Father Cotton a Jesuit, Demand 19 – Demand 21
XIX. DEMAND. That it is not lawfull to ſalute or to inuocate or craue ayde of this Angel, or any other eyther in generall or in particular.
ANSVVERE.
TO ſalute an Angell or a Saint is a mocking of them: to inuocate a Saint or an Angell is an offence to God. The reaſons are euident. To ſalute one, is to ſay, God keepe you, or Good-Morrow: alſo, to ſalute, is to deſire ones health, which is a kinde of prayer that wee make for him. But our Aduerſaries doe acknowledge it to be a wrong to a Saint to pray for him. And it is a groſſe abuſe, euen at this day, to ſay to the Virgin Mary, Aue Maria, that is to ſay, God keepe thee Mary: this is no inuocating or calling vponupon, but a praying for her. As for inuocating an Angell or Saint, it is repugnant to the rules and examples of Gods word. 1. Saint Paul ſaith, that wee cannot inuocate any, but him in whom we beleeue: How ſhall they (ſaith hee) inuocate him on whom they hauehave not beleeued? Rom. 10. But we are taught both by the Scripture, and by our Beliefe, to ſay, I beleeue in God the Father, and in Ieſus Chriſt, and in the holy Ghoſt: but in no wiſe, I beleeue in any Creature. 2. It is alſo requiſite, that hee, whom a man doth inuocate, ſhould know his heart that doth inuocate him, and be aſſured whether hee be an Hypocrite.2 Chron. 6.30. But Gods word doth teſtifie, that God onelyonly knoweth the hearts of men. 3. Neither can we hauehave any better Aduocate then Ieſus Chriſt, who (ſaith Saint Paul, 1 Tim. 2.) is our onelyonly Mediator. 4. Sith alſo it is God himſelfe that inſpireth our hearts to pray, and ſtirreth vp in vsus thoſe groning ſighes that S. Paul, Rom. 8.25. ſpeaketh of, what neede we any interceſſors to commend vntounto God that prayer which God himſelfe hath inſpired into vsus? or to cauſe the voyce of the Spirit of God to be acceptable vntounto God? 5. Neyther do we finde any example or commandement to inuocate Creatures, throughout all the holy Scripture: but one expreſſe example wee hauehave of an Angell reiecting the adoration of S. Iohn, who did not adore this Angell, as thinking him to be God: for in the Reuelat. cap. 21. v. 9. he ſaith directly, that it was one of the ſeauen Angels that had the ſeauen Vials, who ſoone after forbad S. Iohn, when he would hauehave worſhipped him, cap. 21. v. 9. 6. To be briefe, our Aduerſaries are in this cauſe ſo perplexed that they begin openly to teach that inuocation of Saints is not neceſſarie, and that wee may be ſaued without it, notwithſtanding, Pope Innocent the third affirmeth the contrarie in his third Booke of the Myſteries of the Maſſe, cap. 9.Quorum meritis precibuſ que rogamus. Neceſſarium nobis eſt in via Sanctorum ſuffragium, &c. And that the Maſſe is not content with their interceſſions onelyonly, but alſo craueth of God ſaluation through their merits, euen ſo farre forth that Bellarmine ſaith,Lib. 1. Indulgen. cap. 4. in the end of the Chapter. that they be in ſome ſort our Redeemers. And indeede it is holden, that they pay for vsus, ſith the Pope doth conuert their ſupererogatory ſatisfactions into payments for other men. All this is taken out of the vnwritten word.
XX. DEMAND. That God permitteth not ſinne, but willeth it, as Caluin ſaith in his Inſtitutions, lib. 1. cap. 17. §. 8. & cap. 18. §. 1. &. 2.
ANSVVERE.
