from henceforward presume by Word or Writing either in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in the Divine Office or in any other occasion to bestow that Title on the said Patriarch of Babylon or on any other Prelate besides our Lord the Bishop of Rome and whosoever shall dare to contravene this Order shall be declared Excommunicate and held for a Schismatick and Heretick and shall be punished as such according to the Holy Canons And whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon to whom this Church was subject are Nestorians the Heads of that cursed Sect and Schismaticks out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Aliens from our Holy Catholick Faith and are for that reason Excommunicate and accursed and it not being lawful to joyn with such in the Church in publick as stand Excommunicate Wherefore this Bishoprick upon its having now yielded a perfect Obedience to the most Holy Father the Pope Christ's Vicar upon Earth to which it was obliged by Divine Authority and upon pain of Damnation shall not from henceforward have any manner of dependance upon the said Patriarch of Babylon and the present Synod does under the said precept of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit all Priests and Curates from henceforward to name the said Patriarch of Babylon in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other Divine Office in the Prayers of the Church even without the false Title of Universal Pastor but instead thereof shall name our Lord the Pope who is our true Pastor as also of the whole Church and after him the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being and whosoever shall maliciously and knowingly act the contrary shall be declared Excommunicate and otherwise punish'd at the pleasure of his Prelate according to his contumacy Decree IX WHereas all the Breviaries used in this Church are Nestorian and by the commands of Prelates of the same Sect on a certain day the impious and false Heretick Nestorius is Commemorated in this Bishoprick and a Day is kept to his Honour and at other times Theodorus Diodorus Abbaratho Abraham Narsai Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael who are also Nestorian Hereticks were likewise Commemorated Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus being commemorated on the Friday after the Nativity and on the seventh Friday after that Abraham and Narsai and all the above-named and all of them on every Thursday in the Year in the said Nestorian Office and every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office and notwithstanding in some places they have not of late named Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus but do still continue to name Abraham Narsai Abba Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael in the Blessing that the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass wherein they desire Hormisda to deliver them from evil being his Disciples as also on all Fridays in the Year they commemorate as Saints the said Hormisda Joseph Michael Johanan Barchauma Barianda Rabba Hedsa Machai Hixoiau Caurixo Avahixo Lixo Xaulixo Barmun Lixo Metidor Cohada Israel Ezekiah Lixo David Lixo Barai Israel Julianus Haudixo c. who were all Nestorian Hereticks and as is evident from the said Masses and from their Lives Commemorations
Learning having never been taught that the Devil tempted Christ before his Fast of forty days which is contrary to the Gospel that St. Joseph to be satisfied whether the Virgin had committed Adultery carried her before the Priests who according to the Law gave her the Water of Jealousie to drink that our Lady brought forth with pain and parting from her Company not being able to go farther she retired to a Stable at Bethlehem that neither our Lady nor any other Saint is in Heaven enjoying God but are all in a Terrestrial Paradise where they are to remain till the day of Judgment with other Errors too many to be related But it is the Synod's pleasure to instance in some of the chief Errors contained in the Books that it condemns that so all may be satisfied of the reason why they are prohibited to be read or kept upon pain of Excommunication and that all may avoid and burn them with the greater Horror and for other just and necessary respects Also the Book of John Barialdan wherein it is said in divers places That there were two Persons a Divine and Humane in Christ which is contrary to the Catholick Faith which confesses one only Divine Person It is also said That the Names of Christ and Emanuel are the Names of the Humane Person only and for that reason that the most sweet Name Jesus is not to be adored that the Union of the Incarnation is common to all the Three Divine Persons who were all Incarnated that our Lord Christ is the adopted and not the Natural Son of God that the Union of the Incarnation is accidental and is only that of Love betwixt the Divine and Humane Persons Also the Book intituled The Procession of the Holy Spirit wherein it is endeavoured to be proved at large that the Holy Spirit proceedeth only from the Father and not from the Son which is contrary to the Catholick Truth which teaches that he proceeds from the Father and the Son Also the Book entituled Margarita Fidei or The Jewel of Faith wherein it is pretended to be proved at large That our Lady the most Holy Virgin neither is nor ought to be stiled the Mother of God but the Mother of Christ that in Christ there are two Persons the one of the Word and the other of Jesus that the Union of the Incarnation is only an accidental Union of Love and Power and not a substantial Union that there are three distinct Faiths which is divided into three Professions the Nestorian Jacobite and Roman that the Nestorian is the true Faith that was taught by the Apostle and that the Roman is false and Heretical and was introduced by force of Arms and