catholic faith, by which catholics are justified in not keeping faith with heretics, or other persons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transactions, either of a public or a private nature."

The opinions of the Universities of the Sorbonne, Louvaine and Douay were first received, and were transmitted to Mr. Pitt, with the following letter:

"SIR,

"The committee of the English Catholics have the honor to lay before you, the opinions of the Universities of Sorbonne, Louvaine and Douay, which have been transmitted to us in consequence of your desire.

"You will, we hope, see, from these opinions, that the sentiments of the most famous foreign bodies perfectly coincide with those which we had the honor of stating to you last year, as our firm and sincere tenets.

"At the same time, we beg leave to call to your remembrance, that our opinions were fully stated to you previously to the obtaining those of the foreign universities; and that they were consulted, not as the rule by which we form our ideas of the duties of good subjects, but as a collateral proof to you, that our sentiments are consonant to those of the most enlightened and famous bodies of Catholic divines on the continent upon these subjects.

We have the honor to be," &c.

As soon as the other opinions were received, the committee transmitted them also to Mr. Pitt.

A translation of all these answers is inserted in the appendix to the first volume of Mr. Butler's "Historical Memoirs of the English, Irish and Scottish Catholics."

No. 3.

The custom of kissing the feet of the Pope, upon his accession to the papacy, was quite established in the eighth century; though for some succeeding ages it was practised upon that occasion only.

This custom was derived, in common with various honors, from the sovereign Pontiff, to whose privileges the Bishop of Rome had succeeded. It had been introduced by the Emperor and Pontiff Caligula; probably in part to obtain one mark of adoration which had never been paid to his predecessors, and partly through the absurd vanity of exhibiting his magnificent slipper of gold, enriched with precious stones.

Gregory's History of the Christian Church.

At the commencement of the eighth century, the Cardinal Priests held no considerable rank, nor were they admitted into the councils till 764. In the eleventh century the Cardinals appear to be necessarily joined with the Clergy in the election of a Pope; and about one hundred years after this they obtained, that they should have the sole nomination; and by degrees have become the Pope's great council. In 1244, Innocent IV. ordered, that when the Cardinals rode out, they should wear a red hat, to shew that they were ready to shed their blood in the cause of the Church. In 1471, Paul II. ordained, that they should wear robes of scarlet. All other persons, and even kings and emperors, must kiss only the Pope's toe; but the Cardinals kiss his hands and

mouth. If a Cardinal accidentally meet a man going to execution, he has a power of saving his life; and it is said, that none of them can be condemned for a crime under seventy-two witnesses, if he be a Cardinal Bishop; sixty-two if he be a Cardinal Priest; and twenty-seven if he be a Cardinal Deacon.

See History of Popery, viii. p. 53.

No. 5.

(GREEK CHURCH.)

The word Papa was given indiscriminately, in the first ages of Christianity, to all Bishops, and in the East to all Ecclesiastics, till Gregory VII. ordered it to be reserved to the Bishop of Rome alone. But the separation between the Latin and Greek Churches having taken place before his Pontificate, the Greek Christians did not respect this order, and, therefore, still design their inferior clergy by the title of Papas.

See Bingham 1. i. c. 2. and Adams' Religious World.

MATTHEW xvi. 19.

"Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven."

"Loose on earth.-The loosing the bands of temporal punishment due to sins, is called an Indulgence; the power of which is here granted."

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

The obligation of confession is likewise gathered from this power given to the priesthood.

No.2.

(INDULGENCES. SUPEREROGATION.)

(See also Note on Matt. xii. 32. No. 3.)

Dr. Mosheim observes, that in the twelfth century, when the bishops wanted money for their private pleasures, or for the exigencies of the church, they granted to their flock the power of purchasing the remission of the penalties imposed upon transgressors, by a sum of money, which was to be applied to certain religious purposes, or, in other words, they published Indulgences, which became an inexhaustible source of opulence to the episcopal orders, and enabled them, as is well known, to form and execute the most difficult schemes for the enlargement of their authority, and to erect a number of sacred edifices, which augmented considerably the external pomp and splendor of the church.

Stephanus, Obazinensis in Balusii Miscellan. tom. iv. p. 130. Mabillon Annal. Benedict, tom. vi. p. 535, &c.

When the Roman Pontiffs cast an eye upon the immense treasures that the inferior rulers of the church were accumulating by the sale of Indulgences, they thought proper to limit the power of the bishops in remitting the penalties imposed upon transgressors, and assumed, almost entirely, this profitable traffic to themselves.

In consequence of this new measure, the Court of Rome became the general magazine of Indulgences; and the Pontiffs, when prompted to look out for new subsidies, published not only an universal, but also a complete, or what they called a plenary remission of all the temporal pains and penål

ties which the church had annexed to certain trans

gressions.

They went still farther, and not only remitted the penalties which the civil and ecclesiastical laws had enacted against transgressors, but pretended to abolish even the punishments which are reserved in a future state for the workers of iniquity; a step this, which the bishops had never once ventured to take.

Morinus, de Administratione Sacramenti Pœnitentiæ, lib. x. cap. 20, 21, 22. R. Simon, Biblioth. Critique, tom. iii. cap. 33. p. 371. Mabillon Præf. ad Acta Sanctor. Sec. 5. Acta Sanctor. Bened. p. 54.

To justify these measures of the Pontiffs, a doctrine was invented, which was modified and embellished by St. Thomas in the following century, and which contained, among others, the following enormities, "That there actually existed an immense treasure of merit, composed of the pious deeds and virtuous actions which the saints had performed beyond what was necessary for their own salvation (these works are known by the name of works of supererogation), and which were, therefore, applicable to the benefit of others: that the guardian and dispenser of this precious treasure was the Roman Pontiff; and that, of consequence, he was empowered to assign to such as he thought proper a portion of this inexhaustible source of merit, suitable to their respective guilt, and sufficient to deliver them from the punishment due to their crimes."

For a satisfactory and ample account of the Doctrine of Indulgences, see a very learned and judicious Work, entitled "Lettres sur les Jubilés," published in the year 1751, in 3 vols. 8vo. By the Rev. Mr. Chais, Minister of the French Church in the Hague, on occa