which no Creatures can challenge any share in It is no affront to a Prince to pay some inferiour degrees of civil honour and respect to his Ministers and Favourites because as the difference between a Prince and his Subjects is not founded in nature but in civil order so there are different degrees of civil respect proportioned to the different ranks and degrees of men in the Common-wealth There is a degree of preheminency which is sacred and peculiar to the Person of the Prince and no Prince will suffer his greatest Favourite to usurp the Prerogative honours which belong to the Crown but while they are contented with such respects as are due to their rank and station this is no injury to the Prince for all civil honour is not peculiar to the Prince but only a supereminent degree of it and therefore inferiour degrees of honour may be given to other persons But though there are different degrees of civil honour proper to different ranks and degrees of men who all partake in the same nature and are distinguisht only by their different places in the Common-wealth yet in this sense there are no different degrees of Religious Worship All Religious Worship is peculiar to the Divine Nature which is but one and common only to three Divine Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost one God blessed for ever Amen Civil honour and Religious Worship differ in the whole kind and species of actions and have as different objects as God and Creatures and we may as well argue from those different degrees of civil honour among men to prove that there is an inferiour degree of civil honour due to Beasts as that there is an inferiour degree of Religious Worship due to some men For all degrees of Religious Worship are as peculiar and appropriate to God as civil respects are to men and as the highest degree of civil honour is to a Soveraign Prince However should we grant that some excellent Creatures might be capable of some inferiour degrees of Religious Worship yet as the Prince is the fountain of civil honour which no Subject must presume to usurp without a grant from his Prince so no Creature how excellent soever has any natural and inherent right to any degree of Religious Worship and therefore we must not presume to worship any Creature without Gods command nor to pay any other degree of Worship to them but what God has prescribed and instituted and the only way to know this is to examine the Scriptures which is the only external revelation we have of the will of God Let us then inquire what the sense of Scripture is in this controversie and I shall distinctly examine the testimonies both of the Old and New Testament concerning the object of Religious Worship SECT II. The Testimonies of the Mosaical Law considered 1. TO begin with the Old Testament and nothing is more plain in all the Scripture than that the Laws of Moses confine Religious Worship to that one Supreme God the Lord Jehovah who Created the Heavens and the Earth For 1. The Israelites were expresly commanded to Worship the Lord Jehovah and to Worship no other Being as our Saviour himself assures us who I suppose will be allowed for a very good Expositor of the Laws of Moses It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve In the Hebrew Text from whence our Saviour cites this Law it is only said Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him without that addition of him only And yet both the Septuagint and the vulgar Latine read the words as our Saviour doth him only shalt thou serve and the authority of our Saviour is sufficient to justifie this Interpretation and withal gives us a general rule which puts an end to this controversie that as often as we are commanded in Scripture to worship God we are commanded also to worship none besides him For indeed the first Commandment is very express in this matter and all other Laws which concern the object of Worship must in all reason be expounded by that Thou shalt have none other Gods before me The Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides me so does the Chaldee Syriack and Arabick to the same sense And it is universally concluded by all Expositors that I have seen that the true interpretation of this Commandment is that we must Worship no other God but the Lord Jehovah To pay Religious Worship to any Being does in the Scripture notion make that Being our God which is the only reason why they are commanded not to have any other Gods For there is but one true God and therefore in a strict sense they can have no other Gods because there are no other Gods to be had but whatever Beings they worship they make that their God by worshipping it and so the Heathens had a great many Gods but the Jews are commanded to have but one God that is to worship none else besides him In other places God expresly forbids them to worship any strange Gods or the Gods of the people or those Nations that were round about them And least we should suspect that they were forbid to worship the Gods of the people only because those Heathen Idolaters worshipped Devils and wicked Spirits the Prophet Jeremiah gives us a general notion who are to be reputed false Gods and not to be worshipped Thus shall ye say unto them the Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens So that whatever Being is worshipped whether it be a good or a bad Spirit which did not make the Heavens and the Earth is a false God to such Worshippers and I suppose the Church of Rome will not say that Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary as much as they magnifie her made the Heavens and the Earth And then according to this rule they ought not to be worshipt But to put this past doubt that the true meaning of these Laws is to forbid the worship of any other Being besides the Supreme God I shall observe two or three things in our Saviours answer to the Devils temptation which will give great light and strength to it 1. That our Saviour absolutely rejects the worship of any other Being together with the Supreme God The thing our Saviour condemns is not the renouncing the worship of God for the worship of Creatures for the Devil never tempted him to this but the worship of any other Being besides God though we still continue to worship the Supreme God It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which is a plain demonstration that men may believe worship the Supreme God and yet be Idolaters if they worship any thing else besides him The Devil did not desire our Saviour to renounce the worship of the Supreme God but was contented that
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his Commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave unto him And that Prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death c. in which Law there are some things very material to be observed in this present dispute 1. When they are forbidden to hearken to any Prophet who seduces them to the worship of any other Gods this must be extended to all those instances of Idolatrous worship which are forbid by the Law of Moses whatever is opposed to the worship of one Supreme and Soveraign Being the Lord Jehovah And therefore whether these Prophets seduced them from the worship of the Lord Jehovah to the worship of other Gods or perswaded them to worship other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah whether they were any of those Gods which were at that time worshipt by other Nations or any other Gods whom the ignorance and superstition of the people should create in after ages whether good or bad Spirits the case is the same whoever perswaded them to worship any other Being with or besides the Supreme God was to be rejected by them for this is the sense of the Mosaical Laws concerning the worship of one Supreme God as I have already proved and the serving other Gods in this place is opposed to the worship of one God and therefore must include whatever according to the Law of Moses is contrary to the worship of one Supreme Being 2. This Law makes the worship of one God eternal and unchangeable There is no way of altering any Divine Laws but by a new revelation of Gods will and there is no way to give Authority to such a revelation but by Miracles or Prophesie but in this case Miracles and Prophesie it self can give no authority because God himself has expresly forbid us to hearken to any Prophet whatever signs or wonders are wrought by him who teacheth the worship of any other Being besides the one Supreme God So that the Law of Moses having expresly forbid the worship of any other Being besides God and as expresly forbid us to hearken to any Prophet though a worker of Miracles who teaches any other worship it is impossible that this Law should ever be altered because we are before-hand warned by God himself not to give credit to any Prophet whatever he be or whatever he do who attempts any alteration of it And therefore had Christ or his Apostles taught the worship of Saints and Angels it had been a just reason for the unbelief of the Jews notwithstanding all the Miracles that were wrought by them and it is well the Jews never had any just occasion to make this objection against our Saviour for if they had I know not how it would have been answered I say a just occasion for the Jews did urge this very Law against him before Pilate We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God In which they refer to that discourse of our Saviour 10. John 29 30. where he affirms that God is his Father and plainly tells them I and my Father are one for which saying they attempt to stone him for Blasphemy and that being a man he made himself a God v. 33. But though he did indeed as the Jews rightly inferred make himself a God by this saying yet he did not preach any new God to them but affirmed himself to be one with his Father that same Supreme God the Lord Jehovah whom they were commanded to worship by their Law he made no alteration in the object of their worship but only did more clearly and distinctly reveal the Father to them as manifesting himself in and by his only begotten Son And therefore he did not offend against this Law by seducing them to the worship of any other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah which if he had done their accusation had been just and all the Miracles which he did could not have secured him from the guilt and punishment of an Impostor Which shews us what force there is in that Argument which the Church of Rome urges from those Miracles which have been wrought at the Tombs of Martyrs to prove the Religious invocation of them if such Miracles were ever wrought it was in testimony to the truth of Christianity for which they suffered not to betray men to a superstitious and idolatrous worship of them ten thousand Miracles should never convince me of the lawfulness of praying to Saints departed while I have such a plain and express Law against believing all Miracles upon any such account Nor can it reasonably be said that this Law was given only to the Jews and therefore obliges none but them for we must remember that Christ was originally sent to the Jews to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and therefore by this Law he was bound not to teach the worship of any other Beings under the penalty of death and they were bound not to own and receive him if he did and therefore it was impossible for the true Messias to introduce the worship of any Being besides the one Supreme God and if Christ could not teach any such Doctrine I know not how the worship of Saints and Angels should ever come to be a Doctrine of Christianity For what Christ himself cannot do none of his Followers may who had no other Commission but to teach those things which they had learnt from him and he could not give commission to preach such Doctrines as he himself had no authority to preach So that though this Law was not originally given to the Gentiles but only to the Jews yet it equally obliges the Christian Church whether Jews or Gentiles because Christ himself who was the Author of our Religion was obliged by it The worship of one Supreme God and of none else is as fundamental to Christianity as it is to Judaism for Christianity is now or ought to be the Religion of the Jews as well as Gentiles and yet the Jews are expresly forbid by this Law ever to own any Religion which allows the worship of any Being besides God and therefore the worship of one God and none else must be fundamental in Christianity if the people of the Jews are or ever were bound to embrace the Faith of Christ. SECT IV. 2. ANd therefore I observe in the next place that Christ and his Apostles have made no alteration at all in the object of our worship Christ urges that Old Testament Law in answer to the Devils Temptation It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which it seems is as standing a Law after the appearance of Christ as it was before He gives no other direction to his Disciples but to pray to their Heavenly Father and in that form of prayer which he
