sacrificers to reiterate his everlasting sacrifice here on earth as by joyning other everlasting intercessors with him as his assistants in heaven is an argument more directly pertinent to some Articles following in the Creede My present observations must be limited by the references to the maine conclusion intended That the Romish Church in her publicke Liturgie doth often giue the realtie of Christs soveraigne titles sometimes the very titles themselues vnto Saints sometimes leauing not so great difference betweene the divine Maiestie or glorious Trinitie and other coelestiall inhabitants as the Heathens did betwixt their greater and lesser Gods or as we do between ordinary Princes and their subiects Tyâ—urne or Bedlam would quickly take order with him that would seeke or suffer an act of the prerogatiue royall as granting of pardons creation of Barons calling of Parliaments to passe joyntly in the name of the Kings Maiestie of the Queenes or Princes in the name of all the officers of the Court and Common-wealth descending as low as Bay liffes Constables Church-wardens and Tythingmen And the Pope would take it as an hereticall diminution of his plenary power if every Bishop should receiue his Pall every sinner his indulgence every soule in Purgatory her dismission in his Holines name and in the name of all his Cardinalls Bishops Priests and Deacons Yet in the translation of a Christian soule from this life to a better after they haue directed their supplications to all the severall orders of Saints for their intercession with God in the very agony of death they draw their safe conducts in this forme Depart out of this world in the name of God the Father Almightie who hath created thee in the name of Iesus Christ the sonne of God who suffered for thee in the name of the holy Ghost who was powred forth vpon thee in the name of Angells and Aâ—changells in the name of thrones and dominations in the name of principalities powers in the name of Cherubims and Seraphims in the name of Patriarckes and Prophets in the name of holy Apostles and Evangelists in the name of holy Martyrs and Confessors in the name of holy Monkes and Eremites in the name of Virgins and of all Gods Saints and Saintesses This day let thy soule be in peace and thy habitation in holy Sion If thus they pray with their lips onely they mocke God as well as the Saints If thus they pray with internall affection of heart and spirit they really worship Saints with the selfe same honour wherewith they honour God Nor is it credible they doe intend or possible though intended they should in one and the same prayer or continued supplication produce the like change in the affections of their heart and spirit as an Organist doth in Musicke by changing the stoppes Or though they could produce the like change in every severall ejaculation yet the honour wherewith they honour God and the Saints should continue still of the same kind and differ onely in degree or modulation Or might they not with lesse impietie admit a Christian soule into the Church militant than translate it into the Church triumphant in other names besides the Trinitie They might better baptize them onely in the name of God the Father and of S. Francis S. Bennet and S. Dominicke c. without any mention of God the sonne and holy Ghost rather than joyne these as commissioners with them in dismissing soules out of their bodies To censure this part of their Liturgie as it deserues it is no prayer but a charme conceived out of the dregs and reliques of Heathenish Idolatrie which cannot be brought forth but in blasphemie nor be applyed to any sicke soule without sorcery CHAPTER XXIX Proouing by manifest instances and confessed matters of fact that the Romish Church doth really exhibit divers parts of that honour or worship vnto Saints which by her confession is onely due vnto God That her nice distinctions of Dulia and Latria or the like argue no difference at all in the reallitie or substance of the Worship but at the most divers respects of one and the same Worship 1. THe more vpon these occasions I looke into the Romane Liturgie the more I am enforst to commend the Heathen Philosophers ingenuous reply to Anaxarchus sophisticall allegations for honouring Alexander as a God I for my part sayth Callisthenes doe not thinke Alexander vnworthy of any honour which is convenient to be given to men But the differences betwixt Honour humane and divine are determined as by many other things so by the building of Temples by the erection of Statues Wee consecrate shrines and offer sacrifice and incense to the Gods vnto the same Gods Hymnes are due as prayses are to men But the honour due to the Gods is specially differenced by the manner of adoration Men are greeted with kisses but the Gods are saluted with adoration being placed so high that wee may not touch them Vnto the Gods likewise wee expresse our ioyfull thankesgiving in solemne dances and songs And no marvell if the honour which we giue to Gods be distinguished from the honour which we giue to men seeing divers kindes of honours are allotted to divers Gods The honour given to Heroickes deceased differeth from honour truely divine It is therefore vnfitting to confound these vnfitting to extoll men by lavish honour aboue humane state or to coarctate the Gods vnto a state vnfitting their dignitie or to worship them after the same manner as wee doe men Nor could Alexander himselfe be well pleased if a priuate man should vsurpe royall titles by election or vnlawfull suffrages Much more iustly will the Gods be moued with indignation if any mortall man shall either arrogantly affect or willingly accept divine honours though proffered by others 2. Yet thinks the Romanist either God will not be angry or els his anger may be quickly appeased with the mentall conception of former distinctions never vttered Albeit they make the Virgin Mary Queene of Heaven and Mother of mercie and bestow his other best titles in hymnes or solemne service vpon the Saints it must suffice him that some few other parts of divine honour mentioned by this Heathen as offering of sacrifice erection of Temples and Altars are reserved onely to his Maiestie These by their own confession are proper acts of that religious worship which may not be communicated to any Saint or Angell and so are vowes conceived in solemne and legall forme Let vs see then how well their practises sute with their speculations in these points and what neede the devotions of vulgar breasts haue of sublimated braines to preserue them from the poyson of damnable and more than Heathenish Idolatrie If I should aske one of them What service is this you celebrate to day Whose Church is this wherein you celebrate it they would make no scruple to say the one was S. Peters Church the other his Masse If both Church and Masse doe beare
seene vaiâ—ely puffed vp in his fleshly minde If so maine a pillar of Christs Church as S. Iohn who foresaw the generall Apostasie from the sincere worship of God to Antichristian Idolatry were thus shaken with this temptation it was not to be expected that any after that Sathan who can transforme himselfe into an Angel of light was let loose should be able to stand without vigilant attention vnto Iohns admonitions and these fayre warnings which God had given the world in him and Cornelius A senselesse and reprobate stupiditie more than Iewish hath befallen most of the moderne Romanists for their wilfull relapse into Heathenish Idolatrie What heathenish Priest did ever frame an answere to the obiections of the Orthodoxe either so ridiculous in it selfe or which might argue such a respectlesse esteeme of the divine Maiestie whom they were chalenged to wrong as Vasquez and Salmeron with others haue made to this instance of S. Peter and Cornelius St Peter say these Iesuites in part approved by Bellarmine who loues to haue two strings to his deceiptfull Bowe disclaimed the worship offred him not as if it were not due vnto him How then In modestie Doth this make for them or against them If it were his modestie to refuse it from Cornelius it would be good manners in them not to offer it till they know more of his minde or meete him face to face as Cornelius did who yet did not presse him to take it as in good manners he should if out of modestie onely he had refused it But they haue made S. Peters Image of such a mettall as it will not easily blush charm'd it with such new distinctions as it shall not tremble whiles they doe such homage to it as would haue moved S. Peter himselfe no lesse than the peoples dauncing before the golden Calfe did Moses The Image they thinke doth well approue of their service in that it doth not disallow it nor bid them stand vp saying what it could not truely say albeit these Impostors could teach it to speake for I also am a man Yet if S. Peter himselfe heare their prayers and see their gestures to it as well as if he were amongst them will he not be as modest in Gods presence who is alwayes an vndoubted spectator of this their service as he was before Cornelius Will he not disavow their practise as quite contrary to his example and their doctrine as directly contradictory to his instructions And doe they truely honour or rather fouly vilifie S. Peter and the rest of Gods glorious Saints in obtruding greater honour to their Images of liuelesse wood and stone than any Christians offred to them whilest they liued or were they present yet are capable of CHAPTER XXVII That the respect which wee owe to Saints deceased supposing they were really present with vs doth differ onely in degree not in nature or qualitie from the respect which wee owe vnto true liuing Saints That the same expression of our respect or observance towardes Saints or Angells locally present cannot without supersitition or Idolatrie be made vnto them in their absence 1. SVppose St Peter or the Angell whom St Iohn proffered to adore should vndoubtedly appeare vnto vs and vouchsafe vs libertie of proposing our desires vnto them we might and would tender them respect and reverence not for their civill dignitie or hopes of promotion from them but for their personall sanctitie which should exceed all the reverence wee owe to ordinary godly men as much as the civill Honcaâ— we giue to Kings doth our civill respect of any subiect that is our better But as our soveraigne observance of Kings or supreame earthly Maiestie may not transcend the latitude of civill honour so neither might wee tender such honour reverence or worship to S. Peter or the Angell were they present as would transgresse the vtmost bounds of that respect or reverence which is in some measure due to every godly man The difference betweene our respect to Angells the blessed Virgine or to Saints of the highest ranke and the lowest may be greater in degree than the latitude of civill honour in respect of Monarchs and their meanest officers can afford because the amplitude of sanctifying grace doth for ought we know farre exceed the measure of morall vertues or latitude of civill dignitie But the severall observances which we owe to Kings and to others that are our betters in the ranke of subiects differ more in specificall qualitie and essence than the severall respects which are due to Angels or Saints of the highest order and to religious Lazarus were both equally present For Kings in matters concerning our goods or bodies haue a soveraigntie communicated to them from God not communicate by them to their greatest subiects so haue no Saints or Angels in matters spirituall any Lordship or dominion over vs wee owe no allegiance of our spirit saue onely to one Lord. Christ in these cases is our sole King whose felicitie is communicated to all his followers his soveraigntie to none in respect of him the greatest Saints and Angels be our fellow-subiects What respect or reverence then doe we owe them in respect of prayers or invocations suppose we might speake with them face to face As our necessities would compell vs to request their prayers to God for vs so good manners would reach vs to fit the manner of our observance or submissiue entreatie to the measure of their sanctitie or of that favour which they haue with God in respect of ordinary godly men whose prayers we craue with due observance of their persons The rule of religious discretion would so proportion our obedience to their instructions as their instructions are proportioned to the directions of vsuall Pastors we would be readie to doe them any bodily service with so much greater fidelitie and better affection than we doe to others as we conceiue them to be more faithfull and fervent in Gods service than others are But Religion it selfe and the rule of Gods word which they most exactly obey would restraine vs from falling downe before them with our bodies with purpose to lift vp our minds vnto them as to our patrons or secundary Mediators To offer vp the fruites of the spirit or consecrate the spirit of prayer and thankesgiving to the honour of any saue onely of him that made redeemed and sanctified our soules and spirits is wee maintaine it vnto death sacrilegious heathenish impiety Yet must dulia which these men consecrate wholly to the honour of Saints be of necessitie an essentiall part of the spirit of prayer if the prayers themselues which it brings forth be as they contend Cultus ver è religiosus true or intrinsecally religious worship Religion is the bond or linke betweene the Creator and the creature the essence of religious prayers consists in the elevation of the spirit the vse and end of the spirits elevation is that we may be ioyned in spirit with Christ To fixe
