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Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc, may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning In the upper left hend corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmte d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour fitre reprodult en un seui clichA. ii est fiim6 A partir de i'angle 8up6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite. et de haut en has. en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T ;if PASTORAL LETTER FOB THE LENT OF M.DCCC.LI. ADDHESSED ro THK (]LKRGY AND LAITY OF THE DIOCESE OF HALIFAX BT THE RIGHT REVEREND DR. WALSH, BISHOP OF HALIFAX. TO WHICH 13 ADDBD A LETTER ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC' EPISCOPAL OATH, IN REFUTATION OF THE INJURIOUS AND UNFOUNDED ASSERTIONS OF THE REV. DR. GUMMING. Of the Scotch Presbytery in London, BY THE SAME. I . PASTORAL LETTER K O R THE LENT OF M.DCCC.LI. ADDRESSED TO THE CLERGY AND LAITY OF THE DIOCESE OF HALIFAX. BY THE RIGHT REVEREND l^R. WALSH, BISHOP OF HALIFAX. TO WIIICII 18 ADDBD b A LETTER ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC EPISCOPAL OATH, IN REFUTATION OF THE INJURIOUS AND UNFOUNDED ASSERTIONS OF THE REV. DR. CUMSIING, Of the Scotch Presbytery in London, Wtitf, "■^■?vjf BY THE SAME. Istos crtro atroces quondam Inimicos nostros, pacem ct quictem nostram variis riolentianim et in- Bidiannn^'eneribusgraviter infestaiitcs, si sic contemncrciuua ot tulerikruiniis, ut nihil oinnino qiiud ad eos terrondos ac corrigcndos valere i)nsset, cxcogitaretur et aKitarctar a nobii<, vere malum pro malo reddfjremus. Non omnia qui parcit, amicus est ; noc omnia qui verberat inimicus : ot melius est cum severitato dilii^ere, quam cum lenitato decii>crt'. Qui phrcneticum ligat, et qui letliarf^icum excitat, ambobus molestus, ambos aroat. S. August. Kp. 48. Vincent. Nunc igitur si Nominis odium est, quia nominum rcatiis? Quae accusntio vncabulorum, nisi s' aut barbarum sonat aliqua vox Nominis, 3Ut maledicum aut impudicum. Oditur ergo in liomi - nibus innocuis etiam nomcn innocuum. . . . O iropito voces, U Sacriloga convicia, iufrenditu, iiispumate ! Tertull. Jlpol. adv. Oentcs. i^y * > * , t *-j^iA NEW- YORK: EDWARD DUNIGAN &. BROTHER, 151 FULTON-STREET. M.DCCC.LI. / Atque adco quasi pr^favus h.c od suggil.andam odii crga noB public! iniquiU^tom, Jam do causa Innocenti^ conBistam, nee tantum refutabo, qua. nobis objiciunlur, sed ctiam Inipsos rctorqucbo qui objiciunt. Tert. Jipol. ^^^ PASTORAL LETTER. kusa icbo WILLIAM, BY THE GRACE OF GOD AND THE FAVOUR OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE, BISHOP OF HALIFAX. To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Halifax : Dearly Beloved Brethren, — It is the duty of those "whom the Holy Ghost has appointed Bishops to rule the Church of God" (1) to watch, with unceasing solicitude, over that portion of the flock of Christ which is committed to their care, and to contribute, both by word and example, to the salvation of those precious souls, for which they will have to render an account, one day, to the Sovereign Judge of the living and the dead. This grave, and formi- dable obligation, always present to our mind, presses up- on us with peculiar force, at a time like this, when we arc about to commence, with the universal Church, that Holy Season of Penance and Prayer which will " cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the hving God " (2) and purify our souls for the worthy celebration of the greatest of all Christian Festivals, the Glorious Re- surrection from the tomb of Our Lord and Saviour. The hallowed season of mercy is now approaching — the days of salvation are at hand — the gracious time of forgiveness is nigh — our redemption is nearer than we believed — and another opportunity is happily afforded us, of returning to the bosom of our offended Father, and of making our peace with Heaven. At a moment so critical for the welfare of his flock, if the Pastor were (1) Acts X. 28. (2) Heb. ix. 14. PASTORAL LETTER. silent, sliould he not apprehend the fearful judgments pro- nounced against the unfaithful shepherds of Israel, wliom the Lord reproached by the mouth of the Prophet Ezc- chiel (3) : — " Wo to the shepherds of Israel Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds ? But my flock you did not feed. The weak you liavc not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed : that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again ; neither have you sought that which was lost." Bear with us, there- fore, Dearly Beloved Brethren, whilst urged by the charity of Christ, and alarmed for your salvation as well as our own, we lift up our voice "as a trumpet" to pro- claim the enormity of sin, the insecurity of life, the cer- tainty of Judgment, the horrible punishments of the sinner who " falls into the hands of the Hving God," and the consequent necessity of speedy and effectual Repen- tance. In the discharge of our pastoral duty, we desire, with our whole heart, to feed the hungry, to strengthen the weak, to heal the sick, to bind up the broken, to bring back again that which the enemy hath driven away, and to seek after the sheep that is lost. Relying not on our own weakness, but fortified by the divine promises of Him, whose unworthy Representative we are, and who exhorts you through our humble voice, we call upon you, in the name and authority of Jesus Christ, your future Judge, " to put off* the old man with all his acts, and be clothed with the new ; " to cast oflf the works of darkness and put on the ' armour of light ; ' to apply *the axe to the root' of your vicious inclinations; to * bring forth fruits worthy of penance ; ' to abandon * the husks of swine ' and return to the delicious plenty of your Father's house ; to feed your hungry souls with the 'word of life' and the sacrament of love, so that your weakness may be removed, your diseases healed, your broken hearts bound up, and your souls again estab- (3) xxxiv. 2. 4. ' PASTORAL LETTER. 5 ! lishcd in all the security of that blessed peace, w hich ia the foretaste of heaven. Prepare yourselves, without delay, for the * acceptable time,' and by a sincere con- version to the Lord your God, *in fasting, and in weep- ing, and in mourning,' (1) give joy to the Angels in heaven, and afford the most pr(;cious of all consolations to the hearts of those on earth, who labour and pray for your salvation. The Great Fast of Forty Days, upon which we are about to enter, is *of divine authority, and not of human invention.' (5) It has received the solemn sanction of the Holy Apostles, and the first heralds of the Gospel. (6) It lias been recommended and proclaimed, as a general law of the Church, in every age from the Apos- tolic times, and in every country which has received the Faith of Christ. Fasting, mortification, and penance, at all times salutary, at every season an assured remedy, and in many instances prescribed by the Divine LaWj it- self, as the necessary weapons of victory in the great Christian warfare, are now commanded by the Church under the grievous penalties of disobedience. To fast on other days may be a remedy, an atonement, and a preventative of sin ; not to fast in Lent, would be itself a crime which would deserve the severest punishment. (7) The imperative duty of mortification so often neg- lected when we arc left to our own decision, can now no longer be evaded. The Church compels us, by a happy necessity, to atone for our former negligence, to repair the consequences of ovu* past sins, to crucify our flesh w^ith all its vices and concupiscences, and, in that morti- fied and guilty flesh, to ' fill up those things which are (4) Joel ii. (5) Quadnvginta diebus jojunamus, nou humana invcntio, sed iiuctoritas divina est. — St. Peter Chrysolog. Sem 11. (6) Congregati (Apostoli) sanxcrunt quadraginta dies jejunii. — S. Chry- sostom Sem. de Jrjunio. (7) Aliis diebus jejunarc remedium, in quadragcsima non jejunare peccatum ; alio tempore qui jejunal accipiet indulgentiam, isto qui non jejunal, senliet pffinam. — S. Augustine Serm. 171 rfe Divcrsis. f) PASTORAL LKTTEK. wanting of the passion of Christ' (8). Wc arc no longer loft to our own discretion. Tho Churcli, tlic in- terpreter of tlic Divine Justice, takes into her own ina- ternjil hands, as it wens the avenging scourge, and chas- tens us for our sins ; whilst at the same time she com- mends to our wavering hps thnt painful, but salutary remedy, that unfailing antidote, that heavenly potion, composed of 'the bitternesses' of our Lord's Passion, which, if left to ourselves, there is too much reason to fear, wo would reject with aversion. Now, she calls up- on us, in virtue of our allegiance to her Divine Founder, to consecrate the first-fruits, tho tithe of the year, to God (9) ; and as we owe all our years to * the king of ages innnortal and invisible,' to dedicate the tenth of this year, in a more solenm manner, to Him, for whom, and in whom, all things live.' (10) And, as the principal object of the Lenten Fast is the destruction of sin, and the purification of the heart, so. Dearly Beloved Breth- ren, whilst you diminish your corporal food, abstain from the iniquities of the world, and ' from carnal desires which war against the soul' (M). This is the great, and perfect Fast, which will fmd favour in tho sight of heaven (12). This is the Fast, which will heal all dis- eases, banish all demons, expel evil thoughts, and create within you a clean heart (L^- ^"^^^ what will it profit you to become pale from fasting, if you be livid from hatred or from envy ? Of what avail, to abstain from flesh whicli was created for food, if by calumny and de- traction you tear asunder the limbs of your brethren whom you are commanded to love ? Why torture the l)ody with the pangs of hunger, if you shamefully pander (8) Colos. i. 21. (0) Quasi anni nostri dccimas Deo damus. — S. Gregor. Mag. Horn. 10 in Evang. (10) Tob. xii. 10. Acts xvii. 28. (11) 1 Pet. ii. 11. (12) Jcjunium niairnum ct generate est abstinere ab iniquitatibus saouli, q >d est pcrfectum jcjunium. — S. Aug. Lib. de Eccl Dogm. Tract 17 t>t Junanncm- (13) Videa quid facial Jejujuniuin. Morbos sanat, damones fugat. pravas r!ogitationes expellit,cor mundum efficit. — S. Atfianasius Lib, 2. de Virg. PASTORAL LKTTER. } to its HoiiHual desires/ (14) The Fn.st wliicli the Lord has clioscn, and which alone will be Jicccptable to Ilini is to "1.00SK THE HANDS oi' wicKKDNKss to deal youF bread to the huiij^ry, and to brin;r the; needy and the harbourlcss into your house ; when you shall sec one naked to cover him, and to despise not your own flesh. Then shall your light !)reak forth as the niornin*^, and your health shall speedily arise, and your justice shall go before your face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather you up. Then you shall call, and the Lord will hear; then you shall cry, and He will say: — *IIerc 1 am.' (15) Commence, therefore. Dearly Beloved brethren, this Quadragesimal Fast by an entire and s lemn renuncia- tion of sin. Avoid its dangerous occasions, and repair its destructive eflects. Emancipate yourselves, without dela)"^, from the bondage of Satan, and break asunder the? chains of death. Let no sacrifice bo considered too great, .vhcre your inmiortal souls are concerned. Cut otf the hand, pluck out the eye, remove the beam, which are occasions of sin to yourselves, and of scandal to your neighbour. Delay not to be converted to the JiOrd. Begin now in earnest, as if hitherto you had made no progress in the service of God. Let *this change' b<^ the mighty work * of the right hand of the Most High,' (16) so that each one may be able to cry oi' in grati- tude and delight, to his Father who is in Heaven : ' Thou hast broken my chains, O Lord ! To thee I will sacri- fice a victim of praise ' (17) — that ' acceptable sacrifice of justice' (18) which the penitent sinner olfcrs to God in the punishment which he inflicts upon himself for his ingratitude to the best of Fathers (19). (14) Quid prodest pallidum esae jcjunio, si odio, et invidia livcscaa? Quid prodest abstinere a carnibus ad edcndum crcatis, et malignis obtrectationibus fratrum membra lacerare 1 Cur corpus fame discrucias, cui turpiter peccando blandiris 1 — S. August. Lib. de Eccl. Dogmat (15) Isaias Iviii. 0.9. (16) Ps. Ixxvi. 11. (17) Ps. cxv. 110. (18) Ps. 1. 21. r (19) ' Sacrificium justitse' fit per Poenitentiam cum peocator seipsum puniens, mactat Deo. — S. Aug. in Ps. 50. f' 8 PASTORAL LETTER Fast, therefore, because you have sinned ; fast that you may not sin again ; fast that all your petitions may be heard before the throne of mercy, and that the Divine * Ear' jnay * listen to the preparation of your heart'. (20) Having explained them on former similar occasions, we deem it unnecessary at present to descant at length on the advantages of Holy Fasting, by which, as the Church herself tells us, our vices are subdued, our minds lifted up from earth to heaven, our souls adorned with virtue, and enriched with its glorious rewards {"21), Let it suffice to say, in the language of one of the Fathers, who, both by word and example, most eloquently en- forced the salutary doctrines of penance : — 'By fasting legislators are made wise. Fasting is the best guardian of the soul, the secure companion of the body, the ar- mour and support of the strong, the training exercise of him who wrestles in the struggle for salvation. Fasting banishes temptations, promotes piety, dwells with sobri- ety, and produces temperance. It is strength in war, and repose in peace. Fasting sanctifies the Nazarean, and elevates the Priest to perfection ; for neither is it law- ful, without fasting, to approach the Sacrifice in that m} Stic and true adoration of God which we now perform, nor was it allowed in the figurative Sacrifices of the an- cient law (22.) Amongst the spiritual and corporal works of mercy which should accompany your Fasting, to make it like unto that Fast which the Lord himself hath chosen, we take the present opportunity of commending to your charitable zeal, and fervent prayers, the Great and God- (20) Ps.x. 17. (21) Qui corporal! jejunio vitia comptimis, menlemele" vas, virtutem largiris et praemia. Prccf. quadrag. 