R.-Suscipe, sancte Pater Omnipotens, æterne Deus, hanc innaculatam hostiam quam ego indignus famulus tuus offero tibi, Deo meo vivo et vero, pro innumerabilibus peccatis et offensionibus, et neglegentiis meis et pro omnibus circumstantibus, sed et pro omnibus fidelibus Christianis, vivis atque defunctis, ut mihi et illis proficiat ad salutem in vitam æternam. Amen.'

T.-Receive, O holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, this unspotted host, which I, thine unworthy servant, offer unto thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable faults and offences, and negligences, and for all here present, and also for all faithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may profit me and them for our salvation to eternal life. Amen.

This seems a strange prayer, even upon your own principles. The word "host," which is so familiar to you in the Mass, is the translation of "hostia," meaning a "victim" or "sacrifice." What is this your Church calls a host, and which the priest offers to God? Surely it is no more than mere flour and water, just as it comes from the hands of the baker. Remember, no change has as yet taken place, no transubstantiating prayer has yet been said; but it is nothing more nor less, even upon Roman Catholic grounds, than simple bread or wafer; and yet your priest, as instructed by your infallible Church, takes this up and offers it to God as a sacrifice for his sins, and for the sins of all present, and for those of all the faithful, both living and dead. How can you possibly justify such a prayer in such a place? Show any authority from the Apostles, that bread is to be considered as a sacrifice offered to God for our sins. No Church but your own, presuming upon her infallibility, would attempt such an outrage upon even common sense and consistency.

R.-Deinde faciens crucem cum eadem patena, deponit hostiam super corporale. Diaconus ministrat vinum. Subdiaconus aquam in calice; vel si privata est missa utrumque infundit sacerdos, et aquam miscendam in calice benedicit dicens.

T.-Then making the sign of the Cross with the same paten, he places the host upon the corporal; the deacon pours the wine, the sub-deacon the water into the chalice. But if it be a private Mass, the priest pours in both, and blesses the water to be mixed in the chalice with the sign of the Cross, saying

We perceive here, that water is mixed with the wine; our blessed Lord, we read, did nothing of the sort-and St. Paul, in his description of the manner in which the Lord's supper was to be celebrated, and to which we referred before, 1 Cor. xi. 23, is silent as to any such practice. Consequently, the Reformed Church rejected the use of water in the Eucharist. We shall hereafter show how utterly inconsistent, mixing the water with the wine is with your other present tenets ;* for if the early Christians believed the wine to be the real blood of our Lord, they never would have polluted it with mixture of water.

ORATIO.-Deus qui humanæ substantiæ dignitatem mirabiliter condidisti, et mirabilius reformasti. Da nobis per hujus aquæ et vini mysterium, ejus divinitatis esse consortes, qui humanitatis nostræ fieri dignatus est particeps, Jesus Christus, Filius tuus, Dominus noster. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

PRAYER. O God, who hast wonderfully constituted the dignity of human nature, and more wonderfully reformed it, grant to us, through the mystery of this water and wine, to be partakers of his divinity, who condescended to be partaker of our humanity, even Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

This prayer, we would remark, where you petition,

* The practice was introduced at a very early period into the Church. The mixture of water with the wine. Cyprian tells us, "signifies the union betwixt Christ and believers," Epis. 63. Others say it represents the water and the blood which flowed from the wounded side of our blessed Lord-Athanasius says, "it typifies the union of the Eternal Word with the human nature." This last meaning is alluded to in the prayer following.

"that through the mystery of this water and wine you may be partakers of our Lord's divinity," if we understand its meaning correctly, which, in truth, is not very easy, namely, the partaking of our Lord's divinity through the mystery of this water and wine, appears to militate against some of your other doctrines; for it is only his divinity you pray to partake of—not his carnal body and blood-a doctrine not known when the prayer was made.

R.—In missa pro defunctis dicitur predicta oratio sed aqua non benedictur.

T.-In Masses for the dead, the above-mentioned prayer is said, but the water is not blessed.