a solemne invitation of infernall ghosts to keepe residence about them These are the Harpies which defile Gods service and devoure the peoples offrings which their inchanted Priests would perswade them were presented to accepted by Gods Saints To thinke the Saints should be permitted to receiue our particular petitions and not be permitted to returne their particular answers or not be enabled as freely to communicate their mindes to vs as we to impart our desires to them is an imaginatiō so grosse that it can haue no ground either of faith or common reason Wee may retort Bellarmines and his Consorts arguments for invocation of Saints vpon themselues That the Saints whom they invocate doe not impart their mindes vnto their supplicants in such particular manner as their supplicants impart their desires to them it is either because they will not or they cannot To say they will not if they can is to impeach them of pride or want of charitie to say they cannot is to slander them with impotencie or with want of favour with God For He that enables them as they suppose He doth to heare vs speak from earth to heaven can questionlesse enable them so to speake or expresse themselues that wee might heare them from heaven to earth It is but one and the same branch of his infinite power and goodnesse to giue Saints deceased the like vse and exercise of spirituall tongues as He graunts them by the Romanists doctrine of spirituall eares CHAPTER XXVIII The Romish Church in her publicke Liturgies expressely giues those glorious titles vnto Saints vnto which no other reall worship besides the worship of Latria is answerable 1. SEeing as well prayers in the first place directed vnto Saints as these which they tender immediately vnto God vpon Saints dayes are offered vp in honor of the Saints in the same place wherein and with the same externall signes of observance wherewith they solemnly worship God what note of difference haue they left to distinguish themselues from grosse Idolaters Onely the internall conceipt which they haue of divine excellency as much greater then Angelicall dignitie But how shall we know this different esteeme of God of Christ and of his Saints to be truely seated in their hearts without open confession of the mouth making some distinction in the solemne and publicke profession of allegiance to both Is the forme then of their devotion to God and Christ as accurately distinguished by any soveraigne title from their supplications vnto Saints as petitions to Kings and Princes are from petitions made vnto their officets One of the most peculiar titles of Christ as Mediator by Bellarmines confession is that in the tenth of Iohn Ego sum ostium I am the doore for from this attribute he proues him to be the only immediate Mediator If He who is the doore be the onely immediate Mediator what manner of Mediatrix must shee be which is the gate the blessed gate by which the righteous enter Did he conceiue his second proposition before mentioned in termes more wary then we were aware of Sancti non sunt immediati intercessores Saints are not our immediate intercessors but some Saintesse may make immediate intercession For so they pray vnto the blessed Virgine Ave maris stella Dei mater alma Atque semper virgo Foelix coeli porta Haile starre of the Sea Gods sweete Mother and Mate Everlasting Virgine Heavens happie gate And yet it seemes they make her withall the foundation or foundresse of our faith for so it followeth in the same hymne Funda nos in pace Yea the fountaine of sanctification from whose fullnesse we receiue grace for grace Virgo singularis Intra omnes mitis Nos culpis solutos Mites fac castos Vitam praesta puram Iter para tutum Of Virgines the very prime and floure Whose brest of meekenesse is the bowre From guilt vs free which soule doth waste And make oh make vs meeke and chaste Our liues vouchsafe first to make pure Next that our Iourney proue secure And because God is called the King of heaven and Father of mercy who hath the issues of death in his hands shee must be entitled the Mother of mercy c. Maria mater gratiarum Mater misercordiae Tu nos ab hoste protege Et horâ mortis suscipe Mary of grace Mother milde Who hast mercie for thy childe Hide and saue vs from our foe When from bodies soules shall goe From this her milde and mercifull temper they hope it seemes that shee is able to let some into heaven by the window which may not be allowed to come in by the ordinary doore or foregate Coeli foenestra facta es Officium B Mariae c. The attributes of Wisedome Ecclus the 24. are sung or sayd as part of her honour Ab initio ante secul creata sum vsque ad futurum seculum non desinam et i◠habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi Of this stamp◠is that Hymne to the Apostles cited by Bellarmine without blushing Lib. de Beatitud Sanct. cap. 17. Quorum praecepto subditur Salus languor omnium Sanate aegros moribus Nos reddentes virtutibus By whose decree all like or pine To soule-sicke Patients health resigne And vnto Vertue vs incline But more sacrilegious by much is that Hymne vnto S. Iohn so well knowne and so common that the notes for Plaine-song were taken out of it vt re mi fa sol la which we might haue just cause to mislike did not the syllables sound otherwise extra dictionem than in dictione they did Vt queant laxis Resonare fibris Mira gestorum Famuli tuorum Solve peccantis Labij reatum Sancte Iohannes That with free hearts thy servants may Thy wondrous Acts and prayse display From sinnefull lips guilt take away O Holy Saint Iohn Did not such as first conceived or commonly vsed this song intend to honour S. Iohn with the best kinde of worship that was in their breasts when they desire their hearts and soules may be purified to the end they might more clearely sound forth his prayse Could the sweet Singer of Israel haue consecrated his best devotions in more solemne sort vnto God then these words imply In as much as wee never reade that S. Iohn did either send downe fire from Heaven or cause the mouths of these Priests of Bell to be stopt with haire and pitch this is to me and will be vnto the vnpartiall Reader a better argument that this blessed Saint did never heare those or like prayers directed vnto him than the Romish Church shall be able to bring That Saints deceased are ordinarily acquainted with mens petitions or desires in particular Yet vnto all these many like we must expect no answere but one but that wee may well expect should be a sound one and worthy the noting Est ergò notandum cum dicimus non deberi peti à sanctis nisi vt orent
seemes to me a truth vnquestionable is this If the wisest or most circumspect man on earth should worship God in every place after the same manner for every circumstance that Iacob did God in Bethel or if the most accurate Anatomist of his owne thoughts or affections should take every stone into such consideration whilest he worshippeth God as Iacob did that stone He should become a grosse Idolater without all helpe from any distinction wherewith the Romish Church can furnish him The truth is that Iacob did so worship God in the presence of the stone as his posteritie were bound to worship him before the Arke of the Covenant Both worshipped him in or by those creatures after such a manner as wee may not worship him in any created visible substance saue onely in that created substance wherein he dwelleth bodily The manner of his presence then at Luz or Bethel and in the Arke were shadowes or pledges of his inhabitatiō in the man Christ Iesus in whom were he present on earth wee might and ought to adore God in such a manner as would be sacrilegious to adore him in any other man or bodie 4. But it is the propertie of whoredome as well spirituall as carnall to lead such as taste her baytes with delight like Oxen to the slaughter without any apprehension of dangers approach vntill death surprise them Lots mischance is become the Romish Churches perpetuall heritage she is so besotted with the grapes of her owne planting that shee knowes not what abomination shee commits nor with whom Like an harlot drunke in a common Inne or a franticke whore in an open market she prostrates her selfe to every passenger and sets open all the temples of God whose keyes haue beene committed to her custodie that they may serue as common stewes for satiating the foule lustes of infernall spirits whom she thither invites by solemne enchantments as by sacrificing and offering incense vnto Images And finding pleasure in the practice dreames shee imbraceth her Lord and husband whilest these vncleane birds encage themselues in hers and her childrens breasts CHAPTER XXXVII Whether graunting that it were lawfull to worship such Saints as wee vndoubtedly beleeue to be true Saints we might lawfully worship such as we suspect to be no true Saints 1. IF to honour true Saints and heires of blisse with prayers temples sacrifices and vowes be Idolatrie we shall want termes to expresse the abomination of their sacriledge in performing these points of service vnto such as the world hath either no warrant to account members of Christs mysticall body or just reason to suspect for sonnes of darkenesse In doubtfull cases of this nature some honestly minded Romanists vsed to conceiue their prayers with such conditions as the French-man did his to S. Cuthbert Si sanctus sis ora prome If you be a Saint pray for me It was a desperate resolution better befitting an impudent Monke than Sr. Thomas More to censure this caution of scrupulositie or to reject it as no lesse superfluous or vnmannerly than this forme of request vnto one of our living neighbours If you be an honest man I would request you to remember me in your prayers if not I will not trouble you The good Gentleman was out of his element when he wrote controversies in Divinitie for he would haue sooner taken an Apple in stead of an Nut at a banquet than haue iudged two cases of civill justice so dislike as these which he here brings by one and the same rule of law There is no man honestly wise but would sooner request his prayers whom he knows to be dishonest or of irreligious life then beare a solemne testimony of his honestie or religion Mutuall prayer is a dutie enioyned vs while we liue together the practise of it is the best meane to make bad men good and good men better But men deceased whether elect or reprobates are vncapable of amendment either by our prayers for them or theirs for vs. Nor doe the Romanists enioyne vs to pray to supposed Saints with purpose to encrease their happinesse or as if they stood in need of our devotions To pray for any whom it is lawfull publickly to pray vnto is by their doctrine a foule disgrace vnto the Saint a point of infidelitie in the supplicant Praying to Saints is by their opinion on our part a dutie or tribute wherewith we are bound to honour them their prayers or intercessions for vs are Princely favours or graces which must be sought not as acts of debt or mutuall dutie but by religious service and supplication Now admitting it were lawfull to supplicate thus vnto S. Peter or vnto others whom we beleeue and know to be true Saints yet in publike liturgies to offer vp our prayers and vowes vpon our knees either in honour of those with whose liues and deaths we are altogether vnacquainted or of those whom we suspect to haue lived and dyed not so well as we could wish to doe our selues is a sinne so much more grievous to good consciences than bearing testimony vpon oath for mens positiue honestie whom we know not as stealing of treasure out of the Church is in respect of simple theft or burglarie Testimonies given vpon oath require certaintie of sence or experiment and tendering of prayers as a tribute or honor or in testification of our religious respect requires certaintie of faith that the partie to whom they are tendred is worthy of them 2. The ground of this difference betweene praying to living men and praying to deceased Saints which the superstitious Doctors seeke to conceale from the simple may very well be gathered by analogie of Bellarmines resolution in another point of their service Promises sayth he religiously made to living members of the Church militant are but promises but so made vnto Saints or members of the Church triumphant they are truely and properly vowes His first reason is because a vow is but a promise vnto God and our promises vnto Saints are liker our promises vnto God than vnto the promises which we make to mortall men For as that which we promise vnto God is vnprofitable vnto him but profitable vnto vs and is tendered onely by vs in signe of honour and thankfulnesse so whatsoever we promise vnto Saints it cannot profit them but our selues Their happie estate stands in need of nothing that is ours all that we offer and promise them is in testimony of the honour which wee owe them or in signe of our thankfulnesse to them But performance of our promises either is or may be profitable to living men because mortalitie stands in neede of many things Secondly the Saints can haue no title to our vowes Nisi quatenus sunt Dij per participationem but in as much as they are Gods by participation Now we know the Saints which raigne with Christ to be such but that such as liue with vs are partakers of the divine nature wee may hope well certaine wee
