peculiar to him as to be the first-born of the Dead For as the honour of sitting on the Right-hand of God followeth his Resurrection from the dead so the Office of Intercession followeth the Honour of sitting on the Right-hand of God and is inseparably united and annexed to it and therefore none can assume or exercise that Office for us but he who was honoured which is Jesus only to sit on God's Right-hand and none can be entituled or admitted to this Honour but he who humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross and thereby merited this Exaltation that at his name every knee should bow and every c. Phil. 4.8 c. for this Office of Intercession is the consequent effect and ultimate end of his Exaltation as the Apostle proveth Heb. 7.25 Wherefore because he is our eternal High-Priest he is able to save them to the uttermost to the full that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for us Whene it followeth we are to come to God by his Son Jesus Christ our High-Priest and for our encouragement that we may come with Confidence and a full assurance we have this strong Consolation He is able to save us to the uttermost and this he is able to do for that He our High-Priest ever liveth to make Intercession for us which the same Apostle hath repeated and further expressed Heb. 24. He hath entred into Heaven it self now viz. to this end and on this errand to appear in the presence of God for us viz as our Intercessor and Advocate from all which premises we may be bold to argue in the Apostolical Form used by the same Apostle upon another but not unlike occasion Heb. 1.19 To which of the Angels or Saints departed said God at any time Sit thou on my Right-hand to make Intercession for man or Sit thou on my Right-hand to appear in my presence for him or be thou Advocate with the Father for him Or said God at any time Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in the name of Angels or Saints departed it shall be given you certainly God never employed any the most excellent Creature in any Office betwixt himself and man but he first signed a Commission for it but neither God nor his Son Jesus Christ did ever make any Grant Substitution or Deputation of this Honour and Power to any either Angel or Saint departed It is true the Blessed Spirits are affirmed to stand about the Throne of God and the Holy Angels to behold his face but it is never said they sit at Gods Right-hand or live for ever to make Intercession for us The Holy Angels are Gods Ministring Spirits and the Spirits of just men departed are his Glorified Saints but God hath made Jesus only to be Lord and Christ to whom all things in heaven and earth must bow and let all the Angels honour him and all the Saints fall down before and all men Honour the Son even as they honour the Father Joh. 5.23 because to set up any subservient subordinate Lords in this Office of Intercession is such a piece of Heathenish Idolatry that the Apostle St. Paul thought it fit to caution the Corinthians against it and instruct them in the pure Worship and Service of God as becometh Christians 1 Cor. 8.5 Though there be many that are called Gods as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ in which words there is a direct opposition betwixt the Heathen Form of Application to their Supreme fictions Gods and the Christians way of Supplication to the only true God The Heathens address themselves to their Sovereign Gods by their under Gods or Godlings which the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demons the Scriptures of the Old Testament Baalims or Lords who were reputed Agents and Mediators betwixt their chief Gods and them Their Sovereign Gods they stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords in of or from Heaven betwixt whom and men they supposed there was no immediate intercourse their mean Inferiour Lords were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus phraseth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords on or from the Earth whom they honoured with a relative subaltern Worship as their Mediators and Advocates thinking thereby they more highly honoured their Supreme Gods But Christians know and profess there is but one God the Maker of all things in Heaven and Earth to whom they are to make their Prayers and Supplications and they have but one Lord Advocate and Mediator by whom they present and offer their Petitions to the Almighty Father For the opposition lies in the Heathenish plurality both of their Supreme Gods and Subordinate Mediators viz. Heathens have many Gods and many Lords Mediators and in the singularity of the Christians God and Lord Mediator viz. they have but one God and one Lord Mediator even Jesus whom God hath made both Lord and Christ Act. 2.36 Thus Origen understood this Text for to it sure he refers * Orig. Ceis lib. 8.381 when he tells Celsus The Scripture indeed doth call God the God of Gods and Lord of Lords but withal saith to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him which the Apostle speaks of himself and all other whose minds are raised up to him do Worship him inseparably and indivisibly in his Son Therefore there being many Gods and many Lords we endeavour by all means not only to carry our minds above those things on Earth which are Worshiped by the Heathen for