Persecutors much more for mercy and favor unto their friends and brethren for they are more inflam'd with charity then with an eager thirst after revenge Theoph. I perceive most of the Arguments are probable diductions from Analogie and proportion but we expect divine Autority to establish such a principle part of Worship which you make the Invocation of Saints Phil. We are not yet arriv'd at that point but preparing the way unto it shewing the Saints in Heaven do understand our affairs and pray for us and with your patience I will give other Texts to prove it Theoph. More pertinent I beseech you Phil. That passage of S t Peter is full to the point 2 d of Pet. 1. 15. I will endeavor after my decease that ye may be able to have these things alwaies in remembrance Where the Apostle shews that after his departure he will endeavor for them Theoph. This feat Argument is Bellarmines and not S t Peters he hath chang'd the order of the words and so by consequence their meaning The Original Text manifests how the words should be read not as you transport them I will endeavor after my decease that you may be able to keep in remembrance c. But Thus a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I will endeavor that every one of you may be able after my decease to have those things alwaies in remembrance And this endeavor he did use in the daies of his flesh in preaching the Gospel until his death and leaving these Epistles as remembrancers Bellarmine indeed hath the confidence to add to the Text his Paraphrase that it might serve his turn b Dabo operam habere vos commendatos sive in Animo post obitum I will endeavor to have you recommended or in mind after my death And yet it is observeable how he concludes this Text after all his patching c Quam vis non sit evidens est tamen probabile argumentum to be no evident but a probable Argument Whereas as he hath shapt it it is cleer and demonstrative to his purpose but his conscience checkt him for his additions and transmutations and so he would not lay any great stress upon it Phil. You will never leave your sinister Construction of his fair dealing but I hope his next Argument has evidence enough That if Dives in Hell was solicitous for his Brethren upon earth and pray'd Abraham to send Lazarus to warn them least they should come into the same place of Condemnation much more are the Saints in Heaven sollicitous for their Brethren the Church Militant and pray for their protection and assistance Theoph. Your Arguments a majori will not hold without some Autority to support them This of the rich glutton is but a feeble Crutch d Justin Eucherius Cyril Chrysost many Intepreters take the whole passage to be a parable not an History and e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theophylact upon the place reckons the other that it is an History a foolish conceit Now you know the maxim f Parabolae non sunt argumentativae parables are no Argumentative Topick neither are they Narratives of things done but similitudinary representations to fix some Doctrines more sensibly and effectually in mens minds Again if it were an Historical relation of matter of fact it would not prove the point That Dives beindead and in Torment knew the affairs of this world Only he was sensible that he had given an example of voluptuousness and uncharitableness unto his brethren and that their sins would contribute unto his Torment and therefore he was solicitous to have them reclaim'd When he shall urge his example for the Invocation of Saints I will answer That you bring an ill president to confirm a Doctrine of the Church and withal when Abraham or any of the Saints in Heaven shall undoubtedly appear and commune with you you may desire their assistance Phil. Bellarmine hath one material proof that the Saints in Heaven do pray for the faithful upon earth because the Church militant and triumphant do make one mystical body whereof Christ is the head And so there g Ibid. Communio illa exigit necessario ut membra pro invicem sint sollicita mutuo se juvent must be a Communion between the members making them solicitous mutually to help one another Theoph. He might have spar'd to urge the necessary mutual assistance for we do not pray for the Saints in Heaven neither are we solicitous for them who are immutably blessed and of their affection towards us their fellow members militant upon earth we do not doubt neither of their praiers for the Church in general That she may be victorious over all her Enemies as also for the filling up the number of the Elect and their Consummation in bliss but this will not infer their distinct knowledg of things here below or make for your Doctrine of Invocation For you know the Saints militant over all the world are fellow members and mutually solicitous for one another and yet one National Church doth not invocate another in her public offices Phil. I pray give me leave to make the Inference when I have sufficiently fortified the premises you run away with the argument before it is perfect and so conclude it is invalid For you shall find that our Doctors do not only prove how the Saints in Heaven pray in general for the Church militant and for the Saints on earth but that they pray particularly for them for that is Betlarmines next position a Ibid. Sancti qui regnant in coele crant pro nobis etiam in particulari The Saints in Heaven pray for us in particular Theoph. Be pleas'd to let us here his Arguments Phil. He proves the Angels have a special charge over us in particular and pray for us and therefore much more the Saints in Heaven do so Theoph. How doth he prove his much more I doubt it will prove at length much less and the whole Argument a non sequitur Phil. His reasons seem demonstrative our Saviour saith the Saints in Heavin are as the Angels Luk. 20. vers 36. They alwaies stand in the presence of God and most affectionately love us and therefore want neither understanding or will to be assistant unto their brethren upon earth And in one regard they may surpass the Angels in a promtitude to succor us in that they have a nearer relation to us as their flesh and blood and have had experience of our dangers and sorrows and so are the rather qualified to compassionate our infirmities Theoph. Our blessed Savior shews how the Saints in Glory are like unto the Angels and equal to them in respect of their Immortality for they can dy no more and in that they neither marry nor are given in Marriage as you may observe the place but there is no demonstration the comparison should hold in all things and doubtless before the Resurrection
and the joyful union between the Spirits of just Men and their glorified bodies they are in some state of imperfection their appetite of Union being not fulfill'd and therefore you may observe our Savior spake of the Saints in the Resurrection expressly as to their likeness and Equality with the Angels and concludes not any thing before They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the Resurrection from the Dead neither Marry nor are given in Marriage Neitheir can they dy any more for they are equall unto the Angels Luk. 20. vers 35. 36. That they want neither knowledg nor affection to assist us and take a charge of us altho we should grant to avoid disputes yet we do not read they have such a Commission from God to attend us as have the Angels It is written Ps 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord tarries round about them that fear him and delivereth them Again Ps 39. 11 He has given his Angels charge over thee It is written Matt. 18. 10. In Heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven Again Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation Produce such Autorities for the glorious Saints ministery and assistance and we will yield your consequence that because the Angels of Heaven have charge over the people of God upon earth the Saints have likewise It is written 1 Thes 4. 16. That at the voice of the Archangel and the sound of the trump the dead shall rise That the Son of Man shall send his Angels at the last day to gather the elect and sever the wicked from the just the chaff from the corne Matt. 13. Dare you ascribe this office likewise unto the Saints in glory And therefore your Argument from the Angels to the Saints is groundless a meer invention of man without any warrant from Gods word Wherein it appears that the Angels are Gods messengers and Ministers between Heaven and earth but not so the Saints departed Now as God Almighty imploies the Angels so he imparts unto them the knowledg and understanding of affaires below so far as concerns their business and as they attend the Saints upon earth so they know much of their condition And so they rejoice at the conversion of a sinner But we read not a syllable of the Saints in Heaven of their knowledg or their Joy and therefore you can draw no good consequence from one to the other Phil. You conclude well upon your own suppositions but take our Doctors along with you and you will find That God hath committed the charge of the Church militant and the Saints upon earth as well to the Saints as to the Angels of Heaven c Bell. Ibid. A spiritibus beatorum regi gubernard fideles c. and that the faithful are govern'd and conducted by the Spirits of the Blessed Theoph. Shew their substantial proofs and not their confident assertions Phil. You read how the Son of God makes a faithful promise Revel 2. vers 26. 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron as the vessel of a potter shall they be broken in peices Again Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of God to uphold his Church and I will grant to him to sit with me on my throne to rule and govern with Christ his Church and to preside over the world now Bellarmine proceeds to shew how these promises are made to the Saints after this life because they are made to him that overcometh all the Temptations of life and keepeth Christs word until death And that this government belongs to them before the general Resurrection appears from that expression He shall cule them with a rod of Iron and shall brake them as a potters vessel These words imply a pastoral regiment the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall feed them as a Shepherd his sheep and it is call'd an Iron rod because inflexible from the rule of justice and therewith the refractory shall be broken in pieces the same expressions are given of Christ Rev. 12. 5. She brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of Iron Theoph. Methinks your Doctors in there deep Theologie fetch their proofs most from the Revelations of S t John Your Doctrine of the Saints in Heaven governing the World and the faithful upon earth knowing our state and hearing our praiers is a great mysterie I had almost said of Iniquity and you cheifly confirm it from some mysterious passages in the Revelation an Argument you want plain and positive proofs and therefore fly unto obscure and figurative and mystical expressions All these promises you have mention'd made to the Saints persevering unto the end serve to shew their state of transcendent blessedness and glory above their fellows who in this life were inferior to them in their sufferings and in their graces Like those in the parable who according to the improvement of their Talents had autority given them over many Cities Luk. 19. Or like the blessed servant whom the Lord at his coming shall find so doing Verily I say unto you That he shall make him ruler over all his goods Mat. 24. 47. He shall place him in great honor saith Euthimius upon the place and he gives a caution that we should not enquire too far and with too much curiosity into these things nor collect any thing from such parabolical expressions but what they necessarily imply After the like manner Theophylact upon the place He a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. shall share in the more Honourable recompences to wit in the Kingdom of Heaven for the Saints are Heirs of all that appertain to God And so run the general Interpretations upon the ten Cities c. Among the Ancients we find no mention of this conceit That Christ communicates the charge of his Church and people and the government of the world before the day of judgment unto the Saints in glory Phil. However his proofs out of scripture may sail him Bellarmine abundantly shews from the Testimony of the Fathers that the Saints in Heaven do govern and take charge of the Saints on earth and are therefore in this regard likewise equal with the Angels Theoph. I will take the Testimony of the Antient in due season but I first desire to hear all the Arguments together out of the Holy Scripture proving That the Saints do particularly pray for us and that we must pray to Them for I suppose the foundation of this Doctrine must be sure laid in the word of God or else all will fall to the ground Phil. The Doctrines of our Church are very consonant unto the Scripture and out of them you will find sufficient proof of our duty to call