Folio 217 Chapter 23. Of the generall infirmities of flesh and bloud which did dispose divers auncient professors of Christianitie to take the infection of Superstition Of the particular humors which did sharpen the appetite of the modern Romish Church to hunger and thirst after the poysonous dregs of Rome-Heathens Idolatrie Folio 220 Chapter 24. In what sense the Romanists deny or grant that Saints are to be invocated Whether the Saints by their doctrine be mediate or immediate Intercessors betweene God and man That they neither can conceale or will they expresse the full meaning of their practise Folio 229 Chapter 25. What Worship is How it is divided into civill and religious In what sense it is to be granted or denied that Religious Worship is due to Saints That the Romish Church doth in her practise exhibite another sort of Religious Worship vnto Saints than her Advocates pretend in their Disputations Folio 241 Chapter 26. That the Worship which Sathan demanded of our Saviour was the very same wherewith the Romish Church worshippeth Saints that is Dulia not Latria according to their distinction That our Sauiours answere doth absolutely prohibite the offering of this worship not onely to Sathan but to any person whatsoever besides God The truth of this assertion proved by Iohns authoritie and S. Peters Folio 249 Chapter 27. That the respect which we owe to Saints deceased supposing they were really present with vs doth differ onely in degree not in nature or qualitie from the respect which we owe vnto true living Saints That the same expressiō of our respect or observance towards Saints or Angells locally present cannot without superstition or Idolatrie be made vnto them in their absence Folio 263 Chapter 28. The Romish Church in her publicke Liturgies expressely giues those glorious titles vnto Saints vnto which no other reall worship besides the worship of Latria is answerable Folio 271 Chapter 29. Prooving by manifest instances and confessed matters of fact that the Romish Church doth really exhibit divers parts of that honour or worship vnto Saints which by her confession is onely due vnto God That her nice distinction of Dulia and Latria or the like argue no difference at all in the reallity or substance of the Worship but at the most divers respects of one and the same Worship Folio 282 Chapter 30. Solemne vowes are by confession of the Romish Church parts of that Worship which her Advocates call Latria The Romish Church doth worship Saints with solemne vowes not by accident onely but by direct intendment Folio 290 Chapter 31. That the apprehension of different excellencies in God and the Saints deceased cannot prevent the contagiō which mens souls are naturally apt to take by making solemne prayers and vowes ioyntly to God and to the Saints Folio 296 Chapter 32. A paralell betweene the affectionate zeale which the Iewes did beare vnto Moses and his writings and the like zeale which the Romanist beares vnto Saints deceased and their Legends That the Romanists zeale is obnoxious to greater hazard of miscarriage the miscarriage of his affection more dangerous by his daily practise of worshipping Images Folio 300 Chapter 33. By what meanes the publicke worship of Images was finally ratified in the Romish Church Of the vnadvised instructions which Gregory the Great gaue vnto Austine the Monke for winning the Pagan-English to the profession of Christianitie Folio 310 Chapter 34. Of the disagreements betwixt the Iesuites themselues in what manner Images may be worshipped Folio 315 Chapter 35. The principall arguments which the Romanists vse to proue the worshipping of Images to be lawfull What difference there is betweene kissing of the booke in solemne oaths and the Romanists salutations of Images That Image-worship cannot be warranted by Iacobs annointing the stone or other ceremonies by him vsed Folio 323 Chapter 36. The Arguments drawne from Iacobs fact and the like examples answered by Vasques himselfe in another case and by the Analogie of civill discretion Folio 338 Chapter 37. Whether graunting that it were lawfull to worship such Saints as wee vndoubtedly beleeue to be true Saints wee might lawfully worship such as we suspect to be no Saints Folio 346 Chapter 38. Rome-Christian as vaine and foolish in making imaginary Saints as Rome-Heathen in making false Gods Folio 352 Chapter 39. That the medicine pretended by Rome-Christian for curing the former disease did rather increase than asswage it Folio 362 Chapter 40. That the medicine on which the present Romish Church doth now relie is worse than the disease it selfe That they make the Pope a greater God than the Heathen did any other God besides Iupiter Folio 367 SECTION V. Of the transformation of the Deitie or divine power in his nature attributes word or will revealed Chapter 41. Transformation of the divine nature doth issue from the same originall or generall fallacie from which Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods was observed to issue Chapter 17. Folio 373 Chapter 42. Aparallel betweene the Heathen Poets and moderne Romane Legendaries betweene Heathen Philosophers and Romane Schoole-men in their transformations or misperswasions of the divine nature specially of his goodnesse Folio 379 Chapter 43. Of particular transformations or misperswasions of divine goodnesse alike common to the corrupt professors of true Religion as to the zealous professors of corrupt Religion Folio 388 Chapter 44. Of misperswasions concerning Iustice and Mercie divine Folio 398 Chapter 45. Of transforming the word of God into the similitude of our private or corrupt senses Folio 404 Chapter 46. Shewing by instances of sacred Writ that the same sense of Gods word which somtimes most displeased may shortly after most affect or please the selfe same parties with the manner how this alteration is wrought Folio 414 Chapter 47. Of dreaming fancies concerning the sense of Scripture in the Romanist in the Iew in the Separatist or Enthusiast Folio 418 Chapter 48. Of the more particular and immediate causes of all the forementioned errors or misperswasions Folio 429 SECTION VI. Of qualifications requisite for conceiving aright of the divine Nature and his Attributes Chapter 49. The generall qualification or first ground for preventing misconceits of the diuine Nature or Attributes is purification of heart Folio 437 Chapter 50. What purification of heart may be expected sought after before the liue-image of God be renewed in vs. Of the directions given by Heathen Philosophers for attaining to this purification or to perfect knowledg by it Wherein their directions are defectiue Folio 441 Chapter 51. The best meanes to rectifie and perfect our knowledge of God is to loue him sincerely Of the mutuall ayde or furtherance which the loue of God and the knowledge of God reciprocally and in a manner circularly afford each to other in their setting growth Folio 451 A TREATISE CONTAINING the Originall of vnbeliefe misbeliefe or misperswasions concerning the veritie vnitie and attributes of the Deitie with Directions for rectifying our beliefe or knowledge in the fore-mentioned
and wise observation of reverend Gerson That famous miracles were to be suspected for lying wonders vnlesse they had some speciall vse or extraordinary end Now the onely vse or iust occasion we can obserue of Popish miracles in later times hath bin either to purchase the reputation of Saints to such as wrought them whiles they liued or to gaine a currant title to canonizatioÌ„ after their deaths And the true reason in my opinion why the Carthusians of all other religious orders wrought not many miracles was because they had no desire to be Saints of the Popes making If they had sought to be graced by his Holines with publicke sanctitie they must haue graced themselues their order with a fame of wonders otherwise that exception which was brought against Thomas of Aquine would haue taken place against them For even this Angelicall Doctors title to canonization was impeached by some because he had wrought no miracles vntill his Holines cleared the doubt by a more benigne interpretation then Apollo's Oracle could haue given Tot fecit miracula quot quaestiones determinauit Locke how many doubts he hath determined and he hath wrought so many miracles But by this reason he should haue placed him aboue most Saints amongst the Angells For it is scarce credible that any Saint hath wrought halfe so many miracles as are the doubts which this Doctor after his fashion hath determined appositely enough for the Romish Hierarchie And hath not the Pope good reason to make the Church militant adore their soules as gods in heaven which haue made his Holines more than a Saint a very god on earth But because they deny that the Church makes gods of such as the Pope makes Saints we are in the next place to discusse whether invocation of Saints as it is publickely maintained by them be not an ascription of that honour to the creature which is onely due to the Creator CHAPTER XXIIII In what sense the Romanists denie or grant that Saints are to be invocated Whether the Saints by their doctrine be mediate or immediate Intercessors betweene God and man That they neither can conceale or will they expresse the full meaning of their practise 1. BEllarmine lib. 1. de Sanctorum beatitudine cap. 16. accounts the former imputation for one of Calvins malitious slaunders Quis enim deo dicere auderet Sancte Deus ora pro nobis We must not thinke they are so foolishly impious as to say Holy God pray for vs. Nor did Calvin charge them with pulling downe God as low in every respect as the Saints but for exalting the Saints in sundry cases into the throne of God howsoever they salute them by an inferior style Nor will it follow that the Heathens did not worship many gods because they did not equalize all with Iupiter or vse the same forme of appellation vnto him to their demi-gods or Heroikes Or admitting the Romanists make no Saints equall to God the Father or to any person in the Trinitie considered according to his Deitie alone is it no sacrilâ—ge to invest them with Christs royall titles or prerogatiues as he is our high Priest and Mediator It will vpon examination proue no slander but a just accusation to say they make the Saints both sharers with Christ in his office of mediation and with the glorious Trinitie in acts essentiall to the Deitie But let vs first heare in what sense they themselues grant or deny Saints may be prayed vnto or otherwise adored and then examine whether their answers to our arguments can stand with the forme of their Liturgie or fit the maine point in question betwixt vs. 2. Some more auncient then Epiphanius for he refuteth their heresie held the Virgin Mary was to be prayed vnto after the same manner we pray to God Betweene this excessiue honor thus ascribed vnto the chiefe of Saints and the other extreame as they make it consisting in defect or deniall of invocation of any Saints Bellarmine labours to finde out a meane which he comprehends in these propositions following Non licet à Sanctis petere vt nobis tanquam authores divinorum beneficiorum gloriam vel gratiam aliaque ad beatitudinem media concedant Bellarmin de Sanctorum beatitud lib. 1. cap. 17. It is not lawfull to request the Saints that they as Authors of divine benefits would graunt vnto vs Grace or Glorie or other meanes availeable to the attainement of Faelicitie His second proposition is Sancti non sunt immediati intercessâ—res nostri apud Deum sed quicquid a Deo nobis impetrant per Christum impetrant Ibidem The Saints are not our immediate Intercessors with God but whatsoeuer they obtaine of Cod for vs they obtaine it through Christ I know not whether out of cunning or incogitancie he hath expressed himselfe or rather left their full meaning vnexpressed in these tearmes per Christum not adding withall propter Christum In the declaration he commends three parties to our consideration when we pray to God 1. The person of whom we craue every good gift 2. Him through whose merites we request they may be given vs. 3. The partie which craues them Saints by his doctrine cannot supply the first or second but the third and last place The onely meaning whereto vpon better examination he will stand is this that Saints cannot be substituted in the stead of God the Father or of Christ as he is the principall Mediator or primary Intercessor But to say that we may not request favour of God the Father propter merita Sanctorum for merits of Saints or request Saints to interpose their merits with Christs for more sure or speedie expedition can neither stand with the profession or practise of the Romish Church Bellarmine well vrged will quickly be enforst to deny the conclusion which he thus gathers from the premised propositions We pray saith he to the Saints onely to this end that they would vouchsafe to doe what we doe because they can doe it better and more effectually than we can at least they and we together may doe it better then we alone And againe we may request nothing of the Saints besides their intercession with God that Christs merits may be applyed to vs and that through Christ we may attaine grace and glory For praying thus far to Saints that speech of S. Bernard warranteth them Opus est mediatore ad mediatorem nec alter nobis vtilior quam Maria we haue neede of a mediator to our mediator and none more fit than Mary Hence they learne that Christ onely is the immediate intercessor who is heard for his owne sake the Saints are onely mediate intercessors and can obtaine nothing which they aske without Christs mediation Thus much is included in the forme of their prayers vpon Saints dayes which are all conceived in this tenor Grant vs these or these benefits at the intercession of such or such Saints 3. The first part
