ROMANISM. 



scorned to accept money to confer 

 a Christian grace, with the words, 

 " Thy money perish with thee, be- 

 ' cause thou hast thought that the 

 gift of God may be purchased with 

 money " (Acts viii. 20). Nor did 

 he pardon any one, for he said, 

 " Repent therefore of this thy wick- 

 edness, and Pray GW, if perhaps 

 the thought of thine heart may be 

 forgiven thee" (verse 22). Nor 

 would he allow any one to fall down 

 at his feet, for he raised Cornelius 

 from that position, saying, " Stand 

 up ; I myself also am a man " (Acts 

 x. 26). Nor would Paul and Barna- 

 bas, on the occasion mentioned,, al- 

 low the same to be done, for we are 

 told that when the people would 

 have rendered them divine honours, 

 as understood among heathens, 

 " they rent their clothes, and ran in 

 among the people, crying, out, and 

 saying, Sirs, why do ye these 

 things ? We also are men of like 

 passions with you, and preach unto 

 you that ye should turn from these 

 vanities unto the living God, which 

 made heaven, and ' earth, and the 

 sea, and all things that are therein " 

 (Acts xiv. 14, 15). While St. Peter 

 permitted no one to fall down at his 

 feet, but made him stand up, his so- 

 called successor allows and expects, 

 if he does not command, even the 

 kings of the earth to kiss his foot, 

 or rather his big toe, as well as that 

 of the statue of " Blessed Peter."* 

 And, although no one doubts that a 

 living lion is better than a dead dog, 

 Romanists "worship the Saints," 

 who for anything they know never 

 were saints, some of them being of 

 doubtful, others of hateful character, 

 and some of them never having had 

 any existence as saints or sinners. 



* It is interesting to notice the light in 

 which the old Pagans would have re- 

 garded such an act of homage, if rendered 

 to one of their emperors ; for, says Plu- 

 tarch : " If you were commanded to kiss 

 Caesar's feet, you would think it an out- 

 rage and an excess of tyranny. What 

 else is this than slavery?" 



And it is partly through the merits 

 and intercession of such uncertain 

 beings that Romanists expect to get 

 to heaven. Not content with that, 

 they will not even let their bones 

 rest in peace, or the rags that covered 

 them while on earth or in the tomb, 

 but use them (or substitutes for 

 them) for conferring benefits on the 

 living ; while they pray to the sup- 

 posed saints in heaven, imagining 

 that they can hear and attend to the 

 wants of countless millions at the 

 same time, as if they were omni- 

 present and omniscient, and there- 

 fore gods. The Apostles would re- 

 ceive no veneration or worship from 

 any one while on earth, for they 

 were engaged in too holy a cause, 

 and were of too elevated character 

 to look for that, or approve of it 

 after death, or perhaps even give a 

 thought to the estimation in which 

 they would personally be held 

 among men. 



We are told in the Scriptures that 

 the Church is " built upon the foun- 

 dation of the apostles and prophets," 

 that is, on what they taught, " Jesus 

 Christ himself being the Chief Cor- 

 ner-stone " (Ephes. ii. 20) ; but Ro- 

 manists tell us that Peter had 

 length and breadth and thickness on 

 which to erect the whole Church, 

 past, present, and to come ! A sorry 

 foundation " Blessed Peter " was on 

 which to build anything. Although 

 possessed of many eminent quali- 

 ties, he was forward, hasty and pre- 

 sumptuous, and much of a bragga- 

 docio having " given up his all," 

 perhaps " an old cobble boat and a 

 rotten net," to follow his master; 

 often open to reproof and correction, 

 and apt to get his company into 

 trouble, yet, like the rest, a runaway 

 when real danger presented itself. 

 Three times, with cursing and swear- 

 ing, did he deny his master, who at 

 one time ordered him, as Satan, to 

 get behind him, like a dog that had 

 been spoken to. After the ascen- 

 sion, he so trimmed and shuffled on 

 a question that should have been 



