of Antiquity or ever consecrated them in Churches where they are now u Alex. Alens 3. Part. q. 3. a. ult Tho. 3. part q 25. q. 3. Cajet ibid. Bell. l. 2. de Imag. proper means to serve Saints by and fit Objects to have for themselves a considerable part of this service That one Hanging with St. Epiphanius x Epist ad Johan Hierosol apud Hieron Tom. 1. Ep. 6. p. 449. Edit Paris 1643. tore to pieces because it represented a Saint at the entring into a Church might well serve for a winding sheet to wrap up all such Images and to bury them out of the precincts of Gods Church 7. All other Tools and impliments of Popery as Rosaries Beads holy Medals Agnus Dei's Blessed Grains Privileged Altars Christening of Bells all the three sorts of holy water and such Furnitures of the Roman Church may very well go the same way as rather the dirt then the Doctrine of any true Catholic Church r Ibid. 8. Auricular Confession that is the continual work of Priests and People is not much better and as it is sometimes practised is a great deal worse Of all their more sober and intelligent writers y Gratian. de Poenit. Dist 1. Sect. Quib. Authoritatib Nicol. de Othel. 4. Sect. Sent. Dict. 17. Gab. Biel. ibid. some doubt much whether it be a Catholic Practice and others adventure to say z Panormit C. Omnis utriusque Sexus Beat. Rhenanus in Tertul de Poenit. that it is not The Eastern Churches where the Gospel was first preached * Gloss de Poenit. Dict. 15. Theod. Gent. apud Gratian. de Paenit Dict. 1. Sect. Quidam deo never had it and it came among the Romans †Beat. Rhenan Sup. when public Confessions and other good customes grew out of date I forbear to bring more instances because these being the chief materials which compose this Roman Body may suffice to shew what it is As a dry skin filled with straw can never make a true Lion nor the hollow bark of an Oak stuffed up never so industriously with moss and dirt ever make a fruitful Tree so neither can now the Church of Rome to what bigness soever it swells or what face soever it may put on make with these pitiful Ingredients a Catholic much less the true Catholic Church Let Papists try by these undeniable Characters namely Christian Antiquity of Beginning Continuance of Duration and Universality of reception what is properly Catholic and then turn out of their doors what is not so you shall presently see Rome without Popes Churches without Image-worship and Mass service all new Doctrines and old Idols will fall immediately down to the ground and the manifest novelty of what they brag of and give out as old shall soon betray the Imposture I confess that Popery wants not as much Age and Antiquity as may deceive ignorant men their Doctrine of Purgatory is as old as Homer himself who lived many years afore Christ and their worshipping of Images as old among the Christians as is Simon the sorcerer who both had and adored them and therefore * S. Iren. adv Haeres l. 1. c. 24. is branded for it in the very Apostles times only some difference may be that Simon had his from Pilates Brush and Rome had theirs as they do think from St. Nicodemus or St. Lukes hand There was a worshipping of Angels as bad it may be as as the Popish is at this day of no lesser date then all the writings of S. Paul a B. Theodoret. Coloss 2. Coloss 2.18 and condemned †Concil Laodic Can. 35. by the Ancient Fathers Transubstantiation is not so new as many think for Marcus an old Enchanter endeavored somewhat like it by b Iren. cont Haeres l. 1. c. 19. turning the Wine into Blood which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somthing like Transubstantiation That the same Body might be and was at the same time in several places was a Doctrine plainly taught by the Manichees c August cont Faust. l. 20. c. 6. many hundred years before all the Councils of Lateran or Trent Those Laws forced on mens Consciences since Christ and his Apostles had left them to their Liberty concerning Meats and Marrying are not less Ancient then d Theodor. Haeret. Fabul l. 5. c. 24. Cerdon Marcion Tatian and the Encratites who were very Ancient Heretics Extreme Unction bestowed by the Mass Priests on dying persons was prescribed by e S. August cont Haereses c. 16. Heracleon about an hundred and ten years after Christ Not to multiply instances the very source and fountain whence all errors were derived to Rome namely the magnifying f Hieron ad Dametam an unwritten Tradition and the vilifying the Holy Scripture g Iren. l. 1. c. 24. l. 3. c. 2. for an uncertain and obscure Rule hath no later Authors then the Scribes were long before Christ and the Gnostics soon after him Thus the Papists are not without Antiquity such as it is for I may say in general and prove too by many Instances that Jews Gentils and old Heretics scarce ever had any famous and general Abuse among them but Rome woud have somewhat of it But as for truly Christian and Apostolical Antiquity such as can be the only Root and essential Character of Catholic Doctrine I may safely defie the best of them to name me any one Article proper to their own Roman Faith that is ancient in this sense And as to those Articles of Christian Faith which they have in common with us and are truly Apostolical and Catholic it is most pitiful to think how shamefully they abuse and poison them by the mixture of their own peculiar Roman ones Therefore if you take this mixt and confused Body together that is the Roman Church at the best side as it holds yet the fundamental Ground of Christianity which we profess thus far I grant it is a true Church and if you take it at the worst as to its proper Roman Doctrines wherein it differs no more from us then from all true Catholic and Apostolical Antiquity thus far it is if a Church at all a most corrupt and desperately infected one But if you come to huddle up these two heterogeneous and incompatible Parts together in order to an absolute estimate and denomination of the whole as at the great day of the Lord one shall not appear without the other then it were most unreasonable that the lesser and weaker part should give the Title and that the Cities of Sodoma Gomorrha Admah and Zeboim should be called holy Cities because they have one Lot among them The Mountain that has many Grains of Gold lying under it is rock or sand nevertheless the Ocean is still salt water tho some Rivers and some Shipwracks mix with it other liquors Thus Papists are ridiculously vain who brag as they do of our acknowledging their Church to
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
