not Alibi but their Hic Nunc and their Anon and Elsewhere go together but This One God is at once in all places not circumscrib'd in any and Is all these In One not only the One God is more All things than all things are themselves this one way but he is More All They than All they are Themselves this Other way too in that All They are Themselves Preeariò and He is All They Potestativè they were All in Him before they were at all in Themselves as the effects ly Hid in their Causes till they are Actually produc'd and They having been in Him before they were made by way of Power and Authority more than in Themselves After they were made they Then having a Being by Dependency and Beholdingness do no more Multiply Him after they are Created then they did Multiply Him before they were Created when there was nothing in thâ— world els but He nay not so much as a world neither Himself being as the Alone God so All That world which Himself Inhabited in whom yet Alâ—things els and Millions of worlds besides even Then were by way of Eminency and Power to produce them 8. The Best of all these however they are wrongfully call'd Gods in respect of the first and Independent sense of the word though they are Precarious and Derivative Gods and that with a much more Authoritative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than Any Man can speak Psal 82.6 Dixi quòd Dii estis are so far from being Essentially-Really Gods that they are not Similitudinarily so not so much as like unto him Amongst the Gods the Made-Gods the Gods made by Man there is None they are called Gods they are not so they are but Idols 1 Cor. 8.4 and an Idol is Nothing in the World a whole Multitude of them is but a Repeated Nothing a deal of Cyphers crouded together without so much as one Figure to stamp a Being upon them None like unto thee Psal 86. â— O Lord Whatever it is that pretends to this it must be either All or Part of Heaven and Earth and the Inhabitants thereof and yet All of these and every Part of these are the Work of his Hands Gen. 1.1 In the Beginning God made them All and made them too without Elaboration on without putting his Whole Hand to them for they were as a Father Dishonours them from the Hand of God but Opus Digitorum Ipsius and Fashion'd too In Principio they who had a Beginning are as much Un-Godded in that they once were not as they who have a Sepulcher Diogen Laert. in vita Thaletis and are not now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore upon this Ground because they were Made and were the Work of Another does it well follow and by way of Powerfull Argumentation and Confutation in King David Neither are there any Wâ—rks like unto thy Works it is not a God that can either be Idle or not Work Excellently unless it makes and no less than a New Heaven and a New Earth it will forfeit all the Devotion and Knees which it Impotently Challenges Nay the Best Counterfeit of all these is so far from being Like that God whom it would fain Resemble that he that takes it so to be is Like even to it Their Idols haue Mouths but they speak not Eyes have they but they see not they have Ears Ps 115.8 but they hear not they that make them are like unto them and what an Inglorious God is this when it is the Contumely of Man himself to be such So sensless so unseen Ducit affictu quodam Interno rapit infirma corda mortalium formae similitudo membrorum imitata compago Plus valent simulachra ad Curvandam Infelicem animam quod os habent oculos habent aures habent quam ad corrigendam quod non loquuntur non vident non audiunt non ambulant so unheard-of so unfit to be spoke of a thing it is to believe more Gods than One And though upon that place St. Austin saies that the Outward the Shape and Imitated Joyntness of Members does not onely entice and lead but compell and draw the Affections of Weak Minds after them yet I cannot choose but wonder as well as Grieve that his Observation should be any where true that such Images should more prevail to humble a wretched Soul before them because they have Mouth and Eyes and Ears or rather Holes instead of these than to instruct a wretched Soul that it should not be humbled before them because those Images can neither speak nor see nor hear especially when the dumb and moveless posture of them speaks this to the Eye of the Beholder as loudly as the Word of God does speak it who if he had pleas'd might Comment upon that Text of his Et mihi si non vis Credere Crede tibi that they are made by Man and therefore cannot be Gods Worship him therefore not onely all ye the Subjected People Psal 27.7 but Worship him too All ye the Ruling Gods and that V. 9. because Thou Lord art high above all the Earth thou art exalted far above all