mouths possessed me in the beginning of his waies I was set up from everlasting when he prepared the Heavens I was there c. and so all along They scruple not o Bust Marial Serm. de Nomin Mariae to say of her what God Almighty saies of himself Malach. 1.11 From the rising up of the Sun unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentils And that of Christ Matth. 28.18 * Novarin Vmbra Virgin l. 4. excurs 122. n. 1149. All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth and what John the Baptist saies p Antonin 4. part tit 15. c. 6. sect 3. of her Fulness have all received c. namely q Salazar Prov. c. 3. v. 29. n. 200. the Sinner Pardon the Righteous Grace the Angels joy and the whole Trinity Glory And therefore r Idiot Contempl. 1. say they as blasphemously God hath highly exalted her and given her a name above all names that in her name all knees should bow c. Phil. 2.9 10. And after the same rate what God saies of his only begotten Son Heb. 1.6 Let s Vitis Florig Lect. 27. all the Angels of God worship her and let Men boldly come unto the Throne of Grace from him to her that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help us in time of need Hebr. 4.16 It were endless to rehearse all 4. Fourthly They allow her a whole Psalter * Vid. Psalter S. Bondvent as the Church doth to God Almighty And whatever David could say in the Highest strein of his Zeal towards the magnifying of Gods Glory or the imploring of his Mercy or the expressing his Faith in him Gods name being out and that of the Virgin in they both transfer and improve it towards the magnifying of this Lady For Example in the first Psalm instead of Blessed be the Man c. it begins thus Blessed be the Man that loves thy name O Virgin Mary Thy mercy shall comfort his Soul c. The second Why do the Heathen c hath it thus Why do our Enemies imagine vain things against us Thy right hand O Mother of God shall protect us Come ye to her all ye that Travel and are heavy laden and you shall find rest for your Souls c. The fourth thus When I did call thou O Lady heardest me Thou wert pleased to remember me out of thy high Throne for thy mercy is on all them that call upon thy holy Name and thy Majesty be blessed thro out all Generations Glorifie her O all ye Nations c. The 16. thus Save me O Lady for I have put my trust in thee c. The 19. thus The Heavens do declare thy glory O Virgin c. The 29. thus Bring to our Lady O ye Sons of God bring praise and worship to our Lady Give strength to thy Servants O holy Mother and bless them that magnifie thee Let Heaven and Earth bless thee the Sea and all the corners of the World c. The 42. thus Like as the Hart desires the water Brooks so longs my Soul after thy love O holy Virgin for thou art the Mother of my life the Nurse and restauration of my flesh and both the beginning and end of my Salvation c. The 44. thus We have heard with our ears O Lady and our Fathers have told us that thy Merits are ineffable and thy Miracles wonderful Thy Virtues are innumerable and thy Mercies inestimable Rejoice in her O my soul for many good things are laid up for them that praise her Blessed be thou O Queen of Angels c. The 51. thus Have mercy on me Lady who art call'd the Mother of Mercies and according to the Bowels of thy Compassions make me clean from all mine Iniquities Pour thy Grace upon me and withdraw not thy usual Mercies from me c. The 68. thus Let Mary arise and let all her Enemies be crush'd under her feet c. The 72. thus Give the King thy judgments O Lord and thy Mercy to the Queen his Mother Salvation and life O Lady are in thy hand perpetual Joy and glorious Eternity c. The 73. thus Truly God is loving unto Israel even to such as worship his Mother c. The 84. O how amiable are thy Dwellings O Lady of Hosts c. The 92. It is a good thing to give thanks and confess to the Virgin Mary and to sing Praises to her Glory to tell of her Merits that rejoice the heart and to imitate her Works which rejoice the Angels c. The 94. It is the Lord God to whom Vengeance belongs but thou art the Mother of Mercy who turnest him to compassion The 95. thus O come let us sing to our Lady let us heartily rejoice in the Virgin our she Savior The 103. Praise the Virgin Mary O my Soul and all that is in me praise and glorifie her name c. The 110. thus The Lord said unto my Lady Mother sit thou at my right hand Be thou reigning with me Have mercy upon me O Lady Mother of splendor enlighten me O thou Mother of Truth and Virtue c. The 117. O praise the Lady all ye Heathen glorifie her all ye Nations for her Merciful kindness remains upon us for ever whosoever will serve her shall be justified but whosoever neglects her shall die in his sins c. The 144. begins thus Blessed be our Lady who teaches her Servants to fight c. The 148. thus O praise our Lady of Heaven praise her in the height Praise her Sun and Moon And so all along to the very last O praise the Lady in her Holiness praise her in her Virtues and Miracles Let every Spirit or every thing that hath breath praise our Lady This Service goes under the name of a Superangelical and Seraphical Doctor a Roman Saint and a Cardinal besides whom they call St. Bonaventura Give this Worship what name you please it is all that David and Moses and other Prophets could bestow on the Lord God of Israel Now when the same is bestowed upon a holy Creature how great and holy soever yet a Creature judge what it is 5. Fifthly Lest the Lord God of Israel should receive any kind of honor from Men where the Lady had not her share what ever more eminent pieces of Divine Service they can find scattered in Holy Scripture they will be sure to give it her For example that of Moses Deut. 32. Give ear O ye Heavens to what I will speak of the Virgin Mary Magnifie her with me c. O perverse and crooked Generation acknowledg our Lady for thy she Savior Is she not thy Mother that hath begotten thee in Faith If thou forsakest her thou art no friend unto our Soveraign Cesar O that thou wert wise and wouldest consider thy last end As an Infant cannot live without his Nurse no more canst thou be saved without this our Lady Therefore let thy
Bosom to enrich all her neediest Members without any begging from Rome The Scapulary alone well applied to the Breast and Back is by it self a great Jewel It may as they say preserve mens lives better then the strongest Armor against all temporal Dangers and if you hearken to them all they will come to you with hundred stories what of women deliver'd some m Vid. The French Book intituled Alliance spirituelle avec la Vierge of Childbed some of a Cancer some of Leprosie some of a Feaver by appling this blessed Badg unto their Flesh what of men who could not be choaked by Devils n Fasti Carmel an 1368. nor drowned after they were bound hand and foot and thrown into the bottom of the Sea because they had the Scapulary But neither God nor the Pope ever gave the Church any thing comparable to it in all Spiritual Concerns They are not ashamed to call it a Mark of Eternal Salvation and a Spiritual Covenant with Gods Mother by which Covenant you have a clear Title to all what in favor and Mercy she can do for you But without resting on mens sayings because the honestest Monks we know are sometimes temted to say strange things you have as much from her own Mouth In hoc moriens c. i.e. He that dies with this Habit shall be saved and shall not suffer eternal Fire S. Simon and a great many Angels are Witnesses that she said so and as to Purgatory the terror of Roman Catholic Souls she her self engages solemnly Ego Mater Gloriosa c. I the Glorious Mother of God will come down in Person and fetch them out And of this you have no meaner witness then the Monarch and visible Head of your Church Pope John the 22d. Here is his Authentic Testimony in a Bull of his called the Sabbatina or Saturday Bull as I find it in Latin in an Authentic * Benedict Gononus Chronic. An. 1321. Roman Author with the approbation of both the Dominican and the Carmelitan Order And I thought fit to English it that every one may take notice what Spiritual waies Rome can afford for saving Men beyond what Christ and his Apostles were ever known to be able to do The Bull of Pope John the XXII for the Confirmation and Approbation of the Holy Scapulary JOHN Bishop and Servant of the Servants of Jesus Christ to all and every Faithful c. While I was Praying upon my Knees the Virgin of Mount Carmel appears to me and spake unto me in these Words O John O John the Vicar of my dear Son as I will deliver thee out of the hand of thine Adversary the Emperor Lewis the 4th whom he had Excommunicated and make thee Pope so I will that thou shouldest grant to my Holy and Devout Order of Mount Carmel founded by Elias and Elisha the grace of a full Confirmation namely That whosoever being profest will observe the Rule given by my Servant Albert the Patriarch and approved of by my well-beloved Innocent the true Vicar of my Son giving his consent upon Earth to what my Son had decreed in Heaven viz. That whosoever shall persevere in that Holy Obedience Poverty and Chastity and shall