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CHAPTER V.

WORSHIP OF SAINTS-CONCLuded.

I. THEIR ARGUMENTS ANSWERED. 1. Their argument from the super-eminence of the saints: 2. The church appoints feasts: 3. The Council of Trent has enjoined it: 4. Analogy between the saints and the courts of princes: 5. The honour ascribed to saints is ultimately referred to Christ: 6. The greatness and majesty of Christ: 7. Jeremiah xv, 1, considered: 8. The patriarchal worship of angels: 9. The names and merits of patriarchs are used in prayer: 10. Miracles were employed in favour of the invocation of saints: 11. They affirm, they only pray to the saints to pray for them.-II. ARGUMENTS AGAINST IT. 1. The doctrine not contained in Scripture: 2. It is contrary to the Scripture doctrine of God's worship: 3. It is contrary to Scripture: 4. The Church of Rome is idolatrous in saint-worship.

In the foregoing chapter we gave a statement of the doctrine of the Roman Church on the worship of saints, and specimens of their forms of prayer, as they are authoritatively contained in their books of devotion, and practised in their public and private prayers. In the present chapter we will examine their arguments in support of their system, and adduce proofs against it.

I. We will first notice the arguments which Roman Catholics use to sustain their doctrine and practice.

1. Dens argues thus, "Because the saints possess supernatural excellence, and are the friends of God, it is reasonable to worship them."

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If mere excellence were a sufficient reason for adoration, then every inferior being should worship the rank of beings above him. Hence, there would, according to this, be one uniform course of idolatry established in heaven and on earth. Nor would the fact, that the excellence was supernatural change the nature of the idolatry: for still the worship would be of the same nature in both cases, as far as the idolatrous character was concerned.

2. The same writer affirms, "That the church has appointed the feasts of the saints; so that the worship of saints may be said to be established by precept." Here saint-worship is said to be established on church authority alone. But we deny that the church has any such authority, to establish a species of worship, which is unsupported by the word of God, as well as contrary thereto.

3. Dens also affirms, "That the saints are to be invoked, because the Council of Trent has enjoined it." Here, again, we must reply, that the Scripture has nowhere authorized it, which is a sufficient answer to this argument.

4. They argue, "That it is through the ministers of court that subjects have access to kings; hence, it is through his saints that men may most effectually have recourse to God."

To this argument there is an easy reply. The doings of Almighty God are not to be judged by human proceedings, which are tinctured

*

Quod habeant excellentiam supernatularem et sint amici Dei; adeoque ratio ad eos colendos vere subsistit.-Dens, Tract. de Incarn., n. 24, tom. v, p. 44.

† Id., ibid.

+ Id., p. 45.

by sin and imbecility. It is declared of Jehovah, " I am God, and not man," Hosea xi. And Isaiah declares," For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts," Isaiah lviii, 8, 9. It is profane, in this respect, to judge the ways of God by the doings of men. Princes do not hear their subjects on account of their negligence, pride, or inability to succour them; or because they are engaged in pursuing their pleasures. Indeed, this argument is used for want of Scriptural

warrant.

By the same argument the idolatries of the Gentiles were maintained: and Ambrose in his First Chapter to the Romans, and Augustine, in his eighth book, concerning the city of God, make this fully ap

pear.

5. They tell us, "That the honour ascribed to the saints is ultimately to be referred to Christ." But this is contrary to the declared will of God, which declares that he alone is to be worshipped; that his glory he will not give to another: and, we are expressly taught, that we are to call upon God alone in the day of trouble.

6. They argue, "That Christ is too great and exalted to be affected by our miseries, or that we would dare to approach him; but we may flee to the saints, who are more ready to hear us, because they are our fellow-sufferers, and experienced in our sorrows." This argument is contrary to the express declaration of Scripture, as is manifest from the following texts:-" For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv, 15, 16. "Christ is at the right hand of God, and maketh intercession for us," Rom. viii, 34. Christ himself says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," &c., Matt. xi, 28. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you," John xvi, 23. This argument is therefore directly against Scripture, and it would do away the intercession of Christ.

