Service are guilty of Sixthly The Practice of your Church in Praying to the Saints is irrational and abominable because upon a due consideration of what manner of Saints you Invocate they are such whose Saintship nay whose Existence is by us justly to be question'd I pray call to mind what Cassander one of your own Church speaketh by way of complaint in his Chapter De Meritis Intercessione Sanctorum These are his words The People do now almost despise the Old Saints and serve with more Affection the New whose Holiness is less certain Yea there are some of them of whom we may justly doubt whether ever they lived in the World. I. You pray to some of doubtful Saintship or Holiness who instead of reigning in Heaven it may be are frying in Hell. You I suppose very well know that I do not now speak without Authority for it is a famous Saying of Gregory the Great That the Bodies of many Persons are Worshipped on Earth whose Souls are tormented in Hell. This is not only the opinion of one Doctor but Thomas of Aquine and Cardinal Cajetan and others do acknowledge that in a matter of Fact his Infallible Holiness may be mistaken and that his Holiness may be in an Errour in this very business of Canonization And many of your Church have taken great offence at that prostitution of Devotion usual in your Publick Assemblies to every upstart new Saint Do you not in this Worship many times ye know not what Christ put the Question to the Samaritan Woman give me leave to put the same to you I pray Who is it that you Worship How came they to be the Objects of your Worship and great Devotion paid to them in your Churches after they were dead whose Conversations were much questioned whilst alive against whom many Scandals were proved How many of your Saints Sir have been made fâ—r Money Many of them Traytors to the Government under which they then lived It would be an endless Task for me to make Observations upon the Lives of some of your Saints Murderers and common Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom Sir I will instance in the Lives of those Saints that have been of Note in the English Nation The first Instance that I shall give you is that of Austin the Monk and Archbishop of Canterbury who was sent into this our Nation by Gregory the Great and therefore called by your Church The Great Apostle of England this Monk with others were by this Gregory sent into this Island to turn the People to the Romish Religion which Augustine when through his pretended Holiness or rather Hypocrisie had got a Party to own him and had obtained of King Ethelbert to be Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England went into Wales where he found many Godly and Learned Bishops and Preachers of God's most Holy Word which sincerely and truly taught the Doctrine of the Scriptures and rightly administred the Sacraments according to Christ's Institution whom this Austin the Monk laboured to the best of skill and power to allure from the Sincerity and Simplicity of Christ's Religion unto the Superstition and Idolatry of your Church setting out that he was a Legate of the Most Holy Father the Pope sent from Rome and that he was made and ordained the chief Bishop and Primate of all England and therefore he commanded them to obey him and his Doctrine and to receive that Most Holy Father of Rome and his Religion but the Godly and Learned Fathers boldly answer'd That they were already true Christians and according to the Word of God they governed their Churches therefore would neither obey him nor submit themselves to the Authority of that strange Romish Bishop nor yet receive his strange Superstitious Ceremonies but continue as heretofore they had done in their old way of serving of God. For which cause Austin the Monk with his Companions departed and being not satisfied with the entertainment these holy men gave him he found a way to give these Christians great trouble because they would not obey him nor comply with the Bishop of Rome's pretended Title over them This develish Priest he complained to King Ethelbert that the Britains would neither obey him nor any man but only the Archbishop of Carleon which thing thus represented to the King it moved him to wrath and threatned to destroy them all Writing to Elfrid King of Northumberland that he would come to him with all the Force he could raise and that he would meet him at Leicester and from thence they would go into Wales and destroy the Archbishop of Carleon and all those who had refused to obey Austin and his Doctrine When these holy men heard of this and that the two Kings with their Armies did approach to the end they might destroy them they sent unto the Kings certain holy and good men who went barefoot and with all Humility and Meckness besought them to cease from so ungodly an Action But these wicked Kings would not speak to these holy men but presently order'd them to be slain which was presently done being in number five hundred and forty some say eleven hundred And from thence these Kings went to Bangor in order to destroy all the Britains but they having received notice of the intentions of these instigated Princes they assembled themselves and raised all the Force they could resolving to fight in the defence of their Religion and Country so that in the Battel King Ethelbert was slain by the just Judgment of God and Kind Elfrid was sore wounded in the Battel and forced most shamefully to fly the whole Army also were defeated and almost all destroyed Thus God gave his Servants Victory over their Enemies Ex Chron. Angl. This Sir is a Saint to whom great Devotions are paid by your Church for that as your Divines say he was the first that brought the Faith into this Land which is false the Faith having been Received by the Inhabitants thereof many hundred years before he was born But behold his Pride and Cruelty two Vices that did rather intitle him a Devil than a Saint His Pride is sufficiently set forth by Venerable Bede who tells us That he did disdain to rise up in token of Reverence to seven Bishops and other Learned and Grave men of Britain when they made their appearance at his Council And because of this his Pride they would not hearken to his Demands nor take him for their Archbishop thinking that if he carried himself so insolently to them whilst a Stranger what Respect might they hope for when they came under his Jurisdiction His Cruelty appears in stirring up two Kings to commit such barbarous Murders Now Sir what reason have we to pray to such a Saint as this that had stained his Life with such foul Crimes as these Besides I could never yet read of his Repentance for that Bloud which he had occasioned to be shed Nay see but the old Chronicle written in
A DISCOURSE OF THE Unlawfulness of Praying TO Saints and Angels BEING A full Answer to a LETTER OF SABRAN the JESUITE WHEREIN The Practice of the Church of Rome in Praying to Saints and Angels is plainly proved to be contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and the pretended Authority by him produc'd to be either Forged or Impertinent By TITVS OATES D. D. A Presbyter of the Church of England LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in the Old-Baily MDCLXXXIX ERRATA PREFACE PAge 1. line 1. read Controversies ibid. l. 7. r. new Matter p. 3. l. 8 r. that rascally DISCOURSE PAge 2. line 24. read erat Judaeis p. 4. l. 12. r. perparum ibid. l. 36. r. Caroli p. 5. l. 35. r. ut nonnulli ibid. l. 38. r. adorari ibid. l. 40. ◠for if p. 11. l. 25. r. Apostolum Christi non sicut Antichristum p. 12. l. 〈◊〉 r. Mulieres ibid. l. 38. r. Filii ibid. l. 39. r. subactas p. 13. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 ibid. l. 28. r. posteros p. 14. l. 35. r. affinity ibid. l. 41. r. inde p. 15. l. 3. r. Dixit quid mihi tibi est ibid. l. 4. r. quod non putaret aliquis magis eximiam ibid. l. 5. r. veluti ibid. l. 7. r. admirati delibantur p. 16. l. 7. r. I pray p. 17. l. 7. r. aliquem p. 19. l. 13. r. quisque ib. l. 16. r. Nymphis ib. l. 21. r. Nympha p. 21. l. 8. r. hath been far ib. l. 26. r. Now your Divines ib. l. 42. r. alitèr p. 22. l. 33. r. supplicitèr p. 24. l. 3. r. drive our sins away p. 25. l. 12. r. call a sequence ib. l. 25. r. it is by her ib. l. 36. r. per manus ipsius administrantur ib. penult r. aureum p. 26. l. 37. r. than he that is p. 28. l. 14. r. of his skill ib. l. 33. r. King moved him to wrath that he threatened p. 30. l. 3. r. recalling ib. l. 26. r. of Tours in France p. 31. ult r. Revelations meant p. 33. l. 12. r. who are intreated in the Name of the King. p. 34. l. 29. r. of Blood throughout p. 36. l. 13. r. dependit p. 41. l. 3. r. do not mention p. 43. l. 7. r. was kept that he went from thence into p. 44. l. 40. r. as I have already observed dead p. 51. l. 36. r. was only p. 52. l. 38. r. and were not p. 53. l. 13. r. honorificentiam qui nobis salutem profusione sui p. 54. l. 9. r. great Miracles p. 57. l. 4. r. in Testimony that p. 58. l. 4. r. Martyrs I must tell you that of these ib. l. 5. r. doubt were very ib. l. 14. r. portenta ib. l. 22. r. qui essent veri Christiani qui. ib. l. 28. r. mirabiliarios ib. l. 30. r. ut inducant p. 63. l. 17. r. Rem it being only for the. p. 64. l. 30. r. longa sint tempora ib. l. 38. r. Testimonies as Authentick p. 65. l. 11. r. years to justifie your groundless Notions p. 66. l. 31. r. Grace who by Nature were ib. l. 35. r. whom they asserted p. 68. l. 12. r. an eundum mihi ad Angelos ib. l. 13. Neque per seipsos potentes ib. l. 15. r. that may reconcile