tioned by the authority of the Church, and are derived from the highest antiquity. Calculated to excite sublime sentiments of religion, and awaken the soul to the august presence of God, they have a strong and bold reference to the great mysteries and truths of Christianity, and naturally lead the understanding to the knowledge of them-yet through the little information and acquaintance men have with religion, they are frequently confounded at these ceremonies, and pronounce them unmeaning, when, in reality, they should rather reprehend their own ignorance. The ceremonies and vestments employed in the service of Religion appear singular and strange, only because they are totally different from the fashions, customs, and manners of modern European society. They are remnants of the ancient world, and to a Roman, a Greek, or an Asiatic, would present less of singularity, than our own costume. For it should be recollected that when the Gothic nations burst into the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, carrying with them their language, laws, and manners, they trampled upon every thing that distinguished civilized man from the barbarian :—however, awed by the sacred Majesty of Religion, these savage invaders passed not into the sanctuary of Christ's eternal Church,-but submitting their undisciplined necks to the Gospel, left her the exclusive and hallowed depository of the LANGUAGE, DRESS, and MANNERS of the ancient civilized world. With the view of repelling those slanderous imputations, daily cast upon the prayers and ritual forms of the Catholic church, I offer these fruits of my labours to the public; in the conviction that the surest mode of refuting and exposing falsehood, is the publication of truth. Whilst thus acting up therefore to the spirit, if not to the very letter of the ordinances of the Council of Trent. (Sess. 22, c. 8. and Sess. 24. c. 7.) I can say, should this little work, which the circumstances of religion in this country have prompted me to edite, be found to contain nothing, which can call for the severe reprehension of our immediate adversaries, it is also strictly CATHOLIC. Shaped in its present form, that it may answer the purpose of a double reflector, men who believe that the coat of Christ was without seam, (John xix. 23.) may the more easily discern how religion is situated amongst us, and distinguish by a just standard the several degrees of error: and happy indeed should I be, if it ever contribute to compose any religious differences, and cement in the bond of charity and ONE FAIth, the divideD CHRISTIANS OF THIS KINGDOM. |