The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Controversy 1 · Chapter 5
CHAP. 5. What aſſurance the Roman Church hath, that the Saints whom they call upon, are true Saints?
THis is an important queſtion: For one cannot call upon Saints, unleſs he be firſt certainly perſwaded of their Holineſs. Of the holineſs and bleſſedneſs of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apoſtles, and other holy men to whom the Scripture beareth witneſs, and eſpecially of the holy Virgin Mary, no man can doubt without impiety and unjuſt diffidence. To which I add the Martyrs and the faithfull Paſtors who have been ſince the Apoſtles, of whom antient hiſtory ſpeaks with honour. But the Roman Church yields a religious ſervice to many imaginary Saints, of whom we may juſtly doubt, not only whether they be Saints, but whether they ever had any being, and whoſe life is notoriouſly fabulous,Caſſander Conſultatione de Articulis religioonis, cap. de Meritis & Interceſſione Sanctorum. as it is acknowledged by Caſſander a Divine of Collen. That error (ſaith he) is frequent, that the people almoſt despiſeth the old Saints that are known, and ſerveth with more fervour and affection new Saints, whoſe holineſs is leſs certain, and which ſometimes are known only by revelations. Yea there are ſome of them of whom one may juſtly doubt whether they ever lived in the world. And yet the devotion to their ſervice is very much increaſed by feigned ſtories and impoſtures of miracles. Which fictions have defiled even the hiſtories of the true Saints. He ſaith, that in the Roman Church they deſpiſe the true Saints, becauſe they yield no particular ſervice to any Patriarch or Prophet of the Old Teſtament.
They ſay not Saint Noah, nor St. Abraham, nor St. Moſes, nor St. Samuel. To none of them the leaſt candle is offered, which is very far from building Churches to their memory. But great honour is deferred to Saint Francis, Saint Dominick, and Saint Juniperus, and to ſuch Saints of late Edition, made by the Pope.
Of thoſe Saints, of whom one might juſty doubt whether they are Saints, or whether they ever were in the world, many examples might be given.
The three Kings whoſe bodies lye at Collen, and whoſe feaſt is in the Calendar, are Saints that never were. They are ſaid to come out of the Eaſt, yet two of them have German names, for they call them Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. St. Matthew ſaith, that they were Sages of Mages come from the Eaſt, and defines not their number.
The Antients ſpeak of them in the ſame manner. The narration about Lazarus placed in Abrahams boſome, and the rich glutton tormented in hell, is a parable:(a)Chryſoſt. in Lazarum, foreign. And Hom. 4. foreign. Chryſoſtome calls it ſo in the fourth Homily upon Lazarus. And the Author of the queſtions to the Orthodox, aſcribed to Juſtin Martyr, qu. 60. Otherwiſe we ought to believe that ſouls have fingers and a tongue, and that the damned call upon the Saints, hoping for eaſe of their pains. Yet(b)Baronius Martyrolog. Martii 15. & Annalib. An. 34. §. 131. Baronius in his Martyrology acknowledgeth, that in the Roman Church there are Churches built to the memory of St. Lazarus, that is, to the memory of a man that never lived in the world. That Saint is the patron of the leprous. I put in the ſame rank St. Longinus, whom they ſay to have pierced our Saviours ſide with a ſpear. For of a ſpear (which in Greek after the antient pronunciation, is called lonchi) they have made a ſpearman.
And St. Martial, whoſe life ſaith, that he was St. Peters coſin, and that he waited at the table when Chriſt inſtituted the Euchariſt, and that he expelled Paganiſm out of Gauls in the time of the Goths. But in that time there was no Goths in Gauls, and Paganiſm was not driven out of it but a long time after.
What ſhall we ſay of St. Ʋrſula, patroneſs of the Ʋrſulines, daughter of a Chriſtian King of England? They ſay that ſhe lived in the year 300. of Chriſt, but then there was no King of England. There might be ſome petty barbarous King in the North of the Iſland, but he was not a Chriſtian. They make her the leader of eleven thouſand Virgins going in pilgrimage to Rome, and ſay, that meeting with troops of Huns that would violate them, they were ſlain upon their reſiſtance. But in thoſe dayes the Huns were not yet entered into Germany. And where could ſhe have got thoſe eleven thouſand Virgins? Neither were pilgrimages to Rome in faſhion at that time, but came long after.
