Posted on 05/14/2008 10:16:49 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg
by C. H. Spurgeon
From the January 1866 "Sword and Trowel Spurgeon"
According to promise, we have summarized the detailed account of the idolatrous worship of Mary by the Papists as exposed in full by Dr. Pusey in his new work. As his statements are not made at random, but are supported by quotations from Romish writers of recognised authority, they will be valuable to those who are met by the crafty denials of Romanists whenever they expose the genuine doctrines of Popish faith. Amid all the mischief which Pusey has done, it is well to note and acknowledge whatever service he may in this case render to truth. The headings of the paragraphs are ours; the quotations are given as they stand.
Blessings said to be obtained through Mary.
—"So, then, it is taught in authorized books, that 'it is morally impossible for those to be saved who neglect the devotion to the Blessed Virgin;' that 'it is the will of God that all graces should pass through her hands;' that 'no creature obtained any grace from God, save according to the dispensation of His holy Mother;' that Jesus has, in fact, said, 'no one shall be partaker of My Blood, unless through the intercession of My Mother;' that 'we can only hope to obtain perseverance through her;' that 'God granted all the pardons in the Old Testament absolutely for the reverence and love of this Blessed Virgin;' that 'our salvation is in her hand;' that 'it is impossible for any to be saved, who turns away from her, or is disregarded by her; or to be lost, who turns to her, or is regarded by her;' that 'whom the justice of God saves not, the infinite mercy of Mary saves by her intercession;' that God is 'subject to the command of Mary;' that 'God has resigned into her hands (if one might say so) His omnipotence in the sphere of grace;' that 'it is safer to seek salvation through her than directly from Jesus.'"
Mary worship held up as a cure for trouble.
—"F. Faber, in his popular books, is always bringing in the devotion to the Blessed Virgin.. He believes that the shortcomings of English Roman Catholics are owing to the inadequacy of their devotion to her. After instancing people's failures in overcoming their faults, want of devotion, unsubmission to God's special Providence for them, feeling domestic troubles almost-incompatible with salvation, and that 'for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy,' he asks, 'What is the remedy that is wanted? what is the remedy indicated by God himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady, but remember, nothing short of an immense one. Here, in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary, that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is, that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured, because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish, because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that is the cause of all these wants and blights; these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother.'"
The Pope's whole reliance on the Virgin.
—In his Encyclical Letter of 1849, Pius IX wrote: "On this hope we chiefly rely, that the most Blessed Virgin—who raised the height of merits above all the choirs of Angels to the throne of the Deity, and by the foot of Virtue 'bruised the serpent's head,' and who, being constituted between Christ and His Church, and, being wholly sweet and full of graces, hath ever delivered the Christian people from calamities of all sorts and from the snares and assaults of all enemies and hath rescued them from destruction, and, commiserating our most sad and most sorrowful vicissitudes and our most severe straits, toils, necessities with that most large feeling of her motherly mind—will, by her most present and most powerful patronage with God, both turn away the scourges of Divine wrath wherewith we are afflicted for our sins, and will allay, dissipate the most turbulent storms of ills, wherewith, to the incredible sorrow of our mind, the Church everywhere is tossed, and will turn our sorrow into joy. For ye know very well, Ven. Brethren, that the whole of our confidence is placed in the most Holy Virgin, since God has placed in Mary the fullness of all good, that accordingly we may know that if there is any hope in us, if any grace, if any salvation, it redounds to us from her, because such is His will Who hath willed that we should have everything through Mary."
Mary blasphemously called Co-Redemptress with our Lord.
—"We had heard before, repeatedly, that she was the Mediatrix with the Redeemer; some of us, who do not read Marian books, have heard now for the first time, that she was ever our 'Co-Redemptress.' The evidence lies, not in any insulated passage of a devotional writer (which was alleged in plea for the language of M. Olier), but in formal answers from Archbishops and Bishops to the Pope as to what they desired in regard to the declaration of the Immaculate Conception as an Article of Faith. Thus the Archbishop of Syracuse wrote, 'Since we know certainly that she, in the fulness of time, was Co-redemptress of the human race, together with her Son Jesus Christ our Lord.' From North Italy the Bishop of Asti wrote of 'the dogma of the singular privilege granted by the Divine Redeemer to His pure mother, the Co-redemptress of the world.' In South Italy the Bishop of Gallipoli wrote, 'the human race, whom the Son of God, from her, redeemed; whom, together with Him, she herself co-redeemed.' The Bishop of Cariati prayed the Pope to 'command all the sons of Holy Mother Church and thy own, that no one of them should dare at any time hereafter to suspect as to the Immaculate Conception of their Co-redeemer.' From Sardinia, the Bishop of Alghero wrote, 'It is the common consent of all the faithful, and the common wish and desire of all, that our so beneficent Parent and Co-redeemer should be presented by the Apostolic See with the honour of this most illustrious mystery.' Spain, the Bishop of Almeria justified the attribute by appeal to the service of the Conception. The Church, adapting to the Mother of God in the Office of the Conception that text, 'Let Us make a help like unto Him,' assures us of it. and confirms those most ancient traditions, 'Companion of the Redeemer,' 'Co-Redemptress,' 'Authoress of everlasting salvation.' The Bishops refer to. these as ancient, well-known, traditionary titles, at least in their Churches in North and South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain."
