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Objection 1: It would seem that there cannot be anything pernicious
in the worship of the true God. It is written (Joel 2:32):
"Everyone that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." Now whoever worships God calls upon His name. Therefore
all worship of God is conducive to salvation, and consequently none is
pernicious.
Objection 2: Further, it is the same God that is worshiped by the
just in any age of the world. Now before the giving of the Law the
just worshiped God in whatever manner they pleased, without committing
mortal sin: wherefore Jacob bound himself by his own vow to a special
kind of worship, as related in Genesis 28. Therefore now also no
worship of God is pernicious.
Objection 3: Further, nothing pernicious is tolerated in the
Church. Yet the Church tolerates various rites of divine worship:
wherefore Gregory, replying to Augustine, bishop of the English
(Regist. xi, ep. 64), who stated that there existed in the
churches various customs in the celebration of Mass, wrote: "I wish
you to choose carefully whatever you find likely to be most pleasing to
God, whether in the Roman territory, or in the land of the Gauls,
or in any part of the Church." Therefore no way of worshiping God
is pernicious.
On the contrary, Augustine [Jerome (Ep. lxxv, ad Aug.);
Opp. August. Ep. lxxxii] in a letter to Jerome (and the words
are quoted in a gloss on Gal. 2:14) says that "after the Gospel
truth had been preached the legal observances became deadly," and yet
these observances belonged to the worship of God. Therefore there can
be something deadly in the divine worship.
I answer that, As Augustine states (Cont. Mendac. xiv), "a
most pernicious lie is that which is uttered in matters pertaining to
Christian religion." Now it is a lie if one signify outwardly that
which is contrary to the truth. But just as a thing is signified by
word, so it is by deed: and it is in this signification by deed that
the outward worship of religion consists, as shown above (Question
81, Article 7). Consequently, if anything false is signified by
outward worship, this worship will be pernicious.
Now this happens in two ways. In the first place, it happens on the
part of the thing signified, through the worship signifying something
discordant therefrom: and in this way, at the time of the New Law,
the mysteries of Christ being already accomplished, it is pernicious
to make use of the ceremonies of the Old Law whereby the mysteries of
Christ were foreshadowed as things to come: just as it would be
pernicious for anyone to declare that Christ has yet to suffer. In
the second place, falsehood in outward worship occurs on the part of
the worshiper, and especially in common worship which is offered by
ministers impersonating the whole Church. For even as he would be
guilty of falsehood who would, in the name of another person, proffer
things that are not committed to him, so too does a man incur the guilt
of falsehood who, on the part of the Church, gives worship to God
contrary to the manner established by the Church or divine authority,
and according to ecclesiastical custom. Hence Ambrose [Comment. in
1 ad Cor. 11:27] says: "He is unworthy who celebrates the
mystery otherwise than Christ delivered it." For this reason, too,
a gloss on Col. 2:23 says that superstition is "the use of human
observances under the name of religion."
Reply to Objection 1: Since God is truth, to invoke God is to
worship Him in spirit and truth, according to Jn. 4:23. Hence
a worship that contains falsehood, is inconsistent with a salutary
calling upon God.
Reply to Objection 2: Before the time of the Law the just were
instructed by an inward instinct as to the way of worshiping God, and
others followed them. But afterwards men were instructed by outward
precepts about this matter, and it is wicked to disobey them.
Reply to Objection 3: The various customs of the Church in the
divine worship are in no way contrary to the truth: wherefore we must
observe them, and to disregard them is unlawful.
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