as many travellers as he hath brought back again; as many as he hath raised from sickness; as many as he hath restored their children unto having been dead; as many as have received by his means a longer term of life."

66

Here a man may easily discern the breedings of this disease, and as it were the grudgings of that ague that afterwards brake out into a pestilential fever. The martyr is here vocatus only, not invocatus yet: not called upon by being prayed unto, but called to join with others in putting up the same petition unto his and their God. For as here in the Church militant we have our fellowsoldiers ovvaywvíoavraç, striving together with us, and συνυπουργοῦντας", helping together with their prayers to God for us; and yet because we pray one for another, we do not pray one to another: so the fathers which taught that the saints in the Church triumphant do pray for us, might with St. Basil acknowledge that they had the martyrs “ συννέργους εἰς προσευχὴν, fellow helpers to their prayer;" and yet pray with them only, and not unto them. For howsoever this evil weed grew apace, (among the superstitious multitude especially) yet it was so cropt at first by the skilful husbandmen of the Church, that it got nothing near that height which under the papacy we see it is now grown unto. Which that we may the better understand, and more distinctly apprehend, how far the recommending of men's selves unto the prayers of the saints, which began to be used in the latter end of the fourth age after Christ, came short of that invocation of saints, which is at this day practised in the Church of Rome: these special differences may be observed betwixt the one and the other. First, in those elder times, he that prayed silently was thought to honour God in a singular manner: as one that "brought faith with him, and confessed that God was the searcher of the heart and

Rom. chap. 15. ver. 30.

P 2 Cor. chap. 1. ver. 11.

Qui in silentio orat, fidem defert, et confitetur quod Deus scrutator cordis et renis sit, et orationem tuam ante ille audiat, quam tuo ore fundatur. Ambros. de sacram. lib. 6. cap. 4. op. tom. 2. pag. 383.

reins, and heard his prayer, before it was poured out of his mouth:" the understanding of the present secrets of the heart, by the general judgment of the fathers, being no more communicated by him unto the creatures, than the knowledge of things to come; for before the day wherein the secrets of the heart shall be manifested, "Almighty God alone doth behold the hidden things:" saith St. Hierome, alleging for proof of this the text, Thyt Father that seeth in secret ;""God" searcheth the hearts and reins;" and "Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men." But now in the church of Rome mental prayers are presented to the saints, as well as vocal, and they are believed to receive both the one and the other.

Secondly, in the former times "it was a great question, whether at all, or how far, or after what manner the spirits of the dead did know the things that concerned us here:" and consequently, whether they pray for us only in general, and for the particulars God answereth us according to our several necessities, where, when, and after

• Προγνώστης καὶ καρδιογνώστης μόνος ὁ θεὸς ὑπάρχει ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τὰ ἐν καρδίᾳ, ἢ τὰ μέλλοντα ἐπίστανται. Quaest. 99. ad Antioch. tom. 2. oper. Athanas. pag. 291.

* Et prius quidem solus omnipotens Deus cernit occulta, dicente sermone evangelico; Et pater qui videt in abscondito. Et in alio loco: Scrutans corda et renes Deus. Et in regum volumine: Tu solus nosti corda cunctorum filiorum hominum. Hieron. lib. 5. in Ezech. cap. 16. Vid. eund. lib. 4. in Ezech. cap. 14. lib. 4. in Jerem. cap. 20. et lib. 1. in Matth. cap. 9. (supra, pag. 122.) Jo. Chrysost. in Matth. hom. 29. edit. Græc. vel. 30. Latin. Gennadium de eccles. dogmatib. cap. 81. Jo. Cassian. collat. 7. cap. 13. Sedulium in Rom. cap. 2. Paschasium de Spiritu Sancto, lib. 2. cap. 1. et alios passim.

t Matth. chap. 6. ver. 4.

w 1 Kings, chap. 8. ver. 39.

u Psalm 7. ver. 9.

x Respondeo magnam quidem esse quæstionem, nec in præsentia disserendam, quod sit operis prolixioris; utrum, vel quatenus, vel quomodo ea quæ circa nos aguntur noverint spiritus mortuorum. Augustin. in Psal. 108. enarrat. 1.

