sacrificers to reiterate his everlasting sacrifice here on earth as by joyning other everlasting intercessors with him as his assistants in heaven is an argument more directly pertinent to some Articles following in the Creede My present observations must be limited by the references to the maine conclusion intended That the Romish Church in her publicke Liturgie doth often giue the realtie of Christs soveraigne titles sometimes the very titles themselues vnto Saints sometimes leauing not so great difference betweene the divine Maiestie or glorious Trinitie and other coelestiall inhabitants as the Heathens did betwixt their greater and lesser Gods or as we do between ordinary Princes and their subiects Tyâ—urne or Bedlam would quickly take order with him that would seeke or suffer an act of the prerogatiue royall as granting of pardons creation of Barons calling of Parliaments to passe joyntly in the name of the Kings Maiestie of the Queenes or Princes in the name of all the officers of the Court and Common-wealth descending as low as Bay liffes Constables Church-wardens and Tythingmen And the Pope would take it as an hereticall diminution of his plenary power if every Bishop should receiue his Pall every sinner his indulgence every soule in Purgatory her dismission in his Holines name and in the name of all his Cardinalls Bishops Priests and Deacons Yet in the translation of a Christian soule from this life to a better after they haue directed their supplications to all the severall orders of Saints for their intercession with God in the very agony of death they draw their safe conducts in this forme Depart out of this world in the name of God the Father Almightie who hath created thee in the name of Iesus Christ the sonne of God who suffered for thee in the name of the holy Ghost who was powred forth vpon thee in the name of Angells and Aâ—changells in the name of thrones and dominations in the name of principalities powers in the name of Cherubims and Seraphims in the name of Patriarckes and Prophets in the name of holy Apostles and Evangelists in the name of holy Martyrs and Confessors in the name of holy Monkes and Eremites in the name of Virgins and of all Gods Saints and Saintesses This day let thy soule be in peace and thy habitation in holy Sion If thus they pray with their lips onely they mocke God as well as the Saints If thus they pray with internall affection of heart and spirit they really worship Saints with the selfe same honour wherewith they honour God Nor is it credible they doe intend or possible though intended they should in one and the same prayer or continued supplication produce the like change in the affections of their heart and spirit as an Organist doth in Musicke by changing the stoppes Or though they could produce the like change in every severall ejaculation yet the honour wherewith they honour God and the Saints should continue still of the same kind and differ onely in degree or modulation Or might they not with lesse impietie admit a Christian soule into the Church militant than translate it into the Church triumphant in other names besides the Trinitie They might better baptize them onely in the name of God the Father and of S. Francis S. Bennet and S. Dominicke c. without any mention of God the sonne and holy Ghost rather than joyne these as commissioners with them in dismissing soules out of their bodies To censure this part of their Liturgie as it deserues it is no prayer but a charme conceived out of the dregs and reliques of Heathenish Idolatrie which cannot be brought forth but in blasphemie nor be applyed to any sicke soule without sorcery CHAPTER XXIX Proouing by manifest instances and confessed matters of fact that the Romish Church doth really exhibit divers parts of that honour or worship vnto Saints which by her confession is onely due vnto God That her nice distinctions of Dulia and Latria or the like argue no difference at all in the reallitie or substance of the Worship but at the most divers respects of one and the same Worship 1. THe more vpon these occasions I looke into the Romane Liturgie the more I am enforst to commend the Heathen Philosophers ingenuous reply to Anaxarchus sophisticall allegations for honouring Alexander as a God I for my part sayth Callisthenes doe not thinke Alexander vnworthy of any honour which is convenient to be given to men But the differences betwixt Honour humane and divine are determined as by many other things so by the building of Temples by the erection of Statues Wee consecrate shrines and offer sacrifice and incense to the Gods vnto the same Gods Hymnes are due as prayses are to men But the honour due to the Gods is specially differenced by the manner of adoration Men are greeted with kisses but the Gods are saluted with adoration being placed so high that wee may not touch them Vnto the Gods likewise wee expresse our ioyfull thankesgiving in solemne dances and songs And no marvell if the honour which we giue to Gods be distinguished from the honour which we giue to men seeing divers kindes of honours are allotted to divers Gods The honour given to Heroickes deceased differeth from honour truely divine It is therefore vnfitting to confound these vnfitting to extoll men by lavish honour aboue humane state or to coarctate the Gods vnto a state vnfitting their dignitie or to worship them after the same manner as wee doe men Nor could Alexander himselfe be well pleased if a priuate man should vsurpe royall titles by election or vnlawfull suffrages Much more iustly will the Gods be moued with indignation if any mortall man shall either arrogantly affect or willingly accept divine honours though proffered by others 2. Yet thinks the Romanist either God will not be angry or els his anger may be quickly appeased with the mentall conception of former distinctions never vttered Albeit they make the Virgin Mary Queene of Heaven and Mother of mercie and bestow his other best titles in hymnes or solemne service vpon the Saints it must suffice him that some few other parts of divine honour mentioned by this Heathen as offering of sacrifice erection of Temples and Altars are reserved onely to his Maiestie These by their own confession are proper acts of that religious worship which may not be communicated to any Saint or Angell and so are vowes conceived in solemne and legall forme Let vs see then how well their practises sute with their speculations in these points and what neede the devotions of vulgar breasts haue of sublimated braines to preserue them from the poyson of damnable and more than Heathenish Idolatrie If I should aske one of them What service is this you celebrate to day Whose Church is this wherein you celebrate it they would make no scruple to say the one was S. Peters Church the other his Masse If both Church and Masse doe beare
they would haue prou'd might they haue gotten that place in heaven which they sought for is a comparison which they can in no way disgest The chiefe art they exercise to misleade man from the wayes of truth and life is to empeach God of falsehood as if he would lie for his advantage as they doe without any such necessitie as they haue or finally to cast such suspitious aspersions vpon his lawes and promises as their incarnate instruments do vpon the liues and resolutions of his Saints among whom they liue The virulent censures which these slaues of corruption vomit out giue vs the true taste of their Masters loathsome rancor against God CHAPTER VII Of malignant Atheisme Of the originall of enmitie vnto Godlinesse That the excesse of this sinne doth beare witnesse to the truth which it oppugnes 1 AS there is no passion for the present more impetuous than the burning fits of incontinency no corruption that can worke such strange suffusions in the eye of reason as the smoaking of fleshly lust so is there no permanent disposition of body or soule so apt to quench or poyson all naturall notions of God or religion as dissolute intemperancy once rooted by long custome Incontinency as the Philosopher obserues drawes vs to a blindfold choise of particulars whose vniversals we condemne and reiect but intemperance corrupts the very roote or first principles whence all touch or cōscience of good or evill springs If temperance according to the inscription which it beares in Greeke be the nursing mother of morrall prudence or safe gardian of the minde conscience what other brood can be expected from dissolute intemperance but that folly of heart which so disordereth all our thoughts and actions as if there were no God to over see them Civill wisedome in Platoes iudgement may sooner entombe than enshrine her selfe in bodies full stuft twice every day vnaccustomed to lye without a bedfellow by night and we Christians know that vigilance abstinence are as two Vshers which bring our prayers vnto Gods presence His spirit delights to dwell in brests thus inwardly clensed by abstinence and outwardly guarded with sobrietie and watchfulnesse But drunkennesse and surfetting as a Father speakes driues him out of the humane soule as smoake doth Bees out of their hiues howbeit that which goes into the mouth doth not so much offend him as that which comes out of the heart as adulterous or vncleane thoughts Yea the heart may be vndefiled with lust and yet vnqualified either for entertaining Gods spirit speaking to vs or for offering vp incense vnto him That Gods testimony of himselfe I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt might be imprinted in the Israelites senses they are commanded not to come at their wines when they came to heare it And there must be a seperation for a time betweene them whom God hath ioyned and made one body that they may by fervency of abstinent prayers be vnited to him in spirit Strange then it is not nor can it so seeme that sociall lust should haue such peculiar antipathy with that holinesse which makes vs capable of Gods presence without which we are but Atheists when as matrimoniall chastitie consorts no better than hath beene sayd with the puritie of Angelicall life when as the children of the resurrection as our Saviour tels vs shall no more brooke the marriage bed Now as they which in that other world enioy the sight of God can haue no minde of such bodily pleasures as may be lawfull to mortalitie so neither will the intemperate appetite of vnlawfull lust suffer mortalitie to see God in his Word his threats or promises This is the will of God even our sanctification that we should abstaine from fornication that every one should know how to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour Not in the lust of concupiscence as doe the Gentiles which know not God Ignorance of God brought forth these lusts of concupiscence in the Heathen and the like lusts as greedily affected by Christians breede not ignorance onely but a deniall of God or of that holinesse which he is without whose symbole no man shall ever see him 2. To haue wrought the wise King to such grosse Idolatry as he polluted his soule withall by any other meanes than by tempting loue of strange women or other consorts of carnall pleasures had beene perchance a matter impossible to the great tempter himselfe To haue allured him in that age vnto Atheisme had beene bootlesse when as most of the gods which he worshipped were held as countenancers or abetters of luxury ryot and intemperance But now destitute of these pretended indulgences or dispensatiōs from supposed divine powers by whose authoritie the old world was easily enticed to impurity he labours to harden latter ages in this sinne whereto most of vs are naturally as prone as were our forefathers by perswading them there is no true God that will vndoubtedly call them vnto judgement for giuing the raines to headstrong lust Hardly can Atheisme be so absolute in any as vtterly to free them from all contradiction or checke of conscience whiles they wallow in vncleannesse but such contradictions compared with the strength of opposite desires seeme to argue rather light surmises or iealousies then any firme beliefe so much as morall or naturall that there is a God or righteous judge eternall To hold it more probable there is such a God or judge then none is the lowest degree imaginable of beliefe if not rather the one extremitie or vltimum non esse of infidelitie or vnbeliefe But this strong bent of lust where it raignes keepes mens coniectures of divine providence or finall judgment below this pitch As men of highest place or hautiest spirits so desires of greatest strength are alwayes most impatient of crosse or opposition Against them conscience cannot mutter but shall be as quickly put to silence as a precise Preacher that will take vpon him to reforme the disorders of a dissolute Court For whiles the delight or solace which men take in sensuall pleasures exceeds without comparison all sense or feeling of any spirituall ioy they cannot but wish to exchange their remote hopes of the one for quiet fruition of the other once possessed with eager desires there might be no King in Israel but that every man without any feare of after reckonings might doe what seemed good in his owne eyes their often longing to haue it so easily impels them to thinke it is so for miseri facile credunt quae volunt and this conceipt once entertained sets loose the sensuall appetite to runne its course without a curbe so doth presumption of vncontroleable libertie still whet the tast or sense of wonted pleasures which haue beene formerly abated by restraint Lastly from experience of this change and manifest improouement of accustomed delights necessarily ariseth a detestation or loathing of all scrupulositie as
