"Thou art my fortitude and my refuge; my consolation and my protection.

{358}

"To thee, O Lady, have I cried, while my heart was in heaviness; and

thou didst hear me from the top of the eternal hills.

"Bring thou me out of the snare which they have hid for me; for thou art

my succour.

"Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit, my whole life, and my last

day.--Gloria Patri," &c.

In the 31st psalm we read, "Blessed are they whose hearts love thee, O

Virgin Mary; their sins shall be mercifully blotted out BY THEE...."

[Beati quorum corda te diligunt, Virgo Maria; peccata ipsorum A TE

misericorditer diluentur.--P. 481.]

In the 35th, v. 2. "Incline thou the countenance of God upon us; COMPEL

HIM to have mercy upon sinners. O Lady, thy mercy is in the heaven, and

thy grace is spread over the whole earth." [Inclina vultum Dei super

nos. COGE illum peccatoribus misereri; Domina, in coelo misericordia

tua, et gratia diffusa est super terram.]

In the 67th, instead of, "Let God arise, and let his enemies be

scattered," the Psalter of the Virgin has,

"Let Mary arise, and let her enemies be scattered." [Exurgat Maria, et

dissipentur inimici ejus.--P. 483.]

In the opening of the 93rd psalm there is a most extraordinary, rather,

as it sounds to me, a most impious and blasphemous comparison of the

Supreme God with the Virgin Mary, in reference to the very Attribute,

which shines first, last, and brightest in HIM,--His eternal mercy. Nay,

it draws the contrast in favour of the Virgin, and against God. Most

glad should I be, to find that I had misunderstood this passage; and

that it admits of another acceptation[133]. But I fear its real meaning

is beyond controversy.

[Footnote 133: A similar idea indeed pervades some addresses to

the Virgin of the present day, representing the great and only

potentate as her heavenly husband, in himself full of rage, but

softened into tenderness towards her votaries by her influence.

See a hymn, in the Paris collection already referred to, p. 353,

&c. of this work (Nouveau Recueil de Cantiques, p. 183).

Daignez, Marie, en ce jour Vouchsafe, Mary, on this day

Ecouter nos soupirs, To hear our sighs,

Et seconder nos désirs. And to second our desires.

Daignez, Marie, en ce jour Vouchsafe, Mary, on this day

Recevoir notre encens, notre amour. To receive our incense, our

love.

Du céleste époux Calm the rage

Calmez le courroux, Of thy heavenly husband,

Qu'il se montre doux Let HIM show himself kind

A tous qui sont à vous. To all those who are thine.

Du céleste époux Of thy heavenly husband

Calmez le courroux, Calm the rage,

Que son coeur s'attendrisse sur nous. Let his heart be softened

towards us. {359}

]

"The Lord is a God of vengeance; but thou, O Mother of Mercy, bendest to

be merciful." [Deus ultionum Dominus; sed tu, Mater Misericordiæ, ad

miserandum inflectis.--P. 485.]

The well known and dearly valued penitentiary psalm (129th) "De

profundis," is thus addressed to Mary:--

"Out of the depths have I called to thee, O Lady:

"O Lady, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attent to the voice of thy

praise and glorifying: deliver me from the hand of my enemies: confound

their imaginations and attempts against me. Rescue me in the evil day;

and, in the day of death, forget not my soul. Carry me into the haven of

safety: let my name be enrolled among the just." [De profundis clamavi

ad te, Domina: Domina, exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tuæ intendentes in

vocem laudis et glorificationis tuæ. Libera me de manu adversariorum

meorum: confunde ingenia et conatus eorum contra me. Erue me in die

mala: et in die mortis ne obliviscaris animæ meæ. Deduc me ad portum

salutis: inter justos scribatur nomen meum.--P. 489.] {360}

But, as the penitential psalms are thus turned, from Him to whom the

Psalmist addressed them, so his hymns of praise to Jehovah, are made to

flow through the same channel to the Virgin. And all nature in the sea,

on the earth, in the heavens, and heaven of heavens, is called upon to

praise and glorify Mary. Thus, in the 148th psalm, we read,--

"Praise our Lady of heaven, glorify her in the highest. Praise her, all

ye men and cattle, ye birds of the heaven, and fishes of the sea. Praise

her, sun and moon; ye stars and circles of the planets. Praise her,

cherubim and seraphim, thrones and dominions, and powers. Praise her,

all ye legions of angels. Praise her, all ye orders of spirits above."

[Laudate Dominam nostram de coelis: glorificate eam in excelsis. Laudate

eam omnes homines et jumenta: volucres coeli et pisces maris. Laudate

eam sol et luna: stellæ, et circuli planetarum. Laudate eam cherubim et

seraphim: throni et dominationes, et potestates. Laudate eam omnes

legiones angelorum. Laudate eam omnes ordines spirituum supernorum.--P.

491.]

The last sentence of the psalms is thus rendered,--"Let every spirit

[_or_ every thing that hath breath] praise our Lady."

To this Psalter are added many hymns changed in the same manner. One,

entitled, "A Canticle, like that of Habakkuk iii." presents to us an

address to the Virgin Mary, of the very words which our blessed Saviour

most solemnly addressed to his heavenly Father.

O Lord, I have heard thy O Lady, I have heard thy report,

speech, and was afraid, &c. &c. and was astonished; I considered

thy works, O Lady, and

I was afraid at thy work. In the

midst of the years thou hast revived

it. {361}

I will confess to thee, O Lady,

because thou hast hid these things

from the wise, and hast revealed

them to babes.

Thy glory hath covered the

heavens, and the earth is full of

thy mercy.

Thou, O Virgin, wentest forth

for the salvation of thy people,

for salvation with thy Christ [thy

anointed].

O thou Blessed, our salvation

rests in thy hands. Remember

our poverty, O thou pious One.

WHOM THOU WILLEST, HE

SHALL BE SAVED; AND HE FROM

WHOM THOU TURNEST AWAY THY

COUNTENANCE, GOETH INTO DESTRUCTION.

[Domina, audivi auditionem tuam, et obstupui: consideravi opera tua, et

expavi, Domina, opus tuum: circa medium annorum vivificasti illud.

Confitebor tibi, Domina: quia abscondisti hæc a sapientibus: et

revelasti ea parvulis. Operuit coelos gloria tua, et misericordia tua

plena est terra.

Egressa es, Virgo, in salutem populi tui: in salutem cum Christo tuo. O

Benedicta, in manibus tuis est reposita nostra salus; recordare, pia,

paupertatis nostræ.

Quem vis, ipse salvus erit, et a quo avertis vultum tuum, vadit in

interitum.--G.P., &c.]

The song of the Three Children is altered in the same manner. In it as

well as in the Canticle of Zacharias, these prayers are introduced;

"O Mother of Mercy, have mercy upon us miserable sinners; who neglect to

repent of our past sins, and commit every day many to be repented of."

[Miserere, misericordiæ Mater, nobis miseris peccatoribus, qui retroacta

peccata poenitere negligimus, ac multa quotidie poenitenda committimus.]

{362}

The Te Deum is thus lamentably perverted:

"We praise thee, Mother of God; we acknowledge thee, Mary the Virgin.

[Te Matrem Dei laudamus; Te Mariam Virginem profitemur.]

"All the earth doth worship thee, spouse of the eternal Father.

"To thee all Angels and Archangels, Thrones and Principalities,

faithfully do service....

"To thee the whole angelic creation with incessant voice proclaim,

"Holy! Holy! Holy! Mary, parent, mother of God, and virgin!...

"... Thou with thy Son sittest at the right hand of the Father....

"O Lady, SAVE THY PEOPLE, that we may partake of the inheritance of thy

Son.

"And rule us and guard us for ever....

"Day by day we salute thee, O pious One; and we desire to praise thee in

mind and voice even for ever.

"Vouchsafe, O sweet Mary, now and for ever, to keep us without sin.

"Have mercy upon us, O pious One; have mercy upon us.

"Let thy great mercy be with us, because we put our trust in thee, O

Virgin Mary.

"In thee, sweet Mary, do we hope, defend thou us eternally. {363}

"Praise becomes thee, empire becomes thee; to thee be virtue and glory

for ever and ever. Amen."

[SALVUM FAC POPULUM tuum, Domina, ut simus participes hæreditatis Filii

tui,

Et rege nos et custodi nos in æternum.

Dignare, Dulcis Maria, mine et semper nos sine delicto conservare.

Miserere, Pia, nobis! miserere nobis! Fiat misericordia tua magna

nobiscum, quia in te, Virgo Maria, confidimus. In te, Dulcis Maria,

speramus, nos defendas in æternum. Te decet laus, te decet imperium,

tibi virtus et gloria in sæcula sæculorum, Amen.]

Can this by any the most subtle refinement be understood to be a mere

request to her to pray for us?

The Athanasian Creed is employed in the same manner; and it is very

remarkable that the Assumption itself of the Virgin into heaven is there

specified as one of the points to be believed on pain of losing all

hopes of salvation.

"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold

firm the faith concerning the Virgin Mary: which except a man keep whole

and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly....

[Quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est ut teneat de Maria

firmam fidem.]

"Whom at length He took up (assumpsit) unto heaven, and she sitteth at

the right hand of her Son, not ceasing to pray to her Son for us. [Quam

demum ipse in coelum assumpsit, et sedit ad dexteram Filii, non cessans

pro nobis Filium exorare.]

"This is the faith concerning Mary the Virgin, which except every one

believe faithfully and firmly he cannot be saved." [Hæc est fides de

Maria Virgine: quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit,

salvus esse non poterit.]

In the Litany addressed to her, these sentences are found.

"Holy Mary, whom all things praise and venerate, pray for us,--be

propitious,--spare us, O Lady.

"From all evil deliver us, O Lady.

"In the devastating hour of death, deliver us, O Lady.

"From the horrible torments of hell, deliver us, O Lady.

"We sinners do beseech thee to hear us.

"That thou wouldest vouchsafe to give eternal rest {364} to all the

faithful departed, we beseech thee to hear us. &c. &c."

[Sancta Maria, quam omnia laudant

Et venerantur, ora pro nobis.

Propitia esto. Parce nobis, Domina.

Ab omni malo libera nos, Domina.

In hora mortis devastante libera nos, Domina.

Ab inferni horribili cruciamine libera nos, Domina.

Peccatores te rogamus, audi nos.

Ut cunctis fidelibus defunctis requiem

Æternam donare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos.]

I will add to this catalogue of prayers and praises to the Virgin, only

the translation of one prayer more from the same canonized Saint; it

contains a passage often referred to, but the existence of which has

been denied. It stands, however, in his works, vol. vi. page 466.

"Therefore, O Empress, and our most benign Lady, by THY RIGHT OF MOTHER

COMMAND thy most beloved Son [JURE MATRIS IMPERA tuo dilectissimo

Filio], our Lord, Jesus Christ, that He vouchsafe to raise our minds

from the love of earthly things to heavenly desires, who liveth and

reigneth."

