conversing with God †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bosil Tom. 1. Orat. in Jusiti Martyr p. 318. Prayer is a request of some good thing which is made by pious men to God saith Basil whence elsewhere he asserts that Prayer is not directed unto man but God ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss de Orat. Dom. or 2. p. 724. D. Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 30. Prayer is a conference with God saith Nyssen and a request of good things which is offered with supplication unto God Prayer is a Colloquy with God and every one that prays discourseth with God so St. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 4. p. 139. Chrysostome Hence on that expression of St. Paul with all that call upon the name of the Lord he notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that St. Paul doth not say that call on this or that i.e. of any thing but Christ and on these words Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus he comments thus i.e. do all things praying unto him for help and before all thy business making thy supplication to him or he saith thus say and do all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to or according to God and introduce not Angels But T. G. hath some Arguments to prove that Saints and Angels have the knowledge of our hearts and actions viz. It is said Luke 15.7 Object T. G. p. 419. There shall be joy in Heaven and v. 10. There shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner that doth penance And the Saints in Heaven no doubt rejoyce as much at the conversion of a sinner as the Angels do Not only the Angels of God Answ White against Fisher p. 315. but holy men on earth rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner Luke 15.24 2 Cor. 7.9 Likewise Parents Ministers and Friends rejoyce c. And yet it followeth not from hence that holy men on earth which rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner see the secrets of the heart 1 Cor. 2.11 So likewise Angels which are ministring Spirits Hebr. 1 14. may understand by the signs and fruits of true repentance the conversion of divers sinners and consequently they may rejoyce without intuitive knowledge of the heart 2. Our Saviours words Luke 15.10 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conclusion of a parable which must not be strained beyond the true scope But according to the exposition of sundry †Anbrâ—s l. 7. in Lucam Hilar in Matth. 18 Isidâ—r lib. Alleg. Chrysol Serm. 168. Fathers and some learned ‖ Cojet Titus Bostrensis in locum Papists The hundred sheep v. 4. represent the whole body of the Elect consisting of Men and Angels the ninety and nine sheep not lost were the Angels persisting in their prime integrity The stray sheep all mankind sinning in Adam To recover this lost sheep the Son of God that good Shepheard Jo. 10.11 was incarnate and by the gracious work of Redemption he laid the same on his shoulder Now there is great joy in Heaven before the coelestial Angels for this recovery and salvation of mankind So that no more can be inferred from this parable but that the Court of Heaven and in the same the holy Angels rejoyce because of mans Redemption 3. When it is said that there is joy in Heaven we may expound it as Dr. Hammond doth not of the joy of Angels but of God and had we no reason to confirm this sense it is sufficient to destroy the force of what T. G. doth hence conclude from this citation that it may fairly be expounded in that sense which rendereth it impertinent to his design but since it is not said to be the joy of Angels but that joy which is expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. before the holy Angels this doth sufficiently demonstrate that it is the joy of him before whose face they stand continually Moreover it is confessedly God who is compared to the Shepherd and to the Woman seeking the lost Groat And therefore the similitude requires that the joy conceived when the lost Sheep and Groat is found should be ascribed to him Whereas our Savour himself saith Object T. G. ib. That the just in the Resurrection shall be as the Angels in Heaven Matth. 22.30 the equality as to knowledge not depending upon the body it follows by the Analogy of Faith that our prayers and concerns are known also to the Saints now injoying the same blissful Vision with the Angels Christ doth not only say Answ That the Spirits of just persons shall be like the Angels but he expresseth wherein they shall be so to wit 1. In freedom from secular actions and passions 2. Inglorious Adoption or real Possession of all the priviledges of the Sons of God We cannot therefore hence infer a parity of qualities and operations betwixt the Angels and the Spirits of just men but only a similitude of state and priviledges as * Verum haec authoritas ut ingemiè fatear solum aequat homines Angelis in hoc quod nullum mutrimonti usum haâ—ebunt siâ—â—t nec Angeli non tamen ibidem facit pareâ— quantum ad facialem visionem Det. Alph. de Castr l. 3. c. Haer. v. Beat. v. Jansen Harm Evang. c. 117. Papists do themselves consess 2. Christ doth not †In illa requie positus ceitè securus expectas judicii diem quando reeipias co â—us quande immuteris ut angelo aequaeris Aust in Ps 36. f 61. say The Spirits of just men are as the Angels now but that at the Resurrection they shall be so White p. 380. Now I admire what Papists can extort from hence for invocation of Saints for there is no connexion between this Antecedent and Consequent to wit just men at the Resurrection shall live as Angels remote from all the necessities of a worldly life and they shall be as the Angels of God free from material and corporeal passions and equal to the Angels in fruition of blessedness Ergo The knowledge of our prayers which we make in this life is not to be denyed unto glorious Saints the fellows of Angels The smoke of the Incenses of the Prayers of the Saints ascended from the hand of the Angel before God Apoc 8.4 Ergo Object ibid. Our prayers and actions are not unknown to the Angels 1. This place of St. John proveth not Answ White p. 314. either clearly or obscurely That holy Angels hear the Prayers or see the actions and affections of men For the Angel mentioned is expounded by the antient Expositors and by the Romanists themselves not of an Angel by Nature but of an Angel by Office and by some of them of an Angel by Type * In locum Albertus in his Commentary St. John saith Another Angel that is Christ who is the Angel of the Covenant Esay 9. Dionysius Carthusianus (a) Doctores Caeâ—belici per Angelum isium intelligunt Christum qui magni
Vision we must be guilty of Idolatry by our compliance with this practice 3. That this is the concurrent judgment of the Fathers and that they judged all supplications to invisible and absent Beings to attribute Gods Worship to them may be evinced from two Considerations 1. That they look'd upon it not only as a Sacrifice but as the best and greatest Sacrifice By prayer we honour God saith Clemens Strom. l. 7. p. 717. A. Apol. c. 30. p. 27. B. and send up to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best and the most holy Sacrifice I offer to him a fatter and a better Sacrifice than he himself enjoyned viz. Prayer issuing from a chast body an unspotted soul and inspired by the Holy Ghost so Tertullian And this is verily St. Austin's judgment in that place which Dr. Stillingfleet had cited to this effect and all the tragedies and outeries of T. G. against him upon this occasion are the most false and impudent that ever drop'd from Pen To make this clear it will be needful only to lay before the Reader Austin's words viz. Dâ— C. D. l. 10. c. 19. Qui autem putant haec visibilia Sacrificia Diis aliis congruere illi vero tanquam invisibili invisibilia majori majora meliorique meliora qualia sunt pâ—ra mentis bona voluntatis officia profecto nesciunt haec ita esse signa illorum sicut verba signantia vel sonantia sunt rerum quocirca sicut orantes atque landantes ad cum dirigimus significantes voces cun res ipsas in corde quas significamus offerimus it a sacrificantes non alteri visibile Sacrificium offerendum esse noverimus quam illi cujus invisibile Sacrificium nos ipsi esse debemus i.e. They that conceive these visible Sacrifices may agree to lesser Gods but that to him who is invisible the greater and the better God invisible greater and better Sacrifices do agree viz. the duties of a pure mind and a good will these persons know not that these outward Sacrifices are the signs of them viz. of the invisible the greater and the better Sacrifices as our words spoken are the signs of things as therefore when we pray or we give thanks we direct our speech to him N. B. to whom we offer the conceptions of the heart they signifie so when we sacrifice we know the outward Sacrifice ought to be offered unto him alone to whom we ought to yield our selves a Sacrifice in visible Where 1. Doth not St. Austin say That the invisible Sacrifices are greater and better than the outward Sacrifice for what is it illorum can refer to besides majorum and meliorum Doth not he say The duties of a pure mind and a good will are to be deemed invisible and better Sacrifices And is not Prayer the duty of a pure mind and a good will And must he not then say that Prayer is a greater and a better offering than any outward Sacrifice And 2. To put the matter beyond all dispute Qui ergo Divinitatem sibi arrogant Spiritus non cujuslibet corporis fumo sed supplicantis animo delectantuâ— doth not St. Austin add That these inferior Spirits who usurp Divinity require Sacrifices not that they are delighted with the smoak and vapour but with the mind of him that prayeth clearly concluding that to be the better and the higher service Doth not he intimate that they usurp Divinity more by requiring Prayer than Sacrifice And lastly Doth not he affirm That they who offer outward Sacrifice to him alone to whom their inward ought to be appropriated do also when i.e. as often as they pray or render thanks direct their words not to a Saint or Angel but to him to whom they offer the things conceived in the heart Which doth not only prove That Prayer was by him likened to Sacrifice and that mental Prayer which the Trent Council will not permit us to deny to Saints is an invisible and higher Worship than the outward Sacrifice but also that the Christians of his time did pray and render thanks to God alone for else it had been obvious to reply to the similitude St. Austin gives us That as we sometimes offer up our prayers and our thanksgivings to the Saints departed so might we offer up the outward Sacrifice And this will be sufficient to demonstrace That T. G. in his whole Answer to this place hath not one word of truth For 1. p. 391. It is a false suggestion that Auctin's Argument runs thus That external Sacrifice being the highest expression of the highest part of Prayer ought of all others to be reserved as most proper to God For his Argument is clearly this To him only do belong the signs to whom belongeth what is represented by them and therefore seeing we must offer up our selves to God alone that outward Sacrifice which is the sign of this oblation must be appropriated to him That outward Sacrifice is the highest expression of the highest part of Prayer St. Austin doth not say 2. It is a false insinuation that when St. Austin doth deny that Sacrifice is due to any other but the highest God he doth not speak of Sacrifice distinguished from Prayer for he styles it Sacrificium visibile he doth oppose it to the duties of a pure mind as the less unto the greater he represents it as the sign of the invisible and therefore it is plain stupidity to think he did not speak of the external Sacrifice as different from the internal or distinguished from it 3. It is prodigiously false that Dr. St sides with the * Dr. St. is forced to maintain an Argument of the Heathens against Austin T. G. p. 390. Do you not think the Dr. â—sed the utmost of his confidence to maintain for very good an Argument of the Heathens confuted by St. Austin in this very place The Heathen saith Dr. St. argued very well I deny it saith St. Austin T. G. p. 390. Heathens against Austin for what the Dr. pleads for viz. That Prayer was to be deemed an higher act of worship than the outward Sacrifice St. Austin doth expresly grant 4 It is as false that Austin doth confute what Dr. St. approved for Austin only doth confute this Tenet That outward Sacrifice might be imparted to inferior Spirits That which the Doctor doth approve is this That in all reason the duty of Prayer ought to be reserved as more proper to God than any external Sacrifice And lastly it is false that Austin doth deny what Dr. St. asserted for he abundantly confirms it but it is no wonder that persons given up by Gods just judgment to believe a lye should be so prone to tell them 2. The Fathers when they lay down the definition or description of Prayer they alwayes do it with express reference to God whence we may rationally conclude that they conceived this act of Worship did properly belong to him Prayer saith St. Clemens is a
consilii Angelus per incarnationis mysterium venit in mundum stetitqae ante Altare id est in conspectu Ecclesia Dionys Carthus in Apoc. 8. Catholick Doctors c. by this Angel understand Christ who is the Angel of the great Counsel and which by the mystery of his incarnation came into the world and stood upon the Altar of the Cross Blasius (b) Nec vero rectè quidam è recentioribus argumentantur Angelum istum Christum esse non posse quod Christus nunquam Angelus absolute dicitur satis enim est ut ex consequentibus facile intelligi potest Christum esse quae nifi Christe alteri aptè accommodari non possunt Cujus enim alterius est universae Ecclesiae incensa hoc est orationes in Thuribulo aurto tanta Majestatis specie patri offerre Cujus praeterquam Christi fuit de igne quo Thuribulum aureum eaat impletum partem in terras misisse easque divini amoris igne inflammasse c. Apuaret autem Christus sacerdotis personam gerens ut ejus pro nobis apud patrem intercessio atque interpellatio monstretur Vieg in Apoc. 8. Sec. 2. Viegas a Jesuit We may easily perceive that this Angel is Christ because the thing here spoken of him can agree to no other but Christ for who but he can with so great Majesty offer up to God the incense that is the Prayers of the Vniversal Church who besides him is able out of the perfuming pann to send down into the Earth the fiery Coals of Divine Charity and to inflame People with the burning Graces of the holy Spirit With these agree (c) Ambros super Apoc. Vis 3. Cap. 8. Ambrose (d) Primas in Apoc. 8. Biblioth Sanct. Colon. to 9. p. 2. Primasius (e) Ansbert in Apoc. 8. Bibl. Sanct. Col. to 9. p. 393. Authertus (f) Bed 5. super Apoc. lib. 2. Beda (g) Haimo in Apoc. 8. Haimo (h) Hugo Card. Hugo Cardinalis and the Glosses (i) Glossae totum legunt hoc de Christe But if it were granted that this Angel were a created or ministring Spirit it cannot be proved that Angels understand the secret cogitations of mans heart any farther then the same are manifested by signs neither is it consequent that people ought to pray unto them for Priests offer up the Prayers of the Church to God and yet no man doth therefore invocate Priests It is recorded of the Saints enjoying the same blissfull vision with the Angels Object ibid. that they had golden Vials full of odours which are the Prayers of Saints that is of the faithful upon earth 1. Answ The Reverend Dr. Hammond and many other Expositors Ancient and Modern tell us that the four and twenty Elders are not the Members of the Church triumphant as T. G. without proof asserts but the Bishops and the Elders of the Church militant whose office it is to present the Prayers and Praises of the Church to God Here it is more plainly declared saith Beda that the Beasts and the Elders are the Church redeemed by the blood of Christ and gathered from the Nations also he showeth in what Heaven they are saying they shall reign upon earth So Ambrose on the Apcalyps and Haimo 2. Vossius will tell you That here is nothing intended but Eucharistal Prayers not Petitory and that the four and twenty Elders only intimate that the whole Family of Christians in Earth and Heaven did render continual Doxologies to God for the Redemption of the world by his Son The Psalmist saith I will sing unto thee in the sight or presence of the Angels Psal 137.2 Object p. 418. The Angel of the Lord said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had Indignation these threescore and ten years And Michael is a great Prince which standeth for the Children of Gods people Ergo The Angels know the secrets of the heart and are acquainted with the Prayers that men in any place put up unto them To these Objections I answer Ha Ha He Answ Valentianus Fieri ne potest ut homo qui sic ratiocinatur homo sit The Psalmist also saith I will pay my vows in the presence of thy people Ergo All Gods people knew the secrets of the heart c. The Phanatick saith How long Lord wilt thou not remember and have mercy upon the Godly Party who have been under persecution fourteen years Ergo The Phanaticks know the secrets of the heart c. And blessed be God King Charles the Second is a great Prince who standeth for his People against the Whore of Babylon He therefore knows the Prayers and necessities of all his People he is acquainted with the secrets of the heart and we may put up mental Prayers unto him If T. G. have an estate worth begging he may well fear that his performance here and P. 222 223. will rob him of it CHAP. VII The Contents The Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome touching the invocation of the Saints departed delivered from their own Catechism and Liturgies and the decree of the Trent Councel Sect. 1. the Question stated in seven Particulars Sect. 2. The Idolatry of this practice proved 1. Because it doth ascribe unto them the knowledge of the heart and of our confessions 2. Because Prayer to an absent Being is the oblation of that Worship to it which is proper to God And so are Vows and Hymns Sect. 3.3 Because the Apostles gave us no Precept or Example so to do Sect. 4. The sequel of this Argument is confirmed and the Objections answered Sect. 5. And the Argument from Miracles confuted Sect. 6. HAving laid down these Propositions let us now view the Doctrine and Practise of the Church of Rome which the Trent Councel hath delivered in these words viz. * Mandat Sancta Synodus omnibus Episcopis clerieis docendi munuscurámque sustinentibus ut fideles diligenter instruant docentes eos Bonum atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare ad eorum orationes opem auxiliúmque confugere Illos verò qui negant Sanctos aeterna felicitate in calo fruentes invocandos esse aut qui asserunt eorum ut pro nobis singulis orent invocationem esse Idololatricam vel pugnare cum verbo Dei adversi ique honori unius Mediatoris Dei Hominis Jesu Christi vel stultum esse in coele regantibus voce vel mente suppliâ—are impié sentire St quis autem his Decretis contraria docuerit aut senserit Anath ma sit Sess 25. c. 1. That it is good and profitable humbly to invoke the Saints and fly unto their prayers and help and that whosoever doth deny that Saints who do enjoy eternal happiness in heaven ought to be invoked or do assert that to intreat them to pray for any single person is Idolatry or is
