which numbers, in our own day, so vast a proportion of the Christian world, and is steadily gaining ground in our own country? How grateful should we be to the providence of that gracious God, who dissipated the darkness which brooded over Europe before the sixteenth century, and who has so ordered our own lot, that we enjoy the utmost allowance of Scriptural light and Gospel liberty! And how deeply concerned and affectionately solicitous should we be for the increase of the same light and liberty, amongst that immense portion of the Christian family, who are yet clinging so fondly to their errors under the mistaken notion of infallibility, and who, although they know it not, are dependent upon the very Reformation which they despise, for the comparative purity, moderation and peace of their practical system. Let us then cherish more and more, the spirit of love towards them, and towards every other division of the Universal or Catholic Church. Not the weak and foolish love which is blind to every fault, and deaf to every suggestion of error; but the true Christian love which strikes to benefit, which rebukes to instruct, which wounds to heal. And may the prayer of faith and charity rise upwards on the wings of hope, that the mighty power of the Holy Spirit may reduce the conflicting elements of modern religion into harmony and order, that infidelity and superstition may alike submit to the Word of God, and the whole earth be filled with his glory.

LECTURE XI.

The APOCALYPSE, Xxii. 8, 9.-And after I had heard and seen, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who showed me these things, And he said unto me: See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the words of the prophecy of this book: Adore God. (Doway version.)

THE subject appointed for the following lecture, my brethren, will again bring us into communication with Dr. Wiseman, from whom I have been obliged to depart for two lectures past, because the important matters discussed in them, namely, the doctrine of anathema and persecution, and the system of celibacy, penance and mortification, which form the essential elements of sanctification in the Church of Rome, are totally passed by in his course, either because he thought that even his ingenuity could not give them an acceptable aspect to an English audience, or because he concluded that the less there was said about them, the better. But on the veneration and worship of the angels, the virgin Mary, and the saints, our author is strong and eloquent, and therefore I shall quote from his volumes, as I have done before.

"The Catholic doctrine," saith he, "regarding the saints, is twofold. In the first place, it teaches that the saints of God make intercession before him for their brethren on earth. In the second place, it teaches that it is lawful to invoke their intercession knowing that they do pray for us, we say it must be lawful to turn to them, and ask and entreat of them

to use that influence which they possess, in interceding on our behalf." (Vol. II. p. 80.)

"If you ask a Catholic," continues our author, "what he means by the communion of saints, he tells you at once, that he understands by it an interchange of good offices between the saints in heaven, and those who are fighting here below for their crown, whereby they intercede on their part on our behalf, look down on us with sympathy, take an interest in all that we do and suffer, and make use of the influence they necessarily possess with God, towards assisting their frail and tempted brethren on earth. And to balance all this, we have our offices towards them, inasmuch as we repay them in respect, admiration and love, with the feeling that those who were once our brethren, having run their course, and being in possession of their reward, we may turn to them in the confidence of brethren, and ask them to use that influence with their Lord and Master which their charity and goodness necessarily move them to exert." (P. 81.)

Proceeding to show how this idea is founded upon the doctrine, that the departed saint cannot have forgotten his personal associates when he leaves this world, our author asks the question: "Who will for a moment imagine--who can for an instant entertain the thought, that the child which has been snatched from its parent by having been taken from a world of suffering, does not continue to love her whom it has left on earth, and sympathize with her sorrows over its grave? Who can believe that when friend is separated from friend, and when one expires in the prayer of hope, their friendship is not continued, and that the two are not united in the same warm affection which they enjoyed here below? And if it was the privilege of love on earth-if it was one of the holiest duties, to pray to the Almighty for him who was so perfectly beloved-can we suppose that this holiest, most beautiful and most perfect duty of charity, hath ceased in heaven? Can we

believe that God would deprive charity of its highest preroga tive, when he has given it its brightest crown?" (Ib. 82, 83.)

Our author passes on from this eloquent interrogation to exhibit some Scriptural evidence on this branch of the argument. "We have the plainest and strongest assurances," saith he, "that God does receive the prayers of the saints and the angels, and that they are constantly employed in supplications on our behalf. For we have the belief of the universal Jewish Church, confirmed in the new law. The belief of the old law is clear, for we find that the angels are spoken of constantly as in a state of ministration over the wants and necessities of mankind. In the book of Daniel, for instance, we read of angels sent to instruct him, and we have mention made of the princes, meaning the angels of different kingdoms.-Our Saviour speaks of this as a thing. well understood-Even so,' saith he, there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.'-We are elsewhere told that the saints of God shall be like his angels. We have also the angels of individuals spoken of, and we are told not to offend any of Christ's little ones, or make them fall, because their angels always see the face of their Father who is in heaven.-But in the Apocalypse, we have still stronger authority, for we there read of our prayers as being perfumes in the hands of angels and saints. One blessed spirit stood before a mystical altar in heaven, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the angel. And not only the angels but the twenty-four elders, cast themselves before the throne of God, and pour out vials of sweet odours, which are the prayers of the saints." (Ib. p. 83, 4, 5.)

X

"From all this," continues Dr. Wiseman, "it is proved that the saints and angels know what passes on earth, that they are aware of what we do and suffer, that they actually present our prayers to God and intercede in our behalf with him. Here then is a basis, and a sufficient one for our belief; that prayers are offered for us by the saints, and therefore that we may apply to them for their supplications." (Ib. 85.)

In these quotations, brethren, we see a specimen of the whole system of the Church of Rome, which, beginning in truth, goes on with inference after inference, until the result becomes a dangerous error. The communion of saints, the fact that the departed spirit continues to love and pray for its individual friends and family; that the angels are ministering spirits sent forth, as St. Paul declares, to minister to those that shall be heirs of salvation; that through the intelligence given by these ministering angels, the departed saints are probably informed of all that interests them on earth, and that the progress and prosperity of the whole Church, as well as the happiness of their individual friends, are the constant subject of their supplications; that in heaven, the four and twenty elders, with the cherubim, offer up golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints, and that the communion of the whole is thus sustained in affection, sympathy, and supplication for us by the departed saints, and in love, and remembrance, and desire to enjoy their society on our part, below-all this we grant and believe as fully as the Church of Rome, because we have the testimony of the Word of God in its favour. On this true basis, however, they have erected a lofty structure of superstition, and I fear I must add, impiety, in no part of which can we discern any real authority of Scripture or right reason. We deny utterly, therefore, the inference of Dr. Wiseman, that because we believe the departed saints remember and pray for us, therefore it is right that we should pray to them. We