The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1844-11-26
HnB. In ne1yrc pronounced By the venerable Bsh.

the Great Tell me- If you can the day OF his death
But the tombs OF the Of Jesus Christ are usIi
in the city which is the mistress OF the world The
days Of their deaths known TO us all ana are become
hsivs days throughout the world Inc 'omns o. .ns
than the pslac OF kings not SO much Tor The beauty OF
their structure though that is not wanting Tor the
Of people for he who wears the purple
TO embrace these tombs, und laying aside his pa
geaoty and pomp prayso the saints to assist nun py
their prayers He who wears the dadem chooses nsn
and maker Of tents after their deahs, Tor
his patrons. Who viii say that Jesus Christ IS dead
are the patrons and Of Inc kings Of the earth ~
Now who there In this day. that can reecno TINS io
language Of the santed Chrysostomf Who besides the
Iinked with the days OF Chrysos and hold commu
with the faithful Of that remote and early g' But
even before the days Of Eusebus or Chrysosom. the
very Basil from whose pansgyrc have just quoted this
eloquent and convincing passage teaches the docne
clearly and as uneluivscaly as ,Chry session. o.. Dds
the following language -" He VINO Is oppressed by
les TO their aid tor deliverance 10 these me mo-
Their found pray ing for her children and The wife Tor
claims ye guardians Of the human race-oh ye pow.
erui before God 10 join our with
try in invoking the and in,ercession Of the
saints guilty in common W it'll no less personsge
than tho sanity Basilhe lightthe oinoment-he ora
Gle Of the primitive church st. Basil born in 326
had been taught by and had convereo
with christians OF the preceding sge therefore st Basil
have pysc,iscd the doc univ rsa in the church
Of the preceding sgc. Now we cannot fad any dccu.
lnent Thsever by which can be proved that IN tina,
aye was the doctrine introduced consequently it must
nc traced sti further back, even very door
Christianity Itself Now the question naturally
presents itself whether ! am authorized in taking
tire acrow Judgment, the practice, the custom OF the
primitive times transmitted 10 us through those
great aud venerable authorities or whether we are to
fsgment thereoffom the ancient body Of the Church.
Down to that PERIOD we have ndisputable authority that
his dogma prevailed oil Chrisendcm How was 1t
then that by sudden gleom Of inspiration that that
which had been pracced and taught by the early fathers
was superstition and idolatry How wss i that the
whole Christian world with the exception v Martin Luz
Their had gone astray and he, as will hereafter
show had great struggle in getting rid Of all these
early Impressions There is very strong additional
confirmation ofhe antiquity ofthis doctrine isreated
by Eusebius. 81. Augustine and by ST. Of Alex
andra that oil ragans IN their i'ms and N IN.
with adorng demigods, end from that attempted
them Of gross inconsistency in condo mining
splendid worship OF Pagansm and at the same time
adopting the worship Of obscure saints. THIS furnishes
very strong, indeed irresistible evidence that tho early
apparent that the Catholic church elthe 10th century
retains the practice and the same dogma which pre-.
