at other places for occasional Sacrifices for as God reserved a liberty to himself to dispense with his own Law in extraordinary cases so it was presumed that what was done by Prophets was done by a Divine command but there was to be no ordinary or standing Altar for Sacrifice but at the Tabernacle or Temple this we may see in that dispute which had like to have hapned between the Children of Israel and the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh about the Altar of Testimony which these two Tribes and a half built on the other side of Jordan It was agreed on all hands that had it been intended for an Altar for Sacrifice it had been Rebellion against the Lord to have built any Altar beside the Altar of the Lord though they had offered no Sacrifice but to the Lord Jehovah The same is evident from Gods dislike of their offering Sacrifices in their high places though they sacrificed only to the God of Israel So that all Sacrifices were to be offered at the Temple on the Altar of God and therefore were offered only to that God whose Temple and Altar it was And indeed this is expresly provided for in the Law He that sacrificeth to any God but to the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed And as their Sacrifices were appropriated to the Temple so in some sense were their Prayers which were offered up in vertue of their Sacrifice And therefore this is a peculiar name for the Temple that it was the House of Prayer Here God was more immediately present to hear those Prayers which were offered to him according to Solomons Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple It is true the devout Jews did pray to God where ever they were though at a great distance from the Temple whether in the land of Canaan or out of it but then there are two things which shew that relation their Prayers had to the Temple Worship 1. That their stated hours of Prayer were the hours of Sacrifice which plainly signified that they offered up their Prayers in conjunction with those Sacrifices which were at that time offered in the Temple and therefore that they prayed only to that God to whom they sacrificed for we must consider that the constant morning and evening Sacrifices were not particular Sacrifices but were offered for the whole Congregation of Israel and therefore every man had a share in them Hence the time of offering the Sacrifice is called the hour of Prayer Thus Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of Prayer being the ninth hour that is the time of the Evening Sacrifice Hence are such expressions as that of the Psalmist Let my Prayer be set before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the Evening Sacrifice Nay it is most probable that when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and the people carryed captive into Babylon and the daily Sacrifice ceast yet the devout people observed the hour of Sacrifice for their Prayers Thus Daniel prayed three times a day which most likely were Evening and Morning and Noon Where Evening and Morning no doubt signifie the time of the Evening and Morning Sacrifice and we are told that the Angel Gabriel came to Daniel while he was praying and touched him about the time of the Evening oblation But 2ly besides this when they offered up their Prayers to God in other parts of the Nation or in other Countries they prayed towards Jerusalem and the Temple of God as we now lift up our eyes to Heaven where God dwells Thus Solomon in his Prayer of Dedication does not only beg of God to hear those Prayers which were made to him in that house but those also which were made towards it as the words must signifie in several places In general he prays Hearken thou to the Prayer of thy servant and of thy people Israel when they shall pray towards this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie both in and towards this place and here includes both as appears from the following instances which refer both to Prayers made in the Temple and to those Prayers which were made towards the Temple by persons who were at a distance Thus in what ever part of the Nation they wanted rain which might be at a great distance from Jerusalem they were to pray towards this place The same was to be done in case of Famine and Pestilence c. or if they were besieged in any of their Cities when they could not go to the Temple to pray Nay What Prayer or supplication soever shall be made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house then hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling place and forgive Thus when they went out to battle they were to pray towards the City of Jerusalem and towards the Temple And when they were carryed captive into their enemies land they were to pray to God toward the land which God had given them towards the Holy City and towards the Temple And accordingly it was the constant practice of Daniel when he was in Babylon to pray three times a day to God with his windows open in his chamber toward Jerusalem So that though the Temple were not the onely place where they might lawfully pray to God yet all their Prayers were to be directed to the Temple and receive their vertue and acceptation from their relation to the Temple and the Temple-Worship This was a standing rule for the whole Jewish Nation that whenever they prayed they offered up their prayers in the Temple or towards it and this is generally observed by them to this day For the reason why they generally now turn themselves towards the East when they pray is not out of any respect to the rising of the Sun but because they live in Western Countries and so by turning to the East they look towards Jerusalem and the place where the Temple stood And this is as plain evidence that all their Prayers as well as Sacrifices were to be offered onely to that God who dwelt in the Temple And therefore as they are commanded to pray to God and this is made the peculiar attribute of God that he heareth prayers and therefore unto him shall all flesh come so they are expresly commanded not to make mention of the name of the Heathen gods that is not to pray to them the prayers of the Heathens consisting of a frequent repetition of the names of their gods as we see in the priests of Baal who cried from morning till evening saying O Baal hear us Thus the Jews were commanded to bring all their Vows first Fruits Tythes and Offerings to the Temple which is a plain sign to whom they were offered The Seventh-day-Sabbath was a sign that they worshipt
