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diff --git a/old/14072.txt b/old/14072.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b562b6a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14072.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12900 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Primitive Christian Worship, by James Endell Tyler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Primitive Christian Worship + Or, The Evidence Of Holy Scripture And The Church, Against The + Invocation Of Saints And Angels, And The Blessed Virgin Mary. + + +Author: James Endell Tyler + +Release Date: November 17, 2004 [EBook #14072] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP *** + + + + +Produced by David King, The Million Book Project and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP + +OR, + +THE EVIDENCE + +OF + +HOLY SCRIPTURE AND THE CHURCH, + +AGAINST THE + +INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND ANGELS, AND THE +BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. + + * * * * * + +BY + +J. ENDELL TYLER, B.D. + +RECTOR OF ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS, +AND CANON RESIDENTIARY OF ST. PAUL'S. + + * * * * * + +Speaking the truth in love.--EPH. iv. 15 + +Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.--1 THESS. v. 21. + +SECOND EDITION + +LONDON + +Printed for the + +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, +NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; +AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. + + * * * * * + +1847. + + + + +TO + +THE ONE + +HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC + +CHURCH, + +AS A TRIBUTE OF VENERATION AND LOVE, + +THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, + +BY HER DEVOTED SERVANT AND SON. + +Nov. 25, 1840. + + * * * * * + +PREFACE. + +Members of the Church of Rome, and members of the Church of England, +have too long entertained towards each other feelings of hostility. +Instead of being drawn together as brethren by the cords of that one +faith which all Catholics hold dear, their sentiments of sympathy and +affection have been absorbed by the abhorrence with which each body has +regarded the characteristic tenets of its adversary; whilst the terms +"heretic" on the one side, and "idolater" on the opposite, have rendered +any attempt to bring about a free and friendly discussion of each +other's views almost hopeless. + +Every Christian must wish that such animosities, always ill-becoming the +servants and children of the God of love, should cease for ever. Truth +indeed must never be sacrificed to secure peace; nor must we be tempted +by the seductiveness of a liberality, falsely so called, to soften down +and make light of those differences which keep the Churches of England +and Rome asunder. But surely the points at issue may be examined without +exasperation and rancour; and the results of inquiries carried on with a +singleness of mind, in search only for the truth, may be offered on the +one side without insult or offence, and should be received and examined +without contempt and scorn on the other. + +The writer of this address is not one in whom early associations would +foster sentiments of evil will against members of the Church of Rome; or +encourage any feeling, incompatible with regard and kindness, towards +the conscientious defenders of her creed. From his boyhood he has lived +on terms of friendly intercourse and intimacy with individuals among her +laity and of her priesthood. In his theological pursuits, he has often +studied her ritual, consulted her commentators, and perused the homilies +of her divines; and, withal, he has mourned over her errors and +misdoings, as he would have sighed over the faults of a friend, who, +with many good qualities still to endear him, had unhappily swerved from +the straight path of rectitude and integrity. + +In preparing these pages, the author is not conscious of having been +influenced by any motive in the least degree inconsistent with +sentiments of charity and respect; at all events, he would hope that no +single expression may have escaped from his pen tending to hurt +unnecessarily the feelings of any sincere Christian. He has been +prompted by a hope that he may perhaps induce some individuals to +investigate with candour, and freedom, and with a genuine desire of +arriving at the truth, the subjects here discussed; and that whilst +some, even of those who may have hitherto acquiesced in erroneous +doctrines and practices, may be convinced of their departure from +Christian verity; others, if tempted to desert the straight path of +primitive worship, may be somewhat strengthened and armed by the views +presented to them here, against the captivating allurements of religious +error. + +Whether the present work may, by the Divine favour, be made in some +degree instrumental in forwarding these results, or in effecting any +good, the author presumes not to anticipate; but he will hope for the +best. He believes that the honest pursuit of the truth, undertaken with +an humble zeal for God's glory, and in dependence on his guidance and +light, is often made successful beyond our own sanguine expectations. + +With these views the following pages are offered, as the result of an +inquiry into the doctrine and practice of the Invocation of Saints and +Angels, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. + +To prevent misconception as to the nature of this work, the author would +observe, that since the single subject here proposed to be investigated +is, "The Invocation of Saints and Angels and the Blessed Virgin Mary," +he has scrupulously avoided the discussion of many important and +interesting questions usually considered to be connected with it. He has +not, for example, discussed the practice of praying for the dead; he has +investigated no theory relating to the soul's intermediate state between +our dissolution and the final judgment; he has canvassed no opinion as +to any power in the saints and the faithful departed to succour either +by their prayers or by any other offices, those who are still on earth, +and on their way to God. From these and such like topics he has +abstained, not because he thinks lightly of their importance, nor +because his own mind is perplexed by doubts concerning them; but because +the introduction of such points would tend to distract the thoughts from +the exclusive contemplation of the one distinct question to be +investigated. + +He is also induced to apprise the reader, that in his work, as he +originally prepared it, a far wider field, even on the single subject of +the present inquiry, was contemplated than this volume now embraces. His +intention was to present an historical survey of the doctrine and +practice of the invocation of Saints and Angels, and the Virgin, tracing +it from the first intimation of any thing of the kind through its +various progressive stages, till it had reached its widest prevalence in +Christendom. When, however, he had arranged and filled up the results of +the inquiries which he made into the sentiments and habits of those +later writers of the Church, whose works he considered it necessary to +examine with this specific object in view, he found that the bulk of the +work would be swollen far beyond the limits which he had prescribed to +himself; he felt also that the protracted investigation would materially +interfere with the solution of that one independent question which he +trusts now is kept unmixed with any other. He has, consequently, in the +present address limited the range of his researches on the nature of +Primitive Christian Worship, to the writers of the Church Catholic who +lived before the Nicene Council, or were members of it. + +In one department, however, he has been under the necessity of making, +to a certain extent, an exception to this rule. Having found no allusion +to the doctrine of the Assumption of the Virgin, on which much of the +religious worship now paid to her seems to be founded, in any work +written before the middle of the fifth century, he has been induced, in +his examination of the grounds on which that doctrine professes to be +built, to cite authors who flourished subsequently to the Nicene +Council. + +The author would also mention, that although in substance he has +prepared this work for the examination of all Christians equally, and +trusts that it will be found not less interesting or profitable to the +members of his own Church than to any other, yet he has throughout +adopted the form of an address to his Roman Catholic countrymen. Such a +mode of conveying his sentiments he considered to be less controversial, +while the facts and the arguments would remain the same. His object is +not to condemn, but to convince: not to hold up to obloquy those who are +in error, but, as far as he may be allowed, to diminish an evil where it +already exists, and to check its further prevalence. + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + +PART I.--CHAPTER I. + +Introduction--The duty of examining the grounds of our Faith--Principles +of conducting that examination--Errors to be avoided--Proposed plan of +the present work. + +CHAPTER II. + +Sec. 1. Evidence of Holy Scripture, how to be ascertained + 2. Direct Evidence of the Old Testament + 3. Evidence of the Old Testament, continued + 4. ------ New Testament + +CHAPTER III. + +Sec. 1. Evidence of Primitive Writers + 2. ------ Apostolic Fathers + +CHAPTER IV. + +Sec. 1. Evidence of Justin Martyr + See also Appendix + 2. Evidence of Irenaeus + 3. ------ Clement of Alexandria + 4. ------ Tertullian + ------ Methodius + 5. ------ Origen + See also Appendix + 6. Supplementary Section on Origen + See also Appendix + 7. Evidence of St. Cyprian + See also Appendix + 8. Evidence of Lactantius + 9. ------ Eusebius + See also Appendix + 10. Apostolical Canons and Constitutions + 11. Evidence of St. Athanasius + See also Appendix + +PART II.--CHAPTER I. + +State of Worship at the time of the Reformation +Sec. 1. "Hours of the Virgin" + 2. Service of Thomas Becket + +CHAPTER II. + +Council of Trent + See also Appendix + +CHAPTER III. + +Present Service in the Church of Rome + +PART III. + +WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY. + +CHAPTER I. + +Sec. 1. Introductory Remarks + 2. Evidence of Holy Scripture + +CHAPTER II. + +Evidence of Primitive Writers + +CHAPTER III. + +Assumption of the Virgin Mary + +CHAPTER IV. + +Councils of Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon + +CHAPTER V. + +Sec. 1. Present authorized Worship of the Virgin + 2. Worship of the Virgin, continued + 3. Bonaventura + 4. Biel, Damianus, Bernardinus de Bustis, Bernardinus Senensis,&c. + See also Appendix +5. Modern Works of Devotion + See also Appendix + +CONCLUSION + + * * * * * {1} + + + + +PART I. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE DUTY OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT. + + +Fellow Christians, + +Whilst I invite you to accompany me in a free and full investigation of +one of those tenets and practices which keep asunder the Roman and the +Anglican Church, I am conscious in how thankless an undertaking I have +engaged, and how unwelcome to some is the task in which I call upon you +to join. Many among the celebrated doctors of the Roman Church have +taught their disciples to acquiesce in a view of their religious +obligation widely different from the laborious and delicate office of +ascertaining for themselves the soundness of the principles in which +they have been brought up. It has been with many accredited teachers a +favourite maxim, that individuals will most acceptably fulfil their duty +by abstaining {2} from active and personal inquiries into the +foundations of their faith; and by giving an implicit credence to +whatever the Roman Church pronounces to be the truth[1]. Should this +book fall into the hands of any who have adopted that maxim for the rule +of their own conduct as believers, its pages will of course afford them +no help; nor can they take any interest in our pursuit, or its results. +Whilst, however, I am aware, that until the previous question (involving +the grounds on which the Church of Rome builds her claim to be the sole, +exclusive, and infallible teacher of Christians in all the doctrines of +religion,) shall have been solved, many members of her body would throw +aside, as preposterous, any treatise which professed to review the +soundness of her instructions; I have been at the same time assured, +that with many of her communion the case is far otherwise; and that +instead of their being averse to all investigation, a calm, candid, and +friendly, but still a free and unreserved inquiry into the disputed +articles of their creed, is an object of their sincere desire. On this +ground I trust some preliminary reflections upon the duty of proving all +things, with a view of holding the more fast {3} and sure what is good, +may be considered as neither superfluous nor out of place. + + [Footnote 1: It is sometimes curious to observe the language in + which the teachers and doctors themselves profess their entire, + unlimited, and implicit submission of all their doctrines, even + in the most minute particulars, to the judgment and will of the + authorities of Rome. Instances are of very frequent occurrence. + Thus Joannes de Carthagena, a very voluminous writer of + homilies, closes different parts of his work in these words, + "These and all mine I willingly subject to the judgment of the + Catholic Roman Church, ready, if there be written any thing in + any way in the very least point contrary to her doctrine, to + correct, amend, erase, and utterly abolish it." Hom. Cath. De + Sacris Arcanis Deiparae et Josephi. Paris, 1615. page 921.] + +But just as it would belong to another and a separate province to +examine, at such length as its importance demands, the claims of the +Church of Rome to be acknowledged as that universal interpreter of the +word and will of God, from whose decisions there is no appeal; so would +it evidently be incompatible with the nature of the present address, to +dwell in any way corresponding with the magnitude and delicacy of the +subject, on the duty, the responsibility, and the privilege of private +judgment; on the dangers to which an unchastened exercise of it may +expose both an individual, and the cause of Christian truth; or on the +rules which sound wisdom and the analogy of faith may prescribe to us in +the government of ourselves with respect to it. My remarks, therefore, +on this subject will be as few and brief as I believe to be consistent +with an acknowledgment of the principles upon which this work has been +conducted. + +The foundation, then, on which, to be safe and beneficial, the duty of +private judgment, as we maintain, must be built, is very far indeed +removed from that common and mischievous notion of it which would +encourage us to draw immediate and crude deductions from Holy Scripture, +subject only to the control and the colouring of our own minds, +responsible for nothing further than our own consciousness of an honest +intention. Whilst we claim a release from that degrading yoke which +neither are we nor were our fathers able to bear, we deprecate for +ourselves and for our fellow-believers that licentiousness which in +doctrine and practice tempts a man to follow merely what is right in his +own eyes, uninfluenced by the example, the precepts, {4} and the +authority of others, and owning no submissive allegiance to those laws +which the wise and good have established for the benefit of the whole +body. The freedom which we ask for ourselves, and desire to see imparted +to all, is a rational liberty, tending to the good, not operating to the +bane of its possessors; ministering to the general welfare, not to +disorder and confusion. In the enjoyment of this liberty, or rather in +the discharge of the duties and trusts which this liberty brings with +it, we feel ourselves under an obligation to examine the foundations of +our faith, to the very best of our abilities, according to our +opportunities, and with the most faithful use of all the means afforded +to us by its divine Author and finisher. Among those means, whilst we +regard the Holy Scriptures as paramount and supreme, we appeal to the +witness and mind of the Church as secondary and subsidiary; a witness +not at all competing with Scripture, never to be balanced against it; +but competing with our own less able and less pure apprehension of +Scripture. In ascertaining the testimony of this witness, we examine the +sentiments and practice of the ancient teachers of the Church; not as +infallible guides, not as uniformly holding all of them the same +opinions, but as most valuable helps in our examination of the evidence +of the Church, who is, after all, our appointed instructor in the truths +of the Gospel,--fallible in her individual members and branches, yet the +sure witness and keeper of Holy Writ, and our safest guide on earth to +the mind and will of God. When we have once satisfied ourselves that a +doctrine is founded on Scripture, we receive it with implicit faith, and +maintain it as a sacred deposit, entrusted to our keeping, to be +delivered down whole and entire without our adding {5} thereto what to +us may seem needful, or taking away what we may think superfluous. + +The state of the Christian thus employed, in acting for himself in a +work peculiarly his own, is very far removed from the condition of one +who labours in bondage, without any sense of liberty and responsibility, +unconscious of the dignity of a free and accountable agent, and +surrendering himself wholly to the control of a task-master. Equally is +it distant from the conduct of one who indignantly casting off all +regard for authority, and all deference to the opinions of others, +boldly and proudly sets up his own will and pleasure as the only +standard to which he will submit. For the model which we would adopt, as +members of the Church, in our pursuit of Christian truth, we find a +parallel and analogous case in a well-principled and well-disciplined +son, with his way of life before him, exercising a large and liberal +discretion in the choice of his pursuits; not fettered by peremptory +paternal mandates, but ever voluntarily referring to those principles of +moral obligation and of practical wisdom with which his mind has been +imbued; shaping his course with modest diffidence in himself, and +habitual deference to others older and wiser than himself, yet acting +with the firmness and intrepidity of conscious rectitude of principle, +and integrity of purpose; and under a constant sense of his +responsibility, as well for his principles as for his conduct. + +Against the cogency of these maxims various objections have been urged +from time to time. We have been told, that the exercise of private +judgment in matters of religion, tends to foster errors of every +diversity of character, and leads to heresy, scepticism, and infidelity: +it is represented as rending the Church of Christ, and totally {6} +subverting Christian unity, and snapping asunder at once the bond of +peace. So also it has been often maintained, that the same cause robs +individual Christians of that freedom from all disquietude and +perplexity and anxious responsibility, that peace of mind, satisfaction, +and content, which those personally enjoy, who surrender themselves +implicitly to a guide, whom they believe to be unerring and infallible. + +For a moment let us pause to ascertain the soundness of such objections. +And here anticipating, for argument's sake, the worst result, let us +suppose that the exercise of individual inquiry and judgment (such as +the best teachers in the Anglican Church are wont to inculcate) may lead +in some cases even to professed infidelity; is it right and wise and +justifiable to be driven by an abuse of God's gifts to denounce the +legitimate and faithful employment of them? What human faculty--which +among the most precious of the Almighty's blessings is not liable to +perversion? What unquestionable moral duty can be found, which has not +been transformed by man's waywardness into an instrument of evil? Nay, +what doctrine of our holy faith has not the wickedness or the folly of +unworthy men employed as a cloke for unrighteousness, and a vehicle for +blasphemy? But by a consciousness of this liability in all things human, +must we be tempted to suppress the truth? to disparage those moral +duties? or to discountenance the cultivation of those gifts and +faculties? Rather would not sound philosophy and Christian wisdom +jointly enforce the necessity of improving the gifts zealously, of +discharging the moral obligation to the full, and of maintaining the +doctrine in all its integrity; but guarding withal, to the utmost of our +power and watchfulness, against the abuses to which {7} any of these +things may be exposed? And we may trust in humble but assured +confidence, that as it is the duty of a rational being, alive to his own +responsibility, to inquire and judge for himself in things concerning +the soul, with the most faithful exercise of his abilities and means; so +the wise and merciful Ruler of our destinies will provide us with a sure +way of escaping from all evils incident to the discharge of that duty, +if, in reliance on his blessing, we honestly seek the truth, and +perseveringly adhere to that way in which He will be our guide. + +It is a question very generally and very reasonably entertained among +us, whether the implicit submission and unreserved surrender of +ourselves to any human authority in matters of faith, (though whilst it +lasts, it of course affords an effectual check to open scepticism,) does +not ultimately and in very deed prove a far more prolific source of +disguised infidelity. Doubts repressed as they arise, but not solved, +silenced but not satisfied, gradually accumulate in spite of all +external precaution; and at length (like streams pent back by some +temporary barrier) break forth at once to an utter discarding of all +authority, and an irrecoverable rejection of the Christian faith. From +unlimited acquiescence in a guide whom our associations have invested +with infallibility, the step is very short, and frequently taken, to +entire apostasy and the renunciation of all belief. + +The state of undisturbed tranquillity and repose in one, who has +divested himself of all responsibility in matters of religious belief +and practice, enjoying an entire immunity from the anxious and painful +labour of trying for himself the purity and soundness of his faith, is +often painted in strong contrast with the {8} lamentable condition of +those who are driven about by every wind of novelty. The condition of +such a man may doubtless be far more enviable than theirs, who have no +settled fixed principles, and who wander from creed to creed, and from +sect to sect, just as their fickle and roving minds suggest some +transitory preference. But the believer must not be driven by the evils +of one extreme to take refuge in the opposite. The whirlpool may be the +more perilous, but the Christian mariner must avoid the rock also, or he +will equally make shipwreck of his faith. He must with all his skill, +and all his might, keep to the middle course, shunning that presumptuous +confidence which scorns all authority, and boldly constitutes itself +sole judge and legislator; but equally rescuing his mind from the +thraldom which prostrates his reason, and paralyzes all the faculties of +his judgment in a matter of indefeasible and awful responsibility. + +Here, too, it is questioned, and not without cause, whether the +satisfaction and comfort so often represented in warm and fascinating +colours, be really a spiritual blessing; or whether it be not a +deception and fallacy, frequently ending in lamentable perplexity and +confusion; like guarantees in secular concerns, which as long as they +maintain unsuspected credit afford a most pleasing and happy security to +any one who depends upon them; but which, when adverse fortune puts +their responsibility to the test, may prove utterly worthless, and be +traced only by losses and disappointments. Such a blind reliance on +authority may doubtless be more easy and more free from care, than it is +to gird up the loins of our mind, and engage in toilsome spiritual +labour. But with a view to our own ultimate safety, wisdom bids us look +to our foundations in time, and assure ourselves {9} of them; +admonishing us that if they are unsound, the spiritual edifice reared +upon them, however pleasing to the eye, or abounding in present +enjoyments, will at length fall, and bury our hopes in its ruin. + +On these and similar principles, we maintain that it well becomes +Christians, when the soundness of their faith, and the rectitude of +their acts of worship, are called in question, "to prove all things, and +hold fast that which is good." Thus, when the unbeliever charges us with +credulity in receiving as a divine revelation what he scornfully +rejects, it behoves us all (every one to the extent of his means and +opportunities) to possess ourselves of the accumulated evidences of our +holy faith, so that we may be able to give to our own minds, and to +those who ask it of us, a reason for our hope. The result can assuredly +be only the comfort of a still more unshaken conviction. Thus, too, when +the misbeliever charges us with an undue and an unauthorized ascription +of the Divine attributes to our Redeemer and to our Sanctifier, which he +would confine to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, exclusively of the +Eternal Son and the Blessed Spirit, it well becomes every Catholic +Christian to assure himself of the evidence borne by the Scriptures to +the divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, together with the +inseparable doctrines of redemption by the blood of Christ, and +sanctification by the Spirit of grace; appealing also in this +investigation to the tradition of the Church, and the testimony of her +individual members from the earliest times, as under God his surest and +best guides. In both these cases, I can say for myself that I have acted +upon my own principles, and to the very utmost of my faculties have +scrutinized the foundations {10} of my faith, and from each of those +inquiries and researches I have risen with a satisfaction increased far +beyond my first anticipations. What I had taken up in my youth on +authority, I have been long assured of by a moral demonstration, which +nothing can shake; and I cling to it with an affection, which, guarded +by God's good providence, nothing in this world can dissolve or weaken. + +It is to engage in a similar investigation that I now most earnestly but +affectionately invite the members of the Church of Rome, in order to +ascertain for themselves the ground of their faith and practice in a +matter of vast moment, and which, with other points, involves the +principle of separation between the Roman and Anglican branches of the +universal Church. Were the subjects of minor importance, or what the +ancient writers were wont to call "things indifferent," reason and +charity would prescribe that we should bear with each other, allowing a +free and large discretion in any body of Christians, and not severing +ourselves from them because we deemed our views preferable to theirs. In +such a case we might well walk in the house of God as friends, without +any interruption of the harmony which should exist between those who +worship the true God with one heart and one mind, ever striving to keep +the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. But when the points at +issue are of so vast moment; when two persons agreeing in the general +principles of belief in the Gospel and its chief characteristic +doctrines, yet find it impossible to join conscientiously in the same +prayer, or the same acts of faith and worship, then the necessity is +imperative on all who would not be parties to the utter breaking up of +Christian unity, nor assist in propagating error, to make sure of their +{11} foundations; and satisfy themselves by an honest inquiry and +upright judgment, that the fault does not rest with them. + +Such appear to me both the doctrine and the practice of the INVOCATION +OF SAINTS. I have endeavoured to conjecture in what light this doctrine +and this practice would have presented itself to my mind, after a full +and free inquiry into the nature and history and circumstances of the +case, had I been brought up in communion with the Church of Rome; the +question to be solved being, "Could I continue in her communion?" And +the result of my inquiry is, that I must have either discarded that +doctrine at once and for ever, or have joined with my lips and my knees +in a worship which my reason condemned, and from which my heart shrunk. +I must have either left the communion of Rome, or have continued to +offer prayers to angels, and the spirits of departed mortals. Unless I +had resolved at once to shut my eyes upon my own personal +responsibility, and to surrender myself, mind and reason, soul and body, +to the sovereign and undisputed control of others, never presuming to +inquire into the foundation of what the Church of Rome taught; I must +have sought some purer portion of the Catholic Church, in which her +members addressed the One Supreme Being exclusively, without +contemplating any other in the act of religious invocation. The +distinction invented in comparatively late years, of the three kinds of +worship; one for God, the second for the Virgin Mary, the third for +Angels and Saints;--the distinction, too, between praying to a saint to +give us good things, and praying to that saint to procure them for us at +God's hand, (or, as the distinction {12} is sometimes made, into prayer +direct, absolute, final, sovereign, confined to the Supreme Being on the +one hand; and prayer oblique, relative, transitory, subordinate, offered +to saints on the other,) would have appeared to me the ingenious and +finely-drawn inventions of an advocate, not such a sound process of +Christian simplicity as the mind could rest upon, with an undoubting +persuasion that all was right. + +This, however, involves the very point at issue; and I now invite you, +my Christian Brethren, to join with me, step by step, in a review of +those several positions which have left on my mind the indelible +conviction that I could never have passed my life in communion with that +Church whose articles of fellowship maintained the duty of invoking +saints and angels; and whose public offices were inseparably interwoven +with addresses in prayer to other beings, than the Holy and undivided +Trinity, the one only God. + +In pursuing this inquiry I have thought the most convenient and +satisfactory division of our work would be-- + +First, to ascertain what inference an unprejudiced study of the revealed +will of God would lead us to make; both in the times of the elder +covenant, when "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy +Ghost," and in that "fulness of time" when God spoke to us by his Son. + +Secondly, to examine into the belief and practice of the Primitive +Church, beginning with the inspired Apostles of our Lord. + +Thirdly, to compare the results of those inquiries with the tenets and +practice of the Church of Rome, with reference to three periods; the +first immediately {13} preceding the Reformation; the second comprising +the Reformation, and the proceedings of the Council of Trent; the third +embracing the belief and practice of the present day. + +In this investigation, I purpose to reserve the worship of the Virgin +Mary, called by Roman Catholic writers "Hyperdulia," and for various +reasons the most important and interesting portion of the whole inquiry, +for separate and distinct examination; except only so far as our review +of any of the primitive writers may occasion some incidental departure +from that rule. + +May God guide us to his truth! {14} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SECTION I.--THE EVIDENCE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. + + +Here, Christian Brethren, bear with me if I briefly, but freely, recall +to our thoughts on this first entrance upon a review of the inspired +volume, the principles, and tone of mind, the temper and feelings, in a +word, the frame both of the understanding and of the heart, with which +we should study the sacred pages, on whatever subject we would try all +things, and hold fast what should prove itself to be most in accordance +with the will of God. Whether we would regard the two great parts into +which the Holy Scriptures are divided, as the Old and the New Covenants; +or whether we would prefer to call them the Old and the New Testaments, +it matters not. Although different ideas and associations are suggested +by those different names, yet, under either view, the same honest and +good heart, the same patience of investigation, the same upright and +unprejudiced judgment, the same exercise of our mental faculties, and +the same enlightened conscience, must be brought to the investigation. +In the one case we must endeavour to ascertain for ourselves the true +intent and {15} meaning of the inspired word of God, on the very same +principles with those on which we would interpret a covenant between +ourselves, and a person who had made it in full and unreserved reliance +on our integrity, and on our high sense of equity, justice, and honour. +In the other case we must bring the selfsame principles and feelings to +bear on our inquiry, as we should apply in the interpretation of the +last will and testament of a kind father, who with implicit confidence +in our uprightness and straightforward dealing and affectionate anxiety +to fulfil his intentions to the very utmost, had assigned to us the +sacred duty of executor or trustee. + +Under the former supposition, our sincere solicitude would be to +ascertain the true intent and meaning of the contracting parties, not to +seek out plausible excuses for departing from it; not to cull out and +exaggerate beyond their simple and natural bearing, such expressions in +the deed of agreement, as might seem to justify us in adopting the view +of the contract most agreeable to our present wishes and most favourable +to our own interests. Rather it would be our fixed and hearty +resolution, at whatever cost of time, or labour, or pecuniary sacrifice, +or personal discomfort, to apply to the instrument our unbiassed powers +of upright and honest interpretation. + +Or adopting the latter analogy, we should sincerely strive to ascertain +the chief and leading objects of our parent's will; what were his +intentions generally; what ruling principles seemed to pervade his views +in framing the testament; and in all cases of obscurity and doubt, in +every thing approaching an appearance of inconsistency, we should refer +to that paramount principle as our test and guide. We should not for a +moment {16} suffer ourselves to be tempted to seek for ambiguous +expressions, which ingenuity might interpret so as to countenance our +departure from the general drift of our parent's will, in cases where it +was at variance with our own inclination, and where we could have wished +that he had made another disposition of his property, or given to us a +different direction, or trusted us with larger discretion. Moreover, in +any points of difficulty, we should apply for assistance, in solving our +doubts, to such persons as were most likely to have the power of judging +correctly, and whose judgment would be least biassed by partiality and +prejudice;--not to those whose credit was staked on the maintenance of +those principles which best accorded with our own inclination. +Especially if in either case some strong feeling should have been raised +and spread abroad on any point, we should seek the judgment and counsel +of those who had been familiar with the testator's intentions, or with +the views of the covenanting party, before such points had become matter +of discussion. + +Now only let us act upon these principles in the interpretation of THAT +COVENANT in which the Almighty has vouchsafed to make Himself one of the +contracting parties, and man, the creature of his hand, is the other: +only let us act on these principles in the interpretation of THAT +TESTAMENT of which the Saviour of the world is the Testator; and with +God's blessing on our labours (a blessing never denied to sincere prayer +and faithful exertions) we need not fear the result. Any other principle +of interpretation will only confirm us in our prejudices, and involve us +more inextricably in error. {17} + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II.--DIRECT EVIDENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + +The first step in our proposed inquiry is to ascertain what evidence on +the doctrine and practice of the Invocation of Saints and Angels can be +fairly drawn from the revealed word of God in the Old Testament. + +Now, let us suppose that a person of a cultivated and enlightened mind, +and of a sound and clear judgment, but hitherto a stranger to +revelation, were required to study the ancient Scriptures with the +single view of ascertaining what one object more than any other, +subordinate to the great end of preparing the world for the advent of +Messiah, seemed to be proposed by the wisdom of the Almighty in +imparting to mankind that revelation; could he fix upon any other point +as the one paramount and pervading principle with so much reason, as +upon this, the preservation in the world of a practical belief in the +perfect unity of God, and the fencing of his worship against the +admixture of any other, of whatever character or form; The announcement +that the Creator and Governor of the universe is the sole Giver of every +temporal and spiritual blessing; the one only Being to whom, his +rational creatures on earth should pay any religious service whatever; +the one only Being to whom mortals must seek by prayer and invocation +for the supply of any of their wants? Through the entire volume the +inquirer would find that the unity of God is announced in every variety +of expression; and that the exclusive worship {18} of HIM alone is +insisted upon and guarded with the utmost jealousy by assurances, by +threats, and by promises, as the God who heareth prayer, alone to be +called upon, alone to be invoked, alone to be adored. So to speak, he +would find that recourse was had to every expedient for the express +purpose of protecting God's people from the fatal error of embracing in +their worship any other being or name whatever; not reserving supreme +adoration for the Supreme Being, and admitting a sort of secondary +honour and inferior mode of invocation to his exalted saints and +servants; but banishing at once and for ever the most distant +approximation towards religious honour--the veriest shadow of spiritual +invocation to any other Being than Jehovah HIMSELF ALONE. + +In process of time, the heathen began to deify those mortals who had +conferred signal benefits on the human race, or had distinguished +themselves by their power and skill above their fellow-countrymen. Male +and female divinities were multiplying on every side. Together with +Jupiter, the fabled father of gods and men, worshipped under different +names among the various tribes, were associated those "gods many and +lords many," which ignorance and superstition, or policy and craft, had +invented; and which shared some a greater, some a less portion of +popular veneration and religious worship. To the people of God, the +worshippers of Jehovah, it was again and again most solemnly and awfully +denounced, that no such thing should be. "Thou shalt worship the Lord +thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," is a mandate repeated in every +variety of language, and under every diversity of circumstance. In some +passages, indeed, together with the most clear assurances, {19} that +mankind need apply to no other dispenser of good, and can want no other +as Saviour, advocate, or intercessor, that same truth is announced with +such superabundance of repetition, that in the productions of any human +writer the style would be chargeable with tautology. In the Bible, this +repetition only the more forces upon the mind, and fixes there, that +same principle as an eternal verity never to be questioned; never to be +dispensed with; never to be diluted or qualified; never to be invaded by +any service, worship, prayer, invocation, or adoration of any other +being whatever. Let us take, for example, the forty-fifth chapter of +Isaiah, in which the principle is most strongly and clearly illustrated. +"I am the LORD, and there is none else: there is no God beside me; I +girded thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the +rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am +the Lord, and there is none else. They shall be ashamed, and also +confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion together, that are +makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an +everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world +without end: I am the Lord, and there is none else. I said not unto the +seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. They have no knowledge that set up +the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. +There is no god beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none +beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for +I am God, and there is none else." + +But it is needless to multiply these passages; and members of the Church +of Rome will say, that they themselves acknowledge, as fully as members +of the Anglican Church can do, that there is but one supreme {20} God +and Lord, to whom alone they intend to offer the worship due to God; and +that the appeals which they offer by way of invocation to saints and +angels for their services and intercession, do not militate against this +principle. But here let us ask ourselves these few questions:-- + +First, if it had been intended by the Almighty to forbid any religious +application, such as is now professedly the invocation of saints and +angels, to any other being than Himself alone, what words could have +been employed more stringently prohibitory? + +Secondly, had such an address to saints and angels, as the Church of +Rome now confessedly makes, been contemplated by our heavenly Lawgiver +as an exception to the general rule, would not some saving clause, some +expressions indicative of such an intended exception, have been +discovered in some page or other of his revealed will? + +Thirdly, if such an appeal to the angels of heaven, or to the spirits of +the just in heaven, had been sanctioned under the elder covenant, would +not some example, some solitary instance, have been recorded of a +faithful servant of Jehovah offering such a prayer with the Divine +approbation? + +Lastly, when such strong and repeated declarations and injunctions +interspersed through the entire volume of the Old Testament, +unequivocally show the will of God to be, that no other object of +religious worship should have place in the heart or on the tongue of his +own true sons and daughters, can it become a faithful child of our +Heavenly Father to be seeking for excuses and palliations, and to invent +distinctions between one kind of worship and another? + +God Himself includes all in one universal prohibitory {21} mandate, +"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." So +far from according with those general rules for the interpretation of +the revealed will of God, which we have already stated, and from which, +in the abstract, probably few would dissent, an anxiety to force the +word of God into at least an acquiescence in the invocation of saints +and angels, indicates a disposition to comply with his injunctions, +wherever they seem to clash with our own view, only so far as we cannot +avoid compliance; and to seek how we may with any show of propriety +evade the spirit of those commands. Instead of that full, free, and +unstinted submission of our own inclinations and propensities to the +Almighty's will wherever we can discover it, which those entertain whom +the Lord seeketh to worship Him; to look for exceptions and to act upon +them, bears upon it the stamp of a reserved and grudging service. After +so many positive warnings, enactments, and denunciations, against +seeking by prayer the aid of any other being whatever, surely a positive +command would have been absolutely necessary to justify a mortal man in +preferring any prayer to any being, saint, angel, or archangel, save +only the Supreme Deity alone. Instead of any such command or even +permission appearing, not one single word occurs, from the first +syllable in the Book of Genesis to the last of the prophet Malachi, +which could even by implication be brought to countenance the practice +of approaching any created being in prayer. + +But let us now look to the examples on this subject afforded in the Old +Testament. Many, very many a prayer is recorded of holy men, of inspired +men, of men, to whose holiness and integrity and acceptance {22} the +Holy Spirit bears witness; yet among these prayers there is not found +one invocation addressed to saint or angel. I will not here anticipate +the observations which it will be necessary to make in consequence of +the extraordinary argument which has been devised, to account for the +absence of invocations to saints before the resurrection of Christ, +namely, that before that event the saints were not admitted into heaven. +Although pressed forward with such unhesitating confidence in its +validity, that argument is so singular in its nature, and so important +in its consequences, and withal so utterly groundless, as to call for a +separate examination, on which we will shortly enter: meanwhile, we are +now inquiring into the matter of fact. + +The whole Book of Psalms is a manual of devotion, consisting +alternately, or rather intermixedly, of prayers and praises, composed +some by Moses, some by other inspired Israelites of less note, but the +greater part by David himself; and what is the force and tendency of +their example? Words are spoken in collaudation of "Moses and Aaron +among the saints of the Lord," and of "Samuel among such as called upon +his name;" and mention is made with becoming reverence of the holy +angels; but not one word ever falls from the pen of the Psalmist, +addressed, by way of invocation, to saint or angel. In the Roman Ritual +supplication is made to Abel and Abraham as well as to Michael and all +angels. If it is now lawful, if it is now the duty of the worshippers of +the true God to seek his aid through the mediation of those holy men, +can we avoid asking, Why the inspired patriarchs did not appeal to Abel +for his mediation? Why did not the inspired David invoke the father of +the faithful to intercede for him with God? If the departed spirits {23} +of faithful men may be safely addressed in prayer; if those who in their +lifetime have, to their fellow-mortals, (who can judge only from outward +actions, and cannot penetrate the heart,) appeared accepted servants and +honoured saints of our Creator, may now be invoked by an act of +religious supplication either to grant us aid, or to intercede with God +for aid in our behalf, why did not men whom God declared to be partakers +of his Spirit of truth, offer the same supplication to those departed +spirits, who, before and after their decease, had this testimony from +Omniscience itself, that they pleased God? Why is no intimation given in +the later books of the Old Testament that such supplications were +offered to Moses, or Aaron, or Abraham, or Noah? When wrath was gone out +from the presence of the Lord, and the plague was begun among the +people, Aaron took a censer in his hand, and stood between the living +and the dead, and the plague was stayed. If the soul of Aaron was +therefore to be regarded as a spirit influential with God, one whose +intercession could avail, one who ought to be approached in prayer, were +it only for his intercession, could a stronger motive be conceived for +suggesting that invocation, than David must have felt, when the +pestilence was destroying its thousands around him, and all his glory +and strength, and his very life too, were threatened by its resistless +ravages? But no! neither Abel, nor Abraham, nor Moses, nor Aaron, must +be petitioned to intercede with God, and to pray that God would stay his +hand. To God and God alone, for his own mercy's sake, must his afflicted +servant turn in supplication. We find among his prayers no "Holy +Abraham, pray for us,"--"Holy Abel, pray for us." His own Psalm of +thanksgiving describes full well the object and the nature of his {24} +prayer: "When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men +made me afraid, the sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of +death prevented me; in my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to +my God; and He did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter +into his ears." [2 Sam. (2 Kings Vulg.) xxii. 5. or Ps. xviii.] Abraham, +when on earth, prayed God to spare the offending-people; but he invoked +neither Noah, nor Abel, nor any of the faithful departed, to join their +intercessions with his own. Isaac prayed to God for his son Jacob, but +he did not ask the mediation of his father Abraham in his behalf; and +when Jacob in his turn supplicated an especial blessing upon his +grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh, though he called with gratitude to his +mind, and expressed with his tongue, the devotedness both of Abraham and +of Isaac to the Almighty, yet we do not find him appealing to them, or +invoking their intercession with Jehovah. + +When the conscience-struck Israelites felt that they had exposed +themselves to the wrath of Almighty God, whose sovereign power, put +forth at the prayer of Samuel, they then witnessed, distrusting the +efficacy of their own supplication, and confiding in the intercession of +that man of God, they implored him to intercede for them; and Samuel +emphatically responded to their appeal, with an assurance of his +earnestly undertaking to plead their cause with heaven: "And all the +people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, +that we die not. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not.... The Lord +will not forsake his people, for his great name's {25} sake.... +Moreover, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to +pray for you." [1 Sam. (1 Kings Vulg.) xii. 19.] Samuel is one whom the +Holy Spirit numbers among those "who called upon God's name;" and when +Samuel died, all Israel gathered together to lament and to bury +him,--but we read of no petition being offered to him to carry on the +same intercessory office, when he was once removed from them. As long as +he was entabernacled in the flesh and sojourned on earth with his +brethren, they besought him to pray for them, to intercede with their +God and his God for blessings at his hand, (just as among ourselves one +Christian asks another to pray for him,) but when Samuel's body had been +buried in peace, and his soul had returned to God who gave it, the Bible +never records any further application to him; we no where read, "Holy +Samuel, pray for us." + +Again, what announcement could God Himself make more expressive of his +acceptance of the persons of any, than He actually and repeatedly made +to Moses with regard to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? How could He more +clearly intimate that if the spirits of the faithful departed could +exercise intercessory or mediatorial influence with Him, those three +holy patriarchs would possess such power above all others who had ever +lived on the earth? "I am the God of your fathers; the God of Abraham, +the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob: and Moses hid his face, for he was +afraid to look upon God." "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of +Israel, The God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, +the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name for ever, and +this is my memorial throughout all generations." [Exod. iii. 6. 15.] Did +Moses in his alarm and dread, when he was afraid {26} to look upon God, +call upon those holy and accepted servants to aid him in his perplexity, +and intercede for him and his people with the awful Eternal Being on +whose majesty he dared not to look? Did he teach his people to invoke +Abraham? That was far from him. When Moses, that saint of the Lord, was +himself called hence and was buried, (though no mortal man was allowed +to know the place of his sepulture,) did the surviving faithful pray to +him for his help and intercession with God? He had wrought so many and +great miracles as never had been before witnessed on earth; whilst in +the tabernacle of the flesh he had talked with God as a man talketh with +his friend; and yet the sacred page records no invocation ever breathed +to his departed spirit. The same is the result of our inquiry +throughout. + +I will specify only one more example--Hezekiah, who "trusted in the Lord +God of Israel, and clave to the Lord, and departed not from following +him, but kept his commandments," when he and his people were in great +peril, addressed his prayer only to God. He offered no invocation to +holy David to intercede with the Almighty for his own Jerusalem; he made +his supplication directly and exclusively to Jehovah; and, yet, the very +answer made to that prayer would surely have seemed to justify Hezekiah +in seeking holy David's mediation, if prayer for the intercession of any +departed mortal could ever have been sanctioned by Heaven: "Thus saith +the Lord, the God of David thy father; I have heard thy prayer, I have +seen thy tears; _I_ will heal thee. I will save this city for mine own +sake, and for my servant David's sake." [2 Kings (Vulg. 4 Kings) xix. +15. and xx. 6.] Of what saint in the calendar was ever such a thing as +this spoken? {27} + +I have already intimated my intention of referring, with somewhat more +than a cursory remark, to the position assumed, and the argument built +upon it by writers in communion with Rome, for the purpose of nullifying +or escaping from the evidence borne by the examples of the Old Testament +against the invocation of saints. The writers to whom I refer, with +Bellarmin at their head, openly confess that the pages of the Old +Testament afford no instance of invocation being offered to the spirits +of departed mortals; and the reason which they allege is this, No one +can be invoked who is not admitted to the presence of God in heaven; but +before Christ went down to hell[2] and released the spirits from prison, +no mortal was admitted into heaven; consequently, before the +resurrection of Christ the spirit of no mortal was invoked. The +following are the words of Bellarmin at the close of the preface to his +"Church Triumphant:"--"The spirits of the patriarchs and prophets before +the coming of Christ were for this reason not worshipped and invoked, as +we now worship and invoke the Apostles and martyrs, because they were +yet shut up and detained in prisons below[3]." Again, he says, "Because +before {28} the coming of Christ the saints who died did not enter +heaven and saw not God, nor could ordinarily know the prayers of +suppliants, therefore, it was not customary in the Old Testament to say, +'Holy Abraham, pray for me,' &c.; but the men of that time prayed to God +only, and alleged the merits of the saints who had already departed, +that their own prayers might be aided by them." + + [Footnote 2: The word Hell, signifying, in Saxon, a + hidden-place, altogether corresponding in its etymology with + "hades," is now used for the place of torment called by the + Hebrews "Gehennah;" and we must perhaps regret that the same + Saxon word is employed to signify also the unseen region of + departed spirits. This circumstance has been the source of much + difficulty and confusion.] + + [Footnote 3: "Nam idcirco ante Christi adventum non ita + colebantur neque invocabantur spiritus patriarcharum atque + prophetarum, quemadmodum nunc Apostolos et martyres colimus et + invocamus, quod illi adhuc infernis carceribus clausi + detinebantur."--Ingolstadii, 1601. vol. ii. p. 833. "The last + edition, enlarged and corrected by the Author."] + +Now let us inquire into this statement thus broadly made, and ascertain +for ourselves whether the point assumed and the argument built upon it +can stand the test of examination. Is this argument such as ought to +satisfy the mind of one, who would humbly but honestly follow the +apostolic rule, "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good?" Is +this such an exposition as that the reason of a cultivated mind, and the +faith of an enlightened Christian, can acquiesce in it? Let it be +examined neither with prejudice in its favour, nor with any undue +suspicion of its soundness, but with candour and impartiality +throughout. + +It is not necessary to dwell at any length on the inconsistencies and +perplexities involved in this assumed abstract theory with regard to the +souls of the faithful who died before the resurrection of Christ, and +which require to be cleared away before its advocates can reasonably +expect to obtain for it any general acceptance among thinking men. I do +not wish to contravene the theory, far less to substitute another in its +stead. On the contrary, I am fully content, in company with some of the +most valuable among Roman Catholic writers, following the example of +Augustin [Aug. De Pecc. Orig. c. 23. tom. vii. p. 338.--Quoted by De +Sacy. 2 Kings (Vulg. 4 Kings) ii.], to leave the subject where Scripture +has left it. To the arguments {29} alleged, I would wish to reply +independently of any opinion, as a matter of Christian belief, with +regard to the place, the condition, and the circumstances of the souls +of the patriarchs and prophets before our blessed Lord's resurrection. +It may, nevertheless, materially facilitate an inquiry into the +soundness of the reasons alleged for the total absence of invocation to +those souls, if we briefly contemplate some of the difficulties which +surround this novel theory. At all events, such a process will incline +us to abstain from bold assumptions on a point upon which the Almighty +has been pleased to throw so little light in his Holy Word, or at least +avoid all severity of condemnation towards those who may differ from our +views. + +It is very easy to assert, that all the souls of the faithful departed +were kept in the prison-house of Hades, and to allege in its behalf an +obscure passage of St. Peter, to which many of the most learned and +unprejudiced Christian teachers assign a meaning totally unconnected +with the subject of departed spirits. But surely the case of Enoch's +translation from this life to heaven, making, as it has been beautifully +expressed, but one step from earth to glory, which St. Paul, in his +Epistle to the Hebrews, cites with a most important comment of his own, +requires to be well and patiently weighed. He was taken from the earth +by an immediate act of Providence, that he should not see death; and +before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. +Surely the case of Elijah too, when we would ascertain the soundness of +this theory, must not be dismissed summarily from our thoughts, of whom +the book of eternal truth declares, that Jehovah took him {30} in a +whirlwind into heaven; his ascent being made visible to mortal eyes, as +was afterwards the ascension of the blessed Saviour Himself. Indeed the +accounts of Elijah's translation, and of our Lord's ascension, whether +in the Septuagint and Greek Testament, the Vulgate, or our own +authorized version, present a similarity of expression very striking and +remarkable. + +On this subject we are strongly reminded, first, with what care and +candour and patience the language of Holy Scripture should be weighed, +which so positively declares, that Moses and Elijah, both in glory, +appeared visibly to the Apostles at the transfiguration of our blessed +Saviour, and conversed with Him on the holy mount: "And behold there +talked with Him two men, who were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory +(in majesty, as the Vulgate renders the word), and spake of his decease +which He should accomplish at Jerusalem;" [Luke ix. 30.]--and, secondly, +how unwise it is to dogmatize on such subjects beyond the plain +declaration of the sacred narrative. Moreover, how very unsatisfactory +is the theory which we are examining as to the state of the souls of the +faithful who died before Christ, even the words of Jerome himself prove, +who, commenting on the transfiguration of the blessed Jesus, is +unhappily led to represent the Almighty as having summoned Elijah to +descend from heaven, and Moses to ascend from Hades, to meet our Lord in +the Mount[4]. + + [Footnote 4: "Elia inde descendente quo conscenderat, et Moyse + ab inferis resurgente."--Hieron. in Matt. xvii. 1. Paris, 1706. + vol. iv. p. 77.] + +Strange and startling as is this sentiment of Jerome, it is, you will +observe, utterly irreconcileable with the theory, that the reason why +the ancient Church did not {31} pray to the saints departed, was because +they were not yet in heaven. + +On this point, among Roman Catholic writers themselves, there prevails a +very great diversity of opinion, arising probably from the difficulty +which they have experienced in their endeavours to make all facts and +doctrines square with the present tenets and practices of their +Church[5]. Thus, whilst some maintain that Elijah was translated to the +terrestrial paradise in which Adam had been placed, not enjoying the +immediate divine presence; others cite the passage as justifying the +belief that the saints departed pray for us[6]. But not only are +different authors at variance with each other on very many points here; +the same writer in his zeal is betrayed into great and palpable +inconsistency. Bellarmin, anxious to enlist the account given by our +Lord of the rich man and Lazarus, to countenance the invocation of +saints by the example of the rich man appealing to Abraham, maintains +that section of Holy Writ to be not a parable, but a true history of a +matter of fact which took place between two real individuals; and of his +assertion he adduces this proof, that "the Church worships that Lazarus +as verily a holy man[7];" and yet he denies that any of the holy men +were in heaven before the {32} death of Christ. Either Abraham was in +heaven in the presence of God, or not; if he was in heaven, why did not +his descendants invoke his aid? if he was not in heaven, the whole +argument drawn from the rich man's supplication falls to the ground. + + [Footnote 5: See De Sacy on 4 Kings i. 1. See also Estius, 1629. + p. 168. Pope Gregory's Exposition; Rome, 1553. p. 99. Stephen's + Bible in loc. 1557, &c. The Vulgate ed. Antwerp, 1624, cites a + note, "Thy prayers are stronger than chariots and horsemen."] + + [Footnote 6: Gaspar Sanctius, Antwerp, 1624. p. 1360, considers + the fable not improbable, that Elijah, living in the terrestrial + paradise, wrote there the letters to Joram (mentioned 2 Chron. + xxi. 12), and sent them by angels.] + + [Footnote 7: Colit Lazarum ilium ut vere sanctum + hominem.--Bellarm. De Ecd. Triumph, p. 864.] + +Another very extraordinary inconsistency, arising from the same +solicitude, forces itself upon our notice, when the same author urges a +passage in Leviticus [Levit. xix. 13.] to prove, that the saints are now +admitted at once into the enjoyment of the presence of God in heaven, +without waiting for the day of final judgment. [Bell vol. ii. p. 865.] +"God (such are his words) commanded it to be written, 'The work of the +hireling shall not remain with thee till the morning;' therefore, unless +God would appear inconsistent with Himself, He will not keep back the +reward of his saints to the end of the world." How strange, that in the +same treatise [Ibid. p. 833.] this author should expressly maintain, +that the reward of Abel and Abraham, and the holy prophet and lawgiver +Moses, the very man who was commanded to write that law in Leviticus, +was kept back,--the last for a longer period than a thousand years; the +first well nigh four thousand years. + +I mention these particulars merely to point out how very unsatisfactory +and unsound is the attempted solution of the difficulties which surround +on every side the theory of those who maintain, that the reason why we +have no instance of the righteous departed being invoked in the times of +the elder covenant is, that they were not as yet admitted into heaven, +but were kept in prison till the resurrection of Christ. I would also +observe, even at the risk {33} of repetition, that I am here not +maintaining any opinion as to the appointed abiding-place, the +condition, and circumstances, the powers of consciousness, volition or +enjoyment of the departed, before Christ's resurrection; on the +contrary, I am rather urging the consideration of the great and serious +caution requisite before we espouse, as an article of faith, any opinion +which rests on so questionable a foundation, and which involves such +interminable difficulties. + +But while we need not dwell longer on this immediate point, yet there +are two considerations which appear to be altogether decisive as to the +evidence borne against the Invocation of Saints by the writers of the +Old Testament. If the spirits of the saints departed were not invoked +before the resurrection of Christ, purely because they were not then +admitted into heaven; the first consideration I would suggest is this: +Why did the faithful and inspired servants of Jehovah not invoke the +angels and archangels who were in heaven? The second is this: Why did +not the inspired Apostles and faithful disciples of our Lord invoke the +spirits of those saints after his resurrection; that is (according to +the theory before us), after those saints had been taken by Christ with +him into his Father's presence? I wish not to anticipate here our +inquiry into the testimony borne by the writers of the New Testament as +to the doctrine and practice of the Roman Church in this particular; and +I will only add, that whatever be the cause of the absence from the Old +Testament of all worship and invocation of Abel and Abraham, whom the +Roman Church now invokes, the alleged reason that it was because they +were not in heaven till after Christ's resurrection, is utterly set +aside by the conduct of the Apostles and disciples of our Lord recorded +in the New {34} Testament, for more than half a century after his return +to his Father's glory. + +This, however, seems to be the proper place for entertaining the first +consideration, Why did not the holy men of old, under the elder +covenant, invoke angels and archangels, as the Roman Church now does? +Writers, indeed, who have declared themselves the defenders of that +doctrine and practice, refer us to passages, which they cite, as +affording examples of the worship of angels; and we will not knowingly +allow any one of those sections of Holy Writ to remain unexamined. We +must first endeavour to ascertain the testimony borne by the books of +the Old Testament: and that presents to us such a body of evidence as +greatly increases our surprise at the perseverance with which the +invocation of angels has been maintained by any community of men +acknowledging the inspiration of the sacred volume. + +The inspired writers of the Old Testament, and those to whom through +their mouth and pen the Divine word was addressed, were as fully as +ourselves acquainted with the existence of angelic beings. They were +aware of the station of those angels in the court of heaven, of their +power as God's ambassadors, and agents for good. Either their own eyes +had seen the mighty operations of God by the hands of those celestial +messengers; or their ears had heard their fathers tell what HE had done +by their instrumentality in times of old. Why then did not God's chosen +people offer to the angels the same worship and invocation which the +Church of Rome now addresses to them in common with the patriarchs and +prophets of the elder covenant, and with saints and martyrs under the +new? In the condition of the holy angels no one ever suggests that {35} +any change, affecting the argument, has taken place since the time when +man was created and made. And as the angels of heaven were in themselves +the same, equally in the presence of God, and equally able to succour +men through that long space of four thousand years, which intervened +between Adam's creation and the birth of HIM who was Son of Adam and Son +of God, so was man in the same dependent state, needing the guidance and +protection of a power above his own. Nay, surely, if there was in man +any difference affecting the argument, it would all add weight to the +reason against the invocation of angels by Christians. The Israelites of +old had no clear knowledge, as we have, of one great Mediator, who is +ever making intercession for us; and yet they sought not the mediation +and intercession and good offices of those superhuman beings, of whose +existence and power, and employment in works of blessing to man, they +had no doubt[8]. This is a point of great importance to our argument, +and I will refer to a few passages in support of it. + + [Footnote 8: A small section indeed of their countrymen in our + Saviour's time denied the reality of a future state, and the + existence of angels and spirits; but the sect was of then recent + origin, and the overwhelming majority believed as their fathers + had believed.] + +When David, who had, as we know [1 Chron. xxi. 16.], visible +demonstration afforded him of the existence and ministration of the +angels, called upon them to unite with his own soul, and with all the +works of creation through all places of God's dominion, in praising +their merciful, glorious, and powerful Creator, he thus conveys to us +the exalted ideas with which he had been filled of their nature, their +excellence, and their ministration. "The Lord hath prepared his throne +in the heavens, and his {36} kingdom ruleth over all: Bless the Lord, ye +his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening +unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye +ministers of his that do his pleasure." [Ps. ciii. 19-21.] David knew +moreover that one of the offices, in the execution of which the angels +do God's pleasure, is that of succouring and defending us on earth. For +example, in one of the psalms used by the Church of Rome at complin, and +with the rest repeated in the Church of England, and prophetic of the +Redeemer, David, to whom this psalm is probably to be ascribed, declares +of the man who had made the Most High his refuge and strength, "There +shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy +dwelling; for he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in +all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy +foot against a stone." [Ps. xci. 10-12.] And again, with exquisitely +beautiful imagery, he represents those same blessed servants of heaven +as an army, as a host of God's spiritual soldiers keeping watch and ward +over the poorest of the children of men, who would take refuge in his +mercy: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, +and delivereth them[9]." And yet David, the prophet of the Lord, never +addresses to these beings, high and glorious though they are, one single +invocation: he neither asks them to assist him, nor to pray for him, nor +to pray with him in his behalf. + + [Footnote 9: Ps. xxxiv. 7. (Vulg. xxxiii. 8.) "Immittet angelus + Domini in circuitu timentium eum, et eripiet eos." In the + Vulgate the beauty of the figure is lost; which, however, Roman + Catholic writers restore in their comments. Basil makes a + beautiful use of the metaphor. See De Sacy in loc.] {37} + +Isaiah was admitted by the Holy Spirit to witness in the fulness of its +glory the court and the throne of heaven; and he heard the voices of the +seraphim proclaiming their Maker's praise; he experienced also +personally the effect of their ministration, when one of them said, "Lo, +this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy +sin purged." [Isaiah vi. 7.] Still, though Isaiah must have regarded +this angel as his benefactor under God, yet neither to this seraph, nor +to any of the host of heaven, does he offer one prayer for their good +offices, even by their intercession. He ever ascribes all to God alone; +and never joins any other name with His either in supplication or in +praise. Let us also take the case of Daniel. He acknowledges not only +that the Lord's omnipotent hand had rescued him from the jaws of the +lions, but that the deliverance was brought about by the ministration of +an angel. "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, +that they have not hurt me." [Dan. vi. 22.] Yet when we look through +Daniel's prayers, we find no allusion to any of the highest angels. He +had seen Gabriel before his prayer; he had heard the voice and felt the +hand of that heavenly messenger who was commissioned to reveal to him +what should be done in the latter end; and immediately after the +offering of his prayer, the same Gabriel announces himself as one who +was come forth to give the prophet skill and understanding. And yet +neither towards Gabriel, nor any other of the angels of God, does one +word of invocation fall from the lips of Daniel. In the supplications of +that holy, intrepid, and blessed servant and child of God, we search in +vain for any thing approaching in spirit to the invocation, "Sancte +Gabriel, ora pro nobis." {38} + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION III.--EVIDENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (continued) + + +We must now briefly refer to those passages, by which Roman Catholic +writers have endeavoured to maintain that religious adoration was paid +to angels by the faithful sons of God. The two principal instances cited +are, first, the case of Abraham bowing down before three men, whom he +recognizes as messengers from heaven; and, secondly, the words of Jacob +when he gave his benediction to his grandsons. + +With regard to the first instance, how very far the prostration of +Abraham was in itself from implying an act of religious worship, being +as it was the ordinary mode of paying respect to a fellow mortal, is +evident from the very words of Scripture. The Hebrew word, which we +translate by "bowed himself," and which the Vulgate unhappily renders +"adoravit" ("adored"), is, letter for letter, the same in the case of +Abraham saluting his three heavenly visitors, and in the case of Jacob +saluting his brother Esau. The parallelism of the two passages is very +striking. + +GEN. xviii. 2. GEN. xxxiii. 1 and 3. + +And he [Abraham] lift up his And Jacob lifted up his eyes, +eyes, and lo! three men stood and looked, and behold! Esau +by him; and when he saw them, came ... And he passed over, and +he ran to meet them from the _bowed himself to the ground_ seven +tent door; and _bowed himself_ times until he came near to his +_toward the ground_. brother. {39} + +By rendering the Hebrew word[10], which means to "bow or bend oneself," +by the word "adoravit," which is literally "to pray to," the Latin +Vulgate has laid the foundation for much unsound and misleading +criticism. But suppose the word had meant, what it does not mean, an act +of solemn religious worship; and let it be granted (as I am not only +ready to grant, but prepared to maintain) that Abraham paid religious +adoration at that time, what inference can fairly and honestly be drawn +from that circumstance in favour of the invocation of angels? The +ancient writers of the Christian Church, and those whom the Church of +Rome habitually holds in great respect, are full and clear in +maintaining that the person whom Abraham then addressed, was no created +being, neither angel nor seraph; but the Angel of the Covenant; the +Word, the eternal Son of God, Himself God[11]. Before the visible and +miraculous presence of the God of heaven, who for his own glory and in +carrying on the work of man's salvation, sometimes deigned so to reveal +Himself, the patriarchs of old bowed themselves to the earth. Can this, +with any shadow of {40} reason, be employed to sanction the invocation +of Michael and all the myriads of angels who fill the court of heaven? + + [Footnote 10: Not only is the Hebrew word precisely the same, + letter for letter, and point for point, [Hebrew: shahah], but + the Septuagint in each case employs the same, [Greek: + prosekunaesen]; and the Vulgate in each case renders it by the + same word, "adoravit." The Roman Catholic commentator De Sacy + renders it in each case, "se prosternavit," which corresponds + exactly with our English version. The Douay Bible in each case + renders it "adored."] + + [Footnote 11: Many early Christian writers may be cited to the + same purpose: it is enough, however, to refer to Justin Martyr + and to Athanasius; who are very full and elaborate in + maintaining, that the angel here mentioned was no created being, + but was the Angel of the Covenant, God, in the fulness of time + manifested in the flesh. The passage from Athanasius will be + quoted at some length, when we come to examine that father's + testimony. For Justin Martyr, see Dial. cum Tryph. ch. 56, &c. + p. 150, &c. (Paris, 1742.)] + +The only other instance to which it will be necessary to call your +attention, occurs in the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis. The passage, +however, is so palpably and on the very face of it inapplicable, that +its examination needs not detain us long. "And he [Jacob] blessed +Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did +walk, the God who fed me all my life long unto this day, the ANGEL which +redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." [Gen. xlviii. 