"And as the Apostle says of himself 'that I might save some,' [Rom. xi.]

and 'that he might save all,' [I Cor. ix.] not as God, but Thy prayer

and counsel."

I wish not to enter upon the question how far this distinction is

consistent with that openness and straightforward undisguised dealing

which is alone allowable when we are contending for the truth; nor how

far the {238} charge of moral obliquity and double dealing, often

brought against it, can be satisfactorily met. But suppose for a moment

that we grant (what is not the case) that in the metaphysical

disquisitions of the experienced casuist such a distinction might be

maintained, how can we expect it to be recognized, and felt, and acted

upon by the large body of Christians? Abstractedly considered, such an

interpretation in a religious act of daily recurrence by the mass of

unlearned believers would, I conceive, appear to reflecting minds most

improbable, if not utterly impossible. And as to its actual _bona-fide_

result in practice, a very brief sojourn in countries where the religion

of Rome is dominant, will suffice to convince us, that such subtilties

of the casuist are neither received nor understood by the great body of

worshippers; and that the large majority of them, when they pray to an

individual saint to deliver them from any evil, or to put them in

possession of some good, do in very deed look to the saint himself for

the fulfilment of their wishes. It is a snare to the conscience only too

evidently successful.

And I regret to add, that in the errors into which such language of

their prayers may unhappily betray them, they cannot be otherwise than

confirmed as well by the recorded sentiments of men in past years, whom

they have been taught to reverence, as by the sentiments which are

circulated through the world now, even by what they are accustomed to

regard as the highest authority on earth[91].

[Footnote 91: See in subsequent parts of this work the

references to Bonaventura, Bernardin Sen., Bernardin de Bust.,

&c.; and also the encyclical letter of the present (A.D. 1840)

reigning pontiff.]

To this point, however, we must repeatedly revert {239} hereafter; at

present, I will only add one further consideration. If, as we are now

repeatedly told, the utmost sought by the invocation of saints is that

they would intercede for the supplicants; that no more is meant than we

of the Anglican Church mean when we earnestly entreat our

fellow-Christians on earth to pray for us,--why should not the prayers

to the saints be confined exclusively to that form of words which would

convey the meaning intended? why should other forms of supplicating them

be adopted, whose obvious and direct meaning implies a different thing?

If we request a Christian friend to pray for us, that we may be

strengthened and supported under a trial and struggle in our spiritual

warfare, we do not say, "Friend, strengthen me; Friend, support me."

That entreaty would imply our desire to be, that he would visit us

himself, and comfort and strengthen us by his own kind words and

cheering offices of consolation and encouragement. To convey our

meaning, our words would be, "Pray for me; remember me in your

supplications to the throne of grace. Implore God, of his mercy, to give

me the strength and comfort of his Holy Spirit." If nothing more is ever

intended to be conveyed, than a similar request for their prayers, when

the saints are "suppliantly invoked," in a case of such delicacy, and

where there is so much danger of words misleading, why have other

expressions of every variety been employed in the Roman Liturgies, as

well as in the devotions of individuals, which in words appeal to the

saints, not for their prayers, but for their own immediate exertion in

our behalf, their assistance, succour, defence, and comfort,--"Protect

us from our enemies--Heal the diseases of our minds--Release us from our

sin--Receive us at the hour of death?" {240}

In the present work, however, were it not for the example and warning

set us by this still greater departure from Scripture and the primitive

Church, we need not have dwelt on this immediate point; because we

maintain that any invocation of saint or angel, even if it were confined

to a petitioning for their prayers and intercessions, is contrary both

to God's word and to the faith and practice of the primitive, Catholic,

and Apostolic Church. We now proceed to the next portion of our proposed

inquiry,--the present state of Roman Catholic worship, with respect to

the invocation of saints and angels. {241}

* * * * *

CHAPTER III.

SECTION I.--PRESENT SERVICE IN THE CHURCH OF ROME.

In submitting to the reader's consideration the actual state of Roman

Catholic worship at the present hour, I disclaim all desire to fasten

upon the Church of Rome any of the follies and extravagancies of

individual superstition. Probably many English Roman Catholics have been

themselves shocked and scandalized by the scenes which their own eyes

have witnessed in various parts of continental Europe. It would be no

less unfair in us to represent the excesses of superstition there forced

on our notice as the genuine legitimate fruits of the religion of Rome,

than it would be in Roman Catholics to affiliate on the Catholics of the

Anglican Church the wild theories and revolting tenets of all who assume

the name of opponents to Rome. Well indeed does it become us of both

Churches to watch jealously and adversely as against ourselves the

errors into which our doctrines, if not preserved and guarded in their

purity and simplicity, might have a tendency to seduce the unwary. And

whilst I am fully alive to the necessity of us Anglican Catholics

prescribing to ourselves a {242} practical application of the same rule

in various points of faith and discipline, I would with all delicacy and

respect invite Roman Catholics to do likewise. Especially would I

entreat them to reflect with more than ordinary scrutiny and solicitude

on the vast evils into which the practice of praying to saints and

angels, and of pleading their merits at the throne of grace, has a

tendency to betray those who are unenlightened and off their guard; and

unless my eyes and my ears and my powers of discernment have altogether

often deceived and failed me, I must add, actually betrays thousands.

Often when I have witnessed abroad multitudes of pilgrims prostrate

before an image of the Virgin, their arms extended, their eyes fixed on

her countenance, their words in their native language pouring forth her

praises and imploring her aid, I have asked myself, If this be not

religious worship, what is? If I could transport myself into the midst

of pagans in some distant part of the world at the present day; or could

I have mingled with the crowd of worshippers surrounding the image of

Minerva in Athens, or of Diana in Ephesus, when the servants of the only

God called their fellow-creatures from such vanities, should I have seen

or heard more unequivocal proofs that the worshippers were addressing

their prayers to the idols as representations of their deities? Would

any difference have appeared in their external worship? When the

Ephesians worshipped their "great goddess Diana and the image which fell

down from Jupiter," could their attitude, their eyes, or their words

more clearly have indicated an assurance in the worshipper, that the

Spirit of the Deity was especially present in that image, than the

attitude, the eyes, the words of the pilgrims at Einsiedlin for example,

are indications of the same {243} belief and assurance with regard to

the statue of the Virgin Mary? These thoughts would force themselves

again and again on my mind; and though since I first witnessed such

things many years have intervened, chequered with various events of

life, yet whilst I am writing, the scenes are brought again fresh to my

remembrance; the same train of thought is awakened; and the lapse of

time has not in the least diminished the estimate then formed of the

danger, the awful peril, to which the practice of addressing saints and

angels in prayer, even in its most modified and mitigated form, exposes

those who are in communion with Rome. I am unwilling to dwell on this

point longer, or to paint in deeper or more vivid colours the scenes

which I have witnessed, than the necessity of the case requires. But it

would have been the fruit of a morbid delicacy rather than of brotherly

love, had I disguised, in this part of my address, the full extent of

the awful dread with which I contemplate any approximation to prayers,

of whatever kind, uttered by the lips or mentally conceived, to any

spiritual existence in heaven above, save only to the one God

exclusively. It is indeed a dread suggested by the highest and purest

feelings of which I believe my frame of mind to be susceptible; it is

sanctioned and enforced by my reason; and it is confirmed and

strengthened more and more by every year's additional reflection and

experience. Ardently as I long and pray for Christian unity, I could not

join in communion with a Church, one of whose fundamental articles

accuses of impiety those who deny the lawfulness of the invocations of

saints.

But I return from this digression on the peril of idolatry, to which as

well the theory as the practice of {244} the Roman Catholic Church

exposes her members; and willingly repeat my disclaimer of any wish or

intention whatever to fasten and filiate upon the Church of Rome the

doctrines or the practice of individuals, or even of different sections

of her communion. Still, in the same manner as I have referred to the

extravagancies which offend us in many parts of Christendom now, I would

recall some of the excesses into which renowned and approved authors of

her communion have been betrayed. I seek not to fix on those members of

the Roman Church who disclaim any participation in such excesses, the

folly or guilt of others; but when we find many of the most celebrated

among her sons tempted into such lamentable departures from primitive

Christian worship, we are naturally led to ascertain whether the

doctrine be not itself the genuine cause and source of the

mischief;--whether the malady be not the immediate and natural effect of

the tenet and practice operating generally, and not to be referred to

the idiosyncrasy of the patient. A voice seems to address us from every

side, when such excesses are witnessed, Firmly resist the beginnings of

the evil; oppose its very commencement; it is not a question of degree,

exclude the principle itself from your worship; give utterance to no

invocation; mentally conceive no prayer to any being, save God alone;

plead no other merits with Him than the merits of his only Son. Then,

and then only, are you safe. Then, and then only, is your prayer

catholic, primitive, apostolic, and scriptural.

The[92] most satisfactory method of conducting this {245} branch of our

inquiry seems to be, that we should examine the Roman Ritual with

reference to those several and progressive stages to which I have before

generally referred; from the mere rhetorical apostrophe to the direct

prayer for spiritual blessings petitioned for immediately from the

person addressed. I am neither anxious to establish the progress

historically, nor do I wish to tie myself down in all cases to the exact

order of those successive stages, in my present citation of testimonies

from the Roman Ritual. My anxiety is to give a fair view of what is now

the real character of Roman Catholic worship, rather than to draw fine

distinctions. I shall therefore survey within the same field of view the

two fatal errors by which, as we believe, the worship of the Church of

Rome is rendered unfit for the family of Christ to acknowledge it

generally as their own: I mean the adoration of saints, and the pleading

of their merits at the throne of grace, instead of trusting to the alone

exclusive merits of the one only Mediator Jesus Christ our Lord, and

addressing God Almighty alone.

[Footnote 92: I believe the method best calculated to supply us

with the very truth is, as I have before observed, to trace the

conduct of Christians at the shrines of the martyrs, and follow

them in their successive departures further and further from

primitive purity and simplicity, on the anniversaries of those

servants of God. What was hailed there first in the full warmth

of admiration and zeal for the honour and glory of a national or

favourite martyr, crept stealthily, and step by step, into the

regular and stated services of the Church.]

I. In the original form of those prayers in which mention was made of

the saints departed, Christians addressed the Supreme Being alone,

either in praise for the mercies shown to the saints themselves, and to

the Church through their means; or else in supplication, that the

worshippers might have grace to follow their example, and profit by

their instruction. Such, for instance, is the prayer in the Roman

ritual[93] on St. {246} John's day[94] which is evidently the foundation

of the beautiful Collect now used in the Anglican Church,--"Merciful

Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church,

that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy Apostle and Evangelist

St. John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length

attain to the light of everlasting life, through Jesus our Lord. Amen."