* * * * *

Now let any man of common understanding and straightforward principles

say, whether any, the most ingenious refinement can interpret all this

to mean merely that Bonaventura invoked the Virgin Mary to pray for him,

or for his fellow-creatures. It looks as though he were resolved on set

purpose to exalt her to an equality with the Almighty, when we find him

not once, not casually, not in the fervent rapture of momentary

excitement, but deliberately, through one hundred and fifty Psalms,

applying to Mary the very words dictated by the Holy Spirit to the

Psalmist, and consecrated {365} to the worship of the one supreme God;

and then selecting the most solemn expressions by which the Christian

Church approaches the Lord of heaven and earth, our Father, our Saviour,

our Sanctifier: employing too the very words of her most solemn form of

belief in the ever-blessed Trinity, and substituting Mary's name for the

God of Christians. On the words, "By thy right of mother command thy

Son," beyond the assertion of the fact that there they are to this day,

I wish to add nothing, because the very denial of their existence often

repeated shows, that many Roman Catholics themselves regard them as

objectionable.

But, if such a man as Bonaventura, one of the most learned and

celebrated men of his age, could be tempted by the views cherished by

the Church of Rome, to indulge in such language, what can be fairly

expected of the large mass of persons who find that language published

to the world with the highest sanction which their religion can give, as

the work of a man whom the Almighty declared when on earth, by miracles,

to be a chosen vessel, and to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit;

and of whom they are taught by the infallible testimony[134] of his

canonization, that he is now reigning with Christ in heaven, and is

himself the lawful and appointed object of religious invocation. I

profess to you that I see no way by which Christians can hold and

encourage this doctrine of the Invocation of Saints, without at the same

time countenancing and cherishing what, were I to join in such

invocation, would stain my soul with the guilt of idolatry. If the

doctrine were confessedly Scriptural, come what would come, our duty

would be to maintain it at all hazards, {366} and to brave every danger

rather than from fear of consequences to renounce what we believe to

have come from God; securing the doctrine at all events, and then

putting forth our very best to guard against its perversion and abuse.

But surely, it well becomes our brethren of the Church of Rome, to

examine with most rigid and unsparing scrutiny into the very foundation

of such a doctrine as this; a doctrine which in its mildest and most

guarded form is considered by a very large number of their fellow

Christians, as a dishonouring of God and of his Son, our Saviour; and

which in its excess, an excess witnessed in the books of learned and

sainted authors, and in the every day practice of worshippers, seems to

be in no wise distinguishable from the practices of acknowledged

polytheism, and pagan worship. If that foundation, after honest and

persevering examination, approves itself as based sure and deep on the

word of God, and the faith and practice of the apostles and the Church

founded by them from the first, I have not another word to say, beyond a

fervent prayer that the God in whom we trust would pour the bright beams

of his Gospel abundantly into the hearts of all who receive that Gospel

as the word of life. But were they my dying words to my dearest friend

who had espoused that doctrine, I would say to him, Look well yourself

to the foundation, because I am, after long examination, convinced,

beyond a shadow of doubt that the doctrine and practice of the

Invocation of Saints and Angels is as contrary to the doctrine and

practice of the primitive Church, as it is in direct opposition to the

express words of Scripture, and totally abhorrent from the spirit which

pervades the whole of the Old, and the whole of the New Testament of

God's eternal truth.

[Footnote 134: Bellarmin, in his Church Triumphant, maintains

that in the act of Canonization, the Church is infallible. Vol.

ii. p. 871.] {367}

* * * * *

SECTION IV.--BIEL, DAMIANUS, BERNARDINUS DE BUSTIS, BERNARDINUS

SENENSIS, &c.

Unhappily these excesses in the worship of the Virgin Mary are not

confined to Bonaventura, or to his age. We have too many examples of the

same extravagant exaltation of her as an object of adoration and praise

in men, whose station and abilities seemed to hold them forth to the

world as burning and shining lights. Again, let me repeat, that in thus

soliciting your attention to the doctrines and expressed feelings of a

few from among the host of the Virgin's worshippers, I am far from

believing that the enlightened Roman Catholics in England now are ready

to respond to such sentiments. My desire is that all persons should be

made aware of the excesses into which even celebrated teachers have been

tempted to run, when they once admitted the least inroad to be made upon

the integrity of God's worship; and I am anxious also, without offence,

but with all openness, to caution my countrymen against encouraging that

revival of the worship of the Virgin in England, to promote which the

highest authorities in the Church of Rome have lately expressed their

solicitude, intimating, at the same time, their regret that the worship

of the Virgin at the present time has, in England, degenerated from its

exaltation in former ages, and that England is now far behind her

continental neighbours in her worship. Though these excessive departures

from Gospel truth and the primitive worship of one God by one Mediator

may not be the doctrines of all who belong to the Church of Rome, yet

they are the tenets of some of her most {368} celebrated doctors, of men

who were raised to her highest dignities in their lifetime, and solemnly

enrolled by her among the saints of glory after their death. Their words

and their actions are appealed to now in support of similar tenets and

doctrines, though few, in this country at least, are found to put them

forth in all their magnitude and fulness. But even in their mildest and

least startling form these doctrines are awfully dangerous.

The fact is, that the direct tendency of the worship of the Virgin, as

practically illustrated in the Church of Rome, is to make GOD himself an

object of FEAR, and the VIRGIN an object of LOVE; to invest Him, who is

the Father of mercy and God of all comfort, with awfulness, and majesty,

and with the terrors of eternal justice, and in direct and striking

contrast to array the Virgin mother with mercy and benignity, and

compassionate tenderness. Christians cannot be too constantly and too

carefully on their guard against doing this wrong to our heavenly

Father. His own inspired word invites us to regard Him not only as the

God of love, but as Love itself. "God is love;" [1 John iv. 8.] and so

far from terrifying us by representations of his tremendous majesty, and

by declarations that we cannot ourselves draw nigh to God; so far from

bidding us to approach Him with our suits and supplications through

mediators whom we should regard as having, more than our blessed

Redeemer, a fellow-feeling with us, and at the same time resistless

influence with Him; his own invitation and assurance is, "Come unto me,

and I will give you rest:" [Matt. xi. 28.] "No one cometh unto the

Father but by me:" [John xiv. 6.] "Him that cometh to me I will {369} in

no wise cast out:" [John vi. 37.] "Let us come boldly unto the throne of

grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of

need." [Heb. iv. 16.]

How entirely opposed to such passages as these, breathing the spirit

that pervades the whole Bible, are those doctrines which represent the

Virgin Mary as the Mediatrix by whom we must sue for the divine

clemency; as the dispenser of all God's mercies and graces; as the

sharer of God's kingdom, as the fountain of pity, as the moderator of

God's justice, and the appeaser of his wrath. "Show thyself a mother."

"Compel thy Son to have pity." "By thy right of mother command thy Son."

"God is a God of vengeance; but thou, Mary, dost incline to mercy;" such

expressions convey sentiments and associations shocking to our feelings,

and from which our reason turns away, when we think of God's

perfections, and the full atonement and omnipotent intercession of his

Son Christ our Redeemer. But it must not be disguised, that these are

the very sentiments in which the most celebrated defenders of the

worship of the Virgin, in the Church of Rome, teach their disciples to

acquiesce, and in which they must have themselves fully acquiesced, if

they practised what they taught. It is very painful to make such

extracts as leave us no alternative in forming our opinions on this

point; but it is necessary to do so, otherwise we may injure the cause

of truth by suppressing the reality; a reality over which there seems to

be a strong disposition, in the present day, in part at least, to draw a

veil; an expedient which can only increase the danger.

The first author, whose sentiments I would request you to weigh, is

Gabriel Biel, a schoolman of great celebrity[135]. {370} In his

thirty-second lecture, on the Canon of the Mass, he thus expresses

himself, referring to a sermon of St. Bernard, "The will of God was,

that we should have all through Mary.... You were afraid to approach the

Father, frightened by only hearing of Him.... He gave you Jesus for a

Mediator. What could not such a Son obtain with such a Father? He will

surely be heard for his own reverence-sake; for the Father loveth the

Son. But, are you afraid to approach even Him? He is your brother and

your flesh; tempted through all, that He might become merciful. THIS

BROTHER MARY GAVE TO YOU. But, perhaps, even in Him you fear the divine

Majesty, because, although He was made man, yet He remained God. You

wish to have an advocate even to Him. Betake yourself to Mary. For, in

Mary is pure humanity, not only pure from all contamination, but pure

also by the singleness of her nature[136]. Nor should I, with any doubt

say, she too will be heard for her own reverence-sake. The Son, surely,

will hear the Mother, and the Father will hear the Son."

[Footnote 135: Tubingen, 1499. Gabriel Biel, born at Spires

about A.D. 1425, was in A.D. 1484 appointed the first Professor

of Theology in the then newly founded University of Tubingen. He

afterwards retired to a monastery, and died A.D. 1495.]

[Footnote 136: This is a very favourite argument in the present

day, often heard in the pulpits on the Continent.]

In his 80th lecture, the same author comments on this prayer, which is

still offered in the service of the Mass:

"Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils past, present, and

future; and by the intercession of the blessed and glorious ever-virgin

mother of God, Mary, with thy blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and

Andrew, and all saints, mercifully grant peace in our days, that, aided

by the help of thy mercy, we may be both ever {371} free from sin, and

free from all disquietude. Through the same our Lord, &c."

On this prayer Biel observes, "Again we ask, in this prayer, the defence

of peace; and since we cannot, nor do we presume to obtain this by our

own merit, ... therefore, in order to obtain this, we have recourse, in

the second part of this prayer, to the suffrages of all his saints, whom

He hath constituted, in the court of his kingdom, as our mediators, most

acceptable to himself, whose prayers his love does not reject. But, of

them, we fly, in the first place, to the most blessed Virgin, the Queen

of Heaven, to whom the King of kings, the heavenly Father, has given the

half of his kingdom; which was signified in Hester, the queen, to whom,

when she approached to appease king Asuerus, the king said to her, Even

if thou shalt ask the half of my kingdom, it shall be given thee. So the

heavenly Father, inasmuch as He has justice and mercy as the more valued

possessions of his kingdom, RETAINING JUSTICE TO HIMSELF, GRANTED MERCY

to the Virgin Mother. We, therefore, ask for peace, by the intercession

of the blessed and glorious Virgin." [Cum habeat justitiam et

misericordiam tanquam potiora regni sui bona, justitia sibi retenta,

misericordiam Matri Virgini concessit.]

The very same partition of the kingdom of heaven, is declared to have

been made between God himself and the Virgin by one who was dignified by

the name of the "venerable and most Christian Doctor," John Gerson[137],

who died in 1429; excepting that, instead of justice and mercy, Gerson

mentions power and mercy as the two parts of which God's kingdom

consists, and that, whilst power remained with the Lord, the part of

mercy ceded "to the mother of Christ, and the reigning {372} spouse;

hence, by the whole Church, she is saluted as Queen of Mercy."

[Footnote 137: Paris, 1606. Tract iv. Super "Magnificat," part

iii. p. 754. See Fabricius, vol. iii. p. 49. Patav. 1754.]

