AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE POINTS OF CONTROVERSY with those of the Pretended Reformation.  
By JAMES BENIGNUS BOSSÜET, Counsellor in the King's Counsels, Bishop and Lord of Condom, Tutor to his Royal Highness' the Dolphin of France.  
Translated into English by W. M.  
PRINTED AT PARIS, By VINCENT DU MOUTIER Mont S. Hilaire, at the sign of the Looking glass. M.DC.LXXII.  
With Approbation and Permission.   

APPROBATION  
Of my Lord Archbishop and Duke of Rheims, the first Peer of France; and of other Lords Bishops.  
WE have read the Treatise entitled, An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in points of Controversy, composed by JAMES BENIGNUS BOSSÜET Bishop & Lord of Condom, Tutor to his Royal Hyghesse the Dolphin, and after having examined it with as much application as the importance of the matter required, we have judged the Doctrine conformable to the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Faith▪ Which moves us to propose it under that notion to the persons God hath committed to our charge; and as we assure ourselves that those of the Catholic Communion will be edified by it, so we may hope that those of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, who shall peruse this work with attention, may receive from it clearings and disabuses very conducing to guide them into the way of Salvation.  

CHARLES' MAURICE LE TELLIER, Archbishop & Duke of Rheims.  
CHARLES' DE ROSMADEC, Archbishop of Tours.  
FELIX, Bishop & Earl of Chalons.  
DE GRIGNAN, Bishop of Vsez.  
D. DE LIGNY, Bishop of Meaux.  
NICOLAS, Bishop of Luson.  
GABRIEL, Bishop of Autun.  
MARC, Bishop of Tarbe.  
ARMAND JOHN, Bishop of Beziers.  
STEPHEN, Bishop & Prince of Grenoble.  
JULIUS, Bishop of Tule.    

TO MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN OF ENGLAND.  
Cognoscetis Veritatem, & Veritas liberabit vos Jo. 8. v. 32.  
Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.  
TRUTH is so much the Centre of the Spirit of Man, as it pretends to move towards it, even in all the digressions & Deviations it makes from it. For even most of our Errors & Delusions pass themselves upon us under the notion of Truth. The Spirit of Falsity disguiseth himself into the Appearance of an Angel of Light to have the easier access. Did not Pilate himself seem desirous to know Truth, when he inquired of our Saviour what Truth was? 
Io. 18. v. 38.  But most inquire like him; as soon as menaced with this terror, if you receive it, you are no friend to Caesar, 
Io: 19 v. 12.  you incur the displeasure of the State, and the Penalty of the Laws, they decline the further pursuit of Truth, and shrink into that weakness, which our Saviour reproached to his timorous inquirers; 
Io. 12. v. 43.  they loved the Glory before Men, more than the Glory before God.  
Others there are, who seem frighted, as the children of Israël were, with the misreports of the inhahitants of the land of Chanaan, which were falsely represented to them as Giants and Monsters; for so their Pretending Explorators disguise to them the Roman-Catholique Religion under the Forged figures of Idolatry, or Superstition, to divert an inquiry into the true state and constitution of it. But as when josuah showed the children of Israël a true and sensible parcel of the fruits of that earth, they were disabused, and inflamed with a desire to partake of the blessed fertility of the land of promise: so, Godbe praised, there are many, who upon an equal & ingenuous view of the true and natural state of Catholic Doctrine, are disabused, and protest against the false reporters, as the Psalmist did in rejection of vain inventions of the Heathens; 
Ps. 118. v, 85 & 86.  Narraverunt mihi iniqui Fabulationes; sed non ut lex tua. Omnia mandata tua Veritas. Unjust men make their own stories; but what they say is not like thy law. All thy commandments are Truth.  
Here is therefore a true & natural parcel of the fruits of that land of promise, (the Church of CHRIST) to which this blessed promise was made, that it should be led into all Truth, 
Io. 16. 13.  and that CHRIST JESUS the founder of it would remain with it unto the end 
Mat. 28. v, 20.  of the world. This promise can not be verified in any Church, which hath had a notorious deficiency and interruption for many ages, which mark of inconformity to CHRIST'S figure and description of the True Church, is evident in all the Pretended-Reformations.  
But the design of this Author was, only a short & easy exposure of such Catholic Doctrines as the belief thereof is fully sufficient to render the professor an entire & Orthodox Catholic; so that this short Treatise may be called rather a Factum of the case, then Pleading of the cause, since it doth but singly expose the matter of Fact in all our Beliefs, without any Arguing against the opposite Opinions.  
Whereupon I may not improperly say this is a true picture, by the life, of Catholic Religion, which designeth only a just and natural representation of it, not a character that raiseth & beautifyeth the figure it exposeth.  
And in conformity to this profession, the pious and prudent Author declareth in the close of this discourse, that it was designed only for a Faithful Manifest in the name of the Catholic Church; the utility whereof was expected in the disabusing all ingenuous Readers in those misreported Doctrines, which are wrongfully imputed to her. And God hath blessed this pious proposal so, as to recommend it very notoriously by the satisfaction, which is professed to have been received by one of the most considerable persons of this age, for the honour of his Birth, and eminency of all sorts of Merit: he hath acknowleged much of his clear & full information of the Catholic Doctrines, as received from this excellent discourse.  
And surely I have not seen any edition of this nature, as may be more aptly called a Map of Catholic Religion; for all the lesser Controversies are marked out in very small points & touches; but the two Capital seats are distinguished by some larger marks, which represent them; so you will find the Real Presence of CHRIST in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as being the Capital seats of our Controversies, extended in a much larger figure, than the other questions; and the drawing these two figures, at their full length, & with their true features, was the most requisite application, by reason they are the most aspersed & disfigured by the Maligners of the Church.  
And these two Articles rightly understood, as they are professed and explained in this Treatise, may promise the remove of the greatest difficultyes, which most frequently avert many ingenuous & candid Protestants from entering into an equal & impartial inquiry, concerning the seeming difficultyes of these two points, namely this of the Real Presence of CHRIST'S Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, as pretending it's not being clearly explained; and likewise the Controversy about the Sacrifice of the Mass, as not appearing evidently specified in holy Scripture.  
Me thinks these two may not be improperly resembled to the two great pillars of brass, called Booz and jachin, supporting the gates of the Temple of Solomon; wherefore these two points are set at their full length, solidly founded, and fairly polished by a clear smoothing, and explication of the seeming hardness of those proposals, which were taken as a hard saying coming even out of CHRIST'S own mouth, 
Jo▪ 6. v. 61.  but if rightly understood, following this Author's fair exposition, they will be acknowleged, as our Saviour himself attested of them, 
Jo. 6. v. 64  Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis Spiritus & vita sunt. The words that I have spoke unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.  
And can there be imagined a greater Blessing, next to the Beatifical Vision, than the Real Participation of the Body and Blood of our Divine Saviour JESUS-CHRIST? Me thinks that which would have been the wish of all zealous Christians, if it had not been the free gift and gratification of God, is this Real Partaking, even in this life of this blessed communication, by which we may glory with S. Peter, 
2. Pet. 1. v. 4.  that by this precious promise we are made partakers of the Divine Nature.  
And surely I have not seen any work upon this design wherein these two corner-stones of the Catholic Church have a more solid foundation, or that affords a more easy comprehension of these two sublime mysteries.  
By this motive I have been persuaded to pass into my Country this foreign commodity, which like a delicate wine of the same place, may lose somewhat of the natural Spirit & quickness by the transport, yet I may presume that it retaineth all these healthful and cordial qualities it had in the native production.  
And having heretofore presented my Country in their several seasons Spring-Flowers, and other Summer-Fruits, as the Parfumes of Poesy, and the Reflection of Morality, now in this winter of my age I transport to my nation this Riper and more wholesome fruit, the feeding whereon (contrary to the effect denounced against the forbidden fruit) may produce life everlasting.  
Upon which hope I may summon my Country in that call of our Lord JESUS, commanded to be written by S. john, He that hath ears to hear, 
Apoc. 2.  let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches▪; for that (with grief I say it) the reproach of the Prophet Esay may be so truly applied to our Nation, 
Esay. 50▪ v 11.  Behold you kindle a fire, and compass yourselves about with sparks, and walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. The strange diversity of Sects, and Several professions of Religion doth too evidently appropriate this reproach of the Prophet; wherefor the rest of my life shall be assigned to solicit God for the blessing of the Primitive Christians upon our so divided Country to be Cor Vnum, and Via una One Hart & One Way. 
Act. 4. Y. 32.  This Unity was the most fervent prayer we find that our Saviour ever made to his Father for his Church left upon earth, 
Io. 17. 11. & 21.  that they may be One, as we are One. In order to some contribution to this Blessed Union I have made this present to my Country, and with great sense of Hart; for whose Good & Happiness the Sincerity of my zeal is such, that I persuade myself I may express it in S. Paul's offer for his Converts, 
2. Cor. 12. v. 15.  Ego autem libentissimè impendam, & Superimpendar ipse pro animabus vestris. I most gladly will bestow, and will myself moreover be bestowed for your souls.  
And now give me leave to closeup this address to my Country in the words of our Lord JESUS, 
Apoc. 2. 5.  which S. john heard directed to the Bishop of Ephesus, Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works. For which blessed resipiscence shall be zealously offered all the days of my life the best of all the Religious offices, and private devotions of  
DEAR COUNTRYMEN Your most humbly devoted servant W A. MONTAGV▪ Permis d' imprimer, fait ce 12. Auril 1672. DE LA REYNIE.   

AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CATHOLIQVE CHURCH.  
UPON THE POINTS OF Controversy.  
AFTER more than a whole Age's contestation with those of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, 
Design of this Treatise  the matters, upon which they have grounded their breach, may be conceived sufficiently explained, and their minds disposed to a right understanding of the Catholic Church's Persuasions: so that it seems we can do nothing better than propose them sincerely, and distinguish them from those, which have been wrongfully imputed; for in effect, I have observed in divers occurrencyes, that the aversion those persons express for the most part, of our Doctrines, is derived from the false ideas that they have figured of our tenants, and most commonly drawn from certain expressions, which offend them so much, as resting at first sight upon them, they never pass forward to the enquiry of the grounds of the matter. Whereupon I have conceived nothing could be more useful then to explain to them what the Church hath defined in the Council of Trent touching those points which remove them the most from our Communion, I will not therefore stay upon what they commonly object to our private Doctors, or upon those matters which are neither enjoined, nor universally accepted, since all parties agree and Mr Daille him'self, 
Apol. c. 6.  that it is unreasonable to impute the persuasions of particular persons unto a whole body; and he goes further, confessing that one ought not to make a separation, but upon Articles Authentically established, and whereof all sorts of persons are obliged unto the Belief & observation. I will not therefore fix upon any, but the decrees of the Council of Trent, since it is there the Church speaks Decisively of the matters in question and what I shall offer to facilitate the right understanding of those Decisions, is approved by the same Church, and shall appear manifestly conformable to the Doctrine of that holy Council.  
This explication of Doctrine will produce two good effects: the first, that divers disputes will entirely vanish, by reason they will be discerned, as grounded merely vpon wrong explications of our Belief; the second, the disputes remaining will not appear (even according to the principles of the Pretended-Reformers) so capital, as they at first sight have sought to qualify them; and that, even by their own principles, they contain nothing that offendeth the grounds of Faith.  
And to begin with these Fundamental articles of Christian Faith, 
Those of the Pretended-Reformed Religion confess that the Catholic Church professeth all the Fundamental Articles of Christian Religion.  the Pretended-Reformes must needs confess that they are believed and professed in the Catholic Church.  
If they state them in the belief of adoring one single God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and the confiding in God only by his son incarnate, crucified, and raised from the dead for us, they are convinced by their own conscience, that we protest the same Doctrine: and if they will add the other Articles contained in the Apostles Creed, they doubt as little of our professing them entirely, without exception; and do not question our having a pure and right understanding of them.  
Monsr Daillé hath writ a treatise entitled Faith grounded upon the scripture, wherein after having exposed all the articles of Faith professed by the Pretended-Reformed Church, he Saith that They are without contest; the Church of Rome professeth the belief of them, and, true it is, that they hold not all our opinions, but that we hold all their beliefs,  
Wherefore this Minister cannot deny our believing all the principal articles of Christian Religion, unless he will destroy his own Faith.  
But had not Monsr Daillé granted this, the matter proves itself, since all the world knows that we profess the belief of all those articles, which the Caluinists call Fundamentals, so that an ingenuous sincerity would allow us without dispute this Assertion, that we have not waved or declined any of the Essential persuasions.  
The Pretended-Reformers discerning the advantages we may draw from this concession, seek to disappoint us by alleging that we destroy those articles, by asserting others which are inconsistent with them. This is what they labour to evince by consequences they infer from our doctrines: but the same Mr Daillé whom I produce to them (not so much to convince them by the testimony of one of their most learned Ministers as) in regard that what he saith being evident in itself, teacheth them what they ought to believe of those sorts of consequences, supposing that ill ones might be derived from our Doctrine. This is what he saith in his letter to Monsr de Monglat upon the occasion of his Apology; Although the opinion of the Lutherans in point of the Eucharist, infers, according to us, as well as that of Rome the destrunction of the humanity of CHRIST JESUS, yet that consequence, cannot be objected to them without calumny, considering that they do formally reject it.  
