have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin He that hath made the best use thereof is most concerned in it and comprehended under it therefore he cannot say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sins but he must lye to the Holy Ghost and be so far from cleansing his heart as immediatly to let in many unclean spirits the more to defile it For those two which God hath joyned together all the wit and power of man cannot put asunder even Satans filling the heart and lying to the Holy Ghost why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Acts 5. 3. And if Satan filleth the heart of those who make this lye then sure he also filleth the mouth of those who tell it And therefore the Church of God which is the pillar and ground of the Truth very much abhorreth this lye making this confession of her natural corruptions But we are all as an unclean thing Facti sumus ut Immundus omnes nos so the Hebrew and Chaldee in the singular number we are all but as one unclean man to shew the Uncleanness was from nature which was as equally derived to All as if all had been but one and making this confession of her personal corruptions which proceeded from the natural and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa. 64. 6. Wherefore since Protestants and Papists both agree together in the former part of this confession as a Principle of Divinity 't is irrational in the Papists to disagree from Protestants in the latter part of it which is but a conclusion proceeding from this Principle For the natural corruption is the cause of the personal and therefore all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags because we are all as an unclean thing This being the full argumentation All who are unclean have an unclean righteousnesse but we all are unclean therefore we all have an unclean righteousnesse Quia opus justitiae immundatur inquinamento as saith Aquinas because our righteousnesse is defiled by our unrighteousnesse and by this we may fully understand that other text If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. For we are clearly guilty of a double lye one against our own souls we deceive our selves another against the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth and the truth is not in us Both are such pernicious lyes as to bring upon us inevitable destruction for he that willingly deceives his own soul cares not for knowing the truth he that strives to deceive the Holy Ghost cannot come to know it For as he hath not the truth in him in that he deceiveth himself so he keepeth the Spirit of truth away from him that he may deceive himself for ever Nor can we possibly use any evasion upon this text as if some men might say they have no sin though others cannot for he must think himselfe better than the best of Saints the Disciple whom Jesus loved and questionlesse he had a very good reason of his love who will needs say he hath no sin though by saying so he is sure to prove himself worse than the worst of sinners for he maketh him a lyar who hath promised forgiveness of sins and he maketh his Word a lye which hath shewed our need or want of that forgiveness for in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. and he putteth himself out of their communion who alone obtain forgiveness even the communion of true penitents of whom it is said If we confesse our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. he that denyes himself to be one of this number denyes himself to be one of the communion of Saints unless St. John and St. James were no Saints and consequently makes himself uncapable of the forgiveness of sins Thus doth the second Milevitane Council gloss the words of St. John that they were not spoken out of humility but out of necessity and that the greatest the necessity of Truth Satis apparet hoc non tantum humiliter sed etiam veraciter dici Poterat enim Apostolus dicere Si dixerimus quia non habemus peccatum nos ipsos extollimus humilitas in nobis non est sed quùm ait nos ipsos decipimus veritas in nobis non est satis ostendit eum qui se dixerit non habere peccatum non verum loqui sed falsum It is evident that this was spoken not only out of modesty but also out of truth for the Apostle might have said If we say that we have no sin we extol our selves and there is no humility in us But when he saith we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us he sufficiently sheweth that whosoever saith there is no sin in him doth not speak truly but falsly And thus also doth the same Council gloss the words of St. James saying The Apostle was holy and just when he said in many things we offend All for why did he add this particle All but to shew that he agreed with the Psalmist who had said Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 142. 2. and with Solomon who had said There is no man that sinneth not 1 King 8. 46. And with Daniel who had said We have sinned and have committed iniquity Dan. 9. 5. and afterwards added ver 20. whiles I was confessing my sins and the sins of my people he would not say Our sins but My sins and the sins of my people because he did foresee by the Spirit of Prophecy that some in after ages would be ready to put him and such as he nay indeed much worse transgressours out of the catalogue or number of sinners Quia futuros istos qui tam malè intelligerent tanquam Propheta praevidit And at last upon these and the like proofes the same Council denounceth a terrible curse against those who should dare affirme that forgive us our trespasses was said by the Saints rather humbly than truly quis enim ferat orantem non hominibus sed ipsi Domino mentientem qui labiis sibi dicit dimitti velle corde dicit quae sibi dimittantur se debita non habere For say those Fathers who can endure that a man in his prayers should tell a lye not to man but to God saying with his mouth Forgive us our trespasses and saying in his heart he had no trespasses to be forgiven him Thus we have the authority of the Scripture and the authority of the Church both agreeing together in this doctrine That all men are sinners And though this was but a particular National Council in it self yet was it Universal and Oecumenical in its authority as consisting of Catholick Bishops amongst the rest Alipius and St. Augustine as appeares by the Synodical Epistle to Innocent the first and having been approved by the Catholick
