degree THE XXXV POINT It is laudable to doo good works for reward 1. AS Charity towards our neighbour is a most commendable vertue so charity towards our selves cannot be but most commendable Wherefore seeing these good works do profit us so very much as wee have seen in the last point and last number I cannot possibly vnderstand that Paradox of our Adversaries saying they do ill who do well out of a desire to gain heaven True it is a man may do well out of a more commendable motive that is to honour and please God But because something is better then doing good for hope of reward the doing good out of that hope doth not cease to be good You say faith alone is so good that it doth justify a man and yet Scripture tells you that of these three Faith Hope and Charity the greater and better of these is Charity 1. Cor. 13.13 Faith is very good and commendable Whence appeares that nothing ceases to be good because an other act is better 2. The Scriptures cited in the last point evidently exhort us in our sufferings to be glad and rejoyce because our reward is great in heaven and to do our good works in secret not to loose our reward but to heap up to our selves treasure in heaven and to sell all to purchase treasure there and in doing good works not to fail for in due time wee shall reap not failing May wee not sow in hope of harvest Did not S. Paul seek the fruit abounding on this account to those who had sent to his use Did he not bid us not to loose our confidence because it hath a great reward Hebr. 10.35 And not to sow sparingly that wee may reap plentifully 2. Cor. 9.6 Did not Christ himselfe say make friends of the Mammon of iniquity Luk 16.9 To what end this To the end that they may receive you into the eternal Tabernacles But what can be more cleer then that which I there cited out of Heb. 11.24 Moyses denyed himself to be the sō of Pharao his daughter chusing to be afflicted with the people of God esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasure of Aegyptians For he looked to the reward or according to your Bibles for the regard or respect he had to the reward No lesse cleer David Psalm 118. vers 112. I have inclined my hart to do thy Iustifications for ever for reward And for this reward he inclined his hart to do them sayth S. Augustin in this place reading it as wee do And so as wee tead it it is so faithfully translated by the Septuaginta out of the Hebrew and so your Translatours might have translated it if they had pleased but they willfully choose another sense though they so much professe to follow the Septuaginta THE XXXVI POINT VVee laudably worship Angels and Saints 1. FOr the ground of this question I lay this fundation out of Scripture that as the Angels are in heaven so the soules of the Saints go directly from hence to heaven without they have some few offēces to cleere in Purgatory Our soules sleep not untill Doomesday Christ sayd to the good theife This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And therefore S. Paul desired to be dissolved that he might be with Christ And again 2. Cor. 5.8 Wee are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with our Lord Therefore wee may come to be present with our Lord even whilst our soules are absent from our body Neither do our English Protestants deny this 2. This supposed our doctrine is that great reverence and worship is due to the Angels and Saints with God Secondly that they can hear our prayers Thirdly that they can and will helpe us and therfore it is laudable to pray to them and that this doth not derogate from Christs honour Fourthly that among the Saints it is most laudable to pray to our Lady And here wee shall speak of the Beads sayd to her honour Fiftly wee laudably worship Images of Christ and his Saints Sixtly that wee laudably worship theyr Reliques and inshrine them richly and place them as honorably as wee can Sevently that some places are more holy then others sanctifyed by the presence of those Reliques or by speciall graces given there And for this reason wee laudably make processions and pilgrimages to these places with all devotion Eightly that wee laudably keep Feasts or Holy Dayes as allso fasts in the honour of Christ and his Saints Lastly in these our fasts wee laudably abstaine from certaine meates All and every one of these nine things shall have theyr particular proofes in so many severall Points next following in the order here designed 3. And first for the worship of Angels or Saints note that the very selfe same outward worship yea and Adoration it selfe may outwardly be given either as a civil reverence to persons of respect and great eminency or it may be given to them out of a religious respect in regard of the great Sanctity and heavenly dignity in such a person or lastly given in regard of Divine perfection and infinite worth When this respect is given thus outwardly there passeth inwardly an act in our