There is nothing more Essential to Christian Religion then the verity of the Humane Nature of JESUS-CHRIST; and yet (notwithstanding the Lutherans hold a doctrine from which is inferred a destruction of this Essential verity by consequences, the Pretended-Reformers account evident) they have not scrupuled to offer them their communion, in respect that their opinion hath no poison in it, as Mr Daillé attesteth in his Apology: and their national Synod held at Charenton in 1631 admits the Lutherans to their Communion upon this ground, that they agree in the principles and fundamental points of their Religion. It is therefore a maxim constantly established amongst them, that we ought not in this matter to consider the consequences which may be drawn from a Doctrine, but simply what the party maintaineth, and what he stateth who professeth it.  
So that when by consequences they pretend to deduct from our Doctrine, that we can not sufficiently acknowledge the soweraine glory due to God, nor the quality of Saviour and Mediator in CHRIST JESUS, nor the infinite dignity of Sacrifice, nor the superaboundant plenitude of his merits; we may easily defeat those consequences by this short answer, which Mr Daillé himself furnishes us with, by saying, that the Catholic Church disclaiming them, they can not be imputed to us without calumny.  
But I will undertake further, and clear to the Pretended-Reformers by the single explication of our Doctrine, that so far it is from overthrowing the Fundamental articles of Faith either directly, or by any just consequence, that quite contrary our Doctrine hath established them in a manner so solid & so evident, that without palpable injustice the advantage of a right understanding them can not admit a question.  
And to begin with the adoration due to God; 
All Religious worship endeth in God alone.  the Catholic Church teacheth that it consists principally in believing that he is the Creator & Lord of all things, and in adhering to him with all the powers of our soul by faith, hope, and love, as to him who alone can confer our Eternal happiness by comunication of the infinite Good, which is himself.  
This interior adoration which we render to G'od in spirit and in truth, hath its exterior marks, of which the principal is Sacrifice, which can not be offered but to God alone, by reason the homage of Sacrifice is established in order to a public confession, & a solemn protestation of the soveraingnity of God, and of our absolute dependence on him.  
The same Church teacheth that Religion's Worship ought to terminate in God, as being the necessary end and object thereof; and if the honour she renders to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints may be termed an Act of Religion, it is upon the ground that it relateth necessarily unto God.  
Before I explain further in what this honour consisteth, it will be useful to observe, that the Pretended-Reformers being pressed by the power of evident truth, begin to acknowledge that the practice of praying to Saints, and honouring their relics, was established in the Church even in the fourth Century. M. Daillé making this acknowledgement in the book he writ against the Latin Church touching the object of Religious Worship, accuseth S. Basile, S. Ambrose, S. Hierome, S. John chrysostom, S. Augustin, and divers other great lights of Antiquity which did shine in that age; and above all the rest S. Gregory Nazianzen who is styled the Divine as a note of his excellency: he taxeth all these with having changed in this point the doctrine of the preceding ages. But surely it will seem very improbable that M. Daillé should have better understood the sentiments of the three first ages, than those who did as it were inherit their doctrine, immediately upon their death; and it is by so much the less to be believed, by reason that the fathers of the fourth age were so far from perceauing any introduction of new doctrines in this Act of Religion, that this Minister himself citeth express texts by which they show clearly, that they pretended, in praying to Saints, to follow the example of their Predecessors. But not to examine any longer the judgements of three primitive ages, I rest satisfied with the grant of M. Daillé who yealds to us so many eminent Doctors who did instruct and discipline the Church in the fourth Age. For though it is an easy matter twelve hundred years after their death to taint them by way of scorn with the title of a Sect, calling them Reliquarists, as persons who honoured Relics, I will hope that those of his Communion will bear more respect to those eminent personages: they will not presume at least to object that their praying to Saints, and honouring their Relics rendered them guilty of Idolatry, or that they overthrew the confidence that Christians are to have in JESUS-CHRIST: and we may hope that hence forward they will forbear those reproaches when they consider they can not apply them to us without laying the same imputation upon so many excellent persons, whose Doctrine & Sanctity they profess to reverence. But since it is my work to exhibit here our Beleif, rather than produce the Mantainers of it, we must pursue the explication of it.  
The Catholic Church teaching the utility of Prayer to Saints, 
Invocation of Saints. Rom. Catech. p. 3. tit. de cultu▪ & Inuoc. sanct.  adviseth us to pray in the same spirit of charity, and according to that order of fraternal society, which moves us to request the succours of our brethren living upon the earth; and the Catechism of the Council of Trent concludeth of this doctrine that if the quality of Mediator which the holy Scripture attributeth to CHRIST JESUS did receive any prejudice by the intercession of Saints who reign with God almighty, that it would have the same diminution by the offices and mediations of the faithful who are living with us.  
This Catechism informeth us clearly of the extreme difference between the manner of our imploring the succour of God, 
p. 4. tit. quis sit orandus.  & that of our soliciting the contributions of the Saints, for thus it says: We pray to God either to give us good things, or to deliver us from ill; but by reason the Saints are more acceptable to him then we ourselves, we request of them their protection, & sue to them they would obtain for us these things we stand in need of. And hence it is that we use two kinds of prayer very different; since when we address to God, the proper style is, HAVE PITY ON US & BEPLEASED TO HEARKEN TO US: but we account it sufficient when we recur to Saints, to beseech them to PRAY FOR US. Whereby we must understand, that in what terms soever the prayers we offer to Saints are styled, the intention of the Church, & of the Supplicants reduceth them always unto this form, as the same Catechism confirmeth in the process of that discourse.  
But it will not be amiss to consider the words themselves of the Council which intending to prescribe to the Bishops in what manner they should speak of the invocacation of Saints, obligeth them to teach that the Saints who reign with CHRIST JESUS offer to God their prayers for men; 
Sess. 25. dec. de Inuoc. etc.  that it is good and useful to invoke them by way of supplication, and to have recourse to their succours & assistances to obtain of God his benefits through his Son our Lord CHRIST JESUS who alone is our Saviour & Redeemer. And in order to this declaration, the Council condemneth those who teach a contrary doctrine; whereby it is evident that to invoke the Saints according to the intent of this Council, is to resort to their prayers, for the obtaining the blessings and benefits of God by CHRIST JESUS. And in truth what we obtain by the intervention of Saints, we acquire only by CHRIST JESUS, and in his name; since the Saintsthemselves intercede but by CHRIST JESUS, and obtain their grants but in his name. This is the Faith of the Catholic Church which the Council of Trent hath clearly explained in few words: after which evidence we cannot conceive how it can be objected, that we depart, & remove ourselves from CHRIST JESUS, when we supplicate his members, which are also ours; his children who are our brothers; and his Saints who are our first fruits, to join their prayers to ours, offering them both to our common Master, in the name of our common Mediator.  
The same Council explains clearly in few words the meaning of the Church, when it offers to God the holy sacrifice, to honour the memory of the Saints. That honour we render them in the act of Sacrifice consists in mentioning their names, as of the faithful servants of God, in the prayers we address to him, thankesgivings, and praises for the victories they have obtained, and in humbly moving his condescending in our favour by their Intercessions, 
Lib. 8. de Ciu. c. 27.  S. Augustin hath declared 1200 years past that none ought to conceive the Sacrifice as offered to the holy Martyrs, although by the custom in practice even in those times universally by the Church, the Sacrifice was offered upon their holy bodies, & unto their memories, that is to be understood, before the places wherein their precious Relics were conserved; and the same father saith further, that commemoration was made of the Martyrs at the holy table at the celebration of the Sacrifice, 
Tract. 28. in Joan. serm. 27. de verbis Apostoli.  not intending to pray for them as we do for other dead, but rather in order to their praying for us. I allege the persuasion of this holy Bishop by reason the Council of Trent useth almost the same words to instruct the faithful, 
Conc. Trid. sess. 22. c. 3.  that the Church offers not the Sacrifice unto the Saints, but to God alone, who hath crowned them: and that the Priest doth not address himself to S. Peter or S. Paul saying: I OFFER UNTO YOU THIS SACRIFICE, but praising God for their victories, he implores their assistance, to the end that they, whose Commemoration we celebrate upon Earth, may be moved to pray for us in Heaven. This is the manner wherein we honour the Saints, to obtain graces and benefits from God by their Mediation, and the chiefest of those favours we hope to procure is that of being enabled for their imitation, to which we are excited by contemplation of their admirable precedents, and by the honour we pay in the presence of God to their blessed memories.  
Whosoever shall rightly consider the doctrine we have proposed, will be forced to avow, that as we subtract from God none of the perfections peculiar to his infinite essence, so we do not ascribe to Creatures any of those properties or operations the which can not sort but with God alone: which doth so absolutely distinguish us from Idolaters, that we can not conceive upon what ground they lay that imputation.  
And when the Pretended Reformers object, that in our addressing our prayer to Saints, and in honouring them as if they were present all over the earth, we attribute to them a kind of Immensity, or at least the knowledge of the secret of hearts, which appears reserved singly to God by so many testimonies of the Scripture; in this objection they do not apprehend our doctrine right: for in fine abstracting from the ground we may have to attribute to the Saints some certain degree of knowledge of such occurrencies as pass amongst us, or even of our secret thoughts, it is evident, that it is no elevation of the creature transcending its condition, to affirm that it hath some notion of things by the light which God infuseth by his communication. The example of the Prophets attests this clearly, God having vouchsafed to discover to them future events, although they seem to be reserved, much more specially, to the Omniscience of God.  
But besides this, never any Catholic conceived that the Saints by themselves did discern our wants, nor even the desires for which we address particular prayers. The Church is content to teach, concurrently with all Antiquity, that such prayers are very beneficial to those who practise them, whether the Saints apprehend them by the ministry & commerce of Angels, which, according to the profession of the Church, know what passeth amongst us (as being appointed by God's order as ministering spirits to concur in the work of our Salvation) or be it that God himself acquainteth them with our desires by a special revelation; or be it that God revealeth to them that secret in his divine essence, wherein all truths are comprehended: so that the Church upon these different manners hath not determined by which of them God is pleased to make this communication to his Saints.  
But by what means soever this knowledge is imparted, it is very certain that it is far from ascribing to the creature any of the divine perfections, as the Idolaters did, since it doth not permit our attributing even to the greatest Saints any degree of excellence, which is not derived from God, nor acceptableness in his eyes, but as derived from their virtues, nor any virtue but what is the free gift of Grace, nor any information of humane passages but such as God is pleased to communicate, nor any capacity to assist us, but only by their prayers, nor in fine any felicity, but by a perfect submission and conformity to the divine pleasure.  
It is therefore most certain that upon penetration into our interior sentiments directed to the Saints, it will be evident that we do not raise them above the condition of Creatures, and from this ground one ought to be possessed of the true nature of that honour and reverence which is intended by our exterior demonstrations, the apparent religious offices being appointed to testify the interior sentiments of our minds.  
But by reason that the honour which the Church offers to Saints appeareth most notoriously before their Images, and their holy Relics, it is requisite to explain the Churches sincere doctrine in this Religious Act.  
In point of Images the Council of Trent forbids 
Images and Relics.  expressly to believe any Divinity 
Conc. Trid. sess. 25. decr. de Inuoc. etc.  or power in them, for which we ought to reverence them, or to sue for any favour, or to place any confidence in them: and ordains that all the honour should relate to the Originals they represent.  
All these words of the Council are so many characters which serve to distinguish us from Idolaters, since we are so far from believing with them any Divinity residing in the Images as we attribute no virtue to them, but this, of exciting in us the remembrance of their originals.  
Upon this it is that the honour we render to Images is grounded: for example, can one deny that the figure of JESUS-CHRIST crucified, when we behold it, doth not excite a more lively remembrance of him who loved us so as to deliver himself up to death for us? 
Gal. 2.  As long as the present Image possessing our eyes entertains so precious a notion in our minds, we are moved to express by some exterior marks, the fervour and extent of our gratitude, and we declare by our humiliation before the Image how profound our submission is respective to the Original. Wherefore speaking strictly according to the style of the Church, when we render any honour to the Image of an Apostle or Martyr our aim is not so much to honour the Image, as the Apostle or Martyr in presence of the Image. To this purpose the Roman Pontifical declareth, 
Pontific. Rom. de Benedict. Imag.  and the Council of Trent expresseth the same intent, when it saith, that the honour we render to Images, 
Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. dec. de Inuoc. etc.  is so referred to the Originals, that by the means of the Images we kiss, and before which we kneel, we adore CHRIST JESUS, and honour those Saints which they represent to us.  
In fine we clearly discern in what Spirit the Church honoureth Images, by the honour it renders the holy Cross, or the book of the Gospel. All the world sees clearly that before the Cross the Church adoreth him who did bear our sin's's upon that wood; 
1. Pet. 2.  and that when her children bow their heads before the books of the Gospel, when they stand up in respect at their passing by them, and kiss them reverently, all this honour terminateth in the Eternal Verity which is exposed to us by that Instrument.  
There must then be very little equity in calling Idolatry that Religious sentiment, which moveth us to uncover and bow our heads before the Images of the Cross, in reflection upon him, who was crucyfied for our sakes; and one must be stark blind, not to discern the extreme difference between those who confided in Idols, upon this opinion, that some Divinity or some virtue was at is were fastened unto them: and them who profess, as we do, that they intent not to make any use of Images, but simply to raise their spirit up to heaven with the intent of honouring CHRIST JESUS, or his Saints, and in them God himself who is the author of all grace and Sanctification.  