the Authority of Heretical Emperors into the greatest part of the World that to Excommunicate Nestorius is to Excommunicate the Apostles and Prophets and the whole Scripture that they that do not believe his Doctrine shall not inherit Eternal Life that they that follow Nestorius received their Faith from the Apostles which has been preserved to this day in the Church of Babylon of the Syrians That Matrimony neither is nor can be a Sacrament that the sign of the Cross is one of the Sacraments of the Church instituted by Christ that the Fire of Hell is Metaphorical not real that the Roman Church is fallen from the Faith condemning it likewise for not celebrating in leavened Bread according to what the Church has received from the Apostles for which it is said the Romans are Hereticks Also the Book of the Fathers wherein it is said That our Lady neither is nor ought to be called the Mother of God that the Patriarch of Babylon of the Nestorians is the Universal Head of the Church immediately under Christ that the Fire of Hell is not real but spiritual that it is Heresie to say that God was born or dyed that there are two Persons in Christ Also a Book of the Life of Abbot Isaias commented by a Nestorian wherein it is said That the Union is common to all the Three Persons that St. Cyril of Alexandria who condemned Nestorius was an impious Heretick and is now in Hell for having taught that there is but One Person in Christ whereas as often as Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus are named they are stiled Saints and blessed by whose Authority it is there proved that the Saints shall not enjoy God before the day of Judgment and that till then they shall be in an obscure place which they call Eden near to the Terrestrial Paradise and that by so much the worse as any one has been he is tormented * The less for it in Hell This of fixing something that is justly abominable to all Mankind upon her Adversaries has been the constant practice of the Church of Rome So the Emperor Michael Balbus because he was an Enemy to Image-worship is said to have laughed at the Prophets not to have believed there were any Devils and to have placed Judas among the Saints the Templars upon the Pope and the French Kings conspiring together to destroy their Order are said to have obliged all their Novices to blaspheme God to renounce Christ the Virgin Mary and all the Saints in Heaven to spit and trample upon the Crucifix and to declare that Christ was a false Prophet the Albigenses are said to have held it lawful to deny their Faith when interrogated upon it by a Magistrate to have held that promiscuous Venery was lawful but that Matrimony was Hell and Damnation that the Souls of Men were as Mortal as their Bodies that the way of choosing their chief Priests was by tossing an Infant from one to another and that he in whose hands the Infant expired had that Office and that the Devil was unjustly thrown out of Heaven the less for it in Hell by reason of his greater conformity and friendship with the Devils that the Word was not made Man and that it is Blasphemy to affirm it that Christ conquer'd all the Passions of Sin by a Power derived from God and not by his own strength that St. Cyril was a Heretick in teaching that there was but One Person in Christ that the Divine and Humane Nature were united in Christ accidentally by Love that the whole Trinity was incarnated that God dwelt in Christ as in a Rational Temple giving him power to do all the good things he did that the Souls of the Just will be in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment that the Wicked when they dye in Mortal Sin are carried to a place called Eden where they suffer only by the sense of the punishments they know they are to undergo after the day of Judgment Also the Book of Synods wherein there is a forged Letter of Pope Caius with false Subscriptions of a great many other Western Bishops directed to those of Babylon wherein it is acknowledged that the Church of Rome ought to be subject to that of Babylon which with
Ecclesiam non Communicant What the Cardinal saith here of these two Practices makes almost the whole Roman Worship at this time to be a meer Novelty the whole of that Worship consisting almost now in Peoples going o Mass upon Sundays and Holy-days which the Church obliges them to not obliging them at the same time to communicate above once a Year and in adoring the Host when the Priest elevates it As to the Priest's putting the Sacrament into the mouth of the Communicants the same Cardinal in the 17th Chap. of his second Book saith Sacra Communio antiquo ritu non ore excipi solebat ut hodiè fit sed manu quam qui susceperat Ori reverenter admovebat As to the Priest's speaking the words of Consecration so low that no body can hear him in his 12th Chap. of the same Book he saith Graeci alii Orientales verba consecrationis elatâ voce pronunciant populus respondet Amen Eundem morem servabat olim Ecclesia Occidentalis omnes enim audiebant verba consecrationis postea statutum est ut Canon submissa voce recitaretur sic desiit ea consuetudo seculo decimo ut conjicio As to the usage of her denying the Cup to the People in the 18th Chap. of his second Book he saith Semper enim ubique ab Ecclesiae primordiis usque ad saeculum duodecimum sub specie panis Vini in Ecclesiis communicârunt fideles coepitque paulatim ejus saeculi initio usus calicis obsolescere plerisque Episcopis eum populo interdicentibus sic paulatim introducta est Communio sub solâ specie panis quod à nullo negari potest qui vel levissimâ rerum Ecclesiasticarum notitiâ imbutus est And as to her making use of Unleavened Bread in the 23d Chap. of his first Book he saith Quod si Veteres Patres percurrere omnem evolvere antiquitatem libeat inveniemus proculdubio sic à tempore Apostolorum de inceps de pane Eucharistico omnes loqui ut non nisi de communi