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one of the titles of the Redeemer, Isaiah ix. 6, and where he is expressly called GOD. Even the very passage quoted from Hosea establishes the identity of this wonderful Angel, proving him to be JEHOVAH, the second person of the blessed Trinity-a fact which must be obvious to any one who consults it with honest intentions. "He wept and made supplication unto him (the angel): he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God of Hosts: JEHOVAH is his memorial." Hosea xii. 4, 5. This is the Angel of whom Protestants are accustomed to implore the blessings of salvation.

So anxious is the Roman Church to maintain the saving power of other names besides Christ, that she is not satisfied with examples occurring on earth or in heaven, but she explores the gloomy mansions of hell itself to find a case in point! "We find," says the "Grounds of the Catholic doctrine," "we find, Luke xvi. 27, 28, "the rich glutton in hell petitioning in favour of his five brethren here upon earth: how much more are we to believe, that the saints in heaven intercede for their brethren here?" p. 42.

Hardly bestead, indeed, must that cause be which seeks support from such a quarter! Straitened for arguments must be the advocate, who essays to fetch them from the bottomless pit!

CATHOLIC ARGUMENTS.

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Few and inapplicable are the precedents for invocation of saints, when they are sought among the records of the damned ! But is there not great reason to question the orthodoxy of this "rich glutton ?" Was he successful in his supplications? Did Abraham think it proper to send St. Lazarus to persuade his five brethren to repent? No; they had "Moses and the Prophets;" they had the written word of God; and "if they hear not Moses and the Prophets," saith Abraham, "neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

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Mark well these words, my dear Friend! The written word is our guide; by it we shall be judged. If we hear it not, we perish! Jesus, the great predicted Prophet of the Church, has come and spoken. His apostles have written, for our instruction, the "Word of Life." true light is now shining; and if you turn away from it, and give heed to the traditions and inventions of dark ages; if you trust in other names and build on other foundations than that given in the Volume of Inspiration, it is no breach of charity to say that you shall die in your sins! May this affectionate warning be taken by you in kindness, and be blessed to the salvation of your immortal soul.

LETTER XIII.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I GAVE YOU, in my last letter, the reasons which induced me to discontinue the practice of praying to saints and angels. I dwelt upon it the more at length, because it is a subject of the utmost importance; and because I believe the principles which I oppose to be fraught with danger to the eternal interests of mankind. I now proceed to examine briefly the doctrine of Purgatory.

If the views advocated in these letters relative to the atonement and justification be correct, the notion of a Purgatorial fire in the next world must be false. If sin cannot be expiated by human actions or human sufferings, of course this region of woes can exist only in the imagination. Its reality would argue a defect in the death of Christ, and would falsify the language of inspiration. The blood of Christ is represented as a "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1. Are there any stains which it cannot wash away ? or is there any imperfection in its purifying virtue? We are taught "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," John i. 29.

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is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 John i. 9. This is the covenant that I will make with them in those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin," Heb. x. 16—18. May I not add, where remission of these is, there is no more suffering for sin? For, as the apostle argues in the 2d verse of the chapter just quoted, "the worshippers once purged should have had no more consciousness of sins"-" having," as he expresses it in the 22d verse" having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience," by the peace-giving bloodof Immanuel. It has often occurred to me, that the doctrine of Purgatory, whatever temporal advantages it may bring to the clergy, strikingly demonstrates the weakness of those foundations on which the Latin church teaches the sinner to build, and the delusiveness of the hope which she sets before him. What sort of refuge is that which cannot shelter the sinner from ages of "wrath to come?" What "consolation" can there be "in Christ," when almost every dying believer is agitated with a "fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation?" How can

a Roman Priest consistently administer comfort to a dying sinner? How can he appeal to his sorrowing survivers to pay for Masses at the funeral, at the "month's mind," the "twelve months' mind," and to contribute annually to the pious list ?"

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May not the poor dying man argue thus:Sir, you claim the power of remitting sin at the confessional: I have disclosed to you all my offences, I have performed the penance enjoined; and if the sacrament of Penance be worth any thing, should not this proceeding have freed my soul from guilt? But, in addition to this, you have given me what you call the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, my Creator and Redeemer. I carry him at this moment with me.

Will not his presence remove any guilt or defilement that may remain after your absolution? May I ask, will Jesus leave me at the hour of death? If the Saviour forsake me on the brink of eternity, where is the advantage of the Eucharist to a dying man? But if this sacrament has contributed to the cleansing of the soul, what need of anointing? And if all these together-absolution, the consecrated host, and extreme unction-if all have been of any avail to fit the soul for eternity, why am I yet doomed to spend years, or ages, or centuries, in the

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