power whatsoever; nor can their subjects, by any authority granted to the pope or the church, from above, be freed from their obedience, or absolved from their oaths of allegiance.

Further, the doctors of these faculties declare, That an oath implies an obligation of natural and divine right, by which the party is bound to perform the promise contained in his oath, to whomsoever that promise be made, whether he be a catholic, an heretic, or an infidel; and that no person, through pretext of heresy or infidelity in the party to whom the promise is given, can be released from his obligation. The catholic religion, far from admitting any principle by which oaths can be dispensed with, holds such perjuries in abhorrence.

In testimony of which we have ordered our scribe to sign this instruirent. Done at Douay, this 9th of January 1789.

WE, the sheriffs of the town of Douay, and justices of the police, certify to all whom it may concern, that the sieur Simon, who has signed the above deliberation, is beadle, as well as secretary and registrar, to the faculty of civil and canon law in the university of this town, and that to all acts, so signed by him, credence is to be given in and out of court. In witness whereof we have caused these presents to be signed by one of the registrars of the said town, and the seal of the said town, where neither stamped paper, nor a small seal are in use, to be affixed to them. The 12th January 1789.

HERBAUT; by order.

PARIS.

The Answer of the sacred faculty of divinity of Paris, to the Queries proposed by the English Catholics.

THE dean and faculty of divinity in the university of Paris, to all who shall inspect these presents, send greeting:

Certain queries, the tenor of which is as follows, have been transmitted to us from England, in the name of the catholics living in that kingdom :

The First.—Has the pope, the cardinals, or any body of men, or any other person of the church of Rome, any civil authority, civil power, civil jurisdiction, or civil pre-eminence whatsoever, in the kingdom of England, by reason or virtue of any authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence, inherent in, or granted, or by any other means belonging to the pope, or the church of Rome ?

The Second. Can the pope, the cardinals, or any body of men, or any person of the church of Rome, absolve or release the subjects of the king of England from their oath of allegiance?

The Third.-Is there any principle in the articles of the catholic faith, by which catholics are justified in breaking faith with heretics, or others, who differ from them in religious opinions?

They beg us to give our opinion in a solemn instrument upon these questions, that by it they may repel, as well from themselves as from the catholic faith, to which they are inviolably attached, all evil suspicion, as well on those points which relate to the right of the sovereign under whose government they live, as on those which relate to the public faith and peace of England, which, upon no pretence, ought to be disturbed.

Bound to satisfy every person who asks our opinion on doctrinal matters, and never having entertained any doubts upon the points in question, we opine, determine, and judge as follows:

The Answer to the first Quare.

NEITHER the pope, nor the cardinals, nor any body of men, nor any other person of the church of Rome, hath any civil authority, civil power, civil jurisdiction, or civil pre-eminence whatsoever in any kingdom, and consequently none in the kingdom of England, by reason or virtue of any authority, power, or jurisdiction, or pre-eminence by divine institution, inherent in, or granted, or by any other means belonging to the pope or the church of Rome.

This doctrine the sacred faculty of divinity of Paris has always held, and upon every occasion maintained ; and upon every occasion has rigidly proscribed the contrary doctrines from her schools.

Among the many proofs of this (to avoid mentioning all of them) we shall state a few instances, which being nearer to our own times, are not liable to objection.

In the year 1626, a censure was published against the following propositions, extracted from the treatise of Santarellus, "De Hæresi Schismate Potestate Summi "Pontificis, in his delictis puniendis.”

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"The spiritual power of the church, entrusted to its prelates, extends indirectly, even to temporals, to the "end, that it may conveniently help the faithful to "their spiritual end, and supply the defect of the tem"poral power, if the temporal power should be negli"gent in the execution of her duty, or abuse her power; "which is particularly true with respect to the crime of ❝ heresy.

"The pope can inflict temporal punishment on sove

"reigns for heresy, and deprive them of their kingdoms, "and free their subjects from their obedience.

"The pope hath both spiritual and temporal power "by divine right.

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“The pope has, at least indirectly, a power over princes in temporals, inasmuch as temporals may prove an impediment to their direction of the sheep "of Christ to their supernatural end.

"The pope has a directory, and consequently a compulsory power, over princes who do wrong.

"If, for the common good of the church, wisdom "and sound reason require, that temporal punishment "should be inflicted on disobedient and incorrigible princes, or even that they should be dethroned, the pope has a right to punish them in that manner.

"The apostles were subjected to their sovereigns, "de facto, but not de jure.”

The sacred faculty of divinity condemned the doctrine contained in these and similar propositions "asnew, false, erroneous, contrary to the word of God, bringing odium on the papal dignity, giving occasion "to schism, derogatory to the sovereign authority of "kings (which depends upon God alone) impeding the "conversion of infidel and heretical kings; as tending "to disturb the public peace, to subvert kingdoms, states, and republics; to withdraw subjects from "their obedience and subjection, and to excite them to "faction, rebellion, sedition, and the murder of their "sovereigns."

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In this censure, the other faculties of the university of Paris, and several other universities in France, as Toulouse, Valence, Bourdeaux, Poitiers, Caen, and Rheims, concurred with great applause.

The articles laid before Lewis the 14th, in 1663, by the sacred faculty, agree with the above censure. By

them it is declared, "that it is the doctrine of the "faculty, that the king of France neither acknowledges,

nor has in temporals any superior but God; that this "is her antient doctrine, from which she will never depart. Moreover, that the faculty has already op"posed, even those who were of opinion, that the pope "had, in temporal concerns, even an indirect authority 86 over the king of France."

And when in 1682, in the censure hereafter referred to, the sacred faculty expressly observes, "that the "grand principle of their doctrine, (viz. that the sove"reign power of kings depends upon God alone, and "that no one has any right to interfere in their tempo❝ral concerns) has been frequently repeated by them, "particularly in their solemn declaration of the year "6 1663." This sufficiently shews, that in the declaration of 1663, they stated nothing to the king of France, but what they considered as common to him with all other kings.

Thus, in 1682, when Malagola interpreted the power of "binding and loosing," which Christ gave to St. Peter and his successors, as relating both to the secular and ecclesiastical power, the sacred faculty declared, that this doctrine resolved itself into the same doctrine which she had before condemned in Santarellus; she used the very same words, and the very same expressions of censure, which she has used in regard of Santarellus; she took that occasion to renew her censure of Santarellus, and struck the name of Malagola from the list of candidates for the degree of bachelors..

Of the uniformity of our doctrine upon this head, the celebrated declaration of the French clergy, published in 1682, will be an eternal monument; the first article of it is as follows, and it well expresses the genuine sentiments of the faculty: