a very extensive circulation in Ireland; and that (as is expressly mentioned on the title-page of the numbers) it was not only authorized by the Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops, but also recommended by nearly three hundred of the Irish Clergy!

Now, if it were possible for Dr. Troy, by his tardy Declaration in a Dublin newspaper, to get rid of the influence which his own name and dignity confer on the titlepage of this Bible; and, if his apparent Episcopal sanction did not yield the smallest impulse to its sale; we should ask, how can he prevent the effect of all the other various Clerical recommendations?

But, for argument sake, we will suppose that all the Notes of the Rhemish Annotators on the New Testament were quite annihilated; there will still remain a large mass of exceptionable and irritating matter in the Old Testament of 1816-which is found even in the late Bishop Challoner's editions; and has been very often reprinted since the year 1749, in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Dublin. We shall submit to our readers only one specimen, on Deuteronomy, chap. xvii. ver. 8-12:-" Here we see" (alluding to a divine command, that whoever did not obey the Jewish Priest should die), "Here we see what authority God was pleased to give to the Church Guides of the Old Testament, in deciding without appeal all controversies relating to the law; promising that they should not err therein, and punishing with death such as proudly refused to obey their decisions: AND, SURELY, HE HAS NOT DONE LESS FOR THE CHURCH GUIDES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT." The title at the head of this chapter in Deuteronomy, answering to the 8th and following verses, is this "Controversies are to be decided by the High Priest and Council, whose sentence must be obeyed under pain of death." See p. 165, Dublin Bible of 1816.

Be it remembered, that this is a Note which all the editions of Bishop Challoner contain; and that (so far as we know) it has not been omitted in any one of the Dublin editions, sanctioned by Episcopal authority!!! Is this murderous doctrine conciliatory? Is it calculated to inspire Protestants with confidence in the tolerating principles of Roman Catholics? Is it the true doctrine of Christianity, or of the New Testament dispensation? Dismissing this painful subject, in the words of Mr. Richard Coyne to his Archbishop, "WE LEAVE THE PUBLIC TO DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS."

But we are compelled to propose one distinct question to Dr. TROY, Dr. Murray, and their bookseller, which ought to be publicly answered: viz. Have they not fully sanctioned and approved of the following obnoxious advertisement, and did not they promote its wide dispersion as an HAND-BILL in 1810? We subjoin an exact copy of this HAND-BILL, only omitting the list of Coyne's publications:

"Now in the Press, and printing by RICHARD COYNE, 165, Capel Street, Dublin, with the permission of the Most Rev. Dr. TROY, and the Most Rev. Dr. MURRAY, a new and cheap edition of the HOLY BIBLE, with ANNOTATIONS for clearing up the principal Difficulties of Holy Writ, in five volumes duodecimo. Price to Subscribers in Boards, 17. 12s. 6d. in plain calf 17. 17s. 6d.

"This edition of the Holy Bible, for the accommodation of the public, will be delivered to subscribers in single volumes (to be paid for at 1s. 1d. per week). The first to be published on the 1st of February, 1811; the second in six weeks after, and continued to be published every six weeks, until completed. A book is now open at the Publisher's, R. COYNE, 165, Capel Street, for the purpose of entering subscribers' names.

"As the Bible is now nearly finished, the above plan is adopted by the Editor, in order to give the working people and well-disposed an opportunity of purchasing the Bible at an easy rate. This arrangement is calculated to obviate the difficulty arising from their situation, which precludes the possibility of purchasing the work at once; and, at the same time, it will substantially refute the calumny industriously circulated in twopenny pamphlets, that the Catholic Clergy prohibit the faithful from reading the word of God, or having it in their possession; a charge every day made, not only by these ignorant daring pamphleteers, but by the learned, who ought to know that scandal is a deadly crime, which neither their zeal nor their préjudices can palliate. It was the boast of the first pretended Reformers, and continues to be the boast of their disciples to the present day, that they had emancipated their followers from the shackles of Catholic despotism, and had restored to them the freedom of the children of God. This freedom, it appears, consisted in reading an erroneous version of the inspired writings, and in venerating, as the dictates of Eternal Wisdom, the blunders of ignorant and interested translators. "What crime more foul in its nature, more prejudicial in its consequences, more nearly allied to diabolical malignity

than that of designedly corrupting the Holy Scriptures; and by such corruption leading the sincere inquirer into error, and converting the food of life into the poison of death? And do we not every day hear these Deformers of the Holy Writ calling on Catholics to read their spurious and corrupted translations; telling them, at the same time, that, by doing so, they will easily detect the errors of Popery, and learn the true and genuine doctrine of the Gospel; exclaiming that the Scriptures are no longer concealed under the obscurity of a learned language, but exhibited to you in your native tongue? But Catholics answer, We will not read your Protestant Bible, we will not drink at the muddy part of the stream, while we can drink with equal ease at the fountain-head.' Catholics will desire Protestants to read the Letter of Pius the Sixth, our supreme pastor, of blessed memory, to ANTHONY MARTINI (afterwards Archbishop of Florence); who translated the Bible into the language of his country, and be covered with shame for their vile misrepresentations. He writes thus: At a time that a vast number of bad books, which most grossly attack the Catholic religion, are circulated even amongst the unlearned, to the great destruction of souls, you judged it exceedingly well that the faithful should be excited to the reading of the Holy Scriptures; for these are the most abundant sources, which ought to be left open to every one, to draw from them the purity of morals and of doctrine, to eradicate the errors which are widely disseminated in these corrupt times: this you have seasonably effected, as you declare, by publishing the sacred writings in the language of your country, suitable to every one's capacity; especially when you show and set forth that you have added explanatory notes, which, being extracted from the Holy Fathers, preclude every possible danger of abuse. Thus you have not swerved, either from the laws of the Congregation of the Index, or from the Constitutions published on the subject by Benedict XIV, that immortal Pope, our predecessor in the Pontificate. In the mean time, as a token of our good-will, receive our Apostolical benediction, which to you, beloved son, we affectionately impart.-Given at Rome, on the calends of April, 1778, the fourth year of our Pontificate.'