Under the same notion, the honour we pay to Relics is to be apprehended, following the steps of the primitive Ages; and if our Adversaries did reflect, that we consider the bodies of Saints as having been victim to God either by Martyrdom, or Penance, they would not conceive that the honour we render them, upon this motive, can depart or remove us from that we owe to God himself.  
And we may say in general, that if they would comprehend in what manner the affection we bear to some one body extendeth (without dividing itself) to his children, to his friends, and successively by degrees to all that represents that person, to all that remains of him, or any thing that receiveth the memory of him; if they did comprehend that our honouring makes such a progress, since in effect our honouring is nothing else but love mixed with fear and respect; in fine if they did comprehend that, all the exterior worship of the Catholic Church riseth, and springeth in God himself, and that it reverts thither, they would never suspect that those Religious acts (which God alone doth animate) could provoke his jealousy. They would perceive the quite contrary, and find that if God, as jealous as he is of the love of men, doth not account that we divide between him and the Creature when we love our Neighbour for his sake: the same God, as jealous as he is of the duties of his servants, doth not conceive them to share or part the worship which they owe to him alone, when from the motive of the duties they owe him, they honour those who have been honoured by himself.  
Yet true it is that as the sensible marks of reverence are not all of absolute necessity, the Church, without any alteration in the Doctrine, may have extended more or less those exterior practices, suiting to the diversity of times, places, and other occurrencies, not intending that her children should be servilely subjected to visible matters, but only that they might be excited, and as it were advertised by their means to apply themselves to God, to offer him in spirit and truth that reasonable and due service he expecteth from his creatures.  
It may easily be discerned by this Doctrine with how much truth I have asserted, that a great part of our Controversies would vanish by an only right understanding of terms, if these were discussed with Charity; and if our Adversaries did consider calmly the precedent explications, which comprehend the express Doctrine of the Council of Trent; they would forbear to object to us that we injure the Mediation of CHRIST JESUS, and that we invoke Saints, adore Images in a manner peculiar to God himself. It is granted by reason that in some sense Invocation, Adoration, and the name of Mediator are competent only to God and CHRIST JESUS, that it is easy by a perverse use of those terms, to traduce our Doctrine and render it odious; but if they are ingenuously received in that sense we have exhibited, these objections lose all their force; and if there remain in the minds of the Pretended Reformers any less important difficultyes, natural equity and sincerity will oblige them to avow themselves satisfied in the principal exceptions.  
Besides this, there is nothing more unjust then to charge the Church with the stating of all piety in this devotion to Saints, since as we have already evinced, the Council of Trent judgeth it sufficient to inform and teach Catholics that this practice is Good & Useful without advancing it further, so that the Church's intent is, to condemn such as reject this practice either by Contempt or Misconstruction: and the Church is obliged to condemn them by reason that she ought not to endure the condemning of salutary and useful practices, nor that a Doctrine, which all Antiquity hath authorised, should be rejected by the Novellists Doctors.  
The matter of justification will manifest yet a greater light how many difficulties may be avoided by a sincere exposition of our opinions. 
justification.   
Those who are never so little acquainted with the history of the Pretended Reformation can not be ignorant, that those who were the first Authors of it, did propose this Article to all the world as the principal, and as it were the most essential ground of their separation; so that this seems the most necessary point to be rightly understood.  
First we believe that our sins are forgiven freely by the divine mercy for JESVS-CHRIST'S sake: 
Conc. Trid. Sess. 6. cap. 9  these are the express terms of the Council of Trent, which addeth further that we are said to be justified freely, 
ibid. c. 8.  because none of those things which precede our justification, either our faith or our works, can merit this grace.  
And by reason the holy scripture explains to us the remission of our sins expressing it some times, by saying that God covers them; and others, that he takes them quite away and effaceth them by the grace of the holy Ghost, which renders us new creatures, we conceive that we are to combine all these expressions to form a complete Idea or notion of the justification of a sinner; we do therefore believe that our sins are not only covered, but entirely effaced by the blood of CHRIST JESUS, and by the grace by which we are regenerated: and this persuasion is so far from detracting from that image we ought to frame of the merit of that blood, as quite contrary it indeareth and elevateth the value of it; for by this means the righteousness of Christ is not simply imputed, but actually imparted to the faithful, by the operation of the holy Ghost, in so much as they are not only imputed, but even rendered righteous by the grace of Christ.  
If our righteousness were only in the sight of man, it would not be the operation of the holy Ghost: it must then be justice even before God, since it is God himself who produceth it in us by an effusion of his charity upon our hearts.  
It is notwithstanding but too true that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, 
Gal. ●. 17.  and the spirit, against the flesh: 
jac. 3. 2.  and we all offend in many things. Wherefore albeit our righteousness be a true one, by the infusion of Charity, yet is it no perfect one by reason of the combat between it & our concupiscence: so that the sighing and sorrowing of a soul repenting her sins, performs the most necessary duty of Christian righteousness, which obligeth us to confess with S. Augustin that our righteousness in this life consists rather in the remission of our sins, then in the perfection of our virtues.  
Wherefore as to the point of Merit 
Merits of good works.  imputed to our works, 
Concil. Trid. Sess. 6. c. 16.  the Catholic Church teacheth that Eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God, both as a Grace mercifully promised by the means of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST, and as a Reward which is faithfully rendered to their good works, and to their deserts in virtue of that promise: these are the express terms of the Council of Trent; but least the pride of humane nature should be flattered by the opinion of a persuming Merit, the same Council determineth, that all the worth and value of Christian good works is derived from that sanctifying grace, which is freely conferred upon us in the name of CHRIST JESUS, and that is an effect of the continual influence of that divine head upon his depending members.  
True it is indeed that the exhortations, the promises, the menaces, and reproaches of the Gospel do declare sufficiently, that we are to work our salvation by the motion & actings of our own wills, concurring with the Grace of God which assists us, but it is a fixed principle that free will can perform nothing in order to Eternal beatitude, but by the same degrees it is moved and elevated by the holy Ghost.  
Whereupon the Church knowing that it is the holy spirit which worketh in us by his Grace all the good we do, she ought to rest persuaded that the good works of the faithful are very acceptable to God, & of great estimation in his sight, and she doth rightfully use the term of Merit concurrently with all Christian Antiquity, chiefly to signify the value & dignity of our works, which we perform by the motion of his Grace. But by reason all their sanctity is derived from God, who works them in us, the same Church hath received from the Council of Trent, as the Doctrine of the Catholic Faith, this saying of S. August. that God crowns his own Gifts when he crowns the Merits of his servants.  
We entreat all such as love truth & peace to be pleased to read the whole context of the Council of Trent's words, that they once be disabused, and delivered from those wrong impressions, which are suggested to them, of our Docctrine. Notwithstanding we discern clearly (say the fathers of that Council) that the holy scriptures esteem so much Good works, 
Conc. Trid. sess. 6. c. 16.  that JESUS-CHRIST himself promiseth, that a cup of cold water given a poor body, shall not want its reward: and that the Apostle declareth, that a moment of light pain suffered in this world, shall produce an Eternal weight of glory; yet God forbid that a Christian should trust & glory in himself, and not in our Lord, whose goodness towards Man is so abundant, that he allows his own Gifts to them to be accounted their Merits.  
This Doctrine is spread through the whole Council which teacheth in an other session, 
Sess. 14. c. 8.  that we who are not sufficient to do any thing alone by ourselves, can do every thing by him who enableth us; so that Man hath nothing wherein he can glorify himself, nor any cause to confide in himself, but that all his confidence and his glorying is in CHRIST JESUS, in whom we live, and in whom we merit, in whom we satisfy bearing worthy fruits of repentance, which derive their power from him, and by him are offered to God the Father, & in him are accepted by the Father. So that we prefer all our suits, place all our hopes, render all our thanks by our Lord JESUS-CHRIST. We proclaim in a loud voice that we are acceptable to God only in him & by him; and we can hardly conceive how any other intent or application can be imputed to us. We fix in him alone so entirely all the hope of our salvation, as we present to God every day those words in the Sacrifice: Vouchsafe o God to grant unto us sinners, your servants, who hope in the multitude of your Mercys, some part and fellowship with your blessed Apostles and Martyrs ... into which we humbly beg to be admitted, not considering our Merit, but forgiving us by your Mercy, for our saviour's sake CHRIST JESUS.  
Shall the Church never be able to persuade her children, now become her enemies, neither by the explication of her Faith, nor the decisions of her Counsels, nor by her most solemn prayers presented in her Sacrifices, that she doth not own any life, nor conceive any hope, but in the merits of JESUS-CHRIST alone; and this hope is so powerful, that it imprints in the children of God, who walk faithfully in his ways, 
Phil. 4. 7.  that peace which passeth all understanding, as the Apostle assures us. But yet although this hope be stronger than the promises or menaces of the world, and be sufficient to calm the terror of our conscience, yet doth it not suppress entirely our fear, by reason that, though we are assured that of himself he never doth abandon us, we can never be certain that we shall not depart from him by our own failings in rejecting his inspirations: and God hath been pleased to temper & allay by this saving fear, that confidence he inspireth into his children: for as S. Augustin saith, such is our weakness in this seat of perils & temptations, that an entire assurance would produce in us slackness and presumption; whereas this fear, which in the Apostle's mind makes us work our salvation with fear and trembling, 
Phil. 2. 12.  renders us more vigilant, and moveth us to fasten ourselves by an humble dependence on him who worketh in us by his grace the will, 
ibid. 13.  and the acting according to his good pleasure as the same S. Paul declares unto us.  
This is what is most necessary to be held and practised in the Doctrine of justification, and our Adversaries must be very unreasonable, and perverse not to confess that this Doctrine is sufficient to instruct Christians in their duty of attributing to God by CHRIST JESUS all the glory of their salvation.  
If the Pretending-Reformers after this exposition fly unto nice & subtle questions, it is not amiss to advise them that, it is not now proper to raise, or insist upon needless difficulties, reflecting upon what they have condescended unto, towards an union with the Lutherans, and what they have granted to their own fraternity in the points of Grace & Predestination. That proceeding aught to have instructed them to restrain & confine their inquiries, in this matter, to that singly which is of absolute necessity to establish the foundation of Christian piety.  
And if they could once resolve to bond themselves within those limits they would quickly be satisfied, & soon would desist from their objecting to us our nullifying the Grace of God by our ascribing all to good works: since we have evindenced to them in so clear terms of the Council of Trent these three points so decisive in this matter, viz. That our sins are pardoned by pure mercy for CHRIST JESUS his sake. That we owe unto a free & gracious liberality the righteousness infused into us by the holy Spirit. And that as many good works as we perform, are so many free gifts of grace.  
And we cannot but confess that the most Learned of their party do not now contend so much in this point as they did at the beginning of the Schism, and there are few that will not avow, that a Separation ought not to have been made upon this Controversy. But if this so important difficulty, in the point of justification, of which their first Authors raised their strongest fort, is no longer accounted so capital by the most intelligent and sufficient persons of their party, we desire them to reflect, what judgement ought to be made of their Separation, and how much we might hope a Reconciliation, if they would raise their minds from under all prepossession, and renounce the spirit of Contention.  
It will not be amiss that I explain further in what manner we conceive ourselves capable to satisfy God by his Grace, 
Satisfactions, Purgatory, & Indulgences.  in order to the leaving no doubt or scruple in this matter.  
The Catholics do unanimously profess & teach that CHRIST JESUS only, God & Man united, was sufficiently qualifyed, by the infinite dignity of his person, to make satisfaction for our sins; but having superaboundantly satisfied, he had power to apply unto us an entire abolition, without reserving any punishment: or by commutation of a greater into a lesser penalty; that is, exchanging an Eternal pain into Temporal sufferances: and by reason that this first sort of mercy is the most complete, and most suiting to his goodness, he hath taken that course in our Baptism: but we maintain that he useth the second manner in the remission he granteth to those, who after Baptism relapse into sin, being in a manner forced to it by the ingratitude of those who have abused his gifts: so that such offenders are condemned to some temporal pains, although the Eternal punishment be remitted.  
But from hence it ought not to be inferred that JESUS-CHRIST hath not fully satisfied for us, but rather the contrary, viz, that he having purchased an absolute right and title of propriety in us, by the infinite price of his blood paid for our salvation, he granteth our pardon with what condition, and under what law and reservation he pleaseth to impose.  
We should be very ungrateful & injurious to our Saviour, should we presume to question the infiniteness of his merit by this pretext, that having pardoned us the sin of Adam, he did not deliver and free us at the same time from all the consequences of it, leaving us still subject to death, and to so many corporal and spiritual infirmities, unto which that sin hath sentenced us. It is surely grace enough that JESUS-CHRIST hath once paid the price for which we shall one day be delivered from all the miseries which oppress us; it is our part to receive with humility and gratitude every part of his benefit, considering the motion whereby he is pleased to carry on our deliverance in that order his wisdom hath designed for our happiness, and for a more evident manifestation of his own justice and Mercy.  
And for the like reason we ought not to marvel if he who hath given us so easy a delivery by Baptism becomes more severe to us after we have violated our holy promises, made upon that remission; and it is not only just, but even beneficial to us, that God forgiving us the sin, and remitting the Eternal punishment we have incurred, should impose some temporal penalty to reteyn us within our duties, lest we being delivered too soon from the bonds of his justice, we should abandon ourselves unto a temerarious confidence, abusing the facility of his Indulgence.  
It is therefore in order to our discharging that obligation that we are subjected to some works of Penance, which we are bound to performe in the spirit of humility & repentance; and the necessity of these satisfactory works, was the motive that induced the primitive Church to impose upon Penitents those pennances called Canonical.  