for Idolatry consists in giving Religious Worship to such Beings as we ought not to worship and by the Law of Moses they were to worship none but God and therefore the worship of any other Being was Idolatry But if the object of our worship be enlarged and the Gospel has made it lawful to worship Saints and Angels then we must seek out some other notion of Idolatry that it consists in worshipping wicked Spirits or in giving Supreme and Soveraign worship to inferiour Deities which the Church of Rome thinks impossible in the nature of the thing for any man to do who knows them to be inferiour Spirits But if Idolatry be the same under the New Testament that it was under the Old the object of our worship must be the same too and we have reason to believe that it is the same when we are commanded to keep our selves from Idols and to flie from Idolatry but are no where in the New Testament expresly told what this Idolatry is which supposes that we must learn what it is from some antecedent Laws and there were no such Laws in being but the Laws of Moses The only thing that can be said in this case is that the Apostle refers them not to any written Law but to the natural notions of Idolatry but with what reason this is said will soon appear if we consider to whom the Apostle writes and they were both Jewish and Heathen Converts As for the Heathens they had corrupted all their natural notions of Idolatry and had no sense at all of this sin till they were converted to Christianity and therefore they were not likely to understand the true notion of Idolatry without being taught it and it is not probable the Apostles would leave them to guess what Idolatry is As for the Jews God would not from the beginning trust to their natural notions but gave them express Laws about Idolatry which though they are the same Laws which natural reason dictates to us as most agreeable to the nature and worship of God yet since the experience of the world which was over-run by Idolatrous worship did sufficiently prove that all men do not use their reason aright in these matters God would not trust to the use of their reason in the weighty concernments of his own worship and glory but gives them an express positive Law about it and Christ and his Apostles having done nothing to repeal this Law they leave them under the authority of it and when they warn them against Idols and Idolatry without giving them any new Laws about it must in all reason be presumed to refer them to those Laws which they already had SECT V. 4. AS a farther proof of this I observe that Christ and his Apostles did not abrogate but only complete and perfect the Mosaical Laws Our Saviour with great zeal and earnestness disowns any such intention or design Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fill it up by fulfilling the types and prophesies of it by exchanging a ceremonial for a real righteousness or by perfecting its moral precepts with new instances and degrees of vertue And therefore he adds For verily I say unto you Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled And St. Paul who was lookt on by the believing Jews as a great enemy to the Law of Moses does renounce all such pretences Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Indeed had Christ or his Apostles attempted to have given any new Laws contrary to the Laws of Moses it had justified the Jews in their unbelief for God by his Prophet Isaiah had given them this express rule to examine all new Doctrines by To the law and the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them and that Christ himself is not excepted from this rule appears in this that this is joyned with the prophesie of the Messias both before and after as you may see in 8 Isai. 13 14. and 9 Chap. 6 7. and therefore Christ and his Apostles always make their appeals to the writings of the Old Testament and St. Paul in all his disputes with the Jews urges them with no other authority but the Scriptures and thô the Miracles which were wrought by the Apostles did move the Jews to hearken to them and greatly dispose them to believe their Doctrine yet it was the authority of the Scriptures whereon their Faith was founded As St. Peter tells those to whom he wrote that though they preacht nothing to them concerning the coming of Christ but what they were eye-witnesses of and though God had given testimony to him by a voice from Heaven which they heard when they were with him in the holy Mount yet he adds We have also a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts That is the Scriptures of the Old Testament and therefore the Jews of Berea are greatly commended for their diligence in searching the Scriptures and examining St. Pauls Doctrine by them and this is assigned as the reason why many of them believed To apply this then to our present purpose I observe 1. That if Christ did not make any new Laws in contradiction to the Law of Moses then he could make no alteration in the object of Religious Worship He could not introduce the worship of Saints and Angels without contradicting that Law which commands us to worship no other Being but the one Supreme God For the worship of Saints and Angels together with the Supreme God is a direct contradiction to that Law which commands us to worship God alone though we should suppose that in the nature of the thing the worship of Saints and Angels were consistent with the worship of the Supreme God yet it is not consistent with that Law which commands us to worship none but God So that let this be a natural or positive Law or whatever men please to call it it is a very plain and express Law and Christ never did contradict any express Law of God It is true that Typical and Ceremonial Worship which God commanded the Jews to observe is now out of date under the Gospel and does no longer oblige Christians but the reason of that is because it has received its accomplishment and perfection in Christ. Christ has perfected the Jewish Sacrifices and put an end to them by offering a more perfect and meritorious sacrifice even the sacrifice of himself The Circumcision Washings Purifications of the Law are perfected by the Laws of internal purity The external Ceremonies of the Law cease but they
other gods before me and therefore it must signifie Supreme Soveraign worship for no other degree of worship makes a God Did the Heathens then worship no inferior gods did those who worship ped so many several Gods look upon them all as supreme and absolute or were they so senseless as to give supreme and soveraign worship to inferior Deities or does not this Law forbid the worship of those Gods whom the Heathens worshipped as inferior Daemons but onely the worship of those Gods whom they accounted supreme and soveraign If this Law forbids the worship of all Heathen Gods and it is certain that they worshipped a great many Gods whom they did not account supreme then there can be no place for this distinction here for such an inferiour worship as makes an inferiour God is as well forbid as Supreme and Soveraign worship The Law says Thou shalt have none other Gods before me or besides me which as I observed before does not exclude the worship of the Supreme God but forbids the worship of any other Being together with him The meaning is not Thou shalt not renounce my worship for the worship of any other Gods but thou shalt worship me and no other God besides me now I would onely ask this question Whether a Jew who worshipped the God of Israel who declared himself to be the Supreme God could give Supreme worship to any other God This is contrary to the sense of all mankind to worship him as supreme whom they do not believe to be supreme And therefore when God forbad them to joyn the worship of any other Gods with the worship of himself he must forbid all kinds and degrees of worship even the most inferiour worship which the Heathens paid to their inferiour Deities If you say that God did indeed forbid all kinds and degrees of worship to be paid to the Heathen Gods which were impure and wicked Spirits but still it is lawful to pay an inferiour worship to Saints and Angels who are the friends of God I answer the law makes no distinction between the worship of good and bad Spirits and therefore as far as this Law is concerned we must either deny this inferiour worship to all or grant it to all If this Law does not forbid giving inferiour degrees of worship to other Beings then it does not forbid the inferiour worship of Heathen Gods that may be faulty upon other accounts but is no breach of this Law and then the Heathens were not guilty of Idolatry in worshipping their inferiour Daemons with an inferiour worship If this Law does forbid even this inferiour degree of worship then it forbids the worship of good Spirits too though with an inferiour worship which transforms true Saints and Angels into false and fictitious Deities But I have another argument to prove that this Law can have no respect to the different degrees of worship The Roman Doctors themselves grant that the difference between supreme and subordinate or inferiour worship does not consist in the outward Act that all or most of the external Acts of worship may belong to both kinds they except indeed Sacrifice but contrary to the sense of all men for the Heathens offered Sacrifice to their inferiour Deities as well as to the supreme and there is no imaginable reason to be assigned why Sacrifice as well as Prayer may not be an act of inferiour as well as of supreme worship The difference then between supreme and inferiour worship is onely in the intention and devotion of the worshippers and no man can by the external act know whether this be supreme or inferiour worship Now from hence I thus argue if the worship forbidden by this Law be such as can be known by the external act then this Law can have no regard to the degrees of worship for the degrees of worship are not in the external acts but in the mind of the worshipper which cannot be known by external acts Now that the Law did forbid the external acts of worship without any regard to the intention of the worshipper appears in this that this Idolatrous worship was to be punished with death and therefore it must be such external Idolatry as falls under the cognizance of humane Judicatures Had there been any regard to the degrees of worship no man could have been convicted of Idolatry by the external act and could not have been liable to punishment unless he had confessed his intention of giving supreme worship to a false God and so this Law of putting such Idolaters to death had signified nothing because it had been impossible for them to convict any man of Idolatry but by his own confession but when the external act which is visible to all men is sufficient to convict any man of Idolatry it is next to a demonstration that the Law had no respect to the degrees but to the acts of worship And that our Saviour in that Law thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve had no regard to the different degrees of worship I have already proved at large for allowing that distinction he had not given a good answer to the Devils temptation Thus as for their distinction between absolute and relative worship that though we must not worship any Creature the most excellent Saints and Angels for themselves yet we may worship them upon account of that relation they have to God that is we may worship them for Gods sake though not for their own I find no intimation of any such distinction in the Law We are there commanded to have no other Gods to worship God and him onely which excludes Saints and Angels from being the object of our worship as well as Devils 2. But possibly it may be said that though the Law takes no notice of such distinctions yet the Scripture in the explication of this Law may make allowances for it Now in answer to this I onely desire to know where the Scripture has made any such distinction between worshipping good and evil Spirits the enemies and Rivals or the Friends of God between supreme and subordinate absolute or relative worship I can find no such distinctions in Scripture I have a material reason to believe no such can be found viz. because there was no occasion for them The Scripture no-where allows us to give any kind of worship to any Creature and therefore there was no need to distinguish between the kinds and degrees of worship The most material thing that can be said in this cause is this that when the Scripture mentions this Law of worshipping One God it opposes it to the worship of the false Gods of the Heathens from whence some may conclude that God forbade the worship only of these false Gods But we must consider that the Law is conceived in such general terms as to exclude the worship of all Beings besides the Supreme God but it could not be thought that God should
A DISCOURSE Concerning the Object of Religious Worship OR A SCRIPTURE PROOF OF THE UNLAWFULNESS of giving any Religious Worship to any other Being Besides the One Supreme God PART I. LONDON Printed for Abel Swalle at the Vnicorn at the West-end of St. Pauls Church-yard MDCLXXXV A DISCOURSE Concerning the Object of Religious Worship The INTRODVCTION OF all the Disputes between us and the Church of Rome there is none of greater concernment than that about the Object of Religious Worship We affirm as the Scripture has taught us that we must worship the Lord our God and serve him only the Church of Rome teaches that there is a degree of Religious Worship which we may give to some excellent Creatures to Angels and Saints and Images and the Host and to the Reliques of Saints and Martyrs If they are in the right we may be thought very rude and uncivil at least in denying to pay that Worship which is due to such excellent Creatures and very injurious to our selves in it by losing the benefit of their Prayers and Patronage If we be in the right the Church of Rome is guilty of giving that worship to Creatures which is due to God alone which is acknowledged on all hands to be the greatest of sins and therefore this is a dispute which can never be compremised though we were never so desirous of an union and reconciliation with the Church of Rome for the Incommunicable glory of God and the salvation of our Souls are too dear things to be given away in complement to any Church And should it appear in the next world for I believe it will never appear to be so in this that we were mistaken that we were over-nice and curious in refusing to worship Saints and Angels yet ours is a much more innocent and pardonable mistake than that which the Church of Rome is guilty of if they should prove to be mistaken We are only wanting in some Religious Courtship which we might innocently have given to Saints and Angels but which we were not bound to give as the Church of Rome will not say that we are by any express Divine Law and therefore it is no sin against God not to do it and when this neglect is not owing to any designed contempt and dis-regard of those excellent Spirits but to a great reverence for God and jealousie for his incommunicable glory if it were a fault we need not doubt but that God would pardon it and that all good spirits who have such a profound veneration for God will easily excuse the neglect of some Ceremonies to themselves upon so great a reason But if the Church of Rome be mistaken and gives that worship to Creatures which is due only to the Supreme God they have nothing to pretend in excuse of it neither any positive Law of God which expresly forbids all Creature-worship as I doubt not to prove to the satisfaction of all impartial Readers nor the principles of Natural Reason which whatever Apologies it may make for the worship of Saints and Angels can never prove the necessity of it and it highly concerns the Church of Rome and all of her Communion to consider whether if their distinctions and little appearances of reason cannot justifie their worship of Creatures they will be able to excuse them from the guilt of so great a sin But not to insist on these things now I shall divide this discourse into three parts 1. I shall prove from the plain evidence of Scripture That God alone is to be worshipped 2. I shall examine what that worship is which is proper and peculiar to the Supreme God 3. I shall consider those distinctions whereby the Church of Rome justifies her worship of Saints and Angels and Images c. SECTION I. That GOD alone must be Worshipped TO make good the first point that we must worship no other Being but only God I shall principally confine my self to Scripture evidence which is the most certain authority to determine this matter For though I confess it seems to me a self evident and fundamental