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Chapter 7
Why those words in the description of the mystery of godliness, received into glory,
are set last.—That praying to saints glorified, as
mediators and agents for us with God, is Idolatry. —For the proof of this
several grounds are laid down. —To be prayed to “in heaven,” to present our
devotions to God, and to deal as an agent and mediator between us and him, is a
prerogative appropriate to Christ, a flower of his glory, and exaltation to sit
at God’s right hand, a royalty incommunicable to any other. —That none but
Christ, our High Priest, is to be an agent for us with God in the heavens, was
figured under the law, in that the high priest alone had to do in the most holy
place, and there was to be agent for the people. —That though Christ, in regard
of his person, was capable of this god-like glory and royalty, yet it was the
will of God that he should purchase it by suffering an inimitable death. —This
proved from several testimonies of Scripture. —Saint worship is a denial of
Christ’s prerogative.—Bread worship in the Eucharist, to what kind of Idolatry
it may be reduced. —How saint worship crept into the Church.
Now I
come to the second point, to maintain and prove that praying to saints
glorified, as mediators and agents for us with God, is justly charged with
idolatry.
For
this is the hinge whereupon not only the application of my text, but it
interpretation, chiefly turneth. For I told you in the beginning, that my text
depended upon the last words of the former chapter and verse, received into glory; which were,
therefore, out of their due order, put in the last place, because my text was
immediately
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to be inferred upon them. The like misplacing, and for
the like reason, see in Hebrews 12: 23, where in a catalogue or recension of
the parts of the Church “Christ the head,” and “the sprinkling of his blood” is
mentioned in the last place, and after the “spirits of just men,” because the
next verses are continued upon this sprinkling of Christ’s blood: “ye are come
to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in
heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel;” whereas the right
order would have been, first, “God the judge of all;” secondly, “Christ the
mediator of the new covenant;” and thirdly, in the last place, “the spirits of
just men made perfect.” See also Revelation 1: 5, where Christ is named after
the seven spirits for the like reason. Agreeably, therefore, to this dependence
of my text, I am to show, that the invocation of saints glorified implies an
apostasy from Christ, and a denial of his glory and majesty, whereunto he is
installed by his assumption into heaven, to sit at the right hand of God. Which before I do, I must premise some general grounds, as
followeth.
First,
that as God is One, and without all multiplicity, so
must the honor and service which is given unto him have no communicability.
Isaiah 42: 8, I am the Lord, that is my
name, and my glory will I not give unto another, nor my praise to graven
images; for the one-most
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God must have an one-most
service. Therefore in that action whereof God is the object, nothing must be an
object but God. Or, in the Scripture phrase, thus, —in whose actions which look
towards the “face of God,” nothing may come between, whose face such actions
may look upon besides him; whether by way of subordination to him, or
representation of him; for I am the Lord
thy God, saith he, thou shalt have no
other Gods before my face (Exodus 20: 3).
Secondly,
this face of God is not only the “object of his person,” but also the “place of
his presence,” where his glory is revealed in the heavens, where we shall see him face to face, I
Corinthians 13: 12, Revelation 22: 4, and where the angels in heaven behold the face of the Father which is in heaven.
(Matthew 18: 10) No action therefore directed thitherward, that is, to this
face of His revealed presence and glory, may so much as look asquint upon any
other object, or behold any other face but the face of God alone; for we must
have no other Gods before his face.
I say not, that a man may not turn his face upon the face of any other
thing when he turns his face towards the face of God; for how then should we
worship him at all, seeing which way soever we turn us, something will always
be before us? But it is not the face of our bodies, or their posture, but the
face and posture of the act we do,
which must not have the face turned upon anything else, when it is directed at
the face of God. That action in which God is faced,
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must face nothing else but God; that is, where God is the
object, whether in regard of his person, when we pray unto him, or of his
throne of presence, when we would approach it, or direct our supplications
towards it: there nothing is to be respected as the object but God alone. So
although when we pray unto God we turn the face of our bodies towards heaven,
the sun, the moon, and stars; yet we do not therefore worship the host of
heaven, because our action hath no relation to them as to an object, but to God
alone; and howsoever they are between God and us in place, yet as an object of
our devotion neither they, nor anything in them, come any way between us and
him.
Now for
the reason, if you ask it, of this incommunicableness of all actions and
services directed to God-ward, you shall have it, (Exodus 34: 14) —Because the Lord, whose name is jealous, is
a jealous God; jealous not only lest he should not be honored and served as
God; but jealous lest he should not
be honored as one God. For as by
honoring him we acknowledge him to be God,
so by the incommunicableness of honor we acknowledge him to be one God.
