THE most popular form of
idolatry that ever captivated the human heart is the worship of Mary. To the
unwedded priest of contemplative mind, Mary has every beauty, every
charm, every divine grace. Pure enough to be the chosen mother of that human
body in which Deity dwelt, unapproached in her unparalleled honors, chaste as
the unspotted snow; she is the queen of his imagination, the ravishing idol of
his heart. And as the mistress of his affections, he sings her praises,
proclaims her glories, and gives her glowing homage. Those who fail to worship
Mary, in his sight, are destitute of moral taste and perception; they are
blind to beauty; they are governed by heartless ingratitude; they have no ear
for the sweetest voice that ever fell on the ears of angels, or sent its
thrilling melodies through the wounds of a bleeding heart.
To the masses of the Catholic world, Jehovah does not appear
as a pitying Father, governed by a compassion too vast for finite conception,
a love which led him to give up his only Son to the nails, the crucifix, the
spear, the burning wrath of indignant justice, the ghastly arms of the
universal destroyer, and to the loathsome grave, that "he might redeem us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He is the awful God who
breathes thunders; whose eyes flash forth lightnings; whose feet, as they
touch our world, start the jarring earthquakes; whose voice is like the
roarings of many cataracts; who is holy, terribly just, sparing neither age
nor sex, and never appalled by the numbers who fall before his avenging
righteousness. Jesus is not the God-man. He is simply Jehovah, without
anything to make him our brother, to proclaim his intense and eternal
human sympathies. The only conception the Catholic masses have of Christ's
humanity is a
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little child sitting in helpless and unconscious innocence on
the knees of a loving mother; to them Jesus is the infinite God, moving
through the universe as its master, to inflict punishment; and to be coaxed
into acts of mercy by a mother whom he loves.
They view Mary as the personification of maidenly modesty, of
motherly love, of all beauty, goodness, and gentleness. There is not a pure
and loving quality known to the human imagination which is not attributed to
Mary. She has pity in ocean fullness; she is ever ready to intercede for her
penitent petitioners; she has unlimited sway over the heart of her Son. She is
the queen of love, of goodness, and of heaven. She is the most venerated
divinity in the Catholic Church. Little wonder that Mohammed should say: *
"Believe therefore, in God and his apostles, and say not there are three Gods,
forbear this; it will be better for you." His commentator tells us the three
Gods of whom he spoke were the Father, the Son and the Virgin Mary.
The Worship of Mary began in Arabia. †
About the end of the fourth century certain women in Arabia, once in twelve months, dressed a car[t] or square throne; spread a linen cloth over it; and on a clear day placed a loaf of bread or cakes called collyrides upon it, which they offered to the Virgin Mary. It would seem that this was a transfer of the services of the Lord's Supper to Mary from her Son. These first worshippers of Mary were called Collyridianians. This service, though offensive to the churches at first, under another and milder form spread rapidly over the East and West. ‡
...
* Koran, p. 80 Philada., 1868.
† Mosheim, iv. cen. chap. v. sec. XXV.
‡ Neander, ii. 339.
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...
Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
This Litany was composed in Loretto, and
sung in the processions in that city; and on that account it is often called,
"The Litany of Loretto." Sixtus V., June 11th, 1587, granted to all Christians
an indulgence of two hundred days for each time this Litany was piously
repeated. This indulgence was confirmed by Benedict XIII., January 20th, 1728.
†
The portion of it about Mary is blasphemous in the highest
degree; it is the most idolatrous prayer ever presented to a dead woman.
"Holy Mary, ‡ pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us.
Mother of Christ, pray for us.
Mother of Divine Grace, pray for us.
Mother most pure, pray for us.
Mother most chaste, pray for us.
Mother most inviolate, pray for us.
Mother undefiled, pray for us.
Mother most amiable, pray for us.
Mother most admirable, pray for us.
Mother of our Creator, pray for us.
Mother of our Redeemer, pray for us.
Virgin most prudent, pray for us.
Virgin most venerable, pray for us.
Virgin most renowned, pray for us.
Virgin most powerful, pray for us.
Virgin most merciful, pray for us.
Virgin most faithful, pray for us.
Mirror of Justice, pray for us.
Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.
Cause of our Joy, pray for us.
Spiritual Vessel, pray for us.
...
‡ "The Garden of the Soul," p. 297-8. London.
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Vessel of Honor, pray for us.
Vessel of singular Devotion, pray for us.
Mystical Rose, pray for us.
