A Pastoral Letter Of the Lord CARDINAL Le CAMUS, BISHOP and PRINCE OF GRENOBLE To the CURATES of his DIOCESE; Touching the METHODS they ought to take, and in what Manner they should behave Themselves towards Their NEW CONVERTS.  
Faithfully Translated from the Original in French.  
London, Printed by Nath. Thompson at the Entrance into the Old-Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross. Anno Domini MDCLXXXVII.   

ALthough I have already declared in Our last Synod, the Means you ought to Use; and in what Manner you should treat the New Converts of my Diocese: Nevertheless I have thought good to signify more particularly to you here, the principal Things which will require your best Attention and most serious Application.  
I. LEt it be one part of your Duties, to Explicate every Sunday the Gospel, or the Epistle of the Day; having first read it distinctly in French, out of the time of Service: And that you may be the more able to Instruct them to their Advantage, apply yourselves earnestly to the Study of the Holy Scriptures, making use of some good Commentary, that will Explicate the Text to you; both in the Literal and the Moral Sense.  
II. Make it your Business on Sundays and holidays to Catechise your Parishioners by Question and Answer; Obliging your New-Converts to bring their Children and Servants: And omit not to say Prayers in French, both Morning and at Night on Sundays and holidays.  
III. Have a Care you do not lessen, by a mistaken Condescension, the Holy Doctrine of the Church, or disguise the Truths which She proposes to our Belief, under the specious pretext of making the way Easier for the New-Converts to enter into our Communion: On the other side, it must be your equal Care to Teach them Nothing, but those Undoubted Truths which are of Faith, and which the Holy Church hath desided in the Council of Trent: You are likewise to take heed, that you do not Mix or Confound the School Opinions, with the real Doctrine of the Church.  
iv Endeavour to Vndeceive them of the many false Opinions and the Prejudices they are possessed with against the Roman Catholic Church; by making them Sensible, that We give to God only the Supreme Honour, of a True and Real Adoration; and that We place all our Trust and Hopes solely in the Merits of Jesus Christ, and not in any Pictures or Relics of Saints; and that it is no part of our Faith, to believe there is any Inherent Virtue, or particular Blessing annexed to those Pictures or Relics.  
V Suffer not any one to Preach Up, or Maintain in your Parishes, any Fabulous or Groundless Miracles; or that they speak of Indulgences in any other Sense, than the Council of Trent hath declared them: Let nothing be Preached by yourselves, or others, but the Solid and Substantial Truths of the Gospel, in its Natural and Original Purity; Expressing it still with all the Clearness, the subject-matter can possibly allow.  
VI Endeavour as much as in you lies, that every New-Convert perform his Duty as a good Catholic ought too do: But be sure you avoid all manner of Violence or Compulsion to them, since God admits to his Service only the free and voluntary Acts of a willing Mind: Wherefore you must be very Careful you use no Threats or Sharp Expressions in your Sermons or Discourses to them; when you Exhort them to frequent your Churches, or Receive the Sacraments.  
VII. Incline them all you can to assist daily at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but leave no Spie● or Inspectors at the Church doors, to inform against those that come not: And make not too severe and rigorous a Distinction, betwixt those that have done their Duty, and those that have omitted it.  
VIII. You are never to Administer the Sacraments to them, till you are satisfied in your Conscience, that they are well disposed to receive them; which can never be, till they have declared to you, that they do firmly believe all that the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church Believes; and that they will Live and Dye in the Communion of it: Therefore let no Humane Consideration induce you to give them the Sacraments, till you find in them all the Dispositions requisite to receive them Worthily.  
IX. You must be very Cautious and Prudent in the manner of Examining your Penitents, concerning the Sin of Impurity; Principally in the Confessions of Women, to whom you must take Care to speak with so much Modesty, that you may give them no occasion to believe, that Sensuality or Curiosity, hath any share in the Questions you ask them.  
X. You may at first abate your New-Converts something of the Severity of those Pennances, which otherwise their Sins might deserve, lest too rigorous a Behaviour towards them, should make them stumble at the Threshhold, and so Fright them out of the Way of their Salvation.  
