by Rev. I. R. Tallach
The recent beatification by the Pope of the 17th century Scottish Jesuit, John Ogilvy, should come as a sharp reminder to Scotland that the Church of Rome is semper eadem — always the same. Despite the pleas of some Protestants that the canonisation will set back the cause of unity, the Church of Rome is obviously determined to maintain her distinctive teaching in regard to the veneration of saints, and to proceed with the canonisation. Now that her determination is known, embarrassed ecumenists are prepared to view the canonisation as merely a ‘peripheral matter’, and not one that seriously affects the promotion of unity.
It is, indeed, sad and solemn that the deep detestation with which our Protestant country once viewed the Harlot of Rome has so mellowed that our Church leaders are prepared in the interests of ecumenism to wink at, and almost excuse, her blasphemous doctrines and practices. Were the Bible loved, and the principles and liberties of our Protestant Reformation prized as they once were, these fresh encroachments of Rome would be abominated and opposed. As it is, the weakness of Protestantism is the strength of Romanism. Those of us who are concerned about the encroachments upon our Protestant and Reformed heritage, should seek to be informed in our opposition to them. Mere anti-Romish feeling and prejudice, mere sentimental antagonism, is not enough. We do not oppose Roman doctrine simply because it belongs to a different tradition from ours, but because it is anti-Christian and anti-Scriptural.
No one who studies the Westminster Confession of Faith can fail to see that its formulators had in view the Protestant Reformed doctrine as opposed to the Roman. This is true of the document all the way through. Hence, when one turns to Chapter XXI: ‘Of Religious Worship’ etc., Sect. II, one finds that ‘Religious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and to Him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature: and since the fall, not without a Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other but Christ alone‘.
In contrast and in opposition to our Confession’s statement, the Creed of Pope Pius IV (1564) states: ‘Likewise that saints reigning with Christ are to be honoured and invocated, that they offer prayers to God for us, and their relics are to be venerated’. This doctrine — the veneration and invocation of saints — propounded by Pius IV, is decreed by the Council of Trent, and presented in its Catechism. The last of these declares: ‘The veneration and invocation of angels and saints, who enjoy the glory of heaven and the honour which the (Roman) Catholic Church has always paid, even to the bodies and ashes of the saints, are not forbidden by the first commandment. Their intercession, therefore, we invoke, because they always see the face of God, and are constituted by him the willing advocates of our salvation. To honour the saints who sleep in the Lord, to invoke their intercession, and to venerate their sacred relics and ashes, far from diminishing, tends considerably to increase, the glory of God; in proportion as the Christian’s hope is thus animated and fortified, and he himself excited to the imitation of their virtues. True, there is but one Mediator, Christ the Lord, who alone has reconciled us through his blood; and who, having accomplished our redemption, and having once entered into the holy of holies, ceases not to intercede for us; but it by no means follows, that it is therefore unlawful to have recourse to the intercession of the saints.’
The above authoritative statements are sufficient to show that the Church of Rome ascribes to saints the honour that is due to God alone. However Roman apologists may attempt to defend their doctrine of the veneration of saints it cannot be denied but that God is not the exclusive object of their worship. Ferraris, who supports his explanations with the highest authorities of his Church, writes: ‘Of sacred and religious adoration, there are three kinds; namely, latria, hyperdulia, and dulia. The adoration termed latria is that which is due to God alone, and is given on account of his uncreated supremacy and infinite excellency. The adoration or worship of hyperdulia is that which is due and rendered to the blessed Virgin on account of the maternity of God, and other excellent gifts, and her special supereminent sanctity beyond others. The adoration or worship of dulia is that which is due and given to the saints on account of the supernatural excellence of their sanctity and glory. These are common opinions’. Bagot’s Protestant Catechism may well ask: ‘Is there any warrant for these distinctions?’ and answer: ‘None whatever; for the nature of worship will not admit of such nice distinctions; nor can the people understand them, nor could they have such command over their feelings, as to attend to them: so that however plausible they may appear in theory, they are distinctions without a difference in practice‘. As has been stated above, God is not the sole and exclusive object of Roman Catholic worship. This solemn act is divided between the Almighty, the Virgin, the angels and the saints. (See Exodus 20, 3, 4 and 5).
