26 SEPTEMBER 1874, Page 2

The Berlin Correspondent of the Times, who must be, as

Arch- bishop Manning declares, "a wag," published in Monday's issue a confession of faith which, according to him, Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, was persuaded to sign on July 2, 1697, when he became a convert to the Catholic faith as a preliminary to his candidature for the Crown of Poland. Amongst the professions of faith attlibreted,to this converted prince are the following:—" I profess that any new decrees made and ordained by the Pope, whether based on Holy Writ, or not, are of divine origin, and as such -must be more highly respected by the Laity than the commands of the living God." Again, "I profess that the Roman Pope has power to change Holy Writ, to add to it, or to take away from it." "I profess that each individual priest is greater than Mary the Mother of God, considering that she gave birth to the Lord Christ only once, whereas a Roman priest, each time that he offers the sacrifice

of Holy Mass, produces the Lord Christ, and each time he produces him, he eats him." "I profess that the holy Virgin Mary ought to be more highly regarded, both by angels and men, than Christ, the Son of God." Here, then, the priest is put above the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin Mary above Christ, which puts the priest above his High priest. Of course the confession, by whomever or whenever drawn up, was drawn up to make Romanism the more monstrous by gross caricature, not for the acceptance of any Roman. Catholic. The morbid eagerness of Protestants for travesties on a faith which, without any travesties, must be cer- tainly sufficiently difficult to believe, is hardly a healthy symptom of Protestant confidence.