Tower of David, pray for us.
Tower of Ivory, pray for us.
House of Gold, pray for us.
Ark of the Covenant, pray for us.
Gate of Heaven, pray for us.
Morning Star, pray for us.
Health of the Weak, pray for us.
Refuge of the Sinners, pray for us.
Comforter of the Afflicted, pray for us.
Help of Christians, pray for us.
Queen of Angels, pray for us.
Queen of Patriarchs, pray for us.
Queen of Prophets, pray for us.
Queen of Apostles, pray for us.
Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.
Queen of Confessors, pray for us.
Queen of Virgins, pray for us.
Queen of All Saints, pray for us.
Language is exhausted in applying titles to Mary, pilfered from her divine Son. Not in any tongue used by mortals has such a list of impious compliments been given to a woman living or dead. Nor has any religion or superstition ever showered such praises upon a female divinity. Every sentence is but the prayer:
"Come, then, our advocate,
O turn on us those pitying eyes of
thine;
And our long exile past,
Show us at last
Jesus, of thy pure womb the fruit
divine;
O Virgin Mary, mother blest!
O sweetest, gentlest, holiest!"
Mary and Eve, the Authors of Sin and Salvation
The Rev. M. Hobart Seymour, an Episcopal clergyman, spent some time in Rome at the period when Puseyism [Edward Bouverie Pusey, (1800 - 1882)] threatened to
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carry the Church of England into the arms of the "Scarlet Lady;" and as it was assumed in Rome that he was there to join the Church of the Dark Ages, provided some difficulties were explained, certain Professors of the Collegio Romano, of the order of Jesuits, visited him repeatedly to remove his objections. One of these Jesuits declared to him, * "That as it was a woman brought in sin, so a woman was to bring in holiness; that as a woman brought in death, so a woman was to bring in life; that as Eve brought in dissolution, so Mary was to bring in salvation; that as we regard Eve as the first sinner, so we are to regard Mary as the first Saviour; the one as the author of sin, the other as the author of its remedy."
The Virgin More Merciful than her Son.
One of these professors declared that the "feeling was universal among Romanists that the Virgin Mary was more merciful, more gentle, and more ready to hear than Christ." † On another page the same doctrine is taught by one of these Jesuits: "It is the opinion of many of the fathers that God hears our prayers more quickly when they are offered through the blessed Virgin than when they are offered through anyone else." And again: "Many of the fathers were of the opinion that even Christ himself was not so willing to hear our prayers, and did not hear them so quickly, when offered simply to himself, as when they were offered through the blessed Virgin." And again, the professor says: "The Romanists feel Mary is altogether of their own nature, and that this insures a more perfect sympathy, so as to make Mary more accessible than Christ; and this feeling leads them to pray with more frequency, as well as with more confidence to Mary than to Christ."
The Two Ladders to Heaven.
St. Bernard had a vision once, in which he beheld two ladders extending from earth to heaven. ‡ At the top of one ladder the Saviour appeared; and Mary at the top of the other; those try-
* [Rev. M. Hobart] Seymour's "Mornings among the Jesuits [at
Rome]," p. 44. N. Y., 1849.
† Id., pp 48, 49, 102, 106.
‡ Id., p. 56.
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ing to enter heaven by Christ's ladder were constantly tumbling down, and meeting with perpetual failures; those who attempted to reach the skies by Mary's always succeeded, for she put forth her hands to assist them. Seymour says: * "I saw this as an altar-piece (a picture of it) in a church at Milan—none succeeding by the Saviour's ladder, none failing by the Virgin's."
The Triangular Trinity.
In the Baptistery of Parma [Italy] there is a representation of the Trinity. At the top of a triangle is the Father; at the two angles of the base are the Son and Mary; the two arms of the Father resting on the heads of the Son and Mary, form the legs of the triangle; while the arms of the Son, extended to the head of Mary, form the base. The Sacristan called it the Trinity of the Father, Son and Virgin. †
Four Persons in the Godhead.
Seymour quotes from Meyrick's "Working of the Church in Spain," the form of doxology admired in that country: ‡
"Glory be to the Father,
Glory be to the Son,
Glory be to the Holy Ghost,
Glory be to the Holy Virgin,
Throughout all ages, forever and ever.
Amen."
The Chief Source of St. Mary's Merits.
