before the face of the fire Deut. 4. Heb. 13.19 and for this we beg the mediation and intercession of the blessed Saints in heaven To the fifth To what you urge out of the Apostle to Timothy that there is but one Mediator I do acknowledge that there is but one Mediator of Redemption that is Jesus Christ because he alone redeemed Mankinde nor is there any other name under heaven by which we can be saved but that hinders not but that there may be more Mediators of intercession so then there is but one Mediator by Redemption as but one Saviour for he is the only good Shepherd who gave his life for his flock but there are more Mediators by intercession as the Scripture names more Saviours Mediators and Redeemers too Moses says of himself that he was set apart or chosen for a Mediator between God and the children of Israel Again he raised up a Redeemer Deliverer or Saviour to them one Othoniel Deut. 3. Judg. 3.9 Nehem. 9 Gen. 4.1 and Nehemiah tels us how God did raise unto the children of Israel Saviours and Pharoah calls Joseph a Saviour To the sixth I say that as to the injury which you pretend done to God by the invoking of his Saints I have sufficiently answered already in my return to your first Arguments for the injury which you alledge done to Christ I answer in like manner if this be a good consequence Christ is our only Mediatour therefore we do an injury to him to invoke the Saints in heaven then this must be likewise a good Argument therefore it is injurious to Christ to invoke the Saints upon earth and that you all are guilty of praying one another to pray for you and doubtless you do not do amiss in it Again if we shew our diffidence and distrust in Christs Mediation by invoking the Saints in heaven then it will follow likewise that you diffide in Christs mediation by invoking one another or any Saints upon earth As for your supposition which indeed is the strength of your Argument that the Saints in heaven do not hear our prayers nor know what is done amongstâ—ns and therefore must be much less able to help us and as to the places of Scripture which you pretend to bring to that purpose I answer that they all signifie nothing for here we speak not of those who in the time of the Old Testament were either in Hell or in the Limbus that was appointed for them but of the Saints that since the time of the New Testament are in heaven we may safely grant that all those were ignorant of what was done here bua that proves nothing as to these last beattifi'd souls in heaven And yet I know you 'l be importunate to know how the Saints should be capable to hear our prayers and understand our inward affections and desires I would ask you again how the Saints in this life can know the secrets of other mens counsels and contrivances 1 Sam. 19. Samuel knew all things which were in the heart of Saul and told him all that was in his heart 2 Kings 5.26 2 Kin. 6.33 Did not Elishah know all things that were done by his servant that was at a great distance from him and so the same Prophet knew all the secret Counsels of the King of Syria Dan. 2.26 Did not Daniel know the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of it before he sent to him and did not the Apostle Saint Peter know the hidden fraud and close collusions of Ananias and Saphira And to conclude I would fain know what things were they which were hidden from the Prophets though never so close from the eyes of men And can these things be done on earth and not possibly be done in heaven Now that this veneration or invocation of Saints is expresly commanded in Scripture I cannot say nor see any reason that it should be first it could not be well in the old Testament where the people were so prone to idolatry and the Patriarchs besides were but in a Limbus Esay 63. reposed till our Saviours triumphant entry into heaven so they could not be beatified or made capable of hearing of prayers of men and therefore it was said Abraham knows us not and Israel does not acknowledge us Again under the Gospel it was not absolutely commanded least the Gentiles that were newly turned from Paganisme should believe that they were brought again to the worship of earthly gods for that was their use to worship their deified persons not as Patrons but as very Gods indeed as at Lyraania they would have sacrificed to Paul and Barnabas Besides if the Apostles and Evangelist had taught expresly that the Saints are to be prayed to it might have been thought as a piece of arrogance in them as if they had been after death ambitious of that honour to be done to them The holy Spirit therefore would not by express Scripture teach this doctrine of veneration and invocation of Saints but the Church being once establisht quickly found by the Miracles and succours that those Saints performed to men that they were to be worshipt and invoked with prayers that they would please to pray for us and this is a worship far different from that which we pay to God therefore no way prejudicial to the divine Majesty no though express Scripture as I said we have none for this yet very much inclining to and favouring of our purpose That the saints the freinds of God are to be implored that they will please to intercede for us I prove by express Scripture thus Our Saviour in S. Johns Gospell saies thus if any man serve me John 12.26 him will my Father honor if therefore God does honor his saints why should not we mortalls give honour to them Our Saviour saies again in S. Mat. 25.40 Mathews Gospell verily I say unto you insomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my bretheren ye have done it unto me the honour therefore that is given to the saints of God he takes as done unto himself We finde in Job how Eliphaz saies to him Call now if there be any that will answer thee Job 5.1 and to which of the saints wilt thou turn which words though Eliphaz spoke yet Job reprehends them not but takes it as wholsome councell from his freind Again in another place Job 42.1 9 10. the Lord himself saies go to my servant Job and my servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept least I deal with you after your folly c. so they did as the Lord commanded them the Lord also accepted Job and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his freinds c. Then we finde how Absalon after he was reconciled to his father 2 Sam. 14.28 staid two years in Jerusalem before he saw his fathers face so a sinner though reconsiled to God will not
