an Ave Maria to her I neither understand nor believe how the repetition of the Angels message can warrant the expectation of such blessings from God by the Mediation of the B. Virgin nor can I persuade my self to say with the Votaries of Loretto we fly to your patronage O Sacred mother of God despise not our prayers in our necessities but deliver us from all dangers O ever glorious and blessed Virgin ‖ Horolog Ascet Cardinal Bona a late and most approved Writer of the Latin Church tells us that the Rosary is so called because it is composed of 150 Ave Maries as of so many sweet-smelling Roses as if the 15 Pater nosters in it did not smell as sweet as they and though he is one of the approvers of Mr. de Meaux his Exposition which saith they only pray to Saints to pray for them yet in his ‖ Ibid. Paraphrase on the Angels Salutation he saith very extravagant things of her and in another place prays unto her as unto a Donor in the following words Protect me O sweetest Virgin Mary under the shadow of thy wings and never let thy name which flows with hony depart from my mouth and heart be not far from me O most powerful mother of God because my enemies compass me round about What can I do without thee O blessed Virgin or what would become of me if thou shouldest turn away thy face from me When wilt thou come O most sweet Virgin when wilt thou appear to thy most unworthy servant Thy breath O Mary is sweeter than honey and the possession of thy love above Gold and precious Stones Let my Soul perceive the sweetness of thy Love and be always employed in thy praises because thou art my comfort next after God Have compassion on my Soul that breaths after thee have a regard unto me and make hast to help me Grant me thy grace that I may always rejoyce in thee and after this time of exile behold thee in glory My Soul breatheth after thee as a child doth after the bosom of his mother O despise me not thou mother of mercy How vehemently do I desire to see thy face O most beautiful Virgin take me up quickly unto thee and fulfil my desire Who can forbear loving of thee O Queen of hearts and mother of holy love who can forbear loving of thee O that all creatures might serve thee and live and dy in thy love Receive my heart O most beloved mother and offer it with thy most holy hands to thy most holy Son I rejoyce and exult O blessed Virgin that God loveth thee above all his works and am delighted with it above all things and I had rather undergo the pains of hell than that thy glory and dignity should be the least diminished for a moment of time Let all that know thy name trust in thee O Glorious Virgin because thou dost not forsake those that trust in thee Let the Light of thy Countenance appear unto me in my Agony and let thy Comfort most merciful mother make glad my departing Soul I might here add his Prayers to Saints and Angels in the like strain and his Invocation of the Five wounds of Christ but my present undertaking obliges me only to take notice of the extravagant honour which the Votaries of the Blessed Virgin are wont to pay unto her From Cardinal Bona I proceed to John Peckham formerly Archbishop of Canterbury who at the end of the Preface to this Psalter of the Blessed Virgin not yet printed prays her that she would be pleased to release the sins of all those for whom he prayed Usher's Answer to a challenge c. P. 493. and cause both his name and theirs to be written in the book of life In the first Psalm of it he prayeth her to make us to meditate often on Gods Law and to be made blessed in the glory of his kingdom and all the rest are filled with Petitions of the like nature From Peckham I go on to Cardinal Bonaventure who shines in the Calender of the Latin Saints He flourished about 430 years since when Superstition was in its Zenith and darkness covered the face of the earth He wrote several Tracts in honour of the Virgin Mary one called the Blessed Virgins ‖ Speculum beatae Virginis mirrhour which is a most extravagant Paraphrase upon the Angels Salutation wherein he applies to the Blessed Virgin in the Mystery whatever is Literally said of Queen Esther and the Queen of Sheba in the holy Scriptures He observes that her Name signifies Lady and that it agrees very well to so great an Empress who is Queen of Angels Men and Devils and of things in Heaven things in Earth and things under the Earth and in the conclusion of the Prologue to his Mirrhour he thus be speaks her O most benign Lady Mary accept of this small gift which thy poor friend offers up unto thee I Salute thee with this little book upon my bended knees and with my bowed head I Salute thee with heart and mouth and say AVE MARIA He composed another Office called the Crown of the blessed Virgin where one of the Orizons prescribed to be said unto