were gradually omitted: the orators addressed the dead directly, and solicited their assistance without any reserve. In the fifth century, they prayed to God to listen to the intercessions of his saints and martyrs: not long afterwards litanies were appropriated to them; and at length, by an easy transition, prayers were offered to them in the same manner as to God and Christ. Thus the invocation of saints became an established practice of the Christian church; it was continued through the dark ages; and the Council of Trent decreed, that "all men are to be condemned who do not own that the saints reigning with Christ offer their prayers to God for men; and that it is useful to invoke them to procure their assistance in asking God for blessings through Christ." a a The following is the formal statement of the Roman Catholic Church on these subjects: "Mandat Sancta Synodus omnibus Episcopis, et cæteris docendi munus curamque sustinentibus, ut juxta Catholicæ et Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ usum, à primævis Christianæ Religionis temporibus receptum, sanctorumque patrum consensionem, et sacrorum conciliorum decreta, in primis de Sanctorum intercessione, invocatione, reliquiarum honore, et legitimo imaginum usu, fideles diligenter instruant, docentes eos, Sanctos unà cum Christo regnantes, orationes suas pro hominibus Deo offerre, bonum atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare: et ob beneficia impetranda à Deo per Filium ejus Jesum Christum, Dominum nostrum, qui solus noster Redemptor et Salvator est, ad eorum orationes, opem auxilium que confugere: illos verò qui negant, Sanctos æternâ felicitate in cœlo fruentes, invocandos esse; aut qui asserunt, vel illos pro hominibus non orare; vel eorum, ut pro nobis etiam singulis orent, invocationem esse idololatriam ; vel pugnare cum verbo Dei, adversarique honori Unius Mediatoris Dei et hominum, Jesu Christi; vel stultum esse, in cœlo regnantibus voce vel mente supplicare; impiè sentire. Sanctorum quoque Martyrum, et aliorum cum Christo viventium sancta corpora, quæ viva membra fuerunt Christi, et templum Spiritus Sancti, ab ipso ad æternam vitam suscitanda et glorificanda, à fidelibus veneranda esse; per quæ multa beneficia à Deo hominibus præstantur: ita ut affirmantes, Sanctorum reliquiis venerationem atque honorem non deberi; vel eas, aliaque sacra monumenta à fidelibus inutiliter ho A very little inquiry will convince us that there is no foundation whatever for this doctrine in norari; atque eorum opis impetrandæ causâ Sanctorum memorias frustra frequentari; omninò damnandos esse, prout jam pridem eos damnavit, et nunc etiam damnat Ecclesia. Imagines porrò Christi, Deiparæ Virginis, et aliorum Sanctorum, in templis præsertim habendas et retinendas, eisque debitum honorem et venerationem impertiendam; non quòd credatur inesse aliqua in iis divinitas, vel virtus, propter quam sint colendæ; vel quòd ab eis sit aliquid petendum; vel quòd fiducia în imaginibus sit figenda, veluti olim fiebat à gentibus, quæ in idolis spem suam collocabant; sed quoniam honos, qui eis exhibetur, refertur ad prototypa, quæ illæ repræsentant: ita ut per imagines, quas osculamur, et coram quibus caput aperimus et procumbimus, Christum adoremus; et Sanctos, quorum illæ similitudinem gerunt, veneremur. Id quod conciliorum, præsertim verò secundæ Nicænæ Synodi, decretis contra imaginum oppugnatores est sancitum. Illud verò diligenter doceant Episcopi, per historias mysteriorum nostræ redemptionis, picturis vel aliis similitudinibus expressas, erudiri et confirmari populum in articulis fidei commemorandis, et assiduè recolendis; tum verò ex omnibus sacris imaginibus maximum fructum percipi: non solùm quia admonetur populus beneficiorum et munerum quæ à Christo sibi collata sunt; sed etiam quia Dei per Sanctos miracula et salutaria exempla oculis fidelium subjiciuntur, ut pro iis Deo gratias agant, ad Sanctorumque imitationem vitam moresque suos componant; excitenturque ad adorandum ac diligendum Deum, et ad pietatem colendam. Si quis au In tem his decretis contraria docuerit, aut senserit, anathema sit. has autem sanctas et salutares observationes si qui abusus irrepserint, eos prorsùs aboleri Sancta Synodus vehementer cupit; ita ut nullæ falsi dogmatis imagines, et rudibus periculosi erroris оссаsionem præbentes, statuantur. Quòd si aliquandò historias et narrationes sacræ Scripturæ, cùm id indoctæ plebi expediet, exprimi et figurari contigerit, doceatur populus, non propterea divinitatem figurari, quasi corporeis oculis conspici, vel coloribus aut figuris exprimi possit. Omnis porrò superstitio in Sanctorum invocatione, reliquiarum veneratione, et imaginum sacro usu tollatur : omnis turpis quæstus eliminetur, omnis denique lascivia vitetur; ita ut procaci venustate imagines non pingantur nec ornentur: et Sanctorum celebratione, ac reliquiarum visitatione homines ad comessationes atque ebrietates non abutantur; quasi festi dies in honorem Sanctorum per luxum ac lasciviam agantur. Postremò, tanta circa hæc diligentia et cura ab Episcopis adhibeatur, ut nihil inordinatim, aut præpostere et tumultuarie accommodatum, nihil profanum, nihilque inhonestum appareat; cùm domum Dei deceat sanctitudo. Hæc ut fidelius observentur, statuit Sancta Synodus, nemini licere ullo in loco, vel Ecclesia, etiam quomodolibet exempta, ullam insolitam ponere, vel ponendam curare imaginem, nisi ab Episcopo approbata fuerit: nulla etiam admittenda esse nova miracula, nec novas reliquias recipiendas; nisi eodem recognoscente et approbante Episcopo. Qui simul atque de iis aliquid compertum habuerit, adhibitis in consilium Scripture. We are commanded to offer our prayers to God through Christ alone. "There is one God, 66 and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." a Through him we have access to the Father."