Ep 110. p 840 inferioris notae de plebe Dii inferior vulgar Gods Secondly they held them to be d Austin de C. D. l. 9. c. 3. Dâ—i facti a summo Deo conditi i.e. such as received their beings from the supream God who therefore by the Latines was so often stiled Divum Pater and by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like And Thirdly they say the Heathens had their e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Julian apud Cyril Alex. l. 4. p. 115. Commission from God and only were his undergovernours and by him placed over Towns and Countreys Fourthly they held the worship due unto them to be a middle and inferior kind of worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Hierocles that is God must be worshiped with Latria but those inferior Daemons with Dulia and that to worship them f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieroc p. 10. according to that Dignity they had received from their God and Father was the true worship due unto them and hence they gave this caution in paying homage to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocles page the 10. not to give more than was consistent with their Dignity The g This was their Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret in c. 2. ad Coloss Angelicks did not doubt but that those Angels whom they used as Intercessors were the Creatures and Ministers of God nor could they hope to reap advantage by their Intercession had they intended by so doing to confer upon them the worship proper to that jealous God who will not give his glory to an other The Arians had the same apprehensions of Christ Jesus they stile him Dei instrumentum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Ministers his Creature from whence it follows that they could intend to offer up no other worship to him but what was proper to a Creature And hence the Fathers tell us that they performed to the Sacred Trinity honorificentiae imparis officium h Rulg l. 2. ad Monim c. 2. unequal honours and could not be induced to worship Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with worship equal to the Father k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregor Nyssen l. 4. Contr. Eunom p. 588.13 And that if any man conceived these words of the Evangelist St. John that all should worship the Son as they worshiped the Father to contain a precept or injunction to give unto the Son a worship equal unto that we give the Father he was exceedingly mistaken 4. The Apostle tells the Church of Corinth that he who in the Temple of an Idol did eat and drink of what was Sacrificed to the Idol did drink the Cup of Devils and was made partaker of the Devils Table and had Communion with them 1 Cor. 10.20 21. and so was guilty of Idolatry to introduce and to confirm this charge he layes down this assertion vers 7. that they who did sit down to eat and drink of what was offerd to the golden Calf were by so doing guilty of Idolatry and upon this account he thus exhorts those persons who endulged themselves in this unlawful practice be ye not Idolaters as were some of them Whence it is clear that St. Paul judged this practice well deserved that imputation and yet it is as certain that they who used it were induced to do so upon this presumption that they conceived the Idol to be nothing 1 Cor. viii 4. x. 19. and therefore not the great Creator and the chiefest good Hence therefore we infer the vanity and falsness of those descriptions of Idolatry which are delivered by the Doctors of the Roman Church who being conscious to themselves and having openly confessed that to the (l) Constans est Theologorum sententia imaginem eodem honore cultu honorari coli quo colitur id cujus est Imago Azor Instit Moral To. 1 l. 9. c. 6. Images of Christ and of the Cross and of the blessed Trinity they give that worship which they stile Latria and which is properly Divine excuse themselves from this enormous guilt by saying that they do not give this worship to them as to God and make the formal reason of Idolatry consist in giving Divine worship to the Creature upon this apprehension that it is a God Idolatry saith (n) L. 2. de Idol c. 1. Gregory of Valence is a Superstition whereby we tender Divine honour to the Creature as to God Latria or that Adoration which agrees to God alone is the most profound prostration and inclination of the will attended with an apprehenssion of God as the first principle last end and chiefest good So Bellarmine (o) L. 2. dâ— Eccâ Triumph c. 12. p. 1503 B. Those words of Christ thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. must thus be understood Thou shalt not worship false Gods as the Heathens do but that true God who is but one to whom alone theou shalt exhibite Divine worship as to the true God So (p) Manual l. 1. c. 7. qu. 1. Becanus whence he infers they are not to be counted guilty of Idolatry by Invocation and Adoration of Saints departed quia non adorant eos tanquam Deos (q) Just weights chap. 19. The like mistake to say no worse we find in Mr. Thorndike when he asserts that this is requisite to make the Romanists Idolaters Viz. to take the Elements for God That worship may be guilty of Idolatry Prog. 2.5.5 which is not given to a Creature with an intention to make that Creature be esteemed for a God or with an intention to ascribe unto that Creature the excellency which agrees to God alone This proposition may be confirmed by what we have discoursed upon the first being certain that the Eunomians Arians Nestorians did not intend by any worship they performed to Christ to work in any this estimation that he was a God but that above all things they did endeavour to perswade the contrary and they who sate at meat in Idols Temples and by partaking of things Sacrificed to them were guilty of Spiritual whoredom or Idolatry Believed themselves and taught to others this assertion that an Idol was nothing in the world And it is apparent also that according to this principle the holy Martyrs might have worshiped with all kinds of honour not only Emperors and Kings but even ther Prince of Devils without the imputation of Idolatry Provided they did not inwardly intend by any act of worship to procure unto them the estimation of a Deity 4. They who resort unto the Hag and the (r) Peccant in primum preceptum qui somniss auguriis caecerisque vanissmais is rebus fridem dem habent Catech Rom part 3. c. 1. ss 7. Magician the Sorcerer and Wizard do not believe much less endavour to work this estimation in the hearts of others that they are truly God And yet the Chuch of Rome condemns them who thinking they can do what they
Innocent the first S. Austin and which was the current Doctrine of the Church of Christ for many hundred years I wave the Opinion of Austin and of Innocent the first saith Maldonate which flourished in the Church six haundred years In Joh. 6. n. 116. viz. that the Eucharist was necessary even for Infants the things is now unfolded by the Church and by the use of many ages and the decree of the Trent Council that it is not only unnecessary for them but that it cannot lawfully be given to them 2. It must be false which is defined by the Council of Florence and is received by the whole Church of Rome that Saints departed before the Resurrection do see the face of God in Glory for we have proved and Sixtus Senensis doth acknowledge that this definition was Bibl. l. 6. An. 345. Repugnant Ingenti numero illustrium Ecclesiae Patrum 3. Hence it will follow that the Trent Catechism and all the Roman Doctors who generally urge that of Jacob The Angel that redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads to prove that Angels may be Invocated embrace that exposition of these words of Scripture which is heretically false as I have proved Chap. 10. Sect. 6. Thirdly I have not entred into that deep dispute betwixt him and the Doctor whether jubere doth signify to command or entreat and whether imperare be to enjoyn or supplicate I Judge it is sufficient advantage to our cause that if Jubere and imperare should not be rendred to entreat and supplicate but to command the Romanists must unavoidably be guilty of Idolatry T. G. indeed informs us that it is not the dead words but the intention of the speaker that makes them to be prayer for otherwise a Parrot might be taught to Pray as well as a Christian and thence he manfully concludes that in these expressions Nos a peccatis omnibus solvite jussu quaesumus Cassand Consult tit de meritis intercess Sanctor p. 971. Jube filio O foelix puerpera jure Matris Impera Redemptori c. They only pray to Saints to pray for us As if a man should call his Prince a Tyrant and his Brother Knave and being brought before the Judge should plead that by a Tyrant he meant only a King and by a Knave a Servant and since it was not the dead words but the intention of the speaker that made them significative for otherwise a Parrot might be hanged for speaking what he did he hoped that he had spoken nothing which might give offence especially seeing he had more Authors ready to produce to justify this sense and acceptation of these words than had the Church of Rome for this interpretation of jubere and imperare if when the Sentence were thus passed upon him Jubemus imperamus hunc suspendi he should plead that it did only signify that they entreated him to be hanged I say should such a plea be made it would be as significant as is this Answer of T. G. And all that any man can say against the Plea of such a trifling Sophister will equally conclude against this pittiful defence which he hath offered Josh 10.12 14. and hath confirmed by a false citation of that place of Joshuah which doth not say that God obeyed as from the Vulgar he translates it but that God hearkened to the Voice of man Fourthly In this discourse I have not waved any thing which had the least appearance of an argument but have returned a full and as I hope a satisfactory Answer to all that hath been offered by T. G. and all that I desire of him is that if be should be pleased to Reply he would not nibble at some few Expressions as is the manner of the Roman party but would return a perfect Answer to the whole and then I do not doubt but he will Suffer me to rest for some convenient Season Thy Friend and Servant D. WHITBY Errata PAg. 4. l. 5. for Surerstition r. superstition p. 11. l. 12. honerem r. honorem p. 33. l. 18. mby r. may p. 40. l 27. from r. for p. 45. l. 5. 〈…〉 r. 〈…〉 p. 55. l. 16. overthrows r. overthrow p. 56. marg configere r. confingere p. 60. l. 23. ef r. of ibid marg creatura r. creaturam p. 78. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 86. l. 23. sguiritual r. spiritual p. 90. Marcarius r. Macarius p. 91. Symbol a r. a Symbol p. 93. po r. do p. 340. Chap. 11. r. Chap. 12. THE IDOLATRY Of the Church of ROME CHAP. I. The CONTENTS That according to the Doctrine of the Church of England the Church of Rome is Guilty of Idolatry 1. In Worshipping the Host § 1. And 2. In Praying to departed Saints § 2. The Method used to Justifie this Charge § 3. The Notion of Idolatry considered Negatively in two Propositions 1. That to render any Person Guilty of Idolatry it is not Requisite that he should Conceive the Object of his Worship to be the Great Creator or the chiefest Good § 4. 2. That Worship may be Guilty of Idolatry which is not Given to a Creature with an Intent to Ascribe unto it that Worship which Agrees to God alone § 5. Idolatry is then Committed when any Honour due to God alone is Attributed to or is Conferd on that which is not God § 6. THe Doctrine of the Church of England as it is Delivered in her Injunctions Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions her Liturgies and Publick Homilies commanded to be Read in every Parish Church and to be Subscribed and Received by all that Exercise the Ministerial Function and by them to be acknowledged to contain a Good and Wholesome Doctrine and Needful for the Times in which those Homilies were Published is this That the Church of Rome is Guilty of Idolatry in Worshipping the Host The Rubrick after the Communion speaks thus The Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very natural Substances and therefore may not be Adored for that were Idolatry to be Abhorred of all faithful Christians The Constitutions and Canons of the Convocation held A. D. 1640. Can. 7. and Published by the Authority of our Royal Martyr Charles the First affirm That at the time of Reforming this Church from that gross Superstition of Popery it was carefuly Provided that all Means should be used to Root out of the Minds of the People both the Inclination thereunto and Memory thereof Especially of the Idolatry committed in the Mass for which cause all Popish Altars were Demolished That the Church of Rome is Guilty of Idolatry by Praying unto Saints Departed §. 2. Thus in the Homily touching the Peril of Idolatry we have these words Terrentius Vorro sheweth That there were 300 Jupiters in his time I think we had no fewer Saints to whom we gave the Honour due to God Then follows this Apostrophe Oh Heaven Earth and Seas what Madness and
