"There is no folly or extravagance that we have now related, but every order of monks say such "like of their founder and author; the Cordeliers "and Capuchins, of their St. Francis; the Jaco "bins, of their St. Dominic; and, in general of "all the pretended saints of their orders, they are ་ more holy than seraphim; they raise the dead; "they heal all diseases; the whole creation is sub"ject to them."Another of the Popish idols is the consecrated wafer or sacramental bread, the worship of which naturally followed, the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. This likewise hath been honoured by its own proper miracles. A saint, named Malachy, was employed by the Pope to convert the Irish to the discipline and canons of the church of Rome; and, in order to further this laudable undertaking, he received, say the Papists, the power of working miracles in as eminent a degree as any of the ancient saints of the church. One of these miracles was the punishment by sudden death of a man, whom the saint could not convince of the real presence in the sacrament t. A yet more stupendous proof of the truth of this doctrine was vouchsafed to the foundress of the reformation of the discalced Carmelites in the sixteenth century. In one of her works, called The way of perfection, "she declares that our Lord was, many times, pleased Cited by Whitaker, p. 341, ❝ to to let her see him in the sacred host. In par "ticular, going one day to receive the blessed sacrament, she saw him in great majesty, in the "hands of the priest, in the host which he was going to administer to her. At the same time "she understood by a vision, that this same priest LL. was in a state of sin, which troubled her ex"ceedingly. But, says she, our Lord himself "said unto me, that I should pray for him; and "told me, that he had suffered what I had seen, "that I might understand what power and force "the words of consecration have; and that God "would not be kept from thence, how wicked * soever the priest were who pronounced them *" For these enormous lies this woman was sainted. In fine, the worship of images which began very early to infect the church, and which was first openly established by Boniface the fourth in the year 607, was ultimately confirmed by the second council of Nice, in the year 787. The decrees of this council, which is justly called by Mr. Mede the idolatrous council, contains some curious narratives, full of fabulous invention, adapted to the promotion of image-worship, the purpose for which this misnamed theopneust assembly met together t. (3.) As for the manner in which they that dwelt upon the earth were induced by the two-horned beast to espouse the cause of image-worship, it has already been shewn in part by the preceding account of Popish miracles wrought for that express purpose, and will yet further appear from the famous contest between Gregory the second, and the Emperor Leo respecting the worship of bodily representations of our Lord, his saints, and martyrs. The Emperor had suppressed idolatry at Constantinople and in the East, and attempted to do the same in his Italian domiuions. Upon this, Gre gory informs him, that he exceeds his proper commission by interfering in spiritual matters; and teaches him, that although the sword of justice is in the hands of the magistrate, the more formid able weapon of excommunication is intrusted to the clergy, who will not spare a heretic even though he be seated upon a throne." You accuse "the catholics of idolatry," says he in one of his epistles to Leo, "and by the accusation you be tray your own impiety and ignorance." He then proceeds to point out to the undiscerning Emperor the distinction between pagan idols and Christian images. "The former were the 66 66 fanciful representations of phantoms or demons, at a time when the true God had not mani"fested his person in any visible likeness. The "latter are the genuine forms of Christ, his mo"ther, and his saints, who had approved, by a "crowd of miracles, the innocence and merit of "this relative worship." The difference indeed between idols and images, hard as it is to be com prehended prehended by the less subtle intellect of a heretic, is according to Gregory so clear, that the very children would be provoked to cast their hornbooks at the head of the imperial enemy of so catholic a mode of adoration "You assault us, O 66 tyrant, with a carnal and military hand-You declare, with foolish arrogance, I will dispatch my orders to Rome; I will break in pieces the image of St. Peter-Are you ignorant, that the "Popes are the bond of union, the mediators of peace, between the East and the West? 66 eyes The of the nations are fixed on our humility: * and they revere, as a god upon earth, the Apos"tle St. Peter, whose image you threaten to de stroy. The remote and interior kingdoms of "the West present their homage to Christ and his "vicegerent; and we now prepare to visit one of "their most powerful monarchs, who desires to "receive from our hands the sacrament of bap tism. The barbarians have submitted to the "yoke of the Gospel, while you alone are deaf "to the voice of the shepherd. These pious bar"barians are kindled into rage: they thirst to 66 avenge the persecution of the East. Abandon your rash and fatal enterprize; reflect, tremble, "and repent. If you persist, we are innocent of "the blood that will be spilt in the contest: may ❝it fall on your own head." The truth of this declaration the Emperor soon experienced to his cost. "The first assault of "Leo against the images of Constantinople had "been been witnessed by a crowd of strangers from Italy and the West, who related with grief and indignation the sacrilege of the Emperor. But, on the reception of his proscriptive edict, they "trembled for their domestic deities. The images “of Christ and the Virgin, of the angels, martyrs, "and saints, were abolished in all the churches of "Italy; and a strong alternative was proposed to "the Roman Pontiff, the royal favour as the price "of his compliance, degradation and exile as the penalty of his disobedience. Neither zeal nor policy allowed him to hesitate. Without depending on prayers or miracles, he boldly armed against the public enemy; and his pastoral let"ters admonished the Italians of their danger and "their duty. At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, "and the cities of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, "adhered to the cause of religion; their military "force by sea and land consisted, for the most part, of the natives; and the spirit of patriotism "and zeal was transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in "the defence of the Pope and the holy images; the Roman people were devoted to their father; "and even the Lombards were ambitious to share "the merit and advantage of this holy war." The issue of the struggle was the ruin of the Emperor's affairs in Italy, and the complete triumph of the catholic idolaters. Nor was a miracle wanting, in this grand contest, to decide the orthodoxy of image-worship. To restore his dominion in Italy, Leo |