understanding apprehending the exellcency which wee honour to be either human as in civil honour or to be an excellency of singular though limited heavenly eminency as in the worship of Saints which wee call Dulia or lastly wee judge that there is a devine and infinite excellency in that person as it happens in the worship of God only which wee call Latria An other act passeth in our will answerable to that which was in our understanding by which wee have a will to make this outward worship or adoration to be either a civil honour only such as is due to men of highest human dignity or to make it a Religious worship though farre from devine such as is given to persons of eminent Sanctity or endowed with great heavenly gifts or lastly wee intend to make it an act of devine worship as when wee do it to God Whence it is evident that by doing of the outward act it cannot be knowne whether the honour wee do be meerly civil or Religious or Devine 4. With only civil adoration Abraham rose up and adored the people of the land Gen. 23.7 Iacob coming into the presence of his elder Brother Esay Gen. 33. v. 4. Going forward adored prostrate to the ground seaven times And v. 7. Lia with her Children adored in like manner and last Ioseph and Rachel adored And Gen. 43 v. 27. Iosephs Brethren offered him presents holding them in theyr hands and they adored prostrate to the ground And again Gen. 50. v. 18 And Iosephs Brethren came to him and adoring prostrate on the ground All these Texts are thus read in the Rhemish Testament But the Protestant Bible refusing to put the word Adore put either bowing down or falling down on theyr face Wee do no
her own soule the sword of grief did peerce As Holy Simeon prophecyed of her Luk. 2.35 When I come to say the third five tenns I will spend the time in saying each of them by meditating upon and so honouring each of the five glorious Mysteries First the Resurrection of our Saviour Secondly his Ascension to heavenly glory Thirdly his sending the Holy Ghost Fourthly the Assumption of our Lady When as many Holy Fathers have taught that body of hers in which Christ took flesh was soon after its buriall not made meat of wormes but with farre greater reason made partaker of her Sons Resurrection then were those many Saints of whom S. Matth. c. 27.53 sayth theyr graves were opened and they rose And they going forth out of theyr graves after his Resurrection came into the Holy Citty and appeared to many Fiftly and lastly I will to her honour consider her Coronation importing her special state in that heavenly glory in which shee is looked upon and reverenced by all Saints and Angels as theyr Queen she being the Mother of the King of glory The Mother of my Lord. Luke 1.43 9. The intent of the Holy Church recommending this devotion is to teach all that use it especially the more ignorant who cannot use Books how to imploy theyr minds fruitfully in a most commendable Meditation of Mysteries most glorious to Christ and his Mother and most beneficiall to our soules whilst theyr lipps are most devoutly busied in reciting words so pleasing to the Mother of God to which end the Teachers of our Church both by words and by writing still are inculcating this true use of the Beades 10. Now this number of fifteen tenns or of five tenns serving so fitly for the orderly practise of so easy a devotion cannot be more easily observed then by letting one Bead fall at each Ave Mary And the beginning of the next tenne can no way be more easily notifyed then to begin the sayd tenne with a bead of so different a bignes that it may easily be noted even in the dark without any distraction And the same different Bead serves allso to mind us of passing to the consideration of a different Mystery unles perhaps our soule hath other predominant pious thoughts or affections which tending to a very beneficiall Meditation are better continued then interrupted Now though many simple people use not these considerations but attend only to the words they say yet those words be so excellent that this entertaynment proves most vertuous by theyr using the recitall of them to honour Christ and his Blessed Mother 11. Neither is the often repeating of the same prayers or prayer a thing blame worthy For if after the saying of one Ave Mary wee should use a lesse excellent prayer yea or no prayer at all you could not blame us How then grow wee to be blame worthy for using this so excellent prayer Hee who should every houre say our Lords prayer although he should do it three times each houre is not to be blamed but commended How thē is he to be blamed who sayth the Lords prayer three our fourscore times in one houre Next unto our Lords prayer no prayer hath greater authority or excellency then the Ave Mary Why then be wee blamed for using it so often in so short a space whilst as you thinck you remain without blame who use it so seldome our Saviour had the rarest invention that ever man had and if we may make bould to accoūt any of his prayers more excellent then an other his prayer in the garden may seem to have been most excellent And yet even then as rare an invention as he had He prayed the third time using the same words Matth. 