the Worship of God in this opposition than the Worship of good Spirits And doubtless upon this supposition he would have said that we do not use Prayers and Hymns to evil but to good Spirits I cannot but set down here the words of the Church of Smyrna in their Golden Epistle concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp It seems the Jews had suggested that if the Christians could gain his Body they would perhaps forsake Christ and Worship him their Love and Reverence of that holy Man their Bishop was so well known Against which suggestion the Smyrnians thus declare themselves These men know not that we can neither forsake Christ who suffered for the Salvation of all that are saved the Innocent for the Guilty nor Worship any other Him truly being the Son of God we adore But the Martyrs and Disciples and Followers of the Lord we justly love for that extraordinary good mind which they have expressed toward their King and Master of whose happiness God grant that we may partake and that we may learn by their Examples This Testimony of the Church of Smyrna I rather produce in this place because in two Ancient Manuscripts cited by the most learned Arch. B. Vsher the Latin Translation of their Protestation runs thus See Act. Usser Polic. or Answ to the Jesuita Challenge Praying to Saints We Christians can never forsake Christ who vouchsafed to suffer so great things for our sins nor give away the Worship of Prayer to any other Clemens Alexandr defines Prayer by its Relation to God in which as (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bellarmin acknowledges he was followed by divers Fathers in the Fourth Century But nothing can be more plain than this Passage of his Since there is but one good God both We and Angels pray to him (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. l. 7. p. 721. alone that those good things may be given us which we want and those continued which we have If half so plain a Testimony could have been produced out of the genuine Writings of these Fathers for praying to others besides God as these are for praying to God alone I fear we should have been counted very impudent in our Appeals to the Primitive Church and the best Antiquity The same Person had said not long before We do justly honor God by Prayer and with Righteousness we send up this best and most Holy Sacrifice And I find this to have been another general Notion of the Worship of Prayer amongst the Ancients that it was a Sacrifice much better than those more sensible Sacrifices that were either offered by the Gentiles or required by the Law of Moses and more pleasing to God Thus says Tertullian We sacrifice for the Health and Safety of the Emperor but we do it to our God and his God and we do it as God hath commanded with (c) Pura prece pure Prayer or purely with Prayer for so he is to be understood in as much as he opposeth the Purity of Prayer to the (d) Odoris aut sanguinis Yert ad Scap. c. 2. Sacrifices of Intense and Victims And therefore says he We pray rather for the Health of the Emperor desiring it of him who can give it This smart Writer did in his way very plainly represent our Doctrine in the fore-mentioned Saying We Sacrifice says he but to our God and his God There he represents Sacrifice as due to God only But we do it as God hath commanded with pure Prayer There he represents Prayer as a Sacrifice more Excellent than that of Odors and Blood which the Gentiles offered And can any thing be more evident than that he appropriates this Sacrifice so to God that it ought not to be given to any else Thus also he proves against the Jews That we must now sacrifice to God not earthly but spiritual Sacrifices for 't is written A contrite Heart and an humble Heart Ad. Jud. c. 5. is a Sacrifice to God and elsewhere Offer the Sacrifice of Praise and pay thy Vows to the most High And therefore a little after he affirms Christ to be the High Preist of eternal Sacrifices in Opposition to those that are abolished Nay he says that the pure Offering (e) Simplex oratio Adv. Marei c. 1. foretold in Malachy which all Nations should bring is the Simplicity of Prayer from the pure Conscience which he elsewhere describes by Blessing and Praise and Hymns and so is the same with Pure Prayer mentioned before This is enough to shew that in his days the Church would no more have offered Invocations of Prayer or Praise to any but to God then they would have offered Victims to any but to him if they had been continued in the Service of the Church And by this we may see in what sort we are to understand that Offering for the Martyrs which we read of in Tertullian and St. De Coronâ c. 3. De Exhort c. 13. Demen. Cyprian Says Tertullian We make Oblations for them that are departed in Memory of their Birth-days i. e. of the Days wherein they were crowned with Martyrdom And thus St. Cyprian writing to the Church of Carthge concerning Celerinus and making mention of his