our hearts on anything besides God is a spirituall fornication or adultery but thus to elevate our spirits which Christ hath espoused vnto himselfe by grace vnto Saints and Angels as they doe that direct religious prayers vnto them in the house and Temple of God is like an incestuous pollution of the marriage bed as if a woman betrothed vnto the eldest brother and heyre apparant vnto the Crowne should prostitute her bodie vpon her marriage-day to his kinsman or younger brother 2. But admit S. Peter or some Angell should by Gods appointment vouchsafe their locall residence againe amongst the Inhabitants of the earth worke miracles heale diseases and instruct vivâ voce in the remote deserts of Africke or in the Indies where we could neither haue personall accesse vnto them nor commend our suites vnto them by letter or interposed messenger might wee here in England kneele downe and turning our faces towards the place of their residence poure forth the requests of our hearts vnto them as Daniel being in exile did his towards Ierusalem wherein God had promised to dwell This were to outstrip the Heathen as well in the essentiall forme of Idolatrie as in the degrees of superstitious or magicall folly What heathen did ever exhibit solemne worship or poure forth their petitions for ayde or succour vnto Apollo Mercurie or Aesculapius much lesse vnto their Demi-gods or Heroikes saue onely in places where they supposed them resident as in their Temples about their Oracles or before shrines or Idols which according to Ethnicke Divinitie were in a sort animated with their presence Or admitting any heathen living in Asia should haue directed his prayers towards Hercules his Temple in Greece might not his folly haue beene iustified by the same Apologie which the Romanist brings for his if that were iust and orthodoxall Iupiter est quodcunque vides The supreame power adored by him vnder the name of Iupiter he might with good approbation of the Learned haue avouched to be every where able and willing to acquaint the lesser Gods his more intimate friends with whom he might be bolder with his petitions in so great distance To be perswaded that any Saint should be able at all houres of day and night to take notice of all the petitions that are or can be made vnto him in Italy Germanie France and Spaine or throughout the whole world is to ascribe greater divinitie vnto him than any Heathens did to their ordinary Gods whom notwithstanding they conceived worthy of divine Honour The fruition of his presence who knowes all things at all times cannot make Saints or Angels so capable of this perpetuall vbiquitary knowledge as personall vnion with him who is every where essentially present might make Christs body of vbiquitary locall presence yet to maintaine it to be so present every where is in our Adversaries judgement an heresie but a farre greater to ascribe this vbiquitary knowledge vnto Saints And out of this conceipt to direct prayers to them in heaven from every part of the earth is formall Idolatrie as well in practise as in opinion For God even God onely knowes the hearts of all the Children of men 1. King 8. ver 31. 3. To conclude with what manner of respect or observance in particular glorified Saints or Angels are to be entertained by vs mortall men is a point impossible to be determined vntill wee haue iust occasion to dispute it And other occasion we can haue none saue what their presence or commerce with vs shall administer Or admitting their vndoubted apparitions were at this day as rife as heretofore they haue beene pretended it would be the first part of our dutie to fashion our selues vnto such observance as they would prescribe vs not to prescribe them what manner of honour they were to receiue from vs. Gods word concerning their worship is silent saue onely that Saint Paul hath advised vs to content our selues with ignorance in these secrets vnto whose search we are not called to affect whose knowledge wee can haue no provocation or impulsion besides the vaine-swelling of our fleshly mindes But whatsoever respect or observance might lawfully be tendred to their infallible appearance cannot without impious folly be seriously proffered to them whilest they appeare not and solemnly to consecrate it to their Images whose persons we never sawe is the height of impietie Civilitie common sense may enforme vs that to tender such respect or signes of submission to Princes or great Personages whom wee see a farre of as would become vs being admitted to conference with them would argue either distraction of minde or clownish simplicitie Though it were lawfull to expresse our necessities with bended knees to Saints or Angels vouchsafing their presence and to implore their intercession for vs with sighes and teares yet may not such as haue eyes pray to them or any whom they cannot see saue onely to him who is invisible None that haue sense may pray to any of whose vertuall presence or acquaintance with our affaires we haue no sensible vndoubted pledge saue onely to him whom we know not by sense but by the spirit of grace and faith every where to heare and know all things that are done or sayd any where Howbeit for every man at all times in every place vpon all occasions to worship him in such manner as they without offence with true devotion haue done vnto whom his extraordinary presence hath beene manifested would be but a superstitious observance For although we be fully assured that he sees our gestures knowes our hearts and heares our petitions at all times and every where alike yet he sees that we haue not alwayes the like occasions which they had to pray or worship as they did And any extraordinary manner of worship without extraordinary impulsion is will-worship More particularly Religious prayers being proper acts of faith vnlesse they be made in faith are most properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of faith quite contrary to the rule of faith which in any point to crosse is a presumptuous sinne but to contradict it in matters of religious worship is the sinne of Idolatrie Now religious prayers cannot be conceived or exhibited to any in faith without certaintie of faith that they to whom they are exhibited doe heare vs. Seriously to tender requests to the soules of Saints deceased farther distant from vs than any one part of the earth is from another after the same manner we might do vpon certaine notice of their presence or mutuall pledges of commerce with vs is but to offer the sacrifice of fooles vnto the winde or to sow the element wherein we breath with the poysonous seedes of Ethnicke superstition And so in fine the Romanist doth not enrich the Saints but stockes and stones the workes of his owne hands with that honour whereof he hath robbed his God His adoring his kissing and his worshipping of Saints and Images with bended knees and other signes of submission is but
soule is melted because of trouble They reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they crie vnto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their dristresses He maketh the storme a calme so that the waues thereof are still The like good lessons had beene communicated at least to the wiser and more sober sort of Heathens such as these Marriners were by the remarkeable experiments of those times And their arrivall at their desired haven was attributed not to their Pilots skill or good structure of their ships but to the mercie of their gods as the Psalmist having so good matter to worke vpon as these and the like knowne experiments in that Psalme aboue others reiterates his patheticall invitations to ioy and sacred thankesgiving Oh that men would prayse the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull workes to the children of men Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and prayse him in the assembly of the Elders 4. Or if the parties whose reformation I seeke distrust â—his story of these Heathen Marriners devotion and the issue because not related by any Heathenish writers Xenophons observation shall iustifie mine he thought it no disparagement to the valour but rather an argument of that noble Generals wisedome whom he had chosen as a reall patterne for posterities imitation that he had fruitfully improved those experiments of religious navigators favour with God and good successe vnto the discipline of Warre Cyrus saith this Historian made account the religion and pietie of his souldiers would be profitable vnto him herein following their resolution who vpon good reason choose rather to sayle with men knowne to be religious than with such as are suspected to haue committed some impietie The manifold deliverances of sea faring men more devout than skilfull in approach of danger publikely testified by their solemne thankesgiving and pictures consecrated to the memory of such mercie as they had found did furnish another Heathen with arguments to evince the providence of divine powers and their flexible eares vnto vnfeined prayers The quicke replie of his adversary More haue perished that haue not beene painted whether vttered by way of disputation in iest or out of former resolution or good earnest was not so wittie as sophisticall For that the supplications of as many which had perished and were no where painted were not heard this ratheir prooues their demerits had made them vncapable of that favour which others found then any way disproueth the former conclusion that these were favoured by divine providence Nor can the miscarriage of ten thousands preiudice the truth of ones confession whose escape could not be attributed to his skill or the working of second causes but vnto some latent disposer of their combinations which did appoint the limits times and opportunities of their working or ceasing And this divine disposall was more conspicuous when the interposition of mans industrie or inventions for his owne good was lesse God then supplied the defect of artificiall cunning in every kinde by such eminent and outstretched branches of his providence as we see yet over shadow children and men scarce masters of themselues whom danger often approacheth but ceazeth not on them though most enable to make resistance 5. But after the world was growne ripe in iudgement and experimentall inventions the Lord did alter those legible and conspicuous characters of the common booke of nature fitted for the vse of children