7. They adduce Jeremiah xv, 1: "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people." The sense of the words shows that Moses and Samuel were not then standing before the Lord for the people. And this proves that the intercession of the dead was then unknown. And even if they did stand before the Lord, it does not follow that they should be invoked. But Romanists cannot say consistently, that Moses and Samuel stood before the Lord: for they teach, that the patriarchs were in limbo before the passion of Christ, and were not admitted to the vision of God. The sense of the prophet seems to be this, that the sin of idolatry was so abominable before the Lord, that should such devout persons as Moses and Samuel pray for the idolatrous Israelites, God would not heal them, nor spare the people. In the same manner God speaks in Ezekiel xiv, 14 : "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord."

8. They say," Abraham, Lot, and Joshua, men notable for piety, are represented to have worshipped angels, and to have fallen down before

them. Gen. xviii, 2, and xix, 1; Joshua v, 15.* Therefore it is lawful and praiseworthy to give religious worship to angels and living men, noted for piety; but it is not less lawful to worship the saints reigning with Christ."

First. It is certain that the Angel whom Abraham worshipped was God himself, even Christ, who appeared in the form of an angel. For he is called Jehovah, verse 17, a name never given in Scripture to any created angel. And in verse 25, Abraham calls him, "the Judge of all the earth," which is an office belonging to Christ.

Secondly. It cannot be shown out of the text, that Lot offered any religious worship to the angels. He only made obeisance, or bowed himself before them, as was the common mode of salutation in the East. So Jacob bowed himself before his brother Esau.

Thirdly. The Angel that appeared to Joshua was Christ himself. Joshua called him Lord, and himself his servant, But angels are not lords over men; for men are their fellow-servants. The words here used by this Angel, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, &c., are the same which the Angel on Mount Sinai spoke to Moses. Exodus iii, 5-8. From this, it appears to be the same person who appeared in both places, and the phrase here used is one which belongs to God alone.

Origen, on this passage, says, "Joshua would not have worshipped him, if he had not known him to be God: for who else is the Prince of the Lord's warfare, but the Lord Jesus Christ ?"

Fourthly. The angels of the Old and New Testaments are all one ; but in the New Testament the angels refuse to be adored, Rev. xxii, 8,9; therefore the angels of the Old Testament did not receive adoration. 9. They also plead, that in the Old Testament the names and merits of the patriarchs are pleaded, as reasons why God should have mercy : "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac," Gen. xxxii, 9; Exodus xxxii, 13; Deut. ix, 27. "For thy servant David's sake," &c., Psalm cxxxii, 10.

The Scripture plainly declares, that by these phrases the ancients referred to the covenant made with their fathers, which was established by the oath of God. Exodus xxxii, 13; Deut. xxvi, 16-19. They refer only to the promises made to the fathers, and to the benefit of God's covenant with them, when they say, "Remember Abraham." God indeed promises, that on account of the pious parents he would be gracious to their children. But the pious never allege the merits of their ancestors, but the promise of God: for they do not pray, Hear us, because they were meritorious; but because thou hast promised, covenanted, and sworn. 10. They affirm, "That in behalf of the invocation of saints, many miracles were wrought, and miracles are testimonies of the truth of doctrine."

By miracles alone, without the testimony of Scripture, no doctrine can be proved, as the Scripture declares : "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet,

Bailly, de Incarn., c. 2, tom. ii, p. 271.

+ Hom. vi, in Joshua.

or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul," Deut. xiii, 1-3. "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matt. xxiv, 5, 11. "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved," 2 Thess. ii, 9, 10. God permits impostors to try the faith of his followers, to put their religious experience to the test. For he who experiences religion cannot be drawn away by idols. Indeed, experience of the truths contained in the word of God can alone preserve men from false religion.

11. They maintain as a general argument, in their opinion sufficient to answer all Protestant cavils, "that, as we implore the prayers of the living, there is therefore no reason against seeking the suffrages of the saints in heaven."*

Bishop Milner says, "In short, they (the saints) do nothing for us mortals in heaven, but what they did while they were here on earth, and what all good Christians are bound to do for each other; namely, they help us by their prayers."†

To the foregoing we reply,

(1.) When they say, that they only request the saints to pray for them, as we commonly do good men, they say what is not true. Indeed, it is utterly false. Because their breviaries, litanies, and books of devotion, show, that they supplicate the saints to befriend them by their own inherent power; or to intercede for them to the throne of God, by virtue of their own personal merits, in blasphemous derogation to the all-atoning and incommunicable intercession of Christ.

