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Preface

THE DESIGN OF THIS WORK.

  1. — A general idea of the Protestant Religion, and the variations of it. — The discovery of them useful to true doctrine and the 'peace of the human mind. — The Authors to whom reference is made in this History.

If Protestants knew thoroughly how their religion was formed ; with how many variations and with what inconstancy their confessions of faith were drawn up; how they first separated themselves from us, and afterwards from one another ; by how many subtilties, evasions, and equivocations they laboured to repair their divisions, and to re-unite the scattered members of their disjointed reformation ; this reformation of which they boast would afford them but little satisfaction, or rather, to speak my mind more freely, it would excite in them only feelings of contempt. It is the history of these variations, these subtilties, these equivocations, and these artifices, which I design to write ; but in order to render this detail more useful to them, some principles must be laid down which they cannot contravene, and which the current of a narration would not permit me to deduce, when once engaged in it.

  1. — Variations in faith a certain proof of falsehood. — Those of the Arians — Steadi?iess of the Catholic Church.

When in expositions of faith variations were seen among' Christians, they were ever considered as a mark of falsehood and inconsistency, if I may so speak, in the doctrine propounded. Faith speaks with simplicity ; the Holy Ghost sheds pure light ; and the truth which he teaches has a language always uniform. Whoever is but the least conversant in the history of the Church, must know she opposed to each heresy appropriate and precise expositions which she never altered ; and if we attend to the expressions by which she condemned heretics, it will appear that they always pro-

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ceed by the shortest and most direct route to attack the error in its source. She acts thus, because all that varies, all that is overlaid with doubtful or studiously ambiguous terms, has always appeared suspicious, and not only fraudulent, but even absolutely false, because it betrays an embarrassment with which truth is unacquainted.

This was one of the grounds on which the ancient doctors condemned the Arians, who were constantly making new confessions of faith, without ever being able to settle themselves. Since their first confession of faith, which was made by Arius, and presented by this arch-heretic to his bishop, Alexander, they never ceased to vary. With this did St. Hilary reproach Constantius, the protector of those heretics ; and whilst this emperor called new councils to reform their creeds and frame new confessions of faith, this holy bishop addressed him in these forcible words1: " Your case is similar to that of unskilful architects, who are never pleased with their own work. You do nothing but build up and pull down; whereas the Catholic Church, the first time it assembled, raised an immortal edifice, and gave in the symbol of Nice so full a declaration of truth, that to condemn Arianism for ever, nothing more is necessary than to repeat that creed."

  1. — The character of heresies is to be changeable — A celebrated passage of Tertullian.

But they are not the Arians alone who have varied in this manner. From the origin of Christianity all heresies have had the same character, and long before the time of Arius, Tertullian had said f : " Heretics vary in their rules ; namely, in their confessions of faith ; every one of them thinks he has a right to change and model what he has received according to his own fancy, as the author of the sect composed it according to his own fancy. Heresy never changes its proper nature in never ceasing to innovate ; and the progress of the thing is like to its origin. What is permitted to Valentine is allowed to the Valentinians ; the Marcionites have equal power with Marcion, nor have the authors of a heresy more right to innovate than their disciples. All changes in heresy, and when examined to the bottom, it is found, in course of time, entirely different in many points from what it had been at its birth."

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  1. — This character of heresy recognised in all ages of the

Church.

This character of heresy has been always observed by Catholics, and two holy authors of the eighth century2 have written " that heresy, however old, is always in itself a novelty; but that, the better to retain the title of being new, it innovates daily, and daily changes its doctrine."

  1. — The charter of immutability in Faith of the Catholic

Church.

But whilst heresies always varying, agree not with themselves, and are continually introducing new rules, that is to say, new symbols, Tertullian says, " That in the church, the rule of faith is unalterable, and never to be reformed"3!-. It is so, because the church which professes to speak, and teach nothing but what she hath received, does not vary ; and on the contrary, heresy, which began by innovating, daily innovates, and changes not its nature.

  1. — A principle of instability in all new doctrines. — Saint Paul. — Saint Chrysostom.

Hence, St. Chrysostom speaking of this precept of the Apostle, " Shun profane babblings which will increase into more ungodliness, J" " avoid novelties in your discourses, for things do not stop there ; one novelty begets another, and there is no end to error when once you have begun to err.1'

  1. — Two causes of instability in heresies.

