or

dying between two thieves to redeem a fallen world. Here is something which is indeed calculated to overwhelm with awe, not merely men but the highest order of created intelligences. Here is a sacrifice which, if any thing in the world is to be regarded with trembling admiration, must be so regarded. It was finished on Calvary. There the immortal victim was once offered up. But what have we here? Why we have, truly, a Minister of the Devil-nothing more less than a Priest of Satan, inspired by the Father of lies, coming forward with a lie in his right hand, a pastry cake, a wafer, a biscuit, presenting himself before the people in a violet-coloured stole, with theatrical pomposity, exhibiting his ridiculous biscuit, declaring that this biscuit is the essential deity, "the body and blood, soul and divinity" of Immanuel!!! and then foisting his lie into the prayers of the unhappy and benighted people. Can a greater mockery, a more horrible profanity, be conceived? Impossible. Verily, here is a brand of APOSTASY.] "We humbly beseech thee to "create in us a lively faith, so that we may always assist "with the utmost devotion and reverence at the most

precious oblation of his body and blood which is made "in the Mass, and thereby be made partakers of the "sacrifice which he consummated on Calvary." [Here we have the insulting lie again brought forward, and yet (O marvellous and astonishing mystery of iniquity!) these identical words, changing Mass into Sacrament, might be used with the utmost propriety by true Christians, with respect to the communion of the body and blood of Christ. Such is the nature of Popery, that it poisons the very truth of God itself. The words here quoted we might truly use, because there is in the Sacrament a real oblation of the body and blood of Christ. It is offered to the faithful, and they really partake of it, but in a mode totally incomprehensible by a dark Papist, and in a mode as different from that of the figment transubstantiation as heaven is different from hell, We in

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deed have the real presence in the Sacrament; Papists never. The prayer proceeds :]-"In unison with thy "holy Church and its Ministers, [say, rather, in unison with the unholy APOSTASY, and the Ministers of Satan,] "and invoking the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, and all the saints and angels, we now offer the adorable sacrifice of the Mass "to thy honour and glory." [Most horrible! Here we have indeed in full blow all the filthy abominations of the APOSTASY. Observe here the "doctrines concerning demons," of which Mede speaks so admirably, the most striking brand of the beast; and then (insulting mockery!) we offer to thy honour and glory"-to the honour and glory of the High and Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity, whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain-" we offer to thy honour and glory" what?-a biscuit, a pastry cake; and that, dead, lifeless, and ridiculous as it is, injuriously declared to be God's eternal only begotten and beloved Son! "We offer it] "to acknowledge thy infinite perfections, thy supreme dominion over all the creatures, our entire subjection to thee, and our total dependence on thy "gracious providence; in thanksgiving for all thy bene"fits, and for the remission of all our sins." [What an offering for such supposed benefits, and to such an exalted benefactor!] "We offer it for the propagation of "the Catholic faith; for our most holy Father the Pope; "for our archbishop or our bishop; and for all the pas"tors and clergy of thy holy Church, that they may "direct the faithful in the way of their salvation;" [Fresh lies and fresh insults. Their Church is not holy, the Pope is not holy; and so far from directing the faithful in the way of salvation, it is the blind leading the blind into the ditch]-" for the king, and for all that are "in high station, that we may lead quiet and holy lives;

"for peace and good will among all states and people;

" for the necessities of mankind, and particularly for the "congregation here present, that they may obtain every

"necessary grace in this life, everlasting happiness in "the next life, and eternal rest to the faithful departed." [The more valuable the favours asked, the more gross is the insult that is conveyed in demanding them on such a ground as the divine regard to a breaden idol.] "And

66 as Jesus Christ so ordained when he instituted, at his "last supper, this wonderful mystery of his power, wis"dom, and goodness; we offer the Mass in grateful re"membrance of all he has done and suffered for the love "of us; making special commemoration of his bitter "passion, and his death, and his glorious resurrection, " and ascension into heaven.

