[25] “We excommunicate and condemn every heresy, which exalteth itself against this holy and Catholic Faith. Let such persons, when condemned, be left to the secular powers, to be punished in a fitting manner. And let the secular powers be admonished, and, if need be, compelled, that they should set forth an oath, that to the utmost of their power, they will strive to exterminate all heretics, who shall be denounced by the church. But if any temporal lord shall neglect to cleanse his country of this heretical filth, let him be bound by the chain of excommunication. If he shall scorn to make satisfaction, let it be signified to the supreme pontiff, that he may declare his vassals to be absolved from their fidelity.” Labb. et Coss. Tom. xi. 147-9. This canon was also received into the Canon Law, by Gregory IX. It was carried into effect against the Albigenses.
[26] “The holy synod decrees and commends, that the holy canons, and all general councils, and also all constitutions of the Apostolic See, which have been made in favour of ecclesiastical persons and of ecclesiastical liberty, and against the infringers of it, (all of which it revives by this present decree,) be exactly observed by all, as they ought to be.” Conc. Trent., Sess. xxv., De Ref., Can. 20. It is observable, too, that emperors and kings are commanded to observe these canons. This is surely a revival of the Lateran canon.
[27] The creed is most explicit on this subject: “I do undoubtedly receive and profess all other things which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and œcumenical councils, and especially by the holy synod of Trent; and all other things contrary thereto, and all heresies condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the church, I do likewise condemn, reject, and anathematize.”
[28] Council of Trent, sess. xxiv., cap. 5. It is therefore vain for any papist to pretend, in the face of such authority, that there is a doubt whether the Lateran was a general council. In all the editions of the councils it is so designated; it is found in the list of councils appended to the editions of the canon law; and in the canon law itself it is thus reckoned. It is recognised by the council of Constance; and last, though not least, by the council of Trent itself.
[29] Dens. ii. 288. Reiffenstuel quotes the third canon of the fourth Lateran no less than eighteen times in one chapter, and he declares that impenitent heretics are to be put to death. This work is a class-book at Maynooth.
[30] This pope in his bull says, “We declare and pronounce it as necessary to salvation, that all mankind be subject to the Roman pontiff.” This bull is a part of the canon law.
[31] Hallam remarks, “There seems, indeed, some ground for suspicion, that the Nuncio at Brussels was privy to the conspiracy; though this ought not to be asserted as an historical fact.” Const. Hist. i. 554.
[32] Tillotson’s Works, 12mo., Vol. i., 349.
[33] Burnet’s Eighteen Papers, 84.
[34] The Growth of Popery, p. 9.