or elementary schollers and set forth a newer and perfecter edition of his sacred will bâ—â— in letters lesse legible to beginners Now as his written word revealed in the Gospell especially containes a farre more exquisite modell of his incomprehensible wisedome than in former ages had beene manifested so doth it requite more mature more diligent and observant readers otherwise as many weake braines by light or confused tempering with artificiall termes which they are not able to master or disgest vtterly poyson common sense so we by negligent irreverent or carelesse hearing reading or meditating on these great mysteries of the spirit shall quite extinguish that generall light of nature which did shine vnto the heathen and by disvse forget to reade the booke of Gods visible creatures Such notwithstanding is the preposterousnesse of humane choise whereto the old serpent still enticeth vs that although it be the first rudiment of Christian Religion to renounce that worldly carefulnesse wherewith the mindes of best Heathens were overgrowne yet no age or people since the world began did wilfully trouble themselues with more matters or more impertinent to the maine point whereat all aime then we Christians of these times doe What would the Heathens say that should compare our practise with our principles surely those Christians seeke to imprison their soules in those thickets wherein man as their writings teach first lost all sight of heaven of God and goodnesse Or if Gods word did not the different faces of times and characters of men that lived in them set forth vnto vs by Heathen writers may enforme vs that Atheisme and irreligion had never growne to such maturitie as to propagaâ—â— their seed vnto posteritie but from those two principall rootes First the intricate perplexities vncessant cares wherewith the mannaging of most humane affaires was daily more and more invol'd through multiplicitie of inventions and solicitous inquisition after worldly meanes supposed as necessary for every man to make himselfe by or in one kinde or other to outstrip his neighbour the second an intemperate affectation of perfection in arts or sciences vnto which once invented or inlarged men attribute more then was besiting and more to themselues than was their due for inventing and inlarging them In both they robbe God of much honour willingly ascribed vnto him by the auncient who still acknowledged the first principles of those arts in whose propagation posterity gloried as if themselues had beene petty gods to haue proceeded from the divine powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortune befriendeth Art was but the solecisme of degenerate ages such rules as the auncients light vpon by chance they knew not how did so naturally imprint a feeling of the finger of God thus guiding their thoughts that they instantly sacrificed not to their owne wits but to the vnknowne suggestors of these inventions which in the first teachers of arts or experiments were indeed true revelations what latter ages called fortune or blind chance primary antiquitie instiled God and ages much declining from ancient innocency and devotion tooke blind chaunce or fortune for a Goddesse 6. The branch which issues from the former root is in respect of true beliefe of the Godhead rather defectiue than contradictory and resembles that defect or want which in Arts we terme Ignorantiam purae negationis as the other positiue contradicting or malignant Atheisme doth Ignorantiam pravae dispositionis Vnto the imputations of this Atheisme which consists
and honour whilest our winding sheetes doe expect vs as having one foote in the graue within whose territories Plowmen are full compeeres to Kings where the spade may chalenge precedence of the scepter where the miter may not contest with the mathooke CHAPTER XXI Of Idolatrie occasioned from inordinate affection towardes Friends deceased or ceremonious solemnities at Funeralls 1. THe implanted notion of the God-head which with diversitie of affections hath its spring and fall was in some Heathens so buried that nothing but sorrow for friends departed or affection towards publique benefactors could reviue it Such were the Augilae a people of Africke which had no gods besides the ghosts of men deceased Their error though grosse was linked in a double chaine of truth the one that soules of men deceased did not altogether cease to be the other that the things which are seene were ordered and governed by vnseene powers yet loath they were to beleeue any thing which in some sort they had not seene or perceived by some sense Hence did their generall notion miscarry in the descent vnto particulars prostrating it selfe before sepulchers filled with dead bones and consulting soules departed Though not in the negatiue yet in the affirmatiue part of these mens verdit concerning the gods most Heathens vpon occasions did concurre The superstition might easily be either bred or fed from an opinion so probable to most in speculation as opportunitie would easily draw all to the practice The grand Censurer while he denies Deceased auncestors to be any whit affected with the weale or misery of posteritie implies this to haue beene a received opinion before his time for such for the most part he either refutes or refines This principle being once setled in mens mindes strong impulsions either of hope or feare would extort such prayers and supplications to friends or auncestors departed as vpon like occasions should haue beene tendered to them living And the supplicants not knowing any set meanes of procuring audience before patrons now absent and out of sight would try all they had knowne in like cases practised by others or could invent themselues Sacriaces amongst other meanes were as the common lure to wooe ghosts or spirits vnto familiar conference or at least to take notice of suits exhibited and to manifest their answers by the effect Thus Alexander though a Prince of Aristotles instructing being now bound for Asia offered sacrifice to Protesilaus vpon his Tombe with supplication for better successe then he to whom he offered sacrifice had there found being slaine in the Troian warre Did the great Monarch as we may conjecture thinke that the soule of this Grecian Worthy not pacified with such offerings would envy better successe vnto his successors of Greece or did he rather hope that Protesilaus by resolute adventure and vntimely death had merited a warrant from the gods to grant safe conduct vnto Graecian Nobles that vpon just quarrells invaded Asia For the reason why Alexander should sacrifice to him before any other was in that he of all the Grecian Captaines had set first foote in Asia as if by death he had taken possession of Protectorship over his Country-men in like expeditions But whatsoever motiue Alexander had to this Idolatrie from that generall improument of mens esteeme of others worth and vertue absent in respect of them present many nations were prone to adore them as gods after death whom they honoured and reverenced aboue others yet with humane honour onely whiles they liued From this observance amongst the Grecians Callisthenes ingenuously and wittily refutes Anaxarchus perswading the Macedonians to giue divine honour to Alexander ready enough to receiue it before his death Whatsoever the Barbarians may practise faith this Grecian Philosopher Greece I know hath no such custome nor did our Auncestors worship Hercules as a god so long as he conversed among them in humane shape nor after his death vntill the Delphicke Oracle had so appointed Anaxarchus on the contrary thought it a great Indecorum not to giue that honor to the Emperour whiles he liued which he doubted not would by publique consent be designed vnto him after death The like Parasiticall humor of the Tâ—asians a people of Greece had travailed before of like Idolatrie but brought forth onely a memorable jâ—st in that wise King Agesilaus vnto whom such proffered service smelled too rankly of base flattery My masters quoth he hath your Cittie the authoritie or art of making gods If it haue I pray let vs see what manner of gods you can make your selues and then perhappes I shall be content to be a god of your making 2. The Platonicall opinion of the soules inlargement in her principall faculties after delivery from this walking prison which she carries about with her did secretly water and cherish the former seeds of error For consequently vnto this doctrine men might thinke that they who by their wit especially had done much good whiles they liued in the bodie would be able to doe much more after their dissolution So Herod thought Iohn Baptist had brought more skill out of that world wherevnto he had sent his soule before the naturall time of her departure then in his first life he had beene capable of for Iohn in his life time wrought no miracles Not onely the commonly conceived dignitie of the soule separated from the body but the time or manner of its separation did much instigate mindes otherwise that way bent to grosse superstition and Idolatrie The Magicians that liued at Athens when Plato died offered sacrifice to his soule supposing him to haue beene more than man because he died on his birth-day having fulfilled the most perfect number in his course of life whose length was iust fourescore yeares and one But to this particular superstition the causes mentioned in the eighteenth Chapter had their ioynt concurrence Quirinus and Romulus whether two or one were in Tullies judgement rightly reputed Gods after death because good men whilest they liued and as it seemes he thought no way disenabled for doing good still in as much as they enioyed eternitie in their soules And Trismegist catechizing his sonne in the Egyptian Art of making gods tells him his grand-father who was the first inventor of Physicke being gone to heaven in soule or to vse his phrase according to his better man did still worke all those cures by his secret power which before he wrought by art the onely place where this divine soule would be spoken with was the Temple wherein his mundane man or bodie lay entombed wherein likewise he had an Idoll or Image as every other Egyptian Temple had vnto which by Exorcismes or Invocation they wedded either spirits or soules of men after they had relinquished their owne bodies By this art were most Egyptian gods procreated vntill error by Gods iust iudgement did reciprocate and idolatry ascend from beasts to men from whom it first descended For in
