e to him who gave
it. The door of the church was opened, and Father Mazzolin pointed
out the way by which I might be saved. The paths seem flowery, and
he tells me the ways are those of pleasantness and peace, and I have
resolved to try them. Once, and once only, I met him at confession,
hoping, by unveiling my sufferings to a man of God, to receive comfort
of a higher order than I might otherwise expect. He has granted
me absolution for the past, and I doubt not that in future the
intercession of the blessed saints in heaven will avail with my
offended Maker."

"Florry, my own dear Florry! hear me, for none on earth love you as I
do. Do you not believe the Bible--God's written word? Has he not said,
'there is _one mediator_ between God and man--the man Christ Jesus?'
Has not Christ made propitiation for our sin, and assured us there is
but one way whereby we may be saved, repentance for our past sins and
faith in the sufficiency of his atonement? Do you doubt the efficacy
of Christ's suffering and death? Tell me, Florry, by what authority
you invoke your saints? Surely you do so in opposition to the express
declaration of the Bible already quoted--'there is _one mediator_
between God and man.'"

"The holy Fathers of our church have been in the habit of praying for
the intercession of saints from the earliest periods, and none have
questioned their fervent piety, or doubted the orthodoxy of their
faith," replied Florence.

"In the first place," said Mary, "it would be ridiculous in the
extreme to advocate all the opinions and tenets advanced by those
same Fathers. St. Augustine doubted the existence of the antipodes;
Tertullian emphatically pronounced second marriages adultery; Origen
denied the sin of David in causing the death of Uriah, and has often
been accused of favoring Arianism, and the doctrine of transmigration
of soul; while it is a well-known fact, that Jerome, to vindicate
Peter from the charge of dissimulation, actually accused St. Paul of
lying, and thereby favoring deceit. In the second place, are you quite
sure that they were in the habit of invoking saints?"

"Certainly, Mary; for it is undeniable that St. Augustine in his
Meditations calls on the Blessed Virgin, and all the angels and
apostles in heaven, to intercede with God in his behalf. Father
Mazzolin pointed out the passage no later than last week, to remove
the doubts which I confess I entertained, as to whether it was proper
and in accor