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repentance. (a) It is to the apostles, as heads of the church, and her representatives, this power is given. The church, at the death of the apostles, who are her fathers, has had and will always have children, heirs of their power, and whom God himself raised up in their room, to be the princes of the earth, of that true promised land which he has given to his people, in which he has established his worship, and in which he distributes his favours. "It was the whole body of the church," says St. Austin, (b) "that Peter represented, when Jesus "Christ promised him, that whatever he should loose on earth, should "be loosed in heaven." Which made this Doctor also say: "That it is the peace and unity of the church which remits sin; that whosoever is not in the unity of his body, can have no part in this re"mission. That it is the rock that binds, and the rock that looses; "that it is the dove that retains sins, and the dove that remits them; "that it is the unity of the church which remits them and which re"tains them." Thus St. Austin.

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It is by her ministers she exercises this power. They alone have the power to bind or to loose sinners, and to do towards those who are dead, as to the soul, what the apostles did in regard to Lazarus whom Jesus Christ raised to life. To them alone, as spiritual physicians, it belongs to discern between leper and leper. To them alone it belongs to pronounce on earth sentences which are ratified in heaven.

It is in administering the sacraments they exercise this power. For it is to these sacred signs that Jesus Christ has been pleased to attach his grace. It is in baptism they efface original sin, since it is in this sacrament that we are washed, cleansed, justified, regenerated in Jesus Christ, and from children of wrath by our birth, (c) we become children of God by his grace. (d) It is by the sacrament of penance, that the sins committed after baptism are remitted to true penitents. It is in this sacrament that we find a second plank in our ship-wreck. It is this second penance, as Tertullian styles it, which God has established in his church to open it to those who knock at the door, and in order that after the first door of innocence, namely, baptism, is shut, as it can be received but once, the condition of sinners might not be without resource.

(a) Rom. 11, 29. (6) S. Aug. lib. 3 de Bapt. cont. Donat. c. 17. (c) Eph. 2 v. 3. (d) Rom. 8. 16.

Such has been the faith of the catholic church in every age. If the power which she possesses of remitting sin be founded upon the most divine titles, she has preserved the most authentic possession of it. All the fathers of the church bear testimony to it. All the councils, in regulating the discipline of penance, have furnished additional proofs of the power of the church to remit sin. What the apostle did in regard to the incestuous Corinthian; (a) what the apostle St. John did in regard to the captain of the robbers, whom he brought over to repentance, and afterwards reconciled to the church, the same have the pastors of the church done and will continue to do in all succeeding ages. The church, in condemning the Montanists and Novatians, who wished to contest or limit her power, did but arm herself against them to preserve this precious deposit; and when in these latter days the protestants arose to dispute this power, they had already received their judgment and condemnation from the tradition of all ages. By their separation they have deprived themselves of the consolation and resource enjoyed by the children of the church. Their opposition and sophistry will never take from the church what she has divinely received, and what she has always preserved. They themselves are the only sufferers by their secession.

(a) 2 Cor. 2. 10.

NOTES REFERRED TO IN THE TRIAL.

THE POPE'S SUPREMACY.

CATHOLICS believe that the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, to whom Christ gave the keys of the heavenly kingdom, Math. 10. 2. &c. &c. and whom he entrusted with the special care of his flock, John 21. 17. Math. 16. 18. 19. is the visible head upon earth, of the whole Catholic church. It is no article of Catholic faith that the Pope is in himself infallible, separated from the church, even in expounding the faith. Nor do Catholics, as Catholics, believe that the Pope has any direct or indirect authority over the temporal power and jurisdiction of foreign princes, or States. Hence if the Pope should pretend to absolve or dispense with the subjects or citizens of any country from their allegiance, on account of heresy or schism, such dispensation would be null and void; and Catholic subjects or citizens, notwithstanding such dispensation or absolution, would be still bound in conscience to defend their prince and country, at the hazard of their lives and fortunes, (as far as Protestants would be bound) even against the Pope himself, should it be possible for him to attempt an invasion.

The subjoined queries which were sent, at the request of Mr. Pitt, to six of the Catholic universities, with the answers to the same, will clearly evince this point, and at once do away every unfavourable impression on this head.

Extracts from the Declarations and Testimonies of six of the principal Universities in Europe, on the three following Propositions, submitted to them at the request of Mr. Pitt, by the Catholics of London, in 1789.

