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corruption, so he rose from Hades victorious, and thus proved that he had fulfilled the whole law of God, and had died without any sin, which is the cause of the death of all men.

The Redeemer having risen from the dead, abode forty days upon earth, shewing himself frequently to his disciples. In one of his interviews with. them, he allowed them to touch his body and probe his wounds, that they might be certain he was not a phantasm. On another occasion he ate food in their presence; and having afterwards been seen by five hundred of the brethren at once, he rose up from the earth, and ascended into heaven, into that glory which he had with the Father before the creation of the world.

On the throne of divine majesty the Lord Jesus Christ now rules all things, but more especially is his government made manifest in the church, "for wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, there is he in the midst of them;" and "he is with the faithful even unto the end of the world."

THE VIRGIN MARY.

The first chapter of the History of the Church cannot be dismissed without some notice of the Virgin Mary, that venerable name amongst women, but which superstition has abused to the worst purposes.

First of all it should be observed, that Mary is never called " Virgin" in Scripture after the birth of Jesus; her title after the birth of her first-born son is "the mother of Jesus;" all the Evangelists agree on this point; and in the Acts of the Apostles she is called " the mother of Jesus." It is therefore contrary to the use of Scripture, and contrary to common sense, to call the mother of Jesus "always a virgin," as the Papists do. It is next to be noticed, that Mary was the mother of other children." Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" (Mark vi. 3; Matt, xiii. 55; Luke viii. 19; John vii. 5). This testimony is too plain to be avoided but by subterfuge, and the Roman Catholic doctors propose, 1st, that these sons and daughters of Mary were children of Joseph by another wife; 2nd, that "the brethren" of Jesus mean his near kinsmen. But the plain narrative of Scripture authorises nothing of this sort; and by the testimony of Scripture, and not by tradition, must our opinions be formed. Paul calls James "the Lord's brother" (Gal. i. 19).

However, nothing would be gained by conceding even this monkish gloss; for it is written in Scripture thus, "Then Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not TILL she had brought forth her first-born son" (Matt. i. 25); and this testimony is sufficient.

The fathers inform us, that Joseph had children by a former wife, and that he was eighty years old when he married Mary; and Epiphanius says he had two daughters, whom he calls Martha and Mary; but the Chronicle of Hippolytus, the Theban, says their names were Esther and Martha-others say Esther and Thamar; which is only mentioned here to shew the confusion and ignorance of these absurd traditions. The Apostolical Constitutions, (a forgery of a very early date), speaking in the character of the Apostles, says, “We had amongst us Mary, the mother of our Lord, and his sisters," a adeλpa avrov, because at that time they had not begun to fabricate traditions in favour of the popish purity of the mother of Jesus.

Augustine, in his treatise "De Sancta Virginitate," does not scruple to

assert that Mary was the mother of other children, and mentions by name the brothers of Jesus. A sentence of his on Mary is remarkable, as containing the principle which the Protestants advanced against the Papists in the controversy about the mother of Jesus-" She was more blessed," he says, ❝ in receiving the faith of Christ, than in conceiving him according to the flesh." "Beatior Maria percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo carnem Christi" --a well-expressed commentary on Luke xi. 27, 28.

Tertullian says, that there is no proof in the Gospels that Mary believed in her Son, or rather "it is not declared that she adhered to him."—" Fratres Domini non crediderant in illum, Mater æque non demonstratur adhæsissi illi, cum Marthe et Mariæ aliæ in commercio ejus frequententur;" and from the narrative of the Evangelists (Matt. xii. 46; Mark iii. 31; Luke viii. 19), he argues that the mother and brothers of Jesus had not believed in him, otherwise they would not have been standing at the outside of the house, apparently not concerned to hear him teaching the people within. As this is a remarkable passage of a celebrated writer of the church, it should be seen in the original: :-" Hoc denique in loco apparet incredulitas eorum, cum is doceret viam vitæ, cum Dei regnum prædicaret, cum languoribus et vitiis medendis operaretur, extraneis defixis in illum, tam proximi aderant. Denique superveniunt, et foris subsistunt, nec introeunt, non computantes, scilicet quod intus ageretur; nec sustinent saltem, quasi magis necessarium aliquid adferrent eo quod ille tum maximé agebat, sed amplius interpellant, et a tanto opere revocatum volunt?" De Carne Christi, 313.

The enormities of idolatry relating to Mary, practised in the Roman Catholic Church, are generally known. The popes and doctors of the church have, from the simple mother of Jesus (which is all that we know of her in Scripture), made her their great goddess, whom they worship with supreme veneration. In the fifth century, the clergy entered into a furious controversy about the proper title to be given to Mary. OEOTOKOZ, or mother of God, came into fashion; and it was declared heresy to refuse her this title.

