EVER since the Station I am in , hath required of me to publish some Sheets in defence of the Catholic Faith ; it hath been my hard Lot , that no Adversary has entred into the List against me : but a Man of so little Temper and so much Gall , that his Answers have been a continued pattern of insolent Scurrility and disingenuous Petulancy .

He hath wisely concealed his Name , conscious that so abusive a Pen , in a Subject where Charity alone should guide it ; could beget for him from all judicious Readers but as much contempt as he cast dirt upon me ; and I will be so Charitable as not to divulge it .

But since I must own that I blush as much to see my self engaged with such a person ; as I would , were I found Arguing a case with some Impudent Scold at Billingsgate : a Discourse with such reviling tongues , tho maintained with all calmness , never befitting a Person of any Sense and Modesty ; you must give me leave Sir to contend no more with that nameless piece of Confidence , but to address my self to you , since you have condescended to put your name to those Cavils and Slanders , and to abett them by Licensing them to pass the Press .

't is true ; that a Minister abuse a Jesuit with the foulest Language , when he cannot oppose to his proofs any solid Reason or Authority ; 't is but a trick of course . I have read in some measure the most famed Books , in which such Men have pretended to answer the close and pressing Discourses of Catholic Divines ; and I can justly give to almost all of them , that Character which I find in the 57. or 58th . Psalm Verse 5. Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis , sicut aspidis surdae & obturantis aures suas . As if they had deafned themselves against the loudest truths , they pass by as insignificant the most convincing Arguments ; and make it their whole concern by Cavils and Slanders to darken in vulgar Eyes the Reputation of their Adversaries ; then they rest satisfied , if by thus wounding them , they can disgorge their Gall and ease their peevish Humours .

St. Hierom complained of their earliest Leaders for using the like Method . Epist. 24. Apud . Aug. Quod solum possunt , nos oderunt per quos putant se libertatem docendae haereseos perdidisse . All they can do ( says he ) is to hate us , because they think we hinder them from Communicating freely the Infection of their Heresies . Hence have taken their rise those black unconscionable Calumnies , by which , when they could reach it , they have taken away our Lives : to this end of late years was singled out against us the Minister Oa — their Fury being now Disarm'd , they turned the Stream of those Calumnies on the Catholic Church by misrepresenting her Doctrine ; and again , when all the false Colours of those Misrepresentations are wiped off : those Slanders , that Scurrilous Language fall on them who appear in the defence of those Catholick Truths : for which double Service the Minister G — seems to have been singled out . They are both equally well qualified for the purpose , because neither can blush .

To both , l. de Gest . Pel . c . 36. we return , not with Anger but Compassion the Sentence of St. Augustin , which he applied to Julian the Pelagian ; Sicut falsa sunt Crimina quae objicitis , ita falsa sunt dogmata quae fingitis nobis : sed dicite quantum potestis omne malum adversum nos mentientes , nos tantummodo adversum vos Christianam fidem & Catholicam defendemus , & quid opus est nobis reddere similia maledicta & non potius Evangelio credere , atque gaudere quod ex istis falsissimis maledictis vestris nobis merces augetur in Coelis . As the Crimes you accused us of were forged , so are the Tenets you charge us with ; but continue to say what evil you can , assaulting us with your untruths , our whole business shall be to defend against you Christian and Catholic Faith : and indeed what reason have we to answer you with like Scurrility , when we ought rather to believe the Gospel , and to rejoyce that those your most false Aspersions increase our reward in Heaven . Our faith requires no such defence , Truth scorns to use such unlawful Arms I will not therefore take them up , but calmly make out the Force and Evidence of the proofs which I lately offered , to shew that the Invocation of Saints practised now in the Catholic Church , is the same with that which the Holiest Doctors and purest Churches of the fourth and fifth Century , made a part of their Devotion : and I will clear them from all the Calumnies set forth in the third Letter directed to me , to the License whereof you put your Name , which obliges me , Reverend Doctor , to purge my self to you .

