attently reverently and devoutly you must know that Attention or Advertency to your prayers is manifold 1. That you attend to the words so that you speak them not too fast or to begin the next verse of a Psalm before he that recites with you hath done the former verse and this attention is necessary But 2. there is an attention which is by understanding the sense and that is not necessary For if it were very extremely few would do their duty when so very few do at all understand what they say 3. There is an attention relating to the end of prayer that is that he that prays considers that he is present before God and speaks to him and this indeed is very prositable but it is not necessary No not so much So that by this Doctrine no attention is necessary but to attend that the words be all said and said right But even this attention is not necessary that it should be actual but it suffices to be virtual that is that he who says his office intend to do so and do not change his mind although he does not attend And he who does not change his mind that is unless observing himself not to attend he still turn his mind to other things he attends meaning he attends sufficiently and as much as is necessary though indeed speaking naturally and truly he does not attend If any man in the Church of England and Ireland had published such Doctrine as this he should quickly and deservedly have felt the severity of the Ecclesiastical Rod but in Rome it goes for good Catholick Doctrine NOW although upon this account Devotion is it may be good and it is good to attend to the words of our prayer and the sense of them yet that it is not necessary is evidently consequent to this But it is also expresly affirm'd by the same hand There ought to be devotion that our mind be inflam'd with the love of God though if this be wanting without contempt it is no deadly sin Ecclesiae satisfit per opus externum nec aliud jubet saith Reginaldus If ye do the outward work the Church is satisfied neither does she command any thing else Good Doctrine this And it is an excellent Church that commands nothing to him that prays but to say so many words WELL but after all this if Devotion be necessary or not if it be present or not if the mind wander or wander not if you mind what you pray or mind it not there is an easie cure for all this For Pope Leo granted remission of all negligences in their saying their offices and prayers to them who after they have done shall say this prayer To the Holy and Vndivided Trinity To the Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified To the fruitfulness of the most Blessed and most Glorious Virgin Mary and to the Vniversity of all Saints be Eternal praise honour vertue and glory from every Creature and to us remission of sins for ever and ever Amen Blessed are the bowels of the Virgin Mary which bore the Son of the Eternal God and blessed are the paps which suckled Christ our Lord Pater noster Ave Maria. This prayer to this purpose is set down by Navar and Cardinal Tolet. THIS is the summ of the Doctrine concerning the manner of saying the Divine offices in the Church of Rome in which greater care is taken to obey the Precept of the Church than the Commandments of God For the Precept of hearing Mass is not to intend the words but to be present at the Sacrifice though the words be not so much as heard and they that think the contrary think so without any probable reason saith Tolet. It seems there was not so much as the Authority of one grave Doctor to the contrary for if there had the contrary opinion might have been probable but all agree upon this Doctrine all that are considerable So that between the Church of England and the Church of Rome the difference in this Article is plainly this They pray with their lips we with the heart we pray with the understanding they with the voice we pray and they say prayers We suppose that we do not please God if our hearts be absent they say it is enough if their bodies be present at their greatest solemnity of prayer though they hear nothing that is spoken and understand as little And which of these be the better way of serving God may soon be determin'd if we remember the complaint which God made of the Jews This people draweth near me with their lips but their hearts are far from me But we know that we are commanded to ask in faith which is seated in the understanding and requires the concurrence of the will and holy desires which cannot be at all but in the same degree in which we have a knowledge of what we ask The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man prevails But what our prayers want of this they must needs want of blessing and prosperity And if we lose the benefit of our prayers we lose that great instrumentality by which Christians are receptive of pardon and strengthened in faith and confirm'd in hope and increase in charity and are protected by Providence and are comforted in their sorrows and derive help from God Ye ask and have not because ye ask amiss that is Saint James his rule They that pray not as they ought shall never obtain what they fain would HITHER is to be 〈◊〉 their fond manner of prayer consisting in vain repetitions of Names and little forms of words The