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not the same as ours-the same as that which was set forth by the four first general councils-the same as that which the Council of Trent asserted that it is the Firm and only foundation against which the gates of hell shall never prevail'-but you call him to subscribe a profession of faith which no Christian Church on earth ever saw or heard of till the month of December, 1564, exactly 282 years

ago.

"Now I wish to place this one simple fact prominently before your own view, and that of all the Roman Catholics of Ireland; for I am quite certain that if they knew this one fact, it would not be very difficult to lead them to see that their brethren of the Church of England are not heretics, and that we could easily be united in the ancient holy Catholic Faith again. Then to borrow from your friend, (Mr. O'Connell,) Ireland should be

"Great, glorious, and free, First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea.

"Now, Most Rev. Sirs, I beg while you are, as I understand, assembled in Dublin, to propose to you all, as I have already proposed to the most Rev. Dr. Murray-

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propose that you should receive me into your Church on one simple condition, namely-That when you bring your ritual with you, and your form for absolving heretics to me to subscribe, you prove to me that the creed which you call on me to adopt, was ever known or heard of in the Christian Church by man, woman, or child, till the year 1564.

"I invite you, on the other hand, to bring your own edition of General Councils, by Mansi, printed at Rome, and I will undertake to show you, that if the Council of Ephesus be true, a bishop, by the very act of proposing such a creed to a man wishing to join his church, incurs the sentence of being deposed from his office; and also, that by the testimony of the Council of Trent, you propose to me to depart from 'The summary of faith in which all who professed the faith of Christ up to the year sarily agreed-you call me to leave that which the Council of Trent de

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clared to be the firm and only foundation against which the gates of hell should never prevail.

"Now, most Rev. Sirs, I enclose to you by this post, addressed to the care of Mr. Coyne, the document on this important subject which I have before enclosed to the priests. You can answer whether I write truly or falsely.

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If your creed be that of the ancient Christian Church, the ancient holy Catholic Church of Ireland, then you can on my own offer, demand of me publicly to join your Church by subscribing it.

"But if not, then I entreat you to give up the novelties which the Bishop of Rome added to the ancient creed of Ireland and of Christendom; and for Christ's sake and your own sake, let us all unite in honest Christian fellowship in subscribing the faith of the ancient holy Catholic Church of Ireland.

"I write this with the hope that all my reverend brethren in the four provinces will follow my examplethat they will call for the documents on the creeds which I enclose to you; and that they will then practically prove to our dear Roman Catholic countrymen that they may all yet, by God's mercy, be brought to unite in the ancient faith of our own old Catholic Church of Ireland, and cast away all novelties which our forefathers never knew. I have the honour to be, Most Rev. Sirs, your Faithful Servant in the Old Faith, "R. J. M'GHEE.

"London, April 30, 1846."

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R. That is not true. Priest. Do not insult me. 15 R. No, Sir, I did not come either to insult you or to be insulted; I only wish that you should prove to me, from the Gospel, what I have asked you? strmoto o

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Priest-The Gospel! Nobody can understand it, or rather it could not be understood until the Fathers had explained it. lt de dit qu 07 JOR. You say that we need the fathers and the theologians P

7359 Priest.-No doubt. o AC 2930 RWell, show me in the Gospel that we need the theologians? in to 18Priest (to the father). I told you these people will not believe anything. Do you believe that the Church has received the power to forgive sins? 9 R Yes, in the same way in which Peter and the other apostles could forgive, which is "If thou believest thou shalt be saved," and not if thou confess thyself, &c

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Priest.-Go away R→But that will not prove that we ought to confess to a priest. There is no other confession but that of St. Peter.

Priest. Leave there your St. Peter! (Turning himself towards the father.) It is 1800 years since we told them the same thing, and they will not believe any thing. Protestantism is no v religion. Every religion must have a priesthood and a sacrifice, and you have neither priesthood nor sacrifice?

R. What do you think that the priesthood of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice is nothing?

Priest. It is 1800 years since this sacrifice is over.

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R. But what does St. Paul say to the Hebrews? Does he not say, That Jesus Christ is Priest for ever; that his priesthood cannot be inherited by others; that He is sitting at the right hand of God, his father, able to save those that approach God through him, being ever alive to intercede for them; and that having offered himself once in sacrifice, he has consecrated, for ever, such as are sanctified."

