of God threatning that he will not hold them guiltless but look on them alwaies as Sinners and abominable guilty Persons whosoever do take his Name in vain Read who will Roman Service Books there he shall find the whole Trinity as frequently and as formally called down on Bells as on Children as dreadfully named and conjured Per Deum vivum c. By the true God the living God the Holy and Almighty God upon Salt Stones Ashes and such Trash as on his Sacred Ordinances The whole Service of Rome from end to end is pestered with such Conjurings 3. But if such Conjurings be not thought to be taking Gods Name in vain but seem somtimes to work out somthing you may justly fear that they be worse The Jews had an Art of casting out Devils and curing many Diseases some with Rings and Roots of r Joseph Antiquit. l. 8. c. 2. Herbs which they said they had from Solomon some by Suffumigations ſ Justin Martyr cont Tryph. p. 91. Edit Steph. 1551. and Conjurings The ancient Pagans did the same with Flowers t Euseb Praepar Evang. l. 5. p. 117. Edit Rob. Steph. with Figures and with Words which themselves did not understand These for the most part were Scripture names Sabaoth u Origens ê cont Celsum l. 1. Adonai God of Abraham Isaac and Israel c. The truth is abused Scripture and Medicine have ever bin the two common Ingredients of Black Arts this finds out Herbs Roots Gums Perfumes c. that furnishes sacred Words sacred Figures and holy Daies to make up the Enchantment Thus the Devils are best pleased when they trample both on Nature and Grace both on Gods good Creatures and Christs sacred Ordinances You can no where find more of this then both in the Jewish Talmud and in the Consecrations of Rome No Salt no Wine no Smoak no sound of strange Words and Characters can be out of their way and use in order to true Popery and if Christ and the Primitive Fathers ever used any of these Creatures to a Moral and Mystical sense the Papists will first stretch it out to extravagant Allegories and at the conclusion will abuse it for the working out of strange Feats Thus the use of Oil which by the Fathers was applied to represent the Graces of the Holy Ghost falls into the hands of Papists to cure Diseases Thus the ringing of the Bells is improved from calling the People to Church to make Corn prosper in the Fields and thus the Bones of dead Saints and the very Sacrament of the Lord from being kept as holy Memorials to be thrown to quench the Fire and to save Houses And as the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel and such other Names of God proper to his ancient People so must the Holy Trinity the Living God and such other Expressions of the blessed Divine Nature which are more proper to the Christians among other names of Saints and Angels be now brought in with many Crossings and Figures to conjure their Business and as Cardinal Rasponi ingeniously expresses it to make a x Respon de Lateran Basilic l. 2. c. 8. p. 147. Charm of Blessing With this a little Bottle of Holy Water hanged at or by the Beds Tester is conceived to keep the whole Chamber both from Fire and evil Spirits and as much as a small Peper corn of Wax sowed and wrapt up with Silk in the Figure of a Heart and carried about ones Neck is a stronger Preservative then all the forbidden y Concil Laodicen Can. 36. Phylacteries And as these great and sacred Names did not conjure so well as when pronounced in Hebrew for the Devil did not care for the word unless it was said Sabaoth or Adonai as Learned Origen well z Lib. 1. cont Celsum p. 20. Edit Cantab. observes all the Pontifical Consecrations and Exorcisms are in Latin Per Deum Vivum c. and this may he thought a good reason for celebrating their Mass in a Tongue that few understand for fear the Consecrating words in English or other known and common Languages might not work out the great Miracle which they call Transubstantiation Therefore whensoever Serpents or Floods or Quartan Agues are conjured or when to the same good purpose Spells and Papers are given out all is said and written in Latin out of their vulgar Version See their Book called Flagellum Daemonum full of Enchantments to scourge the Devils or their other Book called The Tresure of the dreadful Conjurings Thus 't is the Fate of corrupted Religions whether Jewish or Mahometan or Roman to end in Witchcraft and Sorcery and who can wonder if such continual abusing Gods Holy Name and Scripture proves a strong Invitation to any other Spirit rather then his own But of this you shall hear more about Images CHAP. XVI Concerning the most general and most sensible Inducement to Popery by the means and in the use of Consecrated Images BOTH the first scope and most difficult work of Christian Religion concerning Mankind is to raise up their Souls from low and gross visible Creatures to God himself and all Spiritual Objects Contrariwise the main business of Heathenish Superstitions was ever observed to consist in depressing Men from God and all supercelestial thoughts down as low as ever they could to gross and sensual Idols This second is the easier Task because human corrupt Nature all good or bad Religions being laid aside is apt and prone to move downwards by the very weight of its Principles Men naturally do love as little to look up or to employ themselves about invisible Matters as to gaze at random on emty Air and being guided only by their Senses it is exceeding hard for them to take any other way but towards what they see and touch Hence Rome hath taken the advantage to fit her own Religion from what true Christianity prescribes to what sensual Men can or will do For as to what they can if to love God with all their hearts and to adore him in Spirit be much above their Moral strength to bow passing by an Altar or to sprinkle themselves with Holy Water or to stand or kneel demurely at the lifting up of a Wafer are such acts of Devotion as any one who hath but some health and the natural use of his Members hath sufficient ability to perform And as to what they affect altho all spiritual Exercises and mental Elevations be to them unpleasing and all pure and eternal Objects very far above their sight and farther yet above their care yet they will kiss a Crucifix salute a Cross carry most devoutly a Scapulary an Agnus or a set of Beads about them and these and other like Devotions as I have shewed in many Instances go far in the Roman Account And as to the great Zeal and Passion which the Gospel of Christ requires tho few Men can force themselves so much as patiently to hear one Preaching upon any
Soul thirst after her and do not leave her till she hath blessed thee Let thy mouth be filled with her praise and sing of her greatness all the day long That of the same Moses at the red Sea Exod. 15. Let us sing to our glorious Lady the Virgin Mary Our Lady is Almighty Her name is next to God She hath thrown into the Sea the Chariots of Pharaoh his Host c. O Lady thou hast delivered my Soul from the Lion O my dearest Lady cover thou me as a Hen doth c. I am all thine and all I have is thine I will put thee as a signet upon my heart c. That of Isaiah 12. I will sing to thee O Lady c. for thou hast comforted me my Lady is my Savior I will trust in thee and will not fear Thou art my strength in the Lord and art become my Salvation with joy will I draw Waters out of thy brook and I will call upon thy name alwaies c. That of King Hezekias in the same Prophet 38.9 when he was recovered from his mortal Disease I said in the midst of my daies I will go to Mary c. Father Mother and Friends did forsake me but Mary hath holden me up I will put my trust in her in the morning in the evening and at noon-day God had as it were a Lion broken my bones but thou our Lady hast delivered my Soul from perishing my Darling from the hand of the Dog c. That of the three Children commonly so called All the works of the Lord bless our Lady praise and magnifie her for ever O ye Angels bless our Lady c. Blessed be thou O Crown of Kings Let every knee in Heaven in Earth and in Hell bow unto thy Name c. That of Zachary Luke 1.38 Blessed be thou Lady Mother c. Save us from all our Enemies c. and perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers and us that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies may serve thee without fear c. And thou Mary shalt be called the Prophetess of the Highest by whom he hath given the knowledg of Salvation c. By the Bowels of thy Mercy O Morning Star do thou visit us from on high To complete Idolatry with absurdity that very Hymn wherewith she adored once her God is with some parcels of the Song of Annah 1 Sam. 2. now turned into an Office to adore her My Soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in my Lady c. There is no Saint like our Lady c. Let Sion and Jerusalem rejoice and praise Mary for she is the greatest among the Ladies of Israel She makes poor and she makes rich She brings low and she lifts up on high This Lady of ours is higher then the Heavens broader then the Earth and purer then the very Stars 6. Sixthly She is adored with the most solemn and elevated Office that the ancient Church could worship God with namely Te Deum We praise thee O Mary we a Melch. Inchofern Ep. B.M. ad finem acknowledg thee to be the Lady All the Earth doth worship thee as the Spouse of the everlasting Father To thee all Angels c. continually do cry Holy holy holy Mary the Mother of God The holy Church thro out all the world doth acknowledg thee Mother of an Infinite Majesty Thou art the Queen of Glory O Mary the Ark of Grace and the Ladder of Heaven Thou art the hope of