perswade them that no such thing was done Not only Bellarmine as I have before intimated but likewise Sirmondus acknowledge That Transubstantiation was not exposed to a clear light before the Ninth Century In the following Ages the profound ignorance of the people and the ambition of the Priests gave a great advance to it The Priests being desirous of deference and respect from the people knew no method more expedient to promote their purpose than to adhere to that doctrin which has a direct aspect upon it What could more readily commend them to the first place in the thoughts and opinion of the Vulgar than to perswade them that they were so highly favoured in Heaven as from thence to be invested with a power to turn Bread into the body of Christ This if sincerely believed must inevitably be as efficacious to secure to themselves an eternal veneration as the doing the greatest miracle recorded in the Sacred Oracles After all the commotions about this doctrin and the definition of Innocent the Third in the Fourth Lateran Council the greatest men for learning were at a loss what to six upon Joannes Parisiensis did afterwards publickly maintain That the Bread after Consecration really remains as the humane nature of Christ does after its being advanced to the dignity of the Hypostatical Union At the Council of Trent This business was brought to its perfection yet when the definition was to be made the Dominicans and Franciscans could not agree but fell into warm contests insomuch that at the last the General Congregation did prudently resolve to use as few words as possible and to make an expression so Universal as might be accommodated to the meaning of both parties All this to which much more might be added is sufficient to assure us of the novity of Transubstantiation and to give us some light into the steps which it took before it could arrive at the dignity of being an Article of Faith in the Church of Rome Now if we will give our selves leisure to sum up what has been spoken we shall find too much reason to suspect that the error of the Romanists about the Annihilation of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament doth not arise from the nature of the Object but a voluntary distemper in the Subject and therefore can contribute little to an excuse from the Charge they lie under of alienating the Divine Honour when they give supreme Worship to the Sacrament And now I have done with the first particular the terminating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Eucharist 2. Invocation of Saints The Romanists in this do that which is highly injurious to the peculiar Honour of God When they direct Mental Prayer to the Saints the action in its own nature imports an acknowledgment That they understand the Heart which is a priviledge appropriated to the Supreme Being in the Holy Scripture Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men 2 Chro. 6.30 There is not a tittle in any part of Divine Revelation whereby it appears that God makes known our Hearts to them but on the contrary many clear intimations That he reserves this knowledge entirely to himself When Vocal Prayer is made to them for Grace and Glory it involves a confession of a power residing in them to confer that which is the gift of God alone thro' Jesus Christ If it be said That they are invocated not as Authors but Intercessors for these things they contradict the stile of their Devotion O Maria gratiosa dulcis mitis formosa applica nobis gratiam O Maria gloriosa in deliciis deliciosa praepara nobis gloriam In the Psalter of the Virgin all the Addresses made to God of whatsoever nature are directed to Her It is said That God the Father has done for Her what Assuerus promised to Esther given one moiety of his Kingdom namely That of Mercy to Her reserving the other of Justice to himself But let it be so That one thing is spoken and another meant which is not decent at any time much less in the Worship of God and the Saints are prayed unto as Intercessors yet this action cannot be excused from the blame of usurping the Honour of the second Person in the Sacred Trinity who is appointed to be the only Mediator betwixt God and Man We know of no other in the Scripture and it is not for mortal Man to appoint new Advocates in the Kingdom of Heaven and make them Rivals with the great Master of Requests who is of God's designation An Earthly Prince looks upon it as an insufferable insolence for Subjects to appoint who shall be his great Officers without his Order and Command If it be said That the Saints are invocated not as co-ordinate Intercessors but subordinate to Christ this will not much mend the matter For whether they be the first or last yet it is plain that when one particular Saint is Invocated the same hour and instant in diverse places for things of a different nature a capacity is supposed in that Saint to hear all their Petitions at once and by consequence to have an infinite Understanding A Finite Intellect tho' in the fruition of the greatest advantages either from the Revelation of God or Relation of Angels can understand but one object at a time To have an actual apprehension of more than one at the same moment is a peculiarity belonging to an unlimited and infinite capacity If it be added that the Sense of the Church is That we must have recourse to the Prayers of the Saints departed as we have to them while they are living here this will not amount to any reasonable satisfaction There is not the same reason for praying to Saints in Heaven as there is for our desiring our Brethren here to pray for