her is as follows O Empress and our most kind Lady by the authority of a mother ‖ Jure matris imperae tuo dilectissimo silio Corona B. Virginis Tom. 6. Edit Rom. 1588. command thy most beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ that he would vouchsafe to lift up our minds from the love of earthly things unto heavenly desires The harshness of this petition is a little qualified in another * Psal Bonav edit Paris 1596. Edition thus Incline the countenance of thy Son upon us compel him by thy Prayers to have mercy upon us sinners Which puts me in mind of that sentence of Anselm in his Treatise of the excellence of the B. Virgin that more present relief is sometimes found by Commemorating the name of Mary than by calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus her only Son This extravagant saying of Anselm hath been since used by another of the Virgins Votaries ‖ Answer to a challenge p. 495. as Bishop Vsher observes But to return to Cardinal Bonaventure he hath made many other Offices in the Virgins praise of which that which he calls the Psalter of the blessed Virgin is most remarkable It consists of the Psalms of David converted into Forms of Prayer and Thanksgivings and Praises unto her by putting Lady in the place of Lord. The first verse of the 93. Psalm is this Deus ultionum Dominus sed tu mater misericordia ad miserandum inflectis God is a God of vengeance but thou O mother of mercy art inclined to shew mercy At the end of this Psalter he hath transprosed the Hymns of the Church the Benedicite the Benedictus and the Te Deum into her praise which begins thus We praise thee the mother of God we acknowledge
cloathed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars After this short account of the manner of their praying to her and the history of her Assumption and Coronation I shall only re-mind you of the divine Titles by which they invoke her in their Offices as Queen of heaven Mother of grace sweet Parent of mercy the Gate of the great King the only hope of sinners to which I may add Queen of Angels p. 12.62 Adoptive mother Patroness of man Advocate of sinners and more of the same nature in this book of the Contemplations where the Author addresses himself unto her in these words I chuse thee O glorious Mother of Jesus Pag. 86. to be my Patroness Advocate and Adoptive Mother admit me O powerful Queen of Angels among thy Clients suppress my Enemies manage my cause in the Court of our Requests ah permit not my Soul to perish for which thy Son Jesus did shed those precious drops of bloud which he received from the rich fountain of thy loving heart Thus have I shewed you out of the Offices of the Latin Church how extravagant the Votaries of the B. Virgin are in the honour which they render unto her and for which I am sure there is no ground neither in my Text nor in any other place of the holy Scripture not in my Text in which I shewed that there is not one word but which the Angel might have used in saluting any other Righteous person as well as the V. Mary nor in any other place of Scripture where she is mentioned but on the contrary there are many places which teach us that we should not think of her above the condition of an humane Creature Thus at the marriage in Cana in Galilee when she told our Saviour there was no Wine Woman saith he what have I to do with thee When she said unto him Why hast thou dealt thus with us thy Father and I have sought thee sorrowing he said unto them How is it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business When a woman in admiration of him lift up her voice and said Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked he answered Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Another time when some told him that his Mother and Brethren stood without desiring to speak with him he said Who is my Mother and who are my Brethren and then stretching forth his hands towards his Disciples he said Behold my Mother and my Brethren for whosoever doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Mother and Sister and Brother When he saw his Mother standing by the Cross and the Disciple whom he loved standing by her he said no more unto her but Woman behold thy Son and to him nothing else but Behold thy Mother And S. Paul having occasion to mention her upon the account of Christ's Incarnation saith no more than this When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a WOMAN made under the law Having now shewed out of the Latin Offices how extravagant the Votaries of the B. Virgin are in the honours which they pay unto her I proceed to shew the same out of the Ancient and Modern approved Authors of the Latin Communion But I shall begin with the Modern and particularly with the Contemplations on her life and glory