c. 12. Run through all the words of holy Prayers and you will be able to find nothing which is not included in the Lords Prayer in this both Protestants and Roman Catholicks agree Hence therefore I assume if when we pray for any thing contained in this Prayer we are enjoyned to pray to God then all our acceptable Prayers must be directed to him and whensoever we do pray for any blessing we must call upon him besides Our Father doth belong to every Petition no other person being mentioned in this Prayer so that the sense runs thus Our Father c. let thy Kingdome come Our Father let thy will be done c. And then the import of this injunction will be this when you pray for the advancement of Gods Glory or the promotion of his Kingdom or the performance of his Will when you solicite for any Temporal blessing or for the pardon of your Sin or lastly for the prevention of any Evil or Temptation of what kind soever when you desire any of these mercies for your selves or others pray to your Heavenly Father for them 3. None of these blessings must be asked of him to whom the Kingdom Power and Glory doth not of right belong For this is added as the cause or motive of making these addresses to God and where the motive or cause is wanting the effect must cease Now to God only the Kingdome Power and Glory doth agree Jude 25. We therefore must address our Prayers to him only for the obtaining of these blessings And least you should object that this Argument excludes the third and second persons of the Sacred Trinity let it be noted that all the Schoolmen do affirm That the word Father in this Prayer must not be taken personally but essentially and so excludeth not the other Persons of the Trinity but those things only which have not the same nature with them 2. Prayer offered up in any time or place to an invisible and for any thing we know a Being absent from us as far as Earth from Heaven doth ascribe unto that Being the knowledge of the secrets of the heart now to worship any Being whether Saint or Angel with such a kind of worship which doth ascribe unto it the knowledge of the desires and secrets of the heart both where and whensoever they are conceived or uttered is to ascribe unto them by way of worship what is not due to Saints or Angels but alone to God as hath been proved already and may be further thus confirmed 1. If Saints departed were acquainted with the desires of our hearts why did Elijah speak unto Elisha thus 2 Kings 2.9 Ask what thou wilst before I am taken from thee The Scripture doth affirm that he was taken up into the Heavens and therefore did behold the face of God And Roman Catholicks themselves deny that he was held in Limbo as they imagine other Prophets were being in Heaven his love unto Elisha and the Church of God was not diminished but enlarged and therefore upon that account he had a stronger reason to ask what he desired then before Besides the Prophet being now with God in Heaven his Prayers would more effectually prevail for any Blessing for his Friend and therefore he had greater reason to have said had he believed this Doctrine of the Church of Rome Ask what thou wilst when I am taken from thee And therefore we have reason to presume that he did not believe this Doctrine but rather thought that his departure would render all Elijah's future wishes and add resses to him vain and ineffectual 2. From that known passage of Isaiah Abraham nescivit nos Israel ignoravit nos St. Augustine thus concludes (o) Si tanti Patriarchae quid erga populum ex his procreatum ageretur ignoraverunt quibus Deo credentibus populus ipse ex corum stirpe promissus est quomodo mortui suorum rebus atque actubus cognoscendis adjuvandisque miscentur ibi ergo sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi non vident quaecunque aguntur aut eveniunt in ista vita hominibus De curâ pro mortuis c. 13. If such great Patriarchs were ignorant of what was done towards the people that proceeded from their Loins how should the dead be conversant in knowing or helping of their friends in what they do There therefore are the Spirits of dead persons where they do not see what things are done or happen to men in this life 2. I reason thus this practice doth ascribe unto the objects of our Prayer such knowledge of the heart and such a cognisance of all petitions presented to them at all times and in all places of the world which we have proved to agree to God alone or such a presence in all places which is proper to him and therefore it ascribeth to them the honor due to God alone 2. If Saints departed do know the minds and inward thoughts of those who put up their petitions to them they have this knowledge either from Revelation or from the beatifick Vision but they have no such knowledge either from Revelation or from the Beatifick Vision Ergo. And 1. God doth not ordinarily reveal unto them the knowledge of the hearts of their petitioners For if they do not want this Revelation God who doth nothing vainly must not be supposed to impart it But these blessed Spirits do not want it for did they need this Revelation to perceive our minds saith Bellarmine the Church would not so confidently say to all the Saints Votis precamur cordium audite preces supplicum Brev. in Com. Apost p. 2. pray for me much less we offer to you the desires of our hearts but sometimes would desire God thus to reveal our prayers and to acquaint them with the desires of our hearts 2. If God thus reveal the Prayers of the Petitioner to the deceased Saints what reason can be given saith the forementioned Author why all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets were not invoked by the Church of Israel before our Saviours advent and he had reason to make this enquiry For 1. It is as easie to Almighty God to make this Revelation to the souls in Limbo that Papal prison of the Antient Patriarchs and holy Prophets as to the souls in Heaven nor have we one example or declaration that what God is supposed now to do he was not willing to do then 2. Certain it is the charity of those departed Patriarchs and Prophets towards their relatives and friends and the whole Church of God must be exceedingly advanced by their change they must be more the friends of God and their petitions must be more prevailing then whilst they did continue in the flesh Wherefore the Jews had as good reason to invoke these Patriarchs and Prophets as hath the Romanist to call upon the Christian Martyrs And God had equal reason to declare this was the duty of the Jew and to reveal their Supplications to the Patriarchs as to
declare this was the duty of the Christian and to reveal their Supplications to departed Christians 3. What a ridiculous office do they impose upon the God of Heaven by this fond opinion for when they pray to Apollonia for the tooth-ach God must not only tell her that such a person supplicates but also that his teeth do ake and therefore he particularly imploreth her assistance when they address themselves to any Saint in this odd language * Cum ad Imaginem Sancti alicujus quis Dominicam orationem pronuntiat ita tum sentiat se ab illo petere ut secum oret sibique postulet ea quae Dominicae orationis formulâ continentur Catech. Rom. part 4 c. 6. s 4. p. 586. Our Father which art in heaven c. which they familiarly do as is acknowledged by the Roman Catechism God must inform this Saint both of the person praying and his prayer and his intention by so doing to oblige him to use those words in his behalf †O praeco accelera piae matri◠praecare viscera Propr Fest F. 2. When they desire any Saint or Angel to go unto the Blessed Virgin this Saint must be informed first of the matter of the Prayer then must he post unto the blessed Virgin and she must go unto her Son and he unto his Father to present that request which he revealed And are not these men very bold with God to put such offices upon him and make him Nuntio to all his Creatures 2. The Saints departed do not know the hearts and the petitions of their Supplicants by vertue of the beatifick Vision This vain presumption depends on this that seeing God they must in him behold those things which in Idea are contained in him or which his knowledge doth perceive and so the refutation of this dream will be sufficient confutation of it And 1. That which the holy Spirit only knows these blessed Spirits do not know but the things of God i.e. his purposes and counsels c. knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 Ergo. If then the blessed Spirits notwithstanding the beatifick Vision do not see the mind and counsel of God without his revelation why should we think that by beholding of God they also do behold the supplications we put up unto them De vita Contemp. l. 5. c. 4. Those words of Prosper That nothing is so secret as that the knowledge of it should be denied to the perfectly blessed And that of Gregory L. 12. Moral c. 13. That they who see that God who seeth all things must themselves see all things I say those words do as much prove that blessed Spirits do know the secrets of Gods counsel as that they see the supplications we put up unto them To strengthen and confirm this Argument let us consider 1. That the Fathers do from this place conclude the holy Spirit to be God because he is the searcher of the things of God which Argument would be invalid if this could truly be asserted of the blessed Spirits 2. 1 Cor. 2.12 Observe that the Apostle argues thus That as no man knows the secrets of the heart of man besides the Spirit of man within him so none can know the secrets of the God of Heaven but the Spirit of God Now if the blessed Spirits do know the secrets of the heart of man the Argument would be invalid for the Romanist might give the baffle to St. Paul and tell him That as the secrets of the heart of man are known not only to the Spirit of man but also to myriads of blessed Saints and Angels so may the secrets of God be known not only to the holy Spirit but to many others 2. The Scripture doth assure us That those blessed Angels which always did behold the face of God had not the knowledge of those things which are revealed to us by the Gospel and that the curious Wisdom which contrived that dispensation was made known unto them by the Church Eph. 3.10 1 Pet. 1.12 and therefore Peter represents them as stooping down to view this new discovery which is a signal indication of the falshood of this fond conceit That blessed Spirits seeing him who knoweth all things must have the knowledge of those things he sees and therefore of the prayers that are put up unto him they being seen and known to God 3. That we may pray in faith we must be certain that the blessed Spirits are acquainted with the desires of our hearts for he that doth command us to pray in faith and without doubting cannot be wanting to give us certain motives of this faith and therefore God who never is deficient in what is necessary would certainly have given both to Jews and Christians sufficient revelation of his will in this particular had he intended that they should pay this homage to the Saints departed whereas we have no certain evidence that they enjoy this knowledge either from Revelation or from Vision And 1. We are not certain that they behold our supplications in the beatifick Vision for many of the Church of Rome do hold the contrary and it is free for all her members so to do and so this matter cannot be held as any Article of faith or certain definition of the Church 2. It is not certain that these blessed Spirits by vertue of this Vision do behold what is contingent for this is generally denied by the Romish Doctors and yet these things are seen of God as clearly as are the secrets of the heart 2. We cannot possibly be certain that God doth reveal them for we cannot certainly conclude it from his Attributes nor have we any certain revelation that he doth reveal our minds and thoughts unto them for if we can certainly conclude it from his Attributes then God would not be God did he not thus reveal our supplications to the Saints departed And Secondly Then to deny this Revelation would be to sin against the light of nature and then not only Protestants but the prevailing part of Roman Catholicks must sin against the light of nature by holding they obtain this knowledge not by Revelation but from the Vision of that God who knoweth all things but if by vertue of some Revelation we are assured that our petitions are revealed to the Saints why do they not produce it Why doth T. G. confess that Austin and others of the ancient Fathers were uncertain what to determine in this case Why do the greater part of Roman Catholicks deny what they have certain Revelation for 3. Where is this Revelation to be found In Scripture No they confess that this is wholly silent in this matter and give us many Reasons why it was not mentioned in holy Writ Have we this Revelation from Tradition Why then do the prevailing part of Roman Catholicks reject it Sith then we have no certainty of what this practice doth suppose either from Revelation or from the beatifick