- No other person is mentioned by whom we can approach the Father, and the silence of Scripture is decisive upon this subject; for we may rest assured, that every necessary direction is given to us relative to the important duty of prayer. The worshipping of angels is forbidden by St. Paul: "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels;" it must therefore be unlawful to worship men, who were "made lower than the angels." Several of the Apostles and first Christians, particularly St. James the Great, and St. Stephen, had suffered martyrdom when the Epistles were written, but no mention is made of offering prayers to them, or through them. d I have thus endeavoured to trace the origin and progress of the five doctrines condemned in this Article, between which there is a close connection, and their history has in general carried with it their complete refutation. All of them had spe theologis, et aliis piis viris, ea faciat, quæ veritati et pietati consentanea judicaverit. Quòd si aliquis dubius aut difficilis abusus sit extirpandus; vel omninò aliqua de iis rebus gravior quæstio incidat; Episcopus, antequam controversiam dirimat, Metropolitani et comprovincialium Episcoporum in concilio provinciali sen tentiam expectet: ita tamen, ut cious beginnings; and the mischief, in almost every case, proceeded from their being allowed to transgress the bounds of propriety", without correction or remonstrance from those whose duty it was to watch over and preserve the purity of Christian worship. The increasing darkness of the times soon caused them to degenerate still farther; but they had then made such an impression upon the minds of men, and so many of the clergy found it their interest to support them, that all resistance from the sound and orthodox part of the church became ineffectual. The desire of complying with the prejudices of the heathen might also have some weight in the introduction of practices, which by degrees led to some of these corruptions; but the great source of all these evils seems to have been, that spirit of "will-worship," which was gradually admitted into the Church, notwithstanding the solemn caution which had been given against it. Our Reformers, therefore, were fully justified in rejecting these doctrines, which had thus arisen from indiscretion and avarice on the one side, and from ignorance and superstition on the other, and to pronounce them GROUNDED ON NO WARRANTY OF SCRIPTURE, BUT RATHER REPUGNANT TO THE WORD OF GOD. Superstition that riseth voluntarily, and by degrees which are hardly discerned, mingling itself with the rites even of very divine service done to the only true God, must be considered of as a creeping and encroaching evil; an evil, the first beginnings whereof are commonly harmless, so that it proveth only then to be an evil when some further accident doth grow unto it, or itself come unto further growth."-Hooker's Eccl. Pol. book v. ARTICLE THE TWENTY-THIRD. OF MINISTERING IN THE CONGREGATION. It is not lawful for any Man to take upon him the Office of Public Preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same: and those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this Work by Men who have Public Authority given unto them in the Congregation to call and send Ministers into the Lord's Vineyard. THIS Article consists of two parts; the former asserts the unlawfulness of exercising the public offices of religion without a regular appointment, and the latter relates to the authority by which ministers are to be appointed. It seems to be a general principle extending to all religions, both of ancient and modern times, that certain persons should be appointed exclusively to perform the offices belonging to their respective forms of worship. This has been invariably the case in the different systems of Paganism; and the same distinction has always prevailed in the worship of the one true God. In the patriarchal ages the heads of families, and afterwards kings, acted as priests; and under the Mosaic dispensation a a Melchisedek was king of Salem, and likewise priest of the Most High God, Gen. xiv. 18. In imitation of which ancient usage, Virgil makes Anius both king and priest: Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phœbique sacerdos. And Aristotle, speaking of the heroical ages, says, Erpatos ny και δικαστης ὁ βασιλευς, και των προς τους Θεούς κύριος. |