The Works of the Right Reverend John England

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER III. Ye seraphs, who God's throne encircling still, With holy zeal your golden censers fill; Ye flaming ministers, to distant lands Who bear, obsequious, his divine commands; Ye cherubs, who compose the sacred choir, Attuning to the voice th' angelic lyre Or ye, fair natives of the heavenly plain,...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER III. Ye seraphs, who God's throne encircling still, With holy zeal your golden censers fill; Ye flaming ministers, to distant lands Who bear, obsequious, his divine commands; Ye cherubs, who compose the sacred choir, Attuning to the voice th' angelic lyre Or ye, fair natives of the heavenly plain, Who once were mortal?now a happier train Who spend in peaceful love your joyful hours, In blissful meads, and amaranthine bowers, Oh, lend one spark of your celestial fire, And deign my glowing bosom to inspire, And aid the Muse's inexperienced wing, 'While Goodness, theme divine, she soars to sing. Boyse. Charleston, S. C., June 15, 1829. To the Editors: Gentlemen: ?I now proceed to show that your correspondent Protestant Catholic'' is not only inconsistent with the tenets of your church, but that he has altogether failed in sustaining his first charge against me. He stated that Roman Catholics called upon the angels and saints in the same way that they did upon God, to be merciful to them, and this ground has been removed, because of the untruth of the statement. His next averment is that Roman Catholics pray to angels and saints to save them by their merits. And here he assumes two grounds for their condemnation: first, that it is idolatry to pray to the blessed spirits, next, that we dishonour Christ when we ask to be saved by the merits of such beings. I shall take each topic separately. In paragraph 10, he lays down his principle: And what is prayer offered to a creature, whether visible or invisible, if not idolatry? If by prayer he meant the homage which is due only to God, by which we ask of him as the sole fountain of grace and mercy, that which he alone can effectually bestow, I answer distinctly, to offer such prayer to any creature would be id..