Minus dicit plus significat vult enim quod non solum in futuro sed etiam hic punitur tale peccatum He speaks little but he signifies much for his meaning is That such a sin is punished not only in the next world but also in this 10. Your late Jesuites tell us of a remission of the sin with a reservation of the punishment but your old Divines take remitting for not punishing without which in truth it cannot be remission For God doth not afford us a less forgiveness then he doth require us to afford one another and that is so to forgive the sin as not once to think of punishing or of revenging it For indeed to forgive sin is nothing else in its own nature but not to reserve it to be punished and because God punished our Saviour for our sins it is said He made him sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. For so Christ took our sin upon him that is to say not our Guilt but our Punishment and he took it upon himself that he might not leave it upon us For he was wounded for our transgressions Isa. 53. 5. He was bruised for our iniquities that is He was punished that we might be acquitted The chastisement of our peace was upon him that is His chastisement was our Peace and with his stripes we are healed And blessed be God we are so for sure it is we could never be healed with our own stripes it is his wounds work our cure and not our own yet I will not follow Scotus who to confute them that denyed contingency did say It is pitty but such men should be under torments till they should confess it were possible for them not to be tormented I will not say in like manner It is pitty but they who deny our souls to be healed with our Saviours stripes should themselves be beaten with many stripes till they should confess that their own stripes could not heal them for then I know they would be under the lash for ever But I must say That it were just with God to put them under such a confutation For they are under a gross denyal not of a Metaphysical but of a Theological Truth and that of such a Truth as hath joyned Gods Mercy and Justice both together in mans salvation and therefore such a Truth as may not be denyed without great uncharitableness to man and greater unthankfulness to God I think few of those men who now most stand upon this new Divinity of remission in the next world to be obtained by our own stripes and others suffrages because it brings them so good a market would be willing at their deaths to venture their souls upon it for fear it should bring them as bad a remedy And I cannot but wonder at your Cardinal who hath said concerning this Text Hinc colligunt Sancti Patres quaedam peccata remitti in futuro seculo per orationes suffragia Ecclesiae Bellar. lib. 1. de Purg. cap. 4. Hence the holy Fathers do gather that some sins are forgiven in the next world by the prayers and the suff ages of the Church for he could not say this if Saint Thomas said true without putting Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostom out of the Catalogue of the Fathers 11. I know our Country-man Backet was swayed by Saint Augustine to conclude for Purgatory but I fear either he mis-applyed or mis-understood Saint Augustine or Saint Augustine mis-understood himself For Saint Augustine hath most dogmatically determined against it lib. 13. de Civit. Dei cap. 8. In requie sunt animae piorum à corpore separatae Impiorum autem poenas luunt donec istarum ad aeternam vitam illarum vero ad aeternam mortem corpora reviviscant The souls of the righteous are in rest of the unrighteous in torment after they are separated from the flesh till the bodies of the one shall be raised again to eternal life the bodies of the other to eternal death 12. But he that will not teach Fancy instead of Faith must take God for the Author and Gods Church for the Pillar and ground of that Truth which he teacheth else he may chance rove in uncertainties to the worlds end especially if he shall take Metaphorical allusions for dogmatical conclusions and florid declâ—…mations for solid determinations as Divines now usually are on all sides in their citations out of â—…he Fathers upon any argument making some of them speak against their own doctrine to speak for new devices and in effect to write contradictions rather then not write for the great Diana of these clamorous Ephesians Therefore I will not here examine the citations of the Fathers for surely A Christian Divine is bound to teach no other Faith for Christian then such as hath been manifestly declared in the Word of Christ and generally and constantly professed by the Catholick Church of Christ And your Cardinal finds not so muth as the word Purgatory in all the Scriptures nor in any one general Council till the fourth of Laterane under nnocent the third above twelve hundred years after Christ which was as far from being Oecumenical as Rome is from being all the Christian world and if it had been so yet hath only furnished us with Consultations not with Canons or Constitutions your own Platina being my witness who saith thus in the life of Innocent the third Venere multa in consultationem nec decerni tamen quicquam apertè potuit Many things were debated but nothing was openly decreed in this Council and I hope you will not say that they passed their decrees in private or by any underhand dealing An observation that may weaken some of your other Tenents no less then Purgatory which you obtrude upon the consciences of men as established by the Canons of this Council which in truth made no Canons at all if your own Platina be worth belief 13. Next I meet with your Cardinals Reasons whereof some do rather put then prove this new Article of Faith contrary to Aquinas who allows not of Ratio ponens but only of Ratio probans radicem fidei par 1. qu. 32. art 1. ad 2. arguing not so much from the authority of Gods Word as against it As particularly that reason lib. 1. cap. 11. Intelligibile non est quomodo verbum ociosum ex naturâ suâ dignum sit perpetuo odio Dei maneat igitur quaedam esse peccata venialia solâ temporaâ—…i poenâ digna No man can understand how an idle word is in its own nature worthy of Gods eternal hatred therefore let it stand for a Truth that some sins are venial and only worthy of temporal punishment A strange way of arguing for a Divine who should not exercise his Readers curiosity but establish his conscience Christ saith That for every idle word men shall give account in the day of Judgement to make men repent before hand even of their least sins that judging themselves they may not be
of God And he gave them that liberty will you call that a hearing of Prayer Then say That hearing of Prayer is not an Act of Grace but of Vengeance for a liberty of doing mischief doth of it self tend to nothing but to the increase of damnation He that seriously considers Prayer to be an elevation of the soul to God will not easily allow it to be an engagement of the soul to the Devil 3. As for Gods hearing the good desires of naturall men that is also in my weak apprehension another exception against this generall Rule God heareth not sinners rather then an exposition of it So far am I from thinking that Aquinas intended to expound this rule by turning it into a question and much further was I from saying That he made a sufficient exposition of it For I must look upon all naturall men as God looks upon them that is as sinners so saith the Text most expresly God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand that did seek God Every one of them is gone back they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Psalm 53. 2 3. which is alledged by Saint Paul as a proof that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin Rom. 3. 