p. 69. l. 13. r. gestaverunt ib. l. 15. r. Sanctum Sanctorum ib. l. 17. r. Vail there he alone of all them p. 70. l. 27. r. quia si pie vixerunt These are the gross Faults of this Piece besides which are many other smaller Errors not only literal but in the Pointing which I have omitted here and desire the Reader to Correct with his Pen. ADVERTISEMENT WHereas a Late Paper was Publish'd Entituled A Petition and Proposals to his Highness the Prince of Orange this is to satisfie my Friends it is a very unjust Imposition on me both by Printer and Publisher TO ALL True Protestants GRACE and PEACE c. BRETHREN THE Controversie between us of the Reformed Religion and the Synagogue of Rome have been so often debated and the Authorities on both sides so often produced that to some who are yet Strangers to the present Constitution of Affairs it may seem unnecessary to say them over again and I must confess that it will be scarce possible to bring forth any Matter or if we could it is scarce probable that what can be newly laid down as Proof can prevail more than all those Arguments that have been used and urged in those great Controversies by Men Eminent in their Generations for Learning and Piety and who have blessed the World with their Labours in a most signal manner but these Considerations have not discouraged me from doing my Duty because that Experience hath taught me that the same Medicaments are with Success applied to a returning or abiding Vlcer and the Truth of it is the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God must be for ever ready to put the Church of God in mind of such things as they have already heard and by the same Scriptures and the same Arguments endeavour to prevent and destroy Sin and by the same Authority from the Word of God to extirpate Heresies which daily are sowed by those cursed Impostors of the See of Rome These eight or ten years of warm Weather and many Indulgent Showres of soft Rain have made many of their Damnable Heresies like Weeds to take Root greatly and to spread themselves widely and the Conspirators by their repeated Importune Impudence have had great Encouragements to seduce our Countries from their Obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they bave had some Success upon those who have made Gain to be Godliness and their Interest their God and have to the utmost of their Power and Skill endeavoured to brand and blacken all Men that have stood in their way some they have almost Ruined for endeavouring to prevent the Mischiefs they have ever since the Restauration been Plotting and Contriving against our Lives Liberties and Religion amongst which I am one and should have been silent under my present Oppression and unjust Vsage and given way to others of better Abilities to have defended the Cause had I not been provoked to appear in Print Some time since Mr. Lewis Sabran who calls himself a Priest of the Society of Jesus wrote a scurrilous Letter to Mr. William Needham in answer to a third Letter by him Licensed written to him the said Sabran in the fourth Page of which Letter he is pleased to use these words Hence have taken their Rise those black unconcionable Calumnies by which when they could reach it they have taken away our Lives to this end of late years was singled out against us the Minister Oates Their Fury being now disarmed they turned the Stream of those Calumnies on the Catholick Church by misrepresenting her Doctrine and again when all the false Colours of those Misrepresentations are wiped of those Slanders that scurrulous
my Protestant Brethren in discovering what those Hellish Popish Conspirators were doing against our Religion Lives and Liberties and of their Villanous Firing the City of London and Borough of Southwark Your eyes have seen enough and would have seen more had not Almighty God put a stop to their Career by confounding their Councels and defeating theirwicked purposes against us I will therefore say no more but shall ever stand by that Truth which I have delivered and will not hide one Iota of what remains behind undiscovered And I have taken care of that though it should please God that my Enemies should by any indirect course take away my Life and I shall always approve my self an honest man. and at present remain November 1. 1688. Your Brother and Servant in the King's Bench Prison for the Testimony of a Good Conscience TITVS OATES AN ANSWER TO SABRAN the Jesuit SHEWING The Unlawfulness of Praying TO Saints and Angels SIR I Perceive you are very earnest in the defence of a great Point much controverted between the Divines of the Reformed Churches and the Church of Rome viz. The Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels a Doctrine exploded by the Protestants and as zealously defended by those of your Communion And because the unknown Minister hath not as you would make the World believe dealt ingenuously with you you take occasion to fall upon Mr. Needham for Licensing those Replies made to your Sermon in which you were pleased to defend that Doctrine so much opposed by us of the Reformed Religion I will not go about to use any unhandsome Reflection upon you or any of your Communion for any point of Religion which I am satisfied in my Conscience to be contrary to the Doctrine of God our Saviour Amongst the many Errours the Church of Rome doth hold and maintain I humbly conceive this to be one and an Errour tending highly to the overthrowing of the Mediation of Christ the High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession Therefore the Point that I shall lay down is this That your Practice of Praying to Angels and Saints departed this Life is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God. I shall not Sir trouble you at present with those many Reasons those of our Church and Communion have offered to justifie this Assertion of mine therefore I shall only tie my self up to these few First Our Divines have rejected the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels and look upon it as a Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God because it hath no Warrant from the Word of God. This Sir is acknowledged by the most Learned of your Communion Bannesius saith Orationes ad Sanctos faciendos neque expresse neque involute Sanctae Literae docent 2 Qu. 1 Artic. 10. Lib. 1. Which in plain English is this That it is not taught in the Holy Scripture neither expresly nor covertly that Prayers are to be made to Saints Bellarmine de Beat. Sanct. cap. 19. saith plainly It was not the manner under the Old Testament to say Holy Abraham pray for us for which he gives several Reasons as that the Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see God. So that by the confession of that Learned Doctor it was no Practice of those that lived under the Ministry of Moses his Law. Salmeron in 1 Tim. 2. saith the same and withal adds That there is nothing expressed in all the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles touching the matter And withal he saith It would have been hard to enjoyn such a thing upon the Jews and the Gentiles would have thought that many Gods were put upon them instead of the many Gods they had forsaken His own words Sir are these Durum eratie Judaeis percipere Gentibus daretur occasio putandi multos sibi Deos c. Therefore be pleased to observe that it was the Practice of the Church of God to require Christians when they did labour under any Distemper whether of Body or Mind to have recourse to the Prayers of living Saints and were taught that the Prayers of such were prevalent and if the Prayers to Saints supposed to be in Heaven were a Doctrine according to truth why were they not then order'd to apply themselves to the Patriarchs and Prophets to the Blessed Virgin to St. Stephen and St. James and other more early Martyrs of the Church whose Prayers by your common received Opinion in your Church are highly meritorious and far more prevailing But Sir you see these great Doctors of your Church and men of great Reading confess that there are not the least foot-steps in the Scripture for this Practice as also Suarez Tom. 2. in disput Thes 42. Sect. 1. Eccius in Enchyrid suo But suppose Sir that these Great Men had not been so ingenuous as to confess yet give me leave to tell you that it is not possible for you to find the least intimation of any Warrant for this Practice which is apparent if you will but consider that in the Book of God there is neither one Precept from our Lord nor one Precedent to justifie such a Worship Now if you can produce no Command from God nor Example from any of the Saints of God in the time of the Apostles you cannot expect to gain one Soul that hath the least consideration to the belief of that Proposition of the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels which you so fiercely maintain If you have a Warrant from God's Word then it will lie upon you first to produce the Command then you must produce the Promise that the complying with that Commandment shall be acceptable for there is not one Command enjoyned us in the New Testament but hath its peculiar Promise and you must also produce a Threat if this Command be not obeyed Then secondly shew but where and when the holy Apostles in their day or any Christian under their immediate Ministry did ever practise Praying to Saints and Angels and you shall be my great Oracle in Controversies of Religion otherwise you must give me leave not to believe Father Sabran's Ipse Dixit in this case Sir give me leave to put you in mind that the Holy Scripture every-where makes God to be the only Object of Prayer and Invocation How many hundred Petitions or Prayers are upon Record there and not one of them put up to any other When our Lord taught his Disciples and us in them to pray he directs them to say Our Father which art in Heaven The Scripture often expresseth this Duty by the term of Praying without any mention of the Object When you pray use not vain Repetitions When thou prayest enter into thy Closet And hereby it is intimated that Prayer in matter of Worship can signifie nothing else but Praying to God. It is not Prayer if it be directed to any other From all which I must necessarily conclude that your Practice
