The Challenge of R. F. Lewis Sabran of the Society of JESVS made out against the Historical Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints The First Part. AFter a tedious Expectation that hath worn out three Months there appears an Answer to the Challenge I offer'd in my Letter to a Peer of the Church of England Of 26 Pages that relate to my Challenge in that Work what I intend to consider amounts not to above 13 the rest being made up with scurrilous Language ill-natur'd Cavils insipid and peevish Taunts and with some Personal Slanders all this I shall pass by And tho' I could with ease wipe off all the Dirt which that foul Pen hath bespatter'd me with I shall wave all his disingenuous Reflections upon my Person in which the Public is unconcern'd having now a Cause which is much dearer to me to defend to wit that of the blessed Saints now in Glory the favorable Effects of whose Intercession we daily experience Of the Christians common Creed which asserts the Communion of Saints of the Catholic Militant Church ever united by her devout Addresses to the Triumphant in Heaven Of God's Veracity approving by unquestionable Miracles from the Infancy of the Church to this her Age her recourse to the blessed Spirits that attend the Thrâ—ne of his Glory Having then return'd to all his new Schemes of 〈…〉 guage only this following Sentence of S. Hierom That 's the main stâ—â—â—gth Apol. 3. cont Ruff. of Herctics that is of thy Fathers when convinced of their treacherous Dealings to defend themselves by Slanders I assure the Author that I glory in the very foulest of those which he hath devised against me for being employ'd in so good a Cause in which they shall curse and you will bless me O Lord And I come up to my Subject This Author having own'd That if the Roman Church had not proceeded farther in her Devotion towards the blessed Saints than the Fathers and the Catholic Church of the Fourth and Fifth Century had warranted them by their Example he did not see how his Church could have divided it self from that Communion without the guilt of a causeless Schism I challeng'd him to shew in what the Catholic Church now as ever in Communion with the See of Rome had varied from those Primitive Times on this Subject of the Invocation of Saints or to own his Congregation Schismatical as far as that Pretence colour'd the Separation To this Challenge he pretends now to Answer and to shew in what Points the Devotion we now pay to God's blessed Saints differs from the Worship which those purest Ages allow'd them I expected to have met in the very first Page with the Instances of this Difference which I pressed for but he wisely conceiv'd much Dust was first to be raised wherewith to cloud his Readers Eyes that so he might more easily impose upon them and therefore he reserv'd the Answer to my Challenge to the very last Leaf Since then he ended where he was to begin 't is but reasonable I should begin where he ends He states this Change and Corruption in three following Points which he thus delivers The First That the Church of Rome doth use a direct Invocation or formal Prayer to the Saints whereas the Primitive Church us'd only such Addresses or Requests as are made from one Friend to another The Second Those Requests were made at the Memories Shrines of those Martyrs who were believ'd to be present there at that time tho' invisible whereas the Invocations of the Church of Rome are made to such and such a Saint in ten thousand different Places which is to attribute to them an Omnipresence The Third Those Requests and Interpellations to the Martyrs were neither Commanded by the Primitive Church whereas the Church of Rome Enjoyns them nor authoris'd by her General or Provincial or any other Councils nor us'd in the public Offices of the Church All this he says and says it only but I will demonstrate his Mistakes in each Point Reader I desire you here to observe what that Belief was and those Practices of the Primitive Church and Fathers which I had produced from their unquestionable Works and in their own words These amongst others That whoever was in Affliction had recourse to the Saints Intercession that such Prayers were heard the Martyrs being the helpers of their Prayers and most powerful Ambassadors to God That Gifts were brought in and hung at their Shrines in acknowledgment of miraculous Cures obtain'd That whoever but touched the Bones or even the Monuments of the Martyrs believ'd himself sanctified thereby That it was held as a great