Such too is the close of the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's

Church militant here on earth, offered in our Anglican service,--"We

bless thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith

and fear, beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good

examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.

Grant this, O Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and

Advocate. Amen."

[Footnote 93: The references will generally be given to the

Roman Breviary as edited by F.C. Husenbeth, Norwich, 1830. That

work consists of four volumes, corresponding with the four

quarters of the ecclesiastical year--Winter, Hiem.; Spring,

Vern.; Summer, _Æstiv_.; Autumn, Aut.; and the volumes will be

designated by the corresponding initials, H. V. Æ. A.]

[Footnote 94: "Ecclesiam, tuam, Domine, benignus illustra, ut

beati Johannis Apostoli tui et evangelistæ illuminata doctrinis,

ad dona perveniat sempiterna. Per Dominum."--Husen. H. p. 243.]

II. The second stage supplies examples of a kind of rhetorical

apostrophe; the speaker addressing one who was departed as though he had

ears to hear. Were not this the foundation stone on which the rest of

the edifice seems to have been built, we might have passed it by

unnoticed. Of this we have an instance in the address to the Shepherds

on Christmas-day. "Whom have ye seen, ye shepherds? Say ye, tell ye, who

hath appeared on the earth? Say ye, what saw ye? Announce to us the

nativity of Christ[95]."

[Footnote 95: Quem vidistis, Pastores? Dicite, Annunciate nobis.

In terris quis apparuit? Dicite quidnam vidistis? Et annunciate

Christi nativitatem.--H. 219.] {247}

Another instance is seen in that beautiful song ascribed to Prudentius

and used on the day of Holy Innocents:

"Hail! ye flowers of Martyrs." [Salvete flores martyrum. H. 249.]

It is of the same character with other songs, said to be from the same

pen, in which the town of Bethlehem is addressed, and even the Cross.

"O Thou of mighty cities." [O sola magnarum urbium. H. 306.]

"Bend thy boughs, thou lofty tree...."

[Flecte ramos arbor alta, &c. Aut. 344.]

"Worthy wast thou alone

To bear the victim of the world."

Thus, on the feast of the exaltation of the Cross, this anthem is

sung,--"O blessed Cross, who wast alone worthy to bear the King of the

heavens and the Lord." [O crux benedicta, quæ sola fuisti digna portare

Regem coelorum et Dominum. Alleluia. A. 345.] Though unhappily, in an

anthem on St. Andrew's day, this apostrophe becomes painful and

distressing, in which not only is the cross thus apostrophised, but it

is prayed to, as though it had ears to hear, and a mind to understand,

and power to act,--"Hail, precious Cross! do thou receive the disciple

of Him who hung upon thee, my master, Christ." [Salve, crux pretiosa

suscipe discipulum ejus, qui pependit in te, magister meus Christus. A.

547.] The Church of Rome, in this instance, gives us a vivid example of

the ease with which exclamations and apostrophes are made the

ground-work of invocations. In the legend of the day similar, though not

the same, words form a part of the salutation, which St. Andrew is there

said to have addressed {248} to the cross of wood prepared for his own

martyrdom, and then bodily before his eyes. There are many such

addresses to the Cross, in various parts of the Roman ritual. (See A.

344.)

In such apostrophes the whole of the Song of the Three Children abounds;

and we meet with many such in the early writers.

III. The third stage supplies instances of prayer to God, imploring him

to allow the supplication of his saints to be offered for us. Of this we

find examples in the Collects for St. Andrew's Eve and Anniversary, for

the feast of St. Anthony, and various others.

"We beseech thee, Almighty God, that he whose feast we are about to

celebrate may implore thy aid for us," &c. [Quæsumus omnipotens Deus, ut

beatus Andreas Apostolus cujus prævenimus festivitatem, tuum pro nobis

imploret auxilium. A. 545.]

"That he may be for us a perpetual intercessor." [Ut apud te sit pro

nobis perpetuus intercessor. A. 551.]

"We beseech thee, O Lord, let the intercession of the blessed Anthony

the Abbot commend us, that what we cannot effect by our own merits, we

may obtain by his patronage [Ejus patrocinio assequamur. H. 490.]:

through the Lord."

These prayers I could not offer in faith. I am taught in the written

word to look for no other intercessor in heaven, than one who is eternal

and divine, therefore I can need no other. Had God, by his revealed

word, told me that the intercessions of his servants departed should

prevail with Him, provided I sought that benefit by prayer, I should,

without any misgiving, have implored Him to receive their {249} prayers

in my behalf; but I can find no such an intimation in the covenant. In

that covenant the word of the God of truth and mercy is pledged to

receive those, and to grant the prayers of those who come to him through

his blessed Son. In that covenant, I am strictly commanded and most

lovingly invited to approach boldly the Supreme Giver of all good things

myself, and to ask in faith nothing wavering, with an assurance that He

who spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will, with

Him, also freely give us all things. In this assurance I place implicit

trust; and as long as I have my being in this earthly tabernacle, I

will, by his gracious permission and help, pray for whatever is needful

for the soul and the body; I will pray not for myself only, but for all,

individually and collectively, who are near and dear to me, and all who

are far from me; for my friends, and for those who wish me ill; for my

fellow Christians, and for those who are walking still in darkness and

sin;--I will pray for mercy on all mankind. And I will, as occasion

offers, desire others among the faithful on earth to pray for me; and

will take comfort and encouragement and holy hope from the reflection

that their prayers are presented to God in my behalf, and that they will

continue to pray for me when my own strength shall fail and the hour of

my departure shall draw nigh. But for the acceptance of my own prayers

and of theirs I can depend on no other Mediator in the world of spirits,

than on HIM, whom his own Word declares to be the one Mediator between

God and men, who prayed for me when He was on earth, who is ever making

intercession for me in heaven. I know of no other in the unseen world,

by whom I can have access to the Father; I find no other offered to me,

I seek no {250} other, I want no other. I trust my cause,--the cause of

my present life, the cause of my soul's eternal happiness,--to HIM and

to his intercession. I thank God for the blessing. I am satisfied; and

in the assurance of the omnipotence of his intercession, and the perfect

fulness of his mediation, I am happy.

On this point it were well to compare two prayers both offered to God;

the one pleading with Him the intercession of the passion of his only

Son, the other pleading the prayers of a mortal man. The first prayer is

a collect in Holy Week, the second is a collect on St. Gregory's Day.

We beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who among so many

adversities from our own infirmity fail, the passion of thy only

begotten Son interceding for us, may revive. V. 243.

O God, who hast granted the rewards of eternal blessedness[96]

to the soul of thy servant Gregory, mercifully grant that we who

are pressed down by the weight of our sins, may, by his prayers

with Thee, be raised up. V. 480.

[Footnote 96: I can never read this, and such passages as this,

without asking myself, can such an assertion be in accordance

with the inspired teaching?--"Judge nothing before the time,

until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden

things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the

hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." I Cor. iv.

5.]

IV. The next form of prayer to which I would invite your serious

attention, is one from which my judgment and my feelings revolt far more

decidedly even than from the last-mentioned; and I have the most clear

denouncement of my conscience, that by offering it I should do a wrong

to my Saviour, and ungratefully disparage his inestimable merits, and

the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction of his

omnipotent {251} atonement: I mean those prayers, still addressed to

God, which supplicate that our present and future good may be advanced

by the merits of departed mortals, that by their merits our sins may be

forgiven, and our salvation secured; that by their merits our souls may

be made fit for celestial joys, and be finally admitted into heaven.

Of these prayers the Roman Breviary contains a great variety of

examples, some exceeding others very much in their apparent

forgetfulness and disregard of the merits of the only Saviour, and

consequently far more shocking to the reason and affections of us who

hold it a point of conscience to make the merits of Christ alone, all in

all, exclusive of any other to be joined with them, the only ground of

our acceptance with God.

We find an example of this prayer in the collect on the day of St.

Saturnine. "O God, who grantest us to enjoy the birth-day of the blessed

Saturnine, thy martyr, grant that we may be aided by his merits, through

the Lord." [Ejus nos tribue meritis adjuvari per Dominum. A. 544.]

Another example, in which the supplicants plead for deliverance from

hell, to be obtained by the merits and prayers of the saint together, is

the Collect for December 6th, the day of St. Nicolas.

"O God, who didst adorn the blessed Pontiff Nicolas with unnumbered

miracles, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his merits and prayers we may

be set free from the fires of hell, through," &c. [Ut ejus meritis et

precibus à gehennæ incendiis liberemur. H. 436.]

Another example, in like manner specifying both the merits and

intercession of the departed saint, contains {252} expressions very

unacceptable to many of those who are accustomed to make the Bible their

study. It is a prayer to Joseph, the espoused husband of the Virgin

Mary. Of him mention is made by name in the Gospel just before and just

after the birth of Christ, as an upright, merciful man, to whom God on

three several occasions made a direct revelation of his will, by the

medium of a dream, with reference to the incarnate Saviour. Again, on

the holy family visiting Jerusalem, when our Lord was twelve years of

age, Mary, his mother, in her remonstrance with her Son, speaks to Him

of Joseph thus: "Why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and

I have sought Thee sorrowing." Upon which not one word was uttered by

our Saviour that would enable us to form an opinion as to his own will

with regard to Joseph. Our Lord seems purposely to have drawn their

thoughts from his earthly connexion with them, and to have raised their

minds to a contemplation of his unearthly, his heavenly, and eternal

origin. "How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about

my Father's business?" After this time, though the writings of the Holy

Book, either historical, doctrinal, or prophetic, at the lowest

calculation embrace a period of fourscore years, no allusion is made to

Joseph as a man still living, or to his memory as one already dead. And

yet he is one of those for the benefit of whose intercession the Church

of Rome teaches her members to pray to God, and from whose merits they

are taught to hope for succour.

On the 19th of March the following Collect is offered to the Saviour of

the world:--

"We beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be succoured by the merits of the

husband of thy most holy mother, {253} so that what we cannot obtain by

our own power, may be granted to us by his intercession. Who livest,"

&c. [V. 486.]