for mine own use and my being abused by these uncircumcised Philistines and neglected by the Prelates and Presbyters of our Church and others that should have stood by me in that Cause for which I do Suffer hath made me sensible that Man is noâ— to be relied upon but that Trust is to be put in him that will confound these Hell born Devils in his own due time and that he will preserve those who abide faithful in the Truth Nor do I envy the Happiness of those my Brethren of the Church of England who are easie in their Places and Preferments for my part blessed be God I can from my Poor Prison where I have been almost five years behold all my Brethren of the Church of England with much Contentment and sufficient Enjoyment of my self on Thrones round about me It will not be amiss to tell you that one great Artifice of these Firebrands and Incendiaries was to perswade many of my Brethren of the Church of England that I was a Dissenter and an Enemy of the Church of England which tho' it was notoriously false for all that know me can testifie that I received my Ordination from the Church of England and Communicated with the Church of England in the blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper But this is the truth and nothing but the truth that I have been always of the opinion and do still esteem my Dissenting Brethren as a Generation of Men anointed by Almighty God with a Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Zeal and Faithfulness and might well be so esteemed by all my Brethren of the Church of England and accepted of as Persons fit to help on the great Work of ruining the Temple of Dagon destroying of Baal and all its Worshippers and to bring on the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell and that by the mutual joyning of Protestants in the Repair of the House of GOD and making up the Breaches and decayed Places in the Body of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which since the first raising and compleating of it by Christ and his Apostles and the delivering it from the Hands of these Edomites partly through the ignorance and insufficiency of some and partly through the remisness of others to whom the Guardianship and Custody thereof hath been committed by GOD in their successive Generations hath by these Locusts been lamentably dismantled and defaced in most parts of it that if a Man should look upon it as they have represented it he could scarce call it the Doctrine of Christ And therefore since my Brethren that are Dissenters were always ready to do their part to support and maintain the Doctrine of the Church of GOD here in England I could not but in point of Justice Truth and Righteousness own them for my Brethren with whom I am contented to suffer as well as with my Brethren that are in close Communion with the Church of England since both profess the same Faith. And were this Spirit of Love in me an Errour it might be more easily pardoned then the Errours and Wickedness of some few of those who pretending to be Bishops and Presbyters of the Church of England yet have been very zealous and forward to promote Popery and Slavery in the Nation these for a time have been caressed by those whose eyes now blessed be God are opened and have seen their own Mistake and the Villany of those that have deceived them they now see who were the Criminals and I question not but may help them to that state into which they have put the Innocent and relieve me who have been kept close these five Years My humble Request therefore to my Brethren of the Church of England is that I might not be thought unworthy of their Cognizance because of my tender Affections to my poor Brethren that cannot comply with the Church of England in some few things since they are so willing to go as far in the Service of the Protestant Cause and Interest as any of those who profess themselves Members of the Church of England Brethren It is time for me to cease entertaining you with the sad Account of the Villany Inhumanity and Cruelty of these Monsters of Mankind against me and to tell you that the Prize that I run for in this Humble Application of my self to you is by the opportunity and advantage hereof to excite provoke and engage you to bless the World in general and this Nation in particular labouring under Popish Burdens and Tokes which neither we nor our Forefathers were able to bear by asserting those blessed Truths worthy of your defending and maintaining and by bringing the Doctrines of God our Saviour out of the Pavillions of Romish Darkness into clear and perfect Light to be beheld understood reverenced and obeyed I have endeavoured to the best of my power at present to make it plain that Prayers to Saints departed this Life and to Angels are unlawful and abominable in the sight of God I have examined into some Authorities this angry Gentleman hath produced and find them either forged misrepresented or impertinent and without all Reason and Conscience he falls fouly upon a Reverend Presbyter of our Church for Licensing a Letter to him in which he is fairly and fully Refuted but the Mungril Curr will not leave barking in his Letter he is light profane and abusive and impudent as if he never had been in a Conspiracy against the Lives of two of the greatest Princes of Europe nay three and two of them Crowned Heads and against the Religion Liberties and Lives of the Protestants of these three Kingdoms But I shall say no more of this little Schoolmaster that talks as sawcily in the Pulpit and is as peremptory in his Notions as he was over his Boys at St. Omers where he used to bellow and roar like a Town Bull. This little Piece I offer to your Consideration and pray your acceptance of it there are Mistakes in it through the carelesness of the Printer which I cannot help because of my Imprisonment and not being permitted to see after it myself so that by this means I may appear obvious to your Censures because that some passages ought to have been better secured But I trust the Ancient Law of Indulgence in such Cases and Circumstances as mine are which may probably in due time be some of my Adversaries also is of Authority sufficient with all sober Protestants to relieve me Brethren and Beloved my Pen hath transgressed the Law and time of my Intentions these confined me to a much narrower Compass in my Epistle and prohibited me the troubling of you to any such degree as now I have done The truth is I have for a long time suffered wrongfully from my Popish Adversaries and I hope you will give an injured Presbyter of the Church of England leave to speak and complain a little of his hard and cruel usage for no other cause but doing Justice to
Saying of St. Basil to prove your Doctrine of the lawfulness of the Practice of your Church in Praying to Saints And why you should think to corroberate your Authority with the Saying of the Prophet Zachary that I must leave to you to consider of for at the present I do not see any tendancy that way by the words of St. Basil Another Testimony you produce was an Observation of St. Augustine on the Blessing of Job Gen. 48. to wit that not only Exaudition but Invocation is used in reference to Men as well as to God where your Printer I conceive was mistaken for there was no mention made of the Blessing of Job but there is mention made of the Blessing of Jacob in the fifteenth and sixteenth Verses of that Chapter where the Text saith That Jacob blessed Joseph and said God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac walked and the God which fed me all my life long until this day The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads and let my Name be named on them and the Name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a Multitude in the middest of the Earth Now I pray Sir what do you infer from these words I suppose that you lay some stress upon these words The Angel which delivered me from all evil bless the Lads and from the Names used of Abraham and Isaac you would prove the Lawfulness of the Invocation of Angels and that the Saints do interceed for us that could not be Jacob's meaning For Sir it was not Angelus Domini that Jacob points at but at Angelus Dominus who is called the Angel of the Covenant and him only Jacob doth Invoke for a Blessing for when he saw this Angel he saith I have seen God face to face and my Life is preserved Gen. 32. 