How groſly fabulous is the life of St. Catherine? They make her live in the time of Maxentius, and to have been daughter to Coſtus King of Alexandria, a man that never was. For then Alexandria had no King, but was ſubject to the Roman Empire. Her life ſaith, that ſhe converted Queen Fauſtina and fifty Philoſophers, which are blind tales. There was then no Queen Fauſtina, neither in Aegypt, nor any where elſe.
Of the like ſtuff is the hiſtory of St. Margaret, whom the Tyrant Olybrius put in priſon, becauſe ſhe would not turn a Mahumetan. And being in priſon, ſhe was ſwallowed by a Dragon, who burſt with it, which was a kind of child-birth; wherefore her Legend is read to women in labour; And women with child will gird themſelves with her girdle, which is kept in St. Germans Abbey of Paris: The Fryers of that Covent do them that Office. That Olybrius was never in the world. Neither is it the cuſtome of Mahumetans to force any by Martyrdom and publick puniſhments to renounce Chriſtian Religion. In what time that Saint Margaret lived, no man can tell.
It is believed in Spain (and to doubt of it, is a caſe of Inquiſition) that James the Apoſtle beheaded by Herod, Act. 12. is the Patron of Spain, and that he preacht in Spain, and converted the Countrey to the Chriſtian faith; and that after he was beheaded by Herod, his body was miraculouſly tranſported from Jeruſalem to Compoſtella, where pilgrims reſort from all parts to viſit his relicks. But Baronius in his Annals an. 816. §. 48. & ſeq. confuteth that fable by the authority of two Popes, Innocent the I. and Gregory the VII. Which is one of the cauſes, why the Annals of Baronius are forbidden in Spain. O holy Apoſtle! who put upon thee that Office of Patron of Spain after thy death, upon imaginary cauſes, and againſt the Popes will?
Acts 17.34. Dionyſius the Areopagite is mentioned, an Athenian and a Diſciple of St. Paul. Gregorius Turoneuſis in book 1. of the hiſtory of the Franks, ſpeaks of another Dionyſius, who preached the Goſpel at Paris in the time of the Emperour Decius, about the year of Chriſt 250. Of theſe two Dionyſii they have made but one, whom they call Areopagite, although he that is mentioned in the Acts was never in Gauls; neither was Chriſtian Religion planted in Gauls but a long time after his death, that is, about the time of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius, about the year of the Lord 162. as Sulpitius Severus witneſſeth in the ſecond book of his ſacred hiſtory.(c)Sub Aurelio Antonini filio perſecutio quinta agitata. Ac tum primum intra Gallias martyria viſa, ſerius trans Alpes religione Dei ſuſcepta. Ʋnder Aurelius (ſaith he) the fifth perſecution was moved, and then the firſt martyrdoms were ſeen in Gaules; divine religion being received but late beyond the Alps. Yet at St. Denis by Paris, they keep the body of that pretended Dionyſius the Areopagite, Patron of Gauls, and his relicks are there worſhipped with great devotion, againſt the expreſs declaration of Pope Leo the IX. related by Baronius an. 1052. in which the ſaid Pope decided the difference between Ratisbone and Paris, which both pretend to have the body of Dionyſius the Areopagite, and pronounced in favour of Ratisbone, condemning the error of the French. But the French ſuperſtition hath carried it againſt the Popes declaration.
How ridiculous is the fable of the Gyant St. Chriſtopher? And that of St. George fighting on horſeback againſt a Dragon? Every one knoweth that the enemies of St. Athanaſius laid to his charge that he was a Magician, and that his capital enemy was George an Arian, who invaded his See. This St. George then was an heretick Arian; For his life ſaith, that he had great combats againſt the Magician Athanaſius.
We doubt not but that there was ſuch a man as St. Francis, the inventor and Patron of the order of Franciſcan Fryers. But his Legend, and the Chronicles of St. Francis attribute unto him a thouſand actions deſtitute of common ſenſe; as to preach unto Birds, to take up Lyce fallen from his garments, and ſet them on his garments again, to wallow in the mire, to make to himſelf a wife of ſnow, and embrace her to allay his amorous heat, &c. St. Dominick Patron of the Dominican Fryers preacht the croiſada againſt that faithfull people, which they called in ſcorn Albigenſes, and cauſed above two hundred thouſand of them to be ſlain. His Legend ſaith in the beginning, that his Mother being neer to be delivered of him, dreamed, that a Dog came forth from her, bearing a burning torch in his mouth. Theſe are the two Saints whom St. Antonine Arch-biſhop of Florence compares with Jeſus Chriſt, and finds very little inequality between them.
