POPERY.
by
Rev.
Ingram Cobbin M.A. (1896 AD)
Protestant writers often seem to
take up the pen rather in self-defence than as assailants of Popery; or, at
least, they do not think of assailing it till it has assumed an imposing posture,
and threatened their faith by its daring advances. Such is the relative position of Popery and Protestantism among
us at the present moment, though in many other countries the former is on the
decline; and every true servant of Christ is called upon to use his best
efforts to repel the artful destroyer.
Though apologies are offered for truth, truth needs no apology. We are accused by Papists as schismatics and
heretics; but the so-called schism consists in separating from their church, and not from the church of Christ; and our
heresy is shunning their tradition, and not the word of God—the only standard
of truth and infallible guide of our judgments. Whatever does not come from the fountain of truth in doctrine,
and whatever does not accord with the practice of the primitive church before
the Fathers wrote, or human creeds were invented, or Popish councils assembled,
should be avoided as we would avoid the most destructive pestilence, On these
grounds would we warn against Popery as the moral Upas-tree —to come within the
atmosphere of which is to inhale the most deadly poison for the soul. The limits to which this [Essay is
restricted, require us to plunge at once into the heart of the subject, without
further introductory remarks:—
THE CHURCH OF ROME IS ERRONEOUS IN ITS DOCTRINES. The Papists, with us, believe (1) in original sin, its defiling and ruinous nature,
its being entailed from one child of Adam to another; but for the cure of this
they have, as they imagine, a special remedy, which is baptism, "rightly
administered according to the forms of the church :" in which ordinance
the merits of Christ are applied, and thus what was contracted in generation is
cleansed away by this sort of regeneration!
The same doctrine is now notoriously enforced by the semi-papists who
have started up in the church of England—a doctrine which at once sets aside
the need of a change of heart, and deludes thousands with the idea that they
have by this ordinance been made Christians, instead of having only received
"an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace," which
if they do not afterwards possess, will cause them to fall short of that
qualification which fits for the kingdom of heaven.
(2) The doctrine of Justification lies at the root of the
tree of life. Without an entire faith
in the merits of a better righteousness than our own, we can never be
saved. So conscious are mankind of
guilt in the sight of God, that all the world have virtually at least
acknowledged it. Infidels themselves,
in moments of danger, have trembled at the thought of eternity, and have even
prayed. "How shall man be just
with God?" is a question of the utmost moment; yet, deceived by the
arch-adversary, men have ever been ready to prefer a religion of external
forms, to a religion of the heart—an outside, to an inside cleansing: a
religion in which they fancy there is much merit, rather than one in which they
must be indebted wholly to Divine grace.
Popery panders to this lust of pride.
One article, among many others on the subject, by the council of Trent,
the indisputable standard of popery, says, "If any one shall affirm that
good works do not preserve and increase justification, but that good works themselves
are only the fruits and evidence of justification already had, let such an one
be accursed." If justification is
to be preserved by us, then the
justification wrought out by Christ is, at best, but a precarious
justification; and if we eau increase it, then it is
incomplete justification. If we appeal
to the Bible standard, the question there occurs, "It is God that
justifieth; who is he that condemneth?"
But popery is a jumble on this great doctrine; it makes Christ to do
part and the sinner to do part, and undervalues the efficacy of the atoning
blood and all-sufficient righteousness of "the Lord our
Righteousness." Thus one of its
acknowledged standard authors says, "These penitential works, he [the
papist,] is taught to be no otherwise satisfactory, than as joined and applied
to the satisfaction Jesus made upon the cross; in virtue of which alone, all
our good works find a grateful acceptance in God's sight." Here is the most complete confusion. A man's works must be joined and applied to
the satisfaction of Christ; and yet it is in virtue of Christ's satisfaction
that our good works can be acceptable to God!
If we ask how hr the efficacy of Christ's atonement extends, we are told
that it extends to all mortal sins, as if there could
be any sin not mortal, and exposing us to eternal death; but then there are
sins from which we must be justified by our own deeds, venial transgressions, which prayers, fastings, almsgiving,
penance, and purgatory may in the end remove.
While many poor souls are deluded by this doctrine of mixed justification,
partly by Christ and partly by the sinner himself, the Roman Catholic church,
by working on the pride of the human heart on the one hand, and on the fears of
trembling souls on the other, derives no small advantage from these misnamed
meritorious labours and toils.
Moreover, in addition to his own good deeds, the papist can help himself
from the stock of others, who need to perform them no longer! Those saints who have lived such immaculate
lives, that they have done more than their duty to God and man, and have got
safe to heaven with a treasure of works of supererogation
to
spare, are kind enough to allow the pope for the time being to assign to such
as he thinks proper "a portion of this inexhaustible source of merit,
suitable to their respective guilt, and sufficient to deliver them from the
punishment due to their crimes!"
This doctrine was first invented in the twelfth century, and modified
and embellished by St. Thomas in the
thirteenth. To suppose that a sinful
creature, who is bound to love God with all his heart and soul and mind and
strength, could with his sinful nature perform more than is here required, is
one of the most preposterous ideas that ever entered into the mind of man. The belief of such a doctrine is "the
firstborn of delusion;" it need be answered but very briefly from the
words of our Divine Lord himself," When ye shall have done all those
things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done
that which was our duty to do," Luke xvii. 10. And could we serve
and worship God incessantly, with the purity and ardour of the burning seraphs
around the eternal throne, we should still do no more than our duty.
(3) Absolution is a power presumed to
belong to the popish priesthood By this the priest pronounces remitted the sins
of such as are penitent. The council of
Trent and that of Florence declare the form or essence of the sacrament to lie
in the words of the absolution," I absolve thee of thy sins!" According to this, no one can receive absolution
without the privity, consent, and declaration of the priest: therefore, unless
the priest be willing, God himself cannot pardon any man. They found this doctrine on John xx. 23:
"Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins
ye retain, they are retained." Had
the words implied power to pardon sins, still that power could not, from this
warrant, go beyond the apostles on whom it was conferred, as was the power of
working miracles. But we see no such
power claimed. The apostles preached
the forgiveness of sins to those that repented and believed, (Acts iii.19,
etc.) and in all eases their theme was the same, "Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins," Acts xiii. 38.
It was, therefore, no more than a declarative absolution, assuring
sinners that "He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and
unfeignedly believe his holy gospel."
No power here belongs to the priest; it is God only who can forgive
sins.
(4) Indulgences. Nearly allied to the doctrine of
absolution, is the power of granting indulgences, or "a remission of the
punishment due to sin, granted by the church, and supposed to save the sinner
from purgatory." With alt his absolution,
the good papist stops short of heaven at last; for the moment his breath is out
of his body, he enters purgatory. But
the keys of heaven being committed to St. Peter, and the popes in succession,
they can unlock the gates, and let in the vilest sinners that ever corrupted
the world! For various prices souls may
be redeemed out of purgatory, and any one may make his friends a present of a
plenary remission of all sins! This is
too ridiculous to merit notice, but for the awful delusion with which it is
connected. The popish priest having
asserted his power to forgive sins, poor souls who give credit to his assertion
are naturally anxious to obtain pardon from him. But in order so to do, he requires that to him they should make confession.
(5) Purgatory must here be
noticed. It has been defined as "a place m which the just who depart out of this life are
supposed to expiate certain offences, which do not merit eternal
damnation." Now, all sin is sin;
and every sin is "the transgression of the law,"
1 John
iii. 4; and sin, then, must merit death, "for the wages of sin is death," Rom. vi. 23. Nor does the Scripture tell us anything
about the wicked being in punishment for a limited time, or even going to an
intermediate state, or passing from hell to heaven. It tells us that the duration of the misery of the wicked is like
that of the happiness of the righteous, which is forever, Mark ix. 44; 1 Thess. iv. 17, etc.; that the good go
instantly into the paradise of God, Luke xxiii. 43, Phil. i. 23; and that the
wicked as instantly lift up their eyes in torments—torments from which escape
to heaven is rendered impossible by an impassable gulf, Luke xvi. 26.
There are two scriptures on which the papists found their doctrine of
purgatory, Matt. xii. 32, and 1 Pet. iii. 8—20. The language of the former is a strong mode of expressing the
unchangeable punishment of him who sins against the Holy Ghost. "It shall not be forgiven
him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." But it does not warrant us to say that any
are forgiven in the world to come; and St.
Paul assures us, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is
the day of salvation," 2 Cor. vi. 2.
The second passage must be greatly wrested if we attempt to make
anything more from it than what appears on its very face. Christ, who by his Spirit inspired Noah the
preacher of righteousness, preached to the antediluvian sinners, now, and when
the apostle Peter wrote, confined in the prison to which all unbelievers are
for ever consigned. This doctrine of
purgatory is, however, in harmony with the other parts of the popish creed, as
it evidently leaves the work of pardon through Christ incomplete, and leaves
even the best to make atonement to justice in another world!
(6) The sacrifice of the mass is one of the peculiar
doctrines of popery. For not believing
in this, many a one has been sent by the papists in a chariot of fire, to join
"the noble army of martyrs."
The mass is similar to what Protestants call
the communion service. High mass is the
same thing more lengthened and showy.