traditur nullam creaturam colendam esse animae libentius enim lâ—quor his verbis quibus mihi haec insinuâ—ta sunt sed ipsum tantummodo rerum quae sunt omnium Creatorem August l. de quant animae p. 34. in the Catholick Church it is divinely and singularly delivered that us Creature is to be Worshipped by the Soul but he only who is the Creator of all things But Roman Catholicks do and upon supposition that they have the Knowledge of the Hearts and do by seeing God p. 418. perceive the Secrets of it And as T. G. asserts do know both our Necessities and Prayers Concerns and Actions I say upon this supposition they ought to worship Saints and Angels not only with the Body but the Soul for seeing mental Prayers Vows and Thanksgivings are by all confessed to be parts of that Religious Worship which our Souls perform to God to make such Vows and put up such Petitions and Thanksgivings to the Saints and Angels must be to Worship Saints and Angels with the Soul Besides all inward Fear and Reverence must be the Worship of the Soul And yet if we may Vow and Pray and tender our Thanksgivings to them upon presumption that they know the inward Motions of our Hearts we may well be affraid to do these actions Hypocritically and remisly upon the same account We may well dread to think or vow or pray amiss and fear their Anger and their just Displeasure if we do so thus to deter us from our secret Sins the Stoicks tell us not only God but our good Doemon is in secret with us And when St. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To. 1. p. 741. A. Basil had asserted that these Angels did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold us every where he adds that upon this account the Virgin that was devoted to God ought to reverence those blessed Spirits And surely then by parity of Reason if their Knowledge reach unto the Heart and inward Motions of the Soul we ought to have that Fear and Reverence of them upon us in reference to all those motions 3. This may be strongly argued from two Considerations § 5. 1. That the Jewish Church had no such practice 2. That they abstained from this practice because they did not think this honour to be due to Angels but to God alone And 1. I say the Jewish Church had no such practice for run over all their Sacred Records the Law the Prophets and the Psalms Look into their most antient Writers Philo Judaeus and Josephus into their Litanies or forms of Prayer their Misnah or Traditions and in all these Records you shall not find one Precept or Example of any Invocation directed to the Saints departed consider all the Motives which have induced the Church of Rome to use this practice and you will find that they are chiefly taken from the Jewish Records and from those sayings of the Psalms of David which tell us that the Angels of the Lord do pitch their tehts about them that fear him to deliver them 34 Psal 7. And that he gives his Angels charge concerning them that they dash not their foot against a stone 91 Psal 11. Or from those Doctrines which were received by that Church Besides they had great evidence and manifold Examples that God did Minister his Blessings to them by the holy Angels an Angel lead them out of Aegypt through the Wilderness into the Land of Canaan the Law was given to them by the hand of Angels they often did appear unto them in an humane shape and God himself when he appeared was still attended with an Host of Angels and by them they were oft preserved from their Enemies Sith therefore notwithstanding all these Motives they never put up one Petition to an absent Angel We have just Reason to believe that in the judgment of the Jews they had no knowledge of the Heart or the desires of the Soul especially when absent from us and that this honour was not to be given to them but was intirely to be reserved for the God of Heaven Add to this that they do frequently entreat of God that he would cause those Angels to preserve them and annoy their Enemies Psal 35 5 6 7. Let them be as Chaff before the wind saith David and let the Angel of the Lord chase them Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Why therefore do they never use the Language of the Church of Rome Horae Sec. Us Rom. Manual of Godly prayers 1610. with license Horae Sec. Us Sarum Why do they never pray to Michael the Captain of Gods Host the vanquisher of evil Spirits to be their refuge and defence against the Power of the Enemy to drive away their foes and overthrow their Machinations Why do they never call upon their Guardian Angel to take hold of Sword and Buckler and rise up to help them Or to their valiant Champion Gabriel to rise up to help them against the Malignants and to be with them against all their Adversaries 3. According to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome when they appeared the Jews did sometimes put up their Petitions to them Why therefore did they not invoke them when absent and invisible if they had held as doth the Chuch of Rome that being absent they were as able to perceive their supplications and obtain the Blessings they did want and that their aid was such an excellent and present help against the violent assaults of a Temptation and all those Floods of Evils we are continually exposed to With us consent the Antient Fathers in this matter * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. l. 5. p. 234. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 235. none that observes the Law of Moses doth worship Angels For so to do is not a Jewish Custom but a transgression of their Customes saith the Learned Origen * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 4. cont Arrian Jacob and David did request deliverance of none but God saith Athanasius And whereas T. G. and the Roman Catechism Object § 6. produce those words of Jacob the Angel that redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads as an example of this Invocation and a proof that it was practised by the Antient Jews If we consider what the Fathers have delivered upon this Text and how expresly they assert these words must certainly be understood of Christ We may admire that any Roman Doctor who stands obliged by his Oath * Nec eam unquam nisi juxta unanimen consensum patrum accipiam Interpretabor Bulla pii 4. super forma juramenti professionis fidei not to Interpret Scripture but according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers should make so little Conscience of that Oath as to Interpret this and many other Scriptures in opposition to the prevailing Judgment of those Fathers 2. It is admirable to consider with what incredible
commend unto us some way or other that Invocation which they themselves approved and if the Church of Rome doth not deceive us did know to be exceeding profitable for the Church of Christ For 1. We cannot without Blasphemy conceive that Christ or his Apostles wanted the knowledge of that great advantage which Christians might receive by vertue of this supplication it is no derogation I conceive from T. G. or his Partisans to say that Christ and his Apostles knew as well as they what were the proper motives to this practise and what were the benefits it could bring to the Christian supplicant nor yet to say that they as heartily desired the Welfare of the Church as doth T. G. or the Compiler of the Roman Catechism if then they had conceived as they do they would undoubtedly have been as exact and punctual in this injunction it being in it self so highly prositable and the more necessary to be mentioned because omitted in the Law of Moses and never practised by the Jews especially if we consider that nothing could have been more properly suggested for the consolation of all Christians under those fiery tryals they endured then this consideration that they might pray in Faith as doth the Roman Missal Oh most glorious Angel the most high hath given thee to be my Refuge let then no evil come unto me Moreover the Church of Rome doth offer this as a present help in trouble unto this refuge she exhorts us all to fly * Quoties gravissima cernitaer urgere tentatio tribulatio veheme ns imminere invoca custodem tuum ductorem tuum adjutorem tuum in opportunitatibus in tribulatione inclama eum dic domine salva nos perimus Brev. in Festo Ang. Cust lec 6. ex Bern. in ps 90. P. 190. when any violent temptation doth assault and press thee when any vehement tribulation threatens thee call thou upon thy Guardian Angel thy Leader and thy helper in due season in tribulation call upon him and say Lord save us we perish So the Roman Breviary and this is their continual practice Whereas our Heavenly Father doth instruct us thus call upon me in the day of trouble 50 Psal 15. and I will deliver thee c. The Apostles and Evangelists are very copious and frequent in suggesting consolations and encouragements to bear with joy and patience those cruel persecutions with which the Primitive professors of Christianity were still infested and perplexed they have delivered many excellent discourses touching the Comforter the presence of their Saviour with them the Example of his Sufferings and of that Cloud of Witnesses which laboured under the same fiery tryals and lastly that exceeding weight of Glory which they should purchase by those Sufferings but not one hint have they vouchsafed us of this Comfort which is administred by the Church of Rome They frequently inform us that God is able and willing to preserve us from sustain us under and give an happy issue to our trouble they bid us arm our selves against Temptations by Faith and Patience and assiduity of Prayer but never tell us that we should pray to any Angel for this end St. Paul when buffeted by Satans Messenger hath thrice recourse unto our Saviour but never unto Raphael or Michael who by the Church of Rome are stiled tentatorum firma propugnacula the sure Defenders of the tempted 2 Cor 1.9 10 11. Elsewhere he tells us that being pressed above pleasure and above strength insomuch that he despaired even of Life he was delivered by that God who raiseth the Dead in whom saith he we trust that he will yet deliver us you also helping together by Prayer for us this he expresly tells us were his hopes from the petition of Surviving Saints But then he never gives us the least hint of the like expectation from the Prayers of Holy Angels nor doth he once direct a Prayer to them Is any sick saith the Church of Rome Rituale Rom. p. 117. Ed. Antue 1617. let him say to his Guardian Angel O Holy Angel of God assist me as my Keeper To all the Saints and Holy Angels let him say O all ye Holy Angels and all ye Saints intercede for me and succor me Is any sick 5 Jam. 14.15 saith the Apostle James let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him and the prayer of Faith shall save the sick Had he believed that practice of the Church of Rome had been the more prevailing means for their recovery had he conceived it proper and beneficial to the dying person should we have had no mention of it no Rubrick to direct those Elders to mind those dying Christians of this thing The same Apostle doth command all Christians to confess their faults to one another v. 15.16 and pray for one another that they may be healed and gives this reason of that precept that the effectual fervent prayer of any righteous Man availeth much why doth he not exhort them to confess their Sins to all the Holy Angels as doth the Church of Rome why doth he never send them to the Medicinal Angel Raphael who as they do inform us Animarum corporisque optimas Medicator Her Sec. us Sarum f. 92. 1. Pet. 1.21 10. Rom. 14. 1 Jam. 5. is the best Physitian both of Soul and Body add to this that these Apostles have not been only silent in this matter but they have delivered many things which seem to be repugnant to it they do expresly teach us that our Faith should be in God and ask how we can call upon him in whom we have not believed They say if any Man want wisdom to direct him how to bear the Cross let him ask of God that giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him What therefore we are taught by them to seek from our Petitions made to holy Angels St. James directs us immediately to ask of God as being most able and most kind and therefore prone to help us Whence it is easie to collect that it seems very vain and idle to go to them who are less able and less willing so to do St. Jude concludes his General Epistle with these words to him that is able to keep you from falling v. 24 25. and to present you faultless to the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power To him alone he doth ascribe this Power to him alone he gives the Glory of all our preservations nay they assure us that Christ hath not subjected the Christian state unto the Angels 2 Heb. 5. as the Jewish was that they are now our fellow-Servants and therefore must not be adored And that we must be cautious lest any do obtrude upon us the worship of those blessed Spirits 22 Rev. 9. 2 Coloss 18. this they deliver without the least suggestion of any of those limitations and distinctions which are
the very ground and reason of that practice viz. the benefit we may receive by putting up requests unto them and the concernments which ly upon us so to do in order to our preservation from all evil and the obtainment of the greatest blessings for he expresly tels us our care must be to get his favour who alone is God and that if Celsus or the Church of Rome would have us to procure the favor of the inferior beings he must know that all good Spirits Souls and Angels if we do obtain Gods favor when we pray to him they need not be called upon for the assistance of their prayers for they will pray together with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not being called upon so to do This he doth frequently repeat and indeed it is the common language of those times he lived in witness the like expression of Arnobius * In hoe omne quod colendum est colimus quod adorari convenit adoramus quod obsequium Venerationis exposcit Venerationibus promeremur Cum enim divinitatis ipsius tencamus caput à quo ipsa Divinitas divorum omnium quicunque sunt ducitur supervacuum putamus personas ire per singulas cum ipsi qui sint quae habeant nomina nesciamus cujus sint praeterea numeri neque liquidum neque comprehensum neque exploratum habere possimus Atque ut in terrestribus Regnis necessitate nulla compellimur regalibus in familiis constitutos nominatim cum Principibus adorare sed in Regum ipsorum cultu quicquid illis annexum est tacita se sentit honorificentia comprehendi Non alia ratione quicunque hi Dii sunt quos esse nobis proponitis fi sint progenies Regia principali oriuntur è capite etiam si nullos accipiant nominatim à nobis cultus intelligunt se tamen honorari communiter cum suo Rege atque in illius venerationibus contineri Arnobius contra Gentes lib. 3 p. 101. In worshiping the Father and the Lord of all things we worship all things that are to be worshiped we adore all things that may conveniently be adored we venerate all that calls for veneration For holding to the head from whence these Divi borrow their Divinity we think it needless to go to every Person seeing wee know not what they are what names they have or of what order they may be And as in honoring the King wee honor all that do belong unto him so what ever Gods you do propose unto us if they be of this Kingly progeny and do belong unto this head although they do receive no worship from us they understand that they are worshiped together with their King and are included in that veneration which we pay to him 4. This Answer renders the discourse of Origen impertinent and a perfect declination of the Question betwixt him and Celsus For Celsus thus disputes no God nor any Son of God can possibly descend from Heaven but if you do assert this of the Angels of God these are no other than our Daemons Orig. l. 7. 