of civil honour due to beasts as that there is an inferiour degree of Religious Worship due to some men For all degrees of Religious Worship are as peculiar and appropriate to God as civil respects are to men and as the highest degree of civil honour is to a Soveraign Prince However should we grant that some excellent Creatures might be capable of some inferiour degrees of Religious Worship yet as the Prince is the fountain of civil honour which no subject must presume to usurp without a grant from his Prince so no creature how excellent soever has any natural and inherent right to any degree of Religious Worship and therefore we must not presume to worship any Creature without Gods command nor to pay any other degree of worship to them but what God hath prescribed and instituted and the only way to know this is to examine the Scriptures which is the only external revelation we have of the will of God Let us then inquire what the sense of Scripture is in this controversie and I shall distinctly examine the testimonies both of the Old and New Testament concerning the object of Religious Worship SECT II. The Testimonies of the Mosaical Law considered TO begin with the Old Testament and nothing is Sect 3. 1. more plain in all the Scripture then that the Laws of Moses confine â— Religious worship to that one Supreme God the Lord Jehovah who Created the Heavens and the Earth For 1. The Israelites were expresly commanded to worship the Lord Jehovah and to worship no other Beeing as our Saviour himself assures us who I suppose will be allowed for a very good Expositor of the Laws of Moses It is written Matth. 4. 10. Deut. 6. 13. Deutr 10. 10. thou shalt worship the Lord they God and him only shalt thou serve In the Hebrew Text from whence our Saviour cites this Law it is only said Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him without that addition of him only And yet both the Septuagint and the vulgar Latine read the words as our Saviour doth him only shalt thou serve and the authority of our Saviour is sufficient to justifie this Interpretation and withal gives us a general rule which puts an end to this controversie that as often as we are commanded in Scripture to worship God we are commanded also to worship none besides him For indeed the first Commandment is very express in this matter and all other Laws which concern the obiect of Worship must in all reason be expounded by that Thou shalt have none other Gods before me The Septuagint 20 Exod. 3. renders it plen emu besides me so does the Chaldee Syriack and Arabick to the same sense And it is universally concluded by all Expositors that I have seen that the true interpretation of this Commandment is that we must worship no other God but the Lord Jehovah To pay Religious Worship to any Beeing does in the Scriptures notion make that Beeing our God which is the only reason why they are commanded not to have any other Gods For there is but one true God and therefore in a strict sense they can have no other GODS because there are no other Gods to be had but whatever Beeings they worship they make that their God by worshiping it and so the Heathens had a great many Gods but the Jews are commanded to have but one GOD that is to worship none else besides him In other places GOD expresly forbids them to worship any strange Gods or the Gods of the people or those Nations Deut. 6. 14 that were round about them And least we should suspect that they were forbid to worship the Gods of the people only because those Heathen Idolaters worship Devils and wicked Spirits the Prophet Jeremiah gives us a general notion who are to be reputed false GODS and not to be worshipped Thus shall ye say unto them the Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Jer. 10. 11. Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens So that whatever Beeing is worshipped whither it be a good or a bad Spirit which did not make the Heavens and the Earth is a false GOD to such Worshippers and I suppose the Church of Rome will not say that Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary as much as they magnifie her made the Heavens and the Earth And then according to this rule they ought not to be worshipped But to put this past doubt that the true meaning of these Laws is to forbid the worship of any other Beeing besides the Supreme GOD I shall observe two or three things in our Saviours answer to the Devils temptation which will give great light and strength to it 1. That our Saviour absolutely rejects the worship of any other Beeing together with the Supreme GOD. The thing our Saviour condemns is not the renouncing the worship of God for the worship of Creatures for the Devil never tempted him to his but the worship of any other being besides GOD though we still continue to worship the Supreme GOD. It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which is a plain demonstration that men may believe and worship the Supreme God and yet be Idolaters if they worship any thing else besides him The Devil did not desire our Saviour to renounce the worship of the supreme God but was contented that he should worship God still so he would but worship him also And therefore it is no reason to excuse the Church of Rome from Idolatry because they worship the supreme God as well as Saints and Angels this they may do and be Idolaters still for Idolatry does not consist meerly in renouncing the worship of the supreme God but in worshipping any thing else though we continue to worship him When the Jews worship'd their Baalims and false gods they did not wholly renounce the worship of the God of Israel and the Heathens themselves especially the wisest men amongst them did acknowledge one supreme God though they worshiped a great many inferiour Deities with him 2. Our Saviour in his answer to the Devils temptation does not urge his being a wicked and Apostate Spirit an enemy and a rebel against God but gives such a reason why he could not worship him as equally excludes all Creatures whither good or bad Spirits from any right to Divine Worship Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Him and none else whither they be good or bad spirits for our Saviour does not confine his answer to either and therefore includes them both When we charge the church of Rome with too plain an imitation of the Pagan Idolatry in that worship they paid to their inferiour Daemons which was nothing more then what the Church of Rome now gives to Saints and Angels they think it a sufficient answer that the Heathens worshiped Devils and Apostate Spirits
but they worship only the Friends and Favourites of God blessed Saints and Angels Now I shall not at present examine the truth of this pretence but shal refer my Reader to a more Learned Stillingfleet's Defence of the discourse of Idolatry person for satisfaction in this matter but if it were true yet it is nothing to the purpose if our Saviours answer to the Devil be good For let us suppose that the Pope of Rome who calls himself Christs Vicar had at this time been in Christ's stead to have answered the Devils temptations and let us be so charitable for once as to suppose that saving alwayes his indirect power over the Kingdoms of this world in ordine ad spiritualia he would not worship the Devil to gain all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Consider then how the Pope of Rome could answer this Temptation All this I will give the if thou wilt fall down and worship me could he answer as our Saviour does It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve How easily might the Devil reply Is this indeed your infallible Opinion and the judgment and practice of your Church to serve God only do you not also serve and worship St. Paul and St. Peter and the Virgin Mary besides a great many other obscure and doubtfull Saints This is down right Heresie to confine all Religious Worship to God Here now is matter of fact against the Pope that he does worship other Beeings beside God and if he will shew any reason for his not worshipping the Devil he must quite alter our Saviours answer and not plead for himself that he is bound to worship God and him only but that he is bound to worship only God and good Spirits and therefore the Devil being a wicked and Apostat Spirit it is not lawful to worship him So that if our Savior gave a sufficient answer to the Devils temptation it must be equally unlawful to worship good and bad spirits there may be some peculiar aggravations in having communion with Devils but the Idolatry of worshipping good and bad spirits is the same 3. Our Saviours answer to the Devil appropriates all kinds and degrees of Religious Worship to God alone The Devil was not then so good a School-man as nicely to distinguish and dispute the degrees of Religious Worship with our Saviour but would have been contented with any degree of Religious Worship He did not pretend to be the Supreme God nor to have the disposal of all the Kingdoms of the World in his own right Luk. 4. 