witnessed in the Roman Catholic Church.

Of the Virgin Mary, think not, brethren of the Church of Rome, that a
true member of the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church will speak
disparagingly or irreverently. Were such an one found among us, we
should say of him, he knows not what spirit he is of. Our church, in her
Liturgy, her homilies, her articles, in the works too of the best and
most approved among her divines and teachers, ever speaks of Saint Mary,
the blessed Virgin, in the language of reverence, affection, and
gratitude.

She was a holy virgin and a holy mother. She was highly favoured,
blessed among women. The Lord was with her, and she was the mother of
our only Saviour. She was herself blessed, and blessed was the fruit of
her womb. We delight in the language of our ancestors, in which they
were used to call her "Mary, the Blissful Maid." Should any one of those
who profess and call themselves Christians and Catholics, entertain a
wish to interrupt the testimony of every succeeding age, and to
interpose a check to the fulfilment of her own recorded prophecy, "All
generations shall call me blessed," certainly the Anglican Catholic
Church will never acknowledge that wish to be the genuine desire of one
of her own sons. The Lord hath blessed her; yea, and she shall be
blessed.

But when we are required either to address our supplications to her, or
else to sever ourselves from the communion of a large portion of our
fellow-Christians, we have no room for hesitation; the case offers us no
alternative. Our love of unity must yield to our love {271} of truth; we
cannot join in that worship which in our conscience we believe to be a
sin against God. Whether we are right or wrong in this matter, God will