and in what manner they may heare your Prayers and Supplications For to build the first point you lay downe two Articles and principles most false The one That this hath alwaies beene the doctrine of the Christian Church to say and teach that this was a thing more then reasonable and most profitable to man to inuocate the Saints yea that the Church hath taught the same for the space of 1605 year unto this day The other How certaine Heretikes which are sprung vp within this fortie or fiftie yeares haue meant to preach and teach the cleane contrarie to wit those whom you call Lutherans and Caluinists who but a few yeares ago endeuoring to â—uerthrow so auncient a doctrine according to your opinion haue said and say still that we must not call vpon any of the Saints but vpon God onely I say that your first foundation is false because as Eckius one of your principall Doctours plainely confesseth in his booke of the worshipping of Saints that it is impossible for you to alledge one onely text either out of the old or new Testament whereby you can prooue that either Christ his Euangelists or Apostles haue commanded vs to adore the Saints or haue recommended this seruice to vs as very profitable or reasonable Also Petrus à Scoto confesseth that the inuocation of Saints is not taught in the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles but is there insinuated And likewise some of the Iesuits say that it is not manifestly represented in them but obscurely and mystically or by certaine consequences which are pretended and not well grounded And for this cause the Councell of Trent recommending it vnto the Christians makes no mention of the authority of the holy Scripture but of the ancient custome only of the consent of fathers and of the decreâ—s of holy Councels From whence followeth that this commandement of inuocating the Saints hath not bene giuen to the Christians as you write a thousand sixe hundred and fiue yeares ago or thereabouts but hath bene a long time after forged as I will prooue in due place by your Predecessors who haue made no conscience to teach for doctrine of saluation their owne traditions and humaine inuentions Which hauing shewed your second foundatioÌ„ wil tumble downe of it selfe that is how this rule of worshipping God alone hath bene inuented by those whom wrongfully you terme Lutherans and Caluinists for wee acknowledge none for our soueraigne Doctour and Master but our Lord Iesus Christ the only perfect wisedome and essential word of his Father who hath spoken heretofore to our Fathers by the auncient Prophets and since being manifested in our flesh hath spoken himselfe by his sacred mouth to his Disciples and after his Ascension by his Apostles who as faithful Secretaries and dispensators of the secrets of God haue left vs in writing the fundamentall points of pure Religion and touching this point haue taught vs that God only and no other ought to bee called vpon by vs in our necessities And although this is as cleere as the Sun shine in a bright day at noone yet because you are blinde and leaders of the blinde as your predecessors the Scribes and Pharisies were in the time of Iesus Christ wee will alleage against you some certaine proofes for that which is abouesaid to the end they may serue as a cleere light to those which wink not with their eyes that they might not see in seeing but open them with a holy desire to behold this light When God saith in the first Commandement of his law giuen by Moses to our Fathers * Thou shalt haue none* other Gods before me what doth hee signifie by this prohibition but only that we ought not to acknowledge any other God and Sauiour but him nor to attribute to any one that honour which is proper to him that is to call vpon him only in our anguishes according to that expresse command which he giueth vs in Deuteronom Thou shall worship the Lord thy God and serue him And by the Prophet Asaph in the 50 Psalme verses 14. 15. Offer vnto God praise and pay thy vowes vnto the most high and call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me And to stirre vs vp the more thereunto he denounceth by the Prophet Esay chap. 42. and 8 verse I am the Lord this is my name and my glorie will I not giue to another neither my praise to grauen Images And in the 45 chap. and 21 verse Haue not I the Lord and there is none other God beside me a iust God and a Sauiour there is none beside me And in the 22 verse Looke vnto me and yee shall be saued all the ends of the earth shall be saued for I am God and there is none other If hereupon you object against me that God commandeth not by these places that wee should only worship him and none other beside him The answere is cleere to wit that this commandement of God was so interpreted by the Prophet Samuel and in the fulnesse of time by our Soueraigne Doctor Iesus Christ himselfe For therefore you may see how the Prophet warneth all the house of Israel in the 7 chapter of his booke and third verse where he saith If ye be come againe vnto the Lord with all your heart put away the strange gods from among you and Ashtoroth and direct your hearts vnto the Lord and serue him only and hee shall deliuer you out of the hand of the Philistims By which you may see that the Prophet Samuel sheweth vnto the children of Israel that the meanes and way to conuert and direct themselues vnto the Lord with all their hearts is to serue him only and to take away from before his eyes the Idols of the Heathen which hee calleth the gods of the strangers Euen so also our Lord Iesus Christ being tempted in the wildernesse by the wicked spirit which had transported him vpon a high mountaine and shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them with promise that he would giue them all vnto him if so be he would fall down and worship him he alleageth against Satan that which is written in the sixt chapter of the book of Moses called Deuteronomie expounding the intention of his father as he which is his Counsellour witnesse the Prophet Isaiah in his ninth chapter and fifth verse he addeth thereto this word only when hee answereth Satan that in that place it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue as though he would haue said That the seruice which is due vnto God only is to worship him and to prostrate our selues before him And to this end and purpose the sonnes of Korah who composed the 44 Psalme teach vs in the 20 and 21 verses that to call vpon any other besides God is to forget and denie him If say they
Bernard who was Abbat of the Cloister of Claitual liued in Burgundie one of the principall Prouinces of France and was there in greater reputation then al the other Monkes of his Order His bookes doe plainly witnesse that hee was more inclined to the inuocation of our only God and celestiall Father then to the adoration of Saints and that he beleeued that no man could haue sure accesse vnto his throne of grace but by the merit of the death of our only Sauiour Iesus Christ. Your Fathers haue brought in and receiued his bookes in their Church without any contradiction and euen vnto this present you haue them in your Cloisters and handle them daily And yet for all this you loue rather to affirme against your owne consciences that S. Bernard constantly maintained the inuocation of Saints then roundly to confesse that he spake thereof with some scruple of conscience and very doubtfully as appeareth by his writings In the repetition of the prayers which our Fathers haue addressed to the departed Saints you nominate that prayer of Origens and aske me whether Origen that Doctor praying to the Prophet Iob about the yeere of Christ 220 Was an Idolater But sith that Origen was before S. Ieromes time S. Chrysostomes S. Cyprians S. Austins S. Iohn Damascenus and many other Doctors of the Primitiue Church according to S. Ieromes testimonie who saith that in the yeere of Christ 203 Origen was then of the age of seuenteene yeeres it is maruell why you haue not done him that honour to place him in his ranke and to cite his prayers aswell as others Moreouer it is a wonder that you doe this wrong to Origen to attribute this prayer to him O S. Iob pray for vs miserable wretches that the mercie of God may deliuer vs. True it is that Origen had many strange and dangerous opinions in such sort that S. Ierome saith of him that hee commended his spirit but not his faith that he set greatly by his translations but not by his doctrines and expositions which hee tearmeth venomous and farre from the sense of holy Scriptures and doing them violence but howbeit as wee haue alreadie proued by his disputations against Celsus the Philosopher that he spake well of the inuocation of Gods name and maintained that religious adoration appertaineth onely to God and the presentation of out prayers to our only Mediatour and Intercessor Iesus Christ. If Celsus reproched Origen that he and the other Christians worshipped our Lord Iesus Christ and from thence sought to conclude that the Christians worshipped after the fashion of the Gentiles some other then God would not he Celsus also haue replied that hee and his followers called vpon the Prophet Iob and that they beleeued they offended not God in seruing religiously his seruant would hee not likewife in good earnest haue flouted at this distinction of Origens that the Christians worshipped no other but God in calling on the name of Iesus Christ forasmuch as Christ was not a simple man as the Prophets other departed Saints were nor likewise a simple creature as the Angels but forasmuch as hee was also one God with the Father and Lord of all things And what likelihood is there that hee besought Iob to pray for him when he himselfe prescribed this rule to all Christians to offer their prayers only to God through his only Sonne and protesteth in his eighth booke against Celsus to haue followed it with the other Christians His rule is That wee must adore the only soueraigne God and present our prayers to the only Sonne of God who is his Word and the first borne of all creatures that as a high priest he might offer them vp to his God and to our God to his Father and according to his word the father of all liuing The practise agreeable to this rule is expressed in these words We worship as much as we can through supplications and seruices one only God and his only Sonne his word and his image offering our prayers to God the Lord of all things by his only Sonne to whom first we doe addresse them beseeching him that being propitiatour far our sinnes he would vouchsafe as high priest to offer vnto God our prayers sacrifices and intercessions and therefore our faith lieth in God through his Son who hath confirmed it in vs. It is not credible then that Origen hath inuocated Iob not the other departed Saints not the Virgin Mary likewise sith that hee himselfe in his sermons comprehendeth them all together in the number of sinners which are not entred into heauen through their owne merits but by the only faith in Iesus Christ. Shall we thinke saith he in his 27. Sermon and 2. tome that all the Apostles were offended in our Lord and that his mother was exempted If she hath suffered no scandall in the passion of the Lord then Iesus died not for her sinnes But if all haue sinned and haue all need of the glorie of God to be iustified and redeemed through his grace surely Mary was offended in that very houre And this is it which Simeon prophecied saying And thy soule also which knowest thou hast conceiued without a man and who hast heard by Gabriel that the holy Ghost should come vpon thee and the power of the most High should ouershadow thee euen thine shall a sword pearce thorow and thou shalt bee smitten with the blade of doubtfulnesse and thy thoughts shall distract thee when thou shalt see him to be crucified and put to death whom thou hast heard called the Son of God and knewest to be begotten without the seede of man But what will you say if I should shew you that your owne men haue not held these Commentaries vpon Iob nor Origens Lamentations wherein hee praieth the Saints to prostrate themselues for him to the mercies of God for authenticall bookes For as Pope Gelasius hath reiected the booke of Lamentations attributed to Origen and iudged to be Apocrypha so Sixtus Senensis sheweth in his fourth booke that the Treatise vpon Iob and some such like books were not composed by him but by some other author which certaine of our Fathers suspected of heresie For in his second booke he compareth these three diuine persons to wit the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost to three hornes of the Diuell and tearmeth the doctrine of the holie Trinitie a sect and a heresie of three Gods All men of reason and discretion taking heede to the falsehood of these allegations will they not haue in abomination your audaciousnesse and impudencie to proue the anciencie of the adoration of Saints by witnesses of no credit and by depraued bookes cast off a long while agoe by your predecessors Moreouer as the Arrians Montanists and sundrie other heretikes haue mixed their poyson among the sound doctrine contained in the bookes of the ancient Fathers and like as diuers superstitious persons haue annexed to the wholesome