XI. Use no sort of Means to any one, either in Sickness or in Health, to compel them to the Sacraments against their Wills Neither Threaten or Inform against any body on ●●…as occasion: Avoid likewise as much as you can, the giving notice of them to those, who are appointed to Judge and Punish them for their Failures on the score of Religion; But rest yourself satisfied, in that you have done your Duty, in Exhorting them to Theirs, in the presence of their Neighbours; Make them sensible of the great Advantages they will reap by so doing; engage their Relations and Friends to persuade them not to go out of this World, without the Comfortable Help of the Holy Viaticum.  
XII. In case any one die, having refused to receive the Blessed Sacrament, let him not be Interred in Holy Ground, nor make any public Prayers for him after his Death. Concern not yourselves in what manner they use the Corpse, or where they Bury it, leave That to the King's Officers, whose Business it is to take Care of it; Thrust not yourselves into those Matters, or into any thing else that may Alienate them from you, and so put you out of a Capacity, of doing their Souls that Service your Function obliges you unto.  
XIII. When they fail in sending their Children to School or Catechism; or when they Eat Meat upon prohibited Days, tell them of it Charitably, but Privately, as a good Pastor ought to do: And if by your Christian Care and good Advice they mend not their Faults, do not therefore bring them publicly into Trouble, or speak with Contempt or Aversion of them to their Neighbours, but content yourself, in giving us an account of those that have not Complied with their Duties, that we may in due time apply such Remedies to them, as Charity shall suggest, or the Holy Ghost shall inspire Us.  
XIV. Pray to God Almighty, both in Private and in Public for their true and sincere Conversion; Edify them by your good Examples, and by your Holy, Chaste, Charitable, and Disinterested way of Living; Feed them continually with the wholesome Food of the Word of God; Oblige them with a Christian and Brotherly Affection in all things, that they shall desire, and You can do for them, either in Relation to their Spiritual or Temporal good.  
This is the best way of Confirming them in our Communion, for as St. Augustin says, Nothing contributes more to the knowledge of a True Church, than a real practice of the Truths; The Evangelist teaches us, Ejus est Evangelium, ubi vivitur secundum Evangelium.  
XV. Put in practice the Advice the Prince of the Apostles gives to all Pastors, which we may call the first Rule of Christianism, Feed the Flock of God committed to your Care, watching over them; not by a forced Necessity, but by an Affection truly Voluntary: Not by a shameful desire of Gain, but by a Disinterested Charity: And as St. Paul says, Receive and Use with Charity, him that is yet weak in Faith, without running violently into Contests and Disputations with him, 1 Peter, Rom. 14.  
XVI. Endeavour to follow the Way that St. Augustin prescribed to a Bishop of Carthage, which was to Act in such like Circumstances, without Heat, Threats, or Sharpness; and to persuade them in your Exhortations, to fear more the Judgements of God, than the Power of Men: Non asperè quantum existimo, non duriter, non modo imperioso ista Tollantur; sed magis docendo quam jubendo; magis monendo quam minando; nè nos ●psi in nostra potestatè & non Deus in suo Sermone time●tur St. Aug. Epist. ad Aurel. Carth.  
Remember that the Diseases of the Soul, are not to be Cured in a little time; and when they are, it is never done by Constraint and Violence, but by the Fervour of Prayers, and by a soft and gentle insinuation of Truth, mixed with Charity; So that to gain their good Opinion of you, and to induce them to Love the Holy Catholic Church; tell them what St. Augustin told the Manicheans, to oblige them kindly to return to their Mother Church: Let those (says he) treat you with Rigour, that know not how hard a thing it is, to find out Truth, and to avoid Error: Let those use you with Rigour, that know not how hard it is to overcome the prejudice of an Unhappy Education, and the wild Chimaera 's of a Mind prepossessed with Error: Let those treat you with Rigour, that know not how hard it is, to clear the Eye of the Interior Man, and make him capable of Discerning Truth, which is the Sun of the Soul: But let us not use at that rate those that are separated from us, not by any Errors they have invented themselves, but by those of their Forefathers: We therefore offer up our daily Prayers to Almighty God, that being throughly convinced of the false Opinions, your Ignorance rather than Malice engaged you in, he will be graciously pleased to Inspire you with the Spirit of Peace, which will admit of no other impressions, than those of Charity; of no other Interest, than that of Jesus Christ, and of no other desires than those of your Salvation, St. Aug. contr. Epist. fundum cha. 2.  
Sir, I am ever, Your most Affectionate, The Cardinal le CAMUS. At Grenoble the 28 April 1687