with one voice that they knew of no belief in the present power of the Virgin and her influence with God; no practice in public or private of praying to God through her mediation, or of invoking her for her good offices of intercession, and advocacy, and patronage; no offering of thanks and praise made to her; no ascription of divine honour and glory to her name. On the contrary, all the writers through those ages testify that God was to the early Christians the only object of prayer; that to them Christ was the only heavenly mediator and intercessor in whom they put their trust. The revealed truths of the Bible, and the witnesses of the Christian Church, warn us, as with a voice from heaven, never to substitute Mary for Christ, not even for a moment, not by the most transient appeal to God in her name; never to seek what we need, as souls on our way to God, from any source but the Almighty, the first cause of all things, the giver of every good gift, the God of all comfort, the only rock of our salvation, the only ground of our hope; and to pour out our hearts before him alone, through his only Son alone, who is the way, the truth, and the life. We honour Mary, we love her memory, we would by God's grace follow her example in faith and humility, meekness and obedience; we bless God for the wonderful work of salvation, in effecting which she was a chosen vessel; we call her a blessed Saint, and a holy Virgin; we cannot doubt of her eternal happiness through the merits of Him, who was God of the substance of his Father begotten before the world, and Man of the substance of his mother born in the world. But we cannot address religious praises to her; we cannot trust in her merits, or intercession, or advocacy for our acceptance with God; we cannot invoke her for any blessing temporal or spiritual; we cannot pray to God through her intercession or for it: this in us would be sin. We pray to God alone; we offer religious praise, our spiritual sacrifices, to God alone; we trust in God alone; we need no other mediator, we seek no other mediator, we apply to no other mediator, intercessor, or advocate in the unseen world but Jesus Christ alone, the Son of God and Man. In this faith we implore God alone, for the sake only of his Son, to keep us stedfast unto death; and in the full assurance of the belief that this faith is founded upon the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, we will endeavour, by God's blessing, to preserve it, as our Church now professes it, whole and undefiled, and to deliver it down without spot or stain of superstition to our children's children as their best inheritance for ever. We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts, that as we have known the incarnation of thy Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty God, who hast given to us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him and to be born of a pure Virgin; grant that we, being regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. It is meet, right, and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God; because thou didst give Jesus Christ, thine only Son, to be born for us, who by the operation of the Holy Ghost was made very Man, of the substance of the Virgin Mary his mother, and that without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin. Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High! Amen. 367 APPENDIX A. THE reader, even by the perusal of this work, will have become aware of the great difficulties which all who would ascertain the real views of the early Christians must encounter, in consequence of the reckless manner in which supposititious works have been ascribed to the saints and most esteemed writers of the primitive Church. We have often been distressed on finding modern writers making references to works which competent judges have long since condemned as spurious, and citing them in evidence as genuine productions. But the most perplexing cases of all occur when persons of note and authority cite the testimony of the ancient Fathers without giving any clue to the works in which the testimony is contained. Of this we find very striking instances in the works of a writer to whom we have already referred, Alphonsus Liguori, to two or three of which it is thought safer that we advert in this place. Alphonsus Liguori is, in the estimation of Roman Catholic divines, an authority of no ordinary value. Dr. Wiseman speaks of him as "a venerable man," "a pattern and a light," "whose life and writings inspire us (he says) with an admiration scarcely surpassed by that which we feel towards the early lights of the Church;" and in Ireland his work called "The Glories of Mary" is recommended as a manual for all the faithful. We consider him, therefore, as speaking the sentiments not only of the Court of Rome, and of the Pope who so lately canonized him, but especially also of the bishops and clergy of Rome ministering at present in these islands. The following passages, with numberless others of the same character, occur in that work: "Before him (Bonaventura) St. Ignatius had pronounced that a sinner can be saved ONLY by having recourse to the blessed Virgin, whose INFINITE mercy obtains salvation for those who would be condemned by infinite justice. Some pretend that the text is not taken from Ignatius, but we know that St. Chrysostom attributes it to him.”* "With what efficacy, with what tender charity, does not Mary plead our cause! From the consideration thereof, St. Augustine says to her, Men have but one sole advocate in heaven, and it is you, Holy Virgin.'"† if "Poor sinners! how lamentable would be your lot you had not this powerful advocate! this advocate so wise, so prudent, and so tender, that her Son CANNOT condemn those whom she defends."‡ "The glorious St. Gatian affirms, that, though we may ask as many graces as we please, we cannot obtain them but through the intercession of Mary. St. Antoninus says, "To ask favours without interposing Mary, is to attempt to fly without wings.'"§ "Mary, says St. Chrysostom, has been elected from all eternity as Mother of God, that she may save by HER mercy those to whom her Son in justice cannot grant pardon."|| These are not the sentiments of persons who lived centuries ago, or of persons like those whose excesses * Dublin, 1843, p. 190. + P. 170. P. 171. || P. 179. |