It is anticipating our instances of the different stages observable in

the invocation of saints, to quote here direct addresses to Joseph

himself; still it may be well to bring at once to a close our remarks

with regard to the worship paid to him. We find that in the Litany of

the Saints, "St. Joseph, pray for us," is one of the supplications; but

on his day (March 19) there are three hymns addressed to Joseph, which

appear to be full of lamentable superstition, assigning, as they do, to

him a share at least in the work of our salvation, and solemnly stating,

as a truth, what, whether true or not, depends upon a groundless

tradition, namely, that our blessed Lord and Mary watched by him at his

death; ascribing to Joseph also that honour and praise, which the Church

was wont to offer to God alone. The following are extracts from those

hymns:

First hymn. "Thee, Joseph, let the companies of heaven celebrate; thee

let all the choirs of Christian people resound; who, bright in merits,

wast joined in chaste covenant with the renowned Virgin. Others their

pious death consecrates after death; and glory awaits those who deserve

the palm. Thou alive, equal to those above, enjoyest God, more blessed

by wondrous lot. O Trinity, most High, spare us who pray; grant us to

reach heaven [to scale the stars] BY THE MERITS OF JOSEPH, that at

length we may perpetually offer to thee a grateful song." [Te Joseph

celebrent agmina coelitum. V. 485.]

Second hymn. "O, Joseph, the glory of those in heaven, and the sure hope

of our life, and the safeguard {254} of the world, benignly ACCEPT THE

PRAISES WHICH WE joyfully sing TO THEE.... Perpetual praise to the most

High Trinity, who granting to thee honours on high, give to us, BY THY

MERITS, the joys of a blessed life." [Coelitum, Joseph, Decus. V. 486.]

Third hymn. "He whom we, the faithful, worship with joy, whose exalted

triumphs we celebrate, Joseph, on this day obtained by merit the joys of

eternal life. O too happy! O too blessed! at whose last hour Christ and

the Virgin together, with serene countenance, stood watching. Hence,

conqueror of hell, freed from the bands of the flesh, he removes in

placid sleep to the everlasting seats, and binds his temples with bright

chaplets. Him, therefore, reigning, let us all importune, that he would

be present with us, and that he obtaining pardon for our transgressions,

would assign to us the rewards of peace on high. Be praises to thee, be

honours to thee, O Trine God, who reignest, and assignest golden crowns

to thy faithful servant for ever. Amen." [Iste, quem læti colimus

fideles. V. 490.]

It is painful to remark, that in these last clauses the very same word

is employed when the Church of Rome applies to Joseph to assign to the

faithful the rewards of peace, and when she ascribes glory to God for

assigning to his faithful servants crowns of gold. Indeed these hymns

contain many expressions which ought to be addressed to the Saviour

alone, whose "glory is in the heavens," who is "the hope of us on

earth," and "the safeguard of the world."

* * * * *

Under this fourth head I will add only one more specimen. Would it were

not to be found in the Roman {255} Liturgies since the Council of Trent:

God grant it may ere long be wiped out of the book of Christian worship!

It is a collect in which the Church of Rome offers this prayer to God

the Son:--

"O God, whose right hand raised the blessed Peter when walking on the

waves, that he sank not; and rescued his fellow-apostle Paul, for the

third time suffering shipwreck, from the depth of the sea; mercifully

hear us, and grant that by the merits of both we may obtain the glory of

eternity." [H. 149.]

Now suppose for a moment it had been intended in any one prayer

negatively to exclude the merits of Christ from the great work of our

eternal salvation, and to limit our hopes of everlasting glory to the

merits of St. Peter and St. Paul, could that object have been more

effectually and fully secured than by this prayer? Not one word alluding

to the redemption which is in Christ can be found in this prayer. The

sentiment in the first member of the prayer refers us to the power

exercised by the Son of God, and Son of man, when he was intabernacled

in our flesh; and the second expression teaches us to contemplate the

providence of our Almighty Saviour in his deeds of beneficence. But no

reference, even by allusion, is here made to the merits of Christ's

death--none to his merits as our great Redeemer; none to his merits as

our never-ceasing and never-failing Intercessor. We are led to approach

the throne of grace only with the merits of the two Apostles on our

tongue. If those who offer it hope for acceptance through THE MEDIATION

of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his merits, that hope is neither

suggested nor fostered by this prayer. The truth, as it is in Jesus,

would compel us in addressing {256} Him, the Saviour of the world, to

think of the merits of neither Peter nor Paul, of neither angel nor

spirit. Instead of praying to him that we may obtain the glories of

eternity for their merits, true faith in Christ would bid us throw

ourselves implicitly on his omnipotent merits alone, and implore so

great a blessing for his own mercy's sake. If we receive the whole

truth, can it appear otherwise than a disparagement of his perfect and

omnipotent merits, to plead with Him the merits of one, whom the Saviour

himself rebuked with as severe a sentence as ever fell from his lips,

"Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence to me; for thou

savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men;"

[Matt. xvi. 23.] and of another who after his conversion, when speaking

of the salvation wrought by Christ, in profound humility confesses

himself to be a chief of those sinners for whom the Saviour died, "This

is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus

came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief?" [1 Tim. i.

15.] We feel, indeed, a sure and certain hope that these two

fellow-creatures, once sinners, but by God's grace afterwards saints,

have found mercy with God, and will live with Christ for ever; but to

pray for the same mercy at his gracious hands for the sake of their

merits is repugnant to our first principles of Christian faith. When we

think of merits, for which to plead for mercy, we can think of Christ's,

and of Christ's alone.

V. Our thoughts are next invited to that class of prayers which the

Church of Rome authorizes and directs to be addressed immediately to the

Saints themselves. {257} Of these there are different kinds, some far

more objectionable than others, though all are directly at variance with

that one single and simple principle, to which, as we believe, a

disciple of the cross can alone safely adhere--prayer to God, and only

to God. The words of the Council of Trent are, as we have already

observed, very comprehensive on this subject. They not only declare it

to be a good and useful thing supplicantly to invoke the saints reigning

with Christ: but also for the obtaining of benefits from God, through

Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our only Redeemer and Saviour, to fly to

their prayers, HELP, and ASSISTANCE. Whether these last words can be

interpreted as merely words of surplusage, or whether they must be

understood to mean that the faithful must have recourse to some help and

assistance of the saints beyond their intercession, is a question to

which we need not again revert. If it had been intended to embrace other

kinds of beneficial succour, and other help and assistance, perhaps it

would be difficult to find words more expressive of such general aid and

support as a human being might hope to derive, in answer to prayer from

the Giver of all good. And certainly they are words employed by the

Church, when addressing prayers directly to God. Be this as it may, the

public service-books of the Church of Rome unquestionably, by no means

adhere exclusively to such addresses to the saints, as supplicate them

to pray for the faithful on earth. Many a prayer is couched in language

which can be interpreted only as conveying a petition to them

immediately for their assistance, temporal and spiritual.

But let us calmly review some of the prayers, supplications,

invocations, or by whatever name religious addresses now offered to the

saints may be called; and {258} first, we will examine that class in

which the petitioners ask merely for the intercession of the saints.

We have an example of this class in an invocation addressed to St.

Ambrose on his day, December 7; the very servant of Christ in whose

hymns and prayers no address of prayer or invocation to any saint or

martyr can be found.

"O thou most excellent teacher, the light of the Holy Church, O blessed

Ambrose, thou lover of the divine law, deprecate for us [or intercede

for us with] the Son of God[97]."

[Footnote 97: H. 438. "Deprecare pro nobis Filium Dei." This

invocation to Ambrose is instantly followed by this prayer to

God: "O God, who didst assign to thy people the blessed Ambrose

as a minister of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that

we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in heaven, whom we

had as a teacher of life on earth."]

The Church of Rome has wisely availed herself of the pious labours of

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan; and has introduced into her public worship

many of the hymns usually ascribed to him. Would she had followed his

example, and addressed her invocations to no one but our Creator, our

Redeemer, and our Sanctifier! Could that holy man hear the supplications

now offered to him, and could be make his voice heard in return among

those who now invoke him, that voice, we believe, would only convey a

prohibitory monition like that of the Angel to St. John when he fell

down before him, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant; worship

God.

It is needless to multiply instances of this fifth kind of invocation.

In the "Litany of the Saints" more than fifty different saints are

enumerated by name, and are invoked to pray and intercede for those who

join in {259} it. Among the persons invoked are Raphael [Æ. cxcii.],

Gervasius, Protasius, and Mary Magdalene; whilst in the Litany [Æ.

cxcvi.] for the recommendation of the soul of the sick and dying, the

names of Abel, and Abraham, are specified.

Under this head I will call your attention only to one more example.

Indeed I scarcely know whether this hymn would more properly be classed

under this head, or reserved for the next; since it appears to partake

of the nature of each. It supplicates the martyr to obtain by his

prayers spiritual blessings, and yet addresses him as the person who is

to grant those blessings. It implores him to liberate us by the love of

Christ; but so should we implore the Father of mercies himself. Still,

as the more safe course, I would regard it as a prayer to St. Stephen

only to intercede for us. But it may be well to derive from it a lesson

on this point; how easily the transition glides from one false step to a

worse; how infinitely wiser and safer it is to avoid evil in its very

lowest and least noxious appearance:

"Martyr of God [or Unconquered Martyr], who, by following the only Son

of the Father, triumphest over thy conquered enemies, and, as conqueror,

enjoyest heavenly things; by the office of thy prayer wash out our

guilt; driving away the contagion of evil; removing the weariness of

life. The bands of thy hallowed body are already loosed; loose thou us

from the bands of the world, by the love of the Son of God [or by the

gift of God Most High]." [H. 237.]

In the above hymn the words included within brackets are the readings

adopted in the last English edition of the Roman Breviary; and in this

place, when we are about to refer to many hymns now in use, it may be

well to observe, that in the present day we find {260} various readings

in the hymns as they are still printed for the use of Roman Catholics in

different countries. In some instances the changes are curious and

striking. Grancolas, in his historical commentary on the Roman Breviary

(Venice, 1734, p. 84), furnishes us with interesting information as to

the chief cause of this diversity. He tells us that Pope Urban VIII.,

who filled the papal throne from 1623 to 1644, a man well versed in

literature, especially in Latin poetry, and himself one of the

distinguished poets of his time, took measures for the emendation of the

hymns in the Roman Breviary. He was offended by the many defects in

their metrical composition, and it is said that upwards of nine hundred

and fifty faults in metre were corrected, which gave to Urban occasion

to say that the Fathers had begun rather than completed the hymns.