fermentato commodè intelligi explicari queant As to her giving the Sacrament in Wafers in the 23d Chap. of the same Book he saith Vivente Humberto qui floruit Anno 1245. panis consecrandus in Eucharistiâ tantae magnitudinis erat ut ex eo consecratae tot particulae frangi possent quot erant necessariae ad populum communicandum panis qui tradebatur talis fuit ut deglutiri non posset nisi dentibus comminutus And as to her keeping the consecrated Bread or Hosts as she calls them after the Communion is over he saith in the same Book Ne reliquiae Sacramenti superessent saepe decretum est ut tot particulae consecrarentur quot erant parati ad communionem si quid residuum foret à sacerdete seu Ministris commederetur quod si contigerit ut Ministrorum incuria putrescerent statuit Concilium Arelatense apud Joan. X. 2. Cap. 56. ut igne comburatur cinis juxta Altare sepeliatur idque in usu fuisse docet Algerus Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Now I take this acknowledged change of Rites in the Administration of the Eucharist to be a very great Evidence that there has been a Change of belief about it and indeed to have been the Natural Consequence of such a Change and so I believe will any body else that shall consider it impartially changed for others without a great Sin notwithstanding they do not appertain to the Integrity or Essence of the Sacraments there are three that imprint a Spiritual sign on the Soul that can never be blotted out it is called a Character which is the reason why those Sacraments are never to be repeated they are Baptism Confirmation and Orders the other four that is Penitence the Eucharist Extream Vnction and Matrimony imprint no Spiritual Sign in the Soul and so may be repeated with due Order but tho' these seven Sacraments are all Divine and do contain Grace and dispense it to their worthy Receivers deserving our most profound Reverence and Adoration on the account of the Majesty of their Institutor who was our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God as also for the assistance of the Holy Spirit who operates in conjunction with them and for the virtue that is in them for the curing of Souls the Treasure of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ being deposited in them and dispensed to us by their means Nevertheless this does not hinder but that in some respects some of them may be more worthy than others and may deserve a greater reverence and veneration These Sacraments were all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ before his Ascention into Heaven that so by their means he might communicate Grace and other Spiritual Benefits he had merited for us by his Death on the Cross confirming them to the faithful by his Word and Promises that so by using them lawfully and with due dispositions we might be ascertained of his communicating himself and all the fruits of his Passion to us in every one of them in such a manner as he represents himself in them The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism THe first of all the Sacraments is that of Baptism which is the Gate of the Spiritual Life and that whereby we are made capable of the other Sacraments of which without it we are no ways capable for as a Man must first be born before he can enjoy the good things of the Natural Life so Men before they are born again in Baptism are not capable of enjoying the heavenly advantages of a Spiritual Life it being by Baptism that we are made Members of Christ and are incorporated into the Christian Common-wealth and the Mystical Body of the Church for as by the first man Death came upon all for the Sin of Disobedience committed by him and us for which Sin we were excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and were born Children of Wrath and separated from God so that without being born again of Water and the Spirit we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ himself has taught us so that as we were born Children of Wrath by Baptism we return to be Children of Grace and as we were born in sin the Sons of Men in Baptism we are born the Sons of God all that are baptized in Christ as St. Paul hath it having put on Christ The Matter of this Sacrament is true natural and common Water as of the Sea Rivers Fountains Lakes or Rain and no other tho' never so pure and clean all others being Liquors and not natural Water The Form is I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Minister of this Sacrament is a Priest to whom it belongs by virtue of his Office but in case of necessity not only a Priest or Deacon but a Lay-man or Woman nay an Infidel a Mahometan a Heretick or Jew
St. Mark St. Luke and St. John the Acts of the Apostles writ by St. Luke the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul viz. One to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus one to Philemon and to the Hebrews two of the Apostle St. Peter three of the Apostle St. John one of the Apostle St. James one of the Apostle St. Jude and the Revelation of the Apostle St. John all which Books with all their parts are Canonical and contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true Decree II. THe Synod declareth that in the Books of the New Testament used in this Church and writ in the Syrian or Syriack Tongue there is wanting in the Gospel of St. John the beginning of the 8th Chapter the History of the Adulteress that was carried before our Lord Christ as also in the 10th of St. Luke where it is said that Christ sent seventy two Disciples it is said he sent seventy Disciples and in the 6th of St. Matthew the words For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever is added to the end of the Lord's Prayer there is also wanting in the said Books the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third Epistles of St. John and that of Jude and the Revelation of St. John and in the 