For this cause, God being to give us a Mediator, by whom we should have
access unto his presence, and whom, without His jealousy, we might interpose in
our devotions and supplications unto Himself, offered at the Throne of his
Majesty and Glory in the heavens, provided that
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admirable mystery of communicating to the nature of a
man born of a woman the hypostatical union of the Second Person of the Deity;
and him, after he had vanquished death, exalted to sit at his right hand of glory and power in the heavens, there in
his own Presence and Throne to receive our requests, and to deal as an agent
between us and Him.
Thus at
length I am arrived at that port which all this while I made for, viz., to
show, that this glory of Christ, which is styled his sitting at the right hand
of God, is that incommunicable royalty to which of right it belongeth, in the
presence of God, to receive and present our devotions to the Divine Majesty; as
in that which now followeth shall appear.
To sit
at the right hand of God, is to be installed in God’s throne, or to have a
God-like royalty, which is defined in Scripture, —the majesty of Christ in heaven. Whence it is said, Hebrews 1: 3, 
“he sat down on the right hand of Majesty on
high;” and Hebrews 8: 1, it is called 
“the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty
in the Heavens:” it is also called by Christ himself, Mark 14: 62, 
Luke 22: 69, 
the right hand of Power, and the right hand of
the Power of God: for as to the right hand belongs both dignity and strength;
so doth this glory of Christ include both a God-like sublimity and a God-like
power; the first, the right hand of the throne, 
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the second, the right
hand of power, 
The proper place where the majestical glory is
revealed, is the heavens, as may appear almost wheresoever this sitting at the
right hand of God is mentioned. Ephesians 1: 20, 
Colossians 3: 1, 
Hebrews 1: 3, 
Hebrews 7: 26, 
I Peter 3: 22, 
&c. Heaven, heavenly places, and the like,
being always thereto annexed: and everywhere appeareth to be a consequent of
his ascension into heaven, as we say in our Creed, he ascended into Heaven, and
sitteth at the right hand of God; and, therefore, in the words whereon my text
depends, is expressed by, assumed or taken up into glory, 
For as God himself is styled the Father in
heaven, not because not elsewhere, but because his glory is there revealed: so
Christ sits at the right hand in heaven, because there the beams of the Majesty
given him by his Father are revealed: whence it comes that his kingdom is
called the kingdom of Heaven, that is, a kingdom whose king’s residence and
kingly throne are both in Heaven.
This
glorious Throne of Majesty, this sitting
at the right hand of the power of the Almighty, is a name incommunicable, an exaltation whereof no
creature in heaven or earth is capable: which is what the apostle means to tell
us, when he saith, Ephesians 1: 21, Far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come;” and
Philippians 2: 9, 10,
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Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name that is, created
name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow, both of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; (Revelation 3: 21.) He
that overcometh, saith Christ, I will
give him to sit with me in my throne; even as I have overcome, and sat with my
Father in his throne. Here is mentioned, we see, of two thrones, of which, my throne, that is, Christ’s throne, is
the condition of a glorified man; in this throne his saints shall sit with him;
but my Father’s throne is the power
of Divine Majesty, wherein none may sit but God, and the God-man Jesus Christ.