us 1. They are at a distance These are present If a man residing in England should fall upon his knees and supplicate his friend in the Indies to assist him with his Prayers the very Action in its own nature would import an attribution of an immensity to him which is peculiar to God If he should daily use his picture to excite his devotion and kneeling before it make such religious applications as are usually made to the glorified Saints before their Images every one would look upon him as a person doing that which is highly prejudicial to the Divine Honour There is as much reason to believe that the Saints on Earth may hear our Prayers at a distance as the Saints in Heaven There is not one Syllable in the Bible to assure us to the contrary Abraham is ignorant of us Isa 36. And if Abraham the Father of the Faithful is a stranger to our concerns much more his Children who are in his Bosom God and Angels may reveal our necessities to our friends in any place yet no man looks upon this possibility as a sufficient ground to pray unto them when they are at a distance from us The Prayer
Properties and Attributes of the most high God 66 c. This truth acknowledged by all sorts of men the Primitive Christians 69. the Jews 71. the Heathen 72. Our not comprehending the difficulties of it no reason against it 73. Some considerations added to lead us thro' 'em ib. 4. Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped For First consider'd as essentially his nature and perfections justly challenge the deepest veneration 75. Then Secondly considered personally the Scriptures require him to be Worshipped 76. 5. Proposition This God only is to be Worshipped This shewn First from Scripture 78. Secondly from Reason 79. Thirdly from Antiquity 81. What the Papists say in opposition to this considered with respect to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Invocation of Saints and Images 84. 1. As to the Eucharist That the Papists pay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it ib. and thereby put the greatest affront upon Scripture 91. upon the analogy of Faith 94. upon Antiquity 97. upon Reason 106. and upon Sense 108. The declaration of their Church in this matter and the impossibility of an innovation considered 110. 2. As to Invocation of Saints This injurious to the peculiar honour of God 115. and of Jesus Christ the only Mediator 116. and has not the same grounds and reasons as our praying to each other here below For First the Saints and Angels are at a distance 117. And then Secondly 't is the prerogative of Jesus Christ only to be our Mediator in Heaven 118. as the Primitive Christians thought 119. The Origine of Invocation c. 122. 3. As to Images 123. They who use them are of three sorts First such as say they use them only as memorials to quicken their devotions which has no kindly influence on Religion 124. Secondly such as say they give only inferiour worship to 'em which yet is either vain or sinful 125. Thirdly such as profess to give the same worship to the Image as to the Prototype in kind thô not in degree i.e. relative or respective worship only ib. the vanity of this distinction shewn 126. and that 't is Idolatry 128. contrary to the Second Commandment 132. and unknown to the Primitive Church 135. SECT III. Concerning the True Worshippers of God THE whole reduced to Three Inquiries 142. I. Enquiry Who they are that are obliged to Worship ib. And they are in general all rational Beings as Angels 142. and Men whether secular 143 or more especially Ecclesiastical and consecrated to the performance of Religious Offices 145. the necessity of these shewn ib. such have been in all ages 147. before the floud ib. between that and the Law 150. that the First-born then were Priests 151. such also there were from the giving the Law till Christ 154. as appears from the Priests and Levites ib. from the Schools of the Prophets 155. from their studies there 156 from their Ordination by imposition of hands 157 from the place where they exercised their function 159. such lastly there were under the Gospel ib. II. Enquiry How men are to Worship God 163. This shown in several Propositions 1. Prop. We are to Worship him with all our Soul and heart and strength ib. and 2. Prop. Outwardly with our Bodies 165. 3. Prop. All the modes of external Worship must be decent orderly and to edification ib. 4. Prop. Different deductions from this general rule are no just grounds for distinct Churches to differ among each other and so violate the Vnity of the Vniversal 166. 5. Prop. Yet in the same Church 't is very expedient and desirable That there should be the same external mode of Religion 167 but yet 6. Prop. If contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those that come nighest to it 169. And 7. Prop. If it cannot be known what the Primitive Order therein was the next step to Peace is to make prudent condescensions on each side before Authority has made any determinations 171. Then 8. Prop. If condescensions cannot be had and yet a determination is necessary all both weak and strong are obliged to acquiesce in such a determination 173. which is neither against nor inconsistent with the perfection of Scripture as a rule 174. nor prejudicial to our Christian Liberty 175. nor yet induces any necessity of violating the Law about scandal 176. III. Enquiry What ends we are to propose in the acts of Religious Worship ib. This shewn in three particulars First and chiefly The Glory of God 177. Secondly The Salvation of our Souls 178. Thirdly The good of the Community 179. The tendency of Religious