divales Sacras Jussiones de veniendo aut mittendo ad Concilium recepit The Authority of the Council doth not so depend upon him by whom it was Summoned so that unless it be Summoned by the Pope it can be no Council for so we shall avoid the first eight General Councils for we read they were Summoned by the Emperour and not by Popes and the Pope received the Emperour's Majesty's Commandment to come or send to Councils as other Patriarchs did And your own Writers have owned that the Council of Ephesus which was the third General Council was held under Theodosius the younger and by his Order that Holy Father did preside and not from any Legantine Authority he received from Pope Coelestine Here you fail in this particular and therefore we have just cause to question the whole But this shall suffice as to the first Enquiry 2. I pray how do you prove that Cyril spake this in the Name of the whole Council For if that the whole Council was not for Praying to the Saints and Angels he could not be said to speak in their Names Then how could he in their Names make such an Address to the Virgin without being deputed by them If it had been said by you that he did in the Name of Theodosius the Emperour make this Prayer you had said something for Praying to Saints was then scarce heard of in the Church of God. I confess toward the latter part of the fourth Century it began to creep into the Church but was questioned again by the Council of Carthage and the Council of Laodicea both which Councils determined against the Invocation of Saints and Angels In the 35 Canon of the Council of Laodicea it was thus determined That Christians ought not to leave the Church of God and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden Let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. The Apostle saith he commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up our Thanksgiving unto God the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea following also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled at Laodicea the chief City of Phrygia and forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Can it then be supposed that the whole Council of Ephesus should be agreed in the Point of Praying to Saints and Angels Since both these Councils had determin'd against it how then could St. Cyril do this in the Name of the whole Council For it is well known that there was yet never any General Council that had determin'd for it 3. Let us know Sir how you prove that ever St. Cyril did speak those Words or make such a formal Prayer as you pretend he made I have given myself the trouble of Reading the Council of Ephesus but I find nothing at all of the business and therefore you would do well to examine that Council once more and let us have the Prayer in Greek without an c. But I will tell you I have great reason to suspect the truth of it because I perceive you take it upon the credit of Baronius who was one of your own Writers and therefore worthily suspect it for certainly it was his design in all his History to promote the Doctrine and Interest of the Church and See of Rome If you would shew us St. Cyril's Speech it would go a great way further as to its reputation Yet Sir consider your Divines have falsified that Council of Ephesus and have represented that Council to have determin'd against administring the Communion in both Kinds which is a meer falshood because the Cup was not denyed to the Laity for several hundred years after But if it were taken away why was there no Decree made thereupon that is extant in that Council nor any mention of by any Learned Man within a great time after and those that laid first that Doctrine upon the whole Council might as easily make a Speech for St. Cyril and a Prayer for him too to the Virgin Mary the better to give countenance to that way of Worship The next proof you bring sorth is a Prayer of St. Gregory Nyssen unto St. Theodore in these words Martyr use the liberty you enjoy speak for your Fellow-Servant you have conquer'd the World but you have not forgotten the Passions and Necessities our human Condition is liable unto Ask for Peace that those Publick Meetings may continue that the enraged and wicked Barbarians may not plunder and destroy our Churches and Altars that no impious Man tread the Holy Thing under-foot for we that have been untouched and alive do own ourselves obliged to you for that Blessing and will ask your Protection and Security for the future No doubt but St. Theodere might be a Worthy Saint and Martyr of Christ to whom this St. Gregory might use a Rhetorical Apostrophe tho he were not present in Person yet he might be present by his Picture or some Monument that was set up in the Honour of so great a Saint But Sir Remember the Psalmist He calls upon Angels to Praise God and all the Hosts of Heaven the Sun the Moon and all the Stars of Light he calls upon Dragons and all Deeps he calls upon the Fire Haile Snow and Vapour to Praise God not that the Fire did hear him or the Sun Moon and Stars or Mountains Hills fruitful Trees or Cedars did hear him yet here was Invocation but answer me plainly Were these Words spoken by way of Adoration Was this a Formal Prayer to St. Theodore or only an acknowledgment only that God for the Sake of that Saint had preserved the Church You know that God did for the Sake of Abraham shew many favours to the People Israel and for the Sake of St. Paul a whole Ships Company were preserved as you may see in Acts 27. 24. Fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and so God hath given thee all them that Sail with thee as in the same Sence that the People that Sailed with Paul were obliged to Paul for their Preservation In the same Sence doth this Holy Gregory tell St. Theodore that those who had escaped the Cruelties of the Barbarians and were alive they were obliged to him for that Mercy but you will say that St. Gregory saith That we own our selves obliged to you for this Preservation and we will ask your Protection for the future That is the same Protection he doth not pray to St. Theodore to
