Berm. XVIII. between God and Men. a3 5 need of any other Patron and Benefactor, or of any other Mediator and Advocate, he is abundantly fi:ficient for all, by our Saviour the Son o, fGod. In the fame Age Novàtian, in his Book concerning'the Trinity, makes ufe of this Argument, to prove the Divinity of Chrift ; becaufe he hears our Prayers, when we call upon him. IfC,hriff (fays he) be only a Man, bow can he be prefent every where to thole that call upon him ? fine tbis is not the Nature of Man, but of God, to be able to be prefent every where ? If Chr be only a Man, thy do we in our Prayers call upon him as Mediator ; fine prayer to a Man is deemed ineffectual to help or fave us? 7f Chrifl be only a Man, whydo we put our hope in him ; fine Hope in Man is accurfed in Scripture ? In the IVth, Century, the Apoflolical Conflitutions, under the Name of'Çlemens Romanus (but undoubtedly written in that Age) give us a pregnant negativeTefti- mony in this matter ; for though a great many ofthe publick Prayers are there fet down at large, yet they are all direfted to God alone, and not the leaft Intimation there of any Prayer made to the Angels, or Saints, or even to the Virgin Mary; nor oftheir Interceffion or Aid ; which nowmakes fo great a part ofthe Publick De votions of the Church of Rome. Athanafius, in his Fourth Oration againft the Arians, proves the Unity of the Father and the Son, from t Thef. 3. s t. Now God himfelf, andour Lord 7efus Chrifl, direft our way untoyou. From whence he argues thus, One would not pray to receive any thing from the Father and the Angels, or from any other Creature ; nor would onefay, God and the Angels give thee this ;-but one would pray to receive any thing from the Father and the Son, becaufe of their Unity and UniformGift ; for all things that are given by the Father, are given by the Son, and there is nothing which the FatherBoth not work by the Son ; and then con- cludes, that it doth not belong to any, but to God alone, to Blefs andgrant De- liverances. This I take to be a very remarkable Teftimony againft the Church of Rome, who in their Publick Offices join the Bleffed Virgin with God, and our Saviour, in the fame Breath, and fometimes put her before her Son ; Let Mary andher Son biefs us, as it is in the Office of the Bleffed Virgin ; in di- red contradiction to what I jufl now cited out of Ath'anafiue : and nothing fo com- mon in their Mouths, as 7efu Maria; Jefus and Mary; nothing more frequent in their molt eminent Writers, than to join them together in their Doxologies and Thankfgivings, Glory to God, andthe Bleffed-Virgin, and to 7efus Chr /, lays Gregory de Valentia. And Bellarmin himfelf concludes his Difputations concern- ing the Worfhip of Saints; in thefe Words, Praife be to God, and to the Bleffed Virgin Mother Mary; likewife to Jefus Chrf, the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, be Praife and Glory. And in the very Roman Miffal it felf, they make Confeflion of their Sins to God Almighty, and the Blefed Virgin Mary, to St. Michael the Archangel, and to all the Saints. And in their Abfolution, theyjoin together the Pafan of our Lord Jefus Chrifi, and the Merits of the Bleffed Vir- gin, andof, all the Saints, for the RemilliOn of Sins. And is .not this the very thing which Athanafius doth feverely condemn ? I have mentioned before the Council of Laodicea, which about the middle of this Century condemns the Worfhip of Angels, and Praying to them, as down- right Idolatry : And towards the end of this Fourth Age, and in the beginning . of the Fifth, when it is pretended that praying to Saints did begin (though it was rather by way of Apoflrophe and Rhetorical Addrefs, than of formal In- vocation) there are exprefs Teflimonies againft it of the moll eminent Fathers of that time. Y will inflance burin Three, Epiphanius, St. Chr o om, and St. Augu/line. yf Epiphanius, in his'Confutationof.the Herefte Of the Collyridians (which he calls the Herefie of the Women, becaufe they firft began the Worfhip of the Virgin Mary) declares molt exprefly againft the Worfhip of any Creature whatfoever' For neither (lays he) is Elias to;be worfhipped, though he is reckoned among the living (meaning that he was taken up into Heaven, Body and Soul) nor John, nor any other of the Saints : And as for the Virgin Mary, he particularly adds, that if Godwill not have us to worfhip the i?ngels, how much more would he not have us to worthip
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=