and for forty yeares theyr very Children shall bear theyr fornication and they shall suffer all the incommodities of wandering in a wildernesse Can then any man wonder if they themselves who had theyr pardon on these termes and then were slain the very next day by theyr enemies should for a time yea perhaps for forty years suffer some punishment after death Eternall punishment the old sin being forgiven they could not suffer if they did no new one yet manifestly some punishmēt after death could not but be due to thē seeing that so great a punishment was so justly laid upon theyr Childrē for theyr sake for forty whole years 7. Let vs go on 2. Sam. ch 12. vpon Davids great repentance for his great sins of Murther and Adultery God by the Prophet Nathan tould him v. 13. Our Lord allso hath taken away thy sin Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child that is borne unto thee shall surely die Behold the sin taken away and yet behold a punishment still due even for this deed Yea for this deed the sword shall not depart from thy house for ever I will take thy wives and give them to thy neighbours and they shall sleep with thy wives in the sight of this Sun v. 10.11 All which great punishments even after this forgiven sin did befall David and his family His son dyed v. 18. Three more of his own sons were slain Ammon in the next chapter Absolom chapter 18. Adonias 1. Kings v. 24. Yea Absolom before his death did raise an Army against David his Father and enforced him to fly Ierusalem being taken they pitched a tent for Absolom in the house top the leads of the place And he went to his Fathers Concubines before all Israël 2. Sam. Ch. 16. v. 22. Thus in the sight of the Sun lying with his own fathers wives called here concubines because they were not admitted to the title of Queenes 8. Our Lord sayd to Moses and Aaron Num. 20.12 because you have not believed me you shall not bring this people into the land which I will give them And v. 24. Aaron shall be gathared to his people that is shall dye for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the Children of Israël because he rebelled against my word and v. 28. Aaron dyed there in the top of the mountaine and Ch. 27. v. 13. God sayd to Moses when thou hast seen the land of promise thou allso shall be gathered vnto thy people as Aaron thy Brother was gathered For ye rebelled against my commandment Thus you see these two great Saints both punished with a most speedy death For that very sin of which they being admonished by God himself questionlesse did repent Whence after this sin committed God did so familiarly converse with Moses from ch 20. to 27. By all these and a world of other such examples it is made evident that upon the true repentance of the delinquent though the pain of eternall death be allwayes forgiven him yet often the delinquent remaines liable to suffer temporall punishments even as in this world though upon the repentance of a delinquent deserving death the punishment of death be forgiven him yet he is justly made liable to suffer imprisonment or condemned to pay such a fine 9. Out of this principle it clearly followeth that there is a Purgatory for seeing that a man may dye before he hath suffered or satisfyed for the punishment due by divine Iustice unto him it doth necessarily follow that this punishment according to the same Iustice must be given him in the world to come not in hell because the sin is forgiven him but yet in the prison of Purgatory out of which he shall not go untill he hath paid the last farthing Matth. 5.26 It remains then proved that this principle so well grounded in Scripture cannot be true unlesse it allso be true that there is a Purgatory 10. I passe to the second principle teaching that some sins are only veniall deserving indeed some punishment but not eternall For as he were a Tyrant who would punish every offence though it deserves but whipping with a cruell death so we should have too too hard opinion of Gods Iustice if we believed that for every merry lye for every idle word or passionate speech for every trifling away of a small time unprofitably for every vain or lazy action he should punish the delinquent with death everlasting and the endlesse and unspeakable torments of Hell fire if the person dyeth without repentance as thousands must needs do who dye suddenly or out of theyr senses or in theyr sleep c. 11. That there be such veniall sins or smaller offences as these are which be truly sins yet not mortall or damnable is clear out of Scripture Exod 1.17 But the Midwives of Egypt feared God and preserved the men Children contrary to the command of the King who questioning them for breaking his commandment they answered The Hebrew weomen are not as the Egyptian weomen for they have the knowledg to play the Midwife themselves and before we come to them they are delivered God therefore did well to the Midwives and because they feared God be built them houses Here you shee the Midwives telling an officious lye which is a sin yet this sin did not take from them the love of God or made God hate them but they even then feared God as the Scripture sayth and he for this theyr fear exercised not in this lye but in theyr Charity and Mercy highly rewarded them Yet this lying being a sin divine Iustice could not but reserve some punishment for it though not eternall 12. Even so Iosue 2.2 The spies sent by Iosue entred the house of Rahab And it was told the King of Iericho He sent to Rahab saying bring forth the men that came to the for they be spies and the woman taking the men hid them and sayd I confesse they came to me when the gate was a shutting in the dark and they withall went out I know not whither they be gone persue quickly and you shall overtake them But she made the men go up to the roof of her house and covered them with the stalk of flax which was there Here you have another officious lye but only a veniall not a damnable sin By lying she sinned venially but by that act of charitably hiding the spies she pleased God For S. Paul sayth by Faith Rahab perished not receiving the spies with peace Hebr. 11. 31. And S. Iames chap. 2. v. 25. Rahab was she not justifyed by works receiving the Messengers and putting them forth another way after that she had first hid them Of these kind of veniall sins the Scripture allso sayth Seven times shall the just fall and rise again Prov. 24.16 For these smaller sins cast us not out of Gods favour wherefore by his grace we soon get pardon