Saying of St. Basil to prove your Doctrine of the lawfulness of the Practice of your Church in Praying to Saints And why you should think to corroberate your Authority with the Saying of the Prophet Zachary that I must leave to you to consider of for at the present I do not see any tendancy that way by the words of St. Basil Another Testimony you produce was an Observation of St. Augustine on the Blessing of Job Gen. 48. to wit that not only Exaudition but Invocation is used in reference to Men as well as to God where your Printer I conceive was mistaken for there was no mention made of the Blessing of Job but there is mention made of the Blessing of Jacob in the fifteenth and sixteenth Verses of that Chapter where the Text saith That Jacob blessed Joseph and said God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac walked and the God which fed me all my life long until this day The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads and let my Name be named on them and the Name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a Multitude in the middest of the Earth Now I pray Sir what do you infer from these words I suppose that you lay some stress upon these words The Angel which delivered me from all evil bless the Lads and from the Names used of Abraham and Isaac you would prove the Lawfulness of the Invocation of Angels and that the Saints do interceed for us that could not be Jacob's meaning For Sir it was not Angelus Domini that Jacob points at but at Angelus Dominus who is called the Angel of the Covenant and him only Jacob doth Invoke for a Blessing for when he saw this Angel he saith I have seen God face to face and my Life is preserved Gen. 32. 30. And that the naming of Abraham and Isaac doth imply the Intercession of Abraham and Isaac in the behalf of his two Grandchildren is an Errour for according to the Sence of Bellarmine one of your own Church and Order it was not the manner under the Old Testament for Men to apply themselves to the Saints and he gives this reason The Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see the Face of God therefore if this be true you must not conclude the Doctrine of the Intercession of the Saints from these words or that they were to be prayed unto You further cite St. Augustine and you bring him in saying The Christian People celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs a Religious Solemnity both to excite an imitation of them and that they be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers That the Christians did meet to praise God together for the holy Lives and happy Deaths of God's most blessed Saints and Martyrs Sir is no question and that they did it in a most Religious Solemn Manner is beyond all doubt and that they did in order to follow these good Examples that were recorded of these Saints is as clear And what of all this They did Meet together to celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs Ergo They prayed to them They met to Celebrate the Memory of the holy Martyrs to excite an Imitation of them Ergo They prayed to them This is not Logick fit for a Man of your Station and Character certainly no such Logick was taught in any of your Philosophy Schools at Liege You may know that in such Religious Assemblies congregated for the commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs the Priests did recite the Names of the Martyrs together with some short account of their holy Lives and heavenly Exits they made and of the Miracles that were wrought by them but I do not observe any Prayer or Prayers were made to them they did praise God for them and did pray to God to give them Grace to follow their good Examples and performed many Works of Charity in token of the sincerity of their Prayers But I do not find that any Direction is given by that holy Father for any Adoration or Worship to be paid to them You will say the great end for which they did Celebrate together the Memory of the Martyrs was that they might be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers Here are two things worthy of observation 1. What is to be understood by being made partakers of the Merits of the Martyrs 2. What is to be understood by being assisted by their Prayers and both these seriously considered may I humbly conceive satisfie any reasonable Man. To the first then by the Merits of the Saints I apprehend the holy Doctor intends no more than those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued both in their Lives and at their Deaths and that those that did meet together to commemorate these Martyrs did pray for those Gifts and Graces with which these Martyrs were indued and by which they arrived to that degree of perfection that their Lives and Deaths were Sacrifices with which God was well pleased therefore to infer that because the Christians meet together to commemorate the Martyrs to the end they might be made partakers of those Gifts and Graces with which the Martyrs were indued from on high That therefore they prayed to the Saints is a consequence which you would not allow in any other case whatsoever And Secondly consider the words of that great Saint and light of Gods Church and let us see what is to be understood by being assisted by the Prayers of the Martyrs I have observed that the blood of the Martyrs do cry How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood Revel 6. 10. Abels blood it did call to Heaven Gen. 4. 10. If you will call this praying the point will soon be at an end If by these prayers the faithful may be said to be in a sort assisted then you and I shall not need to debate the Controversie any further for we shall soon put a period to this difference Nay Sir your own Divines from those words in the Revelations do teach That the Saints of God are present at their Tombs and Monuments and Relicks and have cited St. Jerome to prove the same And therefore I perceive it is that the Christians did meet together to commemorate the Martyrs at their respective Tombs or Monuments because from thence their cry did go to Heaven and by virtue of such Prayers and crys of these Martyrs the Church received benefit for calling for vengeance upon the wicked implies a calling for Mercy upon the Church In this sence they may be said to pray as blood may be said to have a Voice and Cry and doth it follow that because their blood doth pray and their blood hath a voice and doth Cry that we must pray to them I pray Sir in your next lay your Arguments a little closer and conclude aright from your Premises The Martyrs Prayers do assist
