says We pray to the Saints in Heaven in the same order of Brotherly Society with which we intreat our Brethren upon Earth to pray for us But that this says he is not a true Representation of their Doctrine will appear by these Considerations 1. That they pray continues He to the Saints and Angels in Heaven with the same solemn Circumstances of Religious Worship that they pray to God himself 2. That in their Prayers and Thanksgiving they joyn the Angels and the B. Virgin and the Saints together with God and Christ 3. That in the Creed of Pope Pius 4. it is expresly said the Saints which reign with Christ are to be Worship'd and Invocated 4. That in the Public Offices of their Church they do not only pray to the Saints to pray for them but they direct their Prayers and Thanksgivings immediately to them for all those Blessings and Benefits which they ask of God and thank Him for of which innumerable Examples adds He might be given out of their Public Offices particularly in the Office of the B. Virgin they pray to the Angels thus deliver us we beseech you by your command from all our Sins To which I answer 1. That there never was a Book more universally commended and approv'd in the Latin Church than the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church The Pope highly commended and approv'd it as appears by his Brief to this Bishop annex'd to the said Book All the Cardinals and Consistory in Rome approv'd it as the Letters of the Master of the Sacred Palace and the Consultor of the Holy Office do witness And all the Learned Bishops and Prelates of the R. Catholic Church have very much approv'd and commended t as appears by the Letters of many of them to the said Bishop and his Friends all which are likewise annex'd to the said Book it has been translated into almost all the Vulgar Tongues in Europe and is read and perus'd by all R. Catholics with all the satisfaction and content imaginable so that to say this Exposition is not a true Representation of the Doctrine and Practice of the R. Catholic Church in this matter is as Unreasonable in it self as it is injurious to that Great and Learned Prelate and to the whole Catholic Church which hath so universally approv'd it 2. As to his first Consideration I have already prov'd that we address no Prayers to Saints or Angels in the Public Service of the Church but that all our Prayers are directed to God only and as to our Posture in the Church or at our private Devotions whether kneeling or standing or bowing we declare our intention is to adore God alone and none else Touching his second Consideration viz. that in their Prayers and Thanksgiving ibid pag. 80 81. they join the Angels and the B. Virgin and the Saints together with God and Christ Of this He gives us in an other place these instances Nothing so frequent with them says He as to joyn the blessed Virgin with God and our Saviour in the same breath nothing so common in their Mouth as Jesus Maria glory to God and the B. Virgin and in the Roman Missal adds He they make Confession of their Sins to God-Almighty and the blessed Virgin and to St. Michael the Arch-Angel and to all the Saints To which I answer 3. That it is very True we join God and his Saints together in the same breath as the Dr. saith but then our Plea is that we are taught both by the Old and New Testament so to do For Instance All the Congregation blessed the Lord God of their Fathers and bowing their Heads Worship'd the Lord and the King 1 Chron. 29.20 Here at the same time and in the same act and in the same breath too 't is said that the Israelites Worship'd God and the King Had we but any such thing in our Public Offices what work wou'd the Dr. make on 't Again The people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel 1 Kings 12.18 Here again God and Samuel are join'd together in the same Breath Again It seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to Vs to lay upon you no other Burthen Acts 15.28 Again I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 St. John writes to the Seven Churches in Asia Grace be unto you and Peace from Him which is and which was and which is to come and from the Seven Spirits which are before His Throne and from Jesus Christ Rev. chap. 1. Had we offer'd Peace from the Angels to our Flocks and placed them before Jesus Christ how loud wou'd He Cry Yet no less than an Apostle of Jesus Christ hath done it What will the Doctor say to all this Is not God here join'd with Angels and Saints and Men in the same Breath And must it be a Crime in us to do that whereof we have such manifest Precedents in the very words of the Scripture Truely to weigh well the matter one wou'd almost swear the Doctor was not in earnest but were I of councel for him I shou'd have advis'd Him if He had a mind to exhibit such Ridiculous Scenes not to make the Religion of Jesus Christ a Theatre of Laughter and Sport for God is not mock'd As to his