by the Roman Church must be a greater Temtation For what would you have more temting then this By this saving Office say they h Al. Gazaeus supra pag. 69. if you use it now especially when his Holiness hath improved it with Apostolical Indulgences 1. You may lay claim to Heaven not merely upon the title of mercy from God but by that of Justice and Condignity as your own Right 2 You may satisfy Divine Justice both for your sins and the sins of others 3. What would you have more by these Praiers whatsoever you can ask in the Name of the Savior and in the name of the Savioress Mary too you shall receive it For who can be so incredulous as not to be sure to have all in order to his real Good and Salvation by this form of Praier thus approved of by the Church recommended by God himself they mean the little Baby who bids men to pray to his Mother and in an especial manner consecrated to the Virgin Maries Service What a hot friend she proves to be and how Zealous to undertake for the silliest Fellow that is her Client S. Damian can best tell you i Cardin. Damian l. 2. Ep. 14. A pitiful sottish Man who had no spark of Grace in him but that he could sing Ave Maria and bow passing by her Altar had bin deprived of his Pension by a Bishop who thought himself bound in Conscience to free the Church from such a Wretch But then the Goddess comes by night and falls foul upon the Prelat and being seconded by an Angel who had a burning Taper in one hand and a lusty whip in the other What saies he wrong'st thou my Chaplain and takest thou from him what thou didst not give At last after many sound stripes the Bishop being taught good manners was glad to cry out peccavi and to restore to that worthy Man the stipends which he had kept from him This is but a temporal Concern but here is one which is Eternal It is somewhat long but it concerns all Men to know it and I have it from the same Saint k Card. Damian supra An ugly Fellow named Bassus who died a sudden death had the good luck to die so in coming from one of our Ladies Churches He having bin in his Coffin the greatest part of the night after his death rose up out of it suddenly both affrighted and affrighting others for with a terrible tone he cried for Praiers Litanies to scare away those ugly Spirits who watch'd for him about the Room and at last being come to himself for Ave Maria and Holy Water had soon frighted the Devils away when my poor Soul saies he parted from me presently came on some black Troopers this Fellow said they is our prize for he hath ever lived after the Flesh and never knew what the Spirit was His good Angel could say nothing but that he was dead in the service of their Mistress the Queen of Heaven and that whosoever hath her favor cannot perish by the power of any Judg. To this they make bold to reply that God being Just would do nothing for a Sinner to their prejudice and thereupon the Devils grew so earnest after their Prey and the Angels on the other side so remiss in keeping their charge that the Wretch was upon the point of being given up as he deserved when behold the Queen of Heaven came among them and an Army of Celestial Soldiers with her and with such a splendor besides that the Devils durst not look up Nevertheless with reverence they protested against the wrong which the former Angels had done them in detaining from them their just Prey and that if God and she were just they could not rescue such a sinner out of their hands The Queen confessed he had bin so but yet her Son and Lord would never suffer that one who had ended his daies in her service as this Fellow had done in going to visit her Church should ever suffer their Cruelty and withal he had confessed tho he had not the time to do Penance Hence the Devil took a fit time to tell her what a Villain he was and what ugly Abomination he had never confessed and that is true saies the revived Man of himself at which the Mother of Mercy started but at last after a kind of modest silence in reverence to this plain truth having somewhat recovered her self It is as you say saies she but yet of course Mercy goes before Judgment Go back again to thy Body saies she to him and then confess to such a Priest whom she named what these Spirits lay to thy charge and in my name charge such Friars whom she named also to take upon them thy Penance Then come again without delay for I will not stir hence till thou come The Rascal being confessed saies the Cardinal Damian and the Holy Friars having taken upon themselves the satisfaction enjoined him by the Confessor died again but as sweetly as if he had but fallen asleep A happy Sinner indeed who can find such a Savioress as will give way to all his Crimes and secure him from punishment Men troubled in their Consciences and unwilling to leave their sins do not consider the Absurdity tho visible in all such Stories but see their own conveniency and what could please and fit then better then such a protecting Goddess Add to this Enchantment of daily Praiers to the Virgin the Devotion of Fasting and Hearing one Mass to her Honor every Saturday the Temtation will be ended and your Soul safe This weekly piece of Devotion on Saturday Officium Sabbatinum is grounded as they say l Durand Rational l. 4. c. 1. upon three Reasons 1. Because the Saturday and the Sunday or the Ladies day and the Lords day as do the Lord and the Lady go together 2. Because as God the Father rested upon that day and kept it holy under the Law so must the Goddess his Daughter and Wife do the like under the Gospel 3. Because she is an entrance to Eternal Life as Saturday is to the Sunday But if you will be so refractory as not to acquiesce in these Reasons be you satisfied with a Miracle They say m Gonon Chron. an 770. that in the Year 770. it is pity it did not happen sooner that the Holy Apostles and the Fathers might have observ'd it a great Cortin that hanged before our Ladies Image all the Week long was miraculously drawn up as they suppose into Heaven from Friday at Vespers to Sunday Night so that the People could see her Face for the space of 24 hours and adore her accordingly This Miracle constantly veiling and unveiling the Virgin Mary on Saturday as well as the other that the Night of her Assumtion made all sorts of Lights burn without wasting is quite abolish'd But the Benefit and the Charm to induce you to hear her Mass Missa de S. Maria in Sabbato
with 150 Psalms and because as Davids Psalter was an Instrument wherewith he could ease the Spirit of Saul when it was troubled by the Devil so do Catholics with these Aves defend themselves and charm all the Powers of Hell from doing any harm to their Souls 3. It is call'd the Rosary because as with Roses you make Rose-water Oil Sugar and Hony Rosal so do the Brethren and Sisters of the Rosary make with it admirable Confections Drugs and Syrops to Physic their poor sick Souls to soften the hardness of sin to dispose Roman Catholic Hearts towards all Graces and to say all with them Caelum ridet c. that is the Heavens laugh the Angels dance the Church keeps her joiful Festivals Hell trembles and all the Devils run away when they say or sing Ave Maria. I much wonder they should excuse or exclude all the prisoners in Purgatory from jumping or cutting Capers since they hold that the Dead are as much concerned as the Living Therefore when one goes to enter a Name he may Å¿ Caraccio De Rosar Part. 1. c. 13. put in as well any Soul of Father Son Uncle or any other Relation as his own Only thereby he binds himself to say the holy Rosary and to perform all other Duties for them he puts in that so they may wheresoever they be above or under ground receive all the Profits and Pardons of the Society And if he put in two Names he must perform the Duty twice once for himself and once for his Friend This double work is less troublesom because you may speed it away at any time you have little else to do as when