tend eagerly though good-humouredly for the rich-looking cake, " emblem of union among the faithful." The bell was ringing, and the host was elevated, but the hearts and thoughts of many were evidently set upon the bread in the basket which was to be eaten, not on that which the priest lifted up to be adored.

Do you know any Scriptural authority for the faith of a Romanist in the Virgin? Cardinal la Croy shall enlighten you.

"What did our Lord, when on the Cross, say to the blessed Virgin?"

"He said to the blessed Virgin, showing to her St. John-woman, behold thy son; and he said to St. John, showing to him the blessed Virgin-behold thy mother."

"What do these words of our Lord teach us?"

"They teach us that the blessed Virgin has been given to us, in the person of St. John, as a mother; that she regards us as her children, and that we ought to have great reliance upon her."

You have heard much of prayer to the Virgin-the Cardinal, nevertheless, may give you some additional information-

"What is the chaplet?"

"The chaplet is a method of praying to the blessed Virgin (de prier la Sainte Vierge)."

"How does one say the chaplet?"

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By reciting in Latin or French, on the cross, the apostle's creed, the Lord's prayer on the large, and the angelical salutation on the small beads," &c. &c.

An arrangement, you will observe, by which the prayer to the Virgin is repeated ten times after each recital of the Lord's prayer.

1

In what quality should one honour the blessed Virgin when repeating the chaplet?"

"One should honour her as the spouse of the Holy Ghost, as the mother of God, as at once a virgin and a mother."

"Is it a good practice to recite the chaplet?"

"Yes--it is very useful to all the faithful, and especially to those who cannot read."

"Why do you say that it is useful for all the faithful?"

"Because it is a mean proper, 1st to

animate our faith; 2nd to excite our confidence; 3d to obtain for us the grace to live and persevere in the love of God; 4th to MERIT FOR US THE POWERFUL PROTECTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN WITH God."

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Why do you say the practice is especially useful for those who cannot read?" "Because for them it is an easy method of occupying themselves devoutly during the mass and at the other offices of the church."

Such is the virtue of the chaplet-and such the virtue of the mass-so little intelligible to the unlearned that it is found advisable to provide for them a kind of pious distraction or diversion during the celebration of it. And this is the instruction and the devotion which Romanism provides for her children, and in which she trains them. But there are the Scriptures, and in these latter days she is more free of them. You have, no doubt, heard many high professions to this effect, and have witnessed the vehemence with which various of her advocates protest against the assertion, that a special permission to read is necessary for any classes of their people. Hear the catechism for "the Catholic youth of the archbishopric and other bishoprics of the Province of Malines," published "with approbation," in the year 1832:—

"Is it forbidden to read the Bible?" "Yes-to the common people, who cannot read it in the vulgar tongue without permission."

Such was the rule of Belgian Romanism in 1832. A corrected edition of the catechism was published, also "with approbation," in 1835, in which, I apprehend, the prohibition of Scripture does not appear. The omission is intelligible on the supposition that habits of intercourse between Romanist and Protestant liberals may have rendered it inconvenient; but if the inhibition of Scripture is not so plainly pronounced, good care is taken that there shall be no relaxation in the article of intolerance. Under the head of charity, I find a question or two worthy of being selected, and of being illustrated by an extract from the chapter on the Church.

De la Charité.

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"How should we love our neighbour?" "As ourselves," &c. "Who is our neighbour?" Every rational creature who can have part with us in the kingdom of heaven." "Our enemies--are they also our neighbours?" "Yes," &c. "Why?" "Because they can have part with us in the kingdom of heaven." "The souls in Purgatory--are they our neighbours?" "Yes, because we can have part with them in Heaven." "The damned in Hell--are they also our neighbours?" "No." 66 Why not?" (a question one would think not very necessary.) "Because they cannot have part with us in Heaven." Thus, you perceive, the governing principle by which neighbourhood and charitable offices are affected, is the hope and prospect of fellowship in heaven. In the Irish catechisms, you may

remember, there was an invidious distinction expressed in favour of those "who differ in religion." There is no such proviso in Belgium.

