SAINT ANTHONY'S DAY.

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One party, at least, derives advantage from the ceremony; for the rider or driver of the animal always gives some piece of money, larger or smaller, according to his means, and receives an engraving of St. Anthony and a little metallic cross. Well-dressed people, in very handsome equipages, attended by out-riders in splendid liveries, may also be noticed driving up and sitting uncovered, till the blessing, as it is called, is given. Then, having contributed according to their pleasure, they drive off, and make way for others.

One traveller observed on this occasion a countryman, whose beast having received the holy water, set off from the churchdoor at a gallop, but had scarcely gone a hundred yards before the ungainly animal tumbled down with him, and over its head he rolled in the dust. He soon, however, arose, and so did the horse, without either seeming to have sustained much injury. The priest looked on, and though his blessing had failed, he was not out of countenance; while some of the by-standers said, that but for it the horse and his rider might have broken their necks.

Some friends of ours witnessed another application of water accounted holy, during a transient visit to Liege not long since. The whole district of the city in which was the church of St. Jaques, appeared in motion; numbers were flocking thither from all quarters; even infants were taken in their cots, and three generations might be seen in company. As the strangers approached the church many were leaving it, yet the edifice was full. About fifty persons at a time knelt at the rails of an altar before which stood a priest, who hastily touched the eyes of each one with the eye of St. Odilia," enclosed under glass in a gold case. This relic was attached to his finger; it was wiped after each application with a cloth, and was held to every person to kiss. The object would not easily be guessed: the ostensible one is, that diseased eyes may be cured, and sound ones preserved; an advantage confined to one day in the year-the festival of the saint. The real object is, doubtless, associated with the money-box, borne by the attendant acolyte, into which each puts a coin. Others were employed at the west end of the church in bringing buckets of water from the ground-floor of the tower, and selling it in tumblers and bottles. A woman, on being asked what this meant, replied, that it was some of "the blessed water of St. Odilia,

10

THE BIBLE AND THE POPE.

which was good for the eyes, and also for the purification of the stomach."

To employ the language of the Rev. Dr. O'Croly, once a Romanist: "What a multitude of odd ceremonies is connected with the use of holy water! It is astonishing what virtue is ascribed to this consecrated element! Nothing can be blessed or hallowed without it; neither candles, nor new fruits, nor newlaid eggs, nor ships, nor dwelling-houses, nor churches, nor bells, nor sacerdotal vestments. It is used in all the sacraments, before mass and after mass, and at the churching of women. Nothing, in short, can be done without holy water. Even the butter-churn is sprinkled with it before the churning commences, that the cream may work the better. It purifies the air, heals distempers, cleanses the soul, expels Satan and his imps from haunted houses, and introduces the Holy Ghost as an inmate in their stead. It is generally believed that the holy water blessed at Easter and Christmas possesses superior virtue; on which account, several tubs or barrels full must be blessed on these occasions, in order to supply the increased demand." What a combination is here of ignorance, superstition, and blasphemy!

THE BIBLE OPPOSED TO THE POPE.

READER: Will you please to notice the following contest between the pope and the Holy Bible:

Pope. I am the head of the church.

Bible. Christ is the head of the church. Eph. v. 23.

Pope. Therefore as the church is subject to the pope, so let all obey him in all things.

Bible. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in all things. Eph. v. 24.

Pope. I must add to the Bible, because it is not a sufficient rule of faith and practice.

Bible. If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book. Rev. xxii. 18.

Pope. Believe and trust in me, and I will see you saved. Bible. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm. Jer. xvii. 5.

Pope. Make for yourselves little gods.

Bible. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

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Ex. xx. 3.

Pope. Make unto yourselves the likeness of Saint Peter. Bible. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above. Surely St. Peter is there. 4 v.

Pope. Bow down to the little gods and save them.

Bible. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. 5 v.

Pope. Every one that will not obey the pope, shall be destroyed by the inquisition.

Pope. The priests who are too holy to be lawfully married, may take every opportunity to * * * * * * to satisfy lust.

Bible. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 14 v.

Pope. Or if the above be impossible, they may betray some other man's wife.

Bible. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. 17 v.

Pope. I will make the people believe that I and the priests have power to forgive sins, and thereby get their money.

Bible. Thou shalt not steal. 15 v.

Pope. I must keep the Bible from my people, because it is injurious to them.

Bible. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Psalm xix. 7, 8.

Pope. I have prescribed a decree, that every man and woman not belonging to the holy church of Rome, shall be considered a heretic; but every one belonging to my church, and being obedient to me, without regard to the Bible, shall have pardon for any crime, and shall be prayed out of purgatory by paying so and so much:"So bald das Geld im Kasten klingt,

So bald die Seel' in Himmel springt."

Bible. Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. x. 1-3.

What tongue can describe the abomin' tions of popery?

POPISH LOVE OF THE TRUTH.

IN a village on the North river, not 100 miles from New York, in March last, a clergyman while preaching a funeral sermon for a Christian Irishman, who died in the triumph of faith, observed that scripture commands us to confess our faults unto another and enjoins mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, but that no man can forgive our sins against God; that therefore we must confess to God himself and pray to him for pardon through Jesus Christ. Some Roman catholics, after they left the church, reviled the preacher as a liar, &c., threatened to brush-bait him, and one, with his gun, threatened he would shoot him. One of them in a dark night, threw a stone at a gentleman whom he took to be the minister. It missed him and cut the head of a little girl who was passing by. The ruffian pursued the gentleman, and while rushing after him to the door of his house, he fell into the cistern from which he could not get out, therefore he stripped off his clothes and put them under his feet.

In that purgatorial pit, where there was some water he remained some hours till he was almost frozen. He then bellowed lustily, and the gentleman, with an assistant, hauled him out, and gave him a suit of dry clothes, and helped him home: thus rendering good for evil. The minister said nothing about popery. Why then did they rage? Does not this fact speak volumes on the persecuting and intolerant spirit of popery?

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CARDINAL JOKE BY A ROMAN PRIEST.

ONE of the popish priest of New York, has for some time past, as is currently reported, been confined to his bed and room, in consequence of not having complied with the commands of his own craft, by the requisite abstinence during Lent. One of his brethren desired an Irish papist to carry a verbal message to the priest who was tortured from the tips of his fingers to the ends of his toes with the racking gout. The unthinking creature fulfilled his commission, and delivered the following suitable memento. "Mr. **** sends his compliments to Father ****, and advises him to eat less, and drink less, and to fast and pray, as he does; and then you