m Id. parte 3. c. 3. you dress and undress your self when you walk stand sit ride abroad or wait and for more ease and more Merit too you may join more hands to one work when for example you are with two or three Neighbors walking and travelling together I did forget another Duty which you must by no means forget it being as indispensable as it is easie and it is this both the Poorest and the Richest must needs contribute to the Charges of setting up a near Altar n Id. part 3. c. 12. and adorning it with a Standard bearing the Picture both of our Lady giving and S. Dominic receiving on the other side the holy Psalter from her Hand They must be likewise at the Charges of having the fifteen great Mysteries fairly painted both over and on each side of the great Altar Besides you must pay your small share for both the wax and the Oil that burns night and day before the Rosary Lady and least you should grumble at such expenses be you sure that one Mass upon or one Ave or one Pater before such a privileged Altar especially on solemn Daies is better worth then a thousand whether Masses or Aves that you may hear or say elsewhere This being done you may confidently look for all sorts of Blessings and Privileges must needs from all parts flow towards you 1. Rome opens in your behalf her whole Celestial Tresure a full Pardon of all your sins at your first coming to this Society at your going out when you dy at all and every holy Day kept to the Ladies Honor through the whole year at all and every solemn Day kept for any one of the fifteen great Mysteries at Christmas the Sunday before Epiphany holy Thursday and good Friday the 3 holy daies at Easter at the Ascension the three Holy Daies at Whitsuntide all the first Sundaies of every Month c. And all this both for sick and sound for the absent as well as present at Sea or Land in prison and at Liberty so that there be a just Impediment that detains you from the Duty and from visiting the Altar you can hardly make three or four steps or open the o Caraccius de Rosar part 2. c. 7. Mouth to say Jesu or Maria but you shall get by it a considerable Indulgence When you devoutly * Ibid. c. 8. take your Beads When you hear Salve Regina t is a short song to the Ladies Honor when you walk after the Procession when you march after the Banner at a Burial when you visit a sick Brother or Sister when you wait upon the Host in the street c. you gain hundreds of Daies of years and some Quarantains or Quadragenes to boot And if all this be not enough all the Stations and daily Indulgences of Rome are at your command and mercy if you will but visit a Rosary Church with saying three Aves in it or in case of too much throng stand at a distance before one or the five Rosary Altars and you may stand sometimes before them five tho you do not stir from one Place however my Italian p Ibid. c. 10. Author assures me that divers Popes have granted all these huge Pardons both by Bulls and by word of Mouth Oraculo vivae vocis which is the Roman Church's Oracle upon these terms I hope that by this time you have enough for your own use But if you please also to plesure your Friends you may weekly rescue out of Purgatory two of their Souls one on the Sunday q Ibid. c. 5. the other upon the Wednesday following and Eleven other souls more upon other special daies which I leave out to spare you trouble Only you must take the pains to visit the Rosary Altar and of saying at it this short praier O Lord I pray you to accept of the Indulgence which hath bin granted by your High Priest the Steward of the holy Tresure to the soul of John or James or if he the said John or James have none or little use of it to such a soul in Purgatory which I am most obliged to concluding all with a Requiescant in pace thereupon let them rest in peace This way one may help in one year some 115 souls and she is a woman of large correspondence that hath more friends yearly to care for 2. Besides this incredible abundance of Privileges and Pardons coming upon you from without they say that this Rosary Confraternity enjoies within it self the greatest Tresure of the whole World namely a real and perpetual Participation of the Merits and Penances of all and every one of the greatest Saints since Adam Consider what vast Abundance of Good works S. Dominic left in this Magazine by whipping r Caraccio De Rosario Part. 1. c. 3. himself to the Blood thrice every day once for his own sins which it is verily thought he had none once for the sins of the World and once for the sins of the souls burning in Purgatory Calculate what Saint Vincent might hoard up for the use of his Brethren by converting 8000 Turks and 25000 Jews Think what Tresure might Agnes bequeath to her Society with those incomparable Jewels which s Bov. Tom. 13. Annal. an 1317. n. 9. she had partly received from the Virgin
put them in again both so fast and so dexterously where they had bin that he was well of them ever after At another time she came to his Bed and finding him lying on that side where he had bin let Blood in the Arm she turned him upon the other and shew'd him how to lie and sleep without fear of farther danger If these evil Spirits dare thus appear under the name of Christs blessed Mother whereof Scripture gives no warning it is no wonder if they do it under the name of Christ himself after so many Prophecies It is not the true Christ certainly that being Immortal in Heaven comes down either at every Mass there to lie as if he were dead under the hand of any Priest or to shew tricks of Activity under the shape of a young Child and act among Nuns and Novices twenty silly Pranks in their Churches We are not bound to believe all but it were hard to believe nothing when so many and great Doctors and among them some great Saints too aver for truth one and the same thing One saies he hath seen this little Child creeping out s Matth. Paris in vita S. Godric at the mouth of a Crucifix 't is all that a Sparrow could do but the Devil can do much more and thence jumping into the Lap of an Image and thence flying up again the way that he came Another saies That St Ida t Menol. Cisters 29 Octob. had him and kissed him and embraced him ut sponsa sponsum that is as you may think as a young Wife kisses and embraces her young Husband The worst is that once when being to sing and by her order to stretch out her arm she was put to a great distress lest he should fall Cogitate c. Look to it my Lord saies the young Nun to the Baby for I must obey my Order but the Baby was a strong Child and so twisted himself about her neck that he had no need of her holding him till she had don with her Anthemn and so she took him in her Lap. St Agnes u Bov. 14. Annal. an 1317. n. 2. had him too witness the little Cross which in a loving way she stole at the same time out of his bosom And so had St Catharine of the Order of St. Clara x Flamin in vita S. Cathar being brought to her by his own Mother to kiss upon a Christmas Eve St Boniface y Henriquez Fascicul SS had him likewise brought to his Bed in Swadling-clothes by the same Dame As for St. Lucia of the Order of St Dominic z Chronic. Ord. Praedic she had him three daies and three nights during which time it is remarkable that