was not this sanctioning crime?  Again, how died the great Henry IV?  The celebrated edict of Nantes sealed his doom, and the infamous Ravaillac, for the good of the Romish church, conveniently forgot the commandment of Jehovah, and meritoriously assassinated him.  Florry, I have myself heard a Papist say, ’that whatever her priest commanded, she would unhesitatingly perform.’  Shocked at the broad assertion, I replied:  ’You surely do not know what you are saying.  Obey the priest in all things!  Why, you would not commit murder at his command?’ ’Certainly I would, if my priest bid me; for if I obey him, I cannot do wrong.’  I know this to be true; and I ask you what is the inference?  You admit that you have been deceived.  Pious frauds were committed in the time of Ambrose and Chrysostom; yet hear what St. Augustine says:  ’Lying is the saying of one thing, and thinking of another;’ and in all cases, even for most pious purposes, he excludes lying as unchristian and anti-scriptural.”

Florence was leaning with clasped hands on the table gazing intently at her cousin; while Mary knelt on the other side, her hand resting on the large family Bible.  The light fell full on her pale face as she knelt; her chestnut curls half veiling the pure white cheek, and the dark-blue eyes, earnest, and yet almost angelic, in their gentle, loving expression.

“Oh, Florry! need I implore you in future to look to Christ alone as the author of our salvation?”

“One more question, Mary.  Is there not a passage in Revelations substantiating the doctrine of intercession?  Father Mazzolin assured me the testimony was conclusive in favor of that practise.”

“The passages to which you allude are these:  ’And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censor; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it, with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.’  No word of intercession occurs here; and are we not as free to suppose that the prayers so offered were in their own behalf as that of their friends?  Had it been as the Padre tells you, would not St. John have said intercession or prayers in behalf of others?”

“Mary, can you have mistaken the passage?  This cannot be his boasted testimony.”

“I know that these two verses are highly prized by Papists, as establishing the doctrine in question; yet I cannot see them in that light—­can you?” “No, no; and if these are the strongest arguments they can adduce in the defense of invocation, I reject it as a remnant of the dark ages, during which period it certainly crept into the church.”

“If you do this, Florry, you cause the whole fabric to totter, for on this doctrine, as a foundation, rests the arch, of which confession is the keystone.”

“‘Confess ye your sins, one to another,’ is very strong in our favor, Mary?”