30. And that the naming of Abraham and Isaac doth imply the Intercession of Abraham and Isaac in the behalf of his two Grandchildren is an Errour for according to the Sence of Bellarmine one of your own Church and Order it was not the manner under the Old Testament for Men to apply themselves to the Saints and he gives this reason The Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see the Face of God therefore if this be true you must not conclude the Doctrine of the Intercession of the Saints from these words or that they were to be prayed unto You further cite St. Augustine and you bring him in saying The Christian People celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs a Religious Solemnity both to excite an imitation of them and that they be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers That the Christians did meet to praise God together for the holy Lives and happy Deaths of God's most blessed Saints and Martyrs Sir is no question and that they did it in a most Religious Solemn Manner is beyond all doubt and that they did in order to follow these good Examples that were recorded of these Saints is as clear And what of all this They did Meet together to celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs Ergo They prayed to them They met to Celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs to excite an Imitation of them Ergo They prayed to them This is not Logick fit for a Man of your Station and Character certainly no such Logick was taught in any of your Philosophy Schools at Liege You may know that in such Religious Assemblies congregated for the commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs the Priests did recite the Names of the Martyrs together with some short account of their holy Lives and heavenly Exits they made and of the Miracles that were wrought by them but I do not observe any Prayer or Prayers were made to them they did praise God for them and did pray to God to give them Grace to follow their good Examples and performed many Works of Charity in token of the sincerity of their Prayers But I do not find that any Direction is given by that holy Father for any Adoration or Worship to be paid to them You will say the great end for which they did Celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs was that they might be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers Here are two things worthy of observation 1. What is to be understood by being made partakers of the Merits of the Martyrs 2. What is to be understood by being assisted by their Prayers and both these seriously considered may I humbly conceive satisfie any reasonable Man. To the first then by the Merits of the Saints I apprehend the holy Doctor intends no more than those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued both in their Lives and at their Deaths and that those that did meet together to commemorate these Martyrs did pray for those Gifts and Graces with which these Martyrs were indued and by which they arrived to that degree of perfection that their Lives and Deaths were Sacrifices with which God was well pleased therefore to infer that because the Christians meet together to commemorate the Martyrs to the end they might be made partakers of those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued from on high That therefore they prayed to the Saints is a consequence which you would not allow in any other case whatsoever And Secondly consider the words of that great Saint and light of Gods Church and let us see what is to be understood by being assisted by the Prayers of the Martyrs I have observed that the blood of the Martyrs do cry How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood Revel 6. 10. Abels blood it did call to Heaven Gen. 4. 10. If you will call this praying the point will soon be at an end If by these prayers the faithful may be said to be in a sort assisted then you and I shall not need to debate the Controversie any further for we shall soon put a period to this difference Nay Sir your own Divines from those words in the Revelations do teach That the Saints of God are present at their Tombs and Monuments and Relicks and have cited St. Jerome to prove the same And therefore I perceive it is that the Christians did meet together to commemorate the Martyrs at their respective Tombs or Monuments because from thence their cry did go to Heaven and by virtue of such Prayers and crys of these Martyrs the Church received benefit for calling for vengeance upon the wicked implies a calling for Mercy upon the Church In this sence they may be said to pray as blood may be said to have a Voice and Cry and doth it follow that because their blood doth pray and their blood hath a voice and doth Cry that we must pray to them I pray Sir in your next lay your Arguments a little closer and conclude aright from your Premises The Martyrs Prayers do assist
Decree in the case I therefore judge that your citing the Council was to little or no purpose the Practice of a number of Bishops being no Warrant for any Doctrine whatsoever unless approved allowed and decreed by a General Council You have met with sundry Debates amongst Learned Men that have not been opposed by the rest of the Council yet when the Question hath been put it hath been carryed against the Debates though they have appeared with a considerable Party But I will consider your Invocation here in the Council of Chalcedon The Words of your Invocation are these Flavianus lives after Death let him Pray for us I pray Sir do but consider the occasion of the Words There were two Persons that stood Candidates for the Bishoprick of Ephesus Bassianius and Stephen who both contended for that Bishoprick Bassianius appears before that Council and he having had this Flavianus to communicate with him in his Life-time and having been a great Favourite with him he because of that intimacy engaged the Bishops of the Obedience of Constantinople who cryed out in the Council in the behalf of Bassianius Flavianus the Martyr lives after Death he shall Pray for us Which is no more than this he shall intreat you to do us this favour as to give the Cause for Bassianus and confirm him Bishop of Ephesus let him Pray for us since he was a Martyr for the Faith let his Martyrdom oblige you to appear for his Friend These Bishops did not say Flavianus lives after Death he shall pray to God for us for you must understand these Bishops had made the Cause of Bassianus their own but he shall pray or intreat this Council for us This is a worthy proof for the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints for do but consider if it be given for granted that the intention of those Bishops was Let Flavianus pray to God for us What then doth it say Let us pray to Flavianus Here is not one Word of that nor indeed of the other Secondly You in the second place cite the Council of Gangrae Can. 20. If any one through Pride believing himself perfect accuse those Meetings which are had at the places where holy Martyrs Repose or in their Churches or believes that such Oblations as are made there ought to be slighted Let them be accursed But I pray Sir why do you put these words in that is need not the Intercession of the Saints that is the greatest Folly that ever Men could be guilty of What Man of Learning could ever give this Explication of a Canon which the thing will in no wise bear But Sir I will forfeit all the skill I have if you can bring any of the Doctors of Sorbonne or any of the Congregation De propaganda fide that would produce this Canon of the Council of Gangra to prove that Praying to Saints was enjoyned by the Catholick Church Nay I will appeal to any of the Learned of your own Society whether they in their Consciences do believe that it looks like a proof to justifie that Doctrine The Canon being taken as you have laid it down says no more that they are accursed who shall take down the Monuments of the Martyrs or should believe that the Oblations made in those Holy Places were to be slighted or should in any measure reflect on those that did frequent the Meetings had and held where the Bodies of the Martyrs did repose Here is not one word of Praying to the Saints or of the Saints making Intercession for us Thirdly You produce the Council of Laodicea held in the Year 320 as allowing the Worshipping of the true Martyrs of Christ mentioning Churches built in their Honour over their Monuments whether the Christians resorted I perceive you are faint-hearted and durst not say the Sence of the Council of Laodicea see the 35 Canon where it was determined by that Council That Christians ought not to leave the Church and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden If any Man therefore be found giving himself to this secret Idolatry let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and hath applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. the Apostle saith He commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up thanks giving to God and the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea follow also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ. And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled in Laodicea a chief City in Phrygia forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Oecumenius hath much the same words upon the same place and here I am sure you find nothing of Praying to Saints but rather forbidden for if it be unlawful to Pray to the Angels and that be Idolatry then it is unlawful to Pray to the Saints for without doubt the latter is as lawful as the former In the Sixth and thirty sixth Canons of that Council you say That the Worshipping of Martyrs was as it were allowed or that I may not be charged for a Misrepresenter you say That you produced that Council as allowing the Worshipping the true Martyrs With what face can you assert that when those Canons speak nothing of the Worship of the true Martyrs The Council makes mention indeed of the resort of the Christians to the Churches of the Martyrs where they did use to pray but there is nothing in that Council that intimates any thing of the lawfulness or the necessity of Praying to Saints but rather forbids it Fourthly The last Council you cited is the fourth Council of Carthage held you say in the Year 368 not only Authorizing Christiansto meet in Churches Dedicated to Martyrs and even where-ever any Monument of a Martyr should be but commanding that all Altars should be demolished if there be not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected What is all this to the purpose The Council of Carthage say you Authorised Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs Ergo Prayers to Saints are lawful That the Councel ordered the demolishing of all Alters if there were not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected Ergo the Council did command Praying to Saints But if you will look into the third Council of Carthage you will find it against the Praying to Saints You are pleased to say that this was the most expressive method of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints The Council authorized Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs this was indeed an expressive method