the Virgin Maries Image had no Baby on its left Arm. At last Dominus Jesus the Lord Jesus God have mercy on the Blasphemer took her to Wife when he look'd as if he had bin but seven years old in the presence of all his Saints What shall I say of St. Hostradus and others who mistook these enchanting Devils for real Appearances of the Infant Christ and upon this Illusion a Henriquez 3. Jan. some did offer him as we do to Children something to eat some did take him b Chronic. Deip. an 1285. upon their knees others did c Ibid. an 1235. play with him and with St. John who was his Companion at it These few Instances may serve the turn to let pious Souls see with grief that as according to the Prophesies Jerusalem was troden and danced upon by ugly Owles and wild Satyrs Isa 13.21 So the Roman Church is made a Stage for vile Spirits to act upon If some say these were Visions I grant they were and Divelish ones too For where are the good Saints or Angels that will represent much lest act Christ and the Blessed Virgin under such shameful Personages If you are for sounder Miracles tho good Catholics must take these for very real and true ones or most of their Saints are but Cheats go to the Founders of their Orders you shall find about St. Francis d S. Bonavent In vita S. Francisci Sheep and Asses running to hear his Sermon Swine falling dead under his Curse for having hurt a poor Lamb all sorts of Cattel recovering with the Water he washt his feet in Women presently eas'd of the hardest Travel by applying to them some of the Hay which his Mule was used to eat This don go to St. Dominic you shall find him either at Mass e Joh. Gargo in vita S. Dominic ac Lipom. hanging in the Air like a Bird or at the Bed-side of a sick Woman transubstantiating Worms into Pearls or by the Water-side raising the River into a Flood or at his Devotions forcing the Devil to hold a light and to burn his Fingers in that Service or it may be changing the Sex of a young Girl into a Boy Lastly If you will know what Feats Women also can do sometimes read me but the Life f Tho Cantapr in vita S. Christinae ap Sur. Jun. an 1160. item Jacob. de Vitriaco in vita S. Mariae Oeigniar of Saint Christina to say nothing of St. Brigitta St. Juliana St. Clara Saint Vrsula with hundreds more known and famous in the Roman Church This great Saint arose from the dead twice before she died for good and all and so died thrice All her Life long she had a very extraordinary gift of Miracles for having taken upon her to save Souls from Purgatory by suffering here what they did there she loved to throw her self into all the hot Ovens or burning Fires she could find yet met with none that could burn her she would attone for Gluttons by resolving to starve her self and while she felt the great pains of a sharp hunger this Virgin got Milk in her Paps and so found ease by sucking her self she did satisfie for proud Souls by applying her self to the worst way of common Begging and herein she had this comfort that when honest Men did give her Bread it tasted in her mouth like Bread otherwise it tasted like Toads flesh To expiate all sorts of Sins contracted by much company this Saint resolved to forsake Man-kind and to come near none but Beasts and at last that she might be the safer from all Contagion of Flesh and Blood she parch'd her self on the tops of Trees There her thin Body being made thinner both by continual Fasting and great fervency of Spirit she did at her Praier contract her self into a round form that was somwhat like a Hedg-hog She could climb up the highest Trees like a Squirrel and swim in Rivers like a Fish till her Friends barbarous it seems and not believing all these Miracles put her in Chains as a mad Woman and there she tore sadly her poor Body with strugling hard to free her self and this strugling in her Prison gave occasion to more Miracles for the Milk she
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
them after they are dead without Repentance It is enough for you to know y Rich. ibid. she doth it And what might she not do for these Villains since she can with her two Angels be a Midwife z Discipulus De Miracul Mar. Tom. 2. Serm. Exempl 25. Palbart l. 21. c. 13. to very whores your main Interest is to see in return of these great Mercies Kindnesses and Protections what Services now she will have CHAP. VI. Concerning the Adoration and new Waies of serving the Virgin Mary WHEN the Roman Doctors are among themselves either worshipping at their Altars or discoursing in their Pulpits or teaching in their public Scholes they freely talk of adoring a Vid. Concil Nicenum 2. the blessed Saints they think them to be Canonized most principally for this end that they may publicly b Antonin Sum. part 3. l. 22. c. 8. be adored and praied to and they highly commend the Greek who at his first Conversion professed that he did c Salazar Prov. c. 8. v. 15. n. 114. adore from his heart our Lady the Queen of the world And their S. Damascen is herein their great Goliah driving before him all the Fathers with this weapon Decet enim c. It must be so f Damasc 1. De Nativ 2. de Assumt or t is fitting that this Mother of God should enjoy that which belongs to her Son and therefore the Glory of being adored by all men But when the Papists are amongst us tho they keep still their hearty thoughts they do quite reform their Language they are ashamed to say in England what they are proud to do at Rome If you believe what they say here it was never heard in their Church that they must adore any Saint g Censura Colon. p. 228. unless by chance it be in that sense in which Jacob adored his Brother and Abigail King David which is no Divine honor at all but only such a reverence as is deferred h Coster in Enchirid. to Kings or Fathers or such honorable Persons and therefore and justly too why not to Saints And if you be inquisitive and press them farther about this Point then they will run out into so many Distinctions and terms of Art as will puzle any Lay-man Dulia Latria hyperdulia Absolute and Relative Worship Divine Adoration and bordering upon Divine Godhead essential and Godhead participated so that it will go very hard with them if they do not leave him whom they pretend to satisfie as ignorant and more confounded then he was before They will tell you that they intend not either to adore the Virgin or to adore her otherwise then respectively that it is in a mere relation to her Son and those Intentions being in their hearts it is impossible there to search out either the Truth or the untruth of what they say But if you look to what they do instead of hearkning to what they say their most solemn and practical Devotions have such a plain and real language as must declare to all the world both what their Religion is in it self and what you may best think of it 1. First they bestow and accumulate upon the Virgin all the best Titles which both in the Church and in the Scripture are proper to God For in their most solemn Devotions she is a She God a She Savior the Queen of Queens the Fountain of Salvation the Ladder and Gate of Heaven c. And it were great folly in us to think that they do not worship her according to what they call her since it is not in such