To have had such a Son as Jesus is the common basis of Mary's claim to the peculiar respect of our race; but the Jesuits of the Collegio Romano have discovered another foundation for these merits. "Assuredly," says one of them, "there was merit in the sufferings undergone by the blessed Virgin in giving birth to the child Jesus. There was no necessity whatever; no reason whatever why she should have subjected herself to them; and therefore her having
* "Mornings among the Jesuits," p. 56. N. Y., 1849.
† [Rev. M. Hobart] Seymour's "Evenings with the Romanists," [Robert
Carter and Bros.] p. 258. N.Y., 1856.
‡ Id., p. 256.
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actually undergone such sufferings, was meritorious. * She had some claim upon God for it." Here the doctrine is that maternity inflicted on Mary without her consent gave merit to her enforced sufferings. If so, then every case of compelled maternity has overflowing merit to blot out the sins of others, even when the mother is a heathen.
The Religion of Italy, the Gospel of Mary, not the
Dispensation
of Jesus.
The intelligent observer already quoted
confirms the universal testimony of travellers who have visited Italy about
the extent of Mary worship. He says: † "The whole devotional system of the
Church of Rome, the prayers of the Virgin, the countless images of the Virgin,
the many churches dedicated to the Virgin, the universal devotion rendered to
the Virgin, the manner in which all the services and prayers of the church and
people are impregnated with thoughts of the Virgin, the extent to which, in
conversation, all classes went, in speaking of the Virgin, all had impressed
me with the feeling that the religion of Italy ought to be called: The
religion of the Virgin Mary, and not the religion of Jesus Christ."
"If I enter the church of the Augustines, I see there an
image of the Virgin Mary as large as life. Some are decking her with jewels as
votive offerings; some are suspending pictures around as memorials of
thankfulness; some are placing money in a box at her feet; some are
devoutly kissing her feet and touching them with their foreheads; some are
prostrate in profound devotion before her; some are repeating the rosary
before her; all are turning their backs upon the consecrated host; upon that
which the priest is elevating upon the high altar, and which he and they
devoutly believe to be Jesus Christ Himself bodily and visibly among them;
turning their backs upon Christ and their faces upon Mary, practically
forsaking Christ for Mary, with a prostration the most profound before her
image—a prostration that was never surpassed in the days of heathen Rome, and
can never be justified in Christian Rome." ‡
* "Mornings among the Jesuits," p. 192. N. Y., 1849.
† Id., p. 107.
‡ Id., p. 55-6.
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And one of these Jesuits told Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, * "That the devotion to the Virgin was very popular; that latterly it had become increasingly so, and that he knew many facts that proved it a growing devotion among all classes. He mentioned the frequency with which he hears the poor and simple people praying to the Virgin, singing hymns to her pictures, at the corners of the streets early in the morning, appealing to her for protection in times of danger; and he narrated an instance of a little child appealing to the Virgin whose piety so touched his heart that a tear glistened in his eye as the told the incident."
This Devotion rests upon the highest Authority.
The Council of Trent gave birth to modern Romanism; its decisions have greater weight in the Papal Church than passages of Scripture. The fathers of Trent had two classes of decrees to which they gave their sanction, the first originated with themselves, the second was made up of bulls, and commandments of other and commonly inferior synods. The Council of Trent in its fifth session, in its articles on "Original Sin," adopted the following from a decree of Sixtus IV.: † "When we investigate with the scrutiny of devout consideration the exalted insignia of the merits with which the Queen of the heavens, the glorious Virgin mother of God, advanced to the celestial dwellings, shining amidst the constellations as the morning star, and revolve beneath the secrets of our breast, that she herself as the path of mercy, the mother of grace, and the friend of piety, the consoler of the human race, the sedulous and vigilant advocate of the salvation of the faithful, who are opposed by the load of their offenses, intercedes with the King whom she has brought forth . . . . that thereby they may
* "Mornings among the Jesuits," p. 55-6. N. Y., 1849.
† Canones et Decrete Conc. Trid., p. 260. Lipsiae, 1863.
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become more fit for divine grace by the merits and intercession of the same Virgin." Here Mary is the path of mercy, the mother of grace, the consoler of the human race, with merits and intercession to qualify men for divine grace; and that, by the decree of the authoritative Council of Trent.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent,
Speaks with equal significance: * "Therefore, we, exiled sons of Eve, who inhabit this vale of tears, ought assiduously to invoke the Mother of Mercy, and the advocate of the faithful people, that she might pray for us sinners, and that from her, in prayer, we might implore aid and assistance; for no one, unless impiously and wickedly, can doubt but that she has the most surpassing merits with God, and the highest desire to assist the human race."
