Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1801-11-24

Of Carthage, openly projected Themselves |
ready, and thought ,hcmlclves bouod 10
abdica,e their b.ihopricks, II II hoOid be !
conceived that their abdication would tend /
20 remove the fchiiin OF the Donatif. La |
MaoY of you, indeed, Venerable R.c,hren,
had before your eyes thefc examples, and
adopted fimilar ientiments, when III COME
oucace o. the letter the 81 OF May,i7Gl,
of the late Plus VI. othappy memory, on.
predeccAor, you protected yourieifcs wil-
ling and ready 10 REIGN your charges, If
the good OF religion fhopld require II, for
which that wife Psntif beloved On them
.the gressea praiie. ~ Nor were there
wanting fo,ne otyou lately who fign.fed
TO us in your letters, tharyou would cheer
fully DO the fame, il it ihould iccm ncccE-
fairy for the prefervstion Of religion in
France. Nov Gncc We have arrived &c
thoie rimes, in which the voluntary abdi-
cation Of your charges is absolutely necef-
iary for the good Of che Catholic religion,
we cannot doub, that you will yield thia
obedience to God, by making this new "a
crit.cc, tN offer which 10 him you know
youElcives bound, ard have already 10
laudably profeiied yourfelycs ready, nlould
The good Of the Church require.
Confidently tru!ting, therefore, in confe.
qncnce OF the opinion which we have always
entertained OF yourreligion ard virtue thar
onperafng our letter, both to increaCe your
racrcics TO the Chorch, and to prefervethc
purify Of i, in France, you will, without &c
lay, implicitly comply with our exhorta
zion; we fir.t congratulate you on account
OF that immcrtsl glccy which youwill OBJ
'ain from this fplcnd;d relir.ony ofvirtue,
r-iision and obedience, which you are now
about 20 give to the Church. This glory,
indeci, viii DC 70 great as TO be far fupe-
perior to the praiies you have already ob
tgincd, by undergoing 70 many dangers
and enduring 70 many caiami,ies with 70
much coniesncy for prricrving religion in
the churches entrufcd to your fidelity
For, according to what the fame St. Au-
outline writes, in his letter to Catoricus,
:" 1t is far more glorious TO have laid down
the bugihen Of Epifeopacy, in order to
ward off rh dangers Of the Church, than
TO have urderiakenir for the fake of ruling
(c)"-We alfo congratulate you on thoi.
ample reward to VII oh this Gcrilce
will entitlc you from God, the rewarder OF
the good. For as the fame ST. Gregory
Nez!snzen writes, /" Thoie who abdicate
thrones will not lofe' God, bat will acquire
heavenly throne, much higher and fafer
(@I." In the lat place we congratulate
you, conhdering thoie advantages the
whole PrieRhood will derive from thefe
memorable examples Of minds labourng,
not for themfelves, but for the things
which belong TO God and the Church |
theteinitances ofobedience, humility, faith
and OF all cpifcopal hoiinels, with which
you are about to crown the end Of your
cptcop9cy-This virtue ofyours, indeed,
wiil fhut the mouths of the detra;1ors OF
the Prleithood, who calumniate the minif- |
tiers OF the fanttuary by aherting that they |
hro nothing in them but pride hauehti- |
"ef: snd aearice. Thi, new glory by |
winch you will render yourfelve; iliuffri. |
o"S' Will cxtort an involuntary adnirati- |
on OF your vittuc from men who will he |
Obliged to confels in regard to the church, |
what the fame St. Augnfine afFirms in the
above-'hentioned letter to Caaoricns -
" That there are fome men in it's bofom
WHO ices NOT thofe things which are their
own, bnt the things of Jefus Chrif."
We're compelled by the exigency of |
the times, which even exercnesits violence /
en- US, to fgnify that it is absolutely ne
Gehsrry for you to give written anfwer
within ten days, and that your anGwer be
trsnimltted tothe perlon by whom thepre
lent letter will be delivered to you, which
you ought 10 tefify by an aulhen.is do
cumcat, that you rave received; we muh