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feats of his heroes , and surround his monks and hermits with all the glories of saints and angels : he hears of their mighty works , their sufferings , their martyrdom ; and the tale ,
decorated with the charms of verse , is dearer to him than the best of holy writ . The peculiar favourites of the spotless Virgin , their words fall on his ear like the voice of an oracle , their deeds have the solemn sanction of
marvellous miracles . To them he owes that his country is the special charge of the queen of angels , the mother of God ; and in every convent he sees the records of the wondrous interpositions of heaven , which has so often availed itself of the agency
of the sainted inmates , while every altar is adorned with the grateful offerings of devout worshipers , miraculously restored to health or preserved from danger . He feels himself the most privileged among the faithful - On him " our Lady of
Protection * ' ( del Ainparo ) smiles ; to him the Virgin of Carmen * bows her gracious head . In his eye ten thousand rays of glory encircle the brow of his patron-saint , the fancied tones of whose voice support , assure and encourage
him : he believes that his scapulary-j-( blessed by a Carmelite friar ) secures him from every evil : his house is adorned with the pope ' s bull of indulgences—a vessel of holy water is suspended over his bed , and what more
Kemonte el vuelo mi pluma Hasta la region mas alta Delviento don < lc lucida Brille , dando a , aquesta plana Y piincipio al suceso Mas admirable de que narra 15 n sws anales el tiempo Y las historian pasadas . Jayme de Aragon
* The Carmelites will have itthatElias ( whom Thomas Waldenses calls the first virgin among : men , as Mary is among * women ) , dedicated a temple to " the mother of God" on Mount Cartnel , nine hundred years before her birth . Those who wish to be acquainted with the wonderful
miracles wrought by the " Virgen del Carmen , * ' may consult au immense list published by Friar Juan Serrer , most of which are certified by notaries , priests , magistrates and friars . f El bendito Escapuiario Que al iuheriio ' lo ainedrenta . Romance .
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can he want , w 3 iat danger can approach him ? His mind is one mass of undistinguishing , confiding , com * forting faith . That faith is his religion , his Christianity ! How difficult will it be to separate the evil from the good , if , indeed , they can be se * parated ! What a fortress must be
overthrown before truth and reaso n can advance a single step 1 What delightful visions must be forgotten , what " animating recollections , what transporting hopes ! Have we a right to rouse him from these blessed delusions ? This is indeed the ignorance that is bliss . Is it not folly to wish him wise ?
But , alas ! this is only one side of the picture ! for , however soothing , however charming the contemplation of contented ignorance may be to the imagination , in the eye of reason the moral influence of such a system is baneful in the extreme . All error is
evil ; and the error which substitutes the external forms of worship for its internal influence on the heart , is a colossal evil . Here we have a religion , if such it may be called , that is purely ceremonial . Its duties are not discharged in the daily walk of life ,
not by the cultivation of pure and pious and benevolent affections , but by attending masses , by reciting Paternosters and Ave Marias , by pecuniary offerings for souls in purgatory , and by a thousand childish
observances , which affect remotely , if they affect at ali , the conduct and the character . The Spaniard attends his parish church to hear a service in an unknown ton gue ^ he bends his knees and beats his bosom at certain sounds
familiar to his ear , but not to his sense ; he confesses and communicates with undeviating regularity ; f and sometimes , perhaps , he listens to a sermon in the eloquent style and beautiful language of his country , not , indeed , instructing him in the moral claims of his religion , but celebrating
# It may , however , be noticed , that great numbers are drawn away from tlie religious services of the regular clergy , by the greater parade with whicli the friars
attract their devotees to the convent chapel . + Spain is a striking example of the influence of the habit of confession oh public morals . It has tlicre , no doubt , given the full reins to licentiousness * .
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59 % State of Reliyion in Spain .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1819, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1777/page/4/
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