LYING WONDERS OF POPERY.

legend. A house, with an image looking out of the window, is represented as flying through the air, supported by winged angels in its wondrous flight. An inscription rebukes all scepticism respecting the truth of this narrative. And to this chapel at Loretto, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have repaired, that they might worship the ugly image it contains, and deposit their offering at its gilded shrine. The treasures thus obtained by the papal church have been enormous - the wealthy dupes freely parting with their money and jewels to obtain the blessing of this famous idol.

The

In a church at Rome, standing on the spot on which formerly stood the temple of Remus, is an image of the Virgin, respecting which the following information is given by an inscription set up in the most public part of the church:"The image of the most holy Mary, which stands on the high altar, spoke to the holy Pope Gregory, saying to him, 'Why do you no longer salute me in passing with the accustomed salutation?' saint asked pardon, and granted to those who celebrate mass at that altar the deliverance of a soul from purgatory." The Virgin seems as greedy of homage as her worshippers, who claim for her such unbounded reverence; for in the Pantheon is another image of her ladyship, respecting which the attendants of the temple declare, that this shrine having been neglected, she one day exclaimed in loud and angry accents to a worshipper, "I command more lights to adorn my altars-I demand more honours to be offered to me."

In St. Peter's is a picture of the Virgin with a mark under her left eye; and the following inscription explanatory of the circumstance :- -"This picture of the most holy Virgin Mary having been struck by an impious hand, poured forth blood on the stone which is now protected by a grating." On one side is a large stone-on the other are two small stones. All three are covered with a strong iron grating to preserve them, as on them the blood of this miraculous picture is said to have fallen!

In the Church of St. Giovanni e Paolo, near Rome, is a small picture of the Virgin, which was seen to shed tears on the French invasion of Italy.

At Lucca there is a picture of the Virgin and child, of which it is affirmed, that some one having thrown a stone at the face of the child, she most wonderfully transferred the child to the other arm, and thus saved it from injury.

LYING WONDERS OF POPERY.

One of the most famous pictures of the Virgin is that at Bolonga, professedly painted by St. Luke. In an historical account of this, authorized by the inquisitor general in 1840, are the following particulars. Having been brought by a hermit from Constantinople to Bolonga, "it appeared as if piety, devotion, and every virtue, with all prosperity and happiness, had passed together with this holy picture from Constantinople to Bolonga." On occasions of earthquake, famine, or pestilence, it has been carried in procession, to mitigate or terminate the evil by its miraculous interposition. No less than fifty occasions are mentioned on which this miraculous picture was resorted to by the clergy, magistrates, and people, for this purpose. So recently as 1834, recourse was had to it by "the cardinal archbishop, the regular and secular clergy, the civic authorities, and an infinite number of people," to prevent a threatened earthquake, and to obtain the necessary supply of rain.

We have heard much of late years of winking Madonnasaccording to popish narrators hundreds of them have performed this silly feat of legerdemain; but speaking statues, bleeding and weeping paintings, locomotive pictures, and images banishing pestilence and controlling the heaving earthquake, were the productions of an earlier and holier time! What degenerate days we have stumbled upon, when all that an image of the most holy Virgin can now do, is simply to wink her eyes for the benefit of the faithful! Is it possible that the circulation of the Bible-the march of intellect-the light of science—has contracted the wonder-working powers of this immaculate goddess? It may be so. Her noblest prodigies were performed in what are commonly but truly called the dark agesthese have passed away—a brighter and better age has dawned upon our world-and

"Ghosts prudently retire at peep of day."

In the preceding notices of wonderful images, a few INSCRIPTIONS found in Romish churches have been quoted these display the puerile credulity of popery: the following are of a different class, and illustrate its unblushing blasphemy.

In the church of St. Carlo Borromeo, in the Corso, is a large painting of the Virgin, to which is attached the following inscription: "Thou alone hast destroyed all heretics. The ascription of such a power to any created being, is in itself one of the most flagrant acts of heresy that man can commit.

LYING WONDERS OF POPERY.

In the church at Zug is an inscription containing a prayer to the Virgin, the latter part of which is as follows::If thy Son, our unappeased Judge, condemn us accused of sins, O, Mother, shew to him thy breasts!"

On the church of St. Maria Liberatrice, (Holy Mary the Saviour) in Rome, is engraved this impious prayer:-"Holy Mary, deliver us from the pains of hell."

In the Church Scalzi at Venice, is an altar-pięce representing what is generally called the "Holy Family," with an inscription which, though short, speaks volumes respecting the pestiferous theology of those who afford it their sanction. It is, "Jesus, Joseph, Mary, by whom are all things!"

In the cathedral at Lucca is the following inscription: "Christo Liberatori ac Divis Tutelaribus -- To Christ the Redeemer and to the Tutelary Gods."

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Near the Vatican stands the church of our Lady the Mother of Grace." In the porch is this inscription: "Let us come boldly to the throne of Mary, that we may obtain mercy."