Uncles Laurentinus and Ignatius says Cypr. Epist 34. Rig. We offer Sacrifice for them you may remember as often as we celebrate the Days upon which the Martyrs suffered with an Anniversary Commemoration And thus he writes to the Clergy of Carthage concerning the Confessors that should dye in Prison Note down the days of their death Id. Epist 37. that we may Celebrate their Commemorations amongst the Memories of the Martyrs c. The meaning of which is that they gave Thanks and offered Praises to God for those holy Persons by name who had constantly suffered Death for the Faith of Christ These were the Sacrifices they offered for the Martyrs the Sacrifices of Praise not excluding what by other Authorities is evident enough the Sacrifice of Prayers for them too and for all the departed Saints that they might at length obtain the promised Resurrection I do not say that the Worship of Christians consisted only of these Sacrifices See Mr. Mede upon Mincha purum They had the Oblation of Bread and Wine besides before the Eucharist and the Representative Sacrifice of our Lord's Body and Blood in the Eucharist It is enough that the Religious Invocations of the Church were held to be the Worship of Sacrifice and that of (f) Sacrificiorum officia potiora Adv. Mass a more excellent Kind then the earthly Sacrifices of Jews and Gentiles as Tertallian calls them And let the pretended Catholicks tell us to whom the Worship of Sacrifice should be offered but to God They have I confess kept the Stile of the Antient Church and pretend to Sacrifice to God and to him only But the Change which they have made in the Doctrine and Practice of the Church hath obliged them to apply that
Faithful arrived to the knowledge of the Martyrs yet he doubted not that the Martyrs prayed for the Faithful which is all that can be proved from these places But what is this to the Invocation of them which St. Austin also expresly denies in saying that they are not invocated by the Priest who Sacrifices And here we â—â—â—st remember what the Ancient Fathers meant by the Christian Sacrifice Not only the Oblation of Bread and Wine brought by all the People and presented at the Holy Table with the Prayers of the Priest nor onely the Consecration of those Elements afterwards to be the Memorials of Christs Body and Blood which they first laid before God and then distributed to the Faithful I say we must remember that they did not onely mean these visible Sacrifices but likewise all the Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings of the Church which were Vocal Sacrifices together with Contrition of Heart and all pious Affections answerable to the Outward Sacrifices by which the Faithful offer'd up * Aug. de Civ lib. 10. c. 6. themselves a Sacrifice to God This was that Reasonable Service and unbloudy Sacrifice which the Priest in behalf of all the People solemnly offered up to God So that St. Austin's meaning is this That the Faithful being assembled at the Memories of the Martyrs for Divine Service the Martyrs are not Invocated by the Priest in any part of the Administration And therefore the distinction of Sacrificial and Extrasacrisicial Prayers will not avoid this Testimony since the Prayers of the Faithful at their Religious Assemblies were all Sacrificial Prayers as being part of the Christian Sacrifice And St. Austin whose Testimony this is did in this notion of Sacrifice clearly follow the Doctrine of the more Ancient Fathers Let us observe saith he Ibid. c. 5 that where God said he would not have Sacrifice there it is shewn that he will have Sacrifice He willeth not the Sacrifice of a slain Beast but he will have the Sacrifice of a contrite Heart And afterwards he addeth these instances as the Ancients had done before him The Psalmist saith Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise and pay thy vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glâ—â—â—fie me 'T is true that he sometimes distinguisheth the visible Oblations of the Church from Prayers and Praises as where he argues Ibid. c. 19. that the visible Sacrifices are to be offered up to God onely whose visible Sacrifice we our selves are in our hearts as in vocal Prayer and Praise we pray to God and praise him onely to whom we offer the devotion of the Heart But though in that place he doth not call Prayers and Praises Sacrifices as he doth elsewhere very frequently yet even there he taketh it for granted that when the Faithful were assembled for praying to God and praising him they addressed themselves to none but to Him It is so plain even from this Father that the Invocation of Martyrs and Saints was no part of the Service of the Church that I have thought sit to insist onely upon his Testimony especially since Monsieur de Meaux has been pleased to bring in the words of the Council of Trent explaining their practise in Invocating the Saints Because saith he the Council doth almost make use of the very