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not but see how even by that our separation from her might be fully justified. From the first to the last the scriptures are uniform in representing idolatry as the grossest act of rebellion against God. He deigns to consider himself as the husband of his church. And And every other act of worship to any other being, nay, every such act paid even to him in any other manner than he warrants, is stigmatized as adultery and whoredom. He represents himself as a "jealous" God, that we may understand (for such is the nature of jealousy) that not only every approach to such a crime, but the very suspicion of it in the wife whom he hath chosen is what he will not endure. But as you have also seen the church of Rome is not only a prostitute, but a prostitute for hire. Not only she prefers a "form" before the "power" of godliness; but as St. Paul says elsewhere, supposes "gain to "be godliness*." Indeed when you see for what base ends the worship of God is thus by her priests and rulers profaned, what words can we apply to them more justly than those of our Lord spoken to other money changers, far less criminal than these, "It is written my house "shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have "made it a den of thieves.†."

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SERMON VI.

MARK Vii. 7.

In vain do they worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men.

In the beginning of my last discourse I observed upon the difficulty which must be felt by every infidel or impostor in opposing the true religion, unless he be prepared with other doctrines by which he may divert and engage the attention of men, and satisfy that propensity to the divine worship which is so deeply rooted in the human mind: I may add now that the sort of doctrine which is thus made to supply the place of God's word, can of course only

be that which is pointed out in the text. And this affords another proof of the truth of what has been more than once observed, that error in all ages is substantially the same. For you cannot be ignorant that the practice which our Saviour thus reproves in the pharisees and hypocrites of his day, is the principal and most powerful engine employed at all times by the church of Rome, and by force of which she has been enabled to support her authority, and give currency to her peculiar tenets. The doctors of modern days have but trod the same path as the rabbis of old; both saw their advantage and pursued it; and in both cases but too successfully, "The word of God was made "of none effect by their traditions*." what way indeed could any colour have been given to the abominations which in my last discourse I pointed out, how could the worship of images and of relics, or the invocation of saints ever have become accredited but by devising such explanations and glosses, and bringing forward such opinions of men as should quite put out of sight the divine commandments in which they were so expressly prohibited.

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Such is the case with the first class of corruptions adopted by the Romish church, nor shall we find those which follow at all less contradictory to the words of scripture, or differently

* Matt. xv. 6.

supported.

They stand indeed like the others upon no better or more specious foundation than the inventions of men.

I come then, as next in order, to that class of corrupt doctrine by which she derogates from the sufficiency of our Lord's atonement; and this by the introduction of other intercessors, and her whole system of merits as applied to the living as well as the dead. And to any man who has duly considered the nature of our redemption, who feels as he ought all that is due to our great Lord and Saviour, this species of error will not appear in any degree less pernicious than the first. It will also be found materially connected with it. And indeed, according to the observation already made, as it is in the nature of truth that all its parts should harmonize together and support one another; so shall we find the different species of error, more especially in religious matters, so naturally to run into each other, to be so closely entwined and interwoven that it is hardly possible to consider any one of them without some of the others coming also into discussion. Thus the worship of the saints, and of course of their images and relics, forces itself naturally upon us, when coming to consider the Romish doctrine of merits. By their merits it is that the saints are represented as having raised themselves to that eminence, from which they are able to give to

their votaries assistance and protection. Whatever therefore of honour or of worship may be paid to them, becomes on that account doubly abominable and impious. It is idolatry; and idolatry practiced upon grounds which cannot but most immediately derogate from the glory of him who is in scripture declared to be our only Redeemer and Protector, the only Being who is "mighty to save*." And this, as I have before observed, would be the case if the veneration which is paid to saints, and the trust which is reposed in them, were ever so moderate and kept within ever such narrow bounds; if nothing had taken place of that which I have already pointed out, and which we know to have been the fact ever since saints were first worshipped; that infinitely more and more earnest supplications are and have been by their worshippers put up to them than to Christ or the Father'. But even this is not all; there is

Isaiah lxiii. 1.

The reader may recollect what has been adduced in some of the notes to the last sermon, particularly notes 16, 17 & 18. Take another specimen or two: first, of the famous St. Francis, of Assisi. “He had a singular devotion to the mother of God (whom he "chose for the special patroness of his order) and in her honour "he fasted from the feast of SS. Peter and Paul to that of her as"sumption. After this festival he fasted forty days and prayed "much, out of devotion to the angels, especially the archangel "Michael; and at All saints he fasted other forty days. Under the "name of these lents he spent almost the whole year in fasting and

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