consilii Angelus per incarnationis mysterium venit in mundum stetitqae ante Altare id est in conspectu Ecclesia Dionys Carthus in Apoc. 8. Catholick Doctors c. by this Angel understand Christ who is the Angel of the great Counsel and which by the mystery of his incarnation came into the world and stood upon the Altar of the Cross Blasius (b) Nec vero rectè quidam è recentioribus argumentantur Angelum istum Christum esse non posse quod Christus nunquam Angelus absolute dicitur satis enim est ut ex consequentibus facile intelligi potest Christum esse quae nifi Christe alteri aptè accommodari non possunt Cujus enim alterius est universae Ecclesiae incensa hoc est orationes in Thuribulo aurto tanta Majestatis specie patri offerre Cujus praeterquam Christi fuit de igne quo Thuribulum aureum eaat impletum partem in terras misisse easque divini amoris igne inflammasse c. Apuaret autem Christus sacerdotis personam gerens ut ejus pro nobis apud patrem intercessio atque interpellatio monstretur Vieg in Apoc. 8. Sec. 2. Viegas a Jesuit We may easily perceive that this Angel is Christ because the thing here spoken of him can agree to no other but Christ for who but he can with so great Majesty offer up to God the incense that is the Prayers of the Vniversal Church who besides him is able out of the perfuming pann to send down into the Earth the fiery Coals of Divine Charity and to inflame People with the burning Graces of the holy Spirit With these agree (c) Ambros super Apoc. Vis 3. Cap. 8. Ambrose (d) Primas in Apoc. 8. Biblioth Sanct. Colon. to 9. p. 2. Primasius (e) Ansbert in Apoc. 8. Bibl. Sanct. Col. to 9. p. 393. Authertus (f) Bed 5. super Apoc. lib. 2. Beda (g) Haimo in Apoc. 8. Haimo (h) Hugo Card. Hugo Cardinalis and the Glosses (i) Glossae totum legunt hoc de Christe But if it were granted that this Angel were a created or ministring Spirit it cannot be proved that Angels understand the secret cogitations of mans heart any farther then the same are manifested by signs neither is it consequent that people ought to pray unto them for Priests offer up the Prayers of the Church to God and yet no man doth therefore invocate Priests It is recorded of the Saints enjoying the same blissfull vision with the Angels Object ibid. that they had golden Vials full of odours which are the Prayers of Saints that is of the faithful upon earth 1. Answ The Reverend Dr. Hammond and many other Expositors Ancient and Modern tell us that the four and twenty Elders are not the Members of the Church triumphant as T. G. without proof asserts but the Bishops and the Elders of the Church militant whose office it is to present the Prayers and Praises of the Church to God Here it is more plainly declared saith Beda that the Beasts and the Elders are the Church redeemed by the blood of Christ and gathered from the Nations also he showeth in what Heaven they are saying they shall reign upon earth So Ambrose on the Apcalyps and Haimo 2. Vossius will tell you That here is nothing intended but Eucharistal Prayers not Petitory and that the four and twenty Elders only intimate that the whole Family of Christians in Earth and Heaven did render continual Doxologies to God for the Redemption of the world by his Son The Psalmist saith I will sing unto thee in the sight or presence of the Angels Psal 137.2 Object p. 418. The Angel of the Lord said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had Indignation these threescore and ten years And Michael is a great Prince which standeth for the Children of Gods people Ergo The Angels know the secrets of the heart and are acquainted with the Prayers that men in any place put up unto them To these Objections I answer Ha Ha He Answ Valentianus Fieri ne potest ut homo qui sic ratiocinatur homo sit The Psalmist also saith I will pay my vows in the presence of thy people Ergo All Gods people knew the secrets of the heart c. The Phanatick saith How long Lord wilt thou not remember and have mercy upon the Godly Party who have been under persecution fourteen years Ergo The Phanaticks know the secrets of the heart c. And blessed be God King Charles the Second is a great Prince who standeth for his People against the Whore of Babylon He therefore knows the Prayers and necessities of all his People he is acquainted with the secrets of the heart and we may put up mental Prayers unto him If T. G. have an estate worth begging he may well fear that his performance here and P. 222 223. will rob him of it CHAP. VII The Contents The Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome touching the invocation of the Saints departed delivered from their own Catechism and Liturgies and the decree of the Trent Councel Sect. 1. the Question stated in seven Particulars Sect. 2. The Idolatry of this practice proved 1. Because it doth ascribe unto them the knowledge of the heart and of our confessions 2. Because Prayer to an absent Being is the oblation of that Worship to it which is proper to God And so are Vows and Hymns Sect. 3.3 Because the Apostles gave us no Precept or Example so to do Sect. 4. The sequel of this Argument is confirmed and the Objections answered Sect. 5. And the Argument from Miracles confuted Sect. 6. HAving laid down these Propositions let us now view the Doctrine and Practise of the Church of Rome which the Trent Councel hath delivered in these words viz. * Mandat Sancta Synodus omnibus Episcopis clerieis docendi munuscurámque sustinentibus ut fideles diligenter instruant docentes eos Bonum atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare ad eorum orationes opem auxiliúmque confugere Illos verò qui negant Sanctos aeterna felicitate in calo fruentes invocandos esse aut qui asserunt eorum ut pro nobis singulis orent invocationem esse Idololatricam vel pugnare cum verbo Dei adversi ique honori unius Mediatoris Dei Hominis Jesu Christi vel stultum esse in coele regantibus voce vel mente suppliâ—are impié sentire St quis autem his Decretis contraria docuerit aut senserit Anath ma sit Sess 25. c. 1. That it is good and profitable humbly to invoke the Saints and fly unto their prayers and help and that whosoever doth deny that Saints who do enjoy eternal happiness in heaven ought to be invoked or do assert that to intreat them to pray for any single person is Idolatry or is
their charge in this important duty and to inform them that it is very good and profitable to fly unto their prayers for help and refuge that we must daily invocate the Blessed Virgin and that it is a wicked and most hainous crime to doubt either her readiness to help Cateâ—â— â—om p. 584. or that her merits are most prevailing for this end Their practise doth inform us that there is not any blessing which our Souls can wish for but Christians should implore it from them And if their Doctrine were according unto Piety their practise must assuredly he so For what more proper then to implore their aid who are so highly instrumental to preserve us from our most fatal Enemies and to procure all those blessings which are needful both to the Piety of this present life and to the felicity of that which is to come St. Paul is in like manner large and copious in these instructions which he gives unto the Pastors of the Church and to the people committed to their charge He informs us that we must all pray and for all men that we must pray with pure hands and with hearts free from wrath and doubting He tells us in what language we should frame our prayers viz. in such a language that all that hear may understand 1 Cor. 14. and say Amen to our Petitions in what posture both men and women ought to pray and that this duty ought to be performed in all places And yet this person who descends to these minute particulars speaks not one word of this important duty so pious and profitable in it self so necessary to preserve us from the worst of Enemies and to procure the greatest blessings Nay in all the Scripture which was written to make us wise 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. and thorowly instructed unto all good works we have not the least mention of it In those Epistles they frequently enjoyn us to be instant in prayer to pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Eph. 6.18 and to watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints To continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving To pray without ceasing Col. 4.2.1 Thess 5.17 1 Tim. 2.1 Phil. 4 6. To put up supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for all men To be careful for nothing but in every thing with prayer and thanksgiving to let our requests be made known unto God And to go unto that God for wisdom who giveth unto all men liberally James 1.5 and upbraideth not They also do exhort us to pray for others that they may be saved particularly 5.16 1 Joh. 5.16 for every brother that hath not sinned unto death Now surely they who do so frequently discourse upon this subject and upon the lesser circumstances of this duty would not have omitted to mention something of this so profitable practise if they had really believed it so to be For wherefore do they give us these directions but to preserve us against the power of temptation and the assaults of Sin and Satan Why do they frequently enjoyn us to be instant in the performance of this duty but that we may obtain those spiritual blessings which without great danger to our souls we cannot want If then the Invocation of the Saints departed and especially of the Virgin Mary be so highly profitable to these ends why should these men I say be silent in this matter who being guided by the Holy Spirit could not forget to do it and being as concerned for the Churches welfare as the Trent Fathers could not for want of zeal unto Gods glory or the good of Souls neglect to charge all Pastors diligently to instruct the people in this most profitable and pious practise Why should these men who both by precept and example do instruct us to request the prayers of living friends be wanting both in precept and example to move us to request the more prevailing prayers of Blessed Spirits they who command us when we are infirm to have recourse unto the prayers of surviving Pastors and to pray for one another because the fervent supplication of a righteous man availeth much why should they never send us to the B. Virgin to the Patriarchs and Prophets to St. Stephen and St. James and other early Martyrs of the Church whose Prayers if we believe the Roman Church are highly meritorious and far more prevailing Nay they had the greater reason to inculcate this because it was a novel practise and never used by the Jewish Church and therefore they had need of an Express to move and to encourage them to such devotions Whereas it was the daily custom of all Jews to put up their petitions to the God of Heaven Since therefore neither Paul or Peter or James or John Apostles or Evangelists have left us any precept or example for this practice we may be certain they did not approve it Moreover to move us more effectually to the performance of this duty they tell us That the eyes of God are still intent upon the just 1 Pet. 3.12 and his ear open to their prayer that he is well acquainted with those inward groans and wishes Rom. 8.26 which we do or cannot utter and is also able to perform exceedingly above what we can ask or think Eph. 3.20 Marth 7.7.11 James 1.5 that he is good and gracious to all that call upon him faithfully that he will fulfill the desires of them that fear him Thus also do the Latines teach concerning the Saints departed they tell us in the words of Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they confidently ascribe unto them Summan juvandi voluntatem the greatest readiness to help and the most prevailing merits Catech. Rom. p. 585. and this they do most sutably to that presumption they have taken up for all these things are the more needful to be taught because both Scripture seems to say the contrary affirming that Saints departed are ignorant of us and our concernments here on Earth and denying that any besides God can know the secrets of the heart And secondly the things themselves seem difficult to be believed viz. That Creatures at so infinite a distance can be acquainted with what is done on carth much more that they should at such a distance understand the secret motions of the heart Why is it then that the Apostles who do so often mind us of what we have less reason to suspect viz. That God is able and very ready to perform what we desire and that he hears the secret groanings of our heart should not inform us of what is so exceeding hard and yet so necessary to be believed of these Blessed Spirits Whosoever diligently reads their Writings will find them praying earnestly to God for all those blessings to be conferred upon the Christians which Papists do request from Saints and Angels That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give to
