Sect. 2. There is another branch of this crime, which I shall stay a little on, viz. Their worshipping of Relics. Herein they are so liberal, as to give Religious Worship to such things, which they do but fancy to be Relics; yea such as it is absurd, and ridiculous to imagine, they are Relics. For who can imagine (at least when he is waking) how they could catch, or keep St. Peters shadow; or bottle up Josephs hough, his toilsome breathing, when he was at his Carpenters work? yet both these, with others of like quality, are among the Relics, which they count worthy of such Worship. (b)The shadow of St. Peter, says one, is not the greatest among Relics, and therefore if that be adored, why are not the rest to be honoured and Worshipped? Bellarmine (c)asks, what Relic can be imagined to be meaner, than the shadow of Peter? possibly he might be resolved, near Blois in France, where Josephs hough is Honoured, and Worshipped as a Relic. (d)Baronius ascribes much to the shadow of Peter, for he makes it the ground, not only of their Worship of Images, but also of the honour and power of the Popes. Who can doubt hereafter, but that the weightiest things in Popery have a substantial foundation? They Worship their Relics, not only when they are whole and sound, but when they are corrupted, and reduced to dust; or nothing else of them left, but the vermin bred in them; not only the ashes, but the Vermin too may be Worshipped, though some stick at the latter. Henricus one of their School-Doctors concludes, that the Relics in the form of Dust and Ashes, may and ought to be adored, but not under the form of vermin, and gives some reason for it; but their great Vasquez rejects this scruple, and the ground of it, as vain and frivolous; and concludes they may be Worshipped, as well when they are vermin, as when they are Ashes. (e)A man, ⟨p. 186⟩saith he, may with right intention, and sincere faith, apprehend a Saint, and Worship him in Worms. If the question had been, of the little Worms in the Ulcer of St. Harry of Denmark, (f)for which he had such Saint-like love, as when they crept out of his Knee, to put them in again, that they might be nourished, where they were bred; Or of the Lice of St. Francis, (g)for which he had such a holy tenderness (it is Recorded as an argument of his holiness) that when they were shaked off, he gathered them up, and put them in his Bosom:
Sect. 2. There is another branch of this crime, which I shall stay a little on, viz. Their worshipping of Reliques. Herein they are so liberal, as to give Religious Worship to such things, which they do but fancy to be Reliques; yea such as it is absurd, and ridiculous to imagine, they are Reliques. For who can imagine (at least when he is waking) how they could catch, or keep St. Peters shadow; or bottle up Josephs hough, his toylsome breathing, when he was at his Carpenters work? yet both these, with others of like quality, are among the Reliques, which they count worthy of such Worship. (b)The shadow of St. Peter, sayes one, is not the greatest among Reliques, and therefore if that be adored, why are not the rest to be honoured and Worshipped? Bellarmine (c)asks, what Relique can be imagined to be meaner, than the shadow of Peter? possibly he might be resolved, near Blois in France, where Josephs hough is Honoured, and Worshipped as a Relique. (d)Baronius ascribes much to the shadow of Peter, for he makes it the ground, not only of their Worship of Images, but also of the honour and power of the Popes. Who can doubt hereafter, but that the weightiest things in Popery have a substantial foundation? They Worship their Reliques, not only when they are whole and sound, but when they are corrupted, and reduced to dust; or nothing else of them left, but the vermine bred in them; not only the ashes, but the Vermine too may be Worshipped, though some stick at the latter. Henricus one of their School-Doctors concludes, that the Reliques in the form of Dust and Ashes, may and ought to be adored, but not under the form of vermine, and gives some reason for it; but their great Vasquez rejects this scruple, and the ground of it, as vain and frivolous; and concludes they may be Worshipped, as well when they are vermine, as when they are Ashes. (e)A man, ⟨p. 186⟩saith he, may with right intention, and sincere faith, apprehend a Saint, and Worship him in Worms. If the question had been, of the little Worms in the Ulcer of St. Harry of Denmark, (f)for which he had such Saint-like love, as when they crept out of his Knee, to put them in again, that they might be nourished, where they were bred; Or of the Lice of St. Francis, (g)
- (b)Umbra vero non est maxima inter alias reliquias, &c. Vasquez de adorat. l. 3. disp. 3. c. 2. n. 8•.
- (c)Quae reliquia viliores umbra (Petri) cogitari possint? de imagin. cap. 3. p. 1494.
- (d)An. 34. in Spondan. n. 77.
- (e)Recta intentione & sincere a side, possit quis in vermibus sanctum apprehendere, & venerari. Ibid. cap. ult. n. 113. 114.Recta intentione & sincer a side, possit quis in vermibus sanctum apprehendere, & venerari. Ibid. cap. ult. n. 113. 114.
- (f)Engl. Martyrol. Jan. 16.
- (g)Canus. Loc. Th. lib. 11. c. 6.