Gods whoever he be that would be worshipp'd instead of a God he is instead of a God a very Satan and O that we could get him hence not onely out of this Isle but out of the World too that we and all else might neither have his Rome nor his Company Mat. 4.9 For it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him ONELY shalt thou serve 9. And might not these three waies by which God is One and but Onely One by Incomposition by Singularity and by Universality and these three Reasons of the Indivisible Oneness of God drawn from Vnity it self from Truth and from Goodness might not either of these three Degrees or rather Orders of Unity occasion that Zealous Expression of St. Bernard in which he calls God On t in the third Degree the Superlative of Comparison who rather than any else should make another God would himself with a modest Parenthesis make a word for the Onely God Lib. 5. de Consider Deus Vnus est si dici potest Vnissimus Nay one of the Better-brain'd Heathens Plutarch was so much too Rational to admit a Plurality of Gods that he tels us Apollo who was his God was so call'd ab a Privitivâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because there cannot to any sober Imagination be more than One and though all Wise Men say so for he is as very a Fool that saies in his heart Psal 14.1 there are Two Gods as he that saies there is No God no not One yet I make choyce of the Testimony of the first of these because of the Singularness and Fervency of his Expression and of the latter because of the Resolute Authority of the most Judicious of Heathens 10. I shall conclude this way of Argumentation that
duty along with her least of all would they Superstitiate those into a wrong worship who translate that place And the Angel of Our Lord said unto Her And why may not this bâ— the Reason of the Concealement of the Angels Creation Doway as well as of the Concealement of Moses his Sepulcher to prevent Idolatry since themselves say in their Marginall Note upon That part of the sixt verse of the 34. Chapter of Deuteron And no man hath known his sepulcher until this present Day so they render it Onely Angels whose Ministery God used herein knew the place of his Buriall lest the Jewes prone to Idolatry might have honourd him for God I add to their Interpretation In honoring him with That spirituall worship which is due to God though they never misunderstood his very Body to be God 18. And does not Christ Himself seem to Debarre the Angells from any Matth. 22.37 38 39. the most Minute Adoration when He sayes The First and Great Commandement is Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Minde and the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as Thy self That first Commandement is the summary of all in the first Table and that second the Abridgment and concise comprehension of all in the secâ—nd That so they are the very Naming of this Command Love thy Neighbour the Second does sufficiently evidence else in our account the Not making of Graven must be the second and in the Roman account the Not taking in vain In neither of these is there roome for Angel-Adoration not in the first for if the subordinate love of Angels must be understood there lest we should bestow more than Love upon them God is content as a prevention of That errour to challenge no more than Love to His very selfe t is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both in St. Matthew and in St. Luke 10.27 t is in neither of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither which properly signifies ad Pedes alicujus advolvi the Devill was as goodly a Grammarian as He was badly Ambitious when He said even to Christ Himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 4.9 If thou wilt Fall down and worship and our Saviour's Answer is very considerable in that very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. 10 thou shalt Worship thou shalt fall down to t was an Ancient and every-where practise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord thy God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him only shalt Thou serve the Only is to be referd to the worship by Falling down for That was it which Satan calld for as well as to the Latria does the word thou shalt Love mean Latria and That only then that meaning of the word does shut out the Angell from any share in it dos it mean Latria and Dulia too then the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord Thy GOD does shut out the Angell from any share even in Dulia too for thus to love the Angell is to esteem him as the Lord our God and less hope is there for the Angel to be Reverenc'd in the second Commandment for an Angell is not such a Neighbour of ours as to be our