you harden your harts as Aegypt and Pharao did harden theyr hart And so David cryeth to us all Harden not your harts Psal 94 8. And Ezech. 18.31 Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart and new spirit for why will you dye ô house of Israël for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth sayth the Lord God Wherefore turne your selves and live ye 3. Behold how God himselfe declares that by the grace he offers us we may make our selves a new heart a new spirit turne our selves and live God speaks cleerly in Deut. 11.26 Behold I sett forth in your sight this day benediction and malediction benediction if you obey the Commandements of our Lord malediction if you obey not but revolt from the way which now I shew you Again Deut. 30.15 See I have sett before the this day life and good and contrariwyse death and evill And v. 19. I call for record this day heaven and earth I have sett before you life and death blessing and cursing Choosing therefore life See here the choise left to our freewill So Iosue 24.15 Chuse this day whom you will serve 2. Samuel 24.12 Choice is given the of three things Chuse one one of them which thou wilt And Philem. v. 14. Without thy minde I would do nothing that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity but willingly And 1. Cor. 7.37 He that standeth stedfast in his hart having no necessity but hath power over his owne will doth well 4. Behold we have power over our owne will to do that which is lesse perfect or that which is more perfect For as it there sayd he who giveth in marriage doth well he that giveth not doth better And wee have power over our owne will to do either Yea Gods grace so enables our power that Io. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God By this his power we clense our hands purify our harts clense our whole selves wee Matth. 12.33 make the tree and fruit good And as it is sayd Io. 3.3 Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himselfe Hitherto of free will in doing good 5. How frees will comes to lead us to all our evill S. Iames tells us c. 1. v. 14. Every one is tempted when he is drawne away of his owne lust and enticed hitherto no sinne but then when I pray note this then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sinne Then sinne and only then is hatched when free will yealds her selfe to concupiscence so as to consent to what is suggested Ye did not heare ye did choose that wherin I delighted not Isa 65.12 The Texts allso in the following point confirme free will THE XXXII POINT How this free will is still helped with sufficient Grace 1. IF God gave vs not allwayes that grace which is of sufficiēt force to excite us to the effectuall performance of all the good which we are bound to do or to the avoyding of all the evill which we are bound to avoyd our free will could neither do the one nor avoid the other All the former Texts then which so cleerly prove that wee by Gods helpe can if wee will do what wee are bound to do and can avoyd what wee are bound to avoyd do consequently prove that God allwayes gives such Grace to both effects as wants nothing of perfect sufficiency to produce them but our free consent Hence S. Paul thus exhorts us 2. Cor. 6 1. We then as workers togeather with him beseech you allso that you receive not the grace of God in vaine Excellently the Rhemists upon this Text. It lyeth in mans power and free will to frustrate or to follow this motion of God as this Text plainly proveth which really is the very selfesame that the Councill of Trent sayth Sess 6. c. 5. That by Gods exciting and helping grace we are disposed to cōvert our selves by freely assenting and cooperating to the same grace so that God touching the hart of mā by the illumination of the H. Ghost mā is neither void of all action he receiving that inspiration for he receives it so as having in his power to cast it away Neither can he without the grace of God move himselfe And therfore it followeth in the fourth Canon If any one shall say that the free will of man moved and excited by God doth cooperate nothing att all by giving her consent to God exciting and calling by which he may dispose himselfe to the grace of Iustification and that he cannot dissent if he will let him be Anathema Lett those harken to this who harken so much to the Iansenists And let us go on to speake of this sufficient grace which in the next point wee will shew more fully to be offered to all Of this grace Isaias 5.4 What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it For Prov. 1.24 I called you and you refused And that you may not say he only called and did not stretch forth his hand to helpe you to come the next words are I stretched forth my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my cousel And Isa 65.12 When I called ye