to be sufficient to add so many other Mediators to him Yea it seems you believe they have more power with God or love for us than Christ hath otherwise you would not think it necessary to joyn their Prayers to his nor make more addresses to these Servants than to the Son We know as Christ is God he is most able and as Man most willing to help us Hebr. ii 18. and are assured he is able to serve to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Hebr. vii 25. And when the Father hath provided so All-sufficient a Mediator to fly to others and desire them to add their interest to his is both ingratitude to the Father and a disparagement to the Son when you have laid all the fine colours on it you can Po. I will convince you by a practice of your own that herein you censure us unjustly Do not you desire the Saints on Earth to pray for you though Christ be your Mediator and is this any injury to Christ why then may we not as well desire those in Heaven to do it Prot. We have many Precepts and Examples in Scripture to desire holy Men on Earth to pray with us and for us which shews that is according to Gods Will 1 Joh. v. 14. but you have not one word to direct you to desire this of the Saints in Heaven Besides we do not kneel to good Men and put their Names into the same Litanies and Prayers with God Almighty nor desire to be heard by their Merits They pray with us and for us as our Fellow-sufferers who see and hear our wants in particular and pray only in Christs Name and through his Merits and so are joynt Petitioners with us not joynt Mediators with Christ And withal every particular Man goes to them and tells them his case and then he is sure they know his wants but Scripture is very clear that those who are dead even the best Men know not the particular wants of their dearest Friends 2 Kings xxii 20. Job xiv 2. Eccles ix 5. Isai lxiii 16. Nor is it possible for any Creature to hear the Petitions of many thousands at one time in divers places and if they cannot hear you what are you better for praying to them Po. This is easily answered for since God knows all things and they are with him always cannot he without any difficulty make our Prayers known to them Prot. We question not Gods power but why should he do this since you pray to them without his direction and by doing so accuse the way which he prescribed of being insufficient nor have you any Promise that God will acquaint them with your Prayers Besides you cannot but think it absurd if not ridiculous to pray to the Saints to pray to God for you and yet till God tell them first they cannot tell him what it is they are to desire of him this is to employ God to inform the Saints of our wants and looks like writing to a Courtier which cannot read to desire him to beg a Favour of the King for us because we were unworthy to write immediately to the King and yet knew before hand this Courtier must go to the King himself to read the Letter Po. We value not your idle Comparisons Our Church tells us the Saints do hear us and it is no matter whether or no we know how they do hear us Prot. The Scripture tells you they do not hear you and Reason tells you they cannot and will you believe your Church against both Your Church never durst define the way how they come to hear you because many Absurdities follow upon all methods that ever yet were devised And a wary man would scarce credit a thing of this consequence that cannot be proved or made out much less would he go to Mediators of whose hearing him he can have no other assurance than the bare word of those Men who gain by the Doctrin when he hath an All-sufficient Mediator who he is sure can always hear and help him and to whom he may pray without any doubts to damp his Devotion Po. Did not the Virgin Mary prophecy that all Generations should call her blessed Luke i. 48. and have we not reason to believe that the Mother of God hath great power in Heaven Prot. We call her Blessed and bless God for her but she never said All Generations should pray to her or impertinently repeat that Salutation which was proper to the occasion of her Conception of Christ as if it were a formal Prayer to her now Nor is there one word in Scripture to direct us to pray to her at all much less to say more Ave's to her than Pater nosters to God and to make larger Offerings to her than to Jesus who declares he hath all Power in Heaven and Earth so that all your worship of her is an Invention of your own and meer Superstition Po. We find it makes the People more devout to propose so many glorified Saints to them to be adored than if we confined them to adore only one invisible God Prot. You may observe if you would own the Truth that this impious Device makes the Worship of God to be neglected inclining your People to rely more on the Saints help than on Gods and to give them the honour due to him for those Blessings