c. 12. Run through all the words of holy Prayers and you will be able to find nothing which is not included in the Lords Prayer in this both Protestants and Roman Catholicks agree Hence therefore I assume if when we pray for any thing contained in this Prayer we are enjoyned to pray to God then all our acceptable Prayers must be directed to him and whensoever we do pray for any blessing we must call upon him besides Our Father doth belong to every Petition no other person being mentioned in this Prayer so that the sense runs thus Our Father c. let thy Kingdome come Our Father let thy will be done c. And then the import of this injunction will be this when you pray for the advancement of Gods Glory or the promotion of his Kingdom or the performance of his Will when you solicite for any Temporal blessing or for the pardon of your Sin or lastly for the prevention of any Evil or Temptation of what kind soever when you desire any of these mercies for your selves or others pray to your Heavenly Father for them 3. None of these blessings must be asked of him to whom the Kingdom Power and Glory doth not of right belong For this is added as the cause or motive of making these addresses to God and where the motive or cause is wanting the effect must cease Now to God only the Kingdome Power and Glory doth agree Jude 25. We therefore must address our Prayers to him only for the obtaining of these blessings And least you should object that this Argument excludes the third and second persons of the Sacred Trinity let it be noted that all the Schoolmen do affirm That the word Father in this Prayer must not be taken personally but essentially and so excludeth not the other Persons of the Trinity but those things only which have not the same nature with them 2. Prayer offered up in any time or place to an invisible and for any thing we know a Being absent from us as far as Earth from Heaven doth ascribe unto that Being the knowledge of the secrets of the heart now to worship any Being whether Saint or Angel with such a kind of worship which doth ascribe unto it the knowledge of the desires and secrets of the heart both where and whensoever they are conceived or uttered is to ascribe unto them by way of worship what is not due to Saints or Angels but alone to God as hath been proved already and may be further thus confirmed 1. If Saints departed were acquainted with the desires of our hearts why did Elijah speak unto Elisha thus 2 Kings 2.9 Ask what thou wilst before I am taken from thee The Scripture doth affirm that he was taken up into the Heavens and therefore did behold the face of God And Roman Catholicks themselves deny that he was held in Limbo as they imagine other Prophets were being in Heaven his love unto Elisha and the Church of God was not diminished but enlarged and therefore upon that account he had a stronger reason to ask what he desired then before Besides the Prophet being now with God in Heaven his Prayers would more effectually prevail for any Blessing for his Friend and therefore he had greater reason to have said had he believed this Doctrine of the Church of Rome Ask what thou wilst when I am taken from thee And therefore we have reason to presume that he did not believe this Doctrine but rather thought that his departure would render all Elijah's future wishes and add resses to him vain and ineffectual 2. From that known passage of Isaiah Abraham nescivit nos Israel ignoravit nos St. Augustine thus concludes (o) Si tanti Patriarchae quid erga populum ex his procreatum ageretur ignoraverunt quibus Deo credentibus populus ipse ex corum stirpe promissus est quomodo mortui suorum rebus atque actubus cognoscendis adjuvandisque miscentur ibi ergo sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi non vident quaecunque aguntur aut eveniunt in ista vita hominibus De curâ pro mortuis c. 13. If such great Patriarchs were ignorant of what was done towards the people that proceeded from their Loins how should the dead be conversant in knowing or helping of their friends in what they do There therefore are the Spirits of dead persons where they do not see what things are done or happen to men in this life 2. I reason thus this practice doth ascribe unto the objects of our Prayer such knowledge of the heart and such a cognisance of all petitions presented to them at all times and in all places of the world which we have proved to agree to God alone or such a presence in all places which is proper to him and therefore it ascribeth to them the honor due to God alone 2. If Saints departed do know the minds and inward thoughts of those who put up their petitions to them they have this knowledge either from Revelation or from the beatifick Vision but they have no such knowledge either from Revelation or from the Beatifick Vision Ergo. And 1. God doth not ordinarily reveal unto them the knowledge of the hearts of their petitioners For if they do not want this Revelation God who doth nothing vainly must not be supposed to impart it But these blessed Spirits do not want it for did they need this Revelation to perceive our minds saith Bellarmine the Church would not so confidently say to all the Saints Votis precamur cordium audite preces supplicum Brev. in Com. Apost p. 2. pray for me much less we offer to you the desires of our hearts but sometimes would desire God thus to reveal our prayers and to acquaint them with the desires of our hearts 2. If God thus reveal the Prayers of the Petitioner to the deceased Saints what reason can be given saith the forementioned Author why all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets were not invoked by the Church of Israel before our Saviours advent and he had reason to make this enquiry For 1. It is as easie to Almighty God to make this Revelation to the souls in Limbo that Papal prison of the Antient Patriarchs and holy Prophets as to the souls in Heaven nor have we one example or declaration that what God is supposed now to do he was not willing to do then 2. Certain it is the charity of those departed Patriarchs and Prophets towards their relatives and friends and the whole Church of God must be exceedingly advanced by their change they must be more the friends of God and their petitions must be more prevailing then whilst they did continue in the flesh Wherefore the Jews had as good reason to invoke these Patriarchs and Prophets as hath the Romanist to call upon the Christian Martyrs And God had equal reason to declare this was the duty of the Jew and to reveal their Supplications to the Patriarchs as to
repugnant to the word of God or opposite to the honour of Jesus Christ our only Mediator or that it is a foolish thing to pray unto them either with vocal or with mental prayer doth impiously think This they command all Pastors to teach to all their faitful people and they pronounce Anathema on any person that shall teach or think the contrary The Roman Catechism informs us That †Jure autem Sancts Dei Ecclesia huic Gratiarum actioni preces etiam implorationem Sanct ssimas Dei Matris adjurixit qud pie atque suppliciter ad eam confugeremus ut nobis peccatoribus sud Intermissione conciliaret Deum bonaque tum ad hanc tum ad aeternam vitam necessaria impetraret Ergo nos exules filii Evae qui hanc lachrymarum vallem incolimus assidnè misericordiae matrem ac fidelis populi advocatam invocare debemus ut oret pro nobis peccatoribus ab edque hac prece opem auxilium implerare cujus praestantissimu merita apud Deum esse summam voluntatem juvandi humanum Genus nemo nisi impid nefariè dubitare potest Catech. Rom. Part. 4. c. 5. Sect. 8. p. 584. the Holy Church of God doth teach us piously and humbly to fly unto the Mother of God and to entreat her by her intercession to reconcile God to us sinners and to obtain those good things for us which are necessary both for this present life and that which is eternal Wherefore we exiled sons of Eve who live in this vale of tears continually ought to intreat this Mother of Mercy and Advocate of faithful People that she would pray for us sinners and by this prayer to implore her help Agreeable to this Doctrine are many Forms of Prayer recorded in the Antient Missals and Breviaries of the Church of Rome and in those likewise which have been published and corrected by the Decree and order of the Council held at Trent For to St. Peter they pray thus Beate Pastor Petre Erov Rom clemens accipe Voces precantum criminúmque vinoula Verbo resolve cui potestas tradita Aperire terris Coelum apertum claudore Peter blest Shepherd graciously Receive our Prayers our bands of sin unty By thy sole word to whom the power is given To open wide and shut the Gate of Heaven To all the Apostles thus Communt Apost p. â— Vos sacli justi judices Et vera mundi lumina Votis precamur cordium Audite preces supplicum Qui Coelum VERBO clauditis Serasque ejus Solvitis Nos à peccatis omnibus Solvite JVSSV quesumus Quorum praecepto subditur Salus languor omnium Sanate aegros moribus Nos reddentes Virtutibus You that are Judges of the World And its true lights that brightly shine With heartiest wishes we intreat Out humble supplications hear Ye that do shut Heavens Temple Gates And by your word unlock the same Our guilty souls from punishment Release we pray by your command For in an instant your commands Sickness and health do both perceive Heal therefore our diseased minds And every Grace in us increase Virgo dulcedine plena In te sperantes audi Miss de Sanctâ— Genouefa f. 12. miserando precantes Dele Peccamen Vexatis praebe juvamen Omnibus moestis solamen porrige semper To Genouefa thus Hear us that pray blest Genouefe And pity those who hope in thee Blot out our sins and send relief And comfort in sad misery Cerne tua n familiam Miss de Sancto Sebast f. 13. quae orat flexis genibus Serva à peste patrian istam à malis omnibus Audi famulos rogantes ô Martyr Sebastiane Serva corpus sana mentes hujus plebis Christianae Ne incurramus immane Baratrum confusionis Dona vespere mane genitum compunctionis To Saint Sebastian Behold thy family which prayes with bended knee Preserve this Country from the plague let it no evil see Hear the desires of thy folk Martyr Sebastian Preserve the bodies heal the minds of people Christian That we the horrid Gulph may fly of sad confusion At night and morning let us sigh with deep â— compunction Ista per te gens sit tuta Et ne noceat acuta Febris hac in patria Miss Rom Antiq. Ex quo nostra spes est tota In te Martyr nunc remota Sit pestis mortifera May we from this sharp fevers rage Safe and unhurt hereafter be It s deadly influence asswage Since all our hopes are placed in thee Tu nostrum columen tu decus inclytum Brev. Rom. Jan. 30. Nostrarum obsequium respice mentium Romae libens vota excipe quae pio Te ritu canit colit To St. Martina O thou our stay and chiefest ornament Regard the ready service of our minds Rome's vows receive which in devotest sort Doth praise and worship thee Promove nostras Domino querelas Cast âque vota Prev Rom Antiq Mart. 20. Scis quot hic saevis agitemur undis Triste quos mundi mare defatigat Scis quot adnectat Satanas caroque Praelia nobis To Joachim See our chaste vows we make to God be paid And all our Prayers promote when we complain Tost in this Sea with many a cruel wave Thou know'st we weak and weather beaten are Thou know'st what combats we' are like to have Which flesh and Satan our sworn foes prepare Sis pro nobis advocata Proprium Fest Ordinis Minorum f. 12. causam nostrae Paupertatis coram Deo sustine Et veniam de peccatis servis tuis obtine To the Blessed Virgin Be thou our Advocate with God and plead Our cause with him in thy poor peoples stead Obtain that pardon of our sins we need Quicunque in alta syderum Regnatis Aula Principes Brev. R. Favete votis supplicum Qui dona Coeli flagitant To all Saints All ye that with the eternal King As Princes reign above the Stars Favour the Prayers of Suppliants 2. They do not only pray unto them but they give laud and honor to them And also do entreat them to hear and to receive their Praises Jacobe vindex Hostium Huc Brev. R. in Festo S. Jacobi Coeli ab altis sedibus Converte dexter lumina Audiquâ— laete debitas Grates tibi quas solvimus To St. James they speak thus The praises due that we do pay To thee hear joyfully this day Ave salus hominum Miss Prop rtum Fest p. 35. B. Ed. Aâ—tutep 1577. Virgo decus virginum Te decet post Dominum laus honor To the blessed Virgin Hail oh thou happiness of Man And Virgin Flower of Virgin race All laud and honour be to God And to thee in the second place But of this no man can be ignorant there being nothing more common in their Books and mouths than Laus Deo Beatae Virgini 3. They also do confess their sins unto them In the Reformed Roman Missal we