able to give and I am he for whom they must be obtained being his Servant who observe him alone Apologetic c. 30. There is a Discourse of the Trinity by Novatian which is added to the Works of Tertullian in which you may meet this passage If Christ be only a Man Why is a Man called upon in our Prayers as a Mediator seeing that the Invocation of a Man is judged of no Efficacy to Salvation Why also is Hope reposed in him seeing Hope in Man is Accursed From hence observe that if Christ may not be Prayed unto if he were but a Man then the Saints who are but Men may not be prayed unto If Christ be but a Man he cannot be prayed unto as a Mediator therefore how can you justifie Praying to Saints as Mediators seeing they are but Men If a Prayer to a Man be of no Efficacy to Salvation then Prayer to Saints can be of no Efficacy to Salvation since they are but Men. If Christ were but a meer Man then why is Hope reposed in him the Saints being but Men Why should Hope be reposed in them for if you pray to Saints you must not only believe that they hear you but hope that they will answer you which hope is in vain because they are but Men. Observe what he saith further Si Homo tantum modo Christus quomodo adest ubique invocatus haec-Hominis Natura non sit sed Dei ut adesse omni loco possit If Christ be only Man how is he present being called upon every where seeing this is not the Man but God that can be present in every place De Trinit c. 14. The Saints being only Men how are they present being called upon every where they cannot be in all places it being the Nature of God only to be present in every place If the Omnipresence of God be the great Argument why we should call upon him every where then you can give no reason why the Saints should be called upon every where because they are not Omnipresent We could not justifie Praying to Christ every where as Mediator if he were but a meer Man because as such as he could not be in every place How then can you justifie Praying to Saints every where as Mediators sure they cannot as Men be in every place Observe what St. Ambrose saith in his Funeral Oration upon Theodosius the Emperour Tu solus Domine Invocandus es Tu Rogandus ut eum in filiis Representes Thou only O Lord art to be Invocated Thou art to be Intreated to make up the want of him in his Sons If this Holy Doctor saith true which is beyond all Contradiction then how can you justifie the Invocation and Prayer to Saints as it is practised in your Church Why might not St. Ambrose have applied himself to the Saints to make up the want of Theodosius in his Sons if that the Praying to Saints had been lawful And if the Praying to Saints be lawful how can this passage of that great Doctor be by you justified If you can but reconcile this you shall be my great Oracle for if God alone be to be called upon and Intreated then none else ought to be called upon and Intreated Why then are your Saints called upon and Intreated Consider that passage of St. Augustine in his Confessions he thus Prays unto God Quem invenirem qui me Reconciliaret tibi an eundem mihi fuit ad Angelelos qua prece quibus Sacramentis multi conantes ad te redire neque per seipsos volentes ficut audio tentaverunt haec inciderunt in disiderium curiosarum Visionem digni habiti sunt Illusionibus Whom shall I find that might Reconcile me to thee Should I go to Angels with what Prayer With what Sacraments Many endeavouring to return unto thee and not being able to do it by themselves as I hear have tryed these things and have often fallen into the Desire of curious Visions and were accounted worthy of Delusion If Angels and Saints had been Mediators as your Church saith they are then St. Austin could have lain under no great difficulty of finding some body to Reconcile him to God If praying to Angels had been a Doctrine according to Truth he would not have wanted a Prayer He saith Should I have gone to the Angels With what Prayer If praying to Angels had been a received Doctrine there would have been Directions given with what Prayer he should have gone to them and the very same may be said of the Saints Should we go then with what Prayer See what he farther saith I confess and know my Soul is Defiled But who shall cleanse it or to whom else should I cry besides thee Confess lib. 10. c. 41. Sir The Question had been altogether needless or else soon answered had your Doctrine been true the Distemper that he laboured under had soon been cured had your Practice been lawful If it were lawful for St. Austine to cry to none but to God and seek redress from him then why doth your Church engage us to call upon Saints and Angels There is another Saying of the same Father that doth appear against your Practice and Doctrine in Controversie in these words Divine singulariter in Ecclesia Catholica traditur nullam Creaturam collendam esse c. In the Catholick Church it is divinely and singularly delivered that no Creature is to be Worshipped by the Soul but only he that is Creator of all things De quantit Animae C. 34. It is apparent that the Word of God is against you for you have no warrant from thence for this assertion nay you have the express Words of Christ against it Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which Injunction was delivered by Moses to the Jews Deut. 6. 13. chap. 10. 20. And by the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 7. 3. with a Promise of their being deliver'd out of the hands of the Philistines and not only so but you have a Tradition of the Church Catholick Traditur saith the holy Doctor in Ecclesia Catholica nullam Creaturam collendam esse From whence I argue if no Creature is to be worshipped but God only who is the Creator of all things then the Saints who are but Creatures are by no means to be worshipped because Worship is only due to God for that he is the Creator of all things Again the same Doctor saith Christus Sacerdos est qui nunc Ingressus in interiora veli Solus ibi ex his qui Carnem Gustaverant interpellat pro nobis in cujus rei figura in illo primo populo in illo primo templo unus sacerdos intrabat in Sancta Sanctorum populus omnis foras stabat Jesus Christ is the Priest who being now enter'd within the Vail alone there of them that have been partakers of Flesh doth make Intercession for us in figure of which thing amongst that first People
Nay the Apostle makes this observation in ver 5. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Ps 2. 7. And observe verse 13. of this first Chapter to the Hebrews to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy Enemies thy footstool And if upon these Considerations this great Doctor useth this expression Why gape ye after Angels upon the same consideration I may say Why gape ye after the Saints To which of the Saints said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee or Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy footstool If God by not speaking this to the Angels doth shew that they ought not to be worshipped then it necessarily follows that the Saints ought not to be worshipped unless you can tell where and when God used such expressions to them as he used to his Son. Again we find that God made his Angels ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation and they being no more St. Chrysostome saith Why do you gape after Angels Then what can we expect from the Saints who are not so much as ministring Spirits who never were sent forth by God to minister for the People of God here upon Earth St. Chrysostom in his eighteenth Homily on the Epistle to the Romans saith Vnto whom shalt thou flee whom wilt thou call upon to fight for and help thee shall it be to Abraham he will not hear thee shall it be to these Virgins but they also shall impart none of their Oyl unto thee shalt thou call upon thy Father or Grandfather but none of them shall be able to release or relieve thee These Sayings considered worship and pray to him alone who hath power to blot out thine obligation and quench that flame You may observe the holy Father shews the vanity of those Men that have a recourse to the Saints departed and how they are disappointed that expect any Relief or Comfort from any