that in his daies the Church was exercised in workes of pietie and charitie and not by the inuocation of Angels and Saints departed nor in inchantments or any other wicked curiositie but addressing purely and manifestly their prayers to the Lord who made all things and in the name of Iesus Christ according to the necessitie of euery one Clement Alexandrine treating vpon this subiect was sore grieued at the Christians which worshipped the spirits of the deceased saying in his 7. booke that it is a great brutishnes to craue any thing of those which were not Gods And hereupon hauing respect vnto the true rule of inuocation the which hee followeth with the rest of all the Christians after the imitation of the Angels hee addeth That whereas there is but one only good that is God both wee and the Angels pray vnto him either to giue vs or to let vs haue such blessings as he knoweth to be healthfull for vs. And in his first booke of Pedagogie chap. 7. Iesus Christ saith he is our schoolemaster who as children hath led vs vnto euerlasting life and hath taken care of vs. And if we suffer our selues to be instructed by this schoolemaster and conductor we shall obtaine all things of God which we can iustly demaund of him The Church also with S. Tertullian hath followed this rule who speaking of his fashion and of all the Christian Church in his Apologie chap. 3. We pray saith he for the welfare of Emperours vnto the eternall God the true God the liuing God and lift vp our hands to heauen for them beseeching God that it would please him to giue vnto them a long life and empire without feare a safe Court a strong armie a faithfull Magistrate a loyall people and a peaceable world These things can I demand of none in my prayers but of him from whom I know I can obtaine them because hee only hath made them and I am his seruant which lookes vp to him alone and vnto whom he will grant them The like also saith Origen against Celsus lib. 8. We present saith he the first fruits only vnto him to whom wee addresse our prayers to wit vnto God hauing an high Priest which is entred the heauens euen Iesus Christ the Sonne of God and we shall hold constantly the profession of this faith so long as through the blessednesse of God and of his Sonne who hath manifested himselfe amongst vs we doe remaine aliue And although we know that not the diuels but the Angels ouer see the abundance of fruites and the multiplication of cattell yet neuer thelesse wee must not giue vnto them that honour which is due only vnto God for God will not haue it so nor they vnto whom such charges are committed but they loue vs because wee offer no sacrifices vnto them nor haue they any need of his odours and we are but to pray vnto one only God and to appease him who is the Lord of all things and to seeke only his fauour through pietie and other vertues In that prayer which S. Cyprian hath composed and repeated so many times in memorie of the benefit of the death and passion of our Lord Iesus he betaketh himself to none but to God the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost without making any mention therein either of Angels or of Saints I should be too long and troublesome to recite it at length only wee will content our selues to propound briefly the conclusion thereof to the Reader to the intent he may censure thereof Through thy name Lord Iesus saith this good Father in the end of his prayer deliuer me from the power of the aduersarie thou that are a mightie deliuerer and the aduocate of our prayers for the requests of our soules solicite night and day for my sins present my prayer to thy Father and thou Lord O holy Father deigne to behold and looke vpon my prayers as vpon the offerings of Abel Vouchsafe to deliuer me from fire and eternall paine and from all torments that thou hast prepared for the wicked through our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ through whom be all praise glorie and honour to thee for euer and euer In that most excellent prayer which S. Hilarie made vnto God to beseech him to giue him his grace to expound well the great mysterie of the holy Trinitie he addresseth himself to none but vnto God building vpon his promise that to him which asketh hee shall receiue to him which seeketh hee shall finde and to him which knocketh it shall be opened Also Eusebius in his bookes of preparation sheweth that in his daies the Christians worshipped only God in spirit and truth For what writeth hee thereof in his 4. booke of Preparation We are taught saith he to serue religiously the only God of all creatures and for this cause wee attribute to him alone the worship that appertaines vnto him seruing him only by way of religion Afterward treating in another place of the intercession of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and the reasons wherefore the Christians call vpon God in the name of his only Sonne first he rehearseth that it is because hee being become man and taken our flesh vpon him hath suffered for