Chapter VI · SAINT-WORSHIP, IMAGE-WORSHIP, RELIC-WORSHIP, CROSS-WORSHIP.

I SHALL next examine the doctrine and practice of Saint-worship, Image-worship, Relic-worship, and Cross-worship.

I. In exhibiting the tenets of the Romish Church and Clergy on these several points, I shall successively give: the decision of the council of Trent; the comments of some of the most approved Latin Doctors; and the actual practice of the Romanists themselves as the best explanation of their received tenets.

1. Let us first hear the decision of the Council of Trent.

All Bishops, and others who discharge the duty of teaching, must diligently instruct the faithful, concerning the intercession and invocation of the Saints, the honouring of Relics, and the legitimate use of Images.

For this purpose, they must teach them: that the Saints, reigning with Christ, offer up their prayers to God for men; and that it is good and useful, suppliantly to invoke them, and to flee to their prayers and assistance for the purpose of obtaining benefits from God through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who is our only Redeemer and Saviour.

Furthermore, they must teach them: that those, who deny that the Saints in heaven ought to be invoked, or who assert either that they do not pray for men or that the invoking of them to pray for us is idolatry or that it is contrary to God’s word and adverse to the honour of Jesus Christ the only mediator between God and man or that it is foolish by voice or in mind to supplicate those who reign in heaven, think impiously.

They must also teach them: that the holy bodies of the Saints and Martyrs and others living with Christ are to be venerated by the faithful, through which many benefits are afforded from God to men; so that the affirmers, that veneration and honour are not due to the Relics of the Saints, or that these and other sacred monuments are uselessly honoured by the faithful, or that it is vain to celebrate the memories of the Saints for the purpose of obtaining their assistance, are wholly to be condemned, as the Church long since condemned and still condemns them.

Likewise, they must teach them: that the Images of Christ and of the Virgin Mother of God and of the other Saints are especially to be had and retained in Churches, and that due honour and veneration are to be paid to them; not that any divinity or virtue, on account of which they ought to be worshipped, is believed to be inherent in them; or that any thing is to be sought from them; or that trust is to be placed in Images, as was formerly done by the Gentiles, who placed their hope in Idols; but because the honour, which is paid to them, is referred to the originals which they represent; so that, through the Images which we kiss and before which we uncover our heads and bow down prostrate, we adore Christ and venerate the Saints whose similitude they bear. [45]

2. Let us next, upon the doctrinal and practical system of the professedly unchangeable Church of Rome, hear the comments of some of the most approved Latin Doctors both before and after the Council of Trent.

(1.) From Thomas Aquinas, who was not only a mighty Schoolman but also a canonised Saint of the Roman Church, we may clearly hope to derive the very best and most accurate instruction as to the real tenets of his Communion. Now this writer, through the medium of a syllogism professedly framed upon an authorised Prayer in the Breviary, establishes the DUTY of worshipping the cross with the self-same adoration as that which is paid to the Deity.

We offer the supreme adoration of Latria to that Being, in whom we place our hope of salvation. But we place our hope of salvation in the cross of Christ: for the Church sings; Hail, O cross, our only hope in this time of passion, increase righteousness to the pious, and grant pardon to the guilty. Therefore the cross of Christ is to be adored with the supreme adoration of Latria. [46a]

(2.) Much wholesome instruction, in regard to the legitimate use of Images, may also be derived from the expositorial comment of James Naclantus Bishop of Clugium.

We must not only confess, that the faithful in the Church worship before an Image; as some over-squeamish souls might peradventure express themselves: but we must furthermore confess, without the slightest scruple of conscience, that THEY ADORE THE VERY IMAGE ITSELF; for, in sooth, they venerate it with the identical worship wherewith they venerate its prototype. Hence, IF THEY ADORE THE PROTOTYPE WITH THAT DIVINE WORSHIP WHICH IS RENDERED TO GOD AND WHICH TECHNICALLY BEARS THE NAME OF LATRIA, THEY ADORE ALSO THE IMAGE WITH THE SAME LATRIA OR SUPREME DIVINE WORSHIP: and, if they adore the prototype with Dulia or Hyperdulia, they are bound also to adore the Image with the self-same species of inferior worship. [46b]

(3.) In exactly the same expository strain proceeds Gabriel Biel, in his Lectures upon the Canon of the Mass.

If there shall be Images of Christ, THEY ARE ADORED WITH THE SAME SPECIES OF ADORATION AS CHRIST HIMSELF, THAT IS, WITH THE SUPREME ADORATION CALLED LATRIA: if, of the most blessed Virgin; with the worship of Hyperdulia. [47a]

(4.) The commentary of Peter de Medrano will throw yet additional light on the subject.

