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
divales Sacras Jussiones de veniendo aut mittendo ad Concilium recepit The Authority of the Council doth not so depend upon him by whom it was Summoned so that unless it be Summoned by the Pope it can be no Council for so we shall avoid the first eight General Councils for we read they were Summoned by the Emperour and not by Popes and the Pope received the Emperour's Majesty's Commandment to come or send to Councils as other Patriarchs did And your own Writers have owned that the Council of Ephesus which was the third General Council was held under Theodosius the younger and by his Order that Holy Father did preside and not from any Legantine Authority he received from Pope Coelestine Here you fail in this particular and therefore we have just cause to question the whole But this shall suffice as to the first Enquiry 2. I pray how do you prove that Cyril spake this in the Name of the whole Council For if that the whole Council was not for Praying to the Saints and Angels he could not be said to speak in their Names Then how could he in their Names make such an Address to the Virgin without being deputed by them If it had been said by you that he did in the Name of Theodosius the Emperour make this Prayer you had said something for Praying to Saints was then scarce heard of in the Church of God. I confess toward the latter part of the fourth Century it began to creep into the Church but was questioned again by the Council of Carthage and the Council of Laodicea both which Councils determined against the Invocation of Saints and Angels In the 35 Canon of the Council of Laodicea it was thus determined That Christians ought not to leave the Church of God and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden Let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. The Apostle saith he commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up our Thanksgiving unto God the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea following also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled at Laodicea the chief City of Phrygia and forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Can it then be supposed that the whole Council of Ephesus should be agreed in the Point of Praying to Saints and Angels Since both these Councils had determin'd against it how then could St. Cyril do this in the Name of the whole Council For it is well known that there was yet never any General Council that had determin'd for it 3. Let us know Sir how you prove that ever St. Cyril did speak those Words or make such a formal Prayer as you pretend he made I have given myself the trouble of Reading the Council of Ephesus but I find nothing at all of the business and therefore you would do well to examine that Council once more and let us have the Prayer in Greek without an c. But I will tell you I have great reason to suspect the truth of it because I perceive you take it upon the credit of Baronius who was one of your own Writers and therefore worthily suspect it for certainly it was his design in all his History to promote the Doctrine and Interest of the Church and See of Rome If you would shew us St. Cyril's Speech it would go a great way further as to its reputation Yet Sir consider your Divines have falsified that Council of Ephesus and have represented that Council to have determin'd against administring the Communion in both Kinds which is a meer falshood because the Cup was not denyed to the Laity for several hundred years after But if it were taken away why was there no Decree made thereupon that is extant in that Council nor any mention of by any Learned Man within a great time after and those that laid first that Doctrine upon the whole Council might as easily make a Speech for St. Cyril and a Prayer for him too to the Virgin Mary the better to give countenance to that way of Worship The next proof you bring sorth is a Prayer of St. Gregory Nyssen unto St. Theodore in these words Martyr use the liberty you enjoy speak for your Fellow-Servant you have conquer'd the World but you have not forgotten the Passions and Necessities our human Condition is liable unto Ask for Peace that those Publick Meetings may continue that the enraged and wicked Barbarians may not plunder and destroy our Churches and Altars that no impious Man tread the Holy Thing under-foot for we that have been untouched and alive do own ourselves obliged to you for that Blessing and will ask your Protection and Security for the future No doubt but St. Theodere might be a Worthy Saint and Martyr of Christ to whom this St. Gregory might use a Rhetorical Apostrophe tho he were not present in Person yet he might be present by his Picture or some Monument that was set up in the Honour of so great a Saint But Sir Remember the Psalmist He calls upon Angels to Praise God and all the Hosts of Heaven the Sun the Moon and all the Stars of Light he calls upon Dragons and all Deeps he calls upon the Fire Haile Snow and Vapour to Praise God not that the Fire did hear him or the Sun Moon and Stars or Mountains Hills fruitful Trees or Cedars did hear him yet here was Invocation but answer me plainly Were these Words spoken by way of Adoration Was this a Formal Prayer to St. Theodore or only an acknowledgment only that God for the Sake of that Saint had preserved the Church You know that God did for the Sake of Abraham shew many favours to the People Israel and for the Sake of St. Paul a whole Ships Company were preserved as you may see in Acts 27. 24. Fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and so God hath given thee all them that Sail with thee as in the same Sence that the People that Sailed with Paul were obliged to Paul for their Preservation In the same Sence doth this Holy Gregory tell St. Theodore that those who had escaped the Cruelties of the Barbarians and were alive they were obliged to him for that Mercy but you will say that St. Gregory saith That we own our selves obliged to you for this Preservation and we will ask your Protection for the future That is the same Protection he doth not pray to St. Theodore to