The nameless Minister having owned , that if the Roman Church had proceeded no farther in her Devotion towards the Blessed Saints , than the Fathers and the Catholic Church of the fourth and fifth Century had warranted them by their Examples , he did not see how his Church could have divided it self from that Communion without the guilt of a causeless Schism : hereupon I made out that what he himself had been forced to acknowledge of the Devotion payed to deceased Saints by the first Ages , was more than our present practices could reach unto , and then I challenged him to shew in what points the Catholic Church , now ( as ever ) in Communion with the Church of Rome , had varied by excess from those Primitive times on this Subject of Invocation of Saints or to own his Congregation Schismatical , as far as that pretence coloured the Separation . I expected three Months an Answer to this Challenge , ( how vain his excuse is for that backwardness I shall hereafter evidently shew , ) it came out at last , and he assigned it in three points . I published a Sheet in which I made out by undeniable matters of Fact , the nullity of his supposed Alterations to which he rejoyned his third Scurrilous Letter , which I shall now examine , and consult your second thoughts , to know whether by them you still approve his Answer .

The first point , he stated the difference in , betwixt the present Invocation of Saints used in the Catholic Church , and that practised in the fourth and fifth Century , was , that the Church of Rome doth use direct Invocation or formal Prayer to Saints , whereas the Primitive Church used only such Addresses or Requests as are made from one friend to another . In answer to this , I made out by plain Instances , which are the fairest proofs in such matters of Fact , that the Fathers of the fifth Century , and of the fourth Offered with as Formal an Invocation , equally Humble , Submissive and Devout Prayers , with any that are in present use amongst Catholics , let us see what he has answered to this .

First , I directed him to his own friends , the Centuriators of Magdeburg , the most famous Writers of Church History amongst the Reformed Congregations , I told him that in their fourth Century and fourth Chapter of it , he would find these words of St. Athanasius cited out of his Book de Incarnatione verbi , if you Worship the Man Christ because the Word of God dwelleth there , at the same time Worship also the Saints on God's account , who hath his dwelling in them . I proceeded to offer this following Prayer of the same Saint , cited by those Authors in the same Chapter . Hearken Daughter of David and Abraham , and stoop Thy Ears to our Prayers , and forget not Thy People . We lift up our voice to Thee , remember us Holy Virgin , which didst remain after Child-birth a Virgin , and return us for these inconsiderable Speeches great Gifts and the Riches of your Graces , You who are full of Grace , hail , most Gracious , the Lord is with thee ; intercede O Mistress , O Lady , O Queen and Mother of God . Then I asked him whether he approved of the Comments which those his Reformed Historians put to this Text , to wit , 't is wonderful that so great a Doctor should write thus — these Words breath Idolatry . What Answer is returned ? whole Shoals of bitter and peevish Invectives against me ; he most disingenuously dissembles that I cited the Centuriators for this , and offered these two citations as brought by them , apud Centur , 't is on them , all he says must fall , 't is those his Reformed Historians that are the pleasant Men who venture upon things with so much Ignorance and Confidence together , who pretend to bear all down with dint of Confidence , who commit whatever vile abuse of Athanasius's works , whatever blander is found here : but such Birds make no difficulty to defile their own Nest ; but d● you , Reverend Doctor , by Licensing such Frauds , approve of these unconscionable , flye Insinuations and false Aspersions . I know the second Sentence is taken out of the Oration upon the Annuntiation , suspected even by Baronius and Bellarmin not to be St. Athanasius's , because it plainly Condemns the Heresies of Nestorius and the Monothelites , yet was not cited against them : therefore I cited both apud Centur , as offered by his great Reformed Annalists , and to shew how little Authority the greatest Fathers have with these men , when they believe them to make evidently against them . But now let us Examine this sentence ; for , the Minister to keep his hand in , must falsifie it , and misapply it . Thus it stands in the Cullen Translation , which I have by me of the Year 1617. If you Adore the Man Christ because the word of God dwells there , in the same manner Adore also the Saints on the account of God , who hath his dwelling in them . Now that above the Holy Ghost , that is , above God a man be honoured and glorified , is the highest impiety . These are the Holy Doctors words , who reprehends Samosatenus only for acknowledging Christ to be a meer Man , and yet adoring him above the Holy Ghost ; but he not reprehending Samosatenus for saying that an Honour or Worship would be due to Christ , though he were but a pure Man in whom God dwelleth by Grace and Glory ; but urging that on the same account the Saints might be Honoured and Worshipped , the Centuriators had reason to Cite him as supporting the Worshipping of Gods Saints : for though Christ had been but a Man in whom God in a particular manner dwelled , to whom he had given all Power in Earth and in Heaven , he might and ought to have been prayed unto , though not as God ; to have been Worshipped though not by Divine Worship , and above the Holy Ghost true God .

