my Protestant Brethren in discovering what those Hellish Popish Conspirators were doing against our Religion Lives and Liberties and of their Villanous Firing the City of London and Borough of Southwark Your eyes have seen enough and would have seen more had not Almighty God put a stop to their Career by confounding their Councels and defeating theirwicked purposes against us I will therefore say no more but shall ever stand by that Truth which I have delivered and will not hide one Iota of what remains behind undiscovered And I have taken care of that though it should please God that my Enemies should by any indirect course take away my Life and I shall always approve my self an honest man. and at present remain November 1. 1688. Your Brother and Servant in the King's Bench Prison for the Testimony of a Good Conscience TITVS OATES AN ANSWER TO SABRAN the Jesuit SHEWING The Unlawfulness of Praying TO Saints and Angels SIR I Perceive you are very earnest in the defence of a great Point much controverted between the Divines of the Reformed Churches and the Church of Rome viz. The Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels a Doctrine exploded by the Protestants and as zealously defended by those of your Communion And because the unknown Minister hath not as you would make the World believe dealt ingenuously with you you take occasion to fall upon Mr. Needham for Licensing those Replies made to your Sermon in which you were pleased to defend that Doctrine so much opposed by us of the Reformed Religion I will not go about to use any unhandsome Reflection upon you or any of your Communion for any point of Religion which I am satisfied in my Conscience to be contrary to the Doctrine of God our Saviour Amongst the many Errours the Church of Rome doth hold and maintain I humbly conceive this to be one and an Errour tending highly to the overthrowing of the Mediation of Christ the High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession Therefore the Point that I shall lay down is this That your Practice of Praying to Angels and Saints departed this Life is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God. I shall not Sir trouble you at present with those many Reasons those of our Church and Communion have offered to justifie this Assertion of mine therefore I shall only tie my self up to these few First Our Divines have rejected the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels and look upon it as a Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God because it hath no Warrant from the Word of God. This Sir is acknowledged by the most Learned of your Communion Bannesius saith Orationes ad Sanctos faciendos neque expresse neque involute Sanctae Literae docent 2 Qu. 1 Artic. 10. Lib. 1. Which in plain English is this That it is not taught in the Holy Scripture neither expresly nor covertly that Prayers are to be made to Saints Bellarmine de Beat. Sanct. cap. 19. saith plainly It was not the manner under the Old Testament to say Holy Abraham pray for us for which he gives several Reasons as that the Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see God. So that by the confession of that Learned Doctor it was no Practice of those that lived under the Ministry of Moses his Law. Salmeron in 1 Tim. 2. saith the same and withal adds That there is nothing expressed in all the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles touching the matter And withal he saith It would have been hard to enjoyn such a thing upon the Jews and the Gentiles would have thought that many Gods were put upon them instead of the many Gods they had forsaken His own words Sir are these Durum eratie Judaeis percipere Gentibus daretur occasio putandi multos sibi Deos c. Therefore be pleased to observe that it was the Practice of the Church of God to require Christians when they did labour under any Distemper whether of Body or Mind to have recourse to the Prayers of living Saints and were taught that the Prayers of such were prevalent and if the Prayers to Saints supposed to be in Heaven were a Doctrine according to truth why were they not then order'd to apply themselves to the Patriarchs and Prophets to the Blessed Virgin to St. Stephen and St. James and other more early Martyrs of the Church whose Prayers by your common received Opinion in your Church are highly meritorious and far more prevailing But Sir you see these great Doctors of your Church and men of great Reading confess that there are not the least foot-steps in the Scripture for this Practice as also Suarez Tom. 2. in disput Thes 42. Sect. 1. Eccius in Enchyrid suo But suppose Sir that these Great Men had not been so ingenuous as to confess yet give me leave to tell you that it is not possible for you to find the least intimation of any Warrant for this Practice which is apparent if you will but consider that in the Book of God there is neither one Precept from our Lord nor one Precedent to justifie such a Worship Now if you can produce no Command from God nor Example from any of the Saints of God in the time of the Apostles you cannot expect to gain one Soul that hath the least consideration to the belief of that Proposition of the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels which you so fiercely maintain If you have a Warrant from God's Word then it will lie upon you first to produce the Command then you must produce the Promise that the complying with that Commandment shall be acceptable for there is not one Command enjoyned us in the New Testament but hath its peculiar Promise and you must also produce a Threat if this Command be not obeyed Then secondly shew but where and when the holy Apostles in their day or any Christian under their immediate Ministry did ever practise Praying to Saints and Angels and you shall be my great Oracle in Controversies of Religion otherwise you must give me leave not to believe Father Sabran's Ipse Dixit in this case Sir give me leave to put you in mind that the Holy Scripture every-where makes God to be the only Object of Prayer and Invocation How many hundred Petitions or Prayers are upon Record there and not one of them put up to any other When our Lord taught his Disciples and us in them to pray he directs them to say Our Father which art in Heaven The Scripture often expresseth this Duty by the term of Praying without any mention of the Object When you pray use not vain Repetitions When thou prayest enter into thy Closet And hereby it is intimated that Prayer in matter of Worship can signifie nothing else but Praying to God. It is not Prayer if it be directed to any other From all which I must necessarily conclude that your Practice
of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints but where are your Injunctions for the Praying to Saints what was the Decree of that Council and what was that Council that did decree for the putting in practice this Romish Doctrine of Praying to Saints In a word your Four Councels make no mention of any Injunction for the people to pray to Saints no they do not so much as intimate to us that it was the practice of the Church at that time You know that your Chapter at Trent makes a formal Decree enjoyning all upon pain of a Curse to apply themselves in their Prayers to the Saints and if you had produced such a Decree you would have done some small matter of Reputation to the practice of the Church Since your Authorities taken from these Four Councils will do you no service away you hasten to St. Augustine who in his 137 Epistle commends the Christians for flocking to the Monuments of Martyrs there to ask miraculous Favours and to some particular Saints for such and such peculiar Graces to others again for different ones The Christians did go to the Monuments of the Martyrs and did ask for Favours but I hope you will tell us from whom they asked these favours St. Austin in all that Epistle doth not say one word of their asking the Saints but their Prayers were directed to God that he might obtain this or that favour or Grace which the Saint was supposed to be indued withal in the time of his or her life Here you are failed in your Authority for this saying of the holy Doctor proves nothing for the lawfulness of Praying to Saints You come to the close of the matter and here you offer the commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and holy Saints as more full and expressive in the ancient Liturgies then any in the present Roman Missal This I am sure is not ad Rem for the commemoration of the Saints to bless God for them and their good examples they left us and heavenly Doctrine they taught In that we are all agreed but I am inclined to joyn with you and examine your Authorities you produce and perhaps you may find something to drop in that may help your Doctrine of Praying to Saints which no doubt but will give your Church some colour for that Practice The first Authority you produce is St. Cyril Patriarch of Jerusalem who bears witness to this Prayer in the Liturgies of his time We pray to thee all of us and offer thee this Sacrifice so as to make a Commemoration of those who have slept before us first of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that God through their Prayers would accept of our Prayers We never say more than this in any Commemoration in our Masses Well here is plainly set forth that the Saints make Intercession for us but nothing of any Prayer made to them But your Author is not very well received because this Prayer of his smells so rank of your Romish Superstition that none but such an old Doctor newly set forth could be guilty of I am lothe to call his Credit in question but I tell you that in his style in his way of arguing he is not at all like the Greek Fathers in wording his Notions he appears to have lived but of late Years and therefore his Authority Sir will be of little Credit at this time Yet he doth you no manner of Service he shews that in his time the Intercession of Saints was a received Notion but hath not one word of Praying to them and St. Augustine in his Tract in Johan seemeth to countenance it but doth not at all point at any Invocation or Prayer to be made to the Saints and Martyrs But say you doth not the saying of St. Cyril and St. Augustine prove that their Intercession must be asked that it may be obtained In answer to this I say I do not find that either your St. Cyril or St. Augustine doth in either of these places direct us to apply our selves to the Saints for the benefit of their Intercession the one saith That in the Prayer of the Liturgies in his time the faithful did commemorate the Saints that God through their Prayers would accept of your Prayers And St. Austine saith That the Christians commemorate the Saints at the holy Table that they may pray for us He doth not say that Christians pray to the Saints that they may pray for us It may be worth your while to consider how little these two Authors do appear to help you out in this point which you so zealously defend You say that you offered devout Prayers to the blessed Virgin out of the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom Those Liturgies have both been so miserably abused that they are not of any great value with the Doctors of you own Church for the Interpolations are so frequent that we can scarce tell either the order or the sence of those Liturgies I have seen the old Copies of those Liturgies where I find commemorations of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints but I cannot find any Prayer made to them in latter times They may have crowded a Prayer to the Virgin which you perchance have used but it is no proof For Dr. Stephen Gardner the notorious Bishop of Winton he saith and that not without due consideration had of those Offices that both of them were miserably disordered that set behind which should have been before and that the Ignorant Scribes of the latter Ages had basely corrupted both those Liturgies This is the Credit that the Liturgies of those Fathers had with that Bishop of your own Church and therefore we have reason Sir to refuse them as Authors that have been corrupted by the Scribes of your own Church Steph. Gard. ad object 185. And that St. Chrysostom's Liturgie hath been abused doth thus further appear for in that Liturgie set forth by Claudus Sanctes you have St. Chrysostom praying for Pope Nicholas in these words Nicholai sanctissimi Vniversalis Papae longa sunt tempora We pray God send Nicholas that most Holy and Universal Pope a long time to live whereas it is well known to you that Pope Nicholas lived in the year of our Lord 857. which was almost 500. years after St. Chrysostom's decease likewise in the same Liturgie there is a Prayer for the Empire and Victory of the Emperour Alexius who lived in the year 1080. after the death of St. Chrysostom 700. years Now it is very hard if we should receive the Testimonies that are Authentic since they are made to serve all the vile Turns imaginable so that you may see what Stuff here is that you father upon two burning and shining Lights of God's Church and upon them we must ground our Faith and Salvation We must pray we know not what and I know not to whom If we receive either or both your new St. Basils and new St. Chrysostoms Liturgies for in their old Liturgies there
find that Jacobus Nauclantius the Bishop of Clugium in Italy is so zealous that he tells you That the Image and the Thing represented by the Image must be Worshipped with one and the same Adoration Be pleased Sir to observe his Words which are these in Epist ad Roman Cap. 1. Ergo non solum fatendum est fideles in Ecclesia Adorare coram Imagine nonnulla ad cautelam fortè loquuntur sed Adorare Imaginem sine quo volueris scrupulo quin eo illam venerari cultu quo proto typon ejus propter quod si illud habet Adorari Latria illa habet adorare Latria Therefore we must confess that the faithful People in the Church do not only Worship before the Image as some men use to speak for more assurance but that they Worship the Image itself and that without any manner of scruple of Conscience whatsoever yea and further they Worship the Image with the same Honour wherewith they Worship the Thing represented as if the Thing represented by the Image be Worshipped with Godly Honour then must the Image itself be Worshipped with Godly Honour These Sir are the Doctors of your Church Men of no small figure in their day The Bishop's Works were Printed at Venice 1557 and Pava was Printed at Cologne 1564 both allow'd as not being against the Catholick Faith From all which what availeth your Distinction of Latria and Dulia For the one by your Doctors is given to the Creature as well as the other Why may not the Virgin Mary have Latria as well as a Stock or Stone which have Eyes and see not and Hands and handle not a Nose and smell not Ears and hear not Feet and walk not So that if you trust to the Distinction you will fail of your expectation Service and Worship being only due to God Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve hereby both Dulia and Latria applyed to God and to none else for if you compare the Text with the Text in the Old Testament Deut. 6. 13. you will find the word Only not used but our Blessed Redeemer puts it in to shew that God and none but him is the Object of our Latria and Dulia the one signifying Religious Worship and the other signifying Religious Service In the Text if you please to consider the occasion that was then given to the Blessed Jesus to speak those Words in Matth. 4. our Lord was tempted by the Devil to Worship him the Reply Christ makes is this Get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve You cannot imagine Sir that the Devil did desire of Christ to pay that Service to him which you call the superiour and highest Service nor did he pretend to be God himself but only his Minister and enjoy what he offer'd by the Bounty of God and a little Religious Prostration would have served his turn I say the most he could appear to be was an Angel of Light yet Christ refused to pay to him either your Latria or Dulia for he saith Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve where you must observe that as the Devil had no Right to any Religious Worship so no Creature can pretend to it it being due to God only Sir Be pleased further to consider that passage in the Revelations 19. 10. where St. John seeing an Angel I fell saith he at his feet to worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God. This St. John was so transported with the Great and Glorious Tidings he had received from Heaven by the Angel he falls on his Face to acknowledge to the Angel his Joy for his News and his Thankfulness to the Messenger but he is forbidden and commanded to Worship God See thou do it not but worship God. And see Revel 22. 8 9. And I John saw these things and heard them and when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things then said he unto me see thou do it not for I am thy follow-servant and of thy brethren the Prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship God. Hence you may see that the Angel forbids St. John Worshipping him nay he chides him for offering to pay him a Religious Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am thy Companion in Dulia therefore Worship not me but God as the only Object of Religious Worship do not Worship me that am thy Fellow-Servant and Fellow-Worshipper Secondly I pray Sir be pleased to consider that the Almighty hath enjoyned us a Rational Worship and Service fit for Mankind to perform and as most suitable with the Glory of his Holy Name but I conceive the Practice of the Church of Rome in this Point of Praying to Saints and Angols to be irrational and by your leave let me tell you that nothing can be more irrational and absurd this I shall make appear in these two Particulars I. Consider that the Saints and Angels are under an incapacity of hearing the Prayers that are directed to them and if so then Sir you will own it to be ridiculous and irrational to pray to them that cannot hear our Prayers I remember the Scripture saith How shall we call on them in whom we do not believe I may with as much reason say How shall we call on them who cannot hear us that this is the Case of the Glorified Spirits is evident 1. Because they are not Omnipresent they are circumscribed and finite Creatures and can be but in one place at one and the same time This may be affirmed with very good ground of the Virgin Mary herself who then must be incapable of hearing the Prayers of One Hundred Thousand Persons who it may be are Praying to her at one and the same time some in one part of the World and others in the other part of the World and if she cannot hear their Prayers I cannot suppose that she can help those who are so much devoted to her Service I pray Sir Why do we call upon the Name of the Great God Is it not because he is present to observe and present to accept our Petitions and answer our Suits all Men have his essential Presence good Men have the Presence of his Grace which doth not only flow from his Nature but from his Promise also Now how can a Saint or Angel be either present to observe or present to accept of the Petitions of those that make suit to them That saying of the Psalmist is plain Psal 139. 7 8 9. Whither shall I go from thy presence If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and
and most clemently reconcile this Company unto Christ that the Fountain of Supream Piety who cleansed thee from thy sins giving pardon may cleanse us who are his Servants and thine But above all see that excellent Prayer to St. Becket whose Bloud ye have supposed to be as soveraign as the Bloud of the Son of God. 'T is not enough to pray as you do that by his Merits and Prayers you may be deliver'd from Vice to Virtue and from the Prison to the Kingdom this you hope for from the more ordinary Saints but as for St. Thomas of Canterbury you pray That by his Bloud you may climb to Heaven as he hath done before you Now do you judge in your own Conscience Whether this and all your Saints be not made equal to Christ and whether you do not make them Mediators of Salvation as well as Intercession And more than all this one of your own Doctors tells us That the Intercession of the Saints is more available than the Intercession of Christ and that as Christ wrought greater Miracles by his Saints than by himself so oftentimes he sheweth the force of their Intercession more than his own This Doctor of yours put a Question Whether it is better to pray to God through Christ alone or thro' the Saints which Question he determineth That it was better to pray to God through the Saints So that by the Doctrine of your Learned men you may nay you ought to go to God through the Merits Satisfaction and Intercession of the Saints so that there is nothing remaining of the Honour due to Christ our Saviour and our Confidence in Him but the same in every kind is by your Church imputed to the Saints therefore the Being and Oeconomy of Christianity is destroyed by these Prayers and the People are not and cannot be good Christians in these Devotions and what hopes are laid up for them who Repent to no purpose and pray with derogation to Christ's Honour is matter of deepest consideration Therefore our Church will take care that her Members may not be seduced with little Tricks and Artifices of useless and laborious Distinctions and Protestations against Evidence of Fact. Therefore Sir you ought with Fear and Trembling to consider what God said by the Prophet My people have done two great evils they have forsaken me the living fountain that is the strong and living God and have digged to themselves cisterus that is little phantastick helps that hold no water that give no refreshment Jer. 2. 13. Or as St. Paul expresseth it They worship and invocate the Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beside the Creator so the word properly signifies and so it is used by the Apostle in other places 1 Cor. 3. 11. and Gal. 1. 8. But to conclude this Head I beseech you Sir to remember the words of St. Augustine Tutius jucundius loquar ad meum Jesum quam ad aliquam Sanctorum Spirituum Dei I can speak more safely and more cheerfully to my Jesus than to any of the Saints and Spirits of God Lib. 1. Cap. 2. De Visitatione Infirmorum For that Holy Father knew that Jesus was the only Mediator and it was highly tending to the prejudice of Christ's Priesthood who only ever lives to make Intercession for us to pray to any of the Saints Fourthly You know Sir that Christians are every-where exhorted to flee from Idolatry and to keep themselves from Idols for this I shall not need to use many Arguments to satisfie you or any man therefore we cannot consent to your Practice of Praying to Saints and Angels because it is Idolatry I confess this is and hath been a Charge which none of your Communion could bear but have been and are still highly offended at it Any man saith a Doctor of your Church of common Reason would think it as easie to prove the Snow to be black as so innocent a Practice to be Idolatry But Sir I humbly conceive that Learned Person may be mistaken for it is agreed by both the Romish Doctors and those of the Reformed Religion That Idolatry in the proper notion of it is a giving that Worship and Service to the Creature which is due only to God yea though men worship God yet if they worship the Creature also they are Idolaters The holy Apostle reproves those Rom. 1. 25. that worshipped the Creature besides the Creator And this was the Idolatry of those whom the King of Assyria sent to inhabit Samaria The Text saith They feared the Lord and served other or their own Gods 2 King. 17. 33. Now that you worship Saints and Angels as well as Almighty God is notorious enough for you profess and practise it and is not that a worshipping the Creature besides the Creator And if to worship the Creature besides the Creator be Idolatry how shall you be excused from the just Charge of Idolatry The distinction that you think to help your selves out withal is that of Latria and Dulia which I think is as ill applied as ever any distinction was I confess I am no Proficient in the Hebrew but those that are Masters of that Tongue tell us there is but one word in the Hebrew for Dulia and Latria but that skill I have in the Greek assures me that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are indifferently taken in the Old and New Testament both for one and the same thing and both applied to God the former to him as he is Lord and the latter as he is God as St. Augustine saith that first made the distinction and therefore as I said before I repeat it to you again it was neither made by him nor used by him to justifie any such Practice as you maintain in your Church But there is another distinction of yours much to the same purpose that is of Superiour and Absolute Worship which you say is only due to God and Inferiour and Relative Worship which is applicable to the Creature Now Sir if by Inferiour and Relative Worship you mean a Religious Worship as you must do if you will justifie your own Doctrine then give me leave to tell you that you have no ground for this distinction in all the Word of God and had the Arians found out such a distinction by its help they might have destroyed the force of the Apostle's Argument whereby he proves the Deity of Christ because the Angels of God are enjoyned to worship him Heb. 1. 6. Psal 97. 7. To this they might readily have replied that the Text intends a Religious Worship of an Inferiour degree such as may be given to the most excellent Creature But Sir you know that shift was not found out then and therefore they were not able to give any answer but were necessitated to silence You must either prove that this distinction is grounded on the Word of God or you must quit your distinction And if you quit that then it roundly follows that
French above three hundred years ago by Thomas Gray a Member of your own Church you shall find him thus to speak Austin being thus Refused of the Bishops and other learned men of the Britains made such complaint thereof unto Ethelbert King of Kent that he forthwith levyed his Power and marched against them and slew many of them most barbarously c. Hereby it appears that he was not only proud but envious and an inflamer of Wars and a causer of Slaughters yet a Saint and much Devotion paid to him He did not only stir up War but went in person himself in company with the Kings that made War against the innocent Britains I shall be so far from praying to such a Saint that instead thereof I and all Protestants must pray From such a Saint good Lord deliver us Another of your Saints is St. Anselmn he is a person that is canonized and by your Church he is worshipped and prayed to therefore I shall observe to you a little of his Saintship which appeared in his behaviour to Henry the First his Soveraign Lord with what Impudence Insolence and Disloyalty did he carry himself to that King till he was forced to banish this Anselmn the Realm and so he continued for some time till the King partly through fear of the displeasure of the Bishop of Rome who was then very potent and partly through his Zeal to the Church of Rome did permit the return of this Bishop who when he was returned made such havock in the Church of England as never the like was heard of before and what Wars he occasion'd testifieth that he was no Saint on Earth I doubt therefore the Pope could upon no terms justifie his being canonized and you can by no means be justified in paying any Devotion to such a Wretch Ex Chron. Angl. p. 253. Another of your Saints is Thomas Becket whom you call St. Thomas of Canterbury The Prayers you make to him are so extravagant that flesh and bloud is not able to bear them they are so full of Blasphemy that it 's a shame they should be named amongst Christians him you call a Saint and Martyr But Sir to be plain with you he was neither Saint nor Martyr 't is true he was slain at Canterbury but the true cause of his death was his Ambition and Vanity and Wilful maintaining of manifest Wickedness of the Clergy to the dishonour of God's holy Name as by the Writers of that time it doth fully appear and for proof of this I pray be pleased to read the Story of Guilielmus Nubrigensis that lived in the same Age with this high and mighty Saint of yours who thus writeth of Becket That Henry the Second took him into his especial Favour and being only the Arch-deacon of Canterbury made him Lord Chancellour of his Realm and so treated him with all kind of Honour that he seemed to Reign as well as the King that afterwards he promoted him to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury and sent him to the Council of Towers then holden in France being there as upon some remorse of Conscience he misliked and secretly refused the King's Gift and resigned the Archbishoprick unto the Pope and received it again at his hands and so he secretly betrayed his Princes Right unto a Stranger At his return there grew a great Question within this Realm touching the Prerogative of the Clergy The Judges complaining that there were many Rapes and Robberies and Murders committed within the Realm to the number of one hundred by Ecclesiastical Persons and therefore made Request to the Parliament That some consideration might be had of it for that they themselves being Temporal Ministers had neither Law nor Jurisdiction against them As for the Bishops saith Nubrigensis whose part it was to see such Disorders corrected of so many thousand wicked Priests they never degraded nor punished so much as one for they saith he seeking more carefully how to maintain the Dignity and Liberties of their Clergy than the Correction of their Manners think they do good Service to God and his Church if they maintain wicked Priests against the Government whereby saith he it cometh to pass That the Priests that should shine as the Stars in Heaven having free liberty to do what they list care neither for God nor Man for redress whereof the King was resolved to take Order by his Parliament all the rest of the Bishops not one excepted agreed thereunto and confirmed the same under their Seals only Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury stood stiff and stout and would not yield afterwards when he saw the King's displeasure grew against him in the Morning before he should come to make his Answer he caused the Mass of St. Stephen's Office to be sung with this Preface Sederunt Principes c. The Kings sat down to speak against me and the wicked sought to persecute me This done he took his Silver Cross in his hand and went boldly to the Court but perceiving the King was much moved and misliked his stoutness the next Night following he fled over into France and afterwards sought Aid of the Pope at the last being reconciled unto his Prince and returning again into England he brought with him the Pope's Suspension and thereby suspended all the Bishops of the Realm and would never agree to release them by reason of which the whole Church and Kingdom was much disorder'd and shortly after ensued his Death This is the true Story of Thomas Becket Lib. 2. Cap. 16. Sir not only Neubrigensis but also Baronius by the account he gives of Beckett shews us That they were both strongly of the opinion that the Pope was out when he Canonized this Becket and commanded the People of England annually to Celebrate the Day of his Passion and that by Prayer to him they should endeavour to merit the remission of their Sins Now Sir this Becket for ought that can appear by these your own Historians was a proud Praelate a Rebel to his Prince one that had set the Nation in a Flame to defend the Pope's Quarrel against the King and when he dyed was rather the Pope's Martyr then Gods. Seeing he dyed not for the Faith of Christ but for the Defence of the Popish Tyranny and Usurpation This Sir is owned That the People were so devoutly Affected to this new Saint that in respect of him they had little or no Consideration of the Blessed Virgin or of Christ himself and to incourage the Peoples Devotion many Stories were told and Reports made of the many Miracles that were by him wrought on them that did pray unto him I fear Sir I shall move your Patience I will but instance in one Saint more whose Saintship I must call in Question so do all the Reformed Divines it is St. Francis the great Founder of the Order of Fryars called Franciscans he is no ordinary Person in your Church you make him equal with Christ in his Birth Life Temptations