instructions of those Doctors touching the inuocation of one only God the intercession of one only Mediatour Iesus Christ the leauen of the inuocation of Saints to corrupt the pure seruiâ—e instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ in the Apostolicall Church euen so the successors of these enemies of the ancient puritie perceiuing that the zealous followers thereof made vse of the good bookes of the ancient Fathers to encounter their superstitions haue continued in falsifying more and more their bookes And to make vp the measure of their Fathers being assembled in the Councell of Trent they enioyned some to change cut off and condemne whatsoeuer they should finde and iudge offensiue and contrarie to their errors Vpon which the Iesuits are diligently employed following therein the example of the idolatrous Gentiles who perceiuing as Aâ—nebius complaineth thereof in his third booke that they might be conuicted of falsehood by Ciceroes bookes touching the nature of the Gods formerly published corrupted them and maliciously concealed them that no more mention might be made of them For the Iesuites haue made two Registers imprinted at Naples Madril and Antwerp wherein they haue not only put sundrie words and sentences of the Fathers which expressely they commanded to chaunge and deface out of their bookes but also added certaine annotations to their writings by some great personages to helpe and ease the memorie of the Reader yea without sparing their owne Teachers who haue laboured asmuch to impart vnto vs the true exposition of the Fathers doctrine as they to bereaue and rob vs of it Now to cosen the world they haue intituled these fiâ—e bookes Indices expurgatorij that is to say Purgatiue Indices or Registers which more aptly may bee tearmed Putrefactiues For so farre off is it that these scullions haue laboured to purge the booke of the ancient Fathers and their expositors from staines and filth that contrariwise they haue defiled them wheresoeuer they laid their clutches on them full of stench and putrifaction I am ashamed to discover their villanies but seeing I haue begun I must proceed at once in manifesting it to them In their Index of Spaine they haue ordained to deface these words of S. Hillaries whereby he declareth the reason why the wise virgins answered the foolish that they could not guie theÌ„ of their oyle to wit because none ought to be succored with the works and merits of another In that very Index they command to race out of S. Anselmus booke of the manner of visiting the sicke these words of great consolation Beleeuest thou that thou canst attaine vnto glorie not through thine owne merits but by the vertue and merit of Iesus Christ Beleeuest thou y â— he died for our saluation and that none can be saued through his own merits nor no otherwise then by his death and passion They iudge also in that Index that these words annexed to S. Chrysostoms Register of his bookes ought to be defaced to wit that faith only iustifieth and faith only saueth grounded on certainâ— sentences of S. Chrysostoms noted in y â— said Register It admonisheth the Reader also to reiect this glosse that There are no more workes in the world to come nor any calling to repentance c. Which was receiued froÌ„ the discourse of Epiphanius in his treatise of Heresie 59. Likewise it ordaineth that this proposition be raced out that Prayer be made for the liuing but not for the dead Which was taken from S. Ieromes admonition vpon the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galathians whereupon he noteth this sentence of the Apostle that euery one shall beare his owne burthen Whilest we are in this present world we may succour each other either by prayers or counsels but when wee shall appeare before the iudiciall thronâ— of Christ neither Iob Dauid nor Noah can pray for vs c. What else haue not the Iesuits commanded in the two Indices of Spaine and the Low-Countries to cut out of the Register added to S. Chrysostoms bookes these words That all the Prophets haue bin married whereby the Reader is sent to that which S. Chrysostome speaketh thereof in his 56. Sermon vpon S. Matthew where he proueth by the examples of Moses Esay and Ezechiel that all the Prophets had wiues and houses In the Low-Countrie Index they condemne the sentences of one of their principall writers called Faber Stapulensis whereby hee maintaineth that S. Ierome and Chrysostome haue taught that inuocation appertaineth to none but vnto God only Also they would haue one to purge the writings of George Cassander touching the naturall exposition of the word merit and of whatsoeuer hee alleageth in his bookes concerning the custome of the Apostles first successors to wit that they haue communicated in the Lords Supper for more then a thousand yeeres vnder the two signes of bread and wine They haue also commanded to race out the annotations of Erasmus of Rotterdam vpon the third chapter of the first Epist. to Timothy and in like maner those of S. Chrysostoms That a Bishop must be the husband of one onely wife Finally as many lines so many corruptions and as many infallable markes of their vngodlinesse and ill consciences For albeit they seek to couer their impietie vnder that false mask the title of purgation yet so it is y â— they do most manifeâ—tly discouer it by the soueraigne authority which they take to themselues in censuring and condemning as Iudges the instructions of their ancestors conformable to the word which God himselfe hath inspired into his Prophets and Apostles And if they had made no doubt of the testimonie of truth which shined in the books of those first lights of the Church they would not haue inforced themselues to quench then so much but might thereby haue been armed to haue defended and preserued themselves On the other part if they had been faithfull keepers of their writings which were put into their hands they would haue altered nothing neither concerning the matter nor the forme thereof but would haue been carefull to haue preserued them in their originall puritie But knowing now that these falsaries haue not kept the treasure committed to their charge but haue mixed among them their lead with the pure gold which they receiued from their ancestors what man is it among vs which will dare to assure himself of the sinceritie of those authors and sentences which they alleage against vs and of the integritie of the interpretations which they recoÌ„mend vnto vs and of the truth of those examples which they propound vnto vs And sith I haue quoted so many excellent sentences of the Fathers manifestly contrarie to those which you haue produced in your epistle vnder the name and authoritie of the same Doctors what should we doe in so great a contradiction of those sundrie rules of prayers cited aswell in the one part as on the other as alreadie wee haue vnderstood that there is nothing more
THE REFVTATION OF AN EPISTLE WRITTEN BY A CERTAIN DOCTOR OF the Augustins Order within the Citie of Leige TOGETHER WITH THE ARGVMENTS which he hath borrowed from Robert Bellarmine to proue the inuocation of Saints By IOHN POLYANDER Minister vnto the French Church in Dort And now translated by HENRY HEXHAM out of French into English 1. PETER 4. 11. If any man speake let him talke as the words of God AT LONDON Imprinted by F. K. for Thomas Man 1610. TO THE HONORABLE AND RIGHT WORTHIE SIR HORACE VERE Knight Lord Gouernour of his Maiesties Cautionarie Towne of Briel in Holland and chiefe Commander vnder his Excellencie of all the English Forces in the seruice of the Lords the States of the vnited Prouinces RIght Honourable and my best Lord it shal not offend any that know your Lordship how God hath honoured you with the eminent markes of Honour in your noble Birth great Exploits true vertues and vnfained godlinesse so much the greater by how much the rarer dignities that I stile you right Honourable and I trust it will not offend you that I call you my best Lord whom I haue long followed and next vnder God doe depend vpon If ought need excuse it is then this boldnesse that I presume vpon your fauour so much as to dedicate this Treatise vnto your name and that without your Lordships priuitie The Treatise right worthy being considered in it selfe is not vnworthie a noble Patron being written of a notable argument and by a notable Minister and in my opinion so much the more agreeable vnto you by how much you declare your self a zealous louer of that Truth which this author maintaineth and haue with losse of blood and hazard of life defended with your sword what this man by his pen. As touching my part therein which is the least and the translation though it be not so well worthie of you yet because it is due to you being done by one of your Lordships Companie and in the towne of your Garrison where it was also penned and by me that haue deuoted my selfe vnto your seruice in any dutie I can performe I hope your Lordship will not only pardon my boldnesse but accept my dutifull affections in this which in my prayers to God for you shall euer shew themselues to be such as becommeth me Your Lordships Souldier euer to be commanded Henry Hexham TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THe extreame libertie which this scribling age taketh of writing and publishing idle and vnprofitable pamphlets and the double diligence of Popish Writers in painting the old and withered face of their Iezabel not onely may but ought to prouoke those that can dee it to set forth wholesome things as counter-poysons or preseruatiues against the foresaid poysons of manners and doctrine Hereupon I confesse to haue encouraged the translator of this present Treatise to publish the same in our language into which hee had and so farre as I can indge both faithfully and fitly turned it out of French that our countrey-men might see how the Ministers of other Churches are assaulted and do make their iust defence with the same weapons with which our owne Touching the author of this booke I may not conceale that he is a man of singular note for his learning grauity pietie and conuersation and hath so stood in the seruice of the French Church at Dort in Holland for the space of eighteene yeeres to the praise of God Concerning the worke I will not so much ouervalew my selfe or vndervalew it as to recommend it vpon my word vnto the Churches of God for who am I but signifie that the seuerall impressions of it in French the translating thereof into the Dutch tongue and the good respect thereof in the French and Dutch Churches doe more then sufficiently commend it vnto all men wherefore good Reader I leaue it thus commended vnto thee and pray God to make it profitable to thee as it hath bin to many others Thine in the Lord Iohn Burges Preacher to the English at the Hagâ—â—e in Holland TO THE FRENCH CHVRCH ASSEMBLED together at Dort THere is no exercise most deare and worthie Brethren in the Lord more needfull nor more conuenient for a Christian man then to call vpon his Creator and Sauiour For sith that hee receiueth from his hand all manner of blessings aswell for this present life as for that which is to come he is therefore bound continually to inuocate and call vpon him for aide who is the Father of lights from whom commeth downe euery good giuing and euery perfect gift Beside it is also that marke by which the children of light are discerned from the children of this world who as it is written in the 14 Psalme haue no care to call vpon the Lord. Moreouer it is one of the parts of that Christian acknowledgement whereby wee make profession to beleeue that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him as the Apostle witnesseth in the 11. Chapter to the Hebrewes and sixth verse It is a sweete communication and a familiar discourse with God whereby wee freely declare to him our necessities and beseech him to returne an answere to our petitions in due time It may also be called an ambassage or a trusty Post which swiftly mounting vp to heauen knocketh at the gate of Gods palace there to present before him all our requests Finally it is the very soule of our soules and like as our bodies cannot liue nor subsist without our soules so likewise cannot our soules perseuere in the faith and hope of the grace of God which is the fountaine of life without the exercise of prayer Which point the Fathers of the old Testament considering ere they betooke themselues to any of their affaires began them euermore by calling vpon the name of God saying Our helpe is in the name of the Lord which hath made heauen and earth Which also the Iewes from the godlinesse of their forefathers hold yet vnto this day and obserue it so carefully that they addresse their prayers to none but to that sole Creator of all things Wherein these ignorant people which neither know the Sonne nor the Father shew themselues farre more wise and religious then the Papists which call themselues Christians and Catholikes and yet notwithstanding are so blockish and superstitious that in stead of addressing themselues to the only God Almightie immortall they implore the aide of the dead and their Idols not considering what the Lord speaketh by his Prophet Esay in the 42. chap. and 8. verse that his glorie he will not giue to another neither his praise to grauen Images But what the diuell sworne enemie against the honour of God and mans saluation hath with such an efficacy breathed this impiety into the hearts of those lying Doctors that albeit they are conuicted by an infinit number of sentences of holy Scripture by which God expressely forbiddeth vs not to worship any but
erred 49. 50 The Fathers inuocated the name of God only 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59 The Fathers prayed not to the Saints 61. 62. 63. 64 The Fathers called vpon God alone 65. 66. 67. 68. c. The Fathers condēned the worshippers of angels 57. 58. 59. 60 The ancient Fathers condemned the Adorers of Marie 61. 62. 63. 64 The ancient Doctors condemned the worshippers of creatures 52. 53. 54. c. 59. c. Bookes of the Fathers falsely fathered on them 81. 82. 83 An answere to his testimonie taken out of the writings of Irenaeus 85 An answere vpon his testimonie taken from Athanasius and Basil. 85. 86 An answere to his testimonie of Damascenus 88 Answere to his allegation of Hierome 88. 89 90 An answere to his allegation out of Anselmus and Bernard 91. 92 A particular answere vpon S. Bernards testimonie 94. 95 An answere vpon his citations out of Origen 96. 97 Books peruerted and altered by the Iesuites 98. 99. 100. 101 We ought to follow that forme of prayer which Christ hath taught vs. 102 False Prophets haue done miracles 103. 104 Sorcerers haue done miracles 105 The Saints departed cannot heare our prayers 105 The inuocation of Saints hath no ground nor foundation in the holy Scripture 107. 108 Touching his example of Abraham 111. 112. 113 What is to be vnderstood by Abrahams bosome 112. 113 There are but two waies 112 Of Lazarus and the rich Glutton 111. 112. 113. 14. 15 The departed doe not busie nor trouble themselues with our affaires 119. 