26.44 And not inventing any new forme So likewise those four blessed six winged Creatures Apoc. 4.8 Had not rest day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Omnipotent The oftner they said this one prayer over and over the more fervour appeares even in so rare inventive spirits All the Publicans prayer was God be mercifull to mee a sinner Luke 18.13 and v. 38. All the prayer of the blind man was to cry again and again saying Iesus Sonne of David have mercy upon mee And when they rebuked him to hold his peace he cryed much more Sonne of David have mercy upon me And thus he by perseverance in the same prayer obtained his request Who doth not see a speciall power to stirre up a great feeling of Gods mercies in the Psalm one hundred and thirty six which containeth but twenty seaven verses and yet it doth twenty seaven times repeat those words For his mercy endureth for ever THE XL. POINT It is laudable to worship the Images of Saints 1. IT is laudable I say to worship the Saintes Images in that sense in which we Roman Catholiks worship Images The very Saintes themselves we worship not with divine honour as I sayd and largely declared Point 36. n. 3. 4. 5. And therefore it is a most unconscionable slander which our Adversaries lay upon us saying that we give divine honour to Images No we give no such honour to the Saints themselves much lesse do we give it to theyr Images without you think we worship the Images more then the person represented by the Images All that we Roman Catholiks hold as a Point of faith may be read by all men in the Councel of Trent sess 25. where this Councel teacheth due honour and veneration to be given to the Images of Christ and his Saints not that there is believed to be in them any Divinity or Vertue for which they are to be worshiped or that any thing is to be asked of them or that any confidence is to be placed in the Images as anciently was done by the Gentils who did put theyr hope in theyr Idols Psal 115.8 But because the honour which is given to the Images is referred to the persons represented by the Images so that by or through the Images which we kisse and before which we uncover our head or ly prostrate we adore Christ and reverence the Saints whom these Images represent Behold the belief of our Church teaching that all the reverence done before Images I pray note well this manner of speach All the honour I say that is shewed before the picture resteth not in the Image but passeth through it and resteth in the person represented to me by this picture He that abuses King Charles his picture or statue neither intendeth to shew nor sheweth any anger or disrespect to Paper or to stock or stone All the abuse by all mens Iudgment is given to King Charles represented by his picture in paper or engraven in wood or stone A further and an evident proof of all this is that your selves on the one side believe the Sacrament to be only a signe or figure of Christs body and yet on the other side you count it no Idolatrie to kneel before this Sacrament at the
which he will find them in his English Bible for you have so many severall traÌ„slations of the English Bible that whilst I oblige my selfe to follow one I shall make sure not to follow the other I conceived the best expedieÌ„t to avoid this difficulty would be to follow alwayes either the very words or the full seÌ„se of that English Bible which is most universally received And in this point I have been so very scrupulous that I continually admonish my Reader if at any one time I chance to put downe any single text differing in sense from the English Bible vvich I have made choice of as the best edition of theyr most received Bible which is that which was set forth at Cambridg 1635. printed by Thomas and Iohn Buck Printers to that Vniversity which Bible King Iames did cause to be set forth out of his deep Iudgment apprehending how convenient it was that out of the Originall sacred tongues there should be a more exact TranslatioÌ„ as is sayd in the Preface of this TranslatioÌ„ dedicated to his Majesty A note to the Catholike Reader LEt the Catholik Reader observe that when we cite the two books of Samuel the texts cited will be fouÌ„d in our two first Books of Kings And when we cite here theyr two Books of Kings the Texts will be found in our Bibles in the two last Books of Kings For our Third is theyr first our fourth theyr second So also with them the Books of Paraâ—ip be called Chronicles the secoÌ„d of Esdras they call Nehemiah In numbring allso the Psalmes they do from the 10 Psalme differ from us counting still one more then we untill they come to Ps 147. which from