In the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore at Florence, is written over the altar of St. Joseph, "Go unto Joseph." (Gen. xli. 55) Thus, the words of Pharaoh to the Egyptians are applied to Joseph the husband of Mary, whom "the church" styles the patron of the dying, and possessed of the singular privilege, that no one who is devoted to him shall fail of having a happy death.

It should be distinctly remembered, that these and similar inscriptions are set up in the high places of popery, with the permisssion and sanction of its acknowledged chiefs; and, therefore, we are fully justified in regarding them as accredited illustrations of its doctrines. In what a humiliating aspect do they present "the holy catholic and apostolic church!" In her most magnificent temples, and in the most public manner, she thus proclaims her apostacy, her idolatry, and her blasphemy. Let these be taken in connection with the saints she canonizes, the legends she adopts, the miracles she proclaims, the relics she exhibits, and the winking, weeping, bleeding images she boasts of, and what christian man can resist the conclusion, that popery is a drivelling superstition, an insult to human reason, and an incarnation of human folly?

Pike's Curse of Christendom.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.-POETRY.

Poetry.

CRACKING THE NUT.

A ROMAN Priest one day I'm told,
All fir'd with zeal, stood boldly forth
To vindicate his church so old,

And prove her creed of highest worth.
Then he denounc'd in strains severe,

All not of his most ancient faith;
None could examination bear;

All were deem'd false, and led to death.

And then to prove the fact, he took

A walnut green, and looking wise:
"This husk's dissent-now at it look;
Made up of vanity and lies."

Away he cast the husk, and cried,

"Lo! here's the shell-the English church;"

And then to crack the shell, he plied

His jaws, not dreaming of a lurch.

"Here now behold! I'll show you all
A figure of our church so pure;

This is the kernel, which I call

The church of Rome, all safe and sure."

But when the shell he broke-alas!
He stood aghast, in sore dismay!-
The kernel proved a rotten mass!

Which he, confounded, threw away.

J. E.

Anecdotes and Selections.

A THOUGHTLESS YOUNG MAN, living in London, went one evening to a chapel for "a lark," as he called it. During the time he was there the word of God wrought so powerfully upon him, that it was the means of leading him to the Saviour. He continued to go regularly to the chapel until his parents found it out, when it made them very angry. They called him one day into the drawing-room, and told him that if he went any more to chapel, they would cut him off with a shilling. The young man, after a little hesitation, said, "Well, if you intend to serve me in this manner, so it must be; but I am determined, through the grace of God, to follow my Saviour, whatever may come of it." These words of the young man had such an effect upon his parents that they could not refrain from tears; and instead of cutting him off with a shilling, they went to chapel with him, and through the Divine blessing were also

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

brought to the feet of Jesus for salvation; and they all, from this time, lived happily together in the fear of God. Oh what wonders Divine grace can do!

GOD ABOVE ALL.-An astronomer, who had long idolized his favorite science, became a zealous convert to spiritual christianity. His intimate friend knowing his extreme devotion to astronomical study, asked him, "What will you now do with your astronomy?" His answer was worthy of a christian philosopher. "I am now bound for heaven," said he, "and I take the stars in my way!" By these words the astronomer taught his friend that he had transferred his affections from the created to the Creatorthat, instead of finding his highest pleasure out of God, he found it in God, and that the true use of the visible was to assist him in his aspirations after the invisible and eternal.

ENERGY.-An American writer says:-"Energy is almost omnipotent. It dispels the clouds that surround the houseless boy of to-day, and to-morrow he is basking in sunshine. It transforms the hovel into a palace. It builds our cities, and converts the wilderness into fields of waving grain.-It navigates our rivers, digs the channel which unites our lakes with the sea; it whitens the ocean with sails. It levels the hills, plunges through the mountains, and paves the road with iron from city to city, over which teeming thousands are borne with incredible speed. It erects the highway of thought on which the lightning courier conveys messages from State to State, throughout the length of our great Union."

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A PROFOUND THEOLOGIAN.-The inhabitants of a village a few miles to the north-west of Perth were now and then visited by a learned clergyman, whose orations were considered so deep," that the humble villagers assembled to discuss the question whether or not they should invite him to their good town. A resolution in the negative was ultimately agreed to, but not before a venerable matron had delivered her opinion of him in this wise-"Ech, Sirs, but he's a clever man; I never yet saw the ane that could understand him!"

SLEEPING AT WORSHIP.-The Albany (United States) Express states that the baptist minister in Hudson Street, finding, on Sunday afternoon, that some 30 of his congregation were asleep, when he had preached about half his sermon, said he should " postpone the delivery of the balance of it" until they woke up. It seems that five minutes' silent pause brought them all into a state to receive the balance," and the preacher then went on.

WORKING ON SOULS.-If we work on marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will deface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble to dust; but if we work upon immortal minds-if we imbue them with high principles, with the fear of God and of their fellow-men, we engrave on these tablets something which no time can efface, but which will brighten to eternity.