mission, and the truth of the doctrine which they preached; and as oil was commonly used amongst the Jews, and was good for the natural cure of diseases, it was necessary that it should accompany the miraculous gift of healing. But the gospel being sufficiently confirmed, this gift of healing has ceased, and therewith the rite of anointing. Therefore your priests have no authority to keep up this ceremony, unless they have a miraculous power to restore the sick to health, which they have not. Your catechism tells you that this anointing "strengthens you at the time of your death against the temptations of the devil, and helps you to die well." But St. James "the says, prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." It appears evident that the sins here mentioned are some particular ones which might have occasioned the disease; for the apostle mentions no period of time when such a person was in the favour of God, and then, "fell from his steadfastness" into open sin. Why then does he enquire "If he have committed sins," when "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," if he does not refer to some certain sins which might be the occasion of the affliction, which are said to be forgiven on this occasion, not by the elders, but by the mercy and power of God, in answer to the "prayer of faith?" IIence the sins which might have drawn down affliction upon the person in question being remitted, the disease was also removed, thus, where the sickness was by way of chastisement, the healing was a public testimony of God's forgiveness. Thus the cause had to be removed before the effect could cease. We find that in the miraculous restoration to health under the powerful hand of Christ, the sin of the party is generally said to be forgiven, and this also before the miracle was wrought on the body. It is evident that the pretended sacrament has no support at all from the writings of St. James, or any other saint, but is a mere empty piece of priestcraft. Extreme unction is considered by you and your pastors to be indispensably necessary to salvation, and yet it is never administered to criminals under the sentence of death. If it is necessary for the benefit of the soul, why withhold it from them who are in as much need of it in that case as any other dying person? This proves you deficient in your scheme, which is totally different from the apostle's intention in the use of oil he recommended. But although you have not a sound leg to stand upon in defence of extreme unction, still you continue to practice it. How awful to contemplate your conduct respecting this false ceremony! Some of you run on in your sins during the course of your life, and expect to be saved at last by this which some call "the benefit of the clergy." Accordingly, when you are going to die, and as your people generally say, when "you can be no worse" and live, the word is, "send for the priest." He comes, and gives you what you have been long trusting to, and your friends then rest in hope of your salvation, however refractory your life may have been. And still it appears that the work is not finished; for after you die, one or more masses are celebrated for you, in order to deliver you out of purgatory; and your friends must pay the priest for thus deceiving you! O, how long will you continue to be thus led astray, and suffer your immortal souls to be the merchandize of men! O, how I feel for you! I once was as blind as you are, until God by his word and Spirit opened my eyes, and changed my heart. The same way of safety and happiness lies open to you. Come and try it for yourselves. Read the Holy Scriptures, which can make you "wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 15. It is well worth your consideration to examine whether you are right or wrong; your precious opportunities for this will soon be for ever at an end; and as you cannot tell how soon, the sooner you set to work the better. You are fast hastening down the stream of time, and ere long you will be launched into the ocean of eternity, whence you can never return to make provision for mistakes. It is better to find out your error and danger now, when you can escape from them, than when it may be for ever too late. Far be it from me to think that no Roman Catholics go to heaven. Should this charge be laid against me, I deny it. But one thing I will maintain, that your doctrine will never lead you there. The kind of characters who I believe may be saved out of your communion, I am not disposed to describe. Sin is the cause of every sorrow in this life; and to those who finally persevere in it, everlasting punishment in the next. It is equally pernicious wherever it is found, but a deliverance-from it is free for all. To this you are invited, as an effectual remedy against sin and error, and as the source of eternal happiness. Christ says to all, Come unto me," not to the Virgin Mary, or to any other saint, but to me, " and I will give you rest." He declares himself to be both willing and sufficient to save you, if you come to him; and should any of you by this time be so far enlightened and happily made willing to be saved by the gospel, as to enquire how you may come to Christ,-you are exhorted to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you, and run with patience the race that is set before you." Pray to God to give you true repentance, and grace to forsake and abhor sin; view what Christ has done to redeem you, and consider how willing he is to save you. Exercise faith in his promise; arise like the prodigal, and come just as you are to God for mercy and pardon through the merits of Christ's atonement; and he who has promised that "whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out," will receive you, pardon your sins, and make you happy in his love. All this, and more, he is waiting to do for you; and it needs not any long time to accomplish it, for he says, "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Accept of offered mercy, and God will receive you, he will "guide you by his counsel, and afterwards receive you to glory." A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ROMAN INCAN TATIONS, CHARMS, SPELLS, HOLY WATER, &c., &c. EXORCISMS, There is, in the Church of Rome, a horrible impiety taught and practiced, which, so far as it goes, must needs destroy that part of holy life which consists in the holiness of our prayers; and indeed is a congregation of evils, of such evils of which in the whole world a society of christians should be least suspected; we mean the infinite superstitions and incantations, or charms, used by their Priests in their exorcising possessed persons, and conjuring of devils. There was an ecclesiastical book called "Ordo Baptixandi cum Modo Visitandi," printed at Venice, A. D. 1575, in which there was damnable and diabolical charms, insomuch, that the Spanish inquisitors in |