One had need to be of an eaſie belief to be certainly perſwaded, that thoſe whom the Pope canonizeth, and puts in the liſt of the Saints (aſſigning unto them a holy day in the Calendar that they may be prayed to) are Saints indeed, and enjoying the glory of God. For who gave the Pope that priviledge to be infallible in that judgement, ſeeing that it is a queſtion of fact, in which our Adverſaries acknowledge, that the Pope may be miſtaken and miſinformed? Wherefore alſo the Cardinal Cajetan in his Treatiſe of Indulgences to Julius de Medicis, (d)Cap. 8. Poteſt intervenire error humanus in canonizatione alicujus Sancti ut S. Thomas dicit.acknowlegeth that there may be error in the Canonization. Melchior Canus ſaith the ſame in book 5. chap. 5. and that after Thomas Aquinas, as Cajetan ſaith in the ſame place. Who knows not how many factions and ſollicitations are uſed in the Court of Rome by Princes and Common-wealths, that a man of their Countrey or City may be canonized? So far that the Pope ſometimes being overcome with importunity, is carried away to canonize a man againſt his will, as the book of ſacred ceremonies doth acknowledge.(e)Papa tunc quodammodo cogebatur ad Canonizandum quendam contra ſuam opinionem, & propterea proteſtabatur. Then (ſaith he) the Pope was in ſome ſort conſtrained to canonize a man againſt his opinion, and therefore made a proteſtation. By that proteſtation he thought to diſcharge his conſcience.
Now let any reaſonable man judge, whether the prayer made to a Saint canonized in that manner can be done in faith, ſeeing that it is not grounded upon the word of God, and that our very Adverſaries acknowledge it poſſible, that a man may be prayed to as a Saint, who is tormented in hell fire. And whereas the hiſtories of the Popes ſpeak of many Popes whoſe lives have been moſt wicked, and their ends miſerable, and that our Adverſaries freely confeſs, that there may be ſome Popes damned; think you whether a man condemned to hell can inſert a man in the liſt of the Saints of Paradiſe?
The ordinary dawbing to hide this weak place, is, that the Canonization is made upon the information of the miracles made by him that is canonized. But Gerſon in his Sermon of the IV. houſes, teacheth that the canonization grounded upon miracles, ſtands upon an unſafe bottom. And himſelf in the Treatiſe of examination of doctrines, relates that Pope Gregory the XI. being near his end, and holding the Sacrament in his hand, proteſted, that he had been ſeduced by deceitfull miracles, and led away to make a ſchiſm in the Church. Which he ſaid with a relation to Catherine of Siena, who by miracles and viſions had induced him to leave Avignon, and remove to Rome. Notwithſtanding(f)Baron Martyrolog. Apr. 20. Pius the II. put that Catherine among the Saints, although ſhe had abuſed his predeceſſor.
The words whereby the Pope canonizeth a Saint, are ſuch. In the authority of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt, and of the bleſſed Apoſtles, Peter and Paul, and in our own, We decree and define that N. of good memory is a Saint, and muſt be put in the liſt of the Saints, &c. And obſerve, that before the pronouncing of that ſentence, the cauſe is pleaded in the Conſiſtory, and an Advocate preſents himſelf, who repreſents the reaſons why ſuch a one ought to be Sainted. The Apoſtles were not ſo canonized, nor their diſciples: Nor thoſe old Fathers who are called Saints, as Irenaeus, Cyprian, Baſil, Hierom, Auſtin. This canonization is an imitation of the Pagan Apotheoſes: Wherefore alſo the ſecond book of the Sacred Ceremonies, calls the Ceremonies(g)Divorum noſtrorum Apotheoſes. Apotheoſes, that is, Deifications, or making of Gods, whereby a man is made one of the Gods by the authority of men. It happens to ſome poor Saints, for whom the dignity of Saints is begged in the Court of Rome, to be caſt in their ſuit, and they cannot be Saints in heaven, becauſe men on earth were not favourable to them. Sometimes the degree of Beat. is obtained for them, which is a middle degree, and an expectation of Saint-ſhip. By this means Popes will give their ſervants to be worſhipped by the Nations of Chriſtendome. Which new Saints are far more honoured then the Patriarchs and Prophets. For in the Roman Church it fareth with Saints as with clothes: The neweſt are the beſt, and moſt eſteemed.