Favor to take up the Dust which lay about their Monuments the which was kept as a thing of high esteem That it was deem'd by all an unexplicable happiness to apply those Relics to their Eyes their Mouths and all their Senses whose Dust was believ'd to cast out Devils and to cure Diseases That the Saints Bodies were divided amongst several Cities and esteem'd the Preservers of the Inhabitants Body and Soul That in their Translations they were carry'd by Bishops reposited in Vessels of Gold the People making from Country to Country a Lane of continual Quires singing the Praises of God for them to pass through That on such Occasions many by touching the Saints Garments were eased of their Infirmities many cur'd by the very Shadows of their Bodies that even Handkerchiefs thrown upon their Bodies and immediately demanded back were blessed with a Vertue that made them Antidotes against any Distempers God making thus the Dustof his glorious Saints Bodies beneficial to all That they fell down in Prayer before the blessed Virgin implored her to free them from all their Necessities from all the Temptations of the Devil as their Reconciler and asked her to admit their Prayers c. This a rigid Reformer would call a full Inventory of Popish Superstitions this outgoes far the most eager Devotion of the Catholics of these Days towards God's blessed Saints this all this our Answerer passes by finding no difference in these Points betwixt the present Catholic Church and that of Fourteen or Fifteen hundred years past Now let us see how faithfully he represents the Differences he offers As to the First I say the Fathers of the Fifth and Fourth Century and upwards offer'd with as formal an Invocation as humble submissive and devout Prayer to the Saints in Heaven as any that are in present use amongst Catholics The fairest proof of this matter of Fact is by plain Instances take these few in lieu of an infinity that could be produced St Athanasius present in the first General Council having first laid this De Incar verbiapud Cent. Cent. 4. c. 4. Ground for his Practice If you worship the Man Christ because the Word of God dwells there at the same time worship also the Saints on God's account who hath his dwelling in them He offers this Prayer to the blessed Virgin Mother
Soul with all our Strength whoever pretends that an inferior Religious Worship or Invocation gives to Creatures the Worship we owe to God must equally hold that Charity to our Neighbor is injurious to God and deprives him of the Love which we owe him As to his Second Difference 'T is most false that Saints and Martyrs were call'd upon only where they were suppos'd to be present tho' invisibly at their Shrines This I prove thus unanswerably S. Augustin is so far from this Belief that he assures us of the contrary De Curâ pro Mort. c. 16. The Solution of this Question is beyond the reach of my Vnderstanding how the Martyrs help those WHICH MOST CERTAINLY ARE HELPED BY THEM Whether or no they be themselves present at one time in so different places c. S. Gregory Nazianzen in a Sermon Preach'd before Fifty Bishops Orat. 32. teaches the contrary assuring us that not only the Martyrs who cure Diseases and put the Devils to flight appear and bestow Revelations but that where their Bodies only are the same Effect is bad as from their Souls whether they be touched or worshipped S. Ambrose condemns this prodigious if not wilful Mistake in these In nat S. Naz Celsi words Have you Invocated the Martyr He hears you every where who is honor'd in the Martyr according to his Dispensation who weighs your Vows and dispenses his Gifts in so much is a nearer Presence of the Intercessor granted as the Faith of the Client is more devout In these words is fully exprest the Catholic Faith on this Point and how the charging this with the giving to the Martyrs an Omnipresence can be excus'd from a black Calumny I do not see In fine S. Gregory the Great is of so opposite a Belief that he holds Dial. lib. 2. cap. ult greater Miracles to be often wrought where the Saints Bodies are not that our Mind being fixed upon God our Faith may have a greater Merit forasmuch as we know they repose not there and yet believe that they fail not to hear end grant our Requests But 't is here observable how the Answerer makes the Fathers of the first Ages to attribute an Omnipresence to the Saints by boldly asserting that they call'd upon them only where they suppos'd them tho' invisibly present for he cannot be so throughly ignorant