22) J(>junium legislatores sapientes facit : animse optima custodia, corporis socius securus, fortibiis viris munimentum et arma : athletis et certantibus exer- citatio. Hoc prsetereatentationes propulsat, ad pietutem armat, cum sobrietate habitat, tcmperantise opifex est: in bellis fortitudinem aflTert, In pace quietem docet : Nazaraeum sanctificat, sacerdotem perficit; neque e'\m Us est sine jejunio sac rificiumattingere, non solum in mysticanunc, et ver.» Vu adoratione, sed ncc in ilia, in qua sacrificiura secundum legem in figura offerebatur. — S. Basil. Homil. 1 . de jejunio. PASTORAL LETTER. 9 IS, th le like Work of that most useful and meritorious Associa- tion FOR THE Propagation of the Catholic Faith. It is the glory of the present age to have formed an Institution which seems destmed to extend the Kingdom of God to the uttermost boundaries of tiie earth. Now, to co-operate with the Church in the salvation of those precious souls for which Christ died, is one of the most noble and meritorious duties which a Christian can per- form. Cheerful alms, and fervent prayers, are the arms of this heavenly warfare. All the soldiers of Christ are therefore qualified to engage in the conflict with the powers of darkness. The smallest mite is useml, the humblest prayer is efficacious in promoting the success of the great cause, and all the faithful members of Christ are knit together in this bond of love. The fervent Missionary makes the sacrifice of his country and kin- dred, and devotes himself to a life of privation, suffering, and toil. He braves the terrors of death, and the long, lingering martyrdom of persecution, in order to plant the standard of the Cross in benighted lands, to make their * desert as a place of pleasure, and their wilderness as the garden of the Lord* (23). Through the assistance and prayers of the Asso- ciation FOR THE Propagation of the Faith, the Ado- rable name of Jesus has been announced in every part of the earth, and the voice of His Apostolic Ministers has gone forth into the whole world. Since the foundation of this great Society, it has, under the Sanction of the Holy See, sent forth, and supported, innumerable zealouf^ Missionaries to ' preach the Gospel to every creature'. And when v,c consider the immense number of infidels on the earth, the deplorable ignorance in which they live, their dreadful crimes, and abominable superstitions, togetiier with the favourable dispositions of many to receive the truths of the Gospel, we cannot but feel tlic most lively interest in their behalf. When we reflect (23) Isai. li. 3. 10 PASTORAL LETTER '4f that our own ancestors were once * children of wrath' and plunged in the same ignorance and barbarism as se- veral Pagan nations of the presciit day, and that we owe the gift of Faith to the spontaneous mercy of God, and the heavenly zeal with which he inflamed our first Mis- sionaries, should not our gratitude be unbounded, and should we not seek by every means in our power, to extend the same blessings to the whole world ? We justly pride ourselves on belonging to the Only True Church on earth, and professing * the Faith once delivered to the Saints.' But, let us look at our separated brethren of various de- nominations, and behold the unceasing energies, the countless millions, which they expend in their attempts to difluse their erroneous doctrines. Our cheeks must be mantled with blushes, when wc look upon their mis- directed zeal, and our ungrateful apathy. Shall we be less eager to make known the truths of salvation, than they are to propagate error ? We are not called upon to sacrifice our property, to relinquish our occupations, to renounce our kindred, or to abandon our country. We are not summoned to exile, imprisonment, or death. We are not invited to endure the tortures of the scourge, nor the deadly bitterness of the sword for the faith of Christ. But, if our blood do not flow in the sacred cause, shall not even a small portion of our miserable pelf be poured out, to assist the holy confessors and martyrs of our religion, who are, at this moment, braving every danger, enduring every fatigue, and suflfering even the most cruel torments, for the love of their neighbour and their God ? The institution for the Propagation of the Faith, im- plores, in addition to our prayers, but one half-penny per week, for this glorious, this God-like work. The Almighty alone can tell the incalculable benefits which it has already produced, and the many souls, both of in- fants baptized, and of adults converted, for whom it has PASTORAL LETTER. 11 secured the bliss of Heaven. For, do we not behold in these our times, the enlargement of Christ's spiritual Kingdom, the extension ofllis Church on earth, the ful- filment of His gracious promises in behalf of the Gen- tiles ? — " I come that I may gather them together with all nations and tongues : and they shall come and shall sec my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send of them that shall be saved, to the Gentiles into the sea, into Africa and Lydia, into Italy and Greece, to the Islands afar oif, to them that have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory to the Gentiies," (24) When we consider the astonishing success which has crowned the labours of her Missionaries in every part of the globe, for the last quarter of a century, may we not address the Church of God in the language of the same inspired writer ? — *' En- large the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles : spare not ; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For, thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left ; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities." (25) Does not that glorious epoch in the history of the Church seem to dawn upon us, of which it was written : — '* Lift up thy eyes round about, and see : all these are gathered together, they are come to thee : thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder, and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee ! (26) The Association for the Propagation of the Faith is solemnly approved of by the Head of the Church ; it is enriched with numerous Indulgences, and is recommended to the Faithful by nearly all the Bishops of the Christian world. What Catholic then, will refuse to contribute his prayers or his mite for the love of Him (24) Isai. Ixvi. 18. (25) Id. Ut. 3. (26) Id. Ix. 4. 12 PASTORAL LETTER " who being rich, was made poor for our sakes," and for the salvation of ilis creatures throughout the universe, for whom He has died, and whom He has commanded us to love ? We need not remind you. Dearly Beloved Brethren, that this holy Association has powerful claims on the gra titude and support of every Cathohc in the Diocese of Halifax ; for we have frequently recounted to you the his- tory of its benefactions to our scattered flock, and the blessed fruits of its abundant and truly charitable assis- tance. If the Ministers of the Lord have been multipli- ed, — if new labourers arc every year sent into His vine- yard, — if numerous Temples have been built in his hon- our, — if the Holy " Places where His glory dwelleth ' have been beautified and adorned, — if the mysterious rites and aftecting ceremonies of our Holy Church have been performed with solemnity or splendour, — if the heart of the poor exile in the wilderness has been cheer- ed by the consolations of Religion, — if the expiring Christian in the distant settlement, or the lonely forest, has been fortified by the Sacraments of Salvation, — if the Gospel of Christ has been preached to the poor, and the Ancient Faith vindicated before those who knew not its priceless value : in a word, if many hundreds of our separated Brethren have, in this Diocese, within the last few years, returned to the Ark of security and peace, the glorious Church of their Fathers ; if the seeds of the Divine Word have been scattered far and wide, through the medium of Good Books, and the endearing emblems, the sweet memorials of Catholicity have been diffused in all directions, — to whom, next to God, are we chiefly indebted for such consoling and inestimable favours ? With confidence and gratitude, we answer : — To The Association for the Propagation of the Faith. All this you know, Dearly Beloved Brethren ; and for the last eight years, especially in the City and vicinity PASTORAL LETTER. la J of Halifax, you have testified your gratitude not only by the generous contributions which you have poured into this sacred treasury, but also by the thanksgivings, pray- ers, and communions, which you have constantly offer- ed to Almighty God for the increasing success of this blessed work. We desire, however, that throughout the entire Diocese, even in the poorest parts (and, alas ! we know too well the general poverty of the rural districts,) the alms for this Association, no matter how small, should be collected, and above all, that continual pray- ers should be offered up for the propagation of the king- dom of Christ. And this naturally reminds us of a kindred desire which has long engaged our heart, and of which, parti- cularly during the Holy Season of Lent, we trust you will not be unmindful. It is, to solicit your most earnest prayers for the conversion of the Kingdom of England to the orthodox faith. England was once a great Catholic country ; for more than a thousand years she professed the Ancient Creed. From Rome, the centre of spiritual light, the lamp of faith was brought, and enkindled upon her hills ; and by Missionaries from Rome, the trumpet of the true Gospel was sounded upon her shores. She could boast of her adoption by a sainted Gregory the Great, and a holy Augustine, the fruitful parent of so many children in Christ. She could glory in a Lucius, a Helen, an Ethelbcrt, an Oswald, an Edmund, and Alfred, and an Edward the Con- fesso- • an Erkenwald and Chad, a Willibald and Wilfrid, a Willibrord and Dunstan and S within, an Elphege, an Anselm, and a Thomas ; a venerable Bede, a Bennet Bis- cop, a Botulph, a Stephen, and a Cuthbert. From the throne to the cottage, in every rank of life, she produced the most illustrious Saints. Her Kings and Queens exchanged their palaces for the cell, their diadems for the cowl, and resigned all earthly power to devote them- 14 PASTORAL LETTEIl ll - selves to Him, "whom to serve is to reign." England was long famous for piety, charity and learning. Her religious retreats were filled with the votaries of sanc- tity and science ; hence, her Bishops, her Abhots, her Doctors, lier holy Martyrs, her innumerable Virgins, her Sacred Architects, the countless monuments of the ho- hness, munificence, and zeal, of her truly Catholic people, occupy many of the brightest pages in the history of the Church. But, alas ! in an evil hour, and days of darkness, a terrible vicissitude obscured all her ancient renown. How has her gold become dim, and her best colour been changed, and the abomination of desolation set up in her holy place, and the stones of her Sar tuary been scattered at the top of every street ! In His inscrutable judgments, the Lord has covered her with obscurity in the day of his wrath, and brought her into darkness, and not into light. He has cast her down headlong, and has not spared all that was beautiful in her. He has, in His fierce anger, cast off her Altar, and cursed her Sanctu- ary ; He has delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hands of the enemy. His law was no more amongst her, R.nd her prophets found no vision from the Lord. Those blind prophets saw but false and foolish things for her, and they did not lay open her iniquity to excite her to penance. The Lord made her a derision to all His people — their song all the day long. He filled her with bitterness, fed her with ashes, removed her soul far oflf from peace, so that she forgot the good things of old, and her end and hope seemed to have perished. She strayed away from the womb, and spoke false things. She despised the faithful Mother who had begotten her in Christ, who had nourished her with sound doctrine, and exalted her to glory and honour. Great has been her pride, and her arrogance as that of Moab, and in the multitude of her strength she "persecuted the PASTORAL LETTER. 15 Church of God," and got drunk with the blood of his Martyrs. She made His servants a prey to the fowls of heaven, and gave the flesh of Ilis saints lo the beasts of the earth ! Great, indeed, as the sea, was her de- struction : who could heal her ? (27) Oh ! if she could but v in back again the precious pearl which she has lost ! If she could only recover that sav- ing Faith which she so unhappily surrendered ! If, af- ter three centuries of spiritual degradation and chastise- ment, — and we look upon her temporal prosperity, and her mere worldly wisdom, as her greatest scourges— she could only obtain pardon of her great national crime, we do believe, from the many noble and estimable natu- ral qi/ilities of her people, that England would speedily become one of the fairest portions of the Church of Christ, aid perhaps eclipse her ancient glories. And su'cly the arm of the Most High is not shorten- ed. Whf knows but that the Lord may turn to the Eng- lish peope, our dear though separated brethren, our be- loved felow-subjects, and forgive them, and remember their luquities no more I Who knows but that they mayoe again translated from darkness into His admi- rab'e light ! Who know s but that they may return again to the Holy Mother that bore them, " to the Rock from i^hich they were cut out," to the centre of Unity and Truth from which they received their first Apostles ! From the wonderful events of the last few year j, and the extraordinary changes which are every day occur- ing, there is much ground for hope. All that could be accomplished by human malice or human wisdom, prompted and supported by the powers of darkness, to uproot the Ancient Faith, has been tried in vain ; for " there is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord." (28) We almost shudder at giving even a brief transcript of the horrible devices employed against the Church of God ; but why should (87) Jerera. &c. passim. Ps. Ixxvii. (28) Proverbs xxi. 30. 