120 The Saints deceased cannot heare vs. 122 AN EPISTLE WRITTEN BY A CERTAINE DOCTOR OF THE AVGVSTINS ORDER WITHIN THE CITIE OF LEIGE AND sent to a Leigois Merchant at DORT AFter my most humble salutations this present may serue according to my small power for to make cleere vnto you some certaine doubt which I vnderstood you haue to wit Whether it is true or how it is possible that the Saints which are aboue in heauen can heare our Prayers which we make to them here beneath on earth For the better cleering then of your demand wee will here handle two points as briefly as wee can beseeching you at your leisure you will be pleased to reade them ouer attentiuely The first will shew that it can be no otherwise then very good to pray and recommend vs to the Saints The second will declare the maner how they may heare our praiers and supplications For the first you must know that this hath alwaies been the doctrine of the Catholike Church to say and teach that this was a thing more then reasonable yea and most profitable for man to inuocate the Saints which the Church hath taught for the space of 1605 yeeres euen vnto this day But you must know this also that certaine heretikes which are sprung vp within this fortie or fiftie yeeres haue meant to teach and preach the cleane contrarir to wit the Lutherans and Caluinists who within a few yeeres seeking to ouerthrow so ancient a doctrine say that we must not pray vnto the Saints but vnto God onely Now let vs see whether these nouell Doctors haue been cleerer sighted wiser or better replenished with the spirit of God then all the Ancients The reason and most ordinary argument which they bring against this doctrine is this It is say they to doe wrong and iniurie vnto God to addresse our selues to any other then to him Loe this is that great peece of Canon wherewith they thunder against the walles of the towne and citie of God which is his Church For proofe whereof they alleage Saint Paul in his first Epistle to Timotheus the second Chapter and fifth verse saying that he calleth Iesus Christ our one and onely Mediator our Intercessor and our Bishop Let vs cite the words of the Apostle For There is saith he one God and one Mediator betweene God and man which is the man Christ Iesus These words of Saint Paul will say that there is one soueraigne Mediator which is Iesus Christ in that he is man but that hindereth not but there may bee moe which are subordinate and not soueraigne though that Iesus Christ be truly our onely Mediator sole Aduocate and only Redeemer My masters the Ministers and Preachers will reply and answer vs But how can these things agree together that Iesus Christ should be the onely Mediator and sole Intercessor for vs and yet neuerthelesse wee should haue some others namely the Saints If he be alone how hath he so many companions To answere this obiection we euermore confessse that Iesus Christ is our true Mediator and Intercessor vnto God for vs but we say also on the other side that the Saints may be likewise Mediators and Intercessors for vs. And if you aske me againe If the Saints may also be called Mediators and be so indeed how is it then that wee call Iesus Christ the onely Mediator I answere thereunto that it is for certaine causes and reasons which my masters the Ministers are either ignorant of or malitiouslie hide and conceale them from the people They are three in number The first cause why our Lord Iesus Christ is called the onely Mediator though the Saints be likewise after their manner is because he alone hath trod vpon the grapes in the wine presse and with the price of his bloud hath paid our ransome and hath reconciled vs vnto God his eternall father not only in praying as the Saints may doe but also in paying that which wee did owe which the Saints haue not done nor cannot doe for he alone hath redeemed vs. And for this cause we call him the only Mediator that is of ransome and of redemption And this is that which the Apostle Saint Paul would haue said in the place alleaged For after he had said that we haue one Mediator betweene God and man which is the man Christ he explaning himselfe presently addeth these words Qui dedit redemptionem semetipsum pro omnibus that is to say Who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men The second cause wherefore our Lord Iesus Christ is called the only Mediator is because he is not onely such by reason of the office whereby he mediats for vs and reconcileth vs to God but also by reason of his nature for he is in the midst betweene God and man being both God and man together which the Saints are not And for this cause he is called the only Intercessor like as the good and holy Fathers haue in times past taught vs to wit S. Austin in his 9. booke of the Citie of God and 17. Chapter S. Cyril in his 12. book S. Fulgence in hi◠2. booke ad Petrum chap. 2. and S. Theodoret vpon that very place of S. Paul with many others Thirdly Iesus Christ is called the only Mediator because that he is Mediator for all men in such a sort that he hath no need of any other Mediator either for himselfe or for other men
we haue forgotten the name of our God and holden vp our hands to a strange god shall not God search this out for hee knoweth the secrets of the heart And when the Apostle S. Paul maketh this demaund in his Epistle to the Romanes How shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued he sheweth thereby that as man is forbidden to beleeue in any other but in God only so is he not permitted to pray vnto any other then to the Creator of heauen and earth seeing that inuocation is the companion of faith And therefore King Dauid in his Psalmes addresseth his prayers to none but onely vnto God with a full assurance of faith oftentimes calling him his buckler his shield his retreat his foundation his deliuerer his tower his fortresse his defender and the horne of his saluation According to which the Prophet Asaph in the 73 Psalme and 25 verse signifieth That God only is his refuge in his distresses For saith hee whom haue I in heauen but thee and I haue desired none in the earth with thee Also it is written in the 2. of the Chron. 20. 9. that King Iehoshaphat being afraid of the Moabites and Ammonites which were come to assaile him disposed himselfe to pray vnto the Lord and in the prayer which he made in the temple in the name of his people saith If euill come vpon vs as the sword of iudgement or pestilence or famine we will stand before this house and in thy presence for thy name is in this house and will crie vnto thee in our tribulation and thou wilt heare and helpe But to come now vnto your Argument which scornfully you call The great peece of Canon wherewith wee thunder against the walles of the towne and city of God which is his Church this it is That whosoeuer addresseth himself to any other but to God doth wrong to God For proofe whereof you adde that which wee alleage out of the first Epistle of S. Paul to Timotheus the second chapter and fifth verse That as there is but one God so there is but one Mediatour betweene God and men to wit the man Christ Iesus You shuffle together either through ignorance or malice the Questions that are distinct and seuerally handled by our Diuines The first is Who is it that we ought to call vpon whereunto wee answere God only The second In whose name whereunto we answere In the name of Iesus Christ who is our onely Aduocate and Intercessor For confirmation not of the first as you presuppose but of the second answere wee alleage the abouesaid text out of the first Epistle to Timotheus in the second chapter and fifth verse which I pray you against an other time to note and to take better aduice and consideration vpon our Arguments that you may propound them more sincerely Touching your exception though the Apostle S. Paul teacheth vs in that very text which I haue named that there is but one Mediatour yet you say that That hindreth not but there may be some which are subordinate and not soueraigne It shewes from what a spirit it commeth foorth euen from the spirit of lying and contradiction Of lying because you adde thereto that which is not found nor can bee gathered from that abouesaid text of the Apostle to wit that Iesus Christ is the soueraigne Mediatour onely in regard of others which are inferiour Of contradiction because you your selfe say thus Though that Iesus Christ be truly our only Mediatour sole Aduocate and only Redeemer that that hindreth not but there may be moe which are subordinate and not soueraigne For to be only Mediatour to haue some others besides as subordinate are things contradictorie And if you will that we should admit of such a glosse you must then grant to vs that out of this very text will follow that when the Apostle saith There is but one God he meaneth one soueraigne God and albeit that verely hee is onely God yet notwithstanding there be others subordinate which one can neither speake nor thinke without blasphemie Heereupon you alleage two replies of our Ministers The first How can these things agree together that Christ is our onely Mediatour and sole Intercessor for vs and neuerthelesse there are some others besides him to wit the Saints The second If the Saints may also be called Mediatours and are so indeede how then is it that Iesus Christ is called the only Mediatour To speake properly these two replies are but one now let vs see your answere vpon the latter and the answere which you alleage therein with share reproch that our Ministers are either ignorant of them or maliciously hide and conceale them from the people Now what are they The first is that Iesus Christ is called the only Mediatour because that hee alone hath troâ—de vpon the grapes in the wine-presse and through the price of his blood hath paid our ransome and hath reconciled vs vnto God his eternall father not only in praying but also in paying that which wee did owe which the Saints haue not done nor cannot doe All this is true but that which you adde is false that Iesus Christ is the onely Mediatour that is to say only of Ransome and Redemption and this is that which S. Paul meanes in the place alleaged for after he saith We haue one Mediatour betweene God and men which is the man Christ Iesus in explaining himselfe hee presently addeth these words Quit dedit redemptionem semetipsâ—m pro omnibus that is who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men For although the Apostle maketh no mention in this place but of the first effect of the mediation of our Lord Iesus Christ it followeth not from thence that his intent was to exclude the second which he setteth downe elsewhere expressely and namely in his Epistle to the Romanes and 8. chapter vers 34. where hee ioyneth together those two fruites of the mediation of our Redeemer for when he first demaudeth this Who shall condemne vs and answereth himselfe It is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe to wit for to deliuer vs from condemnation in those words he setteth downe the first effect and going forward in answering who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request also for vs hee likewise setteth downe the second and giueth vs sufficiently to vnderstand that Iesus Christ is our Mediatour and Aduocate towards God not only in so much as he hath redeemed vs but also in so much that hee maketh intercession vnto God his father for vs and presents to him our supplications And albeit that the Apostle in the abouesaid text to Tim. chap. 2. speaketh nothing of the intercession of Iesus Christ yet neuerthelesse S. Austin hauing respect to that which the Apostle admonisheth vs of in the verses going before that is to make requests vnto God for all men and that in the name
and redemption Doe you not teach in your Catechisme made by the authoritie of the Councell of Trent That men ought to inuocat the Saints inasmuch as God through their merit and grace doth vs good Approue you not that which Barnardine de Busto writeth in his Marial of the virgin Mary That first of all she is Mediatrix of our saluation 2. Mediatrix of our coniunction and vnion 3. Mediatrix of our iustification 4. Mediatrix of our reconciliation 5. Mediatrix of our intercession and 6. Mediatrix of our communication Sing ye not O pia puerpera nostra pians scelera iure matris impera Redemptori that is O godly Child-bearer thou which purgest vs from our sins command our Redeemer by the authoritie of a mother Allow you not also the sentence of Lombard who saith in the 4 booke of his Sentences Dist 45. That the Saints make intercession for vs both by their merits in that they supply the defect of ours and by their affection in that they ioyne themselues to our prayers and therefore saith hee â—e pray vnto them that they might make intercession for vs to wit that their merits may be allowed vs and that they might wish our good because that they wishing it Godwils it also See now how your owne words and those of your Doctors conuince you of contradiction and manifest falsehood As for the other part of your Conclusion it is weakly grounded and euen by your owne reasons is easie to bee ouerthrowne that is seeing with vs you confesse that Iesus Christ only hath redeemed vs through the merit of his death and passion and that hee is only true God and true man that he alone hath no neede of any other Mediatour either for himselfe or for others you cannot maintaine against vs with truth that the Saints liuing or dead are in any fashion our Mediatours and Intercessors yet you seeke neuerthelesse to proue it by some texts out of the Bible For truth whereof say you I referre my selfe to the holy Scripture for in the fifth Chapter of Deâ—terenomie Moses calleth himselfe a Mediatour saying I haue been an Vmperer and a Mediatour between God and you speaking to the Hebrewes Vnto which words S. Paul making an allusion in the 9. Chapter and 15. verse to the Hebrewes calleth Iesus Christ the Mediator of the new Testament to put a difference between him and Moses which had been of the old Howbeit this example of Moses will not serue your turne as a proofe but to the first part of your Affirmation to wit that the liuing are Mediatours and Aduocates for others I tell you moreouer that in this lense Moses neuer calleth himselfe a Mediatour betweene God and men but as himself hath well interpreted it hee bore messages betweene both the parties that is between God and the children of Israel For in the Hebrew tongue you shall there finde these very words of Moses saying At that time I stood betweene the Lord and you to declare vnto you the word of the Lord. If you replie hereupon that Moses is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Mediatour in the Epistle to the Galathians the third chapter and nineteenth verse I answer that sometimes this Greek word signifieth an Interpretour which goes and comes to and fro betweene two parties and that in this signification it is said by the Apostle to the Galathians that the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediatour to wit Moses who twice went vp to the mountaine and came downe againe with the two Tables of the law of God to reade and expound them to the Israelites In which sense wee grant you that hee the high Priests and the ancient Prophets who haue interpreted the will of God and haue offered vp vnto him in the name of our Fathers may be called Mediatours and the Apostles also but not in that sense in which heretofore we haue declared that the Apostle S. Paul calleth Iesus Christ the onely Mediatour in the first epistle to Timothie the second chapter and fifth verse where the Apostle taketh this word of Mediatour for a Reconciler as himselfe expoundeth it saying That hee gaue himselfe a ransome for vs in which sense this title beseemeth none properly but Iesus Christ onely neither can it be attributed without blasphemie to the members of his Church But let vs examine a little your proofe that followeth Is it not true you demand me that wee haue but one Sauiour of the world which is Iesus Christ Wherunto you answere that there is nothing more true And neuerthelesse the scripture which cannot lie giueth the same title of honor to others without doing wrong or dishonor to Iesus Christ as to Othoniel in the third chapter of the booke of Iudges and ninth verse And Nehemiah in the ninth chapter of his booke confirmeth the same King Pharaoh also as appeareth in the 41. chapter of Genesis calleth Ioseph in the Egyptian tongue not onely Sauiour but Sauiour of the world From whence with a long circumlocution of words you conclude that by these three small reasons it is easie to be vnderstood how the Saints may also be mediators and intercessors vnto God for vâ— and if they are so then wee may and ought to call vpon 〈…〉 our humaine necessities and that it will not follow from thenceâ— that you should reiect the sonne of God for as much as you alwaies giue to him the first rancke of being the true and onâ—ly mediator according to the fashion as you haue said and the Saints is their sort anâ—â—manâ—r So then it will be exceeding well done to inuocate them as they alwaies haue done in your catholike church It goes well with you when you your selfe tearme your reasons small and confesse beside that the holy scripture giueth this title of honor to others then to our Lord Iesus Christ though it be neuerthelesse for some other reason And indeed those which you haue named in the old Testament are called sauiours or deliuerors yet was it in regard that God had ordained them as instruments of deliuerance for his people and for types and figures of the Sauiour which was to come But the holy scripture in no maner calleth the deceased Saints mediators neither doth it teach vs that they are established by God for instruments of mediation betweene God and vs so that this argument of yours drawne from the name of sauiour makes nothing for your cause As touching your Anticipation and excuse that although you pray vnto the Saints yet neuerthelesse you doe not reiect the sonne of God because you alwaies giue vnto him the first ranke of being the true and onely mediator according to that fashion which formerly you haue spoken of it is easie to answere and proue the contrarie by the maner custome of youâ— catholike church wherupon you ground your superstitions So it is then that in the houres Rosarie appointed for the virgin Mary