15.] Here the +patriarch speaks of God as the Angel, and the Angel as God: being the +Angel or Messenger of the Covenant--God manifested to man. He speaks not +of Michael or Gabriel, or archangel or seraph, or any created being; but +of the Lord Himself, who appeared to him, agreeably to the revelation of +God Himself recorded in a previous chapter, and thus communicated by the +patriarch to Rachel and Leah: "And the ANGEL of God spake unto me in a +dream, saying, Jacob; and I said, Here am I. And he said ... _I_ am the +GOD of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto +me." [Gen. xxxi. 11.] The Angel whose blessing he desired for the lads +was the God[12], to whom he had vowed a vow in Bethel, the Lord Himself. + + [Footnote 12: It may not be superfluous to add, that this is the + interpretation of the passage adopted by primitive writers, + Among others see Eusebius Demonstr. Evan. lib. v. ch. 10: who + declares that the Angel spoken of by Jacob was God the Son.] + +Independently, however, of this conclusive consideration, if the latter +member of this sentence had merely expressed a wish, that an angel might +be employed as {41} an instrument of good in behalf of Ephraim and +Manasseh, I could readily offer such a prayer for a blessing on my own +children. My prayer would be addressed to the angel neither immediately +nor transitively, but exclusively to God alone, supplicating Him +graciously to employ the service of those ministering spirits for our +good. Such a prayer every Catholic in communion with the Church of +England is taught and directed to offer. Such a prayer is primitive and +scriptural; and such is offered in the Church on the anniversary of +Saint Michael and all angels: + +"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." + +Such is the prayer of the Church Catholic, whether of the Roman or the +Anglican branch; it is in spirit and in truth a Christian prayer, fit +for faithful mortals to offer on earth to the Lord of men and of angels +in heaven. Would that the Church of Rome, preserving, as she has +preserved, this prayer in all its original purity, had never been +successfully tempted to mingle in the same service, supplications, which +rob the one only God of his exclusive honour and glory, as the God "who +heareth prayer;" and to rob Christ of his exclusive honour and glory, as +our only Mediator and Advocate! + +Here, though unwilling, by departing from the order of our argument, to +anticipate our examination in its place of the Roman ritual, I cannot +refrain from contrasting this prayer, the genuine offspring of Christian +faith, with some forms of invocation contained in {42} the Roman service +on St. Michael's day, in which I could not join, and the adoption of +which I deeply lament. The first is appointed to be said at the part of +the Mass called "The Secret:" "We offer to Thee, O Lord, the sacrifice +of praise, humbly beseeching Thee, That by the intervention of the +prayers of the angels for us, Thou, being appeased, mayest both accept +the same, and make them profitable for our salvation. Through ..." The +second is offered at the Post Communion: "Supported [propped up, +suffulti] by the intercession of Thy blessed archangel Michael, we +humbly beseech Thee, O Lord, that what with honour we follow[13], we may +obtain also in mind. Through ..." + + [Footnote 13: I do not understand the exact meaning of these + words, which however contain no portion of that sentiment, the + presence of which in this prayer I deplore. The original is + this: "Beati archangeli tui Michaelis intercessione suffulti, + supplices te Domine deprecamur, ut quod honore prosequimur, + contingamus et in mente. Per ..." Probably the general sense is, + that what we reverently seek we may actually realize.] + +Still, though here the Christian seems to be taught to rest on a broken +reed, to support and prop himself up by a staff which must bend and +break; yet I acknowledge that so much violence is not done to my +Christian principles, nor do my feelings, as a believer in God and his +ever-blessed Son, meet with so severe a shock by either of these +prayers, as by the invocation addressed to the archangel himself in the +"Gradual" on that same day: + +"O holy Michael, O archangel, defend us in battle, that we perish not in +the dreadful judgment." + +Christians of the Church of Rome! for one moment meditate, I beseech +you, on this prayer. It is not addressed to God; in it there is no +mention made of {43} Christ: having called upon the angels, and on your +own soul in the words of the psalmist, to praise the Lord, you address +your supplication to Michael himself; not even invoking him for his +intercession, but imploring of him his protection. If it be said, that +his intercession is all that is meant, with most unfeigned sincerity I +request you to judge for yourselves, whether any prayer from poor sinful +man, putting his whole trust in the Lord and imploring his help, could +be addressed to our God and Saviour more immediate and direct than this? +In the place of the name of his servant Michael, substitute the highest +and the holiest name ever uttered in heaven or on earth, and can words +form a prayer more direct to God? "O Lord God Almighty, O Lord Jesus our +only Saviour, defend us in battle, that we perish not in the dreadful +judgment. Hallelujah!"--Can this be right? Were the archangel allowed +now, by his Lord and ours, to make his voice heard upon earth by +Christians offering to him this prayer, would he utter any other words, +than the angel, his fellow-servant and ours, once addressed to Saint +John, when he fell down to worship before him, "See thou do it not; for +I am thy fellow-servant: worship God." + +Such then is the evidence borne by the writers of the Old Testament. No +prayer to angel or beatified spirit occurs from its first to its last +page. The theory which would have us account for the absence of all +prayer to the saints before the advent of Messiah, by reason of their +not having been then admitted into their everlasting habitations, and +the immediate presence of God proves to be utterly groundless. The holy +angels were confessedly in heaven [Matt. xviii. 10.], beholding the face +of {44} God; but no invocation was ever addressed to them, by patriarch, +or prophet, or people, as mediators or intercessors. God, and God alone, +the one eternal Jehovah, is proclaimed by Himself throughout, and is +acknowledged throughout to be the only object of any kind of spiritual +worship; the only Being who heareth prayer, to whom alone therefore all +mankind should approach with the words and with the spirit of +invocation. It has been argued by some writers, that in the times of the +Old Testament, prayer was not offered to God through a mediator at all; +and that as the one Mediator was not then revealed in his person and his +offices, the subsidiary intercessors could not of course act; and +therefore could not be invoked by man. The answer to this remark is +conclusive. That Mediator has been revealed in his person and his +offices; and has been expressly declared to be the one Mediator between +God and man: we therefore seek God's covenanted mercies through Him. +Those subsidiary intercessors have never been revealed; and therefore we +do not seek their aid. To assure us that it was the mind and will of our +Heavenly Father that we should approach Him by secondary and subsidiary +mediators and intercessors, the same clear and unquestionable revelation +of their persons and their offices as mediators would have been +required, as He has vouchsafed of the mediation of his Son. Had God +willed that the faithful should approach Him by the intercessions of the +saints and martyrs, is it conceivable that He would not have given some +intimation of his will in this respect? If believers in the Gospel were +to have unnumbered mediators of intercession in heaven, as well as the +one Mediator of redemption, would not the {45} Gospel itself have +announced it? Could such declarations as these have remained on record +without any qualifying or limiting expression, "He[14] is able also to +save to the uttermost them who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever +liveth to make intercession for them." "There is one God, and one +Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." But this involves +the question to which the next section must be devoted. All I would +anticipate here is, that if the irresistible argument from the Old +Testament is sought to be evaded on the ground that no mediator at all +was then revealed, we must require a distinct revelation of the +existence and offices of other mediators and intercessors, before we can +be justified in applying to them for their intervention in our behalf. +And the question now is. Are they so revealed? + + [Footnote 14: Heb. vii. 25. I Tim. ii. 5.--Unde et salvare in + perpetuum potest accedentes per semetipsum ad Deum, semper + vivens ad interpellandum pro nobis.--_Vulg._] + + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION IV.--EVIDENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + +Though such is the evidence borne against the invocation of saints and +angels by the Old Testament, yet it has been said that we are living +neither under the patriarchal, nor the Mosaic dispensation, but under +the Gospel, to whom therefore as Christians neither the precepts nor the +examples of those ancient times are applicable: {46} the injunctions +consequently given of old to preserve the chosen people from idolatry +and paganism, cannot be held to prohibit Christians from seeking the aid +of those departed saints who are now reigning with Christ. But, surely, +those precepts, and denunciations, and commands, are still most strictly +applicable, as conveying to us a knowledge of the will of our Heavenly +Father, that his sons and daughters on earth should associate no name, +however exalted among the principalities and powers in heavenly places, +with his own holy name in prayer, and spiritual invocation. I am +throughout this address supposing myself to be speaking to those whose +heart's desire is to fulfil the will of God in all things; not those who +are contented to depart from the spirit of that will, whenever they can +devise plausible arguments to countenance such departure. + +The cases both of precept and example through the Old Testament +affording so stringent and so universal a rule against the association +of any name with the name of the Almighty in our prayers; before we can +conclude that Christians have a liberty denied to believers under the +former dispensations, we must surely produce a declaration to that +effect, clear, unequivocal, and precisely in point. Nothing short of an +enactment, rescinding in terms the former prohibitory law, and +positively sanctioning supplications and prayers to saints and angels, +seems capable of satisfying any Christian bent on discovering the will +of God, and resolved to worship Him agreeably to the spirit of that will +as it has been revealed. But let us read the New Testament from its +first to its very last word, and we shall find, that the doctrines, the +precepts, and the examples, the pervading reigning spirit of the entire +{47} volume, combine in addressing us with voices loud and clear. Pray +to God Almighty solely in the name and for the sake of his dear and only +Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and offer no prayer, no supplication, no +intreaty, to any other being or power, saint or angel, though it be only +to ask for their intercession with the great God. But this involves the +whole question, and must be sifted thoroughly. Let us then review the +entire volume with close and minute scrutiny, and ask ourselves, Is +there a single passage, interpreted to the best of our skill, with the +aid of those on whose integrity and learning we can rely, which directly +and unequivocally sanctions any religious invocation of whatever kind to +any being except God alone? And then let us calmly and deliberately +resolve this point: In a matter of so vital importance, of so immense +interest, and of so sacred a character as the worship of the Supreme +Being, who declares Himself to be a jealous God, ought we to suffer any +refinements of casuistry to entice us from the broad, clear light of +revelation? If it were God's good pleasure to make exceptions to his +rule--a rule so repeatedly, and so positively enacted and +enforced--surely the analogy of his gracious dealings with mankind would +have taught us to look for an announcement of the exceptions in terms +equally forcible and explicit. Instead, however, of this, we find no +single act, no single word, nothing which even by implication can be +forced to sanction any prayer or religious invocation, of whatever kind, +to any other being save to God alone. + +Let us first look to the language and conduct of our blessed Lord, whose +prayers to his Father are upon record for our instruction and comfort, +and whose precepts and example form the best rule of a Christian's {48} +life. So far from repealing the ancient law, he repeats in his own +person its solemn announcement, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one +Lord." [Mark xii. 29.] While the same heavenly Teacher commands us with +authority, "When thou prayest, pray to thy Father which is in secret, +and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." [Matt. +vi. 6.] No allusion in any word of His do we find to any prayer from a +mortal on this earth to an angel or saint in heaven. And yet occasions +were multiplied on which a reference to the invocation of angels would +have been natural, and apparently called for. He again and again places +beyond all doubt the reality of their good services towards mankind, but +it is as God's servants, and at God's bidding; not in answer to any +supplication or invoking of ours. The parable of the rich man and +Lazarus has been cited [Bellarmin, p. 895.] to bear contrary evidence; +but, in the first place, that parable does not offer a case in point; in +the second place, were it in point, it might be fairly and strongly +urged against the practice of invoking the spirit of any departed +mortal, even the father of the faithful himself. For what are the +circumstances of the parabolic representation? A lost spirit in the +regions of torment prays to Abraham in the regions of the blessed, and +the spirit of the departed patriarch professes himself to have no power +to grant the request of the departed and condemned spirit. [Luke xvi. +19.] The practice indeed of our Roman Catholic brethren would have been +exemplified, had our blessed Lord represented the rich man's five +brethren still on earth as pious men, and as supplicating Abraham in +heaven to pray for themselves, or to mitigate {49} their lost brother's +punishment and his woes. But then it would have afforded Christians +little encouragement to follow their example, when they found Abraham +declaring himself unable to aid them in attaining the object of their +prayer, or in any way to assist them at all. Without one single +exception, we find our blessed Lord's example, precepts, and doctrines +to be decidedly against the practice of invoking saint or angel; whilst +not one solitary act or word of His can be cited to countenance or +palliate it. + +Next it follows, that we inquire into the conduct and the writings of +Christ's Apostles and immediate followers, to whom He graciously +promised that the Holy Spirit should guide them into all truth. In the +Acts of the Apostles, various instances of prayer attract our notice, +but not one ejaculation is found there to any other being save God +alone. Neither angel nor saint is invoked. The Apostles prayed for +guidance in the government of Christ's infant Church, but it was, "Thou, +Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men." [Acts i. 24.] They prayed for +their own acceptance, but it was "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." [Acts +vii. 59.] They prayed for each other, as in behalf of St. Peter when in +prison; but we are expressly told, that the prayer which was made +without ceasing by the Church for him was addressed to GOD. [Acts xii. +5.] + +To deliver St. Peter from his chains, an angel was sent on an especial +mission from heaven; but though St. Peter saw him, and heard his voice, +and followed him, and knew of a surety that the Almighty had employed +the ministration of an angel to liberate him from his bonds, yet we do +not hear thereafter of {50} Peter having himself prayed to an angel to +secure his good offices, and his intercession with God, nor has he once +indirectly intimated to others that such supplications would be of +avail, or were even allowable. He exhorts his fellow-Christians to pray, +"Watch unto prayer," but it is because "The eyes of the LORD are over +the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers." [1 Pet. iv. 7; +iii. 12.] He Himself prays for them, but it is, that the God of all +grace might make them perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle them. He +suggests no invocation of saint or angel to intercede with God for them. +He bids them cast all their care upon GOD, on the assurance that God +Himself careth for them. + +Precisely the same result issues from a contemplation of the acts and +exhortation of St. Paul. He too experienced in his own person the +comfort of an angel's ministration, bidding him cast off all fear when +in the extreme of imminent peril. [Acts xxvii. 23, 24.] Many a prayer of +that holy Apostle is upon record; many an earnest exhortation to prayer +was made by him; we find many a declaration relative to his own habits +of prayer. But with him God and God alone is the object of prayer +throughout: by him no saint or angel or archangel is alluded to, as one +whose intercession might be sought by himself or by us. He could speak +in glowing language of patriarchs, prophets, and angels, but unto none +of these would he turn. "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by +prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made +known unto God." [Phil. iv. 6.] And let any one receive, in the plain +meaning of his words, his prohibitory monition [Col. ii. 18.], and say, +could St. Paul have {51} uttered these words without any qualifying +expression, had he worshipped angels by invocation, even asking them +only to aid him by their prayers. "Let no one beguile you of your reward +in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels; not holding the +Head," which Head he had in the first chapter (v. 18) declared to be the +dear Son of God, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the +forgiveness of our sins." + +The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews could bring before our minds +with most fervent uplifting eloquence Abel and Abraham and David,--that +goodly fellowship of the prophets, that holy army of martyrs; he could +speak as though he were an eye-witness of what he describes, of the +general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written +in heaven. And, surely, had the thought of seeking the support or +intercession of saint or angel by invocation addressed to them, been +familiar to him; had the thought even occurred to his mind with +approbation, he would not have allowed such an occasion to pass by, +without even alluding to any benefit that might arise from our invoking +such friends of God. So far from that allusion, the utmost which he says +at the close of his eulogy is this, "These all, having obtained a good +report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some +better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." +[Heb. xi. 39, 40.] + +The beloved Apostle who could look forward in full assurance of faith to +the day of Christ's second coming, and knew that "when He shall appear +we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is," has left us this +record of his sentiments concerning prayer: {52} "This is the confidence +that we have in HIM, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he +heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know +that we have the petitions that we desired of him." [1 John v. 14, 15.] +St. John alludes to no intercessor, to no advocate, save only that +"Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the +propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1.] St. John never suggests to +us the advocacy or intercession of saint or angel; with him God in +Christ is all in all. + +I will only refer to one more example, that of St. James: the instance +is equally to the point, and is strongly illustrative of the truth. This +Apostle is anxious to impress on his fellow-Christians a due sense of +the efficacy of our intercessions: "The effectual fervent prayer of a +righteous man availeth much." [James v. 16.] He instances its power with +God by the case of Elijah, a man so holy, that the Almighty suffered him +not to pass through the regions of death and the grave, but translated +him at once from this life to glory: "Elias was a man subject to like +passions as we are, and he prayed that it might not rain; and it rained +not on the earth by the space of three years and six months; and he +prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her +fruit." [James v. 17, 18.] And yet St. James is very far from suggesting +the lawfulness or efficacy of any invocation to the hallowed spirit of +this man, to whose prayer the elements and natural powers of the sky and +the earth had been made obedient. He exhorts all men to pray, but it +must be to God alone, and directly to God, without applying for the +intervention of any mediators or intercessors from among angels or men. +{53} "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth +liberally to all men, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him; but +let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." [James i. 5, 6.] Like the +writer to the Hebrews, he would have us come ourselves "boldly" and +directly "to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find +grace to help in time of need." + +Surely, these Apostles, chosen vessels for conveying the truths of +salvation throughout the world, knew well how the Almighty could best be +approached by his children on earth; and had the invocation of saint or +angel found a place in their creed, they would not have kept so +important a truth from us. + +Before leaving this part of our inquiry, I would propose the patient and +unprejudiced weighing of the import of two passages in the New +Testament, often quoted on this subject; one in the Acts of the +Apostles, the other in the Apocalypse. + +The holy Apostles Barnabas and Paul, by the performance of a striking +miracle, had excited feelings of religious reverence and devotion among +the people of Lystra, who prepared to offer sacrifice to them as two of +their fabled deities. [Acts xiv. 11-18.] The indignant zeal with which +these two holy men rushed forward to prevent such an act of impiety, +however admirable and affecting, does not constitute the chief point for +which reference is here made to this incident. They were men, still +clothed with the tabernacle of the flesh, and the weakness of human +nature; and the priests and people were ready to offer to them the +wonted victims, the abomination of the heathen. Now, I am fully aware of +the wide difference, in many {54} particulars, between such an act and +the act of a Christian praying to their spirits after their departure +hence, and supplicating them to intercede with the true God in his +behalf: and on this difference Roman Catholic writers have maintained +the total inapplicability of this incident to the present state of +things. But, surely, if any such prayer to departed saints had been +familiar to their minds, instead of repelling the religious address of +the inhabitants of Lystra at once and for ever, they would have altered +the tone of their remonstrance, and not have suppressed the truth when a +good opportunity offered itself for imparting it. And, supposing that it +was part of their commission to announce and explain the invocation of +saints at all, on what occasion could an explanation of the just and +proper invocation of angels and saints departed have been more +appropriate in the Apostles, than when they were denouncing the +unjustifiable offering of sacrifice to themselves while living? But +whether the more appropriate place for such an announcement were at +Lystra, in Corinth, at Athens, or at Rome, it matters not; nor whether +it would have been more advantageously communicated by their oral +teaching, or in their epistles. Doubtless, had the Apostles, by their +example or teaching, sanctioned the invocation of saints and angels, in +the course of fifty years or more after our blessed Saviour's +resurrection, it would infallibly have appeared in some page or other of +the New Testament. Instead of this the whole tenor of the Holy Volume +breathes in perfect accordance with the spirit of the apostolical +remonstrance at Lystra, to the fullest and utmost extent of its meaning, +"We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities to serve the +living God." {55} + +Of the other instance, it well becomes every Catholic Christian to +ponder on the weight and cogency. John, the beloved disciple of our +Lord, when admitted to view with his own eyes and hear with his mortal +ears the things of heaven, rapt in amazement and awe, fell down to +worship before the feet of the angel who showed him these things. [Rev. +xxii. 8, 9.] If the adoration of angels were ever justifiable, surely it +was then; and what a testimony to the end of the world would have been +put upon record, had the adoration of an angel by the blessed John at +such a moment, when he had the mysteries and the glories of heaven +before him, been received and sanctioned. But what is the fact? "Then +saith he to me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy +brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book. +Worship God." I cannot understand the criticism by which the +conclusiveness of this direct renouncement of all religious adoration +and worship is attempted to be set aside. To my mind these words, +uttered without any qualification at such a time, by such a being, to +such a man, are conclusive beyond gainsaying. The interpretation put +upon this transaction, and the words in which it is recorded, and the +inference drawn from them by a series of the best divines, with St. +Athanasius at their head, presents so entirely the plain common-sense +view of the case to our minds, that all the subtilty of casuists, and +all the ingenuity of modern refinements, will never be able to +substitute any other in its stead. "The angel (such are the words of +that ancient defender of the true faith), in the Apocalypse, forbids +John, when desiring to worship him, saying, 'See thou {56} do it not; I +am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who +keep the sayings of this book. Worship God.' Therefore, to be the object +of worship belongs to God only; and this even the angels themselves +know: though they surpass others in glory, but they are all creatures, +and are not among objects of worship, but among those who worship the +sovereign Lord." [Athan. Orat. 2. Cont. Ar. vol. i. p. 491.] To say that +St. John was too fully illuminated by the Holy Spirit to do, especially +a second time, what was wrong; and thence to infer that what he did was +right, is as untenable as to maintain, that St. Peter could not, +especially thrice, have done wrong in denying our Lord. He did wrong, or +the angel would not have chided and warned him. And to say that the +angel here forbade John personally to worship him, because he was a +fellow-servant and one of the prophets; and thus that the prohibition +only tended to exalt the prophetic character, not to condemn the worship +of angels, is proved to be also a groundless assumption, from the +angel's own words, who reckons himself as a fellow-servant with not St. +John only, but all those also who keep the words of the book of +God,--thus equally forbidding every faithful Christian to worship their +fellow-servants the angels. They are almost the last words in the volume +of inspired truth, and to me, together with those last words, they seem +with "the voice of a great multitude, and of many waters, and of mighty +thunderings," from the very throne itself of the Most High, to proclaim +to every inhabiter of the earth, Fall down before no created being; +adore no created being; pray to, invoke, call upon no created being, +whether saint or angel: worship {57} and adore God only; pray to God +only. Trust to his mercy; seek no other mediator or intercessor than his +own only and blessed Son. "He who testifieth these things saith, Surely, +I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord +Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." [Rev. xxii. 20, 21.] + +Thus the New Testament, so far from mitigating the stringency of the +former law, so far from countenancing any departure from the obligation +of that code which limits religious worship to God alone, so far from +suggesting to us invocation to sainted men, and to angels as +intercessors with the eternal Giver of all good, reiterates the +injunction, and declares, that invocation in order to be Christian must +be addressed to God alone; and that there is one and only one Mediator +between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of +his Father, a merciful High Priest sympathizing with us in our +infirmities, ever making intercession for us, able to save to the +uttermost those who come unto God through Him. + +The present seems to be a convenient place for observing, that however +the distinction is strongly insisted upon, or rather implicitly +acquiesced in by many, which would admit of a worship or service called +dulia (the Greek [Greek: douleia]) to saints and angels, and would limit +the worship or service called latria ([Greek: latreia]) to the supreme +God only, yet that such distinction has no ground whatever to rest upon +beyond the will and the imagination of those who draw it. The two words +are used in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, and in the +original Greek of the {58} New promiscuously, without any such +distinction whatever. The word which this distinction would limit to the +supreme worship of the Most High, is used to express the bodily service +paid by the vanquished to their conquerors, as well as the religious +service paid by idolaters to their fabled deities, and by the true +worshippers to the Most High. The word which this distinction would +reserve for the secondary worship paid to saints and angels, is employed +to express not only the service paid by man to man, but also the service +and worship paid to God alone, even when mentioned in contradistinction +to other worship. It will be necessary to establish this by one or two +instances; and first as to "latria." One single chapter in the Book of +Deuteronomy supplies us with instances of the word used in the three +senses, of service to men, service to idols, and service to God, xxviii. +36. 47, 48: "Because thou servedst [Greek: elatreusas] not the Lord thy +God with joyfulness and gladness of heart; Therefore thou shalt serve +[Greek: latreuseis] thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee +in hunger and in thirst and nakedness." "The Lord shall bring thee unto +a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt +thou serve [Greek: latreuseis] other gods, wood and stone." Next as to +the word "dulia." The First Book of Samuel (called also the First of +Kings) alone supplies us with instances of this word being used in each +of the same three senses of service from man to man, from man to idols, +and from man to his Maker and God. 1 Sam. xvii. 9. "Ye shall be our +servants and serve [Greek: douleusite haemin] us." xii. 24. "Only fear +the Lord, and serve [Greek: douleusate] him in truth with all your +heart." xxvi. 19. {59} "They have driven me out from the inheritance of +the Lord, saying, Go, serve[15] other gods." + + [Footnote 15: [Greek: douleue]. In this case also the Vulgate + translates all the three passages alike by the same verb, + "servire."] + +It is worthy of remark, that the same word "dulia[16]" is employed, when +the Lord by his prophet speaks of the most solemn acts of religious +worship; not in general obedience only, but in the offerings and +oblations of their holy things. Ezek. xx. 40. "In mine holy mountain, in +the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall +all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me [Greek: +douleusousi. Vulg: serviet.]; there will I accept them, and there will I +require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all +your holy things." St. Matthew also uses the same word when he records +the saying of our blessed Lord, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." [Matt. +vi. 24.; Greek: douleuein. Vulg: servire.] + + [Footnote 16: It is also remarkable that in all these cases, + whether the Septuagint employs the word "dulia," or "latria," + the word in the Hebrew is precisely the same, [Hebrew: avad]. + That in the fifth century the words were synonymous is evident + from Theodoret. I. 319. See Edit. Halle.--Index.] + +I will only detain you by one more example, drawn from two passages, +which seems the more striking because each of the two words "dulia" and +"latria" is used to imply the true worship of God in a person, who was +changed from a state of alienation to a state of holiness. The first is +in St. Paul's 1st Epistle to the Thessalonians, i. 9. "How ye turned to +God from idols, to serve [Greek: douleuein theo zonti] the living and +true God." The second is in Heb. ix. 14. "How much more shall the blood +of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself {60} without +spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve[17] the +living God." + + [Footnote 17: [Greek: latoeuein theo zonti.] In each of these + two cases the Vulgate uses "servire."] + +The word "hyperdulia," now used to signify the worship proper to the +Virgin Mary, as being a worship of a more exalted character than the +worship offered to saints and angels, archangels, and cherubim and +seraphim, will not require a similar examination. The word was invented +in later times, and has been used chiefly to signify the worship of the +Virgin, and is of course found neither in the Scriptures, nor in any +ancient classical or ecclesiastical author. {61} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SECTION I.--THE EVIDENCE OF PRIMITIVE WRITERS. + + +Before we enter upon the next branch of our proposed inquiry, allow me +to premise that I am induced to examine into the evidence of Christian +antiquity not by any misgiving, lest the testimony of Scripture might +appear defective or doubtful; far less by any unworthy notion that God's +word needs the additional support of the suffrages of man[18]. On the +contrary, the voice of God in his revealed word is clear, certain, and +indisputable, commanding the invocation of Himself alone in acts of +religious worship, and condemning any such departure from that +singleness of adoration, as they are {62} seduced into, who invoke +saints and angels. And it is a fixed principle in our creed, that where +God's written word is clear and certain, human evidence cannot be +weighed against it in the balance of the sanctuary. When the Lord hath +spoken, well does it become the whole earth to be silent before him; +when the eternal Judge Himself hath decided, the witness of man bears on +its very face the stamp of incompetency and presumption. + + [Footnote 18: While some authors seem to go far towards the + substitution of the fathers for the written word of God, others + in their abhorrence of that excess have run into the opposite, + fancying, as it would seem, that they exalt the Divine oracles + just in the same proportion as they disparage the uninspired + writers of the Church. The great body of the Church of England + adhere to a middle course, and adopt that golden mean, which + ascribes to the written Word its paramount authority, from which + is no appeal, and yet honours Catholic tradition as the handmaid + of the truth.] + +For myself I can say (what I have good hope these pages will of +themselves evince) that no one can value the testimony of Christian +tradition within its own legitimate sphere more sincerely, or more +highly, than the individual who is now soliciting your attention to the +conclusions which he has himself drawn from it. When Scripture is +silent, or where its meaning is doubtful, Catholic tradition is to me a +guide, which I feel myself bound to follow with watchful care and +submissive reverence. + +Now let it be for the present supposed, that instead of the oracles of +God having spoken, as we believe them to have spoken, with a voice +clear, strong, and uniform against the doctrine and practice of the +invocation of saints and angels, their voices had been weak, doubtful, +and vague; in other words, suppose in this case the question had been +left by the Holy Scriptures an open question, then what evidence would +have been deducible from the writings of the primitive Church? What +testimony do the first years and the first ages after the canon of +Scripture was closed, bear upon this point? And here I would repeat the +principle of inquiry, proposed above for our adoption in the more +important and solemn examination of the Holy Volume itself.--We ought to +endeavour to ascertain what may {63} fairly and honestly be regarded as +the real bearing of each author's remains, and not suffer the general +tone and spirit of a writer to be counterbalanced by single expressions, +which may be so interpreted as to convey an opposite meaning. Rather we +should endeavour to reconcile with that general spirit and pervading +tendency of a writer's sentiments any casual expressions which may admit +of two acceptations. We adopt this principle in our researches into the +remains of classical antiquity; we adopt the same principle in +estimating the testimony of a living witness. In the latter case, +indeed, the ingenuity of the adverse advocate is often exercised in +magnifying the discrepancies between some minor facts or incidental +expressions with the broad and leading assertions of the witness, with a +view to invalidate his testimony altogether, or at least to weaken the +impression made by it. But then a wise and upright judge, assured of the +truth of the evidence in the main, and of the integrity of the +individual, will not suffer unessential, apparent inconsistencies to +stifle and bury the body of testimony at large, but will either extract +from the witness what may account for them, or show them to be +immaterial. Inviting, therefore, your best thoughts to this branch of +our subject, I ask you to ascertain, by a full and candid process of +induction, this important and interesting point,--Whether we of the +Anglican Church, by religiously abstaining from the presentation, in +word or in thought, of any thing approaching prayer or supplication, +entreaty, request, or any invocation whatever, to any other being except +God alone, do or do not tread in the steps of the first Christians, and +adhere to the very pattern which they set; and whether members of the +Church of Rome by addressing angel or saint in any form of invocation +seeking {64} their aid, either by their intercession or otherwise, have +not unhappily swerved decidedly and far from those same footsteps, and +departed widely from that pattern? + +In one point of view it might perhaps be preferable to enter at once +upon our investigation, without previously stating the conclusions to +which my own inquiries have led; but, on the whole, I think it more fair +to make that statement, in order, that having the inferences already +drawn placed before the mind, the inquirer may in each case weigh the +several items of evidence bearing upon them separately, and more justly +estimate its whole weight collectively at the last. + +After then having examined the passages collected by the most celebrated +Roman Catholic writers, and after having searched the undisputed +original works of the primitive writers of the Greek and Latin Churches, +the conclusion to which I came, and in which every day of further +inquiry and deliberation confirms me more and more in this:-- + +In the first place, negatively, that the Christian writers, through the +first three centuries and more, never refer to the invocation of saints +and angels as a practice with which they were familiar: that they have +not recorded or alluded to any forms of invocation of the kind used by +themselves or by the Church in their days; and that no services of the +earliest times contain hymns, litanies, or collects to angels, or to the +spirits of the faithful departed. + +In the second place, positively, that the principles which they +habitually maintain and advocate are irreconcileable with such a +practice. + +In tracing the history of the worship of saints and angels, we proceed +(gradually, indeed, though by no {65} means at all periods, and through +every stage, with equal rapidity,) from the earliest custom established +and practised in the Church,--of addressing prayers to Almighty God +alone for the sake of the merits of his blessed Son, the only Mediator +and Intercessor between God and man,--to the lamentable innovation both +of praying to God for the sake of the merits, and through the mediation +of departed mortals, and of invoking those mortals themselves as the +actual dispensers of the spiritual blessings which the suppliant seeks +from above. It is not only a necessary part of our inquiry for +ascertaining the very truth of the case; it is also curious and +painfully interesting, to trace the several steps, one after another, +beginning with the doctrine maintained by various early writers, both +Greek and Latin, that the souls of the saints are not yet reigning with +Christ in heaven, and ending with the anathema of the Council of Trent, +against all who should maintain that doctrine; beginning with prayer and +thanksgiving to Almighty God alone, and ending with daily prayers both +to saints and angels; one deviation from the strict line of religious +duty, and the pure singleness of Christian worship, successively gliding +into another, till at length the whole of Christendom, with a few +remarkable exceptions, was seen to acquiesce in public and private +devotions, which, if proposed, the whole of Christendom would once with +unanimity have rejected. + +Before I offer to you the result of my inquiries as to the progressive +stages of degeneracy and innovation in the worship of Almighty God, I +would premise two considerations: + +First, I would observe, that the soundness of my conclusion on the +general points at issue does not depend at all on the accuracy of the +arrangement of those stages {66} which I have adopted. Should any one, +for example, think there is evidence that two or more of those +progressive steps, which I have regarded as consecutive, were +simultaneous changes, or that any one which I have ranked as subsequent +took rather the lead in order of time, such an opinion would not tend in +the least to invalidate my argument; the substantial and essential point +at issue being this: Is the invocation of saints and angels, as now +practised in the Church of Rome, agreeable to the primitive usage of the +earliest Christians? + +Secondly, I would observe, that the places and occasions most favourable +for witnessing and correctly estimating the changes and gradual +innovations in the worship of those early times, are the tombs of the +martyrs, and the Churches in which their remains were deposited; and at +the periods of the annual celebration of their martyrdom, or in some +instances at what was called their translation,--the removal, that is, +of their mortal remains from their former resting-place to a church, for +the most part dedicated to their memory. On these occasions the most +extraordinary enthusiasm prevailed; sometimes the ardour of the +worshippers, as St. Chrysostom [St. Chrys. Paris, 1718. Vol. xii. p. +330.] tells us, approaching madness. But even at times of less +excitement, by contemplating, immediately after his death, the acts and +sufferings of the martyr, and recalling his words, and looks, and +stedfast bearing, and exhorting each other to picture to themselves his +holy countenance then fixed on them, his tongue addressing them, his +sufferings before their eyes, encouraging all to follow his example, +they began habitually to consider him as actually himself one of the +faithful assembled round {67} his tomb. Hence they believed that he was +praying with them as well as for them; that he heard their eulogy on his +merits, and was pleased with the honours paid to his memory: hence they +felt sure of his goodwill towards them, and his ability, as when on +earth, to promote their welfare. Hence they proceeded, by a fatal step, +first, to implore him to give them bodily relief from some present +sufferings; then invoking him to plead their cause with God, and to +intercede for the supply of their spiritual wants, and the ultimate +salvation of their souls; and, lastly, they prayed to him generally as +himself the dispenser of temporal and spiritual blessings. + +The following then is the order in which the innovations in Christian +worship seem to have taken place, being chiefly introduced at the annual +celebrations of the martyrs:-- + +1st. In the first ages confession and prayer and praise were offered to +the Supreme Being alone, and that for the sake of his Son our only +Saviour and Advocate: when mention was made of saint or martyr, it was +to thank God for the graces bestowed on his departed holy ones when on +earth, and to pray to God for grace that we might follow their good +examples, and attain, through Christ, to the same end and crown of our +earthly struggles. This act of worship was usually accompanied by a +homily setting forth the Christian excellences of the saint, and +encouraging the survivors so to follow him, as he followed Christ. + +2nd. The second stage seems to have been a prayer to Almighty God, that +He would suffer the supplications and intercessions[19] of angels and +saints to prevail {68} with him, and bring down a blessing on their +fellow-petitioners on earth; the idea having spread among enthusiastic +worshippers, as I have already observed, that the spirits of the saints +were suffered to be present around their tombs, and to join with the +faithful in their addresses to the throne of grace. + + [Footnote 19: The Greek word [Greek: presbeia], "embassy," + employed on such occasions, is still used in some eastern + Churches in the same sense.] + +3rd. The third stage seems to have owed its origin to orators constantly +dwelling upon the excellences of the saints in the panegyrics delivered +over their remains, representing their constancy and Christian virtues +as superhuman and divine, and as having conferred lasting benefits on +the Church. By these benefits at first was meant the comfort and +encouragement of their good example, and the honour procured to the +religion of the cross by their bearing witness to its truth even unto +death; but in process of time the habit grew of attaching a sort of +mysterious efficacy to their merits; hence this third gradation in +religious worship, namely, prayers to God that "He would hear his +suppliants, and grant their requests for the sake of his martyred +servant, and by the efficacy of that martyr's merits." + +4th. Hitherto, unauthorized and objectionable as the two last forms of +prayer are, still the petitions in each case were directed to God alone. +The next step swerved lamentably from that principle of worship, and the +petitioners addressed their requests to angels and sainted men in +heaven; at first, however, confining their petitions to the asking for +their prayers and intercessions with Almighty God. + +5th. The last stage in this progressive degeneracy of Christian worship +was to petition the saints and angels, directly and immediately +themselves, at first for the temporal, and afterwards for the spiritual +benefits which the petitioners desired to obtain from heaven. For it +{69} is very curious, but not more curious than evident, that the +worshippers seem for some time to have petitioned their saints for +temporal and bodily benefits, before they proceeded to ask for spiritual +blessings at their hands, or by their prayers. (See Basil. Oral. in +Mamanta Martyrem.) + +Of these several gradations and stages we find traces in the records of +Christian antiquity, after superstition and corruption had spread +through Christian worship, and leavened the whole. Of all of them we +have lamentable instances in the present ritual of the Church of Rome, +as we shall see somewhat at large when we reach that division of our +inquiry. But from the beginning it was not so. In the earliest ages we +find only the first of these forms of worship exemplified, and it is the +only form now retained in the Anglican Ritual; of which, among other +examples, the following passage in the prayer for Christ's Church +militant on earth supplies a beautiful specimen: "We bless Thy holy name +for all Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear; +beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that +with them we may be partakers of Thy heavenly kingdom: Grant this, O +Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen." + +We now proceed to examine the invaluable remains of Christian antiquity, +not for the purpose of testing the accuracy of the above catalogue of +gradations _seriatim_ and in order of time; but to satisfy ourselves on +the question, whether the invocation of saints and angels prevailed from +the first in the Christian Church; or whether it was an innovation +introduced after pagan superstition had begun to mingle its poisonous +corruptions with the pure worship of {70} Almighty God. And here, I +conceive, few persons will be disposed to doubt, that if the primitive +believers were taught by the Apostles to address the saints reigning in +heaven and the holy angels, and the Virgin Mother of our Lord, with +adoration and prayers, the earliest Christian records must have +contained clear and indisputable references to the fact, and that +undesigned allusions to the custom would inevitably be found offering +themselves to our notice here and there. I do not mean that we should +expect to meet with full and explicit statements either of the doctrine +or the practice of the primitive Church in this particular; much less +such apologies and elaborate defences of the practice as abound to the +overflow in later times. But, what is more satisfactory in proof of the +general and established prevalence of any opinions or customs, we should +surely find expressions incidentally occurring, which implied an +habitual familiarity with such opinions or customs. In every record, for +example, of primitive antiquity, from the very earliest of all, +expressions are constantly meeting us which involve the doctrine of the +ever-blessed Trinity, the atoning sacrifice of Christ's death, the +influences of the Holy Spirit; habitual prayer and praise offered to the +Saviour of the world, as very and eternal God; the holy Sacraments of +Baptism and the Lord's Supper; with other tenets and practices of the +Apostolic Church. It is impossible to study the remains of Christian +antiquity without being assured beyond the reach of doubt, that such +were the doctrines and practice of the universal Church from the days of +the Apostles. Is the invocation of saints and angels and the blessed +Virgin to be made an exception to this rule? Can it stand this test? The +great anxiety and labour of Roman Catholic {71} writers to press the +authors of every age to bear witness on their side in this behalf, +proves that in their judgment no such exception is admissible. It is +clearly beyond gainsaying, that if the present doctrine of the Church of +Rome, with respect to the worship of angels and saints, as propounded by +the Council of Trent; and if her present practice as set forth in her +authorized liturgies and devotional services, and professed by her +popes, bishops, clergy, and people, had been the doctrine and practice +of the primitive Church, we should have found evident and indisputable +traces of it in the earliest works of primitive antiquity, in the +earliest liturgies, and in the forms of prayer and exhortations to +prayer with which those works abound. It by no means follows that if +some such allusions were partially discoverable, therefore the doctrines +and practice must forthwith be pronounced to be apostolical; but if no +such traces can be found, their absence bears witness that neither did +those doctrines nor that practice exist. If, for example, through the +remains of the first three centuries we could have discovered no trace +of the doctrine or practice of holy Baptism and the Eucharist, we must +have concluded that the doctrine and the practice were the offspring of +later years. But when we read every where, in those remains, +exhortations to approach those holy mysteries with a pure heart and +faith unfeigned; when we find rules prescribed for the more orderly +administration of the rites; in a word, when we perceive throughout as +familiar references to these ordinances as could be now made by +Catholics either of Rome or of England, while this would not of itself +necessarily prove their divine origin, we should with equal plausibility +question the existence of Jerusalem or Constantinople, or of David or +Constantine, as we {72} should doubt the prevalence both of the doctrine +and practice of the Church in these particulars, even from the Apostles' +days. + +With these principles present to our minds, I now invite you to +accompany me in a review of the testimonies of primitive Christian +antiquity with regard to supplications and invocations of saints and +angels, and of the blessed Virgin Mary. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II--CENTURY I.--THE EVIDENCE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. + + +It will be necessary for the satisfaction of all parties, that we +examine, in the first place, those ancient writings which are ascribed +to an Apostle, or to fellow-labourers of the Apostles; familiarly known +as the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. They are five in number, +Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Many able writers, as +well of the Roman as of the Anglican communion, have discussed at large +the genuineness of these writings; and have come to very different +results. Some critics are of opposite and extreme opinions, others +ranging between them with every degree and shade of variation. Some of +these works have been considered spurious; others have been pronounced +genuine; though, even these have been thought to be, in many parts, +interpolated. The question, however, of their genuineness, though deeply +interesting in itself, will not affect their testimony with {73} regard +to the subject before us[20]. They were all in existence before the +Council of Nicaea; and we shall probably not be wrong in assigning to the +first two a date at the very lowest computation not less remote than the +middle of the second century; somewhere, it may be, at the furthest, +about one hundred years after the death of our Lord. (A.D. 130-150.) +With all their errors and blemishes and interpolations taken at the +worst, after every reasonable deduction for defects in matter, taste, +and style, the writings which are ascribed to the Apostolic Fathers are +too venerable for their antiquity, too often quoted with reverence and +affection by some who have been the brightest ornaments of the Christian +Church, and possess too copious a store of genuine evangelical truth, +sound principle, primitive simplicity, and pious sentiment, to be passed +over with neglect by any Catholic Christian. The few extracts {74} made +here will, I am assured, be not unacceptable to any one, who holds dear +the religion of Christ[21]. + + [Footnote 20: I do not think it suitable in this address to + enter upon the difficult field of inquiry, whether all or which + of these works were the genuine productions of those whose names + they bear; and whether the Barnabas, Clement, and Hermas to + which three of them are ascribed, were the Barnabas, Clement, + and Hermas of whom express mention is made in the pages of Holy + Scripture. I have determined, in conducting my argument, to + affix to them in each case the lowest proposed antiquity. The + edition of Archbishop Wake, (who maintains the highest antiquity + for these works, though I have not here adopted his + translation,) may be consulted with much profit. + + Did the question before us relate to the genuineness and dates + of these works, they could not, with any approach to fairness, + be all five placed without distinction under the same category. + The evidence for the genuineness of Clement, Ignatius in the + shorter copy, and Polycarp, is too valuable to be confounded + with that of the others, which are indisputably subject to much + greater doubt. But this question has only an incidental bearing + on our present inquiry, and will be well spared.] + + [Footnote 21: The edition of the works of these Apostolic + Fathers used here is that of Cotelerius as revised by Le Clerc, + Antwerp, 1698.] + + * * * * * + +THE EPISTLE OF ST. BARNABAS. + +In the work entitled The Catholic Epistle of Barnabas, which was written +probably by a Jew converted to the Christian faith, about the close of +the first century, or certainly before the middle of the second[22], I +have searched in vain for any thing like the faintest trace of the +invocation of saint or angel. The writer gives directions on the subject +of prayer; he speaks of angels as the ministers of God; he speaks of the +reward of the righteous at the day of judgment; but he suggests not the +shadow of a supposition, that he either held the doctrine himself which +the Church of Rome now holds, or was aware of its existence among +Christians. In his very beautiful but incomplete summary of Christian +duty [Sect. 18, 19. p. 50, 51, 52.], which he calls "The Way of Light," +we perceive more than one most natural opening for reference to that +doctrine, had it been familiar to his mind. In the midst indeed of his +brief precepts of religious and moral obligation, he directs the +Christian to seek out every day "the persons of the saints," but they +are our fellow-believers on earth; those saints or holy ones, for +administering to whose necessities, the Scripture assures us that God +will not forget our work and labour of love [Heb. vi. 10.]: these the +author bids the Christians {75} search out daily, for the purposes of +religious intercourse, and of encouragement by the word. + + [Footnote 22: Archbishop Wake considers this Epistle to have + been written by St. Barnabas to the Jews, soon after the + destruction of Jerusalem.] + +The following interesting extracts shall conclude our reference to this +work:-- + +"There are two ways of doctrine and authority, one of light, the other +of darkness; and the difference between the two ways is great. Over the +one are appointed angels of God, conductors of the light; over the +other, angels of Satan: and the one (God) is Lord from everlasting to +everlasting; the other (Satan) is ruler of the age of iniquity. The way +of light is this ... Thou shalt love Him that made thee; thou shalt +glorify Him that redeemed thee from death. Thou shalt be single in +heart, and rich in spirit. Thou shalt not join thyself to those who are +walking in the path of death. Thou shalt hate to do what is displeasing +to God; thou shalt hate all hypocrisy. Thou shalt entertain no evil +counsel against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not take away thy hand from +thy son or thy daughter, but shalt teach them the fear of the Lord from +their youth. Thou shalt communicate with thy neighbour in all things, +and call not things thine own. Thou shalt not be of a froward tongue, +for the mouth is the snare of death. To the very utmost of thy power +keep thy soul chaste. Do not open thine hand to receive, and close it +against giving. Thou shalt love as the apple of thine eye every one who +speaketh to thee the word of the Lord. Call to remembrance the day of +judgment, night and day. Thou shalt search out every day the persons of +the saints [23]; both meditating by the word, {76} and proceeding to +exhort them, and anxiously caring to save a soul by the word. Thou shalt +preserve what thou hast received, neither adding thereto, nor taking +therefrom. Thou shalt not come with a bad conscience to thy prayer." + + [Footnote 23: There is much obscurity in the phraseology of this + passage: [Greek: ekzaetaeseis kath hekastaen haemeran ta prosopa + ton hagion kai dia logou skopion kai poreuomenos eis to + parakalesai, kai meleton eis sosai psuchaen to logo]. In the + corresponding exhortation among the Apostolical Constitutions + (book vii. ch. 9), the expression is, "Thou shalt seek the + person ([Greek: prosopon]) of the saints, that thou mayest find + rest (or find refreshment, or refresh thyself) ([Greek: in + epanapanae tois logois auton]) in their words." The author seems + evidently to allude to the reciprocal advantage derived by + Christians from religious intercourse.] + +The closing sentences contain this blessing: "Now God, who is the Lord +of all the world, give to you wisdom, skill, understanding, knowledge of +his judgments, with patience. And be ye taught of God; seeking what the +Lord requires of you, and do it, that ye may be saved in the day of +judgment.... The Lord of glory and of all grace be with your spirit. +Amen." + + * * * * * + +THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS. + +This work, which derives its title from the circumstance of an angelic +teacher being represented as a shepherd, is now considered by many to +have been the production of Hermas, a brother of Pius, Bishop of +Rome[24] though others are persuaded that the work is of a much earlier +date[25]. The author speaks of guardian angels and of evil angels, and +he speaks much of prayer; but not the faintest hint shows itself +throughout the three books, of which the work consists, that he had {77} +any idea of prayer being addressed to any created being, whether saint +or angel. On the evidence of this writer I will not detain you much +longer than by the translation of a passage as it is found in the Greek +quotation from Hermas, made by Antiochus (Homil. 85), on a point the +most nearly, of all that I can find, connected with the immediate +subject of our inquiry. The Latin is found in the second book, ninth +mandate. It contains sound spiritual advice, of universal application. + + [Footnote 24: Ecclesiastical writers refer the appointment of + Pius, as Bishop of Rome, to the year 153.] + + [Footnote 25: Archbishop Wake thinks it not improbable that this + book was written by the same Hermas, of whom mention is made by + St. Paul.] + +"Let us then remove from us double-heartedness and faint-heartedness, +and never at all doubt of supplicating any thing from God; saying within +ourselves, 'How can I, who have been guilty of so many sins against Him, +ask of the Lord and receive?' But with thine whole heart turn to the +Lord, and ask of Him without doubting; and thou shalt know his great +mercy, that He will not forsake thee, but will fulfil the desire of thy +soul. For God is not as men are, a rememberer of evil, but is Himself +one who remembers not evil, and is moved with compassion towards his +creature. Do thou, therefore, cleanse thy heart of doubt, and ask of +Him, and thou shalt receive thy request. But when thou doubtest, thou +shalt not receive. For they who doubt towards God are the +double-hearted, and shall receive nothing whatever of their desires. For +those who are whole in the faith, ask every thing, trusting in the Lord, +and they receive because they ask nothing doubting. [See St. James i. +6.] And if thou shouldest be tardy in receiving, do not doubt in thy +mind because thou dost not receive soon the request of thy soul. For the +cause of the tardiness of thy receiving is some trial, or some +transgression which thou knowest not of. Do thou then {78} not cease to +offer the request of thy soul, and thou shalt receive it. But if thou +grow faint in asking, accuse thyself, and not the Giver. For +double-heartedness is a daughter of the devil, and works much mischief +towards the servants of God. Do thou, therefore, take to thyself the +faith that is strong." + +In the twelfth section of the ninth Similitude, in the third book, in +the midst of much to the same import, and of much, too, which is strange +and altogether unworthy of the pen from which the previous quotation +proceeded, he thus writes, as the Latin records his words, the Greek of +this passage having been lost. + +"These all are messengers to be reverenced for their dignity. By these, +therefore, as it were by a wall, the Lord is girded round. But the gate +is the Son of God, who is the only way to God. For no one shall enter in +to God except by his Son." [Book iii. Simil. 2.] + +On the subject of prayer, I cannot refrain from referring you to a +beautiful similitude, illustrative of the powerful and beneficial +effects of the intercession of Christians for each other. The author +compares a rich man, abounding in deeds of charity, to a vine full of +fruit supported by an elm. The elm seems not to bear fruit at all; but +by supporting the vine, which, without that support, would bear no fruit +to perfection, it may be said to bear fruit itself. So the poor man, who +has nothing to give in return for the rich man's fruits of charity, +beyond the support which his prayers and praises ascending to God in his +behalf will obtain, confers a far more substantial benefit on the rich +man than the most liberal outpouring of alms from the rich can confer on +the poor. [Ibid.] Yet the writer, who {79} had formed such strong +notions of the benefits mutually obtained by the prayers of Christians +for each other, says not a word about the intercession of saints and +angels, nor of our invoking them. He will not suffer us to be deterred +by any consciousness of our own transgressions from approaching God +Himself, directly and immediately ourselves; but He bids us draw near +ourselves to the throne and mercy seat of our heavenly Father. + + * * * * * + +ST. CLEMENT, BISHOP OF ROME. + +It is impossible to read the testimony borne by Eusebius, and other most +ancient writers, to the character and circumstances of Clement, without +feeling a deep interest in whatever production of his pen may have +escaped the ravages of time. "Third from the Apostles," says Eusebius, +"Clement obtained the bishopric of Rome; one who had seen the Apostles +and conversed with them, and had still the sound of their preaching in +his ears, and their tradition before his eyes;--and not he alone, for +many others[26] at that time were still living, who had been taught by +the Apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small schism having arisen +among the brethren in Corinth, the Church in Rome sent a most important +letter to the Corinthians, urging them to return to peace, renewing {80} +their faith, and [reminding them of] the tradition which had been so +lately received from the Apostles." [Euseb. Eccl. Hist. v. c. 6.] + + [Footnote 26: See St. Paul to the Philippians, iv. 3. "And I + entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which + laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with + other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of + life."] + +Of the many works which have been attributed to Clement, it is now +generally agreed, that one, and only one, can be safely received as +genuine, whilst some maintain that even that one is not altogether free +from interpolations, if not itself spurious[27]. But though we must +believe the other works to have been assigned improperly to Clement; yet +I have not thought it safe to pass them by unexamined, both because some +of them are held in high estimation by writers of the Church of Rome, +and especially because whatever pen first composed them, of their very +great antiquity there can be entertained no reasonable doubt. Indeed, +the Apostolical Canons, and the Apostolical Constitutions, both ascribed +to Clement as their author, acting under the direction of the Apostolic +Council, stand first among the records of the Councils received by the +Church of Rome. + + [Footnote 27: Archbishop Wake concludes that this first Epistle + was written shortly after the end of Nero's persecution, and + before A.D. 70.] + +To Clement's first Epistle to the Corinthians, now regarded by many as +the only genuine work of that primitive writer, the date of which is +considered by many to be about A.D. 90, Jerome bears this very +interesting testimony in his book on illustrious men: + +"He, Clement, wrote in the person of the Church of Rome, to the Church +in Corinth, a very useful epistle, which is publicly read in some +places; in its character agreeing with St. Paul's Epistle to the +Hebrews, not only in the sense, but even in the words: and indeed the +resemblance is very striking in each." [Catalogus Scriptorum +Ecclesiasticorum, Jeron., vol. iv, part ii. p. 107, edit. Benedict. +Paris, 1706.] {81} + +It is impossible to read this Epistle of one of the earliest bishops of +Christ's flock in the proper frame of mind, without spiritual +edification. A tone of primitive simplicity pervades it, which is quite +delightful. His witness to the redemption by the atoning sacrifice of +Christ's death, and to the life-giving influences of the Spirit of +grace, is clear, repeated, and direct. His familiar acquaintance with +the ancient Scriptures is very remarkable; though we might not always +acquiesce in the critical accuracy of his application. His reference to +the Epistles written by St. Paul to the same Church at Corinth that he +was then addressing, affords one of those unobtrusive and undesigned +collateral evidences to the Holy Scriptures, which are as abundant in +the primitive writings, as they are invaluable. No one can read this +Epistle of Clement, without acquiescing in the expression of Jerome, +that it is "very admirable." + +Perhaps in the present work the Epistle of Clement becomes even more +interesting from the circumstance of his having been a bishop of the +Church founded by the Apostles themselves in the very place where that +Church exists, to whose members this inquiry is more especially +addressed. In his writings I have searched diligently for every +expression which might throw light upon the opinions and practice either +of the author or of the Church in whose name he wrote; of the Church +which he addressed, or of the Catholic Church at large to which he +refers, on the subject of our inquiry. So far, however, from any word +occurring, which could be brought to bear in favour of the adoration of +saints and angels, or of any supplication to them for their succour or +their prayers, the peculiar turn and character of his Epistle in many +parts seems to supply {82} more than negative evidence against the +prevalence of any such belief or practice. Clement speaks of angels; he +speaks of the holy men of old, who pleased God, and were blessed, and +were taken to their reward; he speaks of prayer; he urges to prayer; he +specifies the object of our prayers; he particularizes the subjects of +our prayers; but there is not the most distant allusion to the saints +and angels as persons to whom supplications could be addressed. Pray for +yourselves (such are the sentiments of this holy man); pray for your +brethren who have fallen from their integrity; pray to God Almighty, for +the sake of his Son, and your prayer will be heard and granted. Of any +other intercessor or advocate, angel, saint, or Virgin Mother; of any +other being to whom the invocations of the faithful should be offered, +Clement seems to have had no knowledge. Could this have been so, if +those who received the Gospel from the very fountain-head had been +accustomed to pray to those holy men who had finished their course on +earth, and were gone to their reward in heaven? Clement invites us to +contemplate Enoch, and Abraham, and David, and Elijah, and Job, with +many of their brethren in faith and holiness; he bids us look to them +with reverence and gratitude, but it is only to imitate their good +examples. He tells us to think of St. Paul and St. Peter and their +brethren in faith and holiness; but it is in order to listen to their +godly admonitions, and to follow them in all pious obedience to the will +of our heavenly Father, as they followed Christ. I must content myself +with a very few brief extracts from this Epistle[28]: + + [Footnote 28: I am induced to mention here that two Epistles, + ascribed to St. Clement, written in Arabic, and now appended to + Wetstein's Greek Testament (Amsterdam, 1751), are believed by + many to be genuine, whilst others say they are spurious. At all + events they are productions of the earliest times. The + manuscript was procured at Constantinople. I have examined the + Latin translation carefully, and in some points submitted my + doubts to a very learned Syriac scholar. The general subject is + the conduct of those who have professed celibacy, whilst of the + invocation of saints no trace whatever is to be found. The + passages most closely bearing on the point before us are to the + following effect: + + The writer urges Christians to be careful to maintain good + works, especially in the cause of charity, visiting the sick and + afflicted, praying with them, and praying for them, and + persevering always in prayer; asking and seeking of God in joy + and watchfulness, without hatred or malice. In the Lord's + husbandry, he says, it well becomes us to be good workmen, who + are like the Apostles, imitating the Father, the Son, and the + Holy Ghost, who are ever anxious for the salvation of men. + + "Therefore (he adds, at the close of the first of these + Epistles) let us look to and imitate those faithful ones, that + we may behave ourselves as is meet in the Lord. So shall we + serve the Lord, and please him, in righteousness and justice + without a stain. Finally, farewell in the Lord, and rejoice in + the Lord, all ye holy ones. Peace and joy be with you from God + the Father, by Jesus Christ our Lord."] {83} + +Ch. 21. "Take heed, beloved, lest the many loving-kindnesses of the Lord +prove our condemnation, if we do not live as is worthy of him, nor do +with one accord what is good and well-pleasing in his sight.... Let us +consider how nigh to us he is, and that nothing of our thoughts or +reasonings is concealed from him. Justice it is that we should not +become deserters from his will.... Let us venerate the Lord Jesus, whose +blood was given for us." + +Ch. 29. "Let us then approach him in holiness of soul, lifting up holy +and undefiled hands towards him; loving our merciful and tender Father +who hath made us a portion of his elect." {84} + +Ch. 36. "This is the way, beloved, in which we find Jesus Christ our +salvation, the chief-priest of our offerings, our protector, and the +succourer of our weakness. By him let us look stedfastly to the heights +of heaven; by him let us behold his most high and spotless face: by him +the eyes of our heart are opened; by him our ignorant and darkened minds +shoot forth into his marvellous light; by him the Supreme Governor +willed that we should taste immortal knowledge: who, being the +brightness of his magnificence, is so much greater than the angels, as +he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." + +Ch. 49. "He who hath love in Christ, let him keep the commandments of +Christ. Who can tell of the bond of the love of God? The greatness of +his goodness who can adequately express?... Love unites us to God.... By +love the Lord took us; by the love which he had for us Christ our Lord +gave his blood for us by the will of God, and his flesh for our flesh, +and his life for our lives." + +Ch. 56. "Let us pray for those who are in any transgression, that +meekness and humility may be granted to them; that they may submit, not +to us, but to the will of God; for thus to them will the remembrance +towards God and the saints, with mercies, be fruitful and perfect[29]." + + [Footnote 29: The original is obscure, and has been variously + rendered, [Greek: outos gar estai autois egkarpos kai teleia hae + pros ton theon kai tous hagious met oiktirmon mneia.] The Editor + refers his readers to Rom. xii. 13. "Distributing to the + necessity of saints." The received translation is this, "Sic + enim erit ipsis fructuosa et perfecta quae est apud Deum et + sanctos cum misericordia recordatio."] + +Ch. 58. "The all-seeing God, the Sovereign Ruler {85} of spirits, and +the Lord of all flesh, who hath chosen the Lord Jesus, and us through +him, to