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PROMULGATED BY THE

ROMISH BISHOPS IN IRELAND,

A.D, 1832,

TOUCHING

THE POWER OF THE ROMISH CHURCH OVER HERETICS,

AND

THE RESTITUTION OF FORFEITED PROPERTY;

BEING

The Substance of a Speech

DELIVERED BY THE REV. ROBERT J. M'GHEE,

AT EXETER HALL, AUGUST 2, 1836.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION,

BY HATCHARDS, RIVINGTONS, SEELEYS, NISBET, DALTON, BAISLER, SHAW, AND FORBES AND JACKSON.

1839.

No. V.

[Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

1. CLAIMS of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION on PUBLIC SUPPORT. By G. H. WOODWARD, A.B. 2d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 2. SPEECH of J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P., upon the Maynooth College Grant. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100.

3. The USES of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH to the PROTESTANTISM and CIVILIZATION of IRELAND. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 2d Edition. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100.

4. STATEMENT of the CIRCUMSTANCES attending the PUBLICATION of the BIBLE with the RHEMISH NOTES. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

5. The DOCTRINES PROMULGATED by the ROMISH BISHOPS in IRELAND, A. D. 1832, touching the power of the Romish Church over Heretics, and the Restitution of Forfeited Property. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

6. ADDRESS of the COMMITTEE of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION to the PEOPLE of ENGLAND. 3d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 7. On the OBJECT and USES of PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 2d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 8. ENGLAND, the FORTRESS of CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. G. CROLY, LL.D., Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. Seventeenth Thousand. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100.

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9. BRITISH LEGISLATURE. On the ADMISSION of ROMAN CATHOLICS to PARLIAMENT, and their VIOLATION of their OATH. By J. E. GORDON, Esq. Price 11⁄2d., or 10s. per 100.

10. The CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.-SPEECH of the Rev. HUGH M'NEILE, in DEFENCE of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH, at the Second Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100.

11. A SKETCH of POPERY. Sixth Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000.

12. A FEW FACTS to AWAKEN PROTESTANTS. Fourth Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000.

13. The ROMAN CATHOLIC OATH. SPEECH of the BISHOP of EXETER, March 1, 1838, in the House of Lords. Price 4d., or 28s. per 100. 14. LETTER to the DUKE of WELLINGTON. By the Rev. R. J. M'GHEE. Second Edition. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100.

15. The JESUITS EXPOSED. Second Edition. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. 16. The PROGRESS of POPERY in the British Dominions and elsewhere. From "Blackwood's Magazine." Tenth Thousand. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. 17. The ACHILL MISSION, and the PRESENT STATE of IRELAND; being the STATEMENT delivered by the Rev. EDWARD NANGLE, at a Meeting of the Protestant Association, in Exeter Hall, December 28, 1838. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

18. PROTESTANTISM and POPERY. By the Rev. HENRY MELVILL. Fourth Thousand. Price 1d., or 10s. per 100.

19. The POPISH COLLEGE of MAYNOOTH. 4th Thousand. Price 1 d., or 10s. per 100.

20. ROMAN CATHOLIC QUESTION.-SPEECH of M. T. SADLER, Esq., M.P. for Newark, in the House of Commons, March 17, 1829, at the Second Reading of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. 21. SPEECHES at a Meeting of the Protestant Association to PETITION PARLIAMENT AGAINST the APPOINTMENT of ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS, &c., in the Prisons of England. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT, 1836-37. Price 6d.

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT, 1837-38. Price 6d.

The PROTESTANT MAGAZINE; a depository of Protestant Intelligence, containing interesting facts and important information with regard to the progress and designs of Popery, exposing its anti-christian, anti-social, and idolatrous character, and vindicating and enforcing sound Protestant principles. Published Monthly, in 8vo. Price 2d.

HANDBILLS.

1. POPERY the ENEMY of GOD and MAN. 2d Edition. Price 2s. per 100, 2. POPERY LIKE PAGANISM. Price 1s. 9d. per 100.

3. POPERY UNCHANGED. Second Edition. Price 1s. 9d. per 100.

SPEECH,

&c.

THE documents which I am to submit to this Meeting to-day are, in my judgment, the most important that ever have been submitted to the Protestants of this empire. I humbly trust, that as some of them will require time to read, and patience to listen to them, that this Meeting will give to them their close attention. I have endeavoured to word the Resolutions which I shall submit to you in exact accordance with the documents by which they are to be proved; and I trust that you will not pass a single Resolution unless you can conscientiously say in the sight of God that you believe that the principles which are contained in it have been conclusively and satisfactorily proved by unanswerable documents. I am not going to take you over beaten ground when I propose a Resolution connected with "Dens' Theology." I may say that the subject of that book is as yet unknown to the public. The first Resolution is this:

"That it appears to this Meeting, that there was appended to the last edition of Dens' Theology,' republished under the sanction and with the approbation of Dr. Murray, and the suffragan Roman Catholic Bishops of the province of Leinster, an eighth or supplementary volume, to which more especially that sanction and approbation was intended to apply, and the principles of canon law set forth in which, as sanctioned by the decretals of Popes and decrees of diocesan synods, confirmed by the Pope, are authoritatively set forth by the Bishops, as held of infallible obligation on the Roman Catholics of Ireland."

