Substituting Mary for God.
By M. K. W.
THE question has been asked as to where the order of the pope withdrawing the word Father from the Lord's prayer and substituting the word Mary, is to be found. Just where a copy of this order can be found is not known perhaps to any except the Catholic dignitaries themselves. But that such an order has been made appears evident from the following from the Christian Statesman, in which Dr. Cumming, of London, is credited with being the first to call public attention to the fact:— “Profound interest has been awakened in England and in this country by a charge made publicly by Dr. Cumming, of London, that the Romish church has adapted many of the Psalms to the worship of Virgin Mary, substituting her name for the name of God. The well known Roman Catholic, Dr. Newman, evaded the charge by pointing out that the Catholic Bibles and Psalters were not changed in this way, but admitted the existence of parodies of the Psalms, as he called them, in which this change has been made, doubting, however, whether any Catholics used them. This was a complete admission of the charge first made, and Dr. Cumming has since completely fortified his position, stating that he has in his possession a copy of the Lord's prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary, which he had purchased in Paris, observing also that it was one among many. That such Mariolatry is not, however, an isolated case, he goes on to show by a reference to the writings of St. Bonaventure, in which the Psalms and the Te Deum are addressed to Mary:— “Bonaventure gives a new version of the Psalms. Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man that cherishes thy name, O Virgin Mary,” and so on. Psalm 6, “O Lady, permit me not to be delivered over to the fury of God.” Psalm 7, “O Lady, I have hoped in thee; deliver my soul from mine enemies.” In Psalm 110, thus, “The Lord said unto our Lady, Sit thou upon my right hand.” In Psalm 94: 1, “Come, let us sing unto our Lady the virgin queen of our salvation.” These lines are merely a few fragments from the Psalms. The Te Deum is also given as follows: “We praise thee, O Mother of God; we acknowledge thee to be the Virgin. All the earth doth worship thee, the Spouse of the Eternal.” “Holy, Holy, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother and Virgin.” When we take into consideration the fact that all Catholics believe, as the pope declared in his encyclical in 1849, that “God has willed that we have all through Mary,” is it to be wondered at that they should pray to her for those things, and then thank and praise her for answering their prayers? Certainly not. The only wonder is that they should dare to change God's holy word. If this were the first time that they had meddled with his word, we might indeed be astonished; but it is not. Dr. Cumming further states that he has ascertained by personal examination that “in the Roman Catholic translation of the Scriptures into French, Italian, German, and Spanish, the fourth commandment is omitted entirely, and in its place they have substituted the command, ‘Remember the festivals.’” This is in addition to the change made in this law in the English language, by which they omit the second, divide the tenth to make up the number, and so abbreviate and interpret the fourth as to make it enjoin the observance of Sunday. Surely this is the power spoken of in Daniel 7: 25 which would “think to change times and laws” (of God), and whose power was not to be entirely broken until the end of all things come. M. K. W.