These grounds laid, I say, —that the honor of being prayed
to in heaven, and before the Throne of presence, is a prerogative of the right hand of God; and to receive
our devotions there, a flower of Christ’s sitting
at the right hand of God: as St. Paul, Romans 8: 34, conjoins them, saying,
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is at
the right hand of God, and who makes intercession for us. For by right of
this his exaltation and majesty, he comes to be a priest after the order of
Melchisedec, as appears Psalm 110: 1 The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool; then follow the effects thereof, verse 4. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of
Melchisedec. And by the same right also he
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becomes the only and eternal Priest which hath to do in the
most holy place, the heavens. For as the High Priest only entered the most holy
place beyond the veil in the earthly tabernacle, so Jesus Christ, our only High
Priest, through his body, as the first tabernacle, by his own blood, entered
into the second tabernacle, or holy place
not made with hands, as was the figure, but into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us. All
this you have in the same words at large. (Hebrews 9: 7, 11, 12, 24)
Now in
the tabernacle of this world, as in the first tabernacle, we may haply find
many priests whom to employ as agents for us with God. But in the second
tabernacle, which is in Heaven, there is but one agent to be employed, but One who is but one who hath royal
commission to deal between God and men, that Angel of the presence, as Isaiah calls him chapter 63 verse 9; and one only Mediator, Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, who in this prerogative is above saints and angels; for to which of the saints or angels said God at any time: Sit on my right
hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? (Hebrews 1: 4, 9, 13)
Neither
will this demonstration admit that vulgar exception to be of any force, namely,
—That expiatory
mediation, or meritorious intercession
in heaven, should indeed appertain to Christ alone, but favorable intercession to pray for us, not so; and, therefore, for
this we may without derogation to Christ solicit either saints or angels. I
might say, that this rag is too narrow and short to
cover the nakedness of those
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who laid hold of it; in whose supplications to saints,
and to God too in their names, nothing is more usual than the express mention
of their merits, blood, and sufferings, as motives to God to hear them. But we
shall not need this answer. For we have demonstrated, that as in the law none
but the high priest alone was to do
office in the holiest place, so Christ Jesus now is the only agent for
whatsoever is to be done for us in the holiest tabernacle, of heaven. Besides, we read, that none but
the High Priest alone was to offer incense, or to incense the most heavenly
place when he entered into it: but incense is the prayers of the saints, sent thither from this outward temple of
the militant Church, as in the law it was fetched from without the veil. This,
therefore, none in heaven but Christ alone must receive from us to offer for
us. And this is that Angel with the golden
censer, Revelation 8: 3, who there offers the incense of the prayers of the saints given him to offer there
upon the golden altar before the throne; alluding
expressly to the golden altar before the testimony.
For the
fuller understanding and further confirmation of what hath been spoken, observe
this also; That notwithstanding the man Christ Jesus in regard of his Person,
being God as well as Man, was from his first incarnation capable of this
royalty and glory; not only for the incomparable sufficiency of his Person,
which by reason of his two-fold nature is always and in all places present both
with God and men, and so at one instant able and ready at every need to present
to
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the one what he should receive from the other; but
chiefly and most of all, for that being very God himself, his Father’s
jealousy, which could never have brooked the communication of this glory to any
other which should not have been the self-same with himself was by this
condition of his Person prevented and secured:—
Nevertheless
and notwithstanding all this capability of his Person, it was the will of his
Father, in the dispensation of the mystery of our redemption, not to confer it
upon him, but as purchased and attained by suffering and undergoing of that
death which no creature in heaven or in earth was able to undergo but himself;
being a suffering of death, whereby Death itself was overcome and vanquished;
to the end that none by death save Jesus Christ alone might be ever thought or
deemed capable of the like glory and sublimity; but that it might appear
forever to be a right peculiar to Him.
And
this, I think, is not only agreeable to the tenor of Scripture, but express
Scripture itself. Hebrews 2: 9, 10. But we see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels, by the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. Philippians 2: 8 And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even death of the cross; verses 9,10, Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a name above
every
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name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow. Hebrews
10: 12 But this man after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. Romans
14: 9 For to this end Christ both died, rose and
revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. See
besides, Acts
Lastly, as for that particular parcel of this glory of
Christ, to be that only Name in which we are to ask at the hands of God
whatsoever we have to ask; is not this also ascribed and annexed to his triumph
over death? John 14: 12, 13 I go unto my
Father, (viz. through death;) and whatsoever ye ask in my name
that will I do. John 16: 16, 23. A
little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall
see me; because I go to my Father. And in that day (when I am gone to my
Father) ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye
shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Verse 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name;
ask and ye shall receive. Hebrews 7: 25, 26. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him; seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an High Priest became us —who is made higher than the
heavens.
How is it, then, that some extenuate that kind of
saint-worship, wherein prayers are not made unto them directly, but God is
prayed to in their names and for their mediation sake to grant our requests? Is
it not a denial of Christ’s prerogative,
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to ascribe unto any other, for any respect of glory or
nearness to God after death or otherwise, that wherein he alone is infeoffed by
his inimitable death, triumphant resurrection, and glorious ascension?
Certainly that which he holds by an incommunicable title is itself also
incommunicable.
To
conclude, therefore, with the words of 
holds not the head; but is a Christ-apostate
spirit; which denies the faith of Christ’s assumption into glory, and revives
the Doctrine of Demons.
