of the Israelites and of King David who mourned and wept 2 Sam. 1. v. 12. and fasted until evening and of Nehemiah that mourned and fasted certain dayes Nehem. 1. v. 4. and prayed before the God of heaven and in another place the Jews fasted and prayed with earth upon their heads Ch. 9. v. 1. and as it was a practise by all our fore-fathers so it is and ever will be in Gods Church Again we read that all the City of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonas put on sack-cloth Jonah 3. v. 7. and fasted both man and beast now in my opinion these proofs might have been omitted for the proof of this point since reason and Christianity might induce us to practice that which in it self is the occasion of much good both for soul and body It hath been so general a practice in all ages by Gods Church that Saint Augustine said They were guilty of a mortal sin that did not saft the holy time of Lent and certainly there is none that is thus sick of that disease but those that relye wholly upon kitching physick and so take so much care to preserve and feed the body that they totally neglect the medicines and food for the soul And besides what hath been said as to the example of Christ and the good it procures to our souls let us consider what holy intents the Catholick Church hath in the keepign of some particular dayes of fasting and as for the time of Lent she hath ordained the keeping of it forty dayes before the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour first to imitate to the utmost of our power his holy example Secondly that we should by Fasting and Praying then more then ordinary have a dolorous resentment of his bitter Passion which he suffered for us And thirdly that we might with true prepared hearts celebrate the happy time of the Resurrection of his glorious body and with reverence approach to the holy Sacraments of Gods Church and for our Fasting on Friday every week it is that we may all cease from the pleasures of our taste that day our Saviour tasted Gall and Vinegar and a little to punish our bodies by fasting when our Saviour suffered so many dolorous wounds for us in his tender and delicate Body for the salvation of the world Now if any one can finde any evil in these intents and practices of the Church let them quarrel with them still but if not as I am sure justly they cannot then are they bound in conscience to follow the practice of so holy an Institution I will a little digress from my first purpose by quoting an ancient Father or two for confirmation of this point and so conclude this Chapter as first St. Jerome Elias and Moses saith he by fasting forty dayes were filled with a familiarity with God In c. 58. Isa and our Lord himself fasted as many in the Wilderness to leave unto us the solemn dayes of Fast that is Lent And again saith he We fast forty dayes Ep. 54. ad Marcel or make one Lent in a year according to the Traditions of the Apostles in time convenient And grave St. Ambrose saith plainly That it was not ordained by men but consecrated by God nor invented by any earthly cogitation but commanded by the Heavenly Majesty thus is it plainly proved that this practice is no new invention but what hath been generally practised by all holy men who have been Members of the Roman Catholick Church and so will it continue as long as God hath a Church upon earth which we are sure will be until the consummation of the world Chap. 15. Proving that Scripture is very hard to be understood and that we cannot rightly know the meaning of it but by relying upon the Church of God which is infallible contrary to Protestants Opinion IT would not seem a little strange did we but consider the folly of many men who have such low thoughts of Angels and Saints as that they know nothing and yet are so grosly arrogant of their own knowledge that none of the grand Mysteries of the Bible as they think are unknown to them and that the whole Church of God is less to be trusted in then they and so by this demy Devil self-conceit they wrong themselves and strive to deprive Gods Church of that priviledge which Christ hath given to her alone with commands to us to hear and obey her in all things concerning our Salvation but had these men been acquainted with St. Augustine he would have told them another story who cryes out concerning Scripture O wonderful profoundness of thy words wonderful profoundness my God wonderful profoundness it maketh a man quake to look on it to quake for reverence and to tremble for the love of it and those places saith he which I know not are many more then those that I know by which every considerate man may judge with himself that if this great Doctor and light of Gods Church had this opinion of Scripture and of his weakness in expounding it what little reason every particular man hath to think it easie for him to do that never was so learned and inspired of God as he was as all the Christian world knoweth and that his opinion then is agreeable to the Catholick Church now and that to Gods holy word shall be made most manifest and first from St. Peters own testimony who though he was an Apostle of Christ yet apprehended Saint Pauls Epistles to be very hard in the understanding of them as also in all his Epistles saith he are many