VVEE heare that our Aduerſaries hauehave printed Caluins Inſtitutions, wherein they hauehave altered whatſoeuer they liſt: if it be ſo, it muſt needes be that the author of theſe queſtions hath thereout taken all that he imputeth vntounto Caluin. For ſo farre is Caluin in the eight Section of the ſeauenteenth Chapter of his firſt Booke, from ſaying that God willeth ſinne, that euen throughout all that Section there is not one word of ſinne; neyther doth hee there ſpeake of the euill of the fault, but of the euill of the puniſhment, and afflictions. As concerning the firſt and ſecond Sect. of the 18. Chapter, the Author taketh this word (to will) in a contrarie ſence. For it doth not import that God is the author of ſinne, but it onelyonly excludeth the naked and idle permiſſion: Becauſe the wicked, doing euill, (as Iudas and the Iewes, when they betrayed and crucified Ieſus Chriſt) doe it voluntarily and of their owne motion: and yet neuertheleſſe for all this doe no more but what the counſell of God had before determined ſhould be done, as ſaith S. Peter, Acts 4.8. Thus you ſee in one Demand two ſlanders, here followes the third: that is, that this Demand preſuppoſeth that wee are grounded vponupon Caluin, or bound to defend him, whom neuertheleſſe wee knew to be a man and ſubiect to errour, who alſo doth ſtill referre vsus to the Scriptures, to the end wee ſhould not build vponupon him. The ſlaunders of our Aduerſaries doe more binde vsus to reade him then his owne authoritie. But our Aduerſaries doe not rancke the Popes in this degree: for, they hold that the Popes cannot erre in Faith, and therefore they are bound to defend all their ſayings: as the ſaying of Pope Clement, 1. who in Cauſa 12. Can. Dilectiſsimis, approueth the opinion of Plato, who ſaith that Goods and Wiues ought to be common: and calleth him the wiſeſt of all the Greekes. Alſo, the opinion of Iohn the 24. who taught, that the ſoules of men doe dye with the ſoules of beaſts: and for the ſame was condemned in the Councell of Conſtance, Seſſ. 11. Alſo the Canon Chriſtiano, in the 34. Diſtinction, which ſaith, that A Chriſtian ought to hauehave but one Wife, and for want of a Wife a Concubine. Alſo the Canon aHac ratione, &c. Apoſtoli praeceperant ſecundas adire nuptias propter incontinentiam hominum. Nam ſecundam quidem accipere, ſecundum praeceptum Apoſtoli licitum eſt, ſecundum autem rationem veritatis verè fornicatio eſt, &c.Hacratione, cauſ. 31. qu. 1. which ſaith that the Apoſtle S. Paul ſpake againſt both truth and reaſon. In this Demand there is yet a fourth tricke of bad meaning. Hee requireth a proofe of that which Caluin ſaith in ſuch and ſuch places, and yet in the ſame places he might hauehave found the proofes added by Caluin himſelfe: would hee wiſh vsus to copie him out the Chapters? or can he better reade our writing then the Impreſſion of the Inſtitution? Let him then ſeeke the places if he liſt: and if they content him not, let him refute them.
XXI. DEMAND. That we muſt vſe no Lights in the Church, neither any Eccleſiaſticall Ornaments, diſtinguiſhed from the ſeculers.
ANSVVERE.
VVHo euer ſaid ſo? Doe not wee our ſelues light vp Candles in our Churches, when we cannot well ſee? HaueHave not the Paſtors habits conuenient for the Action or ſeruice, in the Churches, where they may goe on foot to*For the places oft-times appointed to the Proteſtants for exerciſe of their religion are ſome miles diſtant from their habitation. Cir. Offic. 3. Omnibus viris ſtatuae & ad eas Thus & Cerei. Ouid. Ep. Medeae. Ardet vt ad magnos pinaea taeda deos. Cereos non clara luce accendimus, vt tu fruſtra calumniaris ſed vt tenebras noctis hoc ſolatio temperemus. ſerue God without riding on horſeback? But to aske whether we may light vp Candles at high-noone, is a queſtion out of the compaſſe of Diuinitie, and may be decided by common ſenſe. For, it is as much as to aske whether we muſt walke through the towne with Lanthorne at high-noone, or whether we ſhall need a combe to a bald head. We know that the Gentiles vſed Tapers in broad day-light, and lighted them about the Images of their Gods and great Perſonages: but we are not their Diſciples, And vponupon this quarrell doth S. Hierome confute the ſlander of Nigilantius who complained that we light vp Candles in the broad day-light. We light not vp (ſaith S. Hierome) any Tapers in broad day-light, as thou vainely doſt ſlander vsus: but onelyonly by this remedie to qualifie the darkeneſſe of the night.