Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	church_n	day_n	festival_n	1,263	5	11.0355	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61294	A discourse concerning the devotions of the Church of Rome, especially, as compared with those of the Church of England in which it is shewn, that whatever the Romanists pretend, there is not so true devotion among them, nor such rational provision for it, nor encouragement to it, as in the church established by law among us.	Stanley, William, 1647-1731.	1685 (1685)	Wing S5244; ESTC R1838	44,628	70

such as these 1. They blame the Reformation in general as well as the Church of England for the want of Monasteries and such other Religious Houses which are so numerous in the Popish Countries where Holy Men and Women being shut up and having bid adieu to the World live as in Heaven in constant Exercise of praising of God Night and Day and of praying to him for the Church and State and particular Christians as well as themselves and who are not only so beneficial to the World by the constancy of their Prayers but also by their Example putting others in mind of Religion and of doing likewise and by the severity of their lives as to Diet Garbe and other Circumstances live in a constant Practice of that self-denyal which is commanded in Scripture and was so practised by Holy Men almost from the beginning of Christianity and are as it were constant Preachers of Holiness and Mortification who tho' they do indeed stay here in the World below yet converse not in it but are in some Sense out of it and live above it 2. They sometimes also boast of the extraordinary Charity and Liberality to all good and Holy Uses pressed and practised among them which is but sparingly used say they among the Protestants Especially their excessive Expence and Cost in building and endowing Monasteries erecting Churches Chappels and Crosses their so pompous adorning the Places dedicated to the Worship of God besides their Charitable Assistance and relief which they afford to the Bodies of the Living and the Souls of the Dead and no Man can deny but Charity is a certain Evidence as well as a great branch and duty of true Religion and Devotion 3. Sometimes they glory in the great number of Saints commemorated in their Church and dying in the Communion of it and urge them as a forcible Example to others and a mighty incentive to Devotion they think also it redounds much to the Honour and Commendation of their Church to have had such glorious Members of it and twit us as they think severely when they ask us what Saints we have of our Church and wonder especially that we should observe so few Festivals and Holidays whereas the very many days set apart in their Church in memory of their several Saints they think not only afford proper Occasions for all Acts of Religion but are a sign of their being less addicted to this World when so great a part of their time is spent in the Service of God and that Piety and Devotion are a considerable part of their Business and Employment 4. They urge also the multitude of Pictures and Images of several Famous Men and Women who have in an eminent manner served and pleased God and been instrumental in converting the World as very proper Assistances of a Mans Devotion instructing some they being the Books of the Unlearned and sensibly affecting and alluring all to the Imitation of the Persons whom they represent 5. Sometimes they commend their Church for the Fastings and other Acts of Severity and Mortification used not only by the Monks and Regulars but by all sorts of Men according to the Rules of their Church on set days of the Week or Seasons of the Year as well as such Austerities as are enjoyned by their Confessors by way of Penance their going bare-foot and bare-headed in Processions their whipping and lashing themselves their drawing great Chains and Weights after them as great and proper Instances of Self-denial and Devotion 6. They place also a great Deal of Religion in Philgrimages which the more Devout sort take and spend their Estates and sometimes their Lives in to Jerusalem Rome Loretto Mount-ferrat to St. Thomas at Canterbury St. Winefrid's Well or some such other places where some extraordinary Person hath lived or some strange Relique is left or where they reckon God hath on some Occasion or other wonderfully manifested himself and they reckon that the very visiting or kissing these are either an argument of truly Devout Minds or that which will make them so And their Manuals or Books which their Priests give into the Peoples Hands do not fail by all the