Zeal with Violence So that in the Eyes of Flesh the true faithful Ones do appear Luke-warm and the Euemies of Truth do pass for true Zealots When Human Passions do mingle themselves in those Sentiments of Hearts called Religion there is no Excess that they are not capable of In respect of other Objects in the midst of their greatest Transports they do reproach themselves secretly which stops their fury and steal away some part of their Impetuousness and chiefly when they are allay'd and consider in cold blood their Conduct past they do often accuse their own selves But contrarily here Passions do sollicite and animate themselves they make Merit of their Violence and believe that God and his Church are concern'd in their Justification because they imagine that they have labour'd for the Truth This is one of the Reasons why often Men believe that they see but little Zeal in the true Church while there is so much Fire in the Conduct of Them that endeavour her Ruine But we must needs grant that there is something more The Moderation of the Faithful doth not alway proceed from that Sweet Spirit which is the very Genius of the Gospel It comes often from the coldness of their Zeal God permits it to oblige us to adore in Silence the Mysteries of his Conduct and to confound at the same time the Pride of Mans heart We have much less Love for the Truth than the World and the Devil have of Hatred against it And whilst we act in the Establishment of Religion by a Principle of Self-love we have quite another kind of Ardor than when we have no other prospect than that of the Glory of God The Church doth easily relent the fervour of the Zeal which seeks the Conversion of Others doth not last long It is so hard a thing to seek for Salvation that Men imagine they do enough to labour for their own without charging themselves with the Care of Others And we easily fall into those unhappy Thoughts That God is good enough to do his own Business that he will have a care of his own Interest and that he will not want Means to Convert them whom he hath destined to eternal Salvation Whereas false Zeal doth hold it self up doth persevere and finds it self often more capable to endure greater Labours than the true Devotion It is a thing that confounds us I grant it 's one of the great Temptations which good Souls are to overcome But truly it 's a Thing whereof it 's impossible to deny the Truth if we have any thing of good Faith or Probity Our Lord Jesus Christ himself doth teach us that the Pharisees and the false Doctors of Judaism did compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte and all their labours did conclude to render Him a Son of Hell likes themselves All those things do make me conclude That the Zeal to make Conversions is not always a certain Sign that the Truth is in that Party It is a favourable Prejudice but after all it 's but a Prejudice and we should not suffer our selves to be conducted by those kinds of Lights which are often deceitful We must be permitted to examine If the Zeal of Religion which causes so many Emotions be a Divine fire or a Passion meerly Humane Now we cannot better know the Nature of that Zeal which seeks for Conversions than by the Means which it employs for it 's an indubitable Principle That true Piety never doth any ill that good may come thereof She seeks the Salvation of Men but she seeks it by ways that are just lawful and rational I. First It is certain that true Zeal doth never employ for Conversion the Sword Fire Violence and Torments Those are ill Commentators of the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ that make him to say Compel them to come in that is to say Constrain them by Violence and by the fear of Death to enter into the Church which is the Wedding Room The Lord cannot suffer in that Wedding Room any but such as are clad with the Wedding Garment and which have a true and solid Piety But those People which are brought into the Church by Fear and Threatnings are Hypocrites and Impious Persons which disrobe their Impiety to the sight of Men Rebels which feign their Submission meditate a Revolt and which always bear the heart of an Enemy The Church hath suffered many Persecutions but never did execute any upon others She overcame Paganism as Paganism had overcome her before but she never did retaliate it She did not use the Authority of Constantine and Theodosius to defile the Temples of the False gods with the Blood of their Worshippers as the Pagans had employ'd the Swords of Nero's Maximius Decius and Diocletian's to bathe the Earth with the Blood of Christians One must be very ignorant in the History of the Church not to know that in all the Contests She had with the Arrians Eutychians and other Hereticks She used only Exhortations Reasons Councils and other such like Arms. Contrarily the Hereticks have carried on their Fury against the living Temples of the Holy Ghost they have employed Sword and Fire and established themselves by the help of the Horrour and of the fear of Death which their Arms did cast into Mens Souls I know not if there be at this day in the Church of Rome any honest People that do not behold those horrid Tragedies which have shed so much Blood in the Ages past but as so many Accesses of Fury and a phrentick Fever during which Christianity arm'd against it self made it a pleasure and a duty to shed its own Blood and thrust the cruel Sword into its own Bowels If mens Souls be to be brought to Christ Jesus by Fear it must be by the fear of Hell and by the dread of Gods Judgments Knowing saith St. Paul the Terrour of the Lord we perswade men to the Faith 2 Cor. 5. II. Hope is also one of the Ways whereby the Souls of Men are more strongly drawn But to bring Men to Jesus Christ no other Hope is to be given them but that which the Lord himself gives them One must promise them exactly what he hath himself promised them that is Eternal life these are the Rewards of Heaven Whosoever shall forsake Father Mother Children Wife goods or house he shall receive an hundred fold in eternal life I find not that he hath presented any other Objects to Men to perswade them to come to him All the World agrees that nothing is more base than to betray the Truth and ones own Conscience for Interest Buy the Truth and sell it not saith the Wise man I speak not only of those Truths which are of the highest import and whereon depends Salvation I speak of Truth in general It 's one of the richest Presents of Heaven seeing it is to the Soul what Light is to the World and to renounce it for a base Interest it 's to despise
the Truth Mean while we declare that Real Presence precisely in it self and without its Attendants is the least of our Controversies about the Eucharist that Adoration Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass the Retranchment of the Cup and Masses without Communicants seem to us much more important That those Attendants are not according to us Natural Attendants of the Real Presence precisely in it self they are false and evil Consequences which Men have drawn out of it For it is but a bad Reasoning in our Judgment to say The Body of Jesus Christ is Spiritually and Invisibly under the Accidents of Bread and Wine therefore it must be Sacrificed therefore it must be adored and we must retrench the Cup from the People That is it which we shall particularly demonstrate But before that I shall give a Third Advice upon what Monsieur of Condom saith about the importance of the Controversie of the Real Presence It is that granting it to be important he dissembles all the Importance thereof There is nothing saith he that appears more important in our Controversies seeing the question is of the Presence of Jesus Christ himself The Question is not only of that but 1. The Question is Whether we shall oppose all the Lights of our Senses which say that the Signs of the Eucharist are Bread and Wine and if we shall believe that God doth continually offer Illusion to our Senses which is opposite to his Verity and to his Purity 2. The Question is Whether we must suppose that God doth every Moment and without necessity violate the Laws of Nature that are most inviolable which is opposite to his Wisdom 3. The Question is Whether we shall receive a Theology whereof the Consequences destroy all Christian Religion a Theology which confounds Body and Soul and takes away the Bounds that distinguish them A Doctrine which supposing the Flesh of Christ becomes Spiritual Invisible subsisting under a Point confounds the Body with the Soul For I know not how else we can define the Properties of the Soul but in saying She is Invisible without Extension without Space and concluded under a Point This Doctrine also confounds Human Nature with the Divine for it gives to the Flesh of Jesus Christ that which belongs only to his Divinity that is to be in many Places at once and be able to fill Heaven and Earth It destroys the Article of Ascension and robs the Church of that Proof which she made use of against those Hereticks who denied the Truth of the Human Nature of Jesus Christ sor they opposed them by a Proof drawn from thence That during the Life of the Lord Men had always seen in him all the Actions the Motions and Properties of Man This Reasoning will be nothing worth if a Body can be without its Properties and if the Properties of a Body can be without a Body 4. The Question is Whether Men may settle such a manner of Interpreting Scripture which will overthrow all Scripture and will give place to all Heresies if by one passage alone one must explain an hundred others which seem to say the contrary or if by the hundred one should explain that which is alone For for one only passage that saith That that which we see in the Eucharist is the Body of Jesus Christ there are seven or eight others which say formally That it is Bread and Wine The Bread that we break Whosoever shall eat this Bread Whensoever you eat of this Bread Let every one eat of this Bread 5. The Question is to know Whether we will belie our Lord Jesus Christ himself and the Holy Ghost who tells us That we shall not have him always with us that he was going to Heaven that the Heaven must hold him till the restoration of all things 6. The Question is to know Whether to avoid a Natural Figure in these Words This is my Body we shall expose Christian Religion to the scandal of Infidels yea to the greatest Scandal that can be imagined For in fine whilst they shall be able to reproach us That we eat our own God it is certain they will never come to us 7. The Question is Whether we should ruine one of the Sacraments of the Church in destroying the Bread in nullifying the Sign and substituting in its place the Thing signified 8. The Question