of Praying to Saints and Angels must be an Abomination for God will allow of nothing in his Service and Worship but what he himself hath instituted Therefore all Protestant Divines have with one consent agreed that all necessary parts of Religious Worship do so depend upon the Will of God revealed in his Word that whatsoever is not founded on his Word is contrary to his Will. Therefore Sir hear what the great Doctor of the Church St. Augustine saith De Consens Evangel Deum sic colere Op rtet quo modo seipsum Colendum esse praecepit We ought so to worship God as he hath appointed himself to be worshipt Be pleased to remember what the Scripture saith Deut. 12. last verse The Israelites are dehorted from using the Religious Rites and Customs of the Heathens in the worshipping of God. How then in what manner must they worship him Whatsoever thing he commands they must observe to do they may not add thereto nor diminish from it To which Sir let me add that of our Saviour Mat. 15. 9. In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men that is pressing mens Traditions in the room of God's Institution Sir give me leave to press one thing more as worthy of your consideration that is that the worshipping of Saints and Angels of which Prayer and Invocation is a principal part and is not only without any Warrant from the Word of God but also is forbidden in the Scripture there it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve I must here tell you I am not ignorant of your distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former your Divines say belong to God only and the latter may be applied to the Creature But Sir you very well know these are reciprocally used both in Sacred and Profane Writ And some Learned men of your own Communion have been so ingenuous as to acknowledge the same Quid si una Religionis vertus sit quae Latriam duliamque continet certe plurimis atque Sapientissimis ea est Opinio You know well enough who it was that coyned this distinction and that though he was a great Light in the Church of God yet he was no Critick in the Greek Tongue as he himself saith Ego quid Linguae Graecae perpurum assecutus sum prope nihil It was St. Augustine himself whom you very well know did never intend it for that end and purpose for which it is now used for he confesseth That the one is due to him as he is our Lord and the other as he is our God. These are St. Austin's own words which taketh away to all intents and purposes that imaginary difference between your Latria and Dulia therefore when I meet with any of yours urging the one to signifie the honour that belongeth only to God recognizing his Supream Dominion and the other to signifie service that is due to the Creature I find that they say just nothing but thus much We must honour God and serve the Saints It is like the Saying of your Lyra One Knee we may bow to a Noble Personage but upon both we may kneel only to God. This Lyra thought he had done the business when he had so learnedly salved the matter But I pray Sir what if the common people understand no Greek and cannot so learnedly discern Latria from Dulia but take the one Adoration for the other truly as it now fareth in your Church they use them universally without difference therefore this distinction thus applied seemeth much like to the Physician 's Wife that once said that Pepper is cold in working and hot in operation for I humbly conceive this distinction so much made use of by the Divines of your Church standeth not in difference of matter but only in words Certainly Sir Constantius the Bishop of Constantia in the second Nicene Council was so zealous for the Worship of Images that he laid aside this distinction of Latria and Dulia and very roundly in Libro Carole Magni tells you his thoughts of the Worship of Images Ego Imaginibus cultum honoris exhibeo eundem qui debetur Individuae Trinitati si quis nolit idem facere eum anathematizo ut Martionem Manichaeum I for my part yield unto Images the same Adoration of honour that is due to the Holy Trinity and if any man refuse to do the same I accurse him as I do the Hereticks Martion and Maenicheus Now Sir this distinction of your Church-men falls to the ground if the Authority of this Doctor and Bishop of your Church may pass for currant but lest you should wave the Authority of this Bishop I pray consider the determination of the second Council of Nice where it was determined thus Non sunt duae Adorationes sed una adoratio Imaginis primi exemplaris Cujus est Imago There are not two sorts of Worship or Adoration the one called Latria the other Dulia as your Divines divide them but one only Adoration both of the Image and also of the Pattern whereof the Image is Likewise your Great Doctor Thomas of Aquine after a long Debate upon the Point of the Worshipping of Images and shewing with what Worship they ought to be Worshipped The Image saith he and the Thing thereby represented must be Worshipped with one and the same Adoration Tho. 3 Senten Dist 2. And for example saith The Cross or Image of Christ must be Worshipped with Latria that is with Godly Honour because Christ himself is so honoured and the Image of our Lady with Dulia because that Honour as he saith is due unto our Lady But this Determination is reproved by Holcot in his Readings upon the Book of Wisdom Reading 158 and his Reason is this Latria or Godly Honour is due only unto God but the Image of God is not God therefore Latria or Godly Honour is not due to an Image otherwise saith he the Creator and the Creature would be Worshipped or Adored with one and the same Honour and notwithstanding Henricus de Gandavo Petrus de Aquila Johannes de Gui Verra Durandus and other School-Doctors of your Communion agree with Holcot and their Judgment seems more agreeable to reason yet your Author that wrote Fortalitium Fidei saith The common Opinion and Practice of your Church holdeth to the contrary And one Jacobus Payva a great Stickler on that side with great assurance writeth thus Non Tamen Inficiamur hac Nos Latriae Adoratione Christi praeclarissimam Crucem colere Venerari We deny not but we do Worship and Adore the Most Noble Cross of Christ even with this Godly Honour that we call Latria Sir Be pleased to take Notice that some of your Divines the better to colour the absurdity of this way of Adoration they will in all their Writings refer the Adoration of the Thing represented by the Image yet I
