to read them in the spirit of piety, humility, and obedi

ence.

Pope Pius VII., in a Rescript dated April 18, 1820, and addressed to the vicars apostolic in England, earnestly exhorts them to confirm the people committed to their spiritual care, in faith and good works; and for that end, to encourage them to read books of pious instruction, and particularly the Holy Scriptures, in translations approved by ecclesiastical authority; because, to those who are well-disposed, nothing can be more useful, more consoling, or more animating than the reading of the Sacred Scriptures, understood in their true sense-they serve to confirm the faith, to support the hope, and to inflame the charity of the true Christian.

But when the reading and the circulation of the Scriptures are urged and recommended as the entire rule of faith, as the sole means by which men are to be brought to the certain and specific knowledge of the doctrines, precepts, and institutions of Christ; and when the Scriptures, so read and circulated, are left to the interpretation and private judgment of each individual: then, such reading, circulation, and interpretation, are forbidden by the Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church knows that the circulation of the Scriptures, and the interpretation of them by each one's private judgment, was not the means ordained by Christ for the communication of the true knowledge of his law to all nations-she knows that Christianity was established in many countries before one book of the New Testament was written that it was not by means of the Scriptures, that the Apostles and their successors converted nations, or any one nation, to the unity of the Christian faith—that the unauthorised reading and circulation of the Scriptures, and the interpretation of

them by private judgment, are calculated to lead men to contradictory doctrines on the primary articles of Christian belief; to inconsistent forms of worship, which cannot all be constituent parts of the uniform and sublime system of Christianity; to errors and fanaticism in religion, and to seditions, and the greatest disorders in states and kingdoms.

SECTION IV.

On the charge of idolatry and superstition.

Ignorance or malice has gone so far as to charge the Catholic Church with IDOLATRY, in the sacrifice of the Mass-in the adoration (as it is called) of the Virgin Mary, and in the worship of the Saints, and of the images of Christ and of the Saints; and with SUPERSTITION, in invoking the Saints, and in praying for souls in purgatory. Now, idolatry consists in giving to any creature that supreme adoration, honour, or worship which is due only to Almighty God.

The Catholic Church teaches that idolatry is one of the greatest crimes that can be committed against the majesty of God: and every true member of this Church shudders at the idea of such a crime, and feels grievously injured by so horrid an imputation.

But it is said that Catholics adore the elements of bread and wine in the Mass; that they adore the Virgin Mary; that they adore the cross; and that they worship the Saints, and the images of Christ and of the Saints. Before we repel these horrid imputations, in the sense in which they are made, we must explain the different meanings of the words adoration, honour, and worship, that the calumnious charge, and its denial, may be understood in the same explained sense.

We find that in the language of the sacred Scripture in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin," as well as in the language of the ancient liturgies of the Christian Church, these words adoration, honour, and worship, are ambiguous terms, and are used in different senses, according to the nature of the object to which the act implied by the term, is directed, and according to the intention of him who performs the act. Hence we find them used as relating sometimes to God, and sometimes to creatures. Although in modern times, the exclusive idea of that supreme homage which is due only to God, is attached by some to the words adoration and worship; yet these words may still be retained by others in a different meaning, without affording the remotest cause for the imputation of idolatry. In this different meaning they are still retained in the unchanged language of the ancient liturgies used in the Catholic Church.

The words adoration and worship are equally referred, sometimes to God, and sometimes to creatures, as is the word honour. Now, because we are commanded in Scripture to honour God, and to honour the king; and children are commanded to honour their parents: it does not follow that the honour due to the king, or to parents, is the same as that which we owe to God. To God we owe supreme and sovereign honour, such as it would be a crime to pay to any creature. To the king we owe the highest civil honour. To parents, children owe the honour of filial respect and obedience. How unjust would it be to say, that

(b) See in Hebrew, Prov. iii. 9, and Exod. xx. 12, Deut. xxviii. 47 and 48, Ps. xcvi. 9, and 1 alias 3d Kings. i. 23. In Greek, Gen. xxiv. 26, and Gen. xlix. 8. In Latin, Adorare, Ps. xxviii. 2, and Gen. xxiii. 7; and 4th alias 2 Kings ii. 15.

because a subject honours his king, he pays him that supreme and sovereign honour which is due only to God! The same is to be said of the terms adoration and worship, as used in former times, and sometimes used at present in the language of the Catholic Church. To adore, even according to modern usage, often means no more than to express extreme affection or respect. To worship is used in the translation of the Bible, published at Oxford, to signify inferior as well as supreme worship. In the first book of Chronicles, xxix. 20, we read, in that edition, that the assembly bowed down their heads and WORSHIPPED the Lord (Jehovah) and the king. Did they worship the king with the same supreme worship which they paid to God? Certainly not. When a man says to the woman he takes to wife, "With my body I thee worship," can this be called idolatry? Surely nothing can be more unfair than arguments drawn from ambiguous terms, construed in a sense disavowed by those against whom the arguments are employed.

We answer, therefore, that if by the terms adoration, honour, and worship, be understood that supreme adoration, honour, and worship which is due only to God; Catholics do not adore, nor honour, nor worship any other than the one, only, true, and living God, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of the universe; they do not, in this sense, adore, nor honour, nor worship the Virgin Mary, nor any of the saints, nor the cross, nor images, nor any other creature whatsoever.

In the Mass, Catholics do offer supreme adoration, not to the elements of bread and wine, which they hold not to be present after the consecration; but to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom they believe to be truly, really, and substantially present, under the appearances only of bread

and wine after the consecration, and change thereby of the elements into his body and blood. To adore Christ by an act of supreme adoration, is no idolatry; because he is truly God, and consequently a legitimate object of supreme worship.

But if Catholics, using the ancient language of the Christian Church, are said,

First, to worship the saints; this worship must be understood to be only an inferior worship, honour, and respect paid to them proportionate to the limited perfections and excellencies which God has bestowed upon them; but this worship is infinitely below that supreme worship which they pay to God. Catholics acknowledge no perfection or excellence in any saint, not even in the blessed Virgin Mary, which they do not profess to be the work and gift of God in them. So that in honouring the saints, they celebrate the works of God, and consequently give glory to him. Whatever act of religious veneration we pay to the saints, is ultimately referred to God.

Secondly, to adore the cross. This word, if applied to the cross itself, means no more than an inferior and relative respect paid to the instrument of our redemption; but if in lieu of the cross it be applied to Christ himself, then it means, as it ought to mean, an act of supreme adoration.

Thirdly, to worship the images of Christ or of the saints. The word is here again understood by Catholics only of an inferior and relative respect shown to images, in consideration of the respect due to the objects which they represent, and to which the respect shown to the images is referred. In this sense respect is shown to the statue or to the throne of the king, in consideration of the majesty of the personage to whom they relate. An insult offered to his statue would be considered as intended to be offered