our sakes all manner of wrongs and reproches Secondly because hee prayeth vnto his Father for vs and through his request which hee makes vnto his Father for vs repulseth behinde vs all our enemies both visible and inuisible Thirdly because neither S. Paul S. Peter nor any of the other Saints haue been crucified for vs but our only Redeemer Iesus Christ from whence he concludeth that the intercession which he maketh vnto his Father is proper to him and incommunicable to the Saints seeing he is the only high Priest who once hath offered himselfe in a sacrifice to God his Father both for vs for himselfe and for man which he had taken out of the earth who is ascended vp into heauen there to celebrate for vs the spirituall sacrifices to wit our supplications which hee presenteth vnto God his Father praying him with vs that for his sake hee will be mercifull and fauourable vnto vs. According to which he giueth vs this testimonie of S. Denys Bishop of Alexandria in his Ecclesiastical storie lib. 7. cap. 10. who being called before Aemilian Gouernour of Egypt to render an account of his faith and to answere vnto his demands and among the rest vnto this vnto what God he and the other Christians addresse their prayers He answereth him freely that himselfe nor the rest of the Christians did neither worship or serue religiously any other but that God which only is hee who hath created of nothing the heauens the sea the earth and all things which are in them Moreouer he repeateth in this very historie lib. 10. cap. 4. that Paulin Bishop of Tyre taught publikely both by mouth and writing that Christ is our only Aduocate the only author of life the
through infidelitie and Moses through ingratitude not glorifying God who gaue him water out of the rock And in his 45. Sermon vpon S. Matthew he maketh mention of the Virgin Maries ambition which moued her to importune our Lord Iesus Christ to doe miracles And vpon this sentence of the 14. Psalme and third verse There is none that doth good no not one he citeth again for confirmation hereof the vices and imperfections of the Virgin Mary and of all the Disciples of our Lord Iesus Christ saying that when Christ was crucified there was none that did good all his Disciples fled away Iohn starke naked Peter denied him and the sâ—ord of doubt or diâ—fidence pierced the soule of the Virgin Mary Among other arguments which your Doctors vse to verifie that which you haue proposed in the beginning of your Epistle to wit y â— the Church hath taught approued the inuocation of Saints for the space of 1605. yeeres behold one of the principall saith namely that the Gentiles into which number Iulian the Apostate ranked himselfe called the Christians Idolaters aswell for the veneration of Saints as for that of Angels But to refute your proposition and to discouer the falsehood thereof I will here cite that answere which S Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria gaue expressely to Iulian the Apostate vpon that false accusation and reproch It is not so as thou thinkest replied S. Cyril to Iulian the Emperour that we deifie a man and that we should not giue the honor of adoration to him which by nature is God but we say rather that the Word proceeded from the Father by whom all things haue bin created and who ordained to saue mankinde hath taken flesh and hath bin made man He is not worshipped as thou saist and wouldest beleeue in that he is man for why should we say so but acknowledging that this man which appeared to vs is the Word of God we goe vnto him in as much as he is also God and who came from God the immutable Father As for the Martyrs we reckon them not as Gods neither haue we accustomed note this word to worship them we only praise them and honour them with great honours because valiantly they haue fought for the truth and in that they â—eld the puritie of their faith euen to despise their owne liues Besides thy Plato saith of such as haue liued well and died honorably that they are made Demons that is to say Gods and that after their death they ought to be serued and their sepulchres worshipped But as for vs we say not that the holy Martyrs are made Gods but haue accustomed to honour them as much as may be yeelding them euery where in recompence of their noble vertues a memorie that neuer perisheth Neither shall you euer proue that we worship men or should attribute to them the glory of God He sheweth the like in his bookes of the Trinitie and in his Commentaries vpon the Gospell of S. Iohn We come not vnto God saith he in his first booke of the holy Trinitie otherwise then by Christ. And in his third booke Our faith iustifieth and maketh vs familiar with God and aduanceth vs neere vnto him This faith is not simply in the man but in the nature of God and in as much as the Word was in the flesh And in his Treatise of true faith Our faith and hope is in God when Christ then said beleeue in me doth he not manifestly shew that he is God And if in the Spirit of the Sonne we haue