on Earth by their own Power then Prayer is a worship which is not due to their nature even in a glorified state For no Being can have a right to our Prayers who cannot hear them and though we should grant that God reveals our Prayers to them yet to know by Revelation is not to hear In this case all that can be reasonable for us to do is only secretly to desire that the Saints would Pray for us which God can reveal to them if he pleases as well as our Prayers but it can never be reasonable to Pray to those who cannot hear us And if Prayer cannot be due to a created nature in its most exalted state because no creature can be present in all places to hear our Prayers then if it be a proper worship for Creatures it must be so by a positive Institution of God but then they must shew an express command for it and when they can do that we will dispute the reason of the thing no longer And this is a manifest reason why we should worship no other invisible Being besides God because no other invisible Being is capable of our Worship God alone fills all places and therefore may be worshipped though we do not see him for he is present every where to hear our prayers but we cannot know that any Being of a limited presence is present with us unless we see it and it is unnatural to pray to any Being who is not present to hear us And though the Church of Rome does not directly and positively attribute any divine perfections to Saints yet mankind are so naturally prone to ascribe a kind of Divinity to immortal and invisible Spirits that this is a sufficient reason why God should not allow the worship of any invisible Spirits For after all that can be said to the contrary it is a mighty temptation to men at least to make inferior Deities of those to whom they constantly pay divine honours And though they do not attribute to Saints a natural power to know our Thoughts and to hear our Prayers and to answer them yet if this supernatural gift and power whereby they do it be as constant and act as certainly as nature does it is as great and adorable a perfection as if it were natural for since all created Excellencies are the gift of God what mighty difference is there between a natural and supernatural perfection or gift if that which is supernatural be as certain and lasting and that which they can as constantly use as that which is natural As to take their own instance Were the gift of Prophesie which God bestowed on some in former Ages as constant and certain as natural knowledge that they could use this gift whenever they pleased and as constantly foretel things to come as they could reason and discourse what difference would there be in this case between a natural and supernatural knowledge of future things truly no more but this That a natural knowledge is a perfection which God did originally bestow upon our nature supernatural knowledge is an additional Perfection but yet upon this supposition as inseparably annexed to our natures as natural knowledge and always as ready for use as that which I think would make such a Prophet as truly venerable as if Prophesie were natural to him Thus it is in this present case If the Saints know our prayers by what means soever they do it it must be as constant and lasting a gift as if it were natural that is they must as certainly know when and what we pray for every time we pray as if they were present to hear us For if they do not always know our prayers we can never know when to pray and can never have any security of their Intercession for us many thousand Ave Maries may be every day lost and turn to no account and if they do constantly know this by a supernatural gift it is as glorious a perfection as if this knowledge were natural Mankind do not so critically distinguish between natural and supernatural gifts in whomsoever these perfections are they are divine and such creatures have a supernatural kind of Divinity annexed to their natures they are made Gods though not Gods by nature which is as much as any people believe of their inferior Deities who believe but one Supreme and Sovereign God who is a God by nature And yet the Author of the Character of a Papist represented gives some instances which would perswade us that the Saints have a natural knowledge of our Prayers Thus he tells us That Abraham heard the petitions of Dives who was yet at a greater distance even in Hell and told him likewise his manner of living while as yet on Earth p. 4. Now not to ask how he comes so exactly to know where Hell is and that it is at a greater distance from Heaven than the Earth is If there be any force in this Argument it must prove that the Saints have a natural knowledge of our Prayers though at so great a distance from us as Heaven is That they see and hear us as Abraham did Dives though we cannot see and hear them as Dives did Abraham which might have satisfied him since he thinks fit to reason from Parables that whatsoever distance there is between Heaven and Hell there is a greater communication between them than between Heaven and Earth However our Saviour cannot here speak of any supernatural gift whereby Abraham saw and heard Dives in Hell unless we will say that Dives did by a supernatural gift also see and hear Abraham in Heaven and therefore if this prove any thing it proves that Saints know and hear our Prayers by their own natural powers Thus he adds That the very Devils hear those desperate wretches who call on them and why then should he doubt that Saints want this priviledge in some manner granted to sinful men and wicked spirits But though he call this a Priviledge I suppose he means a natural one unless he thinks that the Devils hear witches by a supernatural revelation as the Saints in Heaven hear the prayers of the Saints on Earth But I always thought that Devils had been a little nearer bad men than the Saints in Heaven are to us on Earth for they are confined to this Lower Region and therefore are often so near as to see and hear bad men though they are invisible themselves And this is one reason why God will not allow us to worship any invisible Spirits because though we should intend only to worship good Spirits and glorified Saints yet bad Spirits who are near and present as having their residence in the Air as the Devil is called the Prince of the Power of the Air do assume this worship to themselves and both corrupt the worship and abuse their Votaries with lying Wonders Thus they did in the times of Paganism and whether they have more reverence for the Christian Saints than they