Decree in the case I therefore judge that your citing the Council was to little or no purpose the Practice of a number of Bishops being no Warrant for any Doctrine whatsoever unless approved allowed and decreed by a General Council You have met with sundry Debates amongst Learned Men that have not been opposed by the rest of the Council yet when the Question hath been put it hath been carryed against the Debates though they have appeared with a considerable Party But I will consider your Invocation here in the Council of Chalcedon The Words of your Invocation are these Flavianus lives after Death let him Pray for us I pray Sir do but consider the occasion of the Words There were two Persons that stood Candidates for the Bishoprick of Ephesus Bassianius and Stephen who both contended for that Bishoprick Bassianius appears before that Council and he having had this Flavianus to communicate with him in his Life-time and having been a great Favourite with him he because of that intimacy engaged the Bishops of the Obedience of Constantinople who cryed out in the Council in the behalf of Bassianius Flavianus the Martyr lives after Death he shall Pray for us Which is no more than this he shall intreat you to do us this favour as to give the Cause for Bassianus and confirm him Bishop of Ephesus let him Pray for us since he was a Martyr for the Faith let his Martyrdom oblige you to appear for his Friend These Bishops did not say Flavianus lives after Death he shall pray to God for us for you must understand these Bishops had made the Cause of Bassianus their own but he shall pray or intreat this Council for us This is a worthy proof for the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints for do but consider if it be given for granted that the intention of those Bishops was Let Flavianus pray to God for us What then doth it say Let us pray to Flavianus Here is not one Word of that nor indeed of the other Secondly You in the second place cite the Council of Gangrae Can. 20. If any one through Pride believing himself perfect accuse those Meetings which are had at the places where holy Martyrs Repose or in their Churches or believes that such Oblations as are made there ought to be slighted Let them be accursed But I pray Sir why do you put these words in that is need not the Intercession of the Saints that is the greatest Folly that ever Men could be guilty of What Man of Learning could ever give this Explication of a Canon which the thing will in no wise bear But Sir I will forfeit all the skill I have if you can bring any of the Doctors of Sorbonne or any of the Congregation De propaganda fide that would produce this Canon of the Council of Gangra to prove that Praying to Saints was enjoyned by the Catholick Church Nay I will appeal to any of the Learned of your own Society whether they in their Consciences do believe that it looks like a proof to justifie that Doctrine The Canon being taken as you have laid it down says no more that they are accursed who shall take down the Monuments of the Martyrs or should believe that the Oblations made in those Holy Places were to be slighted or should in any measure reflect on those that did frequent the Meetings had and held where the Bodies of the Martyrs did repose Here is not one word of Praying to the Saints or of the Saints making Intercession for us Thirdly You produce the Council of Laodicea held in the Year 320 as allowing the Worshipping of the true Martyrs of Christ mentioning Churches built in their Honour over their Monuments whether the Christians resorted I perceive you are faint-hearted and durst not say the Sence of the Council of Laodicea see the 35 Canon where it was determined by that Council That Christians ought not to leave the Church and go and call upon Angels and make Meetings which are things forbidden If any Man therefore be found giving himself to this secret Idolatry let him be accursed because he hath forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and hath applied himself to Idolatry Theodoret in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians doth twice mention this Canon and declare the Sence of it upon Col. 3. 17. the Apostle saith He commandeth us to adorn our Words and Deeds with the Commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and to send up thanks giving to God and the Father by him and not by Angels The Synod of Laodicea follow also this Rule and desiring to heal this old Disease viz. Angel-Worship made a Law That they should not Pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Jesus Christ. And on Col. 2. he adds That this Vice continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia for which cause the Synod assembled in Laodicea a chief City in Phrygia forbad them by a Law to Pray unto Angels Oecumenius hath much the same words upon the same place and here I am sure you find nothing of Praying to Saints but rather forbidden for if it be unlawful to Pray to the Angels and that be Idolatry then it is unlawful to Pray to the Saints for without doubt the latter is as lawful as the former In the Sixth and thirty sixth Canons of that Council you say That the Worshipping of Martyrs was as it were allowed or that I may not be charged for a Misrepresenter you say That you produced that Council as allowing the Worshipping the true Martyrs With what face can you assert that when those Canons speak nothing of the Worship of the true Martyrs The Council makes mention indeed of the resort of the Christians to the Churches of the Martyrs where they did use to pray but there is nothing in that Council that intimates any thing of the lawfulness or the necessity of Praying to Saints but rather forbids it Fourthly The last Council you cited is the fourth Council of Carthage held you say in the Year 368 