In the early ages of the church, the congregation was dismissed before
the celebration of the Lord's Supper, none but the communicants being allowed
to remain. The officiating minister
said, "Ita missa est," and the congregation
withdrew; hence in process of time arose the name. The mass is held to be a true and
proper sacrifice for sin; and a sacrifice for the living and the dead! Here again is a reflection on the merits of
the Divine Redeemer, and a vile anti-scriptural doctrine, the work of human
invention. When Christ died on the
cross, his work was "finished," John xix. 30; and the apostle assures us that "by
one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," Heb.
x.14, Besides, a sacrifice must have a victim; but at best it is but the commemoration of the offering of the one only and
spotless Victim—" the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world." Every time that mass is
offered, Christ is insulted and dishonoured.
There is no praise to the mass, any more than to human merit, given by
the redeemed in heaven; but their song is, "Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing," Rev. v. 12.
(7) Transubstantiation is closely connected
with the preceding doctrine. A
momentary glance only can here be taken of this leading article of popery. In the Romish church the belief of this
doctrine was often made a test of the faith of an individual, and was admirably
evaded in those memorable lines of queen Elizabeth:—
"Christ was the
word that spake it;
He took the bread, and
brake it;
And what that word doth
make it,
That I believe and take
it."
Revelation is often above reason;
as, for example, in describing the nature and existence of God: "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto
perfection?" Job xi. 7. Revelation is not contrary to reason, nor
contrary to common sense; but nothing can be more absurd than the popish
pretence of making a bit of wafer to be the body of Christ, which body, in that
case, has been multiplied like the loaves and fishes, and eaten over and over
again in all places, for many ages to the present time! And the words on which this doctrine is
founded are known to every scholar of the humblest pretensions to mean no more
than "this represents my body." A man must want common sense to suppose that
Christ really gave his body to his disciples, when he administered the last
supper, and yet that the same body was afterwards crucified, rose from the
dead, and ascended into heaven. The
bread is bread that the priest gives, and the wine is wine; and what pretence
soever he may make, he can make nothing more of it.
Having thus briefly touched on the leading doctrines of Popery as its
ground-work, the due notice of which would furnish matter for volumes, our
space will only admit of a rapid glance at its practice:—
I. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
ARBITRARY IN ITS DISCIPLINE. There is
laxity enough among its priests, but woe be to the poor laity that fall within
its power, even if they be monarchs on their thrones. All must lick the dust before the sentence of popes, councils,
cardinals, inquisitors, and priests!
Operating on the peace of whole nations, the curse or excommunication of
the pope has unseated the monarch on his throne, and sent the potentate on his
knees to ask the restoration of his crown!
It will be sufficient to mention the cases of Henry IV., emperor of Germany,
and of king John of England. Penances
the most absurd and degrading have been submitted to by the slaves of popery,
for which there is not the shadow of authority in the word of God, and which
could never in their nature show real sorrow of heart, or make the least
atonement for sin. What can be the real
benefit derived from repeating continually as many Ave Marias, Paternosters, or
Credos, as the priest may determine? from
walking barefoot? from licking the
dust? consigning the penitent to a hair-shirt,
or obliging or advising the poor devotee to inflict sharp castigations on his
naked body?
II. THE CHURCH or ROME IS
presumptuous IN ITS claims. Its popes,
besides claiming to be successors of St.
Peter, claim to sit in the seat of God himself. The man who has suffered himself to be
called "Dominus Deus Noster
Papa"—"OUR LORD GOD THE POPe" —is surely the apostate of Scripture, who,
"as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God," 2 Thess. ii. 4.
No being, how great soever he may be supposed to be, can forgive sins,
but God only, Mark ii. 7; but this the bishop of Rome and his priests,
authorized by him, claim as their prerogative.
With great artifice they will pretend that this is ultimately the work
of God; but with the most presumptuous assumption they dare to teach their
deluded votaries that it is the work of the pope and the church! The catechism of the council of Trent
declares that the Almighty has given to his church the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and that the penitent's sins are forgiven by the minister of religion,
through the power of the keys. The
arrogance that presumes to dispose at pleasure of heaven itself, may easily be
supposed to claim no inferior power on earth.
Hence the bull of pope Sixtus V.
against Henry, king of Navarre, and the prince de Condé, claims an
authority which exceeds all the powers of earthly kings and potentates. "And if," says the bull, "it
find any of them resisting the ordinance of God, it takes more summary
vengeance upon them, and hurling them from their throne, debases them as the
ministers of aspiring Lucifer, whatever may be their power, to the lowest
abysses of the earth!" Acting
under this supposed authority, pope Pins V.
excommunicated queen Elizabeth, asserting that "him God hath
constituted prince over all nations and kingdoms, that he might pluck up,
destroy, dissipate, overturn, plant and build!" In fact, the claims of popery for its head, have gone so far as
to attribute to the pontiff all power in heaven and on earth; and it has been
asserted that "the pope could do all things, sin excepted;" that
"the sentences of God and the pope were one;" that his
"indulgence remitted even the punishment of hell;" and that "no
appeal could be made from the pope to God, because he is the Christ of
God!" Accursed apostasy! where a
sinful man, whose carcase must soon pay the forfeiture of sin, and rot in
corruption, the best emblem of his own church, presumes to claim the homage of
mankind, and the prerogatives that belong only to Deity!