enter into this Order shall he saved And that any other Men or Women whosoever shall enter into this Holy Religion wearing the sign of the Holy Habit to wit the Scapulary calling themselves by the Name of Brethren and Sisters of the said Order and Confraternity shall be delivered and absolved from the third part of their Sins from the day of their admittance promising withal Chastity if she be Widow Virginity if a Maid and Conjugal Fidelity if she be a Married Woman And as to the profest Brethren of this said Order they shall be delivered both from Punishment and Sin And when they shall part out of this World making speed to Purgatory I the Glorious Mother of God will come down thither the next Saturday after their death and will rescue whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory and will bring them up into the holy Hill of Eternal Life But these Brethren and Sisters of the said Confraternity must say the Canonical hours after the Rule of St. Albert and if they be ignorant they must abstain from eating Flesh every Wednesday and Saturday unless some necessity hinder them except on my Sons Nativity Having said thus much that holy Apparition vanished away Therefore I John aforesaid accept of this Holy Indulgence and do confirm and strengthen it on Earth just as Jesus Christ hath by the Merits of his glorious Mother granted it in Heaven Therefore let no Man presume to annul or contradict this Page or Writ of our Indulgence or if he dare let him know that he shall incur the indignation of God Almighty and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul Given at Avignion Indict 3. and the first Year of our Pontificat This being so I wonder who would wish for more or who would not leave all to have so much 3. Nevertheless altho the best Indulgences of Rome or all other such Roman Pullies cannot do more then this viz. to pull a burning Soul out of the Purgatory Fire up to the Hill of Eternal Life yet if this happy Soul had a mind to appear there more Gentile then her own Works will allow her she hath the advantage of borrowing from the Confraternity wherewith to make her self as spruce and neat as one can wish Let but any Man imagine what stock of Mortifications and holy Works Elias did leave behind for Jezebel and John the Baptist for Herod and Herodias or our Country-man S. Simon for all other such as those three were in case they will all humbly come and devoutly wear about them this holy Scapulary Who is the ignorant or blind Buzard that wil not leave any Religion Gospel and Protestant Churches to run himself and all his sins under this blessed shelter CHAP. XIV Concerning the third means of obtaining Salvation by the Confraternity and 150 Beads of St. Dominic SAint Dominic and S. Francis are the two Saints which as they say our Lady Mary pacified a Flaminius in vita S. Dominic her own Son with being about to destroy Mankind for there she past her honest Word that these two Doctors should without fail reform the three sorts of Sinners the Proud the Covetous and the Carnal whom he hated and so set up again true Holiness thro the whole World You may guess what Francis hath don on that account by what I have said of his Girdle and you may hope likewise that S. Dominic may do as much or more with his 150 Beads However these two are by his Holiness b Bulla Aurea Sacri Praedicatorum Sixtus the Fourth voted to be both the two great Seraphims that help Men to flee up to Heaven upon the Wings of Divine Contemplations and Raptures and the two loud Trumpets which fill Heaven and Earth with their Holy sound
together as when she seeks him in the Temple Luke 2.49 or when she put him in mind of what they wanted in Cana John 2.13 or when she stood without and sent for him Mark 3.34 or lastly for I do not find them any more meeting and speaking together when he saw her standing by his Cross John 19.26 for there you cannot chuse but observe how little this great God and Savior was moved with all those Concerns even during the daies of his flesh that had their ground in flesh and blood and that if this Blessed Woman deserved any b Chrysost in Matth. c. 12. Hom. 44. Blessedness and had a gracious access to her Son it was by being a Believer rather then by being a Mother These four Passages cannot well bear any other sense and the severity which some of them express besides as some Fathers do c Epiph. cont Haeres l. 3. p. 447. Edit Basil well observe it stands upon Record for a warning to keep the Church from thinking better of Mary then her being a Blessed Virgin and perhaps a Holy Martyr Christ by this short Reply Woman what have I to do with thee John 2.3 having branded that great Impiety which he foresaw in after Ages and which we see to our great grief scandalously reigning in our daies For now at the head of ten thousand Saints of whom some were never in being as far as any true Authors can tell as St. Christopher St. Catharine St. Longis some were no better then Villains as Thomas Becket James Clement and such like which the Pope pleases to Canonize some are very true and blessed Saints but were never praied for nor praied to as long as Israel had a Prophet or the Church of Christ an Apostle at the Head I say of all these appears now in the Church of Rome what all both Prophets and Apostles may justly rend their Garments at the Virgin Mary under the Pomp and the very name of Goddess Not to mention the Worshippers how many and famous soever who in their Devotions * Ambros Cathar de Consummata Gloria pag. 112. and 115. Bernarden Meriale 3. p. S. 5. de Nominatione Mariae Lugdun Francisc Mendos Virid l. 2. Probl. 2. call her so one Pope or two may serve for all Leo the tenth in an Epistle that was published and therefore confirmed by the Command of Paul the third demands some better Timber for the repair of one of her Churches Ne tumnos tum Deam ipsam c. d Petr. Bemb Epist. l. 8. Epist 17. Lest by sending some useless sticks you seem saies he to delude both his Holiness and the Goddess her self This pretended God-head Deification e Petr. Damian Serm. 1. in Nativ Virg. and Divine f Mart. Delrius de Divin Milit. p. 886. Lips de Virgine Hall passim Gononus Chronic. an 1356. Majesty which under several Titles is attributed to this Goddess is not a thin Participation such as they allow to other Saints whom upon this score they call Gods but g S. Bernardin Serm. 61. a kind of Equality with God and an Infinity of Perfections which no Creature ever had Some do call it h Argentensis De Sept. Excellentiis identity others more plainly i B. Alanus part 2. c. 6. Esse Dei that is the very same thing or the very Being of God besides her other three Beings 1. of Grace 2. of Glory 3. and of the Mother of God Hereupon the Jesuites infer as well they may 1. that k Mendosa de Florib l. 2. Problem 2. n. 11. there is an infinite distance between the Mother and the Servants 2. That the greatness l Viegas Apocal. 12. Comm. 1. Sect. 4. n. 3. of this Goddess is a Mesure in a manner of Gods own Immensity 3. And that therefore 't is impossible to know well Gods Immensity without understanding the Virgins greatness Now if you will know how the blessed Virgin who was and is confessedly a finite Creature hath attained to this real Godhead and to the Infinity that attends it they will tell you that this great Miracle of being made Goddess was wrought in her 1. By a Singular Glorification and mutation in her proceeding from the whole Trinity For when once m Alan suprà c. 8. pag. 130. she presented her self to the Blessed Trinity in behalf both of her self and her devout servants God Almighty they say spoke to her thus Esto c. Be thou the noble and threefold Room where the Trinity shall inhabit I will be thoroughly changed into thee and thou shalt be thoroughly changed into me by special and singular Glorification 2. More especially by an entire and essential Communication from the second Person for thus they make Christ speaking n Guerricus ap Mendos Virid l. 2. Probl. 2. n. 11. to her Thou hast given me to be man I will also give thee my being God 3. Most specially by such a large Effusion of all Divine Excellencies as may o Quir. Salazar in Prov. c. 8. v. 23. n. 302. hold up proportion with the infinite Goodness and Appetency which the holy Ghost hath to be diffused to others So that as the Father did satisfie his own desire in bestowing his whole Divine Being on his Son and the Son with the Father in bestowing all what they have upon the Holy Ghost so likewise the Holy Ghost hath the same satisfaction for want of a fourth Person to spend and to pour himself in gifts and Graces upon Mary whom upon this account they dare all and God forgive them for calling her so Totius Trinitatis Complementum that is the Perfection and Accomplishment of the whole Trinity and to this purpose belongs what they say that in Heaven she hath her Throne by the Father as his only Daughter and Mignion or as others say p Argentens De Septem Excell 7. in quality of Gods Lady above the Son q Ibid. as being his Mother and close to the Holy Ghost in quality of his dear Spouse I have no mind to trouble my Reader and my self with rehearsing what here they babble or rather most ridiculously blaspheme concerning the r Salar in Prov. c. 31. n. 55 56 57. Jealousie between the Holy Ghost and Joseph upon the point of serving and pleasing her best It is enough which they will tell you and insist upon twenty times that this Virgin was the chief Allurement which in the beginning moved God Almighty s Idem c. 8 v. 25. n. 317. to make the world t Bernard Serm. 1. in Salv. and that Heaven and Earth were created and all the holy Scriptures written ob hanc propter hanc for her sake and upon her account That when in the eternal Decree and Prevision u Salazar Prov. c. 8. v. 23. n. 269. of God all other things did appear but as Molehills the great worth of this Virgin stood before him as
