ture of the case; for a graver and most awful charge is made against us, in consequence of our belief. We are even denounced as idolators, because we pay a certain reverence, and, if you please, worship, to the Saints of God, and because we honour their outward emblems and representations. Idolators! Know ye, my brethren, the import of this name? That it is the most frightful charge that can be laid to the score of any Christian? For, throughout God's Word, the crime of idolatry is spoken of as the most heinous, the most odious, and the most detestable in His eyes, even in an individual; what then if committed in a mass, by millions of men?

Then, gracious God! what must it be, when flung as an accusation upon those who have been baptized in the name of Christ, who have tasted the sacred gift of His Body, and received the Holy Ghost'; and of whom, therefore, St. Paul tells us, that it is impossible that they be renewed unto penance;* for this is what St. John calls a sin even unto death, for which men are not to pray!† Assuredly they know not what they say, who deliberately and directly make this enormous charge; and they have to answer for misrepresentation,-yea, for calumny of the blackest dye,-who hesitate not again and again to repeat, with heartless earnestness and perseverance, this most odious of accusations, without being fully assured-which they cannot be in their consciences, and before God, that it really can be proved.

For, my brethren, what is idolatry? It is the giving to man, or to any thing created, that homage, that adoration, and that worship, which God hath reserved unto Himself; and to substantiate such a charge against us, it must be proved that such honour and worship is alienated by us from God, and given to a creature.

Now, what is the Catholic belief on the subject of giving worship or showing veneration to the Saints, or their emblems? Why, it is comprised in a definition exactly contradictory of the one I have just given of idolatry! You will not open a

single Catholic work, from the folio decrees of Councils, down to the smallest catechism placed in the hands of the youngest children, in which you will not find it expressly taught, that it is sinful to pay the same homage or worship to the Saints, or to the greatest of the Saints, or the highest of the Angels in Heaven, as we pay to God: that supreme honour and worship are reserved exclusively to Him, that from Him alone can any blessing possibly come, that He is the sole fountain of salvation, and grace, and of all spiritual, or even earthly, gifts, and that no one created being can have any power, energy, or influence of its own, in carrying into effect our wishes or desires. No one surely will say, that there is no distinction between one species of homage or reverence, and another; no one will assert, that when we honour the King or his representatives, or our parents, or others in lawful authority over us, we are thereby derogating from the supreme honour due to God. Would not any one smile, if he did not give way to a harsher feeling, were he taxed with defrauding God of His true honour, because he paid reverence or esteem to others, or sought their intercession or assistance? It is wasting time to prove that there may be honour and worship,for, as I will show you presently, this word is ambiguous, that there may be reverence or esteem demonstrated, so subservient to God, as in no way to interfere with what is due to him.

What I have cursorily stated, is precisely the Catholic belief regarding the Saints: that they have no power of themselves, and that they are not to be honoured and respected as though they possessed it; but at the same time that they are intercessors for us with God, praying for us to Him, and that it is right to address ourselves to them, and obtain the co-operation of this, their powerful intercession, in our behalf. The very distinction here made, excludes the odious charge, to which I have alluded with considerable pain. For the very idea, that you call on any being to pray to God, is surely making an abyss, a gulf, between him and God:-it is making

him a suppliant, a dependant on the will of the Almighty; and surely these terms and these ideas are in exact contra. diction to all we can possibly conceive of the attributes and qualities of God.

But I go further still. Instead of taking any thing from God, it is adding immensely to His glory: by thus calling on the Saints to pray for us, instead of robbing Him of a particle of the honour which belongs to Him, we believe Him to be served in a much nobler way than in any other. For we thereby raise ourselves in imagination to heaven; we see the Saints prostrate before Him in our behalf, offering their golden crowns and palms before His footstool, pouring out before Him the odours of their golden vials, which are the prayers of their brethren on earth, and interceding through the death and the passion of His Son. And surely, if this be so, we are paying to God the highest homage, which his apostle describes as paid in heaven; for we give occasion, by every prayer, for this prostration of His Saints, and this outpouring of the fragrance of their supplications. Such being the Catholic belief regarding the Saints, we must be further convinced that it is, and can be, no ways displeasing to God. that we should show a respect and honour to their remains on earth, or to those images and representations which recall them to our remembrance. Nay, we believe more than this: for we believe that God is pleased with this respect which we show them, inasmuch as it is all ultimately directed to honour Him in them. We doubt not, that He may be pleased to make use of such outward and visible instruments, to excite the faith of His people, and to bring them to a disposition of fervour, which may produce salutary effects.

