us, on either side, to error. Let well-sifted genuine evidence be
brought by an upright and an enlightened mind to bear on the point at
issue, and let the issue joined be this, Is the practice of praying to
the Virgin, and praising her, in the language of the prayers and praises
now used in the prescribed formularies of the Roman Church, primitive.
Catholic, Apostolical?

I am aware that among those who adhere to the Tridentine Confession of
faith, there are many on whom this investigation will not be allowed to
exercise any influence.

The sentiments of Huet, wherever they are adopted, would operate to the
total rejection of such inquiries as we are instituting in this work.
His words on the immaculate conception of the Virgin are of far wider
application than the immediate occasion on which he used them, "That the
blessed Mary never conceived any sin in herself is in the present day an
established principle of the Church, and confirmed by the Council of
Trent. In which it is our duty to acquiesce, rather than in the dicta of
the ancients, if any seem to think otherwise, among whom must be
numbered Origen." [Origen's Works, vol. iv. part 2, p. 156.]

In this address, however, we take for granted that the reader is open to
conviction, desirous of arriving at the truth, and, with that view,
ready to examine and sift the evidence of primitive antiquity.

In that investigation our attention is very soon called to the
remarkable fact, that, whereas in the case of the invocation of saints
and angels, the defenders of that doctrine and practice bring forward a
great variety of passages, in which mention is supposed to be made of
{289} those beings as objects of honour and reverential and grateful