I would next refer to a writer who lived four centuries before Biel, but

whose works received the papal sanction so late as the commencement of

the seventeenth century, Petrus Damianus, Cardinal and Bishop. His works

were published at the command of Pope Clement VIII., who died A.D. 1604,

and were dedicated to his successor, Paul V., who gave the copyright for

fifteen years to the Editor, Constantine Cajetan, A.D. 1606. I will

quote only one passage from this author. It is found in his sermon on

the nativity of the Virgin, whom he thus addresses: "Nothing is

impossible with thee, with whom it is possible to restore those in

despair to the hope of blessedness. For how could that authority, which

derived its flesh from thy flesh, oppose thy power? For thou approachest

before that golden altar of human reconciliation not only asking, but

commanding; a mistress, not a handmaid." [Accedis enim ante illud aureum

humanæ reconciliationis altare, non solum rogans, sed imperans; Domina,

non ancilla. Paris, 1743. vol. ii. p. 107. Serm. 44.]

I must now solicit your attention to the sentiments of two writers,

whose partial identity of name has naturally led, in some instances, to

the one being mistaken for the other, Bernardinus de Bustis, and

Bernardinus Senensis. Bernardinus de Bustis, [Fabricius, vol. i. 215.]

in the country of Milan, was the celebrated author of the "Office of the

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin," which was confirmed by the

bull of Sixtus the Fourth, and has since been celebrated on the 8th of

December.

He composed different works in honour of the Virgin, {373} to one of

which he gave the title "Mariale." In this work, with a great variety of

sentiments of a similar tendency, he thus expresses himself:--

"Of so great authority in the heavenly palace is that empress, that,

omitting all other intermediate saints, we may appeal to her from every

grievance.... With confidence, then, let every one appeal to her,

whether he be aggrieved by the devil, or by any tyrant, or by his own

body, or by divine justice;" [Cologne, 1607. Part iii. Serm. ii. p.

176.] and then, having specified and illustrated the three other sources

of grievance, he thus proceeds: "In the fourth place, he may APPEAL TO

HER, if any one feels himself AGGRIEVED BY THE JUSTICE OF GOD [Licet ad

ipsam appellare, si quis a Dei justitia se gravari sentit.] ... That

empress, therefore, Hester, was a figure of this empress of the heavens,

with whom God divided his kingdom. For, whereas God has justice and

mercy, He retained justice to himself to be exercised in this world, and

granted mercy to his mother; and thus, if any one feels himself to be

aggrieved in the court of God's justice, let him appeal to the court of

mercy of his mother." [Ideo si quis sentit se gravari in foro justitiæ

Dei, appellet ad forum misericordiæ matris ejus.]

For one moment, let us calmly weigh the import of these words:--Is it

any thing short of robbing the Eternal Father of the brightest jewel in

his crown, and sharing his glory with another? Is it not encouraging us

to turn our eyes from the God of mercy as a stern and ruthless judge,

and habitually to fix them upon Mary as the dispenser of all we want for

the comfort and happiness of our souls?

In another place, this same author thus exalts Mary:

"Since the Virgin Mary is mother of God, and God is her Son; and every

son is naturally inferior to his {374} mother, and subject to her; and

the mother is preferred above, and is superior to her son, it follows

that the blessed Virgin is herself superior to God, and God himself is

her subject, by reason of the humanity derived from her;" [Part ix.

Serm. ii. p. 605.] and again. "O the unspeakable dignity of Mary, who

was worthy to command the Commander of all." [Part xii. Serm, ii. p.

816.]

I will detain you by only one more quotation from this famed Doctor. It

appears to rob God of his justice and power, as well as of his mercy;

and to turn our eyes to Mary for the enjoyment of all we can desire, and

for safety from all we can dread. Would that Bernardine stood alone in

the propagation of such doctrines. "We may say, that the blessed Virgin

is chancellor in the court of heaven. For we see, that in the chancery

of our lord the pope, three kinds of letters are granted: some are of

simple justice, others are of pure grace, and the third mixed,

containing justice and grace.... The third chancellor is he to whom it

appertains to give letters of pure grace and mercy. And this office hath

the blessed Virgin; and therefore she is called the mother of grace and

mercy: but those letters of mercy she gives only in the present life.

For, to some souls, as they are departing, she gives letters of pure

grace; to others, of simple justice; and to others, mixed, namely, of

justice and grace. For some were very much devoted to her, and to them

she gives letters of pure grace, by which she COMMANDS, that glory be

given to them without any pain of purgatory: others were miserable

sinners, and not devoted to her, and to them she gives letters of simple

justice, by which she COMMANDS that condign vengeance be done upon them;

others were lukewarm and remiss in devotion, and to them she gives

letters of justice and grace, by which {375} she COMMANDS that grace be

given to them, and yet, on account of their negligence and sloth, some

pain of purgatory be also inflicted on them." [Part xii. Serm. ii. On

the twenty-second excellence, p. 825.]

The only remaining author, to whom I will at present refer you, is a

canonized saint, Bernardinus Senensis. A full account of his life, his

miracles, and his enrolment among the saints in heaven, is found in the

Acta Sanctorum, vol. v. under the 20th of May, the day especially

dedicated to his honour. Eugenius IV. died before the canonization of

Bernardine could be completed: the next pope, Nicholas V. on Whitsunday

1450, in full conclave, enrolled him among the saints, to the joy, we

are told, of all Italy. In 1461, Pius the Second said that Bernardine

was taken for a saint even in his lifetime; and, in 1472, Sixtus IV.

issued a bull, in which he extols the saint, and authorizes the

translation of his body into a new church, dedicated, as others had

been, to his honour.

This Bernardine is equally explicit with others, in maintaining, that

all the blessings which Christians can receive on earth are dispensed by

Mary; that her princedom equals the princedom of the Eternal Father;

that all are her servants and subjects, who are the subjects and

servants of the Most High; that all who adore the Son of God should

adore his virgin-mother, and that the Virgin has repaid the Almighty for

all that He has done for the human race. Some of these doctrines were to

me quite startling; I was not prepared for them; but I have been assured

they find an echo in the pulpits in many parts of the continent. Very

few quotations will suffice. [Opera, per John de la Haye. Paris, 1636.

Five volumes bound in two.] {376}

"As many creatures do service to the glorious Mary, as do service to the

Trinity.... For he who is the Son of God, and of the blessed Virgin,

wishing (so to speak) to make, in a manner, the princedom of his mother

equal to the princedom of his father, he who was God, served his mother

on earth. Moreover, this is true, all things, even the Virgin, are

servants of the divine empire; and again, this is true, all things, even

God, are servants of the empire of the Virgin." [Vol. iv. Serm. v. c.

vi. p. 118.]

"Therefore, all the angelic spirits are the ministers and servants of

this glorious Virgin." [Serm. iii. c. iii. p. 104.]

"To comprise all in a brief sentence, I do not doubt that God made all

the liberations and pardons in the Old Testament on account of the

reverence and love of this blessed maid, by which God preordained from

eternity, that she should be, by predestination, honoured above all his

works. On account of the immense love of the Virgin, as well Christ

himself, as the whole most blessed Trinity, frequently grants pardon to

the most wicked sinners." [Serm. v. c. ii. p. 116.]

"By the law of succession, and the right of inheritance, the primacy and

kingdom of the whole universe is due to the blessed Virgin. Nay, when

her only Son died on the cross, since He had no one on earth to succeed

Him of right, his mother, by the laws of all, succeeded, and by this

acquired the principality of all. [Serm. v. c. vii. p. 118.] ... But, of

the monarchy of the universe, Christ never made any testamentary

bequest, because that could never be done without prejudice to his

mother. Moreover, HE KNEW THAT A MOTHER CAN ANNUL THE {377} WILL OF HER

SON, IF IT BE MADE TO THE PREJUDICE OF HERSELF." [Insuper noverat quod

potest mater irritare Filii testamentum si in sui præjudicium sit

confectum.--P. 118.]

"The Virgin Mother[138], from the time she conceived God, obtained a

certain jurisdiction and authority in every temporal procession of the

Holy Spirit, so that no creature could obtain any grace of virtue from

God except according to the dispensation of his Virgin mother[139]. As

through the neck the vital breathings descend from the head into the

body, so the vital graces are transfused from the head Christ into his

mystical body, through the Virgin. I fear not to say, that this Virgin

has a certain jurisdiction over the flowing of all graces. And, because

she is the mother of such a Son of God, who produces the Holy Spirit;

THEREFORE, ALL THE GIFTS, VIRTUES, AND GRACES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE

ADMINISTERED BY THE HANDS OF HERSELF, TO WHOM SHE WILL, WHEN SHE WILL,

HOW SHE WILL, AND IN WHAT QUANTITY SHE WILL." [Serm. v. p. 119.]

[Footnote 138: Serm. v. c. viii. and Serm. vi. c. ii. p. 120 and

122. There is an omission (probably by an error of the press) in

the first passage, which the second enables us to supply.]

[Footnote 139: This writer is constantly referring to St.

Bernard's doctrine, "No grace comes from heaven upon the earth,

but what passes through the hands of Mary."]

"She is the queen of mercy, the temple of God, the habitation of the

Holy Spirit, always sitting at the right hand of Christ in eternal

glory. Therefore she is to be venerated, to be saluted, and to be adored

with the adoration of hyperdulia. And therefore she sits at the right

hand of the King, that as often as you adore Christ the king you may

adore also the mother of Christ." [Serm. vi. p. 121.]

"The blessed Virgin Mary alone has done more for {378} God; or as much

(so to speak) as God hath done for the whole human race. For I verily

believe that God will grant me indulgence if I now speak for the Virgin.

Let us gather together into one what things God hath done for man, and

let us consider what satisfaction the Virgin Mary hath rendered to the

Lord." Bernardine here enumerates many particulars, placing one against

the other, which for many reasons I cannot induce myself to transfer

into these pages, and then he sums up the whole thus: "Therefore,

setting each individual thing one against another, namely, what things

God had done for man, and what things the blessed Virgin has done for

God, you will see that Mary has done more for God, than God has for man;

so that thus, on account of the blessed Virgin, (whom, nevertheless, He

himself made,) God is in a certain manner under greater obligations to

us than we are to Him." [Serm. vi. p. 120.]

The whole treatise he finishes with this address to the Virgin:--

"Truly by mere babbling are we uttering these thy praises and

excellences; but we suppliantly pray thy immense sweetness. Do thou, by

thy benignity, supply our insufficiencies, that we may worthily praise

thee through the endless ages of ages. Amen."

In closing these brief extracts I would observe, that by almost every

writer in support of the worship of the Virgin, an appeal is made to St.

Bernard[140] as their chief authority. Especially is the following

passage quoted by many, either whole or in part, at almost every turn of

their argument:--

[Footnote 140: The present Pope, in the same manner, refers to

him in his Encyclical Letter.--A.D. 1840.]

"If thou art disturbed by the heinousness of thy crimes, and confounded

by the foulness of thy conscience, {379} if terrified by the horror of

judgment thou begin to be swallowed up in the gulf of despair, think of

Mary, invoke Mary; let her not depart from thy heart, let her not depart

from thy mouth. For whilst thinking of her, thou dost not err; imploring

her, thou dost not despair; following her, thou dost not lose thy way;

whilst she holds thee, thou dost not fall; whilst she protects thee,

thou dost not fear; whilst she is thy leader, thou art not wearied;

whilst she is favourable, thou reachest thy end[141]."