art imaginable to endeavour to screw up Mens Devotion even to rapture and extasie in Commendation of these Practises and Orders even as if they would have us believe that there is no true Religion and Devotion without these and that where there are these things practised it is a certain Sign that the mind is affected as it ought and Piety flourisheth in the highest Degree And besides these Matters of Practice there are also several Doctrines and Opinions peculiar to themselves whichthey reckon do naturally tend to the Advancement of true Devotion As 7. Their Doctrine concerning the Intercession of Saints for us and the Advantage of Invocation or Prayer to them and that we of the Church of England want one of the greatest Encouragements to Prayer and Devotion that can be who neither own nor make use of these Helps and therefore that we cannot have such hope of Success and Blessing as they have 8. Their Doctrine concerning the Merit of Good Works and Supererogation is of the same Nature in their esteem For the more Worth you suppose in any Action the greater Incouragement is there to the Performance of it and therefore surely it must be a most irresistible motive to Devotion to perswade men that the worth and value of it is such as that you may by it purchase Heaven not only for your selves but for others also 9. Their belief of Purgatory and of the validity of Prayers for the Dead doth naturally tend to excite men to Devotion say they for here is a greater Scope and Occasion for our Prayers we may hope to be instrumental to more good more Persons to be relieved and helped by our Prayers than are supposed in the Devotions of the Church of England 10. And especially their Doctrine and Practice of Confession Penance and Absolution they look on as so necessary to Devotion that it is a wonder with them that there should be any show of it where these are not received and practised For a particular Confession of all Sins to a Priest being so strictly required they say is the readiest way to bring men to a Sense of and shame for their Sins and Penance being also imposed presently on them will surely make Men to be more afraid of sinning again when they see it must cost them so dear and that they may not despair or despond by Reason of the Multitude or Weight of their former Sins but may be encouraged to strive more earnestly against Sin for the future the Priest gives them Absolution of what is passed at the same time encouraging their hope as well as exciting their fear and endeavouring by the same Method both to allure to force and to shame Men into Amendment Lastly they insist much also on the Validity of their Ordinations the Truth and Succession Unity

their Secular Priests too are generally in a sad Condition notwithstanding the infinite Riches of that Church And so the Regulars only have any considerable advantage by them and they also as it were club together to set up one great Man as Cardinal or Head of their Order in mighty Pomp and State and heap Riches and Preferments on him till he can hardly bear them So that one can scarcely suppose so great Riches as that Church is in common endowed with to be gotten into fewer Hands or do less Good than it doth amongst them Let them not therefore boast of their Charity whilst amidst so great Plenty they suffer the Poor to want so extreamly and yet to make a Show build a fine Hospital in two or three of their chief Towns For perhaps no where in the World do the Rich more exalt themselves and tyrannize over the Poor no where is there a greater inequality of Conditions no where is there so much given to the Church and Charity and no where is the Estate of the Church engrossed into so few Hands to maintain Grandeur rather than to be a Relief to Poverty For the Cardinals above Seventy in number are maintained out of the Church-Revenues and yet are by their Creation equal to Kings and superior to Princes Now if this be Charity to have a prodigious Revenue for the Maintenance of the Church and Poor and yet to employ this to the Luxury of a few and to let the rest perish I will acknowledge the Church of Rome to be the most charitable Church in the World And if it be said that a great deal indeed hath been given to good and truly charitable uses but is now perhaps misemployed I answer it is possible it may be so yet still I have some reason to question it For their Doctrines of Merit and of buying Souls out of Purgatory c. are enough to spoil their works of Charity and make them to be rather esteem'd a Bargain of Sale than a free Gift And yet their Donations run commonly in this Form