fom, that you should make a Jest of her Maxims, and treat them like the Maxims of an Orator? What have fo many diftemper'd Souls done to you, that you fhould feal their vitious Habits by as many Sacrileges as you grant them Abfolutions? What, in fhort, has Truth done to you, that you fhould get it condemn'd more ignominioufly in your Conftitution than it was heretofore, when being conceal'd under the Veil of our Flesh, it was drove out of the Field to be hang'd on a Gibbet? For what Characters can be more infamous, than thofe which you have heap'd up for every one to throw at these two Propofitions of Father Quefnel? (n) 'Tis a Point of great Wisdom, Knowledge, and Charity, to give Souls time to humble themfelves, and to be fenfible of the Nature of Sin; to beg a Spirit of Repentance and Contrition, and to begin, at leaft, to fatisfy the Juftice of God, before they are admitted to a Reconcilia⚫tion of the Church.---- (0) We know not what is Sin, and true Repentance, when we would be foon reftor'd to the Enjoyment of the Felicity which Sin has depriv'd us of, and when we are loth to bear the Confufion of fuch Separation.'These two Propofitions, fays the Conftitution, are either falfe, or captious, or harfh, or shocking to pious Ears; or fcandalous, or dangerous, or rash, or injurious to the Church and her Customs. As for the Terms outrageous and fediticus, I don't • think they are fo; but they may be either impious, or blafphemous, or fufpected of Herefy, or favouring of Herefy, or favourable to Hereticks, Herefies, and Schifms; or, in a word, erronefous, or heretical.' That's the Infcription which ought to be placed (p) at the Head of the Conftitu . (n) Propofition 87. (p) Mark xv. 26. (0) Prop. 88. tion; because 'tis the Reafon for condemning IOI Propofitions, and in particular those two about Penance, juft now mention'd.. But this is not all : These two Propofitions are even a Part of that Poifon and corrupt Matter (q) of the Ulcer, which Clement XI. found in Father Quefnel's Book; and which, like an excellent Surgeon, he lanc'd to let it out: And Father Quefnel, for his Punishment for having thus fill'd his Book with Corruption and Venom, has been term'd a Wolf cover'd with Sheep's clothing, and (r) the true Son of the old Father of Lyes. O God! what must become of the Church, if thou fuffereft the Constitution to make further Progrefs? How can this Church, thy Spouse, be fruitful? Innocence vanishing almoft as foon as Reafon fprung up, fhe had no other Refource left but this, I mean that of Repentance; but 'tis condemn'd and excommunicated; and they who know the Rules of it, and enforce the Practice of 'em, are treated as Wolves and Satan's Pupils. Once more, O God! how then can the Male-Children (f) of thy Church form a Family, if thou doft not procure a Revocation of the Order which the Society has caus'd to be given out, to drown them? (t) Alas! O Lord! how many are already dead, banish'd and interdicted! and what fills up the measure of our Grief, is to fee a Bishop (u) who aukwardly mimicks the Language of a Friend, come and tell us, with an Air of Enthusiasm, That (9) See the Preamble to the Conftitution. (r). Ibid. (S) Exod. i. 22. (t) The Jefuits being the Authors of the Conftitution, they only are chargeable with all the Briefs, and all other Laws of Death, which excommunicate and exterminate the Jansenists. () M. Languet Bishop of Soiffons. to be alarm'd at the Conftitution is injuring (x) • the Church, as if the Church could do less than abbor fuch a Decree; and that to murmur at it is criminal.'---Pray God forgive him the Crime he has been guilty of in uttering fuch Words, or at leaft in fuffering them to appear in his Name. But let us return to our good-natur'd Confeffors. 'Tis a conftant Maxim with the Jefuits, Not to defer Abfolution to habitual Sinners. And if any body should be stagger'd in the Belief of this, after what we have faid already, we hope that all his Doubts will difappear, when he has feen what we are now going to mention, 6 No, fays Father Archdekin, according to the common Rule, (y) Abfolution ought not to be • deferr❜d to those who are habited in Sin, till they are actually reform'd: And this is taught by fo • many Divines, that I could reckon up thirty out ⚫ of different Schools whom I have read, and carefully examin'd; among whom are our Fathers Suarez, Lugo, Dicaftillo, and others.' Father de Reulx, another Jefuit, fays likewise, (z) That to refufe Abfolution to habitual Sinners, 'till fuch time as they have entirely fhaken off the ill Habit, is not acting like the Vicar of a meek Shepherd; and inftead of throwing out the (x) C. i. Advert. p. 71. (y) Cæterum, ut fupra dixi, non effe lege ordinaria diffe rendam confuetudinariis abfolutionem, donec actu vitam emendent, docent tanto numero Theologi, ut ex ipfis poffim omnino triginta rectè lectos & examinatos ex variis fcholis proferre, inter quos eft Suarez, Lugo, Dicaftillo, &c. Archdekin, in bis Theology or Polemic Refolutions, Part jii. Tr. 1. Quest. 