vnderstanding of man And the like they do euen in this subject whereof we now intreat And therefore because they cannot conceaue how the blessed ones do heare vs they say and preach they cannot heare vs. They must also then deny that God of nothing hath created this world for it is impossible to comprehend how God was able to create of nothing so huge a frame as this whole world is and yet notwithstanding both they and we stedfastly beleeue that God euen of nothing was able to create it though our vnderstandings cannot conceaue a iot of it Let them then also denie the generall resurrection of the dead if one must denie all things which they cannot vnderstand or let them shew me how God is able to restore againe vnto man his owne flesh his owne bones and the rest of the parts of his body and not anothers after it hath bene eaten vp of wormes so many thousand yeares before and yet neither we nor they make doubt thereof though we vnderstand it not The like could I say vnto them of the mysterie of the holy Trinitie and many other things contained in the holy Scripture that albeit they are hard to be beleeued yet they cease not to be true Therefore it were much better for my masters the Ministers to confesse with humilitie their weaknesse with the good father Saint Austine and with him and vs to beleeue that the Saints can heare and assist vs. But what Heresie is too proude and the Heretikes will neuer be ouercome they may be conuinced as Saint Bernard saith but not ouercome because they are too passionate in maintaining their errours One may confound them rather then make them confesse their fault and as the prouerb saith Rather breake then bend Now to the end the Caluinists and Lutherans because we say with our father S. Austine that this is a very hard demaund to be vnderstood should not thinke that wee seeke an escape through the boggs and that the truth maketh not for vs we wil let downe before them the doctrine of that same Doctour S. Austine in his abouesaid booke De cura pro mortuis agenda For S. Austine minding particularly to declare how Abraham knew that the rich glutton had taken his pleasure in his life time and that Lazarus had suffred so much giueth vs three maner of waies whereby the soules departed may know and vnderstand that which is done in this world First by the arriuall of those which depart out of this life and goe from hence vnto them who to wit may aduertise them of the things which happen vpon the earth and especially of that which most of all concernes them The second by the report of the Angels which on a sudden mount vp into heauen and on a sudden againe euen in a trice are about vs. The third by the reuelation of Gods spirit which may beare it selfe towards the blessed departed into heauen euen in like maner as heretofore it bore it selfe towards the Prophets vpon the earth reuealing secret things to them and such as should be done a long time after them as the Scripture witnesseth so that God who seeth and knoweth all things whatsoeuer we do say and thinke may reueale vnto them our prayers S. Gregory lib. 12. Mor. c. 13. giueth vs beside these another sort or manner saying that the Saints beholding the face of God see all that which in any sort and manner appertaineth vnto them and consequently that they also heare our prayers So then by the doctrine of these holy Fathers we may somewhat gather how the blessed Saints heare vs when we call vnto them I wil make one more small argument against all these Heretikes and therewith I will conclude the whole All the holy Fathers and Doctours of the Church haue inuocated and prayed vnto the Saints they heare then our prayers The Antecedent hath bene alreadie prooued when we cited a great number of those which haue called vpon them The Consequence is cleare for seeing that so godly and learned personages prayed vnto them it is a signe and followeth necessarily how they beleeued with the Church that the Saints could well heare our prayers otherwise they would not haue bene so simple as to haue prayed vnto them To say as sometimes the Ministers say against vs that they were men and as men might haue erred that were too absurd to answere vs. For could it be possible that among so great a number of admirable vertuous and wise Doctours all of them should faile and that not one of them should haue thought whether the Saints could heare them or no Could it be possible that the whole Church should be in errour for a thousand and so many yeares and that in so many ages the Church should haue bene ignorant of that which the Lutherans and Caluinists pretend to know since so small a time Could it be possible that all the auncient Fathers and such excellent personages as S. Denis S. Athanasius S. Basil S. Iohn Chrysostome S. Iohn Damascenus S. Ambrose S. Hierome S. Gregorie S. Austin and many other lights of the Church haue presented so many prayers and petitions to those which neither had eares to heare them nor eyes to behold their necessities and so consequentlie haue cast their prayers into the wind into the aire and at randome Shall we beleeue that of them Shall we beleeue that all haue erred and that our Ministers onely say well That all haue benâ— blinde and that our Ministers onely are cleare sighted That all of them haue bene simple Schollers and disciples and our Ministers their Doctours and Controllers No we will neuer beleeue any such thing Wee had rather heare the voice of our auncient godly and wise Doctours then the voice of new and vnlearned which for this cause deserue not the name of Pastours and Shephards but Mercenaires onely suffering their sheepe to be deuoured vp yea themselues through their pernicious doctrine casting them into the throat of that infernall wolfe from whom Sir I pray God through his infinite mercie to preserue you beseeching you to take in good part this which in haste I send you though vnknowne vnto you protesting before God who knoweth the hearts of all men that all this which heere I haue spoken is only for his glory and your soules health Farewell from Leige this fifth of August 1605. AN ANSWERE TO THE ABOVESAID DOCTORS EPISTLE of the Augustins order Vpon the subiect of the inuocation of Saints HAuing of late seene and read your Letter touching that controuersie which is betweene you and vs Whether it is true or how it is possible that the Saints which are aboue in heauen can heare the Prayers that you make unto them from here beneath on earth I held it my dutie to answere thereunto and chiefly to these two points whereof the first is That it can be no otherwise then very good to pray and recommend vs to the Saints the second signifieth How
the loue of their children Euen so almightie Father through the loue thou bearest to thy almightie Sonne I beseech thee draw my soule out of prison to the end it may confesse thy name deliuer me from the bands of sinne through the intercession of this thy precious Sonne which sitteth at thy right hand For surely I know not what other intercessor I could addresse towards thee for me but only he which is the propitiation for our sinnes who sitteth at thy right hand who through the glorie which is common to him with thee soliciteth thy goodnesse for vs. Behold O God and Father my Aduocate with thee behold my High-priest which hath no need of being cleansed through the blood of any one because hee shineth being sprinkled with his owne blood I haue addressed thy welbeloued Sonne for my Aduocate I haue made him a Mediatour betweene thee and me an Intercessor through whom I am sure to obtaine pardon behold he is my hope lâ—e in him is all my confidence If thou rereiect me for mine iniquitie as I haue deserued regard me yet at the least in thy Sonne that propitiation which thou hast prepared by one that serued thee Remember what thy Sonne hath suffered and forget that which a wicked wretch hath done In like manner we finde in his Epistles another forme made for the instruction and consolation of the sick which prepare themselues to die in forme of a discourse wherein the Pastor demandeth and the sick person answereth Art thou glad in thy selfe saith the Pastor to the sick that thou diest in thy Christian faith Yea answered the sicke P. Doest thou confesse to haue liued so ill as thou hast merited eternall punishment S. Yea. P. Beleeuest thou that our Lord Iesus Christ died for thee S. Yea. P. Doest thou giue him thankes therefore S. Yea. P. Beleeuest thou that thou canst not bee saued but by his death S. Yea. P. Got to then whilest yet thy soule is in thee set all thy saluation only in his death Haue confidence in no other thing trust and commit thy selfe wholly to this death couer thy selfe only therewith and with it wrap thy selfe round about And if the Lord would iudge thee say Lord I oppose the death of Iesus Christ our Lord betweene me and thy iudgement otherwise I could not debate with thee And if hee say vnto thee that thou art a sinner say Lord I put the death of Iesus Christ our Lord betweene thee and my sinnes And if hee should say once more vnto thee thou hast merited damnation say Lord I put the death of our Lord Iesus betweene thee and my damnation I offer vnto thee his merit in stead of that which ought to be in me in whom there is none And if hee should say yet vnto thee that he is angrie against thee say Lord I put the death of our Lord Iesus betweene me and thy anger This being accomplished let the sicke say three times Lord I recommend my spirit into thy hands Thus Saint Bernard hath oftentimes exhorted the people in his sermons not to stand vpon the Apostles nor any other Saint which is but a man neither to any Angel but to goe straight forward vnto the Father of lights who is the only iudge and witnesse of our thoughts and to his Sonne Iesus Christ the only Sauiour and Bridegrome of the Church For in his 23. Sermon expounding this sentence of our Lord