all the world the Salvation of them that call on thee the Teacheress of the Apostles the strength of the Martyrs c. O Lady save thy People c. Vouchsafe O Lady to keep us this day and for ever O Lady have mercy upon us have mercy upon us O Lady let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust in thee c. Lastly there is added to her Honor that Praier which belongs to the Holy Ghost Veni Creator and which some say the Council of Constance at their meeting were pleased to present the Virgin with Come Mother of Grace Spring of Mercy Light of the Church Queen Star c. come to defend the Church to destroy Heresie and to make peace c. And in a word to do any thing that an honest and pious Council may better expect of the holy Ghost 7. Seventhly There is a whole Bible made and Printed to her Honor Biblia Mariae Albertus Magnus both a great Scholar and a great Bishop and a kind of Roman Saint is the Prophet who as it is thought composed it This Holy Book gives the Virgin all or b Biblia Mariae Tit. Pag. Omnia fere most part of what was in the true Bible either said or intended for God and Christ As for Example in Genesis She is the truth both of the Altar which Noah built and of the Sacrifice which he offered and the Sweet savor which there was smelled is nothing else then her Praier She is the Ladder which Jacob saw Gen. 28. wherewith Christ is to come down to us and we are to come up to him In Exodus she is said to be both the true Mercy-seat and the great Altar of Burnt-offerings In Leviticus and Numbers she is the Ark of the Covenant the Rock whence flow the Waters of Grace and the Star which Balaam saw c. In Joshuah she is the Border of our Heavenly Inheritance the Window through which we must escape and be saved from Jericho that is from perishing in and with the World the Ark which marches before us to Canaan that is Heaven there to prepare us a resting place the City of Refuge where those must seek shelter whosoever flee from the Wrath of God c. In the Book of Judges she is the true and great Captain in whose hand our Celestial Father puts the whole Land Heaven all Power and Himself Therefore take heed saies this Godly Bible from going to war without her In Ruth she is the true Ruth with more probability then the Captain who goes to the Field that is the Church there to glean ears of corn left in the Field by the Reapers that is some few which she rescues from Devils Thus she gleans whomsoever she pleases for Boaz hath charged the reaping Angels not to to touch her Ruth 2.9.15 16. When she hath gleaned them she takes them up into the Bosom of her Mercy and carries them into the City v. 8. that is into the Celestial Jerusalem In the 1. Kings 1.2 3. She is the fair and young Virgin who is to lie in the Kings or Gods Bosom and inflames him to love and compassion towards his People Thus this Bible running all along to the Revelation after this rate at last ends with this Praier instead of the Grace of our Lord c. O Queen of Mercy Grace and Glory Emperess of all the Creatures blot out all my Transgressions and lead me to the life everlasting 8. The Virgin
1467. an Altar built by such an Image that it may be a spring of all Graces to them who shall call on my Name Never Saint in the whole Bible spake near this rate 10. All Altars being made by their general institution both to receive and to sanctifie the Sacrifices and Offerings which are daily laid upon them the Virgin hath these also and in an immense abundance Gods Temple at Jerusalem was scarce richer then Lauretta is on this account Neither Gold nor pretious Stones are too good for her Majesty If his Holiness fear the French as Alexander the third once did he will secure himself from that danger by h Gianius Chronic. Servitor Mar. an 1495. offering her a Silver statue or as Innocent the 8th by offering Golden i Job Burch in Diarie 1492. Medals and Clothes embroidered with Pearls or as the Recineti did for securing themselves from the plague by offering her a Massy Crown k Tursel Lamet Hist l. 2. c. 8. of Gold and pretious Stones They that have not so much may offer less tho it were but a wax-candle as common an Offering under this new Religion as was a pair of Turtle Doves under Moses They that have nothing at all must make a vow of visiting some of her Churches Such vows they say have saved many from the Gallows from Shipwracks Falls Fires and all imaginable Dangers tho vows before Popery came up were never heard to have bin made to any Saint but God alone But which is more Sacrilegious then all either Vows and Sacrifices that which they call the Holy Mass must be celebrated on her Altars that is the Son of God and God himself as they take it must be sacrificed to her honor and in that impious service as I have demonstrated l Mystery and Depth of the Roman Mass elsewhere suffer more shame and Infamy to please her then he ever suffered on the Cross to save the whole world besides 11. They allow her in every year eight holy daies Christ hath no more of his Christians nor are they so religiously observed Nothing but death or some other Judgment as bad threatens the Profaner of them Witness the Hill m Bancius Annal. an 1580. which they say fell on the Villain who offered to dig upon her Assumtion day and the terrible pain * Bust Marial 1. part Serm. 7. p. 2. which ever troubled honest Alensis as long as he read his Schole-Divinity upon the day of her Conception Contrarywise great Miracles and great Blessings will attend the holy keeping of these Daies for wax-candles and Tapers n Petr. Abbas Cluniac Miracul l. 2. c. 30. will burn then a whole night without wasting And Bishop Bernard may fall down with his horse thro a broken Bridge without harm if he do but vow while he tumbles that o Chronic. Deip. an 1436. he will observe the Immaculate Conception day 12. And lastly The Papists bestow upon the Virgin Mary Proper Masses Litanies Canonical Hours and both great and small Offices in all Churches on all Altars and upon proper Holy daies Thus the Virgin or that Goddess which they take for the blessed Virgin hath all the Religious Services and more from the Papists that God and Christ have or ever had from the best sort of Israelites and Christians If God and Christ have not enough then Moses and the Prophets the Apostles and the Holy Fathers are much to blame who gave no more and if they did and gave as much as could make up all the service which God then required at their hands and which now another Spirit being certainly a Creature requires at the hands of Papists let the Israel of God be the Judge both what that proud Creature is that craves as much as God ever had and what these Catholics are that will give it For what they plead is soon wiped off Here a Woman stands accused of lying every night with her Neighbor She cannot at all deny the Fact but she maintains that the Fact is not Adultery because she never lies with him as with her Husband but alwaies as her dear Husbands Cozen and dear Relation There stands a Jew publicly impeached of Idol-worship by the Prophet because he burns Incense to the Queen of Heaven Jerem. 44.25 The Jew for his Justification avows this but utterly denies that because he burns not his Incense to the Queen as to the King and understands very well that this Queen is a Creature Between these two guilty Persons stands also the Roman Catholic charged with the same he cannot deny but he hath Churches Altars Vows Bibles Psalters Oblations and Holy daies and universally all those kinds of Worship which Christians can bestow on God which for his part he bestows also on the Virgin But this moves him not at all he stoutly clears himself he thinks of all by once saying that he neither honors nor adores with all these things the Blessed Virgin as he doth God whom he knows to be her Creator but as a holy Woman whom he knows to be his Creature By this Reckoning none of the three let them do whatever they will in the way of either Carnal or Spiritual whoredom can be convinced of being guilty as long as they have but so much wit as to distinguish the first a Cozen from a Husband the second a Moon from a Sun and the third a Woman from God Almighty Whereas by their very pleading and excusing of themselves they are found to be twice Idolaters 1. By their Act which they confess for they transfer on the Creature what is due to God alone 2. Secondly by their own knowledg for all what can be don to God in point of visible worship which is all that men can take notice of they willingly and voluntarily impart to others whom they know to be Creatures By what they do they stand guilty and by what they know unexcusable Never simple men were more grossly drawn and inveigled into such sins then Papists are To begin first where I ended last of these eight Holy Daies kept and set out for the Marian Worship not one can be called Catholic nor bear any primitive Date The very Papists p Bell. De Cultu Sanctor l. 3. c. 16. sect Ad tertium dico duo cannot deny it and among them the two greatest namely the pretended Conception and Assumtion as they were the fittest to crown a most compleat Idolatry so they came in the latest of all That glorious Feast of the Immaculate Conception now so blissfull to them that observe it and so terrible to them that do not was never thought on by their Virgin nor by themselves to any considerable purpose sooner then above twelve hundred years after the Virgin her self was conceived It was about the year 1300 when this Marian Goddess appeared like a Queen both of Heaven and all the Angels both to revele it to S. Peter the Cistercian who q Gononus Chronic.