6. but acknowledges that it was delivered to him and now by vertue of that grant he gives it to whom he will Now it is impossible in the nature of the thing to worship any Beeing as Supreme whom at the same time we acknowledge not to be Supreme And therefore the Devil asks no more of our Saviours then that he would fall down and worship him which is such an inferiour degree of Worship as Papists every day pay to Images and Saints and yet this our Saviour refuses to do and that for this reason that we must worship God only which must signifie that we must not give the least degree of divine Worship to any Creatures or else it is not a satisfactory answer to the Devils Temptation who did not require any certain and determinate degree of worship but leâ—t him at liberty to use what distinctions he pleased and to pay what degree of worship he saw fit whither absolute or relative supreme or subordinate terminative or transient so he would but fall down and worship him any way or in any degree he left him to be his own Schoolman and Casuist but of this more presently 11. As the Laws of Moses in general appropriate all Religious Worship to God commands us to worship God and him only so the whole Jewish Religion was fitted only for the worship of the Lord Jehovah I suppose our Adversaries will not deny that the Tabernacle and Temple at Jerusalem was peculiarly consecrated to the honour and worship of the Lord Jehovah this was the house where he dwelt where he plac'd his Name and the Symbols of his presence It was a great profanation of that holy place to have the worship of any strange Gods set up in it and yet this was the only place of Worship appointed by the Law of Moses and they had but one Temple to worship in and this one Temple consecrated to the particular worship of one God which is a plain demonstration that they were not allowed to worship any other God because they had no place to worship him in And this I think is a plain proof that all that worship which was confined to their Temple or related to it was peculiar to the Lord Jehovah because that was his house and then all the Jewish worship was so which was either to be performed at the Temple or had a relation and dependance on the Temple worship Sacrifice was the principle part of the Jewish worship and this we know was confined to the Temple Moses expresly commands Israel take head to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou Deut. 12. 13. 14. seest But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy Tribes there shalt thou offer thy burnt offerings and there shalt thou do all that I command thee The Prophets indeed especially before the building of the Temple did erect Altars at other places for occasional Sacrifices for as God reserved a liberty to himself to dispense with his own Law in extraordinary cases so it was presumed that what was done by Prophets was done by a Divine command but there was to be no ordinary or standing Altar for Sacrifice but at the Tabernacle or Temple this we may see in that dispute which had like to have hapned between the Children of Israel and the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh about the Altar of Testimony which these two Joshua 22. Tribes and a half built on the other side of Jordan It was agreed on all hands that it had been intended for an Altar for Sacrifice it had been Rebellion against the Lord to have built any Altar beside the Altar of the v. 16 19. 22 23. Lord though they had offered no Sacrifice but to the Lord Jehovah The same is evident from Gods dislike of their offering Sacrifices in their high places though they sacrificed only to the God of Israel So that all Sacrifices were to be offered at the Temple on the Altar of God and therefore were offered only to that God whose Altar and Temple it was And indeed this is expresly provided for in the Law He that sacrificeth to any God but to the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed Exod. 22. 20. And as their Sacrifices were appropriated to the Temple so in some sense
an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed beasts creeping things And thus changed the the truth of God into a lie But this was not the only fault but they also gave his incommunicable worship to Creatures and worshipped and served the Creature more then the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen Which words do vers 25. plainly suppose that they did worship the Creator of all things but besides the Creator for so para may signifie they worshipped the creature also which proves that the worship of the Supreme God will not excuse those from Idolatry who worship any thing else besides him For the opposition lies between the Creator and the creature be it good or a bad creature it matters not as to Religious Worship which must be given to neither Or if we render the words as our Translators do more then the Creator for para is often used comparatively yet so it supposes that they did worship the Creator when they are said to worship the Creature more that cannot signifie a higher degree of worship but more frequent addresses and thus the Church of Rome worships the Virgin Mary more then the Creator for they say ten prayers if they be prayers to the Virgin Mary for one to God ten Ave Maries for one Pater noster The same Apostle determines this matter in as plain words as can be For though there can be that are called 1 Cor. 8. 5 6 Gods whither in Heaven or Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Where in opposition to the Pagan Idolatry who worship'd a great many Gods not as Supreme Independent Deities for they acknowledged but one Supreme God who made all the other Gods but either as sharers in the Government of the World or Mediators and Intercessors for them with the Supreme GOD the Apostle plainly asserts That to us Christians there is but one GOD the maker of all Things and one LORD JESUS CHRIST our great Mediator and Advocate with GOD the Father that is that we must worship none else And that none of the distinctions which are used by the Church of Rome to justifie that Worship which they pay to Saints and Angels can have any place here is evident from this consideration For either these distinctions were known or they were not known when the Apostle wrote this and in both cases silence is an argument against them If they were known he rejects them and determines against them for he affirms absolutely without the salvo of any distinctions that we have but one GOD and one Mediator that is that we must worship no more If they were not known as it is likely they were not because the Apostles takes no notice of them it is a plain argument that these distinctions are of no use unless they will say that St. Paul who was guided by an Infallible Spirit was ignorant of some very useful and material notions about the object of Worship If the Apostle did not know these distinctions it is evident they are of a late date and therefore can have no authority against an Apostolical determination If he did not know them he could have no regard to them and therefore made no allowance for such exceptions Nay the same Apostle does not only give us such general rules as necessarily exclude the worship of Saints and Angels but does expresly condemn it and warns the Christians against it He fortels of the Apostasie of the latter days wherein some shall depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. 1. giving heed to seduâ—ing Spirits and the doctrine of Devils didaskaliais daimonion the doctrine of Daemons the doctrine of worshipping Daemons or some new inferiour Deity Saints or Angels or whatever they are as Mediators and Intercessors between GOD and men This is the true notion of the doctrine of Daemons amongst See Mr. Joseph Medes Apostasie of the latter times the Heathens and the Apostle tells us the time shall come when some Christians for it is evident he speaks here of the Apostasie of Christians shall fall into the same Idolatry which is an exact prophecy of what we now see done in the Church of Rome who have the same notion of their Saints and Angels and pay the same worship to them which the Heathens formerly did to their Daemons or inferiour Gods 3. And as a farther confirmation of this I observe that the Gospel of our Savour forbids Idolatry without giving us any new notion of Idolatry and therefore it has made no alteration at all in this Doctrine of the worship of one God which Moses so expresly commanded the Jews to observe For the Gospel was preached to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles nay the Jews had the first most undoubted right to it as being the posterity of Abraham to whom the promise of the Messias was made and therefore as the Law was at first given them by Moses so it did still oblidge them in all such cases wherein the Gospel did not in express terms make a change alteration of the Law and therefore since there was no such alteration made and yet the Law against Idolatry renewed and confirmed by the authority of the Gospel what could the Jews understand else by Idolatry but what was accounted Idolatry by the Law of Moses that is the worship of any other Beeing besides the Supreme GOD the Lord Jehovah And since it is evident that there are not two Gospels one for the Jews and another for the Gentiles all Christians whither Jews or Gentiles must be under the obligation of the same Law to worship only one God The notion of Idolatry must alter as the object of Religious Worship does If we must worship one God and none besides him then it is Idolatry to worship any other Beeing but the Supreme God for Idolatry consists in giving Religious worship to such Beeings as we ought not to worship and by the Law of Moses they were to worship none but God and therefore the worship of any other Beeing was Idolatry But if the object of our worship be enlarged and the Gospel has made it lawful to Worship Saints and Angels then we must seek out some other notion of Idolatry that it consists in worshipping wicked Spirits or in giving Supreme and Soveraign worship to inferiour Deities which the Church of Rome thinks impossible in the nature of the thing for any man to do who knows them to be inferiour Spirits But if Idolatry be the same under the New Testament that it was under the Old the object of our worship must be the same too and we have reason to believe that it is the same when we are commanded to keep our selves from Idols and to flie from Idolatry but are no where in the New