Iesus Christ I am the way the truth the life Who will saith he making Christ himselfe speake come let come after me let him come by me let him come to me After me saith the Lord for I am the truth by me for I am the way to me for I am the life And in his 15. Sermon on the 91. Psalme The Church saith he is excellent well described in the Canticle of Canticles that hauing found the watchmen or rather being found by them for she sought them not she staieth not with those watchmen neither contenteth her selfe in their companie but hauing enquired after her welbeloued flies right towards him for her heart had no trust in those watchmen but in her Lord and it may be she would haue said to those which should haue counselled her otherwise I haue my confidence in the Lord which the Corinthians did not well obserue when they met with those watchmen but staied with them and passed no further I am said they of Cephas and I of Paul and I of Apollo but what haue these sober and well aduised watchmen done For they would not take to them the Bride they which were ielous about her euen with a godly ielousie who had vowed to render her as a chast virgin to her husband And if I deceiue not my selfe they pushed her forward to the end she might passe further to finde out her welbeloued And it is to be considered with what arrowes the Apostle S. Paul woundeth those which some to stay with the watchmen Paul hath he been crucified for you or haue yee been baptized in the name of Paul And immediatly after I will deliuer him saith the Lord in the 91 Psalme because hee hopeth in me not saith hee in the watchmen not in man not in Angel but in me Expect no good from any but from me and not by them for euery good gift is from aboue comming downe from the Father of lights for through me the watchmen are profitable But for the rest the watch of the secret intention which is in the bottome of the heart must not only be of me but also is made by me because the eye of man cannot penetrate so deepe nor likewise the eye of an Angel Also in his 174 epistle he admonisheth the Monks of his time that the Vrgin Mary would be honoured with iudgement because she hath no need of false honors being adorned aboue in heauen with true honors She takes no delight saith he in a proud noueltie the mother of rushnesse and sister of lightnesse to honor her in such a sort is not to honor her but to take away honor from her Moreouer manifesting his faith to be only in God in his 61 Sermon vpon the Canticle of Canticles My merit saith he is the mercie of the Lord for I haue no want of merit so long as he hath no want of mercie I boldly take from the bowels of the Lord what I want because they are full of mercie Besides he died in this beleefe saying I confesse that I am not worthie of the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen and the which through â—ine owne merits I cannot obtaine but my Lord which holdeth it by a double right that is both by the inheritance of his Father and through the merit of his owne passion content with one he giueth me the other And if I attribute it to my selfe by vertue of the gift which he hath giuen me I am not confounded It is not yet fiue hundred yeeres since S.
light of men And the light shined in the darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Hitherto saith he 〈◊〉 finde no prayer nor cause nor place of 〈◊〉 But because 〈◊〉 immediatly after he saith And the Word was made flesh and dâ—â—lt among vs thou hast a Godhead to which thou addressest thy prayer and a humanitie which prayeth for thee This was spoken by the Apostle euen since the resurrection of our Lord which sitteth at the right hand of God and soliciteth for vs because he hath vouchsafed to be our Mediatour And what is hee but a Mediatour betweene God and men not betweene the Father and men but betweene God and men What is that God The Father the Son and the holy Ghost What are men Sinners contemners of God and mortall Betweene this same Trinitie and the infirmitie and iniquitie of men was made a Mediatour a man not vniust but neuerthelesse weake to the end that in as much as 〈…〉 hee might ioyne vs to God in that that he was weake he might draw neere to thee and therefore to the intent hee might be a mediatour betweene God and men the Word was made flesh that is to say the Word was made man And vpon this sentence our Lord Iesus Christ saith I am the way the truthâ— and the life I am saith the Lord the truth and the life wilt thou 〈◊〉 I am the way wilt thou not be deceiued I am the truth wilt thou not die I am the life This thy Sauiour saith Thou hast no where to goe but only to me thou hast none to goe by but by me Goe by Christ man and thou shalt come vnto Godâ— If thou goest to him thou must goe by him seeke not any way by which thou maist come vnto him but by him he was made the way by which thou art to come I say not to thee seek the way he which is the way is come vnto thee Rise thou â—p and walke Walke with manners and not with feete Whosoeuer runneth out of this way and not by him the more hee runneth the more bee straâ—eth because he withdraweth himselfe the further out of the way Moreouer vpon the 94. Psalme If thou seekest saith he thy Mediatour to leade â—hee vnto God he is in heauens there prayeth for thee euen as he dâ—ed for thee in earth being entred into the sanctuary of heauen he only can present the prayers of the people which haue no neere accesse vnto God The same author noteth the words of the Apostle S. Iohn 1. Epistle chap. 2. vers 1. If any man sin we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust Where this Apostle taketh heed of making himselfe a companion with our aduocate Iesus Christ Surely saith he he was a iust and a great man who dranke out of the Lords bosome the secrets of his mysteries Being notwithstanding such a man he hath not said ye haue an aduocate with the Father but If any man hath sinned we haue an aduocate Neither did he say ye haue nor did he not say ye haue me nor likewise ye haue Christ but he propoundeth Christ and not himselfe and said we haue and not ye haue He chose rather to ranke himselfe in the number of sinners to the end that Christ might be his aduocate then to place himselfe an aduocate in stead of Christ to be accounted among the damnable proud ones BrethreÌ„ saith he we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust he is the propitiation for our sinnes who so holdeth that committeth no heresie nor hath made any schisme or partie For from whence are diuisions come from hence that men say wee are iust we sanctifie the vncleane we iustifie the wicked we pray we obtaine But what said Iohn If any man sinne we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust Againe in his disputation against Parmenian lib. 2. cap. 2. If the Apostle S. Iohn had said He is the propitiation for your sinner it should haue seemed that hee would haue separated himselfe from sinners as if he had had no need of that propitiation which by the Mediatour is made who sitteth at the right hand of the Father and maketh request for vs. Which if hee had said hee had said it not only proudly but falsely Also if hee had said I haue written to you that yee might not sinne and if any man sinne ye haue me for a Mediatour with the Father and I obtaine the remission of your sins as Parmenian who in some place hath made the Bishop mediatour betweene the people and God what good and faithfull Christians could haue borne it who would haue respected him as the Apostle of Christ and not rather as Antichrist For Christian men saith he recommend one another vnto God through their mutuall prayers but hee which prayeth for all men and for whom none prayeth is the true and only Mediatour And for that his figure was represented to vs in the person of the High-priest of the old Testament it is not found that any should pray for the Priest Likewise S. Paul recommendeth himselfe to the prayers of the faithfull as one of the members of Christ neither doth he make himselfe any mediatour betweene God and the people but hee requireth that all the members of the body of Christ pray for him because that the prayâ—rs which the members make that yet are labouring on the earth mount vp to the Head which is gone before into heauen in whom is the propitiation for our sinnes Moreouer speaking of the Martyrs and other Saints departed in his Treatise of true Religion he expressely faith that the seruice of the dead ought not to be reckoned among Christians for religion and that wee ought to honour them by way of imitation and not to adore them by way of religion His words are Honorandi sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter religionem And likewise of the Angels We honor them saith he through charitie and not through seruice And to the intent we might not think that we doe wrong to the Saints departed and Angels or should offend them in addressing or prayers only to God he proueth by certaine places of holy Scripture that neither the Angels nor the Saints deceased at any time heretofore or now would be worshipped of vs but that they rather call vs backe to our Creator desiring that wee should worship with them the same and one only God through whose contemplation they are blessed Heare â—aith Saint Austin on the 96. Psalme the Angel of the Lord and the instructor of the Apostle S. Iohn who fell down before him to haue worshipped him at it is written in the 19. chapter and 10. verse of the Reuelation This Angel which sought not but the glorie of his Lord said to him Arise what doest thou worship God I am thy fellow seruant and one of thy brethren What then my brethren let no man say