[Footnote 141: See Bern. Sen. vol. iv. p. 124. The passage is

found in Bernard, Paris, 1640. p. 25.]

If the Virgin Mary is thus regarded as the source and well-head of all

safety and blessing, we cannot wonder, that glory and praise are

ascribed in the selfsame terms to her as to the Almighty. Cardinal

Bellarmin closes the several portions of his writings with "Praise to

God and the blessed Virgin Mary[142]." It is painful to reflect, that

either the highest glory, due to that God who will not share his glory

with another, is here ascribed to one of the creatures of his hand

(however highly favoured and full of grace), or else that to the most

high God is ascribed an inferior glory and praise, such as it is lawful

for us to address to an exalted fellow-creature. Surely the only

ascription fitting the lips and the heart of those who have been

enlightened by the bright beams of Gospel truth, is Glory to God alone

through Christ his Son.

[Footnote 142: Such ascriptions are very common. Joannes de

Carthagena, a most voluminous writer of homilies, adopts this as

the close of his sections: "Praise and glory to the Triune God,

to the Humanity of Christ, to the Blessed Virgin Mary his

mother, and to St. Joseph her dearest spouse."--Catholic

Homilies on the Sacred Secrets of the Mother of God, and Joseph,

p. 921. Paris, 1615.] {380}

* * * * *

SECTION V.--MODERN WORKS OF DEVOTION AMONG ROMAN CATHOLICS.

It may perhaps be surmised, that the authors referred to in the last

section lived many years ago, and that the sentiments of the faithful

members of the Church of Rome have undergone material changes on these

points. Assurances are given on every side, that the invocation of the

saints and of the Virgin is nothing more than a request, that they would

intercede with God, and implore his mercy for the suppliants. But

whatever implicit reliance we may place on the good faith with which

these declarations are made, we can discover no new key by which to

interpret the forms of prayer and praise satisfactorily. Confessedly

there are no changes in the authorized services. We discover no traces

of change in the worship of private devotion. The Breviary and Missal

contain the same offices of the Virgin Mary as in former days. The same

sentiments are expressed towards her in public; the same forms of

devotion[143], both in prayer and praise, are prepared for the use of

individuals in their daily exercises. Whatever meaning is to be attached

to the expressions employed, the prevailing expressions themselves

remain the same as we found them to have been in past ages.

[Footnote 143: Works of this character abound in every place,

where Catholic books may be purchased.]

Since I made these extracts from the learned and celebrated doctors and

canonized saints of former ages, my attention has been invited to the

language now {381} used in forms of devotion, the spirit of which

implies similar views of the power and love of the Virgin Mary, as the

fountain of mercies to mankind, and the dispenser of every heavenly

blessing.

At the head of these modern works, I was led to read over again the

encyclical letter of the present sovereign pontiff, from the closing

sentences of which I have already made extracts. And referring his words

to a test which we have more than once applied in a similar case--that

of changing the name of the person, and substituting the name of God, or

his blessed Son, I cannot see how the spirit of his sentiments falls in

the least below the highest degree of religious worship. His words, in

the third paragraph of his letter, as they appear in the Laity's

Directory for 1833, are these:--

"But having at length taken possession of our see in the Lateran Basilic

according to the custom and institution of our predecessors, we turn to

you without delay, venerable brethren, and in testimony of our feelings

towards you, we select for the date of our letter this most joyful day

on which we celebrate the solemn festival of the most blessed Virgin's

triumphant assumption into heaven, that she who has been through every

great calamity our patroness and protectress, may WATCH OVER US WRITING

TO YOU, AND LEAD OUR MIND BY HER HEAVENLY INFLUENCE to those counsels

which may prove most salutary to Christ's flock."

Let us substitute for the name of Mary, the holiest of all, The Eternal

Spirit of Jehovah Himself; and will not these words be a proper vehicle

of the sentiments of a Christian pastor? Let us fix upon Christmas-day,

or Easter, or Holy Thursday, and what word expressive {382} of gratitude

for past mercies to the supreme Giver of all good things, or of hope and

trust in the guidance of the Spirit of counsel, and wisdom, and

strength--of the most High God, who alone can order the wills and ways

of men--might not a bishop of Christ's flock take from this declaration

of the Sovereign Pontiff, and use in its first and natural sense, when

speaking of the Lord Jehovah Himself? "We select for the date of our

letter this most joyful day on which we celebrate the solemn festival of

the most blessed Redeemer's nativity, (or glorious resurrection, or

ascension,) that He who has been through every great calamity our patron

and protector, may watch over us writing to you, and lead our mind by

his heavenly influence to those counsels which may prove most salutary

to Christ's flock."

In these sentiments of the present Pope there is no allusion (as there

is in the other clause) to Mary's prayers and intercessions. Looking to

and weighing the words employed, and as far as words can be relied upon

as interpreters of the thoughts, looking to the spirit of his

profession, only one inference can be fairly drawn. However direct and

immediate the prayers of the suppliants may be to the Virgin for her

protection and defence from all dangers, spiritual and bodily, and for

the guidance of the inmost thoughts in the right way, (blessings which

we of the Anglican Catholic Church, following the footsteps of the

primitive flock of Christ, have always looked for at the hand of God

Almighty only, to be granted by Him for the sake of his blessed Son,)

such petitioners to Mary would be sanctioned to the utmost by the

principles and example of the present Roman Pontiff.

We have already, when examining the records of {383} the Council of

Chalcedon, compared the closing words of this encyclical letter with the

more holy and primitive aspirations of the Bishops of Rome and

Constantinople in those earlier days; and the comparison is striking

between the sentiments now expressed in the opening parts of the same

letter, and the spirit of the collects which were adopted for the use of

the faithful, before the invocation of saints and of the Virgin had

gained its present strong hold in the Church of Rome. For example, a

collect at Vespers teaches us to pray to God as the source from whom all

holy desires and all good counsels proceed [Hiem. 149.]; and on the

fifth Sunday after Easter this prayer is offered: "O God, from whom all

good things do come, grant, we pray Thee, that by thy inspiration we may

think those things that be good; and by thy guidance may perform the

same;" whilst on the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, in a collect, the

spirit of which is strongly contrasted with the sentiments in both parts

of this encyclical letter, God is thus addressed: "We beseech thee, O

Lord, with thy continual pity, guard thy family, that, leaning on the

sole hope of heavenly grace, it may ever be defended by thy protection."

[Ut quæ in _sola_ spe gratiæ coelestis innititur, tua semper protectione

muniatur.--Hiem, 364. "Let us raise our eyes to the Blessed Virgin, who

is our greatest hope, yea, the entire ground of our hope."]

Similar materials are abundant. A whole volume, indeed, might readily be

composed consisting solely of rules and instructions, confessions and

forms of prayer, appertaining to the Virgin and the Saints, published by

authority at the present day, both in our country and on the Continent,

for the use of our Roman Catholic {384} brethren; but to which the word

of God, and the doctrine and practice of the primitive Church, are in

our estimation as much opposed as to the prayers of Bonaventura, or to

the doctrine of either of the Bernardins. It would, however, be

unprofitable to dwell on this subject at any great length. I will,

therefore, only briefly refer to two publications of this sort, to which

my own attention has been accidentally drawn: "The Imitation of the

Blessed Virgin,"[144] and "The Little Testament of the Holy

Virgin."[145]

[Footnote 144: "The Imitation of the Blessed Virgin, composed on

the plan of the Imitation of Christ. London, 1816. Approved by

T.R. Asselini, Doctor of Sorbonne, last Bishop of Boulogne. From

the French."]

[Footnote 145: "The Little Testament of the Holy Virgin,

translated from the French, and revised by a Catholic Priest.

Third Edition. Dublin, 1836."]

The first professes to be "composed on the plan of the 'Imitation of

Christ.'" This is, in itself, highly objectionable; its tendency is to

exalt Mary, by association, to the same place in our hearts and minds,

which Thomas à Kempis had laboured, in his "Imitation of Christ," to

secure for the Saviour; and it reminds us of the proceedings of

Bonaventura, who wrote psalms to the honour of the Virgin after the

manner which David used in his hymns to the Lord of Glory. In this work

we read the following prayer to the Virgin, which seems to be stained

with the error, the existence of which elsewhere we have already

noticed, of contrasting the justice and the stern dealings even of the

Saviour, with the mercy, and loving-kindness, and fellow-feeling of

Mary; making God an object of fear, Mary an object of love.

"Mother of my Redeemer, O Mary, in the last moments {385} of my life, I

implore thy assistance with more earnestness than ever. I find myself,

as it were, placed between heaven and hell. Alas! what will become of

me, if thou do not exert, in my behalf, thy powerful influence with

Jesus?... I die with SUBMISSION since JESUS has ORDAINED it; but

notwithstanding the natural horror which I have of death, I die with

PLEASURE, because I die under THY protection." [Chap. xiii. p. 344.]

In the fourteenth chapter the following passage occurs: "It is giving to

the blessed Virgin a testimony of love particularly dear and precious to

her, to make her holy spouse Joseph the first object of our devotion,

next to that which consecrates us to her service.... The name of Joseph

is invoked with singular devotion by all the true faithful. They

frequently join it with the sacred names of Jesus and Mary. Whilst Jesus

and Mary lived at Nazareth, if we had wished to obtain some favour from

them, could we have employed a more powerful protector than St. Joseph?

Will he now have less power and credit? GO THEREFORE TO JOSEPH, (Gen.

xli. 55.) that he may intercede for you. Whatever favour you ask, God

will grant it you at his request.... Go to Joseph in all your

necessities; but especially to obtain the grace of a happy death. The

general opinion that he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary has inspired

the faithful with great confidence, that, through his intercession, they

will have an end as happy and consoling as his. In effect, it has been

remarked, that it is particularly at the hour of death that those who

have been during their life careful to honour this great saint, reap the

fruit of their devotion." [P. 347.]

In this passage the unworthy idea, itself formed on a groundless

tradition, is introduced of paying reverence {386} to one saint, in

order to gratify and conciliate another. Joseph must be especially

honoured in order to do what is most acceptable to Mary. Surely this

tends to withdraw the mind from that habitual reference of all our

actions immediately to God, which the primitive teachers were so anxious

to cultivate in all Christians.

In the "Little Testament of the Holy Virgin," the following (p. 46) is

called, "A Prayer to the blessed Virgin." Can any words place more on an

entire level with each other, the eternal Son of God and the Virgin?

"Jesus and Mary?!"

"O Mary! what would be our poverty and misery if the Father of Mercies

had not drawn you from his treasury to give you to earth! Oh! my Life

and Consolation, I trust and confide in your holy name. My heart wishes

to love you; my mouth to praise you; my mind to contemplate you; my soul

sighs to be yours. Receive me, defend me, preserve me; I cannot perish

in your hands. Let the demons tremble when I pronounce your holy name,

since you have ruined their empire; but we shall say with Saint Anselm,

that he does not know God, who has not an idea sufficiently high of your

greatness and glory. We shall esteem it the greatest honour to be of the

number of your servants. Let your glory, blessed Mother, be equal to the

extent of your name; reign, after God, over all that is beneath God;

but, above all, reign in my heart; you will be my consolation in

suffering, my strength in weakness, my counsel in doubt. At the name of

Mary my hope shall be enlightened, my love inflamed. Oh! that I could

deeply engrave the dear name on every heart, suggest it to every tongue,

and make all celebrate it with me. Mary! sacred name, under which no one

{387} should despair. Mary! sacred name, often assaulted, but always

victorious. Mary! it shall be my life, my strength, my comfort! Every

day shall I envoke IT AND THE DIVINE NAME OF JESUS. The Son will awake

the recollection of the mother, and the mother that of the Son. JESUS

AND MARY! this is what my heart shall say at the last hour, if my tongue

cannot; I shall hear them on my death bed,--they shall be wafted on my

expiring breath, and I with them, to see THEM, know THEM, bless and love

THEM for eternity. Amen."

