Clergy in their Synod at Paris and by almost all the rest of the Bishops of the Western Church against your pretended General Council of Nice wherein this Doctrine was first establish'd The Definitions of this Council being sent to the Emperour out of the East he transmitted a Copy of them into England Hereupon Alcuinus who had formerly been his School-master wrote an Answer to him in the Name of the Clergy of England to declare their dislike of this Doctrine and the account of which our ancient Histories give us in these words In the Year from the Incarnation of our Lord 792 Charles King of France sent to Britain a Synode Booke which was directed unto him from Constantinople Hoveden Annal ad Ann. 792. Simeon Dunelm Hist p. 111. Mat. West ad An. 793. Spelm. Conc. Tom. 1. p. 306. in the which Book alas many things unconvenient and contrarye to the true Fayth were found in especial that it was establyshed with a whole consent almost of all the Learned of the East no less than of three hundredth Bishops or more that Men ought to worship Images the whiche the Churche of God DOTH VTTERLYE ABHORRE Against the whiche Alcuine wrote an Epistle wonderouslye proved by the Authoritye of Holy Scripture and brought that Epistle with the same Booke and Names of our Byshops and Princes to the King of France And thus neither was this Doctrine nor Practice propagated down from Austin to King Henry the Eighth but on the contrary unknown to Austin and rejected as you see by the Church of England almost 200 Years after his first Conversion of it 35. Ibid. And this may suffice to shew both your Skill in Church-History and the little pretence you have for that vain and most false Assertion that your Religion was taught and practised by S. Austin and propagated down even to King Henry the Eighth 's time whereas indeed it is made up of such Corruptions as crept into it long after his Decease Your next business is to rail at King Henry the Eighth which you do very heartily See Thuanus tho let me tell you that better Men than you are even of your own Commuion and who were much more acquainted with the Affairs of those Times speak better things of him And had he been as bad as you are able to represent him yet I could send you to some of the Heads of your Church who have as far excell'd him in Wickedness as ever any of your Canonists have pretended they did in Authority But the Merits of Princes as well as ordinary Persons are measured by some Men not according to their real worth but as they have served their Interests or opposed the Usurpations And tho King Henry the Eighth be now such a Monster yet had he not thrown off the Pope's Supremacy you would have made no difficulty to have forgiven him all his other Sins whilst he lived and would have found out somewhat to justify his Memory now he is dead We know how one of the best Popes of this last thousand Years called Heaven and Earth to celebrate the Praises of a Traytor that had murder'd his Master and possess'd himself of his Empire And Cromwell himself tho a Usurper and Heretick yet wanted not his Panegyrists among those pretenders to Loyalty who now cannot afford a good word to the Honour of a Prince from whose Royal Line their present Sovereign at this day derives his Right to the Crown he wears 36. But however were the Vices of that Prince otherwise never so detestable yet I shall leave it to the World to judg who proceeded with the most Care and Sincerity in the Point you insist upon of his Divorce with Q. Catherine the King who consulted almost all the Learned Men as well as the most famous Vniversities of Europe and then acted according to their Determination Or the Pope who by his notorious jugling with him in the whole process of that Affair shew'd that he resolved to decide it not by any Laws of God or the Church but meerly as his greater Interests with the Emperor or the King should move him to do 37. Ibid. The next step you make is from King Henry to his Son King Edward the Sixth And here you tell us Reply p. 8. That as Schism is commonly follow'd with Heresy so now the Protector who was tainted with Zuinglianism a Reform from Luther endeavour'd to set it up here in England In which you again discover your Zeal against us but not according to Vnderstanding There is hardly any one that knows any thing of the beginning of this Reformation but will be able to tell you that the chief Instrument of it was one whom you have not once mentioned Arch-bishop Cranmer I will not deny but that the Protector concur'd with him in his design but whether he was Zuinglian or what else neither you nor I can tell Dr. Heylin See your Hist Coll. p. 103. who on this occasion is usually your Oracle seems rather to think he was a Lutheran tho easie to be moulded into any form But this I know that had you been so well vers'd in these things Hosp Hist Sacram par 2. p. 33. Lampadius par 3. p. 439. Scultetus Annal. ad An. 1616. as one who pretends to write Historical Remarks ought to be you would have spared that idle Reflection of Zuinglius's being a Reform from Luther it being evident to those who understand his History that neither himself nor the Cantons in which he preach'd were ever Lutherans But on the contrary whereas Luther appear'd but in the Year 1517 Zuinglius began to preach against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome some Years before when the very Name of Luther was not yet heard of And had several Conferences with Cardinal Matthews then in Switzerland to this purpose before ever the other appear'd in publick against them So unfortunate a thing is it for Men to pretend to be witty upon others without considering their own blind side But you go on 38. Ad pag. 9. Reply And from that time the Catholick Doctrine which had been taught by our first Apostles and propagated till then began to be rejected and accused as Erroneons Superstitious and Idolatrous and they who profess'd it persecuted Answ This is still of the same kind as false as it is malicious How false it is that the Doctrine you now profess was either planted here by our first Apostles or propagated till this time in the Church of England I have already shewn And for the Persecution you speak of methinks you should have been asham'd to mention that word being to name Q. Mary's Reign in the very next Line But what at last did this Persecution amount to Were any Roman Catholicks banish'd or put to death for their Religion Were the Laws turn'd against them or any Dragoons sent to convert them No Bonner and Fisher and two others Heath Bishop of Worcester and Day Bishop of Chichester
most celebrated Madonna 's are the Pictures of the Painters Whores set up in their Churches as Objects of the Peoples Veneration But this and other Excesses of the like kind I purposely forbear lest I should be thought to please my self in your Impieties which I heartily lament and earnestly be-beseech God to reform in you Nor should I have said thus much but only to shew how little Reason you had to enter on this new and most Impertinent Subject of the Benefit of Images and that were our Cause to be try'd by this alone we might even so expect to carry it against you And this to your first Pretence 15. The next thing you offer in favour of your Images is Reply § 20. That there is no now danger of Idolatry in this Practice seeing all Persons are taught that there is but one God to whom Adoration is only due and therefore that they cannot be capable of erring so grosly as to give Divine Honour to an Image or to think any Virtue annexed to them for which they ought to be adored In short it is you say by the subtilty of the Devil who hates any thing that excites Devotion that these helps to Piety are now branded with the horrid Note of Idolatry and Catholics represented as if they paid the Act of Adoration to the Images themselves 16. Answ That the Devil is an Enemy to Piety and to all those things that may any way serve to promote it I can easily believe but that it is He who upon this account stirs up us to oppose your Idolatry I shall hardly Credit tho you should give me as good an assurance of it as ever your Brother the old Monk did the second Council of Nice when he told them that the Devil himself had confess'd to him how much he hated your Holy and Venerable Images De Idololatria I am sure Tertullian was so far from this that he thought 't was the Devil that instigated Men to bring them into the World and not to help to cast them out But to overthrow at once both your Reflection and Argument together I do here roundly affirm That what you say is so far from being true That there is now no danger of Idolatry in the Worship of Images that on the contrary I will shew that in the Worship of them publickly authorized and practiced amongst you you do actually commit it And then every Body will see what Spirit it is that Acts us in opposition to this Service and who it is that blinds you so far as to make you contend for that which both the Holy Scripture condemns and the Primitive Christians neither knew nor would have endured And this brings me to my first Proposal wherein I am SECT II. To make good the Charge of Image-Worship against you and Answer those Evasions by which you endavour to clear your selves of it 17. NOW that you give Religious Worship to Images has been so fully proved in that Learned Book I have before refer'd you to in Answer to T. G. both from the Definitions of your Councils of Nice and Trent and from the unanimous Voice of almost all the great Men of your Church who have written any thing of this matter that I shall need say but very little here in Confirmation of it And therefore not to mustiply Quotations by transcribing what has been already collected as to this matter I shall content my self with this plain and I think unexceptionable manner of proceeding against you 1st I will propose to you the Voice of your Church in her Definitions 2dly I will give you the Interpretation of her Sense in these Definitions from Card. Capisucchi only and out of that Book to which Mons de Meaux himself appeals 3dly I will from both vindicate the Account I have given of the Practice of your Church in Conformity to these Principles 18. 1st For what concerns the first of these the Voice of your Church as to this Point the Council of Trent declares That the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints are more especially to be had and retained in Temples and that due Honour and Veneration is to be paid to them Not that it should be believed that there is any Divinity or Virtue in them for which they are to be Worshipped or that any thing is to be Asked of them or that any Trust is to be put in Images but because the Honour which is given to them is referr'd to the Proto-types which they Represent so that by the Images which you Kiss and before which you uncover your Heads and fall down you Adore Christ and Worship the Saints which they Represent 19. Thus that wary Synod Neither determining what Honour should be given to Images nor yet setting any bounds to any But then as it expresly allows them the external Marks of Divine Worship so by fixing the Grounds of this Honour to be the passing of it to the Proto-type not only Soto Turrian and Naclantus three great Divines concern'd in that Synod but also the Generality of those who have treated since of this matter have concluded that the same Adoration is to be paid to the Image and the Proto-type So that if Christ himself be worshipp'd with Divine Worship then must the Crucifix also be worshipp'd with the very same But this will better appear 19. 