guilty of idolatry it being the most clear and most unquestionable truth that the most excellent Creature is not God 2. Whatever doth import and signifie the honour due to the Ceator doth also signifie that excellency which is only due unto him We cannot then perform that act of honour which imports this excellency to the best of Creatures but we must honour it as our Creator nor can we honour it as our Creator but we must worship it as God and by so ding we must be guilty of what the Romanists confess to by paying honor to a Creature But we can pay no greater honor to the most excellent of Creatures than by ascribing to it that honor which is due to God alone and therefore by ascribing of that honor to it we must be guilty of idolatry 4. By giving of that honor to God which doth import that excellence and perfection which agrees to God alone we exercise that act of Worship which we call Latria for since Dulia doth import only the worship proper to the Creature it cannot signifie that worship which is due to him whose dignity is infinitely greater than what the best of Creatures doth enjoy if then we exercise that act of worship to the Creature we give Latria to it and in the judgment of our most rigid Adversaries to give Latria to a Creature is to be guilty of Idolatry To know the secrets of the hearts of persons praying Prop. 2. §. 2. is a divine and uncommunicated excellency This is apparent 1. from express Scripture testimony 1 Kings 8.39 2 Chron. 6.29 30. What prayer or what supplication soever shall be made by any man or by all thy people Israel when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread forth his hands in this house hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and render unto every man according to all his wayes whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men where first observe That there it is asserted as a thing proper to God not only that he knows the hearts of all men collectively taken but distributively i. e. that he alone doth know the heart of any man for this is given as a reason why when supplications are made by any man God should render to him according to his wayes because he only knows his heart i. e. he only knows the heart of any single person 2. Observe this knowledge of the heart is thus appropriated to God in reference to whatsoever prayer and supplication shall be made by any man Whence we infer that whatsoever prayer and supplication shall be made by any man God only knows the heart and the conceptions of the Supplicant and therefore that this knowledge is not communicated to Saints or Angels 3. Observe that to affirm this knowledge is ascribed to God alone because he only hath this knowledge from the perfection of his nature whereas it is communicated to the Saints and Angels only by way of revelation or by the vision of that God who knoweth all things Is 1. without all ground to limit what is universally pronounced in the case of prayer 2. It we admit this limitation to say God only knows the secret of the heart of him that prayeth hath no more of truth than if I should assert God only hath a being he only acts he only knows that Christ is come into the world because he only acts and hath his being from himself our beings and our power of action is derived from him and by his revelation only we do know that Christ is come into the world 3. We may on like accounts assert That even when the general hath paid his Souldiers he alone hath money because what money and of his Souldiers have was given by him and that the Master only of the School of Westminster knows Greek and Latine because his Scholars have derived that knowledge from him 4. If we admit of such a limitation then the exclusive term will not refer to what is spoken but to that which is not mentioned not to the predicate viz. the knowledge of the hearts of men which is expressed but only to the manner of that knowledge of which the Text is wholly silent Now this inter pretation gives such a forced and strained sense as in a matter of this nature ought not to be admitted without the greatest evidence Whereas the sence we plead for is the most plain and natural import of the words For it is natural to conceive the sense of this expression should be this thou and no other knowest the hearts of men whereas if we do paraphrase it thus that many myriads of Saints and Aâ—gels have this knowledge of the heart but thou alone dost naturally know what they receive from revelation this Proposition taken as it is expresed viz. God only knows the hearts of men will be both absolutely false and uncouth and what is contradictory to it viz. God only doth not know the hearts of them that pray will be absolutely true 2. If such a knowledge of the heart was not an uncommunicated excellency if it was only that which did agree to many thousands of blessed Saints and Angels then could it be no proof of the divinity of Christ and of the holy Spirit for what is answered to the Protestant by those who do ascribe this knowledge to the Saints in glory might be with equal probability alledged to baffle and evade this evidence of Christs divinity which is so often and so triumphantly suggested by the holy Fathers And hence it is confessed by the great (f) Quod argumentum nullum esset omnino si non Dei proprium id foret cogitationes intimas corda cognoscere Theol. dogm Tom. 3. l. 1. c. 7. p. 39. §. 3. Petavius that if this knowledge were not proper to God their argument would certainly be weak and groundless And yet the Fathers in his Argument are so exceeding full and copious that it were endless to collect what they deliver Our Lord saith (g) in Lucam l. 5. c. 3. Ambrose demonstrateth himself to be God by knowing of the secrets of the heart Take saith (h) Serm. 50. Chrysologus these indications of our Lords divinity hear how he penetrates the secret of thy heart see how he dives into thy hidden thoughts See saith St. (i) p. 2. Com. in Joh. p. 144. Cyril how he is that God who is the (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Alex. Com. in Joh. l. 2. p. 133. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. p. 144. searcher of all hearts For to none other is it given to know the mind of man as is apparent from that passage of the Psalmist God is the searcher of the heart and reins for there the Psalmist mentions it as a peculiar thing which only doth agree to the Divine nature and to nothing else if it be proper unto God
Vision we must be guilty of Idolatry by our compliance with this practice 3. That this is the concurrent judgment of the Fathers and that they judged all supplications to invisible and absent Beings to attribute Gods Worship to them may be evinced from two Considerations 1. That they look'd upon it not only as a Sacrifice but as the best and greatest Sacrifice By prayer we honour God saith Clemens Strom. l. 7. p. 717. A. Apol. c. 30. p. 27. B. and send up to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best and the most holy Sacrifice I offer to him a fatter and a better Sacrifice than he himself enjoyned viz. Prayer issuing from a chast body an unspotted soul and inspired by the Holy Ghost so Tertullian And this is verily St. Austin's judgment in that place which Dr. Stillingfleet had cited to this effect and all the tragedies and outeries of T. G. against him upon this occasion are the most false and impudent that ever drop'd from Pen To make this clear it will be needful only to lay before the Reader Austin's words viz. Dâ— C. D. l. 10. c. 19. Qui autem putant haec visibilia Sacrificia Diis aliis congruere illi vero tanquam invisibili invisibilia majori majora meliorique meliora qualia sunt pâ—ra mentis bona voluntatis officia profecto nesciunt haec ita esse signa illorum sicut verba signantia vel sonantia sunt rerum quocirca sicut orantes atque landantes ad cum dirigimus significantes voces cun res ipsas in corde quas significamus offerimus it a sacrificantes non alteri visibile Sacrificium offerendum esse noverimus quam illi cujus invisibile Sacrificium nos ipsi esse debemus i.e. They that conceive these visible Sacrifices may agree to lesser Gods but that to him who is invisible the greater and the better God invisible greater and better Sacrifices do agree viz. the duties of a pure mind and a good will these persons know not that these outward Sacrifices are the signs of them viz. of the invisible the greater and the better Sacrifices as our words spoken are the signs of things as therefore when we pray or we give thanks we direct our speech to him N. B. to whom we offer the conceptions of the heart they signifie so when we sacrifice we know the outward Sacrifice ought to be offered unto him alone to whom we ought to yield our selves a Sacrifice in visible Where 1. Doth not St. Austin say That the invisible Sacrifices are greater and better than the outward Sacrifice for what is it illorum can refer to besides majorum and meliorum Doth not he say The duties of a pure mind and a good will are to be deemed invisible and better Sacrifices And is not Prayer the duty of a pure mind and a good will And must he not then say that Prayer is a greater and a better offering than any outward Sacrifice And 2. To put the matter beyond all dispute Qui ergo Divinitatem sibi arrogant Spiritus non cujuslibet corporis fumo sed supplicantis animo delectantuâ— doth not St. Austin add That these inferior Spirits who usurp Divinity require Sacrifices not that they are delighted with the smoak and vapour but with the mind of him that prayeth clearly concluding that to be the better and the higher service Doth not he intimate that they usurp Divinity more by requiring Prayer than Sacrifice And lastly Doth not he affirm That they who offer outward Sacrifice to him alone to whom their inward ought to be appropriated do also when i.e. as often as they pray or render thanks direct their words not to a Saint or Angel but to him to whom they offer the things conceived in the heart Which doth not only prove That Prayer was by him likened to Sacrifice and that mental Prayer which the Trent Council will not permit us to deny to Saints is an invisible and higher Worship than the outward Sacrifice but also that the Christians of his time did pray and render thanks to God alone for else it had been obvious to reply to the similitude St. Austin gives us That as we sometimes offer up our prayers and our thanksgivings to the Saints departed so might we offer up the outward Sacrifice And this will be sufficient to demonstrace That T. G. in his whole Answer to this place hath not one word of truth For 1. p. 391. It is a false suggestion that Auctin's Argument runs thus That external Sacrifice being the highest expression of the highest part of Prayer ought of all others to be reserved as most proper to God For his Argument is clearly this To him only do belong the signs to whom belongeth what is represented by them and therefore seeing we must offer up our selves to God alone that outward Sacrifice which is the sign of this oblation must be appropriated to him That outward Sacrifice is the highest expression of the highest part of Prayer St. Austin doth not say 2. It is a false insinuation that when St. Austin doth deny that Sacrifice is due to any other but the highest God he doth not speak of Sacrifice distinguished from Prayer for he styles it Sacrificium visibile he doth oppose it to the duties of a pure mind as the less unto the greater he represents it as the sign of the invisible and therefore it is plain stupidity to think he did not speak of the external Sacrifice as different from the internal or distinguished from it 3. It is prodigiously false that Dr. St sides with the * Dr. St. is forced to maintain an Argument of the Heathens against Austin T. G. p. 390. Do you not think the Dr. â—sed the utmost of his confidence to maintain for very good an Argument of the Heathens confuted by St. Austin in this very place The Heathen saith Dr. St. argued very well I deny it saith St. Austin T. G. p. 390. Heathens against Austin for what the Dr. pleads for viz. That Prayer was to be deemed an higher act of worship than the outward Sacrifice St. Austin doth expresly grant 4 It is as false that Austin doth confute what Dr. St. approved for Austin only doth confute this Tenet That outward Sacrifice might be imparted to inferior Spirits That which the Doctor doth approve is this That in all reason the duty of Prayer ought to be reserved as more proper to God than any external Sacrifice And lastly it is false that Austin doth deny what Dr. St. asserted for he abundantly confirms it but it is no wonder that persons given up by Gods just judgment to believe a lye should be so prone to tell them 2. The Fathers when they lay down the definition or description of Prayer they alwayes do it with express reference to God whence we may rationally conclude that they conceived this act of Worship did properly belong to him Prayer saith St. Clemens is a