These, as corrected, he caused to be inserted in the Breviary. Grancolas

proceeds to tell us that many complained of these changes, alleging that

the primitive simplicity and piety which breathed in the hymns had been

sacrificed to the niceties of poetry. "Accessit Latinitas, et recessit

pietas." The verse was neater, but the thought was chilled.

VI. But the Roman Church by no means limits herself to this kind of

invocation; prayers are addressed to saints, imploring them to hear,

and, as of themselves, to grant the prayers of the faithful on earth,

and to release them from the bands of sin, without any allusion to

prayers to be made by those saints. It grieves me to copy out the

invocation made to St. Peter on the 18th of January, called the

anniversary of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome; the words of our Blessed

Lord himself, and of his beloved and inspired Apostle, seem to rise up

in judgment against that prayer, and condemn it. It {261} will be well

to place that hymn addressed to St. Peter, side by side with the very

word of God, and then ask, Can this prayer be safe?

1. Now, O good Shepherd, 1. Jesus saith, I am the good

merciful Peter, Shepherd. John x. 11.

2. Accept the prayers of us 2. Whatsoever ye shall ask in

who supplicate, my name, that will I do. That

whatsoever ye shall ask the

Father in my name, he may give

it you. John xiv. 13; xv. 16.

3. And loose the bands of our 3. The blood of Jesus Christ

sins, by the power committed to his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

thee, 1 John i. 7.

4. By which thou shuttest 4. These things saith he that

heaven against all by a word, is holy, he that is true, he that

and openest it[98]. openeth and no man shutteth, and

shutteth and no man openeth.

Rev. iii. 7.

I am he that liveth and was

dead, and am alive for evermore,

and have the keys of hell and of

death. Rev. i. 18.

[Footnote 98: This hymn is variously read. In the edition of Mr.

Husenbeth (H. 497.) it is: "O Peter, blessed shepherd, of thy

mercy receive the prayers of us who supplicate, and loose by thy

word the bands of our sins, thou to whom is given the power of

opening heaven to the earth, and of shutting it when

open."--"Beate pastor, Petre, clemens accipe voces precantum,

criminumque vincula verbo resolve, cui potestas tradita aperire

terris coelum, apertum claudere." H. 497.]

Let it not be answered that many a Christian minister is now called a

good shepherd. Let it not be said that the very words of our ordination

imply the conveyance of the power of loosing and binding, of opening and

shutting the gates of heaven. When prayer is contemplated, we can think

only of One, HIM, who has appropriated the title of Good Shepherd to

{262} himself. And we must see that Peter cannot, by any latitude of

interpretation, be reckoned now among those to whom the awful duty is

assigned of binding and loosing upon earth.

The same unsatisfactory associations must be excited in the mind of

every one who takes a similar view of Christian worship with myself, by

the following supplication to various saints on St. John's day:

"Let the heaven exult with praises[99],

Let the earth resound with joy; {263}

The sacred solemnities sing

The glory of the Apostles.

O ye Just Judges of the age,

And true lights of the world,

We pray you with the vows of our hearts,

Hear the prayers of your suppliants.

Ye who shut the heaven by a word,

And loose its bars,

Loose us by command, we beseech you,

From all our sins.

Ye to whose word is subject

The health and weakness of all,

Cure us who are diseased in morals,

Restore us to virtues.

So that when Christ shall come,

The Judge at the end of the world,

He may make us partakers

Of eternal joy.

To God the Father be Glory,

And to his only Son,

With the Spirit the Comforter,

Now and for ever. Amen[100]."

[Footnote 99: Having inserted in the text a translation of this

hymn from a copy with which I had been long familiar, I think it

right to insert here the two forms side by side. They supply an

example of the changes to which we have already alluded.

_Lille_, 1823. _Norwich_, 1830.

OLD VERSION. POPE URBAN'S VERSION.

Exultet coelum laudibus, Exultet orbis gaudiis,

Resultet terra gaudiis, Coelum resultet laudibus,

Apostolorum gloriam Apostolorum gloriam

Sacra canunt solemnia. Tellus et astra concinunt.

Vos sæcli justi judices Vos sæculorum judices

Et vera mundi lamina, Et vera mundi lumina,

Votis precamur cordium Votis precamur cordium

Audite preces supplicum. Audite voces supplicum.

Qui coelum verbo clauditis Qui templa coeli clauditis

Serasque ejus solvitis, Serasque verbo solvitis,

Nos a peccatis omnibus Nos a reatu noxios

Solvite jussu, quæsumus. Solvi jubete quæsumus.

Quorum præcepto subditur Præcepta quorum protinus

Salus et languor omnium, Languor salusque sentiunt,

Sanate ægros moribus, Sanate mentes languidas,

Nos reddentes virtutibus. Augete nos virtutibus.

Ut cum judex advenerit Ut cum redibit arbiter

Christus in fine sæculi, In fine Christus sæculi,

Nos sempiterni gaudii Nos sempiterni gaudii

Faciat esse compotes. Concedat esse compotes.

Deo Patri sit gloria, Jesu, tibi sit gloria

Ejusque soli Filio, Qui natus es de virgine,

Cum Spiritu paracleto, Cum Patre et Almo Spiritu,

Et nunc et in perpetuum. In sempiterna sæcula.

Amen. Amen.

(H. 243.)

]

[Footnote 100: Or as in the present Roman Breviary:--

Let the world exult with joy,

Let the heaven resound with praise;

The earth and stars sing together

The glory of the Apostles.

Ye judges of the ages

And true lights of the world,

With the prayers of our hearts we implore,

Hear the voices of your suppliants.

Ye who shut the temples of heaven,

And loose its bars by a word,

Command ye us, who are guilty,

To be released from our sins; we pray.

Ye whose commands forthwith

Sickness and health feel,

Heal our languid minds,

Increase us in virtues,

That when Christ, the Judge, shall return,

In the end of the world,

He may grant us to be partakers

Of eternal joy.

Jesus, to thee be glory,

Who wast born of a virgin,

With the Father and the Benign Spirit,

Through eternal ages. Amen. {264}

]

Many a pious and humble Catholic of the Roman Communion, I have no

doubt, would regard these prayers as little more than an application to

Peter and the rest of the Apostles for absolution, and would interpret

its several clauses as an acknowledgment only of that power, which

Christ himself delegated to them of binding and loosing sins on earth.

But the gulf fixed between these prayers, and the lawful use of the

power given to Christ's ordained ministers on earth, is great indeed. To

satisfy the mind of this, it is not necessary to enter upon even the

confines of the wide field of controversy, as to what was really

conveyed by Christ to his Apostles. I would ask only two questions.

Could any of us address these same words to one of Christ's ministers on

earth? And could we address our blessed Saviour himself in stronger or

more appropriate language, as the Lord of our destinies--the God who

heareth prayer--the Physician of our souls?

Suppose for example we were celebrating the anniversary of Christ's

Nativity, of his Resurrection, or his Ascension, what word in this hymn,

expressive of {265} power, and honour, and justice, and mercy, would not

be appropriate? What word would not apply to Him, in most perfect

accordance with Scripture language? And can we without offence, without

doing wrong to his great Name, address the same to our fellow-servants,

even though we may believe them to be with Him in glory?

Let the heaven exult with praises--

Let the earth resound with joy;

The sacred solemnities sing

The glory of the Lord.

O Thou just Judge of the age,

And true light of the world,

We pray Thee with the supplications of our hearts

Hear the prayers of Thy suppliants,

Thou who shuttest the heavens by a word,

And loosest its bars.

Loose us by command, we beseech Thee,

From all our sins.

Thou to whose word is subject

The health and weakness of all,

Cure us who are diseased in morals,

Restoring us to virtue.

So that when Thou shalt come,

The Judge at the end of the world,

Thou mayest make us partakers

Of eternal joy.

Glory to Thee, O Lord,

Who wast born of a virgin,

With the Father and the Holy Spirit,

For ever and ever. Amen.

Only for a moment let us see how peculiarly all these expressions are

fitting in a hymn of prayer and praise {266} to our God and Saviour,

recalling to our minds the words of inspiration; and then again let us

put the question to our conscience, Is this language fit for us to use

to a fellow-creature?

Let the heaven exult with praises, Let the heavens rejoice, and

Let the earth resound with joy: let the earth be glad ... (exultet

is the very word used in the Vulgate

translation of the Psalm)--before

the Lord, for He cometh

to judge the earth.--Ps. xcvi

(xcv). 11.

The holy solemnities sing Ye shall have a song, as in the

The glory of the Lord. night when a holy solemnity is

kept ... And the Lord shall cause

His glorious voice to be heard.

Isa. xxx. 29. Let the heaven

and earth praise Him. Ps. lxix

(lxviii). 34.

Thou just Judge of mankind, All judgment is committed

And true light of the world, unto the Son. John v. 22. That

was the true Light, which lighteth

every man that cometh into

the world. John i. 9.

With the prayers of our hearts we With my whole heart have I

pray Thee, sought Thee. Ps. cxix (cxviii).

Hear the prayers of Thy suppliants. 10. Hear my prayer, O God.

Ps. lxi (lx). 1. Whom have I in

heaven but Thee? Ps. lxxiii

(lxxii). 25. And this is the

confidence that we have in Him,

that if we ask any thing according to

His will, He heareth us. 1 John

v. 14.

Thou who shuttest heaven by I have the keys of death and of

Thy word, hell. These things saith He that

And loosest its bars, is holy, He that is true: He

that hath the key of David. He

that openeth and no man shutteth,

and shutteth and no man {267}

openeth. I have set before thee

an open door, and no man can

shut it. Rev. i. 18; iii. 7,8

Release us by command, we pray Thy sins be forgiven thee.

Thee, Matt. ix. 22. Bless the Lord, O

From all our sins. my soul ... who forgiveth all

thine iniquities. Ps. ciii. 2. This

is your blood of the New Testament,

which is shed for many

for the remission of sins. Matt.

xxvi. 28. Have mercy upon me,

O God ... according to the

multitude of Thy tender mercies,

blot out my transgressions. Wash

me throughly from mine iniquity,

and cleanse me from my

sin. Ps. li (l).

Thou to whose word is subject Bless the Lord, O my soul ...

The health and weakness of all, who healeth all thy diseases. Ps.

ciii (cii). 2, 3.

Do Thou heal us who are morally Create in me a clean heart, O

diseased, God, and renew a right spirit

Restoring us to virtue; within me. Ps. li. 10 (4.)