The way being now cleared, I may, I hope, safely resume my application,
which I have
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already given some taste of, —That this DOCTRINE OF
DEMONS, comprehends in most express
manner the whole Idolatry of the mystery of iniquity, the deifying and
invocating of saints and angels, the bowing down to images, the worshipping of
crosses (as new idol columns), the
adoring and templing of relics, the worshipping of any other visible thing,
upon supposal of any divinity therein. What copy was ever so like the
sample, as all this to the Doctrines of
Demons? And for the idolatry of the Eucharist, or bread-worship, —though it
may be reduced to image-worship, as being the adoration of a sign, or symbol,
—yet let it be considered whether, for the quality thereof, it may not be taken
rather for an idolatry of relics, the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament
being the mystical relics which he left us, as monuments of his death till he
come. Whichsoever it be, I must confess it hath a
strain above the abominations of the Gentiles; who, though they supposed some
presence of their demons in their images and relics, yet were they never so
stupid as to think their images and relics to be transubstantiated into demons.
But to come to the main again. I will confess, for myself,
that I cannot think of this demon-resemblance without admiration; nor do I
believe that you will hear, without some astonishment, that which I am now to
add further, —that the advancers of saint-worship
in the beginning did not only see it, but even gloried, but their glorying was
not good, that they had a thing in Christian practice so like the doctrine of
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demons. We heard before, that Plato in his Republic, would have the souls of
such as died valiantly in battle to be accounted for demons after death, and
their sepulchers and coffins to be served and adored as sepulchers of demons.
Eusebius, lib. 13, Praepar. Evangel.
cap. 11, quoting this place, adds with it, * “These
things do befit at (or after) the decease of the favorites of God, whom, if
thou shalt affirm to be taken for the champions of the true religion, thou wilt
not say amiss: † whence it is our
custom to go unto their tombs, and to make our prayers at them, and to honor
their blessed souls.” The purpose of Eusebius here was to show, as a
preparation to draw men to Christianity, how well the then present usage of
Christians in honoring the memories of their martyrs, by keeping their
assemblies at their sepulchers, did agree with the Gentiles, so much commended
by Plato, in honoring their champions and worthies for demons after death. But, alas! in the next
age after, it proved too like it indeed: for these earrings, which the
Christians had borrowed or stolen from the Gentiles at their coming out of
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Read
the eighth book of Theodoret, On curing the
affections of the Greeks, whose title is Concerning martyrs; or in the mean time take these few passages
thereof. Thus he speaks, having quoted that passage of Hesiod about demons
commended by Plato: —* “If, then, the poet calls good men, after their decease,
the guardians, and preservers, or deliverers, of mortal men from all evil; and
accordingly the best of philosophers, in confirmation of the poet’s saying,
would have their sepulchers to be served and honored: I beseech you, Sirs,” he
speaks to the Greeks, “why do you find such fault with what we do? For such as
were eminent for piety, and religion, and for the sake thereof suffered death,
we also call Preservers and Physicians: in no wise do we term them demons; (God forbid we should ever fall
into such madness,) but the hearty friends and servants of God.”
† “That the souls of holy men, even when
they are out of the body, are in a capacity of
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taking care of men’s affairs, Plato affirms in the eleventh
book of his Laws. The philosopher, you see, bids men believe even the vulgar
reports.*” —that is, the relations and stories which are commonly talked of,
concerning the care which deceased souls have of men. —“But you do not only
disbelieve us; ye are utterly unwilling even to hearken to the loud voice of
the events or effects themselves.”
† “The martyrs’ temples are frequently
to be seen, famous for their beauty and greatness.”
‡ “They that are in health pray for the
continuance thereof; and they that have been long sick pray for recovery; the
barren also pray for children. And they that are to take a long journey, desire
them,” the martyrs, “to be their companions, or rather their guides, in the
journey.”
§ “Not
going to them as Gods, but making
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application to them as to Divine men and agents for them with
God.”
* “Now that they who made faithful prayers have obtained their
petitions, clearly appears by the presents and gifts brought by the votaries,
as so many grateful acknowledgments of their recovery. Accordingly some
do present,” to be hung up in the Church, “the effigies of eyes, others of
hands; and these made of gold or of silver.”
† “Nay, the Martyrs have
utterly abolished and wiped out of the minds of men the memory of those who
were called Gods.”
‡ “Our Lord God hath brought his dead
(viz. the Martyrs) into the place (the temples) of your Gods, whom he hath sent
packing, and hath given their honor to his Martyrs. For instead of the feasts
of Jupiter and Bacchus, are now celebrated the festivals of Peter and Paul, and
Thomas and Sergius, &c., and other holy Martyrs.”
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*
“Wherefore, since you see there is so much advantage by honoring the Martyrs,
be persuaded, I beseech you, to flee from the error of demons; and making use of the Martyrs as so many lights and guides,
follow the way which leads directly to God,” &c.
Now
judge whether the doctrines of demon
hath hitherto been fitly applied or not: —I will go on.
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