third Consideration I answer 4. That Pope Pius 4. his worshiping and invocating the Saints is to be understood in the same order of brotherly Society in which we worship and reverence our holy Brethren on Earth upon Account of their Piety and Virtue and in which we intreat them to pray for us as the Bishop of Meaux saith and as St. Austin said long since Colimus Martyres eo cultu dilectionis societatis quo in hac vita coluntur sancti Deì homines We worship the Martyrs with that Worship of Love and Fellowship wherewith the holy Men of God are worshipped in this Life Lib. 20. cap. 22. contra Faust All the difficulty then of these and the like Phrases which we read in Scripture in the Fathers and in the Decrees of Councils and Popes consists in the Ambiguity of these Words Worship and Invocate which I have on purpose explain'd in the beginning of this Dispute to avoid Confusion and which the Catechism publish'd by Order of the Council of Trent and many other learn'd Divines have so clearly and fully explain'd So that nothing but an Itch of Contention and a Spirit of Wrangling cou'd make any Man doubt of our Sense of these Words But the Passage of St. Austin is so clear and full to the purpose that I hope the Reader will not be sorry to have it at large tho' it be something long and the rather because it is in answer to a Certain Manichee who about twelve Hundred Years since reproach'd St. Austin with what the Doctor and his Party charge the Roman Catholics at present The Christian People says this Father do celebrate the Memory of
Reason upon the consent of Mankind and the concession of our Adversaries and upon such known and evident matters of Fact as the most Impudent Wrangler wou'd be asham'd to deny As to the first That the Church of England is Heretical I prove thus Whatsoever Society of Christians obstinately denies any Doctrine believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith is Heretical but the Church of England denies obstinately some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith Therefore the Church of England is Heretical The Major or first Proposition is a known Principle which no Christian in his wits ever denied The Minor or second Proposition I demonstrate thus The Church of England obstinately denies Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass and many other Points but these are believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith Therefore the Church of England denies obstinately some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith That the Church of England obstinately denies the said Doctrines or Points is matter of Fact and what She very much glories in That the same Points or Doctrines were all in the begining of the Reformation believed by the Catholic Church to be of Faith we have besides the unanimous consent of the Roman Greek and all the Eastern Churches the Testimony of several Learned Protestants who surely wou'd never have told a thing so favourable to their Adversaries if it had not been manifestly True And to shew that this is not said gratis I will Instance in some Hospinian faith Luther's Separation was from all the World Epist 141. White Popery was a Leprosie breeding so universally in the Church that there was no Visible Company of Men appearing in the World free from it Defence c. 37. p. 136. The aforesaid Doctrineâ— is what this good man is pleas'd to call Popery as all the World knows Bishop Jewel The Whole World Princes Priests and People were overwhelm'd with Ignorance and bound by oath to the Pope Sermon on Luke 11. Whitaker In times past no Religion but the Papistical had place in the Church Controv. 4.9 5. c. 3. Bucer All the World err'd in that Article of the real presence p. 660. Calvin They made all the Kings and People of the Earth Drunk from the First to the Last Justit 4. c. 18. Perkins During the space of 900 years the Popish Heresie had spread it self over the Whole World Exposit symb p. 266. The Sum of this cloud of Witnesses which yet is not the twentieth Part of what may be brought from the Reformation-treasure amounts to this that before the Reformation there was no other Religion in the Whole Christian World but the Roman Catholic or as they are pleas'd to term it the Papistical and that the aforesaid Points and many more which they call Popery Leprosie and Ignorance were universally believed as Articles of Faith by all the visible Companies of Christians in the World And if this be true the Church of England which obstinately denies these Points and many more must necessarily deny some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church as of Faith and by consequence the Church of England is Heretical Touching the second viz. that the Church of England is Schismatical This is no less evident than the former For if Schism be a willful Separation from the Church as it is defined by all Mankind as well Protestants as Catholics