CHAPTER XXXIII.

Vol. V. commences with a Treatise on the Incarnation of Christ. The 24th No. treats

OF THE WORSHIP AND INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS. "Prove that the Saints in heaven are to be worshipped and honoured with the veneration of dulia.

"Ans. It is proved from this that they have supernatural excellence and are the friends of God: and therefore a reason for their worship truly subsists.

"The same is proved from this that the church has instituted festivals of the Saints; and THEREFORE, the worship of the Saints may be said to be a commanded duty.

Finally, it is proved from the Old Testament; for Abraham, Jacob, Samson, and others, exhibited reverence or honour to angels: therefore, as men are blessed as the angels of God, (as is said, Matt. xxii. v. 30.), it follows also, that their worship is lawful.

"Is this worship of the Saints absolute or respective?

"It is absolute because it is exhibited on account of the excellence, intrinsic, and peculiar to themselves: yet it may also be called respective, inasmuch as God is honoured in the Saints.

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Obj. I. 1 Tim. i. 17, it is said, to the only God be honour and glory, therefore, not to the Saints.

"Ans. The worship of latria not of dulia is spoken of in the text; otherwise, the apostle would contradict himself, writing to the Romans; ii. v. 10; but glory and honour to every one that worketh good.

"Obj. II. Mardochæus, Esther xiii. 14., gives as a reason why he would not rise up before Aman: I feared lest I might transfer the honour of my God to a man; there fore, &c.

“Ans. Aman had required honour as though he were in himself somewhat of a divinity: for when the Gentiles were promoted, they supposed that divinity was communicated to themselves; and thus we see that the Cæsars after their death were reckoned among the number of the gods.

"Obj. III. Apoc. xix. 10. The angel refused to be worshipped by John, saying, See thou do it not; therefore,

&c.

"Ans. The angel refused this ON ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT HOLINESS OF JOHN.

"Are the Saints to be invoked by us?

"I answer, with Council of Trent, sess. 25. Concerning the Invocation of the Saints: that it is good and useful to supplicate them, and to fly to their prayers, power, and aid : but that they who deny that the Saints are to be invoked, or who assert that they do not pray for men, or that their invocation of them is idolatry, hold an impious opinion.'

"It is proved also from Gen. xlviii. 16., where Jacob invokes his own angel: besides that angels have conferred many benefits is plain from various passages, and especially from the history of Tobias: but there is the same reason for the invocation of beatified men as of angels: and thus, also, 2 Macc. xv. 14., it is plain that the Saints which are still in limbus pray for men: for it is there said concerning Jeremiah: this is he that prayeth much for the people: finally, according to sectarians themselves, it is proper to call upon Saints whilst they are still upon earth to pray for us, (thus God, Exod. xxxii. 14., was appeased by the prayer of Moses for the people); therefore, it is more proper to pray to the Saints who are reigning with Christ, as to those who are more closely connected with God in heaven."

The objections against the Invocation of Saints are solved. (No. 25.)

Obj. I. 1 Tim. ch. ii. 5., it is said: one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus; therefore the Saints are not our mediators.

"Ans. I make a distinction in the inference: I entirely agree, that, therefore, the Saints are not the principal mediators; for Christ alone is the one who asks in his own name, as he who by his own proper merit renders God propitious to men: I deny the inference, that, therefore, the Saints are not secondary mediators, and participatively, who relying on the merits of Christ beseech God for us; and thus, indeed, Gal. iii. 19., the name of mediator is given to Moses, and in this sense, also, the Divine Virgin is called our life

and hope: but when we ask of her, give salvation to thy servants, it is meant that she give it by obtaining it; and thus, the apostle, 1 Cor. ix. 22. ventures to say of himself: that I might save all.

"Nor does this diminish the dignity and power of Christ: because the Saints are invoked as mediators with the mediator and God, says St. Thomas: so that they themselves by their intercession may supply that which is wanting to the weakness of our prayers.

"Obj. II. The Saints have no knowledge of our prayers; therefore, they are invoked in vain.

"Ans. I deny the antecedent: because the Saints know all things which pertain to their state in the Word; and, therefore, they see our prayers directed to themselves in the Word or in God, as in a mirror containing all things, just as the angels have knowledge of our prayers.