Priest. You are in existence only a few days, and yet you speak of the "sacrifice of Jesus Christ”,

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able to convince his son, hardly more than a boy, of the truth of the Roman religion. He went all through the market, and told the people of the embarrassment of the priest, and of the victorious assurance of his son, whom he believed to possess the true religion.

The next day, Sabbath, the priest preached, spoke of the Bible, which he compared to a book of medicine, that people cannot understand; and as it is dangerous to compose remedies and help one's self from the directions of such a book, so it is dangerous to read the Scriptures, to make one's creed out of them, and to conform one's life to their directions. However, added he, alluding to Protestants, they are good people, but you must not hear them when they talk religion.

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DEATH OF POPE GREGORY XVI. From the " Tablet.")

AND yet how weak is the faith of man; or rather, how weak is our faith. For with all the encouragements to hope presented by the events of the last fifteen-or, say, of the last fiftyyears, we cannot strain our eyes into the darkness of the time to come without trembling for the result. The stake is so great; the human instru ments so feeble; the danger so immediate and so pressing.

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On Thursday-the great Feast of the Body of our Lord-the Conclave of Cardinals was to meet in order to choose a successor to the defunct Pontiff. Let us hope that the assembling on this day is something more than a happy omen or a fantastic anticipation. Around this Conclave swells and surges a huge ocean of temporal intrigue. Now, at this moment, the Church is (as it were) in the hands of those very men who carried off Christ bound to Pilate.

Temporal sovereignty oppresses her. The power of civil despotism holds her in chains. At this solemn crisis we feel bitterly that the Church is not free that her hands are in manacles; that she has fallen into the grasp of cruel harpies who are her enemies. Even now they hover about her; obstruct the freedom of her action;

deny her that privilege which in England every dissenting seet enjoys; and impose upon her assembled princes a despotism which it was vainly sought to inflict upon Ireland, and which Ireland would not have endured even if rebellion had been the consequence of her refusal--we mean the Veto.

What makes this Veto, perhaps, less dangerous in practice makes it, however, more dishonourable in appearance. Four states have nominally the power of insulting the Church, by interposing their sacrilegious hands upon the free exercise of its lawful prerogative-Austria, France, Spain, and Portugal. We ask, why do they not add Russia and England? Shortly, we suppose, there will be war in Europe, or threats of war, to deter mine whether this Protectorate of the Church shall receive the extension we suggest. Of these four powers, Spain is not in the enjoyment of intercourse with the Holy See, and so blessedly forfeits its wrongful right. Portugal, it is thought, is too weak to presume upon the right. Through France, ruled by Deists and Heretics of all kinds, the Devil exercises one veto upon the choice of God's Vicar. Through Austria which has enslaved the Church after her own fashion, basely plays the part of minion to the Northern Antichrist, and keeps the victims of his devilish tyranny in prison, lest their loud words should help still further to blast the cha racter of the tyrant the Devil exercises a second veto.

Let the Catholics of this empire, those of America, and of all the world, know that the Church, in the election of their Spiritual Ruler, is the vassal of Austria and France-that they, in this particular, are the vassals of Austria and France! How long shall this disgraceful anomaly continue ? Is it said to be part of the Law of Nations? We know not the exact ground upon which the abusive prac tice is based, but we think that before long the Law of Nations will have to be altered in this particular. The freedom of the Church is a higher thing than any pretended sections of a law which force has imposed upon her. It must, and, please God, will, be altered and repealed.

the cordial thanks of the Committee be tendered to those Protestant friends who have sustained the Committee, in its efforts for Christ's cause by their pecuniary contributions.

"II.-Resolved, That Our acknowledgments are also due to the million and a quarter petitioners against the Maynooth Endowment Bill, whose efforts, however ineffectual hitherto for the object immediately in view, have not been, and will not be, unproductive of blessings, civil and religious, to the Church of Christ.

