subject of the lecture, as detailed in the class-book, but he need not adopt the writer's conclusions, except so far as they accord with his own judgment.'—Report, p. 58.

"But when was it ever said that the books were books of absolute authority, except when supported by references?

They have been referred to as indicative of the teaching at Maynooth, and as indicating it correctly, in so far as their teaching is supported by the standard works of reference,—the Articles of Faith, the Decrees and Councils of the Church of Rome,-just as text writers on legal subjects are referred to, though of no absolute authority,-still as indicating, but not making, the law.

"If a certain principle is laid down in the text-book, and, on referring to the statutes at large, we find it quite consonant to the letter and spirit of the statute, we act on it as part of the law of the land. So, too, if we find certain principles laid down in the class-book, and the same enforced by references to the standard works, and other authorities, which support such principles, the inference naturally is, that the text-book in one case indicates-though it does not make-the law of the land; and the text-book in the other case indicates-though it does not make the principles or teaching of the Church of Rome, and, in this case, the teaching of Maynooth College.

"Would not this be the common-sense view to take as regarded the instruction imparted at any institution ?-any charity school, any national school?

"Would there not be a palpable absurdity involved in the supposition, that any examiner, going into these institutions to ascertain what was being taught, should be told, 'It is no good looking into any of the books, they are no guide or authority-I assure you I always teach just what appears to me right, quite irrespective of any books of reference or authority'? No doubt there would.

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Accordingly, we find, on turning to the evidence, that we may add the weight of

"Dr. O'HANLON's authority to these remarks. At p. 10, 124, he is asked, 'Do you consider that the class-book indicates the doctrine inculcated?' and answers, 'Yes. We do not depart from the doctrine of Cabassutius generally.'

"But whatever little weight may be attached to the teaching of the class-books, it is clear some higher degree of importance is attached to the standard works referred to by them. Thus the same witness says, with reference to his lectures on canon law,

“121. We don't tie ourselves down to any particular text-book. I proceed in canon law as I do in ecclesiastical history. I announce the subject of the lecture, and refer the students to the standard works on the subject in the library.'

"After a few questions and answers on the subject of lectures on the canon law, which Dr. O'Hanlon informs the Commissioners is only taught to the Dunboyne students (pp. 9, 119), and to them by no other professor than himself, the following questions and answers, from 121 to 124 inclusive, occur:—

"121. Are the Commissioners justified in supposing from your answer that there is still a text-book ?-We don't tie ourselves down to

any particular text-book. I proceed in canon law as I do in ecclesiastical history. I announce the subject of the lecture, and refer the students to the standard works on the subject in the library.

"122. Do you make remarks upon the books which they will have to consult?—I have frequently particularized the books which I considered the best on this or that subject, and the students of the present class know from the tradition of their predecessors the works which I specially recommend.

"123. Do you give them clues by advice for their guidance through the different books?-Yes, from time to time; and as I interrogate them uniformly on the subject matter of the lecture, it is always in my power to correct any unsound or extravagant opinion which they may have borrowed from the books which they consulted. I have omitted to state that Cabassutius is the class-book used by order of the Board of Trustees.

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"124. Do you consider that the class-book indicates the doctrine inculcated? Yes. We do not depart from the doctrine of Cabassutius generally. There are some matters, however, with regard to which we do not exactly adopt his views. In point of fact, it has never been understood that the Professor of the Dunboyne is bound so much as the other professors to adopt the opinions of any particular writer, because the Dunboyne students are considered to be more capable of examining matters, and forming opinions for themselves, than the other students; hence they are allowed a greater latitude, and the professor encourages a spirit of inquiry, provided that it is not carried beyond a reasonable extent.'

"What Dr. O'Hanlon states as to not departing generally from the teaching of the class-book is fully borne out by what the Rev. Thomas Furlong, Professor of Theology, states, both in his oral and written evidence.

"In his written evidence, which is to be found in Part I., Appendix 8, and which is given in answer to Paper B, we have the following in course of answer to question 2.

