An Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America John Carroll John Carroll University
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John Carroll University Carroll Collected Special Collections Books Special Collections 1784 An Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America John Carroll John Carroll University Follow this and additional works at: http://collected.jcu.edu/books Recommended Citation Carroll, John, "An Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America" (1784). Special Collections Books. 3. http://collected.jcu.edu/books/3 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at Carroll Collected. It has been accepted for inclusion in Special Collections Books by an authorized administrator of Carroll Collected. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A If A D D R E s s T 0 T H 1l ROMAN CATHOLICS UNITED STATES oF AMERICA, A I N T Paul recommends to the antients of the church of Ephtfus, in his laft an& earneft arldrefs to S them, to tal1 hetd t1 thtmjthm, and to tht whole j/otl, over whicb the Hq/y GhYf has plaud th1m D'Utrjiers, to fud tht church of God •. Thia dllty is at all times in umbent on thofe, who, by their ftation and profdlion, are called to the fervi e of religion ; and more efpecially at period• of unufual danger and temptation to the BQcks committed to their charge: whether the temptation arife from outwa;d violence, a growing corruption of manners, or from men arifing from your own ftlves, JPtaking ptrtmji things to drllW a .uay dz(cipltt after tkem t· For in the church of God, " the error of the teac-her is a tempt~tion to the people, " and their danger is gre~ter, where his knowle ge is more "extenfive fi." Tbe antient and venerable author, who m"kes this obfervation, having inftanced the truth of it in • A~h xx:. ver. st. t]lbid. ver. 30. U Vine. J..ir. co&nna, cap, u. [ 4 ] ( s ] , h d rt e from the catholic faith of f"eral ptrfon JOt e ep3 ur .. Chrift to his apofl:les, to prefcrve men om the corrup- em.1 nent ~or t ...r, err· knowlrd •e an,J wnungs, concludes tions of vice an1 imm••ralitv: and, )IU art tiJe light of tht . t in!hudion, and recomml'nds it to be wtrh an rmporr n . wqrld*, to inftruet lind inform it. • . d h,.. n in<ls d cathollca, that thty may how, JITIPIC" 11c uron r • • h Ou• du y bcin!! fo clearly delineated by the divine au- that u.tt. h t l71' ch u rc1. ~ , tht~J r 1mve thn:- ftac as, but mrgl 1r~t thor of our religton, if we have been deficirnr in the dif- . l , ,1 b Ln the f(lith D[ th1 church • • 'II. II~ /fl';t " fllla# J' charge of etthcr p ·rt of it, if w~ have ilHtertd your paf- ou \\1' II no t now he :tt a lofl to arcount for the occa- Y fions, or Wtthh ld knowledge from }OUr minds, we have r_ f h r~rent11 addrefs. A letter to the Roman ca- uon o t e P ~ • cl'rtainly deviated from the o i-, Jigat ions of our Oate, and . f the city of W orreftcr 1&1 England ha-s been t h II IICS 0 , , the pofitive injunClions of our church. For though y u ubl ilh'd here l>y one of thetr late chaplarns; and had have often heard it reproachfully faid, tb"t 1t W Js ho.h PI! t h · 8 of it been trimfmitted to thofe, for whom a e cop1e her maxim and praClice to keep hcr..Yotaries in ignorance, ,r.JJ n 't is inttnced I lhouJd not d~icare to animad- P' o,~vM'J : ' I ·f 1 f no imputatit) n can be more groundlefs : and for a full 't the few moments of e1 ure e t me from ver fi1ons on I confutation of it, we refc:r our candid adverfaries to the I ments incidc:nt to my charge and profdlion; r>! h cr emp oy .. ordinances of our councils, the directions of our ecc efi- r · 'I 'th the (ranty mafer~als of whtch 1 am pof. e.pe.tao y WI • • aftical fupcrion, and the whole difciplinc of our church, r: tr J f, I am defiitute of many fourcu of tnformatton, ~eue ; or . even in ages ttle molt inaufpicious to the cultivation of bl to refer to authorrues, wht h I prefume to an d una c . • letters. In thofe ages indeed, the manners of the t1mes !live been col!eCled on the other fide With great and~ftry. had great influence, as they always will, on the manneu :By the Chaplain's own 