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And now it warn'd her to the chapel, where
Sad Sisters mingle at the evening prayer,—
Where the green vaulted roof, in Gothic gloom,
Wore the cold, shadowy aspect of the tomb!

In solitary grace they bloom'd unseen,
Dead to the world as if they ne'er had been,
From sight of man, like sacred things enshrin'd,-
Each tie that bound the heart to life untwin'd,-
For them there beam'd no fond adoring eye,
For them no off'ring of a pensive sigh

Soar'd from the heart, Love's altar-as at even,
In days of old, sweet incense rose to Heaven!

And thus Eliza faded day by day,

Yet still she look'd more lovely in decay.
Dark clust'ring o'er her brow so purely fair,
Lay the lorn ringlets of her raven hair;

Her eye's mild lustre, like the star of Heaven,
While softly shining through the tears of even;
Her cheek's all doubtful tinge, like pensive glow
Of dying day upon a wreath of snow!
With few to heed her sorrows, none to soothe
The heart that mourn'd the perish'd hopes of youth,
She had not long to linger, for the sun

Of life was low-its sands were nearly run!

One Summer evening, when the western sky
Glow'd with its gold and crimson canopy,
When shed the sun from far his parting smile,
And look'd his last o'er ocean and o'er isle,
She sought the garden walk, and on a seat,
Where, arching high, embow'ring branches meet,
Lay listening to the small bird on the tree
That sung the day to rest beyond the sea;
And the sweet strain ascending from the stem
Seem'd too her parting spirit's requiem!

An aged man subsistence long had found
By labour in that garden's lonely ground;
She heard a step deem'd his, and rais'd her eyes-
That rustic garb is but a vain disguise ;
She saw and knew her lover-heart and brain
The sight, the shock unable to sustain,
She, fainting, fell-the sudden flush that crost
Her cheek amidst its lilies soon was lost.
Her drooping head upon his bosom lay,
A feeble smile seem'd round her lips to play
On him; her opening eye, while yet it gaz'd
In fondness, faded-fix'd-and slowly glaz'd!
His feelings grew-while on that form he dwelt-
To such intenseness that he scarcely felt,
Till wakening from the stupor of despair
Unto its pangs-the spirit was not there!—
Of all that late could charm the heart and mind,
But that cold breathless form remain'd behind!-

He left the busy world-of him again
No breeze e'er bore a sound to living men :-
Remember'd now but as some mournful strain,
Their fatal tale, who lov'd-and lov'd in vain!

VOL. XIV.

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IRISH MIRACLES*.

THE age of MIRACLES has return ed. Germany, ever fertile in visionaries among the ordinary classes of society, has produced one from high life; and the Catholic world is bowing before him, as the God of their idolatry. Nothing is heard in their dwellings but the voice of joy and rejoicing. They look to him as a Mighty One raised up to restore their long-lost honours, to emancipate them from slavery,-to give them the ascendancy in Ireland, and to make the Catholic Church, in that benighted country, to look forth again, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible to her enemies as an army with banners."

In this state of things, a kind of religious war is waged. The breach betwixt the Catholics and Protestants is widened, while the triumph of the one, at the success of the miracles of Prince Hohenlohe, and the contempt of the other, at such barefaced imposture, and the superstition that can believe in such absurdity, have increased animosity, and produced the most powerful alienations. The feelings of Samaritans and Jews are becoming daily more irrepressible than ever among the sectaries of unhappy Ireland; and unless a stop be put to what is going forward, there is no saying where this conflagration is to end. Pamphlet after pamphlet, and sermon after sermon, come forth, treading on the heels of one another so fast, that it is difficult to enumerate them. The press teems, and our table groans, with ephemeral productions, pro and con, on this subject. The ground which both have taken is, in our apprehension, unsatisfactory, and, while it is kept, the war will never end.

"Both are out at sea, and ne'er will see

the shore,"

by procceding in their present course. There is, as usual, a LITTLE bit of

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This conclusion is unwarranted, on the principles of fair reasoning, analogy, and experience. Wonderful events, as well as wonderful cures, have taken place and been effected, without any thing miraculous in them, or through any interposition of Heaven. Pharoah's magicians, as well as Moses, turned their rods into serpents; and the Witch of Endor, by her necromancy, brought up from the dead Samuel before the affrighted Saul. False prophets prophesied, and their predictions came to pass; and inspiration forewarns us that such are to appear, and to do great wonders, so as to make "fire come from heaven on earth, in the sight of men," and to deceive “them that dwell on the earth, by means of THOSE miracles."

From this it follows, that, though Mrs Stuart's and Miss Lalor's cures were sequences of the Prince's prayers, and the "sacrifice of the mass,' as much so as effects are of causes, yet it would not necessarily follow that these have been brought about by the interposition of Heaven, through the instrumentality of the Prince, or his power with God.