of his second proposition That Saints are not immediate Intercessors for vs with God he proues by places of Scripture so pregnant that some of them directly disprooue all mediate or secondary Intercessors or Mediators as Coloss 1. It pleased God that in him should all fulnesse dwell If all fulnesse the fulnesse of mediation or intercession and absolute fulnesse excludes all consort As there is but one God so there is but one Mediator betweene God and man no secondary God no secondary Mediator 1. Ioh. 2. He is the propitiation for our sinnes the absolute fulnesse of propitiation And Ioh. 10. he enstileth himselfe the Doore and Way such a doore and such a way as no man may come vnto the Father but by Him This restriction in our Divinitie makes him the onely doore and the onely way not so in theirs For wee must passe through other doores that we may come to this onely immediate doore that is he is the onely doore whereby the Saints are admitted into Gods presence but Saints are necessary doores for our admission vnto him Opus est Mediatore ad mediatorem Were this Divinitie which they borrow from S. Bernard true they much wrong Aristotle and Priscian in calling him Immediatus Intercessor aut Mediator and are bound to right them by this or the like alteration of his title He is vnicus vltimus aut finalis Mediator He is the onely finall or last Mediator For a Mediator is not of one whence to be an immediate Mediator essentially includes an immediate reference to two parties Christ is no Mediator but betweene God and Man and betweene them he is no immediate Mediator vnlesse men haue as immediate accesse to him as he hath to God the Father As God he best knowes the nature and qualitie of every offence against the Deitie vnto what sentence every offender is by justice liable how far capable of mercy as man he knowes the infirmities of men not by hearesay or information but by experience and is readie to sollicite their absolution from that doome whose bitternesse is best knowne vnto him not at others request or instigation but out of that exact sympathie which he had with all that truely mourned or felt the heavinesse of their burden Whiles he was onely the sonne of God the execution of deserved vengeance was deferred by his intercession Nor did he assume our nature and substance that his person might be more favourable or that his accesse to God the Father might be more free and immediate but that wee might approach vnto him with greater boldnesse and firmer assurance of immediate audience than before we could He exposed our flesh made his owne to greater sorrowes and indignities than any man in this life can haue experience of to the end he might be a more compassionate Intercessor for vs to his Father than any man or Angell can be vnto him We need the consort of their sighes and groanes which are oppressed with the same burden of mortalitie here on earth that our ioynt prayers may pierce the heavens but these once presented to his eares neede no sollicitors to beate them into his heart Surely if the intercession of Saints had beene needfull at any time most needfull it was before Christs incarnation or passion when by the Romanists confession it was not in vse The sonne of God was sole Mediator then 4. As the impietie of their practises doth grieue my spirit so the dissonancy of their doctrine doth as it were grate and torture my vnderstanding while I contemplate their Apologies Sometimes they beare vs in hand that God is a great King whose presence poore wretched sinners may not approach without meanes first made to his domestique servants The conceipt it selfe is grossely Heathenish and comes to be so censured in the next Discourse Now seeing they pretend the fashion of preferring petitions to earthly Princes to warrant the forme of their supplications to the Lord of heaven and earth let vs see how well the patterne doth fit their practise Admitting the imitation were lawfull how could it iustifie their going to God immediately with these or the like petitions Lord I beseech thee heare the intercession of this or that Saint for me through Iesus Christ our Lord. What fitter interrogatories can I propose vnto these sacrilegious supplicants then Malachy hath vnto the like delinquents in his time If I be your Lord and King as you enstyle me where is my feare where is my honour saith the Lord of Hoastes to you Priests that despise my name and yet being chalenged of disloyaltie they scornefully demand Wherein haue Wee despised thy name Yee bring polluted offrings into my Sanctuary and yet yee say wherein haue wee polluted thy Sanctuary If yee offer such blind devotions as these is it not evill Offer them now to thy Governour to thy Prince or Soveraigne Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hoastes He would either be thought to mock the King and come within iust censure of disloyaltie or els be mocked out of his skin by Courtiers that durst exhibite a petition in this forme vnto his Maiestie Vouchsafe I beseech you to pardon my offences against your Highnes and admit me into good place at the intercession of your Chauncellor Treasurer Chamberlaine or Controller in honor of this his birth-day for the Princes sake your sonne my good Lord and Master yet if we change onely the persons names this petition which could become none but the Princes foole to vtter differs no more from the forme of Popish prayers vpon Saints dayes then the words of Matrimony vttered by Iohn and Mary doe from themselues whilest vttered by Nicolas and Margaret The former respectlesse absurditie would be much aggravated if the Courtiers birthday whom the petitioner would haue graced with the grant of his petition should fall vpon the Kings Coronation day or when the Prince were married Of no lesse solemnitie with the Romanist is the feast of the Crosses invention it is Christs coronation or espousals and yet withall the birth-day of two or three obscure Saints whom they request God to glorifie with their owne deliverance from all perills and dangers that can betide them through Christ their Lord. This last clause must come in at the end of every prayer to no more vse than the mention of a certaine summe of mony doth in feoffements or deedes of trust onely pro formâ Praesta quoesumus omnipotens deus vt qui sanctorum tuorum Alexandri Eventij Theodoli atque 〈◊〉 â—nalis natalitia colimus a cunctis mâ—lis imminentibus eorum intercessionibus liberemur per Dominum c. Grant we beseech thee Almightie God that wee which adore the natiuitie of the Saints of Alexander Event Theod. and Iuuenal may by their intercession be delivered from all evills that hang over vs through Iesus Christ our Lord. To be delivered from evils at or by the intercession of such Saints is
as much in ordinary constructiō as to be delivered from them for their merites And this is to share or divide the mediation of Christ betwixt him and such Saints by even portions For of the two principall parts of Christs Mediatorship which the Auncient and Orthodoxall Church did exactly distinguish in the forme of their prayers the first is our hope or beliefe to be heard propter Christum for Christs sake for whose sake alone God graunts whatsoever He grants vnto mankinde the second is our beliefe or acknowledgement that those blessings which God doth grant for Christs sake are not conveyed or imparted vnto vs but through Christ or by Christ He is not onely our Orator to God but Gods hand to vs. Now the Romish Church in their solemne Liturgie expresly giues the first part of this mediation vnto Saints and leaues the latter onely vnto Christ The hymne sung or said vnto the Crosse vpon the same day conceived in the character of magicke spells falls vnder the same censure that worshipping of Saints Images or worshipping God in every visible creature doth Of which Chap. 35 36. The Hymne is thus O crux splendidior cunctis astris mundo celebris hominibus multùm amabilis sanction vniversis quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi dulcia ferens pondera salua praesentem cateruam in tuis hodie laudibus cōgregatam halleluia halleluia ibidem O Crosse more splendent than all the starres famous throughout the world most amiable amongst men more holy than the Vniverse or all things besides which alone wast worthie to carry the Talent or price of the world saue this present Congregation this day assembled to set forth thy prayses Prayse the Lord prayse the Lord. They that can be thus familiar with God as to indent with him at whose intercession their requests should be graunted doe they in modestie neede Mediators vnto Christ 5. Were there any hope of full or direct satisfaction I would presse this demand to any learned Papist What order those three parties whom Bellarmine makes joynt Commissioners in the audience of prayers obserue in prayers of this forme Whether they expect that God the Father should first take their petitions and acquaint Christ with them and Christ the Saints or that the Saints should take them immediately and deliver them vnto Christ that he may acquaint his Father with them They graunt the Saints can heare no prayers immediately from our mouths much lesse discerne their conception in our hearts they vnderstand them onely by seeing God and for this reason happily prayers of this forme are in the first place directed to God the Father or to the Trinitie Is God then as the booke wherein they are written altogether senselesse of their meaning vntill the Saints whose intercession they craue read them vnto him or hearing them is he vnwilling to grant them vntill the Saints haue expounded them But what is Christs office in the meane time to request his Father that he would heare the Saints for his sake or contrariwise doth he and the Saints mediate for sinfull men both together as joynt advocates or doth He first open the case and leaue the Saints to prosecute it or doe the Saints onely sue in his name that God would communicate his merits vnto them as sometimes in earthly Courts one of principall note beares the name whilest another manageth the businesse The supplicant should methinkes in good manners frame some petition to Christ or aske his leaue to vse his name in such suites as they would haue managed by this or that particular Saint in honour of his birth-day 6. Perhaps this forme of prayer was first invented by such for such in the Romish Church there are and aunciently haue beene as deny Christ any kinde of intercession with his Father besides the representation of his Humanitie And mens hearts once wrought to this perswasion would forthwith take the impression of artificiall begging as the best forme of tendring their devout supplications vnto God Now amongst beggers commonly one shewes his maimed limbs or other rufull spectacle to moue pittie and others read the lecture vpon them And thus doe these sacrilegious supplicants vpon great Festivals make Christ and their peculiar Saints such sharers in the office of intercession as the Creeple and the Gabler are in mens benevolences at Faires or Markets The one must moue Gods eyes and the other fill his eares 7. If it shall please the Reader to compare Bellarmines pretended detection of fraudulent dealing in our Writers Chap. 16. with the declaration of his second proposition hitherto discussed He will easily assent vnto me that the onely tricke this cunning Sophister had to saue his mothers credit and her sonnes was to call Reformed Churches whores first and their children lyars For who but the impudent sonne of an adulterous Mother or one accustomed to shuffle beyond the compasse of a professed lyars art memoratiue could haue avouched what in the declaration of this second proposition he doth Sanctos invocamus ad hoc solum We pray to Saints onely to the end they may doe what we doe that is as he expounds himselfe afterwards that Christs merits might by intercession of Saints be applyed vnto vs. This were this the onely end of praying to them were in effect to request them to stoope a little below their ranke and become joynt supplicants with vs for reliefe of our necessities and advancement of Gods glory Is it then all one to request them to joyne with vs in the honor and service of God for our good and to intend their honour and service in the prayers and requests which wee make either to them or to God that he would accept their intercession for vs Now it is but one part of the question betweene the Churches Romish and Reformed Whether it be lawfull to request Saints deceased to ioyne in prayer with vs as they did or might haue beene lawfully requested to haue done whilest they liued The other part whereto Bellarmine should haue framed his answere is Whether it be not formall Idolatrie to offer vp our devotions to Saints by way of honor or to intend a religious worship or service of them in those prayers which wee offer vp to God in his Sanctuarie It is so constantly agreed vpon by all professed members of the Romish Church and was so expresly set downe by Bellarmine himselfe as nothing but extreame necessitie of playing tricks could haue shuffled it out of his memorie that of the seaven parts of Religious Worship due to canonized Saints the second is Invocation in publique Liturgies the fourth sacrifices of prayer and thankesgiuing which they offer vp to God in honour of such Saints and of this latter kinde are the prayers before mentioned vsuall vpon every Saints day And Bellarmine thus begun the chapter next saue one before that wherein his former declaration is conteined Demonstravimus sanctos esse colendos sed quia peculiaris difficultas