things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction And if there be so many places hard to be understood how many may be justly conclude there is in the Revelations where as St. Jerome saith every sentence is a Mystery and how many in the Canticles and in the Prophesies of Daniel and many other places and I would know how any particular man can tell what Christ meant in many Mysteries he spake and how he knows what the Angel meant when he revealed those high Mysteries to St. John and what Solomon meant when he declared these excellent simiditudes of Gods Church and what St. Paul meant when he writ those hard places spoken of if they answer me Gods Spirit tells them the meaning and that they are perswaded 't is so let every one judge how poor this answer is which is common amongst them for cannot every Sectary plead the same a Cobler may alledge that as well as a Doctor and a Tinker as well as a Divine and this presumption of interpreting the Bible by private spirits hath been the cause of all these Sects and Opinions that are now in the world which would rend the seamless Coat of Christ which is his Church in pieces if they could If God had ordered every one to be his own
now and yet might as well have pretended the spirit as they since we see he was so well given as to go so far from his own Countrey to worship God in Jerusalem and to read the Bible in his going home In like manner our Saviour meeting with two of his Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24. v. 27 45. after his Resurrection it is said he expounded to them all the Scriptures and when they were altogether he appeared to them and opened their understandings that they might know the Scriptures from whence we may justly gather that if his Disciples and Apostles which were so conversant with Christ in his life-time were so ignorant of Scripture as not to know the meaning of the Prophets which foretold his Resurrection the third day and other Mysteries of his Death and sufferings what ignorance then have we or at least we ought to think so that never had those large means that the Apostles had but such is the miserable state of these unhappy times that many think themselves more wise and more holy then the Apostles were or then the whole Church of God is now and I think in time they will like Lucifer suppose themselves equal to God himself Thus having sufficiently proved the difficulty of understanding the Scripture with the danger of expounding it to our own private sense together with what course to follow in knowing the true meaning which is by adhering to Gods holy Church I will conclude with that saying of Saint Augustine Augustin l. 1. cont Crescon Then do we hold saith he the verity of the Scriptures when we do that which now seemeth good to the Universal Church which the authority of Scripture themselves do commend so that forasmuch as the holy Scripture cannot deceive whosoever then is afraid to be deceived with the obscurity of questions let him therein ask counsel of the same Church which the holy Scripture most certainly and evidently pointeth and sheweth unto us Chap. 16. Proving the necessity of the Churches Divine Servince to be said in the Latine Tongue or in one Language in all places of the world where it is exercised contrary to Protestants Opinion DId all Christians follows the counsel of our Blessed Saviour in his commanding us to submit and adhere to Gods Church there would not be such quarrellings in our mindes nor bad speeches from our mouths against her holy Institutions which though sometimes have not an apparent rise from Scripture yet are ordained in the Church by the instinct of the Holy Ghost who as I said is alwayes with her to direct her in all her proposals to us concerning our Salvation and as we may reasonably think that as God hath committed to her charge the dispensation of the holy Sacraments to us and other high qualities so he hath invested her with power to Ordain Constitute and Decree any thing that may be to the good and benefit of the same Church which Decrees and Constitutions we are bound to observe and without any difficulty in Conscience may so long as it is not against Gods word but rather agreeable to the same amongst which things that are thus constituted by the Church this of the Latine Service is one which I shall prove to be somewhat agreeable to Scripture and altogether to Reason and the practice of the Church of God in all Ages First we will observe something pertinent to this in Saint Lukes Gospel wheere he declares Luke 1. v. 10. that when Zacharias the Priest was offering and praying to God in the Temple for himself and all the people that the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of his offering Incense by which it appears that they knew not what he said nor understood any thing of it which is now the main objection against us in this point by our Adversaries but to satisfie these people we are to take notice that the publick or common Service of Gods Church being compos'd of Sucrifice Prayers and Thanksgivings is therefore chiefly designed for the honour and glory of God as being every day offered up to him by the Priests and not for the edification of the people so much by understanding it as by the benefit they receive and partake of being present at it for when