9 10 11 12. That is They are all under sin as they are in themselves or as naturall men And therefore as such that is As naturall men or as sinners God heareth them not Hitherto I think the generall Rule is not expounded but excepted and though naturall men may in some respects have good desires yet as such I do not see how they can have good prayers Good desires may be from nature but good prayers are only from grace 4. You may take to your self what liberty you please in some other opinions but scarce in this because it may easily be made destructive of true Christianity For every Christian Divine is bound not only to believe but also to profess That none can properly be said to Pray but only a Christian. And that no Christians prayers whatsoever he be are heard by vertue of his own but only by vertue of Christs intercession The Catholick Church having taught us the belief of both these doctrines by her constant obsecration in all her prayers Through Jesus Christ our Lord And the Holy Ghost having taught it his For no man can say that Jesus is the Lord much less our Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. And he must not only say Our Lord but also Our Father that will truly pray that is he must draw near to God in the acknowledgement of Christs Communion and through the Faith of Christs intercession Our Father which art in heaven teacheth us both these Truths In that we call God Father we profess that we pray through his eternall Sons intercession for till he reconciled us we were enemies not children In that we call him Our Father we profess that we pray in his eternall Sons Communion who did graciously teach us to call him Ours because he had made him so Nor can any man say to God Our Father who knows not Christ nor any man that knows Christ truly say it but in that Communion whereof Christ is the Head If nature doth teach men to pray in faith of Christs intercession and in the acknowledgement of Christs Communion saying Through Jesus Christ our Lord then without doubt God may hear the Prayers which proceed from naturall men But if nature doth so indeed then am not I so much bound as I think and willingly acknowledge to Christ and his Church for teaching me to pray so And I had rather disown that is not embrace any mans opinion then disown the least part of my obligation to Christs Catholick Church which doth by me as Saint Paul did by the Galathians travaileth in birth of me till Christ be formed in me that I may offer to God such Prayers as proceed not from my nature but from his Grace and that not through my self but through Jesus Christ our Lord. And much more am I bound not to disown my obligation to my blessed Saviour by whose Grace I am enabled to pray and for whose sake God doth hear my Prayers In the merit of whose unspotted righteousness I offer and present my impure person in the righteousness of whose all-sufficient intercession I offer and present my imperfect prayers before the throne of the heavenly Grace as often as with my heart and not only with my lips I say unto my God Our Father which art in heaven For though men may number their prayers by their repetitions and by their beads yet surely God numbereth them by their sighs and by their grâ—…ans And it were to be wished that all men did likewise so number them having such an heavenly attention in their prayers as to be with Christ and such an heavenly affection as to be in Christ since it is requisite they should have their hearts in and with him in praying whose mediation they desire to have with their Prayers CAP. II. Of Priests Marriage 1. POpe Siricius blamed for speaking dishonourably of marriage and some Papists after him 2. To say that Priests marriage hath been forbidden by the Apostles or the Catholick Church is to accuse both of approving the doctrine of Devils 3. Christ allows of Priests marriage 4. The Popes of Rome did not attempt to forbid it till Siricius his daies 5. The Apostles neither taught nor decreed against it 6 For Priests to marry is not contrary to the Churches precept 7. Nine Popes of Rome the sons of married Bishops Priests and Deacons some in Europe some in Africa some in Asia shew that marriage was lawfull for all those orders of Clergy men in the Catholick Church till near nine hundred years after Christ. That the Prohibition thereof in the Church of Rome was not till the year 1074. by Pope Gregory the seventh 8. The second Canon of the second Council of Carthage rightly interpreted forbids Priests only the use of their marriage at some special feasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being rendred secundum priora propria statuta speaks for the truth of the Greek Copies before the Latine The Pope in need of a Provinciall Councill to support his Decree 9. Abrahams being married a good instance for Priests marriage who need look for no better then his righteousness 10. God saying of all It is better to marry then to burn the Church may not gainsay it of Priests 11. The Trullane Fathers blame the Romanists aboout Priests Marriage yet their Canons confirmed by Pope Adrian who in this thwarts Siricius 12. Saint Paul allowed marriage to prevent the danger and not only the guilt of fornication The Church bound to follow his doctrine 13. Saint Pauls thorn in the flesh his poenall afflictions not his sinfull motions or his tribulations not his temptations in the flesh 14. Marriage better allowed
in c. Sicut praecepta Legis humanae ordinant hominem ad quandam communitatem humanam Ita praecepta legis divinae ordinant hominem ad quandam communitatem seu rempublicam hominum sub Deo Ad hoc autem quod aliquis in aliquâ communitate beâ—…è commoratur duo requiruntur Quorum primum est ut benè se habeat ad eum qui praeest communitati aliud autem est ut benè se habeat ad alios communitatis consocios comparticipes oportet igitur quòd in lege divinâ primò ferantur quaedam praecepta ordinantia hominem ad Deum inde alia quaedam praecepta ordinantia hominem ad alios proximos simul convenientes sub Deo As the praecepts of humane Laws do order men to a Communion or Common wealth amongst themselves so the Precepts of divine laws do order men to a Communion or Common-wealth under God Now that a man may be fit to live in any Communion two things are required The first is that he behave himself well towards the Head of that Communion the next that he behave himself well towards his fellow-members and co-partners in it Accordingly in the Divine Law first we meet with precepts teaching a man his duty towards his God after these we meet with other precepts teaching him his duty towards his neighbours who together with himself do live under the government of that same God Nothing can be spoken either more plainly or more punctually to shew that the Decalogue as the Rule of Justice is the gâ—…ound of Christian Communion That whosoever desires to be of that Communion must first learn his Duty towards his God the Head of it then his duty towards his neighbours his fellow-members in it That these Duties are as distinct as their objects taught in two several distinct orders of precepts some concerning God others concerning his neighbours And that all save God alone are to be accounted as his neighbours in this Communion as all living with himself under one and the same Head which is God From which premises we may well inferr this conclusion That what Duty belongs to the Head only may not be practised towards any of the members without a confusion of Gods Order a violation of Gods Law and an invasion of Gods Right which must needs be highly displeasing to all the true members of this Communion whether in heaven or in earth who all agree in nothing more then in honouring their Head and therefore cannot but detest whatsoever shall tend to his dishonour for since himself hath said I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another Isa. 42. 