do piously and confidently covet the Patronage and Protection of the Saints as subordinate Ministers of manifold Favours not exceeding their Power such as are Illuminations or Suggestions of holy thoughts and desires Restraining or destroying the Illusions of Demons Diverting of many evil Accidents of Mans Life which are the proper Effects of the Ministery of the Angels and Saints Gen. 48.16 Ps 90.11 with Matt. 22.30 Since the Saints are as the Angels of God and therefore do offer up our Petitions to God and joyn their Prayers with ours Yet is it not lawful to Invocate the Saints of whatever Excellency they be as chief Authors of Mans Redemption from sin or of his Sanctification by Grace or of his Glory with God this being uncommunicably proper effectively to the Omnipotency of God meritoriously to the Mediatorship of JESVS Christ whereof neither is properly and strictly subject to the Empire of any Creature otherwise than through a free condescention and Covenant of the Divine Goodness for the raising and supporting a Sinners Confidence in the super-abundant Aides offered for Mans Salvation and thus Man Conjures his Friend to command his affections and Josua's Faith commands God to arrest the Sun in its Meridian Jos 10.14 And Christ assures us upon his Fidelity that whatever the true Believer asks in Prayer God will grant his request Matt. 21.22 Whence the devout St. Augustine l. 5. Conf. c. 9. Dignaris enim quoniam in saeculum Misericordia tua eis quibus omnia debita dimittis etiam promissionibus tuis debitor fieri Because thy Mercy O God is for ever thou vouchsafest to become a Debter to thy own promises even in regard of those whose sins thou forgivest Much rather when a glorified Soul asks for a penitent Sinner dreading the Justice of an offended Father and fearing the foulness of his own Crimes and therefore making his Addresses by the heavenly Courtiers but with the strongest confidence by the holy Mother of JESVS as his chief Favourite by priviledge 1. of her Divine Maternity Innocency and Holiness and 2. of the filial Love of JESVS through which confidence St. Ildefons St. Bonaventure St. Bernardin and other Illuminated Servants of God beg holy Mary to command the dispensing of Divine Favours in Right of Christs gracious promise to the Church and of his super-abundant Love to his Mother though they still own Her as a Pure Creature and therefore as a meer Petitioner though of a most super-eminent Acceptableness with God. Sect. XXIV Testimonies of the Eighth Age. XCV THis pious and learned Age abounds with many Illustrious Witnesses of the received Doctrine and Practice of the Church as to that Worship and Invocation of the holy Mother of JESVS with Praises of her Heroical Vertues and giving Her such Titles of Honour as are suitable to her Excellent super-natural Prerogatives asserted in the Contemplations on her Life and Glory (a) Ven. Bed. in 1. Luc. Eadem Voce Maria ab Elizabeth quâ à Gabriele benedicitur quatenus Angelis Hominibus veneranda cunctis merito faeminis praeferenda monstretur Mary with the same words is proclaim'd Blessed by Gabriel and Elizabeth to shew that she is to be worshipped by Angels and Men and that she is incomparably more Excellent than all Women tom 7. Serm. de Deip. Serviamus semper tali Reginae quae non derelinquit sperantes in se cum diligat Jesus orationes sanctorum exaudiat multo magis Matrem suam exandit pro peccatoribus exorantem Let us ever serve this Illustrions Queen who forsakes not those who confide in Her since JESVS loves the Prayers of the Saints and grants their demands much rather doth he hearken to his own sacred Mother praying for Sinners Our holy Country-man Venerable Bede sayes Holy Mary is to be Worshipped by Men and Angels as their Queen that she forsakes not those who confide in her Protection and since God delights in the Prayers of the Saints that he will not reject the Petitions of his own Mother (b) S. Germ. Patriarch Constant Theor. Rer. Eccles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because we offer up the Divine Mystery for the Salvation of Souls and the Pardon of our Crimes we address our Supplications in the first place to the Mother of God being more Excellent than all the Saints and super-celestial Powers next we have recourse to those who are more gracious to her Son. And a little after he calls Her most Holy and Immaculate and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That we all must praise this Lady of the Universe And Scrm. de Assumpt Mar. he sayes Omnia observas Maria inspectio tua ad omnes se perrigit Sanctissima Virgo dignis Teipsam patefacis neque Spiritus efficaciam caro moratur That she observes the Condition of all her Clients extends her care to all discovers her self to all and that her Immaculate Flesh hinders not the Vivacity and Power of her Spirit St. German Patriarch of Constantinople tells us That even in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass offer'd to God for the Remission of sins and the Sanctification of our Souls we in the first place implore the Prayers of