confidence in calling vpon the Father how is not Christ then god also after that the Word was made flesh Which he more amplie and cleerely expoundeth in his discourse vpon the exhortation which Christ made to his Disciples before his departure out of this world to pray vnto the Father in his name oftentimes promising to them that they should obtaine whatsoeuer they demanded of his Father in his name He addeth In my name saith S. Cyril to shew that he is the Mediatour and that the Father communicateth his blessings to vs through the Son by whom wee haue accesse to the Father in the Spirit as it is written Therefore hee calleth himselfe the gate and the way because saith he no man commeth vnto the Father but by me For in as much as he is the Son God he giueth vs his blessings with the Father Which S. Paul minding to shew vs said Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ But in so much that he is Mediatour High-priest and Aduocate he presenteth our prayers to God for he alone giueth vs libertie and boldnesse vnto the Father We must then pray in the Sauiours name if wee will be heard of the Father None can be made holy or sanctified by the rule of liuing well but through the helpe and intercession of Christ nor ioyned also to the Father but through his mediation He permitteth vs in no wise to aske any thing from his Father but in his name only and promiseth that his Father will readily grant it vs. And in his fourth booke vpon the Prophet Esay All prayers are directed by Christ for by him we make our demaunds to God his Father and by him we make our prayers confessing also that God is in him And in another place To whom behoueth it better to grant vnto the Saints their desires and to giue them that which they require then to him which only is naturally and verely God The Saints who haue bin sanctified through the communication of God which sanctifieth them may well preserue this gift if so be they keepe his commandements but they cannot sanctifie others For no man sanctified through the communication of the holy Ghost hath the power to communicate this grace to others There is none but the only fountaine of holinesse which of it selfe can giue this holinesse to all The Saints then who haue receiued this gift through grace and through communication cannot distribute it to others at their pleasure but the Sonne who is the fountaine of holinesse sanctifieth his Disciples saying Receiue yee the holy Ghost All which are arguments worthie to be noted whereby Saint Cyril rebuketh the folly of such as forsake the well-spring of liuing waters to search broken cesternes which will containe no water S. Ambrose doth no lesse vpon this subiect in his sermons and discourses For in his Commentaries vpon the Epistle to the Romanes hee mocketh those greatly who in stead of praying personally to God and should not speake to him but in the name of his wel beloued Sonne doe betake themselues to the Saints deported as to his faithfull vassals and familiar friends to approch vnto his diuine Maiestie and to obtaine his grace through their intreatie and intercession He compareth them to the Heathen and Idolaters of whom the Apostle S. Paul speaketh in his first chapter of that said Epistle counting
himselfe yet they obstinately maintaine the contrarie and that oft times against the feeling of their owne consciences withholding the truth in vnrighteousnesse and shutting their eyes and eares against this admonition of the Apostle S. Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 13. vers 8. That wee cannot doe any thing against the truth but for the truth Which Truth although that in these latter daies it is represented vnto vs more cleerer then euer it was yet notwithstanding of many it is vnknowne and abandoned which follow on apace the foolish deuotion of their blind leaders and who to please and obey them rather then our Soueraigne Doctor and Master Iesus Christ will not vouchsafe to take so much paines as to informe themselues of this truth by reading of the holy Scripture but like better to depend wholly vpon the Traditions of their Teachers despising through their voluntarie ignorance the exhortatioÌ„ which the Apostle S Iohn giueth vnto al Christians in his first epistle 4. vers 1. Dearely beloued beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the world Now the more furiously the Truth is assaulted by Satan and his slaues so much the more couragiously ought it to be maintained and defended by the zealous louers of pure religion but especially by the Ministers and Pastors of the holy Gospel who according to that rule which the Apostle S. Paul prescribeth them in his Epistle to Titus 1. 