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III. That we gratefully recognise the hand of Almighty God in overruling the recent inroad on our Protestant constitution, as an occasion for calling forth a most extensive, seasonable, and permanently valuable testimony in favour of scriptural truth and our common Protestant principles; and also as the means of binding together the hearts of brethren of various denominations: And that

our best wishes and prayers attend every effort made in good faith, to consolidate by the Divine help, the affectionate union already commenced.

"IV. That we feel the necessity of contemplating, deliberately and prayerfully, the prospects which lie before the Protestants of the United Kingdom: That we cannot disguise from ourselves the probability, that the endowment of Maynooth may become the stepping-stone to a more extensive establishment of the Papal system in Ireland, unless the intentions of statesmen can be counteracted by the united efforts of the Church of Christ: And that we feel it a duty to avow our conviction, that the maintenance of two Establishments, the one Protestant, and the other Popish, would be a policy of an essentially Infidel

character.

"V.That, entertaining these views, The Central Anti-Maynooth Committee do remain organized; and that the Chairman, the Treasurer, R. C. L. Bevan, Esq., Thos. Farmer, Esq., and R. B. Seeley, Esq., be requested to convene it for business, on the occurrence of any political event which may render its operation advisable.

"VI. That these Resolutions be published in the Newspapers, and

communicated to the leading Members of both Houses of Parliament."

LUTHER EXCOMMUNICATED AND CURSED BY POPE LEO X.

WHILE these things were passing, the Papacy was renewing its assaults. On the 28th of March, which was the Thursday before Easter, all Rome resounded with a solemn sentence of excommunication. It is the custom at this season to publish the terrible bull in cœnâ Domini,* which is nothing but a long string of curses. On that day the Pope, arrayed in his pontifical robes, hurled his fierce anathemas at Luther.

When Luther was apprised of this excommunication, he published the form of it, with some remarks in that caustic style which he knew so well how to assume. The following is a specimen :

The Pope.-"Leo, bishop."

Luther." Bishop! as much as a wolf is a shepherd; for a bishop's duty is to give godly exhortations, not to vomit forth imprecations and

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Luther. "Because they have sought to possess themselves of the holy Scriptures, and admonished the Pope to be modest, and preach the word of God."

The Pope." And Martin Luther, recently condemned by us for a like heresy, together with all his adherents, and all persons, whosoever they may be,

who aid or abet him."

Luther. "I thank thee, most gracious Pontiff, that thou hast proclaimed me in company with all these Christians. It is an honour for me to have had my name proclaimed at Rome at the time of the festival, in so glorious a manner, and to have it circulated throughout the world with the names of all those humble confessors of Christ."

The Pope.-"In like manner, we excommunicate and curse all pirates and corsairs.

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and Christ himself should give way to the Pope."

The Pope.-"In like manner we excommunicate and curse all those who falsify our bulls and letters apostolical.

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Luther." But God's letters, God's holy Scriptures,-any one may condemn and burn them!""

The Pope.-"In like manner we excommunicate and curse all those who intercept any provisions on their passage to our city of Rome. . . ."

Luther." He snarles and bites like a dog that is battling for his bone."

The Pope." In like manner we condemn, and we curse all those who withhold any privileges, dues, tithes, or revenues belonging to the clergy."

Luther." Forasmuch as Christ hath said, 'If any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also;' (Matt. v. 40); and ye have now heard Our commentary thereon.

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The Pope." Whatever be their station, dignity, order, authority, or rank, be they even bishops or kings."

Luther." For there shall be false teachers among you, who shall despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities,' saith the Scripture." (Jude 8.)

The Pope." In like manner we condemn and curse all who in any manner whatsoever shall molest the city of Rome, the kingdom of Sicily, the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, the patrimony of St. Peter in Tuscany, the duchy of Spoleto, the marquesite of Ancona, the Campagna, the cities of Ferrara and Benevento, or any other city or territory belonging to the Church of Rome."

Luther." O, Peter, thou poor fisherman! how hast thou become master of Rome and so many kingdoms besides? I bid the all hail! Peter! King of Sicily! . . . . and fisherman of Bethsaida."

The Pope." We excommunicate and curse all chancellors, counsellors, parliaments, procurators, governors, officials, bishops, and others who shall resist any of our letters admonitory, permissive, prohibitory, mediatory, or executive."

Luther." For the Holy See seeks only to live in idleness, pomp and

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