teus quote the text of St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 5, There is one Media. tor betweeen God and men, the man Christ Jesus; for we grant that Christ alone is the Mediator of salvation; but if he argues, from thence, that there is no other mediator of intercession, he would condemn the conduct of St. Paul, of Job's friends, and of his own church. In vain does he take advantage of the ambigu ous meaning of the word worship, in Mat. iv. 10; because, if the question be about a divine adoration, we restrain this as strictly to God, as he can do; but if it be about merely honouring the saints, we cannot censure that, without censuring other passages of Scripture, and condemning the bishop himself, who expressly says, "The saints in heaven we love and honour."+ In vain does he quote Revel. xix. 10, where the angel refused to let St. John prostrate himself, and adore him; because, if the mere act itself, independently of the evangelist's mistaking him for the Deity, was forbidden, then the three angels, who permitted Abraham to bow himself to the ground before them, were guilty of a crime, Gen. xviii. 2, as was that other angel, before whom Josuah fell on his face and worshipped. Jos. v. 14. * The charge of idolatry against Catholics, for merely honouring those whom God honours, and for desiring them to pray to God for us, is too extravagant, to be any longer published by Protestants of learning and character; accordingly the bishop of Durham is content with accusing us of blasphemy, on the latter part of the charge. What he says is this: "It is blasphemy, to ascribe to angels and saints, by praying to them, the divine attribute of universal presence." To say nothing of his lordship's new invented blasphemy, I should be glad to ask him, how it follows, from my praying to an angel or a saint in any place, that I necessarily believe the angel or saint to be in that place? Was Elisha really in Syria when he saw the ambush prepared there for the king of Israel? 2 Kings vi. 9. Again, The word worship, in this place, is used for supreme divine homage, as appears by the original Greek: whereas in St. Luke xiv. 10, the English translators make use of it for the lowest degree of respect: Thou shalt have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. The latter is the proper meaning of the word worship, as appears by the mariage service: With my body i thee worship, and by the designation of the lowest order of magistrates, his worship Mr. Alderman N Nevertheless, as the word may be differently interpreted, Catholics abstain from applying it to persons or things inferior to God: making use of the words honour and veneration in their regard; words which, so applied, even bishop Porteus approves us. Thus it appears, that the heinous charge of idolatry brought against Catho lics for their respect toward the saints, is grounded on nothing but the mis taken meaning of a word! † P. 23. Charge 1810, p. 12, we know that There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner that repent th, Luke xv. 10. Now, is it by visual rays, or undulating sounds, that these blessed spirits in heaven know what passes in the hearts of men upon earth? How does his lordship know, that one part of the saint's felicity may not consist in contemplating the wonderful ways of God's providence with all his creatures here on earth? But, without recurring to this supposition, it is sufficient for dissipating the bishop's uncharitable phantom of blasphemy, and Calvin's profane jest about the length of the saint's ears, that God is able to reveal to them the prayers of Christians who address them here on earth. In case I had the same opportunity of conversing with this prelate, which I once enjoyed, I should not fail to make the following observation to him my lord, you publicly maintain, that the act of praying to saints, ascribes to them the divine attribute of universal presence; this you call blasphemy: now it appears, by the articles and injunctions of your church, that you believe in the existence and efficacy of" sorceries, enchantments, and witchcraft, invented by the devil, to procure his counsel or help,"* wherever the conuror or witch may chance to be; do you, therefore, ascribe the divine attribute of universal presence to the devil? You must assert this, or you must withdraw your charge of blasphemy against the Catholics for praying to the saints. That it is lawful and profitable to invoke the prayers of the angels, is plain from Jacob's asking and obtaining the angel's blessing, with whom he had mystically wrestled, Gen. xxxii. 26, and from his invoking his own angel to bless Joseph's sons, Gen. xlvii. 18. The same is also sufficiently plain, with respect to the saints, from the Book of Revelations, where the four and twenty elders in heaven are said to have, golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints. Rev. v. 8. The church, however, derived her doctrine on this and other points immediately from the apostles, before any part of the New Testament was written. The tradition was so ancient and universal, that all those Eastern churches, which broke off from the central church of Rome, a great many ages before Protestantism was heard of, perfectly agree with us in honouring and invoking the angels and saints. I have said that the patriarch of Protestantism, Martin Luther, did not find any thing idolatrous in the doctrine or practice of the church with respect to the saints. So far from this, he exclaims, "Who can deny that God works great miracles at the tombs of the saints? I therefore, with * Injunctions, A. D. 1559. Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 89 Arti eles, ibid. p. 180. the whole Catholic church, hold that the saints are to be honour ed and invocated by us.' In the same spirit he recommends this devotion to dying persons, “Let no one omit to call upon the B. Virgin and the angels and saints, that they may intercede with God for them at that instant." I may add that several of the brightest lights of the established church, such as archbishop Sheldon and the bishops Blandford,‡ Gunning, Montague, &c. have altogether abandoned the charge of idolatry against Catholics on this head. The last mentioned of them says, "I own that Christ is not wronged in his mediation. It is no impiety to say, as they (the Catholics) do, Holy Mary, pray for me; Holy Peter, pray for me;" whilst the candid prebendary of Westminster warns his brethren "not to lead people by the nose, to believe they can prove Papists to be idolaters when they cannot."T In conclusion, dear sir, you will observe that the council of Trent, barely teaches that it is good and profitable to invoke the prayers of the saints; hence our divines infer that there is no positive law of the church, incumbent on all her children to pray to the saints :** nevertheless, what member of the Catholic church militant will fail to communicate with