Answer to Book by Romish Priests, Doctrine 34
XXXIV. That we ought not expreſly to pray them to pray or intercede to God for us.
Anſwer.
HEretofore the words were theſe, That we may not pray to them; which is the true point. But now they are changed into, We may not pray them to pray for us. As if the Church of Rome did no more than this; when it is manifeſt they pray directly to them; and Invocation, according to their Doctrine, is a part of that Worſhip which is due to them; whereas praying them to pray for us (as one man deſires another to do) hath nothing of worſhip in it. He could not go on to deal ſincerely, as he had begun in the former Section. Truth is a very great ſtranger to them; and their great buſineſs is to miſrepreſent both our Opinion and their own.
Luk. XVI. 24.The very firſt Scripture alſo, which he quotes over again, if it prove any thing, proves more than he would have us think is their Opinion. For the Man doth not ſay, I pray Father Abraham pray for me▪ but have mercy on me. But I have told him before, this is a Parable, which he will by no means allow, and thinks to choke us with the Voice of ten Renowned and Ancient Fathers, who all affirm this to be a true Hiſtory, and not a Parable. But this Man hath very ill luck with his Fathers; for the very firſt he mentions (who ſhould have been one of the laſt) Theophylact, not only calls it a Parable, but is ſo confident of it, that he ſays they think fooliſhly (ſo it is in the Greek, tho in the Latin they leave out that word, foreign, fooliſhly) who take it for an Hiſtory. The Reader, I believe, bluſhes for this Man, who if he could or would have look'd into Maldonate, (a Jeſuit of no mean note) he might have found ſeveral other Fathers, whom Theophylact follows in this opinion. And St. Chryſoſtome among the reſt, who indeed ſometimes ſays it is a Hiſtory; but doth not ſay, as this Man makes him, that it is not a Parable. And if the Cauſe muſt be carried by the Voices of Fathers, I can name him more than Ten, or a Dozen, who ſay the Souls of the Faithful do not enjoy the Glorious Viſion of God till the Reſurrection. And therefore Saints can neither know our Prayers, nor are to be invoked, as he concludes merely from this Parable. Concerning which, I think both Maldonate and Menochius (two conſiderable Jeſuits) have very judiciouſly reſolved, for the quieting of this doubt, whether it be Hiſtory or Parable; that it is both. For that there was a rich man, and a poor, called Lazarus; that the one when he died went to Hell, and the other was carried to Abraham's Boſome, is a Hiſtory. But that the rich man talk'd with Abraham, and deſired him to ſend Lazarus to cool his Tongue with a drop of Water, is a Parable adjoyned to the Hiſtory; for they that are in Hell, do not ask Courteſies of the Saints. Now it happens unfortunately for this man, that what he grounds his Argument upon, falls within that part which is Parable, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Which Maldonate judiciouſly obſerves, is a form of Speech, which Beggers uſe; as they lye in the High-way, ſhowing their ſores; and well repreſents how Lazarus and he had changed Conditions. Lazarus was poor here, and the rich man ſtript of all there. Here the rich man enjoyed his pleaſure, and there Lazarus rejoyced. No man of ſenſe can reject this Interpretation. And yet this Writer cries out, Lo, two Saints are here prayed to, and beſought in one verſe. Nay, he hath the Confidence to ask us, For God-ſake, where are your Eyes? Truly, mine are newly open this morning, when men are wont to be moſt ſober; and I can ſee none to whom the rich man addreſſes his Requeſt, but Abraham, alone. How this man came to ſee double, I leave it to himſelf to conſider. Here is not a word ſaid to Lazarus in this Parable, but all to Abraham; who is deſired to ſend Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger, &c. And yet this man was ſo intoxicated with ſome thing or other, that he thinks the rich man called upon Lazarus alſo, to have Mercy on him. For ſhame, let them throw this Book away, and not give it about any more. For all that can be gathered from this ſtory is, that ſuch was the torment of the rich man, that if he could have ſeen Abraham, and Lazarus in his Boſom, and have ſpoken to him, he would have expreſſed in ſome ſuch words as theſe, his intollerable pain.
It is to no end to look what St. Auſtin ſaith I know not where, when he declares himſelf ſo poſitively*L. XXII. de Civ. Dei c. 10., That tho they named the Martyrs at the Altar, yet they were not invoked by the Prieſt that ſacrificed.
The next place of Scripture, I have conſidered before, V. Job 1. and both given the meaning, and anſwered his Cavils, when he brought it to prove praying to Angels, as now (ſo indigent and beggarly they are) it is preſſed for praying to Saints.
He will loſe his labour, that looks into the other places, which he barely names; or into his Fathers. Some of which are forged, as Dionyſius Areop. Athanaſius de Annunc. St. Chryſoſtom, Hom. 66. ad Pop. (for there's but one and twenty in the Ancient Greek MS. as Poſevine acknowledges) Maximus Taurin. whoſe Sermon upon Saint Agnes is by others aſcribed to St. Ambroſe; but Bellarmin confeſſes it contradicts St. Ambroſe in another place, and therefore cannot be his, nor any one's elſe on whom we can rely. And others of his Fathers are falſely alledged, as St. Baſil, who only ſays, that People run to their Memories, or Monuments; viz. there to pray to God, not to them. St. Bernard is a Father that lived above 1150. years after Chriſt, who ſhould have learnt of his Elders; particularly Epiphanius *Her. LXXXIX., that Mary is to be honoured, but God the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt alone to be worſhipped. I could name a vaſt number of the Fathers, who expreſly condemn this Worſhip of Saints; and none more than Saint Chryſoſtom. St. Hierom doth not pray to Paula, but ſpeaking to her in an Oration, as if ſhe were preſent, ſaith, Farewel Paula, and help thy honourer (that is, him that honoured her when ſhe was alive) with thy Prayers. From hence one may plainly conclude, he never intended to pray to her, for he takes his leave of her, and bids her adieu; and is one of thoſe Fathers, who believed the Saints do not know what we do here; as appears by another Epitaph he made upon Nepotian, as this upon Paula; where he ſaith, Nepotian was happy in that he neither ſaw, nor heard the Calamities which were then upon the Church.