invocated; but this they will not allow to be done to our Brethren upon Earth.

But N. C. is pofitive, That this is only to be underftoood in the fame Order of Brotherly Society, in which we worship and reverence our holy Brethren on Earth, upen account of their Piety and Virtue, and in which we intreat them to Pray for us: But if fo, why doth he not give us the Reason why the Council of Trent grounds the Invocation of Saints, upon their. Reigning with Chrift in Heaven? For this fhews, that this Worship and Invocation of Saints must neceffarily be fomething more; for otherwife this Reafon would be frivolous, if the fame thing may be done to our Brethren upon Earth. Nay this Council admonishes us, ad eorum Orationes, Opem, Auxiliumque confugere; to fly to their Prayers, Aid, and Help: And in the Catechifm which was made by Order of that Council, we are taught, That 'tis lawful to ask of the Saints, that they would have Mercy upon us; and the Reafon is given, because they are very. Merciful. And if fo, where lies the dif ference between their Prayers to God, and to the Saints? If 'tis neither in the Matter of them, nor in the Form, nor in the Reafon of them: If we Pray to them for the fame Thing, and in the fame Form, Have mercy upon us; and our Pray

L

Prayers to the Saints be grounded on the fame Reason, that our Prayers to God are, namely, because they are Merciful. Where then is the Difference between them?

Let us confult the Publick Offices of the Church of Rome, and we shall find, that they do not only Pray to the Saints, to Pray for them; but they direct their Prayers and Thanksgivings immediately to them, for all thofe Bleffings and Benefits which they ask of God, and thank him for.

To which N. C. answers, by denying the Matter of Fact; and fixes it as an indelible Mark of Infincerity on the Archbishop; that he affirms it, and endeavours by Foul Play (as he calls it) to uphold a finking Caufe: Nay he challenges any Man to find fo much as one fingle Prayer, either in the Miffal or Breviary, which is directed to Angel or Saint, for all thofe Benefits and Bleffings which we ask of of God, and thank him for : And fays,

That that Prayer to the Angels which His Grace inftances in; viz. Deliver us, we beseech you, by your Command, from all our Sins, is not to be found in the Publick Office of the Bleed Virgin, annex'd to the Breviary.

But all this is but quibling and banter. For doth not he himfelf confefs in two or three places of this very Chapter, that in

the

the Litany of the Saints, and in the General Confeffion they do pray to Saints? Do they not pray to St. Michael, Holy Michael, defend us in Battel, that we perish not in the dreadful Judgment ¿ And as for that particular Paffage the Archbishop quotes, he cannot deny that 'tis in the Office of the Blessed Virgin, tho' he doth not find it in that Office annex'd to the Breviary. And here I cannot but ftand amazed at the Infincerity of the Popish Priefts; Infincerity fhall I call it; 'tis a hard Word indeed, but not hard enough for thofe who would bear us in hand, that they do not Pray to Saints and Angels; and that only (as they would have it) they defire them to pray for them; when not only their Private Forms of Devotion are stuff'd with fuch Blafphemous Expre fions, as would make one's Ears tingle to hear them, and yet they do not use any Means to fupprefs them :) but allo their Publick and approv'd Forms of Prayer abound with many Inftances, of direct Invocation both of Saints and Angels. For is there not in the very Breviary itself, reftor'd according to the Council of Trent, and authoriz'd by three several Popes, in the Feast of the Affumption of the Bleed Virgin, thefe Words: Vouchsafe to let me praife thee, O Holy Virgin, and give me Strength against my Enemies? Is L 2

fhe

the not intreated, To loofe the Bands of the Guilty, to give Light to the Blind, to drive away our Evils, and to fhew herself to be a Mother? Or, as it is in the Maß-Book, Printed at Paris, 1634. By the Authority of a Mother, command the Redeemer:

O fælix Puerpera,
Noftra pians Scelera',
Jure Matris impera
Redemptori.

Which I find thus rendred into English:

ven.

Sweet Lady, Mother of the Son,
Who hath all our Sins foredone;
Out of thy Mother's power, we pray thee,
Command thy Son for to obey thee.

This certainly is not to pray to her, to
pray to God for us; but to pray her to
order and command him what he fhall do
for us.
In a word, they pray to her for
Purity of Life, and a fafe Conduct to Hea.
And in the Feast of St. Maria de
Nives; To help the Miferable, to strengthen
the Weak, to comfort those that Mourn, and
that all who celebrate her holy Feftivity, may
feel her Affiftance. Thus in the Hymn to
the Holy Apofiles, they befeech them, To
command the Guilty to be loofed from their
Guilt, to heal unfound Minds, and to increafe

their Virtues; that when Christ shall come, they may be Partakers of Eternal Glory. Nay they make the Virgin Mary to be much more merciful than our Redemer himself; for thus prays Pope Innocent III. in the Hymn of Christ and the Virgin:

Precor te, Regina Cæli,
Me habeto excufatum,
Apud Chriftum tuum gnatum;
Cujus iram pertimefco,
Et furorem expavefco.

These Inftances may fuffice, for the prefent, only for a Tafte of the Sincerity of thefe Guides; who would bear us down, and think it a strange thing, that we will not believe them, and take their bare Words for it; That the Church of Rome doth not require of any one, nor practise any more, than to Pray to the Saints, to Pray for them. But fuppofe this was fo, yet,

4. The Archbishop urges, That thus to Pray to the Saints at all Times, in all Places, and for all forts of Bleffings; doth fuppofe them to have the Incommunicable Perfections of the Divine Nature inherent in them, or imparted to them; viz Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omniprefence.