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in his estimation, to the Virgin Mary. Christ Himself hath said it; who shall dare to deny it?

"Who, then, shall presume to worship the Virgin, unless prepared also to worship every true disciple of the Church of Christ?

"The usual doxology at the end of the Popish books is'Glory be to God and to the blessed Virgin;' from whom it is said, 'the sinner receiveth pardon, the righteous grace, the angels joy, and the whole Trinity glory. She is represented in pictures as sitting between the Father and the Son, with a dove, symbolical of the Holy Ghost, hovering around her.

"Can, then, the Church of Rome deny that they worship the Virgin?

"How would the meek and pious spirit of the Virgin Mary," observed Mrs. Gracelove," have been shocked and wounded, could she have foreseen the idolatrous worship of the Church of Rome to be paid in after times to herself; a worship that places her, with such striking impiety, upon an equality with the Great Jehovah. Nay, in some sense it makes her superior to our only Lord and Saviour; by the act of her votaries beseeching her to command her Son to grant their petitions.'

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Before I conclude this head of our discussion," said our exemplary moralist, "I will superadd the following prayers, used by Roman Catholics, in illustration of their worship of the saints, and of the cross, for your consideration. I now read to you the prayer to St. Anne, the Virgin's mother :

"O great saint, in honour of God's regarding, and exalting thee in his eternity, to those most high and sublime estates of mother of the mother of God, and grandmother of Jesus Christ; in adoration of all the virtues of thy life, and of the last breath in which thou gavest up thy spirit; in the state of great grace consummated by the hand of your grandson and your Lord; in homage of the right and power which you had of mother

over your daughter, and of grandmother over her Son, and of their submission and reverences which they render to thee-we pray,' &c. &c.

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"The book containing this prayer was thus approved of at Paris: We, Doctors of divinity, of the faculty of Paris, do certify, that we have read and examined this book, entitled The prerogative of St. Anne,' in which we have found nothing but what is conformable to the Romish Church; on the contrary, we have thought it worthy to be published, as very useful to maintain the devotion to Saint Anne.'

"The following is the prayer for St. Nicholas :-' O God, who by innumerable miracles hast honoured blessed Nicholas the bishop, grant, we beseech thee, that by his merit, and intercessions, we may be delivered from eternal flames.'

"I now read to you," said Mrs. Gracelove, "the prayer for St. Scholastica:- O God, who to recommend to us innocence of life, was pleased to let the soul of thy blessed virgin Scholastica ascend to heaven in shape of a dove; grant that, by her prayers and merits, we may lead innocent lives here, and ascend to eternal joys hereafter.'

"The following is the prayer used by Roman Catholics at the consecration of images, authorized by Pope Urban VIII. :Grant, O God, that whosoever before this image shall diligently and humbly, upon his knees, worship and honour thy only begotten Son, or the blessed Virgin, or this glorious apostle, martyr, confessor, or virgin, (as the case may be,) that he may obtain by his (or her) merits and intercessions, grace in this present life, and eternal glory hereafter.'

"The last I shall give you, my dear Mrs. Sandford," said her friend, "is the prayer at the consecration of a crucifix :'We beseech thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, everlasting God, that thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless this wood of thy cross; that it may be a healthful remedy to mankind, a

strengthener of faith, and increaser of good works, a redemption of souls, a comfort, protection, and defence, against the cruelties of our enemies.'

"Such," my dear friend, "are some of the specimens of prayers, among a variety of others, to which, as members of our holy Protestant faith, we are strenuously opposed. And if conscientious worshippers, belonging to the Romish communion, of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, would only dare to search the Scriptures' for themselves, and compare with them the idol-worship of their church, they must at once perceive and admit its utter sinfulness. They must see that, as Protestants, we do not simply object to the manner in which they worship saints, and images, and relics, but to the very act and principle itself, as partaking of idolatry and leading to blasphemy.

"I fear you will consider my strictures, my dear Mrs. Sandford, as well interminable as wearisome. But I trust that my zeal for the honour and glory of that great Triune Being who stands alone in the worship, and power, and adoration, to be paid and ascribed to Him, as He does in his omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and eternity, will plead my sufficient excuse.

"The circumstance to which I am now going to draw your attention," she observed, " is, if possible, more marvellous in its impiety and blasphemy than the statements which have preceded it. And if your heart has not shuddered with horror at what you have already heard, it cannot fail to do so under the excitement of what follows.

"It appears that, in the early part of the last century, a body of reformers in Hungary, unable to withstand the virulent persecution to which they were exposed, were induced to abjure the pure faith of Christ. The form of abjuration which they were called upon to pronounce publicly, was notified in

the year 1716; and the extracts which follow are taken from a recent reprint of the original text, which has been published by a learned divine in Germany. It should be premised, that the party making his recantation was forced to appear publicly in church, holding a lighted wax candle in the one hand, while he raised up the other, at the close of each of twenty-two articles, in solemn asseveration of his adhesion to the truth of what he recited. The six that I am now going to read to you," she said, "characterize but too well the abominations set forth in the remainder.

"Art. IV. We confess, that all the new things which the Pope has instituted, whether they be found, or be not found, in the Scriptures, as well as whatever he has ordained, is true, divine, and beatifying. All men are bound to set a higher value upon them than even upon the commandments of the living God.*

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Art. V. We confess, that the most holy pope is to be reverenced with divine honour, and with as profound bending of the knee as Jesus Christ himself.

"Art. VI. We confess and affirm, that the pope is to be obeyed in every matter as our most holy father. Wherefore, it is right that all heretics, when life is opposed to his laws, should be not only exterminated by fire, without any exception, and without mercy, but should be cast, body and soul, into hell. (Gehenna.)

"Art. VII. We confess, that the reading of Holy Scripture is the cause of all schism, and all sects; and equally the source of all blasphemy.

* "The pope does not hold upon earth the office of mere man, but that of the true God."—Gregor. IX., Decretales, lib. i. § vii.

"If the pope should err in commanding vice and prohibiting virtue, the church would be bound to believe that vices are of good, and virtues of evil report, unless she chose to sin against conscience."-Bellarmine, De Pontifice, lib. xv. c. v.

"Art. IX. We confess, that every priest is greater than Mary herself, the mother of God; since she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ but once, and cannot give it again; whereas a Roman priest creates and sacrifices the Lord Jesus Christ, not only at his pleasure, but in whatsoever manner it pleases him; and after creating Him, swallows Him whole and entire.

"Art. XX. We confess, that the pope of Rome has power to alter the Scriptures, and to add to, or take from them, as it seemeth best to him.'

"Where can there be a resting-place for faith, or for the soul's peace and comfort, under a system so characteristic of the mystery of iniquity:' so abounding in the deceivableness of unrighteousness;' alas! so entirely after the working of Satan?' While we cannot but devoutly pray for the souls labouring under such strong delusion,' let us fervently thank God, who through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth,' calleth us by the Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.'*

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"The pope, thus judged by himself," said Mrs. Gracelove, may see his own portrait drawn by a really infallible, because a Divine hand, in the following awful scripture, of which no Protestant-however it may be with a Roman Catholiccan possibly mistake the identity. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come (the day of Christ) except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.' †

"But horrible as are these impieties," she continued,

*

2 Thess. ii. 7-14; vide Tract. Mag., No. 7, July, 1846,
† 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.

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