Gods but above those whom the Scriptures call Gods viz. Angels For these reasons and many more deducible from Holy Writ Protestants have often urged and pressed the Papists to produce one positive Precept clear Example or plain Promise from the Scripture for their Saint or Angel Mediatorship but hitherto they have not been very forward to accept the challenge only some of them who were resolved to say something for themselves have pitched upon some places of Scripture for proof of their Principle and Practice which yet others of them being more judicious and ingenious have not conceived Argumentative and satisfactory nor indeed that any thing can be evinced or deduced thence that is cogent and convincing which will appear by these particulars 1. From the Testimony of their Grave and Learned Polemick Divines who have acknowledged they have no express Scripture for this Doctrine and usage and if so it was too much confidence to form the Doctrine into an Article of Faith and to impose and exact the Practice as a profitable duty yea so profitable that the omission was Sin Implications and remote deductions were never before thought sufficient Mediums for the superstructing of an Article of Faith and an Essential to Salvation Eckius (a) Enchir. de ven Sanct. c. 15. sub finem hath freely
least is secondary Idolatry For Idolatry consists in giving Religious Worship due to God to that which is not God and a primary and secondary respect cannot relieve them because these are Duties of the same kind the higher or lower conceptions of the Object toward which the Religious Office is exercised cannot alter the kind or species and it is impossible to assign any real difference betwixt them Bellar. could find none either in respect of the internal Act of the Will or the external Offices excepting that figment of a sensible Sacrifice but only in operatione intellectus in the apprehension of the understanding which renders the difference only rational nor real 5. Press the Papists with that Text with which our Saviour Christ confuted the Devil Matth. 4.10 Thou shalt Worship the. Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve they will return this is meant of Latria not of Doulia but if this exclusive Particle only bar Latria only then the Devil could have replied the Answer is not sufficient confessedly there is none good but God and then if he had been as subtle a Sophister as a Jesuite or an Apostate he would have added it is not Latria or Primary Sovereign and Terminative Worship that I expect or demand for I acknowledg the Sovereign Almighty Power of God vers 3. and 6. and him to be the Author and donor of this Power which I challenge over the Kingdoms of the earth to give them all I have or can dispose of were first given me for they are delivered to me v. 4.6 and this therefore thou answerest is a mistake keep thine heart thine elevated conceptions to God Doulia and the outward acts are sufficient for me if thou wilt fall down and Worship me that is by falling down Worship me for the Text reacheth not that and indeed that is all I desire but surely this were to corrupt the Text which must be understood of the exhibition of the outward acts agreably to other places of Scripture in which the Worship and outward acts are used as Synonyma's for the Leper who came to Christ and Worshiped him Matth. 8.2 is said to beseech him and kneeling down to him Mar. 1.40 and to fall on his face Luk. 5.12 and so the plain meaning of the sentence is Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve not only with Latria but with Doulia be it by Incurvation Genuflexion Prostration or any other external act expressive of inward Devotion or Subjection Part 3. 3. It is Irrational For 1. To determin that a necessary or profitable Office of Religion and Practice it as such which is neither founded on the Law of Nature nor prescribed by any positive constitution is Irrational because all perpetually and universally obliging Duties of Religion are either Natural which by the tenure of our Creation we are to perform in gratitude to and for the Honour of our Creator or instituted such as we are bound to observe because commanded so to do by our Lord Jesus Christ who only hath Power to order perpetually and universally obliging observations to all Christians Now forasmuch as there is nothing in the Law of Nature to enforce this supposed profitable Duty for then both Jews Gentiles and Christians did sin in the omission of it if it were by the the Law required nor is there in the Discipline of Christ either any Precept or Promise to authorize and legitimate either as a necessary or profitable Duty therefore both the imposition of the Duty and the practice must be Irrational 2. Invocation of the Supreme God the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth is an act of Justice as well as Religion we wrong God if we pay not this tribute and Homage to him and we wrong him too if we offer or determin it to any other besides him For Invocation is of common right antecedently to any positive order due from man to God and therefore no man nor Society of man can on their own heads without his allowance or consent dispose thereof without Sacriledg Indeed if God had permitted this Honour to be given to any besides himself it would not be an injury to him to pass