Worship to all these shewn under each SECT IV. Concerning Assistance relating to Divine Worship THE Introduction from the general and acknowledged depravation of our Natures whereby we want Light to direct and Strength to enable us in the Worshipping God a-right and Merits to render our Services acceptable 185. Against all these God has provided sufficient helps and remedies in that 1. We have the holy Scriptures to direct us 186 2. The Holy Spirit to communicate strength 186 3. The Merits of our Saviour to procure acceptance 186 All which are treated more largely of And 1. Of the holy Scriptures to direct us which that we have grounds to depend on shewn in several Propositions as First The Worshipping God is absolutely necessary to Salvation 187. Secondly Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles did by Oral Tradition reveal all things necessary to this purpose ib. Thirdly What they spoke was evidenced to be the real mind of God by inward characters of Divinity and external miraculous operations ib. Fourthly This word of God thus evidenced was faithfully committed to writing 192. Fifthly This Writing is digested into 24 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New 193. Sixthly These Books have been transmitted to us without corruption 194. Two opinions inconsistent with what has been said considered 1. That the Church of Rome as being infallible is to be our guide in matters of Religion 206. 2. That every one ought to rely upon the conduct of his own reason ib. As to the First Proved that the Pope is not infallible 207. nor a Council ib. nor the body of the People 210. nor all these together ib. nor are the reasons they urge here sufficient such as first The peremptory necessity of such a Guide 211. nor secondly their having all reasonable evidence that the Church of Rome is such a Guide 216. For they have not first The evidence of Scripture ib. shewn as to the chief places they urge 221. nor secondly Vniversal Tradition 228. nor yet thirdly the motives of credibility 232. shewn particularly as to Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude ib. uninterrupted Succession of Bishops 235. Agreement in doctrine with the Primitive Church 236. Vnion among themselves 237. holiness of doctrine 239. efficacy of it 240. holiness of life 242. Lastly the
Upon this piece of Spiritual Homage an agnition of divine perfection is as conspicuous as Caesar's Image upon the Roman Penny When we pray for wisdom and holiness we cannot give a more lively signification of our acknowledgment that these perfections reside in God in a peerless degree As Prayer so Praises in Hymns and Psalms is a part of Natural Worship All Nations have expressed their esteem of their Deities in this way It was in use among the Greeks as appears by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first sung to the gods or goddesses which they believed did favour them the second to those whom they accounted not to be propitious to them Amongst the Romans the same way of Worship obtained as is evident by their Assamenta Junonia Minervia Poems composed in the Honour of those Deities whose names they bear Amongst the Hebrews as is manifest from the poetical compositions in the old Testament the Christians as is plain from the Apostolical exhortation to the Ephesians and Colossians and Pliny's report to Trajan concerning their practice Tho' Prayers and Praises may be directed to men upon a civil account yet this doth not hinder them from being appropriate parts of the Worship of God When we say that they with other actions are by nature peculiar to the Deity we mean not as they are taken materially So they are of a common nature like matter considered in the abstract without any particular form But we take them formally together with their individuating circumstances which do determine and limit them We may pray to men but to do it when they are not present for such things which none but the Supreme being can confer in such an assembly as is met solely upon a Religious account would be by all impartial Expositors interpreted an invading the right of Heaven and an inexcusable injury to the Divine Glory To Prayer and Praise we may add the taking an Oath the making a solemn Vow to God as parts of natural Worship All the Heathens which had nothing to direct them but the light of Nature were fully acquainted with them as appears by clear testimonies in their writings which to mention would be superfluous They both involve a plain acknowledgment of the perfections of the Divine Nature He who takes an Oath invocates God to be a witness and a revenger which address includes a confession of his Omniscience that he is privy to that which is secret and unknown to others his Veracity that he takes pleasure in truth and has a perfect detestation of that which is opposite to it his Power that he is able to take vengeance and assert the dignity of the Law which is violated He who makes a solemn Vow if it be to engage himself to some expressions of gratitude doth thereby declare his deep sence of the Divine Benignity if to bind himself the faster to a loyal deportment in his conversation the dominion of Heaven over him If any doubt notwithstanding what has been represented whether this part of Worship is to continue under the Evangelical dispensation he may satisfie himself by considering that this is plainly foretold by the Prophet Isaiah c. 19.21 The taking away of what was given to God by Vow is condemned by the Apostle Rom. 2.22 and death was afflicted upon Ananias and Saphira for their miscarriage in this particular