So that when the Church inflicteth upon sinners painful & laborious injunctions, and they undergo them with humility, that act we call Satisfaction: and when either in regard of the zeal and fervour of the Penitent, or other good works performed, which the Church hath prescribed, she releaseth some part of the Penance, which was owing, this remission is called Indulgence.  
The Council of Trent proposeth no more to our Faith 
Sess. 25. decr. de Indulg,  then this in point of Indulgences, that the power of granting them hath been given the Church by CHRIST JESUS, and that the use of them is very beneficial; whereunto the Council addeth; that the grant of them ought to be dispensed with caution, lest the Ecclesiastical discipline should be weakened, and eneruated by an excessive facility, which advice declareth that the manner of disposing of Indulgences appertaineth to Church-discipline.  
Such as depart out of this world in Grace & Charity, but yet owing those sufferances, which the Divine Justice hath reserved, discharge them in the next life, and this persuasion hath obliged all the Christian Antiquity to offer prayers, alms, and sacrifices for the faithful departed in the peace and communion of the Church, with an assured faith that such sufferers may be eased by these applications: this is what the Council of Trent proposeth to be believed concerning the souls detained in Purgatory, without determining the special manner of their pains, or declaring any thing upon many the like debates, upon which the holy Council adviseth a great referuednes, blaming such as expose what is not only uncertain, but may be unfound.  
This is the holy and the harmless Doctrine of the Catholic Church in point of Satisfactions: from the misconstruction whereof so many wrongful imputations have been cast upon her; and if after this explanation the Pretended-Reformers do object to us the detracting from the satisfaction made by JESUS-CHRIST, they must needs have forgot what we have professed to them, that our Saviour hath paid the entire price of our Redemption, and that there is nothing wanting in the value, since it is in itself infinite, and that the reservation of those pains, we have asserted, proceeds not from any disproportion in this payment, but from a certain order Christ hath designed, to restrain us by just apprehensions, and healthful discipline.  
And in case they should yet object to us the belief that we are sufficient of ourselves to satisfy for some part of the pain due to our sins, we may reply with great assurance, that the contrary is manifested by those maxims we have established, since they proclaim clearly that our whole Salvation is but a work of Grace & Mercy: that what we act by the Grace of God is no less to be ascribed to him then what he effecteth singly by his absolute pleasure: 
Parum me movent quae in veterum scriptis de Satisfactione passim occurrunt; video quidem eorum nonnullos (dicam simpliciter, omnes ferè quorum libriextant) aut in hac parte lapsos esse, aut nimis asperè ac durè locutos. Calu. Inst. l. 3. cap. 4.  and in fine whatsoever we present him, belongs no less to him then what he freely bestows upon us: to which we must adjoin (in conformity to the whole ancient Church) this profession; that what we term Satisfaction is but in effect an application of the infinite Satisfaction paid by CHRIST JESUS.  
This same consideration ought to appease those who seem offended when we affirm that fraternal charity, and the Communion of Saints is so acceptable to God, that he doth often receive even the Satisfactions we offer one for another. It seems these Pretending Reformers do not conceive how entirely, whatsoever we are, belongs to God, nor how much all those regards which his goodness produceth in favour of the faithful, who are members of CHRIST JESUS are necessarily relating to that Divine head. But surely such as have read and considered that God himself inspired into his servants the zeal of afflicting themselves, by fastings, and other mortifications, not only for their own sins, but for those also of the whole land where they lived, will not wonder if we affirm, that God being moved by the pleasure he takes, to gratify those he vouchsafeth to call his friends, doth mercifully accept the humble Sacrifice of their voluntary mortifications for an abatement of those punishments he had designed for his criminal people: which declareth, that being satisfied by one part, he will be softened & sweetened to the other, honouring by this means his son CHRIST JESUS in the communion of his members, and in the holy society of his mystical body.  
The order of our Doctrine requireth that we expose in the next place that of the Sacraments, 
The Sacraments.  by which the merits of our Saviour CHRIST are applied unto us. And since the disputes we have in relation to them (excepting that of the Eucharist or Communion) are not pursued with much heat, we will in the first place clear in few words the principal difficulties which are objected concerning the other Sacraments; reserving that of the Blessed Sacrament for the last, as the most important.  
The Sacraments of the new Alliance are not simply holy signs, which do but signify the Grace of CHRIST, nor only seals which confirm it, but also instuments of the holy spirit, which serve to apply it unto us, and which confer Grace by the virtue of the words pronounced, and the exterior action applied unto us, in case we interpose no impediment by our own indisposition.  
When God annexeth so great a Grace unto exterior signs, which in their own nature hold no proportion with so admirable effects, he signifieth to us clearly, that besides what we can confer to it by our interior contribution, there is required a special intervention of the holy spirit to effect our sanctification, and a singular application of our saviour's merits, which are imparted to us by the Sacraments. So that this Doctrine can not be rejected without injuring the Merits of CHRIST JESUS, and detracting from the efficacy of the divine power in our Regeneration.  
We acknowledge seven signs, or sacred ceremonies established by CHRIST JESUS, as the ordinary means & instruments of sanctification and perfection of the new man. Their divine institution is extant in the holy scripture, either by the express words of CHRIST, who established them; or by that Grace, which, by testimony of the same scripture, is annexed unto them, and inferreth necessarily God's ordaining them.  
By reason that infants can not supply their own want of Baptism, 
Baptism.  by the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, nor by their vows & desire of receiving this Sacrament, we believe that if they do not actually receive it, they have no part of communication of the Grace of our Redemption, and consequently dying in Adam, they have no part in JESUS-CHRIST.  
It is fit to observe here, that the Lutherans concur with the Catholic Church in holding the absolute necessity of Baptism for Infants, and withal wonder that any one hath presumed to deny a truth, which no one before Calvin had ever dared to call in question, so deeply was it imprinted in the minds of all the faithful.  
Notwithstanding this, the Pretended-Reformers make no scruple wilfully to let their children die, as the Infidels do, without bearing any mark of Christianity, and deprived of all the grace that belongs to it, if the death of the child happen before the day of their Congregation.  
The imposition of hands practised by the Apostles (in order to the confirming 
Confirmation.  & fortifying the faithful against persecutions, 
Act. 8. 15. 17.  deriving the principal efficacy from the internal descent of the holy Ghost & the infusion of his gifts) ought not to have been rejected by our Adversaries, upon this pretext, that the holy spirit doth no longer descend visibly upon us, no more than it is by all the Christian Churches, who have religiously continued it ever since the Apostles, and make use also of the holy Chrism, to demonstrate the virtue of that Sacrament by a more express and sensible representation of the interior Unction of the holy spirit.  
We believe CHRIST JESUS hath been pleased to ordain that those who have subjected themselves to the Authority of the Church by their Baptism, 
Pennance and Sacramental Confession.  and after this engagement have transgressed the laws of the Gospel, should be bound to undergo the judgement of the same Church at the tribunal of Penance, where she doth exercise the power conferred upon her to remit, or to reteyn sins. 
Math. 18. 18.  The terms of the commission granted to the Church's Ministers to absolve sins are so large and general, 
Io. 20. 23.  that without great temerity the power can not be restrained only unto public and notorious offences: and when they pronounce Absolution in the name of CHRIST JESUS, since they do but follow the express terms of their commission, the sentence is reputed as given by CHRIST himself, in whose place they are appointed as judges. It is this invisible Highpriest who absolveth interiorly the Penitent, whilst the Priest exerciseth the exterior ministry.  
This Penitential judicature being so necessary a curb for our licentiousness, so abundant a spring of pious and prudent advices, so sensible a consolation to souls afflicted for their sins, when Absolution is not only declared to them in general terms (as the Protestant Ministers do practise) but given them in particular, and the Penitent effectualy absolved by the commission of CHRIST JESUS, upon a perfect examination, and a right understanding of the case, we can not possibly believe that our Adversaries can contemplate so many good consequences, without resenting their loss, and feeling some shame of such an abusive Reformation, which hath abrogated so holy, & so beneficial a practice.  
The holy Ghost having annexed unto Extreame-Vnction, 
Extreame-Vnction.  by the testimony of S. james, 
jac. 5. 14. 15.  an express promise of remission of sins, and ease unto the sick party, there is nothing wanting unto this most holy ceremony, towards the constituting it a true Sacrament. We must only observe that, according to the Doctrine of the Council of Trent, 
Sess. 14. c. 2 de sac. Extr. Vnct.  the sick are more relieved in respect of their souls then their bodies; and the spiritual benefit is always the principal aim & object of the new law; it is that also we ought absolutely to expect from this holy Unction, supposing we are rightly disposed for it; whereas our corporal eases and releifs in our infirmities are afforded us, only as relating to our eternal health, according to the secret and hidden dispositions of Divine Providence, and the several degrees of preparation and faith, which are already acting in the souls of the faithful.  
When we shall seriously consider, that JESUS-CHRIST hath induced a new form into the state of Marriage, 
Marriage  reducing this holy society unto two persons immutably & indissolubly united; 
Math. 19 5.  when we shall reflect that this inseparable conjunction is made the sign of his Eternal union with his Church, 
●ph. 5. 32.  we shall find little difficulty to comprehend that the Marriage of the faithful is accompanied with the Grace of the holy Spirit, & we will easily praise the Divine goodness, which hath been pleased to sanctify in this manner the spring and derivation of our birth.  
The imposition of hands which the Ministers of holy matters receive, 
Holy Orders  being accompanied with so present and actual a virtue of the holy Ghost, 
1. Tim. 4.  and so entire an infusion of Grace, 
2. Tim. 1.  is duly reckoned in the number of the Sacraments, and we must confess that our Adversaries do not absolutely exclude the Consecration of Ministers, but they reject it only from the number of the Sacraments, 
Cor. faitl 35.  which are common to the whole Church.  
We are now at last come to the question of the Eucharist, 
Doctrine the Church touching the real presence of the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST in the Blessed Sacrament; & the manner wherein the Church understands these words, this is my Body.  or Blessed Sacrament; wherein it will be requisite to explain more amply our Doctrine, and yet not passing far beyond the bounds, which we have prescribed to ourselves.  
The real presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord in this Sacrament is solidy established by the words of the institution, which we understand literally; and there is no more reason to ask us why we tie ourselves to the proper & literal sense, then to question a traveller why he followeth the great highway. It is their part that resort to figurative senses, and choose such by-paths, to show a reason of this their deviation. As for us who perceive nothing in the words which CHRIST JESUS used for the institution of this Mystery that obligeth us to take them in a figurative sense, we conceive this reason sufficient to settle and determine our receiving them in their proper and literal signification. But we find ourselves yet more strictly tied unto it, when we considerately examine the intention of the son of God in this mystery, which I will explain in the clearest, and easiest terms I can possibly, and by such principles as I conceive our Adversaries can not disagree in.  
I say then that these words of our Saviour Take, 
Math. 26.  and eat, this is my Body given for you, 
Luke 22.  show us, that as the ancient jews did not simply unite themselves in spirit unto the immolation or killing of the victimes which were offered for them, but did effectually eat of the Sacrificed flesh, which was a sign of the part they had in that oblation: so CHRIST JESUS, having made himself our Offering, did intend we should really eat the flesh of this Sacrifice, to the end this actual communication of that adorable flesh should remain a perpetual testimony to every one of us in particular, that it was for our sakes he assumed, and for us he sacrificed his mortal flesh and blood.  
God had forbidden the jews to eat of the Sacrifice 
〈…〉 vit. 6. 30  which was à Sin-Offering, with intent to teach them that true expiation of crimes was not obtained in the Law, nor by the blood of beasts. All the people stood as it were interdicted by this restraint, not being capable to partake actually of the remission of sins. Now, for the quite contrary reason, it was requisite that the Body of our Saviour, the true Host offered up for sin, should be eaten by the faithful, in order to the teaching them by this true eating that the forgiveness of sins was accomplished in the New Testament.  
God did likewise forbid the people of the jews the eating of blood; and one of the reasons of this restraint was, that the blood is given for the expiation of our souls. 
Levit. 17. 11  Quite contrary our Saviour proposeth the drinking of his Blood, 
Math. 26. 28.  because it is shed for the remission of sins. So that the eating of the Flesh & drinking the Blood of the Son of God at the holy table is as Real, as Grace, the expiation of sins, and the participation of the Sacrifice of CHRIST JESUS is actual and effective in the New Alliance:  
Notwithstanding which truth, by reason he intended to exercise our Faith in this Mystery, and at the same time to deliver us from the horror of eating his Flesh, and drinking his Blood in their own kinds, it was fit and convenient to exhibit them unto us covered under an other species. But if these considerations did oblige him to ordain our eating the Flesh of our Offering in a different manner from that of the jews, yet he ought not in that respect to deprive us of the Reality and the Substance of it.  
It is apparent therefore that to accomplish the figures of the old Law, and to put us in actual possession of that Victim offered for our sins, CHRIST JESUS did design the giving us Realy & truly his Body and Blood; which point is so evident, that our Adversaries themselves desire we should be persuaded, they have the same belief as we profess, since they do continually press & urge to us, their not denying the true and Real participation of the Body and Blood of CHRIST in the Eucharist; which pretence of theirs we will examine in the sequent discourse where we conceive it will be proper to expose their sentiments, after having fully explicated the belief of the Church. In the mean time we may conclude, that if the fair and natural signification of the words, used by the son of God compelleth them to grant that his express intention was to give Really his Flesh when he said, This is my body, they ought not to wonder, that we can not consent to the understanding these words as spoken merely in a figurative sense.  
