with little
figures, of gold and silver, representing eyes, feet, hands, &c.,
deposited for the acceptance of the lords of the temples, as memorials
of cures wrought by them on these several members: these memorials
proclaiming the power of the dead; whose power, again, demonstrates
their God to be the true God. How changed was this Christianity from
that given by him who forbade his followers to ask anything even of him,
because the Father himself loved them!

Concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus, those who have not vowed to admit
ecclesiastical traditions as matters of faith, pretend to little
knowledge from the time of the death of Christ. Her name is mentioned
but once in the Book of Acts, when she is enumerated among the disciples
who were collected after the ascension of Jesus; and how and where she
lived and died, we have no means of ascertaining. The first act of
respect to her memory which is on record is censured by Epiphanius, as
'a heresy of the women.' It consisted of an offering of cakes, prepared
and offered by women only, and generally disapproved of, (though
oblations on tombs were then very common,) because it was not known
where she was interred. It may be inferred, however, from the account
given by Epiphanius, that prayers were by some persons offered to the
Virgin, though he rebukes the new superstition. The first person of
authority who is known to have introduced and countenanced the worship
of Mary, is Peter Gnapheus, bishop of Antioch, who in the fifth century
appointed her name to be invoked in the prayers of the Church. If such
homage were her due, how came the Apostles and the apostolic Fathers to
withhold it from her? Why was her claim disallowed so long?

We can fully enter into, and are far from disapproving of, the natural
curiosity which prompts an inquiry into the fate of one whom all
generations unite in calling blessed. When we ponder, as we cannot but
do, her privileges above all womanhood besides; when we imagine the
intentness of soul with which she must have watched the course of her
holy Son; perceiving perhaps before all others the manifestations of
divine grace in him; becoming more and more elated in her hopes, as the
presence of God in him became more evident; trembling at the malignity
of the rulers and the madness of the people; and finally sinking in
desolation of heart when every vital hope appeared extinguished; we
cannot but search for an authentic record of what bef