principle in natural Religion that we must worship none but that Supreme Being who made and who governs the world yet I find men reason very differently about these matters The Heathen Philosophers who generally acknowledged one Supreme and Soveraign Deity did not think it incongruous nor any affront or diminution to the Supreme God to ascribe an inferiour kind of Divinity nor to pay an inferiour degree of Religious Worship to those excellent Spirits which are so much above us and have so great a share in the government of this lower world no more than it is an affront to a Soveraign Monarch to honour and reverence his great Ministers of State or peculiar Favourites And the Church of Rome as she has corrupted Christianity with the Worship of Angels and Saints departed so she defends her self with the same Arguments and Reasons which were long since alleadged by Celsus and Porphyrie and other Heathen Philosophers in defence of their Pagan Idolatry And it must be confest that these Arguments are very popular and have something so agreeable in them to the natural notions of Civil Honour and respect which admits of great variety of degrees that I do not wonder that such vast numbers of men both wise and unwise have been imposed on by them For there is certainly a proportionable reverence and respect due even to created excellencies and every degree of power challenges and commands a just regard and we are bound to be very thankful not only to God who is the first cause and the supreme giver of all good things but to our immediate Benefactors also And therefore if there be a sort of middle Beings as the Heathens believed and as the Church of Rome asserts between us and the Supreme God who take particular care of us and either by their power and interest in the government of the world or by their Intercessions with the Supreme God can and do bestow a great many Blessings on us it seems as natural and necessary to fear and reverence to honour and worship them and to give them thanks for their care and patronage of us as it is to court a powerful Favourite who by his interest and authority can obtain any request we make to our Prince and the first seems to be no greater injury to God than the second is to a Prince Thus St. Paul observes that there is a shew of humility in worshipping Angels that men dare not immediately approach so glorious a Majesty as God is but make their addresses by those excellent spirits which attend the Throne of God and are the Ministers of his Providence But then every one who believes that there is one Supreme God who made all other Beings though never so perfect and excellent must acknowledge that as there is nothing common to God and Creatures so there must be a peculiar Worship due to God
he should worship God still so he would but worship him also And therefore it is no reason to excuse the Church of Rome from Idolatry because they worship the Supreme God as well as Saints and Angels this they may do and be Idolaters still for Idolatry does not consist meerly in renouncing the worship of the Supreme God but in worshipping any thing else though we continue to worship him When the Jews worshipt their Baalims and false gods they did not wholly renounce the worship of the God of Israel and the Heathens themselves especially the wisest men amongst them did acknowledge one Supreme God though they worshipt a great many inferiour Deities with him 2. Our Saviour in his answer to the Devils temptation does not urge his being a wicked and Apostate Spirit an enemy and a rebel against God but gives such a reason why he could not worship him as equally excludes all Creatures whether good or bad Spirits from any right to Divine Worship Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Him and none else whether they be good or bad Spirits for our Saviour does not confine his answer to either and therefore includes them both When we charge the Church of Rome with too plain an imitation of the Pagan Idolatry in that worship they paid to their infâ—riour Daemons which was nothing more than what the Church of Rome now gives to Saints and Angels they think it a sufficient answer that the Heathens worshipt Devils and Apostate Spirits but they worship only the Friends and Favourites of God blessed Saints and Angels Now I shall not at present examine the truth of this pretence but shall refer my Reader to a more Learned person for satisfaction in this matter but if it were true yet it is nothing to the purpose if our Saviours answer to the Devil be good For let us suppose that the Pope of Rome who calls himself Christs Vicar had at this time been in Christ's stead to have answered the Devils temptations and let us be so charitable for once as to suppose that saving always his indirect power over the Kingdoms of this world in or line ad spiritualia he would not worship the Devil to gain all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Consider then how the Pope of Rome could answer this Temptation All this I will give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me could he answer as our Saviour does It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve How easily might the Devil reply Is this indeed your infallible Opinion and the judgment and practice of your Church to serve God onely do you not also serve and worship St. Paul and St. Peter and the Virgin Mary besides a great many other obscure and doubtful Saints This is down right Heresie to confine all Religious Worship to God Here now is matter of fact against the Pope that he does worship other Beings besides God and if he will shew any reason for his not worshipping the Devil he must quite alter our Saviours answer and not plead for himself that he is bound to worship God and him onely but that he is bound to worship onely God and good Spirits and therefore the Devil being a wicked and Apostate Spirit it is not lawful to worship him So that if our Saviour gave a sufficient answer to the Devils temptation it must be equally unlawful to worship good and bad Spirits there may be some peculiar aggravations in having communion with Devils but the Idolatry of worshipping good and bad Spirits is the same 3. Our Saviours answer to the Devil appropriates all kinds and degrees of Religious Worship to God alone The Devil was not then so good a School-man as nicely to distinguish dispute the degrees of Religious Worship with our Saviour but would have been contented with any degree of Religious Worship He did not pretend to be the Supreme God nor to have the disposal of all the Kingdoms of the world in his own right but acknowledges that it was delivered to him and now by vertue of that grant he gives it to whom he will Now it is impossible in the nature of the thing to worship any Being as Supreme whom at the same time we acknowledge not to be Supreme And therefore the Devil asks no more of our Saviour than that he would fall down and worship him which is such an inferiour degree of Worship as Papists every day pay to Images and Saints and yet this our Saviour refuses to do and that for this reason that we must worship God only which must signifie that we must not give the least degree of Divine Worship to any Creatures or else it is not a satisfactory answer to the Devils Temptation who did not require any certain and determinate degree of Worship but left him at liberty to use what distinctions he pleased and to pay what degree of Worship he saw fit whether absolute or relative supreme or subordinate terminative or transient so he would but fall down and worship him any way or in any degree he left him to be his own Schoolman and Casâ—ist but of this more presently 11. As the Laws of Moses in general appropriate all Religious Worship to God command us to worship God and him only so the whole Jewish Rellgion was fitted only for the worship of the Lord Jehovah I suppose our Adversaries will not deny that the Tabernacle and Temple at Jerusalem was peculiarly consecrated to the honour and worship of the Lord Jehovah this was the house where he dwelt where he placâ—â— his Name and the Symbols of his presence It was a great profanation of that holy place to have the worship of any strange Gods set up in it and yet this was the only place of Worship appointed by the Law of Moses they had but one Temple to worship in and this one Temple consecrated to the peculiar worship of one God which is a plain demonstration that they were not allowed to worship any other God because they had no place to worship him in And this I think is a plain proof that all that worship which was confined to their Temple or related to it was peculiar to the Lord Jehovah because that was his house and then all the Jewish worship was so which was either to be performed at the Temple or had a relation and dependance on the Temple worship Sacrifice was the principal part of the Jewish worship and this we know was confined to the Temple Moses expresly commands Israel Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy Tribes there shalt thou offer thy burnt offerings and there shult thou do all that I command thee The Prophets indeed especially before the building of the Temple did erect Altars
that God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and delivered them from their Aegyptian Bondage and gave them rest in that good Land both which reasons are assigned by Moses and therefore God commands them by the Prophet Ezekiel Hallow my sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God They had but three solemn Festivals every year and they were all in remembrance of the great Works of God and all the Males were to go up to Jerusalem to keep these Feasts and therefore all these were the Feasts of the Lord Jehovah And as they were to pray onely to God so they were onely to swear by his Name which is another part of Religious Worship and therefore to swear by the Lord of Hosts is called the Language of Canaan So that all the parts of the Jewish Worship were appropriated to the Lord Jehovah he was the onely object of their dread and fear and religious Adorations And when we consider that God had chosen them to be a peculiar people to himself that the Land was a Holy Land Gods peculiar Inheritance which he gave by promise to their Fathers and the Temple was his House where he dwelt among them it cannot be expected that any other Gods might be worshipt by such a people in such a Land and in such a house as God had appropriated to himself 3. It is very considerable that we have no approved example under the Law of any worship pay'd to Saints or Angels or any other Being but God alone We have too many sad examples of the Idolatry of the Jews both in worshipping the Molten Calf which Aaron made and Jeroboams Calves and Baalim's and other Heathen gods but had it been allowed by their Law to have pay'd any inferiour degree of Religious Worship to Saints and Angels which is now asserted by the Church of Rome to be a matter of such great benefit and advantage to mankind it is very strange that we should not have one example of it throughout the Scripture nor any authentick Records among the Jewish Writers All the Psalms of David are directed to God alone and yet we cannot think but such a devout man would have bestowed some Hymns upon his Patron and tutelar Saints had he worshipt any such as well as the Papists do now This the Church of Rome sees and acknowledges and thinks she answers too when she gives us the reason why it could not be so under the Law because those Old Testament-Saints were not then admitted into Heaven to the immediate vision and fruition of God Heaven-gates were not opened till the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour and therefore those blessed Spirits were not in a condition to be our Intercessors and Mediators till they were received into Heaven but now Saints and Martyrs ascend directly into Heaven and reign with Christ in Glory and it seems share with him in his peculiar Worship and Glory too Now 1 Whether this be so or not the Scriptures assign no such reason for it and therefore it is likely there might be other reasons and I think I have made it very plain that there was We are not enquiring for what reasons the Jewish Church did not worship Saint and Angels but whether they did worship them or not and it appears that they never did so that we have neither precept nor example for this during all the time of the Jewish Church Which is all we intend to prove by this argument 2. But yet it is evident that this is not a good reason why the Jews did not worship Angels under the Law For certainly Angels were as much in Heaven then as they are now whatever Saints were They are represented in the Old Testament as the constant Attendants and Retinue of God and the great Ministers of his Providence and therefore they were as capable of Divine Worship in the time of the Law as they are now nay I think a little more For the Law it self was given by the Ministry of Angels and their appearances were more frequent and familiar and the world seemed to be more under the Government of Angels then than it is now since Christ is made the Head of the Church and exalted above all principalities and powers And therefore sometimes the Advocates of the Church of Rome make some little offers to prove the worship of Angels in those days to this purpose they alledge that form of Benediction which Jacob used in blessing the Sons of Joseph The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads But 1. This is not a direct prayer to the Angel but onely his committing of them to the care and patronage of that Angel with a prayer to God for that purpose And if he by experience had found that God had appointed his Angel to defend and protect him it was but reasonable to pray to God that the same Angel might protect his posterity 2. But yet according to the sense of the Antient Fathers this was no created Angel and Spirit but the Son and Word of God the Angel of the presence who is so often in Scripture stiled Jehovah a name which can belong to no created Spirit And it is no hard matter to make it highly probable that this is that Angel who redeemed Jacob out of all his troubles But it is strange if Angels were worshipt under the Old Testament we should have no clearer and plainer evidence of it than such a single Text which was never expounded either by any Jewish or Christian Writers to this sense till of late days and here the Priests of the Church of Rome are to be put in mind of their Oath to expound Scripture according to the unanimous consent of the Antient Fathers SECT III. The Testimonies of the Gospel considered whether Christ and his Apostles have made any alteration in the object of our Worship LEt us now proceed in the second place to consider the writings of the New Testament and examine what they teach us concerning the object of our Worship And that Christ and his Apostles have made no change in the object of our worship will appear from these considerations 1. That they could not do it Had they ever attempted to set up the worship of any other Beings besides the One Supreme God the Lord Jehovah the Jews were expresly commanded by their Law not to believe them nor hearken to them whatever signs and wonders and miracles they had wrought If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying let us go after other Gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the