not only Authorizing Christiansto meet in Churches Dedicated to Martyrs and even where-ever any Monument of a Martyr should be but commanding that all Altars should be demolished if there be not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected What is all this to the purpose The Council of Carthage say you Authorised Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs Ergo Prayers to Saints are lawful That the Councel ordered the demolishing of all Alters if there were not an evident certainty of the Relicks over which they were erected Ergo the Council did command Praying to Saints But if you will look into the third Council of Carthage you will find it against the Praying to Saints You are pleased to say that this was the most expressive method of authorizing Devotion to the blessed Saints The Council authorized Christians to meet in Churches Dedicated to the Martyrs this was indeed an expressive method
my Protestant Brethren in discovering what those Hellish Popish Conspirators were doing against our Religion Lives and Liberties and of their Villanous Firing the City of London and Borough of Southwark Your eyes have seen enough and would have seen more had not Almighty God put a stop to their Career by confounding their Councels and defeating theirwicked purposes against us I will therefore say no more but shall ever stand by that Truth which I have delivered and will not hide one Iota of what remains behind undiscovered And I have taken care of that though it should please God that my Enemies should by any indirect course take away my Life and I shall always approve my self an honest man. and at present remain November 1. 1688. Your Brother and Servant in the King's Bench Prison for the Testimony of a Good Conscience TITVS OATES AN ANSWER TO SABRAN the Jesuit SHEWING The Unlawfulness of Praying TO Saints and Angels SIR I Perceive you are very earnest in the defence of a great Point much controverted between the Divines of the Reformed Churches and the Church of Rome viz. The Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels a Doctrine exploded by the Protestants and as zealously defended by those of your Communion And because the unknown Minister hath not as you would make the World believe dealt ingenuously with you you take occasion to fall upon Mr. Needham for Licensing those Replies made to your Sermon in which you were pleased to defend that Doctrine so much opposed by us of the Reformed Religion I will not go about to use any unhandsome Reflection upon you or any of your Communion for any point of Religion which I am satisfied in my Conscience to be contrary to the Doctrine of God our Saviour Amongst the many Errours the Church of Rome doth hold and maintain I humbly conceive this to be one and an Errour tending highly to the overthrowing of the Mediation of Christ the High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession Therefore the Point that I shall lay down is this That your Practice of Praying to Angels and Saints departed this Life is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God. I shall not Sir trouble you at present with those many Reasons those of our Church and Communion have offered to justifie this Assertion of mine therefore I shall only tie my self up to these few First Our Divines have rejected the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels and look upon it as a Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and abominable in the sight of God because it hath no Warrant from the Word of God. This Sir is acknowledged by the most Learned of your Communion Bannesius saith Orationes ad Sanctos faciendos neque expresse neque involute Sanctae Literae docent 2 Qu. 1 Artic. 10. Lib. 1. Which in plain English is this That it is not taught in the Holy Scripture neither expresly nor covertly that Prayers are to be made to Saints Bellarmine de Beat. Sanct. cap. 19. saith plainly It was not the manner under the Old Testament to say Holy Abraham pray for us for which he gives several Reasons as that the Fathers were then shut up in Prison and did not see God. So that by the confession of that Learned Doctor it was no Practice of those that lived under the Ministry of Moses his Law. Salmeron in 1 Tim. 2. saith the same and withal adds That there is nothing expressed in all the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles touching the matter And withal he saith It would have been hard to enjoyn such a thing upon the Jews and the Gentiles would have thought that many Gods were put upon them instead of the many Gods they had forsaken His own words Sir are these Durum eratie Judaeis percipere Gentibus daretur occasio putandi multos sibi Deos c. Therefore be pleased to observe that it was the Practice of the Church of God to require Christians when they did labour under any Distemper whether of Body or Mind to have recourse to the Prayers of living Saints and were taught that the Prayers of such were prevalent and if the Prayers to Saints supposed to be in Heaven were a Doctrine according to truth why were they not then order'd to apply themselves to the Patriarchs and Prophets to the Blessed Virgin to St. Stephen and St. James and other more early Martyrs of the Church whose Prayers by your common received Opinion in your Church are highly meritorious and far more prevailing But Sir you see these great Doctors of your Church and men of great Reading confess that there are not the least foot-steps in the Scripture for this Practice as also Suarez Tom. 2. in disput Thes 42. Sect. 1. Eccius in Enchyrid suo But suppose Sir that these Great Men had not been so ingenuous as to confess yet give me leave to tell you that it is not possible for you to find the least intimation of any Warrant for this Practice which is apparent if you will but consider that in the Book of God there is neither one Precept from our Lord nor one Precedent to justifie such a Worship Now if you can produce no Command from God nor Example from any of the Saints of God in the time of the Apostles you cannot expect to gain one Soul that hath the least consideration to the belief of that Proposition of