Psalter of our Lady is an hundred and fifty Ave Maries and at the end of every tenth they drop in the Lord's Prayer and this with the Creed at the end of the fifty makes a perfect Rosary This indeed is the main entertainment of the peoples Devotion for which cause Mantuan called their Religion Relligionem Quae filo insertis numerat sua murmura baccis A Religion that numbers their murmurs by berries fil'd upon a string This makes up so great a part of their Religion that it may well be taken for one half of its desinition But because so few do understand what they say but all repeat and stick to their numbers it is evident they think to be heard for that For that or nothing for besides that they neither do nor understand And all that we shall now say to it is That our Blessed Saviour reprov'd this way of Devotion in the Practice and Doctrines of the Heathens Very like to which is that which they call the Psalter of Jesus in which are fifteen short Ejaculations as Have mercy on me * Strengthen me * Help me * Comfort me c. and with every one of these the name of Jesus is to be said thirty times that is in all four hundred and fifty times Now we are ignorant how to distinguish this from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
said S. Ambrose And so it was in the primitive Church blessings and all other things in the Church were done in the Vulgar tongue saith Lyra Nay not only the publick Prayers but the whole Bible was anciently by many Translations made fit for the Peoples use S. Hierom 〈◊〉 that himself translated the Bible into the Dalmatian Tongue and Ulphilas a Bishop among the Goths translated it into the Gothick Tongue and that it was translated into all Languages we are told by S. Chrysostom S. Austin and Theodoret. BUT although what twenty Fathers say can make a thing no more certain than if S. Paul had alone said it yet both S. Paul and the Fathers are frequent to tell us That a Service or Prayers in an unknown Tongue do not edisie So S. Basil S. Chrysostom S. Ambrose and S. Austin and this is consented to by Aquinas Lyra and Cassander And besides that these Doctors affirm that in the primitive Church the Priest and People joyn'd in their Prayers and understood each other and prayed in their Mother-tongue We find a story how true it is let them look to it but it is told by Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope Pius the II. that when Cyrillus Bishop of the Moravians and Methodius had converted the Slavonians Cyril being at Rome desir'd leave to use the Language of that Nation in their Divine Offices Concerning which when they were disputing a voice was heard as if from Heaven Let every spirit praise the Lord and every tongue 〈◊〉 unto him Upon which it was granted according to the Bishops desire But now they are not so kind at Rome and although the Fathers at Trent confess'd in their Decree that the Mass contains in it great matter of erudition and edification of the People yet they did not think it fit that it should be said in the vulgar Tongue So that it is very good food but it must be lock'd up it is an excellent Candle but it must be put under a bushel And now the Question is Whether it be sit that the People pray so as to be edified by it or is it better that they be at the prayers when they shall not be edified Whether it be not as good to have a dumb Priest to do Mass as one that hath a tongue to say it For he that hath no tongue and he that hath none to be understood 〈◊〉 alike insignificant to me Quid prodest locutionum integritas quam non sequitur intellectus 〈◊〉 cum loquendi nulla sit causa si quod loquimur non intelligunt propter quos ut intelligant loquimur said S. Austin What does it avail that man speaks all if the hearers understand none 〈◊〉 there is no cause why a man should speak at all if they for whose understanding you do speak understand it not God understands the Priests thoughts when he speaks not as well as when he speaks he hears the prayer of the heart and sees the word of the mind and a dumb Priest can do all the ceremonies and make the signs and he that speaks aloud to them that understand him not does no more Now since there is no use of vocal prayer in publick but that all together may 〈◊〉 their desires and stir up one another and joyn in the expression of them to God by this device a man who understands not what is said can only pray with his lips for the heart cannot pray but by desiring and it cannot desire what it understands not So that in this case prayer cannot be an act of the soul There is neither 〈◊〉 nor understanding notice or desire The heart says nothing and asks for nothing and therefore receives nothing Solomon calls that the sacrifice of fools when men consider not and they who understand not what is said cannot take it into consideration But there needs no more to be said in so plain a case We end this with the words of the Civil and Canon Law Justinian the Emperour made a Law in these words We will and command that all Bishops and Priests celebrate the sacred Oblation and the Prayers thereunto added in holy Baptism not in a low voice but with a loud and clear voice which may be heard by the faithful people that is be understood for so it follows that thereby the