the Church of England is doubly guilty of this Crime First for separating from the Pope and their own Immediate Heads the Bishops of England Secondly for separating from the Communion of all other Bishops in the World besides The Bishop of Rome in the begining of the Reformation was acknowledg'd by all the World to be at least Patriarch of the West and by the Protestants themselves to have exercis'd Jurisdiction over the Church of England for 900 years and more even from the time of its Conversion to Christianity and surely so long a prescription is a sufficient Title tho' no other cou'd be shewn We find in the Acts of the third General Council held at Ephesus Binius Tom. 2. Apend 1. Cap. 4. a complaint exhibited by the Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus against the Patriarch of Antioch who wou'd force that Iland to submit to his jurisdiction and oblige its Metropolitian to receive the Grace of Ordination from him as the Council phrases it To this Complaint the Council answers That if the Bishops of Cyprus cou'd make out that the Patriarch of Antioch had never conferr'd Orders upon their Metropolitan it was unjust to pretend to it now And the Bus'ness being fairly prov'd in favour of the said Bishops the Council decreed That the Patriarch of Antioch had no Jurisdiction over them nor ought to pretend to any Whence it is manifest that if the Patriarch of Antioch cou'd prove that he had conferr'd Orders upon their Metropolitan at any time or exercis'd Lawful Jurisdiction over them the Council wou'd have Decreed the said Iland to be subject to him and that as it was a manifest Usurpation in the Patriarch of Antioch to pretend to any such Jurisdiction since he was not in Possession of it nor cou'd prove to have ever had it so likewise it wou'd be perfect Rebellion and Schism in them to withdraw from his Jurisdiction if he were Legally possess'd of it Now I would fain know if the same Council were to judge the Church of England and the Pope's cause what they wou'd think of it Pope Eleutherius sent some of his own Clergy to Convert the Brittans in King Lucius his Time St. Gregory sent Augustin the Monk and others to convert the Saxons and exercis'd Jurisdiction over them ordaining their Metropolitan or causing him to be ordained by his Orders and the Popes his Successors continued in peaceable Possession of this Prerogative and they the Clergy and People of England receiving and obeying his lawful Commands not only as Patriarch of the West but even as Head of the Church for the Space of 900 Years and more what wou'd this Council I say think of the Church of England's rising up against the Pope's Authority after so long a Prescription Certainly it wou'd look upon them to be Rebels against the Authority the best establish'd in the World Nor will it any way help them to say as they usually do that the King of England has Power to Transfer the Papal or Patriarchal Power from Rome and confer it upon the Archbishop of Canterbury For besides that it is most absurd to suppose such a Power in a King since it cannot be imagin'd whence such an Ecclesiastical Authority can be deriv'd to a Secular Prince we have an express Decree to the contrary in the fourth General Council held at Calcedon What gave Occasion to it was this The Bishop of Tyre was anciently Metropolitan of Phaenicia Concil Calced Act. 6. and as such exercis'd Jurisdiction over all the Bishops in that Province Marcianus the Emperor contrary to
I think I may reasonable conclude that the common people wou'd do the same were they never so well read in the Scriptures unless we suppose that the Protestant Religion has some Virtue to attract the common people upon the readding of Scripture in a vulgar Tongue which is incommunicable to Men of Letters when they read the same But methinks the stand the Protestant Religion has been at now upwards of an hundred Years without gaining one Foot of Ground nay hardly keeping what it had notwithstanding all the liberty and Indulgence it gives to Flesh and Blood is an evident Argument that it was not a serious Meditation and Study of Scripture but rather a popular fury and something like madness that brought over so many of the common People to embrace it in the Begining And indeed if the Fences and Bulworks wherewith the Protestant Religion is fortified were taken away if the Tests and Penal-Laws and other grievous Burdens laid upon R. Catholics were taken off if all the scandalous and opprobrious Language which Ministers thunder out in their Pulpits against the Church and Bishop of Rome all the False and Ridiculous Tenets which are ascrib'd to R. Catholics and manag'd with all the Art and Industry proper to inflame the People's hatred and to give them a perpetual aversion to R. Catholics and their Religion all the marks of Infamy and Dishonour put upon them being not permitted to bear any Civil or Military Office nay scarce allow'd in some