est de cultu Invocationis c. We haue alreadie demonstrated that the Saints are to be worshipped but because the peculiar difficultie is concerning the worship of Invocation c. 8. This indeed is the principall point in question vpon whose deniall they endite vs of sacrilege against the Saints as we doe them of flat Idolalatry or robbing God of his honour for avouching the affirmatiue by their practise Cultus Invocationis the worship of Invocation wee know well is somewhat more then Invocation and to invocate Saints in ordinary language is more then onely to request their prayers albeit to request these after their death is but a relique of Ethnicke foolery a superstitious impietie in professed Christians What then Doth that glory wherewith God arayes his Saints vtterly strip them of all honor and respect from men Is the felicitie which they haue gotten Bonum magis laudabile quam honorabile Are they worthy of prayse and not of honour Their memory is honorable but their persons not to be honored by vs. Their absence makes them vncapable of such petitions as we may without danger make vnto others lesse holy with whom we haue not onely mysticall communion but civill commerce And civill worship without the support of civill commercement is but a phantastique groundlesse ceremony and an Apish observance From these considerations did Calvin justly deny all civill worship or signification of such respect to Saints deceased as was due vnto them whilest they lived and vtterly disclaimed all religious worship either of them or of other creatures dead or living And because the Iesuites delude the ignorant or vnobservant by trickes of that art wherein they are best seene to vnfold these termes with whose aequivocall vse they play fast and loose will be no losse of time nor interruption of discourse CHAPTER XXV What Worship is How it is divided into civill and Religious In what sense it is to be graunted or denyed that Religious Worship is due to Saints That the Romish Church doth in her practise exhibite another sort of Religious Worship vnto Saints than her Advocates pretend in their Disputations 1. THat some worship or honor more then civill is due to Saints whether liuing with vs or departed is the chiefe hold whereat our Adversaries in this controversie ayme whose cunning surprisall as they presume would make them entire Conquerors without farther conflict Worship or adoration of what kinde soever hath as both acknowledge two degrees or parts 1. The internall affection or serviceable submission which is as the soule or life 2. The externall note or signe of such submission as bowing kneeling supplication these are the body or materiall part of Worship or Honour The internall submissiue affection without which the externall signe or gesture would be interpreted but a mockerie is due onely vnto Intellectuall Natures must be differenced by the diversitie of their excellencies Now intellectuall excellency is either Cōmunicatiue and finite or infinite and incommunicatiue Such onely is the excellency of the divine Maiestie wherevnto they appropriate a correspondent Worship or service which they enstampe Cultus latria Nor doe we disproue it as counterfeit though lately coyned if we respect the expresse difference it beares for its distinction from all other kindes of worship Thus much onely might be added for explication We are bound not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Honour God infinitely more than man for his infinite excellency but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to doe him service and beare allegiance to him infinitely more absolute then we owe to Princes in that he is our Lord Creator and Redeemer Though both be alike due yet service is more peculiar to him than Honor. For in as much as we beare his image wee are in some sort partakers of his intellectuall excellency but altogether vncapable of its Infinitie but the glorious prerogatiue of Creation or Redemption is altogether incommunicable In these workes he admits no instrumentall service much lesse can he brooke a partner in the glory redounding from them 2. Intellectuall excellency communicated to his creatures consists 1. In Naturall Morall or Civill endowments as in Wisedome Valour Magnanimitie Nobilitie of birth eminencie of place or authoritie 2. In gifts and graces of the Spirit as sanctitie of life heavenly wisedome and favour with God Vnto the former which we may tearme temporall excellency they assigne civill respect or morall Worship vnto spiritual excellency a peculiar respect or reverence of a middle ranke inferior to latria or the worship which they giue to God superior to that wherewith they honour Kings and Princes secular Nobles or men in authoritie And this for distinction sake they call cultus duliae a Worship of service Howbeit one of their principall Advocates for customary Traditions will not in this case allow the pretended custome of the Schooles to prescribe against the evidence of the naturall and Grammaticall vse of this word in all good Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Peresius is to serue and wee are not the Saints servants but their fellow-servants And Bellarmine should either haue spared to censure this his good friend for scrupulositie or els haue given a better resolutiō of his doubt than he hath done by alledging onely one place in Scripture wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken not for slavery or servitude but for honorary subiection As when the Apostle saith Galat. 5.13 Vse not your libertie as an occasion to the flesh but by loue serue one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeede to serue one another by course is no act of servilitie but a twisting of brotherly loue or chaine of good Fellowship but if the bond of service be legall and not mutuall he that is bound to serue is properly a servant and he that hath right to demand service of another is truely a Master such is the case betweene the Saints and vs by our adversaries doctrine Wee are bound in conscience to serue and worship them cultu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so are not they I hope bound to serue vs. Bellarmines instance makes more for Peresius than against him But seeing their tongues are their owne and no man may controll them in the vse of words let them enioy their dialect wee will take their meaning and follow the matter The nature and qualitie of this cultus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they expresse in opposition to vs by Religious Worship 3. Partly vnder the multiplicitie of importances which these termes involue partly vnder a colour of reall distinction betweene the habites or fountaines whence these severall kindes of Worship must be derived their sleightie conveyance is not easily discerned vnlesse they be well eyed To admit no greater multiplicitie of habites or graces than we haue neede of is a point of good vse in every part of Divinitie And setting aside Aquinas his authoritie which we may ouersway with S. Austines what necessitie is there of cloathing our
soules with two distinct habites of Religion one of latria wherewith wee serue God another of dulia whereby we tender such respect and service as is fit for Saints and Angells For every abstract number without addition or subtraction of any vnitie without any the least variation in it selfe necessarily includes a different proportion to every number that can be compared with it and so doth every sanctified or religious soule without any internall alteration or infusion of more habites or graces than that by which it is sanctified naturally bring forth three severall sorts of religious and respectfull demeanour 1. towards God 2. towards Saints or Angells 3. towards Princes men in authoritie or of morall worth As it is but one lesson Giue honour to whom honour loue to whom loue tribute to whom tribute so it is but one religious habite or rule of conscience that teacheth the practise of it And in some sense it may be graunted that men in authoritie or of morall worth must be worshipped with religious worship in another sense againe it must be denyed that Saints are to be worshipped with religious worship though worthy of some peculiar religious respect whereto Kings and Princes vnlesse Saints withall haue no title 4. The respect or service which we owe to others may take this denomination of Religious from three severall References First from the internall habit or religious rule of conscience which dictateth the acts of service or submission secondly from the intellectuall excellency or personall worth of the partie to whom they are tendred thirdly from the nature and qualitie of the acts or offices themselues which are tendred to them with the manner or circumstances of their tendring According to the first denomination we must worship vngodly Magistrates and irreligious Princes with religious Worship For if wee must doe all things for conscience sake and as in the sight of God our service wheresoever it is due must be no eye service no faigned respect All our actions and demeanours must be religious as Religion is opposed to hypocrisie dissimulation or time-serving And in this sense religious and civill Worship are not opposite but coordinate Men truely religious must be religiously civill in their demeanor towards others If our respect or service take the denomination of Religious from the personall worth or internall excellencie of the partie whom we worship it is most true wee are to worship Saints with more than meere civill Worship None of our Church I dare be bound will deny that godly and religious men must be reverenced not onely for their vertues meerely morall or politicke but for their sanctitie and devotion Yet is this all that the moderne Papist seekes to proue against vs. And from this Antecedent which needes no proofe he presently takes that for graunted which he shall never be able to prooue either from these or other premises to wit That Saints are to be worshipped with religious Worship as it is opposed to civill Worship His meaning if it reach the point in question must be this Wee are bound to offer vp the proper acts of Religion as prayers with other devotions by way of personall honour or service to the Saints This wee say is formall Idolatrie 5. It is one thing to tender our service in lowlinesse of spirit for conscience sake vnto the Prince another to tender him the service of our spirit or subiection of our consciences Religion binds me to bow my knee or vse other accustomed signes of obeysance in vnfaigned testimony that I acknowledge him Lord of my body armed with Authoritie from the Maker of it to take vengeance vpon it for deniall of its service Or in case he punish me without cause the bond of conscience and Religion tyes me to submit this outward man in humilitie of spirit to the vnlawfull exercise of his lawfull power rather than I should graunt him the command or disposall of my Religion or honour him with the acts or exercises of it In like sort the sight and presence of any whom God hath graced with extraordinary blessings of his Spirit will voluntarily extort signes of submissiue respect from every sanctified and religious spirit in vndoubted token that they reverence Gods gifts bestowed vpon him and heartily desire their soules might take some tincture or impression from his gratious carriage or instructions which they can hardly doe without some nearer linke of familiaritie and acquaintance or at least would doe so much better by how much the linke were closer or their vicinitie greater The right end and scope whereto the instinct of grace inherent in our soules doth direct these externall signes of submission is to woe their soules and spirits whom we thus reverence to some more intimate coniunction This submissiue reverence though not required by them is on our parts necessary for holding such consort or iust proportion with the abundant measure of Gods graces in them as we may draw comfort and perfection from them Contemplation of others excellency without this submissiue temper in our selues either stirres vp envie or occasioneth despaire and yet all that these outward and vnfaigned signes of submission can lawfully plight vnto them is the service of our bodies or inferior faculties These we could be content to sacrifice not to them but for their sakes alwayes provided that we doe not preiudice the right or dominion which our owne spirits and consciences haue over our bodies immediately vnder God But to offer vp the internall and proper fruits of the Spirit vnto them by way of tribute and honour is to dishonour to deny that God which made them The seedes of grace and true Religion are sowne immediately by his sole powerfull hand and their natiue of-spring acts of faith especially must be reserved entire and vntouched for him Prayers intrinsecally religious or devotions truely sacred are oblations which may not which cannot without open sacriledge be solemnly consecrated to any others honour but onely to his who infuseth the Spirit of prayer and thankesgiving into mens hearts The principall crime whereof we accuse the Romish Church and whereof such as purposely examine the inditement put vp by Reformed Churches against her and her children are to take speciall notice is her open professed direct intendment to honour them which are no gods with those prayers or devotions with these elevations of mindes and spirits wherewith they present the onely wise immortall King in Temples dedicated to his service He that prayed in olde times to an Idoll in a Groue destinated to his worship did wrong the true God after the same manner that he doth which robs him of his Tyths before they be set apart for his house But to come into his house of prayer with serious purpose to honour him with the sacrifice of a contrite or broken spirit and in the time of oblation to divert our best intentions to the honor of our fellow-creatures is worse than Ananias and Saphirahs sinne a lying to the