all like attempts by common course of nature did continually though insensibly grow more dangerous in the processe This originall of superstitious performances towards the dead hath beene set downe before and is particularly prosecuted by Chemnitius to whose labours I referre the Reader 3. Againe the sweete comfort which some auncients of blessed memory tooke in the consort of mutuall prayers whiles they lived together made them desirous that the like offices might be continued after their decease Hence some in their life times if my memory fayle me not did thus contract that such of them as were first called into the presence of God should solicite the others deliverance from the world and flesh and prosecute those suits by personall appearance in the Court of heaven which they had joyntly given vp in prayers and secret wishes of heart whiles they were absent each from other here on earth To be perswaded that such as had knowne our minds and beene acquainted with our houres of devotion whiles wee had civill commerce together might out of this memory after their dissolution take notice of our supplications solicite our cause with greater fervency than we can is not so grosse in the speculatiue assertion as daungerous in the practicall consequent But if magicall feats can put on colourable pretences and Magitians make faire shewes vnto the simple of imitating Gods Saints in their actions what marvaile if Romish Idolatrie having in latter yeares found more learned patrones than any vnlawfull profession ever did doe plead its warrant from speculations very plausible to flesh and bloud or from the example of some auncients the preiudiciall opinions of whose venerable authoritie and deserved esteeme in other points may with many prevent the examinatioÌ„ of any reasons which latter ages can being to impeach their imperfections in this Yâ—t experiments in other cases approved by all manifest the indefinite truth of this observation That such practises aâ— can no way blemish the otherwise deserved same of their first practitioners vsually bring forth reproach and shame to their vnseasonable or ill qualified Imitators Now the pardonable oversight or doubtfull speculations of some Auncients haue beene two waies much malignified by later Romanists first by incorporating the superfluitie of their Rhetorical inventions or eiaculations of swelling affections in panegyricall passages into the bodie of their divine service secondly by making such faire garlands as Antiquitie had woven for holy Saints true Martyrs Collarâ— as a French Knight in a case not much vnlike said for every beast or chaines for every dead dogs neâ—ke which had brought gaine vnto their Sanctuary Touâ—hing the former abuse the incorporating of theâ—oricall expressions of the Auncients affection towards deceased Worthies into the bodie of their divine service Bellarmine is not ashamed to Apologize for the solemne forme of their publicke authorized Liturgie by the passionate ejaculation of Nazianzen his poeticall wit in his panegyricall Oration for S. Câ—priuâ— and for his kinde acquaintance while she livâ—d with Basill the great It is enough as this Apologizing Oratour thinkes to acquit their service from superstition and themselues from irreligion that this Father who spake as they doe was one of the wisest Bishops Antiquitie could boast of As in granting him to be as wise as any other we should perhaps wrong but a few or none of the auncient Bishops or learned Fathers so we should much wrong Nazianzen himselfe if we tooke these passages on which Bellarmine groundeth his Apologie for any speciall arguments of his wisedome and gravitie Howbeit Nazianzen might without preiudice to his deserved esteeme for wisedome gravitie say much and for the manner not vnfitly of Cyprian and Basill which was no way fitting for latter Romane Bishops to say of their deceased Popes or for the Popes whilest they liued to speake of their deceased Bishops But such a sway hath corrupt custome got over the whole Christian world that looke what honor hath beene voluntarily done to men in office as due vnto their personall worth their successors will take deniall of the like or greater as a disparagement to their places albeit their personall vnworthinesse be able to disgrace the places wherein they haue liued and all the dignities that can be heaped vpon them Vpon this carnall humor did the mystery of iniquitie begin first to worke The choisest respect or reverence which had beene manifested towards the best of Gods Saints or Martyrs either privately out of the vsuall solecismes of affectionate acquaintance alwayes readie to entertaine men lately deceased with such louing remembrances as they had tendred them in presence or in publicke and anniversary solemnities for others encouragement vnto constancy in the faith were afterterwards taken vp as a civill complement of their Funerall rites or inioyned as a perpetuall honor to their birthdayes whom the Pope either of his owne free motion or at the request of secular Princes or some favorites would haue graced with famous memory Rome-Christian hath beene in this kinde more lavish than Rome-Heathen And as in great Cities it is a disparagement to any Corporation or Company to haue had few or no Majors or chiefe Magistrates of their Trade so in processe of time it became matter of imputation vnto some religious orders that they had not so many Canonized Saints as their opposits lesse observant of their Founders lesse strict rules could bragge of For want of such starres to adorne their sphere the order of the Carthusians otherwise famous for austeritie of life was suspected not to be celestiall The fault notwithstanding was not in the Carthusians or their Religion vnlesse a fault it were not to seeke this honor at the Popes hands who did grant it against their wills to one of their order and our Country-man at the King of Englands suite And left any part of Heathenish Superstition that had beene practised in the Romane Monarchie might be left vnparalled by like practises of the Romish Hierarchie as the Deification of Antinous was countenanced with feigned relations of a new starres appearance and other like Ethnicismes vsually graced by Oracles so were Revelations pretended in the Papacy to credit their sanctifications which stood in neede of some divine testimony to acquit their sanctitie from suspition 4. To giue the blessed Virgin a title vnto far greater honor then any Saint or other creature by their doctrine is capable of it hath beene maintained that she was conceived without originall sinne And wanting all warrant of Scripture or primitiue Antiquitie for this conceit they support it by revelations which must be beleeved as well as any Scripture if the Pope allow them By whose approbation likewise every private mans relation of miracles wrought by any suiter for a Saintship becomes more authentique than Apolloes Oracles by whose authoritie Hercules and other Heroickes were enioyned to be adored as gods amongst the Heathen 5. It was an ingenuous
as much in ordinary constructiō as to be delivered from them for their merites And this is to share or divide the mediation of Christ betwixt him and such Saints by even portions For of the two principall parts of Christs Mediatorship which the Auncient and Orthodoxall Church did exactly distinguish in the forme of their prayers the first is our hope or beliefe to be heard propter Christum for Christs sake for whose sake alone God graunts whatsoever He grants vnto mankinde the second is our beliefe or acknowledgement that those blessings which God doth grant for Christs sake are not conveyed or imparted vnto vs but through Christ or by Christ He is not onely our Orator to God but Gods hand to vs. Now the Romish Church in their solemne Liturgie expresly giues the first part of this mediation vnto Saints and leaues the latter onely vnto Christ The hymne sung or said vnto the Crosse vpon the same day conceived in the character of magicke spells falls vnder the same censure that worshipping of Saints Images or worshipping God in every visible creature doth Of which Chap. 35 36. The Hymne is thus O crux splendidior cunctis astris mundo celebris hominibus multùm amabilis sanction vniversis quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi dulcia ferens pondera salua praesentem cateruam in tuis hodie laudibus cōgregatam halleluia halleluia ibidem O Crosse more splendent than all the starres famous throughout the world most amiable amongst men more holy than the Vniverse or all things besides which alone wast worthie to carry the Talent or price of the world saue this present Congregation this day assembled to set forth thy prayses Prayse the Lord prayse the Lord. They that can be thus familiar with God as to indent with him at whose intercession their requests should be graunted doe they in modestie neede Mediators vnto Christ 5. Were there any hope of full or direct satisfaction I would presse this demand to any learned Papist What order those three parties whom Bellarmine makes joynt Commissioners in the audience of prayers obserue in prayers of this forme Whether they expect that God the Father should first take their petitions and acquaint Christ with them and Christ the Saints or that the Saints should take them immediately and deliver them vnto Christ that he may acquaint his Father with them They graunt the Saints can heare no prayers immediately from our mouths much lesse discerne their conception in our hearts they vnderstand them onely by seeing God and for this reason happily prayers of this forme are in the first place directed to God the Father or to the Trinitie Is God then as the booke wherein they are written altogether senselesse of their meaning vntill the Saints whose intercession they craue read them vnto him or hearing them is he vnwilling to grant them vntill the Saints haue expounded them But what is Christs office in the meane time to request his Father that he would heare the Saints for his sake or contrariwise doth he and the Saints mediate for sinfull men both together as joynt advocates or doth He first open the case and leaue the Saints to prosecute it or doe the Saints onely sue in his name that God would communicate his merits vnto them as sometimes in earthly Courts one of principall note beares the name whilest another manageth the businesse The supplicant should methinkes in good manners frame some petition to Christ or aske his leaue to vse his name in such suites as they would haue managed by this or that particular Saint in honour of his birth-day 6. Perhaps this forme of prayer was first invented by such for such in the Romish Church there are and aunciently haue beene as deny Christ any kinde of intercession with his Father besides the representation of his Humanitie And mens hearts once wrought to this perswasion would forthwith take the impression of artificiall begging as the best forme of tendring their devout supplications vnto God Now amongst beggers commonly one shewes his maimed limbs or other rufull spectacle to moue pittie and others read the lecture vpon them And thus doe these sacrilegious supplicants vpon great Festivals make Christ and their peculiar Saints such sharers in the office of intercession as the Creeple and the Gabler are in mens benevolences at Faires or Markets The one must moue Gods eyes and the other fill his eares 7. If it shall please the Reader to compare Bellarmines pretended detection of fraudulent dealing in our Writers Chap. 16. with the declaration of his second proposition hitherto discussed He will easily assent vnto me that the onely tricke this cunning Sophister had to saue his mothers credit and her sonnes was to call Reformed Churches whores first and their children lyars For who but the impudent sonne of an adulterous Mother or one accustomed to shuffle beyond the compasse of a professed lyars art memoratiue could haue avouched what in the declaration of this second proposition he doth Sanctos invocamus ad hoc solum We pray to Saints onely to the end they may doe what we doe that is as he expounds himselfe afterwards that Christs merits might by intercession of Saints be applyed vnto vs. This were this the onely end of praying to them were in effect to request them to stoope a little below their ranke and become joynt supplicants with vs for reliefe of our necessities and advancement of Gods glory Is it then all one to request them to joyne with vs in the honor and service of God for our good and to intend their honour and service in the prayers and requests which wee make either to them or to God that he would accept their intercession for vs Now it is but one part of the question betweene the Churches Romish and Reformed Whether it be lawfull to request Saints deceased to ioyne in prayer with vs as they did or might haue beene lawfully requested to haue done whilest they liued The other part whereto Bellarmine should haue framed his answere is Whether it be not formall Idolatrie to offer vp our devotions to Saints by way of honor or to intend a religious worship or service of them in those prayers which wee offer vp to God in his Sanctuarie It is so constantly agreed vpon by all professed members of the Romish Church and was so expresly set downe by Bellarmine himselfe as nothing but extreame necessitie of playing tricks could haue shuffled it out of his memorie that of the seaven parts of Religious Worship due to canonized Saints the second is Invocation in publique Liturgies the fourth sacrifices of prayer and thankesgiuing which they offer vp to God in honour of such Saints and of this latter kinde are the prayers before mentioned vsuall vpon every Saints day And Bellarmine thus begun the chapter next saue one before that wherein his former declaration is conteined Demonstravimus sanctos esse colendos sed quia peculiaris difficultas