9 ought to employ themselues diligently to exhort with wholesome doctrine those which are willing to bee instructed and to improoue the gainsaiers I then being called by God into the labour of his holy Ministerie haue employed my self amidst you according to that talent which it hath pleased him to bestow vpon me for the space of sixteene yeeres on these two parts of my vocation and hauing respect to the multitude and sufficiencie of my predecessors who haue taken penne in hand to instruct the ignorant and to refute false Teachers by their writings I haue contented my selfe hitherto to follow their traces in my publique Sermons and priuate Conferences with such as were desirous to profit with me in knowledge of the fundamentall points of our Christian faith according to the occasions which were presented But of late hauing seene an Epistle written by a certaine Doctor of the Augustins Order touching the inuocation of Saints sent vnto one of my Auditours to seduce thereby the sheepe which our Soueraigne Shepheard Iesus Christ hath recommended to me I held it my dutie to returne it backe againe to Leige with my answere to satisfie the desire of one of his disciples by whoÌ„ the said Doctor hauing receiued my answere promised him that shortly after he would write back vnto me againe and that effectually But seeing there are almost two yeeres past since he held my refutation and that in all y â— time he could not make some small Treatise to fulfill and accomplish his promise his silence maketh me to thinke that he hauing considered well examined and weighed the arguments of my replie hath repented himself for his foolish boasting and that if his conscience be not â—eared he feeleth himselfe alreadie checked by the truth that shineth in my Refutation which in the meane time I haue amplified and now published with his Epistle following the counsell of some excellent learned personages with hope that I shall see it bring foorth some fruite if not in the abouesaid Doctor or in some of his obstinate scholars yet at least in such as are teachable and especially in you my most deare and worthie brethren of whom I haue conceiued this hope that whereas heretofore ye haue willingly heard me to entreat of this subiect aswell in my Sermons as in my familiar discourses with you so ye will now take no lesse delight in hearing me to discourse of it in this small booke which here I present you as appertaining vnto you by a double right For first of all being consecrated to your seruice from the beginning of my ministerie the proprietie of euery instruction which through Gods grace I propound vnto men is wholly yours Besides seeing that the intention of my dispute is to shew the difference between a true and a false adoration and to perswade euery man by all possible meanes to stand fast in the true and to reiect the false to whom could I better appropriate it then to you to whom aboue all things I am bound to teach the first point and fruit of our faith which is to worship God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ in spirit and truth and to call vpon none but him in our necessities Whereunto as I seeke to giue you some helpe by this present Treatise so doe I giue thankes to the Lord for that alreadie ye are so well grounded and instructed in this principle of true religion assuring my self that he which hath sowne this good seed in your soules wil make it abundantly to grow vp and to fructifie in such a sort that thereby his name shall be glorified your neighbour edified and your hearts fortified against all manner of tentations Finally if I perceiue that this small Treatise which I publish vnder your names be acceptable and pleasing vnto you your courtesie will serue as a spurre to pricke me more cheerfully forward in my commenced Career and one day hereafter to entreat more at large vpon this subiect through the grace of our blessed God and heauenly Father to whom I recommend you beseeching him with all my heart that it will please him most deare and worthy Brethren to maintaine you euen to the end in the profession of his truth and to replenish you with his temporall and eternall blessings for the aduancement of his glorie and the saluation of your soules From my Studie this 4. of August 1607. Your no lesse affectionated then seruiceable Pastor and brother in the Lord Iohn Polyander A small Table of the principall points contained in this Treatise FIrst Papists themselues acknowledge and confesse that the inuocatioÌ„ of Saints cannot be proued by Scripture pag. 18 Praying to Saints cannot be prooued by Scripture but absolutely disproued 19 We must call vpon God only not the Saints 19. 20. 21. 22 Christ is our only Mediatour the Saints are no Mediatours pag. 22. 23 Christ is our only Mediatour aswell of intercession as redemption 23 Saints are no Mediatours of redemption 25 Papists reiect Christ placing the Saints in his place 26 Papists exalt the Virgin Mary into the place of Christ. pag. 29. 30. 31 Papists place the Virgin Mary aboue Christ. 32. 33 The Papists place Franciscus Dominicus in Christs roome 34. 35. 36 Priests and Prophets may erre 38 The Church may erre 38. 39 Councels haue erred 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45 Variance and contradiction among the ancient Councels 46 The holy Scripture is the touchstone of doctrine 47 The Fathers haue
