Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	word_n	worship_v	write_v	511	4	5.2786	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35023	A letter written to a friend concerning Popish idolatrie	Croft, Herbert, 1603-1691.	1674 (1674)	Wing C6968; ESTC R3785	21,890	35

be performed to himself Psal. 50. 15. As God is called the Father of Mercy so is she called the Mother of Mercy as Christ is called the Tree of Life so is she and a hundred more such divine Attributes they give unto her as you may read in their printed Books of Litanies and Prayers to her sufficient to make a man tremble with horror and amazement to read the wilde as well as wicked blasphemous Titles their extravagant fancies invent to give her Let any Christian Soul who can but read the Scripture and understand common Sence judge if this be not Idolatry for the Titles they give her do much more imply a Deity than the word God and so is far greater Idolatry There is one thing more worthy your consideration in this business All the learned Papists know that the ancient Fathers did urge as a main Argument to prove the Diety of the Holy Ghost the Ubiquity of his operation in the hearts of the faithful all the world over a clear evidence of a divine Power which no Creature is capable of and will not the same Argument hold to prove the Deity of the Blessed Virgin if she as the Papists believe be able to be helpful to all her devoted Supplicants from all the four Quarters of the World at the same time Upon her great Festival-days how many millions of Papists do at the same instant say unto her that Hymn Ave Maris Stella wherein are conteined these words Thou that art the meekest of all make us meek and chaste grant unto us a holy life and safe journey These and a hundred the like Expressions they use unto her Now I pray observe sure the Papists suppose she can do this which they pray for otherwise they are ridiculous to pray for it so then they believe that she can work upon the hearts of her supplicants all the World over making them meek and chaste c. at the same time which was the Argument to prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost doth it not in like manner prove the Deity of the Blessed Virgin and doth not this their belief and practice make her a Goddess and doth not this make them Idolaters in full measure what did the Heathens more Nay doth not the praying to her or any other Saint at so vast a distance and supposing them to hear imply a Deity in them Is not this far beyond the sphere of Activity in any Creature Can any Creature hear their praying voice one quarter of a mile sure then they must be of a Divine power to hear so many millions and millions of miles much more is it a Divine property to see the thoughts of their hearts at that distance or indeed to see them at all were they never so nigh for God alone is the searcher of hearts yet the Papists often offer up to them the meditation of their hearts as well as the voice of their mouth making both mental and vocal Prayer unto them is not this apparently to make them Gods As for that rare excuse That though the Saints hear not our prayers much less see our hearts at this distance yet they see all in God's infinite comprehensive Heart Hold I beseech you whither are we come to excuse Idolatry I fear with horrid Blasphemy are the Saints then the searchers of God's Heart and know all his secrets this is Deity in the highest degree no but God of his infinite Goodness discovers this to the Saints may I be so bold as to ask who discovered this to the Papists why St. Francis St. Dominick St. Ignatius and many others in their Seraphical Meditations have been rapt up into the third Heaven yea far higher than St. Paul into the ninth Heaven and have had this and much more reveiled to them Pardon me I humbly conceive 't is far more unlawful for these Seraphical Saints to utter these words than it was for Saint Paul to utter what he heard in the third Heaven Sir I hope neither you nor any rational Man will build his Faith and Salvation upon their vain Legends well may they twattle these things to Children not to serious Men who build their Faith on the infallible Word of God alone where we find not one word of all this but much to the contrary Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve If God only sure no other Wherefore St. John in his Revelation tells us how he was twice severely rebuk'd with a Cave for his worshipping the Angel See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant worship God But the Papists will needs have this to be a Complement only of humility in the Angel to this great Apostle St. John truly a very severe form of Complement See thou do it not which sounds to me rather a Threat than a Complement and in the Original the Greek sounds more a Threat than our English expresses and sure we should the rather take it so because St. Paul doth so expresly forbid the worshipping of Angels as a Will-worship according to to the Will and Doctrine of men under pretence of humility but is indeed out of Pride vainly puff'd up in their fleshly minds intruding into those things they have not seen and obtruding them as saving Doctrines upon their ignorant Proselytes which thing all that are godly wise according to Scripture must needs hold foolish and sinful all being so fully laid out unto us by St. Paul Col. 2. and again 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee The Scripture saith their is one Mediator between God and man the Papists will needs have many whether more foolishly or more sinfully 't is hard to say for have they any Mediator more powerful or more merciful or more willing to hear and help them nay put the Power the Love the Mercy of all Saints and Blessed Virgin together is it greater is it equal is it near in any degree can it add one degree to the infinite Power and Love and Mercy of Christ God and Man is it not blasphemy to affirm it is it not then great sinfulness great madness to seek any other as if he were not complete as if he could not or as if he would not do what he promises to do Will not his Power his Promises his Command oblige these Self-will-worshipping Papists to come to this One Mediotor no but they will go to others to their own wilful destruction As for that poor weak excuse That we may as well or rather pray to Saints in Heaven to pray for us than pray Men on Earth to pray for us 't is not worth the answering the disparity is so great for the latter is an act of mutual Charity to which we are commanded the former an act of Religious worship