Interceding or by her having brought forth a Savior towards the Salvation of mankind she hath a good and proper share with Christ himself in the very Act of saving them for first as God so loved the world that he gave them his only Son c. Joh. 3.16 So if you believe these Roman a S. Bonaventur in verb. Sic Deus c. Doctors and Saints too the Virgin Mary can say as much for Christ was hers and under her Dominion as b Anselm de Excell Virg. c. 3. well as under that of his Father therefore when she gave him she gave what was properly her own Secondly she herein did more then God himself since she not only gave him to the world as God did by consenting but by offering him her self most really for there they say she stood by the Cross not as a Mother to pitty her Son or as a Disciple to believe on him but as a Priest c Salazar supr n. 211 212 213. to offer him in Sacrifice to help him in his Sacerdotal Function and mark how far this folly goes if the Murtherers had failed * Aloys Novarin Sacrorum Elect. l. 4. Excursu 49. to Sacrifice him with her own hands O Virgin saies the supposititious Epiphanius †Sermone de Laudib Mariae the Stupendous Tresure of the Church She is both the Priest and the Altar She brings both the Table and the Bread c. Thirdly they say that she stood there to Sacrifice her self with him Her very standing up with her stretcht Armes was d Guillelm in Cant. 7. Statura tua c. n. 7. her Cross and the Anguish of her heart e Bonavent de Compass Virg. Lect. 1. greater as they say or at the least more sensibly felt then any pain which her Son did suffer then in his Body was her Passion Thus both Christ and his Mother saies another famous Doctor had one design and both offered to God one and the same Burnt-Sacrifice He the Blood of his Flesh and she the Blood of her Heart Now believe them who say that Saints and she especially are Mediators and Saviors only by Praying and not by giving and working by their very suffering the Grace and Salvation which we pray for She was saies Salmeron a main Supporter of the Roman Church among the Tridentine Fathers cooperatrix g Salm. Tom. 6. Tract 6. sect secundus sensus p. 39. Edit Col. 1613. that is Christs Fellow-laborer in the very Passion to the end that as a Man and a Woman did work out the utter ruine of Man-kind so a Man and a Woman might perfect their Salvation and as well here as there the Woman should be the Instigatrix or the first Sollicitress Eve to temt and Mary to set the Man to work Thus she is saies another h Gabr. Biel. in Festo Visitat Serm. 1. the Mother of Redemtion by shedding her Soul into compassion under as Christ did his in Passion upon the Cross And if Christ seem to baffle away this Partnership and vindicate the whole work to himself alone in the Prophesie of Isaiah 63.3 I have troden the Wine-press alone and of the People there was no Man with me They have a ready Answer for him It is true †Ricard de laudib Mariae V. l. 2. part 2. saith one O Lord there f Arnold Carnotens De laud. Virg. Biblioth Patr. Tom. 1. is no Man with thee but there is a Woman with thee who suffers in her very Heart all the blows and wounds which thou receivest in thy Body These great Sufferings and Satisfactions being her own she may i Mendosa Virid l. 2. Problem 5. n. 30. apply them to whom she pleases without troubling her Son about it even so far sometimes as the Salvation and the very rescuing damned Men from †Petr. Dam. Serm. 2. de Nativ Virginis Hell can come to besides what some other Divines think she may do by offering still in Heaven both her self and her Son for k Manual Sodalitat B. M. c. 2. part 4. pag. 91. the Redemtion of all Men. However if upon this foundation that she is by the Roman Catholics l Salazar Prov. c. 8. v. 19. n. 215 222. called and conceived to be which otherwise they m Ibid. n. 222. think she could not the very Redeemer the Cause and Author of Eternal Salvation the Restorer of Mankind the n Albertus Magnus Bibl. pag. 88. Mercy-seat the Queen o Antonin in Sum. part 4. T. 15. c. 3. sect 3. the Priest and the Prophet the Hope of the whole World the Gate of Heaven the p Bibl. Mar. p. 89. Altar of Burnt-sacrifices the Cherub q Mendosa Virid l. 2. Probl. 2. n. 13. of equal light with the other that represented Christ in a word any thing that Blasphemers can think of to make her upon her proper account quite parallel unto Christ and as well in the act of Salvation as in their own ordinary Praiers to huddle up both the Hand-maid and the Savior into one Jesu Maria together Last of all the Virgin Mary having so well plaied her Priestly part in Sacrificing both her self and her Son here upon Earth she was in all reason after the manner of Oblations to have ascended along with Christ into Heaven and it is much wonder'd by some †Anselm de Excell B. V. c. 7. as at a kind of unkindness wherefore Christ would when he went up leave his afflicted Mother behind But they presently satisfie this scruple by attributing it to a kind of State Policy For if both had made their public entry into Heaven at the same time * Ibid. it had puzled the Angels whether of the two to adore first So it was conceived more prudent that he should go up before both to prevent all Jealousie and to prepare for her coming the whole Celestial Court which had bin divided otherwise to a more noble Reception Now she is there Gods Throne is not too good for her and her glory is not so much equal to as the very same r Arnold Carnotens supra with that of Christ for if you can hear a Blasphemy because she as well as Christ humbled her self to the death of the Cross s Idiota de Laud. Mar. c. 5. therefore hath God highly exalted her and given her the Name of Mary that is as they say Lady and Mistress which is above all Names that at this Name every knee should bow c. There she sits as it becomes both the t Missal Paris in Purificatione Empress of Heaven and the Conqueress of Hell There both the Angelical and the human Nature wait on her u Bonavent in specul c. 3. as the two Maids did on Queen Esther There Saints and Angels and Arch-angels are all in their several Capacities her Courtiers or her Nobles her Officers or her Soldiers and generally all one with another
other Christian Champions whil'st they were writing large Volumes in defence of Religion where it seemed subject to reproach to leave this part alone undefended which by all Mens confession had if then in being the greatest need of defence If the Church of God had in those daies a most real and continual Mass-Sacrifice How came S. Cyrill of Alexandria to be so dull against his Custom as when Julian laughed at Christians for having neither Altars nor Sacrifices to stop his mouth with nothing else then Metaphorical Oblations And was this Apostate such a Sot as to object at every turn such meer Falshoods if Mass be true wherein he knew having bin long a Christian that any Body might stop his mouth It seems as some of their best Authors d Alphons de Cast. l. 8. tit Indulgentia confess the Mystery of Transubstantiation was yet in the Church incognito and came to appear as it doth now but a long while as they say e Gabr. Biel. in Can. Sect. 41. I. too after Christ had instituted it So it is not Catholic at all 3. Go you down to Purgatory that vast and wide subterranean Rome as great at least as this above-ground who also in a very great mesure is her Mother and Nurse for if this pretends to send down any kind of relief to that by her Masses and Massoffices yet 't is that which maintains and helps up this with Wealth Honors Monasteries and all imaginable affluence of Riches In the mean time this commerce how mutual and great soever is nothing less then Catholic having not followed the Gospel through all the Countries nor times of the Church Whensoever and wheresoever the Christian Faith was Preached there is left an Impression in the Heart of all Believers that there is after this Life a Heaven prepared for Faithful Souls and an everlasting Hell for those that shall be found not to be so Purgatory which is a third place and should of course if true have gon in the same company with these two never followed them half the way no Apostle so far as we can see in their holy Writings ever Preached it it was not blown by Gods Spirit thro-out the whole World as other Catholic Doctrines were it lodg'd in some corners only