be a peculiar people; grant to every soul that calleth on his +glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, patience, long-suffering, +self-control, purity, and temperance, to the good pleasure of his name, +through our high-priest and protector Jesus Christ; through whom to him +be glory and majesty, dominion and honour, now and for ever and ever, +world without end. Amen." + + * * * * * + +SAINT IGNATIUS. + +This martyr to the truth as it is in Jesus sealed that truth with his +blood about seventy years after the death of our Lord. From Antioch in +Syria, of which place he was bishop, he was sent to the imperial city, +Rome; and there he ended his mortal career by a death which he had long +expected, and which he was prepared to meet not only with resignation to +the Divine will, but even with joy and gladness. His Epistles are +written with much of the florid colouring of Asiatic eloquence; but they +have all the raciness of originality, and they glow with that Christian +fervour and charity which compels us to love him as a father and a +friend, a father and friend in Christ. The remains of this apostolic +father I have carefully studied, with the single view of ascertaining +whether any vestige, however faint, might be traced in him of the +invocation of saints and angels; but I can find none. Neither here, nor +in the case of any of the apostolical fathers, whose remains we are +examining, have I contented myself with merely ascertaining that they +bear no direct and palpable evidence; I have always endeavoured to find, +and then thoroughly to sift, any expressions which might with {86} the +slightest plea of justification be urged in testimony of primitive +belief and practice sanctioning the invocation of saints. I find none. +Brethren of the Church of Rome, search diligently for yourselves; "I +speak as to wise men: Judge ye what I say." + +The remains of Ignatius offer to us many a passage on which a Christian +pastor would delight to dwell: but my province here is not to recommend +his works to the notice of Christians; I am only to report the result of +my inquiries touching the matter in question; and as bearing on that +question, the following extracts will not be deemed burdensome in this +place:-- + +In his Epistle to the Ephesians, exhorting Christians to united prayer, +he says, "For if the prayer of one or two possesses such strength, how +much more shall the prayer both of the bishop and of the whole Church?" +[Page 13. Sec. 5-7.] "For there is one physician of a corporeal and a +spiritual nature, begotten and not begotten; become God in the flesh, +true life in death, both from Mary and from God; first liable to +suffering, and then incapable of suffering." [In the majority of the +manuscripts the reading is, "in an immortal true life."] + +Here we must observe that these Epistles of Ignatius have come down to +us also in an interpolated form, abounding indeed with substitutions and +additions, but generally resembling paraphrases of the original text. Of +the general character of that supposititious work, two passages +corresponding with our quotations from the genuine productions of +Ignatius may give a sufficiently accurate idea. The first passage above +quoted is thus paraphrased: "For if the prayer of one or two possesses +{87} such strength that Christ stands among them, how much more shall +the prayer both of the bishop and of the whole Church, ascending with +one voice to God, induce him to grant all their requests made in Jesus +Christ?" [Page 47. c. 5.] The paraphrase of the second is more full: +"Our physician is the only true God, ungenerated and unapproachable; the +Lord of all things, but the Father and Generator of the only-begotten +Son. We have also as our physician our Lord God, Jesus Christ, who was +before the world, the only-begotten Son and the Word, but also +afterwards man of the Virgin Mary; 'for the Word was made flesh.' He who +was incorporeal, now in a body; he who could not suffer, now in a body +capable of suffering; he who was immortal in a mortal body, life in +corruption--in order that he might free our immortal souls from death +and corruption, and heal them, diseased with ungodliness and evil +desires as they were." [Page 48. c. 7.] + +It must here be observed, that though these are indisputably not the +genuine works of Ignatius, but were the productions of a later age, yet +no trace is to be found in them of the doctrine, or practice, of the +invocation of saints. In this point of view their testimony is nothing +more nor less than that of an anonymous paraphrast, who certainly had +many opportunities of referring to that doctrine and practice; but who +by his total silence seems to have been as ignorant of them as the +author himself whose works he is paraphrasing. + +To return to his genuine works: In his Epistle to the Magnesians we find +these expressions: "For as the Lord did nothing without the Father, +being one with {88} him, neither by himself, nor by his Apostles; so +neither do ye any thing without the bishop and priests, nor attempt to +make any thing appear reasonable to yourselves individually. But at one +place be there one prayer, and one supplication, one mind, one hope in +love, in blameless rejoicing: Jesus Christ is one; than which nothing is +better. All, then, throng as to one temple, as to one altar, as to one +Jesus Christ, who proceeded from one Father, and is in one, and returned +to one." [Page 19. Sec. 7.] Again he says, "Remember me in your prayers, +that I may attain to God. I am in need of your united prayer in God, and +of your love." + +In his Epistle to the Trallians, he expresses himself in words to which +no Anglican Catholic would hesitate to respond: "Ye ought to comfort the +bishop, to the honour of God, and of Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles." +[Page 25. Sec. 12.] He speaks in this Epistle with humility and reverence +of the powers and hosts of heaven; but he makes no allusion to any +religious worship or invocation of them. + +The following extract is from his Epistle to the Philadelphians: "My +brethren, I am altogether poured forth in love for you; and in exceeding +joy I make you secure; yet not I, but Jesus Christ, bound in whom I am +the more afraid, as being already seized[30]; but your prayer to God +will perfect me, that I may obtain the lot mercifully assigned to me. +Betaking myself to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus, and to the +Apostles as the presbytery of the Church; let us also love the prophets, +because they also have proclaimed the Gospel, and hoped in him, and +waited for him; in whom also {89} trusting, they were saved in the unity +of Jesus Christ, being holy ones worthy of love and admiration, who have +received testimony from Jesus Christ, and are numbered together in the +Gospel of our common hope." [Page 32. Sec. 5.] + + [Footnote 30: This clause is very obscure, and perhaps + imperfect.] + +I am induced to add the paraphrase on this passage also. "My brethren, I +am very much poured out in loving you, and with exceeding joy I make you +secure; not I, but by me, Jesus Christ, in whom bound I am the more +afraid. For I am yet not perfected, but your prayer to God will perfect +me; so that I may obtain that to which I was called, flying to the +Gospel as the flesh of Jesus Christ, and to the Apostles as the +presbytery of the Church. And the prophets also I love, as persons who +announce Christ, as partaking of the same spirit with the Apostles. For +just as the false prophets and false apostles have drawn one and the +same wicked and deceitful and seducing spirit, so also the prophets and +the apostles, one and the same holy spirit, good, leading, true, and +instructing. For one is the God of the Old and the New Testament. One is +Mediator between God and man, for the production of the creatures endued +with reason and perception, and for the provision of what is useful, and +adapted to them: and one is the Comforter who wrought in Moses and the +prophets and the apostles. All the saints therefore were saved in +Christ, hoping in him, and waiting for him; and through him they +obtained salvation, being saints worthy of love and of admiration, +having obtained a testimony from Jesus Christ in the Gospel of our +common hope." [Page 81. Sec. 5.] + +In his Epistle to the Romans he speaks to them of his own prayer to God, +and repeatedly implores them {90} to pray for him. "Pray to Christ for +me, that by these instruments [the teeth of the wild beasts] I may +become a sacrifice of God. I do not, as Peter and Paul, command you: +they were Apostles, I am a condemned man. They were free; but I am still +a servant. Yet if I suffer, I shall become the freedman of Jesus Christ, +and shall rise again free: and now in my bonds I learn to covet +nothing." [Page 28. Sec. 4.] Again he says, "Remember the Church in Syria +in your prayers." [Page 30. Sec. 9.] He prays for his fellow-labourers in +the Lord: he implores them to approach the throne of grace with +supplications for mercy on his own soul. Of prayer to saint or angel he +says nothing. Of any invocation offered to them by himself or his +fellow-believers, Ignatius appears entirely ignorant. + + * * * * * + +SAINT POLYCARP. + +The only remaining name among those, whom the Church has reverenced as +apostolical fathers, is the venerable Polycarp. He suffered martyrdom by +fire, at a very advanced age, in Smyrna, about one hundred and thirty +years after his Saviour's death. Of Polycarp, the apostolical bishop of +the Catholic Church of Smyrna, only one Epistle has survived. It is +addressed to the Philippians. In it he speaks to his brother Christians +of prayer, constant, incessant prayer; but the prayer of which he speaks +is supplication addressed only to God [31]. He marks out for our +imitation the good example of St. Paul and the other Apostles; assuring +us that they had not run in vain, {91} but were gone to the place +prepared for them by the Lord, as the reward of their labours. But not +one word does he utter bearing upon the invocation of saints in prayer; +he makes no allusion to the Virgin Mary. + + [Footnote 31: [Greek: deaesesin aitoumenoi ton pantepoptaen + Theon]. Sect. 7.] + +Before we close our examination of the recorded sentiments of the +apostolical fathers on the immediate subject of our inquiry, we must +refer, though briefly, to the Epistle generally received as the genuine +letter from the Church of Smyrna to the neighbouring Churches, narrating +the martyrdom of Polycarp. It belongs, perhaps, more strictly to this +place than to the remains of Eusebius, because, together with the +sentiments of his contemporaries who witnessed his death and dictated +the letter, it purports to contain the very words of the martyr himself +in the last prayer which he ever offered upon earth. With some +variations from the copy generally circulated, this letter is preserved +in the works of Eusebius. [Euseb. Paris, 1628, dedicated to the +Archbishop by Franciscus Vigerus.] On the subject of our present +research the evidence of this letter is not merely negative. So far from +countenancing any invocation of saint or martyr, it contains a +remarkable and very interesting passage, the plain common-sense +rendering of which bears decidedly against all exaltation of mortals +into objects of religious worship. The letter, however, is too well +known to need any further preliminary remarks; and we must content +ourselves with such references and extracts as may appear to bear most +directly on our subject. + +"The Church of God, which is in Smyrna, to the Church in Philomela, and +to all the branches [Greek: paroikais] {92} of the holy Catholic Church +dwelling in any place, mercy, peace, and love of God the Father, and our +Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied." [Book i. Hist. iv. c. xv. p. 163.] + +"The Proconsul, in astonishment, caused it to be proclaimed thrice, +Polycarp has confessed himself to be a Christian. On this they all +shouted, that the Proconsul should let a lion loose on Polycarp. But the +games were over, and that could not be done: they then with one accord +insisted on his being burnt alive." + +Polycarp, before his death, offered this prayer, or rather perhaps we +should call it this thanksgiving, to God for his mercy in thus deeming +him worthy to suffer death for the truth, "Father of thy beloved and +blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received our knowledge +concerning thee, the God of angels and power, and of the whole creation, +and of the whole family of the just, who live before thee; I bless thee +because thou hast deemed me worthy of this day and this hour to receive +my portion among the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Christ, to the +resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruption of the Holy +Ghost; among whom may I be received before thee this day in a rich and +acceptable sacrifice, even as thou, the true God, who canst not lie, +foreshowing and fulfilling, hast beforehand prepared. For this, and for +all I praise thee, I bless thee; I glorify thee, through the eternal +high-priest Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, through whom to thee, with him +in the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and for future ages. Amen." + +(I cannot help suggesting a comparison between the prayer of this +primitive martyr bound to the stake, with the prayer of Thomas Becket, +of Canterbury, as stated in the ancient services for his day, when he +was murdered in his own cathedral, to which we shall hereafter refer at +length. The comparison will impress us with the difference between +religion and superstition, between the purity of primitive Christian +worship, and the unhappy corruptions of a degenerate age. "To God and +the Blessed Mary, and Saint Dionysius, and the holy patrons of this +Church, I commend myself and the Church.") {93} + +After his death, the narrative proceeds, "But the envious adversary of +the just observed the honour put upon the greatness of his testimony, +[or of his martyrdom [Greek: to megethos autou taes marturias],] and his +blameless life from the first, and knowing that he was now crowned with +immortality, and the prize of undoubted victory, resisted, though many +of us desired to take his body, and have fellowship with his holy flesh. +Some then suggested to Nicetes, the father of Herod, and brother of +Dalce, to entreat the governor not to give his body, 'Lest,' said he, +'leaving the crucified One they should begin to worship this man [Greek: +sebein];' and this they said at the suggestion and importunity of the +Jews, who also watched us when we would take the body from the fire. +This they did, not knowing that we can never either leave Christ, who +suffered for the salvation of all who will be saved in all the world, or +worship any other." [The Paris translation adds "ut Deum."] "For him +being the Son of God we worship [Greek: proskunumen], but the martyrs, +as disciples and imitators of our Lord, we worthily love[32], because of +their pre-eminent [Greek: anuperblaeton] good-will towards their {94} +own king and teacher, with whom may we become partakers and +fellow-disciples." + + [Footnote 32: [Greek: axios agapomen]. Ruffinus translates it by + "diligimus et veneramur," and it is so quoted by Bellarmin.] + +"The centurion, seeing the determination of the Jews, placed him in the +midst, and burnt him as their manner is. And thus we collecting his +bones, more valuable than precious stones, and more esteemed than gold, +we deposited them where it was meet. There, as we are able, collecting +ourselves together in rejoicing and gladness, the Lord will grant to us +to observe the birth-day of his martyrdom, for the remembrance of those +who have before undergone the conflict, and for exercise and preparation +of those who are to come." [Greek: hos dunaton haemin sunagomenois en +agalliasei kai chara parexei ho Kurios epitelein taen tou martyriou +autou haemeran genethlion, eis te ton proaethlaekoton mnaemaen, kai ton +mellonton askaesin te kai hetoimasian.] + +In this relic of primitive antiquity, we have the prayer of a holy +martyr, at his last hour, offered to God alone, through Christ alone. +Here we find no allusion to any other intercessor; no commending of the +dying Christian's soul to saint or angel. Here also we find an explicit +declaration, that Christians offered religious worship to no one but +Christ, whilst they loved the martyrs, and kept their names in grateful +remembrance, and honoured even their ashes when the spirit had fled. +Polycarp pleads no other merits; he seeks no intercession; he prays for +no aid, save only his Redeemer's. Here too we find, that the place of a +martyr's burial was the place which the early Christians loved to +frequent; but then we are expressly told with what intent they met +there,--not, as in later times, to invoke the departed spirit of the +martyr, but to call to mind, in grateful remembrance, the sufferings of +those who had already endured the awful struggle; and by {95} their +example to encourage and prepare other soldiers of the cross thereafter +to fight the good fight of faith; assured that they would be more than +conquerors through Him who loved them. + + * * * * * + +We have now examined those works which are regarded by us all, whether +of the Roman or Anglican Church, as the remains of apostolical +fathers,--Christians who, at the very lowest calculation, lived close +upon the Apostles' time, and who, according to the firm conviction of +many, had all of them conversed with the Apostles, and heard the word of +truth from their mouths. I do from my heart rejoice with you, that these +holy men bear direct, clear, and irrefragable testimony to those +fundamental truths which the Church of Rome and the Church of England +both hold inviolate--the doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity, with its +essential and inseparable concomitants, the atonement by the blood of a +crucified Redeemer, and the vivifying and sanctifying influences of the +Holy Spirit. + +Supposing for a moment no trace of such fundamental doctrines could be +discovered in these writings, would not the absence of such vestige have +been urged by those who differ from us, as a strong argument that the +doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity was an innovation of a later date; +and would not such an argument have been urged with reason? How, in +plain honesty, can we avoid coming to the same conclusion on the subject +of the invocation of saints? If the doctrine and the practice of praying +to saints, or to angels, for their succour, or even their intercession, +had been known {96} and recognised, and approved and acted upon by the +Apostles, and those who were the very disciples of the Apostles, not +only deriving the truth from their written works, but having heard it +from their own living tongue,--in the nature of things would not some +plain, palpable, intelligible, and unequivocal indications of it have +appeared in such writings as these; writings in which much is said of +prayer, of intercessory prayer, of the one object of prayer, of the +subjects of prayer, of the nature of prayer, the time and place of +prayer, the spirit in which we are to offer prayer, and the persons for +whom we ought to pray? Does it accord with common sense, and common +experience, with what we should expect in other cases, with the analogy +of history, and the analogy of faith, that we should find a profound and +total silence on the subject of any prayer or invocation to saints and +angels, if prayer or invocation of saints and angels had been +recognised, approved, and practised by the primitive Church? + +At the risk of repetition, or surplusage, I would beg to call your +attention to one point in this argument. I am far from saying that no +practice is apostolical which cannot be proved from the writings of +these apostolical fathers: that would be a fallacy of an opposite kind. +I ground my inference specifically and directly on the fact, that these +writers are full, and copious, and explicit, and cogent on the nature +and duty of prayer and supplications, as well for public as for private +blessings; and of intercessions by one Christian for another, and for +the whole race of mankind no less than for mercy on himself; and yet +though openings of every kind palpably offered themselves for a natural +introduction of the subject, there is in no one single instance any +reference or allusion to the {97} invocation of saint or angel, as a +practice either approved or even known. + +When indeed I call to mind the general tendency of the natural man to +multiply to himself the objects of religious worship, and to create, by +the help of superstition, and the delusive workings of the imagination, +a variety of unearthly beings whose wrath he must appease, or whose +favour he may conciliate; when I reflect how great is the temptation in +unenlightened or fraudulent teachers to accommodate the dictates of +truth to the prejudices and desires of those whom they instruct, my +wonder is rather that Christianity was so long preserved pure and +uncontaminated in this respect, than that corruptions should gradually +and stealthily have mingled themselves with the simplicity of Gospel +worship. That tendency is plainly evinced by the history of every nation +under heaven: Greek and Barbarian, Egyptian and Scythian, would have +their gods many, and their lords many. From one they would look for one +good; on another they would depend for a different benefit, in mind, +body, and estate. Some were of the highest grade, and to be worshipped +with supreme honours; others were of a lower rank, to whom an inferior +homage was addressed; whilst a third class held a sort of middle place, +and were approached with reverence as much above the least, as it fell +short of the greatest. In the heathen world you will find exact types of +the dulia, the hyperdulia, and the latria, with which unhappily the +practical theology of modern Christian Rome is burdened. Indeed, my +wonder is, that under the Christian dispensation, when the household and +local gods, the heathen's tutelary deities, and the genii, had been +dislodged by the light of the Gospel, saints and angels had not at a +much {98} earlier period been forced by superstition to occupy their +room. + +We shall be led to refer to some passages in the earliest Christian +writers, especially in Origen, which bear immediately on this point, +representing in strong but true colours the futility of deeming a +multitude of inferior divinities necessary for the dispensation of +benefits throughout the universe, whose good offices we must secure by +acts of attention and worship. I anticipate the circumstance in this +place merely to show that the tendency of the human mind, clinging to a +variety of preternatural protectors and benefactors, was among the +obstacles with which the first preachers of the Gospel had to struggle. +In the proper place I shall beg you to observe how hardly possible it +would have been for those early Christian writers, to whom I have +referred above, to express themselves in so strong, so sweeping, and so +unqualified a manner, had the practice of applying by invocation to +saints and angels then been prevalent among the disciples of the Cross. + +We may, I believe, safely conclude, that in these primitive writings, +which are called the works of the Apostolical Fathers, there is no +intimation that the present belief and practice of the Church of Rome +were received, or even known by Christians. The evidence is all the +other way. Indeed, Bellarmin, though he appeals to these remains for +other purposes, and boldly asserts that "all the fathers, Greek and +Latin, with unanimous consent, sanction and teach the adoration of +saints and angels," yet does not refer to a single passage in any one of +these remains for establishing this point. He cites a clause from the +spurious work strangely ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, which was +the forged production, as the learned are all {99} agreed, of some +centuries later; and he cites a pious sentiment of Ignatius, expressing +his hope that by martyrdom he might go to Christ, and thence he infers +that Ignatius believed in the immediate transfer of the soul from this +life to glory and happiness in heaven, though Ignatius refers there +distinctly to the resurrection. [Epist. ad Rom. c. iv. See above, p. +90.] But Bellarmin cites no passage whatever from these remains to +countenance the doctrine and practice of the adoration of saints and +angels. {100} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SECTION I.--THE EVIDENCE OF JUSTIN MARTYR. + + +Justin, who flourished about the year 150, was trained from his early +youth in all the learning of Greece and of Egypt. He was born in +Palestine, of heathen parents; and after a patient examination of the +evidences of Christianity, and a close comparison of them with the +systems of philosophy with which he had long been familiar, he became a +disciple of the Cross. In those systems he found nothing solid, or +satisfactory; nothing on which his mind could rest. In the Gospel he +gained all that his soul yearned for, as a being destined for immortal +life, conscious of that destiny, and longing for its accomplishment. His +understanding was convinced, and his heart was touched; and regardless +of every worldly consideration, and devoted to the cause of truth, he +openly embraced Christianity; and before kings and people, Jews and +Gentiles, he pleaded the religion of the crucified One with unquenchable +zeal and astonishing power. The evidence of such a man on any doctrine +{101} connected with our Christian faith must be looked to with great +interest. + +In the volumes which contain Justin's works we find "Books of +Questions," in which many inquiries, doubts, and objections, as well of +Jews as of Gentiles, are stated and answered. It is agreed on all sides +that these are not the genuine productions of Justin, but the work of a +later hand. Bellarmin appeals to them, acknowledging at the same time +their less remote origin. The evidence, indeed, appears very strong, +which would lead us to regard them as the composition of a Syrian +Christian, and assign to them the date of the fifth century; and as +offering indications of the opinions of Christians at the time of their +being put together, they are certainly interesting documents. When +fairly quoted, the passages alleged in defence of the invocation of +saints, so far from countenancing the practice, assail irresistibly that +principle, which, with other writers, Bellarmin himself confesses to be +the foundation of that doctrine. For these Books of Questions assert +that the souls of the faithful are not yet in glory with God, but are +reserved in a separate state, apart from the wicked, awaiting the great +day of final and universal doom. In answer to Question 60, the author +distinctly says:--"Before the resurrection the recompense is not made +for the things done in this life by each individual." [Quaestiones et +Responsiones ad Orthodoxos, p. 464.] + +In reply to the 75th Question, inquiring into the condition of man after +death, this very remarkable answer is returned:-- + +"The same relative condition which souls have with the body now, they +have not after the departure from the body. For here all the +circumstances of the union {102} are in common to the just and the +unjust, and no difference is in them in this respect,--as to be born and +to die, to be in health and to be in sickness, to be rich and to be +poor, and the other points of this nature. But after the departure from +the body, forthwith takes place the distinction of the just and the +unjust: for they are conducted by the angels to places corresponding +with their deserts: the souls of the just to paradise, where is the +company and the sight of angels and archangels, and also, by vision, of +the Saviour Christ, according to what is said, 'Being absent from the +body, and present with the Lord;' and the souls of the unjust to the +places in hades, according to what is said of Nebucodonosor king of +Babylon, 'Hades from beneath hath been embittered, meeting thee.'--And +in the places corresponding with their deserts they are kept in ward +unto the day of the resurrection and of retribution." [Page 469.] + +I much regret to observe that Bellarmin omits to quote the latter part +of this passage, stopping short with an "&c." at the words _hades_, or +_inferorum loca_, although the whole of the writer's testimony in it +turns upon the very last clause. [Bellarmin, c. iv. p. 851. "Improborum +autem ad inferorum loca."] + +The next question (76) runs thus: "If the retribution of our deeds does +not take place before the resurrection, what advantage accrued to the +thief that his soul was introduced into paradise; especially since +paradise is an object of sense, and the substance of the soul is not an +object of sense? + +"Answer. It was an advantage to the thief entering into paradise to +learn by fact the benefits of the faith by which he was deemed worthy of +the assembly of the {103} saints, in which he is kept till the day of +judgment and restitution; and he has the perception of paradise by that +which is called intellectual perception, by which souls see both +themselves and the things under them, and moreover also the angels and +demons. For a soul doth not perceive or see a soul, nor an angel an +angel, nor a demon a demon; except that according to the said +intellectual perception they see both themselves and each other, and +moreover also all corporeal objects." [Page 470.] + +On this same point I must here subjoin a passage from one of Justin's +own undisputed works. In his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, sect. 5, he +says, "Nevertheless I do not say that souls all die; for that were in +truth a boon to the wicked. But what? That the souls of the pious remain +somewhere in a better place, and the unjust and wicked in a worse, +waiting for the time of judgment, when it shall be: thus the one +appearing worthy of God do not die any more; and the others are punished +as long as God wills them both to exist and to be punished." [Page 107.] + +Not only so; Justin classes among renouncers of the faith those who +maintain the doctrine which is now acknowledged to be the doctrine of +the Church of Rome, and to be indispensable as the groundwork of the +adoration of saints. In his Trypho, sect. 80, he states his sentiment +thus strongly: "If you should meet with any persons called Christians, +who confess not this, but dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham, the God +of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and say there is no resurrection of the +dead ([Greek: nekron]), but that their souls, at the very time of their +death, are taken up into heaven; do not regard them as Christians." +[Page 178.] {104} + +This, according to Bellarmin's own principle, is fatal evidence: if the +redeemed and the saints departed are not in glory with God already, they +cannot intercede with him for men. On the subject, however, of worship +and prayer, Justin Martyr has left us some testimonies as to the +primitive practice, full of interest in themselves, independently of +their bearing on the points at issue. At the same time I am not aware of +a single expression which can be so construed as to imply the doctrine +or practice among Christians of invoking the souls of the faithful. He +speaks of public and private prayer; he offers prayer, but the prayer of +which he speaks, and the prayer which he offers are to God alone; and he +alludes to no advocate or intercessor in heaven, except only the eternal +Son of God himself. In his first Apologia (or Defence addressed to the +Emperor Antoninus Pius) he thus describes the proceedings at the baptism +of a convert:-- + +"Now, we will explain to you how we dedicate ourselves to God, being +made new by Christ.... As many as are persuaded, and believe the things +which by us are taught and declared to be true, and who promise that +they can so live, are taught to pray and implore, with fasting, +forgiveness of God for their former sins, we ourselves joining with them +in fasting and prayer; and then they are taken by us to a place where +there is water, and by the same manner of regeneration as we ourselves +were regenerated, they are regenerated; for they undergo this washing in +the water in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our +Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost." [Apol. i. sect 61, page +79.] + +The following is his description of the Christian {105} Eucharist, +subsequently to the baptism of a convert: "Afterwards we conduct him to +those who are called brethren, where they are assembled together to +offer earnestly our united prayers for ourselves and for the enlightened +one [the newly baptized convert], and for all others every where, that +we, having learned the truth, may be thought worthy to be found in our +deeds good livers, and keepers of the commandments, that we may be saved +with the everlasting salvation. Having ceased from prayers, we salute +each other with a kiss; and then bread is brought to him who presides +over the brethren, and a cup of water and wine; and he taking it, sends +up prayer and praise to the Father of all, through the name of the Son +and the Holy Spirit; and offers much thanksgiving for our being thought +by him worthy of these things. When he has finished the prayers and +thanksgivings, all the people present respond, saying, 'Amen.' Now, Amen +in the Hebrew tongue means, 'So be it.' And when the presider has given +thanks, and all the people have responded, those who are called Deacons +among us give to every one present to partake of the bread and wine and +water that has been blessed, and take some away for those who were not +present." [Sect. 65. p. 82.] + +The following is Justin's account of their worship on the Lord's day: +"In all our oblations we bless the Creator of all things, through his +Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. And upon the day called +Sunday, there is an assembly of all who dwell in the several cities or +in the country, in one place where the records of the apostles, or the +writings of the prophets are read, as time allows. When the reader has +ceased, {106} the presider makes a discourse for the edification of the +people, and to animate them to the practice of such excellent things [or +the imitation of such excellent persons]. At the conclusion we all rise +up together and pray; and, as we have said, when we have ceased from +prayer, the bread and wine and water are brought forward, and the +presider sends up prayer and thanksgiving alike, to the utmost of his +power. And the people respond, saying, Amen. And then is made to each +the distribution and participation of the consecrated elements ([Greek: +eucharistauthenton]). And of those who have the means and will, each +according to his disposition gives what he will; and the collected sum +is deposited with the presider, and he aids the orphans and widows, and +those who through sickness or other cause are in need, and those in +bonds, and strangers; and, in a word, he becomes the reliever of all who +are in want." [Sect. 67. p. 83.] + + * * * * * + +In Justin Martyr I am unable to find even a single vestige of the +invocation of Saints. With regard to Angels, however, there is a very +celebrated passage, to which Bellarmin and others appeal, as conclusive +evidence that the worship of them prevailed among Christians in his +time, and was professed by Justin himself. + +Justin, in his first Apology, having stated that the Christians could +never be induced to worship the demons, whom the heathen worshipped and +invoked, proceeds thus[33]: "Whence also we are called Atheists, {107} +[men without God]; and we confess that with regard to such supposed gods +we are atheists, but not so with regard to the most true God, the Father +of justice and temperance, and of the other virtues without any mixture +of evil. But both HIM and the SON, who came from Him, and taught these +things to us, and THE HOST OF THE OTHER GOOD ANGELS ACCOMPANYING AND +MADE LIKE, and THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT, we reverence and worship, honouring +them in reason and truth; and without grudging, delivering the doctrine +to every one who is willing to learn as we were taught." [Page 47.] +Governing the words "the host of the other good angels," as much as the +words "Him" and "His Son," and "the prophetic Spirit," by the verbs "we +reverence and worship," Bellarmin and others[34] maintain, that Justin +bears testimony in this passage to the worship of angels. That this +cannot be the true interpretation of Justin's words will be +acknowledged, I think, by every Catholic, whether Anglican or Roman, +when he contemplates it in all its naked plainness; all will revolt from +it as impious and contrary to the principles professed by the most +celebrated and honoured among Roman Catholic writers. This +interpretation of the passage, when analysed, implies the awful thought, +that we Christians pay to the host of angels, God's ministers and our +own fellow-servants, the same reverence, worship, and honour which we +pay to the supreme Father, and his ever-blessed Son, and the Holy +Spirit, without any difference or inequality. No principles of +interpretation can avoid that inference. + + [Footnote 33: The genuineness of this passage has been doubted. + But I see no ground for suspicion that it is spurious. It is + found in the manuscripts of Justin's works; of which the most + ancient perhaps are in the King's Library in Paris. I examined + one there of a remote date.] + + [Footnote 34: The Benedictine Editor puts this note in the + margin, "Justin teaches that angels following the Son are + worshipped by Christians."--Preface, p. xxi.] {108} + +"Him the most true Father of righteousness we reverence and worship, +honouring him in reason and truth." + +"The Son who came from him, and taught us these things, we reverence and +worship, honouring him in reason and truth." + +"The army of the other good angels accompanying and assimilated, we +reverence and worship, honouring them in reason and truth." + +"The Prophetic Spirit we reverence and worship, honouring him in reason +and truth." + +Is it possible to conceive that any Christian would thus ascribe the +same religious worship to a host of God's creatures, which he would +ascribe to God, as GOD? "We are accused," said Justin, "of being +atheists, of having no God. How can this be? We do not worship your +false gods, but we have our own most true God. We are not without a God. +We have the Father, and the Son, and the Good Angels, and the Holy +Spirit." If Justin meant that they honoured the good angels, but not as +GOD, that would be no answer to those who called the Christians +atheists. The charge was, that "they had no God." The answer is, "We +have a God;" and then Justin describes the God of Christians. Can the +army of angels be included in that description? If they are, then they +are made to share in the adoration, worship, homage, and reverence of +the one only God Most High; if they are not, then Justin does not answer +the objectors[35]. + + [Footnote 35: And surely if Justin had intended to represent the + holy angels as objects of religious worship, he would not so + violently have thrust the mention of them among the Persons of + the ever-blessed Trinity, assigning to them a place between the + second and third Persons of the eternal hypostatic union.] {109} + +To evade this charge of impiety, some writers (among others, M. Maran, +the Benedictine editor of Justin,) have attempted to draw a distinction +between the two verbs in this passage, alleging that the lower degree of +reverence expressed by the latter applies to the angels; whilst the +former verb, implying the higher degree of worship, alone relates to the +Godhead. But this distinction rests on a false assumption; the two words +being used equally to convey the idea, of the highest religious +worship[36]. + + [Footnote 36: For example, the first word ([Greek: sebometha]), + "we reverence," is used to mean the whole of religious worship, + as well with regard to the true God, as with reference to Diana + [Acts xviii. 7. 13; xix. 27.]; whilst the second word ([Greek: + proskunoumen]), "we worship," is constantly employed in the same + sense of divine worship, throughout the Septuagint [Exod. xxxiv. + 14. Ps. xciv. (xcv.) 6. I Sam. (1 Kings) xv. 25. 2 Kings (4 + Kings) xvii. 36. Heb. i. 6.], (with which Justin was most + familiar,) and is used in the Epistle to the Hebrews to signify + the worship due from the angels themselves to God, "Let all the + angels of God worship him." The very same word is also soon + after employed by Justin himself (sect. xvi. p. 53) to mean the + whole entire worship of the Most High God: "That we ought to + worship ([Greek: proskumein]) God alone, Christ thus proves," + &c. Moreover, the word which Justin uses at the close of the + sentence, "honouring them" ([Greek: timontes]), is the identical + word four times employed by St. John [John v. 23.], in the same + verse, to record our Saviour's saying, "That all men might + honour the Son, even as they honour the Father; he that + honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent + him."] + +But in determining the true meaning of an obscure passage, grammatically +susceptible of different acceptations, the author himself is often his +own best interpreter. If he has expressed in another place the same +leading sentiment, yet without the same obscurity, and free from all +doubt, the light borrowed from that passage {110} will frequently fix +the sense of the ambiguous expression, and establish the author's +consistency. On this acknowledged principle of criticism, I would call +your attention to a passage in the very same treatise of Justin, a few +pages further on, in which he again defends the Christians against the +same charge of being atheists, and on the self-same ground, "that they +worship the Father who is maker of all; secondly, the Son proceeding +from Him; and thirdly, the Holy Spirit." In both cases he refers to the +same attributes of the Son as the teacher of Christian truth, and of the +Holy Ghost, as the Prophetic Spirit. His language throughout the two +passages is remarkably similar, and in the expressions on the true +meaning of which we have already dwelt, it is most strikingly identical; +but by omitting all allusion to the angels after the Son, his own words +proving that the introduction of them could have no place there, (for he +specifies that the third in order was the Holy Spirit,) Justin has left +us a comment on the passage under consideration conclusive as to the +object of religious worship in his creed. The whole passage is well +worth the attention of the reader. The following extracts are the only +parts necessary for our present purpose:-- + +"Who of sound mind will not confess that we are not Atheists, +reverencing as we do the Maker of the Universe.... and Him, who taught +us these things, and who was born for this purpose, Jesus Christ, +crucified under Pontius Pilate.... instructed, as we are, that He is the +Son of the True God, and holding Him in the second place; and the +Prophetic Spirit in the third order, we with reason honour." [Sect. +xiii. p. 50.] {111} + +The impiety apparently inseparable from Bellarmin's interpretation has +induced many, even among Roman Catholic writers, to discard that +acceptation altogether, and to substitute others, which, though +involving no grammatical inaccuracy, are still not free from +difficulty.[37] After weighing the passage with all the means in my +power, and after testing the various interpretations offered by writers, +whether of the Church of Rome or not, by the sentiments of Justin +himself, and others of the same early age, I am fully persuaded that the +following is the only true rendering of Justin's words: + +"Honouring in reason and truth, we reverence and worship HIM, the Father +of Righteousness, and the Son (who proceeded from Him, and instructed in +these things both ourselves and the host of the other good angels +following Him and being made like unto Him), and the Prophetic Spirit." + + [Footnote 37: Le Nourry (Apparatus ad Bibliothecam Maximam + Veterum Patrum. Paris, 1697. vol. ii. p. 305), himself a + Benedictine, rejects Bellarmin's and his brother Benedictine + Maran's interpretation, and conceives Justin to mean, that the + Son of God not only taught us those truths to which he was + referring, with regard to the being and attributes of God, but + also taught us that there were hosts of spiritual beings, called + Angels; good beings, opposed to the demons of paganism. Bishop + Kaye, in his excellent work on Justin Martyr, which the reader + will do well to consult (p. 53), tells us he was sometimes + inclined to think that Justin referred to the host of good + angels who should surround the Son of God when he should come to + judge the world. The view adopted by myself here was recommended + by Grabe and by Langus, called The Interpreter of Justin; whilst + Petavius, a Jesuit, though he does not adopt it, yet + acknowledges that the Greek admits of our interpretation. Any + one who would pursue the subject further may with advantage + consult the preface to the Benedictine edition referred to in + this work. Lumper Hist. Part ii. p. 225. Augustae Vindelicorum, + 1784. Petavius, Theologicorum Dogmatum tom. vi. p. 298. lib. xv. + c. v. s. 5. Antwerp, 1700. + + The whole passage is thus rendered by Langus (as read in + Lumper), "Verum hunc ipsum, et qui ab eo venit, atque ista nos + et aliorum obsequentium exaequatorumque ad ejus voluntatem + bonorum Angelorum exercitura docuit, Filium, et Spiritum ejus + propheticum, colimus et adoramus."] + +This interpretation is strongly confirmed by the professed sentiments +both of Justin and of his contemporaries, {112} with regard to the Son +of God and the holy angels. + +It was a principle generally received among the early Christians, that +whatever the Almighty did, either by creation or by the communication of +his will, on earth or in heaven, was done by the Eternal Word. It was +God the Son, the Logos, who created the angels[38], as well as +ourselves; it was He who spoke to Moses, to Abraham, and to Lot; and it +was He who conveyed the Supreme will, and the knowledge of the only true +God, to the inhabitants of the world of spirits. Agreeably to this +principle, in the passage under consideration, Justin affirms (not that +Christians revered and worshipped the angels, but), that God the Son, +whom Christians worshipped as the eternal Prophet, Angel, and Apostle, +of the Most High, instructed not only us men on earth, but also the host +of heavenly angels[39], in these eternal verities, {113} which embrace +God's nature and the duty of his creatures. [Trypho, Sec. 141. p. 231.] + + [Footnote 38: Thus Tatian (p. 249 in the same edition of + Justin), "Before men were prepared, the Word was the Maker of + angels."] + + [Footnote 39: "The OTHER good angels." Justin (Apol. i. sect. + lxiii. p. 81.) reminds us that Christ, the first-begotten of the + Father, Himself God, was also an Angel (or Messenger), and an + Apostle; and here Christ, as the Angel of the Covenant and the + chief Apostle, is represented as instructing THE OTHER ANGELS in + the truths of the economy of grace, just as he instructed his + Apostles on earth,--"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I + you."] + +It is evident that Justin himself considered the host of angels to be +equally with ourselves in a state of probation, requiring divine +instruction, and partaking of it. It is also evident that many of his +contemporaries entertained the same views; among others, Irenaeus and +Origen. [Irenaeus, book ii. c. 30. p. 163. Origen, Hom. xxxii. in Joann. +Sec. 10. vol. iv. p. 430.] I will not swell this dissertation by quoting +the passages at length; though the passages referred to in the margin +will well repay any one's careful examination. But I cannot refrain from +extracting the words in which each of those writers confirms the view +here taken of Justin's sentiments. + +Irenaeus, for example, says distinctly, "The Son ever, anciently and from +the beginning co-existing with the Father, always reveals the Father +both to angels and archangels, and powers, and excellencies, and to all +to whom God wishes to make a revelation[40]." And not less distinctly +does Origen assert the same thing,--"Our Saviour therefore teaches, and +the Holy Spirit, {114} who spake in the prophets, teaches not only men, +but also angels and invisible excellencies." + + [Footnote 40: So far did some of the early Christians include + the hosts of angels within the covenant of the Gospel, that + Ignatius (Epist. ad Smyrn. Sec. 6. p. 36.) does not hesitate to + pronounce that the angels incur the Divine judgment, if they do + not receive the doctrine of the atonement: "Let no one be + deceived. The things in heaven, and the glory of angels, and the + powers visible and invisible, if they do not believe on the + blood of Christ--for them is judgment." They seem to have + founded their opinion on the declaration of St. Paul (Eph. iii. + 10): "That now to the principalities and powers in heavenly + places might be made known through the Church the manifold + wisdom of God."] + +I will only add one more ancient authority, in confirmation of the view +here taken of Justin's words. The passage is from Athenagoras[41] and +seems to be the exact counterpart of Justin's paragraph. + + [Footnote 41: Athenagoras presented his defence, in which these + words occur, to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and his son + Commodus, in the year 177.] + +"Who would not wonder on hearing us called Atheists? we who call the +Father God, and the Son God, and the Holy Ghost, showing both their +power in the unity, and their distinction in order. Nor does our +theology rest here; but we say, moreover, that there is a multitude of +angels and ministers whom God, the Maker and Creator of the world, BY +THE WORD PROCEEDING FROM HIM, distributed and appointed, both about the +elements, and the heavens, and the world, and the things therein, and +the good order thereof." [Sect. 10. p. 287. edit. Just. Mart.] + +I have already stated my inability to discover a single word in Justin +Martyr which could be brought to sanction the invocation of saints; but +his testimony is far from being merely negative. He admonishes us +strongly against our looking to any other being for help or assistance, +than to God only. Even when speaking of those who confide in their own +strength, and fortune, and other sources of good, he says, in perfect +unison with the pervading principles and associations of his whole mind, +as far as we can read them in his works, without any modification or any +exception in favour of saint or angel: "In that Christ {115} said, 'Thou +art my God, go not far from me,' He at the same time taught, that all +persons ought to hope in God, who made all things, and seek for safety +and health from Him alone" [Trypho, Sec. 102, p. 197.] + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II.--IRENAEUS. + + +Justin sealed his faith by his blood about the year 165; and next to +him, in the noble army of martyrs, we must examine the evidence of +Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons. Of this writer's works a very small proportion +survives in the original Greek; but that little is such as might well +make every scholar and divine lament the calamity which theology and +literature have sustained by the loss of the author's own language. It +is not perhaps beyond the range of hope that future researches may yet +recover at least some part of the treasure. Meanwhile we must avail +ourselves with thankfulness of the nervous though inelegant copy of that +original, which the Latin translation affords; imperfect and corrupt in +many parts, as that copy evidently is. This, however, is not the place +for recommending a study of the remains of Irenaeus; and every one at all +acquainted with the literature of the early Church, knows well how +valuable a store of ancient Christian learning is preserved even in the +wreck of his works. + +On the subject of the invocation of saints, an appeal {116} has been +made only to a few passages in Irenaeus. With regard, indeed, to one +section, I would gladly have been spared the duty of commenting upon the +unjustifiable mode of citing his evidence adopted by Bellarmin. It +forces upon our notice an example either of such inaccuracy of quotation +as would shake our confidence in him as an author, or of such +misrepresentation as must lower him in our estimation as a man of +integrity. + +Bellarmin asserts, building upon it as the very foundation-stone of his +argument for the invocation of saints, that the souls of the saints are +removed immediately on their dissolution by death, without waiting for +the day of judgment, into the presence of God, and the enjoyment of HIM +in heaven. This point, he says, must first be established; for if they +are not already in the presence of God, they cannot pray for us, and +prayer to them would be preposterous. [Bell. lib. i. c. 4. vol. ii. p. +851.] Among the authorities cited by him to establish this point is the +evidence of Irenaeus (book i. c. 2). [See Benedictine ed, Paris, 1710. +book i. c. 10. p. 48.] Bellarmin quotes that passage in these words: "To +the just and righteous, and to those who keep his commandments, and +persevere in his love, some indeed from the beginning but some from +repentance, he giving life CONFERS by way of gift incorruption, and +CLOTHES them with eternal glory." To the quotation he appends this note +"Mark '_to some_' that is, to those who presently after baptism die, or +who lay down their life for Christ; or finally to the perfect is given +immediately life and eternal glory; to others not, except after +repentance, that is, satisfaction made in another world[42]." + + [Footnote 42: Agreeably to the principles laid down in my + preface, I will not here allude to the doctrine of purgatory, on + which Bellarmin considers this passage to bear; nor will I say + one word on the intermediate state of the soul between death and + the resurrection, on which I am now showing that the words of + Irenaeus cannot at all be made to bear.] {117} + +Here I am compelled to confess that I never found a more palpable +misquotation of an author than this. I will readily grant that Bellarmin +may have quoted from memory, or have borrowed from some corrupt version +of the passage; and that he has unintentionally changed the moods of two +verbs from the subjunctive to the indicative, and inadvertently changed +the entire construction and the sense of the passage. But then what +becomes of his authority as a writer citing testimony? + +Irenaeus in this passage is speaking not of what our Lord does now, but +what he will do at the last day; he refers only to the second coming of +Christ to judgment at the final consummation of all things, not using a +single expression which can be made by fair criticism to have any +reference whatever to the condition of souls on their separation from +the body. I have consulted the old editions, some at least published +before the date of Bellarmin's work; the suggestion offering itself to +my mind, that perhaps the ancient translation was in error, from which +he might have quoted. But I cannot find that to have been the case. The +old Latin version of this passage agreeing very closely with the Greek +still preserved in Epiphanius, and quoted by Roman Catholic writers as +authentic, conveys this magnificent though brief summary of the +Christian faith: + +"The Church spread throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the +earth, received both from the Apostles and their disciples that faith +which is in one {118} God omnipotent, who made heaven and earth, the +sea, and all things therein, and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, +for our salvation made flesh, and in the Holy Ghost, who by the prophets +announced the dispensations (of God[43]), and the Advent, and the being +born of a Virgin, and the suffering, and the resurrection from the dead, +and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Jesus Christ our +Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father for the +consummation of all things, and for raising again all flesh of the human +race, THAT, in order that ([Greek: ina]), to Christ Jesus our Lord and +God, and Saviour and King, according to the good pleasure of the +invisible Father, every knee should bow of things in heaven and in +earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess to Him, +and that he should execute just judgment on all: that he should send the +spirits of wickedness, and the transgressing and rebel angels, and the +impious and unjust, and wicked and blaspheming men into eternal fire; +but to the just and righteous, and to those who keep his commandments, +and persevere in his love,--some indeed from the beginning, and some +from their repentance,--he granting life, by way of gift, SHOULD CONFER +incorruption, and SHOULD CLOTHE them with eternal glory." [Haeres. xxxi. +c. 30.] + + [Footnote 43: The words "of God" are in the Latin, but not in + the Greek.] + +The words, "some from the beginning," "others from their repentance," +can refer only to the two conditions of believers; some of whom have +grace to keep the commandments, and persevere in the love of God from +the beginning of their Christian course, whilst others, for a time, +transgress and wax cold in love, but by repentance, through God's grace, +are renewed and {119} restored to their former state of obedience and +love. On both these classes of Christians, according to the faith as +here summed up by Irenaeus, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He +comes in glory for the consummation of all things, and for the +resurrection of the dead, will confer glory and immortality. No +ingenuity of criticism can extract from this passage any allusion to the +intercession of saints, or to their being with God before the end of the +world[44]. But I am not {120} here condemning Bellarmin's untenable +criticism: what I lament is the negligence or the disingenuousness with +which he misquotes the words of Irenaeus, and makes him say what he never +did say. To extract from an author's words, correctly reported, a +meaning which he did not intend to convey, however reprehensible and +unworthy a follower of truth, is one act of injustice: to report him, +whether wilfully or carelessly, as using words which he never did use, +is far worse. + + [Footnote 44: It will be well to see the words of Bellarmin and + those of the translation side by side: + + (Transcriber's note: They are shown here one after the other.) + + _Bellarmin_ lib. i. c. iv. p. 851. + + "Quartus Irenaeus, lib. i. c. 2. 'Justis, inquit, et aequis, et + praecepta ejus servantibus et in dilectione perseverantibus, + quibusdam quidem ab initio, quibusdam autem ex poenitentia, + vitam donans, incorruptelam loco muneris CONFERT, et claritatem + aeternam CIRCUMDAT.' Nota '_quibusdam_,' id est, iis qui mox a + Baptismo moriuntur, vel qui pro Christo vitam ponunt; vel + denique perfectis statim donari vitam et claritatem aeternam; + aliis non nisi post poenitentiam, id est, satisfactionem in + futuro saeculo actam." + + _Latin Translation_. + + "Et de coelis in gloria Patris adventum ejus ad recapitulanda + universa et resuscitandam omnem carnem humani generis, UT + Christo Jesu Domino nostro et Deo, et Salvatori, et Regi, + secundum placitum Patris invisibilis, 'omne genu curvet + coelestium, et terrestrium, et infernorum, et omnis lingua + confiteatur ei,' et judicium justum in omnibus faciat; + spiritalia quidem nequitiae, et angelos transgresses, atque + apostatas factos, et impios et injustos et iniquos, et + blasphemos homines in aeternum ignem mittat;--Justis autem et + aequis et praecepta ejus servantibus et in dilectione ejus + perseverantibus, quibusdam quidem ab initio, quibusdam autem ex + poenitentia, vitam donans, incorruptelam loco muneris CONFERAT, + et claritatem aeternam CIRCUMDET."--Irenaei liber i. cap. x. p. + 48. Interpretatio Vetus.] + +Another expression of Irenaeus is appealed to by Bellarmin, and continues +to be cited at the present day in defence of the invocation of saints; +the precise bearing of which upon the subject I confess myself unable to +see, whilst I am very far from understanding the passage from which it +is an extract. Bellarmin cites the passage not to show that the saints +in glory pray for us,--that argument he had dismissed before,--but to +prove that they are to be invoked by us. The insulated passage as quoted +by him is this: "And as she (Eve) was induced to fly from God, so she +(Mary) was persuaded to obey God, that of the Virgin Eve the Virgin Mary +might become the advocate." After the quotation he says, "What can be +clearer?" [Benedict, lib. v. cap. xix. p. 316.] + +In whatever sense we may suppose Irenaeus to have employed the word here +translated "advocata," it is difficult to see how the circumstance of +Mary becoming the advocate of Eve, who lived so many generations before +her, can bear upon the question, Is it lawful and right for us, now +dwelling on the earth, to invoke those saints whom we believe to be in +heaven? I will not dwell on the argument urged very cogently by some +critics on this passage, that the word "advocata," found {121} in the +Latin version of Irenaeus, is the translation of the original word, now +lost [[Greek: paraklaetos]--paraclete], which, by the early writers, was +used for "comforter and consoler," or "restorer;" because, as I have +above intimated, whatever may have been the word employed by Irenaeus, +the passage proves nothing as to the lawfulness of our praying to the +saints. If the angels at God's bidding minister unto the heirs of +salvation; or further, if they plead our cause with God, that would be +no reason why we should invoke them and pray to them. This distinction +between what they may do for us, and what we ought to do with regard to +them, is an essential distinction, and must not be lost sight of. We +shall have occasion hereafter to refer to it repeatedly, especially in +the instances of Origen and Cyprian. I will now do no more than copy in +a note the entire passage from which the sentence now under +consideration has been extracted, that the reader may judge whether on +such a passage, the original of which, in whatever words Irenaeus may +have expressed himself, is utterly lost, any reliance can satisfactorily +be placed. + +("Manifeste itaque in sua propria venientem Dominum et sua propria eum +bajulantem conditione quae bajulatur ab ipso, et recapitulationem ejus +quae in ligno fuit inobedientiae per eam quae in ligno est obedientiam +facientem, et seductionem illam solutam qua seducta est male illa, quae +jam viro destinata erat virgo Eva, per veritatem evangelizata est bene +ab angelo jam sub viro virgo Maria. Quemadmodum enim illa per angeli +sermonem seducta est ut effugeret Deum praevaricata verbum ejus, ita et +haec per angelicum sermonem evangelizata est ut portaret Deum obediens +ejus verbo. Et si ea inobedierat Deo, sed haec suasa est obedire Deo, uti +virginis Evae virgo Maria fieret advocata. Et quemadmodum astrictum est +morti genus humanum per virginem, salvatur per virginem, aequa lance +disposita virginalis inobedientia per virginalem obedientiam. Adhuc enim +protoplasti peccatum per correptionem primogeniti emendationem +accipiens, et serpentis prudentia devicta in columbae simplicitate, +vinculis autem illis resolutis, per quae alligati eramus morti." St. +Augustin (Paris, 1690. vol. x. p. 500.) refers to the latter part of +this passage, as implying the doctrine of original sin; but since his +quotation does not embrace any portion of the clause at present under +our consideration, no additional light from him is thrown on the meaning +of Irenaeus.) {122} + +But passages occur in Irenaeus, which seem to leave doubt, that neither +in faith nor in practice would he countenance in the very lowest degree +the adoration of saints and angels, or any invocation of them. + +For example, in one part of his works we read, "Nor does it [the Church] +do any thing by invocations of angels, nor by incantations, nor other +depraved and curious means, but with cleanliness, purity, and openness, +directing prayers to the Lord who made all things, and calling upon the +name of Jesus Christ our Lord, it exercises its powers for the benefit, +and not for the seducing, of mankind." [Benedictine Ed. lib. ii. c. 32. +Sec. 5. p. 166.] It has been said that, by angelic invocations, Irenaeus +means the addresses to evil angels and genii, such as the heathen +superstitiously made. Be it so; though that is a mere assumption, not +warranted by the passage or its context. But, surely, had Irenaeus known +that Christians prayed to angels, as well as to their Maker and their +Saviour, he would not have used such an unguarded expression; he would +have cautioned his readers against so serious, but so natural, a +misapprehension of his meaning. + +With one more reference, we must bring our inquiry into the testimony of +Irenaeus to a close. The passage occurs in the fifth book, chapter 31. +[Benedict. lib. v. c. 32. Sec. 2. p, 331.] The principal and most +important, though not the longest, part of {123} the passage is happily +still found in the original Greek, preserved in the "Parallels" of +Damascenus. In its plain, natural, and unforced sense, this passage is +so decidedly conclusive on the question at issue, that various attempts +have been made to explain away its meaning, so as not to represent +Irenaeus as believing that the souls of departed saints, between their +death and the day of judgment, exist otherwise than in bliss and glory +in heaven. But those attempts have been altogether unsuccessful. I +believe the view here presented to us by the plain and obvious sense of +the words of Irenaeus, is the view at present acquiesced in by a large +proportion of our fellow-believers. The Anglican Church has made no +article of faith whatever on the subject. The clause within brackets is +found both in the Latin and the Greek. + +"Since the Lord[45] in the midst of the shadow of death went where the +souls of the dead were, and then afterwards rose bodily, and after his +resurrection was taken up, it is evident that of his disciples also, for +whom the Lord wrought these things, [the souls go into the unseen[46] +place assigned to them by God, and there remain till the resurrection, +waiting for the resurrection; afterwards receiving again their bodies +and rising perfectly [[Greek: holoklaeros], perfecte], that is, bodily, +even as the Lord also rose again, so will they come into the presence of +God.] {124} For no disciple is above his master; but every one that is +perfect shall be as his master. As, therefore, our Master did not +immediately flee away and depart, but waited for the time of his +resurrection appointed by his Father (which is evident, even by the case +of Jonah); after the third day, rising again, he was taken up; so we too +must wait for the time of our resurrection appointed by God, and +fore-announced by the prophets; and thus rising again, be taken up, as +many as the Lord shall have deemed worthy of this." + + [Footnote 45: Bellarmin, rather than allow the testimony of + Irenaeus to weigh at all against the doctrine which he is + defending, seems determined to combat and challenge that father + himself. "Non ausus est dicere," "He has not dared to say, that + the souls go to the regions below," &c.] + + [Footnote 46: There is no word in the Greek copy corresponding + with the Latin "invisibilem."] + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION III.--CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA--ABOUT THE YEAR 180. + + +Contemporary with Irenaeus, and probably less than twenty years his +junior, was Clement, the celebrated Christian philosopher of Alexandria. +I am not aware that any Roman Catholic writer has appealed to the +testimony of Clement in favour of the invocation of saints, nor have I +found a single passage which the defenders of that practice would be +likely to quote; and yet there are many passages which no one, anxious +to trace the Catholic faith, would willingly neglect. The tendency of +Clement's mind to blend with the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ the +philosophy in which he so fully abounded, renders him far less valuable +as a Christian teacher; but his evidence as to the matter of fact, is +even rendered more cogent and pointed by this tendency of his mind. I +would {125} willingly have transferred to these pages whole passages of +Clement, but the very nature of my address forbids it. Some sentences +bearing on the subject immediately before us, we must not omit. + +Clement has left on record many of his meditations upon the efficacy, +the duty, and the blessed comfort of prayer. When he speaks of God, and +of the Christian in prayer, (for prayer he defines to be "communion or +intercourse with God,") his language becomes often exquisitely +beautiful, and sometimes sublime. It is impossible by a few detached +passages to convey an adequate estimate of the original; and yet a few +sentences may show that Clement is a man whose testimony should not be +slighted. + +"Therefore, keeping the whole of our life as a feast every where, and on +every part persuaded that God is present, we praise him as we till our +lands; we sing hymns as we are sailing. The Christian is persuaded that +God hears every thing; not the voice only, but the thoughts.... Suppose +any one should say, that the voice does not reach God, revolving as it +does in the air below; yet the thoughts of the saints cut not only +through the air, but the whole world. And the divine power like the +light is beforehand in seeing through the soul.... He" (the Christian +whom he speaks of throughout as the man of divine knowledge) "prays for +things essentially good. + +"Wherefore it best becomes those to pray who have an adequate knowledge +of God, and possess virtue in accordance with Him--who know what are +real goods, and what we should petition for, and when, and how in each +case. But it is the extreme of ignorance to ask {126} from those who are +not gods as though they were gods.... Whence since there is one only +good God, both we ourselves and the angels supplicate from Him alone, +that some good things might be given to us, and others might remain with +us. In this way he (the Christian) is always in a state of purity fit +for prayer. He prays with angels, as being himself equal with angels; +and as one who is never beyond the holy protecting guard. And if he pray +alone he has the whole choir of angels with him." [Stromata, lib. vii. Sec. +7. p. 851, &c.; Section xii. p. 879.] + +Clement has alluded to instances alleged by the Greeks of the effects of +prayer, and he adds, "Our whole Scripture is full of instances of God +hearing and granting every request according to the prayers of the +just." [Lib. vi. Sec. iii. p. 753.] + +Having in the same section referred to the opinion of some Greeks as to +the power of demons over the affairs of mortals, he adds, "But they +think it matters nothing whether we speak of these as gods or as angels, +calling the spirits of such 'demons,' and teaching that they should be +worshipped by men, as having, by divine providence, on account of the +purity of their lives, received authority to be conversant about earthly +places, in order that they may minister to mortals." [Lib. vi. Sec. iii. p. +755.] + +Is it possible to suppose that this teacher in Christ's school had any +idea of a Christian praying to saints or angels? In the last passage, +the language in which he quotes the errors of heathen superstition to +refute them, so nearly approaches the language of the Church of Rome +when speaking of the powers of saints and angels to assist the +suppliant, that if Clement had entertained {127} any thought whatever of +a Christian praying for aid and intercession to saint or angel, he must +have mentioned it, especially after the previous passage on the +absurdity and gross ignorance of praying for any good at the hands of +any other than the one true God. + +In common with his contemporaries, Clement considered the angels to be, +as we mortals are, in a state requiring all the protection and help to +be obtained by prayer; he believed that the angels pray with us, and +carry our prayers to God: but the thought of addressing them by +invocation does not appear to have occurred to his mind. At the close of +his Paedagogus he has left on record a form of prayer to God alone very +peculiar and interesting. He closes it by an ascription of glory to the +blessed Trinity. But there is no allusion to saint, or angel, or virgin +mother. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION IV.--TERTULLIAN. + + +Tertullian, of Carthage, was a contemporary of Clement of Alexandria, +and so nearly of the same age, that doubts have existed, which of the +two should take priority in point of time. There is a very wide +difference in the character and tone of their works, as there was in the +frame and constitution of their minds. The lenient and liberal views of +the erudite and accomplished master of the school of Alexandria, stand +out in prominent and broad contrast with the harsh and austere doctrines +of Tertullian. + +Tertullian fell into errors of a very serious kind by joining himself to +the heretic Montanus; still on his {128} mind is discoverable the +working of that spirit which animated the early converts of +Christianity; and his whole soul seems to have been filled with a desire +to promote the practical influence of the Gospel. + +Jerome, the oracle on such subjects, from whom the Roman Catholic Church +is unwilling to allow any appeal, expressly tells us that Cyprian[47], +who called Tertullian the Master, never passed a single day without +studying his works; and that after Tertullian had remained a presbyter +of the Church to middle age, he was driven, by the envy and revilings of +the members of the Roman Church, to fall from its unity, and espouse +Montanism. Bellarmin calls him a heretic, and says he is the first +heretic who denied that the saints went at once and forthwith to glory. +[Hieron. edit. 1684. tom. i. p. 183.] + + [Footnote 47: The words of Jerome, who refers to the + circumstance more than once, are very striking: "I saw one + Paulus, who said that he had seen the secretary (notarium) of + Cyprian at Rome, who used to tell him that Cyprian never passed + a single day without reading Tertullian; and that he often said + to him, 'Give me the Master,' meaning Tertullian."