that according to our Saviours own rule that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil these Laws of worshipping one God and none besides him were not lyable to any change and alteration because there was nothing to be perfected or fulfilled in them He made no change or alteration but by way of perfecting and fulfilling and therefore those Laws which had nothing to be fulfilled must remain as they were without any change To perfect or fulfil a law must either signifie to accomplish what was prefigured by it and thus Christ fulfilled all the types and prophecies of the Law which related to his Person or his undertaking as the Jewish Priesthood and Sacrifices c. or to prescribe that real righteousness which was signified and represented by the outward ceremony and so Christ fulfilled the Laws of circumcision Washing Purifications Sabbaths c. by commanding the Circumcision of the heart and the purity of mind and spirit or by supplying what was defective and thus he fulfilled the moral Law by new instances of vertue by requiring something more perfect of us then what the letter of the Mosaical Law enjoyned These are all the wayes that I know of and all that we have any instances of in Scripture of fulfilling Laws Now I suppose no man will say that the first Commandment which forbids â—he worship of any other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah is a Typical Law for pray what is it a Type of nor can any pretend that the first Commandment is a ceremonial Law for it prescribes no rite of worship at all but onlâ— determines the object of worship As for the third way of fulfilling Laws by perfecting them with some new instances and degrees of vertue it can have no place here for this Law is as perfect as it can be For it is a Negative Law Thou shalt have none other GOD. Now that which is forbid without any reserve oâ— limitation is perfectly and absolutely forbid There are no degrees of nothing though there are several degrees of perfection in things which have beeing and therefore though there are degrees in affirmative Laws for some Laws may require greater attainments then other and one man may do better then another and yet both do that which is good yet there are no degrees in not doing a thing and no Law can do more then forbid that which the Law-giver will not have done And besides â—his way of fulfilling Laws does not abrogate any command but adds to it it may restrain those liberties which were formerly indulged but it does not forbid any thing which was formerly our duty to do for when GOD requires greater degrees of vertue from us he does not forbid the less And therefore in this way Christ might forbid more then was forbid by the Law of Moses but we cannot suppose that he gave liberty to do that which the law forbids which is not to perfect but to abrogate a Law But to put an end to this dispute if Christ have perfected these Laws by indulging the worship of Saints and Angels under the Gospel which was so expreslly forbidden by the Law then it seems the worship of Saints and Angels is a more perfect state of Religion then the worship of the one supreme God alone If this be true then though the Heathens might mistake in the object of their worship was yet the manner of their worship was more perfect and excellent then what God himself prescribed the Jews For they worshiped a great many inferiour Deities as well as the supreme God and if this be the most perfect and excellent worship it is wonderful to me that God should forbid it in the worship of himself that he should prescribe a more imperfect worship to his own people then the Heathens paid to their Gods For to say that God forbade the worship of any Beeing besides himself because this liberty had been abused by the Heathens to Idolatry is no reason at all For though we should suppose that the Heathens worshiped evil spirits for Gods this had been easily prevented had God told them what Saints and Angels they should have made their addresses to and this had been a more likely way to cure them of Idolatry then to have forbid the worship of all inferiours Deities for when they had such numerous Dieties of their own to have made their application to they would have been more easily weaned from the Gods of other Countries And we have reason to believe so it would have been had GOD been pleased with this way of worship for he would not reject any part of religious worship meerly because it had been abused by Idolaters The Heathens sacrificed to Idols and yet he commands the Jews to offer Sacrifices to himself and so no doubt he would have commanded the worship of Saints and Angels had he been as well pleased with this as he was with Sacrifices had it been a more perfect state of Religion then to worship God only and without any Image When God chose the people Israel and separated them from the rest of the world to his own peculiar worship and service we cannot suppose that he did intend to forbid any acts of worship which were a real honour to the Divine Nature much less to forbid the most excellent and perfect acts of worship for he who is so jealous of his glory will no more part with it himself then he will give it to another and therefore excepting the Typical nature of that dispensation the whole intention of the Mosaical Law was to correct those abuses which the rest of the world was guilty of in their Religious Worship which either respected the object or the acts of worship that they worship'd that for God which was not God or that they thought to honour God by such acts as were so far from being an honour that they were a reproach to the Divine Nature And whatever is forbid in the worship of God unless there be some Mystical and Typical reasons for it must be reduced to one of those causes This account God himself gives why he forbids the worship of any Beeing besides himself or the worship of graven Images I am the Lord that is my Name and my glory will I not give to Isa 42. 8. another nor my praise to graven Images Whatever is his true glory he reserves to himself and therefore never did forbid any act of worship which was truly so but he will not give his glory to another and for that reason forbids the worship of graven Images or any thing besides himself and if this was not his glory then much less the most perfect and excellent part of worship I know not how it should come to be his glory now unless the Divine Nature changes and alters too So that God having forbid by the Law of Moses the worship of any other Beeing besides himself is a very strong presumption that the worship of Saints
worship to inferiour Deities or does not this Law forbid the worship of those Gods whom the Heathens worshipped as inferiour Daemons but only the worship of those Gods whom they accounted Supreme and Soveraign If this Law forbids the worship of all Heathen Gods and it is certain that they worshipped a great many Gods whom they did not account Supreme then there can be no place for this distinction here for such an inferiour worship as makes an inferiour God is as well forbid as supreme and soveraign worship The Law says Thou shalt have none other Gods before me or besides me which as I observed before does not exclude the worship of the supreme God but forbids the worship of any other Beeing together with him The meaning is not Thou shalt not renounce my worship for the worship of any other Gods but thou shalt worship me and no other God besides me now I would only ask this question whither a Jew who worshipped the God of Israel who declared himself to be the Supreme God could give supreme worship to any other God this is contrary to the sense of all mankind to worship him as Supreme whom they do not believe to be Supreme And therefore when God forbad them to joyn the worship of any other Gods with the worship of himself he must forbid all kinds and degrees of worship even the most inferiour worship which the Heathens paid to their inferiour Deities If you say that God did indeed forbid all kinds and degrees of worship to be paid to the Heathen Gods which were impure and wicked spirits but still it is lawful to pay inferiour worship to Saints and Angels who are the friends of God I answer the Law makes no distinction between the worship of good and bad Spirits and therefore as far as this Law is concerned we must either deny this inferiour degrees of Worship to all or grant it to all If this Law does not forbid giving inferiour degrees of worship to other Beeings then it does not forbid the inferiour worship of Heathen Gods that may be faulty upon other accounts but is no breach of this law and then the Heathens were not guilty of Idolatry in worshipping their inferiour Dâ—â—mons with an inferiour worship If this Law does forbid even this inferiour degree of worship then it forbids the worship of good Spirits too though with an inferiour worship which transforms true Saints and Angels into false and fictitious Deities But I have another argument to prove that this Law can have no respect to the different degrees of worship The Roman Doctors themselves grant that the difference between supreme and subordinate or inferiour worship does not consist in the outward Act that all or most of the external Acts of worship may belong to both kinds they except indeed Sacrifice but contrary to the sense of all men for the Heathens offered Sacrifice to their inferiour Deities as well as to the supreme and there is no imaginable reason to be assigned why Sacrifice as well as Prayer may not be an act of inferiour as well as of supreme worship The difference then between supreme and inferiour worship is only in the intention and devotion of the worshippers and no man can by the external act know whither this be supreme or inferiour worship Now from hence I thus argue if the worship forbidden by this Law be such as can be known by the external act then this Law can have no regard to the degrees of worship for the degrees of worship are not in the external acts but in the mind of the worshipper which cannot be known by external acts Now that the Law did forbid the external acts of worship without any regard to the intention of the worshipper appears in this that this Idolatrous worship was to be punished with death and therefore it must be such external Idolatry as falls under the cognizance of humane Judicatures Had there been Deutr. 