"The Editor begs to inform those whose means will allow them, that by paying one-half of the subscription in advance, they can have the Bible within two months hence. A few copies on fine Paper, hot-pressed, will be struck off;

price, in super-extra binding, three pounds eight shillings and three pence. With each volume of the Bible will be given a beautiful engraving.

"Subscribers' names received by the Publisher, R. Coyne, Capel Street, Dublin; Keating, Browne, and Co. London; Matthews, Cork; Reynolds, Kilkenny, Gorman, Clonmel; Farrel, Waterford; Nolan, Carlow; O'Brien, Limerick; Hart and M'Donnel, Drogheda; Clayton, Galway."

LATE PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC BOARD RESPECTING THE DOUAY BIBLE AND RHEMISH TESTAMENT.

SEVERAL Dublin newspapers lie before us, detailing the proceedings of the ROMAN CATHOLIC BOARD on the 1st and 4th of Dec. 1817, relative to the "Rhemish Annotations," of which we gave a full account in our two last Numbers. It appears, that the Dublin orators are greatly dismayed at the powerful effect which these obnoxious Notes have produced, on the mind of considerate Protestants; and they complain that the writer of an article in the British Critic has misrepresented these Notes, making them more odious than they are in reality. We do not fully believe this assertion; and think (if any accidental error has occurred) that the Reviewer could not easily have aggravated the mischievous tendency of these Notes, which are in themselves sufficiently abominable.--No such charge of misrepresentation is made, however, against our own Quotations from those Notes; and we, therefore, confidently appeal to the extracts given in our 6th and 7th Numbers, which demonstrate the hostility of Roman Catholic principles beyond the power of refutation.

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The Dublin Evening Post," and "The Correspondent," report Mr. DAN. O'CONNELL to have said, "These Notes were of English growth; they were written in agi, tated times, when the title of ELIZABETH was questioned on the grounds of legitimacy. Party spirit was then extremely violent; politics mixed with religion, and, of course, disgraced it. Mary (Queen of Scotland) had active partisans, who thought it would forward their purposes to translate the Bible, and add to it those obnoxious Notes. But, very shortly after the establishment of the College of Douay, this Rhemish edition was CONDEMNED BY ALL THE DOCTORS OF THAT INSTITUTION; who, at the same time, called for, and received, the aid of the Scotch and Irish Colleges,

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"The book was thus suppressed, and an edition of the Bible with notes WAS PUBLISHED AT DOUAY, which has been ever since adopted by the Catholic church:-so that they not only condemned and SUPPRESSED the Rhemish edition, but they published an edition with notes, to which NO OBJECTION has been, or could be, urged. From that period there have been BUT TWO EDITIONS of the Rhemish Testament; and the late one was published by a very ignorant printer in Cork, a man of the name of M'NAMARA, who was not capable of distinguishing between the Rhemish and any other edition of the Bible. He meant to publish a Catholic Bible; and, having put his hand on the Rhemish edition, he commenced to print it in numbers. He subsequently became a bankrupt, and his property in this transaction was vested in a Mr. CUMMING, a respectable bookseller in this city. He is either a Protestant or a Presbytérian: but, he carried on the work, like M'NAMARA, merely to make money of it, as a commercial speculation: And yet,' said Mr. O'CONNELL, our enemies have taken it up with avidity; they have asserted, that the sentiments of these Notes are cherished by the Catholics in this country. He would not be surprised to read speeches in the next Parliament on this subject," &c.

We have thought it needful, as a point of justice, not only to give the very words of this advocate, as contained in the Dublin Correspondent of Dec. 5th, but we deem it right to add the whole of what is detailed on this subject in another Dublin Journal; from which the reader will see, that even Roman Catholics are compelled to admit the infamous nature of a work, that (UNTIL AFTER PASSING THROUGH SIX EDITIONS) Protestants have never before been able to persuade them was of an uncharitable and hostile tendency: nor is it at all likely that this truth, so obvious to unprejudiced minds, would have been now conceded, if THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS" had not produced conviction, and demanded some acknowledgment from the Lay-orators of that "CATHOLIC BOARD."

At a meeting on the 1st of December, Mr. O'CONNELL is represented to have observed, "That he had been informed that a number of commercial gentlemen could not convéniently attend the meeting this day, as they were detained on Change. He submitted the propriety of adjourning to Thursday next, as matters of considerable interest and importance were likely to come under discussion. He would, in the mean time, give notice, that on the next day