2dly From the Account I am to give of the Doctrine of your Church as to this Worship from Cardinal Capisucchi And to whose Book since Mons de Meaux has thought fit to Appeal I am content to submit the Decision of this Controversy to his Sentence and shall leave the World to judg whether I have M srepresented or whether the Bishop and You have not departed from the Doctrine of the Council of Trent 20. Now that we may know precisely what in his Opinion that due Honour and Veneration is which you pay to Images and which the Council so cautiously declined the telling us we will consider first of all what was thought to be so by them whose Opinions he rejects as not fully delivering your Churches Sense Such were Card. Capis Controv. p. 624 625. 21. First of all Durandus Who thought that properly speaking the Images are not to be Adored but because they resemble things worthy Adoration which by remembrance are Adored in Presence of the Images therefore the Images themselves improperly are and may be said to be Adored Now this he Rejects because says he in truth Ibid. 625. it takes away the Worship of Images and concludes it with another of your great Men Raphael de Tuire to be Dangerous Rash and savouring of Haeresy or as Ferdinandus Velosillus phrases it False Rash and Erroneous but especially since the Definition of the Council of Trent Card. Capis Ibid. par ii p. 625. 22. The next whose Opinion he Rejects is Vasquez Who taught that the Images themselves were no otherwise to be Adored
neither universally nor necessarily received Answ And this Book tho it produced not any manner of Authority for its Representations and was contrary in most Points to the Opinions of the chiefest Writers of your Church soon received an Answer in every particular There your Doctrine was truly stated from your own Authors his false Colours detected and to your shame never replied to For I suppose no one will be so far mistaken as to think that Triflle that came out against it deserves the Name of an Answer 57. Ad pag. 13. And whilst this Book yet subsists in its full force and that we have so effectually shewn you the Opinions of the most Eminent Divines of your Church the Practice of the Generality amongst you and the very words of your Councils and Liturgies to be utterly inconsistent with your new Representations that you are not able to make any reasonable Defence of the one and are forced utterly to reject after all the other What a Forehead must that Man have that can tell the World as you do That we CANNOT DENY what yet you complain of Me in this very Book for denying that all Catholicks do believe according to that Doctrine which the Representer expresses and which you in vain endeavour as I shall hereafter shew you to defend 58. Ad pag. 14. Reply During this Dispute two Books you say were publish'd with the same Intention The first The Acts of the Clergy of France in their General Assembly 1685. in which was shewn in one Column the Doctrine of your Church from the words of the Council of Trent in the other the Calumnies of Protestants against you from the very words of their Authors And this you think to have been so clear a Proof of what the Representer had said that you suppose his Adversaries would not think fit to contest it longer against such plain and ample Testimonies Answ And here you think you have found out somewhat to boast of A Wonder indeed not every day to be seen a Book never yet answered by us 'T is true I do not know of any one here at home that has taken the pains to examine the Clergy's Quotations as the Answer to Papists protesting against Protestant Popery has done for the Instances there offer'd by their Humble Imitator the Representer But then the discovery that was made by that worthy Author of the whole Cheat by distinguishing Matters of Dispute from Matters of Representation has abundantly confuted all their Pretences We charge you for Instance with Idolatry for worshipping of Images Praying to Saints and for adoring the Host. If you do not worship Images nor pray to Saints nor adore the Host then indeed we Misrepresent you But now for the other Point that therefore you commit Idolatry this is our Consequence which we draw from those Practices and must be put to the Trial betwixt us If our Reasons be good our Conclusion will be so too If they are not we are then mistaken in our Opinion and you may say we are in an Error but we do not therefore misrepresent you We never yet pretended that you thought Idolatry to be lawful or that you confess'd that you committed it We accuse you of it only as a thing which upon the Premises before mention'd we conclude you to be guilty of and in that certainly if we misrepresent any Body it must be our selves not you Now this one thing being observed the Book you mention is utterly overthrown and both the Artifice and the Evidence fall together 59. Ibid. The other Book you tell us you publish'd was the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition and what has been done on this occasion is very well known and I shall not need to give any account of it 60. Ad pag. 17. And thus have we done with the two Points to which I reduced the Sum of your Preface What farther remains is your Advice to the Readers of our Books what they are to take notice of and what to pass over in them You tell them that you will lay down the true State of the difference betwixt us and that whatever they find written by us that does not immediately oppose some of those Tenets they should pass it over tho never so plausible or pleasing 61. Now how Politick such an Advice as this may be to hinder the good effect of our Writing I will not dispute but sure I am it is highly unreasonable For what if the very Subject of the Controversie should be as indeed at this time it is whether those things which you here lay down be your Churches Doctrine or only your private Exposition of it Ought not the judicious Reader in this case to consider our Allegations and see whether we have not reason to say that you do endeavour to delude them by pretending that to be your Belief which in truth is not received by the Generality of your Church as such As for instance You positively deny that the Holy Cross is upon ANY ACCOVNT WHATSOEVER to be worshipped with DIVINE WORSHIP Now this we deny too and therefore as to this Point there can be no Dispute betwixt us But now what if I should undertake to shew that you here impose upon your Reader and that whatsoever you pretend yet your Church does teach that the Holy Cross IS TO BE WORSHIPPED with DIVINE WORSHIP and Practises accordingly Is not this think you fit to be considered by him Or is the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition become so far the Guide in Controversie in France and England that all other Expositions are to be look'd upon as superannuated and this only to contain the true Interpretation of your pretended Catholick Faith. 62. But indeed I do not wonder that you would perswade your Proselytes not to read our Books since you easily guess that those things may well stagger them which were not your Obstinacy or your Prejudices too strong for your Reason and Conscience to grapple with must long e're this have convinced as they have sufficiently confuted your own selves 63. Ad pag. 27. And because you are not willing to prolong Disputes you do here declare that if the Defender do meddle hereafter with such Points as those which are not of necessary Faith you shall not think your self obliged to answer him tho after that he may perhaps boast how he had the last Word Answ That is to say the great business of the Defender has been to discover your true Doctrine and yours to dissemble it Now if the Defender makes any Answer at all to your Reply it must be to maintain those Doctrines to be yours which he had laid to your Charge and which you deny And this if he does you here declare you will have done with him Which I think is plainly to confess that you have had enough of this Argument 64. But Sir the Defender has such a kindness for his Subject and such a respect for You that he is resolved not to part either
You tell us for instance that the Holy Cross is upon no account whatsoever to be worshipped And yet certainly your Good-friday Service directly leads you to it But then if your new Proselyte begins to enquire what this means presently you tell him a Story of Absolute and Relative Worship and he who knows nothing more of the Matter than you are pleased to let him humbly submits himself to yours and the Church's Judgment 69. If we urge your Expressions against you and he fortunes to get something of this by the end Either you confidently deny that you have any such words a Case which has happen'd to my self in this very Allegation or if you are baffled there then 't is not for instance Come let us Adore the Cross but Come let us adore Christ who suffered on it concerning which we must discourse a little by and by 70. If this too fails and we shew you plainly that you say We adore thy Cross O Lord So that our Saviour is himself distinguish'd from his Cross which you worship then the Cross there is put to signify Christ's Passion though I am afraid the Adoring of Christ's Passion is something like that which you call Jargon and we in plain English Nonsence 71. If even this be beaten off and other Hymns produced in which that Cross is plainly specified which bore Christ's Sacred Members the Tree upon whose Arms the Price of the World hung then you have your Figures ready 't is a Metonymie in one line a Prosopopaeia in the next in the third a conjunction of both together And with these Quirks the poor Implicite Proselyte's Head is turn'd round He believes there is something meant by all these hard words though he knows nothing of the Matter and his Opinion of your Integrity joined with the good assurance with which you pronounce your Oracles and thunder out your Anathema's against us as Hereticks and Schismaticks Calumniators Falsifiers Misrepresenters and what not makes him that he no longer questions your Pretences 72. As for your Authors he knows nothing of them or if he did yet those who have so many tricks to elude such clear Expressions of their publick Rituals could not