the 11. verse includes our Psalm 147. And thence we goe forward with the same account A Table of the Pointes contained in this Treatise POINT I. That the Scripture alone cannot be a Rule sufficient to direct us in all necessary Controversies Page 1. POINT II. Tradition besides Scripture must direct us in in many necessary Controversies Page 12. POINT III. Of the never failing of the Church which beeing perpetuall can preserve perpetuall Traditions allso of succession of true Pastors and Professors P. 21. POINT IV. Of the universality and vast extent of this perpetuall Church which allso must be the converter of Gentils this no Church differing from the Roman ever was Page 33. POINT V. Of the infallibilitie of the Church and consequently of her fittnes to be judge of Controversies P. 44. POINT VI. That the Roman Church is this infallible Church aÌ„d our Iudge in all points of CoÌ„troversie P. 64. POINT VII That the Chief Pastor of this Church is the successor of S. Peter Page 66. POINT VIII That this our Chiefe Pastour or Pope is not Anti-christ Page 74. POINT IX Of the Sacraments of the Church and of the Ceremonies which the Church useth in administrating these Sacraments as allso in other occasions Page 79. POINT X. Of Baptisme which is the first Sacrament P. 86. POINT XI Of Confirmation Pag. 87. POINT XII Of the Holy Eucharist Page 89. POINT XIII Of Communion under one kind Page 106. POINT XIV Of the Masse and of the Holy Eucharist as it is a Sacrifice Page 109. POINT XV. Of saying Masses and other publike prayers in the Latin tongue Page 119. POINT XVI Of the Sacrament of Pennance or Confession Page 131. POINT XVII Of the Sacrament of Extreame Vnction Page 134. POINT XVIII Of the Sacrament of Holy Order P. 138. POINT XIX Of the Sacrament of Matrimony Page 139. POINT XX. Of the single life of Priests Page 141. POINT XXI Of the single life of such as have vowed Chastity Page 149. POINT XXII Of works of Counsel and supererogation Page 155. POINT XXIII Of voluntary Austerity of life Page 159. POINT XXIV Of satisfactory good workes Page 165. POINT XXV Of Purgatory aÌ„d prayer for the dead P. 173. POINT XXVI Of Indulgences Page 189. POINT XXVII That faith alone doth not Iustifie P. 196. POINT XXVIII Whether Justification be any thing inherent in us Page 200. POINT XXIX Whether our Justification may not be lost Page 205. POINT XXX To Justification it is necessary to keep the Commandments Page 209. POINT XXXI How still wee have free will to do good or evill Page 213. POINT XXXII How this free will is still helped with sufficient grace Page 216. POINT XXXIII This sufficient grace is denyed to none Christ dying even for Reprobates Page 220. POINT XXXIV How our good works done in grace and by the helpe of Christs grace be meritorious and merit life everlasting Page 224. POINT XXXV It is laudable to do good works for reward Page 233. POINT XXXVI Wee laudably worship Angels and Saints Page 235. POINT XXXVII The Angels and Saints can hear our Prayers Page 245. POINT XXXVIII That Saints can and will helpe us and therefore it is laudable to pray to them Page 252. POINT XXXIX That among the Saints it is most laudable to pray to our Lady and of the beads sayd to her honour Page 264. POINT XL. It is laudable to worship the Images of Saints Page 275. POINT XLI It is iaudable to worship the Reliques of Saints Page 289. POINT XLII Some places are more Holy then others wee therefore laudably make Pilgrimages and Processions to such Holy places Page 296. POINT XLIII That wee laudably keepe Feasts in the honour of Saints Page 306. POINT XLIV That we laudably observe Fasts Saints eves and other dayes Page 312. POINT XLV That we laudably in our fasts obstaine from certaine meates Page 317. TO THE PROTESTANT READER I Humbly begg of thee to peruse this Table of the Points here treated and to turn first to that very Point in which thou thinkest wee are less able to give thee satisfaction And according as thou findest what I shall say even in that Point to be more or less satisfactory so judge of the rest But first correct these faults escaped with thy penne and pardon the Printer who was an externe THE FIRST POINT That Scripture alone can not be a Rule sufficient to direct us in all necessary Controversies 1. NO Roman Catholike doth deny the Scripture to be a sufficient Rule to direct us in all controversies if wee take the Scripture rightly interpreted And therefore all those many textes which Protestantes bring to prove the Scripture to be our sole Rule of fayth are very clearely answered by saying that all those Textes speake of the Scripture not taken as the letter sounds for the letter kills 2. Cor. 3.6 but they speake of the Scripture as rightly interpreted And Protestantes cannot but graunt the Scripture rightly interpreted to be a sufficient Rule of fayth But what are wee the nearer For now comes the great Question of Questions who be those that give the right Interpretation to Scripture 2. The very ground of all Religions but the Roman is the Scripture as Interpreted by theyr own selves after they have carefully conferred