our hearts on anything besides God is a spirituall fornication or adultery but thus to elevate our spirits which Christ hath espoused vnto himselfe by grace vnto Saints and Angels as they doe that direct religious prayers vnto them in the house and Temple of God is like an incestuous pollution of the marriage bed as if a woman betrothed vnto the eldest brother and heyre apparant vnto the Crowne should prostitute her bodie vpon her marriage-day to his kinsman or younger brother 2. But admit S. Peter or some Angell should by Gods appointment vouchsafe their locall residence againe amongst the Inhabitants of the earth worke miracles heale diseases and instruct vivâ voce in the remote deserts of Africke or in the Indies where we could neither haue personall accesse vnto them nor commend our suites vnto them by letter or interposed messenger might wee here in England kneele downe and turning our faces towards the place of their residence poure forth the requests of our hearts vnto them as Daniel being in exile did his towards Ierusalem wherein God had promised to dwell This were to outstrip the Heathen as well in the essentiall forme of Idolatrie as in the degrees of superstitious or magicall folly What heathen did ever exhibit solemne worship or poure forth their petitions for ayde or succour vnto Apollo Mercurie or Aesculapius much lesse vnto their Demi-gods or Heroikes saue onely in places where they supposed them resident as in their Temples about their Oracles or before shrines or Idols which according to Ethnicke Divinitie were in a sort animated with their presence Or admitting any heathen living in Asia should haue directed his prayers towards Hercules his Temple in Greece might not his folly haue beene iustified by the same Apologie which the Romanist brings for his if that were iust and orthodoxall Iupiter est quodcunque vides The supreame power adored by him vnder the name of Iupiter he might with good approbation of the Learned haue avouched to be every where able and willing to acquaint the lesser Gods his more intimate friends with whom he might be bolder with his petitions in so great distance To be perswaded that any Saint should be able at all houres of day and night to take notice of all the petitions that are or can be made vnto him in Italy Germanie France and Spaine or throughout the whole world is to ascribe greater divinitie vnto him than any Heathens did to their ordinary Gods whom notwithstanding they conceived worthy of divine Honour The fruition of his presence who knowes all things at all times cannot make Saints or Angels so capable of this perpetuall vbiquitary knowledge as personall vnion with him who is every where essentially present might make Christs body of vbiquitary locall presence yet to maintaine it to be so present every where is in our Adversaries judgement an heresie but a farre greater to ascribe this vbiquitary knowledge vnto Saints And out of this conceipt to direct prayers to them in heaven from every part of the earth is formall Idolatrie as well in practise as in opinion For God even God onely knowes the hearts of all the Children of men 1. King 8. ver 31. 3. To conclude with what manner of respect or observance in particular glorified Saints or Angels are to be entertained by vs mortall men is a point impossible to be determined vntill wee haue iust occasion to dispute it And other occasion we can haue none saue what their presence or commerce with vs shall administer Or admitting their vndoubted apparitions were at this day as rife as heretofore they haue beene pretended it would be the first part of our dutie to fashion our selues vnto such observance as they would prescribe vs not to prescribe them what manner of honour they were to receiue from vs. Gods word concerning their worship is silent saue onely that Saint Paul hath advised vs to content our selues with ignorance in these secrets vnto whose search we are not called to affect whose knowledge wee can haue no provocation or impulsion besides the vaine-swelling of our fleshly mindes But whatsoever respect or observance might lawfully be tendred to their infallible appearance cannot without impious folly be seriously proffered to them whilest they appeare not and solemnly to consecrate it to their Images whose persons we never sawe is the height of impietie Civilitie common sense may enforme vs that to tender such respect or signes of submission to Princes or great Personages whom wee see a farre of as would become vs being admitted to conference with them would argue either distraction of minde or clownish simplicitie Though it were lawfull to expresse our necessities with bended knees to Saints or Angels vouchsafing their presence and to implore their intercession for vs with sighes and teares yet may not such as haue eyes pray to them or any whom they cannot see saue onely to him who is invisible None that haue sense may pray to any of whose vertuall presence or acquaintance with our affaires we haue no sensible vndoubted pledge saue onely to him whom we know not by sense but by the spirit of grace and faith every where to heare and know all things that are done or sayd any where Howbeit for every man at all times in every place vpon all occasions to worship him in such manner as they without offence with true devotion haue done vnto whom his extraordinary presence hath beene manifested would be but a superstitious observance For although we be fully assured that he sees our gestures knowes our hearts and heares our petitions at all times and every where alike yet he sees that we haue not alwayes the like occasions which they had to pray or worship as they did And any extraordinary manner of worship without extraordinary impulsion is will-worship More particularly Religious prayers being proper acts of faith vnlesse they be made in faith are most properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of faith quite contrary to the rule of faith which in any point to crosse is a presumptuous sinne but to contradict it in matters of religious worship is the sinne of Idolatrie Now religious prayers cannot be conceived or exhibited to any in faith without certaintie of faith that they to whom they are exhibited doe heare vs. Seriously to tender requests to the soules of Saints deceased farther distant from vs than any one part of the earth is from another after the same manner we might do vpon certaine notice of their presence or mutuall pledges of commerce with vs is but to offer the sacrifice of fooles vnto the winde or to sow the element wherein we breath with the poysonous seedes of Ethnicke superstition And so in fine the Romanist doth not enrich the Saints but stockes and stones the workes of his owne hands with that honour whereof he hath robbed his God His adoring his kissing and his worshipping of Saints and Images with bended knees and other signes of submission is but
pro nobis nos non agere de verbis sed de sensu verborum It is to be noted saith Bellarmine that when we affirme it is not lawfull to request any more of the Saints than that they would pray for vs our meaning is not to be tryed by the words which wee vse but by the sense and meaning of them 2. They thinke they may safely vse these formes of words Saint Peter haue mercy on me saue me open me the gate of heaven giue me health of bodie patience vertue c so they make this mentall or tacite construction saue me or giue me this or that by thy prayers by thy merits Are these the blessings then which they craue by his merits If so what neede is there to pray to God for them For if they be his by right of purchase he may dispose of his owne at his pleasure But what warrant haue they for this forme of prayer Nazianzene so speakes in his funerall Oration for S. Cyprian and so doth the vniversall Church in the hymnes to the blessed Virgine The more vniversall the practise hath beene the more vniversall should the reformation be For albeit every Romanist which vseth the fore-mentioned prayers should vse withall that mentall expression or tacite reservation of his own meaning which Bellarmine commends vnto him as an Antidote to the Saints and himselfe yet for all this he should truly and really dishonour God by verbally honouring the Saints with His glorious Attributes Yea the deniall of reall honour to the Saints fully answerable to the titles which he giues them must needs be as true and reall a mockerie of them as it would be to a Baron or Gentleman if their Inferiors should thus petition the one I beseech your Maiestie or excellencie that is your Lordship or Honour to heare me or thus salute the other God blesse your Honour meaning your Worship 3. But is it credible that either Nazianzene or the Romish Church tooke that speech of S. Paul for their patterne which Iesuites now vse post factum for their defence Paul sayth of himselfe that he saued some not as God but by his ministry of preaching praying Where sayth Paul so Rom. 11. vers 13 14. I speake to you Gentiles in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnifie my office if by any meanes I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might saue some of them and 1 Cor. 9. I am made all things to all men that I might at least saue some Durst Bellarmine or any of the Romish Church haue sung the former hymne in solemne service vnto S. Paul or haue enstyled him Saviour in their devotions and religious prayers vpon this warrant of his owne words To haue entitled him Saviour much more to haue prayed vnto him for saving-health had beene a great deale more inordinary construction than to haue said Iam Pauls though that in his doctrine were to devide Christ The first sound of such sacrilegious congratulations in his cares would haue rent his heart and made him teare his clothes with greater indignation than he did at the Lycaonians idolatrous behaviour towardes him when they tooke him for Iupiter He had seene as plentifull fruites of his Apostolicall function as any other had done Yet all he ascribed or would permit to be ascribed vnto himselfe was paine and travaile he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a co-worker with God who in the efficacy or encrease to whose doner the worship of invocation is onely due could haue no sharer In respect of these neither was the externall worke nor the visible workeman any thing 4. But be it granted for disputations sake that the title of ministeriall or secondary Saviour might well haue become S. Paul whilest he travailed in the Gospel yet seeing the chiefe meanes he vsed for others safetie was submission of his high calling to their frailtie and symbolizing with their weakenesse the excellencie of his ministeriall function or Apostolicall power did not enlarge it selfe but rather expire by his dissolution The ground of this our Assertion is so firmely laid by our Apostle him selfe that whiles the world stands it shall never be shaken by any assault the Romish Church can make against it nor shall any distinction which the Iesuites can frame be ever able to vndermine the Conclusion which wee ground vpon it Thus we argue Had S Pauls favour with God beene so mightily improoved by death as they contend and his affectionate notice of his followers necessities continued the same or greater His speedie dissolution or departure to Christ had beene as expedient for the Churches which he planted as for himselfe For so to vse the Romish language they might haue had a patrone in the Court of Heaven the vncessant intercession of whose effectuall prayers might haue procured pardon for their sinnes and plentie of teachers to water what he had planted But S. Paul hath expresly sayd it and we must vndoubtedly beleeue it that to liue for ever to make incession for vs is the essentiall prerogatiue of the vnchangable Priesthood the peculiar title of the everlasting Priest It was expedient for his disciples that he should leaue them and goe to his Father otherwise that Comforter would not haue come vnto them But it never was expedient for any Church or Congregation to be deprived of their godly faithfull Pastors bodily presence The onely reason of this diversitie is because Christ liues for ever and hath an everlasting Priest-hood whereas Saints and godly men which are departed this life although they still liue vnto God are touching intercession or other acts of their ministeriall function dead to vs. Vpon these advantages we may here constraine Cardinall Bellarmine either to call in his vnanswerable argument as he enstyles it or to admit of that answer to it which our Writers haue given Why the invocation of Saints should be vnlawfull or vnprofitable no other reason can be alledged but either because they cannot heare the prayers which we make vnto them or will not pray as heartily to God for vs as they did when they lived or are not in such favour with God to obtaine what they aske Bellar. l. 1. de Sanctorum beatitud cap 19. I onely reply if Saints deceased can both heare our prayers and be sooner heard of God for our good which as our Adversaries suppose they still tender in particular so much the more then liuing here they did as their charitie is encreased it is expedient for the Church militant that the godliest and best Ministers die the soonest and the fastest For so of ordinary Pastors they may become more than Apostles able to heate the prayers and vndertake the patronage of many thousands with whom they could neither haue commerce or conference while they liued in the flesh 5. How vtterly these men evacuate the eternitie of Christs Priesthood as well by continuing a successiue multiplicitie of
