But this distinction has no foundation in the revealed will of God;
on the contrary, it is directly at variance with the words and with the
spirit of many portions of the sacred volume. There we find the two
offices of redemption and mediation joined together in Christ. "If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1, 2.
Heb. ix. 12. vii. 25.] In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the same Saviour
who is declared "by his own blood to have obtained eternal redemption,"
is announced also as the Mediator of Intercession. "Wherefore he is able
to save them to the uttermost who come unto God through him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them." The {234} redemption wrought
by Christ, and the intercession still made in our behalf by Christ, are
both equally declared to us by the most sure warrant of Holy Scripture;
of any other intercession by saints in glory, by angels, or Virgin, to
be sought by our suppliant invocations to them, the covenant of God
speaks not.
It may be observed, that the enactment of this decree by the Council of
Trent, has been chiefly lamented by some persons on the ground of its
presenting the most formidable barrier against any reconciliation
between the Church of Rome, and those who hold the unlawfulness of the
invocation of saints.
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