minds of the hearers may be raised up with greater devotion to set forth the praises of the Lord God for so the Apostle teacheth in the first to the Corinthians It is true that this Law was rased out of the Latine versions of Justinian The fraud and design was too palpable but it prevail'd nothing for it is acknowledged by Cassander and Bellarmine and is in the Greek Copies of Holoander THE Canon Law is also most express from an Authority of no less than a Pope and a Genëral Council as themselves esteem Innocent III. in the great Council of 〈◊〉 above MCC years after Christ in these words 〈◊〉 in most parts within the same City and Diocess the people of divers Tongues are mixt together having under one and the same faith divers ceremonies and rites we straitly charge and command That the Bishops of such Cities and Dioceses provide men fit who may celebrate Divine Service according to the diversity of ceremonies and languages and administer the Sacraments of the Church instructing them both by word and by example NOW if the words of the Apostle and the practice of the primitive Church the Sayings of the Fathers and the Confessions of wise men among themselves if the consent of Nations and the piety of our forefathers if right reason and the necessity of the thing if the needs of the ignorant and the very inseparable conditions of holy prayers if the Laws of Princes and the Laws of the Church which do require all our prayers to be said by them that understand what they say if all these cannot prevail with the Church of Rome to do so much good to the Peoples souls as to consent they should understand what in particular they are to ask of God certainly there is a great pertinacy of opinion and but a little charity to those precious souls for whom Christ died and for whom they must give account INDEED the old 〈◊〉 Rites and the Sooth-sayings of the Salian Priests Vix Sacerdotibus suis intellecta sed quae mutari vetat Religio were scarce understood by their Priests themselves but their Religion forbad to change them Thus anciently did the Osseni Hereticks of whom Epiphanius tells and the Heracleonitae of whom S. Austin gives account they taught to pray with obscure words and some others in Clemens Alexandrinus suppos'd that words spoken in a barbarous or unknown tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are more powerful The Jews also in their Synagogues at this day read Hebrew which the people but rarely understand and the Turks in their Mosques
for twenty years together after his death honoured for a Saint but afterwards his body was taken up and burnt But then since as Ambrosius Catharinus and Vivaldus observe if one Saint be call'd in question then the rest may what will become of the Devotions which are paid to such Saints which have been canonized within these last five Centuries Concerning whom we can have but slender evidence that they are in Heaven at all And therefore the Cardinal of Cambray Petrus de Alliaco wishes that so many new Saints were not canoniz'd They are indeed so many that in the Church of Rome the Holy-days which are called their Greater Doubles are threescore and four besides the Feasts of Christ and our Lady and the Holy-days which they call Half double Festivals together with the Sundays are above one hundred and thirty So that besides many Holy-days kept in particular places there are in the whole year about two hundred Holy-days if we may believe their own Gavantus which besides that it is an intolerable burthen to the poor Labourer who must keep so many of them that on the rest he can scarce earn his bread they do also turn Religion into Superstition and habituate the People to idleness and disorderly Festivities and impious celebrations of the day with unchristian merriments and licentiousness We conclude this with those words of S. Paul How shall we call on him on whom we have not believed Christ said Ye believe in God believe also in me But he never said Ye have believed in me believe also in my Saints No For there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus And therefore we must come to God not by Saints but only by Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT X. Of the horrible Incantations and charms used by the Priests in Exorcising persons posses'd The whole manner how they cast out Devils set down at large and several remarks upon it THERE is in the Church of Rome a horrible impiety taught and practised which so far as it goes must needs destroy that part of holy life which consists in the holiness of our Prayers and indeed is a Conjugation of Evils of such evils of which in the whole world a society of Christians should be least suspected we mean the infinite Superstitions and Incantations or Charms us'd by their Priests in their Exorcising possessed persons and conjuring of Devils THERE was an Ecclesiastical book called Ordo Baptiz andi cum modo Visitandi printed at Venice A. D. 1575. in which there were damnable and diabolical Charms insomuch that the Spanish Inquisitors in their Expurgatory Index printed at Madrid A. D. 1612. commanded deleatur tota exorcismus Luciferina cujus initium est Adesto Domine tui famuli that all that Luciferian Exorcism be blotted out But whoever