It is unnecessary for me to recall this Meeting to the subject of "Dens' Theology," or to remind it that this work was dedicated to Dr. Murray, as being undertaken with his approbation. Here is the dedication, with the words, "Hanc secundam editionem Theologiæ P. Dens. Ejus cum approbatione susceptam." That the work was set up by himself and his suffragan bishops of the province of Leinster

as a conference-book for the priests of that province, is proved by the questions for conference proposed for those priests, taken out of the " Theology" in regular order for six years past; and these "Directories," recollect, were not only published under the sanction of Dr. Murray and his suffragan bishops, and did not only contain those questions for conference which were discussed by the priests in all the province of Leinster, but the individual under whose especial authority they were brought over to this country, was the Hon. and Learned Member for Kilkenny. He received these "Directories from his own bishops or priests, and lodged them in evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, where they now lie as national property. But the subject to which I particularly wish to call your attention, is the eighth volume of "Dens' Theology." To this, the Resolution states, that more especially the sanction and approbation of Dr. Murray were given. For the purpose of proving this, I will read to you the advertisement which you have heard before, but which it is important you should hear again-written or published by the bookseller, Mr. Coyne. In his catalogue, subjoined to these "Directories" for four years, he says, "An additional volume, which is now for the first time annexed to the present edition, contains Encyclical Letters of the Sovereign Pontiffs, &c., bearing on the subjects contained in the work, as also the constitutions of Benedict XIV., in which he has defined questions formerly controverted among divines, and wherein he has decided subjects principally regarding moral theology; select passages also are cited from his truly invaluable work on the Diocesan Synod, in which the more difficult questions which Dens has only slightly touched on, or may not have sufficiently elucidated, are considered at great length. This volume will also contain the whole of the epitome of the canonical and moral doctrine of Benedict XIV., carefully selected from his several bulls, constitutions, and other theological works, and alphabetically arranged with reference to each particular work, by John Dominick Mansi, Archbishop of Lucca; presenting thus, in a compendious form, all the decisions of this learned Pope on various doctrinal, moral, and canonical subjects. supplementary matter above referred to, has been added with the sanction and approbation of his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Murray.” This advertisement was repeated in the "Directory" four successive years, under Dr. Murray's own sanction, and published through all Ireland among the priests.

The

The next document which I shall show you, as proving that this had the especial sanction of Dr. Murray, is a statement made by that gentleman, who, I believe, fills the office of his own secretary, or at least, who compiles the "Directory" under his authority. It is Mr. Woods, a respectable Roman Catholic priest in Dublin. When Mr. O'Sullivan and I brought forward the statement respecting "Dens' Theology," and read passages from it, with which the public mind was so strongly impressed, the effort on the part of the Roman Catholic priests and Dr. Murray himself was this, to try and get him out of the patronage of "Dens.' One of the expedients resorted to for this purpose, was to make it appear that the patronage expressly annexed

66

to Mr. Coyne's advertisement, applied only to the eighth volume, which was not by Dens: for this eighth volume does not contain one letter of "Dens' Theology;" it is a supplementary volume from other and higher authorities. Mr. Woods anticipates, or rather answers an argument we had used thus: " But he approved of the eighth volume, and thereby sanctioned the previous seven." This is a letter written by Mr. Woods, dated July 11th, 1835, the very day that our second public Meeting was held, and this is his answer, When the new edition of Dens' was nearly ready to issue from the press, it was suggested to Mr. Coyne that a volume, not at all by Dens, as the advertisement in the Directory' clearly shows, would prove a useful supplement to the forthcoming work. Dr. Murray was already aware of the value of the information contained in the proposed supplementary volume:"-mark, Dr. Murray was already aware of the value of the information contained in the proposed supplementary volume. He gave his sanction to the publication, without reference to Dens' or any other work." You have here the statement of his own secretary, that he knew of it, that he approved of the contents of this work, and under his especial sanction and approbation, this eighth volume was added as a supplement to "Dens." The next document, if you think it necessary that I should produce any other, is from the hands of a Protestant clergyman, Mr. Stanley, Rector of a parish in Cheshire. That gentleman published a pamphlet in which he reflects on our exertions to bring the subject of "Dens' Theology before the public. He says in a note in the twelfth page,—

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"Besides the order here alluded to, it may be worth while to observe the following proved facts: that Dr. Murray's choosing the questions for the Leinster Conferences in the order of Dens,' according to the uncontradicted statements first put forth by himself and his chaplain, does, in no way, involve assent or reference to the answers given in 'Dens' to those questions,"-we shall not stop to dispute that with Mr. Stanley now," that the approbation of the work, mentioned in Coyne's dedication to him, is limited by Coyne's own confession to the eighth volume only."

Mr. Stanley joins Mr. Woods in endeavouring to deliver Dr. Murray from the patronage of "Dens' Theology," and to fasten upon him peculiarly the patronage of the eighth volume. This same Rev. Gentleman has also written another statement in the "British Magazine" for the month of May, in which he says,

"I feel much obliged to a correspondent in your last number, signing himself T. E.,' for turning the attention of your readers to a supposed erroneous statement made by me in a note (p. 12) of a pamphlet entitled, A Few Observations on Religion and Education in Ireland,' as it enables me to state my authority for asserting that the approbation of the work mentioned in Coyne's dedication was limited, by his own confession, to the eighth volume."

He then refers to the advertisement which I have read to you, and adds,

"I beg leave further to add, that when at Dublin, to prevent any

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