'believes her above her Son, or that she can in any thing command him. Amen.' (1)

You see, Dear Sir, how widely different the doctrine of Catholics, as defined by our Church, and really held by us, is from the caricature of it, held up by interested preachers and controvertists, to scare and inflame an ignorant multitude. So far from making gods and goddesses of the saints, we firmly hold it to be an article of faith, that they have no virtue or excellence, but what has been gratuitously bestowed upon them by God, for the sake of his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, and that they can procure no benefit for us but by means of their prayers to the Giver of all good gifts, through their and our common Saviour, Jesus Christ. In short, they 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. The only difference is, that as the saints in heaven are free from every stain of sin and imperfection, and are confirmed in grace and glory, so their prayers are far more efficacious for obtaining what they ask for, than are the prayers of us imperfect and sinful mortals. Our Protestant brethren will not deny that Saint Paul was in the practice of soliciting the prayers of the churches to which he addressed his epistles, Rom. xv. 30, &c.; that the Almighty himself commanded the friends of Job to obtain his prayers for the pardon of their sins. Job xlii. 8; and moreover, that they themselves are accustomed to pray publicly for one another. Now these concessions, together with the authorized exposition of our doctrine, laid down above, are abundantly sufficient to refute most of the remaining objections of Protestants against it. In vain, for example, does Dr. Porteus quote the

(1) Pap. Misrep. Abridg. p. 78.

text of St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 5, There is one mediator between 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 ambiguous meaning of the word worship, in Matt. 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, (1) and condemning the Bishop himself, who expressly says, 'The saints in heaven we love and honour. (2) 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, independantly 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 Joshua 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 Pro

(1) 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 may 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 marriage 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 in us. it appears, that the heinous charge of idolatry brought against Catholics for their respect towards the saints, is grounded on nothing but the mistaken meaning of a word! (2) P. 23.

Thus

testants 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.' (1) 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 where I may be, 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: we know that There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, 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 saints' 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, and this you call blasphemy. Now it appears, by the articles and injunctions of your Church, that you believe in the existence and eficacy of sorceries, enchantments, and witchcraft, invented by the devil to procure his

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(1) Charge 1810, p. 13.

'counsel or help,' (1) wherever the conjuror 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. 16. 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 f 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 her 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 exdaims, 'Who can deny that God works great miracles at the tombs of the saints! I, therefore, with the whole Catholic Church, hold that the saints are to be honoured and invocated by us.' (2) In the same spirit he recommends this devotion to dying persons: Let no one omit to cal upon 'the Blessed Virgin and the Angels and Saints, that they may intercede with God for them at

(1) Injunctions, A. D. 1559. Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 89. Articles, ibid. 180.

(2) In Purg. quoramd. Artic. Tom. i. Germet. Ep. ad Georg. Spalat.

that instant.' (1) I may add that several of the brightest lights of the Established Church, such as Archbishop Sheldon, and the Bishops Blandford, (2) Gunning, (3) Montague, &c. have altogether abandoned the charge of idolatry against Catholics on this head. The last-mentioned 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;' (4) whilst the candid Prebendary of Westminster warns his brethren 'not to lead people by the nose, to believe they can prove Papists to be idolators, when they 'cannot.' (5)

6

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. (6) 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 true 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, and with the bright ornaments of

(1) Luth. Prep. ad Mort.

(2) See Duchess of York's Testimony in Brunswick's 50 Reasons. (3) Burnet's Hist. of his own Times, vol. i. p. 437.

(4) Treat. of Invoc, of Saints, p. 118.

(5) Thorndike, Just Weights, p. 10.

(6) Petavius, Saurez, Wallenburg, Muratori, Nat. Alex.