nant Colonel de Maffo, and to exprefs again my Ac knowledgment for the many Favours you have been pleafed to beftow upon me. I beg your Majesty's Pardon, for taking fo foon the Liberty of troubling you again, having been fo long troublesome by my Difcourfes, attended with a very unpleafant Cough, of which however I was perfectly cured by the Prefence of your Majesty, when such a hot Dispute should have made it worse.

7

But fince I have mentioned that Difpute, I muft confefs to your Majefty, that notwithstanding the good Reception I met at your Royal Court, I am fomewhat uneafy, because being engaged to maintain the Honour of the Ancient Fathers of the Church, and of the Four Oecumenical Councils, fo much refpected by all Chriftians, whether Catholicks or Protefants, I found myself obliged to answer thofe Gentlemen, (for whom I have nevertheless a great Efteem,) in a manner fuitable to the Injuftice which they did to the Ancient Church, not yet divided into Sects.

If ever I have the Honour to appear again at your Majefty's Feet, according to your Commands, I hope they will no more give Occafion for any fharp Expreffions, by ufing any Word injurious to the greateft Saints of Antiquity, and the brightest Lights of the Church. The like never happened to me, for the Space of Forty Years, in any Controverfy with the greatest Men, at Rome, at Paris, and in other Parts, where Civility and Learning went always together. I flatter myself, that thofe Worthy Gentlemen will continue to be my Friends, as I have ftill a fincere Efteem for them, without keeping any Refentment: And indeed I am free from it, even

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in

+ The Four Oecumenical Councils were never attæcked in thofe Conferences.

1

in the Heat of a Difpute. When we come to meet again, in your Majefty's Prefence, we fhall peaceably enquire after Truth, being influenced and directed in our Enquiries by your Majefty's Great Genius and wonderful Knowledge.

Madam,

in my folitary Jour Merit of your MaGonerofity you have I fhall proclaim to the Virtues of a

It is a great Comfort to me, ney, to think of the incomparable jefty, and of the Goodness and been pleased to express to me. the King, and to all Poland, Queen, who is the Admiration of all Europe, be feeching God to preferve your Majefty for eves. I am,

III. A Letter of the QUEEN of Pruffia to Father VOTA.

You

OU are always the fame: I mean, Sir, the moft obliging Man in the World; and you will never meet any where with fo good a Reception as you deserve. Tho' it be a very difficult Thing not to relifh the Praises of a Perfon of your Tafte and Merit; I must needs own that the Uneafinefs you exprefs about the fmall Skirmishes, wherein you have been engaged with our Divines, made the greatest Impreffion upon me. It discovers the Character of an honeft Man, and of a good Christian, and very much heightens the noble Qualities of your Mind. I can affure you that those Gentlemen entertain the fame Thoughts of you, and that there will be no Controverfy between you and them in that Refpect. The fharp Expreffions that come out on both Sides, upon fuch an Occafion, do but enliven the Converfation, and fhould make no Alteration in the Efteem, which Difputants ought to have one for another, and which no Body will refuse to express for your great Talents.

I am not surprised, that in a very short Time you have heard, in a free Country, a great many Things, which a Man would not hear, for the Space of Forty Years, in a Country where Authority prevails; for they are two Countries, wherein Men fpeak very different Languages.. But, to give you my Thoughts about it, I eafily perceive what moved thofe Gentlemen to drop fome Expreffions reflecting upon the Fathers. We look upon the Holy Scripture as the only Rule of our Faith, by which the Fathers and Councils ought to be examined; and therefore they could not be well pleafed to fee you lay it afide, and flight Reason, whose Authority fhould prevail all over the World. How

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ever,

ever, becaufe Men of different Opinions may maintain their Tenes without any Breach of Friendship, they will undertake to prove that they have advanced nothing, concerning the Fathers and Councils, but what has been published more than once, not only by Proteftant Authors, to whofe Authority you are not bound to fubmit, but alfo by fome Catholick Writers; and, what furprised me moft, even by fome Jefuits.

The moft effential Part of your Conferences ran upon the Authority of the Fathers of the Latin Church, and particularly of St. Auguftin and St. Ferome; and therefore I muft begin with it: The Greck Fathers, as far as I can remember, were hardly mentioned. I only remember, that one Day you feemed to be very much offended with an Affertion of one of thofe Gentlemen, relating to the Greek Church; viz. That many of thofe Fathers were great Ori genifts, moft of them Platonists, full of extravagant Allegories, little skilled in the Style of the New Teftament, which abounds with Hebraifms. Such a Propofition appeared to you a great Paradox, and could not fail to excite that Zeal and that Vivacity, with which I was wonderfully pleased, and which those Gentlemen admired, tho' they were levelled at them. But they have affured me, that they advanced nothing upon that Head, but what agrees with the Opinion of the moft Eminent Criticks of this Age.

To return to St. Auguftin. One needs not confult any other Book, fay thofe Gentlemen, than Mr. Bayle's Dictionary, to find fome Writers of your Society, who spoke more freely of that illuftrious Bifhop, than they did, and even than they would do, If you will give yourfelf the Trouble of reading the Articles Adam and Augustin in that Dictionary,

*John Adam, a Jefuit.

nary, you will be convinced, that they have faid nothing upon this Head but what may easily be maintained.

*

But thofe Gentlemen go farther ftill; for they have affured me, that Cardinal Noris, who is not unknown to your Reverence, was obliged to publifh an Apology for St. Augustin, especially against the Jefuits; wherein he complains, That they have ac cufed St. Auguftin of an affected Obfcurity in Matters of Religion, of contradicting himself, of being inconftant in his Doctrine, and fometimes of advancing very great Errors. Father Adam, a Famous Jefuit in the XVIIth Century, publifhed feveral Things against St. Auguftin, which moved Cardinal Noris to lay, That one must have a brazen Heart, to hear thofe Words that are fo injurious, not only without Indignation, but even without Horror. Father Annat, another Jefuit, Confeffor of Lewis XIV. and Provincial of his Order, was one of the boldeft upon this Subject; and I confefs I was amazed, when I heard he did not fcruple to quote † above Thirty Doctors, Popes, Cardinals, Bilhops, and other Divines of France, Italy, and Germany, (he should have added, and of Japan, fays Cardinal Noris,) who charged St. Auguftin with many Errors. But what furprised me moft, was, That Father Annat pretended to fhew, that his Accufations against St. Auguftin concerned not only Grace, Predeftination, and FreeWill, but also the most effential Doctrines in the Opinion of Proteftants and Catholicks. Nay, that Jefuit 4 alledges the Authority of Two great Men, in the XIIIth and XVIth Centuries; whereby it ap pears, that fuch Accufations against St. Anguftin are not a new Thing.

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The

Vindic. Auguft. Ch. I. Pag. 4, 5..

+ Noris ubi fup. pag. 44.

it Ibid. Pag. 102.