of public worship, at the tombs of the martyrs; when the Empire became Christian, they sometimes erected magnificent buildings on those places, and such churches were said to be built to their honor, and were distinguished by their names, as they continue to be to this day; and when they had not the martyrs themselves to bury there, at least they got some of their relics. In this manner by degrees, each remarkable saint had his proper temple, just as the heathen gods and heroes had theirs. This practice was approved by the greatest men of that age.

WORSHIP PAID TO SAINTS AND ANGELS.

As early as the beginning of the third century arose the custom of praying for the dead, that they might enjoy a quiet repose in their intermediate state, and a speedy and happy resurrection. They even prayed for the virgin Mary; and also in some cases for the damned that their torments might be lessened.

At first it was hardly supposed that the departed conld know what was going on among the living, but as the martyrs and saints were more thought of than other persons, it was soon imagined that their state after death might be better than that of others. They were supposed to have great influence with God, and to be admitted to his presence,

In the third century, however, Origen says, prayer was not to be offered to any derived being, not even to Christ himself, but to God the Father of all.

Prayer to the dead began with the martyrs, as well as prayers for the dead, but it was not till near the end of the fourth century, that it was imagined that they could hear those who invoked them, near the place of their interment. In the fifth century, they prayed to God to hear the intercession of the saints and martyrs in their behalf. And, notwithstanding, the pious were perplexed with many doubts on the subject, it gradually came to pass that direct invocation to the departed took the place of prayers put up in their behalf. Gregory the first contributed very much to it in the beginning of the seventh century. He supposed some of the saints enjoyed the beatific vision of God. But Hugh de Victor as late as the twelfth century says that many still doubt whether the saints hear the prayers of those who invoke them, and that it is a difficult question to decide.

In the fifth century no opposition was made to the invocation of saints. Their images were worshipped; and this worship or the forms of consecration were supposed to draw into the image the propitious presence of the saint, or celestial being thus represented.

This excessive veneration for the dead, and for their relics, was greatly promoted by the eloquent preachers of those times. Chrysostom spoke thus: "The gentiles will laugh to hear me talk of the acts of persons dead and buried, and consumed to dust; but they are not to imagine that the bodies of martyrs, like those of common men, are destitute of all active force and energy; since a greater power than that of the human soul is superadded to them, the power of the Holy Spirit, which by working miracles in them, demonstrates the truth of the resurrection."

Theodorit, the ecclesiastical historian, writes thus in the fifth century: "The temples of our martyrs," says this historian, "are shining and conspicuous, eminent for their grandeur, and the variety of their ornaments, and displaying far and wide the splendor of their beauty. These we visit, not once, or twice, or five times in the year, but frequently offer up hymns each day to the Lord of them. In health we beg the continuance of it. In sickness the removal of it. The childless beg children; and when these blessings are obtained, we beg the secure enjoyment of` them. When we undertake any journey, we beg them to be our companions and guides in it, and when we return safe, we give them our thanks. And that those who pray with faith and sincerity obtain what they ask is manifestly testified by the number of offerings which are made to them in consequence of the benefits received. For some offer the figure of eyes, some of feet, some of hands, made either of gold or silver, which the Lord accepts, though but of little value, measuring the gift by the faculty of the giver. But all these are evident proofs of the cure of as many distempers, being placed there as monuments of the facts, by those who have been made whole. The same monuments likewise proclaim the power of the dead, whose power also demonstrates their God to be the true God."

The controversy between Vigilantius and Jerome showed the temper of the times, and of the men. Vigilantius maintained, as the articles are enumerated by Middleton, that the honor paid to the rotten bones and dust of martyrs,

keeping them in the churches, and lighting up wax candles before them, after the manner of the heathens, were the ensigns of idolatry; that the celibacy of the clergy, and their vows of chastity were the seminary of lewdness; that to pray for the dead, or to desire the prayers of the dead, was superstitious: and that the souls of the departed saints and martyrs were at rest in some particular place, whence they could not remove themselves at pleasure, so as to be present every where to the prayers of their votaries; that the sepulchres of their martyrs ought not to be worshipped, nor their fasts or vigils to be observed; and lastly that the signs and wonders said to be wrought by their relics, and and at their sepulchres, served to no good end or purpose of religion.