III. THE CHURCH OF Rome is
INIQUITOUS IN ITS PRACTICES. And what
else is to be expected from a church which gives permission to do whatever is
sinful. The daring sale of indulgences
by Tetzel, when they excited the abhorrence of Christendom, was publicly
condemned by the nuncio of pope Leo X.
Tetzel, in his zeal to raise money for the holy see, probably went
further than it was thought prudent to express so publicly, for he even
asserted that any one might be permitted to commit the grossest debauchery, and
offer violence to the holy Virgin herself, and be forgiven by the power of the
pope, whose arms were equal to the cross of Christ! But after the death of Tetzel, A.D. 1519, a list of fees to the people for absolutions, dispensations,
etc., was published in Paris, A.D.
1520. Absolution for fornication
in a church was to be obtained for nine shillings; for murdering a layman,
seven shillings and sixpence; for killing a father, mother, or wife, ten
shillings and sixpence; for a priest keeping a concubine ten shillings and
sixpence; for a layman keeping a concubine, the same sum; and for other crimes
the mention of which would but defile these pages. "Such is the celebrated tax-book of the Apostolic Chancery,
the publication of which stamps the church of Rome with eternal
infamy." This publication was
indeed, at last, partially condemned, but not till it had been a hundred years
in circulation.
But let us see if the holy popes have been more holy than their
doctrines, licenses, or agents. No; a
worse set of men never corrupted the earth.
From the time of Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, to the latest
period, the popes have been more or less of abandoned principles. There have been covetous popes, proud popes,
profane popes, unchaste popes, dishonest popes, murdering popes, all of whose
names and characters may be seen in any impartial history of these pretended
representatives upon earth of Him who was "holy, harmless, and
undefiled!"
As were the popes, so we must expect to find the priesthood. The "forbidding to marry," a gross
mark of the man of sin, has led the popish clergy to practise all kinds of
iniquity with greediness; and the secret interviews, at the confessional, with
females of every class and character afford facilities for the indulgences of
forbidden propensities, of which the priests have not failed to avail
themselves. Facts in abundance could be
related to justify this charge, but it is not pleasant to dwell upon them, and
they are too well known to require reference to authorities. The monasteries and nunneries have been
often described as the seats of iniquity; and, in fact, the latter were no
better than brothels, of the very worst description. In the days of Henry VIII., when these monasteries were fully
explored in England, the abbots, priors, and monks kept as many women each, as
any lascivious Mohammedan could desire, and their crimes renewed the existence
of Sodom and Gomorrah!
IV. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS CRUEL
IN ITS SPIRIT. Those who are conversant
with its writers know the hatred which it breeds towards heretics. The council of Trent, besides anathematizing
all the great doctrines of the gospel, consigned their defenders to eternal torments. "Cursed be all heretics," cried
the cardinal of Lorraine, at the close of its last session; and "Cursed!
cursed!" responded all the
prelates. "Cursed! cursed!" echoed back the lofty dome of the old
cathedral of Trent. Never had there
been so much cursing "in any other synod, since the world was
made." Here, too, the pages might
be filled with specimens of this spirit.
But let it suffice to remark how different from the spirit of Jesus,
when he reproved his disciples for wishing to call down fire from heaven to
consume the Samaritans: "He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of," Luke ix. 55. Carrying out her principles, the popish
apostate bas deluged the earth with the blood of her victims. The murders committed by queen Mary, and by
the Irish papists, are facts too welt known in history to be denied. Hundreds of martyrs have perished at the
stake, thousands in dungeons, and millions form the aggregate of unfortunate
Protestants, that have fallen under the bitter spirit of popery. Papists have imitated Saul of Tarsus, when
he was the messenger of death to Damascus, and haled men and women, committing
them to prison; and are the fac-similes of those persecutors whom our Lord
warns his disciples to expect: "Yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service," John xvi.
2. Torturing, shooting, hanging,
strangling, burning alive, starving to death, in short every variety of
suffering that diabolical ingenuity could invent, has been employed to glut the
infernal appetites of the demons of the papacy! Among these the holy fathers of the inquisition have shared no
inconsiderable part, and have become "drunk with the blood of the
saints." Spain and Italy have been
the slaughter-houses for the Protestants.
Nor are the barbarities of popery confined to those lands; at the
present moment their horrid cruelties are not unknown in Sclavonia, and
bordering countries. We may say of
these blood-thirsty men, as Jacob said of Simeon and Levi, "Instruments of
cruelty are in theft habitations. O my
soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not
thou united!" Gen. xlix. 5, 6.
