"That said I would not hunt for matter, I could send you to authors of theirs, and not of the least note, where we may read such blasphemy as this: "that God hath given the Virgin Mary half of his kingdom."* "That the prayers made to, and by the saints, are better than those made by Christ."+ the mother's milk is equally to be esteemed with the son's blood."+ This you may take for a taste of that hyperdulia, that super-refined service, which they put up to the blessed Virgin; and yet that to the Apostles, and other saints of less magnitude, comes not much behind it; St. Peter is entreated, by the power given to him, "to hear their prayers, to untie the bonds of their iniquity, and to open the gates of heaven :" all the Apostles,§"to absolve them from their sins, by their command to heal all their spiritual maladies, and to increase their virtues." St. Andrew is supplicated "for patience, to bear cheerfully the cross of Christ;" St. Francis" for deliverance from the drudgery and bondage of sin;" St. Bridget "for wisdom against the snares of the world," St. Nicholas "for courage against the assaults of the devil;" St. Agnes "for the chiefest of graces, that of charity;" and St. Catharine "for all graces :" we are taught to pray to be delivered from hell, and to be made partakers of heaven by their merits;¶ to fly to them as our patrons and advocates, to put confidence in their intercessions, and to ascribe our mercies and deliverances to their power and interest in God. In the office of visitation of the sick, the priest laying his hand upon the head of the sick person, prays, **"that Jesus the son of Mary, and Saviour of the world, would for the merits and intercession of his holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all saints, be gracious and merciful to him:" and in another place in the same office, that++ through the intercession of the blessed Virgin and all saints, he might obtain eternal life." These are enough; but I cannot omit one more, which is a flower indeed; in the office about the sacrament of penance, there is found this remarkable prayer,‡‡ "The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of all saints, and whatsoever good thou hast done, and whatsoever evil thou hast suf * Biel. in Can. Mis. Sect. 80. Carol. Scrib. in Amph. hon. + Salmeron in 1 Tim. 2. disc. 8. § Commun. p. 29. Chemn. exemp. Invocat. Sanct. p. 146. ** Ritual. de Visit. Infirm. ¶ Breviar. et Miss. †† Meritis et intercessione S. S. Ritual. Rom. de Sacram. poenit. [Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi, merita Mariæ Virginis, et omnium Sanctorum, et quicquid boni feceris, et mali sustinueris sunt tibi in remissionem peccatorum, augmentum gratiæ, præmium vitæ æternæ. Amen. P. 44. Venet. 1663.] fered, be to thee for the remission of sins, the increase of grace, and the reward of eternal life." And now let the reader judge, if this be not to give the creature that worship that is due only to the Creator, and to seek to obtain those blessings from finite beings, and through their procurement, which only Almighty God, and his blessed Son Jesus Christ, can give unto men. 3. It is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, that mental* prayers as well as vocal, are to be put up to saints departed: so the Trent Council decreed; so their bishops and pastors are enjoined to teach the people, and so they practise, this being a form of prayer to saints, in frequent use amongst them, "with the desire of our hearts we pray unto you, regard the ready service of our minds:" so that according to them, saints departed do not only hear our prayers, but know our hearts also; and indeed this is necessarily implied in every prayer that is made to them, viz. that they not only hear the prayer, but know the disposition of the heart from whence it proceeds, otherwise the hypocritical supplicant must be supposed as likely to obtain their favour as the sincerest votary. 4. They not only pray to them with mental and vocal prayer, but They confess their sins to them. Very remarkable is that form of confession in the reformed Roman Missal: "I confess to Almighty God, to the ever-blessed Virgin, to blessed Michael Archangel, to blessed John Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, brethren, that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed.” They make vows to them; nothing is more common than at entrance into some religious orders, thus to express their devotion, "I vow to God and the blessed Virgin;" then to vow that their whole life shall be devoted to the blessed Virgin, or some other saint, according to that famous pattern, "I humbly beg of thee, O mother of all clemency, that thou wouldest vouchsafe to admit me into the number of those who have devoted themselves to thee, to be thy perpetual servants." Another of this kind, not much inferior to it, we meet in Horstius, § viz. "I firmly resolve henceforth to serve thee and thy Son with all faithfulness, and for ever to cleave to thee." * Voce vel mente supplicare. [Labbe, ut supra.] Francis. Albertin. de Angel. Custod. p 224. They offer up laud and praise to them, and entreat them to hear and receive their thanksgivings; thus to St. James they pray, "that he would joyfully hear the acknowledgments that as right and due they paid to him.' It is usual with their learned men, to conclude their books with "praise to God and the blessed Virgin," particularly Valentia and Bellarmine; the latter of which thus ends his book concerning the worship of saints:† "Praise be to God and to the blessed Virgin, also to Jesus Christ." Horstius before had it, "thee and thy Son;" Bellarmine here, "the blessed Virgin," and then "Jesus Christ;" whereby we may see they give her not only an equal part with God in their praises, but placing her before Christ,+ seem to give her somewhat of pre-eminence above him. 5. They appoint angels and saints deputies and lieutenants under God in the government of the world, and stick not to make them guardians, patrons, and patronesses over particular kingdoms, cities, churches, and single persons. The