ista vel figment a Mendacium hominum vel protent a fallacium Spirituum Let no man say it is true for that or this Man hath wrought this or that Miracle for that Men make their Prayers at the Tombs of our Dead and obtain their Desires or for that these or these Miracles be wrought there c. Away with these things they may be either the Juglings and Mockeries of deceitful Men or else Illusions of Iying Spirits Aug. de Vnitate Ecclesiae Cap. 16. Again St. Chrysostome saith Per Signa cognoscabatur qui essent essent veri Christiani qui falsi nunc autem signorum operatio omnino levata est mag is autem Invinitur apud eos qui falsi sunt Christiani In old time it was known by Miracles who were the true Christians and who the false but now the working of Miracles is taken quite away and is rather found amongst them that are false Christians Chrysost in Matth. Hom. 49. Therefore St. Augustine saith Contra illos mirabiliar is cautum me fecit Deus meus dicendo in novessimis diebus exsurgent pseudo Prophetae facientes signa portenta ut inducunt in errorem si fieri possit etiam Electos Against these Miracle-Mongers my God hath armed me saying In the latter days shall arise false Prophets working Signs and Wonders to deceive if it be possible the Elect of God. Aug. in Johan Tract 13. Sir you have told us of a great many Miracles that have been wrought by the Bodies and Relicks of Saints and Martyrs But I wonder you being of the Society of Jesus would not give us one touch of the Relicks of St. Xaverius in East-India and of his Relicks at Rome nay there is scarce a Colledge of Jesuits in Christendom but have of them more or less and by those Relicks many Miracles have been wrought Why did you not prove that he might be Worshipped all over Christendom as well as any other Saint Why did you not give an account of the Miracles of the Saints of your Order in India Who by their Holy Water have driven Mice out of the Country and made barren Women to bare Children and such other wonderful Miracles But you are a modest Gentleman and would not therefore take notice of them at this time lest the World should not at this time of day be under any obligation to believe them or any part of them and as the World is now cautious so have Learned Men in all Ages Alexander of Hales saith In Sacramento apparet Caro interdum humana procuratione interdum operatione Diabolica In the Sacrament itself there appeareth Flesh sometimes procured by Men and sometimes by the working of the Devil Alex. de Hales Par. 4. Quest 53. Mem. 4. Therefore from hence observe that Miracles are not the Signs always of true Doctrine especially of the Doctrine you defend viz. Praying to and Worshipping of Saints Love you know is bountiful and as it hath produced a very fair Account of the Miracles wrought by the Relicks of Saints and the Bodies of your Martyrs so give me leave on my part to tell you what Miracles I have seen wrought by the Preaching of the glorious Gospel of our dear Redeemer the Blind see and the Dumb speak the faint-hearted are made couragious our Bishops are stout in the Cause of our blessed Lord our Presbyters speak now with the Tongues of Angels the Voice of our God is heard amongst us and the People are turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Antichrist to the obedience of the Gospel The Doctrine that is Preached amongst us is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow confounding Principalities and Powers Spiritual Wickednesses and High Places good Men are perfected the Body of Christ is edisied these Sir if you have Eyes to see are great Miracles Saint Chrysostom saith The Conversion of the World is a Miracle Chrysost in cor Hom. 6. St. Austin saith Modo Caro caeca non aperit Oculos Miraculo Domini Cor caecum aperit Oculos Sermone Domini Now adays the blind Flesh openeth not her Eyes by the Miracles of our Lord but the blind Heart openeth his Eyes at the Word of our Lord Aug. de verbis domin Secund. Mat. Ser. 18. Again Modo Aures corporis surdae non aperiuntur sed quam multi habent clausas Aures Cordis quae tamen verbo dei penetrante Patescant Now adays the deaf Ears of the Body be not opened but how many are there who have the Ears of their Heart shut up which notwithstanding are opened when the word of God that pierceth entereth I think that these Miracles are greater Arguments why we should Worship God through Jesus Christ then the Miracles of the Relicks and Monuments of the Martyrs are why you should Worship and Pray unto the Saints It may be you may not take it well if I should not take notice of your Miracles once more therefore I will I behold the Countenance of your Glorious Miracles Your Crosses they can speak and your Idols can go your Images can light their own Lamps your Holy Water is able to drive away Mice and to make barren women Fruitful and to calm the Sea. This I have learned from some of your own Writers but your Miracles and your Doctrine of Praying to Saints is much alike but I will conclude this Head with the Saying of St. Hierom Mendacium Antichristi Christi Veritas devorabit The Truth of Christ shall devour the Falshood of Antichrist Having examined your Doctrine that because the Relicks of the Martyrs are dispersed about into divers places and being honoured in their respective places where their Relicks are reposed that therefore they might be Worshipped in a thousand different places at one and the same time for which you produced several Witnesses and they being all considered you now proceed to shew that this Doctrine of Praying to Saints was authorised by four Councils held within the space of the first five hundred years after Christ By the Authority of those Councils you think you do your work First You cite the Council of Chalcedon and say That in the First General Council held there the Bishops belonging to the Patriarchate of Constantinople publickly in the Council and unopposed used this Invocation to Flavianus Flavianus lives after Death let the Martyr Pray for us And more you say you do not express in your Litanies to the Saints This was a Practice But I pray Sir where is the Injunction There is a Decree in your Chapter held at Tront That the Saints shall be Prayed unto If you can find such a Decree in the Council of Chalcedon I pray let us see it or else never pretend to cite the Authority of the Council I was big with expectation and truly did give myself the trouble to peruse and consider it but finding no
