The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-11-17

as having golden walls full Of odors
which are the prayers of saints Now
call DR.. OConnells attention to the
fact that the prayers here are not the
prayers for saints-but the prayers of
saints, that is of Gods people still upon
the earth, for this is the exclusive use of
the word saints in Scripture. These
four and twenty elders are simply repre-
sented as "having" these prayers, not
offering them up, as DR.. O'Connell says;
there is no reference to that either in
the Douay or King James. They have
them as sweet odors in vial which they
preserve before the throne-and all that
the symbol can be made to teach as
matter of doctrine is that the prayers of
Gods people on earth are so precious to
our Lord that they are like sweet per-
fume keptin walls by chosen attendants
around his throne. This is great encour-
agement to us to pray to Christ, but none
at all to pray to st. Michael, or the
Apostle Peter, or st. Joseph, seeing that
not one of them is mentioned as even so
much as being present or having one of
the Walls in his hand
And now since this is all the warrant
from Scripture that our learned friend
can find, would like to ask him few
simple questions.
L. If the invocation of saints is so
"good and profitable" thing as he la
bors to prove it, how does it come that
we have no instance of it in all inspired
history? Abraham, and Job, and Jacob,
and Moses, and David, and Elijah, and
Daniel, were all men of prayer Their
prayers are many of them recorded in
full. How is it that they never invoke
angel or departed spirit that they never
In all their straits look for help to any
but God alone. Then look at Paul. He
is constantly calling upon his brethren to
pray for him. In almost every epistle
he invokes their earnest prayers-and
yet he never once invokes the prayers of
the Virgin Mary, or St. Michael, or st.
Stephen. How does he account for this
want In these holy men of those Utmost
convictions of our nature" upon which he
bases his practice?
2. While DIR. OConnell was reading
the book Of Revelation which tells of "the
walls of odors, how did he fail to notice
those two passages in which John pro-
posed to render worship to an angel and
do it not, for l am thy fellow servant,
etc. >? (Rev. xix: TO- xxi: 81 Here is
very strong testimony against angel wor-
ship, as is also that in Col. ii: Is, where
" worshipping of angels" is expressly
condemned, as all creature worship is
over and over again in other places.
3. How does DIR. O'Connell know that
these saints whom his Church requires
him to worship are in heaven at all. I
say requires, for there is no option about
the matter as his letter would seem to
imply. In the Confteor," which must
be said in order to obtain absolution, the
applicant is obliged to say, confess to
Almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever
Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archan-
gel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the
holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the
saints, and 81 beseech the blessed Mary,
ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Arch
angel, etc., etc., as above-so that he
must both confess to all the saints, and
supplicate all the saints before he can re-
ceive absolution, and without this abso-
luton he is taught to believe that he will
be damned eternally Now who these
saints" are we are not left to doubt, for
VhS 1eOuldu OdGuOllC OHuFCn mas a regu-
lar catalogue of them. No man can de-
eide for himself who is entitled to this
honor He must accept all those, and
only those whom the successive Popes
have canonized. In the "Litany of the
Saints Queer that Peter and Paul and
John did not seem to know anything
about a Litany of the Saints y we are re-
CURED to pray to great multitude by
name such as st. Laurence, st. Vincent,
st. Fabian, ST. Cosmas, st. Damian, St.
Dominick st. Lucy, st. Catherine, st.
Agatha, etc., and then all the holy vir-
gins and widows" q wonder why the
married women are not included too
and then to all the saints of God, both
men and women. Now 1 want to know
how DR.. O'Connell knows that all these
men and women are in heaven. There
is st. Lucy for instance, or st. Cosmas, or
St. Damian. How do l know that they
are in heaven at all, for 1 never heard Of
them until saw their names on this list
of saints to be prayed to. And there is
"St. Dominick" who was the founder of
the inquisition, and est" Thomas q
Beckett, who rent England with unhal-
lowed ambition and partizan strife, and
est Garnet, who Matched the gunpow-