did not answer when I spake ye did not heare and did choose that wherin I delighted not Though they did choose thus against Gods call yet this his call was so sufficient to have moved them that God tels Ezechiel c. 3. v. 6. that if he had sent him with so strong and powerfull preaching to barbarous and unknowen people They surely would have heard thee But the house of Israël will not heart thee for all the house of Israël are impudent and hard harted They will not be moved by those calls which would move others And because they answered like Protestants c. 33.10 If our transgressions and our sinns be upon us and we pine in them how should we then live God commands the Catholicke doctrine to be thus delivered Say unto them As I live sayth the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live Turne ye turne ye from your wicked wayes and why will you dye ô house of Israël Note how still he sayth he excites them sufficiently otherwise vainly had he sayd why will you dye ô house of Israël For they might reply we cannot but dye because thou givest us not the grace to live 2. And as God sayd of Ezechiels preaching that it was sufficient to have converted Barbarians though the Iewes would not be moved by it So Matth. 11. v. 20. of Christ it is sayd He began to upbraid the Citties wherein were done the most of his miracles for that they had not done pennance Wo be to the Corozain wo he to the Bethsaida for if in Tyre and Sidon had bene wrought the miracles that were wrought in thee they had
the soule do not still survive expecting to be reunited to the body S. Paul can speak here of no other baptisme which can profit the dead but the baptisme of pennance for so S. Marke and so S. Luke speaks And certain it is that S. Paul takes his argument from that which with profit to the dead can be performed for them Otherwise when he presseth so hotty those words To what end are they baptized for them one might easily answer to no end True then it is that to a very good end we undertake this painfull Baptisme of Pennance for the dead so taking upon us part of theyr fiery Baptisme in Purgatory This is the language of Holy Fathers expounding Scripture as Bellarmin sheweth l. 1. de Purgatorio cap. 4. out of S. Hierome S. Basil and Bede all expounding those words He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire Matth. 3. That is say they with the Holy Ghost shall he baptize in this world and with fire in the world to come To the same effect he cites S. Gregory Naz. calling Purgatory fire the last Baptisme 17. The second text is 1. Io. 5.16 If any man see his Brother to sin a sin not to death let him aske and life shall be given for them that sin not to death There is a sin to death committed by irrepentent sinners I do not say that he shall pray for it And so we never pray for those whom we know to dy unrepentant This is the true sense of this place and hence it is clear that there be sins to death and sins not to death The meaning is not that there be sins mortall and sins veniall neither according to our interpreters or according to yours who deny all veniall sins As for us we all hold prayer lawfully and fruitfully made for any sin whatsoever during the life of the sinner Wherefore a sin to death is to leave faith working by Charity even to death As S. Austin sayth de Correp gra c. 12. Whence it followeth contrariwise that a sin not to death is that which a man commiteth but doth not persever in it untill he be dead S. Iohn therefore encourageth us with confidence to pray for any whom we do not know to be departed in deadly sin unrepented For it is evident that S. Iohn speaks here of praying for the dead First because before the death of any sinner we may pray for pardon of his sins whatsoever they be and our prayer may be heard But S. Iohn speaks of a sinner now placed in such a state that prayer for him will not be available Therefore he speaks of praying for sinners who are dead And of those some are dead in theyr sins without repentance For these he bids us not pray Others of them are dead after they duly repented theyr sins and for these he encourageth us to pray I prove this secondly because he speaks of theyr prayer who know theyr brother to sin not to death that is to have given signes of true repentance For any such let him aske and life of glory shall be given him sinning not to death Now if this principle of praying for the dead be true it cannot but be true that there is a Purgatory seeing that prayer brings no relief to any that are either in heaven or Hell 18. To these three principles we may yet add severall Texts to the same effect as Apocal. 21. v. 27. There shall in no wise enter into it heaven any thing that defileth Many dy polluted with multitudes of veniall sins unrepented This pollution must be purged before they enter heaven Many allso dye before they have fully satisfied for all pain due to theyr mortall sins forgiven them This full satisfaction must be made before they enter heaven But where In that prison of which it is sayd Matth. 5. v. 27. Amen I say unto you thou shalt not go out from thence untill thou payest the last farthing Vpon which place S. Hierome This is that which he sayth thou shalt not go out of prison untill thou shalt pay even to thy litle sins And so S. Cyprian Now that after the paying of the last farthing there is going out and forgivenesse in the world to come Christ himself doth teach Matth. 