himselfe yet they obstinately maintaine the contrarie and that oft times against the feeling of their owne consciences withholding the truth in vnrighteousnesse and shutting their eyes and eares against this admonition of the Apostle S. Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 13. vers 8. That wee cannot doe any thing against the truth but for the truth Which Truth although that in these latter daies it is represented vnto vs more cleerer then euer it was yet notwithstanding of many it is vnknowne and abandoned which follow on apace the foolish deuotion of their blind leaders and who to please and obey them rather then our Soueraigne Doctor and Master Iesus Christ will not vouchsafe to take so much paines as to informe themselues of this truth by reading of the holy Scripture but like better to depend wholly vpon the Traditions of their Teachers despising through their voluntarie ignorance the exhortatioÌ„ which the Apostle S Iohn giueth vnto al Christians in his first epistle 4. vers 1. Dearely beloued beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the world Now the more furiously the Truth is assaulted by Satan and his slaues so much the more couragiously ought it to be maintained and defended by the zealous louers of pure religion but especially by the Ministers and Pastors of the holy Gospel who according to that rule which the Apostle S. Paul prescribeth them in his Epistle to Titus 1. 9 ought to employ themselues diligently to exhort with wholesome doctrine those which are willing to bee instructed and to improoue the gainsaiers I then being called by God into the labour of his holy Ministerie haue employed my self amidst you according to that talent which it hath pleased him to bestow vpon me for the space of sixteene yeeres on these two parts of my vocation and hauing respect to the multitude and sufficiencie of my predecessors who haue taken penne in hand to instruct the ignorant and to refute false Teachers by their writings I haue contented my selfe hitherto to follow their traces in my publique Sermons and priuate Conferences with such as were desirous to profit with me in knowledge of the fundamentall points of our Christian faith according to the occasions which were presented But of late hauing seene an Epistle written by a certaine Doctor of the Augustins Order touching the inuocation of Saints sent vnto one of my Auditours to seduce thereby the sheepe which our Soueraigne Shepheard Iesus Christ hath recommended to me I held it my dutie to returne it backe againe to Leige with my answere to satisfie the desire of one of his disciples by whoÌ„ the said Doctor hauing receiued my answere promised him that shortly after he would write back vnto me againe and that effectually But seeing there are almost two yeeres past since he held my refutation and that in all y â— time he could not make some small Treatise to fulfill and accomplish his promise his silence maketh me to thinke that he hauing considered well examined and weighed the arguments of my replie hath repented himself for his foolish boasting and that if his conscience be not â—eared he feeleth himselfe alreadie checked by the truth that shineth in my Refutation which in the meane time I haue amplified and now published with his Epistle following the counsell of some excellent learned personages with hope that I shall see it bring foorth some fruite if not in the abouesaid Doctor or in some of his obstinate scholars yet at least in such as are teachable and especially in you my most deare and worthie brethren of whom I haue conceiued this hope that whereas heretofore ye haue willingly heard me to entreat of this subiect aswell in my Sermons as in my familiar discourses with you so ye will now take no lesse delight in hearing me to discourse of it in this small booke which here I present you as appertaining vnto you by a double right For first of all being consecrated to your seruice from the beginning of my ministerie the proprietie of euery instruction which through Gods grace I propound vnto men is wholly yours Besides seeing that the intention of my dispute is to shew the difference between a true and a false adoration and to perswade euery man by all possible meanes to stand fast in the true and to reiect the false to whom could I better appropriate it then to you to whom aboue all things I am bound to teach the first point and fruit of our faith which is to worship God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ in spirit and truth and to call vpon none but him in our necessities Whereunto as I seeke to giue you some helpe by this present Treatise so doe I giue thankes to the Lord for that alreadie ye are so well grounded and instructed in this principle of true religion assuring my self that he which hath sowne this good seed in your soules wil make it abundantly to grow vp and to fructifie in such a sort that thereby his name shall be glorified your neighbour edified and your hearts fortified against all manner of tentations Finally if I perceiue that this small Treatise which I publish vnder your names be acceptable and pleasing vnto you your courtesie will serue as a spurre to pricke me more cheerfully forward in my commenced Career and one day hereafter to entreat more at large vpon this subiect through the grace of our blessed God and heauenly Father to whom I recommend you beseeching him with all my heart that it will please him most deare and worthy Brethren to maintaine you euen to the end in the profession of his truth and to replenish you with his temporall and eternall blessings for the aduancement of his glorie and the saluation of your soules From my Studie this 4. of August 1607. Your no lesse affectionated then seruiceable Pastor and brother in the Lord Iohn Polyander A small Table of the principall points contained in this Treatise FIrst Papists themselues acknowledge and confesse that the inuocatioÌ„ of Saints cannot be proued by Scripture pag. 18 Praying to Saints cannot be prooued by Scripture but absolutely disproued 19 We must call vpon God only not the Saints 19. 20. 21. 22 Christ is our only Mediatour the Saints are no Mediatours pag. 22. 23 Christ is our only Mediatour aswell of intercession as redemption 23 Saints are no Mediatours of redemption 25 Papists reiect Christ placing the Saints in his place 26 Papists exalt the Virgin Mary into the place of Christ. pag. 29. 30. 31 Papists place the Virgin Mary aboue Christ. 32. 33 The Papists place Franciscus Dominicus in Christs roome 34. 35. 36 Priests and Prophets may erre 38 The Church may erre 38. 39 Councels haue erred 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45 Variance and contradiction among the ancient Councels 46 The holy Scripture is the touchstone of doctrine 47 The Fathers haue
of Scripture that the Angels in heauen vnderstand our prayers considering they are the reporters of them to the Diuine Maiestie Now this is also another expresse text of Scripture that the Saints in heauen shall be like to the Angels according to the saying of the Sonne of God in the holy Gospell We must then conclude that the Saints heare our prayers seeing the Angels vnto whom they are likened heare them Me thinks I heare alreadie my Masters the Ministers to answere and say that this similitude of the Angels and Saints of which our Lord speaketh in the Gospell consisteth but only in their felicitie and blessednesse and not in their nature or office that is our Lord would say that the Angels and the Saints should be equall and like to each other in heauen because both of them should be blessed enioying one selfesame glory and felicitie But let vs suppose that the case were so let vs grant and admit that the answere of these my Masters be true yet notwithstanding euen by the same we can ensnare and entrap them For seeing the estate and happines of future life hindreth not the Angels from hearing the prayers of mortall men wherefore or how can it be but the Saints being in the selfe-same felicitie as the Angels are may not also heare our prayers as well as they this text then of Scripture sheweth that the Saints heare our prayers they heare vs they see vs neither are ignorant of that which is done vpon the earth which once more I will shew you out of the Scripture For the holy Patriarch Abraham being dead and in Limbo knew many things which were done among the children of Israel as you may see in the sixteenth Chapter of S. Luke First he knew that the people had the bookes of Moses and the Prophets of whom the auncientest was Moses who had written more then foure hundred yeares after the death of Abraham Secondly he knew the life that the rich Glutton had led vpon the earth and the miserie which poore Lazarus had there endured Thirdly he saw and knew the estate and condition of that vnhappie wretch and heard his prayer though he was not heard when he cryed Father Abraham haue mercy on me and send Lazarus c. And yet neuerthelesse there was a great distance betweene the one and the other as Abraham plainly told him Finally the rich Glutton though he was damned saw he not Abraham heard he not his answere gaue he not his replyes for all there was the distance of a great Gulfe betweene them Now I hope there is no man that dareth deny all this for it is written in the holy Gospell and is a historie pronounced by the mouth of him which cannot lye but is the truth himselfe euen Iesus Christ. If this thing and story be true as it is I then charge all the Caluinian and Lutherian Ministers and say vnto them in this manner If Abraham my masters shut vp in Limbo not enioying at that time the sight of God and being not yet blessed but through hope notwithstanding knew the things of this world knew the state and miserie of that rich Glutton and heard him make his prayer and request will you thinke then that the Saints in Paradise beholding God and enioying his most bright sight are lesse priuiledged then Abraham therefore the father S. Austine saith excellent well Quid non vident qui videntem omnia vident that is What is it saith he that the Saints aboue in heauen see