power? To assert the contrary assuredly argues either
great obstinacy or egregious folly.

To the bull _In Coena Domini_ may be added the oath to the pope taken by
every bishop on his elevation to the episcopal dignity, by which he
engages to _persecute and attack heretics_.

Such are the principles of the Romish church as embodied in her councils
and her canon law. If they are true, then the gunpowder conspirators
were justified in their proceedings, nay, they were acting a meritorious
part in the prosecution of that design.

Nor have the doctors and eminent supporters of that church hesitated to
avow the same principles in days that are past, though in modern times,
it has been attempted to deny them, or explain them away. How modern
Romanists can consistently deny that such doctrines are enjoined by
their church, appears to me inexplicable, except on the jesuitical
principle of equivocation, which will enable them to pursue any course
calculated to advance the interests of the apostolic see; and though
Romanists generally repudiate such doctrines, yet it is asserted in the
theology of Dens, and taught at Maynooth, and doubtless in other similar
institutions, that heretics are the subjects of the church of Rome[29].
A host of writers might be alleged, who assert that it is lawful to
punish heretics with death. So numerous are the passages in Romish
authors on this topic, and so well known, that I abstain from any
quotations. Still I will meet an objection not unfrequently alleged by
Romanists, when pressed in an argument by the authority of names in high
repute in their church, namely, that "the church is not bound by the
views of particular individuals." The views of these individuals,
however, are those of the church, as I have already proved. But further,
why are not these views censured if the church does not maintain them?
The church of Rome has published an _Index Prohibitorum_, in which all
Protestant works are included; and an _Index Expurgatorius_, in which
many passages in the works of well known Romanists are marked for
erasure as containing sentiments akin to those of the Protestant
churches. As, therefore, the church of Rome has not hesitated to expunge
passages from the writings of her own members, when she has deemed them
at variance with her principles, why, if she views those portions of the
works to which I allude, and which enforce the persecution of heretics
even to death, to be erroneous, does