had for the Pagan Deities in assuming their names and worship let others consider But to return to the Bishop He having assured us that the Church of Rome does not ascribe any divine perfections to the Saints of which the Reader may judge by what I have already discoursed he thus concludes It is therefore true that by examining what are our interiour Sentiments concerning the Saints it will be found we do not raise them above the condition of creatures and from thence we ought to judge of what nature that exteriour honour is which we render them exteriour Veneration being established to testifie the interior Sentiments of the mind That is we must conclude they do not give the worship of God to them because they do not believe them to be Gods Now this I confess would be true were the external Signs of honour wholly arbitrary and at our own choice for then they could signifie no more than what we intend to signifie by them and we ought not to be charged with intending to signifie more than what we profess to intend but when either the Act of worship naturally signifies divine perfections as prayer to an Invisible Being does or God has reserved any Acts of worship to himself as he has done all Religious Worship that is all Worship paid to Invisible Beings as I have already shewn in these cases we may be guilty of giving divine honours to creatures though in words and intention we ascribe no divine perfections to them So that I cannot see but that after all the fine colours and soft interpretations which the Bishop puts upon this practice of the Church of Rome in praying to Saints the charge against them of giving the peculiar worship of God to creatures is as strong and forcible as ever Secondly let us now consider whether our praying to the Saints to pray and intercede for us be not injurious to the Merits and Mediation of Christ. Now there are two things the Bishop urges to prove that the Mediation of Saints is not injurious to the Mediation of Christ. 1. That if the quality of Mediator which the Scriptures gives to Jesus Christ received any prejudice from the Intercession made to the Saints who raign with God it would receive no less from the intercession made to the Faithful who live with us For this he alledges the Authority of the Catechism ad Parochos which tells us That if it were not lawful to desire help of the Saints because we have one Patron or Mediator Jesus Christ the Apostle would not so earnestly have desired the Prayers of the Brethren who were then living to God for him For the glory and dignity of Christ as Mediator is not less diminished by the Prayers of the Living than by the Intercession of Saints in Heaven This is the least that can be made of it that the Mediation and Intercession of the Saints for us in Heaven is no more than one Christians praying for another on Earth and I fear this is not reconcileable with the practice of the Church of Rome in this matter For can this if it be no more be thought a sufficient foundation for all that pompous worship of the Virgin Mary and other powerful Saints Is this a good reason to erect Temples and Altars consecrated not only to their Memory but to their Honour to set up their Images in Holy Places and pay our humble Adorations before them because they pray for us in Heaven just as Christian Brethren pray for one another on Earth And therefore I must needs say the Bishop has not truly expounded the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in this Point which makes the Saints to be our Mediators in Heaven not indeed Mediators of Redemption which she acknowledges none to be but Christ who has purchased us with his own Blood but Mediators of Intercession who have so much interest and favour in the Court of Heaven as powerfully to recommend those to God who put themselves under their Patronage This I confess makes a great difference between the Mediation of Christ and of the Saints and yet leaves a great distance between the Prayers of Saints in Heaven for us and the mutual Intercessions of Christians for each other on Earth and the Church of Rome never taught that they were of the same nature for though the Catechism endeavours to prove that the Mediation and Intercession of the Saints in Heaven for us is not injurious to the Mediation of Christ because the Prayers of Christians for each other on Earth are very reconcileable with the Honour of Christ's Intercession yet it never teaches that there is no difference between the Prayers of Saints in Heaven and Christians on Earth and I think we ought to distinguish between the Doctrine and the Arguments of the Church What she declares to be her Doctrine we must own to be so but I think we must not grant every thing to be her Domakes which ought to be supposed to make her Arguments good because there is no necessity of granting that all her Arguments must be good This Argument indeed that the intercession of the Saints in Heaven is no more injurious to the Mediation of Christ than the Prayers and Intercessions of the Saints on Earth for each other cannot be good without supposing that the Intercessions of the Saints in Heaven are of the very same nature with the Prayers of Christians for each other on Earth and the Bishop takes the advantage to represent this as the Doctrine of the Church that she teaches us to pray to Saints in the same spirit of Charity and according to the same order of fraternal society which moves us to demand assistance of our Brethren living upon Earth But this I think is not reconcileable with the express words of the Council of Trent which founds the invocation of Saints upon their reigning with Christ which makes a vast difference between their interest and authority in the Court of Heaven and the humble supplications of Christians on Earth And I think the spirit of Charity and the order of fraternal society does not require us supplicitèr invocare to pray to our fellow Christians on Earth as humble Supplicants to pray for us as the Council teaches us to address our selves to the Saints in Heaven Christians indeed on Earth and Saints in Heaven since the Bishop has limited all their aid and assistance to their prayers can do no more than pray for us and are thus both of them distinguished from Christ who is our Mediator of Redemption who has bought us with his blood But then we ought to consider that there is a vast difference in prayers and prayers may prevail upon such different Reasons as may quite alter the nature of the Intercessions For is there no difference between the power and interest of a favourite to obtain what he desires of his Prince and the Petition of an ordinary Subject A Prince may grant the Petition
tacite acknowledgement that Jesus was born of her and that the Son must be a very Glorious Prince when the Mother is so highly exalted upon account of her Relation to him as to have so many devout Prayers and Hymns offered up to her But does this prove that the Prayers which are immediately directed to the Virgin Mary are principally directed to Christ because Mary was his Motâ—â—â— which is the whole Mystery of the business Suppose Christ should think himself honoured by those Prayers which are offered to his Mother yet is there no difference between praying to Christ and that Honour we do him in praying to his Mother A late Author indeed tells us that the Veneration which we give to Mary redounds to Jesus All Honour given to the Mother tending to the Glory of the Son for as he communicates with her in Flesh and Blood so also doth he partake with her in her Qualities and Perfections and therefore he is a sharer in that Homage and Observance that is made to her This is a new sort of Consubstantiation and Communication of Properties but yet how much soever we honour Jesus when we pray to Mary yet we do not pray to Jesus when we pray to Mary and therefore these Prayers are principally and immediately directed to Mary not to God or Christ and therefore to offer ten Prayers to Mary for one to God look very like honouring Mary much more than her Son or God the Father Well but she is the Mother of God and Blessed amongst