lift up our Voice to thee Remember us Holy Virgin and return us for these inconsiderable Speeches great Gifts and Riches of your Grace Hail most Gracious the Lord is with thee Interceed O Mistress O Lady O Queen and Mother of God. Sir I must tell you a Story that this Athanasius is said to be the Author of and that considered you will find these words thus cited to smell more of Rome than of Alexandria Your Divines represent him to tell a mighty formal Story of an Image that was abused by the Priests of the Jews the Story is this A Christian having occasion to remove his Family from an House he had long inhabited amongst his other Goods he had an Image of Christ equal to him in length and breadth and in all proportion through forgetfulness leaveth it in a secret place in his House out of which he removed after him a Jew doth inhabit the same House for some time and seeth not the Image a strange Jew sitting there at Dinner immediately espyeth it standing open against a Wall. This is your Athanasius not Bishop of Alexandria but an Athanasius of your own making one while it is open and another while it is in a secret place The Priests and the Jews came together and abuse it with all Villany they Crown it with Thorns and make it drink Vinegar Gall and stick it to the Heart with a Spear out issueth Blood in a great quantity the Powers of Heaven are shaken the Sun is darkned and the Moon looseth her light and from hence saith your young Athanasius we have had Hailstones of Blood and all other like Blood throughout the World. Nay you make him to tell another doughty Story How that Nicodemus that came to Jesus by Night made an Image of Christ with his own Hands and that when he lay upon his Death-bed he deliver'd it to Gamaliel that was Schoolmaster to St. Paul and when that Gamaliel saw that he should die he deliver'd it to James and James left it to Symon and Zacheus which Image came from hand to hand by Succession and continued a long time at Hierusalem and from thence it was carried into Syria and from thence into a City called Berytus not far from Tyre and Sydon where it was abused by the Jews and a great many Wonders were shew'd by that Image This Sir is Athanasius of your Church but not St. Athanasius the Bishop of Alexandria And he that was the Author of these Fables was the Author of that blasphemous Prayer to the Virgin Mary For I suppose you well know that St. Athanasius wrote concerning that matter and the Heresie of the Arrians gave him occasion for it They maintained That Christ was a meer Creature and yet they prayed to him He on the contrary asserted That if he were Created he must not be Invocated and Adored Observe his third Oration against the Arrians To God alone saith he it belongeth to be Worshipped and the Angels themselves are not ignorant hereof for although they excel in Glory yet they are Creatures and are none of those that are Worshipped but of those that Worship the Lord. Again Because that Jesus Christ is not a Creature but is begotten of the Substance of his Father and is by Nature the Son of God therefore is he to be Worshipped 'T is true the Arrians did Worship Christ but it was not upon a good consideration for they Worshipped Christ upon the account that the Word of God abided in him This great Doctor shews them the absurdity of the Reason of their Worshipping of Christ For saith he by the same Reason you may Worship the Saints who have the Word of God abiding in them He doth not at all countenance the Worshipping of Saints but shews that the Worshipping of Saints is the sad consequence of Worshipping of Christ because the Word of God did dwell in him You are pleased to represent St. Athanasius to say thus If you Worship the Man Christ because the Word of God dwelleth there at the same time Worship also the Saints on God's account who hath his Word dwelling in them which you make use of to prove the lawfulness of Praying to Saints when as he useth it as an Absurdity the Arrians run into they Worshipping the Man Jesus only as the Word of God dwelling in him Another Author for Praying to Saints is St. Cyril of Alexandria at the Council of Ephesus who presided in that Council as Pope Caelestine's Legate and at the Second Action or Session of that Council in the Presence of the Bishops that sat in Council and in their Names and in the Names of the whole Council he you say spake these words Hail in all our Names Holy Mother of God most excellent Ornament of the whole World unextinguishable Lamp Crown of Virginity Scepter of right Doctrine Temple never to be destroyed the Dwelling-place of him that cannot be contained within any place Mother and Virgin by whom he is named Blessed in the Gospel who comes in the Name of our Lord. Hail you that did bare in your Holy Virgin 's Womb him that is Immense and Incomprehensible by whom the Holy Trinity is glorified and adored the universal World over by whom the Earth exults by whom Angels and Arch-Angels rejoyce by whom the Devils are put to flight then you say he concludes That none can sufficiently praise that glorious Virgin and ends his whole Discourse with these words Let us fear and worship the undivided Trinity Celebrating with Praises Mary the ever Blessed Virgin to wit the Holy Temple of God and her Son and immaculate Spouse This you say was plain and full and so say I But how do you prove 1. That Cyril was there President of the Council of Ephesus as Legate to Pope Coelestine 2. How do you prove that he said the Words in the Name of the whole Council 3. How do you prove that ever he spake them at all These are three Particulars worthy of consideration I perceive your great Voucher and if so the whole thing is to be suspected as a meer Forgery of your Church You are pleased to give the Words in Greek to Mr. Needham who understands Greek and so do others yet your putting it into Greek will give you no Reputation in this point only that you may understand Greek Therefore Sir Consider in the first place that Cyril of Alexandria did not preside in that Council by Virtue of any Legantine Authority he received from the Bishop of Rome for the Bishop of Rome did not Summon that Council nor indeed had he that Power in him for the first five hundred years after Christ For Cusanus a Cardinal of your Church saith Authoritas Consilii non ita sependit a Congregante ut nisi a Papa congregetur non sit Concillium quia tunc omnia Octo Vniversalia Concilia non fuissent firma quoniam per Imperatores Convâ—cata Leguntur Romanus Pontifex instar aliorum Patriarcharum
for mine own use and my being abused by these uncircumcised Philistines and neglected by the Prelates and Presbyters of our Church and others that should have stood by me in that Cause for which I do Suffer hath made me sensible that Man is noâ— to be relied upon but that Trust is to be put in him that will confound these Hell born Devils in his own due time and that he will preserve those who abide faithful in the Truth Nor do I envy the Happiness of those my Brethren of the Church of England who are easie in their Places and Preferments for my part blessed be God I can from my Poor Prison where I have been almost five years behold all my Brethren of the Church of England with much Contentment and sufficient Enjoyment of my self on Thrones round about me It will not be amiss to tell you that one great Artifice of these Firebrands and Incendiaries was to perswade many of my Brethren of the Church of England that I was a Dissenter and an Enemy of the Church of England which tho' it was notoriously false for all that know me can testifie that I received my Ordination from the Church of England and Communicated with the Church of England in the blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper But this is the truth and nothing but the truth that I have been always of the opinion and do still esteem my Dissenting Brethren as a Generation of Men anointed by Almighty God with a Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Zeal and Faithfulness and might well be so esteemed by all my Brethren of the Church of England and accepted of as Persons fit to help on the great Work of ruining the Temple of Dagon destroying of Baal and all its Worshippers and to bring on