4th Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is wanting having been impiously left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo and in the 5th Chapter of the same Epistle these words are wanting There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One and in the Old Testament there are wanting the Books of Esther Tobit and Wisdom all which the Synod commandeth to be translated and the passages that are wanting to be restored to their Purity according to the Chaldee Copies which are emended and the Vulgar Latin Edition made use of by holy Mother Church that so this Church may have the Holy Scriptures entire and may use it with all its parts as it was written and as it is to be used in the Universal Church to which end the Synod desireth the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus and Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta in this Bishoprick that he would be pleased to take the trouble thereof upon him for which he is so well qualified by reason of his great skill both in the Syrian Language and the Scripture Decree III. WHereas the Holy Scriptures are the Pillars that support our Holy Faith and as it were the Foundations whereon it stands and wherein the Truth and Purity thereof is to be met with which has made all Hereticks in their endeavours to destroy the said Faith constantly and industriously to corrupt the Text of the Divine Scriptures partly by taking away such passages as did manifestly contradict their Errors and by perverting other places so as to make them * Seem to favour them It is hard to give any other reason than this why the Church of Rome tho' since the time of the Council of Trent she has corrected some hundreds of Errors in the Vulgar Latin did not think fit to correct that in the 3d. of Genesis which they apply to the Virgin Mary nor that in the 11th of Isaiah which they make use of to promote Pilgrimages to Jerusalem nor that in the 11th to the Hebrews which seems to make for the Adoration of Images nor that in the first Chapter of the 2d Epist of St. Peter which seems to give some countenance to the Invocation of Saints seem to favour them which hath also happened in this Bishoprick through its having been governed by Bishops who were Nestorian Hereticks and that used the same practices upon the Holy Scriptures that were in their hands in favour of their Heresies as in the 20th of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul saith Take heed to your selves and the whole Church over which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God which he purchased with his Blood the word God is impiously changed for that of Christ and it is said that Christ hath made them to govern his Church which he purchased with his own Blood because the Nestorians being instigated by the Devil will not acknowledge according to the Catholick Truth that God suffered and shed his Blood for us and in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo because it contradicts the Nestorians who do impiously divide Christ by making him to have two Persons and in the 3d. Chap. of the same Epistle where it is said In this we know the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us the word God is maliciously left out and that of Christ put in its stead saying That in this we know the Love of Christ c. and so it favours the Nestorian Heresie which denies God to have dyed for us and in the 2d Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle saith We have seen Jesus for the Passion of his Death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death foâ— all men the Surian the better to make a difference of Persons in Christ which was what Nestorius taught has impiously added VVe have seen Jesus for the passion of his death crowned with honour and glory that the Grace of God praeter Deum or besides God might taste death for all and in the 6th of St. Luke where our Lord Christ saith Lend hoping for nothing again to favour and justifie their Usury they have made it Lend and from thence hope for something All which places being depraved and corrupted by Hereticks the Synod commandeth to be corrected in all their Books and to be restored according to the Purity and Truth of the Vulgar Edition used by Holy Mother Church entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan forthwith to visit the Churches of this Diocess either in Person or by some well skilled in the Syrian Tongue whom he shall be pleased to depute Decree IV. THe Synod being informed that the Christians of this Diocess by reason of the Communication they have with Infidels and by living among them have imbibed several of their Errors and Ignorances namely three that are the common Errors of all the Infidels of these parts the first is That there is a * Transmigration This was not the Doctrine of this Church as appears plainly from what is said in twenty places of this Synod of her believing that the Souls of the Just departed this Life were in a Terrestrial Paradise where they were to remain till the day of Judgment Transmigration of Souls which after Death go either into the Bodies