and that late or upon a Heathenish account and where by chance it was admitted it found no better entertainment then a wavering Opinion Such a thing may be saies one It is not unlikely saies another The Greek and Armenian Churches larger then the Roman is do not believe it f Alfon. di Castro l. 12. tit Purgatorium saies one of the most learned Papists It was believed but somewhat late saies g Fisher cont Luther Art item one of their Cardinal Bishops and tho Bellarmin turns over and over all the Scriptures to search it out many of his own Church do confess that they h Fisher ibid. Pet. à Solv Assert 8. Mart. Peresius de Traditione cannot find it there 4. Indulgences that vast revenue and staple Merchandize of Rome is neither more ancient nor Universal then its correspondent Purgatory For saies i Polyd Virgil. de Invent. l. 8. c. 1. a good Roman Author after Cardinal Fisher no body thought of Indulgences before Purgatory was set a foot these without this being of no value But a while after men had bin affrighted with the Purgatory Torments then began Indulgences to be of use If you will know why both came in late they will endeavor to k Gab. Biel. in Can. Lect. 57. M. Alfons à Castro l. 8. â—it Indulgentia satisfie you with two Reasons the first is because Christians in primitive time had few sins to trouble them after their death when they had any they needed no other flames then their own Zeal to burn them out and their great i Gregor de Valent. de Indulg punct 2. Mortifications besides left nothing to do for Indulgences The second is because the Ancient Church did not know all however much less then now we do The first reason stands upon mere inconsideration of what men were for the most part in the best times The second stands fair for new lights and upon this account you must exclude Purgatory Indulgences and Fanaticism from being Catholic Doctrines 5. You may join with those three all the Roman Praiers and Devotions to Saints This recommended daily and reputedly devout Emploiment hath not so much as the shadow of Catholic for it crept in among Christians as the Baalim did in Israel when the Holy men that had seen Moses and Joshua and the elders of that generation were all departed Jud. 2.10.11.12 when our Savior and his Apostles and the first Preachers of the Gospel had left the world During above four thousand years when God had undoubted Saints living on Earth among his People you shall not find one who ever call'd praied or worshipped any other Saint in Heaven then the Holy one of Israel Salmero one of the learned Disputants at Trent confesses m Salmero 1. ad Timoth. Disp 7. Sect. Nec obiter such Invocations have no express ground in all the Scriptures Bellarmin n Bell. de Beat Sanct l. 1. c. 19. Sect. Item ex c. 32. Suar. p. 3. q. 52. Salm. 1. Tim. 2. Disput 8. Eckius Enchirid. c. 15. and others must yeild it as to the 4000 and odd years that preceded the Ascension And as for the years that followed it Would to God saies Stapulensis o Faber Stapul Praefat. in Evang. we would conform our waies of Faith and Devotion to the example of the Primitive Church who never lookt but on one Christ and never Worshipped any other then he Holy Trinity Eckius p Eckius in Enchirid. câ—de Venerat SS also is clear for this Read for your better satisfaction Origen contra Cels l. 8. Euseb Eccles Hist. l. 4. c. 15. S. Epiphanius his whole Tract against the worshippers of the blessed Virgin S. Ambros 1. Rom. S. Austin de Civit. l. 8. c. 27. l. 22. c. 10. item contra Faust. l. 20. c. 21. The whole business of Image worship the most visible part of the Roman Religion came in later then the Saints worship and therefore appears to be less Catholic If Ancient Authors mention once as it were by chance q Euseb Eccl Hist l. 7. c. 18. a Statue made by the Woman and a Heathenish Woman was she whom Christ had cured of a bloody Flux or the Picture of some Apostles which had bin seen on private walls or the Figure of a Shepherd with a Lamb upon his shoulders ingraved in a Cummunion s Tertull. de Pudicitia Cup or a Representation of Histories and t Gregor Nyssen Tom. 3. Martyr Theodor. p. 579. Edit Paris 1638. Martyrdoms in one or two Oratories yet where is the Prophet the Apostle or the Holy Father who ever lookt on such Figures otherwise then common representations or Pieces
have the Essentials of Christian Religion For these essentials are not saving but where they have the Prevalency and they can but aggravate sin and leave it more inexcusable where they are baffled and opprest Can any man think that Pilats Judgment Hall becomes a Church for having Christ standing there to be condemned or that Dagons Temple becomes Gods house for having the Ark there shut up No wise man looks for any Harvest from a few handfulls of Wheat choaked with all manner of weeds nor takes it to be good Pasture which he sees to be overgrown with Thorns No sincere Israelite can ever think of being saved by the Religion of Dan and Bethel because it keeps still Moses his Law nor by the Samaritan Religion because they serve God as well as Baal Mixt and corrupt Religions are not to be valued so much in what is trodden under mens feet as by what is predominant and set upon their high Altars The great Building raised at Jerusalem by Adrian did not cease to be Jupiters Temple for being raised upon holy Foundations and the best Altars of the Lord can procure no Atonement tho they be kept in good repair when they serve for burning Swines Flesh Thus what expect you from the whole Bible while what is in it is but a Pedestal to hundeeds of false Superstitions or from the Preaching of Christ and himself crucified the chiefest learnin of S. Paul and the Salvation of Jews and Gentiles as long as it is made a Foundation for an abominable Mass Service In the mean while if Papists will still bless themselves and think that all is safe at home because they are called Catholics abroad and for my part I can but wonder to find here Bellarmin so weak let them remember that in the ancient times Men as erroneous as they are were called Gnostics Apostolics and Angelics that is Sublime and Angelical Christians and thus the very Turks may bless themselves whensoever we call them Musulmans that is Men of true saving Faith The Papists may give to themselves such Titles as they are best pleased with but when Protestants call them Catholics it is either out of ignorance for many are not acquainted with the true signification of that Word or a ciuil Complement or a meer Jest and Mockery 〈…〉 as to the truth it self the Roman Church 〈…〉 the true nor a truly Catholic Church 〈…〉 the true Catholic Church for this 〈…〉 pretend to but upon the account of 〈…〉 Jurisdiction over all the Churches of 〈◊〉 which Pretension where it prevails is a Sacrilegious Encroachment and where it doth not is a meer Fable Nor is she truly Catholic either by her own proper Doctrines Laws and Worship which all are new as to Christian Antiquity Local and unapostolical or by the common Principles of Christianity that she detains since she detains them in Unrighteousness over-whelmed oppressed and groaning under many heavy massy Burthens of Superstitions and Abuses beneath which she kept them and that not like the Oracles of God in a Church but as Captives in a Dungeon There both God in his Law and Jesus Christ in his Gospel are in a manner close Prisoners under a cruel Band of Soldiers not one Commandment among the ten few if any of the twelve Articles of the Creed but there are in the Church of Rome some special Errors and Impieties wickedly set to abuse them And this is both the Sanctuary that Rome opens for Salvation and the first fundamental Allurement she serves men with to entice them to Popery CHAP. III. Concerning the second Inducement to Popery The Roman Miracles NExt to the pretended Catholic Church Roman Miracles are the main Pride of Popery and its strange Wonders such as they be of Lauretta Montserrat and other places give as much countenance to the Roman as Delphi Delos Dodona and such other Seats of Heathenish Gods did to the Heathenish Religion The truth is Miracles will carry a great weight both with the unlearned and Learned Men when they are right and therefore it much concerns every one that hath no mind to be cheated well to know the right from the wrong All true Christian Miracles are supernatural or extraordinary Works wrought for a time either by the immediate Hand of God or by the Mediation of Men and Angels when moved or strengthned thereto by him for the farther authorizing and confirming true Catholic and Christian Truth especially among Infidels First I say true Christian Miracles not only to oppose them to all Cheating and Fabulous but also to distinguish them from other more common supernatural Effects which God is pleased sometimes to shew promiscuously among all sorts of Nations for the asserting of his Power Justice Mercy or more generally his Divine Being in the course of his Providence There is not a Nation in the whole World but may find if they will search many such admirable Passages in their Chronicles nor scarce any private