Women but how does her being Christs Mother entitle her to a greater share in our Prayers and Devotions than Christ himself It is indeed a great Honour to her to be the Mother of Jesus but does this entitle her to that Worship and Homage which is due to her Son She is the happiest Mother among Women but does this advance her above Angels and Arch-Angels For my part I see no reason to think that her bearing Christ in her Womb which was a singular Favour conferred on her but has nothing of Merit in it should advance her above the most Eminent Apostles and Martyrs who with undaunted Courage and unwearied Industry propagated the Gospel throughout the World and were the great Ministers of his Kingdom I am sure our Saviour does not seem to attribute any such mighty Vertue to the Maternity of Mary when a certain Woman said unto him Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked he answered yea rather Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it And in another place when some told him behold thy Mother and thy Brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee he answered and said unto him that told him who is my Mother And who are my Brethren and he stretched forth his hand towards his Disciples saying behold my Mother and my Brethren for whosever shall do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Mother and Sister and Brother Which prefers his meanest Disciples before the Mother of his Flesh considered only as his Mother which he would not have done had the bare Maternity of Mary advanced her above all other Creatures Well but she is most acceptable to God in her Intercession for us Did the Angel tell them this too as well as that she is Blessed among Women Whence then do they learn it Is it only because she is a Mother Have all Mothers then such a natural Authority over their Sons even when they are Soveraign Princes Cannot the Eternal Son of God chuse an Earthly Mother but he must admit her into the Throne with him and govern his Kingdom if not by her Commands yet by her Importunities and Requests This is thought a great weakness in Earthly Princes and usually proves fatal to their Government and yet it is much more tolerable in Earth than in Heaven What has the Mother of his Flesh to do to intermeddle in the affairs of his Spiritual Kingdom which she is not capable of managing She had no Authority in the Church while she was on Earth which methinks her Maternity might give her as much Right to as to be Queen-Regent of Heaven When Christ was a Child he lived in Subjection to Mary and Joseph though he began early to give them a Specimen of a Superiour Power he had and such a work to do as discharged him from Subjection to Earthly Parents When he was but twelve years old he told his Mother how was it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business When his Mother at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee acquainted him that their Wine was spent and insinuated her desire that he should help them he rebukes her for it Woman what have I to do with thee my hour is not yet come She was not to direct him what to do in such matters and can we think then that now he is advanced to the Right Hand of God he will suffer her to intermeddle in the administration of his Kingdom But our Author believes it damnable to think the Virgin Mary more powerful in Heaven than Christ or that she can in any thing command him It is well the Impera Redemptori command the Redeemer is at last disowned by them though it may be some may think it a little too much to call it damnable because whatever Papists believe now there was a time when this was used in the Missals of the Roman Church and will he say that it was damnable then to use that Hymn I believe no Papist ever thought the Virgin Mary to be-Omnipotent much less that she can do more than Christ can or can command him by a direct and Superior Authority nor did any man that I know of ever charge them with this and if it be only in this sense that he denies the Virgin to be more powerful in Heaven than Christ it is nothing to the purpose for it is possible for a Subject to be more powerful than his Prince though he cannot command him and can do nothing but by his Princes favour but if he have so much the ascendant of his Prince that he can deny him nothing that he does whatever he will have him and such things as no other consideration should incline him to do but the desire of such a powerful Favourite this man is really more powerful than the Prince because he has the direction and Government of the Princes Power He has the Prince himself in his Power and therefore is more powerful than he And if this be the case of the Blessed Virgin that she has the Disposal of Christ's Grace and Mercy though not by a direct Authority yet by her Interest in her Son if he never denies that which she asks but grants that at her Intercession which he would not grant without it if the Papists believe this they believe her to be more Powerful than Christ
pray for us diminished the trust we have in God it would be no less condemnable to use it to the Living than to the Dead and St. Paul would not have said so often Brethren pray for us the whole Scripture is full of Prayers of this nature Thus the Author of the Character tells us In this he does not at all neglect coming to God or rob him of his honour but directing all his Prayers up to him and making him the ultimat Object of all his Petitions He only desires sometimes the just on Earth sometimes those in Heaven to joyn their Prayers to his that so the number of Petitioners being increased the Petition may find better acceptance in the sight of God and this is not to make them Gods but only Petitioners to God He having no hopes of obtaining any thing but of God alone This is the least that can possibly be made of that Worship they give to Saints which is not reconcileable with their practice neither and if it should appear that this as little as it is thought to be is to give that Worship to Creatures which is due to God they must e'en reject praying to Saints to pray for them as they now do trusting in their aid and assistances and power to keep them Now I only ask whether Prayer be not an Act of Religion and a worship due to God if it be not why do they pray to God if it be then they give the worship of God to Saints when they pray to them For it is not so much the matter of our Prayer as the nature of Prayer which makes it an Act of Religion We may pray to God for those things which men can give viz. Food and Raiment and yet these are as religious prayers as when we ask such things of God as none can give but himself and by the same reason though we pray to Saints only to do that for us which a creature can do that is only to pray to God for us yet our very praying to them is an Act of religious worship which is due only to God The truth is I am so dull that I cannot see what makes these new Reformers of the Roman-Catholick Doctrine and Worship so shy of owning any other aid and assistance which they expect from the Saints but only their Prayers for them for this makes no alteration at all in the nature of that worship they pay to them For suppose the Saints in Heaven who now reign with Christ as the Council affirms were intrusted with the Guardianship of men and the care of Saints