inclosed for which I teturn my most humble thanks and instead of another which you seem to require of me I have sent you two herein inclosed the one to shew you the superstition Idolatry and Will-worship of your Church the other to convince you of the Pride Arrogancy Tyranny and Usurp'd power of it which when your Ladyship hath been pleased to peruse and as well as you can to answer I shall summe up all that you have said rogether and make a short rejoynder to the whole of your replies for I am refolved to trouble your Ladyship with no more Papers so praying God for your Ladyships good health both of Body and Soul I take leave to remain Madam Your Ladyships most assured faithfull servant N. My Lady upon the return of her servant opening the Packet that Mistress N. had sent back to her found the Papers inclosed whereof the first was to this effect as followeth That which your Church teacheth concerning the invocation of Saints is a Doctrine very injurious to God and yet not more prophane then superstitious and impertinent and that I will prove thus 1. Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour with God the Father God the Holy Ghost Holy Trinity in Unity three Persons and one God alone is all-sufficient alone is most liberall and alone is most mercifull and who alone loves us more than all the Saints There is not a Christian living that I think dares deny a word of this if there should be such a monster a were easie to prove every word of it by express Scripture who can think it rationall then to invoke any other thing and besides that this all-bountifull all-mercifull all-powerfull most good most gracious and most loving Lord God has not onely enjoin'd us but importun'd us to pray to him and him alone promising to hear and grant our requests and that I prove by most express Scriptures thus 2. First by the Gospells it is most clear our Saviour in Saint John assures it with a Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you John 16.23 24. and then in the next verse Ask and ye shal receive thus it is but asking of God and having and yet you must think fit to go about by the Saints 3. Then in Saint Lukes Gospel we find and I say unto you ask and it shall be given you Luke 11.9.10 11 12 13. seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Then by the paralel of God with a good Father granting his childs requests he concludes how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Again what you ask in prayet believing ye shall receive as Saint Matthews Gospell tells Matth. 2. with an infinity of other places too many to repeat to that purpose wherefore Saint Paul most pithily concludes Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 4 The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 1.3 that God is the Father of mercies and the Lord of all comforts who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selvs are comforted of God c. If all our comfort then be from God had we not better make our address to him that we know is the fountain of all Grace than to the Saints who can have nothing but what they derive from him 5. The same Apostle tells Tymothy plainly that there is but one Mediatour between God and men and that is Christ Jesus what an offence then must it needs be to God to make more Mediators that is the Saints Then we finde frequently in Scripture that he alone maketh intercesion for us as in Isaiah that he makes intercession for transgressors 1 Tim. 2.5 Isai 53.12 Rom. 8.26.24 Heb. 7.25 and Saint Paul tells us that he ever liveth to make intercession for us And again who always maketh intercession for us why should we date to make more intercessors that is the Saints 6. In fine to summe up all in short your Doctrine of invocacion of the Saints is highly injurious to God who is a jealous God and will onely be worship'd It is injurious to Jesus Christ who is the onely Mediatour between God and man Thirdly it is injurious to our selves for it is an argument of a diffidence and distrust in God when we fly to the Saints for succour and then lastly it is an impertinent and unprofitable piece of devotion because the Saints in heaven neither do nor can hear our prayets nor know our wants or what is done here amongst us as Job tells us Job 24.21 Eccles 9.5 his sons came to honor and he knoweth it not Ecclesiastes assures us that the living know that they shall dye but the dead know not any thing and the Prophet Isaiah yet more plainly Isai 63.16 doubtlessthou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel do not acknowledge us c. Thus it is plain that the Saintf in heaven are incapable to know our wants or hear our prayers much less to help us That your Doctrine of Veneration of Images is an abominable Idolatrcus Dactrine and prejudicial to divine Worship I prove Thus. First out of the plain words of the Commandement Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image Exod. 20.4 5. Deut. 4.5 2â— or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the waterunder the earth thou shalt notbow down thy self to them nor serve them c. The same thing is repeated at the latter end of Exâ—dus and in severall places of Deuteronomy and in many other places of the Old Testament 2. Again we find how good Hezekiah 2 King 18.4 removed the high places and brake the Images and brake in pieces the beazen Serpent that Moses had made c. Yet your Religion strives to restore to Christians that kind of worship 3 How well our Saviour is pleased with that kinde of Worship Joh. 22 23 24. you may see in Saint John's Gospell where our Saviour says ye worship ye know not what c. But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seekes such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Now I would feign know what a Spirit hath to do with Images or how can the worship of Images be thought a spiritual worship 4 Over and above the danger of Idolatry and many unclean thoughts that may be occasioned by Images I shall onely add this