"O Almighty and eternal God, (for to thee alone so great a sacrifice [!!!] is due,) graciously accept it for these " and all other purposes agreeable to thy holy will. And "to render it more pleasing, we offer it to thee through "the same Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son, our Lord and our Saviour, our High Priest and Victim; and in the name of the most holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, " and the Holy Ghost; to whom be honour, praise, and glory, for ever. Amen."

Here then, reader, you have their prayer before Mass. I am sure you will agree with me, that it is just calculated to insult the Deity, and to afford the richest triumph to Satan and his angels, the adversaries of God and man.

I do venture to say, that there is scarce one of their peculiar prayers from the beginning to the end of their services, that does not indicate in some or other of the expressions used therein, the spiritual darkness by which the APOSTASY is enveloped. For example, here is a prayer to the Holy Ghost.

"Come, O Holy Ghost, unto us. Replenish the "hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of "thine own love. Send us thy Spirit, and all things shall "be done; and thou wilt renovate the face of the earth.” Here is language which an enlightened man would never write. And so it is from the beginning to the end: all

their services, and all their peculiar prayers are branded with the mark of blindness and ignorance. The way then that we should deal with them is, in the forcible exhibition of the wretched state of APOSTASY into which they are fallen, through the delusion of the Devil. God foretold that his Church should make an APOSTASY. Here is a Church, every one of whose attributes, even of those that it most of all glories in, marks it out as the foretold APOSTASY. Its Catholicity, its unity, its connexion with Rome, its succession of Ministers, and the holiness that it boasts so much of, all these, as I have before stated, are in the light of the truth which Mede exhibits, changed into so many weapons wherewith to demolish it. If still in opposition to our arguments they allege the declarations of their Church against us, we are furnished with means, ten thousand times more effectively to allege the voice of the HOLY Church Catholic against them. Our Holy Church authoritatively declares, that their Church is fallen and idolatrous-that it did involve all Christendom in damnable idolatry for hundreds of years, and that it does, in the most solemn branch of its worship, hold forth to the people "blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits." Every single thing that they pronounce as the dictate of their Church, we cast back upon them as the mere dogma of an APOSTASY. In a word, against all their doctors, however respectable, against the sentiments of individuals, however high they may rank, we exhibit the living voice of Christ's HOLY Catholic and Apostolic Church.

In case of any thing like regular discussion or controversy between individuals, it is in this way that I think they should be dealt with; and these are the principles on which we should go in conversing with Papists however desultorily. But I for my part, do not at all think that it is through discussions, that our duty towards the unhappy victims of Babylon can be best performed.

POPERY IN ENGLAND AND IRELAND-THE CONTRAST-THE DUTY OF PROTESTANTS AS WITNESSES FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD.

I would give my opinions on these subjects with great humility. They can derive no weight whatsoever from any thing connected with myself. They are uttered by a person without rank, fortune, or reputation. I speak simply as an humble presbyter of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, wrought up, I confess, to an intense feeling of abhorrence to Popery from the evils which he has seen it perpetrate on Ireland, and to boundless gratitude to the God of all grace, for that holy religion which he has seen shedding its benign influence on this country. If English Protestants were as intimately acquainted with Popery, and with their own privileges, as one who has witnessed for himself the true results of Popery and Protestantism, I am convinced that there would be nothing considered by them so important as stopping the progress which the APOSTASY is making here, and undoing the evils which it has already wrought. I shall, therefore, state my feelings derived from experience in this country and in Ireland.

The Roman Catholics in the Popish parts of Ireland are in the utmost state of ignorance and superstition. They have no general acquaintance with the state of the world. Indeed, the system of religion under which they live gives them wrong ideas on every subject. They do not know human nature-they do not know God or themselves. They take up their notions from their Priests, and from what falls under their immediate observation.

They see Popery triumphant among themselves. They see the population all around them pouring in thousands into their Chapels. There is scarce such a thing to be found in Ireland as a Roman Catholic who does not at least go to his Chapel once on every Sabbath-day. These Chapels are always crowded to excess. In general you will find hundreds, and sometimes thousands, exd