of the ecclesiastic in the Church of Christ. So St. Jerom against Jovinian stiles marriage an "evil;" but he afterwards explains himself (Jer. Apol. pro L. ad Jov. p. 239) as conveying the idea that "it was less perfect than the more sublime state of virginity." Again, then, we see our good Rector beating the air, "unwilling, as he is, to waste his strength"!

I am loath to write another syllable on the unblushing and abominable insinuation against us relative to the violation of oaths, extirpation of heretics, &c. with which Mr. F. in common with a motley tribe of adversaries (O imitatores, servum pecus!) has stamped with infamy the pages which he has given to the public. How often and how ably have not the base and hackneyed charges of our holding "that oaths may be disregarded and that heretics should be extirpated," been rebutted by a Milner (of immortal memory); by a Doyle (Claims, Sect. xi.); by a Baines (Defence of Christian Religion, p. 204, &c.) by a Slater (Letters on Catholic Tenets); and by an O'Leary (Tracts, p. 232, &c.) How often bave not Catholics defied the most acute logician and most profound lawyer to discover in the canons of the Councils of Lateran and Constance any such anti-social and horrible doctrines, which we have again and again solemnly disclaimed upon oath? And how often have we reminded our opponents that, even could such obnoxious doctrines be fairly deducible from the canons in question, the canons bear not the form of Conciliar dogmatical decrees, and therefore the Church did not speak in them. I must briefly repeat the often-told tale of John Huss and the Council of Constance, to which Mr. F. refers. Huss was a Catholic Priest, but at length began to disseminate doctrines which were desructive of Church and State, calculated to wrest the sceptre from the hand of the Monarch, and the mitre from the head of the Bishop; doctrines, says Blackstone (vol. iv. c. 8) "which shook every pillar of law, justice, and private property." taught, for instance, "that no one in mortal sin can possess jurisdiction; and he taught (what may amuse Friend Faber if he attentively considers it) "that tithes are mere alms, and that parishioners when they please may take them away from the Clergy on account of their sins!" Well, disturbances, commotions, and disorders, of a terrifying aspect, were soon occasioned, and Church and State were alarmed. Huss was summoned by his VOL. V.

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lawful ecclesiastisal superiors, assembled at Constance; and, be it noted, they were his competent judges in spirituals, possessing an essential, proper, independent jurisdiction, to examine his doctrines, to require him to retract them, if heretical, and to proceed against him, if disobedient, by excommunication, &c. to which the Council declared their power was confined. The Emperor Sigismund gave Huss a safe-conduct or passport, that he might not be molested in the provinces through which he passed on his way to the Council; and if not convicted of heresy, that he might return in safety. The object of the safeconduct was not that Huss might elude the examination of his competent spiritual judges, for Sigismund had already said, "that if Huss were convicted, he himself would light the first fagot at his pile." Fire and fagot were doled out (such was the temper of the times) to heresy by the Civil Power; and with those punishments neither the Church nor Council of Constance were concerned. Huss, abusing his safe-conduct, refused to appear before the Council; and was then put under arrest till brought before his competent judges. Upon this, some of his partisans becoming clamourous, and urging that the Emperor had pledged his word for his safety, the Council (in the canon often referred to) declared, "that no safe-conduct of the Emperor, however worded, or with whatever promise or oath it might be confirmed, could deprive the Council of their essential and independent right of judging a man who was their subject in spirituals!" And what is there in that language which preaches the violation of lawful oaths? What is there in it which Mr. Faber himself would not subscribe? I will put to him a parallel case, which shall come home to him. Here then am I, Philalethes, just come from Rome, with a passport from Leo XII. and I preach through England, and especially in Long-Newton, that the clergy have no right to their tithes; that they may be deprived of them for their sins, &c. would it be long 'ere the bench of Bishops would come to the same conclusion respecting the Pope's safe-conduct, as the Council of Constance did of that of Sigismund? Should I not soon be told that his Holiness had no right to grant me a passport to license me to infringe the independent laws of England, and that if he had guaranteed my safety by oath, his oath would not, in that case, be binding? This mode of reasoning

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Dr. Baines suggests. Away, then, Mr. Faber, with your base insinuations against your fellow-countrymen !