which he alone bestows on them and since God hath confined us only to worship and serve him Math. iv 10. it is Superstition and Idolatry not Devotion for to make any other Beings the Objects of your Worship Po. Well but since God hath wrought so many Miracles by the Relicks of the Saints doubtless he is well pleased with our adoring them and their Relicks Prot. There have been many false Relicks proposed for true ones and many forged Miracles invented by cunning Priests for gain as hath been undeniably proved and if there be any true Relicks of real Saints and any certain Miracles it is not the Saint or his Relicks but God by whose power the Miracle was wrought as S. Peter tells us Acts iii. 12. who is to have the glory And though we find in Scripture that Miracles were wrought by Moses Rod Elijahs Mantle the Hem of Christs Garment S. Peters Shadow and S. Pauls Handkerchief we never read that any of the Faithful adored these things Po. Perhaps you have been told we wholly neglect making Prayers to God by Christ Iesus whereas we have many Prayers in our Publick Offices like yours directed to God in Christs Name and I hope you have no Objection against these Prot. You ought to have no other Prayers but such and yet though these Prayers be right as to their Matter there is one intollerable Fault in them all that they are made in Latin which the People do not understand Po. Is not the Church to direct in what manner Publick Prayers shall be made and are we not to obey her Orders Prot.
he doth hear all that Men say of themselves whether they be Hypocrites or true Penitents and therefore we are advised to confess all our Sins daily to God the Supreme Judge and to labour to prove our Repentance to be sincere to him by amending our lives And we are not obliged to go to a Priest but in weighty Cases and on great Occasions Po. This is one great Complaint we have against your pretended Reformation that you do not oblige Sinners to 〈◊〉 any satisfaction for their Offences and have laid aside the Sacrament of Pennance Prot. We do account it necessary for notorious and scandalous Offenders to do a publick Pennance that their Shame and Sorrow may be as evident as their Crimes and this they are to do for Satisfaction to the Church 2 Cor. ii 7. And we hold it necessary in more secret Sins that the Sinner do heartily bewail them humbly confess them to God and utterly forsake them for the time to come and upon these terms we doubt not God will forgive them for Christs sake according to his Promises in Holy Scripture Prov. xxviii 13. Ezek. xviii 21. and we will trust Gods Word sooner than yours Po. But after God hath pardoned the Sinner as to the eternal Punishment due to him which Christ bought off He must satisfie the Divine Iustice for temporal Pains still remaining due to those Sins by submitting to the Pennances laid on him by his Priest Prot. This is a meer Device of your own not grounded on Holy Scripture for there it is declared that Christ hath delivered us from all the Course due to us and saved us to the uttermost and cleansed us from all Sin and made our Peace so that if we have Interest in him there is no Condemnation to us 'T is true God may and doth sometimes Câ—â—â—â—â—se good Men after he resolves to pardon them 2 Sam. xii 14. which is not to satisfie his Justice but to warn them not easily to run into the like Offences Heb. xii 6. And true Penitents have voluntarily put on Sackcloth and laid in Ashes and Fasted and Prayed c. But this was to shew the sincerity of their Repentance and the reality of their Sorrow for offending God or to make themselves more fit to pray earnestly for the averting the Divine Displeasure But Gods Word never makes these Acts any part of Satisfaction to God nor do we find one Precedent of Christ or his Holy Apostles enjoyning such Acts purely to satisfie Gods Justice for any remaining Punishment Po. Well you cannot deny it is more for the honour of Gods Iustice to enjoyn the Offenders to make him some satisfaction rather than to teach them he will freely forgive and you must grant it is more likely to restrain men from future Crimes if they suffer in Body or Goods for those that are past Prot. But it is not much for Gods Honour that when your Church pretends God will not remit these remaining temporal Pains without men do their Pennance yet she will remit the Pennance it self for a certain Price and so Money will buy off that which you say Christs Death doth not satisfie for And indeed none but the Poor almost do any Pennance with you the Rich who can gratifie the Priest well are Absolved and Indulged and however you order it in your Church there are as many notorious and customary Sinners for all these Pennances and Payments as any where else yea they sin with less fear and regret than others because they foresee a Pilgrimage or a little Fasting a few Lashes or a