is the Mother of God, and God is her Son, and every son is naturally inferior to his mother, and subject to her, and the mother hath preeminence and is superior to her son, it therefore followeth that the Blessed Virgin is superior to God, and God himself is subject unto her in respect of the manhood which he assumed from her."* Why, Sir, it is said in a book which is of as much authority as Mr. Gother's "Papist Misrepresented," and which has been much more widely read, that the Virgin herself has said,† speaking in her own person, "the will of the Blessed Trinity and mine is one, and to whatsoever pleaseth me, the whole Trinity with unspeakable favour consenteth." It has been preached from your pulpits and published from your presses, that the Virgin appeared to Thomas à Becket, and said unto him, "Rejoice, * Cum beata Virgo sit Mater Dei, et Deus filius ejus; et omnis filius sit naturaliter inferior matre et subditus ejus, et mater prælata et superior filio; sequitur quod ipsa benedicta Virgo sit superior Deo, et ipse Deus sit subditus ejus ratione humanitatis ab ed assumpta.-Ussher, ut supra. + Promptuar. Disc. de Miraculis B. Mariæ, exemp. xiv. p. 8. Edit. Moguntiæ, 1612. Quoted in Archb. Ussher's Answer to a Challenge, p. 487. ed. 1631. Gaude quia FILIUS MEUS MIHI SEMPER EST OBEDIENS, et meam voluntatem et cunctas preces meas semper exaudit.— Bernardinus de Busto. Mariale, Part x. serm. ii. sect. ult. Quoted by Archb. Ussher, ut supra. because my Son is always obedient unto me, and my will, and all my prayers he always heareth." Do you believe this, Sir? or will you acknowledge that doctrines, which you with Mr. Gother and Dr. Challoner anathematize, are taught by your divines; and that fables in confirmation of them have been preached and published as revelations, with the knowledge and with the sanction of a Church which suffers nothing to be printed that it disapproves? If you abide by Mr. Gother, here, you must acknowledge, is a case of impiety and imposture proved,..not upon the Seraphic preacher, who may in good faith have believed the legend which he repeated, but upon the inventor of the fable, whoever he may have been, and upon that Church which, having infallibility vested in its Head, or in its members, suffered it thus to go forth as a truth to be believed! If you abide by Mr. Gother, your curse alights upon no less a person than Bonaventura, a Cardinal and a Saint, and upon all those who use prayers which he has prescribed to be said with the Rosary; for in those prayers the Virgin is * O Imperatrix et Domina nostra benignissima, jure Matris impera tuo dilectissimo filio Domino nostro Jesu Christo, ut mentes `nostras ab amore terrestrium ad cælestia desideria erigere dignetur. -Bonaventuræ Opera. t. vi. edit. Rom. 1588. Quoted by Ussher, ut supra, 489. intreated by the authority of a Mother to coMMAND her most beloved Son that he would vouchsafe to lift up our minds from the love of earthly things unto heavenly desires: and again in his "Lady's Psalter," he says, "Incline the countenance of God upon us, COMPEL him to have Are the devotees. mercy upon sinners."* accursed, Sir, who repeat. Cardinal St. Bonaventura's crown, believing that it contains the doctrine of their Church? Or are they entitled to the two hundred and seventy-three thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight days of indulgence, which, according to the Seraphic F. Bernardinus de Busto,† is the sum total of indulgences granted for reciting every one of these crowns? Where, Sir, is the boasted unity of your Romish Church, and where its infallibility? We have here an opinion of such moment, that, according to your own representation, error in *Inclina cultum Dei super nos, coge illum peccatoribus miscreri-(Ib. in Psalt. B. Mariæ Virg.), the harshness whereof, says Ussher, our Romanists have a little qualified in some of their editions, reading thus: Inclina vultum filii tui super nos: coge illum precibus nobis peccatoribus misereri.-(Ed. 1598.) ... Thus it is that the Romanists tamper with authorities, and alter to their own convenience the text of their own Doctorsand Saints! + Ussher, ut supra, 489. it is damnable. God forbid that I should think it so! But how perilous it is to those who hold it, how injurious to religion, and consequently to society, shall presently be shown. Upon this opinion you and your selected authorities tell us one thing, and your Doctors and Saints and Breviaries tell us another. For Bonaventura is not the only Saint whom I can bring forward. St. Peter Damian (he too a Cardinal as well as a Saint) speaks of the blessed Virgin, when she intercedes for sinners, as not intreating, but commanding; as a Mistress, and not as a handmaid. Holy Church," says a book of English Roman Catholic devotions, 'frequently minds her of her Motherhood, and supplicates that she will be pleased to show that great authority wherewith this Title of Titles empowers her. Monstra te esse Matrem! Tulit esse tuus." * Dr. Phillpotts has well observed, "it is worth remarking that, in this instance, an important change has been wrought in transferring the original hymn into your English books of devotion, in order to accommodate it to the feelings of those who live among Protestants. The turn given to it in the "Garden of the Soul," (p. 254.) is as follows: Exert the mother's care And us thy children own ; What says the Patriarch of Constantinople,* St. Germanus? He says that the intercession of the Virgin is irrefragable, because of the invincible power which she possesses with her Son. What says St. Antonine of Florence? that Christ obeys her as his mother in Heaven, even as he did upon earth. Are men canonized, Sir, who teach what is damnable?† Whom or which are we to receive as delivering the real opinion of the Romish Church,.. Mr. Gother, or St. Antonine? St. Peter Damian, or Dr. Challoner?.. Mr. Charles Butler, or Cardinal St. Bonaventura?.. The Breviary, or the Book of the Roman Catholic Church?... Be not offended, Sir! You have called upon me,‡ who had given you no cause for such a call, to compare myself "with Anselm in holiness, with To him convey our prayer Who chose to be thy Son. Letters to Charles Butler, Esq. p. 48. Whereas the meaning of the original, as truly given in the older books, is, Shew thyself to be a mother, Let him through thee receive our prayers... (the imperative mood) Who for our sakes submitted To be born thy Son. * Andrade, Patrocinio de N. Señora, tit. i. § ii. p. 493. † Ib. + Page 74. |