places far distant from each other at one and the same time for you must know that at the first creeping in of this fend notion the memory of those Martyrs were only kept up where their Bodies were Intombed and their Relicks kept but now you generally pray to them in many places at one and the same time where you have no Monuments of those Saints nor any of their Relicks which you do endeavour to prove offering several Authorities in vindication of the same The first Authority you produce is St. Augustine who as you say saith 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. From whence you conclude that the holy Doctor Is certain that the Martyrs help their Clients at one and the same time in different places yet uncertain whether they were themselves present It was not say you his Perswasion that then the Saints help was to be required only where they were believed to be present This you say is a clear demonstration Your using the word Clyents is fitter for a Lawyer than a Divine of your station there might another word have been sound out but I let that pass and tell you that I do really believe the examples of the Martyrs have been of great use to the faithful and in this sence they may be said to help those that follow their good example you see it was past St. Austins understanding to solve the question How the Martyrs did help those that were their Clients as you call them in his Cura pro Mort. c. 16. but Sir suppose I should ask this question whether or no the Saints in Heaven have any knowledge at all of Humane Affairs on Earth I am sure there St. Austine can resolve me and he will tell us That the Dead can have no knowledge of our Affairs here upon Earth Mortui nesciunt etiam Sancti quid agant vivi etiam eorum filii Again Si rebus viventium interessent animae mortuorum c. If saith he so great and famous Patriarchs as Abraham Isaac and Jacob did not understand how the world went with their posterity how can it be that the dead should at all take notice of the living or intermeddle with assisting them De cura pro Mort. c. 13. 16. I pray Sir observe that St. Austin here is so far from praying to Saints that he tells you they are so far from helping or assisting that they know not your affairs on Errth for they have not the least knowledge of our condition Therefore when he saith the Christians are helped by the Martyrs you must not understand help as a consequent of your Prayers to them but of your following those holy Rules and Examples they have left you for by their Examples they may be said to help men Another Authority you produce is St. Gregory Nazianzen in his twelfth Oration who you say having largely shewed how the Martyrs cure Diseases put the Devil to flight c. He adds where their Bodies only are the same effect is had as from their Souls whether they are touched or worshipped The Reliques of Saints are much in Esteem in your Church and no Christian I think should offer any Indignity to them were they not false and fictitious and put upon Men in order to deceive them and those things termed to be Reliques which indeed are not so and many of the supposed Miracles done by them so foolish that a Man hath no reason to expect any miraculous Effects from them but rather ought to set them at nought they being the Inventions of Men to deceive the Simple but with your pardon I think St. Gregory here only speaketh of the Miracles that have been done by the Bodies of the Saints that have suffer'd for the Testimony of Jesus I will not dispute the Truth that the Holy Father delivers but I think from these words you cannot yet justifie your Doctrine of praying to Saints The Bodies of Martyrs cure Diseases and put the Devils to flight say you therefore must we pray to the Saints and Martyrs I think it by no means will follow Another Authority you produce is St. Ambrose in his Sermon upon the Holy Martyrs Nazarius and Celsus Have you invocated the Martyrs saith he He hears you every where who is honoured in the Martyrs according to his Dispensation who weighs your Vows and dispenceth his Gifts in so much is a nearer presence of the Intercessor granted as the Faith of the Clyent is more devout These words you say are St. Ambrose's words and so do several of your Divines But Sir I will offer you another saying of St. Ambrose as you call him in his Sixth Sermon upon St. Margaret Redere debemus Sanctis honorisicentium que nobis salutem profusione suis sanguinis perpererunt qui tam sacra hostia pro nostra propitiatione Domino suo oblati We must yield Honour unto the Saints which have procured Salvation for us by their shedding of their Bloud which also were offered up unto the Lord so Holy a Sacrifice for our Salvation You must not think Sir that any Protestant Divines will take either of these for the sayings of St. Ambrose for your Divines have miserably corrupted this Father and made him speak such Blasphemies against God and his Christ which that Holy Father would never have uttered and especially in his Sermons upon the Feasts of the Saints And the reason why I offer this is because that I find St. Ambrose is corrupted by Eutropius one of your own Authors and instead of Dominici sanguinis consecrationem He saith Dominici sanguinis dispensationem and again we find him in his Funeral Oration upon Theodosius to say these words Tu solus Domine Invocandus es Tu Rogandus ut eum in filiis Representes Thou alone O Lord art to be Invocated Thou art to be Intreated to make up the want of him in his Sons If a Saint and Martyr might lawfully be prayed unto then St. Ambrose was not Orthodox in this Request he put up to God. If he were Orthodox in this then God only is to be Invocated and not the Saints wherefore I conclude that when you Represent him to Admonish his Hearers to call upon the Saints that then you make him speak what your Divines have Forged and not his own Sence And this doth further appear if you will but consider that the Prayer you call his makes the Creature Omnipresent which is an Incommunicable Attribute of Almighty God of which great Blasphemy that Holy Father would not be Guilty But I suppose your Lippomanus or your Amphilochius hath helped you to this Prayer for in the old Edition of St. Ambrose I cannot find the Title of this Sermon but if they should be the words of St. Ambrose you know the word Invoke doth not always
ista vel figment a Mendacium hominum vel protent a fallacium Spirituum Let no man say it is true for that or this Man hath wrought this or that Miracle for that Men make their Prayers at the Tombs of our Dead and obtain their Desires or for that these or these Miracles be wrought there c. Away with these things they may be either the Juglings and Mockeries of deceitful Men or else Illusions of Iying Spirits Aug. de Vnitate Ecclesiae Cap. 16. Again St. Chrysostome saith Per Signa cognoscabatur qui essent essent veri Christiani qui falsi nunc autem signorum operatio omnino levata est mag is autem Invinitur apud eos qui falsi sunt Christiani In old time it was known by Miracles who were the true Christians and who the false but now the working of Miracles is taken quite away and is rather found amongst them that are false Christians Chrysost in Matth. Hom. 49. Therefore St. Augustine saith Contra illos mirabiliar is cautum me fecit Deus meus dicendo in novessimis diebus exsurgent pseudo Prophetae facientes signa portenta ut inducunt in errorem si fieri possit etiam Electos Against these Miracle-Mongers my God hath armed me saying In the latter days shall arise false Prophets working Signs and Wonders to deceive if it be possible the Elect of God. Aug. in Johan Tract 13. Sir you have told us of a great many Miracles that have been wrought by the Bodies and Relicks of Saints and Martyrs But I wonder you being of the Society of Jesus would not give us one touch of the Relicks of St. Xaverius in East-India and of his Relicks at Rome nay there is scarce a Colledge of Jesuits in Christendom but have of them more or less and by those Relicks many Miracles have been wrought Why did you not prove that he might be Worshipped all over Christendom as well as any other Saint Why did you not give an account of the Miracles of the Saints of your Order in India Who by their Holy Water have driven Mice out of the Country and made barren Women to bare Children and such other wonderful Miracles But you are a modest Gentleman and would not therefore take notice of them at this time lest the World should not at this time of day be under any obligation to believe them or any part of them and as the World is now cautious so have Learned Men in all Ages Alexander of Hales saith In Sacramento apparet Caro interdum humana procuratione interdum operatione Diabolica In the Sacrament itself there appeareth Flesh sometimes procured by Men and sometimes by the working of the Devil Alex. de Hales Par. 4. Quest 53. Mem. 4. Therefore from hence observe that Miracles are not the Signs always of true Doctrine especially of the Doctrine you defend viz. Praying to and Worshipping of Saints Love you know is bountiful and as it hath produced a very fair Account of the Miracles wrought by the Relicks of Saints and the Bodies of your Martyrs so give me leave on my part to tell you what Miracles I have seen wrought by the Preaching of the glorious Gospel of our dear Redeemer the Blind see and the Dumb speak the faint-hearted are made couragious our Bishops are stout in the Cause of our blessed Lord our Presbyters speak now with the Tongues of Angels the Voice of our God is heard amongst us and the People are turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Antichrist to the obedience of the Gospel The Doctrine that is Preached amongst us is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow confounding Principalities and Powers Spiritual Wickednesses and High Places good Men are perfected the Body of Christ is edisied these Sir if you have Eyes to see are great Miracles Saint Chrysostom saith The Conversion of the World is a Miracle Chrysost in cor Hom. 6. St. Austin saith Modo Caro caeca non aperit Oculos Miraculo Domini Cor caecum aperit Oculos Sermone Domini Now adays the blind Flesh openeth not her Eyes by the Miracles of our Lord but the blind Heart openeth his Eyes at the Word of our Lord Aug. de verbis domin Secund. Mat. Ser. 18. Again Modo Aures corporis surdae non aperiuntur sed quam multi habent clausas Aures Cordis quae tamen verbo dei penetrante Patescant Now adays the deaf Ears of the Body be not opened but how many are there who have the Ears of their Heart shut up which notwithstanding are opened when the word of God that pierceth entereth I think that these Miracles are greater Arguments why we should Worship God through Jesus Christ then the Miracles of the Relicks and Monuments of the Martyrs are why you should Worship and Pray unto the Saints It may be you may not take it well if I should not take notice of your Miracles once more therefore I will I behold the Countenance of your Glorious Miracles Your Crosses they can speak and your Idols can go your Images can light their own Lamps your Holy Water is able to drive away Mice and to make barren women Fruitful and to calm the Sea. This I have learned from some of your own Writers but your Miracles and your Doctrine of Praying to Saints is much alike but I will conclude this Head with the Saying of St. Hierom Mendacium Antichristi Christi Veritas devorabit The Truth of Christ shall devour the Falshood of Antichrist Having examined your Doctrine that because the Relicks of the Martyrs are dispersed about into divers places and being honoured in their respective places where their Relicks are reposed that therefore they might be Worshipped in a thousand different places at one and the same time for which you produced several Witnesses and they being all considered you now proceed to shew that this Doctrine of Praying to Saints was authorised by four Councils held within the space of the first five hundred years after Christ By the Authority of those Councils you think you do your work First You cite the Council of Chalcedon and say That in the First General Council held there the Bishops belonging to the Patriarchate of Constantinople publickly in the Council and unopposed used this Invocation to Flavianus Flavianus lives after Death let the Martyr Pray for us And more you say you do not express in your Litanies to the Saints This was a Practice But I pray Sir where is the Injunction There is a Decree in your Chapter held at Tront That the Saints shall be Prayed unto If you can find such a Decree in the Council of Chalcedon I pray let us see it or else never pretend to cite the Authority of the Council I was big with expectation and truly did give myself the trouble to peruse and consider it but finding no
Decree in the case I therefore judge that your citing the Council was to little or no purpose the Practice of a number of Bishops being no Warrant for any Doctrine whatsoever unless approved allowed and decreed by a General Council You have met with sundry Debates amongst Learned Men that have not been opposed by the rest of the Council yet when the Question hath been put it hath been carryed against the Debates though they have appeared with a considerable Party But I will consider your Invocation here in the Council of Chalcedon The Words of your Invocation are these Flavianus lives after Death let him Pray for us I pray Sir do but consider the occasion of the Words There were two Persons that stood Candidates for the Bishoprick of Ephesus Bassianius and Stephen who both contended for that Bishoprick Bassianius appears before that Council and he having had this Flavianus to communicate with him in his Life-time and having been a great Favourite with him he because of that intimacy engaged the Bishops of the Obedience of Constantinople who cryed out in the Council in the behalf of Bassianius Flavianus the Martyr lives after Death he shall Pray for us Which is no more than this he shall intreat you to do us this favour as to give the Cause for Bassianus and confirm him Bishop of Ephesus let him Pray for us since he was a Martyr for the Faith let his Martyrdom oblige you to appear for his Friend These Bishops did not say Flavianus lives after Death he shall pray to God for us for you must understand these Bishops had made the Cause of Bassianus their own but he shall pray or intreat this Council for us This is a worthy proof for the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints for do but consider if it be given for granted that the intention of those Bishops was Let Flavianus pray to God for us What then doth it say Let us pray to Flavianus Here is not one Word of that nor indeed of the other Secondly You in the second place cite the Council of Gangrae Can. 20. If any one through Pride believing himself perfect accuse 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 Let them be accursed But I pray Sir why do you put these words in that is need not the Intercession of the Saints that is the greatest Folly that ever Men could be guilty of What Man of Learning could ever give this Explication of a Canon which the thing will in no wise bear But Sir I will forfeit all the skill I have if you can bring any of the Doctors of Sorbonne or any of the Congregation De propaganda fide that would produce this Canon of the Council of Gangra to prove that Praying to Saints was enjoyned by the Catholick Church Nay I will appeal to any of the Learned of your own Society whether they in their Consciences do believe that it looks like a proof to justifie that