more outwardly when wee worship Saints or adore God Wherfore to prove what I have undertaken you see I need go no further then Genesis but I thought fitt to adde one very fitt passage of 1. Chron. 29. v. 20. All the assemble bowed themselves downe and worshiped the Lord and the King Exteriously the bowing was both alike to thc ground but the inward act made this bowing as done to the King to be civil honour only and the like bowing as done to God to be devine honour or worship and true adoratiō in the most rigorous sēse It is very strāge to observe how cunningly your Bibles still avoid the word Adore evē when it is applyed to God which seemes so often omitted by them because the same word signifying to adore is so often applyed to creatures you cannot then blame us if when wee reverence Saints or pray to them wee bow kneel or prostrate our selves to the ground even seaven times For if civil worship for this word the last Text hath may passe so farre without robbing God of his honour why may not an inferiour Religious worship do the like 5. But of this adoring for Religious worship wee have cleer Scripture Iosue c. 5. being told by an Angel that this Angel was but a Captain of the Hosts of our Lord Ioshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship v. 14. Behold before wee had worship given by the people to the King here wee have worship done to an Angel known to be an Angel By and by in the Apocalips wee shall see this very word of worship to signify the Reverence which is to be given to God Now I go on and I observe that the Angel was not only willing to admitt of this honour but commanded him allso to shew reverence to the very place made Holy by his presence Loose sayth he thy shoes from thy feet for the place wherin thou doest stand is Holy If any reply that wee may with Religious worship adore Angels as Iosue did but not Saints behold the Scripture sheweth this Religious worship or adoration due to spirituall excellency to be laudably given even to those who excell in sanctity even in this world So 1. Kings 18.7 Abdias governour of the house of Achab King of Israël meeting with poore Elias the Prophet when he knew him fell on his facë and sayd My Lord art not thou Elias And 2. Kings 2. v. 15. The Children of Prophets seing Elizeus sayd the spirit of Elias hath rested upon him and coming to meet him adored him flat to the ground or as you read They bowed themselves to the ground before him See you not here that it was not for any worldly excellency but meerly in regard of his spirituall excellency that they thus bowed thēselves to the groūd before him This spirituall excellency is incomparably more eminent in those who are now made Coheires to Christ himselfe in the partciipation of all heavenly gifts and glory To them therfore Religious bowing or worship is farre more due and wee are commāded by S. Paul Rom. 13.6.7 To render to all theyr due to whom honour honour Owe to no man any thing which you do not pay him This I staid upō because our Adversaries often aske for a precept commanding us to honour Saints Behold I have given you one which is a precept grounded in the very Law of nature and equity cammaunding us to render to teach one what is due to him 6. Again Apoc. 3.9 Behold I will make them come and worship hefore thy feet words spoaken to the Angel of Philadelphia If by this Angel you say the Bishop of Philadelphia is understood then we prove first that a fortiore wee may worship before the feet of the chiefe Bishop of the Church Secondly wee much more a fortiore inferre that wee may worship before the feet of those who have a farre greater excellency in vertue grace glory as Saints have above all men on earth For Matth. 11.11 Hee that is the least in the Kingdome of heaven is greater then he that is is greater then the great S. Iohn Baptist was upon earth though of him Christ himselfe sayd There had not risen a greater among the sons of weomen S. Iohn the Evangelist then knowing it to be true which he himselfe had written that Christ would make men come and worship before the feet of the Angel of Philadelphia thought it is duty to adore before the feet of any Angel and hence he sayth of himselfe Apoc. 19. v. 10. And I fell at this feet to worship him the Angel and again c. 22. v. 8. I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which shewed me those things 7. Our adversaries object that at each of these adorations the Angel checked S. Iohn for them saying at each time See thou do not I am thy fellow servant worship God Our answer is that if the first adoration used by S. Iohn had been of its own nature Idolatrous and sinfull which is incredible it proceeding from so great a Prophet and so sublime a Scripture writer yet at