of Beasts or of some other Men which besides that it is a great Ignorance is also an Error contrary to the Catholick Faith which teacheth That our Souls after Death are carried to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory or Limbus according to every ones Merits and that there is no such fabulous and false Transmigration The second is That all things come necessarily to pass or through * I am very apt to believe that they are here falsely accused of attributing all things to Fate for no other reason but because they believed Predestination which if it was so Arch-Bishop Menezes who was himself an Austin Fryar shewed but little respect to the Memory of his pretended Father in making Predestination and Fate to be equally destructive of humane Liberty Fate or Fortune which they call the Nativity of Men who they say are compelled to be what they are and that there is no help for it which is a manifest Error and condemned by Holy Mother Church for as much as it destroys that Liberty of Will with which God created us leaving us in the power of our own Will to do Good or Evil to obey his Holy Inspirations and Internal Motions by which he excites to Good or to resist Evil so that as it depends on his Divine mercy and goodness to move us to Good so it depends on our Free-Will whether by his assistance we will obey those Inspirations and will profit our selves of his Internal Motions or of our own free Will refuse to do it or in a word do Well or Ill so that if we perish for doing any thing that is Ill it is the fault of our own Free-Will as the Catholick Faith teaches us and not from the fate of our Nativity as the ignorant Heathens will have it The third is †This is an Error that Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and others of the Philosophical Fathers seem to have been in That every one may be saved in his own Law all which are Good and lead Men to Heaven Now this is a manifest Heresy there being no other Law upon earth in which Salvation is to be found besides that of our Saviour Christ for that he only teacheth the Truth so that all that live in any other Sect are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell there being no other Name given to Men by which we can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who was Crucified for us All which Errors the Synod commandeth the Vicars and Preachers often to preach against in the hearing of the ignorant People and all Confessors to examine their Penitents concerning them and to teach them the Catholick Truth Decree V. THis Synod being informed that there is a dangerous Heresy and very injurious to our Lord Jesus Christ sown and preached through this Diocess which is That it is a * Grievous Sin How does this consist with their having so many Crosses in their Churches and Houses as they tell us they had or with their administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist or with their Preaching that it was Christ and not the Son of God that suffered upon the Cross grievous sin so much as to think or speak of our Saviour's Holy Passion and as there are a great many of this Opinion so the doing of it has formerly been prohibited by impious Censures all which is a manifest Error and extreamly prejudicial to the Souls of all faithful Christians and the fruit and profit of Souls arising from such Considerations and Discourses which is very great as well for that love and affection which they beget in us for our Saviour who suffer'd for our Salvation as for the Example of those Vertues which were so Illustrious in his Holy Passion and the hatred of Sin for which he suffer'd so much and the fear of the Divine Justice which he so rigorously satisfied and the confidence of our Salvation by such a plenteous Redemption and the use of the Sacraments to which he applyed the virtue of his Holy Passion and other infinite benefits which are derived from thence to our Souls which Error included another no less prejudicial and which is also common among the Nestorians the condemning of Holy Images for that if it were an Impiety to think of the Passion of our Lord Christ it must follow that all those things are unlawful that move or contribute thereunto as the Sign of the Holy Cross and all Images of the Holy Passion all which is a gross and manifest Heresy Wherefore the Synod doth recommend it to all Preachers Confessors and Rectors of Churches frequently to perswade their People to the consideration of those Divine Mysteries and to that end they shall advise them to the Devotion of the Rosary of our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary wherein are contained all the principal Mysteries of the Life of our Lord Christ with profitable Meditations upon them Decree VI. AMong the many Errors sown in this Diocess and left in the Books thereof by the perfidious Nestorian Hereticks there being several against our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God the only Remedy of Christians the Mother of Mercy and the Advocate of Sinners the Queen of Angels The Synod doth therefore declare That it is the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith that the Holy Virgin was never at any time stained with the guilt of any actual sin and that it is Pious to believe that she was also Conceived without Original Sin it seeming to be most agreeable to the Dignity of the Mother of God that it should be so tho' it is true that Holy Mother Church †Has not as yet determined It is much she has not since the Invention of the Holy Reliques in the Mountains of Granada among which there was a Book in Arabick of S. Cecilius who was consecrated Bishop of Eliberis by St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome with this Title De Dono Gloriae Dono Tormenti in which there is the following Definition of the Immaculate Conception made by all the Apostles being met together to Solemnize the Exequies of the Blessed Virgin Illa Virgo Maria Illa Sancta Illa electa à primo Originarioque peccato praeservata fuit ab omni culpâ libera atque haec veritas Apostolorum Concilium est quam qui negaverit maledictus excommunicatus erit salutem non consequetur sed in aeternum damnabitur All which Reliques and this Book among the rest were after a severe and impartial Examination approved of and received as genuine by a late Provincial Synod in Spain has not as yet determined any thing about that matter Furthermore the Catholick Faith teacheth that she was always before in and after Child-birth a most pure Virgin and that she brought forth the Son of God made Man without any Pain or Passion having none of those things which are common to other Women after Child-birth