y Vid. August. de cura pro mortuis, cap. 16. supra citatum, pag. 439. sanctos in genere sollicitos esse pro ecclesia, et orare posse, atque etiam reipsa orare, fatentur Philippus in apologia confessionis Augustanæ, articulo de invocatione sanctorum; Brentius in confessione Wirtembergensi, capite de invocatione sanctorum; Kemnitius in tertia parte examinis concilii Tridentini Calvinus quoque libro tertio institut. cap. 20. sect. 21. et 24. non repugnat huic sententiæ. Bellar. de Missa, lib. 2. cap. 8.

what manner he pleaseth. Anselmus Laudunensis in his interlineal gloss upon that text, "Abraham" is ignorant of us, and Israel knoweth us not:" noteth, that Augustine saith, "that the dead, even the saints, do not know what the living do, no not their own sons." And indeed St. Augustine in his book of the care for the dead, maketh this inference upon that place of Scripture: "If such great patriarchs as these were ignorant, what was done toward the people that descended from them, unto whom, believing God, the people itself was promised to come from their stock: how do the dead interpose themselves in knowing and furthering the things and acts of the living?" and afterwards draweth these conclusions from thence, which Hugo de Sancto Victores borrowing from him, hath inserted into his book De spiritu et anima", "The spirits of the dead be there, where they do neither see nor hear the things that are done or fall out unto men in this life. Yet have they such a care of the living, although they know not at all what they do, as we have care of the dead, although we know not what they do. The dead

Isaiah, chap. 63. ver. 16.

a Augustinus dicit: Quia mortui nesciunt, etiam sancti, quid agant vivi, etiam eorum filii. Gloss. interlineal. in Esai. cap. 63.

b Si tanti patriarchæ quid erga populum ex his procreatum ageretur, ignoraverunt, quibus Deo credentibus populus ipse de illorum stirpe promissus est: quo modo mortui vivorum rebus atque actibus cognoscendis adjuvandisque miscentur? Augustin. de cura pro mortuis, cap. 13. op. tom. 6. pag. 526.

c Lib. de spiritu et anima, tom. 6. operum Augustini: qui idem est cum libro 2. de anima, inter opera Hugonis Victorini.

d Cap. 29.

e Ibi sunt spiritus defunctorum, ubi non vident quæcunque aguntur, aut eveniunt in ista vita hominibus. August. de cura pro mortuis, cap. 13. pag. 526.

Ita illi (diviti) fuit cura de vivis, quamvis quid agerent, omnino nesciret: quemadmodum est nobis cura de mortuis, quamvis quid agant, omnino utique nesciamus. Ibid. cap. 14. pag. 527.

Proinde fatendum est, nescire quidem mortuos quid hic agatur, sed dum hic agitur; postea vero audire ab eis, qui hinc ad eos moriendo pergunt. Non quidem omnia, sed quæ sinuntur indicare, qui sinuntur etiam ista meminisse; et quæ illos, quibus hæc indicant, oportet audire. Possunt et ab angelis, qui rebus quæ aguntur hic præsto sunt, audire aliquid mortui, quod unumquenque illorum audire debere judicat cui cuncta subjecta sunt, &c. Possunt etiam spiritus mortuorum aliqua quæ hic aguntur, quæ necessarium est eos nosse, et quæ necessarium non est eos non nosse, non solum præterita vel præsentia, ve

indeed do not know what is done here, while it is here in doing but afterward they may hear it by such as die and go unto them from hence; yet not altogether, but as much as is permitted to the one to tell and is fit for the other to hear. They may know it also by the angels which be here present with us, and carry our souls unto them. They may know also by the revelation of God's spirit such of the things done here as is necessary for them to know." Hitherto Hugo out of St. Augustine, who is herein also followed by Gratian, in the second part of the Decrees", where the gloss layeth down his resolution thus: "Gratian' moveth a certain incident question; whether the dead know the things that are done in this world. by the living? and he answereth, that they do not: and this he proveth by the authority of Isaiah."