you equal hir with our redeemer in calling hit Reparatrix and Salâ—atrix of mankind The queene of mercy the valiant woman which hath broken the serpents head and she alone that hath rooted out all the heresiâ—s in the world Cardinall Bâ—nauenture makes no conscience to appropriate to hit all that Dauid in his psalmes hath attributed to God the father the sonne and the holy Ghost Blessedâ— is that man saith he which liueth Mary which giueth praise vnto 〈◊〉 name which putteth his trust in hir which hopeth in hit Come vnto hir all ye that are wearie and she will giue rest vnto your soules The heauens declare thy glorie The earth and hir fulnesse is thine thou raignest eternally with God blessed are those which make much of thee because in thy mercies thou wilt wash their sins haue mercie on me mother of mercie and according to the bowels of thy mercies wash me from all mine iniquities Wicked serpent whereof bostest thou thy selfe put thy necke vnder Mary ô Ladie bruse him by the vertue of thy foot cast him down by thy force into the bottomlesse pu Saue me in thy name and deliuer me from mine vnrighteousnesse take pitie on me for my heart is readie to receiue thy will Lord for our sinnes thou hast repulsed vs and because of the virgin Marie hast taken pitie on vs. Let Marie arise and all hir enemies shall be destroyed Lord giue thy iudgement to thy sonne and thy mercy to the queene his mother God is the God of vengance Ladie saluation and life consists in thy hand O how good is God vnto them that worship his mother Come and let vs adore the Ladie let us giue praise vnto the virgin that hath saued vs. Let vs worship hir and confesse vnto hir our sinnes The Lord reigneth Mary fitteth vpon the Cherubins at his right hand whâ— dwelleth vnder hir wing is vnder a safe protection haue remembrance ô Ladie of Dauid and of all those which call vpon thy name The Lord said to my Ladie sit my mother at my right hand thou hast taken pleasure in goodnesse and holinesse and therefore shalt thou raigne with me Praise the Lord because he is good for his mercie is giuen by Mary You transferre in like manner to the Virgin that which in all humilitie of heart she sung to the honor of her Creator and Sauiour And in stead of that which she sung as the Euangelist S. Luke witnesseth in the first chapter and 45. verse My soule magnifieth the Lord and my spirit reioyceth in God my Sauiour c. Because he that is mighty hath done for me great things c. you say My soule magnifieth my Ladie and my heart reioyceth in my Ladie because hee that is mightie hath done for mee great things through Mary his mother What should I say more You celebrate in your Canticles the Virgin Mary as Lady of the Angels espouse and Mother of the eternall king Promise of the Patriarches Veritie of the Prophets Teacher of the Apostles Mistrâ—s of the Euangelists Lady of the Word and Queene of Heauen And hereupon you beseech her that she would saue her people Likewise you craue of her in expresse tearmes all that which God himselfe will or can giue vnto vs by his onely sonne Iesus Christ Impetra nobis veniam applica nobis grattam praparâ— nobis gloriam that is to say Obtaine pardon for vs applie grace vnto vs prepare glorie for vs. You haue corrupted Simeons song and in stead of that which the Euangelist Saint Luke reciteth in the second chapter and 29 verse how this good Father holding the Sauiour of the world in his armes blesseth God and saith Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people you misturne these his words to the handmaide of the Virgin Mary saying Lord now lettest thou depart in peace the handmaid of the Virgin Mary for mine eyes haue seene the saluation of Mary which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to inlighten the Gentiles c. You hold her for the true saluation the true felicitie the greatnesse of charitie the largenesse of pietie vnto whom the Angels obey as by one of your Letanies appeareth Which is worse your Cardinals and Bishops assembled in the Councel of Constance in which they condemned to death Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prague both of them Bohemians constant in the true faith to adde vnto the heape of their crueltie against these Martyrs some token of their impietie and hatred against the holy Ghost which had endowed these two witnesses with his truth and with such a mouth and wisedome against which these good fathers were not able to resist they thought good to applie vnto the Virgin Mary that prayer which is made to the honour of the holie Ghost and in stead of saying as before Veni sancte Spiritus c. to haue made them sing Veni maier gratiae fons misericordiae miseris remedium veni lux Ecclesiae tristibus laetitiâ— â—â—ne infundâ— radium Simonis nanicula fiâ—y tunicula 〈◊〉 scindatur prohibe quae DeuÌ„ hominibus 〈◊〉 inngis ô puerpera Hereses interime schismataque reprime firmâ— pacis fâ—â—era That is to say Come mother of grace fountains of mercie remedie of the wretched câ—â—e light of the Church shed vpon these heauie soules the beame of ioy the small ship of Simon surnamed Peter suffer not the little coatâ— of thy sonne to be torne in peeces ô mother in childbed which coâ—ioynest God with men and the inferiour creatures with the celestiall abâ—lish Heresies represse Schismes and establish the couenants of peace I am astonished at the blasphemies of Barnardine de Busto and Anthonine Archbishop of Florence who set the Virgin Mary aboue the onely sonne of God for see what Barnardinâ— saith of her in his Mariall Men may say of the Virgin Mary that she is the light of the Genâ—les and the glory of her people Israel For God at her natiuitie said vnto her I haue giuen thee as a light to the Gentiles to the end thou maist be our saluation to the ends of the earth a light to lighten the Gentiles All graces saith he come downe vpon vs from the Father and the Sonne by the Virgin Mary mediatrix between God and men no grace coÌ„meth from heauen but by her hands All graces enter into her and come foorth from her They are in Christ â—s in the head from whence they flow they are in Mary as in the neck which distributeth them Moreouer If any man feele himselfe grieued at Gods iustice hee may appeale to the Virgin Mary which hath been signified in the booke of Ester chap. 5. where it is said that King Abashuerosâ— being in anger and wroth against the Iewes Queene Ester came to appease him and found such fauour with the King that hee said vnto her What
come to S. Dominicus who hath been like vnto the Lord as Authonine the Archbishop writeth and consequently hath been Dominicus in name and in deed being that in possession which Christ is in authority Which Anthonme sheweth by many comparisons betweene Christ and Dominicus alleaging first that as Christ said I am the light of the world euen so the Church singeth of Dominicus Thou art the light of the world Secondly like as Iesus Christ praying vnto God his father was alwaies heard when he would so likewise Dominicus neuer demanded any thing of God but â—e obtained it entirely according to his desire This neuerthelesse is not to be omitted that herein he preferreth his Dominicus before Iesus Christ that hee hath demanded no thing of God as Iesus Christ did in the garden according to sensualiâ—â—â— that is to say according to the infirmitie of the flesh but all things according to reason and for this respect his prayer was alwaies heard as Dominicus a witnesse not worthie of beliefe in his owne cause recounted it himselfe to one of his familiar friends To proceed vnto the comparisons of this Adorator of Dominicus As Christ before his departure out of this world bad his Disciples farewel promised them the great Comforter the Spirit of truth and shewed them that it was expedient he should depart euen so saith this brauing fellow Dominicus answered his welbeloued friends Weepe not my welbeloued and let not my bodily departure these are his very words trouble you where I goe I shall be more profitable to you then I haue been here and after my death you shall haue mee for the best Aduocate you can haue in this life These fine fables haue been verified by your Friers and authorized by your Popes who haue canonized these holy Fathers and ranked them with those which haue merited to bee adored Is it not then with false shewes and against your conscience that thus you doe boast your selues that praying to the Saints you doe no wrong nor dishonour to Iesus Christ whoÌ„ ignominiously you cast out of his place setting him beneath the Virgin Mary these two seducers of the people which I haue named And yet this is not all for the Euangelists make mention that the souldiers of Pontius Pilate to expose our Sauiour to open reproch and scorne before all the world nailed him on the Crosse betweene two theeues as captaine of the malefactors but you as though it were a vertue in you to doe worse place him in heauen amidst many seditious fellowes and murtherers canonized by your Popes and too well knowne by your Iacobins and Iesuites What would Bonauenture say at this who at last corrected his owne excessiue praises aswell to the Virgin Mary as to the other Saints departed confessing in his 3. sentence dist 3. quest 2. Sith that Iesus Christ is the Sauiour and vniuersall Redeemer of all mankinde who hath opened the gates of heauen hee onely dying for all therefore one ought not to shut out of this generallitie that is to say from the companie of all those which Christ hath saued the blessed virgin Mary nor to amplifie the excellencie of the Mother to diminish the glorie of the Sonne because that in so doing wee should prouoke her to wrath as she who being but a creature and he a Creator had rather that her Sonne should be exalted then her selfe Would he not say the same which Iohn Wicliffe did whom God shortly after raised vp to awaken the world buried in the dreames of your vaine Traditions that it was a great folly yea and a detestable impietie to make a scurram that is to say a bouffon or a base fellow his Mediatour And as for the authoritie of the Catholike Church of generall Councels of holy Fathers and Doctors whereby you thinke to dazle our eyes and to amaze vs First of all I answere that you are of the same humor as the high Priests and inhabitants of Ierusalem were extreamely rebellious to the doctrine of the Prophet Ieremy who in time past did say the same as you doe at this day and maintained also obstinately as you doe that they could not erre The law said they shall not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Come and let vs smite Ieremie with the tongue and let vs not giue heed to any of his words according to the complaint which the Prophet Ieremie maketh thereof in the 18. chap. and 18. verse But what did the Lord answere them by the mouth of his Prophet Trust not in lying words saying The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord. Is this house become a denne of theeues whereupon my name is called before your eyes behold euen I see it saith the Lord. But goe ye now vnto my place which was in Shilo where I set my name at the beginning and behold what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel Therefore will I doe vnto this house whereupon my name is called wherein also yee trust euen vnto the place that I gaue to you and to your fathers as I haue done vnto Shilo And I will cast you out of my sight as I haue cast out all your brethren euen the whole seed of Ephraim The Priests said not where is the Lord and they that should minister the law knew me not and the Pastours also offended against me and the Prophets prophecied in Baal and went after things that did not profit Moreouer From the least euen vnto the greatest euery one is giuen to couetousnes and froÌ„ the Prophet euen vnto the Priest euery one dealeth falsly Likewise by the Prophet Ezekâ—el chap. 22. vers 26. 28. Her Priests haue broken my law and haue defiled mine holy things they haue put no difference betweene the holy and prophane And her Prophets haue seene vanities and diumed 〈◊〉 vnto them saying Thus saith the Lord God when the Lord hath not spoken In like manner the Prophet Azariah 2. Chron. 15. vers 2. 3. The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if yee seeke him hee will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without Priest to teach and without law Where wee are to note that God promised to the conductors of Israel that thee would remaine with them not simply but with this condition if they would abide with him and follow his holy Commandements And he addeth euermore this condition to the promises of his Couenant with the children of Israel If yee will heare my voyce indeed saith the Lord by Moses in the 19. chapter of Exod. 5. 6. verses and keepe my couenant then ye shall be my chiefe treasure aboue all people though all the earth be mine Yee shall be vnto me also a kingdome of Priests and
