But to
join the Holy Trinity with the Virgin Mother, and all the Saints in one
and the same ascription of ETERNAL PRAISE, HONOUR, and GLORY, is as
utterly subversive of the integrity of primitive Christian Worship, as
it is repugnant to the plainest sense of holy Scripture, and derogatory
to the dignity of that Supreme Being, who declares Himself to be a
jealous God.
It has, indeed, been maintained that such ascriptions of glory and
praise jointly to God and his Saints, is sanctioned by the language of
our blessed Saviour Himself when He speaks of his having given his glory
to his disciples [John xvii. 22.], and of his second advent, when He
shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy
angels. [Luke ix. 26.] But between the two cases there is no analogy
whatever; the inference is utterly fallacious. We know that the Lord of
Hosts is the King of glory, and that his eternal Son shared the glory of
his Father before the foundations {390} of the world were laid. We know,
too, that the Almighty has been pleased to create beings of various
degrees and orders, differing from each other in kind or in excellence
according to his supreme will. Among those creatures of his hand are the
angels whom we reverence and love, as his faithful servants and his
ministers to us for good. But when we speak and think of religious
adoration; of giving thanks; and ascribing eternal glory and honour, we
have only one object in our minds,--the supreme Sovereign Lord of all.
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