not plain instances of the worship of the Holy Ghost, together with the Father and the Son, it is hard to say, what words can express it.

SECT. 5.-In what Sense all Prayers are ordered to be directed to the

Father.

Now then, by all this we may interpret the meaning of that African Canon, which orders all prayers at the altar to be directed to the Father.' For that was not intended to exclude the worship of the Son and Holy Ghost together with the Father; for the hymns and doxologies before mentioned, which were used at the altar, plainly shew the contrary but it was designed, that when the sacrifice of Christ was commemorated, He should be considered as the great Mediator, by whose sacrifice we apply to the Father, and have access by his merits and intercession to the throne of grace and mercy. And therefore all prayers at the altar are ordered to be directed to the Father in his name: which very application was a worship of the Son as Mediator, and an honour peculiar to Him, and incommunicable to any creature. In other prayers direct applications were made to the Son, as we have seen before in that of the Constitutions for the dispossessing of devils: and in these prayers at the altar, the glorification was in common to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Whence Fulgentius, who was an African bishop, and therefore may be presumed to understand the meaning of the African Canons, tells us," " that all worship and adoration of honour and sacrifice was equally given to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that is, to the Holy Tri

2 Constit.

I Con. Carthag. iii. can. 23. lib. viii. cap. 8.3 Fulgent. ad Monimum. lib. ii. cap. v. Omne cujuslibet honorificentiæ et sacrificii salutaris obsequium, et Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, hoc est, Sanctæ Trinitati ab Ecclesia Catholicâ pariter exhiberi Neque enim præjudicium Filio vel Sancto Spiritui comparatur, dum ad Patris Personam precatio ab offerente dirigitur. Cujus consummatio dum Filii et Spirtûs Sancti complectitur nomen, ostendit nullam esse in Trinitate discrimen. Quia dum ad solius Patris personam sermo dirigi. tur, benè credentis fide tota Trinitas honoratur: et cùm ad Patrem litantis destinatur intentio, sacrificii munus omni Trinitati une eodemque offertur litantis officio.

nity, by the Catholic Church; and that it was no prejudice to the Son or the Holy Ghost, that the minister at the altar directed the prayers to the person of the Father. For in the end of them, the names of the Son and Holy Spirit were always expressed; and that shewed, that there was no difference in the Holy Trinity because when the words were only directed to the Person of the Father, yet the whole Trinity was honoured by the faith of the true believer; and whilst the intention of the sacrificer was more peculiarly fixed upon the Father, the sacrifice itself was by one and the same act offered to the whole Trinity." From all which it is evident to a demonstration, that the three Persons of the Holy Trinity were always the object of divine adoration from the first foundation of the Christian Church, and that the giving of divine honour to the Son and Holy Ghost, as God, was not the invention or addition of any later ages.

CHAP. III.

That in the ancient Church religious Worship was given to no Creature, Saint, or Angel, but to God alone.

SECT. 1.-This Position proved, first, from their general Declarations against giving religious Worship to any Creature.

It has been observed in the foregoing chapter, that the worship of Christ in the primitive Church was esteemed a good argument of his Divinity, because it was then an undoubted principle, that no creature, how excellent soever, was to be worshipped with religious worship, but only the living and true God. And an Arian or a Socinian can never answer or evade this argument from antiquity, so long as both those assertions stand good, that Christ was worshipped with religious worship, and that nothing is to be worshipped with religious worship, but only the living and true God. The force of this argument has been much weakened and indeed wholly enervated and destroyed by the writers of the Romish Church, in whose mouths the argument signifies nothing to an Arian or Socinian, because their own practice,

in giving religious worship to saints and angels, is a sufficient answer to it. For upon supposition, that saints and angels may be worshipped, the worship of Christ can be no argument of his Divinity, no more than it is of the divinity of saints and angels, because they are worshipped in the Romish Church. But, upon the principles of the primitive Church, the argument is unanswerable: for at the same time that they asserted the worship of Christ, they asserted likewise, that religious worship was not to be given to any creature, but to God alone. And in this view, the argument for Christ's Divinity was very rational and solid. As therefore we have seen the truth of the first position, that Christ was religiously worshipped in the primitive Church, made good from their undeniable assertions and practice: so now we will a little examine the truth of the second, that nothing is to be religiously worshipped but only the living and true God Which position is designed to be handled here; only as an illustration and confirmation of the argument for the Divinity of Christ, drawn from the practice of the primitive Church in giving religious adoration to Him. And the truth of this proposition I shall confirm briefly these three ways. 1. By shewing in general, that the Ancients declare universally against giving religious worship or adoration to any creature, or being, which by nature is not God. 2. That in particular they rejected the worship of saints and angels as idolatry and unlawful. 3. That there is no mention made of it but in the practice either of heretics, or heathens, whose idolatry is aggravated upon the account of this practice.