That when Thou, the Judge, shalt

appear in the end of the world,

Thou mayest grant us to be

partakers of eternal joy.

This would be a Christian prayer, a primitive prayer, a scriptural

prayer, a prayer well fitting mortal man to utter by his tongue and from

his heart, to the God who heareth prayer; and him who shall in sincere

faith offer such a prayer, Christ will never send empty away. But if

this prayer, fitted as it seems only to be addressed to God, be offered

to the soul of a departed saint--I will not talk of blasphemy, and

deadly sin, and idolatry,--I will only ask members of the Church of Rome

to weigh all these things well, one by one. These are not subjects for

crimination and recrimination. {268}

We have had far too much of those unholy weapons on both sides. Speaking

the truth in love, I should be verily guilty of a sin in my own

conscience were I, with my views of Christian worship, to offer this

prayer to the soul of a man however holy, however blessed, however

exalted.

The next part of our work will be given exclusively to the worship of

the Blessed Virgin Mary. {269}

* * * * *

PART III.

CHAPTER I.

SECTION I.--THE VIRGIN MARY.

The worship of the blessed Virgin Mary is so highly exalted in the

Church of Rome, as to require the formation of a new name to express its

high character. Neither could the Latin language provide a word which

would give an adequate idea of its excellence, nor could any word

previously employed by the writers in Greek, meet the case

satisfactorily. The newly invented term Hyperdulia, meaning "a service

above others," seems to place the service of the Virgin on a footing

peculiarly its own, as raised above the worship of the saints departed,

and of the angels of God, cherubim and seraphim, with all the hosts of

principalities and powers in heavenly places. The service of the Virgin

Mary thus appears not only to justify, but even to require a separate

and distinct examination in this volume. The general principles,

however, which we have already endeavoured to establish and illustrate

with regard as well to the study of the Holy Scriptures as to the

evidence of primitive antiquity, are equally applicable here; and with

those principles present to our minds, {270} we will endeavour now to

ascertain the truth with regard to the worship of the Virgin as now

witnessed in the Roman Catholic Church.

Of the Virgin Mary, think not, brethren of the Church of Rome, that a

true member of the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church will speak

disparagingly or irreverently. Were such an one found among us, we

should say of him, he knows not what spirit he is of. Our church, in her

Liturgy, her homilies, her articles, in the works too of the best and

most approved among her divines and teachers, ever speaks of Saint Mary,

the blessed Virgin, in the language of reverence, affection, and

gratitude.

She was a holy virgin and a holy mother. She was highly favoured,

blessed among women. The Lord was with her, and she was the mother of

our only Saviour. She was herself blessed, and blessed was the fruit of

her womb. We delight in the language of our ancestors, in which they

were used to call her "Mary, the Blissful Maid." Should any one of those

who profess and call themselves Christians and Catholics, entertain a

wish to interrupt the testimony of every succeeding age, and to

interpose a check to the fulfilment of her own recorded prophecy, "All

generations shall call me blessed," certainly the Anglican Catholic

Church will never acknowledge that wish to be the genuine desire of one

of her own sons. The Lord hath blessed her; yea, and she shall be

blessed.

But when we are required either to address our supplications to her, or

else to sever ourselves from the communion of a large portion of our

fellow-Christians, we have no room for hesitation; the case offers us no

alternative. Our love of unity must yield to our love {271} of truth; we

cannot join in that worship which in our conscience we believe to be a

sin against God. Whether we are right or wrong in this matter, God will

himself judge: and, compared with his acquittal and approval, the

severity of man's judgment cannot turn us aside from our purpose. But

before any one pronounces a sentence of condemnation against us, or of

approval on himself, it well becomes him patiently and dispassionately

to weigh the evidence; lest his decision may not be consistent with

justice and truth.

In addition to what has been already said on the general subject of

addressing our invocation to any created being--to any one among the

principalities and thrones, dominions, powers, angels, archangels, and

all the hosts of heaven, to any one among the saints, martyrs,

confessors, and holy men departed hence in the Lord--I would submit to

my brethren of the Roman Catholic Church some considerations

specifically applicable to the case of the blessed Virgin, and to the

practice of the Church of Rome in the religious worship paid to her.

First, it will be well for us to possess ourselves afresh of whatever

light is thrown on this subject by the Scriptures themselves.

* * * * *

SECTION II.--EVIDENCE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.

The first intimation given to us that a woman was in the providence of

God appointed to be the instrument, or channel by which the Saviour of

mankind should be brought into the world, was made immediately after the

Fall, and at the very first dawn of the day of salvation. {272} I am

fully aware how the various criticisms on the words in which that first

promise of a Saviour is couched, have been the well-spring of angry

controversy. I will not enter upon that field. The authorized English

version thus renders the passage: "I will put enmity between thee and

the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,

and thou shalt bruise his heel." [Gen. iii. 15.] The Roman Vulgate,

instead of the word "it," reads "she." Surely such a point as this

should be made a subject of calm and enlightened criticism, without

warmth or heart-burnings on either side. But for our present purpose, it

matters little what turn that controversy may take. I believe our own to

be the true rendering: but whether the word dictated here by the Holy

Spirit to Moses should be so translated as to refer to the seed of the

woman generally, as in our authorized version, or to the male child, the

descendant of the woman, as the Septuagint renders it, or to the word

"woman" itself; and if the latter, whether it refer to Eve, the mother

of every child of a mortal parent, or to Mary, the immediate mother of

our Saviour: whatever view of that Hebrew word be taken, no Christian

can doubt, that before the foundations of the world were laid, it was

foreordained in the counsels of the Eternal Godhead, that the future

Messiah, the Redeemer of Mankind, should be of the seed of Eve, and in

the fulness of time be born of a Virgin of the name of Mary, and that in

the mystery of that incarnation should the serpent's head be bruised. I

wish not to dwell on this, because it bears but remotely and

incidentally on the question at issue. I will, therefore, pass on,

quoting {273} only the words of one of the most laborious among Roman

Catholic commentators, De Sacy. "The sense is the same in the one and in

the other, though the expression varies. The sense of the Hebrew is, The

Son of the Woman, Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Son of a Virgin, shall

bruise thy head, and by establishing the kingdom of God on earth,

destroy thine. The sense of the Vulgate is, The woman, by whom thou hast

conquered man, shall bruise thy head, not by herself, but by Jesus

Christ." [Vol. i. p. 132.]

The only other passage in which reference appears to be made in the Old

Testament to the Mother of our Lord, contains that celebrated prophecy

in the seventh chapter of Isaiah, about which I am not aware that any

difference exists between the Anglican and the Roman Churches. "A Virgin

shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

[Isaiah vii. 4.]

I find no passage in the Old Testament which can by any inferential

application be brought to bear on the question of Mary's being a proper

object of invocation.

* * * * *

In the New Testament, mention by name is made of the Virgin Mary by St.

Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, and by St. John in his Gospel, as the

Mother of our Lord, but not by name; and by no other writer. Neither St.

Paul in any one of his many Epistles, though he mentions the names of

many of our Lord's disciples, nor St. James, nor St. Peter, who must

often have seen her during our Lord's ministry, nor St. Jude, nor St.

John in any of his three Epistles, or in the {274} Revelation (though,

as we learn from his own Gospel, she had of especial trust been

committed to his care)--no one of these either mentions her as living,

or alludes to her memory as dead.

The first occasion on which any reference is made in the New Testament

to the Virgin Mary is the salutation of the Angel, as recorded by St.

Luke in the opening chapter of his Gospel. The last occasion is when she

is mentioned by the same Evangelist, as "Mary the Mother of Jesus," in

conjunction with his brethren and with the Apostles and the women all

continuing in prayer and supplication, immediately after the ascension

of our blessed Lord. Between these two occasions the name of Mary occurs

under a variety of circumstances, on every one of which we shall do well

to reflect.

The first occasion, we have already said, is the salutation of Mary by

the angel, announcing to her that she should be the Mother of the Son of

God. Surely no daughter of Eve was ever so distinguished among women;

and well does it become us to cherish her memory with affectionate

reverence. The words addressed to her when on earth by the angel in that

announcement, with a little variation of expression, are daily addressed

to her by the Roman Catholic Church, now that she is no longer seen, but

is removed to the invisible world. "Hail, thou that art highly

favoured!" (or as the Vulgate reads it, "full of grace") "the Lord is

with thee. Blessed art thou among women." [Luke i. 28.] On the

substitution of the expression, "full of grace," for "highly favoured,"

or, as our margin suggests, "graciously accepted, or much graced," I am

not desirous {275} of troubling you with any lengthened remark. I could

have wished that since the Greek is different in this passage, and in

the first chapter of St. John, where the words "full of grace" are

applied to our Saviour, a similar distinction had been observed in the

Roman translation. But the variation is unessential. The other

expression, "Blessed art thou among women," is precisely and identically

the same with the ascription of blessedness made by an inspired tongue,

under the elder covenant, to another daughter of Eve. "Blessed above

women," or (as both the Septuagint and the Vulgate render the word)

"Blessed among women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be."

[Judges v. 24.] We can see no ground in such ascription of blessedness

for any posthumous adoration of the Virgin Mary.

The same observation applies with at least equal strictness to that

affecting interview between Mary and Elizabeth, when, enlightened

doubtless by an especial revelation, Elizabeth returned the salutation

of her cousin by addressing her as the Mother of her Lord, and hailing

her visit as an instance of most welcome and condescending kindness,

"Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?"

[Luke i. 43.] Members of the Anglican Church are taught to refer to this

event in Mary's life with feelings of delight and gratitude. On this

occasion she uttered that beautiful hymn, "The Song of the blessed

Virgin Mary," which our Church has selected for daily use at Evening

Prayer. These incidents bring before our minds the image of a spotless

Virgin, humble, pious, obedient, holy: a chosen servant of God--an

exalted pattern for her fellow-creatures; but still a fellow-creature,

and a fellow-servant: {276} a virgin pronounced by an angel blessed on

earth. But further than this we cannot go. We read of no power, no

authority, neither the power and influence of intercession, nor the

authority or right of command being ever, even by implication, committed

to her; and we dare not of our own minds venture to take for granted a

statement of so vast magnitude, involving associations so awful. We

reverence her memory as a blessed woman, the virgin mother of our Lord.

We cannot supplicate any blessing at her hand; we cannot pray to her for

her intercession.