5. p. 23â— To this St. Origen returns this Answer 1. That to deny that any God descends from Heaven is to deny what was esteemed a thing common by the Heathen World 2. That Christians do indeed confess this is the office of the Angels to come down from and to ascend to Heaven and to offer up the Prayers of men to God but yet saith he we must not worship them as God for all our Prayers must be directed to God and to his Son Christ Jesus who is the living Word and God Which argument if it have any strength at all consists in this that whiâ—h you must not worship and adore as God you must not pray unto but Angels you must not worship and adore as God Ergo Angels you must not pray unto This is that Fathers plea to which T. G. may answer in behalf of Celsus as well as of the Church of Rome that he apparently distinguisheth those Angels both from God and from the Son of God and therefore did not contend that we should pray unto them as to that God who is the Author of all good but only as to the Ministers and Servants of God whom he appointed to preside over such persons Families and Countries And therefore he was contented only that it might be lawful to say unto them as doth the Church of Rome to St. Sebastian Cerne familiam tuam id est behold thy family and to St. Gabriel preserve thy Countrey 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus objects that if with God we do adore his Son then may we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerate his Ministers To this St. Origen replies that if †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Contra Celsum lib. 8. p. 386. Celsus by the Ministers of God had understood Gabriel and Michael and other Angels and Archangels and had contended that they should be venerated perpaps by purifying of the word and of the actions of the venerators we might say something of that matter i.e. Perhaps some actions which in some sense may bear the name of veneration might be performed to those Angels This T. G. thinks a great advantage to his cause and wonders that the Doctor would produce this passage But I conceive it is the clearest confutation of it that we could desire For having granted this and then restraining our petitions unto God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ as he expresly doth he most apparently demonstrates that prayer could be no part of the forementioned service he allowed to Saints 2. In that he thus distinguisheth of veneration and never doth distinguish in the like manner of prayer and supplication or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est of adoration and worship it follows that although he thought some veneration might be allowed to Angels in some inferior kind yet no petition was to be put up unto them and that no worship and adoration should be given unto them 3. When Origen in answer to this passage saith * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Ibid. we Christians venerate with supplications only God and his Son Jesus Christ and put up our petitions to God by his only Son If he doth understand only such supplications as are made to him as to the Author of all good he is as vain and impertinent as T. G. in his Answers to the Dr. for Celsus only doth contend for such a worship and consequently for such addresses only as agree unto the Ministers and Servants of God 4. Origen plainly doth inform us that the veneration he allowed to Angels was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 8. p. 416. to speak well of them and pronounce them blessed and imitate to their virtues and what is this to supplication 3. Celsus objects that Daemons do belong to God and therefore must be prayed unto and
4. that the Angels do offer up the prayers of Men to God and surely it can never be Idolatry to desire them to do what they do Answ The minister prays for his Parish and yet should every Parishioner in his private Closet desire him to pray for them should they put up mental prayers unto him and so ascribe unto him the knowledge of the heart and of the desires of Men absent from him they would make an Idol of him Thus albeit the Angels are present in the assemblies of Saints and offer up the prayers they hear yet to invoke them when absent and with mental prayer may duly be esteemed Idolatry 2. T. G. informs us Ibid. that Origen in his first Homily upon Ezekiel invocates an Angel in these words * Veni Angele suscipe sermone conversum ab errore pristino a doctrina Daemoniorum ab iniquitate in altum loquente suscipiens eum quasi Medicus bonus confove atque institue parvulus est hodie nascitur senex repuerascens suscipe tribuens ei baptismum secundae regenerationis â— 133. E. Come holy Angel and receive him who is converted from his former Sins Answer 1. We have just reason to suspect this place is an addition to the works of Origen 1. Because it contradicts his constant plain opinion delivered so often and so industriously confirmed in his reply to Celsus it also contradicts the practice of Church then being as Origen himself declares 2. He speaks thus to the Angel Receive him and confer upon him the Baptisme of the second regeneration Now who ever heard of any Baptized by an Angel who ever heard so uncouth and absurd a Phrase as is the Baptisme of second Regeneration these therefore cannot be the words of Learned Origen as all that know him must confess Besides this speech can be applied to none but Origen himself and if it hath any sense A. d. 153. â— 121 122 123. it seemeth plainly to refer to his repentance after his lapse into Idolatry which haply is stiled the Baptism of a second Regeneration since then that story is confuted by Baronius it follows that this passage which refers unto it must be also false 3. Were it granted that those are the true words of Origen they contain only an Apostrophe such as is that of Austin to St. Chrysostome enter St. John sit with thy Brethren and others mentioned c. 9 Or 2. If I should grant them to contain a formal Prayer it is directed only to an Angel whom he conceived to be present and it is only a vocal prayer for Origen conceived not only that every person but also every Church had a * Ego non ambigo in caetu nostro adesse Angelos non solum Geperaliter omni Ecclesiae sed etiam figillatim Hom. 23. in luc particular Angel that presided over it and so was present there And therefore this Example is not pertin ent to prove what we deny viz. that it is lawful to pray unto them when we have no assurance of their presence or with mental prayer THE CONCLUSION sheweth 1. That what T. G. alleadgeth to prove the Dr. Guilty of false and disingenious Citations is most unconscionably false 2. That T. G. is notoriously Guilty of false and disingenious citations 3. That he very falsty represents the question touching the Invocation of the Saints departed 4. That T. G. is a Man of Wit but in his Book he hath not in the least discovered himself to be a Man of Learning or of Judgment but given us just reason to suspect his want of both WE are informed by the incomparable Dalle § 1. De usu Patrum Cap. 3. p. 43. that it was a Thesis publickly proposed and defended by the College of Lovain that it is no mortal sin to elude a great Authority that is detracting from or noxious to us with a Lye and that the Jansenists do frequently object against the Jesuits the same ungodly Tenet That this hath been the constant practice of T. G. and that he owes the glory of his Book to his exact Conformity to this acursed Doctrine I have demonstrated already from many instances so clear that nothing can admit of greater evidence Before I enter into a farther demonstration of this Charge I must assure the Christian Reader that from my heart I wish that I had nothing of this nature to object against T. G. and I do think my self unhappy that I have to deal with one who by so base a prostitution of his Conscience doth seek advantage to his cause Indeed the subject is so unpleasant and unwelcome to me that I would certainly have wholly waved it had not my Duty to my Brother and the disadvantage which the truth might suffer from these Arts obliged me to proceed in this discovery which both in pity to my self and to my Adversary I shall confine to the consideration of what he hath delivered Part the Third that so my Labour and his Guilt may be the less This being thus premised the Truth of what I charge him with shall be made good 1. By consideration of what he offers to crack the credit of the Dr. and cast a Disrepute on his incomparable Labors And 2. From divers instances of his endeavors by the forementioned Arts to weaken the Authorities produced against him And First §. 2. the Dr. is very often but most unjustly charged with false Citations Interpretations and suggestions touching the Authors cited by him v. g. The Dr. saith he makes a terrible blunder by his dextrous Translating c. p. 371. And again p. 373. The Dr. saith he first makes a Preface of his own as if it was St. Austins and then turns opus erat there was no need into we need not c. And p. 375. he makes the Dr. to avmâ—ch in the face of the World 156. what was a perfect contradiction to what he told us out of St. Austin p. 155. and out of Celsus p. 150. These imputations I have already proved to be false and groundless in their respective places whither I refer the Reader v. Ch. 9. § 3. Again the Dr. having given us the descant of Theodoret upon that passage of St. Paul and upon that Canon of Laodicea which forbids Christians to Worship Angels he subjoyns these words No wonder that Baronius is so much displeased with Theodoret for this Interpretation p. 155. for he very fairly tells what he condemns and St. Paul too was the practice of their Church and those Oratories were set up by Catholicks and not by Hereticks This is foul dealing saith T. G. and these are pitiful slights of Sophistry to delude an unwary Reader p. 380. And he shall wonder if the Dr. find any one that will believe him p. 383. so that what Dr. Stillingfleet hath here delivered must be incredible foul dealing or else T. G. must certainly be guilty of much disingenuity and falshood in this
Christs humanity is as to the substance and the nature of it changed into the Deity and that the accidents form and figure of it only remain unchanged that is he grants all that the Heretick asserts and he endeavoured to refure For thus the Heretick dispuâ—es As the Symbols of the body and blood of Christ are other things before the invocation of the Priest but after the invocation they are changed and made other so the body of Christ after the assumption is changed into the divine substance and thus the Orthodox doth answer thou art caught in thy own Net for the mystical signs after Sanctification do not recede from their own natures Again the Orthodox puts this question are not the mysteries Ibid. vid. p. 57. the signs of the body which truly is this being granted by the Heretick he makes this inference If the divine mysteries do truly represent the body then the body of our Lord now is and is not changed into the Deity but only filled with his Glory When therefore is it affirmed by Theodoret that this Sacrament is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a venerable Type And that the Symbols are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Symbols which are Worshiped This phrase can signifie no more then this That they are venerable Types and Symbols such as deserve a reverence or honorary Worship from all Christians which is a very common acceptation of the word for thus Christian Temples are stiled by the Ancients a Concal sub Menna act 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Venerable Temples the Apostles Throat b Epist Leonis 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Venerable Throne and Baptism c Justinian Novil 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Venerable Baptism The same uncenscionable dealing we meet with in that passage of St. Austin for no Man eats Christs flesh 〈◊〉 be have siâ—sâ— adored for in that very place he tells us That * In â—â—sâ—l 98. p 241. â— G. H the Jews interpreted the eating of Christs Flesh like Fools for they interpreted it carnally whereas Christ did instrâ—â— his own Disciples and say unto them understand Spiritually what I say unto you you shall not eat the Body which you see and drink the Blood which they will shed that Crucifie me I have commended unto you a Sacrament that Spiritually being understood will quicken you So that St. Austin in this very place asserts the contradictory to what the Church of Rome believes touching the presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament and calls them Fools that think Christ did intend what they imagine he hath said Therefore it is manifest that St. Austin in this place speaks nothing of the adoration of Christs Flesh under the accidents of Bread but only of the adoration of hs Flesh considered as united to the Godhead and placed at the Right Hand of God I astly to that of Ambrose De spir Saâ—cto l 3. c. 12. By the Footstool is understood the Earth and by the Earth the flesh of Christ which we Adore in the mysteries at this day and which the Apostles adored in our Lord Jesus I answer that he saith no more than this that in these mysteries we Worship Christ and câ—nâ—â—quently the flesh of Christ as being not divided from him â—u he doth not say that in adoring the mysteries we adore Christ or that we do adore the mysteries which are Christ 1. Therefore let it be observed that St. Ambrose doth not say that we adore Christ only in this mysteries but in mysteriis or in the Celebration of the Sacraments which it was the custome of Antiquity to do because they held these mysteriâ—s to be instituted by him to convey unto us those blessings he had purchased by his blood and did conceive he * in Job 9 6.7 Cyril words it doth invisibly swim in the waters of Baptism And therefore in the Celebration of that rite they eall upon us as * Paulinus Epist 4. Chrysost To. 6. in illud simile est regnum czlorum Captives to fall down before our King and with hands lifted up to Heaven to adore him and mutually to exhort our selves and say come let us Worship before the Lord who made us And yet I hope T. G. will not infer that Element of Water to be transmuted into Christs Body and therefore Worshiped by the Christians of those times Secondly observe that Christs Sacred Flesh being united to his Godhead and adored with it the Worship which at the celebration of those Mysteries was directed to him as sitting in the Heavens must be the Worship of his Flesh and this assuredly must be the meaning of St. Ambrose who in his exposition of these words seek those things which are above serm 58. c. speaketh thus we ought not now to seek our Saviour upon the Earth or according to the Flesh it we would find and touch him but according to the Glory of his Divine Majesty that we may say with the Apostle Paul but now we know not Christ according to the Flesh And therefore Blessed Stephen by his Faith did not seek Christ upon the Earth but did acknowledge him standing at the Right Hand of God where with the devotion of the mind he sought him Now this no Protestant denies that Christ even in the celebration of the Eucharist is to be Worshiped where he is and where he is to be sought after by such as do desire to sind him i.e. at the right hand of God CHAP. VI. The Contents Prop. 1. When we ascribe unto the Creature the Homage due to the Creator we become guilty of Idolatry Prop. 2. To know the secrets of the hearts of persons praying at all times and in all places of the World is a divine and incommunicated excellency Prop. 3. That to ascribe this knowledge to any Creature to whom God doth not thus discover the secrets of the heart and to pay that honour to it which doth suppose that knowledge is Idolatry Prop. 4. Those outward Acts of Worship which by consent of Nations or by common Use do signifie the honour due to the Creator are Idolatrical when given to a Creature Corol 1. That to offer Sacrifice is to perform that Worship which is proper only to God 2. That to vow to Angels or to Saints departed is to ascribe unto them the honour due to the Creator 3. Prayer offered and put up in any time and place to an invisible and not corporeally present Being is the oblation of that Worship to it which is due to God alone Objections Answered §. 1. HAving thus endeavoured to confirm and justifie the Judgment of the Church of England touching the Worshipping of the Host I now proceed to shew the Equity and Justice of her Censure of the Roman practice in reference unto the Invocation and Adoration of Holy Angels and of Saints departed And what we have to say in this particular as the foundation of this Charge shall be contained in these
