In this manner Bonaventura goes through the whole one hundred and fifty psalms, transferring and applying the supreme worship of God to a creature. In the same way he applies the songs or hymns of the prophets. Surely latria is here ascribed to the virgin Mary.

3. In consequence of this depravation of Christian worship their devotions have become materialized, and the worship of God as a Spirit has been transferred to inferior and material beings. Of this we have many specimens.

In the "Litany of the sacred heart of Jesus," the worship of Christ as God is transferred to the material object. We have in this litany alone thirty-one expressions similar to the following: Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us; heart of Jesus, ocean of bounty, have mercy on us.*

In the "Litany of the blessed sacrament," the bread is put before the suppliant as the supreme God. The following are specimens: Wheat of the elect, have mercy on us; food of angels, have mercy on us, &c.f

There seems to be a close connection between the doctrine of transubstantiation, the worship of material objects, and the worship of saints.

The practical effects of saint worship in the Church of Rome are, to ascribe to saints the supreme worship which belongs to God; unless so far as they are restrained from the grosser outward idolatries of their system by the awe or influence of Protestant sentiments and practice.

4. We give as a specimen the prayer to the virgin, as used by the scapulars in Italy, Spain, and Ireland. A book was printed in Dublin in 1826, for the Confraternity of the Holy Scapular of Whitefriarsstreet, with the following title: "A brief Account of the Indulgences, Privileges, and Favours conferred on the Order, Confraternities, and Churches of the most glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel with distinct instructions for the brothers and sisters of the sacred Scapular, and for all the faithful who visit the churches of the said Order. Translated from the Italian and Spanish languages, by Thomas Coleman, principal of the College of Carmelites, in Ireland."‡

The book affirms, that the virgin Mary will never permit those who are truly devoted to her to be damned. The book too is extracted from the writings of men who never published any work, without first having the approbation of the holy and apostolic see. These remarks are made to introduce the following prayer from the fifty-seventh

page:

66

"O Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, dearest mother of God, queen of angels, advocate of sinners, comforter of the afflicted, extend, O glorious virgin, the ear of your pity to the prayers of me, your most humble servant, and grant me by your grace to be in the number of those whom you love and keep inscribed in your virginal bosom. Purify my heart, O immaculate virgin! from every sin; take away and banish from me all, every thing that can offend your chaste eyes; purge this soul of its affection for earthly and sinful goods, and raise it to the love of celestial and everlasting blessings, and cause that this be my may

tuam super mea confitebor tibi et coram te me accuso de sceleribus meis. Fructus ventris tui me reconcilia, et pacifica me ei, qui mecreavit.—Psalterium Virginis Mana a Bonaventura. See also Chemnic., tom. iii, p. 347.

* Path to Paradise, p. 89.

See Protestant Journal for 1831, p. 814.

+ Id., p. 84.

whole study and diligence; pray to your Son, O holy virgin! for me now, always, and at the hour of my death, and in that tremendous and awful day of judgment, and when I shall be obliged to render an account of my actions, that by your means I may be able to escape the eternal flames."

In another part of the book, page fifty-first, section sixth, we are told in an address of the virgin, that "no favours are granted here below on earth, but what pass through your most holy hands."

Let any one consider the foregoing, and he will see how inapplicable is the common explanation of their apologists who say, that "they only pray to saints or the virgin to pray for them." And the above prayer is used by the scapulars, and other devout Romanists in Italy, Spain, and Ireland.*

5. The annexed prayer is used in France, and may be found in a "Manual of Prayers and Exercises in honour of the most holy Sacrament:" Paris, 1827, by Charles Mary Libraire. We give the following translation from the French ::

"" PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN MARY.

"Most holy virgin Mary, mother of God, queen of heaven and of earth, I devote myself entirely to thee: I choose thee as my queen, my protectress, and my mother. I give myself up to thee to be to the end of my life thy humble subject, thy servant, and thy child. I firmly believe in all thy privileges, and especially in thine immaculate conception, and thy triumphant assumption. I am resolved never to be ashamed of thy worship, to defend thy honour on all occasions against thine enemies, and never to permit any of those under my control to say or do any thing that may be opposed to it. I desire to act in all things from love to thine adorable Son and to thee, and I implore thee to dispose of the merit of my good works as it shall please thee, for his greater glory and for thine own. Finally, to supply those honours which I desire, but cannot render to thee, I offer to thee all those which thou didst receive here on earth from the incarnate Word, and which thou shalt receive eternally in heaven from the most holy Trinity.