other but God. Therefore the holy Doctor admonisheth Christians to have recourse to God alone who is able to help and to relieve them Now I pray if God alone is able to help and relieve us to what end is it for us to have recourse to Angels and Saints if they are not able to relieve us and release us And what warrant can you pretend from God to worship or pray to any other since this Holy Father saith You must worship and pray to God alone Again the same Father in his ninth Homily upon the Colossians he shews us that the Devil envying the Honour that we have to address our selves to God immediately hath brought in the Worshipping of Angels It is strange that you should practice that as an Institution of God which was but a meer Intention of the Devil and that the Council of Trent should define that as an Article of Faith which hath been Condemned by the Fathers of the Church Catholick as Sin and a manifest breach of our Duty and Obedience we owe to God and if that the Worshipping of Angels were an Invention of the Devil Then Sir I pray what reason have you or any sober Man to think that Worshipping of Saints can be an Institution of God and that you may see the latter as well as the former was a meer contrivance of Hell. I pray consider the Doctrine which holy Epiphanius did teach the Church in his time and largely refuting the Heresies of those who were called Collyridians from the Collyrides or Cakes which they used to offer to the Virgin Mary and says That neither Elias nor John nor Thecla nor any of the Saints are to be worshipped and again God will not have Angels to be worshipped much less her that was born of Anna And again which of the Prophets have permitted a Man to be worshipped much less a Woman The Virgin is a choice Vessel indeed but a Woman Let Mary be in honour but let the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be worshipped Let no Man worship Mary Epiph. Haeres 79. This Doctor is as plain as may be in the Point in debate They offered her Cakes and you Incense and Vestments and Candles If they were Hereticks in Epiphanius's time for worshipping the Virgin Mary what are you who do it now I have one Father more to offer to your Consideration and that is Lactantius who is a Doctor of great esteem with you observe what he saith Qui supplicant mortuis rationem hominum non tenent Lactant. Insti Divin Lib. 2. Cap. 18. It is a short Testimony but as plain as can be in opposition to your Doctrine of Praying to the Saints who are departed and can neither hear your Prayers nor are they in any capacity of granting your Desires This sort of Service must unman you for that you do not pray upon any good ground nor can you pray for any good end If you can let us know the Principle upon which you pray and the end for which you pray to the Saints for all Services that have not their Foundation upon good Principles and are not performed for a good end are so far from being Christian Services that those who perform them are scarce worthy of the Name of Men. I have taken some pains to make it appear that the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels is unlawful I have deliver'd you my thoughts freely in answer to those Authoiries which you have produced which at the first view had the aspect of Prayers but upon a strict observation they prove to be no more then Rhetorical Apostroplies those holy Fathers used not adoring the Saints for Religion but only honouring them to beget in their Hearers an holy imitation of their Vertue and to oblige them to follow those good Examples the Saints left behind them and then I have given you the Authorities of the most eminent Fathers both of the Greek and Latin Churches that with one consent condemn your Doctrine and Practice by you defended But in truth Sir Humane Writings are no Foundation of our Faith we have a more sure Rule of our Faith in this particular the Holy Scriptures which are the Word of God whereunto you will do well to take heed and no more endeavour to bring in the Authorities of humane Writers to stand in competition with the Holy Word of God that hath commanded us to worship and serve him alone and hath sworn by himself that he will not part with this Honour to another but if this doth not satisfie you I am ready to reply to any thing you shall further bring in to give countenance to the Point in hand as it is defined and determined in your Church Sir you were pleased in your Epistle to the English Peer to reflect upon the Ordination of the Church of England and in words at length you
did deny the Validity of the Orders of our Church If you have a Will to enter into the debate of that point I am ready to justifie the Validity of our Ordination and again you were pleased to assert that all Councils Fathers and Churches condemned and deposed all those who having received Holy Orders pretended to Marriage which you call Sacrilegious I am inclined to give you manifest proof of the lawfulness of the Marriage of the Clergy and to this end be pleased to observe That Pope Silvester the first ordained Degrees in Ecclesiastical Orders and Decreed That every Priest should be the Husband of one Wife only according to the Doctrine of the Holy Apostles Tim. 3. 2 3. Tit. 1. as Platina St. Huldrich in his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the first tells him that Pope Gregory the first restored Marriage again to the Priests which he for some time before had denied them when he saw how many great Inconveniences attended the single Life of Priests which would take up too much time to repeat The whole Epistle I recommend to you as worthy of your serious Consideration in which you may see that the Marriage of the Clergy is at large justified and their Restrained Chastity or single Life Condemn'd by that Reverend Prelate In a word I do assert that all the Councils all the Fathers and all Churches did not condemn the Marriage of the Clergy nor did they esteem their Marriage Sacrilegious but did esteem it Honourable in all Men they well knowing it was Ordained to prevent Sin that they who have not the Gift of Continency might Marry and preserve themselves undefiled Members of Jesus Christ Sir there are many other Doctrines and Practices in your Church which are Antichristian and Develish tending to the total overthrow of the whole Body of the Christian Religion as your Doctrine of the Pope's Supremacy the single Life of the Clergy your private Masses your Doctrine of the Real Presence your Doctrine of the Adoration of Images your holding up the Sacrament over your Heads that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion votion your Doctrine of Purgatory and praying for the Dead your Doctrine of Justification by Works Indulgences that the Sacrament was called by the Fathers Lord and God these are the strange Notions of and Positions of your Church Sir I will if you please begin and engage with you in any one or all of these Points therefore you need not give Mr. Needham any trouble in this Matter for though he wonderfully exceeds you or any of yours in Parts and Learning and is much more able to cope with you then perhaps I my self yet I am at leisure and he on the contrary is an Attendant on a great Person and may be diverted from going through in such an undertaking therefore I am ready with all the modesty that may be to answer you therefore be pleased to turn your Pen against me and spare your Reflections upon our Church which is yet able to shew it self and will gain ground when Babylon shall be brought down to the Dust Dagon will never stand before the Ark of God we have the Apostles and Prophets for our Foundation and Jesus Christ for the chief corner Stone so that we cannot fail of giving you or any of yours a Reason of our Faith when you or any of your Church shall demand it of us In your Letter to Mr. Needham you conclude with a Prayer Fas est ab hoste doceri In mine to you I will conclude with one also which is That God would preserve the Church of England that he would increase her Peace and inlarge her Borders and make her Fruitful and Glorious even as the Garden of God is Fruitful and Glorious as for her Enemies let God Cloath them with Shame and Confusion of Face and that in her the Gospel may Flourish to this end may all Blessings Gifts and Graces from the God of Heaven descend upon all her Bishops Presbyters and Deacons let God arise and pull down Babylon and destroy all Superstition and Idolatry all false Doctrine and Heresie to the Glory of his Holy Name and Comfort of all Protestants This is the hearty Prayer of SIR Yours so far as you are Christs TITVS OATES