--Hieron. vol. + iv. part ii. p. 115.] + +A decided line of distinction is drawn by Roman Catholic writers between +the works of Tertullian written before he espoused the errors of +Montanus, and his works written after that unhappy step. The former they +hold in great estimation, the latter are by many considered of far less +authority. I do not see how such a distinction ought to affect his +testimony on the historical point immediately before us. If indeed he +had held the doctrine of the invocation of saints whilst he continued in +the full communion of the Church, and rejected it afterwards, no honest +and sensible writer would quote his later opinions against the practice. +But we are only seeking in his works for evidence of the {129} matter of +fact,--Is there any proof in the works of Tertullian that the invocation +of saints formed a part of the doctrine and practice of the Catholic +Church in his time[48]? His works will be found in the note, arranged +under those two heads, as nearly as I can ascertain the preponderating +sentiments of critics[49]. + + [Footnote 48: The reader, who may be induced to consult the work + of the present Bishop of Lincoln, entitled, "The Ecclesiastical + History of the second and third Centuries, illustrated from the + writings of Tertullian," will there find, in the examination and + application of Tertullian's remains, the union of sound + judgment, diligence in research, clearness of perception, + acuteness in discovery, and great erudition mingled with + charity.] + + [Footnote 49: Works of Tertullian before he became a + Montanist:-- + + Adversus Judaeos. + The Tract ad Martyres. + The two Books ad Nationes. + The Apology, and the Tract de Praescriptione Haereticorum. + The Tract de Testimonio Animae. + The Tracts de Patientia, de Oratione, de Baptismo, de + Poenitentia. + The two books ad Uxorem. + + Works written after he espoused Montanism:-- + + The Tracts de Spectaculis and de Idololatria, though others say + these should be ranked among the first class. + The Tracts de Corona, and de Fuga in persecutione, Scorpiace, + and ad Scapulam. + The Tracts de Exhortatione Castitatis, de Monogamia, de + Pudicitia, de Jejuniis, de Virginibus Velandis, de Pallio, the + five books against Marcion, the Tracts adversus Valentinianos, + de Carne Christi, de Resurrectione Carnis, adversus Hermogenem, + de Anima, adversus Praxeam, de Cultu Foeminarum.] + +I will detain you only by a very few quotations from this father. + +In his Apology, sect. 30, we read this very remarkable passage, "We +invoke the eternal God, the true God, the living God, for the safety of +the emperor.... {130} Thither (heavenward) looking up, with hands +extended, because they are innocent; with our head bare, because we are +not ashamed; in fine, without a prompter, because it is from the heart; +we Christians pray for all rulers a long life, a secure government, a +safe home, brave armies, a faithful senate, a good people, a quiet +world.... For these things I cannot ask in prayer from any other except +Him from whom I know that I shall obtain; because both He is the one who +alone grants, and I am the one whom it behoveth to obtain by +prayer;--his servant, who looks to him alone, who for the sake of his +religion am put to death, who offer to him a rich and a greater victim, +which He has commanded; prayer from a chaste frame, from a harmless +soul, from a holy spirit.... So, let hoofs dig into us, thus stretched +forward to God, let crosses suspend us, let fires embrace us, let swords +sever our necks from the body, let beasts rush upon us,--the very frame +of mind of a praying Christian is prepared for every torment. This do, +ye good presidents; tear ye away the soul that is praying for the +emperor." [Page 27.] + +In the opening of his reflections on the Lord's Prayer, he says,-- + +"Let us consider therefore, beloved, in the first place, the heavenly +wisdom in the precept of praying in secret, by which he required, in a +man, faith to believe that both the sight and the hearing of the +Omnipotent God is present under our roofs and in our secret places; and +desired the lowliness of faith, that to Him alone, whom he believed to +hear and to see every where, he would offer his worship." [Page 129.] + +The only other reference which I will make, is to {131} the solemn +declaration of Tertullian's Creed; the last clause of which, though in +perfect accordance with the sentiments of his contemporaries, seems to +have been regarded with hostile eyes by modern writers of the Church of +Rome, because it decidedly bids us look to the day of judgment for the +saints being taken to the enjoyment of heaven; and consequently implies +that they cannot be properly invoked now. + +"To profess now what we defend: By the rule of our faith we believe that +God is altogether one, and no other than the Creator of the world, who +produced all things out of nothing by his Word first of all sent down. +That that Word, called his Son, was variously seen by the patriarchs in +the name of God; was always heard in the prophets; at length, borne by +the spirit and power of God the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made +flesh in her womb, was born of her, and was Jesus Christ. Afterwards He +preached a new law and a new promise of the kingdom of heaven; wrought +miracles, was crucified, rose again the third day, and, being taken up +into heaven, sat on the right hand of the Father; and He sent in his own +stead the power of the Holy Ghost, to guide believers; that He shall +come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of eternal life and +the heavenly promises, and to condemn the impious to eternal fire, +making a reviving of both classes with the restoration of the body." [De +Praescriptione Haereticorum, Sec. 13. p. 206.] + + * * * * * + +Some notice must here be taken of METHODIUS, a pious Christian, of the +third century. A work (Methodius, Gl. Combes. Paris, 1644) {132} +formerly attributed to him has been quoted in proof of the early +invocation of saints; but the work, among many others, has been long ago +allowed by the best Roman Catholic critics to be the production of a +later age. (Fabricius, vol. vii. p. 268, and vol. x. p. 241.) Many +homilies, purporting to have been delivered on the festival of our +Lord's presentation in the temple, at so early a period, must be +received as the works of a later age, because that feast began to be +observed in the Church so late as the fifteenth year of Justinian, in +the sixth century. Evidently, moreover, the theological language of the +homily is of a period long subsequent to the date assigned to Methodius. +In speaking of our blessed Saviour, for example, he employs expressions +to guard against the Arian heresy, and makes extracts apparently from +the Nicene creed, "God of himself, and not by grace," "Very God of very +God, very light of very light, who for us men and our salvation, &c." +The general opinion indeed seems to be that this, and many other +writings formerly ascribed to the first Methodius, were written by +persons of a subsequent age, who either were of the same name or assumed +his. Even were the work genuine, it would afford just as strong a +demonstration that Methodius believed that the city of Jerusalem could +hear his salutation, as that the saints could hear his prayer; for he +addresses the same "Hail" to Mary, Symeon, and the Holy City alike, +calling it the "earthly heaven." [Greek: Chairois hae polis, ho epigeios +ouranos.] {133} + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION V.--THE EVIDENCE OF ORIGEN. + + +Jerome informs us that Tertullian, whose remains we have last examined, +lived to a very advanced age. Long, therefore, before his death +flourished Origen, one of the most celebrated lights of the primitive +Church. He was educated a Christian. Indeed his father is said to have +suffered martyrdom about the year 202. Origen was a pupil of Clement of +Alexandria. His virtues and his labours have called forth the admiration +of all ages; and though he cannot be implicitly followed as a teacher, +what still remains of his works will be delivered down as a rich +treasure to succeeding times. He was a most voluminous writer; and +Jerome asked the members of his church, "Who is there among us that can +read as many books as Origen has composed?" [Vol. iv. epist. xli. p. +346.] A large proportion of his works are lost; and of those which +remain, few are preserved in the original Greek. We are often obliged to +study Origen through the medium of a translation, the accuracy of which +we have no means of verifying. A difficult and delicate duty also +devolves upon the theological student to determine which of the works +attributed to Origen are genuine and which are spurious; and what parts, +moreover, of the works received on the whole as genuine came from his +pen. Of {134} the spurious works, some are so palpably written in a much +later age, and by authors of different religious views, that no one, +after weighing the evidence, can be at a loss what decision to make +concerning them; in the case of others, claims and objections may appear +to be more evenly balanced. I trust on the one hand to refer to no works +for Origen's testimony which are not confessedly his, nor on the other +to exclude any passage which is not decidedly spurious; whilst in one +particular case more immediately connected with our subject, I am +induced to enter further in detail into a critical examination of the +genuineness and value of a passage than the character of this work +generally requires. The great importance attached to the testimony of +that passage by some defenders of the worship paid to angels, may be +admitted to justify the fulness of the criticism. Lest, however, its +insertion in the body of the work might seem inconveniently to interfere +with the reader's progress in our argument, I have thought it best to +include it in a supplementary section at the close of our inquiry into +the evidence of Origen. + +Coccius, in his elaborate work, quotes the two following passages as +Origen's, without expressing any hesitation or doubt respecting their +genuineness, in which he is followed by writers of the present day. The +passages are alleged in proof that Origen held and put in practice the +doctrine of the invocation of saints; and they form the first quotations +made by Coccius under the section headed by this title: "That the saints +are to be invoked, proved by the testimony of the Greek Fathers." + +The first passage is couched in these words: "I will {135} begin to +throw myself upon my knees, and pray to all the saints to come to my +aid; for I do not dare, in consequence of my excess of wickedness, to +call upon God. O Saints of God, you I pray with weeping full of grief, +that ye would propitiate his mercies for me miserable. Alas me! Father +Abraham, pray for me, that I be not driven from thy bosom, which I +greatly long for, and yet not worthily, because of the greatness of my +sins." + +Coccius cites this passage as from "Origen in Lament," and it has been +recently appealed to under the title of "Origen on the Lamentations." +Here, however, is a very great mistake. Origen's work on the +Lamentations, called also "Selecta in Threnos," and inserted in the +Benedictine edition (Vol. iii. p. 321.), is entirely a different +production from the work which contains the above extract. This +apocryphal work, on the other hand, does not profess to be the comment +of Origen on the Lamentations, but the Lament or Wailing of Origen +himself; or, as it used to be called, the Penitence of Origen. (In the +Paris edition of 1519 it is called "Planctus, seu Lamentum Origenis." +Pope Gelasius refers to it as "Poenitentia Origenis.") That this work +has no pretensions whatever to be regarded as Origen's, has been long +placed beyond doubt. Even in the edition of 1545, this treatise is +prefaced by Erasmus in these words, "This Lamentation was neither +written by Origen nor translated by Jerome, but is the fiction of some +unlearned man, who attempted, under colour of this, to throw disgrace +upon Origen." [Basil, 1545. vol. i. p. 498.] In the Benedictine edition +(Paris, 1733.) no trace of this work is to be found. They do not admit +it among the doubtful, or even the spurious works; they do not so {136} +much as give room for it in the appendix; on the contrary, they drop it +altogether as utterly unworthy of being any longer preserved. Instead, +however, of admitting the work itself, these editors have supplied +abundant reason for its exclusion, by inserting the sentiments of +Huetius, or Huet, the very learned bishop of Avranches. He tells us, +that formerly to Origen's work on Principles used to be appended a +treatise called, the Lament of Origen, the Latin translation of which +Guido referred to Jerome. After quoting the passage of Erasmus (as above +cited from the edition of 1545) in proof of its having been "neither +written by Origen nor translated by Jerome, but the fabrication of some +unlearned man, who attempted, under colour of this, to throw disgrace on +Origen, just as they forged a letter in Jerome's name, lamenting that he +had ever thought with Origen," Huet proceeds thus: "And Gelasius in the +Roman Council writes, 'The book which is called The Repentance of +Origen, apocryphal.' It is wonderful, therefore, that without any mark +of its false character, it should be sometimes cited by some theologians +in evidence. Here we may smile at the supineness of a certain heterodox +man of the present age, who thought the 'Lament,' ascribed to Origen, to +be something different from the Book of Repentance." [Vol. iv. part ii. +p. 326.] + +The Decree here referred to of Pope Gelasius, made in the Roman Council, +A.D. 494, by that pontiff, in conjunction with seventy bishops, contains +these strong expressions, before enumerating some few of the books then +condemned: "Other works written by heretics and schismatics, the +Catholic and Apostolic Church by {137} no means receives; of them we +think it right to subjoin a few which have occurred to our memory, and +are to be avoided by Catholics." [Conc. Labb. vol. iv. p. 1265.] Then +follows a list of prohibited works, among which we read, "the book +called The Repentance of Origen, apocryphal," the very book which Huet +identifies with the "Lament of Origen," still cited as evidence even in +the present day. (See Appendix A.) + +The second passage cited by Coccius, and also by writers of the present +time, as Origen's, without any allusion to its spurious and apocryphal +character, is from the second book of the work called Origen on Job. The +words cited run thus: "O blessed Job, who art living for ever with God, +and remainest conqueror in the sight of the Lord the King, pray for us +wretched, that the mercy of the terrible God may protect us in all our +afflictions, and deliver us from all oppressions of the wicked one; and +number us with the just, and enrol us among those who are saved, and +make us rest with them in his kingdom, where for ever with the saints we +may magnify him." + +This work, like the former, has no claim whatever to be regarded as +Origen's. It has long been discarded by the learned. Indeed so far back +as 1545, Erasmus, in his Censura, proved that it was written long after +the time of Origen by an Arian. (Basil, 1545. vol. i. p. 408; and +"Censura.") By the Benedictine editors it is transferred to an appendix +as the Commentary of an anonymous writer on Job; and they thus express +their judgment as to its being a forgery: "The Commentary of an +anonymous writer on Job, in previous editions, is ascribed to Origen; +{138} but that it is not his, Huet proves by unconquerable arguments. +This translation is assigned to Hilary, the bishop; but although it is +clear from various proofs of Jerome, that St. Hilary translated the +tracts or homilies of Origen on Job, yet there is no reason why that man +who wrote with the highest praise against the Arians, should be +considered as the translator of this work, which is infected with the +corruption of Arianism, and which is not Origen's." [Vol. ii. p. 894.] +Erasmus calls the prologue to this treatise on Job "the production of a +silly talkative man, neither learned nor modest." + +It is impossible not to feel, with regard to these two works, the +sentiments which, as we have already seen, the Bishop of Avranches has +so strongly expressed on one. "It is wonderful, that they should be +sometimes cited in evidence by some theologians, without any mark of +their being forgeries." + +Proceeding with our examination of the sentiments of Origen, I would +here premise, that not the smallest doubt can be entertained that Origen +believed the angels to be ministering spirits, real, active, zealous +workmen and fellow-labourers with us in the momentous and awful business +of our eternal salvation. He represents the angels as members of the +same family with ourselves, as worshippers of the same God, as servants +of the same master, as children of the same father, as disciples of the +same heavenly teacher, as learners of one and the same heavenly +doctrine. He contemplates them as members of our Christian +congregations, as joining with us in prayer to our heavenly Benefactor, +as taking pleasure when they hear in our {139} assemblies what is +agreeable to the will of God, and as being present too not only +generally in the Christian Church, but also with individual members of +it[50]. But does Origen, therefore, countenance any invocation of them? +Let us appeal to himself. + + [Footnote 50: One or two references will supply abundant proof + of this: "I do not doubt that in our congregation angels are + present, not only in general to the whole Church, but also + individually with those of whom it is said, 'Their angels do + always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.' A twofold + Church is here: one of men, the other of angels. If we say any + thing agreeably to reason and the mind of Scripture, the angels + rejoice to pray with us." And a little above, "Our Saviour, + therefore, as well as the Holy Spirit, who spoke by the + prophets, instructs not only men, but angels and invisible + powers."--Hom, xxiii. in Luc. vol. iii. p. 961. + + "Whoever, therefore, confessing his sins, repents, or confesses + Christ before men in persecutions, is applauded by his brethren. + For there is joy and gladness to the angels in heaven over one + sinner that repenteth. By them, therefore, as by brethren (for + both men and angels are sons of the same Creator and Father) + they are praised."--In Genes. Hom. xvii. p. 110.] + +Celsus accused the Christians of being atheists, godless, men without +God, because they would not worship those gods many and lords many, and +those secondary, subordinate, auxiliary, and ministering divinities with +which the heathen mythology abounded: Origen answers, we are not +godless, we are not without an object of our prayer; we pray to God +Almighty alone through the mediation only of his Son. + +"We must pray to God alone ([Greek: Mono gar proseukteon to epi pasi +Theo]), who is over all things; and we must pray also to the +only-begotten and first-born of every creature, the Word of God; and we +must implore him as our High Priest to carry our prayer, first coming to +him, to his God and our {140} God, to his Father and the Father of those +who live agreeably to the word of God." [Cont. Cels. Sec. 8. c. xxvi. vol. +i. p. 761.] + +But Celsus, in this well representing the weakness and failings of human +nature, still urged on the Christian the necessity, or at all events the +expediency, of conciliating those intermediate beings who executed the +will of the Supreme Being, and might haply have much left at their own +will and discretion to give or to withhold; and therefore the +desirableness of securing their good offices by prayer. To this Origen +answers: + +"The one God ([Greek: Hena oun ton epi pasi theon haemin +exenmenisteon])--the God who is over all, is to be propitiated by us, +and to be appeased by prayer; the God who is rendered favourable by +piety and all virtue. But if he (Celsus) is desirous, after the supreme +God, to propitiate some others also, let him bear in mind, that just as +a body in motion is accompanied by the motion of its shadow, so also by +rendering the supreme God favourable, it follows that the person has all +his (God's) friends, angels, souls, spirits, favourable also; for they +sympathize with those who are worthy of God's favour; and not only do +they become kindly affected towards the worthy, but they also join in +their work with those who desire to worship the supreme God; and they +propitiate him, and they pray with us, and supplicate with us; so that +we boldly say, that together with men who on principle prefer the better +part, and pray to God, ten thousands of holy powers join in prayer +UNASKED ([Greek: aklaetoi])," [UNBIDDEN, UNCALLED upon.] [Cont. Cels. +lib. viii. Sec. 64. vol. i. p. 789.] + +What an opportunity was here for Origen to have stated, that though +Christians do not call upon demons and the subordinate divinities of +heathenism to aid {141} them, yet that they do call upon the ministering +spirits, the true holy angels, messengers and servants of the most High +God! But whilst speaking of them, and magnifying the blessings derived +to man through their ministry, so far from encouraging us to ask them +for their good offices, his testimony on the contrary is not merely +negative; he positively asserts that when they assist mankind, it is +without any request or prayer from man. Could this come from one who +invoked angels? + +Another passage, although it adds little to the evidence of the above +extract, I am unwilling to pass by, because it beautifully illustrates +by the doctrine and practice of Origen the prayer, the only one adopted +by the Anglican Church, offered by the Church to God for the succour and +defence of the holy angels. Speaking of the unsatisfactory slippery road +which they tread, who either depend upon the agency of demons for good, +or are distressed by the fear of evil from them, Origen adds, "How far +better ([Greek: poso Beltion]) were it to commit oneself to God who is +over all, through Him who instructed us in this doctrine, Jesus Christ, +and OF HIM to ask for every aid from the holy angels and the just, that +they may rescue us from the earthly demons." [Cont. Cels. lib. viii. Sec. +60. vol. i. p. 786.] + +In the following passage Origen answers the question of Celsus: "If you +Christians admit the existence of angels, tell us what you consider +their nature to be?" [Cont. Cels. lib. v. Sec. 4. p. 579.] + +"Come," replies Origen, "let us consider these points. Now we +confessedly say, that the angels are ministering spirits, and sent to +minister on account of those who are to be heirs of salvation; that they +ascend, bearing with them the supplications of men into the most pure +{142} heavenly places of the world; and that they again descend from +thence, bearing to each in proportion to what is appointed by God for +them to minister to the well-doers. And learning that these are, from +their work, called angels ([Greek: aggeloi], messengers, ministers sent +to execute some commission), we find them, because they are divine, +sometimes called even gods in the Holy Scriptures; but not so, as for +any injunction to be given to us to worship and adore, instead of God, +those who minister, and bring to us the things of God. For every request +and prayer, and supplication and thanksgiving, must be sent up to Him +who is God above all, through the High Priest, who is above all angels, +even the living Word of God. And we also make our requests to the Word, +and supplicate Him, and moreover offer our prayer to Him; if we can +understand the difference between the right use and the abuse of prayer. +For it is not reasonable for us to call upon angels, without receiving a +knowledge concerning them which is above man. But supposing the +knowledge concerning them, wonderful and unutterable as it is, had been +received; that very knowledge describing their nature, and those to whom +they are respectively assigned, would not give confidence in praying to +any other than to Him who is sufficient for every thing, God who is +above all, through our Saviour, the Son of God, who is the word, and +wisdom, and the truth, and whatsoever else the writings of the prophets +of God, and the Apostles of Jesus say concerning Him. But for the angels +of God to be favourable to us, and to do all things for us, our +disposition towards God is sufficient; we copy them to the utmost of +human strength, {143} as they copy God. And our conception concerning +his Son, the Word, according to what is come to us, is not opposed to +the more clear conception of the holy angels concerning Him, but is +daily approximating towards it in clearness and perspicuity." + +Again, he thus writes: "But Celsus wishes us to dedicate the +first-fruits unto the demons; but we to Him who said, Let the earth +bring forth grass, &c. But to whom we give the first-fruits, to him we +send up also our prayers; having a great High Priest who is entered into +the heavens, Jesus the Son of God; and this confession we hold fast as +long as we live, having God favourable unto us, and his only-begotten +Son being manifested among us, Jesus Christ. But if we wish to have a +multitude favourable unto us, we learn that thousand thousands stand by +Him, and ten thousand thousands minister unto Him; who, regarding those +as kinsfolks and friends who imitate their piety to God, work together +for the salvation of them who call upon God and pray sincerely; +appearing also, and thinking that they ought to listen to them, and as +if upon one watchword to go forth for the benefit and salvation of those +who pray to God, to whom they also pray." [Cont. Cels. lib. viii. Sec. 34. +(Benedict, p. 766.)] + +After these multiplied declarations of Origen, not only confessing that +Christians did not pray to the angels, but vindicating them from the +charge of impiety brought against them by their enemies for their +neglect of the worship of angels, is it possible to regard him as a +witness in favour of prayer to angels? + +But it has been said that Origen in another passage (Cont. Cels. lib. +viii. Sec. 13. p. 751.) {144} plainly implies, that he would not be +unwilling to discuss the question of some worship being due to angels +and archangels, provided the idea of that worship, and the acts of the +worshippers, were first cleared of all misapprehension. And I would not +that any Catholic, whether in communion with the Church of England or of +Rome, should make any other answer than Origen here gave to Celsus. Let +me speak freely on this point. I should not respect the memory of Origen +as I do, had he taught differently. The word which he uses is the Greek +word "therapeusis," precisely the same word with that which the learned +in medicine now use to describe the means of healing diseases. It is a +word of very wide import. It signifies the care which a physician takes +of his patient; the service paid to a master; the attention given to a +superior; the affectionate attendance of a friend; the allegiance of a +subject; the worship of the Supreme Being. Origen says, Provided Celsus +will specify what kind of "therapeusis" he would wish to be paid to +those angels and archangels whose existence we acknowledge, I am ready +to enter upon the subject with him. This is all he says. And we of the +Anglican Church are ready from our hearts to join him. Call it by what +name we may, we are never backward in acknowledging ourselves bound to +render it. We pay to the angels and archangels, and all the company of +heaven, the homage of respect, and veneration, and love. They are indeed +our fellow-servants; they are, like ourselves, creatures of God's hand; +but they are exalted far above us in nature and in office. By the grace +of God, we would daily endeavour to become less distant from {145} them +in purity, in zeal, in obedience. Origen here speaks not one word of +adoration, of invocation, of prayer. He speaks of a feeling and a +behaviour, which the Greeks called "therapeusis," and which we best +render by "respect, veneration, and love." Far from us be the thought of +lowering the holy angels in the eyes of our fellow-creatures; equally +far from us be the thought of invoking them, of asking them even for +their prayers. They are holy creatures and holy messengers: we will +think and speak of them with reverence, and gratitude, and affection; +but they are creatures and messengers still, and when we think or speak +of the object of prayer, we think and speak solely and exclusively of +God. + +With regard to Origen's opinion, as to the invocation of the souls of +saints departed, a very few words will suffice. He clearly records his +opinion that the faithful are still waiting for us, and that till we all +rejoice together, their joy will not be full: he leaves among the +mysteries not to be solved now the question whether the departed can +benefit the human race at all; and he has added reflections, full of +edifying and solemn admonition, which would dissuade his +fellow-believers from placing their confidence in any virtues, or +intercessions, or merits of saints, and in any thing except the mere +mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, and our own individual labour in the +work of the Lord. + +In his seventh homily on Leviticus, in a passage partly quoted by +Bellarmin, we read[51]--"Not even the Apostles have yet received their +joy, but even they are waiting, in order that I also may become a +partaker of {146} their joy. For the saints departing hence do not +immediately receive all the rewards of their deserts; but they wait even +for us, though we be delaying and dilatory[52]. For they have not +perfect joy as long as they grieve for our errors, and mourn for our +sins." Then, having quoted the Epistle to the Hebrews, he +proceeds,--"You see, therefore, that Abraham is yet waiting to obtain +those things that are perfect; so is Isaac and Jacob; and so all the +prophets are waiting for us, that they might obtain eternal blessedness +with us. Wherefore, even this mystery is kept, to the last day of +delayed judgment." + + [Footnote 51: Vol. ii. p. 222. Nondum enim receperunt laetitiam + suam, ne apostoli quidem, &c. But see Huetius on Origen, lib. + ii. q. 11. No. 10.] + + [Footnote 52: He thinks it probable, that the saints departed + feel an interest in the welfare of men on earth. See vol. iv. p. + 273.] + +Modern Roman Catholic writers tell us, that we must consider Origen here +as only referring to the reunion of the soul with the body; but his +words cannot be so interpreted. The cause of the saints still waiting +for their consummation of bliss, is stated to be the will of God, that +all the faithful should enter upon their full enjoyment of blessedness +together. + +Again: it may be asked, whether the following passage could have come +from the pen of one who prayed to the saints, as already reigning with +Christ in heaven. + +"But now whether the saints who are removed from the body and are with +Christ, act at all, and labour for us, like the angels who minister to +our salvation; or whether, again, the wicked removed from the body act +at all according to the purpose of their own mind, like the bad angels, +with whom, it is said by Christ, that they will be sent into eternal +fires;--let this too be {147} considered among the secret things of God, +mysteries not to be committed to writing." [Epist. ad Rom. lib. ii. +(Benedict. vol. iv. p. 479.) "Jam vero si etiam," &c.] + +In a passage found in Origen's Comment on Ezekiel's text, "Though Noah, +Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver neither son nor +daughter, they should deliver only their own souls by their +righteousness," [Hom. iii. vol. iii. p. 372.] independently of the +testimony borne to the point before us, we read a very interesting and +awakening lesson of general application:-- + +"First, let us expound the passage agreeably to its plain sense, in +consequence of the ignorance of some who maintain the ideas of their own +mind to be the truth of God, and often say, 'Every one of us will be +able by his prayers to snatch whomsoever he will from hell,' and +introduce iniquity to the Lord; not seeing that the righteousness of the +righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be +upon him; so that each shall die in his own sin, and each live in his +own person. My father being a martyr profits me nothing, if I shall not +live well, and adorn the nobleness of my race,--that is, his testimony +and confession, by which he was glorified in Christ. It profiteth not +the Jews to say, 'We were not born of fornication, we have one father, +the Lord;' and, a little after, 'Abraham is our father.' Whatever they +may say, whatever they will assume, if they have not the faith of +Abraham they make their boast in vain; for they will not be saved on +account of their being children of Abraham. Since, therefore, some have +formed incorrect notions, we have necessarily brought in the plain sense +of the passage as to the letter, saying, Noah, Daniel, and Job will not +rescue sons or daughters; they only will be saved. Let no {149} one of +us put his trust in a just father, a holy mother, chaste brethren. +Blessed is the man who hath his hope in himself, and in the right way. +But to those who place confident trust in the saints, we bring forward +no improper example,--'Cursed is the man whose hope is in man;' and +again, 'Trust ye not in man.' And this also, 'It is good to trust in the +Lord rather than in princes[53].' If we must hope in some object, +leaving all others, let us hope in the Lord, saying, 'Though a host of +men were set against me, yet shall not my heart be afraid.'" + + [Footnote 53: These observations may perhaps refer more + especially to the saints still on earth; but they apply to all + helpers, save God alone.] + +He finishes the homily thus: "The righteous see three periods; the +present, the period of change when the Lord will judge, and that which +will be after the resurrection,--that is, the eternity of life in heaven +in Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." + +Can this confessor of the Christian faith have ever taught his +fellow-believers to plead the merits of the saints, or to pray for their +intercessions? How strongly are the above sentiments contrasted with a +passage in the third of the spurious homilies called In Diversos; the +first clause of which is referred to by Bellarmin, as containing +Origen's approbation of giving honour to the saints[54]. + + [Footnote 54: I hardly need detain the reader by any proof of + the spuriousness of this passage; the whole work from which it + is taken is rejected altogether by the Benedictine editors: + "Reliqua ejusmodi spuria omittenda censuimus, qualia sunt ... + Homiliae in diversos;" and they have not allowed a single line of + it to appear in their volumes, not even in the small + character.--Vol. iv. p. 1.] + +"The memory of these (the Innocents) is always {149} celebrated, as is +right, in the Churches. These, therefore, since they were unjustly or +impiously put to death in peace and rest, having suffered much for the +name of the Lord, were taken from this world, to remain in the eternal +Church for ever in Christ. But their parents for the merits of their +suffering will receive a worthy recompense of reward from the just and +eternal Lord God." Here we have strongly marked indeed the difference +between Origen himself, and the errors fastened upon him by the design +or ignorance of subsequent times. + +Were not his testimony a subject of great moment, I should plead guilty +to having detained my readers too long on Origen; and yet I cannot +dismiss him without first refreshing our minds with the remembrance of +some of his beautiful reflections on a Christian's prayer. We need not +read them with a controversial eye, and they may be profitable to us +all. + +"I think, then, (says this early teacher in Christ's school) that when +proceeding to prayer, a Christian will be more readily disposed, and be +in a better tone for the general work of prayer, if he will first tarry +a little, and put himself into the right frame, casting off every +distracting and disturbing thought, and with his best endeavour +recalling to mind the vastness of HIM to whom he is drawing near, and +how unholy a thing it is to approach him with a carelessness and +indifference, and, as it were, contempt; laying aside also every thing +foreign to the subject;--so to come to prayer as one who stretcheth +forth his soul first, before his hands; and lifts up his mind first, +before his eyes, to God; and before he stands up, raising from the +ground the leading [150} principle of his nature, and lifting that up to +the Lord of all. So far casting away all remembrance of evil towards any +of those who may seem to have injured him, as he wishes God not to +remember evil against him, who has himself been guilty, and has +trespassed against many of his neighbours, or in whatever he is +conscious to have done contrary to right reason." [De Oratione, vol. i. +Sec. 31. p. 267.] + +"Having divided prayer into its several parts" (he continues), "I may +bring my work to a close. There are then four parts of prayer requiring +description, which I have found scattered in the Scriptures, all of +which every one should embody in his prayer:-- + +"First, we must offer glory (doxologies) to the best of our ability in +the opening and commencement of our prayer, to God through Christ who is +glorified with Him in the Holy Spirit, who is praised together. After +this each person should offer general thanksgivings both for the +blessings granted to all, and for those which he has individually +obtained from God. After the thanksgiving, it appears to me right, that +becoming, as it were, a bitter accuser of his own sins to God, he should +petition first of all for a remedy to release him from the habit which +impels him to transgress, and then for remission of the past. And after +the confession, I think he ought in the fourth place, to add a +supplication for great and heavenly things, both individual and +universal, and for his relations and friends. After all, he should close +his prayer with an ascription of glory to God through Christ in the Holy +Ghost." [Sect. 33. p. 271.] {151} + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION VI.--SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION ON ORIGEN. + + +I have above intimated my intention of reserving for a separate section +our examination of a passage ascribed to Origen, in which he is +represented as having invoked an angel to come down from heaven, to +succour him and his fellow-creatures on earth. The passage purports to +be part of Origen's comment on the opening verse of the prophecy of +Ezekiel, "The heavens were opened." After the fullest investigation, and +patient weighing of the whole section, I am fully persuaded, first, that +the passage is an interpolation, never having come from the pen of +Origen; and secondly, that, whoever were its author, it can be regarded +only as an instance of those impassioned apostrophes, which are found in +great variety in the addresses of ancient Christian orators. But since +some of the most respected writers of the Church of Rome have regarded +it as genuine, and deemed it worthy of being cited in evidence, I feel +it incumbent to state at length, for those readers who may desire to +enter at once fully into the question, the reasons on which my judgment +is founded; whilst others, who may perhaps consider the discussion of +the several points here as too great an interruption to the general +argument, may for the present pass this section, and reserve it for +subsequent inquiry. + +It will be, in the first place, necessary to quote the whole passage +entire, however long; for the mere extract of that portion which is +cited as Origen's prayer to an {152} angel, might leave a false +impression as to the real merits of the case. + +"The heavens are opened. The heavens were closed, and at the coming of +Christ they were opened, IN ORDER THAT THEY BEING LAID OPEN THE HOLY +GHOST MIGHT COME UPON HIM in the appearance of a dove. For he could not +come to us unless he had first descended on one who partook of his own +nature. Jesus ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, he received +gifts for men. He who descended is the same who ascended above all +heavens, that he might fill all things; and he gave some as apostles, +some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and masters, for +the perfecting of the saints." [Vol. iii. p. 358. Hom. i. in Ezek.] + +"[The heavens were opened. It is not enough for one heaven to be opened: +very many are opened, that not from one, but from all, angels may +descend to those who are to be saved; angels who ascended and descended +upon the Son of man, and came to him, and ministered to him. Now the +angels descended because Christ first descended, fearing to descend +before the Lord of all powers and things commanded. But when they saw +the chieftain of the army of heaven dwelling in earthly places, then +they entered through the opened road, following their Lord, and obeying +his will, who distributes them as guardians of those that believe on his +name. Thou yesterday wast under a devil, to-day thou art under an angel. +Do not ye, saith the Lord, despise one of the least of those who are in +the Church? Verily, I say unto you, that their angels through all things +see the face of the Father who is in heaven. The angels attend on thy +salvation; they were granted for the ministry of the Son of God, and +{153} they say among themselves, If he descended, and descended into a +body, if he is clothed in mortal flesh, and endured the cross, and died +for man, why are we resting idle? Why do we spare ourselves? Haste away! +Let all of us angels descend from heaven! Thus also was there a +multitude of the heavenly host praising and blessing God when Christ was +born. All things are full of angels. COME, ANGEL, take up one who by the +word is converted from former error, from the doctrine of demons, from +iniquity speaking on high, and taking him up like a good physician, +cherish him, and instruct him. He is a little child, to-day he is born, +an old man again growing young; and undertake him, granting him the +baptism of the second regeneration; and summon to thyself other +companions of thy ministry, that you all may together train for the +faith those who have been sometime deceived. For there is greater joy in +heaven over one sinner repenting, than over ninety and nine just persons +who need no repentance. Every creature exults, rejoices with, and with +applause addresses those who are to be saved; for the expectation of the +creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. And although +those who have interpolated the apostolical writings are unwilling that +such passages should be in their books as may prove Christ to be the +Creator, yet every creature waiteth for the sons of God when they shall +be freed from sin, when they shall be taken away from the hand of +Zabulon[55], when they shall be regenerated by Christ. But now it is +time that we touch somewhat on the present place. The Prophet sees not a +vision, but visions of God. {154} Why did he see not one, but many +visions? Hear the Lord promising and saying, I have multiplied visions. +8. 'The fifth month.' This was the fifth year of the captivity of king +Joachim. In the thirtieth year of Ezekiel's age, and the fifth of the +captivity of Joachim, the prophet is sent to the Jews. The most merciful +Father did not despise the people, nor leave them a long time +unadmonished. It is the fifth year. How much time intervened? Five years +elapsed since they were captives in bondage.] + +(The portion between brackets is what I regard as an interpolation.) + + [Footnote 55: This word is frequently used for "Diabolum." Thus + in a hymn used in the Roman ritual on Michaelmas-day we read, + "Michaelem in virtute conterentem Zabulum."] + +"Immediately the Holy Spirit descends. He opened the heavens, that they +who were oppressed by the yoke of bondage might see those things which +were seen by the prophet. For when he says, The heavens were opened, in +some measure they see with the eyes of their heart what he had seen even +with the eyes of his flesh." + +Now the question is, Can this apostrophe to an angel be admitted as +evidence that Origen held, and in his own person acted upon the doctrine +of the Invocation of Angels? + +The nature of the present work precludes us from entering at length on +the broad question, how far we can with safety regard the several +writings which now purport to be translations of Origen's compositions, +as on the whole the works of that early Christian writer. A multitude of +those works which, until almost the middle of the sixteenth century, +were circulated as Origen's, have long been by common consent excluded +from the catalogue of his works[56]. On this subject I {155} would refer +any one, who desires to enter upon the inquiry, to the several prefaces +of the Benedictine editors, who point out many sources of information, +as well from among their friends as from those with whom they differ. +Our inquiry must be limited within far narrower bounds, though I trust +our arguments may assist somewhat in establishing the principles on +which the student may at first guide himself in the wider range of +investigation. + + [Footnote 56: See preface to vol. iv. of the Benedictine + edition.] + +We will first look to the external evidence bearing on the passage in +question, and then to the internal character of the passage itself. + +Origen's Commentaries on Ezekiel were divided into no fewer than +twenty-five volumes, which he is said to have begun in Caesarea of +Palestine, and to have finished in Athens. Of these only one single +fragment remains, namely, part of the twenty-first volume[57]. Jerome +says that he translated fourteen of Origen's homilies on Ezekiel. Of +these not one passage in the original language of Origen is known to be +in existence. We must now, therefore, either receive the existing +translations generally as Origen's, (whether they are Jerome's +translations or not,) or we must consider Origen's homilies on Ezekiel +as altogether lost to us. But supposing that we receive these works as +containing, on the whole, traditionary translations of Origen, the +genuineness of any one passage may yet become the subject of fair +criticism. And whilst some persons reject whole masses of them +altogether, the history of his works cannot but suggest some very +perplexing points of suspicion and doubt. + + [Footnote 57: See Benedictine edition, vol. iii. p. 351. and + Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. lib. vi. c. 6. there referred to.] {156} + +The great body of his homilies, Origen probably delivered extempore in +the early part of his ministry to the Christians of Caesarea. Eusebius +tells us, that not before Origen had reached his sixtieth year did he +sanction the notaries (persons well known to history and corresponding +to the short-hand writers[58] of the present day) in publishing any of +his homilies. [Eccles. Hist. lib. vi. c. 36.] But the Benedictine +editor, De la Rue, conceives that those men might surreptitiously and +against the preacher's wishes have published some of Origen's homilies. +Be this as it may. Suppose that the homilies on Ezekiel were published +by Origen himself, and were translated by Jerome himself, our doubts are +not removed even by that supposition. The same editor in the same +preface tells us, "It is known to the learned that it was Jerome's +habit, in translating Greek, sometimes to insert some things of his +own[59]." Not that I for a moment conceive the passage under +consideration to have come in its Latin dress from the pen of Jerome; +for my conviction being that it is an interpolation of a much later +date, I mention the circumstance to show, that even when Jerome, with +his professed accuracy, is the translator, we can in no case feel sure +that we are reading the exact and precise sentiments of Origen. + + [Footnote 58: The Latin word "notarius" (notary) does not come + so near as our own English expression, "short-hand writer," to + the Greek word used by Eusebius,--"tachygraphus," + "quick-writer." The report of Eusebius as to the homilies of + Origen having been delivered extempore, and taken down by these + "quick-writers," is confirmed by Pamphilus the martyr, as quoted + by Valesius, in the annotations on this passage of + Eusebius.--Apol. Orig. lib. i.] + + [Footnote 59: Cui in vertendis Graecis sciunt eruditi solemne + esse nonnulla interdum de suo inserere.] {157} + +Ruffinus, his celebrated contemporary, accused Jerome of many +inaccuracies in his translations; and yet what were the principles of +translation adopted by Ruffinus himself, as his own, we are not left to +infer; for we learn it from his own pen. His voluntary acknowledgment in +the peroration which he added to Origen's Comment on the Epistle of St. +Paul to the Romans, strongly and painfully exhibits to us how little +dependence can safely be placed on such translations whenever the +original is lost; how utterly insufficient and unsatisfactory is any +evidence drawn from them, as to the real genuine sentiments and +expressions of the author. Ruffinus informs us, that with regard to many +of the various works of Origen, he changed the preacher's extemporary +addresses, as delivered in the Church, into a more explanatory form, +"adding, supplying, filling up what he thought wanting[60]." + + [Footnote 60: Dum supplere cupimus ea quae ab Origene in + auditorio Ecclesiae extempore (non tam explanationis quam + aedificationis intentione) perorata sunt.... Si addere quod + videar, et explere quae desunt.--Orig. vol. iv. p. 688.] + +Moreover, he proceeds so far as to tell us[61] that his false {158} +friends had remonstrated with him for not publishing the works under his +own name, instead of retaining Origen's, his changes having been so +great; a point, which he was far from unwilling to acknowledge. This +must appear to every one unsatisfactory in the extreme, and to shake +one's confidence in any evidence drawn from such a source. Indeed, the +Benedictine editor, with great cause and candour, laments this course of +proceeding on the part of Ruffinus, as throwing a doubt and uncertainty, +and suspicion, over all the works so tampered with. "This one thing +(observes that honest editor) would the learned desire, that Ruffinus +had spared himself the labour of filling up what he thought deficient. +For since the Greek text has perished, it can scarcely with certainty be +distinguished, where Origen himself speaks, or where Ruffinus obtrudes +his own merchandise upon us." This is more than enough to justify our +remarks. I must, however, refer to the conduct of another editor and +translator of Origen, of a similar tendency. It unhappily shows the +disposition to sacrifice every thing to the received opinions of the +Church of Rome, rather than place the whole evidence of antiquity before +the world, and abide by the result. How many works this principle, in +worse hands, may have mutilated, or utterly buried in oblivion, and left +to perish, it is impossible to conjecture; that the principle is +unworthy the spirit of Christianity will not now be questioned. That +editor and translator, in his advertisement on the Commentary upon St. +John, thus professes the principles which he had adopted: "Know, +moreover, that I have found nothing in this book which {159} seemed to +be inconsistent with the decrees of holy Mother Church: for had I found +any, I would not have translated the book, or would have marked the +suspected place." [Quoted by the Benedictine, vol. iv. p. viii.] The +Benedictine proceeds to say, that the writer had not kept his word, but +had allowed many heterodox passages to escape, whilst he had +deliberately withdrawn others. + + [Footnote 61: His words, as indicative of his principles of + translation, and bearing immediately on the question, as to the + degree of authority which should be assigned to the remains of + Origen, when the original is lost, deserve a place here: "I am + exposed to a new sort of charge at their hands; for thus they + address me,--In your writings, since very many parts in them + (plurima in eis) are considered to be of your own production, + give the title of your own name, and write, for example, The + Books of Explanations of Ruffinus on the Epistle to the + Romans,--but the whole of this they offer me, not from any love + of me, but from hatred to the author. But I, who consult my + conscience more than my fame, even if I am seen to add some + things, and to fill up what are wanting, or to shorten what are + too long, yet I do not think it right to steal the title of him, + who laid the foundations of the works, and supplied the + materials for the buildings. Yet, in truth, it may be at the + option of the reader, when he shall have approved of the work, + to ascribe the merits to whom he will."] + +Many works probably, of the earliest ages, have been wholly or in part +lost to us from the working of the same principle in its excess. Rather +than perpetuate any sentiments at variance with the received doctrines +of the Church, it was considered the duty of the faithful to let works, +in themselves valuable, but containing such sentiments, altogether +perish, or to exclude the objectionable passages. + +I would now invite you to examine the passage itself, and determine +whether it does not bear within it internal evidence of its having been +altogether interpolated. + +In the first place, on the words upon which it professes to be a +comment, the author had already given his comment, and assigned to them +another meaning. "The heavens were opened," he says: "Before the time of +Christ the heavens were shut; but at his advent they were opened, THAT +THE HOLY SPIRIT MIGHT DESCEND FIRST ON HIM;" quoting also among others +the passage which speaks of Christ taking captivity captive. And then +after the passage in question, in which he assigns a totally different +reason for the opening of the heavens; without any allusion to the +intervening ideas, he carries on, and concludes the comment which he had +begun,--in words which fit on well with the close of that comment, but +which, as they stand now at the close of the intervening passage about +the angels, are abrupt and incoherent--"Forthwith the Holy Spirit {160} +descended;" recurring also again to the idea which he had before +introduced of Christ benefiting those who were in captivity. A passage +which affixes to the words commented upon, a different interpretation +from one already given in the same paragraph; and which forces itself +abruptly and incoherently in the middle of a brief comment, must offer +itself to our examination under strong grounds of suspicion, that it has +been interpolated. But when we examine the substance of the passage, its +sentiments, the ideas conveyed, and the associations suggested, and then +think of the author to whom it is ascribed, few probably will be +disposed to regard it as a faithful mirror in which to contemplate the +real sentiments of Origen. + +How utterly unworthy of the sublime burst of Christian eloquence which +now delights us in undoubted works of Origen, is this strange and +degrading fiction! The true Origen THERE represents the tens of +thousands of angelic spirits ten thousand times told, as ever +surrounding the throne of God, and ministering for the blessing of those +in whose behalf God himself wills them to serve. [Vol. i. p. 767. Contr. +Cels. viii. 34.] Here he represents the revelation of the holiest of +holies as a throwing open of the various divisions or compartments of +the celestial kingdom for all the angels to hasten forth together, from +their several places of indolence and carelessness and self-indulgence, +(for such he represents their state to have been,) to visit this earth. +Surely such a comment would better suit the mythology of the cave and +dens of AEolus and his imprisoned winds (velut agmine facto qua data +porta ruunt) than the awfully sublime revelation vouchsafed to the +prophet Ezekiel. And how unworthy and degrading is that representation +of the {161} heavenly host, resting inactive, and sparing themselves +from toil, until they witnessed Christ's descent and humiliation; and +then when chid and put to shame and rebuke, and mutually roused to +action by their fellows, coming down to visit this earth, and rushing +through the opened portals of heaven. + +Again, we see how incoherent is the whole section which contains the +alleged prayer to angels: "Thou wast yesterday under a demon, to-day +thou art under an angel: the angels minister to thy salvation; they are +granted for the ministry of the Son of God, &c. All things are full of +angels. Come, Angel, take up one who is converted from his ancient +error, &c. And call to thee other companions of thy ministry, that all +of you alike may train up to the faith those who were once deceived." +Indeed the passage seems to carry within itself its own condemnation so +entirely, that what we have before alleged, both of internal and +external evidence, may appear superfluous. Surely the conceit of a +preacher of God's word addressing an angel, (which of them he thus +individually addresses does not appear; for he says not "My Angel," as +though he were appealing to one whom he regarded as his guardian, the +view gratuitously suggested in the marginal note of the Benedictine +editor, "the invocation of a guardian angel,") and bidding some one +angel, as a sort of summoner, to go and call to himself all the angels +of heaven to come in one body, and instruct those who are in error, is, +even as a rhetorical apostrophe, as unworthy the mind of a Christian +philosopher, as it is in the light of a prayer totally inconsistent with +the plain sentiments of Origen on the very subject of angelic +invocation. Even had Origen not left us his deliberate opinions in works +of undoubted genuineness, such a {162} strange, incoherent, and childish +rhapsody could never be relied upon by sober and upright men as a +precedent sanctioning a Christian's prayer to angels; no one would rely +upon such evidence in points of far less moment, even were it +uncontradicted by the same witness. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION VII.--ST. CYPRIAN. + + +In the middle of the third century, Cyprian [Jerom, vol. iv. p. 342.], a +man of substance and a rhetorician of Carthage, was converted to +Christianity. He was then fifty years of age; and his learning, virtues, +and devotedness to the cause which he had espoused, very soon raised him +to the dignity, the responsibility, and, in those days, the great +danger, of the Episcopate. (Cyprian is said to have been converted about +A.D. 246, to have been consecrated A.D. 248, and to have suffered +martyrdom A.D. 258.) Many of his writings of undoubted genuineness are +preserved, and they have been appealed to in every age as the works of a +faithful son of the Catholic Church. On the subject of prayer he has +written very powerfully and affectingly; but I find no expression which +can by possibility imply that he practised or countenanced the +invocation of saints and angels. I have carefully examined every +sentence alleged by its most strenuous defenders, and I cannot extract +from them one single grain of evidence which can bear the test of +inquiry. Even did the passages quoted require to be taken in the sense +affixed to them {163} by those advocates, they prove nothing; they do +not bear even remotely upon the subject, whilst I am persuaded that to +every unprejudiced mind a meaning will appear to have been attached to +them which the author did not intend to convey. + +The first quotation to which our attention is called is from the close +of his treatise De Habitu Virginum, which contains some very edifying +reflections. In the last clause of that treatise the advocates for the +invocation of saints represent Cyprian as requesting the virgins to +remember him in their prayers at the throne of grace when they shall +have been taken to heaven. "As we have borne the image of Him who is of +the earth, let us also bear the image of him who is from heaven. This +image the virgin-state bears,--integrity bears it, holiness and truth +bear it; rules of discipline mindful of God bear it, retaining justice +with religion, firm in the faith, humble in fear, strong to endure all +things, gentle to receive an injury, readily disposed to pity, with one +mind and with one heart in brotherly peace. All which ye ought, O good +virgins, to observe, to love and fulfil; ye who, retired for the service +of God and Christ, with your greater and better part are going before +towards the Lord to whom you have devoted yourselves. Let those who are +advanced in age exercise rule over the younger; ye younger, offer to +your equals a stimulus; encourage yourselves by mutual exhortations; by +examples emulous of virtue invite each other to glory; remain firm; +conduct yourselves spiritually; gain the end happily. Only remember us +then, when your virgin-state shall begin to be honoured." [Tantum +mementote tunc nostri, cum incipiet in vobis virginitas honorari.--Page +180.] {164} + +The second instance, from the close of his letter to Cornelius, puts +before us a beautiful act of friendship and brotherly affection worthy +of every Christian brother's and friend's imitation. But how it can be +applied in supporting the cause of the invocation of saints, I cannot +see. The supporters of that doctrine say that Cyprian suggests to his +friend, still living on earth, that whichever of the two should be first +called away, he should continue when in heaven to pray for the survivor +on earth. Suppose it to be so. That has not any approximation to our +praying to one who is already dead and gone to his reward. But Cyprian +surely intended to convey a very different meaning, namely this, that +the two friends should continue to pray, each in his place, mutually for +each other and for their friends, and relieve each other's wants and +necessities whilst both survived; and whenever death should remove the +one from earth to happiness, the survivor should not forget their bond +of friendship, but should still continue to pray to God for their +brothers and sisters. The passage translated to the letter, runs thus: +"Let us be mutually mindful of each other, with one mind and one heart. +On both sides, let us always pray for each other; let us by mutual love +relieve each other's pressures and distresses; and if either of us from +hence, by the speed of the Divine favour, go on before the {165} other, +let our love persevere before the Lord; for our brothers and sisters +with the Father's mercy let not prayer cease. My desire, most dear +brother, is that you may always prosper." [Epist. 57. Benedict, p. +96.--Memores nostri invicem simus concordes atque unanimes: utrobique +pro nobis semper oremus, pressuras et angustias mutua caritate +relevemus, et si quis istinc nostrum prior divinae dignationis celeritate +praecesserit, perseveret apud Dominum nostra dilectio; pro fratribus et +sororibus nostris apud misericordiam Patris non cesset oratio. Opto te, +frater carissime, semper bene valere.--This epistle is by some editors +numbered as the 60th, by others as the 61st, the 7th, and the 69th, &c.] + +Whether the above view of this passage be founded in reason or not, it +matters little to the point at issue. Let both these passages be +accepted in the sense assigned to them by some Roman Catholic writers, +yet there is not a shadow of analogy between the language and conduct of +Cyprian, and the language and conduct of those who now invoke saints +departed. In each case Cyprian, still in the body, was addressing +fellow-creatures still sojourning on earth. The very utmost which these +passages could be forced to countenance would be, that the righteous, +when in heaven, may be mindful in their prayers of their friends, who +are still exposed to the dangers from which they have themselves finally +escaped, and who, when both were on earth, requested them to remember +the survivors in their prayers. But this is a question totally different +from our addressing them in supplication and prayer; a difference which +I am most anxious that both myself and my readers should keep in mind +throughout. + +In the extract from Cyprian's letter, a modern author having rendered +the single word "utrobique," by the words "in this world and the next" I +am induced to add a few further observations on the passage. (The Latin +original and the version here referred to, will be placed side by side +in the Appendix.) It will, I think, appear to most readers on a careful +examination of the passage, that the expression "utrobique[62]" "on both +sides," or "on both parts," whatever be its precise {166} meaning, so +far from referring to "this world and the next," must evidently be +confined to the condition of both parties now in this life, because it +stands in direct contradistinction to what follows, the supposed case of +the death of either of the two; and because it applies no less to the +mutual relief of each other's sufferings and afflictions during their +joint lives, than to their mutual prayers: it cannot mean that all the +mutual benefits to be derived from their mutual remembrance of each +other, were to come solely through the means of their prayers. They were +doubtless mutually to pray for each other; but, in addition to their +prayers, they were also to relieve each other's pressures and +difficulties with mutual love, and that too before the event afterwards +contemplated, namely, the removal of one of them by death. + + [Footnote 62: Utrobique is rendered by Facciolati [Greek: + hekaterothi]--"in utraque parte, utrimque."] + +Bishop Fell thus comments on the passage: "The sense seems to be, When +either of us shall die; whether I, who preside at Carthage, or you, who +are presiding at Rome, shall be the survivor, let the prayer to God of +him whose lot shall be to remain the longest among the living, +persevere, and continue." "Meanwhile," continues the Bishop[63], "we by +no means doubt that souls admitted into heaven apply to God, the best +and greatest of Beings, that he would have compassion on those who are +dwelling on the earth. But it does not thence follow, that prayers +should be offered to the saints. THE MAN WHO PETITIONS THEM MAKES THEM +GODS (Deos qui rogat ille facit)." [Oxford, 1682, p. 143.] Rigaltius, +himself {167} a Roman Catholic, doubts whether, when Cyprian wrote this +letter, he had any idea before his mind of saints departed praying for +the living. He translates "utrobique" very much as I have done, "with +reciprocal love, with mutual charity." His last observations on this +passage are very remarkable. After having confessed the sentiments to be +worthy of a Christian, that the saints pray for us, and having argued +that Cyprian could not have thought it necessary to ask a saint to +retain his brotherly kindness in heaven, for he could not be a saint if +he did not continue to love his brethren, he thus concludes: "In truth +it is a pious and faithful saying, That of those who having already put +off mortality are made joint-heirs with Christ, and of those who +surviving on earth will hereafter be joint-heirs with Christ, the Church +is one, and is by the Holy Spirit so well joined together as not to be +torn asunder by the dissolution of the body. They pray to God for us, +and we praise God for them, and thus with mutual affection (utrobique) +we always pray for each other." [Paris, 1666. p. 92.] + + [Footnote 63: See the note of the Benedictine editors on this + passage (p. 467), in which they refer to the sentiments of + Rigaltius, Pamelius, and Bishop Fell, whom they call "the most + illustrious Bishop of Oxford."] + +I will detain you only by one or two more extracts from Cyprian; one +forming part of the introduction to his Comment on the Lord's Prayer, +which is fitted for the edification of Christians in every age; the +other closing his treatise on Mortality, one of those beautiful +productions by which, during the plague which raged at Carthage in the +year 252, he comforted and exhorted the Christians, that they might meet +death without fear or amazement, in sure and certain hope of eternal +blessedness in heaven. The sentiments in the latter passage will be +responded to by every good Catholic, whether in communion with the +Church of Rome or {168} with the Church of England; whilst in the former +we are reminded, that to pray as Cyprian prayed, we must address +ourselves to God alone in the name and trusting to the merits only of +his blessed Son. + +"He who caused us to live, taught us also to pray, with that kindness +evidently by which He deigns to give and confer on us every other +blessing; that when we speak to the Father in the prayer and +supplication which his Son taught, we might the more readily be heard. +He had already foretold, that the hour was coming when the true +worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth; and He +fulfilled what He before promised, that we, who have received the spirit +and truth from his sanctification, may from his instruction offer +adoration truly and spiritually. For what prayer can be more spiritual +than that which is given to us by Christ, by whom even the Holy Spirit +is sent to us? What can be a more true prayer with the Father than that +which came from the lips of the Son, who is Truth? So that to pray +otherwise than He taught, is not only ignorance, but a fault; since He +has himself laid it down and said, Ye reject the Commandment of God to +establish your own traditions. Let us pray then, most beloved brethren, +as our teacher, God, has instructed us. It is a welcome and friendly +prayer to petition God from his own, to mount up to his ears by the +prayer of Christ. Let the Father recognize the words of his Son. When we +offer a prayer let Him who dwelleth inwardly in our breast, Himself be +in our voice; and since we have Him as our advocate with the Father for +our sins, when as sinners we are petitioning for our sins let us put +forth the words of our Advocate." [De Orat. Dom. p. 204.] + +"We must consider, (he says at the close of his {169} treatise on the +Mortality [Page 236.],) most beloved brethren, and frequently reflect +that we have renounced the world, and are meanwhile living here as +strangers and pilgrims. Let us embrace the day which assigns each to his +own home ... which restores us to paradise and the kingdom of heaven, +snatched from hence and liberated from the entanglements of the world. +What man, when he is in a foreign country, would not hasten to return to +his native land?... We regard paradise as our country.... We have begun +already to have the patriarchs for our parents. Why do we not hasten and +run that we may see our country, and salute our parents? There a large +number of dear ones are waiting for us, of parents, brothers, children; +a numerous and full crowd are longing for us; already secure of their +own immortality, and still anxious for our safety. To come to the sight +and the embrace of these, how great will be the mutual joy to them and +to us! What a pleasure of the kingdom of heaven is there without the +fear of dying, and with an eternity of living! How consummate and +never-ending a happiness! There is the glorious company of the apostles; +there is the assembly of exulting prophets; there is the unnumbered +family of martyrs crowned for the victory of their struggles and +suffering; there are virgins triumphing, who, by the power of chastity, +have subdued the lusts of the flesh and the body; there are the merciful +recompensed, who with food and bounty to the poor have done the works of +righteousness, who keeping the Lord's commands have transferred their +earthly inheritance into heavenly treasures. To these, O most dearly +beloved brethren, let us hasten with most eager longing; {170} let us +desire that our lot may be to be with these speedily; to come speedily +to Christ. Let God see this to be our thought; let our Lord Christ +behold this to be the purpose of our mind and faith, who will give more +abundant rewards of his glory to them, whose desires for himself have +been the greater." + +Such is the evidence of St. Cyprian. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION VIII.--LACTANTIUS. + + +Cyprian suffered martyrdom about the year 260. Towards the close of this +century, and at the beginning of the fourth, flourished Lactantius. He +was deeply imbued with classical learning and philosophy. Before he +became a writer (as Jerome informs us [Jerom, vol. iv. part ii. p. 119. +Paris, 1706]) he taught rhetoric at Nicomedia; and afterwards in extreme +old age he was the tutor of Caesar Crispus, son of Constantine, in Gaul. +Among many other writings which Jerome enumerates, he specifies the +book, "On the Anger of God," as a most beautiful work. Bellarmin, +however, speaks of him disparagingly, as one who had fallen into many +errors, and was better versed in Cicero than in the Holy Scriptures. His +testimony is allowed by the supporters of the adoration of spirits and +angels to be decidedly against them; they do not refer to a single +passage likely to aid their cause; and they are chiefly anxious to +depreciate his evidence. I will call your attention only to two passages +in his works. The {171} one is in his first book on False Religion: "God +hath created ministers, whom we call messengers (angels);... but neither +are these gods, nor do they wish to be called gods, nor to be +worshipped, as being those who do nothing beyond the command and will of +God." [Vol. i. p. 31.] + +The other passage is from his work on a Happy Life: "Nor let any one +think that souls are judged immediately after death. For all are kept in +one common place of guard, until the time come when the great Judge will +institute an inquiry into their deserts. Then those whose righteousness +shall be approved, will receive the reward of immortality; and those +whose sins and crimes are laid open shall not rise again, but shall be +hidden in the same darkness with the wicked--appointed to fixed +punishments." [Chap. xxi. p. 574.] + +This composition is generally believed to have been written about the +year 317. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION IX.--EUSEBIUS. + + +The evidence of Eusebius, on any subject connected with primitive faith +and practice, cannot be looked to without feelings of deep interest. He +flourished about the beginning of the fourth century, and was Bishop of +Caesarea, in Palestine. His testimony has always been appealed to in the +Catholic Church, as an authority not likely to be gainsaid. He was a +voluminous writer, and his writings were very diversified in their +character. {172} Whatever be our previous sentiments we cannot too +carefully examine the remains of this learned man. But in his writings, +historical, biographical, controversial, or by whatever name they may be +called, overflowing as they are with learning, philosophical and +scriptural, I can find no one single passage which countenances the +decrees of the Council of Trent; not one passage which would encourage +me to hope that I prayed as the primitive Church was wont to pray, if by +invocation I requested an angel or a saint to procure me any favour, or +to pray for me. The testimony of Eusebius has a directly contrary +tendency. + +Among the authorities quoted by the champions of the invocation of +saints, I can find only three from Eusebius; and I sincerely lament the +observations which truth and justice require me to make here, in +consequence of the manner in which his evidence has been cited. The +first passage to which I refer is quoted by Bellarmin from the history +of Eusebius, to prove that the spirit of a holy one goes direct from +earth to heaven. This passage is not from the pen of Eusebius; and if it +were, it would not bear on our inquiry. The second is quoted by the same +author, from the Evangelica Praeparatio, to prove that the primitive +Christians offered prayers to the saints. Neither is this from the pen +of Eusebius. The third Extract, from the account of the martyrdom of +Polycarp, is intended to prove that the martyrs were worshipped. Even +this, one of the most beautiful passages in ancient history, as it is +represented by Bellarmin and others, is interpolated. + +The first passage, which follows a description of the {173} martyr +Potamiaena's sufferings, is thus quoted by Bellarmin: "In this manner the +blessed virgin, Potamniaena, emigrated from earth to heaven." [Hoc modo +beata Virgo emigravit e terris ad coelum. Vol. ii. p. 854.] And such, +doubtless, is the passage in the translation of Eusebius, ascribed to +Ruffinus [Basil, 1535. p. 134]; but the original is, "And such a +struggle was thus accomplished by this celebrated virgin;" ([Greek: kai +ho men taes aoidimou koraes toioutos kataegoisisto athlos]; Tale +certamen ab hac percelebri et gloriosa virgine confectum fait.); and +such is the Parisian translation of 1581. + +The second misquotation is far more serious. Bellarmin thus quotes +Eusebius: "These things we do daily, who honouring the soldiers of true +religion as the friends of God, approach to their respective monuments, +and make OUR PRAYERS TO THEM, as holy men, by whose intercession to God, +we profess to be not a little aided." [Haec nos, inquit, quotidie +factitamus qui veras pietatis milites ut Dei amicos honorantes, ad +monumenta quoque eorum accedimus, votaque ipsis facimus tanquam viris +sanctis quorum intercessione ad Deum non parum juvari profitemur.--p. +902. He quotes it as c. 7.] + +By one who has not by experience become familiar with these things it +would scarcely be believed, that whilst the readers of Bellarmin have +been taught to regard these as the words of Eusebius, in the original +there is no mention whatever made of the intercession of the saints; +that there is no allusion to prayer to them; that there is no admission +even of any benefit derived from them at all. This quotation Bellarmin +makes from the Latin version, published in Paris in 1581, or from some +common source: it is word for word the same. We must either allow him to +be ignorant of the truth, or to have designedly preferred error. {174} +The copy which I have before me of the "Evangelica Praeparatio," in Greek +and Latin, was printed in 1628, and dedicated by Viger Franciscus, a +priest of the order of Jesuits, to the Archbishop of Paris. + +Eusebius, marking the resemblance in many points between Plato's +doctrine and the tenets of Christianity, on the reverence which, +according to Plato, ought to be paid to the good departed, makes this +observation: "And this corresponds with what takes place on the death of +those lovers of God, whom you would not be wrong in calling the soldiers +of the true religion. Whence also it is our custom to proceed to their +tombs, and AT THEM [the tombs] to make our prayers, and to honour their +blessed souls, inasmuch as these things are with reason done by us." +[Greek: kai tauta de armozei epi tae ton theophilon teleutae ous +stratiotas taes alaethous eusebeius ouk an hamartois eipon +paralambanesthai othen kai epi tas thaekas auton ethos haemin parienai +kai tas euchas para tautais poieisthai, timan te tas makarias auton +psychas, os eulogos kai touton uph haemon giguomenon.] This translation +agrees to a certain extent with the Latin of Viger's edition ("Quae +quidem in hominum Deo carissimorum obitus egregie conveniunt, quos verae +pietatis milites jure appellaris. Nam et eorum sepulchra celebrare et +preces ibi votaque nuncupare et beatas illorum animas venerari +consuevimus, idque a nobis merito fieri statuimus"); though the +translator there has employed words more favourable to the doctrine of +the saints' adoration, than he could in strictness justify. + +The celebrated letter from the Church of Smyrna (Euseb. Cantab. 