is not at rest. If it is at rest, it is preposterous to pray for its repose. It is asking that that may be done which has been done already. When a thing is done, to pray for it is superfluous. Then is the time to give thanks. If, on the other hand, the soul is not at rest, then common sense, which is no fool, asks why they put off the mass so long-why they did not begin to pray for the repose of the soul sooner. It was not kind in them. And common sense, which is also a great querist, inquires how they know the soul did not go immediately to rest; or if it did not, how they know it is not at rest weeks and months after. Common sense, not finding any thing about it in the Bible, wants to know how the Catholics get the information. And so, through fear of the investigation of common sense, they change the phraseology of the notice. It is wise. Well may the authorities of the Roman Catholic church stand in dread of common sense. I do not know any more formidable foe of error and imposition. I confidently look forward to the overthrow of the Catholic religion; and I expect a great deal of the work of its destruction will be done by common sense. I have not the dread, which some have, that this religion is going to overrun our country, and rise to dominion here. There is too much common sense abroad in the length and breadth of the land to allow of such a result. The people of the United States will think, and they have a notion that they have a right to think for themselves, without sending to Rome to know if they may. And they will ask questions on subjects, not omitting religion, and they will insist on having a satisfactory answer. The inhabitants of the old world may, if they please, believe on

or a

the ipse dixit of the Pope, but we of the new, before we yield our assent, require a " Thus saith the Lord," "quod erat demonstrandum," or something of that nature. You can never get a majority here to believe in contradiction of the five senses. They will stick to it that a thing is what they see and feel and taste it to be-in other words, that bread is bread.

A certain Duke of Brunswick, having many years ago abjured Lutheranism, and become a Catholic, thought it necessary to apologize to the world for his change of religion. It needed an apology. So he wrote down fifty reasons to justify the course he had pursued, and had them printed in a little book, which is entitled "Fifty Reasons why the Roman Catholic religion ought to be preferred to all others." This book the Catholics have free permission to read. O yes-they may read any book but the Bible. There is no objection to their reading books which contain the thoughts of men; but the book which contains the thoughts of God is interdicted! Men know how to express themselves. Men can write intelligibly. But....!!

Fifty reasons! The Duke must have been conscious, I suppose, that his reasons were weak, otherwise he would have been satisfied with a less number than fifty. Why does a man want fifty reasons for a thing

when one good reason is sufficient? I have but one general reason for not being a Catholic, and I consider that enough. It is that the Catholic religion is not the religion of the Bible. It is not the religion which Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Jude, and : Peter wrote about, as any one may see who will. compare the Holy Scriptures with the Council of: Trent. But you see, the Duke, feeling that he had not one good reason for turning Catholic, gives us fifty poor ones; thinking to make up for the weakness of his reasons by the number of them; and calculating that fifty poor reasons would certainly be equivalent : to one good one.

Fifty reasons! I shall not now inquire what the forty-nine were. But what do you think the sapient Duke's fiftieth reason was-his closing, crowning reason that with which he capped the climax-the reason which, having brought out, he rested from very, exhaustion, consequent on the amazing effort of mind by, which it was excogitated?

The fiftieth reason! I will give it to you in his own words, which I quote from an edition of his reasons, : published by one of the very best Catholics in the. land, so that there can be no mistake about it. After going on about something else, he says, “Besides that, the Catholics, to whom I spoke concerning my salvation, assured me that, if I were to be damned for embracing the Catholic faith, they were ready to answer for me at the Day of Judgment, and to take my damnation upon themselves; an assurance I could never extort from the ministers of any sect, in case I should live and die in their religion. From whence I infer- . red, the Roman Catholic faith was built on a better

foundation than any of those sects that have divided from it." Prodigious!-and there he stops. I think it was time.

I do not know whether to make any comment on this reason or not. Sometimes comment is unnecessary, and even injurious. I wonder the Catholics are not ashamed of this reason. Indeed, I suspect the intelligent ones among them do blush for it, and wish the Duke had stopped at forty-nine.

But let us look at it a minute. It seems the Duke was won over by the generosity of the Catholics. They agreed that if he were to be damned for embracing their faith, (they admit the possibility that he might be ; whereas, the Protestant ministers whom he consulted were too well assured of the truth of their religion to allow of the supposition,) they would take his place, and be damned for him. Now I wonder the Duke had not reflected-(but there are stupid Dukes-this was a nobleman, but not one of nature's noblemen)—that those very Catholics, who made him this generous offer, if their faith was false, would have to be damned for themselves! That which should leave him without a title to heaven, would equally leave them without one. I wonder the Duke so readily believed that the substitution would be accepted. What if they were willing to suffer perdition in his place! The Judge might object to the arrangement. What ignorance and stupidity it manifests, to suppose that one may suffer in hell for another, just as one serves in the army for another! What an idea such persons must have of the nature of future punishment, to suppose that it is transferable! I should like to know how one man is to suffer remorse for another. And