Antichrist This Sir I humbly conceive is worthy of your Consideration And I hope that you will not for the future rely much upon that Distinction I must mind you of that Saying of the Prophet Where are thy Gods that thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble for according to the number of thy Cities are thy Gods O Judah Jer. 2. 28. chap. 11. 13. And according to the number of the Streets of Jerusalem have you set up Altars to the shameful Thing even Altars to burn Incense unto Baal So you have your innumerable Company of Saints to whom ye erect Altars insomuch that those of your Communion cannot tell to which Saint it were best to turn them first yet you have assighed every one of them their Office and direct your Disciples what things they ought to ask and what to give and what to bring to pass under their respective Protections without any manner of Warrant from the Word of God. But Sir be pleased to understand me I do not apply these false Gods to the Saints for that would be Blasphemy and it were to call them Idols which is absurd seeing that they see the Face of God evermore and are with God in Glory but in respect of those horrible Abuses and vain Fancies of those of your Communion the words of the Prophet may be justly applyed for you in your Imagination of the Saints of God you have made Idols and have so multiplied and increased the same that the number of them have exceeded the number of your Cities and Towns But Sir if you will give me your patience I will shew you that an eminent Light in the Church of God did apply these very words of the Prophet unto the Blessed Mother of Jesus being then abused most Idolatrously by the Hereticks Collyridians in the same manner as you abuse her and other Saints now even to the highest Idolatry it was the old Father Epiphanius Lib. 3. Haeris 79. Nequis comedat de Errore qui est propter Sanctam Mariam tam si enim pulchrum sit lignum tamen non'est ad Cibum si Pulcherrima est Maria Sancta Honorata at non ad Adorationem Hae vero Mulieris colentes Mariam rursus Renovant fortunae mixturam praeparant Mensam Diabolo non Deo quemadmodium Scriptum est pascuntur cibo impietatis rursus Faeminae terunt Pollinem Filiis colligunt Ligna ut faciant Placentas Oleo subactus Reginae Caeli Compescantur Jeremia tales Mulieres ne turbant Orbem Terrarum ne dicant Honoramus Reginam Coeli Let no Man feed upon this Error touching St. Mary for though the Tree be fair yet is not the Fruit to be eaten and though Mary be Beautiful Holy and Honourable yet is she not to be Adored But these Women Worshipping St. Mary run again to the Sacrifice of Wine mingled in the Honour of the Goddess Fortune and prepare a Table for the Devil and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures they are fed with the meat of wickedness and again their Women boult flower and their Children gather sticks to make Cakes in honour of the Queen of Heaven therefore let such Women be rebuked by the Prophet Jeremiah and let them no more trouble the World and let them not say We worship the Queen of Heaven Here you may see Sir that these words were spoken of the filthy Idols of the Heathen and by this holy Father applied to the Mother of our Lord not to deface that blessed Woman but to declare the fond Errours of those Hereticks what is done less to that great Saint in those Countries that pay Obedience to the Church and See of Rome than these Hereticks did of whom this holy man thus complaineth Do you not offer to her Candles Incence Garments Jewels of Silver and Jewels of Gold Are not by pretence of Worship your Churches inriched And all this you do because you say She is the great Mediator of Intercession But you pay the same Homage to her if not more as you do to her Son the Redeemer of the World. You pray to her to save and defend you in Body and Soul now and in the hour of death for you call her The Queen of Heaven the Lady of Angels you say to her Command thy Son shew thy self to be a Mother Your Cardinal Bembus telleth the Virgin Dominam Deam Nostram Bemb in Epist ad Carolum 5. Ambrosius Catharinus one of the Council of Trent Sess 2. calleth the Virgin God's Fellow Fidelissima ejus Socia Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal of Rome saith Excitat Lib. 8. Hoc cedit ad Laudem dei Virginis Mariae Matris quod ipso suo principatu Authoris mortis nullo unquam tempore fuit non indiguit virgo Liberatore qui ipsam absolveret a sententia in Adam in posteres Lata Maria non est deleta de Libro Mortis quia nunquam in eo scripta fuit This thing turneth to the praise of God and of the Virgin Mary the Mother that she never was at any time under the power of the Author of Death that Virgin needed no Deliverer that should ransom her from the Sentence pronounced against Adam and his Posterity Mary was never razed out of the Book of Death for she was never written in it When our Nation did profess the Romish Religion I meet with