A Parallel infamously drawn between Jesus and Mary.
—"As our Redemption gained its sufficiency and might from Jesus, so, they say, did it gain its beauty and loveliness from the aid of Mary. As we are clothed with the merits of Christ, so also, they say, with the merits of Mary. As Jesus rose again the third day without seeing corruption, so they speak of her Resurrection so as to anticipate corruption, in some three days;' as He was the first-fruits of them that slept, so is she; as He was taken up into heaven in the body so, they say, was she; as He sits at the Right Hand of God, so she at His Right Hand; as He is there our perpetual Intercessor with the Father, so she with Him; as 'no man cometh to the Father.' Jesus saith, 'but by Me;' so 'no man cometh to Jesus', they say, 'but by her;' as He is our High Priest, so she, they say, a Priestess; He, our High Priest, gave us the sacrament of His Body and Blood; so, they say, did she, 'her will conspiring with the will of her Son to the making of the Eucharist, and assenting to her Son so giving and offering Himself for food and drink, since we confess that the sacrifice and gifts, given, to us under the form of bread and wine, are truly hers and appertain unto her. As in the Eucharist He is present and we receive Him, so she, they say, is present an received in that same sacrament. The priest is 'minister of Christ,' and 'minister of Mary.' They seem to assign to her an office, like that of God the Holy Ghost, in dwelling in the soul. They speak of 'souls born not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God and Mary;' that 'the Holy Ghost chose to make use of our Blessed Lady to bring His fruitfulness into action by producing in her and by her Jesus Christ in His members;' that 'according to that word, 'the kingdom of God is within you,' in like manner the kingdom of our Blessed Lady is principally in the interior of a man, his soul; that 'when Mary has struck her roots in the soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin, who never has had, and never will have, her equal in purity and fruitfulness.'"
Shameless declaration that Mary is in the Eucharist.
—(Oswald.) "'We maintain a (co-)presence of Mary in the Eucharist. This is a necessary inference from our Marian theory, and we shrink back from no consequence.' 'We are much inclined,' he says afterwards, 'to believe an essential co-presence of Mary in her whole person, with body and soul, under the sacred species. Certainly to such a presence in the Eucharist, 1. there is required a glorious mode of being of the Virgin body of the Holy Mother. We are not only justified in holding this as to Mary, but we have well-nigh proved it. 2. The assumption of a bodily presence of Mary in the Eucharist compels self-evidently the assumption of a multi-location (i.e. a contemporaneous presence in different portions of space) of Mary, according to her flesh too. 3. One who would receive this must be ready to admit a compenetration of the Body of Christ and of that of the Virgin in the same portion of space, i.e. under the sacred species.' The writer subsequently explains that 'the "lac virginale" must be looked upon as that of Mary, which is primarily present in the Eucharist, whereto, in further consequence, the whole Christ the Head, the Blessed Virgin is, as also her soul, would be joined.' 'The Blood of the Lord, and the lac of His Virgin Mother, are both present in the sacrament.'"
Mariolotry to swallow up all other devotion.