Readers may be interested in the actual process of beatification and canonisation. According to Romish teaching no one may be venerated as a saint without Papal sanction. Hence, only such as are duly canonised by the Pope (i.e. enrolled in the canon or register of saints) may be publicly honoured and prayed to. He or she only is strictly a saint who is solemnly and canonically entered in the ‘number and catalogue of the saints’, and declared and defined to be such by a published decree, ‘that he may be esteemed and worshipped by all’ (Ferraris). In his Romish Rites and Ceremonies Foye takes the reader through the intricacies of beatification and canonisation. When the name of a candidate for sainthood is presented to the Congregation of Rites, the writings of the proposed saint are examined. If there is nothing in the writings to arrest the progress of inquiry, it moves to the next stage when letters are sent to three bishops in the neighbourhood of the place, ordering them to present proofs that the candidate possesses a reputation for sanctity and miracles. The first question is about the virtues of the candidate, and whether he possessed them in a heroical degree. If the Pope is satisfied that he did, he then proceeds to examine his miracles. If these qualify him for sainthood, a day is appointed for the ‘beatification of the servant of God‘, who then receives the title of Beatus (Blessed). Soon after this, the process which leads to canonisation is set in motion. The actual ceremony is lengthy and complex. It ends with the Pope’s ‘definitive sentence’: ‘We declare the blessed . . . to be a saint, and enrol him in the catalogue of the saints, enjoining the universal Church to worship his memory yearly, upon his natal day . . .’. The enrolment of the saint is followed by the singing of the Te Deum, the sound of trumpets and the ringing of bells. Thus the ‘joyous intelligence’ of the solemn advancement of the new saint is announced to the city and to the world. (John Ogilvy was pronounced ‘Beatus’ on 24th May; he is to be canonised on 17th October).
Ellicot, in his massive Delineation of Roman Catholicism, presents and disproves many of the Romish arguments for the invocation of saints. Among these are: ‘that because the saints possess supernatural excellence, and are the friends of God, it is not unreasonable to worship them . . . that Christ is too exalted to be affected by our miseries; but we may flee to the saints, who are more ready to hear, because they have been fellow-suffers, and are experienced in our sorrows . . . that the honour ascribed to the saints is ultimately referred to Christ . . .’ and so on. In combating these arguments, it is carefully pointed out that there is no foundation in Scripture for the Romish system of saint-worship; that worship is to be offered to God alone; that ‘the invocation of saints is a pure absurdity for unless they are omnipresent and omnicient, they cannot hear us; and in many cases, unless they are omnipotent, they cannot help us’ (Hodge on the Confession); that the worship of saints is expressly forbidden in Scripture. When Cornelius fell down at Peter’s feet to worship him, the apostle forbade him (Acts 10.25). Paul and Barnabas prevented the citizens of Lystra from paying them divine homage (Acts 14.15). Above all, the invocation of saints is an ugly slander on the mediatorial office and function of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom ‘all power in heaven and in earth’ is committed (Heb. 4. 15, 16). The notion that Christ, who is a Saviour and Intercessor deficient in nothing, must be supplemented by saints is a blasphemy. Paul affirms: ‘For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim. 2.5).
There is, therefore, one word only that may be fitly written across the entire Romish system of saint and angel worship. It is: IDOLATRY. That many in our country should so easily accept the beatification and canonisation of John Ogilvy, is a sad indication of the gross darkness that covers our people. It has been well said that ‘the only atmosphere in which Popery can flourish is composed of uninquiring ignorance, and a passive subjection to human authority’. Enlightened Protestants must continue to pray for the downfall of Romanism, and the freeing of those who are under its thrall.
We need not trouble ourselves with the circumstances of John Ogilvy’s death; nor need we enter into his supposed virtues which qualify him for sainthood; nor need we concern ourselves about a hypothetical miracle said to have resulted from his intercession. In the light of Scripture, we may dismiss the whole business as a theological impossibility, and therefore a huge lie. We turn away from the absurdities of saint-veneration to the One who sits upon the throne of supreme and universal power: ‘Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb. 4. 15, 16).