is to know Whether we should draw down the Lord of Glory from the Throne of his Majesty to nullifie him a second time but with an Annihilation greater than that which he descended into after his Incarnation The Question is to know If this be to respect Jesus Christ our Lord sufficiently to call him down back by the help of three Words ill explained to place him in Impure places to expose him to be trod under feet to be eaten by the Profane to be mingled with Poyson and with Death and to a thousand other Dangers that one dares not express 9. The Question is to know finally If for a Corporal Communion without which one may be saved and wherewith one may be damned and which consequently is not necessary to Salvation we must overthrow all the Rules of Reason of good Sense of Grace and of Nature I know not if after all this any one shall be able to say again Reality and Transubstantiation are not an Affair that should retain you nor hinder you from re-entring into the Roman Church Monsieur of Condom saith thereupon Two things which are to the purpose and which are to be examined The first is That we have shortned our selves those great Spaces of Separation They have approached nearer to us saith he it is because we admit a Presence real It is because our Catechism saith That Jesus Christ makes us partakers of his proper substance and our Confession of Faith That he nourishes us with the Substance of his Body and Blood It is because we say That although Jesus Christ be truly communicated to to us by Baptism and by the Gospel nevertheless it is but in part and not fully Thereupon my Lord of Condom Reasons after his manner and as seems him good Behold then saith he the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ present in our Mysteries by the Grant of Calvinists Behold Jesus Christ received in his proper Substance Jesus Christ is given us in the Eucharist in a manner which suits neither Baptism nor the Gospel and which is wholly proper to this Mystery It follows then that this Participation is not fixed to the Faith seeing that Faith being diffused generally through all the Actions of a Christian is found in the Preaching and in Baptism First I would fain know what Service all this doth to the principal purpose of Monsieur de Condom which is to reapproach us to himself Are we nearer thereto because of some resemblance in the Terms Though we had ill explained our Doctrine and by Incommodious Terms have we then changed it at the bottom And doth not he
confess himself That the more we explain our selves the more contrary we find our selves to be So all the trouble he takes to convince us by our Principles is more than useless At the most we should only be convinc'd to have spoken in one manner and to have thought in another But we will not yield him that very pleasure of believing that justly We speak as we think and our Expressions are not as they would perswade us an effect of that Politick which is ordinary to such as estrange themselves from the Truth It is that retaining the Sense of the true Church they keep as far as they can possibly her own Expressions We believe a Real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Supper as we believe a Real Presence of the Sun upon Earth No man mends to lie nor doth he lie at all when he saith That was done in the presence of the Sun When the Sun is risen he is present to us Yet no Man hitherto hath busied his Head to cause the Sun to descend from Heaven and to shut him up substantially within one of his Beams The Sun is really present by his Light by his Beams and by his Virtue Christ's Humanity is present by its Virtue by its Efficacy by its Merit which are as so many Beams It is a Presence most Real though it be not Corporal And I wonder how my Lord of Condom hath not learn'd it from his Scholasticks They that speaking of the manner wherein Causes do act say that some do act Immediatione Virtutis by an immediate Presence of Vertues and others Immediatione suppositi by an immediate presence of Persons of Suppost or Substance Who should say to those Doctors of the School That their immediate Presence of Virtue is a Chimaera and is not a real Presence I believe they make stir enough about it being so much in love with wrangling We believe sincerely as we speak it that we are made partakers of the proper Substance of Jesus Christ because we are not made partakers of the Substance of another because we receive the efficacy and merit of that Flesh really And that is all that is important to our Salvation in that Flesh for otherwise it's Nerves it 's Fibres it's Bones as such do not Sanctifie nor Justifie The Flesh profits nothing it is the Spirit that gives life If they will repeat to Eternity That it is not possible to make it to be understood that a Body which is not communicated to us but in Spirit and by Faith be really communicated to us and in its proper Substance We cannot help it otherwise than to repeat always also that the Spiritual Actions of the Soul are as real and more real than the Corporal Actions of the Body Though the Spirit alone by Faith do see the Humanity of Christ Jesus in Heaven we believe that that Sight is more real amd less subject to Illusion than that of Bodies which shall see Jesus Christ with the Eyes of Flesh and I can hardly conceive that Men can have their Comprehension of so great hardness as not to be able to comprehend that In fine We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is more fully communicated to us in the Eucharist than in Baptism because we have in the Eucharist that which we have in Baptism what we have in the Word of God and somewhat more It is not that Jesus Christ and his Graces can be divided he that receives Jesus Christ receives him whole intirely Yet the more that Grace is setled in our Souls the more Means God employs to sortifie it there and the more so far do we partake of Jesus Christ Three are more than Two When after having received the Grace of Baptism and Instruction by the Word God doth also add thereto the Sacrament of the Eucharist it is certain that Grace is confirmed augmented and established thereby and that we possess Jesus Christ more closely still Besides that it is certain that Jesus Christ hath promised to communicate to us his Graces in a particular manner and more efficacious in a Communion most devout than in the Word because the Word doth propose Graces but in general and a devout Communion applies them to every particular I will not touch what Monsieur de Condom saith upon these Words of our Catechism That the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ inasmuch as it hath been once offered in Sacrifice to reconcile us to God is now given to us to certifie us that we have a share in that Reconciliation I find what he saith thereon so fine and of so great Subtilty that I am assured that they for whom this principally was written will hardly understand it and that they who have a Spirit Metaphysical enough to enter into these abstracted Reflexions I believe they also will have penetration enough not to entangle themselves therewith The other thing which Monsieur de Condom saith which is to the purpose that we treat of is that we have offered Peace to the Lutherans who believe the Real Presence and that we have declared that this Doctrine hath no Venom at all that it doth not overthrow the Foundation of Faith and that it should not break Communion among Brethren And thereupon they tell us That whatever Evil might be in the Opinion of the Real Presence we have taken from our selves the right of prevailing thereby Seeing that you tolerate it in the Lutherans why should you not tolerate it in Catholicks We oppose thereto that they give Attendants to the Reality which we cannot tolerate Monsieur de Condom Answers That no Subtilty of the Minesters shall ever be able to perswade Men of good Sense that bearing with the Reality which is the Point most important and difficult they should not also bear with the rest He adds That by a secret Providence it hath happened that Calvinists have agreed that supposing that we should take literally these Words This is my Body the Catholicks do Reason better and more consequently than the Lutherans It would be presently a great rashness to hope that we may shut the Mouth of those Gentlemen about this Objection which they have renewed within these 50 years more than a Million of times and whereto Answer hath been made as often without being able to obtain from them a Moment of Equity It is not then to them that I will speak since they are resolved not to hear us it is to them that seek their Salvation with a Spirit of Humility and I pray them to consider 1. That what we have offered to the Lutherans is infinitely different from that which they demand of us at this day We have offered to the Lutherans to tolerate them in the Doctrine of the Real Presence and they demand of us to re enter into the Roman Church to make Profession thereof Have we offered to the Lutherans to re-enter into their Communion to break our Assemblies to incorporate them with
give us Aversion for the Doctrine of Reality whose Attendants should be so strange and would tend to establish a New Sacrifice that is to say a New Religion But we cannot agree that the Sacrifice of the Mass be an Attendant of the Real Presence It may be an Issue if Men please because it followed after it and that they have made a Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Eucharist only after they had imagined a Real Presence of the Flesh of Jesus Christ But it is an Issue which hath no foundation but in Illusion for in truth it is clear That the Flesh of Jesus Christ in whatever manner it be given us is only given us but to be Eaten and not to be Sacrificed seeing the Lord commands us to Eat his Flesh and never ordains it to be Sacrificed If the Real Presence did necessarily induce the Sacrifice it were because Men should Sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he is Were it so he were then to be Sacrificed in Heaven So in this place no more then about Adoration we cannot grant that the Catholick Romans do Reason more Consequentially than the Lutherans because these which hold the Real Presence do not yet make a Sacrifice of the Eucharist Yet once more I have no design either to prove nor refute and I will hold me religiously within the Bounds which I have mark'd out for my self Therefore I will not examine all that Monsieur de Condom saith to expound the Epistle to the Hebrews It is one of his digressions done for swelling his Work He shall say whatever he pleases but he shall never make them believe who shall preserve but a little liberty of the Spirit that this Epistle be favourable to the Sacrifice of