want distinctions enough to expound them Or however a general out-cry against them as private Men and for whose Opinions the Church is not to Answer will at once silence all such Allegations that they shall not make any the least impression upon them By all which it appears that you may as we affirm you do palliate your Doctrine and yet your Proselyte be never the wiser for it 73. But now 2dly if he should discover something of this kind yet is it not necessary that he should therefore presently return and expose your Villany I will suppose that those few Proselytes you have made may all be reduced to these two kinds Men of Conscience or Men of Interest and Design For the latter of these whilst they serve their Interests by the Change there is no great fear of their making any such dangerous Discoveries Religion is not their Concern and whether it be New Popery or Old that they embrace they neither know nor care it is to them indifferent and they understand as well as value both alike As to the Conscientious Converts allowing for their Capacities and that they are able to overcome all the foremention'd Difficulties and to discover the Cheat which I fear is what the much greatest part of these are not able to do It is indeed hard to say what a terrible Conflict this will be apt to make in them But yet the Point of Reputation the Opinion of the World shame of Return and the dangers those commonly run who venture to reveal such Sacred Mysteries these Considerations have sometimes kept good Men a longer time in suspense than any of your Proselytes have yet had to resolve upon a return to us And who can tell what Time and Changes may one day bring forth 74. Again We know there have been many in your Church who though they have discover'd these Prevarications yet have thought that as long as they did not themselves join in your Errors they might hold their Tongues and live quietly in an External Communion with you and their Eyes have been so dazled with the Splendor Succession Extent c. of your Church that they have preferr'd it with all its Faults to Others who seem to them to want these Advantages Such were the famous George Cassander Father Barnes and others that I might mention Nay it is no very long time since a Person yet living Monsieur Ferrand has publish'd a Book to shew that were the Church of Rome as corrupt as we pretend it to be yet we ought not nevertheless to separate from it And should any of your Converts be of this Perswasion they may still continue to all appearance in your Church though they see the Errors and your falsifications of the true Doctrine of it 75. But 3dly though I do affirm that what you publish is not the Ancient Doctrine of your Church yet I do not deny but it is that which you endeavour to make pass with your Converts as such This you teach your Proselytes the Bishop of Meaux his Diocess and they rarely meet with any one that maintains the contrary But this do's not hinder that because this is the Popery of a few English Missionaries and French Expositors that therefore it has been all along the Common Doctrine of your Church or is conformable to the practice of other Countries at this day And all Men have not the leisure to go into Italy or Spain or the ability to read over your several Authors for satisfaction in it 76. But 4thly to quit all these Suppositions yet since you make it no less than a Mortal Sin to have any Doubts of your Religion you are sure as soon as any such arise in their Minds to hear of it in Confession from them Being thus acquainted with the first Motions of this kind you presently take all the ways imaginable to stifle them and hinder them from coming to an open defection from you So that though your Proselyte should begin to stagger yet unless he utterly abandon your Party without ever consulting you in it which Men of Conscience will never do he is almost under an Impossibility of ever doing it at all 77. To all which I will add but this farther Which well may and I am perswaded do's keep many from telling of Tales and exposing as you call it your Villany and that is that when you receive a new Convert into your Church you require a terrible Oath from him never by any Argument to leave or to forsake you upon pain of Perjury and Damnation if he do's And to the end the Reader may know what is the last step he is to make if he has any thoughts that way and to convince him what little force there is in your Suggestion I will here transcribe
it from your Pontifical in its full length The Oath that is ordered by the Church of Rome to be administred to a New Convert Pontif. Rom. Ord. ad reconc Apost Schism vel Haeret. I. N. having found out the Snare of Division with which I was held after a long and diligent deliberation with my self am by the Grace of God return'd with a forward and ready Will to unity of the Apostolick See And lest I should be thought to have return'd not with a pure Mind but only in shew I do hereby promise under the pain of falling from my Order and under the Obligation of an Anathema to thee Bishop of such a Place and by thee to Peter Prince of the Apostles and to the most Holy Father in Christ our Lord N. Pope and to his Successors that I will never through the Perswasions of any Persons whatsoever or BY ANY OTHER MEANS return to that Schism from which by the Grace of our Redeemer freeing Me I am deliver'd But that I will always remain in all things in the Unity of the Catholick Church and in the Communion of the Bishop of Rome and therefore I do say upon my Oath by GOD ALMIGHTY and these SACRED GOSPELS that I will without wavering remain in the Unity and Communion aforesaid And if which God forbid I shall BY ANY OCCASION or ARGVMENT divide my self from this Vnity MAY I INCVRRING THE GVILT OF PERJVRY BE FOVND CONDEMN'D TO ETERNAL PVNISHMENT AND HAVE MY PORTION WITH THE AVTHOR OF SCHISM IN THE WORLD TO COME So help me God c. Thus do's your new Proselyte swear himself firm to your Party at least I 'me sure he is here required to do it And now you may as well expect that a fellow Conspirator should discover the Treason he is to commit as a Convert thus engaged to you though he should find it out expose your Villany AN ANSWER TO THE REPLY c. Being a further Defence of the EXPOSITION of the DOCTRINE of the Church of England INTRODUCTION IT was the Opinion of a late Author concerning a very short Treatise that he had publish'd upon most of the Points in Controversy between us and the Church of Rome that tho he had neither put himself to the expence of any new Arguments against us nor produced the Authority of either Ancient Fathers or even of Modern Writers to back his Assertions he had nevertheless answer'd in that one Treatise not only all those late Discourses that had just before been publish'd by our Divines on those Subjects but a great part of all the Books and Sermons that had ever been writ or preach'd against his Church Tho I am not very fond of following any Copy which that Author can set me and in this especially do think his Vanity so ridiculous that he is rather to be pitied than imitated yet being once more called upon for a farther Vindication of my self to another review of the most considerable Articles wherein we differ from those of the other Communion I cannot but observe that not only my present Adversary has not advanced in this new Attempt one jot beyond what I had before confuted but that in all their Books their whole Business is meerly to transcribe one another so that from the †See the Reply Pres p. vi Bishop of Condom's Exposition even to the * The Original whereof was first published in Spanish Anno 1616. Eye Catechism there is nothing new but the same Answer that is made to one do's really in effect overthrow them all 2. 'T is this has put me upon the troublesome design not only of resuming and collating the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition and the Vindication of it with the Reply that is now before me on every Article But to search all those other Treatises that have been publish'd since the Representer first broke the Peace with us To convince the World that Matters are now driven as far as they can go so that in reading any one of their Books they may really find as much as when they shall have taken the pains to consult them all If this will not engage them to produce something more than they have yet done to answer our Arguments it shall at least I hope excuse us if we from henceforth dispense with our selves the trouble of large Confutations so that instead of transcribing again our own Books as often as they shall please to furnish out a new Title to their old Objections we shall need only to direct them to those Replies that have been already made and in which their Pretensions have been confuted before they were publish'd St. Austin de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. c. 1. 3. It was the Complaint of S. Austin against such kind of Antagonists as these in his Time That whether out of too much blindness by which even the clearest things are not seen or out of an obstinate stubbornness whereby even those things which are seen are not endured they would defend their own unreasonable Notions after a full Answer had been given to them as if it were Reason and Truth it self that they maintain'd And therefore says he what End shall there be of Disputing what measure of speaking if we must always answer those that answer us For they who either cannot understand what is said or are so harden'd with a Spirit of Opposition that tho they did understand yet would they not submit they answer as it is written and they speak Iniquity and are indefatigably vain Whose contrary sayings if we should as often refute as they have resolved with an invincible Forehead not to care what they say so they do but by any means contradict our Disputations who do's not see how infinite and troublesome and fruitless this would be The ANSWER to the FIRST ARTICLE YOU will excuse Sir this little Address to my Reader I shall from henceforth keep close to your Reply Reply p. 1. and notwithstanding St. Austin's Insinuation to the contrary attend you once more whithersoever you shall please to lead Me. And to shew how exactly applicable what I have before said of your Books in general is to your Reply above any in particular the first Observation I have to make is that for what concerns the common Cause of Religion in this first Article you have entirely taken or rather indeed stollen it since I do not remember that you have once mention'd your Author out of T. G's Discourse against Dr. Stillingfleet and which that most Learned Man had fully answered some Years since And yet you neither take notice of his Answers nor offer any one thing to prevent the same Replies from being made by me to the same Objections 2. You begin your * Vindic. p. 22 Vindication with a scandalous Charge of Calumnies Misrepresentations c. This you persist in in your †Reply p. 2. Reply and so does ‖ T. G's first Answ Pres pag. 3. T. G. against his Adversary He