13. 6 7. c. any regard to the degrees of worship no man could have been convicted of Idolatry by the external act and could not have been liable to punishment unless he had confessed his intention of giving supreme worship to a false God and so this Law of putting such Idolaters to death had signified nothing because it had been impossible for them to convict any man of Idolatry but by his own confession but when the external act which is visible to all men is sufficient to convict any man of Idolatry it is next to a demonstration that the Law had no respect to the degrees but to the acts of worship And that our Saviour in that Law thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve had no regard to the different degrees of worship I have already proved at large for allowing that distinction he had not given a good answer to the Devils temptation Thus as for their distinction between absolute and relative worship that though we must not worship any Creature the most excellent Saints and Angels for themselves yet we may worship them upon account of that relation they have to God that is we may worship them for Gods sake though not for their own I find no intimation of any such distinction in the Law We are there commanded to have no other Gods to worship God and him only which excludes Saints and Angels from being the object of our worship as well as Devils 2. But possibly it may be said that though the Law takes no notice of such distinctions yet the Scripture in the explication of this Law may make allowances for it Now in answer to this I only desire to know where the Scripture has made any such distinction between worshipping good and evil Spirits the enemies and Rivals or the Friends of God between supreme and subordinate absolute or relative worshâ—p I can find no such distinctions in Scripture and I have a material reason to believe no such can be found viz because there was no occasion for them The Scripture no where allows us to give any kind of worship to any Creature and therefore there was no need to distinguish between the kind and degrees of worship The most material thing that can be said in this cause is this that when the Scripture mentions this Law of worshipping One God it opposes it to the worship of the false Gods of the Heathens from whence some may conclude that God Deut 6. 13. 14 Deut 13. 7. forbade the worship only of these false Gods But we must consider that the Law is conceived in such general terms as to exclude the worship of all Beeings besides the Supreme God but it could not be thought that God should at that time immediately apply this Law against the worship of any other Beeings but those which were at that time worshipped in the world If God gives a Law which forbids the worship of any Beeings besides himself and particularly applies this Law to
prohibite the worship of all those Gods which were then worshipped in the world will any one in theirs wits hence conclude that if the folly and superstition of men should set up a new race and generation of Gods in after ages that the worship of these new Gods is not as well forbidden by this general Law as the worship of those gods which were worship'd at that time when this Law was given If this were true possibly Pagan Rome it self was not guilty of Idolatry for most if not all of their Gods might be of a later date then the giving the Law 3. Now since no such distinctions as these appear in Scripture it is impossible they should justifie the worship of Saints and Angels which is so expresly forbidden by the Law if we will acknowledge them to be distinct Beeings from the Supreme God for if they are not the Supreme GOD we must not worship them for we must worship none but God No distinctions can justifie us in this case but such as GOD himself makes for otherwise it were easie to distinguish away any Law of God Humane Laws will admit of no distinctions but such as they make themselves for a distinction does either confine and streighten or enlarge the Law and he who has power to distinguish upon a Law has so far power to make it If the Law says that we shall worship no other Beeing besides God and we have power if we have but wit enough to invent some new distinctions between the worship of good and bad spirits between Supreme and Subordinate absolute and relative worship this makes a new Law of it for it is one thing to say thou shalt worship GOD only and quite contrary to say thou shalt worship God only and good Spirits God with a supreme and absolute good Spirits with a subordinate and relative worship This I think is sufficient to shew that we must admit of no distinctions upon a Divine Law but what the Scripture it self owns and therefore since those distinctions with which the Church of Rome justifies her worship of Saints and Angels are no where to be found in Scripture they have no authority against an express Law 3. The next course the Papists take to justifie their Creature-worship in contradiction to that Law which expresly commands us to worship none but God is an appeal to such authorities as they think sufficient to decide this matter Now I shall not say much to this for I believe all Mankind will acknowledge that no Authority less then Divine can repeal a Divine Law and therefore unless God himself or such persons as act by a Divine Authority have repealed this Law no other Authority can do it That Christ and his Apostles have not repealed this Law I have already proved that the whole Church in after Ages had any Authority to repeal this Law I desire them to prove For the authority of the Church as to the essentials of Faith and Worship is not the authority of Law-givers but of Witnesses The Church never pretended in former Ages to make or to repeal any Divine Laws but to declare and testifie what the belief and practice of the Primitive and Apostolick Churches was and it is unreasonable to think that they should have any such Authority for then Christ and his Apostles preached the Gospel to little purpose if it were in the power of the Church to make a new Gospel of it when they pleased But indeed could it appear that the Apostles did teach the Christians of that Age and the Church in those Ages which immediately succeeded the Apostles did practise the worship of Saints and Angels we should have reason to suspect that we and not they are mistaken in the sense of that Law which commands us to worship none but God But then none can be admitted as competent witnesses of this matter but those who did immediately succeed the Apostles or conversed with Apostolical men and Churches And thanks be to God there is no appearance of creature-worship in those Ages we dare appeal to the testimony of Fathers and Councils for above three hundred years and those who come after come a little too late to be witnesses of what was done in the Apostolick Churches especially when all the intermediate Ages knew nothing of it I shall not fill up this discourse with particular â—itations which learned men know where to find since the Roman Doctors can find nothing in the Writings of the first Fathers to justifie the worship of Saints and Angels and the Protestant Writeâ—s find a great deal in those Ages against it Indeed at the latter end of the fourth Century some of the Fathers used some Rhetorical Apostrophes to the Saints and Martyrs in in their Orations which the Church of Rome interprets to be Prayers to them but though other See Bishops Ushers Answer to the Jesuits Challenge Learned men have vindicated those passages so far as to shew the vast difference between them and solemn and formal Invocation which is not my business at this time yet there are several things very well worth our observation towards the true stating of this matter As 1. That these Fathers came too late to be witnesses of the Apostolical practice which they could know no otherwise then we might know it if there had been any such thing viz. by the testimony and practice of the Church from the Apostles till that time This was no where pretended by them that the Invocation of Saints had been the practice of the Catholick Church in all ages and they could have no proof of this unless they had better Records of former times then we have at this day and such as contradicted all the Records which we now have of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches and I believe few men will be so hardy as to assert this and me thinks there should be as few who are so credulous as to believe it and I am sure there is no man living who is able to prove it 2. Nay the particular sayings of these Fathers by which the Romanists prove the Invocation of Saints do not prove that it was the Judgement and practice of the Church of that age They no where say that it was and it does not appear to be so by any other Records Let them shew me any Council before or in those times when these Fathers lived that is in the fourth Century which decreed the worship of Saints and Angels Let them produce any publick offices of Religion in in those dayes which allows this worship and if no such thing appears those men must be very well prepared to believe this who will without any other evidence judge of the practice of the Church only from some extravagant slights of Poets and Orators and if even in those dayes the worship of Saints was not received into the publick offices of the Church methinks we may as well live without it still and they must either grant
