PROLEGOMENA. CXVU. 



as mementos of the truths of religion, as an 

 assistance to devotion, and for the purpose of 

 keeping the attention fixed to its object instead 

 of wandering; but no one ever heard of a CathoHc 

 praying to an image. They might just as well 

 accuse us of worshipping the candles that burn 

 before them, or the pascal taper, or the illumi- 

 nations on the margin of the missal, or any other 

 emblem or ornament whatever. It is almost too 

 absurd to set about refuting such an idle objection, 

 which is only a part of the general language of 

 falsehood and scandal raised at the time of the 

 " Reformation," to prevent the people from re- 

 turning to the antient religion of this country, 

 and indeed of every country of Europe. A 

 great part of all religious observances is em- 

 blematical ; and this use of emblems is only a 

 part of language, the whole of which is more or 

 less figurative ; indeed all that is not so is mere 

 algebra, or an arrangement of arbitrary signs. 

 Now whether notes significant be composed of 

 sounds, written words, pictures, or statues, the 

 referential importance is the same : they are 

 arrangements, founded on the nature of the 

 human mind, to convey, impress, and perpetuate 

 the knowledge of important truths. The pious 

 images over our oratories, the statues of the 

 heathen divinities in the gardens, the paintings 

 in the gallery, the hieroglyphics on the Egyptian 



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