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
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
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
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
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