guilty of idolatry it being the most clear and most unquestionable truth that the most excellent Creature is not God 2. Whatever doth import and signifie the honour due to the Ceator doth also signifie that excellency which is only due unto him We cannot then perform that act of honour which imports this excellency to the best of Creatures but we must honour it as our Creator nor can we honour it as our Creator but we must worship it as God and by so ding we must be guilty of what the Romanists confess to by paying honor to a Creature But we can pay no greater honor to the most excellent of Creatures than by ascribing to it that honor which is due to God alone and therefore by ascribing of that honor to it we must be guilty of idolatry 4. By giving of that honor to God which doth import that excellence and perfection which agrees to God alone we exercise that act of Worship which we call Latria for since Dulia doth import only the worship proper to the Creature it cannot signifie that worship which is due to him whose dignity is infinitely greater than what the best of Creatures doth enjoy if then we exercise that act of worship to the Creature we give Latria to it and in the judgment of our most rigid Adversaries to give Latria to a Creature is to be guilty of Idolatry To know the secrets of the hearts of persons praying Prop. 2. §. 2. is a divine and uncommunicated excellency This is apparent 1. from express Scripture testimony 1 Kings 8.39 2 Chron. 6.29 30. What prayer or what supplication soever shall be made by any man or by all thy people Israel when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread forth his hands in this house hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and render unto every man according to all his wayes whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men where first observe That there it is asserted as a thing proper to God not only that he knows the hearts of all men collectively taken but distributively i. e. that he alone doth know the heart of any man for this is given as a reason why when supplications are made by any man God should render to him according to his wayes because he only knows his heart i. e. he only knows the heart of any single person 2. Observe this knowledge of the heart is thus appropriated to God in reference to whatsoever prayer and supplication shall be made by any man Whence we infer that whatsoever prayer and supplication shall be made by any man God only knows the heart and the conceptions of the Supplicant and therefore that this knowledge is not communicated to Saints or Angels 3. Observe that to affirm this knowledge is ascribed to God alone because he only hath this knowledge from the perfection of his nature whereas it is communicated to the Saints and Angels only by way of revelation or by the vision of that God who knoweth all things Is 1. without all ground to limit what is universally pronounced in the case of prayer 2. It we admit this limitation to say God only knows the secret of the heart of him that prayeth hath no more of truth than if I should assert God only hath a being he only acts he only knows that Christ is come into the world because he only acts and hath his being from himself our beings and our power of action is derived from him and by his revelation only we do know that Christ is come into the world 3. We may on like accounts assert That even when the general hath paid his Souldiers he alone hath money because what money and of his Souldiers have was given by him and that the Master only of the School of Westminster knows Greek and Latine because his Scholars have derived that knowledge from him 4. If we admit of such a limitation then the exclusive term will not refer to what is spoken but to that which is not mentioned not to the predicate viz. the knowledge of the hearts of men which is expressed but only to the manner of that knowledge of which the Text is wholly silent Now this inter pretation gives such a forced and strained sense as in a matter of this nature ought not to be admitted without the greatest evidence Whereas the sence we plead for is the most plain and natural import of the words For it is natural to conceive the sense of this expression should be this thou and no other knowest the hearts of men whereas if we do paraphrase it thus that many myriads of Saints and Aâ—gels have this knowledge of the heart but thou alone dost naturally know what they receive from revelation this Proposition taken as it is expresed viz. God only knows the hearts of men will be both absolutely false and uncouth and what is contradictory to it viz. God only doth not know the hearts of them that pray will be absolutely true 2. If such a knowledge of the heart was not an uncommunicated excellency if it was only that which did agree to many thousands of blessed Saints and Angels then could it be no proof of the divinity of Christ and of the holy Spirit for what is answered to the Protestant by those who do ascribe this knowledge to the Saints in glory might be with equal probability alledged to baffle and evade this evidence of Christs divinity which is so often and so triumphantly suggested by the holy Fathers And hence it is confessed by the great (f) Quod argumentum nullum esset omnino si non Dei proprium id foret cogitationes intimas corda cognoscere Theol. dogm Tom. 3. l. 1. c. 7. p. 39. §. 3. Petavius that if this knowledge were not proper to God their argument would certainly be weak and groundless And yet the Fathers in his Argument are so exceeding full and copious that it were endless to collect what they deliver Our Lord saith (g) in Lucam l. 5. c. 3. Ambrose demonstrateth himself to be God by knowing of the secrets of the heart Take saith (h) Serm. 50. Chrysologus these indications of our Lords divinity hear how he penetrates the secret of thy heart see how he dives into thy hidden thoughts See saith St. (i) p. 2. Com. in Joh. p. 144. Cyril how he is that God who is the (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Alex. Com. in Joh. l. 2. p. 133. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. p. 144. searcher of all hearts For to none other is it given to know the mind of man as is apparent from that passage of the Psalmist God is the searcher of the heart and reins for there the Psalmist mentions it as a peculiar thing which only doth agree to the Divine nature and to nothing else if it be proper unto God
alone to know the secrets of the hart then Christ who was acquainted with them doth very well deserve to be accounted God So Novatian (l) De Trin. c. 13. p. 715. In the like manner they are wont to argue and conclude the holy Spirit to be God for if to know the secrets of men be a propriety of God to search the hidden things of God as doth the holy Ghost must be a greater demonstration of his Majesty so Paschasius If we especially conceive him to be God who sees the secret thoughts of man much more is he to be esteemed God who searcheth what is hidden in the Fathers breast So (m) Hom. de Trin. Eusebius Emissenus (n) Quia nemo inferior superioris scrutatur interna divinae enim solius est potestatis ecculta novisse similiter ergo scrutatur Spiritus Sanctus ut Pater Ambros de Sp. Sancto l. 2. c. 12. f. 108. B. Col. 2. L. It is recorded of God that he doth search the heart and reins whence it is evident that in like manner this is performed by the holy Spirit for no inferior doth search the hidden things of his superior So Ambrose v. Petav. Theol. dogm de Angelis l. 1. c. 7. de Trin. l. 2. c. 14. It would be endless to recite all that the Fathers have delivered to this effect if then they taught as doth the present Church of Rome and practised that invocation both of Saints and Angels which doth apparently suppose them conscious to the requests and inward motions of the heart is it not matter of the highest admiration and a just reason to suspect the ingenuity or common prudence of such men who did so often urge that as an instance of Divinity which they acknowledged to agree and by their daily practice did ascribe unto the Creature Wherefore we are constrained in reverence to their great names and memories to judge they never held this knowledge was communicated to Saints and Angels nor practised that which doth suppose it Which will be further evident if 3ly we consider that they affirm without distinction or exception that to perceive the secrets of the heart is a thing proper unto God alone this by the concurrent judgment of the â—ather being no more communicated to the Creature than was the knowledge of what was future and contingent The Almighty Father only knows the hidden things saith * Lib. 5. in Ezech. cap. 16. pag. 191. E. Mat. 6.4 Psal 7.9 1 Kings 8.29 Jerome alledging for the proof of this these Texts Thy Father that seeth in secret c God searcheth the hearts and reins And Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men It is the property of God alone saith †In Matt. Hom. 29. p. 201 202. Ed. Savil. Jer. 17.9 1 Sam. 16.7 Chrysostom to know the secrets of the heart For the proof of this besides the passages now mentioned he add that of Jeremiah The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it And that of Samuel Man looketh on the out ward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart And of this saith he we have many evidences This he again repeats Hom. 24. in Joban and proves it from those words of Solomon Thou only knowest the heart of man (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Matt. Hom. 19. p. 134. If thou dost thy good works in secret wilst thou have no spectactor of what is done saith the same Author yes thou wilst have not indeed Angels or Arch-angels much less Saints and Martyrs but God over all Hence was it held a signal honor done to God and a great act of faith to pray in silence (p) Qui in silentio orat fidem defert confitetur quod Deus serutator cardâ— renis sit erationem tuaâ—an è lile audiat quà m tuo ore fundatuâ— Ambros de Sucram l. 6. c. 4. He that doth pray in silence saith St. Ambrose brings faith with him and confesseth that God is the searcher of the heart and reins and that he can hear his prayer before that it is uttered by his mouth (q) Consideremus bened ctâ—â—â—eleslem Christi Sephiaâ— imprimis de praecepto secretè adorandi quo fidem hominis exigebat ut Dei omnipotentis conspectum auditum sub tâ—ctis in abdus etiam adess confideret m destum fidei desideraâ— it ut quem uâ—ique audire videre fideret ci soli religionem saam offâ—â—â—â— Tert. de Orat. c. 1. §. 8. Let consider saith Tertullian the heavenly wisdome of our Lord in his injunction to praÌ„y in secret whereby he both requires the faith of man confiding that God omnipotent both hears and sees under our roofs and in our secret places and also that our faith be modest so that we offer our Religion unto him alone whom we are confident doth see and hear us every where That to ascribe this knowledge to any Creature to whom God doth not thus discover the secrets of the heart Prop. 3. §. 3. and to pay that honor to it which doth suppose such knowledge is Idolatry This I make good 1. From the confessions of our Adversaries and from the Argument they use on like occasions It is truly acknowledged by the Church of Rome Catechism Rom. part 3. c. 1. § 7. That Magick Augury and such like wicked Arts are sins forbidden by the first Commandment and such as cannot be committed without gross Idolatry Because whoever doth expect or seek from evil Spirits or any other Creature what the Magician promiseth by seeking hoping or expecting that from them which only ought to be expected from God they act towards that Creature as if they thought it to be God For instance he that attempteth to foretell what is future and contingent without a revelation from God he doth unduly do it 2ª 2ª q. 95. Art 1. saith the learned Sylvius for since the causes of such thing are undetermined it is not possible we should attain to this knowledge of them from themselves or from their causes and whether we do speak of things contingent or of the knowledge of the conceptions of the heart it is certain God alone can know them it being said Isa 41.23 Thou only knowest the hearts of men and again Declare the things that are to come that we may know that you are gods he therefore that attempteth to foretell such things we therefore say that he divineth because after a sort he acts the God usurping that which only doth belong to him 2. From the two passages of Scripture cited by him it is evident That albeit God sometimes did reveal unto his Prophets the knowledge of things future and of the secrets of the heart yet is that knowledge to be esteemed the property of God and a sure indication of divinity and therefore to ascribe this knowledge to a Creature God having not revealed it to him is to ascribe divinity unto
2ae qu. 89. Act. 2. something that doth signifie the inward Sacrifice and suffereth a real change Now all these things can only be asserted of the outward Sacrifice that therefore in the judgment of the Roman Catholick is properly Latria or that Worship which is due to God alone Which I will further prove 1. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 10. c. 19. From Aquinas and St. Austin who do argue thus the outward Sacrifice doth signifie the inward and spiritual Sacrifice and therefore seeing the inward and spiritual Sacrifice must be presented only to the highest God the outward also must be offered only to him 2. I ask if this external Sacrifice be not the worship proper to God whether or no it be Idolatry to offer it to Saints and Angels or to Heathen Emperors and Daemons if it be not why did the ancient Christians refuse to do it upon this account Why was it alwayes deemed Idolatry even to cast a little (g) Non est tanâ—um in eo servitus Idoli si quis dumbus dâ—gieulis thura in bustum arae jaciat Hieron ep ad Heliodorum Incense upon the Altar of an Heathen Deity but if it be Idolatry to give this outward worship to a Creature it must be only due to the Creator as is apparent from what we have discoursed touching the nature and definition of Idolatry To vow to Angels or to Saints departed Corol. 2. §. 6. is to ascribe unto them the honour due to the Creator For before this Superstition of the Church of Rome obtained whoever offered up a vow to an invisible Being but he conceived or feigned it to be God Wherefore this worship when it began to be thus used by the Roman party was by the common practise and consent of Nations made to signifie the worship only due to God and so their practise who do ascribe this worship to the Saints departed must be deemed Idolatry because it is the giving of that worship to them which is due to God and this in Thesi is confessed by the Roman Catholick to (h) Vovere est propriè actus Latriae Aquin 2ª 2ª q 88. Art 5. vow is to perform the worship of Latria say the Schoolmen They put God into the (i) Est igitur votum promissio deliberata boni cujuspiam melioris Deo facta per hoc quod additum est Deo facta distinguitur votum â— promissione quae fit homini Estius in sent l. 4. dist 38. §. 1. p. 206.207 definition of a Vow and tell us that it is a (k) Votum est quaedam promissio Deo facta ibid. promise made to God and that it (l) Votum soli Deo fit sed promissio etiam potest fieri homini id only differs from a promise made to man in this respect that it is made to God It is confessed by Bellarmine that in the holy Scriptures we have no instance of a Vow that was not made to God alone Aquinas * ibid. proves a Vow to be the worship of Latria because the Prophet †ch 19.21 Esa saith of the Aegyptians they shall do sacrifice and oblation yea they shall vow a Vow unto the Lord and perform it for to worship God saith he to wit with Sacrifice and Oblation is Latria therefore to vow unto him must be so and this concession of our Adversaries may farther be confirmed by Reason and Authority For we do virtually ascribe unto those persons to whom our Vows are made the knowledge of those Vows and of the disposition of the heart whence they proceed for otherwise we must suppose them equally inclined to assist the hypocritical and the sincerest Votary and if we do suppose them ignorant of what we vow our worship must be vain and fruitless now hence it follows that we must pay this worship to him only who understandeth what we vow and is acquainted with the inward motions of the soul which only God who is the searcher of the heart doth know Besides the Romanist doth often vow that his (m) I humbly beg of thee oh Mother of all Clemency that thou wouldst vouchsafe to admit me into the number of those who have devoted themselves to thee to be thy perpetual servants Reflect on the Devotion of the Romish Church p. 420. whole life shall be devoted to the blessed Virgin or some other Saint Now in the judgment of St. Austin thus to (n) Vt sacra faciemus sacrificemus vel aliqua nostra sive nos ipsos religionis ritubus consecremus hic est Divinitati vel si expressuis dicendum est Deitati debitus cultus Aug. de Civ Dei l. 10. c. 1. consecrate our selves by a religious rite to any thing is to perform unto it the worship proper to a Deity Prayer offered and put up in any time and place to an invisible Cor. 3. §. 7. and not corporeally present being is the oblation of that worship to it which is due to God For this before the Superstition of the Romish Church prevailed was alwayes used as an indication of Divinity and a thing proper to the Deity Thus Dio tells us that Caligula was worshipped as a God because they offered to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayers and supplications The consecration of an Image was deemed by some Heathens to fix within it some invisible and powerful being and then by supplication to the consecrated Image it was made a God according unto that of Martial Qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus Non facit ille Deos L. 8. Ep. 24 qui Rogat ille facit 'T is not the carved Gold or Marble stone That makes the God but Supplication It is adorned saith * Ecce ornatur consecratur oratur tum postremo Deus est p. 26. Luk. 11.2 Minutius and consecrated and lastly it is prayed unto and then it is a God This may be farther proved from Scripture Reason and Authority From Scripture thus He only ought to be the object of our Prayer who is our Heavenly Father for thus the Precept runs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when or as often as you pray say Our Father c. which Precept must not be supposed to enjoyn all Christians to use these words whensoever they do pray for we do never find in any of the prayers which the Apostles made that they did so it therefore doth enjoyn us when we pray for any thing which in this Prayer is mentioned or contained to pray unto our heavenly Father for it 2. Obs This form of Prayer must be supposed to contain all things which are the matter of a true and grateful Prayer according unto that of Austin †Dicendum quod oratio Dominica perfectissima est quia sicut Angustinus dicit ad Probum si rectè congruenenter oramus nihil aliud dicere possumus quam quod in ista oratione Dominica positum est Aquinas 2ª 2a q. 83. Art 8. Ep. 121.