Act. 5.5 10. The devoting of things to God by Vow is grounded upon reason common to all ages as well the times of the Gospel as the Law The whole world is a Community under the regency of one supreme Monarch This Community he has parcell'd out into Kingdoms and committed the government of them to his Vicegerents In every kingdom the members have their properties bounded and limited by Law These rights they are so invested in that they have withal a power of alienation The natural signs of their will when they exert this power are promissory words There is no reason why this way of exchange may not as well prevail in the universal Community betwixt the Supreme Rector and his Subjects as in any particular betwixt his Vicegerents and those who are under their regency A Vow is nothing but a solemn promise made unto God 9. Instituted Acts are such as have their foundation in positive institution For the right understanding of them it must be premised that the new Covenant of which our blessed Lord is the Mediator was made by the positive pleasure of the Divine Will It is the product of free Grace as is apparent by the case of the fallen Angels They have no overtures of reconciliation made to them Christ did not shed his blood to quench the fire of Hell for them God having a design to publish and make known this gracious Covenant he has made choice of his Word and Sacraments to do it by The preaching hearing reading this Word and receiving the Holy Sacraments may be truly stiled acts of instituted Worship they become a duty to us by the positive institution of the new Covenant and import an acknowledgment of the benignity and goodness of God to mankind Preaching and publishing with integrity of heart the methods of divine Grace in the work of redemption is an undeniable expression of a serious and devout sence of the benignity of Heaven Those who preach Christ who is the brightness of the divine Glory must necessarily by the same action give Glory and Worship to God Tho' preaching the Gospel as it imports teaching is a religious duty and looks down upon men only yet as it signifies the proclaiming before men the inestimable goodness of Heaven it looks upwards to God and may challenge a place amongst the parts of his Worship Upon this account Ministers are said to be a sweet favour unto God whether their Hearers will be saved or perish admit or refuse their instructions The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alludes to the perfumed offerings under the Law and intimates that God is as really worshipped by the preaching of the Gospel as he was by those Oblations Upon this account the Apostle represents himself as one that sacrificeth the Gospel 2 Cor. c. 2. v. 14 15. Rom. 15.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysostom interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He calls a Preacher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 〈◊〉 Cor. 2. c. 3. a royal censer upon which this spiritual oblation is offered This is part of that pure offering which Malachi foretold should in every place as well among the Gentiles as the Jews be tendered unto God This Sacrifice is like the Peace-offerring of which some was given unto God and some to the people It is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sacrifice of Faith Phil. 2.17 The Faith of the Gospel is of so excellent nature that the Ministerial publishing of it implies a solemn oblation of Praise to him who is the fountain of it To this part
which our holy Religion requires must be made in Faith Faith must be grounded upon a Divine Testimony There is no Testimony of this nature to assure us that our Prayers made upon the Earth are known to glorified Spirits in Heaven If there be any way whereby they come to be acquainted with them yet God has hid it from us as he did the body of Moses from the Israelites to prevent the occasion of an abuse 2. It is the prerogative of Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator for us in Heaven to whom we are to make our applications He is entered into the Holy of Holiest and there alone offers to God our Incense as the High Priest did here upon the Earth Upon this account it is said There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 The Mediator is here represented to be one as the Deity is one As there is but one God so there is but one Mediator for us to address unto in the state of Glory When he was about to leave the World and enter into this Blessed State he gave his Disciples instructions to pray in his name only Joh. 14.13.16.23 He does not mention the name of any of the Saints As he was alone in the Work of his Meritorious Satisfaction So He is alone in the application of it by his Gracious Intercession Therefore the Apostle says Among the Gentiles there be Gods many and Lords many They had their Sovereign Deities and likewise their Baalims or Lords which they accounted as Mediators betwixt them and those Supreme Powers but to us who embrace the Christian Faith There is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ is the only Mediator for us in Heaven This dignity he has purchased with the inestimable price of his blood He humbled himself and became obedient to the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.8 He sits at his right hand appears in his presence for us and lives for ever to make intercession As the price which he gave for this dignity could not be paid by any but himself so the office procured by it must be incommunicable and peculiar to him And therefore for any to set up other Mediators whether of Redemption