on Earth as Cardinal Bellarmine expresly says they are might we not as lawfully pray to them to imploy that power God has committed to them for our good and happiness as to use their interest with God for us by their prayers Does one exalt you more above the condition of creatures than the other May we not beg our Friends on Earth to relieve our wants and necessities as well as to pray for us And if begging the prayers of our Friends on Earth will justifie our praying to the Saints in Heaven to pray for us our asking an Alms on Earth will equally justifie our begging the aid and assistance as well as prayers of the Saints in Heavâ—n and then we are just where we were And if ever there were any good Arguments against praying to Saints they are all good still though they pray to Saints only to pray for them which is my only business at present to shew according to the Bishop's desire that his Explication leaves all the Objections in full force and all the Disputes untouched So that setting aside the matter of our prayers or what it is we ask which makes no alteration in this case the inquiry is Whether when we pray to Saints we do not give that worship to them which is peculiar and appropriate to God Now the Church of Rome is so far from thinking such prayers to be the peculiar worship due to God that she thinks it as innocent to pray to the Saints in Heaven to pray for us as it is to desire the prayers of our Christian Brethren on Earth The Bishop says The Church in teaching us that it is profitable to pray to Saints teaches us to pray to them in the same spirit of Charity and according to the same order of fraternal Society which moves us to demand assistance of our Brethren living on Earth The Character to the same purpose makes our desiring sometimes the Saints on Earth sometimes those in Heaven to joyn their prayers with ours to be Actions of the very same nature and equally lawful This is the true Pinch of the Controversie and here it is we part with the Church of Rome that we think there is some difference between speaking to our Christian Brethren on Earth whom we see and converse with and praying to the Saints in Heaven with all the external expressions of religious worship and adoration The first is to converse with them as men the second is such a manner of Address as is proper only for a God To pray to Saints is somewhat more than to desire our Christian Friends to pray for us it is supplicitèr eos invocare as the Council of Trent speaks to invoke them or call on them in the manner of Supplicants so that this must be acknowledged a worship of the Saints and then it must be either a civil or religious worship and which of these two it is must be known by the manner of paying it And therefore when all the circumstances of worship are religious we must acknowledge the worship to be religious too Such as praying to them in religious Places in Churches and Chappels and at consecrated Altars with bended knees and hands and eyes lifted up in a very devout manner when they see no body to speak to or to receive their Addresses unless it be the Image of the Saint they worship Thus some Nations worship their Gods but no People ever paid their civil respects to each other in this manner But as I observed in my Reply p. 66. There is one infallible distinction between civil and religious worship between the worship of God and men That the worship of the invisible Inhabitants of the other World has always been accounted religious worship Civil respects are confined to this World as all natural and civil Relations which are the foundation of civil respects are but we have no intercourse with the other World but what is religious And therefore as the different kinds and degrees of civil honour are distinguished by the Sight of the Object to which they are paid though the external acts and expressions are the same as when men bow the body and are uncovered you know what kind of honour it is by seeing who is present whether their Father their Friend or their Prince or some other Honourable Person So the most certain mark of distinction between
Supreme God and created Spirits and Glorifyed Souls of dead men and therefore if it be necessary to distinguish between the Worship of God and Creatures we must worship no Invisible Being but only the Supreme God The Protester proposes some ways whereby the different kinds and degrees of Religious Worship may be distinguished as by the intention of the Giver but this is not a Visible Distinction For mens intentions are private to themselves and there is no difference in the Visible Acts of Worship to make such a distinction or by some Visible Representation that is by Images This I grant would make as visible a Distinction between the Worship of God and Christ and the Virgin Mary as the presence of the person distinguishes the Kinds and Degrees of Civil Honour for when we see whose Image they worship we may certainly tell what Being they direct their Worship to but the fault of this is that it is forbid by the Law of God of which more in the next Section or by Determination of other Circumstances but what these are I cannot tell and therefore can say nothing to it The Church of Rome indeed does appropriate the Sacrifice of the Mass to God as his peculiar Worship which must not be given to any other Being and if this be so then indeed we can certainly tell when we see a Priest offering the Sacrifice of the Mass that he offers it to the Supreme God but there are a great many other Acts of Worship which we owe to God besides the Sacrifice of the Mass and in every Act of Worship God ought to be visibly distinguished from Creatures and yet if all the other External Acts of Worship be common to God and Creatures where is the distinction And yet the Sacrifice of the Mass can be offered only by the Priest so that the whole Layety cannot perform any one Act of Worship to God which is peculiar to him and therefore can make no Visible Distinction in their Worship between God and Creatures And yet the very Sacrifice of the Mass is not so appropriated to God in the Church of Rome but that it is offered to God in Honour of the Saints This the Bishop of Condom p. 7. endeavours to excuse by saying This Honour which we render them the Saints in Sacrificing consists in naming them in the Prayers we offer up to God as his Faithful Servants and in rendring him thanks for the Victories they have gained and in humbly beseeching him that he would vouchsafe to favour us by their Intercession Now it is very true according to the Council of Trent the Priest offers the Sacrifice only to God but they do somewhat more than name the Saints in their Prayers for they offer the Sacrifice in Honour to the Saints as well as to God which the Bishop calls to Honour the Memory of the Saints Now if Sacrifice be an Act of Honour and Worship to God it sounds very odly to worship or honour God for the Honour of his Saints which seems to make God only the Medium of Worship to the Saints who are the terminative object of it and that the Saints are concerned in this Sacrifice appears from this That by this Sacrifice they implore the Intercession of the Saints that those whose Memories we celebrate on Earth would vouchsafe to intercede for us in Heaven The Bishop translates implorat by Demand for what reason I