—"'Assuming that, in and under Christ the Head, the Blessed Virgin is, after her Assumption, as it were, the neck of the Church, so that all grace whatever flows to the Body through her, that is, through her prayers, it might be argued, that, for such as have this belief to ask anything of or through her, is identical in sense, but in point of form better, than to ask it directly of Christ, in like manner as to ask anything of or through Christ, is identical in sense, but clearer and fuller in point of form, than to ask it directly of the Father. And hence, it might seem that it would bean improvement, if, reserving only the use of the appointed forms for the making of the Sacraments, and an occasional use of the Lord's Prayer (and this rather from respect to the letter of their outward institution than from any inward.199 necessity or propriety), every prayer, both of individuals and of the Church, were addressed to or through Blessed Mary, a form beginning, 'Our Lady, which art in heaven,' etc., being preferred for general use to the original letter of the Lord's Prayer; and the Psalter, the Te Deum, and all the daily Offices, being used in preference with similar accommodation.'" Horrid ravings of Faber, whose writings are very popular among Papists.—"'There is some portion of the Precious Blood which once was Mary's own blood, and which remains still in our Blessed Lord, incredibly exalted by its union with His Divine Person, yet still the same. This portion of Himself, it is piously believed, has not been allowed to undergo the usual changes of human substance. At this moment, in heaven, He retains something which was once His Mother's, and which is, possibly, visible, as such, to the saints and angels. He vouchsafed at mass to show to S. Ignatius the very part of the Host which had once belonged to the substance of Mary. It may have a distinct and singular beauty in heaven, where, by His compassion, it may one day be our blessed lot to see it and adore it. But with the exception of this portion of it, the Precious Blood was a growing thing,' "&c.
Enough! enough! every one of our readers will cry out, and therefore we stay our hand. Surely "for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
“The country of Ireland was wasted. Desease and plague reigned .Famine was constant.
Whole counties lay waste and deserted with neither man nor beast nor bird. Mountjoys methods of distroying all the crops to subdue the Irish.
The Commissioners and Colonel Jones advised that no peace could last without removing priests, sept heads and men with arms out of the land. Many starved along the roads or were killed by wolves.
TheBlack Plague raged killing as many.
Wolves increased to such an extent that a bounty was laid on them, 5 lbs for a dog and 10 lbs for a bitch. Irish wolf hounds were not allowed to be taken out of the country. Tide waiters stood at the ports to seize any hounds for the public huntsmen.
The Puritans additionally wanted to eliminate Priests. A Price on their heads as well as for Fryers Monks and Nuns. Harboring a priest or religious required forfiet of any lands and life. Some were able to escape to Spain with retiring soldiers.They needed passports to leave.They were all officiallly declared , without trial, guilty of High treason and those who helped them were felons.
Any pretext to clear the country of its natives was seized;
Descendants of rebels and
those with no visible means of support were transported.
Bands of outlaws roamed the bogs and dence forests as Tories.
Thousands of priests, captured children and young girls wer sold to slavery for Jamica and Barbados, known than as the tobacco islands. These were sold to the planters for a number of years [indentured]
The outlaws were identified and prices set on ther heads 40 s for a common one, 5 lbs for a lord.
3/4ths of the pre war cattle stock had been wiped out.Cattle had to be imported from Wales for breeeding stock.
4//5 of the land lay waste.
Waste land was let to officers for 5 years for a reasonable rent provided they till sow and manue the land.
Ireland was now a ‘blank sheet of paper on which the English Commonwealth might write the characters they pleased’
http://irishhistorysynopsis.blogspot.com/2007/07/irish-history-synopsisthe-cromwell-era.html
If something is said about Catholicism, what is said should be true and not false.
If you think what I said was untrue, it means you are either that you don't know RCC doctrine very well, or you are lying. It's as simple as that.
“BTW, the whole theology of the Catholic Church is Pauline.”
Opps. Correction: The Theology of the Catholic Church...(the whole).
What, no Tradition??? Can't be legitimate then, can it???
Sorry, my Scripture didn't originate with YOUR church fathers...And no, the Apostles are not your church fathers...
That said, I'd be interested in your numbers for the "witches" killed during the Witchcraft Hysteria in 1692.
I ask you for numbers because you are the one who claims "millions" of Irish Cathollics were killed by Cromwell. The fact this is a number considerably larger than the entire population of Ireland is apparently meaningless to you.
(My numbers for the killing of "witches" in Salem is between 19-26). I'm sure you can stretch that into "countless" thousands.
“Sorry, my Scripture didn’t originate with YOUR church fathers...And no, the Apostles are not your church fathers...”
The Scripture originated with Christ and the Apostles silly. Peter is the first pope. See the list.
Prove they weren’t.
Perhaps you would be willing to provide evidence of the "millions" killed by Cromwell?
>>How can we all be Christians here when according to the RCC, people who reject its ‘authority’ cannot be real Christians?<<
Where in the world are you getting that from?
Reference, in the Vatican’s words. Not AP, not Reuters.
And as for you last citation, you also gave no reference.
“Let’s make some small effort to be factual with our “history”.”
