"I most firmly assert that the images of Christ and of the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained, and that due honor and veneration are to be given to them."--Creed of Pope Pius IV. "My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."--Jehovah. "The saints reigning together with Christ are to be honored and invocated; ... they offer prayers to God for us... their relics are to be venerated."--Creed of Pope Pius IV. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man Christ Jesus."--Paul. "Mary is everything in heaven and earth, and we should adore her."--The South American Priest. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."--Paul "All power was given to her."--Peter Damian, Cardinal of Rome. "Search the Scriptures."--The Christ. "All who read the Bible should be stoned to death."--Pope Innocent III. PART VI. MARIOLATRY AND IMAGE WORSHIP. [Illustration: OUR LADY OF GUADALOUPE. Many legacies are left to this image.] CHAPTER XIV. MARIOLATRY AND IMAGE WORSHIP. Before the light of Christianity dawned on ancient Rome, the Pantheon contained goddesses many and gods many. Chief of these deities to receive the worship of the people seems to have been Diana of the Ephesians, a goddess whose image fell down from Jupiter; the celestial Venus of Corinth, and Isis, sister to Osiris, the god of Egypt. These popular images, so universally worshipped, were naturally the aversion of the early followers of Christ. "The primitive Christians were possessed with an unconquerable repugnance to the use and abuse of images. The Jewish disciples were especially bitter against any but the triune God receiving homage, but, by a slow, though inevitable, progression, the honors of the original were transferred to the copy, the devout Christian prayed before the image of a saint, and the pagan rites of genuflexion, luminaries, and incense stole into the Christian Church." [Footnote: Gibbons' "Rome."]