The angel's announcement to Joseph, whether before or after the birth of

Christ, the visit of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, and the return

thence, in the record of all of which events by St. Matthew the name of

Mary occurs, however interesting and important in themselves, seem to

require no especial attention with reference to the immediate subject of

our inquiry. To Joseph the angel speaks of the blessed Virgin as "Mary

thy wife." [Matt. i. 20.] In every other instance she is called "The

young child's mother," or "His mother."

In relating the circumstances of Christ's birth the Evangelist employs

no words which seem to invite any particular examination. Joseph went up

into the city of David to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife; and

there she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling

clothes, and laid him in a manger. And the shepherds found Mary and

Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And Mary kept all these things,

and pondered them in her heart. [Luke ii. 19.]

Between the birth of Christ, and the flight into Egypt, St. Luke records

an event to have happened by no means unimportant--the presentation of

Christ in {277} the temple. "And when the days of her purification

according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to

Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And he (Simeon) came by the Spirit

into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do

for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms,

and blessed God, and said, Lord, &c. And Joseph and his mother marvelled

at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and

said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and

rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign that shall be spoken

against, (yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also) that

the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." [Luke ii. 28.] In this

incident it is worthy of remark, that Joseph and Mary are both mentioned

by name, that they are both called the parents of the young child; that

both are equally blessed by Simeon; and that the good old Israelite,

illumined by the spirit of prophecy, when he addresses himself

immediately to Mary, speaks only of her future sorrow, and does not even

most remotely or faintly allude to any exaltation of her above the other

daughters of Abraham. "A sword shall pass through thine own soul also,"

a prophecy, as St. Augustine interprets it, accomplished when she

witnessed the sufferings and death of her Son. (See De Sacy, vol. xxxii.

p. 138.)

The next occasion on which the name of the Virgin Mary is found in

Scripture, is the memorable visit of herself, her husband, and her Son,

to Jerusalem, when he was twelve years old. And the manner in which this

incident is related by the inspired Evangelist, so far from intimating

that Mary was destined to be an object of worship to the believers in

her Son, affords {278} evidence which exhibits strongly a bearing the

direct contrary. Here again Joseph and Mary are both called his parents:

Joseph is once mentioned by name, and so is Mary. If the language had

been so framed as on purpose to take away all distinction of preference

or superiority, it could not more successfully have effected its

purpose. But not only so, of the three addresses recorded as having been

made by our blessed Lord to his beloved mother (and only three are

recorded in the New Testament), the first occurs during this visit to

Jerusalem. It was in answer to the remonstrance made by Mary, "Son, why

hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee

sorrowing." [Luke ii. 48.] "How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not

that I must be about my Father's business?"--[or in my Father's house,

as some render it.] He lifts up their minds from earth to heaven, from

his human to his eternal origin. He makes no distinction here,--"Wist YE

not." Again, I would appeal to any dispassionate person to pronounce,

whether this reproof, couched in these words, countenances the idea that

our blessed Lord intended his human mother to receive such divine honour

from his followers to the end of time as the Church of Rome now pays?

and whether St. Luke, whose pen wrote this account, could have been made

cognizant of any such right invested in the Virgin?

The next passage calling for our consideration is that which records the

first miracle: "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of

Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called

and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine (when the

wine failed), the mother of {279} Jesus saith unto him, They have no

wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine

hour is not yet come." [John ii. 1.]

I have carefully read the comments on this passage, which different

writers of the Roman Catholic communion have recommended for the

adoption of the faithful, and I desire not to make any remarks upon

them. Let the passage be interpreted in any way which enlightened

criticism and the analogy of Scripture will sanction, and I would ask,

after a careful weighing of this incident, the facts, and the words in

all their bearings, would any unprejudiced mind expect that the holy and

beloved person, towards whom the meek and tender and loving Jesus

employed this address, was destined by that omniscient and omnipotent

Saviour to be an object of those religious acts with which, as we shall

soon be reminded, the Church of Rome now daily approaches her?

It is pain and grief to me thus to extract and to comment upon these

passages of Holy Writ. The feelings of affection and of reverence

approaching awe, with which I hold the memory of that blessed Virgin

Mother of my Lord, raise in me a sincere repugnance against dwelling on

this branch of our subject, beyond what the cause of the truth as it is

in Jesus absolutely requires; and very little more of the same irksome

task awaits us. You will of course expect me to refer to an incident

recorded with little variety of expression, and with no essential

difference, by the first three Evangelists. St. Matthew's is the most

full account, and is this,--"While he yet talked to the people, behold

his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him.

Then one said unto him, {280} Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand

without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him

that told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he

stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother

and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is

in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." [Matt. xii.

46.] Or, as St. Luke expresses it,--"And he answered and said unto them,

My mother and my brethren are these, who hear the word of God and do

it." [Luke viii. 21.]

Humanly speaking, could a more favourable opportunity have presented

itself to our blessed Lord of referring to his beloved mother, in such a

manner as to exalt her above her fellow daughters of Eve,--in such a

manner too, as that Christians in after days, when the Saviour's bodily

presence should have been taken away from them, and the extraordinary

communications of the Spirit of truth should have been withdrawn, might

have remembered that He had spoken these things, and have been

countenanced by his words in doing her homage? But so far is this from

the plain and natural tendency of the words of her blessed Son, that,

had He of acknowledged purpose (and He has condescended to announce to

us, in another place (John xiii. 19, &c.), the purpose of his words)

wished to guard his disciples, whilst the world should last, against

being seduced by any reverence and love which they might feel towards

Himself into a belief that they ought to exalt his mother above all

other created beings, and pay her holy worship, we know not what words

He could have adopted more fitted for that purpose. There was nothing in

the communication which seemed to call for {281} such a remark. A plain

message announces to Him as a matter of fact one of the most common

occurrences of daily life. And yet He fixes upon the circumstance as the

groundwork not only of declaring the close union which it was his good

pleasure should exist between obedient and true believers and Himself,

but of cautioning all against any superstitious feelings towards those

who were nearly allied to Him by the ties of his human nature. With

reverence I would say, it is as though He desired to record his

foreknowledge of the errors into which his disciples were likely to be

seduced, and warned them beforehand to shun and resist the temptation.

The evidence borne by this passage against our offering any religious

worship to the Virgin, on the ground of her having been the mother of

our Lord, seems clear, strong, direct, and inevitable. She was the

mother of the Redeemer of the world, and blessed is she among women; but

that very Redeemer Himself, with his own lips, assures us that every

faithful servant of his heavenly Father shall be equally honoured with

her, and possess all the privileges which so near and dear a

relationship with Himself might be supposed to convey.--Who is my

mother? Or, who are my brethren? Behold my mother and my brethren!

Whosoever shall do the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my

brother, and my sister, and my mother.

No less should we be expected in this place to take notice of that most

remarkable passage of Holy Scripture, [Luke xi. 27.] in which our

blessed Lord is recorded under different circumstances to have expressed

the same sentiments, but in words which will appear to many even more

strongly indicative of his desire to prevent any {282} undue exaltation

of his mother. "As he spake these things, a certain woman of the company

lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare

thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." On the truth or wisdom of

that exclamation our Lord makes no remark; He refers not to his mother

at all, not even to assure them (as St. Augustine in after-ages taught,

see De Sacy, vol. xxxii. p. 35.), that however blessed Mary was in her

corporeal conception of the Saviour, yet far more blessed was she

because she had fully borne Him spiritually in her heart. He alludes not

to his mother except for the purpose of instantly drawing the minds of

his hearers from contemplating any supposed blessedness in her, and of

fixing them on the sure and greater blessedness of his true, humble,

faithful, and obedient disciples, to the end of time. "But he said, Yea,

rather [or, as some prefer, yea, verily, and] blessed are they that hear

the word of God, and keep it." Again, it must be asked, could such an

exclamation have been met by such a reply, had our Lord's will been to

exalt his mother, as she is now exalted by the Church of Rome? Rather,

we would reverently ask, would He have given this turn to such an

address, had He not desired to check any such feeling towards her?

That most truly affecting and edifying incident recorded by St. John as

having taken place whilst Jesus was hanging in his agony on the cross,

an incident which speaks to every one who has a mind to understand and a

heart to feel, presents to us the last occasion on which the name of the

Virgin Mother of our Lord occurs in the Gospels. No paraphrase could add

force, or clearness, or beauty to the simple narrative of the

Evangelist; no exposition could bring out its parts more prominently or

{283} affectingly. The calmness and authority of our blessed Lord, his

tenderness and affection, his filial love in the very midst of his

agony, it is impossible to describe with more heart-stirring and

heart-soothing pathos than is conveyed in the simple language of him

whom the Saviour at that awful hour addressed, as He committed his

mother to him of especial trust. But not one syllable falls from the

lips of Christ, or from the pen of the beloved disciple, who records

this act of his blessed Master's filial piety, which can by possibility

be construed to imply, that our blessed Lord intended Mary to be held in

such honour by his disciples, as would be shown in the offering of

prayer and praise to her after her dissolution. He who could by a word,

rather by the mere motion of his will, have bidden the whole course of

nature and of providence, so to proceed as that all its operations

should provide for the health and safety, the support and comfort of his

mother--He, when He was on the cross, and when He was on the point of

committing his soul into the hands of his Father, leaves her to the care

of one whom He loved, and whose sincerity and devotedness to Him He had,

humanly speaking, long experienced. He bids him treat Mary as his own

mother, He bids Mary look to John as to her own son for support and

solace: "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his

mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When

Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he

loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son; then saith he to

the disciple, Behold thy mother." [John xix. 25.] And He added no more.

If Christ willed that his beloved mother should end her days in peace,

removed equally {284} from want and the desolation of widowhood on the

one hand, and from splendour and notoriety on the other, nothing could

be more natural than such conduct in such a Being at such a time. But if

his purpose was to exalt her into an object of religious adoration, that

nations should kneel before her, and all people do her homage, then the

words and the conduct of our Lord at this hour seem altogether

unaccountable: and so would the words of the Evangelist also be, "And

from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

After this not another word falls from the pen of St. John which can be

made to bear on the station, the character, the person, or circumstances

of Mary. After his resurrection our Saviour remained on earth forty days

before He finally ascended into heaven. Many of his interviews and

conversations with his disciples during that interval are recorded in

the Gospel. Every one of the four Evangelists relates some act or some

saying of our Lord on one or more of those occasions. Mention is made by

name of Mary Magdalene, of Mary [the mother] of Joses, of Mary [the

mother] of James, of Salome, of Joanna, of Peter, of Cleophas, of the

disciple whom Jesus loved, at whose house the mother of our Lord then

was; of Thomas, of Nathanael. The eleven also are mentioned generally.