French above three hundred years ago by Thomas Gray a Member of your own Church you shall find him thus to speak Austin being thus Refused of the Bishops and other learned men of the Britains made such complaint thereof unto Ethelbert King of Kent that he forthwith levyed his Power and marched against them and slew many of them most barbarously c. Hereby it appears that he was not only proud but envious and an inflamer of Wars and a causer of Slaughters yet a Saint and much Devotion paid to him He did not only stir up War but went in person himself in company with the Kings that made War against the innocent Britains I shall be so far from praying to such a Saint that instead thereof I and all Protestants must pray From such a Saint good Lord deliver us Another of your Saints is St. Anselmn he is a person that is canonized and by your Church he is worshipped and prayed to therefore I shall observe to you a little of his Saintship which appeared in his behaviour to Henry the First his Soveraign Lord with what Impudence Insolence and Disloyalty did he carry himself to that King till he was forced to banish this Anselmn the Realm and so he continued for some time till the King partly through fear of the displeasure of the Bishop of Rome who was then very potent and partly through his Zeal to the Church of Rome did permit the return of this Bishop who when he was returned made such havock in the Church of England as never the like was heard of before and what Wars he occasion'd testifieth that he was no Saint on Earth I doubt therefore the Pope could upon no terms justifie his being canonized and you can by no means be justified in paying any Devotion to such a Wretch Ex Chron. Angl. p. 253. Another of your Saints is Thomas Becket whom you call St. Thomas of Canterbury The Prayers you make to him are so extravagant that flesh and bloud is not able to bear them they are so full of Blasphemy that it 's a shame they should be named amongst Christians him you call a Saint and Martyr But Sir to be plain with you he was neither Saint nor Martyr 't is true he was slain at Canterbury but the true cause of his death was his Ambition and Vanity and Wilful maintaining of manifest Wickedness of the Clergy to the dishonour of God's holy Name as by the Writers of that time it doth fully appear and for proof of this I pray be pleased to read the Story of Guilielmus Nubrigensis that lived in the same Age with this high and mighty Saint of yours who thus writeth of Becket That Henry the Second took him into his especial Favour and being only the Arch-deacon of Canterbury made him Lord Chancellour of his Realm and so treated him with all kind of Honour that he seemed to Reign as well as the King that afterwards he promoted him to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury and sent him to the Council of Towers then holden in France being there as upon some remorse of Conscience he misliked and secretly refused the King's Gift and resigned the Archbishoprick unto the Pope and received it again at his hands and so he secretly betrayed his Princes Right unto a Stranger At his return there grew a great Question within this Realm touching the Prerogative of the Clergy The Judges complaining that there were many Rapes and Robberies and Murders committed within the Realm to the number of one hundred by Ecclesiastical Persons and therefore made Request to the Parliament That some consideration might be had of it for that they themselves being Temporal Ministers had neither Law nor Jurisdiction against them As for the Bishops saith Nubrigensis whose part it was to see such Disorders corrected of so many thousand wicked Priests they never degraded nor punished so much as one for they saith he seeking more carefully how to maintain the Dignity and Liberties of their Clergy than the Correction of their Manners think they do good Service to God and his Church if they maintain wicked Priests against the Government whereby saith he it cometh to pass That the Priests that should shine as the Stars in Heaven having free liberty to do what they list care neither for God nor Man for redress whereof the King was resolved to take Order by his Parliament all the rest of the Bishops not one excepted agreed thereunto and confirmed the same under their Seals only Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury stood stiff and stout and would not yield afterwards when he saw the King's displeasure grew against him in the Morning before he should come to make his Answer he caused the Mass of St. Stephen's Office to be sung with this Preface Sederunt Principes c. The Kings sat down to speak against me and the wicked sought to persecute me This done he took his Silver Cross in his hand and went boldly to the Court but perceiving the King was much moved and misliked his stoutness the next Night following he fled over into France and afterwards sought Aid of the Pope at the last being reconciled unto his Prince and returning again into England he brought with him the Pope's Suspension and thereby suspended all the Bishops of the Realm and would never agree to release them by reason of which the whole Church and Kingdom was much disorder'd and shortly after ensued his Death This is the true Story of Thomas Becket Lib. 2. Cap. 16. Sir not only Neubrigensis but also Baronius by the account he gives of Beckett shews us That they were both strongly of the opinion that the Pope was out when he Canonized this Becket and commanded the People of England annually to Celebrate the Day of his Passion and that by Prayer to him they should endeavour to merit the remission of their Sins Now Sir this Becket for ought that can appear by these your own Historians was a proud Praelate a Rebel to his Prince one that had set the Nation in a Flame to defend the Pope's Quarrel against the King and when he dyed was rather the Pope's Martyr then Gods. Seeing he dyed not for the Faith of Christ but for the Defence of the Popish Tyranny and Usurpation This Sir is owned That the People were so devoutly Affected to this new Saint that in respect of him they had little or no Consideration of the Blessed Virgin or of Christ himself and to incourage the Peoples Devotion many Stories were told and Reports made of the many Miracles that were by him wrought on them that did pray unto him I fear Sir I shall move your Patience I will but instance in one Saint more whose Saintship I must call in Question so do all the Reformed Divines it is St. Francis the great Founder of the Order of Fryars called Franciscans he is no ordinary Person in your Church you make him equal with Christ in his Birth Life Temptations
Doctrine Miracles and what not This and a great deal more may be Read of him in his Book of Conformities which was Published with Allowance in the Year 1590. of him Turcelline Sings Qui Franciscus erat nunc tibi Christus erit Your Bonaventure Sware at Paris That it was revealed to him by Almighty God that Saint John by the Angel that had the Seal of the Living God in the Revelations was meant no other then this Saint Francis yea such is your Esteem of this Intercession that some of you have preferred it to Christs and say Christus Oravit Franciscus exoravit Christ hath Prayed and Francis Obtained I pray you seriously to Read his Book of Conformities and Bonaventure of his Life and if you please those other Chronicles and Records under the Hands of Writers that were of your own Communion then you will soon find that he was a strange sort of a Saint and that he did a multitude of things that argued him destitute of common Sence What can you say of a Man that shall Preach to Birds and Beasts and salute them kindly saying Brother Bird and Brother Beast How can you approve of his taking up the Lyce that were fallen from his Garments and putting them on again for fear of wronging those Innocent Creatures What can be said for his cutting his Garments in pieces and giving them away What account can be given of his tumbling in the Mire unless it were some significant Ceremony you must certainly have more Sence than to justifie his making his Crucifixes of Mortar as Children do Babies of Dirt. What can you say for his making a Wife of Snow and embracing her to Allay his Amarous and Lustful Heat These with many more such rediculous Actions shew him to be no Saint but rather a Bedlam Sick-brained Creature What reason then for his being Sainted Why should he be Adored Sir In short concerning the Doctrine and Practice itself I may say to you as our Lord said to the Woman of Samaria Ye worship ye know not what such are St Fingare St. Anthony of Padua Charles Borromaeus Ignatius Loyola Xaverius and many more of whom Cardinal Bessarion complains that many of them were such persons whose Lives he could not approve of and such concerning whom they know nothing but from their own parties and by pretended revelations made to particular and Hypocondraical persons In Libro de Sanctis Hibernicis Another of your own Writers Augustinus Triumphus affirms that all who are Canonized by the Pope cannot be said to be in Heaven and this is apparent beyond all dispute for Prateolus tells us that Herman the Author of the Heresie of the Fratricelli was for Twenty years together honoured for a Saint and at last his body was taken up and burnt but then since as Ambrosius Catharinus and Vivaldus observes if one Saint be called in question then the rest may what will become of the Devotions that have been paid to such Saints as have been Canonized for these last eight hundred years concerning whom we can have but slender Evidence that they are in Heaven at all and therefore the Cardinal of Cambray Petrus de Aliaco wishes that so many new Saints were not Canonized Secondly You Worship some Saints who are of dubious Existence as well as Holiness as many of your Saints have been suspected so you have many feigned or fabulous Saints in your Church In the Breviary of Sarum I find you there pray to Saint Christopher so in the Roman Breviary this Saint Sir your Divines and other Writers have supposed him to be a Giant of prodigious stature Mantuan Lib. 7. Fast saith he was many Ells high Ludovicus Vives saith he saw a Tooth of his bigger then his Fist your Writers report That he carried Christ over Marinum Flumen an Arm of the Sea and at last became a Martyr of Christ This Saint is in much request though but an imaginary one Who