"O tender mother, and supreme queen! come thou to my aid, scatter the dangers that threaten me, disperse mine enemies; grant to me the virtues which are needful for me: above all, assist me in all my actions, preserve me from all sin, or obtain from God my removal from this world. I ask of thee these favours through the blood of Jesus, and by the maternal affection which thou hast toward me. Amen."t

6. The saint worship of the Irish Roman Catholics runs up through dulia and hyperdulia, as they distinguish between the worship of the common saints and that of the virgin, so as to end in ascribing latria or supreme worship to the virgin.

In a tract published in Ireland in 1832, cum permissu superiorum, with the permission of superiors, entitled, The Little Testament of the Holy Virgin, after the preface, there is a prayer in these words :O ever blessed virgin Mary, the avenue of God's tender mercies to Thou wert promised from the beginning of the world to crush the serpent's head. Gen. iii, 15."

man!

* See London Protestant Journal for 1831, p. 814.

+ Idem, for 1832, p. 699.

In the last page of the tract there is the following:

"My child, I bequeath you my strength: it will uphold you in your temptations and labours, if you be but ready to be sacrificed for God." "From conviction, that as without Mary you can do nothing; so with her you can do all."

"All powerful virgin, pray for Ireland."

When we couple this prayer with the pope's encyclical letter, both of which were issued in 1832, what greater idolatry was ever published to the world? The pope says that the virgin Mary is the sole foundation of their hope. And, in the above prayer, she is put in the place of God, invested with omnipotence, all powerful virgin. She is represented as giving to man strength to overcome temptations and to endure labours. The two texts of Scripture, one of which Christ applied to himself, without me ye can do nothing, and the other, which the apostle applies to him, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, are perverted. This is the lesson which is taught the Irish children in their common school book, by the permission of the Board of Education, and by the authority of the superiors of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, and, of course, by the authority of the supreme pontiff.*

7. The annexed specimen is published in a book of devotion in general use among the Portuguese; and it is a just picture of their devotions in countries purely Roman. It was translated by the Rev. Mr. Kidder, and published in the Western Christian Advocate, vol. vii, p. With the translation, we give Mr. Kidder's account of the book.

137.

Trezenario of the prodigious wonder-worker and glorious patriarch, St. Francis de Paula, founder of the sacred order of the Minimos, or practical method of devotion for the thirteen Fridays instituted by the sacred saint; dedicated to the most august and faithful queen, Donna Marianna Victoria, our lady by the priest and friar, Francis de Paula Bozio, professor of the same institution. Lisbon, 1788.

With license from the Royal Board of General Commission upon the examination and censure of books.

This book consists of thirteen prayers to St. Francis de Paula for the several Fridays observed as days of special devotion by his particular followers.

The first prayer is dedicated to the saint's humility; the second to his obedience; the third to his chastity; the fourth to his poverty; the fifth to his mortification; the sixth to his prudence; the seventh to his faith; the eighth to his hope; the ninth to his charity; the tenth to his love of his neighbour; the eleventh to his meekness; the twelfth to his patience; the thirteenth and last to his perseverance.

As a specimen of what worship actually is paid to saints, and, by due authority, sanctioned, at least in Portugal, I will subjoin a translation of the "Prayers to St. Francis de Paula, for the third Friday, dedicated to the virtue of chastity of the said saint."

"O immaculate dove of purity, most precious emerald, and most singular exemplar of chastity, who, for the space of ninety-one years that thou livedst in this vale of misery, never didst defile the lily whiteness of thy virgin purity. By means of that singular prerogative, grant me the * See London Protestant Journal for 1833, p. 773.

482

grace I desire to obtain, for the sake of which I resort to thine altar on these thirteen sacred days on which the passion of our Redeemer is commemorated.

"1. I pray thee, by the vow of chastity, which, from thine infancy, thou didst make to God, always keeping it without the least failure.

Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Gloria Patri.

"2. I pray thee, by that column of fire which, in signal of triumph, appeared over thee, when thou didst quench in the waters of a river the flame which the excitements of the flesh were kindling against thy chastity.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"3. I pray thee, by the immaculate purity which thou didst preserve till the end of life, as the oracle of the Vatican hath declared.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"4. I pray thee, by the purity of thy most chaste eyes, with which thou didst kindle in the hearts of those whom thou didst behold impulses of the must pure and virtuous desire.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"5. I pray thee, by that most pure and celestial innocence, by which thou didst attract to thy conversation the angelic spirits, who were de lighted to hold intercourse with a soul so pure as thine.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"6. I pray thee, by that zeal with which thou didst persuade those who sought after thee to flee from familiarity with persons of the opposite sex.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"7. I pray thee, by the consolation and delight thou didst receive in conversing with souls pure and chaste, preferring them to princes and

monarchs.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"8. I beseech thee, by that comparison which thou usedst, in order to render sublime the virtue of chastity, saying, that it brings heaven to earth, and exalts earth to heaven; and that the angels are virgins without body, and virgins angels clothed with flesh.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"9. I beseech thee, by the incomparable modesty of all thy senses, with which thou didst guard, in thy heart, the inestimable gift of chastity.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"10. I beseech thee, by the sweet perfume which constantly exhaled from thy blessed body, and the admirable brightness which shone in all thy parts as proofs of thy perfect purity.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

11. "I beseech thee, by the prodigious miracle thou didst perform, curing the insanity of a profane lover, taking out of his ear an insect

2

31*

that exhaled an insufferable odour, thus demonstrating to the bystanders the injurious effects of luxury, and the excellence of chastity.

A. M. P. N. G. P.

"12. I beseech thee, by that most singular gift granted by God to thy body, after death, exempting it from corruption and preserving it unscathed even by the fire into which it was cast by the heretics, but which reverently suspended its effects until sanctified by the touch of some crosses which burned conjointly with thy body.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"13. I beseech thee by the great prodigy thou didst perform, when a worldly woman kissing a tooth of thine which was preserved in the sanctuary of Paula, it was broken by that kiss, on account of which, penetrated with true contrition, she made a vow to God of perpetual continence.

P. N. A. M. G. P.

"I do not, in the slightest degree, distrust thy powerful intercession, O most holy angel of purity, notwithstanding I see myself submerged in a sea of guilt. I acknowledge myself unworthy of thy protection; because I find myself stripped of the white garments of innocence, and consequently without merit to receive the precious robe of divine grace; as another prodigy of sin I have scattered the treasures of the divine assistance, but in imitation of thee, confessing at once my faults, I resort to the mercy of God, whom I have so gravely offended, and I hope, from thine intercession, that, having exchanged my licentious habits for those which are good, I shall happily attain the grace for which I have supplicated thee. Amen."

Here follows a hymn, an antiphony, and a response.

8. Even at Rome, under the eye of the pope, the most glaring idolatry exists in their saint worship. In the Archives du Christianisme of August 8th, 1840, we have extracts from two sermons preached at Rome. In one of the sermons, preached in the church of St. Louis at Rome, the preacher declares," that the kingdom of heaven was divided in two immediately after Jesus Christ had said on the cross, 'It is finished.' The kingdom of Justice was allotted to Jesus Christ, who appears only as a severe judge, and the kingdom of Mercy to Mary, who alone can open to us the gate of heaven."

expect

The traveller who heard and reported the sermons says, "I read, in the Church of the Jesuits, that the pope has granted one hundred years indulgence to him who will recite the following prayer: Immaculate virgin queen of heaven and the angels, I adore thee. Thou hast delivered me from hell. It is from thee that I all my salvation.' Such are the idolatrous sentiments and practice to which the worship of saints leads. And these are not abuses of their doctrine and practice; they are, on the contrary, their legitimate and unavoidable results; except where they are counteracted by the better teachings and practices of Protestants.

In our next chapter we will consider the popish arguments in favour of saint worship, adduce Scripture arguments against it, and trace out the history of this corruption of Christian worship.