In heresies, two things cause this disorder : one drawn from the nature of the human mind, which having once tasted the bait of novelty, ceases not to seek with disordered appetite this deceitful allurement ; the other is drawn from the difference that exists between the works of God and those of man. The Catholic truth proceeding from God, has its perfection at once; heresy, the feeble offspring of the human mind, can be formed only by ill fitting patches. When, contrary to the precept of the wise man, we venture to remove § -* the ancient landmarks set by our fathers," and to reform the

1 Thorn. 5 in 2, ad Tim. $ Proverbs xxii. 2b.

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doctrine once received among the faithful, we launch forth, without a thorough insight into the consequences of our attempt. That, which at the commencement, a false light, made us hazard, is found attended with such inconsistencies, as to oblige these reformers every day to reform themselves, so that they cannot tell when their own minds be at rest, or their innovations terminated.

  1. — What those variations are, which we undertake to shew in Protestant Churches.

These are the solid and steady principles by which I undertake to demonstrate to Protestants the falsehood of their doctrine, from their continual variations, and the unstable manner in which they have explained their dogmas. I do not speak of the unsteadiness of individuals, but of the body of the church, in the books which they call symbolical ; namely, those that have been made to express the consent of the churches ; in a word, from their own confessions of faith, decreed, signed, and published ; the doctrine of which has been given out as the doctrine containing nothing but the pure word of God, and which, notwithstanding, has been changed in so many different ways in its chief articles.

y/ 9. — The Protestant party divided into two main bodies.

But when treating of those who, in these latter ages, have called themselves Reformed, it is not my design to speak of the Socinians, nor the different societies of Anabaptists, nor of the other different sects which have sprung up in England and elsewhere, in the bosom of the new reformation ; but of those two bodies only, one of which is composed of Lutherans, namely, those who have for their rule the confession of Augsburg ; the other who follow the sentiments of Zuinglius and Calvin. The former, in the institution of the Eucharist, defend the literal sense ; the latter the figurative. By this character chiefly shall I distinguish one from the other ; though many other very weighty and very important differences exist between them, as will appear by what follows.

  1. — The variations of one party are a proof against the other, chiefly those of Luther and the Lutherans.

The Lutherans will tell us here, that they are very little concerned in the variations and conduct of Zuinglian and

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Calvinists ; and some of those may imagine in their turn, that the inconstancy of Lutherans affects them as little : but both one and the other are mistaken, since the Lutherans can see in the Calvinists the consequences of those commotions which they excited ; and, on the contrary, the Calvinists ought to remark in the Lutherans the disorder and uncertainty of that original which they have followed. But the Calvinists, in particular, cannot deny, that they have always looked upon Luther and the Lutherans, as the authors of their reformation, and not to speak of Calvin, who often mentioned Luther with respect, as the head of the reformation, we shall see, in the sequel of this history, that all the Calvinists (by this name I call the second party of Protestants), the Germans, English, Hungarians, Poles, Dutch, and all others in general, who assembled at Frankfort,4 through the influence of Queen Elizabeth, all these having acknowledged " those of the Confession of Augsburg," namely, the Lutherans, et as the first that gave a new birth to the church," acknowledge also the Confession of Augsburg as common to the whole party, " which they did not pretend to contradict, but to ' understand correctly;'" and this in one article only, that of the Supper ; for this reason also naming amongst their fathers, not only Zuinglius, Bucer, and Calvin, but Luther and Melancthon, and placing Luther at the head of all the reformers.

After that, let them say that the variations of Luther and the Lutherans affect them not ; we will tell them, on the contrary, that, according to their own principles, and their own declarations, to show the variations and inconsistencies of Luther and the Lutherans, is to point out the spirit of giddiness in the source of the reformation, and the head where it had been first conceived.

1 1 . — The collection of the Confessions of Faith, printed at

Geneva.

A long time since a collection of Confessions of Faith, has been printed at Geneva j, in which with that of the defenders of the figurative sense, namely, that of France and the Swiss, are also those of the defenders of the literal sense, namely, that of Augsburg and some others. What is still more remarkable is this, that though the confessions there collected be so different, and in many articles of faith condemn one another, in the preface to this collection, they are,

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notwithstanding, proposed "as one entire body of sacred divinity, and as authentic records, which men ought to have recourse to in order to know the ancient and primitive faith." They are dedicated to the kings of England, Scotland, Denmark, and Sweden, and those princes and republics by whom they are followed. That those kings and states should be separated from each other in communion, as well as in faith, is a matter of no consequence. Those of Geneva address them, notwithstanding, as true believers, "enlightened in these latter times by the special grace of God, with the true light of the Gospel," and then present them with all these confessions of faith, as "an eternal monument of the extraordinary piety of their ancestors."