soules with two distinct habites of Religion one of latria wherewith wee serue God another of dulia whereby we tender such respect and service as is fit for Saints and Angells For every abstract number without addition or subtraction of any vnitie without any the least variation in it selfe necessarily includes a different proportion to every number that can be compared with it and so doth every sanctified or religious soule without any internall alteration or infusion of more habites or graces than that by which it is sanctified naturally bring forth three severall sorts of religious and respectfull demeanour 1. towards God 2. towards Saints or Angells 3. towards Princes men in authoritie or of morall worth As it is but one lesson Giue honour to whom honour loue to whom loue tribute to whom tribute so it is but one religious habite or rule of conscience that teacheth the practise of it And in some sense it may be graunted that men in authoritie or of morall worth must be worshipped with religious worship in another sense againe it must be denyed that Saints are to be worshipped with religious worship though worthy of some peculiar religious respect whereto Kings and Princes vnlesse Saints withall haue no title 4. The respect or service which we owe to others may take this denomination of Religious from three severall References First from the internall habit or religious rule of conscience which dictateth the acts of service or submission secondly from the intellectuall excellency or personall worth of the partie to whom they are tendred thirdly from the nature and qualitie of the acts or offices themselues which are tendred to them with the manner or circumstances of their tendring According to the first denomination we must worship vngodly Magistrates and irreligious Princes with religious Worship For if wee must doe all things for conscience sake and as in the sight of God our service wheresoever it is due must be no eye service no faigned respect All our actions and demeanours must be religious as Religion is opposed to hypocrisie dissimulation or time-serving And in this sense religious and civill Worship are not opposite but coordinate Men truely religious must be religiously civill in their demeanor towards others If our respect or service take the denomination of Religious from the personall worth or internall excellencie of the partie whom we worship it is most true wee are to worship Saints with more than meere civill Worship None of our Church I dare be bound will deny that godly and religious men must be reverenced not onely for their vertues meerely morall or politicke but for their sanctitie and devotion Yet is this all that the moderne Papist seekes to proue against vs. And from this Antecedent which needes no proofe he presently takes that for graunted which he shall never be able to prooue either from these or other premises to wit That Saints are to be worshipped with religious Worship as it is opposed to civill Worship His meaning if it reach the point in question must be this Wee are bound to offer vp the proper acts of Religion as prayers with other devotions by way of personall honour or service to the Saints This wee say is formall Idolatrie 5. It is one thing to tender our service in lowlinesse of spirit for conscience sake vnto the Prince another to tender him the service of our spirit or subiection of our consciences Religion binds me to bow my knee or vse other accustomed signes of obeysance in vnfaigned testimony that I acknowledge him Lord of my body armed with Authoritie from the Maker of it to take vengeance vpon it for deniall of its service Or in case he punish me without cause the bond of conscience and Religion tyes me to submit this outward man in humilitie of spirit to the vnlawfull exercise of his lawfull power rather than I should graunt him the command or disposall of my Religion or honour him with the acts or exercises of it In like sort the sight and presence of any whom God hath graced with extraordinary blessings of his Spirit will voluntarily extort signes of submissiue respect from every sanctified and religious spirit in vndoubted token that they reverence Gods gifts bestowed vpon him and heartily desire their soules might take some tincture or impression from his gratious carriage or instructions which they can hardly doe without some nearer linke of familiaritie and acquaintance or at least would doe so much better by how much the linke were closer or their vicinitie greater The right end and scope whereto the instinct of grace inherent in our soules doth direct these externall signes of submission is to woe their soules and spirits whom we thus reverence to some more intimate coniunction This submissiue reverence though not required by them is on our parts necessary for holding such consort or iust proportion with the abundant measure of Gods graces in them as we may draw comfort and perfection from them Contemplation of others excellency without this submissiue temper in our selues either stirres vp envie or occasioneth despaire and yet all that these outward and vnfaigned signes of submission can lawfully plight vnto them is the service of our bodies or inferior faculties These we could be content to sacrifice not to them but for their sakes alwayes provided that we doe not preiudice the right or dominion which our owne spirits and consciences haue over our bodies immediately vnder God But to offer vp the internall and proper fruits of the Spirit vnto them by way of tribute and honour is to dishonour to deny that God which made them The seedes of grace and true Religion are sowne immediately by his sole powerfull hand and their natiue of-spring acts of faith especially must be reserved entire and vntouched for him Prayers intrinsecally religious or devotions truely sacred are oblations which may not which cannot without open sacriledge be solemnly consecrated to any others honour but onely to his who infuseth the Spirit of prayer and thankesgiving into mens hearts The principall crime whereof we accuse the Romish Church and whereof such as purposely examine the inditement put vp by Reformed Churches against her and her children are to take speciall notice is her open professed direct intendment to honour them which are no gods with those prayers or devotions with these elevations of mindes and spirits wherewith they present the onely wise immortall King in Temples dedicated to his service He that prayed in olde times to an Idoll in a Groue destinated to his worship did wrong the true God after the same manner that he doth which robs him of his Tyths before they be set apart for his house But to come into his house of prayer with serious purpose to honour him with the sacrifice of a contrite or broken spirit and in the time of oblation to divert our best intentions to the honor of our fellow-creatures is worse than Ananias and Saphirahs sinne a lying to the
receiue blessings from God and this acknowment of their subordination vnto God makes the same vow or solemne promise vnto them to be but cultus duliae But the question was whether solemne vowes be not essentiall parts of latrie and if such they be as most of their Church doe hold them to be no mentall respect or consideration of such as make allow or authorize them can transforme them into Cultus dulia Besides the distinction is naught this great Champion did either evidently misapply it to this difficultie or els did much amisse in not applying it to the former For might he not as well haue sayd They erected Temples or offered sacrifice to Saints in signe of thankefulnesse to them as Mediators or Intercessors but vnto God onely as to the first fountaine of blessings received 3. It is confessed by our adversaries that the name of Vow in sacred writ or dialect alwayes imports a promise made to God and yet they thinke it no Idolatry to performe that religious service vnto Saints which the holy Spirit hath appropriated vnto God because the Canon of Scripture was accomplished before the Custome of vowing vnto Saints begun or rather the authoritie of it was abandoned by introduction of this custome if not before This reply seemes to insinuate that if Gods Spirit had committed ought to writing since vowes were enacted as parts of religious worship due vnto Saints deceased He would haue fitted his language to their custome How ever this answere takes but a part of our objection though more by much than this Goliah was able to deale with For we argue not onely from the vse of the word in Scripture but from the reason why it is so vsed Now the reason why vowes in Scripture are appropriated vnto God is because they are a more immediate and especiall part of his worship than sacrifices are He that offered legall sacrifices of his Cattell or of the fruites of the earth did thereby testifie his gratitude vnto God as vnto the supreme Owner of these and sole author of all other blessings and as vnto him which gaue man power to gather substance But he that vowed vnto the Lord did acknowledge him to be the searcher of the heart the just avenger of perfidious negligence the bountifull rewarder of fidelitie and diligence in his service Hence it was that legall sacrifices were oftimes the matter of religious vowes The forme of religious worship or service and the immediate end of such sacrifices was performance of the vowes whose neglect plentie of sacrifices could not recompence But fidelitie in performance of what was lawfully vowed did please God without the offering of sacrifice And whether the vow were conceived out of gratitude vnto God for benefits past or out of sorrow for sinne or former ingratitude the religious observance of it was a true part of that living sacrifice or reasonable service which our Apostle requires at our hands as the patterne or prototypon of Leviticall offerings May we then offer any part of our reasonable service to any other besides God vnto whom onely his people were to offer legall sacrifices The apprehension of greater excellency in God than in the Saints can no more alter the nature of the service than the different titles of the King and his Nobles doe alter the nature of the debt or tenor of the obligation wherein we stand bound to him and them joyntly Now Romish Votaries bind themselues by one and the same solemne act to God and the Saints ioyntly And is it possible that the performance of one and the same act should be Dulia in respect of the one and Latria in respect of the other Rather as sometimes it falls out that one of meanest place may be principall creditor in bonds ioyntly made to him and others so in some cases as in vowes of Virginitie solemnely made to God and to the blessed Virgin joyntly of pilgrimage to Saints whom they conceiue as speciall patrons of those places the Saints shall haue the principall interest in the Votaries affections 4. The Fathers in the second Nicene Councell and others more auncient whose authoritie they pretended for establishing that abominable decree as one of our Historians many yeares before Luther was borne doth censure it concerning Image-worship did divide Adoration into two parts externall and internall 1. The externall as they describe it by note of submission or emphaticall expression of affection they did assigne vnto Images 2. The internall adoration or adoration in spirit which they call Latria they appropriated vnto God And of this internall adoration or Latria they make intercession or nuncupation of vowes essentiall parts But Bellarmine after he had prooved by authoritie and reason that solemne vowes are parts of Latria and after he had given it vs for graunted by their whole Church that the worship of Latria is proper onely vnto God finally attempts to share