16 PASTORAL LETTER. we not exalt the heroism of His faithful servants in Eng- land—the invincible power of His Truth— the irresistible strength of the right hand of the Most High! We therefore only declare what is notorious to the world, when we say, that sanguinary laws, bribery and punish- ment, threats and smiles, imprisonment and proscription, outrages and insult, misrepresentation and calumny, sham plots and mendacious forgeries, exclusion from place and power — oppression in the army, degradation in the navy, injustice in the courts of law, banishment from the halls of science, crushing fines, grevious exac- tions, cruel confiscations — the rack, the scourge, tlu* gibbet — every form of torture, all species of contuaely — whatsoever was hideous in bondage, debas\ig in slavery, unnatural in civil strife— all that poisr^ed the springs of friendship, destroyed the charities of life, and rent asunder the dearest ties of nature — all all have been tried, and tried in vain. In vain were ti"ed tlio il- limitable resources, the vast wealth, the boundess |m;w'- er, of the greatest Empire that perhaps the vorld has ever beheld. The indestructible germ of divine '^Vuth, planted deeply in the soil, by the zealous labours oi hoj first Missionaries, could never be eradicated from the fair bosom of England. Her Catholicity was not deal ; it merely slept. There were always a chosen few, wIk. never bent the knee to Baal. There were always some who refused to pronounce that dreadful and impious sen- tence of damnation against all Christendom, and to de- clare, that " for eight hundred years and upwards " it was plunged in gross idolatry. There were always some lofty souls, and faithful sons, who refused to curse the ashes of their pious ancestors, and who would not be- lieve — the very thought filled them with horror — that the hallowed remains of their forefathers, which, for up- wards of ten centuries had accumulated the soil in the innumerable Cemeteries of Old England, were nothing more than the bones of Idolators who had perished un- "t;J PASTORAL LETTER. 17 il- up- the hing i un- der the malediction of heaven. Oh ! how could they beUcve this, when they looked around and beheld on every side the time-honuured monuments of Catholic England ; the enduring testimonials of piety, charity, and faith; the superb cathedrals, the spacious abbeys, the beauteous cloisters, the solemn temples, the lofty spires, the rich tabernacles, the jewelled vases, the en- amelled shrines, the glittering chancels, the gorgeous windows, the towering columns, and the sculptured arch- es ; the noble universities, colleges and schools, the vast libraries, the pious endowments, the charitable legacies, the chauntries, the hospitals, the alms-houses, the refu- ges for the destitute and the aged of every rank, those sweet asylums for the poor, in which poverty was deem- ed no crime, but was honoured and respected, and cher- ished, with tendercst care, for His sake. Who, for love of us, made Himself poor ! How could they assert that the Great Nation who had bequeathed to posterity so many imperishable records of their knowledge of the Gospel, and their practical belief in Christ were nothing better, after all. than the Infidel or the Pagan ! Ac- cordingly those devoted sons of Old Catholic England, steadfast in their allegiance to God, remained faithful to the Church of their fathers. Throughout a long and withering persecution, in which they were deprived of all human consolation, they hoped against hope. Weep- ing, they wept in this long night of sorrow, over the desolation of their Sanctuary, and their tears were on their cheeks ; for amongst all those who were before dear to them, there was none to comfort them. (29) Nevertheless, like the prophet Daniel, they were Men OF Desires, and they prayed, without ceasing, that the days of desolation and captivity might be shortened up- on God's people, that the transgression of their beloved country might be finished, and its sin might have an end. (.30) How fortunate for England that she possess- (29) Jerem. (30) Daniel ix. 23. 24. 2 18 PASTORAL LETTER * if h 0(1 this faithful band of Confessors and Martyrs ! For " if the Lord of Hosts had not left " her that precious " seed " she " would have been as Sodom, and should liave been like to Gomorrha." (.31) Their prayers and tears, no less than the continual intercession of the glorious array of the sainted spirits of England, seem to have at length prevailed before the throne above. A more enlightened policy has in some measure supplanted the persecuting spirit of other dis- astrous times. A bright streak — the forerunner of a glorious dawn — has appeared upon her religious hori- zon ; and those who sighed so long, in remembering the splendours of the olden time, look up with grateful ad- miration, and joyful hope. The fountains of ancient Truth, so long sealed up, have been gradually re-open- ed, and the " desert, waterless land " (32) is refreshed and gladdened with its fertilizing streams. Many of " the people who walked in darkness have seen the great light" (33) which was erst while shed upon their fathers. They have begun to read their national history with the eye of Faith, and to discern, in every thing around them, the true vestiges of English glory, the solid proofs of universal fame, the best pledges of temporal peace, and of endless bliss to come. The way-side cross, the ivy-mantled turret, the storied sepulchre, the silent cell, the painted window, the frescoed wall, the encaustic pavement, the antique gem, the illuminated manuscript, the ancient coin, the regal robes, the coronation rite, the royal charities, the knightly armour, the municipal l)adge, the heraldic device, the monumental inscription, the old patent, the moth-eaten deed, the legal formula, the parochial titles, the black-letter calender, the patron saints of churches, the collegiate rules, the pious stat- utes of olden guilds, the hallowed festival customs, the popular games, the familiar salutations, the names of streets, villages and towns, the very " stones crying out (31) laai. i. 9. (32) Pe. Ixii. 3. (33) Isai. ix. i ' ll PASTORAL LETTER. 19 from the walls " (31) of the dismantled temple — all those unerring telegraphs, which commimicate to modern times the belief of other days, have spoken to the Eng- lish heart in mute, but eloquent language, and have awakened it from the torpor of ages. The transcendent beauties of Catholic Art arc admired and copied. The " dark ages," once so vilified, are now encircled with a halo of brightness. The ** lazy monks " are found to be the benefactors of mankind, and to have rendered im- mense services to society, in the scriptorium and at the plough, as well as in the schools of science, the chancel, or the pulpit. The spirit of the tasteful and indefati- gable Pugin has breathed upon the unsightly heaps of Protestant Architecture, informed the grotesque piles of modern fashion, and in his plastic hand moulded chaos itself into beauty, sublimity and order. Thus, William of Wykham is revered, not only in his own beloved Winchester, but throughout the length and breadth of the land. The enchanting pages of Digby, that skilful miner, who, with incessant toil has dug up the buried treasures of the Ages of Faith, and from his rich stores house of Catholic lore " brought forth new things and old " (35) to astonish, to dazzle, to inflame his delight- ed reader, — have confounded the calumnies of literary pretenders, and pointed out to the weary pilgrim of the soul, the thousand alluring paths which converge and lead to the only consecrated Temple of Unity and Peace. Attested in his own blood, the " Ten Rea- sons" of Campian, the glorious son of St. Ignatius, once addressed in vain to Oxford, have at length prevailed in that renowned seat of learning ; and attracted by that potent voice which called Peter from his nets, Paul from the synagogue, and Matthew from the customs, numbers of the most gifted sons of that famous University have renounced all things to follow Christ. The pure and incorruptible soul of More again hovers around the (34) Habacuc. ii. 11. (35) Matt. xiii. 52. fl 20 rASTOUAL LETTEIl. precints of Westminister Hall, and the blood of the martyred Fihiikr han cried out with effect to the most distinguished of the Iwit^lish Clergy, and induced them, by the consideration of the singular anomaly of Church lleadHliip so clearly described seventeen centuries ago by the stern African doctor, (30) to restore their alle- giance to the successor of Peter, the Vicegerent of .hjsus Christ, for whose spiritual supremacy that great prelate of RoclH\ster so nobly died. Father Pekhons, the distinguished alumnus of Baliol College at Oxford, is ably represented by the learned Nkwman, who writes also with depth and feeling for the conversion of his na- tive land. The evangelical boldness of Pkyto and Elstow, the glorying in the Cross of Christ, and the contempt of the world's ridicule, which immortalized Hou<3iiTON, the holy Prior of the Charter House, are seen again in an Oakcley, a Faber, a Ward, a Father Ignatius, who glories in the livery of Jesus Crucified, and fears not to " speak of the testimonies of the Lord in the presence of Kings." (37) The mighty metrop- olis has found a successor for Pole in profound and va- ried erudition, and orthodox zeal, as well as in the high- est honours of the Roman purple. In a word, the ma- jesty and befHity ot our spotless Church are quietly re- suming their ancient sway. England is returning to judg- ment, and the wicked elders who conspired to blacken the fair fame of the Spouse of Christ are already con- victed of prevarication and falsehood. These are some of the wondrous works which have been wrought before our eyes, and for the accomplishment of which many past generations have wept and prayed, 'nave suffered and died. Truly th"s is the Lord's own work, and it is wonderful in our eyes ! If we were to imagine. Dearly Beloved Brethren, that this mighty throbbing of the national pulse should create (36) Non permittitur mulicri in Ecdesia loqui ; sed nee doccre, nee tinguere^ nee offerre, nee ullius virilis muneris, nedum Sacerdotalis opyicic borteai liibi vendicaro. Tertullian De Virg. Velandis. C. IX. (37) Ps. cxviii. 46. PASTORAL LEITER. 21 no HonHRtion; that tlicsn lon<( stajjjnanf, watora should l»o Htirnnl to their very doptlis without houio ofleiisive com- motion; that the enemy of truth, thc"«tron^-nrmeed oflf from the vine ; but She remains in her root, in her vine, in her charity. "The gates of hell shall not overcome her." (43) Founded on a rock as immutable as Christ's promise ; in her beauty always ancient, and ever new, the Catholic Church has shone as a glorious Light to the whole world. Assailed from within ahd without, each successive struggle is but the prelude of a new victory. Faithful to the Counsels of Her Divine Founder, She is patient, she endures, she hopes, she prays, and she triumphs. The billows of heresy and schism, the swelling waves of infidelity and error have dashed against her sides in vain. The scorching blasts of fifty persecutions Imve swept over her, but she has not once bowed her majestic head. For countless ages the tide of time h as rolled by Her, bearing to destruction on its bosom every of the works of man, but She re- mains unmoved, whilst each generation, as it passes, bends in obeisaiice before Her, proclaims Her to be like Her Invisible Head, "the same yesterday, to-day. and forever" (44) and salutes H<3r as "Quee:; of Eternity." We can have, therefore, nothing to fear, but much to (42) John xvi. ?}3. (43) Ipsa est Ecclesia sancta. EcclesiaUna Ecclesia vera, Ecclesia Catholica contra omnes hr::ieses pu^nans. Pugnare potest, ex- pugpari tamen non potest, &c. Portae inferi non vincent earn. S. Aug. Serm. de Symbol, ad Catechmenos. (44> Heb. xii <=. 24 PASTORAL LEITER hope from the present condition of England. The nerv- ous agitation of our opponents, tlieir appeals to physical force, their loud calls upon the civil power for assistance, show that they have no confidence in their stability, and that they have given up the field of argument in despair. For surely they would not indulge in such frantic rage, if they really believed, that their Church was built upon a Rock, and that by Divine Promise, the gates of hell could not prevail against her. It was their favourite and insulting allegation, that Catholicity was the legitimate offspring of ignorance, and that in any free and enlight- ened country, it could not stand the test of discussion. No doubt, they had long disproved the sincerity of this assertion by the jealous vigilance with which they guard- ed the fountains of Knowledge, and deprived the hapless Catholic of all chance of education. But it has been reserved for this our day, to give a crushing contradic- tion to this old, stereotyped calumny. For, after ages of persecution, a long possession of power, and an exclu- sive use of all the sources of science on their part, we have met the chosen champions of error, under every disadvantage. We have met them at the press, and in the pulpit, the college and the university, on the public platform, and in private discussion, in the courts of law, and in the popular assemblies, in the proud mansions of the great, as well as in the desolate abodes of the poor, in the peasant's cot, no less than the baronial castle : and we had nothing to offer but Glorious Truth, for the possession of which, we demanded the sacrifice of all that was d<^ir to flesh and blood. The result is BEFORE THE WORLD. lu spitc of all their glittering bribes, the great cause of Truth has been triumphant. Jesus Crucified, — O astonishing power of Divine grace ! — with all the opprobium and folly of the Cross, has be- gun to reign in generous hearts which once rejected His sweet yoke. Innumerable souls which had long flitted over the dehige of unbehef, have happily returned to the PASTORAL LETTER. 