  1. — The Calvinists approve of the Lutheran Confessions of Faith, at least, as containing nothing contrary to fundamental points.

It is because these doctrines are equally adopted by the Calvinists, either as absolutely true, or at least as having nothing in them contrary to the foundation of faith ; hence it follows, that when we shall see in this history the doctrine of the confessions of faith, not only of France and Switzerland, and the other defenders of the figurative sense, but of Augsburg and others set forth by the Lutherans, this doctrine must not be considered as foreign to Calvinism, but as a doctrine which the Calvinists have approved expressly as true, or left uncensured in the most authentic acts that have passed among them.

  1. — The Lutheran Confessions of Faith.

I shall say less of the Lutherans, who, instead of being moved by the authority of those who defend the figurative sense, have nothing but a contempt and aversion for their sentiments. Their own inconstancy ought to confound them. When we should but read the titles of their Confessions of Faith, in this Geneva collection, and in the other books of the same kind, where they are collected together into a body, we would be astonished at their multitude. The first that appears is that of Augsburg, whence the Lutherans derive their name. It will be seen as presented to Charles V. in 1530, and after that to have been touched and retouched several times. Melancthon who had penned it, entirely altered the sense of it in the apology

PREFACE. / which he wrote afterwards. This apology was subscribed to by the whole party. Thus it was changed in coming forth from the hands of its very author. From that time they never ceased reforming and explaining it in different ways ; so difficult these reformers found it to satisfy themselves, and so little accustomed to teach precisely what was to be believed. But as if one confession of faith alone were not sufficient on the same subject, Luther judged it necessary for him to deliver his sentiments after another manner; and in 1537, he drew up the articles of Smalcald, in order to have them presented to the council which Paul III. had called at Mantua. These articles were signed by the whole party, and are inserted in what the Lutherans call the Book of Concord *.

This explication did not fully satisfy. It was necessary to draw up the confession called Saxonic, which was presented to the Council of Trent in 1551, and that of Wirtemberg, which in 1552 was also presented to the same council.

To these are to be added the explications of the church of Wirtemberg, the birthplace of the Reformation, and the rest of them, which shall in order take their place in this history; particularly those of the Book of Concord, in the " Abridgment of Articles," and also in the same book, the "Explications Repeated." All these are so many several confessions of faith, authentically published by the party, embraced by some churches, impugned by others in points the most important ; and yet these churches would wish to appear as forming one body, because, through policy, they dissemble their dissensions on ubiquity and other matters.

  1. — The Confessions of Faith of the Figurative-Sense Defenders, and the second party of Protestants.

Nor was the other party of Protestants less fruitful in confessions of faith. At the same time that the Confession of Augsburg was presented to Charles V., those who dissented from it presented to him their own, published in the name of four cities of the empire, the first of which was Strasburg.

This so little pleased the defenders of the figurative sense, that every one 'would make his own : we shall see four or five after the fancy of the Swiss. But if the Zuinglian ministers had their way of thinking, others were no less singular in theirs : this diversity gave rise to the confession of France and Geneva. About the same time were published two

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confessions of faith in the name of the Church of England ; as many in the name of the Kirk of Scotland. Frederick III., Elector Palatine, would make his own separately and apart : this, Avith the others, took its place in the collection of Geneva. The Dutch would adhere to none of those already made : we have, therefore, a Dutch confession of faith approved by the Synod of Dort. But why should not the Calvinists of Poland have theirs ? Indeed, though they had subscribed the last confession of the Zuinglians, yet we still find they published another at the Synod of Czenger. Not satisfied -with this, assembled at Sendomir, with the Lutherans and Vaudois, they agree to a new way of expounding the article on the Eucharist, — yet so that none of them departed from their former sentiments.

  1. — Other authentic Acts. — How these variations prove the weakness of the Protestant Religion.

