in c. Sicut praecepta Legis humanae ordinant hominem ad quandam communitatem humanam Ita praecepta legis divinae ordinant hominem ad quandam communitatem seu rempublicam hominum sub Deo Ad hoc autem quod aliquis in aliquâ communitate beâ—…è commoratur duo requiruntur Quorum primum est ut benè se habeat ad eum qui praeest communitati aliud autem est ut benè se habeat ad alios communitatis consocios comparticipes oportet igitur quòd in lege divinâ primò ferantur quaedam praecepta ordinantia hominem ad Deum inde alia quaedam praecepta ordinantia hominem ad alios proximos simul convenientes sub Deo As the praecepts of humane Laws do order men to a Communion or Common wealth amongst themselves so the Precepts of divine laws do order men to a Communion or Common-wealth under God Now that a man may be fit to live in any Communion two things are required The first is that he behave himself well towards the Head of that Communion the next that he behave himself well towards his fellow-members and co-partners in it Accordingly in the Divine Law first we meet with precepts teaching a man his duty towards his God after these we meet with other precepts teaching him his duty towards his neighbours who together with himself do live under the government of that same God Nothing can be spoken either more plainly or more punctually to shew that the Decalogue as the Rule of Justice is the gâ—…ound of Christian Communion That whosoever desires to be of that Communion must first learn his Duty towards his God the Head of it then his duty towards his neighbours his fellow-members in it That these Duties are as distinct as their objects taught in two several distinct orders of precepts some concerning God others concerning his neighbours And that all save God alone are to be accounted as his neighbours in this Communion as all living with himself under one and the same Head which is God From which premises we may well inferr this conclusion That what Duty belongs to the Head only may not be practised towards any of the members without a confusion of Gods Order a violation of Gods Law and an invasion of Gods Right which must needs be highly displeasing to all the true members of this Communion whether in heaven or in earth who all agree in nothing more then in honouring their Head and therefore cannot but detest whatsoever shall tend to his dishonour for since himself hath said I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another Isa. 42. 8. we may be ashamed must be afraid of giving that Glory to Saints and Angels which God will not part withall for if he deny the gift how dare we give that 's to give in sin there 's reason for our fear If he will not give it they will not take it that 's to give in vain there 's reason for our shame For as in mens natural so in Christs mystical Body all the members alike are made to serve the Head and in order to the Head it is that they serve one another So that there is not one member which will not neglect to serve it self and much more its fellow-member when it should serve its Head Let God but have the same priviledge among Christians as without doubt he hath the same right for they are that body whereof he is the Head and no man will hereafter so misplace his devotion so mispend his time so mistake himself as to be worshipping of an Angel or a Saint whiles he should be worshipping of God I will not ask With what faith I can say I believe in an Angel instead of I believe in God or to which Article of the Creed this Religious worship as you call it is reducible that it may be done in faith though what is not of faith is sin more then exceeding sinful in our Prayers for in that I have proved this worship cannot be without fâ—…lly I have sufficiently proved it cannot bâ—… with faith Nor will I ask how it is agreeable with our Lords most holy Prayer the pattern of all sound prayers for me to say Our Brother instead of Our Father which art in heaven though if I pray out of Christs Communion who will not cannot joyn with me in saying Our Brother but will and doth joyn with me in saying Our Father I cannot pray in hope because I must also pray without Christs Intercession through which alone God heareth my prayers for having proved that this worship cannot be with faith I need not prove it must be without hope I only ask How this worship can be with Charity I mean that Charity which hath God only for its immediate object since Faith Hope and Charity are three Theological vertues no less inseparable from themselves then they ought to be inseparable from our souls And if this worship may not be with Gods Charity why should my Charity be with this worship If it love not God why should I love it and if it love another instead of God how doth it love God Sure I am God himself hath determined in a case very like this That They who embrace a false worship do hate the true God Exod. 20. 5. Visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And how can good Christians with any conscience do that which may come under the least temptation or suspition of hateing God Wherefore this false worship must needs so trouble and startle true Believers as to be the cause of division and dis-union for ever in the Church of Christ dividing man from man to the worlds end because it divides man from God for whose sake and in whose name and love we ought to follow and embrace the Christian Communion For the same Voice which calls us to Communion in worshipping first calls us to Religion in the worship nor is it possible for any man to shew a Text which saith O come let us worship there 's the Communion which doth not likewise say worship God there 's the Religion Thus saith the man after Gods own heart and therefore nearest his mind O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker Psal. 95. 6. So establishing publick as also establishing true and forbidding false worship For Rectum index sui obliqui he which saith O come let us worship and fall aown and kneel before the Lord our maker doth by the rule of contraries likewise say Let us not worship nor fall down nor kneel before any that is not our maker Wherefore since you have most shamefully violated this command you were best to let your repentance follow yout shame that your shame may not fore-run your confusion Put then your own translation into your practice come with your Venite adoremus
procidamus ploremus ante Dominum qui fecit nos O come let us worship and fall down and weep before the Lord our maker because we have worshipped and falen down and kneeled before those who have not made us do not convert or call us cannot save us 14. For it is the part of Religion to order a man rightly in regard of his God as of Temperance and of Justice to order him rightly in regard of himself and of his neighbour so saith Saint Augustine Tract 23. in Johan Haec est religio Christiana ut colatur unus Deus quia non facit animam beatam nisi unus Deus This is the true Christian Religion that we worship one God because none can make the soul blessed but one God None can make the soul saith holy David None can make the soul blessed saith holy Augustine but one God therefore we may worship none but him Idem principium creationis beatificationis The same God is the author of our Being and of our well-being and claims our worship as his homage for both The same is our maker and our Saviour The same Lord which giveth nature giveth also Grace and Glory and therefore to ascribe unto others the honour which is due only to him is to put others in his place as if they were Lords with him and were the givers of Nature of Grace of Glory Yet this is the Divinity you teach your people this is the Duty you bind them to do by the first Commandement Sacrosanctam Eucharistiam adoratione latriae venerari jubemur Virginem autem Mariam honore hyperduâ—…iae Cruâ—…em etiam adorare venerari Angelos vero maxime Angelum nostrae custodiae designatum sanctos sanctas eorum reliquias Templa honore duliae honorare jubemur methodus Confessionis in expositione primi praecepti We are here commanded to worship the holy Eucharist the blessed Virgin the holy Cross the Angelâ—… especially him that is our Guardian The Saints their reliques and Temples And it is to small purpose that you would be thought to give a lesser kind of worship to these then to God for all kinds of Religious worship are alike forbidden to any creature by this Commandement as all kinds of uncleanness by the seventh of slander by the ninth So that in truth you have taught your people to worship many Gods instead of worshipping one God for you cannot multiply acts specifically distinct without multiplying the objects therefore you must make many Gods by making many several distinct acts of Religious worship This is such a Babel as reacheth up to heaven a very great and horrid confusion which confounds the Creator with the creature and staies not there but cometh down again and also confoundeth the Communion of Saints and the Commandements of God and consequently not only the work but also the whole rule of Religion For seeing our blessed Saviour hath said On theâ—…e two hang all the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22. 40. by confounding the two Tables of the Commandements you must also confound the whole Book of God So then this false worship may only belong to Babel not to Jerusalem For in confounding the Creator with the creature it strikes at God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth In confounding the Communion of Saints it strikes at God the Son who is the Head of that Communion In confounding the Commandements and the whole Book of God it strikes at God the Holy Ghost the Pen-man of those Commandements and of that Book And we ought not to think that Jerusalem the City of God will either teach or practice a worship against God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For such a worship is not a Religion but a Confusion and is accordingly punished with confusion Psalm 97. 7. Confounded be all they that worship carved Images and that delight in vain Gods worship him all ye Gods A Text that exactly follows the method of the second Commandement proceeding by Command and by Commination only here the commination is put in the first place because the command had hitherto been so much transgressed and so little regarded God thereby intimating That if his Command doth not restrain us his commination shall ruine us which in this sin is more terrible then in any other for here he threatens to visit the sins of the Fathers upon their Children which in the language of this Text is To confound both them and theirs Confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia saith your own Latine for that 's to delight in vain gods who are all commanded to worship the true God as well as we for so it follows Worship him all ye Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Seventy worship him all ye his Angels Here 's yet another confusion This Idolatry makes them Idols whom God made Angels it makes them vain Gods whom he made Gods It unmakes Angels and what is that but to make Devils I mean in regard of those that worship them For though the holy Angels in themselves are blessed Spirits yet by those that Religiously worship them they are after some sort made wicked Spirits because to them they are the occasion of sin and wickedness So far is man from righting Angels by wronging God from honouring the servants by dishonouring their Lord and yet the best pretence that is usually made in this kind is least the Angels for sooth should lose their right whereas by doing them this right we do them the greatest wrong See thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant Thou wrongest no less then three by doing it Thy self and me and our common Master A prohibition twice urged Rev. 19. 10. 22. 9. and with the same reason shewing that God made Angels our fellow-servants and Brethren and that we may not by our Religious worship make them God Therefore Confounded be they that make them Idols saith David since God made them Angels and yet your Position makes them twice idols once in themselves whiles it bestows Religious worship on them a second time in their images whiles it bestows that worship on them through their Pictures And that 's your fourth and last Position which concerns the Religious worship of Gods glorious Servants Saints and Angels through their pictures 15. In which case if you are not to be convinced of idolatry sure t is for want of will not of means of conviction for the Commandement expresly forbiddeth to make the likeness of any thing in heaven or in earth with intent to worship it and I believe you will not deny the Saints and Angels to be in heaven or if so because for ought you know who believe the Purging of souls after death some Saints may be in Purgatory to be tormented some good Angels there to torment them yet you cannot deny God to be in heaven unless you will discard your Pater Noster which teacheth you to say Our Father which art in heaven But it is a sufficient proof