Doctrine The Canon being taken as you have laid it down says no more that they are accursed who shall take down the Monuments of the Martyrs or should believe that the Oblations made in those Holy Places were to be slighted or should in any measure reflect on those that did frequent the Meetings had and held where the Bodies of the Martyrs did repose Here is not one word of Praying to the Saints or of the Saints making Intercession for us Thirdly You produce the Council of Laodicea held in the Year 320 as allowing the Worshipping of the true Martyrs of Christ mentioning Churches built in their Honour over their Monuments whether the Christians resorted I perceive you are faint-hearted and durst not say the Sence of the Council of Laodicea see the 35 Canon where it was determined by that Council That Christians ought not to leave the Church and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden If any Man therefore be found giving himself to this secret Idolatry let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and hath applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. the Apostle saith He commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up thanks giving to God and the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea follow also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ. And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled in Laodicea a chief City in Phrygia forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Oecumenius hath much the same words upon the same place and here I am sure you find nothing of Praying to Saints but rather forbidden for if it be unlawful to Pray to the Angels and that be Idolatry then it is unlawful to Pray to the Saints for without doubt the latter is as lawful as the former In the Sixth and thirty sixth Canons of that Council you say That the Worshipping of Martyrs was as it were allowed or that I may not be charged for a Misrepresenter you say That you produced that Council as allowing the Worshipping the true Martyrs With what face can you assert that when those Canons speak nothing of the Worship of the true Martyrs The Council makes mention indeed of the resort of the Christians to the Churches of the Martyrs where they did use to pray but there is nothing in that Council that intimates any thing of the lawfulness or the necessity of Praying to Saints but rather forbids it Fourthly The last Council you cited is the fourth Council of Carthage held you say in the Year 368 not only Authorizing Christiansto meet in Churches Dedicated to Martyrs and even where-ever any Monument of a Martyr should be but commanding that all Altars should be demolished if there be not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected What is all this to the purpose The Council of Carthage say you Authorised Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs Ergo Prayers to Saints are lawful That the Councel ordered the demolishing of all Alters if there were not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected Ergo the Council did command Praying to Saints But if you will look into the third Council of Carthage you will find it against the Praying to Saints You are pleased to say that this was the most expressive method of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints The Council authorized Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs this was indeed an expressive method
able to give and I am he for whom they must be obtained being his Servant who observe him alone Apologetic c. 30. There is a Discourse of the Trinity by Novatian which is added to the Works of Tertullian in which you may meet this passage If Christ be only a Man Why is a Man called upon in our Prayers as a Mediator seeing that the Invocation of a Man is judged of no Efficacy to Salvation Why also is Hope reposed in him seeing Hope in Man is Accursed From hence observe that if Christ may not be Prayed unto if he were but a Man then the Saints who are but Men may not be prayed unto If Christ be but a Man he cannot be prayed unto as a Mediator therefore how can you justifie Praying to Saints as Mediators seeing they are but Men If a Prayer to a Man be of no Efficacy to Salvation then Prayer to Saints can be of no Efficacy to Salvation since they are but Men. If Christ were but a meer Man then why is Hope reposed in him the Saints being but Men Why should Hope be reposed in them for if you pray to Saints you must not only believe that they hear you but hope that they will answer you which hope is in vain because they are but Men. Observe what he saith further Si Homo tantum modo Christus quomodo adest ubique invocatus haec-Hominis Natura non sit sed Dei ut adesse omni loco possit If Christ be only Man how is he present being called upon every where seeing this is not the Man but God that can be present in every place De Trinit c. 14. The Saints being only Men how are they present being called upon every where they cannot be in all places it being the Nature of God only to be present in every place If the Omnipresence of God be the great Argument why we should call upon him every where then you can give no reason why the Saints should be called upon every where because they are not Omnipresent We could not justifie Praying to Christ every where as Mediator if he were but a meer Man because as such as he could not be in every place How then can you justifie Praying to Saints every where as Mediators sure they cannot as Men be in every place Observe what St. Ambrose saith in his Funeral Oration upon Theodosius the Emperour Tu solus Domine Invocandus es Tu Rogandus ut eum in filiis Representes Thou only O Lord art to be Invocated Thou art to be Intreated to make up the want of him in his Sons If this Holy Doctor saith true which is beyond all Contradiction then how can you justifie the Invocation and Prayer to Saints as it is practised in your Church Why might not St. Ambrose have applied himself to the Saints to make up the want of Theodosius in his Sons if that the Praying to Saints had been lawful And if the Praying to Saints be lawful how can this passage of that great Doctor be by you justified If you can but reconcile this you shall be my great Oracle for if God alone be to be called upon and Intreated then none else ought to be called upon and Intreated Why then are your Saints called upon and Intreated Consider that passage of St. Augustine in his Confessions he thus Prays unto God Quem invenirem qui me Reconciliaret tibi an eundem mihi fuit ad Angelelos qua prece quibus Sacramentis multi conantes ad te redire neque per seipsos volentes ficut audio tentaverunt haec inciderunt in disiderium curiosarum Visionem digni habiti sunt Illusionibus Whom shall I find that might Reconcile me to thee Should I go to Angels with what Prayer With what Sacraments Many endeavouring to return unto thee and not being able to do it by themselves as I hear have tryed these things and have often fallen into the Desire of curious Visions and were accounted worthy of Delusion If Angels and Saints had been Mediators as your Church saith they are then St. Austin could have lain under no great difficulty of finding some body to Reconcile him to God If praying to Angels had been a Doctrine according to Truth he would not have wanted a Prayer He saith Should I have gone to the Angels With what Prayer If praying to Angels had been a received Doctrine there would have been Directions given with what Prayer he should have gone to them and the very same may be said of the Saints Should we go then with what Prayer See what he farther saith I confess and know my Soul is Defiled But who shall cleanse it or to whom else should I cry besides thee Confess lib. 10. c. 41. Sir The Question had been altogether needless or else soon answered had your Doctrine been true the Distemper that he laboured under had soon been cured had your Practice been lawful If it were lawful for St. Austine to cry to none but to God and seek redress from him then why doth your Church engage us to call upon Saints and Angels There is another Saying of the same Father that doth appear against your Practice and Doctrine in Controversie in these words Divine singulariter in Ecclesia Catholica traditur nullam Creaturam collendam esse c. In the Catholick Church it is divinely and singularly delivered that no Creature is to be Worshipped by the Soul but only he that is Creator of all things De quantit Animae C. 34. It is apparent that the Word of God is against you for you have no warrant from thence for this assertion nay you have the express Words of Christ against it Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which Injunction was delivered by Moses to the Jews Deut. 6. 13. chap. 10. 20. And by the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 7. 3. with a Promise of their being deliver'd out of the hands of the Philistines and not only so but you have a Tradition of the Church Catholick Traditur saith the holy Doctor in Ecclesia Catholica nullam Creaturam collendam esse From whence I argue if no Creature is to be worshipped but God only who is the Creator of all things then the Saints who are but Creatures are by no means to be worshipped because Worship is only due to God for that he is the Creator of all things Again the same Doctor saith Christus Sacerdos est qui nunc Ingressus in interiora veli Solus ibi ex his qui Carnem Gustaverant interpellat pro nobis in cujus rei figura in illo primo populo in illo primo templo unus sacerdos intrabat in Sancta Sanctorum populus omnis foras stabat Jesus Christ is the Priest who being now enter'd within the Vail alone there of them that have been partakers of Flesh doth make Intercession for us in figure of which thing amongst that first People
Nay the Apostle makes this observation in ver 5. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Ps 2. 7. And observe verse 13. of this first Chapter to the Hebrews to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy Enemies thy footstool And if upon these Considerations this great Doctor useth this expression Why gape ye after Angels upon the same consideration I may say Why gape ye after the Saints To which of the Saints said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee or Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy footstool If God by not speaking this to the Angels doth shew that they ought not to be worshipped then it necessarily follows that the Saints ought not to be worshipped unless you can tell where and when God used such expressions to them as he used to his Son. Again we find that God made his Angels ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation and they being no more St. Chrysostome saith Why do you gape after Angels Then what can we expect from the Saints who are not so much as ministring Spirits who never were sent forth by God to minister for the People of God here upon Earth St. Chrysostom in his eighteenth Homily on the Epistle to the Romans saith Vnto whom shalt thou flee whom wilt thou call upon to fight for and help thee shall it be to Abraham he will not hear thee shall it be to these Virgins but they also shall impart none of their Oyl unto thee shalt thou call upon thy Father or Grandfather but none of them shall be able to release or relieve thee These Sayings considered worship and pray to him alone who hath power to blot out thine obligation and quench that flame You may observe the holy Father shews the vanity of those Men that have a recourse to the Saints departed and how they are disappointed that expect any Relief or Comfort from any other but God. Therefore the holy Doctor admonisheth Christians to have recourse to God alone who is able to help and to relieve them Now I pray if God alone is able to help and relieve us to what end is it for us to have recourse to Angels and Saints if they are not able to relieve us and release us And what warrant can you pretend from God to worship or pray to any other since this Holy Father saith You must worship and pray to God alone Again the same Father in his ninth Homily upon the Colossians he shews us that the Devil envying the Honour that we have to address our selves to God immediately hath brought in the Worshipping of Angels It is strange that you should practice that as an Institution of God which was but a meer Intention of the Devil and that the Council of Trent should define that as an Article of Faith which hath been Condemned by the Fathers of the Church Catholick as Sin and a manifest breach of our Duty and Obedience we owe to God and if that the Worshipping of Angels were an Invention of the Devil Then Sir I pray what reason have you or any sober Man to think that Worshipping of Saints can be an Institution of God and that you may see the latter as well as the former was a meer contrivance of Hell. I pray consider the Doctrine which holy Epiphanius did teach the Church in his time and largely refuting the Heresies of those who were called Collyridians from the Collyrides or Cakes which they used to offer to the Virgin Mary and says That neither Elias nor John nor Thecla nor any of the Saints are to be worshipped and again God will not have Angels to be worshipped much less her that was born of Anna And again which of the Prophets have permitted a Man to be worshipped much less a Woman The Virgin is a choice Vessel indeed but a Woman Let Mary be in honour but let the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be worshipped Let no Man worship Mary Epiph. Haeres 79. This Doctor is as plain as may be in the Point in debate They offered her Cakes and you Incense and Vestments and Candles If they were Hereticks in Epiphanius's time for worshipping the Virgin Mary what are you who do it now I have one Father more to offer to your Consideration and that is Lactantius who is a Doctor of great esteem with you observe what he saith Qui supplicant mortuis rationem hominum non tenent Lactant. Insti Divin Lib. 2. Cap. 18. It is a short Testimony but as plain as can be in opposition to your Doctrine of Praying to the Saints who are departed and can neither hear your Prayers nor are they in any capacity of granting your Desires This sort of Service must unman you for that you do not pray upon any good ground nor can you pray for any good end If you can let us know the Principle upon which you pray and the end for which you pray to the Saints for all Services that have not their Foundation upon good Principles and are not performed for a good end are so far from being Christian Services that those who perform them are scarce worthy of the Name of Men. I have taken some pains to make it appear that the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels is unlawful I have deliver'd you my thoughts freely in answer to those Authoiries which you have produced which at the first view had the aspect of Prayers but upon a strict observation they prove to be no more then Rhetorical Apostroplies those holy Fathers used not adoring the Saints for Religion but only honouring them to beget in their Hearers an holy imitation of their Vertue and to oblige them to follow those good Examples the Saints left behind them and then I have given you the Authorities of the most eminent Fathers both of the Greek and Latin Churches that with one consent condemn your Doctrine and Practice by you defended But in truth Sir Humane Writings are no Foundation of our Faith we have a more sure Rule of our Faith in this particular the Holy Scriptures which are the Word of God whereunto you will do well to take heed and no more endeavour to bring in the Authorities of humane Writers to stand in competition with the Holy Word of God that hath commanded us to worship and serve him alone and hath sworn by himself that he will not part with this Honour to another but if this doth not satisfie you I am ready to reply to any thing you shall further bring in to give countenance to the Point in hand as it is defined and determined in your Church Sir you were pleased in your Epistle to the English Peer to reflect upon the Ordination of the Church of England and in words at length you
