see most clearly set down by St. Austin in his Eighth and Tenth Books de Civ Dei where he particularly enumerates the parts of Divine Worship as Sacrifice Invocation Dedication of Churches and Altars Oblations and Vows which the Scripture appropriates to God all which the Greeks saith he comprise in one word viz. Latreia but the Latins have not any one word of full signification to express it and then St. Austin flatly denies that the Christians do give Latreia that is any part of this Divine Worship to the Saints and there challenges the Heathens to prove the contrary if they can Whereas 't is as evident as the Sun at noon-day that the Papists do give not one but all those parts of Divine Worship called in general Latreia unto their Saints unless it be the sacrificing of Beasts this they reserve to God alone and truly he is much beholding to them for it they will give unto him the flesh of Bulls Rams Goats but unto the Saints their own their Hearts and Lips the Saints shall have their living holy and acceptable Sacrifice the very Soul of the Sacrifice and God shall have the dead Body even stinking in his divine nostrils which his Soul loaths and abhorrs as he hath often declared in his holy Word It was the devout prayer of the heart that sanctified and made acceptable the sacrifice of the Beasts without which they were an abomination unto God and are now in the pure times of the Gospel wholly laid aside and the Calves of our Lips and of our Hearts and Souls is the sacrifice of Christians and the principal part of Divine Worship Now I ask a Papist was it lawful for the Jews to sacrifice Beasts to Angels or deceased Patriarchs the very chiefest of them Noah Abraham Moses had not this been Idolatry in them who can deny it and why had this been Idolatry Because Sacrifice is a Divine Worship and to give Divine Worship to any Creature is Idolatry Is it not much more Idolatry to give unto Michael Gabriel Abraham Moses the purer the holier the diviner part of God's Service the Worship of Prayer is not this greater Idolatry can any man of sence deny it and yet this more holy part more divine Sacrifice the Papists give unto their Saints and in sum there is not any one thing that true Christians do or can do to God but the Papists do the very same to Saints and transcendently to the Blessed Virgin to whom the generality of the Papists pay ten times as much devotion as to God and are so far from being reproved for it as they are encouraged to it by their greatest Doctors I cannot but wonder at the grossand ridiculous mistake or rather abuse in wresting of St. Austin's word Latreia which he puts as a general word comprising all parts of Divine Worship but the Papists turn it quite to another sence and will understand thereby the Belief wherewith they worship which is not at all to St. Austin's purpose for there he mentions not any thing of Belief but Matter of Fact viz. what Worship is and ought to be given to God only as invocation by Prayer Dedication of Churches Altars Oblations Vows all which in St. Austin's sence is Latreia and all this the Papists give to the Blessed Virgin and Saints But say the Papists they do not give this with Latreia that is they do not believe them Gods when they worship them which they cannot do as I shewed before And thus they give them Latreia but not with Latreia Divine Worship but not with Divine Worship a most ridiculous juggling foppery Perchance a Similitude may make this matter plainer thus The King makes a Law that it shall be Treason punishable with death to give Kingly honours to a subject and then declares what he means by Kingly honours as to set a Crown on his head to call him Majesty to erect for him a Chair of State to serve him on the Knee c. all which the King comprizes in one word Royalty and as I said makes it treason to give Royalty to any Subject Now the Earl of Kent to whom the people of that Country are much devoted comes thither to a Gentlemans House who the more to magnifie this great Earl sets a Crown on his head calls him Majesty erects him a Chair of State serves him on the knee c. my Gentleman is called in question accused of Treason for giving Royalty to the Earl the Gentleman confesses all the Fact but pleads that he did not believe the Earl to be King nor did intend to set him up as King but only to give him all the honour he could 't is true he gave him Royalty in every part but not with Royalty the King though full of indignation for such a bold presumption and total breach of his Law burst out into laughter at the Gentleman 's ridiculous Plea and answers the Gentleman Well you gave your honured Earl all the honour due to me you gave him Royalty but not with Royalty so you shall die the death of a Traytor but not as a Traytor I suppose we shall at the day of Judgment hear the Papists subtil Doctors make this rare plea and excuse for their Idolatry and distinguish the point 't is true they gave the Saints Latreia but not with Latreia and I fear we shall hear their heavy doom for it Alas poor wretches the plain Text of Scripture must then take place the subtil Distinctions of Aquinas and Scotus will then be ridiculous and eternally deplorable folly 1 Cor. 1. 