12. v. 32. saying It shall not be forgiven the neither in this world nor in the world to come For it is non sense to say I will neither marry in this world nor in the world to come because in that world there is no marrying the like non sense would be in Christs words if there were no forgivenesse in the next world I conclude with S. Paul 1. Cor. 3. v. 15. If any mans work shall be burnt as wood hay and stubble will do by which lesser sins are signified he shall suffer losse But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire Which S. Ambrose Serm. 20. in Psalm 118. expounds thus Wheras S. Paul sayth yet so as by fire he sheweth indeed that he shall be saved but yet shall suffer the punishment of fire that being purged by fire he may be saved and not tormented for ever as infidels are by everlasting fire 19. All these proofes we have out of Scripture though they be so little noted by our adversaries who dayly read Scripture Yet they are to know that if they will do what the pretend they should by clear Scripture before they deny Purgatory shew us manifestly that there is no Purgatory For theyr prime pretence of just separation from us is that they were inforced thereunto for such errours as they can manifestly by only Scripture demonstrate to be damnable Let them shew this of Purgatory and we have done THE XXVI POINT Of Indulgences 1. TO understand this point well which is misunderstood by a world of people note first what we proved in the former point that full often after that God hath pardoned the guilt of sinne he doth not pardon the guilt of all that paine to which the sinner according to Iustice is still lyable for the sin forgiven Note secondly that we are most grossly belyed by our adversaries who say that our doctrine is that the Pope can forgive us our sins by graunting Indulgences unto us whereas no Catholicke Doctor can ever be shewed to have taught this doctrine We all unanimously teach that the Pope by no Indulgence can forgive any one single mortall or veniall sin For our Faith tells us that those sins are onely forgiven us by true contrition or due sorrow in the Sacrament of Confession joyned allwayes with a sincere purpose of offending no more That which is forgiven by an Indulgence is not the guilt of any sin either mortall or veniall but it is only the pardoning of part or of all that paine which yet according to Gods Iustice we stand lyable to pay for the sins already forgiven Neither doth any Catholicke Doctor teach that the Pope can forgive any sinner this paine at
done pennance in hairecloath and ashes long ago Though the Iewes wold not repent yet hence I am sure that Christ did sufficient for that end Hence that most just exprobration both here and Matth. 23.37 Ierusalem Ierusalem how often would I have gathered together thy Children as the hen gathereth together her chickins and thou wouldest not I would thou wouldest not therefore justly it followes Behold your house shal he left desert Again Rom. 10 21. All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people Again Apoc. 3.20 Behold I stand at the dore and knock if any man heare my voice and open the dore I will come in to him Whence again 1. Tim. 2.4 Who will all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth And therefore the same Apostle Rom. 2. v. 4. Doest thou contemne the riches of his goodnesse Patience Longanimity but according to the hardnes of thy hart thou heapest up to thy selfe wrath Behold a free will able to contemne the very riches of Gods goodnes in still giving graces and with so much patience and longanimity expecting the effect of them still by mans voluntary malice made fruitles Of such a soule it is sayd Apoc. 2.21 I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not You cannot blame a poore man for not dining because you gave him space to dine unles you allso give him meat wherewith to dine so God could not complain of our not repenting because we had time unlesse allso he offered us grace to repent THE XXXIII POINT This sufficient grace is denyed to none Christ dying even for reprobates 1. IT is evident in Scripture that no grace is givē to any but by the merits of Christ consummated with his death He hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ Eph. 1.3 So that if you see Point 30. Grace given to all to make the keeping of the commandemēts possible to all if you see point 31. That our free will is still by Gods grace able to do good if you see Point 32. This free will still helped by sufficient Grace to avoid evill and do good you must needs by all this see that this grace can come only from Christs death and therfore this grace being so oftē proved to be offered to all by the same Texts it is allso proved that Christ dyed for all Call to minde how many according to what was proved Point 29. do become reprobates who by vertue of Christs death once received the guift of heavenly grace in Baptisme The like grace was by Christs death given to that just man of whom Ezechiel cited there n. 5. sayth That his Iustices shall be forgotten because he persevered not and in his iniquities he shall dye He therefore became a Reprobate And thus it is true which God sayd to Abraham Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed And Gcn. 22.18 In thy seed shall be blessed all the nations of earth Now as S. Paul sayrh Gal. 3.14 The blessing of Abraham comes on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus There is none therfore to be excepted from being partaker of this blessing seing that all the families of the earth and all the nations of the earth do enioy it Yct it is evident that many among these families and nations be Reprobates Reprobates therfore enioy many blessings by Christs death which eould not be if Christ did not dye for them By the merits of Christs death many are called yet of these many few are choosen Matth. 