Orators and if even in those days the worship of Saints was not received into the publick offices of the Church methinks we may as well live without it still and they must either grant that these Fathers whose authority they alleadge meant no such thing by these Rhetorical flourishes as they extract out of them or else that they introduced a new and unknown worship into the Christian Church and then let them prove that some few Fathers of the fourth Century without the publick authority of the Church had authority enough of their own to change the object of worship contrary as the Church in former Ages believed to an express Divine Law which commands us to worship none but God 3. Nay I further observe that these Fathers whose authority is urged for the invocation of Saints by the Church of Rome do no-where dogmatically and positively assert the lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels and many Fathers of the same Age do positively deny the lawfulness of it which is a plain argument that it was not the judgement and practice of the Church of that Age and a good reasonable presumptition that these Fathers never intended any such thing in what they said how liable soever their words may be to be expounded to such a sense Gregory Nazianzen indeed in his Book against Julian the Apostate speaks to the Soul of Constantius in this manner Hear O thou Soul of great Constantius if thou hast any sense of these things c. But will you call this a Prayer to Constantius does this Father any where assert in plain terms that it is lawful to pray to Saints departed a hundred such sayings as these which are no Prayers to Saints cannot prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints against the constant Doctrine of the Fathers of that Age. Thus in his Funeral Oration for his Sister Gorgonia he bespeaks her to this purpose that if she knew what he was now a doing and if holy Souls did receive this favour from God to know such matters as these that then she would kindly accept that Oration which he made in her praise instead of other Funeral Obsequies Is this a Prayer to Gorgonia to intercede for him with God by no means He onely desires if she heard what he said of her which he was not sure she did that she would take it kindly Whereas in that very Age the Fathers asserted that we must pray onely to God and therefore they define Prayer by its relation to God That Prayer is a request of some good things made by devout Souls to God that it is a conference with God that it is a request offered with supplication to God Which is a very imperfect definition of Prayer were it lawful to pray to any other Being besides God St. Austin tells us that when the names of the Martyrs were rehearsed in their publick Liturgies it was not to invoke them or pray to them but onely for an honourable remembrance nay he expresly tells us that the worship of dead men must be no part of our Religion for if they were pious men they do not desire this kind of honour but would have us worship God honorandi ergo sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter religionem they are to be honoured for our imitation not to be adored as an act of Religion The Council of Laodicea condemned the Worship of Angels and so does Theodoret Oecumenius and others of that Age. It is notoriously known that the Arrians were condemned as guilty of Idolatry for worshipping Christ whom they would not own to be the true God though they owned him to be far exalted above all Saints and Angels and to be as like to God as it is possible for any Creature to be and those who upon these Principles condemned the worship of the most perfect and excellent Creature could never allow the worship of Saints and Angels So that though the worship of Saints and Angels did begin about this time to creep into the Church yet it was opposed by these pious and learned Fathers and condemned in the first and smallest appearances of it which shows that this was no Catholick Doctrine and Practice in that Age much less that it had been so from the Apostles and I think after this time there was no authority in the Church to alter the object of worship nor to justifie such an Innovation as the worship of Saints and Angels in opposition to the express Law of God The sum of this Argument is this Since there is an express Law against the worship of any other Being besides the supreme God the Lord Jehovah which never was expresly repealed whatever plausible reasons may be urged for the worship of Saints and Angels they cannot justifie us in acting contrary to an express Law of God THE END ERRATA PAge 53. Line 23. for repepealed read repealed p. 54. margin for domini r. dominum p. 59. l. 30. for last r. least A Catalogue of Books sold by Abel Swalle at the Vnicorn at the West-end of St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. A Companion to the Temple or a Help to Devotion in the use of the Common Prayer Divided in the four Parts Part 1. Of Morning and Evening Prayer Part. 2. Of the Litany with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings Part. 3. Of the Communion Office with the Offices of Baptism Cateohism and Comfirmation Part. 4. Of the Occasional Offices viz. Matrimony Visitation of the Sick c. The whole being carefully corrected and now put into one Volume By Tho. Comber D. D. Folio Forty Sermons whereof twenty one are now first published the greatest part of them Preached before the King and on Solemn Occasions By Rich. Allestry D. D. With an account of the Authors Life in Folio The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley consisting of those which were formerly Printed and those designed for the Press and now Published out of the Authors Original Papers The eighth Edition in Folio The Second Part of the Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley being what was written in his younger years and now Reprinted together The fifth Edition The Case of Resistance of the Supreme Powers Stated and Resolved according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures By William Sherlock D. D. in Octavo A Vindication of the Rights of Ecclestastical Authority being an Answer to the First Part of the Protestant Reconciler By William Sherlock D. D. and Master of the Temple in Octavo Pet. Dan. Huetii de Interpretatione Libri 2. duo quarum Prior est de Optimo Genere Interpretandi Alter dâ— Claris Interpret c. in Octavo The Case of Compelling Men to the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper considered And Authority vindicated in it by the Rules of the Gospel and from the Common and Popular Objections against it By the Author of the Charge of Scandal omitted in the late Collection L. Coely Lacâ—antâ—i Firmiani Opera que extant ad fidem MS S. recognita Commentariis illustrata a Tho. Spark A. M. Oxonii e Theatr. Sheldoniano A Sermon Preached before the King at White-hall Novemb. 23. 1684. By Gilb. Ironside D. D. Warden of Wadham Colledge in Oxon c. 4. Mat. 10. Sect. 1. 2 Col. 18. Sect. 2. 4 Matth. 10. 6 Deutr. 13. 10 Deutr. 20. 20 Exod. 3. 6 Deutr. 14. 70 Jere. 11. Stilling fleetâ—s Defence of the discourse of Idolatry 4 Luke 6. 12 Deut. 13 14. 22 Joshua v. 16. 19. 22 23. 22 Exod. 2â— 56 Isai. 7. 2â— Matth. 13. 1 King 8. 3 Acts 1. 6 Dan. 10. 55 Psalm 17. 9. Dan. 21. 1 Kings 8. 30. v. 35. v. 37. v. 39. v. 44. v. 48. 6. Dan. 10. Buâ—torsii Synag Jud. p. 222 65. Psalm 2. 23 Joshua 7â— 1 Kings 18. 26. 20 Ezek. 20. 10 Deut 21. 19 Isai. 18. 4â— Gen. 16. Sect. 3. 13 Deut. 1 2 3 4 5. 19. John 7. 4 Matth. 10. 1 Rom. 21. v. 23. v. 25. 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. 1 Tim. 4. 1. See Mr. Joseph Medes Apostasie of the latter times 5. Mat. 17. 21. Acts 21 22. 3. Rom. 31. 8. Isai. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18 19. 17. Acts 10 11. 42. Isai. 8. 4 Gal. 5 6. 4 Hebr. 16. 1 Pet. 2 5 9. 14 Joh. 13 15. 16 Joh. 24. 26 27. 10 Hebr. 19 20 21 22. 2 Joh. 19. 21. 1 Joh. 14. 2 Coloss. 3. 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. 1. Heb. 12. 28. Mat. 20. * Bonum atque utile esse suppliciter Sanctos invocare ab beneficia impetranda â— Deo per silium ejus Jesum Christum Domini nostrum qui solus noster Redemptor Salvator est ad eorum orationes opem auxilium confugere Canâ— Trin. 16. 25. de Invocat 20 Exod. 10 Deut. 20. 4 Matth 10. 13 Deuter. 6 7. c. 6 Deut. 13 14. 13 Deut. 7. See Bishops Ushers Answer to the Jesuits Challenge Greg. Naz. Orat. 2. in Gorg. Basil Orat. in Julit Martyr Greg. Naz. Orat 1. de Oratione Chrys. in Genes Homil. 30. Aug. De Civit Dei l. 22. cap. 10. Id. de vera religione Cap. 55
