REMARKS OTST THE FOREGOING. 



umifs, if, not only the lord biftiop Scipione Ricci, but 

 all the twelve apoftles and feventy difciples, mould 

 come in perfon to the Neapolitan people, and let fall 

 but one word of the idolatry of this practice : why is 

 fuch a rout to be made juft becaufe of thefe lingle 

 fprouts on "the much thicker branches and boughs of a 

 tree fo luxuriant as catholic-chriftianity ? Why mould 

 the heart of Jefus have lefs claim to genuflexions and 

 devout adorations, than a thorn from his crown, a 

 fplinter of his crofs, or a" clout from his cradle ? Or, 

 to fpeak in point, why, in a church that in all ages has 

 been fwarming with villous, miracles, and the delufive 

 objects of a myftico-fenlitive devotion, fhould it be 

 imputed to the jefuits as fo heinous a crime, for having 

 their Marie a la Coque, and their devotion to the heart 

 of Jefus ? Why mould not Chrift have as much right 

 to marry himfelf with Marie a la Coque, as with faint 

 Catharine of Siena or faint Mary of Genoa? Why 

 Ihould not the jefuits, as well as fo many other orders 

 in limilar cafes, inflitute a devotion in major em Dei 

 glorlam on the villous of an amiable nun (and therefore 

 grounded on a kind of matter of fact, which, at leall, 

 in the catholic church are not always proved by the 

 principles of Hume and Diderot), and propagate Jt 

 with all their might for the greater edification of the 

 faithful ? The jefuits have the advantage of many of 

 their antagonifts, in being confident. It is, if not 

 their aim, yet certainly one of the principal means to 

 their final object, to promote fenlitive devotion as 

 much as poffible ; as it is the molt lively and efficient. 

 But is not the whole worfhip of the church of which 

 they have fo long been the main fupports, framed and 



directed 