Father or Mother I never yet heard of a she-Angell He is not such a Neighbour From whom we can take away or to whom preserve not such a Neighbour whom the very'st Sodomite alive can defile not whom the very'st Saint alive can make more Chast not such a Neighbour from whom any High-way-Man can Robb ought or to whom any Magistrate can Restore ought if there be any hope at all t is in the next command Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour which as it is Principally meant against That kind of false witness which does Really Prejudice and Indamage my Neighbour so it is not at all meant against the Defrauding either my Brother whom I have seen or the Invisible Angells of God of any part of Religious worship for I must love my Neighbour as my self and would I also be thus worshipt Matth. 7.12 thus Religiously What soever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them I would if it were possible have the love of all and because so I would let who will Reward with hate for my love I will Restore That Psal 69.4 which I took not away and pay him back Love for His Hate but I will neither Take nor Give to any Man what I owe only to my God if they say because of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Text this is the Law only of Man to Man and none at all of the Law of Man to Angells or of Whole Man to Half Man to Saint Departed from His own Body as well as from our society they must give me leave to tell them back out of my Saviours words in the Close of that Text that This and nothing els but This is the Law if because in Scripture God Himself is often Parabled by the Name of Man they will needs Include Angells too in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them give me the example of One Good Angell that hath thus worship't Man unless him who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of whom God Himself hath said Let the Angells of God worship HIM Heb. 1.6 and I will allow them a whole thousand of Men to do even so to him to worship Many Angels more And in the last place if their Excellency above Nature be the Basis to Uphold and the Diplomata to require a worship above Civill I would know but one thing more and I have done with This According to the Equity of that Rule that which is More excellent does deserve more of This worship why then is it that this man chooses a Matthew for his Saint and the Confessâ—r of that man puts a Peter upon him for his aswell as a third makes a choice of a Virgin Mary and a fourth has a beloved John taskd upon him if the Virgin be a better Saint than the Publican why has Matthew more of one mans Devotion than she if John the other Son of the Virgin Mary Woman John 19.26 behold Thy Son is a more excellent Saint thau Denying Peter why is Another more prostrate to Peter and less if at all to John or if Peter must be the better Saint t is but asking the same question backwards and why is any one even the best of these more worshipt alone than herself with the whole Society of Saints and Angels Since if they are Catalogu'd together None of Her Excellency is left out and all of theirs is put in 19. The Religious worship of praying to Saints and Angells is Ex Confesso part of that worship which is due to God but then All that is due to God they pay not to Saints and Angels because they
Angell will ever take upon him to Bless and not declare the Commission which God hath given him so to do and whether it was that Second or either of the other two persons of the Godhead V. 30 yet for certain God it was I have seen GOD face to face V. 1 In the beginning of that Chapter V. 2 when the Angels of God met Jacob so apparently that they were discernd to be Angels He does not call them God but Gods Host He does not wrestle nor pray at all and if prayer to One Angell would be prevalent how not much more to More And why did He pray to One but that He knew him not to be an Angell why did he not pray to More but that he knew them to be Angells If it was an Angell Jacob did worship him as God in that he said I have seen God face to face and this themselves upon Exodus confess to be Idolalatry and by consequence themselves Idolaters if this be their example but They and we truly acknowledge Jacob in that speech of his to have been no Idolater therefore Jacob neither must be their example so much as to Invoke an Angell for their Authority how to Interpret that Text I have neither Leisure enough nor Book enough to search but it matters not since Scripture under which Head That Argument is made Answers for it self it does so again Genes 48.16 The Angell that delivereth me sayes their Translation which Redeemed me from all evill bless the Lads they say true that we say This Angell must be understood of God they say we indeavour to prove this out of the 31. and 32. Chapter not onely so we are not so far to seek we will prove this out of the very words the Context and your own Translation and Comment you say it is evident from this place that the Angell He that is so calld deliverd Jacob from evills what from All you do well to leave out that word when you mean a Created Angel but That word is in the Text because of which you ought to Mean the Creator God for who â—â—s can deliver us from All Evil be-besides that God Matth. 