a Council held at Oxford where the Name of Christ is quite left out and Mary's Name put in for thus it beginneth Authoritate Dei Patris Baeatae Virginis omnium Sanctorum By the Authority of God the Father and the Blessed Virgin and of all Saints Do you not in your Offices call her Mediatrix and Redemptrix Why then do you shuffle off your Hearers with this distinction that Christ alone is the Mediator of Salvation and that the Virgin and Saints are only Mediators of Intercession and not of Salvation I would once more pray you to observe how you contradict your own Doctrine left by men whose Authority was not to be question'd by any that did succeed them If your St. Ambrose saith true The Saints by shedding their Bloud did purchase Salvation for us how comes it to pass that they are not Mediators of Salvation But if they did not purchase Salvation for us I pray how comes it to pass that they are Mediators of Intercession When did this Priesthood of theirs commence When did God say to any one of them Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Saints did not glorifie themselves to be made Priests nor did God call them to that Priesthood that should intitle them to such a Mediatorship that you would put upon them and Christ himself had not glorified himself to be made an High-Priest but God glorified him and said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Heb. 5. 8. From all which Sir we may
your paying that Worship to the Creature which is only due to the Creator you bring the just Charge of Idolatry upon your selves which we are commanded to avoid I beseech you Sir to tell us wherein you differ from the Gentiles in their Idolatry Do you not do by your Saints and Angels as they did by their Gods Do you not manifestly revive their Doctrine of Daemons which is foretold in Scripture as that which should fall out in the latter days amongst the degenerate and apostatizing Christians So the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. That in the latter times some should revolt from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils or Daemons Now what these Daemons were I will not pretend to inform you but only remind you that the Idolatry of the Gentiles and their notions of Daemons is revived and re-enforced in your Church The Gentiles feighned that their Daemons were an inferiour sort of deified Powers that stood in the midst between the Soveraign Gods and them The Soveraign Gods were by them supposed so sublime and pure that Mortals could not and might not approach therefore they introduced this middle sort of Divine Powers to be as Mediators and Agents betwixt them These Daemons or Mediators were supposed to be of two sorts some were the Souls of men deified after their death for you must understand that the Canonization of Heroes and deceased Worthies is somewhat older than your Canonizations in your Church for Rome whilst it was under the Clouds of Heathenism had a custom to canonize their deceased Emperours and they called them Divine or Saints as well as the Church of Rome hath now We read of a Divus Augustus as well as of a Divus Augustinus The Gentiles I say had another sort of Daemons which were more sublime and had never dwelt in mortal bodies but were from the beginning always the same These second sort of Daemons do fitly answer those Spiritual Powers which we call Angels as the former above-mentioned sort do to those we call Saints To these Daemons they built their Temples and their Images Shrines and Reliques they worshipped with all Religious Devotion So that in many respects the Idolatry of the Pagans is a perfect Pattern of the Idolatry of your Church the one hath great affinity with the other and is exactly parallel with it and your Practice of Praying to Saints and Angels hath its Rise and Being from the Adoration that the Gentiles paid to their Daemons The Gentiles distributed Offices and several Duties limited and appointed to each Daemon in his station and degree which I prove out of Augustine de Civit. Dei lib. 4. cap. 12. who there saith thus Varro dicebat ita esse utilem cognitionem Deorum si sciatur quam quis quae Deus vim aut potestatem habeat cujusque rei ex eo enim inquit poteremus scire quem cujusque rei causam Deum advocare atque invocare debeamus ne faciamus ut Mimi solent Optomus à Libero aquam à Lymphis Vinum Varro said the knowledge of the Gods is profitable if a man understand what Power and Authority each God hath in every thing for so saith he we may know whom to call upon and whom to pray unto lest by chance we do as certain Mimi are wont to do that is to say lest of Bacchus the God of Wine we beg Water and of Cymphae the Goddess of Water we beg Wine These things having their beginning amongst the Pagan Idolaters have since been brought into the Church of God to the high displeasure of Almighty God and great scandal of the glorious Gospel of his dear Son. So all the Saints in Heaven have been appointed each one in his Order to his several Office lest any one should intrude into anothers Room Observe what Antonius a Bishop of your Church nay if I mistake not he was Archbishop of Florence saith in his time He saw Sr. Paul and Fryer Dominick painted together Under the Image of St. Paul there was written Per hunc Itur ad Christum We may come to Christ by this Saint but under the Picture of Fryer Dominick they wrote thus Sed Magis per Istum What did they mean by this Sir but that Fryer Dominick's Office and Authority before God was somewhat better and of more credit than St. Paul's You teach your People to pray to St. Gal for the fecundity and health of their Geese and to St. Windiline for their Sheep to St. Antony for their Hogs