AS ALL PAPISTS DO is by the proper Sense of their words DOWN-RIGHT IDOLATRY If they say their meaning is by a Figure only to desire them to procure their Requests of God how dare any Christian trust his Soul with that Church which teaches that which must needs be IDOLATRY in all that understand not the Figure 8. Such was the last Judgment of this Learned and Pious Man in this matter If after this it be necessary to say any thing to his former Opinion I will only observe that the ground of it was this Mistake viz. †Just Weights and Measures p. 6. Edit Lond. 1662. cap. 1. That a Christian Church without renouncing the Profession of the true God cannot be guilty of IDOLATRY Now this ‖ De Imag. lib. 2. cap. 24. pag. 2153. Card. Bellarmine himself and others of your Church do utterly deny For says he it is Idolatry not only when one adores an Idol leaving God but also when an Idol is adored together with God. 9. The last of your Divines whom you cite as excusing you from Idolatry is the Reverend * Dr. HAMMOND Pract. Disc Lond. 1674. § 44. p. 351. Sect. 50. p. 353 354. Dr. Hammond but your falseness is as notorious in him as in all the rest For in a particular Discourse of Idolatry § 44. He approves and explains the design of our Homilies against the peril of Idolatry § 50. He says That your worshipping of Images in the most moderate way that can be is for ought he knows a kind of Idol-Worship but to be sure a prohibited Act § 54. That to put up those Petitions to the Blessed Virgin which are terminated in her self Sect. 54. p. 354. as many Forms if not her whole Office may appear to be are Acts parallel to the Old Idolatry Sect. 56. p. 355. § 56. That your worshipping of Images notwithstanding all your distinctions of worshipping God mediante Imagine Sect. 64. p. 357. or relative c. is Idolatry § 64. That the Worship of the Bread in the Sacrament must certainly be Idolatry That your Error about Transubstantiation and your good design of worshipping Christ there may he hopes be some excuse for you but that your Opinion will not hinder it from being at least material Idolatry and the worshipping of something that is not God. 10. So that now upon the whole it remains that there is not so much as a shadow of Truth in your Assertion that the true and genuine Sons of the Church of England have excused your Church of the odious Imputation of Idolatry My next business is to shew that you did or ought to have known that there was not one word of Truth in what you said 11. Now this will depend upon the Answer which I shall leave any honest Man to give to these two plain Questions 1. Whether when you stole all this out of T. G. you either did not or ought not to have known that Dr. St. had answered all these Cavils many Years since and shewn that there was no Truth nor Sincerity in them 2. Whether a Man that quotes but six Authors for an Assertion derogatory to the Establishment of their Church and contrary to the publick Doctrine of the Homilies and Injunctions and to the private Opinions of the Generality of the Divines of it ought not to have been sure that those Authors at least did affirm that which he pretends they did The latter of these will conclude against you that you ought to have known that what you here say is false because you ought to have examined these Authors and then you would have known it to be so And for the former were not your Conscience unfit to be appeal'd to in a matter of Truth against your self I durst appeal to your own Soul whether you did not know that the Learned Man I have so often mentioned had shewn T. G. how false these Pretences were But I go on with you to your next Paragraph where you tell Me 12. Ad pag. 2. Reply You would gladly know wherefore at this time I charge you with the odious Imputation of adoring Men and Women Crosses and Images c. Answ To satisfie you in which Demand I reply 1. That I charge you with this because it is true and I have both shewn it already and will yet farther shew it to be so 2. I do it at this time because at this time you have the Confidence to deny it nay to charge us with Calumny and Misrepresentation for having ever accused you of it So that your wise Question is in effect but this We the Vindicators and Representers of New Popery have publickly exposed you to the World as a pack of Knaves that have misrepresented our Doctrine and wherefore do you go about to vindicate your selves and not suffer us to make silly People believe in quiet that what we say is true 13. Ibid. Reply Where say you do I find any thing of this in the 39 Articles and for the Book of Homilies I must be little versed in our own Doctrine not to know that several eminent Divines of our own Church do not allow that Book to contain in every part of it the dogmatical Doctrine of the Church of England Thus T. G. speaks into your Mouth and you as his Engine eccho them to us T. G's first Answer to Dr. St. Pref. p. 8 9. Answ Now to this you should have known that Dr St. gave this Answer Answer to several late Treatises by Dr. Still Lond. 1673. The general Preface That the Articles of our Church have confirm'd those Homilies That these Articles were not only allow'd and approved by the Queen but subscribed by the whole Clergy in Convocation Anno. 1571. Now says the Dean I desire T. G. to resolve me whether Men of any common understanding would have subscribed to this Book of Homilies in this manner if they had believed the main Doctrine and design of one of them had been false and pernicious as they must have done if they had thought the Practice of the Roman Church to be free from Idolatry I will put the Case that any of the Bishops then had thought that the Charge of Idolatry had been unjust and that it had subverted the Foundation of Ecclesiastical Authority that there could have been no Church or Right of Ordination if the Roman Church had been guilty of Idolatry would they have inserted this into the Articles when it was in their power to have left it out And that the Homilies contain'd a wholsome and Godly Doctrine which in their Consciences they believed to be false and pernicious I might as well think that the Council of Trent would have allow'd Calvin's Institutions as containing a wholsome and Godly Doctrine as that Men so perswaded would have allow'd it the Homily against the Peril of Idolatry 14. For your Objection from * T. G 's first Answer to Dr. Still Pref. pag.
9 10. T. G. That several eminent Divines of our Church do not allow that Book to contain in every part of it the publick dogmatical Doctrine of the Church of England and three of whose Names from * T. G 's first Answer to Dr. Still Pref. pag. 9 10. T.G. still you adorn your Margin with He answers †Dr. Still ibid. Be it so Surely there is a great deal of difference between some particular Passages and Expressions in these Homilies and that which is the main Design and Foundation of one of them But in this case we are to observe that they who deny the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry do not only look on the Charge as false but as of dangerous consequence and therefore altho Men may subscribe to a Book in general as containing wholsome and Godly Doctrine tho they be not so certain of the Truth of every Passage in it yet they can never do it with a good Conscience if they believe any great and considerable part of the Doctrine therein contained to be false and dangerous 15. Thus did this Reverend Person confute your Oracle If you had offer'd any thing to prevent the same Answer from being return'd to you I should have been far from complaining against you for advancing of an old Argument with new Strength But when you saw how unable ‖ See Dr. Still Conferences against T. G. p. 22 c. T. G. was to defend these Cavils nevertheless still to produce them and tho you could not but be conscious to your self at the same time that they were not to be maintain'd I shall only say that it serves to convince me of the Truth of what an ancient Greek Poet once observed and the meaning of whose words you may enquire among the Learned at your leisure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16. Ad pag. ◠Reply Your next Paragraph consists of a Story of Q. Elizabeth T. G 's Dialogues against Dr. Still p. 17. and that too eccho'd form T. G's Inspiration But to this I have already return'd my Answer and when you shall think sit to speak out what you mean by it you shall not fail of a farther Consideration from me if I be not prevented by your receiving it from a more proper hand 17. And thus have we done with what concerns the general Cause in this Introduction and the Sum of all is this That of four Paragraphs of which it consists the first is Calumny the second false and I am reasonably perswaded known by you to be so the third impertinent and long since answered as was also the foregoing by the Reverend Dr. St. the last seditious I go on to the following part of this first Article to examine what relates to my self in it 18. Where first you except against my quoting your particular Authors to find out your Churches meaning and call it Calumny tho what Calumny it is to say that those Authors whom you cannot deny but that I truly cite have expounded your Churches Sense otherwise than you and some others do I cannot imagine But however you tell us Ad p. 3 4. Reply That you have nothing to do with the Doctrine of the Schools That I must take your Doctrine from your Councils the publick authentick and universally recieved Definitions and Decisions of the Church Answ And in this you still follow your old Guide * T. G. Dial. against Dr. Still p. 56 57. T. G. But I have †First Part Preface already shewn you the weakness of this Pretence and for your next supposal that even those Authors do not say what I affirm they do if your Proofs are as convincing as your Assertion is confident I have already promised you all you can desire Repl. p. 4. That I will not fail to confess that you deserve not so ill a Character as I thought Ad pag. 4. Reply Your next Paragraph charges me with VNSINCERITY in stating the Question betwixt Catholicks as you call them and Protestants for that I represented you as allowing us to hold the ancient and undoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith. Answ And is it not the ancient and undoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith which we hold and which has been deliver'd down to us in those very Creeds which your selves profess and into the Faith of which you still baptize your Children Nay do not you your self confess this to be true in the very place where you cavil against me for this Assertion ‖ Vindic. Art. 1. p. 24. Vindic. p. 24. where you grant that what we hold is the ancient and undoubted Foundation and only deny that it is intirely