8. we may be ashamed must be afraid of giving that Glory to Saints and Angels which God will not part withall for if he deny the gift how dare we give that 's to give in sin there 's reason for our fear If he will not give it they will not take it that 's to give in vain there 's reason for our shame For as in mens natural so in Christs mystical Body all the members alike are made to serve the Head and in order to the Head it is that they serve one another So that there is not one member which will not neglect to serve it self and much more its fellow-member when it should serve its Head Let God but have the same priviledge among Christians as without doubt he hath the same right for they are that body whereof he is the Head and no man will hereafter so misplace his devotion so mispend his time so mistake himself as to be worshipping of an Angel or a Saint whiles he should be worshipping of God I will not ask With what faith I can say I believe in an Angel instead of I believe in God or to which Article of the Creed this Religious worship as you call it is reducible that it may be done in faith though what is not of faith is sin more then exceeding sinful in our Prayers for in that I have proved this worship cannot be without fâ—…lly I have sufficiently proved it cannot bâ—… with faith Nor will I ask how it is agreeable with our Lords most holy Prayer the pattern of all sound prayers for me to say Our Brother instead of Our Father which art in heaven though if I pray out of Christs Communion who will not cannot joyn with me in saying Our Brother but will and doth joyn with me in saying Our Father I cannot pray in hope because I must also pray without Christs Intercession through which alone God heareth my prayers for having proved that this worship cannot be with faith I need not prove it must be without hope I only ask How this worship can be with Charity I mean that Charity which hath God only for its immediate object since Faith Hope and Charity are three Theological vertues no less inseparable from themselves then they ought to be inseparable from our souls And if this worship may not be with Gods Charity why should my Charity be with this worship If it love not God why should I love it and if it love another instead of God how doth it love God Sure I am God himself hath determined in a case very like this That They who embrace a false worship do hate the true God Exod. 20. 5. Visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And how can good Christians with any conscience do that which may come under the least temptation or suspition of hateing God Wherefore this false worship must needs so trouble and startle true Believers as to be the cause of division and dis-union for ever in the Church of Christ dividing man from man to the worlds end because it divides man from God for whose sake and in whose name and love we ought to follow and embrace the Christian Communion For the same Voice which calls us to Communion in worshipping first calls us to Religion in the worship nor is it possible for any man to shew a Text which saith O come let us worship there 's the Communion which doth not likewise say worship God there 's the Religion Thus saith the man after Gods own heart and therefore nearest his mind O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker Psal. 95. 6. So establishing publick as also establishing true and forbidding false worship For Rectum index sui obliqui he which saith O come let us worship and fall aown and kneel before the Lord our maker doth by the rule of contraries likewise say Let us not worship nor fall down nor kneel before any that is not our maker Wherefore since you have most shamefully violated this command you were best to let your repentance follow yout shame that your shame may not fore-run your confusion Put then your own translation into your practice come with your Venite adoremus
that your Priests are convinced of their Idolatry in worshipping of Images because they are so willing to shuffle off the second Commandement which forbids it least that should also convince the common people wherein a late German Bishop and Clergy of yours shewed too much fraud to be accounted men of conscience and too little Art to be accounted men of cunning for commanding that the Lords Prayer the Angelical salutation the Creed and Ten Commandements should be distinctly and leisurably repeated in the German tongue every Lords day by the Parish Priests that the people might be able to repeat understand and learn them Distinctè ac tractatim ut populus legentem repetitione subsequi ea discere memoriae mandare possit Synod Augustensis cap. 25. yet left not so much as any blind footsteps of the second Commandement in their German translation which they appointed the Priests to read There was little conscience in leaving out one of Gods Commandements and as little cunning in commanding the Parish Priests to read them All when they themselves had left out One for they could not think by their false copy which quite left out the second Commandement and called the third the second to blind their Priests though they did think by it to blind the people They would be thought very zealous in teaching those committed to their charge all the Fundamentals of salvation yet purposely concealed one main practical fundamental because they had formerly mis-taught or at least mispractised the same finding it more agreeable with their honour though less with their honesty to let the people continue still in ignorance then to recall their own errour The like was the tender care and conscience of your Trent Fathers to instruct the people in their prayers Sess. 22. cap. 8. Etsi Missa magnam contineat populi fidelis eruditionem non tamen expedire visum est Patribus ut vulgari linguâ passim celebraretur Ne tamen oves Christi esuriant Pastores frequenter aliquid in Missâ exponant Though the Mass contain in it very great and necessary instructions for faithful people yet we do not think fit to put it in a language they can understand notwithstanding least Christs sheep should be bunger-starved the Pastors are required often to expound some parts of it A great seeming Fatherly care of souls to fear they might perish for want of food but no Fatherly kindness nor resolution rather to let them perish then make them able to feed themselves But the cause was the same in both The peoples ignorance was to keep them in their sinful obedience For the less they knew the more they would obey in things so plainly against the Law of God Therefore these two Synods had rather the common people should worship God without their Reason then with their Conscience though they could not worship as men without their Reason nor as Christians but with their Conscience But so it is Reason and Conscience must both be laid aside or lulled asleep when men are to act upon false Principles as in this particular The Commandment was to be thrown down that the Images might be kâ—…pt up For that is so plain in its Prohibition and so powerful in its Commination that if the people had understood it they would not have committed so gross Idolatry or would full soon have become very penitent Idolators And good reason for Images are but a relick of Paganism Ex Gentili consuetudine as saith Eusibius Hist. Eccles. lib. 7. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a Paganish custom and therefore long kept out of the Churches of Christians and longer kept out of their Religion though now they so abound in your Churches and Religion as if you meant that even in your most populous Cities these your new Gods should exceed and out-vie the number of their worshippers so that I might justly hint at your pictures and Images all my fault was I did only hint at them I will now make some part of amends and down-right strike at them though by other mens hands not mine own For in this case I have the primest Champions of Christendom to prove that Images were long kept out of the Churches of Christians and longer kept out of their Religion and either of these is enough to break them in pieces 16. First that Images were long kept out of the Churches of Christians and for this we have the testimony of Epiphanius for the Greek and of Saint Hierom for the Latine Church both in one Epistle to John of Hierusalem which was indicted or composed by Epiphanius translated and approved by Saint Hierom. The testimony is in these words Cùm ergo hoc vidissem in Ecclesiâ Christi contra authoritatem Scripturarum hominis pendere Imaginem scidi illud magis dedi consilum custodibus ejusdem loci ut pauperem mortuum eo obvolverent efferent Precor ut jubeas Presbyteros ejusdem loci deinceps praecipere in Ecclesiâ Christi ejusmodi vela quae contra Religionem nostram veniunt non appendi The story is this Epiphanius going to say his prayers in a Church at Anabaltha there spied a vail or curtain which had in it the picture of Christ or of some Saint at which he was so offended That he cut down the said veil or curtain and wished the Keepers of the Church to bury a dead man therewith alledging it was against the authority of the holy Scriptures and the purity of Christian Religion that such Images should be set up in Churches and desiring the Bishop of Hierusalem in whose Diocess it was to require the Clergy there to admit no more such pictures or images into that Church Contra authoritatem Scripturarum contra Religionem nostram No Christian Bishop can have stronger arguments or rather adjurations either for the casting out or the keeping out of Images from his Church then that the retaining or the receiving of them is against the authority of the Scriptures the custom of the Church and the conscience of Religion All which are here alledged by Epiphanius For he that saith Contra Religionem nostram against our Religion doth appeal to the custom of Christians as well as to the conscience of Christianity And this quotation is such a Gordian not to your Cardinal that after all his pains to loosen and untie it at last Alexander like he cuts it off saying Verior solutio haec verba esse supposititia Bell. lib. 2. de sanct cap. 9. The truest answer is The words are supposititious But words entailed upon the Church for so many hundred years together are not so easily cut off The same Authority had before troubled Waldensis yet he denies not the truth of the story only saith That Epiphanius did this thing in hatred of the Anthropomorphites and out of zeal not according to knowledge Wald. de Sacramental Tit. 19. c. 157. So likewise Alphonsus a Castro lib. de Haer. voce Imago denies not the
with what Head Heart and Hand I can answer it for all will be little enough to vindicate Gods glory which you have taken from him to give unto his servants so little cause have you to be troubled that we will not joyn with you in the same theft and agree altogether to rob God For you say Against praying to Saints I alledge Job 4. 18. It seems I might have alledged twenty texts more impertinently for praying to Saints and no exception would have been taken at my allegations For so your late Dogmatist hath done most unconscionably because to the abuse of Christian Religion most uncharitably because to the breach of Christian Communion and yet neither you nor any of your party have sought to reclaim his errour or to repair Gods truth But you have laid a task upon me That I must â—…rit vindicate mine own before I may oppose his Allegations Mine own allegation was this Behold he put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with â—…olly This 〈◊〉 used as an argument to confute that strange I might have said that blasphemous Invocation which you are pleased to teach poor mis-believing souls though its rythm being above its reason shews in what unhappy age it stole into your prayers O Thoma Didyme succurre nobis miseris ne damnemur cum impiâ—…s in adventu Judicis Help us O good Saint Thomas that we be not condemned with the wiâ—…ked in the last Iudgement For said I those mighty helpers the blessed Saints will not in that day be able to help themselves much less will they be able to help others Therefore all of us had reed rely upon that helper which alone is able to stand himself and to support us in the Judgement and he is no other but only the eternal Son of God For saying this two great sins are laid to my châ—…ge by the consâ—…quence of your exception which concerns Divines though not by the words of it which concern Grammarians The first is That I look upon the day of Judgement with too fearful an eye and seek to get my self an helper or a supporter against that day The second is That I look upon my Saviour with too faithful an eye and seek to get him for my helper and supporter Come Sir let us not triste away our souls though we do our words but acknowledge the terrour and the scrutinie of that day will be both alike unsupportable That the Justice of God will shew it self indispensable That our conviction will be made indisputable and why not our condemnation undenyable That all flesh must then keep silence and no flesh will be able to keep station before him but such as have the eternal Iustice to satisfie for their sins and the eternal Word to plead on their behalf that satisfaction Therefore in this unimaginable unexpreâ—… inextricable exigency and diâ—…tress of â—…ouls there can be but one common Sanctuary for all mankind to she unâ—…o and consequently in vain do any of us â—…lie to other Sanctuaries before it For if we must chang our other Sanctuaries then why should we choose them now If the Saints then cannot be our Helpers why should we now pray unto them for help since all our Prayers tend to this That we may be acquitted in the last Judgement and not so gain the world as to lose our own souls My help cometh from the Lord saith holy David which made heaven and earth Psalm 121. 2. not saying what help because he meant all help not saying ae what time because he meant at all times not saying in what exigencies because he meant in all exigencies so then this is his meaning All my help at all times and in all exgencies cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth As no Saint helped him to make them so no Saint can help me when he will destroy them Therefore if I would not be helpless in that day when I shall most want help even in the day of Destruction I must beseech him to be my Helper which made heaven and earth For only he that made them out of nothing is able to keep me from being worâ—…e then nothing â—…or though the Heavens shall then pass away with a great noise and the earth shall be burned up 2 Pet. 3. 