the Ephesians the spirit of Wisdome and Revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 18. the eyes of their Vnderstanding being enlightned That he would grant that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith 3.17.18.19 that they might be strengthned by his Spirit in the inner man that they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of God which passeth knowledge and be filled with all fulness of God That the Philippians love might abound more in knowledge Phil. 1.9 10 11. and in all judgment that they might approve things that are excellent and be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ Being filled with the fruits of righteoussness to the praise and glory of God That the Colossians might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom Col. 1.9 10 11. and spiritual understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledg of God Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness 1 Thess 3.12 13 That the Thessalonians might encrease in love and have their hearts established unblamable in holiness before God 2.1.11.12 That God would count them worthy of his calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That the God of Peace would make the Hebrews perfect in every good work to do his will Heb. 13.20 21. 1 Pet. 5.10 working in them that which is well pleasing in his sight That the God of Grace would make them perfect stablish strengthen settle them These Supplications were their daily exercise and had they thought the Invocation of the blessed Virgin the Patriarchs and Prophets the Proto-Martyr and the brother of our Lord would have been needful and effectual to the attainment of these things for which they prayed so earnestly why do they never once address themselves unto them why do they never pray as doth the Church of Rome Brevarium Missal that through the deprecation intervention patrocination and intercession of these persons they may be worthy to obtain these blessings why do they never pray by the merits of these persons to be delivered from * Deus qui beatum Nicolaum P. tribue qâ—aeâ—un us ut ejus moritis pracibus 〈◊〉 Ochenna incend is liberemus Miss in sest sanâ— Nich. Dec. xi Deus q. â— beatuâ— Lodovicum ju quaesamus meritis intercessione Regis Regan â—â—su Christâ—â— fâ—l â—ui facias nos esse can oâ—tes in Fest beat Lud. Aug 25. Hell and made partakers of the joys of Heaven as doth the Roman Blashemy Why do they no declare with them that they do †In Fest faâ—ct Agapiti Aug. 28. place their confidence in the petitions of these prevailing Saints and blessed Spirits Why do they not ascribe their mercys and deliverances to the ‖ Accepta tibâ— siâ— â—â—mine sacratâ—e plebâ—s oblatio pro inorum Hâ—nors Sanctâ—um quâ—râ—mâ—â—e â—â—ritis perâ—â—â—â— de tribulatione cognoseit 〈◊〉 Miss Dee â—â—â—p 〈◊〉 Ed. Antwerp 1605. merits of these Saints as they most insolently do Assuredly on this account because they did not in their hearts approve the practise Were blessed Paul alive to see his Prophesy so punctually fulfilled That in these later times men should depart from the Faith attending to erroneous Spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Doctrine of worshipping departed Souls how would he passionately cry out O foolish Romanists who hath bewitched you c. Lastly St. Paul had such an ardent zeal to the promotion of the Gospel that he omits no help which he conceives might give a blessing to his labours He therefore passionately intreats the Christians to whom his writings are directed Rom. 15.30 31. That they would strive together with him in their prayers to God that he might be delivered from them who did not believe in Judea and that his Service which he had for Jerusalem might be accepted of the Saints and that he might come unto them with joy and with them be refreshed That they would alwaies Eph. 6.18 19. and with all perseverance pray for him that utterance might be given unto him hat he might open his mouth boldly to make known the Mystery of the Gospel Col. 4.1 2 3. That they would continue in prayer that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which he was in hands that he might make it manifest as he ought to speak 1 Thes 5 25.2-3.1.2 Finally Brethren saith he pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith So blessed Paul and had he thought that his addresses to the Patriarchs and Prophets the blessed Virgin the Quire of Angels or the Saints made perfect would have been more effectual to this end would not his zeal have prompted him to have put up one request unto them or one Petition to his Guardian-Angel to be defended from these unreasonable men If all these circumstances be considered it will amount to an invincible conviction of the falshood of that determination of the Church of Rome * Juxta Catholicae Apostolicae Ecclesiae usum à primaevis Christianae Religionis temporibus receptum Concil Trid. Sess 25. that this is the practise which was derived from the Apostles and hath been still continued in the Church of Christ 2. No other reason can be given why they did not practise or commend the Invocation of the blessed Spirits besides this that they conceived this worship to be that honour God had reserved for himself and that they looked upon it as a vain and fruitless practice The knowledg of the heart and of the Prayers that are put up by All men at all times and in all places of the Earth being the knowledg proper to the God of Heaven and not communicated to the Saints deceased This will appear more evident if we consider and refute those shifts whereby they do endeavour to evade the force of this triumphant Evidence And 1. They tell us that * Si Apostoli Evangelistae docuissent sanctos venerandos arrogantiae iis datum fuisset ac si post mortem gloriam illam quaesivissent noluit ergo Spiritus Sanctus expressis Scipturis docere invocationem Sanctorum Eckius in Enchirid. loc Com. ex edit Alex. Weissenhorn Alanus Copus Dial. 3. fol. 239. had the Blessed Apostles taught this doctrine it might have been objected to them that they sought their own advancement and honour by the propagation of their Gospel and proudly did endeavour to be worshipped by their Christian followers Repl. 1.
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. ib. Origen That Angels are sometimes stiled God but notwithstanding that these Gods do also minister and bring the gifts of God unto us we must not worship them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in place of God for all our prayers and supplications by whatsoever name we call them for he mentions all the Kinds of Prayer they must be all sent up to God by that high Priest who is above all Angels and is God Why so I pray you but that all prayer is worship which alone belongs to God and Jesus Christ And therefore to offer it to any Creature or by any other Mediator is to ascribe that to him which is due to God alone had he been of the Church of Rome he must have said with them that notwithstanding you have that High Priest yet may you send up your Petitions to the Saints and Angels this is an honour to him not an Encroachment upon the office of this great High Priest it is confessed you must not worship them instead of God but notwithstanding you may put up to them Supplications Prayers Thanksgiving Intercessions you may say unto them Pater noster and ask all temporal and eternal blessings of them provided you do not pray unto them with absolute terminative and sacrificial Prayer distinctions which in reference to this matter the Fathers knew but little off The Fathers hence conclude that Christ is God Arg. 4. and that the Holy Spirit is God because we put up our Petitions to them and because that they are present to relieve us being called upon (b) Si homo tantummodo Christus qùomodo adest ubique invocatus cum haec hominis natura non sit sed Dei ut udesse omni loco possit No vat de Trinitate c. 14. p. 707. Si homo tantummodo Christus cur homo in Orationibus Mediator invocetur cum Invocatio hominis ad praestandam Salutem inessecax judicetur Novatian ibid. If Christ were only man how comes he to be every where present when he is invoked since to be omnipresent is the property of God and is not competent to humane nature If Christ was only man why is a man invoked in our Prayers as if he were a Mediator for the Invocation of a man is by Christians judged inefficacious to the obtaining of Salvation so Novatian It was so by the antient Christians but is it so esteemed by the Church of Rome Is not the blessed Virgin by them styled (c) Ave salus hominum Prosa Miss f. 35. B. Salus hominum or the Salvation of mankind Do they not say that (d) Ibid. fol. 30. God will certainly confer eternal Life on them that worship her Do they not bid the (e) Missa in Honorem proprii Angeli f. 16. Guardian Angel say unto their Souls I am thy Salvation It is written saith Athanasius be thou to me a God Protector and as house of refuge that thou mayst save me which words if Arians conceive to have been spoken of the Son (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contr. Ar. Orat p. 369. let them know that Christians or Holy Persons do not Petition any thing that was begotten to be an helper to them or a house of Refuge What are they then who do declare that it is good and profitable (g) Concil Trid. Sess 25. ad corum opem auxiliumque confugere to fly for refuge to their help and aid whose daily practise is to fly unto the blessed Virgin (h) Catech Rom. Par. 4. c. 5. Sect. 8. ab eâque opem auxilium implorare i. e. and to petition her to be our helper who do advise us (i) Sub Matris refugio fuge causa veniae Prosa Miss f. 33. B. 34. A. to fly under her refuge for the pardon of our sin Lastly vvho say unto their Guardian Angel (k) Exurge Angele in adjutorium meum Miss in Hon. Pr. Angel f. 16. Arise O Angel to my help Origen lay's down this as a most certain Rule (l) Sed in Principio Epistolae quam ad Corinthios scribit ubi dicit cum omnibus qui invocant nomen domini Iesu Christi in omni loco ipsorum nostro cum cujus nomen invocatur Deum Iesum Christum esse pronunciat Si ergò Enos Moses Samuel invocabant Dominum ipse exaudiebat eos sine dubio Christum Iesum Dominum invocabant si invocare Domini nomen adorare Deum unum atque idem est sicut invocatur Christus adorandus est Christus Orig. l. 8. in Epist ad Rom. c. 10. That to invoke the name of God and to adore him is the same Whence he infers that as Christ may be invocated so also must he be acknowledged to be God and he adds that when Saint Paul doth mention those that in all places call upon the name of Christ he proves the same Having thus manifested from the judgment of the ancient Fathers that invocation is a part of worship proper to God and that it cannot be ascribed to Saints departed vvithout Idolatry much less to the inferior Heathen Daemons Pag. 1.5 We shall subjoyn what Dr. St. affirms viz. That there being other intermediate beings between the supreme God and men whose office as the Heathens did conceive vvas this to carry the prayers of men to God and to bring down help from him to them they thought it very fitting to address their solemn supplications unto them this I say being so there was the very same cause in debate betwixt the ancient Fathers and the Heathens vvhich is between us and the Church of Rome Here T.G. swells and cryes out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is a most injurious Calumny and such as scarcely ever dropt from the pen of the greatest enemies of Christianity So he this being his continual Custom to begin with false and disingenuous accusations and to confirm them by most impertinent and weak discourses We therefore will a little draw the paralel and then proceed to answer his impertinencies First then (m) Oratio porrigitur alicui dupliciter Vno modo quasi per ipsum implenda Alio modo sicut per ipsum impetranda Primo quidem modo soli Dec Orationem porrigimus quid omnes crationes nostrae ordinari debent ad gratiam gloriam consequendam quae solus Deus dat Secundum illud Psal 83. Gratiam Glorian dabit Dominue Sed Secundario modo orationem porrigimus Angelis hominibus Aq. 2 2ae q. 83. Art 4. Aquinas thus propounds the Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the Invocation of departed Spirits a prayer may be directed to a person so as that we do request him to fulfil and by himself accomplish our desires and thus we pray to God alone or so as that we do sollicite him to beg or to obtain them for us and thus we pray to Saints and Angels now this is that very