To omit the confession of faith framed by the Bohemians who wished to please both parties of the new' reformation — I speak not of the treaties of concord which were made between the churches with so many variations and so many equivocations, they will appear in their proper place, with the decisions of national synods, and the other confessions of faith made in different circumstances. Great God ! Is it possible, that upon the same matters and the same questions, so many multiplied acts, so many ecisions, and different confessions of faith are necessary? And yet I cannot boast that I know all, and I know that I cannot find all. The Catholic Church never had occasion to oppose the same heresy a second time : but the churches of the new reformation, which has produced such a number, strange to say, and yet true, are not yet content ! And we shall see in this history that the Calvinists have new confessions^ which have suppressed or reformed all the others.

These variations fill us with astonishment. They will appear worse when we learn the detail and the manner in which ■ these acts, so authentic, were drawn up. We are amused — I speak it without exaggeration — with the name of a confession of faith — and nothing has been less serious in the new reformation than that which is most serious in all religion.

  1. — The Protestants are ashamed of so many Confessions of Faith. — The vain pretexts by which they endeavour to excuse them.

This prodigious multitude of confessions of faith has alarmed those who made them : we shall see the weak reasons by which they endeavour to excuse them ; but I cannot avoid mentioning those which have been set forth in the preface of the collection of Geneva5, because they are general, and bear equally upon all the churches which call themselves reformed.'1

The first reason assigned to establish the necessity of multiplying these confessions is, that as many articles of faith were attacked, it became necessary to oppose many confessions to this great number of errors. I agree to the justice of this reasoning, and at the same time, by a contrary reason, I demonstrate the absurdity of all these confessions of faith of the Protestants, since all, as it appears by reading the titles, only regard articles precisely the same ; so that we can address them with St. Athanasiusf, " Why a new council — new confessions — a new creed ? What new question has been raised ?

Another excuse alleged is, that the whole world ought (as the apostle says,) to render an account of their faith, so that the churches spread in different places, have a right to declare their belief by a public testimony ; as if all the churches in the world, however Separated they may be, cannot agree in the same testimony, when they have the same belief; as, in fact, from the origin of Christianity we have witnessed a like consent in the churches. Who will shew me that the churches of the east have had in primitive times a confession different from that of the west ? Has not the symbol of Nice served equally as a testimony against all the Arians — the definition of Chalcedon against all the Eutychians — the eight chapters of Carthage against all the Pelagians ? and so of the rest.

But, say the Protestants, was there one of the reformed churches which could make a law for all the rest ? No, certainly ; all these new churches, under the pretext of shaking off domination, have deprived themselves of order, and are unable to preserve the principle of unity. But, in fine, if the truth governs all, as they boast, to unite them in one confession of faith, nothing more is necessary than that

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all should enter into the sentiment of him to whom God had given the grace first to explain the truth.

In fine, we read in the preface of Geneva, that if the reformation had produced but one confession of faith, this consent might have been taken for a studied combination ; whereas, a concordance between so many churches, and confessions of faith, without agreement, is the work of the Holy Ghost. This agreement would indeed be surprising ; but, unfortunately, it is not found in these confessions of faith ; and from this history it will appear, that in a matter so serious there never was such inconstancy.

  1. — The Protestants of the two parties, in vain endeavour to re-unite under one sole and uniform Confession of Faith.

This great evil was deeply felt in the reformation, and the attempt to remedy it proved fruitless. All the second party of Protestants held a general assembly to draw up a common confession of faith ; but we see by the acts, that having no principle of unity, an agreement was impossible6.

The Lutherans, who appeared more united in the confession of Augsburg, were not less embarrassed with different editions, and could find therein no better remedyf.

  1. — How much these varieties degenerate from the ancient simplicity of Christianity.

We shall be tired, no doubt, of witnessing these variations, and so many false subtilties of the new reformation ; so many cavils on words ; so many different agreements ; so many equivocations, and forced explanations, on which these have been founded. Is this, it will be often said, the Christian religion, which the Pagans have formerly admired as so simple, so pure, so precise in its dogmas ? Is this the Christian religion, perfect and simple ? No, certainly it is not. Ammian Marcellin was right when he said, that Constantius, by all his councils and all his symbols, had strayed from this admirable simplicity, and that he had weakened the whole vigour of the faith, by the perpetual fear which he entertained lest he should be deceived in his sentiments J.