the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell and that by the mutual joyning of Protestants in the Repair of the House of GOD and making up the Breaches and decayed Places in the Body of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which since the first raising and compleating of it by Christ and his Apostles and the delivering it from the Hands of these Edomites partly through the ignorance and insufficiency of some and partly through the remisness of others to whom the Guardianship and Custody thereof hath been committed by GOD in their successive Generations hath by these Locusts been lamentably dismantled and defaced in most parts of it that if a Man should look upon it as they have represented it he could scarce call it the Doctrine of Christ And therefore since my Brethren that are Dissenters were always ready to do their part to support and maintain the Doctrine of the Church of GOD here in England I could not but in point of Justice Truth and Righteousness own them for my Brethren with whom I am contented to suffer as well as with my Brethren that are in close Communion with the Church of England since both profess the same Faith. And were this Spirit of Love in me an Errour it might be more easily pardoned then the Errours and Wickedness of some few of those who pretending to be Bishops and Presbyters of the Church of England yet have been very zealous and forward to promote Popery and Slavery in the Nation these for a time have been caressed by those whose eyes now blessed be God are opened and have seen their own Mistake and the Villany of those that have deceived them they now see who were the Criminals and I question not but may help them to that state into which they have put the Innocent and relieve me who have been kept close these five Years My humble Request therefore to my Brethren of the Church of England is that I might not be thought unworthy of their Cognizance because of my tender Affections to my poor Brethren that cannot comply with the Church of England in some few things since they are so willing to go as far in the Service of the Protestant Cause and Interest as any of those who profess themselves Members of the Church of England Brethren It is time for me to cease entertaining you with the sad Account of the Villany Inhumanity and Cruelty of these Monsters of Mankind against me and to tell you that the Prize that I run for in this Humble Application of my self to you is by the opportunity and advantage hereof to excite provoke and engage you to bless the World in general and this Nation in particular labouring under Popish Burdens and Tokes which neither we nor our Forefathers were able to bear by asserting those blessed Truths worthy of your defending and maintaining and by bringing the Doctrines of God our Saviour out of the Pavillions of Romish Darkness into clear and perfect Light to be beheld understood reverenced and obeyed I have endeavoured to the best of my power at present to make it plain that Prayers to Saints departed this Life and to Angels are unlawful and abominable in the sight of God I have examined into some Authorities this angry Gentleman hath produced and find them either forged misrepresented or impertinent and without all Reason and Conscience he falls fouly upon a Reverend Presbyter of our Church for Licensing a Letter to him in which he is fairly and fully Refuted but the Mungril Curr will not leave barking in his Letter he is light profane and abusive and impudent as if he never had been in a Conspiracy against the Lives of two of the greatest Princes of Europe nay three and two of them Crowned Heads and against the Religion Liberties and Lives of the Protestants of these three Kingdoms But I shall say no more of this little Schoolmaster that talks as sawcily in the Pulpit and is as peremptory in his Notions as he was over his Boys at St. Omers where he used to bellow and roar like a Town Bull. This little Piece I offer to your Consideration and pray your acceptance of it there are Mistakes in it through the carelesness of the Printer which I cannot help because of my Imprisonment and not being permitted to see after it myself so that by this means I may appear obvious to your Censures because that some passages ought to have been better secured But I trust the Ancient Law of Indulgence in such Cases and Circumstances as mine are which may probably in due time be some of my Adversaries also is of Authority sufficient with all sober Protestants to relieve me Brethren and Beloved my Pen hath transgressed the Law and time of my Intentions these confined me to a much narrower Compass in my Epistle and prohibited me the troubling of you to any such degree as now I have done The truth is I have for a long time suffered wrongfully from my Popish Adversaries and I hope you will give an injured Presbyter of the Church of England leave to speak and complain a little of his hard and cruel usage for no other cause but doing Justice to
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall uphold me Now Sir if God be in Heaven Earth Sea Hell and fills all Places with his Presence this shews him an Omnipresent Being Now produce as much of the Mother of Jesus or of any of the Saints and Angels and we will joyn with you in making our Addresses to them but this cannot be said of any Saint or Angel whatsoever therefore How can they hear How can they help And if they can neither hear nor help what reason have we to pray unto them 2. As they are not Omnipresent so they are not Omniscient for suppose they could hear what Men do or speak yet they cannot understand what they think if we could imagine that they could hear us what our Mouths do utter yet we cannot imagine that they know the Secrets of the Heart Now Sir the greatest part of our private Devotions are mental they are conceptus Animi such as are conceived in our Hearts and Minds nay Sir let me tell you that our most acceptable Prayers many times consist of those Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd and if you will make the Saints and Angels privy to these it is to give that to them which is only due to God see what Solomon saith the 2 Chron. 6. 30. Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men there was no Man nor no number of Men but will say that such Knowledge was too painful and too wonderful for them in a word Sir you well know that to search and try the Heart is an incommunicable property and perfection of Almighty God. It hath been Sir a Question among the Divines of your Church Whether the Saints in Heaven have any knowledge at all of our Human Actions and Affairs on Earth but I think the Scriptures are as full as may be to the contrary viz. That they have no knowledge of our Affairs or Actions here upon Earth see Isai 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not and see the 22 Kings 20. Thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place for I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gather'd in peace this was a Promise made unto Josiah so take notice of Job who tells you that ye know not what is done after their death Their sons may come to honour and they know it not and they are brought low and they perceive it not of them From all which you may easily conclude that there can be no Man whether good or bad that can tell any thing of earthly Transactions after