I give this to such a Monastery for the good of my Soul or of the Souls of other persons deceased or for the Honour of such a Saint but seldom for the good of the Poor the Maintenance and Support of true Piety and Religion or for the Glory and Honour of God And yet in my Opinion such as these are the only ends for which a Gift ought to be esteemed charitable or will be accepted by God as such But now on the other side though the Church of England own not either Purgatory or any other of their Pick-pocket Doctrines yet Charity urged by us from truly Christian Principles hath had more force and done more good than all their Tricks and Devices put together For so Dr. Willet hath in part shewn and it might be more fully demonstrated that in these last 120 or 130 Years since the settling of the Reformation among us there hath been more and greater Churches Schools and Hospitals built and endowed better Provision made for the Poor more and better care taken not only for the Maintenance but especially for the Instruction of the ignorant and meaner sort of People In short all parts of Charity more fully exercised than can be shewn in any the like number of Years since Christianity came into this Countrey Indeed the general Strain of our Peoples Charity runs to the doing of more good and is more properly expressed than theirs is The Papists build Monasteries in which Provision is made for a few people to live in Idleness and Luxury under pretence of Devotion and Retirement Ours relieve the Sick and Needy tho not Regulars and think it better Charity to preserve a poor Family from starving of which so many thousands die in Popish Countreys than to maintain an idle Monk or Nun or to make a Present to the Lady at Loretto or offer Candles and Tapers to the Image or Saint of the Town in which we live We by so bestowing our Charity both honour God and do good to Men. They do neither but do Homage to a Saint that neither knows them nor receives any Good by the Honour which they give them It is indeed confessed that our Churches are not so adorned as they ought sometimes But that is no Fault of our Church but of the Iniquity of the Times and of those Dissentions which they raise among us but generally they are decently grave and as well sitted to assist a devout mind without Distraction as can be We love to have our Churches neat and handsom to shew we do not grudge whatever may be required to make them in some measure a fit place for Divine Worship but we see not any necessity of having them so splendidly rich and fine we think it would rather divert mens minds from the Business of the Place than assist them in the Duties of it In short in no part of Charity can they pretend to exceed us considering our Circumstances unless it be in that of Prayer for the Dead when they hire so many Masses to be said for them but we think not this so much Charity to the person deceased as to the Priest for he doubtless receives most Benefit from it Thirdly And whatever they pretend the great number of Saints canonized and commemorated among them is neither a Sign of their good State and Condition of their Church nor is their keeping so many Holydays in remembrance of them any instance of true Devotion As for many of the Saints which they commemorate we own as well as they and can pretend as good a right in them as they can because we own and will submit to whatever can be urged from them such are the Blessed Virgin the Apostles and Evangelists and after them also the Bishops Martyrs and Confessors in the Primitive Church But we confess that we have not the same esteem of many whom they commemorate as Saints and utterly disallow of their Canonizing or Sainting of them For many of them I believe never had any Being but in the Fancy of these Saint-makers who yet are commemorated and prayed to as well as any others Such are St. Longinus under which name they have made a Man of the Spear which pierced our Saviour's Blessed Body St. Almachius on Jan. 1. which only comes from the Corruption of Almanack St. Amphibalus who was only St. Alban's Cloak St. Vrsula and her 11000 Virgins of whom no Foot-steps can be found in true History Many of them I fear it had been better that they had never been as being notoriously vicious and scandalous in their Lives And others though more innocent yet if we believe what is written in their Lives were so prodigiously ridiculous that a wise and religious man would be asham'd of such Company To hear Men in an Extasie of Devotion to talk Nonsence or to preach to Birds and Beasts to run naked to wander voluntarily in Desarts c.

