the
Roman Catholic worship in the adoration of saints, I was made not a
little anxious to ascertain the accuracy of his allegations. The inquiry
amply repaid me for my anxiety and the labour of research; not merely by
proving the unsoundness of Bellarmin's representation, but also by
directing my thoughts more especially, as my acquaintance with his {180}
works increased, to the true and scriptural views taken by Athanasius of
the Christian's hope and confidence in God alone; the glowing fervour of
his piety centering only in the Lord; his sure and certain hope in life
and in death anchored only in the mercies of God, through the merits and
mediation of Jesus Christ alone.

Bellarmin, in his appeal to Athanasius as a witness in behalf of the
invocation of saints, cites two passages; the one of which, though
appearing in the edition of the Benedictines, amongst the works called
doubtful, has been adjudged by those editors [Vol. ii. p. 110 and 122]
to be not genuine; the other is placed by them among the confessedly
spurious works, and is treated as a forgery.

The first passage is from a treatise called De Virginitate, and even
were that work the genuine production of Athanasius, would make against
the religious worship of the saints rather than in its favour, for it
would show, that the respect which the author intended to be paid to
them, was precisely the same with what he would have us pay to holy men
in this life, who might come to visit us. "If a just man enter into
thine house, thou shalt meet him with fear and trembling, and shalt
worship before his feet to the ground: for thou wilt not worship him,
but God who sent him."

The other passage would have been decisive as to the belief of
Athanasius, had it come from his pen. "Incline thine ear, O Mary, to our
prayers, and forget not thy people. We cry to thee. Remember us, O Holy
Virgin. Intercede for us, O mistress, lady, queen, and mother of God."
[Vol. ii. p. 390-401.]

Had Bellarmin been the only writer, or the last who cited this passage
as the testimony of St. Athanasius, {181} it would have been enough for
us to refer to the judgment of the Benedictine editors, who have classed
the homily containing these words among the spurious works ascribed to
Athanasius; or rather we might have appealed to Bellarmin himself. For
it is very remarkable, that though in his anxiety to enlist every able
writer to defend the cause of the invocation of saints, he has cited