turn to the gospel by St. Luke, xi. chapter, 27th verse; you there see the same spirit breaking out, that has since produced so much gross idolatry: "And it came pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked" How soon the desire of magnifying the mother of Jesus began to appear! But what does he say? "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it!" Now hear this, ye that pretend to honour Jesus by worshiping his mother, and calling her the "Queen of Heaven!" Jesus condemns your misapplied devotion, and shews you that his mother has no particular privileges above others, but that whatever blessings she had, arose from this, that she heard the word of God and kept it, a blessing which is common to all true believers.

My dear reader, who can forbear in not denouncing the supercilious ideas of Roman Catholics, when such language as the following is inculcated on the consciences of the deluded Irish Catholics by the "Pastoral letter of Dr. Cullen, Primate of all Ireland," as he subscribes himself, in a number of the Tablet newspaper, dated November 15th, 1851, on the so called feast of the Immaculate Conception : "Paul, by the grace of God, and favour of the Apostolic See, Archbishop, &c., Primate of all Ire

land, to the Catholic Laity and Clergy of Armagh." To such a patroness as Virgin Mary, he says, we may well join in the supplications of St. Augustine," O Holy Mary! succour the miserable, assist the desponding, console the mourner, pray for the people, interpose for the clergy, intercede for the devout female sex, let all feel thy assistance who celebrate thy holy commemoration."

دو

How absurd it is of the Papists to say that the invocation, or rather worship, of the Virgin Mary, may be proved from the words of the angel Gabriel, in which he invokes the Virgin, saying, "blessed art thou among women. Why, if this proves the duty of worshiping the Virgin Mary, a higher worship is due to Jael, for the Spirit of God spoke through Deborah, as well as through Gabriel; and the same Spirit of God which said to the Virgin Mary, "blessed art thou among women," the very same Spirit said, centuries before, of Jael, "Blessed above all women, shall Jael the wife of Heber, the Kenite be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent." Judges v. 24.

A PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN MARY, &C.

O Most bountiful mother of pity, as there is no creature comes nearer than thyself to the incomprehensible perfections of thy divine son, so there is none

comes so near to him as thou in that of mercy.

The

succouring me, poor wretch, in my greatest misery, and freeing me, by thy intercession, out of the abyss of my sins, and eternal damnation, which I had so justly deserved, will be imitating him, who is all charity and compassion towards sinners. I know how much thou interests thyself in the glory of thy son, and how much thou desirest the salvation of souls he has redeemed, and that the fruit, of his most sacred blood may daily increase. I fly, therefore, to thee, with full hopes thou wilt not deny the assistance of thy prayers to him, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his very life. What should I do, were I condemned for ever to the flames of hell, never to behold the face of thine and my God, and to have for an eternity both him and thee for my enemies? But God forbid this ever to be true: free me, O gracious lady, by thy meditation, from an eternal death, obtain for me never to be under that dismal sentence. I pretend not to favour on my own account, as having no desert; but let it be entirely owing to thy intercession, to the merits of my Saviour, to his wounds, and to his death. Thou wert appointed by him, on the Cross, for my advocate and mother; permit me, then, to call thee so.

"Shew thyself a mother," make thyself heard in my behalf, and I am content; take me into thy protection, and I am secure. Obtain that I may never sin mortally

but faithfully serve my Creator and Redeemer to the very last, that I may enjoy him in company with all the saints, and make amends for what till now I have been wanting in his service on earth. Amen. Pages 102

and 103.

My dear reader what a beautiful prayer this would have been if it were directly addressed to Almighty God the maker and giver of all good things through the merits of his only begotten son Jesus Christ, the only mediator between the Father and his people. Instead of offering to the vessel of sin and corruption, such as we ourselves are. She was born in iniquity and conceived in sin-and therefore was under the sentence of God's wrath, until her original sin was washed away in the most sacred blood of Emmanuel which is the God Man, whose sacred blood cleanses from all sin, both original and actual.

When there are such glaring acts of idolatry as these, staring them in the face daily, how is it they stand forth with so much effrontery and impudence, and deny they are not participants in those forms, which no no's, cardinals, bishops "and what not" are considered ample authorities for claiming for thomselves to be Gods; above all that is called Ged.

The above passages evidently prove, that the priests and bishops, teach doctrines in violation of the word of God. May they, and all those who belong to them be strengthened by the grace of God, so that

they shall teach mankind to be converted as the hundreds of Roman Catholic converts living in Oughterard, near Galway, (Ireland-just in the Diocese of the Lion of Tuam, that inflammatory zealot Dr M'Hale,) have done, together with Father Swaine, and his two faithful companions, who renounced the errors of the Church of Rome, in St. Thomas's church, Dublin, who have learned through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to pray to Jesus Christ alone, to have faith in the fullness of his grace and mediation, and to preach to the people in the words of St. Paul: "There is but one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5. This is the first truth of Christianity. Not of Idolatry!

"The worship of images and idols,,' says Cassandre, has been carried to excess, and too much has been granted to the desires of the people, or to their superstition rather, since their blindness must needs be compared even to the blindness of the Pagans, who made unto themselves idols, and adorned them, and bowed down to them and worshiped them." Tertulian, thus addresses the Pagans: "That which we would condemn in the images of your Gods, is, that they are alike in substance to the most worthless vessels. These unmeaning statues are so strongly impressed with the stamp of death, as they are indeed the images of the dead, that mice and spiders