the Mass Never will Men comprehend the reason of the Silence of the Apostle upon this matter in a place where he treated to the bottom both of the Sacrifice and of the Christian Priesthood This were a manifest prevarication and if having wherewith to satisfie the Jews who would have by all means Visible Sacrifices he had not put into their hands the Sacrifice of the Mass to impose Silence on them Monsieur de Condom would believe he had done much if he could but draw this Epistle from laying so heavy upon his Party and had proved that it doth nothing against him Also hath he no other end in his Reflexion it is not a thing to be dispatch'd in Eight or Ten little Pages but though he had done it he had yet done nothing to purpose It is not enough to have proved that this Epistle contains not Proofs against the Sacrifice of the Mass They should find therein Proofs for this Sacrifice for it is there that they ought to be if there were any in the Scripture and if they find none in that place it is a prejudgment that they cannot be found in any part ARTICLE XIII Of the Retranchment of the Cup. BEhold the last of the Consequences of Transubstantiation and of the Real Presence it is the Retranchment of the Cup and Communion under one kind Monsieur de Condom finds in his Theology that it is so natural a Consequence thereof and so necessary that those who confess or tolerate Real Presence should find it no trouble to Communicate under one kind If it were true that the Retranchment of the Cup were a necessary Attendant of the Real Presence it were to us a new Reason against the receiving thereof but it concerns me little whether that Consequence be good or bad It is a Controversie which I leave to the Bohemians to dispatch and to the Germans French Bavarians and to so many others who did in the last Age demand with so much instance the Restitution of the Communion under both kinds and who notwithstanding believed Transubstantiation and the Real Presence I will say only Two things thereupon The first That the Church which during a Thousand years entire by the Confession of these Doctours Administred the Communion under both kinds did not believe the Retranchment of the Cup were a needful Attendant of the Real Presence seeing that if we believe them that same Church believed also that Real Presence I grant that it is an astonishing thing That during the Ten first Ages Men should not have that Scruple which they have had in the following In those Times when Men accounted it a greater honour to wear on their Face the mark of their Sex than they do this day I know not how then Men should not abhor to see after the Communion a thousand Bodies of Christ Jesus hanging at the Beard of a Mariner They have not thought of a Remedy to be sought for that Scandal but since Berengarius and since the establishing of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation One had need be very dull methink and thick Skulled not to be sensible that these new Precautions which they since that began to be thought of are an evident Proof that there hath been Innovation in the Doctrine The other thing I would say is That I found a Word in the Book of Monsieur de Condom which makes me suspect that himself is but ill perswaded that the Communion under one Kind is an Attendant of the Real Presence In the Consecration saith he the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are mystically separated because that Jesus Christ said separately This is my Body This is my Blood which doth include a lively and efficacious representation of the violent Death which he suffered If the Body and Blood be mystically separated in Consecration why should they not be so in the Communion If Jesus hath said separately This is my Body This is my Blood hath not he also said separately Eat Drink He that eats my Flesh and He that drinks my Blood In fine If the Signs be separated in this Sacrifice to induce a lively and efficacious representation of the violent Death of Jesus Christ why do they not also give them Separately at the Communion seeing they make there the Commemoration of that Violent Death and that Men participate there of the whole efficacy of that Death If Monsieur de Condom would thus Reason upon the Principles which he himself hath laid he should then Reason as Cajetan and many other Able Men have done who did believe Transubstantiation and the Real Presence All that may serve to make it appear that the Lutherans do not Reason so ill as Men would perswade us when they sever the Doctrine of the Real Presence from all those Attendants which they give it in the Roman Church But that is not my principal Affair Here it is It is to make known that Monsieur de Condom hath no reason for desiring to perswade us that this Retranchment of the Cup is nothing important and that it should not hinder us from Reunion to the Roman Church The Christian Religion according to us hath but Two Sacraments and should it be nothing important to us to see ravished from us the Moiety of
the preceding But in truth one cannot resolve to say over always the same things I will only say That one must not treat of it as of a small business nor imagine it to be no obstacle to Reunion The Worship of Images is a Practise of all most opposite to the Spirit of Christianism and the most contrary to the dignity of Man It 's to do great wrong to a Man to oblige him to humble himself before Wood and Stone which are so far below him Men should not flatter themselves It 's the great Scandal of the Jew he hath Images in abhorrence and when he looks on Christian Religion on that side he conceives a mortal aversion from it So we cannot imagine that to be a small Affair an Article which retards that great Work of the Conversion of the Jews without which the Church will never be perfect But say they will Men never conceive that it 's a great Wrong to compare or confound us with Idolatrous Pagans It 's not true that we confound the Roman Church with the Pagans Pagans adored the Images of wicked Men and even the Idols of Demons the Roman Church serves the Images of Saints and of the Friends of God viz. Apostles Martyrs Confessors Those Gentlemen will nevertheless permit us to tell them That they put Pagans in places wherein they have not been so to put an infinite distance between those Pagans and themselves about the Service of Images and suppose that Pagans have ador'd their Images as gods We should have a little better Opinion of Men who resembled us so much for ordinary use of Reason They regarded their Images but as Pictures and Representations of their gods If I could here take the leisure I would prove it with the clearest Evidence possible My Lord of Condom justifies his Church about Images by these Words of the Council of Trent Which forbid to believe any Divinity or Vertue for which it should be rever'd have any Grace demanded thereof or fasten ones Confidence thereon I am surprized to see that after this Decree they suffer Prayers addressed to Images and that Men should say to the Cross O Cress more bright than all the Stars famous in the World amiable to all Men holier than all things which alone hast been worthy to bear the Talent of the World Sweet Wood that bearest the Nails and the Sweet Weights save this present Assembly that comes hither to celebrate thy Praises Every one knows the solemn Prayer made to the Cross on great Feasts particularly at Easter in Holy Week God save thee our only Hope in this time of the Passion augment the Righteousness of the Faithful and grant Pardon to the Guilty I know well what they say That these Prayers are referr'd to Jesus Christ Crucified It is not the Sense of Thomas Aquinas the Prince of the School for he maintains That the Worship of Latria ought to be deferr'd to the Cross and that Worship to be distinct from that which is rendred to Jesus Christ He proves it by the Hymn O Crux ave spes c. he concludes That the Cross whereon Christ Jesus hath been Crucified ought to be worship'd with Worship of Latria both because of the representation and that it hath touch'd the Members of Jesus Christ As for the Images of the Cross of whatever matter they be they must be adored with Latria only of the first sort viz. with a Relative Latria He seems to have reason for we cannot conceive how they can have Intention to speak to Jesus Christ speaking to his Cross seeing they expresly distinguish Christ from his Cross and that they say to it Arbor decora fulgida c. Thou art a fair and bright Tree adorn'd with the Kings Purple chosen cut of a precious Stock to touch his Holy Members I find that very good that the Council of Trent hath declared That there is no virtue at all within the Image but I cannot conceive how after that they have left in the Roman Pontifical Prayers which necessarily suppose that there is a Sanctifying virtue in the Images of the Cross For Example this which the Bishop utters in blessing a new Cross Take then this Cross in thy hands wherewith thou didst formerly embrace it and by the Sanctity of that sanctifie this as by that the World hath been purg'd of his Sins so the Souls of thy Servants that offer thee this Cross by its Merit may be preserv'd from all Sin After this Decree of the Council of Trent I know not why they tolerate the use of Agnus Dei whereto they attribute Virtue of preserving from the Crafts of the Devil and from the the Frauds of the Evil Spirits to keep from Shipwrack to put under shelter from all Adversity to preserve from the Pest from corrupt Air the Falling-sickness Storm Fires Peril in Childbirth and from all Iniquity I know not why they go in Pilgrimage to an Image of our Lady more than to another For in fine If Images have no other use than to recall the Memory of the Originals they are all alike If the Spirit of the Council of Trent was opposite to these Devotions why were they not retrench'd At the most will they say You cannot accuse the Church but of Negligence and Toleration but you cannot oppose to the Council of Trent any thing that may be of equal Authority I oppose thereto Books little less authorized than it as the Pontifical and Roman Ceremonial made by the Pope's Order approved and received by all the Roman Church review'd several times since the Council of Trent I oppose thereto the general and constant practise of all the Bishops even of the most moderate There is none of them that would bless a Cross in other Terms than those which are prescribed by the Pontifical I oppose thereto the practice of the whole Roman Church for if there be in France and elsewhere some honest persons who have purer Sentiments and which are disingaged from Popular Errours they make no Number in comparison of the People of Italy Spain Germany and France it self who are in this Practise My Lord of Condom about this matter goes farther than one could have believed He would fain perswade us that in the Roman Church they do not serve Images at all Our Intention is not so much to honour the Image as to honour the Apostle or Martyr in presence of the Image We use Images but to lift up our Spirit towards Heaven That is equivocal and they say That in Manuscript Copies of this Work which have ran through Mens hands long before it was printed my Lord of Condom spoke more strongly but having seen the Success of his Book and seeing himself upheld by so great Approbation he is return'd thither he goes freely through and makes the Author of the Advertisement say We serve not Images God forbid but we serve our selves of Images to raise us up to the Originals These