The next Citation , and the first I produced as taken from the Author , is of St. Cyril of Alexandria , in the Council of Ephesus . The words were these , which I will lay down here more at large . Hail in all our Names Holy Mother of God , most Excellent Ornament of the whole World , unextinguishable Lamp , Crown of Virginity , Scepter of right Doctrin , Temple never to be destroyed , dwelling place of him that cannot be contained within any place , Mother and Virgin by whom he is named blessed in the Gospels , who comes in the name of our Lord . Hail you that did bear in your holy Virgin-Womb him that is immense and incomprehensible , by whom the Holy Trinity is Glorified and Adored the Universal World over , by whom Heaven Exults , by whom Angels and Archangels rejoyce , by whom the Devils are put to flight , &c. Then he concludes , that none can sufficiently praise that Glorious Virgin , and ends his whole discourse with these words , Let us fear and worship the undivided Trinity , Celebrating with Praises Mary the Ever-Virgin , to wit , the Holy Temple of God , and her Son , and immaculate Spouse . That you may judge with greater certainty of the exactness and meaning of this Quotation , I offer a part of it to you Doctor in its Original . {αβγδ} , &c.

This was plain and full ; what answer is returned me ? first a Cavil at my saying he spoke it in the name of the whole Council . I affirm it again , for as Baronius proves this Oration was recited at the second Action or Session of the Council , that Church of St. Maries was the Place the Council was held in , the Bishops were then gathered together , it being the 23d . day of July , to them all and in their Name spoke St. Cyril , who presided as Pope Celestine's Legat . What could a Title prefixed to St. Cyril's Oration signifie in opposition to this : and yet the Minister must falsifie it by putting the word Bishops in it , whereas the words are , when seven went down to S. Maries Church there , which relates to those who entred in with St. Cyril : he spoke to their full Assembly when he begun with these words , I see joy and chearfulness in this Assembly of Saints , who invited by the Holy , both Mother of God and Ever Virgin , did with a willing and ready mind Convene . I hope Doctor , I had reason to say the Saint spoke in the Name of that Council . Next he tells me this is no Prayer , but a Salutation of the Virgin . This is a Blunder indeed ! so that the Prophet David did not pray to God , but Salute him only by all those Psalms made up with the Praises of Gods Mercy and Power ; so that Praises offered to God is no Prayer , and David did think on nothing less than Prayer when he said apud te laus mea in Ecclesia Sanctorum , Psal . 21.26 . that he offered to God his Praises in the Congregation of Saints ; and that holy Prophet wonderfully mistook when he called the Praises of God the best of Offerings , Psal . 49. a Sacrifice ; immola deo Sacrificium laudis — Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me , offer to God a Sacrifice of praise — the Sacrifice of Praises will honour me . Is this your Verdict Doctor ? But thirdly , I am with much heat accused : for applying to the Virgin what was said by the Saint , of her Womb , a sad mistake indeed ! {αβγδ} must not be by whom , relating to the Virgin , but by reason of which relating to Christ in her Womb : but Doctor , did you not blush when you read this gross Cheat , which any Grammar Scholar can so easily find out , and yet had a thought of Licensing it ? Was not that {αβγδ} in the very immediate period , where not one word yet was said of the Virgins Womb ? Here I might enlarge my self , if I had a Vein for Reviling , but I only nakedly ask your judgment .