a holy Nation Which words God commandeth Moses and his Prophets continually to repeate vnto the children of Israel So our Lord Iesus Christ also making large promises to his Apostles and in their names to all Christians to abide with them through the communication of the wholesome gifts of his holy spirit euen to the end of the world putteth them oftentimes in minde of this condition If yee loue me if yee keepe my words if yee abide in me if my words abide in you if yee shall keepe my commandements my Father will loue you ye shall be my friends and my Father and I will come vnto you for to make our abiding with you in the Gospell according to S. Iohn chap. 14. vers 14. All these conditionall promises signifie vnto vs euidently that those which are acknowledged for the members of the visible Church may fall either into some fault against the second table as it chanced to Dauid who committed adulterie with Bathsheba the wife of Vriah and sent him to the campe with letters of commaund to Ioab to expose him to the enemies that he might be slaine 2. Sam. 11 or in some error against the first table as happened vnto Aaron the high Priest who formed a golden Calfe for the Israelites to worship Exod. 32. 4. and after that to many Iudges and Kings as to Gedeon Iudg. chap. 8. vers 27. and to Salomon 1. King 11 or into some reuolt from the Christian faith or into some other abuse as appeareth by the fall of S. Peter who trusting too much to himselfe denied his Master thrice and after his repentance and confirmation into his Apostleship was reproued by the Apostle S. Paul in the citie of Antioch because that in constraining the Gentiles to become Ierish as the Apostle speaketh thereof in the second chapter and 14. verse he went not with a right foote to the truth of the Gospell And if those which are in the visible Church cannot fall why doth the Apostle then reproue the Galathians first chapter 6. verse that in forsaking him which had called them by grace that is to say Christ they had transported themselues to another Gospell And in the third chapter and third verse that hauing begun in the spirit they would make an end by the flesh Wherefore hauing pourtraied before the eyes of the Corinthians sundrie faults and transgressions which the Israelites had committed against the Lord in the wildernesse hee addeth that these haue been examples for them to the end to admonish them to stand vpon their gards and that he which thinketh he standeth take heede lest he fall Surely if the Apostolicall Church could not haue failed the Apostle S. Paul had had no reason to haue feared so much lest the Corinthians which he called the members of God and sanctified in Christs Iesus and Saints by calling should be corrupted in their thoughts turning themselues aside from the simplicitie that is in Christ as the Serpent beguiled Eue through his subtiltie 2. Cor. 11. 3. Secondly I answere that you presuppose that which we neuer will grant you to wit that the Clergie and generall Councell which represents the Church cannot erre and that whatsoeuer at any time hath been determined and decreed by the Councels is certaine and ought to be receiued without contradiction To begin then with the Councell of the 4. hundred Prophets of King Ahab I require of you if the assemblie of these Doctors of lies who flattered the said King and counselled him all with with one consent to make warre against the Syrians haue not erred The Historiographer sheweth vs that all of them were possessed with the spirit of error and that onely Michaiah resisted them couragiously and although he was cōdemned smitten and cast into prison that the King notwithstanding would experiment it and that euen with the perill of his life hee was deceiued by the lying spirit of his foure hundred Prophets You Catholikes will also graunt me that the Councell of the chiefe Priests the Scribes and the Elders of the people assembled in the hall of the high Priest called Caiphas erred greatly when they held a Councell and consulted together how they might take Iesus by subtiltie and kill him according as the Euangelist S. Matthew teciteth it in the 26. chapter of his Gospell the third and fourth verses If you suppose that the successors of S. Peter and the other Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ haue receiued the priuiledge that they could not erre you abuse your selues For the Apostle S. Paul aduertiseth all Christians in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians of an Apostasie and generall reuolt which should come to passe in the Church of the New Testament and declareth to them that this mysterie of iniquitie began to worke in his time and should be reuealed by the comming of the sonne of perdition which exalteth himselfe against God euen to be set as God in the Temple of God bearing himselfe as if he were God Now as this seducement of sinne glided by little and little into the Primitiue Church through the craft and malice of Satan so hath it by many degrees discouered it selfe more and more and one day hath added error to another because in the beginning there was no heede taken to the Councels and assemblies of the ancient Bishops who haue not alwaies followed the true paterne of the wholesome words which 〈◊〉 receiued from the Apostles and from their purer predecessors but giuing eare to the lying and ambitious spirits of their companions which pleased them in their inuentions are gone astray from the truth Euen so the Fathers assembled in the Councels of Neocesarea and Laodicea haue there cōcluded that by the doctrine of the Apostle S. Paul it was permitted to the Christians to take in mariage a second wife but according to reason and the rule of truth it is a kinde of whoredome and for this cause they forbad the Priests not to bee present at the feast of any second wedlocke and enioyned those which were married to their second match to doe penance for the same Whereupon you must needes grant me one of these two things either that the Apostle S. Paul hath erred in that he hath not onely permitted a second marriage in the first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 7. verses 27. 28. where hee shewes to him that is loosed from a wife that he sinneth not in marrying himselfe againe but giueth counsell also to the widowes in his first Epistle to Timoth. chap. 5. vers 19. saying I will therefore that the younger women marrie and beare children and gouerne the house c. Or that the Bishops of the aforesaid Councels haue erred in that they held the couenant of second wedlocke for an vnlawfull thing and fornication forbidden by God in the seuenth commandement of his law I presuppose that you will grant me rather that there was no error in the instruction of
the Apostle S. Paul which was diuinely inspired into him but in the Bishops assembled in the Councels aboue said In confidence whereof I will come vnto the Councell of Nice which imposed three yeeres penance vpon the Christians who hauing abandoned their Armes afterward returned to the warres againe which rigour is condemned by S. Iohn Baptist who did not commaund souldiers to forsake their Armes but exhorteth them to content themselues with their payes and to demaund nothing beside that which was ordained for them The Fathers assembled in the Arelatan Councell haue prohibited the admitting of a married man into the vocation of the holy Ministerie by an article cleane contrarie to the 〈◊〉 the Apostle S. Paul who saith in the first Epistle to Tim. chap. 3. that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife The second Councell of Nice allowed the adoration and seruice of Images a fault which you will not correct to obey the second commandement of the Lord who saith in Exodus chapter 20. verses 4. 5. Thou shalt make thee no grauen Images neither any similitude of things that are in heauen aboue neither that are in the earth beneath nor that are in the waters vnder the earth thou shalt not bow downe to them neither serue them In the Lateran Councell which was held vnder Pope Innocentius the third it was decreed that men should beleeue that the bread and wine was changed into the substance of the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ by the vertue of these fiue words Hoc est enim corpus meum Which is a false opinion and easie to be ouerthrowne by many places of holy scripture and especially by the 11. chapter of Saint Pauls first Epistle to the Corinth where after he had recited the institution of the Lords Supper and treated of the consecration of the bread and wine by these very words of our Lord Iesus Christ This is my body c. he retaineth those same words of bread and wine For he saith as often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come Againe Whosoeuer shall eate this bread finally let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. By which manner of speech he teacheth vs that there is no transubstantiation in the holy Supper but that the bread remaineth bread and the wine keepeth it owne naturall propertie They also which were present in the Councell of Toledo haue they not iudged that he which in stead of being espoused to any honest woman kept a concubine ought neuerthelesse not to bee cast out of the communion of the Lords Supper Doth not this sentence ouerthrow the institution of holy Matrimonie which by the Apostle S. Paul is called an vndefiled bed and honourable among all men Heb. 13. 4. Doth it not also fauour whoremongers which possesse the vessels of their bodie in dishonour and are condemned by God as well in the seuenth Commandement of his law as by many holie remonstrances of the Prophets and Apostles Moreouer the 72 Canon of the 6. generall Councel approued by Pope Adrian doth it not say that men ought to breake the promises of Mariage which the Catholikes haue made with heretikes and to hold them for nought as though they neuer had been made Is not this too too dangerous a Canon forged by the spirit of disloyaltie and dissension For the spirit of truth which guided the penne of the Apostle S. Paul doth it not signifie to vs in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the 7. chapter and 15. verse that God hath called the married in peace and that to entertaine and keep it If any brother haue a wife that beleeueth not if she be content to dwell with him he ought not to forsake her and if any woman hath an husband that beleeueth not if hee be content to dwell with her she ought not to forsake him neither Whereunto the Apostle addeth this reason as most worthy of consideration namely the vnbeleeuing husband is sanctified by the wife and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the husband and that through this coniunction their children are holy which else would be vncleane The Councell of Wormes abusing that admonition of the Apostle S. Paul in the 1. Epistle to the Cor. chap. 11. 28 where he saith Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup thought it a matter of no moment to admit theeues and other scandalous persons vnto the Lords holy table vpon the trial and testimonie of their owne consciences These are the Councels very words It oftentimes happeneth that the Monkes in their Cloisters doe commit some crime of theft behold wee therefore iudge that these brethren being accused of such a fact ought to cleere themselues thereof and ordaine to this effect that the Abbat or some one among them of their brethren celebrate the Masse and that all trying and prouing themselues doe participate the same And in another Canon If any one hath charged the Bishop or Priest with some mischieuous deed he ought to celebrate the Masse and to shew thereby that he knowes himselfe innocent and guiltlesse of that crime which is laid vnto his charge This canon hath not only been approued but also put in practise by Pope Gregory the seuenth named before his popedome Hildebrand who being aduertised by letters that he was accused of sorcerie and simonicall heresie answered that to satisfie euery man according to that good canon of the Councell of Wormes and to take away that scandalous report of him out of y e Catholike Church he would receiue the body of our Lord in token of his innocencie True it is that afterward as Bellarmine writeth the Bishops thought good to abolish that pernicious canon whereby their predecessors had prostituted the communion of the bodie and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ to all sorts of leaud persons to be vnworthily trampled vnder their feete and prophaned But Bellarmine notwithstanding is driuen to confesse so much that it was receiued and allowed for some time in your Church To come now vnto the errors of some other Councels The Councels of Carthage and of Florence haue inrolled for canonicall bookes and as diuinely inspired to serue all men in the points of religion for a rule and as a law for their discourses the bookes of Tobit Iudith Wisedome Ecclesiasticus and the Maccabees which neuerthelesse according to Cardinall Caietans owne confession are accounted by S. Ierome among the Apocrypha and not receiueable for to ground vpon them any article of faith and to the end the Reader may not be troubled in that the abouesaid Councels and the Popes Innocentius and Gelasius haue reckoned these bookes among the Canonicall the said Cardinall giueth him this counsell in his obseruations vpon the tenth chapter of Ester to reduce them to the rule and correction of