at the present I am to seek Thirdly It is Sir in the third place highly destructive to the Mediation of Christ It destroys both his Glory and Power as a Mediator between God and Man. Our Divines have from the Scriptures satisfied those over whom they by the Holy Ghost were made Overseers and by our knowledge we have of the Scripture we are convinced that we have no other Mediator or Intercessor by whom we may have access to God but Jesus Christ in whose Name alone all things are obtained at the hands of his Eternal Father therefore we are much concern'd at the Vanity and Superstition we see in your Churches not only that your Mediators are without number though you know well Sir that St. Paul in the 1 Tim. 2. 6. saith There is but one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus Your Divines give it for granted that there is but one Mediator of Salvation but there are many Mediators of Intercession And thus with this fond Distinction they convey themselves away as if they had sufficiently acted their part But Sir be pleased to tell us that since you own that Christ alone is the Mediator of Salvation why do you pretend to call upon the Virgin Mary Salva omnes qui te glorificant Save thou all those that glorifie thee Here you intrude upon the Office of our dear Redeemer and make the Holy Virgin not only Mediator of Intercession but also of Salvation for by your Prayers and by the Practice of the Church of Rome even contrary to your own Distinction you desire Salvation of our Lady and so make her a Mediator not only of Prayer but of Salvation You shift off this and say That when you say Save us you mean no more but Pray for us that we may be saved but this is but shifting for you shift from Saving to Praying and from Praying to Saving at your pleasure but if you crave nothing from the Mother of Jesus but only her Prayer or Intercession I pray Sir what is the true meaning of these Words Meritis praecibus suae piae Matris here are not only Prayers but also Merits You still say that the only thing you crave from the Virgin is her Prayers What then will you do with those Words so often mentioned in your Offices Monstra te esse Matrem Shew thy self to be the Mother and let him know it that is to say Command him he is thy Son. I pray observe a Command cannot be Prayer Merits cannot be Prayer nor Salvation cannot be Prayer But Sir why should your Divines stand upon this Distinction since a fictitious Author that carryeth the name of St. Ambrose in Serm. 6. de S. Margareta writ thus Reddere debemus sanctis honorificentiam qui nobis salutem profusione sui sanguinis pepererunt qui tam sacra Hostia pro nostra propitiatione domino sunt oblati We must yield honour unto the Saints who have procured Salvation for us by the shedding of their blood who also were offered up unto the Lord so holy a Sacrifice for our Salvation If we have Salvation in and by the blood of the Saints then is not our blessed Lord the only Mediator of Salvation Therefore Sir how shall this be reconciled to your Doctrine or how will you reconcile your Doctrine to this of your young St. Ambrose for you say that Christ himself is the only Mediator of Salvation and your Author saith that Salvation is procured by the blood of the Saints also by which you may perceive your distinction will not serve your turn upon any terms whatsoever Therefore Sir give me leave to offer this to your consideration that the end and office of Christs Mediation of Intercession as also of Salvation is to reconcile us to God and to procure us Mercy which Christ performeth for he reconcileth us to God he presenteth us unto the Throne of Grace and therefore as St. Paul saith Rom. 8. 34. That he is at the right hand of God and maketh Intercession for us and that there is one Mediatour between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Tim. 2. 5. I confess that God hath commanded his Saints and Servants to Pray one for another but St. Paul never commanded the People to Pray to Saints I pray take notice of the words of St. Augustine Paulus non facit se Mediatorem inter Populum Deum sed Rogat ut pro se orent Invicem ontnia Membra Corporis Christi Paul maketh not himself a Mediator between God and the People but requireth that they Pray one for another they being all the Members of Christ's Mystical Body Aug. Epist Parmen Lib. 2. Cap. 8. And of St. John he saith Si Johannes ita diceret hoc scripsi vobis ut non peccetis siquis peccaverit Mediatorem me habetis apud Deum ego exoro pro peccatis vestris Sicut Permenianus quodam loco Mediatorem posuit Episcopum inter Deum Populum quis eum ferret bonorum atque fidelium Christianorum Quis sicut Apostolorum Christi non sicut Antichristium intueretur If St. John would say this I have written unto you that you sin not and if you sin you have me your Mediator before God and I will intreat for your Sins As Parmenian the Heretick in a certain place made the Bishop a Mediator between God and the People What good and faithful Christian could abide him Who would look upon him as the Apostle of Christ and not rather think him to be Antichrist Thus you may see that it is repugnant to the Sence of St. Augustine and other of the Doctors of the Church That Christ is the only Mediator of Salvation and that he is not the only Mediator of Intercession for whosoever takes that upon him is Antichrist St. Paul himself not assuming to himself the Office of a Mediator Why should we without any just ground judge and deem him so since no Man can take this honour to himself unless called of God as was Aaron to this High-Priesthood of Intercession which the Blessed Lord himself did not take upon him till he was thus called so that you may plainly see that St. Augustine is as positive as may be that no Man can be a Mediator of Intercession but Christ himself alone who ever liveth to make Intercession for us and your young St. Ambrose he saith That Christ is not alone the Mediator of Salvation Therefore what is become of your Distinction of his being the only Mediator of Salvation but not the only Mediator of Intercession And by the by be pleased to observe that Parmenianus the Heretick against whom St. Augustine wrote never thought that the Bishop was a Mediator of Salvation and yet St. Augustine saith That if St. John would have said so much of himself viz. That he had been a Mediator of Intercession he had not been the Apostle of Christ but rather should have been judged and taken for
Antichrist This Sir I humbly conceive is worthy of your Consideration And I hope that you will not for the future rely much upon that Distinction I must mind you of that Saying of the Prophet Where are thy Gods that thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble for according to the number of thy Cities are thy Gods O Judah Jer. 2. 28. chap. 11. 13. And according to the number of the Streets of Jerusalem have you set up Altars to the shameful Thing even Altars to burn Incense unto Baal So you have your innumerable Company of Saints to whom ye erect Altars insomuch that those of your Communion cannot tell to which Saint it were best to turn them first yet you have assighed every one of them their Office and direct your Disciples what things they ought to ask and what to give and what to bring to pass under their respective Protections without any manner of Warrant from the Word of God. But Sir be pleased to understand me I do not apply these false Gods to the Saints for that would be Blasphemy and it were to call them Idols which is absurd seeing that they see the Face of God evermore and are with God in Glory but in respect of those horrible Abuses and vain Fancies of those of your Communion the words of the Prophet may be justly applyed for you in your Imagination of the Saints of God you have made Idols and have so multiplied and increased the same that the number of them have exceeded the number of your Cities and Towns But Sir if you will give me your patience I will shew you that an eminent Light in the Church of God did apply these very words of the Prophet unto the Blessed Mother of Jesus being then abused most Idolatrously by the Hereticks Collyridians in the same manner as you abuse her and other Saints now even to the highest Idolatry it was the old Father Epiphanius Lib. 3. Haeris 79. Nequis comedat de Errore qui est propter Sanctam Mariam tam si enim pulchrum sit lignum tamen non'est ad Cibum si Pulcherrima est Maria Sancta Honorata at non ad Adorationem Hae vero Mulieris colentes Mariam rursus Renovant fortunae mixturam praeparant Mensam Diabolo non Deo quemadmodium Scriptum est pascuntur cibo impietatis rursus Faeminae terunt Pollinem Filiis colligunt Ligna ut faciant Placentas Oleo subactus Reginae Caeli Compescantur Jeremia tales Mulieres ne turbant Orbem Terrarum ne dicant Honoramus Reginam Coeli Let no Man feed upon this Error touching St. Mary for though the Tree be fair yet is not the Fruit to be eaten and though Mary be Beautiful Holy and Honourable yet is she not to be Adored But these Women Worshipping St. Mary run again to the Sacrifice of Wine mingled in the Honour of the Goddess Fortune and prepare a Table for the Devil and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures they are fed with the meat of wickedness and again their Women boult flower and their Children gather sticks to make Cakes in honour of the Queen of Heaven therefore let such Women be rebuked by the Prophet Jeremiah and let them no more trouble the World and let them not say We worship the Queen of Heaven Here you may see Sir that these words were spoken of the filthy Idols of the Heathen and by this holy Father applied to the Mother of our Lord not to deface that blessed Woman but to declare the fond Errours of those Hereticks what is done less to that great Saint in those Countries that pay Obedience to the Church and See of Rome than these Hereticks did of whom this holy man thus complaineth Do you not offer to her Candles Incence Garments Jewels of Silver and Jewels of Gold Are not by pretence of Worship your Churches inriched And all this you do because you say She is the great Mediator of Intercession But you pay the same Homage to her if not more as you do to her Son the Redeemer of the World. You pray to her to save and defend you in Body and Soul now and in the hour of death for you call her The Queen of Heaven the Lady of Angels you say to her Command thy Son shew thy self to be a Mother Your Cardinal Bembus telleth the Virgin Dominam Deam Nostram Bemb in Epist ad Carolum 5. Ambrosius Catharinus one of the Council of Trent Sess 2. calleth the Virgin God's Fellow Fidelissima ejus Socia Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal of Rome saith Excitat Lib. 8. Hoc cedit ad Laudem dei Virginis Mariae Matris quod ipso suo principatu Authoris mortis nullo unquam tempore fuit non indiguit virgo Liberatore qui ipsam absolveret a sententia in Adam in posteres Lata Maria non est deleta de Libro Mortis quia nunquam in eo scripta fuit This thing turneth to the praise of God and of the Virgin Mary the Mother that she never was at any time under the power of the Author of Death that Virgin needed no Deliverer that should ransom her from the Sentence pronounced against Adam and his Posterity Mary was never razed out of the Book of Death for she was never written in it When our Nation did profess the Romish Religion I meet with a Council held at Oxford where the Name of Christ is quite left out and Mary's Name put in for thus it beginneth Authoritate Dei Patris Baeatae Virginis omnium Sanctorum By the Authority of God the Father and the Blessed Virgin and of all Saints Do you not in your Offices call her Mediatrix and Redemptrix Why then do you shuffle off your Hearers with this distinction that Christ alone is the Mediator of Salvation and that the Virgin and Saints are only Mediators of Intercession and not of Salvation I would once more pray you to observe how you contradict your own Doctrine left by men whose Authority was not to be question'd by any that did succeed them If your St. Ambrose saith true The Saints by shedding their Bloud did purchase Salvation for us how comes it to pass that they are not Mediators of Salvation But if they did not purchase Salvation for us I pray how comes it to pass that they are Mediators of Intercession When did this Priesthood of theirs commence When did God say to any one of them Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Saints did not glorifie themselves to be made Priests nor did God call them to that Priesthood that should intitle them to such a Mediatorship that you would put upon them and Christ himself had not glorified himself to be made an High-Priest but God glorified him and said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Heb. 5. 8. From all which Sir we may
conclude that if your Doctors are in the right your Ambrose and your Bembus and your Ambrosius Catharinus your Cusanus if they be in the right and your Offices the which I have by me are in the right then the Virgin Mary and the rest of the Saints are Mediators of Salvation as well as Jesus Christ and upon that consideration you must part with your fond distinction between being a Mediator of Salvation and of Intercession Now if it be true that none ever arrived to that Priesthood but Christ himself who was called of God as was Aaron Heb. 5. 7. and he took not the Office upon him till God did so call him then how dare you thrust this Office upon them which is only due to Jesus Christ And because he is the Great High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession the Angels of God are commanded to worship him And till you prove the Saints to be such you must pardon us we will pay them no Worship we do praise God for them but we will not pray to them Sir I know you make a great account of the Virgin Mary upon the consideration that she was the Mother of our Lord It was a great Honour and Grace that God Almighty conferred upon her and therefore you run into those extravagant ways of worshipping her Truly I with very good assurance do affirm that it is a greater Honour to be a Child of God than to be the Mother of Jesus Christ Observe what St. Augustine saith Beatior ergo Maria fuit percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo carnem Christi Materna propinquitas nihil Mariae profuisset nisi felicius Christum Corde quam Carne Gestassit Mary was more blessed in that she received the Faith of Christ than that she conceived the Flesh of Christ Motherly kindness could have done Mary no good unless she had born Christ more blessedly in her heart than she bear him in her flesh Aug. de Sancta Virginitate cap. 3. Again he saith Mater mea quam appellastis foelicem unde foelix est quia verbum Dei custodivit non quia in illa verbum caro factum est My Mother whom ye have called blessed therefore is blessed because she hath kept the Word of God not because the Word in her was made Flesh Aug. in Joh. Tract 10. To the words of this holy Doctor give me leave to joyn the words of Christ himself in Luke 11. 