lusts thereof." Does this imply a command to worship saints? Instead of the Angels being our "governors," &c. in the Psalm quoted, they are represented as the servants of the godly, who, as the very next verse states, "shall tread upon the lion and adder," &c. The Pope scarcely need have quoted Matthew (ch. xviii. 10) to have shown that the angels of God dwell in heaven.-Does this prove that we are commanded to pray to them? The passage selected from the Hebrews is also taken from such a chapter as we should ourselves have quoted from to prove the unscriptural doctrine of Popery upon the present subject. It is in proof that our Saviour is to be worshipped BY ALL ANGELS. Paul says (Heb.i.6), "Let all the angels of God worship HIM :"-and (ver. 13)— "to which of the angels said HE at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits," &c. Both the Pope and Doctor appear to have been resolved on giving a new signification to the word “ministering;" but when the angels ministered to our Lord (Matt. iv. 11), do the above gentlemen wish the sentence to be understood, that they "governed, tutored,”— or served? Protestants believe it, as it is expressed, in the latter sense. Is it (Ex. xxiii.) because the Almighty empowered an angel to conduct Moses, that angels are to be worshipped, contrary (as we shall show) to his positive commands?

Of the two texts extracted from the Revelations, we have merely to observe, that the first is addressed to the Church of Thyatira (not to the Romish Church), and is a repetition of the promises of our Lord to all those who keep his commandments-" But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come:" although this sentence precedes the Pope's misquoted extract as above-(he has omitted" as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers," as the Romish Church is shivered)—it was deemed prudent to pass it by; Popery not having been hatched into existence for ages afterwards her tenets, opposed to Christianity, are before th

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reader. By the second extract, the Pope would wish it to be understood that he ought to have been king of all the earth—the arrogant wish of all Popes*; but the quotation we are speaking of (Rev. v. 10), proceeded from the lips of saints and angels in offerings of adoration to God. Does this prove that we should worship them? When Joshua worshipped an angel, it was not until the angel told him that " he was armed with the power of the MOST HIGH:" "As Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come,” said the heavenly messenger :-Does this prove that we are, instead of devoting our whole thoughts to God in earnest prayer, to worship angels? The sixth "Because" is, that the "vene-" ration," &c. paid to saints and angels has been the practice in all ages. As this is a mistake which we will rectify by showing its origin, we will merely observe, by the way, once more, that Popery would do better by vindicating (if she can do so) her own profession by scriptural proof of their truth, than by telling her followers what Protestants do. The doctrines of the latter are the doctrines of CHRIST. We have already spoke of days of their obligation, &c. (See p. 81.) In reply to the next query, the answer is, "No, God forbid!" We disapprove of this teaching to break the third commandment (by Popery called the second); nor can we distinguish the devotion of Papists to Saints from their devotion to their CREATOR, save that they pray ten times as often to Saints as to God:-Popery cannot deny that she has ordained ten "Ave Marias" to be said to one Pater Noster? However unimportant slight mis-quotations may be in themselves, we cannot approve of them in a "Profession of Faith;" especially where they occur so often as to render it impossible to suppose them accidental errors. The line from St. Luke, "all generations shall call her blessed," urged as a Papal plea for worshipping the Virgin Mary, is incorrect; nor, as it is implied,

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* See Coronation of the Pope, chap. xi.

was the expression used by any person to her, but thus spoken by, and of, herself to her cousin Elizabeth-" from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed," &c. But as the Pope has said above, that " his flock "honour the Virgin Mary with an infinitely inferior honour" to that which they pay to God, we will show what kind of "honour" is paid, by Popery, to saints in general; begging that we be understood as making a wide distinction between those of God's creatures whom He himself deigned to distinguish by the gift of his holy spirit, and such wretched and sinful beings as Popery in her vanity has sometimes thought fit to canonize, and of others of an imaginary kind, as a standing memento of her own flagitiousness.

The "veneration" for departed Saints (as Mosheim tells us) first appeared among the numerous corruptions of the fourth century*; and in the fifth, it was readily believed that the souls of these Saints travelled again to this world, and hovered about those places where the remains of their bodies were interred; and, in consequence, the superstitious multitudes made the sepulchres the places of fervent prayer. In the eighth century, Christians were taught to rely upon the merits of departed saints for their salvation, and upon donations, or, as they were called, oblations, to the Church. Thus the people were lost in their idolatry, whilst their clergy, almost as ignorant as themselves, fattened upon their substance; and in the ninth century, ready-made Saints,† who

Dr. Chandler says, "As the primitive Christians had any intervals from persecution they became more profligate in their morals, and more quarrelsome in their tempers. As the revenues of the several Bishops increased, they grew more ambi tious," &c. Speaking of some of the most eminent of Popish-made saints, he says, "Even those whom superstition hath dignified by the name of saints, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Gregory, Cyril, and others, grew wanton with power, and cruelly oppressed those who differed from them, and stained most of their characters with the guilt of rapine and murder."

