9. Having considered the adoration of the host as it is taught by the Church of Rome, we shall now consider the practice which obtains in this department of their worship. According to their Missal, the priest in every mass, as soon as he has consecrated the bread and wine, with bended knees adores the sacrament. He worships that very thing which is before him, upon the paten and in the chalice; and gives the supreme worship both of body and mind to it, as he could to God or Christ himself. For with his head and soul bowing toward it, and his eyes and thoughts fixed on it and directed to it, he prays to it as to Christ: "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give us peace." The following is the English of the very words in their Missal: "Having uttered the words of consecration, the priest, immediately falling on his knees, adores the consecrated host: he rises, shows it to the people, places it on the corporale, and again adores it." When the wine is consecrated, the priest, in like manner," falling on his knees, adores it, rises, shows it to the people, puts the cup in its place, covers it over, and again adores it.”

The priest, rising up, after he has adored it himself, lifts it up as high as he conveniently can, and, with eyes fixed upon it, shows it, to be devoutly adored by the people, who, having notice also by ringing the mass bell, as soon as they see it, fall down in the humblest adoration to it, as if it were the very appearance of God himself. If Christ were visibly present, they could not bestow more acts of worship than they do to the host. They pray to it, and use the same form of petition and invocation as they do to Christ himself, of which we have already given a specimen.

Thus both the priest and the people are to adore the host and the cup in the celebration of the eucharist. They direct and terminate their prayers upon the sacrament which is before them; and it is become a common form of doxology among them to say, "Praise be given to the most holy sacrament," instead of saying, "Praise be given to God."

This adoration is not only in the time of communion, but at other times also, in the church, whenever it is placed on the altar with the candles burning and the incense smoking before it, or hung up in its rich shrine and tabernacle, with a canopy of state over it. They say the church is sanctified with it as with the presence of God himself.

They also worship this sacrament when it is carried through the street in solemn and pompous procession, either before the pope, or in its conveyance to some sick person, or on the feast Corpus Christi. In all these times it is to be worshipped as God himself, as it passes by. All, on these occasions, bow their heads to the earth and worship. The person who, in great churches, is to carry the sacrament to the numerous communicants, is called Bajulus Dei, the porter or carrier of God. In Spain, when a priest carries the consecrated wafer to a dying

"Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem."-Missale Romanum, p. 219. Baltimore, 1835.

"Prolatis verbis consecrationis, statim hostiam consecratam genuflexus adorat: surgit, ostendit populo, reponit super corporale, iterum adorato."—Ïdem, p. 212.

man, a person with a small bell accompanies him. At the sound of the bell, all who hear it are obliged to fall on their knees, and to remain in that posture till they hear it no longer. "Its sound operates like magic on the Spaniards. In the midst of a gay, noisy party, the word, Sa Majestad,' (his Majesty, the same expression being applied both to God and the king,) will bring every one upon his knees until the tinkling dies in the distance. Are you at dinner? you must leave the table; in bed? you must, at least, sit up. But the most preposterous effect of this custom is to be seen at the theatres. On the approach of the host to any military guard, the drum beats, the men are drawn out, and, as soon as the priest can be seen, they bend the right knee and invert the firelocks, placing the point of the bayonet on the ground. As an officer's guard is always stationed at the door of a Spanish theatre, I have often laughed in my sleeve at the effect of the chamade both upon the actors and the company. Dios, Dios, (A God, A God,) resounds from all parts of the house, and every one falls that moment upon his knees. The actors' ranting, or the rattling of the castanets in the fandango, is hushed for a few minutes, till the sound of the bell growing fainter and fainter, the amusement is resumed, and the devout performers are once more upon their legs, anxious to make amends for the interruption."*

The idolatry of the mass will be more fully exhibited by the "Litany of the blessed Sacrament," which is to be found in most of their books of devotion. I quote from the "Christian's Guide," published "by the permission of the Most Reverend Archbishop Whitfield," Baltimore, 1832, p. 221.