We must say: that, to our Lady the Mother of God, there has been granted the remarkable privilege of being physically and really present in some of her statues or images.—Hence we must piously believe: that, in some celebrated statues or images of herself, she is inherent and present, personally, physically, and really;—in order that, in them, she may receive, from faithful worshippers, her due adoration. [47b]

(5.) Yet still further light breaks in upon us from the statements of Aringhi, penned and published at Rome under the very nose of the sovereign Pontiff.

This Image, translated from the city of Edessa, is at once preserved as a bulwark against mad Image-breakers, and is set forth to be taken up and ADORED by the faithful. [47c]

Within these few years, under every Pope successively, some or other of our sacred Images, especially of the more ancient, have made themselves illustrious, and have acquired A PECULIAR WORSHIP AND VENERATION, by the exhibition of fresh miracles; as it is notorious to all, who dwell in this city. [47d]

3. Let us finally attend to the actual liturgical practice of the Romanists themselves, as the best explanation of the tenets received and inculcated by their Clergy: for, clearly, as men are taught to believe and to act, so will their authorised public prayers be constructed.

(1.) Hail, O cross, our only hope in this time of passion: increase righteousness to the pious, and grant pardon to the guilty. [48a]

(2.) Holy Mary, succour the miserable, assist the pusillanimous, comfort the mournful. [48b]

(3.) O singular Virgin, mild among all, make us, being delivered from our sins, mild and chaste. Grant us purity of life; prepare for us a safe journey: that, seeing Jesus, we may always jointly rejoice. [48c]

(4.) Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, do thou protect us from the enemy, and receive us in the hour of death. Unloose their bonds to the guilty: give light to the blind: drive away our evils: demand all good things. Shew thyself to be a mother. Let him, who for us endured to be thy son, receive our prayers through thee. [48d]

(5.) O George, illustrious martyr, praise and glory become thee.—We beseech thee, in our inmost heart, that, with all the faithful, we may be joined to the citizens of heaven, being washed from our impurities. [48e]

(6.) O martyr Christopher, for the honour of the Saviour, make us in mind worthy of the honour of the Deity. According to the promise of Christ, for what thou askest thou obtainest, grant unto thy sorrowful people the gifts, which in dying thou besoughtest. [48f]

(7.) O ye eleven thousand glorious girls, lilies of virginity, roses of martyrdom, defend me in life by granting me your assistance: and shew yourselves in death, by bringing the last comfort. [48g]

(8.) O holy Mary; our sovereign queen, as God the Father, by his omnipotence, has made thee most powerful; so assist us, at the hour of death, by defending us against all power that is contrary to thine. Hail, Mary! O holy Mary, our sovereign queen, as God the Son has endowed thee with so much knowledge and charity that it enlightens all heaven; so, in the hour of death, illustrate and strengthen our souls with the knowledge of the true faith, that they may not be perverted by error or pernicious ignorance. Hail, Mary! O holy Virgin, our sovereign queen, as the Holy Ghost has plentifully poured forth into thee the love of God; so instil into us, at the hour of death, the sweetness of divine love, that all bitterness at that time may become acceptable and pleasant to us. Hail, Mary! [49a]

(9.) Hail Mary, lady and mistress of the world, to whom all power has been given both in heaven and in earth! [49b]

II. After this ample statement of the doctrine and practice of the Roman Church, it will be useful for us to observe, both negatively what the Bible does not say, and positively what the Bible does say, on the subject now before us.

1. In the first place, then, so far as respects the negative part of the question, the Bible is TOTALLY SILENT, as to the Trent-inculcated duty, of invoking Saints, venerating Relics, and kissing and uncovering the head and falling prostrate before Images either in nitches or upon crucifixes.

It NO WHERE recognises or recommends any such practices and notions: as those, of invoking dead Saints, to aid us by their prayers, or to grant us purity of life, or to unloose the bands of the guilty, or to make us mild and chaste, or to defend us in life, or to assist us in the hour of death; of celebrating their memories, for the avowed purpose of obtaining their help and protection; of much benefit being derived, from God to man by the veneration of Relics; of worshipping Christ and venerating the Saints, through the medium of worship and veneration paid relatively to Images; of beseeching the cross, a mere dumb piece of wood even if any of its remains should now be actually in existence, to increase righteousness to the pious and to grant pardon to the guilty.