his Zeal for your Church and that in him I should meet with all which rationally can be suggested to uphold his Cause Let us therefore hear how he hath managed these Controversies Phil. Concerning the Point Invocation of Saints departed After some preliminary Discourses a Tom. 2. Controvers 4. de Eccl. Triumph c. 18 19. Bellarmin undertakes to prove two things one in order unto the other 1. That the Saints in Heaven do pray for us 2. That we must pray to them Theoph. One of these doth not necessarily follow upon the other That if the Saints Triumphant are sollicitous for and do pray for the Church Militant in general for the triumph of their Faith and their consummation in Bliss who being Fellow-members of Christs mystical Body the Church are yet within the Lists wrestling with great opposition and many tryals I say it doth not follow That if the Saints in Glory do pray for the Church Militant that therefore we should call upon them so to do They are perfect in Grace and never wanting to their duty or unmindful of their concerns Upon this account methinks out of a Zeal to the glory of God you ought as frequently to call upon the Saints in Heaven to laud and magnifie the God of Heaven as out of a sense of your own wants to pray unto them to intercede for you But withal you can never give us any infallible assurance that they do hear our Prayers that so in Faith and with confidence we may call upon them The Members of the Church-Catholic thro-out the World do pray for one another and yet one National Church doth not Invocate another except it be by enter course of communicatory Epistles Direct me how to send a Letter to Saint Peter and I will not fail to put in my humble request That he would help me with his Praiers Phil. This great Point concerning the assurance that the Saints do hear our Praiers will fall into consideration hereafter mean while it becomes you not to mock and play the Droll in a serious concern Theoph. You may excuse me the rather seeing you shall find in b Tom. 5. pag. 513. Binius his Edition of the Councils a large Letter sent to Pepin King of France and Charls and Carlemain his Sons from S t Peter by Pope Stephen the 3 d imploring and requiring their speedy assistance against the Lombards in the behalf of Rome his Episcopal See and of his Sepulcher and Temple therein And you may suppose Pope Stephen could as easily have returned an Answer from these Princes to the Apostle I shall have occasion to produce that hereafter Phil. These are strange divertisements from our business Are you seriously afraid to enter into the Controversie that you interrupt my Discourse with such impertinencies Theoph. If I should answer your Question you would complain of more delaies Take your course therefore and I will follow you Phil. a Ib. Cap. 18. Bellarmin proves the Saints do pray for us from that passage of Holy Scripture Tho Moses and Samuel stood before me yet could not my mind be towards this People Therefore saith he Moses and Samuel being dead did usually pray for the People of the Jews Theoph. We have a rule in Logic Suppositio nihil point This Supposition If they should pray doth not imply They did pray The Text only designs to shew Gods great indignation against his People the Jews at that time insomuch that if those two Holy Persons and greatly belov'd were alive and should interpose for them they should not prevail b Tom. 4. Homil. 1. in primum Thess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence S t Chrysostom upon this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Moses the first Law-giver who often delivered the Jews by his Intercession from Divine Vengeance if he were now in being he should not prevail The like passage we have Ezek 14. 13 14. Son of Man when the Land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously c. tho these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness And so in divers passages following in that Chapter Tho Noah Daniel and Job were in it c. now as this Supposition cannot infer these three Men were in the Land for Noah and Job were dead more then a thousand Years before altho Daniel was then living So neither doth the former Supposition prove That Moses and Samuel did pray for the Jews after their decease That place of S t Paul Gal. 10. ver 8. Tho we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel to you c. in Bellarmins Logic must imply They did preach another Gospel Let the Reader pity us to see unto what a drudgery we are put to answer such futile Arguments Phil. I well see nothing will prevail against your prejudices but express and positive Texts and therefore in the next Argument Bellarmine complies with your humor In the second Book of Maccabees and the last Chapter we read expresly How Onias formerly their High Priest and a vertuous and good Man prai'd for the whole Body of the Jews ver 12. And that Jeremiah the Prophet of the Lord did pray much for the People and for the holy City when Judas Maccabaeus was ingaging in Battel with Nicanor unto whom we read the Prophet Jeremiah gave a Sword of Gold as a Gift from God wherewith to wound and subdue his Enemies Theoph. This is out of an Apocryphal Book and therefore no infallible proof from Canonical Scripture Now touching the Canon of Holy Scripture we may have by Divine permission another occasion to discourse And altho Bellarmin pleaseth himself that Calvin had no other refuge but to deny the Autority of the Text yet we will reflect upon other Particulars which appear to weaken the Testimony For it was but a Dream of Judas Maccabeus which he told unto his Soldiers to encourage them before the Fight a Dream worthy to be believed as if it had been so indeed saith the Author ver 11. It seems therefore indeed it was not so and so the whole Testimony is from a Dream that had no reality In the 12 th verse it is call'd A Vision you may suppose a waking Dream and therein there was so much reality that Jeremiah gave a golden Sword to Judas to wound his Adversaries but a golden Sword is no fit Instrument of War for execution and it is much we never read it was laid up in the Temple for a Sacred Relic and much more cause we have to wonder it is not at all mention'd in the first Book of Maccabees which is the more perfect History of those Wars and wherein the Battel with Nicanor is punctually related 1 Macc. 7. 41. and Judas his Praier to God before the Fight but of the Dream or Vision ne gry quidem And now I pray observe how your Doctors in those Instances are inconstant to their own Principles for they generally
and Practice the Autority of Man and Custom will prove too feeble to support it And where I formerly produc'd the Autority of the Ancients in any Point I first had laid the sure Foundation in the Word of God However it is not my purpose to interrupt your course fortifie your Doctrine as well you can and I will attac it Phil. I believe so you have resolv'd right or worng But I shall startle you and your Reader when you shall find the general Current of Antiquity allowing and practicing the Invocation of Saints and therefore it cannot be a damnable Doctrine Theoph. Hitherto I have not so called it but when I shall descend to a more particular consideration of those horrible Blasphemies we shall discover in the practice of this Doctrine you wall give me leave to say it hath prov'd distructive unto millions of Souls mean while let it pass for a Doctrine full of Superstition and Will-worship Phil. How easily do you make Councils and Fathers criminals who have avowed the Doctrine For Bellarmin first shews how in the fourth General Council that of Calcedon the Holy Fathers unanimously cried out u Flavianus post mortem vivit Martyr pro nobis oret Flavian lives after death I et the blessed Martyr pray for us Theoph. This Council was held above 400 Years after Christ and yet I did not expect to find so early a Testimony of the Bishops in such a General Council for your purpose Give me leave therefore to search the 11 th Session of that Council from whence Bellarmin brings the Testimony In the third Tome of Tinius his Edition we shall find it and now I pray let your own Eyes be Judges In the Original Greek Copy there are no such words only general Acclamations of the Council unto the pious memory of Flavian x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let his memory be eternal the memory of Flavian the Orthodox c. But the words which Bellarmin quotes are by a Parenthesis inserted in the Latin and nothing answers them in the Greek This is a detestable Forgery and I cannot conceive the Learned Cardinal was not aware of it however you see what need there is we should examin your Doctors Quotations and here you find he is extreamly ◠Bin. Tom. 1. Concil Carth. 3. p. 182. deficient Phil. It seems the Latin Translator deceived him and it is strange such a Clause should be put in when there was nothing answerable in the Greek Theoph. Such leger de main is usual with some Zealots of your Church to uphold her Innovations Phil. Upon the least occasion given you are very severe and uncharitable in your Censures But what say you to his next Quotation of the Bishops of Europe to the Emperor Leo We have rank'd most holy Proterius in the Order and Quire of the Holy Martyrs and we desire God by his Intercession to be merciful and propitious unto us a Now you may understand that Proterius was Patriarch of Alexandria and injuriously thrust out by Timotheus and afterwards murthered by his Accomplices whil'st he did himself in the sacred Font of the Temple Complaint was made hereof by the Egyptian Bishops and the Clergy of Alexandria to the Emperor who communicated their Letters to the Bishops thro-out his Empire desiring them to give their Judgment of the Council of Chalcedon against which Timotheus and his Faction had protested and of the matter of Fact concerning Proterius his death and Timotheus his Intrusion into the See of Alexandria and among other things the European Bishops in their Answer to the Emperor give this account of Proterius That his death was Martyrdom and they desired the assistance of his Praiers Theoph. After this ingenious account given your Testimony comes not home to your purpose Observe the words They import no Invocation of the Martyr Proterius but a desire That God would be merciful unto them for his sake and Intercession Phil. They suppos'd therefore That the Saints in Heaven do make Intercession and pray for us Theoph. But why do you hereupon suppose That we must pray to them we deny not That they generally pray for the Saints militant on Earth for their Victory over all their Adversaries Heretics and Infidels and Persecutors and that every true Believer thro the goodness of God may reap the benefit of their Praiers but that we should pray to them when we cannot be assur'd that they hear us and when we have no warrant out of Gods Word to do so we dare not consent And withal in this Quotation I pray observe another Artifice of your Doctor he would have us believe this was an Epistle to the Emperor of all the European Bishops whereas it was only of four Bishops whose Subscription we find in Binius thus John Bishop of Heraclea Theophronius of Aphrodiasis Theotecnus Episcopus Cyclensis and Babulas Bishop of Theodosipolis The other Bishops of Europe give their account to the Emperor in other Epistles and so this Testimony which Bellarmin pretends to be of a Council and entitles it to the European Bishops sinks into a private Testimony of four Bishops of inconsiderable Diocesses joining Bin. Tem. 3. part 3. Concilin Calcedon in one Epistle to the Emperor and comes not up to the Point neither of Saints Invocation as you have heard Phil. You lie at catch for some exception or other But in the next place Bellarmin brings an express Canon of the sixth general Council a Can. 7. Solo Deo Creat adorato c. Requiring us to call upon the Saints that they would vouchsase to intercede for us with the Divine Majesty Theoph. It is evident That the fifth and sixth general Councils made no Canons and the Learned generally acknowledg it and therefore some Years after the sixth general Council at Constantinople was held and concluded under the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus and Pope Agatho against the Heresie of the Monothelites Jusinian the yonger summons a Council in the Registery of his Sacred Palace which because of its famous capacious Arch was called Trullus and the Council Concilium Trullanum the Council of Trullo in the time of Pope Sergius Anno Dom. 692. consisting of four Patriarchs and 215 Bishops wherein were made 104 Canons as a Supplement unto the former Councils which made none and the Council was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Bin. Tom 5. p. 419. In notis ad consilium Ouini-sextum the fifth-sixth Synod because it supplied what was wanting to them both Phil. This was indeed generally receiv'd but some time after there were found nine Canons ascrib'd unto the sixth general Council whereof this which Bellarmin quotes is the seventh Theoph. Yes Surius tells us They were found in an old Manuscript of a Monastery in Gaunt but he also declares That they are falsly ascrib'd to the sixth general Council as Binius shews Tom 5. pag. 360. And here we may justly stand amaz'd to find your Learned Cardinal cite
