You believe also, that among the Saints of God, there is one of supereminent purity and sanctity, pronounced by an Archangel to be, not only gracious, but "full of grace;" the chosen instrument of God in the incarnation of his Son, and the intercessor with this her Son, in obtaining his first miracle, that of turning water into wine, at a time when his "time" for appearing in the world by miracles was "not yet come.” John iii. 4. "It is impossible," as one of the Fathers says, " to love the son, without loving the mother:-beg then of her, with affection and confidence, to intercede with Jesus, as the poor Canaanites did, to change the tears of your distress into the wine of gladness, by affording you the light and grace you so much want. You cannot refuse to join with me in the Angelic salutation: Hail full of grace, our Lord is with thee; () nor in the subsequent address of the inspired Elizabeth: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Luke i. 42. Cast aside, then, I beseech you, dear Sir, prejudices which are not only groundless but also hurtful, and devoutly conclude with me, in the words of the whole Catholic Church upon earth: Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I am, &c. J. M.

(1) Luke i. 28. The Catholic version is here used as more conformable to the Greek, as well as the Vulgate, than the Protestant, which renders the passage, Hail thou who art highly favoured.

LETTER XXXIV.

To JAMES BROWN, Esq, &c.

ON RELIGIOUS MEMORIALS.

DEAR SIR,

Ir the Catholic Church has been so grievously injured by the misrepresentations of her doctrine respecting prayers to the Saints, she has been still more grievously injured by the prevailing calumnies against the respect which she pays to the memorials of Christ and his Saints; namely, to crucifixes, relics, pious pictures, and images. This has been misrepresented, from almost the first eruption of Protestantism, (1) as rank idolatry, and as justifying the necessity of a Reformation. To countenance such misrepresentation, in our own country in particular, avaricious courtiers and grandees seized on the costly shrines, statues, and other ornaments of all the churches and chapels, and authorised the demolition or defacing of all other

(1) Martin Luther, with all his hatred of the Catholic Church, found no idolatry in her doctrine respecting crosses and images: on the contrary, he warmly defended it against Carlostadius and his associates, who had destroyed those in the Churches of Wittenberg. Epist. ad. Gasp. Guttal. In the title pages of his volumes, published by Melancthon, Luther is exhibited on his knees before a Crucifix. Queen Elizabeth persisted for many years in retaining a Crucifix on the altar of her chapel, till some of her Puritan courtiers engaged Patch, the fool, to break it: "no wiser man," says Doctor Heylin, (Hist. of Reform. p124,)" daring to undertake such a service." James I. thus reproached the Scotch Bishops when they objected to his plac ing pictures and statues in his chapel at Edinburgh: "You can endure Lions and Dragons, (the supporters of the Royal Arms) and Devils, (Queen Elizabeth's Griffins) to be figured in your churches, but will not allow the like place to Patriarchs and Apostles," Spotswood's History, p. 530.

religious memorials, of whatever nature or materials, not only in places of worship, but also in market places, and even in private houses. In support of the same pious fraud, the Holy Scriptures were corrupted in their different versions and editions, (1) till religious Protestants themselves, became disgusted with them, (2) and loudly called for a new translation. This was accordingly made, at the beginning of the first of James's reign. In short, every passage in the Bible, and every argument, which common sense suggests against idolatry, was applied to the decent respect which Catholics shew to the memorials of Christianity.

The misrepresentation in question still continues to be the chosen topic of Protestant controvertists, for inflaming the minds of the ignorant against their Catholic brethren. Accordingly, there is hardly a lisping infant, who has not been taught that Romanists pray to images; nor is there a secluded peasant who has not been made to believe, that the Papists worship wooden Gods. The Book of Homilies repeatedly affirms, that our images of

(1) See in the present English Bible, Colos. iii. 5. Covetousness which is idolatry: this in the Bibles of 1562, 1577, an d 1579, stood thus: Covetousness, which is the worshipping of images. In like manner, where we read, a covetous man who is an idolater; in the former editions we read; a covetous man which is a worshipper of idols. Instead of, What agreement hath the Temple of God with idols. 2 Cor. vi. 16: it used to stand: How agreeth the Temple of God with images. Instead of, Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John v. 21.. It stood during the reigns of Edward and Elizabeth: Babes keep yourselves from images. There were several other manifest corruptions in this as well as in other points in the ancient Protestant Bibles; some of which remain in the present version.

(2) See the account of what passed on this subject, at the Conference of Hampton Court, in Fuller and Collier's Church Histories, and in Neal's History of the Puritans.

B

Christ and his Saints are idols; that we "C pray and ask of them what it belongs to God alone to give;" and that "images have been and be worshipped, and so, idolatry committed to them by infinite multitudes to the great offense of God's Majestie, and danger of infinite soules; that idolatrie can not possibly be separated from images set up in churches, and that God's horrible wrath and our most dreadful danger cannot be avoided without the destruction and utter abolition of all such images and idols out of the Church and Temple of God" (1) Archbishop Secker teaches, that "The Church of Rome has other gods, besides the Lord,” and that "there never was greater idolatry among heathens in the business of image-worshipping than in the Church of Rome." (2) Bishop Porteus, though he does not charge us with idolatry, by name, yet intimates the same thing, where he applies to us one of the strongest passages of Scripture against Idol worship: They that make them are like unto them; and so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. Ps. cxiii. (3).

Let us now hear what the Catholic Church herself has solemnly pronounced on the present subject, in her General Council of Trent. She says, "The images of Christ, of the Virgin-mother of

(1) Against the Peril of Idols. P. iii.-This admontion was quickly carried into effect throughout England. All statues, bas-relievos, and crosses were demolished in all the Churches, and all pictures were defaced; while they continued to hold their places, as they do still, in the Protestant Churches of Germany. At length common sense regained its rights, even In this country. Accordingly we see the cross exalted at the top of its principal church (St. Paul's,) which is also ornamented all round, with the statues of Saints; most of the cathedrals and collegiate churches now contain pictures, and some of them, as for example, Westminster Abbey, carved images. (2) Comment. on C. Catech. sect. 24. (3) P. 31.

God, and of the other Saints, are to be kept and retained, particularly in the churches, and due honour and veneration is to be paid them: not that we believe there is any divinity or power in them, for which we respect them, or that any thing is to be asked of them, or that trust is to be placed in them, as the heathens of old trusted in their idols." (1) In conformity with this doctrine of our Church, the following question and answer are seen in our first Catechism, for the instruction of Children: "Question: May we pray to relics or images? Answer: No; by no means, for they have no life or sense to hear or help us.". Finally, that work of the able Catholic writers Gother and Challoner, which I quoted above, The Papists Misrepresented and Represented, contains the following anathema, in which I am confident every Catholic existing will readily join. "Cursed is he that commits idolatry; that prays to images or relics, or worships them for God. Amen."

Dr. Porteus is very positive, that there is no Scriptural warrant for retaining and venerating these exterior memorials; and he maintains that no other memorial ought to be admitted than the Lord's Supper. (2) Does he remember the Ark of the Covenant, made by the command of God, together with the punishment of those who profaned it, and the blessings bestowed on those who revered it? And what was the Ark of the Covevant after all? A chest of Settim wood, containing the Tables of the Law and two golden pots of manna; the whole being covered over by two carved images of Cherubim; in short, it was a memorial of God's mercy and bounty to his people. But, (1) Sess. xxv. (2) P. 28.