no intention of praying to them." "Who cares for
your intention," retorted the parson. "Don't you pray at night?" observed
Tom. "Yes," said the parson; "I pray at my bed." "Yes; you pray to the
bed-post." "Oh, no!" said the reverend gentleman; "I have no intention of
doing that." "Who cares," replied Tom, "for your intention."

The moral rectitude or depravity of our actions cannot be determined
without taking into account the intention.

There are many persons who have been taught in the nursery tales, that
Catholics worship idols. These persons, if they visit Europe and see an
old man praying before an image of our Lord or a Madonna which is placed
along the wayside, are at once confirmed in their prejudices. Their zeal
against idols takes fire and they write home, adding one more proof of
idolatry against the benighted Romanists. If these superficial travelers
had only the patience to question the old man he would tell them, with
simplicity of faith, that the statue had no life to hear or help him, but
that its contemplation inspired him with greater reverence for the
original.

As I am writing for the information of Protestants, I quote with pleasure
the following passage, written by one of their own theologians, in the
_Encyclopedie_ (Edit. d'Yverdun, tom. 1, art. _Adorer_):

"When Lot prostrates himself before the two angels it is an act of
courtesy towards honored guests; when Jacob bows down before Esau it is an
act of deference from a younger to an elder brother; when Solomon bows low
before Bethsabee it is the honor which a son pays to his mother; when
Nathan, coming in before David, 'had worshiped, bowing down to the
ground,' it is the homage of a subject to his prince. But when a man
prostrates himself in prayer to God it is the creature adoring the
Creator. And if these various actions are expressed--sometimes by the word
_adore_, sometimes by _worship_ or _prostration_--it is not the bare
meaning of the word which has guided interpreters in rendering it, but the
nature of the case. When an Israelite prostrated himself before the king
no one thought of charging him with idolatry. If he had done the same
thing in the presence of an idol, the very same bodily act would have been
called idolatry. And why? Because all men would have judged by his action
that he regarded the idol as a real Divinity and that he would express, in
respect to it, the sentiments manifested by adoration in the limited sense
which w