as by not running it And you most needs run out of the race if you cannot see the mark or scope to which you run This mark or scope in it self is more visible then the Sun in the Firmament for it is the Sun of righteousness why should you allow the interposition of any Body betwixt Him and you to remove him out of your sight who cannot be removed out of his own Sphaere your sins as a cloud will obscure him more then enough Oh let not even your Righteousness obscure him more If you will needs put in a solid body betwixt him and you when you pray how can the eye of your Faith look upon him in your Prayer You will here by Eclipse his light from your selves and bring darkeness upon your Souls For will you look with the Eye of your Faith upon Angels then say they were delivered for your offences and rose again for your justification and now sit at the right hand of God making intercession for you will you look with the eye of your Faith upon your blessed Saviour then let not the Angels in betwixt Him and you for they will but hinder your sight and keep you from seeing Him Or if you could with the eye of Faith look on Christ through the Angels yet were it a piece of Infidelity so to do because it is but intruding into those things which you have not seen sc. in the Law and the Gospel and so being matter of Religion cannot be Divine either in the evidence or in the assurance of Faith Your own Angelical Doctor speaks of this kind of Infidelity Infidelis non ut habens malam voluntatem circa finem sc. Christum sed ut habens malam electionem circa media quia non eligit quae sunt à Christo tradita And from thence say I such a Worshipper is an Infidel if not as having a bad will or affection towards the end of his worship which is Christ yet sure as having a bad choice or election of the means tending to that end because he choseth such means to worship Christ as Christ hath not appointed him Nay indeed St. Chrysostome in effect said so long agoe in his Comment upon this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There were some that saidâ—… we ought not to come to God immediately by Christ but mediately by the Angels for the other address was too high for us Here 's the choice of such means in Gods worship as God hath not appointed for Saint Peter saith expresly that we are to offer up spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. If the Sacrifice of Prayer may be Spiritual yet it cannot be acceptable but by Christ And it follows 〈◊〉 little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why do you let go the Head to lay hold on the members that is let go Christ to lay hold on the Angels If you fall from the Head you are utterly lost Here 's the reproof of such a choice as befitting Infidels who know not Christ to be the Head nor the dangers and miseries of those men who fall from this Head rather then Christians who do know him to be the Head as well of Angels as of men and that both would alike perish were it not for the influence of life and motion derived to them by being immediatly joyned unto him The like is the Judgement of Photius as indeed he generally follows St. Chrysostome But Theodoret not only condemns the Heresy but also declares the Hereticks after this manner Those who stood for the Law stood for the worshipping of Angels saying The Law was given by them And this mistake remained a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia which made the Fathers in the Council of Laodicea the chief City of Phrygia forbid the worshipping of Angels And saith he to this day we may see amonst them and their Neighbours the Oratories of St. Michael And this they pretended to do out of Humility For that the great God of Heaven and Earth was invisible incomprehensible inaccessible by men and therefore they ought to go to Him by the mediation of Angels Thus far Theodoret and this held for unquestionable Truth above a thousand years amongst all Greek and Latine Divines till your great Annalist thought fiâ—… to question it and therefore I crave youâ—… pardon if I make bold to question him For I had much rather say with Theodoret. That they were hereticks then with Baronius That they were Catholicks who worshipped Angels since next the holiness of the Holy Ghost I believe the holiness of the Holy Catholick Church and sure I am such a grievous sin as this is inconsistent with true Holiness For it is 〈◊〉 rule of common reason approved both iâ—… the Ecclesiastical and in the Civil Law Paria esse aliquid omnino non facere non rectè facere They are both equal sinâ—… not to do a thing at all and not to do it righâ—…ly not to worship God at all and not to worship him rightly or as he hath commanded and consequently 't is in effeâ—… as great a Calumny to say the Catholicâ—… Church hath had no Religion as to say she hath had a false Religion Since therefore the worshipping of Angels is convinceâ—… to be false Religion we may safely infeâ—… it hath not been it cannot be the Religion of the Catholick Church And Sâ—… Paul here proves it to be false Religion Per omnia genera causarum in regard of all four causes that is to say 1. False originally or efficiently because it came not from God but from men presumptuously intruding into things not seen and vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind 2. False formally because it is not with God it holds not the Head and therefore withdraws us from God instead of uniting us to him whereas the very formal cause of devotion is the Union of the Soul with God 3. False materially for it is a Voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels instead of God 4. False finally because it ends not in God tends not to salvation but to damnation or to the beguiling us of our reward whereas what is formally Religion in the Union with God is of it self finally salvation in the fruition of God Yet saith Baronius Theodoretum haud foeliciter assequutum esse Pauli verborum sensum quùm in Commentariis dicit haec à Paulo esse scripta qùod tùm grassarentur Haeretici qui Angelos adorandos esse jactarent Theodoret was mistaken in St. Pauls meaning when he said that St. Paul writ this against those Hereticks who then worshipped Angels He might as well have said that St. Chrysostome and Photius were also mistaken for they agree with Theodoret in the same sense of St. Pauls words And he might moreover to these have added St. Aâ—…brose to shew that the mistake was no only in the Greek but also in the Latiâ—… Church For though his Gloss name star instead of Angels yet the reason of 〈◊〉 condemns
23. 21. Observa â—…um andi vâ—…m ejus nec contemnendum putes This argument is a strain higher then that of the Trent Catechist For he only saith That the Invocation of Angels is not repugnant to the first Commandement huic legi non repugnare Catech. Trid. de primo praecepto cap. 3. but you are not contented therewith you say farther That Invocation of Angels is commanded in the first Commandement for you quote a Text for it which must be reduced to that Commandement or to none and so be accounted as no part of Gods Law if it belong not to that Commandement But indeed the Text you quote is to be reduced to the first Commandement consequently cannot concern any Angel but must concern only God for though your Cardinal was so bold with the Laodicean Council as to say when that named Angels it meaned Dâ—…vels yet I hope you wil not be so bold with the Holy Scripture as to say When that nameth God it meaneth Angels Thou shalt have no other Gods but me saith the Text. Do not you say we may have none of the Heathens Gods Bacchus or Venus or Jupiter which were evil Angels but we may have some of the Christians Gods St. Michael St. Gabriel St. Raphael which were Holy Angels Or if you must needs say it in obedience to your great Master for you seem all as sworn homagers to your two Cardinals Bellarmine and Baronius yet a greater then he will confute your saying For the Holy Ghost calleth the Angel you mention no less then God yea then Jehovah the everliving God Exod. 13. 21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by â—…ight in a pillar of fire This is the Angel concerning whom it s said Observa eum c. Beware of him and obey his Voyce and provoke er conteâ—…n him not as the context plainly sheweth For he will not pardon your trangressions for my name is in him and again v. 22. If thou shall indeed obey his Voyce and do all that I speak and v. 23. For mine Angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites and I will cut them off Here are two persons indeed named for he saith mine Angel and Iâ—… but one and the same God one and the same Lord who requireth their Obedience and promiseth his own gracious presence and Protection Wherefore all that this Text will afford you is that the Eternal Son of God is called an Angel as He was before Gen. 48. 16. not that an Angel is made a God or ought to be religiously worshipped For though the Law was delivered by Angels and God might send a Guardian Angel with his People yet here God and the Angel are in effect made terms convertible and therefore most signifie one and the same thing If the Jews had interpreted these and the like Texts of the Angels properly so called it had been scarce possible for so great a number of them to have turned Sadduces and to have said There are no Angels yet if the Christians will needs interpret the same Texts of the Angels properly so called it will not be impossible for them to turn worse Sadduces and to say There is no God for they will have no Honour no worship left for him being bound by these Texts so interpreted to bestow it all upon the Angels As the mistaken Jew had no Angel in his Faith so the mistaken Christian may have nothing but Angel that is no God in his Religion and by this means come to be the worser Sadducee For he that will say Angels are to be religiously worshipped must go for that worship to the first Table since that only treats of the elicite acts of Religion and consequently either must leave out God or joyn the Angels with God in all the four first Commandements making them Gods Copartners in all Adorations Invocations Dedications consecrating to them Liturgies Churches Priests Sabbaths and what not and in effect say There is no God whiles in his Religion he saith there are so many Gods But you are afraid of ungratefully slighting the Angels why not more afraid of ungratefully slighting the God that made them and of whose command they minister unto you For even in this very place where it is said Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the Place which I have prepared v. 20. it is also said And ye shall serve the Lord your God v. 25. You may acknowledge that God sends a Guardian Angel before you to keep you in your way and to bring you into the Place which he hath prepared for your Soul even to Abrahams Bosome yet you may not worship or invocate that Angel for it is said expresly ye shall serve the Lord your God and surely Invocation is the highest act of Religious service Angele Dei qui custos es mei me tibi commissum pietate supernâ hodiè illumina custodi rege guberna Amen This is your daily Invocation of your Guardian Angel can you suppose him to do all this and not suppose him to be God if you can pray shew me what can the Son of God or the Spirit of God do more why not rather say Fili Dei or Spiritus Dei O thou Son of God or O thou Spirit of God then O thou Angel of God enlighten keep rule and govern me this day and ever Is not this indeed to ask grace of an Angel which yet your own Cardinal proveth from that of the Psalmist Gratiam gloriam dabit Dominus is to be asked only of God For what can grace or the Spirit of grace do more then enlighten the understanding then keep rule and govern the will and affections Can any but God alone have an immediate influence or operation upon the Soul of man who alone as he is omnipotent to make it so he is omnipresent to possess and keep it and omniscient to guide and govern it If a good Angel can immediately by himself illuminate my understanding may not also an evil Angel transform himself into an Angel of Light and deceive me with false Illuminations And what would become of my Soul if any Angel had such a power over it for how should I then exclude the Divel from having the same power I cannot but say that I know mine own heart little and yet sure my Guardian Angel knows it less If God alone be the Searcher of hearts then he alone must be the infallible guide and Governour of Souls Therefore as I dare not say O Angel of the Lord but O Lord thou hast searched me out and known me thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thoughts long before Thou art about my path and about my bed and spiest out all my wayes So I dare not say Try me O Angel of God but Try me O God and seek the ground