alone giuer of light our great Physitian our King our only Lord and the Christ or anointed of God his Father who alone is capable to make intercession in heauen for vs as hee who hath borne our corruptions and sorrowes vpon him who only hath established poore sinners againe which were not only halfe dead but alreadie rotten in their graues and who heretofore and yet vnto this present hath of his owne gratious affection preserued vs contrary to our owne hope and expectation Finally that none of those which are in heauen had that power to reestablish mankinde and to deliuer him from the perdition whereinto hee was fallen but this only Sauiour Iesus Christ. Therefore to this intent it is written of Constantine the Emperour in the fourth booke of his Ecclesiasticall Historie chap. 21 that he was so zealous at his prayers and calling vpon the name of God that euery day for certaine houres hee locked himselfe into some secret place of his palace falling downe vpon his knees and speaking vnto God crauing of him that which he had need of Furthermore that hee commanded his officers and souldiers daily to pray for him and the prosperitie of his kingdome and to call only vpon God according to the rules and instructions of holy Scripture and in praying to say Lord we acknowledge no God but thee thou art our King wee call vpon thee for our succour through thee wee haue obtained victories from thee we expect felicitie both present and to come Moreouer because the Christians should not only inuocate God the Father but also his sonne Iesus Christ S. Athanasius disputing against the Arrians to proue the Godhead of our Lord Iesus Christ groundeth principally his argument vpon this holy and commendable custome of the ancient Church Neuer any saith he ser. 4. hath prayed to receiue any thing of God and of the Angels or of some other creature and neuer any man hath conceiued such a forme of words as God and the Angels grant it thee but contrariwise from the Father and the Sonne because of the vnion and vniforme reason of giuing And as touching that that Iacob blessed Ephraiâ— and Masasseh saying The God which hath fod me all my life long vnto this day The Angel which hath deliuered me from all ouill blesse the children c. He hath not ioyned with God the Creatour andy of the created Angels and which of their owne nature were Angels he hath not for saken God his nourisher to craue his blessing of an Angel vpon his little sonnes but insomuch that he exprosly spake of that Angel which had deliuered him from all euill he hath shewne sufficiently that his meaning was not to speake of any one of the Angels created but of the Sonne of the Father whom he ioyned as a companion with his Father in his prayers by whom God deliuereth such as it pleaseth him for hee had acknowledged him for the Angel of the great Counsell and hath not by his words signified any other then he alone which blesseth and deliuereth from euill For he meant not that the blessing which be craued of God should be giuen to him and his little sonnes by an Angel but by him only which elsewhere he prayeth vnto saying I will neuer forsake thee except thou blesse me And he was God as Iacobs words make mention when he saith I haue seen God face to face and vnto him say I Iacob prayed for to blesse his children For Iacob called vpon no other then God saying Lord deliuer me from the hands of my brother Esau c. Nor Dauid also called on no other for his deliuerance saying Lord I haue cried vnto thee in my tribulation and thou hast heard me Lord deliuer my soule from lying lips c. Likewise the Apostle S. Paul God in whom we haue hoped hath deliuered me from euill and will deliuer me c. And thereby thou maist perceive that it appertaineth to none but vnto God to blesse and deliuer for no other could deliuer Iacob but God and Iacob called only vpon him as his deliuerer It appeareth then that this Patriarch did not couple with God any one is his prayers but the Word of God of whom S. Iohn writeth to wit that in the beginning it was God with God which Redeemer he calleth an Angel because it is he alone which reuealeth and sheweth God vnto vs and which thing the Apoctlâ— S. Paul doth also oftentimes when he saith Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ. And in his second sermon it is written Be my protector O God and a fortresse for my refuge to the end thou maist defend me Item The Lord is made the refuge of the poore and all the rest which is found semblable in the holy Scripture But if our aduersaries maintaine that these words haue been spoken of the Sonne as it is most likelie let them then know that the Saints doe not intreat of a creature that he should be their aid and hereafter let them referre these words he hath been made he hath made he hath created to Christs comming in the flesh when he hath taken vp to the crosse our sins vpon him and said Come vnto me all ye which are laden and I will ease you In like manner Arnobius in his dispute against the Pagans who through the intercession made vnto their little gods and mediatours addressed themselues to the principals signifieth vnto them in his third booke that to serue the Godhead it sufficeth vs to worship the chiefest God who is the soueraigne Father the supreme Lord Creator and conductor of all things and that in him only we serue whatsoeuer is to be serued religiously and worship whatsoeuer is to be worshipped And in the end hee concludeth speaking to the Gentiles of the intercession of our only aduocate Iesus Christ Ye must learne saith he of vs that soules cannot receiue the force of life and saluation from any but from him which this great king hath established in this charge because the almightie Emperour was willing that hee should be the way vnto saluation and as I may say the gate of life through him there is an entrance into light for by no other way can we attaine or enter in by force all other be shut vp inaccessible and fortified with an inumcible fortresse All these prayers and exhortations of the first successors of the Apostles are as so many faithful witnesse which all with one consent doe testifie that these ancient Fathers haue maintained carefully the adoration of one only God to wit of the Father the Sonne and of the holy Ghost more then for three hundred yeeres after the natiuitie of our Lord Iesus Christ. And although that shortly after some Monkes and disciples of the Gentiles newly come foorth of Egypt and Syria with the old leauen of their idolatries sought to bring vp the inuocation of Angels and Saints departed into the
light of men And the light shined in the darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Hitherto saith he 〈◊〉 finde no prayer nor cause nor place of 〈◊〉 But because 〈◊〉 immediatly after he saith And the Word was made flesh and dâ—â—lt among vs thou hast a Godhead to which thou addressest thy prayer and a humanitie which prayeth for thee This was spoken by the Apostle euen since the resurrection of our Lord which sitteth at the right hand of God and soliciteth for vs because he hath vouchsafed to be our Mediatour And what is hee but a Mediatour betweene God and men not betweene the Father and men but betweene God and men What is that God The Father the Son and the holy Ghost What are men Sinners contemners of God and mortall Betweene this same Trinitie and the infirmitie and iniquitie of men was made a Mediatour a man not vniust but neuerthelesse weake to the end that in as much as 〈…〉 hee might ioyne vs to God in that that he was weake he might draw neere to thee and therefore to the intent hee might be a mediatour betweene God and men the Word was made flesh that is to say the Word was made man And vpon this sentence our Lord Iesus Christ saith I am the way the truthâ— and the life I am saith the Lord the truth and the life wilt thou 〈◊〉 I am the way wilt thou not be deceiued I am the truth wilt thou not die I am the life This thy Sauiour saith Thou hast no where to goe but only to me thou hast none to goe by but by me Goe by Christ man and thou shalt come vnto Godâ— If thou goest to him thou must goe by him seeke not any way by which thou maist come vnto him but by him he was made the way by which thou art to come I say not to thee seek the way he which is the way is come vnto thee Rise thou â—p and walke Walke with manners and not with feete Whosoeuer runneth out of this way and not by him the more hee runneth the more bee straâ—eth because he withdraweth himselfe the further out of the way Moreouer vpon the 94. Psalme If thou seekest saith he thy Mediatour to leade â—hee vnto God he is in heauens there prayeth for thee euen as he dâ—ed for thee in earth being entred into the sanctuary of heauen he only can present the prayers of the people which haue no neere accesse vnto God The same author noteth the words of the Apostle S. Iohn 1. Epistle chap. 2. vers 1. If any man sin we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust Where this Apostle taketh heed of making himselfe a companion with our aduocate Iesus Christ Surely saith he he was a iust and a great man who dranke out of the Lords bosome the secrets of his mysteries Being notwithstanding such a man he hath not said ye haue an aduocate with the Father but If any man hath sinned we haue an aduocate Neither did he say ye haue nor did he not say ye haue me nor likewise ye haue Christ but he propoundeth Christ and not himselfe and said we haue and not ye haue He chose rather to ranke himselfe in the number of sinners to the end that Christ might be his aduocate then to place himselfe an aduocate in stead of Christ to be accounted among the damnable proud ones BrethreÌ„ saith he we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust he is the propitiation for our sinnes who so holdeth that committeth no heresie nor hath made any schisme or partie For from whence are diuisions come from hence that men say wee are iust we sanctifie the vncleane we iustifie the wicked we pray we obtaine But what said Iohn If any man sinne we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust Againe in his disputation against Parmenian lib. 2. cap. 2. If the Apostle S. Iohn had said He is the propitiation for your sinner it should haue seemed that hee would haue separated himselfe from sinners as if he had had no need of that propitiation which by the Mediatour is made who sitteth at the right hand of the Father and maketh request for vs. Which if hee had said hee had said it not only proudly but falsely Also if hee had said I haue written to you that yee might not sinne and if any man sinne ye haue me for a Mediatour with the Father and I obtaine the remission of your sins as Parmenian who in some place hath made the Bishop mediatour betweene the people and God what good and faithfull Christians could haue borne it who would haue respected him as the Apostle of Christ and not rather as Antichrist For Christian men saith he recommend one another vnto God through their mutuall prayers but hee which prayeth for all men and for whom none prayeth is the true and only Mediatour And for that his figure was represented to vs in the person of the High-priest of the old Testament it is not found that any should pray for the Priest Likewise S. Paul recommendeth himselfe to the prayers of the faithfull as one of the members of Christ neither doth he make himselfe any mediatour betweene God and the people but hee requireth that all the members of the body of Christ pray for him because that the prayâ—rs which the members make that yet are labouring on the earth mount vp to the Head which is gone before into heauen in whom is the propitiation for our sinnes Moreouer speaking of the Martyrs and other Saints departed in his Treatise of true Religion he expressely faith that the seruice of the dead ought not to be reckoned among Christians for religion and that wee ought to honour them by way of imitation and not to adore them by way of religion His words are Honorandi sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter religionem And likewise of the Angels We honor them saith he through charitie and not through seruice And to the intent we might not think that we doe wrong to the Saints departed and Angels or should offend them in addressing or prayers only to God he proueth by certaine places of holy Scripture that neither the Angels nor the Saints deceased at any time heretofore or now would be worshipped of vs but that they rather call vs backe to our Creator desiring that wee should worship with them the same and one only God through whose contemplation they are blessed Heare â—aith Saint Austin on the 96. Psalme the Angel of the Lord and the instructor of the Apostle S. Iohn who fell down before him to haue worshipped him at it is written in the 19. chapter and 10. verse of the Reuelation This Angel which sought not but the glorie of his Lord said to him Arise what doest thou worship God I am thy fellow seruant and one of thy brethren What then my brethren let no man say
I am afraid that an Angel should be angry if I serue him not in stead of my God but he will be offended when aâ— thou wouldest serue him for he is good and loueth God And as the Diuels waxe angrie when they are not serued so Angels grow angry when they are serued by way of religion in stead of God And in his Meditations vpon the 96. Psalme Let vs behold saith he the holy men which were like to the Angels when thou hast found out a holy man which is the seruant of God and if thou wouldest worship or serue him for God hee will hinder thee from it because hee will not be to thee in stead of God but with thee vnder God Euen so did Paul and Barnabas for it tearing their cloathes told them Men and brethren what doe you we are men subiect to passion as ye are Consider then these examples which shew that godly men hinder such as would serue them by way of religion for Gods and had rather that one only God be serued one only God worshipped and that to him alone oblation be made And so all Saints and Angels seeke not but the glory of this only God whom they loue They haue no other study then to inflame vs and to draw by force all those that they loue to his seruice to his contemplation and to the inuocation of his holy name The Angels declare this alone God and not themselues For for that cause are they called Angels that is to say messengers of God because they are his souldiers they seeke nothing but the glory of their Captaine if they seeke after their owne glory they are as tyrants condemned and such the diuels haue been who haue filled the Temples of the Heathen and haue seduced them to set vp Images for them and to offer them sacrifices And therefore he reproueth the follie and rashnesse of such who seeking to returne vnto God and were not of themselues able had attempted this way to come vnto God through the mediation of Angels and Saints departed of whom he saith in his tenth booke of his Confessions chapter 42. that they were deceiued through the craft of Satan and through the iust iudgement of God were fallen into the desire of curious visions At which he taking an occasion describeth to vs in that same place and many others the personall vnion of two natures to wit diuine and humane which is to be found but only in our Redeemer Iesus Christ and prooueth besides that without this vnion Iesus Christ himselfe could not haue been capable to accomplish the office of a Mediatour betweene God and men It behoueth saith he that the true Mediatour betweene God and men had something like vnto God and something like vnto man Lest that being in the 〈◊〉 and in the other like vnto men he should haue bin too farre from God and in the one and in the other like vnto God he should haue been too farre from men and so could haue been no Mediatour This true Mediatour saith hee which God hath showne to the humble through his secret mercie hath appeared betweene mortall sinners and the immortall iust one being mortell with men and that forasmuch as the reward of iustice is life and peace iust with God that through a iustice ioyned with God he might abolish the death of sinners which he would haue in common with them Behold therefore saith he addressing himselfe to God the Father I haue in good earnest my strong hope in him which sitteth at thy right hand and beleeue that thou wilt heale all my griefes through