who take the oath, every form of expression that may be supposed to give an opening for the exercise of casuistry, should be scrupulously avoided, and the most direct, and obvious, and unqualified language alone made use of. Again, as it appears to me, it would tend to give more security, certainly more clearness, if to the oath of allegiance were added a clause reciting whatever was the reservation attached to the pontifical oath, and of a detailed nature, specifying the important matters touching allegiance, which the pontifical oath was not to affect.

Quest.—If the Pope is to be supposed to have the power of releasing from all oaths, is it possible to frame any oath which will give a security? Ans.-No; but there is a desire on the part of every creature to transgress as little as possible; and although the Pope were admitted to possess that power, persons would rather not be driven to the resorting to it, but would prefer to act, and appear to act, under the plain obligation under which men are expected generally to act. Quest.

-Does your Grace think that Dr. Curtis or Dr. Murray would be as competent to state the real import of the bishop's oath, as your Grace, or any of the archbishops or bishops of the Protestant Church? Ans.-Certainly much more; I say, much more competent, because the real received* import I understand to be meant * That is, received by the persons who take the oath.

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by the question, that which I must conceive to be the real received application of the oath; and of that I cannot judge. Ques. If your Grace were sitting as a judge in this matter, in the House of Lords, would you not think yourself bound to give the interpretation you thought right to the oath ?-Ans. Certainly; and I must abide by that, until they satisfied me by some authoritative statement, that the fair and obvious meaning was not the meaning in which they took the oath.-Quest. Do you think that your Grace is prohibited from exercising upon in the interpretation of any peculiar tenets of the Roman Catholic church, when the question is, whether Roman Catholics shall be admitted into the privileges of the Protestant constitution ?-Ans. No; I feel it my duty, if I apprehend there is danger in the system, to have the guards which appear to me to be requisite to prevent the operation of that system.'

Evidence of the Rev. Dr. O'Sullivan, on the same subject, before a Committee of the House of Commons, in the same year:-" Quest. Would your opinion, as to the proper interpretation of the oath, be altered, if a Roman Catholic bishop was to declare upon oath, that he considered it as applicable only to spiritual matters, and not to temporal?-Ans. My opinion of the oath would not be in the least altered; I would believe, that the Roman Catholic bishop stated what he conceived to be the meaning of the oath; and I

would also believe, that if at any time the Pope declared to him that he was in error, the bishop would be bound to abide, and would abide, by the Pope's decision. And I say this without the slightest imputation upon the moral character of the man who takes the oath ; he is at perfect liberty to state that such is his impression; and if afterwards the Pope defines the oath in a different manner, I conceive he is bound to admit the Pope's definition. Quest.-If a Roman Catholic Bishop was to declare upon his oath, that the sense in which he took it was confined to spiritual, and did not extend to temporal matters, you would believe that he did take that oath in that acceptation ? Ans.-I

would, certainly, according to my opinion of his character. Quest. And if he was to declare, not only that he took it in that sense, but that it was invariably so in the Catholic Church, you would probably believe that assertion also? Ans.-No; that would greatly lessen my confidence in his former assertion: I would go to the terms of the oath then; and I would put what appears to be the meaning of those terms, in opposition to the bishop's evidence. I believe him, when he states what he himself thinks; but when he states that the same opinion is held by all other bishops, this second assertion would, in my mind, throw some doubt upon his former statement."

Oath of a Roman Catholic Priest.

The concluding paragraph of the priest's oath is the only part worthy of consideration, which is as follows:

"I acknowledge the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome, as the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and Vicar of Jesus Christ; and all things defined, delivered, and declared by the holy canons and general councils, and especially by the Council of Trent, I do unhesitatingly receive and confess; and likewise, I condemn and reject all things contrary thereto. This is the true faith, out of which there is no salvation: I will keep it firmly to my life's end, and will take care that it be kept by my subjects, and those of whom I may have charge.-So help me God and these holy gospels."

This oath binds the priests to obey the Pope as Vicar of Christ, and to observe all the canons: these canons to which I shall hereafter refer, maintain the deposing power, the extermination of heresy-the exemption of ecclesiastics from lay tribunals, and other doctrines infringing upon the power of the State.

MAYNOOTH INTOLERANCE.

THAT the doctrine of persecution is openly taught in the College of Maynooth will appear by the following extracts from its class books:-" Heretics are bound by the laws of the church, because they are made subjects of the church by baptism; nor are they more free from its laws, than are rebellious subjects from the laws of their prince.-Hæretici legibus ecclesiasticis tenentur, quia per Baptismum facti sunt ecclesiæ subditi; nec magis legibus ejus eximuntur quam subditi in suum principem rebelles."-Tractatus de Legibus, p. 179. And in the Treatise on the Church there is the following passage:

"The church retains its power over all apostates, heretics, and schismatics, though they may no longer belong to its body, as a general has a right to inflict punishment on a deserter, though his name should have been erased from the muster-roll of the army.-Ecclesia suam retinet jurisdictionem in omnes apostatas, hæreticos, et schismaticos, quamvis ad illius corpus non jam pertineant; quemadmodum dux militiæ jus habet