  1. — Why it will be very necessary in this history to speak of those whom the Protestants call the Reformers.

While it is my intention to represent in this work the confessions of faith, and the other public acts, where the variations appeared not only of individuals, but of entire churches of the new reformation, at the same time I cannot avoid speaking of the chiefs of the party who have drawn up these confessions, or have made those changes. Thus Luther, Melancthon, Carolstad, Zuingle, Bucer, Ecolampadius, Calvin, and the others, will appear often in their places ; but I shall not say anything which is not taken from their own writing, or authors above suspicion, so that there wTill not be in all this narrative any fact that is not certain and useful in elucidating the variations whose history I write.

  1. — Parts of this history whence they are drawn. — Why no history more certain and more authentic than this.

With regard to the public acts of Protestants, besides their confessions of faith and their catechisms, which are in the hands of the whole world, I have found some others in the collection of Geneva ; others in the book called the " Concord," printed by the Lutherans in 1654; others in the result of the national synod of the pretended reformers, which [ have seen in an authentic form in the king's library ; others in the Sacramentarian History, printed at Zurich in 1602, by Hospinian, a Zuinglian author, or, in fine, in other Protestant authors ; in a word, I shall say nothing which is not authentic, and incontestable. As to the rest, to speak plainly, it is Avell known of what persuasion I am ; for certainly I am a Catholic, as submissive as any other to the decisions of the church, and so disposed, that no one fears more to prefer his own private opinion to the universal judgment. After that, to pretend to be neutral or indifferent to the cause whose history I write, or to dissemble what I am, would be to offer a gross illusion to the reader ; but with this sincere avowal, I maintain that Protestants cannot deny that I am entitled to belief, and that they will never read a history more indubitable than this ; since in all that I have to say against their churches and their authors, I will mention nothing which is not clearly proved by their own witnesses.

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  1. — Some objections that may be made against this work.

I have not spared pains to transcribe them. The reader will perhaps complain that I have not spared his. Others will probably condemn my dwelling upon things which may appear trivial to them ; but besides that those, who are accustomed to treat on matters of religion, well know, in a subject of such delicacy and importance, every thing, even to the least word, is essential ; we ought to consider not what things are in themselves, but what they have been, and what they are in the minds of those with whom we have to deal ; and, after all, it will be easily seen that this history is entirely of a description cpuite peculiar ; that it ought to come forth to the world with all its proofs, and armed as it were on all sides ; and in order to render it more convincing and useful, it was necessary to make it less amusing.

  1. — Some things which it was necessary to trace farther back ; as the history of the Vaudois, of the Alb.igetises, of John Wickliff, and of John Huss.

Though my plan may appear to confine me to the history of Protestants, in certain places I judged it necessary to ascend to matters of a more distant date; at that period especially, when the Vaudois and Hussites were seen to re-unite themselves with the Calvinists and Lutherans. In this place it was necessary to know the origin and sentiments of these sects, to point out their extraction, and to distinguish themfrom those with whom some have wished to confound them ; to detect the Manicheism of Peter of Bucis, and the Albigenses, and shew how the Vaudois emanated from them ; to give an account of the blasphemies of Wickliff, from whom Huss and his disciples took their birth ; in a word, to reveal the shame of all these sectaries to those who glory in such predecessors.

  1. — Why the order of time is followed without distinction of the subject matter.

As to the arrangement of this work, the disputes and decisions will, without the distinction of matter, be seen to proceed in it in the same order in which they happened. By this means, it is certain that the variations of Protestants, and the state of their churches, will be more clearly marked. By thus taking in at one view the circumstances of time and place, we shall obtain a clearer view of what may serve for the conviction or defence of the parties concerned.

  1. — The whole dispute regarding the Church put together. — The present state of this famous question, and to what terms it is reduced by the ministers Claude and Jurieu.

