II. Such is the Romish case, as made out from canonical Scripture, from the unsafe Apocrypha, and from the ecclesiastical writings of the three first centuries..

1. The facts, to be substantiated, were: that The invocation of saints and the relative worship of images and relics and crosses, as propounded and defined by the Councils of Nice and Trent, are inculcated in Scripture; and that, accordingly, On scriptural authority, such practices universally and notoriously prevailed in the Catholic Church, during the first centuries, up to the very time of Christ and his Apostles.

But, respecting this invocation and respecting this relative worship, not a single syllable is said by any one of the witnesses produced, whether from Scripture, or from the Apocrypha, or from the ecclesiastical writings of the first three centuries.

Mr. Berington himself, indeed, is evidently in despair, though he puts the best face upon the matter that he can.

Speaking of images and crosses, he says: It cannot be necessary, that, on this subject, I should adduce any authorities from the Fathers, which would prove: that, In the early ages, particularly from the time of Constantine, painted representations of mysterious facts, of the cross, of the lives of

Tantum mementote tunc nostri, cum incipiet in vobis virginitas honorari. Cyprian. de habit. virgin. Oper. vol. i. p. 103.

saints, were exhibited in the places of public worship'.

With his views, and with the avowed object of his Work, I should have thought, that the production of authorities up to the apostolic age, for the purpose of substantiating the alleged fact, not merely of the exhibition of images and crosses and pictures, but of their relative worship on the part of the faithful as inculcated by the Councils of Nice and Trent, was, in truth, the very reverse of unnecessary. That Mr. Berington can produce abundant authorities from the time of Constantine downward, I make no manner of doubt: for the Church had then begun rapidly to degenerate into that unhallowed superstition, by which so widely in extent she has ever since been disfigured. But he must recollect, that the question is not, What might be the belief and practice of the fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh centuries, but What was was the belief and practice of the primitive Church up to the time of the Apostles founded professedly upon the teaching of inspiration. Yet the adduction of authorities, to this latter effect, Mr. Berington actually pronounces to be quite unnecessary. That it was out of his power to produce them, is sufficiently manifest: that their production is unnecessary, he will persuade no person who in the slightest degree understands the nature of historical testimony. The adduction of such evidence

'Faith of Cathol. p. 428.

is the precise matter, which we require: Mr. Berington assures us, that it cannot be necessary.

2. But, if it be impossible to substantiate the invocation of saints and the relative worship of images and relics and crosses, as defined by the two Councils of Nice and Trent, either from Scripture or from the Apocrypha or from the writings of the three first centuries: still less can such invocation and such worship be substantiated, as they practically exist or have existed in the gross form of absolute idolatry.

Those modern Romanists, who come in contact with scriptural Protestantism, are wont to assert : that their invocation of the saints is a mere request, that they would pray on their behalf; that the relative worship of images is simply the appropriate worship, whether Latria or Dulia, of the objects represented by such images, for the images themselves contain or possess no divine potency; that the relative worship of relics is nothing more than a natural affectionate veneration, on the principle of what are commonly styled keepsakes, for whatever has belonged to an eminently pious individual; and that the relative worship of the cross is but the ultimate worship of the incarnate Deity who was crucified.

Thus, for instance, complacently glozes the Bishop of Strasbourg to the english laic, whom he is attempting to proselyte. But, even to say nothing of the total want of authority, either scriptural or primitive, for such vain notions and

performances: how stands the matter, in respect to the fact of naked actual practice?

The very prayers, publicly used in the Latin Church, both before the Reformation and after the Reformation, supplicate the Virgin and the Saints, not merely to intercede for believers (as, while in the flesh, Christians are directed to pray for each other); but absolutely to grant to them those holy gifts and graces, and to impart to them that needful spiritual strength and assistance, which God only can bestow'. Dr. Trevern him

1 Sancta Dei genetrix, quæ dignè meruisti concipere quem totus orbis nequivit comprehendere; tuo pio interventu, culpas nostras ablue, ut perennis sedem gloriæ per te redempti, valeamus scandere, ubi manes cum filio tuo sine tempore. Collect. in Hor. ad usum Sacrum. Paris. 1520. fol. 4. Burnet's Hist. of the Reform. vol. ii. p. 143.

Sancta Maria, succurre miseris, juva pusillanimos, refove flebiles, ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto fœmineo sexu. Ibid. fol. 30.

Mariam primam vox sonet nostra, per quam nobis vitæ sunt data præmia: regina quæ es mater et casta, solve nostra per filium peccamina: angelorum concio sacra, et archangelorum turma inclyta, nostra diluant jam peccata præstando supernam cœli gratiam. Ibid. fol. 80.

Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis, nos, culpis solutos, mites fac et castos. Vitam præsta puram; iter para tutum : ut, videntes Jesum, semper collatemur. Ibid. fol. 33.

Consolare peccatorem: et ne tuum des honorem alieno vel crudeli, precor te, regina coeli. Me habeto excusatum, apud Christum tuum natum, cujus iram expavesco, et furorem pertimesco, nam peccavi tibi soli. O Maria virgo, noli esse mihi aliena, gratia cœlesti plena: esto custos cordis mei: signa me timore Dei: confer vitæ sanitatem: et da morum honestatem:

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self, with what consistence it matters not, cites approbatively, and adduces authoritatively, Cyril

da peccata me vitare: et, quod justum est, amare; O dulcedo virginalis nunquam fuit, nec est, talis. Ibid. fol. 44.

Georgi, martyr inclyte, te decet laus et gloria, prædotatum militia; per quem puella regia, existens in tristitia, coram dracone pessimo, salvata est. Et animo te rogamus, corde intimo, ut, cum cunctis fidelibus, cœli jungamur civibus, nostris abluti sordibus: ut simul, cum lætitia, tecum simus in gloria; nostraque reddant labia laudes Christo cum gloria. Ibid. fol. 77.

Martyr Christophore, pro Salvatoris honore, fac nos mente fore dignos Deitatis honore. Promisso Christi, quia quod petis obtinuisti, da populo tristi dona quæ moriendo petisti. Confer solamen, et mentis tolle gravamen. Judicis examen fac mite sit omnibus. Amen. Ibid. fol. 77.

O Willielme, pastor bone, cleri pater et patrone, munda nobis in agone: confer opem; et depone vitæ sordes; et coronæ cœlestis da gaudia. Ibid. fol. 78.

O vos, undena millia, puellæ gloriosa, virginitatis lilia, martyrii rosa, in vita me defendite, præbendo mihi juvamen: in morte vos ostendite, supremum ferendo solamen. Ibid. fol. 80. Maria, mater gratiæ, mater misericordiæ, tu nos ab hoste protege, et hora mortis suscipe. Solve vincla reis: profer lumen cæcis mala nostra pelle: bona cuncta posce. Monstra te esse matrem: sumat per te preces, qui, pro nobis, natus tulit esse tuus. Offic. parv. beat. Mariæ. p. 127.

In the mass-book, printed at Paris 1634, the grossly offensive idea, set forth in this prayer, is again propounded in slightly varied phraseology. Jure matris, impera Redemptori.

I reverence you, O sacred virgin Mary, the holy ark of the covenant and, together with all the good thoughts of all good men upon earth and all the blessed spirits in heaven, do bless and praise you infinitely, for that you are the great mediatrix between God and man, obtaining for sinners all they can ask and demand of the blessed Trinity. Hail Mary! The Devot. of the sacred heart of Jesus, including the devot. to the sacred