he that telleth the number of the stars will not learn of man how to number his own Commandements Wherefore if our number disagree from his we shall not only have a false piece of Arithmetick in the numerus numerans in the number numbering but we shall also have a false piece of Divinity in the numerus numeratus in the number numbered For we shall call that First which God calls Second there is the false Arithmitick and we shall make that nothing which God hath made a Commandement or make that two which God hath made but one there is the false Divinity Therefore as we may not leave Gods own hand-writing to consult with the Church about the number of the Commandements whether there be Ten or no so neither may we leave it to consult about the number of the Commandements in each Table whether three or four in the first for God hath said four whether six or seven in the second Table for God hath said six And what God hath made his Determination the Church of God may not make her Consultation It is the doctrine of your own Casuist Reginald in praxi fori Poenit. lib. 13. c. 15. Ut omnia rerum genera ad decem summa reducuntur sic omnia praecepta moralia ad decem praecipua quae Decalogum constituunt ex quorum etiam distinctione sicut res ex distinctione summorum generum inter se distinguuntur As all things which have a natural being are reduced to the Ten Predicaments So all things that have a moral being are reduced to the Ten Commandements And as natural entities are distinguished by the Ten Predicaments so moral entities are distinguished by the Ten Commandements So that the Ten Commandements are as it were the Ten Predicaments or general heads in Divinity to which all moral Duties are to be reduced by which they are to be examined from which they are to be Practised And therefore as he would shew himself no good Logician who should expunge or confound any one of the ten Predicaments because that were to disturb the order of nature so he would shew himself no good Divine who should either expunge or confound any one of the Ten Commandements because that were to disturb the order of Grace The one would bring Babel upon our natural the other upon our spiritual inheritance The one would confound us in regard of earth the other in regard of heaven The one would confound us as men the other would confound us as Christians which is infinitely the more dreadful and the more damnable confusion Therefore we must needs say and believe That there is a much greater necessity of distinct entities in morals then in naturals because there is a much greater necessity that we should exactly know our Duties then that we should exactly know our estates or habilements That we should know our God then that we should know the world And consequently any true Christian Church which teacheth us in morals must much more abhor to confound a â—…ommandement for fear she should perplex us in our Religion then the most careful Tutor that teacheth us in naturals canabhor to confound a Predicament for fear he should perplex us in our learning For there is no such desperate perplexity as that of Conscience and no such damnable confusion as that of Religion and God hath ordained and commanded his Church to prevent and to redress not to create or to continue either such perplexities or such confusions And a late faction in your Church by either expunging or abridging the second Commandement for in some Catechisms it is expunged in others it is abridged for fear if it were read out all at length it should either stagger the people by the plainness of its Prohibition or else awake and frighten them by the terribleness of its commination have brought two great absurdities upon the outward Profession of your Religion which I may not be ashamed to name whiles you are not afraid to practise First that in this point it is less certain then was the Religion of the Jews for they had no confusion in their principles concerning the outward worship of God as you have and where is confusion there must be uncertainty Secondly that in this respect it is more scandalous and offensive then was sometime the Religion of the Heathen For Numa would not allow any image to be made of God saith Plutarch in his life because he was a mind invisible and therefore neither to be represented nor worshipped by any image But you will needs both represent and worship him by images Why should any Christians do that against the Law of God which some Heathen would not do against the Law of nature For if the Gentiles which had not the Law doing by nature the things contained in the Law were a Law unto themselves and shewed the work of the Law written in their hearts by abstaining from so gross Idolatry what can be said in excuse of those Christians who have the same Law of nature as fully written in their hearts and more fully written in the Holy Scriptures yet will not do by Grace the things contained in the Law nor shew the work of the Law written in their hearts and in their Bibles but will needs be a Law unto themselves against the Law of God and nature that they may be and continue most gross Idolaters I could wish with all my soul that the question were impertinently asked because I fear it cannot be substantially answered and if it may stand good without an answer it will not only be a most harsh question but also a most heavy accusation Secondly this reckoning the First and Second but as one Commandement is also against accidental Catholicism that is to say against the Profession of a Divine Truth universally taught in the Church of God by the Jews and by the Christians both before and after Saint Augustines daies For the Jews Church we have the testimony of Josephus who lib. 3. Antiq. cap. 4. hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first Commandement teacheth us There is but one God and that we must worship him alone The second commandeth us not to worship him by any image For the Christian Church we have generally the Testimony of all the Fathers before Saint Augustine and of all the writers after him till the Schoolmen and we have his too as to the force and vertue of the second Commandement though not as to the place and order of it I will cite but some few 1. Origene in his 8. homily upon Exodus speaking of the first and second Commandements saith That some would have them both go but for one but he altogether dislikes their opinion and thus confutes it Quod si ita putetur non complebitur decem numerus mandatorum ubi jam erit Decalogi veritas If we reckon so we shall not have the full number of Ten Commandements and where then will be the truth
worship and the gâ—…eatest degree of it is no more Therefore we say That Religious worship in what degree soever is to be given only to God because he alone is the object of Religion For Religion though it command and govern such acts as pass from man to man or from man to God yet it doth not of it self produce or excite any act but only such as hath God for its immediate object And therefore all the elicite and proper acts of Religion such as flow from its own nature are reducible to some of the four Commandements in the first Table which concern God only as appears in that his name alone is used in every one of them And therefore to bestow any act of Religion upon any other then upon God alone is to set up both a God and a Religion neither revealed nor commanded in the first Table and consequently not of Goa's but of our own making Nay it is to fetch a God out of the second Table to bestow upon him the Duties enjoined in the first It is to borrow an Object from the second Table to exercise the Acts of the first For the whole Decalogue knows no other object but only God or neighbour and these are so distinct That what is neighbour cannot be God what is God cannot be neighbour And the Acts concerning these are as distinct as the Objects for all the Acts commanded or forbidden in the first Table concern our God All the Acts commanded or forbidden in the second Table concern our neighbour and t is equally absurd to apply to neighbour the Duties belonging to God as Glory or Worship and to apply to God the Duties belonging to neighbour as relief or maintenance This is the Divinity God himself hath taught for it is the plain undoubted sense of his Commandements and this is the Divinity Gods Church hath learned and professed for thus she understood his sense as saith Lactantius lib. 6. cap. 10. Primum Justitiae officium est conjungi cum Deo secundum cum homine sed illud primum Religio dicitur Hoc secundum misericordia vel humanitas nominatur The first office of Justice is to unite man to God The second to unite man to man or to his neighbour The first office is called Religion the second is called Humanity And therefore it is against the very order of Justice to confound these offices For as Humanity cannot extend to God so Religion cannot extend to neighbour Wherefore since all Communion is founded in Justice those who most confound the offices of Justice are the greatest enemies and opposers of true Christian Communion and consequently They who worship Saints and Angels are the greatest Schismaticks because they most confound the Offices of Justice doing to neighbour those offices which belong to God and not doing to God those offices which belong to him For he that renders to Caesar Gods due doth for that cause not render to God his own due And accordingly these two are disjoyned and divided as two distinct offices of Justice by Gods own eternal Wisdom and Truth and therefore may not be confounded without mans unsufferable folly and mistake for so saith our blessed Saviour Mat. 22. 21. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars there 's the Debt of Justice belonging to Humanity And unto God the things that are Gods there 's the Debt of Justice belonging to Religion Cesar must have his own but he may not have Gods Tribute The noblest creature that is either in Heaven or in Earth may not have the Creators due Since therefore Religion is the Creators due as Humanity is the creatures according to Lactantius Gods most glorious Servants Saints and Angels may not be sharers with their Master in his due that is to say in the offices of Religion though in never so inferiour a degree because they cannot be Gods though in never so inferiour a degree But they may only be sharers with their fellow-servants or creatures in the offices of Humanity whether double or treble or if you will centuple sharers it matters not according to their several degrees of glory and of excellency And this was so clear a Truth in our Saviours daies that it is said concerning the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians when they heard these words they marvelled and left him and went their way v. 22. And it is still so clear notwithstanding the many sophistical distinctions whereby some of late have clouded it that if any man now will needs reply against it he must be more refractory then those Pharisees or Herodians and fall under Saint Pauls reproof Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God Rom. 9. 20. For God the Father in his Law God the Son in his Gospel and God the Holy Ghost the Pen man both of Law and Gospel hath so determined That the offices of Justice may not be confounded but those which belong to Religion must be reserved by themselves for God alone none of them all bestowed upon our neighbour he is capable only of those offices which belong to Humanity but of none of those which belong to Religion Therefore your words And the same I say proportionably though in an infinitely inferiour degree of our Religious worship of his glorious Servants Saints and Angels are not to be justified though you should say them to the worlds end For there is no proportion betwixt the creature and the Creator and consequently you may not say the same thing or talk of the same worship proportionably concerning them 13. The Honour of Humanity or of the second Table due from the fifth Commandement though in the highest degree of proportion being infinitely below the Creator and the honour of Religion or of the first Table due from the four first Commandements though in the lowest degree being infinitely above the creature For that honour is internally in the understanding an apprehension or belief of an infinite excellency in the will a subjection or submission to it there 's the duty of the first Commandement The same honour is externally in the gesture an adoration in the speech a profession in the deed a publick and solemn Homage made to the same infinite excellency there 's the duty of the three other Commandements in the first Table Wherefore you must place your degrees of proportion not in religious worship to make an inferiour degree of that but in civil worship to make a superiour degree of that for Gods glorious servants unless you will serve them instead of God to the dishonour of their Lord and to the despight of his Commandements I would not speak so positively were this Divinity of yesterday but you see Lactantius shews it was of old in the Catholick Church And the Angelical Doctor shews the same for notwithstanding the Practice of the Church was corrupted in his daies yet this Doctrine this Divinity was not corrupted For this we find was his determination 12º qu. 100. art 5.