Man but may observe somwhat of these as he calls them strange Accidents in his own time It is most certain that God sent his Angels and with them his great Judgments and Powers among the Persians and Greeks called Javan Dan. 10. as well as among the Israelites and besides what either the Earth or the Heavens can do by their proper Influence and what Man-kind can add unto it by their own good or bad conduct in the ordinary course of things the miraculous Hand of God often times over-rules so visibly that no sober man can doubt of his interposition and guidance Of this kind are the stupendous and unexpected rises and falls of great Estates the slaughters of many thousands mention'd in divers Histories by an inconsiderable handful of men the raising of Princes among Pagans to an extraordinary pitch of Moral Vertue and Heroical Courage the terrible Prodigies Blazing-stars and Predictions before great Desolations and Plagues somtimes Curses somtimes Blessings fastned as it were to some Houses c. No judicious Man will fancy that Cyrus for example or Alexander either would undertake or could perform their vast Designs amidst their Disadvantages without some singular influence and help from above and whosoever will consider what Plato was and what he makes a Plato in Apolog. Socrat. Socrates say before his death can hardly forbear thinking but that this Heroical Pagan had commonly the Assistance of a good Angel These and other such great Examples taken notice of by all sorts of Historians confirm the truth of Gods special care about the conservation of Societies and signifie nothing at all about their true or untrue Religion in Churches or Temples If they did where is that pitiful Sect or Country but might allege sundry Miracles to justifie its own Pagan or Heretical Perswasion The Emperors Vespatian and Adrian might have authorized by this means the Worshipping of Roman Eagles for both are said b Corn. Tacitus Hist. l. 4. to have restor'd sight to blind men the Vestal in
a Mountain That when he put his hand to the making of Creatures Heaven and Earth Stars Angels and Thrones x Ibid. v. 22. n. 269. he had still this woman in his thought to pick and chuse out of every Creature as it came out the very best of it for this true Pandora and true Abbreviate of all his works That then she was the very y Ard. Hierosolymit Serm. de Annunc Perspective thro which from all Eternity God both foresaw and predestinated all Christians S. Peter S. Paul and all the rest because they were not predestinated to any Grace but such as should be conveied to them thro her hands That when God did order the Springs and course of Water z Salazar c. 8. v. 27. n. 363. then he but studied what way it were possible to make Mary an Aqueduct of all Blessings upon Mankind That God had not set up so many Princes in the world nor so many a Rupert ap Salaz p. 246. Kings in Israel had it not bin to procure her a more Roial Extraction And finally that he made Eve b Salaz Prov. c. 31. n. 418. the Ark the Tabernacle and other Ceremonial Figures to pass his time in those Images and Representations of Mary and so to amuse as well as he could the extreme longing that he had to possess the Original At last this blessed Creature being come forth she appears at her very c Idem c. 8. v. 25. n. 321. Birth when she was lying in her Cradle above all both Angels and Saints like a Mountain above small Hills far holier as they say then Mount d Joh. Damascen Sina but somwhat like e Bernard Serm. de Annunc the Mount Sion in which God was pleased to dwell all the Angells f Gabr. Biel. in Can. lect 80. that are in Heaven all the Souls that are in Hell all the Saints and Prophets that ever were and all men that are or shall be must by all means look towards Her as the Center and Support of the whole world as the very Ark of God as the Cause of all Creatures as the g Bonavent in Psalter founder of all Blessings as the Fountain h Bernard apud Salaz c. 8. v. 35. n. 450. and Vein of life and the Author of i Petr. Dam. Serm. 1. de Annunciat Salvation Now lest you should think that these great Titles as great as God himself and our Savior can ever have are given her chiefly upon the account of Christ whose Mother she was after the Flesh thorough Catholics will tell you that before she was the Mother of Christ she k Anselm de Excell Virg. c. 12. had deserved to be so that by her own Goodness l Ozor Tom. 3. Conc. 1. in Annunc Conc. 1. in Nativ and Grace she had drawn God down towards her and induced him m Bernardin de Bust 2. part Serm. 2. de Coronat Mariae to take her Flesh and that being as commonly they do term her Negotium omnium Seculorum the work of four thousand years and possessing eminently within her self all the Perfections that lie scattered up and down in all Celestial and subcelestial Creatures such a complete Hostess could not but procure or o Salaz Proverb c. 8. v. 16. n. 106. at least hasten the coming in of the best Guest The Founder of the Jesuites did commonly p Salaz Prov c. 9. v. 4. 5. n. 144. bless himself whensoever it came to his mind that swallowing down Christ at Mass he had also by the same means some of the Flesh of this Goddess And they say that on this same account Christ takes delight q Judoc Clictov Serm. de Visitat to lie hidden under transubstantiated wafers and to fall down into mens stomacs because it represents and reminds him of his Ancient being in her womb and that therefore she r Anâ—nymus apud Metaphrast would not miss a day without taking the Sacrament after her Son was in Heaven that he might have that sweet satisfaction every day But when at the Salutation of Gabriel she opened her Heart and her Breast to take him in and therein to make him her Son that one Act of humble Obedience expressed in nine Latin words Ecce Ancilla c. Behold the Handmaid of the Lord c. that one Act of hers they say is more Meritorious then God himself in a manner can recompense Christians may think 't was no Merit of hers but rather a favor of God and that all which she could do towards it was her Duty but Roman Catholic Authors and Saints too teach otherwise 1. That by that one Act she had fully s Stellarum Coronâ— B. V. l. 11. part 2. c. 11. repaied to God for n Bernard Serm. 2. de Pentecost all the things that he ever bestowed upon men and this they call Retribution and take it for the eleventh of those twelve Stars which shine continually about her Head 2. That by that Act she repaied more then she ever received her self and so that t Methodius Constantin Serm. de Purificat God is in her debt 3. That by that Act she hath done more u S. Bernardin Serm. 61. Bernardin de Bust Marial part 6. Serm. 2. de Visitatione Mar. for God or as much at the least then God for her and all Mankind and that men may say to their comfort rather blaspheme to their confusion that upon the Virgins account God is more obliged to them then they to God This is the most stupendous Merit which they say x Salazar Prov. 4. v. 13. n. 53. Christ insisted upon to shelter himself against the wrath of his own Father when after their interpretation he praied thus upon the Cross O turn thee unto me and have mercy on me give the Kingdom to thy Servant and save the Son of thy Handmaid that is if thou wilt not save me from off this Cross for thy sake or for my sake save me for her great Merits sake who said Behold the Handmaid of the Lord and give me also that Kingdom the Monarchy of the whole World which she hath y Ildelph Serm. de Assumt deserved by that Act and which devolves to me as being her Son So let all men here consider both how admirable those Merits must be which Christ makes his own shelter of and how useful to a poor sinner since they are thus needful to Christ We have not yet don The Virgin Mary appears as great at her Sons Death as at his Conception and if some talk of her saving men only because she hath brought forth their Savior thorough Catholics will inform you that z Quir. Salazar c 8. v. 19. n. 207. Conceiving and Bringing forth are two Acts which of themselves being Natural and not Voluntary cannot be much Meritorious and therefore besides all what she contributes either by her