Just posting a snippet of history.
I have no idea of millions. I think they may be thinking of the cumulative effect of the English occupation leading up to and including the potato famine. Or I could be wrong.
It’s millions if you include the totality of time from Cromwell to the Potato Famine under English occupation.
Best of luck to you in your new endeavor!
What “endeavor” is that, Mark?
The Religion Moderator says: But in this case, the issue remains "open" which is to say, no scab has formed, the issue (whether Mary is being worshipped) has not been settled.Please. Get real. The OFFICIAL teaching of the Church is easily accesible and settles the question:
971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.There. Settled. Can we now understand that threads like this are the essential lies told by the Jack Chick haters. It is the SAME hatefilled set of lies.
Why does it matter to you? Are the numbers really what's important?
Agreed; this is plainly an overstatement.
However: The Irish potato famine killed 1.1 to 1.5 million. Irleand once nearly 9 million people. By 1911, it had only 4.4 million. Of course, much of the loss was due to emigration, but even so, up to 1/3rd of the passengers on the so-called “coffin ships” died en route; yet conditions in Ireland were so dire people boarded these ships eagerly.
Now, of course, there’s a difference between deliberate killings and killings due to the secondary effects of barbarous and malicious government policies. But, then again, the Roman Catholic church did not kill the Huguenots, either; rather it was the frenzy of a condemned mob.
As noted by Irish activist John Mitchell: “The English, indeed, call the famine a ‘dispensation of Providence;’ and ascribe it entirely to the blight on potatoes. But potatoes failed in like manner all over Europe; yet there was no famine save in Ireland. The British account of the matter, then, is first, a fraud - second, a blasphemy. The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine.”
Indeed, the potato famine was caused by the complete reliance of the Irish people on potatoes due to their British oppressors. And the bureaucrat who called “a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence” was charged by Her Royal Majesty with overseeing the “relief effort.”
And this attitude has not abated. In one of my Shakespeare classes, my professor approvingly noted that the famine was a “final solution” to Britain’s “Catholic problem,” as if oblivious to the fact that she was echoing Adolf Hitler. When I complained, the administration’s response was that I shouldn’t infer that she was representing her own values; her views were representative of the mainstream of literary thought.
Your endeavor to draw the tares away.
No wait, you’ve missed the latest.
Now it’s not whether the church makes it official but rather that there ARE some Catholics that worship Mary and we Catholics can’t deny it.
I deny it, but we can’t. It just goes without saying.
Let me give you an example of this...
See post 325 on this thread where this was said
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I have NEVER said
all RC’s are idolatrous.
I don’t know of ANY PROTTY HEREON WHO HAS SAID such a thing”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I went back to a prior post by this person and quoted then asked...(post 333)
>>1900+ years of idolatry is not something to be proud of.
= = =
INDEED<<
So what are we talking about here? Just some? Some people that are RC? Some people are idol worshipers? What?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Which was ignored.
So get with the program Narses. No Prottie (as they call themselves) ever said all of us are idol worshipers nor that ALL of us worship Mary.
New program written, so don’t bring up facts again, okay?
As your response shows, for some RCs the ONE and only answer is what the "OFFICIAL teaching" of the RCC proclaims.
Never mind that people have different interpretations on certain subjects. Never mind that Scripture seems to deny what the RCC teaches. For some RCs, the ONLY interpretation for anything is the one Rome gives them.
And, according to you, Narses, we should all be content with that definition.
For about the 50th time, we Protestants understand exactly what you believe.
AND WE DISAGREE WITH IT.
Mary is the mother of our Lord, too. Catholics do not have some special ownership of the Virgin Mary. And we believe what Scripture tells us about Mary and about how Christ told us to view Mary -- as a young woman graced by God to carry the Christ child to term. But as Christ told us in three of the Gospels, she is no closer to Him than all believers are.
And that fact seems to really irritate some people.
There. Settled. Can we now understand that threads like this are the essential lies told by the Jack Chick haters. It is the SAME hatefilled set of lies.
This thread was written over 100 years ago. It's no "Jack Chick" anything. It is not "hatefilled" and it is not a "set of lies." And it is not breaking any rules by its posting.
But more importantly in the great scheme of things, you cannot refute what this thread says. You have to become angry and resort to yelling about what the RCC teaches rather than what the Bible teaches. There's a definite disconnect there somewhere.
So I have to ask. Are you trying to get this thread locked, too?
I am not lying and I consider it a personal attack for you to say that I am.
It’s not “just a fact.” It is your opinion.
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