ion of the consecrated elements ([Greek:
eucharistauthenton]). And of those who have the means and will, each
according to his disposition gives what he will; and the collected sum
is deposited with the presider, and he aids the orphans and widows, and
those who through sickness or other cause are in need, and those in
bonds, and strangers; and, in a word, he becomes the reliever of all who
are in want." [Sect. 67. p. 83.]

* * * * *

In Justin Martyr I am unable to find even a single vestige of the
invocation of Saints. With regard to Angels, however, there is a very
celebrated passage, to which Bellarmin and others appeal, as conclusive
evidence that the worship of them prevailed among Christians in his
time, and was professed by Justin himself.

Justin, in his first Apology, having stated that the Christians could
never be induced to worship the demons, whom the heathen worshipped and
invoked, proceeds thus[33]: "Whence also we are called Atheists, {107}
[men without God]; and we confess that with regard to such supposed gods
we are atheists, but not so with regard to the most true God, the Father
of justice and temperance, and of the other virtues without any mixture
of evil. But both HIM and the SON, who came from Him, and taught these
things to us, and THE HOST OF THE OTHER GOOD ANGELS ACCOMPANYING AND
MADE LIKE, and THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT, we reverence and worship, honouring
them in reason and truth; and without grudging, delivering the doctrine
to every one who is willing to learn as we were taught." [Page 47.]
Governing the words "the host of the other good angels," as much as the
words "Him" and "His Son," and "the prophetic Spirit," by the verbs "we
reverence and worship," Bellarmin and others[34] maintain, that Justin
bears testimony in this passage to the worship of angels. That this
cannot be the true interpretation of Justin's words will be
acknowledged, I think, by every Catholic, whether Anglican or Roman,
when he contemplates it in all its naked plainness; all will revolt from
it as impious and contrary to the principles professed by the most
celebrated and honoured among Roman Catholic writers. This
interpretation of the passage, when analysed, implies the awful thought,
that we Christians pay to the host of angels, God's ministers and our
own fellow-servants, the same reverence, worship, and honour which we
pay to the supreme Father, and his ever-blessed Son, and the Ho