the Mother of God as One in all Divine Favours and Gifts transcending all the Saints and Heavenly Spirits And elsewhere he acknowledges her Vniversal super-intendency over Christians Wants and Petitions (c) Jo. Dam. Orat. 1. Nat. Deip. Domina peccatoris Orationem accipe ardenter tamen amantis colentis teque solam gaudii spem habentis Vitae Antistitem in gratiam cum filio me reducentem firmamque salutis Arrham Receive O Lady the Praycr of a Sinner who still passionately Loves and Worships Thee reposes his hope of Joy in Thee as the Guide of my Life my Reconciler to thy Son and the Earnest of my Salvation Vid. Orat. de Dormit Mar. Carm. de Nativ Christ St. Jo. Dam. frequently dilates himself in the Praises of the sacred Virgin giving her magnificent Titles professing his Veneration towards Her and humbly craving her Prayers and Protection XCVI The same Tradition of our Christian Worship and Invocation of the holy Mother of JESVS is yet further supported by the cleer Testimonies of other Holy Fathers and Illustrious Writers of this Eighth Age. (d) S. Cosm Hieros t. 8. Bibl. Patr. hymn 6. in fer 5. Misericordiae Januam aperi nobis benedicta Deipara liberemur per Te à Calamitatibus pete à filio tuo Deo modo dari mihi remissionem malorum quae feci serva me sub protectionem suam Blessed Mother of God open to us the Gate of Mercy Let us be freed by Thee from all Calamities beg of thy Son and God even now the forgiveness of all my sins Keep me under thy Protection Cosm Hieros (e) Alcuin tr de Usu Psalm Rogo sanctam Beatissimam Matrem Mariam in auxilium Meum I beseech Holy Mary the most blessed Mother of God to aid me
p. 4. tr 1. d. 3. n. 5. And this because both Natures do inseparably consubsist in one Divine Person For thus JESVS as Man so con-subsisting is not a pure Creature but such is Holy Mary even under the most Super-eminent Priviledges of the Mother of God in their whole Latitude that is as consider'd Metaphysically one with JESVS by a transcendent Unity of Indifferency of their specifical Natures even as to the Consubstantiality of their Flesh and Spirit or Physically by the stupendious Reciprocation of the Cor-relatives of the Son and Mother of God or Theologically by the annexed Interests each have in other of Holiness Grace and Glory and their thence transcending Flames of Charity towards Sinners Sect. V. Four kinds of Arguments used against the Contemplations and the Case open'd XVI THis Reflection premised and without study of Party and Passion calmly apprehended it would not be needful to plead at the Tribunal of the Worshippers of JESVS for any or all the Priviledges of Nature Grace and Glory in the Contemplations attributed to his Sacred Mother or to make evident and justifie to this cool Age the ancient Practices of Zealous Christians allow'd by Church-Authority in their Doxologies Timologies Veneration and Mediation of Prayer address'd to Holy Mary Howbeit to clear the Case and to remove all Mistakes of those who love and seek Peace in Gods House I shall briefly pursue this Apology and shew manifestly the Innocency Equity and Antiquity of the Doctrine and Practice offer'd to this Kingdom in the plain allow'd and English Contemplations on the Life and Glory of the Holy Mother of JESUS XVII There be four Accusations by several urged against the Right Holy Mary hath to the Doctrine and Devotions therein asserted First That the Praises addressed to Holy Mary are either Rapsodies of Wit or strains of an irregular Devotion towards HER they all being proper to the Eternal Son of God only or else that they are Sacrilegious Applications of Psalmes Hymnes and Canticks by Divine Inspiration and the practice of the Church used in the Praises of the Creator and here against all Rule applied to the Glory of a Creature Secondly That the several Titles of Honour confer'd on Holy Mary are ambitiously extravagant and blasphemous equalling HER in Power Majesty and Holiness to God the Author of all Creatures and the only Hope Mediator and Sanctifier of Sinners Thirdly That the Worship given to the Mother of God usurps manifestly upon Gods Jurisdiction over the Fealty Homage and Servitude of all Creatures not communicable to Any purely such of what Rank Stile and Perfection soever Fourthly That all Prayer made to the Holy Virgin now in Heaven however circumstanced is either useless as offer'd to one who hears them not or Impious as begging of a Creature those Blessings which are wholly in the Gift of the Creator XVIII Now to clear these Mists of Ignorance or vain Philosophy observe First That according to the Doctrine and Practice of Catholick Schools there is a signal Difference between Praise Honour Worship and Prayer That Praise consists precisely in a vocal Expression of the Excellencies of that Person we purpose to magnifie whether sincere or fallacious Honour is a sensible Declaration of an inward real Esteem of a Person for some Excellencies we remark in Him so that we may praise and honour Persons though of an inferiour Rank if endow'd with laudable-and honourable Perfections But Worship not