Rencounters that men use to play the Hypocrites 2. Secondly in their ordinary Praiers and Praises and Giving of Thanks they do most commonly join her with God Jesu Maria comes in one word out of their Mouths and Glory be to God and to the blessed Virgin is but one compleat Doxologie at the end of most of their Books Now such an Association as this is in the judgment of the Fathers a clear Evidence of being God Thus they prove i Athanas Orat. 4. contr Arian pag. 260. Edit Comel against the Arians that the Angel whom Jacob praied to when he blessed his Grand-children Gen. 48.16 is the Lord Christ because in that praier he is joined with the God of his Fathers and that this Christ is very God k Ibid. p. 159. because the Apostles join him with God both in their Praiers and their Praises Grace be to you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 1.7 c. The strength of their Demonstration consists in this that in all those daies both when the Prophets and Apostles did write the Holy Scriptures and when the holy Fathers did maintain the Faith which is contained in them no man was seen or heard praying l Athanas suprà Cyrill Alexand. Tom. 5. in Thesaur pag. 115. Ed. Paris 1638. for any thing both to the Father and to an Angel or to any other Creature for Popery was not yet abroad nor wishing that God or his Angel or any greater Creature whatsoever would grant or give him any thing And they take it for an insufferable piece of m Cyrill Alex. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sawciness when the Arians dare couple as upon their Principles they do any Creature with the Lord God Such was the known Catholic Faith and Profession of the Primitive times for otherwise judicious and learned Men would not have produced it in that manner as an undoubted Evidence against such subtil and dangerous adversaries Now both the Roman Faith and practice taking a quite contrary way we I hope are more bound to think that the Papists who follow this are Idolaters then that the holy Fathers who went on in that were very Fools 3. Thirdly The Papists apply to the Virgin the most illustrious Places of Scripture that belong directly to Christ and by this means either disable all true Christians from the possibility of proving by the Scriptures that He is God or prove as well that She is so too I will mention out of many but few Instances Every word almost of the eighth Chapter of the Proverbs which doth describe the Eternal Wisdom of God which by the Fathers is applied to Christ alone and which is none of the least cogent Mediums they stand upon to demonstrate him to be that true essential and uncreated Wisdom is now turned another way n Vid. Salazar in Prov. to deifie their Virgin It is by her namely the Virgin if you believe those Abusers of Holy Scripture that Kings reign and that Princes decree Justice v. 15. By her Princes rule and Nobles and all Judges of the Earth 16. Riches and honor are with her true durable Riches and Righteousness 18. She leads in the way of Righteousness she causes them who love her to have substance The Lord saies she out of these Blasphemers
all Spain and the Kingdoms appertaining saies f Navar. de Jubil Notabil 15. n 5. Navarrus and think not that England fares worse a full Indulgence of all Sins with many other Faculties and Privileges added to it such as the liberty of eating Cheese on Saturday c. may be had by every one Prince or Pesant it matters not for two small pieces of Silver 2. There is not any poor country Church or Chappel but as it hath a Saint for its special Patron and an anniversary Feast for the day on which it was consecrated hath also some special Graces out of the Roman Tresury to wait both upon the Saint and the Feast Thus one needs not to go farther then the Parish to get at the least twice in a Year the benefit of Indulgences 3. If you be not content with what your Parish can afford the Pope hath so judiciously scattered great Sanctuaries over all his Catholic World like the Moazim in Daniel and the High places in Israel that there is scarce any Country so unfortunatly seated but it can supply all Catholic Inhabitants with all they can want in this case In Spain you have the Chappel of Angels g Conformit S. Franc. Conf. 14. where by the Virgins special favor you may save one Soul every Year you might have done it every day if the Pope had not grudged at it if you will but step into the Church At Venice you have the Chappel called The Lords Sepulcher and therein some think fourscore thousand Years of Pardon Padua Perusium Florence Montserrat Lauretta c. do not come much short of this In France you shall find it may be more if you go to St. Denis St. Michael Limoges and a hundred other famous Places which it were needless to mention here You may be sure that Germany and the Low Countries do not want such Commodities as these are 4. Besides these local Indulgences that are fixed to Altars and Churches which you may easily resort to his Holiness hath taken care to fasten some other and large ones too upon certain moveable h Suarez de Indulg Disp. 52. Sect. 1. n. 3. things which are brought ready to your hand For as there are privileged Altars Masses and Churches made fast to certain pieces of ground there are Praiers enrich'd with the like Favors and Indulgences flying up and down the Roman World as light and nimble as Paper can be that can afford you upon this score more then you can need Buy but a little Book such as I have an old one by me containing the Suffrages of the Saints there you shall find in one short Ave Maria i Suffrag fol. 74. alias 85. said to the honor of St. Anna St. Mary and her Son ten thousand Years for your Mortal and twenty thousand more for your Venial Sins In another Salutation k Suffrag fol. 9. Ave Valnus 4000 daies in the Praier Dirupisti 6000 in the Praier a Suffrag fol. 64. Domine Jesu ten hundred thousand Years in the Praier Adoro te l Suffrag fol. 52. 32755 Years of Pardon And if this be not enough Pope Sixtus the 4th was pleased to add to it a great deal more even so much as to double it and the 15 Oo's of St. Brigit that is in a Praier made of 15 Ejaculations m Suffrag fol. 49. all beginning by O Jesu forty five huge great Indulgences and extraordinary Powers namely fifteen to deliver from Purgatory any fifteen Souls you please to name of your kindred fifteen to convert to a good Life any fifteen Men or Women that you may find among sinners and fifteen to keep fifteen more honest Persons safe and constant in a good way And the Rubric adds more n Ibid. that whatsoever you shall desire if it be for the good of your Soul you shall have it And what can you not expect of Salve Regina Ave spes and such other more solemn Praiers When you are weary of Praiers take your Beads Videmus c. a Navar. de Jubil Notabil 15. n. 5. saies a most Learned and Pious Author in the Roman way I my self saies he have seen small Buttons or Beads of Wood so powerfully blessed by the Pope that whosoever had one in his hand in saying but the Lords Praier was therewith enabled to save a Soul Any Meddal when rightly consecrated can do as much 't is but getting some of those rusty Pieces which Pope Sixtus the Fifth found once under the rubbish of an old Wall