"100l. per annum, equal to 2007. now; and allowed "him free access to his person, on terms of easy friendship and familiarity, throughout a course of forty years. Overpowered by kindness, and pos put to death by their subjects, or any other person;—and by the fourth, to declare, that no power on earth could dispense with the obligations contracted by that oath. Sixty doctors of the sacred faculty, signed, on the 6th of November 1775, an opinion, that the oath might be lawfully taken. On the third article of it, they aver, that "the doctrine on the murder and "deposing of kings, is evidently bad in two ways;-it is mate"rially heretical, that is, contrary to the word of God, so far "as it expresses that princes may be deposed; and formally "heretical, inasmuch as it superadds the lawfulness of putting "them to death, agreeably to what was observed in the year "1680, by fifty-nine doctors of the faculty of Paris, who gave "the same opinion concerning the oath formerly prescribed "in England by James the first." Doctrina de cæde et deposi tione principum, in duplex vitium incurrit ; ut nempe sit hæretica materialiter, id est, verbo Dei contraria, quatenus deponi posse principes effert: formaliter vero etiam, quatenus et occidi posse superaddit: Prout Anno Domini 1680, observatum fuit a 59 doctoribus Parisiensibus, qui memoratum supra sententiam, dixere, circa sacramentum Anglicanum, a Jacobo primo, quondam præscriptum. These facts respecting the Hibernia Dominicana of Dr. Burke, and the opinion of the doctors of the university of Paris, are taken from, "A Justification of the Tenets of the Roman"catholic Religion, and a Refutation of the Charges brought "against its Clergy by the right reverend Lord Bishop of "Cloyne :-By Dr. James Butler, the catholic archbishop of "Cashell," 8vo. 1787. On the epithets material and formal, used by the Parisian doctors, the right reverend prelate observes, that they are school terms; that "a doctrine is called materially "heretical, when contrary to the word of God, though not yet "condemned as such;-and that, when condemned by the "authority of the church, it is called by the schoolmen for<< mally heretical." "sessed of a grateful and warm heart, Walsh knew "not how to make any return: he was grieved to see " in the duke's disposition a sternness of attachment "to his own opinions, which was carried to the "unjustifiable length of shutting his eyes and ears "to all arguments, whether good or bad, which 'might be urged against them.-Under these impressions of affectionate attachment on one side, respect for the duke's opinions on another, and "the fear of giving him offence, Walsh never "ventured, however he might wish, to speak to "him on the subject of a true church. 66 "At length, however, when he saw Ormond de"clining in health, advanced in age, and standing, "as he thought, on the verge of the grave, he took courage; and going into his closet, asked, as a "last favour, that, after an intimacy of near forty 66 years, the duke would allow him to state his own "reasons for adhering to the ancient church, in spight of all the scandals which prevailed amongst "its professors; he showed how unreasonable it is "was to confound abuses with the genuine doc"trines of true catholicity; and then, throwing "himself on his knees, he entreated him, in the "name of the Redeemer, not to die without the sacraments of reconciliation.-' Walsh,' said the "duke, 'I see you are in good earnest; but, if you thought my situation dangerous, so good a "friend as you ought to have admonished me sooner; I cannot now embrace, what I see so much "cause to condemn.' Walsh would have replied; "--but the duke showing reluctance, he rose, and "left the room, much agitated by such a separa 66 66 tion, from such a friend.-It was the agitation of an affectionate and an honest mind; of a man "whose hairs were grey from age, and whose fea"tures were wrinkled by persecution.-What effect "it had on Ormond's mind, God only knows.