St. Pelagius for their Oxon. Nay your several Trades-men have their particular Saints the Physicians are patronized by Cosmas and Damian as Aesculapius was to the Physicians in the time of Paganism The Heathens were wont to invok Lucina in the Pains of Child-birth but you do judge St. Margaret the better Midwife and therefore you pray to her The Pagan Sea-men they called upon Neptune but your Church judgeth St. Nicholas to have as much or more power than he therefore your Sea-men call upon him Your Painters have St. Luke for their Patron and the Pagan Painters had Appelles for theirs Your Porters have Goalus And the Hunts-men Eustachius Your Curtezans have St. Affra and St. Mary Magdalen You I suppose know who was the Patroness of the Pagan Ladies of Pleasure The Heathens did rely upon their particular Daemons for the cure of several Diseases and you rely upon your particular Saints St. Sebastian and St. Roch have a special priviledge to cure the Plague St. Petronilla the Fever with the help of St. Sigismund St. John and St. Bennet the Abbot to cure Poyson St. Apolonia the Tooth-ach St. Oliva fore Eyes St. Apollinarius the French-Pox for he had got that Employment since the discovery of the West Indies St. Vincentius hath a special faculty of restoring stoln Goods and St. Liberius doth infallibly cure the Stone and St. Faelicitas will give the Teeming Mother a fine Boy It is strange that if nothing but the Intercession of these Saints were intended that they cannot as well pray for other things as these or that they have no Commission to ask of those any thing else I pray Sir compare your Readings together and see whether or no the Heathens had not their particular Gods for these things to whom they did pay all Worship and therefore were charged by God himself with Idolatry and their Gods were termed Idols and the reason why they were Idolaters was because they gave Worship to their Gods which were but Creatures which was only due to the Creator You may say Sir that these Daemons or Inferiour Deities of the Heathens were the Souls of wicked men and Devils whereas those that are invocated and adored by us are the Spirits of just men and Angels And as to the distributing to every Saint his peculiar Office we are not tyed to defend the Superstitions of the Vulgar or the Abused To this Sir I must reply and tell you We
Service are guilty of Sixthly The Practice of your Church in Praying to the Saints is irrational and abominable because upon a due consideration of what manner of Saints you Invocate they are such whose Saintship nay whose Existence is by us justly to be question'd I pray call to mind what Cassander one of your own Church speaketh by way of complaint in his Chapter De Meritis Intercessione Sanctorum These are his words The People do now almost despise the Old Saints and serve with more Affection the New whose Holiness is less certain Yea there are some of them of whom we may justly doubt whether ever they lived in the World. I. You pray to some of doubtful Saintship or Holiness who instead of reigning in Heaven it may be are frying in Hell. You I suppose very well know that I do not now speak without Authority for it is a famous Saying of Gregory the Great That the Bodies of many Persons are Worshipped on Earth whose Souls are tormented in Hell. This is not only the opinion of one Doctor but Thomas of Aquine and Cardinal Cajetan and others do acknowledge that in a matter of Fact his Infallible Holiness may be mistaken and that his Holiness may be in an Errour in this very business of Canonization And many of your Church have taken great offence at that prostitution of Devotion usual in your Publick Assemblies to every upstart new Saint Do you not in this Worship many times ye know not what Christ put the Question to the Samaritan Woman give me leave to put the same to you I pray Who is it that you Worship How came they to be the Objects of your Worship and great Devotion paid to them in your Churches after they were dead whose Conversations were much questioned whilst alive against whom many Scandals were proved How many of your Saints Sir have been made fâ—r Money Many of them Traytors to the Government under which they then lived It would be an endless Task for me to make Observations upon the Lives of some of your Saints Murderers and common Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom Sir I will instance in the Lives of those Saints that have been of Note in the English Nation The first Instance that I shall give you is that of Austin the Monk and Archbishop of Canterbury who was sent into this our Nation by Gregory the Great and therefore called by your Church The Great Apostle of England this Monk with others were by this Gregory sent into this Island to turn the People to the Romish Religion which Augustine when through his pretended Holiness or rather Hypocrisie had got a Party to own him and had obtained of King Ethelbert to be Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England went into Wales where he found many Godly and Learned Bishops and Preachers of God's most Holy Word which sincerely and truly taught the Doctrine of the Scriptures and rightly administred the Sacraments according to Christ's Institution whom this Austin the Monk laboured to the best of skill and power to allure from the Sincerity and Simplicity of Christ's Religion unto the Superstition and Idolatry of your Church setting out that he was a Legate of the Most Holy Father the Pope sent from Rome and that he was made and ordained the chief Bishop and Primate of all England and therefore he commanded them to obey him and his Doctrine and to receive that Most Holy Father of Rome and his