the Priest saith the service of the Church he offers it to God for himself 1 Cor. 14 v. 2. Heb 5. v. 1.2 3. for the people present for the whole Church or for any other necessities of people that are absent so that it matters not whether they understand him or no since they have as much benefit of his Prayers as if they did for if they heard him not speak a word it were the same thing so long as God both hears him and understands him to whom it is offered and designed for in Sacrifice Prayer and Thanksgiving the Priests spak to God and not to the people for example when any man lies sick or in distress at home he sends to the Church to be prayed for by the Minister and Congregation now shall we think because he hears nor understands not those which pray for him that he hath no benefit by their prayers this were absurd to think for then we should be never the better for our Saviours Intercession to his heavenly Father for us whom we understand not nor know when nor for what he intercedes to him and yet we all receive much good by it and so we do in the Priestâ— saying the Divine Service who representeth the place of our Saviour on earth to mediate for us and we are assured that the effectual servent prayers of a righteous man prevaileth much James 5. v. 16. whether we hear and understand them or no but yet to discover the folly of those that impugne this practise they may please to take notice that the Latine tongue is not so much unknown or understood as it is thought it is for if there was any need to understand the Service as I have proved there is not there be many thousands of our Church and others that understand the Latine Tongue and those people that do not are so well instructed by the Church that with the instruction and the custom of hearing Mass they know when to kneel and when to stand when to pray and when to give thanks when to do reverence and when not besides most of the Service they have in their English Books and may know any part of the rest when they will if there were any need as there is none so that it is not said in Latine because the common people should not understand it as Hereticks falsly report but for a great necessity and convenience in the Church as I shall suddenly prove but first it is observable that though the common people in England read th Bible in English yet they understand not half of it nor which is worse are never made to understand it yet Protestants will say they must
for the pardon of his enemies that did not desire it we need not question but his charity is much more now and will be infinitely more ready to pray to God for those that are his friends and Members of the same Church which do heartily beg it of him and as we see his prayer then took effect with God for the conversion of his chiefest enemy Saul which was presently after so we may justly hope that God will bestow his graces upon us by his holy Intercession But for your further instruction consider what knowledge God gave to all the Prophets of old time to foretell all those great things that happened in the world in our Saviours time and since which we know were all true and if God gave such power to men when they were upon earth do we think that God deprives Angels or those Prophets that are now in heavenly glory of that power or that Christs blessed Mother which prophesied that all generations should call her blessed Luke 1. ver 48. doth not know that she is so called by all generations it were a madness beyond compare to imagine such a foolish thing which is so contrary to the express word of God I shall now conclude my discourse of this subject with one example which I think had there been no Scripture to have proved what I have said would be of force enough with any reasonable person to induce them to the belief of it We all know by our faith that the Devil was once an Angel of heaven and since his fall from that happy place it is all his design to make us miserable and we all by sad experience know that he knows all our actions as when we would do good he strives to hinder us and when we intend to do evil he sets us forward in the performance of it Nay when we do not intend evil he puts it into our mindes to do it and all the sins we commit is from the Devil and I pray how came he by this power but only as he was once an Angel of heaven let us not think God gave him this power since he was a Devil of Hell or that God which dearly loves our salvation as is plainly shown by him in the Death of his Son for us would give more power to the Devil to work our destruction then he doth to the good Angels which desire and assist us in our salvation we know too well that he leads thousands to sin at one time and do we not think the holy Angels endeavour the same to lead us to vertue we know or may know to our costs that he is watchful and diligent to bring us to ruine and do we not think the Angels are as careful to guard us from it so that for any one to deny this truth must certainly be possest with an heathenish spirit which will shut its eyes against all Christian verities Now what hath been said chiefly of the Angels is the same of the Saints in heaven which are in the same place and glory and esteem with God according to that of our blessed Saviour speaking to the Sadduces about the