"The subject matter of lecture is contained in those treatises of dogmatic and moral theology which, according to the regular rotation of treatises observed in the Divinity Classes, fall to my lot, and which, in four successive years, comprise nearly the whole range of dogmatic and moral theology. I follow the order, and, as far as possible, the views and opinions of the text-books, which are, in dogmatic theology, the treatises compiled for the use of the College by the late Dr. Delahogue; in moral theology, at present, the compilation of Scavini. I consult other theologians, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Suarez, De Lugo, Bellarmine, the Salmanticenses, Benedict XIV., Liguori, Collet, Tournely, &c. I select from them what appears to me most accurate, solid, and useful, which I endeavour to communicate during lecture.'

"In his oral evidence, which is to be found in Part II., p. 91, the following questions and answers occur. I give them in extenso from one to thirteen, both inclusive. It is the answer to question six that chiefly refers to this point. And in answer to question nine the Professor points to the manifest inconvenience which would arise to the student if the Professor taught one thing, and the class-book another.

"1. In answer to the second question, you refer to certain books, and, amongst them, the Salmanticenses. Will you state what that is? -They are the theologians of Salamanca.

"2.And Benedict the Fourteenth ?-Yes; we have occasion to consult all his works occasionally.

"3. And Liguori ?—Also several of his works; HIS MORAL THEOLOGY IS WHAT I PRINCIPALLY refer to.

"4. And Collet ?—Yes, also his work, which is a continuation of Tournely's Moral Theology.

"5. What is the nature of all the works of Collet and Tournely? -Tournely's Theology is dogmatic, and also a portion of it moral; but Collet professes to be a continuation of the Moral Theology of Tournely.

"6. You state that you "follow the order, and, as far as possible, the views and opinions, of the text-books." Are you restricted to the opinions and the views of the text-books employed?—Not necessarily.'

The evidence contained in Chapter IV., as to the injurious tendency of auricular confession; that in Chapter V., as to the Gallican liberties; and in Chapter VI., as to the anti-social principles of Popery, requires close attention, and we may, on another occasion, refer to it. Chapter VII. is on "Papal Infallibility-What is it ?-Where does it reside?-What does it involve?"

Mr. Lord observes, p. 145:

"Well may these questions be asked. They are pregnant with importance as regards the social and political, the temporal and spiritual, welfare of mankind. Few Protestants would hesitate to assert, in answer to these questions,—

"1. That Papal infallibility resides nowhere.

"2. That Papal infallibility exists nowhere.

"3. That Papal infallibility, as a dogma, involves—

"(1.) Absurdity.

"(2.) Impiety.

"Most Protestants will assent to this; few Roman Catholics will admit it. They believe or suppose infallibility to exist someway or another in their Church, but how or where is a mystery which they are unable, and, it may be, care not, to unravel. Their system and its development, together with its assumed right to rule over the whole religious world, and to have all Christians subjected to the Roman Church, -seems necessarily to involve infallibility in order to its inerrancy. But where does this assumed, this alleged, infallibility reside?

"Where is it to be found?

"I. Is it in the Pope alone?
"II. In the Pope and Council?

"III. In the Council without the Pope?

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"These are grave questions. They are heretofore met with ' replies' and answers various and contradictory; and to this day, amongst those Roman Catholics who are well informed, and who dare to think for themselves, a difference of opinion will be found. Can it

be wondered at, then, that amongst Protestants the entire dogma should be rejected?

"That, in addition to their believing it derogatory to Holy Scripture, they should also believe it to be, as many of them do, absurd,— a mere pretension, a fiction,—not a reality.

"Can it be wondered that well-read and well-informed Protestants, when taunted with the uncertainty and disunion of Protestantism, should resort to the proverb, Physician, heal thyself.'

"But wherever Papal infallibility resides, and whatever it is, whoever may be possessed of that priceless treasure, the Romanists, somehow or other, strange to say, believe it to exist. It seems they consider it is to be found somewhere amongst the mysteries of their mysterious system.

"It is not intended now to discuss the points in controversy between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Our province herein is to digest the evidence given before the Commissioners-a truly hard and laborious work.