only supposeth these Perfections we honour but moreover implieth an inward Submission of the mind to the Person by reason of them and this testified by some apt sensible Token or Sign naturally or through custom acknowledging the Dignity of that Person so preferrable by reason of those apprehended Perfections Whence 't is manifest that Worship includes three several acts First an opinion or judgement of the due value of those inherent surpassing Excellencies Secondly A Love of friendship or sincere preference of the Person qualify'd with those Excellencies And thirdly A sensible mark of our Internal submission outwardly attesting that love and preferrence Prayer yet further addeth a sincere Desire of some favour we want and hope to obtain by means of the Person so preferrable and petition'd by Us whither by an immediate Gift or by a mediate Intercession made to the absolute Giver so that Prayer besides our esteem of Excellency an inward submission and cordial confidence and desire of relief includes a Practical declaration of this Hope and Desire at least of a Supplication for the relief of the humble and earnest Petitioner XIX Observe Secondly That that Excellency which is the Motive of our Praise Honour Worship and Prayer is either infinite and independent as God only is and the Worship thereon grounded according to the Vse of all Antiquity is called Latria or Divine Servitude or Worship Because it hath an infinite Perfection for its Motive and Measure and God by Essence or by consubsistence for its terminative object on which it resteth Aug. libr. 20. contr Faustum c. 21. l. 10. Civ c. 1. Bed. in 4. Luc. So that this word Latria by custom of all Nations doth now properly signify only that Religious Worship which is due to God in acknowledgment of his absolute supream and uncontroulable Dominion over all Creatures in right of his Divine Majesty Wisdom Goodness and Power Deut. 6.13 Matt. 3.10 Conc. Nicen. 2. act 3.4 6. Trid. Sess 13. cap. 5. Basil in 1. Isaiae Aug. l. 15. cont Faust c. 9. And therefore the word Worship expressed by its self without a restraint or limitation by some particle annex'd according to this use implieth Divine only as its principal Analogate as Philosophers spaek Thus we must Worship and serve God only and for this reason This Worship given to any thing which is not God is properly Idolatry Act. 15.16 1 Cor. 10.7 Or else this Excellency is limited and dependent as every thing is that is not God and the Worship hereof according to the same use and practice of Antiquity is called Dulia or Saint-Servitude or Worship because it hath for its Motive and Rule a Participated or Created and therefore a limited only and dependent Perfection or Gift of Holiness Grace and Glory and a Pure Creature for its immediate or penultimate End or Terminative Object And from this Motive and Object the Nature of the Saint-worship must be concluded Gen. 18.2 19.1 Numb 22.31 Jos 5.15 Aug. Bed. cit Magist 3. d. 9. D. Thom. 2. 2. q. 103. Suar. t. 1. Relig. tr 3. l. 3. c. 6. Sect. VI. The Worship properly due to the Holy Mother of JESUS truly stated XX. THe super-natural participated Excellencies of Grace being not equally communicated to the Glorious Saints 1 Cor. 15.41 Saint-Servitude or Worship is necessarily of a higher or lower Rank according to the different degrees of participating those Excellencies as is manifest in that Civil Worship which is given to Princes and their inferiour Officers to
by the glorifi'd Spirits Albeit it concerns not us as Christians who walk by Faith that the Thing is when duely propos'd as a Divine Credible to know how that thing can be as how God is one in Three Persons how the Word is made Flesh how a corporal Fire can burn a Spirit Because Faith having no Intrinsick Motive assents only to the Verity reveal'd but leaves all Disputes concerning the Manner How to Philosophy as a Curiosity not at all appertaining to Religion which only teaches us to learn our Divine Credibles from the un-disputed Heads Eminential or Representative of the Churches Hierarchy The Manner therefore How these Secret Petitions of Sinners may be imparted to the glorious Saints according to School-Divines possibly may be either by an Intuitive Vision of our Desires however secret and distant either in themselves or in the Superiour Light of Gods Essence which is an Eminential Myrror of all Truths For this knowledge is an Illustrious Branch of the Theological Science of the Saints Conc. Senon Decret 13. fid Bern. l. 5. Consid c. 1. Aug. l. 13. Conf. c. 25. Dion l. div Nom. c. 7. Scot. 3. d. 14. q. 2. n. 20. Or by an Abstractive knowledge thereof by Means of some created Images to that end ordain'd by the Almighty for the supplying the activity of absent or too distant Objects relating to the State of each Saint according to the Amplitude of their Merits and Glory which the Fathers and Doctors allow to the Angels and Adam in their first Creation Aug. l. 4. Gen. ad lit c. 23. 29. 11. Civ c. 7. 29. Scot. 3. d. 3. q. 9. n. 10. D. Bon. d. 4. a. 3. q. 1. 