And surely the son of God who was so careful to explain to his Apostles what he taught under the veils of parables and figures, having said nothing in this point to explain himself further, seems clearly to have left these words in their natural signification. I know that our Adversaries pretend, that the matter itself explains sufficiently the meaning, because, say they, it is clear that what he exposeth, is but Bread and Wine; but the cloud of this argument vanisheth, when we reflect that he who speaketh is of an Authority which ought to overrule our senses, & hath an Omnipotence transcending all nature. It is no harder for the son of God to effect his body's presence in the Eucharist, saying, This is my body, then to cure a woman of her infirmity by saying, 
Luke 13. 12.  Woman thou art freed from thy infirmity; or to preserve the Centurion's son by saying, 
Io. 4. 50.  Thy son liveth; or in fine to effect the forgiveness of the sins of the bedrid paralytique by uttering only, 
Math. 9 2.  Thy sins are forgiven thee.  
We having therefore no reason to trouble ourselves how CHRIST will effect what he saith, we fix our belief precisely on his words. He who makes whatsoever he willeth, by his words, effecteth whatsoever he saith; and it was much easier for the son of God to force the laws of nature to verify his word, than it is for us to conform our understandings unto such violent & strained interpretations, as destroy all the laws of discourse.  
The laws of language and discourse tell us that the sign which naturally representeth, doth very often take the name of the thing itself, because it is natural to it to recall the idea or image of it into the mind. The same hapens to signs by institution; but than it is upon condition that they be received and acknowledged for signs, and that the parties be accustomed to them. But that in instituting a sign, which of itself hath no rapport to the thing, (as for example a piece of bread to signify the body of a man) one should give it that name without explaining of it, and before agreement made concerning it, as JESUS-CHRIST our Lord did in the last supper, is a thing vnheared of, and whereof we find no example in holy scripture, and I might say, none in humane language.  
Whereupon the Pretending Reformers themselves do not so fix upon the figurative sense which they ascribe to the words of CHRIST JESUS, as not to acknowledge at the same time, that when he uttered those words, he intended to give us Truly his Body and his Blood.  
After having proposed the sense of the Church, 
Explication of the words, do this in remembrance of me.  touching these words, This is my body, it is fit to exhibit her persuasion concerning the words which CHRIST did adjoin unto them, Do this in remembrance of me. 
Luke. 22. 19  It is evident that the intention of the son of God was, 
1. Cor. 11. 24  to oblige us by these words, unto a retention and remembrance of the death he had suffered for our redemption; and S. Paul concludeth out of these very words, that we announce the death of our Lord in this mystery: 
1. Cor. 11. 26.  we must not then persuade ourselves, that this remembrance of the death of our Lord excludeth the Real presence of his Body, but quite contrary, if we consider rightly what we have here explicated, we shall discern clearly that this Commemoration is grounded upon the Real presence; for in the same manner as the jews eating of the Peace-Offerings did reflect that they had been offered up for them, so we eating the Flesh of CHRIST JESUS our Victim, are bound to remember, that he suffered death for us. It is therefore the very same Flesh eaten by the faithful, which not only reuiueth in us the memory of his immolation, but doth besides confirm to us that verity. And we are so far from having reason to say that this solemn Comemoration JESUS-CHRIST hath ordained us to make, doth exclude the Real presence of his Flesh, that the contrary is evident, that this tender reflection he would have us make at the holy table on him, as offered up for us, is grounded upon his Flesh's being Really received, since in effect it is not possible for us to forget, that he hath given his Body up in sacrifice for us, when we find that he continueth still to give us daily that victim for our oral manducation.  
Shall Christians upon pretence of celebrating in the Supper the Memory of our saviour's Passion, retrench from this pious Commemoration that part which is the most affective and most efficacious therein? Ought they not consider, that CHRIST JESUS doth not command that we should barely remember him, but that we should remember him by feeding on his Flesh and Blood? Let us reflect upon the consequence, and powerfulness of the words: Christ saith not simply, as the Pretending Reformers seem to understand him, that the Bread and the Wine of the Eucharist should be a Memorial of his Body and Blood: but the telleth us that in doing what he prescribed, that is, in taking his Body and his Blood we should be Mindful of him. And can there be any thing in effect more powerful to produce in us the remembrance of it? If children reflect so tenderly upon their father and his kindness when they approach the tomb where his body is enclosed; how powerfully ought our love and memory to be excited and endeared, when we possess under those sacred coverings, and under that mystical tomb, the Flesh itself of our Saviour immolated for us, that living and life-giving Flesh, and this Blood still warm by the fervour of his love, and full of spirit and grace. If our Adversaries persist to allege, that he who commandeth us to remember him, doth not give us his proper Substance; we may desire them to agree amongst themselves. They profess not to deny the Real communication of the proper Substance of the son of God in the Blessed Sacrament; if their profession be serious, if their Doctrine be not a mere delusion, they must needs avow with us, that Remembrance doth not exclude all manner of Presence, but only that which moveth the senses, and so their answer is the same with ours, since when we affirm that JESUS-CHRIST is present, we accord at the same time that he is not existing in a sensible manner.  
And if we are asked, the reason (we believing, as we do, that there is nothing to satisfy our senses in this mystery) why we do not grant, that it is sufficient CHRIST JESUS should be present in it by our Faith; we may very easily answer, & clear this equivocal demand. It is one thing to say that the sun of God is present to us by Faith; and an other to say, that we know by Faith that he is present. The first manner of speaking imports only a Moral presence, the second doth signify a very Real one, because our Faith is most certain, and this Real presence, known by our Faith, sufficeth to work in the just who liveth by Faith all the effects which I have specified. 
Habac. 2. 4.   
But to defeat at once all the equivocations, 
Exposition of the Caluinists' doctrine about the Reality.  under which the Caluinists cover their opinions in this point, and to discover at the same time how near they approach to us, although I have undertaken only to deliver and explicate the Doctrine of the Catholic Church, it will not be amiss here to insert theirs.  
Their Doctrine is divided into two parties or sects: the one speaks only of the Figure of the Body and Blood: the other of nothing but the Reality of them both; we shall examine in their due orders each one of these different parties.  
In the first place they allege that this great miracle of the Real presence, which we admit, is no way needful: that it sufficeth for our salvation, that JESUS-CHRIST died for us, that this Sacrifice is sufficiently applied by our Faith; and this application is fully certified by the word of God: they and further, that if this word ought to be clothed with sensible signs, the giving us simple and bare Symbols, such as water in Baptism, would have been sufficient, without the necessity of drawing down from heaven the Body and Blood of CHRIST JESUS.  
Nothing seems more easy then after this manner to explicate the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper, and yet our Adversaries themselves have not judged that they ought to rest and acquiesce in this exposition. They know that the like imaginations have drawn the Socinians to deny the miracle of the Incarnation. Those Heretics allege that God could have saved us without going so far about; he had nothing to do but forgive our sins; he could have instructed us sufficiently both in point of Doctrine and Manners, by the Words, and by the Example of a man filled with the holy Ghost, without being obliged for that effect to make a God of him. But the Caluinists, as well as we, have discerned the weakness of this argument, which is evident; first, by reason that it is not our part to deny or assure the mysteries of Religion according to our own judgement of their being useful or unnecessary for our salvation. God alone is possessed of the secret, and our part is the rendering them profitable and beneficial to us, by believing them such as God promiseth them, and in receiving his graces and favours in the same manner as he bestoweth them. Secondly, without entering into this question, whether it was possible for God to save us by any other means then the Incarnation and Death of his son, and embroiling us in that useless dispute (which the Pretending Reformers debate so teadiously in their schools) it sufficeth to have learned by the holy scriptures, that the son of God hath been pleased to demonstrate his love by effects, which to us are incomprehensible. This love was the motive of that so Real union, by which he made himself Man. This love persuaded him to immolate and offer up for us his body as Really as he assumed it. All these designs are consequent to one an other, and this infinite love holds the same height throughout all the strains & motions thereof. So that when he shall be pleased to bring each single child of his (by uniting himself to him particularly) to taste and partake the goodness, which he hath expressed to all in general, he will find means to accomplish his will by things as powerful and efficacious as those which he hath already fulfilled for our salvation. We ought not therefore to wonder at his giving unto every one of us the Real Substance of his Flesh and Blood. He intends by it to imprint in our hearts this verity, that it was for our sakes that he assumed them, and offered them up in Sacrifice. This preceding goodness renders all the sequence easy to be believed; the order of his mysteries disposeth us to credit all this, and his express word doth not allow us any doubt of it.  
Our Adversaries did well discern that simple figures and bare signs of the Body and Blood would not satisfy Christians used & accustomed to the Grace and Goodness of a God, who gives himself so Really to us. So that upon this ground they seek to decline the being taxed with their denying a Substantial and Real participation of JESUS-CHRIST in the Communion. They affirm with us, that he makes us partakers of his proper Substance. 
Cat. Dim. 53.  They say that he feedeth us with the Substance of his Body and his Blood: 
Conf. of faith. art. 36.  and conceauing that his showing us by some sign that we did partake of his Sacrifice would not be sufficient, they declare expressly, that the Body of our Saviour, 
Cat. Dim. 52.  which is given us in the Communion, doth ascertain us of it. These words are so important, as we will presently examine them.  
Now than we see the Body and Blood of CHRIST present in our Mysteries, by the grant of the Caluinists: for what is communicated according to the proper Substance of it, must needs be Really present. True it is that they explain this Communication, saying it is effected by the Spirit and by Faith; but it is also certain that they will have it to be Real: and because it is not possible to render this intelligible, that a Body communicated to us only in Spirit & by Faith, should be imparted to us Really and in its proper Substance, they have not been able to remain fixed in both parts of a Doctrine of such a Contradiction; and so they have been forced to grant two things, which the Catholic Church teacheth. The first is, that CHRIST JESUS is given us in the Eucharist in such a manner as doth not suit either with Baptism, or Preaching the Gospel, but is peculiarly proper to this Mystery. We shall discern presently the consequence of this principle, but let us first consider, how it is allowed & granted by the Pretended-Reformers.  
And in this point I will not allege the testimony of any particular Author, but the very words of the Catechism in that place, where it explicateh what relateth to the Lord's-Supper. It pronounceth in express terms not only that CHRIST JESUS is given us Really and truly in the Sacrament, 
Dim. 53.  and in his own Substance but being asked the question, what advantage we have by the communication in the Supper, above that in Baptism or Preaching, they answer; 
Dim. 52.  although he be truly communicated to us by Baptism, and by the Gospel, yet in them it is but Partly, and not Entirely. From whence it follows, that in the Lord's-Supper they teach he is not given us Partly but Completely.  
There is an extreme difference between receiving in Part, and receiving Plenarily. So that if we partake of JESUS-CHRIST in all other communications of him, but in Part, and that in the Lord's Supper singly, we receive him Entirely, it followeth even by the Confession of our Adversaries, that we must seek in the Communion a participation special and peculiar to this mystery, which can not appertain to Baptism or Preaching: and at the same time it follows also that this partaking is not annexed unto Faith, since our Faith spreading & extending itself through all the acts of Christianity doth exist and operate in the Preaching of the word, and in Baptism as well as the Lord's-Supper. And indeed it is to be observed, that notwithstanding all the earnestness the Pretending-Reformers have expressed to render Baptism and Preaching equal to the Eucharist, upon this account; that CHRIST JESUS is truly com̄unicated to us by them, they never durst venture to assert in their Catechisms, that CHRIST was given us in his proper Substance either in Baptism, or in Preaching of the Gospel, as they have affirmed it of the Eucharist. So that they have been convinced they could not decline the ascribing to the Lord's Supper such a manner of possessing CHRIST, as is peculiar to this Sacrament, and that our Faith, which is common to all the actions of a Christian, could not be that distinct & singular manner. Now this singular manner of possessing CHRIST JESUS in the Eucharist must needs be Real, since it giveth to the believer the very Substance of the Body and Blood of our Saviour, which is not done by Faith, and this is what the Catholic Church holds & teacheth.  
The second point granted by the Pretending Reformers is drawn from the Article following immediately what I have already cited out of their Catechism, which is this, that the Body of our Saviour, 
Dim. 52.  in regard it was once offered in Sacrifice to reconcile us unto God, is now given us to assure us that we partake of that reconciliation.  
If these words have any meaning in them, if they are not an empty sound only, & a mere vain amusement, they must needs suggest to our understanding that CHRIST JESUS doth not give us a simple sign or symbol, but his proper Body, to assure us that we partake of his Sacrifice, and the Reconciliation of Mankind. If then the receiving of the Body of our Saviour assureth us of our participation of the fruit of his Death, it follows of necessity that this partaking of the fruit must be a distinct thing, from the receiving of his Body, because the one is the pledge and security for the other; from which supposal advancing further, I say that if our Adversaries are forced to distinguish in the Lord's-Supper the partaking of the Body of our Saviour, from the having part in the fruit and grace of his Sacrifice, they ought likewise to distinguish the participation of that Divine Body from all that participation thereof, which is conferred Spiritually and by Faith; for this last partaking (namely by Faith) will never afford them two distinct actions, by one of which they receive the Body of our Saviour, and by the other the fruit of his Sacrifice; no body being able to conceive what difference there is between partaking, by Faith, of the Body of our Saviour, & partaking, by Faith, of the fruit of his Death. They must therefore yield that besides the Communion by which we partake Spiritually of the Body of our Saviour, and of his spirit conjointly in the receiving the fruit of his Death, there is yet an other Real Comunion of the Body of the same Saviour, which is a secure pledge to us that the other (namely the benefit of his death) is assured to us, if we do not frustrate the effects of so great a grace, by our own opposite dispositions. This consequence is necessarily included in the principles to which they agree; nor can they ever be able to explicate this verity in any solid way, unless they return to the sense of the Catholic Church.  