The language of the 3rd Council of Lateran (Labb. Conc. Sac. v. x. p. 1517) and to which Mr. F. refers, (p. 23.) is similar to that of the Council of Constance, above quoted, and was elicited also in the case of an individual who is supposed to have bound himself by oath, to obstruct the independent rights and jurisdiction of ecclesiastical superiors. It will be quite time enough to reply to the charge, that we hold that "heretics should be exterminated," when Mr. Faber will shew (what never has been shewn) that the Church ever taught the horrid doctrine. So much for the "naked facts," by which our Rector would fain prove (p. 29) that it is utterly impossible that the Church of Rome can be infallible: and "against naked facts (he continues, p. 29) no abstract reasoning, however plausible or ingenius, can be allowed to stand good." Lack-a-day, my good Rector!-The candid reader, from the view we have taken of your "naked facts," will conclude, even now, perchance, that, if you have any modesty, you will cover their nakedness, or withdraw them altogether from the public eye! I will extract here another proposition, in which Mr. Faber closely resembles Shakspeare's "Sir Oracle !" "Here I might (p. 29.) fairly close the discussion; yet, as I would not appear deficient in respect to the exemplary Prelate of Aire, I shall notice, though I deem it a work of supererogation, the argument which he has advanced"!! And, in my next, I will examine a little, your arguments, friend Faber, in that "work of supererogation!" Farewell for the present. Your's, Mr. Editor, PHILALETHES.

BRITISH CATHOLIC MEETING.

The following is a copy of the Resolution of Thanks passed to Lord Somers, and of the Petition agreed to, at the Catholic meeting on the 8th, which we were obliged to omit for want of room..

That this Meeting present to the Right Hou. the Earl Somers, their warmest acknowledgments for the liberal sentiments expressed by him in a letter, dated 23rd October last, addressed to the Honorary Secretary of the " Herefordshire Pitt Club," wherein he intimates his resolution, in consequence of the determination of that body to oppose Catholic Emancipation, to have his name erased from their documents and records. A dignified rebuke of the strange inconsis tency of men, who, professing unbounded admiration of the political conduct of a great Statesman, yet condemn one of the leading measures of his policy,

calculated, above all others, in the language of the noble Earl," to cement the happy union of Great Britain and Ireland in one consolidated Kingdom, and one great public interest.”

"To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and "Ireland, in Parliament assembled."

"We, whose names are underwritten, Roman Catholics of Great Britain, beg leave to represent,

"That, on the opening of the first Session of the present Parliament, we feel it our duty to renew the application we have more than once successfully made to your Honourable House, to pass a Bill for the repeal of the Pénal and disabling Laws under which we yet labour.

"That, we worship the same God, are liege subjects of the same King, and live under and acknowledge the same Constitution as yourselves. The friends of our country are outs; her enemies are ours: in her fleets and armies we render her important services; to her support we essentially contribute; there is no class of British subjects upon whose attachment and active co-operation you yourselves have gretear reliance:

"That we have belield, and continue to behold, with unspeakable satisfaction, the steady and regular advance which the cause of Catholic Emancipătion has made, and is making, in the public mind. During the late Elections attempts were made to prejudice the electors against us and our friends by the cry of "No Popery;" but the places in which it served those who used it were few; in several it was received with the most marked disdain. May every disingenuous artifice of controversy, by whom, or against whomsoever, used, and every measure that tends to disunite, to keep up animosity, or to prejudice one portion of subjects against another, similarly fail!

"That, we have declared, and we again declare, that we bear animosity to no individual of any communion, sect, or party; that we embrace all our countrymen and fellow subjects, whatever be their religious denomination, as friends and brethren; and that we most sincerely and fervently wish to see them all united in the participation of every civil right and blessing, which we solicit for ourselves.

"That, we have always been willing to lay before the public, in the fullest and most explicit manner, all our religious doctrines; and to disclaim every anti-civic or anti-social principle imputed to us. For this purpose, we have often referred to authentic documents, in which our religious tenets are to be found, and have ofren printed, published, and circulated them; and, that among these documents are the answers of the Foreign Universities, to the questions suggested by Mr. Pitt,

"That very recently (we now mention a fact to which we most earnestly solicit your attention) an exposition of our religious principles, framed by the English and Scottish Catholic Prelates, has been laid before the public.