he see Altars and thereon a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of a God-man who every day after some Mystical Ceremonies descends from Heaven and comes to place himself really under the Accidents of the Consecrated Bread and Wine He sees I say a Sacrifice of Human Flesh but invisible which is done with a great Shew and Attendance of Ceremonies for the Propitiation of the Sins of the Dead and for all the Necessities of the Living He sees an Object which appears to be meer Bread which he must be made to adore as his God his Redeemer and Master He sees Men that make their Prayers and that sing Sacred Hymns but he meets with the Veil of a Language strange and unknown which is diffused through all this Worship and doth conceal it quite from Vulgar Eyes By the favour of an Interpreter he penetrates through this Veil and under it he sees Prayers and Invocations addressed to Creatures whereto are given the magnificent Names of Mediators Mother of Mercifulness Queen of Heaven Refuge of Sinners Gate of Paradice c. from whom Men do request to be delivered from Maladies recovery of Health to be cured of the Languors of their Souls to be loosed from the Bonds of their Sins to receive increase of Virtues to be delivered from Hell and to be put into the possession of the Glory of Heaven by their Merits and by their Intercession He sees a Religion abounding in Ceremonies whereof the Ministers are cloath'd with Habits extraordinary and mystical He sees their Crosses Holy Water and a great external Shew altogether pompous and compounded with an incredible Number of different Parts Piercing yet further he sees Men set upon their Tribunals at the feet whereof they shew him other Men on their Knees confessing their Sins to them and expect Remission from them and he hears those Spiritual Judges on those Tribunals who impose on Sinners Penitences Fastings Pilgrimages Hair-Cloth Cilices rough Shifts to satisfie thereby God and the Church who preach to them That all the Sins committed before Baptism are expiated solely and entirely by the Blood of Jesus Christ but that every Man must satisfie for his Sins committed after Baptism That tell them That Men must labour to merit Eternal life by good Works That teach them That the good Works wherein God takes pleasure are among other Devotions for the Saints Pilgrimages Vows tedious Tautologies of certain Prayers observed in the Honour of some of those Saints and of their Images Who give them to observe a long List of Ecclesiastical Laws about Fasts distinctions of Meats Corporal Mortifications That declare to them That the Non-observance of those Laws of the Church will damn them as much as the violation of Gods Commands Which tell them also That after this life they cannot hope to enter immediately into Heaven but that they must pass through a place of Torment where they shall be examined happily for many Ages by a cruel Fire until they have intirely satisfied for those Sins for which they could not make Satisfaction during this life He sees Priests upon those Tribunals to give with a Tone of Authority and of Power the Remission of Sins to those Penitents and to tell them I absolve you They hear them say That Men must receive their Orders and those of the Church as so many Sentences from Heaven That this Church is infallible and exempt from Errour that She is Judge without Appeal of all Debates That the Holy Scripture in regard of us holds her Authority but only from Her that we could not know the Divinity of the Word of God but only by the Testimony of the Church that She is the Interpreter of her Sense and that the Interpretations which she gives though they seem contrary to Sense to Reason and even to some places of this very Scripture ought to be received with a Soveraign Submission Above those Men which are only called Priests he sees several Dignities but above all he sees a great Monarch Spiritual and Temporal who calls himself Jesus Christs Lieutenant the Vible Head of the Church the Mouth of God who pronounces Oracles and who can never Erre who is above Emperours and Kings who can establish them and who can destroy them Behold what our Infidel may see in the Roman Church Neither he nor I do pronounce any thing we say not whether it be good or bad Going out from thence he enters into the Temples of the Protestants wherein he sees nothing of what he had seen in that place whence he came forth He sees there no Images no Altars no Sacrifices no Pomp no Ceremony They tell him for a reason of this difference God is jealous of his Honour he would not have any Service done to Images he hath expresly forbidden it in the Second Command of his Law The Sacrifices of Christians are Praises and Thanksgivings Works of Mercy Offerings and Alms these are the Oblation of the Heart and Affections and their Perfumes are their Prayers We have no Altars for since that Jesus Christ did Sacrifice his Sacred Person for our Salvation having no more Sacrifices we need no more Altars Our Infidel lending his Ear to what is said hears indeed nothing but Prayers and Hymns which are Sung Sermons Prayers addressed to God no Angels no Saints invoak'd They tell him Prayer is the Principal of our Homages and the first act of our Adoration therefore we reserve it for God We believe that we should offer a great Wrong to the Divinity if we did divide his Honour between Him and his Creatures They shew to this Infidel a small number of Sacraments administred with great simplicity Nothing is disguised from him They tell him What you see on this Table is true Bread and true Wine but it 's Bread and Wine mystical It is the Sacrament of Jesus Christ crucified it is the Symbol of his Flesh and Blood and the precious Pledge of the Love of God the Seal of our Justification and One of the Means of our Sanctification But the Grace which is adjoyned doth not destroy Nature Instead of causing him to adore what his Senses tell him to be Bread They tell him Take heed lest under any Pretence whatever you render to the Creature that Honour which is due only to the Creator for he that said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve will not be paid with any Excuses it will not avail to say I supposed that my Saviour came under that appearance of Bread Our Infidel sees a Religion which keeps nothing secret from him under pretence of Mystery They do not tell him about the Word of God Walk therein as in a dangerous Way either read not at all or read with a Spirit of Submission for all that the Church hath taught you Do not believe what your Eyes will seem to tell you about your Lectures and whatsoever you may meet withal conclude nothing that may be opposite to the Faith
Second That there is but one God and we ought to serve and adore none but him The Third That this God is to be served in Jesus Christ joyntly with him and according to the Religion which he hath taught The first is the foundation of all Religion in general The second the Foundation of the true Religion in that it embraces the Religion of Moses and that of Christ And the Third is the Foundation of the Christian Religion The Roman Church receives the first Foundation That God is to be served and adored She receives the Third but in Words for she makes indeed Profession to adore God according to the Religion which Jesus Christ hath taught but we pretend that her Worship is not suitable to her Profession They must not answer me that we are to blame to pretend that Happily may we be to blame but at present the Question is not to know whether we have reason but only to know if in our Principles the Roman Church destroys some Foundation of the Faith Now she destroys according to us this One therefore it s impossible that we can joyn with her But she destroys much more openly the Second of those Foundations in that she serves and adores that which is not God according to Protestants We must adore a God behold the first Foundation and the Roman Church receives it We must adore none but God behold the second Foundation which is no less important than the first and that is it which the Roman Church absolutely destroys She adores the Sacraments of the Eucharist Yea say they but it 's in the Supposition that the Eucharist becomes the Humanity of Jesus Christ that is to say the Humanity of God But that is nothing to the present Question It suffices me that it 's most evident that according to our Principles the Roman Church adores another besides God and by Consequence she also destroys according to us one of the principal Foundations of the Faith My Lord of Condom will then permit me to tell him That he hath not read in any of our Authors that our Church agrees with his in the Foundations of the Faith Monsieur Daillé hath not said so and if he had said it I would make no difficulty to say That he was deceived We only say That we believe nothing but what the Roman Church believes with us but that we believe not all that the Roman Church believes We distingnish Affirmative Articles from the Negative We agree with the Roman Church about Affirmative Articles viz. we all believe that there is a God that he is to be adored that there is a Jesus Christ that he is dead risen again ascended to Heaven God blessed for ever with the Father that he is the Redeemer of the World c. But we agree not about the Negative Articles and among them there are some that respect the Foundations such is that whereof we speak Thou shalt adore none but God We make no difficulty to say That the Worship of Images and Invocation of Saints do also destroy this Foundation because there is no act of Religion that is not an Adoration So Men cannot serve religiously any Creature without violating this Command Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 2. I subjoyn That the Fundamental Verities wherein we agree with the Roman Church cannot be a Means of Reunion with her because of the multitude of Opinions which she hath added