Gregory XVI., in 1832,
Says, in his Encyclical Letter [MIRARI VOS], published August
15th of that year: † "But that all things may have a prosperous and happy
issue, let us raise our eyes and hands to the most holy Virgin Mary, who only
destroys all heresies, who is our greatest hope; yea, the entire
ground of our hope."
Such is the position occupied by that modest, unassuming
woman, who gave birth to Jesus, in the Church of Rome. She is adored with a
worship of the loftiest order; she is venerated by many millions who neglect
her Son and his Father. She is at this moment the great divinity of the papal
world. Nor is there a doubt by that she would denounce this impious idolatry
if she were on earth, and drive her images and worshippers from every
Christian temple.
* Catechismus Conc. Trid., pars iv. cap. vi. quest. 8,
p. 405. Lipsiae, 1865. [link]
† [Charles] Elliott's [On Romanism:] Delineations of Roman [Catholic]ism.
p. 754. London, 1851.
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Not one Prayer was ever addressed to Mary when living,
nor was
any Worship ever offered her.
While her Son lived on earth, she was respected by his followers, simply as the mother of the Baptist, or any other godly woman was esteemed. After his death, there is nothing in the sacred records about her; nor is there one single instance, in the New Testament, of reverence, veneration, dulia, hyperdulia, or latria given to Mary. Romish prayer-books are full of petitions to the Virgin; the Scriptures are absolutely silent about any supplications to and worship of the Saviour's mother.
The Lord rebukes his Mother for interfering with his Business.
At the marriage of Cana, when the wine failed, Mary, concerned for the honor of the family, told Jesus, and undoubtedly hinted to him the propriety of performing a miracle. According to the Vulgate, the only Bible recognized by the Council of Trent, the Saviour answered: * What is it to me and thee, woman? my hour is not yet come." The use of the word "woman" by the Saviour, does not lead one to think that he regarded her as "queen of heaven." His answer to her is a refusal, coupled with an intimation that she was ignorant of the time when he should assume his divine authority before men.
The Saviour decides that every one who does his Father's
Will is the
equal of his Mother.
On one occasion, it was announced to Jesus, that his mother and brethren were without, and wished to speak to him: the Saviour's reply, according to the Vulgate, was: † "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? and, extending his hand to his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brothers; for whosoever shall do
* John ii. 4, Vulg., edita et recognita jussu Sixt. V.
et Clem. VIII. London, 1846.
† Matt. xii. 48, 49, 50, Vulg., edita et recognita jussu Sixt. V. et
Clem. VIII. London, 1846.
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the will of my Father, who is in heavens, he is my brother and sister and mother." He refuses to go and speak with the "refuge of sinners, the comfortress of the afflicted," and he makes the declinature publicly, as if to show that even his mother must not interfere with him in discharging the duties he owes his Father. And he immediately rebukes the idea that his mother was any more to him, as the Great Teacher, than any other disciple; whosoever does his Father's will is dear to him, and powerful with him, as "brother, sister and mother."
The Saviour declares that there is a greater Distinction
on earth
than that of being his Mother.
On one occasion, while he was speaking, a
delighted woman, most probably a mother, exclaimed, according to the Vulgate:
* "Blessed is the womb which bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast
sucked; and he said: Nay, rather, they are blessed who hear the word of God,
and keep it." This woman properly pronounced Mary blessed for giving birth to
the Redeemer. But the Saviour, while admitting that Mary had a blessing in
being his mother, declares that the hearing and keeping of the word of God was
a greater honor—a happier distinction. And if the inferior honor justifies the
worship of Mary, on the same principle higher worship should be given to all
who hear God's word and keep it. But we very much fear that if this rule was
observed, most of the present Catholic saints would be discarded, and millions
of godly persons, who were never inside a Romish Church, would have their
images put in Catholic shrines, and prayers and devotions presented to them—because
they heard GOD'S WORD AND KEPT IT, instead of observing the traditions of men.
A woman so deaf that she can hear nothing, has a powerful
son, persons are ignorant of her deafness, and anxious for the favor of the
mighty son; they seek the intercession of his deaf mother. But though they
plead earnestly, they appeal to her in vain; she cannot hear them. In regard
to all earthly prayers and devotions, Mary is a deaf woman; she cannot
hear. She knows nothing of all the words addressed to her.
* Luke xi. 27, 28, Vulgate. London. 1846.