Religion but the Godly and Learned Fathers boldly answer'd That they were already true Christians and according to the Word of God they governed their Churches therefore would neither obey him nor submit themselves to the Authority of that strange Romish Bishop nor yet receive his strange Superstitious Ceremonies but continue as heretofore they had done in their old way of serving of God. For which cause Austin the Monk with his Companions departed and being not satisfied with the entertainment these holy men gave him he found a way to give these Christians great trouble because they would not obey him nor comply with the Bishop of Rome's pretended Title over them This develish Priest he complained to King Ethelbert that the Britains would neither obey him nor any man but only the Archbishop of Carleon which thing thus represented to the King it moved him to wrath and threatned to destroy them all Writing to Elfrid King of Northumberland that he would come to him with all the Force he could raise and that he would meet him at Leicester and from thence they would go into Wales and destroy the Archbishop of Carleon and all those who had refused to obey Austin and his Doctrine When these holy men heard of this and that the two Kings with their Armies did approach to the end they might destroy them they sent unto the Kings certain holy and good men who went barefoot and with all Humility and Meckness besought them to cease from so ungodly an Action But these wicked Kings would not speak to these holy men but presently order'd them to be slain which was presently done being in number five hundred and forty some say eleven hundred And from thence these Kings went to Bangor in order to destroy all the Britains but they having received notice of the intentions of these instigated Princes they assembled themselves and raised all the Force they could resolving to fight in the defence of their Religion and Country so that in the Battel King Ethelbert was slain by the just Judgment of God and Kind Elfrid was sore wounded in the Battel and forced most shamefully to fly the whole Army also were defeated and almost all destroyed Thus God gave his Servants Victory over their Enemies Ex Chron. Angl. This Sir is a Saint to whom great Devotions are paid by your Church for that as your Divines say he was the first that brought the Faith into this Land which is false the Faith having been Received by the Inhabitants thereof many hundred years before he was born But behold his Pride and Cruelty two Vices that did rather intitle him a Devil than a Saint His Pride is sufficiently set forth by Venerable Bede who tells us That he did disdain to rise up in token of Reverence to seven Bishops and other Learned and Grave men of Britain when they made their appearance at his Council And because of this his Pride they would not hearken to his Demands nor take him for their Archbishop thinking that if he carried himself so insolently to them whilst a Stranger what Respect might they hope for when they came under his Jurisdiction His Cruelty appears in stirring up two Kings to commit such barbarous Murders Now Sir what reason have we to pray to such a Saint as this that had stained his Life with such foul Crimes as these Besides I could never yet read of his Repentance for that Bloud which he had occasioned to be shed Nay see but the old Chronicle written in
places far distant from each other at one and the same time for you must know that at the first creeping in of this fend notion the memory of those Martyrs were only kept up where their Bodies were Intombed and their Relicks kept but now you generally pray to them in many places at one and the same time where you have no Monuments of those Saints nor any of their Relicks which you do endeavour to prove offering several Authorities in vindication of the same The first Authority you produce is St. Augustine who as you say saith The Solution of this Question is beyond the reach of my Vnderstanding how the Martyrs help those which most certainly are helped by them whether or no they be themselves present at one time in so different places c. From whence you conclude that the holy Doctor Is certain that the Martyrs help their Clients at one and the same time in different places yet uncertain whether they were themselves present It was not say you his Perswasion that then the Saints help was to be required only where they were believed to be present This you say is a clear demonstration Your using the word Clyents is fitter for a Lawyer than a Divine of your station there might another word have been sound out but I let that pass and tell you that I do really believe the examples of the Martyrs have been of great use to the faithful and in this sence they may be said to help those that follow their good example you see it was past St. Austins understanding to solve the question How the Martyrs did help those that were their Clients as you call them in his Cura pro Mort. c. 16. but Sir suppose I should ask this question whether or no the Saints in Heaven have any knowledge at all of Humane Affairs on Earth I am sure there St. Austine can resolve me and he will tell us That the Dead can have no knowledge of our Affairs here upon Earth Mortui nesciunt etiam Sancti quid agant vivi etiam eorum filii Again Si rebus viventium interessent animae mortuorum c. If saith he so great and famous Patriarchs as Abraham Isaac and Jacob did not understand how the world went with their posterity how can it be that the dead should at all take notice of the living or intermeddle with assisting them De cura pro Mort. c. 13. 