15. p. 140. (~) Confuetudinariis abfolutionem negare, donec confuetudinem penitus exuerint, non eft boni & manfueti Paftoris Vicarium agere; fed pro falutis anchora defperationis laqueum objicere. In a Thefis maintain'd at Louvain, July 28. 1688. Pofit. 40. • An • Anchor of Salvation, is leading them into the Gulph of Despair.' Father Maes, another Jefuit, decides this Point with the fame Freedom (a). Abfolution, fays • be, must neither be deny'd nor deferr'd to a Sinner, precisely because he will not forfake the next ⚫ occafion of mortally finning, when he has no juft Reason to forfake it. And as he is a mighty Man for Principles, these are two on which he founds his Decifion: For, fays he, that Maxim, viz. that a Relapfe is a Sign that the Repentance was not fincere; and the other Maxim, viz. that • Sinners are not converted on a fudden, have neither of 'em the Appearance of Truth.' So alfo, fays Father Archdekin, (b) No regard ought to be • had to the new Method of a few Confeffors, who ⚫ condemn this Practice (of granting Abfolution on the Spot) upon a mistaken Notion, that the fudden • Converfion of Sinners is feldom fincere.' • Come away, therefore, ye Sinners, be the Crowd. never fo great: Come, ye that are fix'd in old Habits, and stand at the very brink of Sin; come all away to this Vicar of the good Shepherd. But what did I fay? No no, come rather to Perfius; and you'll fee that the Jefuits impofe upon you, when they tell you, that to think Converfion is work'd flowly and by degrees, is only a new Method, and a falfe Pretext to defer Abfolution. You are deceiv'd, dear Friends, with all your Jefuits. This -Veri (a) Nec adeo præcisè alicui neganda aut differenda eft abfolutio, quod proximam peccandi graviter occafionem nolit deferere, quando juftam non deferendi habet rationem. fpeciem non habet illud, relapfum non verè prius poenituiffe, nec illud peccatores fubito non converti. In a Thefis maintain'd at Louvain, in July 1693. Pofit. 36. (6) Nec audienda eft contra hanc praxim methodus nova paucorum, falfo fundamento innixa, quod nempè fincera peccatoris converfio non foleat effe repentina.. In the Place already quoted, Part iii. tr. 6. p. 597. n. 7. Pagan 6 Pagan Poet will tell you that you are mistaken, if you fuppofe there's fuch a Rapidity in the Tranfition of the Heart from Vice to Virtue. But the Penitent will fay, I have already made an Effort. No no, Perfius will say, I don't believe you are • a Convert for all that; because (c) you have ⚫ once check'd the Violence of your Paffions, and once refus'd to yield Obedience to them, don't tell me that you have broke the Links of the Chain. 'Tis no fuch Thing: For a Dog, which after great struggling breaks the Noofe and runs away, ftill drags part of the Chain with him by which he was faften'd.' This is what Perfius would fay, without granting Absolution: by which 'tis plain how much he was an Anti-Jefuit. Horace would talk in the fame Language to an habitual Sinner. He would fay to fuch a one, Your Heart is like a Veffel in which fome bad Liquor has stagnated. Now, you know, that (d) a Vessel retains the Smell of the first Liquor that is put into it, for a long time.' So that he is for no Abfolution. Catullus would alfo tell him, That a Paffion, 'fuch as that of Love, for inftance, ftrikes its Roots deep; and that the Heart (e) infected with ' it, does not get rid of it all at once.' Seneca would also say to the voluptuous Man; You know not what an Enemy you have admitted (c) Nec tu cum obftiteris femel, inftantique negaris. Nam & luctata canis nodum abripit: attamen ille Perf. Sat. v. 1. 157, etc. (d) Quo femel eft imbuta recens, fervabit odorem, Tefta diu. (e) Difficile eft longum fubitò deponere amorem, Difficile eft Hor. Epift. ii. Catul. Epig. lxxvii. |