gave them he teaches them to address their prayer neither to Saints nor Angels but to God onely Our Father which art in heaven When St. Paul charges the Heathens with Idolatry he does it upon this account that they joyned the worship of Creatures with the worship of the Supreme God Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Where the Apostle acknowledges that they did know God that they did own that Supreme and Soveraign Being who made the world and does suppose that they did worship him also For he does not charge them with renouncing the worship of that God who made the world but that they did not glorifie him as God which only taxes the manner of their worship And wherein that was faulty he declares in the following verses As that they made mean and vile representations of him that they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed beasts and creeping things And thus changed the truth of God into a lie But this was not the only fault but they also gave his incommunicable worship to Creatures and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen Which words do plainly suppose that they did worship the Creator of all things but besides the Creator for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie they worshipped the Creature also which proves that the worship of the Supreme God will not excuse those from Idolatry who worship any thing else besides him For the opposition lies between the Creator and the Creature be it a good or a bad Creature it matters not as to Religious Worship which must be given to neither Or if we render the words as our Translators do more than the Creator for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used comparatively yet so it supposes that they did worship the Creator and when they are said to worship the Creature more that cannot signifie a higher degree of worship but more frequent addresses and thus the Church of Rome worships the Virgin Mary more than the Creator for they say ten prayers if they be prayers to the Virgin Mary for one to God ten Ave Maries for one Pater noster The same Apostle determines this matter in as plain words as can be For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Where in opposition to the Pagan Idolatry who worshipt a great many Gods not as Supreme Independent Deities for they acknowledged but one Supreme God who made all the other Gods but either as sharers in the Government of the World or Mediators and Intercessors for them with the Supreme God the Apostle plainly asserts That to us Christians there is but one God the Maker of all Things and one Lord Jesus Christ our great Mediator and Advocate with God the Father that is that we must worship none else And that none of the distinctions which are used by the Church of Rome to justifie that Worship which they pay to Saints and Angels can have any place here is evident from this consideration For either these distinctions were known or they were not known when the Apostle wrote this and in both cases his silence is an argument against them If they were known he rejects them and determines against them for he affirms absolutely without the salvo of any distinctions that we have but one God and one Mediator that is that we must worship no more If they were not known as it is likely they were not because the Apostle takes no notice of them it is a plain argument that these distinctions are of no use unless they will say that St. Paul who was guided by an Infallible Spirit was ignorant of some very useful and material notions about the object of Worship If the Apostle did not know these distinctions it is evident they are of a late date and therefore can have no authority against an Apostolical determination If he did not know them he could have no regard to them and therefore made no allowance for such exceptions Nay the same Apostle does not only give us such general rules as necessarily exclude the worship of Saints and Angels but does expresly condemn it and warns the Christians against it He foretels of the Apostasie of the latter days wherein some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and the doctrine of Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The doctrine of Daemons the doctrine of worshipping Daemons or some new inferiour Deity Saints or Angels or whatever they are as Mediators and Intercessors between God and men This is the true notion of the doctrine of Daemons amongst the Heathens and the Apostle tells us the time shall come when some Christians for it is evident he speaks here of the Apostasie of Christians shall fall into the same Idolatry which is an exact prophecy of what we now see done in the Church of Rome who have the same notion of their Saints and Angels and pay the same worship to them which the Heathens formerly did to their Daemons or inferiour Gods 3. And as a further confirmation of this I observe that the Gospel of our Saviour forbids Idolatry without giving us any new notion of Idolatry and therefore it has made no alteration at all in this Doctrine of the worship of one God which Moses so expresly commanded the Jews to observe For the Gospel was preacht to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles nay the Jews had the first and most undoubted right to it as being the posterity of Abraham to whom the promise of the Messias was made and therefore as the Law was at first given them by Moses so it did still oblige them in all such cases wherein the Gospel did not in express terms make a change and alteration of the Law and therefore since there was no such alteration made and yet the Law against Idolatry renewed and confirmed by the authority of the Gospel what could the Jews understand else by Idolatry but what was accounted Idolatry by the Law of Moses that is the worship of any other Being besides the Supreme God the Lord Jehovah And since it is evident that there are not two Gospels one for the Jews and another for the Gentiles all Christians whether Jews or Gentiles must be under the obligation of the same Law to worship only one God The notion of Idolatry must alter as the object of Religious Worship does If we must worship one God and none besides him then it is Idolatry to worship any other Being but the Supreme God
are perfected by an Evangelical righteousness But this I say that Christ never repealed any Mosaical Law but by fulfilling and perfecting it He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil Now methinks I need not prove that the worship of Saints and Angels is not a fulfilling but a destroying that Law which commands us to worship none but God And it is not enough to say that these are positive Laws given to the Jews though that be said without any reason for let them shew me any positive Law relating to the Worship of God which Christ has wholly abrogated without fulfilling it 2. Yet as a farther proof that Christ has made no alteration in the object of our worship that he has not introduced the worship of Saints or Angels or Images into the Christian Church which was so expresly forbid by the Jewish Law I observe that according to our Saviours own rule that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil these Laws of worshipping one God and none besides him were not lyable to any change and alteration because there was nothing to be perfected or fulfilled in them He made no change or alteration but by way of perfecting and fulfilling and therefore those Laws which had nothing to be fulfilled must remain as they were without any change To perfect or fulfil a Law must either signifie to accomplish what was prefigured by it and thus Christ fulfilled all the types and prophesies of the Law which related to his Person or his undertaking as the Jewish Priesthood and Sacrifices c. or to prescribe that real righteousness which was signified and represented by the outward ceremony and so Christ fulfilled the Laws of Circumcision Washings Purifications Sabbaths c. by commanding the Circumcision of the heart and the purity of mind and spirit or by supplying what was defective and thus he fulfilled the moral Law by new instances of vertue by requiring something more perfect of us than what the letter of the Mosaical Law enjoyned These are all the ways that I know of and all that we have any instances of in Scripture of fulfilling Laws Now I suppose no man will say that the first Commandment which forbids the worship of any other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah is a Typical Law for pray what is it a Type of nor can any pretend that the first Commandment is a Ceremonial Law for it prescribes no rite of worship at all but only determines the object of worship As for the third way of fulfilling Laws by perfecting them with some new instances and degrees of vertue it can have no place here for this Law is as perfect as it can be For it is a Negative Law Thou shalt have none other God Now that which is forbid without any reserve or limitation is perfectly and absolutely forbid There are no degrees of nothing though there are several degrees of perfection in things which have a being and therefore though there are degrees in affirmative Laws for some Laws may require greater attainments than other and one man may do better than another and yet both do that which is good yet there are no degrees in not doing a thing and no Law can do more than forbid that which the Law-giver will not have done And besides this way of fulfilling Laws does not abrogate any command but adds to it it may restrain those liberties which were formerly indulged but it does not forbid any thing which was formerly our duty to do for when God requires greater degrees of vertue from us he does not forbid the less And therefore in this way Christ might forbid more than was forbid by the Law of Moses but we cannot suppose that he gave liberty to do that which the Law forbids which is not to perfect but to abrogate a Law But to put an end to this dispute if Christ have perfected these Laws by indulging the worship of Saints and Angels under the Gospel which was so expresly forbidden by the Law then it seems the worship of Saints and Angels is a more perfect state of Religion than the worship of the one Supreme God alone If this be true then though the Heathens might mistake in the object of their Worship yet the manner of their worship was more perfect and excellent than what God himself prescribed the Jews For they worshipt a great many inferiour Deities as well as the Supreme God and if this be the most perfect and excellent worship it is wonderful to me that God should forbid it in the worship of himself that he should prescribe a more imperfect worship to his own people than the Heathens paid to their Gods For to say that God forbade the worship of any Being besides himself because this liberty had been abused by the Heathens to Idolatry is no reason at all For though we should suppose that the Heathens worshipt evil spirits for Gods this had been easily prevented had God told them what Saints and Angels they should have made their addresses to and this had been a more likely way to cure them of Idolatry than to have forbad the worship of all inferiour Deities for when they had such numerous Deities of their own to have made their application to they would have been more easily weaned from the Gods of other Countries And we have reason to believe so it would have been had God been pleased with this way of Worship for he would not reject any part of Religious Worship meerly because it had been abused by Idolaters The Heathens sacrificed to Idols and yet he commands the Jews to offer Sacrifices to himself and so no doubt he would have commanded the worship of Saints and Angels had he been as well pleased with this as he was with Sacrifices had it been a more perfect state of Religion than to worship God only and without any Image When God chose the people of Israel and separated them from the rest of the world to his own peculiar worship and service we cannot suppose that he did intend to forbid any acts of worship which were a real honour to the Divine Nature much less to forbid the most excellent and perfect acts of worship for he who is so jealous of his glory will no more part with it himself then he will give it to another and therefore excepting the Typical nature of that dispensation the whole intention of the Mosaical Law was to correct those abuses which the rest of the world was guilty of in their Religious Worship which either respected the object or the acts of worship that they worshipt that for God which was not God or that they thought to honour God by such acts as were so far from being an honour that they were a reproach to the Divine Nature And whatever is forbid in the worship of God unless there be some Mystical and Typical reasons for it must be reduced to one of those causes This account God