this worship of Latria which is a great deale more indivisible than was our Saviours garment betweene God and his Saints But sooner shall the Iesuites be able to teach an Art of dividing indivisibilities or of setting vnitie at variance with it selfe than to justifie this division or sharing of vowes betwixt God and his Saints We shall be ready to iustifie and maintaine these inferences against them if neede shall require or occasion be offered by logicall remonstrance If the worship of Latria and in particular the nuncupation of vowes be proper onely vnto God than he or they or whosoever they be every person to whom Latria or nuncupation of vowes is solemnely tendred either alone or ioyntly vnto God is a God in their esteeme that so tender or make them But the Romane Catholicke doth directly and solemnly offer his vowes to S. Dominicke S. Francis and S. Bennet c. Therefore S. Dominicke in his divinitie is a God S. Francis a God S. Bennet a God so is every Saint to whom he makes his vowes ioyntly with God To say they acknowledge the three persons in the blessed Trinitie to be a greater God than all or any of these persons mentioned as it cannot excuse them from Idolatrie though it were true so neither can it in their divinitie be absolutely true but onely in part It is true in respect of the apprehension or esteeme of divine powers which is seated onely in the braine vntrue in respect of the esteeme or religious respect of divine powers which is seated in the heart or affection CHAPTER XXXI That the apprehension of different excellencies in God and the Saints deceased cannot prevent the contagion which mens soules are naturally apt to take by making solemne prayers and vowes ioyntly to God and to the Saints 1. RELIGION as Bellarmine well observeth consisteth not in the apprehension or speculatiue acknowledgement of excellencie in the partie worshipped but in the inclination of the will or affection The former is as the warrant the latter as the execution And as sentence may
seemes to me a truth vnquestionable is this If the wisest or most circumspect man on earth should worship God in every place after the same manner for every circumstance that Iacob did God in Bethel or if the most accurate Anatomist of his owne thoughts or affections should take every stone into such consideration whilest he worshippeth God as Iacob did that stone He should become a grosse Idolater without all helpe from any distinction wherewith the Romish Church can furnish him The truth is that Iacob did so worship God in the presence of the stone as his posteritie were bound to worship him before the Arke of the Covenant Both worshipped him in or by those creatures after such a manner as wee may not worship him in any created visible substance saue onely in that created substance wherein he dwelleth bodily The manner of his presence then at Luz or Bethel and in the Arke were shadowes or pledges of his inhabitatiō in the man Christ Iesus in whom were he present on earth wee might and ought to adore God in such a manner as would be sacrilegious to adore him in any other man or bodie 4. But it is the propertie of whoredome as well spirituall as carnall to lead such as taste her baytes with delight like Oxen to the slaughter without any apprehension of dangers approach vntill death surprise them Lots mischance is become the Romish Churches perpetuall heritage she is so besotted with the grapes of her owne planting that shee knowes not what abomination shee commits nor with whom Like an harlot drunke in a common Inne or a franticke whore in an open market she prostrates her selfe to every passenger and sets open all the temples of God whose keyes haue beene committed to her custodie that they may serue as common stewes for satiating the foule lustes of infernall spirits whom she thither invites by solemne enchantments as by sacrificing and offering incense vnto Images And finding pleasure in the practice dreames shee imbraceth her Lord and husband whilest these vncleane birds encage themselues in hers and her childrens breasts CHAPTER XXXVII Whether graunting that it were lawfull to worship such Saints as wee vndoubtedly beleeue to be true Saints we might lawfully worship such as we suspect to be no true Saints 1. IF to honour true Saints and heires of blisse with prayers temples sacrifices and vowes be Idolatrie we shall want termes to expresse the abomination of their sacriledge in performing these points of service vnto such as the world hath either no warrant to account members of Christs mysticall body or just reason to suspect for sonnes of darkenesse In doubtfull cases of this nature some honestly minded Romanists vsed to conceiue their prayers with such conditions as the French-man did his to S. Cuthbert Si sanctus sis ora prome If you be a Saint pray for me It was a desperate resolution better befitting an impudent Monke than Sr. Thomas More to censure this caution of scrupulositie or to reject it as no lesse superfluous or vnmannerly than this forme of request vnto one of our living neighbours If you be an honest man I would request you to remember me in your prayers if not I will not trouble you The good Gentleman was out of his element when he wrote controversies in Divinitie for he would haue sooner taken an Apple in stead of an Nut at a banquet than haue iudged two cases of civill justice so dislike as these which he here brings by one and the same rule of law There is no man honestly wise but would sooner request his prayers whom he knows to be dishonest or of irreligious life then beare a solemne testimony of his honestie or religion Mutuall prayer is a dutie enioyned vs while we liue together the practise of it is the best meane to make bad men good and good men better But men deceased whether elect or reprobates are vncapable of amendment either by our prayers for them or theirs for vs. Nor doe the Romanists enioyne vs to pray to supposed Saints with purpose to encrease their happinesse or as if they stood in need of our devotions To pray for any whom it is lawfull publickly to pray vnto is by their doctrine a foule disgrace vnto the Saint a point of infidelitie in the supplicant Praying to Saints is by their opinion on our part a dutie or tribute wherewith we are bound to honour them their prayers or intercessions for vs are Princely favours or graces which must be sought not as acts of debt or mutuall dutie but by religious service and supplication Now admitting it were lawfull to supplicate thus vnto S. Peter or vnto others whom we beleeue and know to be true Saints yet in publike liturgies to offer vp our prayers and vowes vpon our knees either in honour of those with whose liues and deaths we are altogether vnacquainted or of those whom we suspect to haue lived and dyed not so well as we could wish to doe our selues is a sinne so much more grievous to good consciences than bearing testimony vpon oath for mens positiue honestie whom we know not as stealing of treasure out of the Church is in respect of simple theft or burglarie Testimonies given vpon oath require certaintie of sence or experiment and tendering of prayers as a tribute or honor or in testification of our religious respect requires certaintie of faith that the partie to whom they are tendred is worthy of them 2. The ground of this difference betweene praying to living men and praying to deceased Saints which the superstitious Doctors seeke to conceale from the simple may very well be gathered by analogie of Bellarmines resolution in another point of their service Promises sayth he religiously made to living members of the Church militant are but promises but so made vnto Saints or members of the Church triumphant they are truely and properly vowes His first reason is because a vow is but a promise vnto God and our promises vnto Saints are liker our promises vnto God than vnto the promises which we make to mortall men For as that which we promise vnto God is vnprofitable vnto him but profitable vnto vs and is tendered onely by vs in signe of honour and thankfulnesse so whatsoever we promise vnto Saints it cannot profit them but our selues Their happie estate stands in need of nothing that is ours all that we offer and promise them is in testimony of the honour which wee owe them or in signe of our thankfulnesse to them But performance of our promises either is or may be profitable to living men because mortalitie stands in neede of many things Secondly the Saints can haue no title to our vowes Nisi quatenus sunt Dij per participationem but in as much as they are Gods by participation Now we know the Saints which raigne with Christ to be such but that such as liue with vs are partakers of the divine nature wee may hope well certaine wee
some such as they name in sports had beene killed in a drunken fray and taken for a Martyr of his followers But out of question some good fellowes in meere merriment set vp Gutmannus for the Warden of pudding-makers The pedigree of many other solemnly worshipped in times past and in some places perhaps at this day cannot be derived from any reall ancestors but had names from the matters whereof they are supposed presidents as mammon in the Syriack and Plutus in Greeke In mindes once wrought to this effeminate levitie and credulitie the very sight of emblematicall or hierogliphicall devices would make impression of reall Saintships Vnto this topicke we may refer the raising of S. Christopher or mounting of S. George Both in some Countries had beene adored as Gods though but men of the Painters or Heralds making That most naturall branch of superstition which had spread it selfe like the Vine amongst the Heathens exemplified heretofore in Balak did recover sappe and leafe againe in greater quantitie in the Romane Church The prayers which the blessed Virgin either could not heare or would not graunt at Winchester were so effectually heard at Walshingham or Loretto that the Ladie of Winchester Walsingham and Loretto did in vulgar esteeme differ as much in person as these Townes did in place and were conceipted to emulate each other no lesse than as if they had beene Ladies of diverse families in the Princes Court 5. This leaven of Gentilisme which had thus diffused it selfe through the Romish Masse or the Romish Churches pretended service of God and thus shared his heavenly regiment amongst the Saints as Conquerors doe the Lands which they conquer among their followers making them not proprietaries onely but in a sort absolute Princes within their Territories and God onely a titulary Monarch of the whole or proprietary in some principall parts after it had thus wrought downeward did in the issue reflect vpward The intellectuall conceipt of Gods proper attributes their prayers immediately directed to the Trinitie to the Godhead or Christ were tainted with a spice of that sorcery or vaine observance which was before observed in the Heathens Some of their Liturgies argue as great a confidence in altering Gods attributes in their supplications as Balaam did in the change of places for his sacrifice Of foure or fiue Letanies which the Church of Ravenna had in S. Gregories time but more corrupted since all now abrogated not for any superstition but for conformitie to the Romane Church this here following was doubtlesse the best because the writer of that Historie would not haue the patterne lost and the beginning is good but all the rest nought Creator mundi Deus miserere nostri Pater de Coelis Deus miserere nostri Fili Redemptor mundi Deus mis no Spiritus sancte Deus mis no Trinus vnus Deus mis no Rex regum mis no Rex exercituum mis no Archangelorum aeternitas mis no Bonitas Patriarcharum mis no Charitas sacer dotum mis no Diuitiae Prophetarum mis no Electio Apostolorum mis no Fides Martyrum mis no Gloria Confessorum mis no Haereditas Levitarum mis no Iuste Iudex mis no Charitas Potestatum mis no Lux Gentium mis no Misericordia captivorum mis no Navigantium gubernator mis no Orphanorum pastor mis no Pacis conditor mis no Qui es indultor mis no Remissio peccatorum