2. D. Th. 22. q. 62. a 1. ad 3. And is therefore much more allowable to Creatures in their State of consummated Happiness LXIII As to the Saints knowledge of our Petitions by the Way of Intuitive Vision two Things are very observable First That we must not confine the Science of the Saints either to an essential dependence on Sense or Fancy or to a prefix'd limit of the Sphere of their Operations since Souls in their State of Separation have their Intellectual Faculties as well as Angels and without question of a far greater Sphere even according to the Course of Nature than any Sense however active and comprehensive because in their Operations they are exempt from material Organs and Images and therefore the Sphere of their Activity as well as the method and manner of their intentional Productions are not distinctly comprehended by us nor consequently may they be prescrib'd and limited by us any more than the Fecundity of the Earth the Influences of the Stars or the Agility of the Intelligences Thus to demonstrate That there is no manifest Impossibility for the Saints in their full Glory to know Intuitively in their own Natural Existence the Prayers of their Clients here below at any distance made unto Them. LXIV But then secondly The Essence of God is absolutely an infinite Myrror Eminentially and distinctly comprehending and representing all possible past present and future even conditional Beings Simple and Complex however Contingent Gods will having once decreed their Futurition absolutely or with reference to some condition not as to Gods will which is effectual as it passeth on the Object but as to the Thing willed which depends on some condition not actuated by that Will and which therefore remains purely in a State of possibility Thus Gods Essence is the Superiour and Eminential Light of the Saints able to supply in a more elevated and comprehensive manner the Motive Activity and Vigour of all created Objects as to the Intuitive Vision of each and of this the Royal Prophet speaks Ps 35.10 That in This Infinite Light the Blessed shall see all the inferiour Lights The Majesty of Gods Face serving as a Sun not only to discover and embellish the glorious Beauties of thâ— heavenly Paradice but also to represent in its self after a most perfect Manner whatever may con-naturally appertain to the Science of the Saints Apoc. 21.23 consequently the most individual Conditions of every one of their Devotes Greg. l. 12. Moral c. 14. l. 2. Dial. c. 35. l. 4. c. 33. as our Blessed Lord expresly declares in that Jubilee he affirms to be amongst the Angels upon the Repentance of every Sinner Luc. 15.10 and that every glorious Soul shall then be equal to Angels Matt. 22.30 Luc. 20.36 and that they All shall retain the self-same Zeal for the Advancement of Gods Glory by the Conversion of Sinners as when yet their fellow Mortals Matt. 22.39 1 Cor. 13.8 1 Jo. 4.20 That blessed Multitude of glorified Creatures being ever sollicitous for the Salvation of our Souls however secure they be of their own Glory as St. Cypr. speaks Serm. 4. de Mortal and ought superlatively to be appli'd to the Mother of beautiful Love. LXV Next as to the Abstractive knowledge which the Saints possibly may have of the secret Petitions of their Clients on Earth the Case seems cleer above all Exception Since Fathers and Doctors seem agreed That the Angels were therewith endow'd as to their Evening Science of Creatures in their Natural State Aug. l. 4. Gen. ad Litt. c. 29. l. 11. Civ c. 7. 29. Scot. 2. d. 3. q. 9. n. 16. and Adam in his original Innocence Eccl. 17.6 as to the Essence of God and the manifold Natures Properties and Operations of Creatures and super-eminently must be the special Priviledge of the ever Immaculate Mother of JESVS if allow'd to any PVRE CREATVRE D. Thom. p. 3. q. 27. a. 1. D. Bon. 3. d. 3. q. 1. a. 1. q. 3. Scot. q. 1. n. 10. Smis tom 1. d. 6. n. 299. Faelix c. 9. de Vision diff 2. n. 5. LXVI But as to the Manner of stating the practice of this Abstractive knowledge and especially How the Saints do know abstractively the Prayers of their Devotes in their private Closets or in the more private Cabinets of their Souls and this however transcendent the glorious Station of the Saint is there is no manifest Repugnance That this knowledge may be acquir'd either by Divine Revelation or by the Ministry of Angels to that end appointed And both ways either by an Intellectual Speaking and Hearing whereby God and his Angels communicate actual knowledge of their Prayers as the blessed Spirits do now communicate theirs to each other at an indefinite Distance in their State of Glory much amplifi'd by the aid of super-natural permanent Lights Or else by transfus'd Images distinctly representing their Requests at whatever distance absent Or by some other means possible to God and as it pleaseth Him though neither comprehended by us LXVII For as I said It matters not How the Saints know their Clients Petitions The Church being not at all concern'd In stating that Question or in prying into the Quiddities or Modalities of Reveal'd Truths but humbly acquiescing