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O living bread, which came down from heaven,

O Saviour of Israel, who art truly a hidden God,

O wheat of the elect,

O wine, which makest virgins to spring forth,

O bread which is fat, and yieldeth dainties to kings,
Continual feast,

Most high and venerable sacrament,

Most holy sacrifice, truly propitiatory for the living and the dead,
Heavenly antidote, by which we are preserved from sin,

Most stupendous of all miracles,

Memorial of the most sacred passion of our Lord,

Gift of God exceeding all fulness,

Singular pledge of divine love,

Overflow of divine liberality,

* Doblada's Letters from Spain, p. 13; also Cramp, p. 168.

Have mercy on us.

Most holy and august mystery,

Remedy which confers immortality,

Awful and life-giving sacrament,

Bread, by the omnipotence of the word, changed into flesh,
Unbloody sacrifice,

Our food and our guest,

Delicious banquet, at which ministering angels are present,
Sacrament of piety,

Bond of union,

Offerer and oblation,

Spiritual sweetness, tasted in its very sauce,

Refection of the holy souls,

Pledge of the glory to come,

10. The feast of Corpus Christi.

Have mercy on us."

The annual festival of the holy sacrament, or Corpus Christi day, was instituted by Urban IV. in 1264, and the institution was confirmed at a council held at Vienna in 1311. It is held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Its origin is variously related. Some say that a woman named Juliana, residing at Liege, had a vision, to the following effect: "That as often as she addressed herself to God or to the saints in prayer, she saw the full moon, with a small defect or breach in it; and that having long studied to find out the signification of this strange appearance, she was inwardly informed by the Spirit, that the moon signified the church, and that the defect or breach was the want of an annual festival in honour of the holy sacrament." This induced the pope to institute the feast. Others say that a certain priest was performing mass who doubted the dogma of the real presence, and that blood flowed from the host which he held in his hands, which, of course, completed his conviction. This being reported to the pope,

he instituted the festival.*

Such was the rise of this great festival, and so late was its institution in the Roman Church, to which alone it is confined to this day. The whole practice of the adoration of the host is novel, and was unknown to the primitive church and to ancient writers; as can be abundantly shown, against the following unsupported canon of the Council of Trent, in these words: "If any one shall say that the sacrament is not to be worshipped by a peculiar feast, nor to be solemnly carried about in processions, according to the laudable and universal manner and custom of the holy church; nor to be publicly proposed to the people, that it may be adored by them, and that the worshippers are idolaters; let him be accursed."

Thus the Roman Catholics address prayers and hymns to the sacrament as if it were the living God. They profess to believe, not only that God is in it, but that it is God. As such, they pray to it, and trust in it. To honour it, they believe is to honour God; and to contemn it, is to contemn him. In their estimation, there is no impiety equal to that of slighting the consecrated wafer; and no punishment too great for those who reject such worship, or who refuse to join in it.

* See Mosheim Ecc. Hist., cent. xiii, part ii, ch. iv, sec. 2. Protest., vol. i, pp. 439, 445.

Also M'Gavin's

CHAPTER VIII.

PENANCE-ABSOLUTION.

Remarks on the sacrament of penance. It comprises absolution, contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Absolution considered. 1. They invest the priest with the power of forgiving sins. Council of Trent quoted. Dens cited. Roman Catechism cited. The form of absolution. The precatory form invalid. Dens cited. Bishop Hay cited. Milner cited: 2. Examination of the passages of Scripture which are quoted to establish it. Matt. xviii, 18, considered; John xx, 23: 3. The first preachers never exercised such power: 4. No man can be qualified for exercising such an act as absolution, especially immoral priests: 5. God only can forgive sins: 6. The primitive church never believed in it: 7. In the exercise of it there is no proper distinction between the righteous and wicked: 8. The Scripture way of obtaining pardon is different from the popish mode.

