Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
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A43675
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Speculum beatae virginis a discourse of the due praise and honour of the Virgin Mary / by a true Catholick of the Church of England.
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Hickes, George, 1642-1715.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing H1869; ESTC R10946
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41,343
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46
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none in the First and Pure Antiquity for above Three hundred years as will appear from the manner in which the ancient Fathers mention'd her when they had occasion to speak of her S. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians mentions her by the name of plain Mary in the Scripture-stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying These three great Mysteries the Virginity and bringing forth of Mary and the death of the Lord were concealed from the Ruler of this World Justin Martyr who mentions her so often in his Works upon occasion of giving an account of our Lords Conception and Birth never calls her by any greater Title than the Virgin or the Virgin Mary * L. 3. c. 3. l 7. c. 37. S. Irenaeus mentions her by no other name ‖ Ep. ad Paul Samosat Dionysius Alexandrinus calls her the holy Virgin Mary and Mother of God * Serm. 2. de Annunc S. Virgin Mariae Gregorius Thaumat calls her the holy Mother of God The Author of the Questions c. falsely ascribed to Justin Martyr calls her the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most happy or blessed Virgin * De Virgin Veland de carne Christi adversus Praxeam adversus Judaos Tertullian whom I should have named before calls her nothing but the Virgin or Mary or the Virgin Mary when he was tempted to speak magnificently of her against Jews and Hereticks * Socrat. hist Eccles l. 7. c. 37 Origen in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans calls her the Mother of God ‖ Euseb l. 1. c. 7. de vit Const l. 3. c. 43. Eusebius calls her Mary in one place and the Mother of God in another Alexander Bishop of Alexandria calls her the Mother of God * 1 vol. ad epist de incar verb. dei 2 vol. p. 298. S. Athanasius sometimes calls her Mary sometimes the Virgin Mary sometimes the Holy Virgin and sometimes the Mother of God And how far he was from calling of her Queen of heaven c. or giving religious respect unto her appears from other ‖ Ep. ad Epict. 3 Orat. cont Arr. places where he saith that She is our sister because we are all the children of Adam Till this time in all Antiquity there is not to be found the least footstep of Invocating the Virgin or any other Saint or of giving Religious worship to them Indeed Gregory Nazianzen in his * Orat. 18. Oration upon S. Cyprian tells us how ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justina supplicated the Virgin Mary for help when she found her self assaulted by the Magical artifices of Cyprian and the Devil but it 's evident to any who is conversant in the writings of the first Three Ages that there was no such practice of Invocating Saints in the time of Cyprian much less before the time of his Conversion and therefore computing the time when Gregory spoke that Oration which was after the the year 370. and the time when Cyprian is said to have attempted the Chastity of Justina which must have been before the year 247. when he was made Presbyter it is not to be imagined that Gregory spoke of Justina's praying to the Virgin according to the practice of the Age wherein she and Cyprian lived but according to the practice of compellating Saints which now first began in his own I call it the practice of Compellating Saints because the manner of calling upon them in Rhetorical Apostrophes and wishes and without any circumstances of religious worship was not as yet strictly speaking come up to formal and proper Invocation in a supplicatory way with all the signs and solemnities of worship and as it is usual for Painters to draw men and women of former Ages in the garb and dresses of their own so it is not unusual among Writers especially for Orators to relate things not according to the usage and practice of the times when they were done but according to the custome of the Age and place in which they live as a very * Dallaeus advers Latin c. 8. p. 51. Learned man hath shewed by several instances that Gregory and other Writers have done This alone were a sufficient Answer to that single instance out of Gregory if the story of Cyprian as he hath related it were credible in the other particulars but instead of being credible it is highly incredible in all the other particulars of it because there is nothing of them in the life of S. Cyprian written by Pontius his Deacon who saith not one word of his being a Magician or of Justina or of his attempting her Chastity by Magical Arts before his Conversion nor of burning his Magical books after it c. and therefore her Invocating the Virgin Mary hath as much truth in it as his falling in love with her c. Gregory took them all alike upon trust and they are all alike to be believed I am come now in talking about Gregory to the latter end of the Fourth Century when Superstition began to get ground and he especially among other Fathers gave occasion to the world of praying by way of Adoration unto Saints by his Rhetorical and optative Invocations of them at their solemn Commemorations but how far that Age was in the general practice of it from this religious way of Invocating the blessed Virgin or other Saints or from allowing the Invocation of her by way of Supplication as a part of worship and service due unto her we may learn from St. Epiphanius who flourished at the same time with Gregory towards the latter end of the fourth Century when a certain Sect of women meeting together to worship the Virgin Mary offered certain Cakes unto her called Collyrides from whence they were called Collyridians This good Bishop did burn with zeal against them as it appears from his warm way of writing in which he hath treated them as Hereticks and Idolaters * In a Sermon p. 23. A late Writer acknowledges that he treated them as Hereticks for offering Cakes unto her and that in so doing they gave her more honour than is allowable to a creature Nay if I understand his meaning right he acknowledges that to offer Cakes unto her was to adore her as a goddess and if offering Cakes unto her was so absurd as he makes it and so enormous a crime even a Sacrilegious Idolatry as he speaks then methinks to offer Candles and Incense to her is so too I should be glad to understand the difference between the two offerings as to the charge of Epiphanius But because he so pens his periods as to make his Reader believe that that Father called them Hereticks only upon the account of their offering unto her as if in doing that only they raised her above the nature of a creature I beg the Preachers leave to cite him more at large than he hath done and to make it appear thereby that the holy Fathers censure will