to wish that the Lord would please to encline his ears unto the praiers of the Priest by reason of his far distance or because the Priest speaks with a submiss and whispering voice as he is somtimes enjoin'd or when himself is deaf or the like and he might well have added one cause more when the public Offices are not understood being perform'd in an unknown Tongue I have singled out this great Oracle of his Age as one for all who was consulted about Casuistical Solutions from all parts of the Western-Church and set forth this Enchiridion or Manual of Confessors after many previous Editions revised and perfected in the 90 th Year of his Life as himself declares in his Epistle Dedicatory to Pope Gregory the 13 th And herèunto exactly suits the practice of their Church The people are solicitous to afford their presence at Mass in their solemn Feasts but it matters not at what distance from the High Altar they place themselves for if they hear the Praiers yet generally they understand them not and therefore they apply themselves some to Auricular Confession in corners of the Temple unto the Priests they have made choice of others mumble over their bead-role of Praiers which they have bin enjoin'd by way of Penance others who had not leisure to pay their Morning Devotions at home recollect them in the Church only when the Mass-Priest with a loud voice concludes the Praiers they are accustom'd to answer Amen and when he elevates the Host they have warning given them to Adore and Worship Phil. You may reckon these as personal abuses and corruptions against the pious intention of the Church in her public Offices Theoph. They are too general to be accounted personal And it is evident the public Service being not understood the great Doctors of the Church judg it reasonable and charitable to allow the people their private Devotions in the Church and therefore it is a mockery for the Priest to exhort the people to pray with him when they understand not his Praiers and are permitted to pray by themselves Phil. The opinion of private Doctors or the corrupt practice of private persons is insignificant Shew the Authority of the Church for this permission Theoph. I shew how the Church gives the occasion by performing the Service in an unknown Tongue for if the people must join in common Praier with the Priest they must understand it that they may devoutly and affectionatly discharge the duty together with him Phil. However I have shewed you before how the Priest is the mouth of the people putting up the common Supplications and offering up the great Sacrifice of Christ unto the Father in the Mass for them Theoph. And so the people are excluded and in vain invited to join in Praier with the Priest and there is no communion in the Service which your self not long before acknowledg'd to be an absurdity And you will find the Primitive Fathers of the Church speaking expresly to this point Of the peoples joining with the Priest in public Praier and of the efficacy of such Praiers as more available with God when the Congregation with one heart and voice did make their common Supplications and sing Praises to him Tertullian in the 39 th Chapter of his excellent Apology for Christians resembles them when assembled together in common Praier unto an Army manu facta as he speaks making an assault upon the God of Heaven and by a Sacred Violence wresting Concessions from him Haec vis Deo grata This is an acceptable force to the Almighty St. Basil compares them unto the rushing of many Waters in his Hexameron the 4 th Homily If the Sea saith he be beautiful in the sight of God how much more is such an assembly of the Church as we have here in which the mingled sound of Men Women and Children making their common Praiers ascendeth unto our God as the noise of Waves beating against the Banks S t Ambrose insists upon the same Metaphor in his Hexameron the 3 d Book and first Chapter Bene mari comparatur Ecclesia in Oratione totius plebis c. Appositly may the Church be compared to the Sea when all the multitude in their Praiers make a noise like the flowing Waves and in the Responsals of the Psalms and in the Hymns of Men Women Virgins and Children S t Chrysostom shews how the people in the public Praiers contribute much to such as are possest and to the Penitents For the Praiers of the Priest and of the people saith he are common All say the same Praier 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homil. 18. in secundum Epistolam ad Corinth With what shew of reason therefore can ye exclude the people from understanding the public Service and joining with the Priest therein Phil. This course you have mention'd out of Antiquity continued not many Ages in the Church Theoph. For 600. Years as appears by Isidore Hispalensis Lib. 10 de Ecclesiast Officiis cap. 10. Oportet ut quando Psallitur psallatur ab omnibus cum oratur oretur ab omnibus c. It is necessary that this rule should be observed in Church Service that when they sing All should sing when they pray all should pray when the Lesson is read All being silent should hear And therefore the Deacon with a loud voice commandeth silence that whether they sing or the Scriptures be read unity be preserved and that which is spoken to all should be heard of all Phil. But the general practice of the Church prevails with sober Men against all Testimonies whatever Theoph. What is the general practice of the Church Phil. In every Nation under Heaven to have the public Service in one of the three Sacred Languages In Hebrew Greek or Latin Theoph. Is one Language holier then another Phil. Not in it self but in the effect because the Holy Ghost chose to communicate unto the World the Holy Scriptures in these three Languages Theoph. You have made an ill Argument for the Latin Tongue for I do not find that any part of Gods Word was originally written in Latin Phil. Yes Bellarmine asserts it a Bell. Tom. 1. l. 2. de verbo Dei cap. 15. Let us be content saith he with those three Tongues which Christ hath honored with the Title of his Cross and which excel all others in Antiquity amplitude and gravity and wherein the Holy Scriptures were first written by their Authors b Quibus ipsi libri divini ab Autoribus suis initio scripti fuerunt And he brings a great Autority for the proof even Hilary in his Preface to his Commentary upon the Psalms c His tribus linguis Sacramentum voluntatis dei beati Regni expectatio praedicatur In these three Tongues the mystery of the will of God and the expectation of the kingdom is published Theoph. This Testimony of Hilary comes not home to the point he saith In quibus praedicatur In which three Tongues the
Images And I do not find in the second Council of Nice the term of Dulia opposite to Latria but Salutation and Adoration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However at present we dispute not the terms but desire to know the importance of the known distinction That God only is worship'd with the worship call'd Latria and the Saints with the worship call'd Dulia In the first place therefore What is Latria a Lib. 9. Instit Moralium c. 5. Cultus soli Deo c. Azorius a Jesuit and Casuist tells us It is Service or Worship due to God alone whereby we subject our selves to him as to the supreme Lord putting our trust and confidence in him In the second place What is Dulia b Veneratio quae civibus Coeli tribuitur That Veneration saith he which is given unto the Citizens of Heaven This sheweth to whom it is given but why doth he not tell us what that Worship is and wherein it differeth from Latria And withal seeing Dulia signifieth servitude in the judgment of c Tom. 1. l. de vera Relig. c. 55. Honoramus eos charitate non servitate Augustin we ought not to give it to the Saints in Heaven We honor them saith he with love and not with servitude No distinct peculiar Service or Worship is due to the Saints in Glory for herein lies the difference between the Fathers and the School-men These appropriate a Service and Worship to the Saints in Heaven and call it Dulia to the Blessed Virgin and call it Hyperdulia But Augustin makes no difference between the Service and Worship due to the Saints in Heaven and the Saints on Earth d Lib. 20. Contra Faust. Manich. c. 21. Colimus Martyres eo cultu delect c. We honor Martyrs with that worship of love and friendship wherewith we honor holy Men of God in this life and we worship God alone with Latria When the Manichees objected That Christians made Idols of their Martyrs honoring their Tombs and erecting Altars before them e Quos etiam votis similibus colitis and making Vows unto them f Altaria erigimus Deo Martyrum quod offertur Deo offertur c. Augustin answers We erect the Altars to the God of those Martyrs and the Oblations are given to God who crowned the Martyrs A Christian with Religious Solemnity celebrates the memories of Martyrs to excite Imitation and that he may share in their merits and be assisted by their Praiers Phil. This passage of S t Augustin shews a Religious Solemnity to be kept in honor of the Saints departed and that the living may share in their Merits and be assisted by their Praiers these are Truths which you will not freely acknowledg Theoph. We do acknowledg them for by a Religious Solemnity we understand the Festivals which the Holy Church observes in commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs By the society of their Merits we understand that by imitation of the Saints we have a Fellowship in their Labors and in their Crowns And for the last Clause the assistance of their Prayers we doubt not but that the Saints in Heaven do pray for the Church of God and his Servants here on Earth but as for any knowledge of particulars when we come to that Point I can shew how S t Augustin doubts a Lib. de cura pro Mort. c. 15. Fatendum nescire quidem mortuos quid hic agatur Whether the Blessed Saints and Martyrs do hear the Prayers which are offered up at their Shrines nay he confesseth that they do not know what is done here below and that when by the power of God and Ministry of Angels Miracles were done at their Shrines themselves might not know it no not when they did appear to some upon Earth as Saul saw in a Vision one Ananias coming to him and putting his hands upon him that he might receive his sight but Ananias himself knew nothing of that appearance to Saul until the Lord declared it to him Acts 9 12 God might please to act great things at the Monuments of Martyrs b Cap. 17. Illis in summa quiete positis whil'st themselves were in perfect rest as he speaks But this by the way it belongs to another Controversie in due time to be assum'd However you have heard Augustin after all that he had said concluding We honor Martyrs with that worship of Love and Friendship wherewith we honor Holy Men of God in this Life and if you will require no more Veneration to be given to them we will grant it But then you must remember That Paul when living did forbid Cornelius to worship him and so did the Angel prohibit the Apostle John and so would all the glorious Saints in Heaven prohibit your Adoration before their Images if they could communicate in speech or any other way with you Religious Worship we deny to the Saints and their Images civil honor and respect we give Phil. Because the Saints and Angels of God are like him in their natural Powers and Qualities moral and civil honor is due to them for honor is the acknowledgment of some Excellency But then in regard unto their supernatural Gifts and Spiritual and Religious Qualities we must allow them Religious and Spiritual Honor and Veneration Theoph. c De vera Relig. c. 55. Vni Deo religamus animas nostras unde Religio dicta creditur S t Augustin observes how the very name of Religion strictly binds us to God and therefore all Religious Acts and Services are due only to him Had not Peter and Paul and the other Saints in bliss while they were living in the Flesh supernatural Gifts and Excellencies and would you have worship'd them with Religious Worship Cornelius attemted it and was forbidden Phil. There is a great disproportion between the Saints in Glory and the Saints militant here on Earth Theoph. In regard of their Happiness and Fruition they are excellent beyond compare but this is their reward the Honor we give them is in commemoration of their Works and Excellencies in this Life for our example and imitation And withal Cornelius worshipping Peter in the Flesh was sure Peter was sensible of that Honor then given and you know the Apostle refus'd it but if you worship him now being in Heaven you may rationally doubt as S t Augustin did of the Saints in geneneral whether he is sensible of that Honor more then his Image before which you fall down and worship Phil. However God accepts the Honor done to his Saints as to himself Theoph. Yes when done according to his rule But where hath God given any command or direction to worship them you bring no proofs of your Practice out of Holy Scripture we urge many Texts against it Your Arguments run altogether upon Analogy and Proportion that much more honor is due to the Saints now in Heaven then when they liv'd in the Flesh because they are much more excellent