looks into the Treasure of Exorcisms and horrible Conjurings for that is the very title of the Book printed at Colein A. D. 1608. shall find many as horrid things and not censur'd by any Inquisitors as yet so far as we have ever read or heard Nay that very Luciferina or Devilish Exorcism is reprinted at Lyons A. D. 1614. in the institutio baptizandi which was restored by the Decree of the Council of Trent So that though it was forbidden in Spain it was allowed in France But as 〈◊〉 as that are allowed every where in the Church of Rome The most famous and of most publick use are The Treasure of Exorcisms of which we but now made mention the Roman Ritual The Manual of Exorcisms printed at Antwerp A. D. 1626. with Approbation of the Bishop and privilege of the Archdukes the Pastorals of several Churches especially that of Ruraemund and especially the Flagellum Daemonum The Devils whip by Father Hierom Mengus a Frier Minor which the Clergy of Orleans did use in the Exorcising of Martha Brosser A. D. 1599. the story whereof is in the Epistles of Cardinal D'Ossat and the History of the Excellent Thuanus NOW from these Books especially this last we shall represent their manner of casting out Devils and then speak a word to the thing it self Their manner and form is this First They are to try the Devil by Holy water Incense Sulphur Rue which from thence as we suppose came to be called Herb of Grace and especially S. Johns wort which therefore they call Devils flight with which if they cannot cast the Devil out yet they may do good to the Patient for so Pope Alexander the first promis'd and commanded the Priests to use it for 〈◊〉 sanctifying and pacifying the people and driving away the snares of the Devil And to this it were well if the Exorcist would rail upon mock and jeer the Devil for he cannot endure a witty and a sharp taunt and loves jeering and railing no more than he loves holy water and this was well tried of old against an Empuse that met Apollonius Tyanaeus at Mount Caucasus against whom he rail'd and exhorted his company to do so NEXT to this the Exorcist may ask the Devil some questions What is his name How many of them there are For what cause and at what time he entered and for his own learning by what persons he can be cast out and by what Saint adjur'd who are his particular enemies in Heaven and who in Hell by what words he can be most 〈◊〉 for the Devils are such fools that they cannot keep their own counsel nor choose but tell and when they do they always tell true He may also ask him by what Covenant or what Charm he came there and by what he is to be released Then he may call Lucifer to help him and to torment that Spirit for so they oast out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of the Devils and certainly Lucifer dares not but obey him Next to this the Exorcist is cunningly to get out of the Devil the confession of some Article of Faith for the edification of the standers by whom he may by this means convince of the truth of Transubstantiation the reality of Purgatory or the value of Indulgences and command him to knock his head three times against the ground in adoration of the Holy Trinity But let him take heed what Reliques he apply to the Devil for if the Reliques be 〈◊〉 the Devil will be too hard for him However let the Exorcising Priest be sure to bless his Pottage his Meat his Ointment his Herbs and then also he may use some Schedules or little rolls of Paper containing in them holy words but he must be sure to be exercis'd and skilful in all things that belong to the conjuring of the Devil These are the preparatory documents which when he hath observ'd then let him fall to his prayers NOW for the prayers they also are publickly describ'd in their Offices before cited and are as followeth The Priest ties his stole about the neck of the possessed with three knots and
a very great charity to your soul I must confess I was on your behalf troubled when I heard you were fallen from the Communion of the Church of England and entred into a voluntary unnecessary schism and departure from the Laws of the King and the Communion of those with whom you have always lived in charity going against those Laws in the defence and profession of which your Husband died going from the Religion in which you were Baptized in which for so many years you lived piously and hoped for Heaven and all this without any sufficient reason without necessity or just scandal ministred to you and to aggravate all this you did it in a time when the Church of England was persecuted when she was marked with the Characterisms of her Lord the marks of the Cross of Jesus that is when she suffered for a holy cause and a holy conscience when the Church of England was more glorious than at any time before Even when she could shew more Martyrs and Confessors than any Church this day in Christendom even then when a King died in the profession of her Religion and thousands of Priests learned and pious men suffered the spoiling of their goods rather than they would forsake one Article of so excellent a Religion So that seriously it is not easily to be imagined that any thing should move you unless it be that which troubled the perverse Jews and the Heathen