Countries to exercise such honest Professions or Callings as may enable them to get their Bread if all these fatal Engins I say were laid aside and every Man left to chuse his Religion without the hopes of Reward on the one side or the Fear of loss of Goods and Temporal Punishment on the other I doubt the Protestant Religion wou'd soon fall to pieces and many a Prodigal Child wou'd return to their Father's Houses whence they have so long stray'd But these Fences and Barriers shall I call them of Religion being so Rivetted and interwoven with the Temporal Laws and Constitutions of most Governments where the Protestant Religion sways I fear all Reasons and Arguments tho' never so Evident are too weak to encounter them unless God of His Mercy be pleas'd to put His Hand to the Work To whose infinit Goodness and Mercy I do from my Heart most earnestly recommend it CHAP. VII Of the Invocation of Saints WHat we believe to be of Faith on this Head is thus declar'd by the Council of Trent That the Saints who Reign with Jesus Christ offer up to God their Prayers for Men that it is Good and Profitable to Invocate them after an Humble Manner and to have Recourse to their Prayers Aid and Assistance to obtain of God His Benefits thro' our Lord Jesus Christ His Son who is our only Saviour and Redeemer Sess 25. This the Council declares to be the Faith of the Church concerning this point but does not Command or Oblige any of the Laity to pray to the Saints or Invocate them 'T is a Practice receiv'd from the Primitive Church and us'd by the Greatest and most Learned and virtuous of the Holy Fathers of those Times as appears by their Works and handed Down to us by an uninterrupted Tradition But because it is not absolutely necessary the Church leaves every one the liberty to make use of it or not aâ— they think fit Yet to see how Dr. Tillotson lays about him upon this Subject and what pains he takes to confute it one wou'd think we have nothing in our Liturgies and public Prayer-books but Prayers to Saints and that we do nothing else in the public and solemn Service of the Church but pray to Saints and worship them Here it may be expected I shou'd give a Specimen of his Laborious Endeavours in this matter but I think a Pattern wou'd not do and therefore I shall refer the Reader to three intire Sermons Vol. 2. edit post obit Ser. 2 3 4. where this Bus'ness is handled to some purpose Now to justifie our Proceedings from these imputations and to shew the Reasonableness of this Practice as by us us'd I shall do these Four Things 1. I will endeavour to shew that to invocate the Saints by which Words we protest and declare and 't is hard if we may not be allow'd to interpret our own Words that we mean nothing else but to desire them to pray for us is not repugnant to the Word of God 2. that in the public and solemn Service of the Church excepting the Litanies of the Saints which are read or sung solemnly four times a Year the General Confession of Sins in the begining of the Mass a few Hymns Anthems and Versicles which are not Prayers strictly and properly so call'd and most of which are read only once a Year excepting these I say we put up no Prayers to Saints or Angels but all our Prayers are address'd to Almighty God and to Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Not but that we hold it lawful even in the public and solemn Service of the Church to pray to the Saints that is to desire them to pray for us since all the Addresses we make to the Saints do finally Terminate in Jesus Christ in virtue of whose Death and Passion we believe the Saints are enabled to pray for us but because it is matter of Fact that we do not address our Prayers in the solemn Service of the Church but to God alone 3. I will make it appear from the very Words of the Holy Fathers that the Practice of praying to Saints was us'd in the Primitive Church And Lastly I shall endeavour to return a brief Answer to what the Dr. thought fit to bring against this Point 1. I will endeavour to shew that to invocate the Saints or which is the same thing to desire them to pray for us is not repugnant to the Word of God The Texts of Scripture which seems to be against this Practice and which the Doctor urges are taken out of St. Paul 1 Tim. 2.5 where he says There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus And again Heb. 9.15 For this Cause He Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament c. Hence the Doctor concludes that it is contrary to the Word of God and which he mostly insists upon derogatory to the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ to pray to any Saint or Angel since to do so were to constitute them Mediators between God and Men contrary to the Express Words of St. Paul But sure he was not aware how far this Inference wou'd carry him else he wou'd be a little more reserv'd We are exhorted by the Scriptures and by the Rules of Charity we are bound to pray to God for one another Eph. 6.19 1 Tim. 2. Yea and St. Paul himself desires the Ephesians to pray for him and exhorts Timothy to have Prayers and