THE PROPOSITIONS.

Has the pope, or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the church of Rome, any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or preeminence whatsoever, within the realm of England?

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2. Can the pope or cardinals, or any body of men, or any indivi dual of the Church of Rome, absolve or dispense with his majesty's subjects from their oath of allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever ?

3. Is there any principle in the tenets of the Catholic faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with Heretics, or other persons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transaction, either of a public or a private nature ?

Abstract from this answer of the Sacred Faculty of Divinity of Paris to the above queries.

After an introduction according to the usual forms of the university, they answer the first query by declaring:

Neither the pope, nor the cardinals, nor any body of men, nor any other person of the church of Rome, hath any civil authority, civil power, civil jurisdiction, or civil pre-eminence whatsoever in any kingdom; and, consequently, none in the kingdom of England, by reason or virtue of any authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence by divine institution inherent in, or granted, or by any other means belonging to the pope, or the church of Rome. This doctrine the sacred faculty of divinity of Paris has always held, and upon every occasion maintained, and upon every occasion has rigidly proscribed the contrary doctrines from her schools.

Answer to the second query.-Neither the pope, nor the cardinals, nor any body of men, nor any person of the church of Rome, can, by virtue of the keys, absolve or release the subjects of the king of England from their oath of allegiance.

This and the first query are so intimately connected, that the answer of the first immediately and naturally applies to the second, &c.

Answer to the third query.-There is no tenet in the Catholic church, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with Heretics, or those who differ from them in matters of religion. The tenet, that it is lawful to break faith with Heretics, is so repugnant to common honesty and the opinions of Catholics, that there is nothing of which those who have defended the Catholic faith against Protestants, have complained more heavily, than the malice and calumny of their adversaries in imputing this tenet to them, &c. &c. &c.

Given at Paris in the general assembly of the Sorbonne, held on Thursday the 11th day before the calends of March, 1789.

UNIVERSITY OF DOUAY.

Signed in due form.

January 5, 1789.

At a mecting of the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Douay, &c. &c.

To the first and second queries the sacred faculty answers-That no power whatsoever, in civil or temporal concerns, was given by the

Almighty, either to the pope, the cardinals, or the church herself, and, consequently, that kings and sovereigns are not in temporal concerns, subject, by the ordination of God, to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever; neither can their subjects, by any authority granted, to the pope or the church, from above, be freed from their obedience, or absolved from their oath of allegiance.

This is the doctrine which the doctors and professors of divinity hold and teach in our schools, and this all the candidates for degrees in divinity maintain in their public theses, &c. &c. &c.

To the third question the sacred faculty answers-That there is no principle of the Catholic faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with Heretics, who differ from them in religious opinion. On the contrary, it is the unanimous doctrine of Catholics, that the respect due to the name of God so called to witness, requires that the oath be inviolably kept, to whomsoever it is pledged, whether Catholic, Heretic, or Infidel, &c. &c. &c.

Signed and sealed in due form.

UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN.

The faculty of divinity at Louvain, having been requested to give her opinion upon the questions above stated, does it with readinessbut struck with astonishment that such questions should, at the end of this eighteenth century, be proposed to any learned body, by inhabitants of a kingdom that glories in the talents and discernment of its natives. The faculty being assembled for the above purpose, it is agreed with the unanimous assent of all voices to answer the first and second queries absolutely in the negative.

The faculty does not think it incumbent upon her in this place to enter upon the proofs of her opinion, or to shew how it is supported by passages in the Holy Scriptures, or the writings of antiquity. That has already been done by Bossuet, De Marca, the two Barclays, Goldastus, the Pithæuses, Argentre Widrington, and his majesty king James the First, in his dissertation against Bellarmine and Du Perron, and by many others, &c. &c. &c.

The faculty then proceeds to declare that the sovereign power of the state is in no wise (not even indirectly as it is termed) subject to, or dependant upon any other power, though it be a spiritual power, or even though it be instituted for eternal salvation, &c. &c.

That no man nor any assembly of men however eminent in dignity and power, not even the whole body of the Catholic church, though assembled in general council, can, upon any ground or pretence whatsoever, weaken the bond of union between the sovereign and the people; still less can they absolve or free the subjects from their oath of allegiance.

Proceeding to the third question, the said faculty of divinity (in

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