"to restore his true religion."-Again, " The consecration ❝ and crowning of the Emperor, and of our dear Daughter "Josephine, his august Consort, were celebrated in the most "solemn manner." She was the kept mistress of Barras, the Director, who prevailed on Napoleon to marry her in consideration of being promoted in the army. The CONCORDAT of the present Pope with Bonaparte on the subject of Religion has been always regarded by the Catholic body at large, as the great disgrace and scandal of their Church. The protestations of the various Bishops of France, and particularly the Letter of the Bishop of ST. POL DE LEON on the subject of it, will shew what views have been entertained by his own Clergy, of the course pursued by the Pope in that affair. Their objections to the CONCORDAT were however only drawn from the injury it was likely to do to the Catholic Church and cause, and had no reference whatever to the great question of Toleration between Protestants and Catholics. On this point the Pope is agreed with all his Clergy, and it may be worth considering what the sentiments of the Pope are, especially with reference to the free exercise of religious worship on the part of the Protestants.-Much has indeed been said of the great liberality of the Church of Rome at this moment, and we hear not a little of her intolerant principles having been altogether renounced, or at least greatly relaxed. The following fact will however prove that even BONAPARTE himself intended greater kindness to Protestants than the present Pope. This Pontiff addressed a formal Letter to all the Cardinals, dated the 5th of February, 1808, containing his sentiments on a proposal of BONAParte's for granting the free and public exercise of religious worship to those who dissent from the Romish Communion, in which he uses these remarkable words · * "It is proposed that all religious persuasions should be "free, and their worship publicly exercised: but WE HAVE REJECTED THIS ARTICLE as contrary to the Canons, and to "the Councils; to the Catholic Religion; to the peace of "human life; and to the welfare of the State, on account of "the deplorable consequences which would ensue from it." The other pastoral Letters of the present Pope which are before the Public manifest that this Pontiff declaims against the toleration of Protestant worship as pregnant with the most fatal consequences; that he reproaches the French Government for its" protection of Sectaries, Heretics, and Schis"matics"-that he considers such an indulgence to Protestants as an alliance between "Christ and Belial, light and -"darkness, truth and error, sincere piety and impiety”—that he casts in the teeth of BONAPARTE the ancient maxim of Popery, that there is no possibility of Salvation out of the Church of Rome (" Della quale, non vi, è speranza di salute") -that he claims the right to interfere, as of old," among all "the nations of the Earth" in secular concerns; and respecting Literary works, Marriages, Bastardies, Divorces, Religious Houses, Vows of Celibacy, Oaths of Allegiance, and the Bishops and Clergy. He expressly condemns the intermarriage of parties, only one of whom is a Professor of what he calls "the Christian faith;" since the Church of Rome (he says) has always strongly reproved marriages with Heretics, and held them in abhorrence, for which he further quotes the authority of his predecessor Clement XI.; and again he says, "the same laws which forbid the marriage of Christians with “INFIDELS have also prohibited the sacrilegious nuptials of "Catholics with HERETICS*." It is a remarkable fact that the present Head of the Ro mish Church does not stand alone in his abhorrence of Heretics, nor in protesting against the equal toleration of all religions. The Clergy of his own Church entertain precisely * See the Pope's several Letters at length in an important Collection of Documents relative to the negotiations between the French Government, and the present Pope, published in 1812, in 3 vols. by Keating and Co. the Booksellers of the English Vicars Apostolic, the same sentiments as their Head, and consider, with him, that the very existence of Protestants in a State having the equal right with Roman Catholics of following their own mode of worship, ought not to be suffered. No sooner had the King of the Netherlands taken possession of his dominions than the Roman Catholic Bishops of Belgium made an effort to re-establish throughout Flanders the ancient dominion of the Church over conscience. Their Letter to their new Sovereign, dated July 28, 1815, is a document of considerable importance: it speaks most unequivo cally on the subject, as the following extracts will shew. "Sire, the existence and the privileges of the Catholic "Church in this part of your Kingdom are inconsistent with an article of the new Constitution, by which equal favor and protection are promised to all religions." "Since the conversion of the Belgians to Christianity, such "a dangerous innovation has never been introduced into "these Provinces, unless by force." "Sire, we do not hesitate to declare to your Majesty, that "the Canonical Laws which are sanctioned by the ancient "Constitutions of the Country, are incompatible with the "projected Constitution, which would give in Belgium equal "favor and protection to all Religions." "The Canonical Laws have always rejected Schism and "Heresy from the bosom of the Church." 