In defence of this identification of the customs and usages of Pagan and Christian Rome, the Catholic maintains that the demon has been exorcised, the polytheistic rite has been sanctified, and that the vicegerent of the Almighty has laid his holy hands on the heathenish symbol and converted it into an instrument of God's glory. Christianity has thus obtained a visible and tangible victory over the ancient faith, more impressive than if the objects of this idolatry had been all extirpated.

But this confident advocate forgets that a law of the human mind is stronger than a decree of the Pope; that none of his blessings or imprecations can annul or disturb the association of ideas. The imperial statue, the pagan rite, how many times soever the holy chrism has been poured upon them, will suggest the forbidden idolatry, may invite to a repetition of the unholy act.

This perpetuation of the old polytheism, this amalgamation of the rites of idolatry and of the Christian faith, constitutes one of the weakest points of the Romish system. It is a crude mixture, a heterogeneous conglomeration of particles which have no affinity. Pure Christianity indignantly spurns the compromise, disclaims all this attempted fusion of contrary elements, and will stand, if at all, on its independent simplicity.

4. Again, the Roman Catholic system, in some of its aspects, is preeminently childish and unreasonable. If its most earnest efforts had been directed to dissociate the understanding and faith, to separate belief from common sense, it could hardly have succeeded more perfectly. The tax which it practically lays on the credulity of human nature is almost incredible. This childish superstition would not be extraordinary if it were confined to the unreasoning and

illiterate multitude, or if it were exclusively seen in retired villages or secluded country churches. Our commiseration would in that case be excited for the dupes of these wretched delusions. But when the most renowned churches of the metropolis of the world are the selected scenes of this jugglery, when the Holy Father himself and his most enlightened servants give the sanction of their authority and presence, in the nineteenth century, to fables, to alleged miracles of the most ludicrous and lying character, - the pity ends in astonishment that a system with such elements could have survived a thousand years, in a country that claims to be the great source of civilization, and the central seat of the Christian faith.

On one of the days in January, 1847, the church of St. Andrea delle Fratte, near the College of the Propaganda, was filled repeatedly; every individual of the throng, apparently, except a few foreigners, went up to the priest, successively, and kissed a bone, said once to have belonged to the patron saint of the church. Not a few of the élite of the city, as well as the poor peasantry, were there. Children of a few months old were brought in to touch the mysterious relic. Those who were particularly devout had the privilege of kissing the fragment twice or thrice.

On the Cœlian hill, just inside of the southern wall of Rome, stand two of the seven Basilican churches of Rome, St. John Lateran and the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. The view from the top of St. John Lateran has no equal in Rome, perhaps not on earth. There are but few modern buildings in the vicinity to mar the prospect. The ruins of old Rome rear their ivy-crowned summits, or crumble all around with a most melancholy impressiveness. On the west, beyond the Coliseum, the arch of Titus, and the Palatine, the Tiber

flows into the blue Mediterranean, both river and sea perfectly distinct. On the northwest is the Roman forum, bounded by the Tarpeian rock and the Capitoline. On the north and northeast is the modern city, crowned by that one imperial dome. Far beyond, the prospect is limited by the single mountain, still in the winter, "alta stet nive candidum," the lyric poet's Soracte. On the east and southeast, bright in the sun's setting rays, are the Sabine hills, Tusculum, Præneste, and other objects so famous in Latin story. On the south stretches away the undulating Campagna, traversed by the old aqueducts with their vast arches, and dotted by the mouldering fragments of a buried world. Here, if anywhere, it would seem, the churches should be built in all purity and simplicity, the chosen seats of a worship befitting the locality, lifting the soul to Him who, while he sees mighty empires decaying beneath, is himself from everlasting to everlasting. Yet these two churches. are the selected receptacles of superstition and impious fraud; of relics which are an insult to the human understanding, and which pour contempt on the great doctrine of the resurrection of the body.

On a tablet hanging to one of the columns of the tabernacle over the high altar in St. John Lateran, is a list of the relics which are there preserved. Some of them are as follows: Part of the arm of St. Helen, mother of Constantine; part of the bones of Salome, mother of John; a finger of St. Catharine of Siena; part of the brain of St. Vincent of Paul; the head of Zacharias, father of John the Baptist; the cup in which John the Apostle drank poison by command of Domitian; part of his garments, and of the chain with which he was bound when he came from Ephesus to Rome; part of the chin of John the Baptist; part of our

Lord's cradle at Bethlehem, and of the napkin with which he wiped his hands after the supper; one of the thorns of the crown; part of the sponge, and of the blood and water which flowed from his side. In this church is also the veritable table around which our Lord and his disciples reclined when the supper was instituted.

In the church of the Holy Cross, a few rods east, is a parchment list suspended on the wall on the right of the apsis. Here it will be decorous to quote only some items. Among them is the finger of St. Thomas, with which he touched the most holy side of our Lord, the same finger being preserved at four other churches; the altar of St. Helen, so holy that only the pontiff and one cardinal can celebrate there; a great part of the holy veil and of the hair of the Virgin; and one bottle of the most precious blood of our Lord.

In this church, also, are the stone on which the angel stood when he announced the incarnation; the stone where the Lord wrote the law on Mt. Sinai; some of the manna of the desert; part of the rod of Aaron which budded; and relics of eleven of the Hebrew prophets.*

Between these two churches, and near St. John Lateran, is a building of singular form, partly resembling a church and partly a house, with an open portico in front. Within this portico are three flights of steps. The middle flightthe Santa Scala is that by which Jesus entered the palace of Pilate. The steps are made of marble, and covered with wood to guard against their further destruction. How they were brought there is a matter of devout conjecture. Sometimes more than two hundred persons are seen at a time

*See the complete lists of these relics in the churches; also in the common descriptions of Rome, e. g. Percy's Romanism, p. 82.

ascending upon their knees this middle flight. Protestants are permitted to walk up and down the other two, though these are thought to have imbibed a portion of sanctity. Under the Sacra Confessione in St. Peter's church, encircled by a beautiful balustrade, composed of marbles, and decorated with more than one hundred superb lamps continually burning, the mortal remains of the great apostle of the church repose. In the Diario Romano, for 1847, we read, "In the churches of Ara-Cœli, Francesco a Ripa, and others, is performed the function of the replacement of the Holy Infant, Jan. 6.” This image was said to be miraculously painted a flesh color, and it is held in the highest veneration by the citizens of Rome.

The contradiction and absurdities into which this relicworship leads, would be astounding were they found in any other connection than that of the Roman Catholic Church. It may not be inapposite to quote a few of the details.

The body of St. Andrew is worshipped at Constantinople, Amalfi, Toulouse, in Russia, at the convent of the apostles in Armenia, without reckoning a sixth head of the apostle, which may be kissed at Rome. The body of St. James is venerated at Compostella, Verona, Toulouse, Pistoie,and Rome, without mentioning a sixth head, which is carried in procession at Venice, and a seventh, which is preserved in the abbey of Arras in France. There are eight bodies of Luke, eighteen of Paul, and thirty of St. Pancratius, in as many different cities. Constantinople formerly claimed to have possession of St. Peter's body, except the head, which was left at Rome. His relics are venerated in the abbey of Claude in France and in the convent of Cluny at Arles. There is a finger in the monastery of the Three Churches in Armenia, a thumb at Toulouse, and three teeth