was enjoined a Greg. Neocaesar Epist Canon to stand without and there with cries and tears b Ambrosius De Paenit l. 1. c. 19. to beg them who came in to pray to God for him 2. Some years or months after he was admitted within Doors but in a remote Corner of the Church behind the Catechumens that is the not Christened Proselytes where they might hear Sermons but not Praiers 3. After such other time as they thought fit he was suffered to hear and pray with the Christians but not to take the Holy Mysteries These with some other Mortifications and trials were all the Penalties inflicted by the Church upon scandalous Offenders the Satisfactions when undergon given by the Offenders to the Church and when humbly and sincerely performed upon good grounds were also thought in the sense above said acceptable to God himself And here among these performances was the only time of Indulgence either to shorten the time or to mitigate the Rigor of the Hardship that they were under 4. This don either with or without favor at last the sinner was at the time appointed for his Readmission brought in into the Church there he kneeled and there the Bishop coming to him as the good Father in the Gospel to the lost Child fell both himself and all the People upon their knees then after holy Praiers and a holy laying on of hands gave him Sacerdotal Blessing and complete Absolution raised him up from kneeling for conclusion of all he was admitted at the same time both to the holy Communion and the Churches Peace The Penitents being thus reconcil'd neither under-went other Punishments nor needed other Indulgences And if that Holy Mother the Primitive Church used to chastise her stubborn Children and upon their amendment to kiss and embrace them afterwards we do not read in any Father that it was ever her Method first to kiss then to correct and punish It is an extravagance proper to Rome to absolve her Penitents and after Absolution to have them punisht thereby to satisfie Divine Justice and so consequently are all her Indulgences to ease men of such Punishments Tricks of their own invention Our Savior did not plague sinners after he had bid them go in Peace and if God kept them afterwards humble and sensible of their former sins by Fatherly Corrections as you read often that he did Psal 89. Hebr. 12. 1 Corinth 11. Roman Indulgences are but both idle and sawcy Toies to take them off And this brings to the second visible Character by which you may discern the Primitve Relaxations from the present Roman Indulgences 1. Therefore as to this second the Fathers of the Primitive Church never intended with their Condescensions or favors to moderate or to take off any other Punishments then that which they had laid on by their own sentence and Censure They knew that the Power of reteining and the Power of remitting which God allowed them in his Church are both i Suares de Indulg Disp 50. Sect. 2. n. 5. proportioned and relative the one to the other and that they could remit nothing but when they had bin able to bind This appears so by the very Contents and Form of their Warrant Whatsoever you shall bind on Earth c. Matth. 1.16.19 and 18.18 and John 20.23 Where the power of Loosing and Remitting follows close to that of Retaining and Binding This is exercised by Excommunications and Censures that by taking them away in the reconciling of Offenders and both Keies turn in the same wards that is within the same compass within the Ministerial Pale of the Church and within the bounds of this Life Roman Popes are the first Hectors who durst break out beyond these Lines and roving into Purgatory there over-rule Divine Justice and pull out thence out of Gods hands the Souls whom they say his Vengeance doth burn and torment This is then the drift of the Popes and the second visible Mark of their best and most authentic Indulgences that whereas the Fathers of the Church never attemted to dispose of any other punishments then such as they had inflicted the Popes stretch their hands much farther even as far as to reverse the Judgments which as they presuppose it God inflicts Now let Rome ransack their Learning and procure from any corner of good and known Antiquity one precedent for such Indulgences In the mean while laying aside Antiquity which in true Conscience cannot but shame this new attemt it is a business worth enquiring what these Roman Indulgences whether new or old are in themselves They are intended for these c Bellarm. de Indulg l. 1. c. 7. two ends 1. The easing of true Penitents from the Penalties laid on them by their Confessors after their Absolution here in the Church 2. And the removing of more grievous punishments laied on them by God Almighty yonder in Purgatory And certainly it is hard to say in the which of these two you shall find less both Impiety and Extravagancy 1. The Indulgences for the first end are both foolish and impious upon several accounts What rebellious attemt is this to bind to punishment those Men as it is supposed contrite and truly penitent for their sins whom the Gospel of Christ looses and absolves May not one as well curse whom God blesses as retain or bind whom God remits And if one may bind the Penitents whom God absolves may he not as well unbind the Faithless and Impenitents whom God hath bound If so we know where the Antichrist lies yet he should go and learn Manners from the Example of Balaam Num. 23.8 They say that what they bind their Penitents to is not a Punishment only but an useful Correction also Then I say what they do in binding them whom God doth loose shall be as far a Rebellion as it is a punishment and as far unlawful and unchristian to take off as 't is an useful Correction and as it was good to lay it on And have the Popes no better waies to fill their Coffers and to maintain their Holinesses then by such a Trade of Indulgences as dispense with Men against their own good 2. There is yet more to justifie their Penalties from being a resisting of God and a retaining what he remits they say that after Absolution they lay no more on any Man then what a sincere Penitent d is both willing to undergo and obliged by the fear of God and the sense of his Conscience to do or suffer and that this is it properly and directly what the Indulgences do ease Men from Do not then call this if you please Rebellion or Resisting God but you cannot choose but perceive that if this same penitent Soul lies not between a cruel binding Confessor and a gracious remitting God she now falls into another as bad or worse condition For here is within the sense of Conscience that charges her to do or suffer such a thing and there is without a
and therefore to their honor is this Privilege duly granted that whosoever will but visit any of their Churches or Chappels shall receive Pardon c Ibid. sect 6. for a hundred Years and if any of them being dead d Ibid. sect 9. will be wrapt up in Frocks or be buried in a Church yard belonging to either of their Orders shall in all probability have as much more Judg you by this what these Confraternities of theirs be worth and what value you may well set upon their two most Sacred Standards or Bodies the Rope or Girdle of St. Francis whereof enough and the 150 Beads or Rosary of S. Dominic of which you must now learn somthing This new and admirable way of praying to God by saying Ave Maria hath as they say proved in their Church so successful for raising Hearts to Devotion sanctifying Men extirpating all Heresies and propagating Catholic Light as it appears by e Pius 5. Constit Consueverunt many Bulls that most Popes from Sixtus the Fourth 1479. have thought themselves concerned in their Consciences to raise it to a Confraternity as Universal as their Church and to make it as the Sun is to use their words common to all Men in the whole World For this brave Corporation is not as the most part of others are some for Men only and not for Women some for great Men and not for mean People some for the Religious and not for the Secular some for the sound and not for the weak * Archang Caraccius De Rosar 1. par c. 1. this great and comprehensive Society takes in all sorts and conditions of Men and to say all as it shall appear hereafter even the very dead may come to it Whosoever will be admitted as a Member of this vast Body and march f Idem 3. par c. 5. as they love to speak under the B. Virgin and St. Dominic's great Standard he must go first to Confession and take the Consecrated Wafer then he must appear in Person if he can or by a Proxy if he cannot and there