THE EDINBURGH CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE.

of thy most sweet infancy,-viz., meekfrom you I learn one of the virtues ness," &c.

a prayer to be addressed to the Bambino The following is the commencement of when brought to visit a sick person :

the procession again made the circuit the aisles, through crowds of kneeling Of worshippers, attended as before by military music, and once more issued from the Church, that the Bambino might again bless and receive the adoration of the congregated numbers without; after which the image was restored to its place, and humbly prostrate before the presence of "Our most gracious Child Jesus, the idolatrous service terminated. Idola- your Sovereign Majesty, we adore you trous, I cannot hesitate to call it; for if profoundly, and we recognize in you that this is not idolatry, I would ask what Lord who is our Creator, and the absooutward act of devotion can be charac- lute Governor of the universe. We should terized as such? The Romanist denies not believe our senses of infallible faith, this, and protests that it is only venera- and not teach us that in this small infant tion. To this I reply, that when vene- body is comprehended and almost annihiration attains such a pitch of extrava- lated all the infinite greatness of a God, gance as to pay every mark of adoration who, in order to save us, most vile creato a block of wood, it implies the guilt of tures, was pleased to descend from the taking the glory due only to the Almighty, spheres to take upon himself our sufferand giving it to that senseless image which ings, our poverty, and our distresses," &c. is gross and palpable idolatry. If it be said that it is not the image that is wor-eminent ecclesiastics have declared themIt should be mentioned, that several shipped, but Him whom the image re-selves heartily ashamed of the ridiculous presents, I reply, that whatever the worship of this image in the Ara Cœli. better educated may do, the multitude It is to be hoped, therefore, that they worship the image;-it is the little magnificently attired wooden Bambino that occupies all their attention, that fills their minds' eye, to which they humbly kneel, and to which all this homage is paid; nay, more, I remember that it is the image itself which they are taught to worship by the authorized printed prayers which are circulated among them. By the very language of these prayers, they are taught to address their devotions on such an occasion as this, or when the idol is carried To the bedside of the sick or dying, not to that Jesus who grew up to manhood on earth, and is now on the right hand of the throne on high, but expressly to the Baby Jesus, that is, to the wooden image before them. To prove this, there needs but to give you a few extracts from a little book of prayers in common use :

PRAYERS.

"My dear Child Jesus, I love you with a true heart. Inflame more and more this love in me, and make it perfect.

"Patre, my dear swaddled child (caro mio Bambino fasciato) take my liberty; I make it over to you.

Most amiable Child Jesus, it is not the cold, nor the straw, nor the manger, which brings tears from your eyes;-it is the coldness and hardness of my heart.

"Dearest Child Jesus, come from that rough manger, and rest as in a cradle in the midst of this heart of mine.

"O my most lovely Child! Sun of Paradise, give me light, that I may perceive the deceit in which I have hitherto lived.

"My sweetest Lamb of Bethlehem,

will succeed in putting a stop to it, as they have already succeeded in abolishing the most offensive and indecent exhibition by which this Church was formerly disgraced. There was a time when the love of scenic display was not satisfied with wax-work or pasteboard figures, and when the awful scene of the incarnate Redeemer's birth was positively acted in this Church publicly by a living mother and a living child.

celebrated Bambino of the Ara Cœli. With So much for the idol-worship of the regard to the superstitious practices which prevail in the Church of Rome, and which also cannot be considered but as savouring strongly of idolatry, I believe it would require a whole volume merely to enumerate them.