But by no one of the Evangelists is reference made at all to Mary the

mother of our Lord, as having been present at any one of those

interviews; her name is not alluded to throughout.

On one solitary occasion subsequently to the ascension of Christ,

mention is made of Mary his mother, in company with many others, and

without any further distinction to separate her from the rest: "And when

{285} they were come in (from having witnessed the ascension of our

Saviour), they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and

James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew and

Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the

brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and

supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his

brethren." [Acts i. 13.] Not one word is said of Mary having been

present to witness even the ascension of her blessed Son; we read no

command of our Lord, no wish expressed, no distant intimation to his

disciples that they should even show to her marks of respect and honour;

not an allusion is there made to any superiority or distinction and

preeminence. Sixty years at the least are generally considered to be

comprehended within the subsequent history of the New Testament before

the Apocalypse was written; but neither in the narrative, nor in the

Epistles, nor yet in the prophetic part of the Holy Book, is there the

most distant allusion to Mary. Of him to whose loving care our dying

Lord committed his beloved mother of especial trust, we hear much. John,

we find, putting forth the miraculous power of Christ at the Beautiful

Gate of the Temple; we find him imprisoned and arraigned before the

Jewish authorities; but not one word is mentioned as to what meanwhile

became of Mary. We find John confirming the Church in Samaria; we find

him an exile in the island of Patmos; but no mention is made of Mary.

Nay, though we have three of his epistles, and the second of them

addressed to one "whom he loved in the truth," we find neither from the

tongue nor from the pen of St. John, one single allusion to the mother

of our Lord alive or dead. And then, whatever may have been the matter

{286} of fact as to St. Paul, neither the many letters of that Apostle,

nor the numerous biographical incidents recorded of him, intimate in the

most remote degree that he knew any thing whatever concerning her

individually. St. Paul does indeed refer to the human nature of Christ

derived from his human mother, and had he been taught by his Lord to

entertain towards her such sentiments as the Roman Church now professes

to entertain, he could not have had a more inviting occasion to give

utterance to them. But instead of thus speaking of the Virgin Mary, he

does not even mention her name or state at all, but refers only in the

most general way to her nature and her sex as a daughter of Adam: "But

when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, MADE OF A

WOMAN, made under the law; to redeem them that were under the Law, that

we might receive the adoption of sons." [Gal. iv. 4.] From a time

certainly within a few days of our Saviour's ascension the Scriptures

are totally silent throughout as to Mary, whether in life or in death.

Here we might well proceed to contrast this view which the Scriptures of

eternal truth give of the blessed Virgin Mary with the authorized and

appointed worship of that branch of the Christian Church which is in

communion with Rome. We must first, however, here also examine the

treasures of Christian antiquity, and ascertain what witness the

earliest uninspired records bear on this immediate point. {287}

* * * * *

CHAPTER II.--EVIDENCE OF PRIMITIVE WRITERS.

Closing the inspired volume, and seeking at the fountain-head for the

evidence of Christian antiquity, what do we find? For upwards of three

centuries and a half (the limit put to our present inquiry) we discover

in no author, Christian or heathen, any trace whatever of the invocation

of the Virgin Mary by Catholic Christians. I have examined every passage

which I have found adduced by writers of the Church of Rome, and have

searched for any other passages which might appear to deserve

consideration as bearing favourably on their view of the subject; and

the worship of the Virgin, such as is now insisted upon by the Council

of Trent, prescribed by the Roman ritual, and practised in the Church of

Rome, is proved by such an examination to have had neither name, nor

place, nor existence among the early Christians. Forgive my importunity

if I again and again urge you to join us in weighing these facts well;

and to take your view of them from no advocate on the one side or the

other. Search the Scriptures for yourselves, search the earliest writers

for yourselves, and for yourselves search with all diligence into the

authentic and authorized liturgies of your own Church, your missals, and

breviaries, and formularies. Hearsay evidence, testimony {288} taken at

second or third hand, vague rumours and surmises will probably expose

us, on either side, to error. Let well-sifted genuine evidence be

brought by an upright and an enlightened mind to bear on the point at

issue, and let the issue joined be this, Is the practice of praying to

the Virgin, and praising her, in the language of the prayers and praises

now used in the prescribed formularies of the Roman Church, primitive.

Catholic, Apostolical?

I am aware that among those who adhere to the Tridentine Confession of

faith, there are many on whom this investigation will not be allowed to

exercise any influence.

The sentiments of Huet, wherever they are adopted, would operate to the

total rejection of such inquiries as we are instituting in this work.

His words on the immaculate conception of the Virgin are of far wider

application than the immediate occasion on which he used them, "That the

blessed Mary never conceived any sin in herself is in the present day an

established principle of the Church, and confirmed by the Council of

Trent. In which it is our duty to acquiesce, rather than in the dicta of

the ancients, if any seem to think otherwise, among whom must be

numbered Origen." [Origen's Works, vol. iv. part 2, p. 156.]

In this address, however, we take for granted that the reader is open to

conviction, desirous of arriving at the truth, and, with that view,

ready to examine and sift the evidence of primitive antiquity.

In that investigation our attention is very soon called to the

remarkable fact, that, whereas in the case of the invocation of saints

and angels, the defenders of that doctrine and practice bring forward a

great variety of passages, in which mention is supposed to be made of

{289} those beings as objects of honour and reverential and grateful

remembrance, the passages quoted with a similar view, as regards the

Virgin Mary, are very few indeed: whilst the passages which intimate

that the early Christians paid her no extraordinary honour (certainly

not more than we of the Anglican Church do now) are innumerable.

I have thought that it might be satisfactory here to refer to each

separately of those earliest writers, whose testimony we have already

examined on the general question of the invocation of saints and angels,

and, as nearly as may be, in the same order.

In the former department of our investigation we first endeavoured to

ascertain the evidence of those five primitive writers, who are called

the Apostolical Fathers; and, with regard to the subject now before us,

the result of our inquiry into the same works is this:

1. In the Epistle ascribed to BARNABAS we find no allusion to Mary.

2. The same must be affirmed of the book called The Shepherd of HERMAS.

3. In CLEMENT of Rome, who speaks of the Lord Jesus having descended

from Abraham according to the flesh, no mention is made of that daughter

of Abraham of whom he was born.

4. IGNATIUS in a passage already quoted (Ad Eph. vii. p. 13 and 16)

speaks of Christ both in his divine and human nature as Son of God and

man, and he mentions the name of Mary, but it is without any adjunct or

observation whatever, "both of Mary and of God." In another place he

speaks of her virgin state, and the fruit of her womb; and of her having

borne our God Jesus the Christ; but he adds no {290} more; not even

calling her "The blessed," or "The Virgin." In the interpolated Epistle

to the Ephesians, the former passage adds "the Virgin" after "Mary," but

nothing more.

5. In the Epistle of POLYCARP we find an admonition to virgins (Page

186), how they ought to walk with a spotless and chaste conscience, but

there is no allusion to the Virgin Mary.

JUSTIN MARTYR. In this writer I do not find any passage so much in point

as the following, in which we discover no epithet expressive of honour,

or dignity, or exaltation, though it refers to Mary in her capacity of

the Virgin mother of our Lord:--"He therefore calls Himself the Son of

Man, either from his birth of a virgin, who was of the race of David,

and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, or because Abraham himself was the

father of those persons enumerated, from whom Mary drew her origin."

[Trypho, § 100. p. 195.] And a little below he adds, "For Eve being a

virgin and incorrupt, having received the word from the serpent, brought

forth transgression and death; but Mary the Virgin having received faith

and joy (on the angel Gabriel announcing to her the glad tidings, that

the Spirit of the Lord should come upon her, and the power of the

Highest overshadow her) answered, Be it unto me according to thy word.

And of her was born He of whom we have shown that so many Scriptures

have been spoken; He by whom God destroys the serpent, and angels and

men resembling [the serpent]; but works a rescue from death for such as

repent of evil and believe in Him." One more passage will suffice, "And

according to the command of God, Joseph, taking Him with Mary, went into

Egypt." [Trypho, § 102. p. 196.] {291}

Among those "Questions" to which we have referred under the head of

Justin Martyr's works, but which are confessedly of a much less remote

date, probably of the fifth century, an inquiry is made, How could

Christ be free from blame, who so often set at nought his parent? The

answer is, that He did not set her at nought; that He honoured her in

deed, and would not have hurt her by his words;--but then the respondent

adds, that Christ chiefly honoured Mary in that view of her maternal

character, under which all who heard the word of God and kept it, were

his brothers and sisters and mother; and that she surpassed all women in

virtue. [Qu. 136. p. 500.]

IRENÆUS. To the confused passage relied upon by Bellarmin, in which

Irenæus is supposed to represent Mary as the advocate of Eve, we have

already fully referred (page 120 of this work). In that passage there is

no allusion to any honour paid, or to be paid to her, nor to any

invocation of her. In every passage to which my attention has been

drawn, Irenæus speaks of the mother of our Lord as Mary, or the Virgin,

without any adjunct, or term of reverence.

CLEMENT of Alexandria speaks of the Virgin, and refers to an opinion

relative to her virgin-state, but without one word of honour. [Stromat.

vii. 16. p. 889.]

TERTULLIAN[101]. The passages in which this ancient writer refers to the

mother of our Lord are very far from countenancing the religious worship

now paid to her by Roman Catholics: "The brothers of the Lord had not

believed on him, as it is contained in the Gospel published {292} before

Marcion. His mother likewise is not shown to have adhered to him;

whereas others, Marys and Marthas, were frequently in his company." (See

Tert. De carne Christi, c. 7. (p. 364. De Sacy, 29. 439.)) And he tells

us that Christ was brought forth by a virgin, who was also about to be

married once after the birth, that the two titles of sanctity might be

united in Christ by a mother who was both a virgin and also once

married[102].

[Footnote 101: Paris, 1675. De carne Christi, vii. p. 315. De

Monogamia, vii. p. 529. N.B. Both these treatises were probably

written after he became a Montanist.]

[Footnote 102: On the works once ascribed to Methodius, but now

pronounced to be spurious, see above, p. 131.]