25 Ark of rest. The tempest tossed wlio were "carried about by every wind of doctrine" have at length found the Divine security of Peter's Bark. Egypt has been despoiled, and the People of God are ennched with her most valuable treasures. Their great champions, and noblest ornaments we have made captives of Faith, and docile members of God's Holy Church. Their most learned doctors with all the edifying simplicity of little children in Christ, have descended from their chairs, and, seated at His feet, have begun to learn the very rudiments of the science of salvation, in His School of humility and meekness. And these marvellous changes, these magnificent intellectual triumphs hcive been achieved by sound arguments from reason and Scrip- ture, aided by divine grace ; most certainly not by bribes, coercion, or any species of physical force. And it is not alone the poor, the lowly, the simple, the untitled and obscure ; no ; but the rich, the noble, the learned, the pious, the truly honest have been converted ; men, whose great sacrifices are the surest test of the depth of their convictions, and the unimpeachable sincerity of their motives. Thus, beaten in every field of argument, torn by intestine dissensions, bel«^aguered by powerful as- sailants, abandoned by the learned and virtuous of her own children, most skilfully assaulted on all sidv.^, by the very weapons which she had herself wielded against the Immaculate Spouse of Christ, the Protestant Church in England, which, like the creed of Mahomet, was first propagated by the passions and the sword, true to the principles of her origin, and keenly alive to the essential conditions of her existence, would now recur in her de- cline, to brute force, to penal laws, to galling restric- tions, — invokes all the strength of England, and all the " omnipotence of Parliament" furbishes and sharpens all the old congenial weapons, not against what is called " Papal Usurpation " — for that is a mere pretext to hide the vindictive spirit of mortifying defeat, and the low 26 PASTORAL LETTER. cunning of baffled political intrigue — but in reality against some poor bishops, priests, and laymen, against a small chosen band of men an honour to Christianity and human nature, the ornaments of their country, who have renounced everything for the sake of the Gospel Truth which they once opposed, but for which they are now prepared to shed their blood. And what. Dearly Beloved Brethren, has produced this great Religious Revolution ? What has caused these " dry bones " to hearken to the Word of the Lord, and to be clothed with sinews and flesh, and to be covered with skin, and, wl. i infused spirit, to live again ? (45) We believe that it is to be attributed to the potent spell, the vivifying influence of Holy Prayer. For some years past, in several parts of Christendom, Pray- ers have been oflfered up for the conversion of England. Through the untiring and zealous exertions of a noble Convert of the House of Spencer, to whom we have already alluded, and who loves England with the whole soul of a true Christian Patriot, the charity of foreign Catholics has been excited in her behalf. From many a silent cloister and lonely cell, and hallowed santuary, in distant lands, have the most earnest petitions for Eng- land ascended in secret to Heaven. What a contrast botween the peaceful weapons by which the children of the Church would win back to Christ's Kingdom this ancient realm, and the violence of language and action which characterise the defenders of modern innovation ! For discussion, they have substituted abuse ; and fling- ing aside the Bible, with all its fraternal love, they ap- peal to the odious Statute Book with all its penalties and pains. We pray ; they would fight. We call down mercy upon them ; they cry out for vengeance against us. In high places, the bandage has been rudely torn from the eyes of Justice, and the equipoise of the im- partial scales disturbed by her half-unsheathed sword. (45) Ezechiel xxxvii. 4. 6. PASTORAL LETTER. 27 The First Minister of the Crown, whose high position and sacred obligation to consultwithimpartiality for the welfare of all her Majesty's subjects, should have kept him, in an Empire of so many divers creeds, far aloof from the angry struggles of religious polemics, has not only descended into the thickest of the fight, but, with a recklessness which baffles all conjecture as to its cause and its object, has actually himself sounded the horrid tocsin of civil strife, hurled the most abusive and con- temptuous epithets against the Religion of nearly all Christendom, and the doubly-anointed King of the most ancient Sovereignty in Europe ; provoked and encour- aged a fearful excitement for which posterity will hold him responsible, and which, alas ! seems preparing to obscure some of the brightest pages of English History which would record the mild, peaceful, and prosperous reign of a Sovereign so universally and deservedly en- shrined in the hearts of all who own Her gentle sway, and assuredly by none more than by the millions of Her faithful Catholic subjects, both Bishops, Priests and Lay- men, from the centre to the extremities of Her vast Empire.* * As a specimen of the sad lengths to which the country has been driven by the mischievous " mummeries " of this great political charlatan, it has been observed with pain, that even " the Women of Windsor " have petitioned Her Majesty " to save them from the encroachments of the Bishop of Rome ! " Poor, hapless innocents ! They ought to have known that if Woman is not in Europe the degraded slave of passion and caprice, as in the tyrannical coun- tries nf the East, she owes it all to the influence of Catholicity, and the Apos- tolic firmness of " the Bishop of Rome." It was Rome, and the Bishops of Rome that always vindicated the dignity, independence, and rights of woman in the social scale, against Princes, Kings, and Emperors, against feudal ty- ranny and barbarian violence. ' "^fhe Women of Windsor ' need not have gone beyond their own Castle to look for proofs and precedents in favour of these assertions. A Bishop of Rome even at the hazard of losing the King- dom of England as a spiritual appanage, resisted to the last, the fearful and bloody ' encroachments ' on the rights of Woman, of thai tyrannical monster the Eighth Henry. Well would it be for the Women oi Windsor, and the Women of England if the salutary influence of the Bishi p of Rome were more felt in England, to curb the unbridled passions of ..icu by the discipline of the Gospel, to secure for their children the essential rites of Holy Baptism against the ' encroachments" of Privy Councils, and to maintain the indis- solubility of the Marriage tie — that divine and sure protection of social order, domestic harmony, and Woman's rights. 28 PASTORAL LETTER. Jhl We turn with relief from the contemplation of this painful subject, and the perils which have been risked by this most unwise Statesman, to the far different cru- sade which has been preached up amongst us, by the Peter the Hermit of the nineteenth century. Dissonance and harmony, truth and error, light and darkness, are not more different than the key-notes of a Russell and a Spencer. We have seen the latter crying out for Peace, and not the Sword. We have not heard him sounding the war-cry of battle, but sweetly inviting us to pray to the God of Armies. And can we refuse his supphcation ? Can we shut our ears against this "Voice OF the English" which speaks through his mouth ? Many thousands of you. Dearly Beloved Brethren, are of Irish birth, or of Irish descent : Now, this Apostle of Prayer has specially set his heart upon securing the Prayers of the Irish. He knew their faith, their piety and their fervour. He knew how acceptable in their mouth would be prayers for such an object. He felt what a sublime spectacle of christian forgiveness, and christian charity, in the sight of God and man, would be faithful Ireland prostrate in supplica- tion to Heaven, for mercy and compassion on her ancient enemy. And within the last year, wherever he was seen amongst them on his errand of love, have not the persecuted Irish nobly responded to his call? Yes; they have proved that they can make sacrifices of feeling, as well as sacrifices of property and life, for the Glorious Faith which they loved more dearly than both. Having learned from Him who was judged unjustly how to die for Truth, they have also learned how to -pray for their enemies. It ^eems as if by some inscrutable dispensation of ] .vine Providence, that, Ireland, whose nationahty is as ^inct and peculiar now as it was in the days of Henry II., should be reserved as an instrument in the hands of God for the weal or woe, the '' ruin or resurrection" of PASTORAL LETTER. 29 to ;ir her more powerful neighbour. More grateful to our heart is the conjecture of many wise and holy men, that England will recover her lost Faith through the agency of Ireland by that sweetly-disposing wisdom ofllim who chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak things of this world to confound the strong, and the things that are contemptible and that are not, to bring to nought the things that arc, that no flesh should glory in his sight. (40) Indeed for a long time past the Irish have been silently, and perhaps un- consciously engaged in the conversion of England. A very large number of the English Missions are supported by Irish priests, Irish Congregations, Irish generosity, and Irish zeal. Thus in the hands of God, throuf^h whom "all things co-operate unto good" (47) even the sins of men, (48) the indirect fruit of English oppression in Ireland, has been, to import back again to the shores of Albion, that Religion which she so much dreaded. Neither is it the first time that England has derived much spiritual benefit and intellectual improvement from the Island of Saints. Twelve centuries ago the valuable services of Ireland or this score were gratefully acknow- ledged by the Venerable Bede. Then, as well as now, the Irish Clergy penetrated to the remotest parts of Bri- tain, to bear the tidings of salvation. Then, likewise, as recorded by this holy English priest, came numbers both of the nobles and the middle classes of the English, into Ireland, to acquire sacred learning, and the discipline of a pure life : and they were received with hospitality and kindness, and were generously supplied with food, books, and Masters, by the warm-hearted people of the (xreen Isle. (4*9) And although this noble hospitality (46) Wisd. viii.— 1 Cor. i. 25. 29. (47) Rom. viii. 28. (48) S. Aug. Lib. de corrept et grat. c i. (49) Eraiit ibidem (in Hibernia) eo tempore multi Nobilium simul et mc- diocrium de gente Anglorum, qui tempore Finani et Colmani episcopcrum relicta insula patria, vel divinae lectionis, vel continentioris vitaj gratia illo .secesserant. . . . Quos omues Scoti libcntissime suscipientes, victum eis i]uotidianum sine precio, libros quoque ad legendum, et magisterium gratai- tum praebcre cura1)ant Yen. Beda. Eccl. Hist. Gent. Anglorum lib. iii c. 27. 30 PASTORAL LETTER. has been sadly requited, the charity of the Iriah heart is as inexhaustible as their fertile soil. The Irish are again assisting England in England, and the Irish in Ire- land are praying for the English, and the Irish in all parts of the globe will, we trust, also discharge the same holy office of fraternal love. And may the Almighty God, in His infinite mercy, listen to their supplications ! For, after all. Dearly Beloved Brethren, the great bulk of the English population, have many, very many claims upon our charitable sympathy. They are themselves the victims of a long, artful, and unscrupulous system of de- ception and calumny. And, if it frequently happens that they blaspheme the things which they know not (50) it should excite our pity rather than our surprise. For, only conceive a member of any of the Protestant Com- munions in that country, trained up from his infancy in the belief that Catholics hate him ; that they would think it no crime to injure him ; that they have no respect for the sanctity of an oath ; that they can obtain pardon of any transgression for money ; that they can get leave to commit any sin they please, by paying a stipulated sum ; that with them, the end justifies the means, no matter how wicked ; that they make a Divinity of the Blessed Mother of God, and worship her as such ; that they adore Angels and Saints, or oflfer them the homage which belongs to the Deity alone ; that they place their hopes of salvation in their priests, or in long prayers, fasting and superstitious practices, and not in the merits of Jesus Christ's Passion and Death ; that they make idols and images, and set up relics, to adore and pray to them, as if they were God Himself; that they hate or fear the Bible, are not permitted to rearf it, and prefer human traditions before its heavenly-inspired words ; that their priests preach to them in unknown tongues, and that they have blotted out, or concealed one of the commandments, lest the deluded people should see the (50) Jude i. 10. PASTORAL LETTER. 31 s; es, he he danger of idol-worship ; that the Pope can jrivc them a dispensation to do any thing howsoever wicked, provided it be for the good of the Church ; that there is a regular list, kept in a Book at Uome, of the prices of every sin, cither for leave to commit it, or for its pardon after com- mission — in a word, that their whole Religion is nothini^ but conjuration and deceit, outward pomp and unmean- ing ceremony, without any adoration in spirit and in truth ; conceive a Protestant imbued with these false no- tions from his very infancy, imbibing them with his mo- ther's milk ; hearing them from his parents, family and teachers; reading them in his school-books, listening to them assiduously from his Minister in the pulpit ; con- ceive, if you can, all this terrible action and reaction, of interested calumny, for several successive generations, and though you may be shocked and grieved, you can hardly be surprised at the anti-Catholic fury, which has lately raged through the length and breadth, of the once hallowed land of an Alfred, and an Edward the Con- fessor. We, therefore, call upon you. Dearly Beloved Bre- thren, " through the bowels of the mercy of our God,*' (51) to offer up your fervent supplications for the spiritu- al welfare of the Enghsh people, and for their speedy return to the faith of their forefathers. Lift up your hearts to Him " who sendeth knowledge as the light" and beseech Him " that He would gather together the tribes of Jacob, that they may know there is no God beside Him ; that he would hasten the time, and remember the end, that we may declare His wonderful works !" (52) It is our desire, that ox every day during the Lent your petitions should ascend to Heaven for our dear bre- thren in England, and that on every Wednesday through- out the year, you should continue to pray for the same pious purpose, as for some years past both in England and Ireland, as well as on the Continent of Europe, a (21) Luke i.78. (52) Eccles. xxiv. 35. sxxvi. 