That we have presented copies of this declaration to his Most Excellent Majesty to his Illustrious Brothers-to the Cabinet Ministers-to the Prelates of the Established Church, and to the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and St. Andrew's; and that we have deposited the original in the British Museum. We respectfully take leave to annex a copy of it to our present petition, and to refer to it, as a full and explicit exposition of the religious tenets of Roman Catholics on the points therein mentioned: together with this declaration, we have extensively circulated among our Protestant fellow-countrymen, an address, expressing our adherence to it calculated, to the best of our judgment, to remove any unfavourable impression existing in their minds respecting our civil and social principles; and laying before them a brief statement of the grievances which the Roman Catholics of Great Britain suffer by the present state of Penal Laws beyond the rest of his Majesty's subjects. We beg leave to annex this address also to this our humble petition.

"We further request you to consider the progress of public opinion on the Continent in favour of Civil and Religious Liberty. We beg leave to mention, that the late Marquis of Londonderry announced, in the House of Commons, in the debate on the Catholic Relief Bill, on the 28th day of February, 1821, that the only one question upon which the Congress of Vienna were unani

mous was that of doing away with distinctions and preferences on account of religion.'

"That it has always been asserted by our countrymen, that, in wise, good, and liberal councils, our country has taken the lead, and directed the opinion of the world.-Will this appear in her perpetuating laws, which all allow to have been enacted during a national delirium?

"By all the feelings which bind you to your country and your countrymen; by every reason which makes it wise to consolidate their interests, to extinguish disunion, and annihilate discontent among thein; by the justice and humanity, which every Government owes to every class of subjects-by the undeniable truth, that equal openings and equal rewards are due, by the laws of God and man, to equal industry and equal merit; and, above all, by the sacred precept of the God of all Christians, that All things which you would that inen should do to you, you should do also to them; as Roman Catholics suffer ing under the operation of unjust and oppressive laws; and as British subjects, jealous of the fair reputation of our country, which these laws disgrace; we most earnestly pray you to take our case into your consideration, and to pass a Bill, which, by repealing every law which imposes any declaration, oath, or test, relating to religious opinions, as a disqualification for holding civil offices, or enjoying civil rights, may relieve us from every penalty and disability yet remaining in force against us-and may wipe away the stigma of intolerance, which now attaches to our country."

By way of contrast to the foregoing Petition, we select the following from among the numerous ones agreed to by the Irish Catholics, for its bold and dignified tone in demanding their unjustly withheld rights. "To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled.

"The Petition of the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the Union of Modrenny' in the Barony of Lower Ormond, and County of Tipperary,

"SHEWETH,

That your Petitioners, taught by a religion which they believe divine, to respect the laws of this realm, yield to no class of his Majesty's subjects in dutiful attachment to the throne and constituted authorities. That they have always cheerfully contributed by their treasures and their blood to maintain the stability of the British Empire and British Constitution. That your Petitioners are, nevertheless, in common with their Catholic fellow-subjects of the United Kingdom, subject to a code of cruel, unnatural, and unconstitutional enactments, which in their native land make them regarded as a degraded caste in Society, which insult their feelings, and deprive them of the common rights and privileges of subjects, from the rewards and honours of liberal professions, and even from many of the meaner offices of State.

"That your Petitioners, whose loyalty is unimpeachable, cannot but be dissatisfied at the exactions they experience, and the injuries they sustain, for no other reason than that they adhere to the religion of their forefathers. That your Petitioners, knowing their first duty to belong to God, cannot renounce that religion which they believe revealed by him; and the second duty to belong to their neighbour, cannot look without shame and terror on seven millions of freeborn subjects, treated as aliens in the land of their nativity; who, if admitted within the pale of the Constitution, would infuse additional strength in its moral and physical energies.

That your Petitioners, relying on your wisdom and your justice, approach your Honourable House, respectfully imploring the total, unqualified, and unconditional repeal of those penal Statutes which aggrieve them, and full eman, cipation from unmerited bondage."