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ADORATION OF THE WAFER.

ADORATION OF THE WAFER.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A FATHER TO HIS CHILDREN.

WHEN high mass is about to be celebrated, a priest may be observed to enter, attended by an acolyte; the latter bears a vessel of water, having on its front the letters I. H. S., surrounded with rays of glory; and the former is provided with a brush, having a long handle, greatly resembling in shape those made of feathers, and used for dusting chimney ornaments. After the customary genuflexions at the altar, they turn their backs to it, and proceed together along the aisle of the church, through the whole congregation, while the priest, dipping the brush from time to time into the water, sprinkles the people with it on the right hand and the left. As the instrument is waved toward any, or the drops fall on them, each one makes the sign of the cross. As soon as this ceremony is ended, the leader of the ceremonial, attended by acolytes and incense-bearers, appears, sometimes in gorgeous array, and the highest service of the church of Rome proceeds.

The priest standing at the bottom of the altar steps, with an acolyte kneeling on his right hand, and another on his left, now makes the sign of the cross, saying: "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen." He then says: "I will go to the altar of God," and afterward recites with the clerks, in alternate verses, the psalm agreeing with the forty-third of the protestant version. Now follows the confiteor, or confession. At its close, the priest ascends the three steps to the middle of the altar, and kisses it. Then follow prayers, the reading of an epistle on the left hand of the altar, and that of a gospel at the right, during which the congregation rise, and make a cross on the forehead, the lips, and the breast; and afterward there is the recitation of the creed.

At this time the wine and water are put into the chalice, and the lavabo, or washing of the priest's hands, takes place. To this succeeds the thanksgiving, at which a bell is rung three times; and the consecration of the wafer, or host, which the priest elevates, and at the same time adores, while all who are present bow their heads, and remain in solemn silence. The acolytes now retire behind the priest, hold up his robe, called the chasibule, and ring a bell under the tail of it.

PERJURY A DOCTRINE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.

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Immediately after, the elevation and adoration of the chalice takes place. The act called the consecration is considered the most solemn part of the mass, for it is maintained, that when the words, "This is my body-this is my blood," which constitute the essence of the consecration, are pronounced in Latin, the bread and wine are totally changed, and become "the very body and blood, soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ."

A paternoster follows, and a communion, during which the priest. swallows the wafer as the people do, without biting it, and drinks the wine. Ablution, the cleansing or washing of the chalice, then takes place, with the drinking of the water thus employed; prayers are offered, and the last gospel is read, which is the first part of the first chapter of St. John's gospel.

The form of administering the sacrament, which must be received fasting, is invariable. The consecrated wafers are placed by the priest in the chalice, or in the paten, when he is about to distribute to the laity, each of whom kneels in the front of the sanctuary. The clerks, in the name of the communicants, say the confiteor, and the priest gives them absolution. A long towel is placed in front of the sanctuary, which each communicant takes in his hand, and places under his chin; he then throws back his head a little, opens his mouth, and protrudes his tongue; on doing which, the priest takes a wafer between his thumb and finger, and carefully places it on the tongue of the communicant.

PERJURY A DOCTRINE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.

DEN'S Theology, a standard work among catholics, and a textbook in Maynooth college, in Ireland (also in America), which the British government proposes to endow, and where young priests are taught divinity, lays it down as an undisputed doctrine of the Romish church, that a priest may not divulge what is confided to him in confession," although the life or salvation of a man, or even the destruction of a commonwealth, shall depend thereon ;" and if interrogated respecting any truth which he knows only by confession, "he ought to answer he does not know it, and, if necessary, to confirm that by an oath," "because such a confessor is interrogated as a man, but he does not know this truth as a man, but as God."

-246 SUPREMACY IN AMERICA IS THE DESIGN of Popery.

SUPREMACY IN AMERICA IS THE DESIGN OF POPERY.

THE illustrious La Fayette, the companion and fellow-soldier of Washington, observed, "If ever the liberty of this republic is destroyed, it will be by Roman priests." And the father of his country, probably with an eye to the encroachments of the same power, warns his countrymen to guard against "foreign influence." We lay it down as an incontrovertible truth, that catholic European nations are determined to plant their institutions among us, until they reduce this free and enlightened republic to the dominion of the Roman see.

There is abundant proof that a foreign conspiracy has been organized in catholic Europe, to embarrass and overthrow the institutions of this country, and that Austria is a member of it. One of the most formidable instruments for effecting its object, is the Leopold Foundation, established in Vienna, May 13th, 1829, to support catholic missions in the United States. Every member of this society agrees to offer daily one Peter and ava, with the addition, "St. Leopold, pray for us ;" and every week to contribute a crucifix. The valley of the Mississippi has been mapped as well as surveyed by the Jesuits of the Vatican, and popish cardinals are rejoicing in the prospect of the entire subjection of this land of freedom and intelligence to papal supremacy. The Rev. Dr. John Angell James, an eminent clergyman of England, says: "The church of Rome has determined to compensate herself for her losses in the old world, by her conquests in the new." Hence a papal editor in Europe says: "We must make haste - the moments are precious, America may become the centre of civilization."

The Right Reverend Dr. Reze, of Detroit (now in custody at Rome), a few years since, writing to his master, the pope of Rome, says: "We shall see the truth triumph, the temple of idols overthrown, the seat of falsehood brought to silence, and all the United States embraced in the same faith of that catholic church, wherein dwell truth and temporal happiness."

A popish priest in Indiana, told a protestant minister that the time would come, when catholics would make protestants wade knee deep in blood in the valley of the Mississippi. In conversation with a catholic priest, a protestant minister lately observed, "Catholicism is making rapid progress in this country, and will