then presently you are b Cardinal Raspon l. 4. c. 11. pag. 347. fitted with * Suffrag fol. 6. rare Indulgential Privileges The Agnus-Dei's as I will shew you anon that is pieces of Wax sealed with the Image of a Lamb and consecrated accordingly go beyond this But observe what I tell you and admire the blessedness of being a Roman Catholic by that time you are grown so weak or so lazy as not to stretch your hand to a Book in order to the gaining these Indulgences the very Bell of the Parish will sound them intâ— your Ears Pope John the 22d is the first I know who c Ricard Cluniac in Joh. 22. being at Avignion assured twenty daies of Pardon upon the toling about Sun-set and since that time these 20 were out of the Church Tresure d Suffrag de Beat. Mar. fol. 42. by Pope Sixtus improved here in England into 300 daies of pardon at every daies toling 3 times this they call the Ave Bell. Thus unless you stop both Heart and Ears you can't want every day a fair proportion of Indulgences 4. If you will drink at the Fountain of all these good things go to Rome As that Town is by the Testimony of her e Alvar. Pelagius de Planctu Eccles l. 2. Art 2. Platina in vita Marcel S. Bernard de Considerat l. 4. own Friends acknowledged to be the durtiest Nest of all sorts of uncleanness she hath to wash all clean a whole Ocean of Indulgences There the seven great Churches not to name a hundred more can upon their own account afford more Propitiations then the greatest Villains can commit sins for there is Scala Sancta that is those 28 Steps or Marble Stones that once belonged to Pilate but now have in them such a measure of Holiness that the Popes think it Devotion to kneel on them And that of late Queen Christina is much celebrated f Card Reston l. 4. c. 10. by some for having bent her Roial knees and what she never had done in her Country expressed much Devotion by creeping up those Holy Stairs There is that most Holy Chappel which they call Sancta Sanctorum where Men at the first stepping into find wherewith g Ibid. c. 19. pag 373. to expiate all sins and Women at the very looking into it for they are not suffered to come in get even as much through an Iron Grate This is the
of God threatning that he will not hold them guiltless but look on them alwaies as Sinners and abominable guilty Persons whosoever do take his Name in vain Read who will Roman Service Books there he shall find the whole Trinity as frequently and as formally called down on Bells as on Children as dreadfully named and conjured Per Deum vivum c. By the true God the living God the Holy and Almighty God upon Salt Stones Ashes and such Trash as on his Sacred Ordinances The whole Service of Rome from end to end is pestered with such Conjurings 3. But if such Conjurings be not thought to be taking Gods Name in vain but seem somtimes to work out somthing you may justly fear that they be worse The Jews had an Art of casting out Devils and curing many Diseases some with Rings and Roots of r Joseph Antiquit. l. 8. c. 2. Herbs which they said they had from Solomon some by Suffumigations ſ Justin Martyr cont Tryph. p. 91. Edit Steph. 1551. and Conjurings The ancient Pagans did the same with Flowers t Euseb Praepar Evang. l. 5. p. 117. Edit Rob. Steph. with Figures and with Words which themselves did not understand These for the most part were Scripture names Sabaoth u Origens ê cont Celsum l. 1. Adonai God of Abraham Isaac and Israel c. The truth is abused Scripture and Medicine have ever bin the two common Ingredients of Black Arts this finds out Herbs Roots Gums Perfumes c. that furnishes sacred Words sacred Figures and holy Daies to make up the Enchantment Thus the Devils are best pleased when they trample both on Nature and Grace both on Gods good Creatures and Christs sacred Ordinances You can no where find more of this then both in the Jewish Talmud and in the Consecrations of Rome No Salt no Wine no Smoak no sound of strange Words and Characters can be out of their way and use in order to true Popery and if Christ and the Primitive Fathers ever used any of these Creatures to a Moral and Mystical sense the Papists will first stretch it out to extravagant Allegories and at the conclusion will abuse it for the working out of strange Feats Thus the use of Oil which by the Fathers was applied to represent the Graces of the Holy Ghost falls into the hands of Papists to cure Diseases Thus the ringing of the Bells is improved from calling the People to Church to make Corn prosper in the Fields and thus the Bones of dead Saints and the very Sacrament of the Lord from being kept as holy Memorials to be thrown to quench the Fire and to save Houses And as the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel and such other Names of God proper to his ancient People so must the Holy Trinity the Living God and such other Expressions of the blessed Divine Nature which are more proper to the Christians among other names of Saints and Angels be now brought in with many Crossings and Figures to conjure their Business and as Cardinal Rasponi ingeniously expresses it to make a x Respon de Lateran Basilic l. 2. c. 8. p. 147. Charm of Blessing With this a little Bottle of Holy Water hanged at or by the Beds Tester is conceived to keep the whole Chamber both from Fire and evil Spirits and as much as a small Peper corn of Wax sowed and wrapt up with Silk in the Figure of a Heart and carried about ones Neck is a stronger Preservative then all the forbidden y Concil Laodicen Can. 36. Phylacteries And as these great and sacred Names did not conjure so well as when pronounced in Hebrew for the Devil did not care for the word unless it was said Sabaoth or Adonai as Learned Origen well z Lib. 1. cont Celsum p. 20. Edit Cantab. observes all the Pontifical Consecrations and Exorcisms are in Latin Per Deum Vivum c. and this may he thought a good reason for celebrating their Mass in a Tongue that few understand for fear the Consecrating words in English or other known and common Languages might not work out the great Miracle which they call Transubstantiation Therefore whensoever Serpents or Floods or Quartan Agues are conjured or when to the same good purpose Spells and Papers are given out all is said and written in Latin out of their vulgar Version See their Book called Flagellum Daemonum full of Enchantments to scourge the Devils or their other Book called The Tresure of the dreadful Conjurings Thus 't is the Fate of corrupted Religions whether Jewish or Mahometan or Roman to end in Witchcraft and Sorcery and who can wonder if such continual abusing Gods Holy Name and Scripture proves a strong Invitation to any other Spirit rather then his own But of this you shall hear more about Images CHAP. XVI Concerning the most general and most sensible Inducement to Popery by the means and in the use of Consecrated Images BOTH the first scope and most difficult work of Christian Religion concerning Mankind is to raise up their Souls from low and gross visible Creatures to God himself and all Spiritual Objects Contrariwise the main business of Heathenish Superstitions was ever observed to consist in depressing Men from God and all supercelestial thoughts down as low as ever they could to