1720. +vol. i. p. 163), relating the martyrdom of Polycarp, one of the most +precious relics of Christian antiquity, has already been examined by us, +when we were inquiring into the recorded {175} sentiments of Polycarp; +and to our reflections in that place we have little to add. The +interpolations to which we have now referred, are intended to take off +the edge of the evidence borne by this passage of Eusebius against the +invocation of saints. First, whereas the Christians of Smyrna are +recorded by Eusebius to have declared, without any limitation or +qualification whatever, that they could never worship any fellow-mortal +however honoured and beloved, the Parisian edition limits and qualifies +their declaration by interpolating the word "as God," implying that they +would offer a secondary worship to a saint. Again, whereas Eusebius in +contrasting the worship paid to Christ, with the feelings of the +Christians towards a martyr, employs only the word "love," Bellarmin, +following Ruffinus, interpolates the word "veneramur" after "diligimus," +a word which may be innocently used with reference to the holy saints +and servants of God, though it is often in ancient writers employed to +mean the religious worship of man to God. Still how lamentable is it to +attempt by such tampering with ancient documents to maintain a cause, +whatever be our feelings with regard to it! + +With two more brief quotations we will close our report of Eusebius. +They occur in the third chapter of the third book of his Demonstratio +Evangelica, and give the same view of the feelings and sentiments of the +primitive Christians towards the holy angels, which we have found Origen +and all the other fathers to have acknowledged. + +"In the doctrine of his word we have learned that there exists, after +the most high God, certain powers, {176} in their nature incorporeal and +intellectual, rational and purely virtuous, who ([Greek: choreuousas]) +keep their station around the sovereign King,--the greater part of whom, +by certain dispensations of salvation, are sent at the will of the +Father even as far as to men; whom, indeed, we have been taught to know +and to honour, according to the measure of their dignity, rendering to +God alone, the sovereign King, the honour of worship." ([Greek: +gnorizein kai timain kata to metron taes axias edidachthaemen, mono toi +pambasilei Theoi taen sebasmion timaen aponemontes]) Again: "Knowing the +divine, the serving and ministering powers of the sovereign God, and +honouring them to the extent of propriety; but confessing God alone, and +Him alone worshipping." ([Greek: theias men dynameis hypaeretikas tou +pambasileos Theou kai leitourgikas eidotes, kai kata to prosaekon +timontes monon de Theon homologountes, kai monon ekeinon sebontes]) +[Demonst. Evang. Paris, 1628. p. 106.; Praepar. Evang. lib. vii. c. 15. +p. 237.] + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION X.--APOSTOLICAL CANONS AND CONSTITUTIONS. + + +The works known by the name of the Apostolical Constitutions and +Apostolical Canons, though confessedly not the genuine productions of +the Apostles, or of their age, have been always held in much veneration +by the Church of Rome. The most learned writers fix their date at a +period not more remote than the beginning of the fourth century. (See +Cotelerius; vol. i. p. 194 and 424. Beveridge, in the same vol. p. 427. +Conc. Gen. Florence, 1759, tom. i. p. 29 and 254.) I invite the reader +{177} to examine both these documents, but especially the Constitutions, +and to decide whether they do not contain strong and convincing +evidence, that the invocation of saints was not practised or known in +the Church when they were written. Minute rules are given for the +conducting of public worship; forms of prayer are prescribed to be used +in the Church, by the bishops and clergy, and by the people; forms of +prayer and of thanksgiving are recommended for the use of the faithful +in private, in the morning, at night, and at their meals; forms, too, +there are of creeds and confessions;--but not one single allusion to any +religious address to angel or saint; whilst occasions most opportune for +the introduction of such doctrine and practice repeatedly occur, and are +uniformly passed by. Again and again prayer is directed to be made to +the one only living and true God, exclusively through the mediation and +intercession of the one only Saviour Jesus Christ. Honourable mention is +made of the saints of the Old Testament, and the apostles and martyrs of +the New; directions are also given for the observance of their festivals +[Book viii. p. 415]; but not the shadow of a thought appears that their +good offices could benefit us; much less the most distant intimation +that Christians might invoke them for their prayers and intercessions. +There is indeed very much in these early productions of the Christian +world to interest every Catholic Christian; and although a general +admiration of the principles for the most part pervading them does not +involve an entire approbation of them all, yet perhaps few would think +the time misapplied which they should devote to the examination of these +documents. {178} + +In book v. c. 6. of the Constitutions, the martyr is represented as +"trusting in the one only true God and Father, through Jesus Christ, the +great High Priest, the Redeemer of souls, the Dispenser of rewards; to +whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." [Cotel. vol. i. p. 304.] + +In the same book and in the following chapter we find an exceedingly +interesting dissertation on the general resurrection, but not one word +of saint or martyr being beforehand admitted to glory; on the contrary, +the declaration is distinct, that not the martyrs only, but all men will +rise. Surely such an opportunity would not have been lost of stating the +doctrine of martyrs being now reigning with Christ, had such been the +doctrine of the Church at that early period. + +In the eighth chapter is contained an injunction to honour the martyrs +in these words: "We say that they should be in all honour with you, as +the blessed James the bishop and our holy fellow-minister Stephen were +honoured with us. For they are blessed by God and honoured by holy men, +pure from all blame, never bent towards sins, never turned away from +good,--undoubtedly to be praised. Of whom David spake, 'Honourable +before God is the death of his saints;' and Solomon, 'The memory of the +just is with praise.' Of whom the prophet also said, 'Just men are taken +away.'" [p. 309.] + +And in book viii. c. 13. we read this exhortation,--"Let us remember the +holy martyrs, that we may be counted worthy to be partakers of their +conflict." [p. 404.] + +Does this sound any thing at all like adoration or invocation? The word +which is used in the above {179} passage, _honour_ [[Greek: time] p. +241], is employed when (book ii. c. 28.) the respect is prescribed which +the laity ought to show to the clergy. + +To the very marked silence as to any invocation or honour, to be shown +to the Virgin Mary, I shall call your attention in our separate +dissertation on the worship now offered to her. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION XI.--SAINT ATHANASIUS. + + +The renowned and undaunted defender of the Catholic faith against the +errors which in his day threatened to overwhelm Gospel-truth, Athanasius +(the last of those ante-Nicene writers into whose testimony we have +instituted this inquiry), was born about the year 296, and, after having +presided in the Church as Bishop for more than forty-six years, died in +373, on the verge of his eightieth year. It is impossible for any one +interested in the question of primitive truth to look upon the belief +and practice of this Christian champion with indifference. When I first +read Bellarmin's quotations from Athanasius, in justification of the +Roman Catholic worship in the adoration of saints, I was made not a +little anxious to ascertain the accuracy of his allegations. The inquiry +amply repaid me for my anxiety and the labour of research; not merely by +proving the unsoundness of Bellarmin's representation, but also by +directing my thoughts more especially, as my acquaintance with his {180} +works increased, to the true and scriptural views taken by Athanasius of +the Christian's hope and confidence in God alone; the glowing fervour of +his piety centering only in the Lord; his sure and certain hope in life +and in death anchored only in the mercies of God, through the merits and +mediation of Jesus Christ alone. + +Bellarmin, in his appeal to Athanasius as a witness in behalf of the +invocation of saints, cites two passages; the one of which, though +appearing in the edition of the Benedictines, amongst the works called +doubtful, has been adjudged by those editors [Vol. ii. p. 110 and 122] +to be not genuine; the other is placed by them among the confessedly +spurious works, and is treated as a forgery. + +The first passage is from a treatise called De Virginitate, and even +were that work the genuine production of Athanasius, would make against +the religious worship of the saints rather than in its favour, for it +would show, that the respect which the author intended to be paid to +them, was precisely the same with what he would have us pay to holy men +in this life, who might come to visit us. "If a just man enter into +thine house, thou shalt meet him with fear and trembling, and shalt +worship before his feet to the ground: for thou wilt not worship him, +but God who sent him." + +The other passage would have been decisive as to the belief of +Athanasius, had it come from his pen. "Incline thine ear, O Mary, to our +prayers, and forget not thy people. We cry to thee. Remember us, O Holy +Virgin. Intercede for us, O mistress, lady, queen, and mother of God." +[Vol. ii. p. 390-401.] + +Had Bellarmin been the only writer, or the last who cited this passage +as the testimony of St. Athanasius, {181} it would have been enough for +us to refer to the judgment of the Benedictine editors, who have classed +the homily containing these words among the spurious works ascribed to +Athanasius; or rather we might have appealed to Bellarmin himself. For +it is very remarkable, that though in his anxiety to enlist every able +writer to defend the cause of the invocation of saints, he has cited +this passage in his Church Triumphant as containing the words of +Athanasius, without any allusion to its decided spuriousness, or even to +its suspicious character; yet when he is pronouncing his judgment on the +different works assigned to Athanasius, declaring the evidence against +this treatise to be irresistible, he condemns it as a forgery. [Bellarm. +de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, Cologne, 1617, vol. vii. p. 50.] + +Since, however, this passage has been cited in different Roman Catholic +writers of our own time as containing the words of Athanasius, and in +evidence of his genuine belief and practice, and that without an +allusion even to any thing doubtful and questionable in its character, +it becomes necessary to enter more in detail into the circumstances +under which the passage is offered to our notice. + +The passage is found in a homily called The Annunciation of the Mother +of God. How long this homily has been discarded as spurious, or how long +its genuineness had been suspected before the time of Baronius, I have +not discovered; but certainly two centuries and a half ago, and +repeatedly since, it has been condemned as totally and indisputably +spurious, and has been excluded from the works of Athanasius as a +forgery, not by members of the Reformed Church, but {182} by most +zealous and steady adherents to the Church of Rome, and the most +strenuous defenders of her doctrines and practice. + +The Benedictine editors[64], who published the remains of St. Athanasius +in 1698, class the works contained in the second volume under two heads, +the doubtful and the spurious; and the homily under consideration is +ranked, without hesitation, among the spurious. In the middle of that +volume they not only declare the work to be unquestionably a forgery, +assigning the reasons for their decision, but they fortify their +judgment by quoting at length the letter written by the celebrated +Baronius, more than a century before, to our countryman, Stapleton. Both +these documents are very interesting. + + [Footnote 64: Here I would observe, that though the Benedictine + editors differ widely from each other in talent, and learning, + and candour, yet, as a body, they have conferred on Christendom, + and on literature, benefits for which every impartial and + right-minded man will feel gratitude. In the works of some of + these editors, far more than in others, we perceive the same + reigning principle--a principle which some will regard as an + uncompromising adherence to the faith of the Church; but which + others can regard only in the light of a prejudice, and a rooted + habit of viewing all things through the eyes of Rome.] + +The Benedictine editors begin their preface thus: "That this discourse +is spurious, there is NO LEARNED MAN WHO DOES NOT NOW ADJUDGE ... The +style proves itself more clear than the sun, to be different from that +of Athanasius. Besides this, very many trifles show themselves here +unworthy of any sensible man whatever, not to say Athanasius ... and a +great number of expressions unknown to Athanasius ... so that it savours +of inferior Greek. And truly his subtle disputation {183} on the +hypostasis of Christ, and on the two natures in Christ, persuades us, +that he lived after the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon; of which +councils moreover he uses the identical words, whereas his dissertation +on the two wills in Christ seems to argue, that he lived after the +spreading of the error of the Monothelites. But (continue these +Benedictine editors) we would add here the dissertation of Baronius on +this subject, sent to us by our brethren from Rome. That illustrious +annotator, indeed, having read only the Latin version of Nannius, which +is clearer than the Greek, did not observe the astonishing perplexity of +the style[65]." + + [Footnote 65: Even in the Bibliotheca Patrum Concionatoria the + homily is declared to be not the work of Athanasius, but to have + been written after the sixth general council. "It is evident," + say the editors, "that it is the monument of a very learned man, + though he has his own blemishes, on which, for the most part, we + have remarked in the margin." Paris, 1662. p. 336.] + +The dissertation which the Benedictine editors append, was contained in +a letter written by Baronius to Stapleton, in consequence of some +animadversions which Stapleton had communicated to Cardinal Allen on the +judgment of Baronius. The letter is dated Rome, November, 1592. The +judgment of Baronius on the spurious character of this homily had been +published to the world some time previously; for after some preliminary +words of kindness and respect to his correspondent, Baronius proceeds to +say, that when he previously published his sentiments on this homily, it +was only cursorily and by the way, his work then being on another +subject. Nevertheless he conceived, {184} that the little he had then +stated would be sufficient to show, that the homily was not the +production of Athanasius, and that all persons of learning, WHO WERE +DESIROUS OF THE TRUTH, would freely agree with him; nor was he in this +expectation disappointed; for very many persons expressed their +agreement with him, congratulating him on separating legitimate from +spurious children. He then states the arguments which the Benedictine +editors adopted after him, and which we need not repeat. But he also +urges this fact, that though Cyril had the works of Athanasius in his +custody, and though both the disputing parties ransacked every place for +sentiments of Athanasius countenancing their tenets, yet neither at +Ephesus nor at Chalcedon was this homily quoted, though it must have +altogether driven Eutyches and Nestorius from the field, so exact are +its definitions and statements on the points then at issue. Baronius +then adds, that so far from reversing the judgment which he had before +passed against the genuineness of this homily, he was compelled in +justice to declare his conviction, that it could not have been written +till after the heresy of the Monothelites had been spread abroad. This +we know would fix its date, at the very earliest, subsequently to the +commencement of the SEVENTH century, three hundred years after +Athanasius attended the Council of Nice. Among the last sentiments of +Baronius in this letter, is one which implies a principle worthy of +Christian wisdom, and which can never be neglected without injury to the +cause of truth. "These sentiments concerning Athanasius I do not think +are affirmed with any detriment to the Church; for the Church does not +suffer a loss on this account; who being the pillar {185} and ground of +the truth, very far shrinks from seeking, like AEsop's Jackdaw, helps and +ornaments which are not her own: the bare truth shines more beautiful in +her own naked simplicity." Were this principle acted upon uniformly in +our discussions on religious points of faith or practice, controversy +would soon be drawn within far narrower limits; and would gradually be +softened into a friendly interchange of sentiments, and would well-nigh +be banished from the world. No person does the cause of truth so much +injury, as one who attempts to support it by arguments which will not +bear the test of full and enlightened investigation. And however an +unsound principle may be for a while maintained by unsound arguments, +the momentary triumph must ultimately end in disappointment. + +Coccius also cites two passages as conveying the evidence of Athanasius +on this same point; one from the spurious letter addressed to Felix, the +pope; the other from the treatise to Marcellus, on the interpretation of +the Psalms. On the former, I need not detain you by any observation; it +would be fighting with a shadow. The latter, which only recognises what +I have never affirmed or denied here,--the interest in our welfare taken +by holy souls departed, and their co-operation with us when we are +working out our own salvation,--contains a valuable suggestion on the +principles of devotion. + +"Let no one, however, set about to adorn these Psalms for the sake of +effect with words from without, [artificial and secular phrases,] nor +transpose, nor alter the expressions. But let every one inartificially +read and repeat what is written, that those holy persons who employed +themselves in their production, recognising their own works, may join +with us in prayer; or {186} rather that the Holy Spirit, who spake in +those holy men, observing the words with which his voice inspired them, +may assist us. For just as much as the life of those holy men is more +pure than ours, so far are their words preferable to any production of +our own." + +But whilst there is not found a single passage in Athanasius to give the +faintest countenance to the invocation of saints, there are various +arguments and expressions which go far to demonstrate that such a belief +and such practices as are now acknowledged and insisted upon by the +Church of Rome, were neither adopted nor sanctioned by him. Had he +adopted that belief and practice for his own, he would scarcely have +spoken, as he repeatedly has, of the exclusion of angels and men from +any share in the work of man's restoration, without any expressions to +qualify it, and to protect his assertions from being misunderstood. +Again, he bids us look to the holy men and holy fathers as our examples, +in whose footsteps we should tread, if we would be safe; but not a hint +escapes him that they are to be invoked. + +I must detain you by rather a long quotation from this father, and will, +therefore, now do nothing more than refer you to two passages expressive +of those sentiments to which I have above alluded. In the thirteenth +section of his Treatise on the Incarnation of the Word of God, he +argues, that neither could men restore us to the image of God, nor could +angels, but the word of God, Jesus Christ, &c. [Vol. i. part i. p. 58.] +In his Epistle to Dracontius, he says, "We ought to conduct ourselves +agreeably to the principles of the saints and fathers, and to imitate +them,--assured that if we {187} swerve from them, we become alienated +also from their communion." [Vol. i. part i, p. 265.] + +The passage, however, to which I would invite the reader's patient and +impartial thoughts, occurs in the third oration against the Arians, when +he is proving the unity of the Father and the Son, from the expression +of St. Paul in the eleventh verse of the third chapter of his first +Epistle to the Thessalonians. + +"Thus then again ([Greek: outo g' oun palin]), when he is praying for +the Thessalonians, and saying, 'Now our God and Father himself and the +Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you,' he preserves the unity of the +Father and the Son. For he says not 'may THEY direct ([Greek: +kateuthunoien]),' as though a twofold grace were given from Him AND Him, +but 'may HE direct ([Greek: katenthunai]),' to show that the Father +giveth this through the Son. For if there was not an unity, and the Word +was not the proper offspring of the Father's substance, as the +eradiation of the light, but the Son was distinct in nature from the +Father,--it had sufficed for the Father alone to have made the gift, no +generated being partaking with the Maker in the gifts. But now such a +giving proves the unity of the Father and the Son. Consequently, no one +would pray to receive any thing from God AND the angels, or from any +other created being; nor would any one say 'May God AND the angels give +it thee;' but from the Father and the Son, because of their unity and +the oneness of the gift. For whatever is given, is given through the +Son,--nor is there any thing which the Father works except through the +Son; for thus the receiver has the gracious favour without fail. But if +the patriarch Jacob, blessing his descendants Ephraim and Manasseh, +said, 'The God who nourished {188} me from my youth unto this day, the +Angel who delivered me from all the evils, bless these lads;' he does +not join one of created beings, and by nature angels, with God who +created them; nor dismissing Him who nourished him, God, does he ask the +blessing for his descendants from an angel, but by saying 'He who +delivered me from all the evils,' he showed that it was not one of +created angels, but the WORD OF GOD; and joining him with the Father, he +supplicated him through whom also God delivers whom he will. For he used +the expression, knowing him who is called the Messenger of the great +counsel of the Father to be no other than the very one who blessed and +delivered from evil. For surely he did not aspire to be blessed himself +by God, and was willing for his descendants to be blessed by an angel. +But the same whom he addressed, saying, I will not let Thee go, except +thou bless me (and this was God, as he says, 'I saw God face to face'), +Him he prayed to bless the sons of Joseph. The peculiar office of an +angel is to minister at the appointment of God; and often he went +onwards to cast out the Amorite, and is sent to guard the people in the +way; but these are not the doings of him, but of God, who appointed him +and sent him,--whose also it is to deliver whom he will." [Vol i. p. +561.] + +"For this cause David addressed no other on the subject of deliverance +but God Himself. But if it belongs to no other than God to bless and +deliver, and it was no other who delivered Jacob than the Lord Himself, +and the patriarch invoked for his descendants Him who delivered him, it +is evident that he connected no one in his prayer except His Word, whom +for this reason he called an angel, because he alone reveals the +Father." {189} + +"But this no one would say of beings produced and created; for neither +when the Father worketh does any one of the angels, or any other of +created beings, work the things; for no one of such beings is an +effective cause, but they themselves belong to things produced. The +angels then, as it is written, are ministering spirits sent to minister; +and the gifts given by Him through the Word they announce to those who +receive them." + +Now if the invocation of angels had been practised by the Church at that +time, can it be for a moment believed, that a man of such a mind as was +the mind of Athanasius, a mind strong, clear, logical, cultivated with +ardent zeal for the doctrines of the Church, and fervent piety, would +have suffered such passages as these to fall from him, without one +saving clause in favour of the invocation of angels? He tells us in the +most unqualified manner, that they act merely as ministers; ready +indeed, and rejoicing to be employed on errands of mercy, but not going +one step without the commands of the Lord, or doing one thing beyond his +word. Had the idea been familiar to the mind of Athanasius, of the +lawfulness, the duty, the privilege, the benefit of invoking them, would +he have avoided the introduction of some words to prevent his +expressions from being misunderstood and misapplied, as subsequent +writers did long before the time when the denial of the doctrine might +seem to have made such precaution more necessary? + +I close then the catalogue of our witnesses before the Council of Nicaea +with the testimony of St. Athanasius; whose genuine and acknowledged +works afford not one jot or tittle in support of the doctrine and +practice of the invocation of angels and saints, as now insisted upon by +the Church of Rome; and the direct {190} tendency of whose evidence is +decidedly hostile both to that doctrine and that practice. + +I have seen it observed by some who are satisfied, that the records of +primitive antiquity do not contain such references to the invocation of +saints and angels, as we might have expected to find had the custom then +prevailed, that the earliest Christians kept back the doctrine and +concealed it, though they held it; fearing lest their heathen neighbours +should upbraid them with being as much polytheists as themselves[66]. +This is altogether a gratuitous assumption, directly contrary to +evidence, and totally inconsistent with their conduct. Had those first +Christians acted upon such a debasing principle, they would have kept +back and concealed their worship of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, as +exposing them to a similar charge. They were constantly upbraided with +worshipping a crucified {191} mortal; but instead of either meeting that +charge by denying that they worshipped Jesus as their God, or of +concealing the worship of Him, lest they should expose themselves again +to such upbraidings, they publicly professed, that He whom the Jews had +murdered, they believed in as the Son of God, Himself their God. They +gloried in the doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity, and did not fear +what men might do to them, or say of them in consequence. Had they +believed in the duty of invoking saints and angels, the high principle +of Christian integrity would not have suffered them to be ashamed to +confess it, or to practise openly what they believed. + + [Footnote 66: Bishop Morley, (London, 1683,) in a letter written + whilst he was in exile at Breda, to J. Ulitius, refers to + Cardinal Perron, "Replique a la Resp. du Roy de la Grande Bret." + p. 1402 and 4, for this sentiment: "The Fathers do not always + speak what they think, but conceal their real sentiments, and + say that which best serves the cause which they sustain, so as + to protect it against the objections of the gentiles. The + Fathers, as much as in them lies, and as far as they can, avoid + and decline all occasions of speaking about the invocation of + saints then practised in the Church, fearing lest to the + gentiles there might appear a sort of similarity, although + untrue and equivocal, between the worship paid to the saints by + the Church, and by the Pagans to their false divinities; and + lest the Pagans might thence seize a handle, however unfair, of + retorting upon them that custom of the Church." Had a member of + the Anglican Church thus spoken of the Fathers, and thus pleaded + in their name guilty of subterfuge and duplicity, he would have + been immediately charged with irreverence and wanton insult, and + that with good reason. These sentiments of the Cardinal are in + p. 982 of the Paris edition of 1620.] {192} + + * * * * * + + + + +PART II. + +CHAPTER I. + +STATE OF WORSHIP AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION. + + +One of the points proposed for our inquiry was the state of religious +worship, with reference to the invocation of saints, at the time +immediately preceding the reformation. Very far from entertaining a wish +to fasten upon the Church of Rome now, what then deformed religion among +us, in any department where that Church has practically reformed her +services, I would most thankfully have found her ritual in a more +purified state than it is. My more especial object in referring to this +period is twofold: first, to show, that consistently with Catholic and +primitive principles, the Catholic Christians of England ought not to +have continued to participate in the worship which at that time +prevailed in our country; and, secondly, by that example both to +illustrate the great danger of allowing ourselves to countenance the +very first stages of superstition, and also to impress upon our minds +the duty of checking in its germ any the least deviation from the +primitive principles of faith and worship; convinced that by the general +tendency of human nature, one wrong step will, though imperceptibly, yet +almost inevitably lead to another; and that only whilst we adhere with +uncompromising steadiness {193} to the Scripture as our foundation, and +to the primitive Church, under God, as a guide, can we be saved from the +danger of making shipwreck of our faith. + +On this branch of our subject I propose to do no more than to lay before +my readers the witness borne to the state of religion in England at that +time, by two works, which have been in an especial manner forced upon my +notice. Many other testimonies of a similar tendency might readily be +adduced; but these will probably appear sufficient for the purposes +above mentioned; and to dwell longer than is necessary on this point +would be neither pleasant nor profitable. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION I. + + +The first book to which I shall refer is called The Hours of the most +blessed Virgin Mary, according to the legitimate use of the Church of +Salisbury. This book was printed in Paris in the year 1526. The prayers +in this volume relate chiefly to the Virgin: and I should, under other +circumstances, have reserved all allusion to it for our separate inquiry +into the faith and practice of the Church of Rome with regard to her. +But its historical position and general character seemed to recommend +our reference to it here. Without anticipating, therefore, the facts or +the arguments, which will hereafter be submitted to the reader's +consideration on the worship of the Virgin, I refer to this work now +solely as illustrative of the lamentable state of superstition which +three centuries ago overran our country. + +The volume abounds with forms of prayer to the Virgin, many of them +prefaced by extraordinary notifications of indulgences promised to those +who duly utter {194} the prayers. These indulgences are granted by Popes +and by Bishops; some on their own mere motion, others at the request of +influential persons. They guarantee remission of punishment for +different spaces of time, varying from forty days to ninety thousand +years; they undertake to secure freedom from hell; they promise pardon +for deadly sins, and for venial sins to the same person for the same +act; they assure to those who comply with their directions a change of +the pain of eternal damnation into the pain of purgatory, and the pain +of purgatory into a free and full pardon. + +It may be said that the Church of Rome is not responsible for all these +things. But we need not tarry here to discuss the question how far it +was then competent for a church or nation to have any service-book or +manual of devotion for the faithful, without first obtaining the papal +sanction. For clear it is beyond all question, that such frightful +corruptions as these, of which we are now to give instances, were spread +throughout the land; that such was the religion then imposed on the +people of England; and it was from such dreadful enormities, that our +Reformation, to whatever secondary cause that reformation is to be +attributed--by the providence of Almighty God rescued us. No one laments +more than I do, the extremes into which many opponents of papal Rome +have allowed themselves to run; but no one can feel a more anxious +desire than myself to preserve our Church and people from a return of +such spiritual degradation and wretchedness; and to keep far from us the +most distant approaches of such lamentable and ensnaring superstitions. +In this feeling moreover I am assured that I am joined by many of the +most respected and influential members of the Roman Catholic Church +among us. {195} Still what has been may be; and it is the bounden duty +of all members of Christ's Catholic Church, to whatever branch of it +they belong, to join in guarding his sanctuary against such enemies to +the truth as it is in HIM. + +At the same time it would not be honest and candid in me, were I to +abstain from urging those, who, with ourselves, deprecate these +excesses, to carry their reflections further; and determine whether the +spirit of the Gospel does not require a total rejection, even in its +less startling forms, of every departure from the principle of invoking +God alone; and of looking for acceptance with Him solely to the +mediation of his Son, without the intervention of any other merits. As +we regard it, it is not a question of degree; it is a question of +principle: one degree may be less revolting to our sense of right than +another, but it is not on that account justifiable. + +The following specimens, a few selected from an overabundant supply, +will justify the several particulars in the summary which I have above +given: + +1. "The Right Reverend Father in God, Laurence[67], Bishop of Assaven, +hath granted forty days of pardon to all them that devoutly say this +prayer in the worship of our blessed Lady, being penitent, and truly +confessed of all their sins. Oratio, 'Gaude Virgo, Mater Christi,' &c. +Rejoice, Virgin, Mother of Christ. [Fol. 35.] + + [Footnote 67: This was Laurence Child, who, by papal provision, + was made Bishop of St. Asaph, June 18, 1382. He is called also + Penitentiary to the Pope. Le Neve, p. 21. Beatson, vol. i. p. + 115.] + +2. "To all them that be in the state of grace, that daily say devoutly +this prayer before our blessed Lady of Pity, she will show them her +blessed visage, and warn them the day and the hour of death; and in +their last {196} end the angels of God shall yield their souls to +heaven; and[68] he shall obtain five hundred years, and so many Lents of +pardon, granted by five holy fathers, Popes of Rome. [Fol. 38.] + + [Footnote 68: The language in many of these passages is very + imperfect; but I have thought it right to copy them verbatim.] + +3. "This prayer showed our Lady to a devout person, saying, that this +golden prayer is the most sweetest and acceptablest to me: and in her +appearing she had this salutation and prayer written with letters of +gold in her breast, 'Ave Rosa sine spinis'--Hail Rose without thorns. +[Fol. 41.] + +4. "Our holy Father, Sixtus the fourth, pope, hath granted to all them +that devoutly say this prayer before the image of our Lady the sum of +XI.M. [eleven thousand] years of pardon. 'Ave Sanctissima Maria, Mater +Dei, Regina Coeli,' &c. Hail most holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of +Heaven. [Fol. 42.] + +5. "Our holy Father, Pope Sixtus, hath granted at the instance of the +highmost and excellent Princess Elizabeth, late Queen of England, and +wife to our sovereign liege Lord, King Henry the Seventh, (God have +mercy on her sweet soul, and on all Christian souls,) that every day in +the morning, after three tollings of the Ave bell, say three times the +whole salutation of our Lady Ave Maria gratia; that is to say, at 6 the +clock in the morning 3 Ave Maria, at 12 the clock at noon 3 Ave M., and +at 6 the clock at even, for every time so doing is granted of the +SPIRITUAL TREASURE OF HOLY CHURCH 300 days of pardon totiens quotiens; +and also our holy father, the Archbishop of Canterbury and York, with +other nine Bishops of this realm, have {197} granted 3 times in the day +40 days of pardon to all them that be in the state of grace able to +receive pardon: the which begun the 26th day of March, Anno MCCCCXCII. +Anno Henrici VII.[69] And the sum of the indulgence and pardon for every +Ave Maria VIII hondred days an LX totiens quotiens, this prayer shall be +said at the tolling of the Ave Bell, 'Suscipe,' &c. Receive the word, O +Virgin Mary, which was sent to thee from the Lord by an angel. Hail, +Mary, full of grace: the Lord with thee, &c. Say this 3 times, &c. [Fol. +42.] + + [Footnote 69: Henry VII. began to reign in 1485.] + +6. "This prayer was showed to St. Bernard by the messenger of God, +saying, that as gold is the most precious of all other metals, so +exceedeth this prayer all other prayers, and who that devoutly sayeth it +shall have a singular reward of our blessed Lady, and her sweet Son +Jesus. 'Ave,' &c. Hail, Mary, most humble handmaid of the Trinity, &c. +Hail, Mary, most prompt Comforter of the living and the dead. Be thou +with me in all my tribulations and distresses with maternal pity, and at +the hour of my death take my soul, and offer it to thy most beloved Son +Jesus, with all them who have commended themselves to our prayers. [Fol. +46.] + +7. "Our holy father, the Pope Bonifacius, hath granted to all them that +devoutly say this lamentable contemplation of our blessed Lady, standing +under the Cross weeping, and having compassion with her sweet Son Jesus, +7 years of pardon and forty Lents, and also Pope John the 22 hath +granted three hondred days of pardon. 'Stabat Mater dolorosa.' [Fol. +47.] + +8. "To all them that before this image of Pity devoutly say 5 Pat. Nos., +and 5 Aves, and a Credo, piteously beholding these arms of Christ's +passion, are {198} granted XXXII.M.VII hondred, and LV (32755) years of +pardon; and Sixtus the 4th, Pope of Rome hath made the 4 and the 5 +prayer, and hath doubled his aforesaid pardon. [Fol. 54.] + +9. "Our holy Father the Pope John 22 hath granted to all them that +devoutly say this prayer, after the elevation of our Lord Jesu Christ, +3000 days of pardon for deadly sins. [Fol. 58.] + +10. "This prayer was showed to Saint Augustine by revelation of the Holy +Ghost, and who that devoutly say this prayer, or hear read, or beareth +about them, shall not perish in fire or water, nother in battle or +judgment, and he shall not die of sudden death, and no venom shall +poison him that day, and what he asketh of God he shall obtain if it be +to the salvation of his soul; and when thy soul shall depart from thy +body it shall not enter hell." This prayer ends with three invocations +of the Cross, thus: "O Cross of Christ [cross] save us, O Cross of +Christ [cross] protect us, O Cross of Christ [cross] defend us. In the +name of the [cross] Father, [cross] Son, and Holy [cross] Ghost. Amen." +[Fol. 62.] + +11. "Our holy Father Pope Innocent III. hath granted to all them that +say these III prayers following devoutly, remission of all their sins +confessed and contrite. [Fol. 63.] + +12. "These 3 prayers be written in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, in +Rome, otherwise called Sacellum Sanctae Crucis septem Romanorum; who that +devoutly say them shall obtain X.C.M. [ninety thousand] years of pardon +for deadly sins granted of our holy Father, John 22, Pope of Rome. [Fol. +66.] + +13. "Who that devoutly beholdeth these arms of {199} our Lord Jesus +Christ, shall obtain six thousand years of pardon of our holy Father +Saint Peter, the first pope of Rome, and of XXX [thirty] other popes of +the Church of Rome, successors after him; and our holy Father, Pope John +22, hath granted unto all them very contrite and truly confessed, that +say these devout prayers following in the commemoration of the bitter +passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3000 years of pardon for DEADLY SINS, +and other 3000 for venial sins." [Fol. 68.] + +I will only add one more instance. The following announcement +accompanies a prayer of St. Bernard: "Who that devoutly with a contrite +heart daily say this orison, if he be that day in a state of eternal +damnation, then this eternal pain shall be changed him in temporal pain +of purgatory; then if he hath deserved the pain of purgatory it shall be +forgotten and forgiven through the infinite mercy of God." + +It is indeed very melancholy to reflect that our country has witnessed +the time, when the bread of life had been taken from the children, and +such husks as these substituted in its stead. Accredited ministers of +the Roman Catholic Church have lately assured us that the pardons and +indulgences granted now, relate only to the remission of the penances +imposed by the Church in this life, and presume not to interfere with +the province of the Most High in the rewards and punishments of the +next. But, I repeat it, what has been in former days may be again; and +whenever Christians depart from the doctrine and practice of prayer to +God alone, through Christ alone, a door is opened to superstitions and +abuses of every kind; and we cannot too anxiously and too jealously +guard and fence about, with all our power and skill, the fundamental +principle, one God and one Mediator. {200} + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II.--SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS +MARTYRDOM, DEC. 29. + + +The other instance by which I propose to illustrate the state of +religion in England before the reformation, is the service of Thomas +Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, a canonized saint and martyr of the +Church of Rome. The interest attaching to so remarkable a period in +ecclesiastical history, and to an event so intimately interwoven with +the former state of our native land, appears to justify the introduction +of the entire service, rather than extracts from it, in this place. +Whilst it bears throughout immediately on the subject of our present +inquiry, it supplies us at the same time with the strong views +entertained by the authors of the service, on points which gave rise to +great and repeated discussion, not only in England, but in various parts +also of continental Europe, with regard to the moral and spiritual +merits or demerits of Becket, as a subject of the realm and a Christian +minister. It is, moreover, only by becoming familiar in all their +details with some such remains of past times, that we can form any +adequate idea of the great and deplorable extent to which the legends +had banished the reading and expounding of Holy Scriptures from our +churches; and also how much the praises of mortal man had encroached +upon those hours of public worship, which should be devoted to +meditations on our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; to the exclusive +praises of his holy name; and to supplications {201} to Him alone for +blessings at his hand, and for his mercy through Christ. + +There is much obscurity in the few first paragraphs. The historical or +biographical part begins at Lesson the First, and continues throughout, +only interspersed with canticles in general referring to the incidents +in the narrative preceding each. + + * * * * * + +THE SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET[70]. + + [Footnote 70: The copies which I have chiefly consulted for the + purposes of the present inquiry, are two large folio + manuscripts, in good preservation, No. 1512 and No. 2785 of the + Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The service commences about + the 49th page, B. of No. 2785. This MS. is considered to be of a + date somewhere about 1430. The first parts of the service are + preserved also in a Breviary printed in Paris in 1556, with some + variations and omissions. There are various other copies in the + British Museum, as well printed as in manuscript.] + +Let them without change of vestments and without tapers in their hands, +proceed to the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, chanting the requiem, the +chanter beginning, + + _Req._ The grain lies buried beneath the straw; + The just man is slain by the spear of the wicked; + The guardian of the vine falls in the vineyard, + The chieftain in the camp, the husbandman in the threshing-floor. + +Then the prose is said by all who choose, in surplices before the altar. + + "Let the Shepherd sound his trumpet of horn." + +Let the choir respond to the chant of the prose after every verse, upon +the letter [super litteram]. {202} + + That the vineyard of Christ might be free, + Which he assumed under a robe of flesh, + He liberated it by the purple cross. + The adversary, the erring sheep, + Becomes bloodstained by the slaughter of the shepherd. + The marble pavements of Christ + Are wetted, ruddy with sacred gore; + The martyr presented with the laurel of life. + Like a grain cleansed from the straw, + Is translated to the divine garners. + +But whilst the prose is being sung, let the priest incense the altar, +and then the image of the blessed Thomas the Martyr; and afterwards +shall be said with an humble voice: Pray for us, Blessed Thomas. + +_The Prayer[71]._ O God for whose Church the glorious {203} high-priest +and martyr Thomas fell beneath the swords of the wicked, grant, we +beseech thee, that all who implore his aid may obtain the salutary +effect of their petition, through Christ. + + [Footnote 71: This Collect is still preserved in the Roman + ritual, and is offered on the anniversary of Becket's death. In + a very ancient pontifical, preserved in the chapter-house of + Bangor, and which belonged to Anianus, who was Bishop of that + see (1268), among the "Proper Benedictions for the circuit of + the year," are two relating to Thomas Becket; one on the + anniversary of his death, the other on the day of his + translation. The former is couched in these words: "O God, who + hast not without reason mingled the birthday of the glorious + high-priest, Thomas, with the joys of thy nativity, by the + intervention of his merits" (ipsius mentis intervenientibus), + "make these thy servants venerate thy majesty with the reverence + of due honour. Amen. And as he, according to the rule of a good + shepherd, gave his life for his sheep, so grant thou to thy + faithful ones, to fear no tyrannical madness to the prejudice of + Catholic truth. Amen. We ask that they, by his example, for + obedience to the holy laws, may learn to despise persons, and by + suffering manfully to triumph over tyrannical madness. Amen." + The latter runs thus: "May God, by whose pity the bodies of + saints rest in the sabbath of peace, turn your hearts to the + desire of the resurrection to come. Amen. And may he who orders + us to bury with honour due the members of the saints whose death + is precious, by the merits of the glorious martyr, Thomas, + vouchsafe to raise you from the dust of vanity. Amen. Where at + length by the power of his benediction ye may be clothed with + doubled festive robes of body and soul. Amen."] + + The shepherd slain in the midst of the flock, + Purchased peace at the price of his blood. + O joyous grief, in mournful gladness! + The flock breathes when the shepherd is dead; + The mother wailing, sings for joy in her son, + Because he lives under the sword a conqueror. + The solemnities of Thomas the Martyr are come. + Let the Virgin Mother, the Church, rejoice; + Thomas being raised to the highest priesthood, + Is suddenly changed into another man. + A monk, under [the garb of?] a clerk, secretly clothed with haircloth, + More strong than the flesh subdues the attempts of the flesh; + Whilst the tiller of the Lord's field pulls up the thistles, + And drives away and banishes the foxes from the vineyard. + +_The First Lesson._ + +Dearest Brethren, celebrating now the birth-day of the martyr Thomas, +because we have not power to recount his whole life and conversation, +let our brief discourse run through the manner and cause of his passion. +The blessed Thomas, therefore, as in the office of Chancellor, or +Archdeacon, he proved incomparably strenuous {204} in the conduct of +affairs, so after he had undertaken the office of pastor, he became +devoted to God beyond man's estimation. For, when consecrated, he +suddenly is changed into another man: he secretly put on the hair shirt, +and wore also hair drawers down to the knee. And under the respectable +appearance of the clerical garb, concealing the monk's dress, he +entirely compelled the flesh to obey the spirit; studying by the +exercise of every virtue without intermission to please God. Knowing, +therefore, that he was placed a husbandman in the field of the Lord, a +shepherd in the fold, he carefully discharged the ministry entrusted to +him. The rights and dignities of the Church, which the public authority +had usurped, he deemed it right to restore, and to recall to their proper +state. Whence a grave question on the ecclesiastical law and the customs +of the realm, having arisen between him and the king of the English, a +council being convened, those customs were proposed which the king +pertinaciously required to be confirmed by the signatures as well of the +archbishop as of his suffragans. The archbishop with constancy refused, +asserting that in them was manifest the subversion of the freedom of the +Church. He was in consequence treated with immense insults, oppressed +with severe losses, and provoked with innumerable injuries. At length, +being threatened with death, (because the case of the Church had not yet +become fully known, and the persecution seemed to be personal,) he +determined that he ought to give place to malice. Being driven, +therefore, into exile, he was honourably received by our lord the pope +Alexander[72] at Senon, and recommended {205} with especial care to the +Monastery of Pontinea (Pontigny). + + [Footnote 72: Pope Alexander III. was at this time residing as a + refugee at Sens, having been driven from Italy a few years + before by Frederick Barbarossa.] + + Malice, bent on the punishment of Thomas, + Condemns to banishment the race of Thomas. + The whole family goes forth together. + No order, sex, age, or condition + Here enjoys any privilege. + +_Lesson the Second._ + +Meanwhile in England all the revenues of the archbishop are confiscated, +his estates are laid waste, his possessions are plundered, and by the +invention of a new kind of punishment, the whole kin of Thomas is +proscribed together. For all his friends or acquaintance, or whoever was +connected with him, by whatever title, without distinction of state or +fortune, dignity or rank, age or sex, were alike exiled. For as well the +old and decrepit, as infants in the cradle and women lying in +childbirth, were driven into banishment; whilst as many as had reached +the years of discretion were compelled to swear upon the holy +[Gospels][73] that immediately on crossing the sea they would present +themselves to the Archbishop of Canterbury; in order that being so +oftentimes pierced even by the sword of sympathy, he would bend his +strength of mind to the king's pleasure. But the man of God, putting his +hand to deeds of fortitude, with constancy bore exile, reproaches, +insults, the proscription of parents and friends, for the name of +Christ; he was never, by any injury, at all broken or changed. For so +great was the firmness of this confessor of Christ, that he seemed to +teach all his fellow exiles, that every soil is the brave man's country. + + [Footnote 73: Tactis sacrosanctis. It may mean reliques, or + other sacred things.] {206} + + Thomas put his hands to deeds of fortitude, + He despised losses, he despised reproaches, + No injury breaks down Thomas: + The firmness of Thomas exclaimed to all, + "Every soil is the brave man's country." + +_Third Lesson._ + +The king therefore hearing of his immoveable constancy, having directed +commendatory letters by some abbots of the Cistertian order to the +General Chapter, caused him to be driven from Pontinea. But the blessed +Thomas fearing that, by occasion of his right, injury would befal the +saints, retired of his own accord. Yet before he set out from thence he +was comforted by a divine revelation: a declaration being made to him +from heaven, that he should return to his Church with glory, and by the +palm of martyrdom depart to the Lord. When he was disturbed and sent +from his retreat at Pontinea, Louis, the most Christian king of the +French, received him with the greatest honour, and supported him most +courteously till peace was restored. But even he too was often, though +in vain, urged not to show any grace of kindness towards a traitor to +the king of England. The hand of fury proceeded further, and a cruelty +dreadful for pious ears to hear. For whereas the Catholic Church prays +even for heretics, and schismatics, and faithless Jews, it was forbidden +that any one should assist him by the supplications of prayer. Exiled, +then, for six continuous years, afflicted with varied and unnumbered +injuries, and like a living stone squared by various cuttings and +pressures for the building of the heavenly edifice, the more he was +thrust at that he might fall, the more firm and immoveable was he +enabled to stand. {207} For neither could gold so carefully tried be +burned away, nor a house, founded on a firm rock, be torn down. Neither +does he suffer the wolves to rage against the lambs, nor the vineyard to +pass into a garden of herbs. + + The best of men, holy, and renowned is banished, + Lest the dignity of the Church should yield to the unworthy. + The estates of the exiled man are the spoil of the malignant, + But when placed in the fire, the fire burns him not. + +_Fourth Lesson._ + +At length by the exertions, as well of the aforesaid pontiff as of the +king of the French, many days were appointed for re-establishing peace: +and because the servant of God would not accept of peace, unless with +safety to the honour of God, and the character of the Church, they +departed in discord from each other. At length the supreme Pontiff, +pitying the desolation of the Anglican Church, with difficulty at the +last extorted by threatening measures, that peace should be restored to +the Church. The realms indeed rejoiced, that the King had been +reconciled to the Archbishop, whilst some believed that the affair was +carried on in good faith, and others formed different conjectures. +Consequently in the seventh year of his exile the noble pastor returned +into England, that he might either rescue the sheep of Christ from the +jaws of the wolves, or sacrifice himself for the flock intrusted to his +care. He is received by the clergy and the people with incalculable joy; +all shedding tears, and saying, Blessed is he who cometh in the name of +the Lord. But after a few days he was again afflicted by losses and +miseries beyond measure and number. Whoever offered to him, {208} or to +any one connected with him, a cheerful countenance was reckoned a public +enemy. In all these things his mind was unbroken; but his hand was still +stretched out for the liberation of the Church. For this he incessantly +sighed; for this he persevered in watchings, fastings, and prayers; to +obtain this he ardently desired to sacrifice himself. + + From the greatest joy of affairs, + The greatest wailing is in the Church, + For the absence of so great a patron. + But when the miracles return, + Joy to the people returns. + The crowd of sick flock together, + And obtain the grace of benefits. + +_Fifth Lesson._ + +Now on the fifth day after the birth-day of our Lord, four persons of +the palace came to Canterbury, men indeed of high birth, but famous for +their wicked deeds; and having entered, they attack the archbishop with +reproachful words, provoke him with insults, and at length assail him +with threats. The man of God modestly answered, to every thing, whatever +reason required, adding that many injuries had been inflicted upon him +and the Church of God, since the re-establishment of peace, and there +was no one to correct what was wrong; that he neither could nor would +dissemble thereafter, so as not to exercise the duties of his function. +The men, foolish in heart, were disturbed by this, and having loudly +given utterance to their iniquity they forthwith went out. On their +retiring, the prelate proceeded to the Church, to offer the evening +praises to Christ. The mail-clad satellites of Satan followed him from +behind with drawn swords, a {209} large band of armed men accompanying +them. On the monks barring the entrance to the Church, the priest of +God, destined soon to become a victim of Christ, running up re-opened +the door to the enemy; "For," said he, "a Church must not be barricaded +like a castle." As they burst in, and some shouted with a voice of +phrenzy, "Where is the traitor?" others, "Where is the Archbishop?" the +fearless confessor of Christ went to meet them. When they pressed on to +murder him, he said, "For myself I cheerfully meet death for the Church +of God; but on the part of God I charge you to do no hurt to any of +mine"--imitating Christ in his passion, when he said, "If ye seek me, +let these go their way." Then rush the ravening wolves on the pious +shepherd, degenerate sons on their own father, cruel lictors on the +victim of Christ, and with fatal swords cut off the consecrated crown of +his head; and hurling down to the ground the Christ [the anointed] of +the Lord, in savage manner, horrible to be said, scattered the brains +with the blood over the pavement. + + Thus does the straw press down the grain of corn; + Thus is slain the guard of the vineyard in the vineyard; + Thus the general in the camp, the shepherd in the fold, the + husbandman in the threshing-floor. + Thus the just, slain by the unjust, has changed his house of + clay for a heavenly palace. + Rachel, weeping, now cease thou to mourn + That the flower of the world is bruised by the world. + When the slain Thomas is borne to his funeral, + A new Abel succeeds to the old. + The voice of blood, the voice of his scattered brains, + Fills heaven with a marvellous cry. {210} + +_Sixth Lesson._ + +But the last words of the martyr, which from the confused clamour could +scarcely be distinguished, according to the testimony of those who stood +near, were these,--"To God, and the blessed Mary, and Saint Dionysius, +and the holy patrons of this Church, I commend myself and the cause of +the Church[74]." Moreover, in all the torments which this unvanquished +champion of God endured, he sent forth no cry, he uttered no groan, he +opposed neither his arm nor his garment to the man who struck him, but +held his head, which he had bent towards the swords, unmoved till the +consummation came; prostrated as if for prayer, he fell asleep in the +Lord. The perpetrators of the crime, returning into the palace of the +holy prelate, that they might make the passion of the servant more fully +resemble the passion of his Lord, divided among them his garments, the +gold and silver and precious vessels, choice horses, and whatever of +value they could find, allotting what each should take. These things +therefore the soldiers did. Who, without weeping, can relate the rest? +So great was the sorrow of all, so great the laments of each, that you +would think the prophecy were a second time fulfilled, "A voice is heard +in Rama, lamentation and great mourning." Nevertheless the divine mercy, +when temptation was multiplied, made a way to escape; and by certain +visions, giving as it were a prelude to the future miracles, [declared +that] the martyr was thereafter to be glorified by wonders, that joy +would return after sorrow, {211} and a crowd of sick would obtain the +grace of benefits. + + [Footnote 74: I have already suggested a comparison between this + prayer and the commendatory prayer of the Martyr Polycarp, page + 92.] + + O Christ Jesus[75], BY THE WOUNDS OF THOMAS, + Loosen the sins which bind us; + Lest the enemy, the world, or the works of the flesh. + Bear us captive to hell. + By[76] THEE, O Thomas ... + Let the right hand of God embrace us. + + The satellites of Satan rushing into the temple + Perpetrate an unexampled, unheard-of, crime. + Thomas proceeds to meet their drawn swords: + He yields not to threats, to swords, nor even to death. + + Happy place! Happy Church, + In which the memory of Thomas lives! + Happy the land which gave the prelate! + Happy the land which supported him in exile! + Happy Father! succour us miserable, + That we may be happy, and joined with those above! + + [Footnote 75: + + Christe Jesu per Thomae vulnera, + Quae nos ligant relaxa scelera + Ne captivos ferant ad infera + Hostis, mundus, vel carnis opera. + ] + + [Footnote 76: + + Per te, Thoma, post laevae munera + Amplexetur nos Dei dextera. + ] + +_Seventh Lesson._ + +Jesus said unto his disciples, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd +layeth down his life for the sheep. + +THE HOMILY OF S. GREGORY, POPE. + +Ye have heard, most dear brethren, from the reading of the Gospel, your +instruction; ye have heard also {212} your danger. For behold! he who is +not from any gift happening to him, but who is essentially good, says, I +am the good shepherd; and he adds the character of the same goodness, +which we may imitate, saying, The good shepherd layeth down his life for +his sheep. He did what he taught; he showed what he commanded. The good +shepherd laid down his life for his sheep; that in our sacrament he +might change his body and blood, and satisfy, by the nourishment of his +flesh, the sheep which he had redeemed. Here is shown to us the way, +concerning the contempt of death, which we should follow; the character +is placed before us to which we should conform. [In the first place, we +should of our pity sacrifice our external good for his sheep; and at +last, if it be necessary, give up our own life for the same sheep. From +that smallest point we proceed to this last and greater. But since the +soul by which we live is incomparably better than the earthly substance +which we outwardly possess, who would not give for the sheep his +substance, when he would give his life for them? And there are some who, +whilst they love their earthly substance more than the sheep, deservedly +lose the name of shepherd: of whom it is immediately added, But the +hireling who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the +wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. He is called not a +shepherd, but a hireling, who feeds the Lord's sheep not for inward +love, but with a view to temporal wages. He is a mercenary who seeks +indeed the place of shepherd, but seeks not the gain of souls.] + +(The sentences between brackets are not in MS. No. 1512.) + + To Thomas all things yield and are obedient: + Plagues, diseases, death, and devils, {213} + Fire, air, land, and seas. + Thomas filled the world with glory. + The world offers obeisance to Thomas[77]. + + [Footnote 77: + + Thomae cedunt et parent omnia: + Pestes, morbi, mors, et daemonia, + Ignis, aer, tellus, et maria. + Thomas mundum replevit gloria. + Thomae mundus praestat obsequia. + ] + +_Eighth Lesson._ + +In good truth, the holy Thomas, the precious champion of God, was to be +worthily glorified. For if the cause, yea, forasmuch as the cause makes +the martyr, did ever a title of holy martyrs exist more glorious? +Contending for the Church, in the Church he suffered; in a holy place, +at the holy time of the Lord's nativity, in the midst of his +fellow-priests and the companies of the religious: since in the agony of +the prelate all the circumstances seemed so to concur, as perpetually to +illustrate the title of the sufferer, and reveal the wickedness of his +persecutors, and stain their name with never-ending infamy. But so did +the divine vengeance rage against the persecutors of the martyr, that in +a short time, being carried away from the midst, they nowhere appeared. +And some, without confession, or the viaticum, were suddenly snatched +away; others tearing piecemeal their own fingers or tongues; others +pining with hunger, and corrupting in their whole body, and racked with +unheard-of tortures before their death, and broken up by paralysis; +others bereft of their intellects; others expiring with madness;--left +manifest proofs that they were suffering the penalty of unjust +persecution and premeditated murder. Let, therefore, the Virgin Mother, +the Church, rejoice that the new martyr has borne away the triumph over +the {214} enemies. Let her rejoice that a new Zacharias has been for her +freedom sacrificed in the temple. Let her rejoice that a new Abel's +blood hath cried unto God for her against the men of blood. For the +voice of his blood shed, the-voice of his brain scattered by the swords +of those deadly satellites, hath filled heaven at once and the world +with its far-famed cry. + + Thomas shines with new miracles; + He adorns with sight those who had lost their eyes; + He cleanses those who were stained with the spots of leprosy; + + He looses those that were bound with the bonds of death. + +_Ninth Lesson._ + +For at the cry of this blood the earth was moved and trembled. Nay, +moreover, the powers of the heavens were moved; so that, as if for the +avenging of innocent blood, nation rose against nation, and kingdom +against kingdom; nay, a kingdom was divided against itself, and terrors +from heaven and great signs took place. Yet, from the first period of +his martyrdom, the martyr began to shine forth with miracles, restoring +sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, language +to the dumb. Afterwards, cleansing the lepers, making the paralytic +sound, healing the dropsy, and all kinds of incurable diseases; +restoring the dead to life; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils +and all the elements: he also put forth his hand to unwonted and +unheard-of signs of his own power; for persons deprived of their eyes +merited by his merits to obtain new members. But some {215} who presumed +to disparage his miracles, struck on a sudden, were compelled to publish +them even unwillingly. At length, against all his enemies the martyr so +far prevailed, that almost every day you might see that to be repeated +in the servant which is read of the Only-begotten: "They who spoke evil +of thee shall come unto thee, and adore the traces of thy feet." Now the +celebrated champion and martyr of God, Thomas, suffered in the year from +the incarnation of the Lord, according to Dionysius, 1171, on the fourth +of the kalends of January, on the third day of the week, about the +eleventh hour, that the birth-day of the Lord might be for labour, and +his for rest; to which rest the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ +vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth +and reigneth God, for ever and ever. Amen. + + O good Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, + Forgive us our debts; + Visit the house, the gate, the grave; + And raise us from the threefold death. + What has been lost by act, in mind, or use, + Restore with thy wonted pity. + Pray for us, O blessed Thomas. + +N.B. This appears to be the end of the first service in honour of Thomas +Becket[78]; and at this point {216} another service seems to commence, +with a kind of new heading, "In the commemoration of St. Thomas[79]." + + [Footnote 78: All the Lessons between this passage and "In + Lauds," are wanting in MS. 1512.] + + [Footnote 79: Another Feast was kept in honour of his + translation, on the 7th of July.] + +_The First Lesson._ + +When Archbishop Theobald, of happy memory, in a good old age, slept with +his fathers, Thomas, archdeacon of the Church of Canterbury, is solemnly +chosen, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be archbishop and primate of +all England, and afterwards is consecrated. Then pious minds entertained +firm hope and confidence in the Lord[80]. + + [Footnote 80: There is much of obscurity in the next paragraph. + Reference seems to be made to his twofold character of a regular + and a secular clergyman, and to his improved state morally. The + Latin is this: "Erat autem piis mentibus spes firma et fiducia + in Domino, quod idem consecratus utriusque hominis, habitu + mutato moribus melioratus praesideret. Probatissimum siquidem + tenebatur sedem illam sedem sanctorum esse sanctam recipere aut + facere, vel citius et facile indignum abicere, quod et in beato + Thoma Martyre misericorditer impletum est."] + +_Second Lesson._ + +Therefore the chosen prelate of God being elected, and anointed with the +sanctifying of the sacred oil, immediately obtained a most hallowed +thing, and was filled with manifold grace of the Holy Spirit. For +walking in newness of life, a new man, he was changed into another man, +all things belonging to whom were changed for the better; and with so +great grace did he consecrate the commencement of his bishopric, that +clothing himself with a monk's form secretly, he fulfilled the work and +merit of a monk. {217} + +_Third Lesson._ + +But he, who after the example of the Baptist, with constancy had +conceived in a perfect heart that the zeal of righteousness should be +purified, studied also to imitate him in the garb of penitence. For +casting off the fine linen which hitherto he had been accustomed to use, +whilst the soft delicacies of kings pleased him, he was clothed on his +naked body with a most rough hair shirt. He added, moreover, hair +drawers, that he might the more effectually mortify the flesh, and make +the spirit live. But these, as also the other exercises of his spiritual +life, very few indeed being aware of it, he removed from the eyes and +knowledge of men by superadding other garments, because he sought glory +not from man, but from God. Even then the man of virtue entering upon +the justifications of God, began to be more complete in abstinence, more +frequent in watching, longer in prayer, more anxious in preaching. The +pastoral office intrusted to him by God, he executed with so great +diligence, as to suffer the rights neither of the clergy nor of the +Church to be in any degree curtailed. + + * * * * * + +There seems here also to be another commencement, for the next lesson is +called the First. + +_Lesson First._ + +So large a grace of compunction was he wont to possess, between the +secrets of prayer or the solemnities of masses, that with eyes trained +to weeping he would be wholly dissolved in tears; and in the office +{218} of the altar his appearance was as though he was witnessing the +Lord's passion in the flesh. Knowing also that mercy softens justice, +and that pity hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that +which is to come, therefore towards the poor and the afflicted did he +bear the bowels of mercy piteously, and was anxious to reach the poor by +the blessings of his alms. + +_Lesson Second._ + +The more humble of those whom a character for religion raised high, he +made his acquaintance and intimates; and that he might learn from them +to hunger and thirst after righteousness, he enjoyed more frequently +their secret conversation. Towards such servants and soldiers of Christ +this merciful man preferred to be liberal and abundant in food and +raiment, he who determined in himself to be moderate and sparing. For +what would he deny to Christ, who for Christ was about to shed his +blood? He who owed his coat or cloak to one who asked it, desired to +add, moreover, his own flesh. For he knew that the man would never +freely give his own flesh, who showed himself greedy of any temporal +thing. + +_Lesson Third._ + +Hitherto the merciful Lord, who maketh poor and enricheth, bringeth low +and lifteth up, wished to load his servant with riches, and exalt him +with honours; and afterwards he was pleased to try him with adversity. +By trying whether he loved Him, He proved it the more certainly; but He +supplied grace more abundantly. For with the temptation He made a way to +escape, that he might be able to bear it. Therefore, the envious enemy, +considering that the new prelate {219} and the new man was flourishing +with so manifold a grace of virtues, devised to send a burning blight of +temptation, which might suffocate the germ of his merits already put +forth. Nor was there any delay. He who severs a man from his God, and +one friend from his neighbour, sowed irreconcileable quarrels between +the king and the archbishop. + +Pray for us, O blessed Thomas. + +_In Lauds._ + + A grain falls and gives birth to an abundance of corn. + The alabaster-box is broken, and the odour of the + ointment is powerful. + The whole world vies in love to the martyr, + Whose wonderful signs strike all with astonishment. + The water for Thomas five times changing colour, + Once was turned into milk, four times into blood. + At the shrine[81] of Thomas four times the light + came down, + And to the glory of the saint kindled the wax-tapers. + DO THOU BY THE BLOOD OF THOMAS, WHICH HE[82] + SHED FOR THEE; + MAKE US, O CHRIST, ASCEND, + Whither Thomas has ascended. + + Extend[83] succour to us, O Thomas, + Guide those who stand, {220} + Raise up those who fall, + + Correct our morals, actions, and life; + + And guide us into the way of peace. + + [Footnote 81: Ad Thomae memoriam.] + + [Footnote 82: Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit, Fac + nos, Christe, scandere, quo Thomas ascendit.] + + [Footnote 83: + + Opem nobis, O Thoma, porrige, + Rege stantes, jacentes erige, + Mores, actus, et vitam corrige, + Et in pacis nos viam dirige. + ] + +_Final Anthem._ + + Hail, O Thomas, the Rod of Justice;[84] + The Brightness of the World; + The Strength of the Church; + The Love of the People; + The Delight of the Clergy. + Hail, glorious Guardian of the Flock; + Save those who rejoice in thy glory. + + [Footnote 84: Salve, Thomas, Virga Justitiae, Mundi Jubar, Robur + Ecclesiae, Plebis Amor, Cleri Delicia. Salve Gregis Tutor + egregie, Salva tuae gaudentes gloriae.] + +The end of the service of Thomas of Canterbury. + + * * * * * + +Now for a few moments only let us meditate on this service. I have +already referred to the lamentable practice of substituting biographical +legends for the word of God. And what is the tendency of this service? +What impression was it likely to make, and to leave on minds of ordinary +powers and instruction? Must it not, of necessity, tend to withdraw them +from contemplating Christ, and to fix their thoughts on the powers, the +glory, the exaltation, the merits of a fellow-sinner? It will be said, +that they will look beyond the martyr, and trace the blessings, here +enumerated, to Christ, as their primary cause, and will think of the +merits of Thomas as efficacious only through the merits of their +Saviour; that in their invocation of Thomas they will implore him only +to pray for them. But can this be so? Does not the ascription of +miracles to him {221} and to his power; does not the very form of +enumerating those miracles tend much to exalt the servant to an equality +with the Master? + +Whilst Thomas by being thus, in words at least, presented to the people +as working those miracles by his own power, (for there is throughout a +lamentable absence of immediate ascription of glory to God,) is raised +to an equality with Christ our Lord; many passages in this service have +the tendency also of withdrawing the minds of the worshippers from an +implicit and exclusive dependence on the merits of Christ alone, and of +tempting them to admit the merits of Thomas to share at least with +Christ in the work of grace and salvation. Let us place some texts of +Scripture and some passages of this service side by side. + +[Transcriber's note: They are shown here one after the other.] + +_Scripture._ + +But after that the kindness and love of God towards man appeared, not by +works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he +saved us.--Titus iii. 4, 5. + +He who spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he +not with him also freely give us all things?--Rom. viii. 32. + +The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.--1 John i. 7. + +One Mediator.--1 Tim. ii. 5. + +Who also maketh intercession for us.--Rom. viii. 34. + +He ever liveth to make intercession for them.--Heb. vii. 25. + +_Service of Thomas Becket._ + +O Christ Jesus, by the wounds of Thomas loosen the sins which bind us. + +O blessed Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, forgive us our debts, raise us +from the threefold death, and restore what has been lost with thy +accustomed pity. + +Do thou, O Christ, by the blood of Thomas, which he shed for thee, make +us ascend whither Thomas has ascended. + +Holy Thomas, pray for us. + +And if this service thus seems to mingle the merits of Christ, the +merits of his blood and of his death, with {222} the merits of a mortal +man, the immediate address to that mortal as the giver of good things +temporal and spiritual, very awfully trespasses on that high, exclusive, +and incommunicable prerogative of the one Lord God Omnipotent, which his +Spirit hath proclaimed solemnly and repeatedly, and which he has fenced +around against all invasion with so many warnings and denunciations. + +_Scripture._ _Service of Becket_ + +1. O thou that hearest prayer, 1. For they sake, O Thomas, +unto thee shall all flesh come.