that God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and delivered them from their Aegyptian Bondage and gave them rest in that good Land both which reasons are assigned by Moses and therefore God commands them by the Prophet Ezekiel Hallow my sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God They had but three solemn Festivals every year and they were all in remembrance of the great Works of God and all the Males were to go up to Jerusalem to keep these Feasts and therefore all these were the Feasts of the Lord Jehovah And as they were to pray onely to God so they were onely to swear by his Name which is another part of Religious Worship and therefore to swear by the Lord of Hosts is called the Language of Canaan So that all the parts of the Jewish Worship were appropriated to the Lord Jehovah he was the onely object of their dread and fear and religious Adorations And when we consider that God had chosen them to be a peculiar people to himself that the Land was a Holy Land Gods peculiar Inheritance which he gave by promise to their Fathers and the Temple was his House where he dwelt among them it cannot be expected that any other Gods might be worshipt by such a people in such a Land and in such a house as God had appropriated to himself 3. It is very considerable that we have no approved example under the Law of any worship pay'd to Saints or Angels or any other Being but God alone We have too many sad examples of the Idolatry of the Jews both in worshipping the Molten Calf which Aaron made and Jeroboams Calves and Baalim's and other Heathen gods but had it been allowed by their Law to have pay'd any inferiour degree of Religious Worship to Saints and Angels which is now asserted by the Church of Rome to be a matter of such great benefit and advantage to mankind it is very strange that we should not have one example of it throughout the Scripture nor any authentick Records among the Jewish Writers All the Psalms of David are directed to God alone and yet we cannot think but such a devout man would have bestowed some Hymns upon his Patron and tutelar Saints had he worshipt any such as well as the Papists do now This the Church of Rome sees and acknowledges and thinks she answers too when she gives us the reason why it could not be so under the Law because those Old Testament-Saints were not then admitted into Heaven to the immediate vision and fruition of God Heaven-gates were not opened till the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour and therefore those blessed Spirits were not in a condition to be our Intercessors and Mediators till they were received into Heaven but now Saints and Martyrs ascend directly into Heaven and reign with Christ in Glory and it seems share with him in his peculiar Worship and Glory too Now 1 Whether this be so or not the Scriptures assign no such reason for it and therefore it is likely there might be other reasons and I think I have made it very plain that there was We are not enquiring for what reasons the Jewish Church did not worship Saint and Angels but whether they did worship them or not and it appears that they never did so that we have neither precept nor example for this during all the time of the Jewish Church Which is all we intend to prove by this argument 2. But yet it is evident that this is not a good reason why the Jews did not worship Angels under the Law For certainly Angels were as much in Heaven then as they are now whatever Saints were They are represented in the Old Testament as the constant Attendants and Retinue of God and the great Ministers of his Providence and therefore they were as capable of Divine Worship in the time of the Law as they are now nay I think a little more For the Law it self was given by the Ministry of Angels and their appearances were more frequent and familiar and the world seemed to be more under the Government of Angels then than it is now since Christ is made the Head of the Church and exalted above all principalities and powers And therefore sometimes the Advocates of the Church of Rome make some little offers to prove the worship of Angels in those days to this purpose they alledge that form of Benediction which Jacob used in blessing the Sons of Joseph The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads But 1. This is not a direct prayer to the Angel but onely his committing of them to the care and patronage of that Angel with a prayer to God for that purpose And if he by experience had found that God had appointed his Angel to defend and protect him it was but reasonable to pray to God that the same Angel might protect his posterity 2. But yet according to the sense of the Antient Fathers this was no created Angel and Spirit but the Son and Word of God the Angel of the presence who is so often in Scripture stiled Jehovah a name which can belong to no created Spirit And it is no hard matter to make it highly probable that this is that Angel who redeemed Jacob out of all his troubles But it is strange if Angels were worshipt under the Old Testament we should have no clearer and plainer evidence of it than such a single Text which was never expounded either by any Jewish or Christian Writers to this sense till of late days and here the Priests of the Church of Rome are to be put in mind of their Oath to expound Scripture according to the unanimous consent of the Antient Fathers SECT III. The Testimonies of the Gospel considered whether Christ and his Apostles have made any alteration in the object of our Worship LEt us now proceed in the second place to consider the writings of the New Testament and examine what they teach us concerning the object of our Worship And that Christ and his Apostles have made no change in the object of our worship will appear from these considerations 1. That they could not do it Had they ever attempted to set up the worship of any other Beings besides the One Supreme God the Lord Jehovah the Jews were expresly commanded by their Law not to believe them nor hearken to them whatever signs and wonders and miracles they had wrought If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying let us go after other Gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the
because we can expect no blessings from God but by vertue of that Covenant which he purchast and sealed with his Blood But now a Mediator of pure intercession without regard to any atonement made for sin or any Covenant of redemption such as Saints and Angels and the blessed Virgin are made by the Church of Rome is a mighty reproach to the Divine Nature and perfections It cloaths God with the passions and infirmities of earthly Princes represents him as extreamly fond of some of his Creatures and very regardless of others as if his kindness to some favourite Saint were a more powerful motive to him to do good than his own love to goodness as if he knew not when nor to whom to shew mercy without their direction or counsel or would not do it without their importunity as if some of his Creatures had as much the ascendant over him as some favourites have over their Princes who can with a words speaking have any thing of them and extort favours from them even against their wills and inclinations No man can think there is any need of such Intercessors and Mediators with God who believes him to be infinitely wise and to be infinitely good to know when it is fit to