Decree in the case I therefore judge that your citing the Council was to little or no purpose the Practice of a number of Bishops being no Warrant for any Doctrine whatsoever unless approved allowed and decreed by a General Council You have met with sundry Debates amongst Learned Men that have not been opposed by the rest of the Council yet when the Question hath been put it hath been carryed against the Debates though they have appeared with a considerable Party But I will consider your Invocation here in the Council of Chalcedon The Words of your Invocation are these Flavianus lives after Death let him Pray for us I pray Sir do but consider the occasion of the Words There were two Persons that stood Candidates for the Bishoprick of Ephesus Bassianius and Stephen who both contended for that Bishoprick Bassianius appears before that Council and he having had this Flavianus to communicate with him in his Life-time and having been a great Favourite with him he because of that intimacy engaged the Bishops of the Obedience of Constantinople who cryed out in the Council in the behalf of Bassianius Flavianus the Martyr lives after Death he shall Pray for us Which is no more than this he shall intreat you to do us this favour as to give the Cause for Bassianus and confirm him Bishop of Ephesus let him Pray for us since he was a Martyr for the Faith let his Martyrdom oblige you to appear for his Friend These Bishops did not say Flavianus lives after Death he shall pray to God for us for you must understand these Bishops had made the Cause of Bassianus their own but he shall pray or intreat this Council for us This is a worthy proof for the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints for do but consider if it be given for granted that the intention of those Bishops was Let Flavianus pray to God for us What then doth it say Let us pray to Flavianus Here is not one Word of that nor indeed of the other Secondly You in the second place cite the Council of Gangrae Can. 20. If any one through Pride believing himself perfect accuse those Meetings which are had at the places where holy Martyrs Repose or in their Churches or believes that such Oblations as are made there ought to be slighted Let them be accursed But I pray Sir why do you put these words in that is need not the Intercession of the Saints that is the greatest Folly that ever Men could be guilty of What Man of Learning could ever give this Explication of a Canon which the thing will in no wise bear But Sir I will forfeit all the skill I have if you can bring any of the Doctors of Sorbonne or any of the Congregation De propaganda fide that would produce this Canon of the Council of Gangra to prove that Praying to Saints was enjoyned by the Catholick Church Nay I will appeal to any of the Learned of your own Society whether they in their Consciences do believe that it looks like a proof to justifie that Doctrine The Canon being taken as you have laid it down says no more that they are accursed who shall take down the Monuments of the Martyrs or should believe that the Oblations made in those Holy Places were to be slighted or should in any measure reflect on those that did frequent the Meetings had and held where the Bodies of the Martyrs did repose Here is not one word of Praying to the Saints or of the Saints making Intercession for us Thirdly You produce the Council of Laodicea held in the Year 320 as allowing the Worshipping of the true Martyrs of Christ mentioning Churches built in their Honour over their Monuments whether the Christians resorted I perceive you are faint-hearted and durst not say the Sence of the Council of Laodicea see the 35 Canon where it was determined by that Council That Christians ought not to leave the Church and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden If any Man therefore be found giving himself to this secret Idolatry let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and hath applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. the Apostle saith He commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up thanks giving to God and the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea follow also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ. And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled in Laodicea a chief City in Phrygia forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Oecumenius hath much the same words upon the same place and here I am sure you find nothing of Praying to Saints but rather forbidden for if it be unlawful to Pray to the Angels and that be Idolatry then it is unlawful to Pray to the Saints for without doubt the latter is as lawful as the former In the Sixth and thirty sixth Canons of that Council you say That the Worshipping of Martyrs was as it were allowed or that I may not be charged for a Misrepresenter you say That you produced that Council as allowing the Worshipping the true Martyrs With what face can you assert that when those Canons speak nothing of the Worship of the true Martyrs The Council makes mention indeed of the resort of the Christians to the Churches of the Martyrs where they did use to pray but there is nothing in that Council that intimates any thing of the lawfulness or the necessity of Praying to Saints but rather forbids it Fourthly The last Council you cited is the fourth Council of Carthage held you say in the Year 368 not only Authorizing Christiansto meet in Churches Dedicated to Martyrs and even where-ever any Monument of a Martyr should be but commanding that all Altars should be demolished if there be not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected What is all this to the purpose The Council of Carthage say you Authorised Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs Ergo Prayers to Saints are lawful That the Councel ordered the demolishing of all Alters if there were not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected Ergo the Council did command Praying to Saints But if you will look into the third Council of Carthage you will find it against the Praying to Saints You are pleased to say that this was the most expressive method of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints The Council authorized Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs this was indeed an expressive method
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