him who maketh intercession for vs vnto thee without that I should despaire c. Likewise in his 28 epistle which he wrote to S. Ierome I know saith he there is not so much as one only soule in all mankinde for the deliuerance of which the Mediatour between God and men which is the man Christ Iesus was not necessary And in his second booke of the visitation of the sicke hee faith There is no saluation but in one only Iesus Christ there is no other name giuen vnto men vnder heauen by which man can be saued Let vs then familiarly turne our faces towards our Mediatour who knoweth how to haue compassion of our infirmities I speake more ioyfully and more assuredly to my Iesus then to any of the holy celestial spirits because God hath vouchsafed to be made that which I am He hath taken the seede of Abraham and not the Angels to be our High-priest mercifull and faithfull in the things toward God to the end to make a reconciliation for our sinnes Now as S. Austin preached this doctrine to the Hipponians for the space of fortie yeeres to wit from the yeere of our Lord Iesus Christ about 391 vnto the yeere 430 so would he confirme it by his writings which I haue alleaged and by many formes of praier which he made to God only which here I cannot cite except I should bring in some of his whole bookes which is in no wise necessarie seeing that by those peeces and parcels which I haue alreadie produced out of them euery man may perceiue what was the doctrine of S. Augustine concerning this matter Which was approued by the Councels in which he was present and namely by the third Councell of Carthage wherein was ordained to all Christians by an expresse article that they euermore should addresse their prayers to God the Father and to vse no prayers composed by any for his owne vse if first they had not conferred them with some one of their best instructed brethren I will anâ—ex hereunto that which S. Austin himself testifieth in the first booke of the manners of the Catholike Church How the true Christians and Catholikes haue followed this rule in his time to stop the mouthes of the Manicheans and Doctors of the Heathen which vpbraided them that the Christians did call vpon the Saints Cull me not out saith he from the professors of the Christian name such as know not neither doe follow the vertue of their profession search not out against me the troupes of the ignorant which are superstitious euen in the true religion and so much giuen to their likings that they haue forgotten what they promised vnto God I know there are many which adore the sepulchres c. And it is no maruell among so many people Leaue off in time then I pray you from detracting the Catholike Church in blaming the fashions of such as it selfe doth condemne and daily seeke to correct them as vnto ward children And in his answere to the false accusations of a certaine Philosopher called Maximus To answere thee briefly saith he because thou mightest pretend no ignorance and that it should not draw thee into a scandalizing sâ—criledge know this that the Christian Catholikes of whom euen in your town there is a Church established doe not serue religiously any of the dead nor worship in stead of
his Annotations vpon the 17 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Now as for that which you cite out of the 7. chapter of his said booke he himselfe expoundeth it and exhorteth the faithfull to seeke after not the Saints departed but the Saints conuersant in this world to make request for them I iudge saith he with the diuine Scriptures that the prayers of the Saints in this life are very profitable and in this manner to wit if any man desire diuine gifts and acknowledging his simplicitie and infirmitie let him go finde out some holy personage and pray him to assist and succour him through his prayers I grant you that hee recounteth in the third chapter of the same booke that they made mention of the Saints departed when they celebrated the Sacrament of the vnion of Iesus Christ with his members because they are one part of the Catholike Church and of the companie of those which are elected to eternall life But there is a great difference betweene the recitall of the vertues of the Saints deceased this world and the inuocation of them And you will not shew vs that S. Denys propounding to vs the end wherefore mention is made of their good liues doth there speake of the inuocation of Saints but of the imitation of their godlinesse and perseuerance in the Christian faith saying that they prayed those which holily and religiously had liued in this world to the end that their suruiuers might by their examples learne to liue and die well in God and might bee admonished that they which die in him liue out of this world in a better life and that God hath them in his memorie according as it is written That God knoweth such as are his and that the death of the Saints is precious before him Secondly you produce the comparison which S. Irenaeus maketh betweene Eue and the Virgin Mary in his 5. booke and 16. chapter I wonder why you represent not heere vnto vs S. Irenaeus words which according to Bellarmines iudgement doe cleerely shew that S. Irenaeus beleeued and taught that the Virgin Mary ought to be adored by vs as an Aduocatesse of our first Mother Eue towards God Therefore to encounter you with your owne weapons I will here make S. Irenaeus to speake As Eue saith he was seduced by the words of the wicked angel to flie from God in transgressing his word so the Virgin Mary receiued the good tidings by the word of an angel to beare God in being obedient to his word and as this Eue was seduced to flie from God so was this Mary perswaded to obey him to the intent that the Virgin Mary might be made an Aduocatesse of the Virgin Eue. What man is it that perceiueth not that by this comparison S. Irenaeus opposeth the male diction come vpon all mankinde through Euâ—s transgression to the blessing which afterward is come to them by the faith and obedience of the Virgin Mary Touching this word Aduocatesse from whence Bellarmine draweth his argument against vs yee know well that it commeth not from Irenaeus who wrote in Greek but from the translator of his booke And albeit yee may take heere this name for a Mediatrix yet you are not ignorant that this Greeke word paracletos signifieth sometimes also a Comforter and is so interpreted by S. Tertullian and many others of the Fathers by the name of an aduocate in the same signification as appeareth by the translation of those which haue traÌ„slated the promise of our Lord Iesus Christ described by S. Iohn in his 14. chapter and 16. verse I will pray the Father and hee will giue you another Aduocate that is to say another Comforter So whosoeuer will take heed vnto the meaning of Irenaeus and his translator and to the proper signification of this name Aduocate in this place shall perceiue that the author meant to say no other thing but that the Virgin Mary was chosen by God to beare the Redeemer of the world and brought foorth the Consolation to Eue according to the promise which God made to her in paradise that the seed of the woman should breake the head of the Serpent who had seduced her Thirdly you are not ashamed to vtter the Sermon of the Virgin Mother of God imprinted vnder the name of Saint Athanasius calling the Virgin Mary Lady Mother Regeneratrix and Mistris saying besides Incline thine eare to our prayers and forget not thy people wee crie vnto thee haue remembrance of vs c. An euident signe either that you haue not read the first volume of his writings wherein he sheweth by many examples and testimonies of the Bible that none ought to haue his refuge neither to the Angels nor any humane creature but only to God through the addresse of his Sonne Iesus Christ or if you haue read them that you make lesse account of his first volume which was approued and receiued by the ancient Church then of the third which containeth as you confesse this prayer made to the Virgin Mary In which volume to conuict you by your owne Doctors Petrus Nannius Professor in the Vniuersitie of Louain hath annexed a preface whereby hee aduertiseth the reader that hee hath put into this second tome the bookes suspected of falsehood and which according to his judgement were not composed by S. Athanasius Fourthly you cite the prayer which S. Basil made to the fortie Martyrs and you annex to it false Glosses and interpretations For S. Basil commandeth not there the Christians as you affirme to haue there recourse vnto these holy Martyrs nor to call vpon them but declareth in commendations of those Martyrs what they did in his time He which is saith he in affliction goeth to those fortie Martyrs he which is in ioy runneth to them O what audaciousnesse is it to belie a Historie and to make of a simple declaration of the custome of the vulgar people an expresse exhortation and what an impudencie is it to dare to impose that vpon this holy Father which neuer he thought to say His intention was not so as to stirre vp the hearts of his auditorie to inuocate these Martyrs but admonisheth them contrariwise to moue one another through the remembrance of the Saints to imitate their zeale and to worship and implore God in the assembliâ— of many to appease him and to render him thanks for his benefits and to edifie each other by sermons of exhortation You alleage more faithfully the words of the 16. Homily made by S. Chrysostome to the people of Antioch where S. Chrysostome speaking of the manner of the common people to celebrate the memorie of the Martyrs and to make their prayers vnto God neere vnto their graues The Emperour saith he which is arraiâ—d in purple goeth to the sepulchrâ—â— that is of the Martyrs and laying aside all pompe and magnificence presenteth himselfe to supplicate the Saints to make intercession vnto God for him and he which beareth
and ioyned to the companie of Saints Now this that Ierome hath plainly spoken of Nepotian that he heard him not he also vndoubtedly hath beleeued and vnderstood of Paula and the other Saints departed who are established in their blessed estate and receiued into paradise to enioy there the same rest with him The second reason is that hee manifestly declareth to vs in his Commentaries vpon the prophecie of Ezekiel that the Saints liuing in this world cannot succour vs nor consequently the departed through their prayers and intercessions For in his exposition of this admonition of the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 14. vers 14. though these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were in the midst of Ierusalem c. they could neither deliuer them nor their owne daughters What shall we say saith Ierome of those which thinke that by the merit and vertues of their fathers their peruerse children may be deliuered froÌ„ hell fire Euery one shall die through his owne sin and and shall be saued through his owne righteousnesse In vaine the Iewes say Abraham is our father hauing not his workes bâ—t if there be confidence in any let vs put our trust only in the Lord. The third reason for that he testifieth of these two Christian women who had bin instructed by him to wit Paula and Blesilla is how they vpon the point of their death did not recommend themselues to the Virgin Mary nor any of the saints in paradise but to their only Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. When saith he the feuer burned Blesilla and that her bed was besâ—t with her dearest friends behold her last words were Pray yee to the Lord Iesus Christ that hee forgiue me Likewise who will giue me wings saith Paula as a doue that I may flie from hence and rest me My soule thirsteth after thee my flesh oftentimes wisheth for thee Notwithstanding this we cannot wholly excuse him For himselfe requiring Paula by his prayers to succour him in his old age followed not y â— rule which he himselfe had giuen to Paula and Blesilla to call only vpon God neither the example of their confidence in the only Sauiour Iesus Christ and sith that herein he hath failed as by his owne instructions we haue proued his authoritie bindeth not vs to follow his error Now resteth that supplication which according to your opinion S. Austin made to the Virgin Mary and to all the saints For proofe whereof you cite the 40 chapter of his Meditations where he saith Holy and immaculate Virgin mother of God mother of our Lord Iesus Christ vouchsafe to make intercession for me vnto him of whom through thy vertues and merits thou wast made the holy Temple You alleage with a bad conscience this booke of Meditations for you know that Erasmus and some other Doctors durst not affirme it to be S. Austins Also you are not ignorant that the Canon Garet attributeth this supplication to Fulbert Bishop of Chartres And indeed whosoeuer shall conferre this prayer printed vnder S. Austins name with his sentences which I haue alreadie alleaged against you whereby he absolutely condemneth the inuocation of Saints will iudge with these learned men who had a better conscience then you that none can attribute vnto him this prayer without doing him shame and accusing him of manifest contradiction in his writings and of faining in that which he saith of Iesus Christ that hee only can present vnto God his Father the prayers of his people because there is no saluation but only in him and of himselfe that he speaketh more safely to Iesus Christ then to all other saints in paradise After this as in a passage you propose against vs the authoritie of S. Leo and S. Gregory Popes S. Gregory of Tours S. Anselmus and S. Bernard And you could name many other protectors of your cause if you were not of an opinion that the halfe of them which you haue already named were not more then too sufficient to make the Caluinists and Lutherans to blush if they had any blood in their hearts I confesse that the inuocation of Saints and namely of the Virgin Mary was finally authorized by the latter of these Popes if that be true as is reported and brought vp by all force into the seruice of the Church about the yeere of Christ 600 because that in those daies there was no more Athanases nor Chrysostoms nor Cyprians nor Austins to stop the breach and repulse it from gaining the heart of the vulgar people I confesse also that Anselmus and Bernard liuing in that miserable age wherein superstition was the Mistris of the field strooke their sailes and halted on both sides to accommodate themselues to the custome of their time through feare and carnall wisedome but I adde hereunto that if you had euer a veine in your heart of shame you would then blush in your soule and would be ashamed to ranke Anselmus and Bernard with these who through their writings haue confirmed your tradition touching the adoratioÌ„ of Saints For it was impossible for them to confirme you and your predecessors in your opinion seeing themselues were neuer firme therein but very inconstant and variable For at sometimes they counselled the Christians to come vnto God by the Virgin Mary calling her the Mediatrix and Sauiouresse of mankinde at other times they admonished them of the cleane contrarie and to addresse themselues to God only through the intercession of his only Son and not to put their hope but in the mercie of the Father and in the full satisfaction which his Sonne hath made to him for our sinnes Howsoeuer it be we finde in Anselmus Meditations the formall of prayer which he made vnto God and published to the intent al Christians might vse it with him for their instruction and consolation Lord my God saith he I pray vnto thee because thou art neere vnto all those which â—all vpon thee and those which call on thee in truth for thou art the Truth I beseech thee let thy truth then teach me that I may inuocate thy clemencie for I cannot pray as I ought but most blessed truth I beseech thee to instruct me To be wise without thee is to become foolish but to know thee is perfect knowledge O diuine wisedome instruct me and learne me thy law for I beleeue that he is blessed whom thou shalt instruct and he to whom thou shalt teach thy law I desire to inuocate thee and intreate thee that it may be in truth What is it to call on the truth in truth but to inuocate the Father by the Sonne for what is there more sweete then to pray the Father by his only Sonne and to moue the Father vnto compassion by the remembrance of his owne Sonne So haue wicked liuers been taken out of prison and bonds so those which are condemned to lose their heads recouered not only their liues but an extraordinarie fauour when they shew to the angrie fathers