mis no Sanitas infirmantium mis no Tutela virginum mis no Consolatio viduarum mis no Excitatio mortuorum mis no Initium saeculorum mis no Zelus corona Martyrum mis no Salvator totius mundi mis no Pacem concordiam da nobis Domine Sancta Maria mis nob After a Catalogue of particular Saints and Saintesses first invocated by their proper names and afterward by way of an vniversall conclusion made vp out of the induction of particulars Omnes Sanctae virgines Dei interced Omnes sancti sanctae deae interced They returne againe to Christ and ranke his attributes in a short rime Christe fili dei vivi mis no Tu es Deus omnipotens mis no Qui in hunc mundum venisti mis no Qui pro nobis flagellatus fuisti mis no Qui in cruce pependisti mis no Qui mortem propter nos accepisti mis no Qui in sepulchro iacuisti mis no Qui ad inferos descendisti mis no Qui tertia die resurrexisti mis no Qui in Coelos ascendisti mis no Qui Spiritum paracletum in Apostolos misisti mis no Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris mis no Qui venturus es iudicare vivos mortuos et seculum per ignem mis no Miserere nobis Domine miserere nobis Kyrie eleison 6. Whiles I reade these and other Letanies vsed by the Romish Church I cannot but congratulate the wisedome and moderation of the Church wherein I was borne and baptized which hath so well extracted the spirit of primitiue devotion from the grossenesse of later and declining ages superstition These admitted new Mediators into their Liturgies with as great facilitie as our corporations doe strangers whom they would haue graced into their fraternities or as Vniversities doe Students into their Registers Gregorie the Great had crept into this Letanie of Ravenna as mine Author thinkes after his death but it seemes they had allotted him his place whilest he lived otherwise they might without offence vnto posteritie haue set him below S. Hierom and S. Augustin Our Letanie as it admits no compeers with Christ no secundary Mediators or Intercessors so it vseth no interpellations of him or any person in the Trinitie but such as well becomes the sinceritie and gravitie of orthodoxall devotion Howbeit the next point I am to prosecute is the ill successe which the Romish Churches intended reformation of abuses in praying to Saints hath found not the good successe of our own of which in this place I haue no more to say saue onely The Lord of his mercy grant that we may be as well inwardly as outwardly conformable to the good orders which our religious Auncestors haue prescribed CHAPTER XXXIX That the medicine pretended by Rome-Christian for curing the former disease did rather increase than asswage it 1. AS ordinary Bishops haue their distinct diocesse without which their pastorall staues cannot reach so some Saints were particularly honoured in this or that Province not in others Every Bishop by custome more auncient than the Romish Religion which now is might haue enjoyned his flocke to do homage vnto Saints of his owne erection though to binde the whole Church vnto the service of any hath beene an act of oecumenicall jurisdiction ever since this custome came vp But to permit the same libertie to every Bishop within his Diocesse which the Pope challengeth over the whole world seemed too much vnto later Popes For Alexander the third and Innocent the third seeing the abuses which grew by this licentiousnesse made a
of reliques or worshipping of images their meaning was as if they had prayed that the Pope would approoue of whatsoever the people should publickly practise for it is but another part of the former conclusion that all whom he shall vouchsafe to canonize may be lawfully adored by the vniversall Church in publicke and solemne Liturgies so that to worship such is now more necessary than it was before 2. Never had the infernall powers since their fall so just occasion given them by any creatures of insultation and triumph at the wonderfull successe of their policies as by these latter Romanists who as well by Apologizing for their superstition towards the dead whereof others haue chalenged them as by seeking to reforme some grosse abuses whereof themselues were ashamed haue beene fetcht over to commit more detestable and more blasphemous idolatry with living men than any Heathen ever did with their deceased Heroicks with their false Gods or true devills Such as worshipped those beastly Romane Emperours whom their Successors consecrated were not bound to beleeue nor could their Successors perswade themselues that the Senate could not erre or doe amisse in decreeing divine honour to them That people not knowing what faith meant did onely as their chiefe Magistrates commanded them nor did these command all throughout the Empire to be partakers with them in their idolatrous worship But now to dispute whether the Pope doe well or amisse in canonizing men after death whom he knew not living is held a point of heresie or infidelitie His absolute infallibilitie as well in declaring who are Saints as in determining what honour is due vnto them is prest vpon vs as a Maxime of faith And is not this to worship him with divine honour That conceipt which the old Romanes had of their consecrated Emperours came as farre short of this divine excellency which Papists imagine in the Pope as the Iewes opinion of their Messias whom they expected should be a King doth of that esteeme which true Christians make of Christ whom they adore as God The superstitious knowledge or rather the practicall ignorance of the true God differeth no otherwise in Rome-Heathen and Rome-Christian than the ordinary knowledge of Christ in the old Testament and in the New The idolatry of Rome-Heathen agrees with the idolatry of Rome-Christian as the type or shadow with the body or substance 3. Bellarmine giveth Melancthon the lye for saying the Romish Church ascribes a divine power to Saints in knowing mens thoughts I aske them not knowing our thoughts how can they know our petitions No Catholique saith he did ever teach that they know our prayers as they are cōceived in our minds but as they are in God who reveales them to his Saints and Angels He would not thus fiercely avert the imputation of the Antecedent vnlesse he knew the inference to be legall and vnavoydable To pray then to Saints out of presumed beliefe that they know the secrets of our hearts were by his confession to ascribe a divinitie vnto them and to worship them with divine honour plaine idolatrie Therefore they pray vnto them out of assurance that God who sees our hearts acquaints them with our hearts desires Yet that one Saint that every Saint should by this meanes know every mans prayers that is enjoyned to pray vnto them necessarily supposeth a participation of that infinite knowledge which is incommunicable To see the secrets of mans heart is one of Gods peculiar titles If Saints by enioying his presence enioy this sight no reason can be conceived why in seeing him they may not see all things that are in him all that he sees And so they shall not be onely Gods but as was observed before Gods Almightie by participation But admitting that all such as enioy Gods presence doe heare our prayers I demaund what ground of beliefe Romane Catholiques can haue that many whom they must pray vnto are partakers of Gods presence Onely this The Pope hath canonized them But seeing the world is full of dissimulation and hypocrisie seeing men are partiall to giue better testimony of such as they seeke to preferre than they can deserue how can his Holines know them to be true Saints vnlesse he know their hearts by better testimony than humane As a Christian he knowes that onely the pure in heart enioy the blessed sight of God But how can he so infallibly know as becomes a Pope whether such as lived in England in Spaine in Asia America or other remote parts of the world were pure in heart or but hypocrites If he may erre in this knowledge the people must erre in practise 4. Their resolution of this point comes to this finall issue Saints celestiall see our hearts in seeing God Romane Catholiques see the integritie and puritie of their hearts whose faces they never saw in the Pope or by reading his decrees He stands as God to them on earth as the true God is to the Saints in heaven He knowes as certainely who goes to heaven and what they doe there as God knowes what is done in earth And out of this confident beliefe of his infallible all-seeing spirit his creatures pray to S. Francis Dominicke Aquinas as vnto secondary or intermediate Intercessors with the same assurance of faith that they doe to Christ as to their principall Mediatour And reason they haue so to doe God Almightie hath said that Christ is in heaven and the Pope hath sayd of Aquinas Dominicke or some other they are in heaven Thus like foolish Mariners or Fresh water Souldiers after they had beene long carried vp and downe with the blasts of vaine doctrine fearing ship-wracke in the open Ocean of former ages idolatrie and yet ashamed to returne to the Haven whence they loosed lest wise men should laugh at them they put in at the jawes of hell for Harbour SECTION V. Of the transformation of the Deitie or divine power in his nature attributes word or will revealed CHAPTER XLI Transformation of the divine nature doth issue from the same originall or generall fallacie from which Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods was observed to issue Chapter 17. 1. AMONGST the Heathen many who did not altogether so vainely multiplie their gods did most grossely misfigure the divine nature or God-head The common roote to both these branches of errour but from which the latter doth more directly spring and take more kindly was pronenesse to conceiue of matters heavenly and invisible according to the best forme or patterne which they had of matters visible or earthly Now to be sole Lord of the whole earth without consorts of like nature would be a life to the wisest and healthiest of men most irkesome And the Philosopher out of a popular opinion either of his owne or times more auncient makes competent store of friendes or alliances necessary supporters of faelicitie Now as that happinesse which in this life they hoped for supposed friends or other contentments so the common notion of the