not seeing they see him that seeth all things which is God And that which seemeth more If the damned themselues heare those speake which are afarre off from them as the rich man heard Abraham and by those words shewed himselfe mindfull and carefull of his brethren which were yet in the world being afraid lest they should come into the same place of torment wherein he was as you may see what he spake vnto Abraham in the Gospell shall we imagine that the Saints and all those which are in the kingdome of heauen see and know not that which we do vpon the earth And if the Saints and all the blessed ones that are departed this life know the things of this world what ought they to heare or know more then the prayers which are made vnto them And if they vnderstand and can heare the voice of the damned is it possible in your opinion that they should not vnderstand the prayers and requests of those which desire to be saued If the damned themselues as appeareth by the story of the rich Glutton would procure that no harme might happen to their brethren and friends will those which are saued be lesse charitable will not they aduance and help forward as much as in them lieth the saluation of their friends and Christian brethren and that so much the more if they see and heare that one requireth them thereunto Sir now you may demaund of me and say If so be I should conesse that the Saints heare our prayers yet faine would I know how and in what manner they heare vs To say the truth this is a very hard thing to be vnderstood and neuerthelesse it is true The father S. Austine acknowledging the hardnes of this question and through humilitie the small capacitie of his spirit though it was very great in his booke which he hath made and intituled De cura pro mortuis agenda c. 16. saith that In truth this question surpasseth the force of my vnderstanding being not able to conceaue after what a fashion the Martyrs help those which we know to be entirely helped by them By these words S. Austin acknowledgeth well that it is hard for him to vnderstand how they know the things of this world neuerthelesse he beleeueth that they know them and that indeed and certainely as he saith wee are succoured by them Wherein it may please you to note one difference among the rest that there is betweene our Catholicall Doctours and the Hereticall Doctours that is Ours if they cannot attaine to the totall and perfect knowledge of that matter or question which they handle they will not dispute it so farre as to denie the question and thing because they find it hard and surpassing their vnderstandings but admitting of the thing with humilitie they acknowledge only the smalnes of their capacitie as with very great modestie the most learned father S. Austin hath done in this point But these new hereticall Doctours which are come vp with and after Luther and Caluin though the thing or question disputed be true and grounded vpon good reason because they cannot comprehend nor compasse it within their vnderstandings flatly denie and reiect the thing as we see them daily doe in many other points and articles of religion seeking alwaies to reduce them within the capacitie of their spirits which very often is but small and ruinating the nature of faith which consisteth in beleeuing things that surpasse the reason and
of his sonne Iesus Christ he expounded it as though the Apostle had there made an expresse mention of our Saviours intercession as you may perceiue by those words of his second booke contra Parm. cap. 8. The mutuall prayers saith he of all the members which yet labour vpon the earth ought to ascend vp to the Head which is gone before into Heauen in whom we haue the remission of our sinnes For if S. Paul were a Mediatour the other Apostles would be so also and so there would be many mediatours which would not agree with that which elsewhere he saith That there is one mediatour betweene God and men The second cause why you confesse that Iesus Christ is called the only Mediatour is because he is not only so by reason of that office whereby he mediates for vs and reconceleth vs vnto God but by reason also of his nature for he is in the midst betweene God and man being both God and man together which the Saints are not And for this cause he is called the only Intercessour like as the good and holy Fathers in time past haue taught vs to wit S. Austin in the ninth booke of the Citie of God and 17. chapter S. Cyril in his 12. booke S. Fulgence in his second booke ad Petrum chap. 2. and S. Theodoret vpon that very place of S. Paul with many others We grant you this second reason and besides we say that it maketh wholly for vs. And Tertullian or as some thinke Nouatianus which in those daies was Priest to the Romane Church proposeth vs this reason incommunicable to the Saints in the booke of the Trinitie chap 13. 16. to shew vs that if Christ were only Man as the Saints are he could not be out Mediatour not heare and succour vs vnto God his father through his intercession If saith he Christ were man only how is he present every where being called vpon seeing it is not the nature of man but of God that he can be present in all places And if Christ were man only why is a man inuocated in our prayers for a Mediatour seeing the inuocation of a man is iudged to be forcelesse to performe saluation If Christ also be only man why is confidence put in him seeing that the hope which is placed in man is accursed Wherefore hee which is declared to be made Medtatour betweene God and men is found to haue vnited in himselfe both God and Man The third reason which you alleage that Iesus Christ is called the only Mediatour is because that he is mediatour in such a sort for all men that he hath no neede of any mediatour either for himselfe or for others Now the Saints aswell in this world as in the other though they are Mediatours and Intercessours for vs in reconciling vs to God through their prayer haue neverthelesse needs of Iesus Christ themselues to be reconciled 〈◊〉 God through his intercession and in his name they 〈◊〉 all that which they doe obtaine for vs. But Iesus Christ saith S. Paul without the interposition of any other goeth vnto God of himselfe to make intercession for vs. This reason hath been noted by Saint Austin that great doctour of the Church when he saith thus The Christians pray one for another but be for whom no man maketh intercession and who maketh intercession for all is the true and only Mediatour We also admit of this third reason that Iesus Christ is the only Mediatour because that he hath no need of any other Mediatour either for himselfe or for others But we denie that which you affirme without any proofe out of the holie Scripture to wit that the Saints aswell in this world as in the other are our mediators and Intercessors For albeit the Scripture commandeth the Saints liuing in this world to pray the one for the other yet you can in no wise from thence conclude that they are our mediators and intercessors but that they are our companions and fellow-helpers who to assist vs ioyne their prayers with ours to mooue as much as in them lieth our heauenly father to mercie as being fellow-brethren and members with vs of one selfesame spirituall bodie whereof Christ is the head And this is that which S. Austin vnderstood in saying That all the members pray the one for the other but the head is Mediatour for all Now touching the Saints departed I am astonished that you dare maintaine they are our mediators seeing the holy Scripture expresseth nothing thereof but concontrariwise S. Iohn including himselfe in the rancke of all the other faithfull members dispersed in this world for whom Iesus Christ was made a Propitiation and for whom he maketh intercession to God his father teacheth vs in his first epistle second chapter and first verse that If any man sinne wee haue an Aduocat with the father to wit Iesus Christ the iust And our Lord Iesus Christ calling himselfe The way The truth and the life saith expresly that No man commeth vnto the Father but by him in the Gospell written according to S. Iohn c. 14. and 6. v. Whereunto the Apostle S. Paul conformablie saith that by the faith which wee haue in Christ wee haue boldnesse and entrance to the Father with confidence Ephes. 3. 12. to the end that we may receiue mercie and find grace to helpe in time of neede And that by the bloud of Iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place by the new and liuing may which he hath prepared for vs through the vaile that is his flesh Heb. 10. 19. 20. In fine that his priesthood is euerlasting Wherefore he is able also perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing hee euerlineth to make intercession for them Heb. 7. 24. 25. But to come to your conclusion we which are Catholikes say you confesse well that according to those significations abouesaid that Iesus Christ is truely the Sole Mediatour only Aduocate and Intercessour but we also say and that in all truth against these heretikes that that hindereth not but the Saints liuing or departed may be so also in their fashion But now what wil you say if I should shew you by the Formulary of your prayers that according to those significations abouesaid you doe not hold Iesus Christ for your only Mediator and Intercessor Say you not Precibus meritis beate semperque virginis Mariae amnium sanctorum perducat nos dominus ad regna caelorum That is to say By the prayers and merits of the most blessed and alwaies virgin Mary and of all the Saints the Lord bring vs into the kingdome of heauen What is that I pray you but to attribute to the virgin Mary and the rest of all the Saints departed not only that they should pray for vs but also that they haue merited for vs and so consequently that they are our Mediators not onlie of Intercession but also of ransome