lest being told so and instructed by the Angel to the contrary as you say he was he would never the second time have done that Idolatrous and damnable sinfull act both wittingly and willingly and this so very soō after he had beē warned not to do it It was not thē by reason of any unlawfulnes in this action that the Angel willed him not to adore or worship But the Angel refused at both times this honour upon some other consideration to witt out of singular respect unto him whom he knew to have been at the last supper admitted to ly on Christs breast and so he would not permitt him to ly now prostrate at his feete whom he allso knew to be so highly favored by God with so many admirable heavenly visions Moreover to be a Virgin to be a Priest an Apostle and to be that very Disciple whom Iesus so singularly loved to be allso a Prophet and an Evangelist Therefore he would not admitt of such profound respect at his hands but humbly saying unto him I pray do it not for I am thy fellow servant and thou either now art greater in Gods sight then I am or soon mayest come to be farre greater Worship and adore God who hath so magnifyed thee Yet S. Iohns humility working still upon him more by seeing an Angel so humble and producing in him a mean conceipt of himselfe by still reflecting on what he was as of himselfe and knowing what his maister sayd that even the lesser in the Kingdome of heaven was greater then the great S. Iohn Baptist to witt according to the present state he therefore did the second time shew the Angel the honour he knew due to him See above how Iosue worshiped an Angel which honour notwithstanding was allso refused by the Angel in this place both for the former reasons and for that he knew full
read every Sabboth Act. c. 15. v. 21. Read I say but not as then understood by the vulgar This practice was practized before the eyes of Christ and his Apostles and they never did the lest reprehend it or give order to have the Bible turned into the Syriak language that the vulgar might understand it Why thē must we be blamed for using either Scriptures or divine Service in a language not understood by the people 3. Secondly I ask what you say to that place of Leviticus c. 16. v. 17. Lett no man be in the Tabernacle when the high Priest goeth into the Sanctuary to pray for himself and his house and for the whole assembly of Israël untill he come forth See you not here publik prayer made expresly for the whole assembly and yet no one of the assembly permitted to heare or see what there was done by the Priest to God for them even then when the Priest made an attonement for himself for his household and for all the congregation of Israël Again Luk. 1.10 All the multitude of the people was praying without at the Houre of incense The Priest was doing his duty with in where he could neither be seen nor heard by the people without yet they assisting at the Priests function done for them were not lesse partakers of the benefit thereof though they could neither see him nor heare him so prayer made and offered up for the people in a low voyce or in an unknown language is available to them who know not the particular meaning of the words sayd for them It is sufficient then they know they conteyne a particular prayse of God and a speciall worship of him and a peculiar recommending of our necessities unto him And that they be as most pious prayers approved by the Church and recommended by all the learned men hereof who very well understand them Now a petition well made even when it s presented by a Petitioner who understands not the language in which the petition is made obteynes of the King or Emperour who understand it as much as if the Petitioner had perfectly understood every word of it When the Children Mat. 21.16 cryed in the Temple Osanna to the Sonne of David though they knew not what they sayd yet Christ called it a perfect prayse saying that out of the mouth of Infants and sucklings thou hast perfected prayse A rich Iewell in the hands of an Infant or Clowne who knows not to penetrate the valew of it doth not for that cause cease to be truly of as great valew as when it is in the hands of a Ieweller So Latin prayers in the mouthes of the vulgar be as pretious in the sight of God When they be sayd with equall devotion as when they are in the mouthes of great schollers You who scorned to use Latin service soone came to see your English service with all scornfull contempt bānished out of almost all your Church And your people did soone grow to lyke no service at all since they mislyked the Latin service 4. I will now examine our adversaries chief ground in Scripture which is out of the first of the Corinthians Ch. 14. Where I would have the Reader to note that untill 14. verse S. Paul only speaks of using an unknown language in preaching exhorting interpreting and teaching in all which exercises we still use the vulgar tongue so that hetherto