whom any kind of iniquitie raignes Nor is it strange if selfe-loue which is the common nursery of all misconceipts in moralities bring forth delusorious imaginations of brotherly loues inherence in hearts wherin outragious malice keepes close residence seeing to be charitably minded towardes others is a qualitie that makes vs most commendable No man that thinkes too charitably of himselfe but will easily be perswaded that he is as charitable as any man living towards others towards such especially to whom charitie is most due To speake well of Christ and their King no man more forward than some kinde of drunkards What they haue heard concerning Christs loving kindnesse towards men they never apprehend so affectionately as when their hearts are dilated with pleasant liquor Of other loue and benignitie than what the cup doth minister they haue no distinct notion or experience And if at any time they be sweetly merry without quarrelling or offence or if each tickle other with exchange of mutuall applause or delightfull toyes they mistake their meetings for feasts of charitie Some of this sect will not sticke to professe how highly they scorne that any dull sowre Stoicks devotion at Gods board should be so well seasoned with loue as are their friendly pastimes at Bacchus table But if Gods Embassadour as time and place require shall open his mouth against them it is in their construction but to giue a vent vnto malice with whose abundance his heart would otherwise burst To thinke thus maliciously of others is held by them in this humor especially rather an effect than breach of charitie For not being able to distinguish that true and absolute good which they ought at all times most to affect from that which seemes good to them thus affected they kindly well-come their eager desires of enjoying the wonted pleasures of good fellowship without molestation for the fruits of peace There is no foule of the ayre nor beast of the field either by kinde or breeding so wilde or brutish as to abandon all tearmes of loue or desire of peace with some others but that excessiue loue which ravenous beasts beare to their yong ones or consorts doth still animate them with rage fury against man their lawfull Soveraigne and whets their appetite to devour and prey with more than wonted greedinesse vpon silly and harmelesse creatures In like sort that loue which bad minded men mutually foster among themselues alwayes proues the mother of deadly hatred and vncharitablenesse towards all such as loue God and his lawes for these are greatest enemies to that kinde of peace which they onely know and most desire Thus by a worse error than can rightly be emblematized by lxions fabulous imaginations the fumes of wine are often mistaken for the motions of the spirit factious amitie goes currant for true Christian societie riotous mirth or other vnhallowed solace is entertained as the comfort or peace of conscience and which is worst of all Christ is worse slaundered by such consorts than he was by the Scribes and Pharisees not for a companion onely of Publicanes and sinners but for a Patron of riot a friend of dissolutenesse 4. Yet are not these the principall offenders in this kinde because their offences though oftentimes fowlest in the sight of men are not so odious vnto the Searcher of all hearts as the enormities of others who presume more of his speciall favour and approbation Many biting vsurers or oppressors will be ready to interpret the extraordinary increase of their estate Marchants or great dealers their successe in cheating or vnconscionable bargainings ambitious mindes the atchieving of their bad suites or vnlawfull promotions as vndoubted blessings of their God and sure pledges of his peculiar providence when as in truth they are but baytes laid by Sathan to make them sacrifice in heart to their owne devises or to his lusts while with their lips they offer prayses vnto the Lord. All the misperswasions hitherto mentioned are but so many reciprocations of that deception which was observed before to be the maine Conduit or common spring of Idolatrie in the Heathen As they admitted all for gods which had done them any extraordinary good so the carnall minded Christian deriues every notable branch of sense-pleasing good from the onely true invisible God The transfiguration of divine essence is in both cases for qualitie the same albeit the Heathen Delinquent in ascribing wealth to Mercurie luxury to Bacchus the one conceived as a god of cunning the other of ryot both flexible to mens desires that would worship them did lesse offend than Christians aequally exorbitant doe in making the pure immaculate Essence author abettor or approver of their exorbitances Any furtherance of naughtie desires or approbation of vnrighteous dealing suite worse with the knowne nature of the true God than the imagination of false gods fitted to such desires did with those broken notions which the vulgar Heathen had of the Deitie The worst that can be objected to any Heathen was their adoration of monstrous of vile or vgly creatures for gods The Christian in what kinde soever alike exorbitant if we compare his secret perswasions or presumptions either of Gods favourable affection or indulgence towards his person or approbation of his enormous actions with his professed beliefe of the same Gods absolute puritie justice holinesse and vnpartialitie makes the Almightie Creator which made him man that is the comeliest of all visible creatures an hideous deformed monster The fashioning of this invisible Creator in visible shape the multiplication of supposed divine powers so fashioned were rather accessaries than principalls in the nature of this sinne which we now reproue At the least to distract or divide the divine power into severall formes or portions not much disagreeable to some particular distinct attributes of the true God is lesse abominable than to frame a multiplicitie of contrary wills or commixture of dissonant affections or resolutions in one indivisible eternall immutable Essence The divine nature saith Nyssen whatsoever it be besides for who can comprehend it is goodnesse holinesse power glorie puritie aeternitie Who is he then may safely say to him My Father He whose nature is goodnesse can be no favourer of bad desires no patron of wicked purposes He whose truth shines in whatsoever is good can be no countenancer of the oppressor or malefactor If one whose conscience is branded with foule sinnes shall before repentance claime kindred of God and being vniust and filthy say to that iust and holy one My father his mouth whiles he repeates his Pater Noster vents no prayers but contumelious slaunders against God For by calling him Father whiles he nourisheth any knowne sinnes in his heart he makes him author and countenancer of his mischievous imaginations These and the like declarations of this ancient and learned writer vpon the Lords prayer may serue as an orthodoxall Paraphrase or iust Comment vpon these sacred Texts of Scriptures Vnto the wicked saith
seene vaiâ—ely puffed vp in his fleshly minde If so maine a pillar of Christs Church as S. Iohn who foresaw the generall Apostasie from the sincere worship of God to Antichristian Idolatry were thus shaken with this temptation it was not to be expected that any after that Sathan who can transforme himselfe into an Angel of light was let loose should be able to stand without vigilant attention vnto Iohns admonitions and these fayre warnings which God had given the world in him and Cornelius A senselesse and reprobate stupiditie more than Iewish hath befallen most of the moderne Romanists for their wilfull relapse into Heathenish Idolatrie What heathenish Priest did ever frame an answere to the obiections of the Orthodoxe either so ridiculous in it selfe or which might argue such a respectlesse esteeme of the divine Maiestie whom they were chalenged to wrong as Vasquez and Salmeron with others haue made to this instance of S. Peter and Cornelius St Peter say these Iesuites in part approved by Bellarmine who loues to haue two strings to his deceiptfull Bowe disclaimed the worship offred him not as if it were not due vnto him How then In modestie Doth this make for them or against them If it were his modestie to refuse it from Cornelius it would be good manners in them not to offer it till they know more of his minde or meete him face to face as Cornelius did who yet did not presse him to take it as in good manners he should if out of modestie onely he had refused it But they haue made S. Peters Image of such a mettall as it will not easily blush charm'd it with such new distinctions as it shall not tremble whiles they doe such homage to it as would haue moved S. Peter himselfe no lesse than the peoples dauncing before the golden Calfe did Moses The Image they thinke doth well approue of their service in that it doth not disallow it nor bid them stand vp saying what it could not truely say albeit these Impostors could teach it to speake for I also am a man Yet if S. Peter himselfe heare their prayers and see their gestures to it as well as if he were amongst them will he not be as modest in Gods presence who is alwayes an vndoubted spectator of this their service as he was before Cornelius Will he not disavow their practise as quite contrary to his example and their doctrine as directly contradictory to his instructions And doe they truely honour or rather fouly vilifie S. Peter and the rest of Gods glorious Saints in obtruding greater honour to their Images of liuelesse wood and stone than any Christians offred to them whilest they liued or were they present yet are capable of CHAPTER XXVII That the respect which wee owe to Saints deceased supposing they were really present with vs doth differ onely in degree not in nature or qualitie from the respect which wee owe vnto true liuing Saints That the same expression of our respect or observance towardes Saints or Angells locally present cannot without supersitition or Idolatrie be made vnto them in their absence 1. SVppose St Peter or the Angell whom St Iohn proffered to adore should vndoubtedly appeare vnto vs and vouchsafe vs libertie of proposing our desires vnto them we might and would tender them respect and reverence not for their civill dignitie or hopes of promotion from them but for their personall sanctitie which should exceed all the reverence wee owe to ordinary godly men as much as the civill Honcaâ— we giue to Kings doth our civill respect of any subiect that is our better But as our soveraigne observance of Kings or supreame earthly Maiestie may not transcend the latitude of civill honour so neither might wee tender such honour reverence or worship to S. Peter or the Angell were they present as would transgresse the vtmost bounds of that respect or reverence which is in some measure due to every godly man The difference betweene our respect to Angells the blessed Virgine or to Saints of the highest ranke and the lowest may be greater in degree than the latitude of civill honour in respect of Monarchs and their meanest officers can afford because the amplitude of sanctifying grace doth for ought we know farre exceed the measure of morall vertues or latitude of civill dignitie But the severall observances which we owe to Kings and to others that are our betters in the ranke of subiects differ more in specificall qualitie and essence than the severall respects which are due to Angels or Saints of the highest order and to religious Lazarus were both equally present For Kings in matters concerning our goods or bodies haue a soveraigntie communicated to them from God not communicate by them to their greatest subiects so haue no Saints or Angels in matters spirituall any Lordship or dominion over vs wee owe no allegiance of our spirit saue onely to one Lord. Christ in these cases is our sole King whose felicitie is communicated to all his followers his soveraigntie to none in respect of him the greatest Saints and Angels be our fellow-subiects What respect or reverence then doe we owe them in respect of prayers or invocations suppose we might speake with them face to face As our necessities would compell vs to request their prayers to God for vs so good manners would reach vs to fit the manner of our observance or submissiue entreatie to the measure of their sanctitie or of that favour which they haue with God in respect of ordinary godly men whose prayers we craue with due observance of their persons The rule of religious discretion would so proportion our obedience to their instructions as their instructions are proportioned to the directions of vsuall Pastors we would be readie to doe them any bodily service with so much greater fidelitie and better affection than we doe to others as we conceiue them to be more faithfull and fervent in Gods service than others are But Religion it selfe and the rule of Gods word which they most exactly obey would restraine vs from falling downe before them with our bodies with purpose to lift vp our minds vnto them as to our patrons or secundary Mediators To offer vp the fruites of the spirit or consecrate the spirit of prayer and thankesgiving to the honour of any saue onely of him that made redeemed and sanctified our soules and spirits is wee maintaine it vnto death sacrilegious heathenish impiety Yet must dulia which these men consecrate wholly to the honour of Saints be of necessitie an essentiall part of the spirit of prayer if the prayers themselues which it brings forth be as they contend Cultus ver è religiosus true or intrinsecally religious worship Religion is the bond or linke betweene the Creator and the creature the essence of religious prayers consists in the elevation of the spirit the vse and end of the spirits elevation is that we may be ioyned in spirit with Christ To fixe