10- 13. i m PASTORAL LETTER. day in the week has been selected for the discharge of tills merciful office.. We wish however that one day Hhould he specially set apart, and we consider none more Huituble'tlian the approaching festival of Pope St. Gregory the Great, so justly styled the Apostle of the English Nation, who " converted them from the power of Satan unto the faith of Cliriat," (f)!}) and whose solicitude for their salvation is so well known throughout the univer- sal Church. We will, therefore, o\ Wednesday the Tweltii Day OF March next ensuing, by our united prayers offer a holy violence to Heaven on behalf of that Great Nation in whose conversion is involved the eternal happiness of so many millions of the human race, in every part of the known world. On that day, we request, that the Iloly Sacrifice of the Mass be offered up by every Priest in the Diocese of Halifax, and that the faithful will, as numerously as pos- sible, offer up their devout communions on the same day for the spiritual regeneration of England. And, as when her holy and apostolic missionary St. Augustine approached King Ethclbcrt to sohcit permission to announce the Gospel of Christ to his subjects, and having obtained it, entered the metropolis of his Kingdom in procession with his zealous companions "bearing, accordin^^ to their cus- tom, the Holy Cross and image of the Great King, Our TiOrd Jesus Christ and chaunting the Litany with harmoni- ous voice, supplicated the Lord for the eternal salvation of themselves and of those on whose account, and to whom they had come"(54) from Glorious, Everlasting (53) De quo (Beato Papa Gregorio) iios convenit (quia nostram, id est* Anglorum gentein, (le postestate Satanse ad fidem Christi sua industria con*' vertit) latior in nostra historia Ecclcsiastica facere sermonem, quem recte NOSTRUM appcllare possumus et debemus Apostoli'M. Ven. Beda. Eccl. Hiat. lib. ii. c. 1. (54) At illi noil daemoniaca, sed divina virtute prsediti veniebant. Crucem pro vexillo ferontes argentcam et imaginem Domini Salvatoris in tabula depictam, Letaniasquc canentes pro Bua simul et eorum propter quos et ad quos venerant, salute Kterna, Domino supplicabant Fertur autem quod appro- pi nquantescivitati, more suo, cum Cruce Sancta et Imagine Magni Regis Domi- PASTORAL LETTER. 3a Rome, so wc, under the standnrd of the same Cross, will offer our Litanies in like manner, and 've desire that the Litanies of the Saints should bo said or sung before Mass, on the twelfth of March, in the Churches of the Diocese of Halifax, and that all those who shall be unable to assist at the Holy Sacrifice, should recite those and other suit- able prayers in presence of their families. Spare, O Lord ; spare Thy People, and give not their ancient and glorious inheritance unto reproach. Regard the prayer of the humble and do not despise their petition. Look from Thy high sanctuary and hear the groans of them that are in fetters, and release the children of the slain. Arise, and have mercy on England, for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come. For in days of old, the stones of her Sion, have pleased thy servants. Hearken and do; for it is not for Thy justification that we present our prayers before Thee, but for the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Have mercy on Jerusalem, the City which Thou hast sanctified. Fill Sion with Thy unspeakable words, and Thy People with Thy glory. Give testimony to them that are Thy creatures from the beginning, and raise up the Prophecies which the Former Prophets spoke in Thy Name. Reward THEM THAT PATIENTLY WAIT FOR TlIEE, that Thy FtOt phets may be found faithful, and hear the prayers of Thy servants! (55) We will make no apology. Dearly Beloved Brethren, for the protracted length of this Pastoral Letter, especially when compared with that of last year. The momentous subjects of which it treats, and the critical times in which we live, would fully justify this unusual prohxity. And, indeed, we must confess that when we came to speak of ni nostri Jesu Christi hanc Letaniam consona voce modularentur : Depre- camur te Domine in omni misericordia Tua, ut auferatur furor Tuus et ira Tua a civitate ista, et de domo Sancla Tua, quoniam peccavimus AUeluya ! — V. Beda Lib. i., c. 25. Would that the memorable and fruitful words of this Lit- any of St. Austin were set to Music, and again continually chaunted "con- 6ona voce" in every Catholic Church in England ! (55) Joel ii. 17. Fs. ci. passim. Eccles. xzxvi. xxxv. Daniel ix. T 34 PASTORAL LETTER. r the religious condition of England, and her present alter- nations of hope and fear, our heart was so enlarged, and our sympathies so warmly engaged for that ancient and most interesting Kingdom, that we could not restrain our feelings within ordinary limits. But, we might, perhaps, be more reasonably expected to say a word or two, in re- ference to our unwonted discussion of some topics, not immediately connected with our beloved flock, and a cer- tain force of expression which we have designedly, though not willingly employed. The recent proclamation of war against the professors of our creed, and the Venerable Head of our Church ; the floodgates of bigotry which have been so unexpectedly let loose; the persecution, more bitter than that of the dungeon, the axe, or the gibbet, which has been raised against our dearly beloved fellow Catholics in England by wicked "children of men whose teeth are arms and arrows, whose tongue is as a sharp sword, and under whose lips is the venom of asp8"(56) — we speak not of the deluded multitude, but of the selfish, interested, and unscrupulous firebrands who have excited this unholy clamour — all these declarations of war, we say, must arouse every faithful son of the Church, not in the United Kingdom alone, but throughout the world, and especially in all the territories of the British Empire. When the prince of darkness marshals his satellites against Truth, "the children of light" cannot remain inactive. At such a moment, the Watchmen on the towers of Israel should be particularly vigilant, and never cease to cry out day or night (57) to summon the rh,impions of the Church, and the "domestics of faith," and to arm them with those invincible weapons whose edge is never blunt- ed, and which were never known to fail. Yes, the cause of His Eminence, Cardinal Wiseman, and of his Vene- rable Brethren in the English Hierarchy, and their devoted flocks, is OUR CAUSE as well as theirs. An insult (56) Ps. Ivi. 5 xiii. 3. (57) Isai. Ixii. &. PASTORAL LKTTF.R. 35 offcrod to them is offered to us. A mnnacic of hon- ourable punisliment wliieh is forged for them, straiglit- ons our hmbs also, aud becomes for us, likewise, an instrument of j?Iory. As members of the same mystic Body, of which Christ is the Head, we must quiver with anguish, and glow with sympathy, when any portion of the Church is struck by the ruthless hand of persecution. Tliose imaginary lines which divide the globe into peoples and kingdoms, those national feelings, national habits, and even national and personal antipathies, if you will, which sometimes, unhappily divide the children of the same origin, nuist be all forgotten, all absorbed in the common cause of our Divine and persecuted Faith. For there is no distinction of Jew or Greek, of Barbarian or Gentile, of Englishman, Irishman, Scotchman, American, or Indian, because all have the same Lord and Com- mon Father, the same Great High Priest, tlie same Visible Head, the same Faith, the same Eternal Redemp- tion, the same Everlasting Inheritance, the same blessed ''expectation of that life" without end "which God will surely give to those who never change their faith from Him." (58) The more that our beloved brethren in Eng- land are assailed, the more dear they should become to us; the more they arc made a bye-word and a reproach for the name of Christ, the more should be increased our gratitude, admiration, and love. Already, in the very threshold of the fight, they have acquired immortal honour. Their venerable and zealous Bishops, their pious and indefatigable Clergy, their devoted Nobility, Gentry, and People, have stood forward in every part of England, to defend the Pope, to sustain the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, to stem the torrent of vituperation and calummy, and to confront their cowardly assailants with a cool and undaunted courage, worthy of so great a cause. Already, under every disadvantage, even the hydra of bigotry they have (58) Tobias ii. 18. r 36 PASTORAL LETTER. half shamed back into its horrid den. Already, both in England and Ireland, have the eyes of ever incere Ca- tholic been opened to contemplate the fearful depth of the yawning gulph upon which any of them would stand, if he should fondly imagine that the education of Catho- lic youth, and the bright, hopeful destinies of Catholic Ireland could be safely confided to the treacherous hands of the scurrilous scribe who penned the Durham Manifesto, and to whom we ought to be grateful, if not for his classic vituperation, so redolent of the gentleman and the scho- lar, at least for the blind, but for us fc-tunate, candour, by which he has compelled us to speak our jealous fear, and by which he has excited our most determined opposition. He truly deserves our gratitude because he has reunited into one compact, solid, and irresistible mass those ele- ments of Catholicity which had been scattered since the era of miscalled Emancipation, — that convenient mask which hollow English statesmen have now worn before the world for two and twenty yecrs, and by which they have acquired a reputation for liberality, which is proved to be unfounded, by past, and passing events. He merits our thanks, because he will, we trust, bring us back to some of the primitive piety, fervour and faith which were decaying too fast, and restore us that saving vigour which treacherous relaxation might enervate, but which open persecution could never break. (59) Ho claims our gra- titude, because although he has seduced a few inglorious deserters from the standard of the Cross, he has at the same time, infused new vigour into its faithful disciples. True that we have to mourn over some blighted hopes, .'ind reputations once famous, but now shipwrecked for ever. But whilst we weep over a beautiful ruin, our indignation is also excited against the spoiler who has laid it waste. Hovrever, in return for this, thi Premier of England has ^roused numbers from the treacherous indolence of unsuspecting Capua, and driven them once (69) Nunf tentant otiaquos bella non fregerunt. S. Ambros. PASTORAL LETTER. 37 ^ more to the tented field, and the stern disciphne of the camp, to nerve us all for new struggles, and to prepare us for new victories. No : liOrd Russell, you can never DESTROY us. We boldly defy all your impotent malice. We will not bend, nor blench, nor quail, before your penal apparatus. We have learned from our fathers, how to smile at those paltry resources of baffled tyranny and cunning. You have now thrown down your gauntlet of defiance in the face of the Ninety-Two Prelates of the Church, Eighty-Two Bishops and Tsn Archbishops throughout the British Dominions against countless thou- sands of Priests, and millions upon millions of faithful people, including many of the proudest names, and most honoured lineage in Europe. And, most unwise of states- men, every one of those Bishops is a power, every Priest is a jjotentate, every Congregation is a legion ; every ecclesiastical unit is the centre of a moral force, which in a warfare like this, waged not on the field of battle, but within the domain of conscience, will defeat not only all the ^ ower of England, but all the puwer of the world. Through the length and breadth of the great American Repubhc, as well as wherever the English tongue is spoken, you have arrayed againsc you, all the noblest instincts of the human heart. For you seem to have forgotten, that the barbarous policy which you would now rentw, has filled the United States with millions of Catholic exiles, and their immediate descendants, who so largely swell that tide of prosperity so ominous to England, and whose hereditary instincts it was most impolitic to revive. You seem not to know, that the despised Irish, whose heathen- ism you affected to bewail in terms of such contemptuous insolence, and maudlin sentiment, in your famous Pastoral to the Episcopal Dives of Durham, (meet recipient of so Evongehcal a Homily) have millions of countrymen, and kindred, and friends, at thi^, side of the Atlantic. The Archbishop of the Empire City, the rich capital of all America, is an Irishman. So is the Archbishop of St. 38 PASTORAL LETTER. If Louis, in the great valley of the Mississippi and the Arch- bishop of Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio. The Bishops of Philadelphia, of Pittsburg, of Buffalo, of Ar- kansas and Texas, of Hartford in the Nortn and Savannah in the South, are all Irishmen. The Bishops of Boston, of Albany, and other important sees are the sons, or the descendants of that noble Irish Nation which you have so shamefully insulted. And let me inform you, that the name of those venerable Prelates is their eulogy, and that not only by the zealous priests and faithful people who are ruled by their advice, and influenced by their opinions, are th ey respected and loved, but also by the most eminent citizens of all creeds in that mighty Repub- lic. It is not