have these words †Confiteer Dâ—â— omnipotenti Beatae Mariae sâ—mper Virgini Beato Michaeli Archangelo Beato Joanni Baptistae Sanctis Apostolis Petro Paulo ominibus Sanctis vâ—bis Fâ—atres quâ—â—â— peccavi nimis cogicatione v rbo opere Ideo precor Beatam Mariam semper Virginem Beatum Michaelem Archangelum Beatum Joannem Baptistam Sanctos Apostelos Petrum Paulum omnes Sanctes vos Fratres crareprome ad Dominum Deum n sirum Ordinarium Missae p. 217. Ed. Antuerp F. 1605. I confess to God Almighty and to the ever Blessed Virgin to Blessed Michael Archangel to Blessed John Baptist to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul to all the Saints and to you Brethren that I have sinned in thought word and deed And therefore I entreat the Blessed Virgin the Archangel Michael St. John the Baptist St. Peter and St. Paul and all the Saints and you my Brethren to pray for me to our Lord God This is the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome and it contains these seven particulars 1. That it is good and profitable for every faithful man and exiled Son of Eve to pray unto the Blessed Virgin and the Saints departed 2. That it is good and profitable thus to intercede not only for the good and welfare of the Church in general but for every single person 3. August Ser. 37. de Sanctis Ser. 3. de pluribus Mart. In Com. plurium Mart. extra tempus Pasch Lect. 4. Whereas the ancient Church spake thus As often as we celebrate the solemnities of holy Martyrs let us so expect by their intercession to obtain from the Lord temporal benefits that by imitating the Martyrs themselves we may deserve to receive eternal which words are still retained in the Roman Breviary we are now taught to pray unto them for all the blessings necessary to eternal life nay we are told that * Gunde mater miserorum quia pater saeculorum dabit te colentibus Congruentem hâ—c mercedem faelicem polisedem Regnis in caelestibus Prosa de Beata Maria f. 30. apud Missale Rom. Ed. Aâ—tuerp 1577. God will give eternal life to those that do adore the Blessed Virgin 4. It is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome that Saints departed may and should be invocated as well by mental as by vocal Prayer This was decreed at Trent this Pastors are enjoyned to teach their People and lastly this we have confirmed by their practice in these words With the desires of our hearts we pray unto you regard the ready service of our minds 5. These Practices and these Petitions are many of them built upon this supposition that the Blessed Saints do hear our prayers and are acquainted with our hopes and with the praises which we offer to them and consequently the Church of Rome in whose solemnities these prayers are used must be deemed to ascribe this knowledge to them For what more foolish and absurd than constantly to call upon them to bear behold and to receive to regard favour and promote our prayers when we complain to pity and consider them that pray to be their Advocates and plead their causes if these addresses be not understood by those Blessed Spirits to whom they are particularly directed Who knows not that to be our Advocate is to commend our cause to God and to entreat that our desires may be granted And who knows not that our cause cannot be thus commended or our disires represented till they first be understood Moreover seeing they do request these Blessed Spirits to receive their vows and to take care that they be paid to God to hear and to receive their praises seeing they do consess their sins unto them and therefore do entreat them to intercede with God in their behalf seeing they do endeavour to move them to commiserate their state by saying that they place their hopes and only confidence upon their intercession they mast acknowledge that these Blessed Spirits are acquainted with their confessions and their vows their hopes and praises and therefore albeit this consequence should be denied T. G. p. We pray unto the Saints departed therefore they do hear us yet this can never be denied We pray unto them to hear and to receive our prayers and praises vows and confessions and therefore we believe they do 6. Hence it is manifest that Papists do not only pray unto them to intercede with God for blessings but do desire that the Blessed Spirits would themselves confer them Thus they entreat St. Peter by the power given to him to unty the bonds of their iniquity and the Apostles to absolve them from their sins by their command and to their Guardian Angel they speak thus Take hold of sword and buckler and rise up to help me say unto my soul I am thy salvation And therefore that they only do entreat them to pray for and with us is a great untruth 7. Seeing the Church of Rome allows of mental Prayers addressed to the Saints seeing their Lyturgy speak thus With the desires of our hearts we pray unto you receive the ready service of our minds seeing they do instruct us in all places and upon all occasions to fly unto their help and succour seeing they do ascribe unto them the knowledge not only of their vows and praises but of their inward hopes they consequently do ascribe unto them the knowledge of the heart and the internal motions of every supplicant as far as these petitions and other actions do require it This is that Doctrine of the Church of Rome which we think justly charged with Idolatry For 1. To ascribe unto the Saints departed by way of worship that excellency which is proper to God is Idolatry but to ascribe unto them by an act of worship the knowledge of the hearts of them that pray unto them is to ascribe unto them that excellency which is proper to God by Propos 2. Ergo. 2. Prayer offered and put up in any time or place to an invisible and incorporeal Being is the oblation of that worship to it which is due to God by Prop. 4. Corol. 3. but this devotion of the Roman Church is prayer offered up in any time or place to an invisible and incorporeal Being and therefore must be the oblation of that worship which is due to God and being offered to those Blessed Spirits which are confessedly Creatures it must be the oblation of that worship which is due to God unto the Creature which we have proved to be Idolatry 3. To vow to Saints departed is to ascribe unto them the honour due to the Creator by Prop 4. Corol. 2. but Papist vow unto the Saints departed therefore they do ascribe unto them the honour due to the Creator The Answer Bellarmine returns unto the Major of this Argument is this That to vow in sign of gratitude to the first and chiefest Good and in recognition of a benefit received from him as the first Author
their charge in this important duty and to inform them that it is very good and profitable to fly unto their prayers for help and refuge that we must daily invocate the Blessed Virgin and that it is a wicked and most hainous crime to doubt either her readiness to help Cateâ—â— â—om p. 584. or that her merits are most prevailing for this end Their practise doth inform us that there is not any blessing which our Souls can wish for but Christians should implore it from them And if their Doctrine were according unto Piety their practise must assuredly he so For what more proper then to implore their aid who are so highly instrumental to preserve us from our most fatal Enemies and to procure all those blessings which are needful both to the Piety of this present life and to the felicity of that which is to come St. Paul is in like manner large and copious in these instructions which he gives unto the Pastors of the Church and to the people committed to their charge He informs us that we must all pray and for all men that we must pray with pure hands and with hearts free from wrath and doubting He tells us in what language we should frame our prayers viz. in such a language that all that hear may understand 1 Cor. 14. and say Amen to our Petitions in what posture both men and women ought to pray and that this duty ought to be performed in all places And yet this person who descends to these minute particulars speaks not one word of this important duty so pious and profitable in it self so necessary to preserve us from the worst of Enemies and to procure the greatest blessings Nay in all the Scripture which was written to make us wise 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. and thorowly instructed unto all good works we have not the least mention of it In those Epistles they frequently enjoyn us to be instant in prayer to pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Eph. 6.18 and to watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints To continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving To pray without ceasing Col. 4.2.1 Thess 5.17 1 Tim. 2.1 Phil. 4 6. To put up supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for all men To be careful for nothing but in every thing with prayer and thanksgiving to let our requests be made known unto God And to go unto that God for wisdom who giveth unto all men liberally James 1.5 and upbraideth not They also do exhort us to pray for others that they may be saved particularly 5.16 1 Joh. 5.16 for every brother that hath not sinned unto death Now surely they who do so frequently discourse upon this subject and upon the lesser circumstances of this duty would not have omitted to mention something of this so profitable practise if they had really believed it so to be For wherefore do they give us these directions but to preserve us against the power of temptation and the assaults of Sin and Satan Why do they frequently enjoyn us to be instant in the performance of this duty but that we may obtain those spiritual blessings which without great danger to our souls we cannot want If then the Invocation of the Saints departed and especially of the Virgin Mary be so highly profitable to these ends why should these men I say be silent in this matter who being guided by the Holy Spirit could not forget to do it and being as concerned for the Churches welfare as the Trent Fathers could not for want of zeal unto Gods glory or the good of Souls neglect to charge all Pastors diligently to instruct the people in this most profitable and pious practise Why should these men who both by precept and example do instruct us to request the prayers of living friends be wanting both in precept and example to move us to request the more prevailing prayers of Blessed Spirits they who command us when we are infirm to have recourse unto the prayers of surviving Pastors and to pray for one another because the fervent supplication of a righteous man availeth much why should they never send us to the B. Virgin to the Patriarchs and Prophets to St. Stephen and St. James and other early Martyrs of the Church whose Prayers if we believe the Roman Church are highly meritorious and far more prevailing Nay they had the greater reason to inculcate this because it was a novel practise and never used