hear and to answer and to be always ready to do what his own wisdom judges fit to be done There can be no place for such intercessions and intreaties to an infinitely perfect Being for they always suppose some great weakness or defect in him who wants them for even a wise and a good man wants no Mediators to perswade him to do that good which is fit to be done The Objection against this is very obvious and the Answer I think is as easie The Objection is this If God be so good that he needs not such Prayers and Intercessions to move him to do good Why do we pray for our selves Why do we pray for one another Why do we desire the Prayers of good men here on earth Why is it a greater reproach to the Divine Perfections to beg the Prayers of St. Paul or St. Peter now they are in Heaven than to have begged their Prayers while they had been on Earth To this I Answer When we pray for our selves I suppose we do not pray as Mediators but as Supplicants and nothing can be more reasonable than that those who want mercy or any other blessing should ask for it It is certainly no reproach to the Divine goodness that God makes Prayer the condition of our receiving which is a very easie condition and very necessary to maintain a constant sense and reverence of God and a constant dependance on him And when we pray for one another on earth we are as meer supplicants as when we pray for our selves and to pray as supplicants is a very different thing from praying as Advocates as Mediators as Patrons The vertue of the first consists only in the power and efficacy of Prayer the second in the favour and interest of the person This the Church of Rome her self owns when she allows no Mediators and Advocates but Saints in Heaven which is a sign she makes a vast difference between the prayers of Saints on earth and Saints in Heaven There are great and wise reasons why God should command and encourage our mutual prayers for each other while we are on earth for this is the noblest exercise of universal love and charity which is a necessary qualification to render our prayers acceptable to God this preserves the unity of the body of Christ which requires a sympathy and fellow-feeling of each others sufferings this is the foundation of publick worship when we meet together to pray with and for each other to our common Father and it gives a great reputation to vertue and Religion in this world when God hears the prayers of good men for the wicked and removes or diverts those judgments which they were afraid of this becomes the wisdom of God and is no blemish to his goodness to dispence his mercies and favours in such a manner as may best serve the great ends of Religion in this world God does not command us to pray for our selves or others because he wants our importunities and solicitations to do good but because it serves the publick ends of Religion and Government and is that natural homage and worship which Creatures owe to their great Creator and Benefactor and Soveraign Lord. But to imagine that God needs Advocates and Mediators to solicite our cause for us in the Court of Heaven where none of these ends can be served by it this is a plain impeachment of his wisdom and goodness as if he wanted great importunities to do good and were more moved by a partial kindness and respect to some powerful favourites than by the care of his Creatures or his love to goodness Erom hence it evidently appears how inconsequent that reasoning is from our begging the prayers of good men on earth to prove the lawfulness of our praying to the Saints in Heaven to pray and interceed for us the first makes them our fellow supplicants the second makes them our Mediators and Intercessors and how little the Church of Rome gains by that distinction between a Mediator of Redemption and Mediators of pure Intercession for though they pray to Saints and Angels only as Mediators of Intercession yet this is a real reproach to the nature and government of God a Mediator of Redemption is very consistent with the Divine glory and perfections a Mediator of pure intercession is not And the sum of all is this That it is so far from advancing the Divine glory to worship Saints and Angels together with God that it is a real reproach and dishonour to him and therefore this can be no Law nor Institution of our Saviour who came not to abrogate the Divine Laws but to fulfil and perfect them Some think there is no danger of dishonouring God by that honour they give to Saints and Angels because they honour them as Gods Friends and Favourites as those whom God has honoured and advanced to great glory and therefore whatever honour they do to them rebounds back again on God and this may be true while we give no honour to Saints and Angels but what is consistent with the Divine glory but when the very nature of that honour and worship we pay to them is a diminution of Gods glory and a reproach to his infinite perfections as I have made it appear the worship of Saints and Angels is surely it cannot be for Gods glory to advance his Creatures by lessening himself SECT VII 2. LEt us now consider whether the worship of Saints and Angels together with God be a more perfect state of Religion than the worship of God alone with respect to our selves whether it puts us into a more perfect and excellent state It does indeed mightily gratifie the superstition of mankind to have a multitude of Advocates and
Mediators to address to but there are three considerations which may satisfie any man how far this is from a perfect state of Religion 1. That it argues very mean and low conceits of God for did men believe God to be so wise so good and so powerful as really he is they would be contented with one infinite God instead of ten thousand meaner Advocates The worship of Saints and Angels as I have already proved is a great reproach to the Divine perfections and therefore such worshippers must have very imperfect and childish apprehensions of the Supreme Being which is a plain proof what an imperfect state of Religion this is for the perfection of Religion is always proportioned to that knowledge we have of God who is the object of it 2. This worship of Saints and Angels is a very servile state it subjects us to our fellow-creatures who are by nature but our equals however are not our Gods It is a state of liberty freedom and honour to be subject to God who is our natural Lord and Soveraign but to fall down to our fellow Creatures and to worship them with Divine honours with all humility of address and sacred and awful regards is to debase our selves as much below the dignity of our natures as we advance them above it The excellency and perfection of reasonable Creatures principally consists in their Religion and that is the most perfect Religion which does most advance adorn and perfect our Natures but it is an argument of an abject mind to be contented to worship the most excellent Creatures which is a greater dishonour than to own the vilest Slave for our Prince Mean objects of worship do more debase the Soul than any other the wilest submissions and the more our dependancies are and the meaner they are the more imperfect our State and Religion is 3. The greatest perfection of Religion consists in the nearest and most immediate approach to God which I think these men cannot pretend to who flye to the patronage and intercession of Saints and Angels to obtain their Petitions of him Though we should allow it lawful to pray to Saints and Angels to mediate for