necessary to remind you of the Irish Bishops, Priests, and People in the colonial territories of England — of the Archbishop of Bengal in the East, or the Archbishop of Trinidad in the West Indies. At Bombay, at Mai'ras, at Hyderabad; amongst the classic islands of Greece, as well as at the Pillars of Hercules ; on the southern extremity of Africa, no less than in the vast plains of Australia ; amidst the swamps of British Guiana, and the rocky coasvs of Newfoundland, at Kingston on Lake Ontario and St. John's in the Bay of Fundy, at each, and all, you will encoui'ter an Irish Bishop whose country you have derided, and what is still more galling, whose venerable Religion you have traduced, together with its illustrious Head. You may commence, then, your intolerant warfare. But every blow you strike, in your cowardice, at our unoffending Cathohc Brethren in England, will re-echo through the world. The clanking of every new fetter you impose (if indeed our gigantic hmbs have not long outgrown the hateful gyves which your littleness would forge) will ring through the Universe. You have weld- ed us into a wall of brass, against which all the cannon of England, and all the thuiidcrbolts of the world, will be directed in vain. You, the creature of yesterday. I PASTORAL L^.TTER. 39 I who, if you remembered the inglorious origin of your titles and your wealth, ought to have shrunk from all contact with the Catholic Church, as the murderer shrinks from the ghost of his victim, — ^you, who should remember that there are families in England unto whom sacrilegious rapine (60), political treachery, and hollow patriotism, have descended as an heirloom — ^you have dared to insult a Sovereign whose throne was establish- ed in the time-honoured reverence of the miUions of Christendom for ten centuries before William the Nor- man waved his victorious banner over the field of Hast- ings ; you have hurled your foul alliterations against the anointed Head of nearly Two Hundred Millions of spiritual subjects, a Prince, before whose glorious pre- ^lecessors, a Constantine, a Clovis, and a Charlemagne, iiad bent in reverence : you have launched your impious edict against the holy Representative of that Fisherman of Galilee whom Nero crucified, but whose successor, after all the vicissitudes of time, the fall of dynasties, the wreck of nations — aye, and in spite of all the dis- graceful machinations of your government — is still seat- ed on the throne of the Cajsars. For many years past, your terrible policy has helped to convulse Europe, and to replunge it, with all its boasted civilization, into the darkest depths of barbarism. You have weakened the revc o' ( for authority, disturbed the landmarks of social orcle- Mid poisoned the sources of all good government. You havj) in other countries, encouraged principles, which at home you repress, with the bullet and the bay- onet, and which if suffered to prevail in England, would not leave the Crown of our Beloved Sovereign worth a pin's fee. Spain and Portugal, for many long years, have been weeping tears of blood, which were express- es: irom their agonizing bosom, by your selfish and un- cLrutian policy. In Sicily, which was always a para- dise when compared to hapless Ireland, you excited the (60) How generally true the pithy adage of St. Jerom : Omnis dives eet injustus, vel hseres injusti ! 40 PASTORAL LETTER. unfortunate people to rebel against their lawful Sove- reign ; and when they were suftering all the consequen- ces of their outbreak, under the very muzzle of the British Cannon, the guns were silent. But you made yourself amends for this prudent policy, in presence of a French Fleet, by your magnificent conquest of Greece, and your cowardly attack on the character of the King of Naples and the peace of his fair Kingdom, and the reckless unscrupulous manner in which your mercenary press almost overwhelmed him with deliberate false- hoods — a press, whose satanic fury for the last three months has lowered the reputation of your country in the eyes of Europe, an V perchance, may force wise men to question, whether, i ^ all, the invention of print- ing be not as great a scourge as a blessing to mankind. Having earned the malediction of Sicily for having de- ceived and betrayed her, you played the same treacher- ous game in Piedmont. The gallant but deluded Prince, whose hapless fate has excited all our sympathy, you drove to the brink of destruction, and having uncrowned him at Novara, you abandoned his country to the jus- tice, or the mercy, of that ancient ally of England, whose friendship you had repaid by a truly " insolent and insi- dious" pohcy. Throughout the rest of Italy, including the Roman States, and not even excepting the mild gov- ernment of the Duke of Tuscany, you have fanned the flame of civil war. In the Eternal City itself, when the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century were pointing their cannon against the majestic Temples of Religion, and the venerable seats of learning, you allow- ed the Representative of the United States to claim and secure, for his great country, the honour of protect- ing from destruction the noble College of Propaganda, whilst in the Via Condotti, the then (alas !) degraded flag of England, which you were bound to save from such dishonour, was waving over the guilty heads of sacrilegious robbers, and skulking, cowardly assassins. PASTORAL LETTER. 41 Be assured that these things are well knmvh, and deep- ly felt, by the Sovereigns whom you have insulted, and the people whom you have betrayed. Europe now knows too well the fearful spot whence are sped the deadly arms of revolt, as well as the poisoned arrows of calumny ; where the dogs of war are kept in the leash ready to be unslipped, and the firebrand foxes of anti- social infidelity are ready to be unloosed, that they may again run their desolating race, in whatever part of Eu- rope may be selected for the wild freaks of your de- structive and disastrous policy. And after having already brought home to almost every Court and Cottage in Europe all the horrors of civil strife, you must now, for- sooth, get up another humiliating spectacle to degrade your country still further in the sight of the assembled world, and to feast the eyes of those v. uom you have so cruelly injured, by the ignominious and deplorable exhibition which you are so madly preparing. At a period, above all others, when the amiable and gifted Consort of our Beloved Sovereign is about to realize his noble conception of uniting the Universe in one bond of peaceful rivalry, and of teaching " tribes and tongues and people " by a closer intimacy, to recognise the lineaments of their common origin, and the interests of their common peace j at a time when our Gracious Queen herself is preparing to receive with regal hospi- tality the distinguished foreign personages who may be attracted by curiosity to visit her splendid metropolis ; at such a moment, when every domestic quarrel should be hushed, and every cause of intestme division remov- ed, that those from afar might not spy the nakedness or weakness of the land — you, to the great injury of the exhibition, to the great embarrassment of the Sovereign, to the great and serious danger of the country, have sent out your mountebanks and Guys, with torch and halter, with stuffed Cardinals and fancy Popes, to her- ald YOUR Wonderful Rival Exhibition, and to whet the 42 PASTORAL, LETTER. appetites of the vulgar for your bombastic pantominc at Westminister, that quixotic tournament against ideal abstractions, and impalpable substances of the world of spirits, and imaginary windmills, and airy objects pro- vokingly elusive of the legislative grasp, and internal opinions which no laws can ever reach, and deep con- victions of conscience, which no human enactments can ever disturb! These are austere reproaches, but you have extorted them yourself by your most extraordinary and unprovok- ed assault on the Head of the Catholic Church, on the tenets of the Catholic Religion, on the holy practices of its sincere professors. You have provoked them by your threats to England, and your unchristian, nay, bar- barous attack on that Irish Nation, which is hkely, be- fore long, to add to the family another mock martyr, whose immolation will happily take place at the shrine of public opinion, and not on the ghastly platform of Tower Hill. As a loyal subject of the Crown, whose allegiance is r ost disinterested, — as a Minister of Peace, who has always preached forbearance and loyalty, both by word and example, — as a Clergyman, who though living in the midst of continual excitement, never joined any political association since the thirteenth day of April, 1829,* — as a citizen, who constantly desired, and fervently prayed, for the oblivion of all past animosities, and the most cordial and friendly feeling between all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, — ^you have so shocked, and griev- ed and insulted the humble individual who thus address- es you, that, offering violence to his most cherished feelings, and, making one reluctant exception to the ten- or of his life, with a loyalty which looks for no reward here but the consciousness of having performed a sa- cred duty, he ventures to claim the privileges of a Bri- tish subject as well as yourself, and the inalienable right •The day when Catholic Emancipation was grantee. Dr. Walsh had been previously a Member of the Catholic Association. PASTORAL LETTER. 43 of self-defence against unjust aggression. And, he feels that he owes it to his country, which you have mahgned, to his creed, which you have aspersed, to his Church, which you have threatened, to liis fellow-subjects, whom you have distracted, to his Sovereign, whom you have embarrassed, and to the venerable Head of his Religion, whom you have so irreverently and wickedly assaulted, to address you this open rebuke, to arraign you at the bar of public opinion, and to tell you before the world that your present accidental position gives you no right to violate all the courtesies of life, and all the charities of religion, in so impudent and disgraceful a manner. He further tells you that he enjoys at least one gratifi- cation in the performance of a task otherwise so painful, and that is, the consciousness he feels that the Holy Faith in which he was reared, and the Catholic "sys- tem" of Education which he received, have not, thank God, so far "debased his intellect, or enslaved his soul "* as to prevent him, either by impotence or slavish fear, from inflicting this well-merited chastisement on an offender so notorious — on his arrogance, his cruelty, and his folly. He will be more than rewarded, if the Evan- gelical liberty with which he thus admonishes you (" your late Parish Priest" (61) having given you up in despair) should induce you to respect more in future the rights and feelings of your unoffending neighbour. No, Dearly Beloved Brethren, our calumniated Reli- gion does not degrade the intellect nor enslave the soul, as this bitter enemy of the Church of God has so falsely asserted. Had he looked around him in his own coun- try, he would have found there, as well as in every part of the world, the most indubitable proofs of the intel- lectual vigour and niontal independence of the Catholic system. True, we are not permitted to remove the re- ligious landmarks set up by Christ and his Apostles ; •Expressions applied to Catholicity in Lord John's Letter to the Bishop of Durham. (61) Rev. Mr. Bennet. 44 PASTORAL LETTER when our reason is once convinced that vJod lias spoken, we know that the noblest exercise of that limited faculty is to believe His unerring revelation, Who is the infi- nite source of all truth and wisdom. In fundamental dogmas of Holy faith we are, therefore, all on the same level ; bishops, priests, and people, the learned doctor, the most erudite scholar, as well as the young child who cons over its Catechism, or the Lardy son of toil, who tells his evening beads in the simplicity of a pious heart, after the labour and burthen of the day, are all equal in this respect. To all are propounded, for their unwa- vering belief, those sublime and incomprehensible mys- teries which God has revealed, and which it is not given to man to fathom, to dispute, or deny. Hence all rash and empty speculations are forbidden in the sacred re- gion of Faith ; but in all other sciences, in all the arts which embellish, civilize or adorn, who have made greater progress, or acquired more undying renown, than the children of the Catholic Church? Like the early Christians described by St. Cyprian, it is better for us to know how to die, than to dispute, for our Faith. (62.) The Liberty which we prize, is that true Liberty, which, according to the great Doctor of the Gentiles, that genuine disciple of heaven, who desired to know nothing but his crucified Lord, is a holy liberty to be found only in the True Church, in which the spirit of the Lord abides, for *• where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty." The ennobling liberty which we value, is that, one of the first constituents of whose divine essence, is exemption from sin. (63.) We freely abandon to others, the liberty to offend God, and deny His clearest revelation; the liberty to calumniate, to insult, to oppress ; the liberty to invade our neighbours' possessions, to disturb their peace, and destroy their happiness ; the liberty to frame articles and creeds, and force them down the reluctant throats of those who are (62) Sciebant luori : non sciebant disputare. PASTORAL LETTER. 