his name and be consecrated to his honour may they not offer that vnto S. Peter which is S. Peters and present him with a sacrifice vpon that Altar which beares his image and superscription No◠they may not offer a sacrifice saue onely to God But they may offer it vnto God in honour of S. Peter or in testimony that S. Peter is the patron of that place or of such as in it supplicate vnto him or in token of their desire that his intercession for them might be accepted 3. Or to gather the resolutions into such distinct tearmes as yonger or weaker capacities may strike at their errors without iniury to the truth which they would make vs beleeue doth vnderprop them Deus est vnicus terminus non vnicus finis sacrificij oblati God is the only party to whom the sacrifice is offered or solemnely presented not the onely partie whose honour is by the offering or solemnitie intended They haue as true an intention to honour S. Peter as to honour God though in a lower degree and for any construction I can make of their assertions S. Peters honour though in it selfe lesse is notwithstanding more specially and principally intended So that by offering sacrifice vnto God onely we may in some respects grant they honour God more than S. Peter in others we must accuse them for honouring S. Peter more than God For illustrating this collection I will alter onely the matter and persons not a whit of the forme of the Action or order of intention The case is the same as if some great Family or Corporation should tender the King a royall present in most submissiue and loyall manner but petitiō withall to haue some favorite whom they most affect made Baron or Governor and Fee-farmer of the Citie or Territories which vnder his Maiestie they inhabite reserving all rents and services aunciently due out of the lands vnto the Crowne or readie if neede were a little to raise them A wise King in this case would neede no spectacles to discerne the true reason of their professing more than ordinary loyaltie to his Highnesse at this time and place to haue bin their extraordinary affection vnto the partie whose honour they sought for their owne patronage vnto whose coffers more gaine were likely to accrew for the proprietie of the revenewes granted than could come to the Chequer from the Fee-farme or Royaltie And the Romanists I am perswaded would be more ready to deride our simplicitie than to commend our charitie if we could not suspect that S. Peter in Rome S. Dennis in Paris S. Iames in Compostella the Lady Marie in Loretto or other worse deserving Saints in the places wherof they are Patrons in the Churches and Temples dedicated to their memorie did not gaine a greater portion of the peoples hearts and a truer propriety in their devotions vnder the title of Dulia than is reserved for the great King vnder the title of Latria If then we consider not the physicall forme of the sacrifice onely but the end and circumstances of the whole service they honour God with greater titles of Religion but with lesse realtie of religious respect or affection then they doe those Saints whom they conceiue as their immediate Lords their peculiar Patrons or especiall Benefactors As for the Sonne of God seeing they make him the matter of the offering wherewith they hope to induce his Father to grace the Saints by granting immunitie vnto themselues vnder their patronage and protection they no way honour but as much as in them lies disdignifie him in such solemnities The indignitie offred by them vnto Christ though for its measure much lesse is in proportion much what the same as if a saucie petitioner or dishonest supplicant should seeke to worke the King to grant his petition for his owne gaine and his friends honour by presenting his Maiestie with rarest Iewells of the Prince his onely Sonne without his expresse consent or vpon presumptuous hopes of his presumed approbation 4. But let vs take their confession concerning the other points proposed in their owne language We demand whether S. Peter haue no better interest in the Churches Altars that beare his name of which his image hath taken possession than he hath in the service that is celebrated in the one or in the sacrifice that is offered vp on the other Here such as joyne hands and hearts in the repairing of the new Babell are somewhat divided in their language Some grant the tenor of his interest to be one the same in both and therefore make the same plea they did before That one Church is called S. Peters another S. Maries admits in their doctrine this exposition Both are dedicated vnto God but the one in the name and memorie of S. Peter the other of S. Marie or they are dedicated vnto God to the end that they may vse the intercession of S. Peter or S. Marie in that place As the Masse is called S. Peters masse not that the sacrifice is offered vnto him but vnto God by way of thankesgiving for the grace bestowed on S. Peter and Peter withall may be there prayed vnto as their Patron and Advocate with God This sayth Bellarmine is a godly exposition and conformable to the rites which the Church obserues in the consecration of Temples For sometimes the Bishop amongst the prayers belonging to such solemnities professeth that he consecrateth the Temple in honorem Dei nomen talis vel talis Sancti to the honor of God and name of such a Saint but directly to God vnder the title of Latria to the memorie of the Saint vnder the title of Dulia But Bellarmine foresaw that their practise and forme of consecration well examined might be enforc'd to cōfesse more then this exposition implies and vpon this foresight hath framed another more wary plea to our inditement for whose better successe he had conceived his fourth proposition concerning the right vse or end of building Temples in these tearmes Sacrae domus non solum Deo sed etiam Sanctis c. Sacred palaces or religious houses may be lawfully built and dedicated not onely to God but vnto Saints To bring in this conclusion in due place and order not Fathers and Councells onely but holy Scriptures also must be wrested to countenance blasphemie and blasphemie having put on an impudent face vpon presumption of their warrant must man in such heathenish Idolatrie as not so guarded would blush or be affraid to appeare amongst Christian spectators Salomons Temple sayth he was erected not onely to be an house of prayer or of sacrifices but to be withall an habitation for the Arke as Davids intendment 1 Chron. 17. Psal 132. and Salomons accomplishing of it 2 Chron. 5. cap bare manifest record This being proued which no man denyeth he thus assumes The same or greater honor is due to the sacred reliques of Christ and his Saints than vnto the Mosaicall Arke Ergo it is as
receiue blessings from God and this acknowment of their subordination vnto God makes the same vow or solemne promise vnto them to be but cultus duliae But the question was whether solemne vowes be not essentiall parts of latrie and if such they be as most of their Church doe hold them to be no mentall respect or consideration of such as make allow or authorize them can transforme them into Cultus dulia Besides the distinction is naught this great Champion did either evidently misapply it to this difficultie or els did much amisse in not applying it to the former For might he not as well haue sayd They erected Temples or offered sacrifice to Saints in signe of thankefulnesse to them as Mediators or Intercessors but vnto God onely as to the first fountaine of blessings received 3. It is confessed by our adversaries that the name of Vow in sacred writ or dialect alwayes imports a promise made to God and yet they thinke it no Idolatry to performe that religious service vnto Saints which the holy Spirit hath appropriated vnto God because the Canon of Scripture was accomplished before the Custome of vowing vnto Saints begun or rather the authoritie of it was abandoned by introduction of this custome if not before This reply seemes to insinuate that if Gods Spirit had committed ought to writing since vowes were enacted as parts of religious worship due vnto Saints deceased He would haue fitted his language to their custome How ever this answere takes but a part of our objection though more by much than this Goliah was able to deale with For we argue not onely from the vse of the word in Scripture but from the reason why it is so vsed Now the reason why vowes in Scripture are appropriated vnto God is because they are a more immediate and especiall part of his worship than sacrifices are He that offered legall sacrifices of his Cattell or of the fruites of the earth did thereby testifie his gratitude vnto God as vnto the supreme Owner of these and sole author of all other blessings and as vnto him which gaue man power to gather substance But he that vowed vnto the Lord did acknowledge him to be the searcher of the heart the just avenger of perfidious negligence the bountifull rewarder of fidelitie and diligence in his service Hence it was that legall sacrifices were oftimes the matter of religious vowes The forme of religious worship or service and the immediate end of such sacrifices was performance of the vowes whose neglect plentie of sacrifices could not recompence But fidelitie in performance of what was lawfully vowed did please God without the offering of sacrifice And whether the vow were conceived out of gratitude vnto God for benefits past or out of sorrow for sinne or former ingratitude the religious observance of it was a true part of that living sacrifice or reasonable service which our Apostle requires at our hands as the patterne or prototypon of Leviticall offerings May we then offer any part of our reasonable service to any other besides God vnto whom onely his people were to offer legall sacrifices The apprehension of greater excellency in God than in the Saints can no more alter the nature of the service than the different titles of the King and his Nobles doe alter the nature of the debt or tenor of the obligation wherein we stand bound to him and them joyntly Now Romish Votaries bind themselues by one and the same solemne act to God and the Saints ioyntly And is it possible that the performance of one and the same act should be Dulia in respect of the one and Latria in respect of the other Rather as sometimes it falls out that one of meanest place may be principall creditor in bonds ioyntly made to him and others so in some cases as in vowes of Virginitie solemnely made to God and to the blessed Virgin joyntly of pilgrimage to Saints whom they conceiue as speciall patrons of those places the Saints shall haue the principall interest in the Votaries affections 4. The Fathers in the second Nicene Councell and others more auncient whose authoritie they pretended for establishing that abominable decree as one of our Historians many yeares before Luther was borne doth censure it concerning Image-worship did divide Adoration into two parts externall and internall 1. The externall as they describe it by note of submission or emphaticall expression of affection they did assigne vnto Images 2. The internall adoration or adoration in spirit which they call Latria they appropriated vnto God And of this internall adoration or Latria they make intercession or nuncupation of vowes essentiall parts But Bellarmine after he had prooved by authoritie and reason that solemne vowes are parts of Latria and after he had given it vs for graunted by their whole Church that the worship of Latria is proper onely vnto God finally attempts to share this worship of Latria which is a great deale more indivisible than was our Saviours garment betweene God and his Saints But sooner shall the Iesuites be able to teach an Art of dividing indivisibilities or of setting vnitie at variance with it selfe than to justifie this division or sharing of vowes betwixt God and his Saints We shall be ready to iustifie and maintaine these inferences against them if neede shall require or occasion be offered by logicall remonstrance If the worship of Latria and in particular the nuncupation of vowes be proper onely vnto God than he or they or whosoever they be every person to whom Latria or nuncupation of vowes is solemnely tendred either alone or ioyntly vnto God is a God in their esteeme that so tender or make them But the Romane Catholicke doth directly and solemnly offer his vowes to S. Dominicke S. Francis and S. Bennet c. Therefore S. Dominicke in his divinitie is a God S. Francis a God S. Bennet a God so is every Saint to whom he makes his vowes ioyntly with God To say they acknowledge the three persons in the blessed Trinitie to be a greater God than all or any of these persons mentioned as it cannot excuse them from Idolatrie though it were true so neither can it in their divinitie be absolutely true but onely in part It is true in respect of the apprehension or esteeme of divine powers which is seated onely in the braine vntrue in respect of the esteeme or religious respect of divine powers which is seated in the heart or affection CHAPTER XXXI That the apprehension of different excellencies in God and the Saints deceased cannot prevent the contagion which mens soules are naturally apt to take by making solemne prayers and vowes ioyntly to God and to the Saints 1. RELIGION as Bellarmine well observeth consisteth not in the apprehension or speculatiue acknowledgement of excellencie in the partie worshipped but in the inclination of the will or affection The former is as the warrant the latter as the execution And as sentence may
