He
afterwards retired to a monastery, and died A.D. 1495.]
[Footnote 136: This is a very favourite argument in the present
day, often heard in the pulpits on the Continent.]
In his 80th lecture, the same author comments on this prayer, which is
still offered in the service of the Mass:
"Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils past, present, and
future; and by the intercession of the blessed and glorious ever-virgin
mother of God, Mary, with thy blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and
Andrew, and all saints, mercifully grant peace in our days, that, aided
by the help of thy mercy, we may be both ever {371} free from sin, and
free from all disquietude. Through the same our Lord, &c."
On this prayer Biel observes, "Again we ask, in this prayer, the defence
of peace; and since we cannot, nor do we presume to obtain this by our
own merit, ... therefore, in order to obtain this, we have recourse, in
the second part of this prayer, to the suffrages of all his saints, whom
He hath constituted, in the court of his kingdom, as our mediators, most
acceptable to himself, whose prayers his love does not reject. But, of
them, we fly, in the first place, to the most blessed Virgin, the Queen
of Heaven, to whom the King of kings, the heavenly Father, has given the
half of his kingdom; which was signified in Hester, the queen, to whom,
when she approached to appease king Asuerus, the king said to her, Even
if thou shalt ask the half of my kingdom, it shall be given thee.
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