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important clause has been dropt by the way,.. or in certain expositors selected by yourself. By these, and these only, you insist that the question should be tried, whether the Church of Rome is or is not an idolatrous and a superstitious Church? Is not this as if a tradesman were indicted for selling adulterated goods and issuing false bills, and his counsel, protesting against the examination of either, were to require that the defendant's own books should be received as unexceptionable evidence, and that no other witnesses should be admitted than those who were called to give him a good character?... In the present case the wares and the bills are brought into court and proved there, and the practices brought home to the accused by testimony which cannot be

shaken.

Christ, says Vieyra,* is the Judge, and Mary

* False as this doctrine is, and mischievously as it is oftentimes applied, some of my readers will be pleased to see how it is illustrated by the rich fancy of this inimitable writer, who was perfect master of one of the most flexible, varied, copious, and powerful of modern tongues. "He a luz mais benigna que o Sol; porque o Sol allumia, mas abraza: a luz allumia e nam offende. Quereis ver a differença da luz ao Sol? Olhay para o ·mesmo Sol, e para a mesma luz, de quem elle nasce, a Aurora, A Aurora he o riso do Ceo, a alegria dos campos, a respiraçam das flores, a harmonia das aves, a vida e alento do mundo. Começa a sahir e a crecer o Sol; eys o gesto agradavel do mundo,' e à com-1

the Advocate.* The author of the Santuario

posiçam da mesma natureza, toda mudada. O Ceo acendese; os campos seccamse; as flores murchamse; as aves emudecem; os animaes buscam as covas; os homens as sombras. E se Deos nam cortara a carreyra ao Sol com a interposiçam da noyte, fervèra e abrazarase a terra; arderam as plantas; seccaram-se os rios; sumiram-se as fontes; e foram verdadeyros e nam fabulosos, os incendios de Faetonte. A razam natural desta differença he, porque o Sol (como dizem os Filosofos) ou verdadeyramente he fogo, ou de natureza muy semelhante ao fogo, elemento terrivel, indomito, abrazador, executivo, e consumidor de tudo. Pelo contrario a luz em sua pureza, he huma calidade branda, suave, amiga, emfim creada para companheyro e instrumento da vista, sem offensa dos olhos, que sam em toda a orginazaçam do corpo humano a parte mais humana, mais delicada e mais mimosa.... Estas sam as propriedades rigorosas e benignas do Sol, e da luz natural. E as mesmas, se bem o considerarmos, acharemos no Sol, e na Luz Divina. Christo he Sol, mas Sol de Justiça, como lhe chamou o Profeta, Sol justitiæ. E que muyto que no Sol haja rayos, e na justiça rigores? Todos os rigores, que tem obrado no mundo o Sol natural, tantas seccas, tantas esterilidades, tantas sedes, tantas fomes, tantas doenças, tantas pestes, tantas mortandades, tudo foram execuçoens do Sol de Justiça, o qual as fez ainda mayores. O Sol material nunca queymou cidades ; e o Sol de Justiça queymou e abrazou em hum dia as cinco cidades de Pentapolis inteyras, sem deyxar homem a vida, nem dos mesmos edificios e pedras, mais que as cinzas. Taes sam os rigores daquelle Sol Divino. Mas a benignidade da Luz que hoje nace, e de que elle naceo, como a poderey eu explicar? Muytas e grandes cousas pudera dizer desta soberana benignidade; mas direy só huma, que val por todas. He tam benigna aquella Divina Luz, que sendo tam rigorosos, e tam terriveis os rayos do Divino Sol, ella só basta para os abrandar, e fazer tambem benignos.-Sermoens, t. i. 250-254.

* Sermoens, t. i. 281.

Mariano tells us that she is the only channel of grace, a truth, he says,* founded upon the common opinion of the Fathers of the Church. She is the Ruth, says Bonaventura,† who gathers up the fallen ears which would otherwise be lost, and deposits them in the granaries of Heaven. Even as Eve had persuaded Adam to our destruction, so it was necessary that Mary, as her antitype, should prevail over the Second Adam for our redemption: it was necessary also that we should have a mediator who is wholly human, to turn aside the anger of a Judge whom the divine part of his nature renders terrible, in order that all may negociate with him through her, not in fear and trembling, but in confidence that he will refuse nothing which she asks. Such is the efficacy of her intercession, that myriads upon myriads are now crowned in Heaven, who, but for her,§ would have been burning in hell. She has even saved the Angels also, many of whose seats would have been vacated like Lucifer's, || had it not been for her protection. And she has saved the world itself, by withholding the arm

* T.
i. p. V.
Andrade, ut supra, 496.

‡ Ib. 492.

§ Ib. 495.

|| St. Anselm, ib. 493.

of her offended Son, when raised for vengeance.* She is the only hope and refuge of those who without her must utterly despair.† Redeem them indeed by suffering for their sakes, as our Saviour has done, she cannot; but so great is her compassion, that she pledges herself for their repentance and amendment, and becomes surety for them, and so saves them from condemnation. She is the ladder by which sinners ascend to Heaven. And even when the Devils have the soul of a sinner actually in their grasp, at the name of Mary they loose their prey in fear, and the victim escapes like a bird rescued from a hawk's talons. § Other Saints may seem to limit themselves in their mercies; their patronage is extended only to particular places; Santiago, for example, is the tutelary Saint of Spain, St. Denis of France, and St. Januarius for Naples; and they confine themselves to the cure of particular diseases, (like certain members of the Corporation of Surgeons ;) St. Lucia, to wit, practises as an oculist, St. Roque for the plague, and St. Blas for sore throats. But

St. Anselm, Andrade, 493.

+ St. Epiphanius, ib. 494.

St. Germanus, ib. 495.

§ Revel. S. Brigittæ, 1. i. c. 9. p. 11. ed. 1628.

the Virgin extends her patronage to all places ;* she has a cure for all complaints, a salve for every sore. The devotee who relies upon other Saints may find them fail him in his need, but they who place their trust upon the Virgin are secure. For when St. Francisco de Borja, as Commissary for the Order in Spain, visited a noviciate, he asked his novices, one by one, under the patronage of what Saints they had placed themselves upon their vocation: most of them made answer that they had chosen the Blessed Virgin; but there were a few whose choice. had fallen upon some other celestial patron. Borja took the master aside, and bade him have an eye upon those youths, saying that he was not satisfied concerning them: and we are told that the event verified his prophetic misgivings, for all these forsook the religious life upon which they had entered, whereas all who had placed themselves under the tutelage of the Virgin, continued in it. And as she is more certain than other Saints, so is she more bountiful than our Saviour himself; for that this is so, and is felt to be so, is made apparent by their images; more and greater miracles are worked by hers than by his, and therefore they are greatly † Andrade, 553. Santuario Mariano, t. i. p. iv. G G

* Andrade, ut supra, 498.

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