6.13 to whom our Christ hath taught us to Pray Deliver us from Evill Amongst All the evils from which Jacob was delivered was not a starving hunger one when he was Fed first out of Egypt and then in Egypt himself reckons right when he maks mention only of that great Comprehensive Blessing to Feed him without which he could not have Injoyd any one of all the rest and was it not God which did this for him and by contexture was not God the Angel who did this and all the rest Looke one verse backward and you may read in your own book GOD in whose sight my Fathers Abraham and Isaac have walked God that feedeth me from my youth untill this present day The Angel that delivereth me from All Evills Bless give me leave to tell you that God and God and Angel are the Nominative before the Verb Bless and certainly if God does Bless we are secure enough though we never Invoke His Angel which he hath Made and that the Angel after is the same with the God before appeares very probably in that he is no more separated from God the first and second time nam'd than God the second time nam'd is from God the first not with an And but only with a Comma Non quisquam Hanc Verborum Forman Concepit Serm. 4. contra Arrianos sayes Athanasius Det Tibi Deus Angelus if he meant a Created Angel t is the Son of God whom Jacob prayes to Hunc enim Magni Consilii Patris Angelum noverat whom the Prophet calls Angelum Faederis Mal. 3.1 Your own Note there is Christ is the Angel of the Testament Can you imagine it possible to be Demonstrated that This Christ is not the Angel whom Jacob prayes to Your selves must be somewhat more than Angel thus to Dive into the secrets of His Spirit Lib. 3. Thesaur c. 1. Not to desire you with Cyril's Quaeso to it that you would not defame That Holy Man but with a Quaeso and an Obsecro too let me even Beseech you that you would not Dishonour our Christ so far as Peremptorily to Robb Him of That Prayer which for ought you know Jacob directed to Christ Himself to Jacob Him of doing that good to Jacob which for ought you can ever dispute to the Contrary Christ Jesus may have done by Himself and without the Ministery of His Angells In Exod. 2. and 32. not one word of worshipping Saint or Angels in the One there is required a Reverent Address to God Himself in the Other is reprehended the Making and worshipping a Molten Calf 21. Indeed in Numb 22. the same Balaam worshipt the Angel with Religious worship in their Notes upon the 31. verse which same Balaam in their own Notes upon the eighth verse Consulted his False God whom he served and called him the Lord not knowing our Lord God Almighty the Authour since such was their Character of Him might render the practise well worthy suspicion if not abomination also even to them who cite him with such a mark of disgrace 22. Joshua 5. and with them verse 15. Joseph fell flat on the ground and Adoring he said Adoring of him who said verse before I am a Prince of the Host of our Lord why not The Prince which the Word equally beares why not The Lord since there is no Our in the Originall I have observ'd that to be a frequent zealous mistake Our for The and then All he denyes is that he is the same Person for he is not Lord and Father not that he is the same Nature for the Son is Lord and Prince too and the Son it is that said this who in the Right opinion of the Ancients did often in the Old Testament appear in a Similitudinary flesh as in the fulness of Time he came in a Real Flesh and who in this Text was truly worshipt if not as the Son yet as True God his Name does attest this the Lord Ch. 6. v. 2. still they call it Our Lord 't is Jehovah a Name incommunicable to any but God nay it is the Lord too in that very stile in which he delivers himself to Josue the Prince of the Host of the Lord All the Angels in Heaven and all the Saints there and in Earth are his Host and who but God is Prince of all these if it be an Angel then that Angel is in one Notion a Captain Commander in Chief as being a Prince and in another Notion a Subject and under his own Command as being Part of that Host of which himself is Prince Nay let me say it and not be told of a Petitio Principii for I have Scripture for what I say his very accepting of this Honour done to him since it is evident and unscrupled that he was no less than