so And again in this very Reply in which you repeat your Accusation * Reply Art. 1. pag. 4. P. 4. I told him say you that we do not allow that Proposition ESPECIALLY IF HE MEAN all Fundamentals So that then the Vnsincerity lies not in my saying that what we hold is fundamental for this you tell me Vindicat. p. 24. NO BODY EVER DENY'D but for pretending that you allow'd that we held ALL which you esteem'd to be fundamental Now for this I must observe 1st That you dare not say positively that I affirm'd any such thing †Reply See before I told him say you that we do not allow that Proposition IF he mean ALL Fundamentals So that you positively charge me with Vnsincerity for pretending that you granted what you do not upon supposition that I MEANT any such thing 2dly That to make something of this charge you are forced to go back from your own Concession Vindic. p. 24. For whereas in your Vindication you had said plainly that tho you do not allow us to hold all Fundamentals yet no body ever deny'd that we held some of them here you clap in an Insinuation even against this too Reply p. 2. I told him that we do not allow that they hold the ancient and undoubted Foundation ESPECIALLY if he meant ALL Fundamentals So that tho you do deny it ESPECIALLY if we mean ALL Fundamentals yet you do not altogether allow even that what we hold is fundamental But 3dly Where at last do you find that I ever said that you granted that we held ALL which you esteem to be fundamental In my Exposition I tell you in the very next words to those you cavil at that this was the thing to be put upon the issue Expos C. E. p. ◠Whether those Articles which you had added to this ancient and undoubted Foundation as Superstructures to it were not so far from being NECESSARY Articles of Religion as YOV PRETEND that they indeed overthrow that Faith which is on both sides allow'd to be Divine And when in your Vindication you first made this little Exception I again repeated it in these very words which you take no notice of in your Reply But the Vindicator Defen of the Expos p. ◠jealous for the
Catechism Conc. Trid. Part. IV. p. 345. Tit. Quis Orandus sit 26. It is I know pretended by Monsieur de Meaux That your Catechism authorizes this Exposition of them where it teaches the Difference there is between your Praying to God and to the Saints For that you pray to God either that He would give you Good things or that He would deliver you from Evil but to the Saints that they would undertake your Patronage and obtain for you those things you stand in need of That from Hence arises two different Forms of Prayer for that to God you say properly Have mercy upon us or Hear our Prayers but to the Saints Pray for us 27. Such are that Bishops Pretences and it must be confessed they have something that is plausible in them tho what will soon vanish when it comes to be examined to the Bottom For be it allow'd as He desires that there are here proposed two different Forms of Prayer for indeed we do not deny but that in General you may pray with other Sentiments to God than to the Saints tho too often in your Prayers themselves we find no great care taken to distinguish them To God as to the First and Supreme Dispenser of All Good to the Saints only as His Ministers and inferiour Distributers of it But does this therefore reduce all the Prayers you make to the Saints in whatever Terms they are conceived to this One Form PRAY FOR US Judge I beseech you by those Words which immediately follow in the Catechism but were not for the turn of an Expounder and therefore His Lordship thought good to omit them Catechism ibid. Altho it be Lawful IN ANOTHER MANNER to ask of the Saints themselves that THEY WOULD HAVE MERCY UPON US for they are very Merciful 28. If this be ANOTHER MANNER from the foregoing then I am sure all the Prayers of your Church are not to be reduced to that One Form Pray for us But what is this Other Manner Ibid. We may pray says the Catechism that being moved at the Misery of our Condition they would Help us with their FAVOUR and DEPRECATION with God. So that Here then is somewhat more at least in the opinion of your own Catechism than a meer praying for us Here is Encouragement to ask not only their Prayers but also their Favour and Interest too But indeed the Catechism goes yet farther For giving a Reason why Angels are to be invocated They are says the Catechism to be prayed to Pars iii. de Cultu Invocatione SS n. 19 20. p. 255. because they both continually look upon God and most willingly undertake the Patronage of our Salvation which IS COMMITTED to them And from thence in the next Section it infers the like Necessity of Honouring the Saints 29. This is plain dealing and gives us an Authentick Exposition of that Passage in the Council of Trent whose Sense you no less pervert than that of your Liturgies Concil Trid. Sess xxv de Invocat c. p. 292. viz. That for Obtaining the Benefits of God by his Son Jesus Christ you should betake your selves to their the Saints Prayers Aid and Assistance And to this End that you should not barely invoke them but invoke them in a suppliant manner as those who reign now with Christ. A Circumstance this which was not put in by Chance but was thought so considerable as to be mention'd in Pope Pius's Profession of Faith where nothing superfluous was to be admitted and where you declare That you firmly believe that the Saints who REIGN together with Christ are to be Venerated and Invoked Insomuch that as I have before observed your great Cardinals Cajetane and Bellarmine doubt not to call them Gods by Participation and to deliver it as the Catholick Doctrine and we know how conformable the Catholick Practice is to it amongst you That the Saints are set over us Bellarm. de SS beat L. I. c. 18 20. and take care of us and that the Faithful here on Earth are RULED and GOVERN'D by them By all which it appears with what Sincerity you pretend that all your Church teaches is only to pray to to the Saints in the same Spirit of Charity Bishop of Meaux's Expos Sect. IV. and according to the same Order of Fraternal Society with which you demand the Assistance of your Brethren living upon Earth And how false it is that you are taught to reduce all the Forms of your Addresses to this One Meaning Pray for us seeing you both direct the Faithful to recur to them for their Prayers Aid and Assistance and suppose them capable as Reigning together with Christ and Gods by Participation but especially as having the Care of the Faithful committed to them to Rule and Govern them to lend you Other Help and Assistance besides that of their Prayers and as I shall presently shew pray to them accordingly so to do 30. But Secondly We will examine this Point a little further for indeed the whole Mystery of this Service in the Church of Rome depends upon a right understanding of what Notion they have of the Saints above And because I will do this without any suspicion of Falsity I will deliver nothing but from Card. Bellarmine's own Words In his Book of the Eternal Felicity of the Saints De aeternâ felicitate SS lib. 1. cap. 4. among Other Reasons that he gives why the Place and State of the Blessed should be called the Kingdom of Heaven He has this for one Because all the Blessed in Heaven are Kings and all the Qualities of Kings do most properly agree to them The Just says He in the Kingdom of their Father shall be themselves Kings of the Kingdom of Heaven for they shall be Partakers of his Kingly Dignity and of the Power and Riches and other Goods that are in the Kingdom of Heaven Which is I suppose a plain Paraphrase of what he elsewhere says That they are Gods by Participation See before or Partakers of the Dignity and Power of God. 31. Having thus established His Foundation He now goes on to the practical Demonstration of it Lib. I. cap. 5. p. 20. Colon. 1626. The Goods says He of an Earthly Kingdom are usually reckon'd to be these Four Power Honour Riches and Pleasure An Earthly King has Power to command His Subjects If they do not obey Him He can punish them with Bonds Imprisonment Exile Scourging Death Again Kings will be Honour'd with an Honour almost above the Nature of Men for they will be adored upon the Knee nor will they vouchsafe oftentimes to hear those that speak to them unless in this bended posture and with their Face down to the Ground But yet as He afterwards shews this Power is mix'd with Infirmity this Honour oftentimes changed into Disgrace But with the Saints above it is much otherwise For their Power is exceeding great Ibid. pag. 26. and without any
mixture of Infirmity This He illustrates with a Story which at once shews what their Power is with reference to us and How they are pray'd to in the Church of Rome upon presumption of it St. Gregory says he relates in his Book of Dialogues Lib. iii. cap. 36. That a certain Holy Man being just ready to be slain by the Hangman whose Arm was stretch'd out and Sword drawn for that purpose cry'd out in that Instant Saint John hold him and immediately his Hand wither'd that he could neither put it down again nor so much as move it S. John therefore continues the Cardinal from the highest Heaven heard the Voice of his Client and struck his Executioner with this Infirmity so suddenly as to hinder the Stroke already begun This is the Power of those Heavenly Kings that neither the almost infinite distance of Place nor the Solitariness of a poor and uâ—â—â—m'd Righteous Man nor the multitude of Armed Enemies could prevent S. John from delivering his SUPPLIANT from the Danger of Death 32. I shall not need to transcribe what He in the next place adds concerning the Worship that upon this and other accounts is paid to the Saints beyond that of any Earthly Monarch But from what has been said I conclude That it is the Opinion of those in the Church of Rome that as the Council of Trent expresses it The Saints reign together with Christ and are Gods by Participation that is are made Partakers of the Dignity and Power of God. 2. That therefore whatever Intercourse the Faithful upon Earth may have with them it must be vastly different from what they have with their Brethren here below who are neither admitted to such a Dignity nor Partakers of this Power 3. That since the Saints are thus Kings in Heaven when those of the Roman Church address to them in a SUPPLIANT manner as their CLIENTS for Help and Assistance they do not do this in the same Spirit of Charity Expos Mr. de Meaux sect IV. nor after the same Order of Fraternal Society with which they would desire the Prayers of their Fellow-Christians yet living And 4. That seeing the Bless'd in Heaven have Power together with God of taking Care of us and bestowing Blessings upon us there is neither Truth nor Reason in that vain Pretence Reply p. 22. That all the Prayers that are made to them must be reduced to this One form PRAY FOR US but that we ought indeed to