himself gives why he forbids the worship of any Being besides himself or the worship of graven Images I am the Lord that is my Name and my glory will I not give to another nor my praise to graven Images Whatever is his true glory he reserves to himself and therefore never did forbid any act of worship which was truly so but he will not give his glory to another and for that reason forbids the worship of graven Images or any thing besides himself and if this was not his glory then much less the most perfect and excellent part of worship I know not how it should come to be his glory now unless the Divine Nature changes and alters too So that Gods having forbid by the Law of Moses the worship of any other Being besides himself is a very strong presumption that the worship of Saints and Angels whatever fine excuses and Apologies may be made for it yet at least is not a more perfect state of Religion than to worship God alone For though God may not always think fit to command the highest degrees of perfection yet there never can be any reason to forbid it But let us now consider the nature and reason of the thing whether it be a more perfect state of Religion to worship God alone or to worship Saints and Angels c. together with the Supreme God Now the perfection of any acts of Religion must either respect God or our selves that they signifie some greater perfections in God or more perfect attainments in us and a nearer union and conjunction with the Deity Let us then briefly examine the worship of Saints and Angels both with respect to God and our selves and see whether we can discover any greater perfection in this way of worship than in the worship of the Supreme Being alone without any Rival or partner in worship and if it appears that it is neither for the glory of God nor for the happiness and perfection of those who worship we may certainly conclude that our Saviour has made no alteration in the object of our worship for he made no alteration for the worse but for the better he fulfils and perfects Laws which I suppose does not signifie making them less perfect than they were before SECT VI. 1. THen let us consider whether the worship of Saints and Angels be more for the glory of God than to pay all Religious Worship to God alone Now if Religious Worship be for the glory of God then all Religious Worship is more for Gods glory than a part of it unless men will venture to say that a part is as great as the whole And yet whoever worships Saints and Angels though he be neve so devout a worshipper of God also yet he gives part of Religious Worship to Creatures and therefore God cannot have the whole unless they can divide their worship between God and Creatures and yet give the whole to God If it be objected that those who worship Saints and Angels do not give that worship to them which is peculiar and appropriate to the Supreme God and therefore they reserve that worship which is due to God wholly to himself though they pay an inferiour degree of Religious Worship to Saints and Angels I answer what that worship is which is peculiar to the Supreme God I shall consider more hereafter but for the present supposing that they give only an inferiour degree of worship to Creatures is this Religious Worship or is it not if it be is a degree of Worship a part of Worship if it be then God has not the whole and therefore is not so much honoured as if he had the whole as to shew this in a plain instance Those who pray to Saints and Angels though they do not pray to them as to the Supreme God but as to Mediators and Intercessors for them with the Supreme God yet they place an inferiour degree of hope and trust and affiance in them or else it is non-sence to pray to them at all so that though God may be the Supreme Object of their relyance and hope yet he is not the only Object he has part and the greatest part but not the whole for they divide their hope and trust between God and Creatures and if it be a greater glory to God to trust wholly in him than to trust in him in part then it is a greater glory to God to pray to him only than to pray also to Saints and Angels Nay it is more than probable that those who pray to Saints and Angels as trusting in their merits and intercession for them do not make God but these Saints and Angels to whom they pray the Supreme Object of their hope This it may be will be thought an extravagant charge against men who profess to believe that God is the Supreme Lord of the world and the sole giver of all good things but this is no argument to me but that notwithstanding this belief they may trust more in Saints and Angels than in God and consequently give the Supreme Worship to them For men do not always trust most in those who have the greatest power but in those by whose interest and intercession they hope to obtain their desires of the Soveraign power Thus I am sure it is in the Courts of earthly Princes though men know that the King only has power to grant what they desire yet they place more confidence in a powerful Favorite than in their Prince and when they have obtained their requests pay more solemn acknowledgments to their Patron for let the power be where it will our hope and trust is plac't there where our expectations are And when mens expectations are not from the Prince who has the power but from the Favourite whose interest directs the influences of this power to them which otherwise would never have reacht them such Favourites have more numerous dependants more frequent addresses more formal courtships than the Prince himself And when men model the heavenly Court according to the pattern of earthly Courts and expect the conveyance of the Divine Blessings to them as much from the intercession of Saints and Angels as they do to obtain their desires of their Prince by the mediation of some powerful Favourite no wonder if they love and honour and fear reverence and adore trust and depend on Saints and Angels as much or more than they do on the Supreme God For there is not a more natural notion than to honour those for our Gods from whose hands we receive all good things whether we receive it from their own inherent power or not Deus nobis haec otia fecit Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus illius aram Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus Men may acknowledge God to be the Supreme Being and ascribe incommunicable perfections to him and yet may pray more frequently more devoutly more ardently with greater trust and affiance to Saints
because we can expect no blessings from God but by vertue of that Covenant which he purchast and sealed with his Blood But now a Mediator of pure intercession without regard to any atonement made for sin or any Covenant of redemption such as Saints and Angels and the blessed Virgin are made by the Church of Rome is a mighty reproach to the Divine Nature and perfections It cloaths God with the passions and infirmities of earthly Princes represents him as extreamly fond of some of his Creatures and very regardless of others as if his kindness to some favourite Saint were a more powerful motive to him to do good than his own love to goodness as if he knew not when nor to whom to shew mercy without their direction or counsel or would not do it without their importunity as if some of his Creatures had as much the ascendant over him as some favourites have over their Princes who can with a words speaking have any thing of them and extort favours from them even against their wills and inclinations No man can think there is any need of such Intercessors and Mediators with God who believes him to be infinitely wise and to be infinitely good to know when it is fit to hear and to answer and to be always ready to do what his own wisdom judges fit to be done There can be no place for such intercessions and intreaties to an infinitely perfect Being for they always suppose some great weakness or defect in him who wants them for even a wise and a good man wants no Mediators to perswade him to do that good which is fit to be done The Objection against this is very obvious and the Answer I think is as easie The Objection is this If God be so good that he needs not such Prayers and Intercessions to move him to do good Why do we pray for our selves Why do we pray for one another Why do we desire the Prayers of good men here on earth Why is it a greater reproach to the Divine Perfections to beg the Prayers of St. Paul or St. Peter now they are in Heaven than to have begged their Prayers while they had been on Earth To this I Answer When we pray for our selves I suppose we do not pray as Mediators but as Supplicants and nothing can be more reasonable than that those who want mercy or any other blessing should ask for it It is certainly no reproach to the Divine goodness that God makes Prayer the condition of our receiving which is a very easie condition and very necessary to maintain a constant sense and reverence of God and a constant dependance on him And when we pray for one another on earth we are as meer supplicants as when we pray for our selves and to pray as supplicants is a very different thing from praying as Advocates as Mediators as Patrons The vertue of the first consists only in the power and efficacy of Prayer the second in the favour and interest of the person This the Church of Rome her self owns when she allows no Mediators and Advocates but Saints in Heaven which is a sign she makes a vast difference between the prayers of Saints on earth and Saints in Heaven There are great and wise reasons why God should command and encourage our mutual prayers for each other while we are on earth for this is the noblest exercise of universal love and charity which is a necessary qualification to render our prayers acceptable to God this preserves the unity of the body of Christ which requires a sympathy and fellow-feeling of each others sufferings this is the foundation of publick worship when we meet together to pray with and for each other to our common Father and it gives a great reputation to vertue and Religion in this world when God hears the prayers of good men for the wicked and removes or diverts those judgments which they were afraid of this becomes the wisdom of God and is no blemish to his goodness to dispence his mercies and favours in such a manner as may best serve the great ends of Religion in this world God does not command us to pray for our selves or others because he wants our importunities and solicitations to do good but because it serves the publick ends of Religion and Government and is that natural homage and worship which Creatures owe to their great Creator and Benefactor and Soveraign Lord. But to imagine that God needs Advocates and Mediators to solicite our cause for us in the Court of Heaven where none of these ends can be served by it this is a plain impeachment of his wisdom and goodness as if he wanted great importunities to do good and were more moved by a partial kindness and respect to some powerful favourites than by the care of his Creatures or his love to goodness Erom hence it evidently appears how inconsequent that reasoning is from our begging the prayers of good men on earth to prove the lawfulness of our praying to the Saints in Heaven to pray and interceed for us the first makes them our fellow supplicants the second makes them our Mediators and Intercessors and how little the Church of Rome gains by that distinction between a Mediator of Redemption and Mediators of pure Intercession for though they pray to Saints and Angels only as Mediators of Intercession yet this is a real reproach to the nature and government of God a Mediator of Redemption is very consistent with the Divine glory and perfections a Mediator of pure intercession is not And the sum of all is this That it is so far from advancing the Divine glory to worship Saints and Angels together with God that it is a real reproach and dishonour to him and therefore this can be no Law nor Institution of our Saviour who came not to abrogate the Divine Laws but to fulfil and perfect them Some think there is no danger of dishonouring God by that honour they give to Saints and Angels because they honour them as Gods Friends and Favourites as those whom God has honoured and advanced to great glory and therefore whatever honour they do to them rebounds back again on God and this may be true while we give no honour to Saints and Angels but what is consistent with the Divine glory but when the very nature of that honour and worship we pay to them is a diminution of Gods glory and a reproach to his infinite perfections as I have made it appear the worship of Saints and Angels is surely it cannot be for Gods glory to advance his Creatures by lessening himself SECT VII 2. LEt us now consider whether the worship of Saints and Angels together with God be a more perfect state of Religion than the worship of God alone with respect to our selves whether it puts us into a more perfect and excellent state It does indeed mightily gratifie the superstition of mankind to have a multitude of Advocates and
difference that the Jewish worship was in Type and Figure and Ceremony the Christian worship in Truth and Substance And therefore if this legal and Evangelical worship be the same it must have the some object for the object is the most essential part of worship So that if it appear not only from the express letter of the Law of Moses but from all the Types and Figures of the Law that God only was to be worshipt by the Jewish Church if Christ was to fulfil all these Types and Figures in his own person and in the Evangelical worship then it is certain that the object of our worship must be the same still for if the Type was confined in its nature and signification to the worship of One God then the whole Christian worship which was signifyed and praesigured by these Types must be peculiar and appropriate to the same One Supreme God As for instance I have already proved at large that the Jews were to worship but One God because they had but one Temple to worship in and all their worship had some relation or other to this one Temple and therefore all their worship was appropriated to that One God whose Temple it was now we know Gods dweling in the Temple at Jerusalem was only a Type and Figure of Gods dwelling in Humane Nature upon which account Christ calls his body the Temple and St. John tells us That the word was made flesh and dwelt among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tabernacled among us as God formerly dwelt in the Jewish Tabernacle or Temple and St. Paul adds That the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 really substantially as an accomplishment of Gods dwelling by Types and Figures and shadows in the Jewish Temple Now if all the Jewish worship was confined to the Temple or had a necessary relation to it as I have already proved and this Temple was but a figure of the Incarnation of Christ who should dwell among us in humane nature then all the Christian worship must be offered up to God through Jesus Christ as all the Jewish worship was offered to God at the Temple for Christ is the only Temple in a strict and proper sense of the Christian Church and therefore he alone can render all our services acceptable to God So that God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only object of our worship and Christ considered as God Incarnate as God dwelling in humane nature is the only Temple where all our worship must be offered to God that is we shall find acceptance with God only in his name and mediation we must worship no other Being but only the Supreme God and that only through Jesus Christ. Thus under the Law the Priests were to intercede for the people but not without Sacrifice their Intercession was founded in making atonement and expiation for sin which plainly signified that under the Gospel we can have no other Mediator but only him who expiates our sins and intercedes in the merits of his Sacrifice who is our Priest and our Sacrifice and therefore our Mediator as St. John observes If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins The Law knew no such thing as a Mediator of pure intercession a Mediator who is no Priest and offers no Sacrifice for us and therefore the Gospel allows of no such Mediators neither