Mary! sacred name, often assaulted, but always
victorious. Mary! it shall be my life, my strength, my comfort! Every
day shall I envoke IT AND THE DIVINE NAME OF JESUS. The Son will awake
the recollection of the mother, and the mother that of the Son. JESUS
AND MARY! this is what my heart shall say at the last hour, if my tongue
cannot; I shall hear them on my death bed,--they shall be wafted on my
expiring breath, and I with them, to see THEM, know THEM, bless and love
THEM for eternity. Amen."
There may, perhaps, be a reasonable ground for our hoping that these are
not the sentiments entertained by the enlightened Roman Catholics of our
country and age. Any one has a full right to say, "These are productions
of individuals for which we and the Church to which we belong are not
responsible, any more than the Church of England is responsible for all
doctrines and sentiments expressed by writers in her communion! Even the
sentiments above referred to of the present reigning pope, you have no
right to allege as the doctrines of the Church!" But I would again
venture to suggest to every one, who would thus speak, the duty of
ascertaining for himself, whether the sentiments of those who at present
fill the highest places, and which fully justify these devotional
exercises and prayers to the Virgin and the Saints, be not themselves
fully justified by the authorized ritual of the Roman Church.
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