that he would not be
unwilling to discuss the question of some worship being due to angels
and archangels, provided the idea of that worship, and the acts of the
worshippers, were first cleared of all misapprehension. And I would not
that any Catholic, whether in communion with the Church of England or of
Rome, should make any other answer than Origen here gave to Celsus. Let
me speak freely on this point. I should not respect the memory of Origen
as I do, had he taught differently. The word which he uses is the Greek
word "therapeusis," precisely the same word with that which the learned
in medicine now use to describe the means of healing diseases. It is a
word of very wide import. It signifies the care which a physician takes
of his patient; the service paid to a master; the attention given to a
superior; the affectionate attendance of a friend; the allegiance of a
subject; the worship of the Supreme Being. Origen says, Provided Celsus
will specify what kind of "therapeusis" he would wish to be paid to
those angels and archangels whose existence we acknowledge, I am ready
to enter upon the subject with him. This is all he says. And we of the
Anglican Church are ready from our hearts to join him. Call it by what
name we may, we are never backward in acknowledging ourselves bound to
render it. We pay to the angels and archangels, and all the company of
heaven, the homage of respect, and veneration, and love. They are indeed
our fellow-servants; they are, like ourselves, creatures of God's hand;
but they are exalted far above us in nature and in office. By the grace
of God, we would daily endeavour to become less distant from {145} them
in purity, in zeal, in obedience. Origen here speaks not one word of
adoration, of invocation, of prayer. He speaks of a feeling and a
behaviour, which the Greeks called "therapeusis," and which we best
render by "respect, veneration, and love." Far from us be the thought of
lowering the holy angels in the eyes of our fellow-creatures; equally
far from us be the thought of invoking them, of asking them even for
their prayers. They are holy creatures and holy messengers: we will
think and speak of them with reverence, and gratitude, and affection;
but they are creatures and messengers still, and when we think or speak
of the object of prayer, we think and speak solely and exclusively of
God.

With regard to Origen's opinion, as to the invocation of the souls of
saints departed, a very fe