sent out after the council of Constance, commands in like manner, that they permit not the heretics to have houses in their districts, or enter into contracts, or carry on commerce, or enjoy the comforts of humanity with Christians." cium habeatur: ut solatio saltem humanitatis amisso, ab errore viæ suæ resipiscere compellantur. Sacr. Sanct. Concil. ad Regiam Editionem Exacta. Lutet. Parisiorum, 1671, Tom. x. p. 1419. * The charge of idolatry which is made by Protestants against the Church of Rome, may be easily substantiated, not only from the practice of that Church in the dark ages, but from its authorized and avowed standards in the present day. I refer to the Liturgy of that Church, edited by the Rev. Peter Gandolphy, and printed by Keating, Brown, and Keating, in 1812, and which is presumptuously entitled, "LITURGY, OR A BOOK OF COMMON PRAYERS AND ADMINISTRATION OF SACRAMENTS, WITH OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, for THE USE OF ALL CHRISTIANS IN the United KinGDOM;" by which it is plainly insinuated, that all the Protestants of the United Kingdom who reject this Liturgy, are not Christians. In this Liturgy the old idolatry of the Church of Rome, in adoring the consecrated wafer and cup in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is still retained, as appears by the following words, taken from the Directory of the Mass: "After pronouncing the words of consecration, the priest kneeling adores and elevates the sacred host," (or consecrated bread,) “and the bell at the altar is rung to give notice to the congregation." In like manner it is said, after the consecration of the cup," Here also kneeling he adores and elevates the chalice" or cup. The following words are taken from the Litany in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, commonly called the Litany of Loretto. We should scarcely believe it possible, that such matter should be published in this enlightened country, in the nineteenth century, as a form of Christian worship! But as it has been printed, it is fit to make it generally known, in order that all men may see that the Romish Church obstinately cleaves to its abominations. "We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God I despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever-glorious and blessed Virgin ! Spiritual vessel, Vessel of honour, Vessel of singular devotion, Tower of David, Ark of the Covenant, Gate of heaven, Health of the weak, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians, "We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God! despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever-glorious and blessed Virgin ! "Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God! "That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ." In order to hide from the people the guilt and danger of bowing down to images, the Romish priesthood have, in some of their catechisms, as in that of the Rev. Dr. James Butler, revised, enlarged, improved, and recommended by the four Romish Archbishops of Ireland, wholly omitted the second commandment; and they endeavour to conceal this daring corruption of the Divine Law, by dividing the tenth commandment into two. In other catechisms, published for the use of the English Roman Catholics, the second commandment is indeed inserted; but it is blended with the first; and the tenth is di vided into two, in the same manner as in the Irish catechisms. But though in the catechisms last-mentioned, the second commandment is inserted as a subordinate part of the first, yet the Hebrew phrase pak ninnwn &“ Thou shalt not bow down thyself "to them," which absolutely forbids every kind and degree of religious veneration to be paid to images, has in the Romish catechisms been thus translated, "Thou shalt not adore them;" and the framers of these catechisms presumptuously varnish over their open violation of the above prohibition in the following manner : "Q. Is it lawful to honour the images of Christ and his saints? "A. Yes, if rightly understood; because the honour given them is referred to the things they represent; so that by the images or crosses which we kiss, and before which we kneel, we honour and adore Christ himself. 66 'Q. Do Catholics pray to images? “A. No, by no means: we pray before them indeed, to keep us from distraction, but not to them; for we know they can neither see, nor hear, nor help us. "Q. What benefit have we then by them? "A. They movingly represent to us the mysteries of our Saviour's passion, and the martyrdom of his saints."-See Abstract of the Douay Catechism. Had the above Hebrew phrase been literally rendered "thou "shalt not bow down thyself to them," the Romish priests could not thus have varnished over the violation of the commandment. But they first deceive the people by a translation of the passage not sufficiently literal, and then they pretend, that in honouring, kissing, and kneeling before the images, they do not adore them, though in fact they bow down to them, and thus disobey the letter of the divine law. CHAPTER XIV. ON THE PROPHETICAL PERIOD OF TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS-GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE SUBJECT-SIX SCRIPTURAL PROPOSITIONS LAID DOWN. IN considering the 11th, 12th, and 13th chapters of the Apocalypse, we have seen frequent mention of a certain mysterious period, during which the enemies of the Church were to triumph over her. This period is also twice mentioned, in the book of Daniel, and it occurs five times in the Apocalypse. I shall recapitulate the different passages, for the sake of perspicuity. 1st. In Dan. vii. 25, we are informed that the saints, and times, and laws, are to be given into the hand of the little horn of the fourth beast, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time, i. e. three years and a half. 2d. In Dan. xii. 7, mention is again made of the same period, a time, times, and a half, as measuring the duration of certain events previously predicted. 3d. In Rev. xi. 2, it is said that the Gentiles are to tread under foot the holy city forty and two months. 4th. In Rev. xi. 3, we are told that the witnesses are to prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 5th. In Rev. xii. 6, it is said that the Woman, the Church, shall be fed one thousand two hundred and threescore days in the wilderness. 6th. In Rev. xii. 14, we learn that the Woman is to be nourished in her place in the wilderness, a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 7th. In Rev. xiii. 5, power is said to have been given to the Beast, to practise prosperously forty and two months. Besides these seven places of Scripture, in which express mention is made of the above prophetical period, there is an allusion to it in two others. Our Lord, in Luke xxi. 24, 25, informs us, that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now it is the opinion of Mede, Horsly, and other eminent interpreters, that these times of the Gentiles are the latter period of the Gentile monarchies; and more particularly the time, times, and dividing of time, of Daniel, at the end of which the awful convulsions of the nations are to commence, which shall immediately precede the conversion and restoration of Israel. Again, in Rev. x. 5-7, the angel lifts up his hand and swears by him that liveth for ever and ever, that there should be time no longer, but the mystery of God shall be finished when the seventh angel begins to sound. Mede understands the time here mentioned to be the time, times, and half a time of Daniel; and that these are to be finished at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.t It may not, however, be obvious to every person, * Mede's Works, Book iii. Treatise on Daniel's Weeks, p. 873; Book iv. epist. xii. p. 920. + Mede's Works, Book iv. epist. 8. |