by the Jewish Church and therefore they had need of an Express to move and to encourage them to such devotions Whereas it was the daily custom of all Jews to put up their petitions to the God of Heaven Since therefore neither Paul or Peter or James or John Apostles or Evangelists have left us any precept or example for this practice we may be certain they did not approve it Moreover to move us more effectually to the performance of this duty they tell us That the eyes of God are still intent upon the just 1 Pet. 3.12 and his ear open to their prayer that he is well acquainted with those inward groans and wishes Rom. 8.26 which we do or cannot utter and is also able to perform exceedingly above what we can ask or think Eph. 3.20 Marth 7.7.11 James 1.5 that he is good and gracious to all that call upon him faithfully that he will fulfill the desires of them that fear him Thus also do the Latines teach concerning the Saints departed they tell us in the words of Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they confidently ascribe unto them Summan juvandi voluntatem the greatest readiness to help and the most prevailing merits Catech. Rom. p. 585. and this they do most sutably to that presumption they have taken up for all these things are the more needful to be taught because both Scripture seems to say the contrary affirming that Saints departed are ignorant of us and our concernments here on Earth and denying that any besides God can know the secrets of the heart And secondly the things themselves seem difficult to be believed viz. That Creatures at so infinite a distance can be acquainted with what is done on carth much more that they should at such a distance understand the secret motions of the heart Why is it then that the Apostles who do so often mind us of what we have less reason to suspect viz. That God is able and very ready to perform what we desire and that he hears the secret groanings of our heart should not inform us of what is so exceeding hard and yet so necessary to be believed of these Blessed Spirits Whosoever diligently reads their Writings will find them praying earnestly to God for all those blessings to be conferred upon the Christians which Papists do request from Saints and Angels That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give to
unbaptized Infants cannot have it The Words of Innocentius are these (f) Haec enim ejus verba sunt Illud verò quod eos vestra fraternitas asserit praedicare parvulos aeternae vitae praemiis etiam sine Baptismatis Gratia posse donari perfatuum est risi enim manducaverint carnem filii hominis August contr duas Epist Pelag. l. 2. c 4. Whereas your Brotherhood asserts that the Pelagians say that Infants may be saved without Baptism this is a very fond opinion for unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood they have no life in them (g) Hinc constat Inncoentii primi sentententia quae 600 circiter annos in Ecclesia viguit quamque Augusitnus sectatus est Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus neceâ—sarium fuisse Concil Tom. 1. part 4. p. 624. Whence it is evident saith Binius that this was Pope Innocents opinion which also was maintained in the Church 600 years viz. that the participation of the Eucharist was necessary to Infants and what he thus confesseth is made good by * Dalle from the fourth inclusivè to the eleventh Century by the plain pregnant Testimonies of them that lived in those Times Who also doth abundantly consute that vain imagination of Mr. Cressy and Vasquezius that they conceived it necessary that Infants should partake Christs Body and his Blood not Sacramentally but Spiritually by such a participation as may be had in Baptism Lastly they also do affirm this Doctrine to be derived from (h) Optimè Funici Christiani Baptismum ipsum nihil a liud quam salutem Sacramentum Corporis Christi nihil aliud quam viâ—um vocant unde nisi ex Aatiqua ut existimo et Apostolica traditione qua Ecclesiae Christi insitum tenent praeter Baptismum participationem dominicae mensae non solum ad regnum Dei sed we ad salutem vitam aeternam posse quenquam hominum pervenire hoc enim scriptura testatur viz. Tit. 3.5 1 Petr. 3.21 John 6.51 53. si ergo ut tot tanta Divina testimonia concinunt nec salus nec vita aeâ—crna sine Baptâ—â—mâ— Corpore Sanguine Domini cuiquam speranda est frustra â—â—ne his promittitur parvulis Tom. 7. lib. 1. de peccat meritis c. c. 24. p. 144 D. E. Apostolical Tradition and deeply setled in the Churches of Christ as doth most evidently appear from that of Austin From an ancient and as I suppose Apostolical Tradition the Churches of Christ have this deeply setled in them that without Baptism and the participation of the Lords Supper no man can attain to the Kingdom of God nor yet to life eternal If therefore so many Testimonies Divine convince us that everlasting Life is not to be expected without Baptism and the Body and Blood of Christ 't is in vain to promise it to children without them And yet the Church of Rome hath laid aside this practise and determined against this Doctrine thus (i) Concil Trid. Sesi 21. Can. 4. Si quis dixerit Parvulis antequam ad annos discretionis pervenerint necessariam esse Eucharistiae communionem anathema sit Which must be thus interpreted If any Person now doth say what the whole Church of Christ did for 600 years together viz. That it is necessary for Infants to be partakers of the Eucharist let him be accursed I will not quarrel with them as Mr. Dalle doth for their intolerable irreverence to the ancient Fathers or for the Curse they have pronounced on the whole Church of Christ for many Ages but I will take the Boldness to infer that if they may condemn a practice far more ancient than was the Invocation of departed Saints a practice not opposed as that was by many Fathers of the Church upon its first encroachment when about A. D. 360. it began to creep into the Church a practice so deeply setled in all Christian Churches in St. Austins time when that of Invocation of Saints departed was but in the Embryo Lastly a practice proved from clear unanimous and numerous assertions of the learned Fathers Whereas what is produced for the other practice is obscure and contradictory to what in other places they deliver and fairly may admit another sense as you shall see hereafter I say if they may wholly lay aside this practice and may pronounce Anathema's against it I hope we also may refuse to practice this Invocation of the Saints departed provided that it were as ancient as the Times of Nazianzen Basil and St. Austin 2 Observe § 2. That though these Fathers cited by T. G. seem in some places to assert or use this invocation of the Saints departed in others they deny the Doctrine and disapprove the practice of it and this they do in Writings more assuredly Authentick and in words more clear and pregnant than are or can be brought to justifie it This I might easily make good by an induction of the places cited pro and con from all these Father but since T. G. hath singled out St. Austin p 431. as a man so clear and pregnant in this Point that whosoever shall deny St. Austin to have held such formal invocation to be the Worship due to Saints must shut his eyes and fight against the light of a noon-day truth Let any man peruse the places which are cited from that Father and say whether I have not reason to affirm this bold Assertion to be a manifest untruth The passages produced out of the genuine Works of Austin for Invocation are 1. Let Blessed Cyprian help us with his prayers T. G. p. 430. 2. We Christian People do with religious solemnity celebrate the memory of Martyrs both to excite us unto the imitation of them and that we may become partakers of their merits and may be helped by their prayers T. G. p. 433. 3. It is an injury to pray for a Martyr to whose prayers we ought to be commended T. G. p. 434. Against it we produce these Testimonies * Ipse Sacerdos est qui nunc ingressus in interiora Veli solus ibi ex his qui carnem gestaverunt interpellat pro nobis In Psalm 64. p 144. M. 1. Christ is the Priest who being now entred within the Vail only of all that have been made partakers of flesh makes intercession for us there †Si vero ita diceret hoc scripsi vobis ut non peccetis si quis peccaverit Mediatorem me habetis apud Patrem ego exoro pro peccatis vestris sicut Parmenianus quodam loco Mediatorem posuit Episcopum inter Populum Doum quis cum ferret bonorum atque fidelium Christianorum quis sicut Apostolum Christi non sicut Antichristum intueretur Contr. Epistol Parmen l. 2. c. 8. p. 7. L. Tom. septimo 2. If he i. e. St. John had said thus If any man sin you have me a Mediator with the Father I make intercession for your sins
betwixt the practice that in these times began to be approved by some men and what is now the Doctrine of the Church of Rome For 1. That which we chiefly do object against that Church is that she doth enjoyn us to believe That even mental prayers are well addressed to them and consequently that they have the knowledge of the conceptions of the heart and the sincerity of its intentions Whereas the Fathers of that age without distinction or exception held that it was proper to God to perceive the secrets of the heart this by the concurrent judgment of the Fathers being no more communicated to the Creatures than was the Knowledge of what was future and contingent as I have proved already chap 6. Prop. 2.4 2. Whereas the Doctrine and practice of the Roman Church doth make it good and profitable for all people to call upon them in all places though as far distant from them as is Earth from Heaven or as one corner of the Earth is from the other some of these Fathers did conceive the Saints were present at their Tombs and Shrines and being so they might attend unto the prayers of them that did resort unto them Thus when it was objected by Vigilantius to St. Jerom If it be so then the souls of Martyrs love their ashes and hover still about them and are always there lest if any Petitioner should come they being absent should not hear him I say when this was urged by Vigilantius agreeably to that opinion which then began to gather strength and to be owned in the Christian Church St. Jerom doth not as T. G. deny the sequel but lays down this absurd and monstrous Tenet to defend it That * Si agnus ubique ergo hi qui cum agno sunc ubique esse credendâ— sunt if the Lamb be every where they also that be with the Lamb must be believed to be every where Moreover he represents it as a wicked speech of Vigilantius †Ais enim vel in sinu Abrahae vel in loco refrigerii vel subter aram Dei animas Apostolorum Martyrum consedisse nec posse de suis tumulis ubi volâ—erunt adesse praesentes Hier. adversus Vigilant That the souls of the Apostles and Martyrs could not be present at their Tombs never suggesting in the least that such a presence was needless to this end * De cura pro mortuis c. 16. St. Austin doth affirm That either the Martyrs themselves must be at one time in such divers places so far distant from one another viz. as they were distant with whom they were conceived to pray at their memorials or if they were not present they must be removed from all commerce with the affairs of men here and only prayed in general for the necessities of supplicants Sulpitius upon the death of St. Martin comforts himself with this consideration ‖ Non deerit nobis ille mibi crede non deerit intererit de se sermocinantibus adsiabit orantibus Epist 2. de obitu appar S. Martini p. 533 ed. Lugd. Batav That he would not be wanting to them and of this assertion he immediately subjoyns this reason viz he will be present with us speaking of him and will stand by us when we pray upon which passage the Scholiast observes that it was vulgarly believed that holy Martyrs were present at their Sepulchers That this was also the Opinion of Nazianzen Basil and all the Fathers cited by T.G. is largely proved by †Bochartus If then these Fathers did in this particular maintain what is confessedly erroneous why might they not be subject to the same mistake touching the doctrine of invocation of the Saints departed and then that error in their judgment must necessarily give rise to that unwarrantable practise which in those times began to be approved Having in general laid down these propositions Traiteé second deâ—l'invoc des Saints c. 4. I might decline all farther Answer to what T.G. produceth from the testimonies of the fore mentioned Fathers in favour of that practise we dispute against but that he may not think we study to decline what he hath offered we proceed to a particular reflection on them and shall endeavour to demonstrate that they are either cited out of spurious and doubtful books or are impertinently alledged And Sect. 7. Hom. 26. in 2 Cor. 1. Amongst the spurious or doubtful Authors we reckon that passage cited from St. Chrysostom this was the Judgment of Erasmus who in his preface before his Latin Translation of Basil de Spiritu sancto saith that there are somethings in that book which must own him for their Parent who mixed his weak and wordy trifles with the sweet works of Athanasius on the same subject and who in this Epistle and in the Acts of the Apostles endeavoured to be esteemed Chrysostom And therefore when Erasmus came to the 7th Homily of this Epistle he would translate no farther 2. this passage in some editions is not extant though these editions have proceeded from the hands of Romanists Novelty of Popery p. 422 p. 423. 