it to them he should grant it to But in that there is no such assignment extant or producible by any Letters Parents or Settlment from Heaven it is an high Injustice to determin or invade his Original right by an arbitary presumption But admitting which is the most that is by some or can by any be pretended that God had granted to Angels or Saints departed Reigning in Heaven a priviledg to solicite for us at the Throne of Grace and make motions for us in his Court of Requests yet did he never give them leave to pass an Act of Indemnity and Grace for our security and preferment This is a Prerogative which he hath reserved to himself and therefore it is repugnant to right reason to sue for Pardon and Grace from them who have no Power to grant the one or give the other or make good either of them It often proves a profitable good policy for one who seeks a Pardon for a capital offence or affects places of trust and honour in the State to oblige and employ some Favorite Courtier to mediate in his behalf to the King but it would be extreamly ridiculous and absurd in the Petitioner to fall down on his knees to that Courtier and beseech him to command a Pardon under the Broad Seal to be assigned for him or to beg an Act of Grace as to make him an Earl or a Baron of the Realm because these Powers and Preheminencies in right belonging to the Kings Prerogative are inherent to the Crown and inseparably annexed to it 3. The ascribing this Duty to any the most excellent Creatures cannot be profitable to living men because upon several other accounts it is injurious to God for it entitles Creatures in those incommunicable attributes of his upon which also the Duty is founded his Omniscience in fixing a Power in them to hear the mental (b) As it is approved by the Council of Trent Sess c. 1. and exemplified in rheir Lâ—turgy in this form with the desires of our heart we pray unto you receive the ready service of our minds Prayers of living men and his Omnipresence in supposing and asserting they understand the vocal Prayers of Petitioners at the greatest distance removed one from another though it be most certain that the life and virtue of these Prayers lieth not in the outward expressions and postures of Devotion but the inward Veneration and affection of the heart which by the way obviates that vain pretension that by Praying to those Creatures in Heaven they do no more nor otherwise than in begging the assistance of the Prayers of Holy men upon Earth for it was never heard nor can it be conceived that any living man in his right Wits would vocally beg of another at a Thousand miles
distance that he would pray for him because he knows it is impossible he should hear him nor can it be supposed that any man though standing by can know the Heart of men when they utter nothing with their Tongue to interpret it In sum no man ever directed his mental Prayers to another nor his vocal to another as far distant from him as London is from Rome But to return then to acknowledg such an excellency in the Celestial Creatures as to apprehend the mental Prayers of mortal men or the sincerity of their vocal either by their original Power or by any derivative as it is an Irrational conceit in it self there being no reason to warrant it nor ground of reason to countenance it so it is injurious to God 1. It is Injurious to God in respect of his Omniscience for he even he only knoweth all the hearts of the Children of men 1 Reg. 3.39 and this both collectively and distributively and this also with reference to their Prayers and Supplications v. 38. both their publick and private Prayers both mental the cries of the Heart and vocal expressed in Words to which the truth of the Heart for God requireth truth in the inward Parts and will be Worshiped in Spirit and truth with activity and sincerity must be adjoyned to make it an holy acceptable reasonable service of God and then both kinds are only to be presented to him because he only knoweth the Heart when the mind is secretly elevated to God and the truth of the Heart when it is notified by Words because he only knoweth whether there be an Act of Conformity betwixt the Words and the Heart I the Lord search the Heart I try the Reins Jer. 17.10 challenging thereby this priviledg as a peculiar to himfelf neither will their futerfuge any way clear them viz. that God only naturally knoweth the Heart of the Petitioner but Angels and Saints departed by a derivative Power having it communicated to them either by way of Revelation from God looking upon him as a voluntary Glass who makes the Prayers of Supplicants known to them when he pleaseth or by the Vision of God looking upon him as a Natural Glass that reveals all that God knows without any choice or act of his Will for these are frivolous suggestions having neither Reason nor Revelation to support them for it without all ground limits a proposition which in the Scripture is delivered in universal terms and to admit such limitations of universal propositions without great evidence that the nature of the subject requires them or that such from other places of the Scripture may be deduced and inferred is Irrational because the proposition would not be absolutely true but true only with a restriction but the vanity of these speculations vvill further appear by these