This is the sum of our belief on this subject, which I intend to explain and support this evening. Before leaving this introductory portion of it, allow me to make one or two remarks, on the ambiguity of terms employed in the explanation, and still more in the rejection, of this doctrine. The

* Rev. iv. 10, v. 8.

words "to worship," for instance, are constantly quoted; it is said, that we speak of worshipping the Saints as we do of worshipping God, and that so we necessarily pay the same honour to both. This conclusion only arises from the poverty of language, and from the difficulty of substituting another word. We all know perfectly well, that the word "worship" is used on many occasions, when it does not mean any thing more than respect and honour; and such was its ancient and primary signification in our language. For instance, in the marriage service, no one attaches to it the signification of giving supreme or divine honour to the person said to be worshipped. "With my body I thee worship." We know that it is also a title of civil honour; and no one imagines, that when a person is called "worshipful," he is put on a level with the Almighty. Why then, if Catholics use the term in speaking of the Saints, when they tell you again and again that they mean a different honour from what they pay to God,-why shall they be charged with paying an equal honour, merely because they make use of the same term? It would not be difficult to find many words and phrases, applied to the most dissimilar acts, and used in the most varied circumstances, where no misunderstanding is occasioned, simply for the reason that I have stated; because mankind have agreed to use them for different purposes; and no one will call his neighbour to account for so using them, and taking them in any one of their various senses. It is the same with the Latin word, "to adore," of which the primary meaning was to place the hand to the mouth; it simply signified to show a mark of respect by outward salutation. The term was later applied peculiarly to supreme worship, yet so as to be extended in the Church to other objects of respect; still in ordinary language, we no longer use it, except when speaking of God. It would be very unjust to hold us accountable for the words being found in those formulas of devotion, which were instituted before these controversies arose, and when its meaning was so well understood, that no ambiguity

could occur. And certainly they are not consistent, who quote against us those services in which we are said to adore the Cross, for they are taken from liturgies used in the very earliest ages of the Church.

There is another point on which I shall not be able to deal at length; although if time allow me I may touch upon it later; I mean the abuses said to follow from the Catholic doctrine. We are made responsible for all its abuses. Why so? We have only to demonstrate our doctrines; and supposing-granting, that abuses have at times and in some places crept in, I would ask is that any reason why what is in itself awful should be abolished? Are men to be deprived of that which is wholesome, because some make an improper use of it? Is there any thing more abused than the Bible, the wor of God?-is there any thing more misapplied ?-has it no been employed for purposes and in circumstances which may not be named? Is there any thing which has been more frequently called in to the aid of fanatical proceedings than this sacred word of God, or which has been more repeatedly quoted in such a way, by the thoughtless and ignorant, as to expose it even to ridicule? And are others to be charged with these abuses? Shall we say that the word of God is to be abolished? The same must be said here;-when we have laid down the Catholic doctrine, with its reasons, I leave it to any one's judgment how far the Church can be expected to abolish it, if received from Christ, on the ground that it has given rise to abuse. But, as I before observed, if I have time, I may touch upon these supposed abuses, and inquire how far they exist.

The Catholic doctrine regarding the Saints is therefore twofold;—in the first place, that the Saints of God make intercession before Him for their brethren on earth;-in the second place, that it is lawful to invoke their intercession Knowing that they do pray for us, we say it must be lawful to turn to them, and ask and entreat of them to use that influence which they possess, in interceding on our behalf.