a holy Nation Which words God commandeth Moses and his Prophets continually to repeate vnto the children of Israel So our Lord Iesus Christ also making large promises to his Apostles and in their names to all Christians to abide with them through the communication of the wholesome gifts of his holy spirit euen to the end of the world putteth them oftentimes in minde of this condition If yee loue me if yee keepe my words if yee abide in me if my words abide in you if yee shall keepe my commandements my Father will loue you ye shall be my friends and my Father and I will come vnto you for to make our abiding with you in the Gospell according to S. Iohn chap. 14. vers 14. All these conditionall promises signifie vnto vs euidently that those which are acknowledged for the members of the visible Church may fall either into some fault against the second table as it chanced to Dauid who committed adulterie with Bathsheba the wife of Vriah and sent him to the campe with letters of commaund to Ioab to expose him to the enemies that he might be slaine 2. Sam. 11 or in some error against the first table as happened vnto Aaron the high Priest who formed a golden Calfe for the Israelites to worship Exod. 32. 4. and after that to many Iudges and Kings as to Gedeon Iudg. chap. 8. vers 27. and to Salomon 1. King 11 or into some reuolt from the Christian faith or into some other abuse as appeareth by the fall of S. Peter who trusting too much to himselfe denied his Master thrice and after his repentance and confirmation into his Apostleship was reproued by the Apostle S. Paul in the citie of Antioch because that in constraining the Gentiles to become Ierish as the Apostle speaketh thereof in the second chapter and 14. verse he went not with a right foote to the truth of the Gospell And if those which are in the visible Church cannot fall why doth the Apostle then reproue the Galathians first chapter 6. verse that in forsaking him which had called them by grace that is to say Christ they had transported themselues to another Gospell And in the third chapter and third verse that hauing begun in the spirit they would make an end by the flesh Wherefore hauing pourtraied before the eyes of the Corinthians sundrie faults and transgressions which the Israelites had committed against the Lord in the wildernesse hee addeth that these haue been examples for them to the end to admonish them to stand vpon their gards and that he which thinketh he standeth take heede lest he fall Surely if the Apostolicall Church could not haue failed the Apostle S. Paul had had no reason to haue feared so much lest the Corinthians which he called the members of God and sanctified in Christs Iesus and Saints by calling should be corrupted in their thoughts turning themselues aside from the simplicitie that is in Christ as the Serpent beguiled Eue through his subtiltie 2. Cor. 11. 3. Secondly I answere that you presuppose that which we neuer will grant you to wit that the Clergie and generall Councell which represents the Church cannot erre and that whatsoeuer at any time hath been determined and decreed by the Councels is certaine and ought to be receiued without contradiction To begin then with the Councell of the 4. hundred Prophets of King Ahab I require of you if the assemblie of these Doctors of lies who flattered the said King and counselled him all with with one consent to make warre against the Syrians haue not erred The Historiographer sheweth vs that all of them were possessed with the spirit of error and that onely Michaiah resisted them couragiously and although he was cōdemned smitten and cast into prison that the King notwithstanding would experiment it and that euen with the perill of his life hee was deceiued by the lying spirit of his foure hundred Prophets You Catholikes will also graunt me that the Councell of the chiefe Priests the Scribes and the Elders of the people assembled in the hall of the high Priest called Caiphas erred greatly when they held a Councell and consulted together how they might take Iesus by subtiltie and kill him according as the Euangelist S. Matthew teciteth it in the 26. chapter of his Gospell the third and fourth verses If you suppose that the successors of S. Peter and the other Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ haue receiued the priuiledge that they could not erre you abuse your selues For the Apostle S. Paul aduertiseth all Christians in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians of an Apostasie and generall reuolt which should come to passe in the Church of the New Testament and declareth to them that this mysterie of iniquitie began to worke in his time and should be reuealed by the comming of the sonne of perdition which exalteth himselfe against God euen to be set as God in the Temple of God bearing himselfe as if he were God Now as this seducement of sinne glided by little and little into the Primitiue Church through the craft and malice of Satan so hath it by many degrees discouered it selfe more and more and one day hath added error to another because in the beginning there was no heede taken to the Councels and assemblies of the ancient Bishops who haue not alwaies followed the true paterne of the wholesome words which 〈◊〉 receiued from the Apostles and from their purer predecessors but giuing eare to the lying and ambitious spirits of their companions which pleased them in their inuentions are gone astray from the truth Euen so the Fathers assembled in the Councels of Neocesarea and Laodicea haue there cōcluded that by the doctrine of the Apostle S. Paul it was permitted to the Christians to take in mariage a second wife but according to reason and the rule of truth it is a kinde of whoredome and for this cause they forbad the Priests not to bee present at the feast of any second wedlocke and enioyned those which were married to their second match to doe penance for the same Whereupon you must needes grant me one of these two things either that the Apostle S. Paul hath erred in that he hath not onely permitted a second marriage in the first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 7. verses 27. 28. where hee shewes to him that is loosed from a wife that he sinneth not in marrying himselfe againe but giueth counsell also to the widowes in his first Epistle to Timoth. chap. 5. vers 19. saying I will therefore that the younger women marrie and beare children and gouerne the house c. Or that the Bishops of the aforesaid Councels haue erred in that they held the couenant of second wedlocke for an vnlawfull thing and fornication forbidden by God in the seuenth commandement of his law I presuppose that you will grant me rather that there was no error in the instruction of
that in his daies the Church was exercised in workes of pietie and charitie and not by the inuocation of Angels and Saints departed nor in inchantments or any other wicked curiositie but addressing purely and manifestly their prayers to the Lord who made all things and in the name of Iesus Christ according to the necessitie of euery one Clement Alexandrine treating vpon this subiect was sore grieued at the Christians which worshipped the spirits of the deceased saying in his 7. booke that it is a great brutishnes to craue any thing of those which were not Gods And hereupon hauing respect vnto the true rule of inuocation the which hee followeth with the rest of all the Christians after the imitation of the Angels hee addeth That whereas there is but one only good that is God both wee and the Angels pray vnto him either to giue vs or to let vs haue such blessings as he knoweth to be healthfull for vs. And in his first booke of Pedagogie chap. 7. Iesus Christ saith he is our schoolemaster who as children hath led vs vnto euerlasting life and hath taken care of vs. And if we suffer our selues to be instructed by this schoolemaster and conductor we shall obtaine all things of God which we can iustly demaund of him The Church also with S. Tertullian hath followed this rule who speaking of his fashion and of all the Christian Church in his Apologie chap. 3. We pray saith he for the welfare of Emperours vnto the eternall God the true God the liuing God and lift vp our hands to heauen for them beseeching God that it would please him to giue vnto them a long life and empire without feare a safe Court a strong armie a faithfull Magistrate a loyall people and a peaceable world These things can I demand of none in my prayers but of him from whom I know I can obtaine them because hee only hath made them and I am his seruant which lookes vp to him alone and vnto whom he will grant them The like also saith Origen against Celsus lib. 8. We present saith he the first fruits only vnto him to whom wee addresse our prayers to wit vnto God hauing an high Priest which is entred the heauens euen Iesus Christ the Sonne of God and we shall hold constantly the profession of this faith so long as through the blessednesse of God and of his Sonne who hath manifested himselfe amongst vs we doe remaine aliue And although we know that not the diuels but the Angels ouer see the abundance of fruites and the multiplication of cattell yet neuer thelesse wee must not giue vnto them that honour which is due only vnto God for God will not haue it so nor they vnto whom such charges are committed but they loue vs because wee offer no sacrifices vnto them nor haue they any need of his odours and we are but to pray vnto one only God and to appease him who is the Lord of all things and to seeke only his fauour through pietie and other vertues In that prayer which S. Cyprian hath composed and repeated so many times in memorie of the benefit of the death and passion of our Lord Iesus he betaketh himself to none but to God the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost without making any mention therein either of Angels or of Saints I should be too