either himself or his Proxy being prostrated before the Altar Del Santissimo Rosario of the most holy Rosary declare what great desire he hath to be enrolled under St. Dominic's Banner So the Officers being duly qualified to that purpose shall take his name and acquaint him with what he the new Brother is to do especially how he must once every Week run over the whole Rosary that is the 150 Beads Ave Maria and the 15 Pater nosters solacing him at the same time with this most gracious assurance that he must not think it a Sin * Ibidem nor a breach upon his Conscience if at any time he shall fail in the performance and that the whole duty consists of such things as never were commanded by God nor practiced by his Apostles so the omitting of them must not disquiet his mind only he must be content to lose the good Indulgences which his Roman Holiness was pleased to grant upon such terms After this he gives him a Consecrated Rosary of Beads and the Consecrating of them comes to this After some short Praiers and Responsals the Mass-Priest begs at the hands of God this great and Blasphemous Favor g Idem part 3. c. 5. namely That to the honor and praise of his Sons Mother would he be pleased to infuse into those Beads so much strength of his Holy Ghost that whosoever shall either carry them abroad or reverently keep them at home and there devoutly pray with them after the way of the holy Confraternity may abound in Devotion may have his share in all the Graces Privileges and Indulgences granted to the said Society may as long as he lives be protected every where against all Enemies whatsoever and at last may be presented full of good works to God by the Blessed Virgin Mary To which is added the other Blessing by Holy Water and as it were a second Baptism In the Name of the Father c. Next to the holy Beads thus impiously Consecrated and devoutly delivered into the hand of the new Brother or Sister comes the Holy Candle This Holy Candle is of great use when you walk in Procession when you go to Burial when any one of the 15 Mysteries you may remember what that is is solemnly celebrated and especially when you die for there but especially here if you do hold this holy Candle lighted in your hand you may be sure that all your sins are forgiven because Pope Adrian the h Breve Illius qui Dominicam Sixth hath ordered it so But the Candle must be Consecrated as solemnly as your Beads were and with a Form to this purpose That thro the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the 15 great Mysteries contained in the aforesaid Beads Christ the true Light that enlightens every Man that comes into the World will enlighten also this Candle with the true light of his Grace c. Then is the Candle sprinkled with Holy Water in Nomine Patris c. This is not all you must have a Holy Rose for it is of a singular Vertue and besides Rose and Rosary are of a kin especially as soon as it is Consecrated with this execrable Form of Blessing Deus Creator c. the sense is That God the Creator and Giver of spiritual Grace and eternal Salvation be pleased to bless the said Rose which is presented unto i Archang Caraccius de Rosar part 3 c. 6. him for the worship of his Mother and to infuse into the Rose by the vertue of the sign of the Cross such a Celestial Blessing that to what Infirmities soever it be applied and in what houses and places soever it be devoutly kept or carried the said Infirmities may be cured that thence all Devils may flee away This Charm is likewise compleated with the usual Baptism of Holy water With these Tacklings you may hereafter reckon your self most fully incorporated into this Heavenly Body What you have next to think upon is well to discharge those duties that belong to a Heavenly Member and to fall lustily to that incredible and strange way which S. Mary and S. Dominic her Husband have in the latter times brought into the Roman Church of serving God by saying Ave Maria. To the great encouragement of the said Brethren and Sisters this way of Devotion is called the Crown the Psalter and the Rosary the Crown because whensoever you say fifty times Ave Maria as my Italian k Caraccio Part. 1. c. 13. Author observes and I may prove it many waies the so saluted Goddess is pleased to take it for so many Crowns and Garlands of fine Flowers that you do adorn her Head with 2. The Psalter because the Church of Rome doth think it fit to worship the Lady of the most Holy Rosary with 150 Salutations as King David the Prophet did to adore the Lord God of Israel
by the Roman Church must be a greater Temtation For what would you have more temting then this By this saving Office say they h Al. Gazaeus supra pag. 69. if you use it now especially when his Holiness hath improved it with Apostolical Indulgences 1. You may lay claim to Heaven not merely upon the title of mercy from God but by that of Justice and Condignity as your own Right 2 You may satisfy Divine Justice both for your sins and the sins of others 3. What would you have more by these Praiers whatsoever you can ask in the Name of the Savior and in the name of the Savioress Mary too you shall receive it For who can be so incredulous as not to be sure to have all in order to his real Good and Salvation by this form of Praier thus approved of by the Church recommended by God himself they mean the little Baby who bids men to pray to his Mother and in an especial manner consecrated to the Virgin Maries Service What a hot friend she proves to be and how Zealous to undertake for the silliest Fellow that is her Client S. Damian can best tell you i Cardin. Damian l. 2. Ep. 14. A pitiful sottish Man who had no spark of Grace in him but that he could sing Ave Maria and bow passing by her Altar had bin deprived of his Pension by a Bishop who thought himself bound in Conscience to free the Church from such a Wretch But then the Goddess comes by night and falls foul upon the Prelat and being seconded by an Angel who had a burning Taper in one hand and a lusty whip in the other What saies he wrong'st thou my Chaplain and takest thou from him what thou didst not give At last after many sound stripes the Bishop being taught good manners was glad to cry out peccavi and to restore to that worthy Man the stipends which he had kept from him This is but a temporal Concern but here is one which is Eternal It is somewhat long but it concerns all Men to know it and I have it from the same Saint k Card. Damian supra An ugly Fellow named Bassus who died a sudden death had the good luck to die so in coming from one of our Ladies Churches He having bin in his Coffin the greatest part of the night after his death rose up out of it suddenly both affrighted and affrighting others for with a terrible tone he cried for Praiers Litanies to scare away those ugly Spirits who watch'd for him about the Room and at last being come to himself for Ave Maria and Holy Water had soon frighted the Devils away when my poor Soul saies he parted from me presently came on some black Troopers this Fellow said they is our prize for he hath ever lived after the Flesh and never knew what the Spirit was His good Angel could say nothing but that he was dead in the service of their Mistress the Queen of Heaven and that whosoever hath her favor cannot perish by the power of any Judg. To this they make bold to reply that God being Just would do nothing for a Sinner to their prejudice and thereupon the Devils grew so earnest after their Prey and the Angels on the other side so remiss in keeping their charge that the Wretch was upon the point of being given up as he deserved when behold the Queen of Heaven came among them and an Army of Celestial Soldiers with her and with such a splendor besides that the Devils durst not look up Nevertheless with reverence they protested against the wrong which the former Angels had done them in detaining from them their just Prey and that if God and she were just they could not rescue such a sinner out of their hands The Queen confessed he had bin so but yet her Son and Lord would never suffer that one who had ended his daies in her service as this Fellow had done in going to visit her Church should ever suffer their Cruelty and withal he had confessed tho he had not the time to do Penance Hence the Devil took a fit time to tell her what a Villain he was and what ugly Abomination he had never confessed and that is true saies the revived Man of himself at which the Mother of Mercy started but at last after a kind of modest silence in reverence to this plain