V. THE CHURCH oF RoME IS WORLDLY
IN ITS POLICY. Its object is to gain
dominion; to get a footing in every court; to direct the affairs of kingdoms
and empires; and to accumulate wealth.
The Jesuits, though at times expelled or pretendedly so from Rome, have
been its awful emissaries to augment its power. The intrigues and deceptions of these men would fill volumes, and
the conveniency of their creed to deny or affirm anything, or assume any
profession as it may serve their purpose, is too well known to need
recapitulating here. These men have at
times assumed so much that every papal state has alternately ejected them; and
large numbers are now in this country—doubtless many under false colours
—waiting the most favourable opportunities to corrupt the rising generation,
and, as hr as possible, restore the dark days of former ages. The Jesuits are unchangeable. So is Popery. And to show that these observations are not without being
confirmed by facts, one sufficiently strong may here be quoted. After the Reformation had been carried a
considerable length in the minority of king James VI. of Scotland, it was in danger of being overthrown by the artifice
of the duke of Lennox, a papist and a creature of the Jesuit court, who had
acquired undue ascendancy over the young king.
The ministry of the church were alarmed, and more especially when they
saw several Jesuits and seminary priests arrive from abroad, and by the open
revolt of some who had hitherto professed the Protestant faith. They warned their hearers of the state of
things. Lennox at once publicly
renounced the popish religion. But the
jealousy of the nation was revived and inflamed by the interception of letters
from Rome, granting a dispensation to the Roman Catholics to profess the
Protestant tenets for a time, provided they preserved
an inward attachment to the ancient faith, and embraced every opportunity of
advancing it in secret. This discovery
was the cause of originating the national covenant.
Confession is of most important use in establishing this dominion over
men, and even over states and cabinets.
Every member of the family is inadvertently made a spy. Every secret is known to the confessor. The king and the subject become alike the
slaves of the church! Such a machinery
is one of the most profound pieces of policy that could ever be employed by
arbitrary states, Entering into the deepest recesses of the human bosom, it
brings to light every hidden thing, and at once assumes the control of every
heart. Thus have papists learned to
rule the world!
VI. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
SELFISH IN ITS MOTIVES. There is
nothing in it noble, expansive, or benevolent.
While it calls itself the "Catholic" church, it is the most
sectarian of all churches, shutting from heaven all that do not enter within
its pale. It never teaches its votaries
to wish "grace, mercy, and peace" to any but those of its own
community. If the most lovely
Christians in the world are not papists, they cannot offer up for them the
benevolent wish, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity."
Whatever the church teaches, or whatever it does, doctrines, sacraments,
discipline, all are made to operate in filling her own gaping coffers, ever
crying, "Give, give!"
Idolatrous as she is in other matters, money is her chief idol. Her churches have been notorious for
accumulating wealth, and so also have her convents and monasteries; and the
contrivances for that purpose have been most subtle and successful. The doctrine of purgatory, in particular,
has been a mine of wealth to the church.
By con. signing good and bad to that indescribable yet horrible state, and
keeping them there at the pleasure of the keys, mass upon mass has been heaped
up mountains high, like Ossa upon Pelion; so that the poor deluded relatives of
the departed have exhausted their money and patience in raising the golden ascent,
by which to scale the heavens with more facility!
Without going back to the disgusting period which called forth the
Reformation, it is sufficient to state, that these vile sources of revenue are
still especially made productive at certain periods. The Jubilee bulls every twenty-five years call the faithful to
Rome by promising "a plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon of all
their sins." In Spain, a lucrative
traffic is driven in this article of papal merchandise. Four bulls containing special indulgences
are annually sent thither from Rome, which are bought by almost all the
Spaniards, at prices suited to the condition of the purchasers. One bull gives plenary indulgences to commit
what would otherwise be a mortal sin, by eating various articles of food during
Lent. Another relates to frauds on
property, allowing the guilty participants to retain it under certain
qualifications. And what is called the
Defunct bull obtains a plenary indulgence for any dead person, if his soul should happen to be still in
purgatory! But no release from
purgatory without money! Not a single
mass nor paternoster can be offered up for a poor stoner without money! And the pope and the priest will allow the
soul to suffer all the horrible torments which in their books and pictures are
described as inflicted on the impenitent through countless ages, unless they
have money to turn the keys, and release the poor victims from their
misery. Truly, the "spirit of
Popery" is the spirit. of the evil
one —"the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
VII. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
IDOLATROUS IN ITS WORSHIP. The
worshipping of any creature, how exalted soever he may be, or the likeness of
anything "in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath," is idolatry. The Virgin Mary, the popes, the saints, the
very bones of the saints, have been and are the objects of papal
idolatries. So much homage is paid to
the Virgin Mary that it has been well observed by a modern deceased writer,
that it looks as if the papists thought that there were four subsistences in
the Godhead, the Virgin Mary being the fourth.