In the first place it is observable, that the Ancients in general declare against giving religious worship to any creature, or being, which by nature is not God. It would fill a whole volume to cite all that is said by the Ancients upon this head, therefore I shall content myself to select a few plain passages out of an infinite number that might be alleged to this purpose. Justin Martyr often tells the Emperors in his Apology,' "that Christians could worship none but God alone: and that Christ had taught them so in

Just. Apol. i.. p. 63. Tòv Ocòv μóvov dei πрookvvεiv. &c. It. p. "Οθεν Θεὸν μόνον προσκυνᾶμεν. &c.

64.

saying, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve, with all thy heart and with all thy strength, the Lord God that made thee.' And again in saying, render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's.' Therefore, we worship God alone, but in all other things we cheerfully serve you. In like manner Theophilus, bishop of Antioch: " I will honour the king," says he, "not by worshipping him, but praying for him. But I will worship God, the living and true God, knowing, that by Him the king is ordained. You will say then, why do you not worship the king? Because he is not made to be worshipped, but to be honoured with lawful honour. For he is not a God, but a man. And as he will not suffer any other to assume the title of king but himself; so neither is it lawful' to worship any other but God alone." In another place, he says, "God's laws forbid not only the worship of idols, but all other creatures, the sun, moon, and stars, heaven, earth and sea; and command the worship of the true God alone, who is the Creator of all things." After the same manner, Tertullian speaking of the Christians' prayers for the Emperors, and the peace of the world,' says, " They asked these things of the living and true God, and they could ask them of no other but Him, of whom they were sure to obtain them, because He alone was able to give them." And he repeats the same in several other places of his writings. This was the answer, which the martyrs commonly gave to the persecuting judges, when they solicited them to worship other Gods. When Fructuosus, a Spanish bishop, and martyr, who suffered at Tarragone, about the year 262, was commanded to sacrifice, he replied, "I only worship one God, the Maker of heaven

1 Theoph. ad Autolyc. lib. i. p. 30. Ovde űλλų te̟òv isɩ πpookvveïodal, ἀλλ ̓ ἢ μόνῳ Θεῷ. 2 Id. lib. ii. p. 173. Móvy rq övτws Deg k ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων χρὴ λατρέυειν. Tertul. Apol. cap. xxx. Nos pro salute imperatorum Deum invocamus æternum, Deum verum, Deum vivum. -Hæc ab alio orare non possum, quàm à quo me scio consecuturum, quoniam et ipse est qui solus præstat, &c. + Tertul. Scorpiac. cap. iv. Præscribitur mihi, ne quem alium adorem, aut quoquomodo venerer, præter unicam illam, qui ita mandat. Vid. Apol. cap. xvii. et ad Scapulam. cap. ii. Acta Fructuosi. ap. Baron. an. 262. n. lx. Ego Unum Deum colo, qui fecit cœlum et terram, et omnia quæ in eis sunt.

earth, and of all things that are therein." And so Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, answered Emylian, the prefect, as he himself tells us in an Epistle, recorded by Eusebius," I have publicly testified," says he," that I worship none but the true God alone, neither can I ever depart from this practice, or cease to be a Christian." And when Emylian urged him further to worship the gods of the Empire together with his own God, his answer was still the same, "We worship Him and no other." There are many the like expressions in Iræneus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen,* Cyprian, Lactantius, the author of the Recognitions, under the name of Clemens Romanus, Athenagoras, Tatian, and others: which, because the learned reader may have recourse to himself, or read them collected together in one view in that excellent book of Mr. Daille, against the idolatry of the Church of Rome, I shall here omit them, and proceed.

SECT. 2. Secondly, from their denying the Worship of Saints and Angels in particular, and condemning it as Idolatry.

5

To the second observation; which is, that the Ancients not only in general reject the worship of any creature, but reject the worship of saints and angels in particular, as idolatry and unlawful. And of this we cannot have a plainer proof, than was given in the answer of the Church of Smyrna, to the suggestion of the Jews, when, at the martyrdom of Polycarp, the Jews desired the Heathen Judge, that he would not permit the Christians to carry off the body of Polycarp, lest they should leave their crucified master, and begin to worship this man in his stead: "this suggestion," says the answer, "proceeded purely from ignorance, that we could neither forsake Christ, nor worship any other. For we worship Him as being the Son of God: but the martyrs as the disciples and followers of the Lord, we love with a due

8 Clem.

Dionys. Epist. ap. Euseb. lib. vii. c. 11. Τὸν Θεὸν ὄντα μόνον, και ἐδὲν ἑτερον σέβω. 2 Iren. lib. v. cap. xxii. Orig. cont. Cels. lib. ii. p. 10. lib. viii. p. Cypr. Ep. lxvi. al. lxviii. It ad Demetrian. p. 187. 6 Lactant. lib. ii. cap. i. lib. iii. c. vi. lib. iv. c. xiv. 'Recognit. lib.

Strom. vi. p. 825.

395. et passim.

v. n. xvi.

• Daillæ de Objecto Cultus Religiosi. lib. i. cap. ii. iii. iv.

Martyr. Polycarp. ap. Euseb. lib. iv. cap. xv. p. 134.