that your Priests are convinced of their Idolatry in worshipping of Images because they are so willing to shuffle off the second Commandement which forbids it least that should also convince the common people wherein a late German Bishop and Clergy of yours shewed too much fraud to be accounted men of conscience and too little Art to be accounted men of cunning for commanding that the Lords Prayer the Angelical salutation the Creed and Ten Commandements should be distinctly and leisurably repeated in the German tongue every Lords day by the Parish Priests that the people might be able to repeat understand and learn them Distinctè ac tractatim ut populus legentem repetitione subsequi ea discere memoriae mandare possit Synod Augustensis cap. 25. yet left not so much as any blind footsteps of the second Commandement in their German translation which they appointed the Priests to read There was little conscience in leaving out one of Gods Commandements and as little cunning in commanding the Parish Priests to read them All when they themselves had left out One for they could not think by their false copy which quite left out the second Commandement and called the third the second to blind their Priests though they did think by it to blind the people They would be thought very zealous in teaching those committed to their charge all the Fundamentals of salvation yet purposely concealed one main practical fundamental because they had formerly mis-taught or at least mispractised the same finding it more agreeable with their honour though less with their honesty to let the people continue still in ignorance then to recall their own errour The like was the tender care and conscience of your Trent Fathers to instruct the people in their prayers Sess. 22. cap. 8. Etsi Missa magnam contineat populi fidelis eruditionem non tamen expedire visum est Patribus ut vulgari linguâ passim celebraretur Ne tamen oves Christi esuriant Pastores frequenter aliquid in Missâ exponant Though the Mass contain in it very great and necessary instructions for faithful people yet we do not think fit to put it in a language they can understand notwithstanding least Christs sheep should be bunger-starved the Pastors are required often to expound some parts of it A great seeming Fatherly care of souls to fear they might perish for want of food but no Fatherly kindness nor resolution rather to let them perish then make them able to feed themselves But the cause was the same in both The peoples ignorance was to keep them in their sinful obedience For the less they knew the more they would obey in things so plainly against the Law of God Therefore these two Synods had rather the common people should worship God without their Reason then with their Conscience though they could not worship as men without their Reason nor as Christians but with their Conscience But so it is Reason and Conscience must both be laid aside or lulled asleep when men are to act upon false Principles as in this particular The Commandment was to be thrown down that the Images might be kâ—…pt up For that is so plain in its Prohibition and so powerful in its Commination that if the people had understood it they would not have committed so gross Idolatry or would full soon have become very penitent Idolators And good reason for Images are but a relick of Paganism Ex Gentili consuetudine as saith Eusibius Hist. Eccles. lib. 7. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a Paganish custom and therefore long kept out of the Churches of Christians and longer kept out of their Religion though now they so abound in your Churches and Religion as if you meant that even in your most populous Cities these your new Gods should exceed and out-vie the number of their worshippers so that I might justly hint at your pictures and Images all my fault was I did only hint at them I will now make some part of amends and down-right strike at them though by other mens hands not mine own For in this case I have the primest Champions of Christendom to prove that Images were long kept out of the Churches of Christians and longer kept out of their Religion and either of these is enough to break them in pieces 16. First that Images were long kept out of the Churches of Christians and for this we have the testimony of Epiphanius for the Greek and of Saint Hierom for the Latine Church both in one Epistle to John of Hierusalem which was indicted or composed by Epiphanius translated and approved by Saint Hierom. The testimony is in these words Cùm ergo hoc vidissem in Ecclesiâ Christi contra authoritatem Scripturarum hominis pendere Imaginem scidi illud magis dedi consilum custodibus ejusdem loci ut pauperem mortuum eo obvolverent efferent Precor ut jubeas Presbyteros ejusdem loci deinceps praecipere in Ecclesiâ Christi ejusmodi vela quae contra Religionem nostram veniunt non appendi The story is this Epiphanius going to say his prayers in a Church at Anabaltha there spied a vail or curtain which had in it the picture of Christ or of some Saint at which he was so offended That he cut down the said veil or curtain and wished the Keepers of the Church to bury a dead man therewith alledging it was against the authority of the holy Scriptures and the purity of Christian Religion that such Images should be set up in Churches and desiring the Bishop of Hierusalem in whose Diocess it was to require the Clergy there to admit no more such pictures or images into that Church Contra authoritatem Scripturarum contra Religionem nostram No Christian Bishop can have stronger arguments or rather adjurations either for the casting out or the keeping out of Images from his Church then that the retaining or the receiving of them is against the authority of the Scriptures the custom of the Church and the conscience of Religion All which are here alledged by Epiphanius For he that saith Contra Religionem nostram against our Religion doth appeal to the custom of Christians as well as to the conscience of Christianity And this quotation is such a Gordian not to your Cardinal that after all his pains to loosen and untie it at last Alexander like he cuts it off saying Verior solutio haec verba esse supposititia Bell. lib. 2. de sanct cap. 9. The truest answer is The words are supposititious But words entailed upon the Church for so many hundred years together are not so easily cut off The same Authority had before troubled Waldensis yet he denies not the truth of the story only saith That Epiphanius did this thing in hatred of the Anthropomorphites and out of zeal not according to knowledge Wald. de Sacramental Tit. 19. c. 157. So likewise Alphonsus a Castro lib. de Haer. voce Imago denies not the
storie only dislikes it excusing Epiphanius from the Imputation of Heresie because the thing at that time had not been defined by the Church And indeed this storie is to be found in all the editions of Saint Hieroms works not only in that of Basil by Erasmus who saith in the argument thereof Hanc Epistolam Hieronymus in odium Johannis Rufini Latinam fecit But also in that of Antwerp 1579. where this is the argument Epiphanius intimus D. Hieronymi à quo epistola versa est amicus excusat se Johanniquod Presbyterum ordinarat in ipsius diocaesi ipso inconsulto postremò cur velum ad Ecclesiae fores pendens in quo hominis imago depicta erat sciderit rationem reddit This Edition no more doubts that Epiphanius excused the cutting of the vail then the ordination of the Priest to John Bishop of Hierusalem Nay yet moreover The edition of Marianus Victorius at Rome which Bellarm. confesseth to be purged from Erasmus his errours ab erroribus Erasmi purgata est hath not this part of the Epistle purged out of it but Victorius in his Annotation confesseth it to be as undoubted as the rest in that he seeks to elude it by this gloss That the storie was to be understod of the image of some profane man de Imagine hominis profani He is very bold in calling that the Image of a profane man which Epiphanius said was the Image of Christ or some Saint for so Saint Hierom from him Habens imaginem quasi Christi vel Sancti cujusdam yet not so bold as to deny that Epiphanius had thus dealt with that image Nay this story is also in Epiphanius his works Printed at Paris 1622. with Petavius his notes yet he makes not the least objection against it but by his silence rather seems to allow it as unquestionable because he was so well able yet not willing to question it But t is no wonder if Petavius in this dissent from Bellarmine one Jesuit from another for in it Bellarmine dissenteth from himself For whereas lib. de Script Ecclesiasticis in his Chapter of Saint Epiphanius he said Ad finem epistolae ad Johannem Hierosolymitanum videtur aliquid additum ab Iconoclastis At the end of his Epistle to John Bishop of Hierusalem something seems to have been added by the haters of Images In his Chapter of Saint Hierom he in effect denyeth any such addition for he saith concerning the second Tome of Saint Hieroms works In hoc etiam tomo nihil est dubium vel supposititium Also in this tome nothing is doubtful or supposititious and this Epistle of Epiphanius concerning the Image at Anablatha is in that very second tome of Saint Hieroms works By all which it appears that this passage concerning the Image at Anablatha may not be excluded out of Epiphanius his Epistle nor out of Saint Hieroms translation and that alone is enough to prove that in their daies Images were excluded out of all Christian Churches 17. But some very good men are not troubled that Pictures have got into Churches for the Lutherans still keep them there the main trouble is That they have got into Religion and therefore in the last place I am to prove That though they had with much ado got into the Churches of Christians yet they were a long time after kept out of their Religion For Image-worship was not dogmatized till the second Council of Nice which was not till the year 787. after Christ nor was it practised as soon as it was dogmatized but rejected presently after in the Councils of Frankefort under Charles the great and at Paris under his son Lodowick the one saying The determinations of those at Nice smelt of dreams and dotage Penè nihil est ibi quod non somnii vanitatem aut deliramenti hebetudinem redoleat Act. Conc. Franc. in lib. Carol. 3. c. 26. The other saying That Pope Adrian the first had done very indiscretly by whose importunity they at Nice had passed those determinations Hadrianus indiscretè noscitur fecisse in eo quod superstitiosè imagines adorari jussit Concil Paris tempore Ludovici in princip And Engilbertus an Abbot Chaplain to Charles the great was so bold as to send a full confutation of the Nicene Council concerning this image-Image-worship unto Pope Hadrian which he endeavoured to answer but had clearly the worst of the cause as well as of the Religion And t is worth our notice That though that part of the Greek Church assembled at Nice had yielded to the Pope in this particular being over-mastered by the impetuousness of Irene their Empress and overborn by the Authority of Theranus their Patriarch yet the Latine Church did long after stoutly oppose him for the Pope at that time was not Omnipotent in his own Diocess though now he would be so in all the world For besides the fore-named oppositions Jon is Bishop of Orleans in the year 820 though he writ of purpose in defence of Images yet he writ against their Religious worship following exactly the doctrine of the Council of Frankefort which chose the middle betwixt two extreams defining against the Iconoclasts that Images should be retained and against the Idolators That they should not be worshipped So Baronius hath registred his opinion An. 825. nu 62. Jonas ita non confringendas esse praedicavit Imagines ut tamen eas non esse venerandas asseruerit Wherein he agreed with his adversarie Claudius Bishop of Turine whom he would be thought to write against for though the Title of his Book was de cultu imaginum concerning the worship of Images yer the doctrine of his Book was against it for which cause saith Bellarm. He is to be warily read because he was in the same errour with Agobardus and the rest of the French divines of that age who denyed any religious worship to be due to Images So that not only Jonas but also all the other French divines in his time though they allowed Images to be in their Churches yet they would not allow them to be in their Religion Hic auctor cautè legendus est quoniam laborateodeÌ„ errore quo Agobardus reliqui ejus aetatis Galli qui negabant Sacris Imaginibus ullum deferri cultum religiosum Bellar. de Scr. Eccl. in cap. de Jonâ Aur. which I have declared the more at large because the same Bellarm. lib. de Imag. cap. 12. reckons this very Jonas amongst those holy men who worshipped images Sanctorum virorum qui imagines coluerunt shewing to all the world that he was not so candid a Divine as he was an Historian and that he pen'd mens Lives more faithfully then Gods Truths For this Jonas was so great an opposer of Image-worship that Baronius saith plainly of him and of Walafridus Sirabâ—… That they both receded from the common opinion of the Catholick Church and did shoot their bolts both against her practice and her doctrine Eos à Communi Catholicae