3 Peter Du Moulin makes evident the falshood of this passage and the words preceding not only from the diversity of the stile and want of a connexion with the precedent words but chiefly from the doctrine so full of ignorance absurdity as shews it to be inconsistent with the Judgment and Learning of that Holy Father Lastly this place is cited by Garesius under the name of Theodorus Daphnopatus De Sanct. iâ— vâ—c p. 〈◊〉 who therefore is most like to be the Father of this spurious passage Secondly amongst spurious and doubtful writings We may reckon the Oration upon Cyprian fasly ascribed to Gregory Nazianzen where S. Justina is brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e Entreating that the Virgin Mary would defend her against Câ—â—â—an who being then a Pagan endeavoured by Mâ—gical inchantments to attempt her chastity but finding his attempts all frustrate was by that means converted to the Christian Faith and was that famous Bishop of Carthage whose memory was precious through the Christian World Whereas 1. It is certain St. Cyprian was never in his life a Sorcerer Pag. 1. for Pontius his Deacon who hath writ his life assures us that whilst he was a Heathen he was addicted to good arts and such as tended to the benefit of the World which sure no Christian would affirm of a ' Magician 2. Whereas this fable ascribeth his conversion to Justina or the experience of his vain attempts upon her This Pontius wholly omits that Fable and doth assure us that he was converted by * Erat sane illi etam de nebis contubern um viri justi laud ibilis Memoriae Cecilii aetatetune honore Presbyteri qui eum ad agnitionâ—m verae divinitaâ—is a saeculari errore correxerat P. 2. Cecilius a Carthaginian Presbyter 3. †Explosâ fabula
advantage to our cause the Fathers speak upon this Text if we had nothing more to say but what they have delivered on these words yet should we have what is abundantly sufficient to confirm our Faith and justifie that Imputation which we lay upon the Cburch of Rome for first they do expresly say that this Exposition of T. G. and his Infallible Mother is not only false but an heretical exposition * Ac si aliquis Haereticus pertinaciter obluctans adversus veritatem voluerit in his omnibus exemplis proprie Angelum aut intelligere aut intelligendum esse contenderit in hoc quoque viribus veritatis frangatur necesse est de Trin. c. 15. If any heretick saith Novatian who pertinaciously strives against the truth would have us in all these Examples properly to understand the Angel or would contend for such a sense of that expression in this he must assuredly be broken by the force of truth This Exposition of the Papists saith St. Cyril Thesaur p. 115.116 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the sottish exposition of the Arians The Exposition of the Protestants must therefore be both true and Orthodox 2. They add that * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Alexandr Thesaur p. 116. if the Enemies of Christ did think that Jacob was a Holy Man and one endned with the Prophetick spirit when he spake these words they might be well ashamed to charge him with so gross an error as was the Invocation of an Angel with God This Custom therefore of putting up the same Petition in the same sentence to God and to the Blessed Angel or to God and to the Saints or Angels must be acknowledged to be a thing * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 4 contr Arr. exceedingly repugnant to the Doctrine which then obtained in the Church of Christ and that which they esteemed the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 B. Cyrill Alexandr Thesau p. 115. grossest error 3. They give us this as a sufficient Evidence that Jacob spake not to a Creature because he saith Orat. 4. contra Arian p. 260. the Angel that delivered me from all evils Hence it is manifest saith Athanasius and St. Cyril that he did not speak of a created Angel but of the Angel of the Covenant and therefore it is manifest that these petitions prescribed in the Church of Rome and often tendred both to Saints and Angels are in the Judgment of these Fathers such as ought not to be tendred to a Creature and so are guilty of Idolatry As therefore Athanasius to the Arians so say I to the Church of Rome * Contr. Arian Ora 2. p. 369. Let them know that never any good Man put up such a Prayer to any thing that was begotten They being taught by Christ to pray to God the Father to be delivered from all Evil. c. 16. v. 8. And by the Son of Syrach to confess that it is he who delivereth from all evil And this Interpretation of the Antient Fathers will manifestly appear to be the truth if we consider who this Angel was for the Angel who delivered him from all Evil must be that very Angel which delivered him from Labans wrath and from the fury of his Brother Esau now the Angel which said unto him I have seen all that Laban doth unto thee 31 Gen. 13.20 28 Gen. 13. return thou therefore into the Land of thy Kindred was the God of Bethel the God to whom he vowed a vow that God who did appear in Haran to him it was the God of his Father Abraham and the fear of Isaack that rebuked Laban and charged him not to do him hurt v. 29.42.32 Gen. 23. 12 Hos 4. The Angel that he wrestled with and with whom he prevailed was the God of Heaven Lastly it was his Prayer to this God that made his Brother Esau melt into expressions of the greatest love 2. I answer this is no Prayer but a Wish thus when St. Paul concludes in his Epistle to the Church of Corinth the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the Communion of the holy Ghost be with you all I hope he doth not pray unto the Grace of Christ and the Love of God and the Communication of the holy Ghost so then this passage may be thus Expounded I wish to God that he and that good Angel who under him preserved me from all evils may preserve the Lads Some Roman Catholicks confess that which we now contend for and tell us Vide Vossium de invoc Sanct. disp 2 Th. 18. that although this practice in its self was good and profitable God would not suffer his own people to invoke these blessed spirits least they should worship them as Gods Idolatry being a Vice they were so prone upon the least occasion to commit Answer we find that notwithstanding the proneness of this people to that sin God often did appear in the similitude of Angels to them he used the Ministry of Angels in the delivery of that Law they did so highly reverence he used their Ministry both in conferring of the choicest Blessings on his people and the inflicting of the most remarkable Judgments both on them and on their Enemies And he delivered those things touching the Ministry and custody of holy Angels which Romanists conceive to be sufficient ground and motive for their Invocation Whence we may very well conclude it was not out of fear of any proneness of that people to this Idolatry that he did not enjoyn this practice but only because he is a jealous god and will not give his honour to another Against the Worship of an Image or of the Host of Heaven or any other Gods which by the Heathens were still worshipped under some visible representation we have frequent Cautions and very dreadful threatnings in Moses and the Prophets but against this Idolatry of Worshiping those spirits which in their nature are invisible those writings give us not one Caution or Prohibition though they do often call them Gods of which affair I am not able to conceive a better Reason then this is that it was just matter of suspition that this rude heavy people might be prone to worship what they saw but it was not to be feared that they should worship what was invisible and seldome did appear and hence we find this people continually revolting from the invisible Jehovah to the Sun Moon and Stars and to the Heathen Deities but never do we find them in the least inclined to the worship of these blessed spirits Moreover if we do consider that in the whole New Testament § 8. we have not any precept to enjoyn Example to commend or promise to encourage us unto this Invocation we have a further reason to believe that Christ and his Apostles disapproved of it for can we think that Christ himself and all his Servants and Apostles would have neglected to
both in their Councils and Ecclesiastical Judicatures untill the Seventh Century and which is cited both by the Council of Calcedon and of Ephesus as (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Concil Ephes act 1. p. 2. p. 327. To. 1. Concil General Edit Rom. the order of Canons the series of Ecclesiastical Laws the Ecclesastical constitutions and (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act 2. p. 400. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 426. v. p. 425. p. 491. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Concil Calced act 3. p. 241. Tom. 2. Concil the Code It is a Canon of that Code to which the Council of Calcedon gave the force and the Authority of an universal Law in these Expressions (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act 4. p. 297. vic Justel Cod. Canon p. 6. 12. we think it equal that the Canons made by Holy Fathers in every Synod untill now should be observed Can. 1. 2. Observe that what the Canon thus expresseth § 3. viz. that Christians should not name the Angels is an Anathema directed against those which pray to Angels so Theodoret and Photius who call upon them for help or introduction to God So Zonaras and Aristenus who worshipt them In locum So Theodoret Dionysius Christonius and the Epitome of Canons presented by Pope Adrian to Charles the great who said we must be brought to God by Angels so Aristenus and the Amerbachian Scholiast In locum and that to cure that Disease the Council did command all Christians not to pray unto them so Theodoret and Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore evident it is that Zonaras doth truly say that to name Angels in this Canon was as much as to invoke them whence it will follow that the whole Church of Christ for two whole Centuries and upwards did forbid all Christians to Invoke Angels to worship or to call upon them and did pronounce Anathema's on them that did so 3. Observe that what this Canon doth forbid § 4. was not the Invocation of wicked Daemons or of Damned Spirits but of the Blessed Angels For 1. According to Theodoret and Photius they did condemn the worshipers of Michael the Archangel and those that went unto the Oratories or Churches of St. Michael 2. The Canon doth relate to Christians who surely would not meet to worship Devils nor doth it recall them to good Angels but to Jesus Christ 3. The persons reprehended are said to have took up this Custom of going thus to good Daemons from a pretence of their unworthiness to go to God or Christ immediately and from an appearance of humility So Chrysostome Theodoret and others but to expect the help of Devils to introduce them to God and to pretend humility in doing such an horrid act is to be guilty of the highest madness 4. Theodoret and Photius inform us that they who brought up that forbidden practice were zealous for the Law now that most strictly did forbid the worship of all evil spirits it was delivered not by them but by the Blessed Angels 4. That which is here forbidden § 4. is what the Church of Rome doth daily practice for they do worship Angels saith the Roman Catechism Part 3. p. 434. this is and hath been their perpetual Custom to call upon them and to expect their help and patronage by vertue of those supplications Hence that Expression of the Roman Missal (a) Hos fidenter deprecemur ut ab ipsis adjuvemur apud deum jugiter Prosa ad S. Angelos f. 32. B. To them with confidence let 's pray for Gods assistance every day They do expect Salvation from their intercession in that very sense in which Theophylact asserts the Hereticks expected to be saved by Angels viz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as persons ministring unto our Introduction to God and Christ Hence their petitions that (b) Hostias tibi Domine laudis offerimus suppliciter deprecantes ut easdem Angelico interveniente suffragio placatus accipta ad salutem nostram provenire concedas Missa votiva de Angelis p. 5.36 Ed. Aut. fol. Gaudium erit tibi Angele dei super me peccatore tuis intercessionibus deum obtinente Missa in honorem proprii Angelif 16. B. Ed. Antuerp So. 1577. Angelorum concio sacra Archangelorum turma inclyta nostra diluant jam peccata praestando superacaeli Gaudia Prosa de omnibus sanctis ibid. f. 33. B. by the intercessions of the blessed Angels they may obtain Gods favour and may be brought to Life Eternal If then that Invocation which is here forbidden be Idolatry the practice of the Church of Rome must be so too 5. This Invocation of the Blessed Angels §. 