who mediate onely by their Prayers without a Sacrifice such Mediators as the Church of Rome makes of Saints and Angels and the Virgin Mary but we have onely one Mediator a Mediator of redemption who has purchased us with his Blood of whom the Priests under the Law were Types and Figures Thus under the Law none but the High Priest was to enter into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the Sacrifice now the Holy of Holies was a Type of Heaven and therefore this plainly signified that under the Gospel there should be but one High Priest and Mediator to offer up our Prayers and Supplications in Heaven He and He onely who enters into Heaven with his own Blood as the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the Sacrifice There may be a great many Priests and Advocates on Earth to interceed for us as there were under the Law great numbers of Priests the Sons of Aaron to attend the Service and Ministry of the Temple but we have and can have but one Priest and Mediator in Heaven Whoever acknowledges that the Priesthood and Ministry of the Law was Typical of the Evangelical Priesthood and Worship cannot avoid the force of this Argument and whoever will not acknowledge this must reject most of St. Paul's Epistles especially the Epistle to the Hebrews which proceeds wholely upon this way of reasoning Now this manifestly justifies the worship of the Church of England as true Christian worship for we worship One God through one Mediator who offered himself a Sacrifice for us when he was on Earth and interceeds for us as our High Priest in Heaven which answers to the One Temple and the One High Priest under the Law But though the Church of Rome does what we do worship the Supreme God through Jesus Christ yet she spoils the Analogie between the Type and the Antitype the legal and Evangelical worship by doing more when she sends us to the Shrines and Altars of so many several Saints surely this cannot answer to that one Temple at Jerusalem where God alone was to be worshipped there are as many Temples and Mercy-seats now as there are Shrines and Altars of Saints and Angels by whose Intercession we may obtain our requests of God When she advances Saints and Angels to the Office of Mediators and Interceslsors in Heaven this contradicts the Type of One High Priest who alone might enter into the Holy of Holies which was a type of Heaven for there is some difference between having one Mediator in Heaven and there can be no more under the Gospel to answer to the Typical High Priest under the Law and having a hundred Mediators in Heaven together with our Typical High Priest To have a Mediator of pure Intercession in Heaven who never offered any Sacrifice for us cannot answer to the High Priest under the Law who could not enter into the Holy of Holies without the blood of the Sacrifice The High Priests entring but once a year into the Holy of Holies which was typical of Christs entring once into Heaven to intercede for us cannot be reconciled with a new succession of Mediators as ofter as the Pope of Rome pleases to cannonize them So that either the Law was not typical of the state of the Gospel or the Worship of Saints and Angels which is so contrary to all the types and figures of the Law cannot be true Christian Worship Sixthly I shall add but one thing
more that Christ and his Apostles have made no alteration in the object of worship appears from hence that de facto there is no such Law in the Gospel for the worship of any other Being besides the One Supreme God There is a great deal against it as I have already shewn but if there had been nothing against it it had been argument enough against any such alteration that there is no express positive Law for it The force of which argument does not consist meerly in the silence of the Gospel that there is nothing said for it which the most Learned Advocates of the Church of Rome readily grant and give their reasons such as they are why this was not done why we are not directed to pray to Saints and Angels and Images c. but the argument lies in this that there can be no alteration made in the object of worship without an express Law and therefore there is no alteration made because there is no such Law in the Gospel The Jews were expresly commanded to worship no other Being but the Lord Jehovah as I have already proved which Law appropriates all the acts of Religious Worship to one God and therefore all those who were under the obligation of this Law as to be sure all natural Jews were could not without the guilt of Idolatry give any Religious Worship to any other Being till this Law were expresly repealed and express leave given to worship some other Divine Beings besides the Supreme God so that at least our Saviour himself while he was on Earth and subject to the Law and his Apostles and all believing Jews were obliged by this Law to worship none but God unless we can shew where Christ by his Legislative Authority or his Apostles by Commission from him have expresly repealed this Law nay indeed unless we can shew that Christ himself repealed this Law and taught the worship of Saints and Angels the Apostles themselves could have no authority to do it for their Commission was onely to teach what Christ had commanded them which though it does not extend to matters of order and discipline and the external circumstances of worship yet it does to all the essentials of Faith and Worship and I think the right object of Worship is the most essential thing in Religious Worship From hence it appears that at least all the Jewish Christians in the Apostles days and all succeeding Ages to this day cannot Worship Saints and Angels without Idolatry because the Law which was given to them and never yet repealed commands them to worship none but God and if Gentile Converts were received into the Jewish Christian Church and Christ has but one Church of Jews and Gentiles they must also be obliged by all those Laws which were then and are still obligatory to all believing Jews and therefore Gentile as well as Jewish Christians are still bound to worship none but God Now I think I need not prove that an express Law can be repealed onely by an express Law That Law which commands us to worship God and him onely must continue in full force till God do as expresly declare that he allows us to pay some degree of Religious Worship to other Beings besides himself When a Law-giver has declared his will and pleasure by a Law it is not fit that Subjects should be allowed to guess at his mind and dispute away an express Law by some surmizes and consequences how probable soever they may appear for at this rate a Law signifies nothing if we may guess at the will of our Law-giver without and against an express Law And yet none of the Advocates of the Church of Rome though they are not usually guilty of too much modesty ever had the confidence to pretend an express Law for the worship of Saints and Angels and Images c. and though they sometimes alledge Scripture to prove this by yet they do not pretend that they are direct proofs but onely attempt to prove some other Doctrines from Scripture from which they think they may prove by some probable consequences that which the Scripture no-where plainly teaches nay the contrary to which is expresly taught in Scripture And if this may be allow'd I know no Law of God so plain and express but a witty man may find ways to escape the obligation of it This is a consideration of great moment and therefore I shall discourse more particularly of it The Law of Moses expresly commands us to worship God and him onely Our Saviour Christ owns and confirms the authority of this Law in the Gospel the Church of Rome notwithstanding this Law gives Religious Worship to Creatures the question then is how she avoids the force of this Law since it is no where expresly repealed and she does not pretend that it is Now the Patrons of creature-Creature-worship think to justifie themselves from the breach of this Law these three ways 1. By consequences drawn as they pretend from other Scripture-Doctrines 2. By distinctions And 3. By authority Let us then examine whether all this have any force against an express Law which was never expresly repepealed 1. By consequences drawn as they pretend from other Scripture-Doctrines and I shall discourse this with a particular reference to the Invocation of Saints For when they would prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints they alledge no direct proof of this from Scripture But because they must make a shew of saying something from Scripture when they are to deal with such Hereticks as will be satisfied with no less authority they endeavour to prove something else from Scripture from whence they think by an easie consequence they can prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints Thus they very easily prove that we may and ought to pray for one another and to desire each others prayers while we are on Earth and from hence they presently conclude that we may as lawfully pray to Saints in Heaven to pray for us as beg and desire their prayers while they are on Earth And to confirm this they endeavour to prove that some extraordinary Saints whose merits are very great do directly ascend up into Heaven into the immediate presence of God and a participation of his Glory and hence they conclude that they have authority and power to help us and to intercede for us and that they are so far advanced above us in this mortal state that they deserve some kind of Religious Honour and Worship from us as being Dii per participationem Gods by participation that is by partaking in the Divine Nature and Glory by their advancement to Heaven And if after all this they can prove that the Saints in Heaven do pray and intercede for us on Earth they think the demonstration is complete and perfect that therefore It is good and profitable as the Council of Trent words it humbly to invoke the Saints after the manner of Supplicants and to fly to their
prayers and help and aid to obtain blessings of God by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who is our onely not Intercessor and Advocate but Redeemer and Saviour Now how they prove all this is not my business at present to enquire but my inquiry is whether such arguments as these be sufficient to oppose against the authority of an express Law and if they be truly I think it a very vain thing either for God or men to make any Laws For 1. I desire to know what these Gentlemen would prove by such kind of arguments as these Suppose we should grant them that the Saints are received into Heaven before the Resurrection and are actually possest of all that Glory and Happiness which they say they are suppose we should grant them that by some means unknown to us Saints and Angels are acquainted with all that we do and suffer in this world hear all our vocal or mental prayers which we offer to God or to themselves and that they do actually pray and intercede for us what follows from hence That therefore we may pray to Saints not I hope if there be an express Law against it These arguments at most can onely prove that in the nature of the thing it might be fitting and reasonable to pray to Saints if God thought fit to allow it not that we must pray to Saints though God has forbid it For those are powerful reasons indeed which can justifie saint-Saint-worship against the express Law and declared Will of God Could they first prove one of these three things Either 1. that there is no such Law against the worship of any other Being besides God Or 2. that this is not the sence of this Law that they must not pray to Saints or Angels that the Law which forbids us to worship any Being but God does not forbid the worship of Saints Or 3. that though there was such a Law and this were the sence of it and this Law were never formally repealed by God yet it disappears of it self and obliges no longer since the discovery of such reasons as these for the worship of Saints and Angels I say could they prove any thing of this in the first place then there would be as much reason for the worship of Saints as there is strength and validity in their Arguments but no Reason can take place against an express Law till it be as expresly repealed For 2. If an express Law may be disobeyed as often as men fancy they see reason to do what the Law forbids this overthrows the whole authority of making Laws and makes every Subject a Judge whether the Laws of a Soveraign Prince shall be obeyed or not At this rate he has the greatest authority who has the best reason and since every man believes his own reason to be best every man is the Soveraign Lord of his own actions It is to be presumed that no Prince makes a Law but what he apprehends some reason for and to oppose any mans private reason against a Law is to set up a private mans reason against the publick reason of government and yet it is much worse to oppose our reason against a Divine Law which is to oppose the reason of Creatures against the reason of God unless we will say that God makes Laws without reason and those who can believe that may as easily imagine that God will expect that those Laws which he makes without reason should be obeyed without reason also and then to be sure all their reasons cannot repeal a Law nor justifie them in the breach of it It becomes every Creature to believe the will of God to be the highest reason and therefore when God has declared his will by an express Law while this Law continues in force as it must do till it be as expresly repealed it is an impudent thing to urge our reasons against the obligations of it So that since God has expresly forbid us to worship any Being besides himself unless we can prove that God has repealed this Law it will never justifie the worship of Saints and Angels though we could by the plainest and easiest arguments prove to the conviction of all Mankind that Saints and Angels are very fit objects of our Religious Worship and that it is no diminution to the glory of God to pay some degree of Religious worship to them 3. Especially when the matter of the Law is such that whatever reasons may be pretended on one side or the other it must still be acknowledged to be wholly at the will and pleasure of the Law-giver which side he will choose As for instance suppose there were no natural and necessary reason against the worship of Saints and Angels yet there is no natural and necessary reason for it neither and therefore God may either allow or forbid it as he himself pleases without assigning any reason why he does either And when it appears that God might forbid it if he pleases and that he has actually forbid it by an express Law it is time to leave off reasoning about it natural reason can give us no assurance of any thing which it cannot prove to be necessary whatever in the nature and reason of things may be or may not be can never be proved either to be or not to be by meer reason for it is a contradiction to say that there is no necessary reason why such a thing should be and yet that I can prove by reason that it must be which supposes that there is a necessary reason why it should be for I cannot prove that it must be unless I can prove that it must necessarily be that is that there is a necessary reason why it should be To apply this then to our present Case The Law expresly forbids us to worship any other Being besides the Supreme God the Church of Rome prays to Saints and Angels and Images which is an essential part of Divine Worship and without ever attempting to prove this Law to be repealed she justifies her worship by such reasons and consequences as I have now cited from their most celebrated Doctors and some of which are the principles whereon the Council of Trent founds their praying to Saints and Angels I ask then whether these arguments whereby they endeavour to justifie the worship of Saints and Angels prove that we must worship them that such worship is their natural right and our duty No this the Church of Rome will not own the most the Council of Trent says is that it is bonum utile good and profitable to do it but say I if they do not prove it to be necessary they prove nothing for if Saints and Angels have not a natural right to our worship though we should suppose them to be very fit objects of some degrees of worship yet it is at Gods choice whether he will allow it or not and they can challenge no worship and we must give none if God
