Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-10-04
ALEXANDRIA:
S9TURB.iF. OCTOBER l. 1917.
POPERY.

Whose deaths have taught me how to
J die
And shall no., with all my powers,
Watch round thy venerable towers?
! And can bid the pilgrim hse
| 70 holisr mother than to III =!
And can bid him torn his feet
From fields with flowers O! mercy sweet,
To gloomy wastes, and chilly CELL,
Where frowning superstition dwells'
| Where fat and penance waste the hours
Viii h man emands-tnMoloch' sthrchc,
To gloomy riles--tO men OF stone,
To the cold cell. and midnight grove,
Where It's forgot that God Is love =
DE Rance, Cdnto III.
Ma EDITOR,
When Eudamidas heard Xeno-
crates .disputing about wisdom, DE asked
very soberly-If the old man be yet dis
putting about wisdom, shat time will he
have 10 make use Of it The ratio of
progress With which the controversy be-
tween NJ b. and myself has been con-
Quoted. may suggest a similar enquiry
| nd perhaps it WOULD be well for US both
10 Improve the moral, BY the application
! of higher principle 10 the following al
fusion ot the poet:
Tityre, dum rsdeO, brafs est TIC, pasce
crPeiids.
I did not know till the last letter Of
our opponent gave the information, that
he had given "a satisfactory soiuhos"
of the Canon Of the Lateyan councii
which declares the deposing power OF
the Pope. Notwithstanding this solu'
ton, l an informed by the highest au-
thnrity, tia: the DEGREES Of councils are,
as imperi,Gs and ;rreyocable as the laws
If the MedeS and Persians; and that,
Whether they relate to matters oil faith or
of practice, they are to be taken as the
infa!iiRs decisions Of the chu en- in those
particulars. IF il be true, as is stated.
that L" pOnti6cal bull must be received
by the rksis church, before it can lave
any decisive weight" pay, how many
dissentier + does il take 10 make it not
the whole church, Must there be a
thousand, ar hundred. 0 ten; or will i
dissolve the iuteser. il NJ L. aloue enters
| his caveatf The fact is, whoever IN,
dertakes 10 read the DEGREES Of councils,
| The bulls of Popes, and the writings oil
their schoomen, or to make enquiries OF
modern priests, will find this >eit-same
infalIib!e church to be the most undehna-
ble, contradictory and discordant thing
in the world. II is like the bed Of Pro
crustcs, which may be stretched and
shortened to suit any and every purpose.
Scarcely ,wo OF them agree, We have
seer NJ. B. in opposition to Pcpes, cs'di-
! mails, and councils; We shall see them
in opposition to each other; Councils de-
creeing agaiUst councils; POpe' ezcom.
municaUing 1opes, and charging each u
Their with the lowest vices, two K tn, ce
at time roaming about Europe. and re-
| alizing the tabled story Of monster
with three heads. Well may such a
church maintain the necessity OF an in
tallible guide to conduct the rnnderer
through its labyrin'hS. But where shall
we fud il? Bellarmine, Baronlu., &c.
tel US il is. in he Pore; The Gal!ican
church, and the councils Of Pisa, Con-
starce and Basic, which made and un-
made Pcnes, say it is in the coun lis;
| NJ. B. lnlorms US that it is " in chief pas
tor, whether convened in council or
scattered abroad :" and fourth party,
that IL is in the chu,ch militant. Now,
in GOOD earnest, whether is it better to
have no guide or one that you cannot
find? Or. whether is il better to follow
the scriptures ard common sense, or to
be carried about b. an ignist stuuS which
ha been generated in the bogs and MAS
mats Of the middle asess
In default of this infallible guide to
show US what is the doctrine Of The
chnrch on the denOsing power; the bulls