The "One Mediator," "Jesus Christ the righteous," is
lost in the crowds, or rather the clouds of petitions offered up
to the Virgin. This idolatry has no
seeming authority anywhere in the Scriptures but in the angelic salutation,
"Hail! highly favoured, the Lord is with thee! blessed art thou among
women!" and Mary’s words,
"From henceforth ail generations shall call me blessed," Luke i. 28,
48. Blessed rather signifies
"happy;" and not a word is here respecting worship to be offered to
Mary by future generations. But
"it is a favourite mode of declaiming amongst Roman Catholic
divines," says Fletcher, "to represent Jesus Christ as far more
willing to listen to the prayers and intercession of the Virgin, than to those
of other saints. The consequence of
such representations is obvious. More
prayers are addressed to the Virgin in the Roman Catholic Church than to any
other saint; and in some services there are ten Ave Marias for one
Paternoster," One exhortation in the Catholic school-book is, "Have recourse to her in all your spiritual necessity; and
for that end offer to her daily and particular prayers." The same book says, "She is most
powerful with God to obtain from him all that she shall ask of him. She is all goodness in regard to us, by applying to God for us. Being mother of God, he cannot refuse her
request; being our mother, she cannot deny her intercession, when we have
recourse to her. Our miseries move her,
our necessities urge her; the prayers we offer her for our salvation bring us
all that we desire." And St. Bernard is not afraid to say, that "never
any person invokes that Mother of mercies in his necessities who has not been
sensible of the effect ~f her assistance." The prayers to the Virgin in the Breviary are generally known;
they are in harmony with the above declarations.
The following are a few of the appellations of the Virgin: Holy Mother
of God; Refuge of Sinners; Comforter of the Afflicted; Queen of Angels, of
Patriarchs, of Apostles, of all Saints; Mirror of Justice; Seat of Wisdom;
Mystical Rose; Tower of Ivory; House of Gold; and others equally
extravagant. In the former, the honour
due to Father, Son, and Spirit is given to a mortal—to the Virgin Mary; and the
latter are too ridiculous to require comment.
Popery is the same now as it was in the dark ages of the church; and the
worship of the Virgin is still one of the favourite tenets of Romanism, as
shown in the following extract from an encyclical letter of Plus IX.—"In
order that our most merciful God may the more readily incline his ear to our
prayers, and grant that which we implore, let us ever have recourse to the
intercession of the most holy Mother of God, the immaculate Virgin
Mary, our sweetest mother, our mediatrix, our advocate, our surest hope and
firmest reliance, than whose patronage nothing is
more potent, nothing more effectual with God!"
VIII. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
ABSURD, RIDICULOUS, AND BLASPHEMOUS IN ITS PRETENSIONS. These absurdities and blasphemies are so
numerous, and so notorious, that a few only need be selected; and on these it
is unnecessary largely to expatiate.
(1) Transubstantiation is one of the most
notorious absurdities of their doctrine.
A greater insult was never offered to the human understanding.
A
wafer and wine are transformed by the priest into the real body and blood of
Christ; and though eaten and drunk millions of times, still it is so
transformed, eaten, and drunk. Truly,
Catholic priests must be knaves, and those of their community who really
believe this absurdity must be numbered amongst the most silly of fools. The latter deserve pity, the former only to
be ranked with the greatest and most dangerous rogues in society.
(2) Relics have brought no small revenue to
the churches in which they have been deposited; and these have rivalled each
other in the absurd inventions of popery.
At Rome are the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, encased in silver busts
set with jewels; a lock of the Virgin’s hair; a phial of her tears; a piece of
her green petticoat; a robe of Jesus Christ, sprinkled with his blood; some
drops of blood in a bottle; some of the water which flowed out of the wound in
his side; some of the sponge; a large piece of the cross; all the nails used in
the crucifixion; a piece of the stone of the sepulchre on which the angel sat;
the identical porphyry pillar on which the cock perched when he crowed after
Peter denied Christ; the rods of Moses and Aaron, and two pieces of the wood of
the real ark of the covenant;—this is Rome in the nineteenth century! We might fill columns with relics of sacred
bones, beards, hair, etc., but we must desist.
In the church of the Escurial only, in Spain, there are no less than
eleven thousand of these ridiculous impositions on the credulity of the weak
and superstitious. The most
extraordinary efficacy is ascribed to some of these relics, greatly benefiting
the churches which have the good fortune to possess them.
(3) Patron saints are another happy
invention to bring in grist to the mill.