Angel they pray thus * Huc eustos igitur pervigil advola Avertens patria de tibi credita Tam morbos animi quam requiescere Quicquid non sinit incolas Brev. R. Reform Off. Angeli Cust Thou watchful Guardian hither therefore fly And from that Country where thy charge does lie Divert what ere may prove their Minds Disease And what disturbs the peoples quiet peace And again * Tu es spes mea Gloriose Angele altissimus te posuit mihi dedit refugium tuum Non accedat igitur ad me malum flagellum non appropinquet tabernaculo meo Mi custos Gloriose me consigna servis Dei aggrega Gloriosis Apprehende arma scutum exurge Angele in adjutorium mihi dic animae meae salus tua ego sum Missa in honorem proprii Angeli Thou art my Hope most glorious Angel the most High hath given and appointed thee to be my Refuge Let then no Evil come unto me Let not the Scourge come nigh my Tabernacle Mark me and gather me unto Gods glorious Servants take hold of Shield and Buckler and stand up to help me say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation The old Roman Missal f. 52. had a Prayer to this Effect * Omnis homo omni die Gabrielis Mariae Poscat beneficia Ex his manet fons virtutis Dulcor vitae spes salutis Et diffusa Gratia Let every Man on every day To Gabriel and to Mary pray These are the spring whence vertue flows apace Heavens hope life's sweetness and diffused grace Whence we observe §. 2. that according to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome Angels when absent and invisible should be invocated for this they daily practise and endeavour to confirm from the Example and by the words of Jacob. 2. Observe that we must pray unto them not only to obtain deliverance and protection for us by their Prayer Intercedite pro me mihi succurrite but to perform it by their power for what they do conceive to be the Office of those Angels viz. to keep us to avert those dangers that are imminent and to remove a present evil must they not think it proper to request If God hath placed a Guardian Angel for their refuge may they not ask him to do the office of a Guardian as well as any other thing and to preserve them in their wayes that so no Evil may befall them this upon supposition that they do always hear our Prayers is very Rational When therefore T. G. doth insinuate that they only do desire these Blessed Spirits to offer up our Prayers P. 361. or to pray for us as we desire the Prayers of just Men upon Earth he doth insinuate a most apparent falshood for besides that signal difference betwixt requesting of our Brother to pray for us and their Petitions directed to the holy Angels to preserve them from the assaults of Satan and to * Tu Gloriose Angele qui stas ante Dominum preces meas offer Altissimo veni tribue mihi desideriorum meorum abundantiam Missa in honoâ—em proprii Angeli in Missali Rom. Ed. Antuerp 1577. confer upon them the greatest Blessings we can ask I say besides all this 1. We never do by word of Mouth request an absent Person nor do put up any Mental Prayers to our surviving Brethren both which are tendred to the Holy Angels by the Roman Catholicks 3. It is apparent from what we we have discoursed that it is in vain to put up these Petitions to the Blessed Angels unless we do ascribe unto them the knowledge of the Hearts of those that supplicate and unless we do suppose them either present with us or able to help us being absent and that they do accept this service when we pay it to them that so as they are deemed to be able they may assuredly be willing to relieve and help us Now to ascribe this Knowledge to them and upon this account to Worship and invoke them is to be guilty of Idolatry This we endeavour to demonstrate 1. From the Reason of those Addresses which we make to God viz. that we believe him to be the searcher of all Hearts one that doth see the inward Motions of the Soul and is acquainted with our most secret thoughts and actions Now this we have already proved to be an excellency so proper to the God of Heaven that it is not ordinarily communicated unto Saints and Angels and therefore to ascribe this Knowledge to them is to ascribe unto them what is Gods propriety and consequently to be guilty of Idolatry by Prop. 1. And as a farther evidence that no such Knowledge is Communicated to the Blessed Angels either by Revelation or by the beatifick Vision consider that from this supposed Communication it would follow as it is well suggested by the Learned * Addamus Angelos ne quidem supernaturaliter de facto cognoscere quaslibet cordium cogitationes quasi hoc eis competat communi lege Beatudinis nam si ita esset nondum absolutam haberent veritatem generales sententiae soli Deo tribuentes notitiam occultarum cogitationum quandoquidem beneficio beatudinis id esset multis communicatum sed intelligendae essent cum limitatione hac aut simili solus Deus naturaliter novit c. quam utique limitationem nusquam insiauant addendam esset ut sicut absolute verum maneat solum Deum de facto nosse quaelibet futura contingentia non obstante eo quod quaedam seis amicis revela ita etiam absolute verum maneat solum de facto nosse passim quaelibet occulta Cordium quoniam ut dictum est Authoritates de â—troque loquuntur eodem modo in senten l. 2. distinc 7. § 12. p. 80 Esthius that all those sentences of Scripture and the Holy Fathers which attribute this Knowledge of our secret thoughts and of the inward Motions of the Heart to God alone would not be absolutely true but without this limitation viz. God only naturally knows them or some like exception they would be absolutely false And yet this Limitation the Scriptures and the holy Fathers never do insinuate so that as it is absolutely true that unto God alone belongs the knowledge of contingent Beings although he sometimes did reveal some matters of that nature to his Priests and Prophets nor do we notwithstanding think that such a Knowledge doth belong to Saints and Angels so is it absolutely true that unto God alone belongs the Knowledge of the inward Thoughts and Secrets of the Hearts nor have we any reason to conceive that such a Knowledge ordinarily belongs to Saints and Angels § 4. 2. To worship any Creature with the Mind is to be guilty of Idolatry This was the Antient and undoubted Doctrine of the whole Church of Christ for this St. Austin witnesseth that * Divinè singulariter in Ecclesla Catholica
the very ground and reason of that practice viz. the benefit we may receive by putting up requests unto them and the concernments which ly upon us so to do in order to our preservation from all evil and the obtainment of the greatest blessings for he expresly tels us our care must be to get his favour who alone is God and that if Celsus or the Church of Rome would have us to procure the favor of the inferior beings he must know that all good Spirits Souls and Angels if we do obtain Gods favor when we pray to him they need not be called upon for the assistance of their prayers for they will pray together with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not being called upon so to do This he doth frequently repeat and indeed it is the common language of those times he lived in witness the like expression of Arnobius * In hoe omne quod colendum est colimus quod adorari convenit adoramus quod obsequium Venerationis exposcit Venerationibus promeremur Cum enim divinitatis ipsius tencamus caput à quo ipsa Divinitas divorum omnium quicunque sunt ducitur supervacuum putamus personas ire per singulas cum ipsi qui sint quae habeant nomina nesciamus cujus sint praeterea numeri neque liquidum neque comprehensum neque exploratum habere possimus Atque ut in terrestribus Regnis necessitate nulla compellimur regalibus in familiis constitutos nominatim cum Principibus adorare sed in Regum ipsorum cultu quicquid illis annexum est tacita se sentit honorificentia comprehendi Non alia ratione quicunque hi Dii sunt quos esse nobis proponitis fi sint progenies Regia principali oriuntur è capite etiam si nullos accipiant nominatim à nobis cultus intelligunt se tamen honorari communiter cum suo Rege atque in illius venerationibus contineri Arnobius contra Gentes lib. 3 p. 101. In worshiping the Father and the Lord of all things we worship all things that are to be worshiped we adore all things that may conveniently be adored we venerate all that calls for veneration For holding to the head from whence these Divi borrow their Divinity we think it needless to go to every Person seeing wee know not what they are what names they have or of what order they may be And as in honoring the King wee honor all that do belong unto him so what ever Gods you do propose unto us if they be of this Kingly progeny and do belong unto this head although they do receive no worship from us they understand that they are worshiped together with their King and are included in that veneration which we pay to him 4. This Answer renders the discourse of Origen impertinent and a perfect declination of the Question betwixt him and Celsus For Celsus thus disputes no God nor any Son of God can possibly descend from Heaven but if you do assert this of the Angels of God these are no other than our Daemons Orig. l. 7. 5. p. 23â— To this St. Origen returns this Answer 1. That to deny that any God descends from Heaven is to deny what was esteemed a thing common by the Heathen World 2. That Christians do indeed confess this is the office of the Angels to come down from and to ascend to Heaven and to offer up the Prayers of men to God but yet saith he we must not worship them as God for all our Prayers must be directed to God and to his Son Christ Jesus who is the living Word and God Which argument if it have any strength at all consists in this that whiâ—h you must not worship and adore as God you must not pray unto but Angels you must not worship and adore as God Ergo Angels you must not pray unto This is that Fathers plea to which T. G. may answer in behalf of Celsus as well as of the Church of Rome that he apparently distinguisheth those Angels both from God and from the Son of God and therefore did not contend that we should pray unto them as to that God who is the Author of all good but only as to the Ministers and Servants of God whom he appointed to preside over such persons Families and Countries And therefore he was contented only that it might be lawful to say unto them as doth the Church of Rome to St. Sebastian Cerne familiam tuam id est behold thy family and to St. Gabriel preserve thy Countrey 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus objects that if with God we do adore his Son then may we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerate his Ministers To this St. Origen replies that if †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Contra Celsum lib. 8. p. 386. Celsus by the Ministers of God had understood Gabriel and Michael and other Angels and Archangels and had contended that they should be venerated perpaps by purifying of the word and of the actions of the venerators we might say something of that matter i.e. Perhaps some actions which in some sense may bear the name of veneration might be performed to those Angels This T. G. thinks a great advantage to his cause and wonders that the Doctor would produce this passage But I conceive it is the clearest confutation of it that we could desire For having granted this and then restraining our petitions unto God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ as he expresly doth he most apparently demonstrates that prayer could be no part of the forementioned service he allowed to Saints 2. In that he thus distinguisheth of veneration and never doth distinguish in the like manner of prayer and supplication or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est of adoration and worship it follows that although he thought some veneration might be allowed to Angels in some inferior kind yet no petition was to be put up unto them and that no worship and adoration should be given unto them 3. When Origen in answer to this passage saith * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Ibid. we Christians venerate with supplications only God and his Son Jesus Christ and put up our petitions to God by his only Son If he doth understand only such supplications as are made to him as to the Author of all good he is as vain and impertinent as T. G. in his Answers to the Dr. for Celsus only doth contend for such a worship and consequently for such addresses only as agree unto the Ministers and Servants of God 4. Origen plainly doth inform us that the veneration he allowed to Angels was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 8. p. 416. to speak well of them and pronounce them blessed and imitate to their virtues and what is this to supplication 3. Celsus objects that Daemons do belong to God and therefore must be prayed unto and