or Intercession without a command from Heaven is an inexcusable injury to his prerogative The Romanists do not only Invocate Saints that they may make a charitable Interecession for them but that by their Merits they would procure the favours they are Petitioners for This Truth concerning one Mediator is so evident that the primitive Christians were unanimous in the reception of it For three Hundred years no instance can be produced out of any Authentick Record that the Mediation of any in Heaven beside our blessed Lord was made use of Two are chiefly pretended to the contrary and in both the Virgin Mary is concerned In the first She is represented as the Advocate of Eve in the second as invocated by Justina the Martyr Irenaeus mentions the first lib. 5. c. 19. Where he compares the obedience of Eve to the word of the Evil Angel with the obedience of Mary to the word of the Good He asserts that Eve was seduced that she might fall from God Mary obedient that she might be the mother of our Lord. And adds this moreover as a further design of her obedience Vt Virginis Evae virgo Maria steret Advocata All this comes very short of what is designed to be proved by it Advocata here is no more than Consolatrix Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek in which language it is believed Irenaeus wrote signifies both an Advocate and Comforter therefore advocare in the Latin Version is used for consolari as appears L. 5. c. 15. Ego vos advocabo in Hierusalem advocabimini I will comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem So that his meaning will amount to no more than this As Eve by being seduced by the Evil Angel fell from God and brought sorrow dishonour and death upon her Sex So the Virgin Mary by being obedient to the word which was spoken by the Good Angel did make a full compensation and restore the Honour that Eve and all her Sex were impaired in This is the Consolation which she is said to receive from the Virgin Mary If this had been considered by Feuardentius he would not have drawn so peremptory a conclusion as he has done Ann. in Iren. Hinc evidentissimum est c. From hence it is most evident That the antient Fathers and Martyrs from the very times of the Apostles did Invocate the Virgin Mary The other instance concerning Justina is in Gregory Nazianzen The story is this S. Cyprian before his conversion was inamoured with the beauty of Justina In order to the obtaining his unchast desires he made use of Magick She having a deep resentment of her danger prayed to the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which I answer Pontius the Deacon of S. Cyprian who wrote his Life at large speaks no such matter but on the contrary That Cyprian before his Conversion was studied in all good Arts which tend to the utility of the Age amongst which Infernal Magick can have no place Indeed there was a Book extant in Nazianzen's time stiled Poenitentia Cypriani and now to be seen in the Oxford Edition of Cyprian in which Justina is mentioned but it is accounted a fabulous relation and was condemned under that notion by Gelasius Nazianzen from thence probably did borrow the sum of what he has expressed He using the freedom of an Orator and not the exactness of an Historian might be induced to make use of that which he found made ready to his hand without any strict examination and set it off with some Rhetorical Flourishes amongst which we may reckon the application of the Virgin Justina to the Virgin Mary In this he did accommodate himself to the inclination of the Age in which he lived which by frequent Apostrophe's made to Martyr's by some great Men in their Panegyricks was disposed to think favourably of such Addresses It is usual for Writers when they relate what was done in former Ages to dress it up in language and circumstances suitable to their own times Of this we have an evident instance in Nazianzen himself in his 22. Orat. Where he describes the Martyrdom of the seven Brethren and the deportment of their mother 2 Macc. 7. He says She snatched the drops of blood took the fragments of their members worshipped the remains If we consult the Author of the Maccabees and the History of Josephus where their sufferings are described at large no such thing is recorded It cannot reasonably be believed That a Woman who incouraged her children to die rather than to violate the Law of God should at the same time openly break it by touching the Dead contrary to the Masaical Institution So that the words
of Nazianzen can be nothing but an Oratorical excursion adapted to the circumstances of his own Age in which the remains of the Martyrs were held in great estimation sometimes expressed by such sort of Actions as he attributes to the Mother of the seven Brethren tho' nothing was intended which did exceed a civil deference and respect The Invocation of Saints by degrees did creep into the Church The First step was a belief That the Saints departed did freely without any asking implore the Divine Majesty in the behalf of those which were left upon the earth without any apprehension of a duty incumbent on them to address their Prayers to them The Second was the practice of some who when the Martyrs were going out of the World did before their departure intreat them to remember them in Heaven The Third was occasioned by the Rhetorical Expressions of some in the Fourth Age who in their Panegyrical Orations made Apostrophe's to the Saints departed in order to the moving the Passions of their Auditors but withal did often insert such words as plainly intimate they had no assurance they