22.14 Hence Ezech. 18.23 Why Is the death of a sinner my will sayth our Lord God and not that he convert from his wayes and live Which without grace from Christ he could not do Again c. 33.11 I will not the death of the impious but that the impious convert from his way and live Why will you dye ô house of Israël And so Prov. 1.24 To those to whome he sayd I have called and you have refused I have stretched out my hand and you have not regarded He shall say likewise I will laugh when your destruction cometh as a whirlewind v. 27. They therfore shall be destroyed and perish who by Christs death and merits had many graces helps and callings given them Note that in Christ the will with which he called them was a serious will of which 1. Tim. 2.4 He will all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth See in the former Point the many evident Text cited to this effect Hence it is sayd Rom. 2.4 He shewed the riches of his goodnes to those who dispised it treasuring up wrath to themselves Who be those but the Reprobate Again 2. Pet. 3.9 Willing that none should perish And Rom. 5.6 Christ did dye for the impious or ungodly And most cleerly 1. Io. 2.2 He is the propitiation of our sinns And not for ours only but allso for the whole world The whole world comprehends more reprobate then elect He then who dyed for the whole world did allso dye for the Reprobate Wherfore S. Paul more then once warneth us not to be occasion of damnation to those for whom Christ dyed So Rom. 14.15 Do not with thy meat destroy him for whom Christ dyed He therfore for whom Christ dyed may be destroyed and perish eternally Again 1. Cor. 8.11 Through thy knowledge shall thy weak Brother perish for whom Christ dyed And again 2. Pet. 2.1 False teachers bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction Hence you see that even those who have brought upon themselves destruction have done this by denying him who bought them at the price of his blood and death He therfore even dyed for those Children of perdition Whence Holy Fathers often say that son of perdition Iudas did shedde that blood with which he was redemed Let us then all be as is sayd 2. Cor. 5.14 Iudging this that if one dyed for all then all were dead S. Paul had not proved by Christ his dying for all that all were dead if any man could be found for whom Christ did not dye And that no one should presume to say that any such man could be found S. Pauls next words are Christ dyed for all v. 15. The Councel of Trent Sess 6. c. 3. citing these words sayth But though he dyed for all yet all receive not the benefit of his death but only those to whom the merit of his Passion is communicated Hence it is sayd 1. Tim. 4.10 We trust in the liveing God who is the Saviour of all men especially of those who believe Saviour he is to all men by giveing what sufficeth to save all mē but this sufficiency is effectuall to saluatiō only in the truly faithfull whose works answered to theyr beliefe and therefore chiefely he is theyr Saviour Yet it is true that speaking generally of us all 1. Cor.
well how much this great humility of his had advanced him yet higher 8. Theyr second objection is that of S. Paul Col. 2.18 Let no man beguile you in worshiping of Angels To answer this objection note that the former passage of S Iohn happened to him when he was in banishment in the Iland called Patmos Apoc 1. Whence it is manifest that S. Iohn in his Apocalips now cited used both these two severall adorations twice worshiping the Angel long after S. Paul had written these words forbidding the worship of Angels which words S Iohn understood either much better or at lest full as well as our Protestants understand them And therefore he knew very well that in adoring or worshiping the Angel two severall times he in neither of these times was seduced in the worship of Angels Wee therefore may adore Angels a S Iohn did and yet not be beguiled in this worship of Angels as S. Iohn was not Those then are rather seduced by willfull mistake of what this worship of Angels is who to make us guilty of it define it to be such a worship as must make S. Iohn as guilty as they would make us Therefore this Text is fondly alledged against us for holding only and maintaining such worship of Angels as S Iohn used twice and that long after he knew what S. Paul had written This then serves our turne that in what sense soever S. Paul is to be understood he cannot be understood in a sense forbidding any thing contrary to that which S. Iohn did and which wee with him do practise The truth is S. Paul speaks only of such Religious worship of Angels as had been taught among the Iewes by Simon Magus who would have Sacrifice offered to all Angels as well evill as good Epiph. heresi 25. Chrysostom Hom. 7. in hunc locum And this is that which is condemned in the Councel of Loadicia c. 35. 9. There is another very pertinent exposition of this Text in Tertul. l. 5. contra Marcionem That is that the Apostle laboreth in that place to prove that the new Christiās should not keep the old Iudaicall Law and for this end he sayth let no man beguile you in the worship of Angels by saying that wee owe so much respect to the Angels that although Christ hath abolished the old Law yet because that old Law was given them by the Ministery of Angels Act. 7.53 it ought still to be kept out of respect to the Angels by whose Ministery it was given Again some then taught that this as a heavenly verity had been revealed by some of the Angels But the Angels revealers of such doctrine being Angels of darknes S. Paul calleth the Iudaicall observation of meats maintained by these Christians out of this principle the doctrine of devils 1. Tim. 4.1 Such allso is the worship of Angels given them by such observances And it is to be noted that immediately before these words he expresly spook against the Iudaicall observation of meats saying let no man judge you in meat v. 16. Of which Text see more Point 45 n. 5. 