6. is expresly said to be Idolatry and therefore if it be not truly so this Synod and the Church of Christ must be pronounced false accusers now of this enormity they could not justly be accused for deserting Christ for notwithstanding this they did not look upon those Angels they invoked as Gods but as inferiour Creatures and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or presons instrumental and subservient unto our Introduction to God and therefore thought we should procure Gods favour by the means of Angels because that God himself was not to be approached or apprehended and because Christ was so exalted that they durst not make their immediate addresses to him now to think Christ greater than that we sinful Creatures should make addresses to him maketh some shew of our humility but cannot possibly be charged with Idolatry For should any Man conceive himself unworthy to appear before God or look upon him as unaccessable by one of so defiled a spirit and therefore should entreat the Prayers of his pious Neighbors we might conclude that he was very ignorant and vain in his imaginations but could not thence conclude that he was guilty of Idolatry And so the Reader sees that notwithstanding these mistakes of the Angelicks the Church of Rome hath no wrong done them when we charge their Invocation of the blessed Angels with Idolatry for if the Invocation of them when absent were not guilty of this Crime these by-mistakes could never make it guilty of that imputation Besides the Synod and Theodoret do put a clear distinction betwixt these two particulars which by the Exposition of the Roman Doctors are confounded and made to signify the same viz. desertion of Christ and being guilty of Idolatry by praying to the blessed Angels as is apparent from this expression of Theodoret the Synod of Laodicea made a Law that Christians should not pray to Angels nor forsake the Lord Christ whosoever doth such things say they accursed let him be because he hath deserted Christ and given up himself unto Idolatry Lastly we do not find that they did so reject or desert Christ as to deny his intercession in the Heavens but only upon this account because they did not make immediate addresses to him For as St. Paul asserts
amounting to this only That they forbid only that supplication which was tendred to them as to Gods or as to primary and only Mediators But 1. the Canon speaks of Christians now to suppose that they whose Fundamental Principle it is to own one only God should also worship Angels as God is the extremity of folly 2. Theodoret and Jerom declare Epist ad Algasiam quest 10. that they who did abet this Doctrine were Jews or persons zealous of the Law Now these Men knew that Angels were but the Instruments and Creatures of God and therefore could not worship them as Gods 3. They chose these Angels as fit persons to introduce them to God and used their Meditation upon this pretence that such mean persons should not go directly to him and therefore could not look upon them as partakers of the nature to God In a word § 8. what can be more incredible then that St. Paul being assisted by the Holy Spirit and the whole Church of Christ should daily practice this worship and Invocation of the Holy Angels and teach all Christians so to do and yet affirm these things without any limitation or distinction which if we may interpret them according to the plain and obvious meaning of the words do manifestly condemn that which they did daily practice and lay upon Saint Paul and the whole Church of Christ on supposition of this practice the imputation of Idolatry and of deserting our Blessed Lord and should deliver and approve these things as the Doctrines of the Christian Faith which all Men stood obliged to believe Nothing can be more contrary unto the worship and Invocation of these blessed Spirits then an express command that we should neither worship nor Invoke them can it then enter into the heart of any sober person to believe that the whole Church of Christ even when they taught and practised both should make receive and in their Universal Synods should solemnly confirm a Law without distinction or exception forbidding both the worship and Invocation of them and requiring all good Christians to avoid this practice as being the deserting of their Saviour and the giving of Gods worship to those Spirits Since this Devotion hath obtained in the Church of Rome who ever heard of any Romanist who roundly and without distinction would assert that to invoke an Angel was Idolatry or that this Invocation was forbidden by the Church of Christ as doth Theodoret and Photius and the Laodicean Council who of them ever cautioned all Christian people as St. Paul hath done that no Man should seduce them to the worship of those Blessed Spirits What Council ever did decree that they should not be worshipped or invoked or own such Doctrine as any part of Christian Faith And yet we find this done both by Saint Paul and by the Laodicean Council by Origen Theodoret and Photius and the whole Church of Christ viz. what they confirmed by their daily practice they not only did forbid but they pronounced it to be Idolatry and the deserting of their Saviour what they had thus decreed in opposition to their own daily practice that they obtruded as a dictate of the Holy Ghost and as the matter of their Faith but against the worshiping of Angels with Divine Worship or as sole or primary Mediators which if we may believe the Church of Rome was the only thing in which they did offend we have no mention in the least That there were in the world such Hereticks as said it was beyond us or was too great an arrogance to go directly to the Son of God and that God was Inaccessible and therefore we must go to Angels this Synod I suppose must know as well as Chrysostom and Theodoret why therefore do they never mention as do the latter Comments on this Canon what they alone designed to prevent Why do they not recall these Hereticks unto that invocation of these Blessed Angels which had obtained in the Church of Christ and tell them that they need not to desert the Church or gather private conventicles in order to the Invocation of these Angels Why do not they or or any other person that flourished in the fourth or fifth Ages of the Church when this injunction was in force distinguish between the Invocation of the Holy Angels which the Church did practise and that which was forbidden by this Canon Why doth S. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 5. contra Celsum p. 236. Origen conclude that Celsus had not read that passage of St. Paul to the Colossians because he said the Worship of the Holy Angels was no transgression of their Law For what is this but to suggest that this text of Scripture is so plain against the worship of them that he that reads it cannot think that they who own it can admit that Worship Why doth Theodoret affirm that because Hereticks commanded men to worship Angels S. Paul enjoyned the contrary for what is contrary to a command to worship Angels but an injunction not to Worship Angels Why doth he say that the Apostle doth command us to send up our Thanksgivings by Christ and not by the Angels for by whom we may send up our Petitions why may we not send up Thanksgiving too Why doth both he and Photius inform us that the Laodicean Synod being desirous to heal this old disease enjoyned Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to pray to Angels For is not this a shrewd suspition that this Idololatrical disease was only that of praying to Angels or else that both Theodoret and Photius were such intolerable dolts as to represent the very practise of the Christians as the disease of the Idolaters and the desertors of our Blessed Lord Why is it lastly that St. Chrysostom informes us that for a cure of this disease St. Paul enjoyned all Christians to invoke the name of Christ and not to bring in Angels suggesting this unto us that the Invocation of Angels was not consistent with that of Christ and that by saying do all things in the name of Christ he hath commanded us to pray unto him and call upon him as our helper and not upon the holy Angels Who knows not that a sentence against any person ought in some words or other to specify the crime that it condemns and that an act so framed as to condemn a person as guilty of the highest crimes and worthy of the severest punishments for doing what in the plain and literal meaning of the words all they that framed the act and they that owned it as a Law did dayly practise is an absurdity that Humane Nature cannot possibly be guilty of When therefore I can find an Act of Parliament intending only to condemn Incestuous conversation framed thus whosoever shall marry any Woman let him be severely punished or a decree of any Council intending only to forbid us to go to the Assembly of Hereticks thus worded Whosoever shall go to Church let him be