Resurrection Luke 20. ver 36. That they which should be worthy to obtain heaven should dye no more but should be equal to the Angels Thus having as I think shown sufficiently the truth of this point I shall next proceed to shew you how we may lawfully without derogation to Christs Intercession desire them to pray to God for us and with this conclude that certainly God will never permit those the society of Angels that live and dye in so poor and beggarly esteem of those glorious spirits Chap. 6. Proving that since it is evident that Angels and Saints can hear our prayers we may lawfully pray to them as Intercessours for us to God IT is a thing not a little to be admired when we consider that man which by nature loveth those things which may make him happy should yet himself be the onely obstacle of his not being truly so we all naturally desire heaven but through the corruption of that nature in us we take the wrong course to obtain it for what wise man can think that they which hate society with Angels and Saints whilst they are on earth can ever attain that happiness in heaven since those that touch at the honour of them touches the apple of Gods eye as our Blessed Saviour said to his Disciples when they were upon earth He that hateth you hateth me and he that loveth you loveth me Mat. 10. v. 42. And if any one give but a cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple he should not lose his reward so dear are all his servants to him and if so while they are on this dunghill earth sure they are much more dear to him in his Palace of Heaven and we can no wayes bonour God more next to the Worship of himself then by respecting and having communion with his heavenly Citizens whilst we are on earth and besides it is an Article of our Faith in the Creed I believe the Communion of Saints which we that are on earth can no wayes do but by our praying to them and their praying for us and this is the true Communion of Saints Gen. 48. v. 16. Agreeable to this shall you finde in Holy Scripture how Jacob after he blessed his Son Joseph he invokes an Angel to bless Josephs Sons saying The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless these lads so here you see it was the practice of this holy man by which we may have the less reason to scruple it but observe what he saith more And let my name and the names of my Fathers Abaham and Isaac be named by them which infers that they should invoke their names in the behalf of their obtaining any thing from God and it is frequently mentioned in Scripture of desiring mercy from God for Abraham Isaac and Jacobs sake and for thy servant Davids sake all this we know to be true and will it think you displease God to desire mercy from him for the Blessed Virgin Maries sake or St. Peter or St. Pauls sake Job 5. v. 1. who were as holy persons as ever the other were so we may see in holy Jobs time it was practised for Eliphaz upbraiding of him saith Call now Zach. 1. ver 1. if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn so in the Prophet Zachariah we finde an Angel praying for Jerusalem Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years now what can be desired more plain then these places are if we are not wilfully blinde It will cause every one both to the belief and practice of this sacred Communion with those blessed spirits
holy Apostle Saint Paul was comforted by an Angel when he was in his Shipwrack as he himself witnesseth Acts 27. v. 23.24 And there stood by me this night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve saying Fear not Paul c. by all which so plain and innumerable places of Scripture it is made so manifest that I think no person that reads this Book can for shame any longer resist so infallible a truth for if he do he must lye under the heavy censure of an unbeliever who as St. Paul saith is judged already I hope that the consciences of those which say they will believe nothing but the Bible will now fly in their faces and blush for shame and confusion when they consider how little of it they practice and pretend to the Bible barely for a show of Religion to deceive themselves and others But further to prosecute this point to the intent none but Heathens may deny it we will consider how Christs beloved Disciple Saint John demeaned himself to the Angel that came to him so often in his Revelations Rev. 19. v. 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto me Do it not I am thy fellow servant which words of the Angel Do it not is the main Argument against this practice which Protestants have but how poor an one it is shall be seen for I hope no man will think that Saint John which was so great a Divine and so eminent with Christ could be so ignorant as not to know what Worship was due to an Angel but rather conclude that the Angel said Do it not because he knew that St. John was in as high esteem with God as himself was and besides St. John did do it again to the Angel Rev. 22. v. 8. that is fell down and worshipped him which we may be sure he never would have done being told of it before if it had not been lawful for then he would have been guilty of obstinacy which I hope no good Christian will tax him with But this business between the Angel and Saint John is just as when two special friends meet for