to those Foundations and that those Additions are absolutely opposed to the purity of the Faith I say that in retaining the Verities which the Roman Church retains and even some over and above one might make a monstrous Religion and Soveraignty Idolatrous for Example Suppose that some Men should believe that there is but One God that we must adore None but him that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the World that he is truly God and truly Man that there is a Paradise and a Hell c. But who should perswade himself that all Creatures are united to God in so particular a manner that they ought to be worshipp'd with God That the Sun for Example is the Eye of the Divinity that in that quality he ought to be worshipp'd that the Rivers are his Arms whereby he embraces the Earth and because of that one may Sacrifice to them Those People would say I worship but one God I believe in Jesus Christ but I believe that that God is every where and that God is All and because of that I adore that All wherein he is If the Ubiquitans in the Supposition they make That the Humanity of Christ is in all the Spaces and in all the Bodies should come to conclude That Men must worship all the Bodies of the World would they not be Idolaters Nevertheless they would retain all the Foundations of the Faith which the Roman Church retains As for what they say That one must not impute unto People the Consequences which they disavow I Answer That the question is not here about Consequences which arise from certain Errors which Men defend but whereof they disown the Results The question is or Consequences owned and that we may impute to them that avow them Jesus Christ est reellement dans l'Eucharistic Behold the Principle or Errour Then must we adore the Sacrament behold the Consequence and a Consequence avowed We must do all that the Church commands Behold the Principle Therefore we must serve Images and invoke Saints behold the Consequences which are owned I might produce an hundred more but these suffice me I add thereto That there are Consequences which though they be disowned they cease not to subsist Those are they that arise from the very Actions and Practises If a Man should give a Box on the Ear to another and say that no wrong is done to another but when one hath no right to strike and therefore denies to have done him wrong because it was not his Intention to wrong him or because he had right to strike him because he denies the Consequence shall it be less true The Roman Church invokes Saints serves Images adores the Sacrament of the Eucharist We tell her She offers injury to God in imparting to Others a Worship which is due to him alone Thereupon she Answers It 's a Consequence you draw but what we deny In Consciente is such a Justification to be received We must distinguish well between Speculative Consequences which arise from a Doctrine and those that are Practical and which arise from Worship It 's of the former that we must understand this Rule of Equity That we must not impute Consequences to those that disavow them But that cannot be applied to the Consequences of Practice In fine When we accuse the Roman Church to do wrong to God in imparting Adoration to others to the Sacrifice of the Cross in adding another Sacrifice to the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ in establishing Human Satisfactions It 's not
Saints they are called St. Bonaventure St. Antonine St. Bernardine They dare not publickly condemn what they privately censure So all things do still remain and if any venture to publish any Writing against these Devouts it 's presently censur'd and suppress'd After that they would have us on the credit of four Words drawn out of a Catechism which the Council of Trent never saw nor approved we should belie our Eyes against what we read and what 's daily done before us We ask pardon of my Lord of Condom and of the Author of the Advertisement but we are bound to believe that their Church doth not simply invocate Saints as Intercessours but as Governours and Directors who distribute according to Gods Orders all the Good and Evil that befall the World We will believe that he and many others would fain have things to go otherwise But in fine they go so and apparently they will go so still yet for a long time The Archbishop and the Bishop of such and such a place suffer not that to be done in their Diocess say they to us That may be but an Archbishop and some Bishops are not all the Roman Church and maugre the Care of some Prelates of France the Devotion of Convents and Monks fails not to carry it on upon their Instructors And freely what may be said of Father Cresset's Devoti it 's that they follow the Principles of their Religion they shew it as clear as the day and the others forsake them Behold the second Excuse of my Lord of Condom We pray to the Saints glorified in the same Spirit wherein we pray the faithful which are on the Earth to pray for us This is a thing that I admire I had believed hitherto that a Cause remaining the same should produce the same effects If Men invoke the Saints which are in Heaven in the same Spirit wherein they pray the Saints that are on Earth why should not the same Spirit produce the same Effects In Conscience what would these Gentlemen say should they see a Man invoke one of his Friends or of his Neighbours of whose Sanctity he should have a good Opinion build Temples or Chappels to him name them with his Name erect Altars to him place him or his Images on those Altars prostrate himself at his feet kiss them and make devout Prayers to him consecrate Holy Days to him place him in his Oratories make long Pilgrimages to prostrate himself before him celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass in his honour and request his Merits and his Mediation before God it 's not enough to say That such a Man would pass for a Mad man I am assured he would pass for an Idolater Yet would he say I invoke and I serve this living Saint with the same Spirit wherewith you serve the glorious Saints I have no other End but to oblige him to have care of me in his Prayers Must there be so many Mysteries to sollicite the Charity of Saints who burn with Zeal for the Salvation of the whole Church How can Men say that Conducts more different than day and night should proceed from one and the same Spirit The Illusion which these Gentlemen would put upon us consists then in that they represent this Service which they render to Saints not so much as an Invocation but simply as a Prayer that we would present to a Friend to pray for us And they do not advertize us That the Service which is rendred to Saints is a Religious Service which embraces all the species of Services which are rendred to God Prayer Confidence Love Praises and Kneelings We cannot but complain there is no fair dealing in comparing things that are so different Was there ever any Man which hath called the Prayer presented to a Saint upon Earth for to pray for us a Service how much less a Religious Service My Lord of Condom grants That the Honour rendred to the Holy Virgin and to the Saints may be called Religious Would he also grant the same thing of the honour that is done to a Saint on Earth when he is pray'd to pray God for us If those Gentlemen would but say things as they know them would they not grant that the Worship that Men render to Saints is a kind of Religious Adoration and doth not my Lord of Condom grant it when he saith That in a sense Adoration belongs only to God and to Jesus Christ and that one may in regard of that sense abuse those terms to render their Doctrine odious but if we reduce sincerely those terms to the sense they give to them Objections then lose all their force Do they not distinguish Adoration and Worship in that of Latria Hyperdulia and Dulia The first is for God the second for the Virgin Mary the third for other Saints When a Gender is divided into its Species each of the Species may have the Name of the Genus If Religious Adoration be divided into Latria and Dulia then may Dulia retain the Name of Adoration It 's infinitely distant say they from the Adoration of Latria which is given only to God We are not agreed about that infinite distance but though there were the greatest difference of the one to the other that would not hinder but both the one and the other might bear the Name of Adoration There is a great distance between Man and Beast nevertheless doth this merit to bear the Name of Animal as well as that Father Cresset hath not scrupled that for he saith freely that there are three sorts of Religious Adoration and that one must not only honour the Saints but that he must adore them Finally To convince those Gentlemen the little Equity they shew in comparing the honour which we give to the Faithful when we recommend our selves to their Prayers to that which is rendred to the Saints I would pray them to consider what would be said of a Man that of his own Authority should Canonize a Dead man should build Temples and Altars to him and cause him to be publickly serv'd I am assured that there would not be Thunders enough in the Vatican to strike him down although he were well assured of the beatitude of his Saint by a Revelation For it 's not permitted to set any Person in the Kalendar nor make him to be served and invoked publickly before a solemn Canonization issuing from the Holy Seat But I would also willingly know if Men have need of Patents from Rome for permission to say in all occasions publick or private to a Faithful alive Pray for me There must be many Mysteries towards the one and none to the other Who sees not then that they put a prodigious difference between Serving or Invoking a glorified Saint and recommending One self to the Prayers of a living Saint And that things so different cannot be done in the same Spirit In fine Either let them tell us no more of the Service of the Saints as of a