Greek Scandalum crucis the scandal of the Cross You stumbled at that Rock of offence You left us because we were afflicted lessened in outward circumstances and wrapped in a cloud but give me leave only to remind you of that sad saying of the Scripture that you may avoid the consequent of it They that fà ll on this stone shall be broken in pieces but they on whom it shall fall shall be grinded to powder And if we should consider things but prudently it is a great argument that the sons of our Church are very conscientious and just in their perswasions when it is evident that we have no temporal end to serve nothing but the great end of our souls all our hopes of preferment are gone all secular regards only we still have truth on our sides and we are not willing with the loss of truth to change from a persecuted to a prosperous Church from a Reformed to a Church that will not be reformed lest we give scandal to good people that suffer for a holy conscience and weaken the hands of the afflicted of which if you had been more careful you would have remained much more innocent BUT I pray give me leave to consider for you because you in your change considered so little for your self what fault what false doctrine what wicked and dangerous proposition what defect what amiss did you find in the Doctrine and Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England For its doctrine It is certain it professes the belief of all that is written in the Old and New Testament all that which is in the three Creeds the Apostolical the Nicene and that of Athanasius and whatsoever was decreed in the four General Councils or in any other truly such and whatsoever was condemned in these our Church hath legally declared it to be Heresie And upon these accounts above four whole ages of the Church went to Heaven they baptized all their Catechumens into this faith their hopes of heaven was upon this and a good life their Saints and Martyrs lived and died in this alone they denied Communion to none that professed this faith This is the Catholick faith so saith the Creed of Athanasius and unless a company of men have power to alter the faith of God whosoever live and die in this faith are intirely Catholick and Christian. So that the Church of England hath the same faith without dispute that the Church had for 400 or 500 years and therefore there could be nothing wanting here to saving faith if we live according to our belief 2. For the Liturgy of the Church of England I shall not need to say much because the case will be very evident First Because the disputers of the Church of Rome have not been very forward to object any thing against it they cannot charge it with any evil 2. Because for all the time of King Edward VI. and till the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth your people came to our Churches and prayed with us till the Bull of Pius Quintus came out upon temporal regards and made a Schism by forbidding the Queens Subjects to pray as by Law was here appointed though the prayers were good and holy as themselves did believe That Bull enjoyned Recusancy and made that which was an act of Rebellion and Disobedience and Schism to be the character of your Roman Catholicks And after this what can be supposed wanting in order to salvation We have the Word of God the Faith of the Apostles the Creeds of the Primitive Church the Articles of the four first general Councils a holy Liturgy excellent Prayers perfect Sacraments Faith and Repentance the ten Commandments and the Sermons of Christ and all the precepts and counsels of the Gospel We teach the necessity of good works and require and strictly exact the severity of a holy life We live in obedience to God and are ready to die for him and do so when he requires us so to do We speak honourably of his most holy Name we worship him at the mention of his Name we confess his Attributes we love his Servants we pray for all men we love all Christians even our most erring Brethren we confess our sins to God and to our Brethren whom we have offended and to Gods Ministers in cases of Scandal or of a troubled Conscience We communicate often we are enjoyned to receive the holy Sacrament thrice every year at least Our Priests absolve the penitent our Bishops ordain Priests and confirm baptized persons and bless their people and intercede for them and what could here be wanting to Salvation what necessity forced you from us I dare not suspect it was a temporal regard that drew you away but I am sure it could be no spiritual BUT now that I have told you and made you to consider from whence you went give me leave to represent to you and tell you whither you are gone that you may understand the nature and conditions of your change For do not think your self safe because they tell you that you are come to the Church You are indeed gone from one Church to another from a better to a worse as will appear in the induction the particulars of which before I reckon give me leave to give you this advice if you mean in this affair to understand what you do it were better you enquired what your Religion is than what your Church is for that which is a true Religion to day will be so to morrow and for ever but that which is a holy