they strive who shall give the greatest respect to each other yet will not seem to admit of any worship extraordinary from each other so we see by the first Text that the Angel would not admit of Saint John to worship him because his humility thought him his equal and as he saith his fellow servant and b the second Text we see St. John would not forbear worshipping him because his humility thought him superiour So hoping that I have sufficiently satisfied the Christian Reader in this point I will now briefly show thee how vast a difference there is in the Worship that is due to God and in that which is due to Angels and Saints And first we are to consider that there is a Divine Adoration and Worship due to God which if it be given to either Angels or any thing created it is flat Idolatry for since God is the Creator of us all it is fit that he should have a Worship given to him above all that he hath created and therefore it is a most strange abuse that is put upon the holy Catholick Church by those that say by our Worshipping Saints and Angels Christ is robbed of his honour when indeed Christ is honoured by it as is before plainly proved since we acknowledge and give to him a far higher Worship then to all the Angels and Saints in Heaven for what Worship we give to them is as they are glorious spirits and have so near relation to God which would plainly appear to every ones experience if once this subtill juggle of Satan were laid open to our eyes which is the bare pretence onely of giving all to God which takes much with common understandings without considering that God is worshipped by us in a far higher manner and that Gods Worship is exalted in our respect and reverence to them as for example this now is plain to every ones experience that we reverence the Kings Chaires of State his Chambers where they are and the like now these do not receive this worship because they are Chairs or because they be Chambers but onely as they have so near relation to the King and what we do to them is done to the King and he that doth not so is accounted a villain and turned out of Court as a contemner of the King and if this will happen for the contempt of insensible things which have relation to the King what may we think will happen to those that live and dye in the contempt of those glorious Creatures which are so near God praising of him to eternity So not questioning but this that hath been said will sufficiently satisfie every impartial Reader and induce him both to the Faith and Practice of so holy and reasonable a thing that so at last he may enjoy the blessed Society of the Principalities Powers Vertues Dominations Thrones Angels Arch-Angels Cherubins and Seraphins with the holy Apostles and Disciples of Christ and all the Saints in heaven with whom we had society here on earth Chap 8. Proving that the Images of Christ and his Saints may be lawfully made and reverenced as they have relation to the first Figure contrary to the Opinion of Protestants AMongst all the bundles of errours that tumbles up and down in the mindes of men and strives to stifle truth there is none more maliciously and publickly published then is this against holy Images whose bad Authors make too many believe that it is no less then Superstition to look upon them much more to show any respect to them but to the intent that their eyes may be illuminated that are blinde for want of seeing them I shall prove the quite contrary as that it is a holy and good custom and very profitable to our souls but first I will clear that main objection by which they say we are breakers of the Law and so Idolaters which is indeed so buzzed in the ears of the common people that they have nothing more to say but Doth not the Lord say thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image I could tell them and truly enough that he never did say so for though their Bibles do say Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image the Translator did but cobble it for the meaning is plain Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Idol or painted or any way at all to adore it as God for that were plain Idolatry and Heathenish for do we think that in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus God would forbid Images and in the five and twentieth Chapter command them again to be made as is plain to be seen where in the command that God gave to Moses he saith Ver. 18 19 20. And thou shalt make two Cherubims of Gold of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two