20. Where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world God of his infinite mercy open their eyes to see and bewail this their dangerous folly The plain and clear Truth is this They worship the Saints and chiefly the Blessed Virgin just as God or rather more than God it will be no excuse to say they do not believe her to be the very God nor call her God for as I shewed before 't is not the belief nor the calling her God makes it Idolatry but the giving her the Worship due to God And for the fuller convicton of the Papists I pray observe that though they do not call her in that very express word God yet they give her words and titles fully declaring her a Goddess as much or more than the Heathens did their Goddesses all which I cannot doubt but she fully detests her Humility being as great as her Dignity and indeed raised her to it as she expresses in her Magnificat That God regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden surely then she cannot but abhorr that they should call her Queen of Heaven and make Oblations to her so expresly declared Idolatry in Scripture Jer. 7. 18. They make their supplications and call upon her in time of trouble and even in the point of death which God expresly requires to
be performed to himself Psal. 50. 15. As God is called the Father of Mercy so is she called the Mother of Mercy as Christ is called the Tree of Life so is she and a hundred more such divine Attributes they give unto her as you may read in their printed Books of Litanies and Prayers to her sufficient to make a man tremble with horror and amazement to read the wilde as well as wicked blasphemous Titles their extravagant fancies invent to give her Let any Christian Soul who can but read the Scripture and understand common Sence judge if this be not Idolatry for the Titles they give her do much more imply a Deity than the word God and so is far greater Idolatry There is one thing more worthy your consideration in this business All the learned Papists know that the ancient Fathers did urge as a main Argument to prove the Diety of the Holy Ghost the Ubiquity of his operation in the hearts of the faithful all the world over a clear evidence of a divine Power which no Creature is capable of and will not the same Argument hold to prove the Deity of the Blessed Virgin if she as the Papists believe be able to be helpful to all her devoted Supplicants from all the four Quarters of the World at the same time Upon her great Festival-days how many millions of Papists do at the same instant say unto her that Hymn Ave Maris Stella wherein are conteined these words Thou that art the meekest of all make us meek and chaste grant unto us a holy life and safe journey These and a hundred the like Expressions they use unto her Now I pray observe sure the Papists suppose she can do this which they pray for otherwise they are ridiculous to pray for it so then they believe that she can work upon the hearts of her supplicants all the World over making them meek and chaste c. at the same time which was the Argument to prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost doth it not in like manner prove the Deity of the Blessed Virgin and doth not this their belief and practice make her a Goddess and doth not this make them Idolaters in full measure what did the Heathens more Nay doth not the praying to her or any other Saint at so vast a distance and supposing them to hear imply a Deity in them Is not this far beyond the sphere of Activity in any Creature Can any Creature hear their praying voice one quarter of a mile sure then they must be of a Divine power to hear so many millions and millions of miles much more is it a Divine property to see the thoughts of their hearts at that distance or indeed to see them at all were they never so nigh for God alone is the searcher of hearts yet the Papists often offer up to them the meditation of their hearts as well as the voice of their mouth making both mental and vocal Prayer unto them is not this apparently to make them Gods As for that rare excuse That though the Saints hear not our prayers much less see our hearts at this distance yet they see all in God's infinite comprehensive Heart Hold I beseech you whither are we come to excuse Idolatry I fear with horrid Blasphemy are the Saints then the searchers of God's Heart and know all his secrets this is Deity in the highest degree no but God of his infinite Goodness discovers this to the Saints may I be so bold as to ask who discovered this to the Papists why St. Francis St. Dominick St. Ignatius and many others in their Seraphical Meditations have been rapt up into the third Heaven yea far higher than St. Paul into the ninth Heaven and have had this and much more reveiled to them Pardon me I humbly conceive 't is far more unlawful for these Seraphical Saints to utter these words than it was for Saint Paul to utter what he heard in the third Heaven Sir I hope neither you nor any rational Man will build his Faith and Salvation upon their vain Legends well may they twattle these things to Children not to serious Men who build their Faith on the infallible Word of God alone where