66 "The Council of Trent, ALL whose resolutions were published in these Provinces, and have there the force of "Ecclesiastical Law, after confirming all the old laws of the "Church, which fix the jurisdictions, the rights of the Bishops, "of the Chapters, of the Universities, and in general of the "regular and secular Clergy, commanded the Bishops to see « to the execution of them; and carefully to watch, not only "over the maintenance of the sacred pledge of the faith, but "also that of the laws which concern the essential discipline of the Catholic Church, and secure the consistency and the "inviolability of its Government.” It may be here observed that one of the Resolutions of the Council of Trent, and the object of the Bull of Pope Paul III. which issued in consequence, was the extirpation of Heresy. The Bishops proceed: "If your Majesty, when you secure to the Belgic Church her existence and privileges, has the intention, as we con“jecture, to maintain the entire execution of the Holy Canon «Laws, we are incapable of duly expressing our thanks to "your Majesty for it. But we most respectfully take the "liberty to lay before your Majesty an article of the new "Constitution, which, in securing the same protection to all "Religions, would be incompatible with the free and entire "exercise of our official duties." "We are bound, Sire, incessantly to preserve the people ❝intrusted to our care, from the doctrines which are in oppo ❝sition to the doctrines of the Catholic Church. We could "not release ourselves from this obligation without violating "our most sacred duties: and if your Majesty, by virtue of a "fundamental law, protected in these provinces the public "profession and spreading of these doctrines, the progress of which we are bound to oppose with all the care and energy which the Catholic Church expects from our office, we should be in formal opposition to the Laws of the State, ❝to the measures which your Majesty might adopt to main ❝ tain them amongst us, and in spite of all our endeavours to ‹ secure union and peace, the public tranquillity might still ❝ be disturbed." This is indirectly threatening their Prince with rebellion! * The title of this Bull runs thus: "S.D.N.D. Pauli Divina Pro“videntia Papæ III. Indulgentia pro pace publica, et extirpatione Har “ resum—Paulus episcopus servus servorum Dei, ad futuram rei memo“riam," &c. And Pope Clement XIV. admits in his Bull for the supe pression of the Order of Jesuits, that among other objects the Society 66% Already the Proclamation of your Majesty, which "-announced that the new Constitution should insure the liberty of Religion, and give all equal favor and protection, "filled every heart with consternation" !!! In the subsequent paragraphs of this very important document, Toleration is confounded by the Bishops with the modern Philosophy, one of the characteristics of which the Bishops say is an indifference to all Religions. The inference deducible from the above is, that in the system of the Church of Rome, there is a radical and incu rable defect; that her fundamental principle is hostile to the right which all intellectual beings possess, of investigating those doctrines, upon the reception of which, not by an external and forced assent, but by an internal and unfeigned belief, the present and future happiness of the human race depends; in short, to seek after those solid proofs and valid authorities, which alone, by producing conviction, can effect true conversion. While the system of Papists will never allow them to compromise, or accord with, such investigations of religious truth, as form the glorious characteristic of the country in which we live, it is manifest that they cannot but be, intentionally at least, tyrants over conscience. - The present Pope's proceedings against the Gallican Church, and his deprivation of her Bishops, of which acts the most severe complaints were made, form only a part of his inconsistent policy. In his less public correspondence further evidence appears to invalidate his claims to be considered the Father of Christian Europe. In Instructions addressed by him to his Nuncio at Vienna in the year 1805, he maintains the pretended right which the Romish Church has ever assumed of deposing heretical Princes; and he deplores the misfortune of those times which, as he says, prevent the Spouse of Jesus Christ (the Church) from putting those holy maxims into practice, and constrain her to suspend the course of her just severities against the Enemies of the Faith*. 1 * See Essai historique sur la Puissance des Papes. |