Doubtless, had the Apostles, by their
example or teaching, sanctioned the invocation of saints and angels, in
the course of fifty years or more after our blessed Saviour's
resurrection, it would infallibly have appeared in some page or other of
the New Testament. Instead of this the whole tenor of the Holy Volume
breathes in perfect accordance with the spirit of the apostolical
remonstrance at Lystra, to the fullest and utmost extent of its meaning,
"We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities to serve the
living God." {55}
Of the other instance, it well becomes every Catholic Christian to
ponder on the weight and cogency. John, the beloved disciple of our
Lord, when admitted to view with his own eyes and hear with his mortal
ears the things of heaven, rapt in amazement and awe, fell down to
worship before the feet of the angel who showed him these things. [Rev.
xxii. 8, 9.] If the adoration of angels were ever justifiable, surely it
was then; and what a testimony to the end of the world would have been
put upon record, had the adoration of an angel by the blessed John at
such a moment, when he had the mysteries and the glories of heaven
before him, been received and sanctioned. But what is the fact? "Then
saith he to me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy
brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book.
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