appear to be so in this that we were mistaken that we were over-nice and curious in refusing to worship Saints and Angels yet ours is a much more innocent and pardonable mistake then that which the church of Rome is guilty of if they should prove to be mistaken We are only wanting in some Religious courtship which we might innocently have given to Saints and Angels but which we were not bound to give as the Church of Rome will not say that we are by any express Divine Law and therefore it is no sin against GOD not to do it and when this neglect is not owing to any designed contempt and dis-regard of those excellent Spirits but to a great reverence for GOD and jealousie for his incommunicable glory if it were a fault we need not doubt but that GOD would pardon it and that all good spirits who have such profound veneration for GOD will easily excuse the neglect of some ceremonies to themselves upon so great a reason But if the Church of Rome be mistaken and gives that worship to creatures which is due only to the Supreme God they have nothing to pretend in excuse of it neither any positive Law of God which expresly forbids all Creature-worship as I doubt not to prove to the satisfaction of all impartial Readers nor the principles of Natural Reason which whatever Apologies it may make for the worship of Saints and Angels can never prove the necessity of it and it highly concerns the Church of Rome and all of her communion to consider whither if their distinctions and little appearances of reason cannot justifie their worship of creatures they will be able to excuse them from the guilt of so great a sin But not to insist on these things now I shall divide this discourse into three parts 1. I shall prove from the plain evidence of Scripture That God alone is to be worshipped 2. I shall examine what that worship is which is proper and particular to the Supreme God 3. I shall consider those distinctions whereby the Church of Rome justifies her worship of Saints and Angels and Images c. SECTION I. That GOD alone must be Worshipped TO make good the first point that we must worship Sect. 1. no other being but only GOD I shall principally confine my self to Scripture evidence which is the most certain authority to determine this matter For though I confess it seems to me a self evident and fundamental principle in natural Religion that we must worship none but that Supreme Beeing who made and who governs the World yet I find men reason very differently about these matters The Heathen Philosophers who generally acknowledge one Supreme and Soveraign Deity did not think it incongruous nor any affront or dimimition to the Supreme God to ascribe an inferiour kind of Divinity nor to pay an inferiour degree of Religious Worship to those excellent Spirits which are so much above us and have so great a share in the government of this lower world no more then it is an affront to a Soveraign Monarch to honour and reverence his great Ministers of State or peculiar Favourites And the Church of Rome as she has corrupted Christianity with the worship of Angels and Saints departed so she defends her self with the same Arguments and reasons which were long since alledged by Celsus and Porphyrie and other Heathen Philosophers in defence of their Pagan Idolatry And it must be confest that these Arguments are very popular and have something so agreeable in them to the natural notions of Civil Honour and respect which admits of great variety of degrees that I do not wonder that such vast numbers of men both wise and unwise have been imposed on by them For there is certainly a proportionable reverence and respect due even to created excellencies and every degree of power challenges and commands a just regard and we are bound to be very thankful not only to GOD who is the first cause and the supreme giver of all good things but to our immediate Benefactors also And therefore if there be a sort of middle Beeings as the Heathens believed and as the Church of Rome asserts between us and the Supreme God who take particular care of us and either by their power and interest in the government of the world or by their Intercessions with the Supreme GOD can and do bestow a great many Blessings on us it eems as natural and necessary to fear and reverence to honour and worship them and to give them thanks for their care and patronage of us as it is to court a powerful Favourite who by his interest and authority can obtain any request we make to our Prince and the first seems to be no greater injury to God then the second 2. Col. 18. to a Prince Thus St. Paul observes that there is a shew of humility in worshipping Angels that men dare not immediately approach so glorious a Majesty as God is but make their addresses to those excellent spirits which attend the Throne of God and are the Ministers of his Providence But then every one who believes that there is one Supreme God who made all other Beeings though never so perfect and excellent must acknowledge that as there is nothing common to God and Creatures so there must be a particular Worship due to God which no Creatures can challenge any share in It is no affront to a Prince to pay some inferiour degrees of civil honour and respect to his Ministers and Favourites because as the difference between a Prince and his subjects is not founded in nature but in civil order so there are different degrees of civil respect proportioned to the different ranks and degrees of men in the Common-wealth There is a degree of preheminency which is sacred and peculiar to the Person of the Prince and no Prince will suffer his greatest Favourite to usurp the Prerogative honours which belong to the Crown but while they are contented with such respects as are due to their rank and station this is no injury to the Prince for all civil honour is not peculiar to the Prince but only a supereminent degree of it and therefore inferiour degrees of honour may be given to other persons But though there are different degrees of civil honour proper to different ranks and degrees of men who all partake in the same nature and are distinguisht only by their different places in the Common-wealth yet in this sense there are no different degrees of Religious Worship All Religious Worship is peculiar to the Divine Nature which is but one and common only to three Divine Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost one God blessed for ever Amen Civil honor and Religious Worship differ in the whole kind and species of actions and have as different objects as God and Creatures and we may as well argue from those different degrees of civil honour among men to prove that there is an inferiour degree
Land was a Holy Land Gods peculiar Inheritance which he gave by promise to their Fathers and the Temple was his House where he dwelt among them it cannot be expected that any other Gods might be worship'd by such a people in such a Land and in such a house as God had appropriated to himself 3. It is very considerable that we have no approved example under the Law of any worship pay'd to Saints or Angels or any other Beeing but God alone We have too many sad examples of the Idolatry of the Jews both in worshipping the Molten Calf which Aaron made and Jeroboams Calves and Baalim's and other Heathen gods but had it been allowed by their Law to have pay'd any inferiour degree of Religious Worship to Saints and Angels which is now asserted by the Church of Rome to be a matter of such great benefit and advantage to mankind it is a very strange that we should not have one example of it throughout the Scripture nor any authentick Records among the Jewish Writers All the Psalms of David are directed to God alone and yet we cannot think but such a devout man would have bestowed some Hymns upon his Patron and tutelar Saints had he worship'd any such as well as the Papâ—sts do now This the Church of Rome sees and acknowledges and thinksshe answers too when she gives us the reason why it could not be so under the Law because those Old Testament-Saints were not then admitted into Heaven to the immediate vision and fruition of God Heaven-gates were not opened till the resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour and therefore those blessed Spirits were not in a condition to be our Intercessors and Mediators till they were received into Heaven but now Saints and Martyrs ascend directly into Heaven and reign with Christ in Glorie and it seems share with him in his peculiar Worship and Glorie too Now 1. Whither this be so or not the Scriptures assign no such reason for it and therfore it is likely there might be other reasons and I think I have made it very plain that there was We are not inquiring for what reasons the Jewish Church did not worship Saints and Angels but whither they did worship them or not and it appears that they never did so that we have neither precept nor example for this during all the time of the Jewish Church which is all we intend to prove by this argument 2. But yet it is evident that this is not a good reason why the Jews did not worship Angels under the Law For certainly Angels were as much in Heaven then as they are now whatever Saints were They are represented in the Old Testament as the constant Attendants and Râ—tinue of God and the great Ministers of his Providence and therefore they were as capable of Divine Worship in the time of the Law as they are now nay I think a little more For the Law it self was given by the Ministry of Angels and their appearances were more frequent and familiar and the world seemed to be more under the Government of Angels then then it is now since Christ is made the Head of the Church and exalted above all principalities and powers And therefore sometimes the Advocates of the Church of Rome make some little offers to prove the worship of Angels in those days to this purpose they alledge that form of benediction which Jacob used in blessing the Sons of Josheph The Gen. 44. 