as not to know that the Saints Bodies were divided into different distant Places honor'd in each and that they wrought Miracles in all or if he be he cites Fathers whom he never saw who all assert this frequently I will cite one Instance or two S. Greg. Naz. Truth is in such Veneration that a little Dust the least Splinter Jambic de ve ritat of their decayed Bones a Lock of their Hair their Cloaths some Drops tho' almost worn off of their Blood have as much Worship paid them as the whole Body Nay the calling a Place by the Martyrs Name I know to have been of as much efficacy as if the whole Martyr had lay'n there Theodoret. Their Bodies are not each in their own Monument but being divided Serm. 8. cont Grec among the Cities and Villages are by them esteem'd the Preservers of their Souls and Bodies and call'd their Physicians and honor'd as their Protectors and Guards and making use of their Intercession to God they by them obtain divine Benefits and the divided Bodies retain their Power entire S. Aug. l. 2. c. 8. de Civit. rehearses several Miracles wrought at the Relics of S. Stephen in the different Places they were honor'd at S. German to whom this Island ow'd the Expulsion of the Pelagian Heresie Beda Hist l. 1. c. 18. carry'd about him for his Protection in a Reliquary the Relics of all the Apostles and many Martyrs and took of the Dust that lay by S. Alban's Monument By the Intercession of those Saints whose precious Dust he had and a touch of the Relic case they were in he restor'd Sight to a blind Woman As to the Third Difference he imposes First on his Readers when he says the Church of Rome Enjoyns Prayers to Saints I defie him to shew any Canon of the Council of Trent or of any other that Commands it as an Obligation of Catholic Faith. Yet this Man wonders that we accuse him and his Brethren of continual Misrepresentations Secondly His Assertion that no Councils in the Primitive Church authorised Praying to Saints is very false I offer these following Proofs thereof to which many more might be added The General Council of Calcedon authorised Invocation of Saints by Act. 21. practising it These were the Words and the general Voice of all those Holy Bishops there assembled to the number of 630. Behold the Truth Flavianus lives after Death that the Martyr Pray for us Our Letanies to which this Answerer owes so ill a will exceed not this Invocation S. Hierom tracing the Heretical Oppositions made to the Invocation of Hier. cont Vigil Socrat. l. 2. Saints finds its original in Valentin the Heretic whose Error Eustathius or Eutactus renew'd in Armenia about the time of the First General Council of Nice The Council of Gangrae in Paphlagonia depos'd him from his Episcopal Dignity tho' he offer'd at several Excuses to colour his Error and condemn'd him and his Followers in these words If any one through Conc. Gangrense Can. 20. Pride as believing himself perfect that is not needing the Intercession of Saints accuses those Meetings which are had at the Places where holy Martyrs repose or in their Churches or believes that such Oblations as are made there ought to be slighted Be he accursed The Council of Laodicea in the Year 320. four years before that of Can. 6. 34. Gangrae allows the Worshiping of the true Martyrs of Christ mentions Churches built in their Honor over their Monument whither the Christians resorted In fine the Fourth usually call'd the Fifth Council of Carthage in the Can. 14. Year 368. by the Voices of Thirty seven Bishops authorises the Meeting of Christians not only in Churches dedicated to Martyrs but whereever any Monument or certain Relics of a Martyr shall be and commands those Altars to be demolished if of the Relics over which they are built there be not an evident certainty which evidently proves that it was to honor the Martyrs and to beg Favor through their Intercession that the Christians met at those Altars S. Augustin the best Witness for the Devotion of his Age in his 137th Epistle commends at large the Concourse of People to the Monuments of Martyrs there to ask miraculous Favors and to some particular Saints for such and such peculiar Graces to others again for different ones The Last Part of this third Difference to wit that the Interpellations of Saints were not used in the publick Liturgies or Masses is a slie Imposture if he means to insinuate that in the holy Mass we use now