IMPRIMATUR C. Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Martii 26. 1686. SPECULUM BEATAE VIRGINIS A DISCOURSE OF THE DUE PRAISE AND HONOUR OF THE Virgin Mary By a true CATHOLICK of the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1686. THE PREFACE THE chief End for which I undertook to make this following Discourse was to set before the English Reader a prospect of the Devotions which the Church of Rome pays and allows to be paid to the Blessed Virgin and to give him thereby an opportunity of judging Whether the R. Catholicks do indeed no more than pray to the Saints in Heaven as they do to their Brethren upon earth to pray for them in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ This is the Summ of the late Apologies for Worshipping of Saints and whether in reality it be so or no among them I leave the candid and honest Reader of what Religion soever to judg They have no reason to be offended at me for my Vndertaking for if their Devotions to the Virgin be good and Orthodox I have done them and their Church no dishonour but if they be not however I have done them no wrong for I have not misrepresented their Prayers and Hymns and Antiphones nor put any false Colours upon the use of them but have presented them as they are in themselves and treated those that use them without any provoking or reproachful Language and perhaps many that at first sight cannot read such offensive Devotions without Indignation will think I have treated the Virgins Votaries too gently and said rather too little than too much But what may perhaps justly move their Passions will not move mine who am used to read the Latin Offices and other allowed Books of Devotion among those of the Latin Communion and I think fit also to acquaint the Reader that I could have proved from their most Authentick Prayers to other Saints as well as to the Virgin that they do more than desire the Saints to pray for them Hymn Beate pastor Petre. in Brev. Rom. D. 28. Jan. alibi Hymn Tu natale solum protege Brev. Rom. in Festo S. Martinae Antiph Michael Archangele veni in adjutorium populo Dei Brev. Rom. in Fest S. Mich. Hymn Vt queant laxis Brev. Rom. in Nat. S. J. Bapt. Hymn Egregie Doctor Paule Br. Rom. Die 29. Jan. Orat. Deus cujus dexterâ Br. Rom. D. 6. Jul. Orat Omnipotens misericors Deus Br. Rom. D. 14. Jul. Hymn Regis superni nuntia Brev. Rom. in Festo S. Tiresiae Hymn Placarc Christe Servulis Br. Rom. in Festo omnium Sanctor Et Orat. Sempiterne Deus ibid. Et Hymn Salutis aeternae dator ibid. in tert Nocturn Orat. Sacrificium nostrum Missal in Fest S. Andraeae as sick men desire the Prayers of the Congregation as any indifferent person will be satisfied they do if he please to consult the Hymns and Prayers cited in the Margin Since I finished this Discourse I met with another Hymn made of the Te Deum to the Blessed Virgin which is a more exact Transprosal of it than that I have cited out of Cardinal Bonaventure I shall here set it down almost verbatim as I find it translated in a little * Entituled A Decree of our Holy Father Pope Innocent XI c. book Printed at Oxford 1678. We praise thee O Mary we acknowledge thee to be the Lady All the earth doth worship thee the Mother of the everlasting God To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the powers therein To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy venerable wonderful Mother of the Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of the fruitfulness of thy Virginity The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly number of the Prophets praise thee The holy Church throughout the world doth acknowledge thee The Mother of infinite Majesty Thine honourable true and only Son Conceived by the Holy Ghost the Comforter Thou art the Queen of Glory O Mary Thou art the true Mother of the Son of the Everlasting Father When he took upon him to deliver man thou didst afford him thy Virgin-womb Thy Seed having overcome the sharpness of death the Kingdom of Heaven is open to all believers Thou sittest at the right hand of thy Son in the glory of the Mother We believe that thou shalt come with thy Son the Judg. We therefore pray thee help thy Votaries whom thy Son hath redeemed with the precious blood he had from thee Make them to be numbred with the Saints of God in eternal glory O Lady save thy people and bless thy Sons inheritance Day by day we magnifie thee And we worship thy name ever world without end Vouchsafe O Lady to keep us this day without sin O Lady have mercy upon us have mercy upon us O Lady let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee O Mary in thee have I trusted after God let me never be confounded The Publisher of the forecited Book took the Original of this Hymn out of a book written by Melchior Inchofer a Jesuit which that Father saith was sent to the Messeneses by the Blessed Virgin and he thinks it was the same or not much differing from that which Pope Paul the Fifth approved and which the present Pope hath prohibited and suppressed by a Decree It is a decree worthy of his holy Character and I wish for his honour he had prohibited it as Impious or Blasphemous or Idolatrous or contrary to the word of God However the bare prohibition of it ought to be acknowledged for a good work and I beseech Almighty God to pour out the Spirit of Reforming more and more upon the Bishop and Clergy of the Roman Church that instead of Expounding Palliating and Excusing they may set themselves in good earnest to Reform and amend whatever is amiss that so the Church wheresoever dispersed over the Vniversal World may be restored to the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolical Doctrine Worship and Discipline and become one undivided Catholick Communion through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen SPECULUM BEATAE VIRGINIS S. LUKE I. 28. And the Angel came in unto Her and said Hail thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with Thee Blessed art thou among Women THE words of my Text are the Salutation of the Angel Gabriel unto the Virgin Mary when he came to tell her that God had chosen her to be the Mother of the Messias And that they are words of pure Salutation and not of Devotion is evident from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail which is a form of Saluting as may be seen in those two mock-salutations of our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail Master Hail King of the Jews as likewise from the use of the Original word in Acts 15.23 where it is said that the Apostles and Elders wrote Letters and sent greeting to