the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels which you so fiercely maintain If you have a Warrant from God's Word then it will lie upon you first to produce the Command then you must produce the Promise that the complying with that Commandment shall be acceptable for there is not one Command enjoyned us in the New Testament but hath its peculiar Promise and you must also produce a Threat if this Command be not obeyed Then secondly shew but where and when the holy Apostles in their day or any Christian under their immediate Ministry did ever practise Praying to Saints and Angels and you shall be my great Oracle in Controversies of Religion otherwise you must give me leave not to believe Father Sabran's Ipse Dixit in this case Sir give me leave to put you in mind that the Holy Scripture every-where makes God to be the only Object of Prayer and Invocation How many hundred Petitions or Prayers are upon Record there and not one of them put up to any other When our Lord taught his Disciples and us in them to pray he directs them to say Our Father which art in Heaven The Scripture often expresseth this Duty by the term of Praying without any mention of the Object When you pray use not vain Repetitions When thou prayest enter into thy Closet And hereby it is intimated that Prayer in matter of Worship can signifie nothing else but Praying to God. It is not Prayer if it be directed to any other From all which I must necessarily conclude that your Practice
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall uphold me Now Sir if God be in Heaven Earth Sea Hell and fills all Places with his Presence this shews him an Omnipresent Being Now produce as much of the Mother of Jesus or of any of the Saints and Angels and we will joyn with you in making our Addresses to them but this cannot be said of any Saint or Angel whatsoever therefore How can they hear How can they help And if they can neither hear nor help what reason have we to pray unto them 2. As they are not Omnipresent so they are not Omniscient for suppose they could hear what Men do or speak yet they cannot understand what they think if we could imagine that they could hear us what our Mouths do utter yet we cannot imagine that they know the Secrets of the Heart Now Sir the greatest part of our private Devotions are mental they are conceptus Animi such as are conceived in our Hearts and Minds nay Sir let me tell you that our most acceptable Prayers many times consist of those Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd and if you will make the Saints and Angels privy to these it is to give that to them which is only due to God see what Solomon saith the 2 Chron. 6. 30. Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men there was no Man nor no number of Men but will say that such Knowledge was too painful and too wonderful for them in a word Sir you well know that to search and try the Heart is an incommunicable property and perfection of Almighty God. It hath been Sir a Question among the Divines of your Church Whether the Saints in Heaven have any knowledge at all of our Human Actions and Affairs on Earth but I think the Scriptures are as full as may be to the contrary viz. That they have no knowledge of our Affairs or Actions here upon Earth see Isai 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not and see the 22 Kings 20. Thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place for I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gather'd in peace this was a Promise made unto Josiah so take notice of Job who tells you that ye know not what is done after their death Their sons may come to honour and they know it not and they are brought low and they perceive it not of them From all which you may easily conclude that there can be no Man whether good or bad that can tell any thing of earthly Transactions after they are departed this Life This I may assert with the greatest assurance that the Saints have no such knowledge as is necessary in this case they can neither know nor understand the Prayers that Men offer up to them nor which is also highly necessary with what Mind they offer their Prayers whether in sincerity or in hypocrisie I pray call to mind what St. Augustine saith Mortui nesciunt etiam Sancti quid Agant Vivi etiam eorum filii This was the Opinion of that Great and Learned Doctor and Bishop of the Church of God and it is so plain a Truth that whatsoever shall be brought in to say in contradiction to it it will be scarce received for a Catholick Verity in the Church of God. But Sir how can we expect any satisfaction from you when your Divines are to this day divided about that matter and can neither satisfie themselves nor one another how the Glorified Saints come to have knowledge of our Supplications and Prayers you know that many nice and curious Questions have been argued in our Schools amongst many Learned Men for at least Six Hundred Years Pro and Con without any satisfactory Determination as Gratian Gloss in 13. Qu. de Mortuis and St. Augustine in his Tract De cura pro Mortuis they have all left the matter in doubt As whether the Souls of those to whom they Pray be present or absent If they be present whether they be present actually or virtually If they be absent and have Information from others then whether it be from the Angels or from God himself and if it be from God then whether it be by particular Revelation from him or by the Beatifical Vision of him Thus Sir you know it hath been inquired into and debated amongst your own Doctors one hath determined one way and another hath determined another way and there is not yet to this day any Catholick Determination made of any of those Questions 't is true they all agree that they are made acquainted with the Prayers or else in vain they would be Invocated but how they come by this knowledge Non convenit inter Omnes saith your Pinello all are not agreed about it Some of your Divines that have been very fanciful have been taken with the Notion of a Looking-glass in the Face of God wherein those blessed Spirits have an exact and full view of all things past present and to come the Notion is