cannot tell and makes this Imploring or Beseeching to refer to God not to the Saints whose Patronage Patrocinia and Intercession they pray they would vouchsafe them contrary to the plain Sense of the Council and I think to common Sense too For I do not well understand offering Sacrifice to God that he may procure for us the Intercession of the Saints for if he can be perswaded to favour us so far as to intercede with the Saints to be our Intercessors he may as well grant our Requests without their Intercession and yet the Bishop was very sensible that if we offer up our Prayers to the Saints in the Sacrifice of the Mass it does inevitably entitle them to the Worship of that Sacrifice which they say must be offered only to God He alleadges indeed St. Austin's Authority who understood nothing of this Mystery of the Sacrifice of the Mass and how far he was from thinking of any thing of this Nature is evident to any man who consults the place But the Church of Rome as the Bishop observes p. 8. has been charged by some of the Reformation not only with giving the Worship of God to Creatures when they pray to the Saints but with attributing the Divine Perfections to them such as a certain kind of Immensity and Knowledge of the Secrets of hearts for if they be not present in all places where they are worshipped how can they hear the Prayers which are made to them at such distant places at the same time If they do not know our thoughts how can they understand those mental prayers which are offered to them without words only in our secret Thoughts and Desires for even such Prayers are expresly allowed by the Council voce vel mente Now to this he answers very well that though they believe the Saints do by one means or other know the Prayers which are made to them either by the Ministry and Communication of Angels or by a particular Revelation from God or in his Divine Essence in which all truth is comprised yet never any Catholick yet thought the Saints knew our Necessities by their own power no nor the desires which move us to address our secret Prayers to them And to say a Creature may have a Knowledge of these things by a light communicated to them by God is not to elevate a Creature above his Condition This I grant and therefore do acknowledge that they do not attribute the Divine perfections of Omniscience and Omnipresence to the Saints either in thought or word but yet actions have as natural a signification as words and if we give them such a worship as naturally signifies Omniscience and Omnipresence our worship attributes the incommunicable Perfections of God to them For it is unnatural and absurd to worship a Being who is not present to receive our worship to speak to a Being who does not and cannot hear us and since God has made us reasonable Creatures to understand what we do and why he interprets our Actions as well as words and thoughts according to their natural signification And herein the natural evil of creature-worship consists That every act of religious worship does naturally involve in it a Confession of some excellency and perfection which is above a created nature and thereby whatever the worshipper thinks or intend does attribute the incommunicable Glory of God to creatures If the Saints are not present in all places to hear those Prayers which are made to them and if they cannot hear in Heaven what we say to them
of a Subject for himself or of one Subject for another where there is reason and equity in the case without any more powerful intercession but acts of grace and favour must be dispensed by the intercession of favourites and yet it is all by way of prayer and Petition to the Prince but though it is all but Petition and request yet those who have any request to make to their Prince place more confidence in the interest and power of one favourite than in the joynt Petitions of many ordinary Subjects Thus it is here Christians on Earth pray for each other as common Supplicants and the benefit they expect from such Prayers and Intercessions is only from the prevalency of Faith and Charity which inspire such prayers and make them efficacious God has commanded us to pray for one another and has promised to hear our united fervent and importunate Prayers for the merits of our common Saviour Jesus Christ But those who pray to Saints in Heaven pray to them as Favourites and Mediators who prevail not meerly by the force and efficacy of Prayer but by their personal Merits and Interests with God and this makes them just such Mediators as Christ is who by their Power and Interest can recommend us and our Prayers to God's acceptance No you 'll say Christ purchased us with his Blood and mediates in the vertue of his Sacrifice which makes his Mediation of a different nature from the Mediation of Saints who mediate only by their interest with God upon account of their personal Merits But this alters not the case for the general notion of a Mediator is one who has Power and Interest with God effectually to recommend us to his favour and whether he mediates with or without a Sacrifice if his Mediation be powerful and efficacious he is a true and proper Mediator and to set up such other Mediators besides Christ must be injurious to his Mediation for then Christ is not our only Mediator and after all the Apologies that can be made for it it argues some distrust either of Christ's Power or good Will to help us when we fly to other Patrons and Advocates 2. And therefore Monsieur de Meaux has another Reserve for in the second place he tells us from the Council of Trent That to invocate Saints according to the sense of this Council is to have recouâ—se to their Prayers for obtaining benefits from God through Jesus Christ so that in reality we do not obtain those benefits which we receive by the Intercession of the Saints otherwise than through Jesus Christ and in his Name seeing these Saints themselves pray in no other manner than through Jesus Christ and are not heard but in his Name After which we cannot imagine that any one should accuse us of forsaking Jesus Christ when we beseech his Members who are also ours his Children who are our Brethren and his Saints who are our first fruits to pray with us and for us to our common Master in the name of our common Mediator As for forsaking Jesus Christ this we do not charge them with tho whoever considers how much more frequent addresses are made in the Church of Rome to the Virgin Mary and some other powerful Saints than to Christ himself will be tempted to think that it looks very like forsaking him but we only say that they rob Christ of the glory of being our only Mediator and Advocate by having recourse to the Prayers and intercessions of so many Saints But how can the Intercession of Saints be injurious to the Mediation of Christ when they themselves intercede in the Name and Mediation of Christ which necessarily reserves to Christ the glory of his Mediation entire since the Saints themselves are not heard but in his Name Now rightly to understand this we must consider the Nature of Christs Mediation which is to offer up all those Prayers to God in Heaven which we make to God in his name on Earth He is our Mediator in Heaven our High-Priest who is passed into the Heavens who is made not after the law of a Carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life