"An

De la Sainte Eglise. "What is the Holy Church?" assembly of all faithful Christians, who, in obedience to the Pope of Rome, confess the true doctrine of Jesus Christ," &c. Thus it is plain heretics (all Protestants, indeed) are excluded from the church. Now for the consequences of such exclusion:-"Is it necessary to be in the true church in order to be saved?" "Yes --for he who has not had Holy Church for his mother on earth, shall not have God for his Father in Heaven." Thus, by denying Protestants the hope of heaven, Romanism banishes them, as it were, from all charitable communion with their kind.

and approved writings. They have endeavoured to explain to the people, that all books of a theological description, published during the last and the preceding centuries, in Roman Catholic countries, were necessarily stamped with the authority of the Church (See the Life of St. Anthony of Padua), and that therefore there could be no mistake as to the genuineness of the source from whence they drew their information. But, notwithstanding this assurance of their candour in quoting only from authorized documents, whenever they produced those samples of Romish corruptions, which the apologists for Rome would rather have had concealed, they were met either by the imputation of false quotations, or by a want of charity for a bygone age of ignorance and credulity. The more wily apologists, like Dr. Wiseman, pleaded for a distinction between the acts of a popular devotion, in which there was no harm; and matters of faith. Others alleged it was unfair to rake out all the follies of an age in which neither literature nor science prevailed, and impute them to the enlightened Roman Catholics of England in the 19th century. And the

sturdy Protestants, who have so long been endeavouring to open the eyes of their sleepy brethren to the enormities of the Church of Rome, have been well nigh overwhelmed, for affirming that in all these matters Rome continues the same. But now the first Earl of England has set the question at rest, and confirmed all the statements of our Protestant champions, and by his account of the Tyrolese saints, which his lordship has seen with his own eyes, there will henceforth be no doubt as to the vaunted character of Rome; that, in this respect at least, she is semper eadem. It would never have occurred to us, as persons wishing to remain at peace, as much as in us lies, with all men, to produce the miraculous life of St. Antony of Padua, unless we could have placed by the side of it the Shrewsbury miracles; for we should only have run the risk of being called by those hard names which some of our brethren have endured for their honest exposures of the lying wonders of Rome; and we should have been considered as railing against a system now no longer practised, as the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, in case of necessity, would bear witness. But as we are now furnished with a document as undoubtedly genuine as the Earl of Shrewsbury and Mr. Ambrose Lisle Phillips can supply; we proceed, with all respect for these two exalted members of the Church of Rome, to examine what the real nature of that devotion is, which has so captivated the Rev. Waldo Sibthorp as to lead him into the "fold" [net] "of Rome."

It is well known to all who have visited those countries of Europe where the Roman Catholic is the domineering religion, that almost every church and Oratorio possesses its stock of relics, and every district has its legends, and every priest his agnuses impregnated with grace, to sell to the faithful for a consideration. These are the staple commodity of every town in Italy, and are found

It will soon be so in America. But a week ago we saw advertised in a Romish paper printed at Boston, (The "Pilot," for December 25th, 1843,) "silver miraculous medals," for the ignorant and credulous foreign papists who throng our cities.

