apos

Having thus endeavoured to shew that tasy, is the term used in the Old Testament to signify idolatry, the conclusion to which we are naturally led by this circumstance, is that the apostasy in the Christian Church predicted in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, was to consist in the sin of idolatry.

Idolatry is either a transgression of the first commandment of the decalogue, by the worship of the creature; or it is the breach of the second commandment by the worship of images.-Now there is a passage in the New Testament, which seems to determine the precise sense, in which the apostles of our Lord received and understood the first commandment. "For though there be that "are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as "there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us "there is but one God the Father, of whom are all "things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, "by whom are all things, and we by him."* In St. Paul's first epistle to Timothy, it is likewise said, "For there is one God, and one mediator between "God and man, the man Christ Jesus."+

* 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.

† 1 Tim. ii. 5.

B

The meaning of these passages is evidently this; that though other men worship a plurality of gods, and a multitude of lords; yet we Christians acknowledge but one supreme God, to whom all our worship and services are directed, and one Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only mediator between God and man.-There is an allusion, as Mede remarks, in the text first quoted to the heathen mythology, which acknowledged a plurality of sovereign gods, (Dii Cœlestes,) and also a multitude of subordinate deities called Dæmons, who were conceived to be mediators between the gods and men.-Now as Christians acknowledge but one God, so according to St. Paul, they receive but one Lord; the sole mediator between God and man; and to this God, and this Lord, solely and exclusive, all religious worship and adoration were to be paid: nor is there the least hint of any subordinate mediators. This which is the plain meaning of these passages, is further confirmed by our Lord's answer to Satan in the wilderness. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy "God, and Him only shalt thou serve," which word "only" absolutely excludes all creature worship.

Matt. iv. 10.

It may further be proper to remark, that it is not necessary in order to constitute the sin of idolatry, that the object of unlawful worship be believed to be God, or that the only true God be absolutely and entirely rejected. It is enough that any portion of the honour and adoration which are due to God only, be transferred to the creature. This may be illustrated, by what St. Paul says with respect to covetousness, upon which he charges the sin of idolatry." No covetous man “which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the "kingdom of Christ, and of God."* Mortify "therefore your members, which are upon the earth, "fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil "concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idol866 atry."+ Now St. Paul does not certainly in these passages, intend to say that the covetous person actually conceives his riches to be God: nor does he charge him with falling down to worship his gold, but he means to show that the inordinate love of riches is idolatry, because it is giving to the creature that love and esteem, and honour, which are due to God alone.

Having made these preliminary remarks, to show what we are to understand by apostasy, or +Colos. iii. 5.

* Ephes. v. 5.

idolatry, I now proceed to lay down the following propositions,

FIRST. Comparing the language of the first com mandment of the decalogue, with the two passages already quoted, from St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, and to Timothy, we conclude that no kind or degree, of religious or spiritual worship can be given to any mere creature, without incurring the guilt of idolatry, and therefore that the worship paid to the Virgin Mary and the Saints, by the Romish Church is idolatry,

SECOND. The honour and worship, which the Papists give to the images of Christ, and the saints, are contrary to the second commandment, and therefore are direct and gross idolatry.

I shall endeavour to make good these conclusions against the Church of Rome, by an examination of certain parts of her authorized formularies of devotion and catechisms; and I shall consider and answer some of the arguments by which modern Papists endeavour to justify the practice of their Church.

In the Romish Liturgy or Book of Common Prayer, edited by the Rev. Peter Gandolphy, and printed in London in the year 1812, there is a Litany in honour of the Virgin Mary, which is commonly called the Litany of Loretto, from which I extract the following passages.*

"We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of "God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all danger, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.”+

We assert that the above prayer is idolatry of the highest kind. It is an address to a creature in terms suited only to the eternal majesty of God. -The first clause, We fly to thy patronage, is an

The Liturgy here quoted is entitled "Liturgy, or a Book of Common Prayers, and Administration of the Sacraments, with other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church for the use of all Christians in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."-In this title, it is evidently implied that all Protestants who reject this Book of Prayer with abhorrence as idolatrous, are not Christians. And yet there are persons with such facts before their eyes, who imagine that the Popery of the present day is essentially improved!

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