16. I pray Sir observe that St. Austin here is so far from praying to Saints that he tells you they are so far from helping or assisting that they know not your affairs on Errth for they have not the least knowledge of our condition Therefore when he saith the Christians are helped by the Martyrs you must not understand help as a consequent of your Prayers to them but of your following those holy Rules and Examples they have left you for by their Examples they may be said to help men Another Authority you produce is St. Gregory Nazianzen in his twelfth Oration who you say having largely shewed how the Martyrs cure Diseases put the Devil to flight c. He adds where their Bodies only are the same effect is had as from their Souls whether they are touched or worshipped The Reliques of Saints are much in Esteem in your Church and no Christian I think should offer any Indignity to them were they not false and fictitious and put upon Men in order to deceive them and those things termed to be Reliques which indeed are not so and many of the supposed Miracles done by them so foolish that a Man hath no reason to expect any miraculous Effects from them but rather ought to set them at nought they being the Inventions of Men to deceive the Simple but with your pardon I think St. Gregory here only speaketh of the Miracles that have been done by the Bodies of the Saints that have suffer'd for the Testimony of Jesus I will not dispute the Truth that the Holy Father delivers but I think from these words you cannot yet justifie your Doctrine of praying to Saints The Bodies of Martyrs cure Diseases and put the Devils to flight say you therefore must we pray to the Saints and Martyrs I think it by no means will follow Another Authority you produce is St. Ambrose in his Sermon upon the Holy Martyrs Nazarius and Celsus Have you invocated the Martyrs saith he He hears you every where who is honoured in the Martyrs according to his Dispensation who weighs your Vows and dispenceth his Gifts in so much is a nearer presence of the Intercessor granted as the Faith of the Clyent is more devout These words you say are St. Ambrose's words and so do several of your Divines But Sir I will offer you another saying of St. Ambrose as you call him in his Sixth Sermon upon St. Margaret Redere debemus Sanctis honorisicentium que nobis salutem profusione suis sanguinis perpererunt qui tam sacra hostia pro nostra propitiatione Domino suo oblati We must yield Honour unto the Saints which have procured Salvation for us by their shedding of their Bloud which also were offered up unto the Lord so Holy a Sacrifice for our Salvation You must not think Sir that any Protestant Divines will take either of these for the sayings of St. Ambrose for your Divines have miserably corrupted this Father and made him speak such Blasphemies against God and his Christ which that Holy Father would never have uttered and especially in his Sermons upon the Feasts of the Saints And the reason why I offer this is because that I find St. Ambrose is corrupted by Eutropius one of your own Authors and instead of Dominici sanguinis consecrationem He saith Dominici sanguinis dispensationem and again we find him in his Funeral Oration upon Theodosius to say these words Tu solus Domine Invocandus es Tu Rogandus ut eum in filiis Representes Thou alone O Lord art to be Invocated Thou art to be Intreated to make up the want of him in his Sons If a Saint and Martyr might lawfully be prayed unto then St. Ambrose was not Orthodox in this Request he put up to God. If he were Orthodox in this then God only is to be Invocated and not the Saints wherefore I conclude that when you Represent him to Admonish his Hearers to call upon the Saints that then you make him speak what your Divines have Forged and not his own Sence And this doth further appear if you will but consider that the Prayer you call his makes the Creature Omnipresent which is an Incommunicable Attribute of Almighty God of which great Blasphemy that Holy Father would not be Guilty But I suppose your Lippomanus or your Amphilochius hath helped you to this Prayer for in the old Edition of St. Ambrose I cannot find the Title of this Sermon but if they should be the words of St. Ambrose you know the word Invoke doth not always
imply Prayer but an Acknowledgement and the word here is sometimes taken for to own as that in Zach. 13. 9. So that the Holy Father if he did use those words he neither intended any Adoration to be paid to these Saints but only an Acknowledgment of their Graces and great Holiness and Faith in their Services and Sufferings for Christ and these were owned as Honourers of those Saints As for the Intercession there mentioned I never Read of any but that of their Blood which from under the Altar cryeth to Heaven but that any Man was justified or accepted or had a promise of being accepted but he that came to God in the Name of Christ alone I never read or heard of from the Scriptures In a word the Prayer as you call it is a muddy sort of business and scarce Sence as you have represented it You bring in Gregory the Great affirming that greater Miracles are often wrought where the Saints Bodies are not that our Mind being fixed upon God our Faith may have a greater Merit for as much as we know they repose not there and yet believe that they fail not to hear and grant our Requests I confess it is true that where the Primitive Christians did more trust in God that greater Miracles were wrought then by the Bodies of the Saints and those that have fixed their Minds upon God have received Eminent Favours from God as a Reward of their Faith But what of all this what have you to say to St. Gregory He is here brought in by you but I pray for what He doth indeed tell you that