There is but one controversy the history of which I give separately ; it is that which regards the church. This is a matter of such importance, that by its decision alone all disputes might be terminated, were it not as much obscured in the writings of Protestants, as it is clear and intelligible in itself. To restore it to its native plainness and simplicity, I have collected, in the last book, all I had to mention on this subject; that the reader, having once seen the difficulty to the bottom, may perceive what obliged these new churches to change into so many shapes in succession, — what in the end is but one and the same. For, in a word, the whole matter at issue is to shew where the church was before the reformation. Naturally and accordingly to the commonly-received opinions of all Christians, it ought to be acknowledged as visible ; and in their first confessions of faith, namely those of Augsburg and Strasburg, the first of each party, they went thus far. By this they obliged themselves to shew, as agreeing with them in one and the same belief, not private individuals scattered up and down, some on one point and some on another, but bodies of a church, namely, bodies composed of pastors and people. For a long time they amused men in saying, that the church indeed was not always in a state of splendour, but in all times there was, at least, some little assembly where truth made itself heard ; at last they have well perceived they could not point out any one, either little or great, obscure or illustrious, which was of the Protestant belief, the subterfuge of an invisible church very opportunely occurred to them, and the dispute long turned upon this question. In our days they have more clearly perceived, that a church reduced to an invisible state was a chimera, irreconcilable with the plan of scripture, and common notions of Christians, and this bad position is now abandoned. The Protestants have been obliged to seek for their succession in the church of Rome. Two celebrated ministers of France vied with each other which should best cover the inconsistencies of this system, to use an expression then in fashion. It is well known, that those two ministers are M. Claude and Jurieu. These men were gifted with wit and learning, subtilty and address, and every qualification necessary to make a good defence. None put on a better countenance than they, nor classed their

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adversaries, with a more haughty and disdainful air, with weak people and missionaries for whom they entertained so great contempt ; the difficulty, however, which they would make appear so light, proved at last so great, that it raised a division in the party. At length they were obliged to acknowledge publicly, that in the church of Rome, as in other churches, eternal salvation with the essential succession of true Christianity were found — a secret which the policy of the party had so long kept concealed. They have given us great advantages besides ; they were driven into such visible excesses ; they have so far forgotten both the ancient maxims of the reformation, and their own confessions of faith, that I could not but relate this change in full. Having applied myself with great care to trace out exactly the plan of these two ministers, and shew plainly the state in which they iiave placed the question, I must acknowledge sincerely, that I have found in their writings, with the most dexterous shifts, as much erudition and as much subtilty as ever I have observed in all the Lutheran or Calvinistic authors with whom I am acquainted, tf among Protestants it should be judged advisable, under the pretext of the absurdities into which they have been forced, to contradict and recall what they have granted, and again take shelter in the invisible church, or other retreats equally abandoned, this would be like the disorder of a defeated army, who, dismayed at their overthrow, should seek to re-enter those forts which they had been unable to maintain, at the peril of being soon forced out a second time : or like the restlessness of a sick person, who, after much turning to and fro in bed in search of a more easy place, comes back to that he had just left, where he soon finds himself as uncomfortable as before.

  1. — What complaints Protestants may make, and how frivolous.

I have but one thing to fear : it is, if I may be allowed to speak it, lest I should lay too open to our brethren the weakness of their reformation. Some there are, who, seeing their religion so manifestly in the wrong, rather than be pacified, will be exasperated against us, though alas ! I am far from imputing to them the misfortunes of their birth, and I pity much more than I blame them. But they will not fail to rise up against us. What recriminations will be prepared against the church, and what reproaches against myself, probably, on the nature of this work ? How many of our ad- versaries, though without reason, will tell me, that departing from my own character and maxims, and converting disputes of religion into personal and particular accusations, I have abandoned that moderation, which they themselves have praised ? But certainly, they will merit the blame, — if this history renders the reformation odious, honest minds will clearly see, that it is not I, but the thing itself that speaks. In a discourse in which with regard to matters of faith, I propose to show the most authentic acts of the Protestant religion, nothing less than personal facts can be the question in hand ; and if these be found in their authors, whom they represent as men sent in an extraordinary manner to revive Christianity in the sixteenth century, a conduct directly opposed to such a design ; if through the whole party they have formed, characters quite contrary to a reviving of Christianity be seen ; in this part of the history, Protestants will learn not to dishonour God and his providence, by attributing to him a special choice which would be evidently bad.

  1. — What recriminations may be allowed them.

We must bear with recriminations, together with all those inventions and calumnies with which our adversaries are accustomed to load us. I require of them but two conditions, which they must allow to be just. The first is, not to think of accusing us of variations in matters of faith, until after they have cleared themselves ; for they cannot deny, that this course would not be an answer to this history, but would tend to bewilder and delude the reader ; secondly, not to oppose reasonings or conjectures to certain facts ; but certain facts to certain facts, and authentic decisions of faith to authentic decisions of faith.