this Subject than the Lutherans do Before we conclude this Article it is good to mark that Monsieur de Condom doth suppose That all the Lutherans reject not Adoration Some of them saith he reject Adoration The most of them then do receive it since there are but some that reject it Monsieur de Condom teaches us there something new These are Facts important enough not to be advanc'd without Proof but that doth not very much concern us If Monsieur de Condom be not deceived we declare to him That the Lutherans which adore so are not those to whom we offer Union with a good heart we declare Anathema to such But let 's grant them also this Point Suppose that the Lutherans do Reason less congruously than the Roman Catholicks what imports it me To Reason ill not to know how to draw a Consequence is it a Crime against Piety and Religion A Man may have odd Opinions whereof if he perceives the Consequences he might see that they ruine all Religion but he abhors those Consequences and rejects them Another which hath the same Opinions hath more penetration he sees the true Attendants of his Principles he admits them he ruins all Because that my Charity obliges me to bear the Fancies of the former shall I be obliged to tolerate the Impiety of the latter The Lutheran believes That the Body of Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist if he did reason Consequentially he would say Then I must adore him there In so Reasoning and so Adoring he would commit according to us a very great Evil. But he doth not think good to Reason in that manner therefore he will not adore it he keeps to his Fantastical Opinion to believe That Jesus Christ is present in the Substance of the Bread The Roman Catholick holds with him the Real Presence but he goes further he Reasons better if they please and concludes that they must Adore according to me he becomes guilty of an extream Evil. Is it the same thing Because I tolerate the first with his Erroneous Opinions ought I to tolerate the second with his Worship which I find absolutely incompatible with the purity of Religion although he Reasons more Consequentially than the first In a word It imports us but little that People do not Reason well so that they do no Evil If any Man as Hercules furious should take his Children for little Monsters and yet ceases not from Caressing them he is not Criminal but if in supposing that these Children be Monsters and in reasoning Consequentially doth crush his Children to death because Monsters must be so served he is guilty of Murther I will only add now two Reflexions in favour of those for whom I write they are such who in good earnest do seek Instruction about the Truth The first is That we should not after all this trouble our selves to prove to the Roman Church that they adore the Creature with the Creatour in the Sacrament of the Eucharist for they agree thereto These are the Terms of the Council of Trent We must render to this Holy Sacrament the Adoration of Latria The Sacrament is composed of the Flesh of Jesus Christ invisible and of the sensible Accidents of Bread and Wine They adore the whole Sacrament they adore then the Accidents of Bread and Wine which are the Creatures And thereupon we may not forget to remark it to these Gentlemen that they are unjust to invite us to Re-union until they shall have proved that one may innocently render to the Creature this Adoration of Latria which even according to them ought to be rendred only to the Creatour The other Reflexion is That we may also exempt our selves from entring into the bottom of the Question and say That although it might be true that Jesus Christ is in the Eucharist and that one might adore him there I would still hold me to my practise which is to Worship only in the Heavens Reason suggests to us that in all things we should take the surest part and less dangerous If the Body of Christ Jesus be not in the Eucharist they that adore this Sacrament commit an infinite Evil. If the Body of Jesus Christ be there they that worship him not as there do no Evil at all or their fault is so light that Men know not what Name to give it I do not adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist because I know not whether he be there I am not the more Impious thereby because I adore him in Heaven where I know he is But he that adores the Sacrament if Jesus Christ be not there he adores the Creature and his fault is infinitely greater than mine I will make sensible by one Example the great difference that is between the Roman Catholick in case he be deceived about the Real Presence and that of the Protestant in case he be mistaken in holding Real Absence Suppose we that a King hath two sorts of Subjects some are scrupulous and fearful they will not render homage to their Prince whilst he lies hid in his Retirements inaccessible and invisible to all the World because they fear that the King is not there but as soon as this King comes forth to appear in publick that they hear his Voice they prostrate themselves before him and do render a perfect Obedience The other Subjects are in an Extremity quite opposite They not only Reverence the King without seeing him and without knowing him but meeting an unknown Person calling himself their King though he be not without further inquiry they suffer themselves to be seduced by light Appearances joyn this false Prince to their true King and render the same honour to this Imaginary Soveraign as to their true Prince Is it not very easie to discern the difference which is between these two sorts of Persons Hardly can one find the shadow of Sin in the first sort but it is clear that the Second sort are guilty of Treason Their Ignorance doth not excuse them seeing that in such Affairs Men are obliged to get Instruction We are those scrupulous Subjects we will not adore Jesus Christ where we are not sure that he is but we adore him where he is assuredly We are not then guilty neither of refusing to our Prince the Homage we owe him nor of giving to any other what we owe only to him The Roman Catholicks are those other Subjects so imprudent that they suffer themselves to be deceived by him who is not their Prince and which render him the same Honours as to their King This Reasoning and this Example do manifest evidently I think that the Roman Church could without any Risk adhere to our Worship and not adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist though he were there because that adoring Jesus Christ in Heaven that would suffice to keep them from being Impious But for us it is impossible to adhere to their Worship if Jesus Christ be not there since we should hazard the
brought them out of Egypt If it be the Intention of Jesus Christ that there shall be in his Church a perpetual Sacrifice of his Body and of his Blood we must not flatter our selves we follow not the Religion of Jesus Christ But if that continual Sacrifice hath not been instituted by the Lord assuredly they make a new Christianism and a new Religion The Question then is to know if without any other Mystery we should pass into a Religion which is Essentially different from ours 2. But it is not only the Question to know If Men should introduce into the Church a new Sacrifice but if Men should Sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God It is the greatest Oblation the Noblest and most important in the World And that deserves well methinks to have Reflexion made thereon before we engage to Re-union whereto they invite us If any rash Person would sprinkle with the Blood of Oxen and Sheep their Altars according to the Usage of all People and of the Ancient Church there would not be Thunders enough to crush to death such an Undertaker If such an Impious Man should form a Society wherein they might practice such Sacrifices they would arm all the Powers of Christianism to abolish such a Religion Yet would that agitation be but about the Sacrifices of some Beasts The business is to Sacrifice the God of Heaven the Master of the World and they will perswade us that it is a business of Nothing 3. The Question again is to know Whether they should put into the hands of a Man the GOD of the Universe as an Oblation in the hands of a Sacrificer that is if we should debase the Creatour into the hands of a Creature It is a Truth which good Sense dictates among all Nations and all Ages that the Sacrificer is greater than the Oblation Without contradiction the lesser is blessed of the greater It is the Principle of St. Paul the Priest blesses the Oblation They put the Lord Jesus Christ into the hands of a Priest as an Oblation they then lift up the Priest above Jesus Christ We cannot but have regard to that as to a very good Affair 4. We cannot also keep our selves from seeing that this Doctrine doth annihilate the Priesthood of Jesus Christ by good and legitimate Consequences If the Lord Jesus Christ was to have Successors in his Off ce of Priest he is not then himself an Eternal Priest Either St. Paul's Reasoning is bad or my Proof is invincible For in fine I Reason like him He said If Perfection had been in the Levitical Priesthood was it needful that another Priest should arise after the Order of Melchisedeck and who should not be called after the Order of Aaron The Priesthood being changed there must of need be a change of the Law I say the same If Perfection was found in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ who is the Eternal Priest of Melchisedecks Order why should Men introduce new Priests which much more like to be after the Order of Aaron than after the Order of Melchisedeck And if the setling of a new Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedeck hath overthrown the Levitical Priesthood doth not the Priesthood of these Sacrifices annihilate the Priesthood of Jesus Christ This is your Errour say they you suppose that this is a new Priesthood and it is not so for it is the same it is the Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedeck which is Eternal because it abides still in the Church and without that the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ would not be Eternal after the way of that of Melchisedeck Why would Men oblige us to believe things that are incredible to justifie the Church of Rome They tell us That the Priesthood of their Priests is the same as that of Jesus Christ I know not whether Heaven and Earth are more distant and if Light and Darkness be more different Jesus Christ is God those Priests are Men. Jesus Christ abides for ever those Priests die No Man succeeds Jesus Christ Priests succeed one the other Jesus Christ offered not for himself the Priests offer for their own Sins as for those of the People Jesus Christ is Holy separate from Sinners Priests are often engaged into great Disorders Jesus Christ hath offered once one sole Sacrifice these offer every day and reiterate their Sacrifice Jesus Christ finishes his Sacrifice in the Holy Places not made with hands Priests make their Sacrifices upon Altars of Stone and in Temples made by Mans hand In fine Melchisedeck was a singular Man and only it must needs be therefore that he who was to sustain that Priesthood whereof his was the Figure should be a singular and only Person but the Priests are in great Numbers After that can Men deny that Priests are Sacrificers much rather like the Order of Aaron than that of Melchisedeck And if it be so we say it once more The Establishment of their Priesthood destroys that of Christ by good Consequence Though that should be granted say they it is a disavowed