the one it is a personal in the other it is a doctrinal sin and therefore is rather to be confessed by your Clergy then by your Laity rather by your Ministers then by your People â—…or whereas your People are but single your Priests are double Idolaters that is to say not only in their practice but also in their doctrine in that they have set up the Inventions of men instead of the Commandement of God and magnified the authority of men not only against but also above the authority of God in Gods own worship So that your Priests had need doubly ask God forgiveness concerning this second Commandement first for the Idoloatry of their Images and next for the Idolatry of their Imaginations CAP. V. Of Praying to Saints and Angels 1. CHrist our only Sanctuary in the day of Judgement should be so now 2. Praying to Saints is asking both in vain and in sin 3. Angels not trusted with themselves or with others but in part God found no stedfastness or Put no trust in the Angels are both one 4. That literal sense most proper in doubtful Texts which is most agreeable with the comparative and illative sense of the same is a rule which keeps the unlearned from being interpreters of the holy Scripture and the learned from quarrelling with sound or judicious interpretations 5. Gods putting no trust in his best servants whether Saints or Angels a sufficient reason that men should not pray to them 6. His finding no steadfastness in them proves the same concerning those confirmed in Grace and Glory 7. Papists swallow the mis-allegations of their own writers but quarrel at the true and proper allegations of the text by Protestants 8. Bellarmines allegation for the Invocation of Angels from sacobs practice Gen. 48. 16. refuted by the context because it is interpreted in such a Grammatical as is against the Theological and Logical sense of the words that is in such a sense as is against the analogy of Religion in the Decalogue which is as necessarily observed in the interpretation of doubtful propositions in the Old as the analogy of faith is in the New Testament and against the anaolgie of Reason both in the proposition and in the connexion and in the deduction And generally all the texts alledged for this false invocation are so mis-interpreted particularly this in the judgement both of Greek and Latine Church 9. The Latine translation of Job 5. 1. intemperately defended by Bellarmine against Chemnitius Spirituael drunkenness worse then Carnal and makes the more scandalous Minister in Gods account 10. The words of Job not to be interpreted of the Invocation of Saint by Bellarmines own professiâ—…n both as a Critick and as a Divine though not as a Disputant and much more by Text. 11. Invocation of Saints is against the analogie of saith in the Câ—…ed and of righteousness in the Decalogue and against all the devotions taught us in the holy Bible and consequently doth leave Christs Communion and must lose Christs interâ—…ssion as being a piece of Religion not of Gods but of mans making 12. The Invocation of the blessed Virgin used by the Romanists faulty in the object of worship and the manner of worshipping and consequently falsly imputed to the Catholick Church which is a Communion of Saints not of sinners 13. Protestantism in Popery against this false worship 14. The Catholick Church falsly alledged for this false worship which yet could not make it true worship since it is against Gods Commandements The Church not having an absolute power in the exercise of Religion to act against Gods Law but only an orderly power to act according to it The Churches threefold foundation 1º In her Religion 2º In her Communion 3º In her authority admits not her authority before much less against her Religion and her Communion 15. Prayers to Saints as to the authors of the blessings prayed for unlawful by Bellarmines own Confession who labours to excuse his Church for using such prayers but unsuccessfully The â—…esuites maintain such prayers both by their doctrine and by their Practice 16. Gods trusting the holy Angels with his Elect is no sufficient ground for their praying to Angels 17. Baronius unjustly quarreling with Theodoret about the worshipping of Angels and falsly interpreting the Canon of Laodicea 18. No ungratefulness in our not praying to Angels because ungâ—…dliness in praying to them 19. The Papâ—…sts invocation of their Guardian Angel not to be justified The fifth Exception IBidem sect 5. p. 219. Against Praying to Saints you alledge Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly Job 4. 18. Our Latine Vulgar reads thus Ecce qui serviunt ei non sunt stabiles in Angelis suis reperit pravitatem Conformably whereto your old translation reads Behold be found not stedfastness in his Servants and laid folly upon his Angels And Job 15. 15. your old repeats He found no stedfastness in his Saints though your new He putteth no trust in his Saints Now according to our Latine and your old English translation this place must needs be understood of the bad Angels that fell as is evident by those words 2 Pet. 2. 4. If God spared not the Angels that sinned where both your old and Mr. Beza also quotes in the margent this very place Job 4. 18. Here is nothing then against praying to Angels and Saints confirmed in grace and glory If your new then be to be understood of them as you understand it and urge it too That 〈◊〉 paâ—…teth no trust in his servants nor Saints it is contrary to it self and to all Divine Scripture For to omit a thousand â—…stances thus saith Saint Paul though yet alive upon earth 1 Thes. 2. 4. we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel and 1 Tim. 1. 11. the glorious Gospel of the blessed God was committed to my Trust And doth God put no trust in him now being a glorified Saint in heaven think you you cannot deny but in blessed Angels at least Otherwise why do you so earnestly beg of God to put them in trust with your self both body and soul praying in your ejaculation 34 O God let them compass me about whâ—…st I am living and carry my soul into Abrahams bosom when I shall die Let them in in my sickness succour and defend me and in my death convey my soul to the everlaâ—…ing mansions Now since God puts this great trust in them with us oughâ—… 〈◊〉 we to put them in trust by reverently â—…mmending our selves â—…nto them and by humbly praying them to do those good offers for us which you very piously here mention least we should ungratefully slight them contrary to Gods command Ex. 23. 21. Observa eum audi vocem ejus nec contemnendum putes The Answer 1. I Will not spend words with you like a Sophister but sense like a Divine nor will I wonder with what face you made this Exception but see
of worship and in the manner of worshipping Iâ—… the object of worship for the Mother of God is not God there 's the breach of the first Commandement In the manner of worshipping for she is called upon with such titles and for such blessings as if she were God there 's the breach of the third Commandement Add to these the manner of Adoration which also generally accompanieth this Invocation and you will see in it likewise the breach of the second Commandement and so cannot but shew your selves strangely Religious in breaking at once all the three Commandements that concern the substance of Religion Here is a false worship materially or extrinsecally in gesture and words and a false worship formally or intrinsecally in a Religious affection to the creature which is due only to the Creator So that you see I did not aggravate bâ—…t diminish the defects of your penance when I said your Confessional Interrogatories were defective as to one for I might have said they were defective as to three Commandements And will you still boast of your uncontroled and uninterrupted exercise of this corrupt Religion Do you think that Gods Church can outweigh Gods Word in the ballance of the Sanctuary or will you avow that for the practice of Gods Church which is disavowed by the Precept of Gods Word Say then you believe the Communion of sinners instead of the Communion of Saints For that is sin which is directly against Gods Law and to communicate in sin belongs to the Communion of sinners not to the Communion of Saints Therefore pray let the Lords Psalter which was composed by the Spirit of God and not the Ladies Psalter which was impiously devised by the phansies of men be accounted the general rule and square of Devotions for Gods Church And when the Spirit of God hath said Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous and give thanks for a rememberance of his holiness Psal. 97. 12. setting forth 1º the Communion of Saints O ye Righteous 2º the Religion of Saints wherein they Communicate Rejoyce in the Lord and give thanks for a remembrance of his holiness where we have the object of their Religion the Lord and the internal act thereof Rejoyce and the external act thereof Give thanks and the end or intention of both for a remembrance of his hâ—…liness Do not you perswâ—…de the world that his Church truly so called hath taught the people to say Rejoyce in the Lady O ye Righteous and give thanks for a remembrance of her holiness for that were to say that the Church hath both corrupted the Religion and forsaken the Communion of Saints which is little better then to set up the Devils Chappel instead of Gods Church For these abominable kind of prayers are most unconscioâ—…able because to the abuse of Christian Religion and most uncharitable because to the breach of Christian Communion and 't is for the Devils Chappel not for Gods Church to be guilty of unconscionableness and of uncharitableness 13. Therefore let the men not the Church bear the blame of such corrupt invocations For the Church of Israel did continue and fulfill Joshua's Protestation Aâ—… for me and my house we will serve the Lord Josh. 24. 15. when the men of Israel did for sake it and served Baal and God owns those for his Church which had served him alone saying I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not boâ—…ed the knee to Baal Rom. 11. 