Ca?. II.] scan*rozz. 65 everlasting ruin, The church demands this from you, an well as from the other bishops, whom our reseript equally eoneenm; and we mo? anxiously expect it, th? the deep sorrow we feel on account of this new speeies of tares, which an .adverttory has so a?ndandy sown, may by this cheering hope be somewha? alleyis, ted; and we always ver? heafifiy invoke the choicest bleesings upon yourself ,rid your fello?- bishops for the good of the Lord's flock, which we impaft to you and them by our apostolic benediction. "Given at Rome, at St. Mary the Oremr, June 29, 1816, the seven- teenth year of our pontificate. Pws, P. VII." The reader will find the bull in English in M'G?vin's Protestant, vol. i, p. 572. The pope's bull of September 18, 18rs, on the subject of the circu- lation of the Scriptures in the Irish schools, is in the same strain as that to the clergy of Poland. He calls circulating the Scr/ptures in schools sotv/ng ?a?'es; he says the children are by this means crime of circulating the Scriptures, "the directors of schools are t?enerally Methodists, who introduce Bibles, translated into English by e Bible Society."The pope finally exhorts the Irish bishops, to whom the bull was addressed, that w/t]/ unbounded seal they would endeayour to prevent the wheat from being cAo?d by t]? "MY LOaDS,- "The prediction of our Lord Jesu8 Christ, in the parable of the sower, that sowed good seed in his fields, but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed tares upon the wheat, is, to tho very great injury indeed of the Catholic faith, seen verified in these our days;par- ticularly in Ireland; for information has reached the ears of the sacred congregation that ' Bible schools,' supported by the funds of the hete- rodox, [that is, the wrong thinking; meaning, no doubt, the heretical Protestants,] have been established in almost every part of Ireland, in which, under the pretence of charity, the inexperienced of both sexes, but particularly peasants and paupers, are deluded by the blandishments, and even the gifts of the masters, and invested with the fatal poison of depraved doctrines. It is farther stated, that the ?tirectors of these schools are, generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles, translated into English by ' the Bible Society,' and abounding in errors, with the sole view of seducing the youth, and entirely eradicating from the/r minds the truths of the orthodox faith. Under these circumstances, your lordship already perceives with what solicitude and attention pas- tors are bound to watch, and carefull)' protect their flock from the snares of wolves, who come in the clothing of sheep. If the pastors sleep, the enemy will quickly creep in by stealth, and sow the tare? soon will the tare8 be seen growing among the wheat and choke it. Every possible exertion must, therefore, be made, to keep the youth away from these destructive schools, to warn parents against suffering their children, on any account whatever, to be led into error. But for the purpose of escaping the snares of the adversaries, no plan seem more appropriate than the establishing schools, wherein salutary in- structions may be im[mrted to the paupers and illiterate country per* mona. In the name, men, of the bowels (of the Inerey) of ogr VOL. I.--?
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