gross and sensual Idols This second is the easier Task because human corrupt Nature all good or bad Religions being laid aside is apt and prone to move downwards by the very weight of its Principles Men naturally do love as little to look up or to employ themselves about invisible Matters as to gaze at random on emty Air and being guided only by their Senses it is exceeding hard for them to take any other way but towards what they see and touch Hence Rome hath taken the advantage to fit her own Religion from what true Christianity prescribes to what sensual Men can or will do For as to what they can if to love God with all their hearts and to adore him in Spirit be much above their Moral strength to bow passing by an Altar or to sprinkle themselves with Holy Water or to stand or kneel demurely at the lifting up of a Wafer are such acts of Devotion as any one who hath but some health and the natural use of his Members hath sufficient ability to perform And as to what they affect altho all spiritual Exercises and mental Elevations be to them unpleasing and all pure and eternal Objects very far above their sight and farther yet above their care yet they will kiss a Crucifix salute a Cross carry most devoutly a Scapulary an Agnus or a set of Beads about them and these and other like Devotions as I have shewed in many Instances go far in the Roman Account And as to the great Zeal and Passion which the Gospel of Christ requires tho few Men can force themselves so much as patiently to hear one Preaching upon any
Representatives they would be served at a distance Can any Papist shew that the Virgin ever cared more for Images then God doth who abhors them And should we not suspect those Saints if by chance were found any such who had any love for that worship which in all the times of true Saints none but Devils were pleased with And if for any thing that we can certainly tell the Saints of God are altogether strangers to Images why should we think Image-worship to be so dear and so Charming a Service to Saints and therefore when the Mass Bishop praies and believes after his Praier that all Blessings may and do light on them who bow or kneel before an Image or a Crucifix can he not pray and believe as well that they may and do light on them who to the great honor of those Saints either whip a Top about a Room or drink claret in a Tavern Since these last waies of Worshipping are not more destitute of Gods word and Institution then those and those more unlawful and more expressly forbidden in all holy writings then these And so much of the first known Original of made and consecrated Images 2. There is a second sort of Roman Images which need no Consecration being as it is thought sufficiently consecrated either by the hand that made them or by some other extraordinary Extraction Such are 1. That Image which Christ as they say made of himself when King Abagarus sent him a letter and a Painter h Joh Damase De Fide Orthod l. 4. c. De Imaginib who being not able to look Him in the Face much less to draw well his Picture because of the Glorious light which dazled his Eies Christ saies the Romancer took his own Cloak and by applying it to his Face took a perfect Copy of it and sent it to Abagarus But long before Images were used in the Roman Church Pope Gelasius accounting this pretended i Gelas Conc. Rom. Decret de Libris Apocryph letter to be false it is much the story of the Painter and of the Picture can be true 2. You have another Image of the same worth and of the same Impression which Christ as they say gave to Berenice called otherwise Veronica The story goes that this woman gave a Handkerchief wherewith he wiped off the Sweat and Blood which was on his Face and thus his Resemblance stuck to the Cloth and it is this which at this day is both so solemnly shewed and so devoutly adored at Rome and you have to this purpose the whole legend k Baron An. 34. n. 139. carefully kept in the Vatican 3. To these may be added that wonderful Image which they call l Caes Raspon l. 4. c. 19. made without hand which Catholics keep and adore at Rome in the Chappel of S. Laurence 4. All those Images which of late times are supposed to have bin either made by God himself or however brought down by his Angels Witness that fine Picture of the Virgin m Balinghem Calend. B. M. 27. Maii. wrought curiously in a Saphir stone with her Baby on her left Arm which Pope John saw first in the Skie and then all the Bells of the Town rung of themselves while the Angels put it in his hand Witness another brave Image which two French-men being in Prison found in n Chronic. Deip. an 1100. a night made to their hand when the evening before they were thinking how to make one Witness that other more glorious one at Tungres o Pyraeus Tripl Coron Tract 1. c. 12. which the Angels left in a Garden If you ask what good it did there they will tell you how coming down it turned the Night into a bright day and cured the Earl who owned the Ground where it was left from an inveterate blindness Witness that other Miraculous Image near Florence which the p Archang Gian de Initio Ordin Servitarum Painter thinking to make found in the Morning made to his hand and to all the Worlds amazement 5. All the Images which at this day are believed to have bin made by St. Lukes hand both of our * Lord and our Lady and given q Sim. Metaphr in vita Lucae away to his Friends and so dispersed r Niceph. Catist Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 43. over the World Some think that St. Luke made them of Wax others that he did it in Colours but take it either way you please he is as like to have bin a Plaisterer as a Painter and both as either of the two Some are so curious Å¿ Bened. Gonon Chronic. an 33. as to enquire both after the places and the time where and when he handled the Brush and so they find that in the last Year of Christs Life he made two fine ones at Malta three and in two Years at Rome many more one of them with a Ring in the hand is they say at St. Maries seated over the high Altar just in that place where his Chamber was when he made it another at the greater St. Maries S. Maria major which Pope Gregory had about him when there he stopt the raging Plague another the most t Bovius Tom. 16. an 1433. miraculous of all which came from Constantinople and now is adored in Mont Guardia in Italy It is a great pity and a greater wonder that these Images were yet unknown to all the Churches in the World about 800 Years at the least when the second Council of Nice met together to set up Image-worship For if these Fathers had had the least hint that St. Luke had bin a Painter and that the Virgin Mary had blessed some u Benedict Gonon supra of his Pictures they might have left abusing and even profaning holy Scriptures to introduce their strange Worship this one Precedent of St. Lukes Preaching the Gospel one day and the next Morning Painting Images had bin if true and known to be so a ground more then sufficient both to confound their Adversaries whom they called Breakers of Images and to justifie upon some probability what they offered to say as the Papists do now upon a meer account of boldness that the ancient Tradition of the Catholic Church stood for Images Therefore since they did allege nothing of such a visible Importance for their own Cause it is a Demonstration they did not know it and that S. Lukes skill either in Painting or in Sculpture was not yet so much as heard of no more then all his Images which it seems were kept in the dark and as it were under the heap of those thousands which durst not appear abroad till far worse times 6. For the greatest part of those Images which now the Papists set up and adore on their Altars sprung and started up from under ground in the darkest times of the Church like so many Toad-stools and Mushroms in a foggy Night Such is that Marble Statue of Christ which was so