27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things that is while he preached to the people a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it I pray you to observe the words of Epiphanius Lib. 3. Haeres 79. con Collyridianos Christus dixit quid mihi tibi est mulier nondum venit hora mea quò non putarent aliquis magnis eximium esse Sanctam Virginem mulierem eam appellavit voluti prophetans quae essent futura interra sectarum Haereseon genera ut ne aliqui nimium admirari Sanctam in hanc Haeresim ejusque deliramenta delebantur est enim Ludibrium tota Res Anicularum fabula ut ita dicam tota Haeresis tractatio Christ saith unto his Mother Woman what have I to do with thee my hour is not yet come Lest any man should think the Virgin Mary was of greater Excellency he called her Woman as it were prophesying of the kinds of Sects and Heresies that were to come into the World lest any man having too great an Opinion of that holy Saint should fall into the Heresie and the Dotage of the same for indeed the whole matter is but a Mockery and Old Wives Tale and truly to say nothing else but the handling of an Heresie You see St. Epiphanius his Judgment of the Worship that is due to the Virgin Mary We do not find him to call her Redemptrix or Mediatrix he takes no notice at all of that but in plain words tells you that she is not to be worshipped Now if she had been in any sence a Mediator she would have had some title to be worshipped and adored In short Sir you can never prove her in any case whatever to be a Mediator Then do you not do the greatest affront and contempt to Jesus Christ by applying your selves to her as a Mediator or to any other Saint whatsoever Do you not in your Offices pray to them all that they through their merits would obtain for you life everlasting But Sir to be plain with you it is necessary that you consider that there are as the effects of Christ's death for us three great Products which are the Rule and Measure of our Prayers and of our Confidence 1. Christ's Merits 2. His Satisfaction And 3. His Intercession By these three we come boldly to the Throne of Grace and pray to God through Jesus Christ But if we pray to God through the Saints too and rely upon their Merits Satisfaction and Intercession do we not make them equal to Christ in the great Office of his Priesthood You know very well that this is the publick avowed Practice of the Church of Rome to rely upon the Saints Intercession to be made valid by the Merits of the Saints together with their Satisfaction for if by the shedding of their Bloud for the Church hey purchased Salvation for the Church then by shedding their Bloud for the Church they made satisfaction for the sins of the Church So that you make the Virgin Mary and the Saints equal if not superiour to Christ in the great Work of obtaining Salvation for us Give me leave Sir to put you in mind of some of your Prayers that have been used and whose use still continues in your Church In the first place take notice of a Prayer to one Etheldred an English Saint in these words Look O most gracious Virgin upon our Troubles which we most deservedly sustain and by the Merits and Intercession of thy Holiness both appease the Anger of the Judge whom we have offended and obtain that Pardon which we have not deserved Sacrum Breviary fol. 100. In the Office of the Hours as it is used at Rome Omnes Sancti Sanctae Dei subvenite mihi ut per merita vestra per venire valeam ad eternae beatitudinis Patriam There is another Prayer in the Roman Breviary directed to St. Jude in English it is thus We pray thee O St. Jude the Apostle that by thy Merits thou wouldest drive me from the custom of my sins and snatch me from the power of the Devil and advance me to thy invisible power I pray consider another Prayer in your Offices for the Sunday before the Ascension of our Lord made to St. Mary Magdalen in these words O Mary Magdalen hear our Prayers which are full of Praises
divales Sacras Jussiones de veniendo aut mittendo ad Concilium recepit The Authority of the Council doth not so depend upon him by whom it was Summoned so that unless it be Summoned by the Pope it can be no Council for so we shall avoid the first eight General Councils for we read they were Summoned by the Emperour and not by Popes and the Pope received the Emperour's Majesty's Commandment to come or send to Councils as other Patriarchs did And your own Writers have owned that the Council of Ephesus which was the third General Council was held under Theodosius the younger and by his Order that Holy Father did preside and not from any Legantine Authority he received from Pope Coelestine Here you fail in this particular and therefore we have just cause to question the whole But this shall suffice as to the first Enquiry 2. I pray how do you prove that Cyril spake this in the Name of the whole Council For if that the whole Council was not for Praying to the Saints and Angels he could not be said to speak in their Names Then how could he in their Names make such an Address to the Virgin without being deputed by them If it had been said by you that he did in the Name of Theodosius the Emperour make this Prayer you had said something for Praying to Saints was then scarce heard of in the Church of God. I confess toward the latter part of the fourth Century it began to creep into the Church but was questioned again by the Council of Carthage and the Council of Laodicea both which Councils determined against the Invocation of Saints and Angels In the 35 Canon of the Council of Laodicea it was thus determined That Christians ought not to leave the Church of God and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden Let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. The Apostle saith he commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up our Thanksgiving unto God the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea following also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled at Laodicea the chief City of Phrygia and forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Can it then be supposed that the whole Council of Ephesus should be agreed in the Point of Praying to Saints and Angels Since both these Councils had determin'd against it how then could St. Cyril do this in the Name of the whole Council For it is well known that there was yet never any General Council that had determin'd for it 3. Let us know Sir how you prove that ever St. Cyril did speak those Words or make such a formal Prayer as you pretend he made I have given myself the trouble of Reading the Council of Ephesus but I find nothing at all of the business and therefore you would do well to examine that Council once more and let us have the Prayer in Greek without an c. But I will tell you I have great reason to suspect the truth of it because I perceive you take it upon the credit of Baronius who was one of your own Writers and therefore worthily suspect it for certainly it was his design in all his History to promote the Doctrine and Interest of the Church and See of Rome If you would shew us St. Cyril's Speech it would go a great way further as to its reputation Yet Sir consider your Divines have falsified that Council of Ephesus and have represented that Council to have determin'd against administring the Communion in both Kinds which is a meer falshood because the Cup was not denyed to the Laity for several hundred years after But if it were taken away why was there no Decree made thereupon that is extant in that Council nor any mention of by any Learned Man within a great time after and those that laid first that Doctrine upon the whole Council might as easily make a Speech for St. Cyril and a Prayer for him too to the Virgin Mary the better to give countenance to that way of Worship The next proof you bring sorth is a Prayer of St. Gregory Nyssen unto St. Theodore in these words Martyr use the liberty you enjoy speak for your Fellow-Servant you have conquer'd the World but you have not forgotten the Passions and Necessities our human Condition is liable unto Ask for Peace that those Publick Meetings may continue that the enraged and wicked Barbarians may not plunder and destroy our Churches and Altars that no impious Man tread the Holy Thing under-foot for we that have been untouched and alive do own ourselves obliged to you for that Blessing and will ask your Protection and Security for the future No doubt but St. Theodere might be a Worthy Saint and Martyr of Christ to whom this St. Gregory might use a Rhetorical Apostrophe tho he were not present in Person yet he might be present by his Picture or some Monument that was set up in the Honour of so great a Saint But Sir Remember the Psalmist He calls upon Angels to Praise God and all the Hosts of Heaven the Sun the Moon and all the Stars of Light he calls upon Dragons and all Deeps he calls upon the Fire Haile Snow and Vapour to Praise God not that the Fire did hear him or the Sun Moon and Stars or Mountains Hills fruitful Trees or Cedars did hear him yet here was Invocation but answer me plainly Were these Words spoken by way of Adoration Was this a Formal Prayer to St. Theodore or only an acknowledgment only that God for the Sake of that Saint had preserved the Church You know that God did for the Sake of Abraham shew many favours to the People Israel and for the Sake of St. Paul a whole Ships Company were preserved as you may see in Acts 27. 24. Fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and so God hath given thee all them that Sail with thee as in the same Sence that the People that Sailed with Paul were obliged to Paul for their Preservation In the same Sence doth this Holy Gregory tell St. Theodore that those who had escaped the Cruelties of the Barbarians and were alive they were obliged to him for that Mercy but you will say that St. Gregory saith That we own our selves obliged to you for this Preservation and we will ask your Protection for the future That is the same Protection he doth not pray to St. Theodore to
which was soon after Eusebius knew him not neither had he ever seen or spoken with him before Nazianzen in vita Basilii and Greg. Presb. in vita Nazianz. Your Amphilochius saith that Basil was Bishop of Caesaria in the time of Julian the Emperour whereupon he tells a great many fond Fables of that Holy Basil Nazianzen his nearest Friend saith that he was chosen a Bishop there a long time after in the time of Valens the Emperour and was not there Bishop all the time of Julian Your Amphilochius tells a Canterbury Story how that St. Mercury being then dead and a Saint in Heaven at the Command of the Virgin Mary took his own Speare out of his Chappel where it was kept and went out of the same into the Field and slew the Emperour Julian and that the same Speare was found bloudy afterwards Nazianzen Socrates and Sozomen and Theodoret say It could never be known by whom that cursed Apostate was slain Nazianz. in Oratione contra Julianum Socrat. Lib. 3. c. 18. Soz. lib. 6. c. 2. Theod. lib. 3. c. 25. Your Amphilochius tells us that Basil foretold the Death of Julian but Theodoret saith it was one Julianus Saba and not Basil Theodoret. Lib. 3. c. 2. Your Amphilochius saith that Valens the Emperour did yield unto Basil and gave him place but Sozomen saith that the Emperour persisted in his Resolution and would not yield but persisted in his Obstinacy against St. Basil Your Amphilochius saith that Nazianzen was present at St. Basil's Burial but Nazianzen in his Monodia saith he came after his Burial and was not present of these two which must we believe Gregorius Presbyter that wrote Nazianzen's Life saith that he came a great while after that Basil was buried but your Amphilochius saith that Nazianzen came in and saw the blessed Body and fell upon it when it was buried upon which you may see that your Author did not lay his Lyes together so close but that they may be detected for if St. Gregory Nazianzen saw St. Basil's Body how was it buried if it were buried how could he see the Body but you may see where the Prayer to St. Basil was invented for he saw the Body saith Amphilochius and from thence we conclude that he is your Author for this Prayer Now Sir What Credit can we give to this Author that hath set himself up to contradict Authors that are even to this day of great Credit with the Divines of your Church I wonder that you should Rank him amongst the Fathers that is so young as to write the Life of Thomas Becket which was seven hundred years after your Divines suppose him to have lived and in quoting this Author you very much betray your self for do but observe the Impudence of the Man to pretend that he wrote St. Basil's Life and that St. Basil dedicated his Book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto him the said Amphilochius Since Nazianzen reckoning up all St. Basil's Books in his Monodia and passeth that Book by as none of his and Sozomen writeth Lib. 3. c. 13. that it was judged not to be St. Basil's but the Work of one Eustathius a notable Heretique a Book full of Superstition and wicked Doctrine and condemn'd by the Council of Gangra praefat in Concil Gangren but you did consider better of it and therefore omitted that Author in your Letter to Mr. Needham Another Instance for praying to Saints is Nectarius Patriarch of Constantinople who as you say preceded St. Chrysostom This Prelate having given an account why St. Theodore's Feast was kept on the Saturday of the first week in Lent to wit in Thanksgiving to the Saint for having in a Vision forewarned the Patriarch of Constantinople that Saint during the Persecution of Julian that the Apostate designed to pervert or destroy all the Christians by permitting no Meat to be sold in the Market but such as had been offer'd to the Idols and besprinkled with the Bloud of those abominable Victims and advis'd him to prepare such a provision of Bisquets as would suffice his Flock to feed upon Whilst the Markets were thus shut up to them and for having thus secured their Religion and Lives he makes this following Prayer to the Saint The words of the Prayer you say are these O Splendor of the Martyrs Glory of the Saints O worthy Gift of God O Vnconquered Keeper and Defender of the Faithful be not unmindful of our Poverty and Dejectedness but vouchsafe thou always to pray for us O most Admirable Man nor do thou despise us who are daily assailed by Julian the Spiritual one who both then and now is the Author of Evil the Enemy of our Souls for we believe that you live after Death Thou then who art yet alive in Christ and standeth near unto him endeavour by thy Prayers to make him Gracious unto us thy Servants that freed by thee from the present Miseries we may attain unto the happiness that is there reserved for us I pray good Sir in what part of Nectarius his Works is this Prayer found What Historian that writes his Life hath this Prayer There is one Euthymius that your Divines suppose to be an Ancient Greek Father I thought you would have quoted him but I commend you for your Modesty you have recourse to Bellermine who directs you to Lippomanes who I suppose you do not esteem an Ancient Father for he was Bishop of Verona he filled two mighty Volumes of this Stuff which were printed at Venice and Lovaine about a 120 years ago This Father Aloysius Lippomanes you will find to have no Credit he being so young an Author besides it 's well known that Julian was dead twenty years before Nectarius was installed in that Patriarchate of Constantinople and therefore sat not in the time of Julian's Persecution and stood in no need of St. Theodore's Advice in that business of providing of Bisquet for his Flock which your Lippomanes takes no notice of and if no such Restraint were put upon the Christians by the said Julian then what Obligation lay upon Nectarius to return St. Theodore thanks and that there could be no such design of Julian in the time of the said Nectarius for that he was as I observed before dead twenty years before Nectarius was Patriarch of Constantinople The last Prayer you offer was that of St. Gregory Nazianzen O Venerable Virgin chast and most happy hear my Voice benignly and grant me that which is chief of all viz. That departing this Life I may find thee to be my Patron This is another of your Prayers you say but this smells so like the Church of Rome that I must suspect it till you are pleased to tell me where you find this Prayer in the Works of St. Nazianzen Doth not your Amphilochius help you here at a dead lift Gregorius Presbyter that wrote the Life of Nazianzen saith nothing of it nor do I find it in any of his Works If Amphilochus doth