alone to know the secrets of the hart then Christ who was acquainted with them doth very well deserve to be accounted God So Novatian (l) De Trin. c. 13. p. 715. In the like manner they are wont to argue and conclude the holy Spirit to be God for if to know the secrets of men be a propriety of God to search the hidden things of God as doth the holy Ghost must be a greater demonstration of his Majesty so Paschasius If we especially conceive him to be God who sees the secret thoughts of man much more is he to be esteemed God who searcheth what is hidden in the Fathers breast So (m) Hom. de Trin. Eusebius Emissenus (n) Quia nemo inferior superioris scrutatur interna divinae enim solius est potestatis ecculta novisse similiter ergo scrutatur Spiritus Sanctus ut Pater Ambros de Sp. Sancto l. 2. c. 12. f. 108. B. Col. 2. L. It is recorded of God that he doth search the heart and reins whence it is evident that in like manner this is performed by the holy Spirit for no inferior doth search the hidden things of his superior So Ambrose v. Petav. Theol. dogm de Angelis l. 1. c. 7. de Trin. l. 2. c. 14. It would be endless to recite all that the Fathers have delivered to this effect if then they taught as doth the present Church of Rome and practised that invocation both of Saints and Angels which doth apparently suppose them conscious to the requests and inward motions of the heart is it not matter of the highest admiration and a just reason to suspect the ingenuity or common prudence of such men who did so often urge that as an instance of Divinity which they acknowledged to agree and by their daily practice did ascribe unto the Creature Wherefore we are constrained in reverence to their great names and memories to judge they never held this knowledge was communicated to Saints and Angels nor practised that which doth suppose it Which will be further evident if 3ly we consider that they affirm without distinction or exception that to perceive the secrets of the heart is a thing proper unto God alone this by the concurrent judgment of the â—ather being no more communicated to the Creature than was the knowledge of what was future and contingent The Almighty Father only knows the hidden things saith * Lib. 5. in Ezech. cap. 16. pag. 191. E. Mat. 6.4 Psal 7.9 1 Kings 8.29 Jerome alledging for the proof of this these Texts Thy Father that seeth in secret c God searcheth the hearts and reins And Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men It is the property of God alone saith †In Matt. Hom. 29. p. 201 202. Ed. Savil. Jer. 17.9 1 Sam. 16.7 Chrysostom to know the secrets of the heart For the proof of this besides the passages now mentioned he add that of Jeremiah The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it And that of Samuel Man looketh on the out ward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart And of this saith he we have many evidences This he again repeats Hom. 24. in Joban and proves it from those words of Solomon Thou only knowest the heart of man (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Matt. Hom. 19. p. 134. If thou dost thy good works in secret wilst thou have no spectactor of what is done saith the same Author yes thou wilst have not indeed Angels or Arch-angels much less Saints and Martyrs but God over all Hence was it held a signal honor done to God and a great act of faith to pray in silence (p) Qui in silentio orat fidem defert confitetur quod Deus serutator cardâ— renis sit erationem tuaâ—an è lile audiat quà m tuo ore fundatuâ— Ambros de Sucram l. 6. c. 4. He that doth pray in silence saith St. Ambrose brings faith with him and confesseth that God is the searcher of the heart and reins and that he can hear his prayer before that it is uttered by his mouth (q) Consideremus bened ctâ—â—â—eleslem Christi Sephiaâ— imprimis de praecepto secretè adorandi quo fidem hominis exigebat ut Dei omnipotentis conspectum auditum sub tâ—ctis in abdus etiam adess confideret m destum fidei desideraâ— it ut quem uâ—ique audire videre fideret ci soli religionem saam offâ—â—â—â— Tert. de Orat. c. 1. §. 8. Let consider saith Tertullian the heavenly wisdome of our Lord in his injunction to praÌ„y in secret whereby he both requires the faith of man confiding that God omnipotent both hears and sees under our roofs and in our secret places and also that our faith be modest so that we offer our Religion unto him alone whom we are confident doth see and hear us every where That to ascribe this knowledge to any Creature to whom God doth not thus discover the secrets of the heart Prop. 3. §. 3. and to pay that honor to it which doth suppose such knowledge is Idolatry This I make good 1. From the confessions of our Adversaries and from the Argument they use on like occasions It is truly acknowledged by the Church of Rome Catechism Rom. part 3. c. 1. § 7. That Magick Augury and such like wicked Arts are sins forbidden by the first Commandment and such as cannot be committed without gross Idolatry Because whoever doth expect or seek from evil Spirits or any other Creature what the Magician promiseth by seeking hoping or expecting that from them which only ought to be expected from God they act towards that Creature as if they thought it to be God For instance he that attempteth to foretell what is future and contingent without a revelation from God he doth unduly do it 2ª 2ª q. 95. Art 1. saith the learned Sylvius for since the causes of such thing are undetermined it is not possible we should attain to this knowledge of them from themselves or from their causes and whether we do speak of things contingent or of the knowledge of the conceptions of the heart it is certain God alone can know them it being said Isa 41.23 Thou only knowest the hearts of men and again Declare the things that are to come that we may know that you are gods he therefore that attempteth to foretell such things we therefore say that he divineth because after a sort he acts the God usurping that which only doth belong to him 2. From the two passages of Scripture cited by him it is evident That albeit God sometimes did reveal unto his Prophets the knowledge of things future and of the secrets of the heart yet is that knowledge to be esteemed the property of God and a sure indication of divinity and therefore to ascribe this knowledge to a Creature God having not revealed it to him is to ascribe divinity unto
conversing with God †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bosil Tom. 1. Orat. in Jusiti Martyr p. 318. Prayer is a request of some good thing which is made by pious men to God saith Basil whence elsewhere he asserts that Prayer is not directed unto man but God ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss de Orat. Dom. or 2. p. 724. D. Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 30. Prayer is a conference with God saith Nyssen and a request of good things which is offered with supplication unto God Prayer is a Colloquy with God and every one that prays discourseth with God so St. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 4. p. 139. Chrysostome Hence on that expression of St. Paul with all that call upon the name of the Lord he notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that St. Paul doth not say that call on this or that i.e. of any thing but Christ and on these words Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus he comments thus i.e. do all things praying unto him for help and before all thy business making thy supplication to him or he saith thus say and do all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to or according to God and introduce not Angels But T. G. hath some Arguments to prove that Saints and Angels have the knowledge of our hearts and actions viz. It is said Luke 15.7 Object T. G. p. 419. There shall be joy in Heaven and v. 10. There shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner that doth penance And the Saints in Heaven no doubt rejoyce as much at the conversion of a sinner as the Angels do Not only the Angels of God Answ White against Fisher p. 315. but holy men on earth rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner Luke 15.24 2 Cor. 7.9 Likewise Parents Ministers and Friends rejoyce c. And yet it followeth not from hence that holy men on earth which rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner see the secrets of the heart 1 Cor. 2.11 So likewise Angels which are ministring Spirits Hebr. 1 14. may understand by the signs and fruits of true repentance the conversion of divers sinners and consequently they may rejoyce without intuitive knowledge of the heart 2. Our Saviours words Luke 15.10 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conclusion of a parable which must not be strained beyond the true scope But according to the exposition of sundry †Anbrâ—s l. 7. in Lucam Hilar in Matth. 18 Isidâ—r lib. Alleg. Chrysol Serm. 168. Fathers and some learned ‖ Cojet Titus Bostrensis in locum Papists The hundred sheep v. 4. represent the whole body of the Elect consisting of Men and Angels the ninety and nine sheep not lost were the Angels persisting in their prime integrity The stray sheep all mankind sinning in Adam To recover this lost sheep the Son of God that good Shepheard Jo. 10.11 was incarnate and by the gracious work of Redemption he laid the same on his shoulder Now there is great joy in Heaven before the coelestial Angels for this recovery and salvation of mankind So that no more can be inferred from this parable but that the Court of Heaven and in the same the holy Angels rejoyce because of mans Redemption 3. When it is said that there is joy in Heaven we may expound it as Dr. Hammond doth not of the joy of Angels but of God and had we no reason to confirm this sense it is sufficient to destroy the force of what T. G. doth hence conclude from this citation that it may fairly be expounded in that sense which rendereth it impertinent to his design but since it is not said to be the joy of Angels but that joy which is expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. before the holy Angels this doth sufficiently demonstrate that it is the joy of him before whose face they stand continually Moreover it is confessedly God who is compared to the Shepherd and to the Woman seeking the lost Groat And therefore the similitude requires that the joy conceived when the lost Sheep and Groat is found should be ascribed to him Whereas our Savour himself saith Object T. G. ib. That the just in the Resurrection shall be as the Angels in Heaven Matth. 22.30 the equality as to knowledge not depending upon the body it follows by the Analogy of Faith that our prayers and concerns are known also to the Saints now injoying the same blissful Vision with the Angels Christ doth not only say Answ That the Spirits of just persons shall be like the Angels but he expresseth wherein they shall be so to wit 1. In freedom from secular actions and passions 2. Inglorious Adoption or real Possession of all the priviledges of the Sons of God We cannot therefore hence infer a parity of qualities and operations betwixt the Angels and the Spirits of just men but only a similitude of state and priviledges as * Verum haec authoritas ut ingemiè fatear solum aequat homines Angelis in hoc quod nullum mutrimonti usum haâ—ebunt siâ—â—t nec Angeli non tamen ibidem facit pareâ— quantum ad facialem visionem Det. Alph. de Castr l. 3. c. Haer. v. Beat. v. Jansen Harm Evang. c. 117. Papists do themselves consess 2. Christ doth not †In illa requie positus ceitè securus expectas judicii diem quando reeipias co â—us quande immuteris ut angelo aequaeris Aust in Ps 36. f 61. say The Spirits of just men are as the Angels now but that at the Resurrection they shall be so White p. 380. Now I admire what Papists can extort from hence for invocation of Saints for there is no connexion between this Antecedent and Consequent to wit just men at the Resurrection shall live as Angels remote from all the necessities of a worldly life and they shall be as the Angels of God free from material and corporeal passions and equal to the Angels in fruition of blessedness Ergo The knowledge of our prayers which we make in this life is not to be denyed unto glorious Saints the fellows of Angels The smoke of the Incenses of the Prayers of the Saints ascended from the hand of the Angel before God Apoc 8.4 Ergo Object ibid. Our prayers and actions are not unknown to the Angels 1. This place of St. John proveth not Answ White p. 314. either clearly or obscurely That holy Angels hear the Prayers or see the actions and affections of men For the Angel mentioned is expounded by the antient Expositors and by the Romanists themselves not of an Angel by Nature but of an Angel by Office and by some of them of an Angel by Type * In locum Albertus in his Commentary St. John saith Another Angel that is Christ who is the Angel of the Covenant Esay 9. Dionysius Carthusianus (a) Doctores Caeâ—belici per Angelum isium intelligunt Christum qui magni
