It

ing unto themselves, and bowing down to, the likeness of men, in opposition to the plain letter of the Divine law. It is taught in the passage here quoted from the Catechism, "that "it is proper to shew marks of respect to the "crucifix and images," and "to honour them." (see, the abstract of the Douay Catechism.) If it be asked how these marks of respect are given, and how this honour is expressed? the answer must be in the words of the Catechism, that it is by kissing the images, (Douay Catechism,) and by kneeling before them. is pretended however that though the Catholic kneels before images, he does not worship them; but this it is a mere evasion, for the commandment says "thou shalt not bow thyself to "them," and this absolutely forbids every kind and degree of religious veneration to images. Therefore in kneeling before the image, and kissing it, the commandment is plainly broken. Besides in the 72d Psalm, the worship which shall be paid to the Messiah himself, is expressed by the words. 66 They that dwell in the wilderness "shall bow before him," Heb. ¬

and in

Psalm xcv. 6, it is said, "let us kneel before the

"Lord our Maker," "wy

.-In

both these passages, bowing before, and kneeling

נשקו בר words

before, God and Christ are expressive of the worship paid to them. In like manner the worship to be paid to the Son of God, by the kings of the earth, is expressed in Psalm. ii. 12. by the "Kiss the Son," and the seven thousand in Israel, who had not been partakers of the sin of idolatry, are designated as all the knees who had not bowed to Baal, and the mouths which had not kissed him.*-But this very worship so far as the external acts are concerned, the Papists pay to the images of saints. Therefore they do thereby grossly and palpably violate the commandment which forbids the worship of images.

But it may be asked further, if the Church of Rome feels herself to be innocent in this matter; why has she so sedulously excluded from the Irish Catechism, and so many other manuals prepared for the instruction of her people, the words of the commandment respecting the worship of images, be it a part of the first, or be it the second commandment ?—Truly by this daring act, she has taken guilt to herself, and this will convict her rulers of guilt, when they shall be called to answer for it at the Judgment-seat of Christ. In thus suppressing a part of the Divine commandments,

* 1 Kings xix. 18.

1

her teachers have imitated the example of the Lawyers, who took away the key of knowledge, who entered not in themselves, and them which were entering in they hindered.*

I shall now produce the prayer, used in the consecration of images, as it is found in the Ritule Romanum, authorised by Pope Urban, the eighth. It is as follows:

"Grant, O God, that whosoever before this im

age, shall diligently and humbly upon his knees, "worship and honour thy only begotten Son, or "the blessed Virgin (according as the image is, "that is consecrating) or this glorious Apostle, "or Martyr, or Confessor, or Virgin, that he may "obtain, by his or her merits, and intercession,

66

grace in this present life, and eternal glory "hereafter."*-Now if this be not gross idolatry, let the Church of Rome, show wherein the wor ship of Jupiter and Apollo was idolatry.

But that church is chargeable with the toleration of images, even of the first Person of the Godhead, the Eternal Father. I myself saw a picture of this kind in one of the churches of

*Luke xi. 52. + Quoted by Dr. H. More, Works, p. 794.

Antwerp about twenty-five years ago, and the existence of such abominations is acknowledged in an abridgment of Sacred history by L'Abbé Fleury, which is in my possession. "Les images

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(says he) qui representent les personnes divines, "sont tireés de l'ecriture sainte.* Dieu s'ac" commodant à notre foiblesse a quelquefois apparu à ses prophetes sous la forme d' un vénér"able vieillard, pour signifier, en quelque man"iere son Eternité."

It is further observable, that though in the public formularies of the Romish Church, drawn up since the era of the Reformation much caution is maintained in what is said respecting the worship of images, yet the authorised practice of that church in those countries where the light of the Protestant doctrines has not penetrated, is still that of sottish idolatry. Stories of images moving their eyes, or perspiring, or changing colour, and similar nonsense are even down to

* This is one of these instances of daring falsehood, whereby the Romish Church deceives the people. "The images "which represent the Divine persons, are drawn from the sa"cred Scriptures, God hath sometimes appeared to his pro"phets under the form of a venerable old man."

the present day given out to the ignorant people under the sanction of the Papal authority. Evidence of this assertion will be produced in another part of this volume. In the meanwhile I shall satisfy myself with inserting the following passage from the preface of Dr. Middleton's letter from Rome, from which it will appear that the public Catechisms of the Church of Rome, which are drawn up with caution and ambiguity, to obviate the objections of Protestants, do by no means afford a correct view of the authorised practices of that Church with respect to image worship.

"In one of the churches of Lucca, they show "an image of the Virgin, with the child Jesus "in her arms, of which they relate this story. "That a blaspheming Gamester, in rage and "despair took up a stone and threw it at the in"fant; but the Virgin to preserve him from the "blow which was levelled at his head, shifted him instantly from her right arm into the left, in "which he is now held; while the blasphemer "was swallowed up by the earth on the spot; "where the hole, which they declare to be un"fathomable, is still kept open, and enclosed only "with a grate, just before the altar of the image.

K