Sum of Money will make their Peace with the Priest and so they take little Care by a sincere Amendment to make their Peace with God Po. I suppose you reflect upon our Indulgences which are no other than the use of that Power of remitting Sins which Christ gave to S. Peter and in him to the Chief Pastor of the Catholic Church and doubtless it is a most comfortable thing when S. Peters Successor or his Delegates do so solemnly declare us clear from those Sins we have confessed Prot. S. Peter never sold this Power Acts viii 18. for he affirms We are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold 1 Pet. i. 8. Had he used the same gainful Trade which the Pope drives he could not have said Silver and Gold have I none Acts iii. 6. So that you must not mention that holy Apostle as your Patron till you follow his Example and grant Pardons to none but them that upon a strict search are found truly Penitent and upon these terms which Christ makes necessary the Poor must have them as soon as the Rich and both freely But while your Church makes a meer Merchandize of them and grants them out to raise Money to enrich a Nephew to marry a Niece of the Popes or to aggrandize a Favourite and sends them into remote Countries to Men and Women whose Faces he never saw and of whose Penitence he hath no assurance we Protestants must look on them as a holy Cheat a hindrance of true Repentance and a trick to get Money Po. You are quite mistaken the Church designs nothing by these Indulgences but the Penitents Salvation the Money is a voluntary Offering and can you blame Holy Church for receiving the Oblations of the People Prot. It is no Crime to receive voluntary Oblations provided they be dispensed to the Poor But here is a certain Price set and the Money received goes in part to the Popes Coffers and in part to the wealthy Delegates or to rich Monasteries and it appears that Money is the main thing because Poor Men cannot get them nor will they give an Indulgence freely to the Indigent though never so penitent whereas the Rich that shew little signs of true Repentance may have them and are thereby hardned in their Sins Nor is it this Point alone but most of those disputed between us and you that are stiffly defended on your part because they advance the Wealth and Power of your Church Such is the Popes power to receive Appeals Images Relicks Saying Masses to deliver Souls Confession Pennances and two more not yet mentioned viz. Purgatory and the pretended Sanctity of your Religious Orders Po. 'T is not the Advantage we have by these Doctrines but the certain Truth of them which makes us so desirous you should believe them as appears in this Article of Purgatory which I shall prove first by Scripture and then by Reason to be a great Truth Prot. The Scripture declares very often and very plainly that there are two places of eternal Rewards and Punishments Heaven and Hell and if there be any Third place to which most Men are to go to suffer very great temporary Pains I doubt not but God hath revealed it as plainly and clearly as he hath done Heaven and Hell and therefore let me see you prove it by plain Texts of Holy Scripture Po. Our Saviour
1. 'T is evident it hugely derogates from Gods Mercy and Christs Merits to teach Men That after all Gods Promises to justify us freely by his Grace Rom. iii. 24. And after Christs blotting out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us Coloss ii 14. they must still smart so long and so severely and are left to pay so great a part of it themselves Po. You are mistaken again for we hold that because of the Communion of Saints one man may satisfy for another and that the Alms and Prayers of the Living and especially of Holy Fryers and Nuns will avail for the delivering the Dead out of Purgatory Prot. You may hold what you please but Scripture tells us Every one shall bear his own burden Galat. vi 5. and that no Man can redeem his Brother nor make agreement to God for him because it cost more to redeem their Souls so that he must let that alone for ever Psal xlix 7 8. And that all the good Works of the best Men are little enough for themselves Math. xxv 9. So that we wonder the wiser Lay-men will be deluded by a Doctrin which is so ill proved and tends so Apparently to make the People put off their Repentance till their Death and to give the Monks an opportunity to draw Legacies from the dying and large Gifts from their living Friends that is to make the Laity Wicked and the Clergy Rich and to hazard the Salvation of both Po. We do not think the Money ill bestowed which we give to our Priests and Fryers whose Prayers are more pure and prevalent than those of your Clergy because they are under those three Holy Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience Prot. Vows without observing them are but a snare and an aggravation of the Sin when they are