they are departed this Life This I may assert with the greatest assurance that the Saints have no such knowledge as is necessary in this case they can neither know nor understand the Prayers that Men offer up to them nor which is also highly necessary with what Mind they offer their Prayers whether in sincerity or in hypocrisie I pray call to mind what St. Augustine saith Mortui nesciunt etiam Sancti quid Agant Vivi etiam eorum filii This was the Opinion of that Great and Learned Doctor and Bishop of the Church of God and it is so plain a Truth that whatsoever shall be brought in to say in contradiction to it it will be scarce received for a Catholick Verity in the Church of God. But Sir how can we expect any satisfaction from you when your Divines are to this day divided about that matter and can neither satisfie themselves nor one another how the Glorified Saints come to have knowledge of our Supplications and Prayers you know that many nice and curious Questions have been argued in our Schools amongst many Learned Men for at least Six Hundred Years Pro and Con without any satisfactory Determination as Gratian Gloss in 13. Qu. de Mortuis and St. Augustine in his Tract De cura pro Mortuis they have all left the matter in doubt As whether the Souls of those to whom they Pray be present or absent If they be present whether they be present actually or virtually If they be absent and have Information from others then whether it be from the Angels or from God himself and if it be from God then whether it be by particular Revelation from him or by the Beatifical Vision of him Thus Sir you know it hath been inquired into and debated amongst your own Doctors one hath determined one way and another hath determined another way and there is not yet to this day any Catholick Determination made of any of those Questions 't is true they all agree that they are made acquainted with the Prayers or else in vain they would be Invocated but how they come by this knowledge Non convenit inter Omnes saith your Pinello all are not agreed about it Some of your Divines that have been very fanciful have been taken with the Notion of a Looking-glass in the Face of God wherein those blessed Spirits have an exact and full view of all things past present and to come the Notion is pleasant and 't is pity you have not had the good fortune to beget a firm belief amongst those of your own Church of this Point for since this Looking-glass was broken in pieces even in your own Church there hath been some of your own Doctors who could see nothing in it but the Folly and Rashness of those who first invented it without any Warrant from the Word of God Cajetan Gabriel Durandus Scotus Occam and many other great Names think themselves no whit obliged to this imaginary Glass for they were then satisfied of the vanity of that Imagination nor will the Text In thy light we shall see light nor will that Saying Qui videt videntem omnia is Videt omnia He seeth all things that seeth him who seeth all things establish the belief of it For Sir if it were so he that sees God seeth whatsoever is in God and whatsoever God seeth Then the Angels that always behold his Face and look up to this Glass would have never stooped down to pry as they did into the Mysteries of the Gospel and needed not be informed by the Church about the manifold Wisdom of God then would they not be to seek concerning any future Events no nor be ignorant of the Day and Hour of the last Judgment I shall conclude this with the Saying of St. Augustine in his Discourse De cura pro Mortuis If saith that Father so great and famous Patriarchs as Abraham and Jacob did not understand how the World went with their Posterity how then can it be that the Dead should at all take Notice of the Living or intermeddle with assisting them That is they neither know their Wants nor can they give them any assistance Why then we should make our Prayers to them I hope Sir you will give a Reason for
your paying that Worship to the Creature which is only due to the Creator you bring the just Charge of Idolatry upon your selves which we are commanded to avoid I beseech you Sir to tell us wherein you differ from the Gentiles in their Idolatry Do you not do by your Saints and Angels as they did by their Gods Do you not manifestly revive their Doctrine of Daemons which is foretold in Scripture as that which should fall out in the latter days amongst the degenerate and apostatizing Christians So the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. That in the latter times some should revolt from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils or Daemons Now what these Daemons were I will not pretend to inform you but only remind you that the Idolatry of the Gentiles and their notions of Daemons is revived and re-enforced in your Church The Gentiles feighned that their Daemons were an inferiour sort of deified Powers that stood in the midst between the Soveraign Gods and them The Soveraign Gods were by them supposed so sublime and pure that Mortals could not and might not approach therefore they introduced this middle sort of Divine Powers to be as Mediators and Agents betwixt them These Daemons or Mediators were supposed to be of two sorts some were the Souls of men deified after their death for you must understand that the Canonization of Heroes and deceased Worthies is somewhat older than your Canonizations in your Church for Rome whilst it was under the Clouds of Heathenism had a custom to canonize their deceased Emperours and they called them Divine or Saints as well as the Church of Rome hath now We read of a Divus Augustus as well as of a Divus Augustinus The Gentiles I say had another sort of Daemons which were more sublime and had never dwelt in mortal bodies but were from the beginning always the same These second sort of Daemons do fitly answer those Spiritual Powers which we call Angels as the former above-mentioned sort do to those we call Saints To these Daemons they built their Temples and their Images Shrines and Reliques they worshipped with all Religious Devotion So that in many respects the Idolatry of the Pagans is a perfect Pattern of the Idolatry of your Church the one hath great affinity with the other and is exactly parallel with it and your Practice of Praying to Saints and Angels hath its Rise and Being from the Adoration that the Gentiles paid to their Daemons The Gentiles distributed Offices and several Duties limited and appointed to each Daemon in his station and degree which I prove out of Augustine de Civit. Dei lib. 4. cap. 12. who there saith thus Varro dicebat ita esse utilem cognitionem Deorum si sciatur quam quis quae Deus vim aut potestatem habeat cujusque rei ex eo enim inquit poteremus scire quem cujusque rei causam Deum advocare atque invocare debeamus ne faciamus ut Mimi solent Optomus à Libero aquam à Lymphis Vinum Varro said the knowledge of the Gods is profitable if a man understand what Power and Authority each God hath in every thing for so saith he we may know whom to call upon and whom to pray unto lest by chance we do as certain Mimi are wont to do that is to say lest of Bacchus the God of Wine we beg Water and of Cymphae the Goddess of Water we beg Wine These things having their beginning amongst the Pagan Idolaters have since been brought into the Church of God to