long and troublesome to recite it at length only wee will content our selues to propound briefly the conclusion thereof to the Reader to the intent he may censure thereof Through thy name Lord Iesus saith this good Father in the end of his prayer deliuer me from the power of the aduersarie thou that are a mightie deliuerer and the aduocate of our prayers for the requests of our soules solicite night and day for my sins present my prayer to thy Father and thou Lord O holy Father deigne to behold and looke vpon my prayers as vpon the offerings of Abel Vouchsafe to deliuer me from fire and eternall paine and from all torments that thou hast prepared for the wicked through our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ through whom be all praise glorie and honour to thee for euer and euer In that most excellent prayer which S. Hilarie made vnto God to beseech him to giue him his grace to expound well the great mysterie of the holy Trinitie he addresseth himself to none but vnto God building vpon his promise that to him which asketh hee shall receiue to him which seeketh hee shall finde and to him which knocketh it shall be opened Also Eusebius in his bookes of preparation sheweth that in his daies the Christians worshipped only God in spirit and truth For what writeth hee thereof in his 4. booke of Preparation We are taught saith he to serue religiously the only God of all creatures and for this cause wee attribute to him alone the worship that appertaines vnto him seruing him only by way of religion Afterward treating in another place of the intercession of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and the reasons wherefore the Christians call vpon God in the name of his only Sonne first he rehearseth that it is because hee being become man and taken our flesh vpon him hath suffered for our sakes all manner of wrongs and reproches Secondly because hee prayeth vnto his Father for vs and through his request which hee makes vnto his Father for vs repulseth behinde vs all our enemies both visible and inuisible Thirdly because neither S. Paul S. Peter nor any of the other Saints haue been crucified for vs but our only Redeemer Iesus Christ from whence he concludeth that the intercession which he maketh vnto his Father is proper to him and incommunicable to the Saints seeing he is the only high Priest who once hath offered himselfe in a sacrifice to God his Father both for vs for himselfe and for man which he had taken out of the earth who is ascended vp into heauen there to celebrate for vs the spirituall sacrifices to wit our supplications which hee presenteth vnto God his Father praying him with vs that for his sake hee will be mercifull and fauourable vnto vs. According to which he giueth vs this testimonie of S. Denys Bishop of Alexandria in his Ecclesiastical storie lib. 7. cap. 10. who being called before Aemilian Gouernour of Egypt to render an account of his faith and to answere vnto his demands and among the rest vnto this vnto what God he and the other Christians addresse their prayers He answereth him freely that himselfe nor the rest of the Christians did neither worship or serue religiously any other but that God which only is hee who hath created of nothing the heauens the sea the earth and all things which are in them Moreouer he repeateth in this very historie lib. 10. cap. 4. that Paulin Bishop of Tyre taught publikely both by mouth and writing that Christ is our only Aduocate the only author of life the
hath taught vs this kinde of adoration nor that any of the Prophets haue euer commanded vs to worship a man much lesse a woman Verely she is saith Epiphanius an excellent chosen vessell yet notwithstanding she is a woman whose nature hath not in any thing been changed but as she that in honour hath been raised vp as the body of the Saints and if more may be said in her honour like as Elias a virgin from the belly of his mother which alwaies kept his virginitie was taken vp into heauen and saw no death or as Iohn whom the Lord loued and who leaned vpon his bosome or as holy Thecla but Mary is to be honoured much more then these because of the dispensation of that secret whereof as worthie she was reputed But Elias though he yet be liuing ought not to be worshipped nor Iohn albeit that by his owne prayer he made his death to be admired or receiued this grace from God rather no nor Theela nor any 〈◊〉 Saint ought to be adored The reason is because saith he that the ancient error should not domineere ouer vs that in forsaking the liuing God we should not worship the things which hee hath created For they haue worshipped and serued the creature haâ—ing forsaken the Creator and are become fooles For if he will not suffer vs to adore the Angels much lesse her that is borne of Anna who to Anna was giuen by Ioaechim she that through prayers and all deuotion was giuen according to the promise made to her father and mother and who in that respect is borne no otherwise then according to the nature of others but as all of the seed of man and out of the wombe of a woman For although the storie of Mary and the traditions doe report that it was said to her father Ioachim in the wildernesse Thywife hath conceiued yet was it not said that it should be without copulation or without the seed of man But the Angell which was sont foretold that which was to come to the inteÌ„t we should not enter into doubt because of that which in truth hath been done as alreadie it had been ordained and promised to the rightous and we see that the Scripture in many places declareth it to be so God then being descended out of heauen hath formed himselfe of the Virgin as of earth the Word hauing taken his flesh of the Virgin Mary neuerthelesse not to that end that the Virgin should be worshipped neither to the intent that hee would deifie her nor with meaning that wee should offer vp in her name Hereupon returning to the first originall of the error of these women hee crieth out saying From whence then is come this crooked Dragons from whence are these crooked Counsels renewed let Mary be in honour but let the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost be worshipped let none worship Mary nor any other woman no nor a man likewise for this mysterie is due only but to God The Angels themselues are not capable of such an honour therefore let the couetousnesse of the tree be taken away from before your eyes let the creature returne vnto his Creator let Adam with Eue come againe to reuerence and serue God only let her be no more seduced by the Serpents voice but let her abide in the commandement of God Thou shalt not eate of the tree This tree was not the error but by the tree came the disobedience of error let none then eate of the error which is for the Virgin Maries sake for although the tree be faire it is not therefore good to be eaten And though that Mary be exceeding faire holy and to be honoured yet is she not to be worshipped But these women renew a mixtion at hab nab and prepare a table not for God but for the diuell let Ieremy stay and withhold these peeuish women that they may not trouble the world nor say no more We honor the Queene of Heauen Whereupon briefly concluding his discourse he saith Let Mary be in honour and let the Lord be worshipped For the righteous saith he giue no occasion of error to any one God is not tempted with euill neither tempteth any man nor likewise his seruants to deceiue vs. If this holy Father had such zeale and courage to crie out so loud against these women in his time which offered but a cake vnto the Virgin Mary and that all the East trembled for it what would he doe at this day if he heard the prayers of your Iesuits wherein they iovne ordinarily the Virgin Mary with the holy Trinitie saying To God one in Trinitie and to the mother of God Mary alwaies virgin be glorie and thanks giuing vnte eternitie What would hee say of your prayer contained in the Psalter approoued by the Doctors of Sotbon and iudged not only worthie but also very profitable to be published in which you say to the Virgin Mary My only succour my lips are bound to publish no other praises then thine I haue put all my hope in thee to thee only I addresse my prayers I will loue no other then thee by thee the head of the Serpent hath been brused by thee the world is repaired thy power is boundlesse vnto thee I confesse my sinnes into thy hands I remit my soule Come vnto Mary ye which haue thâ—rst pray vnto her that with her water she will wash away the filthinesse of your sinnes promised woman to bruse the SerpeÌ„t pray for vs which sufferedst on the crosse with Christ take pitie on vs. What would he iudge of Iustus Lipsius who putting out his eyes wherewith he had seene the light of truth in Holland and who not long ago hath abused his penne to renew and disguise through the craft and cunning of his tongue the false rumours of the miracles of the Ladies of Hates and of Montague would he not liken this golden fable of Lipsius and the florish of prayers which you make to the Virgin Mary to the Cantarids and greene flies which are of colour very faire and shining like gold and yet are very dangerous and full of venome which they spue vp and cast on euery side vpon the trees and fruits of the earth would he not crie out much more louder and farre more rougher against your superstitions then he did in times past for the presenting but of a cake to the Virgin Mary Had he not greater reason to call the praises and prayers which daily you offer to the holy Virgin the instruments of error diabolicall enterprises a spirituall adulterie a doctrine blasphematorie and finally a forging Idoll heresie Now as for Chrysostome he teacheth vs in his sermons and vpon the exposition of the formular of the prayer which Iesus Christ gaue vnto his Disciples that God requireth not of vs that wee should addresse our prayers to any other but only vnto him and to his Sonne Iesus Christ our sole Mediatour to induce him to receiue
