and chaste, and cause their hearts to burn in love to Christ. a "Whatever gifts are bestowed on us by Jesus, we receive them by the mediation of Mary; no one being gracious to Jesus, that is not devoted to Mary. That the power of Mary in the kingdom of Jesus, is suitable to her maternity."-" And though the condition of some great sinners may be so deplorable, that the limited excellency and merits cannot effectually bend the mercies of Jesus to relieve them; yet such is the acceptableness of the mother of Jesus to Jesus, that whosoever is under the verge of her protection, may confide in her intercession to Jesus."- "That the person devoted to her, is to beg of her to accompany him as his sacred guide, advocate, and champion, against the assaults of sin and sensuality." b The Church of Rome have relics of the saints. The bodies, or remainders of them, or particular things belonging or relating to them when alive, as an arm, or thighs, bones, ashes; and the part in which they suffered, d or the things by which they suffered, as the chains with which St. Peter was bound. By the veneration of them they obtain the help of the saints, whom the relics e relate to; and many benefits are thereby conferred by God on mankind; for by these the dead have been raised, the infirm cured, and devils cast out. & a Officium B. M. in the hymn called Planctus B. M. Antwerp, 1641. b Contemplations of the life and glory of the holy Mary, &e. p. 7, 8, 9, 14. London, printed anno 1685. Ex Decret. Regist. Præfix, Brey. Rom. a Catech. Rom. par. 3. c. 2. n. 15. e Brev. Rom. par. Estiv. Aug. Fest. Petri. ad vinc. f Concil Trid. Sess. 25 de invocat. Catech. Rom. ibid Breviar. Rom. ibid. We shall transcribe an account of one church, from a modern publication, as a case in point. The church of St. Sabina, at Rome, is supposed to stand on the site of the celebrated temple of Diana; it was built in the year 425, in the time of Theodosius, and in the papacy of Celestine the First, by Peter of Savona, a cardinal priest of Rome. The following account of the relics at this church, exhibited on solemn festivals, has been given by a Catholic gentleman, who, while residing at Rome, observed whatever is curious or interesting in that city. Under the high altar, given by Sixtus V. are the bodies of the five following saints, which were found under the ancient altar of Pope Eugenius II. in 1586, according to the inscription on a leaden chest which incloses them : The body of St. Sabina. In the church also, Seraphia. Alexander, pope. .Eventius, priest to the said pope. An arm of St. Sabina. Part of the cane with which Christ was beaten and derided. A rib of one of the holy innocents. Bones of the 40 martyrs. Bones of the 11,000 virgins. Part of the tunic of St. Dominic. A cross of silver, in the middle of which is another cross, containing various relics, viz. A piece of the true cross of our Saviour; on the right arm of this cross are relics of St. Thomas, apostle, and St. Lawrence. In the left arm, of St. Bartholomew and St. Mary Magdalen. In the top, of St. Peter and St. James, apostles. In the bottom, of St. Alexander, pope, St. Sabina, St. Seraphia, St. Agnes, and St. Hypolitus, and his compa nions. Part of the stone on which our Saviour slept. Part of the sepulchre of the blessed Virgin. Some earth and stones, from the holy sepulchre, besides other relics of St. Peter, Paul, Matthew, Stephen, Philip, James, Cosmas, Damianus, Apollinarius, Catherine, Cecilia, and many more. In the middle of the pavement of the church is seen a black stone, of which it is said that St. Dominic, one night, praying at this spot, his enemy, the devil, hurled a stone at him, which touched him slightly, but forced its way through the pavement on which he was kneeling, and buried itself in the earth: upon moving the high altar to its present spot, this stone was found, and the miracle is celebrated in a legend inscribed thereon. There is not, in the whole compass of divine revelation, one word to sanction the worshipping of saints and angels; but many direct and express passages against it. Our Saviour says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The holy angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation; but to worship, to pray to them, is what they themselves refuse and abhor, Rev. xix. 10. The Synod of Laodicea does forbid praying to angels :"For Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God, and depart aside and invocate angels, which are forbidden." a "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all." "Yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." The Scripture knows no difference between a mediator of intercession and redemption; he alone makes intercession for us, that died and rose, and is at the right hand of God, and he alone has a right to our prayers, and to him alone we may address them. So Origen :-" All prayers, and supplications, and thanksgivings, are to be sent up to God the Lord of all, by that High Priest, who is above all angels, being the living word of God." Again:-" We ought to pray only to God over all, and his only Son the firstborn of every creature, who, as our High Priest, offers his prayers to his God, and our God. We cannot but wonder at the applications made to the blessed Virgin, in the Church of Rome, concerning whose acts on earth, and whose power in heaven, the Scripture is silent. We read nothing there of her bodily assumption into heaven, nor of her exaltation to a throne above angels and archangels. We read nothing there of her being the mother of grace, and mercy, the queen and gate of heaven, the advocatrix of sinners, and of her power in destroying all heresies in the world, and being all things to all. When we read so much of the d e f a Conc. Laod. Can. 35. b Lib. 5. cont. Cels. p. 233, 239. Lib. 8. p. 395, 402. d Brev. Rom. Estiv. Fest. Assump. e Officium parvum B. M. ad Matutin. f Completor. Fest. Assump. } Catech. par. 4. c. 5. n. 8. h Missale Paris. ibid, et Le Psaultier de Jesus. Paris 1620. p. 126. a blessed Virgin in books of this kind, and so little of her in the divine writings, we cannot but reflect on what is said by Epiphanius, concerning a certain sect of women, that, in his time, offered cakes to the Virgin Mary, which he calls an impious thing, and altogether "contrary to the doctrine of the Holy Ghost." And he further adds; "This the Holy Ghost doth warn us of, in that Christ saith, Woman, what have I to do with thee?" There he calls her woman, and, as it were, prophesying, to refute those schisms and heresies which he knew would arise in the world; and that no one, being moved by a certain admiration of the blessed Virgin, might turn himself to those dotages of heresies." And he adds, “Let the Virgin Mary be honoured, but the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be adored." b Much more has that Father there to this purpose. From the worship of saints, the Romanists proceed to that of images, which was established by the second Council of Nice, A. D. 787, and was confirmed by the general Council of Constantinople, A. D. 869. Pope Pius V. says, "I do believe that the images of Christ, of the blessed Virgin, the mother of God, and of other saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due honour and veneration ought to be paid to them."-The kind of reverence or worship required to be given to images and pictures in the Church of Rome is-they kiss them, uncover the head, and fall down before them; offer incense, and pray to them, and use all postures of worship as they would do to the person or persons thereby represented, (whether Christ, the Virgin Mary, or other saints,) if they were present: and whosoever does think a Hæres. 78. p. 1054. Par. 1622. |