truth having somewhat recovered her self It is as you say saies she but yet of course Mercy goes before Judgment Go back again to thy Body saies she to him and then confess to such a Priest whom she named what these Spirits lay to thy charge and in my name charge such Friars whom she named also to take upon them thy Penance Then come again without delay for I will not stir hence till thou come The Rascal being confessed saies the Cardinal Damian and the Holy Friars having taken upon themselves the satisfaction enjoined him by the Confessor died again but as sweetly as if he had but fallen asleep A happy Sinner indeed who can find such a Savioress as will give way to all his Crimes and secure him from punishment Men troubled in their Consciences and unwilling to leave their sins do not consider the Absurdity tho visible in all such Stories but see their own conveniency and what could please and fit then better then such a protecting Goddess Add to this Enchantment of daily Praiers to the Virgin the Devotion of Fasting and Hearing one Mass to her Honor every Saturday the Temtation will be ended and your Soul safe This weekly piece of Devotion on Saturday Officium Sabbatinum is grounded as they say l Durand Rational l. 4. c. 1. upon three Reasons 1. Because the Saturday and the Sunday or the Ladies day and the Lords day as do the Lord and the Lady go together 2. Because as God the Father rested upon that day and kept it holy under the Law so must the Goddess his Daughter and Wife do the like under the Gospel 3. Because she is an entrance to Eternal Life as Saturday is to the Sunday But if you will be so refractory as not to acquiesce in these Reasons be you satisfied with a Miracle They say m Gonon Chron. an 770. that in the Year 770. it is pity it did not happen sooner that the Holy Apostles and the Fathers might have observ'd it a great Cortin that hanged before our Ladies Image all the Week long was miraculously drawn up as they suppose into Heaven from Friday at Vespers to Sunday Night so that the People could see her Face for the space of 24 hours and adore her accordingly This Miracle constantly veiling and unveiling the Virgin Mary on Saturday as well as the other that the Night of her Assumtion made all sorts of Lights burn without wasting is quite abolish'd But the Benefit and the Charm to induce you to hear her Mass Missa de S. Maria in Sabbato
familiarity with the Virgin and thereby learned to look her full in the face now fall to the first g Ibid. Miscell 24. n. 3. Decad or the first ten Ave Maria's of your Rosary Ave Maria Gratia plena Dominus c. And at the end of each Decad fastening alwaies your Eies on her in one of the three postures aforesaid adore her with this Doxology instead of Glory be to the Father Virgin Mother Glorious Mary let all the Angels and Arch-angels all Principalities Dominations and Powers the Thrones the Cherubims and Seraphins now glorifie you a thousand times And we hope to see you and adore you once in Heaven as well as they Amen Then take your breath and at the end of the second Decad or ten other Ave Maria's tell her this O glorious Virgin Mother let Adam and Eve Elias and Enoch the Patriarchs and the Prophets St. John Baptist the Innocents and all the Saints of the Old Testament with whom we hope one of these daies to see and adore you now bless you twenty thousand times Amen At the end of the third Decad that is as far as to 30. Aves O glorious Queen c. Let Peter and Paul and John and all the Apostles and Evangelists let Stephen and all the Lords Disciples Sebastian and all the Martyrs with whom c. now praise and bless you thirty thousand times At the end of the fourth Decad that reaches to 40 Aves Let all the Confessors Sylvester Gregory Jerome Isidor Martin and Nicolas Benedict and Bernard Dominic and Francis all the Bishops Monks and Eremits c. bless you now forty thousand times Ave Maria. And at the end of the fifth Decad O most glorious Virgin Mother let your Mother Anna and your two sisters Maries let Magdalen and your dearest Martha and Marcella let your dear waiting Maids Agnes Catharina and Agatha let all holy Maids Wives and Widows with whom we hope c. now bless you fifty thousand times Amen By this time you have done the third part of your Rosary and now you may take breath a while 5. When you shall come to it again for the first part is enough to some for a day and to others for a whole Week that you may both recreate and improve Devotion with some variety A wise and holy Man advises you h Navar. De Orat. c. 10. n. 36. to say but 5 Aves and to put a Pater to each and apply all to the five Wounds which Christ suffered in his Body for it is ordinary with these Men to say Our Father to the Virgin and Ave Maria to God with this Preface Go too let us sing five Pater nosters and five Aves to the honor of the five Wounds and first in memory of the right Hand Ave Maria gratia c. next in memory of the right Foot wounded Ave Maria c. then of the left Hand and Foot in the same way finally of his side concluding all the five Paters at every wounded Member with an Ave Maria by all means that being as pertinent to his Body as a Pater can be to her Image 6. When you have done with applying your Ave Maria's to Christ apply them now which is more proper to her self And by all means stick close to the direction of St. Herman not Herman the second Joseph and Husband of the Virgin Mary but the Dominican and therefore the best acquainted with Rosaries His advice is that having the Virgins Image before you you k Chronic. Deip. an 1243. take her whole Body piece by piece and apply to each an Ave beginning first with her Bowels then proceed to her Heart then her Paps after her Arms then her Hands then her Mouth in a Word every Member that you can civilly name and look upon in a Woman that so all your Aves may get more Merit and Holiness by being applied to every part of her Body as the Beads or little Buttons of your Rosary do you know by being touched at her Image For this piece of Devotion she once on a Saturday gave a gracious visit to this l Ibidem Harman and enriched him then with Eloquence the gift of Tongues and all other Graces imaginable 7. Another thing you may do more which Jordan m Gonon Chronic. an 1222. the Dominican and a great Saint gave in Counsil to Bertholdus When you are pouring your Praiers before the Mother of Mercies take notice of how many Letters the name Maria is made of it consists of five the first is M. therefore seek for some holy Song or Psalm of which the first Letter is an M. such is for example Magnificat c. The second Letter is an A. then say Ad te levavi c. The third is R. therefore have at Retribue c. and so to the very last After which you must dispatch your Aves provided which you may omit by no means that before any one of the five Psalms you sing or say Ave Maris stella I salute you O star of the Sea c. And at the end of every such Song you make a Leg or a Courtesie and then end with Ave Maria. This parcel of special Worship once pleased so well this Spirit for God forbid I should think it to be the blessed Virgin that leaving all work in Heaven she came down with a Pot full of Holy Water to sprinkle it on these Worshippers with her own n Gonon ibid. hand and to bid one of them tell all the others as from her that she was the Mother of God that she loved dearly their Order for thus beginning and ending the Service of God with her Praises and that for her doing so she obtained of her Son that no Dominican Friar shall ever defile that holy Order by lying long in mortal Sins A very great Privilege indeed and given to Monks from a good hand You might also do what St. Joane the Carmelite used to do * Benedict Mattus in vita Johannae Carmel but not to that prodigious number for she did dispatch I hope it was not at one time fifteen thousand Aves fifteen score is enough for you and at the end of each hundred she said a Salve Regina and seven times Ave Stella or O gloriosa Domina all prime Songs to adore her with and she called this Our Ladies Shift this being her Ladiships goodness to account it as so many Crowns or Ornaments and rich Garments bestowed on her when she is adored in this manner It is by the strength of such Hymns and well ordered Repetitions and Rosaries that S. Dominic o Flaminius in vita S. Dominic and S. Francis were predestinated as they say both to restore Piety and to keep the World from perishing that in all probability so many black Friars were admitted under the p Antonin 3. part Hist tit 23. c. 3. Robe of their Goddess that with continual repeting the Rosary Salutation Eustachius
