"and confirmed by the relations of cardinals, pre"lates, generals, and priors of that order; and the 66 certainty of them so generally believed, that from "the 9th of July to the 9th of August, the anni"versary festival of the saint, they have always "counted above a hundred thousand pilgrims, and 66 many of them of the highest quality, who come "from the different parts of Europe to pay their devotions, and make their offerings to this saint.” (La Vie de St. Dominic, p. 599, 4to.) No wonder that Leo, Bishop of Chalcedon, in the eleventh century, published a treatise, affirming that in these images which the papists worship, there resided an inherent sanctity; and that the adoration of Christians ought not to be confined to the persons represented by images, but extended to the images themselves! The wise pagans, however, considered images merely as representations of their deities. Still this did not exculpate them from the charge of an "inferior and relative worship," which is idolatry. The second commandment, according to Dr. Murray, (the titular archbishop of Dublin,) is not given in all the Roman Catholic Catechisms; and he justifies the omission by an allusion to the sentiments of Origen. The Protestant, in the perusal of the above idolatrous evidences, is enabled to find a much better, or rather a much stronger reason for the omission! Such was the jealousy of images, excited, we are told, in the breast of this very Origen, that he, with Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, Tertullian, and Arnobius, deemed it in itself unlawful to make any images of the Deity, and went so far, in their holy dread of idolatry, as to deny to Christians an indulgence in the arts of painting and engraving ! ! Note C. (Part iii. p. 81.) THE author we have quoted, respecting the miraculous images and pictures, says that "Every one "knows what a perpetual use there was of incense "and sweet odours in all the temples of the hea"thens. Tertullian speaks of it as the distinguish"ing rite of paganism; and declares, that idolatry might sooner be carried on without an idol than "without incense: and for this reason, as he inti"mates, if the perfumers, who furnished this incense "to the pagan altars, continued to carry on that "trade after they had embraced Christianity, they were to be rejected from the church." "But after "the establishment of Christianity, when the policy "of complying with 'pagan' prejudices began to prevail among the clergy, and the church,' as St. Jerome says, 'declined as much in its virtue 66 66 66 6 as it increased in power,' we find not only the "incense sellers, but even the incense itself, and "the thuribulum, taken into the service of the "Christian altars." "From the first promulgation "of the gospel, as all history informs us, there was perpetual contest between the pagan and "Christian rites, through a long succession of ages; "in which the pagan rites were forcibly imposed upon the Christians by the pagan emperors; re "a "jected again, in their turn, by the Christian emperors; and all of them distinctly marked out "and described by the imperial laws, so as the "Christians, in all ages, might clearly know and "avoid them. For example, the laws of Theodo"sius, as I have already observed, forbad all people, "under severe penalties, to light up candles, burn “incense, or hang up garlands to senseless images ; "for these were then reckoned the notorious acts "of genuine paganism." The miserable sophisms and subtleties employed by the Romish priesthood to support these abominations, are admirably answered and exposed by the two writers already cited, (Stillingfleet and Middleton.) The following may serve as a sufficient specimen of the (total, I had almost said,) aberration of the church of Rome from the fundamental principle of Christianity. In the gospel, we are told, that "the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." (JOHN iv. 14.) "Neither is there salvain any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby men must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.) In a procession of the image of the Virgin Mary, already mentioned as working such wonders in Florence, the following inscription was placed, in the year 1711, over the principal gate of one of their churches: "The gate of celestial benefit--the "gate of salvation. Look up to the Virgin herself, "Pass into me all ye who desire me. Whosoever "shall find me, shall find life and draw salvation "from the Lord. For there is no one who can be "saved, O most Holy Virgin, but through Thee! "There is no one who can be delivered from evils, "but through Thee! There is no one from whom we can obtain mercy, but through Thee!" The following "grants" may well accompany this incription : 66 “Our Holy Father Sixtus IV., Pope, hath graunted to all them that devoutly say this prayer before the Emage of our Lady in the Sone, eleven thousand years of pardon." Thys 3 prayers be written in the Chappelle of the Holy Cross in Rome, otherwise called Sacellum Sanctæ Crucis 7 Romanorum; who that devoutly say them shall obtain 90,000 years of pardon for dedly sins, graunted by our Holy Father John, 22nd Pope of Rome." ERRATA. Page 45, line 4, for reformed churches in the latter country. read reformed churches. "In the latter country, 47, note, for Tully's, read Sully's. 56, line 5, for 1164, read 1641. |