10. yet his help shall not pass away but shall preserve me and all those that heartily Pray unto him from the everlasting Burnings which is more then he hath promised to do for those who pray to Saints and t is to be feared that such prayers will make him do less Therefore give me such an Helper as will not leave me nor forsake me till he hath saved me and sure that can be no other but the God of my salvation so saith the same holy Supplicant Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation Psal. 27. 9. May I say to any Saint in the Day of thanks giving when I shall be in heaven Thou hast been my help 2. And how then shall I say to any Saint in the day of supplication whiles I am on earth Make speed to save me make haste to help me since what is Prayer on earth will be Prayer in Heaven for we shall not there learn unthankfulness How can I leave out O Lord and say O Mother of God save me and help me For in this case your learned Cardinal supplies me with a reason to the contrary Nam ea quibus indigenâ—…us superant vires creaturae ac proinde etiam Sanctorum Bell de â—…anct Beat. lib. 1. c. 17. Those things which we 〈◊〉 are above the power of the Saints to give us And if our wants be above their Power how are our Prayers for the supply of those wants not above their Glory for we are taught to say at the end of our Prayers For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory nor can we pray in faith to any to whom we cannot say so at the end of our Prayers therefore not to any but to God the Father Son and holy Ghost And it is the great scandal and greater sin of your Prayers to the blessed Virgin and other Saints That you ask those blessings and that protection from them which he alone can give whose is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory But to return to your Cardinals Reason which alone is enough to keep me from turning to his Religion If those things which we want be not in the power of the Saints to give us why should they be in our Prayers to the Saints as if they could give them â—…or be that hath said Ask and it shall be given you Mat. 7. 7. hath in effect said Ask not of those who cannot give For that is either to ask in vain or to ask in sin t is to ask vain if without the Gift t is to ask in sin if against the Precept So then I asking not that help of the Saints which they cannot
but me doth likewise say Thou shall invocate no other but me because invocation is the most proper and the most publick acknowledgement and worship of God For Invocation is required by the first though it is regulated by the third commandement That enjoyns the object and internal affection this only enjoyns the manner and the external expression Therefore Call upon me in the day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. belonging to the affirmative Call not upon any besides me doth belong to the negative precept in the first Commandement since these two are contraries and contraria sunt sub eodem genere posita contraries must be ranked or reckoned under one and the same Head For in vain doth your Cardinal seek to excuse bad words in prayers from the good sense or meaning of him that prays non agitur de verbis sed de sensu verborum Bell. l. 1. de sanct Beat. c. 17. because as a right intention in our prayers is required by the first so also a right expression in our prayers is required by the third Commandement God requirlng us no less to honour his Name by right words and professions in the One then to honour his Nature by right intentions and affections in the other For as we may not honour God with our lips whiles our hearts are far from him So neither may we dishonour him with our lips whiles our hearts are near him For as the one makes us Hypocritical so the other makes us blasphemous worshippers As the one is directly against the internal so the other is directly against the external Act of Religion as the one is against the morality of the first so the other is against the morality of the third Commandement But of this I have spoken elsewhere of purpose to justifie the Religion established and professed amongst us for which so many Orthodox Divines have lately lost their livelyhoods by Protestants and pray they may not come to lose their lives by Papists because I was there bound to shew the irreligion that I found not only in Faction which hath no Liturgie but also in superstition which hath corrupt Liturgie Justif. of the Church of England cap. 3. sec. 3. there you might have seen more work made for you upon the grounds of conscience then you have here made for me only upon the grounds of contention Thither if you please you may go for more of this argument but before you go take this Question along with you not Where was this your Religion of praying to Saints before Luther but where is it now For it is not in any of Gods Commandements concerning Religion nay 't is plainly against them all 'T is against the first in having a false Object and false internal acts of Religion against the second in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of adoration against the third in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of invocation or of Praise and Profession As it is not according to Gods Commandements so it cannot be Piety or Religion as 't is against Gods Commandements so 't is moreover impiety and irreligion Therefore boast not any longer of the general profession and practice of this or any other corrupt part of your Religion which you cannot justifie in its substance For 't is a miserable Religion which is to be found only in its exercise according to the purport of the fourth and not also in its substance according to the purport of the three first Commandements A Religion in its Name not in its Nature in its solemnity not in its purity in its followers not in it self That is in one word A Religion not of Gods but of mans making 12. To such a Religion belongs â—…hat Prayer Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae Tu nos ab hoste protege horâ mortis suscipe which yet your Cardinal boldly imputeth to the universal Church sic loquitur ecclesia universa lib. 1. de Sanct. Beat. cap. 19. though its language speak only the Church of Rome and its rythme speaks only the late and corrupt ages of that Church and its irreligion doth in truth speak no Church For that is no Church whereof Christ is not the Head And he is not the Head of that Church which prayeth to such as he did not pray And he did never pray to his Mother but only to his Father teaching us o say Our Father not Our Mother whâ—…ch art in Heaven We cannot say the words of this Prayer in his Communion we cannot obtain the blessing oâ—… it by his intercession therefore if we wâ—…l â—…e his Church we must put this prayer oâ—… of our meutâ—…es because we dare not put it into His We have no pattern 〈◊〉 sâ—…ch prayers in all the Book of God and 〈◊〉 we can find better Patterns then God hath given we are bound to â—…ollow those of his giving or we shall leave his 〈◊〉 â—…oly Communion and lose his Soâ—…s blessed â—…ntercession in our prayers â—…or as we are sure the eternal Son of God hath â—…ot taught us thus to pray so we may be assured he will not he cannot 〈◊〉 us in this Prayer Esto mihi in Deum Protectorem Psal. 31. 