we find not one word of all this but much to the contrary Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve If God only sure no other Wherefore St. John in his Revelation tells us how he was twice severely rebuk'd with a Cave for his worshipping the Angel See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant worship God But the Papists will needs have this to be a Complement only of humility in the Angel to this great Apostle St. John truly a very severe form of Complement See thou do it not which sounds to me rather a Threat than a Complement and in the Original the Greek sounds more a Threat than our English expresses and sure we should the rather take it so because St. Paul doth so expresly forbid the worshipping of Angels as a Will-worship according to to the Will and Doctrine of men under pretence of humility but is indeed out of Pride vainly puff'd up in their fleshly minds intruding into those things they have not seen and obtruding them as saving Doctrines upon their ignorant Proselytes which thing all that are godly wise according to Scripture must needs hold foolish and sinful all being so fully laid out unto us by St. Paul Col. 2. and again 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee The Scripture saith their is one Mediator between God and man the Papists will needs have many whether more foolishly or more sinfully 't is hard to say for have they any Mediator more powerful or more merciful or more willing to hear and help them nay put the Power the Love the Mercy of all Saints and Blessed Virgin together is it greater is it equal is it near in any degree can it add one degree to the infinite Power and Love and Mercy of Christ God and Man is it not blasphemy to affirm it is it not then great sinfulness great madness to seek any other as if he were not complete as if he could not or as if he would not do what he promises to do Will not his Power his Promises his Command oblige these Self-will-worshipping Papists to come to this One Mediotor no but they will go to others to their own wilful destruction As for that poor weak excuse That we may as well or rather pray to Saints in Heaven to pray for us than pray Men on Earth to pray for us 't is not worth the answering the disparity is so great for the latter is an act of mutual Charity to which we are commanded the former an act of Religious worship
point controverted between us Indeed it were strange if in so many points in difference they should not have some colour at least in Scripture for one or two Let us see what Scripture they have for their Transubstantiation A very clear one Our Saviour taking Bread in his hand said This is my Body Sure we believe our Saviour could change Bread into his Body why then do not we believe that he did change it I pray you give me lieve to make the like Argument to you Our Saviour as positively said I am the bread which came down from heaven Sure you believe our Saviour could change his Body into Bread why then do not you believe he did so Are we not upon equal Terms If then you deny the latter to me why may not I deny the former to you You see how unconscionably they accuse us as a sensual and faithless Generation that will not believe any thing beyond our Senses do not we believe the Trinity our Saviour's Incarnation the Resurrection and much more far above all Sense and Reason also and should as readily believe this were there any just ground for it in Scripture But the Papists come upon us again and urge doth not our Saviour say Joh. 6. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and much more in that Chapter I must confess the words in this Chapter are far more pressing upon us than those in Matthew This is my body c. for'tis apparent the words in John made many take them in a literal sence as if Christ would give his very Flesh and Blood to be eaten and drunk whereat many of his Disciples were much offended and went from him but when at supper he said This is my body and gave it his Disciples to eat no man was offended at it or made any scruple to eat what he gave which no doubt some one at least would have done had they apprehended it to be his very Flem. Thomas who so hardly believed his Resurrection often declared unto him before hand and attested to him by all the rest after and the thing it self so much more easie for him to believe that the Soul should enter the same Body but two whole days after death when he had seen Lazarus raised after four dayes doubtless this slow believing Thomas would have somewhat boggled at believing the bread converted into Christ's Flesh and to eat it yet we do not find he or any other was startled at it but swallowed it down as readily as the former meat for our Saviour had before informed them that the words he spake were spirit and life therefore they ought not to be offended at them all which makes me confidently believe they did not believe it to be Christ's very Flesh but took the words as figuratively spoken as you and all others do those words I am the bread c. And I do as confidently believe that had they believed wrong our Saviour would have rectified their belief and would have fully instructed them But now I beseech