My third Citation was out of St. Gregory Nyssen , and his Prayer to St. Theodore was as follows . Martyr , use the liberty you enjoy to speak for your fellow Servant : you have conquered the World , but you have not forgotten the Passions and the Necessities our human Condition is liable unto : ask for peace , that those public meetings may continue , that the enraged and wicked Barbarians may not plunder and destroy our Churches and Altars , that no prophane and impious man tread the holy things under foot : for we that have been preserved untouch'd and alive , do own our selves obliged to you for that Blessing , and will ask your Protection and Security for the future . Could a fuller , a more devour , submissive Prayer be framed , or that expressed a greater Faith and considence in the prayers of Saints ? To own the greatest Blessings to have been obtained by a Saints Intercession , that for it we are obliged to him , on that account to have again recourse to him , and to expect his protection if asked , and from it a future security , if this be not as formal an Invocation as any Catholic ever used , I know not what Invocation is . I crave your opinion of it , Doctor : but what Answer is returned to this ? that he hath Answered it already . And what Answer did he give before ? 't is plainly a Rhetorical apostrophe why ? He does suppose the Martyr himself to be present there , and to hear what he said , as well as any of the Congregation did . I do conceive this Argument never entred before into any mans thoughts : St. Gregory did suppose St. Theodore to be present , and to hear what he said , therefore he did not pray to him ; do you Doctor allow of these doughty Proofs ? but what Satyr ever blew hot and cold so at one breath ? Before , this Minister had told us the Saints were prayed unto where they were believed to be present , and he repeats it just after : Yet now , St. Gregories words shall be no Prayer , because he believes the Saint he addresses himself unto , to be present , and to hear him . Is this the Answer then ? Not the whole . St. Gregory says he , further supposed , that the Martyr had got leave to come down , and be present at their Assemblies ( all which are pleasant fancies . ) Did you observe , Doctor , that it was so eminent a Saint as Gregory Nyssen these words were spoken of , and yet have you so far lost all respect for those blessed Spirits as to License them ? But St. Gregory desires St. Theodore to get the rest of the Martyrs , St. Peter , St. Paul , St. John to pray for the several Churches Planted by them , whereby he shews his belief that they did not hear him . This is as good an Inference as if I should say St. Paul asked the prayers of the Romans to God for him , therefore he believed that God did not hear him , for those prayers were to be directed to God .

The next Father Cited by me was St. Gregory Nazianzen , thus to St. Basil , O sacred and divine man look down on us from Heaven and either by your prayers mortifie that sting of the flesh which God hath given us for our instruction , or move us to bear it with a couragious mind , and direct our whole life to that which is most fitting ; and when we part out of this life , receive us there in your Tabernacles . To this was added a like Prayer of the same Father to St. Cyprian . What answer is to be expected here ? He indulges himself in a Rhetorical way , and he proves it because that , for all his familiar talk in some of his Orations to the Saints , he did not believe that they could hear him . Could this be proved , it would be home , he thus attempts it . This is plain from his {αβγδ} to Constantius . Reverend Doctor could you let this pass ? this disingenuous jugling ? Constantius lived a peevish Arian , a Persecutor , and it was but a dubious report that he Repented at his death : St. Gregory speaking to this Emperors Soul , of the Salvation whereof there was but small hopes , and a weak probability , says if thou hast any sense , any knowledge , and can any one in his wits inferr from thence that this Father did not believe the glorious Souls of the blessed Saints heard his Prayers ? Reverend Doctor do you allow this parity ?

I brought next the Prayer of St. Maximus to St. Agnes . O most shining to the eyes of Christ , most beautiful to the eyes of the Son of God , most acceptable to the Angels and Arch-angels , with what fervent Prayer we can , we beg of you that you will vouchsafe to remember us , that he may grant us forgiveness of our sins , who hath bestowed on you the reward of your Labors . By these plain words those insignificant shifts of Rhetorical Figures were wholly defeated : here Prayers , and fervent Prayers , are Offered in the very term . What answer shall we have here then ? Even none ; he needs not trouble himself about it he says , because 't is past St. Augustins time , to which he referr'd me . But First . Is it past the fifth Century , about which our debate was ? Secondly . We find this Holy Bishop subscribing to the Synodical Epistle of the Council of Milan , over which Eusebius the Metropolitan presided , in the year 452. St. Augustin died in the year 430. So that this holy Bishop Maximus , tho he outlived him , yet was contemporary with him . How then , Reverend Doctor , come you to approve this new Chronology ?

