J?mm Christ, we exb0rt ? beseech your brdship to guard your flock with ,tillgence and with all dine discretion from titoRe persons who are in the Irabit of thr? themselves into the fold of Christ in order thereby to lead the unwary. 8hee. p away, and ng?di'ul of the forewarn- big of Peter, the almsde, given m these words, namely, ' There shall
- ,iRe be lying teachers among you, who shall bring in sects of perdition.'
Do you labour with all your might to keep the oftliedeR youth from being corrupted object which will, I hope, be easily etfected by the by that of Catholic schools throughout your diocess. "And confidently trimting that, in a mattor of such vast importance, your lordship will, with unbounded zeal, endearour to prevent the wheat from being choked by the tares, I pray the all good and onmi- potent C.?ed to guard and preserve you many years. "Your !ordship's most obedient and hnmble servant, "F. CARDINAL FONTANA, Pr?'e?. "C. M. PRDIClNR, S,?reta?. Fa/tA, lSth Sept., lS19." A ?'ansl?tion of the bull may be seen in M'Oavin's Protestant, vol. i, p. 572. Pope Leo XII., in his bull, or circular letter, to the Irish clergy, da?ed May 3, 1824, says, "It is no secret to you, venerable brethren, that a certain society, vulgarly called T?tz BisLZ SocIz?y, is and?- ciously dispreading itself through the whole world. After despising the traditions of the holy fathers, and in opposition to the well known decree of t?e Council of Trent, this society has collected all its forces, and directs every means to one object, to the translation, or rather to the p?rv?'s/oA, of the Bible into the vernacular languages of all nations. From this fact there is strong ground of fear, lest, as in some instances already known, so likewise in the rest,,?rough a perverse interpretation, there be framed out of the gospel of Christ a gospel of man, or, what is worse, a gospel of the devil."The Irish Roman Catholic bishops, to whom this was wr/tten, publicly avowed their concurrence with the pope's views, and charged their fiock.? to surrender to their parish pne' sts all copies of the Scriptures received from Bible societies, as well as ill publications d/sseminated by the Religious Tract Society.* Assertions, sim/lar to those given from the above-mentioned bulls, have been uttered from the days of the Council of Trent down ?o the present time, as the recorded and acknowledged authentic and authorita- tive doctrine of the Church of Rome. The famous bull U?iA?rnit? , ?oainfg the .Iansenists, (A.D. 1713,) condemns, among others, the fol- lowing pwpositions drawn from Quesnel, as fal?, captious, ?Aocki?g, "It is useful and necessary, at all times, in all places, and for ?orts of persons, to study and know the Spirit, piety, and mysteries of the Scriptures. The reading of the Holy Scriptures is for every body."Thus the authoritative and infallible decisions of the Roman Catholic Church are against the general reading of the Holy Scriptures. I 5 �
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