three Patterns Apparitions Actings and Images Jure Matris impera * Missal Paris Miss de B. M. Impera sublimiter imperiosissima c. Command the Son like a Mother c. Thus the Virgin is adored as the Goddess and Queen of all and thus at last these fine Images recommended †Gregor Epist. ad Serenum by Pope Gregory as an useful Book for Ignorants have proved among the Papists to be what the Prophet said they were Teachers of lies For this Mother Image when provoked will k Bryaeus Chronic. B. M. shift and toss its sweet Baby like a Tennis-ball from hand to hand then give it suck and when St. Paula was kissing it she once had the happiness to tast some few drops of the Milk that was l Fesulin in vita Paulae yet left between his Lips Then the Child being full goes to play till the Mother calls him back again and in requital of the good Milk runs about like a little Rat bidding all m Chronic. Deip. an 1338. Men to praise its Dame and telling them how they n Gononus in vita Merthildis must do it When he had done she gets him Wives o Balingben 4 Decem. whom she calls Daughters and gives him Rings for his dear Brides S. Mary Razia S. Catharine and S. Brigit c. are known Instances of what I say The sweet Baby sometimes makes sweet returns in the same kind For when the Mother gets Husbands the Child acts the part of a Priest and as it appears in S. Peter the Cestercian whom p Chronic. Deip. an 1292. she would be espoused to he marries and blesses them together All these Passages are to be seen both in the visible Motion and in the audible Language of Images and these Images are animated both to move and to speak as they do by those Spirits who call themselves the Queen of Heaven and her sweet Babe Now that these are but evil Spirits what title soever they may take unless possibly Imposture and the knavery of Priests may claim a share the very ridiculousness and unseemliness of their doings are their Heralds to proclaim it and as to their being Queen of Heaven or a Savior or any good Angel none besides the Papists but a Lucian or a Jew or some like Blasphemer of Christs Name will have People believe they are to shame with this Belief Christs Holy Name and Religion After that how far these Spirits will proceed beyond their giving and being given in Marriage I cannot tell as to the act but as to the possibility of worse it is certain that Spirits who offer to be both unholy and untrue may be unclean too Learned Men know what other Demons Mars and Venus and Jupiter and other Pagan Gods and Goddesses have proved to be in the very heat of their most seemingly Sacred and Religious Mysteries For my part I have lived too long beyond Sea to take Convents and Monasteries which these Apparitions use most to haunt for Schools of any Chastity Besides what I know by Books I know particularly by above twenty little Skulls digged out of the Ditches of a ruinated Nunnery called Font-some near St. Quintin where we camped a while in the Year 1658. sad Evidences that besides most cruel most impure Spirits had bin there and it is upon a long continued Experience that the Sins of the Flesh and the Worshipping of Idols go both under one name in the Scripture Psal 106. Thus they defiled themselves with their own works and went a whoring after their own Inventions To lay aside the unclean part of this Whoring there is another as Devilish that attends it the Worshipping of Devils or Ghosts of dead Men instead of Saints which most real and pitiful tho most unperceived Sorcery hath ever bin the common fate of Image-worshipping and corrupted Religion and hardly ever Men left God and turned aside from his waies without meeting with ill Spirits Thus did the two Sons of Noah when in their Posterity they turned the Religion of their Father into an Heathenish Image Service thus did also the Israelites as soon as they fell to their Idols and thus after them have the Jews done by falling to their Conjurings And how were it now possible for Men to escape it who fall to both to wit Image Service and strange Exorcisms I do not love to aggravate Burthens which of themselves are too heavy But without aggravation it is most certain that the Roman Church serves more Images then all the Heathens did together she hath evidently more Conjurings both public and privat ones then all the Jews And so accordingly I may challenge the best Scholar and best vers'd in Antiquity to shew me such droves of Spirits running after Men and Women among either Jews or Pagans as I can shew him false Saints haunting and courting sometimes Monks sometimes Nuns sometimes other Superstitious Persons among the Papists This being so no Man must wonder if he sees Rome since she is turned Roman Catholic both more defiled with all Uncleannesses and more enraged to Bloody Massacres and owning both impudently then ever she was when mere Pagan And without these two sad Effects that could never have bin influenced upon Christianity but from Hell the Great and Glorious God and Savior Christ is as much as in Rome lies degraded out of Heaven by the same Devils into a Boy that sleeps on straw or cries and tumbles in deep Snow or runs and plaies with other Lads or is every day kept in a Wafer which a Mass-Priest hath enchanted And the ever Blessed ever Holy and ever Glorious Virgin Mary is traduced likewise by these Spirits into a shameless Vagabond Woman rambling the most part of her time after some Suiters or Husbands O Lord how long How long shall this Transgression both make desolate thy Sanctuary and trample it under foot Dan. 8.13 FINIS A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF R.F. his Missale Vindicatum OR VINDICATION OF THE ROMAN MASS A brief Account of R. F. his Missale Vindicatum or Vindication of the Roman Mass AT last after a deliberation of two Years a Roman Catholic comes forth with great Zeal against me to vindicate his Roman Mass In the whole course of this his Vindication the good Man favors me so far as not to answer one wise Word to any thing that seems to be somewhat material in my Book only leaving his dear Jewel under all the dirt imaginable he shews by what he is pleased to write how he is well resolved to make much of it such as it is and like a tender-hearted Parent to kiss the Child tho it be deformed This fondness of Affection renders all his Railings more excusable Men we know will defend what they love thus what way they can and Nature teaches the very Children when you take from them what they fancy to scratch and cry Only among all his ill Language I must find fault with his Prudence when he