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or absolved of this Declaration, or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any "other person or persons or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the saine, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning.

"So help me God."

THE next is the Oath and Declaration prescribed by the Irish Act of the 33d of His present Majesty, and is taken by all Irish Roman Catholics, wishing to entitle themselves to the benefit of that Act.

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"I A. B. do hereby declare, That I do profess the Roman Catholic Religion. "I A. B. do swear, That I do abjure, condemn, and detest, as unchristian and "impious, the principle that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any persons whatsoever, for or under the pretence of being a heretic: And I do de-"clare solemnly before God, that I believe, that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused, by or under pretence or colour that it: was done either for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical. power whatsoever: I also declare, that it is not an Article of the Catholic Faith, "neither am I thereby required to believe or profess, that the Pope is infallible, or "that I am bound to obey any order, in its own nature immoral, though the Pope,. or any ecclesiastical power, should issue or direct such order, but on the contrary, "I hold that it would be sinful in me to pay any respect or obedience thereto : I "further declare, that I do not believe, that any sin whatever committed by me,, can be forgiven, at the mere will of any Pope, or any Priest, or of any person or persons whatsoever, but that sincere sorrow for past sins, a firm and sincere reso-"lution to avoid future guilt, and to atone to God, are previous and indispensable requisites to establish a well-founded expectation of forgiveness, and that any per-"sor who receives absolution without these previous requisites, so far from obtaining. thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the additional guilt of violating a Sacra-"ment: And I do swear that I will defend, to the uttermost of my power, the "Settlement and Arrangement of Property in this Country, as established by. the Laws now in being: I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure,. any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, for the purpose of substituting a Catholic Establishment in its stead: And I do solemnly swear, that I "will not exercise any privilege to which I am or may become intitled, to disturb " and weaken the Protestant Religion and Protestant Government in this Kingdom: "So help me God."

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SUCH are the principles which His Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects have publicly and solemnly declared and professed on Oath. There is not, in any of them, a single principle, which every Roman Catholic Subject of His Majesty does not profess, or which, if his King and Country required it, he would not think it his duty to seal with his blood.

III. IN

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III.

IN the year 1788, A Committee of the English Catholics waited
on Mr. Pitt, respecting their Application for a Repeal of the
Penal Laws. He requested to be furnished with Authentic
Evidence, of THE OPINIONS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CLERGY AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES
ABROAD, ON THE EXISTENCE AND EXTENT OF THE
POPE'S DISPENSING POWER."-Three questions were accord-
ingly framed, and sent to the Universities of Paris, Lovain,
Alcala, Doway, Salamanca, and Valadolid, for their Opinions..
The Questions proposed to them were,

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r. Has the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body of Men, or any Individual of the Church of Rome, any Civil Authority, Power, Jurisdiction, or Pre-eminence, whatsoever, within the Realm of England?

2. Can the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body of Men, or any Individual of the Church of Rome, absolve or dispense with His Majesty's Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever?

3. Is there any principle in the Tenets of the Catholic Faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping Faith with Heretics, or other Persons differing from them in Religious Opinions, in any Transaction, either of a public or a private Nature?

The Universities answered unanimously,

1. THAT the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body of Men; or any Individual of the Church of Rome, HAS NOT any Civil Authority, Power, Jurisdiction, or Preeminence whatsoever, within the Realm of England.

2. That the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body of Men, or any Individual of the Church of Rome, CANNOT absolve or dispense with His Majesty's Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever.

3. That there IS NO principle in the Tenets of the Catholic Faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping Faith with Heretics, or other Persons differing from them in Religious Opinions, in any Transactions either of a public or a private Nature.

AS soon as the Opinions of the Foreign Universities were received, they were trans-mitted to Mr. Pitt: But we earnestly beg of you to observe, that it was for his satisfaction, not ours, that these Opinions were taken:-Assuredly, His Majesty's Roman:

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Catholic Subjects did not want the wisdom of foreign Universities to inform them, that His Majesty is the lawful Sovereign of all his Roman Catholic Subjects, and that, by every divine and human Law, his Roman Catholic Subjects owe him true, dutiful, active, and unreserved Allegiance.

SUCH then, Fellow Countrymen and Fellow Subjects,-Such being our Religious and Civil Principles in respect to our King and our Country,--Let us now again ask you,-Is there in them, a single Tenet, which is incompatible with the purest Loyalty, or which, in the slightest degree, interferes with the Duty we owe to God, our King, or our Country?—

But, are these principles really instilled into us? Do our actions correspond with them? In reply, we ask,--Are there not, at this very moment, thousands, thousands, and thousands of Roman Catholics, who daily and hourly make the most heroic Exertions and Sacrifices in those Fleets and Armies, to whose patient and adventurous courage it is owing that we are still blessed with a King and a Country?

Now then,-Fellow Countrymen and Fellow Subjects, be assured,—that, among these heroic and inestimable Defenders and Supporters of their King and their Country, there is not one, whose Parents and whose Priests have not taught him, that Loyalty is a religious as much as a civil Duty; and that, when he is fighting for his King and his Country, he is performing a Duty to his God.

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