pleasant and 't is pity you have not had the good fortune to beget a firm belief amongst those of your own Church of this Point for since this Looking-glass was broken in pieces even in your own Church there hath been some of your own Doctors who could see nothing in it but the Folly and Rashness of those who first invented it without any Warrant from the Word of God Cajetan Gabriel Durandus Scotus Occam and many other great Names think themselves no whit obliged to this imaginary Glass for they were then satisfied of the vanity of that Imagination nor will the Text In thy light we shall see light nor will that Saying Qui videt videntem omnia is Videt omnia He seeth all things that seeth him who seeth all things establish the belief of it For Sir if it were so he that sees God seeth whatsoever is in God and whatsoever God seeth Then the Angels that always behold his Face and look up to this Glass would have never stooped down to pry as they did into the Mysteries of the Gospel and needed not be informed by the Church about the manifold Wisdom of God then would they not be to seek concerning any future Events no nor be ignorant of the Day and Hour of the last Judgment I shall conclude this with the Saying of St. Augustine in his Discourse De cura pro Mortuis If saith that Father so great and famous Patriarchs as Abraham and Jacob did not understand how the World went with their Posterity how then can it be that the Dead should at all take Notice of the Living or intermeddle with assisting them That is they neither know their Wants nor can they give them any assistance Why then we should make our Prayers to them I hope Sir you will give a Reason for
Antichrist This Sir I humbly conceive is worthy of your Consideration And I hope that you will not for the future rely much upon that Distinction I must mind you of that Saying of the Prophet Where are thy Gods that thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble for according to the number of thy Cities are thy Gods O Judah Jer. 2. 28. chap. 11. 13. And according to the number of the Streets of Jerusalem have you set up Altars to the shameful Thing even Altars to burn Incense unto Baal So you have your innumerable Company of Saints to whom ye erect Altars insomuch that those of your Communion cannot tell to which Saint it were best to turn them first yet you have assighed every one of them their Office and direct your Disciples what things they ought to ask and what to give and what to bring to pass under their respective Protections without any manner of Warrant from the Word of God. But Sir be pleased to understand me I do not apply these false Gods to the Saints for that would be Blasphemy and it were to call them Idols which is absurd seeing that they see the Face of God evermore and are with God in Glory but in respect of those horrible Abuses and vain Fancies of those of your Communion the words of the Prophet may be justly applyed for you in your Imagination of the Saints of God you have made Idols and have so multiplied and increased the same that the number of them have exceeded the number of your Cities and Towns But Sir if you will give me your patience I will shew you that an eminent Light in the Church of God did apply these very words of the Prophet unto the Blessed Mother of Jesus being then abused most Idolatrously by the Hereticks Collyridians in the same manner as you abuse her and other Saints now even to the highest Idolatry it was the old Father Epiphanius Lib. 3. Haeris 79. Nequis comedat de Errore qui est propter Sanctam Mariam tam si enim pulchrum sit lignum tamen non'est ad Cibum si Pulcherrima est Maria Sancta Honorata at non ad Adorationem Hae vero Mulieris colentes Mariam rursus Renovant fortunae mixturam praeparant Mensam Diabolo non Deo quemadmodium Scriptum est pascuntur cibo impietatis rursus Faeminae terunt Pollinem Filiis colligunt Ligna ut faciant Placentas Oleo subactus Reginae Caeli Compescantur Jeremia tales Mulieres ne turbant Orbem Terrarum ne dicant Honoramus Reginam Coeli Let no Man feed upon this Error touching St. Mary for though the Tree be fair yet is not the Fruit to be eaten and though Mary be Beautiful Holy and Honourable yet is she not to be Adored But these Women Worshipping St. Mary run again to the Sacrifice of Wine mingled in the Honour of the Goddess Fortune and prepare a Table for the Devil and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures they are fed with the meat of wickedness and again their Women boult flower and their Children gather sticks to make Cakes in honour of the Queen of Heaven therefore let such Women be rebuked by the Prophet Jeremiah and let them no more trouble the World and let them not say We worship the Queen of Heaven Here you may see Sir that these words were spoken of the filthy Idols of the Heathen and by this holy Father applied to the Mother of our Lord not to deface that blessed Woman but to declare the fond Errours of those Hereticks what is done less to that great Saint in those Countries that pay Obedience to the Church and See of Rome than these Hereticks did of whom this holy man thus complaineth Do you not offer to her Candles Incence Garments Jewels of Silver and Jewels of Gold Are not by pretence of Worship your Churches inriched And all this you do because you say She is the great Mediator of Intercession But you pay the same Homage to her if not more as you do to her Son the Redeemer of the World. You pray to her to save and defend you in Body and Soul now and in the hour of death for you call her The Queen of Heaven the Lady of Angels you say to her Command thy Son shew thy self to be a Mother Your Cardinal Bembus telleth the Virgin Dominam Deam Nostram Bemb in Epist ad Carolum 5. Ambrosius Catharinus one of the Council of Trent Sess 2. calleth the Virgin God's Fellow Fidelissima ejus Socia Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal of Rome saith Excitat Lib. 8. Hoc cedit ad Laudem dei Virginis Mariae Matris quod ipso suo principatu Authoris mortis nullo unquam tempore fuit non indiguit virgo Liberatore qui ipsam absolveret a sententia in Adam in posteres Lata Maria non est