-- let the right hand of God embrace +Ps. lxv. [vulg. lxiv.] 2. us. + +By prayer and supplication, +with thanksgiving, let your requests +be made known unto God.--Phil. +iv. 6. + +2. Lord, be thou my helper.-- 2. Send help to us, O Thomas; +Ps. xxx. [xxix.] 10. + +3. Thou shalt guide me by thy 3. Guide thou those who stand; +counsel.--Ps. lxxiii. [lxxii.] 24. + +He, The Holy Spirit, shall guide +you into all truth.--John xvi. 13. + +4. The Lord upholdeth all that 4. Raise up those who fall; +fall, and raiseth up all those that +be bowed down.--Psalm cxlv. +[cxliv.] 14. + +5. Create in me a clean heart, 5. Correct our morals, actions +O God.--Ps. li. [l.] 10. and life; + +6. The steps of a good man are 6. And guide us into the way +ordered by the Lord. Though of peace. +he fall, he shall not be utterly +cast down, for the Lord upholdeth +him.--Ps. xxxvii. [xxxvi.] +23. + +The day-spring from on high +hath visited us, to guide our feet +into the way of peace.--Luke i. +78, 79. + +And then again, in celebrating the praises of a mortal {223} man, +recourse is had to language which can fitly be used only in our hymns +and praises to the supreme Lord of our destinies, the eternal Creator, +Redeemer, and Comforter, the only wise God our Saviour. + +_Address to Thomas._ _Language of Scripture._ + +1. Hail, Thomas, Rod of Justice! 1. There shall come a rod out + of the stem of Jesse. Ye denied + the Holy One, and the Just--Isaiah + xi. 1. Acts iii. 14. + +2. The brightness of the world. 2. The brightness of his glory. + I am the light of the world--Heb. + i. 3. John viii. 12. + +3. The strength of the Church. 3. I can do all things through + Christ, that strengthened me. + Christ loved the Church, and + gave himself for it.--Phil. iv. 13. + Eph. v. 25. + +4. The love of the people: the 4. Grace be with all them that +delight of the Clergy. love our Lord Jesus Christ in + sincerity. Delight thyself in the + Lord.--Eph. vi. 24. Ps. xxxvii. 4. + +5. Hail, glorious Guardian of 5. Our Lord Jesus, that great +the Flock. Save those who rejoice Shepherd of the sheep. Give ear, +in thy glory. O Shepherd of Israel; come and + save us. He that glorieth, let him + glory in the Lord.--Heb. xiii. 20. + Psalm lxxx. [lxxix.] 1. 1 Cor. + i. 31. + +Can that worship become the disciples of the Gospel and the Cross, which +addresses such prayers and such praises to the spirit of a mortal man? +Every prayer, and every form of praise here used in honour of Thomas +Becket, it would well become Christians to offer to the Giver of all +good, trusting solely and exclusively to the mediation of Christ Jesus +our Lord for acceptance; and pleading-only the merits of his most +precious blood. {224} And yet I am bound to confess, that in principle, +in spirit, and in fact, I can find no substantial difference between +this service of Thomas of Canterbury, and the service which all in +communion with the Church of Rome are under an obligation to use even at +the present hour. + +This point remains next for our inquiry, and we will draw from the +well-head. I would, however, first suggest the application of a general +test for ascertaining the real _bona-fide_ nature of these prayers and +praises. The test I would apply is, to try with the change only of the +name, substituting the holiest name ever named in heaven or in earth for +the name of Thomas of Canterbury--whether these prayers and praises +should not be offered to the Supreme Being alone through the atoning +merits of his Blessed Son; whether they are not exclusively appropriate +to HIM. + +To (Thomas/God Almighty) all things bow and are obedient. + +Plagues, diseases, death, and devils, +Fire, air, land, and sea. +(Thomas/The Almighty) fills the world with glory. + +The world offers obeisance to (Thomas/Almighty God). + +(The Martyr Thomas/Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ) began to shine +forth with miracles [John ii. 11]; restoring sight to the blind [Luke +vii. 21]; walking to the lame; hearing to the deaf; speech to the dumb; +cleansing to the lepers [Matt. xi. 5]; making the paralytic sound [Matt. +iv. 24]; healing the dropsy [Luke xiv. 4]; and all kinds of incurable +diseases [Luke iv. 40]; restoring the dead to {225} life [Luke viii. 43. +55]; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils [Matt. viii. 16], and +all the elements [Luke viii. 25]. He put forth his hand to unwonted and +unheard-of signs of his own power [Mark ii. 12. John ix. 30]. + +Do thou, O Lord, by the blood of (Thomas/Christ) cause us to ascend +whither (Thomas/Christ) has ascended. (O Thomas/O God), send help to us. +Guide those who stand; raise up those who fall; correct our morals, +actions, and life; and guide us into the way of peace. + +Hail, (Thomas!/Jesus!) Rod of Justice, the Brightness of the world, the +Strength of the Church, the Love of the people, the Delight of the +Clergy. Hail, Glorious Guardian of the flock! Save Thou those who +delight in Thy glory. + + * * * * * + +We shall apply this same test to many of the collects and prayers used, +and of necessity to be used, because they are authorized and appointed, +even at the present day, in the ministrations of the Church of Rome. The +impiety in many of those instances is not couched in such startling +language; but it is not the less real. God forbid that we should charge +our fellow-creatures with idolatry, who declare that they offer divine +worship to the Supreme Being only; or that we should pronounce any +professed Christian to have cast off his {226} dependence on the merits +of Christ alone, who assures us that he looks for mercy only through +those merits. But I know and feel, that according to the standard of +Christian truth, and of the pure worship of Almighty God, which the +Scriptures and primitive antiquity compel me to adopt, I should stain my +own soul with the guilt of idolatry, and with the sin of relying on +other merits than Christ's, were I myself to offer those prayers. + +That this service excited much disgust among the early reformers, we +learn from various writers[85]. On the merits of the struggle between +Becket and his king; on the question of Becket's moral and religious +worth, (a question long and often discussed among the exercises of the +masters of Paris in the full assembly of the Sorbonne[86],) or on the +motives which influenced Henry the Eighth, I intend not to say one word: +those points belong not to our present inquiry. It may not, however, be +thought irrelevant here to quote a passage {227} from the ordinance of +this latter monarch for erasing Becket's service out of the books, and +his name from the calendar of the saints. + + [Footnote 85: See Mornay "De la Messe," Saumur, 1604. p. 826. + Becon, in his "New Year's Gift," London, 1564, p. 183, thus + speaks: "What saint at any time thought himself so pure, + immaculate, and without all spot of sin, that he durst presume + to die for us, and to avouch his death to be an oblation and + sacrifice for our lives to God the Father, except peradventure + we will admit for good payment these and such like blasphemies, + which were wont full solemnly to be sung in the temples unto the + great ignominy of the glorious name of God, and the dishonour of + Christ's most precious blood." Then quoting the lines from the + service of Thomas Becket, on which we have above commented, he + adds, "I will let pass many more which are easy to be searched + and found out." Becon preached and wrote in the reign of Henry + VIII. and was then persecuted for his religion, as he was + afterwards in the reign of Mary.] + + [Footnote 86: We are told that forty-eight years after his + death, the masters of Paris disputed whether Thomas was a + condemned sinner, or admitted into heaven.] + +In Henry the Eighth's proclamation, dated Westminster, 16th November, in +the thirtieth year of his reign, printed by Bertholet, is the following +very curious passage:-- + + "ITEM, for as moche as it appereth now clerely, that Thomas + Becket, sometyme Archbyshop of Canterburie, stubburnly to + withstand the holsome lawes establyshed agaynste the enormities + of the clergie, by the kynges highness mooste noble progenitour, + kynge HENRY the Seconde, for the common welthe, reste, and + tranquillitie of this realme, of his frowarde mynde fledde the + realme into Fraunce, and to the bishop of Rome, mayntenour of + those enormities, to procure the abrogation of the sayd lawes, + whereby arose moch trouble in this said realme, and that his + dethe, which they untruely called martyrdome, happened upon a + reskewe by him made, and that, as it is written, he gave + opprobrious wordes to the gentyllmen, whiche than counsayled hym + to leave his stubbernesse, and to avoyde the commocion of the + people, rysen up for that rescue. And he not only callyd the one + of them bawde, but also toke Tracy by the bosome, and violently + shoke and plucked hym in suche maner, that he had almoste + overthrowen hym to the pavement of the Churche; so that upon + this fray one of their company, perceivynge the same, strake + hym, and so in the thronge Becket was slayne. And further that + his canonization was made onely by the bysshop of Rome, bycause + he had ben a champion of maynteyne his usurped auctoritie, and a + bearer of the iniquitie of the clergie, for these and for other + great and urgent causes, longe to recyte, the Kynge's {228} + Maiestie, by the advyse of his counsayle, hath thought expedient + to declare to his lovynge subjectes, that notwithstandynge the + sayde canonization, there appereth nothynge in his lyfe and + exteriour conversation, wherby he shuld be callyd a sainct, but + rather estemed to have ben a rebell and traytour to his prynce. + Therefore his Grace strayghtly chargeth and commandeth that from + henseforth the sayde Thomas Becket shall not be estemed, named, + reputed, nor called a sayncte, but bysshop Becket; and that his + ymages and pictures, through the hole realme, shall be putte + downe, and avoyded out of all churches, chapelles, and other + places; and that from henseforthe, the dayes used to be + festivall in his name shall not be observed, nor the service, + office, antiphoners, colletes, and prayers, in his name redde, + but rased and put out of all the bokes[87]." + + [Footnote 87: In the Roman Breviary, adapted to England, several + biographical lessons are appointed for the Anniversary of "St. + Thomas, bishop and martyr," interspersed with canticles. In one + of these we read, "This is truly a martyr, who, for the name of + Christ, shed blood; who feared not the threats of judges, nor + sought the glory of earthly dignity. But he reached the heavenly + kingdom."--Norwich, 1830. Hiem. p. 251.] {229} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +COUNCIL OF TRENT. + + +In the process of ascertaining the real state of doctrine and practice +in the worship of the Church of Rome at the present day, we must first +gain as clear and accurate a knowledge of the decree of the Council of +Trent, as its words will enable us to form. Into the character of that +Council, and of those who constituted it, our present investigation does +not lead us to inquire. It is now, I believe, generally understood, that +its decrees are binding on all who profess allegiance to the Sovereign +Roman Pontiff; and that the man would be considered to have renounced +the Roman Catholic Communion, who should professedly withhold his assent +from the doctrines there promulgated as vital, or against the oppugners +of which the Council itself pronounced an anathema. + +Ecclesiastical writers[88] assure us, that the wording of the decrees of +that Council was in many cases on purpose framed ambiguously and +vaguely. The latitude, however, of the expressions employed, does not in +itself {230} of necessity imply any of those sinister and unworthy +motives to which it has been usual with many writers to attribute it. In +charity, and without any improbable assumption, it may be referred to an +honest and laudable desire of making the terms of communion as wide as +might be, with a view of comprehending within what was regarded the pale +of the Catholic Church, the greatest number of those who professed and +called themselves Christians. Be this as it may, the vagueness and +uncertainty of the terms employed, compel us in many instances to have +recourse to the actual practice of the Church of Rome, as the best +interpreter of doubtful expressions in the articles of that Council. The +decree which bears on the subject of this volume is drawn up in the +following words:-- + + [Footnote 88: See Mosheim, xvi. Cent. c. i. vol. iv. p. 196. + London, 1811.] + + "SESSION XXV.[89] + + "On the invocation, veneration, and reliques of saints, and of + sacred images. + + "The Holy Council commands all bishops and others bearing the + office and care of instruction, that according to the usage of + the Catholic and Apostolic Church, received from the primitive + times of the Christian religion, and the consent of holy + fathers, and decrees of sacred councils, they in the first place + should instruct the faithful concerning the intercession and + invocation of saints, the honour of reliques, and the lawful use + of images, teaching them, that the SAINTS REIGNING TOGETHER WITH + CHRIST, offer their own {231} prayers for men to God: that it is + good and profitable SUPPLIANTLY TO INVOKE THEM: and to fly to + their PRAYERS, HELP, and ASSISTANCE, for obtaining benefits from + God, by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our only Redeemer + and Saviour. But that those who deny that the saints, enjoying + everlasting happiness in heaven, are to be invoked; or who + assert either that they do not pray for us; or that the + invocation of them to pray for us even as individuals is + idolatry, or is repugnant to the word of God, and is opposed to + the honour of the one Mediator of God and man, Jesus Christ; or + that it is folly, by voice or mentally, to supplicate those who + reign in heaven, hold impious sentiments. + + "That the bodies also of the holy martyrs and others living with + Christ, which were living members of Christ, and a temple of the + Holy Ghost to be raised by Him to eternal life, and to be + glorified, are to be worshipped by the faithful; by means of + which many benefits are conferred on men by God; so that those + who affirm that worship and honour are not due to the reliques + of the saints, or that they and other sacred monuments are + unprofitably honoured by the faithful; and that the shrines of + the saints are frequented in vain for the purpose of obtaining + their succour, are altogether to be condemned, as the Church has + long ago condemned them, and now also condemns them." + + [Footnote 89: The Latin, which will be found in the Appendix, is + a transcript from a printed copy of the Acts of the Council of + Trent, preserved in the British Museum, to which are annexed the + autograph signatures of the secretaries (notarii), and their + seals.] + +An examination of this decree, in comparison with the form and language +of other decrees of the same Council, forces the remark upon us, That +the Council does not assert that the practice of invoking saints has any +foundation in Holy Scripture. The absence of all such declaration is the +more striking and important, because in the very decree immediately +preceding this, {232} which establishes Purgatory as a doctrine of the +Church of Rome, the Council declares that doctrine to be drawn from the +Holy Scriptures. In the present instance the Council proceeds no further +than to charge with impiety those who maintain the invocation of saints +to be contrary to the word of God. Many a doctrine or practice, not +found in Scripture, may nevertheless be not contrary to the word of God; +but here the Council abstains from affirming any thing whatever as to +the scriptural origin of the doctrine and practice which it +authoritatively enforces. In this respect the framers of the decree +acted with far more caution and wisdom than they had shown in wording +the decree on Purgatory; and with far more caution and wisdom too than +they exercised in this decree, when they affirmed that the doctrine of +the invocation of saints was to be taught the people according to the +usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, received from the primitive +times of the Christian religion, and the consent of the holy fathers. I +have good hope that these pages have already proved beyond gainsaying, +that the invocation of saints is a manifest departure from the usage of +the Primitive Church, and contrary to the testimony of "the holy +fathers." However, the fact of the Council not having professed to trace +the doctrine, or its promulgation, to any authority of Holy Scripture, +is of very serious import, and deserves to be well weighed in all its +bearings. + +With regard to the condemnatory clauses of this decree, I would for +myself observe, that I should never have engaged in preparing this +volume, had I not believed, "that it was neither good nor profitable to +invoke the saints, or to fly to their prayers, their assistance, and +succour." I am bound, with this decree {233} before me, to pronounce, +that it is a vain thing to offer supplications, either by the voice or +in the mind, to the saints, even if they be reigning in heaven; and that +it is also in vain for Christians to frequent the shrines of the saints +for the purpose of obtaining their succour. + +I am, moreover, under a deep conviction, that the invocation of them is +both at variance with the word of God, and contrary to the honour of the +one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. + +On this last point, indeed, I am aware of an anxious desire prevailing +on the part of many Roman Catholics, to establish a distinction between +a mediation of Redemption, and a mediation of Intercession: and thus by +limiting the mediation of the saints and angels to intercession, and +reserving the mediation of redemption to Christ only, to avoid the +setting up of another to share the office of Mediator with Him, who is +so solemnly declared in Scripture to be the one Mediator between God and +man. But this distinction has no foundation in the revealed will of God; +on the contrary, it is directly at variance with the words and with the +spirit of many portions of the sacred volume. There we find the two +offices of redemption and mediation joined together in Christ. "If any +man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the +Righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1, 2. +Heb. ix. 12. vii. 25.] In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the same Saviour +who is declared "by his own blood to have obtained eternal redemption," +is announced also as the Mediator of Intercession. "Wherefore he is able +to save them to the uttermost who come unto God through him, seeing he +ever liveth to make intercession for them." The {234} redemption wrought +by Christ, and the intercession still made in our behalf by Christ, are +both equally declared to us by the most sure warrant of Holy Scripture; +of any other intercession by saints in glory, by angels, or Virgin, to +be sought by our suppliant invocations to them, the covenant of God +speaks not. + +It may be observed, that the enactment of this decree by the Council of +Trent, has been chiefly lamented by some persons on the ground of its +presenting the most formidable barrier against any reconciliation +between the Church of Rome, and those who hold the unlawfulness of the +invocation of saints. Indeed persons of erudition, judgment, piety, and +charity, in communion with Rome, have not been wanting to express openly +their regret, that decrees so positive, peremptory, and exclusive, +should have been adopted. They would have been better satisfied with the +terms of communion in the Church to which they still adhered, had +individuals been left to their own responsibility on questions of +disputable origin and doubtful antiquity, involving rather the subtilty +of metaphysical disquisitions, than agreeable to the simplicity of +Gospel truth, and essential Christian doctrine. On this point I would +content myself with quoting the sentiments of a Roman Catholic author. +Many of the facts alleged in his interesting comments deserve the +patient consideration of every Christian. Here (observes the commentator +on Paoli Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent[90]) the Council makes +it a duty to pray to saints, though the ancient Church never regarded it +as necessary. The practice cannot be proved to be introduced into public +worship {235} before the sixth century; and it is certain, that in the +ancient liturgies and sacramentaries no direct invocation is found. Even +in our modern missals, being those of our ecclesiastical books in which +the ancient form has been longest retained, scarcely is there a collect +[those he means in which mention is made of the saints] where the +address is not offered directly to God, imploring Him to hear the +prayers of the saints for us; and this is the ancient form of +invocation. It is true, that in the Breviaries and other ecclesiastical +books, direct prayers to the saints have been subsequently introduced, +as in litanies, hymns, and even some collects. But the usage is more +modern, and cannot be evidence for ancient tradition. For this [ancient +tradition] only some invocations addressed to saints in public harangues +are alleged, but which ought to be regarded as figures of rhetoric, +_apostrophes_, rather than real invocations; though at the same time +some fathers laid the foundation for such a practice by asserting that +one could address himself to the saints, and hope for succour from them. + + [Footnote 90: Histoire du Conc. de Trent, par Fra. Paoli Sarpi, + traduit par Pierre Francois de Courayer. Amsterdam, note 31. + 1751. vol. iii. p. 182.] + +We have already alluded to the very great latitude of interpretation +which the words of this Council admit. The expressions indeed are most +remarkably elastic; capable of being expanded widely enough to justify +those of the Church of Rome who allow themselves in the practice of +asking for aid and assistance, temporal and spiritual, to be expected +from the saints themselves; and at the same time, the words of the +decree admit of being so far contracted as not in appearance palpably to +contradict those who allege, that the Church of Rome never addresses a +saint with any other petition, than purely and simply that the saint +would by prayer intercede for the worshippers. The words "suppliantly +{236} to invoke them," and "to fly to their prayers, HELP, and SUCCOUR," +are sufficiently comprehensive to cover all kinds of prayer for all +kinds of benefits, whilst "the invocation of them to pray for us even +individually," will countenance those who would restrict the faithful to +an entreaty for their prayers only. + +Whatever may be the advantage of this latitude of interpretation, in one +point of view it must be a subject of regret. Complaints had long been +made in Christendom, that other prayers were offered to the saints, +besides those which petitioned only for their intercession; and if the +Council of Trent had intended it to be a rule of universal application, +that in whatever words the invocations of the saints might be couched, +they should be taken to mean only requests for their prayers, it may be +lamented, that no declaration to that effect was given. + +The manner in which writers of the Church of Rome have attempted to +reconcile the prayers actually offered in her ritual, with the principle +of invoking the saints only for their prayers, is indeed most +unsatisfactory. Whilst to some minds the expedient to which those +writers have had recourse carries with it the stamp of mental +reservation, and spiritual subterfuge, and moral obliquity; others under +the influence of the purest charity will regret in it the absence of +that simplicity, and direct openness in word and deed, which we regard +as characteristic of the religion of the Gospel; and will deprecate its +adoption as tending, in many cases inevitably, to become a most +dangerous snare to the conscience. I will here refer only to the +profession of that principle as made by Bellarmin. Subsequent writers +seem to have adopted his sentiments, and to have expressed themselves +very much in his words. {237} + +Bellarmin unreservedly asserts that Christians are to invoke the saints +solely and exclusively for their prayers, and not for any benefits as +from the saints themselves. But then he seems to paralyse that +declaration by this refinement: "It must nevertheless be observed that +we have not to do with words, but with the meaning of words; for as far +as concerns the words, it is lawful to say, 'Saint Peter, have mercy on +me! Save me! Open to me the entrance of heaven!' So also, 'Give to me +health of body, Give me patience, Give me fortitude!' Whilst only we +understand 'Save me, and have mercy upon me BY PRAYING for me: Give me +this and that, BY THY PRAYERS AND MERITS.' For thus Gregory of +Nazianzen, in his Oratio in Cyprianum; and the Universal Church, when in +the hymn to the Virgin she says, + + Mary, Mother of Grace, + Mother of Mercy, + Do thou protect us from the enemy, + And take us in the hour of death. + +"And in that of the Apostles, + + 'To whose command is subject' + The health and weakness of all: + Heal us who are morally diseased; + Restore us to virtue. + +"And as the Apostle says of himself 'that I might save some,' [Rom. xi.] +and 'that he might save all,' [I Cor. ix.] not as God, but Thy prayer +and counsel." + +I wish not to enter upon the question how far this distinction is +consistent with that openness and straightforward undisguised dealing +which is alone allowable when we are contending for the truth; nor how +far the {238} charge of moral obliquity and double dealing, often +brought against it, can be satisfactorily met. But suppose for a moment +that we grant (what is not the case) that in the metaphysical +disquisitions of the experienced casuist such a distinction might be +maintained, how can we expect it to be recognized, and felt, and acted +upon by the large body of Christians? Abstractedly considered, such an +interpretation in a religious act of daily recurrence by the mass of +unlearned believers would, I conceive, appear to reflecting minds most +improbable, if not utterly impossible. And as to its actual _bona-fide_ +result in practice, a very brief sojourn in countries where the religion +of Rome is dominant, will suffice to convince us, that such subtilties +of the casuist are neither received nor understood by the great body of +worshippers; and that the large majority of them, when they pray to an +individual saint to deliver them from any evil, or to put them in +possession of some good, do in very deed look to the saint himself for +the fulfilment of their wishes. It is a snare to the conscience only too +evidently successful. + +And I regret to add, that in the errors into which such language of +their prayers may unhappily betray them, they cannot be otherwise than +confirmed as well by the recorded sentiments of men in past years, whom +they have been taught to reverence, as by the sentiments which are +circulated through the world now, even by what they are accustomed to +regard as the highest authority on earth[91]. + + [Footnote 91: See in subsequent parts of this work the + references to Bonaventura, Bernardin Sen., Bernardin de Bust., + &c.; and also the encyclical letter of the present (A.D. 1840) + reigning pontiff.] + +To this point, however, we must repeatedly revert {239} hereafter; at +present, I will only add one further consideration. If, as we are now +repeatedly told, the utmost sought by the invocation of saints is that +they would intercede for the supplicants; that no more is meant than we +of the Anglican Church mean when we earnestly entreat our +fellow-Christians on earth to pray for us,--why should not the prayers +to the saints be confined exclusively to that form of words which would +convey the meaning intended? why should other forms of supplicating them +be adopted, whose obvious and direct meaning implies a different thing? +If we request a Christian friend to pray for us, that we may be +strengthened and supported under a trial and struggle in our spiritual +warfare, we do not say, "Friend, strengthen me; Friend, support me." +That entreaty would imply our desire to be, that he would visit us +himself, and comfort and strengthen us by his own kind words and +cheering offices of consolation and encouragement. To convey our +meaning, our words would be, "Pray for me; remember me in your +supplications to the throne of grace. Implore God, of his mercy, to give +me the strength and comfort of his Holy Spirit." If nothing more is ever +intended to be conveyed, than a similar request for their prayers, when +the saints are "suppliantly invoked," in a case of such delicacy, and +where there is so much danger of words misleading, why have other +expressions of every variety been employed in the Roman Liturgies, as +well as in the devotions of individuals, which in words appeal to the +saints, not for their prayers, but for their own immediate exertion in +our behalf, their assistance, succour, defence, and comfort,--"Protect +us from our enemies--Heal the diseases of our minds--Release us from our +sin--Receive us at the hour of death?" {240} + +In the present work, however, were it not for the example and warning +set us by this still greater departure from Scripture and the primitive +Church, we need not have dwelt on this immediate point; because we +maintain that any invocation of saint or angel, even if it were confined +to a petitioning for their prayers and intercessions, is contrary both +to God's word and to the faith and practice of the primitive, Catholic, +and Apostolic Church. We now proceed to the next portion of our proposed +inquiry,--the present state of Roman Catholic worship, with respect to +the invocation of saints and angels. {241} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SECTION I.--PRESENT SERVICE IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. + + +In submitting to the reader's consideration the actual state of Roman +Catholic worship at the present hour, I disclaim all desire to fasten +upon the Church of Rome any of the follies and extravagancies of +individual superstition. Probably many English Roman Catholics have been +themselves shocked and scandalized by the scenes which their own eyes +have witnessed in various parts of continental Europe. It would be no +less unfair in us to represent the excesses of superstition there forced +on our notice as the genuine legitimate fruits of the religion of Rome, +than it would be in Roman Catholics to affiliate on the Catholics of the +Anglican Church the wild theories and revolting tenets of all who assume +the name of opponents to Rome. Well indeed does it become us of both +Churches to watch jealously and adversely as against ourselves the +errors into which our doctrines, if not preserved and guarded in their +purity and simplicity, might have a tendency to seduce the unwary. And +whilst I am fully alive to the necessity of us Anglican Catholics +prescribing to ourselves a {242} practical application of the same rule +in various points of faith and discipline, I would with all delicacy and +respect invite Roman Catholics to do likewise. Especially would I +entreat them to reflect with more than ordinary scrutiny and solicitude +on the vast evils into which the practice of praying to saints and +angels, and of pleading their merits at the throne of grace, has a +tendency to betray those who are unenlightened and off their guard; and +unless my eyes and my ears and my powers of discernment have altogether +often deceived and failed me, I must add, actually betrays thousands. +Often when I have witnessed abroad multitudes of pilgrims prostrate +before an image of the Virgin, their arms extended, their eyes fixed on +her countenance, their words in their native language pouring forth her +praises and imploring her aid, I have asked myself, If this be not +religious worship, what is? If I could transport myself into the midst +of pagans in some distant part of the world at the present day; or could +I have mingled with the crowd of worshippers surrounding the image of +Minerva in Athens, or of Diana in Ephesus, when the servants of the only +God called their fellow-creatures from such vanities, should I have seen +or heard more unequivocal proofs that the worshippers were addressing +their prayers to the idols as representations of their deities? Would +any difference have appeared in their external worship? When the +Ephesians worshipped their "great goddess Diana and the image which fell +down from Jupiter," could their attitude, their eyes, or their words +more clearly have indicated an assurance in the worshipper, that the +Spirit of the Deity was especially present in that image, than the +attitude, the eyes, the words of the pilgrims at Einsiedlin for example, +are indications of the same {243} belief and assurance with regard to +the statue of the Virgin Mary? These thoughts would force themselves +again and again on my mind; and though since I first witnessed such +things many years have intervened, chequered with various events of +life, yet whilst I am writing, the scenes are brought again fresh to my +remembrance; the same train of thought is awakened; and the lapse of +time has not in the least diminished the estimate then formed of the +danger, the awful peril, to which the practice of addressing saints and +angels in prayer, even in its most modified and mitigated form, exposes +those who are in communion with Rome. I am unwilling to dwell on this +point longer, or to paint in deeper or more vivid colours the scenes +which I have witnessed, than the necessity of the case requires. But it +would have been the fruit of a morbid delicacy rather than of brotherly +love, had I disguised, in this part of my address, the full extent of +the awful dread with which I contemplate any approximation to prayers, +of whatever kind, uttered by the lips or mentally conceived, to any +spiritual existence in heaven above, save only to the one God +exclusively. It is indeed a dread suggested by the highest and purest +feelings of which I believe my frame of mind to be susceptible; it is +sanctioned and enforced by my reason; and it is confirmed and +strengthened more and more by every year's additional reflection and +experience. Ardently as I long and pray for Christian unity, I could not +join in communion with a Church, one of whose fundamental articles +accuses of impiety those who deny the lawfulness of the invocations of +saints. + +But I return from this digression on the peril of idolatry, to which as +well the theory as the practice of {244} the Roman Catholic Church +exposes her members; and willingly repeat my disclaimer of any wish or +intention whatever to fasten and filiate upon the Church of Rome the +doctrines or the practice of individuals, or even of different sections +of her communion. Still, in the same manner as I have referred to the +extravagancies which offend us in many parts of Christendom now, I would +recall some of the excesses into which renowned and approved authors of +her communion have been betrayed. I seek not to fix on those members of +the Roman Church who disclaim any participation in such excesses, the +folly or guilt of others; but when we find many of the most celebrated +among her sons tempted into such lamentable departures from primitive +Christian worship, we are naturally led to ascertain whether the +doctrine be not itself the genuine cause and source of the +mischief;--whether the malady be not the immediate and natural effect of +the tenet and practice operating generally, and not to be referred to +the idiosyncrasy of the patient. A voice seems to address us from every +side, when such excesses are witnessed, Firmly resist the beginnings of +the evil; oppose its very commencement; it is not a question of degree, +exclude the principle itself from your worship; give utterance to no +invocation; mentally conceive no prayer to any being, save God alone; +plead no other merits with Him than the merits of his only Son. Then, +and then only, are you safe. Then, and then only, is your prayer +catholic, primitive, apostolic, and scriptural. + +The[92] most satisfactory method of conducting this {245} branch of our +inquiry seems to be, that we should examine the Roman Ritual with +reference to those several and progressive stages to which I have before +generally referred; from the mere rhetorical apostrophe to the direct +prayer for spiritual blessings petitioned for immediately from the +person addressed. I am neither anxious to establish the progress +historically, nor do I wish to tie myself down in all cases to the exact +order of those successive stages, in my present citation of testimonies +from the Roman Ritual. My anxiety is to give a fair view of what is now +the real character of Roman Catholic worship, rather than to draw fine +distinctions. I shall therefore survey within the same field of view the +two fatal errors by which, as we believe, the worship of the Church of +Rome is rendered unfit for the family of Christ to acknowledge it +generally as their own: I mean the adoration of saints, and the pleading +of their merits at the throne of grace, instead of trusting to the alone +exclusive merits of the one only Mediator Jesus Christ our Lord, and +addressing God Almighty alone. + + [Footnote 92: I believe the method best calculated to supply us + with the very truth is, as I have before observed, to trace the + conduct of Christians at the shrines of the martyrs, and follow + them in their successive departures further and further from + primitive purity and simplicity, on the anniversaries of those + servants of God. What was hailed there first in the full warmth + of admiration and zeal for the honour and glory of a national or + favourite martyr, crept stealthily, and step by step, into the + regular and stated services of the Church.] + +I. In the original form of those prayers in which mention was made of +the saints departed, Christians addressed the Supreme Being alone, +either in praise for the mercies shown to the saints themselves, and to +the Church through their means; or else in supplication, that the +worshippers might have grace to follow their example, and profit by +their instruction. Such, for instance, is the prayer in the Roman +ritual[93] on St. {246} John's day[94] which is evidently the foundation +of the beautiful Collect now used in the Anglican Church,--"Merciful +Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, +that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy Apostle and Evangelist +St. John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length +attain to the light of everlasting life, through Jesus our Lord. Amen." +Such too is the close of the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's +Church militant here on earth, offered in our Anglican service,--"We +bless thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith +and fear, beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good +examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom. +Grant this, O Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and +Advocate. Amen." + + [Footnote 93: The references will generally be given to the + Roman Breviary as edited by F.C. Husenbeth, Norwich, 1830. That + work consists of four volumes, corresponding with the four + quarters of the ecclesiastical year--Winter, Hiem.; Spring, + Vern.; Summer, _AEstiv_.; Autumn, Aut.; and the volumes will be + designated by the corresponding initials, H. V. AE. A.] + + [Footnote 94: "Ecclesiam, tuam, Domine, benignus illustra, ut + beati Johannis Apostoli tui et evangelistae illuminata doctrinis, + ad dona perveniat sempiterna. Per Dominum."--Husen. H. p. 243.] + +II. The second stage supplies examples of a kind of rhetorical +apostrophe; the speaker addressing one who was departed as though he had +ears to hear. Were not this the foundation stone on which the rest of +the edifice seems to have been built, we might have passed it by +unnoticed. Of this we have an instance in the address to the Shepherds +on Christmas-day. "Whom have ye seen, ye shepherds? Say ye, tell ye, who +hath appeared on the earth? Say ye, what saw ye? Announce to us the +nativity of Christ[95]." + + [Footnote 95: Quem vidistis, Pastores? Dicite, Annunciate nobis. + In terris quis apparuit? Dicite quidnam vidistis? Et annunciate + Christi nativitatem.--H. 219.] {247} + +Another instance is seen in that beautiful song ascribed to Prudentius +and used on the day of Holy Innocents: + + "Hail! ye flowers of Martyrs." [Salvete flores martyrum. H. 249.] + +It is of the same character with other songs, said to be from the same +pen, in which the town of Bethlehem is addressed, and even the Cross. + + "O Thou of mighty cities." [O sola magnarum urbium. H. 306.] + "Bend thy boughs, thou lofty tree...." + [Flecte ramos arbor alta, &c. Aut. 344.] + "Worthy wast thou alone + To bear the victim of the world." + +Thus, on the feast of the exaltation of the Cross, this anthem is +sung,--"O blessed Cross, who wast alone worthy to bear the King of the +heavens and the Lord." [O crux benedicta, quae sola fuisti digna portare +Regem coelorum et Dominum. Alleluia. A. 345.] Though unhappily, in an +anthem on St. Andrew's day, this apostrophe becomes painful and +distressing, in which not only is the cross thus apostrophised, but it +is prayed to, as though it had ears to hear, and a mind to understand, +and power to act,--"Hail, precious Cross! do thou receive the disciple +of Him who hung upon thee, my master, Christ." [Salve, crux pretiosa +suscipe discipulum ejus, qui pependit in te, magister meus Christus. A. +547.] The Church of Rome, in this instance, gives us a vivid example of +the ease with which exclamations and apostrophes are made the +ground-work of invocations. In the legend of the day similar, though not +the same, words form a part of the salutation, which St. Andrew is there +said to have addressed {248} to the cross of wood prepared for his own +martyrdom, and then bodily before his eyes. There are many such +addresses to the Cross, in various parts of the Roman ritual. (See A. +344.) + +In such apostrophes the whole of the Song of the Three Children abounds; +and we meet with many such in the early writers. + +III. The third stage supplies instances of prayer to God, imploring him +to allow the supplication of his saints to be offered for us. Of this we +find examples in the Collects for St. Andrew's Eve and Anniversary, for +the feast of St. Anthony, and various others. + +"We beseech thee, Almighty God, that he whose feast we are about to +celebrate may implore thy aid for us," &c. [Quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut +beatus Andreas Apostolus cujus praevenimus festivitatem, tuum pro nobis +imploret auxilium. A. 545.] + +"That he may be for us a perpetual intercessor." [Ut apud te sit pro +nobis perpetuus intercessor. A. 551.] + +"We beseech thee, O Lord, let the intercession of the blessed Anthony +the Abbot commend us, that what we cannot effect by our own merits, we +may obtain by his patronage [Ejus patrocinio assequamur. H. 490.]: +through the Lord." + +These prayers I could not offer in faith. I am taught in the written +word to look for no other intercessor in heaven, than one who is eternal +and divine, therefore I can need no other. Had God, by his revealed +word, told me that the intercessions of his servants departed should +prevail with Him, provided I sought that benefit by prayer, I should, +without any misgiving, have implored Him to receive their {249} prayers +in my behalf; but I can find no such an intimation in the covenant. In +that covenant the word of the God of truth and mercy is pledged to +receive those, and to grant the prayers of those who come to him through +his blessed Son. In that covenant, I am strictly commanded and most +lovingly invited to approach boldly the Supreme Giver of all good things +myself, and to ask in faith nothing wavering, with an assurance that He +who spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will, with +Him, also freely give us all things. In this assurance I place implicit +trust; and as long as I have my being in this earthly tabernacle, I +will, by his gracious permission and help, pray for whatever is needful +for the soul and the body; I will pray not for myself only, but for all, +individually and collectively, who are near and dear to me, and all who +are far from me; for my friends, and for those who wish me ill; for my +fellow Christians, and for those who are walking still in darkness and +sin;--I will pray for mercy on all mankind. And I will, as occasion +offers, desire others among the faithful on earth to pray for me; and +will take comfort and encouragement and holy hope from the reflection +that their prayers are presented to God in my behalf, and that they will +continue to pray for me when my own strength shall fail and the hour of +my departure shall draw nigh. But for the acceptance of my own prayers +and of theirs I can depend on no other Mediator in the world of spirits, +than on HIM, whom his own Word declares to be the one Mediator between +God and men, who prayed for me when He was on earth, who is ever making +intercession for me in heaven. I know of no other in the unseen world, +by whom I can have access to the Father; I find no other offered to me, +I seek no {250} other, I want no other. I trust my cause,--the cause of +my present life, the cause of my soul's eternal happiness,--to HIM and +to his intercession. I thank God for the blessing. I am satisfied; and +in the assurance of the omnipotence of his intercession, and the perfect +fulness of his mediation, I am happy. + +On this point it were well to compare two prayers both offered to God; +the one pleading with Him the intercession of the passion of his only +Son, the other pleading the prayers of a mortal man. The first prayer is +a collect in Holy Week, the second is a collect on St. Gregory's Day. + + We beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who among so many + adversities from our own infirmity fail, the passion of thy only + begotten Son interceding for us, may revive. V. 243. + + O God, who hast granted the rewards of eternal blessedness[96] + to the soul of thy servant Gregory, mercifully grant that we who + are pressed down by the weight of our sins, may, by his prayers + with Thee, be raised up. V. 480. + + [Footnote 96: I can never read this, and such passages as this, + without asking myself, can such an assertion be in accordance + with the inspired teaching?--"Judge nothing before the time, + until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden + things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the + hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." I Cor. iv. + 5.] + +IV. The next form of prayer to which I would invite your serious +attention, is one from which my judgment and my feelings revolt far more +decidedly even than from the last-mentioned; and I have the most clear +denouncement of my conscience, that by offering it I should do a wrong +to my Saviour, and ungratefully disparage his inestimable merits, and +the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction of his +omnipotent {251} atonement: I mean those prayers, still addressed to +God, which supplicate that our present and future good may be advanced +by the merits of departed mortals, that by their merits our sins may be +forgiven, and our salvation secured; that by their merits our souls may +be made fit for celestial joys, and be finally admitted into heaven. + +Of these prayers the Roman Breviary contains a great variety of +examples, some exceeding others very much in their apparent +forgetfulness and disregard of the merits of the only Saviour, and +consequently far more shocking to the reason and affections of us who +hold it a point of conscience to make the merits of Christ alone, all in +all, exclusive of any other to be joined with them, the only ground of +our acceptance with God. + +We find an example of this prayer in the collect on the day of St. +Saturnine. "O God, who grantest us to enjoy the birth-day of the blessed +Saturnine, thy martyr, grant that we may be aided by his merits, through +the Lord." [Ejus nos tribue meritis adjuvari per Dominum. A. 544.] + +Another example, in which the supplicants plead for deliverance from +hell, to be obtained by the merits and prayers of the saint together, is +the Collect for December 6th, the day of St. Nicolas. + +"O God, who didst adorn the blessed Pontiff Nicolas with unnumbered +miracles, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his merits and prayers we may +be set free from the fires of hell, through," &c. [Ut ejus meritis et +precibus a gehennae incendiis liberemur. H. 436.] + +Another example, in like manner specifying both the merits and +intercession of the departed saint, contains {252} expressions very +unacceptable to many of those who are accustomed to make the Bible their +study. It is a prayer to Joseph, the espoused husband of the Virgin +Mary. Of him mention is made by name in the Gospel just before and just +after the birth of Christ, as an upright, merciful man, to whom God on +three several occasions made a direct revelation of his will, by the +medium of a dream, with reference to the incarnate Saviour. Again, on +the holy family visiting Jerusalem, when our Lord was twelve years of +age, Mary, his mother, in her remonstrance with her Son, speaks to Him +of Joseph thus: "Why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and +I have sought Thee sorrowing." Upon which not one word was uttered by +our Saviour that would enable us to form an opinion as to his own will +with regard to Joseph. Our Lord seems purposely to have drawn their +thoughts from his earthly connexion with them, and to have raised their +minds to a contemplation of his unearthly, his heavenly, and eternal +origin. "How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about +my Father's business?" After this time, though the writings of the Holy +Book, either historical, doctrinal, or prophetic, at the lowest +calculation embrace a period of fourscore years, no allusion is made to +Joseph as a man still living, or to his memory as one already dead. And +yet he is one of those for the benefit of whose intercession the Church +of Rome teaches her members to pray to God, and from whose merits they +are taught to hope for succour. + +On the 19th of March the following Collect is offered to the Saviour of +the world:-- + +"We beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be succoured by the merits of the +husband of thy most holy mother, {253} so that what we cannot obtain by +our own power, may be granted to us by his intercession. Who livest," +&c. [V. 486.] + +It is anticipating our instances of the different stages observable in +the invocation of saints, to quote here direct addresses to Joseph +himself; still it may be well to bring at once to a close our remarks +with regard to the worship paid to him. We find that in the Litany of +the Saints, "St. Joseph, pray for us," is one of the supplications; but +on his day (March 19) there are three hymns addressed to Joseph, which +appear to be full of lamentable superstition, assigning, as they do, to +him a share at least in the work of our salvation, and solemnly stating, +as a truth, what, whether true or not, depends upon a groundless +tradition, namely, that our blessed Lord and Mary watched by him at his +death; ascribing to Joseph also that honour and praise, which the Church +was wont to offer to God alone. The following are extracts from those +hymns: + +First hymn. "Thee, Joseph, let the companies of heaven celebrate; thee +let all the choirs of Christian people resound; who, bright in merits, +wast joined in chaste covenant with the renowned Virgin. Others their +pious death consecrates after death; and glory awaits those who deserve +the palm. Thou alive, equal to those above, enjoyest God, more blessed +by wondrous lot. O Trinity, most High, spare us who pray; grant us to +reach heaven [to scale the stars] BY THE MERITS OF JOSEPH, that at +length we may perpetually offer to thee a grateful song." [Te Joseph +celebrent agmina coelitum. V. 485.] + +Second hymn. "O, Joseph, the glory of those in heaven, and the sure hope +of our life, and the safeguard {254} of the world, benignly ACCEPT THE +PRAISES WHICH WE joyfully sing TO THEE.... Perpetual praise to the most +High Trinity, who granting to thee honours on high, give to us, BY THY +MERITS, the joys of a blessed life." [Coelitum, Joseph, Decus. V. 486.] + +Third hymn. "He whom we, the faithful, worship with joy, whose exalted +triumphs we celebrate, Joseph, on this day obtained by merit the joys of +eternal life. O too happy! O too blessed! at whose last hour Christ and +the Virgin together, with serene countenance, stood watching. Hence, +conqueror of hell, freed from the bands of the flesh, he removes in +placid sleep to the everlasting seats, and binds his temples with bright +chaplets. Him, therefore, reigning, let us all importune, that he would +be present with us, and that he obtaining pardon for our transgressions, +would assign to us the rewards of peace on high. Be praises to thee, be +honours to thee, O Trine God, who reignest, and assignest golden crowns +to thy faithful servant for ever. Amen." [Iste, quem laeti colimus +fideles. V. 490.] + +It is painful to remark, that in these last clauses the very same word +is employed when the Church of Rome applies to Joseph to assign to the +faithful the rewards of peace, and when she ascribes glory to God for +assigning to his faithful servants crowns of gold. Indeed these hymns +contain many expressions which ought to be addressed to the Saviour +alone, whose "glory is in the heavens," who is "the hope of us on +earth," and "the safeguard of the world." + + * * * * * + +Under this fourth head I will add only one more specimen. Would it were +not to be found in the Roman {255} Liturgies since the Council of Trent: +God grant it may ere long be wiped out of the book of Christian worship! +It is a collect in which the Church of Rome offers this prayer to God +the Son:-- + +"O God, whose right hand raised the blessed Peter when walking on the +waves, that he sank not; and rescued his fellow-apostle Paul, for the +third time suffering shipwreck, from the depth of the sea; mercifully +hear us, and grant that by the merits of both we may obtain the glory of +eternity." [H. 149.] + +Now suppose for a moment it had been intended in any one prayer +negatively to exclude the merits of Christ from the great work of our +eternal salvation, and to limit our hopes of everlasting glory to the +merits of St. Peter and St. Paul, could that object have been more +effectually and fully secured than by this prayer? Not one word alluding +to the redemption which is in Christ can be found in this prayer. The +sentiment in the first member of the prayer refers us to the power +exercised by the Son of God, and Son of man, when he was intabernacled +in our flesh; and the second expression teaches us to contemplate the +providence of our Almighty Saviour in his deeds of beneficence. But no +reference, even by allusion, is here made to the merits of Christ's +death--none to his merits as our great Redeemer; none to his merits as +our never-ceasing and never-failing Intercessor. We are led to approach +the throne of grace only with the merits of the two Apostles on our +tongue. If those who offer it hope for acceptance through THE MEDIATION +of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his merits, that hope is neither +suggested nor fostered by this prayer. The truth, as it is in Jesus, +would compel us in addressing {256} Him, the Saviour of the world, to +think of the merits of neither Peter nor Paul, of neither angel nor +spirit. Instead of praying to him that we may obtain the glories of +eternity for their merits, true faith in Christ would bid us throw +ourselves implicitly on his omnipotent merits alone, and implore so +great a blessing for his own mercy's sake. If we receive the whole +truth, can it appear otherwise than a disparagement of his perfect and +omnipotent merits, to plead with Him the merits of one, whom the Saviour +himself rebuked with as severe a sentence as ever fell from his lips, +"Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence to me; for thou +savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men;" +[Matt. xvi. 23.] and of another who after his conversion, when speaking +of the salvation wrought by Christ, in profound humility confesses +himself to be a chief of those sinners for whom the Saviour died, "This +is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus +came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief?" [1 Tim. i. +15.] We feel, indeed, a sure and certain hope that these two +fellow-creatures, once sinners, but by God's grace afterwards saints, +have found mercy with God, and will live with Christ for ever; but to +pray for the same mercy at his gracious hands for the sake of their +merits is repugnant to our first principles of Christian faith. When we +think of merits, for which to plead for mercy, we can think of Christ's, +and of Christ's alone. + +V. Our thoughts are next invited to that class of prayers which the +Church of Rome authorizes and directs to be addressed immediately to the +Saints themselves. {257} Of these there are different kinds, some far +more objectionable than others, though all are directly at variance with +that one single and simple principle, to which, as we believe, a +disciple of the cross can alone safely adhere--prayer to God, and only +to God. The words of the Council of Trent are, as we have already +observed, very comprehensive on this subject. They not only declare it +to be a good and useful thing supplicantly to invoke the saints reigning +with Christ: but also for the obtaining of benefits from God, through +Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our only Redeemer and Saviour, to fly to +their prayers, HELP, and ASSISTANCE. Whether these last words can be +interpreted as merely words of surplusage, or whether they must be +understood to mean that the faithful must have recourse to some help and +assistance of the saints beyond their intercession, is a question to +which we need not again revert. If it had been intended to embrace other +kinds of beneficial succour, and other help and assistance, perhaps it +would be difficult to find words more expressive of such general aid and +support as a human being might hope to derive, in answer to prayer from +the Giver of all good. And certainly they are words employed by the +Church, when addressing prayers directly to God. Be this as it may, the +public service-books of the Church of Rome unquestionably, by no means +adhere exclusively to such addresses to the saints, as supplicate them +to pray for the faithful on earth. Many a prayer is couched in language +which can be interpreted only as conveying a petition to them +immediately for their assistance, temporal and spiritual. + +But let us calmly review some of the prayers, supplications, +invocations, or by whatever name religious addresses now offered to the +saints may be called; and {258} first, we will examine that class in +which the petitioners ask merely for the intercession of the saints. + +We have an example of this class in an invocation addressed to St. +Ambrose on his day, December 7; the very servant of Christ in whose +hymns and prayers no address of prayer or invocation to any saint or +martyr can be found. + +"O thou most excellent teacher, the light of the Holy Church, O blessed +Ambrose, thou lover of the divine law, deprecate for us [or intercede +for us with] the Son of God[97]." + + [Footnote 97: H. 438. "Deprecare pro nobis Filium Dei." This + invocation to Ambrose is instantly followed by this prayer to + God: "O God, who didst assign to thy people the blessed Ambrose + as a minister of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that + we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in heaven, whom we + had as a teacher of life on earth."] + +The Church of Rome has wisely availed herself of the pious labours of +Ambrose, Bishop of Milan; and has introduced into her public worship +many of the hymns usually ascribed to him. Would she had followed his +example, and addressed her invocations to no one but our Creator, our +Redeemer, and our Sanctifier! Could that holy man hear the supplications +now offered to him, and could be make his voice heard in return among +those who now invoke him, that voice, we believe, would only convey a +prohibitory monition like that of the Angel to St. John when he fell +down before him, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant; worship +God. + +It is needless to multiply instances of this fifth kind of invocation. +In the "Litany of the Saints" more than fifty different saints are +enumerated by name, and are invoked to pray and intercede for those who +join in {259} it. Among the persons invoked are Raphael [AE. cxcii.], +Gervasius, Protasius, and Mary Magdalene; whilst in the Litany [AE. +cxcvi.] for the recommendation of the soul of the sick and dying, the +names of Abel, and Abraham, are specified. + +Under this head I will call your attention only to one more example. +Indeed I scarcely know whether this hymn would more properly be classed +under this head, or reserved for the next; since it appears to partake +of the nature of each. It supplicates the martyr to obtain by his +prayers spiritual blessings, and yet addresses him as the person who is +to grant those blessings. It implores him to liberate us by the love of +Christ; but so should we implore the Father of mercies himself. Still, +as the more safe course, I would regard it as a prayer to St. Stephen +only to intercede for us. But it may be well to derive from it a lesson +on this point; how easily the transition glides from one false step to a +worse; how infinitely wiser and safer it is to avoid evil in its very +lowest and least noxious appearance: + +"Martyr of God [or Unconquered Martyr], who, by following the only Son +of the Father, triumphest over thy conquered enemies, and, as conqueror, +enjoyest heavenly things; by the office of thy prayer wash out our +guilt; driving away the contagion of evil; removing the weariness of +life. The bands of thy hallowed body are already loosed; loose thou us +from the bands of the world, by the love of the Son of God [or by the +gift of God Most High]." [H. 237.] + +In the above hymn the words included within brackets are the readings +adopted in the last English edition of the Roman Breviary; and in this +place, when we are about to refer to many hymns now in use, it may be +well to observe, that in the present day we find {260} various readings +in the hymns as they are still printed for the use of Roman Catholics in +different countries. In some instances the changes are curious and +striking. Grancolas, in his historical commentary on the Roman Breviary +(Venice, 1734, p. 84), furnishes us with interesting information as to +the chief cause of this diversity. He tells us that Pope Urban VIII., +who filled the papal throne from 1623 to 1644, a man well versed in +literature, especially in Latin poetry, and himself one of the +distinguished poets of his time, took measures for the emendation of the +hymns in the Roman Breviary. He was offended by the many defects in +their metrical composition, and it is said that upwards of nine hundred +and fifty faults in metre were corrected, which gave to Urban occasion +to say that the Fathers had begun rather than completed the hymns. +These, as corrected, he caused to be inserted in the Breviary. Grancolas +proceeds to tell us that many complained of these changes, alleging that +the primitive simplicity and piety which breathed in the hymns had been +sacrificed to the niceties of poetry. "Accessit Latinitas, et recessit +pietas." The verse was neater, but the thought was chilled. + +VI. But the Roman Church by no means limits herself to this kind of +invocation; prayers are addressed to saints, imploring them to hear, +and, as of themselves, to grant the prayers of the faithful on earth, +and to release them from the bands of sin, without any allusion to +prayers to be made by those saints. It grieves me to copy out the +invocation made to St. Peter on the 18th of January, called the +anniversary of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome; the words of our Blessed +Lord himself, and of his beloved and inspired Apostle, seem to rise up +in judgment against that prayer, and condemn it. It {261} will be well +to place that hymn addressed to St. Peter, side by side with the very +word of God, and then ask, Can this prayer be safe? + +1. Now, O good Shepherd, 1. Jesus saith, I am the good +merciful Peter, Shepherd. John x. 11. + +2. Accept the prayers of us 2. Whatsoever ye shall ask in +who supplicate, my name, that will I do. That + whatsoever ye shall ask the + Father in my name, he may give + it you. John xiv. 13; xv. 16. + +3. And loose the bands of our 3. The blood of Jesus Christ +sins, by the power committed to his Son cleanseth us from all sin. +thee, 1 John i. 7. + +4. By which thou shuttest 4. These things saith he that +heaven against all by a word, is holy, he that is true, he that +and openest it[98]. openeth and no man shutteth, and + shutteth and no man openeth. + Rev. iii. 7. + + I am he that liveth and was + dead, and am alive for evermore, + and have the keys of hell and of + death. Rev. i. 18. + + [Footnote 98: This hymn is variously read. In the edition of Mr. + Husenbeth (H. 497.) it is: "O Peter, blessed shepherd, of thy + mercy receive the prayers of us who supplicate, and loose by thy + word the bands of our sins, thou to whom is given the power of + opening heaven to the earth, and of shutting it when + open."--"Beate pastor, Petre, clemens accipe voces precantum, + criminumque vincula verbo resolve, cui potestas tradita aperire + terris coelum, apertum claudere." H. 497.] + +Let it not be answered that many a Christian minister is now called a +good shepherd. Let it not be said that the very words of our ordination +imply the conveyance of the power of loosing and binding, of opening and +shutting the gates of heaven. When prayer is contemplated, we can think +only of One, HIM, who has appropriated the title of Good Shepherd to +{262} himself. And we must see that Peter cannot, by any latitude of +interpretation, be reckoned now among those to whom the awful duty is +assigned of binding and loosing upon earth. + +The same unsatisfactory associations must be excited in the mind of +every one who takes a similar view of Christian worship with myself, by +the following supplication to various saints on St. John's day: + + "Let the heaven exult with praises[99], + Let the earth resound with joy; {263} + The sacred solemnities sing + The glory of the Apostles. + O ye Just Judges of the age, + And true lights of the world, + We pray you with the vows of our hearts, + Hear the prayers of your suppliants. + Ye who shut the heaven by a word, + And loose its bars, + Loose us by command, we beseech you, + From all our sins. + Ye to whose word is subject + The health and weakness of all, + Cure us who are diseased in morals, + Restore us to virtues. + So that when Christ shall come, + The Judge at the end of the world, + He may make us partakers + Of eternal joy. + To God the Father be Glory, + And to his only Son, + With the Spirit the Comforter, + Now and for ever. Amen[100]." + + [Footnote 99: Having inserted in the text a translation of this + hymn from a copy with which I had been long familiar, I think it + right to insert here the two forms side by side. They supply an + example of the changes to which we have already alluded. + + _Lille_, 1823. _Norwich_, 1830. + + OLD VERSION. POPE URBAN'S VERSION. + + Exultet coelum laudibus, Exultet orbis gaudiis, + Resultet terra gaudiis, Coelum resultet laudibus, + Apostolorum gloriam Apostolorum gloriam + Sacra canunt solemnia. Tellus et astra concinunt. + Vos saecli justi judices Vos saeculorum judices + Et vera mundi lamina, Et vera mundi lumina, + Votis precamur cordium Votis precamur cordium + Audite preces supplicum. Audite voces supplicum. + Qui coelum verbo clauditis Qui templa coeli clauditis + Serasque ejus solvitis, Serasque verbo solvitis, + Nos a peccatis omnibus Nos a reatu noxios + Solvite jussu, quaesumus. Solvi jubete quaesumus. + Quorum praecepto subditur Praecepta quorum protinus + Salus et languor omnium, Languor salusque sentiunt, + Sanate aegros moribus, Sanate mentes languidas, + Nos reddentes virtutibus. Augete nos virtutibus. + Ut cum judex advenerit Ut cum redibit arbiter + Christus in fine saeculi, In fine Christus saeculi, + Nos sempiterni gaudii Nos sempiterni gaudii + Faciat esse compotes. Concedat esse compotes. + Deo Patri sit gloria, Jesu, tibi sit gloria + Ejusque soli Filio, Qui natus es de virgine, + Cum Spiritu paracleto, Cum Patre et Almo Spiritu, + Et nunc et in perpetuum. In sempiterna saecula. + + Amen. Amen. + (H. 243.) + ] + + [Footnote 100: Or as in the present Roman Breviary:-- + + Let the world exult with joy, + Let the heaven resound with praise; + The earth and stars sing together + The glory of the Apostles. + Ye judges of the ages + And true lights of the world, + With the prayers of our hearts we implore, + Hear the voices of your suppliants. + Ye who shut the temples of heaven, + And loose its bars by a word, + Command ye us, who are guilty, + To be released from our sins; we pray. + Ye whose commands forthwith + Sickness and health feel, + Heal our languid minds, + Increase us in virtues, + That when Christ, the Judge, shall return, + In the end of the world, + He may grant us to be partakers + Of eternal joy. + Jesus, to thee be glory, + Who wast born of a virgin, + With the Father and the Benign Spirit, + Through eternal ages. Amen. {264} + ] + +Many a pious and humble Catholic of the Roman Communion, I have no +doubt, would regard these prayers as little more than an application to +Peter and the rest of the Apostles for absolution, and would interpret +its several clauses as an acknowledgment only of that power, which +Christ himself delegated to them of binding and loosing sins on earth. +But the gulf fixed between these prayers, and the lawful use of the +power given to Christ's ordained ministers on earth, is great indeed. To +satisfy the mind of this, it is not necessary to enter upon even the +confines of the wide field of controversy, as to what was really +conveyed by Christ to his Apostles. I would ask only two questions. +Could any of us address these same words to one of Christ's ministers on +earth? And could we address our blessed Saviour himself in stronger or +more appropriate language, as the Lord of our destinies--the God who +heareth prayer--the Physician of our souls? + +Suppose for example we were celebrating the anniversary of Christ's +Nativity, of his Resurrection, or his Ascension, what word in this hymn, +expressive of {265} power, and honour, and justice, and mercy, would not +be appropriate? What word would not apply to Him, in most perfect +accordance with Scripture language? And can we without offence, without +doing wrong to his great Name, address the same to our fellow-servants, +even though we may believe them to be with Him in glory? + + Let the heaven exult with praises-- + Let the earth resound with joy; + The sacred solemnities sing + The glory of the Lord. + O Thou just Judge of the age, + And true light of the world, + We pray Thee with the supplications of our hearts + Hear the prayers of Thy suppliants, + Thou who shuttest the heavens by a word, + And loosest its bars. + Loose us by command, we beseech Thee, + From all our sins. + Thou to whose word is subject + The health and weakness of all, + Cure us who are diseased in morals, + Restoring us to virtue. + So that when Thou shalt come, + The Judge at the end of the world, + Thou mayest make us partakers + Of eternal joy. + Glory to Thee, O Lord, + Who wast born of a virgin, + With the Father and the Holy Spirit, + For ever and ever. Amen. + +Only for a moment let us see how peculiarly all these expressions are +fitting in a hymn of prayer and praise {266} to our God and Saviour, +recalling to our minds the words of inspiration; and then again let us +put the question to our conscience, Is this language fit for us to use +to a fellow-creature? + +Let the heaven exult with praises, Let the heavens rejoice, and +Let the earth resound with joy: let the earth be glad ... (exultet + is the very word used in the Vulgate + translation of the Psalm)--before + the Lord, for He cometh + to judge the earth.--Ps. xcvi + (xcv). 11. + +The holy solemnities sing Ye shall have a song, as in the +The glory of the Lord. night when a holy solemnity is + kept ... And the Lord shall cause + His glorious voice to be heard. + Isa. xxx. 29. Let the heaven + and earth praise Him. Ps. lxix + (lxviii). 34. + +Thou just Judge of mankind, All judgment is committed +And true light of the world, unto the Son. John v. 22. That + was the true Light, which lighteth + every man that cometh into + the world. John i. 9. + +With the prayers of our hearts we With my whole heart have I + pray Thee, sought Thee. Ps. cxix (cxviii). +Hear the prayers of Thy suppliants. 10. Hear my prayer, O God. + Ps. lxi (lx). 1. Whom have I in + heaven but Thee? Ps. lxxiii + (lxxii). 25. And this is the + confidence that we have in Him, + that if we ask any thing according to + His will, He heareth us. 1 John + v. 14. + +Thou who shuttest heaven by I have the keys of death and of + Thy word, hell. These things saith He that +And loosest its bars, is holy, He that is true: He + that hath the key of David. He + that openeth and no man shutteth, + and shutteth and no man {267} + openeth. I have set before thee + an open door, and no man can + shut it. Rev. i. 18; iii. 7,8 + +Release us by command, we pray Thy sins be forgiven thee. +Thee, Matt. ix. 22. Bless the Lord, O +From all our sins. my soul ... who forgiveth all + thine iniquities. Ps. ciii. 2. This + is your blood of the New Testament, + which is shed for many + for the remission of sins. Matt. + xxvi. 28. Have mercy upon me, + O God ... according to the + multitude of Thy tender mercies, + blot out my transgressions. Wash + me throughly from mine iniquity, + and cleanse me from my + sin. Ps. li (l). + +Thou to whose word is subject Bless the Lord, O my soul ... +The health and weakness of all, who healeth all thy diseases. Ps. + ciii (cii). 2, 3. + +Do Thou heal us who are morally Create in me a clean heart, O +diseased, God, and renew a right spirit +Restoring us to virtue; within me. Ps. li. 10 (4.) +That when Thou, the Judge, shalt +appear in the end of the world, +Thou mayest grant us to be +partakers of eternal joy. + +This would be a Christian prayer, a primitive prayer, a scriptural +prayer, a prayer well fitting mortal man to utter by his tongue and from +his heart, to the God who heareth prayer; and him who shall in sincere +faith offer such a prayer, Christ will never send empty away. But if +this prayer, fitted as it seems only to be addressed to God, be offered +to the soul of a departed saint--I will not talk of blasphemy, and +deadly sin, and idolatry,--I will only ask members of the Church of Rome +to weigh all these things well, one by one. These are not subjects for +crimination and recrimination. {268} + +We have had far too much of those unholy weapons on both sides. Speaking +the truth in love, I should be verily guilty of a sin in my own +conscience were I, with my views of Christian worship, to offer this +prayer to the soul of a man however holy, however blessed, however +exalted. + +The next part of our work will be given exclusively to the worship of +the Blessed Virgin Mary. {269} + + * * * * * + + + + +PART III. + +CHAPTER I. + +SECTION I.