ORIGEN thus speaks: "Announcing to Zacharias the birth of John, and to

Mary the advent of our Saviour among men." [Comment on John, § 24. vol.

iv. p. 82.] In his eighth homily on Leviticus, he refers to Mary as a

pure Virgin. [Vol. ii. p. 228.] In the forged work of later times, the

writer, speaking of our Saviour, says, "He had on earth an immaculate

and chaste mother, this much blessed Virgin Mary." [Hom. iii. in

Diversos.]

In CYPRIAN we do not find one word expressive of honour or reverence

towards the Virgin Mary. Nor is her name mentioned in the letter of his

correspondent Firmilian, Bishop of Cappadocia.

LACTANTIUS speaks of "a holy virgin" [Vol. i. p. 299.] chosen for the

work of Christ but not one other word of honour, or tending to

adoration; though whilst dwelling on the incarnation of the Son of God,

had he or his fellow-believers paid religious honour to her, he could

scarcely have avoided all allusion to it.

EUSEBIUS speaks of the Virgin Mary, but is altogether silent as to any

religious honour of any kind being due to her. In the Oration of the

Emperor Constantine (as it is recorded by Eusebius), direct mention is

made of the "chaste virginity," and of the maid who was mother {293} of

God, and yet remained a virgin. But the object present to the author's

mind was so exclusively God manifest in the flesh, that he does not

throughout even mention the name of Mary, or allude to any honour paid

or due to her. [Cantab. 1720. § 11. p. 689. and § 19. p. 703.]

ATHANASIUS, bent ever on establishing the perfect divinity and humanity

of Christ, thus speaks: "The general scope of Holy Scripture is to make

a twofold announcement concerning the Saviour, that He was always God,

and is a Son; being the Word and the brightness and wisdom of the

Father, and that He afterwards became man for us, taking flesh of the

Virgin Mary, who bare God ([Greek: taes theotokou])." [Athan. Orat. iii.

Cont. Arian. p. 579.]

The work which we have already examined, called The Apostolical

Constitutions, compiled probably about the commencement of the fourth

century, cannot be read without leaving an impression clear and powerful

on the mind, that no religious honour was paid to the Virgin Mary at the

time when they were written; certainly not more than is now cheerfully

paid to her memory by us of the Anglican Church. Take, for example, the

prayer prescribed to be used on the appointment of a Deaconess; the

inference from it must be, that others with whom the Lord's Spirit had

dwelt, were at least held in equal honour with Mary: "O Eternal God,

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of male and female, who didst

fill with thy Spirit Miriam, and Hannah, and Holda, and didst not

disdain that thy Son should be born of a woman," &c. [Book viii. c. 20.]

Thus, {294} too, in another passage, Mary is spoken of just as other

women who had the gift of prophecy; and of her equally and in

conjunction with the others it is said, that they were not elated by the

gift, nor lifted themselves up against the men. "But even have women

prophesied; in ancient times Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses;

after her Deborah; and afterwards Huldah and Judith; one under Josiah,

the other under Darius; and the mother of the Lord also prophesied, and

Elizabeth her kinswoman; and Anna; and in our day the daughters of

Philip; yet they were not lifted up against the men, but observed their

own measure. Therefore among you also should any man or woman have such

a grace, let them be humble, that God may take pleasure in them." [Book

viii. c. 2.]

In the Apostolical Canons I find no reference to Mary; nor indeed any

passage bearing on our present inquiry, except the last clause of all,

containing the benediction. In this passage not only is the prayer for

spiritual blessings addressed to God alone, but it is offered

exclusively through the mediation of Christ alone, without alluding to

intercessions of angels saints, or the Virgin: "Now may God, the only

unproduced Being, the Creator of all things, unite you all by peace in

the Holy Ghost; make you perfect unto every good work, not to be turned

aside, unblameable, not deserving reproof; and may He deem you worthy of

eternal life with us, by the mediation of his beloved Son Jesus Christ

our God and Saviour: with whom be glory to Him the Sovereign God and

Father, in the Holy Ghost the Comforter, now and ever, world without

end. Amen." [Vol. i. p. 450.]

I have not intentionally omitted any ancient author {295} falling within

the limits of our present inquiry, nor have I neglected any one passage

which I could find bearing testimony to any honour paid to the Virgin.

The result of my research is, that I have not discovered one solitary

expression which implies that religious invocation and honour, such as

is now offered to Mary by the Church of Rome, was addressed to her by

the members of the primitive Catholic Church. {296}

* * * * *

CHAPTER III.--THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY.

By the Church of England, two festivals are observed in grateful

commemoration of two events relating to Mary as the mother of our

Lord:--the announcement of the Saviour's birth by the message of an

angel, called, "The Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary," and "The

Presentation of Christ in the Temple," called also, "The Purification of

Saint Mary the Virgin." In the service for the first of these

solemnities, we are taught to pray that, as we have known the

incarnation of the Son of God by the message of an angel, so by his

Cross and Passion we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection. In

the second, we humbly beseech the Divine Majesty that, as his

only-begotten Son was presented in the Temple in the substance of our

flesh, so we may be presented unto Him with pure and clean hearts by the

same, his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. These days are observed to

commemorate events declared to us on the most sure warrant of Holy

Scripture; and these prayers are primitive and evangelical. They pray

only to God for spiritual blessings through his Son. The second prayer

was used in the Church {297} from very early times, and is still

retained in the Roman Breviary (Hus. Brev. Rom. H. 536.); whereas,

instead of the first[103], we find there unhappily a prayer now

supplicating that those who offer it, "believing Mary to be truly the

Mother of God, might be aided by her intercessions with Him." [V. 496.]

[Footnote 103: This collect also is found in the Roman Missal,

as a Prayer at the Post Communion; though it does not appear in

the Breviarium Romanum.]

In the Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, feasts are observed to

the honour of the Virgin Mary, in which the Anglican Church cannot join;

such as the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, and the immaculate conception

of her by her mother. On the origin and nature of these feasts it is not

my intention to dwell. I can only express my regret, that by appointing

a service and a collect commemorative of the Conception of the

Virgin[104] in her mother's womb, and praying that the observance of

that solemnity may procure the votaries an increase of peace, the Church

of Rome has given countenance to a superstition, against which at its

commencement, so late as the 12th century, St. Bernard strongly

remonstrated, in an epistle to the monks of Lyons; a superstition which

has been supported and explained by discussions in no way profitable to

the head or the heart. [Epist. 174. Paris, 1632, p. 1538.]

[Footnote 104: Ut quibus beatæ Virginis partus exstitit salutis

exordium, conceptionis ejus votiva solemnitas pacis tribuat

incrementum. H. 445.]

Of all these institutions however in honour of the Virgin, the Feast of

the ASSUMPTION appears to be as it were the crown and the

consummation[105]. This festival {298} is kept to celebrate the

miraculous taking up (assumptio) of the Virgin Mary into heaven. And its

celebration, in Roman Catholic countries, is observed in a manner worthy

a cause to which our judgment would give deliberately its sanction; in

which our feelings would safely and with satisfaction rest on the

firmness of our faith; from joining in which a truly pious mind would

have no ground for inward misgiving, nor for the aspiration, Would it

were founded in truth!

[Footnote 105: "The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the

greatest of all the festivals which the Church celebrates in her

honour. It is the consummation of all the other great mysteries

by which her life was rendered most wonderful. It is the

birthday of her true greatness and glory, and the crown of all

the virtues of her whole life, which we admire single in her

other festivals." Alban Butler, vol. viii. p. 175.]

Before such a solemn office of praise and worship were ever admitted

among the institutions of the religion of truth, its originators and

compilers should have built upon sure grounds; careful too should they

also be who now join in the service, and so lend it the countenance of

their example; more especially should those sift the evidence well, who,

by their doctrine and writings, uphold, and defend, and advance it; lest

they prove at the last to love Rome rather than the truth as it is in

Jesus. So solemn, so marked, a religious service in the temples and at

the altar of HIM who is the truth, a service so exalted above his

fellows, ought beyond question to be founded on the most sure warrant of

Holy Scripture, or at the least on undisputed historical evidence, as to

the alleged matter of fact on which it is built,--the certain,

acknowledged, uninterrupted, and universal testimony of the Church

Catholic from the very time. They incur a momentous responsibility who

aid in propagating for religious truths the inventions of men[106].

[Footnote 106: Very different opinions are held by Roman

Catholic writers as to the antiquity of this feast. All, indeed,

maintain that it is of very ancient introduction; but whilst

some, with Lambecius (lib. viii. p. 286), maintain the antiquity

of the festival to be so remote, that its origin cannot be

traced; and thence infer that it was instituted by a silent and

unrecorded act of the Apostles themselves; others (among whom

Kollarius, the learned annotator on the opinion of Lambecius)

acknowledged, that it was introduced by an ordinance of the

Church, though not at the same time in all countries of

Christendom. That annotator assigns its introduction at Rome to

the fourth century; at Constantinople to the sixth; in Germany

and France to the ninth.] {299}

But what is the real state of the case with regard to the fact of the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary? It rests (as we shall soon see) on no

authentic history; it is supported by no primitive tradition. I profess

my surprise to have been great, when I found the most celebrated

defenders of the Roman Catholic cause, instead of citing such evidence

as would bear with it even the appearance of probability, appealing to

histories written more than a thousand years after the alleged event, to

forged documents and vague rumours. I was willing to doubt the

sufficiency of my research; till I found its defenders, instead of

alleging and establishing by evidence what God was by them said to have

done, contenting themselves with asserting his omnipotence, in proof

that the doctrine implied no impossibility; dwelling on the fitness and

reasonableness of his working such a miracle in the honour of her who

was chosen to be the mother of his eternal Son; and whilst they took the

fact as granted, substituting for argument glowing and fervent

descriptions of what might have been the joy in heaven, and what ought

to be the feelings of mortals on earth.

At every step of the inquiry into the merits of this case, the principle

recurs to the mind, that, as men really and in earnest looking onward to

a life after this, our duty is to ascertain to the utmost of our {300}

power, not what God could do, not what we or others might pronounce it

fit that God should do, but what He has done; not what would be

agreeable to our feelings, were it true, but what, whether agreeably or

adversely to our feelings or wishes, is proved to be true. The very

moment a Christian writer refers me from evidence to possibilities, I

feel that he knows not the nature of Christianity; he throws me back

from the sure and certain hope of the Gospel to the "beautiful fable" of

Socrates,--"It were better to be there than here, IF THESE THINGS ARE

TRUE."

But let us inquire into the facts of the case.