Rome's retort that the words mean only intercession: then why use the words of absolute prayer?
They retort that when they pray to the saints in that way, they do not mean that the saints give and bestow those good things themselves by any power of their own, but only that the saints obtain them from God by their merits and prayers. So, although the words say something else, all they mean is that the saints obtain from God by intercession what is asked.
But surely nothing forces them to think one thing and say another. If they ask the saints only to pray to God for them, why do they address the saints in the words of absolute prayer? Why are they not content to repeat to the saints the familiar "Pray for us"?
Latin
XCII. Regerunt, quum Sanctos eo modo precantur, mentem suam non esse, ut Sancti ea bona praestent & largiantur ipsi, propria quadam potestate, sed solum ut illa meritis & precibus suis a Deo obtineant. Adeoque licet verba aliud sonent, se tamen aliud non intelligere, quam ut Sancti intercessione sua quae petunt a Deo impetrent. Sed certe nihil eos cogit ut aliter sentiant, & aliter loquantur. Si non aliud rogant Sanctos quam ut Deum pro ipsis orent, cur utuntur apud ipsos verbis orationis absolutae; nec contenti sunt Sanctis ingeminare illud solenne, Ora pro nobis?