Christianity might well go farther m Damian Epist l. 2. Ep. 14. His Brother Marinus being full of this Roman Spirit when yet he was but a young man puts off his Clothes and instead of a halter about his Neck with a lethern Girdle which before he had about his loines he ties himself to the Altar Vowes and gives himself up to the Virgin Mary upon the account of being her slave then whips him self in such a manner as one would hardly whip a wicked wretch and in these words resigns himself into her hands My glorious Mistress and Lady and the true Model of all Vertues whom I have offended by the rottenness of my Flesh All I have more wherewith to help my self I give it up to thee to serve thee with I submit the neck of my heart to the Dominion of thy Dignity Order thou my rebellious self undertake the stubborn and let not thy Mercy reject the sinner By this small Offering 't was a sum of mony which he laid down at her Altar I do now give over to thee whole Estate and from this time ever hereafter I will pay to thee the yearly Rent or Tribute of the same as long as I shall live Papists may call this as they please the best Israelites in their most solemn Adorations never did and said half so much before the Lord. Deuter. 26.12 and the best Christians can do and say nothing to God the Savior that expresses more This height of palpable Idolatry procured at several occasions remorse and shame to its Authors in the very darkest Ignorance before it could be well settled For few years after some had brought in this Office n Gonon Chronic. an 1056. Gozo an eloquent and acute Monk prevailed so far with his reason upon the whole Monastery that these solemn Praiers and Praises of the Virgin were quite voted out of Gods Service But alas presently after this voting it fared just with these poor Monks as it had don once with the Jews when they had left worshipping the Moon Jerem. 44.18 Since we say they left off to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the Sword by the Famine For then it seems there fell upon the Country where the Convent was situated such a complication of wars and troubles which Cardinal Damian moved with a quite other Spirit then Jeremy was in the like case interpreted to be Judgments inflicted on them by the same Queen that they were perswaded to worship her again and then presently all was well Whosoever then preached S. Damian hath turned o Chronicon ibid. out of this monastery the blessed Mother of true Piety it is fit he should be turned out and whirled about with tribulations and Stormes But turn ye unto me again saies the Lord by the Prophet and I will return unto you saies the Lord he should have said saies the Lady and then the Impertinency had been complete The like but more hellish Illusion if their story be true happened to the Carthusian p Surius in vita Brunon 6. Octob. Order For when they were as poor as they are now rich some of them lookt on this new Marian Worship as nothing less then pernicious and the others were so much perplexed what with it what with the horror of the wild place wherein they were that they thought of leaving both the Place and the Miracle of the seven Stars But then comes to them an old man with long white and curled Hair who assured them from God as he pretended that the Virgin Mary would protect them if they would but read every day Preces ejus Horarias that is her small Office at the due hours So without any more ado they took her for their Patroness and consequently for their she God and since that time her Praiers went on A while after the old man came an Angel q Chronic. Carthus l. 5. c. 5. who advised them to put in between the first and the third hour Ave sanct a Parens and one Mass more to her Glory and if you please to believe all Christ himself r Anton. Caracciol ap Al. Gaz. pag. 108. dictated a Rule to S. Briget where he commands them of that Order to repete every day the said Service No mortal tongue can express how much that ambitious Spirit who assum the Virgin Maries Name is delighted with the hearing of those Praiers She now and then will come to say s Al. Gazaeus de Offic. B. M. pag. 94. Edit Atrebat 1622. them her self when tired or sick Friers as Herman was once cannot do it She will come down also and leave Heaven and all to hear them and in a t Chronic. Deip. an 1230. Majestic Apparel will smile upon and kiss the Choristers if they happen to sing them well and if this be not encouragement enough She will make her Son a Baby whom she commonly carries about run about them and exhort them x Wadd Annal Min. Tom. 3. an 1338. to be fervent in her Service and tell them that nothing can ever be more acceptable to God Almighty then is the honor which they shall bestow on his Mother especially when they fall upon some verses as is in singing the Te Deum When thou tookest c. thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb y Gaz. Ibid. p. 99. her heart jumps and leaps with joy and so St. Ludgard advises his friend then to bow down to the very ground At the words Eja Advocata z she promises to speak to her Son At these words of the Antiphone Pulcra es decora a Stell B. V. l. 12. c. 10. Gazaeus p. 91. that is thou art fair and gracious She presently came with two Angels and proud with hearing her Beauty praised she took a young man from the Altar and perswaded him to take her for his Wife since she was so beautiful Hence her Roman Chaplains argue well b Al. Gazaeus de Offic. B. V. pag. 8. that if she be so taken with some Parcels of her Office how much must she be with the whole It is upon this account and her being charmed with these Caresses that she hath nothing about her too dear for her Spiritual Courtiers She leaves all her Nobles above to converse veiled and c Gonon Chronic. an 234. hooded and fing like a devout Nun among her white and black Friers she feigns to admire them when they sing she kisses them when they have sung and whilst she is hot and busy with an excessive Passion to divert by all means possible these supreme and Divine Services from God to a mere Creature nothing discovers the Devil more then this foolish overdoing But to lay aside these fond kindnesses of kissing suckling and marrying men and hiding them under her Coat which a Fairess or a white witch could better do the Magnificency of her Promises backt as they are
q Menol. Cister 27 Mar. the Cistercian had it miraculously written in plain Characters on his Tongue that with continual using and kissing holy Beads r Chronic. Deip. an 1212. Alanus the Captain had a brightness like that of Crystal about his Mouth and in his Hands and that many Monks of all Orders had Roses and Lilies with Ave Maria's in Golden Letters growing on them or their Graves S. Å¿ Mayer Annal. Fland. l. 5. ad an 1138. Jossion and S. t Cantiprat de Ap. l. 2. c. 29. sect 15. Josbert are upon this last account great examples of her kindness But and if your thoughts will not flie higher then to the common Glory of Heaven the ordinary use of the Rosary needs not put you to half this trouble It is certain that St. Dominic the first Patriarch of this Device and St. Alanus de Rupe the worthy Restorer of it both inspired by the same Spirit intended it u Navar de Rosar Miscell 22. n. 1. for the common People Men Women and Children together whom they knew unable to reach so far And therefore these indulgent Fathers are likely to dispense with them who will use it at easier rates Read it but once in a whole Week and at several times and parcels that will abundantly serve your turn Read it with no more attention then such as you are capable of when you x Ibid. Miscell 32. go to the Market or walk in a Procession or ride abroad or prune your Vine * Paul Layman de Hor. Canon c. 5. n. 11 12. or put on or off your clothes c. provided that you neither read nor write If furthermore by chance you have lost your Beads either you may take y Navar. de Psalter Miscell 28. n. 1. your Fingers that will presently make a Decad or observe by how many steps you go up to such a Chappel and run your Paters and Aves after that number such cursory Devotions will be enough for to save you St. Alanus z Alan Rediv. par 5. c. 51. c. 59 c. c. 62. alone the great Mignion of this Virgin can give you a whole set of Blasphemers and Rogues and Whores who did not the half of all this yet were all saved one way or other Now who is the habitual Sinner who being conscious of his waies and of his unwillingness to amend them would not part with any thing rather then with such an Indulgent Mother Rosary and Religion But here is yet more if more can be CHAP. IX Of the vast Tresure of the Roman Church and her Power to dispose of it BEsides the Virgin Mary whom the Papists do look upon as their sure Tresure in Heaven and the most immediate Store-house whence they get one way or other all both extraordinary and easie means in order to Salvation they also enrich themselves and others with another as great Tresure which their Church dispenses on Earth In Heaven as they take it Mary is the great Ocean into which all the Heavenly Blessings and Vertues like so many Rivers do flow Omnia Flumina c. saies a S. Bonavent in Specul one of their most Learned Saints that is All Rivers and Floods run into the Sea when all Gifts and Graces meet in Mary to wit the Streams of Graces that the Angels are watered with the Rivers of all the other Blessings which all the Saints of God ever had c. And as another of their Saints expresses it God hath placed in the Virgin b S. Bernard Serm. de Aquaeduct Mary the fulness of all that is good so that if we have any hope any Blessing and Salvation we may be sure it comes from her If this fulness be not enough with what she hath on her account she can fill it up and make it run over with what all the Saints may add to it For the Saints they say are to c Georg. Venetus ap Salaz Prov. c. 8. v. 34. n. 435. the Virgin what the Stars are to the Moon and those load her with all the Fruits of their Intercessions as these do this with their Influences before either of them come down to us In Earth they have