in applying it to strangers or God the Father being there present in applying it to his Children Is it that Christs Redemtion must come to Rome and there be ratified by some Bull before it be good against Burning Secondly this Paiment however reacht to is they say presented to God by the Pope It is so in all Indulgences but in those especially which his Holiness grants for the dead For there the Pope rescues no man from what he suffers but by offering as much to God of Christs Sufferings that so Justice they say n Bellarmin de Indulg l. 1. c. 14. sect Tertia Quaestio may be satisfied by the exchange And herein lies a most impious Absurdity 1. For what is this to offer up again what Christ by his eternal Spirit offered before Was not Christs once offering it sufficient Is the Popes Offering more acceptable and since Christ alone can by the Law of Mechisedecs Priest-hood offer up his Body and Blood what is the Popes second Offering in every Bull but a most sacrilegious Boldness Will they say that this Offering is merely intentional such as every Christian may do by praier then say I the Indulgence which the Pope sells with this kind of Offering is a mere Cheat if it be more it is the Sacrilege 2. Secondly what a rude extravagancy is it to offer to God for Paiment his own Mony and to present him with that which he had already from an incompatably better hand Is this fair and honest dealing to pay one out of his own Purse and what Piece of Courtship is it in a Subject to present his Prince with nothing else then his own proper Roial Jewels This is the truth of Christs Satisfaction and Pope and Papists should either learn or teach it better Christ having once offered to God a Ransom most sufficient to redeem all men both from all sins and all the Penalties which attend them God the Father hath accepted of it for such at the hands of his Dear Son Now the way of applying this great and infinite Sacrifice and of rendring it as well all Efficacious to us as it is al-sufficient in it self is not to return it up to God either by ordinary Priests at Mass or by Popes pretending to repay it him in Indulgences for this were rather the way of applying it to God who gives then to us who must receive it but to beg it of God through Christ by continual Praiers to thirst and long after it by the sense of our wants and unworthiness to qualify our selves towards the receiving of it by repenting and then to embrace what God according to his mercies and promises will give to embrace it I say with faith and secure it to our selves by a constant course of holy life Or to say the same in Roman terms The Church hath an infinite Tresure both of Satisfactions and Merits out of which you may have as many Jubilees and Plenary Indulgences for all your Sins and all the Penalties whether eternal or temporal that attend sin as you shall want This Tresure of Satisfactions hath already bin both so sufficiently and so efficaciously offered to God by Christ and accepted of by God for you that without any farther Offering by Mass Oblations or Popes Bulls it stands alwaies before God in his mind and acceptation God is pleased to offer it you full as it is in his Gospel His Holy Sacraments and his gracious Promises are both his Bulls and Indulgences and be sure that you shall gain them if you are but willing and earnest to have them Only know this that Christ who is the Steward and the Dispenser of the Tresure throws it not a way undiscreetly on every sinner that bids mony None of his Indulgences are to be had sine Causa rationabili as the Bull-mongers use to speak without some reasonable cause which is leaving the Pope to come with repentance and Faith to Christ instead of bowing to a Rosary Altar or an Image to humble your self and walk uprightly both before God and before men Now have you got the whole Tresure upon these reasonable terms you have the keies along with it as far as your private concern reaches Impepenitency or continuing in any sin are the two ordinary keies that lock it up holy Faith and true Charity are the keies that get it open There are keies of another kind that belong to public Persons S. Peter S. Paul and all the Lawful Officers in the house of God These public keies are to lock out of it all such wretches as stand in the Church to shame it and to open it to them again when after due proofs of Amendment they shall watch and knock at her Gates And this is more then perhaps you think for altho directly they belong only to the Church they do also consequently both lock or open Gods good Tresure and in some manner Heaven it self For tho Christ properly be the keeper of as well as the way and the Gate of this Celestial Palace take it for certain that his Keies do shut or open his Kingdom whensoever Paul or Apollos or any other Lawful Bishop Lawfully shuts or opens the Church and whensoever also your private ones shut or open your own Tresure If Rome trespass against the rule as her keies may turn wrong and not in the wards of the Catholic Church your private ones shall serve your turn and the keies of Christ will second them These keies every true Christian as Tertullian p saies very well doth keep and carry about him and may with them attain unto the tender Mercies of God and the satisfaction of Christ for all his sins without the Bull of any Pope The very Papists do confess it tho they do it in other words when they say r Becan de Sacram. c. 31. sect 1. Parag. Tertia Conclusio Lay-man de Sacram. Poenit. c. 1. n. 8. That there is no mortal sin but may be remitted by true Co trition without the Sacrament of Penance Only for fear of beggering themselves they keep in their own Power the remitting of Temporal Pains This one Reservation makes all the trouble about Pardons and so secures all the profit It makes all the trouble for Pardons for let the foulest sinner go and confess the meanest Mass Priest can absolve him from all his sins and from all the eternal punishments in Hell and if some Repentance be required tho some s Sylvester Verb. Confess 1. c. 21. Soto in 4. Sent. d. 14. q. 4. a. 3. think it scarce necessary it will go hard with the Penitent if a very small sorrow be not counted Attrition and by the power of their Keies be not elevated that is made to pass into such a degree of Contrition or Roman Repentance as shall secure the worst Livers from Eternal Destruction And God knows how many Wretches both are drawn away to that Church and there emboldened to sin by this sweer Enchantment But when
all Spain and the Kingdoms appertaining saies f Navar. de Jubil Notabil 15. n 5. Navarrus and think not that England fares worse a full Indulgence of all Sins with many other Faculties and Privileges added to it such as the liberty of eating Cheese on Saturday c. may be had by every one Prince or Pesant it matters not for two small pieces of Silver 2. There is not any poor country Church or Chappel but as it hath a Saint for its special Patron and an anniversary Feast for the day on which it was consecrated hath also some special Graces out of the Roman Tresury to wait both upon the Saint and the Feast Thus one needs not to go farther then the Parish to get at the least twice in a Year the benefit of Indulgences 3. If you be not content with what your Parish can afford the Pope hath so judiciously scattered great Sanctuaries over all his Catholic World like the Moazim in Daniel and the High places in Israel that there is scarce any Country so unfortunatly seated but it can supply all Catholic Inhabitants with all they can want in this case In Spain you have the Chappel of Angels g Conformit S. Franc. Conf. 14. where by the Virgins special favor you may save one Soul every Year you might have done it every day if the Pope had not grudged at it if you will but step into the Church At Venice you have the Chappel called The Lords Sepulcher and therein some think fourscore thousand Years of Pardon Padua Perusium Florence Montserrat Lauretta c. do not come much short of this In France you shall find it may be more if you go to St. Denis St. Michael Limoges and a hundred other famous Places which it were needless to mention here You may be sure that Germany and the Low Countries do not want such Commodities as these are 4. Besides these local Indulgences that are fixed to Altars and Churches which you may easily resort to his Holiness hath taken care to fasten some other and large ones too upon certain moveable h Suarez de Indulg Disp. 52. Sect. 1. n. 3. things which are brought ready to your hand For as there are privileged Altars Masses and Churches made fast to certain pieces of ground there are Praiers enrich'd with the like Favors and Indulgences flying up and down the Roman World as light and nimble as Paper can be that can afford you upon this score more then you can need Buy but a little Book such as I have an old one by me containing the Suffrages of the Saints there you shall find in one short Ave Maria i Suffrag fol. 74. alias 85. said to the honor of St. Anna St. Mary and her Son ten thousand Years for your Mortal and twenty thousand more for your Venial Sins In another Salutation k Suffrag fol. 9. Ave Valnus 4000 daies in the Praier Dirupisti 6000 in the Praier a Suffrag fol. 64. Domine Jesu ten hundred thousand Years in the Praier Adoro te l Suffrag fol. 52. 