Who can choose but admire in this point the power of Truth? All that is consequent to the principles granted by our Adversaries is clearly understood in the sense of the Church: even the least instructed Catholics easily conceive that in the Eucharist there is a Comunion with CHRIST JESUS, which is not to be found any where else. It is easy for them to understand that his Body is given us, to assure us that we partake in his Sacrifice, and in his Death. They distinguish clearly these two manners necessary to unite us to CHRIST JESUS; the one is by taking his proper Flesh; the other by receiving his Spirit: the first thereof is granted us as a pledge and security of the second: but by reason things can not be explicated in the opinions held by our Adversaries, though on the other side they can not disavow them, we can not choose but conclude that their Error hath cast them into a manifest Contradiction.  
I have often wondered why they did not deliver and explain their Doctrine in a more familiar and simple manner. Why have they not persisted in saying (without so many artifices) that CHRIST JESUS having shed his blood for us, had represented to us this effusion, by giving us two distinct signs of his Body and his Blood; and that he had been pleased to give to these two signs the names of the thing itself; and that these sacred Symbols were pledges and securities of our partaking the fruit of his death; and that we were nourished spiritually by the virtue of his Body and Blood: after having strained so hard to prove that the signs receive the name of the thing itself, and that for this reason the sign of the Body may be called the Body, the whole frame of this Doctrine did oblige them naturally to settle and rest there. And to render these signs efficatious, it would serve sufficiently to have the grace of our Redemption annexed to them; or rather, according to their principles, that it were confirmed to us in them. They needed not to have troubled themselves so much, as they have done, to get us to conceive that we receive the very Body of our Saviour, to this end only, viz, to assure us that we partake of the Grace of his Death. These Pretended-Reformers did content themselves with having in the water of Baptism a sign of the Blood which cleanseth us, and they never thought of saying, that we receive the Substance itself of our saviour's Blood, to ascertain us that the virtue thereof is therein diffused upon us. If they had argued, and concluded so in the matter of the Eucharist, their Doctrine would have been easier and less incombered with Contradictions. But they who invent and innovate can not say all they have a mind to: they encounter apparent verities, and established maxims, which disappoint them, and oblige them to restrain their own conceptions. The Arians would have wished, not to have been obliged to qualify our Saviour with the name of God and his only Son. The Nestorians did admit but with great constraint a kind of Unity of Persons in CHRIST JESUS, which we find in their writings. The Pelagians who denied Original sin, would as willingly have rejected the ministering the Sacrament of Baptism to Infants in order to the remission of sin, by which means they would have been delivered from that argument the Catholics drew from this practice, to prove Original sin. But, as I come from observing, they who find a thing firmly established have not the boldness, or rather impudence, to overthrow all at once. Let the Caluinists avow ingenuously the truth; they would have been very willing to have acknowleged in the Eucharist the Body of JESUS-CHRIST merely Figuratively, and the partaking only of his spirit. in effect, setting a side those big words of partaking of his proper Substance, and many others, which import a Real Presence, and do but intricate & perplex them. It would have suited better to their minds, not to have confessed any other Communion with CHRIST JESUS in the Lord's-Supper, than such an one as is imparted in Preaching the Word, and in Baptism, without telling us, as they do, that in the Eucharist CHRIST is received Entirely and elsewhere only in Part. But though this was their wish and inclination, yet the powerfulness of the terms resisted their profession of it, our Saviour having affirmed so positively of the Eucharist, This is my Body; This is my Blood; which he never said of any other thing, nor in any other occasion. And what appearance of rendering that common to all the actions of a Christian, which his express word hath annexed specially to one particular Sacrament? Besides, the whole order of the divine counsels, the connexion of the holy mysteries, of the doctrine and intention of CHRIST JESUS in his last supper, the words themselves which he used, and the impression they naturally make in the minds of the faithful; all these suggest nothing but images and notions of Reality: and for this reason our Adversaries have been fain to find out some words, the sound whereof, at least, might raise some confused idea of this Reality. When a man fastens himself either entirely unto Faith, as the Catholics do, or absolutely rest on humane Reason, as the Infidels do, one may establish firm consequences, and make, as it were, an uniform draught or design of Doctrine: but when one will frame a compound of them both together, one is driven to say somewhat more than he would willingly do, and in the pursuit, to fall into opinions, the apparent Contradictions whereof manifestly discover their Falsities.  
This is the case of the Pretended-Reformers, and God hath permitted their deluding themselves in this manner, to facilitate their return to the Unity of the Catholic doctrine. For since their own experience convinceth them that they must speak as we do, to speak the language of truth, ought they not to judge they must think as we do to understand it right? If they observe in their own belief some things that can have no sense but in ours, is not this sufficient to convince them, that the Truth is not entire & complete but in our Church? And those loose parts of Catholic doctrine which are scattered here and there in their Catechism (but would, as one may say, fain be reunited to their whole body) ought not they persuade them to seek in the Comunion of the Church the full & entire explication of the Mystery of the Eucharist? They would certainly be brought to it, did not humane reasonings trouble & perplex their Faith, which is too much adhering to their senses. But now after having represented to them what benefit they may draw from the exposition of their Doctrine, let us proceed and end the explaining of our own.  
Since it was convenient (as hath been observed before) that our senses should discern nothing in this mystery of Faith, 
Of Transubstannation, & Adoration; and in what sense the Eucharist is said to be a Sign.  it was requisite there should be no alteration, as to their object, in the Bread & Wine of the Eucharist. Whereupon by reason that the same species continue as our object, and we feel the same effects in the Sacrament, as were sensible before the Consecration, we ought not to wonder if some times, and in some certain sense, it is expressed by the same name. Nevertheless our Faith being attentive to his word, who effecteth what ever he pleaseth in heaven and on earth, doth acknowledge in this case no other Substance remaining, but that which is designed by the same word, viz the proper Body and Blood of CHRIST JESUS into which the Bread and the Wine are changed, which is what we term TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  
And notwithstanding this, yet the Reality which the Eucharist contains, in regard of the interior part, is no impediment to the being a Sign in respect of what it retains of exterior and sensible: but yet a Sign of such a nature as is so far from excluding a Reality, as it carrieth it of necessity along with it, since in effect this speech This is my Body being pronounced upon the matter CHRIST JESUS hath chosen, is an assured sign, that he is Present, and although the matters seem to our senses to remain the same, yet our spirit judgeth otherwise of them than it would do, if a superior Authority did not intervene: so that although those species, and a certain sequence of natural impressions, which are made on our bodies, are used to suggest to us the Substance of Bread & Wine, yet in this case his Authority, whom we believe entirely, prevails so much upon us, that the same species begin to design to us an other Substance; for we believe CHRIST who saith, that which we take, and that which we eat is his Body; and such is the efficacy of his word, as it keeps us from ascribing to the Substance of Bread these exterior appearances, and moveth us to refer them to the Body of CHRIST being present under them, so that the presence of so Adorable an object being once ascertained to us by this sign, we make no question of offering to it our Adorations.  
I do not enter into the point of Adoration, by reason that the most learned and sober of our Adversaries have long since granted us, that the presence of CHRIST JESUS in the Eucharist ought to impose Adoration upon those who are of that persuasion.  
In fine being once convinced that the omnipotent words of the son of God effect whatsoever they pronounce, we believe upon good grounds that in the last Supper they produced their effect as soon as they were uttered, and upon a necessary consequence we acknowledge the Real presence of the Body before our receiving it.  
These preceding points being supposed, 
Sacrifice of the Mass.  the Sacrifice, which we assert and maintain in the Eucharist, retayns no longer any particular difficulty.  
We have observed two actions in this Mystery, which cease not to be distinct, although the one relateth to the other: the first is the Consecration, by which the Bread and Wine are changed into the Body and Blood: the second is the Eating, by which we communicate and partake of them.  
In the Consecration the Body and Blood are mystically separated by reason that CHRIST JESUS said severally, This is my Body, This is my Blood; the which includeth a lively and effectual representation of the violent death he suffered.  
And so the son of God is set upon the holy table, by virtue of those words, covered with signs that represent his death▪ This is what is effected by Consecration, and this Religious act carrieth with it, the protestation of the Soveragnity of God, by reason that CHRIST JESUS being present reneweth, and in some sort perpetuates the memory of his obedience, even to the death of the Cross; so that indeed there is nothing wanting here, towards the rendering it a True Sacrifice.  
Without all question this Religious act, as it is distinct from that of the Communion, must needs be of itself acceptable to God, and must invite him to look upon us with a more favourable and propitious eye, by reason it presenteth to his sight the voluntary death which his wellbeloved son hath suffered for sinners, or rather replaceth before his eyes even his own son, under the signs of that death, whereby he hath been appeased, and reconciled to Man.  
All Christians confess that the single presence of CHRIST JESUS is a most powerful manner of Intercession before God for all mankind, according to this saying of the Apostle, CHRIST JESUS presenteth himself and appeareth for us before the face of God: 
Hebr. 9 24  and thereupon we believe that CHRIST JESUS being present upon the holy table in this figure of death intercedeth for us, and representeth continually to his Father the death he hath suffered for his Church.  
It is in this sense we affirm, that JESUS-CHRIST offereth himself for us to God in the Eucharist; and in this manner it is we conceive that this Oblation inviteth God to become more favourable and propitious to us, and for this reason we call it Propitiatory.  
When we reflect upon what CHRIST JESUS worketh in this mystery, and when we look upon him, by our Faith, as actually present upon the holy table with the signs of death, we join ourselves to him in that estate, and we present him to God as our only Victim, and as our sole Propitiator by the merit of his Blood, protesting that we have nothing to offer unto God but JESUS-CHRIST, and the infinite merit of his death. We consecreate all our prayers by this Divine Oblation, and by our presenting CHRIST JESUS to God, we are taught to offer up ourselves at the same time to the Divine Majesty, in him, and by him, as living Sacrifices.  
Such is the Sacrifice of Christians, and infinitely differing from that which was practised in the Law, being a Spiritual Sacrifice, & worthy of the New Covenant, wherein the presence of the Victim is not perceived but by Faith; where the word of God is the instrument that separateth Mystically the Body & the Blood, and consequently where the Blood is shed but Mystically, and where death interueneth but by Representation; and yet a most Real & True Sacrifice for this reason that CHRIST JESUS is truly contained, and presented to God in it, under this figure of death, and therefore a Sacrifice also of Commemoration; which is so far (though objected) from parting & loosening us from our application to the Sacrifice of the Cross, as it fixeth us the faster, by all its circumstances, unto it, since it doth not only relate entirely unto it, but in effect it hath neither being nor subsistence but by this relation, from whence it deriveth all the virtue it contains.  
This is the express Doctrine of the Catholic Church in the Council of Trent, which teacheth, that this Sacrifice is instituted only to the intent of representing that, 
Sess. 22. c. 1.  which was once perfected upon the Cross; and to preserve the Memory of it unto the end of all ages, and apply unto us that saving virtue for the forgiveness of sins which we daily commit. Wherefore so far we are from believing that somewhat is wanting to the Sacrifice of the Cross, as quite contrary, the Church holds, that it was so perfect, and so fully sufficient, as all which follows it, is but ordained in order to the celebrating the Memory, and applying the Virtue of that Oblation.  
Whereby the same Church professeth, that all the merit of the Redemption of mankind is annexed to the Death of the sun of God; & certainly by all that hath been already said, it ought to have been understood, that when we say to God in the celebration of the divine Mysteries, We offer you this holy host, we do not pretend by this oblation to make, or present to God a new payment of the price of our Salvation, but to employ towards him the merits of JESUS CHRIST there present, and the infinite price he hath at once paid for our Redemption upon the Crosse.  
The Professors of the Pretended-Reformed Religion do not believe that they offend CHRIST JESUS in offering him to God, as present by their Faith: as in case they did believe he were truly and Really present, what repugnance could they have to offer him as being Effectually present? So that to argue ingenuously, the dispute in fair dealing aught to be reduced singly to his being Present.  
This supposed, all the false images and conceptions, the Pretended-Reformers frame to themselves about the Sacrifice we offer, aught to be effaced; they should in justice acknowledge fairly, that the Catholics pretend not to frame for themselves a new Propitiation to appease God again, as if he were not sufficiently reconciled by the Sacrifice of the Cross, or in order to make some new supplement to the price of our Salvation, as if it were imperfect. All these imaginations have no admission into our Doctrine, by reason that all this is intended by way of Intercession, and Application in that manner I come from delivering & explaining.  
After this clear explication, those great objections drawn out of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
The Epistle to the Hebrews.  which our Adversaries seek to enforce so much against us, will appear weak, & unreasonable; & that it is in vain they strain themselves to prove, by the meaning of the Apostle, that we nullify the Sacrifice of the Cross; but as the most certain proof that can be had that two Doctrines are not opposite to one an other is to discover, in the expounding them, that no proposition of the one is Contradictory to the proposals of the other, I conceive myself invited in this occasion to expose, in short, the Doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews.  