or Prayer heard by them much less that we may pray to them for the Gift of Repentance or any other Grace And Prayer being so considerable a part of Divine Worship we need not doubt but the Angels and Saints would refuse it For so St. John was rebuked for offering to worship the Angel though supposed immediately and visibly with him Worship God Rev. 19.20 So that if they prayed to Saints and Angels only to mediate and intercede for them to God it is more than they have any Warrant or Allowance for Christ being always represented as the Mediator between God and man and the setting up his Servants in his Office is as far as is possible a deposing of him Nor is it in this case as it is in Courts on Earth which is their common Excuse where a Favourite is made use of to represent our Cause and our Request to the King For this is done because our Kings do not know our Persons nor understand our Case nor can they be present in all places and hear all Causes themselves So that it is often necessary that Princes should employ and trust other than their own Eyes and Ears Many things they think below them to enquire particularly into and sometimes they will do that at the Request of a Favorite which they would not do for the sake of a Person that is not particularly known to them But there is no Room nor Occasion for this in the Court of Heaven For God is not only intimately known but is immediately present to all his Creatures as he hath declar'd himself no Respecter of Persons but to love all and therefore there is no need of any Intercessor for us except the Lord Jesus he affects not empty Pomp and State but his Providence extends to every particular Concern of the meanest of all his Creatures and though he may give some undeserved Favours as longer Lives and further Opportunities of Amendment c. for the sake of others Prayers yet no Man is so far his Favourite as to be able to perswade him to reverse his own Laws and to save a wicked Person that continues in his Wickedness On all which Accounts there is no Occasion of praying to the Saints so much as to intercede for us as the Church of Rome pretends But to pray to them to bless us and give us this or that Temporal or Spiritual Good as they of the Church of Rome practise and to suppose them to have Power to help us in this or that particular Difficulty and Distemper is plainly intollerable For this is in a great measure to revive Heathenism by which Men worshipped this or that God for this or that particular Case They must grant the Saint to have though not an Original yet a most certain and derivative Power according to which he will not fail to assist them that worship him and in all such Prayer methinks they even terminate their Worship on the Saint For if I pray to a Saint to help me in this or that Difficulty with a full assurance that this Saint hath sufficient Power to help me though I should grant that this Saint received this Power from God yet my Prayers terminate on the Saint Indeed the Saint is obliged to God for that Power but I seem to own my self only obliged to the Saint for his applying this his general Power to my particular Case Just as I am obliged to a man for giving me an Estate though he is beholden to the Government and Laws that either he enjoyed that Estate himself or was empowered to give it to another Besides that they often pray to Saints for such things which if they be only Creatures they can have no power to give or to be even so much as the Instruments of conveying to us and yet it is notorious they pray sometimes to the Saints for Grace for Pardon of Sins and strength against them So in Bonaventure's Pfalter translated into Italian Salmi di S. Bonav in Lode della Virgine per Giovan. Battista Pinello In Genoa Anno 1606. and published for the use of the people tho the Translator and Publisher says that he had purged it from the Blasphemies which were in the former Editions yet we find such passages as these to the Virgin Mary Psal 7. Come to her all ye that are heavy laden and she shall give Rest and Refreshment to your Souls Psal 40. Cleanse my Heart Psal 41. Thou art the beginning and the end of my Salvation Psal 44. By thy Holiness my sins are purged and by thy Integrity Incorruptibility is given to me Psal 104. Eternal Salvation is in thy Hand O Lady and he that worthily honoueth thee shall obtain it and many more Sayings of this nature or worse if possible Now can any man say that such Prayers as these are fit to be offered up to a Creature or that they are Instances of the Devotion of a Christian when they are so offered I am sure that we charge the Heathen with giving Divine Worship to Men though we can hardly find any Expressions or Prayers to their Gods which are so high and argue their terminating their Worship on them so fully as these and other such which are commonly used by those of the Church of Rome to Saints and especially to the Virgin Mary 8. And whatever they pretend the constant Trade which they make of Confessions and Penances and their Doctrine concerning them is so far from encouraging Devotion that it is enough to remove all true Devotion out of the World if the Providence of God did not miraculously interpose For though they be very constant in their Confessions of all their Sins to a Priest yet the frequency of it in themselves and others makes them not so much as ashamed of themselves and though they may be more afraid of angring their Priests yet they have no reason to abhor themselves or their Sins in the Sight of God any more for it And when they have thus confessed their Confessor may enjoyn what Penance he pleaseth or else may leave it to the Penitent's own Choice as Escobar from Suarez affirms and men are not used to be very cruel to their own Bodies or lay a very severe Penance on themselves when a lighter will serve Or else the Confessor may say thus I impose on thee for Penance whatever good thing thou hast done or shalt do this Day or this Week or whatever Evil thou hast or shalt suffer And Cardinal Tolet is of the same mind too Now will not this make a man mightily afraid of sinning any more when his ordinary course of Conversation and the unavoidable Casualties of Life shall be turned into a sufficient Penance Satisfaction and Punishment for his Sin And if the Confessor enjoyn no Penance at all indeed he is to blame says Escobar but still it is a Sacrament for all that because a satisfactory penance is not an essential part of the Sacrament but an Integral