Whether There Can Be Anything Pernicious in the Worship of the True
God?
Objection 1: It would seem that there cannot be anything pernicious
in the worship of the true God. It is written (Joel 2:32): "Everyone
that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now
whoever worships God calls upon His name. Therefore all worship of
God is conducive to salvation, and consequently none is pernicious.
Obj. 2: Further, it is the same God that is worshiped by the just in
any age of the world. Now before the giving of the Law the just
worshiped God in whatever manner they pleased, without committing
mortal sin: wherefore Jacob bound himself by his own vow to a special
kind of worship, as related in Genesis 28. Therefore now also no
worship of God is pernicious.
Obj. 3: Further, nothing pernicious is tolerated in the Church. Yet
the Church tolerates various rites of divine worship: wherefore
Gregory, replying to Augustine, bishop of the English (Regist. xi,
ep. 64), who stated that there existed in the churches various
customs in the celebration of Mass, wrote: "I wish you to choose
carefully whatever you find likely to be most pleasing to God,
whether in the Roman territory, or in the land of the Gauls, or in
any part of the Church." Therefore no way of worshiping God is
pernicious.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine [*Jerome (Ep. lxxv, ad Aug.) See Opp.
August. Ep. lxxxii] in a letter to Jerome (and the words are quoted
in a gloss on Gal. 2:14) says that "after the Gospel truth had been
preached the legal observances became deadly," and yet these
observances belonged to the worship of God. Therefore there can be
something deadly in the divine worship.
_I answer that,_ As Augustine states (Cont. Mendac. xiv), "a most
pernicious lie is that which is uttered in matters pertaining to
Christian religion." Now it is a lie if one signify outwardly that
which is contrary to the truth. But just as a thing is signified by
word, so it is by deed: and it is in this signification by deed that
the outward worship of religion consists, as shown above (Q. 81, A.
7). Consequently, if anything false is signified by outward worship,
this worship will be pernicious.
Now this happens in two ways. In the first place, it happens on the
part of the thing signified, through the worship signifying something
discordant therefrom: and in this way, at the time of the New Law,
the mysteries of Christ being already accomplished, it is pernicious
to make use of the ceremonies of the Old Law whereby the mysteries of
Christ were foreshadowed as things to come: just as it would be
pernicious for anyone to declare that Christ has yet to suffer. In
the second place, falsehood in outward worship occurs on the part of
the worshiper, and especially in common worship which is offered by
ministers impersonating the whole Church. For even as he would be
guilty of falsehood who would, in the name of another person, proffer
things that are not committed to him, so too does a man incur the
guilt of falsehood who, on the part of the Church, gives worship to
God contrary to the manner established by the Church or divine
authority, and according to ecclesiastical custom. Hence Ambrose
[*Comment. in 1 ad1 Cor. 11:27, quoted in the gloss of Peter Lombard]
says: "He is unworthy who celebrates the mystery otherwise than
Christ delivered it." For this reason, too, a gloss on Col. 2:23 says
that superstition is "the use of human observances under the name of
religion."
Reply Obj. 1: Since God is truth, to invoke God is to worship Him in
spirit and truth, according to John 4:23. Hence a worship that
contains falsehood, is inconsistent with a salutary calling upon God.
Reply Obj. 2: Before the time of the Law the just were instructed by
an inward instinct as to the way of worshiping God, and others
followed them. But afterwards men were instructed by outward precepts
about this matter, and it is wicked to disobey them.
Reply Obj. 3: The various customs of the Church in the divine worship
are in no way contrary to the truth: wherefore we must observe them,
and to disregard them is unlawful.
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