CHAPTER VI

TO WHOM WE SHOULD PRAY

QUESTION I

Prayer, to whom chiefly to be addressed

That God is to be prayed to and his name invoked, the force itself of nature, implanted in the minds of men, proclaims; as do also the sacred Scriptures, in which we may hear God commanding: Call upon me in the day of trouble; and, by the word God, are to be understood the three persons of the adorable Trinity.

QUESTION II

Whether the Saints who reign with Christ are also to be invoked

In the next place we have recourse to the assistance of the saints, who are in heaven; and that to them prayers are to be addressed, is so certain in the Church of God, that the pious cannot have any doubt upon the subject. But as this point was explained in its proper place, under a separate head, to that explanation we refer the pastor and others. To remove, however, all error on the part of the unlettered, it will be advantageous to explain to the faithful the difference between the invocation [of the saints, and of God].

QUESTION III

God and the Saints addressed differently

From God and from the saints we implore assistance not after the same manner: for we implore God to grant us the blessings which we want, or to deliver us from evils; but the saints, because favourites with God, we solicit to undertake our advocacy with God, to obtain of him for us those things of which we stand in need. Hence we employ two different forms of prayer: for to God, we properly say, Have mercy on us, hear us; to the saints, Pray for us.

QUESTION IV

In what Manner we may beseech the Saints to have mercy on us

We may, however, also ask the saints themselves to have mercy on us, for they are most merciful; but we do so on a different principle; for we may beseech them that, touched with the misery of our condition, they would interpose, in our behalf, their favour and intercession with God. In the performance of this duty, it is most strictly incumbent on all, to beware lest they transfer to any creature the right which belongs exclusively to the Deity; and when we repeat before the image of any saint the Lord’s Prayer, our idea must then be to beg of the saint to pray with us, and ask for us those favours, that are contained in the form of the Lord’s Prayer, to become, in fine, our interpreter and intercessor with God; for that this is an office which the saints discharge, St. John the apostle has taught in the Revelation.