6. THE XXXVII POINT The Angels and Saints can hear our Prayers 1. PRotestants undertaking to reforme all our pretended errors out of Scripture can with no ground pretend to reforme our error in believing Saints to hear us unles they can shew some cleer Text to prove that Saints cannot hear us It is enough for us to go on still believing what wee ever believed unles they can shew us Scripture to the contrary They produce but one poor Text falling farre short of any cleer proofe It is Isa 63. v. 16. Thou art our father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israël acknowledge us not Thou ô Lord art our father our Redeemer I answer that the Iewes considering how enormiously they had continually swarved from the life example and instruction of Abraham and Iacob did with great reason feare that they would not look upon them as theyr Children as that word acknowledge doth expresse Wherefore knowing Gods mercy to be infinitely greater then that of the greatest Saints they hoped that he still would looke upon them They did not say Abraham and Iacob knew not theyr state or condition but they conceived that they for theyr sinns well known to them had all reason not to owne them as Children and to say wee know you not as Christ shall say one day to the reprobate 2. Again though wee should graunt that Abraham and Iacob did not know the state of the Iewes then when Abraham and Iacob were still in Limbo Patrum it doth not follow that the Saints now present with God enlightned with the light of beatificall glory cannot by vertue of that light know all that passeth on earth as farre at lest as any thing maketh to theyr felicity For it is a part of hapines to know how things passe with our deerly beloved friends especially when wee are in a condition to helpe them easily as the Saints are Yet is allso false that Abraham even in Limbo knew not what passed among the Iewes after his death For he could tell Dives that his five Brethren had Moyses and the Prophets Luke 16. v. 28. though Moyses and the Prophets lived long after his death See n. 4. 3. As our adversaries have but this one poor proofe out of Scripture against us so wee have many for us Iacob calls upon an Angel to blesse his Children No man would call upon one who could not hear The Text is Gen. 48 v. 16. I shall speak largely of it in the next Point n. 2. Again 1. Sam. 28. The witch whom Saul consulted calling by her charmes upō the divel instantly was heard by him for presently she did that which without helpe of some ill spirit could not be done Shall devells hear witches presently and shall saints want power to hear their suppliants See what I here say n. 7. Raphel one of the seaven which assist before our Lord Tob. 12.15 Although he be there assisting yet he truly told Toby v. 12. When thou didst pray with tears and didst bury the dead by night I offered thy prayer to our Lord. If this be not Canonical Scripture yet at lest it is a most ancient Ecclesiasticall History and of such credit that SS Cyprian Ambr. Austin Hierom Gregory the 3. Councel of Carthage and many more held it Scripture ād consequently they thought it as true as Scripture that Saints could hear our prayers And you must bring something more then your owne imagination to discredit it on this account Eliphaz in Iob c. 5.1 spoak thus to him call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne This sheweth the common practise of invocating Angels in that time for as then no Saints but Angels were in heaven Whence the Septuagint whom you use to extoll do here interpret the Saints to be the Holy Angels David supposed the Angels to hear him
laudable to pray to them 1. FIrst Protestants often ask us where wee have a command to pray to Angels or Saints I answer that if there be many advantages accruing to us by the devout Invocation of Saints then it is apparent that Prudence and Charity to our selves ought to excite us thereunto as it doth to seek shelter when it raines without beeing called to go under shelter by the cryers voice as they say some simple people are it is as simple to exact a commād in a thing of greater benefit I say moreover that if there be a command to begg the prayers of Saints living on earth that command a fortiore urgeth us to begg the prayers of Saints living in heaven they being more willing and more able to help us If there be no such command and yet wee may without any command practise that laudably so allso may wee laudably practise this without a command seeing that they hear us as well as the Saints living with us Why then may wee not say to Saints in heaven that which S. Paul sayd to Saints on earth Brethren pray for us Iobs friends were commanded to go to Iob to pray for them as wee shall shew more fully n. 9. You all keep the Sunday Where is that commanded to you You answer it is sufficient to see examples of it among the first Christians So say I it is sufficient wee shew you exemples in Scripture of such as prayed to Angels For of praying to Saints the old Testament could not write no Saints being as then in heaven The four Ghospels writt no farther then the Ascension of Christ to heaven before which no Saint allso was in heavē Wherefore you need not wonder that in the 4. Ghospels you see no mention of praying to Saints in heaven In S. Pauls Epistles you find him begging prayers of Saints on