not I pray how far doth your Aloysius Lippomanes give you his assistance For they are a couple of Fathers your Church hath of late coyned to help them in the time of need but if you did find it in Nazianzen I pray tell us where that we may give you a more satisfactory Reply but if you have none but your young Authors we judge it a Forgery of your Church Then you proceed to produce your Authority from those Fathers which did defend the Practice of Invocation of Saints and the first you produce is that of St. Gregory Nyssen which I have replyed to already and will say something more You tell us that in his Oration upon St. Theodore that he saith The Christians call on the Martyr as on God's Minister who being Invocated by them is able to impetrate for them what Favours he pleaseth To this Sir give me leave to say That where the Fathers are contrary to the Word of God there we must leave them where they are agreeable there we do agree with them but you have so ordered the matter that you make the Fathers speak your own sence by your frequent Forgeries putting that upon them which they never speak or else leaving out what they did really say And this Father's Expression doth look like a Forgery of your Church for I find in the Life of St. Theodore written by St. Gregory Nyssen who wrote it with much Eloquence in the Praise of the Church where the Monument of that Holy Martyr was kept and speaks of the Excellency of the Image that was made for the said Saint which did so lively represent him as if the whole Story of him were written in a Book And in his Oration upon that Martyr he doth by a passionate Apostraphe direct himself to the Image but that he prayed to that Saint as if he could hear him that I deny Because that in his Writings against Eunominus he saith We are to Worship and Adore that Nature alone which is uncreated whose Character is this That it neither at any time began to be nor ever shall cease to be Contr. Eunom Lib. 5. But from these Words of St. Gregory you cannot prove such an Invocation as points the least at any Adoration intended by him to this or any other Saint but certain it is that this extravagant way of speaking to St. Theodore is by no means to be justified it being repugnant to the Word of God and tending to the countenancing of an heathenish Custom viz. Of bringing Images into the Churches Euseb Lib. 7. Cap. 16. Who saith That the Use of Images was brought into the Churches first by the Heathens and St. Hierom tells you the decking of them was to deceive the simple Argento Auro decoravit illud ut fulgore utriusque Materiae dicipiat simplices qui quidem Error ad nos usque transivit ut Religionem in divitiis arbitremur Hieron in Jer. Lib. 2. Cap. 10. He adorneth his Image with Silver and Gold that by the lustre and glory of both these Metals he may deceive the simple which Errour crept in amongst us so that now we think our Religion standeth in Riches I say this was the consequence of those high flown Apostrophes and Invocating them though they intended no Worship to them for they were convinced that the Saints could not hear them therefore the end of their calling upon them was the more to induce their Hearers to follow the good Example of these Saints whose Works they magnified and in their transports of Zeal they did call upon them as some of the Fathers did upon other things which I am sure they did never believe that they were capable of hearing them Thus it was with this holy Nyssen in this Oration upon St. Theodore and means and intends no Prayer at all to be made to him but only a naming his Name and Works that his good Example might be followed Your Doctrine of the Saints Intercession is no ways proved for St. Gregory intends no more than to shew you that those who name his Name and profess the Faith he professed and that the consideration of his holy Life and glorious Martyrdom working in them a willingness of obedience to the Will of God they might obtain those Favours God usually bestows on his Church Blessings suitable to the great Sufferings and Services of his Saints and this all Protestants do own that God for the sake of his Saints that have been eminent in their day hath been pleased to shew great Mercy to his People by their Example of Holiness and Obedience and couragious Sufferings many have been brought to God and many have been confirmed in the Faith of Jesus Christ and an holy emulation hath been by this means occasion'd amongst Christians who should out-vie each other in Practices suitable to the glorious Gospel which they profess in the World by following the Examples of those Saints whose Names they had in continual remembrance You say That St. Basil is evidently plain the Martyr called by his Name sheweth himself present to as many as call by his Works Behold say you he useth the same terms which express the Invocation of God in Zachary Sir I must own that the Saints of God have left sweet Memorials of their Holiness and Piety and in this Sence they may be said to be present but by calling upon the Saints the holy Doctor doth not at all imply any Prayer to them but only professing the Holiness and Faith for which they laid down their Lives I pray Sir observe the words of the Prophet Zachary 13 chap. 9. They shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God. Where the words of the Prophet are not so much to be understood an actual Prayer to God as an acknowledgment of him and these words I will hear them we may understand thus much I will own them Those shall be owned by Almighty God that acknowledge him both in respect of his Justice in correcting them and in his Mercy in preserving them which explication of the words is justified by the following words I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God. And Sir give me leave to tell you that St. Basil saith thus much and no more That the Christians have great reason to own the Martyrs and are justified in so doing for that they art yet present by their own Works and by those good Examples they have left us St. Paul saith Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity So let every one that nameth the Name of this or that Saint or Martyr depart from Iniquity let Men not only call them by their Names or pretend to own them by an outward Profession only since they are present by their Works that is their Examples are left for us to follow But what reason you had to bring this
Saying of St. Basil to prove your Doctrine of the lawfulness of the Practice of your Church in Praying to Saints And why you should think to corroberate your Authority with the Saying of the Prophet Zachary that I must leave to you to consider of for at the present I do not see any tendancy that way by the words of St. Basil Another Testimony you produce was an Observation of St. Augustine on the Blessing of Job Gen. 48. to wit that not only Exaudition but Invocation is used in reference to Men as well as to God where your Printer I conceive was mistaken for there was no mention made of the Blessing of Job but there is mention made of the Blessing of Jacob in the fifteenth and sixteenth Verses of that Chapter where the Text saith That Jacob blessed Joseph and said God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac walked and the God which fed me all my life long until this day The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads and let my Name be named on them and the Name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a Multitude in the middest of the Earth Now I pray Sir what do you infer from these words I suppose that you lay some stress upon these words The Angel which delivered me from all evil bless the Lads and from the Names used of Abraham and Isaac you would prove the Lawfulness of the Invocation of Angels and that the Saints do interceed for us that could not be Jacob's meaning For Sir it was not Angelus Domini that Jacob points at but at Angelus Dominus who is called the Angel of the Covenant and him only Jacob doth Invoke for a Blessing for when he saw this Angel he saith I have seen God face to face and my Life is preserved Gen. 32. 30. And that the naming of Abraham and Isaac doth imply the Intercession of Abraham and Isaac in the behalf of his two Grandchildren is an Errour for according to the Sence of Bellarmine one of your own Church and Order it was not the manner under the Old Testament for Men to apply themselves to the Saints and he gives this reason The Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see the Face of God therefore if this be true you must not conclude the Doctrine of the Intercession of the Saints from these words or that they were to be prayed unto You further cite St. Augustine and you bring him in saying The Christian People celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs a Religious Solemnity both to excite an imitation of them and that they be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers That the Christians did meet to praise God together for the holy Lives and happy Deaths of God's most blessed Saints and Martyrs Sir is no question and that they did it in a most Religious Solemn Manner is beyond all doubt and that they did in order to follow these good Examples that were recorded of these Saints is as clear And what of all this They did Meet together to celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs Ergo They prayed to them They met to Celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs to excite an Imitation of them Ergo They prayed to them This is not Logick fit for a Man of your Station and Character certainly no such Logick was taught in any of your Philosophy Schools at Liege You may know that in such Religious Assemblies congregated for the commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs the Priests did recite the Names of the Martyrs together with some short account of their holy Lives and heavenly Exits they made and of the Miracles that were wrought by them but I do not observe any Prayer or Prayers were made to them they did praise God for them and did pray to God to give them Grace to follow their good Examples and performed many Works of Charity in token of the sincerity of their Prayers But I do not find that any Direction is given by that holy Father for any Adoration or Worship to be paid to them You will say the great end for which they did Celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs was that they might be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers Here are two things worthy of observation 1. What is to be understood by being made partakers of the Merits of the Martyrs 2. What is to be understood by being assisted by their Prayers and both these seriously considered may I humbly conceive satisfie any reasonable Man. To the first then by the Merits of the Saints I apprehend the holy Doctor intends no more than those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued both in their Lives and at their Deaths and that those that did meet together to commemorate these Martyrs did pray for those Gifts and Graces with which these Martyrs were indued and by which they arrived to that degree of perfection that their Lives and Deaths were Sacrifices with which God was well pleased therefore to infer that because the Christians meet together to commemorate the Martyrs to the end they might be made partakers of those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued from on high That therefore they prayed to the Saints is a consequence which you would not allow in any other case whatsoever And Secondly consider the words of that great Saint and light of Gods Church and let us see what is to be understood by being assisted by the Prayers of the Martyrs I have observed that the blood of the Martyrs do cry How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood Revel 6. 10. Abels blood it did call to Heaven Gen. 4. 10. If you will call this praying the point will soon be at an end If by these prayers the faithful may be said to be in a sort assisted then you and I shall not need to debate the Controversie any further for we shall soon put a period to this difference Nay Sir your own Divines from those words in the Revelations do teach That the Saints of God are present at their Tombs and Monuments and Relicks and have cited St. Jerome to prove the same And therefore I perceive it is that the Christians did meet together to commemorate the Martyrs at their respective Tombs or Monuments because from thence their cry did go to Heaven and by virtue of such Prayers and crys of these Martyrs the Church received benefit for calling for vengeance upon the wicked implies a calling for Mercy upon the Church In this sence they may be said to pray as blood may be said to have a Voice and Cry and doth it follow that because their blood doth pray and their blood hath a voice and doth Cry that we must pray to them I pray Sir in your next lay your Arguments a little closer and conclude aright from your Premises The Martyrs Prayers do assist
imply Prayer but an Acknowledgement and the word here is sometimes taken for to own as that in Zach. 13. 9. So that the Holy Father if he did use those words he neither intended any Adoration to be paid to these Saints but only an Acknowledgment of their Graces and great Holiness and Faith in their Services and Sufferings for Christ and these were owned as Honourers of those Saints As for the Intercession there mentioned I never Read of any but that of their Blood which from under the Altar cryeth to Heaven but that any Man was justified or accepted or had a promise of being accepted but he that came to God in the Name of Christ alone I never read or heard of from the Scriptures In a word the Prayer as you call it is a muddy sort of business and scarce Sence as you have represented it You bring in Gregory the Great affirming that greater Miracles are often wrought where the Saints Bodies are not that our Mind being fixed upon God our Faith may have a greater Merit for as much as we know they repose not there and yet believe that they fail not to hear and grant our Requests I confess it is true that where the Primitive Christians did more trust in God that greater Miracles were wrought then by the Bodies of the Saints and those that have fixed their Minds upon God have received Eminent Favours from God as a Reward of their Faith But what of all this what have you to say to St. Gregory He is here brought in by you but I pray for what He doth indeed tell you that greater Miracles were wrought where the Bodies of the Saints were not therefore doth it follow that you must pray to them Nay the Bodies of the Saints not being there occasion'd some of the Christians to have their Minds fixed upon God Ergo the Prayer to Saints is lawful and they that have their Minds thus fixed their Faith hath a greater Merit therefore Prayers to Saints are lawful The Christians did know that their Bodies were not reposed in the Church where they were praying and this was an Argument of a strong Faith and therefore the Practice of the Church of Rome in praying to Saints is lawful You say St. Gregory saith That they hear and grant our Request That is we are owned and obtain favour from Heaven upon the consideration of our following their good Example for as God did much for the People of Israel for Abraham's Sake and saved a Ships Company for St. Paul's Sake if you will have it so worded And when God did shew any particular Favour to any Man for his Esteem that he had of God's Servants that were Martyrs it was often attributed to the Saint not believing that they did do it but only to ingage them to Honour the Memory of the Saints and to follow their good Examples But I think Sir St. Gregory the Great is somewhat too young an Author to be brought upon the Stage to prove this Doctrine You advanced next as Witnesses to your Doctrine by you defended those Fathers who owned that the same Saints Reliques lay in several places were Honoured in and carried about to distant places the Evident import whereof is that the Saints may be worshipped in many nay in a thousand different places In a word wherever the God of Saints is as St. Ambrose you say observes who every where manifests these Prayers to his Saints and grants the Blessings asked by their Intercession These Sir are your own words what proof have you for this What doth St. Ambrose