There may, perhaps, be a reasonable ground for our hoping that these are

not the sentiments entertained by the enlightened Roman Catholics of our

country and age. Any one has a full right to say, "These are productions

of individuals for which we and the Church to which we belong are not

responsible, any more than the Church of England is responsible for all

doctrines and sentiments expressed by writers in her communion! Even the

sentiments above referred to of the present reigning pope, you have no

right to allege as the doctrines of the Church!" But I would again

venture to suggest to every one, who would thus speak, the duty of

ascertaining for himself, whether the sentiments of those who at present

fill the highest places, and which fully justify these devotional

exercises and prayers to the Virgin and the Saints, be not themselves

fully justified by the authorized ritual of the Roman Church. On this

point are supplied, even in this volume, materials sufficiently

diversified and abundant in quantity to enable any one to form a correct

judgment.

By two brief extracts I will now bring this branch of our inquiry to a

close. The first is from the concluding paragraphs of a discourse lately

delivered and {388} published. In principle, the sentiments here

professed apparently admit not only of being identified with those of

the authorized services of the Church of Rome, but also, though not so

naked and revolting in appearance as the doctrines of Bonaventura, Biel,

and the two Bernardins, yet in reality they equally depart from the

simplicity of the Gospel, and are equally at direct variance with that,

its first and its last principle, ONE GOD AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD

AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.

"Remember that this day you have put yourselves and your families under

the protection of the ever-blessed Mother of God, and Her chaste Spouse,

St. Joseph; of those who were chosen of God to protect the infancy of

Jesus from the danger by a persecuting world. ENTREAT THEM TO PROTECT

YOU AND YOURS FROM THE PERILS of a seducing and ensnaring world; to

plead your interests in heaven, and secure by their intercession your

everlasting crown. Loudly proclaim the praises of your heavenly Queen,

but at the same time turn Her power to your everlasting advantage by

your earnest supplications to HER." (See Appendix.)

The other extract, which sanctions to the full whatever offerings of

praise and ascriptions of glory we have found individuals making to the

Virgin and to Saints, is from an announcement in, I believe, the last

English edition of the Roman Breviary published, in its present form,

under the sanction of the Pope himself.

"To those who devoutly recite the following prayer after the office,

Pope Leo the Tenth hath granted pardon (indulsit) for the defects and

faults in celebrating it, contracted by human frailty.

"To the most holy and undivided Trinity; to the manhood {389} of our

crucified Lord Jesus Christ; to the fruitful spotlessness of the most

blessed and most glorious and ever-Virgin Mary; and to the entire body

of all the Saints, be eternal praise, honour, virtue, and glory, from

every creature, and to us remission of all sins, through endless ages of

ages. Amen." [Norwich, 1830. Æst.]

On the indulgence for pardon given by Pope Leo the Tenth, more than 300

years ago, for such defects and faults in celebrating a religious

service as may be contracted by human frailty; and on the fact of the

notification of that indulgence being retained, and set forth so

prominently in the service books at the present day, I will say nothing.

Whatever associations may be raised in our minds by these circumstances,

the subject does not fall within our present field of inquiry. But to

join the Holy Trinity with the Virgin Mother, and all the Saints in one

and the same ascription of ETERNAL PRAISE, HONOUR, and GLORY, is as

utterly subversive of the integrity of primitive Christian Worship, as

it is repugnant to the plainest sense of holy Scripture, and derogatory

to the dignity of that Supreme Being, who declares Himself to be a

jealous God.

It has, indeed, been maintained that such ascriptions of glory and

praise jointly to God and his Saints, is sanctioned by the language of

our blessed Saviour Himself when He speaks of his having given his glory

to his disciples [John xvii. 22.], and of his second advent, when He

shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy

angels. [Luke ix. 26.] But between the two cases there is no analogy

whatever; the inference is utterly fallacious. We know that the Lord of

Hosts is the King of glory, and that his eternal Son shared the glory of

his Father before the foundations {390} of the world were laid. We know,

too, that the Almighty has been pleased to create beings of various

degrees and orders, differing from each other in kind or in excellence

according to his supreme will. Among those creatures of his hand are the

angels whom we reverence and love, as his faithful servants and his

ministers to us for good. But when we speak and think of religious

adoration; of giving thanks; and ascribing eternal glory and honour, we

have only one object in our minds,--the supreme Sovereign Lord of all.

With regard to the gracious words of our Saviour in his prayer to the

Father, on the eve of his death, St. Peter's acts and words supply us

with a plain and conclusive comment. He was himself one of those to whom

Christ had declared that He had given the glory which his Father had

given to Him; and yet when Cornelius fell down at his feet to worship

him, he took him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself also am a man." [Acts

x. 26.] The Saviour was pleased to impart his glory to his Apostles,

dividing to them his heavenly gifts severally as He willed. We praise

Him for those graces which shone so brightly in them, and we pray to Him

to enable us by his grace to follow them, as they followed his blessed

steps. We reverence their memory, but we give God alone the praise.

As to the other instance, the words of our Lord (assuring us that the

angels should accompany Him at his second advent in their glory, the

glory which He assigned to them in the order of creation,) no more

authorize us to ascribe praise and glory by a religious act to them,

when we praise the God of angels and men, than would {391} the assurance

of an inspired apostle, that "there is one glory of the sun, another

glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars," sanction us in

joining those luminaries in the same ascription of glory with their

Almighty Creator and ours. Just as reasonably would a pagan justify his

worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars, by this passage of

Scripture, as our Roman Catholic brethren would justify themselves by

the former passage in their ascription of praise and glory to the holy

angels, and saints, and the blessed Virgin. We honour the holy angels,

we praise God for the glory which He has imparted to them, and for the

share which He has been pleased to assign to them in executing his

decrees of mercy in the heavenly work of our salvation; and we pray to

HIM to grant that they may by his appointment succour and defend us on

earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. But we address no invocation to

them; we ascribe no glory to them as an act of religious worship. By

offering thanks and praise to God He declares that we honour HIM; by

offering thanks and praise, and by ascribing glory and honour to angel,

saint, or virgin, we make them gods. {392}

* * * * *

CONCLUSION.

We have now, my fellow Christians, arrived at the conclusion of the task

which I proposed to undertake. I have laid before you, to the utmost of

my abilities and means, the result of my inquiry into the evidence of

holy Scripture and primitive antiquity, on the invocation of saints and

angels, and the blessed Virgin Mary. In this inquiry, excepting so far

as was necessary to elucidate the origin and history of the Roman

Catholic tenet of the Assumption of the Virgin, we have limited our

researches to the writers who lived before the Nicene Council. That

Council has always been considered a cardinal point,--a sort of

climacteric in the history of the early Church. It was the first Council

to which all the bishops of Christendom were summoned; and the influence

of its decrees is felt beneficially in the Catholic Church to this very

day. In fixing upon this Council as our present boundary line, I was

influenced by a conviction, that the large body of Christians, whether

of the Roman, the Anglican, or any other branch of the Church Catholic,

would consent to this as an indisputable axiom,--that what the Church

Catholic did not believe or practise up to {393} that date of her

existence upon earth, cannot be regarded as either Catholic or

primitive, or apostolical. Ending with St. Athanasius, (who, though he

was present at that Council, yet brings his testimony down through

almost another half century, his death not having taken place till A.D.

873, on the verge of his eightieth year,) we have examined the remains

of Christian antiquity, reckoning forward to that Council from the times

of the Apostles. We have searched diligently into the writings, the

sentiments, and the conduct of those first disciples of our Lord. We

have contemplated the words of our blessed Saviour himself, and the

inspired narrative of his life and teaching. With the same object in

view we have studied the prophets of the Old Testament, and the works of

Moses; and we have endeavoured, at the fountainhead, to ascertain what

is the mind and will of God, as revealed to the world from the day when

He made man, on the question of our invoking the angels and saints to

intercede with Him in our behalf, or to assist and succour us on the

earth. And the result is this:--From first to last, the voice of God

Himself, and the voices of the inspired messengers of heaven, whether

under the patriarchal, the Mosaic, or the Christian dispensations, the

voices too of those maintainers of our common faith in Christ, who

prayed, and taught, in the Church, before the corruptions of a

degenerate world had mingled themselves with the purity of Christian

worship, combine all, in publishing, throughout the earth, one and the

self-same principle, "Pray only to God; draw nigh to Him alone; invoke

no other; seek no other in the world of spirits, neither angel, nor

beatified saint; seek Him, and He will favourably, with mercy, hear your

prayers." To this one {394} principle, when the Gospel announced the

whole counsel of God in the salvation of man, our Lord himself, his

Apostles, and his Church, unite in adding another principle of eternal

obligation,--There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ

Jesus; whatsoever the faithful shall ask the Father in the name of that

Mediator, He will grant it to them: He is ever living to make

intercession for those who believe in Him: Invoke we no other

intercessor, apply we neither to saint nor angel, plead we the merits of

no other. Let us lift up our hearts to God Almighty himself, and make

our requests known to Him in the name, and through the mediation of

Christ, and He will fulfil our desires and petitions as may be most

expedient for us; He will grant to us, in this world, a knowledge of his

truth, and in the world to come life everlasting!

Watching the tide of evidence through its whole progress, we find it to

flow all in this one direction. Here and there indeed attempts have been

made to raise some mounds and barriers of human structure, in order to

arrest its progress, and turn it from its straight course, but in vain;

unchecked by any such endeavours, it rolls on in one full, steady,

strong, and resistless current. Until we have long passed the Nicene

Council, we find no one writer of the Christian Church, whose remains

tell us, that he either himself invoked saints and angels, and the

Virgin Mary, or was at all aware of any such practice prevailing in

Christendom. Suppose, for one moment, that our doctrine is right; and

then we find the whole tenour of the Old and New Testaments, and the

ancient writers, in their plain meaning, agreeably to the interpretation

of the most learned and unbiassed critics, fully coinciding in every

respect with our view of God being the sole object of invocation, {395}

and of the exclusive character of Christ's intercession, mediation, and

advocacy. Suppose, for another moment, the Roman Catholic theory to be

correct, then the whole general tenour and drift of Scripture must be

evaded; the clearest statements and announcements must be explained away

by subtle distinctions, gratuitous definitions, and casuistical

refinements, altogether foreign from the broad and simple truths of

Revelation; then, too, in ascertaining the sentiments of an author, not

his general and pervading principles, evidenced throughout his writings,

must be appealed to; but casual and insulated expressions must be

contracted or expanded as may best seem to counteract the impression

made by the testimony of those principles. We may safely ask, Is there

such evidence, that the primitive Church offered invocations to saints

and angels, and the Virgin, as would satisfy us in the case of any

secular dispute with regard to ancient usage? On the contrary, is not

the evidence clear to a moral demonstration, that the offering of such

addresses is an innovation of later days, unknown to the primitive

Christians till after the middle of the fourth century, and never

pronounced to be an article of faith, until the Council of Trent, more

than a thousand years after its first appearance in Christendom, so

decreed it.