who is made higher than the Heavens who is not entred into the Holy Place made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us So that as the High-Priest under the Law entred once a year into the Holy Place which was a type and figure of Heaven to make expiation and intercessions for the People so the Office of Christ as our High-Priest and Mediator is to ascend into Heaven with his own Blood and there to appear in the presence of God for us His mediatory Office is confined to Heaven there he presents our Prayers to God in vertue of his own Blood and this is as peculiar and appropriated to him as it was to the High-Priest under the Law to offer the Blood of the Sacrifice and make Attonement and Intercession in the Holy of Holies So that to present our Prayers to God in Heaven is the peculiar office of Christ who is our great High-Priest and only Mediator in the immediate presence of God in Heaven and to apply our selves to any other Mediators in Heaven to present our Prayers to God in what manner or upon what pretence soever it be is injurious to the Mediation of Christ whose proper Office it is to present our Prayers to God in Heaven And that pretence that the Saints pray for us only in the Name and Mediation of Christ is no Apology in this case for in what name soever they pray they offer up our Prayers to God immediately in Heaven which is the Office of our great High-Priest for there is and must be but be but one Mediator in Heaven And if we consider what is meant by Praying to God in the Name and Mediation of Christ we shall see reason to think that this is very improperly attributed to the Saints in Heaven For when we pray to God in the Name of Christ though we address our Prayers immediately to God yet God does not receive them as coming immediately from us but as presented by the hands of our Mediator which is the true meaning of Praying to God in the Name of Christ that we offer our Prayers to God not directly from our selves for then we should have no need of a Mediator but by his Hands whose Office it is to present them to God to appear in the Presence of God for us which is therefore called coming to God by him Now this is very agreeable to the state and condition of Christians on Earth who are at a great distance from the immediate Throne and Presence of God to offer their Prayers by the hands of a Mediator who appears in the presence of God for them and the reason why we want a Mediator to appear for us is because we are not yet
admitted into God's immediate Presence our selves But could every ordinary Priest or Jew have been admitted into the Holy of Holies as the High-Priest was they might as well have offered their Prayers and Sacrifices there immediately to God without the Ministry and Mediation of the High-Priest and those who are in Heaven in the immediate presence of God if they offer up any Prayers to God for themselves or others they offer them immediately and directly to God because they offer them to God in his immediate Presence which is the true notion of Christ's Mediation that he appears in the presence of God for us And therefore whatever use there may be of the Name of Christ in Heaven Saints in Heaven who live in the immediate Presence of God have no need of a Mediator to offer their Prayers to God as Saints on Earth have because they are admitted to the immediate Vision of God themselves To offer up our Prayers to God in the Name and Mediation of Christ supposes that we are at a distance from God and not admitted into his Presence to speak for our selves but those Prayers which are offered to God in his immediate Presence need no Mediator to present them And yet to say that the Saints in Heaven offer their Prayers to God in the Name and Mediation of Christ is to say that when they are admitted to the immediate Presence of God themselves they still need a Mediator that the Prayers they offer to God in his immediate Presence they do not offer immediately to him but by the hands of a Mediator which if it be Sence I am sure is no good Divinity as neither agreeing with the Types of the Law nor with the Gospel-account of Christ's Mediation And therefore if glorified Saints appear for us in the presence of God in Heaven they are as much our Mediators as Christ is for this is the most essential Character of this Mediation that he appears in the presence of God for us The only Objection I can fore-see against this is that some of the ancient Fathers though they did not pray to Saints to pray for them yet were inclined to believe that Saints departed did Pray for the Church on Earth especially for their particular Friends which they left behind them and therefore to be sure did not think this any injury to the Mediation of Christ. But then we must consider that as they spoke doubtfully of this matter so those very Fathers did not believe that Saints departed were received up into the highest Heaven into the immediate Presence and Throne of God though they thought them in a very happy state yet not perfect till the resurrection and therefore they prayed for Saints departed as well as believed that Saints departed prayed for them Now any Mediation and Intercession on this side Heaven is very consistent with the Mediation of Christ in Heaven but to intercede in Heaven is his peculiar Office which no other Creature can share in since his Resurrection and Ascension This I think is sufficient to prove that Monsieur de Meaux his Exposition cannot reconcile Praying to Saints to Pray for us either with the peculiar Worship of God or with the Glory and Dignity of our great and only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ. The Character of a Papist Represented 3. Of addressing more Supplications to the Virgin Mary than to Christ. Monsieur de Meaux takes no notice of that peculiar kind of Worship which is paid in the Church of Rome to the Virgin Mary as being sensible how hard it is to reconcile this with his bare Ora pro nobis but the Representer who pretends to follow the Bishops Pattern but wants his Judgment and Caution to manage it undertakes to Apologize for this too and it is worth the while to consider what he says The Papist Mis-represented is said to believe the Virgin Mary to be much more powerful in Heaven than Christ and that she can command him to do what she thinks good and for this reason he Honours her much more then he does her Son or God the Father for one Prayer he says to God saying ten to the Holy Virgin Let us then consider how much of Mis-representation there is in this and I shall begin with the last first because mens Actions are the best Interpreters of their Thoughts and Belief The Papist for one prayer he says to God says ten to the Virgin Mary Is this mis-represented Let him but tell over his Beads and see how many Ave Maries and Pater nosters he will find upon a string which are exactly ten for one This he confesses and thinks it as innocent to recite the Angelical Salutation now as it was for the Angel Gabriel and Elizabeth to do it But did the Angel use it as a Prayer to the Virgin Mary Is Hail thou that art Highly favoured the Lord is with Thee blessed art thou amongst Women when spoken to the Virgin who was then present to hear it a friendly Saluation or a Prayer Was it delivering a Message or an act of Devotion Or is