4. They who had bowed the knee to Baal were not Gâ—…ds reserve they were of the men they were not of the Church of Israel God himself accounting those only for his Church who in that general defection and apostacy had reserved themselves for him and consequently who had in their hearts a secret detestation of the false worship then generally followed if not in their mouthes an open Protestation against it They were all of them either private or publick Protestants privately or publickly protesting against that Religion which served not the Lord and they had no worse a Precedent then Iâ—…shua the very type of Christ the author and finisher of our faith for that their Protestation If the true Religion did constitute Gods Church then why not now though the false made a 〈◊〉 greater noise and shew then the truâ—… the Prophets of God being driven into caves whiles the Prophets of the groves did eat at Iezabels table For an agreement in falsity and irreligion though never so great both shews and makes rather a conspiracy oâ—… sinners then a Communion of Saints Therefore since this Invocation is indeed 〈◊〉 Religion it must â—…ds be 〈◊〉 aâ—…ributed to the true Church of God for â—…hat is constituted and established by the true Religion and is no more a true Church from its falsities then the Moon is a true Moon from its spots or a man is a true man from his Diseases And the Church of Rome is not a true Church from the false Invocation of Saints or any other acts of false worship but from the true Invocation of God and other such acts of true worship which are still maintained professed and practised in that Church And we Protestants justly say That your Religion is the same with our Religion but our Religion is not the same with your susperstition As far as as you pray to God we pray with you at least in vote and desire As far as you pray to Saints we can only pray for you we dare not pray with you And though we may all justly be destroyed for our manifold and grievous offences particularly for serving our selves of God more then serving him in the prosecution of our reformation yet in this respect we may be sure God will never want a Protestant Church because he will never want a true Church If all the world should turn Papists Papists themselves should in this turn Protestants if not openly yet secretly Protesting against the worship which is against the Law of God and forsaking it either explicitly by a new obedience or at least implicitly by an earnest Repentance This kind of Protestantism hath hitherto preserved a true Church in the midst of Poperie and will preserve it to the worlds end if that should continue so long For he that is able out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham is both able and willing out of Papists to raise up children unto himself Dutiful children such as will obey their Fathers commands and therefore will not embrace such a practice of Religion as breaks no less then three of the chiefest of his Commandements or will repent that they have embraced it 14. Therefore we dare not say with your Trent Catechist That the Catholick Church alwaies invocated Saints and worshipped their Reliques Invocationem Sanctorum sanctorumque cinerum cultum quem semper Catholica Ecclesia adhibuit huic legi non repugnare cap. 3. because we cannot but say that such Invocation is repugnant not only to the first and second which
a matter of right that is by his orderly power according to the Laws when the Law according to which a man is to act righteously is not in the power of the Agent then by acting according to his absolute power he acts disorderly and not righteously for being subject to a Law he is bound to act according to that Law But when the Law and the Righteousness of the Law is in the power of the Agent such an Agent may act orderly and righteously and yet act otherwise then according to the dictate of that Law because he is not subject to that Law and so his absolute power is not disorderly To apply this to our present case The Church is this free Agent in the exercise of Religion and having a Law given her to act by she may not act therein by an absolute power either besides or against that Law given her but by an orderly power according to it For being subject to the Law of Religion she is bound in the exercise of Religion to act according to that Law For there only the Agent may act orderly and righteously not according to the dictate of Law where the Law and the righteousness of the Law is in his own power So that either we must say That the Law and the righteousness of Religion is under the Power and Authority of the Church or we must confine the Church in the exercise of Religion to act according to the Law of God And therefore though your wit learning and numbers may invite you to that unsufferable insolency of seeking to domineer over other mens reasons yet pray let your own hearts and consciences deter you from that unpardonable impiety of seeking to domineer over Gods Commandements For what his Law hath made sin your practice cannot make righteousness what he hath made irreligion you cannot make Religion though you were as you say you are but shew you are not his Catholick Church For the Church is to depend upon God much more then the People are to depend upon the Church not only for the substance but also for the exercise of Religion Gods commands must be obyed for the substance of Religion according to the three first Commandements for the order and exercise of Religion according to the fourth Invocations Adorations Confessions Consecrations all must be for the honour of God for he only is named in the Commandements that require them that the Church may not make a Schism from God in the substance and in the exercise of Religion And then we must all with one heart and mouth unanimously and magnanimously joyn together in the defence and obedience of such Invocations Adorations Confessions and Consecrations That the people may not make a Schism from the Church in the outward Profession and Practice of Religion The Laws of the first Table are not only in the order of place or situation but also in the very order of nature and of Justice before the Laws of the second Table God must first have his right before the Church can lay claim to hers As in the Creed we are first taught to believe in God and after that to believe the holy Catholick Church so in the Decalogue it is first said Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and after that Honour thy Father and thy Mother This Protestation was under Moses his hand before it was in the Apostles mouthes We ought to obey God rather then man Acts 5. 29. And this Protestation alone will justifie all Protestants to the worlds end that shall depart from your Church in those points of Religion wherein you have plainly and palpably departed from the Law of God For God first requires Verity iâ—… the Religion before he requires Unity in the Communion of his Church and after these and for these he requireth obedience to her Authority She is first holy by her Verity then Catholick by her Unity That Church that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our mother in the Lord by her Authority This we believe in believing the holy Catholick Church And according to the method of our faith must be the method of our obedience First obeying the Churches Verity then her Unity then her Authority For God founded the Religion before he founded the Communion as he founded the Communion before he founded the Authority of his Church at least according to the Priority of nature though not of time For he founded the Religion of his Church in the three first Commandements The Communion of his Church in the fourth and the Authority of his Church in the fifth Commandement So that Gods Church hath in truth a threefold foundation one in respect of her Religion another in respect of her Communion a third in respect of her Authority The first concerneth the Being the second the well-Being the third the splendid Being of the Church In regard of the first The Church is the pillar and ground of True worship in regard of the second she is the Pillar and ground of solemn or of publick worship in regard of the third she is the Pillar and ground of orderly or uniform worship First we have Truth in the service of God from her Religion Then solemnity from her Communion Then Uniformity from her Command These are the inestimable blessings God hath conveyed unto this wicked world by his Catholick Church and by every particular member thereof if we consider the goodness of God in offering these blessings rather then the wickedness of men in rejecting his offers or in abusing his goodness For by Gods holy appointment and institution his Church in every Nation is intrinsically Catholick from her Religion extrinsecally Catholick from her Communion and potentially Catholick from her Authority and 't is only by mens perversness and undutifulness That she loseth her Potential whiles she retaineth her intrinsecal and extrinsâ—…cal Catholicism For having her Religion according to the three first and having her Communion according to the fourth she ought also to have her Authority according to the fift Commandement But if she forsake her Religion or corrupt her Communion she cannot justly claim her authority if it be denied and doth unjustly use it if it be granted for she useth it against the honour and glory of Gods and for the distraction and the destruction of men whereas St. Paul saith expresly concerning his own and the Authority of all the other Apostles for he saith our authority which the Lord hath given us that it was only for edification not for destruction 2 Cor. 10. 8. and having said this for the Apostles themselves He hath much more said it for their successors Let it be granted which cannot reasonably be denied That every Christian Priest-hood or Ministry is the grand Apostle of that Nation wherein is an Apostolical Church I hope you will say the Apostle ought to be true to his God no less then the People ought to be true to
their Apostle I will instance in St. Paul who was not a whit behind the chiefest Apostles 2 Cor. 11. 5. though you now attribute all to Saint Peter we read that certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse saying That they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul Act. 23. 12. This banding against an Apostle was fighting against God in the judgement of a Jew Act. 15. 39. how much more should it be in the judgement of Christians For we cannot but look upon St. Paul in this case as upon Godâ—… Trustee both for the Christian Religion and for the Christian Communion anâ—… accordingly invested with authority froâ—… God for the discharge of that Trust an doubt not but He looked upon himself aâ—… one that ought to be more zealous foâ—… Christs Religion and for Christs Communion than for his own Authority And so doubtless ought the Priest-hoodâ—… all Churches after him and why not all in your Church For the Churches fouâ—…dation or being is much more excelleâ—… and glorious in regard of her Religioâ—… and of her Communion then in regardâ—… her Authority 15. This I fear comes neerer your 〈◊〉 then I am willing to urge it sure I am comes very neer my position That formaliâ—… vocation of Saints such as is now coâ—…monly used in your Devotions being pâ—…vately used is against the three first Coâ—…mandements which concern the Religioâ—… and being publickly used is against 〈◊〉 fourth Commandement which conceâ—… the Communion of Gods Church aâ—… therefore in vain do you pretend in sin do you imploy the Authority of your Church to uphold either the private or the publicke use of it And this difference I cannot but observe betwixt your Trent Catechist and your Rome dogmatist The one goes to prove that Invocation of Saints is not against the Commandement because it is according to the use of the Church The other goes to prove that t is not according to the use of the Church because it is against the Commandement For so Bellarmine proves that the Saints are not to be invocated as the Authors of any blessing appertaining either to grace or glory but only as the impetrators or procurers of it and his two proofs are one from the Command of the Holy Scriptures probatur primo ex Scriptura The other from the Custome of the Church Secundo probatur ex usu Ecclesiae Bell. l. 1. de Sanct. beat cap. 17. though to make good his second proof He maintains this Unlogical and Untheological position That t is no matter for the words so as it be the sense of our Prayers which is Unlogical because it is against the very nature and institution of speech and Untheological because it is against that very Commandement which ordereth our Speech in our Prayers and therefore ordereth our Prayers only as they are Vocal and may be spoken not as they are Mental and may be thought and that is the third Commandement whereby God hath set a watch only before the doores of our Lips not of our Hearts He had ordered our Hearts in the first Commandement and ordereth our mouths only in the third when he saith Thou shalt not take the Name of thy Lord thy God in vain And in this respect the Psalmist prayeth Accept I beseech thee the free-wil offering 〈◊〉 my mouth O Lord Psal. 119. 