c. 12. Run through all the words of holy Prayers and you will be able to find nothing which is not included in the Lords Prayer in this both Protestants and Roman Catholicks agree Hence therefore I assume if when we pray for any thing contained in this Prayer we are enjoyned to pray to God then all our acceptable Prayers must be directed to him and whensoever we do pray for any blessing we must call upon him besides Our Father doth belong to every Petition no other person being mentioned in this Prayer so that the sense runs thus Our Father c. let thy Kingdome come Our Father let thy will be done c. And then the import of this injunction will be this when you pray for the advancement of Gods Glory or the promotion of his Kingdom or the performance of his Will when you solicite for any Temporal blessing or for the pardon of your Sin or lastly for the prevention of any Evil or Temptation of what kind soever when you desire any of these mercies for your selves or others pray to your Heavenly Father for them 3. None of these blessings must be asked of him to whom the Kingdom Power and Glory doth not of right belong For this is added as the cause or motive of making these addresses to God and where the motive or cause is wanting the effect must cease Now to God only the Kingdome Power and Glory doth agree Jude 25. We therefore must address our Prayers to him only for the obtaining of these blessings And least you should object that this Argument excludes the third and second persons of the Sacred Trinity let it be noted that all the Schoolmen do affirm That the word Father in this Prayer must not be taken personally but essentially and so excludeth not the other Persons of the Trinity but those things only which have not the same nature with them 2. Prayer offered up in any time or place to an invisible and for any thing we know a Being absent from us as far as Earth from Heaven doth ascribe unto that Being the knowledge of the secrets of the heart now to worship any Being whether Saint or Angel with such a kind of worship which doth ascribe unto it the knowledge of the desires and secrets of the heart both where and whensoever they are conceived or uttered is to ascribe unto them by way of worship what is not due to Saints or Angels but alone to God as hath been proved already and may be further thus confirmed 1. If Saints departed were acquainted with the desires of our hearts why did Elijah speak unto Elisha thus 2 Kings 2.9 Ask what thou wilst before I am taken from thee The Scripture doth affirm that he was taken up into the Heavens and therefore did behold the face of God And Roman Catholicks themselves deny that he was held in Limbo as they imagine other Prophets were being in Heaven his love unto Elisha and the Church of God was not diminished but enlarged and therefore upon that account he had a stronger reason to ask what he desired then before Besides the Prophet being now with God in Heaven his Prayers would more effectually prevail for any Blessing for his Friend and therefore he had greater reason to have said had he believed this Doctrine of the Church of Rome Ask what thou wilst when I am taken from thee And therefore we have reason to presume that he did not believe this Doctrine but rather thought that his departure would render all Elijah's future wishes and add resses to him vain and ineffectual 2. From that known passage of Isaiah Abraham nescivit nos Israel ignoravit nos St. Augustine thus concludes (o) Si tanti Patriarchae quid erga populum ex his procreatum ageretur ignoraverunt quibus Deo credentibus populus ipse ex corum stirpe promissus est quomodo mortui suorum rebus atque actubus cognoscendis adjuvandisque miscentur ibi ergo sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi non vident quaecunque aguntur aut eveniunt in ista vita hominibus De curâ pro mortuis c. 13. If such great Patriarchs were ignorant of what was done towards the people that proceeded from their Loins how should the dead be conversant in knowing or helping of their friends in what they do There therefore are the Spirits of dead persons where they do not see what things are done or happen to men in this life 2. I reason thus this practice doth ascribe unto the objects of our Prayer such knowledge of the heart and such a cognisance of all petitions presented to them at all times and in all places of the world which we have proved to agree to God alone or such a presence in all places which is proper to him and therefore it ascribeth to them the honor due to God alone 2. If Saints departed do know the minds and inward thoughts of those who put up their petitions to them they have this knowledge either from Revelation or from the beatifick Vision but they have no such knowledge either from Revelation or from the Beatifick Vision Ergo. And 1. God doth not ordinarily reveal unto them the knowledge of the hearts of their petitioners For if they do not want this Revelation God who doth nothing vainly must not be supposed to impart it But these blessed Spirits do not want it for did they need this Revelation to perceive our minds saith Bellarmine the Church would not so confidently say to all the Saints Votis precamur cordium audite preces supplicum Brev. in Com. Apost p. 2. pray for me much less we offer to you the desires of our hearts but sometimes would desire God thus to reveal our prayers and to acquaint them with the desires of our hearts 2. If God thus reveal the Prayers of the Petitioner to the deceased Saints what reason can be given saith the forementioned Author why all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets were not invoked by the Church of Israel before our Saviours advent and he had reason to make this enquiry For 1. It is as easie to Almighty God to make this Revelation to the souls in Limbo that Papal prison of the Antient Patriarchs and holy Prophets as to the souls in Heaven nor have we one example or declaration that what God is supposed now to do he was not willing to do then 2. Certain it is the charity of those departed Patriarchs and Prophets towards their relatives and friends and the whole Church of God must be exceedingly advanced by their change they must be more the friends of God and their petitions must be more prevailing then whilst they did continue in the flesh Wherefore the Jews had as good reason to invoke these Patriarchs and Prophets as hath the Romanist to call upon the Christian Martyrs And God had equal reason to declare this was the duty of the Jew and to reveal their Supplications to the Patriarchs as to
declare this was the duty of the Christian and to reveal their Supplications to departed Christians 3. What a ridiculous office do they impose upon the God of Heaven by this fond opinion for when they pray to Apollonia for the tooth-ach God must not only tell her that such a person supplicates but also that his teeth do ake and therefore he particularly imploreth her assistance when they address themselves to any Saint in this odd language * Cum ad Imaginem Sancti alicujus quis Dominicam orationem pronuntiat ita tum sentiat se ab illo petere ut secum oret sibique postulet ea quae Dominicae orationis formulâ continentur Catech. Rom. part 4 c. 6. s 4. p. 586. Our Father which art in heaven c. which they familiarly do as is acknowledged by the Roman Catechism God must inform this Saint both of the person praying and his prayer and his intention by so doing to oblige him to use those words in his behalf †O praeco accelera piae matri◠praecare viscera Propr Fest F. 2. When they desire any Saint or Angel to go unto the Blessed Virgin this Saint must be informed first of the matter of the Prayer then must he post unto the blessed Virgin and she must go unto her Son and he unto his Father to present that request which he revealed And are not these men very bold with God to put such offices upon him and make him Nuntio to all his Creatures 2. The Saints departed do not know the hearts and the petitions of their Supplicants by vertue of the beatifick Vision This vain presumption depends on this that seeing God they must in him behold those things which in Idea are contained in him or which his knowledge doth perceive and so the refutation of this dream will be sufficient confutation of it And 1. That which the holy Spirit only knows these blessed Spirits do not know but the things of God i.e. his purposes and counsels c. knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 Ergo. If then the blessed Spirits notwithstanding the beatifick Vision do not see the mind and counsel of God without his revelation why should we think that by beholding of God they also do behold the supplications we put up unto them De vita Contemp. l. 5. c. 4. Those words of Prosper That nothing is so secret as that the knowledge of it should be denied to the perfectly blessed And that of Gregory L. 12. Moral c. 13. That they who see that God who seeth all things must themselves see all things I say those words do as much prove that blessed Spirits do know the secrets of Gods counsel as that they see the supplications we put up unto them To strengthen and confirm this Argument let us consider 1. That the Fathers do from this place conclude the holy Spirit to be God because he is the searcher of the things of God which Argument would be invalid if this could truly be asserted of the blessed Spirits 2. 1 Cor. 2.12 Observe that the Apostle argues thus That as no man knows the secrets of the heart of man besides the Spirit of man within him so none can know the secrets of the God of Heaven but the Spirit of God Now if the blessed Spirits do know the secrets of the heart of man the Argument would be invalid for the Romanist might give the baffle to St. Paul and tell him That as the secrets of the heart of man are known not only to the Spirit of man but also to myriads of blessed Saints and Angels so may the secrets of God be known not only to the holy Spirit but to many others 2. The Scripture doth assure us That those blessed Angels which always did behold the face of God had not the knowledge of those things which are revealed to us by the Gospel and that the curious Wisdom which contrived that dispensation was made known unto them by the Church Eph. 3.10 1 Pet. 1.12 and therefore Peter represents them as stooping down to view this new discovery which is a signal indication of the falshood of this fond conceit That blessed Spirits seeing him who knoweth all things must have the knowledge of those things he sees and therefore of the prayers that are put up unto him they being seen and known to God 3. That we may pray in faith we must be certain that the blessed Spirits are acquainted with the desires of our hearts for he that doth command us to pray in faith and without doubting cannot be wanting to give us certain motives of this faith and therefore God who never is deficient in what is necessary would certainly have given both to Jews and Christians sufficient revelation of his will in this particular had he intended that they should pay this homage to the Saints departed whereas we have no certain evidence that they enjoy this knowledge either from Revelation or from Vision And 1. We are not certain that they behold our supplications in the beatifick Vision for many of the Church of Rome do hold the contrary and it is free for all her members so to do and so this matter cannot be held as any Article of faith or certain definition of the Church 2. It is not certain that these blessed Spirits by vertue of this Vision do behold what is contingent for this is generally denied by the Romish Doctors and yet these things are seen of God as clearly as are the secrets of the heart 2. We cannot possibly be certain that God doth reveal them for we cannot certainly conclude it from his Attributes nor have we any certain revelation that he doth reveal our minds and thoughts unto them for if we can certainly conclude it from his Attributes then God would not be God did he not thus reveal our supplications to the Saints departed And Secondly Then to deny this Revelation would be to sin against the light of nature and then not only Protestants but the prevailing part of Roman Catholicks must sin against the light of nature by holding they obtain this knowledge not by Revelation but from the Vision of that God who knoweth all things but if by vertue of some Revelation we are assured that our petitions are revealed to the Saints why do they not produce it Why doth T. G. confess that Austin and others of the ancient Fathers were uncertain what to determine in this case Why do the greater part of Roman Catholicks deny what they have certain Revelation for 3. Where is this Revelation to be found In Scripture No they confess that this is wholly silent in this matter and give us many Reasons why it was not mentioned in holy Writ Have we this Revelation from Tradition Why then do the prevailing part of Roman Catholicks reject it Sith then we have no certainty of what this practice doth suppose either from Revelation or from the beatifick
of it is the worship due to God but we may vow to Saints in sign of gratitude to them considered as Mediators and Intercessors by whom we do receive Gods blessings But this distinction hath no foundation to depend upon and with like reason we may distinguish thus of Sacrifice and of whatever else is proper to God and say That to offer Sacrifice to any thing under the notion of the first and chiefest Good is to ascribe unto it the worship due to God alone but notwithstanding we may offer Sacrifice to Saints in sign of gratitude to them considered as Mediators and Intercessors by whom we do obtain Gods blessings * Dicendu nâ—quod vetum sâ—lt â—eâ—sâ— sed promissâ—â— pâ—â—si etiam fâ—cri homini per hunc medum intelliâ—â—â—dum est â—vâ—â—â—n quâ— quis v â— t aliquid Sanctis vel Praelâ—râ—is ut ipsâ— promissio facta Sanctis vel Praelatis cadat sub voâ—◠〈◊〉 riaâ—â—er in quintum scilicit home vâ—vet Peoâ— se impleturum quid Sanctis vel Praelatis promiâ—tit Aquin. 2a 2ae qu. 88. Art 5. Aquinas doth distinguish thus That in a vow we have two things 1. The matter of it and that is the promise 2. The form or essence viz. the direction of that promise to God the matter of the vow saith he i.e. the promise we indeed make to Saints and only vow to God we will be faithful to this promise which we make to them This Answer Bellarmine rejects as being false and contradictory to what they practise For saith he ‖ Vota quae faunc Sanctis terminâ—niu etiam ad ipsâ—â— Sanctâ—s itaâ— wâ—revera ipsis vâ—ta fiant L. 3. de cultu Sanctorum c. 9. The Vows we make to Saints are terminated on the Saints so that we really do vow unto them And again †Vo inomen est general quad conventâ— Dâ—â— Sancta aliaâ—â— name di core audent vâ—eâ— Deo Bâ—â—â—aâ— Maria â—iam si◠〈◊〉 vâ— Beata Mariae Ibid. The name of Vow is general and agrees both to God and Saints for otherwise men would not dare to say I vow to God and to the Blessed Virgin and simply I vow unto the Blessed Virgin And certainly no reason can be given why I vow to God should be a formal Vow and I Vow unto the Blessed Virgin should not be so 3. They by this promise do ascribe unto the Saints the knowledge of our hearts and of our promises whence they desire them to hear and to receive their vows and so they do ascribe unto them Gods uncommunicated excellency 4. To put up Hymns unto the blessed Angels and the Saints deceased is to be guilty of Idolatry But Papists put up Hymns unto the Blessed Angels and the Saints departed Ergo The minor is apparent both from the Roman Missal and the Breviary where we find many Hymns directed to those Blessed Spirits the major may be thus confirmed To pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which is due to God alone is to be guilty of Idolatry To offer Hymns unto them is to pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which is due to God alone Ergo. The major is apparent from Chap. 6. Prop. 1. The minor I prove thus To pay that honor to these Blessed Spirits which Christians paid to God alone is to pay that honor to them which alone is due to God for why should the whole Church of Christ which if we may believe the Romanist received so great advantage by their addresses to these Blessed Spirits refuse to pay unto them those Hymns and Praises which were due unto them and which on this account are offered to them by the Church of Rome but to offer Hymns unto them is to give that honor to them which Christians paid to God alone For Origen doth in the name of all his fellow Christians say * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita Origcontr Cels l 8. p. 422. We offer up our Hymns only to God and his Son Jesus Christ 5. To ascribe to all the Saints departed and the holy Angels the knowledge of the confession of our sins and upon that account to beg that they would intercede for pardon of them is to be guilty of Idolatry Ord. Missae p. 217. But the Romanist doth in the Service of the Missal ascribe to all the Blessed Spirits the knowledge of the sins they do confess and upon that account do beg that they would intercede for pardon of them Ergo The major may be thus confirmed To ascribe to all these Blessed Spirits now in Heaven the knowledge of those confessions which we make on Earth and those petitions we put up unto them is to be guilty of Idolatry by Prop 2. Chap. 6. and Prop. 4. Corol. 3. of the same Chapter But to ascribe unto them the knowledge of the confession of our sins and upon that account to beg that they would intercede for pardon of them is to ascribe unto them the knowledge of those petitions and confessions which we make on Earth For this is to suppose that albeit these Blessed Spirits are as distant from us as is Earth from Heaven yet are they as assuredly acquainted with our confessions and petitions as if they had been present with us for who would move another to intercede in his behalf by reason of that confession he hath made unto him who did not think he knew both his confessions and petitions 6 This may be strongly argued from two considerations 1. That the Apostles did not invoke the Saints departed or give us any Precept or Example so to do 2. That they abstained from this pra lise because they did not think this honor to be due to Saints departed but to God alone And first Thâ—â— the postles did not invoke the Saints departed that they did put up no petitions to the Patriarchs and Prophets or to the B. Virgin or to the Proto-Martyr Stephen or to James the brother of our Lord is evident from an impartial view or all their Writings and Epistles for those Epistles Acts and Gospels were written to promote the cause of Piety and to instruct us in the means and helps which they conceived most proper to preserve us from the assaults and temptations of Sin Satan and the World Joh. 20.31 they do assure us That these things were written that we might believe and believing might have life eternal and so to give us those directions which were chiefly instrumental to obtain that end whence it doth follow that if they had conceived this practise to be so highly instrumental to the promotion of our eternal happiness as doth the Church of Rome and the enjoyment of all those spiritual favours which they expect and beg from those blessed Spirits they would not wholly have omitted what so highly did conduce to the obtaining of those blessings The Church of Rome commands her Bishops Syn. Trid. Sess 25. Priests and Curates diligently to instruct the Flock committed to
the Ephesians the spirit of Wisdome and Revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 18. the eyes of their Vnderstanding being enlightned That he would grant that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith 3.17.18.19 that they might be strengthned by his Spirit in the inner man that they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of God which passeth knowledge and be filled with all fulness of God That the Philippians love might abound more in knowledge Phil. 1.9 10 11. and in all judgment that they might approve things that are excellent and be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ Being filled with the fruits of righteoussness to the praise and glory of God That the Colossians might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom Col. 1.9 10 11. and spiritual understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledg of God Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness 1 Thess 3.12 13 That the Thessalonians might encrease in love and have their hearts established unblamable in holiness before God 2.1.11.12 That God would count them worthy of his calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That the God of Peace would make the Hebrews perfect in every good work to do his will Heb. 13.20 21. 1 Pet. 5.10 working in them that which is well pleasing in his sight That the God of Grace would make them perfect stablish strengthen settle them These Supplications were their daily exercise and had they thought the Invocation of the blessed Virgin the Patriarchs and Prophets the Proto-Martyr and the brother of our Lord would have been needful and effectual to the attainment of these things for which they prayed so earnestly why do they never once address themselves unto them why do they never pray as doth the Church of Rome Brevarium Missal that through the deprecation intervention patrocination and intercession of these persons they may be worthy to obtain these blessings why do they never pray by the merits of these persons to be delivered from * Deus qui beatum Nicolaum P. tribue qâ—aeâ—un us ut ejus moritis pracibus 〈◊〉 Ochenna incend is liberemus Miss in sest sanâ— Nich. Dec. xi Deus q. â— beatuâ— Lodovicum ju quaesamus meritis intercessione Regis Regan â—â—su Christâ—â— fâ—l â—ui facias nos esse can oâ—tes in Fest beat Lud. Aug 25. Hell and made partakers of the joys of Heaven as doth the Roman Blashemy Why do they no declare with them that they do †In Fest faâ—ct Agapiti Aug. 28. place their confidence in the petitions of these prevailing Saints and blessed Spirits Why do they not ascribe their mercys and deliverances to the ‖ Accepta tibâ— siâ— â—â—mine sacratâ—e plebâ—s oblatio pro inorum Hâ—nors Sanctâ—um quâ—râ—mâ—â—e â—â—ritis perâ—â—â—â— de tribulatione cognoseit 〈◊〉 Miss Dee â—â—â—p 〈◊〉 Ed. Antwerp 1605. merits of these Saints as they most insolently do Assuredly on this account because they did not in their hearts approve the practise Were blessed Paul alive to see his Prophesy so punctually fulfilled That in these later times men should depart from the Faith attending to erroneous Spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Doctrine of worshipping departed Souls how would he passionately cry out O foolish Romanists who hath bewitched you c. Lastly St. Paul had such an ardent zeal to the promotion of the Gospel that he omits no help which he conceives might give a blessing to his labours He therefore passionately intreats the Christians to whom his writings are directed Rom. 15.30 31. That they would strive together with him in their prayers to God that he might be delivered from them who did not believe in Judea and that his Service which he had for Jerusalem might be accepted of the Saints and that he might come unto them with joy and with them be refreshed That they would alwaies Eph. 6.18 19. and with all perseverance pray for him that utterance might be given unto him hat he might open his mouth boldly to make known the Mystery of the Gospel Col. 4.1 2 3. That they would continue in prayer that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which he was in hands that he might make it manifest as he ought to speak 1 Thes 5 25.2-3.1.2 Finally Brethren saith he pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith So blessed Paul and had he thought that his addresses to the Patriarchs and Prophets the blessed Virgin the Quire of Angels or the Saints made perfect would have been more effectual to this end would not his zeal have prompted him to have put up one request unto them or one Petition to his Guardian-Angel to be defended from these unreasonable men If all these circumstances be considered it will amount to an invincible conviction of the falshood of that determination of the Church of Rome * Juxta Catholicae Apostolicae Ecclesiae usum à primaevis Christianae Religionis temporibus receptum Concil Trid. Sess 25. that this is the practise which was derived from the Apostles and hath been still continued in the Church of Christ 2. No other reason can be given why they did not practise or commend the Invocation of the blessed Spirits besides this that they conceived this worship to be that honour God had reserved for himself and that they looked upon it as a vain and fruitless practice The knowledg of the heart and of the Prayers that are put up by All men at all times and in all places of the Earth being the knowledg proper to the God of Heaven and not communicated to the Saints deceased This will appear more evident if we consider and refute those shifts whereby they do endeavour to evade the force of this triumphant Evidence And 1. They tell us that * Si Apostoli Evangelistae docuissent sanctos venerandos arrogantiae iis datum fuisset ac si post mortem gloriam illam quaesivissent noluit ergo Spiritus Sanctus expressis Scipturis docere invocationem Sanctorum Eckius in Enchirid. loc Com. ex edit Alex. Weissenhorn Alanus Copus Dial. 3. fol. 239. had the Blessed Apostles taught this doctrine it might have been objected to them that they sought their own advancement and honour by the propagation of their Gospel and proudly did endeavour to be worshipped by their Christian followers Repl. 1.
