all opportunities by which the peace of the kingdom may be disturbed ?"

He goes on therefore to observe, "It is no more excuse for them than it is security for the King, to say that they do not acknowledge any temporal authority to be in the Pope, so that he cannot disturb the peace of the kingdom; and that, if himself came to invade the kingdom, they would oppose and resist him with the same courage as they would fight against the Turk! Spiritual authority hath done too much mischief to be undervalued, or believed to have less mind to do mischief than it had; nor do they who talk of resisting, know to what degree they would resist, or to what degree they would not assist it, if there were occasion."

"No man yet knows what themselves mean by that spiritual authority which they own to be in the Pope; and which they would before this time have carefully explained, if they thought it so innocent that no harm could be apprehended from it; and till they do clearly define what it is, they must not take it ill, if we conceive that they mean enough by it to compass any thing the Pope thinks seasonable to apply it to. So that the attributing any power to him, or acknowledging any to be in him, of how spiritual a nature soever it is thought to be, shall be enough to give law to the temporal, when a spiritual end shall so direct it and all Kings have reason to believe, that every Pope thinks he hath the same authority over them which any of his predecessors have ever exercised over any of their predecessors; and as much as Bellarmine, Mariana, or any other Jesuit, hath assigned them."

He says, "Since the Popes have not in the least degree disclaimed or renounced the highest act of power which any of their predecessors have ever exercised (though they may have not found it seasonable or safe for them to attempt the same usurpation); nor hath the Catholic CHURCH condemned or disapproved those opinions published by Jesuits and other

writers, which have been published by authority; we may reasonably, and without breach of charity, believe, that it is only want of opportunity, and despair of success, which restrains them from those outward excesses, and not any reformation in their judgments, or an opinion that their jurisdiction is not in truth as large and illimited as any of their predecessors ever presumed to infest the Christian world with."

Lord Clarendon relates the fact, of a large meeting of Roman Catholic Noblemen and Gentry occurring at Arundel House, who had generally agreed to disclaim " the Pope's authority in temporal affairs," during the restoration of the King; but who, on a Jesuit objecting to such disavowal, broke up, and met no more!! He therefore insists upon all the secular and regular Clergy, as well as Laity, being required to renounce the Pope's authority in a solemn manner; and without such renunciation, he considers the OATH administered to the Laity as quite nugatory: "nor can less than an entire and absolute renouncing any kind of submission to the Pope, as well in ecclesiastical as temporal affairs, be in any degree a reasonable assurance of their dutiful and peaceable behaviour." §

He regards the declaration of the Roman Catholics, that

§ It may here be asked, how any Oath taken to the prejudice of the Church could bind a Priest who had already sworn to do all she demands for her aggrandizement? No such Oath to the civil Government of a Kingdom could be a security, if administered; but, I presume no such a pledge will ever be required of the Clergy,-and without it there can be no adequate hold on the consciences of Laymen, provided they are sincere Roman Catholics.

On the subject of Oaths it is particularly worthy of recollection, that Dr. Butler's Catechism and Delahogue's Treatise, both drawn up for the sole use of IRISH students, fully admit the right or liberty of breaking a solemn promise, which tends to injure their Church; so that this doctrine may be regarded as settled, and very generally received by Roman Catholics, at the present time.

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they cannot define, or determine upon, the jurisdiction of the Papal authority, as to its precise limits in every case, to be an admission of the Pope's claim, or the right of the Latin Church, to command their obedience; and he justly remarks, that "all Protestants are still considered as excommunicated Heretics," with whom it is forbidden by the Church to hold friendly commerce and Christian amity!!! What is this (he asks) but declaring and proclaiming perpetual hostility with them ?"

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His Lordship allows, that many pious and learned persons in this communion have renounced the horrible doctrine, THAT FAITH IS NOT TO BE KEPT WITH HERETICS: yet (adds he) we must say, that this is but the act of particular men, as to the pronouncing a Catholic verity. THE CHURCH of Rome hath in no degree deposited this weapon, by disavowing it; and no half age passes without her avowing and assuming it and if the dictates of the Popes themselves be of authority enough to establish (or to propagate) a doctrine, the tenet and assertion will have no less credit to support it."

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He cites the case of Cardinal D'Ossat's mentioning Henry the Fourth of France, as a man who would keep his oath; to whom Pope Clement the Eighth replied, "That oath was made to an Heretic, and the King had made quite another oath to God and to him."

He states the views of the Gallican Church and the Sorbonne on this subject; and concludes that, whatever they may do to shake off the power of the Pope, His Holiness and the Court of Rome " adhere still to their old most rigid maxims; and, however their civility and manners in conversation are more refined, their bitterness, animosity, and malice, against all those of the Reformed Religion, are not in any degree inferior to what they were when Luther first provoked them."....." I say, the same spirit still reigns, and the same pride and acrimony will be expressed, when

they shall find a conjuncture which they believe will be favourable to them. And of this, there needs no other manifestation than the very virulent expressions and invec tives throughout the two great volumes published by the late Cardinal Pallavicino against all of that religion, in his answer to the unanswerable History of the Council of Trent." Lord Clarendon also observes, that the books of Pallavicino were formally licensed, and favoured with the Pope's own grant to publish them; so that they contain the received doctrine of the Church, and afford a sanction to all those vile reproaches against Protestants, &c.

The noble Earl, therefore, insists on the necessity of requiring from the Roman Catholic CLERGY the same oaths as from the Laity, to renounce the POPE'S SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY; lest, by their artifice and comments on such power, it should be "extended to such a magnitude as to shake the temporality when it shall be applied for that purpose." This claim, says he, "is the greatest, if not the only cause of the uncharitable disunion and separation between Christians I say uncharitable-for disunion and separation there may be, without uncharitableness."

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LETTER XXVIII.

STR.

LORD Clarendon, vol. ii. pp. 680–692, goes largely into the subject of uniting the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches; but he held this to be totally impossible, until the Papal supremacy is given up and demolished, and its Bishop is compelled to renounce all jurisdiction or "For," says power in any other territory than his own. the historian," we may judge by past experience of what

he has done, that he is willing to do the same in future, if he gets power into his hands." But, it is quite improbable that the Pope will ever consent to any reformation, or concession, or abridgment of his own usurped claims over other Prélates, &c.—and his agents are apt always to gain an advantage over others, by wanting ingenuousness or veracity. The learned author observes, it was a common bait before our troubles of 1640, held out by the Catholics, to affirm that there was but small difference between the Churches of England and Rome, which might easily be reconciled; and he relates an attempt then made by Mr. Davenport, a Franciscan Monk, towards effecting such reconciliation." Alas! those men know little of the Pope's constitution, and how little he is moved by such overtures;" nor is it reasonable to expect he will depart from the prerogatives of his predecessors, with which he is invested, or fail to support the Papacy to the full height at which he received it. Besides, he may himself be deposed, if he become an heretic, and favour those who have withdrawn from the Church. It is further certain that Leo X. considered it wrong to comply with the wishes of a poor Friar (Luther) in a matter which might even be agreeable to his own judgment, and might be palpably erroneous; nor would the Pontiff concede to the German and French Bishops, so moderate a request as the marriage of the Clergy and the cup of the Eucharist to the laity: and now the contrary is looked upon as main pillars of the Catholic faith, so that no proposition in Calvin is considered less heterodox than the violation of either practice.

He cites Pallavicino, who says, "Nothing is harder to be made, or, being once made, of more dangerous influence, than a General Synod; so that, as long as the course of the world shall go on as it does, an attempting it in extreme necessity, would be a perfect tempting of God, and such an assembly would make the Church run an evident risk