Of these, the votive offerings suspended in immense numbers at the altars of popular saints, and especially of all travellers in Popish countries, and the Virgin Mary, have been noticed by excite the pity of the serious, and the These consist sometimes of tin hearts, ridicule and laughter of the thoughtless. which are strung up in bunches, to testify times of the crutches once used by the the devout affection of the offerers; somelame who have been restored to strength; or little wax-models of arms and legs. eases by the intercession of the saint; or, which had been cured of wounds or dismore frequently still, by little pictures every conceivable situation of imminent (curious daubs they are) representing peril, from which deliverance has been obtained through prayer for the saint's Coli, the altar of St. Anthony of Padua protection. In this same church of Ara

(a very popular Italian saint) affords a good example of this superstition. Attached to the iron rails of the altar, is a responsorium in Latin verse, printed and framed for the use of suppliants who desire to obtain the succour of the saint, and which sets forth, in terms which, if addressed to God, we would call adoration, the wonderful power of saint authority in healing all manner of diseases, and averting all manner of misfortunes. In proof and illustration of this, as well as in testimony of gratitude for escape from dangers, the wall is covered with immense numbers of these votive pictures. In one you will see rudely stretched, and glaringly coloured, a cart passing over the person of a man who has fallen before the wheels; in another, the man is being tossed on the horns of a bull; in a third, he is falling from some great height; here we see a child falling from a window, and the mother on her knees; then a person is exhibited on a sick-bed; and so on through every possible circumstance of accident or disease to which poor human nature is liable. In all the saint is represented looking down from the clouds ready to deliver the man who invokes his name in the time of need. These votive pictures are very rude and humble productions, but they are deeply interesting, as shewing with what implicit faith the poor people receive the teaching of their priests; and with what heartless impiety their spiritual guides turn aside the current of their simple gratitude from Him who alone can save, to those who cannot help them, teaching them, in fact, to honour the creature for the Creator's mercies; and thus defrauding the Most High of the glory due unto His name.

If from the Church of Ara Coeli you descend the Capitoline Hill to the ancient Roman Forum, you will find at the foot of the declivity, a prison famous in classic history, and now equally famous in Romish martyrology. It is the Mamertine or Tullian prison, so called from Arcus Martius, who began it, and Servius Tullius, who enlarged it. All that remains of this dungeon, consists of two cells, one above the other, and communicating originally, not by a stair and door, but by a round hole in the floor of the upper prison, by which the condemned were lowered into a living grave, and through which they received their supplies of food, but which was utterly inaccessible to the faintest ray of light. Dark, miserable, hopeless dungeons they are both, as ever human cruelty and tyranny invented. Even the upper cell is far below the surface of the ground,

and is reached by a flight of twenty-eight steps. This den is 14 feet high, 27 long, and 19 in breadth. The lower is 19 feet by 9, and 6 feet high. It was here where Jugurtha was starved to death, where the accomplices of Cataline were strangled by order of Cicero, and where Sejanus, the Minister of Tiberius, was executed. This prison is now not only a classic, but a sacred spot,-a place of pilgrimage, not only to the admirers of ancient Roman greatness, but also to the followers of modern Roman superstition. The Church has sanctified it by revealing it to the faithful as the scene of St. Peter's imprisonment, and of several of his miracles, though to those who have no faith in her dicta, she has failed to establish the fact that St. Peter was ever at Rome at all. A small oratory is erected above it, which is liberally adorned with votive offerings and pictures, and where numbers of poor people are always to be found on their knees Hence, we are conducted to the upper dungeon by the staircase already mentioned, and thence again to the lower by a modern flight of steps, there being originally no such communication. While descending, I observed one of the stones of the wall deeply indented, and protected by an iron grating. This is the effect and the evidence of a miracle, for, as we are informed by an inscription above it, the jailors, when conveying St. Peter to the dungeon, dashed his head against the wall, which miraculously yielded without hurting the Apostle, and the impression remains. * In the lower dungeon are shewn the pillar to which the Apostle was chained, and the spring of water which he caused miraculously to rise in the floor of the prison, in order to baptize the jailors who had been converted Such are some of the to Christianity. countless wonders invented by the Church of Rome, and to which she has set her seal by engraving the statement of them on the walls of a place she has consecrated. Observing a door on the wall of the lower dungeon, I inquired of the keeper what it was. for this I have only the keeper's authority, not the Church's,) that this door opens into a dark passage now obstructed by rubbish, which was miraculously opened by an angel, who delivered St. Peter from prison, and conducted him for two or three miles by this subterranean communication, until he brought him beyond the city to the neighbourhood of the present Basilica of St. Sebastian.