his brethren of the church triumphant? What Catholic, believing in the communion of saints, and that "the saints, reigning with Christ pray for us, and that it is good and profitable for us to invoke their prayers," will forego this advantage! How sublime and consoling! how animating is the doctrine and practice of trus Catholics, compared with the opinions of Protestants ! We hold daily and hourly converse, to our unspeakable comfort and advantage, with the angelic choirs, with the venerable patriarchs and prophets of ancient times, with the heroes of Christianity, the blessed apostles and martyrs, with the bright ornaments of it in later ages, the Bernards, the Xaviers, the Teresas, and the Sales's: they are all members of the Carholic church. Why should not you partake of this advantage? Your soul, you com plain, dear sir, is in trouble; you lament that your prayers to God are not heard: continue to pray to him with all the fervour of your soul but why not engage his friends and courtiers to add the weight of their prayers to your own? Perhaps is Germet. Ep. ad Georg Spalat. In Purg. quorand. Artic Tom. i. See Duchess of York's Testimony in Brunswick's 50 Reasons, S Burnet's Hist. of his own Tmes, Vol. i. p. 437. Treat. of invoc of Saints, p. 118. Thorndike, Just Weights, p. 10. ** Petavius, Suarez, Wallenburg, Muratori, Nat. Alex. 66 Divine Majesty may hear the prayers of the Jobs, when he will not listen to those of an Eliphaz, a Bildad, or a Zophar. Job xlii. You believe, no doubt, that you have an angel guardian, appointed by God to protect you, conformably to what Christ said of the children presented to him: Their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven, Mat. xviii. 10: address yourself to this blessed spirit with gratitude, veneration, and confidence. You believe also, that, among the saints of God, there is one of supereminent purity and sanctity, pronounced by an archangel to be, not only gracious, but "full of grace;" the chosen instrument of God in the incarnation of his Son, and the intercessor with this her Son, in obtaining his first miracle, that of turning water into wine, at a time, when his "time" for appear. ing to the world by miracles, was not yet come John ii. 4. "It is impossible," as one of the fathers says, to love the son, without loving the mother :" beg of her, then, with affection and confidence, to intercede with Jesus, as the poor Canaanites did, to change the tears of your distress into the wine of gladness, by affording you the light and grace you so much want. You cannot refuse to join with me in the angelic salutation: Hail full of grace, our Lord is with thee,* nor in the subsequent address of the inspired Elizabeth: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Luke i. 42: cast aside, then, I beseech you, dear sir, prejudices, which are not only groundless but also hurtful, and devoutly conclude with me, in the words of the whole Catholic Church, upon earth: Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. I am, &c. J. M. DEAR SIR, LETTER XXXIV. 66 To JAMES BROWN, Esq. &e. ON RELIGIOUS MEMORIALS If the Catholic church has been so grievously injured by the misrepresentation of her doctrine respecting prayers to the saints, she has been still more grievously injured by the prevailing calumnies against the respect which she pays to the memorials of Christ and his saints, namely to crucifixes, relics, pious pictures and images. This has been misrepresented, from almost the * Luke i. 28. The Catholic version is here used, as more conformable to the Greek as well as the Vulgate, than the Protestant, which renders the pange: Hail thou who art highly favoured. first eruption of Protestantism, as rank idolatry, and as justifying the necessity of a Reformation. To countenance such misrep resentation in our own country, in particular, avaricious courtiers and grandees seized on the costly shrines, statues and other or naments of all the churches and chapels, and authorized the demolition or defacing of all other religious memorials of whatover nature or materials, not only in places of worship, but also n market places and even in private houses. In support of the same pious fraud, the Holy Scriptures were corrupted in their different versions and editions,† till religious Protestants, themselves, became disgusted with them, and loudly called for a new translation. This was accordingly made, at the beginning of the first James's reign. In short, every passage in the Bible, and every argument which common sense suggests against idolatry, was applied to the decent respect which Catholics show to the memorials of Christianity. The misrepresentation, in question, still continues to be the chosen topic of Protestant controvertists, for inflaming the minds of the ignorant against their Catholic brethren. Accordingly, there is hardly a lisping infant, who has not been taught that the Romanists pray to images, nor is there a secluded peasant In * Martin Luther, with all his hatred of the Catholic church, found no idolatry in her doctrine respecting crosses and images: on the contrary, he warmly defended it against Carlostadius and his associates, who had destroyed those in the churches of Wittenberg. Epist. ad Gasp. Guttal. the titlepages of his volumes, published by Melancthon, Luther is exhibi ted on his knees before a crucifix. Queen Elizabeth persisted for many years in retaining a crucifix on the altar of her chapel, till some of her Puritan courtiers engaged Patch, the fool, to break it: "no wiser man," says Dr. Heylin, (Hist. of Reform. p. 124,)" daring to undertake such a service." James I. thus reproached the Scotch bishops, when they objected to his placing pictures and statues in his chapel at Edinburgh: "You can endure Lions and Dragons (the supporters of the royal arms) and Devils, (Q. Elizabeth's Griffins) to be figured in your churches, but will not allow the like place to patriarchs and apostles." Spotswood's History, p. 530. See in the present English Bible, Colos. iii. 5. Covetousness which is idolatry: this, in the Bibles of 1562, 1577, and 1579, stood thus: Covetousness which is the worshipping of images. In like manner where we read, a covelous man, who is an idolater, in the former editions we read, a covetous man which is a worshipper of idols. Instead of, What agreement hath the temple of God with idols, 2 Cor. vi. 16: it used to stand, How agreeth the temple of God with images. Instead of, Little children keep yourselves from idols, 1 John v. 21: it stood, during the reigns of Edward and Eliza beth, Babes keep yourselves from images. There were several other manifest corruptions in this as well as in other points in the ancient i rotestant Bibles; some of which remain in the present version. See the account of what passed on this subject, at the Conference of Hampton Court, in Fuller's and Collier's Church Histories, and in Neal's History of the Purita is. |