Scripture indeed frequently speaks of the knowledge, presence, dignity, occasional ministry, and embassies of holy Angels; but that delegation of power the Romanists give them, whereby they make them share empire and dominion with God in the government of the world, can be as little proved of them, as of saints departed; however, I am chiefly to consider their doctrine and practice in reference to the latter; they teach the peoples to make choice of one or more out of the number of the saints, to be their patron; to love them, to imitate them, through their hands to offer daily their works to God, to commend themselves to their protection at all times, especially in difficulties and temptations. They give to one saint this precinct, and to another that; to one, power over this malady; over that, to others: more of this you have drawn to the life in the forementioned excellent homily of our Church against idolatry, out of which I shall only cull some passages, and refer the reader for farther satisfaction to the homily itself: it compares such saints in the Roman Church, to whom they allot the defence of certain countries, to the Dii Tutelares of the Gentile idolaters; such to whom the safety of certain cities are committed, to their Dii Presides; and such to whom *Brev. Rom. in fest. S. Jacob. + Bellar. de cul. Sanct. Ludg. Edit. Laus Deo virginique Mariæ, Jesu item Christo. Homil. of Idolat. temples and churches are builded, and altars erected, to their Dii Patroni: it tells us "that the Romanists have no fewer saints than the heathens had gods, to whom they gave the honour due to God: every artificer and profession has his special saint as a peculiar god: for example, scholars have St. Nicholas and St. Gregory; painters, St. Luke; neither lack soldiers their Mars; nor lovers their Venus, amongst Christians. The sea and waters, amongst the Romanists, as well as cities and countries, have their special saints to preside over them, as amongst the heathens they had gods; all diseases have their special saints as gods, the curers of them; the рох, St. Roche; the falling-evil, St. Cornelis; the tooth-ache, St. Apollonia; neither do beasts and cattle lack their gods with us; for St. Loy is the horse-leech, and St. Anthony the swineherd, &c. Where is God's providence and due honour in the mean time? Who saith, the heavens be mine, the earth is mine, the whole world, and all that therein is; but we have left him neither heaven nor earth, nor water, nor country, nor city, peace nor war, to rule and govern; neither men nor beasts, nor their diseases to cure; and as if we doubted of his ability or will to help, we join to him another helper, as if he were a noun adjective, using these sayings; such as learn, God and St. Nicholas be my speed; such as sneeze, God help and St. John; to the horse, God and St. Loy save thee: thus are we become like horses and mules that have no understanding: O heavens! O earth! What madness and wickedness against God are men fallen into! What dishonour do the creatures their Creator and Maker! This is not written to reproach the saints, but to condemn the foolishness and wickedness of men, who make of the true servants of God, false gods, by attributing to them the power and honour which is God's, and due to him only." II. On what occasion this Doctrine and Practice began and spread in the Church. GREAT was the honour the Primitive Christians had for their martyrs and confessors; they frequented their tombs, erected altars on the places of their burial, highly esteemed their bones and relics: here they rehearsed their good works done in their lifetime, and their faith, patience and constancy shewed at death: here they blessed God for that grace that We was given to them, and for that good that accrued to themselves by their example: here they proposed their virtues for imitation, and had their own piety and zeal inflamed by the remembrance of them; and the Christian cause being then harassed on every side by implacable enemies, the malice of the Jew, and the subtlety of the Greek, and the power of the Roman, combining with their united force to destroy and root it up, it pleased God, not only by the demonstration of a Divine power in the Apostles, and their immediate successors, whilst they were alive, but also by many wonderful things done at their tombs, when they were dead, and by sensibly answering prayers that were there put up to him, to confirm the truth of Christianity, to declare his approbation of the sufferings of his servants, and to encourage others to seal the doctrine of the Gospel with their blood, as they had done. To them, in a particular manner, may that of the Apostle be applied, "Whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; and whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." The Apostle having said in the verse before,† know that all things work together for good unto them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose;" adds, as a proof of what he had said, "whom he did foreknow," would be persons of great and noble minds, and so fit for the work; "them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son," them he did decree to suffer for his sake, and by sufferings to be made conformed to his Son, who was made perfect through sufferings; "and whom he did predestinate, them he also called ;" them in due time, he actually called forth to suffer for his name; "and whom he called, them he also justified," them he approved of as faithful servants, as loyal soldiers, as invincible champions of truth and righteousness; and "whom he justified, them he also glorified;" them he crowned with honour and renown here, and with immortal glory hereafter. This was the testimony God bore to the Apostles and first bishops of the Church, to the authority they had received, to the doctrine they taught, and for which they died this was the honour the Primitive Christians deservedly shewed to their victorious martyrs; they did not invocate them, but loved their memories, commemorated their * Rom. viii. 29, 30. VOL. VII. † Ver. 28. G |