you consider those words in Joh. which are so much more pressing for a literal sence of Christs very flesh given if those by the Papist Doctors are taken in a figurative sence and will not be endured by them in a literal sence have you not much more reason to take those in Matthew in a figurative sence The Papist Doctors dare not take the Words of St. John literally because they so clearly condemn the taking away the Cup from the Laity and denying them the Blood of Christ which our Saviour there so absolutely requires to be drunk by every one that will enter into Life Now consider into what a strait the Papist Doctors have brought themselves into if they take the words literally their taking away the Cup is declared damnable to the Laity if they take them figuratively their Transubstantiation is condemned as a grand Imposture But blessed be God we are free from both and fully confirmed in the figurative sence by St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 23. Where he tells the Corinthians that he delivered to them what he received of the Lord who said This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which words differ much from those spoken by our Saviour and are as different in the sence also if taken literally for they denote a change of the Cup into Christ's Blood and therefore of necessity must and are taken by all figuratively and then they signifie the same with our Saviour's words and I hope the Papists will not accuse St. Paul to have told the Corinthians a false story and delivered that unto them which he never received of Christ. Sure you will rather stand up for St. Paul and accuse their Transubstantiation of falsity I could dilate on this Subject much more but I love brevity as well as you and when you desire more there is enough to be seen in Bishop Morton e. The Conclusion is made by the Papist Doctors that there being no Transubstantiation they are as great Idolaters in adoring the consecrated Hoste as any Heathens ever were God of his infinite mercy preserve you from having any Communion with them I shall now end this business as I began with Dr. Thorndick's Judgement thereon He in his Sixteenth Chapter speaking of the Papists praying to Saints saith there was no such thing in use till a good while after Constantine the Emperour who died Anno Dom. 350. so that by this Computation it must be about 400 years And can any one in reason think it fit to venture on so dangerous a practice in Religion unknown to the Church 400 years when Faith was purest Devotion most fervent Sanctity most eminent and when all helps to Salvation were most eagerly pursued yet no praying to Saints practised which is now come to that height as Dr. Thorndick himself there calls it A precipice of horrible danger sor saith he they ask the same things of the Saints and especially of the Blessed Virgin in the same terms in which they are desired of God even in the holy Scripture And this which the Doctor affirms is most evident in their printed Books of Prayer wherein though they sometimes mention the Saints Intercession and this we do to Christ also perfect God yet other times they pray to the Saints and Blessed Virgin directly for the things Thus you see they make no distinction between God Christ Blessed Virgin and Saints in their form of Prayer or things prayed for And is not this Idolatry far greater than to sacrifice to them Bulls and Rams to give them the divinest part of God's Worship Is not this to deifie them in the highest degree Is not this to worship false Gods They make them Gods as much as ever the Heathens made their Heroes Gods for the Heathens believed their Heroes to be mortal Men they knew them living they saw them dying but for their great Virtues believed their Souls were carried up into heaven and
hope you will be no more terrified with Dr. Thorndick's Bug-bear the nullifying of our Church which hath been and I hope will continue a Church professing One God the Creator of all one Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of all one Faith one Baptism And now I shall set before your eyes no Bug-bear but a just fear of the Romish Idolatry which pious Dr. Thorndick out of a zealous desire of Unity which is impossible would willingly cloak under a milder and less hateful name I am as willing to speak the truth in love as he yet I must not out of love to Unity conceal the truth or palliate falshood but clearly set forth the Romish gross erroneous practice of Idolatry which their Doctors daub over with plausible words and make this heavy sin appear as light as a feather I beseech you read and ponder it well and doubtless your neck and shoulders will tremble at the weight The Papists take it very heinously to be called Idolaters because in Scripture the word Idolatry is applied as they say only to Heathens who denyed the true God and worshipped false Gods But I desire the Papists to tell me whether Solomon was not guilty of Idolatry in worshipping the Gods of his Wives though he himself believed in the true God And who doubts but a Christian believing aright in God and Christ may be guilty of Idolatry as many true believing Christians were in the horrible