through infidelitie and Moses through ingratitude not glorifying God who gaue him water out of the rock And in his 45. Sermon vpon S. Matthew he maketh mention of the Virgin Maries ambition which moued her to importune our Lord Iesus Christ to doe miracles And vpon this sentence of the 14. Psalme and third verse There is none that doth good no not one he citeth again for confirmation hereof the vices and imperfections of the Virgin Mary and of all the Disciples of our Lord Iesus Christ saying that when Christ was crucified there was none that did good all his Disciples fled away Iohn starke naked Peter denied him and the sâ—ord of doubt or diâ—fidence pierced the soule of the Virgin Mary Among other arguments which your Doctors vse to verifie that which you haue proposed in the beginning of your Epistle to wit y â— the Church hath taught approued the inuocation of Saints for the space of 1605. yeeres behold one of the principall saith namely that the Gentiles into which number Iulian the Apostate ranked himselfe called the Christians Idolaters aswell for the veneration of Saints as for that of Angels But to refute your proposition and to discouer the falsehood thereof I will here cite that answere which S Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria gaue expressely to Iulian the Apostate vpon that false accusation and reproch It is not so as thou thinkest replied S. Cyril to Iulian the Emperour that we deifie a man and that we should not giue the honor of adoration to him which by nature is God but we say rather that the Word proceeded from the Father by whom all things haue bin created and who ordained to saue mankinde hath taken flesh and hath bin made man He is not worshipped as thou saist and wouldest beleeue in that he is man for why should we say so but acknowledging that this man which appeared to vs is the Word of God we goe vnto him in as much as he is also God and who came from God the immutable Father As for the Martyrs we reckon them not as Gods neither haue we accustomed note this word to worship them we only praise them and honour them with great honours because valiantly they haue fought for the truth and in that they â—eld the puritie of their faith euen to despise their owne liues Besides thy Plato saith of such as haue liued well and died honorably that they are made Demons that is to say Gods and that after their death they ought to be serued and their sepulchres worshipped But as for vs we say not that the holy Martyrs are made Gods but haue accustomed to honour them as much as may be yeelding them euery where in recompence of their noble vertues a memorie that neuer perisheth Neither shall you euer proue that we worship men or should attribute to them the glory of God He sheweth the like in his bookes of the Trinitie and in his Commentaries vpon the Gospell of S. Iohn We come not vnto God saith he in his first booke of the holy Trinitie otherwise then by Christ. And in his third booke Our faith iustifieth and maketh vs familiar with God and aduanceth vs neere vnto him This faith is not simply in the man but in the nature of God and in as much as the Word was in the flesh And in his Treatise of true faith Our faith and hope is in God when Christ then said beleeue in me doth he not manifestly shew that he is God And if in the Spirit of the Sonne we haue confidence in calling vpon the Father how is not Christ then god also after that the Word was made flesh Which he more amplie and cleerely expoundeth in his discourse vpon the exhortation which Christ made to his Disciples before his departure out of this world to pray vnto the Father in his name oftentimes promising to them that they should obtaine whatsoeuer they demanded of his Father in his name He addeth In my name saith S. Cyril to shew that he is the Mediatour and that the Father communicateth his blessings to vs through the Son by whom wee haue accesse to the Father in the Spirit as it is written Therefore hee calleth himselfe the gate and the way because saith he no man commeth vnto the Father but by me For in as much as he is the Son God he giueth vs his blessings with the Father Which S. Paul minding to shew vs said Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ But in so much that he is Mediatour High-priest and Aduocate he presenteth our prayers to God for he alone giueth vs libertie and boldnesse vnto the Father We must then pray in the Sauiours name if wee will be heard of the Father None can be made holy or sanctified by the rule of liuing well but through the helpe and intercession of Christ nor ioyned also to the Father but through his mediation He permitteth vs in no wise to aske any thing from his Father but in his name only and promiseth that his Father will readily grant it vs. And in his fourth booke vpon the Prophet Esay All prayers are directed by Christ for by him we make our demaunds to God his Father and by him we make our prayers confessing also that God is in him And in another place To whom behoueth it better to grant vnto the Saints their desires and to giue them that which they require then to him which only is naturally and verely God The Saints who haue bin sanctified through the communication of God which sanctifieth them may well preserue this gift if so be they keepe his commandements but they cannot sanctifie others For no man sanctified through the communication of the holy Ghost hath the power to communicate this grace to others There is none but the only fountaine of holinesse which of it selfe can giue this holinesse to all The Saints then who haue receiued this gift through grace and through communication cannot distribute it to others at their pleasure but the Sonne who is the fountaine of holinesse sanctifieth his Disciples saying Receiue yee the holy Ghost All which are arguments worthie to be noted whereby Saint Cyril rebuketh the folly of such as forsake the well-spring of liuing waters to search broken cesternes which will containe no water S. Ambrose doth no lesse vpon this subiect in his sermons and discourses For in his Commentaries vpon the Epistle to the Romanes hee mocketh those greatly who in stead of praying personally to God and should not speake to him but in the name of his wel beloued Sonne doe betake themselues to the Saints deported as to his faithfull vassals and familiar friends to approch vnto his diuine Maiestie and to obtaine his grace through their intreatie and intercession He compareth them to the Heathen and Idolaters of whom the Apostle S. Paul speaketh in his first chapter of that said Epistle counting
themselues wise saith he they became fooles and when they were ashamed that they had forsaken God they accustomed to vse a miserable excuse for themselues saying they had accesse vnto God through them as in a Court by the Earles and Lords one hath accesse vnto the King But I pray you is there any man so foolish and so carelesse of his preseruation as to attribute to an Earle the honour of his King sith that in vsing him so it is by right high treason and will not those men think themselues to be guiltie which attribute to the creature the honour due vnto his Creator and abandon their Lord to adore their fellow seruants For surely the reason why men come vnto the King by officers or Earles is because the King is a man and knoweth not whom to trust vnto in his Common-weale But to procure God to be fauourable vnto vs from whom nothing is hid and who knoweth what is in euery one of vs there is no need of any intercessor or spokesman but of a deuout spirit for in what place soeuer such a man will speake vnto him he answereth him And in his third booke of the Holy Ghost and 12. chapter We must not adore any thing beside God for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue If then the mysterie of the incarnation is to be adored as a worke of the holy Ghost according as it is written The holy Ghost shall come vpon thee and the power of the most high shall ouershadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of God without all doubt the holy Ghost also ought to be worshipped seeing wee worship him who according to the flesh was conceiued by the holy Ghost But let no man straine that vnto the Virgin Mary she was the temple of God but not the God of the Temple and therefore he only ought to be adored which wrought in that temple And vpon the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians The Apostle saith he hath declared from the beginning how exceeding great and infinite the omnipotence of Christ is to the intent to teach vs that it is he alone in whom wee must put our trust because that through him all things are and nothing can liue without him either in heauen or earth So that if any one thinke he ought to affectate his deuotion to some one of the elements to the Angels or to the superiour powers let him know that he erreth Therefore Christ ought only to be heard and only serued by way of religion and none ought to be esteemed of in respect of him because he which is the head hath all others subiect to him for he which humbleth himselfe before his subiects erreth because that in holding not on the head he is a stocke that is he is like vnto a twigge cut off from the tree and which hath no roote in such sort that such a man is without the head whereof saith he dependeth the life of the rest of that body Also vpon his admonition of S. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians chap. 2. vers 8. Beware lest there be any man that spoile you through Philosophie and vaine deceit through the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. Hee declareth that through vaine deceit and traditions of men we must vnderstand the superstition which serueth the world for a Religion and not God which is one and which leadeth vs not to Iesus Christ in whom is the perfection of the Godhead Moreouer Saint Ierome in his disputes against Vigilantius speaking generally of the Christians in his time We shorship not saith he nor serue by way of Religion neither Angels nor Archangels nor Châ—rubins nor Seraphins nor any name which is named neither in this present world nor in the world to come lest wee should rather serue the creature then the Creator which is blessed eternally S. Cyprian proceedeth further and saith in his fifth Sermon of such as are falne Cursed is the man which putteth his hope in man We must pray vnto the Lord and call vpon God the Father in the name of his Sonne Iesus Christ as he himselfe expoundeth it in his excellent discourse vpon the Lords Prayer where he admonisheth vs that there is no prayer more certaine or more pleasing to the Father then that which by the mouth of his Sonne hath been pronounced who is the Truth and that to pray otherwise theÌ„ hee hath taught vs is not only ignorance but an absurd fault and like to that of the Iewes whom the Lord rebuketh that they did reiect the commandement of God to establish their owne traditions Let vs pray then saith hee euen as our Lord hath taught vs. Prayer is acceptable to God when as we pray with a prayer which is his owne and that wee send vp into his eares the words of his Son The Father knowes the language of his Sonne when wee make to him our prayer Lâ—t him that dwelleth in your harts be in your voice and vpon your tongue And seeing that the Sonne is our Aduocate whensoeuer we craue pardon for our faults let vs take our Aduocates words 〈◊〉 our mouth for sith he saith that whatsoeuer wee shall aske of the Father in his name it shall be granted vs when can our prayers then take greater force if not when wee call vpon him with that prayer which himselfe hath made According to which S. Cyril teacheth vs in his 16 book vpon the 17 chapter of S. Iohn That if we would be heard of the Father we must pray in the name of our Sauiour And S. Lactantius saith That they which pray vnto the dead shall beare the paine of their impietie and wickednesse Likewise S. Ambrose That those which forsake the liuing God to seeke after the dead are accounted among the dead For as hee expoundeth it himselfe in his booke of Isaac and of the blessed life saith that Iesus is our mouth by which we speake vnto the Father our eye by which wee behold the Father and our right hand whereby we offer our selues vnto the Father without the which Mediatour these is no approching vnto God neither for vs nor for any of the Saints And S. Austin who sometimes was an Auditour of S. Ambroses Sermons saith the like therof vpon the 105. Psalme to wit that the prayer which is not made through Christ Christ not only cannot blot out the sinne but turneth it also into sinne Also on the 29. Psalme If we consider saith he what God thundreth foorth by S. Iohn as it were out of a cloud saying do the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God 〈…〉 was in the beginning with God All things were made by it and without it was made nothing that was made In it was life and the life was the
a diadeâ—â— prayeth to a Text-maker and a Fisherman These words you attribute to S. Chrysostome Neuerthelesse sundrie of your Writers haue attributed them vnto S. Austine and some others to a certaine man called Theodore Daphnopath in such sort that you are not of one accord with your fellowes nor of one and the same opinion touching the author of these words from which you cannot conclude that S. Chrysostome was of that minde to recommend to the people the inuocation of Saints as a seruice approued by God For he speaketh not in this discourse of that which ought to bee done according to the rule and instruction of the holy Scriptures but of what was done by the people through their indiscreet zeale after the imitation of the Grecians which yeerely made an assemblie about the graues of those which were slaine in the battell of Marathon to celebrate their Feasts and to recount their praises as S. Cyril noteth in his sixth booke against Iulian the Apostate And albeit that S. Chrysostome did beare with this custome of the vulgar people as many other corruptions and abuses of the like nature which he could not remedie without hurting the weake notwithstanding hee oftentimes made his complaints thereof See saith he in his 12. Homily on the first to the Corinthians how the iudgements of the common people are corrupted vnprofitable and ridiculous partly by foolish men and partly by children that doe suck The Martyrs saith he in his 45. Homily vpon S. Matthew take no delight to be honoured with money for which the poore â—rie out for to wit because you employ it not for their nourishment rather And in his 48. sermon vpon S. Iohns Gospell When thou hearest that the Lord is risen naked from death cease I pray thee from the foolish expence of funerals For to what end is it good seeing it bringeth but lesse to such as doe is and no profit to the dead but rather dammage Finally he is extreamely grieued at the superstitious ceremonies which they made about sepulchres tearming them in his 〈◊〉 Homily vpon the first to the Corinthians foolish deuotions and diabolicall obseruations Now followeth the sentence of a certain Monke called Iohn Damâ—soenus who for his writings began to florish in Damâ—sâ—us the principall citie of Syria about the yeere of Christ 730. Among other bookes which are attributed to him wee haue foure touching the tradition of the Christian faith which haue been translated out of Greeke into French by a certaine Philosopher named Iacobus Faber Stapulensis You affirme that in the 16 chapter of his last booke concerning the Christian faith he saith That through the Saints the diuels are chased away the sicke are healed the blinde see the leprous are clensed tentations and vexations are vanquished and that euery good thing commeth by them in fauour of those which craue them with a stedfast faith Although that superstition is chiefly come forth of the heads of the Monks yet there is great likelihood that this sentence was juggled in amongst his writings For though he liued in those daies when superstition had her full sway and vigour yet notwithstanding the Grecians were not so soone corrupted as the Latins And Emericus one of your writers who liued a long while after him reproueth the Grecians for this opinion that men ought not to inuocate the saints nor the Virgin Mary likewise but one only Mediatour which is Christ and that to offer gifts to them was to present sacrifices to the Diuels Let vs now come to the booke de Viduis composed by S. Ambrose When Peters mother in law saith he had a feuer Andrew and Peter prayed vnto the Lord for her And thou widow hast so many neere friends which pray for thee to wit the Apostles and Martyrs if thou commest to them in vnitie of deuotion It behoueth then to pray vnto them c. For they can pray for our sinnes sith they haue washed away their owne with their owne blood Without searching any further Sixtus Senensis one of your writers confesseth that S. Ierome and some others of the Fathers haue suffered themselues to be transported in such a sort through the heate and vehemencie of their Orations that sometimes they made Hyperboles that is to say and speake more cleerely they surpassed the bonds of truth Erasmus of Roterdam in his preface vpon this booke intituled de Viduis saith that in this fertill matter so pleasing to the eares of the vulgar people he hath let loose the bridle of his tongue and painted his discourse with the colours of Rhetorike in such a â—ort that the ignorant people could not well iudge thereof but the learned only In fine that he thought he laboured to set foorth his language by some artificiall drafts to make a shew florish of the ornaments of his eloquence Howsoeuer if hee were the author of this booke hee hath wandred out of the way and hath not well remembred his owne lesson That Christâ—s our mouth by which we speake to the Father our eye by which we behold the Father our right hand whereby wee offer to the Father and that without this Mediatour there is no comming vnto God neither for vs nor any of the Saints You alleage also for the establishing of your superstition Saint Ieroms letter dedicated to Paula to whom yee appropriate that title which ordinarily your companions doe attribute to the Virgin Mary that is calling her holy Lady But if we examine this epistle of S. Ieroms he speaketh to Paula who was absent and in heauen as if she had been present and that by a figure and certaine manner of speech called in Shooles Apostrophe whereby he not only prayeth vnto Paula to supplicate God for Blesilla but for himselfe also in his extreame age Likewise he saluteth Paula and saith vale to her that is farewell or God keep thee in good health If then you will take these words to the very letter to conclude from thence that hee hath called vpon Paula with a full assurance that she heard him and could perswade the diuine Maiestie to heare her request you must likewise grant me that he discoursed with her mouth to mouth and that in praying to God to preserue her in health he beleeued that she and all the Saints in Paradise desire that after their departure we should recommend them to God in our prayers But as ye will deny me the last point so I deny you the first and that for these three reasons The first is that in the Epitaph he made for his friend Nepotian departed this world he calleth him blessed because hee neither heard nor saw the miseries of this world nor the barbarian rage against the Christians Whereunto hee addeth that those words were as one would say dumbe and pronounced in vaine because thâ—â— Nepotian heard him not and that he with the other Christians in his time was assured that Nepotian was in heauen with Iesus Christ