He told me, (but

The inscription is as follows :-" In 'questo digio resta." sasso Pietro Da de Testa spinto da sbirri ed il Pro

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Allow me next to conduct you to a
very ancient Church in the Roman
Forum, but a few steps distant from the
Mamertine Prison. It is called the
Church of Saints Cosimo and Damiano.
It is a venerable relic of ancient days,
the circular vestibule being the remains
of the ancient temple of Remus, and con-
verted to its present use in the year 527.
There is much to interest the antiquarian
in this building, but I have conducted
you there chiefly for the purpose of
examining a notice in very old print,
attached to the wall. It is to this
effect:-
:-

"Indulgence.

"The image of the most Holy Mary at the great altar, spoke to Saint Gregory, Pope, saying to him, 'Why do you no longer salute me as you pass? You were wont to salute me.' asked pardon, and granted to those who The Saint celebrate mass at this altar, the liberation of a soul from Purgatory,-that is, of that soul for whom the mass is celebrated."

Thus the Church of Rome sets the stamp of her authority on this vain and impious legend, and teaches her people, that a painting of the Virgin actually spoke, and miraculously vindicated at once the worship of saints, the doctrine of Purgatory, and the Pope's control over that imaginary place of torment. Opposite this notice of indulgence is the list of relics preserved in this Church. It would be idle to examine it. It consists, as usual, of the bones of various saints, pieces of their garments, and so forth. Many of the Romish relics are calculated to provoke a smile, but the very first in that list, in the Church of Saints Cosimo and Damiano, provokes indignation and disgust. It is "a phial of the milk of the most holy Virgin Mary!!" On this we forbear further

comment.

Leaving this church, and passing some of the most interesting monuments of Rome's ancient glory, a few steps bring us to the church of St. Francisca Romana. On the right hand of the high altar, you will observe two stones built into the wall of the church, deeply indented, like that in the Mamertine Prison, and also protected by a grating. Over this is an inscription, of which the following is a literal translation ::-" On these stones St. Peter placed his knees, when the devil carried away Simon Magus through the air."

As we have more miracles to hear of, and time presses, we have no leisure for remarks. Leaving the Roman Forum

and its monuments of departed glory, we proceed betwixt Mount Palatine, encumbered with the colossal ruins of the Cæsars' Palace, and the Celian Mount, crowned with churches and vineyards, to the convent Via Appia, to the Porta Appia, now called the Gate of St. Sebastian. A mile beyond this, on the Appian way, we come to a little church by the road-side, bearing the singular name, Domine quo vadis; i. e., Lord, whether goest thou? We shall discover the reason of this title within. The first thing we observe on entering, is a marble slab, sculptured so as to represent, but most unskilfully executed, the impression of a marble tablet, is an inscription, of two human feet. Above, on the wall, on which the following is a literal translation :—

"This church is entitled, 'St. Mary of quo Vadis.' It is called of the Footthe Footprints,' and commonly, Domine prints,' on account of the apparition of our Lord to St. Peter, when that glorious apostle, having been persuaded, or rather prison and depart from Rome, was proforced by the Christians to escape from ceeding along this Appian Way, and, having arrived at this place, he met our Lord, who was walking towards Rome. Astonished at his appearance, he said to Him, Domine quo vadis?' and He replied, Venio Romam iterum crucifixi, (I go to Rome to be crucified again.) St. Peter immediately understood the mystery, and remembered that He had formerly foretold to him this manner of death when He gave him the government of His Church; wherefore, turning back, he proceeded again to Rome, and the Lord disappeared; and, in disappearing, left the impression of His footsteps on a stone of the pavement of the road, from which this church took the title of the Footprints; and, from the words of St. Petcr, it bears the name of 'Domine quo express form of our Lord's footprints, vadis.' In midst of this is placed the copied from that stone on which they were impressed by Himself, which is now preserved in the Church of St. Sebastian."