The tendency, indeed, of some Roman Catholic writings, especially of

late years, is to draw off our minds on these points from the written

word of God, and the testimony of the earliest Church, and to dwell upon

the possibility, the reasonableness of the doctrines of the Church of

Rome in this respect, their accordance with our natural feelings, and

their charitableness. But in points of such vast moment, in things

concerning the soul's salvation, we can depend with satisfaction and

{396} without misgiving, only on the sure word of promise; nothing short

of God's own pledge of his own eternal truth can assure us, that all is

safe. Such substitution of what may appear to us reasonable, and

agreeable to our natural sentiments, and desirable if true, in place of

the assurances of God's revealed Will, may correspond with the arguments

of a heathen philosopher unacquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus,

but cannot satisfy disciples of Him who brought life and immortality to

light by his Gospel. Such questions as these, "Is there any thing

unreasonable in this? Would not this be a welcome tenet, if true?" well

became the lips of Socrates in his defence before his judges, but are in

the strict sense of the word preposterous in a Christian. With the

Christian the first question is, What is the truth? What is revealed?

What has God promised? What has He taught man to hope for? What has He

commanded man to do? By his own words, by the words and by the example

of his inspired messengers, by the doctrine and practice of his Church,

the witness and interpreter of the truth, how has He directed us to sue

for his mercy and all its blessings? On what foundation, sure and

certain, can we build our hopes that "He will favourably with mercy hear

our prayers?" For in this matter, a matter of spiritual life and death,

we can anchor our hope on no other rock than his sure word of promise.

That sure word of promise, if I am a faithful believer, I have; but it

is exclusive of any invocation by me of saint, or angel, or virgin. The

pledge of heaven is most solemnly and repeatedly given; God, who cannot

lie, has, in language so plain, that he may run who readeth it, assured

me that if I come to HIMSELF by HIS SON, my prayer shall not be cast

out, my suit shall {397} not be denied, I shall not be sent empty away.

In every variety of form which language can assume, this assurance is

ratified and confirmed. His own revealed will directs me to pray for my

fellow-creatures, and to expect a beneficial effect from the prayers of

the faithful upon earth in my behalf. To pray for them, therefore, and

to seek their prayers, and to wait patiently for an answer to both, are

acts of faith and of duty. And were it also appointed by God's will to

be an act of faith and duty in a Christian to seek the prayers, and aid,

and assistance, of saints and angels by supplicatingly invoking them,

surely the same word of truth would have revealed that also. Whereas the

reverse shows itself under every diversified state of things, from the

opening of the sacred book to its very last page. The subtle distinction

of religious worship into latria, dulia, and hyperdulia, the refined

classification of prayer under the two heads of direct, absolute, final,

sovereign, on the one hand, and of oblique, relative, transitory,

subaltern, on the other, swell indeed many elaborate works of casuistry,

but are not discoverable in the remains of primitive Christians, nor in

the writings of God's word have they any place. I cannot find in the

inspired Apostles any reference to the necessity, the duty, the

lawfulness, the expediency of our seeking by prayer the good offices of

the holy dead, or of the angels of light. In their successors the

earliest inspired teachers and pastors of Christ's fold, I seek in vain

for any precept, or example, or suggestion, or incidental allusion

looking that way. Why then should a Christian wish to add to that which

God has been pleased to appoint and to reveal? Why should I attempt to

enter heaven through any other gate than {398} that gate which the Lord

of heaven has opened for me? or why should I seek to reach that gate by

any other way than the way which He has made for me; which He has

Himself plainly prescribed to me; in which He has promised that his word

shall be a lantern unto my feet; and along which those saints and

servants of his, who received the truth from his own lips, and sealed it

by their blood, have gone before?

Whenever a maintainer of the doctrine and practice of invoking the

Saints asks me, as we have lately been asked in these words, "May I not

reasonably hope that their prayers will be more efficacious than my own

and those of my friends? And, under this persuasion, I say to them, as I

just now said to you, holy Mary, holy Peter, holy Paul, pray for me.

What is there in reason or revelation to forbid me to do so?" To this

and similar questions and suggestions, I answer at once, God has

solemnly covenanted to grant the petitions of those who ask HIM for his

mercy, in the name and for the sake of his Son; and in his holy word

has, both by precept and example, taught us in this life to pray for

each other, and to ask each other's prayers [James v. 16; I Tim. ii.

1.]; but that He will favourably answer the prayers which we supplicate

angels to offer, or which we offer to Himself through the merits and by

the intercession of departed mortals, is no where in the covenant.

Moreover, when God invites me and commands me to approach Him myself, in

the name of his Son, and trusting to his merits, it is not Christian

humility, rather it savours of presumption, and intruding into those

things which we have not seen [Coloss. ii. 18.], to seek to prevail with

Him by {399} pleading other merits, and petitioning creatures, however

glorious, to interest themselves with Him in our behalf, angels and

saints, of whose power even to hear us we have no evidence. When Jesus

Himself, who knows both the deep counsels of the Eternal Spirit, and

man's wants and weaknesses and unworthiness, and who loveth his own to

the end, pledges his never-failing word, that whatsoever we ask the

Father in his name, He will give it us, can it be less than an unworthy

distrust of his truth and faithfulness to ask the Father for the merits

and by the intercession of another? and as though in fear lest God

should fail of his promise, or be unmindful of us Himself, to invoke

angels and the good departed to make our wants known unto HIM, and

prevail with HIM to relieve us?

Surely it were wiser and safer to adhere religiously to that one way

which cannot fail, than to adopt for ourselves methods and systems, for

the success of which we have no guarantee; which may be unacceptable in

his sight; and the tendency of which may be to bring down a curse and

not a blessing.

May the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls pour down upon his Church the

abundance of his mercy, preserving those in the truth who now possess

it, restoring it to those by whom it has been lost, and imparting it to

all who are yet in darkness. And, whilst we speak the truth in love, and

endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, may HE,

for his own glory, and for the safety and comfort of his people, shed

this truth abroad in our hearts, and enlighten us to receive it in all

its fulness and integrity, and in the very sense in which the Holy

Spirit, when He guided {400} the pen of St. Paul, willed the Church to

interpret it, "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men,

the man Christ Jesus."

* * * * *

O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of

Angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as thy holy

Angels alway do Thee service in heaven, so by thy appointment they may

succour and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the

Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone;

Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine,

that we may be made an holy temple, acceptable unto Thee, through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and

fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us

grace, so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living,

that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which Thou hast prepared for

them that unfeignedly love Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

{401}

* * * * *

APPENDIX.

* * * * *

Note.--Pages 107 and 110.

The following is the original of the passages discussed in the text.

Justin Martyr, Apol. I. p. 47. § vi. Benedictine Edition by P. Maran.

Paris, A.D. 1742.

[Greek: Enthende kai atheoi keklaemetha; kai homologoumen ton toiouton

nomizomenon theon atheoi einai, all' ouchi tou alaethestatou, kai patros

dikaiosunaes kai sophrosunaes, kai ton allon areton, anepimiktou te

kakias Theou; all' ekeinon te, kai ton par' autou huion elthonta kai

didaxanta haemas tauta, kai ton ton allon hepomenon kai exomoioumenon

agathon angelon straton, pneuma te to prophaetikon sebometha, kai

proskunoumen, logoi kai alaetheiai timontes, kai panti boulomenoi

mathein, hos edidachthaemen, aphthonos paradidontes.]

Ibid. page 50, 51. sect. xiii.--[Greek: 'Atheoi men oun hos ouk esmen,

ton daemiourgon toude tou pantos sebomenoi, ... ton didaskalon te touton

genomenon haemin, kai eis touto genaethenta Iaesoun Christon ton

staurothenta epi Pontiou Pilatou, tou genomenou en Ioudaiai epi chronois

Tiberiou Kaisaros epitropou, huion autou tou ontos Theou mathontes, kai

en deuterai chorai echontes, pneuma te prophaetikon en tritaei taxei,

hoti meta logou timomen, apodeixomen....]

Note.--Page 134.

In the text it has been observed, that "Coccius in his elaborate work

quotes the two following passages as Origen's, without expressing {402}

any hesitation or doubt respecting their genuineness; in which he is

followed by writers of the present day."

The modern works, to which reference is here made, are chiefly the

Lectures delivered by Dr. Wiseman, in the Roman Catholic Chapel in

Moorfields in the year 1836, and the compilation of Messrs. Berington

and Kirk [Berington and Kirk. London, 1830, p. 403.], from which Dr.

Wiseman in his preface to his Lectures (p. ix.) informs us, that in

general he had drawn his quotations of the Fathers. In citing the

testimony of Origen in support of the invocation of saints, it is

evident that Dr. Wiseman has drawn from that source; for whereas the two

confessedly spurious passages, from the Lament, and from the Book on

Job, are in that compilation quoted in the same page, Dr. Wiseman cites

only the passage from the Lament, as from a work on the Lamentations,

but gives his reference to the Book on Job. His words are these:--"Again

he (Origen) thus writes on the Lamentations: 'I will fall down on my

knees, and not presuming, on account of my crimes, to present my prayer

to God, I will invoke all the saints to my assistance. O ye saints of

heaven, I beseech you with a sorrow full of sighs and tears; fall at the

feet of the Lord of mercies for me, a miserable sinner,'--Lib. ii. De

Job." [Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic

Church, by Nicholas Wiseman, D.D. London, 1836. Vol. i. preface, p. ix.

and vol. ii. p. 107.]

When we find such passages as these, which have been so long ago and so

repeatedly pronounced to be utterly spurious, yet cited in evidence at

the present time, and represented as conveying the genuine testimony of

Origen, we shall be pardoned for repeating the sentiments expressed so

many years ago by the learned Bishop of Avranches with regard to the

very work here cited, "It is wonderful that, WITHOUT ANY MARK OF THEIR

BEING FORGERIES, they should be sometimes cited in evidence by some

theologians."

Note.--Page 151.

The whole passage cited as Origen's comment on the words of Ezekiel,

"The heavens are opened," is in the Latin version as follows. The Greek

original, if it ever existed, is lost. The portion between brackets is

the part suspected of being an interpolation.

6. _Et aperti sunt coeli_. Clausi erant coeli, et ad adventum Christi

aperti sunt, ut reseratis illis veniret super eum Spiritus Sanctus in

specie columbæ. Neque enirn poterat ad nos commeare nisi primum {403} ad

suæ naturæ consortem descendisset. _Ascendit Jesus in altum, captivam

duxit captivitatem, accepit dona in hominibus. Qui descendit, ipse est

qui ascendit super omnes coelos ut impleret omnia. Et ipse dedit alios

apostolos, alios prophetas, alios evangelistas, alios pastores et

magistros in perfectionem sanctorum_.