For a full account of these we must refer our readers to the Devotions of the Roman Church (1674), wherein Popish breviaries, missals, and legends are quoted at large: from the above may be obtained an acquaintance with the Seven Sleepers, who took a nap for 362 years, and thought it only one night; also with the 11,000 English virgins, all butchered together at Cologne; besides St. George, (dragon and

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had never existed, were named by designing priests to furnish a supply of tutelar deities for the credulous*, until the ecclesiastical councils themselves were actually obliged to set limits to the superstition and idolatry they had inculcated+.

But we now speak of a saint of the highest order, the Virgin Mary, yet, as God's creature only, not in the impious language of Popery. In the tenth century, the rosary and crown were introduced, and masses said in her honour, as a divinity (See Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 115. En. Tran.); and in the thirteenth, Bonaventura (a Popish saint, of whom we shall again have occasion to speak) published The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin, wherein, throughout the 150 Psalms it contains, he has substituted the name of the Virgin Mary for the name of GOD !-Is this showing Saint Mary an "infinitely inferior" honour to that which is due to God?The Devotion of Bondage; or, the practice of perfectly consecrating ourselves to the service of the Blessed Virgin (permissu superiorum, 1632,) is printed in English, and which says (p. 32), “The Sovereign Dominion was given Her not only over the world, but over the CREATOR of the world," &c.-Is this showing "inferior honour?"—After the publication of Bonaventura, followed the Index Expurgatorius of the Council of Trent, by which (Session 18) the command that "God only is to be worshipped" is expunged, as taught by the ancient Bishops, that the people might be the more readily confirmed in the idolatry of worshipping saints ‡, &c.

all,) with innumerable other such saints and legendary matter, the truth of which no thorough good Papist dare (publicly) deny it is sinful to believe in and to pray to, since there are offices for them, with prayers, &c.

"The more that any ambitious fanatic departed from the dictates of reason and common sense, and counterfeited the wild gestures, and the incoherent conduct of an idiot, or a lunatic, the surer was his prospect of obtaining an eminent rank among the heroes and demi-gods of a corrupt and degenerate Church."---Mosheim. Ibid.

Adorari solus Deus est: Deleatur ex Ind. Operum Athanasii Indice Lib. Prohib. and Expurg. p. 52, Madrit. Anno 1627. Item ex In. Op. S. Angust. lbid. p. 56.

Hence such publications as "The Devotion of Bondage," "The Garden of the Soul," &c. From the latter (in most general use at the present day) we extract the following passage, which commences the Litany of the Virgin Mary :—“ We fly to THY patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin * !”—Įs this not praying for direct aid, without mentioning any intercession or is it the way Popery evinces an "infinitely inferior" degree of honour towards Saints than to their Creator? -That the idolatry of worshipping creatures is contrary to the Scriptures, we give the following proofs:

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Exod. xx. 3." Thou shalt have no other gods before me.". Isaiah xlii. 8. "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another; neither my praise to graven images."

Acts x. 25, 26. "Andas Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.'

Acts xiv. 14, 15. "When the men of Lystra would have worshipped the Apostles (Barnabas and Paul), the latter rent their clothes, saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto

* Some of the ancient Bishops (Epiphanius, &c.) say, that our Lord foreseeing the superstition that would spread through the world on account of his mother, was always reserved towards her-not once addressing her by the appellation of mother,—not even when upon the cross-nor by any other term than woman.—Woman, what have I to do with thee (John ii. 4).—He also says (Luke ii. 28), rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it, than the womb that bare him. Neither is the Virgin Mary spoken of as having seen him after his resurrection-she is but once mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts i. 14), as continuing with other women in their communion after the Lord's ascension; and, notwithstanding what the Popish legends say, there are not only no acts nor miracles recorded of her in the Acts of the Apostles, but she is not once named in any of the Epistles. Yet, at the ceremony of the Mass the elements are offered up to God, it is said, in memory of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, of Jesus Christ, and for the honour of the Virgin Mary, &c.-Where is it to be found in the Scriptures that our Saviour suffered, rose, and ascended, for her honour, and the honour of other Saints? Not anywhere. It was for the honour and glory of God—an honour in which no Saint could participate.— It is enough for the most holy of Saints that Christ redeemed them