is thy request it shall be giuen thee euen to the halfe of the kingdome This Empresse saith he figured the Empresse of heauen to whom God hath giuen the halfe of his kingdom for God hauing his iustice and his mercy hath reserueah is iustice to exercise it in this world and hath left mercis to his Mother Therefore if any one feele himselfe grieued as the Court of Gods iustice let him appeale to the Court of the mercie of his Mother c. Whereunto is also conformable that which Anthonine the Archbishop writeth in his summe par 3. tit 12. chap. 8. par 4. tit 15. chap. 14. 44. That as it is impossible that they from whom the Virgin Mary â—â—rneth the eyes of her mercie should be saued so is it necessarie that those vpon whom she turneth them praying for them should be iustified and glorified because Christ is not onely an Aduocate but also a Iudge who will examine all things in rigour and will leaue nothing vnpunished So the good God hath prouided vs such an Aduocatesse in whom there is nothing but benignitie and gentlenesse Hereupon abusing impudentlie the exhortation of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hâ—brewes in the 4. chapter and 16 verse he admonisheth vs to goe boldly vnto the throne of God which is saith he the Virgin Mary in whom he hath placed it let vs goe concludeth he vnto her with assurance as the Apostle saith to the Hebrewes to the end we may obtaine mercie and finde grace in time of need Whereunto to bring the ignorant he likewise is not ashamed to tell this fable that the blessed Seraphins and angels would haue withheld the Virgin Mary as she ascended vp into heauen to haue enioyed her company and to haue placed her in the highest degree of their order as she which surpassed and excelled them both in glorie and in the flame of charitie But what said she to them I take pleasure in your order and congratulate you most affectionately for your diuine fâ—râ—encie But the Scripture must be accomplished saying It is not good that man should be alone let vs make him a helpe like to himselfe so then it is not good that my Sonne should be alone but that I must assist him seeing I am his mother and haue been giuen him for an aide in redemption through compassion in glorification through intercession for mankinde to the intent that if God should threaten to drowne the earth and to punish the sinnes of man by the flood of his scourges I may appeare before him as the Rain-bow that hee may call to minde his coueâ—â—t and may reconcile himselfe with them and not destroy the world You speake not so audaciously of the other Saints departed howbeit Viues the Spaniard confesseth plainly in his discourse on S. Austins 8. book of the City of God that he cannot perceiue that there is any difference betweene the opinion you hold of your Saints and that which the Pagans held of their goods considering you doe vnto them the same honours as vnto God himselfe and to his Sonne Iesus Christ. And indeed your Master of Sentences and his disciples makes no bones to call the Saints the Mediatours of our saluation to teach how they through their works of supererogation haue purchased so great credit in heauen that they haue not onely merited eternall glorie and happinesse for themselues but by those workes also may succour those which yet walke in this vale of miserie and to helpe their necessities The praeyers of the Saints saith Bonauenture in the 4. booke of his Sentences dist 45. qu. 2 may obtaine us many good things as the Master to wit of Scholasticall sentences saith by their affection and through their former merits by which readily and promptly they hauâ— serued God On the other side Our dutie is saith Alexander of Ales in his fourth sentence and 92 question to pray vnto the Saints for three reasons Because of our necessitie the glorie of the Saints and the reuerence to God I say because of the want and defect of our owne merits to the end that when we haue not sufficient and enough of our owne the merits of others may helpe and defend vs. I would willingly come foorth of that bottomlesse pit of your execrable blatphemies but my conscience will not suffer me to dissemble those great praises which you attribute vnto S. Francis who was condemned of impietie by Pope Iohn the 22. and to S. Dominiâ—â—s as it were in despite of God and of his Sonne Iesus Christ neuerthelesse because I will not be too redious I will not here cite all that is found written of them in the bookes allowed by your Church onely I will draw foorth some drafts and principall points whereof the first is that it is written in the book of Conformities How the Virgin Marie and the rest of the Saints in heauen goe in procession euerâ—e one in their order but as for Saint Francis he is harboured in Christs side and commeth forth through his wound is Ensigâ—e bearer to conduct them with the banner of his Crosse in his hand And in the Prose of S. Francis that hee is The figuratiue Sauiour the way the life and a singular one