REPENTANCE embraces a great part of what the gospel requires of us; for the whole conditions of the gospel are reduced to these two parts, namely, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts xx. Although this doctrine is very plain, there is scarcely any that is more obscured, misrepresented, or more corrupted by the Church of Rome than this is. Their innovations on this part of the Christian system perplex the consciences of the more scrupulous, and give encouragement to the vices and excesses of the more profligate part of mankind. The Roman Church has been pleased to term repentance, penance; they have also made it a sacrament. Hear their own definition of it by the Council of Trent, in their fourteenth session, canon 1: "If any one says that in the Catholic Church penance is not truly a sacrament, instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, to reconcile the faithful to God, as often as they sin after baptism; let him be accursed." Canon 4: "If any one denies that three acts are requisite in a penitent for the entire and perfect remission of sins, which are, as it were, the matter of the sacrament of penance, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which are called the three parts of penance, &c.; let him be accursed."

Besides, they believe that the clergy are endowed with the power of retaining and remitting sins. There are therefore four points included in or connected with this sacrament of penance, as it is called, namely, absolution, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; each of which will require a separate consideration.

1. We will state the doctrine of the Church of Rome on this point from their own acknowledged standards. In the fourteenth session of the Council of Trent we have the doctrines of penance fully laid down in nine chapters and fifteen canons. The council teaches unequivocally that the priest has the power of forgiving sins, not ministerially, but judicially; not by praying to God for forgiveness, but as a judge or governor, pronouncing him pardoned. In commenting on, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," the council says, chapter 1: "The power of forgiving and retaining sins, in order to reconcile the faithful who have sinned after baptism, was communicated to the apostles and their lawful successors. Wherefore this holy synod, approving and receiving the above most evident sense of these words of our Lord, condemns the vain interpretations of those persons who falsely restrict them to the power of preaching the word of God and publishing the gospel of VOL. I.-20

Christ, in opposition to the institution of this sacrament." Speaking of baptized persons, the council says, c. 2: "If these afterward defile themselves by any transgression, it is not his will that they should be cleansed by a repetition of baptism, which is on no account lawful in the Catholic Church, but they should be placed as offenders before the tribunal of penance, that they may be absolved by the sentence of the priests, not once only, but as often as they flee thereto, confessing their sins." Again it is declared by the council, c. 5: "Though the priest's absolution is the dispensation of a benefit which belongs to another, yet it is not to be considered as merely a ministry, whether to publish the gospel or to declare the remission of sins, but as the nature of a judicial act, in which sentence is pronounced by him as judge; and therefore the penitent ought not to flatter himself on account of his faith, for faith without penance cannot procure remission of sins."

The two following canons expressly ascribe the power of absolution to be invested in the priest. Canon 3: "Whoever shall affirm that the words of the Lord our Saviour, Receive ye the Holy Ghost,' &c., are not to be understood of the power of forgiving and retaining sins in the sacrament of penance, &c.; let him be accursed." Canon 9th says: "Whoever shall affirm that the priest's sacramental absolution is not a judicial act, but only a ministry, to pronounce and declare that the sins of the party confessing are forgiven, so that he believes himself to be absolved, even though the priest should not absolve seriously, but in jest; let him be accursed."

The absolution of a wicked priest is as valid as that of a pious one. "The council farther teaches, that even those priests who are living in mortal sin exercise the function of forgiving sins, as the ministers of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit conferred on them in ordination; and that those who contend that wicked priests have not this power hold very erroneous sentiments," c. 6. "Whoever shall affirm

that priests living in mortal sin have not the power of binding and loosing, or that priests are not the only ministers of absolution, &c.; let him be accursed," c. 10. Dens says: "A wicked priest can validly absolve, because Christ is the principal minister."

We will also quote a few sentences from the Catechism of the Council of Trent, by which it will appear that the clergy of the Church of Rome claim to themselves the power of forgiving sins: "Our sins are forgiven by the absolution of the priest. The voice of the priest, who is legitimately constituted a minister for the remission of sins, is to be heard as that of Christ himself, who said to the lame man, 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee,'" p. 239. "The absolution of the priest, which is expressed in words, seals the remission of sins, which it accomplishes in the soul," p. 240. Unlike the authority given to the priests of the old law, to declare the leper cleansed from his leprosy, the power with which the priests of the new law are invested is not simply to declare that sins are forgiven, but, as the ministers of God, really to absolve from sin; a power which God himself, the author and source of grace and justification, exercises through their ministry,” p. 242. "There is no sin, however

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