the high displeasure of Almighty God and great scandal of the glorious Gospel of his dear Son. So all the Saints in Heaven have been appointed each one in his Order to his several Office lest any one should intrude into anothers Room Observe what Antonius a Bishop of your Church nay if I mistake not he was Archbishop of Florence saith in his time He saw Sr. Paul and Fryer Dominick painted together Under the Image of St. Paul there was written Per hunc Itur ad Christum We may come to Christ by this Saint but under the Picture of Fryer Dominick they wrote thus Sed Magis per Istum What did they mean by this Sir but that Fryer Dominick's Office and Authority before God was somewhat better and of more credit than St. Paul's You teach your People to pray to St. Gal for the fecundity and health of their Geese and to St. Windiline for their Sheep to St. Antony for their Hogs St. Pelagius for their Oxon. Nay your several Trades-men have their particular Saints the Physicians are patronized by Cosmas and Damian as Aesculapius was to the Physicians in the time of Paganism The Heathens were wont to invok Lucina in the Pains of Child-birth but you do judge St. Margaret the better Midwife and therefore you pray to her The Pagan Sea-men they called upon Neptune but your Church judgeth St. Nicholas to have as much or more power than he therefore your Sea-men call upon him Your Painters have St. Luke for their Patron and the Pagan Painters had Appelles for theirs Your Porters have Goalus And the Hunts-men Eustachius Your Curtezans have St. Affra and St. Mary Magdalen You I suppose know who was the Patroness of the Pagan Ladies of Pleasure The Heathens did rely upon their particular Daemons for the cure of several Diseases and you rely upon your particular Saints St. Sebastian and St. Roch have a special priviledge to cure the Plague St. Petronilla the Fever with the help of St. Sigismund St. John and St. Bennet the Abbot to cure Poyson St. Apolonia the Tooth-ach St. Oliva fore Eyes St. Apollinarius the French-Pox for he had got that Employment since the discovery of the West Indies St. Vincentius hath a special faculty of restoring stoln Goods and St. Liberius doth infallibly cure the Stone and St. Faelicitas will give the Teeming Mother a fine Boy It is strange that if nothing but the Intercession of these Saints were intended that they cannot as well pray for other things as these or that they have no Commission to ask of those any thing else I pray Sir compare your Readings together and see whether or no the Heathens had not their particular Gods for these things to whom they did pay all Worship and therefore were charged by God himself with Idolatry and their Gods were termed Idols and the reason why they were Idolaters was because they gave Worship to their Gods which were but Creatures which was only due to the Creator You may say Sir that these Daemons or Inferiour Deities of the Heathens were the Souls of wicked men and Devils whereas those that are invocated and adored by us are the Spirits of just men and Angels And as to the distributing to every Saint his peculiar Office we are not tyed to defend the Superstitions of the Vulgar or the Abused To this Sir I must reply and tell you We
do not think you lie under any such Obligation but you are bound to inform the Abused and to reprove this notorious Idolatry as all the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God do in the Reformed Churches and declare against such Abominations I confess the Tridentine Chapter very zealonsly forbids all Superstitions but wisely forbears to tells the World what is Superstition and what is not So that the Members of your Church still go on in those Superstitions and Idolatrous Practices Nay every Nation hath its Saint as England hath St. George Scotland St. Andrew Ireland St. Patrick Wales St. David Spain St. James France St. Dennis nay every City every Family almost every House and every devout Person chuseth his particular Saint whose Altars they more devoutly frequent whose Images they more Religiously Worship to whose Relicks they more readily go in Pilgrimage to whose Honour they say more Pater Nosters and Ave Maria's whose Festivals they more solemnly observe spoyling their Prayers by their Confidence in unknown Persons living in an unknown Condition diminishing that Worship they owe to God and that Honour they owe to our Lord Jesus Christ and that Affiance they ought to have in God through Christ and pay it to them who cannot save Give me leave to tell you that the number of your Saints are so many that your People can scarce tell which Saint to turn himself to first and if you will take the Authority of a Writer of your own Church you will find that your Church have been so far from correcting of the Superstition and Idolatry of the Common People and the abused Zealots of your Communion for Isuardus a French Monk diligently searching out the number of Saints found that in every day in the year there are more than three hundred Saints to be served such a number of Saints have the Bishops of Rome brought into the Church of their own Authority whom they have Sainted partly for Favour and partly for Money and partly of blind Zeal and partly for satisfying other Mens corrupt Affections these I say must be Worshipped and Prayed unto so far are you from reproving Idolatry that you incourage and promote it Another saith That from the time the Bishops of Rome began first to Canonize and make Saints unto the time of John the two and twentieth Bishop of Rome there were Canonized five thousand five hundred fifty five Saints this I have from the Author Fasciculus Temporum Therefore Sir you must confess the Extravagancy of those who have had the Guardianship of the Church It is not the fault of the People only running wilfully into such Idolatrous Practices but it is the Practice of your Church warranted and taught by some of her Guides Now whereas your Divines have pleaded That the Worship that the Pagans give to their Gods was Idolatry because they were the Souls of wicked Men and Devils and that your Worship that you pay to Saints and Angels cannot be Idolatry because they are such This I humbly conceive to be a great Mistake for though there be a disparity because the Idolatry of the Pagan World did not lie in the ill choice they made of their Daemons they Worshipped but in giving that Religious Worship to a Creature which was due only to the Creator Let him be a good or a bad Angel a just or a wicked Person since he is but a Creature 't is Idolatry to offer Religious Worship or to Invocate him so that if it be Idolatry to Worship ill Men or Devils because they are Creatures then it is Idolatry to Worship good Men or Angels because they are Creatures likewise Before I conclude this Head let me tell you the Opinion of one of your Church upon this matter his Words are these Multi Christiani in re bona plerumque peccant quod Divos Divas que non alitur Venerantur quam Deum nec video in multis quid sit discrimen inter eorum Opinionem de Sanctis id quod Gentiles putabant de Diis suis Ludvi Not. in Aug. De Civit. Dei Lib. 3. Cap. 27. Edit Anno 1596. Many Christians do for the most part transgress in a good thing that they Worship Hee-Saints and Shee-Saints no otherwise than they Worship God nor do I see in many things wherein their Opinion of the