forbids it and therefore since God has forbid the worship of any Being but himself and therefore of the most excellent Saints and Angels by an express Law and it no-where appears where or when or in what manner this Law was repealed a hundred such arguments as these cannot prove it lawful to worship Saints and Angels against an express Law not to do it Though we should grant that God if he pleased might allow us to worship Saints and Angels as the Church of Rome does without any deminution of his own Glory which is the most that all their arguments can pretend to prove yet it does not hence follow that we may worship them when God by an express Law has declared that he will not allow it No arguments nor consequences can prove that God allows us to do that which by an express Law he has forbid us to do No reason can prove that to be Gods will which he has publickly declared in his Law to be against his will 4. That no reason or arguments can absolve us from our obedience to an express Law till it be as expresly repealed appears from this that our obligation to obedience does not depend meerly upon the reason of the Law but upon the authority of the Law-giver and therefore though the reason of the Law should cease yet while it is inforced by the same authority it obliges still Thus I am sure it is in humane Laws and it is very fitting it should be so meer reason cannot make a Law for then every thing which is reasonable would be a necessary duty that which is reasonable may be fit matter for a Law but it is the authority of the Law-giver which makes the Law and the same authority which at first made it a Law continues it to be a Law while the authority lasts though the particular reason for which it was enacted into a Law may cease So that though the Church of Rome could prove that there is no reason now against the worship of Saints and Angels that all those reasons for which God forbad the Jews to worship any one but himself were now ceased yet till the Law be repealed too it is utterly unlawful to worship any Being besides the Supreme God and yet this is the most that all their reasonings come to that there is not the same reason for this Law under the State of the Gospel that there was under the Jewish Oeconomy They suppose that God forbad the Jews to worship any one but himself because they were in great danger of falling into Pagan Idolatries and worshipping the Gods of the Aegyptians and other Neighbour-Nations and that this was the case also of the Christian Church at the first planting of the Gospel but now there is no danger of worshipping false Gods we may very securely worship the Friends and Favourites of God They suppose that all the ancient Patriarchs who lived before the Resurrection of Christ were not received into Heaven and therefore not being in a state of Bliss and Glory themselves were not yet capable of Divine Honours could neither know our Prayers nor intercede for us But now at last some eminent Saints and Martyrs ascend directly into Heaven and are the beati advanced to such a state of Happiness and Glory that they are fit objects of Religious Worship and are so powerful in the Court of Heaven that God denies them nothing which they ask and so tender and compassionate to us that they readily undertake our Cause and intercede for us and therefore it is very good and profitable now to invoke their aid and assistance by solemn and devout Prayers Now though the learnedst men among them are put to miserable shifts to prove the least part of all this yet let us for argument-sake suppose all this to be true that things are mightily changed since the making of this Law and that there is not the same reason now to confine all Religious Worship to God alone that there was in the time of Moses what follows from hence that therefore we may now worship Saints and Angels notwithstanding this Law which forbids it by no means unless they can prove that the Law is repealed too as well as the reason ceased Here is the authority of the Law-giver still though we should suppose that we had lost the reason of the Law till the Law is as expresly repealed as it was given it is Gods Will still and that is reason enough to bind the Law upon us though other reasons fail The reason if we speak of such reasons as these which the Church of Rome assigns for it is a different case if we speak of eternal and necessary reason which is nothing else but the eternal immutable nature and will of God which is an eternal Law did not make the Law and the change of the reason cannot repeal it And since we see that God has not repealed this Law we rather ought to conclude that we are mistaken in the reasons for which God made this Law or that there are other reasons which we know not of for which he continues it we may indeed reasonably suppose that God will repeal a Law when the reason for which it was given ceases though earthly Princes may not always do so but still the Law binds till it be repealed and it is more reasonable to conclude that the reason of the Law continues while we see God does not repeal it than first to perswade our selves that the reason of the Law is changed and thence infer the repeal and abrogation of the Law when we see no such thing done 5. That these arguments which the Roman Doctors urge to justifie their worship of Saints and Angels are of no force to repeal that Law which forbids the worship of any other Being besides the Supreme God appears from this that they had no force in them to prevent the making of this Law and therefore much less can they repeal it now it is made The reasons which they use had the same force then which they have now and if notwithstanding all these reasons God thought fit to forbid the worship of all Created Beings it is ridiculous to imagine that these reasons should supersede the obligation of that Law which is made in contradiction to all such reasonings as to shew this brieâ—ly They prove that we may pray to Saints and Angels to pray for us because we may desire good men on earth to pray for us Now suppose we could not assign the difference between praying to Saints in Heaven and desiring the prayers of Saints on earth yet I would desire to know whether good men did not pray for one another and desire each others prayers before and after God gave this Law on Mount Sinai which forbids the Religious worship and invocation of any other Being but himself if good men did in all ages pray for one another and desire one anothers prayers and God allowed and approved
of this then it seems God did not think this a good reason for praying to Saints and Angels in Heaven because good men might beg each others prayers on earth for if he had he would not have made that Law which forbids such a Religious Invocation of any Creature And if notwithstanding this reason which had as much force then as it has now God made and promulged this Law this reason can never repeal it nor dissolve the obligation of it Thus if the Saints Angels being in Heaven be a good reason why they should be worshipped this was as good a reason at the giving of the Law as it is now for thô we should suppose with the Church of Rome that Saints departed were not in Heaven then yet certainly the Angels were and if their being in Heaven made them fit objects of our worship why did God so expresly forbid it and if he forbad it then when there was as much reason to allow the worship of those heavenly Inhabitants as there is now this argument cannot prove but that God forbids it still The same may be said of the Intercession of Saints and Angels The Papists suppose that the Saints and Angels pray and intercede for us in Heaven and obtain for and convey many blessings to us and therefore it is good and profitable to pray to them and to flie to their patronage now though indeed they date the Intercession of Saints as they do their admission into heaven from the Resurrection of our Saviour yet there is as much evidence for the aids and intercessions of Angels before and under the Law as there is now nay I think somewhat more for the government of the world was much more under the administration of Angels in the time of the Law then it is now and yet notwithstanding this God did by an express Law forbid the worship of any Being but himself and therefore of these Angelical powers who are somewhat superiour to Saints in Heaven and if this were no good reason against making this Law it can be no good reason to prove the abrogation of it 2. The next way they take to evade the obligation of this Law of worshipping God only is by distinctions As to name the chief of them They tell us that this Law is only opposed to the worship of false Gods such Gods as the Heathens worshipped not to the worship of Saints and Angels who are the Friends and Favourites of God And then they distinguish about the nature of worship they confess there is a worship which is peculiar to God Supreme and Soveraign worship which is peculiar to the Supreme Being and this for what reason I know not they call Latria but then there is an inferiour degree of worship which they call Dulia which may be given to excellent Creatures to Saints and Angels who reign with Christ in Heaven They farther distinguish between absolute and relative worship Absolute worship is when we worship a Being for its self and thus God onely is to be worshipped but relative worship is when we worship one Being out of respect to another and thus we may worship Saints and Angels upon account of their relation to God Now I shall have occasion to examine these distinctions more particularly hereafter my business at present is to examine how far these distinctions can justifie the worship of Saints and Angels against an express Law which commands us to worship God only And I have three things to say on this argument 1. That the letter of the Law will admit of no such distinctions as these 2. That the Scripture no where allows of any such distinctions And 3. That no distinctions can justifie our acting against the letter of a Law which have not the same authority which the Law has 1. The letter of the Law will admit of no such distinctious as these The Law is Thou shalt have none other Gods before me The explication of this Law is Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name Or as our Saviour expounds it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Now these words do plainly exclude the worship of all other Beings besides the Supreme God They exclude indeed the worship of all the Heathen Gods which were at that time worshipped in the world but they are not confined to the worship of the Heathen Gods nor meerly to the worship of those Gods who were at that time worshipt but should any new Gods start up in after Ages whether among Jews or Christians the words extend to all that are and all that ever shall be worshipped Thou shalt have none other Gods before Me Signifies that we must worship no other Being but the Supreme God for to have a God is to give religious worship to some Being as appears from that exposition which both Moses and our Saviour Christ gives of it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve For it is impossible to have any God besides the Supreme God in any other sense than as we worship some other Being besides the Supreme God with Divine honours and whatever Being we so worship become our God and therefore this Law forbids the worship of any Being which is not God be it Saint or Angel or the Virgin Mary how excellent and perfect Creatures soever they be they are not our God and therefore must not be worshipped If we must worship and serve God onely as our Saviour expresly tells us that we must worship no Creature whatever it be the worship of Saints and Angels is as expresly forbid by this Law as the worship of the Heathen Gods for that Law which commands us to worship God onely excludes the worship of all Creatures whatever they be But may not the meaning of this Law be onely this That we must not give Supreme and Soveraign worship to any other Being but the Supreme God but we may give an inferiour degree of worship to some excellent Spirits who under God have the care of us And is not this plainly signified in the very letter of the Law when it says Thou shalt have none other Gods before me For no other worship makes any Being a God but that which is Supreme and Soveraign peculiar and appropriate to the One Supreme God and therefore not to have any other Being for our God is not to give Supreme and Soveraign worship to it Now what that worship is which is peculiar and appropriate to the Supreme God I shall discourse particularly in the second part our present inquiry is whether this Law makes any such distinction The Laws says Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Here is no distinction between Supreme and Subordinate worship whatever is an Act of worship must be given to God onely But the Law says Thou shalt have no