Man and his redemtion by Christ and other Mysteries which were made known unto them saith the Apostle in the Churches by the Ministery of the Gospel See Estius in 4. Sent. dist 46. Paragr 19. p. 294. And so while your Doctors without any warrant of Scripture generally lay this for a Foundation That the Saints in Heaven do know our state and bear our Praiers when they come to the proof and confirmation every one abounds in his own sense and they easily confute one anothers Reasons and Opinions and manifest unto their Readers upon due consideration that they are full of uncertainties in the Point which they take for granted and can urge only fallible Arguments to confirm that which they would have receiv'd by all Men as a mesur'd Truth but we have not learn'd to subscribe to Mens Dictates And you acknowledg your Doctor makes not proof of his Assertion which is a great defect this being the main Hinge whereupon the Controversie turns We conclude therefore there is no reason we should call upon the Saints when they do not hear us as a Child doth not ask his Fathers Blessing when he is out of hearing Now you assert with Bellarmin That the Saints in Heaven out of doubt do hear us but you know not how It is probable say you that in the Face of God they see and know all things that concern them but give no reason of that probability and is it fit that a Doctrine of your Church which takes up in that part the Devotion of all Gods People should be grounded only upon such a probability whereof you can give no reason How can I call upon the Saints with Faith and Comfort when I have no assurance that they can hear me I may with as much reason daily beg the Praiers of pious Friends who live far from me and say It is probable God will revele to them that I desire the assistance of their Praiers Phil. Your Instance runs not parallel Our condition here is a state of ignorance their 's a state of comprehension They can see the Face of God and live for ever they certainly know all things which tend to their consummation in Bliss for they are arriv'd at the state of Perfection and perfect Knowledge is the foundation of their Happiness Theoph. The perfect knowledg of God is so Here we know in part saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. ver 12. but there we shall know as we are known i. e. fully perfectly and this knowledg and Vision of God is Beatifical But how doth this prove their knowledg of the necessities and Praiers of us poor Mortals here on Earth whom they have leâ—t behind them in the vale of Misery we may rather suppose the wisdom of God hath excluded them from the knowledg of their Friends and Relations and of miserable Man here beneath least it should prove a diminution of their Joy and Bliss Your Angelical Doctor holds o Aqu. part 1. qu. 12. Art 8. ad 4. Cognoscere singularia cogitata aut facta c. non est de perfect It belongs not unto the perfection of a created Intellect to know particulars the thoughts or actions of Men. If God only be seen it sufficeth to make men happy As S t Augustin â— He is happy who knoweth Thee altho he have nothing else In a word Cardinals Cajetane was a Learned Advocate of your Church and had studied the Point in hand much and he concludes at last That we have no assurance that the Saints know when we pray to them altho we piously believe it Phil. I well perceive you have a Spirit of contradiction and please your self much in eluding such Arguments which our Doctors urge from Scripture and reason to prove the Doctrine of our Church touching the Invocation of Saints I will therefore take a more convincing way unto such refractory persons and plainly shew by matter of Fact and express Testimony of the Antients That this Doctrine hath bin receiv'd in the Church Catholic from the beginning Theoph. I presume you mean not from the beginning of Christianity you have heard how the attemt of your Doctors to prove it out of Gods Word hath been altogether unsuccessful and some of your Doctors have confes'd that it is delivered in Holy Scripture very obscurely and others have shew'd the reason even the humility and modesty of the Apostles which with-held them from publishing this Doctrine least they should appear to make themselves as Gods after their decease by requiring the People of God to make their Praiers and Supplications to them Seeing therefore your Doctrine is not sounded in the Holy Scripture I could give a short Answer unto your pretended usage of the Church and Testimony of the Ancient That which S t Augustin gave to Cresconius urging the Autority of Cyprian r I am not bound to the Autority of this Epistle for I do not hold the Writings of Cyprian as Canonical but judg of them by the Canonical Scripture and whatsoever is consonant to the Holy Scripture I receive with praise what agrees not with his leave 〈…〉 eject If you could prove what you have urg'd out of the Canonical Books of the Apostles and Prophets I would not contradict but seeing what you haue is not Canonical with that liberty whereunto God hath called us I do not receive his Testimony whose due Praise I can never equal with whose Writings I dare not compare mine own whose Learning I embrace whose 〈…〉 y I admire whose Martyrdom is venerable Again S t Augustin to the same effect elsewhere It is not sufficient unto the Autority of Faith and of the Dostrines of the Church to say Thus Esay or thou faist or he saith 〈◊〉 Thus saith the Lord. So the Blessed Martyr Gyprian himself We must not been what any one hath done before us but what He who is before all Ages hath taught or communded to be don Once more I could answer you out of Gratian t A Custom without the Word of God to back it is not â— B 〈…〉 quâ— T 〈…〉 scit etiamsi alia n 〈…〉 t. 〈…〉 sec 〈…〉 secundie â—hem qn 88. Art 5. Certaratione nescimus an Sancti vota 〈…〉 se 〈…〉 2. contr Cresconium c. 32. Ego hujus Epistolae c. 〈…〉 do sine verbo Lei non esse veritatem sed vetustatem erroris Truth but the Antiquity of Error The Council of Cartbage resolved thus â— The Lord said in the Gospel I am Truth He said not I am Castom Phil. Can you so easily trample upon the Autority of the Fathers You have formerly pretended much honor to the venerable Testimony of Antiquity where you conceiv'd it consonant unto your Principles and now you would decline that Touch-stone because you know full well it is against you in this Point of the Invocation of Saints Theoph. These Sentences I have produc'd are of the Fathers and seeing the Word of God doth not establish your Doctrine
a Qui proprio sanguine laverunt si qua habuerunt peccata The Martyrs if they had any sins have washt them away with their own Blood The Blessed Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 1. The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness Immediatly before these words which Bellarmin quotes S. Ambrose hath this passage b Infirma est caro mens aegra ad Medici sedem non potest debile explicare vestigium The flesh is weak the mind sick and feter'd with the chains of sin and so we cannot creep to the Physician but must call upon the Angels and Martyrs c. Where do you read in H. Scripture that the sick to wit the sinner cannot come to Christ the Physitian did he not come to call sinners to invite the weary and heavy laden to come to him and find rest you shall hear other Fathers generally contradicting this Doctrine of Ambrose and the Holy Scripture much more yet this is the usual pretence for Saints Invocation and Intercession That we are unworthy of our selves to draw neer to an Holy God to put up our supplications to him of which more hereafter herein S. Ambrose contradicts what he hath piously commented upon the first chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. in the 4 chap. of his Commentary c Solent miserâ uti excusatione per istos posse ire ad Deum ut per Comites ad Reg. This is the miserable excuse saith he that by Angels and Saints we may have access to God being unworthy of our selves to come unto him as we go to the King by his Courtiers For which he answers d Ideo per Tribunos Comites itur ad Regem quia homo est c. Ad Deum a. promerendum qui omnium novit merita suffragatore opus non est sed mente devotâ Therefore we come to the King by his Tribunes and Officers because the King is a man and must receive information from others but to obtain the favor of God who knoweth all mens deserts we need no suffragants but a devout mind whensoever such a one calls upon Him he will answer him Nothing could be more directly oppos'd to your usuall plea for the Invocation of Saints The same Father in his book de Isaac Anima cap. 5 tells us from the third chap. of Canticles and the third vers e Anima quae Deum quaerit transit custodes enim sunt mysteria quae etiam Ang. concupiscunt videre That a Soul seeking God passeth by the keepers for there are mysteries which the Angels them selves desire to looke into Phil. Do you then follow S. Ambrose's direction in one place and I will take his advise in the other Bellarmin brings the testimony of many other Fathers of the later Ages of the Church and I must confess I am almost tired in following him especially seeing you so dextriously shift him off Gregory Nyssen speaks home to the point in the latter end of his Oration opon Theodorus a Martyr thus We want many benefits doe thou become our Legat with the King of Heaven Thou art not ignorant of humane necessities procure peace for us That we have bin safe and sound hitherto we ascribe it to thee If you want more assistance take in the quire of your Brethren the Martyrs The praiers of many Saints wash away the sins of Nations and People In the like manner he speaks in his Panegyricks of another Martyr Theoph. This is sufficient to your purpose you need look no further But I pray tell me do you take him for an Orator or Divine in these passages Is it possible he should in earnest ascribe the preservation of the Faithfull all along unto this Martyr hope for security from him for the future and never take into consideration the divine protection Is it good Divinity to say That the praiers of the Just wash away the guilt of Nations and People and never mention the Blood of Christ and his effectuall Intercession Phil. That is to be suppos'd as the principall the Blessed Saints may be instrumentall in these Blessings Theoph. What you suppose is one thing and what he expresseth another But it is neither good Philosophie nor Divinity to intitle the effect unto the Instruments and leave out the principall Agent Should I make such an harangue to an Artists Tooles give them all the honor of the excellent work he would reckon me besides my wits and himself put besides his due commendation praise Phil. You ask Questions instead of giving Answers But I have now concluded to favor you and not overlade you with innumerable testimonies The Authority of the later Fathers perhaps you will except against in this point Such as Bede and Anselme Bernard Damascene the Elder I have hitherto produc'd and yet there remaine two of the Greek Church and two of the Latin Church whose Authorities I will urge out of Bellarmin in confirmation of this point then I shall give you respite The Greek Fathers are Chrysostome and Theodoret the Latin Jerom and Augustin Theoph. You have made a noble choise herein you much oblige me whilst your wisdom and your zeal do prompt you to urge the most effectuall testimonies on your side that you determine to let the others passe which cheifly serve to fill up a number Phil. Bellarmin quotes an eminent passage out of a Homil. 66 ad pop Antioch Chrysostom but we easier find it in his 26 Homilie upon the second Epistle to the Corinthians from whence we suppose the Homilie was collected it is in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that Homilie The words out of Chrysostom are these He that weareth purple goes and salutes the sacred bodies and laying aside his state b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. stands praying unto the Saints that they would appear before God in his behalf He that weareth the Diadem beesecheth the Tent-maker and Fisherman being dead to become his Advocates Theoph. This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a passage whereunto we find not a second like it in all the works of Chrysostom Bellarmine refers to other pâ—â—ces of this Father but according to his accoustum'd manner without truth and reason It is strange therefore if he were of the opinion the practice in his daies was usual to pray to the Saints before their shrines that any where else he should not speak of it and therefore I must tell you that the originall Greek doth not altogether warrant Bellarmin's translation but equally admits another which will fall short of his proof For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well signifies standing in need of the Saints Intercession as praying for it and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He wants their protection Now we may stand in need and may reap the benefit of the Saints supplications in Heaven for the people of God here on earth yet have no warrant to call upon