us with God yet we cannot but own it a more perfect state to do as the Saints and Angels themselves do go to God without any other Advocate but Christ himself It is a great happiness to have a freind at Court to commend us to our Prince when we have no interest of our own but it is a greater priviledge to go immediately to our Prince when we please without any Favourite to introduce us This is the perfect state of the Gospel that we have received The adoption of sins and because we are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba Father That is this Holy Spirit which dwells in us teaches us to call God Father and to pray to him with the humble assurance and confidence of Children This is the effect of Christ intertercession for us That we may now come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need The throne of Grace certainly is not the shrine of any Saints but the immediate throne and presence of God whether we may immediately direct our Prayers through the merits and intercession of Christ. Upon the same account the whole body of Christians are called a Spiritual house that is the Temple of God where he is peculiarly present to hear those Prayers which are made to him An holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people This is a priviledge above what the Jews enjoyed they had a Priesthood to minister in holy things and to offer their Sacrifices for them but the whole Nation was not a Priesthood nor had such immediate access to God but now every Christian has as near an access to God as the Priests themselves under the Law had can offer up his Prayers and Spiritual Sacrifices immediately to God and that very acceptably too through Jesus Christ our great High Priest and Mediator and if our Prayers be acceptable to God by Jesus Chrrist we need no other Mediators or Advocates This is the onely direction our Saviour gave his Disciples a little before his death to ask in his name with this promise If ye ask any thing in my name I will do it Hither to have you asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And to give them the greater assurance of acceptance he acquaints them with Gods great and tender affection for them such as a Father has for his Children At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God a reason which equally extends to all those who shall believe in Christ to the end of the world And can we now imagine that when our Saviour has purchast for us this liberty of access to God he should send us round about by the shrines and Altars of numerous and unknown Saints to the Throne of Grace When he will not assert the necessity of his own Prayers for us while we pray in his name because our heavenly Father hath such a tender affection for all the Disciples of Christ can we think it necessary to pray to St. Paul and St. Peter and the Virgin Mary to pray for us This is none of our Saviours institution nor can it be because Christ by his death and sufferings and intercessions brings us nearer to God as the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh and having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith But the worship of Saints and Angels removes us at a great distance from God as not daring to approach his presence without the mediation of some Favourite Saint And though the Church of Rome does sometimes pray directly to God only in the Name and Mediation of Christ as the Pagans themselves sometimes did to their Supreme Deity yet it seems this is what they dare not trust to and therefore joyn the Meditation of Saints with their Prayers to God and never pray to God without it SECT VIII 5. THat the Gospel of our Saviour has made no alteration in the object of our worship appears from that Analogie which there is and ought to be between the Jewish and Christian Worship The Jewish and Christian Church are but one Church and their worship the same worship only with this
more that Christ and his Apostles have made no alteration in the object of worship appears from hence that de facto there is no such Law in the Gospel for the worship of any other Being besides the One Supreme God There is a great deal against it as I have already shewn but if there had been nothing against it it had been argument enough against any such alteration that there is no express positive Law for it The force of which argument does not consist meerly in the silence of the Gospel that there is nothing said for it which the most Learned Advocates of the Church of Rome readily grant and give their reasons such as they are why this was not done why we are not directed to pray to Saints and Angels and Images c. but the argument lies in this that there can be no alteration made in the object of worship without an express Law and therefore there is no alteration made because there is no such Law in the Gospel The Jews were expresly commanded to worship no other Being but the Lord Jehovah as I have already proved which Law appropriates all the acts of Religious Worship to one God and therefore all those who were under the obligation of this Law as to be sure all natural Jews were could not without the guilt of Idolatry give any Religious Worship to any other Being till this Law were expresly repealed and express leave given to worship some other Divine Beings besides the Supreme God so that at least our Saviour himself while he was on Earth and subject to the Law and his Apostles and all believing Jews were obliged by this Law to worship none but God unless we can shew where Christ by his Legislative Authority or his Apostles by Commission from him have expresly repealed this Law nay indeed unless we can shew that Christ himself repealed this Law and taught the worship of Saints and Angels the Apostles themselves could have no authority to do it for their Commission was onely to teach what Christ had commanded them which though it does not extend to matters of order and discipline and the external circumstances of worship yet it does to all the essentials of Faith and Worship and I think the right object of Worship is the most essential thing in Religious Worship From hence it appears that at least all the Jewish Christians in the Apostles days and all succeeding Ages to this day cannot Worship Saints and Angels without Idolatry because the Law which was given to them and never yet repealed commands them to worship none but God and if Gentile Converts were received into the Jewish Christian Church and Christ has but one Church of Jews and Gentiles they must also be obliged by all those Laws which were then and are still obligatory to all believing Jews and therefore Gentile as well as Jewish Christians are still bound to worship none but God Now I think I need not prove that an express Law can be repealed onely by an express Law That Law which commands us to worship God and him onely must continue in full force till God do as expresly declare that he allows us to pay some degree of Religious Worship to other Beings besides himself When a Law-giver has declared his will and pleasure by a Law it is not fit that Subjects should be allowed to guess at his mind and dispute away an express Law by some surmizes and consequences how probable soever they may appear for at this rate a Law signifies nothing if we may guess at the will of our Law-giver without and against an express Law And yet none of the Advocates of the Church of Rome though they are not usually guilty of too much modesty ever had the confidence to pretend an