16. Angel which redemed me from all evil bless the Lads But 1. This is not a direct prayer to the Angel but onely his committing of them to the care and patronage of that Angel with a prayer to God for that purpose And if he by experience had found that God had appointed his Angel to defend and protect him it was but reasonable to pray to God that the same Angel might protect his posterity 2. But yet according to the sense of the Antient Fathers this was no created Angel and Spirit but the Son and Word of God the Angel of the presence who is so often in Scripture stiled Jehovah a name which can belong to no created Spirit And it is no hard matter to make it highly probable that this is that Angel who redeemed Jacob out of all his troubles But it is strange if Angels were worshipped under the Old Testament we should have no clearer and plainer evidence of it then such a single Text which was never expounded either by any Jewish or Christian Writers to this sense till of late dayes and here the Priests of the Church of Rome are to be put in mind of their Oath to expound Scripture according to the unanimous consent of the Ancient Fathers SECT III. The Testimonies of the Gospel considered whither Chrâ—â—â— and his Apostles have made any alteration in the object â—f our Worship LEt us now proceed in the second place to consider Sect. 3. the writings of the New Testament and examine what they teach us concerning the object of our Worship And that Christ and his Apostles have made no change in the object of our worship will appear from these considerations 1. That they could not do it Had they ever attempted to set up the worship of any other Beeings besides the One Supreme God the Lord Jehovah the Jews were expresly commanded by their Law not to believe them nor hearken to them whatever signs and wonders and miracles they had wrought If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a Deut. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. sign or wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying let us go after other Gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your GOD proveth you to know whither you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his Commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave unto him And that Prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death c. in which Law there are some things very matterial to be obsered in this present dispuâ—e 1. When they are forbidden to hearken to any Prophet who seduces them to the worship of any other Gods this must be extended to all those instances of Idolatrous worship which are forbid by the Law of Moses whatever is opposed to the worship of one Supreme and Soveraign Beeing the Lord Jehovah And therefore whither these Prophets seduced them from the worship of the Lord Jehovah to the worship of other Gods or perswaded them to worship other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah whither they were any of those Gods which were at that time worship'd by other Nations or any other Gods whom the ignorance and superstition of the people should create in after
ages whither good or bad Spirits the case is the same whoever perswaded them to worship any other Beeing with or besides the Supreme God was to be rejected by them for this is the sense of the Mosaical Laws concerning the worship of one Supreme God as I have already proved and the serving other Gods in this place is opposed to the worship of one God and therefore must include whatever according to the Law of Moses is contrary to the worship of one Supreme Beeing 2. This Law makes the worship of one God eternal and unâ—â—â—geable There is no way of altering any Divine Laws but by a new revelation of Gods will and there is no way to give Authority to such a revelation but by Miracles or Prophesie but in this case Miracles and Prophesie it self can give no authority because God himself has expresly forbid us to hearken to any Prophet whatever signs or wonders are wrought by him who teacheth the worship of any other Beeing besides the one Supreme God So that the Law of Moses having expresly forbid the worship of any other Beeing besides God and as expresly forbid us to hearken to any Prophet though a worker of Miracles who teaches any other worship it is impossible this Law should ever be altered because we are before-hand warned by God himself not to give credit to any Prophet whatever he be or whatever he do who attempts any alteration of it And therefore had Christ or his Apostle taught the worship of Saints and Angels it had been a just reason for the unbelief of the Jews notwithstanding all the Miracles that were wrought by them and it is well the Jews never had any just occasion to make this objection against our Saviour for if they had I know not how it would have been answered I say a just occasion for the Jews did urge this very Law against him before Pilate We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God In which they refer to Joh. 19. 7. that discourse of our Saviour John 10. 29 30. where he affirms that God is his Father and plainly tells them I and my Father are one for which saying they attempt to stone him for blasphemy and that being a man he made himself a God v. 33. But though he did indeed as the Jews rightly inferred make himself a God by this saying yet he did not preach any new God to them but affirmed himself to be one with the Father that same Supreme God the Lord Jehovah whom they were commanded to worship by their Law he made no alteration in the object of their worship but onely did more clearly and distinctly reveal the Father to them as manifesting himself in and by his only begotten Son And therefore he did not offend against this Law by seducing them to the worship of any other Gods besides the Lord Jehovah which if he had done their accusation had been just and all the Miracles which he did could not have secured him from the guilt and punishment of an Impostor Which shews us what force there is in that Argument which the Church of Rome urges from these Miracles which have been wrought at the Tombs of Martyrs to prove the Religious invocation of them if such Miracles were ever wrought it was in testimony to the truth of Christianity for which they suffered not to betray men to a superstitious and idolatrous worship of them ten thousand Miracles should never convince me of the lawfulness of praying to Saints departed while I have such a plain and express Law against believing all Miracles upon any such account Nor can it reasonably be said that this Law was given only to the Jews and therefore oblidges none but them for we must remember that Christ was originally sent to the Jews to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and therefore by this Law he was bound not to teach the worship of any other Beeings under the penalty of death and they were bound not to own and receive him if he did and therefore it was impossible for the true Messias to introduce the worship of any Beeing besides the one supreme God and if Christ could not teach any such Doctrine I know not how the worship of Saints and Angels should ever come to be a Doctrine of Christianity For what Christ himself cannot do none of his Followers may who had no other Commission but to teach those things which they had learn'd from him and he could not give commission to preach such Doctrines as he himself had no authority to preach So that though this Law was not originally given to the Gentiles but only to the Jews yet it equally oblidges the Christian Church whither Jews or Gentiles because Christ himself who was the Author of our Religion was oblidged by it The worship of one Supreme God and of none else is as fundamental to Christianity as it is to Judaism for Christianity is now or ought to be the Religion of the Jews as well as Gentiles and yet the Jews are expresly forbid by this Law ever to own any Religion which allows the worship of any Beeing besides God and therefore the worship of one God and none else must be fundamental in Christianity if the people of the Jews are or ever were bound to embrace the Faith of Christ SECT IV. 2 ANd therefore I observe in the next place that Christ and his Apostles have made no alteration at all in the object of our worship Christ urges that Old Testament Law in answer to the Devils Temptation It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Which it seems is as â— Matth. 10. standing a Law after the appearance of Christ as it was before He gives no other direction to his Disciples but to pray To their Heavenly Father and in that form of prayer which he gave them he teaches them to address their prayer neither to Saints nor Angels but to God only Our Father which art in Heaven When St. Paul charges the Heathens with Idolatry he does it upon this account that they joyned the worship of Creatures with the worship of the Supreme God Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Where the Apostle acknowledges that they did know God that Rom. 1. 21. they did own that Supreme and Soveraign Beeing who made the world and does suppose that they did worship him also For he does not charge them with renouncing the worship of that God who made the world but that they did not glorifie him as God which only taxes the manner of their worship And wherein that was faulty he declares in the following verses As that they made mean and vile representations of him that they vers 23. changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God into