distinction So you have in Saints worship and Image worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Supreme and inferior religious worship composeth the difference So Christ is the Invisible head of the Church Catholick and the Pope the visible and Ministerial So the works of the Law do not justify together with faith but good works do So you may hold two principles with the Manichees For altho God be the only Author and Creator of good things there may be any other first principle of evil things And thus we can have no standing rule and measure of Truth and Religion as long as the wit of Man shal adventure to delude them by the subtlety of a distinction Phil. How can you attain to any true knowledg of things if you take away the use of distinguishing Theoph. Not the use but the abuse of distinguishing is our greivance when subtle men elude the most evident Testimonies of the Scripture and the Fathers against them which distinctions minted in their own brains and only serving to their present purpose Phil. Our Doctors excellently distinguish in this work of Mediation Namely That Christ is the Mediator between God and Man and the blessed Saints are Mediators between us and Christ a 3 Sent. Dist. 3. qu. 2. So Bonaventure of the Blessed Virgin She is the Mediatrix between us and Christ as Christ is Mediator between us and God b l. 9. Moral Just. c. 10. Sancti apud Christum c. And so Azorius asserts of all the blessed Saints The Saints are our Advocates and Patrons with Christ and Christ with God And some of our Doctors give an excellent reason of this distinction They say Christ is not only an Advocate but also a judge examining the Merit of the supplicant and how shall a poor Sinner come unto him without an Intercessor to find Acceptance so the c Antonius 4. sum titulo 15. Deus providet nobis c. Arch-Bishop of Florence and therefore saith he God hath furnish'd us with an Advocatrix who is gentle and sweet without any mixture of sharpness according to that notable saying of S t Bernard which Antonius cites O man thou hast a secure access to God where the Mother stands before the son and the son before the father the Mother shewing her Breast and Paps and the son his Side and the Wounds unto his Father Theoph. This is a new Model of Divinity to the purpose we had thought the Love of Christ towards poor Sinners could find no paralel That the good Shep-heard needed no solicitation and mediation of others to bring home the lost sheep he came down from Heaven to save it We find he has gratiously invited the weary and heavy laden to come unto him do ye find where he puts them from him since the work of our Redemption is perfected The Apostle tells us he can have compassion of our infirmities and be touched with a fellow feeling being in all points Tempted like as we are yet without Sin And therefore we may come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain Mercy Feb. 4 15. 16. That we have a Merciful and Faithful High Priest to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People Heb. 2. 17. That he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Heb. 7. 25 All this and much more we Read to our unspeakable Comfort but nothing of his severe Inquisition and Judging them that come to him before his second coming unto Judgment And yet I must tell you you have bin too favouroble in the discovery this Mystery of Iniquity works higher then you have Represented The blessed Virgin must not only intreat but command her Son It is a Notorious form of Praier among you d O Felix Puerpera Jure Matris impera O happy Mother upon a Mothers autority command thy Son And altho e Ibin c. 16 Quiâ— nostrum hoc dicit Bellarmin askt who used that Form as tho he were ignorant thereof yet as being conscious he immediately after Exenses and justifies the Praier a Si Josh 10. dicitur obedire c. For saith he if it be said Joshua the 10. The Lord obeâ—'d the voice of a Man why may not after some sort the Son of God be said to obey his Mother Theoph. Aliquo modo Your Doctors can make any thing good but in the first place it is not there said That the Lord obei'd the voice of Man So indeed your vulgar Translation renders it but according to the Original we read it thus b That the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a Man Josh 10. 14. And so the septuagint and if God did obey the voice of a Man yet we do not read that Joshua did command the Lord but only the Sun and Moon Sun stand thou still in Gibeon and Thou Moon in the vally uf Asalon and therefore c Jure Matris impera vpon the authority of a Mother command thy Son it was Intolerable to say so when Christ was in the Flesh and subject to his Parents much more now he being ascended into Glory You do not read that the Blessed Virgin laid any command upon her Son on Earth Phil. You may take these as high Expressions of a devout Soul manifesting her confidence in the blessed Mother to obtain any thing of her Son and Saviour Theoph. Such extatic devotion hath led many of your Church beyond all reason and Religion in their superstitious addresses to the Saints and upon this occasion given I will insist more upon your Extravagancies in the Invocation and worship of our Lady You salute Her the Queen of Heaven and Mother of Mercies and so your Doctors have assigned unto Her more then half the Kingdom with the Father As the great King Abassuerus promist unto Queen Ester d Gabriel Biel Supra Canon Missae lect 80. c. One of your Schoolmen tells us That God reserving the execution of Justice to himself hath granted to the Virgin Mother the dispensation of Grace and Mercy e Bernardinus in suo Mariali c. By another we are taught to appeal from the Bar of Gods Justice unto the Throne of Mercy of the Blessed Virgin And whereas the Apostle exhorts to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy The Arch-Bishop of Florence tels us That f Mariah est thronus Christi c. Mary is this throne wherein Christ rested and that it is necessary all such should be Justified and saved unto whom she turnsher favorable countenance and for whom she proves an advocate and Bernardinus further ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assures us That a In Christo tanquam in capite influente in Mariâ tanquam c. as Grace is in Christ as in the head and fountain so is it in Mary as in the neck transmitting So that no Grace can descend from
b Ibid. c. 17. Maria Matergratiae Mater misericordiae tu nos ab hoste c. Bellarmin tells us the Church Catholic in her Hymn to the Virgin Mary praies thus O Mary Mother of Grace Mother of Mercy Do thou defend us from the enimy and and receive us in the hour of death If we may judg of words by their signification doubtless this praier imports more then barely a desire of her assistance by her praiers Phil. Bellarmin in the same place gives you a general rule against such sinister constructions c Nos non agere de verbis at sensis verborum We dispute not of the words but of their sense Now the sense of our Church in all such petitions is that the Blessed Virgin and the Saints by their praiers and by their merits would procure these things for us Theoph. Altho this may be the sense of your Church yet it is not the signification of the words and methinks to avoid the just occasion of scandal given to your adversaries by them the occasion of errour and delusion given to your undiscerning votaries your Church should have exprest her self in more inoffensive and justifiable termes Bellarmine gives a 2 d instance in the Hymn of the Apostles he saith the Church praies thus d Quorum praecepto subditur salus languor omvium sanent aegros c. Let the Holy Apostles unto whose command both the welfare and languishings of all men are submited let them heal us who are morally sick and restore us unto a life of vertues If Command here must signify Intercession and supplication your Church would do well and wisely to set forth a new Dictionary to interpret words and sentences not after the common sense and signification of them but after the Roman glosse Mean while an impartial Judg must needs conclude these interpretations to be forc'd only to salve the inconveniencies and absurdities of such praiers and if your Church had design'd only to invocate the Saints in Heaven for their Intercession with God by their praiers she would have made use of more humble and suitable expressions but making the Intercession of Saints to consist as well in their merits as in their praiers calling upon them as well for their patronage as their Intercession This I say hath prepar'd the way for all those foremention'd presumtions and blasphemies in your addresses to them and Invocation of them If God be the Father of grace and mercy and Mary the Mother who would imagine otherwise but that these heavenly blessings flow originally and immediatly from them both Phil. It is obvious that the Blessed Virgin is call'd the Mother of mercy because she is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the fountain of Grace and mercy Theoph. Your Doctors do not teach you so to understand it seeing they represent Christ as a severe Judge towards a poor sinner and Mary their Advocate for mercy You have heard how in the distribution of the Kingdom of Heaven the Province of Justice is allott'd to the Son and of Mercy to the Virgin Mother Your Florentin Archbishop tells us That upon the Assumtion of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven as your Doctors have carefully imprinted that belief in the hearts of the credulous people the whole person of the Virgin Mary both Body and Soul is taken up into Heaven I say we are told that when she was translated into Heaven the Seraphims attended upon her and earnestly sollicited her stay and society with their sublime Order But she deliberatly answer'd a Non est honum hominem esse solum It is not good the Man should be alone meaning her Son and that She must assist him in the Redemtion of Gods people by her Compassion and in their Glorification by her Intercession That when for the Iniquity of the world her Son should be ready to destory the Earth a second time with a floud she may appeare as the bow in the clouds to oppose his fury and mind him of his Covenant and promise These are the luxuriant fancies of your Archbishop suitable hereunto I read of b Vide Chemnit exam Trid. Concil p. 3. de Invoc Sanct. Pictures in your Temples representing Christ in his indignation casting darts and thunderbolts and the Blessed Virgin standing between his wrath and sinfull men and receiving the darts into her bosom Phil. Still you return to the fancies of private Doctors and Painters your promis'd more authentick proofs Theoph. What think you of that great promise made to uphold man immediatly after his fall concerning Christ the seed of the woman who should break the serpents head that is overcome the Devil and all infernal powers Your vulgar Translation which must be more authentick then the Original reads the Pronoun in the feminine c Ipsa conteret caput serpentis Gen. 3. She shall bruise his head instead of He shall bruise as the Hebrew and the Septuagint read it And hereupon your Doctors refer the promise unto the Virgin Mary as tho in all things she must have the preheminence Phil. Bellarmin shews how the vulgar Translation varies d Tom. 1. lib. 2. de Verbo Dei c. 12. He hath seen a Copy which reads it likewise in the masculine Theoph. What he hath searcht and found we know not but your Translation generally runs in the feminine And he acknowledgeth the Latin Fathers being misled by the vulgar Translation take it in the feminine And upon that same account your Doctors refer the Prophecyto the Virgin Phil. Bellarmin shews in the second place that he saw an Hebrew Copy which had the feminine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. This observation is like the former upon some corrupt Copy against the general reading of the Hebrew Text. And he would leave the Scriptures altogether upon uncertainties that their Translation might not be lyable to reprehension Phil. He refers to Chrysostom a Father of the Greek Church who he saith reads it in the feminine Theoph. He doth so after his accustum'd manner to deceive his Reader For it is manifest the a Homil. 