II. The invocation of saints is contrary to the sense of antiquity.

This is evident from the following considerations: 1. The testimony of the Church of Smyrna is decisive on this point. 2. Clemens Alexandrinus and others frequently speak of prayer as a worship peculiar to God. 3. It is impossible that the Church at their time could pray to saints, for several of the fathers thought that they did not yet enjoy the presence of God, and consequently could not intercede to him for their worshippers. 4. It was then the practice of the Church to pray for the departed spirits of holy men. It is impossible that they could at the same time pray to them. 5. In the Apostolical Constitutions there is no intimation of praying to saints. 6. In the Council of Laodicea there is an expression condemning those who invocate angels, where it is called "a secret idolatry, and a forsaking of our Lord Jesus Christ." 7. The first Apologists arraigned the heathen worship of demons in terms that shewed their condemnation of all such practices. 8. When the Arian controversy arose, the invocation of Christ alone, to the exclusion of saints and angels, is urged

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Clem. protrep. Tertull. Apol. c. 17.

b Conc. Laod. c. 35. See Just. Mart. Apol. 2. Iren. 1. 2. c. 35. Orig. cont. Cels.

1. 8. Tert. de Orat. c. 1.

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by Athanasius and other fathers as an evident argument for his divinity. 9. Even in the beginning of the fifth century, though private prayers to martyrs had been introduced, yet the public offices were preserved pure. St. Austin says," the Gentiles offer sacrifices to their gods, "but we do not sacrifice to martyrs; to one "God only do we offer, the God of martyrs and

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our God, in which sacrifice they are named in "their place and order, as men of God, who in "confessing him have overcome the world, but "they are not invocated by the priest who sacri"fices." And again. "Dead men ought to be so honoured, that we may imitate them, but "not worshipped."

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In the fifth century, Christians used to pray to God to hear the intercession of saints and and martyrs; still this was quite different from praying immediately to them to hear us. Hence arose the practice of having litanies to them, which were at first merely a desire that they should pray for those who invocated them," ora But afterwards all things that were pro nobis."

a See Athan. cont. Arian. Orat. 1. 3. 4. Greg. Naz. Orat. 40. Greg. Nyss. in Basil. cont. Eunap. Basil. Hom. 27. cont. Eunom. 1. 4. Epiph. Hær. 64, 69, 78, 79. Theod. de Hær. Fab. 1. 5. c. 3. Chrysost. de Trin.

b See Aug. con. Serm. Ar. c. 29. con. Max. 1. 13. c. 4.

De Civit. Dei. 1. 22. c. 10. 1. 8. c. 27.

See Usher's Answer to the Jesuit, p. 400.

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asked of God and Christ, were likewise asked from the Virgin Mary and the saints with the same humility of gesture and expression,2 or if there be any difference, it seems in favour of the latter. Thus, she is constantly addressed in these terms: Maria, mater gratiæ, mater "misericordiæ, tu nos ab hoste protege et hora "mortis suscipe;" and still more presumptuously thus; "Jure matris impera redemptori." Even the sacrifice of the mass is offered to her honour and to that of the saints, and in the form of absolution, the increase of grace and eternal life are prayed for by virtue of the passion of Christ and the merits of the Virgin and the saints. Nor can it be said that the invocation of saints is merely an address to them to pray for us; for the council of Trent encourages the flying" to their help and assistance," as well as "their intercession."c

The origin of this innovation may perhaps be traced to the anxiety which the fathers of the fifth and following centuries felt to bring over the heathen to Christianity. They may have observed the Apostles' compliances to the prejudices of the Jews, as St. Paul says, " to the "Jews he became a Jew, and to them that were

a See Jewel's Def. of Apol. par. ii. c. 11. div. 1.

b Severa! of these prayers may be found in Stillingfleet's Works, v. 6. p. 531, and v. 5. p. 379.

C See Conc. Trid. sess. 25, de Cultu Sanct.

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"without law, as one without law, that by all means he might gain some." They may have inferred from this, that if the Jews were thus complied with in the observance of an abrogated law, even after the Apostles had made a solemn decision on the subject, they were therefore justified in following the example with respect to the Heathens. Thus it was objected to the Christians of the first ages, that they had no altars, nor sacrifices, nor priests; an objection which they afterwards removed, by complying with the custom of the Gentiles. In the same way, images were introduced into private houses, and pictures into churches. Still it is remarkable, that where these superstitions increased in too great a degree, there we find opposition to them. Thus Epiphanius accuses the Collyridians of heresy for worshipping the Virgin Mary, by offering up a cake to her; and from his manner of treating the subject, it is evident that no prayers

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* The sect of the Collyridians arose in the latter end of the fourth century. They derived their name from cakes (collyrida) which they offered up as libations or sacrifices to the Virgin Mary.-See Epiphan. in hæres. 79.

From the condemnation of this sect as heretics by the primitive Church, Chillingworth deduces an unanswerable argument against the doctrine of infallibility, since it appears that their practice fully agrees with that of later Roman Catholics in offering incense to the Virgin Mary and the saints. See his Conference concerning the Infalli bility of the Rom. Ch.

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were then made to her by the orthodox. From these compliances, however, arose perhaps the corruptions of subsequent ages, and as the fathers who thus involuntarily occasioned them were not endowed with the spirit of prophecy, they could not foresee the consequences to which they led, and therefore submitted to them merely from motives of charity and policy. But as these motives of policy can now no longer exist, and as the abuses which we have been considering have proceeded to so scandalous an extent, we are justified in removing them, and reducing the worship of God to the simplicity of the first three ages of Christianity.

The practice of the invocation of saints is defended by the following arguments: 1. As the saints are in the presence of God, it is reasonable to suppose that they see all the concerns of the Church, of which they are still parts; and as they are in the most perfect state of charity, they must love the souls of their brethren on earth; so that if saints on earth, whose charity is not yet perfect, pray for one another, they in that state of perfection must pray most fervently for them. And as we on earth desire the prayers of others, it may be more useful to have resource to their prayers who are in a higher state of favour with God, and whose charity is more exalted, by

See Theodor, de cur. Græc. affect. 1. 8. de Martyr.