— "There are precious moments, when the voice of an " inscrutable God penetrates to the heart. The re"mainder is a secret, which rests deposited in the "minds of two men, who, notwithstanding the dif"ference of sphere in which they moved, were tied "to each other by a long experienced fidelity, and "an attachment, which the severest trials could "never dissolve." Father Walsh is mentioned with esteem by bishop Burnet and Dodwell; both, however, insinuate, that the father's catholicity hung very loosely upon him; but their insinuations should be received with some distrust, as the experience of every day shows, that, when a catholic disclaims tenets, erroneously imputed by protestants to the members of his communion, as doctrines of their church, the catholic is too easily suspected of not believing all that real catholics believe. 4 Several pamphlets, one, in particular, intituled "The Friar disciplined," by Talbot, afterwards catholic archbishop of Dublin, were published -against father Walsh. None of these have come into the hands of the present writer; so that his own opinion of the character of father Walsh, rests altogether on his History of the Remonstrance, and the facts mentioned of him by Dr. O'Conor. From these, he suspects, that the father's real crimes were his rejection of the pope's temporal power, and the works, in which he opposed that unfounded and calamitous doctrine. Father Walsh died in London, in September 1688, and was buried in St. Dunstan's in the West. A few months before he died, he signed a declaration, of which we shall give a translation, and subjoin to it a copy of the original." I, brother "Peter Walsh, a priest of the order of St. Francis, "of the stricter observance ;-ascribed to the Irish province ;-submit, before God, and the wit"nesses called for this purpose, and subject, from 66 my soul, all and every the books, which I have "ever written or printed, in any language, to the "examination and judgment of the holy roman"catholic church, and the vicar of Christ on earth, "the Roman pontiff; and from my soul, I retract, "condemn, repent of and reject, whatever shall be "found in them, erroneous, scandalous, or in any "wise noxious to the catholic faith, sound doctrine, "good morals, or to any men: Promising, if life "and strength remain, that all things which, in my said works, shall appear such as ought to be "condemned or suppressed, I will expressly and "from my soul, even in print, so far as the case "requires, retract: and that I will always submit my own judgment to the church and my supe"riors; as I now truly submit, as an humble and "obedient son of the church and the seraphic order. "In testimony of which, I have subscribed this de"claration with my own hand. Dated the 13th "of the month of March 1687, old style, and the 23d day of the same month of March 1688, "new style. "Peter Walsh." "Brother Jo. Everard, Franciscan, present. "Brother Benedict Macarthy, Cistercian, present. "Brother Francis Forster, Franciscan, present*." It should be added, that the authenticity of this retractation rests altogether on the circumstance, that a copy of it, in the hand-writing of a respectable contemporary, but without any attestation, has been discovered. "Ego, frater Petrus Valesius, sacerdos ordinis S. Fran"cisci, strictioris observantiæ, provinciæ Hiberniæ adscriptus; "submitto, coram Deo et testibus ad hoc vocatis, et subjicio, "ex animo, omnes et quoscumque libros, quos unquam scripsi, "seu typis dedi, quocumque idiomate, examini et judicio sanc"tæ catholicæ Romanæ ecclesiæ, et Christi, in terris, vicarii, "Romani pontificis ; et ex nunc retracto, damno, deleo, et "rejicio quidquid in eis repertum fuerit erroneum, scanda"losum, aut quocumque modo noxium catholicæ fidei, sanæ "doctrinæ, bonis moribus, aut etiam quibuscumque hominibus: "Promittens si vita, et vires suppetant, in omnia, quæ in meis "dictis operibus damnanda aut supprimenda visa fuerint, me "expresse et ex animo, etiam libris editis, quatenus opus fuerit, "retractaturum, et judicium proprium semper ecclesiæ, et σε superiorum judicio omnino submissurum prout nunc reverâ "submitto, tanquam humilis et obediens ecclesiæ et ordinis "seraphicæ filius; in quorum fidem, presenti declarationi, propriâ manu subscripsi Londini, die 13 mensis Martii, anno "1687, stylo veteri, seu die 23 ejusdem mensis, anno 1688, stylo novo. 66 "Petrus Valesius.” "Fr. Jo. Everardus, Franciscanus, præsens. "Fr. Benedictus Macarthi, Cisterciensis, præsens. |