Supplications put up for all Men. Do not we then constitute one another Mediators between God and our selves Does not St. Paul make the Ephesians Mediators between God and himself Most certainly as much as we make the Saints for we only desire the Saints to pray for us and St. Paul desir'd the Ephesians to pray for him and we desire every Day the same thing of our Brethren And do these Mediators derogate from the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ God forbid Ay but says the Doctor the Saints are in Heaven and these Men were on Earth Well and does their being Present or Absent their being in Heaven or on Earth make them the more or less Mediators when they are made such or do the Office of Mediators Is any Man the less a Mediator who sues for the Pardon of an other because he is present or in the same Town or Country with him for whom he sues Sure there is not to use the Doctor 's own Phrase a Controversie of Scripture against Scripture or of Reason against Reason but of down right Imp * Discourse against Transub Vol. 3. p 299. against the plain meaning of Scripture and all the Sense and Reason of Mankind I forbear that uncivil Word the Reader may find it at Length with the Dr. in the place pointed at in the Margin Well! But the Saints are in Heaven What then Why if we desire them to pray for us we make them Mediators But do not the Saints in Heaven pray for us Yes the Dr. grants they do Vol. 2. 2. edit obit pag. 93. They make themselves Mediators then No says he they are not Mediators and Intercessors properly so call'd for continues He all Intercession strictly and properly so call'd is in virtue of a Sacrifice offer'd by him that intercedes Here He pulls down all that He built before and justifies our Practice as fully as we cou'd desire All Intercession strictly and properly so call'd is in virtue of a Sacrifice offer'd by him that intercedes Say you so Why then the Saints can by no means be Mediators or Intercessors properly so call'd whether we desire them to pray for us or they do it of themselves since they did not offer any Sacrifice by virtue whereof they may in a strict and proper sense be called Mediators or Intercessors and then we may desire them to pray for us or they may do it of themselves and yet be no Mediators or Intercessors and consequently not derogate from the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ And thus the Doctor has very judiciously and in my Opinion very truly interpreted St. Paul's Words and justified us into the bargain 2. That in the public and solemnly Service of the Church excepting the Litanies c. as aforesaid we put up no Prayers to Saints or Angels but all our Prayers are address'd to Almighty God and to Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer This will appear by a thoro ' Examination of those Books wherein the public Service of our Church is contain'd which are the Mass-book and the Breviary the first containing the solemn Service of the Mass and the latter the Canonical Office namely Matins Hours Even-song and Compline And here I can in truth aver that I have read both these Books at least ten Times yet excepting the Litanies the general Confession some few Hymns Anthems and Versicles whereof one or two are read in the Breviary on the Feasts of B V. Mary and other Saints which yet are not properly Prayers and which only mention these Words Pray for us intercede for us or the like I do profess I do not know one single Prayer appointed for the public and solemn Service of the Church in either of them address'd directly to either Saint or Angel or the B. V. Mary As for the Mass-book which is the public Liturgy of the Church excepting the General Confession there is not one Prayer in it aderess'd to any but God-Almighty no not on the Feasts of Saints or of the B. V. Mary no nor in the Book at all excepting this one Versicle which is I think four times read Mother of God intercede for us Which yet is seldom read in any public and solemn Service of the Church and one single Anthem wherein the like Words are found on the Feast of St. Michael And for the Truth of all this I appeal to the Books themselves There is indeed a Little Office of the Virgin Mary annex'd to the Breviary wherein the aforesaid Words Pray for us intercede for us or the like are some nine or ten times repeated in Hymns Anthems and Versicles but this being read neither Publicly nor Privately in the Church Service cannot Reasonably be said to pertain to it Now these two Books are an Extract the Mass-Book of what is most Moving and Ravishing in the Psalms of David of what is most Edifying and Instructive and most sit to declare the Praises of God and to shew his loving Kindness and Mercy to Mankind in the Old Testament and of the most