persecutions under Heathen Emperors meerly out of fear sacrificing unto them and their Gods whom they abhorred in their hearts And certainly the Papists Idolatry is a degree beyond this for they worship the Saints both outwardly and inwardly with their hearts and moreover I may truly say they worship false Gods as the Heathens did for though the Papists do not call them Gods in word yet they make them Gods by deed by their worship as you shall see by and by Idolatry is an act of worship not of belief error in belief is called Heresie or Infidelity error in worship is Superstition or Idolatry And though Idolatry originally taken signifieth the worshipping of an Idol yet 't is commonly taken in a larger sence as to give divine Worship to any Creature Now whether you call this Creature God or not this matters not for 't is not the Name but the Worship given to it makes it Idolatry Covetousness in Scripture is called Idolatry yet no man believes or calls Money a God but in effect makes it a God by trusting in it which is a principal part of our duty to God to trust in him And so a man is said to Idolize his Prince by trusting in his favour and so the Papists are said to Idolize the Saints and Blessed Virgin by praying and trusting to them in time of trouble which God requires of us as due to himself and it were far less sinful nay not sinful at all in some sence to call the Saints Gods than to trust in them and pray to them for our Saviour himself declared out of Scripture that 't was not unlawful to apply the name of God unto men I said ye are Gods And the Heathens who called their Heroes Gods and sacrificed unto them did believe them to be men but of singular Vertue for which after their death they were taken by the supreme God into Heaven and on this behalf the people sacrificed to them gave them divine Worship just as the Papists do now their Saints declared to be so by the Roman Consistory And as the ancient Roman Senate Deified many as Heroes in Heaven who were damned in Hell 't is not altogether improbable I am sure 't is not impossible but that some declar'd by the Roman Consistory for Saints in Heaven may be in the same dismal Dungeon the hearts of men are known only to God the holiest out ward Professor may have a Devil's heart for as the Devil can transform himself into an Angel of Light so may a devillish man As for the Popes Infallibility in the case declaring such a one for a Saint I will not now enter into that dispute I will only ask the question why if the Pope cannot erre in the Case doth he put the Inquisitors of the Rota to that excessive trouble as to make diligent search several years together before he determine the point as if he himself feared however others confidently believe that his pretended holy Spirit may erre in the matter But I return to my business Idolatry then is an Act of wrong Worship not of wrong Belief and as Solomon and other right believing Jews were guilty of Idolatry by giving divine Worship to Creatures so may right believing Papists if they in like manner give divine Worship to Creatures though they do not believe them Gods for he that believes in God a right that believes him to be the Creator of all things cannot believe any thing else to be God in this sence 't is a flat contradiction for that thing would be a Creator and no Creator being created a God and no God Now I pray you observe he that believes aright in God cannot believe any Creature to be God if then it were as the Papists would have it that 't is no Idolatry to worship the Creatures unless you believe them Gods which a right believer cannot do it must needs follow that a right believer let him adore Saint or Angel Man or Devil with all his heart with all his soul yet not believing them Gods which he cannot do is not cannot be guilty of Idolatry was there ever any thing more madly affirmed 'T is evident then as I said before that Idolatry consists not in wrong Belief but in wrong Worship and so to give divine Worship to a Creature consists not in worshipping that Creature with belief 't is a God which a true believer cannot do but in worshipping it with such Worship wherewith we worship God that is by kneeling praying making vows to it and the like which we do and should do to God only we having no other Worship to render to his divine Majesty And this Worship the Papists give to their Saints and are hereby guilty of gross Idolatry let their belief be what it will When the ancient Christian Fathers accused the Heathen Philosophers of Idolatry for giving divine Worship to their Heroes the Philosophers endeavoured to retort it upon the Fathers accusing them in like manner for worshipping Saints and I pray you how did the Fathers wipe off that calumny was it by distinguishing in point of Belief as the Papists now do and saying that they did believe in the true God and did not call the Saints Gods but the Creatures of God and so worshipped them as Creatures only no such matter the Fathers made no such reply but absolutely denied the matter of fact and said they did not at all worship the Saints but God alone and only honoured the Saints as holy men and their fellow-servants of God as you may