Considerations 1. The Romanists themselves cannot agree which of these ways they propose are to be taken and dispute them by multiplicity of Questions as whether God immediately by himself give the Blessed Spirits the knowledg of our Prayers or by the Ministry of others if by others then whether by the Angels that attend us or the Spirits of just men that go from hence and inform the Saints in Heaven what our Prayers are if immediately by himself then whether directly and formally seeing in him what is in the Creature and if so then whether instantly upon their Glorification and admission into Heaven or successively seeing by virtue of his Vision one thing after another in the Creature or only accidentally that is God lets them know our Prayers so far forth as it pleaseth him by his peculiar will to notify unto them because God is a free Agent respectu omnis actionis ad extra In respect of every external action And further they which pitch upon any of these ways take them only for the more probable and it is somewhat odd to found an Article of Faith and a Catholick profitable Duty upon such unprovable speculations and it is very hard to believe that the seeming Opinions of men brought in with Ifs and And 's and Metaphysical niceties can be of sufficient strength to support an Article of Faith or commend a Catholick profitable Practice 2. This is certain the one way destroys the other If by Vision then not by Revelation if By Revelation then not by Vision if the Natural Glass will serve the Voluntary is needless if the Voluntary be required then the Natural doth not do the work for God in their opinion doth not multiply forms without necessity nor doth any thing frustraneously but God doth not impart the knowledg of our Prayers either the one great way or the other 1. Not by Revelation for confessedly there is no Revelation unless a Legendary will pass currant or some ostensions as they call them may be allowed for this conceit that the Blessed Spirits know our Prayers and Hearts by Revelation 2. The poor Petitioner must be at a loss and stand if this way be supposed because he cannot be assured that God is pleased to reveal his Prayers to them and he is sure if God do not they can take no notice or cognisance of them and so their Prayers become fruitless and unprofitable because he knoweth not whether God will reveal his Prayers and if he do how far 3. How can they be proper Mediators for men who cannot know what men desire of them without the Mediation and interposition of another viz. God and why should we be perswaded to go thus about when we may go streight forward to God and his Son Jesus who needs no Mediator to inform him 4. What a strange circular motion must be observed in following this way first the Petitioner must make his suit to Angels and Saints then God must reveal them and their contents to the Angels or Saints if he please or else they are for ever ignorant of them then the Angels and Saints must back again and present them to God but if the Petitioner mistake his Angel Guardian or Tutelar Saint as very likely he may then it is to be doubted whether the Angel or Saint will own the Client though God should reveal his Prayer 2. Not by virtue of the Beatifical-Vision the other supposed way For 1. The Scripture saith No man knoweth the things of God the purposes and thoughts but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 which the Apostle inferreth from this reason and ground the secrets of the Heart of man no man knows but the Spirit of of man which is in him upon which he concludes therefore none knows the things of God but the Spirit of God and therefore neither Angels nor Saints though they enjoy the Beatifical Vision which doth not confer on them the knowledg of the things of God for this we know that the Angels did not know the Mysteries of the Gospel those great things of God till made known to them by the Church Eph. 2.10 1 Pet. 1.12 2. The Angels and Saints
departed by enjoyment of the Beatifical Vision look not upon God as Omniscient or Omnipresent but as the chiefest good their happiness is from his infinite Goodness not from his infinite Wisdom or Immensity 3. If upon their admission to their state of Glory they by virtue of the Beatifical Vision know all things which God knoweth then they should know future Contingents which the Romanists will not grant for the Beatifical Vision can capacitate them for this knowledg as well as the knowledg of the Heart and no reason can be assigned to the contrary but that it is the Will of God for which there is no attempt of Proof 4. It is not necessary nor essential to the Beatifical Vision that the participants should know our Prayers for without knowing them they have all the priviledges of the Sons of God and Children of the Resurrection agreeable to their state the Vision makes them eternally happy not Omniscient 5. Those Ancients who denied this supposition knew nothing of this speculation and those of them who proved the Divinity of the Son and the Holy Ghost from their Omniscience might easily have been baffled if this excellency were communicable to any other besides God for if the knowledg of the Heart were not so proper to God that it could not be communicated to the most excellent Creature their argument from thence even in (c) Theol. dogm Tom. 