This is the point to be established by the Catholics; for, until it be done, nothing is gained; and they are as far as ever from proving, by these miracles, the purity and superiority of their CHURCH, the holiness of the

1. Letter to Francis Jeffrey, Esq., Editor of the Edinburgh Review, on the Evidence in support of a continuation of Miraculous Powers in the Church; partly intended as an answer to the third Article of the 77th Number of said Work, on the Miracles ascribed to Prince Alexander Hohenlohe. Edinburgh, 1824.

2. The Voice of Facts, from the Convent of St. Joseph, Ranelagh, Dublin. By the Reverend Joseph Finlayson, A. M. Edinburgh, 1824.

MASS, and the Divinity of CHRIST,the great objects for which they declare the said miracles are wrought.

In rebutting these pleas, it is to be lamented, that, so far as we have seen, the Protestants have not entrenched themselves within those principles from which they could not be driven by all the learning, subtilty, and force of the enemy. On the contrary, they have allowed themselves to be led, artfully, on the ICE, -to deny the fact of the cures,-to examine the testimony of the witnesses, to grasp at the certificates of the physicians, which admit the cures, but state that they can be satisfactorily accounted for from NATURAL causes,-and, learnedly, to try the said cures by the tests of what they deem true miracles.

All this, in our opinion, is worse than trifling. The same testimony as that given for these cures, if produced in a court of justice to a murder, would take away a dozen lives. Why, then, doubt it here? Why call in question, in opposition to the evidence of physicians, of parents, attendants, and clergymen, the fact, that, whereas these persons, before prayers and mass, were ill, they were, after these, almost instantanebusly well? Impute, if you will, the fact to trickery-to conspiracy,-to a long and artful preparation betwixt the Prince, the priesthood in Ireland, and the patients,-to sudden impressions, and the force of the imagination over such diseases as afflicted them,-still the fact remains. The patients are cured, and well; and the absurdity of the Protestants consists in attempting to invalidate the fact, by imputing to the patients, the witnesses, and the DIGNITARIES of the Roman Catholic Church, a duplicity, hypocrisy, and fraud, which charity scorns, and liberality rejects.

Casting away from our minds insinuations so unworthy, and admitting the cures, as told by the patients themselves, and their witnesses, we proceed to show, that these cures, to all their supposed extent, however wonderful, are not supernatural,' -if, by that word, we are to understand cures wrought by Heaven, through the instrumentality of his

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Serene Highness Prince Hohenlohe. In establishing our position, we shall, first, consider the infallible tests of true miracles, wrought either directly or indirectly by God: secondly, the objects for which these miraculous cures were wrought; and then, by applying the principles deduced from these to the cures before us, we shall be satisfied that there was nothing" supernatural” in them what

ever.

This method rids us at once of all the obstacles about the efficacy of prayer,-the efficacy of the mass,the power of working miracles being continued in the Church of Rome,conspiracy, and fraud, and natural causes, and brings the question to a short and satisfactory issue.

In order to arrive at this, we adopt an infallible rule or canon, namely, Scripture, which has fenced us so strongly against any imposition on the head of miracles, as to render it impossible to deceive rational Christians. The same care and concern for the purity of the MOSAIC dispensation, in guarding the Israelites against false prophets, who would come to seduce them from their allegiance to the one God, are shown by the FOUNDER of Christianity and his Apostles, in order to guard his faithful followers against the delusions of false teachers, "whose coming" was to be " after the working of SATAN, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.'

The test by which Moses fenced the Jews was this," If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder; And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods (which thou hast not known) and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul*." And further," Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it t." These tests are perfectly plain. They foretold that "the sign or the

• Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3. + Deut. iv. 2.-xii. 32. Joshua i. 7. Prov. xxx. 6.

wonder" was to "" come to pass;" yet, nevertheless, the people were not to hearken unto the words of the prophet, or dreamer of dreams, who wrought the miracle, to confirm the truth of his doctrine, and to draw them away from the LORD their God. The last test guards the purity and genuineness of Scripture; prohibiting any impure mixtures, by addition or substraction: whoever did this, disobeyed the command ment of Heaven, and therefore could not be approven of, nor empowered from on High to perform those supernatural cures.

Tests, exactly similar to these, and every way as plain and decisive, are given in the NEW Testament. St. Paul, foretelling of those who should "resist the truth," asserts the PLENARY inspiration of the Scriptures; and commanding Timothy to continue in the things which he had learn ed, which were able to make him wise unto salvation, he says,-" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thorough ly furnished unto all good works Hence, says he to the Galatians, "There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursedt." Christ, foreseeing the coming of such men, warns the disciples against them. "If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very Elect. Behold I have told you before." To all this, St. John, the beloved disciple, adds this caution, and gives this test to the Church in general," Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth

2 Timothy iii. 16.

that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God §.”