Consequence and which by consequence should not prove an obstacle to the Re-union To that I say Though Men disavow it yet we see it and fear it still because it produces actually its effect It is not in Points of Practise as in those of Speculation In these it is true so the Consequence be disavowed it must not be imputed although it do arise from the Speculative Principles of those that disavow it But when a Practise or Worship destroy by consequence an important Truth that is in vain to disavow the Consequence while People remain in the Worship and in that Practise they are actually guilty of having done prejudice against such a Truth For Example A Pagan doth joyn to the Adoration of God the Sovereign many Inferiour Deities We tell him That by this Worship he offers a great Wrong to the Soveraign God He may Answer That it is a Consequence which he disavows and that his Intention is to render an infinite Honour to this Soveraign God Because he disavows the Consequence is he justified 5. Finally We cannot keep our selves from seeing That the Sacrifice of the Mass doth a great dishonour to the Sacrifice of the Cross for if it be needful to reiterate every day that Sacrifice the first Oblation which was made thereof must have been insufficient We Reason as the Apostle that saith The Sacrifices that are offered every year cannot sanctifie them that have recourse to them otherwise they had ceased them from offering them since the Offerers being once sanctified should have had no more Conscience of Sin We Reason as these Doctors themselves We shall hear one of them presently saying to us If the Mass were infinite it were in vain to offer many Masses Let 's be permitted to say also If the value of the Sacrifice of the Cross were infinite it is in vain to offer so many others It is here that
shew me that Church to whom I must submit I see in the Orient a Greek Church which they call Schismatick in the Occident I see there Societies of Men whom they call Eutychians Jacobites Nestorians Melchites and many others Each one of these Societies tells me that she is the true Church whom I must hear Which shall I believe Believe her say they that hath the Marks of Antiquity of Succession of Chairs and particularly of the Apostolick Chair But every one of those Societies doth boast to have all those Advantages to be the most Ancient to be Apostolical to have had the Apostles for Founders The Church of Alexandria saith that she was founded by St. Mark her first Bishop that of Jerusalem by St. James These are Matters of Fact and to clear my self thereof I must read whole Libraries I that neither have Latin nor Greek which have neither time enough nor piercing Wits to follow hard Studies Either I must remain uncertain or else I shall be reduced to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church upon her own simple Word and upon the Witness that she gives her self which is of all things in the World the most unjust for no Man ought to be believed in his own Cause Yea though I should believe that the Roman Church is the true Church and Infallible If I ask where that Infallible doth rest they cannot teach it me The one will say that it is in the Pope others will say that it is false and I must beware of that thought Some Doctours will tell me that the Infallible Oracle is not found but in Councils but others will call that Opinion Heresie and will Threaten the Tribunal of the Inquisition if I yield unto those Thoughts I know not then what side to turn to to find a solid Prop to my Faith for on all hands I see nothing but Doubts in that which they call the Church uncertainty and dividing of Opinions If I pierce into the bottom of that Church and that I examine the Sense thereof I see People that say with one Voice We must follow the Church One cannot go off from her without wandring But under that appearance of Uniformity I see a prodigious diversity of Opinions Some are Semi-Pelagians and teach That Grace is not efficacious but by the Will of Man others defend Efficacious Grace by it self and accuse the former of recalling Pelagianism Some say That the Command of Loving God obliges at all times and the others say that it never obliges I see some that accuse others to be the Corrupters of Morality and which indeed make the Truth of their Accusation palpable by ones Finger but they who are accused do by turns accuse their Adversaries to be Calvinists Hereticks to ruine the Virtues of Sacraments to estrange the Faithful from the Communion of the Body of Christ and to bind Conscience by unjust Chains All those People are in the Church they follow all the Sentiments of the Church as they say yet are they in Paths so opposite that Hell and Heaven are not more See the Uniformity of that Church whereto they would have me to give up my self It must be a concluded Affair We shall never resolve to leave the Foundation of the Word of God who always abides the same to engage our Selves in a Sea of Doubts and Uncertainties where we cannot set our Foot nor find a fixed Bottom That the important Controversie of Authority Infallible of the Church be not an Obstacle to our Re-union Monsieur de Condom would perswade us by all means that we are in that regard in the same Practise and in the same Opinion with his Church In that we make our Church Judge Soveraign and Infallible of the Controversies which arise among us He proves it by two things First Because we condemn the Doctrine of the Independants which say That every Faithful Man is to follow the Motions of his own Conscience and that each Flock is to be governed by their proper Laws without dependance of any other in Matters Ecclesiastical Whereto we oppose That if that Doctrine had place there might be formed as many Religions as Parishes and we conclude That the Faithful ought to be Dependants in regard of their Faith that is they must depend upon a Superiour Authority which is that of the Church I conceive not what difficulty Monsieur de Condom finds therein Have we ever said That the Faithful ought to be absolutely Independant of the Church Do we deny the Authority of the Church to be great holy venerable Do we consider the Decisions of holy Councils Assembled in God's Name and who have decreed according to his Word as Nothing There is much difference between a Great Authority and an Infallible Authority between a blind and absolute Dependance and a Dependance conditional The Authority of the Church is great but it is not Infallible Councils ought not to be despised but their Decisions are not to be received blindfold The Faithful are to live in Dependance but they must examine by the Word of God those Decisions whereon they are to depend Not to make a New Religion if they think good but to submit to Decisions by a Principle of Reason lightned with Divine Faith and grounded on the Word of God But they will say If those Private Men in their Examen Judge that the Decision of the Church be not true what must they do Ought they to submit or no If they submit against the Judgment of their Reason that is it we ask If they submit not and that they follow their Thoughts there is a new Religion I Answer If those Private Men Judge that the Decision of a Council be false they cannot but follow the Judgmenr of their Heart although all the Popes and Bishops should oppose it but if they be wise they will not stick to their first Examination they will labour to have their Doubts clear'd If they cannot they will keep silence in case the Errour in hand be not Capital If they believe that their Salvation is concerned then their Consciences obliges them not to make a New Religion but to chuse that which they believe most conformed to the Truth of the Gospel I will not engage further into a Question which hath a long Train One may read thereon those who have Written to justifie our Separation and among others the excellent Answer of Monsieur Claude in his Book of Prejudices there may all see what are the Rights of Private Men and of Flocks when the Church begins to wander The other Proof which Monsieur de Condom brings to prove That we give â—â— our Synods an Infallible Authority is drawn from our Discipline That Discipline would have that when a Point of Doctrine is in Controversie after that the business hath passed the Judgment of the Consistory of the Colloques and of Synods Provincial In fine They should acquiesce in the Judgment of the Synod National The same Discipline Ordains
as any thing can be so that their Adoration was referr'd to that God who had brought them out of Egypt whom they had design to adore under the Sign of that Calf In fine A Man that should take a Tree a Dog a Horse and should adore him referring his Worship to God in his Intention would not be guilty for his Worship would terminate in God We must know then that to the end our Adoration may terminate in God it suffices not that it be the Intention of him that adores but God must accept that Adoration Nothing terminates in God but what God is willing to receive It 's useless to have an Intention to serve God by certain Actions if those Actions be condemn'd of God they are against him and not for him Methinks I have read in the very Theology of those Gentlemen That the infinite Baseness of Sin arises from its establishing our last End different from God So every Sin so far as in it lies snatches away God from his Throne in taking away from him the Title of Ultimate End to give it the Creature and that is an infinite Crime But what shall we say to so many Actions Criminal that have God's Honour for their Object Of those Bloody Persecutions which have shed the Blood of the Faithful with the Thought That they did therein Service to God Of so many Superstitions which have been practised to the Honour of the Deity How can those Crimes be accused of setting up another End besides God seing they are done in honour to God It 's nevertheless certain that those Actions do not terminate in God and there is no other reason for it but that he abhors them and hath forbidden them They terminate then in the Vanity of their Imaginations and in the Illusions of the heart of those false Zealots and of that bad Devotion and do not reach God Semblably the Worship that Men render to the Creatures with Intention of referring it to God is carried out to the Creatures themselves because that God suffers it not to reach unto himself Here my Lord of Condom makes a Course into Antiquity and will draw his advantage from thence in that we acknowledge That Men began to invocate Saints about the end of the Fourth Century But that is a Proof and not an Explication I have not obliged my self to follow him through all I 'le only say That then they did not invocate Saints as they do at this day