6

telleth them, that the storm of darkness and eternal damnation is provided for them.' Jude, 11. That no heretics' (Protestants) can possibly be saved, though they shed their blood for Christ's name-though they die among Heathens or Turks, for defence of TRUTH, or some article of Christ's religion:' and that Calvinists, who nowa-days die in defence of their heresies,' are, on that account, only more damnable.'-1 Cor. xiii, 3.

6

6

"This Annotation appears to have been introduced by the persecuting priests at Rheims; because, when they wrote, their patrons, the Guises, at the head of the League for the extirpation of French Protestants, who were generally Calvinists, were executing their sanguinary projects. Why it has been revived and sanctioned by the Popish Archbishop of Dublin, I cannot pretend to say; but certain it is, there never existed a sect (I speak not of the pure Christian Church, at any time); but there never existed a sect fancying themselves the peculiar favourites of Heaven, excluding all the rest of their countrymen from salvation, and consigning them to the vengeance of an offended God, who were not of an intolerant spirit.

"The fanatics in the days of Cromwell exclaimed against toleration for soul murder. And an English Popish Priest, in a late work of celebrity, describes the

toleration of Protestants, as the tabula rasa of religion,' as the mere effect of political interest, or rather of indifference to all religion.—Gandolphy's Defence of Ancient Faith, vol. ii. p. 219 and 222.

"But, Sir, whether we contemplate the excluding principles, or read of the persecuting violence either of sectarian fanaticism, or of Romish bigotry; are we not naturally led to bless a gracious Providence for that mild and tolerant Christian Church, whose spirit pervades our free constitution, and secures alike to all the subjects of our revered Monarch, their PROPERTY, LIBERTIES, and RIGHTS?

"And now, Sir, to conclude this Letter, for the length of which I am bound to apologize, with the words used by a Prelate of the Church of England, shortly after the Revolution of 1688:- I know it was formerly a popular objection of divers misguided dissenters from the Church of England, that we carried the doctrine of obedience farther than might be consistent with the safety of a Protestant Church, or the privilege of a free-born people. But it is now to be hoped, that the strongest argument of all others, which is experience, from undoubted matter of fact, has

1

put this objection for ever out of countenance; since it is undeniable, that during the whole time, when our civil and spiritual liberties were in so much danger, the greatest and most considerable stop that was here put to the arts of Rome, and intrigues of France, was by the steady resolution of the true sons of the Church of England. It will be sufficient to affirm, once for all, that the main body of those, who made so brave a stand, were ALL OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, and the principles on which they stood, were all Church of England principles. It was by these persons, and these principles alone, that Popery was stopped in its full career; by these it was hindered from conquering.'Bishop Spratt's Letter to Lord Dorset. See Echard's England, vol. iii. book 3, chap. 3.

"I remain, Sir,

"Your obedient servant,

"FABRICIUS

"P. S. The following is a statement taken from the Dublin Correspondent, of the heads of the title-page of the Cork publication:- A new, superb, and elegant edition of the Catholic Bible, now publishing in Numbers and Parts, by J. A. McNamara, Cork, under the patronage of HIS GRACE the Most Rev. Dr. O'Reily, Roman Catholic Lord Primate of all Ireland; HIS GRACE the Most Rev. Dr. Troy, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin; HIS GRACE the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin, and President of the Royal College of May nooth; the Roman Catholic Bishops of Cork, Waterford, Ferns, &c. &c. containing the whole of the Books in the Sacred Scriptures, explained or illustrated, with Notes or Annotations, according to the interpretation of the Roman Catholic Church, which is OUR INFALLIBLE AND UNERRING guide in reading the Holy Scriptures, and bringing men to salvation.'

"I have seen the three specimens of the persecuting Notes taken from the Cork publication, and they are precisely and verbatim the same as those on the same parts of Scripture in Dr. Troy's Dublin Bible. I have no doubt that the two publications are in all respects the same; and therefore, that Dr. Troy's Bible is now sanctioned either actually by the whole body of his brother Popish Bishops in Ireland, or by such a body as may be considered equivalent to the whole, by all the leading Popish Bishops.

The Dublin Correspondent newspaper to which Į refer, is dated Thursday, July 3, 1817."

serves.

The foregoing communication appeared in the Courier of October 23. And as it was not to be expected that Annotations so odious and grossly offensive as those of the Rhemish divines, could long pass without censure, we are not surprised to find that the "British Critics" have held up this edition of the Bible in the light which it deBut, we confess that we were a little surprised to see in the Dublin Newspapers of the 24th of October, a declaration from ARCHBISHOP TROY, most solemnly rejecting and condemning the said Bible, and denying that he ever had given his approbation to this Dublin edition! The booksellers in Dublin and London, whose names were prefixed to the work, found it needful to vindicate themselves; one from the charge of having used Dr. Troy's authority surreptitiously, and the other from the allegation of selling the work in the British metropolis.