tioned in this extraordinary inscription, The Church of St. Sebastian, menis one of the seven Basilicas of Rome. It stands outside the city, and about two miles from the walls. Let us proceed thither to see the stone bearing the miraculously impressed footprints of the Saviour. This Basilica is rich in relics Christ are, however, the most celebrated. of the usual kind; the footprints of A very small gratuity opens the sacred repository where they are prisoned. To

cause, but is Himself our advocate with God the Father! She is our deliverer from Him who so loved us, that He died on the Cross for our sakes! Oh! is there not something truly terrible in this wresting from our adored Saviour the honour which He has purchased with His precious blood, the honour of being our only Saviour-our only all-prevailing Advocate with the Father,-the honour of being the first, the best, the greatest Friend of lost sinners,-and in thus representing Him as being not only inferior to a woman in His love for us, but actually our enemy, from whom we are protected by the love of another? Is there not something truly terrible in this blasphemy against the blessed Virgin, one of those who dwell in heaven, as well as against God, by representing her as

setting herself up as our Advocate-our Intercessor-our Protector? And be assured, I repeat, that these are not solitary examples. No; there are innumerable such. Throughout the whole extent of the Roman Catholic world, and especially in Rome itself, such impostures are to be found attested in every possible way, sculptured on marble, painted on canvas, printed on paper, or engraven upon stone. The instances I have cited are but a few out of a countless host, which I would cite were it necessary so to do, all of which appear to me to prove, beyond a doubt, that the Church of Rome is that very Church foretold by St. Paul in the 2d chapter of 2d Thessalonians, and by St. John in the Book of Revelations, chapter xiii., from the 1st to the 9th verse.

Notices of Books.

Monthly Series of the Religious Tract, this region, overgrown and entombed by Society,-Price 6d. each,

the luxuriance of a tropical vegetation,

1. Babylon, and the Banks of the Eu- not a few remnants merely of rude erec

phrates.

2. Ancient Egypt.

3. Idumea.

4. Neneveh and the Tigris.

THIS series of volumes combines, more than any other we know, fulness and accuracy with brevity and sustained interest-the results of scientific inquiry, with those of Christian observation. They are delightful volumes, and so cheap, that they may form a portion of every cottage library. We shall give as a specimen, rather a long, but most interesting extract from the volume on Babylon:

THE RUINS OF ANCIENT CITIES.

tions, but the crumbling remains of fortyfour ancient cities, indicating a people possessed of power, wealth, and skill; while it amply corroborated the accounts of the early Spanish writers, which had been usually deemed extravagant, as by Robertson and others, respecting the population of the neighbouring state of Mexico, and its proficiency in the arts, at the period when Cortez leaped upon its shore. In making this application of the term ancient, no idea is intended to be conveyed analogous to that which the antique, in relation to the old world, suggests; for, in all probability, the native Indians, now scattered through the district, clinging to its ruins, are the changed. miserable, and thinned descendants, of the great race by which these cities were inhabited, at an era no further back than that of the Spanish conquest. Knowing the ruthless policy of the invadersostensibly the missionaries of the cross, but the veriest slaves of mammon that ever spread sail upon the deep, and the unsparing executioners of those who

"The discovery of numerous and extensive cities, desolate and in ruins, of whose origin, inhabitants, fortunes, and final overthrow, no chronicle has been preserved, and whose very existence was previously unknown to the civilized world, is one of the remarkable events of the present age, due to the adventurous spirit of the American traveller, Mr Ste-, phens. Before the first of his two jour-offered resistance to their rapacity-the neys in Yutacan-the large peninsula which juts out from the northern part of Central America into the Gulf of Mexico, nearly four hundred miles in length by two hundred in breadth-a vague idea prevailed, that monuments of a departed race were extant towards its western side, in good preservation, and exhibiting in their execution a considerable degree of civilization. It came, however, upon us with all the charm of novelty, to find in

mind recoils from the picture which the imagination draws of the frightful scenes of blood and agony enacted on these spots, before they were surrendered to the grasp of strangers, to become depopulated and desolate; and we mourn to think of the addition to the long dark catalogue of crimes with which the whites are chargeable, in relation to the differently coloured nations of the globe.

"No discovery of equal magnitude has