Page:The spiritual venality of Rome.djvu/106

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At one time it is the vile book,^ which had no existence but in the invention of heretics^ and was nniformly disavowed^ abominated^ con- demned, by the innocents upon whom it was charged- But this plan of attack, and this position could not — there were shrewd fears — be maintained. Then, on a sudden the assail- ants get to the other side of the fortress, and endeavour to undermine and blow it up with

  • ' /<?c« of offvce^^ Between the two, the be-

siegers hardly know which method to chuse, or rather to adhere to, not considering, themselves, so attentively as perhaps otliers will do for them, that the two parties, as far as their ef- forts are effectual, annoy, and must eventually 1 nil as to be disowned, it cannot be so innocent as to contain only what morality allows** How far and how long this system of ini- quity, and these flagitious records lasted, and whether they are even yet totally extinct, may not be easy to ascertain. The whole affair is a convention, and where there is no demand there can be no market* But the preceding ^ Mr. C. Butler has adapted the Fees qf Office system. To- wards the end of Marchand^s Article, it wiU be seen, that a flench writer verjr zealously advocates the abominable plea. I