there is One God that there is but One God that nothing else is Really God with a Note upon Deut. 6.4 and proceed in one word openly against the Romanist who now more than ever laies Snares to draw us off from the True Worship of the One God and though he does not make somewhat else his God in Terminis yet in effect he does whil'st he applyes that Worship which is onely Proper to the Onely True God to somewhat else that is not God though he is not got into the Inner Rooms of the Polytheists yet I am sure he treads upon their Threshold and in another word against the Opinionist and Ill Liver of our own the one being a Recusant though not a Romanist and the other robbing God of his honour as much as he though not the same way as he 11. But before I proceed to these hear this one Word of God which it self calls upon you to hear it Hear Deut. 6.4 O Israel whatever sounds contrary to this it must not be listned to the Lord our God is ONE Lord we should wear this Verse written in our Heads and Hearts we should read and peruse it there for it is already there written and engraven by the Finger of God as it is Recorded of the Jews Fagius in Exod. 13. that they writ it out in Parchment and wore it within their Hair and upon their Brow and upon their Left Arm. 12. And yet does not Rome at Rome and Rome in England sin against the Unity of the Godhead which she confesses to Believe whilst on this side and on yonder side the Sea she bows down to Images and invokes Saints and at this instant labours though in a Mine and fights against our Religion though under the Cloke of it both in Church and State to make Proselytes not onely to more Spirits than one but to less than Spirit to less than Un-canoniz'd nay to less than Breathing Man to Stocks and Stones Psal 115.135.17 Quibus non est Spiritus in Ore Ipsorum I could wish but that they are too cunning not onely for me but a while for the State too to discover that some Man's Buff was taken off and sent to his Holy Father with that Question graven upon it Haeccine Tunica Filit Tui Would the Pope himself trow ye as his Emissary Counterfeit Protestant that he might be a Successfull Fisher of Men though the very Success in Errour is the greatest Dammage and draw all of us as Fish to his Net I fear me he would rather draw with the Binding of a Fagot 13. He that worships Images on Earth and Saints in Heaven nay that undoubted Saint the Virgin Mary although even we also justly acknowledge that she is Quantò splendidior Ovid. Met. lib. 2. quà m caetera sidera fulget Lucifer quantò quà m Lucifer Aurea Phoebe Tantò Virginibus Praestantior omnibus More than or as much as or besides the Holy Of-spring of that Virgin Mary gives that Honour of God to another either Thing or Person which God himself faies he will give to neither I am the Lord that is my Name Is 42.8 and my Glory will I not give to another neither my Praise to Graven Images What greater Glory than Invocation what greater Praise than Prayer of which in its Distinction Praise is part I will worship towards thy holy Temple and Praise thy Name Psal 38.2 What harm has the Blessed Virgin done us that we should afflict that Modesty and Humility of hers which no doubt she retains in Heaven and is even there also the Handmaid of her God though the very Best and Best-beloved that he has with an undue Praise and an unheard Prayer Not onely the Holy Ghost tels us that when she heard those great Eulogies and Wellspeakings Luk. 1.28 Hail O thou highly Favour'd the Lord is with thee V. 29. In Lib. cui Tit. Meditationis Vitae Christi Lat. Dar. à Michaele ab Isselt c. 2. Blessed art thou among Women though from the Mouth of an Angel who knew better what he said than either they or we She was troubled at his saying but their own Ludovicus Granatensis adds a Timuit to the Turbata est and gives this reason for it Nihil enim Humili adiosius est quà m proprias audire Laudes Nothing is more Hatefull to an Humble Mind than to hear it self Commended why then do they to the very Spirit of her whom they so much love that thing which she so much hates unless they will conceive she hath put off her Humility with her Cloaths of Flesh and will not afford her as many Virtues in Heaven as she had on Earth He goes on Nihil magis timet quam hujusmodâ— Gratulationes She fears nothing more than a Mess of Praises and why will they diet her with that she is afraid to tast of why are they not more Civil than to put so excellent a Lady whom they can never enough esteem onely bating her the honour of her God into a Fright She is indeed Angelical whatever they will below God she