The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-08-25
Rome and Purgatory.


reading very interesting book Of Faith
er Muller" entitled the PURGAToRIAN
CoNsoLER, and was preparing to give
| received by mail copy of the Catholic
VSSitor of the 18th inst, containing
letter from Rufus of more than four
columns devoted to my communication
from Cobb's Island on Rome and the
Virgin Mary" I am sorry to say that
he has made serious progress in the art
of personal abuse, as he accuses me not
only of reasoning dishonesty" but of
falsifying truth unblushingly," although
all did was to quote from authors of
approved standing in his Church, to show
that the worship paid to the Virgin Mary
is idolatrous. If any one "falsifes truth,
it is the authors from whom quoted and
not [. But when he wrote that letter he
had not seen my last one to him. After
reading that, l hope he will repent him
of, Cor, as his Douay version would say,
do pe1,aaace for) these gross and offensive
personalities which always argue weak
cause.
The bulk of his letter requires no an
swer, as it aims to prove through three
solid columns the Importance of the doc
trine that s. Christ was born of the Virgin
Mary" AS | never doubted that, and
never heard of Protestant or Catholic
who did, 1 wondered why he should give
it so much space-but l remembered that
Father Muller" denied that Christ died
to redeem the world-a thing that 1
thought everybody believed; and so l sup
pose Rufus thinks there is some poor
deluded Father Muller" among his
Catholic readers who denies that our
Lord was born of the Virgin Mary, and
it is an act of charity in him to prove it
SO conclusively. There is an admission
of his, however, in his letter which cor
roborates what said in my last about
the difficulty of an intelligent Protestant
ever coming down to the slavery of belief
which the Church of Rome requires.
After saying that he has always observed
that the worst Catholics can easily be-
come the best Protestants, and even min
listers "a fact which only shows the
poaUeT of dlVa7ae grace, enlightening and
reforming as in the case of Paul, st. Au-
gustine, and so many others-he adds
that good Protestant such as he {" Ru-
fus' was, finds it very hard work to be-
OO1l4C SNSu u DuSSCLOCS OCLCItOCIC. w ell,
leaving out the indeGcacy of Rufus" in
pronouncing himself to have been good,
though | really hope he was, it is evident
that if Father Muller's standard of Ro-
manism, is the true one, Rufus" has
made very little progress towards becom-
ing "passable Catholic" and had better
quit. [ don't think he ever can believe
Father Muller's doctrines, and yet Father
Muller is " orthodox, sound, and solid"-
so the Archbishops say. For look at this
very letter of " Rufus" He tells us that
he only proposes to give to the Virgin
Mary "such honor and praise as is pos
sible and lawful in creature by which
he evidently means, such as it is proper
and lawful to give to creature Well
then "Rufus" and I are not far apart.
believe in rendering her very high
honor and very great praise so do all
Protestants. But Father Muller and
others believe in rendering her such honor
and praise as is not lawful in crea-
ture.' Thus, not to repeat the quota
tions already made, here is prayer from
this PatrgatoTaan ConSoler now before me
"a prayer in such high repute at Rome
that the Pope offers, as we are told in a
note appended, (see PIP. 1880 "an in
dulgence of three hundred days as often
as the above prayer is recited with con-
trite heart, before a picture or IMAGE of
the Blessed Vwgi1" What a conven-
ience that the commandment about
gruveo images has been stricken out !
and how hard it must be for Rufus, who
learned it when Protestant, to bow
down to craven image even to get an
indulgence of three hundred days from
His Holiness the Poper But here is
the prayer, word for word, only the ital-
les being mine: "Most Holy immaculate
Virgin, and my Mother Mary, to thee,
who art the Mother of my Lord, the
Queen of the world, the advocate, the
hope, the refuge Of sinners, have recourse
to-day, I who am the most miserable of
all. WORSHIP thee, o great Queen, and
| thank thee for all the graces which thou
hast hitherto granted me, and especially
I thank thee for haUjng DELIVERED NE
FROM HE'LL, which 1 have 50 often de-
served. 1 love thee, most amiable Lady,
and for the love which bear thee, l
promise always to serve thee and to do
all that can that thou mayest also be
loved by others Tplace all n1y hopes IN
thee, and l co11tide n1y 8nJUotjo1 to thy
oore ooo,,t roo for A., e,o-~r,or4 o,1