"O Lady, the Repairer and Saviour of the despairing soul, who sprinklest and bestowest spiritual grace; what I ask, what I desire fervently is, heal thou my wounds. And give to the soul that asketh thee, gifts of grace. That I may be chaste, and modest, mild, strong, temperate, pious, upright, circumspect, ignorant of dissimulation, learned, and armed with Divine eloquence, constant, grave and courteous, kind, amiable, prudent in heart, studying to speak truth with my mouth, hating evil, loving God always with good works."

In the Roman Missal, is the following Prayer; "Deus qui gloriosam matrem tuam Mariam nom“inari voluisti: concede quæsumus; ut qui "Dulce Mariæ, Nomen, implorant perpetuum "sentiant tuæ benedictionis effectum qui vivis et "regnas, &c.

"O God, who wast willing that thy glorious "Mother should be named Mary, grant, we be"seech thee, that they who implore the Sweet "Name of Mary may feel the perpetual effect of

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thy blessing, who livest and reignest," &c.

In what is called the Mary Psalter, the forms of invocation to the Virgin are even, if possible, more blasphemous than what is given above. The language, for instance, of the 31st Psalm is thus applied to her:-" In thee, O Lady, have I hop. 66 ed, let me never be confounded. Receive me "into thy favour-incline to me thine ear," &c. and ver. 5." Into thy hand, O Lady, I commit my spirit."

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The Papists of this Protestant country, and of the present day, may perhaps disown such things as the above, and feel ashamed of them. We are sincerely glad if it be so. But still they cannot deny that this shocking and gross idolatry has been sanctioned by their church, and that it is still practised in Italy, Spain, and other countries; and while thousands and ten thousands have been put to death by her authority, for what she terms the crime of heresy, we ask whether one individual has ever been condemned or censured for the idolatrous worship of St. Francis or St. Catherine, or the Virgin?—If the advocates of Rome cannot show that the authority of their church has ever been exerted in suppressing such abominations, then she is chargeable with all the guilt of idolatry in this most aggravated form, and in this church

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which pretends to infallibility, has been fulfilled St. Paul's prophecy of the apostasy, which was to precede the second coming of Christ.

I shall now examine some of the arguments, by which Papists of the present day attempt to justify the worship of the saints; and shall first consider a note on this subject, in the Rev. Mr. Gandolphy's edition of the Prayer book.*

The introductory sentence of the note in question, is marked by a great want of ingenuousness and candour." Some persons" says the Editor of the Prayer book, object to the manner in "which we solicit the prayers of the saints, disbe

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lieving that they either do or can hear our pe"titions." It is obvious that this mode of expression, is calculated to conceal from the members of the Romish Church, the real nature of the objections alluded to.-We object not to the manner in which the Romish Church solicits the prayers of dead saints, but to the thing itself. We allege that the Romish prayers to the dead, are a direct violation of the law of God, and that they are idolatry.-The argument as to the inabili

* See Prayer Book, p. 27.

ty of the saints, to hear the petitions addressed to them, is used merely to shew the absurdity of the practice. The reason of its unlawfulness we deduce from a higher source even the eternal law of God.-Was Mr. Gandolphy afraid to inform his flock, of the real nature of our objections to this unscriptural practice?-Did he think that the word idolatry might alarm the members of his Church, and lead them to search the Scriptures for themselves?

In his next sentence, Mr. Gandolphy very candidly admits, that "the saints are not more likely "to hear us with corporal ears, than to see us "with corporal eyes; but to us (says he) it is in"different, how they communicate with us while "faith teaches that they do." I observe in answer to this, that there are two kinds of faith:first, that which is founded on the testimony of God in the Scriptures.-This is true faith which justifieth the sinner. But we also read in the Old Testament of some who were made to trust in a lie,t and in the New Testament, of those who "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall

"send them strong delusion, that they should be"lieve a lie."* Unless then Mr. Gandolphy can justify his faith by the authority of Scripture, he has not advanced one step towards the vindication of the practice of his Church.-He may be believing a lie instead of the truth of God,

Mr. Gandolphy's reason for his faith is thus expressed."I believe the communion of Saints.” -But the communion of the saints, exists also among all saints who are alive in the body, and yet it does not enable them to communicate with each other orally, when separated and at a distance.-Now if the communion of saints, does not enable Mr. Gandolphy to hear the conversations which pass between the Pope and his Cardinals in the Vatican, and vice versa, neither is there reason to suppose that it enables the Virgin Mary to hear the prayers of her worshippers upon earth.

Mr. Gandolphy continues, "No wise particu"lar as to the mode, our object in supplicating "the prayers of the saints is, that they may pray "for us, while we use that address which is most "common and familiar to ourselves. And to

2 Thess. ii. 10, 11.