express Law for the worship of Saints and Angels and Images c. and though they sometimes alledge Scripture to prove this by yet they do not pretend that they are direct proofs but onely attempt to prove some other Doctrines from Scripture from which they think they may prove by some probable consequences that which the Scripture no-where plainly teaches nay the contrary to which is expresly taught in Scripture And if this may be allow'd I know no Law of God so plain and express but a witty man may find ways to escape the obligation of it This is a consideration of great moment and therefore I shall discourse more particularly of it The Law of Moses expresly commands us to worship God and him onely Our Saviour Christ owns and confirms the authority of this Law in the Gospel the Church of Rome notwithstanding this Law gives Religious Worship to Creatures the question then is how she avoids the force of this Law since it is no where expresly repealed and she does not pretend that it is Now the Patrons of Creature-worship think to justifie themselves from the breach of this Law these three ways 1. By consequences drawn as they pretend from other Scripture-Doctrines 2. By distinctions And 3. By authority Let us then examine whether all this have any force against an express Law which was never expresly repepealed 1. By consequences drawn as they pretend from other Scripture-Doctrines and I shall discourse this with a particular reference to the Invocation of Saints For when they would prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints they alledge no direct proof of this from Scripture But because they must make a shew of saying something from Scripture when they are to deal with such Hereticks as will be satisfied with no less authority they endeavour to prove something else from Scripture from whence they think by an easie consequence they can prove the lawfulness of praying to Saints Thus they very easily prove that we may and ought to pray for one another and to desire each others prayers while we are on Earth and from hence they presently conclude that we may as lawfully pray to Saints in Heaven to pray for us as beg and desire their prayers while they are on Earth And to confirm this they endeavour to prove that some extraordinary Saints whose merits are very great do directly ascend up into Heaven into the immediate presence of God and a participation of his Glory and hence they conclude that they have authority and power to help us and to intercede for us and that they are so far advanced above us in this mortal state that they deserve some kind of Religious Honour and Worship from us as being Dii per participationem Gods by participation that is by partaking in the Divine Nature and Glory by their advancement to Heaven And if after all this they can prove that the Saints in Heaven do pray and intercede for us on Earth they think the demonstration is complete and perfect that therefore It is good and profitable as the Council of Trent words it humbly to invoke the Saints after the manner of Supplicants and to fly to their
prayers and help and aid to obtain blessings of God by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who is our onely not Intercessor and Advocate but Redeemer and Saviour Now how they prove all this is not my business at present to enquire but my inquiry is whether such arguments as these be sufficient to oppose against the authority of an express Law and if they be truly I think it a very vain thing either for God or men to make any Laws For 1. I desire to know what these Gentlemen would prove by such kind of arguments as these Suppose we should grant them that the Saints are received into Heaven before the Resurrection and are actually possest of all that Glory and Happiness which they say they are suppose we should grant them that by some means unknown to us Saints and Angels are acquainted with all that we do and suffer in this world hear all our vocal or mental prayers which we offer to God or to themselves and that they do actually pray and intercede for us what follows from hence That therefore we may pray to Saints not I hope if there be an express Law against it These arguments at most can onely prove that in the nature of the thing it might be fitting and reasonable to pray to Saints if God thought fit to allow it not that we must pray to Saints though God has forbid it For those are powerful reasons indeed which can justifie Saint-worship against the express Law and declared Will of God Could they first prove one of these three things Either 1. that there is no such Law against the worship of any other Being besides God Or 2. that this is not the sence of this Law that they must not pray to Saints or Angels that the Law which forbids us to worship any Being but God does not forbid the worship of Saints Or 3. that though there was such a Law and this were the sence of it and this Law were never formally repealed by God yet it disappears of it self and obliges no longer since the discovery of such reasons as these for the worship of Saints and Angels I say could they prove any thing of this in the first place then there would be as much reason for the worship of Saints as there is strength and validity in their Arguments but no Reason can take place against an express Law till it be as expresly repealed For 2. If an express Law may be disobeyed as often as men fancy they see reason to do what the Law forbids this overthrows the whole authority of making Laws and makes every Subject a Judge whether the Laws of a Soveraign Prince shall be obeyed or not At this rate he has the greatest authority who has the best reason and since every man believes his own reason to be best every man is the Soveraign Lord of his own actions It is to be presumed that no Prince makes a Law but what he apprehends some reason for and to oppose any mans private reason against a Law is to set up a private mans reason against the publick reason of government and yet it is much worse to oppose our reason against a Divine Law which is to oppose the reason of Creatures against the reason of God unless we will say that God makes Laws without reason and those who can believe that may as easily imagine that God will expect that those Laws which he makes without reason should be obeyed without reason also and then to be sure all their reasons cannot repeal a Law nor justifie them in the breach of it It becomes every Creature to believe the will of God to be the highest reason and therefore when God has declared his will by an express Law while this Law continues in force as it must do till it be as expresly repealed it is an impudent thing to urge our reasons against the obligations of it So that since God has expresly forbid us to worship any Being besides himself unless we can prove that God has repealed this Law it will never justifie the worship of Saints and Angels though we could by the plainest and easiest arguments prove to the conviction of all Mankind that Saints and Angels are very fit objects of our Religious Worship and that it is no diminution to the glory of God to pay some degree of Religious worship to them 3. Especially when the matter of the Law is such that whatever reasons may be pretended on one side or the other it must still be acknowledged to be wholly at the will and pleasure of the Law-giver which side he will choose As for instance suppose there were no natural and necessary reason against the worship of Saints and Angels