the very ground and reason of that practice viz. the benefit we may receive by putting up requests unto them and the concernments which ly upon us so to do in order to our preservation from all evil and the obtainment of the greatest blessings for he expresly tels us our care must be to get his favour who alone is God and that if Celsus or the Church of Rome would have us to procure the favor of the inferior beings he must know that all good Spirits Souls and Angels if we do obtain Gods favor when we pray to him they need not be called upon for the assistance of their prayers for they will pray together with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not being called upon so to do This he doth frequently repeat and indeed it is the common language of those times he lived in witness the like expression of Arnobius * In hoe omne quod colendum est colimus quod adorari convenit adoramus quod obsequium Venerationis exposcit Venerationibus promeremur Cum enim divinitatis ipsius tencamus caput à quo ipsa Divinitas divorum omnium quicunque sunt ducitur supervacuum putamus personas ire per singulas cum ipsi qui sint quae habeant nomina nesciamus cujus sint praeterea numeri neque liquidum neque comprehensum neque exploratum habere possimus Atque ut in terrestribus Regnis necessitate nulla compellimur regalibus in familiis constitutos nominatim cum Principibus adorare sed in Regum ipsorum cultu quicquid illis annexum est tacita se sentit honorificentia comprehendi Non alia ratione quicunque hi Dii sunt quos esse nobis proponitis fi sint progenies Regia principali oriuntur è capite etiam si nullos accipiant nominatim à nobis cultus intelligunt se tamen honorari communiter cum suo Rege atque in illius venerationibus contineri Arnobius contra Gentes lib. 3 p. 101. In worshiping the Father and the Lord of all things we worship all things that are to be worshiped we adore all things that may conveniently be adored we venerate all that calls for veneration For holding to the head from whence these Divi borrow their Divinity we think it needless to go to every Person seeing wee know not what they are what names they have or of what order they may be And as in honoring the King wee honor all that do belong unto him so what ever Gods you do propose unto us if they be of this Kingly progeny and do belong unto this head although they do receive no worship from us they understand that they are worshiped together with their King and are included in that veneration which we pay to him 4. This Answer renders the discourse of Origen impertinent and a perfect declination of the Question betwixt him and Celsus For Celsus thus disputes no God nor any Son of God can possibly descend from Heaven but if you do assert this of the Angels of God these are no other than our Daemons Orig. l. 7. 5. p. 23â— To this St. Origen returns this Answer 1. That to deny that any God descends from Heaven is to deny what was esteemed a thing common by the Heathen World 2. That Christians do indeed confess this is the office of the Angels to come down from and to ascend to Heaven and to offer up the Prayers of men to God but yet saith he we must not worship them as God for all our Prayers must be directed to God and to his Son Christ Jesus who is the living Word and God Which argument if it have any strength at all consists in this that whiâ—h you must not worship and adore as God you must not pray unto but Angels you must not worship and adore as God Ergo Angels you must not pray unto This is that Fathers plea to which T. G. may answer in behalf of Celsus as well as of the Church of Rome that he apparently distinguisheth those Angels both from God and from the Son of God and therefore did not contend that we should pray unto them as to that God who is the Author of all good but only as to the Ministers and Servants of God whom he appointed to preside over such persons Families and Countries And therefore he was contented only that it might be lawful to say unto them as doth the Church of Rome to St. Sebastian Cerne familiam tuam id est behold thy family and to St. Gabriel preserve thy Countrey 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus objects that if with God we do adore his Son then may we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerate his Ministers To this St. Origen replies that if †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Contra Celsum lib. 8. p. 386. Celsus by the Ministers of God had understood Gabriel and Michael and other Angels and Archangels and had contended that they should be venerated perpaps by purifying of the word and of the actions of the venerators we might say something of that matter i.e. Perhaps some actions which in some sense may bear the name of veneration might be performed to those Angels This T. G. thinks a great advantage to his cause and wonders that the Doctor would produce this passage But I conceive it is the clearest confutation of it that we could desire For having granted this and then restraining our petitions unto God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ as he expresly doth he most apparently demonstrates that prayer could be no part of the forementioned service he allowed to Saints 2. In that he thus distinguisheth of veneration and never doth distinguish in the like manner of prayer and supplication or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est of adoration and worship it follows that although he thought some veneration might be allowed to Angels in some inferior kind yet no petition was to be put up unto them and that no worship and adoration should be given unto them 3. When Origen in answer to this passage saith * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Ibid. we Christians venerate with supplications only God and his Son Jesus Christ and put up our petitions to God by his only Son If he doth understand only such supplications as are made to him as to the Author of all good he is as vain and impertinent as T. G. in his Answers to the Dr. for Celsus only doth contend for such a worship and consequently for such addresses only as agree unto the Ministers and Servants of God 4. Origen plainly doth inform us that the veneration he allowed to Angels was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 8. p. 416. to speak well of them and pronounce them blessed and imitate to their virtues and what is this to supplication 3. Celsus objects that Daemons do belong to God and therefore must be prayed unto and
accusation which runs thus viz. That the Dr. saith that Baronius very fairly tells us p. 383. that not only what Theodoret condemned but what St. Paul too condemned was the practice of the Church of Rome Answ These words Baronius fairly tells us saith the Dr. that what St. Paul condemned was the practice of the Church are a malicious untruth the Dr. having taken all the care imaginable to prevent this mistake in all judicious Readers for this expression and St. Paul too which is the only ground of this rude charge he did not only put in a Parenthesis but in a different Character that so no Reader might have the least appearance of colour for so false an imputation This T. G. saw as is apparent from the words cited by him p. 380. And therefore when he comes to lay his accusation p. 383. Sect. 3. he very craftily sets down the Doctors words without Parenthesis or any difference of the Character This I am sure is foul dealing and these are pitiful arts of Sophistry What therefore Dr. Stillingfleet asserts is only that Baronius tells us * Ex his videas quod necessario dicendum est Theodoretum haud feliciter ejus pace sit dictum assecutum esse Pauli verborum sensum cum in hujus ad Colossenses Epistolae commentariis dicit haec a Paulo esse scripta quod tum grassarentur haeretici qui Angelos colendos esse jactarent sic ergo errore semel lapsus in alium Graviorem impegit ut diceret Canonem trigessimum quintum Laodiceni concilii de his Haereticis esse intelligendum qui Angelos colendos esse docerent quique in eadem regione Asiae oratoria erexissent Sancto Michaeli Archangelo incautè nimis quae a Catholicis essent antiquitus instituta haereticis quorum nulla esset memoria tribuens Annal. An. 60. § 20. caeterum Angelos venerari non Haereticorum sed Catholicae Ecclesiae mos fuit § 21. That what Theodoret condemns and in his judgment St. Paul too was the Practice of the Roman Church than which nothing can be more true and certain for having told us that Theodoret asserted haec a Paulo esse scripta quod tum grassarentur haeretici qui Angelos colendos esse jactarent or that the admonition beware least any Man deceive you by worshipping of Angels c. was written by St. Paul by reason of some Hereticks who taught that Angels should be worshipped and that the 35 Canon of Laodicea was directed against such Hereticks as worshipped Angels he adds caeterum Angelos venerari non haereticorum sed Catholicae Ecclesiae mos fuit this he erroneously taught but to worship Angels was not the Custome of Hereticks but of the Church Catholick And now let the discerning Reader judge what reason T. G. p. 381. had to say that these are not Baronius his words but the Doctors which is another of his Demonstrations that it is but too too evident that the Dr. hath not dealt fairly with Baronius But saith T. Ibid. G. these are not Baronius his words but the Doctors for Baronius saith there expresly that Theodoret as to the Doctrine of the veneration of Angels recta sensit that is held the same which the Roman Church holds at his day To which I answer in his own expressions such arts as these were enough to make a Man suspect a good cause p. 145. much more to desert a bad one for Baronius doth not absolutely say that Theodoret did rectum sentire but makes a manifest exception as to this his Interpretation of St. Paul and the forementioned Canon his words are these * His igitur de germano sensu illius Canonis Elucidatis satis Theodoreti perperam facta interpretatio remanet refutata cum Alioqui N. B. in his quae spectant ad dogmata non sit dubium ipsum rectum sensisse de Angelis Annal. An. 60. § 23. These things touching the true sence of this Canon being thus cleared the false Interpretation of Theodoret remains sufficiently confuted whereas otherwise as to his Doctrine it is not to be doubted but he thought right of Angels which passage doth not only manifest the wretched fraudulency of T. G. p. 380. but gives him an example of what he thought incredible for if Theodoret could affirm the practice of the Roman Church was an heretical practice and as such condemned both by St. Paul and by the Canon of the Universal Church and yet hold the same with the Roman Church why might not Baronius do the like either Theodoret was a very great Dolt or Baronius deals not fairly with him which is but too too evident 2. T. G. concludes that these are not Baronius his words p. 381. because the point in which Baronius differs from Theodoret is not that those were not condemned by him And St. Paul too who worshipped Angels upon the Erroneous account aforesaid viz. That access could only be made to God by Angels But that Theodoret judged Baronius mistaken in asserting the Authors of that Doctrine not to have been the Heathen Philosophers but certain Hereticks This is what Baronius saith Where first he cunningly but falsly doth insinuate that in the judgment of Theodoret St. Paul and the forementioned Canon only condemneth them who worshiped Angels upon this erroneous account that access could only be made to God by the Angels and if this be the grievous error and that false interpretation p. 379. with which Baronius doth so smartly charge him T. G. does very ill to espouse it in his Interpretation of this Canon But the truth is Theodoret in the Exposition of this passage of St. Paul only affirms that this was the opinion of the Hereticks but doth not in the least insinuate that either the Council or St. Paul condemned them only upon this account but without all limitation or exception he affirms that they condemned praying to them 2. What he says was not the point in which Baronius differs from Theodoret is so apparently the point though not the only point that nothing can be more For his great peak against him is that he asserted that both St. Paul and the forementioned Council condemned the Hereticks for teaching the Worship of Holy Angels whereas saith he this was the very practice of the Church of Christ and not of Hereticks Another instance of the Doctors juggling tricks The Dr. translates it eqquivocally to perform any sacred offices T.G. p. 386. T. G. produceth p. 386. viz. that when St. Austin had affirmed the blessed Spirits are not willing we should Sacra eis facere perform sacred Offices to them he translates Sacra facere to perform sacred Offices as if he did imagine ignorant person that he was that Sacra signified Sacred Offices and facere to perform whereas T. G. informs him that Sacra facere is to Dedicate and because this ridiculous interpretation would not help him out for Papists dedicate their service to the blessed