words of this Holy Bishop Let us first hear the words of the Council The Church does not offer Sacrifices to the Saints but to God alone who has Crowned them The Priest also does not address himself to St. Peter and St. Paul saying I offer up to you this Sacrifice but rendring thanks to God for their Victories he demands THEIR ASSISTANCE to the end that those whose Memory me celebrate upon Earth would vouchsafe to pray for us in Heaven Now let us hear the words of St. Austin in that place to which Monsieur de Meaux refers But we do not appoint Temples Priesthoods Holy Rites and Sacrifices to the Martyrs because not They but their God is our God Indeed we honour the Memories of the Martyrs as of holy men c. But who of the Faithful ever heard the Priest standing at the Altar Ibid. lib. 8. c. 27. though erected for the Honour and Worship of God over the holy Body of a Martyr to say in the Prayers I offer Sacrifice to thee O Peter or Paul or Cyprian when at their Memories 't is offered to God who made them both Men and Martyrs and associated them to the Angels in heavenly glory that by this solemnity we may give thanks to the True God for their Victories and that we by renewing in our selves the remembrance of them may be excited by imitating them to strive for such Crowns and Palms as they have obtained †Eodem invocato in Auxilium THE SAME True God BEING INVOCATED FOR OVR ASSISTANCE It seems there is almost no difference made by putting the Saints instead of God Let Monsieur de Meaux lay his hand upon his Heart and tell us honestly for once whether Eodem invocato in Auxilium do not refer to the True God spoken of before and not to the Saints And if so what there is in this passage of the Holy Bishop that makes for the Invocation of Saints And now Monsieur de Meaux may go on as long as he thinks fit to make Triumphs Pastoral Letter p. 29. upon our Acknowledgement that during the Fourth Century the Church desired the Prayers of Martyrs and honoured Reliques For he goes on in this strain in his late Pastoral Letter where he declaims so Tragically against those that if you will believe him charge Idolatry upon the Illustrious Fourth Age yea that very Age wherein the Prophecies of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ were accomplished more manifestly than ever when the Kings of the Earth till then Persecutors of the Name of Jesus became according to the Ancient Oracles his Adorers My Lord the Bishop of Meaux knew when it was convenient to use the stile of a perfect Gentleman p. 30. But since he wrote his Exposition the Case of some of his Countrey-men is something altered though the Cause be the same Now the Blasphemies of the Protestants put him into sits of Amazement p. 2â— and he cannot tell what Horrour they are worthy of But to do him right he keeps true to one old principle that will I believe be dear to him as long as he lives p. 16. Once more my Brethren let us not dispute let us not run into Controversie No by no means for it is much easier to declaim than to dispute to take things for granted than to prove them and to make general slourishes than to enter into examination of particulars What can be more easie than to exclaim in this manner The Ambroses the Augustines the Hieroms p. 30. the Gregories of Nazianzene the Basilius 's and the Chrysostomes whom all Christians have
them because I will here add two other differences which may of themselves be sufficient to shew that Monsieur de Meaux who says we begin to acknowledge that the Invocation of Saints was established in the Fourth Age would be very much beholden to us if we should make such an Acknowledgment For when the Truth comes to be understood it amounts to this and no more That there were but some beginnings and steps made towards this practise at the latter end of the Fourth Age and that these beginnings were not then established neither For first The instances produced to shew that devout people were wont to recommend themselves to the Prayers of the Martyrs do generally shew that they did it at the respective Memories of those Martyrs where the Martyrs were believed to be within hearing which as I shall presently shew makes a great difference in the case In the mean time I do not assert that it was universally believed that the Souls of the Martyrs were present at their Memories Aug. de Curâ pro Mortuis c. 16. for St. Austin himself durst not affirm it and though he thought men fared the better for the Prayers of the Martyrs yet whether they heard those who called to them at their Memories or where-ever else they were thought to have appeared he professed that it passed the strength of his Understanding and this although he allowed greater priviledges to the Martyrs than to other Saints St. Austin could not digest an Opinion that St. Hierom indeed made no difficulty to admit that a Martyr could at the same time be in places very distant from one another Hieron Adv. Vigilant