observe he observes you say That the God of these Saints is every where and so do I and all Protestants and we believe that he doth hear us at all times and in all places Doth St. Ambrose say that therefore we must Worship the Saints Because God heareth us every where therefore must we pray to the Saints They make Intercession for those that pray to God and have Blessings granted by their Intercession How comes this to pass God saith St. Ambrose reveals it to them Suppose all this be true Doth it therefore follow we must pray to them because by Virtue of a Divine Revelation or Manifestation they come to understand that we have made our Prayers to God. This is not a way of Arguing that becomes a Grave Father of the Society The God of these Saints is every where therefore we ought to pray to him only as that Father saith But I pray in your next tell us where St. Ambrose makes this Observation and upon what Occasion Till then I cannot see any just Reason you have to bring in St. Ambrose for a Voucher I believe he will stand you in little stead But having taken your leave of St. Ambrose you then begin to produce your main Witnesses in Defence of your Doctrine The first you produce is St. Gregory Nazianzen What would you have him to prove Would you have him to prove that the Saints Relicks lying in several places and being Honoured in and carried about to distant places they may be Worshipped in many yea in a thousand different places I pray what saith St. Gregory He attests that a little Dust the least Splinter of their decayed Bones a Lock of their Hair their Clothes some drops though almost worn off of their Bloud have as much Worship paid as their whole Body that the very calling of the place by the Martyrs Name was known to him to have as much Efficacy as if the whole Body had lain there I am much surprized at this Authority or Witness for here is not one word to justifie the Doctrine of praying to Saints unless you will Argue thus That some of Relicks of the Saints have as much Worship paid to them as the whole Body Ergo the praying to Saints is lawful and they may be prayed to at one and the same time in a thousand different places This Logic Sir will not do but let us go on the very calling of a place by a Martyrs Name was known to St. Gregory to have as much Efficacy as if the whole Body had lain there I believe as much to the full and so you and I shall agree there but what then I hope you will let us see what will follow upon this Praying to Saints is Lawful and praying to them at one and the same time in different places By no means I do think Logicians of very little Proficiency would detect this way of Arguing Your second Testimony is from Theodoret who is brought in saying thus Their Bodies are not each in their own Monument but being divied amongst Cities and Villages are by them esteemed the Preservers of their Souls and Bodies and called their Physicians and Honoured as their Protectors and Guards and making use of their Intercession they by them obtain Divine Benefits and their divided Bodies retain their Power intire This was a Learned Writer but I cannot perceive what Service he doth you
here is no Prayer to Saints justified from hence It is confessed that the Christians very early did pay great Honour to the Bodies and Relicks of the Saints and Martyrs and they were induced to believe that great Cures and mighty Effects were wrought by them and by the visiting of the Churches and Places where they were reposed they had such Reports of them and whole days were spent in giving Thanks to God for those Holy Examples they left But I do not find any thing of any Divine Worship they paid to these Relicks or that Theodoret here in these words doth in the least justifie the point in hand That because their Relicks were divided amongst Cities and Villages therefore the Saints and Martyrs might be Worshipped and Prayed unto in a thousand places at one and the same time If you can make Theodoret speak thus it will be worthy of Consideration Your third Witness is St. Augustine who speaks you say of several Miracles that to his certain Knowledge were wrought at the Relicks of St. Stephen in the different places at which they were Honoured I pray what were those Miracles when and where were they wrought you found that it was not much to the purpose and therefore you say no more Admit the thing to be true that there were such Relicks of St. Stephen and that several Miracles were wrought by them at those several places where those Relicks were reposed What doth it prove that St. Stephen might be Worshipped at one and the same time in different places You will do well to peruse St. Austin again and see how that Doctrine is proved Your last Witness is St. German who you say carried about him in a Reliquary for his Protection and Safeguard the Relicks of all the Apostles and Martyrs The very Dust that lay about St. Alban's Monument by a touch of those Relicks and the Intercession of those Saints restored Sight to a Blind Woman this may for ought I know be as true as the rest But Sir you will do well to remember your Point which was this That because the Fathers owned the Saints Relicks to have been reposed in several places and were Honoured in and carried about to distant places it did follow that the Saints may be Worshipped in many yea in a thousand different places The Fathers I confess seem to take notice of the Division and Distinction of the Relicks of the Saints and of the great Respect and Honour they had in those Churches where they were reposed and that many Miracles were wrought by them there by the Power of God but that they prove the Consequence or import that the Saints may be Worshipped in several places may in a thousand places at one and the same time That Sir doth not yet appear Give me leave Sir to deal freely with you I do own that the great God of Heaven and Earth for the Testimony of the Truth of the Gospel of his dear Son hath oftentimes wrought great Miracles even by the dead Carcases of his Saints in Witness that they have been his Witnesses and Instruments of his Holy Will in opening the Eyes of the Heathen and turning them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God to the end that they might receive Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst them which are Sanctified by Faith in Jesus Christ But as these were great Instruments at first to lead the People into the Truth and bring them to the Obedience of the Gospel so they became afterwards Snares to lead the People into Errours and great Inconveniences and that even in the times of the Ancient Fathers above twelve hundred years ago St. Austin saith I know many Worshippers of Graves and Images that drink and quaff disorderly over the Dead and offer Meat unto their Carcases and bury themselves over the buried and do esteem that even their very Drunkenness and Gluttony is a Religion that peaseth God De moribus Ecclesiae c. 34. Confession lib. 6. c. 2. Galasius saith It is reported That with Procession they furnish up their Churches built in the Name of the Dead and the same for ought I can hear while they were alive were not altogether good Faithful Men Galasius Can. 2. de con dist 1. placuit St. Martin on a time came to a Chappel built in the Name of a Holy Martyr but afterwards it was revealed to him that the same Martyr had been sometimes a common Thief and for a Robbery had been put to Death and by the Errour of those times was Honoured by the People for a Saint Likewise St. Austin saith Some there be that carry about Martyrs Bones exposing them to Sale and yet may very well be doubted whether ever they were Martyrs or no. Consider what feigned Miracles your Church hath invented to incourage the Laity in these Errours You have made dead Images to Sweat to Weep and to Laugh and to shift themselves from place to place The Image of the Virgin was made to attend her own Candle and other Images and Relicks were feigned to heal Diseases Nicolas Lyra saith In Ecclesia dei populus saepe dicipitur a Sacerdotibus fictis miraculis lucri causa In the Church of God the Priest oftentimes deceive the People with feigned Miracles for Lucres sake Thus the World was born in hand that Images and Relicks of Saints were not barely such but had a secret Divine Power hidden within them and therefore they ought to be Worshipped From hence I conclude that though God was pleased to work sundry Miracles by the bodily Relicks of his Saints yet the People were abused by them and notorious Errours insued upon the great Esteem the Sacred Relicks were in But had they continued in the same Station for which they were first preserved and no abuse at all occasioned by them I cannot see how you can justifie your Doctrine that because of the many places where the Relicks of Martyrs were reposed that therefore the Saints and Martyrs might be Worshipped in many places at one and the same time And because you have insisted so much upon the Miracles of the Relicks and of the Bodies of your Saints and Martyrs but of these Miracles the Holy Fathers without doubt was very cautious for see St. Chrysostom saith In fine temporis concedenda est potestas Diabolo ut faciat signa utilia ut jam Ministros Christi non per hoc cognoscamus quia utilia faciunt signa sed quia omnino haec signa non faciunt In the end of the time Power shall be given to the Devil to work profitable Signs and Miracles so that we cannot know the Ministers of Christ by that they work profitable Miracles but by that they work no Miracles at all Chrysost in Mat. Hom. 49. St. Austin saith Non dicat ideo est quia illa vel illa Mirabilia fecit vel iste vel ille aut quia illa vel illa ibi contingunt c. Removeantur
and in that first Temple the Priest only did enter into the Holy of Holies and all the People stood without Aug. in Ps 64. How came Christ to be a Priest And of what Order is he a Priest The Author to the Hebrews tells you That he was a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck and that he was called of God see Heb. 5. 4 5 6. And no Man taketh this Honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as he saith in another place Thou art a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedeck Whoever termed the Saints to be Priests after the Order of Melchizedeck Who called them to be Priests When did did they enter within the Vail The Father saith That he alone of them which did partake of the Flesh doth make Intercession for us How comes the Saints now to do it When did this Intercession of theirs commence Christ did not enter into the Holy of Holies till after his Resurrection then God constituted him the great High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession saying Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Are the Saints yet risen from the Dead if they are not How then can they appear in the Presence of God for us If they do when did their Mediatorship begin Christ alone entered and alone doth interceed with God for Mankind If the Saints are joyned with him why then doth the Father here say He being now entered within the Veil alone of them who have been partakers of the Flesh The High-Priest in the time of the Law was a Type of Christ because he went into the Holy of Holies alone and all the People stood without How can that be true for you say That Christ did not alone go into the Holy of Holies but the Saints are entered also Holy Men of the Jews could not go in because they were not called to be Priests but you croud in the Saints though you can prove no Call. St. Austine saith He alone doth Interceed But you say That Christ doth not Interceed alone You must by no means contradict your own Bellarmine he saith thus The Saints in the Old Testament were not prayed unto because they were shut up in Prison they did not enjoy the Presence of God. Do the Saints now enjoy the Presence of God in Body and Soul If not how can they be Priests And how can they interceed for us How can they be said to have entered within the Veil Christ our High-Priest he is risen from the Dead and both in Body and Soul he appears in the Presence of God for us Give me leave to deal freely with you and tell you that your Stapleton tells us That Tertullianus Ireneus Origen St. Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumenius Theophylact St. Ambrose Clemen Romanus and St. Bernard did not believe that the Saints were admitted into Heaven or had a clear sight of God till the Resurrection from the Dead therefore they did not assent to this Sentence which is defined as a Doctrine of Faith that the Souls of the Righteous enjoy the sight of God before the Day of Judgment but did deliver their Opinions contrary to this Diffinition of your Church and if so they could not be of the Opinion by Bellarmine's own confession That Men on Earth should pray to them as those of your Church do to this day Do but observe this Holy Doctor once more saying thus Non sit nobis Religio cultus hominum Mortuorum quia se pie vixerunt tales non quaerunt Honores c. Honorandi ergo sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter Religionem The worshipping of Men that are Dead should be no part of our Religion because that if they lived piously they will not seek that kind of Honour they are to be honoured therefore for Imitation but not to be adored for Religion Aug. de Ver. Relig. cap. 35. If it were no part of Religion in St. Augustine's time to Worship Saints then by what Authority do you make the Worshipping of Saints to be a part of your Religion It lies upon you therefore to justifie your self from this great absurdity of making that to be a part of the Christian Religion which is not really so I hope your Saints to whom you pray lived and dyed in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ or as this great Doctor hath it they lived piously If so when did they claim or challenge this Worship as due to them for he saith They well not seek that kind of Honour It lies Sir upon you to satisfie the World in this particular Again observe That if the Memories of the Saints and Martyrs be to be honoured only for Imitation as I have observed before Then by what Authority do you adore them for Religion since the aforesaid Doctor tells you They are not to be worshipped for Religion That the Memories of the Saints and Martyrs of our dear Redeemer ought to be honoured that no Christian will deny but that they ought to be worshipped is by this Doctor plainly forbidden Again the said Father saith Oratio quae non fit per Christum non potest delere peccatum sed etiam ipsa fit peccatum The Prayer which is not made by Jesus Christ not only cannot blot out Sin but itself also is sin Aug. in Psal 108. From which saying if to go to God in the Name of the Saints be sin how much more to go to the Saints themselves for you may remember that our sins are pardoned for the sake of Christ alone and that we have no Promise to receive at the hands of God those things we ask unless we go to him in the Name of his Son only And the said St. Austin in plain terms calls them Hereticks that were inclined to worship Angels De Haeres Cap. 29. Now if they were Hereticks that were inclined to worship Angels much more are they which worship Saints for if the more honourable may not be worshipped then the less honourable must not if the first be Heresie the latter cannot be Orthodox If this Father here condemns the one how can you with reason pretend to justifie the other St. Chrysostome who was a great Doctor in the Eastern Church In his third Homily on the first Chapter to the Hebrews hath this saying Why do you gape after Angels they are Servants to the Son of God and are sent to divers places for our sakes Sir Why do we worship Jesus Christ but because he is God over all blessed forever and God hath commanded the Angels to worship him Heb. 1. 6. Ps 97. 7. But he never commanded us to Worship the Angels for if Worship be due to the Angels how will it appear that he was made better than the Angels and that he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they