"You may urge; Eccl. ix. 5., it is said, the dead know nothing more; therefore, the Saints do not know our

prayers.

"The best solution is that THESE ARE THE WORDS OF THE FOOLISH AND OF THOSE WHO SAY THAT THE SOUL * PERISHES WITH THE BODY.

"Obj. III. All benefits come forth from God to us, who is prepared to give them; therefore we ask these things of the Saints improperly.

"Ans. I deny the inference: because we do not ask anything of the Saints in excluding God, but rather that through the Saints, as through intercessors, we may receive them from God.

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"But that we implore the clemency of God through the Saints, is not through the defect of the power or mercy God: but because God is willing to grant certain blessings. only through the Saints: that thus the Saints may be honoured and God in them; or, also, that thus subordination and order in second causes may be preserved, says St. Thomas.

"Generally as to these and other objections you will convince sectarians that all these things do not hinder us from

* Not a word is said in the context, which affords the least ground for such a supposition. My reader can refer to the passage.

imploring the prayers of the living: therefore, neither can they be any objection to our seeking the suffrages of the Saints in heaven.

"Is the invocation of the Saints a commanded duty?

"Some reply that it is neither necessary to salvation, nor is it enjoined upon every one: yet Sylvius, Billuart, &c., think more probably that it is a commanded duty: concerning the Blessed Virgin, at least this seems to be sufficiently inferred from the Holy Fathers and the common opinion of the faithful."

CONCERNING THE WORSHIP OF IMAGES. (No. 26.) “What is meant by an image?

"A similitude or representation of some existing thing, expressed for that thing as a copy: for it is called an image from imitating: because it represents the thing which it imitates.

"How does it differ from an idol?

"Because an idol is a likeness representing that, which either simply does not exist, or certainly is not such as that which is worshipped: but an image is the similitude of a thing which really exists, v. g. of a man: hence the apostle says concerning an idol, 1 Cor. viii. 4; because we know that an idol is nothing in the world; nothing certainly in its representation: because it is no divinity in itself or in its own prototype.

"Prove that the images of Christ and the Saints are to be worshipped.

"Ans. It is PROVED in the first place from the COUNCIL OF TRENT, (!!) sess. above cited, where it will say against sectarians, that the images of Christ and of the Virgin Mother of God and of the other Saints, are to be kept and retained especially in temples, and that due honour and veneration are to be paid to them.'

"The seventh general Synod or the II. Nicene, under Adrian I., had decreed the same against the Iconoclast heretics, saying, that salutation and honorary adoration were to be exhibited to the images of Christ and the Saints.

"It is proved further: because proper veneration was due and was given to the ark of the covenant in the old law; because it bore the image of heavenly things; although the

ark in itself was something inanimate and destitute of intrinsic holiness: hence, concerning it, it is said literally, Ps. xcviii. 5., adore his footstool, for it is holy; therefore,

&c.

"Finally, it is proved also from reason: because the honour of an image in itself redounds to the prototype; just as on the contrary, an insult offered to a royal statue redounds to the king, as S. Amb. remarks, Serm. x. on Ps. cxviii.

"ARE IMAGES OF GOD AND OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY PROPER?

"YES: although this is not so certain as concerning the images of Christ and the Saints; as this was determined at a later period.

“But it is to be observed that the divinity cannot be depicted, but those forms are depicted under which God has sometimes appeared, or to which divine attributes are paid in some similitude: thus GOD THE FATHER is represented under the form of an old man: because Dan. vii. 9. we read that he appeared thus: and the ancient of days sat; and the Holy Ghost under the form of a dove; because he appeared thus, Matt. iii. 16: He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove; or under the form of cloven tongues, such as he appeared on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as it were of fire.

"Therefore, images of this kind are not to be painted according to any one's will, but only under these forms in which they have sometimes appeared.

"It is proved by an equal reason: for just as it is proper to describe these histories and apparitions with words, thus also with colours: for pictures as well as words are signs of things.

"With this also agrees the condemnation of prop. 26, by Alexander VIII., A. D. 1690 : 'It is a sin to place a likeness of God the Father in a Christian temple.'

'Obj. Exod. xx. 4., God commanded: thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath; therefore God himself has forbidden images.

"Ans. 1. Some who think that under the old law it was for