For the accommodation of the worshippers, there are in many churches
altars belonging to a variety of these.
These eminent saints are many of them doctors of’ high repute. St. Anthony cures diseases; St. Anthony of’
Padua delivers from water; St Barbara protects against thunder and war; St.
Blass cures the throat; St. Lucia, the eyes; St. Nicholas helps young women to
husbands; St. Ramon protects the pregnant; St. Lazaro serves the purpose of a
nurse in giving childbirth; St. Polonia preserves the teeth; St. Domingo cures
the fever; and St. Roche guards against the plague!
(4) The Agnus Dei is a wonderful little
article. It is made chiefly of virgin
wax, and has the image of the Lamb of God on it. The pope consecrates the Agnus Deis the first year of his
pontificate, and every seventh year afterwards. It is the object of much devotion; for, kept about the person, it
preserves from spiritual and temporal enemies, from the dangers of fire, water,
storms, tempests, thunder, lightning, and sudden and unprepared death; puts
devils to flight, takes away the stains of past sins, and produces other
extraordinary benefits.
(5) Pardons. The marvellous ways in which these might be obtained were published in
1517, in a work entitled the Customs of London. Some of these were as follows :—In St. Peter’s at Rome, beneath
the image of our Lord at the door, was one of the pence that God was sold for,
the looking upon which obtained each time fourteen hundred years of
pardon! Beholding a cloth made by our
Lady, and exhibited on the Lady-day Assumption, obtained four hundred years of
pardon! All who sat in Pope Accensius’s
chair obtained a hundred thousand years of pardon!
(6) Miracles must be classed among
popish absurdities. St. Raymond de
Pennafort laid his cloak on the sea, and sailed thereon from Majorca to
Barcelona, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, in six hours! The miracles of other saints are of a like
kind. The story of the house of our
Lady of Loretto being carried through the air from Nazareth by angels is
another prodigious absurdity. The
priestly juggle of the annual liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at
Naples is well known. Nor are these miracles
yet finished: Prince Hohenloe recently revived them in Germany, and the Earl of
Shrewsbury has attested a new one in Italy.
How unlike are these "inventions" of Popery to the miracles of
Christ and his apostles, which were wrought before the world, attested by
competent witnesses, designed to confirm their mission and were all acts of
benevolence. The "Miracles of the
Popery" may be dismissed by writing simply beneath them "LYING
WONDERS."
(7) Pilgrimages have for ages been of
great repute in the Church of Rome.
Tribes emerging from barbarism may through this delusion have become
acquainted with the blessings of civilized life; but that pilgrimages should be
undertaken in the nineteenth century is another proof that popery loves
darkness rather than light. A famous
shrine of the Madonna, near .Leghorn, is constantly visited; and the Dominicans
have lately found an image of the Virgin there, which has brought their order
into great repute.
IX. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
INSULTING TO THE WORD OF GOD. It is too
notorious, that in all countries where popery prevails, the Bible is not
permitted to enter. If some favourable
opportunities for its access are embraced, it is soon again interdicted. The darkness of popery cannot bear its
light. Numerous proofs could be brought
forward that the word of God has always been hated and destroyed by popes and
priests. The church substitutes
numerous inventions for Scripture authority.
Hence its pope, falsely called the successor of St. Peter, who never was
at Rome; its seven sacraments, two only of which are found in sacred
writ—baptism and the Lord’s Supper; hence its purgatory pilgrimages images, and
other absurdities. Though Christ has
left the command, "Search the Scriptures," and apostolic authority
records another, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom," the church of Rome takes the greatest pains to keep the people in
ignorance, and prevent the clear shining of this light. If it had free course, it would soon consume
all her false doctrines, and shame all her absurdities and wickednesses. Nothing is hated more by popes and priests
than the Bible, and the Bible Society.
Against the latter a tremendous bull was thundered forth by the pope
only as recently as the year 1824. If the
Bible is occasionally found in circulation, it is grossly interpolated, its
phrases are adapted to the inventions of the popish church, and its price too
high for general use; and indeed, from the ignorance of the people in papal
states, hut. few could use it. ‘Even
then the authority of the church is paramount to everything, and nothing is to
be believed in the Bible if it is not believed by the church! The Bible, God’s book, is fallible; the
church of Rome its head, is infallible!
X. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS INIMICAL TO FREEDOM. To the present moment popish rulers, under the guidance of their
priests, have suppressed knowledge, fettered the press, prevented free inquiry
after truth, and the labours of Protestants.
