Chapter IX. Of Images

What is your doctrine as to images?

We hold that the images or pictures of Christ, of his blessed Mother ever a Virgin, and of other saints, are to be had and retained; and that due honour and veneration is to be given them.

Do you not icorship images?

No, by no means, if by worship you mean divine honour; for this we do not give to the highest angel or saint, nor even to the Virgin Mary, much less to images.

Do you not pray to images?

No, we do not; because, as both our catechism and common sense teach us, They can neither see, nor hear, nor help us. Doway Catechism.

Why then do you pray before an image or crucifix?

Because the sight of a good picture or image, for example, of Christ upon the cross, helps to enkindle devotion in our hearts towards him that has loved us to that excess, as to lay down his life for the love of us.

Are you taught to put your trust and confidence in images, as the heathens did in their

Of Images. 55

Idols; as if there were a certain virtue, power y or divinity residing in them?

No, we are expressly taught the contrary by the council of Trent, Session 25.

How do you prove, that it is lawful to make or keep the images of Christ and his saints?

Because God himself commanded Moses, Exod. xxv. 18, 19, 20, 21, to make two cherubims of beaten gold, and place them at the two ends of the mercy-seat over the ark of the covenant in the very sanctuary. “ And there," says he, ver. 22, “will I meet thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” God also commanded, Numb. xxi. 8, 9, a serpent of brass to be made, for the healing of those who were bit by the fiery serpents; which serpent was an emblem of Christ, John iii. 14, 15.

But is it not forbidden, Exod. xx. 4, “ to make the likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth?”

It is forbidden “to make to ourselves” any such image or likeness; that is to say, to make it our God, or to put our trust in it, and to give it the honour which belongs to God; which is explained by the following words, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them” (that is, “thou *halt not adore them,” for so both the Septuagint And Vulgate translate it), “or serve them.” Other-

56 Of Images.

wise, if all likenesses were forbid by this commandment, we should be obliged to fling down our sign-posts, and deface the king’s coin.

What kind of honour do Catholics give to the images of Christ and his saints?

A relative honour.

What do you mean by a relative honour?

By a relative honour, I mean an honour whicl. is given to anything, not for any intrinsic excellence or dignity in the thing itself, but barely for the relation it has to something else; as when the courtiers bow to the chair of state, or Christians to the name of Jesus, which is an image or remembrance of our Saviour to the ear, as the crucifix is to the eye.

Have you any instances of this relative honour allowed by Protestants?

Yes; in the honour they give to the name of Jesus, to their churches, to the altar, to the Bible, to the symbols of bread and wine in the sacrament. Such also was the honour which the Jews gave to the ark and cherubims, and which Moses and Joshua gave to the land on which they stood, as being “ holy ground,” Exod. iii. 5, Jos. v. 15, &c.

How do you prove that there is a relative honour due to the images or pictures of Christ and his saints?

From the dictates of common sense and reason, as well as of piety and religion, which teach us to express our love and esteem for the persons whom we honour, by setting a value upon all things that belong to them, or have any relation

Of Indulgences. 57 to them; this a loyal subject, a dutiful child, a. loving friend, value the pictures of their king, father, or friend: and those who make no scruple of abusing the image of Christ, would severely punish the man that would abuse the image of his king.

Does your church allow of images of God the Father, or of the blessed Trinity?

Our profession of faith makes no mention of such images as these: yet we do not think them unlawful, provided that they* be not understood to bear any likeness or resemblance of the divinity, which cannot be expressed in colours, or represented by any human workmanship. For, as Protestants make no difficulty of painting the Holy Ghost under the figure of a dove, because he appeared so when Christ was baptized, Matt. iii. 16, so we make no difficulty of painting God the Father under the figure of a venerable old man, because he appeared in that manner to the prophet Daniel, vii. 9.