useful and necessary Precepts and Instructions of Faith and Good Manners contain'd in the New suited and adapted to all the Seasons of the Year together with many Devout and Fervent Prayers all tending to praise Almighty God to thank him for His Benefits and Blessings and to implore Mercy and Pardon for our Sins The Breviary of all the Psalms most of the History of the Old Testament a Summary of all the Epistles of the Apostles and the Revelations some Verses of the Gospel of every Feast and Sunday in the Year with the Homilies of the Ancient Fathers of the Church upon these Texts together with a Brief Account of the Lives of the most Eminent Saints and Martyrs that flourish'd in the Church with a great many Pious and Godly Prayers Anthems Hymns and Versicles address'd to God-Almighty and put up in the Name and thro' the Merits of our Lord Jesus Christ We do indeed Commemorate the holy Apostles the B. V. Mary and the Saints in the Public Service of the Church because we have sufficient Warrant for it in the Scripture and Practice of the Primitive Church David says the Righteous shall be in Everlasting Remembrance Psal 112. and Dr. Tillotson himself has a Sermon upon this Subject wherein he proves from the Practice of the Fathers and from Reason that it is Lawful to give due Honor and Respect to the Saints but we do not put up any Formal Prayers to them in the public Service And this will appear from the Collects in the Mass-Book and Breviary where their Names are mention'd I will transcribe two or three of them and leave the Reader who desires farther Satisfaction to consult these Books whether all the Rest of the Collects where the Saints are mention'd be not of the same Tenor. A Collect on the Annunciation of the B. V. Mary O God who hast been pleas'd that thy Word shou'd take Flesh in the Womb of the B. V. Mary when
and our Great Master because these only are the Excellencies and Abilities we conceive the Angels and Saints to be endued with and for which we respect them This suppos'd I answer 1. That St. Paul speaks here of Certain Heretics who separated from the Faithful and gave to Angels the supream Worship and Honour which is due only to God as these words of his not holding the Head do plainly denote For by these Words He give us to understand that these Heretics departed from Christ which is the Head and by these other words Worshipping of Angels that they offer'd Sacrifice to Angels whom they believ'd to have been the Mediators of the New Covenant or as Theodoret phrases it that the Law was given by Angels But this I hope the Protestants will not say we believe or hold 2. That the Dr's Interpretation of St. Paul's words is altogether forc'd and by no means warranted by Theodoret or any ancient Father of the Church on the contrary Theodoret is intirely ours For He says in that very Place cited by the Doctor that therefore these Heretics worship'd Angels because they believ'd Vol. 2. edit post ob pag. 44. the Law was given by Them He says indeed in an other place which the Doctor quotes that we must send up Thanksgivings to God and the Father by Christ and not by the Angels And this I hope we are careful to do for I am sure we put up all our Prayers to God and the Father by or thro' the Merits of Jesus Christ and not of any Angel or Saint But sure it is not reasonable to believe that Theodoret there meant that we ought not to desire the Angels or Saints to pray for us since he himself as I observ'd before so expresly says We not address our selves to the Saints as Gods but we pray unto them as Divine Men that they wou'd please to be Legats or Intercessors for us Comment in Epist â—d Colos c. 3. v. 17. 3. That the Canon of the Council of Laâ—dicea as Theodoret tells us speaks only of these Heretics meant by St. Paul who forsook the Church and gave themselves to secret Idolatry that is as the Fathers have always understood that word offer'd Sacrifice to Angels But the words of the Canon are so plain and full to this purpose that there needs no reading upon it 4. That the Doctor might very well have forborn his Exclamation for I assure him that excepting the General Confession aâ— aforesaid we do not invocate or pray to Angels in the Public Offices of the Church We have but one Feast in the Year wherein we Commemorate Angels which is that of St. Michael the Arch-Angel and in this excepting one Anthem in the Breviary and one Versile in the Mass which are not properly Prayers where 't is said in the first Arch-Angel Michael be mindful of us and pray for us to the Son of God and in the second Holy Michael defend us in Battle that we perish not in the dreadful Judgement there is no invocating or putting up of Prayers to St. Michael or any other Angel But it seems the Doctor was warm upon the Matter and in such a Case Rhetorical Exclamations are more pardonable pray God they may be pardon'd him in Heaven His second Objection is to this purpose