where the Author calls her ‖ Ep. Dedicat. Queen of Seraphims and Queen of Heaven and saith that whatever can be said of her will be infinitely too narrow to fill the Orbs of her exuberant Sanctity Grace and Glory and that with trembling he attempted to explain the mystery of her Life and Glory lest searching into the holies of so great a Majesty he should be oppressed with its splendors He saith It is impossible for a pure Creature to unfold the immense attributes of her Maternity And truly they cannot but be immense if the prerogatives of Grace and Glory in her and Jesus are not distinct perfections but one and the same attribute as he proves out of one of their own Writers He saith that Whatever gifts are bestowed upon us by Jesus Pag. 7. we receive them by the mediation of Mary and that she hath full power as a Mother to obtain of her Son whatever he can ask of God the Father and that no one ever petitioned her who was refused by him or trusted in her who was abandoned by him and that Pag. 16. he blesseth those whom she blesseth and owns them for his Disciples whom she adopts for her Children This is a new sort of Divinity which the Apostles and their Scholars never taught the World They told us but of one Mediator in Heaven to whom we should immediately apply our selves but here we are told of two of Jesus who is a Mediator with God the Father and of Mary who is as powerful a Mediatrice with Jesus as he is with his Father and if this be true it is no matter to which of the two we pray or whether we pray to him or no since no one ever petitioned her who was refused by him He further saith Pag. 96. that Her sacred body is endowed with a superseraphical activity whereby she can render her self present in a moment to all her Votaries and aid them at any distance and upon these two suppositions of her full mediatory power and presence in all places we need not wonder at the following Devotions V. Open my lips O Mother of Jesus Pag. 23. R. And my Soul shall speak forth thy praise V Divine Lady be intent to my aid R. Graciously make hast to help me V. Glory be to Jesus and Mary R. As it was is and ever shall be * Pag. 24. Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us now and in the hour of death Bid us be blessed O holy Mary And ‖ Pag. 101. O sacred Virgin Mother of God Queen of Angels Empress of Saints Refuge of Sinners and my special Patroness and Advocate unto thy custody I commit and recommend my self with all the powers passions and motions of my body and mind and all living and dead especially those whom I would or should pray for humbly entreating thee through all thy mercies and merits thy priviledges and power and by whatever is dearest unto thee that we may be admitted to be thy Children Servants and Devotes that we may be protected directed assisted and comforted by thee and that by thee we may be presented to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost with much more too long to be transcribed To which I shall add this blessing * Pag. 24. Through the merits and intercession of the Mother of Jesus may we come to the harbour of Eternal Salvation and this ‖ Pag. 103. Through the mediation of
thee to be a Virgin all the earth doth worship thee the Spouse of the eternal Father all Angels and Archangels all Thrones and Powers do faithfully serve thee to thee all Angels cry aloud with a never-ceasing voice holy holy holy Mary mother of God the whole Court of heaven doth honour thee as Queen the holy Church throughout all the world doth invoke and praise thee the Mother of Divine Majesty c. Nay he hath also Transprosed the Athanasian Creed into a form of Confession to her honour and it begins thus Whosoever would be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold a firm Faith concerning Mary which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly and then though her Assumption into Heaven her sitting at the right hand of Christ and never ceasing to pray for us be made Articles of that Creed yet it concludes thus This is the true Faith concerning Mary which except a man believe firmly and faithfully he cannot be saved From C. Bonaventure I go on to Arnoldus Carnotensis who lived about Five hundred years ago and wrote an extravagant ‖ Inter opusc adscripta Cypriano Ed. Oxon. 1682. Tract in the praises of the blessed Virgin in which he saith that if he had the Tongues of Men and Angels he could not worthily set forth the glory of the holy and ever-blessed Virgin He saith She is exalted above all Creatures and that whoever bows his knee to Jesus must also fall prostrate before Mary he saith they have both one flesh one Spirit and one love and one glory that she cannot be separated from his dominion and power and that they both stand before the face of God to interceed for