These were the sacrilegious tenets, as Jerome calls them, which he could not hear with patience, or without the utmost grief, and for which he declared Vigilantius to be a most detestable heretic, venting his foul mouthed blasphemies against the relics of the martyrs, which were daily working signs and wonders. He bids him go into the churches of those martyrs, and he would be cleansed from the evil spirit which possessed him, and feel himself burnt, not by those wax candles, which so much offended him, but by invisible flames, which would force that dæmon who talked within him, to confess himself to be the same who had personated a Mercury, perhaps a Bacchus, or some other of their gods among the heathens.

In this period, an undue respect was paid to angels, who were believed to transact much of the business of this world, by commission from God. This sprang from a Gnostic error, alluded to by Paul, Coll. ii. 18. Praying to angels was forbidden as idolatrous by the council of Laodicea in 364.

WORSHIP OF SAINTS AND ANGELS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

The superstitious respect paid to saints increased. Prayers instead of being offered to them exclusively at their tombs and on the anniversaries of their death, were soon addressed to them at all times and in all places. Omnipresence was virtually ascribed them. In fact they succeeded in all respects to the honors which had been paid to the pagan deities. Names were altered, but the spirit

of idolatry possessed the bulk of the people, as it did before their conversion to Christianity.

In the eleventh century, statues were not erected to saints, but images were common. The very temples, altars, and images of the pagans were converted to the uses of the Christians. Dr Middleton saw at Rome a statue of the pagan god Bacchus, worshipped as a female saint. The celebrated heathen temple called the Pantheon was dedicated to the blessed Virgin and all the saints, and each worshipper could choose his favorite patron, as under the pagan system. Even the names were in some cases hardly changed, St Appollinaris succeeding to Apollo, and St Martina to Mars. Pictures of scenes in which the saints had interposed for human aid, were, after the heathen custom, hung up in the temples. The popish worship in its particulars followed quite exactly the ancient idolatrous ritual. As each country had its favorite god or goddess, for example, Athens Minerva, Persia Mithra or Sol, so St George became the tutelary patron of England, St Dennis of France, St Januarius of Naples, &c.

But the saints increasing until their number was troublesome, the custom of Canonization was instituted in the 9th or 10th century, by which none could be admitted to sacred honors until a bishop or the Pope had declared him worthy of them. This also was following the custom of apotheosis among the Greeks and deification among the Romans. Many were canonized who were little entitled to the epithet of saints, in proof of which we may adduce the names of Dominic and Thomas a Becket. Some of the saints proved on investigation to be only imaginary beings, who never had any existence; as St Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, the seven sleepers, St George, St Christopher, St Veronica. In the passion for canonizing, some very ludicrous mistakes were committed; out of the word Soracte, the name of an Italian mountain, was born St Oreste; from an imperfect inscription, prefectus viarum, was produced St Viar, and England worshipped the cloak of St Alban under the high-sounding title of St Amphibolus.

Gregory the fourth introduced a festival in honor of all saints in general.

These abuses of religious worship reached a monstrous pitch before the Reformation, and though they have been

somewhat, they have not been fundamentally, changed, since that event. The effects have been what might be expected; the true worship of God has been neglected, and the grand obligations of religion have been loosened, in countries where these superstitions have prevailed.

Angels as well as saints were also honored with religi ous worship; St Michael had his church and his festival, and prayers were addressed to this order of beings for the pardon of sins and for eternal life.

SECTION II.

OF PICTURES AND IMAGES IN CHURCHES.

TEMPLES having been built in honor of saints and martyrs, it was natural to adorn them with paintings and sculptures, representing their exploits, since a similar custom prevailed amongst the heathen. The origin of the usage was in Cappadocia, in the fourth or fifth century. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in Italy, a convert from Paganism, a person of senatorial rank, and of talents and learning, rebuilt his church, dedicated it to Felix, the martyr, and in the porticos of it, had the miracles of Moses and Christ painted, together with the acts of Felix and other martyrs, whose relics were there deposited. The wealthy christians vied with each other who should build and ornament their churches the most expensively. According to Chrysostom, pictures and images were to be seen in the principal churches in his day; but that was in the East.

The images of Christ were at first symbolical, in the form of a lamb, of which sort Epiphanius saw one, in 389, and was so provoked at it, that he tore it. A council of Constantinople, in 707, ordered that the pictures of Christ should be drawn in the human figure.

OF THE WORSHIP OF IMAGES..

Pictures and images, at first employed for ornament, or the commemoration of particular saints, or to instruct the ignorant, gradually were employed for graver purposes, viz:: as the objects of worship, the soul of the saint being supposed to be present in his image (as the mind resides in the body) which was in fact a pagan notion.

Gregory the Great encouraged the use of images for the purpose of teaching those who could not read,, but he dis