saith he set down the Doctrine of the Church as it stands Recorded in the Council of Trent What that Council teacheth is that it is good and profitable for Christians humbly to Invocate the Saints and to have recourse to their prayers aid assistance whereby to obtain benefits of God by his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who is our only Redeemer and Saviour These are the very words of the Council and any Man but of common reason would think it were as easy to prove Snow to be black as so innocent a practice to be Idolatry even Heathen Idolatry Answ That the Reader may see what disingenuity is here insinuated it is sufficient only to advertise him that we do not accuse the Church of Rome as guilty of Idolatry for holding what she delivers in the words now cited but for holding what she insinuates in the words which follow and which T. G. thought most convenient to conceal viz. That every person may pray unto them and that not only with vocal but with mental prayer and for enjoyning the sick to pray with his heart when he cannot do it with his mouth O all ye Saints intercede for me and succour me What we teach saith he and do in this matter is to desire the Saints in Heaven to pray for us as we desire the Prayers of one another upon Earth and must we for this be compared to Heathens Do we not profess to all the World that we look upon the Saints not as Gods but as the friends and Servants of God that is as just Men whose prayers therefore are available with him where then lies the Heathenism where lies the Idolatry Answ it lies in praying to them with mental prayer and in praying to their when they are as distant as is Earth from Heaven p. 353. But saith T. G. the Question at present between Dr. Stillingfleet and the Church of of Rome p. 353. is not whether Divine Worship be to be given to the Saints but whether an inferiour worship of the like kind with that which is given to holy Men upon Earth for their holiness and near relation to God may not be lawfully given to them p. 389. now they are in Heaven And again we pray no otherwise to them than we do to holy Men upon Earth though more devoutly upon the account of their unchangeable estate of bliss Answ This he doth frequently affirm but till he can produce some instance of this practice of praying only with mental prayer to any Man alive or of petitions vocal directed unto living persons at so great a distance his affirmation can be no better than a manifest untruth but this is a peculiar Topick of which all those who vainly do endeavor to excuse this Idol worship of the Church of Rome are forced to make use of viz. to affirm her Doctrine and practice not to be what certainly it is and thence conclude her not to be guilty of that crime which could not be denied without this Artifice Again the Question between us § 10. p. 173. saith the Dr. is not how far such wishes rather then prayers were thought allowable being uttered occasionally as St. Austin doth this in St. Cyprian but whether solemn Invocation of Saints in the Duties of Religious worship as it is now practised in the Roman Church p. 44◠were ever practised in St. Austins time Here T. G. represents him as a very Shuffler and most Rhetorically cries out alass that so many Learned Men should all this while have been mistaken in the Question that they should have spent so much oyl and sweat to no purpose The Question hitherto controverted between Catholicks and Protestants was held to be whether it be lawful to invocate the Saints to pray for us and whether this were agreeable to the practice of the primitive times But now like a mischievous Card that will spoil the hand this is dropt under the Table and all the show aboveboard is whether it may be clone in the Duties as the calls them of religious worship Thus T. G. as if all persons that ever writ before them must have spoken nothing to the purpose if this had been the Question between T. G. and him or that this could not be the Question if what he mentions were another or that it were impossible that Men disputing whether this were agreeable to the practice of the Primitive times should also dispute whether it were the practice of St. Austins time Who knows not that one medium to prove this practice to be lawful is that it was the practice of the primitive times and that St. Austins times are instanced in as a sufficient Confirmation of that grand assertion This is the very method of T. G. and these are his formal word This was the Doctrine and practice of Christian people in St. Austins time p. 25. this he endeavors to confirm from that of Cyprian and unto this the Dr. returns this Answer and yet this must not be the Question betwixt T. G. and him § 11. Lastly the Dr. sayth he undertakes to shew out of the Primitive Fathers that it was the property of the Christian Religion to give Divine Worship to none but God and in this strain he runs on for no less than ten leaves together and without ever proving that Catholicks do give Divine Worship to holy Angels and Saints he most triumphantly concludes them to be Idolaters Answ The falshood of this passage is so exceedingly notorious that there is nothing requisite besides the use of reason to discern it for p. 146 159. We have this triumphant Argument Upon the same account that the Heathen did give Divine honor to their inferior Deityes those of the Roman Church do so to Saints and Angels And how unhappy T. G. was in his attempts upon this Argument I have abundantly evinced Again the Doctor Argues thus The Fathers do expresly deny that Invocation or Prayer is to be made to Angels for so Origen p. 158. and theodoret speak expresly that men are not to pray to Angels and any one that reads St. Austin will find that he makes solemn Invocation to be as proper to God as Sacrifice is 2. On what account should it be unlawful to Sacrifice to Saints and Angels if it be lawful to Invocate them May not one be relative and transient as well as the other can any man in his senses think that a meer outward Sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the Devotion of our heart is Thus the learned Doctor and there needs nothing to convince us of the strength and pertinency of this discourse but to reflect upon the vanity and weakness of what T. G. hath ventured to oppose against it See Ch. 6. Prop. 4. Corol. 3. besides in vindication of the Testimonies of Irenxus Origen Theodoret St. Austin Hilary the Deacon and of the Council of Laodicea I have clearly manifested that all these Fathers cited by the learned
of it is the worship due to God but we may vow to Saints in sign of gratitude to them considered as Mediators and Intercessors by whom we do receive Gods blessings But this distinction hath no foundation to depend upon and with like reason we may distinguish thus of Sacrifice and of whatever else is proper to God and say That to offer Sacrifice to any thing under the notion of the first and chiefest Good is to ascribe unto it the worship due to God alone but notwithstanding we may offer Sacrifice to Saints in sign of gratitude to them considered as Mediators and Intercessors by whom we do obtain Gods blessings * Dicendu nâ—quod vetum sâ—lt â—eâ—sâ— sed promissâ—â— pâ—â—si etiam fâ—cri homini per hunc medum intelliâ—â—â—dum est â—vâ—â—â—n quâ— quis v â— t aliquid Sanctis vel Praelâ—râ—is ut ipsâ— promissio facta Sanctis vel Praelatis cadat sub voâ—◠〈◊〉 riaâ—â—er in quintum scilicit home vâ—vet Peoâ— se impleturum quid Sanctis vel Praelatis promiâ—tit Aquin. 2a 2ae qu. 88. Art 5. Aquinas doth distinguish thus That in a vow we have two things 1. The matter of it and that is the promise 2. The form or essence viz. the direction of that promise to God the matter of the vow saith he i.e. the promise we indeed make to Saints and only vow to God we will be faithful to this promise which we make to them This Answer Bellarmine rejects as being false and contradictory to what they practise For saith he ‖ Vota quae faunc Sanctis terminâ—niu etiam ad ipsâ—â— Sanctâ—s itaâ— wâ—revera ipsis vâ—ta fiant L. 3. de cultu Sanctorum c. 9. The Vows we make to Saints are terminated on the Saints so that we really do vow unto them And again †Vo inomen est general quad conventâ— Dâ—â— Sancta aliaâ—â— name di core audent vâ—eâ— Deo Bâ—â—â—aâ— Maria â—iam si◠〈◊〉 vâ— Beata Mariae Ibid. The name of Vow is general and agrees both to God and Saints for otherwise men would not dare to say I vow to God and to the Blessed Virgin and simply I vow unto the Blessed Virgin And certainly no reason can be given why I vow to God should be a formal Vow and I Vow unto the Blessed Virgin should not be so 3. They by this promise do ascribe unto the Saints the knowledge of our hearts and of our promises whence they desire them to hear and to receive their vows and so they do ascribe unto them Gods uncommunicated excellency 4. To put up Hymns unto the blessed Angels and the Saints deceased is to be guilty of Idolatry But Papists put up Hymns unto the Blessed Angels and the Saints departed Ergo The minor is apparent both from the Roman Missal and the Breviary where we find many Hymns directed to those Blessed Spirits the major may be thus confirmed To pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which is due to God alone is to be guilty of Idolatry To offer Hymns unto them is to pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which is due to God alone Ergo. The major is apparent from Chap. 6. Prop. 1. The minor I prove thus To pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which Christians paid to God alone is to pay that honor to them which alone is due to God for why should the whole Church of Christ which if we may believe the Romanist received so great advantage by their addresses to these Blessed Spirits refuse to pay unto them those Hymns and Praises which were due unto them and which on this account are offered to them by the Church of Rome but to offer Hymns unto them is to give that honor to them which Christians paid to God alone For Origen doth in the name of all his fellow Christians say * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita Origcontr Cels l 8. p. 422. We offer up our Hymns only to God and his Son Jesus Christ 5. To ascribe to all the Saints departed and the holy Angels the knowledge of the confession of our sins and upon that account to beg that they would intercede for pardon of them is to be guilty of Idolatry Ord. Missae p. 217. But the Romanist doth in the Service of the Missal ascribe to all the Blessed Spirits the knowledge of the sins they do confess and upon that account do beg that they would intercede for pardon of them Ergo The major may be thus confirmed To ascribe to all these Blessed Spirits now in Heaven the knowledge of those confessions which we make on Earth and those petitions we put up unto them is to be guilty of Idolatry by Prop 2. Chap. 6. and Prop. 4. Corol. 3. of the same Chapter But to ascribe unto them the knowledge of the confession of our sins and upon that account to beg that they would intercede for pardon of them is to ascribe unto them the knowledge of those petitions and confessions which we make on Earth For this is to suppose that albeit these Blessed Spirits are as distant from us as is Earth from Heaven yet are they as assuredly acquainted with our confessions and petitions as if they had been present with us for who would move another to intercede in his behalf by reason of that confession he hath made unto him who did not think he knew both his confessions and petitions 6 This may be strongly argued from two considerations 1. That the Apostles did not invoke the Saints departed or give us any Precept or Example so to do 2. That they abstained from this pra lise because they did not think this honor to be due to Saints departed but to God alone And first Thâ—â— the postles did not invoke the Saints departed that they did put up no petitions to the Patriarchs and Prophets or to the B. Virgin or to the Proto-Martyr Stephen or to James the brother of our Lord is evident from an impartial view or all their Writings and Epistles for those Epistles Acts and Gospels were written to promote the cause of Piety and to instruct us in the means and helps which they conceived most proper to preserve us from the assaults and temptations of Sin Satan and the World Joh. 20.31 they do assure us That these things were written that we might believe and believing might have life eternal and so to give us those directions which were chiefly instrumental to obtain that end whence it doth follow that if they had conceived this practise to be so highly instrumental to the promotion of our eternal happiness as doth the Church of Rome and the enjoyment of all those spiritual favours which they expect and beg from those blessed Spirits they would not wholly have omitted what so highly did conduce to the obtaining of those blessings The Church of Rome commands her Bishops Syn. Trid. Sess 25. Priests and Curates diligently to instruct the Flock committed to