this is no way reverenced in comparison of the other for when it is exposed it is just as if God should visibly come down from Heaven you may see persons of very good quality as soon as they come within the Church-door fall down on their knees and so on their knees go creeping towards this Picture and when they approach near it prostrate themselves on the Pavement kiss the ground then up again stretch forth their hands towards it groan and sigh as if they would breath forth and ejaculate their very Hearts unto it What think you Sir of this Again At that famous place Loretto is reputed to be the very House where the Blessed Virgin lived and nursed up our Saviour transported thither by Angels Turselin the Jesuit's History of this is a rare Romamce this is now converted into a Chappel cased about with fine Marble and stands in the middest of a fair Church built over it this Chappel of the House hath an Altar at one end divided from the rest and above over the Altar an Image of the Blessed Virgin with our Saviour in her arms reported likewise to be made by St. Luke no doubt of it an excellent Painter and Statuarist as well as Physician this Image also with the continual smoak of Candles and Lamps Gold and Silver of mighty value is made as black as any Gypsie insomuch that the Vulgar believe that she was made so by her abode in aegypt To this Image they come in pilgrimage thousands of miles leaving at home Pictures and Statues far more lively representations but all is nothing to this When men are in any danger by Sea they vow some great offering for their deliverance which hath filled several rooms there with a vast Treasure the Turks have long been greedy of this Prey the Devotion paid to this Image by Pilgrims at their approach is of the same stamp and rate as the before-mentioned to the Picture There is at the upper corner of this little Chappel a Door which lets men into the place railed in for the Altar over which the Image stands and to be let into this sanctum sanctorum the holiest of holies so near this divine Image which is seen as well without is a favour for which you must well reward the Door-keeper this is the very Paradise of Souls blessed is the man that enters here And the reason why they pay this mighty veneration to this Image is because of the gteat Holiness and wonderful Vertue they fancy in it so holy as whatsoever touches it receives wonderful and powerful Virtue from it wherefore they humbly desire to have their Beads and Medals sanctified thereby and give them to the Keeper of the Closet who hangs them on a forked Staff reserved there for that purpose and rubs them somewhat rudely on our Saviours and Ladies faces and if he be more than ordinarily fee'd their Faces also pay doubly for it brush'd and box'd with the Beads to extract the more Virtue out of them If you ask why so rude to their Faces the Reason is the rest is covered with rich costly Garments whereof they have great variety and on the great Festivals most magnificent all being the Oblations of Devotees on several occasions If you ask again why our Ladies Garments should not be able to confer Vertue as well as her Statue I must leave the Papist Priests to answer you who reserve this divine Mystery close in their breasts all that I observe and learn is how divine a Power they attribute to this Statue which is able to confer such Vertue to dead Beads as to give them the same power over Devils as our Saviour gave his Apostles For a pair of these Beads put about the neck of any possessed by the Devil he is not able to endure the Sanctity thereof but crying and roaring rusheth forth The Ephesian Image of Diana which fell from Jupiter came much short of this and therefore this much better deserves to be worshipped by the whole World of Papists at least And Sir never expect to be saved with them unless you worship with them though the Priests to get you to them will tell you there 's no necessity of worshipping Images and praying to Saints yet you must believe 't is great Piety and profitable Devotion to do both Now he that believes this with them and yet will not worship with them sure deserves not Salvation rejecting such helpful means and if ever he be saved at length he shall be sure to fry in Purgatory till Doomsday who will pray for his Soul who refuses to pray to our Lady the Queen of Heaven and Earth of Angels and Saints c. I could go on to relate the like Devotion to several other Statues of our Lady as that of Sicham Foy Goodnews c. and some of other Saints but this of Loretto carries the Bell clear away from them all and I hope I have said enough to keep you far from them all for by what I have said you plainly see St. Austin's words verified of the Papists as well as of the Heathens that the Papists think there is powerful Vertue in the very Statues and that the Statues furnish them with those things they pray for why else do they make Vows and Pilgrimages to the Statue of Loretto more than to any other Statue they have at home and the Blessed Virgin is as near them at home as at Loretto sure they believe the Blessed Virgin also adores her own Statue at Loretto as he that was enamoured of his own Picture in the water and confers favours on them for that Statues sake because she is honoured for that Statues sake 't is evident because they will not afford her those rich Oblations elsewhere but she must go in Pilgrimage also to Loretto to receive them and thank that Image for them and so at length as St. Austin saith our Lady is set aside and become the Shadow of her own Statue God of his infinite mercy open their blind eyes that they may see the grosness of their Idolatry Setting this their Idolatrous Worship aside I honour the Blessed Virgin with my heart as much as any of them and this they shall see if ever I meet them before her the Blessed Mother of my Saviour Blessed for ever Amen There remains yet the Third part of Popish Idolatry committed in adorning the consecrated Host at the Mass which will require no further proof than the Confession of their prime Doctors That this their Idolatry is as gross as ever any Heathens were guilty of if there be no Transubstantiation Now that there is no Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is a large Volume learnedly written by Morton Lord Bishop of Durham never yet answered But you are not for such long Tracts and numerous Quotations shall we then consider what the Scripture saith in this matter where you conceive the Papists have more advantage against us than in any one