[7. _Aperti sunt coeli_. Non sufficit unum coelum aperiri: aperiuntur

plurimi, ut descendant non ab uno, sed ab omnibus coelis angeli ad eos

qui salvandi sunt. Angeli qui ascendebant et descendebant super Filium

hominis, et accesserunt as eum, et ministrabant ei. Descenderunt autem

angeli, quia prior descenderat Christus, metuentes descendere priusquam

Dominus virtutum omnium rerumque præciperet. Quando autem viderunt

principem militiæ coelestis in terrestribus locis commorari, tunc per

apertam viam ingressi sunt sequentes Dominum suum, et parentes voluntati

ejus qui distribuit eos custodes credentium nomini suo. Tu heri sub

dæmonio eras, hodie sub angelo. _Nolite_, inquit Dominus, _contemnere

unum de minimis istis_ qui sunt in ecclesia. _Amen enim dico vobis, quia

angeli eorum per omnia vident faciem Patris qui est in coelis_.

Obsequuntur saluti tuæ angeli, concessi sunt ad ministerium Filii Dei,

et dicuntinter se: si ille descendit, et descendit in corpus; si mortali

indutus est carne, et sustinuit crucem, et pro hominibus mortuus est,

quit nos quiescimus? quid parcimus nobis? Eja omnes angeli descendamus e

coelo. Ideo et multitudo militiæ coelestis erat laudantium et

glorificantium Deum, quando natus est Christus. Omnia angelis plena

sunt: veni, angeli, suscipe sermone conversum ab errore pristino, a

doctrina dæmoniorum, ab iniquitate in altum loquente: et suscipiens eum

quasi medicus bonus confove atque institue, parvulus est, hodie nascitur

senex repuerascens: et suscipe tribuens ei baptismum secundæ

regenerationis, et advoca tibi alios socios ministerii tui, ut concti

pariter eos qui aliquando decepti sunt, erudiatis ad fidem. _Gaudium

enim est majus in coelis super unum peccatorem poenitentiam agentem,

quam supra nonaginta novem justos quibus non opus est poenitentia_.

Exultat omnis creatura, collætatur et applaudit his qui salvandi sunt.

Nam _expectatio creaturæ revelationem filiorum Dei expectat_. Et licet

nolint ii qui scripturas apostolicas interpolaverunt istiusmodi sermones

inesse libris eorum quibus possit Creator Christus approbari, expectat

tamen omnis creatura filios Dei, quando liberentur a delicto, quando

auferentur de Zabuli manu, quando regenerentur a Christo. Verum jam

tempus est, ut de præsenti loco aliqua tangamus. Vidit Propheta non

visionem, sed visiones Dei. {404} Quare non vidat unam, sed plurimas

visiones? Audi Dominum pollicentem atque dicentem: _Ego visiones

multiplicavi_. 8. _Quinta mensis_. Hic annus quinta captivitatis regis

Joachim. Trigesimo anno ætatis Ezekielis, et quinto captivitatis

Joachim, Propheta mittiur ad Judæos. Non despexit clementissimus pater,

nec longo tempore incommonitum populum dereliquit. Quintus est annus.

Quantum temporis intercessit? Quinque anni interfluxerunt ex quo captivi

serviunt.]

Statim descendit Spiritus Sanctus,--aperuit coelos, ut hi qui

captivitatis jugo premebantur, viderent ea quæ videbantur a Propheta.

Dicente quippe eo, _Et aperti sunt coeli_, quodam modo et ipsi

intuebantur oculis cordis quæ ille etiam oculis carnis aspexerat.--Vol.

iii. p. 358.

Note.--Page 165.

In a note on the Epistle of St. Cyprian to his brother, reference was

made to the Appendix for a closer comparison of Cyprian's original

letter with the modern translation of the passage under consideration.

By placing the two versions in parallel columns side by side, we shall

immediately see, that the mode of citing the testimony of St. Cyprian

adopted in Dr. Wiseman's Lectures, from the compilation of Messrs.

Berington and Kirk, is rather to substitute his own comment and

inference, than to allow the witness to speak for himself in his own

words. The whole paragraph, as it appears in Dr. Wiseman's Lectures, is

this:--

"St. Cyprian in the same century: 'Let us be mindful of one another in

our prayers; with one mind and with one heart, in this world and in the

next, let us always pray with mutual charity relieving our sufferings

and afflictions. And may the charity of him, who, by the divine favour,

shall first depart hence, still persevere before the Lord; may his

prayer, for our brethren and sisters, not cease.' Therefore, after

having departed this life, the same offices of charity are to continue,

by praying for those who remain on earth." [Lect. xiii. vol. ii. p. 107,

and Berington and Kirk, p. 430.]

_St. Cyprian's words_. _Epist._ lvii. _p._ 96.

_Translation adopted by Dr. Wiseman from Berington and Kirk._

1. Memories nostri invicem simus,

1. Let us be mindful of one

another IN OUR PRAYERS; {405}

2. Concordes atque unanimes, 2. With one mind and with

one heart.

3. Utrobique. 3. In this world and in the next,

4. PRO NOBIS semper oremus, 4. Let us always pray,

5. Pressuras et angustias mutua 5. With mutual charity RELIEVING out

caritate relevemus, sufferings and afflictions.

6. Et si quis istinc nostrum 6. And may the CHARITY OF HIM,

prior divinæ dignationis celeritate who, by the divine facour, shall

præcesserit, perseveret apud Dominum first depart hence, still persevere

NOSTRA DILECTIO, before the Lord;

7. Pro fratribus et sororibus 7. May HIS prayer, for our brethren

nostris apud misericordiam patris and sisters, not cease.

non cesset oratio.

In this translation, by inserting the words, _in our prayers_, which are

not in the original in the first clause; by rendering the adverb

_utrobique_, IN THIS WORLD AND IN THE NEXT, in the third clause; by

omitting the words _pro nobis, for each other_, which are in the

original, in the fourth clause; by changing in the fifth the verb

_relevemus, let us relieve_, implying another branch of their mutual

kindness, into the participle _relieving_, which may imply, that the

relief alluded to was also to be conveyed by the medium of their

prayers; by substituting _the charity of him_, in place of _nostra

dilectio, our charity_, in the sixth; and by inserting the word _his_,

which is not in the original, before _prayer_, where the grammar of the

sentence requires _our_, in the seventh clause;--by these means the

translator makes Cyprian express a sentiment far removed from what the

words of Cyprian, in their plain and natural sense, convey. It must,

however, be borne in mind, as we have shown in our examination of the

passage, that the sentiment of Cyprian, even as it is thus unduly

extracted from his words, would not in the remotest degree countenance

the invocation of saints. It would do no more than imply his belief,

that the faithful departed may take an interest in the welfare of their

surviving friends on earth, and promote that welfare by their prayers; a

point which, in the preface, is mentioned as one of those topics, the

discussion of which would be avoided in this inquiry, as quite distinct

from the invocation of saints. {406}

Note.--Page 176.

An extract from Eusebius, unnoticed in the text of this work, has

recently been cited as conveying his testimony in favour of the

invocation of saints. I have judged it better to defer the consideration

of it to the appendix. It has been cited in these terms: "In the fourth

century Eusebius of Cæsarea thus writes: 'May we be found worthy by the

prayers and intercessions of all the saints.'" [Dr. Wiseman's Lectures,

vol. ii. p. 107. Lect. xiii. Berington and Kirk, p. 431.] To form a just

estimate of this alleged testimony, it is requisite that we have before

us not only that incomplete clause, but the whole passage purporting to

contain, in these words, the closing sentences of a commentary on

Isaiah: [Tom. ii. p. 593, ed. Paris, 1707. Dr. Wiseman's reference is

"Com. in Isai. Tom. ii. p. 593, ed. Paris, 1706."]

"'And they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh.' To what flesh?

Altogether to that which shall be somewhere punished? Nay, to that which

shall of the heavenly vision be deemed worthy, concerning which it was

said before, All flesh shall come to worship before me, of which may we

also be deemed worthy by the prayers and intercessions of all the

saints. Amen."

In examining this passage I am willing for the present that all its

clauses should be accepted as the genuine words of Eusebius, and

accepted too in the meaning attached to them by those who have cited

them. And to what do they amount? If these are indeed his expressions,

Eusebius believed that the saints departed can forward our spiritual

welfare by their prayers and ministering offices; and he uttered his

desire that we might thus be benefited. Now whether we agree with him or

not in that belief; whether we consider the faithful departed as able to

take an interest in our welfare and to promote it, or regard such an

opinion as without foundation in the word of God and in primitive

doctrine; the belief implied and the wish expressed here by Eusebius,

are widely indeed removed from the act of suppliantly invoking the

saints departed, and resorting to them with entreaties for their prayers

and intercessions in our behalf. These two things, although often

confounded, are far from being equivalent; and by all who would

investigate with fairness the subject of our inquiry, they must be

carefully kept distinct. The invocation of saints being the single point

in question, our business is to ascertain, not what opinions Eusebius

may have {407} entertained as to the condition, and power, and offices

of the saints departed, but whether he invoked them; whether he had

recourse to them with supplications for their prayers, or aid and

succour. And keeping this closely in view, even if we admit this passage

to be genuine, and interpret it as those who have cited it wish it to be

interpreted, we find in it no authority for the invocation of saints. A

Christian would be no more countenanced by this language of Eusebius in

suppliantly invoking departed saints, than he would in praying to the

angels for their help and mediation be countenanced by the terms of the

prayer in regard to them, addressed by the Anglican Church to God, "O

everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of

angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as thy holy

angels alway do Thee service in heaven, so by THY appointment they may

succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Whoever petitions them, makes them Gods--Deos qui rogat ille facit.

But whilst, for the sake of the argument, I have admitted this passage

to be genuine, and correctly translated, and have shown that whether

genuine or not, and even if it be thus correctly translated, it affects

not in the least the issue of our inquiry, I do not feel at liberty to

withhold the acknowledgment of my persuasion that in this concession I

grant too much. For, in the first place, I am assured, that if the

passage came from the pen of Eusebius, no one is justified in confining

the desire and wish contained in it to the intercessions and prayers of

the saints in heaven; and, secondly, I see reasons for inferring that

the last clause was framed and attached to this work, not by Eusebius

himself, but by some editor or scribe.

In support of my first persuasion, I would observe that the very

language of the writer of these comments on Isaiah and the Psalms

precludes us from regarding the Saints departed as exclusively

constituting those "holy ones" by whose intercessions and prayers he

expresses his desire that our spiritual welfare may be promoted. In this

very comment on Isaiah (ch. vi. 2. p. 376), when he is speaking of the

heavenly inhabitants, and illustrates his views by God's dealings

towards the children of men in this world, he employs this expression:

"For as among men the Saints of God partake of more excellent graces."