4. will not agree with this Tu nos ab hoste protegeâ—… In maÌ„us tuas coÌ„mendo spirituÌ„ meuÌ„ will not agree with this Et horâ mortis suscipe why should I leave the Communion of Gods eternal Son either in not saying the one or in saying the other For I may no more now venter to have Religion then I may hereafter hope to have a salvation out of his Communion And though it be more like a Heathen then a Christian to say If it be a question of words and of names and of your Law Acts 18. 15. for words are to be regulated in the exercise of Religion according to Gods Law by vertue of the third Commandement no less then thoughts by vertue of the first Gestures by vertue of the second and Deeds by vertue of the fourth yet is that saying very unfitly applyed in the defence of this Prayer For this is as formal an Invocation of the Blessed Virgin as if she were God Calling her the Mother of Grace and Mercy and praying her to protect us in our life and to receâ—…ve us at our death And who can say more then this to God putting but Father instead of Mother who can ask more then this of God This is in effect to say Mater de coels Dea instead of Pater de coelis Deus miserere nobis miseris peccatoribus O blessed Mother of God instead of O God the Father of Heaven have mercy upon us miserable sinners And we ought to say Libera nos Domine Good Lord deliver us not so much in regard of any other evil and mischief as in regard of such Letanies Therefore this Invocation of the Mother of God is faulty in Objecto cultus in modo colendi both in the object
St. Peter For to Him they do really offer it who do say Sancte Petre miserere mei aperi mihi aditum caeli O St. Peter have mercy upon me open to me the Gate of Heaven and not in words to Him but in sense to God Nay Bellarmine himself would have them offer this spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer to St. Peter not only in words but also in sense or else why doth he say Potest erigi basilica Sancto Petro ut qui ingrediuntur ipso templi nomine recordentur Sancti Petri eumque in eo loco tanquam Patronum Colant deprecentur lib. 3. de Sanct. câ—…lt cap. 4. 9. Respondeo It is lawful to build a Church to St. Peter That they who enter therein from the very name of the Church was remember St. Peter and in that very place worship him as their Patron and deprecate his displeasure So it seems God hath said My House shall be called the House of Prayer in regard of St. Peter not in regard of himself that we should pray to the Saints not to him Baronius is as stiffe as Bellarmine for the worship and Invocation of St. Peter For he saith concerning the payment of the Peter-pence heretofore by Ina King of this Nation Quem sc. Petrum scientes omnes Dominum esse suum propensiore studio colerent in opportunitatibus invocarent Bar. An. 740. nu 14. Whom they all knowing to be their Lord should worship with the greater earnestness and invocate him in their necessities Who can but stand amazed at the conscience of such Divines that dare obtend to the People such Divinity teaching them plain Idolatry instead of Religion and consequently gross Infidelity instead of Faith For he that is an Idolater must also be an Infidel he that is faulty in the proper act of worship must also be faulty in the proper act of faith for worship proceeds from Faith according to that of St. Paul Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And as the formal nature of Idolatry consisteth in disowing the true God either for God or for our God or for our only God so the formal nature of infidelity consisteth in disowning Christ either for Lord or for our Lord or for our only Lord and Saviour can any Saint be religiously worshipped or invocated without a suspition if not a spice of this Idolatry in disowning God for God for our God for our only God or be acknowledged as our Lord and Patron without a suspition if not a spice of this infidelity in disowning Christ as Lord as our Lord as our only Lord And in this case in which God hath declared himself to be a jealous God the very least suspition is to be carefully avoided because that alone may be a ground of jealousie Yet this hath been the Jesuites Doctrine and practice ever since I will alledge but one Sanchez for the proof of both He in his opus morale de Praecep decalogi lib. 2. c. 43. saith plainly that the first Commandement is concerning the worship of God and the Saints In hoc primo praecepto quod de Dei Sanctorum cultu est making the first Commandement require the worship of Saints no less then the worship of God as if Thou shall have no other Gods but me were all one with its contradictory Thou shall have other Gods but me This was his Doctrine And agreeable to this Doctrine was his practice for when by reason of his stammering he could not be admitted into the Jesuites Colledge at Granada He fell a praying to the blessed Virgin to take away from him that impediment professing that he would never return home again unless she granted him his request Neque irritae sûere preces Annuit adolescentuli votis misericordiae mater suumque alumnum balbutie liberavit saith his own Colledge in their praeface to his works Nor were his prayers in vain For the Mother of mercy hearkend to the desire of the young man and freed this her pupill or petitioner from his stammering These men have now left others nothing to do but to correct the Prayers of the Holy Ghost and of the Catholick Church and to perswade the World not to say hereafter Domine but Domina labia mea aperies os meum annunciabit laudem tuam Not O Lord but O Lady open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy Praise Nay this is not all But they farther tell us out of Binius That Damascens Hand which had writ for the worship of Images being cut off by a Saracene Prince was again restored through his Prayers to the Image of the blessed Virgin Sic dextra Damasceni quae pro religio so Imaginum cultu scripserat à Saraceno Principe praecisa quam Divinitus restituit clementissima Dei mater ad cujus ille Imaginem velut ad sacram anchoram piis fletibus supplice fide confugerat And shall we yet doubt whether they do make their Prayers to Saints as to the Authors of those blessings which they pray for when they plainly tell us that the blessed Virgin alone did as much for Sanchez as God the Father had done for Moses by curing his stammering Tongue and more for Damascence then God the Son had done for Malchus by curing not his maimed ear but his maimed hand And that she did both by her own power because they both had made their Prayers unto Her what remains then but that she be Invocated immediatly as God according to these mens Divinity for having Gods Power why should she not also have Gods glory Thus is Biels Spiritual Dalliance for I am willing to call it no more turned by you into a meer Carnal Dotage for he saith The Father of Heaven hath given half his Kingdome to the blessed Virgin which was prefigured before in Esther to whom King Ahasuerus promised the like for whereas there are two principal goods of the Kingdome of Heaven to wit Justice and Mercy God hath reserved the Justice to himself but the Mercy He hath passed by Grant or by Deed of Gift to the blessed Virgin Sibi reservavit Justitiam Virgini Mariae concessit misericordiam Bielin Can. Missae lect 8. What he fondly teacheth that you more fondly believe and most impiously practise putting more confidence in and making more addresses to the blessed Virgin for mercy then to the Eternal Son of God Hence our Lady with you is above our Lord in the number of her Devotes in the statiliness of her Churches in the multitude of her endowments nay in the very power of exorcisme Her day is above His Her Salutation above his Prayer you teach that nothing passeth in Heaven without her express consent That the stile of that Court is Placet Dominae It pleaseth our Lady That matters of Justice come more properly from Christ but expeditions of Grace from Her So that 't is no marvail saith an unquestionable Author if this Doctrinâ—… and