The Apostle designed in this Epistle the teaching us, that a sinner could not escape from death other ways, then by subrogating in his place one that should die for him: that while men did supply, in their stead, but the Bloodshed of Beasts, their Sacrifices had no other operation, but the making a public profession, that they had deserved to die; and that by reason the divine justice could not be satisfied with so disproportionate an exchange, those Bloody victim were every day offered and repeated, which was a certain proof of the insufficiency of that exchange and subrogation: but that since CHRIST JESUS had been pleased to die for sinners, God being fully satisfied by the voluntary substitution of so worthy a person, could no more require the price of our ransom; from whence the Apostle concludes, that we ought not only to cease from offering any other Victim after CHRIST JESUS, but that CHRIST himself was to be offered up to death but one single time.  
Let the Reader then, who is solicitous of his Salvation, and is a friend to truth, recolect seriously what we have delivered of the manner wherein CHRIST JESUS offereth himself to God for us in the Eucharist, and I am confident he will not find in it any propositions contrary to those of the Apostle, which I come from delivering, or any that infirm his proofs, so the most can be urged against us is his Silence. But such as will consider the wise distributions God maketh of his secrets in the many and several books of his Scripture, would not surely restrain us to receive from the single Epistle to the Hebrews all our instruction concerning a matter, which did not necessarily relate to the subject of that Epistle; since the Apostle intendeth in it to explain the perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross, and not the different means God hath given us to apply it unto ourselves.  
And to prevent all Equivocal sense, if we take the word offer, as it is understood in this Epistle, in that sense which implieth the Actual death of the Victim, we confess aloud, that JESUS-CHRIST is no longer offered so, neither in the Eucharist, nor any where else. But as this same word hath a larger signification in other places of Scripture, where it is often said, that one Offereth to God, what one presenteth before him, the Church, which doth not frame her language & her doctrine by the single Epistle to the Hebrews, but by the whole body of the Scriptures, doth not scruple to affirm that CHRIST JESUS offereth himself to God in all places where he appeareth for our sakes before him, and consequently that he offereth himself up in the Eucharist, according to the expression of the holy Fathers of the Church.  
Now to conceive that this manner, wherein CHRIST JESUS presenteth himself to God, can at all detract from the Sacrifice of the Cross, is what can not possibly be inferred; unless one will overthrow the whole Scripture, and especially that Epistle which they seek so much to strain against us. For by the same reason we ought to conclude, that when CHRIST JESUS vowed himself to God, entering into the world, 
Hebr. 10. 5▪  to substitute himself instead of those Victimes, which were not pleasing to him, that he injured the action by which he deuowed himself vpon the Cross; and so, 
Hebr. 9 24  when he continueth to appear for us before God, he detracteth from the Oblation, in which he appeared once by the Immolation of himself; 
Hebr. 9 26.  and that, not ceasing to intercede for us, 
Hebr. 7. 25.  he accuseth that Intercession of Insufficiency, which he made at his Death with so many tears, 
Heb. 5. 7.  and so great cries.  
Would not all these inferences be ridiculous? We must therefore understand, that CHRIST JESUS, who did offer up himself once, to become the humble Victim of the Divine justice, doth continue still offering himself for us: that the infinite perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross consisteth in this, that whatsoever preceded it, as well as what follows it, are entirely relating unto it: that as what preceded, was its Preparation; so what doth follow, is its Consummation, and Application: that true it is, the payment of the price of our ransom is not reiterated, by reason it was fully discharged the first time, but what Applieth that Redemption, is incessantly continued & repeated; and in fine we must know to distinguish those acts, which are reiterated, as being imperfect, from such as are perpetuated as being perfect & necessary.  
We conjure the followers of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, 
Reflection upon the preceding doctrine.  to make some little reflection upon what I have said concerning the Eucharist.  
The doctrine of the Real Presence hath been the necessary foundation thereof. This groundwork is impugned by the Caluinists; there is no point that is evidently more important in our Controversies, since the question is of the Real presence of CHRIST himself; there is nothing our Adversaries find more difficult to believe; and there is no Controversy which sets us more directly Opposite.  
In most of our other disputes, when they reflect calmly upon them, they find difficulties grow much evener, and that very often they are more offended with the terms, then with the matters: but quite contrary in this subject we agree best in the manner of speaking, because on both sides we hear the same terms of Real Participation, and other such like words; but the more exactly we enter into the examination, the further we find ourselves distant from one an other, by reason that our Adversaries do not admit the consequences of those verities they have acknowleged, being, as I have already said, discouraged and averted by the difficulties which occur to their senses and humane reason in those consequences.  
This is therefore, to speak truly, the most important and most difficult of all our Controversies, & wherein we are in effect most removed from one an other.  
Nevertheless God, hath been pleased to suffer that the Lutherans should remain as firmly adhering to the belief of the Reality as we, and hath permitted also that the Caluinists should avow, that this Doctrine hath no venom in it, that it doth not subvert the Foundation of saving Faith, and that it ought not to break the Communion of Christian fraternity.  
Let me request the followers of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, who apply themselves seriously to their salvation, to reflect attentively upon what course the Divine Providence taketh to draw them imperceptibly nearer us, and the truth: one may either entirely dissipate all the other grounds of their complaints, or at least reduce them to very inconsiderable differences by a mere expounding them: and in this particular, which we could not expect to overcome by this way, they have of themselves voided the principal difficulty, by declaring that this doctrine is not incompetent with our Salvation, nor inconsistent with the Foundamentalls of Religion.  
True it is that the Lutherans, albeit they concur with us in the main point of the Reality, do not embrace all the consequences thereof: they join the Bread to the Body of CHRIST JESUS: some of them reject the Adoration; and they seem to confess the Presence only in the act of receiving it. But no art or subtlety of their Ministers can ever persuade solid & understanding considerers that accepting the Reality (which is the most important, and most difficult point) they ought not assent unto the rest of our proposals.  
Besides, the same Providence, which worketh covertly to draw us nearer, and layeth the foundations of peace & reconciliation in the midst of all our sharpnesses and dissensions, hath further permitted the Caluinists should allow, that supposing these words, This is my Body, are to be taken literally, the Catholics argue & conclude more consequently than the Lutherans.  
If I do not repeat the passages that have been so frequently cited in this subject, I shall easily be excused, since all such as are not very obstinate, will easily grant us, that the Reality supposed, our doctrine is that which follows by the best consequence.  
This is therefore an established Truth, that our Doctrine in this point containeth nothing but the Reality rightly understood. But we must not be content with this; we further entreat the Pretending Reformers to consider, that we do not employ any thing to explicate the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, but what necessarily is included in the Real Presence.  
If upon this a question then be put to us, how the Lutherans, who believe the Reality, come notwithstanding to reject the Sacrifice, which, according to our Doctrine, is a consequence of the first; we answer in a word, that we must put this Doctrine amongst the other consequences of the Real Presence, which those Lutherans have not understood, and which we have penetrated much better than they, by the confession of the Calvinists themselves.  
If our explications persuade these last, that our Doctrine about the Sacrifice is included in that of the Reality, they ought to discern clearly, that this Controversy of the Sacrifice of the Mass, which filleth so many volumes, and hath occasioned so many invectives, should hence forward be retrenched from the body of their Controversies, since this point retaineth no longer any peculiar difficulty, and (which is more important) since this Sacrifice, against which they express so much repugnance, is but a necessary sequence, & a natural explanation of a Doctrine, which, by their own concession, hath no Venom in it. Let them then examine themselves now, and after that try in the presence of God whether they have as much reason on their side, as they imagine, to depart from the Altars, where their fathers have been nourished with the bread of life.  
There remaineth still one consequence of this Doctrine to be examined, 
Communion under both kinds.  which is, that CHRIST JESUS being Really present in this Sacrament, the Grace & the blessing is not annexed to the Sensible Species, but to the proper Substance of his Flesh, which is living, and inlivening, by reason of the conjunction of the Divinity: upon which ground those who believe the Reality, aught to have no pain to communicate singly in one Species; by reason they receive all that is essential to that Sacrament, in a fullness and entiernes by so much the more assured, by as much as the separation of the Body and the Blood not being Real (as hath been said) one receiveth entirely & without division him, who alone is capable to satisfy & replenish us.  
This is the solid foundation, upon which the Church, interpreting the precept of the holy Communion, hath declared that we may receive all the Sanctification this Sacrament conferreth, under one single Species; and if the Church hath reduced her children to this one Species, it was not out of disesteem of the other, since it proceeded from a quite contrary motive, which was to prevent the irreverences, & indecencies, the confusion & negligences of the people had occasioned in the latter times, the Church reserving the reestablishment of the Communion in both kinds, according as it should become useful for the peace & union of her children.  
Catholic Divines have made appear to those of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, that they themselves have made use of divers interpretations like this, in what belongs to the use of the Sacraments. But most especially they had reason to remark this, which is taken out of the 12. chap. of their Discipline. tit. of the Lord's-Supper. art. 7. Where these words are written; The bread of the Lord's-Supper ought to be administered to such as can not drink wine, upon their protesting, that it is not out of contempt, but endeavouring all they can, and even putting the Cup to their mouth as close as they are able, to prevent all scandal. They have concluded by this regulation, that both kinds were not essential to the Communion by the institution of CHRIST; for otherwise they would have been bound, absolutely to refuse the Sacrament to such as were not able to receive it complete, and not to give it them in a manner contrary to that CHRIST JESUS had commanded; and in that case their disability would have sufficiently excused them. But our Adversaries have conceived that such a rigour would be excessive, if they did not allow at least one of the Species to such as were not capable to receive the other; and since this condescendence hath no ground in the Scripture, they must needs confess with us, that the words whereby CHRIST JESUS hath proposed to us the two Species are liable to some interpretation, and that the right understanding of them ought to be declared by the Authority of the Church.  
But it might seem that this Article of their Discipline, which is of the Synod of Poytiers held 1560, had been reform by the Synod of Vertueil assembled in the year 1567., where it is said, that the company is not of opinion the Bread should be given to those who would not receive the Cup. These two Synods nevertheless are not at all opposite to one another; that of Vertueil speaketh of those, who Will not receive the Cup, and that of Poytiers of such, as Can not take it. And indeed, notwithstanding the Synod of Vertueil, that Article remaineth in their Discipline, nay more, hath been approved by a Synod later than that of Vertueil, namely by the Synod of Rochel in 1571, where the Article was renewed, and put into that state which it now remaineth in.  
But supposing the Synods of the Pretended-Reformers had differred & varied in their opinions, that would serve only to manifest, that the matter in question is not a point of Faith, but of that kind which the Church may order & dispose of, according to their own principles.  
There remaineth now nothing but to expose what the Catholics hold touching the Word of God, 
The written & unwritten Word.  & concerning the Authority of the Church.  
CHRIST JESUS having laid the foundation of his Church upon the Preaching of his Disciples, the Unwritten Word was the first guide & rule of Christianity, & when the writings of the New Testament were adjoined to them, the former Word did not for all that lose its Authority, which causeth us to accept with the same veneration all that was taught by the Apostles, be it by writing, or by word of mouth, according to what S. Paul himself hath expressly enjoined. 
2. Thess. 2. 14.  And the certain proof that a Doctrine comes from the Apostles, is, its being accepted and embraced by all Christian Churches whilst its beginning can not be pointed & marked out. We can not choose but receive all that is established in this manner with the submission due to the Divine Authority; and we are confident that such persons of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, as are not very obstinate, have the same persuasion in the bottom of their hearts, it being impossible to believe that a Doctrine settled and received from the beginning of the Church, can flow from any other spring then that of the Apostles. Wherefore our Adversaries ought not to wonder, that we, being zealously careful to inherit all that our Fathers have left us, do conserve the Deposite of Tradition, as well as that of the Scriptures.  
The Church being ordained by God to be the Depositary of the Scripture, 
The Church's Authority.  & of Tradition, we receive from her hands the Canonical Scriptures, and we believe (whatever our Adversaries say) that it is principally the Church's Authority that determineth us to reverence as Divine writ, the song of Solomon, which hath so few sensible marks of Prophetical inspiration; and likewise the Epistle of S. james, which Luther rejected; and that of S. jude, which might be suspected, by reason of some Apocryphal books cited in it: in fine there can be no motive, but that Authority, to persuade the receiving the whole body of the holy Scriptures, which Christians accept as Divine, even before the reading hath wrougt any feeling of the Spirit of God in those books.  
Being then inseparably bound, as we are, to the Authority of the Church, by means of the Scriptures, which we receive from her hand, we are taught also by her Tradition, and by the help of Tradition the true sense of the Scriptures. So that the Church professeth to say nothing, merely of herself; and likewise that she inventeth nothing new in her Doctrine; that she doth but follow and declare the Divine Revelation by the interior direction of the holy spirit, which is given her for her Teacher.  
That the holy Ghost expresseth himself by the Church, the dispute raised about the Ceremonies of the Law, even in the time of the Apostles, doth evidence; and their Acts have directed all succeeding ages (by the manner that first contest was decided) by what Authority all following differences are to be determined: so that whensoever any dispute happens to divide the faithful, the Church will interpose her Authority, and the Pastors assembled will say after the Apostles, 
Act. 15. 2●:  It hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us. And when the Church hath pronounced and determined, her children will be taught not to examine a new the Articles resolved upon, but that they are bound to accept with all submission the Church's Decisions. And in this method we follow S. Paul and Silas, who delivered to the faithful the first judgement of the Apostles; and were so far from allowing a new discussion of what had been decided, as they travelled through the towns teaching to observe the ordinances of the Apostles. 