45 gravely assured at tlie same time that they are quite free ; the liberty to forge sham constitutions, and import them by fire and sword upon peoples and nations, whether they desire them or not ; the liberty to inter- fere, with insulting arrogance and swaggering air, in the concerns of the whole world ; the liberty to fasten a sinecure Church, gorged with the tears and blood of Christ's Poor, on an oppressed and impoverished nation ; the liberty of giving a new version, a horrible travesty, of the Gospel Miracle at Naim, by shooting a poor widow's son at her own door for a few shillings tithe, and stripping a second disconsolate widow of her pot, and a third of her blanket, for sixpence of tlie same cruel and degrad- ing impost ; all those liberties, together with changing creeds thrice in a year, of abusing to-day what was reverenced yesterday, of promoting in other countries what in our own we resist unto death, and punish with imprisonment and exile ; the liberty of domineering over a hapless Church, the creature and slave of the State, of lecturing her ministers and mangling her creeds by the ukases of small-minded laymen from official bureaus. We leave these to the taste or fancy of those prodigies of genius whose intellect has not been cramped by Ro- man fetters, and whose souls have not been debased by Roman civilization, whilst we shall proudly enjoy that glorious Liberty of the children of God, " the Liberty with which Christ hath made us free." And perhaps at no distant period, when another Spelman shall complete the appaUing History and fate of Sacrilege, by adding some more extinct houses to the long list of Retributive Justice, some other mind degraded by the " system " of Rome, and "the mummeries of superstition," might have the boldness to institute a comparison between the old monkish possessors, even of Woburn Abbey, and its subsequent noble inmates, and the temerity to assert, that on the score of intellect and utility, of learning and patriotism, the poor old Monks, with all their "mum- meries " had borne off the palm. m^ f 46 PASTOUAL LETTEIL Do not be sur[)ri.scd, Dearly Beloved Brethren, at this unusual warmth of sentiment and language, for this is a time when even the most timid should speak out in the cause of (vod and of ITis Holy Church. Whether wo speak or be silent, it is impossible to please the canting riiarisces and crafty politicians of the day. The sly sinners, who would swindle us out of our constitutional rights because we are C'atholics, can neither be con- ciliated nor appeased. Of this, we have, since recent demonstrations, given up all hope. Their deceptive notes are so varied and discordant that they can never harmonize. One time, these pestilent Catholics arc iiaturally slavish and unfit for liberty ; at another, they have arrived not only at Liberal fervour, but at intense Radical heat. Now, they are brutally ignorant, and arc kept in that besotted state by their priests ; and again, they are schooled into all kinds of dangerous knowledge by those same priests. They are priest-ridden to-day ; to-morrow they are throwing oil* the sacerdotal yoke. This year the Catholics are quiet, peaceable, and de- serve a fair share, (which, however, they have never yet received) in the public offices of the country ; before the close of the next, a shrill blast from the trumpet of intolerance calls upon all true Protestants to exclude them from all place and power, and to resist every encroachment of Rome. They have written their loyal sincerity, in their blood, on a hundred fields of battle, but they are still more suspected than the felon or the traitor. If we remain quiet, we are treated as cowards, and kicked and cuflcd according to every caprice of our gracious masters. If wc speak out in our own de- fence, straightw ay a senseless and brutal clamour is raised against us. If our })riests go into society, or appear in pubhc to vindicate their principles, they are insulted and denied a hearing ; if they stay at home, thoy are ignorant and shrink from discussion. If they abstain from politics, and confine themselves to the preaching PASTOnAL LETTEIl, 47 of the (Jospel, their forhearuncc is repaid witli inso- lence, and their zeal made a suhject of ridicule ; if they interfere in political concerns, as a great part of other Clergymen do, they arc firehrands and disturhcrs, and our ears are stunned by the Protestant reclamations on every side. And thus does Bigotry pursue her ever- changmg and inconsistent course of truth and falsehood, light and darkness, censure and praise. No matter what we do, it is impossible to please them. If patient, we are rudely struck upon the face ; if we lift a word in our defence, we are to be trampled and spit upon. If we humbly sue, in the plaintive tones of the bondsman, for the smallest share of the many privileges accorded to our neighbours, we are scornfully laughed at for our impudence; if, in the voice and attitude of freemen, we ask our constitutional rights, and invoke the impartial protection of the Law, the cry of No Popery is raised, and all the dogs of war are let slip against us. In fact our case is so parallel, and our treatment so similar to that of the first Christians who endured the ordeal of Pagan persecution, that there are few words in the solemn, ponderous, and overwhelming arguments of the Apology of Tertullian, which we might not use with propriety to cover our enemies with confusion, and to repel their senseless, inconsistent, and savage assaults.(G4) The flippant calumniator who, some five years since, denounced the Religious Orders of our Church, those beautiful bulwarks of the citadel of truth and sanctity, (64) Ita utrumquG ex alterutro rcdarguimus, ct ignorare, illos dum oderunt, injuste odisse, dum ignorant Malunt nescire, quia jam oderunt, adeo quod nesciunt praBJudicant id esse, quod si sciant, odisse non potcrant : quan- do si nullum odii debitum deprehendatur, optimum utique sit desinere injuste odisse : si vero de merito constet, non modo nihil odii detrahatur, scd amplius acquiratur ad perseverantiam, ctiam justitiae ipsius auctoritate ... Si certum est denique nos nocentissimos esse, cur a vobis ipsis aliler tractainur, quam pares nostri, id est cacteri nocentes 1 cum ejusdem noxae cadem tractatio dc- beret intervenire . . . Civilis non tyrannica dominatio vestra est apuc tyran- nos enim tormenta etiam pro poena adhibentur : apud tos soli quscstioni tem- peratur . . . Hoc primum agentes ut homines nollent scire pro certo quod se nescire pro certo sciunt. Ideo et credunt de nobis quae non pro? atur, et nolunt inquiri, ne probentur non esse. Ideo torquemur confitentes, et puni- mur perse verantes, ct absolvimur negantes, quia Nominis praelium est. 48 PASTOllAL LETTEIL H whose lcn'*aing and virtues form tlio Hplciulid "variety" of "that jj[il(le(l array "(65) with whi(;h the Queenly SpouHe of Christ is invested, the cold and narrow soul of the literary pretender who had the hardihood to decry the noblest champions of civilization and science, the brilliant sons of St. ljL;natius, those nuif^nificent bene- factors of mankind — this arch deceiver who when pro- strate in the cold shade of famis!iinport any longer the new apostle of disunion, or conti aie that un- holy warfare to which she has been sununoned, with equal judgment and disinterestedness, by that haughty descendant of a subsidized Patriot. To avert such calamities, Dearly Beloved Brethren, redouble your fervour and your supplications in the ap- proaching Lent ; and when you pray for England, as we have already requested, pray with confidence in the name of Christ Jesus, the Only atoning Mediator between God and man. Pray through the powerful in- tercession of that August Queen the Virgin Mother of God, who has been lately so much outraged by a blind populace who knew not what they did, when they in- sulted that Purest and Most Exalted of Created Beings. Invoke the suffrages of St. Alban the First Martyr in Britain who died for that One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Faith which is now so blasphemed. Pray through the intercession of St. George, that valiant Soldier of the Cross, whose proud Banner, which once (66) Plus timeo denies lupi quam virgam pastoris S. Bernard de off. Episc. Non est tutum vicino serpente, soranum capere. Id. Ep. 242. 4 .ji 50 PASTORAL LETTER. '■) waved gloriously over the chiklrcn of the Faith, is now in danger of such dishonour. Pray throuj^h the inter- cession of the Martyred Winifred, that illustrious vir- gin daughter of Britain, and St. Thomas of Canterbury, whose Apostolic courage is so well reflected in the person of his most Eminent Successor. Pray that the veil of delusion may be taken away from the hearts of our dear brethren, the people of England, that the ' gates ' of salvation may be * opened * and that the *just nation, keeping truth may enter in* to the heaven- ly abundance of their Father's House : that * the old error may pass away, and peace ' be restored to those * who have patiently waited for the Lord in the day of His judgments ' that *He may give them peace, for He has wrought ' so many wonderful works for them' that they may * seek after Him in distress ' and that even in *the tribulation of their' present 'murmuring His in- struction may be with them ; that as a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delive- ry is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs ; so they may become in the presence of tho Lord ; that their dead men may live, and their slain rise again ; that those who dwell in the dust may awake, and give praise,* through the ' lightsome dew ' of Divine Grace ; that this people of God may * enter into the chambers ' of their heart, and * shut the doors ' of the world and all human respect upon themselves, and *hide themselves a little for a moment until the indignation pass away.' For, ' Thou hast been favourable lo the nation, O Lord, Thou hast been favourable to the nation. O Lord our God, other LORDS besides Thee, have had dominion over them; but * orJy in Thee let them remember Thy Name.' — (67) Having addressed you at such length, Dearly Beloved Brethren, we hope ii is unnecessary to remind you (67) Isai. xxvi. passim. PASTORAL LETTER. 51 that in addition to fasting and prayer and penitential works, the holy season of Lent is also set apart for preparing ourselves to comply with the annual obliji^ii- tion of Confession and Easter Communion, as com- manded by the Church, under the most grievous penal- ties, in the Fourth General Council of Lateran (C8). Wo therefore briefly but earnestly beseech you not to to neglect this important duty, lest you subject your- selves to the indignation of Ahnighty God and tlu* hef' viest censures of His Church. Dispose your souls, therefore, by holy retirement, self examination, and true compunction, to obtain the pardon of your gracious God to whom "an afHicted spirit is a sacrifice," (69) "Go and show yourselves to the priest," (70) by a good con- fession that you may be cleansed, from the leprosy of sin: for as the Holy Ghost assures us: "He tiiat hideth his sins shall not prosper : but he that shall con- fess and forsake them shall obtain mercy." (71) You will thus with purified minds worthily receive the pre- cious Body and Blood of the Lord, in commemoratinu of his death, and as the nourishment of your souls t(» life everlasting. (72) We will always therefore " bear about in our bodies the mortification of Jesus . . . that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (73) We will "through the blood "of Christ in his holy sacra- ments, "cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." (74) And having fasted and siit'- fered in imitation of our Lord and Redeemei, during the Forty Days that are npproaching, we v ill deserve to arise at the great festival of Easter, to a new life. and to participate in the benefits of his Glorious Resur- rection. (08) Canon. Omnis utriusque. (69) Ps. i. (70) Mat. viii. 4 — Luke xviii. 1 1 " (71) Prov.xxviii. 12. (72) John vi. 59. (73) 2 Cor. ii. 10, 11. (74) }1«;!. ix. 14. PASTORAL LETTER. " Now, the God ut' peace, who brought again from the dead the great Pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, make you perfect in every good work, that you may do his will ; working in you that which is well- l)Jcasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom ia glory for ever and ever." +WILLIAM, Bishop of Halifax. , Nova Sec Septuagesima Suiu)ay, 1851. St. Mary's, Halifax, Nova Scotia, ) " L [ i the sus ell- 1 is LETTER or TBI BISHOP OF HALIFAX. CARDINAL WISEMAN, DR. GUMMING, AND THE ROMAN CATHOLKJ EPISCOPAL OATH. LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF HALIFAX. {From the Acadian Recorder.) CARDINAL WISEMAN, DR. CUMMING, AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC EPISCOPAL OATH. To the Editor of the Acadian Recorder. Dear SiR,-In tho "Wilhner & Smith's European Times" of Nov. 30, which arrived in IlaHfax by the steamer on this day, an article appears on the subject of the Oath taken by Roman Cathohc Bishops Jind Archbishops at their consecration, whicli is calcubitcd to mislead the pub- lic at large, and to impeach the sincerity and good faith of His Eminence Cardinal Wiseman. Though it is mo- rally certain that a complete and satisfactory refutation of the statement and ungenerous insinuations of Dr. Gum- ming has been already published in England, I deem it of some importance that these charges should be met directly on their appearance at this side of the Atlantic. The Article in Willmer may be reproduced in a thou- . sand different forms through Dut this continent ; and as I happen to be the first Prelate in British North- America under whose notice it has come, perhaps you will be good enough to allow me, through the medium of your jour- nal, to place the question in its true light before the Ame- rican public. I am the more induced to do so on the present occasion, when I remember that a very few years ago one of the journals of this city publi-shcd an atrocious version of the EpiscopalOath in the Church of Rome — accused me hy name of having sworn it at my consecration, and held me up to the execration of my fellow-citizens. This, and similar charges of equal improbability and false- hood, I passed over in silence at the time ; but as, at 56 LETTER OF THE present an attempt may be made to corroborate it by the narrative of Dr. Cumming, I proceed at once to dispose of the cahi.mny by a simple statement of facts. The article alluded to is as follows : — CARDINA.L WISEMAN AND DR. CUMMINO. "At one of his lato" lectures at the Hanover-rooms, relating to the oath taken by the Romish Archbishops on their receiving the archiepiscopal ;>a//jMm Dr. Cumming remarked : — "First of all, let mo presume, that when the cardinal was made an archbishop ' e received Xhepallium, 'jefore receiving which he repeated a solemn oath which will bo found in the Prntijicalc Rofnamtm. I have the hook, and carefully ex- amined all that he must say ; it is the edition of Clement VIII,, Antwerp edition, 1627. One clause of the oath is a follows : — ' Ilaireticos, scismaticos et rebelles, Domino nostro, vel success«)ribu3 praedictis, pro posse per sequar et impugnabo.' This is, he solemnly swore on his solemn oath (I wish thus to prepare you for his reception:) 'AH heretics (that is, Protestants), schismatics (that is, members of the Greek Church, that separated, as they say, from Rome), and rebels against our Lord, or his aforesaid successors, I will persecute and attack to the utmost of my power.' Tiie correct translation, I believe o(pro posse.''