deleta de Libro Mortis quia nunquam in eo scripta fuit This thing turneth to the praise of God and of the Virgin Mary the Mother that she never was at any time under the power of the Author of Death that Virgin needed no Deliverer that should ransom her from the Sentence pronounced against Adam and his Posterity Mary was never razed out of the Book of Death for she was never written in it When our Nation did profess the Romish Religion I meet with a Council held at Oxford where the Name of Christ is quite left out and Mary's Name put in for thus it beginneth Authoritate Dei Patris Baeatae Virginis omnium Sanctorum By the Authority of God the Father and the Blessed Virgin and of all Saints Do you not in your Offices call her Mediatrix and Redemptrix Why then do you shuffle off your Hearers with this distinction that Christ alone is the Mediator of Salvation and that the Virgin and Saints are only Mediators of Intercession and not of Salvation I would once more pray you to observe how you contradict your own Doctrine left by men whose Authority was not to be question'd by any that did succeed them If your St. Ambrose saith true The Saints by shedding their Bloud did purchase Salvation for us how comes it to pass that they are not Mediators of Salvation But if they did not purchase Salvation for us I pray how comes it to pass that they are Mediators of Intercession When did this Priesthood of theirs commence When did God say to any one of them Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Saints did not glorifie themselves to be made Priests nor did God call them to that Priesthood that should intitle them to such a Mediatorship that you would put upon them and Christ himself had not glorified himself to be made an High-Priest but God glorified him and said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Heb. 5. 8. From all which Sir we may
Nay the Apostle makes this observation in ver 5. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Ps 2. 7. And observe verse 13. of this first Chapter to the Hebrews to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy Enemies thy footstool And if upon these Considerations this great Doctor useth this expression Why gape ye after Angels upon the same consideration I may say Why gape ye after the Saints To which of the Saints said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee or Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy footstool If God by not speaking this to the Angels doth shew that they ought not to be worshipped then it necessarily follows that the Saints ought not to be worshipped unless you can tell where and when God used such expressions to them as he used to his Son. Again we find that God made his Angels ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation and they being no more St. Chrysostome saith Why do you gape after Angels Then what can we expect from the Saints who are not so much as ministring Spirits who never were sent forth by God to minister for the People of God here upon Earth St. Chrysostom in his eighteenth Homily on the Epistle to the Romans saith Vnto whom shalt thou flee whom wilt thou call upon to fight for and help thee shall it be to Abraham he will not hear thee shall it be to these Virgins but they also shall impart none of their Oyl unto thee shalt thou call upon thy Father or Grandfather but none of them shall be able to release or relieve thee These Sayings considered worship and pray to him alone who hath power to blot out thine obligation and quench that flame You may observe the holy Father shews the vanity of those Men that have a recourse to the Saints departed and how they are disappointed that expect any Relief or Comfort from any other but God. Therefore the holy Doctor admonisheth Christians to have recourse to God alone who is able to help and to relieve them Now I pray if God alone is able to help and relieve us to what end is it for us to have recourse to Angels and Saints if they are not able to relieve us and release us And what warrant can you pretend from God to worship or pray to any other since this Holy Father saith You must worship and pray to God alone Again the same Father in his ninth Homily upon the Colossians he shews us that the Devil envying the Honour that we have to address our selves to God immediately hath brought in the Worshipping of Angels It is strange that you should practice that as an Institution of God which was but a meer Intention of the Devil and that the Council of Trent should define that as an Article of Faith which hath been Condemned by the Fathers of the Church Catholick as Sin and a manifest breach of our Duty and Obedience we owe to God and if that the Worshipping of Angels were an Invention of the Devil Then Sir I pray what reason have you or any sober Man to think that Worshipping of Saints can be an Institution of God and that you may see the latter as well as the former was a meer contrivance of Hell. I pray consider the Doctrine which holy Epiphanius did teach the Church in his time and largely refuting the Heresies of those who were called Collyridians from the Collyrides or Cakes which they used to offer to the Virgin Mary and says That neither Elias nor John nor Thecla nor any of the Saints are to be worshipped and again God will not have Angels to be worshipped much less her that was born of Anna And again which of the Prophets have permitted a Man to be worshipped much less a Woman The Virgin is a choice Vessel indeed but a Woman Let Mary be in honour but let the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be worshipped Let no Man worship Mary Epiph. Haeres 79. This Doctor is as plain as may be in the Point in debate They offered her Cakes and you Incense and Vestments and Candles If they were Hereticks in Epiphanius's time for worshipping the Virgin Mary what are you who do it now I have one Father more to offer to your Consideration and that is Lactantius who is a Doctor of great esteem with you observe what he saith Qui supplicant mortuis rationem hominum non tenent Lactant. Insti Divin Lib. 2. Cap. 18. It is a short Testimony but as plain as can be in opposition to