81 q iis And vet know y be-
eve that there is to US but one God and one mediator
though there he gods many and lords many though there
how to veneroe them W. ask them to ntercede for us
but we know that they must suppcate higher source
or supernatural except through the medium. and merits,
and goodness Of Christ ask the saints to pray for me
jus, az ask you t. pray Tor me- And as the pTayshr
much does not deract from the meris Of the mediation
Of Jesus Christ neither does the and prayer
vocation Of saints But it is said" You do pay too much
veneration to the saints. 1t is superstition, and if ever
there was period when 1t was necessary for you to
yuard this superstition ii now because
in great republic and this In the enlightenedi9th
century, All this is very true But because this is the
10Th century and this is great republic, must we discard
institution Of Jesus Christ, and abandon an ancient
practice Of the church, will answer in the words OF
the Chrisons who witnessed the marty of st Poly
carp. Generating his relics they were charged, even by
the Pagans with paying them uodue hom'ge They said
Our subtle enemy tte devil, did his utmost that
should not nltq q
nsinuated that should desert cruced master
and begin to worship poycarp-and this the identical
insinuation in the nineteenth century, in this great
republic, that deserving our Divine Master and
worshpping Polycorp and the saints. But they go tn
Foolish men, who know not that we never can desert
Christ who died for the salvation Of all men, worship
any other Him we adore as the Son OF God but we
show deserved respect to the martyrs and MS disciples
be burned We then gathered his ZONES more precious
than pearls, and more tried than gold and buried them
with Joy and s nho fh as as
as hy his example to prepare and sanctfy others" Now
:. paaas those primitive Chrisions Of
doIary in rayng respect to he relics Of SO 90
many the day OF idoary IN invoking
the saints But with these venerable followers Of Christ
we sayFooiish men, we adore no Poly carp-we adore
no adore Jesus Christ and look to him alone for
salvation because there is no other under heaven
given by which men may be saved But Is said, this
plausible It never struck me bsioreput canno. 40
the sacred scriptures DO not command me to
pray to the SAINTS therefore, take the Bible in ree-
a
10 the sant Now deny that any chrtian at least OF
The great Protestant denomination acts up TO this rule
There certain practices observed which are consider
ed by some as essential for which defy them to show
me any positive command in the sacred scriptures Why
for nsasce ask them do they keep Sunday holy as the
bed in the scripture There is no text that can
be found authorising the charge. Again. you ccle-
81 peutsr rss Instead q Gel brating in the
full moon. you celebrate on the first Sunday alter fni
neon Where i your scripural authority IN doing 50
admit that there is direct scptural authority for in
voking the saints BY no means In my last lecture
adduced many texts both for the old and New Testament
which directly ncucaed this doctrine And now turn
your attention to another 1t to he found in the 4sth
Lord who preserved me from many dangers bless these
children How could the angel have delivered him un.
less he had oreieea the changes, and knew what was
occurring the earth and why did the patriarch in
woke his blessing lift idoatrous TO do so And
in the same passage from which the text ~ taken,
isaac. and Of Jacob to be invoked. Why invoked
II they could not be- so Why invoked If they cold not
ssssta This text alone affords the convincing evil
dence of the scrptpra authority Of this practice Of the
church. And here beg repeat that II is not true as
many DO that do not recur 70 the sacred scrip
ture for proofs Of doctrines We always do We open
the sacred volume and not only our ransation but
Of other denominations and for myself am ready on
most points OF doctrine to the Protestant version
and from that vindcae the Catholic creed But
let us go back again 10 one Of the early fathers
Of the church, to 81 reneus who declares that tho vr
gin Mary became the advocate OF Eve. St. Ambrose. too,
announces the doctrine OF invoking the saints IN
the emphatic terms He says, 81 mplore the inter
cssson ofthe Apostleste assistance OF the
supple atoms the confessors" And do SO do we
instruct the Catholic people to do Are we then not in
communion with st. Ambrose Yes. We invoke the
ssnts In common with the early faherswth the print
tive church, consequently we are not guilty OF idoatIy
and am not justified in saying that 1t was rash
and unfortunate decision TO pronounce anathe ma
against the universal church OF Christ because she has
held the doctrine efvenerating and invoking the
very powerful argument for this practice, that
il IL he idolairous then tho whole christian
century, with the exception OF Martin Luther after he
quarreled with the Pope for he says g" stand against the
Pope and against the whole worlde cried ont ,ainst
the fathers and against the ChurchWhy Because they
condemned him .
Thus lar believe have succeeded in dispeDg the
cloud that In the estimation Ct many has been hanging
this venerable doctrine But have not yet conclu
dcd the argument Thero is another point in which II
might beregarded, and 1t is my purpose to resume the
subject IL you will again favor me with your attention
on next Sunday evening.
VIRGINIA ELECTORS Gov. Mcdowell has issued