Saints do differ from that which the Heathens had of their Gods. I think no Protestant could have said more Sir Let me ask you Was it not Idolatry in the Jews to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven And was not God highly provoked at it What difference is there betwixt burning Incense to her whom you call the Queen of Heaven and the Jews burning Incense to the Queen of Heaven which is termed Idolatry Is not this your Practice to this day And if the Jews were guilty of Idolatry for that Worship how can you expect to clear your selves from the same Charge If they Worshipped that which was not and therefore were guilty of Idolatry I pray what is your Queen of Heaven when was she made so and by whom What Text can you bring to prove any such thing Did God ever say to the Virgin Mary whom you call Queen of Heaven Sit thou at my right hand Or did he say Let all the Angels of God Worship Her If he did produce your Text and you will do much and till then you will not easily perswade those of our Church either to joyn with you in any Worship to the Virgin or quit you from the Charge of Idolatry I will leave these to your Consideration and so conclude this Head. Fifthly As your Practice of Praying to Saints and Angels is the vilest Idolatry so it is the greatest Blasphemy and from hence we conclude it to be an unreasonable Service and an Abomination in the sight of God. To prove this Sir I will take notice of some of those Prayers to the Saints used in your Offices and shew how you attribute that to them which only belongs to the great God that made the Heavens and the Earth You must know Sir that God hath several Attributes that are incommunicable and to give these to any Creature whatever must be the highest Blasphemy against God. The Council of Trent I confess is more modest than some of your private Doctors but blasphemous enough in its Determination C. Trid. Sess 9. Sanctis una cum Christo Regnantibus Orationes pro Haminibus offerentibus bonum atque utile est supplicare eos Invocare ob Beneficia a Deo Impetranda per filium ejus Jesum Christum qui solus noster Redemptor Salvator est ad eorum Orationes opem Auxiliumque Confugere That is the Saints Reigning with Christ and offering their Prayers for Men it is good and profitable humbly to Invocate them and that we may obtain benefits of God through Jesus Christ our Lord who is our only Redeemer and Saviour to have recourse to
The first is that Hymn which you in your Church for what Reason or Etymology I know not and should be at little cost or trouble to be informed calleth a Sequence The Council of Constance did to Invocate the Blessed Virgiu in the same manner as the Council did use to Invocate the Holy Ghost they call her the Mother of Grace the Remedy to the Miserable the Fountain of Mercy and the Light of the Church Attributes proper to God and incommunicable they Sing her Praises and Pray to her for Grace they Sing to her with the Heart they call themselves her Sons they declare her to be their Health and Comfort in all Doubts they call on her for Light from Heaven they trust in her for the destruction of Heresies and the repression of Schisms and for the lasting Confederations of Peace This Piece of Service and Worship did the Prelates of that remarkable Council perform And Sir you may know that many approved Doctors of your Church have followed the Footsteps of those Counsellours One saith That she being the Mother of God who doth give the Holy Ghost are by her Hands administred to whom she pleaseth when she pleaseth and how she pleaseth and as much as she pleaseth Bernardin Senen Sermon 6. Art. 1. Cap. 8. Your Doctors have taught and I do not believe them Changlings That she is Constituted above every Creature and whosoever doth bow his Knee to Jesus doth fall down also and supplicate his Mother So that the Glory of the Son may be judged not to be so much common with the Mother as to be the same I will do your Writers no wrong for I will set down the very words of Barnerdinus Senensis which are these Mater est filii Dei qui producit Spiritum Sanctum Ideo omnia Dona Veritatis gratiae ipsius Spiritus Sancti quibus vult quando vult quomodo vult quantum vult per Manu ipsius administratum The other Saying hath for its Author Arnoldus De Laudibus Beatae Virginis Constituta est super omnem Creaturam quicunque Jesu Curvat Genu Matri quoque pronus supplicat filii gloriam cum Matre non tam communem Judico quam eandem But Sir to proceed there is another Saying of Bernardus Senensis Ipsa Dei Mater de omnipotentia filii sui â—ui est innixa quando vult sibi assumit de Bust Ma. P. 12. Ser. 2. That she assumeth to herself as much of the Omnipotency of her Son as she pleaseth Damian Serm. 1. de nat B. V. accedit ante aurum humanae Reconciliationis Altare non solum Rogans sed Imperans Domina non ancilla That she comes before the Altar of Human Reconciliation not Interceeding only but Commanding as Mistress not a Servant A Divine of your Church that was willing to shew the strength of his fancy tells us That the History of Ahasuerus in Esther was a figure of God's bestowing half his Kingdom upon the Blessed Virgin that having Justice and Mercy as the chiefest Goods of his Kingdom he retained Justice to himself and granted Mercy unto her Hence if a Man find himself agrieved in the Court of God's Justice he may appeal to the Court of the Mercy of his Mother she being that Throne of Grace whereof the Apostle speaketh in the Hebrews chap. 10. my Author is Gabriel Breit upon the Canon of the Mass Reading 80. Well Sir there is a Prayer to the Virgin Mary in the Psalter approved by thâ— Doctors of the Sorbonne that is well worth considering and 't is this My only Succour my Lips are bound to publish no other Praises but thine by thee the Head of the Serpent hath been bruised the World repaired thy Power is boundless unto thee I confess my Sins into thy Hands I commit my Soul come unto Mary all ye that have thirst pray unto her that with her Water she will wash away the filthiness of your Sins This Sir is your Devotion and how blasphemous it is I leave to the World to judge The latter part I suppose is intended for some pious Meditation rather than a Prayer but here you make her infinite in Power for you say her Power is boundless here you make her to have bruised the Head of the Serpent which is only to be attributed to Christ Jesus here you commend your Souls into her Hands who are all at the disposal of Almighty God. Christ saith Come unto me but your Doctors call upon Men to come to our Lady God through Christ hath Power to forgive Sins but you say the Virgin Mary hath that Power What can be greater Blasphemy then this In a word in this Prayer you give the Virgin the same Power that God himself hath nay some will give her more and impudently justifie themselves therein But at this also I do not wonder for your Barnardinus tells us That in respect of her God after a sort is more bound to us then we are to him Propter Beatam Virginem Deus quodamodo plus obligetur nobis quam nos sibi Then again the said Writer saith speaking to the Virgin Tu fecisti Majora ei qui Potens est she saith He that is mighty hath done great things for me but of her we may say she hath done greater things that is mighty The same Author further saith Though she be subject to God inasmuch as she is