And if by such proofs they shew us the least inconsistency, or the least variation, in the dogmas of the Catholic church, from her first origin down to us, that is from the foundation of Christianity, I will readily own to them that they are right, and I myself will suppress my whole history.

  1. — This History very conducive to the knowledge of Truth.

It is not, however, my design to make a jejune and insipid recital of Protestant variations. I shall disclose their causes ; I shall shew that no change happened among them, which does not argue an inconsistency in their doctrine,

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and is not the necessary result of it. Their variations, like those of the Arians, will discover what they would have excused, what supplied, what disguised in their belief. Their disputes, their contradictions, and their equivocations, will bear witness to Catholic truth, which, from to time, must also be represented such as it is in itself, in order to make it appear by how many ways its enemies have been forced at length to draw near to it again. Thus, in the very midst of so many disputes, the dark and inevitable confusions of the new reform, Catholic truth, like a beautiful sun piercing through opaque clouds, will everywhere display its lustre ; and this treatise, should the execution equal the desire with which God has inspired me, will be the more convincing demonstration of the justice of our cause, as it will proceed from principles and facts allowed for certain by all.

  1. — And to facilitate a reunion.

In short, the contests and agreements of Protestants will point out to us in what, on one side or the other, they have placed the fundamentals of religion, and the point at issue : what they must aver, what, at least, they must support in conformity with their own principles. The Confession of Augsburg alone, with its apology, will decide more in our favour than one thinks, and, I presume, what is most essential, we shall convince the Calvinist, complaisant to some, inexorable to others, that what appears odious in the Catholic, and not so in the Lutheran, at bottom is not essentially different ; when it will appear, that what is aggravated against one, is extenuated and tolerated in the other ; this will prove sufficiently, that such conduct proceeds not from principle, but aversion, which has ever been the true spirit of schism. This trial to which the Calvinist subjects himself, will reach much further than he is aware. The Lutheran will also find disputes greatly lessened by the truths he already acknowledges, and this work, which at first might seem contentious, will tend more to promote peace than strife.

  1. — How Catholics ought to be affected by this History.

As to the Catholic, he will everywhere praise the Almighty, for the continual protection he affords his church, in order to maintain her simplicity, and inflexible uprightness, amidst the subtilties, with which men strive to bewilder the truths of the Gospel.

The perverseness of heretics will be a great and instructing spectacle to the humble of heart. They will learn to despise that knowledge which puffs up, and that eloquence which dazzles ; and the talents which the world admires will appear to them of little value, when they see such vain curiosities, such caprices in learned men, such dissimulation, such artifices in the most polite writers ; so much vanity and ostentation, such dangerous illusions amongst those called men of wit ; and finally, so much arrogance and passion, and consequently so many and so manifest errors in men that appear great, because they are followed by the crowd. They will deplore the errors of the human mind, and be convinced that the only remedy for these great evils, is to break off all attachment to private judgment, for it is this which distinguishes Catholic from Heretic. The property of the heretic, that is, of one who has a particular opinion, is, to be wedded to his own conceits : the property of the Catholic, that is, universal, is, to prefer the general sense of the whole church to his own sentiments ; this is the grace for which we shall petition in behalf of those that err. We shall, however, be filled with a salutary and holy awe, when we contemplate the dangerous and slippery temptations with which God tries his Church, and the judgments which he exercises on her ; nor shall we cease to pour forth prayers to obtain for her, pastors equally enlightened and exemplary, since it is through want of them that the flock, which has been redeemed at so great a price, has been so miserably ravaged.

VOL. I.

THE HISTORY

VARIATIONS OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

Footnotes

  1. Lib. contra Const. N. 23. Col. 1234. f De Prseter, c. 42. ↩

  2. Eth. et Beat. lib. 1. contra Eliss. t De Berg. vcl. N, 1. ↩

  3. Act. Auth. Blond, p. 63. f Syntagma Conf. Fidei. Gen. 1054. ↩

  4. Concord, pp. 298, 730, 570, 778. ↩

  5. Synt. Conf. Preef. t Athan. de Syn. et Ep. a*l Afr. ↩

  6. Liv. 12. f Ibid. 3, 8 + Ammian Marcel, lib. 21. ↩

Chapter 2 of 18