Tom. 2. p. 158. He that will consult St. Hierom about his reason may sind it in a little compass and when he has done he will be satisfied that I do not forbear the mentioning of it for any disadvantage it would bring to our Cause But that which I at present assert is this That where we find the Faithful desiring any relief by the Prayers of the Martyrs whether they prayed to the Martyrs themselves or not we still find them at the proper Memories of those Martyrs Thus St. Basil just now quoted You that coming to THIS PLACE have found him an helper to your Prayer Thus St. Hierom also represents Constantia at the Tomb of Hilarion in the relation already mentioned And thus St. De Civ D. lib. 22. c. 8. Austin in that famous Chapter of Miracles done by the Memories of Martyrs where that relief which was supposed to be obtained by the Twenty Martyrs was asked at their Memory and not at St. Stephen's as St. Stephen was supposed to help those that prayed at his Memory In like manner St. Chrysostom who brings in the Emperour doing that honour to the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as to stand intreating their Prayers St. Chrysostom I say introduces him to their Monuments or Memories where it was that this honour was done to them And so in the Oration upon Bernix Prosdoce Domnina we find this exhortation Chrys Tom. 5. Hom. 65. Let us not onely upon this Anniversary Festival but upon other days also stick close to them and intreat them that we may obtain their Patronage The same observation holds if you go to the Oration upon the Aegyptian Martyrs Id. Tom. 5. and to that upon Ignatius and indeed it holds so generally that it should in reason interpret any place that mentions Invocation of the Martyrs where it is not evidently expressed that it was done at their Memories Aug. de Curâ ubi suprà I mean as I said before their respective Memories Unless some other place be distinctly mentioned as in that place of St. Austin now referred to where the presence of the Martyr out of his Memory was supposed to be witnessed by his appearing or by his works But this was very extraordinary The usual way of solliciting the Prayers of a Martyr was to go to his Memory The hardest passage of all to be accounted for by this Rule is that of St. Ambrose where he tells the Widows that the Angels are to be intreated as well as the Martyrs Ambros De Viduis Tom. 4 Col. 505 506. For though later times have found Reliques of Angels yet they had none then The whole place is something obscure yet I will try to give the best account of it that I can His business was to perswade Widows to continue unmarried and he tells them that by good works and devotion they would gain the assistance of the Prayers of the Apostles and Martyrs who would now help those that were not a-kin to them as effectually as they helped their kinred by their Prayers when they were upon Earth And then he has these words I would to God that there was somebody who could so readily pray for us or indeed that very Peter who prayed for his Wives Mother and Andrew his Brother for then they were able to obtain for their kinred now they can obtain for us and for all I can make nothing of this but that St. Ambrose was not sure St. Peter and St. Andrew were near enough to have their Prayers desired or to be spoken to though the best way to engage their Prayers and to have them near us was to abound in Alms and Devotion But then he adds The Angels are to be intreated who are given to us to be our Guardians The Martyrs are to be intreated whose Patronage we seem to challenge after a sort by having the Pledge of their Bodies They can pray against our sins who have washed away their own sins if they had any by their own Bloud So that the conclusion seems to be this that although the best way of engaging all the Apostles and Martyrs was to abound in Alms and Prayers yet it would be very good also for every one to intreat his Guardian Angel to pray for him and to desire the same of those Martyrs whose Reliques were a Pledge of their nearness and presence If this be not the meaning of St. Ambrose for I do not love to be confident about the meaning of a place that is not very clear I shall be glad to be better instructed If it be this is a farther confirmation of what I have observed that the calling upon Martyrs in those days went by their Reliques and Memories And by the way this single instance of advising to intreat the Angels too seems to proceed upon the common reason viz. a supposition of the presence of those Angels that God had given for our Guard And it was a current Opinion amongst some of the Greek Fathers whom St. Ambrose studied and imitated very industriously that every good man had his Angel though I am not satisfied that any but St. Ambrose carried the Opinion to this conclusion that men should intreat their Angels to pray for them So that notwithstanding the singularity of St. Ambrose in advising to call