They did not pray to them in the Ordinary Service They constrained none thereto they did not build Temples to them they did not Sacrifice the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ to their honour Moreover we profess that we will only imitate the Apostles and their immediate Successors ARTICLE V. Of the Invocation of the Saints ALL that is general My Lord of Condom begins to descend to Particulars The Invocation and Worship of Saints is assuredly one of the things that doth most separate us from the Roman Church Mean while if he be believed the vain Terrors that we conceive therein proceed only from their having given an ill Turn to an Action the most innocent of all It 's nothing to see that Religious Worship that should be intirely given to God divided between Him and a thousand Creatures It 's nothing to hear Matins Masses Vespers filled with Litanies Songs and Praises that tend to the honour of those Creatures It 's nothing to see those Devoti who having almost wholly neglected the Name of God do cause to resound in their Exercises of Piety only the Names of the holy Mother of God and of other Saints It 's nothing to see the Kalendar crouded with an infinite number of Days dedicated to the honour of Saints whilst that God hath appropriated to himself but fifty or fifty two All Religion is to be for God all first Notions are for that Pietas erga Parentes Religio erga Deum said the Pagans themselves Yet it 's nothing to give Religious Worship to the Creatures and to divide Religion between God and them My Lord of Condom hath prevented that difficulty telling us That this Worship is called Religious only because it terminates in God But I think also we have Answered it sufficiently and have well proved That Worships forbidden of God cannot be referr'd to him Behold another Colour which is diffused thereon The Church in telling us That it 's useful to pray to Saints teaches us to pray to them with the same Spirit of Charity and according to those Orders of fraternal Charity which carries us on to demand the Succour of our Brethren living on the Earth We pray to them in the same Spirit that we pray to our Brethren that are on Earth to pray with us and for us to our Common Master in the Name of our Common Mediatour Jesus Christ Therefore according to the Catechism of the Council of Trent we use two Forms of Prayer very different seeing that whereas in praying to God the proper manner is to say Have mercy on us Hear us We are content to say to the Saints Pray for us There is nothing more specious That is reduced to Two things One That they invoke Saints but in saying to them Pray for us The other That this Prayer is put up with the same Spirit that it 's done to the Saints that are on Earth Those Gentlemen should know that though all that were true yet could not we be satisfied for in matter of Religion we would have nothing but what is founded on Precept or Example God hath not commanded us any where to invocate glorified Saints in the same Spirit that we pray our Brethren that are on Earth to pray for us Besides they being perfectly assured that Souls separate from their Bodies do not understand us Reason would forbid us loading our Service with useless Invocations But it 's a strange thing that they will still produce to us the same Facts with so much confidence without having answer'd the Proofs that we bring to the contrary To see that air of Assurance wherewith these Gentlemen say we say nothing else to the Saints but Pray for us would not one believe that there is nothing more true Yet let him but read the Books of Devotion of the Roman Church to be soon perswaded of the contrary Why then in the Hymn that begins Exultat Coelum laudibus c. do they say to the Apostles You that shut up Heavens by your Word and who open them at your Command loosen us of our Sins we pray you for it You that have power over H alth and Sickness of all heal us of our ill Manners and inspire Vertues into us In the Hymn which begins Lux Mundi beatissima do not they speak thus to the Virgin We pray you with a Suppliant Voice that you would please to be present with us Come sweet Lady deliver us out of all our Evils and bestow on us the Gifts of Heaven In
the Hymn called Maris Stella they say Oh singular Virgin Debonnair among all defend us from our Guils render us Chaste and Mild give us a pure Life prepare us in the sure Way to the end that seeing Jesus we may enjoy an eternal Joy We have an hundred times reproached those Gentlemen that of Jure Matris impera of the Old Missals and the Monstra te esse Matrem but we shall still have right to reproach them therewith till satisfaction be given us by Reason for it Instead thereof they renew the same and publish them in French that none might be ignorant thereof Oh bend by thy power both of Mother and Queen thy Son and our King That is but from the Year 1672. Methinks the Date is fresh enough and that they should not accuse us to have digg'd up Books buried in Oblivion and old Excesses that are no more in use One should Copy and Transcribe all the Missals Breviaries and all other Books of Devotion if one would relate all Why then do those Gentlemen say They only pray the Saints to pray for us It 's say they that in whatever Terms the Prayers are conceived that we address to Saints the Intention of the Church and of her Faithful Ones still reduces them to that form It s long since Bellarmine had advised us thereof As for Words it 's permitted to say Oh St. Peter have mercy on me save me open me the Gate of Heaven give me health of Body give me patience give me Courage c. So that we understand Save us and shew us Mercy in praying for us That might surprize us indeed First I would fain know what would these Gentlemen say of a Man that would say in good earnest to St. Peter Save me and pardon my Sins without reducing them to this Form St. Peter pray for me By those things which my Lord of Condom saith I have cause to believe he would look on him as an Idolater for he saith that the Church teaches That Men must cleave to God as to Him who alone can make up our felicity by the Communication of an Infinite Good which is himself But is it not a terrible thing to put into the Mouth of the People such Formularies as do cast them every day into the peril of Idolatry Where are the Men that are not naturally carried to take Words in their Literal sense The Literal sense of these Words of St. Peter Save me Pardon me carries Men to believe that St. Peter can Save and Pardon Must a simple Man have still at his Ear an Interpreter to tell him Take heed of taking these Words in their Literal sense you would commit an act of Idolatry reduce these Prayers to the Sense of the Church In a word I never could conceive what Prudence there can be in hiding a pious and devout Sense under Expressions altogether Criminal Is it not to lay a Snare continually for the Souls of the Simple 2. It Saints have no other Charge than that of Praying to God for us why are they made the Governours of the World under God It 's a Thesis that Bellarmine maintains with divers Proofs and which is not contested That the Faithful alive are not only conducted and governed by Angels but also by the blessed Spirits Another Author saith That if Kings destroy Armies of Enemies if the Rich relieve the Poor if Physicians with their Art heal Maladies Saints can do the same thing as well as the Angels whereof one killed 185000 in one Night another restored Sight to Toby and a third delivered St. Peter from Prison Governours do not always go to the Prince to present him the Requests of Suppliants they act of themselves according to the extent of their Commission 3. If Saints have no Superintendency on Inferiour things why then are Kingdoms Towns Families and particular Persons put under their Protection Why have Mens several Conditions differing Arts and differing Evils their particular Saints St. Luke is Patron of Physicians St. Yves of Advocates St. Crispin of Shoemakers They that are in danger of Shipwrack invoke St. Nicholas Bishop of Myre Women in labour pray to St. Margaret St. Roch is prayed to for the Plague and St. Apollony for the Toothach All that clearly supposes that the Saints have received Commission under God to have care of certain Persons and to preside over certain things for otherwise the first coming to hand of all the Saints would suffice to receive the Prayers of Men in whatever place they were and present them to God They do then something by themselves 4. If all Devotion for Saints be reduced to saying to them Pray for us why have they censur'd the Saving Advices of the Virgin to her indiscreet Devoti For in fine that Author had no other Aim but to bring thither the Prayers of Devout ones He would have them say Holy Mother of God supply by your Praises near the Almighty what our weakness cannot render to him and obtain for me from your beloved the Grace to know c. Yet hath that Book been censur'd at Rome and in Spain as containing Propositions suspected of Errour some Impieties and abuses of Scripture as withdrawing the Faithful from piety and Devotion to the Mother of God and from her Invocation This last word is very remarkable That Book withdraws from the Invocation of the Virgin He withdraws not from that Invocation Pray to God for us on the contrary he gives a Formulary express to invoke her so He withdraws then from the Invocation of the Virgin only because he would not have them to ask of her directly those things as if she were the Disposer thereof 5. Finally If the Sense of the Church be That Men pray the Saints to pray for us and no more why do they not censure so many Authors that tell us neatly That Saints give forgive save and distribute Graces themselves Câ—sterus writing on the Hymn Ave Maris Stella and explaining these words Loosen the Bonds of the Guilty thus Glosses thereon Solve Precibus Solve Merito Solve Auhoritate Solve Imperio Loosen with thy Prayers Loosen by thy Merit Loosen by thine Authority Loosen by thy Command I am tempted to add here all the like sayings of Bonaventure Gerson Cajetan Albert Ozorius Salazar Bernardine de Bustis and of Sienna Driedo Father Binet Viega Gabriel Biel Antonine and an hundred others that is to say the Ancients and Moderns the lesser the great and middle Authors But I will not yield to that Temptation for it would be an infinite work and we shall see anon that Father Cresset hath spared us that labour When they speak to us face to face they tell us Those are brave Authors indeed Must we judge of the Sense of the Church by little popular Books which ignorant Bigots put into the Peoples hands They are fallen into those Excesses which honest Men do condemn Yet these brave Authors are Canonized