(2.) Their plea is also disingenuous; for they know very well, that the question is concerning unseen and heavenly mediators only, not men like ourselves. We allow that it is the duty of Christians to pray for each other. But then there is a great difference between desiring good men to pray for us, in the gospel sense of that duty; and desiring saints and angels to pray for us, in the sense of the papal rituals. We request those prayers only as they shall be offered up in the name, and through the merits of the great, and, properly speaking, sole Intercessor; and we look for no effect from them but on that condition. The Church of Rome addresses herself to saints and angels as intercessors, by what we may call their own right, by virtue of their own inherent sanctity. Or, rather, she applies to them directly as to saviours, for their proper and immediate help; and expects it from the supposed privilege of their rank or merits, independently of their prayers; or, at least, of the manner in which those prayers shall be presented through the name of Christ. The formal words of their litanies and forms of prayer, already quoted, show that this is their meaning.

But they will say, that the condition of interceding through the merits of Christ is implied, though not expressed. I reply then, that admitting it to be so, there is, nevertheless, a great difference between praying to saints and angels to pray for us, though in the gospel forms Dens, de Incarn., n. 25, tom. v, p. 47. Also Bailly, de Incarn., tom. ii, p. 273. + End of Controversy, p. 208, let. xxxi.

of intercession, and merely requesting good men to pray for us in these forms. The latter address is made in a way remote from all appearance of idolatry, and free from the suspicion of it. The former is preferred in the place, at the time, with the posture, in the language: in short, with all the circumstances and formalities of divine worship.

When we ask the prayers of men, we know that they hear our addresses to them. We cannot even suppose this much of saints and angels, without ascribing to them the incommunicable attributes of the Almighty. The Scripture saith, "It is God who searcheth the heart and reins, and that he only knoweth the hearts of the children of men," Psalm vii, 9; Rev. ii, passim; Jer. xvii, 10; 2 Chron. vi, 30.

Many of the ancient fathers doubted, whether the saints know any thing that is done on earth. Augustine was of the opinion, "that they know no more what we do on earth, than we know what they do in heaven." For proof of this, he quotes the following words of Isaiah : "Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knoweth us not," Isaiah lxiii, 16.*

Still, it may be insisted, that prayers, whether offered to God by men, or glorified saints, are intercessions; and therefore Protestants, as well as papists, are guilty of idolatry. This is the hinge on which the question turns, and to show the difference of the two cases, palpably and clearly, I say,

(3.) The gospel, in permitting, or rather in commanding, us to ask the prayers of each other, justifies this sort of intercession, and absolves it from the blame and guilt of idolatry. It gives a sanction to this mode of mediating with God, by his saints on earth: and does not regard it as a practice that interferes with the mediatorial office of Christ in heaven.

But the same gospel, on the contrary, says not a word about any such address being directed, or permitted, to be made to angels or spirits. It even condemns all addresses of this kind, under the opprobrious name of unauthorized will-worship. Col. ii, 23. Though we be allowed, in some sense, to have good men for our mediators or intercessors, yet in the tabernacle of heaven we can have none but Christ. The intercession by saints and angels is against the spirit and letter of our religion. It is a practice, which, not being enjoined, is forbidden; which, being disallowed, is reprobated. In a word, it intrenches on the incommunicable prerogatives of the sole Mediator in heaven, at God's right hand, who ever liveth to make intercession for us. Col. ii, 23. It sets up new mediators, without, and against, his leave: it is therefore unchristian and idolatrous.

(4.) Soliciting the prayers of the dead leads to idolatry. When we solicit the intercessory prayers of our living friends, we are in no danger of falling into any undue or superstitious veneration of them; but when we solicit the intercessory prayers of departed saints, we are in danger of falling into idolatrous habits. This danger is by no means chimerical. Experience of the past, and prophetic anticipation of the future, teach that such is the certain result.

The entire polytheism of the Gentiles consisted in the worship of the demon gods, most curiously associated with sabianism and mate

*

Aug. de Cura pro mort. agenda, c. xiii; de vera Relig., c. xxii.

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