a Creature yet she is said to be superior and preferred before him inasmuch as she is his Mother And is not that the reason why ye direct more Prayers to her than to God himself Do you not teach your People to say ten Ave's for one Pater And she hath more days set apart for her then Christ himself I have but one thing more to trouble you with upon this Head and that is the Psalter of our Lady which is made in imitation of David's Psalms the Name of the great God is every-where put out and the who Name of the Virgin Mary is put in its place You know very well who the Author is that it was compiled by your Seraphical Doctor Bonaventure Bishop of Alba and Presbyter-Cardinal of your Church You may know also the great esteem it is in the Church of Rome it hath been several times Printed at Venice and Paris and else-where Instead of In thee O Lord you read it In thee O Lady have I put my trust let me never be confounded Instead of Let the Lord arise it is Let our Lady arise and let her Enemies be scatter'd And instead of O come let us sing unto our Lord it is O come let us sing unto our Lady let us make a joyful Noise unto the Queen of our Salvation Now whether these things can be said without horrible Blasphemy I suppose needs not much disputation From all which I must conclude that it is irrational to practise Praying to Saints and Angels because of the horrid Blasphemy those that perform this Worship and
French above three hundred years ago by Thomas Gray a Member of your own Church you shall find him thus to speak Austin being thus Refused of the Bishops and other learned men of the Britains made such complaint thereof unto Ethelbert King of Kent that he forthwith levyed his Power and marched against them and slew many of them most barbarously c. Hereby it appears that he was not only proud but envious and an inflamer of Wars and a causer of Slaughters yet a Saint and much Devotion paid to him He did not only stir up War but went in person himself in company with the Kings that made War against the innocent Britains I shall be so far from praying to such a Saint that instead thereof I and all Protestants must pray From such a Saint good Lord deliver us Another of your Saints is St. Anselmn he is a person that is canonized and by your Church he is worshipped and prayed to therefore I shall observe to you a little of his Saintship which appeared in his behaviour to Henry the First his Soveraign Lord with what Impudence Insolence and Disloyalty did he carry himself to that King till he was forced to banish this Anselmn the Realm and so he continued for some time till the King partly through fear of the displeasure of the Bishop of Rome who was then very potent and partly through his Zeal to the Church of Rome did permit the return of this Bishop who when he was returned made such havock in the Church of England as never the like was heard of before and what Wars he occasion'd testifieth that he was no Saint on Earth I doubt therefore the Pope could upon no terms justifie his being canonized and you can by no means be justified in paying any Devotion to such a Wretch Ex Chron. Angl. p. 253. Another of your Saints is Thomas Becket whom you call St. Thomas of Canterbury The Prayers you make to him are so extravagant that flesh and bloud is not able to bear them they are so full of Blasphemy that it 's a shame they should be named amongst Christians him you call a Saint and Martyr But Sir to be plain with you he was neither Saint nor Martyr 't is true he was slain at Canterbury but the true cause of his death was his Ambition and Vanity and Wilful maintaining of manifest Wickedness of the Clergy to the dishonour of God's holy Name as by the Writers of that time it doth fully appear and for proof of this I pray be pleased to read the Story of Guilielmus Nubrigensis that lived in the same Age with this high and mighty Saint of yours who thus writeth of Becket That Henry the Second took him into his especial Favour and being only the Arch-deacon of Canterbury made him Lord Chancellour of his Realm and so treated him with all kind of Honour that he seemed to Reign as well as the King that afterwards he promoted him to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury and sent him to the Council of Towers then holden in France being there as upon some remorse of Conscience he misliked and secretly refused the King's Gift and resigned the Archbishoprick unto the Pope and received it again at his hands and so he secretly betrayed his Princes Right unto a Stranger At his return there grew a great Question within this Realm touching the Prerogative of the Clergy The Judges complaining that there were many Rapes and Robberies and Murders committed within the Realm to the number of one hundred by Ecclesiastical Persons and therefore made Request to the Parliament That some consideration might be had of it for that they themselves being Temporal Ministers had neither Law nor Jurisdiction against them As for the Bishops saith Nubrigensis whose part it was to see such Disorders corrected of so many thousand wicked Priests they never degraded nor punished so much as one for they saith he seeking more carefully how to maintain the Dignity and Liberties of their Clergy than the Correction of their Manners think they do good Service to God and his Church if they maintain wicked Priests against the Government whereby saith he it cometh to pass That the Priests that should shine as the Stars in Heaven having free liberty to do what they list care neither for God nor Man for redress whereof the King was resolved to take Order by his Parliament all the rest of the Bishops not one excepted agreed thereunto and confirmed the same under their Seals only Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury stood stiff and stout and would not yield afterwards when he saw the King's displeasure grew against him in the Morning before he should come to make his Answer he caused the Mass of St. Stephen's Office to be sung with this Preface Sederunt Principes c. The Kings sat down to speak against me and the wicked sought to persecute me This done he took his Silver Cross in his hand and went boldly to the Court but perceiving the King was much moved and misliked his stoutness the next Night following he fled over into France and afterwards sought Aid of the Pope at the last being reconciled unto his Prince and returning again into England he brought with him the Pope's Suspension and thereby suspended all the Bishops of the Realm and would never agree to release them by reason of which the whole Church and Kingdom was much disorder'd and shortly after ensued his Death This is the true Story of Thomas Becket Lib. 2. Cap. 16. Sir not only Neubrigensis but also Baronius by the account he gives of Beckett shews us That they were both strongly of the opinion that the Pope was out when he Canonized this Becket and commanded the People of England annually to Celebrate the Day of his Passion and that by Prayer to him they should endeavour to merit the remission of their Sins Now Sir this Becket for ought that can appear by these your own Historians was a proud Praelate a Rebel to his Prince one that had set the Nation in a Flame to defend the Pope's Quarrel against the King and when he dyed was rather the Pope's Martyr then Gods. Seeing he dyed not for the Faith of Christ but for the Defence of the Popish Tyranny and Usurpation This Sir is owned That the People were so devoutly Affected to this new Saint that in respect of him they had little or no Consideration of the Blessed Virgin or of Christ himself and to incourage the Peoples Devotion many Stories were told and Reports made of the many Miracles that were by him wrought on them that did pray unto him I fear Sir I shall move your Patience I will but instance in one Saint more whose Saintship I must call in Question so do all the Reformed Divines it is St. Francis the great Founder of the Order of Fryars called Franciscans he is no ordinary Person in your Church you make him equal with Christ in his Birth Life Temptations
