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 accordance with the practise of the Fathers to implore such
intercession."