broken as two of these most notoriously are by your Priests and Religious Orders who are infamous in all Countries for those Artifices they use to get Wealth and for their unnatural and scandalous Lust and your Church is justly taxed with all the infamous Consequences of the Vow of Chastity because she imposes it on young Persons before they know their own strength and connives at Fornication in them rather than she will allow them to Marry that the Church may be their Heir and that they may have less dependance on Kings and States as being single Persons Po. You would fain make this a piece of Policy whereas it is Religion for S. Paul declares single persons are fittest to wait upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. vii 35. and on that account it is most proper for the Religious and Priests Prot. The Apostle advises all Christians and not Priests only to continue single if they were so as best for those Times of Persecution and provided they found they could live Chastly Unmarried otherwise to avoid Fornication he Commands them even then to Marry 1 Cor. vii 2. Whereas you forbid it to all your Religious in all Times and all Cases Besides he laid no Vow upon them Ver. 35. Nor was he himself under any Vow but was free to Marry if he had pleased 1 Cor. ix 5. And he allows a Bishop to be the Husband of one Wife 1. Tim. iii. 2. and supposes Deacons then had Wives Ver. 11. Nor doth he count Marriage impurity in any but affirms It is honourable in all and the Bed Undefiled Hebr. xiii 4. he excepts not the Clergy so that we doubt not our Married Clergy's Prayers who live soberly according to Gods Ordinance are more pure and prevalent than yours most of which live in Perjury burning Desires and Fornication Po. But your Priests have not power by their Prayers to cast out Evil Spirits as ours have which shews that Ours not Yours are the true Successors of the Apostles to whom Christ gave power over Unclean Spirits Mark xvi 17. Prot. Christ gave his Apostles power then to drink Poyson and take up Serpents without harm as also afterwards to Speak with Tongues Heal the Sick by a Touch and Raise the Dead yet your Priests dare not pretend to any of these Miracles which are all ceased long since 1 Cor. xii 8. Only they keep up the Pretence to Cast out Evil Spirits because that is more easily counterfeited than any of the rest And if this alone would serve 't is likely Conjurers might prove themselves the Apostles Successors as well as your Priests for they can Cast out Evil Spirits better than the Romish Priests who as may be noted do Cast out the Devil as often out of the same Party in divers places as there is occasion to make a Proselyte or work upon the Superstitious Now this must be done either by Compact with the Devil or the Party pretended to be Possessed and either way it is little to their Honour Besides I have known a good Physician by Natural Means Cure those whom these Priests pretended were Possessed which shews they often cast the Devil out when he was never in Po. Well I cannot but pity your Obstinacy and pray for you who wilfully shut your Eyes against the plainest Arguments for Catholic Truth Prot. There is more Reason for me to pity and pray for you who in all these Points do contradict Holy Scripture which cannot deceive us and believe false and feigned Traditions invented by designing Men for Evil ends and for my part I count it a wise Resolution and no Obstinacy to give credit to God rather than Men. Po. You flatter your self with Scripture taken in your own sense but you did own the Catholic Church was the best Interpreter of Scripture and I assure you the Holy Fathers who in all Ages have delivered down to us the Sense of the Catholic Church agree exactly with us in all these Opinions and Practices which you Protestants reject and can you think all these holy Ancient Doctors were deceived and that a few obscure Modern Reformers are in the right Prot. Truly I have but little skill in these Writings of the Fathers but I have heard our Clergy who are as well read in them as any of you declare That all these Fathers condemn your Opinions as much as Holy Scripture doth and that these Opinions and Practices were late Inventions of your Church and were set up in Times of Ignorance and Superstition meerly to gain Power and Wealth by them And though I am not able to make this out I promise you whenever you please to bring one of our Churchmen that shall prove what I say In the mean time because the Scripture was before the Fathers I am well satisfied that mine is the oldest and the best Religion and am resolved therefore by Gods Grace never to forsake it and if you lov'd your own Soul above your Worldly Interest you would embrace it also which I heartily pray you may and so bid you Farewell Books newly Published Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1686. THE