Office which the Platonists ascribed to their Daemons They saith * August de C. D. l. 8. c. 18. St. Austin bring the prayers of men unto the Gods and what they beg and do obtain quae poscunt impetrata they bring back to men And again They think them so to intermediate betwixt God and men as that they carry out desires hence illinc referunt impetrata and from thence bring back what they have obtained Hence are they often stiled by them Advocates and Mediators Intercessors and Pararii i. e. the obrainers of our Suits 2. On this account they thought it reasonable to honor them with supplications * Ficinus tradit Platonem universan Deorum Synagogam unico Regi subdere prout vult sengulis imperanti Jubere primum Deum adori propter seipsum sequentes vero qui participes ejus Dii queque dicuntur amari tanquam illi similiores honorari etiam ut Vicarios imo advocari lanquam Conciliatores Plato saith Ficinus subjected the whole number of Gods unto one King who as he pleased did command them all and he commanded that the chief God should be worshiped for himself the other who are also called Gods by participation to be loved as likest to him and to be honoured as his Vicars and to be addressed to as to reconcilers And Plato hath himself determined (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epinom pag. 1010. That they ought to be honoured with our Prayers by reason of their laudable Province which he saith is double 1. (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symposium p. 1194. To be our Interpreters to God 2. To carry up the Prayers and Sacrifices of men to God and to bring back the commands and answers of God to them (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus apud Origen lib. 8. p. 394. We ought to pray unto them to be propitious to us so Celsus 3. They did not think them to be Gods properly so called but only the ministers and servants of God as I have proved above †Câ—â—cta coelestum voluntate numine autoritate fiunt sed Paer num obsequiâ— opâ—â—a ministerio Apulesus de Daemoâ—â— Socâ—ate p. 45. All things are done saith Apuleius by the will majesty and authority of the heavenly beings but by the ministry work and obsequiqusness of the Daemons Hence do they stile them virtutes ministeria Dei magni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Gods Ministers and Messengers Hence do they rank them in the second and third place from God and put this Office on them quia nullus Deus miscetur homini because no God that is properly so called doth immediately converse with man this is so plain that Austin doth acknowledg that the difference betwixt †Hos si Platonici malunt Deos quam Daemones dicere eisque annumerare quos a summo Deo conditos Deos scribit eorum autor magister Plato dicant quod volunt non enim cum eis de verborum controversia laborandum est rursus Quamvis nominis controversia videatur Aug. de Civ Dei l. 9. cap. 23. Plato's good Daemons which he acknowledged to be made by the highest God and the good Angels was only in the name Having thus drawn the Paralel we are prepared to attend T. G's pretences of a great disparity betwixt this Invocation of the Heathen Daemons which by the ancient Fathers was charged with Idolatry and that Invocation of the Saints departed which is now practised by the Church of Rome which will be quickly done since all his great disparities are only great impertinencies for what is this unto the Doctors Argument concerning Invocation that they do not offer Sacrifice unto the Saints departed which is his fourth disparity Or that the God they worship is the true immortal God who sees the secrets of the hearts which is his first disparity What is it to the purpose to say the persons they address their prayers unto are not Devils or wicked wretches but the blessed Spirits for if the same kind of Invocation be used to both it must be deemed Idolatry in both because in both it is the giving of the worship due to God unto the Creature when this is done unto the best of Creatures then is Idolatry committed when this is not done we may be guilty of Superstition or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in giving of inferior worship or Dulia to the worst of Creatures but cannot be guilty of Idolatry And this cuts of his third disparity 4. pag 351. Their Office is not to inform the supream God of what he knows not saith T. G. but to be joynt Petitioners with us and what is this unto the purpose seeing the Fathers neither did or could condemn them of Idolatry for thinking God did not know our Prayers without Interpreters But for what was consequent upon it viz. the making their addresses to them to present their requests to God and by their prayers to obtain his blessings the first opinion made them sacrilegious in robbing God of what did properly belong unto him and with this we do not charge the Papists in this case The second is Idolatrical in giving of his honor to a Creature of which they are but too much guilty This T. G. saw as well as I and therefore for the same good reason that some unskilful Painters write under their work this is a Dog a Cat Pag 352. c. T.G. at the foot of his performance writeth thus I have spoken home to the Case and then he states it thus whether the practise of Catholicks in honouring and invocating the Saints be the same with that of the Heathens in the worship of their inferior Deities T.G. pag. 440. Thus expiring Candle gathers up its Spirits and forces it self into a blaze before it dies Alass that we should all this while have been mistaken in the question The question hitherto controverted betwixt Dr. St. and him in this particular was concerning the Invocation of Saints as T. G. doth himself confess p. 350. but now like a mischievous Card that will spoil the hand this is dropt under the Table and all the show above board is whether their Invocation of Saints doth differ not from the Invocation but the whole worship of inferior Daemons The business of solemn supplication to them is the Case in debate between us and the Church of Rome saith Dr. St. If ever you would speak home to the case do it upon this point Pag. 145. I beg your pardon saith T. G. I am not free to speak upon that point I know my foot must slip if I should touch upon it and therefore though you press me and call upon me to speak home unto it I am resolved to be reserved nay I am conscious to my self that all that I have spoken is impertinent to that Case I have not nor I cannot shew the least disparity betwixt their Invocation of inferior Daemons and that
so frequent in those Writers of the Church of Rome which comment on the places mentioned These blessed Apostles were not so careful to prevent the Errors and Mistakes of Hereticks in this particular as are the Doctors of the Roman Church they do not seem so tender of the Invotion and Worship of those blessed Spirits or so sollicitous we may not loose so great a benefit as are those Roman Doctors which gives us reason to conjecture not that their Knowledg or their Piety was less but that they did not very much aprove that Doctrine which gave the rise unto this Superstition of the Romish Church and so much for the first particular 2. That both the Jews and Christians abstained from this practise because they did not think this honor to be due to Angels but to God alone is evident from what we have discoursed already to confirm this inference the Apostles and Evangelists left us no precept or example to put up our petitions to departed Saints and therefore they conceived it the Worship due to God alone 2 Having removed and taken off those reasons which the Romanist assignes of this neglect it follows that that reason must stand good which we assigne at least till they can find a better With us consent the learned Jews (a) Joseph Albus l. 3. in Icarim c. 18. Idololatriam primam corum fulsse existimans qui Angelos similes creaturas ut sequestres inter se at Deum colluissent ait Deum in Decalogo quando ait Non cruâ—t tibi Dit aâ—ieni ante faciem meam id voluisse ne homines ullos ponerent sequestres aut deprecatores inter se ipsos Vossiu in Maim de Idolol c. 2. Sect. 1. Josephus Albus supposeth this Worship of the Angels as Mediators betwixt God and us to be the most antique Idolatry and (b) Fundamentum Mandati de Idololatria est nequis Serviat Creaturae non Angelo non Sphaeâ—ae non Stellae quanquam autem is qui ca colit sciat illa non esse Deum ac colat Creaturam hanc quomodo coluit Euos illius coaetanei nihilomiâ—us est Idololatria Maim ibid. Maimonides sue definitione non tantum se complecti ait Eos qui creaturis cultum exhibent us Deo verum qui iis supplicant ut ministris Dei Dionys Vossius in locum Maimon adds that the foundation of the precept of Idolatry is this that no man serve or Worship any Angel or created being As the Foundation of our last evidence of that Idolatry which is in this particular committed by the Church of Rome §. 9. we do premise 1. That Magick is that art of Divination which in conversant about the Revelation of things coâ—tingent and concealed as v. g. touching the victory of contending parties the future condition of the Church c. The declaration of our future State Fortune Marriage Death Prosperity Adversity and many other things which it is very useful for Mankind to know Alii dicunt hos esse effectus bonorum Angelorum Delrio disq Mag. l. 2. qu. 2. p. 96. B. 2 I premise that there was amongst the antients an oppinion that by the help of Souls departed or good Angels they might obtain the knowledge of things contingent and concealed and hence that Divination which they exercised who did pretend to know things secret or contingent by their means was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or white Magick in opposition to Divination by evil Spirits which they stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or black Magick it was a very old opinion especially of the Platonists of Jamblick Porphyry Plotinus Proclus and Julian the Apostate that Divination was the effect of holy Angels So (a) Disquis Mag. l. 2. qu. 2. p. 96. B. Delrio (b) Strom. 3. Magicians who observe Angels and Demons are careful to abstain from Wine and Venery and living creatures So St. Clemens And 3. I premise that this white Magick is by the Church of Rome condemned as Idolatry For such is all unlawful Magick saith (c) Tacita Idololatria est omnis Magia prohibita Belrio l. 1. disqu Mag. cap. 1. p. 3. Col. 3. Delrio Whosoever exerciseth the art of Divination or consults them that do it are guilty of having other Gods saith (d) Estius in Sent. 3. dist 4. Sect. 6. p. 130. Estius because they attribute unto the Creature what is Gods propriety viz. The knowledge of things future and which in nature have no certain Causes but which depend upon the will of man or other things which are mutable Valentianus adds That they affront his Majesty by a vain expectation of those things from Creatures which are to be expected only from God for God having said declare to us things future that we may know that ye are Gods the knowledge of things future and contingent must be the knowledge proper unto God alone And again the procuration of the knowledge of things hid or secret belongeth to Divine Worship for these are to be expected only from God by prayer and other lawful means when therefore we expect them vainly from the Creature we do ascribe unto the Creature that Worship which is properly Divine These things premised 4. I add that either this white Magick must be lawful or else the Invocation of Saints and Angels as it is practised in the Church of Rome must be unlawful and guilty of Idolatry either we vainly do expect that they should hear and understand our mental Prayers and know the secrets of our Hearts or the Magicians who do expect the knowledge of things secret or contingent by those blessed Spirits cannot be justly charged with Idolatry For whatsoever the Romanist pretends in vindication of the first doth equally excuse and vindicate the second for if you do conjecture with the Church of Rome that the affection of those blessed Spirits to mankind is so exceeding great that it will prompt them most assuredly to intercede in our behalf for other temporal concerns to be our refuge and Protectors and to Minister to the concernements both of this and of the future life why may we not conceive that the same love should move them to declare those future things which it doth Equally concern us to know both that we may obtain the greatest blessings and may be able to fly and to prevent the greatest perils or may prepare to bear those evils with a Christian courage which we cannot escape When Florentius having lost his Cloak T. G. p. 424. and had not where withall to buy another by praying to the twenty Martyrs caught a Fish with a Gold Ring in t sufficient I suppose to buy another Caniw e doubt but when we lose a Cloak that praying to all Saints and Angels some kind hearted Saint that perhaps in his life time lost his own and so must be supposed according to * Part. 3. cap. 2. Sect. 4. T. G. to be more ready than the rest to pitty any