has the Passion of Hope that they will Convert the Passion of Joy when they do Convert not to her but God and the Passions of Fear and Grief when they do Convert not to God but her and he goes on still and still wondrously and Pathetically well Quemadmodum Avarus metuit Latrones as a covetous Man when he rides with his Master behind him a Portmantieu of gold at his back fears a high-way Theef sic verus humilis metuit laudes hominum quae sunt fures humilitatis so one that is truly humble fears an over-praise which is an enemy pessimum inimicorum genus laudantes and a Theef too Tacitus to steal away her humility and why then will they put her into so great and so dangerous a fear as if they suspected either she is not truly humble or else would not have her be so hereafter Let them take heed lest by such Adulatory complements themselves be those Theeves of whom our Saviour the Son of our Virgin Mary and of their Goddess Marry hath said that they shall not come to Heaven to break through Mat. 6.20 and steal there Let them if they will bow in their Churches as our late †In his Speech in the Star-Chamber June 14.1637 Arch-Bishop hath observed Moses and Aaron fell down upon their faces at the door of the Tabernacle Numb 20.6 as Hezekiah the King and all with him did they bowed and worshipped 2 Chron. 29.29 as David calls upon all to do Ps 95.6 O come let us worship and bâ—w down nay let me without offence for I hope none at home will be angry at the very and express words of Scripture adde one example more of this kind of veneration because the reason of it is involv'd in it Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Micah 6.6
ought to worship God the more reverently and sincerely 1 Cor. 11.10 because of the Angels Untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Ps 110.1 Here the wicked are the foot-stool of God in being subjected to his will though against their own and in this respect the worshipping at his footstool does mean that we should not refrain even in the sight of the wicked to sing that new Song Ps 40.3 which God hath put into our Mouth and which they are unacquainted with even praise unto our God to this end that many even the wicked may see it and fear and trust in the Lord in the last place and out of the first Text He tells us †Pag. 472 Col. 2. in Fine Scabellum ejus est ipsa Christi humanitas the Manhood of Christ is this foot-stool To the purpose then understand we by this foot-stool as Auguanus does in the simplicity of his heart the humanity of Christ quae totaliter Deo conform is est and not only that but the whole Earth also and in that Earth not only the Church the Saints of God but the very wicked also and not only the Church Militant on Earth but that part of it which is triumphant in Heaven confirm'd in an establisht undecaying Righteousness by Christ Jesus the Holy Angels of God and understand we not by this foot-stool exclusively the humanity of Christ and nothing else but that nay understand we not that humanity of Christ only Sacramented as Doway does in the design of their hearts and then if it does not more redound to the honour of God and to the edifying and increasing of his Church that we should sincerely worship God all the Earth over not only in the Congregation of the Saints the more to inflame their devotion by the Conjunction of ours with theirs but in the presence of the wicked to make them asham'd of their irreligious folly and to invite them by our example to draw near unto the Lord with unfeigned Lips and unfeining Hearts and all this because of the Angels of God nay because of the God of those Angels if thus to do and thus every where to do and upon these grounds does not conspire in a more probable effectuality and a more innocent uninsnaring conspiration to both those ends then to worship the Body of Christ himself as that foot-stool and only to worship that Body Sacramented at some times in some places with some few then we will quit this extensive interpretation and run totis pedibus into their limited sentence 28. And least that reason which David gives and which they render because IT is holy might bear sway against this multiform sense confining the foot-stool only to one and the worship to that very footstool to evade this pretended reason I must give them to know not only that that word in the Original may be equally translated IT or He but that in that place it ought rather to be translated he because in the Verse after is set down what that worship is to invocate the Lord and because though it were so for IT is holy yet the worship is not of it but at it explained in the last verse of that Psalm and in both the same words in which the reverence is charged upon us in the 5. v. Exalt ye the Lord our God and ad re say they and worship say we Hitherto there is a perfect agreement with the 5. 