Mediation and Intercession is founded in the Merit and Virtue of the Sacrifice Vol. 2. edit post ob pag. 56 57. by which Expiation for Sin is made but this Jesus Christ and no other has done Therefore He only is Mediator and Intercessor Answ This Argument proves too much For it proves that neither our Brethren on Earth nor the Saints in Heaven ought or can lawfully pray or intercede for us because they did not offer the Sacrifice by which Expiation for sin is made Yet the Doctor grants that both our Brethren on Earth and the Saints in Heaven may and do pray for us Well but granting that Mediation and Intercession is founded in the Virtue and Merit of the Sacrifice by which Expiation for Sin is made Does it therefore follow that the Saints may not charitably beg of God to forgive us our Sins 'T is true Christ only has a Right and Title to mediate and intercede for us because he alone paid the Ransom and full Value of our Sins and therefore may in Justice ask of His Father to forgive us But sure this does not hinder but that the Saints may do Us that Charitable Office as to pray to God to have Mercy upon Us tho' they cannot in Justice demand it May not a Friend and Favourite of the King beg the Life of a â—enitent Criminal And have not Kings and Princes often granted such Favours to their Friends tho' they were not in Justice bound to do so And are not the Saints in Heaven Christ's Favourites Does not He call them his Friends Vos Amici mei estis Job 15.14 Mat. 19.28 And what is more Does not He tell His Apostles that they shall sit upon Thrones Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And why may not then these Judges and Friends and Favourites of Jesus Christ beg of Him to have Mercy upon poor miserable Sinners tho' they cannot in Justice require it at his Hands But the Doctor 's Mistake consists in this that he does not or rather will not distinguish between an Intercession founded in Justice and Equity and an Intercession founded only in Favour and good Will The first I grant is peculiar only to Christ for the Reasons offer'd by the Doctor but the second which is the Effect of Charity is common to every one who is possest of that Divine Virtue Well but says the Doctor the Mediation or Intercession of Saints is not properly speaking Intercession So say I for I own that in the Sense in which Christ is both our Mediator and Intercessor the Saints and Angels in the same sense cannot be call'd Intercessors but whether he calls them Intercessors in a proper or an improper Sense 't is all one to me Since he acknowledges they do pray for us and intercede with God in our behalf I am satisfied for I am sure we desire no more of them After this the Dr. gives us a great many Passages out of the Fathers ibid pag 76 77 78. 79. 80 81 82 83. to prove the Invocation of Saints unlawful namely out of St. Ireneus Origen Novatian for he must be a Father too Clemens Romanus St. Athanasius St. Epiphanius St. Chrysâ—stom and which I must admire at out of St. Austin who if Invocation of Saints be Popery was I am sure a Rank Papist But the Doctor might have spar'd Himself the Labour of quoting these Passages for there is not one of them all to which any Roman Catholic wou'd refuse to Subscribe and therefore I have no Temptation to vex or trouble them His third Objection is level'd at the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church which
the Martyrs with a Religious Solemnity to excite us to their Imitation to be Partakers of their Merits and to be assisted by their Prayers Yet so as that we erect no Altars to the Martyrs but to the God of Martyrs tho' in Remembrance of the Martyrs For who of the Prelates standing at the Altar where the Bodies of the Saints are ever said I offer to you Peter Paul or Cyprian But that which is offer'd is offer'd to God who crown'd the Martyrs at the Memorial * Altars where the Relicks of Martyrs were kept of those whom he crown'd to the End that from the Remembrance of those places greater Affection may rise in us to whet our Love towards those we may imitate and towards Him God by whose Help we shall be able to imitate We worship then the Martyrs with that Worship of Love and Fellowship wherewith Holy Men in this Life are worship'd whose Hearts we perceive prepar'd for the like Passion in defence of the Truth of the Gospel but the Martyrs we worship so much the more devoutly by how much the more securely when the Fight is over and by how much the more confidently we may praise the Conquerors now in a happy State than those who as yet are fighting in â—his Life But with that worship which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin cannot be render'd in one word since it is a certain Service properly due to God alone we do not worship nor teach to be worship'd but one God And since the offering Sacrifice pertains to this Worship whence Idolatry is imputed to those who give it to Idols we do by