"depended upon." The debate continued during two days. Finally the house divided, So that the bill was lost by a majority of 39 votes. It is impossible to praise adequately the exertions of Mr. Plunkett and his respectable associates in conducting this important bill through the house of commons: the zeal, the talent, the patience and perseverance which they exhibited in the arduous labour, were most exemplary, and entitle them to the thanks of every catholic and every friend of religious liberty. -May they and may their children meet with friends as able, as active, as disinterested, as steady, and as honourable as the catholics met in them! CHAP. XCIV. DOCTOR POYNTER'S SUGGESTIONS ON THE OATH OF GRANTING LIMITED RELIEF. WHEN the oath contained in Mr. Plunkett's bill was under consideration, Dr. Poynter had frequent communications with him, and the other gentlemen to whom it had been directed by a vote of the house of commons to prepare the bill. To prevent misconception of what was said by him in these delicate and important conferences, Dr. Poynter transmitted to them the following document. XCIV. 1. Dr. Poynter's Suggestions on the Oath of Supremacy. "Ir the pope ought not to have any ECCLESIASTICAL OF SPIRITUAL jurisdiction, &c. within these "realms, he ought to have none at all; for he has no civil jurisdiction here. The above clause denies "the divine right of the pope, as head of the church " of Christ, to govern the universal church. "What is the proper and obvious meaning of the "terms ecclesiastical and spiritual? "The term spiritual does not here mean the same "as incorporeal or internal: but it means that which " in nature directly tends to a supernatural end, or is "ordained to produce a supernatural effect. Thus "sacrifice, which is an external oblation of a sensible "victim to God, and the sacraments, which are vi"sible rites, are spiritual things, because they tend "to the worship of God and to the sanctification of "souls. That is called temporal which in its nature " and institution tends directly to the good order of "civil society. "The power of the church is spiritual; and the power of the state is temporal. "By the term ecclesiastical is properly meant what"ever in its own nature belongs to the spiritual t power and government of the church,-as by the "term civil is meant whatever in its own nature belongs to the temporal power and government of "the state. "This is the proper and limited meaning of the "terms ecclesiastical and civil, when the two powers "without any mutual co-operation. Such was the "ecclesiastical power of the church under the heathen emperors; such was the civil power of the Roman "state during the same period. "When the two powers are associated together by a friendly concordate, the ecclesiastical power "has sometimes exercised acts of a civil nature, by "the concession of the state; and the civil power has "sometimes exercised acts of an ecclesiastical nature, by the concession of the church. In these cases, "the term ecclesiastical, when applied to courts and "causes of a mixed nature, under the jurisdiction of "an ecclesiastical person as judge, is to be under"stood in a less strict and less proper sense. In "this sense some of our courts in England retain "the name of ecclesiastical. It is not in this mixed "sense that the spiritual power of the pope and "of catholic bishops in England is now called "ecclesiastical. "At the change of religion in England the state "totally divorced and separated itself from the ca"tholic church, and withdrew every portion of civil power from the pope and the catholic clergy, which "they had ever exercised in England by the conces"sion of the state. Consequently the spiritual powers, "which the pope and the catholic clergy now hold "and exercise over the catholics in England, are "PURELY ecclesiastical, without the least mixture of any civil or temporal power whatever. "This power and authority, purely ecclesiastical, is "that which Christ gave originally to his apostles, "and which was, by his ordinance, to be transmitted " from them to their legitimate successors to the end "of time, for the purpose of enabling them to preach "his faith, to promulgate his new law, to administer “his sacraments, to govern his church, and to enforce "the observance of his general commands by parti"cular and efficacious regulations. By the exercise "of this ecclesiastical power the church, from the "earliest ages, without the co-operation of the civil power, have issued many laws and ordinances relat"ing to the form of divine worship, to the manner "and circumstances of administering or of receiving "the sacraments, to the observance of the great "christian festivals, to the rules of abstinence and tó "the fast of Lent, to the impediments and celebration "of matrimony, to the conduct of the clergy, to the qualifications requisite for holy orders, to the limits "of the jurisdiction of the different orders of the hierarchy, &c. Many such external and purely " ecclesiastical regulations were made by the church, "and enforced among the faithful in different parts "of the world, before the church had any where any "connection with the state. The object of the church "in making them was, to enforce the observance of "the commands and institutions of Christ, which are "not of a temporal nature, but which tend directly "to the worship of God and to the sanctification of "the souls of men. The means by which the church "enforced the observance of them were not of a civil "nature, but were ecclesiastical and spiritual, viz. the "influence of her authority and the privation of the "benefits of her communion. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.' 2 Cor. x. 4. "In establishing and enforcing these ecclesiastical "laws and regulations, the pope has from the earliest " acknowledge that the pope, as head of the church, "has ecclesiastical and spiritual authority over all "the members of the catholic church. This authority, "which he now exercises over the catholics in England, is PURELY ecclesiastical and spiritual; it "has not the least mixture of any portion of civil or "temporal authority annexed to it. It is chiefly exer"cised here in appointing bishops and in giving them powers for the spiritual government of the catholics "in their respective dioceses or districts, in superintending the religious conduct of the catholics, and "in granting dispensations from the ecclesiastical impediments of matrimony, when necessity requires. "But this ecclesiastical and spiritual authority of the pope in England, as well as that of the catholic bishops here, is not invested with any civil formality, "nor has it any civil effect. In its object, and in its means, it stands in a very distinct order from the "civil power of the state. This may be illustrated 26 by one or two cases. 66 66 "A catholic confesses to a priest that he has injured his neighbour in his property or good name. "The priest admonishes him of the obligation of "making restitution, as far as he is able, to the ex"tent of the injury done, if he wishes to be reconciled "to God and to be admitted to the sacraments. The man refuses to make restitution. In this case, the priest can only urge him by advice and by com"mand to comply with this moral obligation, and if "he persists in his refusal to do his duty, by refusing "to admit him to the participation of the spiritual "benefit of the sacraments. But the priest cannot " employ any civil means, such as imprisonment, fine, |