and promulged this Law this reason can never repeal it nor dissolve the obligation of it Thus if the Saints and Angels being in Heaven be a good reason why they should be worshipped this was as good a reason at the giving of of the Law as it is now for thö we should suppose with the Church of Rome that Saints departed were not in Heaven then yet certainly the Angels were and if their being in Heaven made them fit objects of our worship why did God so expresly forbid it and if he forbad it then when there was as much reason to allow the worship of of those heavenly Inhabitants as there is now this argument cannot prove but that God forbids it still The same may be said of the Intercession of Saints and Angels The Papists suppose that the Saints and Angels pray and intercede for us in Heaven and obtain for and convey many blessings to us and therefore it is good and profitable to pray to them and to flie to their patronage now though indeed they date the Intercession of Saints as they do their admission into heaven from the Resurrection of our Saviour yet there is as much evidence for the aids and intercessions of Angels before and under the Law as there is now nay I think somewhat more for the government of the world was much more under the administration of Angels in the time of the Law then it is now and yet notwithstanding this God did by an express law forbid the worship of any being but himself and therefore of these Angelical powers who are somewhat superiour to Saints in Heaven and if this were no good reason against making this law it can be no good reason to prove the abrogation of it â— The next way they take to evade the obligation of this law of worshipping God only is by distinctions As to name the chief of them They tell us that this law is only opposed to the worship of false Gods such Gods as the Heathens worshipped not to the worship of Saints and Angels who are the Friends and Favourites of God And then they distinguish about the nature of worship they confess there is a worship which is peculiar to God Supreme and Soveraign worship which is peculiar to the Supreme Beeing and this for what reason I know not they call Latria but then there is an inferiour degree of worship which they call Dulia which may be given to excellent Creatures to Saints and Angels who reign with Christ in Heaven They farther distinguish between absolute and relative worship Absolute worship is when we worship a Beeing for its self and thus God only is to be worshipped but relative worship is when we worship one Beeing out of respect to another and thus we may worship Saints and Angels upon account of their relation to God Now I shall have occasion to examine these distinctions more particularly hereafter my business at present is to examine how far these distinctions can justifie the worship of Saints and Angels against an express Law which commands us to worship God only And I have three things to say on this argument 1. That the letter of the law will admit of no such distinctions as these 2. That the Scripture no where allows any such distinctions And 3. That no distinctions can justifie our acting against the letter of a law which have not the same authority which the Law has 1. The letter of the Law will admit of no such distinctions Exod. 20 as these The Law is Thou shalt have none other Gods before ME. The explication of this Law is Deut. 10 20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name Or as Matth 4 10 our Saviour expounds it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Now these words do plainly exclude the worship of all other Beeings besides the Supreme God They exclude indeed the worship of all the Heathen Gods which were at that time worshipped in the world but they are not confined to the worship of the Heathen Gods nor meerly to the worship of those Gods who were at that time worshipped but should any new Gods start up in after Ages whither among Jews or Christians the words extend to all that are and all that ever shall be worshipped Thou shalt have noe other Gods before Me signifies that we must worship no other Beeing but the Supreme God for to have a God is to give religious worship to some Beeing as appears from that exposition which both Moses and our Saviour Christ gives of it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve For it is impossible to have any God besides the Supreme God in any other sense then as we worship some other Beeing besides the Supreme God with Divine honours and whatever being we so worship become our God and therefore this Law forbids the worship of any Beeing which is not God be it Saint or Angel or the Virgin Mary how excellent and perfect Creatures soever they be they are not our God and therefore must not be worshipped If we must worship and serve God only as our Saviour expresly tells us that we must worship no creature whatever it be the worship of saints and Angels is as expresly forbid by this Law as the worship of the Heathen Gods for that Law which commands us to worship GOD onely excludes the worship of all Creatures whatever they be But may not the meaning of this Law be onely this That we must not give supreme and soveraign worship to any other â—eeing but the supreme GOD but we may give an inferiour degree of worship to some excellent spirits who under God have the care of us And is not this plainly signified in the very letter of the Law when it sayes Thou shalt have none other Gods before me For no other worship makes any Beeing a God but that which is supreme and soveraign peculiar and appropriate to the One supreme God and therefore not to have any other Beeing for our God is not to give Supreme and Soveraign Worship to it Now what that worship is which is peculiar and appropriate to the Supreme God I shall discourse particularly in the second part our present inquiry is whither this Law makes any such distinction The Laws says Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Here is no distinction between supreme and subordinate worship whatever is an Act of worshâ—p must be given to God onely But the Law sayes Thou shalt have no other Gods before me and therefore it must signifie supreme and soveraign worship for no other degree of worship makes a God Did the Heathens then worship no inferiour gods did those who worshipped so many several gods look â—pon them all as supreme and absolute or were they so senseless as to give supreme and soveraign
not this the declared reason why the Church of Rome gives Religious Worship to Angels and departed Saints Because of a middle sort of worth and excellency that is in them that 's neither infinite as the divine nor so low as the humane but Spiritual and Supernatural whereby approaching near to the Divinity they have great interest in the Court of Heaven and ought as Celsus said of their Daemons to be Prayed unto to be favourable and propitious to us So exact you see is the parallel betwixt them Now against this daemon-Daemon-Worship the Fathers replied that whatever great and supernatural excellencies were to be found in the Spirits above ought indeed to have an Acknowledgement and Honour paied to them both in Mind and Action proportioned and Commensurate to such excellencies but yet they were not to be esteemed inwardly as Gods nor to be Worshipp'd with any outward Act of Religious Worship be it erecting Altars making Vows or puting up Prayers to them as if they were such For all and every part of that was solely due to God and not to be given to any the highest Created Excellency As you may see their minds more fully in the next particular 4. The Fathers positively assert that none but God ought to be invocated And the first I shall mention is that advice Ign. Ep. ad Philadelph which Ignatius gave the Virgins of his time not to direct their Prayers and Supplications to any but only to the Blessed Trinity Oh ye Virgins have Christ alone before your Eyes and his Father in your Prayers being enlightned by the Spirit Irenaeus in his first Book taking notice of some Persons who had entertained strange fancies concerning the Power of Angels accordingly gave Divine Worship to them tells us plainly that the Doctrine and Practice of the Iren l. 2. c. 57. Church in his dayes was far otherwise and that throughout the World it did nothing by Invocation of Angels nor by Incantations but purely and manifestly directs her Prayers to God who made all and calls upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Feuardentius in his notes upon the place would have the words of the Father to be understood only of Prayers made by Evil Spirits and angels but then why did not the Father express it so Why does he exclud all Angels without distinction from Divine Worship when he sayes the whole Church every where called only upon God and his Son Christ Jesus Eusebius in his History hath set down a long Prayer of the of the Holy Martyr Polycrap which he uttered at the time of his Suffering wherein there is not any one Petition put up to Saints but every one directed to God through the Meditation of Christ closing his Prayer with Euseb l. 4. c. 15. this Doxology Therefore in all things I Praise thee I Bless thee I Glorify thee through the Eternal Priest Jesus Christ thy Beloved Son to whom with thee Oh Father and the Holy Ghost be all Glory now and for ever To which we may add what also is Recorded by the same Author that when the Church of Smyrna desired the Body of their Martyred Bishop to give it an Honourable Inteâ—ment and was denyed it by the Governour upon the unworthy suggestion of the Jews that they would Worship it they thus replied We can never be induced to Worship any other but Christ him being the Son of God we adore others as Martyrs and his sincere Disciples we worthily Love and Respect and that which here deserves a particular observation is what the Learned Primate of