Papists claim everything for themselves in free countries; but popish
countries allow no such liberty to Protestants. Truth is not afraid of papal error, but popery fears the
truth. How numerous have been the
martyrs in old France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and other popish countries. And where now is the liberty of worship in
most of them? They domineer over the
minds of men, and chain both their consciences and their understandings with
fetters of iron. Books adapted to
enlighten the mind are excluded, while fabulous accounts of the saints are
abundantly circulated. Catechisms
indeed they have, but they altogether omit the second commandment. Everywhere in the churches you are urged to
pray for the dead, and to drop a little money for masses for their poor souls
in purgatory; but no effort dare you make to enlighten the living. In all the nations where the Reformation
burst forth, it was extinguished by persecution and the inquisition.
XI. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS UNHOLY
IN ITS INFLUENCES. Its breath is
poison, to morality. Its doctrines are
calculated to encourage men to sin, because they can always obtain ghostly
pardon. From its bosom spring a
generation of the worst infidels, disgusted with its fooleries and enormities;
and who, for want of better light, confound superstition with religion. Its trickeries and crimes which have
occasionally been brought to light, have made hosts of genuine
unbelievers. The practices discovered
in its monasteries—often sinks of vice—and the lives of many of its clergy,
have all aided to make men secret infidels, where they have not been weak enough to become dupes. Religion and pastime have been mingled
together to defraud the people. The
Sabbath may be desecrated by the covetous dealer or the mountebank; and the
songs of the opera be listened to after the chants of the church. The fourth commandment is set aside, like
the second, and papists defy the moral authority which says, "Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy." The
scenes of commerce, pleasure, dissipation and vice, which abound in continental
cities on the Sabbath, mark them at once as under the dominion of "the man
of sin."
XII. THE CHURCH OF ROME IS
COMPARATIVELY MODERN IN ITS ORIGIN, PRINCIPLES, AND CUSTOMS. Its antiquity is often a boast of the advocates
of popery; but if antiquity stamped excellency on a religion, then Paganism and
Judaism are older than Popery. The
church of Rome, however, boasts of its antiquity without cause. The question has been proposed by the papist
to the Protestant, "Where was your religion before the days of
Wickliffe?"
"Where?" was the
reply; "why, where yours never was—in the Bible." Primitive Christianity bears no resemblance
to popery. We find there no popes; no
cardinals; no monks, nor nuns; no holy wafer, nor holy water; no baptism of
bells, nor canonization of saints; no mass, nor
giant candies; no chrism, nor cross; no repeating of Paternosters nor Ave
Marias; no saints’ days, nor popes’ jubilees; no plenary indulgences, nor
purgatories; no bulls, nor inquisitions; in fact, we find nothing like popery,
except what is under the ban of heaven, and doomed to everlasting destruction: the "man of
sin—the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is
called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God.—-That Wicked, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming: even him, whose coming is after the work of Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved," 2 Thes. ii. 3, 4, 8, 10. The Bible further delineates Popery with
unmistakable accuracy: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them that
believe and know the truth."
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings
of the earth have committed fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour; and decked in gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND .ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I
saw her I wondered with great admiration.
And the angel said unto one, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman,
and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten
horns. The beast that thou sawest was,
and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into
perdition," 1 Tim. iv. 1—3; Rev. xvii.
1-8.
Every part of Popery corrupts Christianity, and its corruptions have
crept into its church by degrees. The
Bible was not proscribed till the fourth century—this’ proscription was a
novelty; the idolatry of popery did not commence till then—this was another
novelty; the clergy were not forbidden to marry till then—another novelty. Infallibility was not claimed till the
seventh century; the service was not performed in an unknown tongue before that
time; purgatory was then introduced.
Transubstantiation was not introduced till the eighth century. Half-communion was not begun till the
eleventh century. Priestly absolution
and excommunication were powers not claimed till the twelfth century; nor till
then was it determined that there should be seven sacraments. The sacrifice of the mass, the worship of
the host, and auricular confession, were established only in the thirteenth
century. Tradition did not make its
claims before the sixteenth century.
Thus it appears that popery is a monster of slow growth, and all its
parts have not been perfected till within a few centuries.
Such is the church against whose iniquities, doctrines, and practices
the martyrs protested, and sealed the truth with their blood. It is heathenish new-modelled, and
Christianity foully corrupted. It is
doomed to perish, but yet struggles for existence. Its throne totters, but many hands yet strive to hold it up. Its subtle agents are at work to renew its
influences in this land of martyrs. The
Jesuit, like a sly serpent, creeps into every hole and corner. The "slimy viper" stealthily
crawls into our families, schools, colleges, universities, and senate. We trace its existence under the mitre and
the cassock; we see it polluting the pulpit and the press. We should beware of its corruptions in
innovating ceremonies creeping under the Protestant altars, and in leading
articles published in our most popular newspapers. If we would not again fall a prey to the reptile foe, let us
learn dextrously to handle the sword of the Spirit, which it cannot resist; and
let us say to each other, as Jesus to his disciples—WATCH!