us and obtain remission of sins From Arnoldus I proceed to Bernard who flourished almost Six hundred years ago He was bred a Monk in a dark Age and his Sermons of the Virgin Mary's Assumption are full of very extravagant and unwarrantable expressions He calls her the Queen of Heaven and Queen of mercy and Lady of all things He saith When she ascended on high she also gave good gifts unto men seeing she neither wanted power nor will Not power because she was the Mother of God nor will because all her bowels were Charity He talks much about her Coronation and saith That no man can find out the length and breadth and heighth and depth of her mercy and that Christ bestows all his gifts and graces through her and exhorts us to give God thanks who in mercy provided us such a Mediatrice and in short what apprehensions he had for her may be seen from a prayer which begins thus We lift our hearts and eyes and hands unto thee O Queen of the World we kneel and bow before the glory of thy highness and send up our prayers with sighs unto thee to Heaven The rest of the prayer is like the beginning and towards the latter end of it he hath this expression Speak O Lady for thy Son hears and will grant whatsoever thou shalt ask There are also many such extravagant and unwarrantable things said of her and many prayers directed unto her in the Homilies de Tempore upon Christ's Nativity and the Homilies de Sanctis especially in that of the Assumption falsely ascribed to S. Augustin as the writers of the Latin Church are forced to acknowledge I have also omitted the extravagant sayings and notions about her in the School-men as that her ‖ Suarez 3. p. disp 18. S. 4. Grace was greater in the first moment of her Conception than the Grace of the highest Angel and that in the second it was doubled and so increased in Geometrical proportion unto her lives end and that she was dearer to God than the whole reasonable Creation and that he loved her more than the Universal Church I have also passed over the many Legendous stories that are told of her and to shew how dangerous it is for men to magnifie her above the condition of an humane Creature I think I may tell you of C. Scribanius Provincial of the Belgick Jesuits who in a rapture of Devotion to the blessed Virgin made a Copy of * Haereo lac inter meditans interque cruorem Inter delicias uberis lateris c. There is also such a Copy of Verses in Gazaeus his Pia Hilaria Latin Verses wherein he equals the benefits and merit of her milk to that of his bloud I have also omitted their Ancient Offices in which there are prayers to S. Joachim the Father and to S. Anne the Mother of the blessed Virgin wherein they put * Breviar Sar. July 26. O vas coelestis gratiae mater Reginae Virginum memento mater inclyta quà m potens es per filiam her in mind of the power she hath by her Daughter and tell him ‖ Brev. Rom. Antiqu. Mart. 20. O Pater summae Joachim puellae potes omne si vis nihil nepos Jesus meritò negabit nil tibi nata that his Nephew Jesus and his Daughter Mary will deny him nothing But you will perhaps say that the Latin Church hath laid aside these Devotions God be thanked for it and grant the happy time may come when she will lay aside all the rest that I have cited after the example of this truly Catholick and Apostolick Church of which we are members but then though she hath laid them aside yet since she formerly allowed and approved them she must as a learned * The Author of the R. Devotions Author observes be answerable for them till she acknowledges she was mistaken The rejecting and reforming of these and ‖ As of S. Julian in Miss secund usum Sarum Rothom Edit S. Batilde ibid. S. Scholastica ibid. S Potentiana ibid. S. Aldelmus ibid. S Martin B. and Conf. ibid. S. Sabina ibid. S. Andoenus ibid. other Offices cannot consist with her pretensions to Infallibility which I observe in answer to that Plea which saith it is most reasonable for men to be of the Infallible Church I confess a man were mad that would not rather be of an Infallible than a Fallible Church but then it is obvious to Reply That it is one thing for a Church to be Infallible and another for her or others to say she is so nay I desire to know if any Church is ever a jot the more Infallible for pretending to Infallibility or if those men do not act rationally who chuse to continue under the care of Learned and modest Physicians that own themselves Fallible rather than commit themselves to those who give out Bills of this or that Infallible Cure Thus have I shew'd you from the Ancient and Modern approved Authors of the Latin Communion how extravagant the Votaries of the blessed Virgin are in the honors they pay unto her and as I shewed before that there is no ground for them in Scripture So I am sure there is