The next Father was St. Hilary of Arles , whose Prayer to St. Honoratus was this . Ever remember us in the Presence of that God which you attend , singing that new song , and following the Lamb whither soever he goes . You are our Patron , the Interpreter of our Prayers , an acceptable and powerful Protector , present the Prayers of your Flock Offered at your Monument , and obtain , that in a perfect union both Bishop and People may attain what you have ordered and delivered . I meet with a wonderful answer to this plain and pious Prayer , to wit . He does not pray to him but desires as he was their Patron to continue so , which speaks no more than that intercession which was then believed . Do you own this , Reverend Doctor ? If so , then in this point you pass to our side , for we believe now no other Intercession but this , to wit , that the Saints remember us , be our Patrons , Offer our Prayers to God , received from us at their Shrines , and obtain for us the blessings we intreat for . Here indeed the Minister answers ingenuously , but here also he yields and grants the whole Point .

The following Father I produced was Nectarius , Patriarch of Constantinople , who preceded S. Chrysostom . This Prelat having given an Account why S. Theodores Feast was ever kept on the Saturday of the first week in Lent , to wit , In Thanksgiving to the Saint , for having in a Vision forewarned the Patriarch of Constantinople , that sate during the Persecution of Julian ; that the Apostat designed to pervert or destroy all the Christians , by permitting no Meat to be sold in the Market , but such as had been Offered to the Idols , and besprinkled with the blood of those Abominable Victims : and advised him to prepare such a Provision of Bisquet as would suffice for his Flock to feed upon whilst the Markets were thus shut up to them ; and for having thus secured their Religion and Lives : he makes this following Prayer to the Saint , to obtain a continuation of his Protection against the worser Julian , the Enemy of Mankind ; who then , and at that present Persecuted the People of God . These be the words of his Prayer . O splendor of the Martyrs , glory of the Saints , O worthy gift of God , O unconquered keeper and defender of the Faithful , be not unmindful of our Poverty and Dejectedness , but vouchsafe thou always to pray for us , O most admirable Man ! nor do thou despise us , who are daily assailed by Julian ( the spiritual one , who both then and now is author of evil , ) the Enemy of our Souls , for we believe that you live after death ; thou then who art yet alive in Christ , and standest near unto him , endeavour by thy Prayers to make him gracious unto us thy Servants , that freed by thee from the present miseries , we may attain to the happiness that is reserved there for us . Can a more formal Prayer than this is , be found in use amongst the Catholics of this Age ? what answer is opposed to it ? First , That he knows not where to find this Work of Nectarius , and yet the Book of Bellarmin de Script. Eccles . soon after cited by him , directs him to find it in the sixth Tome of Lypoman fol. 71. then he will have it to be spurious , because Julian was dead twenty years before Nectarius was Installed Patriarch , as if the very words of the Prayer , ( even without the Parenthesis , which in Transcribing was casually left out ) did not evidently make out that it was the threats of the ever-persecuting Julian , the Enemy of Mankind , that he asked to be protected against , that first Apostat from God , the Devil . So all the blustring Storm of Cavils raised by the Minister fall of themselves , and this Prayer remains an evident instance of the Invocation of Saints in the fourth Age . Reverend Doctor , do you not own it for such ?

The last Prayer I offered was that of S. In Frag . ch . Pat . Greg . Nazianz . O Venerable Virgin , Chast and most Happy , hear my voice benignly , and grant me that which is chief of all , to wit , that departing from this life I may find thee to be my Patron . His Answer is , that no Poet can be in the Mode without calling upon his Muse : how this Answer fits that Prayer I leave to your second thoughts , Reverend Doctor .

Because this Minister thinks there is a strange charm in some words , which he misplaces , and ever offers in lieu of Arguments , especially in this Subject , the word Invocation , I added the plain Sentences of S. Basil , S. Greg . Nyssen and S. Augustin teaching it in the very term .