understand them to desire of the Saints what both their Principles allow them to do and their Words declare that they do desire viz. THEIR HELP and ASSISTANCE as reigning TOGETHER WITH Christ 33. But Thirdly I have yet more to say in Answer to this Evasion It is well known how much those Prayers you make to the Saints scandalized many of the most Eminent Men of your Church In Elencho Abusuum Wicelius doubted not to say of one of your Hymns that it was full of downright Blasphemy and horrible Superstition of others that they were wholly inexcusable Ludovicus Vives profess'd Lud. Vives Comm. in S. August de Civ dei lib. viii cap. 27. that he found little difference in the Peoples Opinion of their Saints in many things from what the Heathens had of their Gods and that numbers in your Church worshipp'd them no otherwise than God. Now this the Council of Trent could not but know and it then lay before them to redress it If therefore those Fathers had thought that there was no other form of Invocation allowable to the Saints than as you now pretend to Pray to them to Pray for us is it to be imagined that at such a juncture as this they would have taken no care about a thing so justly scandalous not only to the Protestants whom they desired to reduce but even to many of their own Communion How easie had it been for them to say That to satisfie the complaints of these Learned Men and of their Enemies and to prevent any mistakes of the like kind for the future it seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to them to declare that in what terms soever the Prayers of their Church were conceived yet that the Ecclesiastical sense of them was in all one and the same viz. Pray for us But now instead of such a declaration and which such wise men in this case would never have omitted they regard no Complaints that were made against this Service but roundly decree an Invocation to be due to them and establish it upon the Old Foundation before-mention'd and which had given rise to all these excesses viz. that the Saints REIGN TOGETHER WITH CHRIST and were therefore in A SUPLIANT MANNER to be call'd upon and that for the obtaining benefits of God they were to fly not only to their Prayers but also to their Help and Assistance And when according to their Order for reciting the Missals and Breviaries they were again set out the one Four the other Six years after the Council was ended the Hymns and Prayers were left still as we see and not so much as the least Note in a Rubrick for a right Exposition of them 34. Nay I will go yet farther There was not only no Care taken then but at this day men are suffer'd to run without Censure into the same Excesses We know to what Extravagance Card. Bona Father Crasset and but the other day Doctor J. C. our own Countryman have gone and no One of your Church censures them for it Cassander immediately after the Council no less complain'd of these things than Vives and Wicelius before and that too was disregarded On the contrary whilst the Extravagances of these Votaries are encouraged the moderation of the others is censured by the highest Authority of your Church The Psalter of S. Bonaventure goes abroad with permission but the Comments of Lud. Vives are put in the Expurgatory Index and George Cassander's Works absolutely prohibited Crasset devotion veritable pref p. 2. If Advices are given from the Blessed Virgin to her indiscreet Worshippers All the Servants of the B. Virgin run to Arms to encounter him The Learned of All Nations write against him the Holy See condemns him Spain banishes him out of all its Dominions and forbids to Read or Print his Book as impious and Erroneous But if a Crasset in his Zeal for the Mother of God runs into such blasphemous Excesses as no pious Ears can hear without indignation If he rake together all that the Folly and Superstition of former Ages has said or done the most excessively on this Subject to make up a Volumn scandalous to that Church and Society that endures him not only the Divines of his Order approve it but his Provincial licenses it to be Printed the King's Permission is obtain'd for it and the Expounders themselves are so very good natur'd that they cannot see any harm in it And then let the World judge what your true
Ghost and of the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the Saints And again Let this Church be Sanc ✚ tified and Con ✚ secrated Ibid. p. 127. in the Name of Fa ✚ ther and of the S ✚ on and of the Holy ✚ Ghost to the Honour of God and of the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the Saints Now in all these several instances there is no room for any such interpretation as you pretend in the Case of your Prayers but here either your hearts join in what your lips utter and then it is plain you give as Proper Divine Worship to the Saints as you do to God which you confess to be unlawful Or if they do not what is this but to speak words of Vanity in your most Solemn Service and in which you ought especially to take heed not to offend 40. Thus do the very Words of your Liturgies utterly refuse such an Exposition as you pretend to be your only meaning in all your Prayers to the Saints I will add yet one Consideration more to shew the insincerity of it Fifthly from the concurrent Practice of the most eminent Persons of your Church and whose Authority you cannot with any justice except against 41. Now of this the famous Psalter of S. Bonaventure may alone serve for a sufficient Evidence which as it has been publickly set forth and authorized amongst you so I need not tell you that the design of it was to apply all the Addresses that are made to God in the Psalms and Hymns of the Church nay and even the very Creeds to the Blessed Virgin. Psalterium S. Bonavent Psalm 2. Come unto Mary all ye that labour and are heavy laden and she shall refresh your Souls Come unto Her in your temptations and the Serenity of Her Countenance shall establish you Psal iv When I called upon thee thou heardest me O Lady and from thy high Throne didst vouchsafe to remember me Blessed art thou O Lady for ever and let thy Majesty be exalted for evermore Psal vii cvii. O Lady in thee do I put my trust deliver my Soul from mine Enemies O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good O give thanks unto His Mother for her Mercy endureth for ever 42. I might pass at this rare through all the other Psalms and to these add the Te Deum Speculum B. Virginis c. Benedicite Athanasian Creed c. all burlesqued to Her Honour But there has been so many large Collections of these already publish'd that I shall subjoin only one Prayer at the close of all O my Holy Lady Mary I commend to thy blessed Trust and especial Custody and into the Bosom of thy Mercy this day and every day and in the hour of my Death both my Soul and Body I commit all my Hope and Consolation all my Troubles and my Miseries my Life and the End of my Life to thee that by thy most Holy Intercession and Merits all my Works may be directed and disposed according to THINE and THY SONS Will. Amen 43. I will not now insist upon this that this Book has been often Printed among you with Licence and Commendation and particularly my Editions of it the one Italian and Latin Printed at Genoa 1606. with the Licence of the Superiors and submitted by the Translator Giovan Battista Pinello to the Censure of the Church the other at Leige in the same Year by le Sage But this last had the Honour of being particularly commended by the Vicar of that Church Permiss Jo. Chapeaville Leodii 17. Nov. 1606. and Censor of Books as a Piece that was profitable to be Printed and very piously and commendably to be recited by all Men in their private Prayers to the Honour of the B. Virgin. The Author of it is at this time a Canonized Saint in your Church and is now in his turn Worshipped by you If therefore you approve these Addresses as I presume you must be pleased to try 't will be a pretty expounding Task how you can reduce all these Hymns and Prayers to this One Sense of your Church PRAY FOR US But if you disallow these Addresses as what in truth they are Scandalous and Idolatrous what then shall we say if you pray to those as in Heaven now who whilst they lived were guilty of such desperate Superstitions 44. And now I am instancing in your Saints I cannot forbear presenting you with a Strain or two of your Pious but very Superstitious and Indiscreet St. Bernard and this too to try your Faculty of Expounding To thee O Holy Virgin Mary as to the Ark of God Vid. in Psal S. Bonav Leodii 1606. p. 238. as to the Cause of Things as to the Business of Ages do all look that are both in Heaven and Hell both they that have gone before us and we who now live and they who shall hereafter be born All Generations shall call thee Blessed O Mother of God! In thee the Angels have found Joy the Righteous Grace and Sinners Pardon for Ever Worthily do the Eyes of the whole Creation look upon thee because in thee and by thee and of thee the kind Hand of the Almighty hath re-created whatever he had created We embrace thy Footsteps O Mary and with most devout Supplication we fall down before thy blessed Feet We will hold thee and not let thee go till thou shalt bless us For thou art able c. Defence Append 2. Def. part 1. p. 89. 45. But I insist too long upon these Matters and therefore in stead of multiplying new Instances shall refer you to those I have already offer'd And from your Saints descend to the Heads of your Church Greg. VII Baron Ann. ad an 1080. T. xi p. 532. See Platina in his Life One of which thus piously call'd upon S. Peter and S. Paul at the Head of a Synod in Excommunicating the Emperour Henry IV. Anno 1080. in these Words Blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles and thou O Blessed Paul Doctor of the Gentiles Vouchsafe I beseech you mercifully to incline your Ears unto me and hear me And then after some Particulars too large to be transcribed He thus goes on Go to now I beseech you O Fathers and Holy Princes that all the World may know and understand that as you have in Heaven the Power of Binding and Loosing you have also on Earth Power over Empires Kingdoms Principalities c. For you have often taken away Patriarchates c. from the Wicked and Unworthy and have given them to Religious Men. Let the Kings and all the Princes of the World now learn how great you are and how much you can do and fear to undervalue the Command of your Church And execute Judgment on the aforesaid Henry so suddenly that all Men may know that he shall fall not by Chance but by your Power This is a blessed Prayer for a Pope to make and I doubt will be found to signifie