this the Ave Maria now in use in the Church of Rome As I remember there are two or three little words Ora pro nobis added to it which make it a Prayer not the Angelical Salutation And we do not read that the Angel said Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and in the hour of Death Indeed were it lawful to pray to the Virgin Mary I should have less to say against the frequent repetition of this prayer but yet a man might enquire why the prayer to the Virgin Mary is repeated so much oftner than the prayer to God is not this to honour her much more then he does her Son or God the Father For is not Prayer an act of Honour and Worship And do we not then honour that Being most to whom we pray oftenest No says the Representer for he does not at any time say even so much as one Prayer to her but what is directed more principally to God Surely there must be some Mystery in this For do they not say a great many Prayers immediately directed to the Virgin Mary and not at all directed to God Is not their Ave Maria such a Prayer and do they principally pray to God in those Prayers which are immediately directed to the Virgin Mary When they pray to the Virgin Mary to pray to them is this Prayer princâ—pally directed to God Almighty What when the Virgin is only named And the matter of the Prayer is such that it cannot be directed to God Almighty unless they think it proper to pray to God to pray for them Yes these Prayers to the Virgin are offered up as a thankful Memorial of Christ's Incarnation and an acknowledgement of the Blessedness of Jesus the fruit of her Womb. The meaning of which can be no more than this That when they Pray to Mary the Mother of Jesus it is a
shew 1. Then he tells us That the Council of Trent forbids us expresly to believe any Divinity or Virtue in Images for which they ought to be reverenced We grant the Council does forbid this and he knows that we never charge them with it though there are some practices of the Church of Rome which look very suspiciously that way but then we say the second Commandment forbids the worship of all Images without any such limitation for there is not any one word in the Commandment to limit the Prohibition of worshipping Images to such Images as are believ'd to have any Divinity in them The words of the Commandment are as general as can be Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth thou shalt not how down to them nor worship them The Commandment takes no notice of any Divinity which is supposed to be in these Images but only of the Representation made by them that they are the Likeness or Representation of things in Heaven or things on Earth or things under the Earth and therefore the whole Dispute between Papists and Protestants about the sense of the second Commandment and the strict notion of an Idol is left untouch'd by this Exposition The Roman Doctors indeed tell us that the Heathens worshipped their Images as Gods and did ascribe Divinity to them upon which account Monsieur de Meaux tells us All these words of the Council are like so many Characters to distinguish us from Idolaters seeing we are so far from believing with them any Divinity annexed to the Images that we do not attribute to them any Virtue but that of exciting in us the remembrance of those they represent But he knew very well that Protestants deny that the Heathens took their Images for Gods any more than Papists do their Philosophers despised the charge and made the same Apologies for themselves which the Divines of the Church of Rome now do and we may suppose that common Heathens had much such Apprehensions about them as common Papists have Those who had any sense could not believe them to be Gods and those who have none may believe any thing but there is no great regard to be had to such Mens Faith whatever their Religion be who are void of common Sense However this Dispute whether the Heathens did believe their Images to be Gods or to have any more Divinity in them than Papists attribute to their Images is a Dispute still and Monsieur de Meaux has not said one word to prevent it and therefore the Condemnation of the Heathens for worshipping Images is still a good Objection against the worship of Images in the Church of Rome till he prove as well as assert this difference between them But indeed tho I readily grant that the Church of Rome does not believe that there is any Divinity in their Images and that the Heathens did believe that Consecration brought down the Gods whom they worshipped by such Representations and tied them by some invisible Charms to their Image that they might be always present there to receive their Worship yet this makes no material difference in their Notion of Images The reason why the Heathens thought it necessary by some Magical Arts to fasten their Gods or some Divine Powers to their Images was not to incorporate them with their Images but to secure a Divine Presence there to hear their Prayers and receive their Sacrifices without which all their Devotions paid to an Image were lost which was very necessary especially in the Worship of their Inferior Daemons whom they did not believe to be present in all places As Elijah mocked the Priests of Baal and said Cry aloud for he is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a Journy or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked But now those who believe that God is every where present to fee and hear what we do and that the Saints who are not present in their Images yet do certainly know by what means soever it be what Prayers and Homages are offered to them at their Images need not call down any Divine Powers constantly to attend their Images but only to procure their acceptance of those Devotions which are paid to them at their Images And this is the difference between the Consecration of Heathen and Popish Images The first is to procure the Presence of their Gods in their Images the other to obtain the Favour of Christ and the Saints to accept those Prayers and Oblations and other Acts of Devotion which are offered to them at their Images as to give but one Instance of it in a Prayer used at the Consecration of the Cross. Sanctificetur lignum istud in nomine Pa ✚ tris Fi ✚ lii Spiritus ✚ Sancti benedictio illius ligni in quo membra sancta salvatoris suspensa sunt sit in isto ligno ut orantes inclinantesque se propter Deum ante istam crucem inveniant Corporis Animae sanitatem Let this Wood be santified in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and let the Blessing of that Wood on which the holy Members of our Saviour hung be on this Wood that those who pray and bow themselves before this Cross may obtain Health both of Body and Soul This peculiar Virtue which Consecration bestows on Images to obtain the Favour of Christ and his Saints to those who pray and worship before them is all that the Heathens intended in calling down their Gods to attend their Images to hear and receive their Prayers and Sacrifices They did not believe their Images to be Gods but Silver or Gold Wood or Brass or Stone according to the Materials they were made of as the Church of Rome does but they thought their Gods were present to hear the Prayers they made before their Images as the Church of Rome also believes that Christ and his Saints have a peculiar regard to those Prayers which are made before their Images as is evident from their forms of consecrating Images to such an use The Heathens did not put their trust in an Image of Wood and Stone but in that God who was represented by that Image and was there present to help them And thus tho the Church of Rome does not demand any Favour of Images nor put any Trust in them yet she expects the Relief and Acceptance of Christ and the Saints for that Worship she pays to their Images and I would desire any Man to show me the difference between these two especially when we consider how much greater Vertue is attributed to some Images of the Blessed Virgin in the Church of Rome than there is to others as to the Image of the Lady of Loretto c. which can signify nothing less than that the Virgin is