crucified who hauing receiued in a vision the same wounds as Christ had according to the Diuels attestation which heerein is your Doctor purgeth you from your sins Wherefore in good 〈◊〉 he may say that which is sung in the Gospell vpon his feast day All things are giuen to me of my father for as much as through his merites hee hath been made the sonne of God and hath receiued a billet from heauen wherein was written This man is the grace of God So that now through the merits of his works which are so holy that if an Angell had done them they could not haue bin more admirable He is the modell of all perfectioÌ„ in whom we may ioyntly see all the vertues of the Saints aswell of the old as of the new Testament for hee hath obserued the Gospell to a letter and hath accomplished all the commandements of God In such sort that according to the prophecie of Ieremie in the 50 Chap. vers 20. Men shall seeke for his sinne but they shall not finde it And of him the Psalmist hath spoken Thou hast crowned him with glorie and honor and hast set him euer all the workes of thine hands For according to your beliefe he is in the glorie of the Father as it is written Phil. 2. he is deified and in the glorie of God But which is more he maketh one selfesame spirit with God he sitteth aboue in heauen as Aduocate of all the Church militant he is most neerely knit vnto God and beareth rule ouer euery creature By one Masse he hath appeased God towards all the world And to alleage your own words Christus â—rauit Franciscus exorauit that is to say Christ hath prayed Francis hath obtained Let vs now
Christian Church yet was it not receiued of all but only of some particular persons which were reproued and condemned therefore aswell by the iudgement and sentences of the Churches of Asia assembled in the Councell of Laodicea as by many other excellent discourses of the principall Bishops of the Greeke and Latin Churches The sentence of the generall Councell of all the Churches of Asia is described vnto vs by S. Theodoret in his Commentaries vpon the Epistle to the Colossians and the exposition of those words of the Apostle contained in the second chapter and 18 verse to wit Let no man at his pleasure beare rule ouer you by humblenes of minde and worshipping of Angels c. Those saith Theodoret which forbad the law seduced them to worship Angels alleaging that the law had been giuen by them Now this sinne remained for a long time in Phrygia and Pisilia till that the Councell assembled in Laodicea the capitall citie o' Phrygia forbad them by an expresse law not to pray vnto the Angels so that yet vnto this day is to be seene among their neighbours the Oratories of S. Michael Now because they counselled the Christians vnder the cloake of humilitie to worship the Angels S. Paul commandeth them the contrarie that they should beautifie all their sayings and deeds with the remembrance of our Lord Iesus Christ. Giuo thanks saith he vnto God the Father through him and not by the Angels And the Synod of Laodicea following this law as willing to cure this ancient maladie ordained and prouided by another law that they should not pray vnto the Angels to the end they should not forsake our Lord Iesus Christ. Now it resteth in vs to see whether our Fathers haue not taken great paines to haue plucked vp the rootes of this darnell and dangerous weede which the diuell sworne enemie against the glorie of God had sowne by night among the good graine of the pure inuocatiō of the Lords name True it is that in the beginning some haue sowne this wicked seede vnder the shadow of deuotion others haue receiued it to a good end and intention and some others not seeing to it before hand giuing it too long a time of growth it sprouted vp higher and higher and finally would haue ouertopt the truth and haue stifled it they suffered it to grow for a time with the good graine but when they perceiued that this banefull weed began to ouer grow and choake that which by the Apostles had been planted in the Church and watered by their successors they then were constrained wholly to roote it out beginning this holy labour first in the East and went forward with it towards the West For S. Epiphanius and diuers others of the seruants of God in the Easterne Churches hauing vnderstood that some superstitious women presented certaine cakes to the Virgin Mary tooke occasion from thence to reproue this abuse and to admonish them thereof in generall that they should not honour the Saints beyond measure but to honor their Lord and so consequently such as had been seduced ought to renounce their errors and to consider that Mary is not God nor hath any celestiall bodie but that she is of the conception of man and woman who as Epiphanius saith in his Treatise of Heresit steepeth in honor is dead in charitie and hath receiued her crowne in virginitie let none then concludeth he offer vp in her name for if he doe he loseth his soule Moreouer he condemneth these women of heresie by these words In them