of this Argument that since the prevalency of this praying to Saints in the Church of Rome your publick rituals have had a notable change Those very Saints which in your ancient Missals you pray'd for being now a la Mode pray'd to Thus upon IV. Kalends of July in the Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I. Sacrament Greg. p. 112. above 600 years after Christ we find this Prayer made in behalf of S. Leo one of your Popes Grant O Lord that this Oblation may be profitable to the Soul of thy Servant Leo. But in the present Roman Missal the Collect is changed Missale Rom. pag. 6 12. and the Address made by the Intercession of the Saint now that was formerly made by way of Intercession for Him. Grant to us O Lord that by the Intercession of Blessed Leo this Offering may be profitable to US And of this change Decret lib. 3. tit 41. p. 1373 1373. Pope Innocent the 3d. gives this honest account Viz. That the Authority of Holy Scripture says that he ' injures a Martyr that prays for a Martyr wherein yet his Infallibility mislead him it being S. Austin and not the Scripture that said so ' and they do not want our Prayers but we theirs Which the Gloss thus more fully expresses It was changed viz. this prayer for Pope Leo because anciently they pray'd FOR Him but now TO Him. And from whence therefore we may warrantably infer that in those first Ages praying TO Saints was not establish'd seeing it was then the general Custom to pray FOR them 112. The truth is the whole face of the Ancient Church seems clearly opposite to the present practise Some doubted whether the holy Saints departed do at all concern themselves for us or conduce any thing to our Salvation So Origen And these to be sure never prayed to them Others made open opposition to such service So the Council of Laodicea S. Epiphanius Vigilantius and others before mention'd Now you Canonize Saints and esteem it necessary so to do to prevent mens praying to those in Heaven who are it may be at this time tormenting in Hell. But in those first Ages we find none of these Apotheoses De beatit SS lib. 1. C. 8. and Bellarmine himself could not find out any instance of any Saint that was Canonized before the VIIIth Century If we go into your Churches we find them filled with Altars and Chappels Images and Reliques of the Saints Candles are lighted up before them Incense is burned to their Honour But in those Primitive Ages not the least shadow is to be met with of any such Superstitions Your Books of Devotion are now filled with little else than advises how to pray to the Blessed Virgin to list your selves into her service to vow your selves to her Worship her Psalter and Rosary and Salutation is in every part of your performances Even the Catechism of the Council of Trent it self the most Cautious Book that has been set forth for some Ages in your Church having taught you first how to pray to God fails not to instruct you that you must in the next place have recourse to the Saints and make Prayers to them How comes it to pass if this were the primitive practise too that none of those Holy Fathers in any of their practical discourses have ever treated of these things Nay on the contrary they every where thunder in our Ears that Protestant Heretical Maxim that we must pray to GOD ONLY and that we ought not to address our selves to any other 123. In all your Sermons you call upon the Blessed Virgin for assistance In the Ends of your Books her Name seldom fails of standing in the same return of praise in which God and our Saviour are Glorified Your publick service and private prayers are all over-run with this superstition But is there any thing of this in the Primitive Rituals Look I beseech you into the account that has been given us of the publick service of the Ancient Church by Justin Martyr Tertullian nay by the Clementine Constitutions themselves Consult the Relation which Pliny made to the Emperour Trajan of their Manners Try those famous Liturgies of the Church within the first 100 years Reply p. 19. which no body has the happiness to be acquainted with but your self see if you can pick us up but one instance but some shadow of an instance to flourish with on this occasion 124. What are the Lives of your Saints but continued Histories of their Devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and the favours which upon that account they received from them But in the ancient Compilers of such kind of Discourses we find only dry accounts of their Piety towards God of their Zeal and Constancy in the Faith of their patience in suffering any thing rather than submit to such superstitious practises as these which the Heathens indeed would have drawn them to but which the Church utterly abhorred But for their knight errantry in Honour of the Blessed Virgin for watching whole Nights before her Images or in her Chappels for turning Vagabonds in order to the visiting her Chamber at Loretto or fetching a Feather from Compostella of this New Method of Piety there are not the least traces 125. I might run out these remarks into almost infinite Examples were they not things as well known as your contrary superstition is notorious But I shall reserve these and some other Observations of the like kind till you think fit to call me to account for them In the mean time I conclude from this short specimen I have here given that certainly the face of the Church must be very much changed as to these things Or otherwise that so great a difference could not possibly be found in the Lives the Writings the Actions the Customs the Opinions the Expressions Prayers Practises of those holy Fathers from what we see and lament in your Church at this day I go on thirdly to shew III. The Unreasonableness of this Service 126. And for that I shall offer only this one plain Argument If the Saints cannot ordinarily hear your prayers nor are able to attend distinctly to those Addresses that are made to them If those whom you Canonize are not indeed such as you suppose but many at this day tormented in Hell upon whom you call for assistance in Heaven If some of those to whom you pray never had any being but either in the Heralds Office or in the fruitful Womb of a Legendaries Brain Then it cannot be doubted but that to pray to the Saints must be the most unreasonable Devotion in the World you speak to the Wind and call upon them to as little purpose as if you should here in England make an Address to a Man in China or Tartary and you might as well have continued the Deities as you do the practise of the ancient Heathens in this service It being altogether as wise a Devotion to pray
some kind of impropriety in the Speech and we must understand it so not as if Divine Worship were due to the Cross but to Christ crucified upon it A strange liberty of interpreting this which turns plain Affirmatives into downright Negatives and this contrary to the sense not only of your greatest Authors as I have shewn but in their opinion contrary to the sense of your Church too These all say with the Rubrick that a Divine Worship is due to the Cross you declare 't is no such thing No God forbid Such Worship is upon NO ACCOUNT WHATSOEVER to be given to the Cross but only to Christ represented by the Cross I will not desire you to consider what wise arguing you make of what your Pontifical here says That the Cross must take place of the Emperor's Sword because Christ is to be worship'd with Divine Worship It shall suffice me to leave you to the Censures of your own Learned Writers and Inquisitors who have already pronounced this Exposition to be false scandalous and savouring of Heresie Only let me once more caution you to remember the hard fate of poor Monsieur Imbert of Aegidius Magistralis and the French Traveller I just now mention'd For however it may be safe enough to dissemble with us here yet will it behove you to take great heed that you alter your tone if ever you should chance to fall into those Parts where the Old Popery Doctrine is still the measure of the Inquisitors Proceedings 36. My next Instance was from your form of blessing a New Cross To your Cavil about my omitting some words I have said enough heretofore but the dear Calumny must be continu'd tho not only those two words were added but so many more set down that you seem as much dissatisfied with my length here as you pretended to be with my brevity before 37. You pray That the Wood of the Cross which you bless may be a wholsome remedy to mankind a strengthner of Faith an increaser of Good Works the Redemption of Souls a Comfort Protection and Defence against the Cruel Darts of the Enemy You incense it you sprinkle it with Holy Water you sanctify it in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then both the Bishop and People devoutly ADORE it and Kiss it 38. This is in short the sum of that Ceremony In which you desire to know what is Amiss I answer That take this whole Office together with the Ceremonies Prayers and other Circumstances of it and it is Superstitious and Idolatrous and I shall not doubt once more to repeat what before so much offended you That the Addresses you here make look more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers For 39. First If we enquire into the design of this Ceremony it is to Consecrate a piece of Wood or Stone that it may become a fit Object of Adoration which being directy contrary to the Second Commandment cannot be done without a very great Sin. 40. 2dly To this End secondly you pray that several benefits may proceed from this Wood of the Cross and if those words signify any thing whereby you beseech God that it may be a wholsome remedy to Mankind a strengthner of Faith c. We must then look upon it that you do believe that by this Consecration there is a Virtue if not residing in it for all these purposes yet at least proceeding from it which your Council of Trent confesses was one of the things that made the Worship of Images among the Heathens to be Idolatrous Nor will your little Evasion here stand you in any stead Reply p. 32. that you pray only that the Cross may be a means for the obtaining all these Benefits and that this is no more than a Preacher may desire for his Sermon or the Author of a good Book for what he is about to publish For 1. A piece of Wood or Stone carve it into what Figure or Shape you please is not certainly so proper a means for the conveying of such Benefits to men as a good Book or a good Sermon are And therefore what may be very naturally desired for the One cannot without great Superstition be applied to the Other I may and I heartily do pray that what I am now writing may be a saving remedy to you by correcting your Faith and encreasing your Charity because I am perswaded here are Arguments proper to such an End if it shall please God to dispose you impartially to consider them but now I believe you would think me very Extravagant should I pray to God to sanctify the Paper on which 't is printed or my Bookseller's Sign that sells it as you pray to God to sanctify the WOOD of the Cross that as often as you see the leaves of this Book or look upon the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard these good effects may be wrought in you 41. Again 2. As the thing it self is not a proper means of producing these Effects in us so the manner by which you pray it may be done renders it yet more Superstitious To get instruction by hearing or reading to have ones Faith confirm'd or Charity enlarged or Zeal heightned by pious Considerations or powerful Motives all this is very natural and we may therefore lawfully pray to God for to bless them to us in order to these Ends. But to pray to God that by bowing our selves down before a Cross we may find health of Soul and Body to sanctify a piece of Wood that by ITS MERITS it may free men from all the Sins they have committed this must be more than a natural Effect neither the thing nor action being proper to produce it and whether such Requests be not more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers I shall leave it to any indifferent person to consider 42. But 3dly That this which you pretend is not all that your Church designs by those Prayers is evident in that this Exposition cannot possibly be applied to several of those things which you ask of God in those Addresses For instance you pray That the blessing of the Wood upon which our Saviour hung may be in the Wood of the Cross which you consecrate and that by the Holiness of that he would Sanctify this that as by that Cross the World was delivered from Guilt so by the Merits of this the devout Souls who offer it may be free from all the Sins they have committed Now tell me in Conscience if you dare speak the truth Is not all this somewhat more than to pray that the Cross may accidentally become a means of working good Effects in you Reply p. 32 33. by putting you in mind of the price of your Redemption Do you not here see somewhat which your Council of Trent calls the Idolatry of the Gentiles viz. an encouragement to Worship the Cross as if some Divine Virtue were in it for which it ought to be Adored For so certainly
of Sevil of whom I have so often spoken was forced to retract as Heretical his denial of Supreme Divine Worship to the Cross Lud. de Par. de Orig. S. Inquis l. 2. tit 3. c. 8. n. 19. Ludovicus de Paramo tells us that the Fathers of the Inquisition convicted him of his Heresy especially by this Argument taken from your Good-Friday Service viz. That the Church on that solemn day did truly and properly Adore the Cross when it said We Adore thy CROSS O Lord. Reply p. 37 38. 59. And this may by the way suffice to shew how falsely you expound even those Words not to signifie the Cross of Christ but his Passion Which besides that it is foreign to the Ceremony of Worshipping the Cross which you are then about and not a little Nonsence into the bargin is here interpreted not only by me but by the Fathers of the Inquisition of the Cross properly so called and whose Authority I presume you will not care to despise Reply p. 38. And now I shall leave it to any Jury that you please to judg of my Translation and what Character you deserve for your little Reflection upon me And I do assure you withal that I will never from henceforward so far distrust my Reader 's Memory as to say the same things again tho you should give me the same occasion 60. For the other Point That this do's plainly shew that your Church Adores the Cross in the utmost propriety of the Phrase If you will allow those great Men I before quoted to understand the Sense of your Church in this Point then 't is plain that my Assertion must stand good You see they freely confess it nay what is more they pronounce you a Heretick for denying it As for your applying of this Worship to our Saviour Christ if you mean thereby to signify that Christ only is worshipp'd in this Ceremony exclusive to the Cross it is evidently false seeing the whole Action as well as Words shew that the Cross is at least worshipped together with him or rather to speak more precisely Christ is worshipped together with the Cross Nor will Cardinal Bellarmine to whom you direct me stand you in any stead For even he allows the Cross to be improperly and accidentally Worshipp'd with the same kind of Worship that Christ himself is And if you please to let me send you to another Cardinal Card. Capis ib. ub supr par XVI pag. 670. and who being both a great Schoolman himself and Master of the Sacred Palace may be presumed to know somewhat of your Churches Sense he will tell you that your Cardinal Bellarmin was too wary in his Distinctions And that he ought without any of those softning Limitations freely to have asserted That the Cross was truly and properly to be worshipped with Divine Adoration And that I think is much the same with what I said That you do Worship the Cross in the utmost propriety of the Phrase 61. But you have here two singular Arguments to excuse this Service from the charge of Idolatry and which ought not to be forgot For Reply First Reply p. 38. St. Paul you say lookt upon it to be no Superstition to fall on our Face in the assembly and Worship GOD 1 Cor. XIV 25. Answ Ergo ô Lepidum Caput If St. Paul may be Judg 't is no Idolatry in you to fall on your Faces in the Assembly and worship the CROSS What would T. G. have given to have met with such a Consequence in his Learned Adversary But indeed we needed not this Proof to convince us in that Gentleman's Phrase that you never look'd over Aristotle's Threshold however your ill Genius has prompted you to become a Controvertist 62. Well but if St. Paul wont do yet at least you are sure the Primitive Christians were on your side And you prove it by an Instance most fit to keep company with the foregoing Argument The Case in short is this Reply St. Athanasius relates how some Jews in his time Reply p. 38. in the City of Berthus Berytus in Syria used great Indignities to a Crucifix which a Christian had accidentally left behind him when he removed from his Lodgings And you desire your Antagonist to answer you this Question Whether I would have excused those Jews because they did those Actions to an inanimate Being or would not rather have interpreted their Intention as passing from the Cross to our Blessed Saviour 63. Answ This is indeed a most melting Argument and which as I remember set all the good Fathers of the second Council of Nice a crying But Sir be not you too much affected with it for I will venture to give you that Consolation which one of your * De la conformitè des merveilles anciens avec les moderns Par. 1. Ch. 25. P. 389. Brethren once did his Congregation in France when having preach'd in a most Tragical manner about the Passion not of a Crucifix but of our Blessed Saviour himself insomuch that the whole Assembly was in Tears at it the good Father bid them not weep for that after all it may be it was not true For 1st As to the Book which you cite for this goodly Story 't is certain it was written above 420 years after Athanasius was in his Grave and is of no manner of Credit among the Learned 2dly As to the Story It was invented in the time of Irene the Empress when all the World was set upon making and finding out Fables and Miracles for establishing the Worship of Images 3dly All the Authority we have that ever there was any such thing done and that it was not a meer Invention as were many others of the like kind at that time is that of Sigebert whose Chronicle besides that it was written yet another 400 years after this supposed Insult upon the Crucifix Bell. de Scrip. Eccles p. 283. was also an Author whom Bellarmin himself confesses is not to be credited in every thing he says And especially when in all probability he had no other Warrant for it than the Acts of the Council of Nice and the pretended Treatise of St. Athanasius which you quote for it So unlucky a thing is it for you to meddle with Church-History 64. But whether the Relation be Truth or Fable The Question is put and must be Answer'd Would I not have thought that these Jews hereby intended to affront our Saviour Christ I answer Yes No doubt they did And why then say you should I not in like manner interpret this Service of yours to terminate not upon the Crucifix but to tend to him who suffer'd upon the Cross I answer 1. That had you put your Question as you ought you should have ask'd Why then we do not look upon your Intention to be to Honour not the Cross but Him that suffered upon it Now there is a very great Difference between these two And however
good Intention to stop the Course of Heresy in that Country Upon this he dismiss'd them but from that time began seriously to apply himself to read the Holy Scriptures telling them that he would no longer trust his Salvation to Men who defended their Religion by such pious Frauds so they called them but which were indeed Diabolical Inventions And in a short time after both himself and his whole House made open Profession of the Reformed Religion Anno 1564. And thus much be said in Answer to your IVth Article FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4o. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 8o. A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Second Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM Quarto The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24o. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to THREE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and the Reformation of the Church of England 4o. Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching Transubstantiation Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. 4o. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewed that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 4o. A Sermon preached upon St. Peter's day By a Divine of the Church of England Printed with some Enlargements The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is perfixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. With a Table of the Contents Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By W. W. M. A. 12o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religions A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations There are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six 〈◊〉 A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 4o. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4o. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto Published in his True Account his True and full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Tho. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Antient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of Transubstantiation Being a sufficient Confutation of CONSENSVS VETERVM NVBES TESTIVM and other Late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 4o. An Answer to the Representer's Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy With a Reply to the Vindicator's Full Answer shewing that the Vindicator has utterly ruin'd the New Design of Expounding and Representing Popery