and doth not suffer himself to be distracted from God so as to worship any other with him If he intended to assert the Christians did not worship Angels or Daemons with him as his Subjects the Discourse is pertinent if he intended only to affirm that Christians did not worship Angels or Daemons with him as his Peers this doth not hinder the worship of them as his Subjects according to the plea of Celsus 2. When he affirms that Christians did ascend or go to God only by Jesus Christ having no other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conciliator or Intercessor to give access unto him when he affirms all this in opposition unto that of Celsus that it would be grateful to God to worship them who did belong unto him when he asserts that Christians did ascend or go to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without dividing of their service betwixt him and any other and more particularly that in ascending to God they overlooked the blessed Angels which are in Scripture called Gods and that both Reason and St. Paul had taught them so to do What greater evidence can be desired to prove that the Christians of his time did never call upon the Saints and Angels to be their Advocates with God or tender any part of their Religious Worship to them or think it reasonable to worship them because they did belong unto God 3. If this had been the mind of Origen is it not to be wondred that he makes no distinction of the kinds of Worship or of the parts and actions of it but absolutely and indefinitely pronounceth that to worship any other with God is to be distracted from him and that Christians undevidedly did worship God by Jesus Christ For if the Christians of his time did also worship Saints and Angels and go to God not only by Christ Jesus but by them these sayings without limitation are both absolutely false and perfect condemnations of the Churches practise But yet T. G. †p. 358. assures us It is plain Origen speaks only of divine worship and not of such an inferior worship of which Creatures are capable upon account of their holiness or relation to God 1. From the Reply which Origen gave to that evasion of Celsus viz. that none were to be honoured For Gods but those to whom the Supream God doth communicate it Repl. Since then the plea of Celsus was that we ought to worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Relations of God what an Impertinent was Origen to speak only of an other matter 2. The strength of this citation entirely depends upon the words For Gods which T. G. disingenuously adds unto the words of Celsus * l. 8. p. 384 which are only these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not lawful to worship any but those to whom he granteth to be honoured But 3. he expresly adds that he speaks of the worship of the Gods or the Daemons or the Heroes (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 8. p. 384. Let us ask Celsus saith he concerning those that are worshipped either as Gods or Daemons or Hero's whence he is able to demonstrate that God hath granted to them to be honoured And then having produced Alcinous as an instance of the first kind he asks how it can be demonstrated that it was given to him to be worshipped as a God and then he adds this Question I would ask 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of the Daemons and the Heroes Then he proceeds to prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be honoured was a thing granted to Christ which he confirmeth from that passage of St. John that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father i. e. as truly but not equally that being inconsistent with Origens opinion as you will presently perceive Obj. When Celsus objects T. G. p. 358. that by the same rule that Christians gave honour to Christ he thought they might give it to inferiour Deities the account which Origen gives of the worship which Christians attribute to the Son viz. because it is said I and my Father are one makes it yet more evident that he speaks of Divine Worship Answ In the close of this Argument we have the same cheat repeated which I observed before for he expresly saith that Celsus objected that they worshipped Christ for God Which is not only false but flatly contradictory unto the very words of the Objection viz. (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus apud Orig. l. 8. p. 385. that if the Christians worshipped nothing else besides God they might seem reasonable in their contempt of others but when they do excessively extoll with honour him who was of late original and yet believe that they do not offend against God by reverencing of his Minister they are unreasonable Whence evident it is that Celsus did not think they worshipped him as God but as the Minister of God and one besides God 2. Hence it is also evident that Celsus did not contend for Divine Worship to be given to his Heroes but only that they might be worshipped as the Ministers of God And lastly it is evident that (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 8. p. 386. Origen by that expression I and my Father are one did not intend to argue the Unity of Essence but of affection only betwixt God and Christ as in this very place he doth distinguish nor yet to say our Saviour was that God who was the Lord of all for this (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. p. 387. expresly he denies And so this Answer can be no evidence that he speaks of Worship properly Divine But if we do at last admit it what Argument is more ridiculous than this Origen denies that there is the same reason to give honour to Christ and to inferiour Daemons Because Christ is God therefore he only doth deny the attributing of Divine Worship to them For should a Roman Catholick object against us in the words of Celsus by the same Rule that we Protestants give honour to Christ we may give it unto Saints departed and should the Protestant answer No Because Christ is God could it be thence inferred that Protestants denyed to Saints departed that honour only which is called Latria but did allow that kind of worship which is called Dulia To pray unto a Creature Arg. 3. or that which is not God is in the Language of the the antient Fathers to worship it as God or give that honour to it which is due to him alone is it not the extreamest ignorance saith * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex Strom. l. 7. p. 721. D. Clemens to ask of them who are no Gods as if they were Gods and of this imputation he gives two accounts 1. That seeing God alone is good he only should be called upon 2. That prayer is a discourse with God We find in Scripture saith (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. contra Cels l. 5. p 233.
Office which the Platonists ascribed to their Daemons They saith * August de C. D. l. 8. c. 18. St. Austin bring the prayers of men unto the Gods and what they beg and do obtain quae poscunt impetrata they bring back to men And again They think them so to intermediate betwixt God and men as that they carry out desires hence illinc referunt impetrata and from thence bring back what they have obtained Hence are they often stiled by them Advocates and Mediators Intercessors and Pararii i. e. the obrainers of our Suits 2. On this account they thought it reasonable to honor them with supplications * Ficinus tradit Platonem universan Deorum Synagogam unico Regi subdere prout vult sengulis imperanti Jubere primum Deum adori propter seipsum sequentes vero qui participes ejus Dii queque dicuntur amari tanquam illi similiores honorari etiam ut Vicarios imo advocari lanquam Conciliatores Plato saith Ficinus subjected the whole number of Gods unto one King who as he pleased did command them all and he commanded that the chief God should be worshiped for himself the other who are also called Gods by participation to be loved as likest to him and to be honoured as his Vicars and to be addressed to as to reconcilers And Plato hath himself determined (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epinom pag. 1010. That they ought to be honoured with our Prayers by reason of their laudable Province which he saith is double 1. (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symposium p. 1194. To be our Interpreters to God 2. To carry up the Prayers and Sacrifices of men to God and to bring back the commands and answers of God to them (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus apud Origen lib. 8. p. 394. We ought to pray unto them to be propitious to us so Celsus 3. They did not think them to be Gods properly so called but only the ministers and servants of God as I have proved above †Câ—â—cta coelestum voluntate numine autoritate fiunt sed Paer num obsequiâ— opâ—â—a ministerio Apulesus de Daemoâ—â— Socâ—ate p. 45. All things are done saith Apuleius by the will majesty and authority of the heavenly beings but by the ministry work and obsequiqusness of the Daemons Hence do they stile them virtutes ministeria Dei magni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Gods Ministers and Messengers Hence do they rank them in the second and third place from God and put this Office on them quia nullus Deus miscetur homini because no God that is properly so called doth immediately converse with man this is so plain that Austin doth acknowledg that the difference betwixt †Hos si Platonici malunt Deos quam Daemones dicere eisque annumerare quos a summo Deo conditos Deos scribit eorum autor magister Plato dicant quod volunt non enim cum eis de verborum controversia laborandum est rursus Quamvis nominis controversia videatur Aug. de Civ Dei l. 9. cap. 23. Plato's good Daemons which he acknowledged to be made by the highest God and the good Angels was only in the name Having thus drawn the Paralel we are prepared to attend T. G's pretences of a great disparity betwixt this Invocation of the Heathen Daemons which by the ancient Fathers was charged with Idolatry and that Invocation of the Saints departed which is now practised by the Church of Rome which will be quickly done since all his great disparities are only great impertinencies for what is this unto the Doctors Argument concerning Invocation that they do not offer Sacrifice unto the Saints departed which is his fourth disparity Or that the God they worship is the true immortal God who sees the secrets of the hearts which is his first disparity What is it to the purpose to say the persons they address their prayers unto are not Devils or wicked wretches but the blessed Spirits for if the same kind of Invocation be used to both it must be deemed Idolatry in both because in both it is the giving of the worship due to God unto the Creature when this is done unto the best of Creatures then is Idolatry committed when this is not done we may be guilty of Superstition or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in giving of inferior worship or Dulia to the worst of Creatures but cannot be guilty of Idolatry And this cuts of his third disparity 4. pag 351. Their Office is not to inform the supream God of what he knows not saith T. G. but to be joynt Petitioners with us and what is this unto the purpose seeing the Fathers neither did or could condemn them of Idolatry for thinking God did not know our Prayers without Interpreters But for what was consequent upon it viz. the making their addresses to them to present their requests to God and by their prayers to obtain his blessings the first opinion made them sacrilegious in robbing God of what did properly belong unto him and with this we do not charge the Papists in this case The second is Idolatrical in giving of his honor to a Creature of which they are but too much guilty This T. G. saw as well as I and therefore for the same good reason that some unskilful Painters write under their work this is a Dog a Cat Pag 352. c. T.G. at the foot of his performance writeth thus I have spoken home to the Case and then he states it thus whether the practise of Catholicks in honouring and invocating the Saints be the same with that of the Heathens in the worship of their inferior Deities T.G. pag. 440. Thus expiring Candle gathers up its Spirits and forces it self into a blaze before it dies Alass that we should all this while have been mistaken in the question The question hitherto controverted betwixt Dr. St. and him in this particular was concerning the Invocation of Saints as T. G. doth himself confess p. 350. but now like a mischievous Card that will spoil the hand this is dropt under the Table and all the show above board is whether their Invocation of Saints doth differ not from the Invocation but the whole worship of inferior Daemons The business of solemn supplication to them is the Case in debate between us and the Church of Rome saith Dr. St. If ever you would speak home to the case do it upon this point Pag. 145. I beg your pardon saith T. G. I am not free to speak upon that point I know my foot must slip if I should touch upon it and therefore though you press me and call upon me to speak home unto it I am resolved to be reserved nay I am conscious to my self that all that I have spoken is impertinent to that Case I have not nor I cannot shew the least disparity betwixt their Invocation of inferior Daemons and that
Angel they pray thus * Huc eustos igitur pervigil advola Avertens patria de tibi credita Tam morbos animi quam requiescere Quicquid non sinit incolas Brev. R. Reform Off. Angeli Cust Thou watchful Guardian hither therefore fly And from that Country where thy charge does lie Divert what ere may prove their Minds Disease And what disturbs the peoples quiet peace And again * Tu es spes mea Gloriose Angele altissimus te posuit mihi dedit refugium tuum Non accedat igitur ad me malum flagellum non appropinquet tabernaculo meo Mi custos Gloriose me consigna servis Dei aggrega Gloriosis Apprehende arma scutum exurge Angele in adjutorium mihi dic animae meae salus tua ego sum Missa in honorem proprii Angeli Thou art my Hope most glorious Angel the most High hath given and appointed thee to be my Refuge Let then no Evil come unto me Let not the Scourge come nigh my Tabernacle Mark me and gather me unto Gods glorious Servants take hold of Shield and Buckler and stand up to help me say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation The old Roman Missal f. 52. had a Prayer to this Effect * Omnis homo omni die Gabrielis Mariae Poscat beneficia Ex his manet fons virtutis Dulcor vitae spes salutis Et diffusa Gratia Let every Man on every day To Gabriel and to Mary pray These are the spring whence vertue flows apace Heavens hope life's sweetness and diffused grace Whence we observe §. 2. that according to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome Angels when absent and invisible should be invocated for this they daily practise and endeavour to confirm from the Example and by the words of Jacob. 2. Observe that we must pray unto them not only to obtain deliverance and protection for us by their Prayer Intercedite pro me mihi succurrite but to perform it by their power for what they do conceive to be the Office of those Angels viz. to keep us to avert those dangers that are imminent and to remove a present evil must they not think it proper to request If God hath placed a Guardian Angel for their refuge may they not ask him to do the office of a Guardian as well as any other thing and to preserve them in their wayes that so no Evil may befall them this upon supposition that they do always hear our Prayers is very Rational When therefore T. G. doth insinuate that they only do desire these Blessed Spirits to offer up our Prayers P. 361. or to pray for us as we desire the Prayers of just Men upon Earth he doth insinuate a most apparent falshood for besides that signal difference betwixt requesting of our Brother to pray for us and their Petitions directed to the holy Angels to preserve them from the assaults of Satan and to * Tu Gloriose Angele qui stas ante Dominum preces meas offer Altissimo veni tribue mihi desideriorum meorum abundantiam Missa in honoâ—em proprii Angeli in Missali Rom. Ed. Antuerp 1577. confer upon them the greatest Blessings we can ask I say besides all this 1. We never do by word of Mouth request an absent Person nor do put up any Mental Prayers to our surviving Brethren both which are tendred to the Holy Angels by the Roman Catholicks 3. It is apparent from what we we have discoursed that it is in vain to put up these Petitions to the Blessed Angels unless we do ascribe unto them the knowledge of the Hearts of those that supplicate and unless we do suppose them either present with us or able to help us being absent and that they do accept this service when we pay it to them that so as they are deemed to be able they may assuredly be willing to relieve and help us Now to ascribe this Knowledge to them and upon this account to Worship and invoke them is to be guilty of Idolatry This we endeavour to demonstrate 1. From the Reason of those Addresses which we make to God viz. that we believe him to be the searcher of all Hearts one that doth see the inward Motions of the Soul and is acquainted with our most secret thoughts and actions Now this we have already proved to be an excellency so proper to the God of Heaven that it is not ordinarily communicated unto Saints and Angels and therefore to ascribe this Knowledge to them is to ascribe unto them what is Gods propriety and consequently to be guilty of Idolatry by Prop. 1. And as a farther evidence that no such Knowledge is Communicated to the Blessed Angels either by Revelation or by the beatifick Vision consider that from this supposed Communication it would follow as it is well suggested by the Learned * Addamus Angelos ne quidem supernaturaliter de facto cognoscere quaslibet cordium cogitationes quasi hoc eis competat communi lege Beatudinis nam si ita esset nondum absolutam haberent veritatem generales sententiae soli Deo tribuentes notitiam occultarum cogitationum quandoquidem beneficio beatudinis id esset multis communicatum sed intelligendae essent cum limitatione hac aut simili solus Deus naturaliter novit c. quam utique limitationem nusquam insiauant addendam esset ut sicut absolute verum maneat solum Deum de facto nosse quaelibet futura contingentia non obstante eo quod quaedam seis amicis revela ita etiam absolute verum maneat solum de facto nosse passim quaelibet occulta Cordium quoniam ut dictum est Authoritates de â—troque loquuntur eodem modo in senten l. 2. distinc 7. § 12. p. 80 Esthius that all those sentences of Scripture and the Holy Fathers which attribute this Knowledge of our secret thoughts and of the inward Motions of the Heart to God alone would not be absolutely true but without this limitation viz. God only naturally knows them or some like exception they would be absolutely false And yet this Limitation the Scriptures and the holy Fathers never do insinuate so that as it is absolutely true that unto God alone belongs the knowledge of contingent Beings although he sometimes did reveal some matters of that nature to his Priests and Prophets nor do we notwithstanding think that such a Knowledge doth belong to Saints and Angels so is it absolutely true that unto God alone belongs the Knowledge of the inward Thoughts and Secrets of the Hearts nor have we any reason to conceive that such a Knowledge ordinarily belongs to Saints and Angels § 4. 2. To worship any Creature with the Mind is to be guilty of Idolatry This was the Antient and undoubted Doctrine of the whole Church of Christ for this St. Austin witnesseth that * Divinè singulariter in Ecclesla Catholica
