"O queen of the universe, mistress of angels and men, in quality of daughter, mother, spouse of the Most High, you have a certain authority over all creatures; they are submissive to you, and owe you the homage of subjects to their sovereign. I myself belong to you by many titles; but not satisfied with being yours by reason of this general dominion which has been granted to you, I wish specially to give myself to you, and by a free act of my will. Behold me, then, at the foot of your throne, acknowledging you for my queen, and desiring that the general sovereignty which you have over all, you may possess doubly over me. From this moment I desire to depend particularly on you: dispose in future of me; reign absolutely over me; reign over my mind, reign over my heart, reign over my thoughts, my affections, my whole conduct all will be sweet and consoling to me on passing through your beneficent hands. I ask but one favour of you, which I esteem more than the whole world; it is that, after the vicissitudes of time, I may arrive, by your powerful intercession, at eternal happiness, to praise and glorify you for ever and ever."

Having repeated this act of devotion, my owner appeared highly satisfied with himself; and rising from his knees, retired from the room, humming a sprightly tune, without once deigning to cast a glance towards me.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE ROMANIST MERCHANT.

I HAD not long been in the possession of the prosperous merchant before he opened a cautious and limited intercourse with me. My speech was evidently pleasant to him, for it reminded him of the tones of his infancy. I soon perceived, however, that my communications were not always to his taste; for sometimes he either closed me with haste and expressions of dislike, or abruptly compelled me to change the subject of our silent conversation. And as the topics which more particularly displeased him were among the most solemn to which the mind of man can be directed, these words of mine were at such times forcibly exemplified: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be:" and again, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I observed also, that, on our first acquaintance, my owner was especially impatient at the utterance, on my part, of any sentiments which condemned the practices enjoined by the corrupt faith he had adopted as his own; as, for instance, when I emphatically

* Rom. viii. 7; 1 Cor. ii. 14.

and with authority denounced the bowing down to and worshipping of images; and when I declared that there was but "one mediator between God and

of

men, the man Christ Jesus."* Neither did he, by any means, approve my silence on some points on which he seemed to expect me to give full and satisfactory information-that is to say, information in complete accordance with the teachings of his professed creed. The reader will not have forgotten a fine painting before which my owner had bent reverently and adoringly, nor the prayer which he uttered to the object of his adoration, who was none other than the mother of Him who was made flesh, and dwelt among men, according to the promise made, ages and generations before, that "the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head;" according also to His own most gracious will and purpose, who "took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham," and thus became "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."†

My owner then seemed to expect from me a justification of the homage he had been directed to pay to the mother of this holy Being, who is also "God over all, blessed for evermore;" and to obtain from me a confirmation of certain fabulous accounts which had reached him respecting her history, such as that of her being born without sin, * 1 Tím. ii. 5. + Heb. ii. 17.

and of her assumption into heaven after death, to direct and assist and control her Divine son in his great work of intercession for sinners. Very much to my owner's surprise, I maintained a profound silence on these subjects, and refused to countenance, in the smallest degree, the conclusions at which he had arrived. In fact, I had little to tell him; and after a long examination of me, continued at intervals, the most my owner could find was that, beyond all doubt, the virgin Mary was an eminently excellent and "highly favoured" woman; and that a distinguished honour was put upon her by God, inasmuch as she was the mother of the great Messiah : but that so far from considering herself sinless, and worthy of Divine honours, she well knew herself to be a sinful mortal, needing a Saviour, and who could no otherwise rejoice in God than as she was interested in "the common salvation" according to her own words recorded in me, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."*

Respecting the history of her life, I had little information to give; and when I mentioned her it was simply as one who had no title and laid no claim to the exercise of authority; of her death and burial I made no mention, nor of any peculiar honours required on her behalf when her chequered and sorrowful life was ended.

It was easy to perceive that Mr. Greene, my

* Luke i. 47.

owner, was greatly puzzled and dissatisfied with my reserve on this subject, and by what he would have called the slight I put upon the created being whom he had been accustomed to call "the mother of God," "the queen of heaven," and other such titles. He looked at me, indeed, very angrily when he found I had no further disclosures to make respecting this object of his worship, and shut me up with strong marks of contempt. I am not sure whether he did not question my right to the title I bore, and deem me an impostor altogether; for the truth is, that though he had his birth in a country where every word I uttered could be tested and verified by a thousand witnesses, he had, in the days of his youth, formed no acquaintance with any of my kind

-or a very slight one, at most; and the larger portion of his life had been spent in a land whence we had been rigorously banished, and into which we could obtain admittance only by stealth. This will account for my owner's ignorance and suspicion.

In the midst of his discomposure, the merchant reached down from its shelf one of my companions, whose peculiar vocation it was to sound the praises of "the holy Virgin," and to exalt her even to a level with the Son of God and the Saviour of men. Had I been endowed with human sensitiveness, it would have made my leaves tremble, and the immortal spirit within me to burn, to witness the dishonour done to Him who alone is "worthy to receive blessing, and honour, and glory, and power;"