one Argument against so foul a thing and that is this either Images are commanded or commended for good meanes of divine worship or they are not if they be then shew it by Scripture if they be not then it must follow that it is a piece of will-worship and that all Images are meer fond and vain things That your Doctrines of Indulgences Purgatory and Prayer for the dead are derogatory to Gods glory and abusive to the world Iprove by Scripture thus And First as to your business of Indulgencies I shall give but one blow and that I presume will be a mortall one out of Saint Paul to the Romanes where he saith for I reckon that the sufferrings of this present time Rom. 8.18 are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in me If then the merits of the Saints upon earth are more then enough rewarded by the glory which the Lord is pleased to confer upon them in heaven how can there be a superabundance of their merits pick'd up by your Church and laid up in a storehouse or treasury for the Pope to take out at his pleasure and apply to the use and advantage of other men which is as I am inform'd the prophane and sottish opinion of your Church Then as to your Doctrine of Purgatory I shall disprove it thus The Prophet Daniell mentions but two ways for soules to go The one to everlasting life Dan. 11.2 Matth. 25.46 John 5.29 the other to everlasting contempt Our Saviour does mention no more And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into life eternall so St. Matthew And again in St. Johns Gospell They that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the Resurrection of damnation How dare any man invent a third place upon his own head when God himself ha's appointed but two Again the Scriptures plainly tells us that those which are to be saved go immediately to Heaven without any stop or stay by the way therefore your Purgatory must needs be very much out of the way Luk. 23.43 As first we find in Saint Lukes gospell our Saviours own words to the Thief upon the Cross And Iesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise that is understood immediately after his death without any delay in Purgatory Phil. 1.23 or else where Then again St. Paul tells the Philipians that he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ therefore after departure the saved soul goes immediately to Christ without any rubbs stops or stays by the way what then is become of your pitifull purgatory So I presume I need not trouble your Ladyship with any more arguments to convince so foul an errour I shall only produce one or two more against your prayer for the dead which is a consequent of your Purgatory and so conclude this Paper That your Doctrine of Prayer for the dead is an impertinent piece of devotion and contrary to Scripture I prove thus 1. It were enough for the satisfaction of any resonable person in this point to have disproved purgatory as I have done already for if there be no Purgatory there can be no prayer for the dead usefull at all but I will proceed more particularly to prove against prayer for the dead thus The Prophet Jeremy not only forbids to pray but to weep for the dead saying Weep ye not for the dead Jer. 22.10 neither bemoan him but weep for him that goeth astray c. If the dead be not in a condition to be wept for they are mch lesse in a condition to be pray'd for and by consequence again there can be no Purgatory 2. Luk. 7.13 Our Saviour again in like manner forbids the Widdow to weep for her Son that was dead so still it follows if there ought to be no weeping then no Purgatory and if no Purgatory then no prayer for the dead 3ly and Lastly for the Explication of all that ha's been said 1 Thes 14.13 14 15.16 17 18 and the conviction of all gainsayers Observe what St. Paul says to the Thessalonians But I would not have you be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sâ—rrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believ c. So to the end of the Chapter comforts them with an assurance of resurrection to life eternall without any the least mention of Purgatory or prayers for the dead This Paper my Lady had at sooner peras'd but she disposed her self immediately to her pen and writ as followeth To what you are pleased to alledge against our Doctrine for the invocation of the Saints in Heaven I answer thus To your first second third and fourth I shall answer together and with good reason for there runs the same fallacy along with them all and I do wonder you should be so deluded by the Sophismes of your Doctors for those very Arguments that they have furnished you withall against us in this point do as well take away the Intercession of Christ himself and the prayers of the Saints living upon earth as the intercession of the Saints in heaven For if this be a good consequence God is only to be worshipt therefore it is not lawfull to invoke the Saints in heaven then this must be a good consequence too God is only to be worshipped therefore it is not lawfull to invoke or desire the Saints on earth to pray for us For this word only exclude as well one as the other and must of necessity as well condemn the invocation of the Saints Militant which all of you use and the Apostle himself did too as the invocation of the Saints Triumphant Besides we do acknowledge it to be our duty to pray and ask of God and to pray and ask in Jesus his name and to pray and to ask with confidence as the Apostle would have us but nothing of all this can make an exclusion of the Saints For by the Saints as our fellow Members we pray in the name of Jesus our head wherfore our Church always doth conclude its Collects of the Saints with through Jesus Chirst our Lord and you are to understand that though God be most good most gracious and merciful yet he is a God of order and disposeth of all things so sweetly that all Inferiours may lead us to Superiours and so in this particular case our Church is likewise well pleased that we should come boldly to the Throne of Grace to the fountain of Grace Father of Mercy and God of all comforts but this she tels us that we may more commodiously do it by the Saints then only by our selves who are most miserable sinners and so must of necessity be abhorred by him And the Scripture tels us that our God is a consuming fire and we may justly fear lest we perish before his face as wax melteth