their masters?—To be obedient, respectful, and faithful to them, to be diligent in their work and service, and not to suffer their masters to be injured in their property by any persons. Ephes. 6, Coloss. 3.

What is commanded by the Fourth Commandment ?—To love, honour, and obey parents and superiors. Col. iii., 20. What is forbidden by the Fourth Commandment?—All contempt, stubbornness, ill will, and disobedience to parents and superiors.

Suggestion of an Oath or Test for Roman Catholics.

A Catholic must now, in order to vote for a Member of Parliament, or hold any of the offices which he is enabled to hold by 33d Geo. III., c. 21, take the two following Oaths, besides the Oath of allegiance :—

1st. I do take Almighty God and his only Son Jesus Christ my Redeemer, to witness that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord King George the Third, and him will defend to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever that shall be made against his person, crown, and dignity; and I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to his Majesty and his heirs all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against him or them; and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend to the utmost of my power the succession of the Crown in his Majesty's family against any person or persons whatsoever, hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto the person taking upon himself the style and title of Prince of Wales in the lifetime of his father, and who, since his death, is said to have assumed the style and title of King of Great Britain and Ireland by the name of Charles the Third, and to any other person claiming or pretending a

1 Grandson of James II., commonly called the Young Pretender, who headed the rebellion in Scotland in 1745. After his death, in 1788,

right to the Crown of these realms; and I do swear that I do reject and detest, as unchristian and impious, to believe that it is lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons whatsoever for or under pretence of their being heretics, and also that unchristian and injurious principle that no faith is to be kept with heretics. I further declare that it is no article of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion that Princes excommunicated by the Pope and Council, or by any authority of the See of Rome, or any authority whatsoever, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or by any person whatsoever; and I do promise that I will not hold, maintain, or abet any such opinion, or any other opinion, contrary to what is expressed in this declaration; and I do declare that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other Foreign Prince, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this Realm; and I do solemnly, in the presence of God and of his only Son Jesus Christ my Redeemer, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration and every part thereof in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this Oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever, and without any dispensation already granted by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, or any person whatever, and without thinking that I am, or can be, acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof; although the Pope, or any other person or persons, or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning. So help me God! 13 and 14 Geo. III., cap. 35.

2nd. I do hereby declare that I do profess the Roman Catholic Religion. I do swear that I do abjure, condemn, and

the royal title was assumed by his brother, the Cardinal, who then styled himself Henricus IX. Angliæ Rex, gratia Dei, non voluntate hominum.

detest, as unchristian and impious, the principle that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any person whatsoever for or under the pretence of being a heretic; and I do declare solemnly before God that I believe that no act in itself, unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused by or under reference or colour that it was done either for the good of the Church, or in obedience to any Ecclesiastical power whatsoever. I also declare that it is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither am I thereby required to believe or profess that the Pope is infallible, or that I am bound to obey any order in its own nature immoral, though the Pope or any Ecclesiastical Power should issue or direct any such order; but, on the contrary, I hold that it would be sinful in me to pay any respect or obedience thereto. I further declare that I do not believe that any sin whatsoever committed by me can be forgiven at the mere will of the Pope, or of any Priest, or of any person or persons whatsoever; but that sincere sorrow for past sins, a firm and sincere resolution to avoid future guilt, and to atone to God, are previous and indispensable requisites to establish a well founded expectation of forgiveness; and that any person who receives absolution without these previous requisites, so far from obtaining thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the additional guilt of violating a sacrament; and I do swear that I will defend to the utmost of my power the settlement and arrangement of property in this country, as established by the laws now in being. I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure, any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, for the purpose of substituting a Catholic Establishment in its stead; and I do solemnly swear that I will not exercise any privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb and weaken the Protestant Religion and Protestant Government in this kingdom. help me God! 33d Geo. III., cap. 21.

So

But no man can sit or vote in the Irish Parliament, or hold any of the offices specified by 33d Geo. III., without also

taking and subscribing the declaration against transubstantiation, &c., and receiving the Sacrament according to the ceremonies of the Church of England, except Protestant Dissenters, who, by the 19th and 20th Geo. III. c. 6, are excused from the test of the Sacrament.

The objections made by those who oppose the total abolition of Catholic disability are chiefly founded on the following considerations:

That although, by the above two oaths, they disclaim all foreign jurisdiction, temporal or civil, and any obligatory authority to direct or issue any order in its own nature immoral, or to forgive any sin or act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked ; yet these very words import, by necessary implication, a belief in foreign spiritual or Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and may leave it still to that jurisdiction to pronounce what is in itself immoral or a sin; that jurisdiction of any sort includes some power to direct, control, restrain, punish, or influence, in some manner, the actions and conduct of those subject to it; that such a reservation is inconsistent with the Supreme and entire internal1 sovereignty of the State; and that, although the power of the Pope or any foreign Council, or other foreign jurisdiction, may, in fact, be now very little formidable, yet such a tenet may, by artful and disaffected persons, be made use of to forward purposes of the most dangerous nature; that the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Court of Rome, which, in those oaths is saved by not being disavowed, extends to causes testamentary and matrimonial (so much and so unavoidably connected with important civil rights and relations, and the title to property); that the pastoral charges of Dr. Troy, titular Archbishop of Dublin, and Dr. Hussey, titular Bishop of Waterford, published since the Act of 33d Geo. III. (although men, especially the first, generally thought moderate

1 I mention internal, because the Scotch at the Union, and even the Revolution, objected to the King's Supremacy in spiritual, but said it resided in their National Church.-Note in the Original.

and attached to the present Government), show that sincere Catholics still hold opinions, whose tendency is of a nature to render it unsafe to trust them with any important share in the Government; that, moreover, all the Catholic Bishops on their consecration take an oath, of which the following sentences make a part :

"I will assist and aid the Pope of Rome to retain and defend the Roman Papacy and the Royalties of Saint Peter against all mankind, saving the rights of my own order. I will take care to preserve, defend, increase, and promote the rights, honours, privileges, and authority of the holy Roman Church, of our Lord the Pope, and his successors.'

On consideration of the foregoing topics, if it should be found expedient to enable Roman Catholics to sit in Parliament, and hold the greater executive offices, or to admit them to either of those capacities, it has occurred to me that some such oath or test as the following might obviate the political objections in a very considerable degree.

I should propose to exempt Irish Catholics (in all cases, but the appointment to any offices or situation of an ecclesiastical nature) from taking the declaration against transubstantiation and the Sacrament according to the Church of England.

"I, A B, do take Almighty God and his only Son, Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, to witness, that I do believe that neither the Pope, nor any foreign person or persons, hath any right, lawful power, authority, or jurisdiction, of any sort or of any respect whatsoever, over the actions or conduct of his Majesty's subjects (of this Realm) or any of them, in regard to their duties either towards his said Majesty or towards each other, or any of such duties, nor any right or lawful power whatsoever, to direct, control, restrain, prohibit, or punish, such subjects, or any of them in, from, or on account of the performance of such duties, or any of them, or for anything done or omitted on account of such duties or any of them; and that all right, lawful power, authority, and jurisdiction, over such subjects, in