not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?" The Douay version suppresses the word wife, and puts instead thereof, woman.

*

66

If it cannot be proved that Peter was invested with a supremacy over the rest of the apostles, and if he himself affirms that the memorable words, AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH," apply to Christ, what becomes of the cobweb pretensions of the bishops of Rome to be the successors of Peter and the vicar of Christ! The reiteration for many hundred years has gained its end of hushing men into silence, and quashing inquiry into the papal pretensions. The title "pontiff" is that of the ancient high priest of Pagan Rome, and that of "vicar," we have shown was plagiarized from the successor of Mahomet, who claimed to be the representative of the prophet.

There is one word in the above extract from the epistle of Paul which is of much significance, and the following comment on it may astonish many lay members of the Roman church. Paul alludes to "the brethren of the Lord." The wisdom contained in the lectures and sermons of the Lord produced the remarks of those who heard Him: " Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"+

It follows from these words that the real person, the historical character, Mary the mother of Jesus, is NOT the mythical and immaculate Mary of the Roman church, worshipped as the mother of God. There is no warranty whatever in the whole New Testament for 1 Cor. ix. 5. + Matt. xiii. 55, 56.

the adoration of Mary the mother of Jesus. There is not a word recorded of her that can bear the interpretation of her claiming divine honours. In allusion to the advent of the Son of God, she says of herself, as the favoured instrument employed by God, "Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." In the history of Christ she seldom appears, and in no case did she receive any marked attention as a person entitled to homage. After the ascension all the notice that is taken of her is-" These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."*

It is truly remarkable that neither in the writings of Paul, nor in those of Peter, is there one word or expression that can bear reference to Mary the mother of Jesus, unless the words, "Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us,"† apply to the mother of Jesus. No expression uttered by Peter can bear the interpretation of allusion to Mary "the immaculate" of the church of Rome. The Immaculate Lady Marys of Loretto, of Guadaloupe, of Remedios-the Immaculate Lady of Victories of the English Roman church, and the numerous Lady Marys under peculiar territorial names and titles in every country where the bishop of Rome has established his faith, are myths and female goddesses, and their images are idols carved in wood, stone, marble, or metal, before which the devotee bends his body and prostrates his spirit: "he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, 'Deliver me, for thou art my god."" And "the smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is *Acts i. 14.

+ Rom. xvi. 6.

faint." And the sagacious carpenter who fashioneth the wooden doll, out of the same block of timber, "he burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire." And then the baker comes to the aid of the priest, "for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it."*

* Isa. xliv. 12-17.

CHAPTER II.

The Papal Standard of the Cross Keys, with its devices, and its motto of Pax, brought to the test of chivalric heraldry.-It turns out to be a banner of pretence and of falsehood.-The symbolism of the Key illustrated by the delivery to Pope Pius IX. of the keys of Rome, on the 4th July, 1849, by a French Colonel of Engineers.

On entering on the subject of the papal banner of the CROSS KEYS, the emblem of the pretensions of the bishop of Rome as the head of the Roman church, and as a political and military potentate among the sovereigns of Europe, we desire first to address our observations chiefly to that order of men actually disposed to throw themselves into situations of danger, and who delight in hardy exploits, and who would recoil from a display of false colours in any enterprise in which they might engage. A man may be truthful without being valorous; but we are safe in affirming that a truly brave man is, from the construction of his mind, a man of truth, and hates a lie. knight, on making his vow of chivalry at the altar, swore, as the first of his duties, TO SPEAK THE truth. Chivalry is one of the manifest and acknowledged influences on European civilisation; and, according to the code of military society, the charge of lying is as fatal to character as that of cowardice. Unfortunately for the peace and benefit of society, that class of men who, possessed of ardent minds, animated by the presence of danger, and calm and self-possessed, when the danger

The

is greatest, have been in all ages the first to rush to war; and under the impulse of ambition and emulation, to carry the banner of defiance and dominion wherever opposition was encountered. The great mobs of armed men who follow such leaders are the mere passive instruments who do the deeds, or utter the cries dictated to them, and they strike at the objects before them as the bull throws himself on his victim.

A condition of warfare and slavery is the normal state of uncivilised and heathen man, and when Constantine, the first Roman emperor who publicly professed the Christian faith, upreared the cross as the ensign of his armies, he through that symbol impressed on Christianity features which yet stand out from the papal power. This is not the place to trace the steps by which that power slowly, but firmly, established itself in the world, and it will serve the purpose here to connect the fourth and the eleventh centuries as the eras of the foundation, and the complete consolidation of that episcopal system. In the first, the bishops became members of the imperial government; or at least the connection between the temporal and spiritual powers began, which led to the audacious pretensions of Hildebrand, in the last-mentioned age, developing themselves in the conquest of England, and in the invasions of the holy land. War, throughout the whole history of the papal power, has been one of the means of its aggrandisement, either directly by the increase of its influence, or indirectly by reducing and weakening opposing forces. The Roman episcopal power consists of two natures-the spiritual or theocratic, and the temporal and political, with its system of custom-houses, armies, castles, and police. This combined sacerdotal and political power, wielded by one man, guided by a secret council of monkish