earth So Hebr. 13. v. 18. Pray for us Seeing then that prayer to Saints in heaven is more beneficiall to us it is allso by manifest consequence more to be used by us And as often as the Scripture exhorts us to promote our saluation and spirituall good by all meanes wee can so often doth it exhort us to use this meanes as much or more then begging the prayers of others upon earth In fine when a thing hath many spirituall goods in it wee are sufficiently invited thereunto without a command So no body commanded Timothie still to drink water S. Iohn to drink no wine and to come neither eating nor drinking nor his Disciples to fast often See Point 22. It is sufficient that wee obtain much good thereby 2. That by praying to Saints wee obtain much good I prove by proving that Saints can and will help us which all they supposed who called upon them as Gen. 48.15 And Iacob blessed the sons of Ioseph and sayd God before whom my Fathers walked the Angels that delivered or redeemed me from all evill blesse the lads Hee calls first upon God and then upon his good Angel to helpe those Children And he tells you that this Angel delivered him from severall evils How Iacob prayed this Angel is expressed Osee 12.4 Iacob prevailed against the Angel and hee weept ande made supplication unto him So Iobs friend following the practise of those times did bidd him call upon some Saint or Angel as I shewed last point n. 3. How well the Angels wish us theyr joy for the conversion of sinners testifyeth And if the evill Angels are so restles in circling about to see whom they can devour and accuse our Bretheren night and day as I shewed in the former point n. 7. The good Angels are no lesse carefull to seek whome they can defend help and save 3. Hence that earnest prayer of that Angel Zach. 1. v. 12. And the Angel of our Lord sayd ô Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Ierusalem and on the Citties of Iuda against which thou hast had indignation these three score and tenne yeares What call you praying if this be not Now hear with what effect this Angel prayed for them And our Lord answered the Angel good words confortable words Behold here this Angel would and could help our necessityes And of S. Michael in particular Daniel sayth c. 10. v. 21. There is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your Prince And c. 12. v. 1. At that time shall stand up Michael the great Prince who standeth for the Children of thy people In what doth S. Michael stand for Gods people if he doth not so much as pray for them 4. That by the merits of Saints wee may begg and obtain favours I prove allso thus 1. Kings 15.5 When wicked Abias reigned in Iuda for Davids sake our Lord his God gave him a lamp in Ierusalem that he might rayse up his sonne after him and establish Ierusalem because David had done right in the eyes of our Lord. When a hundred eighty five thousand Assyrians came to besiege Ierusalem God by his Prophet sayd to Ezechias I will protect this Citty that I may save it for my owne sake and for Davids sake my servant Isa 37. v. 25. That is say the Protestants for my promise made to David But wee say if they seeke over all Scripture they will find no such promise made to David of defending or protecting Ierusalem Yea wee prove there could be no such promise because Ierusalem in the captivity was not protected but ruinated 5. The power which the prayers of Saints have and that they use carefully to pray for us is often expressed in Scripture Ieremy 15.1 Though Moyses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be toward the people By which manner of speeeh it appeares that Moyses and Samuel long sincc dead were after theyr death used to pray for the people and that theyr prayers were most powerfull So a King may say though my Mother shall come to me and pray I will not hear her You shall see Daniel of like merit and power with God in just such another Text. Ezech. 14. v. 14. I will kill out of the Land man and beast And if these three men shall be in the midst thereof Noë Daniel and Iob they by theyr Iustice shall deliver theyr own soules Yet though these three men were in it sayth our Lord they shall deliver neither Sons nor Daughters but themselves alone shall be delivered Which he repeates again v. 20. This joyning of Daniel a Saint then living with Noë and Iob dead so many hundred yeares before sheweth that these men by theyr prayers no lesse powerfully interposed themselves then Daniel living Of Elias his care to assist his people after his death wee gave you a memorable testimony in the former point n. 5. In the famous vision of Iudas Machabeus 2. Mach. c. 15. v. 12. First Onias who had been the high Priest but was now dead stretching forth his hands prayed for all the people of the Iewes
for you Him I will accept that is his mediation shall avail to your pardon Neither do wee dishonour but wee rather honour our Saviour when wee desire Saints to pray for us For by this wee shew the dignity of his merits to be so great that by his merits Saints are advanced to so great favour with God that theyr prayers hence come to be so effectuall as were those of à Moyses who living yet on earth could obtain so often pardon for the whole people of Israël From whence allso it proceeds that thc Saints in heaven as well as the Saints here living are in Scripture sayd to save others Hence S Paul 1. Tim. 4. v. 16 For in doing this thou shalt both save thy selfe and them that hear the. And S. Iâ—mes c. 5.20 He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death 10. Neither lastly do wee act against that precept of Christ saying Come ye all to me A S. Paul did not act against