in the greatest perfection at the metropolis of the Church Militant. But besides these standard orthodox incentives to devotion, (some of which we shall shortly enumerate, for the benefit of our nonitinerant readers, special miracles are got up from time to time, to revive (for the Church of Rome has its revivals, the dying embers of superstition, or may be, to replenish the coffers of some impoverished fraternity. If the time and place be not well selected (as often happened during the French Revolution), it is about the same mistake as if any one should imagine that No. 90 was really a "Tract for the Times," it only serves to expose the trickery of the system of reserve; and the premature attempt of the bungling contriver is very properly hissed by the fratres minores, with the same good humour as the Italians hiss off the stage a badly-contrived new opera. The occasional miracles to which we now allude occur also during great political excitements; memorials of such still exist at Rome, ever since the revolutionary attempts of 1796. At the corner of the Via Paganica Via delle botteghe oscure in Rome, exists at this moment a picture of the Virgin Mary, with her title written, which at one time Mr. Sibthorp would have called blasphemous-Mater Providentiæ-and below is this historical record:-"Quam venerabilis imago cum Sept. id Jul. 1796, vario oculorum motu propitio aspectu supplicem populum reficeret omnia corda sibi demeruit et ex corde laudes, hoc amor M. P.:” which, for the benefit of some of our readers, we will try to interpret:-" In the month of September, 1796, this adorable image, by sundry winkings of its eyes, refreshed the praying crowds with its benign countenance, and so won all hearts to itself; moreover, out of the heart came forth praise!" A few months after this, the reigning Pope, Pius VI., invested all the devotional privileges of this image in a consolidated fund, as the Italian inscription, still to be read by posterity, sets forth: Col recitare le litanie si acquistano ce giorni d'indulgenza concessa per indulto pontificio emanato sotto il di 29 marzo 1797; d'applicarsi ancora per le anime del purgatorio." Accordingly,

every evening at sun-set now, in 1843! devotees may be seen kneeling on the hard pavement repeating those litanies, in the hope of obtaining 200 days' indulgence; that is, 200 days' remission of the penalties due to venial sins, either for themselves, or for their departed friends supposed to be suffering in purgatory. At the same revolutionary period. as we find from similar records, the Madonnas (so the images and pictures of the Virgin Mary are called, per syncopen) began very generally to dispense their smiles and move their eyes; and finally, when the French really got possession of Rome, the smiles diminished, but the eyes had scarcely any rest: the republican general, finding the religious excitement of the Roman people grow to an inconvenient height, sent an intimation to arch-priests and others in "high places," that if those miracles were continued much longer, they would hear of something not very agreeable; and from that time to the restoration of Pius VII. to the pontifical throne the Madonnas ceased to wink or wear any strange aspect. From the year 1814 we are not aware of any repetition of these lying wonders, except in the two instances of a marble statue at the Pantheon and the Madonna del Parto, in the Agostino, the latter of which still continues to win all hearts "et ex corde laudes."

We should utterly have despaired of finding credit for our statements in Great Britain, if the noble owner of Alton Towers had not given his pamphlet to the world, and to Ambrose Lisle Phillips. Such statements, it would have been said, are "only fit for the atmosphere of Exeter Hall, and no enlightened Roman Catholic in this day believes in or adopts such puerilities;" the testimony therefore of those two sincere and attached members of the Church of Rome, whose names are in the title-page of the Pamphlet No. 1, is invaluable; for they have published their firm belief in the wonders performed by the Estatica and the Addolorata of the Tyrol, which we propose shortly to lay before our readers.

We do not think it necessary to enter upon the very difficult question of the period when miraculous powers were taken

away from the Church; nor are we prepared to deny that it may please Him, with whom all things are possible, to renew those supernatural gifts which were bestowed on the apostles and the earliest teachers of Christianity. If the sanction of a miracle should be necessary for the propagation of the Gospel in a heathen empire, we have no right, if we may reason from analogy, to shorten, by our limited judgment, the arm of omnipotence; but it is the kind of miracle, the unproductive, useless, lying wonder, which we hold up for reprobation, and which, so far from bearing the marks of a true miracle, is evidently the contrivance of a designing priest, sanctioned by the highest Ecclesiastical authorities.

The religion of Rome has been chiefly maintained by the ignorance and credulity of those countries and ages in which it has especially flourished. The devotion and fervour which have so bewildered Mr. Sibthorp, have been sustained and nourished by a succession of prodigies, such as the Earl of Shrewsbury, "an eye-witness," has lately described. A short review of the two foreign productions, No. 2 and 3, will show how this system of deception and pious fraud has been practised in the Church of Rome ever since the age of the Crusades. St. Anthony of Padua holds a distinguished place in the Roman Calendar; the Italian post-boys, and all who have to deal with the brute creation, swear by him as the patron of four-footed beasts; and the fishermen frequently commit their fortunes to his special protection. There have been several lives of this saint of Padua written, and they are generally read in Italy with a reverence which the Holy Scriptures could never yet obtain. The wonder-working Anthony has been decorated by successive Popes, with the titles of "Light of the Church,-the hammerer of heretics-the trumpet of the Holy Ghost-the Ark of the Covenantand the Seraphic Patriarch;" his picture is painted on the walls of cities for public adoration, and often accompanied with a prayer ready made, and a description of his divine perfections. Near the Mamertine Prison, at the north-west corner of the Roman Forum, St. Anthony is gro