32755 Years of Pardon And if this be not enough Pope Sixtus the 4th was pleased to add to it a great deal more even so much as to double it and the 15 Oo's of St. Brigit that is in a Praier made of 15 Ejaculations m Suffrag fol. 49. all beginning by O Jesu forty five huge great Indulgences and extraordinary Powers namely fifteen to deliver from Purgatory any fifteen Souls you please to name of your kindred fifteen to convert to a good Life any fifteen Men or Women that you may find among sinners and fifteen to keep fifteen more honest Persons safe and constant in a good way And the Rubric adds more n Ibid. that whatsoever you shall desire if it be for the good of your Soul you shall have it And what can you not expect of Salve Regina Ave spes and such other more solemn Praiers When you are weary of Praiers take your Beads Videmus c. a Navar. de Jubil Notabil 15. n. 5. saies a most Learned and Pious Author in the Roman way I my self saies he have seen small Buttons or Beads of Wood so powerfully blessed by the Pope that whosoever had one in his hand in saying but the Lords Praier was therewith enabled to save a Soul Any Meddal when rightly consecrated can do as much 't is but getting some of those rusty Pieces which Pope Sixtus the Fifth found once under the rubbish of an old Wall then presently you are b Cardinal Raspon l. 4. c. 11. pag. 347. fitted with * Suffrag fol. 6. rare Indulgential Privileges The Agnus-Dei's as I will shew you anon that is pieces of Wax sealed with the Image of a Lamb and consecrated accordingly go beyond this But observe what I tell you and admire the blessedness of being a Roman Catholic by that time you are grown so weak or so lazy as not to stretch your hand to a Book in order to the gaining these Indulgences the very Bell of the Parish will sound them intâ— your Ears Pope John the 22d is the first I know who c Ricard Cluniac in Joh. 22. being at Avignion assured twenty daies of Pardon upon the toling about Sun-set and since that time these 20 were out of the Church Tresure d Suffrag de Beat. Mar. fol. 42. by Pope Sixtus improved here in England into 300 daies of pardon at every daies toling 3 times this they call the Ave Bell. Thus unless you stop both Heart and Ears you can't want every day a fair proportion of Indulgences 4. If you will drink at the Fountain of all these good things go to Rome As that Town is by the Testimony of her e Alvar. Pelagius de Planctu Eccles l. 2. Art 2. Platina in vita Marcel S. Bernard de Considerat l. 4. own Friends acknowledged to be the durtiest Nest of all sorts of uncleanness she hath to wash all clean a whole Ocean of Indulgences There the seven great Churches not to name a hundred more can upon their own account afford more Propitiations then the greatest Villains can commit sins for there is Scala Sancta that is those 28 Steps or Marble Stones that once belonged to Pilate but now have in them such a measure of Holiness that the Popes think it Devotion to kneel on them And that of late Queen Christina is much celebrated f Card Reston l. 4. c. 10. by some for having bent her Roial knees and what she never had done in her Country expressed much Devotion by creeping up those Holy Stairs There is that most Holy Chappel which they call Sancta Sanctorum where Men at the first stepping into find wherewith g Ibid. c. 19. pag 373. to expiate all sins and Women at the very looking into it for they are not suffered to come in get even as much through an Iron Grate This is the
Mary and partly got and stolen from her Son when he had bin in her own lap What can you not hope of S. Osanna another sister of this holy Confraternity who being yet t Balinghen Calendar B. M. 17. Jun. a Child had the Virgin for her School-Mistress and being come to riper years had the Holy Babe for her Husband What shall I say of St. Alanus of Dinam for whose Deliverance the u Chronic. Deip. an 1212. Rosary Goddess destroied his Enemies at land with 150 Thunderbolts and raised out of the deep Sea as many Mountains an equal number to his Beads to make him a Bridg to run away and what of the other S. Alanus de Rupe the Restorer of Rosaries the true x Ibid. an 1476. Husband of this Goddess and withal her bosom sucker Have these and all whom I could name Popes Cardinals and other Grandees of the same Confraternity cast nothing into the Tresury And if all these did not cast in enough take all Gods Saints from the very beginning of the World to the year 1431. for if Roman Revelations be at all true they y Arch. Caraccius De Rosar part 4. c. 35. all without exception use and sing out the Rosary Take along with them all the Angels and as they love to speak the whole Celestial Court for every good Roman Catholic is perswaded unless they offer to contradict z B. Alan parf. 1. c. 19. both S. Alan and his Virgin that they also sing in Heaven the Rosary and that both these to wit Saints and Angels make up but one Arch-Confraternity together Now the Custom of this Society a Navar. de Psalter Miscellan 9. n. 4. being so free as to limit no favors at all as others most commonly do but to allow to every Member a full Communication of all what a huge deal of wealth is all this to every one be he otherwise never so poor All the Intercessions of Saints above all the Merits of more Saints below all the extraordinary showers of Privileges and full Indulgences from Rome all the watchings and helps of the good Angels and that which must be reckoned above all things the continual favor and Countenance of the Queen of Heaven her self in this vast Concurrence of all the Saints and holy things from Heaven and Earth together what can the wit of man fancy that both this Confraternity may not contain and the Rosary Brother well expect Are you for a shelter against public Calamities The Holy Rosary is good for it They think that by the strength of this Weapon the b Gregor 13. Bull. Monet Apostolus Turks were beaten from Europe the war ceased from d Leo 10. Bull. Pastoris aeterni Cologne and e Arch. Carac de Ros part 1. c. 17. Genua and the great Plague f Id. part 4. Miracul 19. from Pavia Are you troubled with private Distresses Frier Amat had no better way to g Chronic. Deip. an 1538. choak a Devil nor S. Salvator h Ibid. an 1567. to cure the deaf nor S. Dominic i Bov. tom 13. an 1213. n. 9. to procure Children and cure Barrenness nor General Montfort and Captain Anthony k Alanus de Insulis in Rosar to rout Armies nor the two Spanish Women l Archang in Rosario part 4. to escape hanging What they say of the Spanish Ass is most pertinent to this purpose This Beast is often in that Country made use of to carry condemned Persons to the place of Execution and 't is not heard but the innocent stupid Animal performs quietly this Office except one time m Lopaz de Rosar l. 1. c. 10. when it grew so intelligent as to perceive that the Wretch who was on its back related to the Rosary then it was wonderful to see how quick and nimble this slow Beast turns back again from the Gallows and galloping through all the Guards who attended the Execution and all the common People which then was thronging to see it carries her dear charge to the Church there laies it down most devoutly before a Rosary Altar You must conceive that either the Grace infused into these Beads at their Consecration works out these ordinary Miracles or that the Rosary Queen whom they call the Mistress of the World and the General of this Order is alwaies present and active upon all great Exigencies wherein her Officers are concerned especially when she sees them bearing up or marching under that which she takes n Caraccius de Rosar part 1. c. 10. for her Banner Nevertheless tho the essential Riches of this potent Confraternity be so extremely considerable in all Secular advantages even sometimes so as o Navar. de Horis Canon c. 19. n. 160. to make Men fortunate in Wives and all other Bargains yet it s great worth lies more in all Spiritual and Eternal Concerns St. Alain who never was seen without the Ring which our Lady p Gonon Chronic. an 1476. twisted for him of her own Hair nor without that Heavenly Chain of Beads which she put about his Neck at the same time doth assure us upon this account that to be enrolled in the Book of this happy Confraternity is q Beat. Alan part 1. c. 17. to be enrolled in the very Book of Life that the benefit which they receive from being thus registred r Id. c. 18. is no less then to be chosen and adopted for Gods Children that such registred Persons are much better then the hundred forty four thousand were in the seventh of St. Johns Revelation and that all Friends and Promoters of this admirable Society do set up for all sinners as good as the Ladder in Jacobs Vision to scale Heaven And as for themselves they shall be there glorified not only as Abel and Abraham and the other Patriarchs are but as the noblest Angels of God And let none be discouraged from this great Hope for feeling himself but a sinful Wretch since as the same Father saies if true Qui propriis c. that the very Reprobates as to their proper and personal Demerits are made the Children of God by the communion and benefit of this Society For as a Rosary had in the hand of S. Salvator the vertu of curing Quartan Agues when it was laid t Chronic. Min. l. 5. tit 4. upon ones head so it had in the hand of St. Dominic a greater Gift namely that of infusing Grace or however expelling Vice when laid u Bovius Annal. to 13. an 219. n. 12. at Night under ones Pillow For my part I know no fowler Villain then that Noble Man at Paris was who was sanctified by this means Where ever was a more prostitute Whore then fair Catharina at Rome who both in the heat of her Lust and her Zeal for this blessed Rosary was converted also and in such an extraordinary manner x Chronic. Deip. an 1221. as is not fit for
Representatives they would be served at a distance Can any Papist shew that the Virgin ever cared more for Images then God doth who abhors them And should we not suspect those Saints if by chance were found any such who had any love for that worship which in all the times of true Saints none but Devils were pleased with And if for any thing that we can certainly tell the Saints of God are altogether strangers to Images why should we think Image-worship to be so dear and so Charming a Service to Saints and therefore when the Mass Bishop praies and believes after his Praier that all Blessings may and do light on them who bow or kneel before an Image or a Crucifix can he not pray and believe as well that they may and do light on them who to the great honor of those Saints either whip a Top about a Room or drink claret in a Tavern Since these last waies of Worshipping are not more destitute of Gods word and Institution then those and those more unlawful and more expressly forbidden in all holy writings then these And so much of the first known Original of made and consecrated Images 2. There is a second sort of Roman Images which need no Consecration being as it is thought sufficiently consecrated either by the hand that made them or by some other extraordinary Extraction Such are 1. That Image which Christ as they say made of himself when King Abagarus sent him a letter and a Painter h Joh Damase De Fide Orthod l. 4. c. De Imaginib who being not able to look Him in the Face much less to draw well his Picture because of the Glorious light which dazled his Eies Christ saies the Romancer took his own Cloak and by applying it to his Face took a perfect Copy of it and sent it to Abagarus But long before Images were used in the Roman Church Pope Gelasius accounting this pretended i Gelas Conc. Rom. Decret de Libris Apocryph letter to be false it is much the story of the Painter and of the Picture can be true 2. You have another Image of the same worth and of the same Impression which Christ as they say gave to Berenice called otherwise Veronica The story goes that this woman gave a Handkerchief wherewith he wiped off the Sweat and Blood which was on his Face and thus his Resemblance stuck to the Cloth and it is this which at this day is both so solemnly shewed and so devoutly adored at Rome and you have to this purpose the whole legend k Baron An. 34. n. 139. carefully kept in the Vatican 3. To these may be added that wonderful Image which they call l Caes Raspon l. 4. c. 19. made without hand which Catholics keep and adore at Rome in the Chappel of S. Laurence 4. All those Images which of late times are supposed to have bin either made by God himself or however brought down by his Angels Witness that fine Picture of the Virgin m Balinghem Calend. B. M. 27. Maii. wrought curiously in a Saphir stone with her Baby on her left Arm which Pope John saw first in the Skie and then all the Bells of the Town rung of themselves while the Angels put it in his hand Witness another brave Image which two French-men being in Prison found in n Chronic. Deip. an 1100. a night made to their hand when the evening before they were thinking how to make one Witness that other more glorious one at Tungres o Pyraeus Tripl Coron Tract 1. c. 12. which the Angels left in a Garden If you ask what good it did there they will tell you how coming down it turned the Night into a bright day and cured the Earl who owned the Ground where it was left from an inveterate blindness Witness that other Miraculous Image near Florence which the p Archang Gian de Initio Ordin Servitarum Painter thinking to make found in the Morning made to his hand and to all the Worlds amazement 5. All the Images which at this day are believed to have bin made by St. Lukes hand both of our * Lord and our Lady and given q Sim. Metaphr in vita Lucae away to his Friends and so dispersed r Niceph. Catist Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 43. over the World Some think that St. Luke made them of Wax others that he did it in Colours but take it either way you please he is as like to have bin a Plaisterer as a Painter and both as either of the two Some are so curious Å¿ Bened. Gonon Chronic. an 33. as to enquire both after the places and the time where and when he handled the Brush and so they find that in the last Year of Christs Life he made two fine ones at Malta three and in two Years at Rome many more one of them with a Ring in the hand is they say at St. Maries seated over the high Altar just in that place where his Chamber was when he made it another at the greater St. Maries S. Maria major which Pope Gregory had about him when there he stopt the raging Plague another the most t Bovius Tom. 16. an 1433. miraculous of all which came from Constantinople and now is adored in Mont Guardia in Italy It is a great pity and a greater wonder that these Images were yet unknown to all the Churches in the World about 800 Years at the least when the second Council of Nice met together to set up Image-worship For if these Fathers had had the least hint that St. Luke had bin a Painter and that the Virgin Mary had blessed some u Benedict Gonon supra of his Pictures they might have left abusing and even profaning holy Scriptures to introduce their strange Worship this one Precedent of St. Lukes Preaching the Gospel one day and the next Morning Painting Images had bin if true and known to be so a ground more then sufficient both to confound their Adversaries whom they called Breakers of Images and to justifie upon some probability what they offered to say as the Papists do now upon a meer account of boldness that the ancient Tradition of the Catholic Church stood for Images Therefore since they did allege nothing of such a visible Importance for their own Cause it is a Demonstration they did not know it and that S. Lukes skill either in Painting or in Sculpture was not yet so much as heard of no more then all his Images which it seems were kept in the dark and as it were under the heap of those thousands which durst not appear abroad till far worse times 6. For the greatest part of those Images which now the Papists set up and adore on their Altars sprung and started up from under ground in the darkest times of the Church like so many Toad-stools and Mushroms in a foggy Night Such is that Marble Statue of Christ which was so