Armagh hath pointed out to us viz. that what in the Original Greek Sebein Religiously to Worship is in the Latin Edition that was wont to be read in all the Churches of the West rendred precem Orationis Ex passion M. S. 7. Kalend. Febr. in Bib. Eccl. Sarish Dom. Rob. Cotton impendere to impart the Supplication of Prayer The nexâ— Testimony I shall produce is that of Origen who is very full to this purpose in his Writings against Celsus he tells us We must endeavour to please God alone and labour to have him propitious to us procuring his good will with Godliness and all kind of Vertue and if Celsus will have us to procure the good will of any others after him that is God ovâ—â— all let him consider that as when the Body is moved the motions of the shadow thereof doth follow it so in like manner having God favourable to us who is over all it followeth that we shall have all his Friends both Angels and Spirits loving to us and whereas Celsus had said of the Angels that they belong to God and in that respect were to be Prayed unto that they may be favourable to us he thus sharply replies Away with Celsus's Council saying that we must Pray to Angels for we must Pray to him who is God over all and we must Pray to the Word of God his only begotten Son and the first born of all Creatures and we must intreat him that he as High Priest would present our Prayer unto his God and our God And when Celsus Objected that the Christians did not keep to their own rule of Praying to and Worshipping none but God since they gave the same Honour to Christ whom they knew to be a Man he replies that Christ was God as well as Man one with the Father and proves it from Miracles and Prophesies and Precepts that this Honour was given to him to be Worship'd as they Worship'd the Father Had Celsus Objected that the Christians Worship'd Angels and Saints departed it had been laid right and would have born hard upon them and he had inferred strongly that they might as well Worship their Inferiour Deities but Celsus Objects no such thing but only their Worshipping of Christ which Origen was well provided to answer and this is an evident proof that the Christians were not guilty of it Had there been but the least ground to suspect them for it it would have been so hugely serviceable to his cause and with so much force have rebounded back upon the Christians that 't is not to be imagined so industrious and spightfull an Adversary as Celsus would have omitted with the greatest Insult and Triumph to have laid it at their Door To these we might add the Suffrages of many more St. Cyprian who have written set Treatises of Prayer teaching us to regulate all our Prayers after that most perfect Pattern of our Lords and ever to direct our Petitions to our Heavenly Father only Gregory Nyssen saith we are taught to Worship and aktiston physin Cont. Eunom Tom. 2. Orat. 4. Oâ—at 3. Contr. Arrian De ver Relig. c. 55. de civit Dei l. 22. c. 10. Ep. 42. Adore that Nature only that 's uncreated Athanasius That God only is to be Worshipped that the creature is not to Adore the creature St. Austin sayes expresly that the Saints are to be Honoured for
Angels or Saints departed said God at any time Sit thou on my right hand to make intercession for Men Of which of them has he at any time affirmed as he has done of Christ He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever lives to make Intercession for Men That if any Man Sin he is an Advocate with the Father for him Or whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in his name it shall be given you Certainly they who will have Angels and Saints Mediatours betwixt God and Men ought to produce a Commission signed by God or his Son Jesus to constitute them such but this they are no more able to do then they are to make a grant of such Power and Honour themselves to them It 's true the Blessed Spirits above are said to stand about the Throne of God and the Holy Angels to behold his Face and as the Honour of a Prince is encreased by the number of his Attendants so is our Lords exaltation rendered the more Glorious by those ten thousand times ten thousand that Minister unto him but yet it 's never said They sit at Gods right Hand or live for ever to make Intercession for us and having no such delegation of Power from God for this office the Honour and Worship that belongs to it can't be given to them without manifest Wrong and Sacriledge to Christ who has The Holy Angels are Gods ministring Spirits and the Spirits of Just-Men departed his Glorified Saints but God hath made Jesus the Lord and Christ and put all things in Heaven and Earth in Subjection under his feet of him only hath he said Let all the Angels Honour him and all the Saints fall down before him and all Men Honour the Son even as they Honour the John 5. 23 Father Amen To Conclude WEre we certain that the Saints departed do now reign in Heaven and enjoy the Beatifick Vision and that it was lawful to Invocate such as are undoubtely Saints as the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Apostles Yet methinks a wary Man should be shy and not over-forward to exhibit that honour to all whom the Pope hath Cannoniz'd I cannot for my heart but think that the Prelates and Bishops in King Henry the Eighth's time had as much reason to Unsaint Thomas Becket for being a Rebel against his Prince as Pope Alexander the Third had to Canonize him for being a Biggot for the Church What can a sober Christian think of the Saintship of some who never had any being in the World and of others who never had any goodness many of their Saints are meer Names without Persons and many meer Persons without Holiness nay I am very confident that the greatest Incendiaries and Disturbers of the Peace of the World do as well deserve it as that famous Pope Hildebrand or Gregory the seventh Inumerable might be instanc'd in whose Saintship justly falls under great Suspicion but 't is enough that some Romanists themselves and those of no little Authority in their Church have granted that the Popes canonizations are doubtful and subject to error If then at any Billar de beat sanct l. 1. c. 7. 8. time his Infallibility should chance to mistake as I am pretty sure he has more then once done the Members of that Church are in a sweet case and are not only in danger of Invocating Saints but Devils also which is Idolatry with a witness and by their own Confession FINIS A DISCOURSE AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIATION EDINBVRGH Re-printed by John Reid Anno DOM 1686. A DISCOURSE AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIATION COncerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper one of the two great positive Institutions of the Christian Religion there are two main Points of difference between Vs and the Church of Rome One about the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in which they think but are not certain that they have the Scripture and the words of our Saviour on their side The other about the administration of this Sacrament to the People in both kinds in which we are sure that we have the Scripture and our Saviour's Institution on our side and that so plainly that our Adversaries themselves do not deny it Of the first of these I shall now treat and endeavour to shew against the Church of Rome That in this Sacrament there is no substantial change made of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the natural Body and Bloud of Christ that Body which was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered upon the Cross for so they explain that hard word Transubstantiation Before I engage in this Argument I cannot but observe what an unreasonable task we are put upon by the bold confidence of our Adversaries to dispute a matter of Sense which is one of those things about which Aristotle hath long since pronounc'd there ought to be no dispute It might well seem strange if any man should write a Book to prove that an Egg is not an Elephant and that a Musket-Bullet is not a Pike It is every whit as hard a case to be put to maintain by a long Discourse that what we see and handle and taste to be Bread is Bread and not the Body of a Man and what we see and taste to be Wine is Wine and not Bloud And if this evidence may not pass for sufficient without any farther proof I do see why any man that hath confidence enough to do so may not deny any thing to be what all the world sees it is or affirm any thing to be what all the world sees it is not and this without all possibility of being farther confuted So that the business of Transubstantiation is not a controversie of scripture against scripture or of Reason against Reason but of downright Impudence against the plain meaning of scripture and all the sense and Reason of Mankind It is a most self-evident Falshood and there is no Doctrine or Proposition in the world that is of it self more evidently true then Transubstantiation is evidently false And yet if it were possible to be true it would be the most ill-natur'd and pernicious truth in the World because it would suffer nothing else to be true it is like the Roman-catholick Church which will needs be the whole Christian Church and will allow no other society of Christians to be any part of it so Transubstantiation if it be true at all it is all truth for it cannot be true unless our senses and the senses of all mankind be deceived about their proper objects and if this be true and certain then nothing else can be so for if we be not certain of what we see we can be certain of nothing And yet notwithstanding all this there is a Company of men in the World so abandon'd and given up by God to the efficacy of delusion as in good earnest to believe this gross and palpable Errour and to impose the belief of it upon the Christian World under no less