Act. 16. 4.   
In this manner the children of God acquiesce in the judgement of the Church, believing that by her mouth they hear the Oracle of the Holy Ghost, and it is upon the ground of this persuasion, that after having professed in the Creed, I believe in the Holy Ghost we join next to it, The Holy Catholic Church, by which protestation we oblige our selves to acknowledge an Infallible and Perpetual Verity in the Catholic Church; since the same Church, which we believe persevering throughout all ages, would cease to be a Church, if it left to teach the Truth revealed by God: so that such as apprehend lest she should abuse her power by introducing Falsities, have little Faith in him, by whose hand she is held and conducted.  
And if our Adversaries would consider & discuss these matters in a fairer and more humane manner, they would be forced to avow that the Catholic Church is so far from affecting to render herself Mistress of her Faith (as her Adversary's charge her) that quite contrary she hath laboured with all her power to bind herself, and to exclude all means of Inovation, since she doth not only submit to the holy Scriptures, but, to banish for ever all Arbitrary interpretations, (which would make the conceits of men pass for Scripture) declareth herself obliged to understand them, 
Conc. Trid. seff. 4.  in what relateth to Faith or Manners, conformably to the sense of the holy Fathers; from which she professeth never to depart, declaring by all her Counsels, and by all her Professions of Faith, already published, that she admitteth no point of Doctrine, which is not conformable to the Tradition of all preceding ages.  
Moreover, if our Adversaries will examine their Consciences, they will discern, that the name of the Church hath more authority over their minds, than they dare avow in their disputes: and I am persuaded there is not any one prudent & judicious man amongst them, who finding himself alone in his persuasion, (how evident soever it might seem to him) that would not be frighted with that Singularity; so manifest it is, that men have need in these matters to be supported in their opinions by the Authority of some Society, that is of the same judgement. And for this reason God, who hath created us, and knoweth what is most proper for us, hath ordained for our benefit, that all particular subjects should render obedience to his Church, the Authority whereof, is of all others undoubtedly the best established, not only by the testimony which God himself renders in proof of it in the holy Scriptures, but likewise by the evidencies of his Divine protection, which is manifested no less in the most inviolable & perpetual subsistence, than it was in the miraculous establishment thereof.  
This Sovereign Authority 
The opinion of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion concerning the Authority of the church.  of the Church is so necessary to regulate the differences which arise upon points of Faith, and the right understanding of the Scripture, that our Adversaries themselves, after having discredited & decried it, as an insupportable Tyranny, have been at last necessitated to authorize & establish it amongst themselves.  
When those, who are called Independants, maintained openly, that every individual of the faithful aught to follow the light of his conscience, without being obliged to submit his judgement to any body, or Ecclesiastical assembly, and that upon this ground they refused to subject themselves to Synods; that of Charenton held 1644. censured this Doctrine upon the same reasons, and in regard of the same inconveniences, which moved us to reject it. That Synod observeth in the first place, that the Error of the Independants consisteth in their holding, that, every single Church ought to govern itself by her own laws, without dependence upon any person, in Ecclesiastical affairs, and without any obligation to conform to the Authority of Conferences, and Synods, in point of their conduct & regulation. And in order thereunto the same Synod determineth that this Sect is as prejudicial to the State as to the Church; that it setteth open a door to all sorts of irregularities and extravagancies; that it cuts off all means of applying any remedy; and if it took place, there might be as many Religions invented, as there are particular parishes or assemblies. These last words show clearly that it was principally in point of Faith that this Synod intended to establish a Dependence, since the great est inconvenience, it observes the faithful would be liable to, by this independency, is, that there might be as many Religions form and professed as there are parishes. It followeth then of necessity, by the Doctrine of this Synod, that every particular Church (and much more every private person) ought to Depend (in what belongs to Faith) upon a Superior Authority, which resides in some Assembly, or Body of men, to which Authority all the Faithful subject their private judgements; for the independants do not refuse to submit unto the Word of God, in that sense they conceive they ought to understand it, nor to accept the Decision of Synods, when, after they have examined them, they conclude them reasonable, and fit to be observed: what they refuse to yield unto, is, to resign up their private judgement unto that of an Assembly, upon this ground, which our Adversaries have laid for them, viz, that all Assemblies even that of the Universal Church, is a company of Men subject to Error, unto which consequently a Christian ought not to subject his judgement, since he oweth his resignation but to God alone. It is from this pretention of the Independants, that all those inconveniences are inferred, which the Synod of Charenton hath so well observed: for what profession soever be made to submit unto the Word of God, if every one thinketh he hath right to understand it according to his own judgement, though it be contrary to the sense of the Church declared in a Final decree, this pretention will open the way to all sorts of extravagancies, and exclude all means of applying any remedy, since the Decision of the Church is no restraint to such, as do not conceive themselves bound to submit unto it; and in fine it will open the way to frame as many Religions not only as there are parishes, but even as there are private heads.  
For precaution against these inconueniencies, from whence would ensue the ruin of Christian Religion, the Synod of Charenton is forced to constitute a Dependence in Ecclesiastical matters, and even in points of Faith. But this their designed Deference will never retrench those pernicious consequences, they have proposed to themselves the preventing, unless they settle, conformably to us, this maxim, that every particular Church, and much more each single person, aught to believe himself obliged to submit his private judgement unto the Authority of the Church.  
And so we see likewise in the fifth chapter of the Discipline of the Pretended-Reformed Religion, tit. of Consistories. art. 31. that desiring to prescribe an expedient to determine the debates which might arise upon any point of Doctrine or Discipline, they decreed first, that the Consistory shall endeavour to appease all without noise, and with all the sweetness of the Word of God: and after having set, and ranked the Consistory, the Conference, and the Provincial Synod, as so many distinct degrees of jurisdiction, coming at last to the national Synod (above which there is no Authority amongst them) they speak of it in these terms; There it is that the Entire & Final resolution shall be taken, according to the Word of God; to which if they refuse to acquiesce in every point, and with a direct renouncing of their Errors, they shall be cut off from the Church. Is it not then evident that the Pretended-Reformers do not attribute the Authority of this Final judgement to the Word of God taken alone by itself, and without dependence on the Authority of the Church; since the Word having been employed and consulted in the first conclusions they have made vpon it, they do nevertheless admit an Appeal from it? It is the Word, as interpreted by the Sovereign tribunal of the Church, that frameth this last and Final resolution, unto which whosoever refuseth to acquiesce from point to point, though he boasteth his being authorised by the Word of God, is no longer reputed but as a profane abuser and Corrupter thereof.  
But the form of those Letters of deputation which were drawn up, & agreed upon at the Synod of Vitré in the year 1617. to be observed by the Provinces, when they were to send deputies to the national Synod, is yet more positive: it runs in these terms. We promise before God, to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly, and to obey & execute it with all our power, being persuaded, as we are, that God will preside in it, and conduct you by his holy Spirit into all truth and equity by the rule of his Word. Here the point is not the receau●ng of the resolution of a Synod after having discerned, that it hath ordained according to the Scripture, but here is a submission made unto it even before the assembling of it; and this is done by reason they are persuaded that the holy spirit will preside in it. If this persuasion be grounded upon a humane presumption, can one in conscience promise before God to submit to all which shall be resolved and concluded; and to obey & execute it to the utmost of one's power? And if this persuasion be grounded upon an assured belief of that assistance the holy Ghost affordeth the Church in her Final ordinances, the Catholics themselves require no more of them.  
Thus the proceedings of our Aduersariers do manifest, that they concur with us in the necessity of a Supreme Authority, without which there can never be a Final decision of any doubt in Religion: and although, when they cast of the yoke of Obedience, they denied that the faithful were obliged to resign their judgement up to that of the Church, yet the necessity of settling some order among themselves hath forced them, in process of time, to acknowledge, what their first engagement had moved them to contradict.  
Nay they have gone much farther in the National Synod held at saint Foy in the year 1578. There was some overture made of a reconcilement with the Lutherans by means of a form of profession of Faith general and common to all the Churches, which was proposed to be concerted and drawn up. The Churches of this Kingdom were invited to depute unto an Assembly, to be held for that purpose, virtuous persons, approved, and authorised by all the forenamed Churches with an ample Procuration TO TREAT, AGREE UPON, AND DECIDE ALL POINTS OF DOCTRINE, and other matters concerning the union. Upon this proposition, the resolution of the Synod of saint Foy was agreed upon in these terms. The National Synod of this Kingdom, after having given God thanks for such an overture, and commended the care, and diligence, as well as the good counsels of the forementioned persons convoked, APPROVING THE REMEDIES THEY HAVE SUGGESTED, viz principally that of framing a new Confession of Faith, and giving power to some certain persons to compose it, hath ordained that in case the copy of that abovenamed Confession of Faith shall be sent time enough, it shall be examined in every Provincial Synod, or after some other manner, according to the conveniency of each Province; and in the mean time hath deputed four Ministers, the best experienced in affairs of that nature, to whom express order hath been given to render themselves upon the places, and at the day, with letters and ample Procurations of all the Ministers, and ancient Deputies of the Provinces of this Kingdom, together with those of the Viscount of Turene, to do all things above mentioned; and even, in case that MEANS COULD NOT BE FOUND TO EXAMINE THE SAID CONFESSION BY ALL THE PROVINCES, it is referred to their prudence and sound judgement to agree and CONCLUDE all the points which shall be brought into deliberation, as well FOR THE DOCTRINE, as for any other matter, concerning the benefit, union, and quiet of all the Churches. This in fine is the result of that feigned tenderness of Conscience in the Ministers of the Pretended-Reformed Religion. How often have they reproached to us, as a weakness, that Submission we profess to the judgement, and Decrees of the Church, which is, say they, but a company of men subject to Error? and yet they, being assembled themselves in a Body at a national Synod, which represented all the Pretended-Reformed Churches of France, have nor scrupuled to leave their Faith to the Arbitration of four persons, with so Absolute a Resignation of their judgements, that they transferred upon them a full power to change the very Confession itself, which they propose, even to this day, to all Christian people as a Confession of Faith, which containeth nothing but the pure Word of God; and for which (in presenting it to our Kings) they have said, that an infinite number of people were ready to shed their blood. I leave the prudent Reader to make his reflections upon the Decree of this Synod, and will conclude in few words my explication of the persuasions &, tenants of the Catholic Church.  
The son of God having been pleased that his Church should remain one, and be solidly built upon this Unity, hath instituted & founded the Primacy of St Peter, 
The Authority of the holy see of Rome, and of Episcopacy▪  to maintain and cement it: whereuponwe acknowledgethe same Primacy in the Successors of the Prince of the Apostles, unto whom upon that title we owe that Submission & Obedience, which the holy Counsels & Fathers have taught, and enjoined the faithful.  
As for those points, which are so usually disputed in the Schools, although the Ministers do continually allege them, to asperse, and render that Authority odious, it is to little purpose to mention them in this discourse, since they are not points of Catholic Faith. It is sufficient here to confess a Head established by God: which will freely be accorded by all such as affect Union & Concord of Christian Fraternity, & Ecclesiastical Unanimity.  
And certain it is, that if the Founders of the Pretended Reformation had loved Unity in the Church, they would never have abolished Episcopal Government, which we find established by JESUS-CHRIST himself, and which we see impower'd & authorised even in the days of the Apostles; nor would they have despised the Authority of S. Peter's seat, which hath so solid a foundation in the Gospel, and so evident a continuation in Ecclesiastical Tradition: they would rather have zealously maintained Episcopal jurisdiction, which settleth & preserveth Union in particular Churches, and the Primacy of S. Peter's Chair, which is the common centre of all Catholic Union.  
This is the exposition of the Catholic Doctrine, wherein, 
Conclusion of the Treatise.  to tie myself to what is most important in it, I have declined some questions, which the Pretended-Reformers themselves do not account a legitimate motive for a Breach, or Separation: and I may hope that those of their Communion, who shall examine fairly & with Christian equity all the parts and consequences of this Treatise, will by the reading thereof, be better disposed to accept, and acquiesceunto those proofs, vpon which the Faith of the Church is established, and will at least avow that many of our Controversies may be decided by a sincere explication of our persuasions, and that our Doctrine is Holy; and that, even by their own principles, none of the Articles of our Belief overthrow the Foundations of our Eternal Beatitude.  
If any one shall conceive it requisite to reply to this Treatise, I must desire him to consider, that to advance any thing towards his intent, he must not attempt to refute the Doctrine it containeth, since my design was to Propose it only, without Supporting it by any Proofs; and if in some passages I have touched part of the grounds, & reasons which establish it, the reason was because the knowledge of the principal grounds of a Doctrine, doth often bear a part necessary for its explication.  
It would be also a great digression from the design of this Treatise to dicusse the different ways, methodes, motives, and arguments which the Catholic Divines make use of to establish, or illustrate the Doctrine of the Council of Trent; and the various consequences particular Doctors have deduced from them. To urge any thing solid against this Treatise, and that cometh home to the point, it must either be proved by some acts, which the Church hath engaged herself to receive, that her Faith is not here faithfully delivered; or be showed, that this explanation leaveth all the Adversary's Objections in their full force; or in fine it must be exposed directly wherein this Doctrine subverteth the Grounds and Foundation of Faith.  
FINIS.