at that time immediately apply this Law against the worship of any other Beings but those which were at that time worshipped in the world If God gives a Law which forbids the worship of all Beings besides himself and particularly applies this Law to prohibite the worship of all those Gods which were then worshipped in the world will any one in their wits hence conclude that if the folly and superstition of men should set up a new race and generation of Gods in after ages that the worship of these new Gods is not as well forbidden by this general Law as the worship of those gods which were worshipt at that time when this Law was given if this were true possibly Pagan Rome it self was not guilty of Idolatry for most if not all of their Gods might be of a later date than the giving the Law 3. Now since no such distinctions as these appear in Scripture it is impossible they should justifie the worship of Saints and Angels which is so expresly forbidden by the Law if we will acknowledge them to be distinct Beings from the Supreme God for if they are not the Supreme God we must not worship them for we must worship none but God No distinctions can justifie us in this case but such as God himself makes for otherwise it were easie to distinguish away any Law of God Humane Laws will admit of no distinctions but such as they make themselves for a distinction does either confine and streighten or enlarge the Law and he who has power to distinguish upon a Law has so far power to make it If the Law says that we shall worship no other Being besides God and we have power if we have but wit enough to invent some new distinctions between the worship of good and bad spirits between Supreme and Subordinate absolute and relative worship this makes a new Law of it for it is one thing to say thou shalt worship God only and quite contrary to say thou shalt worship God only and good Spirits God with a Supreme and absolute good Spirits with a subordinate and relative worship This I think is sufficient to shew that we must admit of no distinctions upon a Divine Law but what the Scripture it self owns and therefore since those distinctions with which the Church of Rome justifies her worship of Saints and Angels are no where to be found in Scripture they have no authority against an express Law 3. The next course the Papists take to justifie their creature-Creature-worship in contradiction to that Law which expresly commands us to worship none but God is an appeal to such authorities as they think sufficient to decide this matter Now I shall not say much to this for I believe all Mankind will acknowledge that no Authority less than Divine can repeal a Divine Law and therefore unless God himself or such persons as act by a Divine Authority have repealed this Law no other Authority can do it That Christ and his Apostles have not repealed this Law I have already proved that the whole Church in after Ages had any Authority to repeal this Law I desire them to prove For the authority of the Church as to the essentials of Faith and Worship is not the authority of Law-givers but of Witnesses The Church never pretended in former Ages to make or to repeal any Divine Laws but to declare and testifie what the belief and practice of the Primitive and Apostolick Churches was and it is unreasonable to think that they should have any such Authority for then Christ and his Apostles preached the Gospel to little purpose if it were in the power of the Church to make a new Gospel of it when they pleased But indeed could it appear that the Apostles did teach the Christians of that Age and the Church in those Ages which immediately succeeded the Apostles did practice the worship of Saints and Angels we should have reason to suspect that we and not they are mistaken in the sense of that Law which commands us to worship none but God But then none can be admitted as competent witnesses of this matter but those who did immediately succeed the Apostles or conversed with Apostolical men and Churches And thanks be to God there is no appearance of Creature worship in those Ages we dare appeal to the testimony of Fathers and Councils for above three hundred years and those who come after come a little too late to be witnesses of what was done in the Apostolick Churches especially when all the intermediate Ages knew nothing of it I shall not fill up this discourse with particular Citations which learned men know where to find since the Roman Doctors can find nothing in the Writings of the first Fathers to justifie the worship of Saints and Angels and the Protestant Writers find a great deal in those Ages against it Indeed at the latter end of the fourth Century some of the Fathers used some Rhetorical Apostrophes to the Saints and Martyrs in their Orations which the Church of Rome interprets to be Prayers to them but though other Learned men have vindicated those passages so far as to shew the vast difference between them and solemn and formal Invocations which is not my business at this time yet there are several things very well worth our observation towards the true stating of this matter As 1. That these Fathers came too late to be witnesses of the Apostolical practise which they could know no otherwise than we might know it if there had been any such thing viz. by the testimony and practise of the Church from the Apostles till that time This was no where pretended by them that the Invocation of Saints had been the practise of the Catholick Church in all ages and they could have no proof of this unless they had better Records of former times than we have at this day and such as contradicted all the Records which we now have of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches and I believe few men will be so hardy as to assert this and methinks there should be as few who are so credulous as to believe it and I am sure there is no man living who is able to prove it 2. Nay the particular sayings of these Fathers by which the Romanists prove the Invocation of Saints do not prove that it was the Judgment and practise of the Church of that age They no where say that it was and it does not appear to be so by any other Records Let them shew me any Council before or in those times when these Fathers lived that is in the fourth Century which decreed the worship of Saints and Angels Let them produce any publick offices of Religion in those days which allows this worship and if no such thing appears those men must be very well prepared to believe this who will without any other evidence judge of the practice of the Church only from some extravagant flights of Poets and
Orators and if even in those days the worship of Saints was not received into the publick offices of the Church methinks we may as well live without it still and they must either grant that these Fathers whose authority they alleadge meant no such thing by these Rhetorical flourishes as they extract out of them or else that they introduced a new and unknown worship into the Christian Church and then let them prove that some few Fathers of the fourth Century without the publick authority of the Church had authority enough of their own to change the object of worship contrary as the Church in former Ages believed to an express Divine Law which commands us to worship none but God 3. Nay I further observe that these Fathers whose authority is urged for the invocation of Saints by the Church of Rome do no-where dogmatically and positively assert the lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels and many Fathers of the same Age do positively deny the lawfulness of it which is a plain argument that it was not the judgement and practice of the Church of that Age and a good reasonable presumptition that these Fathers never intended any such thing in what they said how liable soever their words may be to be expounded to such a sense Gregory Nazianzen indeed in his Book against Julian the Apostate speaks to the Soul of Constantius in this manner Hear O thou Soul of great Constantius if thou hast any sense of these things c. But will you call this a Prayer to Constantius does this Father any where assert in plain terms that it is lawful to pray to Saints departed a hundred such sayings as these which are no Prayers to Saints cannot prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints against the constant Doctrine of the Fathers of that Age. Thus in his Funeral Oration for his Sister Gorgonia he bespeaks her to this purpose that if she knew what he was now a doing and if holy Souls did receive this favour from God to know such matters as these that then she would kindly accept that Oration which he made in her praise instead of other Funeral Obsequies Is this a Prayer to Gorgonia to intercede for him with God by no means He onely desires if she heard what he said of her which he was not sure she did that she would take it kindly Whereas in that very Age the Fathers asserted that we must pray onely to God and therefore they define Prayer by its relation to God That Prayer is a request of some good things made by devout Souls to God that it is a conference with God that it is a request offered with supplication to God Which is a very imperfect definition of Prayer were it lawful to pray to any other Being besides God St. Austin tells us that when the names of the Martyrs were rehearsed in their publick Liturgies it was not to invoke them or pray to them but onely for an honourable remembrance nay he expresly tells us that the worship of dead men must be no part of our Religion for if they were pious men they do not desire this kind of honour but would have us worship God honorandi ergo sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter religionem they are to be honoured for our imitation not to be adored as an act of Religion The Council of Laodicea condemned the Worship of Angels and so does Theodoret Oecumenius and others of that Age. It is notoriously known that the Arrians were condemned as guilty of Idolatry for worshipping Christ whom they would not own to be the true God though they owned him to be far exalted above all Saints and Angels and to be as like to God as it is possible for any Creature to be and those who upon these Principles condemned the worship of the most perfect and excellent Creature could never allow the worship of Saints and Angels So that though the worship of Saints and Angels did begin about this time to creep into the Church yet it was opposed by these pious and learned Fathers and condemned in the first and smallest appearances of it which shows that this was no Catholick Doctrine and Practice in that Age much less that it had been so from the Apostles and I think after this time there was no authority in the Church to alter the object of worship nor to justifie such an Innovation as the worship of Saints and Angels in opposition to the express Law of God The sum of this Argument is this Since there is an express Law against the worship of any other Being besides the supreme God the Lord Jehovah which never was expresly repealed whatever plausible reasons may be urged for the worship of Saints and Angels they cannot justifie us in acting contrary to an express Law of God THE END ERRATA PAge 53. Line 23. for repepealed read repealed p. 54. margin for domini r. dominum p. 59. l. 30. for last r. least A Catalogue of Books sold by Abel Swalle at the Vnicorn at the West-end of St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. A Companion to the Temple or a Help to Devotion in the use of the Common Prayer Divided in the four Parts Part 1. Of Morning and Evening Prayer Part. 2. Of the Litany with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings Part. 3. Of the Communion Office with the Offices of Baptism Cateohism and Comfirmation Part. 4. Of the Occasional Offices viz. Matrimony Visitation of the Sick c. The whole being carefully corrected and now put into one Volume By Tho. Comber D. D. Folio Forty Sermons whereof twenty one are now first published the greatest part of them Preached before the King and on Solemn Occasions By Rich. Allestry D. D. With an account of the Authors Life in Folio The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley consisting of those which were formerly Printed and those designed for the Press and now Published out of the Authors Original Papers The eighth Edition in Folio The Second Part of the Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley being what was written in his younger years and now Reprinted together The fifth Edition The Case of Resistance of the Supreme Powers Stated and Resolved according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures By William Sherlock D. D. in Octavo A Vindication of the Rights of Ecclestastical Authority being an Answer to the First Part of the Protestant Reconciler By William Sherlock D. D. and Master of the Temple in Octavo Pet. Dan. Huetii de Interpretatione Libri 2. duo quarum Prior est de Optimo Genere Interpretandi Alter dâ— Claris Interpret c. in Octavo The Case of Compelling Men to the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper considered And Authority vindicated in it by the Rules of the Gospel and from the Common and Popular Objections against it By the Author of the Charge of Scandal omitted in the late Collection L. Coely Lacâ—antâ—i Firmiani Opera que extant ad fidem MS S. recognita Commentariis illustrata a Tho. Spark A. M. Oxonii e Theatr. Sheldoniano A Sermon Preached before the King at White-hall Novemb. 23. 1684. By Gilb. Ironside D. D. Warden of Wadham Colledge in Oxon c. 4. Mat. 10. Sect. 1. 2 Col. 18. Sect. 2. 4 Matth. 10. 6 Deutr. 13. 10 Deutr. 20. 20 Exod. 3. 6 Deutr. 14. 70 Jere. 11. Stilling fleetâ—s Defence of the discourse of Idolatry 4 Luke 6. 12 Deut. 13 14. 22 Joshua v. 16. 19. 22 23. 22 Exod. 2â— 56 Isai. 7. 2â— Matth. 13. 1 King 8. 3 Acts 1. 6 Dan. 10. 55 Psalm 17. 9. Dan. 21. 1 Kings 8. 30. v. 35. v. 37. v. 39. v. 44. v. 48. 6. Dan. 10. Buâ—torsii Synag Jud. p. 222 65. Psalm 2. 23 Joshua 7â— 1 Kings 18. 26. 20 Ezek. 20. 10 Deut 21. 19 Isai. 18. 4â— Gen. 16. Sect. 3. 13 Deut. 1 2 3 4 5. 19. John 7. 4 Matth. 10. 1 Rom. 21. v. 23. v. 25. 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. 1 Tim. 4. 1. See Mr. Joseph Medes Apostasie of the latter times 5. Mat. 17. 21. Acts 21 22. 3. Rom. 31. 8. Isai. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18 19. 17. Acts 10 11. 42. Isai. 8. 4 Gal. 5 6. 4 Hebr. 16. 1 Pet. 2 5 9. 14 Joh. 13 15. 16 Joh. 24. 26 27. 10 Hebr. 19 20 21 22. 2 Joh. 19. 21. 1 Joh. 14. 2 Coloss. 3. 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. 1. Heb. 12. 28. Mat. 20. * Bonum atque utile esse suppliciter Sanctos invocare ab beneficia impetranda â— Deo per silium ejus Jesum Christum Domini nostrum qui solus noster Redemptor Salvator est ad eorum orationes opem auxilium confugere Canâ— Trin. 16. 25. de Invocat 20 Exod. 10 Deut. 20. 4 Matth 10. 13 Deuter. 6 7. c. 6 Deut. 13 14. 13 Deut. 7. See Bishops Ushers Answer to the Jesuits Challenge Greg. Naz. Orat. 2. in Gorg. Basil Orat. in Julit Martyr Greg. Naz. Orat 1. de Oratione Chrys. in Genes Homil. 30. Aug. De Civit Dei l. 22. cap. 10. Id. de vera religione Cap. 55