sure when any point of doctrine is to be disputed or of the true sense of some texts in the Bible then to hold our selues to Gods law which is a faithfull witnesse according to the counsell of the Prophet Esay chap 8. verse 20. to giue the exposition of the law of God in expounding it by the Scripture it selfe imitating the example of Esdras and some other Doctors of the old Testament which is represented by Nehemiah before our eies in the 8. chapter and 2. verse Euen so when a question is of the true rule and manner of prayer there is nothing more expedient then to follow in all our prayers that only forme of prayer which our Lord Iesus Christ taught his Apostles as S. Tertullian and S. Cyprian shew vs by their excellent discourses touching the excellencie and perfection of this prayer And S. Austin in his epistle which he wrote to a Christian widow called Proba Wee say no other thing saith he then that which is contained in the Lords Prayer if we pray rightly and conueniently And whosoeuer should say any thing which is not agreeable with this Euangelicall prayer though he prayeth not vnlawfully yet he prayeth carnally and I know no reason why but that one may say he prayeth vnlawfully sith that such as are regenerated by the holy Ghost ought to pray spiritually By which admonition S. Austin signifieth to all Christians that all prayers which haue not their foundation in the prayer of our Lord Iesus Christ as are such which be addressed to the Saints departed are carnall and vnlawfull But to returne to your obiections where you say that you â—et slip in silence the miracles done through the inuocation of Saints and yet you send vs to the 22 booke of the Citie of God and we send you back againe to that which wee haue formerly noted to wit that Viues testifieth that many sentences haue been annexed to that booke of the Citie of God and for that reason we ought to giue no beleefe thereunto But rather as Origen witnesseth vpon Ieremiah it behoueth vs to call for witnesses the holy Scriptures forasmuch as without those witnesses our sense and discourses are of no credit which S. Austin also giueth vs to vnderstand by this exhortation that whatsoeuer wee would haue men to beleeue we must proue it by cleere testimonies of holy Scripture and vse them against the enemies of the Church And if we should grant you that many miracles haue been done by the inuocation of Saints yet you cannot with a good conscience gather froÌ„ thence that this seruice was pleasing to God seeing that the false prophets and ministers of Satan haue sought to set vp their impieties through the lustre of many miracles Thereupon Moses aduertiseth the people of his time saying in Deut. â—3 1. If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreames and give thee a signe or wander and the signe and the wonder which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs go after other gods which thou hast not known 〈◊〉 let vs serue them Thou shalt not hearken vnto the words of that prophet or vnto that dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proueth you to know whether you loue the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soule And Iesus Christ in the 24 of Matthew and 23 verse saith If any shall say vnto you loe here is Christ or there beleeue it not for there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the very elect Behold I haue told you before according to which Saint Paul writeth in the â— of Thesâ— 2. that the comming of the Sonne of perdition who sâ—â—ll sit as God in the temple of God and shall exalt himselfe against God and shall be by the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all 〈◊〉 of vnrighteousnesse among them that 〈◊〉 Whereupon S. Austin grounding himselfe saith on the 9. Psalme That Antichrist shall vse force in his empire and deceit in his miracles And in the treatise of Antichrist which is added to his bookes Antichrist saith he shall rise vp against the elect by three manner of waies by terrors by gifts and by miracles And Chrysostome speaking of the false Doctors on the seuenth chapter of S. Matthew They cast forth diuels saith he in the name of Christ hauing the spirit of the enemie or they rather doe not cast them foorth but seeme to cast them foorth through the collusion which they haue with the diuels and so alwaies they cast them foorth and neuer doe heale The diuels euermore crie before them as if they were chastized and they neuer come foorth of them as though they were afraid Behold therefore Theophylact teacheth vs in the explication of the seuenth chapter of S. Luke and namely on the second verse that preaching is confirmed by miracles and miracles by preaching for oftentimes diuers haue done wonders by the diuels but their preaching was not sound therefore their miracles also were not of God Which Anselmus appropriating to the miracles of Antichrist in his Commentaries vpon the second Epistle to the Thessalonians and second chapter These signes and wonders saith he shall be lying either because they should deceiue the mortall through magicall visions or else because that although they should be wonders and prodigious signes yet they should draw vnto lies such as beleeue in them Moreouer Meses recounteth in the booke of Exodus that Pharaohs Magicians haue imitated and counterfeited many miracles which he formerly had done in the countrie of Egypt Also Hippocrates reciteth in his book de Morbo Sacro that some Sorcerers in his time healed many of the falling sicknesse in making sacrifices and certaine prayers because they would be reputed as holy personages The like writeth Bodin of Appolonius Thyaneus and of some other Sorcerers which chased away diuels and did many other wonders through fainednesse and collusion This is that also whereof the Emperour Charles the Great would aduertise vs by his third and fourth bookes made vnder his owne name and approued by Pope Adrians Legats and many other Bishops of France Germany and Italie which were present in the Councel of Frankford in the yeere 794. There is great danger saith he in many miracles because there may be in them some craft of that crooked Serpent which doth transfigure himself into an Angel of light for many miracles are done by those Angels reuolted by Powers or rather by spirituall subtilties which communicate to diuers miserable wretches the gift of prophecying and doe many strange things through their officers of which sort those shal be which shall say Lord Lord haue we not prophecied in thy name and haue wee not cast out diuels in thy name and by thy name done many great workes To whom the Iudge will
is thy request it shall be giuen thee euen to the halfe of the kingdome This Empresse saith he figured the Empresse of heauen to whom God hath giuen the halfe of his kingdom for God hauing his iustice and his mercy hath reserueah is iustice to exercise it in this world and hath left mercis to his Mother Therefore if any one feele himselfe grieued as the Court of Gods iustice let him appeale to the Court of the mercie of his Mother c. Whereunto is also conformable that which Anthonine the Archbishop writeth in his summe par 3. tit 12. chap. 8. par 4. tit 15. chap. 14. 44. That as it is impossible that they from whom the Virgin Mary â—â—rneth the eyes of her mercie should be saued so is it necessarie that those vpon whom she turneth them praying for them should be iustified and glorified because Christ is not onely an Aduocate but also a Iudge who will examine all things in rigour and will leaue nothing vnpunished So the good God hath prouided vs such an Aduocatesse in whom there is nothing but benignitie and gentlenesse Hereupon abusing impudentlie the exhortation of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hâ—brewes in the 4. chapter and 16 verse he admonisheth vs to goe boldly vnto the throne of God which is saith he the Virgin Mary in whom he hath placed it let vs goe concludeth he vnto her with assurance as the Apostle saith to the Hebrewes to the end we may obtaine mercie and finde grace in time of need Whereunto to bring the ignorant he likewise is not ashamed to tell this fable that the blessed Seraphins and angels would haue withheld the Virgin Mary as she ascended vp into heauen to haue enioyed her company and to haue placed her in the highest degree of their order as she which surpassed and excelled them both in glorie and in the flame of charitie But what said she to them I take pleasure in your order and congratulate you most affectionately for your diuine fâ—râ—encie But the Scripture must be accomplished saying It is not good that man should be alone let vs make him a helpe like to himselfe so then it is not good that my Sonne should be alone but that I must assist him seeing I am his mother and haue been giuen him for an aide in redemption through compassion in glorification through intercession for mankinde to the intent that if God should threaten to drowne the earth and to punish the sinnes of man by the flood of his scourges I may appeare before him as the Rain-bow that hee may call to minde his coueâ—â—t and may reconcile himselfe with them and not destroy the world You speake not so audaciously of the other Saints departed howbeit Viues the Spaniard confesseth plainly in his discourse on S. Austins 8. book of the City of God that he cannot perceiue that there is any difference betweene the opinion you hold of your Saints and that which the Pagans held of their goods considering you doe vnto them the same honours as vnto God himselfe and to his Sonne Iesus Christ. And indeed your Master of Sentences and his disciples makes no bones to call the Saints the Mediatours of our saluation to teach how they through their works of supererogation haue purchased so great credit in heauen that they haue not onely merited eternall glorie and happinesse for themselues but by those workes also may succour those which yet walke in this vale of miserie and to helpe their necessities The praeyers of the Saints saith Bonauenture in the 4. booke of his Sentences dist 45. qu. 2 may obtaine us many good things as the Master to wit of Scholasticall sentences saith by their affection and through their former merits by which readily and promptly they hauâ— serued God On the other side Our dutie is saith Alexander of Ales in his fourth sentence and 92 question to pray vnto the Saints for three reasons Because of our necessitie the glorie of the Saints and the reuerence to God I say because of the want and defect of our owne merits to the end that when we haue not sufficient and enough of our owne the merits of others may helpe and defend vs. I would willingly come foorth of that bottomlesse pit of your execrable blatphemies but my conscience will not suffer me to dissemble those great praises which you attribute vnto S. Francis who was condemned of impietie by Pope Iohn the 22. and to S. Dominiâ—â—s as it were in despite of God and of his Sonne Iesus Christ neuerthelesse because I will not be too redious I will not here cite all that is found written of them in the bookes allowed by your Church onely I will draw foorth some drafts and principall points whereof the first is that it is written in the book of Conformities How the Virgin Marie and the rest of the Saints in heauen goe in procession euerâ—e one in their order but as for Saint Francis he is harboured in Christs side and commeth forth through his wound is Ensigâ—e bearer to conduct them with the banner of his Crosse in his hand And in the Prose of S. Francis that hee is The figuratiue Sauiour the way the life and a singular one crucified who hauing receiued in a vision the same wounds as Christ had according to the Diuels attestation which heerein is your Doctor purgeth you from your sins Wherefore in good 〈◊〉 he may say that which is sung in the Gospell vpon his feast day All things are giuen to me of my father for as much as through his merites hee hath been made the sonne of God and hath receiued a billet from heauen wherein was written This man is the grace of God So that now through the merits of his works which are so holy that if an Angell had done them they could not haue bin more admirable He is the modell of all perfectioÌ„ in whom we may ioyntly see all the vertues of the Saints aswell of the old as of the new Testament for hee hath obserued the Gospell to a letter and hath accomplished all the commandements of God In such sort that according to the prophecie of Ieremie in the 50 Chap. vers 20. Men shall seeke for his sinne but they shall not finde it And of him the Psalmist hath spoken Thou hast crowned him with glorie and honor and hast set him euer all the workes of thine hands For according to your beliefe he is in the glorie of the Father as it is written Phil. 2. he is deified and in the glorie of God But which is more he maketh one selfesame spirit with God he sitteth aboue in heauen as Aduocate of all the Church militant he is most neerely knit vnto God and beareth rule ouer euery creature By one Masse he hath appeased God towards all the world And to alleage your own words Christus â—rauit Franciscus exorauit that is to say Christ hath prayed Francis hath obtained Let vs now