First , St. Greg . in his Oration on St. Theod . M. {αβγδ} The Christians call on the Martyr as on Gods Minister , who being Invocated by them is able to Impetrate for them what favours he pleases . How could this Saint have explained fuller his sense , or our Doctrin ? Sure we shall meet with a home Answer to this . St. Gregory Nazianzen hath no such Oration ; 't is true Sir , but St. Gregory Nyssen hath , and the Minister could not mistake my meaning , that self same Oration having just before been cited and owned by him , so that he could not but see the Erratum of Nazianz . for Nyssen : but he was glad thus to avoid answering to so plain a Sentence : is this fair and sincere dealing ? methinks Reverend Doctor , you should have rectified these little tricks and slie shifts before you set your hand to License them .

St. Basil is as evidently plain , the Martyr called by his name , sheweth himself present to as many as call , by his works : behold he uses the same terms which express the Invocation of God in Zachary , they shall call my name and I will hear them : his answer is , that I cite not the place , and he will not look for it . A quick dispatch : however , against he is in a better humour , I tell him the words are to be found in St. Basils 26th . Homily of S. Mammas . What Verdict , Reverend Doctor , will you pass on this so plain a Sentence , past in favour of the Invocation of Saints ?

The last I produced was S. Augustins Observation on the Blessing of Job , Gen. 48. to wit , that not only Exaudition but Invocation is used in reference to Men as well as to God . Two answers I find opposed to this Quotation . The first , all he means is , that the word Invocation is used in a civil respect to Men as well as in a Religious respect to God ; if this were his whole meaning , it were enough to discover the Vanity of the Minister , in printing ever the word Invocation in a large character in all the Sentences which he produces against us , and which speak all of Divine Worship , to perswade his Vulgar Readers that all Invocation is a Divine Worship . But who authorises him to make S. Augustin speak , what never came into his mind of Civil and Religious respects . He could not be so ignorant as not to know that S. Austin allows Religious ( another hard word ) respect to Gods blessed Saints in express terms , and that writing against the Heretic Faustus , L. 20. C. 21. who had Calumniated the Christians for honouring the Sepulchres of the Martyrs , by saying , that they had turned the Idols into this . The Christian People ( says the Holy Doctor ) Celebrate together the memory of the Martyrs with a Religious Solemnity , both to excite to an imitation of them , and that they may be partakers of their Merits and be assisted by their Prayers . The Ministers second answer is , this very Father hath fully secured us from taking it as to Men in a Religious Sense , when he tells us that the Martyrs names were recited indeed during the Divine Service , but they were not Invocated by the Priest who did Officiate . Do you approve , Reverend Doctor , such curtail'd Citations , that insinuate the very contrary meaning to that of an Author ? What naming of the Martyrs is allowed by S. Austin , what Invocation by the Priest that Officiates is denyed ? For he doth express himself fully in both ; that Commemoration the Holy Father owns is by which we recommend our selves to their Prayers , Serm . 17. de Verb . Ap. c . 1. and the Invocation he denys to the Priest is only this , We Offer to thee O Peter , O Paul , O Cyprian , and the reason he gives for it , their Oblation they make to God who hath Crowned the Martyrs . And is not all this the Catholic Doctrin of the Church of Rome ?

The Minister pretends next , L. 20. Contra Faust . C. 21. that from these words of S. Paul , how shall they Invocate or call upon him in whom they had not believed , it follows as S. Pauls Sense , that no one ought to be Invocated but he that is believed to be God . Tho the silliness of the Inference be patent to the most careless eye , yet I had Confuted it by a most Natural and unanswerable instance , which is this : that it would equally follow , that because no one can love God who believes not in him , no one must be beloved but God : So that each Wife that loves her Husband , each Son that loves his Father , or Subject his Prince , is an Idolater : And indeed , is not God as good as he is great : 't is true , God will be Worshiped , but 't is as true that he challenges that we love him with all our Heart , with all our Soul , with all our Strength : whoever then pretends that an inferiour Religious Worship , or Invocation , gives to Creatures the Worship we owe to God , must equally hold that Charity to our Neighbour is injurious to God . What Answer doth this conclusive Argument receive from the Minister ? He tells me he will pass it by , and he is as good as his word . Is this , Reverend Doctor , a Method you allow of ?