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Redeemer and Saviour . " The texts quoted and the arguments employed on this subject , though they will carry no conviction to the Protestant , manifest his Lordship's diligent sincerity in giving an account of the faith that is in him . Relics and images , though not mentioned in the oath , Lord Shrewsbury thinks it necessary to notice , as he justly supposes that the reverence paid to them by Catholics strengthens the charge of idolatry and superstition . With respect to images his Lordship trusts that he is able to prove that
"Catholics are not idolaters . " The answer , " he says , " in our English Catechism , to the question , * Do Catholics pray to images ? ' is this— 'No ! by no means , for they can neither see , nor hear , nor help us ; ' a similar answer , together with the most pointed condemnation of every species of idolatry , is to be found , without one exception , in all the catechisms in use in Italy , France , Spain , Flanders , Germany , — in a word , in every portion of the Catholic world , in every language in which Christianity is preached , and in every clime in which the name of Jesus is known . " A sensible , well-informed
Catholic may use the image of his saint merely as a memorial ; and so , it is probable , did many of the worshipers of Mars , Jupiter , Apollo , &c , &c .: but what effect has the practice on the minds of the uninformed ? Lord Shrewsbury cannot deny that in Catholic countries people have formed the most gross and absurd notions concerning both relics stnd images , and this springs from what is " radically vicious in the system ; " for the custom of praying befgre an image has an obvious tendency to lead the ignorant and uncultivated to conceive a degree of sacredness in the image itself , and to
pray TX ) it . His Lordship next observes , that they who take the oath declare " that they believe the sacrifice of the mass , as now used in the Church of Rome , is superfluous and idolatrous ; " whereas , says his Lordshi p , " I do solemnly and sincerely declare , and urn ready jso to do with God as my witness , that I
most firmly and steadfastly believe that the sacrifice of the mass , as now used by the Church of Rome , was instituted by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as a perpetual commemoration of his death and passion . " The reasons why he and all Catholics think so are stated with clearness and precision ; but we find nothing new in the arguments . How the mass can be called a sacrifice we are at a loss to conceive : nor can we understand how " the sacrifices
of the temple were emblematical of the sacrifices of the mass . " As long , however , as Catholics regard it as " a homage which they never pay but to God alone , as an essential mark of that supreme and sovereign duty which they owe to the Omnipotent Author of the creation , " it is using strong language to brand them as idolaters for the practice , however little we may conceive it to be in unison with that of the apostles .
Having considered the propositions contained in the oath , the author next proceeds to state other reasons which prevent a Catholic from conforming to the Established Church , or to any other system of Protestantism . The first is , " the insufficiency of the Scriptures as the only rule of faith . " The usual arguments of the Romanists are clearly and concisely stated . —Lord . S . of course objects to Protestantism , " because no Protestant church possesses
any of those characteristic marks of the true church so clearly and incontrovertibly pointed out in the sacred writings . Protestantism is neither one , holy , catholic , nor apostolical . " " No Protestant church , " says his Lordship , " possesses catholicity , that is universality ; " but when we look over the map of the globe we cannot help thinking that the eloquent passage , in which his Lordship has displayed the general prevalence of the Romish
Untitled Article
464 Revieivs—Lotfl Shrewsbury ' s Reasons .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/32/
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