he hath nothing against us From the 14. verse he begins indeed to speak of praying but not of publike divine service but of such extemporall prayer as is made before all that all may joyn with it and he speaks there not of the use of any sett forme of prayer practiced by the Church as the Liturgie is but he manifestly speaks only against the use of an unknown and Barbarous tongue in the making of such Hymnes and Canticles and Prayers as many then did use to make by divine inspiration in the presence of the whole Congregation to edify the Bretheren assembled and to excite them to love to honour and prayse God not intending chiefly to pray to God for the people as we do in our Liturgie of which kind of sett forme of prayer S. Paul can not be sayd to speak For it is apparent that among the Corinthians to whom he writ there was no use at all of an unknown or Barbarous language in the Liturgie or divine service wherefore of this S. Paul could not complaine for theyr Liturgie was undoubtedly in Greek which was the known language among them and in which he did write this very Epistle to them Allso in which they had theyr set formes of prayer Now then S. Paul speaketh not at all against the use of an unknown tongue in eyther the Liturgie or in any other usuall sett forme of publik prayer for there was no abuse at all in that kind but he only speaks against that use practiced by some in those extemporall Canticles Prayers and Hymnes which then divers used yet of such kind of prayers allso though made in unknown and Barbarous tongues he sayth v. 14. If I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth and this great good I have by my prayer but my understanding is without fruict that is without the fruict of instruction or edifying others A fruict which ought to be sought for by those to whom God had so particularly given that miraculous guift of speaking in severall tongues purposely that they might excyte and styrre up the people of severall tongues and nations to the knowledge prayse honour and love of God and therefore he addeth I will pray in spiritt I will pray allso in understanding that in those prayers I may not deprive the standers by of that fruict But you must know that neither the Masse nor the sett formes of prayer in our Liturgie be ordeyned for this end of instructing others Because for this we have other exercises of Catechising expounding exhorting preaching c. But chiefly those prayers be appointed to the Priest who well understands them to offer them up to God for the people The Epistles and Ghospels which conteyne instructions be interpreted and largely declared unto the people in our Churches upon those dayes on which they are bound to be assembled and to resort to Masse The other chiefe parts of the masse be in all Masses the selfsame And beeing so often used and therefore upon occasions so often declared to the people they must indeed be very Idiots if they know not when so say Amen when to kneele to adore to knock theyr breasts when to ryse when to stand or to do any thing else that concerns them or is proper for them to do Therefore it can not be sayd against our Masse which you use to object out of v. 16. Else when thou shalt blesse with the spiritt how shall he that occupieth the roome of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayst This as I sayd
Moyses v. 8. They have made them a molten Calfe and have worshiped it and sacrificed thereunto And sayd these are the Gods of Israël who have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt You see God himself sayth they have worshipped it and Sacrificed thereunto that is to the very Calfe and not to the true God And they did not acknowledge that the true God had delivered them from Aegypt but they did attribute theyr delivery to the Gods to witt the Aegyptian Gods Wherefore the true God sayd in that place of Exodus just now cited They have quickly revolted forgetting me who so very lately did so many wonders to deliver them all which they now ascribe to the Aegyptian Gods And that you may see I say this most groundedly I shew the same expresly sayd in other Scriptures Moyses speaking of this very act of Idolatry here committed sayth Deutr. 