17. in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father reads it in the masculine perhaps here also the Cardinal consulted some Latin Translation of Chrysostom which might serve his turn He makes some other inconsiderable pleas to justify the vulgar reading chiefly because of this modern reference unto Our Lady Whereas some Fathers of the Latin Church being ignorant of the Hebrew and the Greek follow the vulgar translation and yet as I can find never reflected upon the Virgin Mary in that promise only your new Doctors who many of them have knowledg of the Tongues sufficient to discern the error of the translation yet please them selves much therewith and make their advantage of the error to improve the honor of the Lady and make her the prime subject of that grand Prophecy By this way they may justify the petition of
your Churches praier to Her b Tunos ab hoste protege That She would defend ut from our ghostly Enemy Because as Eve was overcome by him so Mary should be victorious and bruise his head and so the recompence should be made unto mankind by the same Sex which had transgress'd Phil. I still must mind you of leaving these excursions and shew wherein the Church of Rome offends in this point of the Invocation of Saints Theoph. I shew you how she offends in owning the vulgar translation and giving occasion unto those usual blasphemies concerning the Virgin Mary However I will proceed and shew how in her general Councils as she esteem them in her Popes in her Liturgies she hath given great Offence and scandal unto the Israel of God In that great Lateran Council begun an o 1512 Julius the second being Pope and ended 5 years after under Pope Leo the tenth consisting of 114 Bishops we shall read in c Bin. Tom. 9. in Conc. Lateran Binius his Edition of the Councils the 9 th tome how in the opening of the several sessions of that Council for the greater solemnity Homilies were made by men of great fame and Learning among them Caietanus begins the 2 d session with his Oration or Sermon and premiseth this address to the Virgin Mary d Quoniam nihil est quod homo sine divino quxilio possit pollicori ad gloriasam ipsant Viâ—ginem Dei Matrem primo convertam Orationem meam Aâ—t Maria. Because man can promisse to himself nothing without divine assistance therefore in the first place I will address my praier unto the glorious Virgin Mother of God Hail Mary c. So Balthasar Del Rio in the opening of the seventh session begins his Sermon a Vt non inprata audire atque audita exequi possitis Deiparae Virg. Maria praesidium imploremus Ave Maria c. That ye may hear acceptable things spoken and perform them let us implore the protection of the Virgin Mary Mother of God Hail Mary full of grace c. Phil. These are instances of no direful consequence In the Solemn performance of those holy exercises they implore the assistance of the Blessed Virgin you may suppose the assistance of her praiers Theoph. We in our Homilies and Sermons apply our selves to the blessing of Gods assistance and you in the first place seek to the divine assistance of the Blessed Virgin for so Caietanus appears to call it however you see it is the mode and form even in the presence of so great Council That the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin should justle out all supplication to God in their Sermons for otherwise they would not alwaies have kept to this way For so in the ninth session Antonius Puccius a Bishop and Clerk of the Apostolical Chamber having propos'd great things to speak of b Antequà m haec aggredior per Angelicam salutat beatiss Virg. opem suppliciter implorabo Ave Maria c. Before I enter saith he upon these things I will humbly implore help from the most Blessed Virgin in the Angelical Salutation Hail Mary c. But the last instance I will give in the tenth session is observable the Homily was made by a Venerable Archbishop named Stephen 70 years old and having design'd to insist upon considerable points out of the 48 Psalme he praies in these words c Ipsa Virgo beata Angelorum Domina fens omnium gratiarum quae omnes haereses interemit cujus eperá magna Reform Principum concord veâ—t centra Infid expeditie feri debet May the Blessed Virgin Lady of Angels the fountain of all graces afford her help who hath slain all heresies and by whose assistance the great reformation in hand the unity of Princes the expedition against Infidels must be carried on And because this was not enough the good old man improves his youthful Muse to compose an Ode unto the Virgin to implore her assistance as well in Meeter as in Prose He goes on in this mode of supplication Thou art the splendor ornament Everlasting light of all Virgins the Mother of the most high the glory of Mankind Blessed Mary Thou alone ô Virgin dost rule the Stars Thou art the light of Heaven and Earth and the Sea we beseech Thee to favor our attemts That I may unlock the sacred senses whichâ—ly hid in these severe writings And Scale the high places of the Earth Thou being our Captain Omnium splendor decus perenne Virginum lumen genetrix superni Gloria humani generis Maria Unica nostri Sola tu Virgo dominaris astris Sola tu terrae Maris atque Coeli Lumen inceptis faveas rogamus Inclyta nostris Vt queam sacros reserare sensus Qui latent chartis nimiùm severis Ingredi celsae duce Te benignâ Moenia Terrae You see the Authentick practise of your Church before so solemn an Assembly These Applications made to the Blessed Virgin in solemn forms of Praier and in such Terms are inconsistent with the rules of Piety and Religion Phil. You may let this pass upon the score of a Poetical Licence Theoph. In our Praiers we should be devout and modest not licentious and bold but alas if you look back upon his supplication in Prose you will find it more extravagant his Luxuriant Fancy was not there confin'd to measures But from these instances you may take the measures of their Licenc'd and most authentic impiety such Hymnes made the best Melody and were most acceptable unto your Fathers of the Church and all her Children in the Antichristian times Phil. Your indiscreet Zeal transports you beyond the rule of Charity which might instruct you to put a fair gloss upon some harsh Expressions Theoph. I dare not call evil good neither have I learn'd the Art of your Doctors to undertake the defence of great Impieties and Blasphemies and make them plausible by a distinction The next general Council as you reckon was that of Trent where we have the Doctrine of the Invocation of Saints establisht and all those declared Impious who think otherwise And altho the Council pen'd the decree in most cautious terms being awakened with the exceptions of reformed Churches a Concil Trid. sess 25. yet we may plainly there discover That it is not their Praiers only which we must sue for but also the help and succor of the Saints in Heaven It is good and profitable humbly to call upon them and to fly to their Praiers and aid and help If the council had intended only the Assistance of their Praiers they would not have multiplied terms without cause in their decree But in these words they have left open a Gap for the Saints votaries to justify their Praiers to the Saints for their aid and protection to expect effectual favours from them not only by their Praiers but also by their Active powers These things will easily fall under this clause of
the Decree Ad eorum orationes opem auxiliumque confugere Phil. I have no reason to admit sinister constructions any farther then the words will necessarily force me Now the later terms may be Exegetical of the former and well transpos'd thus To fly to the aid and assistance of their Praiers And then tell me what have you gotten by this decree Theoph. Your practise will best interpret your Rule If the public praiers of your Church request more of the Saints in Heaven then the assistance only of their Praiers you may suppose your Church intended and understood and exprest more in her decree You shall find your Church often to supplicate That as well by the Merits as by the Intercession of the Saints God would be favourable unto them In the Hymnes above mentioned to the Virgin Mary she is call'd the Mother of Grace and mercy and Protection from our Ghostly Enemy is sought from her and reception into Glory So likewise in the hymne of the Apostles Grace and Vertue is desired of the Saints for such as languish in their Vices And that by the command of the Apostles as it is exprest and not by their Praiers And yet Bellarmin hath the confidence to interpret all these things according to the sense of the Church as he speaks That all these things are expected from their Praiers not from any other assistance You shall find several Popes in the Names of Peter and Paul promising great things unto Princes who shall engage in the defence and cause of the Church and threatning dreadfull Judgments from them upon such as are disobedient Pope Hadrian writing to the Emperor Constantine and Irene his Mother Congratulates their embracing the Faith of Peter and Paul Princes of the Apostles and promiseth a Binius Teme 5. p. 554. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They shall protect the Empire make them Victorious and bring the Barbarous Nations under their feet On the contrary we find direful threats from these two Apostles Pope Pius the 4 th concludes his Bulls after this sort b Nulli hominum liceat bane c vid. Concil Trid. edit per Joan. Gallemaâ—t ad finem Let none presume to infringe this our Declaration If any shall attemt to do so let him know he shall incur the wrath of God Almighty and of his two blessed Apostles Peter and Paul These things are Obvious and I will not heap Quotations to prove them I will only give you an Account of one notable Letter to this effect which I mention'd in the beginning of this Conference and will now transcribe much of it for your sake and the Readers that ye may judge what your Popes opinion was of the power and Parronage of the Apostles and so by consequence of the other Saints c Bin. Tom. 5. p. 55. Pope Stephen the 3. being grievously streightened by Aystulphus King of Lombardy who with a Potent Army besieged Rome sends a Letter in the name of S t Peter unto Pipin and his two sons Charles and Carloman Kings of France It begins thus d Petrus Apost vecatus à Jesu Christo dei filio c. Peter call'd to be an Apostle by Jesus Christ the Son of God c. Grace Peace and Power c. To you most excellent men Pipin Charles and Carloman 3 Kings c. After the salutation he proceeds e Ego Petrus Apost dietus a Christo c. I Peter an Apostle being call'd by Christ and the good pleasure of the Divine Clemency and ordain'd by his power to enlighten the whole world f Quamobrem omnes c. Therefore all Men who fulfil my Preaching and command must believe That their sins by Gods precept are forgiven in this World and shall go into life Eternal without Blemish c. Therefore I Peter c Who have Adopted you for my Sons do exhort you to defend the City of Rome and my Sepulcher and Temple there against the Incursion of my Enemies g Pro certo confidite memet ipsum c. And know ye for certain that I my self will be present with you to assist you as tho I were present and visible in the Flesh for altho I am absent in the Flesh I am present in the Spirit Now our Lady the Mother of God the Thrones and Dominions and all the Host of Heaven with the Martyrs and confessors of Christ with all obligations possible do adjure you to assist my City and People of Rome with your utmost power and speed h Et ego Petrus in hac Vita c. And I Peter