body that sustains that loss will tell us where this lost Cloak is If God doth either from the Law of Friendship or for our profit reveal the secrets of mens hearts unto them and inform both Saints and Angels of our Prayers and our Necessities why should we not conceive that he is as ready to inform them of those hidden and contingent things which it as much concerneth us to be informed of as to receive an Answer to our Prayers v. g. if he informed the twenty Martyrs of Florentius his Petition that his Cloak might be given to him T. G. p. 423 424. why should he not inform them where it was or if those blessed Spirits do by virtue of the beatifick Vision see our Prayers and Wants why should they not be thought to view our Losses and our future state in the same beatifick Vision If that could represent unto the twenty Martyrs Florentius's Prayer why not his Cloak and where it was They who see God see all things in him which belong unto him say the Roman Doctors therefore they see the Prayers directed to him for they objectively must be in God they that see God saith the Magitian see all things in him and therefore they must see things future and concealed for they objectively must be in God and with what shew of reason can any man reject the latter inference who doth allow the former for to be the Searcher of the Heart is not less proper to God then is the Knowledge of what is future and contingent Nay Holy Scripture seemes more clearly to appropriate to God the Knowledge of the Heart then of things future and contingent for it expresly saith thou only knowest the Hearts of men but doth not so expresly say thou only knowest what is to come Moreover the secret motions of our Heart do equally depend upon our will which is uncertain and very subject unto change if therefore it be truly said that what is future and contingent cannot be known by any creature because it doth depend on what is mutable and therefore to expect this knowledge from a Creature or to ascribe it to him is to be Guilty of Idolatry the like must be affirmed of the thoughts and inward motions of the Heart which equally depending on the free motions of the will must be obnoxious to the same uncertaintyes CHAP. XI The CONTENTS The Canon of the Councel of Laodicea de iis qui Angelos Colunt is laid down and the Judgment of Theodoret and Photius upon it Sect. 1. And it is proved 1. That it contains the Sentence and belief of the whole Church of Christ Sect. 2. That it forbids the Invocation and Worship of Angels Sect. 3. That the Angels whose Invocation and Worship it forbids were blessed Spirits and not evil Angels Sect. 4. That it forbids what is the Practice of the Church of Rome Sect. 5. That it pronounceth the Worship and Invocation of the holy Angels to be Idolatry Sect. 6. That in the Judgment of the Fathers this was the Worship which St. Paul condemned 2 Coloss Sect. 7. The evasions of T. G. confuted ibid. And all the other Answers of the Romanists Sect. 8. THat what we have thus confirmed from Scripture and the voice of Reason § 1. hath also the consent and the concurrent suffrage of Antiquity we shall demonstrate not from the words of any single Father but from the clear decision of the whole Church of God which is delivered to us in these words viz. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Codex Canonum Eccles Univers Can. 139. That Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God and depart a side and invocate Angels and make meetings which are things forbidden If any man therefore be found to give himself to this privy Idolatry let him be accursed Because he hath forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and betaken himself to Idolatry In the Epitomy of Canons collected by Dionisius Exiguus and which Pope Adrian delivered to Charles the great this Decree is thus entitled (a) Jusâ—el Cod. Can Eccles p. 106. Canon de his qui Angelos colunt a Decree concerning those that worship Angels (b) Brev. Canon 90. Crisconius hath the like Theodoret who lived in the next Century upon those words of the Apostle Let no man defraud you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of Angels writes that (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. in Coloss c. 2. They who were zealous for the Law perswaded men to worship Angels because say they the Law was given by them This did they councel to be done pretending himility and saying that the God of all things was invisible and inaccessible and incomprehensible and that it was fit we should procure Gods favor by the means of Angels And again (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. in Col. 2. Because they commanded men to worship Angels saith Theoderet he enjoyneth the contrary that they should adorn their words and deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Christ and send up thanksgiving to God and the Father by him and not by the Angels The Synod of Laodicea also following this Rule and desiring to heal that old disease made a Law that they should not pray to Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ And lastly (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. in Col. 2. This vice saith he continued in Phrygia and Pisidia for a long time For which cause also the Synod assembled in Laodicea the chief City of Phrygia forbad them by a Law to pray to Angels and even to this day among them and their Borderers there are Oratories of St. Michael to be Seen The like hath Oecumenius upon the same place saying that (b) Oecumen MS. in Coloss 2. apud Hoechelium in Origenem contra Celfum In libris editis desideratur this Custom continued in Phrygia insomuch that the Councel of Laodicea did by a Law forbid to come to Angels and to pray unto them From whence it is also that there be many Churches of Michael the Cheif Captain of Gods Host among them This Canon of the Laodicean Fathers Photius doth note to have been made against the (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phot. Nomocanon tit 12. c. 9. Angelites or the Angelicks rather For so St. (a) Angelici in Angelorum cultum inclinati Aug. de haeres c. 39. Augustin names those Hereticks that were inclined to the worship of Angles being from thence called (b) Angelici vocati quia Angelos colunt Isidor Orig. l. 8. c. 5. Angelici as Isidorus noteth because they did worship Angels Now that the strength of what we argue from this Canon And that the vanity of what the Romanists except against it may appear 1. Let it be noted that the forementioned Canon containeth the Sentence and Belief of the whole Church of Christ 5 2. for it is a Canon of that Code which the whole Christian World did use
both in their Councils and Ecclesiastical Judicatures untill the Seventh Century and which is cited both by the Council of Calcedon and of Ephesus as (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Concil Ephes act 1. p. 2. p. 327. To. 1. Concil General Edit Rom. the order of Canons the series of Ecclesiastical Laws the Ecclesastical constitutions and (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act 2. p. 400. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 426. v. p. 425. p. 491. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Concil Calced act 3. p. 241. Tom. 2. Concil the Code It is a Canon of that Code to which the Council of Calcedon gave the force and the Authority of an universal Law in these Expressions (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act 4. p. 297. vic Justel Cod. Canon p. 6. 12. we think it equal that the Canons made by Holy Fathers in every Synod untill now should be observed Can. 1. 2. Observe that what the Canon thus expresseth § 3. viz. that Christians should not name the Angels is an Anathema directed against those which pray to Angels so Theodoret and Photius who call upon them for help or introduction to God So Zonaras and Aristenus who worshipt them In locum So Theodoret Dionysius Christonius and the Epitome of Canons presented by Pope Adrian to Charles the great who said we must be brought to God by Angels so Aristenus and the Amerbachian Scholiast In locum and that to cure that Disease the Council did command all Christians not to pray unto them so Theodoret and Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore evident it is that Zonaras doth truly say that to name Angels in this Canon was as much as to invoke them whence it will follow that the whole Church of Christ for two whole Centuries and upwards did forbid all Christians to Invoke Angels to worship or to call upon them and did pronounce Anathema's on them that did so 3. Observe that what this Canon doth forbid § 4. was not the Invocation of wicked Daemons or of Damned Spirits but of the Blessed Angels For 1. According to Theodoret and Photius they did condemn the worshipers of Michael the Archangel and those that went unto the Oratories or Churches of St. Michael 2. The Canon doth relate to Christians who surely would not meet to worship Devils nor doth it recall them to good Angels but to Jesus Christ 3. The persons reprehended are said to have took up this Custom of going thus to good Daemons from a pretence of their unworthiness to go to God or Christ immediately and from an appearance of humility So Chrysostome Theodoret and others but to expect the help of Devils to introduce them to God and to pretend humility in doing such an horrid act is to be guilty of the highest madness 4. Theodoret and Photius inform us that they who brought up that forbidden practice were zealous for the Law now that most strictly did forbid the worship of all evil spirits it was delivered not by them but by the Blessed Angels 4. That which is here forbidden § 4. is what the Church of Rome doth daily practice for they do worship Angels saith the Roman Catechism Part 3. p. 434. this is and hath been their perpetual Custom to call upon them and to expect their help and patronage by vertue of those supplications Hence that Expression of the Roman Missal (a) Hos fidenter deprecemur ut ab ipsis adjuvemur apud deum jugiter Prosa ad S. Angelos f. 32. B. To them with confidence let 's pray for Gods assistance every day They do expect Salvation from their intercession in that very sense in which Theophylact asserts the Hereticks expected to be saved by Angels viz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as persons ministring unto our Introduction to God and Christ Hence their petitions that (b) Hostias tibi Domine laudis offerimus suppliciter deprecantes ut easdem Angelico interveniente suffragio placatus accipta ad salutem nostram provenire concedas Missa votiva de Angelis p. 5.36 Ed. Aut. fol. Gaudium erit tibi Angele dei super me peccatore tuis intercessionibus deum obtinente Missa in honorem proprii Angelif 16. B. Ed. Antuerp So. 1577. Angelorum concio sacra Archangelorum turma inclyta nostra diluant jam peccata praestando superacaeli Gaudia Prosa de omnibus sanctis ibid. f. 33. B. by the intercessions of the blessed Angels they may obtain Gods favour and may be brought to Life Eternal If then that Invocation which is here forbidden be Idolatry the practice of the Church of Rome must be so too 5. This Invocation of the Blessed Angels §. 6. is expresly said to be Idolatry and therefore if it be not truly so this Synod and the Church of Christ must be pronounced false accusers now of this enormity they could not justly be accused for deserting Christ for notwithstanding this they did not look upon those Angels they invoked as Gods but as inferiour Creatures and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or presons instrumental and subservient unto our Introduction to God and therefore thought we should procure Gods favour by the means of Angels because that God himself was not to be approached or apprehended and because Christ was so exalted that they durst not make their immediate addresses to him now to think Christ greater than that we sinful Creatures should make addresses to him maketh some shew of our humility but cannot possibly be charged with Idolatry For should any Man conceive himself unworthy to appear before God or look upon him as unaccessable by one of so defiled a spirit and therefore should entreat the Prayers of his pious Neighbors we might conclude that he was very ignorant and vain in his imaginations but could not thence conclude that he was guilty of Idolatry And so the Reader sees that notwithstanding these mistakes of the Angelicks the Church of Rome hath no wrong done them when we charge their Invocation of the blessed Angels with Idolatry for if the Invocation of them when absent were not guilty of this Crime these by-mistakes could never make it guilty of that imputation Besides the Synod and Theodoret do put a clear distinction betwixt these two particulars which by the Exposition of the Roman Doctors are confounded and made to signify the same viz. desertion of Christ and being guilty of Idolatry by praying to the blessed Angels as is apparent from this expression of Theodoret the Synod of Laodicea made a Law that Christians should not pray to Angels nor forsake the Lord Christ whosoever doth such things say they accursed let him be because he hath deserted Christ and given up himself unto Idolatry Lastly we do not find that they did so reject or desert Christ as to deny his intercession in the Heavens but only upon this account because they did not make immediate addresses to him For as St. Paul asserts