10. Here is then very much in the Judgement of your own Cardinal though you say Here is nothing against Praying to Saintâ—… and Angels confirmed in grace and glory For to let pass that their bless in Heaven doth not make them God for Neighbour we may not pray to them for any blessing that tends either to Grace or Glory and all good Prayers are for blessings that do tend to one of these And t is a poor shift to talk of sense not oâ—… words when the question is only oâ—… words and to say you mean the Saintâ—… but as Procurers when you speak to then as Authors of the blessings you pray for For He that hath bid his Church daily to pray And lead us not into temptation hath above all forbid his Church daily to lead his people committed to her charge into Temptation by their very Prayers Therefore in vain did some of your Zelots seek to corrupt the Hebrew Text in Montanus his interlineary Bible of 1572. putting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though by Gods special providence the Press strangly miscarried for it is printed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all that edition which word is a meer Tragelaphus in the Hebrew That since you were not contented with Gods Text you should be ashamed of your own And this discovery we owe to your own L. Bâ—…ogensis in his notations upon Genesis where he saith Gu. Fabritius Pici Mirandulani Principis autoritate nixus in Hebraicis illis Bibliis Regio operi adjunctis quibus Latina interpretatio inter contextus lineas inserta est excudi curavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quanquam errore positum sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say in vain did some of your Zelots seek to corrupt the Hebrew Text putting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3. 15. Ipsa for Ipse to make good your Vulgar Translation Ipsa conteret caput Tuum For if it had been said See shall bruise thy head yet you had not found a sufficient warrant to Invocate the blessed Virgin because you cannot possibly bring Her into the first Table of the Decalogue to make Her a God or the Object of Religion Let my Prayer be set forth in thy sight as the Incense saith the Prophet Psal. 141. 2. Prayer is the Incense of the Soul and must be set forth only in his sight who seeth the secret recesses and sighs of the heart When the Jews went to burn incense and to serve other Gods whom they knew not where Note Burning incense is put for serving of God the Lord said to them O do not this abominable thing which I hate Jer. 44. 3 4. And doth he not still say the same to Christians is it less hateful now then it was then for any man to perform vâ—…ws or to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven may not God as justly swear against us if we do so as he did against them That his Name shall be no more named in our mouths v. 26. Are not all but himself as well to us as to them Gods whom we know not Is not this intruding into those things which we have not seen Col. 2. 18. Surely none but God alone is to be known or seen throughout the whole Bible in all the precepts and precedents of Religious worship Therefore Invocation being an elicite and proper act of Religion cannot be applied to any that is not the proper object of Religion The Jews might as well have offered their corporal Sacrifice to Abraham as the Christians can offer this spiritual Sacrifice to
practice have divâ—…rted the principal streams of affiance and love from Him who had the only right unto them and turned them upon those unto whom neither so great honour is due nor so undue honour can be acceptable Sands Survey of Religion cap. 4. Jesu God heal their Tongues that preach such Blaphemy instead of Divinity heal their Hands that write it heal their Ears that hear it and much more heal their Hearts that believe it and their Lifes that practise it that though thy Truth hath been outfaced by their Lyes yet their miracles may be outvied by thy Power and their Souls saved by thy Grace and Mercy For all the miracles they can falsly attribute to thy Saints as if by their own power and holiness they could heal the Body to make us go to thy Servants for help when we should go only to Thy self are nothing in comparison of that great miracle of thy power and greater miracle of thy mercy whereby thou art pleased to heal the Soul I have been the longer upon this Argument as I was upon the former because the false Invocations and Adorations used by you have given others just occasion to depart from you even those who were under your own jurisdiction and much more those who were not For as he that kicks against Heaven stricks up his own Heels so a faction in your Church of late years kicking against Gods authority could not stand so fast as to keep their own nor is it any reason you should expect others to be dutiful to you according to the fift contrary to that duty which they ow to God according to the four first Commandements 16. But though others of your party argue much in this case from Authority yet you think fit to argue from reason saying Now since God puts this great Trust in them with us ought not we to put them in Trust by reverently commending our selves unto them no saith Reason to which you have appealed much more no saith Religion from which you have started First no saith Reason For that teacheth us to invocate none that is not All-present to hear our request All-merciful to receive it All-sufficient to grant it and Almighty to fullfil it and therefore to Invocate no creature which hath none much less all of these Secondly no saith Religion And first the Religion that is in Heaven I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voyce Worthy is the Lamb which was slain to receive power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Revel 5. 11 12. This is the Religion you must practise in Heaven and why should you practise any other in Earth since you are taught to pray Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven you may safely take the crowns of the Saints and Angels and cast them before the Throne giving glory and honour and thanks to Him who was dead but now liveth for ever and ever for so they do themselves Revel 4. 9 10. But never was it seen in Heaven That any Saint or Angel did make so bold as to take the Crown off from our Saviours Head to place it upon his own There this is the only dialect Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created v. 11. And the dialect should be here as 't is there so saith the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker as if he had said before no other but only Him to whom we can truly say For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore secondly no saith the Religion that is in Earth that likewise answers no to your quaere Ought we not to put them in trust by reverently commending our selves into them And surely we ought not For that very Apostle who hath written most concerning the benefit and the assistance which the heirs of Salvation have by the Angels Hebr. 1. 14. forbids them to worship Angels for fear of endangering their inheritance Col. 2. 18 19. Let no man beguil you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and not holding the Head c. where the Apostles full intent and scope is to dehort the Colossians from the worshipping of Angels first from the dangerous effect of it no less then the loss of eternal life Let no man beguil you of your reward 2. from the vain pretences for it viz. the obedience or submission we owe to them as to our Patrons and the need we have of their Patronage the first hath a shew of humility but 't is such as God never commended in a voluntary humility The second hath a real guilt of curiosity for 't is such as God never taught intruding into those things which he hath not seen 3. From the wicked and ungodly causes of it and they are two Pride of heart vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and Ignorance of Christ as Head of the Church And not holding the Head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Angels are a part of this Body as well as men and this Head gives life to them as to us As all is Neighbour that is not God in the Law so all is Body that is not Head in the Gospel The question is as unanswerable if asked of St. Michael or St. Gabriel as of St. Peter or St. Paul Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided from himself that He should not be the Head of Angels as well as of men or is Christ divided from his Body on Earth more then from his Body in Heaven Hath he put that part of his Body to convey life and motion and nourishment to this or doth he not convey life and motion and nourishment to both parts immediately by Himself Was any Angel crucified for us or were we baptized in the name of any Angel Was St. Paul a lover of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrys. in denying this honour to the Apostles and can we be lovers of Christ in giving this honour to the Angels Is it more lawful for us then it was for him to give the honour of the Head to any part of the Body or can we look for a reward of our service if we serve any of the Body instead of the Head Let no men beguil you saith He of your reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man make you so run as not to receive the Prize or so run that you may not obtain you may lose the Prize by running out of the race as well