ces,

The like question is moved by the master of the Senten"Whether the saints do hear the prayers of suppliants, and the desire of petitioners do come unto their notice?" and this answer is returned thereunto: "It is NOT INCREDIBLE, that the souls of the saints, which in the secret of God's presence are joyed with the illustration of the true light, do in the contemplation thereof understand the things that are done abroad, as much as appertaineth either to them for joy, or to us for help. For as to the angels, so to the saints likewise which stand before God, our petitions are made known in the Word of God which they contemplate." Upon which place of the master,

rumetiam futura spiritu Dei revelante cognoscere. Aug. de cura pro mortuis, cap. 15. op. tom. 6. pag. 527.

h Caus. 13. quæst. 2. cap. 29.

i Facit. Grat. quandam incidentem quæstionem; utrum defuncti sciunt quæ in mundo geruntur a vivis ? et respondet, quod non : et hoc probat auctoritate Esaiæ. Gloss. in 13. quæst. 2. de mortuis.

k Isaiah, chap. 63. ver. 16.

1 Sed forte quæris; Nunquid preces supplicantium sancti audiunt, et vota postulantium in eorum notitiam perveniunt? Non est incredibile, animas sanctorum, quæ in abscondito faciei Dei veri luminis illustratione lætantur, in ipsius contemplatione ea quæ foris aguntur intelligere, quantum vel illis ad gaudium, vel nobis ad auxilium pertinet. Sicut enim angelis, ita et sanctis qui Deo assistunt, petitiones nostræ innotescunt in verbo Dei quod contemplantur. Petr. Lombard. sentent. lib. 4. distinct. 45.

Scotus disputing, groweth to this conclusion: "Im say, that it is not necessary in respect of the beatitude, that one in bliss should see our prayers, neither regularly or universally in the Word, because it is not such a thing as is a necessary sequel of beatitude, nor yet that they be revealed, because that neither such a revelation doth necessarily follow upon beatitude." Notwithstanding (for a reason which we shall hear of afterward) he saith, "it is PROBABLE, that God doth specially reveal unto him that is in bliss such of our prayers as are offered unto him, or unto God in his name.' The same conclusion doth Gabriel Biel make in his lectures upon the canon of the mass; for having showed, first, that "the" saints in heaven, by their natural knowledge, which is the knowledge of things in their proper kind, know no prayers of ours that are here upon earth, neither mental nor vocal, by reason of the immoderate distance that is betwixt us and them;" secondly, that "it is no part of their essential beatitude, that they should see our prayers, or our other actions in the Word;" and thirdly, that "it is not altogether certain, whether it do appertain to their accidental beatitude, to see our prayers," he thus at length concludeth: "Ita is therefore said PROBABLY, that although it do not follow

m Dico, quod non est necesse ex ratione beatitudinis, quod beatus videat orationes nostras: neque regulariter sive universaliter in verbo, quia non est aliquid quasi necessaria sequela beatitudinis; neque quod revelentur, quia neque talis revelatio necessario sequitur beatitudinem, &c. Tamen probabile est, quod Deus beatis revelat de orationibus sibi, vel Deo in nomine ejus oblatis. Jo. Scotus, in 4. dist. 45. quæst. 4.

"Dicendum, quod sancti in patria qui de facto in cœlis sunt, naturali cognitione pura vespertina, quæ est cognitio rerum in proprio genere, nullas orationes nostrum in terra consistentium, neque mentales neque vocales cognoscunt propter immoderatam distantiam inter nos et ipsos. Gabr. Biel, in canon. Miss. lect. 31.

• Non est de ratione beatitudinis essentialis; ut nostras orationes, aut alia facta nostra, matutina cognitione videant in Verbo. Ibid.

P Utrum autem videre nostras orationes pertineat ad eorum beatitudinem accidentalem, non per omnia certum est. Ibid.

Unde probabiliter dicitur, quod licet non necessario sequitur ad sanctorum beatitudinem, ut orationes nostras audiant de congruo : tamen Deus eis revelat omnia quæ ipsis ab hominibus offeruntur; sive ipsos magnificando et laudando sive eos orando et auxilia implorando. Gabr. Biel. in canon. Miss. lect. 31.

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