offence.' Perfectly identical all this with what is exhibited in the foregoing Taxæ!

But should it be possible to substantiate the charge against the Church of England in the most objectionable form and degree, from whence came the practice? from whom did the Church of England receive it? At any rate the solution of Fees of Office, which we shall see is the sheet anchor of the Roman apologist, is, by the supposition of identity, perfectly destroyed; for in the foregoing instances it is plain mulct or commutation. But will any person, who has any knowledge of the two things attempted to be identifie d,take upon himself to affirm, or, what is better, prove, that the Church of England has either in print, or in office copies, regular catalogues of crimes, for absolution from which certain varying sums of money are to be paid, or that anything in that church exists, or is allowed, identical, or even in the remotest degree similar to the table above given, and other similar ones in the work referred to?

But we have yet to encounter another man, armed with Fees of Office,' Dr. Milner, late Vicar Apostolic of the Midand-district in this country. In his ironically entitled End of Controversy, ed. 1824, Letter xli., note i., he writes of what he calls a 'curious account,' and affirms it to be 'borrowed from the Taxa Cancellaria Romana, a book which has been frequently published, though with great variations, both as to the crimes and the prices, by the Protestants of Germany and France'— the reader may know pretty well whether by Protestants only-' and as frequently condemned by the See of Rome'-and the reader may equally know, how far this is true, even if shelter be sought under the condemnations of the Protestant reprints. But we proceed. It is proper that Mr. Clayton,' (the gentleman attacked,) and his friends should know, that the Pope's Court of Chancery has no more to do, nor pretends to have anything

more to do with the forgiveness of sins, than his Majesty's Court of Chancery does.' A little more, by the leave of this polemic errant, who never stuck at anything, if a Roman writer, Ciampinus, de S. R. E. Vicecancellario, Romæ, 1697, be right, who declares that officer to have jurisdiction over the officials of the Pœnitentiary, and states, as one of the rules of office, quod possit committere absolutionem illorum, qui ignoranter, &c., pp. 52, 53. But the case before the Vicar Apostolic and before us, was, and is, not concerning, or concerning in a very slight degree, the Pope's Chancery, but the Pope's Pœnitentiary; which latter the apologist very dexterously, as he well knew how, contrives to keep out of sight, and throws out the other court to amuse and bewilder the reader. But of the Book. In case there was the least 'real groundwork for this vile book, which I cannot find there ' was'—is it possible to believe such ignorance sincere? even the Protestant prefaces would satisfy any rational man—' the ⚫ money paid into the papal chancery could be nothing else but the fees of office, on restoring certain culprits to the civil privileges which they had forfeited by their crimes.' If Dr. Milner were really ignorant, to write in this dogmatic way would be dishonest; because he must have been sensible of his incompetence to decide; and if he knew the truth, his delinquency was still greater. But who, that for a moment glances upon the catalogue just set before him, not to mention many others recognized by papal bibliographers, can persuade himself that the articles express nothing but innocent fees of office? Why then not fairly published? Why, as is affirmed, condemned? Why was C. d'Espence-poor scrupulous ignoramus! so shocked, and indignant? It is in vain, then, to conceal the dilemma into which the champions of Rome are brought on the subject of this iniquity of their church. At one time it is the vile book,' which had no existence but in the invention of heretics, and was uniformly

disavowed, abominated, condemned, by the innocents upon whom it was charged. But this plan of attack, and this position, could not, it was wisely suspected, be maintained. The assailants therefore, a party of them, on a sudden, get to the opposite side of the fortress, and endeavour to undermine and blow it up with fees of office.' Between the two the distressed besiegers hardly know which method to prefer and abide by, not considering, themselves, so attentively as perhaps others will do for them, that the two parties, as far as their efforts are effectual, annoy, and must eventually destroy, each other; for, if the Book is so vile as to be utterly disavowed and repudiated, it cannot be so innocent as to contain nothing more than what is warranted by strict morality.

Mr. Butler has adopted from his magnus Apollo, the fees of office system. Towards the end of Prosper Marchand's satisfactory article on the subject of his Dictionary, it may be seen that a French advocate of Rome very zealously and powerfully presses the abominable plea. If truth had been on his side, and he could have detached the burden from the back of his church, he would have done something. But confession, repentance, and amendment is all that remains for the apostate of the seven hills.

I cannot refrain, before I close this subject, to notice the shameless effrontery, or ignorance displayed by Dr. Doyle, in his examination before the Irish commissioners, March 18th, 1825, on the subject of papal indulgences. The assertions, or half-assertions, meant to pass for whole ones, by this man, were, except on the supposition of consummate ignorance, what he knew at the time to be absolutely false. Did he know of no indulgences a poena et culpa? None for more than seven years, as authentic as any under that term? None for the future? As dishonourable is the ignorance or treachery of a commissioner, who talked of a vulgar error' on the subject. He was the same, I presume, who had to learn

from his catechumen the definition of heresy and schism: or the same who, adopting the approved papistic method in controversy with Protestants of personating the infidel or Socinian, imagined that he had obtained a dexterous advantage over the Archbishop of Dublin by an interrogatory lecture on the Athanasian Creed, which, he pleased himself, was an exquisite parallel, both in kind and degree, with the monstrosities, doctrinal and practical, which papal credulity is constrained to swallow, and the papal conscience is constrained to profess and enforce. If the Protestant body were to be considered as represented by these commissioners, well might they blush, on the score both of intelligence and principle. A more faithless, and-but I must stop.

A

HISTORIC DEDUCTION

OF THE

EPISCOPAL

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE

To the Pope,

IN THE CHURCH OF ROME:

CONTAINING

THE OATH BOTH IN ITS ORIGINAL AND IN ITS

LATEST FORM;

THE LATTER TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH:

WITH

SOME REMARKS IN PARTICULAR UPON WHAT IS CALLED

THE PERSECUTING CLAUSE.

I own it is with much pain, and awful foreboding of consequences, that I have observed some of our wisest and most enlightened statesmen appear to entertain such sentiments of the present state of the Roman Catholic Religion as to me are wholly unaccountable, except on the hypothesis, either of almost a total ignorance of both the religious and political parts of the Papal system; or, certainly, of an irreverent contempt and carelessness respecting the one, and a dangerous misconception of the other.'-Sermons by the late Very REV. ISAAC MILNER, Dean of Carlisle, President of Queen's College, Cambridge, &c. Vol. I. pp. 30, 31.