of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints but where are your Injunctions for the Praying to Saints what was the Decree of that Council and what was that Council that did decree for the putting in practice this Romish Doctrine of Praying to Saints In a word your Four Councels make no mention of any Injunction for the people to pray to Saints no they do not so much as intimate to us that it was the practice of the Church at that time You know that your Chapter at Trent makes a formal Decree enjoyning all upon pain of a Curse to apply themselves in their Prayers to the Saints and if you had produced such a Decree you would have done some small matter of Reputation to the practice of the Church Since your Authorities taken from these Four Councils will do you no service away you hasten to St. Augustine who in his 137 Epistle commends the Christians for flocking to the Monuments of Martyrs there to ask miraculous Favours and to some particular Saints for such and such peculiar Graces to others again for different ones The Christians did go to the Monuments of the Martyrs and did ask for Favours but I hope you will tell us from whom they asked these favours St. Austin in all that Epistle doth not say one word of their asking the Saints but their Prayers were directed to God that he might obtain this or that favour or Grace which the Saint was supposed to be indued withal in the time of his or her life Here you are failed in your Authority for this saying of the holy Doctor proves nothing for the lawfulness of Praying to Saints You come to the close of the matter and here you offer the commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and holy Saints as more full and expressive in the ancient Liturgies then any in the present Roman Missal This I am sure is not ad Rem for the commemoration of the Saints to bless God for them and their good examples they left us and heavenly Doctrine they taught In that we are all agreed but I am inclined to joyn with you and examine your Authorities you produce and perhaps you may find something to drop in that may help your Doctrine of Praying to Saints which no doubt but will give your Church some colour for that Practice The first Authority you produce is St. Cyril Patriarch of Jerusalem who bears witness to this Prayer in the Liturgies of his time We pray to thee all of us and offer thee this Sacrifice so as to make a Commemoration of those who have slept before us first of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that God through their Prayers would accept of our Prayers We never say more than this in any Commemoration in our Masses Well here is plainly set forth that the Saints make Intercession for us but nothing of any Prayer made to them But your Author is not very well received because this Prayer of his smells so rank of your Romish Superstition that none but such an old Doctor newly set forth could be guilty of I am lothe to call his Credit in question but I tell you that in his style in his way of arguing he is not at all like the Greek Fathers in wording his Notions he appears to have lived but of late Years and therefore his Authority Sir will be of little Credit at this time Yet he doth you no manner of Service he shews that in his time the Intercession of Saints was a received Notion but hath not one word of Praying to them and St. Augustine in his Tract in Johan seemeth to countenance it but doth not at all point at any Invocation or Prayer to be made to the Saints and Martyrs But say you doth not the saying of St. Cyril and St. Augustine prove that their Intercession must be asked that it may be obtained In answer to this I say I do not find that either your St. Cyril or St. Augustine doth in either of these places direct us to apply our selves to the Saints for the benefit of their Intercession the one saith That in the Prayer of the Liturgies in his time the faithful did commemorate the Saints that God through their Prayers would accept of your Prayers And St. Austine saith That the Christians commemorate the Saints at the holy Table that they may pray for us He doth not say that Christians pray to the Saints that they may pray for us It may be worth your while to consider how little these two Authors do appear to help you out in this point which you so zealously defend You say that you offered devout Prayers to the blessed Virgin out of the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom Those Liturgies have both been so miserably abused that they are not of any great value with the Doctors of you own Church for the Interpolations are so frequent that we can scarce tell either the order or the sence of those Liturgies I have seen the old Copies of those Liturgies where I find commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints but I cannot find any Prayer made to them in latter times They may have crowded a Prayer to the Virgin which you perchance have used but it is no proof For Dr. Stephen Gardner the notorious Bishop of Winton he saith and that not without due consideration had of those Offices that both of them were miserably disordered that set behind which should have been before and that the Ignorant Scribes of the latter Ages had basely corrupted both those Liturgies This is the Credit that the Liturgies of those Fathers had with that Bishop of your own Church and therefore we have reason Sir to refuse them as Authors that have been corrupted by the Scribes of your own Church Steph. Gard. ad object 185. And that St. Chrysostom's Liturgie hath been abused doth thus further appear for in that Liturgie set forth by Claudus Sanctes you have St. Chrysostom praying for Pope Nicholas in these words Nicholai sanctissimi Vniversalis Papae longa sunt tempora We pray God send Nicholas that most Holy and Universal Pope a long time to live whereas it is well known to you that Pope Nicholas lived in the year of our Lord 857. which was almost 500. years after St. Chrysostom's decease likewise in the same Liturgie there is a Prayer for the Empire and Victory of the Emperour Alexius who lived in the year 1080. after the death of St. Chrysostom 700. years Now it is very hard if we should receive the Testimonies that are Authentic since they are made to serve all the vile Turns imaginable so that you may see what Stuff here is that you father upon two burning and shining Lights of God's Church and upon them we must ground our Faith and Salvation We must pray we know not what and I know not to whom If we receive either or both your new St. Basils and new St. Chrysostoms Liturgies for in their old Liturgies there