were heard by them So that all that can be made of them are rather Oratorical Wishes than proper Invocations When these Flowers of Rhetorick were transplanted into the minds of the Vulgar the badness of the Soil made them to degenerate into Weeds They not rightly understanding the meaning of the Orators did by their ill construction encourage themselves to pray to Saints in their private Devotions which practice is fully condemned by S. Austin and Epiphanius and manifestly declared to be grounded upon the Superstition of the People and not the Doctrin of the Church The publick Offices of the Church are the proper Standard whereby we are to judge of the Worship of every Age and none such are found so early in which Prayer is directed to Saints in a state of separation Now I proceed to the last particular which is plainly injurious to the divine Honour namely the using of Images in the Worship of God Those who are concerned in this practice may be reduced to Three sorts 1. Such as pretend they give no Worship to Images but use them as memorials to quicken their Devotion and excite in them the remembrance of what they represent These do that which has no propitious influence upon Religion It will be difficult for them to kindle the fire of their Devotion at an Image and yet so to order the matter that no sparks shall light upon the Image it self It is not easie to conceive how they should kneel pray burn incense before Images and yet give no religious honour to them This is contrary to the Cathecisme ad Parochos p. 321. and the Decree of the Council of Trent which say That due honour and veneration is to be given to them Material representations of the Deity tho' not intended for exact similitudes are very apt to indispose the mind and produce apprehensions very disagreeable to the nature of an insinite Spirit Tho' they are said to be Books adapted to the infirmity of the Vulgar and very fit to instruct them yet in the sacred Oracles they are represented as holding forth a doctrin of vanities Jer. 20.8 and as teachers of lies Hab. 2.18 They lessen reverential fear and impress incongruous notions upon the mind The mischief from them is greater than any good that can reasonably be expected by them When Books are more apt to lead us into errour than acquaint us with truth it is better to lay them aside than to use them The humane nature of Christ in glory and the spirits of just men made perfect cannot be represented in colours by the most curious Artist A blind man may as well draw a picture as those who have not seen them make a true delineation of them The Images which are used are as injurious to them as a deformed picture would be to the greatest beauty The hurt which they do to the Understanding by impressing false Idea's upon it is much greater than any advantage that can accrue to the Will and Affections by them That heat which is in the Affection is of small moment except it be produced by a true light in the Intellect 2. There are others which confess they give Honour and Worship to the Image but say it is inferiour to that which they give unto God Now these ought to declare whether this inferiour Worship be Religious or Civil only If Civil namely such a value as a man has for the memorial of his friend this nothing concerns the matter under debate the dispute being wholly about Religious Worship which ultimately terminates in God If it be Religious it is to be inquired whether it stays in the Image or only passeth thro' it to the Prototype If the first then God is not Worshipped by the Image which is supposed in this discourse for the Worship ends in the Image If the second a Worship is given to him inferiour to that which is due and so a double fault is committed Too much is given to the Image and too little to God 3. There are those who profess to give the same honour to an Image which is due to the Prototype They say That the Saints and their Images are to be honoured with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Virgin Mary and her Image with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and his Image with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When it is urged That the Image of God is but a creature and therefore not to be joyned with him in the same kind of Worship They endeavour to secure themselves against this inconvenience by taking Sanctuary under some nice distinctions They say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given to the Image is not terminative but relative not absolute but respective such as is given to the Commissioner of a Prince It doth not stay in him but redounds to the honour of his Master Tho' it is a fault to give the same absolute honour to God and his Image yet there is no hurt in giving the same relativé But this will not salve the matter Absolute Worship is that which is given to an Image absolutely considered Relative as it stands in relation to God Now the relation which is the formal object of Worship being but an accident or finite mode inherent in the Image having no other foundation but humane invention There is as much hurt in giving the same Worship which is due to God unto the Image upon the account of this relation as if it was absolutely considered The Image is a substance the relation an accident appertaining to it If it be an injury to God to give his peculiar Honour to a finite substance which is of his own formation it can be no less to give it to a mode which is nothing but the product of imagination As for what is said concerning the honour done to a Commissioner it is true it does not stay in him but