the worshipping of Angels Ut harum detentae culturis animae sub fiâ—… mamento obligatae teneantur ne sc tendant ad suporiores caelos ad Deum omnâ—…um adorandum That such kind of worship place it upon what creature yoâ—… will detains the Soul here below and keep it from ascending into the highest Heaven that it may there worship the ever liviâ—… God Quod operâ efficitur inimici 〈◊〉 semper animas super terram humiliaâ—… detineat Religionem simulans quùâ—… fit maximum sacrilegium which is tâ—… Divels chiefest Policy to keep mens Soâ—… still groveling on the Earth and therefoâ—… such a kind of worship though it may preteâ—… to Religion yet is it in truth no better thâ—… sacrilege Maximum sacrilegium it is sacriledge in the highest degree because 〈◊〉 robs God immediately in himself not mediately in his tithes and offerings it robs him in his Glory and not only in his Patrimony And that you may not think the Latine Church had forgotten this Truth in her doctrine when many of her members had forsaken it in their practice I will here give you the Gloss of a very late Interpreter and that is of Jacobus Faber Stapulensis who saith thus upon the same Text Vocant hujus modi superstitiosi ad Religionem Angelorum privatas preces ritus sacrificia ea adoriuntur quae ipsi non viderunt quae ipsi non cognoscunt At quae monet Paulus vidit cognoscit Haec figurae haec Prophetae haec omnes Sancti Spiritus Sanctus manifestat proinde dat Colossensibus generale documentum abstinendi ab omnibus elementis mundi sive Gentibus tradita fuerint ad cultum daemonum sive Judaeis ad antiquas ceremonias sive superstitiosis ad dementationes magicas animarum ludificamenta quae universa corruptionem operantur His general meaning is this They who call us to superstition or to any false worship of Angels or the like call us to they know not what themselves But St. Paul who calls us to the true Religion or to the worship of God in Christ calls us to what he hath seen and known For all the Types and Figures Prophets in the Old Testament and all the Saints and the Holy Spirit both in the Old New lead us to this worship Therefore St. Paul gives a general rule to the Colossians and in them to all Christians of abstaining from all the rudiments of the World in matters of Religion 〈◊〉 from so many cheats and delusions and corruptions of their Souls and since the worship of Angels is not according to the Commandement of God it must come under the rudiments of the World oâ—… as St. Paul speaketh of a fleshly mind This interpreter doth in effect agree with the rest they all agree in this interpretation That St. Pauls main drift and purpose is to dehort us from all manner oâ—… superstition and to exhort us to 〈◊〉 Religion in the worship of God Yeâ—… your great Champion enters the lists onlâ—… against Theodoret challenging him of 〈◊〉 multiplicity of errors and mistakes anâ—… that justly saith his great admirer and 〈◊〉 he were a Saint his great Idolater Biniâ—… in his notes in Conc. Rom. 2. sub Sylâ—… Justam illust Card Baronis censuram noâ—… evadit but thus Baronius proceeds Sâ—… ergo errore semel lapsus in alium graviorem impegit ut diceret Canonem 35 Concil Laod. de his haereticis esse intelligendum qui Angelos colendos esse docerent quique in eadem regione Asiae Oratoria erexissent St. Michaeli Archangelo incautè nimis quae à Catholicis essent antiquitus instituta Haereticis quorum nulla est memoria tribuens Baron An. 60. num 20. But so he passeth from one errour to another saying That the Canon of Laodicea was to be understood of those Hereticks who taught that Angels were to be worshipped and who had in that Countrey erected Oratories or Churches to St. Michael the Archangel very unadvisedly ascribing that to Hereticks whose memorial was perished with themselves which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks Alas poor Theodoret what ill luck had he to be a Protestant to protest against the worship of Angels as taught and practised by Haereticks which saith this new Doctor was anciently taught and practised by Catholicks But St. Paul had as ill luck as he who had protested against the same worship long before And as long as that Protestation stands good we may very well claim him and own our selves in this case for very good Protestants and for better Christians And because it is impossible for any to be good Catholicks who willfully contradict St. Paul for such men are rather enemies then Servanâ—…s of Christ who reject his Authority we must say not that Theodoret unadvisedly ascribed that to Hereticks which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks for what Catholick did ever take upon him to institute the Truth and much less the false Religion but that Baronius unadvisedly ascribed that to Catholicks which had been fondly instituted by Haereticks But let us see by what arguments he confutes Theodoret. Sanè quidem nullum à Cerinthianis Haereticis erectum fuisse in honorem St. Michaelis Archangeli Oratorium ex nuper dictis satis superque liquet We have already proved that the Cerinthian Haereticks did erect no Oratory to St. Michael the Archangel Had he quoted any Scripture Fathers or Council Theodorete might have stood confuted but sure his own Ipse dixit may not stand against Scripture Father and Council as a good Confutation For all his proof to which he annexeth his satis superque liquet is only his own conjectural argumentation in these words Cherinthum Haereticos qui mundi creationem Angelis tribuebant non tamen sensisse eos adorandos Nam super Angelos virtutem esse divinam omnium supremam quam Deum dicerent omnes affirmabant Chernthius and those Haereticks who did attribute the creation of the world to Augels did not think the Angels were to be worshipped for they did all affirm that there was a supreme Divine Virtue which they called God above the Angels The whole proof consisteth of these two Propositions 1º That the Cherinthian Hereticks did not erect Oratories to Saint Michael the Archangel because they did not worship him 2º That they did not worship him or any of his fellow Angels because they did acknowledge a God above him and them This Advocate pleads well for the Cherinthians most abominable Haereticks but ill for his own clients For he would perswade us that the Papists are more stupid and more impious then were the Cherinthians more impious in that they worship Angels which the others did not more stupid in that not thinking the Angels made the World as the others did they have less reason to worship them But if he â—…ath not betrayed his Clients yet sure he â—…ath betrayed his cause For what do Protestants say more but that Oratories may not
nor all-sufficient Do not you think he may be worshipped through a picture which himself hath so expresly forbidden for that is in effect to deny him to be your Soveraign Lord. For if he be the Lord ascribe unto him that worship and honour which himself hath commanded not that which himself hath forbidden because you cannot ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name whiles you do not ascribe unto him the honour due unto his Nature that is the honour of being the Lord For this is to say unto him Lord Lord according to the letter of the first Commandement whiles by your breaches of the second you force him to say unto you I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity so far is it from Truth That Christians well instructed in the first cannot through ignotance offend against the second Commandement yet I will strive to make it true for truths sake by annexing to it this supposition if they exactly follow the instructions given them in the first Commandement for then clearly they will know God too well either to worship him by an image or to worship any image instead of him But now this your own assertion like a rebellious subject will take up arms against you for by the Rule of Logick which proceeds from the eversion of the Consequent to the eversion of the Antecedent it may be proved that notwithstanding all your great boasts of being so well instructed in the first Commandement you have not well received or not well followed those instructions because you have not rightly received and followed the prohibition of the second For if the first Commandement were in truth rightly understood and obeyed amongst you according to your own negative Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me and according to your own affirmative Thou shalt have me only for thy true God you would not be so zealous as you are to bestow religious worship upon your petty Deities for that is to have strange Gods not him only for your God nor would you be so ready to represent or worship the eternal Deitie through a picture for that is not to have him for the true God since undenyable is that of the Apostle God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands Acts 17. 24. And if not in Temples then sure not in Images made with hands yet take away this crude and carnal thought that the Creator is like the creature to be confined or comprehended in his dwelling which is against the very light of nature and much more against the light of grace and you will not easily be Idolators either in worshipping him by an Image or in worshipping an image instead of him So that from your not honoring God rightly according to the Prohibition of the second we have reason to fear you do not honour him rightly according to the instruction of the first Commandement For even Damascene himself though a great admirer of other Images yet allows not any to make the Image of God but saith lib. 4. de Orthod fide c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who can make a representation of the invisible incorporeal God which can neither be described nor defined it is then the height of madness and of wickedness to make any form or picture of the Deity Therefore Christ as God is not to be represented much less worshipped by a picture and consequently your application of divine worship through his pictures unto him may easily be convinced of Idolatry 12. I next come to your third position which concerns the worshipping of Saints and Angels for they are to be Religiously worshipped before their pictures and if not they then not their pictures since therefore all moral duties that are performed without us are reduced by our blessed Saviour to these two Heads Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Saint Mat. 22. I ask To which of these two you will reduce your Religious worshipping of Saints and Angels If to the first say there is more then one God and you can love more then one God with all your heart If to the second do not talk of a Religious worship for no man yet ever worshipped himself with a Religious worship and you are to love your neighbour but as your self not as your God For since God hath called All but himself your neighbour how can you call Any but himself your God whiles you worship him as your God by a Religious worship Can you think that Job did not intend that of every other creature whatsoever which he spake of the Sun Moon because the Heathen bestowed their Religious worship on them as not knowing any creature more glorious then them for they knew nothing of the Angels or glorified Saints If mine heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand This also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas judicans vel judicialis digna quae à Judice puniatur an iniquity to be punished by the Judge of quick and dead since it is a Judged Case in his own Court since he himself hath judged it to be an iniquity For I should have denyed the God that is above Here is the Religious worship which calleth the creature the Creator for so saith Jarchi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I have worshipped the Sun or Moon saying they are Gods And here is the iniquity that cannot escape Judgement for this calling the creature the Creator is to deny the God that is above so saith 〈◊〉 I should have denyed the 〈◊〉 â—…at is above The meaning is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God that is above these two great lights The Hebrew words will yet bear another interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I should have lyed against the God above Hence Idolatry is called mendacium perniciosum a pernicious lye by your own Reginaldus Scandalous to men injurious to God directly against the honour due unto him which is not communicable to any but to himself Regin lib. 16. cap. 14. sec. 3. Idolatry is therefore called a Lye in Job a pernicious lye in Reginaldus because it communicates that honour to the creature which is due only to the Creator And according to this Principle The Religious worship of Saints and Angels must be called Idolatry For to worship them Religiously is to Communicate to them the honour of God it is to say they are Gods And to say they are Gods is to lye both to God and man for it is to deny the God that is above them and to deceive the men that are amongst us For it is vam here to talk of inferiour degrees of worship since Magis minus non variat speciâ—… if it be Religious worship properly so called the least degree of it is Religious