the use and disposal of another stock as rich and as necessary to Sinners which they call the Churches Tresury And if you compare it as the other to a Sea four great Rivers continually do fill it up or keep it full The first is d Mart. Bonacin De Indulg q. 1. punct 1. n. 6. the satisfactions of all the Saints from Adam and Abel to Christ For as the Roman Doctors teach us they suffered more then need was and no use was made of their sufferings because during the 4000 years to Christs Ascension Heaven they think was not open nor had Christ impowered any Man to take ought of this Tresure in order to any Pardons The second is the Passion of Jesus Christ whose Blood they say e Clem. 6. Extravag Vnigenitus had it bin but one drop was enough to save all Mankind therefore all the surplusage either before or at his Passion is reserved unless lost in this vast Tresury The third all the meritorious Sufferings and Passions of the Virgin Mary which as they think f Bellarm. de Indulg l. 1. c. 2. sect Quarta Propositio she needed not for her self and so the Church applies to others This one River may make a Sea The fourth is the Sufferings the Martydoms and the Penances of all the Saints since the Gospel Peter Paul S. Dominic and S. Francis and all holy Monks and Eremits who tho perhaps not quite sinless yet had no need to do so much as for themselves to satisfie Divine Justice Here then you have to make use of first all the Blood which the Martyrs from Abel to Barachias under the Old and from him to the last Sufferer under the New Testament could shed in above five thousand years Secondly We have of Christs Blood all he ever shed upon the Cross saving one drop all that whole Flood I say that from his Head down to his Feet gushed from his Wounds and the opening of all his Veins even since his Circumcision and by this guess how many thousand of Roman Churches may be redeemed with this Tresure if well applied Thirdly You have in the same store the hard Penances the cruel Persecutions and the voluntary Whippings whether bloody or unbloody of all other Saints Monks and Eremits whatever either S. Anthony or S. Hilarion or S. Paulus so much celebrated by S. Jerome whatever S. Zebinas S. Julian S. Simeon S. Maris or S. Masymas and others celebrated by S. Theodoret Palladius c. could gain by their hard usages and Iron Chains whatever the great St. Francis could deserve of God Almighty by leaving g Lippom. in vita Francisc all he had in the World even to his very drawers and breeches by rambling naked like a Mad-man
black and blew where her Image had bin abused and inspires a Black-Smith both with Intelligence where to seek out the hidden Jew and with skill and spirit to fight with him in a Duel for it was an affront she had received that was to be repair'd by her Hectors valor and kill him This one instance and many more that might be had to this purpose doth plainly shew that Roman Saints concern themselves in their Images not in a civil regard only as Kings abused in their Envoies or Nobles beheaded in their Pictures or Effigies but in a far more real manner as if Catholic Kings did find their Backs excoriated when some Pope scourges their Ambassadors and as if Gentlemen had their Heads really cut off from their shoulders when the Hang-man strikes their Pictures There is such an effectual Correspondency between Roman Saints and Images as is observed between Twins who most commonly are either well or ill together or to come somewhat nearer the case as between enchanted Images of Wax and the Persons intended by them who freez or burn accordingly as the Magician manages the business After this rate as they speak n Plutarch de Defect Oracul ap Euseb de Prepar Evang. l. 5. pag. 122. of the Howlings of Devils when Christs Passion and Sacrifice turned them all out from their old Seats you may hear somtimes these Roman Saints weep and bemoan themselves sometimes in the o Vincent Specul Hist l. 7. c. 81. Clouds sometimes under Walls when they are abused in their Images It is upon this same account of care and sympathy for their dear Receptacles that as Pagans did with threatning force their Gods to what they had a mind they should do Roman Saints may be led that way if you tell them unless they do it that either q Mart. Polon ad an 715. pet Canisius de Deip. l. 5. c. 24. you will drown their Images or take r Caesarius l. 7. c 46. away the sweet Baby as did really the Woman who kept him so long in her Chest upon the loss of her Child s Ibid. whom a Wolf had run away with till with wonderful humility the Queen of Heaven commanded the Wolf to bring again and restore his prey her Majesty seeming to be exceedingly afraid of being deprived of her Son that is the little Cherub whom she hath commonly on her left Arm. Hence you may learn upon what ground the Tyrians once being besieged kept their chief Image * Quint. Curt. in obsidione Tyri in Chains the Trojans secured their Palladium the Romans their Ancile and now the Roman Catholics have so great care of their Images Those were once what these are now dear Pawns and as it were Hostages to draw on any side the Gods and Saints p Franc. Hierasc in vita Henr. Sylv. whom these Images do relate to Never fear that the good Lady can forget her ancient Friend at Lauretta at Maria major or at Montserrat and if she be sometimes out of the way when Pilgrims adore those Images it is because she looks to some others But if the Image be deeply engaged either in its Reputation as when it had bin intrusted with the Keies and keeping of t Annal. Flandr l. 12. an 1340. Tournay or in its own preservation as that was which the Sextan u Bov. supra would burn to bake his Wafers then read what Apollo did x Herodot Vrania for Delphi and Minerva for her little Chappel when both were assaulted by Xerxes compare it with what in the like occasion our Lady did for y Tursel Lauret Hist l. 2. c. 20. Lauretta for z Annal. Fland. sup Tournay for an old Image and so upon this whole matter judg whether Pagan Gods and Roman Saints be not alike as to their care and kindness to their Images and how unreasonable it were if you take those for very Devils to take these for any true Saints Fifthly The very acts of making Images to speak is an irrefragable Evidence of their being both ungodlike and unsaint-like Spirits God and his Blessed Angels have in times past expressed themselves several waies by Visions Dreams Vrim and Thummim Signs Judgments Fires and Thunders I leave out Gods speaking by Men because it is his most ordinary way of Revelation But let the Roman Catholics turn over either the Holy Scripture or the genuine Writings of any ancient Father and then shew me where ever God or Saints or Angels spake either in the Church or abroad in the World a Balinghem 28. May. by Stocks or Stones or any kind of dead Pictures and after they have consulted their Consciences if instructed with any degree of Learning let them pronounce whether both speaking and working through Images be or be not the most universal and most constant way of Devils Hereupon let Rome consider that tho Devils may and do often countenance themselves with counterfeiting the waies of of God God or his Saints never have disparaged themselves with using the waies of Devils much less such a way as the use of Images is which God hath so earnestly and constantly disowned and declared himself against Sixthly Their own Speeches and Actings may convince any sober Man by their own Ridiculousness or Impiety what kind of Spirits set them on work To be short consider but this one instance namely the Image of our good Lady with a young Child on her left arm the great Goddess and God of Rome and at the first entring into a Roman Church the first and most conspicuous Object of the Roman Adoration Consider in this double Image 1. The Roman Lady 2. The Roman or as they call it the sweet Baby each by themselves 3. Both the Mother and the Babe together First As to the main and Mother Image What is it do you think that makes Images sometimes as light as any Feather sometimes as heavy and immovable as any Rock sometimes to fly sometimes to dance sometimes to sing sometimes to weep sometimes to sweat sometimes to tear themselves to pieces For if all the Pranks be true as 't is certain they are possible do they not become somewhat better those wild silly Spirits that use to tumble stools and dishes or to skip up and down in a house then the most Holy the most serious and the most truly glorified Virgin Mary Whosoever will be at the trouble of summing up the Hours and Daies which since these six or seven hundred years have bin mispent about such doings shall find both that this spirit whosoever it is that animates this Roman Image is oftner below then above and that against the condition of all true glorified Saints he or she fidles away more of his time about Visions and Drudgeries about Gallows Whores and Prisons and about Monks and their Images then is left him or her to spend with the Blessed Saints about Gods Throne and in the Beatifical Vision Seeondly what do you
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.