no means offer any such thing nor command to be offer'd either to any Martyr or any Holy Soul or Angel And whosoever falls into any such Error he is reprehended by wholesom Doctrine to the End he may amend or be shun'd Lib. 20. Cap. 22. contra Faust Manich. As to his last Consideration viz. That in the public Offices of their Church they do not only pray to the Saints to pray for them but they direct their Prayers and Thanksgivings immediately to them for all those Blessings and Benefits which they ask of God and thank him for I answer 5. That this is a notorious Imposition upon us and as great a Mark of Insincerity as it is a sign of a sinking Cause which needs such foul play to support it In short there is nothing more common than the Roman Missal and Breviary which contain all the public Offices of the Church and I challenge any Man to find as much as one single Prayer in either of these Books read in the public Offices of the Church which is directed immediately to either Angel or Saint for all those Benefits and Blessings which we ask of God and thank Him for As for that Example which he gives us out of the Office of the B. Virgin as he says namely that we pray to the Angels thus Deliver us we beseech you by your Command from all our Sins If it were true that there is such a Prayer in it 't is not to the Doctor 's purpose for that Office is no part of the public Offices of the Church nor was it ever publickly read in the Church But that it is not True I am an Eye Witness for I have upon this very occasion read every Word of that Office I mean the Office of the B. Virgin annex'd to the Breviary and I can in Truth aver that I found no such Prayer or Anthem or Versicle in it As to any other Offices of the B. Virgin made and publish'd by private Men whether there be any such prayer in them 't is more than I can tell for I have not read them all This I am certain that if there be 't is more than any Man is warranted by the Church to do However since none of these Offices of the Virgin Mary make any part of the public Offices Service of the Church nor are ever publickly read in it The Doctor had no Reason to charge such Prayers upon the public Offices of the Church tho' they were found in those private Offices of the B. Virgin Vol. 2. pag. 70. His fourth Objection is to this purpose To pray to Saints in all places and at all times and for all sorts of Blessings does suppose them to have the Incommunicable Perfections of the Divine Nature imparted to them or inherent in them namely Omnipotence and Omniscience and Immense-presence Answ This is the great popular Argument that takes so much with the weaker sort of People who measure all things by their own capacity and do not conceive how Saints and Angels shou'd hear at so great a distance because they cannot do so themselves It will be therefore requisite to take some pains to clear this difficulty and if it be possible to disabuse these simple but well-meaning People concerning these gross and carnal thoughts which that I may the more plainly do I shall lay down these known and evident Grounds 1. That Angels and Saints in Heaven have naturally a faculty of understanding and communicating their Thoughts that is a power connatural to their being of perceiving the thoughts of others that are directed to them and of imparting their own thoughts to others for these are essential Properties of Intelligent Beings 2. That Angels and Saints in Heaven do neither see nor hear in the sense we commonly take these Words For seeing they neither have Eyes nor Ears which are the Organs of Seeing and Hearing they cannot be said properly to See or Hear but only to Vnderstard which is what we mean when we say the Saints do hear us 3. Hence follows that Saints and Angels may Hear that is Vnderstand us when we direct our thoughts to them at any distance even at Ten Millions of Miles as well as if they had been in the same Room with us For since our Words or Thoughts are not convey'd to them by means of any Organs nor by the motion or impulse of the Air as it happens with us 't is evident that distance or neerness of place can have no part in their way of understanding 4. That God-Almighty is able to reveal in an Instant all our Prayers to the Angels and Saints be they never so far distant from us tho' Angels and Saints are not properly speaking distant from us distance in propriety of Speech being that space which is between two Bodies Now whether we conceive that the Angels and Saints when we direct our thoughts to them do hear or rather understand us by that natural faculty which is essential to all Intelligent Beings or that God reveals our thoughts to them we do not ascribe any of the incommunicable perfections of the Divine Nature to them namely Omnipotence Omniscience Immense-Presence c. Not if we conceive that they understand our prayers by that natural faculty which is essential to their Being 1. We do not