advantage to our cause the Fathers speak upon this Text if we had nothing more to say but what they have delivered on these words yet should we have what is abundantly sufficient to confirm our Faith and justifie that Imputation which we lay upon the Cburch of Rome for first they do expresly say that this Exposition of T. G. and his Infallible Mother is not only false but an heretical exposition * Ac si aliquis Haereticus pertinaciter obluctans adversus veritatem voluerit in his omnibus exemplis proprie Angelum aut intelligere aut intelligendum esse contenderit in hoc quoque viribus veritatis frangatur necesse est de Trin. c. 15. If any heretick saith Novatian who pertinaciously strives against the truth would have us in all these Examples properly to understand the Angel or would contend for such a sense of that expression in this he must assuredly be broken by the force of truth This Exposition of the Papists saith St. Cyril Thesaur p. 115.116 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the sottish exposition of the Arians The Exposition of the Protestants must therefore be both true and Orthodox 2. They add that * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Alexandr Thesaur p. 116. if the Enemies of Christ did think that Jacob was a Holy Man and one endned with the Prophetick spirit when he spake these words they might be well ashamed to charge him with so gross an error as was the Invocation of an Angel with God This Custom therefore of putting up the same Petition in the same sentence to God and to the Blessed Angel or to God and to the Saints or Angels must be acknowledged to be a thing * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 4 contr Arr. exceedingly repugnant to the Doctrine which then obtained in the Church of Christ and that which they esteemed the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 B. Cyrill Alexandr Thesau p. 115. grossest error 3. They give us this as a sufficient Evidence that Jacob spake not to a Creature because he saith Orat. 4. contra Arian p. 260. the Angel that delivered me from all evils Hence it is manifest saith Athanasius and St. Cyril that he did not speak of a created Angel but of the Angel of the Covenant and therefore it is manifest that these petitions prescribed in the Church of Rome and often tendred both to Saints and Angels are in the Judgment of these Fathers such as ought not to be tendred to a Creature and so are guilty of Idolatry As therefore Athanasius to the Arians so say I to the Church of Rome * Contr. Arian Ora 2. p. 369. Let them know that never any good Man put up such a Prayer to any thing that was begotten They being taught by Christ to pray to God the Father to be delivered from all Evil. c. 16. v. 8. And by the Son of Syrach to confess that it is he who delivereth from all evil And this Interpretation of the Antient Fathers will manifestly appear to be the truth if we consider who this Angel was for the Angel who delivered him from all Evil must be that very Angel which delivered him from Labans wrath and from the fury of his Brother Esau now the Angel which said unto him I have seen all that Laban doth unto thee 31 Gen. 13.20 28 Gen. 13. return thou therefore into the Land of thy Kindred was the God of Bethel the God to whom he vowed a vow that God who did appear in Haran to him it was the God of his Father Abraham and the fear of Isaack that rebuked Laban and charged him not to do him hurt v. 29.42.32 Gen. 23. 12 Hos 4. The Angel that he wrestled with and with whom he prevailed was the God of Heaven Lastly it was his Prayer to this God that made his Brother Esau melt into expressions of the greatest love 2. I answer this is no Prayer but a Wish thus when St. Paul concludes in his Epistle to the Church of Corinth the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the Communion of the holy Ghost be with you all I hope he doth not pray unto the Grace of Christ and the Love of God and the Communication of the holy Ghost so then this passage may be thus Expounded I wish to God that he and that good Angel who under him preserved me from all evils may preserve the Lads Some Roman Catholicks confess that which we now contend for and tell us Vide Vossium de invoc Sanct. disp 2 Th. 18. that although this practice in its self was good and profitable God would not suffer his own people to invoke these blessed spirits least they should worship them as Gods Idolatry being a Vice they were so prone upon the least occasion to commit Answer we find that notwithstanding the proneness of this people to that sin God often did appear in the similitude of Angels to them he used the Ministry of Angels in the delivery of that Law they did so highly reverence he used their Ministry both in conferring of the choicest Blessings on his people and the inflicting of the most remarkable Judgments both on them and on their Enemies And he delivered those things touching the Ministry and custody of holy Angels which Romanists conceive to be sufficient ground and motive for their Invocation Whence we may very well conclude it was not out of fear of any proneness of that people to this Idolatry that he did not enjoyn this practice but only because he is a jealous god and will not give his honour to another Against the Worship of an Image or of the Host of Heaven or any other Gods which by the Heathens were still worshipped under some visible representation we have frequent Cautions and very dreadful threatnings in Moses and the Prophets but against this Idolatry of Worshiping those spirits which in their nature are invisible those writings give us not one Caution or Prohibition though they do often call them Gods of which affair I am not able to conceive a better Reason then this is that it was just matter of suspition that this rude heavy people might be prone to worship what they saw but it was not to be feared that they should worship what was invisible and seldome did appear and hence we find this people continually revolting from the invisible Jehovah to the Sun Moon and Stars and to the Heathen Deities but never do we find them in the least inclined to the worship of these blessed spirits Moreover if we do consider that in the whole New Testament § 8. we have not any precept to enjoyn Example to commend or promise to encourage us unto this Invocation we have a further reason to believe that Christ and his Apostles disapproved of it for can we think that Christ himself and all his Servants and Apostles would have neglected to
so frequent in those Writers of the Church of Rome which comment on the places mentioned These blessed Apostles were not so careful to prevent the Errors and Mistakes of Hereticks in this particular as are the Doctors of the Roman Church they do not seem so tender of the Invotion and Worship of those blessed Spirits or so sollicitous we may not loose so great a benefit as are those Roman Doctors which gives us reason to conjecture not that their Knowledg or their Piety was less but that they did not very much aprove that Doctrine which gave the rise unto this Superstition of the Romish Church and so much for the first particular 2. That both the Jews and Christians abstained from this practise because they did not think this honor to be due to Angels but to God alone is evident from what we have discoursed already to confirm this inference the Apostles and Evangelists left us no precept or example to put up our petitions to departed Saints and therefore they conceived it the Worship due to God alone 2 Having removed and taken off those reasons which the Romanist assignes of this neglect it follows that that reason must stand good which we assigne at least till they can find a better With us consent the learned Jews (a) Joseph Albus l. 3. in Icarim c. 18. Idololatriam primam corum fulsse existimans qui Angelos similes creaturas ut sequestres inter se at Deum colluissent ait Deum in Decalogo quando ait Non cruâ—t tibi Dit aâ—ieni ante faciem meam id voluisse ne homines ullos ponerent sequestres aut deprecatores inter se ipsos Vossiu in Maim de Idolol c. 2. Sect. 1. Josephus Albus supposeth this Worship of the Angels as Mediators betwixt God and us to be the most antique Idolatry and (b) Fundamentum Mandati de Idololatria est nequis Serviat Creaturae non Angelo non Sphaeâ—ae non Stellae quanquam autem is qui ca colit sciat illa non esse Deum ac colat Creaturam hanc quomodo coluit Euos illius coaetanei nihilomiâ—us est Idololatria Maim ibid. Maimonides sue definitione non tantum se complecti ait Eos qui creaturis cultum exhibent us Deo verum qui iis supplicant ut ministris Dei Dionys Vossius in locum Maimon adds that the foundation of the precept of Idolatry is this that no man serve or Worship any Angel or created being As the Foundation of our last evidence of that Idolatry which is in this particular committed by the Church of Rome §. 9. we do premise 1. That Magick is that art of Divination which in conversant about the Revelation of things coâ—tingent and concealed as v. g. touching the victory of contending parties the future condition of the Church c. The declaration of our future State Fortune Marriage Death Prosperity Adversity and many other things which it is very useful for Mankind to know Alii dicunt hos esse effectus bonorum Angelorum Delrio disq Mag. l. 2. qu. 2. p. 96. B. 2 I premise that there was amongst the antients an oppinion that by the help of Souls departed or good Angels they might obtain the knowledge of things contingent and concealed and hence that Divination which they exercised who did pretend to know things secret or contingent by their means was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or white Magick in opposition to Divination by evil Spirits which they stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or black Magick it was a very old opinion especially of the Platonists of Jamblick Porphyry Plotinus Proclus and Julian the Apostate that Divination was the effect of holy Angels So (a) Disquis Mag. l. 2. qu. 2. p. 96. B. Delrio (b) Strom. 3. Magicians who observe Angels and Demons are careful to abstain from Wine and Venery and living creatures So St. Clemens And 3. I premise that this white Magick is by the Church of Rome condemned as Idolatry For such is all unlawful Magick saith (c) Tacita Idololatria est omnis Magia prohibita Belrio l. 1. disqu Mag. cap. 1. p. 3. Col. 3. Delrio Whosoever exerciseth the art of Divination or consults them that do it are guilty of having other Gods saith (d) Estius in Sent. 3. dist 4. Sect. 6. p. 130. Estius because they attribute unto the Creature what is Gods propriety viz. The knowledge of things future and which in nature have no certain Causes but which depend upon the will of man or other things which are mutable Valentianus adds That they affront his Majesty by a vain expectation of those things from Creatures which are to be expected only from God for God having said declare to us things future that we may know that ye are Gods the knowledge of things future and contingent must be the knowledge proper unto God alone And again the procuration of the knowledge of things hid or secret belongeth to Divine Worship for these are to be expected only from God by prayer and other lawful means when therefore we expect them vainly from the Creature we do ascribe unto the Creature that Worship which is properly Divine These things premised 4. I add that either this white Magick must be lawful or else the Invocation of Saints and Angels as it is practised in the Church of Rome must be unlawful and guilty of Idolatry either we vainly do expect that they should hear and understand our mental Prayers and know the secrets of our Hearts or the Magicians who do expect the knowledge of things secret or contingent by those blessed Spirits cannot be justly charged with Idolatry For whatsoever the Romanist pretends in vindication of the first doth equally excuse and vindicate the second for if you do conjecture with the Church of Rome that the affection of those blessed Spirits to mankind is so exceeding great that it will prompt them most assuredly to intercede in our behalf for other temporal concerns to be our refuge and Protectors and to Minister to the concernements both of this and of the future life why may we not conceive that the same love should move them to declare those future things which it doth Equally concern us to know both that we may obtain the greatest blessings and may be able to fly and to prevent the greatest perils or may prepare to bear those evils with a Christian courage which we cannot escape When Florentius having lost his Cloak T. G. p. 424. and had not where withall to buy another by praying to the twenty Martyrs caught a Fish with a Gold Ring in t sufficient I suppose to buy another Caniw e doubt but when we lose a Cloak that praying to all Saints and Angels some kind hearted Saint that perhaps in his life time lost his own and so must be supposed according to * Part. 3. cap. 2. Sect. 4. T. G. to be more ready than the rest to pitty any