1 Cor. 1.10 and last v. they do what the Apostle would have us all to do though Doway will neither hearken to us nor him speak the same thing and the explication follows In or at his holy Mount because the Lord our God is holy the Mount is confessedly holy yet the holiness of the Mount is not alleged as a reason why we should worship it but the holiness of our God why we should worship in or at his holy Mount I go on to inquire after their And elsewhere by which words and some search I find out of their notes upon Gen. 48.5 That they mean the Invocation of Angels grounded upon Mat. 18. Acts 12.1 Cor. 11. For want of their New Testament of which I am bereft they ought to be content as I must that I reply out of the Originals 29. And first what says Matthew for them He says but not for them that Christ himself said 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven what means our Saviour by this not that we should invoke Angels himself tels us no such matter but that we should not despise little ones that is it which himself tels us and upon this ground because they have Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had they hence infer'd that God had appointed Angels Ministring Spirits to take care for and to protect little ones they had argu'd right and we would shake hands with them in this matter let them tell us no more then what that Text tells us let them infer no more then what our Saviour Christ infers and we are agreed is it not enough to that purpose to take off contempt from little ones that God takes so much care of them as to appoint Angels over them though they never pray as they are never bid so to do to Angels and are not those words design'd to this purpose by Christ had Christ said Despise them not Ps 115.16 for to these Children of Men I have given the Earth Despise them not for it is for their sake Job 38.8.9 that I have shut up the Sea with doors and made the Cloud the Garment thereof and tho thick darkness a swadling band for it Despise them not for for them it is that I have created the Lights in the Firmanent of Heaven for signs and seasons Gen. 1.14 Ps 104.19 for dars and years 't is for them that I have appointed the Moon for seasons for them that the Sun knoweth his going down His going down with his Rays into the Bowels of the Earth and his bringing up from thence Herb for the service both of Man and Child that God hath done all or any of these for mankind is reason enough not to contemn the least of them but is it reason enough that Man should fall down and first worship and then eat his Herb Sarculo Amicas Colit hic Fruges Et suum hic mandit Bibit ille E man Thesourus è Soc Jesu Numen If so Happy the Heathen that are Heathen still Felices Gentes quibus haec nascuntur in Hortis Numina Juven That Man should exalt the Sun and adore the Moon that Man should bow to the Sea and kneel down to the Lights nay to the Cloud nay to the thick darkness and do his reverence to these swadling bands and to that Garment as to sacred Reliques for all of these let us
Parable in the opinion of many and Learned Doctors Theophylact is vehement in this persuasion Justin Martyr and Theophilus Antiochenus state it with him Eucherius in his Questions upon Saint Luke and Saint Chrysostome in his Homilies familiarly call it so And though †Levinus Lemnius He who wrote ex Institutio of the similitudes and Parables in the Bible does not mention this for One yet besides that Humana authoritas non valet Negativè He is not to be condemn'd for his omission because his declar'd Purpose was only to speak of those similitudes and Parables in which †Quae in Bibliis ex Herbis Arboribus desumuntur tit lib. Herbs and †Quae in Bibliis ex Herbis Arboribus desumuntur tit lib. Trees are concern'd and for certain Abraham was no Herb for He was translated from Grace to Glory and I never yet heard of an Herb of Glory though planted in the better than Paradise nor was Dives a Tree though He had taken deep Root even as Deep as Hell and if a Parable it is it is a stated Question that Parabolicall Divinity affords no convincing Argument in point of Controversy But what if it be a History Gregory in His 40 Homimily sayes it is and calls it Res Facta Tertullian and Saint Ambrose think they Prove it by that Argument which Origen us'd against the Jewes that there was such a Man as Job because the Name of the Man is set down in the Narration and because as we know there was an Abraham so by the same Reason and in the same story there must have been a Dives and Lazarus too but grant we this what get They hence when Dives dos particularize what He Prayes