your Doctrine of Praying to the Saints who are departed and can neither hear your Prayers nor are they in any capacity of granting your Desires This sort of Service must unman you for that you do not pray upon any good ground nor can you pray for any good end If you can let us know the Principle upon which you pray and the end for which you pray to the Saints for all Services that have not their Foundation upon good Principles and are not performed for a good end are so far from being Christian Services that those who perform them are scarce worthy of the Name of Men. I have taken some pains to make it appear that the Doctrine of Praying to Saints and Angels is unlawful I have deliver'd you my thoughts freely in answer to those Authoiries which you have produced which at the first view had the aspect of Prayers but upon a strict observation they prove to be no more then Rhetorical Apostroplies those holy Fathers used not adoring the Saints for Religion but only honouring them to beget in their Hearers an holy imitation of their Vertue and to oblige them to follow those good Examples the Saints left behind them and then I have given you the Authorities of the most eminent Fathers both of the Greek and Latin Churches that with one consent condemn your Doctrine and Practice by you defended But in truth Sir Humane Writings are no Foundation of our Faith we have a more sure Rule of our Faith in this particular the Holy Scriptures which are the Word of God whereunto you will do well to take heed and no more endeavour to bring in the Authorities of humane Writers to stand in competition with the Holy Word of God that hath commanded us to worship and serve him alone and hath sworn by himself that he will not part with this Honour to another but if this doth not satisfie you I am ready to reply to any thing you shall further bring in to give countenance to the Point in hand as it is defined and determined in your Church Sir you were pleased in your Epistle to the English Peer to reflect upon the Ordination of the Church of England and in words at length you
did deny the Validity of the Orders of our Church If you have a Will to enter into the debate of that point I am ready to justifie the Validity of our Ordination and again you were pleased to assert that all Councils Fathers and Churches condemned and deposed all those who having received Holy Orders pretended to Marriage which you call Sacrilegious I am inclined to give you manifest proof of the lawfulness of the Marriage of the Clergy and to this end be pleased to observe That Pope Silvester the first ordained Degrees in Ecclesiastical Orders and Decreed That every Priest should be the Husband of one Wife only according to the Doctrine of the Holy Apostles Tim. 3. 2 3. Tit. 1. as Platina St. Huldrich in his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the first tells him that Pope Gregory the first restored Marriage again to the Priests which he for some time before had denied them when he saw how many great Inconveniences attended the single Life of Priests which would take up too much time to repeat The whole Epistle I recommend to you as worthy of your serious Consideration in which you may see that the Marriage of the Clergy is at large justified and their Restrained Chastity or single Life Condemn'd by that Reverend Prelate In a word I do assert that all the Councils all the Fathers and all Churches did not condemn the Marriage of the Clergy nor did they esteem their Marriage Sacrilegious but did esteem it Honourable in all Men they well knowing it was Ordained to prevent Sin that they who have not the Gift of Continency might Marry and preserve themselves undefiled Members of Jesus Christ Sir there are many other Doctrines and Practices in your Church which are Antichristian and Develish tending to the total overthrow of the whole Body of the Christian Religion as your Doctrine of the Pope's Supremacy the single Life of the Clergy your private Masses your Doctrine of the Real Presence your Doctrine of the Adoration of Images your holding up the Sacrament over your Heads that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion votion your Doctrine of Purgatory and praying for the Dead your Doctrine of Justification by Works Indulgences that the Sacrament was called by the Fathers Lord and God these are the strange Notions of and Positions of your Church Sir I will if you please begin and engage with you in any one or all of these Points therefore you need not give Mr. Needham any trouble in this Matter for though he wonderfully exceeds you or any of yours in Parts and Learning and is much more able to cope with you then perhaps I my self yet I am at leisure and he on the contrary is an Attendant on a great Person and may be diverted from going through in such an undertaking therefore I am ready with all the modesty that may be to answer you therefore be pleased to turn your Pen against me and spare your Reflections upon our Church which is yet able to shew it self and will gain ground when Babylon shall be brought down to the Dust Dagon will never stand before the Ark of God we have the Apostles and Prophets for our Foundation and Jesus Christ for the chief corner Stone so that we cannot fail of giving you or any of yours a Reason of our Faith when you or any of your Church shall demand it of us In your Letter to Mr. Needham you conclude with a Prayer Fas est ab hoste doceri In mine to you I will conclude with one also which is That God would preserve the Church of England that he would increase her Peace and inlarge her Borders and make her Fruitful and Glorious even as the Garden of God is Fruitful and Glorious as for her Enemies let God Cloath them with Shame and Confusion of Face and that in her the Gospel may Flourish to this end may all Blessings Gifts and Graces from the God of Heaven descend upon all her Bishops Presbyters and Deacons let God arise and pull down Babylon and destroy all Superstition and Idolatry all false Doctrine and Heresie to the Glory of his Holy Name and Comfort of all Protestants This is the hearty Prayer of SIR Yours so far as you are Christs TITVS OATES