tesquely painted on the wall, and the following verses are inscribed beneath it: "Antonio il Santo o passaggiero adora Che fu si de miracoli fecondo Mentre visse non sol ma morto encora Che stupir fece la natura el mondo Pero con viva fede a lui t' affida

Che perir non puo mai che in lui confida!"

The life of this extraordinary person, written by Azevedo, a Portuguese, of the city of Coimbra, and published by authority, at Venice, 1788, occupies an octavo volume of 427 pages, chiefly filled with the miracles performed by the saint in the early part of the thirteenth century. He is said to have been born at Lisbon, in 1195, and therefore he is always called the " Taumaturgo Portogehese;" but Padua was the place of his education, and the scene of his greatest exploits. We shall present our readers with two or three specimens of St. Anthony's miracles, as gravely told, and perhaps as firmly believed, by the biographer of Coimbra, as the wonders of the Tyrolese saints are by the Earl of Shrewsbury:

"CHAP. VIII.-Heretics not believing the Miracles of the saints are at length converted and convinced.

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Aleardino, a heretic, came to Padua with his family. One day, sitting at table, he heard speak of the miracles performed by God to set forth the holiness of Anthony, who a little time before had entered into eternal glory. The unbelieving and malignant heretic, mocking, said, If your wonder-working St. Anthony will cause that this glass beaker, which I hold in my hand, will not break when thrown on the ground, I will then believe all you tell me of him;' and, rising up from the table, he dashed it with all his force in the adjoining area against a stone: the glass did not break. The heretic was astounded at the miracle, repented, and was converted."

"This miracle was told to another heretic, apparently in the winter season, for we find there were some dry slips (sarmenti) of vines in the place. The heretic was deriding the credulity of Aleardino, who had been simple enough to believe the miracle of the glass, and taking up a bundle of the slips in one

say

hand, and a drinking-cup in the other, said to the bystanders, ironically, If you want me to believe in the miraculous powers of your friar, I must see those vine slips here before us produce as many ripe grapes as will fill this cup with the juice, that I can drink it. Oh, then I will "miracle" too!' Wonderful to relate (mirabil cosa!), all on a sudden the leaves burst forth, the grapes grew to their natural size, ripened in an instant, and produced as much juice as he had required: no wine was ever so salubrious to him since. Against a miracle so evident he could no longer hold out: brought into the church, and becoming penitent, he became, as may well be supposed, a good Catholic, and most devoted to the saint."-(pp. 189, 190.)

In the same chapter a third miracle, of equal importance, is related, which we have not space to follow, and then the biographer continues:-

These three miracles of the beaker, the grapes, and the eyes, which took place at Padua; as the three former ones of the fish, the ass, and the poison, which happened at Rimini, show what a special anxiety there was in our Saint to disperse and convince the heretics of those two his favourite cities.”—(p. 192.)

We are fully aware, that in faithfully translating those specimens of a work, published under authority, and declared by the Inquisitor-General of the Holy Office of Venice, to contain nothing contrary to the Catholic faith, nor yet contrary to good principles and morals,' we have been putting the risible faculties of our readers severely to the test; and we do not expect them to recover their breath until they look behind the folly, and see the blasphemy and fraud which lie concealed. We consider these specimens of Romish devotion sufficient to show what the Church was on the continent before the French Revolution, as we have seen what lying wonders she sanctioned at head-quarters, during the first outbreaks of that disastrous period; and we hope we may calculate upon our letter of credit,-which an enlightened Peer of the realm, and a wealthy commoner, have signed, in the shape of a