3. l. 1. c. 7. Sect. 3. p. 39. the judgment of Petavius Omnino nullum esset Was none at all 2. It is Injurious to God in respect of his Omnipresence For Bellarm. disputing against those of his own side who imagined that the Blessed Spirits were Quodammodo after a certain unintelligible way every where by the wonderful swiftness of their nature resolveth the contrary and asserts that Celerity is not sufficient to capacitate them to hear the Petitions of far reremoved Supplicants who direct their Prayers to them at one and the same time from several distant places and that true (d) Bell. de Sanct. Beat. lib ... c. 20. ubiquity is required which they having not by nature as is generally concluded by all Pontificians they must have it by communicated Grace or be without it But the same Bellar. will not allow this for he disputing against the Vbiquitarians assures us that their Salvo viz. that Christ in his human nature is every where by accident viz. by a real communication of that property is naught for then saith he the argument of the Fathers for the Godhead of the Son and of the Holy Ghost grounded upon their Ubiquity plaè concidit is quite abated and falls to nothing from which premises laid to our hands by this great Name the conclusion is irrefragable the Blessed Spirits cannot hear our Prayers and then the Practice is Irrational because by the concession of the chiefest Advocates and Proctors of the Cause to Pray to them who cannot hear or understand our Prayers is an Act Superfluous if not Superstitious and so some of them assign as a reason why they do not pray to the Inhabitants of Purgatory because they cannot hear them though it be most certain that God if he pleased can as easily reveal the Prayers of Mortal men to them as to the Saints in Heaven for his assertion affords us this argument True Vbiquity is required to hear the Prayers of numerous distant Orators but the Blessed Spirits have not true Vbiquity for this is so proper to God that it cannot be affirmed of or attributed to the most excellent Creature by communicated Grace therefore the Blessed Spirits connot hear the vocal Prayers of their numerous distant Orators 4. If the end for which this Practice is pretended behooful and expedient may be attained by a more clear and undoubted way than that purposed right Reason will direct us to leave the indirect and crooked way and follow the direct streight forward road for every prudent man will take and pursue that course which is most effectual for the accomplishments of his intentions and desires and for which he hath so great assurance that greater cannot be had for the event and success Now we have such assurance to come to God by his Son Jesus Christ that will not fail nor disapoint us for we have the sure word of Promise Joh. 16.23 that whatsoever we ask of the Father in the name of his Son it shall be given us and by him we have boldness of access to the Throne of Grace but we have no word nor warranty for the impetration of our requests by the Mediation of Secondary under-Solicitors for us and who will seek that at the second hand which he may have upon easier terms at the first or look for that in Cisterns and in danger to be broken Cisterns which is ready and prepared for him in the Fountain which never faileth None but Phantasticks and Vain-glorious Prodigals will complement or Fee a Courtier for admittance into the Kings presence when by his Proclamation he is aforehand ascertained upon his aproach he shall have entrance present Audience and his Petition if drawn according to Law shall be signed and granted 5. But suppose it were both lawfull and behoosefull to Invocate undoubted Saints now reigning in Heaven as the blessed Virgin and the holy Apostles yet a Prudent Man will be shy and unwilling to exhibite that honour to all whom the Pope hath Canonized or shall Canonize for Saints For some great Romanists have not sticked to Affirm that (e) These were a Knack of late invention contrived by the Pope 800 years after Christ Bellarm. de Sanct. beat lib. 1. c. 7 8. Sect. dices Barth-fumus in his Armilla aurea tit Canonizatio tells us that it is not lawful to Worship any Saint publickly without the Popes License so that before Bellarmin's Period of time it was not lawful publickly to Worship any because till that time none were Canonized yet what he adds is somewhat odds if one believe his departed Friend is in Heaven he may Pray to him secretly c. the Popes Canonizations are doubtful and (f) Summa Rosell Verb. Canonizatio Can. loc lib. 5. c. 5. c. 5. qu. 5. subject to Error Thomas Becket was solemnly Canonized by Alexander the Third who thereupon passed for a good while as a pretious Saint as before hath been related but about 40 years after his Saintship (g) Caesarine a Monk Dial. l. 8. c. 69. Acts and Monuments was questioned for in Ann. 1220. an hot Dispute concerning it was held at Paris be-between Roger a Norman and Peter a Parisian Peter took the more Moderate part of the question and affirmed he was saved because Canonized but Roger was for the more uncharitable part that he was Damned because he was a Rebel to his King This indeed was too high a question altogether unfit to be discussed and therefore our Prelates though stiff Romanists declined it in Henry the Eights time but withall publickly declared