It is certainly our bounden duty, as well as our inclination, to let the Archbishop and the booksellers speak for themselves; but, when we have put the public in full possession of their own story, it will be proper to weigh the whole affair in the balance of justice and truth, in order to discover what conclusions should be drawn by Protestants in general. It will be necessary to consider whether or not OTHER PRELATES, PRIESTS, and BOOKSELLERS, OF THE ROMISH COMMUNION, in this empire, disapprove the "opinions and doctrines" alluded to? for, with all due respect to the Archbishop immediately concerned, it is not enough to discountenance such sentiments himself, unless the great mass of His Grace's Irish colleagues, and the four Vicars Apostolic of Great Britain, will also declare explicitly their entire acquiescence in his views; and it is further requisite that they should recall, if possible, every unsold copy of so infamous a publication, however painful this might be to their feelings.

We transcribe the following documents from Dublin newspapers, though they have since appeared in those of London. Two of the Popish Journals (called "Orthodox" and Catholicon") have reprinted Dr. Troy's Declaration with great pomp and circumstance, but not COYNE's letter in reply; § and the editor of one of these Magazines

66 re

& Mr. CHARLES BUTLER, in his Historical Memoirs of the Roman Catholics, of which two editions have been printed and published in 1819 (apparently in two months), has been guilty of the same partiality as the Popish Journalists, omitting Mr. Coyne's Reply to the Archbishop's Declaration.

spectfully solicits the particular attention of his friends to the Declaration,"—which (as it came too late for insertion) was thought "important" enough to claim "two additional pages" of letter-press beyond "the common limits.”

EXTRACTS FROM THE DUBLIN FREEMAN'S JOURNAL.

"ON CATHOLIC AFFAIRS."

"WE consider the following a very interesting document, and, therefore, readily give it a prominent place in our columns. The publication to which it alludes, has drawn on the Catholic Hierarchy, through the pages of the Times, and other English papers, much severe and injurious censure. These journals, we hope, will have no hesitation in acquainting their readers, by copying the Declaration of the Titular Archbishop of Dublin, that all the reprehension grounded upon this work, of which their columns have been the vehicles, is wholly unmerited; and that it has fallen under the eye of no censor who more cordially denounces it, than the venerable individual said to have given it all the benefits of his revision and declared ap probation:

"6 DECLARATION.

"Having seen a new edition of the Rhemish Testament, with Annotations, published by Coyne, Dublin, and Keating, &c. London, 1816, said to be revised, corrected, and approved by me; I think it necessary to declare, that I never approved, nor meant to approve, any edition of the Old or New Testament which was not entirely conformable, as well in the notes as in the text, to that which was edited by R. Cross, Dublin, 1791, containing the usual and prescribed formula of my approbation, and which has served as an exemplar to the several editions that have since been published with my sanction.

"As in the said new edition the notes vary essentially from those of the last-mentioned editions, which exclusively I have sanctioned for publication, I should think that circumstance alone fully sufficient to induce me to withhold every kind of approbation from it; but having read, and now, for the first time, considered these notes, I not only do not sanction them, but solemnly declare, that I utterly reject them, generally, as harsh and irritating in expression, some of them as false and absurd in reasoning, and many of them as uncharitable in sentiment. They further

appear to countenance opinions and doctrines, which, in common with the other Roman Catholics of the Empire, I have solemnly disclaimed upon oath.

"Under these circumstances, and with these impressions on my mind, I feel it an imperious duty to admonish that portion of the Catholic body which is intrusted to my charge, of the danger of reading, or paying any attention to the notes and comments of said new edition of the Testament; and I enjoin the Roman Catholic Clergy of this Diocese to discourage and prevent, by every means in their power, the circulation, amongst Catholics, of a work tending to lead the faithful astray, and much better fitted to engender and promote, among Christians, hostility, bitterness, and strife, than (what should be the object of every such production) to cultivate the genuine spirit of the Gospel that is, the spirit of meekness, charity, and peace. "J. T. TROY.

"Dublin, Oct. 24, 1817."

TO HIS GRACE THE MOST REV. DR. TROY.

"Parliament Street, Oct. 26, 1817.

દર MOST HONOURED LORD,

"It is with pain and difficulty that I am obliged to controvert, for a moment, any statement coming from Your Grace; but the character which I have earned and maintained these fifteen years, unsullied in the opinions of the Catholic Clergy and Hierarchy of Ireland, as the only publisher and bookseller in the kingdom, of works exclusively Catholic, puts me under the indispensable necessity of addressing Your Grace in public. The Declaration, which Your Grace has published in the Freeman of Saturday, leaves no alternative but that of either submitting to the imputations which it fastens upon me, or of giving, as I now do, a simple statement of facts; for the truth of which I appeal to Your Grace's candour, and which shall, I trust, substantially remove the impression that Your Grace's Declaration is calculated to produce on the public mind with regard to me.

"On Monday the 13th inst. Your Grace sent me a message by your servant, requesting to see me at Cavendish Row, at the hour of two o'clock. I had scarcely entered Your Grace's apartments, when the Very Rev. Dr. Hamill, Your Grace's Vicar-General, and the Rev. Mr. Kenny, of Clongowes College, appeared. Your Grace then