by way of recompence will become your Brother in this life and in the day of Gods strict Judgment prepare Mansions for you in the glorious Kingdom of God the reward of eternal recompence and the Infinite joies of Paradice Nay whatsoever Protections and assistance you will ask I will give you I therefore Conjure you by the most beloved living God that ye permit not my City to be sackt by the Lombards least your Souls and Bodies be likewise torn and tormented in everlasting Fire with the Devil and all his Pestilent Angels i Firmiss tenete quod ego c. Ye must firmly believe that heretofore when you Prai'd unto me I did help and give you Victory over your Enemies by the power of God when you were few in number in comparison of the Enemies of the Church k Ecce chariss fili c. He concludes Behold my dear sons I have warned you if you obey with speed it shall be your great reward and my suffrage shall help you in this life ye shall overcome your Enemies and live long and eat good things and afterwards ye shall inherit Eternal life But if ye make any delay know ye that by the authority of the holy and individual Trinity and by the Apostolical grace given unto me ye shall be alienated for the transgression of this my Exhortation from the Kingdom of God and from life Eternal Phil. I have had the Patience to hear you I pray let me now understand your design in these Instances Theoph. Your Popes are public Persons and you would have them thought to be guided by an infallible Spirit especially in their Buls Epistles and serious agitations not to err And you see what power they ascribe to the Saints departed not only of Interceding but Acting for us and against our enmies And partly from thence your Doctors have taken occasion to instruct the people to invoke them as Patrons and Protectors and Saviours out of trouble Now you have a rare art of Reduction if you can bring all this under the single head of Intercession that they effect these things only by their praiers to God and not by a delegacy of his power to them Phil. It comes all to one if by their praiers they obtain such power to save and to destroy Theoph. Take your suppositions for granted and the case is clear Mean while
that stand raise them that fall Correct our Manners Actions and Life and guide us in the way of peace In their Hymne for that day they declare Wonders All things obey and veild to Thomas Plague Diseases Death and Divels Fire Water Earth and Seas Thomas hath fil'd the World with glory The world to Thomas yields obeysance Thomas shines with new Miracles He restores the Members to the Gelt He adornes the Blind with sight Cleanseth the Lepers and their spots And free 's the dead from hands of death Thomae cedunt parent omna Pestes morbi mors daemonia Ignis Aer Tellus Maria Thomas mundum replevit gloriâ Thomae Mundus prestat Obsequia Novis sulget Thomas Miraculis Membr is donat Castratos masculis Ornat uisu privatos oculis Mundat Leprae conspersos maculis Solvis Mortis ligatos vinculis Opem nobis O Thoma poâ—rige Rege stantes c. There is a farther account how a Country Man going to visit the Martyrs Tomb was just led into the River by a Waggon on the Bridge And rising and sinking five times he was at last cast upon the Shore safe For having call'd upon the Martyr for his aid and that he would not suffer his 〈◊〉 Pilgrim to perish a grave Bishop aâ—pear'd upholding and conducting him to land This is the Legend of S t Thomas of Becket which your Church hath adopted into the Service and Office for the Feast And I have bin the more particular that you may observe well the gross Fables and Absurdities therein that your Church should impose such Stories of Miracles upon the credulous People And is it possible you should be reduc'd to such a low esteem of the pretious Blood of Christ that you must Petition our Blessed Savior to bring you to Heaven by the Blood of his Martyr Thomas And for a Conclusion I pray seriously consider this pretended Martyr He died in the defence of the Popes Usurpations among us and the Pope hath requited him with a Saintship whereas he had great success to go to Heaven so immediatly with such Qualifications of a turbulent and haughty Spirit And this usâ—ers in another grievance and just Exception we take against your Invocation of Saints because you pray to some Saints of whom you have no assurance that they are in Heaven nay of whom you cannot prove that ever they were in being what think you of the Beggars Saint S t Lazarus a Part. 3. Tom. 4. Tract 2. Salmeron assures us That he is every where esteemed a Saint and Protector of the poor Canoniz'd by the Church b Baronius Tom. 1. Anno 33. N. 44. Multis locis in memoriam Lazari c. worship'd with Altars and Images and Praiers made unto him And I have read an Argument some of your Doctors have urg'd to prove it an History of Dives and Lazarus in the Gospel and not a Parable because Lazarus is a Canoniz'd Saint and therefore doubtless such a Person there was of whom our Savior in the Gospel gives an Historical account But I have shewed above from the judgment of divers Fathers that it is a Parable Theophilact calls him fool who thinks otherwise and that by Dives and Lazarus only were represented the Rich and Poor by a Fiction of Persons suited to a Parable and so your Jesuit Maldonate affirms Now for your Church to make a real Saint of this Parabolical Representation to whom you make your Addresses in Praier somthing resembles your other kind of Devotion Praying unto or worshipping the Image instead of the Saint Your Church might as well have made the Prodigal Son returning a Saint So for S t George you cannot make any Historical Demonstration that such a Holy Person and Martyr there was George of Capâ—adox was a fierce Arrian mightily opposing Athanasius but he was slain for being a Christian b 〈…〉 an â—eathen Prince and so by his Heretical Faction esteemed a Martyr whom they represented for a great Champion and Captain under Christ fighting against the great Magician of Alexandria as they impiously stiled Holy Athanasius otherwise we rather account Saint George as he is constantly represented in his Image flaying a Dragon in rescue of a Virgin to be an Emblem of our Blessed Savior overcoming the Red Dragon our great Enemy the Devil and rescuing his Church as a chast Virgin from his temtations and force a Martyrol Rom. Apr. 23. Symboli potius quam Historiae alicujus c. Baronius acknowledgeth the Picture of S t George on Horse-back armed cap-a-pe and flaying a Dragon to be a Symbolical Image rather then a true History And that Jacobus de Voragine He that made the Golden Legend made it an History An Emblem saith b Hyperius de 〈◊〉 Stud. Theol. l. 3. c. 7. Hyperius of Christian Magistrates Who defend the Church of Christ as a pure Virgin from the snare of the Devil and his accursed Instruments interposing their power against the pernicious attemts of Heretics and so by the Blessing of God S t George shall be the Emblem of our most Noble Order of the Garter even unto the end of the World What shall I say of the Gyant S t Christopher from the Etymology of whose name you have deriv'd a Fable That being of a vast height at least 12 Cubits in length he carried our Blessed Savior over a deep and dangerous River guiding himself by a Staff like a Weavers beam c Hyperius citate Villavincent us makes him an Emblem of a Preacher of the Gospel who holding forth Christ in his word visible unto the People is encompass'd with Waves and Tempests and Waters of Affliction and Persecution but supports himself and wades thro with the staff of his Christian hope the expectation of the exceeding recompence of reward After this sort to fill up your Kalendar of Saints your Doctors might do well to go down into Egypt and bring their ancient Hieroglyphics to be Canonized and Worship'd Phil. You may do better to forbare scossing and study the Defence which our Doctors make against all the Exceptions your side have produc'd concerning these and other Saints Theoph. I have search'd and find them so impertinent that I lost my labor and shall not until I be urg'd farther to it trouble you and the Reader with the discovery Phil. I thank you for sparing your self and your Friend together for I begin to be weary of this Discourse which hath bin drawn out beyond expectation and me-thinks gives but little satisfaction Theoph. My serious endeavors to open your Eyes unto a discovery of the Errors of your Church are abundantly satisfactory unto my Conscience altho the success should fail and you still stop your Ears against the voice of the Charmer And yet I must trespass upon your patience in one more consideration touching the Canonizing of Saints If an Error should be committed therein it would be diffusive and spread all over your Church Praiers may be
Virgins Rosary after ten Ave Maries or Angelical Salurations b Ave Maria grarid plenae c. Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among Women and Blessed is Jesus the Fruit of thy Womb. Holy Mary Mother of God Pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death Amen I say after ten Ave Maries follows one Pater noster or the Lords Praier and fifty Ave Maries and five Pater nosters make a Rosary so called because it is interwoven with Praiers and Salutations Pater noster's and Ave Maries as a Garland with Flowers Now out of great Devotion some will treble the Rosary and so make 150 Salutations which they call'd the Ladies Psalter until Bonaventure was so bold out of Davids Psalter to compose another and many Fraternities and Companies were erected in several Chaunteries to celebrate and rehearse those treble Rosaries saying 150 Ave Maries and 15 Pater Noster's in one Service and so they became highly guilty of the Heathenish Battology which our Blessed Savior forbad Matth. 6. And to make this great Devotion general and public Pope Gregory the 13 th appoints a Solemn c Festum Rosari Beatae Virg. Sub 2. majori officio ab omnibus c. Feast of the Rosary of the blessed Virgin to be celebrated by all in general and by every single person with the double greater Office and Solemnity You see the grand Superstition of this Office and the proportion ten to one between their rehearsing the Lords Praier and the Angels Salutation or the Ave Mary So are likewise your Letanies now stufft with the Names of all the Saints you can imagin to be in Heaven and with the Orders of Angels and the Name of God and of Christ hath scarce any room among them whereas we read the antient Letanies were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us The People of God in great Extremities of Earthquakes and Tempests and Plagues and calling earnestly upon God in these Forms until in the fifth Century was added the Trisagion Holy is the Lord holy is the strong holy is the d Sanctus Deus Sanctus Fortis Sanctus Immortalis Immortal e Bin. Tom. 3. Episi 3. Felitis Papae ad Petrum Fullonem p. 801. which Form whil'st the Church of God in Constantinople upon a great Earthquake running forth into the field called upon God for mercy was taught them from Heaven by a yong Child who was carried up out of their sight the Patriarch Proclus of Constantinople and all the People being Eye-witnesses and after an hour was let down into the midst of them and declared That he had heard the Angels sing that Hymn and that he was commanded to bring it down to them Phil. If all be Gospel that you say it sufficeth there needs no more Additions Theoph. Those things are well known and may be easily confirm'd by Testimonies But I am willing to give you respite and not multiply Arguments and Testimonies seeing you have acknowledged what hath bin said to be sufficient as I suppose to prove what I first design'd The Error of your Doctrine of the Invocation of Saints and the great Superstition and Idolatry in the practice And now good Sir give me your hand in assurance that you will pardon my Incivility to hold you so long in an unacceptable Discourse abroad mean while forgetting that respect and entertainment which is due to a worthy Friend who hath most courteously given me a Visit Will you please therefore to walk in and recreate yourself with other Divertisements and better Company and with such slender Provisions as we can make at present I hope you will be so kind to stay longer with us and give the Opportunity to make amends FINIS