From beginning to end, NOT A SYLLABLE of sanction or approbation, in regard to any such phantasies can we discover in the Holy Scriptures.

Hence, even to say the very least of the matter, the doctrine, avowedly taught and liturgically introduced by the Church of Rome, has not the slightest support or warrant from the Written Word of God. Whatever be the ground, upon which it rests: at all events, it clearly rests not upon the Bible.

3. But this is not all. For, in the second place, so far as respects the positive part of the question, Holy Scripture is full and express AGAINST any worship or invocation of the creature, however disguised or modified or palliated by the closely harmonizing distinctions and definitions of Paganism and Popery: inasmuch as the Pagans, though slanderously misrepresented by the doctors of the Council of Trent, did in truth defend their Idol-worship against the primitive Christians, on the self-same plea and principle of relative adoration, as the said doctors themselves and their followers the Romish Clergy defend their Image-worship against us Reformed Catholics. [50]

(1.) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven. above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. [51a]

(2.) Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman. [51b]

(3.) They, that make a graven image, are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit: and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. [51c]

(4.) None considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say: I have burned part of it in the fire; yea also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination; shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? [51d]

(5.) What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it: the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood; Awake: to the dumb stone; Arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver; and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. [51e]

(6.) Then said Jesus unto him: Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. [51f]

(7.) Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. [52a]

(8.) When I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me: See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. [52b]

(9.) When the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia: The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter; and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out and saying: Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you; and preach unto you, that ye should turn away from these vanities unto the living God. [52c]

III. We may now profitably hear the testimony of the early ecclesiastical writers.

1. The Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, relative to the martyrdom of Polycarp, was written about the middle of the second century.

Nicetas was urged by the envious and the wicked to intercede with the governor, that the remains of Polycarp should not be delivered for sepulture: lest, leaving him that was crucified, the Christians, it was suggested, should begin to worship this person. These things they said, at the instigation of the Jews: because they were ignorant; that neither can we ever forsake Christ who suffered for the salvation of the saved throughout the whole world, nor that we can ever worship any other. For him, being the Son of God, we adore: but the martyrs, as disciples and imitators of the Lord, we worthily love on account of their special affection to their own King and Master. [53a]

2. Clement of Alexandria flourished in the second century.

(1.) Images, wrought by mean artizans, are produced from worthless materials. Therefore they themselves must be worthless and profane. [53b]

(2.) An image, truly, is mere dead matter, fashioned by the hand of the artizan. But, with us Christians, there is no sensible representation formed out of sensible matter. God, the alone true God, is our intellectual image. [53c]

3. Minucius Felix lived in the third century.

(1.) Why have the Christians no altars, no temples, no known images? [53d]

(2.) We neither worship crosses, nor wish for them. [53e]

4. Origen lived in the third century.

(1.) Celsus remarks, that we have neither altars nor images nor temples.—We ought not to dedicate images constructed by the ingenuity of artizans. [53f]

(2) We deem those the most ignorant: who are not ashamed, to address lifeless things, to petition the weak for health, to ask life from the dead, to pray for health from the needy. And, though some may allege, that these images are not gods but only their symbols and representations: yet even such persons, fancying that imitations of the Deity can be made by the hands of some mean artizan, are not a whit less ignorant and slavish and uninstructed. From this sottish stupidity, the very lowest and least informed of us Christians are exempt. [53g]

5. The Council of Elvira sat at the beginning of the fourth century.

It hath seemed good to us, that pictures ought not to be admitted into a church: lest that should be painted upon walls which is worshipped and adored. [54a]

6. Athanasius flourished in the fourth century.

We are truly worshippers of God: because we invocate no one of the creatures nor any mere man, but the Son who is by nature from God and true God. [54b]

7. Augustine lived in the fourth and fifth centuries.

(1.) Let not our point of religion be the worship of dead men. For though they lived piously; still they are not to be accounted of, as requiring from us any such honours: but they rather wish us to worship him, through whose illumination they rejoice that we should be partners of their merit. They are to be honoured, therefore, on account of imitation; not to be prayed to on account of religion. [54c]

(2.) I have known that many are adorers of sepulchres and of pictures:—but the Church herself condemns them, and as bad children studies to correct them. [54d]

8. Epiphanius flourished in the fourth-century.

Let Mary be held in honour: but let the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be worshipped. As for Mary, let no one worship her. [54e]

IV. Once more, let the honest inquirer freely judge and determine for himself, whether the doctrine and practice of the Roman Church and Clergy, relative to Saints and Images and Relics and Crosses, be supported either by Holy Scripture or by Primitive Antiquity.