Printed in Englifb, 1699. (and in the Expofition before it faid to be of great Antiquity, and Compofed by the Church, directed by the Holy Ghost) you will find many Prayers to the Virgin Mary, not only of Interceffion or Pray ing for us, but to Grant us Grace, Pardon of Sin, and Eternal Life, in as full and pofitive Terms as could be asked of God himfelf. See the Hymn, Memento rerum Conditor, p. 34. And Ave Maris Stella, p. 53. And the Prayer to her, p. 59. Under thy Aid-Sub tuum Præfidium which is taken out of the Ra man Pontifical in the Office for Confecrating an Image of the B. Virgin, where we Pray for Aid, &c. from her felf directly, without mentioning any Interceffion. Nay, they Bless in ber Name, which was never done to any Creature. The Priesthood was Ordained by God, to Blefs in his Name. No Apoftle or Angel ever Bleffed the People in bis Deut. x. 8. own Name. But in this Primer, p. 16. You will fee the Priest give the Blefing in thefe Words, The Virgin Mary, with her pious Son, bless us. To which the People anfwer, Amen. Here the Principal Part is given to the Virgin, her Son only Bleffes with her, and the is first Named. But if the be not Preferred, yet he is here put. upon the Level with her Son at least, and Bleffes the People Jointly with him. 2 L. Why may not the Virgin Mary Blefs as well as an Angel? And we find that Jacob prayed the Angel might Blefs his Grand-Sons. Gen. xlviii. 16. G. That G. That Angel was God, and fo it is Expreffed, God, before whom my Fathers Abraham, and Ifaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all Evil, Blefs the Lads. This Angel was Chrift, who often Appeared before He took Flelh. He was the Angel which, Wrestled with this fame Jacob, and Bleffed him. He was the Angel appeared to Mofes in the Bush, and faid, I am the God of Abraham, &c. which no Created Angel could have faid. It was He who Appeared to Joshua as Captain of the Heft of the Lord, Jof. v. 14, 15. and faid, as before to Mofes, Loofe Jof. v. 14, 15. thy Shoe from off thy Foot, for the Place whereon thou ftandeft is Holy, which no meer Angel ever faid. So that this will be no Precedent for Blessing the People in the Name of the Virgin Mary. Epiphanius reckons the Worthip of the Virgin Mary (not then fo Rank) a mong Hær. 78, 79. the Hereftes, under the Name of the Collyridians, who offered Cakes to the Moon as Queen of Heaven, which xliv. 19. A is the fame Name they give now Jer. vii. 18. to the Virgin, and the is Painted. standing upon the Moon her Reprefentive. Epiphanius Obferves that our Bleffed Lord foreseeing the Superftition that would come into the World on Account of His Mother, treated her always at a Distance, never once called her Mother, no not upon the Crofs, or by any other Appellation than that of WoI 4 man, Luk. xi. 28. man, and checking her forwardness laid unto her, Woman, what have I to do with Joh. ii. 4. thee? She is as little Named as poffible in the Gospels, where Chrift pronounces a Greater Bleffing to thofe that hear His Word, than to the Womb that Bare Him And fhe is not Reckoned among those who saw Him after His Refurrection. She is but once Named in the Acts of the Apoftles, and that upon no other Account than that the with other Women, A&. i. 14. continued in the Communion of the Apoftles after the Afcenfion of our Lord: But none of her Acts or Miracles are Recorded, though Abundance in the Legends. And the is not once Named, upon any Account whatfoever, in any of the Epiftles. Strange! That this fhould be fo forgot, which makes now fo great a Part in the Devotions of the Church of Rome ! But there is an Honour of an Extraordinary Nature paid to Her at the Head of all the Saints, in the Office of the Mafs, where, be fore the Confecration, the Elements are Offered up to God in Memory of the Paffion, Refurrection and Afcenfion of Jefus Chrift, and for the Honour of the Bleffed Virgin Mary, &c. in Honorem beatæ Mariæ femper Virginis. Did Chrift then Suffer, Rife, and Afcend, for Her Honour? It was for the Honour and Glory of God indeed, but to thrust Her in or any of the Saints to thare in this, looks a little too Familiar, and putting them, at least Her, near upon upon the Level with the Almighty, fince more could not be faid to Him. And here we may fee a good Reason why God would not have any Religious Worship paid to thefe, or any Minifters of His Kingdom, nor would be Worshipped with them; for he saw ther would be Encroaching, and coming nearer to Him than was fit for the Condition of Creatures. They would have a Share with Him. Nay that they might come at last to Advance thefe above God Himself, and Prefer the Saints even to Chrift! As it has been faid, That Christ did no thing which St. Francis did not do, yea, that he did more than Chrift himself. Lib. Conform. fol. 1149. Adorari folius Dei eft: Deleatur ex Ind. And now we see the Reason why your Index Expurgatorius would not have it feen in the FATHERS, that God only is to be Wor Shipped, for they have Expunged this out of the Indices of their Works, that they might not be found by the People, who might take Of fence to fee their Worship divided betwixt God and Creatures. Operum Athanafii In- dice Lib. Prohib. & Was ther ever fo fhameless a thing done by any Church as to take upon them to Correct and Alter the Fathers? It is plainly to ftifle the Evidence against themselves: And renders every thing at leaft Sufpected that they Quote out of them. And the Scriptures had been been Purged too, but that they are fo Common in the Hands of Proteftants, that it could not be done without manifeft Detection. But how far they have gone towards it, by Miftranflations, Adding or Leaving out fome Words, I have fhewed already. But to pursue the Subject we are now upon. (34) Not only the Souls of the Saints in Heaven, but their dead Bodies or Bits of them, a Finger, a Toe, or a Tooth, or a Scrap of their Cloaths, a Girdle, or a Book, or any thing elfe that they used are Worshipped, and made Means of Grace, and great Miracles faid to be done by them. ii Kin. xiii. 21. of Elifba ? L. Was not a Dead Man Raised by touching the Bones G. Yes, God may work Miracles by what Means he pleases. But does this Confecrate the dead Body of every Saint to be a Means of Grace, and a Worker of Miracles? Many Miracles were Wrought by the Rod of Mofes ; Is every Rod therefore a Means of Grace, ei-' ther Ghoftly or Bodily? Or may we Confecrate any Rod to be fuch a Means? Nothing is fuch a Means to us but what God has Commanded and Appointed to be Done, as Baptifm and the Lord's Supper. It is the Inflitution, not an Example, that makes any: thing a Means of Grace to us. Elfe we might go and Imitate all the miraculous Actions of Mofes |