greater Miracles were wrought where the Bodies of the Saints were not therefore doth it follow that you must pray to them Nay the Bodies of the Saints not being there occasion'd some of the Christians to have their Minds fixed upon God Ergo the Prayer to Saints is lawful and they that have their Minds thus fixed their Faith hath a greater Merit therefore Prayers to Saints are lawful The Christians did know that their Bodies were not reposed in the Church where they were praying and this was an Argument of a strong Faith and therefore the Practice of the Church of Rome in praying to Saints is lawful You say St. Gregory saith That they hear and grant our Request That is we are owned and obtain favour from Heaven upon the consideration of our following their good Example for as God did much for the People of Israel for Abraham's Sake and saved a Ships Company for St. Paul's Sake if you will have it so worded And when God did shew any particular Favour to any Man for his Esteem that he had of God's Servants that were Martyrs it was often attributed to the Saint not believing that they did do it but only to ingage them to Honour the Memory of the Saints and to follow their good Examples But I think Sir St. Gregory the Great is somewhat too young an Author to be brought upon the Stage to prove this Doctrine You advanced next as Witnesses to your Doctrine by you defended those Fathers who owned that the same Saints Reliques lay in several places were Honoured in and carried about to distant places the Evident import whereof is that the Saints may be worshipped in many nay in a thousand different places In a word wherever the God of Saints is as St. Ambrose you say observes who every where manifests these Prayers to his Saints and grants the Blessings asked by their Intercession These Sir are your own words what proof have you for this What doth St. Ambrose observe he observes you say That the God of these Saints is every where and so do I and all Protestants and we believe that he doth hear us at all times and in all places Doth St. Ambrose say that therefore we must Worship the Saints Because God heareth us every where therefore must we pray to the Saints They make Intercession for those that pray to God and have Blessings granted by their Intercession How comes this to pass God saith St. Ambrose reveals it to them Suppose all this be true Doth it therefore follow we must pray to them because by Virtue of a Divine Revelation or Manifestation they come to understand that we have made our Prayers to God. This is not a way of Arguing that becomes a Grave Father of the Society The God of these Saints is every where therefore we ought to pray to him only as that Father saith But I pray in your next tell us where St. Ambrose makes this Observation and upon what Occasion Till then I cannot see any just Reason you have to bring in St. Ambrose for a Voucher I believe he will stand you in little stead But having taken your leave of St. Ambrose you then begin to produce your main Witnesses in Defence of your Doctrine The first you produce is St. Gregory Nazianzen What would you have him to prove Would you have him to prove that the Saints Relicks lying in several places and being Honoured in and carried about to distant places they may be Worshipped in many yea in a thousand different places I pray what saith St. Gregory He attests that a little Dust the least Splinter of their decayed Bones a Lock of their Hair their Clothes some drops though almost worn off of their Bloud have as much Worship paid as their whole Body that the very calling of the place by the Martyrs Name was known to him to have as much Efficacy as if the whole Body had lain there I am much surprized at this Authority or Witness for here is not one word to justifie the Doctrine of praying to Saints unless you will Argue thus That some of Relicks of the Saints have as much Worship paid to them as the whole Body Ergo the praying to Saints is lawful and they may be prayed to at one and the same time in a thousand different places This Logic Sir will not do but let us go on the very calling of a place by a Martyrs Name was known to St. Gregory to have as much Efficacy as if the whole Body had lain there I believe as much to the full and so you and I shall agree there but what then I hope you will let us see what will follow upon this Praying to Saints is Lawful and praying to them at one and the same time in different places By no means I do think Logicians of very little Proficiency would detect this way of Arguing Your second Testimony is from Theodoret who is brought in saying thus Their Bodies are not each in their own Monument but being divied amongst Cities and Villages are by them esteemed the Preservers of their Souls and Bodies and called their Physicians and Honoured as their Protectors and Guards and making use of their Intercession they by them obtain Divine Benefits and their divided Bodies retain their Power intire This was a Learned Writer but I cannot perceive what Service he doth you