could ever have thought that any number of Men should be so besotted as to worship such a Saint that rather is a Monster than a Saint or only a nominal Saint of whom we have no account but what is romantick or fabulous Another Office we find to the three Kings of Cullen King Jasper King Melchior and King Balthazer and are intreated by the King of Kings whom they merited to see crying in his Cradle to shew compassion to their Petitioners in their distress And in another Office we find for the most Holy Vrsula and eleven thousand Virgins who you say were her Companions in Martyrdom and were killed at Cullen as your Writers tell us by the barbarous Hunns where they were all Interred and many of their precious Relicks reserved to this day and it did not a little encourage them in their Martyrdom that Christ had sent his Vicar amongst them Pope Ceriacus to absolve them from their Sins and to die a Martyr with them but there is so great a difference and disagreement amongst your Writers that we of the Reformed Religion must be excused if we doubt whether there were any such number of Virgin-Martyrs or no and must suppose your Church to be in a great Errour to Pray to Saints of which she herself hath great reason to doubt I could give you several other instances of these sort of Saints as the Seven Sleepers who slept in the time of grievous Persecution three hundred sixty two years till the time of Theodosius at which time they awaked and are Worshipped as Saints in your Church And St. Longuinus the Soldier that with his Launce pierced our Lord Jesus upon the Cross and being almost blind with the sparkling of that Blood immediately received his sight of which the Evangelist makes no mention though a most considerable passage this Saint you say upon receiving his Sight believed and being instructed by the Apostles forsook his Military Profession and lived thirty eight years a Monastick Life and was at last Martyred for the Christian Faith. If this had been true I am sure his Name would not have been omitted and therefore I must conclude it to be a meer fiction and that there was no such Saint To conclude therefore this Argument upon a serious view of the Roman Breviary I have met with many more of this sort yea which some of your own Church calls Symbolical Saints which are yet Worshipped and Invooared with the greatest formality but this is sufficient to prove that your Praying to Saints and Angels is absurd and irrational and abominable in the sight of God. Give me leave Sir now to make some observation upon those Testimonies you did produce in your Letter to Mr. Needham to prove the lawfulness of Invocation and Adoration of Saints The first Advocate you bring upon the Stage is St. Athanasius who you say in his Book De Incarnatione Verbi hath these words Hearken O Daughter of David and Abraham and stoop thy Ears to our Prayers and forget not thy People we
of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints but where are your Injunctions for the Praying to Saints what was the Decree of that Council and what was that Council that did decree for the putting in practice this Romish Doctrine of Praying to Saints In a word your Four Councels make no mention of any Injunction for the people to pray to Saints no they do not so much as intimate to us that it was the practice of the Church at that time You know that your Chapter at Trent makes a formal Decree enjoyning all upon pain of a Curse to apply themselves in their Prayers to the Saints and if you had produced such a Decree you would have done some small matter of Reputation to the practice of the Church Since your Authorities taken from these Four Councils will do you no service away you hasten to St. Augustine who in his 137 Epistle commends the Christians for flocking to the Monuments of Martyrs there to ask miraculous Favours and to some particular Saints for such and such peculiar Graces to others again for different ones The Christians did go to the Monuments of the Martyrs and did ask for Favours but I hope you will tell us from whom they asked these favours St. Austin in all that Epistle doth not say one word of their asking the Saints but their Prayers were directed to God that he might obtain this or that favour or Grace which the Saint was supposed to be indued withal in the time of his or her life Here you are failed in your Authority for this saying of the holy Doctor proves nothing for the lawfulness of Praying to Saints You come to the close of the matter and here you offer the commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and holy Saints as more full and expressive in the ancient Liturgies then any in the present Roman Missal This I am sure is not ad Rem for the commemoration of the Saints to bless God for them and their good examples they left us and heavenly Doctrine they taught In that we are all agreed but I am inclined to joyn with you and examine your Authorities you produce and perhaps you may find something to drop in that may help your Doctrine of Praying to Saints which no doubt but will give your Church some colour for that Practice The first Authority you produce is St. Cyril Patriarch of Jerusalem who bears witness to this Prayer in the Liturgies of his time We pray to thee all of us and offer thee this Sacrifice so as to make a Commemoration of those who have slept before us first of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that God through their Prayers would accept of our Prayers We never say more than this in any Commemoration in our Masses Well here is plainly set forth that the Saints make Intercession for us but nothing of any Prayer made to them But your Author is not very well received because this Prayer of his smells so rank of your Romish Superstition that none but such an old Doctor newly set forth could be guilty of I am lothe to call his Credit in question but I tell you that in his style in his way of arguing he is not at all like the Greek Fathers in wording his Notions he appears to have lived but of late Years and therefore his Authority Sir will be of little Credit at this time Yet he doth you no manner of Service he shews that in his time the Intercession of Saints was a received Notion but hath not one word of Praying to them and St. Augustine in his Tract in Johan seemeth to countenance it but doth not at all point at any Invocation or Prayer to be made to the Saints and Martyrs But say you doth not the saying of St. Cyril and St. Augustine prove that their Intercession must be asked that it may be obtained In answer to this I say I do not find that either your St. Cyril or St. Augustine doth in either of these places direct us to apply our selves to the Saints for the benefit of their Intercession the one saith That in the Prayer of the Liturgies in his time the faithful did commemorate the Saints that God through their Prayers would accept of your Prayers And St. Austine saith That the Christians commemorate the Saints at the holy Table that they may pray for us He doth not say that Christians pray to the Saints that they may pray for us It may be worth your while to consider how little these two Authors do appear to help you out in this point which you so zealously defend You say that you offered devout Prayers to the blessed Virgin out of the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom Those Liturgies have both been so miserably abused that they are not of any great value with the Doctors of you own Church for the Interpolations are so frequent that we can scarce tell either the order or the sence of those Liturgies I have seen the old Copies of those Liturgies where I find commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints but I cannot find any Prayer made to them in latter times They may have crowded a Prayer to the Virgin which you perchance have used but it is no proof For Dr. Stephen Gardner the notorious Bishop of Winton he saith and that not without due consideration had of those Offices that both of them were miserably disordered that set behind which should have been before and that the Ignorant Scribes of the latter Ages had basely corrupted both those Liturgies This is the Credit that the Liturgies of those Fathers had with that Bishop of your own Church and therefore we have reason Sir to refuse them as Authors that have been corrupted by the Scribes of your own Church Steph. Gard. ad object 185. And that St. Chrysostom's Liturgie hath been abused doth thus further appear for in that Liturgie set forth by Claudus Sanctes you have St. Chrysostom praying for Pope Nicholas in these words Nicholai sanctissimi Vniversalis Papae longa sunt tempora We pray God send Nicholas that most Holy and Universal Pope a long time to live whereas it is well known to you that Pope Nicholas lived in the year of our Lord 857. which was almost 500. years after St. Chrysostom's decease likewise in the same Liturgie there is a Prayer for the Empire and Victory of the Emperour Alexius who lived in the year 1080. after the death of St. Chrysostom 700. years Now it is very hard if we should receive the Testimonies that are Authentic since they are made to serve all the vile Turns imaginable so that you may see what Stuff here is that you father upon two burning and shining Lights of God's Church and upon them we must ground our Faith and Salvation We must pray we know not what and I know not to whom If we receive either or both your new St. Basils and new St. Chrysostoms Liturgies for in their old Liturgies there