an 1292. knew nothing of it before and to take him for her Husband upon condition he should keep it which he gladly undertaking her Son came down to the wedding and in facie Ecclesiae being in a Priestly Habit and in the face of the whole Church joined this holy Monk and his Mother in a Roman Wedlock together Her other Solemn and great Feast which they call the Assumtion and which in the Roman account makes the Virgin as much a Goddess as the blessed Ascension among the Socinians can make Christ God is scarce older One of the most skilful of all the Fathers in Sacred Antiquity I mean St. Epiphanius had not yet in his time heard of it nor had a great many years after pious and learned Pulcheria when she sought s Nicephor Eccles Hist b 5. c. 14. the Virgins Corps in the Holy Land not dreaming it was in Heaven Neither could Venerable t Beda de Locis Sacr. c. 6. Bede or Arch-Bishop * Martyrol Adon. 18. Cal. Sept. Ado men the best versed both in all true and untrue stories tell much more nor had Ludulphus de Saxonia tho a great Adorer of the Virgin †Devita Christ part c. 186. yet heard of that Legend Nicephorus is the first u Niceph. ibid. Romancer that can distinctly tell with what Triumph of men and Angles She went up twelve hundred years after it was don The Blessed Virgin Mary kept her self during that interval close and happy like other Souls in the Bosom of Abraham and under the wings of her Savior She never thought yet of coming forth either to throw x Mag. Speculum Tit. Festum Exemp 2. Gold or Medals into their hand who kept this Feast or to bury y Bencius supra them under ground who kept it not Neither mortal Ears had heard till then in the blindest times of the Church the Angels z Cantiprat l. 2. c. 4. n. 7. singing their Mattins to celebrate that Festival nor mortal Eies seen Trees * Gonon ex Annalib Colmar an 1276. both to blossom and bear Fruit against nature nor Hoods and a Cantiprat l. 2. c. 29. n. 26. Frocks becoming as good as strong Boats to ferry Monks over a great River when they would preach the Glory of that day In good earnest can an infallible Church can a true Church be drawn away to new Services upon the account of such Tales Or if these Tales and hundred other as bad or worse be true stories as they may be and I am not he that will dispute it what must we think of that Spirit which is pleased to entice us to his Service upon such Grounds This matter proves as bad again in the Point of Altars and Churches First it cannot be a good Spirit if created that calls for either Altars or Churches Secondly it is not a good Spirit neither that calls for them by unbecoming ridiculous and jugling waies Thirdly 'T is not a true Religion or a true Church that yields to that Spirit what he calls for both on those accounts and by those waies First Such Spirits what name soever they take are to be shrewdly suspected who call for Churches Vows Altars Offerings and all such other sacred services as clearly belong to God alone And in express terms Saint Augustin makes no doubt b August de Civit. l. 10. c. 19. but that they are Devils Good Angels saies this holy Father do then love us and for our sakes do rejoice when we worship the only God but if we do the like to them they are not pleased with it at all but openly cast it from them And when some have thought of deferring also to them that honor they forbad them and commanded them to do it to him to whom alone they know that it can be lawfully done Herein the Holy Men of God do imitate the Holy Angels c. Therefore saies and concludes the c Ibidem same Father as well he may when some of those Spirits or Saints have a mind to be served with holy Rites and Sacrifices and others avert it from themselves and order it for God alone the very sense of true Piety may teach any Man how to discern between that which proceeds from true Religion and what from a Spirit of pride for proud Spirits are neither good Angels nor the Angels of a good God And let d Ibid. c. 11. them do what Miracles they will even beyond the course of Nature these are but seducing Tricks of wicked Devils which true Piety must take heed of Here the Papists cannot answer St. Augustin nor satisfie him at all by saying That no Roman Saint or Spirit was ever found calling for any Sacrifices that is for the Blood of Bulls or Goats which here St. Augustin understands for then the Father will reply and out of Porphyrius an authentic Pagan Author that these proud c Ibid. c. 19. Devils never cared for the Blood or smell of slain Beasts upon any other account then because such Sacrifices were in those daies the Expressions of Divine Worship as now surely Churches and Masses are destined to the same end and therefore as much at the least if not more desirable and pleasing to them Who doubts but all the Gold and Silver Utensils which you shall find at Lauretta may be as rich Oblations as all that was once at Delphi And let any Jeweller tell me whether one of those many precious Stones which are daily by formal Vows sent and presented to that Goddess would not buy the best Bull or Ram that ever was at any time Sacrificed at Jerusalem To follow the Roman accounts one Mass is better then all what both Delphi and Jerusalem had together and if the Devils anciently craved for the slaughter of silly Beasts because such was the solemn worship of Israel how proud may they be now to see upon their Altars the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ which tho in very deed but a Wafer yet in the Opinion of Papists is the most solemn Worship of Rome You will say that this Flesh or Wafer is not sacrificed to the Virgin Mary true indeed but it is worse for it is sacrificed to God for her sake in honorem Mariae Thus when I make much of a Stranger for my Friends sake the Stranger hath the entertainment and God upon the Roman Principles hath the Sacrifice or the Mass but the Friend and the good Lady are the main end and the main Persons I look upon he in the Entertainment and she in the Sacrifice a Gonon Chronic. an 1372. Thus this she Ghost understands it Thou art my servant saies she to a Priest offering the First-fruits of his Mass Priesthood when he was singing his first Mass Thou art my servant for I have chosen thee God uses to speak so to his Prophets and I will be glorified in thee I dearly love them of your b Leand. Albert. in vita