cannot be Thirdly the Saints in heaven are happie glorious the sonnes of God Gods by participation because they are confirmed in their estate and are not subject to change or Apostasie to both which all in this life having their blisse and glory rather in spe than in re are in his judgement still obnoxious From these resolutions wee thus infer If promises then the prayers which we make to Saints haue greater affinity with the prayers which we make to God than with our request to living men that they would pray for vs. To speake properly we pray men we doe not vse to pray vnto them But as vnto God so vnto Saints men of the Romane Churches catechizing vse to pray that solemnly because they hold them Gods by participation Now as we might not worship our redeemer Cultu latriae with divine worship vnlesse we were by faith assured that he were truely God so admitting the invocation or worshipping of true Saints Cultu Duliae were warranted by the word of God yet might we not worship any with this kinde of worship without like certaintie of faith that they are Gods by participation or heires of glory Had this great Clerke beene mindfull in his third booke concerning the worshipping of Saints of what he had said before in the first he would in wisedome haue concealed these conclusions Or if he had in the first booke foreseene the necessitie of this resolution concerning vows shame would haue made him disclaime the practise of praying though privately vnto vncanonized Saints whose lawfulnesse he there maintains by the same plea that Sir Thomas More vsed Oramus viuentes etiamsi nesciamus esse Sanctos cur non defunctos quando maiori ratione confidimus esse sanctos We pray living men to pray for vs albeit we know them not to be Saints and why not men deceased whom we may on better reasons hope to be Saints though this we may not doe in publicke Letanies and sacred Service Now they may not invocate such Saints in publicke Liturgies because the Church hath forbidden it otherwise Nazianzens Prosopopaeia in his Panegyricke to Basil or Athanasius might haue beene a sufficient warrant to haue conceived a publicke hymne in the same forme But as I said we pray living men to pray for vs as we are readie to doe for them we pray not vnto them we giue no solemne testimony of their sanctitie whose sinceritie we mistrust though this were lesse sacrilegious and dishonourable vnto God then praying vnto them whom we know not to be Saints albeit to pray vnto knowne Saints were no sacriledge For what preposterous partialitie is this that God must manifest his right to supreme honour by his workes of creation and providence that our Saviour which died for vs must plead his title to the like by miracles whilest he lived by his resurrection from the dead and glorious ascension into heaven and yet men that were subiect to the same passions as we our selues are must be worshipped after death with such worship as is more like to the honour which wee owe to God than any respect or reverence which is due to the best man living and all this without any evidence of their sanctitie or just proofe of their right vnto such obsequies 3. The infinite extent of this Idolatry with suspicious Saints in times past is so well prosecuted by many that it needs no long declaration No Iesuite will take the defence of the Churches practise vpon him For reformation of such palpable abuses as no distinction can salue all of them pleade a necessitie of having Saints canonizâ—d that is of having their supposed incorporation into the Church triumphant authentickly published and their worship authorised by the Church whose testimony may ground certainty of faith Bellarmine tells vs a story out of Sulpitius of one that was worshipped for a Martyr whose soule notwithstanding made his appearance before St Martin who suspected the service as vnlawfull because not warranted by tradition of antiquitie and ingenuously confessed that it was the danmed ghost of a certaine robber which had beene sentenced to violent death by course of law And Pope Alexander the third checkt some of his time nor were they altogether without blame for adoring one as an holy Martyr which had beene slaine in a drunken fray But graunting this story of St Martin to be true vnlesse there be some authentike judges to determine which are true revelations which not the doctrine of praying to Saints being indefinitely allowed it is altogether as likly that many theeues might be worshipped vpon false or pretended revelations as that the worship of one theefe should be recald by revelatioÌ„ made to St Martin Hath the Pope then passed this infallible censure vpon all the revelations that haue beene in this case pretended or taken other order to secure the world from all possibility of imposture If he haue we would desire to be acquainted with his determinations In the meane time we will enquire first whether the disease without some soveraigne medicine be not alike dangerous in Rome-Christian as it was in Rome-Heathen Secondly whether the medicine pretended by Rome-Christian be applyed according to her owne prescriptions Thirdly whether so applied it be not more deadly than the disease CHAPTER XXXVIII Rome-Christian as vaine and foolish in making imaginary Saints as Rome-Heathen in making false Gods 1. THe solemne worship of locall Saints did either first begin or multiplie its first beginnings throughout these parts of the world with the inundation of Barbarians as the Reader may gather out of Gregorie of Towers and Beda c. Nor would I deny that many of these late converted Paynims prayers to God though conceived out of an opinion of the Saints mediations were often heard as the auncient Romanes though their devotion were clad with Idolatry as bones with flesh were often rewarded with such temporall blessings as God in justice denyed to other Idolaters lesse devout in their kinde The Carthaginians might haue sacrificed vnto Fortune for victory or vnto stormes and tempests in their distresse with worse successe than some Romane Generalls did because their respect or esteeme of divine power providence indefinitely considered was not so good So might those prayers of the French Kings tendred vnto St Martin be sometimes better heard than the prayers which their enemies made vnto their Gods All this notwithstanding being granted the decrees of solemne honour to their Images might be as Idolatrous as Rome-Heathens erection of Temples vnto fortune or stormes In opposition to Atheisme or irreligion God vsually accepts devotioÌ„ though tainted with superstition And vnto this case I will reduce those prayers which that devout Virgin whose chastitie Cyprian before he was a Saint sought to expugne by helpe of magicke presented to the Virgin Marie in extremitie of conflict with foule lustes That prayers thus made out of ignorance whether to Saints or false Gods haue sometimes found successe is to be
of reliques or worshipping of images their meaning was as if they had prayed that the Pope would approoue of whatsoever the people should publickly practise for it is but another part of the former conclusion that all whom he shall vouchsafe to canonize may be lawfully adored by the vniversall Church in publicke and solemne Liturgies so that to worship such is now more necessary than it was before 2. Never had the infernall powers since their fall so just occasion given them by any creatures of insultation and triumph at the wonderfull successe of their policies as by these latter Romanists who as well by Apologizing for their superstition towards the dead whereof others haue chalenged them as by seeking to reforme some grosse abuses whereof themselues were ashamed haue beene fetcht over to commit more detestable and more blasphemous idolatry with living men than any Heathen ever did with their deceased Heroicks with their false Gods or true devills Such as worshipped those beastly Romane Emperours whom their Successors consecrated were not bound to beleeue nor could their Successors perswade themselues that the Senate could not erre or doe amisse in decreeing divine honour to them That people not knowing what faith meant did onely as their chiefe Magistrates commanded them nor did these command all throughout the Empire to be partakers with them in their idolatrous worship But now to dispute whether the Pope doe well or amisse in canonizing men after death whom he knew not living is held a point of heresie or infidelitie His absolute infallibilitie as well in declaring who are Saints as in determining what honour is due vnto them is prest vpon vs as a Maxime of faith And is not this to worship him with divine honour That conceipt which the old Romanes had of their consecrated Emperours came as farre short of this divine excellency which Papists imagine in the Pope as the Iewes opinion of their Messias whom they expected should be a King doth of that esteeme which true Christians make of Christ whom they adore as God The superstitious knowledge or rather the practicall ignorance of the true God differeth no otherwise in Rome-Heathen and Rome-Christian than the ordinary knowledge of Christ in the old Testament and in the New The idolatry of Rome-Heathen agrees with the idolatry of Rome-Christian as the type or shadow with the body or substance 3. Bellarmine giveth Melancthon the lye for saying the Romish Church ascribes a divine power to Saints in knowing mens thoughts I aske them not knowing our thoughts how can they know our petitions No Catholique saith he did ever teach that they know our prayers as they are cōceived in our minds but as they are in God who reveales them to his Saints and Angels He would not thus fiercely avert the imputation of the Antecedent vnlesse he knew the inference to be legall and vnavoydable To pray then to Saints out of presumed beliefe that they know the secrets of our hearts were by his confession to ascribe a divinitie vnto them and to worship them with divine honour plaine idolatrie Therefore they pray vnto them out of assurance that God who sees our hearts acquaints them with our hearts desires Yet that one Saint that every Saint should by this meanes know every mans prayers that is enjoyned to pray vnto them necessarily supposeth a participation of that infinite knowledge which is incommunicable To see the secrets of mans heart is one of Gods peculiar titles If Saints by enioying his presence enioy this sight no reason can be conceived why in seeing him they may not see all things that are in him all that he sees And so they shall not be onely Gods but as was observed before Gods Almightie by participation But admitting that all such as enioy Gods presence doe heare our prayers I demaund what ground of beliefe Romane Catholiques can haue that many whom they must pray vnto are partakers of Gods presence Onely this The Pope hath canonized them But seeing the world is full of dissimulation and hypocrisie seeing men are partiall to giue better testimony of such as they seeke to preferre than they can deserue how can his Holines know them to be true Saints vnlesse he know their hearts by better testimony than humane As a Christian he knowes that onely the pure in heart enioy the blessed sight of God But how can he so infallibly know as becomes a Pope whether such as lived in England in Spaine in Asia America or other remote parts of the world were pure in heart or but hypocrites If he may erre in this knowledge the people must erre in practise 4. Their resolution of this point comes to this finall issue Saints celestiall see our hearts in seeing God Romane Catholiques see the integritie and puritie of their hearts whose faces they never saw in the Pope or by reading his decrees He stands as God to them on earth as the true God is to the Saints in heaven He knowes as certainely who goes to heaven and what they doe there as God knowes what is done in earth And out of this confident beliefe of his infallible all-seeing spirit his creatures pray to S. Francis Dominicke Aquinas as vnto secondary or intermediate Intercessors with the same assurance of faith that they doe to Christ as to their principall Mediatour And reason they haue so to doe God Almightie hath said that Christ is in heaven and the Pope hath sayd of Aquinas Dominicke or some other they are in heaven Thus like foolish Mariners or Fresh water Souldiers after they had beene long carried vp and downe with the blasts of vaine doctrine fearing ship-wracke in the open Ocean of former ages idolatrie and yet ashamed to returne to the Haven whence they loosed lest wise men should laugh at them they put in at the jawes of hell for Harbour SECTION V. Of the transformation of the Deitie or divine power in his nature attributes word or will revealed CHAPTER XLI Transformation of the divine nature doth issue from the same originall or generall fallacie from which Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods was observed to issue Chapter 17. 1. AMONGST the Heathen many who did not altogether so vainely multiplie their gods did most grossely misfigure the divine nature or God-head The common roote to both these branches of errour but from which the latter doth more directly spring and take more kindly was pronenesse to conceiue of matters heavenly and invisible according to the best forme or patterne which they had of matters visible or earthly Now to be sole Lord of the whole earth without consorts of like nature would be a life to the wisest and healthiest of men most irkesome And the Philosopher out of a popular opinion either of his owne or times more auncient makes competent store of friendes or alliances necessary supporters of faelicitie Now as that happinesse which in this life they hoped for supposed friends or other contentments so the common notion of the