in Scripture then are we bound to believe it for this is a general crime in this Age that men think nothing can be true if their narrow capacities cannot comprehend it as if all the mysteries of our Faith were so open for every ones understanding to enter the knowledge of them which if they were so then there were no need of Faith because Faith is onely required in those things our natures cannot comprehend and so might every Turk and Pagan be as good a Believer as a Christian therefore for the redress of this evil we are to understand whether Christ gave this power to his Apostles or no for if they had the power to pardon sins as being the Heads of his Church the same power must remain to their Successours in that Church because otherwise all succeeding Ages would receive no benefit by that gift which our Saviour gave for the good of us all that lay hold of it And to prove that they had this power is plain and easie enough first from Saint Matthews Gospel where our Saviour telling Saint Peter he would build his Church on him he saith Mat. 16. v. 18 19. And I will give thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is clear that he had a great power given him to pardon or not to pardon and that those which he did not pardon on earth should not be pardoned in heaven which is the same in Gods Church to this day and therefore let every one consider what reason they have to be members of it by which consists our eternal salvation Again our Saviour tells his Disciples in general saying Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven Mat. 18. v. 18. and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is plain that they had this power of remission of sins and to deny the same power to their Successours in Gods Church would in my esteem be very unreasonable And as in all other points of Faith the contempt of them proceeds from a want of a right understanding of them as I have shown elsewhere so is it the same in this for it is buzzed in poor peoples ears Can man pardon sins or can Priests forgive us or the Pope absolve us without any consideration of the nature of it at all for if we rightly understood our selves or did but consult with reason we should soon be undeceived in this mystery For in the first place know that it is the gift of Christ himself and therefore not to be questioned by any man Secondly Priests cannot pardon sins by any natural power they have more then other men but by a supernatural grace from God we know and confess that it appertains to God onely by nature to pardon sins and so doth many other things as working of Miracles and casting out of Devils and healing the sick and the like which power we know God hath given unto men as well as the other proved by Christ himself where he speaking of all that truly believed in him saith he These signes shall follow Mark 16. v. 17 18. in my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover now it is certain all these excellencies appertains to God by nature but if he is pleased to give this power to men what reason have we to question or be offended with it which power is equal to that of remission of sins and we see are both given to men by God Thirdly we are to consider that Priests do not pardon our sinnes immediately from themselves but Ministerially as when they apply the words of Absolution on us God hath promised to pardon us otherwayes he will not John 20. v. 23. as Christ saith Whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained so that you see this is plainly true if you dare believe Christ himself Now that this may not seem strange to you do but consider that great vertue that is in Baptisme where by the application of water and a few words by the Priest or Minister the childe is pardoned of all its original sin now it is not the Minister nor Water nor words that pardons the Childe but God himself who is pleased by them and that means to do it and yet it is so far from dishonouring God that he is honoured by it because it is his holy will it should be so and this all Protestants believe which is as great a gift of God to mankinde as is the other and by all people thus plainly understood will not appear so strange and monstrous as they are made believe it is now we may plainly see how far those kinde of men are from being in Gods Church that do not onely not practise this truth but rail against and contemn it though it be published by our Blessed Saviour himself for the good of the whole world Again consider if God had not ordained this in his Church how should we know that our sins are pardoned by God at all or when they are so pardoned but that he hath promised when they do it on earth he will do it in heaven and this is our onely assurance and as it were a mark by which we know our sins are pardoned that we may thank his Divine Name for it which otherwise we should be very uncertain when to do I shall conclude this Chapter with that wholesome Counsel of St. Augustine who desireth That none make doubt of the Priests right in Remission of Sins Aug. No. Test q. 53 seeing the Holy Ghost is purposely given them to do the same in which case if any be yet contentious he must deny the Holy Ghost to be God and not to have power to pardon sins And onely adde that of St. Ambrose who saith St. Amb. lib. 1. c 7. de peuitent Why should it be more dishonour to God or more impossible or inconvenient for men to forgive sins by Pennance then by Baptisme seeing that it is the Holy Ghost that doth it by the Priests Office and Ministery in both Chap. 13. Proving the Churches Vniversality and that no Church is or can be Catholick but the Roman against the Opinion of Protestants OF all the great actions that God hath openly done for mankinde there is none that he hath declared more apparently then that his Church should be spread in all parts and corners of the whole world to the intent that all Nations hearing the sound of the Gospel there could be none that might plead any ignorance in the not hearing of it Now as this shall be proved by the words of Christ himself