It

This test no one can mistake. at once settles the question about the humanity of Christ: and though those who did "not" confess "that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh," should be able to work all mi racles," and "speak with all tongues, and "could remove mountains," yet we were not to believe them! A test such as this renders future miracles unnecessary, in order to prove the humanity of Christ.

The test, however, given by St. John, in the Revelations, is the se curity of the Church in every age. It points out, as with a sunbeam, the Church which is of God,-what is approved of Him, and is His own :

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book ||."

Whatever Church, then, shall add to, or take from Scripture, is, by this test, not only a corrupt Church, but, instead of having God's approbation and aid to work miracles, has His curse and having this, can it for a moment be supposed that He would countenance it, or endow it or any of its members to work miracles, in order to prove it the only Church of God on earth, and to prove the sacrifice of the mass holy and acceptable to Him?

The question then is, Has the Church of Rome added to or taken away from Scripture? Our answer is, "It has done both,"-it has taken away the Second Commandment as to images, and the cup from the people in the Sacrament of the Supper; for though the cup is given to all in the Scriptures, -our Lord saying, “drink ye ALL of it,"-yet the Church of Rome has taken it away, and given them only

+ Matthew xxiv. 23, 24. § 1 John iv. 1, 2,

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the bread or wafer in the Communion! But has she added Doctrines? Yes, many; prayers for the dead, invocation of saints,-worshipping of images, purgatory,-transubstantiation, &c. &c.—these are among the number, and are not only anti-Scriptural, but absurd, while some of them lead to immoral consequences. It is unnecessary to run over them all to shew this. We shall only take the doctrines contained in the mass; to point out the holiness of which, is one of the alleged ends for which these miracles are wrought.

By Transubstantiation, Catholics would make us believe that the bread and wine in the Sacrament are converted into the real body and blood of Christ;-that they are turned into bis flesh and his blood, the moment the prayer of the priest is ended;-that what the priest thus consecrates by prayer," is the body which cane forth from the VIRGIN!" and that "that which is in the cup or chalice, is the same which flowed from his side, and of it we partake." And lest this quotation may be deemed antiquated, the following is taken from a publication printed this year, assigned to Dr Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin :" It is not Christ as God only," says he, "who now descends, but he descends as God and man indivisibly conjoined with flesh, as he produced it from the VIRGIN, or raised it from the tomb; and if he do, and is made present thus, when we break bread as he commanded us, not in our own name, or by our own power, but by his; for we do not say this is his body,' but this is my body;' if, when we thus break bread or bless the cup, he is there, as we are all agreed, is his flesh not present in the place of the bread?" Again, he adds, "It is He who changes the elements of bread and wine into his flesh and blood +," &c.

ties of objects, would mislead and deceive us, and their testimony would be of no avail. Were such a doctrine true, it would not only be a standing miracle itself in the Church of Rome, but the greatest of all miracles; and, what would be the most marvellous thing of all, would be calling on us to believe a miracle, on the testimony of our senses, and reason, and Scripture, when our senses, and reason, and Scripture, were annihilated by the miracle, and rendered incapable of judging of the reality of the change!!!

In nature, not a stronger argument can be adduced for our belief of any thing than to say, we have seen it with our eyes, tasted, and handled it. The sense of hearing may be deceived; so may taste and sight; but feeling never, as to the existence of matter. The use of a sign or miracle is, that it addresses itself to occular demonstration. Yet here no occular sign is given, while we are called on to believe in a change which sense perceives not. To receive such a doctrine would be to live on shadows, and converse with phantoms; yet, for the establishing of such a doctrine, these miracles are said to be wrought by the assistance of Heaven!

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"The Real Presence," another doctrine, for the which these cures are performed, is as necessary a consequence from Transubstantiation, were it true, as light is from the sun. If the bread and wine become, by the consecration prayer, the body and blood of Christ, then Christ must be on the altar, and on every altar; in Rome, Dublin, America, Asia, and New Zealand, at one and the same time; and as every fer," or piece of bread, becomes an entire Christ, He who had only ONE human body on earth, has it thus multiplied into tens of thousands; and yet these tens of thousands are This is the Catholic doctrine of said only to be but one body. What Transubstantiation, which, were it a monstrous fiction !-Toby and his true, would render useless the sen- dog, and Bel and the Dragon, are ses of sight, taste, smell, and feel- not worthy to be compared with it! ing-four of our five senses. If it were true, then, those senses which God has given us, to direct us aright, in judging of the presence and quali

See St. Ambrose.

We deem it an essential property in a body to be in one and the same place, at one and the same time. We think it impossible to be in Dub

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