and in that first Temple the Priest only did enter into the Holy of Holies and all the People stood without Aug. in Ps 64. How came Christ to be a Priest And of what Order is he a Priest The Author to the Hebrews tells you That he was a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck and that he was called of God see Heb. 5. 4 5 6. And no Man taketh this Honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as he saith in another place Thou art a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedeck Whoever termed the Saints to be Priests after the Order of Melchizedeck Who called them to be Priests When did did they enter within the Vail The Father saith That he alone of them which did partake of the Flesh doth make Intercession for us How comes the Saints now to do it When did this Intercession of theirs commence Christ did not enter into the Holy of Holies till after his Resurrection then God constituted him the great High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession saying Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Are the Saints yet risen from the Dead if they are not How then can they appear in the Presence of God for us If they do when did their Mediatorship begin Christ alone entered and alone doth interceed with God for Mankind If the Saints are joyned with him why then doth the Father here say He being now entered within the Veil alone of them who have been partakers of the Flesh The High-Priest in the time of the Law was a Type of Christ because he went into the Holy of Holies alone and all the People stood without How can that be true for you say That Christ did not alone go into the Holy of Holies but the Saints are entered also Holy Men of the Jews could not go in because they were not called to be Priests but you croud in the Saints though you can prove no Call. St. Austine saith He alone doth Interceed But you say That Christ doth not Interceed alone You must by no means contradict your own Bellarmine he saith thus The Saints in the Old Testament were not prayed unto because they were shut up in Prison they did not enjoy the Presence of God. Do the Saints now enjoy the Presence of God in Body and Soul If not how can they be Priests And how can they interceed for us How can they be said to have entered within the Veil Christ our High-Priest he is risen from the Dead and both in Body and Soul he appears in the Presence of God for us Give me leave to deal freely with you and tell you that your Stapleton tells us That Tertullianus Ireneus Origen St. Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumenius Theophylact St. Ambrose Clemen Romanus and St. Bernard did not believe that the Saints were admitted into Heaven or had a clear sight of God till the Resurrection from the Dead therefore they did not assent to this Sentence which is defined as a Doctrine of Faith that the Souls of the Righteous enjoy the sight of God before the Day of Judgment but did deliver their Opinions contrary to this Diffinition of your Church and if so they could not be of the Opinion by Bellarmine's own confession That Men on Earth should pray to them as those of your Church do to this day Do but observe this Holy Doctor once more saying thus Non sit nobis Religio cultus hominum Mortuorum quia se pie vixerunt tales non quaerunt Honores c. Honorandi ergo sunt propter imitationem non adorandi propter Religionem The worshipping of Men that are Dead should be no part of our Religion because that if they lived piously they will not seek that kind of Honour they are to be honoured therefore for Imitation but not to be adored for Religion Aug. de Ver. Relig. cap. 35. If it were no part of Religion in St. Augustine's time to Worship Saints then by what Authority do you make the Worshipping of Saints to be a part of your Religion It lies upon you therefore to justifie your self from this great absurdity of making that to be a part of the Christian Religion which is not really so I hope your Saints to whom you pray lived and dyed in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ or as this great Doctor hath it they lived piously If so when did they claim or challenge this Worship as due to them for he saith They well not seek that kind of Honour It lies Sir upon you to satisfie the World in this particular Again observe That if the Memories of the Saints and Martyrs be to be honoured only for Imitation as I have observed before Then by what Authority do you adore them for Religion since the aforesaid Doctor tells you They are not to be worshipped for Religion That the Memories of the Saints and Martyrs of our dear Redeemer ought to be honoured that no Christian will deny but that they ought to be worshipped is by this Doctor plainly forbidden Again the said Father saith Oratio quae non fit per Christum non potest delere peccatum sed etiam ipsa fit peccatum The Prayer which is not made by Jesus Christ not only cannot blot out Sin but itself also is sin Aug. in Psal 108. From which saying if to go to God in the Name of the Saints be sin how much more to go to the Saints themselves for you may remember that our sins are pardoned for the sake of Christ alone and that we have no Promise to receive at the hands of God those things we ask unless we go to him in the Name of his Son only And the said St. Austin in plain terms calls them Hereticks that were inclined to worship Angels De Haeres Cap. 29. Now if they were Hereticks that were inclined to worship Angels much more are they which worship Saints for if the more honourable may not be worshipped then the less honourable must not if the first be Heresie the latter cannot be Orthodox If this Father here condemns the one how can you with reason pretend to justifie the other St. Chrysostome who was a great Doctor in the Eastern Church In his third Homily on the first Chapter to the Hebrews hath this saying Why do you gape after Angels they are Servants to the Son of God and are sent to divers places for our sakes Sir Why do we worship Jesus Christ but because he is God over all blessed forever and God hath commanded the Angels to worship him Heb. 1. 6. Ps 97. 7. But he never commanded us to Worship the Angels for if Worship be due to the Angels how will it appear that he was made better than the Angels and that he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they