upon the Saints in Heaven Theoph. Make that good and I shall undoubtedly become your convert Phil. Remember this when we draw towards a conclusion mean while I will not spare to give the premises and proofs Bellarmine undertakes to prove expressly b Quod Sancti sive Angeli sive homines piè ac utiliter à viventibus invocantur That the Saints in Heaven whether Angels or men are piously and profitably call'd upon by us who are Living Theoph. Can you tell the reason why he puts his proposition in such unusual terms the common distinction is of the Angels and Saints in Heaven but he calls them Angels and men and both by the name of Saints Phil. You cannot deny but that Angels are Holy Persons and by consequence that they are Saints Theoph. It is not material what they are by consequence but you know the Angels are not commonly call'd Saints when you propose to speak of the Saints in Heaven none will understand you of the Angels and then for the other member of the distinction c Sive Angeli sive homines Men the Souls of just Men departed are not men The man is dead his immortal Spirit lives and upon this Account when you call upon Peter and Paul to pray for you alas Peter is dead and Paul is dead their blessed Spirits are with God but not their Persons before the general Resurrection Phil. These are but frivolous exceptions do not betray your fears by diverting me from the Cardinals proofs First he alledgeth that plain Text for the Invocation of Angels Gen. 48. 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads You see the Holy Patriarch Jacob invocates the Angels blessing upon Josephs two Sons Ephraim and Manasseh Theoph. It is Jacobs Option not a formal Invocation his desire not his praier we may suppose rather that Jacob sends up his hearts desire to God that the Angel which did alwaies deliver him might be a Guardian to these Lads when Isaac blessing Jacob said Gen. 27. vers 29. Let the people serve Thee and Nations bow down to Thee doth he therefore invocate Nations and People or rather pray to God that he would bring it to pass This answer sufficeth if Jacob by the Angel understood a created Spirit but the context makes it evident That the Angel stands for Christ the second person of the Sacred Trinity because he is join'd in this Benedicton with the God of Abraham God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God that fed me all my life long until this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads Observe I pray what great d Oratione quarta contra Arrianos Athanasius saith to this place having prov'd the unity of the Father and the Son because they are join'd in the same prayer 1 Thess 3. 11. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you He proceeds to declare That no man can pray to receive any thing from the Father and from an Angel or any other creature no man will say let God and the Angels give Thee and then directly answers this Benediction of the Patriarch That he did not joine a created Angel with God that made him in the blessing neither forsaking him that nurisht him doth he seek for an Angels blessing upon the children but stiling him the Angel that deliver'd him out of all his troubles he manifests that he did not understand any created spirit but Christ the word whom he joines with God the Father in the blessing knowing that he is called The Angel of his great Councel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Septuagint Herunto agrees a Thes l. 30. cap. 10. Cyrill of Alexandria The Patriarch of God means the Father and by the Angel the word of the Father whose name is the Angel of his councel b Hemil. 66. in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostom makes God and the Angel to be the same whose benediction Jacob implores A graceful Soul to God saith He how doth he retain the memory of his favors fixt in his heart He that nurisht me from my youth hitherto he that deliver'd me out of all evil bless these Lads 'T is much the Learned Cardinalshould take no notice of these signal Autorities but bring a Text in two regards impertinent to his purpose as you have heard to prove the Invocation of Angels which would not however infer the Invocation of Saints departed Because Angels are Gods ministring Spirits and more constant in the affaires here below then are the Saints in Heaven of whose Ministerie upon earth we have no account given in the Holy Scripture only that they sing and Bless God and worship him incessantly in Heaven Phil. Give me leave to proceed and shew how our Doctors prove the Invocation of Angels and then I will manifest likewise how it confirms the Invocation of Saints Bellarmine brings three Texts out of the book of Job to shew the early usage of praying to the Angels Job 5. 1. Call now if there be any to answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn Job 19. 21. Have pity upon me have pity upon me O my freinds for the Hand of the Lord hath touched me Job 33. 23. If there be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Then he is gratious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Theoph. If these be proofs nothing can miss the mark if calling be invocating and Saints be Angels then the first Text may stand the Cardinal in some stead and Eliphaz his Autority must uphold it But the context shews the meaning of the words Eliphaz would have Job enquire and call any one that fears God to witness whether any perished being Innocent Chap. 4. vers 7. or whether a man can be more pure then his Maker Vers 17. Job had complain'd sadly of his affliction and his friends design'd to put him upon the search whether these severe Judgments did not fall upon him for some secret sins The second proof is as wide from the mark as Heaven from the earth his three friends did persecute his Innocency with their grand error and mistake That God never afflicts but for sin and Job intreateth them to spare and pity him For why do ye persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh as it follows in the next vers 22. Phil. Bellarmine shews how S t Augustin in his Commentary upon Job refers both these Texts unto the Angels Theoph. Read S t Augustin in his second book of Retract c. 13. and you will find him doubtful whether he should call it his book Liber cui titulus Annotationes in Job utrum meus habendus est haud facile dixerim Or rather his who collected his imperfect notes he tells us his
made as to a Saint in Heaven whil'st the Person himself who is invok'd is miserably tormented in Hell excluded by a more infullible Judgment from the Beatifical Vision for ever For instance Suppose Almighty God hath not approv'd the Contentions of Thomas of Becket with his Prince but hath past against him the Sentence of Damnation for resisting the Powers whilist the Pope hath Sainted him What will become of all his Pilgrims and Votaries how many Praiers would be made in vain to the shame and mockery of Religion Altho in truth all your Praiers even unto the undubitable Saints in Heaven upon the supposition that they hear you not are altogether in vain and so the greatest part of your Religion is vain and a sad account you must give of your Lip-labor and Will-worship I pray seriously study an Answer to that severe Question Who hath required these things at your bands Phil. We are not sollicitous to answer that Question because we proceed upon a better Supposition That the Saints do know our State and Condition and hear our Praiers to them and do make Intercession for us But in answer to your conceit of an Error that may be in the act of Canonizing Eellarmin shews how that solem Act appertains to the Pope who proceeds therein with great Deliberation and mature Judgment upon all Relations and Circumstances and ordinarily without the ample Testimony of Miracles effected by him a Saint is not Canoniz'd and so there is no fear of Mistake and Error and withal great preparation is made unto that solemn Act by public Praier and Fasting and it is not credible God should be wanting to his Church so well disposed in her Devotions in a matter of so great concern Theoph. If they are Credibilities however they are not Certainties and so your Praiers to many Saints must be without the assurance of Faith that they are such We may certainly call upon God thâ—â— the Meditation of Christ and have our Praiers heard and Supplications granted but you can have no such assurance of your Martyr S t Thomas a Bell. ibid. c. 7. Inebrietate occisum pro Martyre Venerantes Bellarmine acknowledgeth Time was when the People of a City worship'd one for a Saint after his death of whom holy Martin who lived among them was suspitious and earnestly praied to God to discover to him the condition of the person deceas'd and behold his Soul appear'd and inform'd St. Martin That he had bin a Thief and a Robber and was justly executed as a Malefactor and now tormented in Hell And so saith he Pope Innocent the third reprehends some who honor'd one for a Martyr that was slain when he was druak And I will give you one Instance more to this purpose out of our English Histories b We read how one William a Londoner a factious and turbulent Person of a smooth and volutile Tongue sets up himself to be a King and Savior of the poor People from the Oppression of the Nobles in the absence of King Richard and so gathers a multitude of Seditious Persons and became a Preacher and a Captain among them but the tumult being soon supprest by the Wisdom of the Kings Council and William with other of his Accomplices being Executed a Priest that Gulielmus Neubrigens lib. 5. c. 18. was his Kinsman takes the Chain wherewith he was bound and pretends to work Miracles and divers cures thereby The unwary People entertain the Delusion and cut the Gibbet whereupon he suffered in pieces keeping them as Sacred Relics and also the Earth which was sprinkled with his blood They honor him for a Saint and make their Praiers to him with great pretensions of success until time and the Magistrates care and wisdom did undeceive them Phil. To prevent such horrible mistakes two Popes Alexander the third and Innocent the third absolutly forbid any Saint to be worship'd and Invocated without the approbation of the Bishop of Rome whereas before as Bellarmin sheweth any Bishop might Canonize a Saint within his own Diocess Theoph. Now it is reduc'd unto the Pope what assurance have you of his infallible Judgment For it is observ'd he hath proceeded much by favor and affection in this Affair gratifying Princes in their Requests for their Relations and Country-men And it hath bin said That if Henry the 7 th had not bin too renacious and sparing of his Tresure when he made his Request that Henry the 6 th might be Canoniz'd for a Saint he had not fail'd of his desire Phil. We know the lying Tongue of Calumny and Slander hath bin alwaies sharpned against his Holiness but God will not be wanting to his Church in matters of such moment and concern and therefore we do not trouble our Consciences with your Scruples Theoph. The Infallibility of the Pope in his Determinations è Cathedra which you most unreasonably maintain and whereupon you lay the Foundation of your new-coin'd Articles of Faith may fall into consideration if God permit hereafter mean-while the Objection turns not altogether upon that hinge for altho the Pope were infallible in his Canonization that is for a general Reception and Veneration no Saint without the Popes allowance must be publicly and generally call'd upon in Praier Yet Bellarmin grants the Invocation of other Saints by privat Persons and saith It is the common Opinion of the Doctors Now I pray observe the Inconveniencies from hence A Wife who hath lost a deer Husband or Children their Parents they usually follow them with passionate Affection and prize them higher being bereft of them then when they had the happiness of their Society Now as other civil commerce is intercepted by death if communion with them by Invocation and Praier may be allowed what will be the excess of their Superstitious Devotion in this case Affection and Charity will conclude their Friends deceas'd are undoubted Saints in Heaven and their Piety will alwaies promt them to call upon them for assistance and protection as being most assur'd of their readiness to help them even to the uttermost And so when Men and Women should be instant in Praier to God Almighty the stream of their Devotion will be carried on towards their Relations who are gon to God before them and so the highest act of Religion Praier with all its Pervors and Devotion will evaporate in emty Supplications made to those of whose happiness Men have no assurance but from their fond and fallible Estimations and so between the Invocation of Saints that are and of others supposed to be in Heaven the God of Heaven is almost forgotten in your Praiers according to that proverbial Speech grounded upon your intolerable Excesses in this Point a Non cognoscitur Deus inter Sanctos God is not known among the Saints You have heard how in the Virgins Psalter ascrib'd to Bonaventure the Names of God and Lord are expung'd and in their place the name of our Lady is inserted In the