2ccoun.r-, he has. Jong rnedttated of the cle•gy: but eyery informed and ingenuous mind, ltpar:ttJon from us; and, dunng that t.rmc, he ~ad op- 2 inftead of being prejudiced by the vague rmputations on ·c· s of reforting to the repolitones of fctem:e fo porumr re monki{h and clerical ignorance, will reml'mber with gra- coa.rnoPI and convenient in Europe-. titude, that they owe to this body of men the pre(erva- B'ut the letter not only being printed ltere, but ctr~u- tion of antient literature; that in times of g(' neral anar- widely through ttle country, a l"t!gard to. your In latirrg chy and violence, they alone gave fuch cultivation to let- formation, and tbe tranquilfity of yoor confcren~e~ re- ters, as the unimproved fiate of fci ence a.:lmitted; and • r -e notice to be rak n of it. For tbe 'tnm1ften qmrts 110 .,. • • • d th-at in the cloi1lers of cath(dral churches, and of mona{- of reli~ion fuou 'd always remembtr,. .that at a~ them uty teries, they opened fchools ot public infirudion, and, to as well to enlighten the underftandrng, as amprove the men of ftudious minds, afylums from the turbul(nce of morals of mankind. You are th1 folt o/ the ,.,.th t, faiCf war and rapine. The inference from tbefe faaa is ob- Chriti vious: for if the minilters of religion, agreeably to the • Catholici noverint fe cum ecclefia dOCtores recipere, non cum difcip1ine of the church, culti~ated and taught letters at eoaoribus f'lClefire fidem delererc deber.e. Filu. I ir. ~;omm. c. IIJ· a time t Mat. v, ~er. 13. • Mat."· ver. 14o. r 6 J f 7 ' of the dottrine here advanced ? Mull we then furpend all . h were generally negleCled; if tht refur- a ume when t ey . I the duties of aataral religion and moral ot>ligation l M~tt . {i d l"teracure was owmg, as tt ce•tatn y was, chon of OUD I . a fnn fliveft himfelf of fili.tlloYe and refpeCl, that he may re d' ·fied of our clergy ; who can tmpute 1 - to the mon4 tgnt . jnveftigate rationll!ly, and judge imparti;,~Jly, of the obli refulting from the g•mua of our reli norance to us, as g tions refulting from the tend r relations of parent and child? Muft we q~gtea to train the tender m.inda of gion? dd other numerou~ proofs of the falfity of 1 forbear to a youth in the habits of virtue, and to guard them from . d 1 can with confidence appeal to your- this charge· an . a. ~ h yice, by the profpea of. future rewards and punilbments, our rdig•ous tnnrul;\ors .1ve not, to felves, whet her y . ( - lefl they lhould be incliqed to judge hereafter too par · abilities and full a '"I] y to your re p~ct- thc extent o f t hetr ' tially of thofe great (anClions ef natural and revealed re . · 1· f endeavoureJ to fuf:getl fuch grounds sve fituatlOHS ID I c, ligion 1 What an argument is here fuggefted to the im o the dotlrines of the (burch, as mteht for your adb efi &on t pugners of all rehgion, to rhe enemies of chriftianity r always to give an onfwer to t!'Utry man, thlll make you read y . • W Suggefted, did I fay, or borrowed from them ? For the .G 1' that ho~>e that IS tn you • e tell you ojluth 1DU a rtfl)On 6'J r learned Dr. Leland, tQ whofe writings the caufe of reve mull fubmit to the church; but we add indeed, that you . lation is fo 'much indebte I~ has infotmed us, that it has .a.1 that your obedimce mujl be rmfonoble. Now wtth the apon e, . been long ago made ufe of by them; and his anfwer .to . be reafonable, " can any ~an gtve a rea- c:;.n obe d&ence . it, more efpec:ially as he was a proteftant, wilf f•ve me hope that is in him, wahout a due examma- fon o f t h at . d h' · l the trouble of making any obfervations on this extraor . f nds or ototives that tn uce sm to It , tton o the grou . dinary affertion. " Another argument," fays he, " with r 1 d therefore nothing ought to bmder yo• No ture y; an . u which he" (the author of chrijlianity not founded in arru from exam1mng· · thorou hly the grounds of your reltgton. ment) " makes a mighty parade, is to this pus'pofe, that Nay, we ex hor t you to examine them over and over a " no religion can be rational, that is not founded on a · '11 u bave a full conviClion of confcience, that gam, t& yo .