Dissertation I — On Adoration, and the Worship by which God and the Saints are to be Honored

Thus far we have disputed concerning the acts of faith, hope, and charity, by which God is chiefly worshipped, and concerning prayer, which is a peculiar office of religion. At present, discourse must be undertaken concerning another office of religion, which is called adoration. Many things will occur to be examined, not only for the forming of Catholic morals, but also for the refuting of the errors of heretics. But I shall fix my step within the bounds of my own undertaking, and shall touch only in passing, and cursorily, on those matters which regard the vain fabrications, or rather deliria (to speak more truly), of the heretics. I shall apply myself more seriously to this: that I may set forth our Catholic doctrine concerning the worship of the Saints, of images, and of relics, more closely, and more clearly. This perspicuous explanation is indeed sufficient to overthrow the novators' sophisms, which are almost all impostures, and calumnies, fabricated from a false exposition of Catholic doctrine. I would be doing a useless work, if I wished to repeat what innumerable Catholic Theologians have already strenuously accomplished, and I would depart altogether from the goal I have set for myself. Let us come, then, to the matter.