On the 67th (68th) Ps. v. 34, having interpreted the words, "his

strength is in the clouds," as referring to the {408} prophets and

teachers of divine wisdom, under the guidance of the Spirit, pouring

heavenly truths upon the souls of men as the clouds drop rain on fertile

lands, he proceeds thus to comment on the expression, "God is wonderful

among his Saints." [Vol. i. p. 364. The English translation refers the

word "holy" to places, not persons.] "These Saints are different from

those before called Apostles and prophets. And who can they be, except

those who out of all nations are deemed worthy of purity and holiness,

among whom God is wonderful, giving to them power and strength?" Thus in

perfect accordance with the language of this writer, the Saints, from

whose prayers and intercessions he desires to derive spiritual benefits,

may be the Saints of God on earth--in the same state with those saints

still living in the flesh, whose prayers St. Paul desired to be offered

up for himself, that by them a door of utterance to speak the mystery of

Christ might be opened unto him [Coloss. i. 2; iv. 2, 3.]--and with

those saints to whom the same Apostle wrote at Philippi: "To all the

saints in Christ Jesus:" and to whom he sent the greetings of the saints

who then surrounded him: "ALL the SAINTS salute you." [Phil i. 1; iv.

22.]

But before the closing words of this paragraph, whatever be its meaning,

be acknowledged as the genuine and undoubted production of Eusebius, I

would suggest the careful weighing of some considerations, which appear

to me to involve serious difficulties.

1. First, through all the voluminous works of Eusebius, I have found in

no single passage any allusion to the prayers of saints departed, or to

their ministering offices in our behalf, though numberless openings show

themselves for the natural introduction of such a subject.

2. Secondly, among all the various works and treatises of Eusebius, I

have not found one which is closed by any termination of the kind; on

the contrary, they all end with remarkable suddenness and abruptness,

precisely as this comment would end, were the sentence under

consideration removed. Each, indeed, of the books of his Ecclesiastical

History, is followed by a notice of the close of the book, in some cases

too that notice involving a religious sentiment: for example, at the

close of the 10th book we read: "With the help of God, the end of the

tenth book." But that these are appendages made by an editor or scribe

is evident in itself, and moreover {409} in many instances is shown by

such sentences as these, "And this we have found in a certain copy in

the 8th volume:" "This is in some copies, as if omitted from the 8th

book." I find no one instance of Eusebius bringing a chapter or a

treatise to its close by any religious sentiment, or any termination of

the nature here contemplated.

It is also difficult to conceive that any author, having the flow and

connexion of the whole passage present to his mind, would himself have

appended this ejaculation as we now find it. We know that editors and

scribes often attached a sentiment of their own to the closing words of

an author. And it seems far more probable, that a scribe not having the

full drift of the argument mainly before him, but catching the

expression, "heavenly vision," appended such an ejaculation. That the

writer himself should introduce such a sentence by the connecting link

of a relative pronoun feminine, which must of necessity be referred, not

as the grammatical construction would suggest to the feminine noun

preceding it,--not to any word expressed or understood in the

intervening clause preceding it,--not to the last word in the sentence

even before that intervening clause, nor yet to the principal and

leading subject immediately under discussion and thrice repeated,--but

to a noun incidentally introduced, seems, to say the least, strange and

unnatural. "And they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh. To what

flesh? Altogether to that which shall be somewhere punished? Nay, to

that which shall of the heavenly vision be deemed worthy, concerning

WHICH it was said before, All FLESH shall come to worship before me, of

which may we also be deemed worthy by the prayers and intercessions of

all the saints. Amen." But the classical reader will appreciate these

remarks more satisfactorily by examining them with reference to the

passage in the original language.

[Greek: Kai esontai eis orasin pasaei sarki. poiai de sarki; ae pantos

pou taei kolasthaesomenaei; taes de epouraniou theas kataxiothaesomenaei

peri HAES anotero elegeto aexei pasa sarx tou proskunaesai enopion mou,

HAES kai haemeis axiotheiaemen euchais kai presbeiais panton ton hagion,

amaen.]

Note.--Page 181.

ATHANASIUS.

In the text I observed that some Roman Catholic writers of the present

day had cited the homily there shown to be utterly spurious, {410} as

the genuine work of St. Athanasius, and as recording his testimony in

defence of the invocation of Saints. The passage there referred to Dr.

Wiseman thus introduces, and comments upon.

"St. Athanasius, the most zealous and strenuous supporter that the

Church ever possessed of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and consequently

of his infinite superiority over all the saints, thus enthusiastically

addresses his ever-blessed Mother: 'Hear now, O daughter of David;

incline thine ear to our prayers. We raise our cry to thee. Remember us,

O most holy Virgin, and for the feeble eulogiums we give thee, grant us

great gifts from the treasures of thy graces, thou who art full of

grace. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Queen and

mother of God, intercede for us.' Mark well," continues Dr. Wiseman,

"these words; 'grant us great gifts, from the treasures of thy graces;'

as if he hoped directly to receive them from her. Do Catholics use

stronger words than these? Or did St. Athanasius think or speak with us,

or with Protestants?"

In answer to these questions I reply with sure and certain confidence,

first, that the genuine words of St. Athanasius himself prove him to

have spoken and thought with the Anglican Church, and not with the Roman

Church on the invocation of saints and angels, and the blessed Virgin

Mary; and secondly, that whatever words Roman Catholics use, whether

stronger or not than these, these words on which the above questions are

put, never came forth from the pen of St. Athanasius. Their spuriousness

is not a question of doubt or difficulty. It has been shown in the text

that the whole homily has been for ages utterly repudiated, as a work

falsely attributed to St. Athanasius. It is indeed very disheartening to

those, whose object is the discovery and the establishment of the truth,

to find works cited in evidence as the genuine productions of primitive

Christian teachers, which have been so long ago, and so repeatedly, and

that not by members of another communion, but by the most learned men of

the Church of Rome, adjudged to be spurious. I do not mean that I think

it not fully competent for a writer of the present day to call in

question, and overrule and set aside the decisions of former editors, as

to the genuine or the spurious character of any work. On the contrary I

am persuaded that a field is open in that department of theology, which

would richly repay all the time and labour and expense, which persons

well qualified for the task could bestow upon its culture. What I lament

is this, that after a work has been deliberately condemned as

unquestionably {411} spurious, by competent and accredited judges for

two centuries and a half at the least, that very work should be now

cited as genuine and conclusive evidence, without any the most distant

allusion to the judgment which had condemned it, or even to any

suspicion of its being a forgery. In this instance, also, Dr. Wiseman

has implicitly followed the compilation of Messrs. Berington and Kirk.

This is evident, because the extract, as it stands word for word the

same in his Lectures and their compilation, is not found as one passage

in the spurious homily, but is made up of sentences selected from

different clauses, and put together so as to make one paragraph. It is

worthy of notice, that in quoting their authority, both Dr. Wiseman, and

those whom he follows, refer us to the very volume in which the

Benedictine editors declare that there was no learned man, who did not

pronounce the work to be spurious; and in which also they quote at

length the letter of Baronius which had proved it to be a forgery. [Dr.

Wiseman's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 108, from Berington and Kirk, p. 430,

431.]

Note.--Page 231. (Decree of the Council of Trent.) [Canones et Decreta

Sacros. OEcumen. et Genera. Concilii Tridentini, &c. Rom. fol. A.D.

1564.]

Mandat sancta Synodus omnibus Episcopis, et ceteris docendi munus

curamque sustinentibus, ut juxta Catholicæ, et Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ usum,

a primævis Christianæ religionis temporibus receptum, sanctorumque

Patrum consensionem, et sacrorum Conciliorum decreta, inprimis de

Sanctorum intercessione, invocatione, Reliquiarum honore, et legitimo

imaginum usu, fideles diligenter instruant, docentes eos, Sanctos, una

cum Christo regnantes, orationes suas pro hominibus Deo offerre; bonum

atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare; et ob beneficia impetranda a

Deo per Filium ejus Jesum Christum, Dominum nostrum, qui solus noster

Redemptor et Salvator est, ad eorum orationes, opem, auxiliumque

confugere: illos vero, qui negant sanctos æternâ felicitate in coelo

fruentes, invocandos esse; aut qui asserunt, vel illos pro hominibus non

orare, vel eorum, ut pro nobis etiam singulis orent, invocationem esse

idololatriam, vel pugnare cum verbo Dei, adversarique honori unius

Mediatoris Dei et hominum, Jesu Christi, vel stultum esse, in coelo

regnantibus voce, vel mente supplicare, impie sentire. Sanctorum quoque

Martyrum, et aliorum cum Christo viventium Sancta corpora, {412} quæ

viva membra fuerunt Christi, et templum Spiritus Sancti, ab ipso ad

æternam vitam suscitanda et glorificanda, a fidelibus veneranda esse;

per quæ multa beneficia a Deo hominibus præstantur: ita ut affirmantes,

Sanctorum Reliquiis venerationem, atque honorem non deberi; vel eas,

aliaque sacra monumenta a fidelibus inutiliter honorari; atque eorum

opis impetrandæ causa sanctorum memorias frustra frequentari; omnino

damnandos esse, prout jampridem eos damnavit, et nunc etiam damnat

Ecclesia. [De Invocatione, Veneratione, et Reliquiis Sanctorum, et

Sacris Imaginibus, p. 202.]

Note.--Pages 369 and 390.

In a prefatory epistle, addressed to the "Chaplains, Wardens, and

Brethren of the Holy Catholic Gild," in Huddersfield, Dr. Wiseman (p. 4)

expresses himself thus: "Yesterday I laid the badge of your association

at the feet of the sovereign pontiff, and it was most condescendingly

and graciously received. But this is not all. As I had foretold, I found

His Holiness fully informed of your establishment and public

manifestation; and I had the satisfaction of hearing him express his

WISH THAT SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS SHOULD REVIVE ALL OVER THE COUNTRY."

Towards the close of the sermon, to which this preface is prefixed, and

which was preached at St. Patrick's Chapel, Huddersfield, Sept. 26th,

1839, and was printed at York in the present year [A.D. 1840], the

preacher draws the comparison, referred to in page 370 of this work,

between England and the continent, and between England as it is, and

England as it once was, and as, in his view, it ought to be again. After

describing the scenes which you may witness in Roman Catholic countries,

"where you might see the poor and the afflicted crowding round some

altar, where their pious confidence or experience of past favours leads

them to hope that their prayers will best be heard through the

intercession of our dear Lady," he thus proceeds: "Oh that the time had

come, when a similar expression of our devout feelings towards her

should publicly be made, and all should unite to show her that honour,

that reverence, and love which she deserves from all Christians, and

which has so long been denied her amongst us. There was a time when

England was second to {413} no other country upon earth in the discharge

of this holy duty; and it will be only PART OF THE RESTORATION OF OUR

GOOD AND GLORIOUS DAYS OF OLD to revive to the utmost this part of

ancient piety. Therefore do I feel sincere joy at witnessing the

establishment of this excellent brotherhood, and its public

manifestation in this town this day, both as a means of encouraging

devotion and virtue, and as a return to one of the venerable

institutions of our forefathers. Enter then fully into its spirit."

["A Sermon delivered at St. Patrick's, Huddersfield, Sept. 26th, 1839,

on occasion of the Holy Catholic Gild there established, by the Rev. N.

Wiseman, D.D., Professor in the University of Rome. York, 1840," p. 22,

23. The first quotation made in p. 390, is from this Sermon.]

End of Project Gutenberg's Primitive Christian Worship, by James Endell Tyler