the sayd precept when after our Saviour had sayd these words he himself went begging the prayers of the Thessalonians and Hebrews in his Epistles to them For there be two wayes of going to Christ The first immediatly by our selves approaching reverently in prayer to him The second and more powerfull way is when wee humbly acknowledging our unworthynes and the meanesse of our poor prayers do procure the intercession of Christs greatest friends to accompany with theyr joynt Mediation our humble petitions And thus though the Centurion did not personally come to Christ yet he is sayd by Saint Matthew truly to have come to Christ There came to him a Centurion Mat. 8.5 And yet S. Luke sayd he did not come to him for Luke 7.3 only he sent unto him the elders of the Iewes to interceed beseeching him that he would come And again when he was now not farre from the house the Centurion sent friends to him saying I am not whorthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof And Christ marveling sayd neither in Israël have I found such faith Behold this more humble way of coming to Christ by Mediatours and Intercessors supplying our unworthynes farre preferred before the former way and that even for the faith of the person so approaching I have not found so great faith no not in Israel Ponder well this passage THE XXXIX POINT That among the Saints it is most laudable to pray to our Lady And of the Beads sayd to her honour 1. AS wee are farre from honouring our Lady more then her son because wee know that all the grace shee hath and all her power in the Court of heaven is wholy and entirely by her son so are wee allso farre from equalizing any Saint in grace or power to the most Blessed Mother of God who even before she was his Mother was by the Archangel pronunced full of grace Luke 1.28 The higest Saints in heaven are only stiled servants of God But our Lady is truly stiled Gods Mother Whence is this to mee that the Mother of my Lord should come to me Luke 1.43 In all well ordered families the power of the Lords Mother incomparably exceeds the power of all his servants God who hath commanded us in a speciall commandment to honour our Parents cannot without impiety be thought not to yeald a speciall honour to his Mother All generations shall call her blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to her Luke 1.48 2. Two things cheifly concurre to eminent Sanctity Exteriour advantages to improve our selves in grace and interiour assistance of the Holy Ghost to make best use of those advantages Our Lady in the exteriour occasions of improving her selfe in grace had the greatest advantages that ever any creature had even after shee was declared full of grace Shee had our Saviour lodging in her wombe nine Months And she knew who he was aÌ„d what graces he could bestow upoÌ„ her if shee neglected not to begg them Shee did see the humility of his Birth aÌ„d beheld all that theÌ„ happened But Mary keept all these things and pondered them in her hart Luke 2.19 All that wee read of our Lord untill he was thirtie yeare old is that he lived subject to his parents And his Mother keept all these sayings in her hart Luke 2.51 Shee then had for 30 yeares together the benefit of his example to informe her the benefit of his conversation to move her the benefit of his instruction to teach her all shee could desire to learne or he desire to impart to her When her Sonne began to preach to the world and the people all sayd Never man did speak as he did who can doubt but a Mother so deerly affecting such a Sonne did hear him more frequently and devoutly then any other still keeping and pondering all in her hart But her speciall harvest was in the time of his Passion which her compassion made allso to be hers Mothers will understand some what of the Martyrdome shee then suffered But no body can understand how much after his death and ascension her soule dayly was improved by continuall Meditation of what shee had seen and allso by the devout feeding upon the Body of our Lord which shee made her dayly bread Now as for the interiour assistance of the Holy Ghost exciting her to make the best advantages of all these occasions wee know that all such excitations and graces are dispensed by the hands of her own Sonne Is not shee then the likest to have the largest share in all these graces which graces her Son allso had instructed her to use so well to her best advantage and to theyr howerly increase and improvement 3. Hence it is that as shee surpassed all in the practise of vertue so shee is raysed above all in supereminency of heavenly glory Whence it followeth that both love to God and love to her neighbour being most perfect in her she by them both is most powerfully moved to afford to all such as devoutly call upon her all the assistance she is able Wherefore seeing her power is farre surpassing that of other Saints wee have all reason to believe her intercession to be most available for us 4. Among other devotions which wee use to procure this her so advantagious intercession one is to say the Rosary or Beades to her honour Not that our Church commands any one to say these beades but that she holds this to be a very commendable thing which she knoweth full well to be but a late practise of piety as allso many other prayers are most pious which were made long since the Apostles time For you cannot prove that in theyr time any one prayer which is in your Common Prayer Booke was used except the Pater noster and Creed Will you say then that the use of them is not laudable Let us thâ—n go on 5. As the Psalter consists of a hundred and fifty Psalmes so in imitation of that the