be erected to Angels because they may not be worshipped And what do Papists say less but that there is a God above the Angels although they worship them so that if the acknowledgement of a God above the Angels be a good proof that the Cherinthians did not 't is as good a proof that the Papists do not or at least should not worship Angels and in this particular we may all joyn hands and hearts together as fellow Protestants and our poor ejected Ministers may say to your great Triumphant Doctors We would to God that not only you but also all that hear you and us this day were both almost and altogether such as we are except these Bondâ—… For if you would turn Protestants with us in the True worship we should not need turn Papists with you in the Publick worship of Almighty God But till you have a True worship according to the three first Commandements we cannot envy your publick worship according to the fourth Thus you see Baronius his Proof is not so great as his clamor against Theodoret yet upon this proof alone doth he infer this Conclusion Angelos venerari non Haereticorum sed Catholicae Ecclesiae mos fuit The worshipping of Angels was a Custom not of Haereticks but of the Catholick Church Sure if it had been so the Greek and Latine Interpreters upon St. Paul to the Colossians would not so unanimously have condemned it For if this false worship had gotten generally into their practice it would also have gotten into their Doctrine as it hath since into yours which makes all your late writers so zealous for it and so copious in it particularly Baronius who had not the patience to stay longer then the sixtyeth year after our blessed Saviours Incarnation to find out this Custome and had the confidence as soon as he had found it to foist it upon the Catholick Church because he saw it was practised in his own And the like favour hath he shewed to all your other present corruptions whether in Doctrine or in Practice bringing them all into the first century of years after Christ that what their own grosseness diminished from their native Verity his wit and learning might add to their pretended Antiquity But concerning this your present corruption in Practice I mean the worshipping of Angels he concludes thus Id verò quà m purè Sanctè religiosè c. How purely how holily how religiously it hath been alwayes practised in the Church I have shewed in my annotations upon the Roman Martyrologie on the 8. of May I was big with expectation of some invincible arguments in his Martyrology till I had consulted it but there I found only some several Apparitions of St. Michael the Archangel no proof at all that the Church had worshipped him save only Baronius his own word authentical enough perchance with some of you as it was with Binius to bear down poor Theodorete but I hope not authentical enough with any to bear down St. Paul Therefore in vain doth your Goliah speak of Purity in that which St. Paul imputes to a fleshly mind then which nothing is more impure and of Holiness in that which St. Paul saith beguils us of our reward for unholiness it all can do â—…o more And of Religion in that of which St. Paul saith And holding not the Head for we cannot well say more of the greatest Irreligion And as vainly doth he impute that to the Catholick Church which is so full of Impurity Unholiness and Irreligion And this manner of arguing is without doubt good in it self for it makes humane reason subordinate to Divine Authority as to an Infinitly higher Reason labouring to prove what God hath commanded us to believe even that his Catholick Church is pure and Holy and because it is so admits not any such gross practice of Impurity unholiness For what is made sin in it self by Gods Word cannot by the wit oâ—… men be made holiness in Gods Church But if this manner of arguing were not good in its own nature yet it were good against Baronius who useth no other argument to confute Theodorets Authority but only his own deductions confounding those two Topicks which are so distinct in themselves even Humane Reason and Humane Authority proving the Cherinthian Haereticks did not worship Angels because he had found a reason why they should not whereas if he would indeed have acted the part of a true Historâ—…an or of a good Divine he should have conâ—…uted Theodorets Authority by some greater and better Authority But that he saw was impossible for him to do for the whole stream of Ecclesiastical writers run with a full torrent and tide against him and we may well guess he was very much put to his shifts when he was forced to put so strange a gloss as he did upon the Council of Laodicea for whereas the Fathers there said Can. 35. It becomes not Christians to leave the Church of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And to name the Angels sc. in their prayers as calling upon them instead of calling upon God for that were to be guilty of a secret Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to forsake the Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in St. Pauls language was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not holding the Head Baronius is pleased to say That the Canon is to be interpreted of those false Angels which the Heathen worshipped falsorum Angelorum eorum nimirum quos venerarentur idololatrae venerationem prohibuit alludens fortasse ad Genii cultuÌ„ c. Bar. an 60. nu 23. He might as well have said that the Council made Canons for Heathens and not for Christians though they expresly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It becomes not Christians to leave the Church of God And that they had forbid such men to leave the Church who were never of the Chuch had called them secret Idolaters who were most open Idolaters had required them not to forsake Christ who had never come near Christ and in one word had called that worshipping of Angels which was indeed worshipping of Divels Such dangerous Rocks are skillfull Pilots cast upon who will not stear by the Card of Gods Word but let their own phansie fill their Sailes for that is little better then a tempestuous wind called Euroclidon which will drive them up and down either in Adria or in Tiber till they have made Shipwrack of the Truth And if you think me overlavish in thâ—…s expression pray consider its a less immodesty in me to put a fancy upon your Baronius then t was in him to put a frenzy upon the Council Is not this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be a slave to a received opinion why should that man think to overmaster anothers judgement who can be contented to enslave his own 18. I now come to your last argument for praying to Angels which is this least we should ungratefully slight them contrary to Gods command Exod.