the material figures of Wood or Stone and therefore it will be necessary to shew that the true Notion of Idolatry or Image-worship is not giving Religious worship to the Images themselves but worshipping God by Images and what the difference between these Two is 1. And the first thing I shall observe to this purpose is the difference between the First and Second Commandment which all Protestants own and defend against the Church of Rome which makes the Second Commandment only a Branch and Appendix of the First Now the First Commandment forbids all false objects of worship the worship of all creatures and fictitious Deities and therefore the worship of all Beings besides God whether rational animate or inanimate is a breach of the First Commandment and must be reduced to it and consequently the Second Commandment which forbids the worship of Images cannot forbid them as false Objects for all such are forbid in the first Commandment but as a false and corrupt way of worship and therefore Image worship as it is forbid in the Second Commandment cannot signifie worshipping the Image it self as distinguished from the Prototype for that would make it a false object of worship against the first Commandment but only a false and superstitious way of representing and worshipping God by an Image 2ly And therefore I observe that an Image does not alter the object of worship which yet it must necessarily do if it were Essential to the Notion of Image-worship to worshipt the Image it self which would make the Image a new object of worship Now it is plain that men who do not dispute themselves into endless subtilties and distinctions intend no more in the worship of Images than to worship that God whose Image it is and therefore the object of worship is the same with or without an Image They who worship the True God with an Image and they who worship him without an Image worship the same God though in a different manner and besides what judgment men make of their own actions and what they intend to do the Scripture it self acknowledges this When the Israelites made a golden Calf Aaron proclaims a Feast to the Lord Jehovah which proves that they intended to worship the same God still in the golden Calf which they did before without it Thus the Two Calves which Jeroboam set up were made in imitation of the golden Calf and for Symbolical representations of the God of Israel who was worshipped by them For it is plain that Jeroboam did not intend to change their God but only to prevent their going up to Jerusalem to worship God there and therefore he tells them It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Aegypt that is the Lord Jehovah Now we may observe that God himself though he was grievously offended with the Sin of Jeroboam yet he makes a great difference between the Sin of Jeroboam and the Sin of Ahab who introduced the worship of Baal a false God whereas Jeroboam retained the worship of the true God though he worshipped him in a false and Idolatrous manner If the Calves of Don and Bethel had been false Gods as Baal was the Sin had been equally provoking but the worship of the Calves did not change their God as the worship of Baal did and therefore Elijah distinguishes the Israelites into the worshippers of God and of Baal How long halt ye between Two Opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him and yet most of those who are said to be worshippers of God did worship God at the Calves of Dan and Bethel which was the established Religion of the Kingdom And thus Jehu tho' he departed not from the Sin of Jeroboam the golden Calves in Dan and Bethel yet he calls his Zeal in destroying Baal out of Israel his Zeal for the Lord Jehovah Now if the worship of an Image do not change the object of our worship neither in the intention of the worshipper nor in the account of Scripture as I have now proved it evidently follows that the Image is not worshipped as an object but as a Medium of worship it receives no worship for it self but only for God whom it represents And that which is so offensive to God in it is not that they set up any Rival and Opposite gods against him but that they worship him in a reproachful and dishonourable manner which makes him abhor and reject the worship and because he will not receive this worship himself he calls it worshipping Idols and graven Images and molten gods that is vicarious and representative gods which though they receive the worship in God's Name yet are an infinite reproach to his Majesty by that vile and contemptible Representation they make him This is the strict Notion of Idolatry not the giving the worship of God to Creatures which is the Breach of the First Commandment in making new Gods but the worship of God by an Image which makes such Images Gods by Representation but not the objects but only the Medium of worship and therefore though we should grant M. de Meaux that he does not worship Images but only Christ and the Saints in or before their Images this does not excuse him from Idolatry which does not signifie worshipping an Image in a strict sence but only worshipping God in an Image which terminates all the worship not on the Image but on God 2ly Let us now consider wherein the Evil of this Idolatry or Image-worship does consist and that I said was in Representation which I shall briefly explain in these particulars 1. That it is an infinite reproach to the Divine Nature and Perfections to be represented by an Image To whom will ye liken God Or what likeness will ye compare to him The workman melteth a graven-Image and the Goldsmith spreadeth it over with Gold and casteth Silver Chains He that is so impoverished that he hath no Oblation chuseth a Tree that will not rot he seeketh unto him a cunning Workman to prepare a graven Image that shall not be moved Have ye not known Have ye not heard Hath it not been told you from the beginning Have ye not understood from the Foundations of the Earth It is he that sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grashoppers that stretcheth cut the Heavens as a Curtain and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in How incongruous and absurd is it to make a Picture or Image of that God who is invisible to represent a pure Mind by Matter dull sensless Matter to give the shape and figure of a Man or some viler Creature to that God who has none To make an Image for the Maker of the World and to bring that Infinite Being to the scantlings and dimensions of a Man who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence If it