yet there is no natural and necessary reason for it neither and therefore God may either allow or forbid it as he himself pleases without assigning any reason why he does either And when it appears that God might forbid it if he pleases and that he has actually forbid it by an express Law it is time to leave off reasoning about it natural reason can give us no assurance of any thing which it cannot prove to be necessary whatever in the nature and reason of things may be or may not be can never be proved either to be or not to be by meer reason for it is a contradiction to say that there is no necessary reason why such a thing should be and yet that I can prove by reason that it must be which supposes that there is a necessary reason why it should be for I cannot prove that it must be unless I can prove that it must necessarily be that is that there is a necessary reason why it should be To apply this then to our present Case The Law expresly forbids us to worship any other Being besides the Supreme God the Church of Rome prays to Saints and Angels and Images which is an essential part of Divine Worship and without ever attempting to prove this Law to be repealed she justifies her worship by such reasons and consequences as I have now cited from their most celebrated Doctors and some of which are the principles whereon the Council of Trent founds their praying to Saints and Angels I ask then whether these arguments whereby they endeavour to justifie the worship of Saints and Angels prove that we must worship them that such worship is their natural right and our duty No this the Church of Rome will not own the most the Council of Trent says is that it is bonum utile good and profitable to do it but say I if they do not prove it to be necessary they prove nothing for if Saints and Angels have not a natural right to our worship though we should suppose them to be very fit objects of some degrees of worship yet it is at Gods choice whether he will allow it or not and they can challenge no worship and we must give none if God
forbids it and therefore since God has forbid the worship of any Being but himself and therefore of the most excellent Saints and Angels by an express Law and it no-where appears where or when or in what manner this Law was repealed a hundred such arguments as these cannot prove it lawful to worship Saints and Angels against an express Law not to do it Though we should grant that God if he pleased might allow us to worship Saints and Angels as the Church of Rome does without any deminution of his own Glory which is the most that all their arguments can pretend to prove yet it does not hence follow that we may worship them when God by an express Law has declared that he will not allow it No arguments nor consequences can prove that God allows us to do that which by an express Law he has forbid us to do No reason can prove that to be Gods will which he has publickly declared in his Law to be against his will 4. That no reason or arguments can absolve us from our obedience to an express Law till it be as expresly repealed appears from this that our obligation to obedience does not depend meerly upon the reason of the Law but upon the authority of the Law-giver and therefore though the reason of the Law should cease yet while it is inforced by the same authority it obliges still Thus I am sure it is in humane Laws and it is very fitting it should be so meer reason cannot make a Law for then every thing which is reasonable would be a necessary duty that which is reasonable may be fit matter for a Law but it is the authority of the Law-giver which makes the Law and the same authority which at first made it a Law continues it to be a Law while the authority lasts though the particular reason for which it was enacted into a Law may cease So that though the Church of Rome could prove that there is no reason now against the worship of Saints and Angels that all those reasons for which God forbad the Jews to worship any one but himself were now ceased yet till the Law be repealed too it is utterly unlawful to worship any Being besides the Supreme God and yet this is the most that all their reasonings come to that there is not the same reason for this Law under the State of the Gospel that there was under the Jewish Oeconomy They suppose that God forbad the Jews to worship any one but himself because they were in great danger of falling into Pagan Idolatries and worshipping the Gods of the Aegyptians and other Neighbour-Nations and that this was the case also of the Christian Church at the first planting of the Gospel but now there is no danger of worshipping false Gods we may very securely worship the Friends and Favourites of God They suppose that all the ancient Patriarchs who lived before the Resurrection of Christ were not received into Heaven and therefore not being in a state of Bliss and Glory themselves were not yet capable of Divine Honours could neither know our Prayers nor intercede for us But now at last some eminent Saints and Martyrs ascend directly into Heaven and are the beati advanced to such a state of Happiness and Glory that they are fit objects of Religious Worship and are so powerful in the Court of Heaven that God denies them nothing which they ask and so tender and compassionate to us that they readily undertake our Cause and intercede for us and therefore it is very good and profitable now to invoke their aid and assistance by solemn and devout Prayers Now though the learnedst men among them are put to miserable shifts to prove the least part of all this yet let us for argument-sake suppose all this to be true that things are mightily changed since the making of this Law and that there is not the same reason now to confine all Religious Worship to God alone that there was in the time of Moses what follows from hence that therefore we may now worship Saints and Angels notwithstanding this Law which forbids it by no means unless they can prove that the Law is repealed too as well as the reason ceased Here is the authority of the Law-giver still though we should suppose that we had lost the reason of the Law till the Law is as expresly repealed as it was given it is Gods Will still and that is reason enough to bind the Law upon us though other reasons fail The reason if we speak of such reasons as these which the Church of Rome assigns for it is a different case if we speak of eternal and necessary reason which is nothing else but the eternal immutable nature and will of God which is an eternal Law did not make the Law and the change of the reason cannot repeal it And since we see that God has not repealed this Law we rather ought to conclude that we are mistaken in the reasons for which God made this Law or that there are other reasons which we know not of for which he continues it we may indeed reasonably suppose that God will repeal a Law when the reason for which it was given ceases though earthly Princes may not always do so but still the Law binds till it be repealed and it is more reasonable to conclude that the reason of the Law continues while we see God does not repeal it than first to perswade our selves that the reason of the Law is changed and thence infer the repeal and abrogation of the Law when we see no such thing done 5. That these arguments which the Roman Doctors urge to justifie their worship of Saints and Angels are of no force to repeal that Law which forbids the worship of any other Being besides the Supreme God appears from this that they had no force in them to prevent the making of this Law and therefore much less can they repeal it now it is made The reasons which they use had the same force then which they have now and if notwithstanding all these reasons God thought fit to forbid the worship of all Created Beings it is ridiculous to imagine that these reasons should supersede the obligation of that Law which is made in contradiction to all such reasonings as to shew this brieâ—ly They prove that we may pray to Saints and Angels to pray for us because we may desire good men on earth to pray for us Now suppose we could not assign the difference between praying to Saints in Heaven and desiring the prayers of Saints on earth yet I would desire to know whether good men did not pray for one another and desire each others prayers before and after God gave this Law on Mount Sinai which forbids the Religious worship and invocation of any other Being but himself if good men did in all ages pray for one another and desire one anothers prayers and God allowed and approved