The celebrated monk Jerom, that great opponent of evangelical truth, declared that Joseph, the husband of Mary, had been an ascetic from his youth up, that he married Mary merely in form, and that she had been educated amongst certain females in the Temple who were dedicated to perpetual virginity. The brothers and sisters of Jesus were therefore, by this legend, the children neither of Joseph nor Mary, but their kinsfolk only, nephews and nieces, or cousins! In 1 Cor. ix. 5, it is intimated that " the brethren of the Lord" had wives; but these were interpreted to be virgin female friends, called wives in mystical language; for the votaries of superstition have been determined to invest all the family of Mary with perpetual virginity.

In the twelfth century they proposed the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, whereby they meant that she was conceived without sin; and though this was stoutly opposed by the Dominican monks, yet the Franciscans succeeded in ratifying their blasphemous dogma with the papal approbation. The Romish Church has now festivals in honour of her immaculate conception, Dec 8th; her nativity, Sept. 8th; her purification, 2nd February; her annunciation, 25th March; her assumption into heaven, August 15th.

Dr. Southey's Vindiciae Ecclesiæ, p. 428-469, may be consulted for the blasphemies advanced by the popish saints and doctors in their idolatrous worship of the mother of Jesus. That she is "the complement of the Trinity," seems to be the ne plus ultra of their extravagancies. Even the eloquent, elegant, and judicious Massillon has asserted, that if the assumption (i. e. as

cension) of the Virgin Mary is not true, the Christian religion is not true. See his sermon on the Assumption.

As the 2nd of February is retained as a festival in the Church of England, and stands on the English Calandar "The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Candlemas," it should not be forgotten that this is altogether a heathen festival, the origin of which is on record. On the 2nd of February, the heathen fable had it, that Proserpine was carried away by Pluto; that her mother Ceres, with her female attendants, all carrying candles or torches, investigated all the regions of Mount Etna, to discover the lost Proserpine. This event they celebrated with processions of torches and candles in old Rome. Then again, every fifth year, on the 2nd of February, they had another festival, called Februa, in honour of Februa, the mother of Mars, in whose honour they went through all parts of the city with candles, to purify it, and to propitiate the mother of that God who was the especial deity of Rome. In the Sabine tongue, Februum had the meaning of purification. It was therefore a very easy translation to turn over the honours of Februa to the Virgin Mary; which was done in the eighth year of the reign of the Emperor Justinian. Even Baronius acknowledges the origin of this festival, and frankly confesses that it was the custom of the Romans to distribute large wax candles on the day of the February lustration. In papal Rome, "Candlemas, or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary," is a great day; the Pope, with all his cardinals, solemnly blesses an innumerable quantity of candles, brought for that purpose by "the faithful." The ceremony is full of pomp and impiety, one of the worst of the church.

The name of the Virgin Mary is a nucleus round which all idolatrous propensities are attracted and condensed; the philosophy of this mental phenomenon would demand a deep investigation. Of the existence of the phenomenon there can be no doubt; for now, after three centuries of prohibition, we perceive, by signs not to be mistaken, that the divines of the Oxford heresy are preparing the way for the replacing of this idol on its old pedestal, and in verse and in prose are tuning the minds of their disciples to the forbidden adoration of " the mother of God." Professor Keble, the poet of the Oxford sect, has thus melodiously expressed their intentions :

"Ave Maria! mother blessed!

-:

To whom, caressing and caressed,
Clings the eternal child;
Favoured beyond archangel's dream,
When first on thee, with tenderest gleam,
The new-born Saviour smiled.

Ave Maria! Thou, whose name,
All but adoring love may claim,

Yet may we reach thy shrine ;
For he, thy son and Saviour, vows
To crown all lowly, lofty brows,

With love and joy like thine."

131

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

A REMONSTRANCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA ON THE WORSHIP OF RELICS.

THIS curious document, which has never been published in England, is interesting on many accounts; but as contrasting with the absurdity of some of our European superstitions, is particularly remarkable. The French newspaper informs us that the newly consecrated Bishop of Algiers has taken with him to his diocese the toe of St. Philip and some of the ribs of St. Augustin, presented to him by the Pope for the benefit of the Algerine see. Compare this fact with the following letter addressed by a Chinese Mandarine, Hang-ya, to the Emperor, Heen-tsung. It appears that in a Buddhistic temple at Fungsteang there is a finger bone, said to belong to the god Fuh, or Buddh, which is exposed with great ceremony every thirtieth year, and is supposed to cause a year of fertility by its exposure. The Emperor, Heentsung, sent a high officer of the empire to meet the relic with great respect, and to bring it to the imperial palace, where it was retained for three days, and then sent back in state to its shrine. Hang-ya, a Mandarin, indignant at this folly, indited the following epistle to the Emperor, for which he was banished to a distant part of the empire.

