jected by the superior class of society, which leaves them to the vulgar.

But the vulgar, that is the people; and the people, that is human nature; and it is for the welfare of human nature that the religion of God is given to the world. If, then, to leave the people in ignorance of this benefit is already the most culpable injustice, what name are we to give to a crime by which the people, that is to say once more the human race, is deceived by lies, or smothered under the weight of practisers which separate between it and Jesus, at the same time that they shew to it his cross?

Such were my thoughts as I traversed the way which lies between the chapel of Meinrad and Notre Dame des Ermites.

Soon the valley, where stands the monastery, opened itself before me, and I saw in the midst of it the town of Einsiedlen, overtopped by the church and the numerous buildings of the abbey, and surrounded by oratories, altars, and chapels, which border upon the roads on all sides.

This day was the eve of the Feast of the Virgin. Already thousands of her worshippers, whose number increased every moment, were united in front of her image, exposed to their veneration in one of the chapels of the abbey.

This image is supernatural. This is what the authentic and faithful history of Einsiedlen informed me, which was sold for a few sous, along with legends, little statues and images of the Virgin, crucifixes, rosaries, vestments, and a multitude of other blessed objects, in the shops and the numerous stalls which could scarcely suffice for the avidity of the pilgrims. This image,' this history told me, 6 was sent from

heaven by the blessed Virgin herself, who appeared to the Bishop of Constance in the tenth century, while he was preparing to consecrate the church and the monastery, which the Virgin had consecrated already.

Then the Lord Jesus came down from heaven, and celebrated in person, in this church, the first mass, being assisted by St. Stephen the Martyr, and by St. James.

'A bull of Pope Leo the Eighth confirmed all these prodigies, and from this time miracles without number, glorious apparitions of the Virgin and of many saints, have only augmented the sanctity of this place, where the divine image of the Mother of God, of the Queen of Angels, has wrought the most unheard-of cures, and where the Virgin, the angels, and the saints have procured, by their sovereign intercession, or efficacy, for all the devout pilgrims who resort thither, the most plenary absolution of all their sins.'

The adoration of the multitude was at its height. Upon their knees before the chapel of the Virgin, and upon the spacious area where they were, an entire people addressed to the image their looks, the kissing of their hands, their homage, their chants and their prayers, and rendered to it with fervour the most humble and the most devoted worship.

Never in his temple, at Jerusalem, was the powerful and living God adored with more solemnity and submission; and never did his priests, his Levites and his singers, serve him with more pomp and reverence than did the priests of the image render to it their homage, praise it, and celebrate it before the attentive crowd.

And this idol (for is it any thing else?) was not alone. The statues and images of angels and saints were everywhere joined to those of the Lord Jesus, in the church and its chapels, in the place (square) of the town, in its streets, by the way-sides, in all the houses, and in every chamber; and everywhere men, women, aad children saluted, prostrated themselves, went down upon their knees, recited short prayers, or chanted litanies.

My soul suffered more than I am able to tell, and more than once I wept with grief. In vain I would force myself to excuse such devotions, in repeating to myself that this homage was only an honour given, and not an adoration, and that this honour even related finally to God. This excuse vanished always before the IDOLATRY of this multitude, and it was even taken away from me entirely, when, by certain conversations with pilgrims of different classes, and with those also who taught them and preached to them, I had well comprehended both the doctrine of the Roman church upon this point, and the intentions and thoughts of the worshippers whom I saw with my eyes.

These told me generally, that they entirely believed that they were seen and heard by the Virgin Mary and the saints, as well as by the angels; that they were convinced that the Virgin is all-powerful in heaven and upon earth; that she has sovereign authority with God, even above her Son; that it is she alone who dispenses the graces of salvation, and that nothing is to her impossible; that she loves individually those who serve her, that she keeps and protects them; that she heals and consoles them, and that she obtains for them from God all parAUGUST, 1839.

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don, exemption from purgatory, and the eternal paradise.'

I asked of them, if they believed that her image was anything else than a piece of wood, dead and intrinsically worthless? and they answered me, exclaiming, 'that this image was heavenly and living, although this did not appear to the eyes; that it was the same with it as with the host, in which God is corporally and alive, although one perceives him not; that it had been seen, and that more than once, to move its eyes and smile; and that even a holy old man, who was named to me, had distinctly heard it speak to him.'

It is then it, I demanded of these Christians-it is indeed this image that you invoke; it is indeed before it that you prostrate yourselves; and it is indeed from it that you expect cures and deliverances?

And the answer of every one of them to me was, that such was their belief, and their most certain hope!!

I have said it already: the priests in general are more sober; but there are of them those who go as far as the people. 'We invoke, it is true,' said one of them to me, the holy Virgin, the angels, and the saints; but it is to obtain, by their intercession and by their merits, the graces and the succours which are necessary for us, and to put ourselves thus under their powerful protection. And why should we not do it, since the blessed Virgin is the queen of heaven, since the angels behold without ceasing the face of God, and that the saints also enjoy the beatific vision.'

Is it not at once reasonable,' continued he, as well as it is honourable for God, that we should

draw nigh to these friends of God;-to the holy Virgin, who is the blessed and beneficent mother of the Saviour; to the saints who have served him upon earth, and the angels who serve him in the heavens, to the end that they may help us before God himself, who is for us all, our sovereign Monarch? What order more beautiful, and at the same time more favourable to man, weak, sinful, and afraid, can be conceived?

' And think not,' added he, that we should forget hereby, that Jesus Christ is our One and only Mediator. He is himself our Mediator of redemption, while the Virgin and the saints are only mediators of intercession; and when the saints obtain for us, as from God, by their prayers, graces or succours, it is never but because they are stayed upon the perfect and infinite merits of Jesus Christ.'

Thus spoke to me this priest. But it was quite another thing, which I heard the next day, in the

church.

The temple, which is very large, and the place which is near it, were filled with people past counting. At first the service of the Virgin was gone through with the most pompous ceremonies of adoration, and the most exalted praises. When it was ended, a priest ascended the pulpit, and with as much of zeal as copiousness pronounced the eulogium of the Virgin. I cannot repeat his very discourse; but the sense of it is, with enough of fidelity, re-produced in these terms:

• What will become of the soul which acknowledges not the divine, adorable and all-powerful majesty of the most holy and blessed Virgin? Where shall that soul appear in order to be saved, if it turns away