for That is confest by All to be a Metaphore send Lazarus that he may Dip the Tip of his Finger He does not mean that very thing for which He seemes to Pray or if it did mean it Abraham is deaf and dos not hear or els hears V. 25 V. 26 and denyes Thou art tormented and he cannot come show me a more successefull copy to Pray by or els I am as speechless as the Saint is Earless And besides all this the Pontificii themselves are not yet at one amongst themselves whether this be a Parable or a History from whose discord this is one Argument that all they conclude from hence as to the Invocation of Saints is Inconsequent and Unargumentative it would look more like Christian Logick to conclude as †In vitâ Pauli Non illuc Auro positi neque Thure sepulti pervenient Lucan lib. 9. S. Hierome does Illi quidem pauperculo Paradidisus Patet Vos Auratos Gehenna suscipiet and since the poor Man went to Heaven and the Rich to Hell Bellarmine had done well if he had retracted one Note his 15th of the true Church which he calls Temporal Felicity and had well consider'd that the Israelites onely upon this ground deserted the true Church of God and fell into Foul Idolatry They answer'd Jeremiah saying Jer. 44.15 16 17. As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the LORD we will not hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our OWN Mouth to Burn Incense unto * Discrtis verbis the Virgin Mary is call'd so O Holy Mary Queen of Heaven Manual p. 382. the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink-offerings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the Streets of Jerusalem FOR THEN HAD WE PLENTY OF VICTUALS AND WERE WELL AND SAW NO EVIL 37. I have now done with the Errours of Authors which and with the Piety of Authors by which to Oppose and would heartily wish Doway and Doway's Proselytes to consider how feeble ill-grounded and un-fenc'd such Doctrines are how Circularly the Proof roves into the Question and the Question is left Naked to become its own Proof and Syllogism and Champion for does not Bellarmine his own self imply all this when he saies God Reveals our Prayers unto the Saints and yet the Saints deliver up those Prayers of ours more Prosperously to God When the Meanest Minister in the Church of England even then when It and He are at the Lowest is Big enough assisted with the Truth of God and the God of Truth on his side to wrestle with a whole Erroneous College what would become of them if themselves should be at leisure from Designs and Disguizes and our Learned Fathers should be at Leisure from those two Controversies of Want and Division at home to enter the Lists with them I beseech God to Humble Prosperous Mistakers to Strengthen Poor Truth and to Save All. 38. But it shall not be enough to Reply to the Texts mis-interpreted by them for though thus to do does in some degree shake the Foundations of Errour yet it does not so far as Right ought to be Defended establish the Truth let me therefore that I may not onely shut the Mouth of the Pit upon Falshood but open the Pit Veritas in Puteo that Truth may arise and her Enemies be scatter'd conclude against the Religious Worship and Invocation of Saints and Angels with some Few Scriptures more and a little calm Reasoning 39. Since Invocation is so highly valu'd in the Word of God as to be joyn'd with that Instrument of our Salvation Rom. 10.14 Faith How shall they call on him in whom they have not Believed since it is in both Testaments the Comprehensive Word which Involves in it the Entire Worship of God Joel 2.32 Whosoever shall CALL upon the Name of the Lord shall be Delivered by which Expressions God himself seems as Jealously to Call for our Calling upon him as for our Believing in him or for our Worshipping him at all for the sake of these and some more Texts I would much stagger at any Saint-Invocation lest otherwise I might perhaps stagger in the Faith 2 Kings 22. ult What does King David mean when he saies Thou O God O THOV that hearest Prayer Psal 65.2 but that he means it a Peculiar Attribute to God not onely the Good Man is taken away from the Evil to come that he partake not of it but that he not so much as See it I will gather thee unto thy Fathers See more in B. Hall's Old Religion pag. 140. and thine Eyes shall not SEE all the Evil which I will bring upon this place but if they Reply as Bellarmine does that in the Old Testament the People of God were not wont to say Ora pro nobis Sancte Abrahame what means our Saviour himself who could best teach us to pray when he bids us not to call upon Saint or Angel Luk. 11.2 but upon Father which is in Heaven and though the Church of Rome does that too yet she has a great Favour done her by those amongst us