"Sire.-The worship of Fuh is the practice of foreigners; it entered China in the time of How-haw. Before that time there was no such thing. Formerly, Hwang-te sat upon the throne 100 years, being 110 years old [here follows an enumeration of many emperors who lived to a great age], and all this time the laws of Fuh had not entered China; so

that it could not be they attained this great age through serving Fuh. In the time of Ming-te, of the Han dynasty, they then first began to obey Fuh; but Ming-te sat on the throne only eighteen years: after him confusions and rebellions followed close upon each other, and seasons of rest were not long. Only Woo-te, of the Leang dynasty, sat upon the throne forty-eight years, first and last; three several times he gave up his body to the God Fuh. In the sacrifices in the ancestorial temple he would not use slain animals; he ate once a day, and lived upon nothing but fruit and vegetables: at last he was driven out by his general How-king, and starved to death in the city of T'ae, and his kingdom was overthrown. This is serving Fuh for the sake of happiness, and, on the contrary, falling into misery: if we consider this, we shall find that Fuh is not to be believed,how much less to be served. When the first emperor of the present dynasty received the kingdom from Suy, he consulted about abolishing the religion of Fuh; but the ministers of that time possessed but inferior talents and discernment; they could not therefore improve and carry out the enlightened proposition of the prince, in order to rid us of this disgrace: in consequence the matter dropped, to my great and constant vexation. I now bow to your majesty, as an enlightened sage, a martial and politic emperor, a spiritual and a holy hero, whose equal has not appeared for a hundred thousand years. When you first ascended the throne, you forbade the proselyting of persons to become priests and nuns of Fůh, or ministers of the sect of Taou; and would not permit the building of temples and nunneries; I began to cherish

the idea that the resolutions of your ancestors would be carried into effect by the hand of your Majesty; but your present indulgence and want of prompt decision will pamper this sect, and cause them to increase more and

more.

"I have lately heard that your Majesty has ordered the host of priests to bring with respect the bone of Fuh from Fung-tseang into the imperial palace for inspection, ordering all temples to contribute and supply it with sacrifices. Now, though I am the most stupid of men, yet I know that your Majesty is not deceived by Fŭh, but have performed this service in order to pray for prosperity. But truly, to appoint in your capital, and before your officers, these false and imposing spectacles, these instruments of folly, in order to render the harvest abundant, the people happy, and their hearts obedient, how could one possessing sacred intelligence act thus, and believe such things as these? The blind and stupid people are easily deceived, and slowly understand; but when we see your Majesty thus, we must certainly conclude that your whole mind is given up to the service of Fuh. All will say, 'If the Emperor, so exalted and intelligent, still with his whole heart believes in Fuh, who are we people, that we should not much more give up our very lives?' They will singe their crowns and burn their fingers, and by tens and hundreds go to give away their clothes, and distribute their money to the priests from morning to evening, imitating one another, till I fear both young and old will presently run away, utterly neglecting their business and employments. If you do not instantly prohibit these things, but increase their temples still more, then there will be soon persons amputating their limbs, and mincing their bodies for offerings to Fuh; ruining our morals, and exciting the ridicule of surrounding nations. This will not be a trifling matter. Now, Fuh was

6

originally a foreigner, speaking a language different from that of China, wearing clothes of a different pattern, his mouth not uttering the rules of ancient kings, his person not submitting to their laws, ignorant of the duties of princes and people, and the affections of parents and children: now, suppose he were at present still alive, and had received the orders of his country to come and wait upon your Majesty, your Majesty would only allow him an audience in the Schen-ching hall, give him a change of raiment, and see him safely conducted to the borders of your kingdom, but by no means suffer him to convert your people. Now that his body is long since dead, and his bones are rotten, how unsuitable is it to bring this remnant of unpropitious filth into the imperial palace! Confucius said, Respect the gods, and keep them at a distance.' The ancient princes, when they went to console the neighbouring princes, first ordered a necromancer to pronounce spells, and with the plant Taon-le to drive away calamities; but now, without any cause, you have taken a putrid filthy thing, and have come yourself to inspect it without any necromancer preceding, or without using the Taonle. The host of ministers have not spoken of the impropriety of it, nor have the imperial examiners reported the error. I am really and truly ashamed of it. I entreat that this bone may be delivered to some officer, to throw it into fire or water, and for ever to exterminate its essence, in order to remove the doubts of the empire, to counteract the temptations of former dynasties, and cause the people to know that the example of our great sage infinitely exceeds those of common useless things.

"If Fuh is indeed a spirit, and can make men miserable, whatever calamities he is able to inflict, let him heap them on my person. Heaven is my witness I will not retract or complain.

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