--THE VIRGIN MARY. + + +The worship of the blessed Virgin Mary is so highly exalted in the +Church of Rome, as to require the formation of a new name to express its +high character. Neither could the Latin language provide a word which +would give an adequate idea of its excellence, nor could any word +previously employed by the writers in Greek, meet the case +satisfactorily. The newly invented term Hyperdulia, meaning "a service +above others," seems to place the service of the Virgin on a footing +peculiarly its own, as raised above the worship of the saints departed, +and of the angels of God, cherubim and seraphim, with all the hosts of +principalities and powers in heavenly places. The service of the Virgin +Mary thus appears not only to justify, but even to require a separate +and distinct examination in this volume. The general principles, +however, which we have already endeavoured to establish and illustrate +with regard as well to the study of the Holy Scriptures as to the +evidence of primitive antiquity, are equally applicable here; and with +those principles present to our minds, {270} we will endeavour now to +ascertain the truth with regard to the worship of the Virgin as now +witnessed in the Roman Catholic Church. + +Of the Virgin Mary, think not, brethren of the Church of Rome, that a +true member of the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church will speak +disparagingly or irreverently. Were such an one found among us, we +should say of him, he knows not what spirit he is of. Our church, in her +Liturgy, her homilies, her articles, in the works too of the best and +most approved among her divines and teachers, ever speaks of Saint Mary, +the blessed Virgin, in the language of reverence, affection, and +gratitude. + +She was a holy virgin and a holy mother. She was highly favoured, +blessed among women. The Lord was with her, and she was the mother of +our only Saviour. She was herself blessed, and blessed was the fruit of +her womb. We delight in the language of our ancestors, in which they +were used to call her "Mary, the Blissful Maid." Should any one of those +who profess and call themselves Christians and Catholics, entertain a +wish to interrupt the testimony of every succeeding age, and to +interpose a check to the fulfilment of her own recorded prophecy, "All +generations shall call me blessed," certainly the Anglican Catholic +Church will never acknowledge that wish to be the genuine desire of one +of her own sons. The Lord hath blessed her; yea, and she shall be +blessed. + +But when we are required either to address our supplications to her, or +else to sever ourselves from the communion of a large portion of our +fellow-Christians, we have no room for hesitation; the case offers us no +alternative. Our love of unity must yield to our love {271} of truth; we +cannot join in that worship which in our conscience we believe to be a +sin against God. Whether we are right or wrong in this matter, God will +himself judge: and, compared with his acquittal and approval, the +severity of man's judgment cannot turn us aside from our purpose. But +before any one pronounces a sentence of condemnation against us, or of +approval on himself, it well becomes him patiently and dispassionately +to weigh the evidence; lest his decision may not be consistent with +justice and truth. + +In addition to what has been already said on the general subject of +addressing our invocation to any created being--to any one among the +principalities and thrones, dominions, powers, angels, archangels, and +all the hosts of heaven, to any one among the saints, martyrs, +confessors, and holy men departed hence in the Lord--I would submit to +my brethren of the Roman Catholic Church some considerations +specifically applicable to the case of the blessed Virgin, and to the +practice of the Church of Rome in the religious worship paid to her. + +First, it will be well for us to possess ourselves afresh of whatever +light is thrown on this subject by the Scriptures themselves. + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II.--EVIDENCE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. + + +The first intimation given to us that a woman was in the providence of +God appointed to be the instrument, or channel by which the Saviour of +mankind should be brought into the world, was made immediately after the +Fall, and at the very first dawn of the day of salvation. {272} I am +fully aware how the various criticisms on the words in which that first +promise of a Saviour is couched, have been the well-spring of angry +controversy. I will not enter upon that field. The authorized English +version thus renders the passage: "I will put enmity between thee and +the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, +and thou shalt bruise his heel." [Gen. iii. 15.] The Roman Vulgate, +instead of the word "it," reads "she." Surely such a point as this +should be made a subject of calm and enlightened criticism, without +warmth or heart-burnings on either side. But for our present purpose, it +matters little what turn that controversy may take. I believe our own to +be the true rendering: but whether the word dictated here by the Holy +Spirit to Moses should be so translated as to refer to the seed of the +woman generally, as in our authorized version, or to the male child, the +descendant of the woman, as the Septuagint renders it, or to the word +"woman" itself; and if the latter, whether it refer to Eve, the mother +of every child of a mortal parent, or to Mary, the immediate mother of +our Saviour: whatever view of that Hebrew word be taken, no Christian +can doubt, that before the foundations of the world were laid, it was +foreordained in the counsels of the Eternal Godhead, that the future +Messiah, the Redeemer of Mankind, should be of the seed of Eve, and in +the fulness of time be born of a Virgin of the name of Mary, and that in +the mystery of that incarnation should the serpent's head be bruised. I +wish not to dwell on this, because it bears but remotely and +incidentally on the question at issue. I will, therefore, pass on, +quoting {273} only the words of one of the most laborious among Roman +Catholic commentators, De Sacy. "The sense is the same in the one and in +the other, though the expression varies. The sense of the Hebrew is, The +Son of the Woman, Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Son of a Virgin, shall +bruise thy head, and by establishing the kingdom of God on earth, +destroy thine. The sense of the Vulgate is, The woman, by whom thou hast +conquered man, shall bruise thy head, not by herself, but by Jesus +Christ." [Vol. i. p. 132.] + +The only other passage in which reference appears to be made in the Old +Testament to the Mother of our Lord, contains that celebrated prophecy +in the seventh chapter of Isaiah, about which I am not aware that any +difference exists between the Anglican and the Roman Churches. "A Virgin +shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel." +[Isaiah vii. 4.] + +I find no passage in the Old Testament which can by any inferential +application be brought to bear on the question of Mary's being a proper +object of invocation. + + * * * * * + +In the New Testament, mention by name is made of the Virgin Mary by St. +Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, and by St. John in his Gospel, as the +Mother of our Lord, but not by name; and by no other writer. Neither St. +Paul in any one of his many Epistles, though he mentions the names of +many of our Lord's disciples, nor St. James, nor St. Peter, who must +often have seen her during our Lord's ministry, nor St. Jude, nor St. +John in any of his three Epistles, or in the {274} Revelation (though, +as we learn from his own Gospel, she had of especial trust been +committed to his care)--no one of these either mentions her as living, +or alludes to her memory as dead. + +The first occasion on which any reference is made in the New Testament +to the Virgin Mary is the salutation of the Angel, as recorded by St. +Luke in the opening chapter of his Gospel. The last occasion is when she +is mentioned by the same Evangelist, as "Mary the Mother of Jesus," in +conjunction with his brethren and with the Apostles and the women all +continuing in prayer and supplication, immediately after the ascension +of our blessed Lord. Between these two occasions the name of Mary occurs +under a variety of circumstances, on every one of which we shall do well +to reflect. + +The first occasion, we have already said, is the salutation of Mary by +the angel, announcing to her that she should be the Mother of the Son of +God. Surely no daughter of Eve was ever so distinguished among women; +and well does it become us to cherish her memory with affectionate +reverence. The words addressed to her when on earth by the angel in that +announcement, with a little variation of expression, are daily addressed +to her by the Roman Catholic Church, now that she is no longer seen, but +is removed to the invisible world. "Hail, thou that art highly +favoured!" (or as the Vulgate reads it, "full of grace") "the Lord is +with thee. Blessed art thou among women." [Luke i. 28.] On the +substitution of the expression, "full of grace," for "highly favoured," +or, as our margin suggests, "graciously accepted, or much graced," I am +not desirous {275} of troubling you with any lengthened remark. I could +have wished that since the Greek is different in this passage, and in +the first chapter of St. John, where the words "full of grace" are +applied to our Saviour, a similar distinction had been observed in the +Roman translation. But the variation is unessential. The other +expression, "Blessed art thou among women," is precisely and identically +the same with the ascription of blessedness made by an inspired tongue, +under the elder covenant, to another daughter of Eve. "Blessed above +women," or (as both the Septuagint and the Vulgate render the word) +"Blessed among women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be." +[Judges v. 24.] We can see no ground in such ascription of blessedness +for any posthumous adoration of the Virgin Mary. + +The same observation applies with at least equal strictness to that +affecting interview between Mary and Elizabeth, when, enlightened +doubtless by an especial revelation, Elizabeth returned the salutation +of her cousin by addressing her as the Mother of her Lord, and hailing +her visit as an instance of most welcome and condescending kindness, +"Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?" +[Luke i. 43.] Members of the Anglican Church are taught to refer to this +event in Mary's life with feelings of delight and gratitude. On this +occasion she uttered that beautiful hymn, "The Song of the blessed +Virgin Mary," which our Church has selected for daily use at Evening +Prayer. These incidents bring before our minds the image of a spotless +Virgin, humble, pious, obedient, holy: a chosen servant of God--an +exalted pattern for her fellow-creatures; but still a fellow-creature, +and a fellow-servant: {276} a virgin pronounced by an angel blessed on +earth. But further than this we cannot go. We read of no power, no +authority, neither the power and influence of intercession, nor the +authority or right of command being ever, even by implication, committed +to her; and we dare not of our own minds venture to take for granted a +statement of so vast magnitude, involving associations so awful. We +reverence her memory as a blessed woman, the virgin mother of our Lord. +We cannot supplicate any blessing at her hand; we cannot pray to her for +her intercession. + +The angel's announcement to Joseph, whether before or after the birth of +Christ, the visit of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, and the return +thence, in the record of all of which events by St. Matthew the name of +Mary occurs, however interesting and important in themselves, seem to +require no especial attention with reference to the immediate subject of +our inquiry. To Joseph the angel speaks of the blessed Virgin as "Mary +thy wife." [Matt. i. 20.] In every other instance she is called "The +young child's mother," or "His mother." + +In relating the circumstances of Christ's birth the Evangelist employs +no words which seem to invite any particular examination. Joseph went up +into the city of David to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife; and +there she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling +clothes, and laid him in a manger. And the shepherds found Mary and +Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And Mary kept all these things, +and pondered them in her heart. [Luke ii. 19.] + +Between the birth of Christ, and the flight into Egypt, St. Luke records +an event to have happened by no means unimportant--the presentation of +Christ in {277} the temple. "And when the days of her purification +according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to +Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And he (Simeon) came by the Spirit +into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do +for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, +and blessed God, and said, Lord, &c. And Joseph and his mother marvelled +at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and +said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and +rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign that shall be spoken +against, (yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also) that +the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." [Luke ii. 28.] In this +incident it is worthy of remark, that Joseph and Mary are both mentioned +by name, that they are both called the parents of the young child; that +both are equally blessed by Simeon; and that the good old Israelite, +illumined by the spirit of prophecy, when he addresses himself +immediately to Mary, speaks only of her future sorrow, and does not even +most remotely or faintly allude to any exaltation of her above the other +daughters of Abraham. "A sword shall pass through thine own soul also," +a prophecy, as St. Augustine interprets it, accomplished when she +witnessed the sufferings and death of her Son. (See De Sacy, vol. xxxii. +p. 138.) + +The next occasion on which the name of the Virgin Mary is found in +Scripture, is the memorable visit of herself, her husband, and her Son, +to Jerusalem, when he was twelve years old. And the manner in which this +incident is related by the inspired Evangelist, so far from intimating +that Mary was destined to be an object of worship to the believers in +her Son, affords {278} evidence which exhibits strongly a bearing the +direct contrary. Here again Joseph and Mary are both called his parents: +Joseph is once mentioned by name, and so is Mary. If the language had +been so framed as on purpose to take away all distinction of preference +or superiority, it could not more successfully have effected its +purpose. But not only so, of the three addresses recorded as having been +made by our blessed Lord to his beloved mother (and only three are +recorded in the New Testament), the first occurs during this visit to +Jerusalem. It was in answer to the remonstrance made by Mary, "Son, why +hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee +sorrowing." [Luke ii. 48.] "How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not +that I must be about my Father's business?"--[or in my Father's house, +as some render it.] He lifts up their minds from earth to heaven, from +his human to his eternal origin. He makes no distinction here,--"Wist YE +not." Again, I would appeal to any dispassionate person to pronounce, +whether this reproof, couched in these words, countenances the idea that +our blessed Lord intended his human mother to receive such divine honour +from his followers to the end of time as the Church of Rome now pays? +and whether St. Luke, whose pen wrote this account, could have been made +cognizant of any such right invested in the Virgin? + +The next passage calling for our consideration is that which records the +first miracle: "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of +Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called +and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine (when the +wine failed), the mother of {279} Jesus saith unto him, They have no +wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine +hour is not yet come." [John ii. 1.] + +I have carefully read the comments on this passage, which different +writers of the Roman Catholic communion have recommended for the +adoption of the faithful, and I desire not to make any remarks upon +them. Let the passage be interpreted in any way which enlightened +criticism and the analogy of Scripture will sanction, and I would ask, +after a careful weighing of this incident, the facts, and the words in +all their bearings, would any unprejudiced mind expect that the holy and +beloved person, towards whom the meek and tender and loving Jesus +employed this address, was destined by that omniscient and omnipotent +Saviour to be an object of those religious acts with which, as we shall +soon be reminded, the Church of Rome now daily approaches her? + +It is pain and grief to me thus to extract and to comment upon these +passages of Holy Writ. The feelings of affection and of reverence +approaching awe, with which I hold the memory of that blessed Virgin +Mother of my Lord, raise in me a sincere repugnance against dwelling on +this branch of our subject, beyond what the cause of the truth as it is +in Jesus absolutely requires; and very little more of the same irksome +task awaits us. You will of course expect me to refer to an incident +recorded with little variety of expression, and with no essential +difference, by the first three Evangelists. St. Matthew's is the most +full account, and is this,--"While he yet talked to the people, behold +his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. +Then one said unto him, {280} Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand +without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him +that told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he +stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother +and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is +in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." [Matt. xii. +46.] Or, as St. Luke expresses it,--"And he answered and said unto them, +My mother and my brethren are these, who hear the word of God and do +it." [Luke viii. 21.] + +Humanly speaking, could a more favourable opportunity have presented +itself to our blessed Lord of referring to his beloved mother, in such a +manner as to exalt her above her fellow daughters of Eve,--in such a +manner too, as that Christians in after days, when the Saviour's bodily +presence should have been taken away from them, and the extraordinary +communications of the Spirit of truth should have been withdrawn, might +have remembered that He had spoken these things, and have been +countenanced by his words in doing her homage? But so far is this from +the plain and natural tendency of the words of her blessed Son, that, +had He of acknowledged purpose (and He has condescended to announce to +us, in another place (John xiii. 19, &c.), the purpose of his words) +wished to guard his disciples, whilst the world should last, against +being seduced by any reverence and love which they might feel towards +Himself into a belief that they ought to exalt his mother above all +other created beings, and pay her holy worship, we know not what words +He could have adopted more fitted for that purpose. There was nothing in +the communication which seemed to call for {281} such a remark. A plain +message announces to Him as a matter of fact one of the most common +occurrences of daily life. And yet He fixes upon the circumstance as the +groundwork not only of declaring the close union which it was his good +pleasure should exist between obedient and true believers and Himself, +but of cautioning all against any superstitious feelings towards those +who were nearly allied to Him by the ties of his human nature. With +reverence I would say, it is as though He desired to record his +foreknowledge of the errors into which his disciples were likely to be +seduced, and warned them beforehand to shun and resist the temptation. +The evidence borne by this passage against our offering any religious +worship to the Virgin, on the ground of her having been the mother of +our Lord, seems clear, strong, direct, and inevitable. She was the +mother of the Redeemer of the world, and blessed is she among women; but +that very Redeemer Himself, with his own lips, assures us that every +faithful servant of his heavenly Father shall be equally honoured with +her, and possess all the privileges which so near and dear a +relationship with Himself might be supposed to convey.--Who is my +mother? Or, who are my brethren? Behold my mother and my brethren! +Whosoever shall do the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my +brother, and my sister, and my mother. + +No less should we be expected in this place to take notice of that most +remarkable passage of Holy Scripture, [Luke xi. 27.] in which our +blessed Lord is recorded under different circumstances to have expressed +the same sentiments, but in words which will appear to many even more +strongly indicative of his desire to prevent any {282} undue exaltation +of his mother. "As he spake these things, a certain woman of the company +lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare +thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." On the truth or wisdom of +that exclamation our Lord makes no remark; He refers not to his mother +at all, not even to assure them (as St. Augustine in after-ages taught, +see De Sacy, vol. xxxii. p. 35.), that however blessed Mary was in her +corporeal conception of the Saviour, yet far more blessed was she +because she had fully borne Him spiritually in her heart. He alludes not +to his mother except for the purpose of instantly drawing the minds of +his hearers from contemplating any supposed blessedness in her, and of +fixing them on the sure and greater blessedness of his true, humble, +faithful, and obedient disciples, to the end of time. "But he said, Yea, +rather [or, as some prefer, yea, verily, and] blessed are they that hear +the word of God, and keep it." Again, it must be asked, could such an +exclamation have been met by such a reply, had our Lord's will been to +exalt his mother, as she is now exalted by the Church of Rome? Rather, +we would reverently ask, would He have given this turn to such an +address, had He not desired to check any such feeling towards her? + +That most truly affecting and edifying incident recorded by St. John as +having taken place whilst Jesus was hanging in his agony on the cross, +an incident which speaks to every one who has a mind to understand and a +heart to feel, presents to us the last occasion on which the name of the +Virgin Mother of our Lord occurs in the Gospels. No paraphrase could add +force, or clearness, or beauty to the simple narrative of the +Evangelist; no exposition could bring out its parts more prominently or +{283} affectingly. The calmness and authority of our blessed Lord, his +tenderness and affection, his filial love in the very midst of his +agony, it is impossible to describe with more heart-stirring and +heart-soothing pathos than is conveyed in the simple language of him +whom the Saviour at that awful hour addressed, as He committed his +mother to him of especial trust. But not one syllable falls from the +lips of Christ, or from the pen of the beloved disciple, who records +this act of his blessed Master's filial piety, which can by possibility +be construed to imply, that our blessed Lord intended Mary to be held in +such honour by his disciples, as would be shown in the offering of +prayer and praise to her after her dissolution. He who could by a word, +rather by the mere motion of his will, have bidden the whole course of +nature and of providence, so to proceed as that all its operations +should provide for the health and safety, the support and comfort of his +mother--He, when He was on the cross, and when He was on the point of +committing his soul into the hands of his Father, leaves her to the care +of one whom He loved, and whose sincerity and devotedness to Him He had, +humanly speaking, long experienced. He bids him treat Mary as his own +mother, He bids Mary look to John as to her own son for support and +solace: "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his +mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When +Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he +loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son; then saith he to +the disciple, Behold thy mother." [John xix. 25.] And He added no more. +If Christ willed that his beloved mother should end her days in peace, +removed equally {284} from want and the desolation of widowhood on the +one hand, and from splendour and notoriety on the other, nothing could +be more natural than such conduct in such a Being at such a time. But if +his purpose was to exalt her into an object of religious adoration, that +nations should kneel before her, and all people do her homage, then the +words and the conduct of our Lord at this hour seem altogether +unaccountable: and so would the words of the Evangelist also be, "And +from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." + +After this not another word falls from the pen of St. John which can be +made to bear on the station, the character, the person, or circumstances +of Mary. After his resurrection our Saviour remained on earth forty days +before He finally ascended into heaven. Many of his interviews and +conversations with his disciples during that interval are recorded in +the Gospel. Every one of the four Evangelists relates some act or some +saying of our Lord on one or more of those occasions. Mention is made by +name of Mary Magdalene, of Mary [the mother] of Joses, of Mary [the +mother] of James, of Salome, of Joanna, of Peter, of Cleophas, of the +disciple whom Jesus loved, at whose house the mother of our Lord then +was; of Thomas, of Nathanael. The eleven also are mentioned generally. +But by no one of the Evangelists is reference made at all to Mary the +mother of our Lord, as having been present at any one of those +interviews; her name is not alluded to throughout. + +On one solitary occasion subsequently to the ascension of Christ, +mention is made of Mary his mother, in company with many others, and +without any further distinction to separate her from the rest: "And when +{285} they were come in (from having witnessed the ascension of our +Saviour), they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and +James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew and +Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the +brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and +supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his +brethren." [Acts i. 13.] Not one word is said of Mary having been +present to witness even the ascension of her blessed Son; we read no +command of our Lord, no wish expressed, no distant intimation to his +disciples that they should even show to her marks of respect and honour; +not an allusion is there made to any superiority or distinction and +preeminence. Sixty years at the least are generally considered to be +comprehended within the subsequent history of the New Testament before +the Apocalypse was written; but neither in the narrative, nor in the +Epistles, nor yet in the prophetic part of the Holy Book, is there the +most distant allusion to Mary. Of him to whose loving care our dying +Lord committed his beloved mother of especial trust, we hear much. John, +we find, putting forth the miraculous power of Christ at the Beautiful +Gate of the Temple; we find him imprisoned and arraigned before the +Jewish authorities; but not one word is mentioned as to what meanwhile +became of Mary. We find John confirming the Church in Samaria; we find +him an exile in the island of Patmos; but no mention is made of Mary. +Nay, though we have three of his epistles, and the second of them +addressed to one "whom he loved in the truth," we find neither from the +tongue nor from the pen of St. John, one single allusion to the mother +of our Lord alive or dead. And then, whatever may have been the matter +{286} of fact as to St. Paul, neither the many letters of that Apostle, +nor the numerous biographical incidents recorded of him, intimate in the +most remote degree that he knew any thing whatever concerning her +individually. St. Paul does indeed refer to the human nature of Christ +derived from his human mother, and had he been taught by his Lord to +entertain towards her such sentiments as the Roman Church now professes +to entertain, he could not have had a more inviting occasion to give +utterance to them. But instead of thus speaking of the Virgin Mary, he +does not even mention her name or state at all, but refers only in the +most general way to her nature and her sex as a daughter of Adam: "But +when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, MADE OF A +WOMAN, made under the law; to redeem them that were under the Law, that +we might receive the adoption of sons." [Gal. iv. 4.] From a time +certainly within a few days of our Saviour's ascension the Scriptures +are totally silent throughout as to Mary, whether in life or in death. + +Here we might well proceed to contrast this view which the Scriptures of +eternal truth give of the blessed Virgin Mary with the authorized and +appointed worship of that branch of the Christian Church which is in +communion with Rome. We must first, however, here also examine the +treasures of Christian antiquity, and ascertain what witness the +earliest uninspired records bear on this immediate point. {287} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II.--EVIDENCE OF PRIMITIVE WRITERS. + + +Closing the inspired volume, and seeking at the fountain-head for the +evidence of Christian antiquity, what do we find? For upwards of three +centuries and a half (the limit put to our present inquiry) we discover +in no author, Christian or heathen, any trace whatever of the invocation +of the Virgin Mary by Catholic Christians. I have examined every passage +which I have found adduced by writers of the Church of Rome, and have +searched for any other passages which might appear to deserve +consideration as bearing favourably on their view of the subject; and +the worship of the Virgin, such as is now insisted upon by the Council +of Trent, prescribed by the Roman ritual, and practised in the Church of +Rome, is proved by such an examination to have had neither name, nor +place, nor existence among the early Christians. Forgive my importunity +if I again and again urge you to join us in weighing these facts well; +and to take your view of them from no advocate on the one side or the +other. Search the Scriptures for yourselves, search the earliest writers +for yourselves, and for yourselves search with all diligence into the +authentic and authorized liturgies of your own Church, your missals, and +breviaries, and formularies. Hearsay evidence, testimony {288} taken at +second or third hand, vague rumours and surmises will probably expose +us, on either side, to error. Let well-sifted genuine evidence be +brought by an upright and an enlightened mind to bear on the point at +issue, and let the issue joined be this, Is the practice of praying to +the Virgin, and praising her, in the language of the prayers and praises +now used in the prescribed formularies of the Roman Church, primitive. +Catholic, Apostolical? + +I am aware that among those who adhere to the Tridentine Confession of +faith, there are many on whom this investigation will not be allowed to +exercise any influence. + +The sentiments of Huet, wherever they are adopted, would operate to the +total rejection of such inquiries as we are instituting in this work. +His words on the immaculate conception of the Virgin are of far wider +application than the immediate occasion on which he used them, "That the +blessed Mary never conceived any sin in herself is in the present day an +established principle of the Church, and confirmed by the Council of +Trent. In which it is our duty to acquiesce, rather than in the dicta of +the ancients, if any seem to think otherwise, among whom must be +numbered Origen." [Origen's Works, vol. iv. part 2, p. 156.] + +In this address, however, we take for granted that the reader is open to +conviction, desirous of arriving at the truth, and, with that view, +ready to examine and sift the evidence of primitive antiquity. + +In that investigation our attention is very soon called to the +remarkable fact, that, whereas in the case of the invocation of saints +and angels, the defenders of that doctrine and practice bring forward a +great variety of passages, in which mention is supposed to be made of +{289} those beings as objects of honour and reverential and grateful +remembrance, the passages quoted with a similar view, as regards the +Virgin Mary, are very few indeed: whilst the passages which intimate +that the early Christians paid her no extraordinary honour (certainly +not more than we of the Anglican Church do now) are innumerable. + +I have thought that it might be satisfactory here to refer to each +separately of those earliest writers, whose testimony we have already +examined on the general question of the invocation of saints and angels, +and, as nearly as may be, in the same order. + +In the former department of our investigation we first endeavoured to +ascertain the evidence of those five primitive writers, who are called +the Apostolical Fathers; and, with regard to the subject now before us, +the result of our inquiry into the same works is this: + +1. In the Epistle ascribed to BARNABAS we find no allusion to Mary. + +2. The same must be affirmed of the book called The Shepherd of HERMAS. + +3. In CLEMENT of Rome, who speaks of the Lord Jesus having descended +from Abraham according to the flesh, no mention is made of that daughter +of Abraham of whom he was born. + +4. IGNATIUS in a passage already quoted (Ad Eph. vii. p. 13 and 16) +speaks of Christ both in his divine and human nature as Son of God and +man, and he mentions the name of Mary, but it is without any adjunct or +observation whatever, "both of Mary and of God." In another place he +speaks of her virgin state, and the fruit of her womb; and of her having +borne our God Jesus the Christ; but he adds no {290} more; not even +calling her "The blessed," or "The Virgin." In the interpolated Epistle +to the Ephesians, the former passage adds "the Virgin" after "Mary," but +nothing more. + +5. In the Epistle of POLYCARP we find an admonition to virgins (Page +186), how they ought to walk with a spotless and chaste conscience, but +there is no allusion to the Virgin Mary. + +JUSTIN MARTYR. In this writer I do not find any passage so much in point +as the following, in which we discover no epithet expressive of honour, +or dignity, or exaltation, though it refers to Mary in her capacity of +the Virgin mother of our Lord:--"He therefore calls Himself the Son of +Man, either from his birth of a virgin, who was of the race of David, +and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, or because Abraham himself was the +father of those persons enumerated, from whom Mary drew her origin." +[Trypho, Sec. 100. p. 195.] And a little below he adds, "For Eve being a +virgin and incorrupt, having received the word from the serpent, brought +forth transgression and death; but Mary the Virgin having received faith +and joy (on the angel Gabriel announcing to her the glad tidings, that +the Spirit of the Lord should come upon her, and the power of the +Highest overshadow her) answered, Be it unto me according to thy word. +And of her was born He of whom we have shown that so many Scriptures +have been spoken; He by whom God destroys the serpent, and angels and +men resembling [the serpent]; but works a rescue from death for such as +repent of evil and believe in Him." One more passage will suffice, "And +according to the command of God, Joseph, taking Him with Mary, went into +Egypt." [Trypho, Sec. 102. p. 196.] {291} + +Among those "Questions" to which we have referred under the head of +Justin Martyr's works, but which are confessedly of a much less remote +date, probably of the fifth century, an inquiry is made, How could +Christ be free from blame, who so often set at nought his parent? The +answer is, that He did not set her at nought; that He honoured her in +deed, and would not have hurt her by his words;--but then the respondent +adds, that Christ chiefly honoured Mary in that view of her maternal +character, under which all who heard the word of God and kept it, were +his brothers and sisters and mother; and that she surpassed all women in +virtue. [Qu. 136. p. 500.] + +IRENAEUS. To the confused passage relied upon by Bellarmin, in which +Irenaeus is supposed to represent Mary as the advocate of Eve, we have +already fully referred (page 120 of this work). In that passage there is +no allusion to any honour paid, or to be paid to her, nor to any +invocation of her. In every passage to which my attention has been +drawn, Irenaeus speaks of the mother of our Lord as Mary, or the Virgin, +without any adjunct, or term of reverence. + +CLEMENT of Alexandria speaks of the Virgin, and refers to an opinion +relative to her virgin-state, but without one word of honour. [Stromat. +vii. 16. p. 889.] + +TERTULLIAN[101]. The passages in which this ancient writer refers to the +mother of our Lord are very far from countenancing the religious worship +now paid to her by Roman Catholics: "The brothers of the Lord had not +believed on him, as it is contained in the Gospel published {292} before +Marcion. His mother likewise is not shown to have adhered to him; +whereas others, Marys and Marthas, were frequently in his company." (See +Tert. De carne Christi, c. 7. (p. 364. De Sacy, 29. 439.)) And he tells +us that Christ was brought forth by a virgin, who was also about to be +married once after the birth, that the two titles of sanctity might be +united in Christ by a mother who was both a virgin and also once +married[102]. + + [Footnote 101: Paris, 1675. De carne Christi, vii. p. 315. De + Monogamia, vii. p. 529. N.B. Both these treatises were probably + written after he became a Montanist.] + + [Footnote 102: On the works once ascribed to Methodius, but now + pronounced to be spurious, see above, p. 131.] + +ORIGEN thus speaks: "Announcing to Zacharias the birth of John, and to +Mary the advent of our Saviour among men." [Comment on John, Sec. 24. vol. +iv. p. 82.] In his eighth homily on Leviticus, he refers to Mary as a +pure Virgin. [Vol. ii. p. 228.] In the forged work of later times, the +writer, speaking of our Saviour, says, "He had on earth an immaculate +and chaste mother, this much blessed Virgin Mary." [Hom. iii. in +Diversos.] + +In CYPRIAN we do not find one word expressive of honour or reverence +towards the Virgin Mary. Nor is her name mentioned in the letter of his +correspondent Firmilian, Bishop of Cappadocia. + +LACTANTIUS speaks of "a holy virgin" [Vol. i. p. 299.] chosen for the +work of Christ but not one other word of honour, or tending to +adoration; though whilst dwelling on the incarnation of the Son of God, +had he or his fellow-believers paid religious honour to her, he could +scarcely have avoided all allusion to it. + +EUSEBIUS speaks of the Virgin Mary, but is altogether silent as to any +religious honour of any kind being due to her. In the Oration of the +Emperor Constantine (as it is recorded by Eusebius), direct mention is +made of the "chaste virginity," and of the maid who was mother {293} of +God, and yet remained a virgin. But the object present to the author's +mind was so exclusively God manifest in the flesh, that he does not +throughout even mention the name of Mary, or allude to any honour paid +or due to her. [Cantab. 1720. Sec. 11. p. 689. and Sec. 19. p. 703.] + +ATHANASIUS, bent ever on establishing the perfect divinity and humanity +of Christ, thus speaks: "The general scope of Holy Scripture is to make +a twofold announcement concerning the Saviour, that He was always God, +and is a Son; being the Word and the brightness and wisdom of the +Father, and that He afterwards became man for us, taking flesh of the +Virgin Mary, who bare God ([Greek: taes theotokou])." [Athan. Orat. iii. +Cont. Arian. p. 579.] + +The work which we have already examined, called The Apostolical +Constitutions, compiled probably about the commencement of the fourth +century, cannot be read without leaving an impression clear and powerful +on the mind, that no religious honour was paid to the Virgin Mary at the +time when they were written; certainly not more than is now cheerfully +paid to her memory by us of the Anglican Church. Take, for example, the +prayer prescribed to be used on the appointment of a Deaconess; the +inference from it must be, that others with whom the Lord's Spirit had +dwelt, were at least held in equal honour with Mary: "O Eternal God, +Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of male and female, who didst +fill with thy Spirit Miriam, and Hannah, and Holda, and didst not +disdain that thy Son should be born of a woman," &c. [Book viii. c. 20.] +Thus, {294} too, in another passage, Mary is spoken of just as other +women who had the gift of prophecy; and of her equally and in +conjunction with the others it is said, that they were not elated by the +gift, nor lifted themselves up against the men. "But even have women +prophesied; in ancient times Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses; +after her Deborah; and afterwards Huldah and Judith; one under Josiah, +the other under Darius; and the mother of the Lord also prophesied, and +Elizabeth her kinswoman; and Anna; and in our day the daughters of +Philip; yet they were not lifted up against the men, but observed their +own measure. Therefore among you also should any man or woman have such +a grace, let them be humble, that God may take pleasure in them." [Book +viii. c. 2.] + +In the Apostolical Canons I find no reference to Mary; nor indeed any +passage bearing on our present inquiry, except the last clause of all, +containing the benediction. In this passage not only is the prayer for +spiritual blessings addressed to God alone, but it is offered +exclusively through the mediation of Christ alone, without alluding to +intercessions of angels saints, or the Virgin: "Now may God, the only +unproduced Being, the Creator of all things, unite you all by peace in +the Holy Ghost; make you perfect unto every good work, not to be turned +aside, unblameable, not deserving reproof; and may He deem you worthy of +eternal life with us, by the mediation of his beloved Son Jesus Christ +our God and Saviour: with whom be glory to Him the Sovereign God and +Father, in the Holy Ghost the Comforter, now and ever, world without +end. Amen." [Vol. i. p. 450.] + +I have not intentionally omitted any ancient author {295} falling within +the limits of our present inquiry, nor have I neglected any one passage +which I could find bearing testimony to any honour paid to the Virgin. +The result of my research is, that I have not discovered one solitary +expression which implies that religious invocation and honour, such as +is now offered to Mary by the Church of Rome, was addressed to her by +the members of the primitive Catholic Church. {296} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III.--THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY. + + +By the Church of England, two festivals are observed in grateful +commemoration of two events relating to Mary as the mother of our +Lord:--the announcement of the Saviour's birth by the message of an +angel, called, "The Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary," and "The +Presentation of Christ in the Temple," called also, "The Purification of +Saint Mary the Virgin." In the service for the first of these +solemnities, we are taught to pray that, as we have known the +incarnation of the Son of God by the message of an angel, so by his +Cross and Passion we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection. In +the second, we humbly beseech the Divine Majesty that, as his +only-begotten Son was presented in the Temple in the substance of our +flesh, so we may be presented unto Him with pure and clean hearts by the +same, his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. These days are observed to +commemorate events declared to us on the most sure warrant of Holy +Scripture; and these prayers are primitive and evangelical. They pray +only to God for spiritual blessings through his Son. The second prayer +was used in the Church {297} from very early times, and is still +retained in the Roman Breviary (Hus. Brev. Rom. H. 536.); whereas, +instead of the first[103], we find there unhappily a prayer now +supplicating that those who offer it, "believing Mary to be truly the +Mother of God, might be aided by her intercessions with Him." [V. 496.] + + [Footnote 103: This collect also is found in the Roman Missal, + as a Prayer at the Post Communion; though it does not appear in + the Breviarium Romanum.] + +In the Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, feasts are observed to +the honour of the Virgin Mary, in which the Anglican Church cannot join; +such as the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, and the immaculate conception +of her by her mother. On the origin and nature of these feasts it is not +my intention to dwell. I can only express my regret, that by appointing +a service and a collect commemorative of the Conception of the +Virgin[104] in her mother's womb, and praying that the observance of +that solemnity may procure the votaries an increase of peace, the Church +of Rome has given countenance to a superstition, against which at its +commencement, so late as the 12th century, St. Bernard strongly +remonstrated, in an epistle to the monks of Lyons; a superstition which +has been supported and explained by discussions in no way profitable to +the head or the heart. [Epist. 174. Paris, 1632, p. 1538.] + + [Footnote 104: Ut quibus beatae Virginis partus exstitit salutis + exordium, conceptionis ejus votiva solemnitas pacis tribuat + incrementum. H. 445.] + +Of all these institutions however in honour of the Virgin, the Feast of +the ASSUMPTION appears to be as it were the crown and the +consummation[105]. This festival {298} is kept to celebrate the +miraculous taking up (assumptio) of the Virgin Mary into heaven. And its +celebration, in Roman Catholic countries, is observed in a manner worthy +a cause to which our judgment would give deliberately its sanction; in +which our feelings would safely and with satisfaction rest on the +firmness of our faith; from joining in which a truly pious mind would +have no ground for inward misgiving, nor for the aspiration, Would it +were founded in truth! + + [Footnote 105: "The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the + greatest of all the festivals which the Church celebrates in her + honour. It is the consummation of all the other great mysteries + by which her life was rendered most wonderful. It is the + birthday of her true greatness and glory, and the crown of all + the virtues of her whole life, which we admire single in her + other festivals." Alban Butler, vol. viii. p. 175.] + +Before such a solemn office of praise and worship were ever admitted +among the institutions of the religion of truth, its originators and +compilers should have built upon sure grounds; careful too should they +also be who now join in the service, and so lend it the countenance of +their example; more especially should those sift the evidence well, who, +by their doctrine and writings, uphold, and defend, and advance it; lest +they prove at the last to love Rome rather than the truth as it is in +Jesus. So solemn, so marked, a religious service in the temples and at +the altar of HIM who is the truth, a service so exalted above his +fellows, ought beyond question to be founded on the most sure warrant of +Holy Scripture, or at the least on undisputed historical evidence, as to +the alleged matter of fact on which it is built,--the certain, +acknowledged, uninterrupted, and universal testimony of the Church +Catholic from the very time. They incur a momentous responsibility who +aid in propagating for religious truths the inventions of men[106]. + + [Footnote 106: Very different opinions are held by Roman + Catholic writers as to the antiquity of this feast. All, indeed, + maintain that it is of very ancient introduction; but whilst + some, with Lambecius (lib. viii. p. 286), maintain the antiquity + of the festival to be so remote, that its origin cannot be + traced; and thence infer that it was instituted by a silent and + unrecorded act of the Apostles themselves; others (among whom + Kollarius, the learned annotator on the opinion of Lambecius) + acknowledged, that it was introduced by an ordinance of the + Church, though not at the same time in all countries of + Christendom. That annotator assigns its introduction at Rome to + the fourth century; at Constantinople to the sixth; in Germany + and France to the ninth.] {299} + +But what is the real state of the case with regard to the fact of the +Assumption of the Virgin Mary? It rests (as we shall soon see) on no +authentic history; it is supported by no primitive tradition. I profess +my surprise to have been great, when I found the most celebrated +defenders of the Roman Catholic cause, instead of citing such evidence +as would bear with it even the appearance of probability, appealing to +histories written more than a thousand years after the alleged event, to +forged documents and vague rumours. I was willing to doubt the +sufficiency of my research; till I found its defenders, instead of +alleging and establishing by evidence what God was by them said to have +done, contenting themselves with asserting his omnipotence, in proof +that the doctrine implied no impossibility; dwelling on the fitness and +reasonableness of his working such a miracle in the honour of her who +was chosen to be the mother of his eternal Son; and whilst they took the +fact as granted, substituting for argument glowing and fervent +descriptions of what might have been the joy in heaven, and what ought +to be the feelings of mortals on earth. + +At every step of the inquiry into the merits of this case, the principle +recurs to the mind, that, as men really and in earnest looking onward to +a life after this, our duty is to ascertain to the utmost of our {300} +power, not what God could do, not what we or others might pronounce it +fit that God should do, but what He has done; not what would be +agreeable to our feelings, were it true, but what, whether agreeably or +adversely to our feelings or wishes, is proved to be true. The very +moment a Christian writer refers me from evidence to possibilities, I +feel that he knows not the nature of Christianity; he throws me back +from the sure and certain hope of the Gospel to the "beautiful fable" of +Socrates,--"It were better to be there than here, IF THESE THINGS ARE +TRUE." + +But let us inquire into the facts of the case. + +First, I would observe that it is by no means agreed among all who have +written upon the subject, what was the place, or what was the time of +the Virgin's death. Whilst some have maintained that she breathed her +last at Ephesus, the large majority assert that her departure from this +world took place at Jerusalem. And as to the time of her death, some +have assigned it to the year 48 of the Christian era, about the time at +which Paul and Barnabas (as we read in Holy Scripture) returned to +Antioch; whilst others refer it to a later date. I am not, however, +aware of any supposition which fixes it at a period subsequent to that +at which the canon of Scripture closes. Epiphanius indeed, towards the +close of the fourth century, reminding us that Scripture is totally and +purely silent on the subject as well of Mary's death and burial, as of +her having accompanied St. John in his travels or not, without alluding +to any tradition as to her assumption, thus sums up his sentiments: "I +dare to say nothing; but considering it, I observe silence." [Epiph. +vol. i. p. 1043.] {301} + +Should any of my readers have deliberately adopted as the rule of their +faith the present practice of the Church of Rome, I cannot hope that +they will take any interest in the following inquiry; but I have been +assured, by most sensible and well-informed members of that Church, that +there is a very general desire entertained to have this and other +questions connected with our subject examined without prejudice, and +calmly placed before them. To such persons I trust this chapter may not +appear altogether unworthy of their consideration. Those who would turn +from it on the principle to which we have here alluded, will find +themselves very closely responding to the sentiments professed by St. +Bernard, "Exalt her who is exalted above the choirs of angels to the +heavenly kingdom. These things the Church sings to me of her, and has +taught me to sing the same to others. For my part, what I have received +from it, I am secure in holding and delivering; which also, I confess, I +am not OVER-SCRUPULOUS in admitting. (Quod non scrupulosius fateor +admiserim.) I have received in truth from the Church that that day is to +be observed with the highest veneration on which she was TAKEN up +(assumpta) from this wicked world, and carrying with her into heaven +feasts of the most celebrated joys[107]." + + [Footnote 107: See Lambecius, book viii. p. 286. The letter of + St. Bernard is addressed to the Canons of Lyons on the + Conception of the holy Mary. Paris, 1632, p. 1538. His + observations in that letter, with a view of discountenancing the + rising superstition, in juxtaposition with these sentiments, are + well deserving the serious consideration of every one.] + +Let us then, with the authorized and enjoined service of the Church of +Rome for the 15th of August before us, examine the evidence on which +that religious {302} service, the most solemn consummation of all the +rest, is founded. + +In the service of the Assumption, more than twice seven times is it +reiterated in a very brief space, and with slight variations of +expression, that Mary was taken up into heaven; and that, not on any +general and indefinite idea of her beatific and glorified state, but +with reference to one specific single act of divine favour, performed at +a fixed time, effecting her assumption, as it is called, "to-day." [AEs. +595.] "To-day Mary the Virgin ascended the heavens. Rejoice, because she +is reigning with Christ for ever." "Mary the Virgin is taken up into +heaven, to the ethereal chamber in which the King of kings sits on his +starry throne." "The holy mother of God hath been exalted above the +choirs of angels to the heavenly realms." "Come, let us worship the King +of kings, to whose ethereal heaven the Virgin Mother was taken up +to-day." And that it is her bodily ascension, her corporeal assumption +into heaven, and not merely the transit of her soul[108] from mortal +life to eternal bliss, which the Roman Church maintains and propagates +by this service, is put beyond doubt by the service itself. In the +fourth and sixth reading[109], or lesson, for example, we find these +{303} sentences:--"She returned not into the earth but is seated in the +heavenly tabernacles." "How could death devour, how could those below +receive, how could corruption invade, THAT BODY, in which life was +received? For it a direct, plain, and easy path to heaven was prepared." + + [Footnote 108: Lambecius, indeed (book viii. p. 306), distinctly + affirms, that one object which the Church had in view was to + condemn the HERESY of those who maintain that the reception of + the Virgin into heaven, was the reception of her soul only, and + not also of her body. "Ut damnet eorum haeresin qui sanctissimae + Dei genetricis rcceptionem in coelum ad animam ipsius tantum, + non vero simul etiam ad corpus pertinere existimant."] + + [Footnote 109: Non reversa est in terram, sed ... in coelestibus + tabernaculis collocatum. Quomodo mois devoraret, quomodo inferi + susciperent, quomodo corruptio invaderit CORPUS ILLUD in quo + vita suscepta est? Huic recta plana et facilis ad coelum parata + est via. AEs. 603, 604.] + +Now, on what authority does this doctrine rest? On what foundation stone +is this religious worship built? The holy Scriptures are totally and +profoundly silent, as to the time, the place, the manner of Mary's +death. Once after the ascension of our Lord, and that within eight days, +we find mentioned the name of Mary promiscuously with others; after +that, no allusion is made to her in life or in death; and no account, as +far as I can find, places her death too late for mention to have been +made of it in the Acts of the Apostles. The historian, Nicephorus +Callistus, refers it to the 5th year of Claudius, that is about A.D. 47: +after which period, events through more than fifteen years are recorded +in that book of sacred Scripture. + +But closing the holy volume, what light does primitive antiquity enable +us to throw on this subject? + +The earliest testimony quoted by the defenders of the doctrine, that +Mary was at her death taken up bodily into heaven, is a supposed entry +in the Chronicon of Eusebius, opposite the year of our Lord 48. This is +cited by Coccius without any remark; and even Baronius rests the date of +Mary's assumption upon this testimony. [Vol. i. 403.] The words referred +to are these,--"Mary the Virgin, the mother of Jesus, was taken up into +heaven; as some write that it had been revealed to them." {304} + +Now, suppose for one moment that this came from the pen of Eusebius +himself, to what does it amount? A chronologist in the fourth century +records that some persons, whom he does not name, not even stating when +they lived, had written down, not what they had heard as matter of fact, +or received by tradition, but that a revelation had been made to them of +a fact alleged to have taken place nearly three centuries before the +time of that writer. But instead of this passage deserving the name of +Eusebius as its author, it is now on all sides acknowledged to be +altogether a palpable interpolation. Suspicions, one would suppose, must +have been at a very remote date suggested as to the genuineness of this +sentence. Many manuscripts, especially the seven in the Vatican, were +known to contain nothing of the kind; and the Roman Catholic editor of +the Chronicon at Bordeaux, A.D. 1604, tells us that he was restrained +from expunging it, only because nothing certain as to the assumption of +the Virgin could be substituted in its stead. [P. 566.] Its spuriousness +however can no longer be a question of dispute or doubt; it is excluded +from the Milan edition of 1818, by Angelo Maio and John Zohrab; and no +trace of it is to be found in the Armenian[110] version, published by +the monks of the Armenian convent at Venice, in 1818. + + [Footnote 110: The author visited that convent whilst this + edition of the Chronicon of Eusebius was going through the + press, and can testify to the apparent anxiety of the monks to + make it worthy of the patronage of Christians.] + +The next authority, to which we are referred, is a letter[111] said to +have been written by Sophronius the {305} presbyter, about the +commencement of the fifth century. The letter used to be ascribed to +Jerome; Erasmus referred it to Sophronius; but Baronius says it was +written "by an egregious forger of lies," ("egregius mendaciorum +concinnator,") who lived after the heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches +had been condemned. I am not at all anxious to enter upon that point of +criticism; that the letter is of very ancient origin cannot be doubted. +This document would lead us to conclude, that so far from the tradition +regarding the Virgin's assumption being general in the Church, it was a +point of grave doubt and discussion among the faithful, many of whom +thought it an act of pious forbearance to abstain altogether from +pronouncing any opinion on the subject. Whoever penned the letter, and +whether we look to the sensible and pious sentiments contained in it, or +to its undisputed antiquity, the following extract cannot fail to be +interesting[112]. + + [Footnote 111: The letter is entitled "Ad Paulam et Eustochium + de Assumptione B.M. Virginis." It is found in the fifth volume + of Jerome's works, p. 82. Edit. Jo. Martian.] + + [Footnote 112: Baronius shows great anxiety (Cologne, 1609, vol. + i. p. 408) to detract from the value of this author's testimony, + whoever he was; sharply criticising him because he asserts, that + the faithful in his time still expressed doubts as to the matter + of fact of Mary's assumption. By assigning, however, to the + letter a still later date than the works of Sophronius, Baronius + adds strength to the arguments for the comparatively recent + origin of the tradition of her assumption. See Fabricius + (Hamburgh, 1804), vol. ix. p. 160.] + +"Many of our people doubt whether Mary was taken up together with her +body, or went away, leaving the body. But how, or at what time, or by +what persons her most holy body was taken hence, or whither removed, or +whether it rose again, is not known; although some will maintain that +she is already revived, and is clothed with a blessed immortality with +Christ in heavenly places, which very many affirm also of the blessed +{306} John, the Evangelist, his servant, to whom being a virgin, the +virgin was intrusted by Christ, because in his sepulchre, as it is +reported, nothing is found but manna, which also is seen to flow forth. +Nevertheless which of these opinions should be thought the more true we +doubt. Yet it is better to commit all to God, to whom nothing is +impossible, than to wish to define rashly[113] by our own authority any +thing, which we do not approve of.... Because nothing is impossible with +God, we do not deny that something of the kind was done with regard to +the blessed Virgin Mary; although for caution's sake (salva fide) +preserving our faith, we ought rather with pious desire to think, than +inconsiderately to define, what without danger may remain unknown." This +letter, at the earliest, was not written until the beginning of the +fifth century. + + [Footnote 113: These last words, stamping the author's own + opinion, "Which we do not approve of," are left out in the + quotation of Coccius.] + +Subsequent writers were not wanting to fill up what this letter declares +to have been at its own date unknown, as to the manner and time of +Mary's assumption, and the persons employed in effecting it. The first +authority appealed to in defence of the tradition relating to the +assumption of the Virgin[114], is usually cited as a well-known work +written by Euthymius, who was contemporary with Juvenal, Archbishop of +Jerusalem. And the testimony simply quoted as his, offers to us the +following account of the miraculous transaction[115]:-- + + [Footnote 114: Coccius heads the extract merely with these + words: "Euthumius Eremita Historiae Ecclesiasticae, lib. iii. c. + 40;" assigning the date A.D. 549.] + + [Footnote 115: This version by Coccius differs in some points + from the original. Jo. Dam. vol. ii. p. 879.] + +"It has been above said, that the holy Pulcheria {307} built many +churches to Christ at Constantinople. Of these, however, there is one +which was built in Blachernae, in the beginning of Marcian I's _reign_ of +divine memory. These, therefore, namely, Marcian and Pulcheria, when +they had built a venerable temple to the greatly to be celebrated and +most holy mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and had decked it with all +ornaments, sought her most holy body, which had conceived God. And +having sent for Juvenal, Archbishop of Jerusalem, and the bishops of +Palestine, who were living in the royal city on account of the synod +then held at Chalcedon, they say to them, 'We hear that there is in +Jerusalem the first and famous Church of Mary, mother of God and ever +Virgin, in the garden called Gethsemane, where her body which bore the +Life was deposited in a coffin. We wish, therefore, her relics to be +brought here for the protection of this royal city. But Juvenal +answered, 'In the holy and divinely inspired Scripture, indeed, nothing +is recorded of the departure of holy Mary, mother of God. But from an +ancient and most true tradition we have received, that at the time of +her glorious falling asleep, all the holy Apostles who were going +through the world for the salvation of the nations, in a moment of time +borne aloft, came together at Jerusalem. And when they were near her, +they had a vision of angels, and divine melody of the highest powers was +heard: and thus with divine and more than heavenly glory, she delivered +her holy soul into the hands of God in an unspeakable manner. But that +which had conceived God being borne with angelic and apostolic psalmody, +with funeral rites, was deposited in a coffin in Gethsemane. In this +place the chorus and singing of the angels continued for three whole +days. But {308} after three days, on the angelic music ceasing, since +one of the Apostles had been absent, and came after the third day, and +wished to adore the body which had conceived God, the Apostles, who were +present, opened the coffin; but the body, pure and every way to be +praised, they could not at all find. And when they found only those +things in which it had been laid out and placed there, and were filled +with an ineffable fragrancy proceeding from those things, they shut the +coffin. Being astounded at the miraculous mystery, they could form no +other thought, but that He, who in his own person had vouchsafed to be +clothed with flesh, and to be made man of the most holy Virgin, and to +be born in the flesh, God the Word, and Lord of Glory, and who after +birth had preserved her virginity immaculate, had seen it good after she +had departed from among the living, to honour her uncontaminated and +unpolluted body by a translation before the common and universal +resurrection." + +Such is the passage offered to us in its insulated form, as an extract +from Euthymius. To be enabled, however, to estimate its worth, the +inquirer must submit to the labour of considerable research. He will not +have pursued his investigation far, before he will find, that a thick +cloud of uncertainty and doubt hangs over this page of ecclesiastical +history. Not that the evidence alleged in support of the reputed miracle +can leave us in doubt as to the credibility of the tradition; for that +tradition can scarcely be now countenanced by the most zealous and +uncompromising maintainers of the assumption of the Virgin. What I would +say is, that the question as to the genuineness and authenticity of the +works by which the tradition is said to have been preserved, is far more +difficult and complicated, than {309} those writers must have believed, +who appeal to such testimony without any doubt or qualification. The +result of my own inquiries I submit to your candid acceptance. + +The earliest author in whose reputed writings I have found the +tradition, is John Damascenus, a monk of Jerusalem, who flourished +somewhat before the middle of the eighth century. The passage is found +in the second of three homilies on the "Sleep of the Virgin," a term +generally used by the Greeks as an equivalent for the Latin word +"Assumptio." The original publication of these homilies in Greek and +Latin is comparatively of a late date. Lambecius, whose work is dated +1665, says he was not aware that any one had so published them before +his time[116]. But not to raise the question of their genuineness, the +preacher's introduction of this passage into his homily is preceded by a +very remarkable section, affording a striking example of the manner in +which Christian orators used to indulge in addresses and appeals not +only to the spirits of departed men, but even to things which never had +life. The speaker here in his sermon addresses the tomb of Mary, as +though it had ears to hear, and an understanding to comprehend; and then +represents the tomb as having a tongue to answer, and as calling forth +from the preacher and his congregation an address of admiration and +reverence. Such apostrophes as these cannot be too steadily borne in +mind, or too carefully weighed, when any argument is sought to be drawn +from similar salutations offered by ancient Christian orators to saint, +or angel, or the Virgin. + + [Footnote 116: Vol. viii. p. 281. Le Quien, who published them + in 1712, refers to earlier homilies on the Dormitio Virginis. + Jo. Damas. Paris, 1712. vol. ii. p. 857.] {310} + +The following are among the expressions in which the preacher, in the +passage under consideration, addresses the Virgin's tomb: "Thou, O Tomb, +of holy things most holy (for I will address thee as a living being), +where is the much desired and much beloved body of the mother of God?" +[Vol. ii. p. 875.] The answer of the tomb begins thus, "Why seek ye her +in a tomb, who has been taken up on high to the heavenly tabernacles?" +In reply to this, the preacher first deliberating with his hearers what +answer he should make, thus addresses the tomb: "Thy grace indeed is +never-failing and eternal," &c. [P. 881.] By the maintainers of the +invocation of saints, many a passage far less unequivocal and less +cogent than this has been adduced to show, that saints and martyrs were +invoked by primitive worshippers. + +We find John Damascenus thus introducing the passage of Euthymius, "Ye +see, beloved fathers and brethren, what answer the all-glorious tomb +makes to us; and that these things are so, in the EUTHYMIAC HISTORY, the +third book and fortieth chapter, is thus written word for word." [P. +877.] + +Lambecius maintains, that the history here quoted by John Damascenus was +not an ecclesiastical history, written by Euthymius, who died in A.D. +472, but a biographical history concerning Euthymius himself, written by +an ecclesiastic, whom he supposes to be Cyril, the monk, who died in +A.D. 531. This opinion of Lambecius is combated by Cotelerius; the +discussion only adding to the denseness of the cloud which involves the +whole tradition. But whether the work quoted had Euthymius for its +author or its subject, the work itself is lost; and an epitome only of +such a work has come down to {311} our time. In that abridgment the +passage quoted by Damascenus is not found. + +The editor of John Damascenus, Le Quien, in his annotations on this +portion of his work, offers to us some very interesting remarks, which +bear immediately on the agitated question as to the first observance of +the feast of the Assumption, as well as on the tradition itself. Le +Quien infers, from the words of Modestus, patriarch of Jerusalem, that +scarcely any preachers before him had addressed their congregations on +the departure of the Virgin out of this life; he thinks, moreover, that +the Feast of the Assumption was at the commencement of the seventh +century only recently instituted. Though all later writers affirm that +the Virgin was buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, in the garden of +Gethsemane, the same editor says, that this could not have been known to +Jerome, who passed a great part of his life in Bethlehem, and yet +observes a total silence on the subject; though in his "Epitaph on +Paula," [Jerome, Paris, 1706. Vol. iv. p. 670-688, ep. 86.] he +enumerates all the places in Palestine consecrated by any remarkable +event. Neither, he adds, could it have been known to Epiphanius, who, +though he lived long in Palestine, yet declares that nothing was known +as to the death or burial of the Virgin. [Vol. ii, p. 858.] + +Again, in his remarks upon the writings falsely attributed to Melito, +the same editor says, that since this Pseudo-Melito speaks many jejune +things of the Virgin Mary, (such for example as at the approach of death +her exceeding fear of being exposed to the wiles of Satan,) he +concludes, from that circumstance, that the work was written before the +Council of Ephesus; alleging this very remarkable reason, that "after +that {312} time there BEGAN TO BE ENTERTAINED, as was right, not only in +the East, but also in the West, a far better estimate of the parent of +God." [P. 880.] + +Many of the remarks of this editor would appear to savour of prejudice +had they come from the pen of one who denied the reality of the +assumption, or oppugned the honour and worship now paid by members of +the Church of Rome to the Virgin. Nor could the suspicion of such +prejudice be otherwise than increased by the insinuation which the same +editor throws out against the honesty of Archbishop Juvenal, and on the +possibility of his having invented the whole story, and so for sinister +purposes deceived Marcian and Pulcheria; just as he fabricated the +writings which he forged for the purpose of securing the primacy of +Palestine; a crime laid to the charge of Juvenal by Leo the Great, in +his letter to Maximus, Bishop of Antioch. [P. 879. See Leo. vol. i. p. +1215. Epist. cxix.] + +It is moreover much to be regretted that in making the extract from John +Damascenus those who employ it as evidence of primitive belief, have not +presented it to their readers whole and entire. In the present case the +system of quoting garbled extracts is particularly to be lamented, +because the paragraphs omitted in the quotation carry in themselves +clear proof that Juvenal's answer, as it now appears in John Damascenus, +could not have been made by Juvenal to Marcian and Pulcheria. For in it +is quoted from Dionysius the Areopagite by name, a passage still found +in the works ascribed to him; whereas by the judgment of the most +learned Roman Catholic writers, those spurious works did not make their +appearance in Christendom till the beginning of the sixth century, fifty +years after the Council of Chalcedon, to assist at which {313} Juvenal +is said to have been present in Constantinople when the emperor and +empress held the alleged conversation with him. + +The remainder of the passage from the history of Euthymius, rehearsed in +this oration of John Damascenus, is as follows: "There were present with +the Apostles at that time both the most honoured Timothy the Apostle, +and first bishop of the Ephesians, and Dionysius the Areopagite, +himself, as the great Dionysius testifies in the laboured words +concerning the blessed Hierotheus, himself also then being present, to +the above-named apostle Timothy, saying thus, Since with the inspired +hierarchs themselves, when we also as thou knowest, and yourself, and +many of our holy brethren had come together to the sight of the body +which gave the principle of life; and there was present too James the +brother of the Lord ([Greek: adelphotheos]), and Peter the chief and the +most revered head of the apostles ([Greek: theologon]); then it seemed +right, after the spectacle, that all the hierarchs (as each was able) +should sing of the boundless goodness of the divine power. After the +apostles, as you know, he surpassed all the other sacred persons, wholly +carried away, and altogether in an ecstasy, and feeling an entire +sympathy with what was sung; and by all by whom he was heard, and seen, +and known (and he[117] knew it not), he was considered to be an inspired +and divine hymnologist. And why should I speak to you about the things +there divinely said, for unless I have even forgotten myself, I know +that I have often heard from you some portions also of those inspired +canticles? And the royal personages having heard this, requested of +Juvenal the archbishop, that the holy coffin, with the {314} clothes of +the glorious and all-holy Mary, mother of God, sealed up, might be sent +to them. And this, when sent, they deposited in the venerable temple of +the Mother of God, built in Blachernae; and these things were so." + + [Footnote 117: This seems confused in the original ([Greek: kai + eginosketo, kai ouk eginoske]). The whole passage is involved in + great obscurity.] + +It is a fact no less lamentable than remarkable, that out of the lessons +appointed by the Church of Rome for the feast of the Assumption, to be +read to believers assembled in God's house of prayer, three of those +lessons are selected and taken entirely from this very oration of John +Damascenus[118]. + + [Footnote 118: + + The Fourth Lesson begins "Hodie sacra et animata arca." + The Fifth " " "Hodie virgo immaculata." + The Sixth " " "Eva quae serpentis," &c.