32.16 They provoked him with strange Gods The God of Israël can not be called a strange God And the next words are They Sacrificed to Divels not to God And yet you say they Sacrificed to the true God which allso is expresly cōtrary to the next words They Sacrificed to new Gods that came newly up to Gods whom they knew not To Gods whom theyr Fathers feared not What more clear David allso manifestly Psal 106. v. 19. They have made a Calfe in Horeb and they worshipped the molten Image they forgott theyr Saviour who had done great things in Aegypt A strange thing indeed it was that all those strange wonders should be so soon forgot But it is that very thing for which God so often blameth them So that Moyses with great reason wondred how Aaron could be brought to be partaker in this sin and as astonished he asked him Exod. 32.20 what hath this people done to thee for I am sure they must have used great violence and force to bring thee to this that thou shouldest bring upon them an heinous sin Aaron for his excuse allegeth the violence offered to him Now whereas Aaron proclaimed this solemnity as the solemnity of the Lord of Israël he did so because he denounced that the very self same honour should to morrow be solemnly given to this Idol which was formerly given to the God of Israël And seeing that they resolved to giue to this new God all other honours they would allso give him the honour of the highest name Iehova a name yet famous among them So you might lately see a Quaker say to Iames Nayler Thou art my Christ as S. Paul sayd of the Gentils Rom 1.21 that whereas they knew God yet they did not glorify him as God And they changed the glorie of the incorruptible God into a similitude of a corruptible fourfooted beast So might we say of these Iewes Now I answer what was added of Ieroboams renewing this Idolatry For he allso did worship false and strange Gods as appeares by what God spoak by his Prophet Ahias 1. Kings 14.3 Thou hast gone and made thee other Gods and cast me behind thy back So that he did not honour for of him these words are sayd the God of Israël in those Idols but casting him of he honored other Gods yea in Chap. 12.32 He Sacrificed unto the Calves that he had made But how then say you did they call the God of Israël Baali I answer that as a Quaker calling Iames Nayler Iesus Christ doth make Christ to be no better man then Iames Nayler and so doth as good as call Christ Iames Nayler Even so these Iewes taking Baali for theyr true God did say that in effect theyr true God was no better then Baali and so they vilifyed him as much as if they had called him Baali giving all honour to Baali that was due to God yea even the honour of beeing theyr chief God as wee sayd of Aaron 10. Thus I have answered at large this theyr best argumēt upon which chiefly they must build theyr uncharitable and heinous accusation of the whole visible Church to have been guilty of the highest of Crimes that is of Idolatry it self Alas how farr short doth this objectiō come of making good so foul an accusation which is most injuriously made if it cannot be better proved then by this weak argument THE XLI POINT It is Laudable to worship the Reliques of Saints 1. ALL the worshipe we give to the Reliques of Saints is only such respect as insensible Creatures are capable of as to be kissed costly inshrined touched worn and used with reverence c. And all this is meerly for the respect we beare unto the person whose Reliques they be By the worship done to the Ark we shall fitly both prove and declare the honour of which such insensible holy things are capable The Ark of God was only that portable litle chappel in which God was pleased to speak and impart his mind to the High Priest consulting him with due Ceremonies And yet see I pray what honour God would have done to this Ark though it were a creature insensible of Honour and only capable of beeing honored for his sake to whom it had relation And this relative honour was exceeding great and extended to manyfold strange expressions of Reverence Yet all these honours were farr from beeing Idolatrous yea God by this so much worshiped Ark confounded Idolatry For 1. Sam. 5.4 Dagon fell upon his face unto the earth before it Let us see what reverence God declared due to the Ark. When without respect they had looked on the Ark of our Lord he smote of the people fifty thousand Chap. 6.19 And 2. Sam. 6.6 Because Vzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it For the oxen shook it God smote him for his errour and he dyed by the Ark. Whence David fearing want of due piety in himself sayd how shall the Ark of our Lord come to me And so he caused it to tourne into the house of Obededon where it was three months And our Lord blessed him and all his house We may then hope for blessings by wearing Reliques by having Saints Bodyes buried in our cities c. And when Salomon placed the Ark in the Temple 2. Chron. 5. v. 2. He gathered to geather all the ancients of Israël and all the Princes of the heads of families of the Children of Israël into Ierusalem to bring the Ark from the citty of David which is Sion See here this most stately and goodly procession to bring the Ark. And all that were gathered before the Ark Sacrificed Sheep and Oxen which could not be tould nor numbred for multitude v. 6. And God graced this Procession and Translation of the Ark by a miraculous Cloude filling the house of our Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloude v. 14. Laugh not then at our Processions made in Translations of Reliques this beeing done for the Ark. Now of other Reliques 2. Kings 2 v. 13. Elizeus