is accomplished that which was foretold some shall reuolt from the wholesome doctrine betaking themselues to fables and the doctrine of diuels for there shall be some saith he which shall giue diuine honors to the dead as heretofore they honored them in Israel And the glorie of the Saints in their time in opposition to God was an error for others which saw not the truth And this little haue we considered and written to such as will learne the truth in the Scripture and not to braue it out through vain discourses neither to arme themselues with a blasphematorie tongue so that if some will not suffer them nor receiue these profitable things but rather the contrarie we must say to him how little soeuer we are that hee which heareth let him vnderstand and hee which is disobedient let him disobey and let him trouble vs nor the Apostles no more For we haue spoken of the holy Virgin what wee deemed to be the most religious and the most profitable for the Church Afterward hee addresseth himselfe to these women and rebuketh them in that they had decked a chariot or a foure squared chaire spreading a linnen vaile ouer it and set it once a yeere before the virgin Mary and presented thereon to her certaine loaues of bread for the space of some daies He calleth this superstition a heresie and the roote of all idolatrie womens rage a false opinion Eues maladie who by the serpent was deceiued the promise of error proceeding from that wicked beast which bringeth forth no goodnesse neither accomplisheth the things promised but calleth those which are not as though they were the cause of death the mistris and guide vnto disobedience and reuolt from the truth it selfe Item a diabolical enterprise a cursed affection to the forging of Idols inspired of the diuell which vnder the cloake of righteousnesse ordinarily creepeth into the spirits of men and through diuers cunning sleights deifieth a mortall nature Also hee compareth the idolatrie of these women vnto the adulterie and whoredome of common strumpets which heate themselues in the superfluitie of many beds and trample vnder their feete the chast companie of one legitimate husband Hereupon hee confesseth that which these superstitious women were able to propound vnto him namely that the bodie of the Virgin was holy whereunto he answereth that she was not therefore God that she was a virgin worthie of all honour but not giuen vs from God to be adored but that euen she herself hath worshipped him who of her was borne according to the flesh and who is descended from heauen out of the bosome of his Father Therefore ye may see saith he why the Gospell fortifieth vs reciting what the Lord himselfe said vnto her Woman what haue I to doe with thee Mine houre is not yet come To the intent that none should presume of more then appertaineth vnto this holy virgin neither should attribute too much excellencie vnto her he calleth her woman as prophecying of the things which should come to passe in the world by reason of partialities and heresies lest that some in admiring her too much should fall into the romings of this heresie for the whole discourse of this storie is but trash and as I may tearme it an old womans tale Moreouer to take away the occasion of all excuses and replies he cleanly cutteth it off and saith that neuer any Scripture
or which happen in the life of man These are the words of S. Austin which purposely you haue omitted to deceiue the ignorant and to take an occasion from an imperfect allegation of his discourse touching the obscuritie and difficultie of this matter of rising vp furiously against vs and falsely to impose vpō vs by a great medley of vaine words that which we cannot nor will not beleeue with S. Austin to wit that this surpasseth the capacitie of our vnderstanding For as we beleeue the creation of the world the mysterie of the holy Trinity and the resurrection of the flesh though we cānot mete them by the measure of our vnderstanding and that because they are plainly taught vs in the holy Scripture so when you shall prooue vnto vs by expresse tearmes out of the writings of the Prophets that the Saints heare vs and ought to be adored and called vpon by vs that are here beneath on earth then wee will be obedient to your counsell and will subscribe in all humilitie and reuerence to that article But what you would not that men should rebuke you nor likewise should thinke that you seeke an escape through the bogges and besides in stead of bringing in some authenticall testimonie of the Bible you begin againe to alleage to vs three manner of waies whereby S. Austin which might erre and by his retractations roundly confesseth his errors thought that the departed Saints might heare our requests The first is By the arriuall of those which depart this life and goe from hence to them who may aduertise them of the things which happen on earth and especially of that which concernes them most The second By the report of the Angels which sometimes mount vp into heauen and