of this then it seems God did not think this a good reason for praying to Saints and Angels in Heaven because good men might beg each others prayers on earth for if he had he would not have made that Law which forbids such a Religious Invocation of any Creature And if notwithstanding this reason which had as much force then as it has now God made and promulged this Law this reason can never repeal it nor dissolve the obligation of it Thus if the Saints Angels being in Heaven be a good reason why they should be worshipped this was as good a reason at the giving of the Law as it is now for thô we should suppose with the Church of Rome that Saints departed were not in Heaven then yet certainly the Angels were and if their being in Heaven made them fit objects of our worship why did God so expresly forbid it and if he forbad it then when there was as much reason to allow the worship of those heavenly Inhabitants as there is now this argument cannot prove but that God forbids it still The same may be said of the Intercession of Saints and Angels The Papists suppose that the Saints and Angels pray and intercede for us in Heaven and obtain for and convey many blessings to us and therefore it is good and profitable to pray to them and to flie to their patronage now though indeed they date the Intercession of Saints as they do their admission into heaven from the Resurrection of our Saviour yet there is as much evidence for the aids and intercessions of Angels before and under the Law as there is now nay I think somewhat more for the government of the world was much more under the administration of Angels in the time of the Law then it is now and yet notwithstanding this God did by an express Law forbid the worship of any Being but himself and therefore of these Angelical powers who are somewhat superiour to Saints in Heaven and if this were no good reason against making this Law it can be no good reason to prove the abrogation of it 2. The next way they take to evade the obligation of this Law of worshipping God only is by distinctions As to name the chief of them They tell us that this Law is only opposed to the worship of false Gods such Gods as the Heathens worshipped not to the worship of Saints and Angels who are the Friends and Favourites of God And then they distinguish about the nature of worship they confess there is a worship which is peculiar to God Supreme and Soveraign worship which is peculiar to the Supreme Being and this for what reason I know not they call Latria but then there is an inferiour degree of worship which they call Dulia which may be given to excellent Creatures to Saints and Angels who reign with Christ in Heaven They farther distinguish between absolute and relative worship Absolute worship is when we worship a Being for its self and thus God onely is to be worshipped but relative worship is when we worship one Being out of respect to another and thus we may worship Saints and Angels upon account of their relation to God Now I shall have occasion to examine these distinctions more particularly hereafter my business at present is to examine how far these distinctions can justifie the worship of Saints and Angels against an express Law which commands us to worship God only And I have three things to say on this argument 1. That the letter of the Law will admit of no such distinctions as these 2. That the Scripture no where allows of any such distinctions And 3. That no distinctions can justifie our acting against the letter of a Law which have not the same authority which the Law has 1. The letter of the Law will admit of no such distinctious as these The Law is Thou shalt have none other Gods before me The explication of this Law is Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name Or as our Saviour expounds it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Now these words do plainly exclude the worship of all other Beings besides the Supreme God They exclude indeed the worship of all the Heathen Gods which were at that time worshipped in the world but they are not confined to the worship of the Heathen Gods nor meerly to the worship of those Gods who were at that time worshipt but should any new Gods start up in after Ages whether among Jews or Christians the words extend to all that are and all that ever shall be worshipped Thou shalt have none other Gods before Me Signifies that we must worship no other Being but the Supreme God for to have a God is to give religious worship to some Being as appears from that exposition which both Moses and our Saviour Christ gives of it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve For it is impossible to have any God besides the Supreme God in any other sense than as we worship some other Being besides the Supreme God with Divine honours and whatever Being we so worship become our God and therefore this Law forbids the worship of any Being which is not God be it Saint or Angel or the Virgin Mary how excellent and perfect Creatures soever they be they are not our God and therefore must not be worshipped If we must worship and serve God onely as our Saviour expresly tells us that we must worship no Creature whatever it be the worship of Saints and Angels is as expresly forbid by this Law as the worship of the Heathen Gods for that Law which commands us to worship God onely excludes the worship of all Creatures whatever they be But may not the meaning of this Law be onely this That we must not give Supreme and Soveraign worship to any other Being but the Supreme God but we may give an inferiour degree of worship to some excellent Spirits who under God have the care of us And is not this plainly signified in the very letter of the Law when it says Thou shalt have none other Gods before me For no other worship makes any Being a God but that which is Supreme and Soveraign peculiar and appropriate to the One Supreme God and therefore not to have any other Being for our God is not to give Supreme and Soveraign worship to it Now what that worship is which is peculiar and appropriate to the Supreme God I shall discourse particularly in the second part our present inquiry is whether this Law makes any such distinction The Laws says Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Here is no distinction between Supreme and Subordinate worship whatever is an Act of worship must be given to God onely But the Law says Thou shalt have no