amounting to this only That they forbid only that supplication which was tendred to them as to Gods or as to primary and only Mediators But 1. the Canon speaks of Christians now to suppose that they whose Fundamental Principle it is to own one only God should also worship Angels as God is the extremity of folly 2. Theodoret and Jerom declare Epist ad Algasiam quest 10. that they who did abet this Doctrine were Jews or persons zealous of the Law Now these Men knew that Angels were but the Instruments and Creatures of God and therefore could not worship them as Gods 3. They chose these Angels as fit persons to introduce them to God and used their Meditation upon this pretence that such mean persons should not go directly to him and therefore could not look upon them as partakers of the nature to God In a word § 8. what can be more incredible then that St. Paul being assisted by the Holy Spirit and the whole Church of Christ should daily practice this worship and Invocation of the Holy Angels and teach all Christians so to do and yet affirm these things without any limitation or distinction which if we may interpret them according to the plain and obvious meaning of the words do manifestly condemn that which they did daily practice and lay upon Saint Paul and the whole Church of Christ on supposition of this practice the imputation of Idolatry and of deserting our Blessed Lord and should deliver and approve these things as the Doctrines of the Christian Faith which all Men stood obliged to believe Nothing can be more contrary unto the worship and Invocation of these blessed Spirits then an express command that we should neither worship nor Invoke them can it then enter into the heart of any sober person to believe that the whole Church of Christ even when they taught and practised both should make receive and in their Universal Synods should solemnly confirm a Law without distinction or exception forbidding both the worship and Invocation of them and requiring all good Christians to avoid this practice as being the deserting of their Saviour and the giving of Gods worship to those Spirits Since this Devotion hath obtained in the Church of Rome who ever heard of any Romanist who roundly and without distinction would assert that to invoke an Angel was Idolatry or that this Invocation was forbidden by the Church of Christ as doth Theodoret and Photius and the Laodicean Council who of them ever cautioned all Christian people as St. Paul hath done that no Man should seduce them to the worship of those Blessed Spirits What Council ever did decree that they should not be worshipped or invoked or own such Doctrine as any part of Christian Faith And yet we find this done both by Saint Paul and by the Laodicean Council by Origen Theodoret and Photius and the whole Church of Christ viz. what they confirmed by their daily practice they not only did forbid but they pronounced it to be Idolatry and the deserting of their Saviour what they had thus decreed in opposition to their own daily practice that they obtruded as a dictate of the Holy Ghost and as the matter of their Faith but against the worshiping of Angels with Divine Worship or as sole or primary Mediators which if we may believe the Church of Rome was the only thing in which they did offend we have no mention in the least That there were in the world such Hereticks as said it was beyond us or was too great an arrogance to go directly to the Son of God and that God was Inaccessible and therefore we must go to Angels this Synod I suppose must know as well as Chrysostom and Theodoret why therefore do they never mention as do the latter Comments on this Canon what they alone designed to prevent Why do they not recall these Hereticks unto that invocation of these Blessed Angels which had obtained in the Church of Christ and tell them that they need not to desert the Church or gather private conventicles in order to the Invocation of these Angels Why do not they or or any other person that flourished in the fourth or fifth Ages of the Church when this injunction was in force distinguish between the Invocation of the Holy Angels which the Church did practise and that which was forbidden by this Canon Why doth S. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 5. contra Celsum p. 236. Origen conclude that Celsus had not read that passage of St. Paul to the Colossians because he said the Worship of the Holy Angels was no transgression of their Law For what is this but to suggest that this text of Scripture is so plain against the worship of them that he that reads it cannot think that they who own it can admit that Worship Why doth Theodoret affirm that because Hereticks commanded men to worship Angels S. Paul enjoyned the contrary for what is contrary to a command to worship Angels but an injunction not to Worship Angels Why doth he say that the Apostle doth command us to send up our Thanksgivings by Christ and not by the Angels for by whom we may send up our Petitions why may we not send up Thanksgiving too Why doth both he and Photius inform us that the Laodicean Synod being desirous to heal this old disease enjoyned Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to pray to Angels For is not this a shrewd suspition that this Idololatrical disease was only that of praying to Angels or else that both Theodoret and Photius were such intolerable dolts as to represent the very practise of the Christians as the disease of the Idolaters and the desertors of our Blessed Lord Why is it lastly that St. Chrysostom informes us that for a cure of this disease St. Paul enjoyned all Christians to invoke the name of Christ and not to bring in Angels suggesting this unto us that the Invocation of Angels was not consistent with that of Christ and that by saying do all things in the name of Christ he hath commanded us to pray unto him and call upon him as our helper and not upon the holy Angels Who knows not that a sentence against any person ought in some words or other to specify the crime that it condemns and that an act so framed as to condemn a person as guilty of the highest crimes and worthy of the severest punishments for doing what in the plain and literal meaning of the words all they that framed the act and they that owned it as a Law did dayly practise is an absurdity that Humane Nature cannot possibly be guilty of When therefore I can find an Act of Parliament intending only to condemn Incestuous conversation framed thus whosoever shall marry any Woman let him be severely punished or a decree of any Council intending only to forbid us to go to the Assembly of Hereticks thus worded Whosoever shall go to Church let him be
and that of the Catholicks 2. The reasonableness of the practice of making addresses to one particular Saint rather than another But 1. were both these things as true as Gospel yet are they horribly impertinent to what the Doctor urged viz. that Origen had he conceived the invocation of any holy Angels or of Saints departed proper to obtain deliverance from the diseases of the body he would have mentioned their names in opposition to the names of those Aegyptian presidents or Daemons whom Celsus did advise us to invoke on that account Which argument is more convincing because he doth oppose unto them the holy name of Jesus as that which was invoked by all true Christians to that end Now unto this consideration nothing is more impertinent and more ridiculously opposed than these two things For what if the Aegyptians did conceive their Gnat and Sicat to be Gods why should not Origen reply that we expect assistance rather from our Saints and Angels than your Gods And if the practice of making such addresses to particular Saints had been conceived so reasonable by this learned Father he had the greater reason upon so fair an opportunity to have made mention of these Saints T. G. saw this and knew that if the Doctors Argument had been propounded thus he could have nothing to object against it And therefore that he might be able to frame some colour of an Answer he makes the Doctor speak as if he did affirm there was no difference between the Aegyptian Daemons or Aethereal Gods p. 362. and the Saints deceased but in the names or between the Aegyptians addresses to these Devils and those of the Catholicks to the holy Saints and Angels but in the language and that there needed no more but to correct the names as you would do faults in Printing viz. for Chnumen to read Raphael for Chnaachnumen Apollonia for Gnat Sebastian c. Whereas this affirmation is plainly inconsistent with the Doctors words p. 150. who introduceth one of the Church of Rome affirming that the thing was rational which he said only they were out in their names For instead of Chnumen Chnaachumen Cnat Syâ—at Biu Eru c. they should have chosen Raphael for traveling and against diseases Apollonia against the tooth-ach Now it is sure no Roman Doctor ever taught the very name of Raphael and Appollonia would cure diseases but that the Souls or persons called by those names could do it And 2. No Romanist can be presumed to confess according to the principles of his profession that it was either rational to pray to evil Spirits or to bare words and names and therefore when he brings him in asserting that the thing was rational which Celsus said only the names were to be changed he cannot be conceived to mean it otherwise than thus it is rational we should pray for health provided that we do not do it to these evil Spirits which are called by the names of Cnat and Sicat but to those blessed Spirits which in our Lyturgies are called Raphael Apollonia Sebastian and Roach 2 Of these two things the second viz. the reasonableness of this practice the Doctor was so far from mocking at or making it the subject of his mirth as doth Arnobius that it is barely mentioned by the Doctor without the least reflection on it that unless to mention be to expose this practice to derision the Doctor cannot without the greatest falshood be accused of it and if it be so this guilt falls heavy on T. G. who spends so many pages to justify what is exposed if it be only mentioned T. G. p. 368 362 363. The difference he puts betwixt the Aegyptian Daemons and his Saints and Angels is 1. that the Aegyptians believed their Daemons to be Gods p. 363. But this is either manifestly false or else intended only to delude the Reader for Celsus calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Daemons apud Orig l. 8. p. 417. and adds that wise men taught their power was limited that they could only heal mens bodyes and foretell future things to private Men and Cities and had the power to do such things as did concern the actions of Mortal Men and therefore bids us to beware lest we be guilty of excess in paying Homage to them and so forget that service which we owe unto their Betters Whence it is evident that Celsus did not speak of them as Gods in the most famous sense as it imports the great Creator of the World but in that sense in which St. Austin saith whether you call them Angels de C. D. l. 9 c. ult Gods or Daemons the difference is only in the name Hence in this very place Celsus first calls them Daemons and then by way of Paraphrase aethereal Gods 2. Saith he Ibid. the Invocation which Celsus here contended for was votiva illis sacrificia reddere to offer Sacrifice to them which is due to God alone and that upon account that they had power to heal the Diseases of the parts proper to themselves Answ 1. this is that disingenious art of adding to the words of Origen which T. G. is so unconscionable guilty of For doth Celsus say that if we sacrifice unto them they will heal us No he expresly saith invocati sanant they do it being called upon doth he say that what he called Invocation was a Sacrifice No Doth he move us to sacrifice unto them because they heal No but only doth infer p. 416. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why may we not endeavor to procure their favour doth Origen reply that though he mentioned Invocation he intended Sacrifice No but only thus Celsus would have us to believe the Daemons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pay them Reverence if Celsus did contend for sacrificia votiva Origen answered not one word to that which he contended for Did the Aegyptian Magi procure these blessings from them by Sacrifice No Origen tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Aegyptian Magitians did this by Invocation of their Daemons p. 417. did he imagine that Celsus so conceived No he expresly saith that he had given us a Catalogue of Aegyptian Names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being called upon Ibid. healed the distempers of their parts Hath then T. G. no colour for this Interpretation Answ For saying that by Invocation Celsus intended votiva sacrificia he hath no pretence For mentioning votiva sacrificia he hath only this viz. that Celsus before he came to mention the Aegyptian Daemons speaking of other Daemons he contends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Sacrifices of thanksgiving must be due unto them p. 415 416. which T. G. very fairly turns into votiva sacrificia or petitory sacrifices that so he might have something to pretend by way of Answer though it be contradictory to Origen and Celsus and to the practice of those Aegyptians he mentions Origen acknowledgeth Object p. 361. §
saith he set down the Doctrine of the Church as it stands Recorded in the Council of Trent What that Council teacheth is that it is good and profitable for Christians humbly to Invocate the Saints and to have recourse to their prayers aid assistance whereby to obtain benefits of God by his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who is our only Redeemer and Saviour These are the very words of the Council and any Man but of common reason would think it were as easy to prove Snow to be black as so innocent a practice to be Idolatry even Heathen Idolatry Answ That the Reader may see what disingenuity is here insinuated it is sufficient only to advertise him that we do not accuse the Church of Rome as guilty of Idolatry for holding what she delivers in the words now cited but for holding what she insinuates in the words which follow and which T. G. thought most convenient to conceal viz. That every person may pray unto them and that not only with vocal but with mental prayer and for enjoyning the sick to pray with his heart when he cannot do it with his mouth O all ye Saints intercede for me and succour me What we teach saith he and do in this matter is to desire the Saints in Heaven to pray for us as we desire the Prayers of one another upon Earth and must we for this be compared to Heathens Do we not profess to all the World that we look upon the Saints not as Gods but as the friends and Servants of God that is as just Men whose prayers therefore are available with him where then lies the Heathenism where lies the Idolatry Answ it lies in praying to them with mental prayer and in praying to their when they are as distant as is Earth from Heaven p. 353. But saith T. G. the Question at present between Dr. Stillingfleet and the Church of of Rome p. 353. is not whether Divine Worship be to be given to the Saints but whether an inferiour worship of the like kind with that which is given to holy Men upon Earth for their holiness and near relation to God may not be lawfully given to them p. 389. now they are in Heaven And again we pray no otherwise to them than we do to holy Men upon Earth though more devoutly upon the account of their unchangeable estate of bliss Answ This he doth frequently affirm but till he can produce some instance of this practice of praying only with mental prayer to any Man alive or of petitions vocal directed unto living persons at so great a distance his affirmation can be no better than a manifest untruth but this is a peculiar Topick of which all those who vainly do endeavor to excuse this Idol worship of the Church of Rome are forced to make use of viz. to affirm her Doctrine and practice not to be what certainly it is and thence conclude her not to be guilty of that crime which could not be denied without this Artifice Again the Question between us § 10. p. 173. saith the Dr. is not how far such wishes rather then prayers were thought allowable being uttered occasionally as St. Austin doth this in St. Cyprian but whether solemn Invocation of Saints in the Duties of Religious worship as it is now practised in the Roman Church p. 44◠were ever practised in St. Austins time Here T. G. represents him as a very Shuffler and most Rhetorically cries out alass that so many Learned Men should all this while have been mistaken in the Question that they should have spent so much oyl and sweat to no purpose The Question hitherto controverted between Catholicks and Protestants was held to be whether it be lawful to invocate the Saints to pray for us and whether this were agreeable to the practice of the primitive times But now like a mischievous Card that will spoil the hand this is dropt under the Table and all the show aboveboard is whether it may be clone in the Duties as the calls them of religious worship Thus T. G. as if all persons that ever writ before them must have spoken nothing to the purpose if this had been the Question between T. G. and him or that this could not be the Question if what he mentions were another or that it were impossible that Men disputing whether this were agreeable to the practice of the Primitive times should also dispute whether it were the practice of St. Austins time Who knows not that one medium to prove this practice to be lawful is that it was the practice of the primitive times and that St. Austins times are instanced in as a sufficient Confirmation of that grand assertion This is the very method of T. G. and these are his formal word This was the Doctrine and practice of Christian people in St. Austins time p. 25. this he endeavors to confirm from that of Cyprian and unto this the Dr. returns this Answer and yet this must not be the Question betwixt T. G. and him § 11. Lastly the Dr. sayth he undertakes to shew out of the Primitive Fathers that it was the property of the Christian Religion to give Divine Worship to none but God and in this strain he runs on for no less than ten leaves together and without ever proving that Catholicks do give Divine Worship to holy Angels and Saints he most triumphantly concludes them to be Idolaters Answ The falshood of this passage is so exceedingly notorious that there is nothing requisite besides the use of reason to discern it for p. 146 159. We have this triumphant Argument Upon the same account that the Heathen did give Divine honor to their inferior Deityes those of the Roman Church do so to Saints and Angels And how unhappy T. G. was in his attempts upon this Argument I have abundantly evinced Again the Doctor Argues thus The Fathers do expresly deny that Invocation or Prayer is to be made to Angels for so Origen p. 158. and theodoret speak expresly that men are not to pray to Angels and any one that reads St. Austin will find that he makes solemn Invocation to be as proper to God as Sacrifice is 2. On what account should it be unlawful to Sacrifice to Saints and Angels if it be lawful to Invocate them May not one be relative and transient as well as the other can any man in his senses think that a meer outward Sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the Devotion of our heart is Thus the learned Doctor and there needs nothing to convince us of the strength and pertinency of this discourse but to reflect upon the vanity and weakness of what T. G. hath ventured to oppose against it See Ch. 6. Prop. 4. Corol. 3. besides in vindication of the Testimonies of Irenxus Origen Theodoret St. Austin Hilary the Deacon and of the Council of Laodicea I have clearly manifested that all these Fathers cited by the learned