sometimes againe euen in an instant are about vs. The third By the reuelation of Gods spirit which may comport I retaine your fine speeches or beare it selfe with the soules of the blessed in heauen neither more nor lesse then heretofore it did comport it selfe with the Prophets on earth reuealing to them secret things and that which should be done a long while after them as the Scripture testifieth it Whereunto you adde yet a fourth manner of speech inuented by Saint Gregorie which is this That the Saints seeing the face of God see whatsoeuer appertaines to them in any sort and consequently heare also our prayers From whence you conclude that by the doctrine of the Fathers we may conceiue somewhat how the blessed ones heare vs when we call vpon them We now come to refute this fourth meane forged out of mens braines without any ground of holy Scripture First I will only aduertise the reader that it is not likely this sentence to wit that the departed Saints beholding the face of God doe see all things was forged by S. Gregorie seeing in the same chapter that you haue alleaged in your Epistle he saith the contrarie to wit that as they which are liuing know not the estate of soules departed so likewise is vnknowne vnto the dead the manner of life which those leade that remaine after them in the flesh For the life saith he of the spirit is farre different from the life of the flesh and as things corporall and spirituall are differing in nature so are they likewise in knowledge Now it resteth that we should examine those three former waies of the particular knowledge which you attribute to the Saints departed I answere then to the first that nothing is written thereof by the ancient Prophets nor Apostles and therefore wee are not bound to beleeue it Moreouer it often happeneth that the citizens which dwel in one citie know not the affaires of one another how can they then after their departure declare them to the soules of the blessed which they finde in heauen Besides there are many which in praying cast their eyes vp towards heauen whilest none of their neighbours happen to decease who is it then that should doe their message to the Saints departed And notwithstanding if so be there should be at that instant some one ready to die when one prayeth and to carry the newes to heauen what man among you can shew me by diuine scripture that God hath enioyned to him that speciall charge not one Or if you would that one should approue your first manner you necessarily must grant me that there is no Purgatory For if that soules must passe through Purgatory and stay there for some time according to the number of Masses which are caused to be said for their deliuerance how can it be possible for them to aduertise in time the departed Saints of the prayers which were made vnto them so long before Your second and third meanes are of no more certaintie then the others because it is neither written in the old Testament nor in the new that the departed Saints know our necessities by the report of the Angels neither that God indueth y e Saints after their departure with the spirit of prophecie and reuelation as at sometimes hee did to his holy seruants according as the necessitie did require to make them capable of their extraordinarie calling whereunto he had called them Now followeth your last argument which you your selfe calles least of all and that for a good reason For you number vp many of the Fathers which haue inuocated the Saints departed and afterward you close vp your Epistle with flouts against the Ministers of the reformed Churches But whatsoeuer you heape vp against them is 〈◊〉 winde and smoake yea dung in respect of the puritie and excellencie of the word of Iesus Christ and his Apostles which we had rather follow then that of men for we haue no certaine testimonie that their doctrine was diuinely inspired as we haue of the Prophets and Apostles and that these men of God were not led by a humane wil but were moued thereunto by the spirit of our principall Pastor and Bishop Iesus Christ in whose name I admonish you no more to protest so lightly before God his Father that whatsoeuer you haue said tendeth to his honour and the saluation of him to whom you haue sent your Epistle most preiudiciall and contrarie to the glorie of God and the repose of the true members of Iesus Christ vnto whom I pray to giue me his grace constantly to maintaine his pure truth and to accompanie this mine answere with the vertue of his holie Spirit to the end that thereby hee may moue your heart to conceiue your errors and to renounce them for the aduancement of his glorie the acquitting of your conscience and the augmentation of his kingdome FINIS Iames 1. 17. Heb. 11. 6. Psal. 124. 8. Esay 42. 8. 2. Cor. 13. 8. 1. Epist. chap. 4. vers 1. The summe of the demand The answere thereof diuided into two parts Although that Christ be our only mediator yet the Saints are called mediators for three reasons In French Sequestre Other proofes taken from the