side, that the invocation of the
saints and of the Virgin is nothing more than a request, that they would
intercede with God, and implore his mercy for the suppliants. But
whatever implicit reliance we may place on the good faith with which
these declarations are made, we can discover no new key by which to
interpret the forms of prayer and praise satisfactorily. Confessedly
there are no changes in the authorized services. We discover no traces
of change in the worship of private devotion. The Breviary and Missal
contain the same offices of the Virgin Mary as in former days. The same
sentiments are expressed towards her in public; the same forms of
devotion[143], both in prayer and praise, are prepared for the use of
individuals in their daily exercises. Whatever meaning is to be attached
to the expressions employed, the prevailing expressions themselves
remain the same as we found them to have been in past ages.

[Footnote 143: Works of this character abound in every place,
where Catholic books may be purchased.]

Since I made these extracts from the learned and celebrated doctors and
canonized saints of former ages, my attention has been invited to the
language now {381} used in forms of devotion, the spirit of which
implies similar views of the power and love of the Virgin Mary, as the
fountain of mercies to mankind, and the dispenser of every heavenly
blessing.

At the head of these modern works, I was led to read over again the
encyclical letter of the present sovereign pontiff, from the closing
sentences of which I have already made extracts. And referring his words
to a test which we have more than once applied in a similar case--that
of changing the name of the person, and substituting the name of God, or
his blessed Son, I cannot see how the spirit of his sentiments falls in
the least below the highest degree of religious worship. His words, in
the third paragraph of his letter, as they appear in the Laity's
Directory for 1833, are these:--

"But having at length taken possession of our see in the Lateran Basilic
according to the custom and institution of our predecessors, we turn to
you without delay, venerable brethren, and in testimony of our feelings
towards you, we select for the date of our letter this most joyful day
on which we celebrate the solemn festival of the most blessed Virgin's
triumphant assumption into heaven, that she who has been through every
great calamity our patroness and pr