Here, another novelty of your Church is introduced; "Masses for," and "praying for" the dead. You certainly cannot call this an apostolic doctrine, for you find nothing to sanction any such practice. Where our Lord commanded his apostles to teach all nations those things which he had commanded, Mat. xxviii. 20; and where he also promised that the Holy Spirit or the Paraclete whom he promised to send, would bring all things which he had taught to their remembrance, John xiv. 26; does it not appear strange, if such a practice were to be used, how the inspired apostles could be silent upon the subject? They are silent upon the subject, and therefore we conclude that such a practice becomes a species of will-worship, against which we are so forcibly cautioned by St. Paul, Col. ii. 18; imagining that we can improve the religion of the Gospel as taught by the Holy Ghost or God himself. We hear the apostles and our blessed Lord frequently speaking of prayer -exhorting us in numerous passages to pray for ourselves, and for our brethren. "Pray for one another," says St. James, v. 16; implying that our prayers should be reciprocal, as I endeavored to show in the preceding pages. Why then, as they so frequently alluded to the subject, did they not mention if prayers for the dead werc necessary?

A natural consequence followed from this practice,

namely the supposition that they were in some place in which they could be helped or assisted-and thus purgatory was introduced; and it was taught, that the souls of many who departed, and who were not guilty of sins sufficient to condemn them to hell forever, were consigned to a place called "purgatory," from the Latin word "purgo," to cleanse, and that there they remained until all their sins were atoned for. This doctrine led to another antiscriptural belief, in the difference between mortal and venial sins, a distinction of which we find no trace in the word of God; and also to that which is alluded to in the preceding rubric, namely, "offering up Masses for the dead." Upon reference to Church history, we shall discover that these several doctrines shortly followed each other, and were successively introduced into the public formularies.

With respect to the difference between "venial" and "mortal" sin, there is no sin venial in the sight of God. Sin has been defined by the apostle Paul, Rom. iv. 15, to be "a transgression of God's law." It is not so much, what we may consider the magnitude of the sin is displeasing to God, as the spirit, or disposition which prompts the commission. Thus, what was the offence of our first parents? only eating "fruit which was forbidden," and still that one offence brought death, temporal and spiritual, upon the whole world. In Adam

all die, 1 Cor. xv. 22. St. James tells us, "Now, whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet shall offend in one point, shall become guilty of all," James ii. 10; and Paul says, Rom. iii. 19, "Now we know that what things soever the law speaketh, it speaketh to them that are in the law, that every mouth may be stopped." God's law has declared, "the soul that sinneth shall die," Ezek. xiii. 4. No offence against the authority of an infinite Being can be a trivial offence. Our blessed Lord tells us that, "even for every idle word men speak, they shall render an account of it at the day of judgment," Mat. xii. 36;* where, then, are the grounds

* Mark, for "idle words," which your church calls venial sins, we

from Scripture for your making any such distinctions? Where is the man who has not what you call mortal or deadly sin to repent of, and for which to seek pardon? And if the blood of Christ can cleanse from greater sins, why should it be incapable of cleansing from lesser?

Your Church has invented this distinction in order to prop up her doctrine of purgatory, which she teaches is a middle state between this present time and the day of judgment, in which the temporal punishment of mortal sin will be endured, and venial punished, until God's justice is satisfied.

Because we find that temporal judgments are inflicted in this world after God has forgiven the sin, as was the case of David, 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14, you conclude that those temporal penalties are carried on to the next world. Is this a doctrine of the Catholic Apostolic Church? if so, we inquire where it is taught by our Lord or his holy Apostles? Your Church quotes some passages in Scripture, none of which have any reference to purgatory, and if you believe they all refer to it, you will find they absolutely contradict each other. You defend the necessity of purgatory upon the principle "that God will render to every man according to his works," 2 Cor. v. 10; now what would be the consequence of this declaration being carried out literally with respect to us? That no man living could be saved. You confess your unworthiness in the sight of God for your faults, your very grievous faults-and for what do you ask? is it to be treated as you deserve? no, but for mercy, for pardon-pardon undeserved by you, purchased for you by Jesus, God's beloved Son, by his own most precious blood. Such a doctrine would consign you to hell for ever, if Jesus did not interfere in your behalf.

You refer to Matt. xii. 32, where our Lord says, "But he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor the world to come;" from which you conclude that there must account-not in purgatory-but at the day of judgment, when purgatory has ceased.