^ On reading the above. Cardinal Wiseman invited Dr. Cumming to inspect at his house in Golden-square, the oath which he had taken, stating, at the same time, that the said persecuting clause "is omitted in the oath taken by all bishops and archbishops subject to the British Crown. Dr. Cumming, in a letter to the Times, gives the following account of the interview:^ — "I accepted the invitation, and this day, in company with Sir J. Heron Max- well and Admiral Vernon Harcourt, I inspected the cardinal's Pontifical sub- mitted to me at ' the episcopal residence, Golden-square.' In the Pontifical thus laid before me I found in the bishop's oath the very words I quoted, and in " bold type, but with a line of black ink drawn over the passage with a pen, appa- rently very recently used, leaving the words disclaimed by the cardinal suffi- ciently legible, but without any initials or other verification of any sort. On the fly leaf at the beginning of the book I found the same oath in MS., without the persecuting (clause, and without initials or other verification, and apparently very recently written. But the startling fact remains. On referring to the oatli required to be taken by an arcbbishop (Dr. Wiseman having been recently made one) on receiving the pallium, as given at page 88 (Paris edition, 1664) on the Pontifical thus submitted to me by order of the cardinal, I found the persecuting clause — ' llaireticos sohismaticos et rebelles Domino nostro vel successoribus praedictis pro posse persequar et impugnabo,' printed in bold type without any alteration, emendation, or correction whatever, constituting in the Archbishop of Westminster's own Pontifical part and parcel of the oath which every arch- bishop on receiving the pallium, as I have already stated, must take. The dis- covery needs no comment beyond my expression of surprise that the cardinal should have had the temerity to invite me to inspect his Pontificale Romamim.'''' Now, I have taken the same Oath at my Consecration as Dr. Wiseman. I have a copy of that Oath in manu- BISHOP OP HALIFAX. 57 script, taken several years ago from the Roman original in po&(?ession of His Grace the Archbishop of Dubhn, and authenticated by him. Having been consecrated by Dr. Murray, the Oath was sworn before him, and I can assure your readers — any one of whom may have occu- lar demonstation of the fact — that the manuscript which contains it is not even "apparently very recently writ- ten." In this Oath the obnoxious clause does not ap- pear, because it was never sworn by me, nor has it been sworn since 1791 by any Catholic Bishop under the Bri- tish Crown ; nor before that period in the odious sense attributed to it by the enemies of the Catholic Church.* The reasons for its omission as well as for the addi- tion of a final clause to the Catholic Episcopal Oath in the British Dominions, were transmitted with the revised form of the Oath itself to the Irish Primates on the 23d of June, 1791, by the then Cardinal Prefect of Propa- ganda. His Letter testifies that a Representation had been made by the Irish Metropohtans to the Holy See, *that from the ignorance or dishonesty of some persons {qiiorumdam mscitia aut improhitate) certain expressions in the form of the Oath prescribed by the Roman Ritual to be taken by Bishops at their consecration, and hy Archbishops on * Dr. Walsh having found that a part of this assertion was inexact, caused the following paragraph to be inserted in the Acadian Recorder of the 28th of De- cember : — The Roman Catholic Episcopal oath. — In reference to this subject, we are requested by the Bishop of Halifax to state that !: iving made a diligent search to ascertain the precise period at which the Amended Form of Oath appointed . to be taken by the Irish Bishops, in 1791, was also allowed to be taken by the Four Vicars Apostolic in England, he has discovered that it was about the month of April, 1818, when it was permitted by Pius VII. As it has been complained of by Dr. Gumming and others, that the change in the Oath was never announced to the public by any competent authority. Dr. Walsh states that it was duly announced to the world in a solemn and authentic manner so long ago as the year 1793, in a "Pastoral Address from the Most Rev. Dr. Troy, R. C. Archbishop of Dublin," pqd. published by "Coghlan, Duke-St.," in which Dr. Troy gives the amended Oath in Latin and English, and the correspondence between the Irish Bishops and the Holy See upon the subject. Thus the change in the Oath was authenticated by one of the highest dignitaries of the Church, and published to the United Kingdom probably some years before Dr. (hum- ming was born. i ss LETTER OP THE It receiving the Pallium^ have been distorted into a false meaning {in alienum sensiim detorquere), &c. Where- fore they humbly requested, if it should appear expedient to His Holiness, that he would vouchsafe to apply a re- medy by some act of his Apostolic vigilance.' And accordingly the Cardinal Prefect and Secretary of Propaganda testify that at ' an Audience of His Holi- ness Pope Pius VI. on the 9th day of June, 1791, he .vas graciously pleased to grant that the Bishops and Arch- bishops might use the same form of Oath which was ta- ken by the Archbishop of Mohilow, in Russia. ' This Oath is then recited at length without the obnoxious clause, which was perverted from its natural meaning by ignorance and malice, and as if, to prevent all further ca- lumny on the subject, the Form of the Oath concludes with these words : — * Haic omnia et singula eo inviolabi- lius observabo, quo certior smn, nihil in illis contineri quod fidelitati mea) erga Serenissimum Magnse Britannise et Hiberniae Regem, Ejusque ad Thronum successores de- hite adversari possit. Sic me Deus adjuvet, et hajc sancta Dei Evangelia. Ita promitto et spondeo;' that is, 'I will observe all and singular of these things the more inviola- bly, as I am firmly conviiiced that there is nothing contain- . ed in them which can be contrary to the allegiance I owe to the Most serene King* of Great Britain in Ireland, and to his successors to the Throne. So help me God, and these Holy Gospels of God. This I promise and en- gage. I should hope that this explicit and open declaration . would fully satisfy every unprejudiced mind that the ig- norant or wilful charge respecting the Episcopal Oath has no foundation whatsoever, and that it may be classed with the long catalogue of similar accusations which are pubhshedfrom time to time by persons who affect to know what we believe better than we do ourselves, who as-" * To the Most Serene Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and her saccea- %i)X% &c., in the Oath which I took. BISHOP OF HALIFAX. M scribe to our language a meaning which we disavow, iuid who repeat their odious assertions with as much confidence as if tlioy had not been solemnly disproved over and over again throughout every part oi' the British empire. Of course the Continental Editions of the Ponti/kale liomanum which have been all published in Catholic coun- tries contain the original Oath whoso obnoxious clauses are understood in their natural and obvious meaning by- Foreign Governments. No Edition of the Book has been published in England or Ireland ; and hence the necessity of drawing the pen over the disputed clause, and of insert- ing in the fly-leaf the Oath as amended and permitted by Pope Pius VI. in 1791. I have seen this done myself in Pontificals which were used by Prelates who were sub- j ects of the British Crown. The sneers and insinuation of Dr. Cumming in his Let- ter to the Times are thus disposed of; the unsullied inte- grity and high honour of Cardinal Wiseman are vindica- ted, and the virtual impeachment of the allegiance of the Catholic Episcopacy, who by teaching and example have proved their loyalty to their Sovereign even in those times when the reciprocal duties of Sovereign were vio- lated or forgotten, is denied and refuted. With regard to the obnoxious clauses themselves, I shall be brief, but conclusive. I shall not load your co- lumns with copious quotations from ancient Latin writ- ers on the literal meaning of the verb Perseqiwr, which is understood by every classical scholar, but I shall give the signification of the word in the former Episcopal Oath as it has been explained by the authority and command of his Holiness in the Letter of the Cardinal Prefect of Pro- paganda in 1791, to the Bishops of Ireland. " The words persequar and impugnabo are maliciously interpreted as 'a signal of war against heretics, authoris- ing persecution and assault against them as enemies, whereas the pursuit and opposition which the Bishops ,f (K) LETTER OF THE undertaken arc to bo undcrHtood uk referring to their soli- citude and cflbrts in convincing heretics of tlieir errors, and procurin<( tlieir reconciliation with the Catholic Church. His Holiness has graciously condescended to substitut/; for the ancient form of Oath, one which wag publicly sworn by the Archbishop of Mohilow to the great satisfaction of all the Court of St. Petersburgh, in presence of the TiUipress, and which we transmit to you in this Letter." From the same remarkable docunuuit 1 transcribe the foUowing Declarations of the Holy See, which ought to have put an end for ever to those unchristian calumnies. "The Sec of Rome has never taught that faith is not to be kept with the heterodox : — that an Oath made to Kings separated from the Catholic Communion can be violated; — that it is lawful for the Bishop of Rome to in- vade their temporal rights and dominions. We also con- sider an attempt, or design, against the life of Kings and Princes, even under the pretext of religion, as a Horrid and Detestable Crime.'''' So much for the genuine interpretation of the Oath oven as taken in the olden time. All pretext for clamour on the subject has been, however, removed for the last sixty years. I shall say little of the crusade now preached up by the Leader of the Cabinet, and the highest functionary of the Law, against so many millions of llor Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects at honuj and abroad. Their motives for so unusual a departure from the })roprieties of Executive and Judicial prudence, I forbear to scruti- nise. The Letter of the Premier is but a poor speci- men of consistent character, or political foresight. As for the lawless and de[)lorable threat of the Lord Chancellor, with all its theatrical accompaniments, my pain on read- ing it was mitigated by tlie remembrance that in other days England produced another Chancellor, who was the ornament of his age, and the glory of his country ; PI8H0P OP HALIFAX. 61 who, in times that tricnl men's souls, preserved unspotted the Judicial ermine ; wlio, uninfluenced by the frowns of power, or the bhnd passions of the multitude, pursued the even tenor of his honourabh^ career even to the shedding of iiis blood; nnd whose most glorious and appropriate eulogy n»ay be found in the following golden worc'.s of his, alike illustrative of the tenderness of his heart, and the genuine principles of the si ill persecuted but ever indestructible Faith for which he died : — "Of all who evercamo in my hand for heresy, so help me God, (^Ise had never any of them any stripe or stroke given them, so much as ajillip on the foreheacV"* What a contrast to the undignified threat against Car- dinal Wiseman's Hat ! I suppose, after many year's ex- perience of the ability of the head which so deservedly wears it, in the various controversies which His Eminence . has conducted with so much literary skill, profound eru- dition, and polished courtesy, it is now found to be a more easy task to " trample on the Ilat " than to refute the head ; and hence the great and solemn inquiry after Religious Truth, upon which depends the eternal sal- vation of the English people, has been transferred from the sanctuaries of learning, and the Temples of the Most High to all the turbulence and clamour of the Market- place, and all the unreasoning prejudices of an excited populace. It is, in my mind, a poor travesty of a similar appeal once made in presence of the World's Redeemer by a well known judge, who, when he asked " what is Truth ?" would not wait to receive an answer from the lips of Truth himself, but transferred the decision of the case to an infuriated multitude, who, in answer to his appeal as to what he was to do with Christ, with loud shouts demanded his crucifixion. For the honour of Christianity, and the nineteenth century, I am ashamed to add with sorrow, that the conduct of the merciful but timid Pagan Judge is much raised in our esteem, when • "Apology'' of Sir Thomas More. 62 LETTER OP TIIE BISHOP OP HALIFAX. contrasted witliHoine recent examples. I have no doubt, however, that the "arbitriuin popularis aurie" will, at no distant period, appropriately reward those unwise statesmen who are now borne along so smoothly in its treacherous current. Come what will, it is consoling to believe that the Catholics of the British Empire, even in the midst of persecution and calumny, will always continue loyal to their sovereign, charitable to their fellow-subjects, and faithful to their God. Hoping you will find a place for the above in your in- teresting columns, believe me to remain, dear sir, very truly yours, t WILLIAM, Bishop of Halifax. St. Mary's, Thursday, I2th Dec, 1850. ■■I