"On this point of Papal infallibility, we find that the

"Rev. G. CROLLY, Part II., p. 25, 22, states,-'It is no article of our faith that the Pope, acting without the Church, or even with the whole Church, is infallible, except in solemnly expounding to the whole Church the Divine or natural law; because no person holds that the Pope, speaking as a private doctor, and not solemnly teaching the entire Church, cannot err in both faith and morals, or that he cannot be deceived in matters regarding fact and prudence.

"The Ultramontanes restrict his privilege of inerrancy to the interpretation of Revelation, as I have already explained it when speaking of councils, and to the universal precepts of the natural law, divested of all particular facts and circumstances.'

"The manner in which Papal infallibility operates in silencing disputes, or enunciating a new dogma or article of faith, is then discussed, and after some illustrations or instances given, the witness is asked,

66 23. 'Are the Commissioners to understand that the infallibility of the Pope is the same substantially as the infallibility of the universal Church?'

"To which the reply is given:

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It is, in the way it is exercised; it is the actual concerted action of the Pope and the Church. The whole Church knows the thing, the bishops know whether he is going to define it or not-they know all about it, and of course they would not allow the matter to go on so far unless they agreed.

"24. Suppose this case, that the Pope had said, "I have a majority in the Church, say upon this point of the Immaculate Conception, and I now propose it as an article of faith," that would have been then of faith to the whole, even of the dissentient minority, would it not?-CERTAINLY.

“25. You rely upon the discretion with which this great power is exercised?—I rely upon it, because it would not be properly exercised unless that discretion were used, and I rely upon the mode of proceed

ing adopted by the head of the Church in the momentous affair of defining an article of faith.

"26. Are the Commissioners to understand that the infallibility of the Pope is not so much personal infallibility as official infallibility?— The question regards him only as head of the Church-not at all personally he is no more personally infallible than he is personally impeccable. Bellarmine admits that, as an individual, the Pope might become a scandalous sinner or a heretic, in which case a General Council should be assembled to admonish or even to depose him. No decision of the Pope, even ex cathedra, is of Catholic faith until it has obtained at least the tacit concurrence of the bishops.

"27. He is merely infallible when a sentence is announced in a certain official manner as the head and organ of the Church ?— Which sentence is in effect the sentence of the whole Church, and it must regard matter revealed or moral doctrines necessary for salvation, and which concern the whole Church. Popes and Councils not only might, but have erred in personal facts, and in matters depending on prudence. The Church is only infallible in expounding revelation and the universal precepts of the natural law.

"28. Even in cases where you do not hold the Pope to be in any way infallible, as in matters of discipline, he has still authority, as long as his decree is unaltered, to impose that upon all Churches?— Yes; he has authority to impose decrees of discipline upon all.

"29. Even though he is not infallible in that ?—Yes.'

"The question whether the Pope has or has not the gift of infallibility is a mooted question in the Roman Catholic Church, and the Rev. T. Furlong states that a man may adopt the opinion that the Pope is infallible or reject it, and still continue in the communion of the Catholic Church, and that suchis the doctrine taught at Maynooth. “The same witness adds, that a more decided bias prevails generally in favour of the infallibility of the Pope and his authority in spiritual matters than heretofore."

On the subject of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, mentioned by Dr. Crolly, and with reference to other principles or dogmas of the Papacy, Mr. Lord thus writes at p. 71 of the Digest:

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It is difficult to say on what sufficient ground, even according to Roman Catholic theology, the recent dogma of the Immaculate Conception is made to rest, when we read the following passage from the evidence of this witness. Possibly Romanists may be satisfied with the theory that the revealed word consists of the written and the unwritten, and that from this latter portion called tradition the Church has power to produce from time to time such articles of unknown revealed truth, as to the Church may seem good, as suited to her own wants or the peculiar nature of the time at which any new dogma may be proclaimed. Dr. Crolly thus continues :

"There are three things required essentially in every definition of faith.

"First, that the thing be definable, that is, that it be a revealed truth, and consequently nothing can be defined but what has been