'We will not give her lavish and excessive attributes': Bishop Bull on reverence of the Blessed Virgin
I will mention some few instances of extravagant honour which the Papists give, but we of the Church of England utterly refuse to yield, to the blessed Virgin , out of a true zeal to the honour of God.
We will not give her lavish and excessive attributes, beyond what the Holy Scriptures allow her, and the holy men of the primitive Church afforded her. We will call her "blessed," as the mother of our Lord, in the sense above explained. But we dare not call her "queen of heaven," "queen of Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles," "source of the fountain of grace," "refuge of sinners," "comfort of the afflicted," "advocate of all Christians," as she is called in that Litany of our Lady, still used in their devotions. For we have no instance of such attributes given to the blessed Virgin in the Holy Scriptures, and they are too big for any mere creature.
We will not ascribe those excellencies to her, that she never had nor could have; as, a fulness of habitual grace, more grace than all the angels and archangels of God put together ever had; that she was born without original sin, and never committed any the least actual sin, and, consequently, never needed a Saviour. These are wild things, which very many of the Papists, drunk with superstition, say of her ...
My brethren, let us bless God that we yet breathe in a pure air, free from the noisome and pestilent fogs of those superstitious vanities, where none of those fooleries and impieties are obtruded on our faith or practice; that we live in a Church, wherein no other name is invocated but the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; nor divine worship given to any but to the one true God, through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator.
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