--AE. 603. + + These contain the passages to which we have before referred as + fixing the belief of the Church of Rome to be in the CORPOREAL + assumption of Mary. "Quomodo corruptio invaderet CORPUS ILLUD in + quo vita suscepta est? [Greek: pos diaphthora tou zoodochon + katatolmaeseie somatos.]"] + +This, then, is the account nearest to the time of the supposed event; +and yet can any thing be more vague, and by way of testimony, more +worthless? A writer near the middle of the sixth century refers to a +conversation, said to have taken place in the middle of the fifth +century; in this reported conversation at Constantinople, the Bishop of +Jerusalem is represented to have informed the Emperor and Empress of an +ancient tradition, which was believed, concerning a miraculous event, +said to have taken place nearly four hundred years before, that the body +was taken out of a coffin without the knowledge of those who had +deposited it there: Whilst the primitive and inspired account, recording +most minutely the journeys and proceedings of some of those very +persons, and the letters of others, makes no mention at all of any +transaction of the kind; and of {315} all the intermediate historians +and ecclesiastical writers not one gives the slightest intimation that +any rumour of it had reached them[119]. + + [Footnote 119: Baronius appears not to have referred to this + history of Euthymius, but he refers to Nicephorus, and also to a + work ascribed to Melito, c. 4, 5. Nicephorus, Paris, 1630. vol. + i. p. 168. lib. ii. c. 21. Baronius also refers to lib. 15. c. + 14. This Nicephorus was Patriarch of Constantinople. He lived + during the reign of our Edward the First, or Edward the Second, + and cannot, therefore, be cited in any sense of the word as an + ancient author writing on the events of the primitive ages; + though the manner in which his testimony is appealed to would + imply, that he was a man to whose authority on early + ecclesiastical affairs we were now expected to defer.] + +Another authority to which the writers on the assumption of the Virgin +appeal, is that of Nicephorus Callistus, who, at the end of the +thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century, dedicated his +work to Andronicus Palaeologus. The account given by Nicephorus is this: + +In the fifth year of Claudius, the Virgin at the age of fifty-nine, was +made acquainted with her approaching death. Christ himself then +descended from heaven with a countless multitude of angels, to take up +the soul of his mother; He summoned his disciples by thunder and storm +from all parts of the world. The Virgin then bade Peter first, and +afterwards the rest of the Apostles, to come with burning torches[120]. +The Apostles surrounded her bed, and "an outpouring of miracles flowed +forth." The blind beheld the sun, the deaf heard, the lame walked, and +every disease fled away. The Apostles and others sang, as the coffin was +borne from Sion to Gethsemane, angels preceding, surrounding, and +following it. {316} A wonderful thing then took place. The Jews were +indignant and enraged, and one more desperately bold than the rest +rushed forward, intending to throw down the holy corpse to the ground. +Vengeance was not tardy; for his hands were cut off from his arms[121]. +The procession stopped; and at the command of Peter, on the man shedding +tears of penitence, his hands were joined on again and restored whole. +At Gethsemane she was put into a tomb, but her Son transferred her to +the divine habitation. + + [Footnote 120: This author here quotes the forged work ascribed + to Dionysius the Areopagite, to which we have before referred.] + + [Footnote 121: This tradition seems to have been much referred + to at a time just preceding our Reformation. In a volume called + "The Hours of the most blessed Mary, according to the legitimate + rite of the Church of Salisbury," printed in Paris in 1526, from + which we have made many extracts in the second part of this + work, the frontispiece gives an exact representation of the + story at the moment of the Jew's hands being cut off. They are + severed at the wrist, and are lying on the coffin, on which his + arms also are resting. In the sky the Virgin appears between the + Father and the Son, the Holy Dove being seen above her. The same + print occurs also in another part of the volume.] + +Nicephorus then refers to Juvenal, Archbishop of Jerusalem, as the +authority on which the tradition was received, that the Apostles opened +the coffin to enable St. Thomas (the one stated to have been absent) to +embrace the body; and then he proceeds to describe the personal +appearance of the Virgin. [Vol. i. p. 171.] + +I am unwilling to trespass upon the patience of my readers by any +comment upon such evidence as this. Is it within the verge of +credibility that had such an event as Mary's assumption taken place +under the extraordinary circumstances which now invest the tradition, or +under any circumstances whatever, there would have been a total silence +respecting it in the Holy Scriptures? {317} That the writers of the +first four centuries should never have referred to such a fact? That the +first writer who alludes to it, should have lived in the middle of the +fifth century, or later; and that he should have declared in a letter to +his contemporaries that the subject was one on which many doubted; and +that he himself would not deny it, not because it rested upon probable +evidence, but because nothing was impossible with God; and that nothing +was known as to the time, the manner, or the persons concerned, even had +the assumption taken place? Can we place any confidence in the relation +of a writer in the middle of the sixth century, as to a tradition of +what an archbishop of Jerusalem attending the council of Chalcedon, had +told the sovereigns at Constantinople of a tradition, as to what was +said to have happened nearly four hundred years before, whilst in the +"Acts" of that Council, not the faintest trace is found of any allusion +to the supposed fact or the alleged tradition, though the transactions +of that Council in many of its most minute circumstances are recorded, +and though the discussions of that Council brought the name and +circumstances of the Virgin Mary continually before the minds of all who +attended it? + +This, however, is a point of too great importance to be dismissed +summarily; and seems to require us to examine, however briefly, into the +circumstances of that Council. {318} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, EPHESUS, AND THE GENERAL +COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON + + +The legend on which the doctrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is +founded professes to trace the tradition to Juvenal, Archbishop of +Jerusalem, when he was sojourning in Constantinople for the purpose of +attending the General Council of Chalcedon. To the Emperor and Empress, +who presided at that council, Juvenal is said to have communicated the +tradition, as received in Palestine, of the miraculous taking up of +Mary's body into heaven. This circumstance seems, as we have already +intimated, of itself, to require us to examine the records of that +Council, with the view of ascertaining whether any traces may be found +confirmatory of the tradition, or otherwise; and since that Council +cannot be regarded as an insulated assembly, but as a continuation +rather or resumption of the preceding minor Councils of Constantinople +and Ephesus, we must briefly refer to the occasion and nature generally +of that succession of Christian synods. I am not aware that in the +previous Councils any thing had transpired {319} which could be brought +as evidence on the subject of our inquiry. The questions which had +disturbed the peace of Christendom, and which were agitated in these +Councils, inseparable from a repeated mention of the Virgin Mary's name, +afforded an opportunity at every turn for an expression of the +sentiments of those who composed the Councils, and of all connected with +them, including the Bishop of Rome himself, towards her. It would be +altogether foreign from the purpose of this address to enter in any way +at large upon the character and history of those or the preceding +Councils, yet a few words seem necessary, to enable us to judge of the +nature and weight of the evidence borne by them on the question +immediately before us. + +The source of all the disputes which then rent the Church of HIM who had +bequeathed peace as his last and best gift to his followers, was the +anxiety to define and explain the nature of the great Christian mystery, +the Incarnation of the Son of God; a point on which it were well for all +Christians to follow only so far as the Holy Scriptures lead them by the +hand. All parties appealed to the Nicene Council; though there seems to +have been, to say the least, much misunderstanding and unnecessary +violence and party spirit on all sides. The celebrated Eutyches of +Constantinople was charged with having espoused heterodox doctrine, by +maintaining that in Christ was only one nature, the incarnate Word. On +this charge he was accused before a Council held at Constantinople in +A.D. 448. His doctrine was considered to involve a denial of the human +nature of the Son of God. The Council condemned him of heresy, deposed, +and excommunicated him. From this proceeding Eutyches appealed to a +General Council. A council (the authority of which, however, {320} has +been solemnly, but with what adequate reason we need not stop to +examine, repudiated), was convened at Ephesus in the following year, by +the Emperor Theodosius. The proceedings of this assembly were +accompanied by lamentable unfairness and violence. Eutyches was +acquitted, and restored by this council[122]; and his accusers were +condemned and persecuted; Flavianus, Archbishop of Constantinople, who +had summoned the preceding council, being even scourged and exiled. In +his distress that patriarch sought the good offices of Leo, Bishop of +Rome, who espoused his cause, but who failed nevertheless of inducing +Theodosius to convene a General Council. His successor Marcian, however, +consented; and in the year 451 the Council of Chalcedon was convened, +first meeting at Nice, and by adjournment being removed to Chalcedon. In +this council all the proceedings as well of the Council of +Constantinople as of Ephesus, were rehearsed at length; and from a close +examination of the proceedings of those three councils, only one +inference seems deducible, namely, that the invocation and worship of +saints and of the Virgin Mary had not then obtained that place in the +Christian {321} Church, which the Church of Rome now assigns to it; a +place, however, which the Church of England, among other branches of the +Catholic Church, maintains that it has usurped, and cannot, without a +sacrifice of the only sound principle of religious worship, be suffered +to retain. + + [Footnote 122: The sentiments of Eutyches, even as they are + recorded by the party who charged him with heresy, seem to imply + so much of soundness in his principles, and of moderation in his + maintenance of those principles, that one must feel sorrow on + finding such a man maintaining error at any time. The following + is among the records of transactions rehearsed at Chalcedon: + "He, Eutyches, professed that he followed the expositions of the + holy and blessed Fathers who formed the Councils of Nicaea and + Ephesus, and was ready to subscribe to them. But if any where it + might chance, as he said, that our fathers were deceived and led + astray, that as for himself he neither accepted nor accused + those things, but he only on such points investigated the divine + Scriptures as more to be depended upon [Greek: os + bebaioteras]."] + +The grand question then agitated with too much asperity, and too little +charity, was, whether by the incarnation our blessed Saviour became +possessed of two natures, the divine and human. Subordinate to this, and +necessary for its decision, was involved the question, What part of his +nature, if any, Christ derived from the Virgin Mary? Again and again +does this question bring the name, the office, the circumstances, and +the nature of that holy and blessed mother of our Lord before these +Councils. The name of Mary is continually in the mouth of the accusers, +the accused, the judges, and the witnesses; and had Christian pastors +then entertained the same feelings of devotion towards her; had they +professed the same belief as to her assumption into heaven, and her +influence and authority in directing the destinies of man, and in +protecting the Church on earth; had they habitually appealed to her with +the same prayers for her intercession and good offices, and placed the +same confidence in her as we find now exhibited in the authorized +services of the Roman Ritual, it is impossible to conceive that no +signs, no intimation of such views and feelings, would, either directly +or incidentally, have shown themselves, somewhere or other, among the +manifold and protracted proceedings of these Councils. I have searched +diligently, but I can find no expression as to her nature and office, or +as to our feelings and conduct towards Mary, in which, as a {322} +Catholic of the Anglican Church, I should not heartily acquiesce. I can +find no sentiment implying invocation, or religious worship of any kind, +or in any degree; I find no allusion to her Assumption. + +Pope Leo, who is frequently in these documents [Vol. v. p. 1418.] called +Archbishop of Rome, in a letter to Julianus, Bishop of Cos, speaks of +Christ as born of "A Virgin," "The blessed Virgin," "The pure, undefiled +Virgin;" and in a letter to the empress Pulcheria, he calls Mary simply +"The Virgin Mary." In his celebrated letter to Flavianus, not one iota +of which (according to the decree of the Roman council under Pope +Gelasius) was to be questioned by any man on pain of incurring an +anathema, Pope Leo says that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost in +the womb of the Virgin Mary his mother, who brought him forth with the +same virgin purity as she had conceived him. Flavianus, Archbishop of +Constantinople, in his Declaration of faith to the Emperor Theodosius, +affirms, that Christ was born "of Mary, the Virgin--of the same +substance with the Father according to his Godhead--of the same +substance with his mother according to his manhood." [Vol. vi. p. 539.] +He speaks of her afterwards as "The holy Virgin." + +There is, indeed, one word used in a quotation from Cyril of Alexandria, +and adopted in these transactions, which requires a few words of +especial observation. The word is _theotocos_[123], which the Latins +were accustomed {323} to transfer into their works, substituting only +Roman instead of Greek characters, but which afterwards the authors of +the Church of Rome translated by Deipara, and in more recent ages by Dei +Mater, Dei Genetrix, Creatoris Genetrix, &c. employing those terms not +in explanation of the twofold nature of Christ's person, as was the case +in these Councils, but in exaltation of Mary, his Virgin mother. This +word was adopted by Christians in much earlier times than the Council of +Chalcedon; but it was employed only to express more strongly the +Catholic belief in the union of the divine and human nature in Him who +was Son both of God and man; and by no means for the purpose of raising +Mary into an object of religious adoration. The sense in which it was +used was explained in the seventh Act of the Council of Constantinople, +(repeated at Chalcedon) as given by Cyril of Alexandria. "According to +this sense of an unconfused union, we confess the holy Virgin to be +theotocos, because that God the Word was made flesh, and became man, and +from that very conception united with himself the temple received from +her." + + [Footnote 123: [Greek: Theotokos]. To those who would depend + upon this word _theotocos_ as a proof of the exalted honour in + which the early Christians held the Virgin, and not as + indicative of an anxiety to preserve whole and entire the + doctrine of the union of perfect God and perfect man in Christ, + deriving his manhood through her, I would suggest the necessity + of weighing well that argument with this fact before them; that + to the Apostle James, called in Scripture the Lord's brother, + was assigned the name of Adelphotheos, or God's brother. This + name was given to James, not to exalt him above his + fellow-apostles, but to declare the faith of those who gave it + him in the union of the divine and human nature of Christ.--See + Joan. Damascenus, Hom. ii. c. 18. In Dormit. Virg. vol. ii. p. + 881. Le Quien, Paris, 1712. The Latin translation renders it + Domini frater.] + +Nothing in our present inquiry turns upon the real {324} meaning of that +word _theotocos_. Some who have been among the brightest ornaments of +the Anglican Church have adopted the translation "mother of God," whilst +many others among us believe that the original sense would be more +correctly conveyed by the expression "mother of Him who was God." + +I am induced here to lay side by side, with the second Article of our +Anglican Church, the Confession of Faith from Cyril, first recited at +Constantinople, then repeated at Ephesus, and afterwards again rehearsed +at Chalcedon; in its last clause the expression occurs which gave rise +to these remarks. + + _Ancient Confession._ + + We confess that our Lord Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten + Son of God, perfect God and perfect man, from a reasonable soul + and body, begotten from everlasting of the Father according to + his Godhead, and in these last days, He the same for us and for + our salvation [was born] of Mary, the Virgin, according to his + manhood--of the same substance with the Father according to his + Godhead, of the same substance with us according to his manhood. + For of two natures there became an union. Wherefore we confess + one Christ, one Lord. According to this sense of the unconfused + union, we confess the holy Virgin to be theotocos, because that + God the Word was made flesh, and became man, and from that very + conception united with himself the temple received from her. + + [Vol. vi. p. 736.] + + _Second Article of Anglican Church._ + + The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from + everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one + substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the + blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect + natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined + together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one + Christ, very God, and very man; who truly suffered, was + crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and + to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for + actual sins of men. {325} + +But there are other points in the course of these important proceedings +to which I would solicit your especial attention, with the view of +comparing the sentiments of the Bishop of Rome at that day, and also the +expressions employed by other Chief Pastors of Christ's flock, with the +language of the appointed authorized services of the Roman Church now, +and the sentiments of her reigning Pontiff, and of his accredited +ministers. + +The circumstances of the Church Catholic, as represented in Leo's letter +in the fifth century, and the circumstances of the Church of Rome, as +lamented by the present Pope in 1832[124], are in many respects very +similar. The end desired by Leo and Flavianus, his brother pastor and +contemporary, Bishop of Constantinople, and by Gregory, now Bishop of +Rome, is one and the same, namely, the suppression of heresy, the +prevalence of the truth, and the unity of the Christian Church. But how +widely and how strikingly different are the foundations on which they +respectively build their hopes for the attainment of that end! + + [Footnote 124: "The encyclical letter of our most holy Father, + Pope Gregory, by divine providence, the sixteenth of that name, + to all patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops."] + +The present Roman Pontiff's hopes, and desires, and exhortations are +thus expressed[125]:-- + + [Footnote 125: This is the translation circulated in the Roman + Catholic Annual, p. 15, called, The Laity's Directory for the + year 1833; on the title page of which is this notice: "The + Directory for the Church Service, printed by Messrs. Keating and + Brown, is the only one which is published with the authority of + the Vicars Apostolic in England.--London, Nov. 12, 1829." Signed + "James, Bishop of Usula, Vic. Ap. Lond."] + +"That all may have a successful and happy issue, let us raise our eyes +to the most blessed Virgin Mary, {326} WHO ALONE DESTROYS HERESIES, who +is our GREATEST HOPE, yea, the ENTIRE GROUND OF OUR HOPE[126]. May she +exert her patronage to draw down an efficacious blessing on our desires, +our plans, and proceedings in the present straitened condition of the +Lord's flock. We will also implore, in humble prayer, from Peter, the +prince of the Apostles, and from his fellow-Apostle Paul, that you may +all stand as a wall to prevent any other foundation than what hath been +laid; and supported by this cheering hope, we have confidence that the +author and finisher of faith, Jesus Christ, will at last console us all +in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly." + + [Footnote 126: On this word there is a note of reference to S. + Bern. Serm. de Nat. B.M.V. 7.] + +"To you, venerable brethren, and the flocks committed to your care, we +most lovingly impart, as auspicious of celestial help, the Apostolic +Benediction. Given at Rome from St. Mary Major's, August 15th, the +Festival of the Assumption of the same blessed Virgin Mary, the year of +our Lord 1832, of our Pontificate the Second." + +How deplorable a change, how melancholy a degeneracy is here evinced +from the faith, and hopes, and sentiments of Christian bishops in days +of old! In the expressed hopes of Leo and Flavianus, you will seek in +vain for any reference or allusion "to the blessed Virgin Mary, as the +destroyer of heresies, the greatest hope, the entire ground of a +Christian's hope;" you will in vain seek for any exhortation for the +faithful "to raise their eyes to her in order to obtain a merciful and +happy issue." Equally vain would be your search for any "imploring in +humble prayer," of Peter and Paul, or any even distant allusion to help +from them. {327} To God and God alone are the faithful exhorted to pray; +on God and God alone do those Christians express that their hopes rely; +God alone they regard as the destroyer of heresy, the restorer of peace, +and the protector of the Church's unity. "Their greatest hope, yea, the +entire ground of their hope," the Being to be "implored in humble +prayer," is not Mary, nor Peter, nor Paul, but God alone, the Creator, +the Redeemer, the Sanctifier of Mary, and of Peter, and of Paul. + +Thus Flavian writing to Leo says, "Wherefore (in consequence of those +errors, and heresies, and distractions, which he had deplored) we must +be sober and watch unto prayer, and draw nigh to God." [Vol. v. 1330.] +And again, "Thus will the heresy which has arisen, and the consequent +commotion, be easily destroyed by your holy letters with the assistance +of God." [Vol. v. 1355.] Thus Leo in his turn writing to Julian, Bishop +of Cos, utters this truly Christian sentiment. "May the mercy of God, as +we trust, grant that without the loss of any soul, against the darts of +the devil the sound parts may be entirely preserved, and the wounded +parts may be healed. May God preserve you safe and sound, most honoured +brother!" [Vol. v. 1423.] Thus the same Bishop of Rome writing to +Flavian, expresses his hopes in these words: "Confidently trusting that +the help of God will be present, so that one who has been misled, +condemning the vanity of his own thoughts, may be saved. May God +preserve you in health and strength, most beloved brother!" [Vol. v. +1390.] + +I will detain you by only one more reference to these most interesting +documents. The whole Council of Chalcedon, at the conclusion of all, and +when the {328} triumph was considered to have been secured over +Eutyches, and their gratitude was expressed that the heresies had been +destroyed--instead of referring to Mary as the "sole destroyer of +heresies," shout, as if with the voice of one man, from every side, "It +is God alone who hath done this!" [Vol. vii. p. 174.] Neither +antecedently did their chief pastors exhort them to raise their eyes to +Mary, and promise to "implore" the blessing they needed, "in humble +prayer from Peter and Paul." Neither "in the straitened condition of the +Lord's flock" did they invoke any other than God. And when truth +prevailed, and the victory was won, whilst they were lavish of their +grateful thanks to the emperor and his queen, who were present and had +succoured them; of help from the invisible world they make no mention, +save only of the Lord's; they had implored neither angel, nor saints, +nor Virgin to be their protector and patron; no angel, nor saint, nor +virgin, shared their praises;--God alone was exalted in that day. + +And, let not the answer, ever at hand when reference is thus made to the +prayers or professions of individuals, whether popes or canonized +saints, seduce any now from a pursuit of the very truth. These, it is +said, "are the prayers and professions of individuals, it is unfair then +to make the Church responsible for them; we appeal from them to the +Church." But in this case the words of the Sovereign Pontiff are in good +faith the words of the Church of Rome; not because I at all would +identify the words of a Pope with the Church, but because the prayers of +the Church of Rome in her authorized solemn services and acts of worship +justify {329} Pope Gregory in every sentiment he utters, and every +expression he employs. Does Gregory bid the faithful lift up their eyes +to Mary the sole destroyer of heresies? The Roman ritual in the Lesser +Office of the holy Virgin thus addresses her, "Rejoice, O Mary Virgin; +thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world:" And again: +"Under thy protection we take refuge, holy parent of God; despise not +thou our prayers in our necessities, but from all dangers ever deliver +us, O glorious and blessed Virgin." Does Gregory assure the faithful +that he will implore in humble prayer of Peter and Paul? in doing so he +is only treading in the very footsteps of the Roman Church itself. In an +address, which we have already quoted (see p. 262), Peter is thus +invoked. "Now O good shepherd, merciful Peter, accept the prayers of us +who supplicate, and loose the bands of our sins, by the power committed +to thee, by which thou shuttest heaven against all by a word, and +openest it." + +These things are now; but from the beginning it was not so. {330} + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SECTION I.--PRESENT WORSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN THE AUTHORIZED AND +ENJOINED SERVICES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. + + +When from examining the evidence of antiquity we turn to the present +enjoined services of the Church of Rome, it is impossible not to be +struck by the fact repeatedly forced upon our notice, that whereas the +invocation of the Virgin seems to have been introduced at a period much +later than those addresses to the martyrs which have already invited our +attention, her worship now assumes so much higher a place, and claims so +large a share in the public worship of the Roman Catholic portions of +Christendom above martyrs, saints, and angels. The offices of the Virgin +present instances of all those various and progressive stages of divine +worship, which we have already exemplified in the case of the martyrs, +from the first primitive and Christian practice of making the +anniversary of the Saint a day either of especial praise and prayer to +God for the mercies of redemption generally, or of returning thanks to +God for the graces manifested in his holy servants now in peace, with +prayers for light and strength to enable the worshippers to follow them, +as they followed Christ--down to the last and worst stage, the +consummation {331} of all, namely, prayer directly to saints and angels +for protection, succour, and spiritual benefits at their hands. + +I. Of the first class is the following collect, retained almost word for +word in our Anglican service. + +_On the day of the Purification._ + +"Almighty and everlasting God, we humbly beseech thy majesty, that as +thy only begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance +of our flesh, so Thou wouldest cause us to be presented unto Thee with +purified minds. Through the same." + +(Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, majestatem tuam supplices exoramus, ut +sicut unigenitus Filius tuus hodierna die cum nostrae carnis substantia +est praesentatus, ita nos facias purificatis tibi mentibus praesentari. +Per eundem Dominum.--H. 536.) + +Such a prayer is founded on the facts of revelation, and is primitive, +catholic, apostolic, and evangelical. + +II. Of the second progressive stage towards the adoration of the saints, +the offices of the Virgin supply us with various instances; the case, +namely, of the Christian orator being led by the flow of his eloquence +to apostrophize the spirit of the Saint, and address him as though he +were present, witnessing the celebration of his day, hearing the +panegyrics uttered for his honour, and partaking with the congregation +in their religious acts of worship. + +"O holy and spotless virginhood; with what praises to extol thee I know +not: because Him, whom the heavens could not contain, thou didst bear in +thy bosom. {332} Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit +of thy womb. Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst carry the Lord, +the Creator of the world. Thou didst give birth to Him who made thee, +and remainest a virgin for ever. [Beata es Virgo Maria, quae Dominum +portasti Creatorem mundi: genuisti qui te fecit, et in aeternum permanes +virgo.--Vern. clxii.] Hail, holy parent, who didst in child-birth bring +forth the King who ruleth heaven and earth for ever and ever. Amen." +[Salve sacra parens enixa puerpera regem, qui coelum terramque regit in +saecula saeculorum. Amen.--Introit. at the mass on the Nativity of the +Virgin.] + +In apostrophes like these, the members of the Anglican Church see +nothing in itself harmful, so long as they are kept within due bounds. +Many of the passages cited from the ancient writers in proof of their +having espoused the doctrine, and exemplified in themselves the practice +of invoking saints, are nothing more than these glowing addresses. They +have been responded to by one of the brightest ornaments, and sweetest +minstrels of the Anglican Church, whose apostrophe at the same time by +its own words would guard us against the abuses and excesses in which in +the Roman Catholic Church this practice, followed without restraint and +indulged in with less and less of caution and soberness, unhappily +ended; abuses against which also we cannot ourselves now be too +constantly and carefully on our guard. + + "Ave Maria! Blessed maid, + Lily of Eden's fragrant shade, + Who can express the love, + That nurtured thee so pure and sweet; + Making thy heart a shelter meet + For Jesus' holy Dove? {333} + Ave Maria! mother blest, + To whom, caressing and caress'd, + Clings the Eternal Child! + Favour'd beyond archangel's dream, + When first on thee with tenderest gleam + The newborn Saviour smiled. + Ave Maria! thou whose name, + ALL BUT ADORING love may claim, + Yet may we reach thy shrine; + For HE, thy Son and Saviour, vows, + To crown all lowly lofty brows + With love and joy like thine. + Bless'd is the womb that bare Him,--bless'd + The bosom where his lips were press'd; + But rather bless'd are they + Who hear his word and keep it well, + The living homes where Christ shall dwell, + And never pass away." + + J. Keble's Christian Year. "The Annunciation." + +Would that no branch of the Church Catholic had ever passed the boundary +line drawn here so exquisitely by this Anglican Catholic, from whose +lips or pen no syllable could ever fall in disparagement of the holy +Virgin, as blessed among women, and the holy mother of our Lord. To +bring about the re-union of Christians would in that case have been a +far more hopeful task than it is now. + +III. In the third stage, a prayer was offered to God, that He would +permit the intercessions of the saints to help us; or the prayer +contained the expression of a wish,--a desire not addressed either to +God or to the saint, merely words expressive of the hope of the +individual. The following are some of the many instances now contained +in the Roman Breviary: {334} + +"May the Virgin of virgins herself intercede for us to the Lord. Amen." +[Ipsa Virgo virginum intercedat pro nobis ad Dominum. Amen.--Vern. +cxlviii.] + +In the Post-communion, on the day of the Assumption, this prayer is +offered:--"Partakers of the heavenly table, we implore thy clemency, O +Lord our God, that we who celebrate the Assumption of the mother of God, +may, by her intercession, be freed from all impending evils. Through," +&c. [Mensae coelestis participes effecti imploramus clementiam tuam, +Domine Deus noster, ut qui Assumptionem Dei Genetricis colimus, a +cunctis malis imminentibus ejus intercessione liberemur. Per.--Miss. +Rom.] + +"We beseech Thee, O Lord, let the glorious intercession of the blessed +and glorious ever Virgin Mary protect us and bring us to life eternal." +[Beatae et gloriosae semper Virginia Mariae, quaesumus, Domine, intercessio +gloriosa nos protegat, et ad vitam producat aeternam.--Vern. clv.] + +"Pardon, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the offences of thy servants, that we, +who cannot please Thee of our own act, may be saved by the intercession +of the mother of thy Son, our Lord, who liveth with Thee." [Famulorum +tuorum quaesumus, Domine, delictis ignosce, ut qui tibi placere de +nostris actibus non valemus, Genetricis Filii tui, Domini nostri, +intercessione salvemur, qui tecum vivit.--Vern. clxix.] + +On the vigil of the Epiphany, this prayer is offered in the +Post-communion at the mass,--"Let this communion, O Lord, purge us from +guilt, and by the intercession of the blessed Virgin, mother of God, let +it make us partakers of the heavenly cure. Through the same." [Haec nos +communio, Domine, purget a crimine, et intercedente beata Virgine Dei +genetrice coelestis remedii faciat esse consortes. Per eundem.--Miss. +Rom.] + +"Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we thy {335} servants may +enjoy perpetual health of body and mind, and be freed from present +sorrow, and enjoy eternal gladness, by the glorious intercession of the +blessed Mary, ever Virgin. Through." [Concede nos famulos tuos, +quaesumus, Domine Deus, perpetua mentis et corporis sanitate gaudere, et +gloriosa beatae Mariae semper Virginis intercessione a praesenti liberari +tristitia, et aeterna perfrui laetitia. Per Dominum.--Vern. cxlvi.] + +On the second Sunday after Easter, we find a further and more sad +departure from the simplicity of Christian worship, in which the Church +of Rome declares that the offerings made to God at the Lord's Supper +were made for the honour of the Virgin.--"Having received, O Lord, the +helps of our salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that by the patronage of +Mary, ever Virgin, we may be every where protected; in veneration of +whom we make these offerings to thy Majesty." [Sumptis, Domine, salutis +nostrae subsidiis, da, quaesumus, beatae Mariae semper Virginis patrociniis +ubique protegi, _in cujus veneratione_ haec tuae obtulimus +Majestati.--Post Commun. Mis. Rom.] + +On the octave of Easter, at the celebration of mass, in the Secret, the +intercession of the Virgin is made to appear as essential a cause of our +peace and blessedness as the propitiation of Christ; or rather, the two +are represented as joint concurrent causes; as though the office of the +Saviour was confined to propitiation, exclusive altogether of +intercession, whilst the office of intercession was assigned to the +Virgin.--"By thy propitiation, O Lord, and by the intercession of the +blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may this offering be profitable to us for +perpetual and present prosperity and peace." [Tua, Domine, propitiatione +et beatae Marisae semper Virginis intercessione ad perpetuam atque +prsesentem haec oblatio nobis profecerit prosperitatem et pacem.] {336} + +IV. A fourth station in this lamentable progress was evidenced when +Christians at the tombs of martyrs implored, yet still in prayer to God, +that He would, for the sake of the martyrs, and by their merits and good +offices, grant to the petitioner some benefit temporal or spiritual. Of +that practice, we have an example in this prayer: "O God, who didst +deign to choose the blessed Virgin's womb in which to dwell, vouchsafe, +we beseech thee, to make us, defended by her protection, to take +pleasure in her commemoration." [Deus qui virginalem aulam beatae Mariae +in qua habitares eligerere dignatus es, da, quaesumus, ut sua nos +defensione munitos jucundos facias suae interesse commemorationi.--AEst. +clvi.] + +"By the Virgin mother, may the Lord grant us health and peace. Amen." +[Per Virginem Matrem concedat nobis Dominus salutem et pacem. +Amen.--Vern. cxliii.] + +"By the prayers and merits of the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, and of all +saints, may the Lord bring us to the kingdom of heaven." [Precibus et +meritis beatae Mariae Virginis et omnium sanctorum perducat nos Dominus ad +regna coelorum.--Vern. cxlvii.] + +"May the Virgin Mary bless us, together with a pious offspring." [Nos +cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria.--Vern. cxlvii.] + +V. The fifth grade involves a still more melancholy departure from +Christian truth and primitive simplicity, when the prayer is no longer +addressed to God, but is offered to the Virgin, imploring her to +intercede with God for the supplicants, yet still asking nothing but her +prayers. + +"Blessed mother, Virgin undefiled, glorious Queen of the world, +intercede for us with the Lord." [Beata Mater, et intacta Virgo, +gloriosa regina mundi, intercede pro nobis ad Dominum.--Aut. cxliv.] +{337} + +"Blessed mother of God, Mary, perpetual Virgin, the temple of the Lord, +the holy place of the holy Spirit, thou alone without example hast +pleased our Lord Jesus Christ: Pray for the people, mediate for the +clergy, intercede for the female sex who are under a vow." [Beata Dei +Genitrix, Maria Virgo perpetua, templum Domini, sacrarium Spiritus +Sancti, sola sine exemplo placuisti Domino nostro Jesu Christo; ora pro +populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu.--Vern. +clxiii.] + + "Holy Mary, pray for us! + Holy mother of God, pray for us! + Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us!" + +In the form of prayer called Litaniae Lauretanae, between the most solemn +addresses to the ever blessed Trinity, and to the Lamb of God that +taketh away the sins of the world, are inserted more than forty +addresses to the Virgin, invoking her under as many varieties of title. +She is appealed to as--The Mirror of Justice, The Cause of our Joy, The +mystical Rose, The Tower of David, The Tower of Ivory, The House of +Gold, The Arc of the Covenant, The Gate of Heaven, The Refuge of +Sinners, The Queen of Angels, the Queen of all Saints. [Vern. ccxxxix.] + +In examining the case of the invocation of saints, we placed under this +head, as the safer course, a kind of invocation which seemed to +vacillate between this appeal to them merely for intercession, and the +last consummation of all, direct prayer to them for blessings. We +exemplified it by the hymn to St. Stephen. The following seems very much +of the same character, addressed to the Virgin:-- + + "Hail, O Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, sweetness, and hope, + Hail! To thee we cry, banished sons {338} of Eve. To thee we + sigh, groaning and weeping in this valley of tears. Come then, + our Advocate, turn those compassionate eyes of thine on us, and + after this exile show to us Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy + womb. O merciful! O pious! O sweet Virgin Mary! [Salve, Regina, + Mater Misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te + clamamus exules filii Evae. Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes + in hac lachrymarum valle. Eja ergo Advocata nostra, illos tuos + misericordes oculos ad nos converte, et Jesum benedictum fructum + ventris tui nobis post hoc exilium ostende. O clemens! O pia! O + dulcis Virgo Maria!] + + "Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy + of the promises of Christ." [Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix, + ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.--AEst. 151.] + +VI. Unhappily, in the appointed religious services of the Roman ritual, +we have too many examples of prayer for benefits spiritual and temporal, +addressed directly to the Virgin. It is in vain to say that all that is +meant is to ask her intercession; the people will not, cannot, do not, +regard it in that light. It is affirmed that when the Church of Rome +guides and directs her sons and daughters to pray for specific benefits +at the hands of the Virgin mother, without any mention of her prayers, +without specifying that her petitions are all that they ask; yet they +are taught only to ask for her intercession, and are not encouraged to +look for the blessings as her gift and at her hands. But, can this be +right and safe? In an act of all human acts the most solemn and holy, +can recourse be had to such refinements without great danger? + +Among many others of a similar kind this invocation frequently recurs, +"Deem me worthy to praise thee, {339} O sacred Virgin; give to me +strength against thy enemies." [Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata. Da +mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos.--AEst. clvi.] + +The following seems to be among the most favourite addresses to the +Virgin:--"Hail, Star of the Sea, kind Mother of God, and ever Virgin! +Happy Gate of Heaven, taking that 'Hail!' from the mouth of Gabriel, +establish us in peace,--changing the name of Eve. For the guilty, loose +their bonds; bring forth light for the blind; drive away our evils; +demand for us all good things. SHOW THAT THOU ART A MOTHER. Let Him who +endured for us to be thy Son, through thee receive our prayers. O +excellent Virgin, meek among all, us, FREED FROM FAULT, MAKE MEEK AND +CHASTE; make our life pure; prepare a safe journey; that, beholding +Jesus, we may always rejoice. Praise be to God the Father, glory to +Christ most high, and to the Holy Spirit; one honour to the three. +Amen." + + [Ave Man's Stella, + Dei Mater alma, + Atque semper Virgo! + Felix coeli porta, + Sumens illud Ave + Gabrielis ore, + Funda nos in pace, + Mutans Evae nomen. + Solve vincla reis, + Profer lumen caecis, + Mala nostra pelle, + Bona cuncta posce. + MONSTRA TE ESSE MATREM; + Sumat per te preces, + Qui pro nobis natus + Tulit esse tuus. + Virgo singularis, + Inter omnes mitis, + Nos culpa solutos, + Mites fac et castos, + Vitam praesta puram, + Iter para tutum, + Ut videntes Jesum + Semper collaetemur. + + Sit laus Deo Patri, summo Christo decus, + Spiritui Sancto, tribus honor unus. Amen.--AEst. 597. + ] + +In the body of this hymn, there is undoubtedly reference to an +application to be made to the Son, &c.; but can it be fitting that such +language as is here suggested to the Virgin, for her to use, should be +addressed by a {340} mortal to God? can such a call upon her to show her +power and influence over the eternal Son of the eternal Father be +fitting--"Show that thou art a mother?" I confess that against what is +here implied, my understanding and my heart entirely revolt.[127] + + [Footnote 127: At the present day some versions, contrary to the + whole drift and plain sense and meaning of the passage, have + translated it, as though the prayer was, that Mary would, by her + maternal good offices in our behalf, prove to us that she was + our mother. An instance of what I mean occurs in a work called + "Nouveau Recueil de Cantiques," p. 353. + + "Monstra te esse Matrem: Faites voir que vous etes veritablement + notre mere." In an English manual, first printed in 1688, and + then called "The Prince of Wales's Manual," the lines are thus + rendered-- + + Shew us a Mother's care, + To Him convey our prayer, + Who for our sake put on + The title of thy Son. + + I rejoice to see an indication of a feeling of impropriety in + the sentiment in its plain, obvious meaning; still the change is + inadmissible. She is addressed above, in the second line, as the + mother of God; Jesus is immediately mentioned, in the very next + line, and through the entire stanza, as her Son; and the prayer + is, that through her that Being who endured to be her Son would + hear the prayers of the worshippers. + + Since I first prepared this note for the press, I have found a + proof, that the obvious grammatical and logical meaning, "show + thyself to be His mother," is the sense in which it was received + and interpreted before the Reformation. In a work dedicated to + the "Youth of England studious of good morals," and entitled + "Expositio Sequentiarum," the only interpretation given to this + passage is thus expressed: "Show thyself to be a MOTHER, namely + BY APPEASING THY SON, and let thy Son take our prayers through + thee, who (namely, the Son born of the Virgin Mary,) for us + miserable sinners endured to be thy Son." "Monstra te esse + MATREM (sc.) placando TILIUM TUUM, et filius tuus sumat precem, + id est, deprecationes nostras per te qui (sc.) filius natus ex + Virgine Maria pro nobis (sc.) miseris peccatoribus tulit, id + est, sustinuit esse tuus filius." It must be observed, that this + work was expressly written for the purpose of explaining these + parts of the ritual according to the use of Sarum. It was + printed by the famous W. de Worde, at the sign of the Sun in + Fleet-street, 1508. The passage occurs in p. 33. b. This is by + no means the only book of the kind. I have before me one printed + at Basil, in 1504, and another at Cologne the same year. They + are evidently all drawn from some common source, but are not + reprints all of the same work, for there are in each some + variations. The Cologne edition tells us, that it was the + reprint of a familiar commentary long ago (jamdudum) published + on the hymns. All these join in construing the passage so as to + represent the prayer to the Virgin to be, that she would show + and prove that she was mother by appeasing her Son, and causing + him to hear our prayers. Nor can any other meaning be attached + to the translation of the words as given by Cardinal Du Perron + (Replique a la Rep. du Roy de la G. Bretagne. Paris, 1620, p. + 970). "Et pourtant quand l'Eglise dit a la saincte Vierge, + 'Defends nous de l'ennemy, et nous recoy a l'heure delamort,' + elle n'entend pas prier la Vierge qu'elle nous recoive par sa + propre virtu, mais par impetration de la grace de son Fils, + comme l'Eglise le temoigne en ces mots: 'Monstre que tu es mere, + recoive par toy nos prieres celuy, qui ne pour nous a eu + agreeable d'etre tien!'" This novel interpretation I have not + found in any one book of former days.] {341} + +Another prayer runs thus: "Under thy protection we take refuge, Holy +Mother of God. Despise not our supplications in our necessities; but +from all dangers ever deliver us, O glorious and Blessed Virgin." [Sub +tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genetrix; nostras deprecationes ne +despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, +Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.--AEst. cxlvi.] + +Let us suppose the object of these addresses to be changed; and instead +of the Virgin let us substitute the name of the ever-blessed God and +Father of us all. The very words here addressed to the Virgin are +offered to Him, and spoken of Him in some of the most affecting prayers +and praises recorded in the Bible[128]. + + [Footnote 128: The identity of the prayers offered to the Virgin + with those offered in the Book of inspiration, or in the Roman + Ritual to the Almighty, becomes very striking, if we lay side by + side the authorized language of the Roman Liturgy, and the only + translation of the Scriptures authorized by the Roman Church. + + _Roman Ritual in addressing the _Roman Ritual, or Translation + Virgin_ of the Bible, in addressing + the Almighty_. + + Sub tuum praesidium confugimus. Dominus, firmamentum meum et + refugium meum. Ad te + confugi.--Ps. xvii. 1; cxlii. + 11. + + Nostras deprecationes ne despicias Ne despexeris deprecationem + in necessitatibus. meam.--Ps. liv. 1. + + Sed a periculis cunctis libera nos. Libera, Domine, animam servi + tui ab omnibus periculis + inferni. Hiem. ccvi. + + Libera nos a malo. Orat. Dom. + + A periculo mortis libera nos, + Domine.--Hiem. cciv. + + Tu nos ab hoste protege. Eripe me de inimicis meis, + Domine.--Ps. cxlii. 11. + + Et hora mortis SUSPICE. _Suscipe_, Domine, servum + tuum.--Hiem. ccvi. {342} + ] + +But another hymn in the office of the Virgin, addressed in part to the +blessed Saviour himself, and partly to the Virgin Mary, is still more +revolting to all my feelings with regard to religious worship. The +Redeemer is only asked to remember his mortal birth; no blessing is here +supplicated for at his hands; his protection is not sought; no +deliverance of our souls at the hour of death is implored from Him; +these blessings, and these heavenly benefits, and these divine mercies, +are sought for exclusively at the hands of the Virgin alone. Can such a +mingled prayer, can such a contrast in prayer, be the genuine fruit of +that Gospel which bids us ask for all we need in prayer to God in the +name and for the sake of his blessed Son? + + "Author of our salvation, remember that once, by {343} being + born of a spotless virgin, thou didst take the form of our body! + Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, do thou protect us from + the enemy, and receive us at the hour of death. Glory to thee, O + Lord, who wast born of a Virgin, with the Father and the Holy + Spirit, through eternal ages. Amen[129]." + + [Footnote 129: + + Memento, Salutis Auctor, Tu nos ab hoste protege, + Quod nostri quondam corporis, Et hora mortis suscipe. + Ex illibata Virgine, Gloria tibi, Domine, + Nascendo formam sumpseris. Qui natus es de Virgine, + Maria mater gratiae, Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu, + Mater misericordiae, In sempiterna saecula. Amen. + + In the new version, (referred to in page 260 of the present + work,) this hymn stands thus:-- + + Memento, rerum Conctitor, Maria mater gratiae, + Nostri quod olim corporis, Dulcis parens clementiae, + Sacrata ab alvo Virginis, Tu nos ab hoste protege, + Nascendo forrnam sumpseris. In mortis hora suscipe, &c. + + AEst. clv.] + +Could the beloved John, to whose kind and tender care our blessed Lord +gave his mother of especial trust, have offered to her such a prayer as +this? To God alone surely would he have prayed for deliverance from all +evil and mischief. To God alone would he have prayed:--"In the hour of +death, good Lord, deliver us, and all for Jesus Christ's sake, our only +Saviour and Mediator." + +To one other example of the practice of the Church of Rome I must refer. +The rubric in our Book of Common Prayer directs that "at the end of +every Psalm throughout the year, shall be repeated, Glory be to the +Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: As it was in the +beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." In the +Roman Breviary also we find this rubric: "This verse, _Gloria_, is +always said in the end of all psalms, EXCEPT IT BE OTHERWISE {344} +NOTED." [AEst. 3.] Such notifications occur at the end of various psalms. +On the Feast of the Assumption [AEst. 595.], fourteen psalms are +appointed to be used. At the close of every one of these psalms, without +however any note that the Gloria is not to be said, there is appended an +anthem to the Virgin. In some cases, so intimately is the anthem +interwoven with the closing words of the psalm, as that under other +circumstances it would induce us to infer that the Gloria was intended +to be left out, especially as in the Parvum Officium of the Virgin [AEst. +clv.], though to the various psalms anthems in the same manner have been +annexed, yet the words "Gloria Patri et Filio" are inserted in each case +between the psalm and the anthem. Be this as it may, the annexation of +the anthem has a lamentable tendency to withdraw the thoughts of the +worshippers from the truths contained in the inspired psalm, and to fix +them upon Mary and her Assumption; changing the Church's address from +the Eternal Being, alone invoked by the Psalmist, to one, who though a +virgin blessed among women, is a creature of God's hand. Thus, at the +conclusion of the 8th psalm; "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy +name in all the world," we find immediately annexed these two anthems, +"The holy mother of God is exalted above the choirs of angels to the +heavenly realms. The gates of paradise are opened to us by thee, [by +thee, O Virgin [Quae gloriosa]] who glorious triumphest with the angels." +Thus again, an anthem is attached to the last verse of the 95th (in the +Hebrew and English versions the 96th). "He shall judge the earth in +equity, and the people with his truth. Rejoice, {345} O Virgin Mary; +thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world. Deem me +worthy to praise thee, hallowed Virgin: Give me strength against thy +enemies." To the 96th (97th), the latter clause of that address is +repeated, with the addition of the following: "After the birth thou +didst remain a virgin inviolate. Mother of God, intercede for us." + +An instance of the anthem being so intimately interwoven with the psalm, +as to render the insertion of the "Gloria," between the two, to say the +least, forced and unnatural, occurs at the close of the 86th (87th) +psalm. The vulgate translation of the last verse, differing entirely +from the English, is this: "As the habitation of all who rejoice is in +thee." This sentence of the Psalmist is thus taken up in the Roman +Ritual: "As the habitation of all us who rejoice is in THEE, Holy Mother +of God." + +The object proposed by the Church from of old in concluding each psalm +by an ascription of glory to the eternal Trinity, was to lead the +worshipper to apply the sentiments of the psalm to the work of our +salvation accomplished by the three Persons of the Godhead. The +analogous end of these anthems in the present service of the Church of +Rome is to fix the thoughts of the worshipper upon Mary. This practice +unhappily sanctions the excesses into which Bonaventura and others have +run in their departures from the purity and integrity of primitive +worship. + +Cardinal du Perron informs us, that at the altar in the office of the +mass, prayer is not made directly to any saint, but only obliquely, the +address being always made to God. But if prayers are offered in other +parts of the service directly to them, it is difficult to see what is +gained by that announcement. Surely it is trifling {346} to make such +immaterial distinctions. If as a priest I could address the following +prayer to the Virgin in preparing for offering mass, why should I not +offer a prayer to the same being during its celebration? + +"O mother of pity and mercy, blessed Virgin Mary, I a miserable and +unworthy sinner, flee to thee with my whole heart and affection, and I +pray thy most sweet pity, that as thou didst stand by thy most sweet Son +hanging upon the cross, so thou wouldest vouchsafe mercifully to stand +by me a miserable priest, and by all priests who here and in all the +holy Church offer Him this day, that, aided by thy grace, we may be +enabled to offer a worthy and acceptable victim in the sight of the most +high and undivided Trinity. Amen." [O Mater pietatis et misericordiae, +beatissima Virgo Maria, ego miser et indignus peccator ad te confugio +toto corde et affectu. Et precor dulcissimam pietatem tuam, ut sicut +dulcissimo Filio tuo in cruce pendenti astitisti, ita et mihi misero +sacerdoti et sacerdotibus omnibus hic et in tota sancta ecclesia ipsum +hodie offerentibus, clementer assistere digneris, ut tua gratia adjuti +dignam et acceptabilem hostiam in conspectu summae et individuae +Trinitatis offerre valeamus. Amen.--Rom. Brev. Hus. Hiem. p. ccxxxiii.] + +This is called, in the Roman Breviary, "A PRAYER to the blessed Virgin +before the celebration of the mass," and is immediately followed by +another prayer directed to be offered to any saint, male or female, +whose feast is on that day celebrated. "O Holy N. behold I, a miserable +sinner, DERIVING CONFIDENCE FROM THY MERITS, now offer the most holy +sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, FOR THY HONOUR +AND GLORY. I humbly and devotedly pray thee that thou wouldest deign to +intercede for me to-day, that I may be enabled to offer so great a +sacrifice {347} worthily and acceptably, and to praise Him eternally +with thee and with all his elect, and that I may live with Him for +ever." [O sancte N. ecce ego miser peccator de tuis mentis confisus, +offero nunc sacratissimura sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Domini +nostri Jesu Christ! PRO TUO HONORE ET GLORIA; precor te humiliter et +devote ut pro me hodie intercedere digneris, ut tantum sacrificium digne +et acceptabiliter offerre valeam, ut Eum tecum et cum omnibus electis +ejus aeternaliter laudare et cum eo semper regnare valeam.--Hiem. +ccxxxiii.] + + * * * * * + +Such, Christian brethren, is the result of our inquiries into the real +practice of the Church of Rome with regard to the worship of the Virgin +Mary at the present day, in every part of the world where allegiance to +that Church is acknowledged. Can we wonder that individuals, high in +honour with that Church, have carried out the same worship to far +greater lengths? I have ever present to my mind the principle of fixing +upon the Church of Rome herself that only which is to be found in her +canons, acknowledged decrees, and formularies. And unhappily of that +which directly contravenes the Gospel-rule and primitive practice, far +more than enough is found in her authorized rituals to compel all who +hold to the Gospel and the integrity of primitive times, to withdraw +their assent and consent from her worship. But with this principle +before us, surely common justice and common prudence require that we +should see for ourselves the practical workings of the system. "By their +fruits ye shall know them," is a principle no less sanctioned by the +Gospel than suggested by common sense and experience And, indeed, the +shocking lengths to which priests, bishops, cardinals, and canonized +persons have gone in this particular of the worship of the Virgin, might +well {348} cause every upright and enlightened Roman Catholic to look +anxiously to the foundation; to determine honestly, though with tender +caution and pious care, for himself, whether the corruption be not in +the well-head, whether the stream do not flow impregnated with the +poison from the very fountain itself; whether the prayers authorized and +directed by the Church of Rome to be offered to the Virgin be not in +themselves at variance with the first principles of the Gospel--Faith in +one God, the giver of every good, and in one Mediator and Intercessor +between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, whose blood cleanseth from +all sin: in a word, to see whether all the aberrations of her children +in this department of religious duty have not their prototype in the +laws and ordinances, the rules and injunctions, the example and practice +of their mother herself. + +Indeed I am compelled here to say, that, however revolting to us as +believers in Jesus, and as worshippers of the one true God, are those +extravagant excesses into which the votaries of the Virgin Mary have +run, I have found few of their most unequivocal ascriptions of divine +worship to her, for a justification of which they cannot with reason +appeal to the authorized ritual of the Church of Rome. + +In leaving this point of our inquiry, I would suggest two +considerations: 1st, If it was intended that the invocation of the +Virgin should be exclusively confined to requests, praying her to pray +and intercede by prayer for the petitioners, why should language be +addressed to her which in its plain, obvious, grammatical, and common +sense interpretation conveys the form of direct prayers to her for +benefits believed to be at her disposal? And, 2ndly, If the Church had +{349} intended that her members, when they suppliantly invoked the +Virgin Mary, and had recourse to her aid, should have offered to her +direct and immediate prayers that she would grant temporal and spiritual +benefits, to be dispensed at her own will, and by her own authority and +power, in that case, what words could the Church have put into the mouth +of the petitioners which would more explicitly and unequivocally have +conveyed that idea? + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION II.--WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN, CONTINUED. + + +I have no intention of dwelling at any length on the extraordinary +excesses to which the adoration of the Virgin Mary has been carried in +the Church of Rome, I do not mean by obscure and illiterate or fanatical +individuals, but by her celebrated prelates, doctors, and saints. My +researches have brought to my knowledge such a mass of error and +corruption in the worship of Christians as I never before had any +conception of; and rather than bring it all forward, and exhibit it to +others, I would turn my own eyes from it altogether. Still many reasons +render it absolutely necessary that we should not pass over the subject +entirely in silence. Few in England, I believe, are aware of the real +facts of the case; and it well becomes us to guard ourselves and others +against such melancholy results as would appear to be inseparable from +the invocation and worship of the Virgin. If indeed we could be +justified in regarding such palpable instances of her worship in its +most objectionable form as the {350} marks of former and less +enlightened times, most gladly would I draw a veil over them, and hide +them from our sight for ever. But when I find the solemn addresses of +the present chief authorities in the Church, nay, the epistles of the +present sovereign Pontiff himself, cherishing, countenancing, and +encouraging the selfsame evil departures from primitive truth and +worship, it becomes a matter not of choice, but of necessity, to give +examples at least of the deplorable excesses into which the highest and +most honoured in that communion have been betrayed. On the present +Pope's encyclical letter [A.D. 1840] we have already observed; and in +this place I propose to examine only one more of those many excesses +meeting us on every side, which characterize the public worship of the +Virgin. The instance to which I refer seems to take a sort of middle +station between the authorized enjoined services of the Church of Rome, +and the devotions of individuals and family worship. It partakes on the +one hand far too much of a public character to be considered in the +light of private religious exercises; and on the other it wants that +authority which would rank it among the appointed services of the +Church. The devotional parts of the services are found neither in the +Missals nor the Breviaries, and the adoption and celebration of the +service seems to be left to the option and care of individuals. But the +service is performed in the Churches,--a Priest presides,--the Host is +presented to the adorations of the people,--and a sermon is preached by +an appointed minister. The service to which I am referring is performed +every evening through the entire month of May, and is celebrated +expressly in honour of the Virgin Mary. {351} + +The month of May is dedicated to her, and is called Mary's month. +Temporary altars are raised to her honour, surrounded by flowers and +adorned with garlands and drapery; her image usually standing before the +altar. Societies are formed chiefly for the celebration of the Virgin's +praises, and in some Churches the effect, both to the eye and to the +ear, corresponds with the preparation. One thing only is wanting--the +proper object of worship. I have now before me a book of hymns published +professedly for the religious fraternities in Paris, and used in the +Churches there. [Nouveau Recueil de Cantiques a l'usage des confreries +des Paroisses de Paris. Paris, 1839.] Many of these hymns are addressed +to the Virgin alone; some without any reference to the Son of God and +Man, the only Saviour, and without any allusion to the God of +Christians; indeed, an address to a heathen Goddess more entirely +destitute of Christianity can scarcely be conceived. I copy one hymn +entire. + + "Around the altars of Mary + Let us, her children, press; + To that mother so endeared + Let us address the sweetest prayers. + Let a lively and holy mirth + Animate us in this holy day: + There exists no sadness + For a heart full of her love. + Let us adorn this sanctuary with flowers; + Let us deck her revered altar; + Let us redouble our efforts to please her. + Be this month consecrated to her; + Let the perfume of these crowns + Form a delicious incense, {352} + Which ascending even to her throne + May carry to her both our hearts and our prayers. + Let the holy name of Mary + Be for us a name of salvation! + Let our softened soul + Ever pay to her a sweet tribute of love. + Let us join the choirs of angels + The more to celebrate her beauty; + And may our songs of praise + Resound in eternity. + O holy Virgin! O our mother! + Watch over us from fhe height of heaven; + And when from this sojourning of misery, + We present our prayers to you; + O sweet, O divine Mary! + Lend an ear to our sighs, + And after this life + Make us to taste of immortal pleasures." + + [Autour des autels de Marie + Nous ses enfants, empressons-nous; + A cette Mere si cherie, + Adressons les voeux les plus doux. + Qu'une vive et sainte allegresse + Nous anime dans ce saint jour; + Il n'existe point de tristesse + Pour un coeur plein de son amour. + Ornons des fleurs ce sanctuaire, + Parons son autel revere, + Redoublons d'efforts pour lui plaire. + Que ce mois lui soi, consacre; + Que le parfume de ces couronnes + Forme un encens delicieux, + Qui s'elevant jusqu'a son trone, + Lui porte et nos coeurs et nos voeux. + Que le nom sacre de Marie + Soit pour nous un nom de salut; + Que toujours notre ame attendrie, + D'amour lui paie un doux tribut. + Unissons-nous aux choeurs des anges, + Pour mieux celebrer sa beaute. + Et puissent nos chants de louanges + Retentir dans l'eternite. + O Vierge sainte! o notre Mere! + Veillez sur nous du haut des cieux; + Et de ce sejour de misere, + Quand nous vous presentons nos voeux, + O douce, o divine Marie! + Pretez l'oreille a nos soupirs;-- + Et faites qu'apres cette vie, + Nous goutions d'immortels plaisirs. + + --"Cantiques a l'usage des Confreries." Paris, 1839, p. 175.] + +In the course of the present work I have already suggested the propriety +of trying the real import, {353} the true intent, and meaning and force +of an address to a Saint, by substituting the holiest name ever uttered +on earth, for the name of the Saint to whom such address is offered; and +if the same words, without any change, form a prayer fit to be offered +by us sinners to the Saviour of the world, then to ask ourselves, Can +this be right? I would earnestly recommend the application of the same +test here; and in many other of the prayers now offered (for many such +there are now offered) by Roman Catholics to the Virgin. Suppose, +instead of offering these songs of praise and prayer, and self-devotion +to Mary in the month of May, we were to offer them, on the day of his +nativity, to our blessed Lord, would they not form an act of faith in +Him as our Saviour and our God? + + "Around the altar of Jesus, + Let us, his children, press; + To that Saviour so endeared + Let us address the sweetest prayers. {354} + Let a lively and holy mirth + Animate us in this holy day: + There exists no sadness + For a heart full of his love. + Let the holy name of Jesus + Be for us a name of salvation! + Let our softened soul + Ever pay to HIM a sweet tribute of love. + O holy Jesus! O our Saviour! + Watch over us from the height of heaven; + And when from this sojourning of misery, + We present our prayers to Thee; + O sweet, O divine Redeemer, + Lend an ear to our sighs; and after this life, + Make Thou us to taste of immortal pleasures." + + * * * * * + + + +SECTION III.--BONAVENTURA. + + +I will now briefly call your attention to the devotional works of the +celebrated Bonaventura. He is no ordinary man; and the circumstances +under which his works were commended to the world are indeed remarkable. +I know not how a Church can give the impress of its own name and +approval in a more full or unequivocal manner to the works of any human +being, than the Church of Rome has stamped her authority on the works of +this her saint. + +In the "Acta Sanctorum", [Antwerp, 1723, July 14, p. 811-823.] it is +stated, that this celebrated man was born in 1221, and died in 1274. He +passed through all degrees of ecclesiastical dignities, {355} short only +of the pontifical throne itself. He was of the order of St. Francis, and +refused the archbishopric of York, when it was offered to him by Pope +Clement the Fourth, in 1265; whose successor, Gregory the Tenth, +elevated him to the dignity of cardinal bishop. His biographer expresses +his astonishment, that such a man's memory should have been so long +buried with his body; but adds, that the tardiness of his honours was +compensated by their splendour. + +More than two centuries after his death, his claims to canonization were +urged upon Sixtus the Fourth; and that Pope raised him to the dignity of +saint; the diploma of his canonization bearing date 18 kalends of May, +1482, the eleventh year of that pope's reign. + +Before a saint is canonized by the Pope, it is usually required, that +miracles wrought by him, or upon him, or at his tomb, be proved to the +satisfaction of the Roman court[130]. We need not dwell on the nature of +an inquiry into a matter-of-fact, alleged to have been done by an +individual two hundred years before; and whose memory is said to have +lain buried with his corpse. Among the miracles specified, it is +recorded, that on one occasion, when he was filled with solemn awe and +fear at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, God, by an angel, took a +particle of the consecrated host from the hands of the priest, and +gently placed it in the holy man's mouth. But, with these transactions, +I am not anxious to interfere, except so far as to ascertain the degree +of authority with which any pious Roman Catholic must be induced to +invest Bonaventura as a teacher and instructor in the doctrines of +Christianity, authorized and appointed by his Church. The case stands +thus:--Pope Sixtus IV. states in his {356} diploma, that the proctor of +the order of Minors, proved by a dissertation on the passage of St. +John, "There are three that bear record in heaven," that the blessed +Trinity had borne testimony to the fact of Bonaventura being a saint in +heaven: the Father proving it by the attested miracles; the Son, in the +WISDOM OF HIS DOCTRINE; the Holy Spirit, by the goodness of his life. +The pontiff then adds, in his own words, "He so wrote on divine +subjects, THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT SEEMS TO HAVE SPOKEN IN HIM." [Page 831. +"Ea de divinis rebus scripsit, ut in eo Spiritus Sanctus locutus +videatur."] A testimony referred to by Pope Sixtus the Fifth. + + [Footnote 130: See the canonization of St. Bonaventura in the + Acta Sanctorum.] + +This latter pontiff was crowned May 1, 1585, more than a century after +the canonization of Bonaventura, and more than three centuries after his +death. By his order, the works of Bonaventura were "most carefully +emendated." The decretal letters, A.D. 1588, pronounced him to be an +acknowledged doctor of Holy Church, directing his authority to be cited +and employed in all places of education, and in all ecclesiastical +discussions and studies. The same act offers plenary indulgence to all +who assist at the mass on his feast, in certain specified places, with +other minor immunities on the conditions annexed. [Page 837.] + +In these documents Bonaventura[131] is called the Seraphic Doctor; and I +repeat my doubt, whether it is possible for any human authority to give +a more full, entire, and unreserved sanction to the works of any human +being than the Church of Rome has given to {357} the writings of +Bonaventura. And what do those works present to us, on the subject of +the Invocation and worship of the Virgin Mary? + + [Footnote 131: The edition of his works which I have used was + published at Mentz in 1609; and the passages referred to are in + vol. vi. between pp. 400 and 500.] + +Taking every one of the one hundred and fifty psalms[132], Bonaventura +so changes the commencement of each, as to address them not as the +inspired Psalmist did, to the Lord Jehovah, the One only Lord God +Almighty, but to the Virgin Mary; inserting much of his own composition, +and then adding the Gloria Patri to each. It is very painful to refer to +these prostitutions of any part of the Holy Book of revealed truth; but +we must not be deterred from looking this evil in the face. A few +examples, however, will suffice. + + [Footnote 132: It is curious to find the Cardinal Du Perron, in + his answer to our King James, declaring that he had never seen + nor met with this Psalter in his life, and he was sure it was + never written by Bonaventura; alleging that it was not mentioned + by Trithemius or Gesner. The Vatican editors, however, have set + that question at rest. They assure us that they have thrown into + the appendix all the works about the genuineness of which there + was any doubt, and that Bonaventura wrote many works not + mentioned by Trithemius, which they have published from the + Vatican press. Of this Psalter there is no doubt. See Cardinal + Du Perron, Replique a la Rep. du Roi de Grand Bretagne. Paris, + 1620, p. 974.] + +In the 30th psalm. "In thee, O Lord, have I trusted; let me not be +confounded for ever," &c., the Psalter of the Virgin substitutes these +words: [In te, Domina, speravi; non confundar in aeternum, &c. &c. In +manus tuas, Domina, commendo spiritum meum, totam vitam meam, et diem +ultimum meum.--P. 480.] + +"In thee, O Lady, have I trusted; let me not be confounded for ever: in +thy grace take me. + +"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 desirs. 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 celeste epoux Calm the rage + Calmez le courroux, Of thy heavenly husband, + Qu'il se montre doux Let HIM show himself kind + A tous qui sont a vous. To all those who are thine. + Du celeste epoux 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 Misericordiae, 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 tuae intendentes in +vocem laudis et glorificationis tuae. Libera me de manu adversariorum +meorum: confunde ingenia et conatus eorum contra me. Erue me in die +mala: et in die mortis ne obliviscaris animae meae. 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: stellae, 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 haec 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 nostrae. + +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, misericordiae 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 haereditatis Filii +tui, + +Et rege nos et custodi nos in aeternum. + +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 aeternum. Te decet laus, te decet imperium, +tibi virtus et gloria in saecula saeculorum, 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." [Haec 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 + AEternam 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 +humanae 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 justitiae +Dei, appellet ad forum misericordiae 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 praejudicium 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 quae in _sola_ spe gratiae 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 a 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. AEst.] + +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. Sec. 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 columbae. Neque enirn poterat ad nos commeare nisi primum {403} ad +suae naturae 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 praeciperet. Quando autem viderunt +principem militiae 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 +daemonio 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 tuae 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 militiae coelestis erat laudantium et +glorificantium Deum, quando natus est Christus. Omnia angelis plena +sunt: veni, angeli, suscipe sermone conversum ab errore pristino, a +doctrina daemoniorum, 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 secundae +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, collaetatur et applaudit his qui salvandi sunt. +Nam _expectatio creaturae 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 praesenti 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 aetatis Ezekielis, et quinto captivitatis +Joachim, Propheta mittiur ad Judaeos. 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 quae videbantur a Propheta. +Dicente quippe eo, _Et aperti sunt coeli_, quodam modo et ipsi +intuebantur oculis cordis quae 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 divinae dignationis celeritate who, by the divine facour, shall +praecesserit, 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 Caesarea 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 Catholicae, et Apostolicae Ecclesiae usum, +a primaevis Christianae 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 aeterna 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} quae +viva membra fuerunt Christi, et templum Spiritus Sancti, ab ipso ad +aeternam vitam suscitanda et glorificanda, a fidelibus veneranda esse; +per quae multa beneficia a Deo hominibus praestantur: ita ut affirmantes, +Sanctorum Reliquiis venerationem, atque honorem non deberi; vel eas, +aliaque sacra monumenta a fidelibus inutiliter honorari; atque eorum +opis impetrandae 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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP *** + +***** This file should be named 14072.txt or 14072.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/7/14072/ + +Produced by David King, The Million Book Project and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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