adays any Prayers directed to the Saints for the Mass being the Christian Oblation of Christ's Sacrifice and Sacrifice belonging to God only as a Divine Worship the Catholic Church and particularly in the latter Ages hath been so cautious of giving occasion to any Error that not the least Collect or Prayer in holy Mass is directed to any Saint or Angel but all to God through Christ tho' he be pray'd in them to accept of the Saints Prayers for us If he means that Commemorations of Saints were not us'd in the ancient Liturgies or their Prayers were not craved in them or offered to God for us all the Liturgies extant will convince him of an Error which he could scarce fall into but only pretend to deceive others I shall not cite the Liturgies of S. Peter S. James S. Mark c. because that by reason of several Additions made to them they are no more properly theirs I will offer only such unquestionable Liturgies as cannot be rejected or other Testimonies of the Fathers Greek and Latin as are undoubtedly theirs S. Cyril Patriarch of Jerusalem bears witness to this Prayer in the Liturgy Catech. 5. We Pray to thee all of us and offer thee this Sacrifice so as to make a Commemoration also of those who have slept before us first of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that GOD THROVGH THEIR PRAYERS AND INTERCESSIONS accept of our Prayers Where he calls the holy Mass the unbloody Divine Worship over the Victim of Propitiation S. Basil's Liturgy hath this Prayer Sanctifie our Souls and Bodies and grant us O most Holy that we may serve you all the days of our Life through the Intercession of the holy Mother of God and of all the Saints which from the beginning have glorified you S. Chrysostom's Liturgy hath the following Prayers In honor and memory of the most blessed glorious Mother of God our Lady and ever Virgin Mary through whose Intercession receive O Lord this Sacrifice on thy heavenly Altar Visit us O Lord by the Supplications of S. John the Prophet and Precursor and Baptist of thy holy and most famous Apostles and of the Saint we make a Commemoration of and of all your blessed Saints There the Deacon thus speaks to the People Celebrating the Memory of the most holy and immaculate most blessed Mother of God our Lady the ever Virgin Mary with all the Saints let us recommend our selves to one anothers Prayers and our whole Life to Christ our God. And the Priest prays thus We humbly magnifie thee O undefiled Virgin according to our bounden Duty having obtain'd thy help and being delivered from Evil by thy Intercession and evermore defended by the Cross and Passion of thy Son. Holy Mother of unspeakable Light we honor and magnifie thee with Angelical Hymns Thus the Greek Liturgies For the Latin S. Augustin assures us That we do not Commemorate the Tract 84. in Joan. Saints at the holy Table as we do others who rest in Peace that we may also Pray for those but more that they may Pray for us Pelagius the second Predecessor to S. Gregory the Great certifies that Ep. 4. Decrer ad Epist Germ. Et Gall. to 2. CC. this following Preface had been of a most long continuance diutissime ever us'd-in the Latin Liturgies We most humbly beg of you that O Eternal Shepherd you abandon not your Flock but by your holy Apostles that you conserve it by a continual Protection that it may be Govern'd by those same Rectors which as Vicars of your Action you have granted to be over it as Pastors To which S. Leo seems to allude in these following words Peter now more fully and Serm. 2. de anni suae assumpt Serm. 3. more powerfully do's effect those things committed to him and he performs now and undergoes all the Offices and Cares in him by whom he is glorified never ceasing to Pray for us I omit many more like Instances these being sufficient to convince any unprepossess'd and unbiass'd Reader that my Challenge is not at all Answer'd by my Adversary but the reasonableness of it evidently confirm'd and also because a longer Discourse would over-burden the Attention of most Readers on which account I shall refer the full view of my Adversaries gross and continual Mistakes to another Sheet I have slighted all the little Arts of Rhetoric which are necessary only to a bad Cause or a doubtful one I have not endeavor'd to blacken my Adversary a very unchristian tho' usual Method with those of his Party but expos'd him and Truth naked to my Reader 's Judgment to which I appeal Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam SVPERIORVM PERMISSV LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are to be sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1688.