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To the Clergy Secular and Regular, and to all the Faithful of the Archdiocese Of Quebec, Greeting and Benediction in Our Lord.

Soon, Our Dearly Beloved Brethren, you shall be called to elect a member to represent your county in Parliament. Our pastoral charge urges us to recall briefly to you your obligations of conscience, in this

circumstance s0 solemn and so important to you and to the whole conntry.

The great error of modern times tends to banish God from civil society and estrange it from religion. Those imbued with this error admit, at least apparently, the truth of the judgment which Jesus Christ shall one day pass on all men, but they want to confine the object thereof to private conduct. They forget that the same God who shall judge individuals is also He who judges the people (Ps. VII, 9), and that a most severe judgment shall be for all them that bear rule (Wisdom, VI, 6),

as on those who are ruled. No man shall be exempt therefrom.

He shall therefore judge the ‘candidates ; He shall Judge the electors ; He shall judge all those who, in any Way whatsoever, take part in elections. He shall demand an account of your intentions, of your choice, of your vote, of your words, of your acts, in the exercise of that important right to vote which the constitution of our country grants, and guarantees, you. God shall therefore, one day, ask you for whom, why, and how you shall have made use of this right? Not a word, not a step, not a thought, how hidden soever in your heart, shall escape His all-seeing eye.

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It is therefore extremely important, O.-D.-B.-B. that, during the election which is about to take place, you should so keep the laws of sobriety, justice, charity, truth, and prudence, that your conscience may reproach you nothing at the hour of death.

You love your country, O.-D.-B.-B. ; this sentiment which nature has implanted in your heart, religion approves and sanctifies, Religion goes still further; for by making known to you the divine law, she procures you the infallible means of securing to your country that tranquillity, that Stability, that true liberty, which can be found in truth, justice and charity alone.

During this election certain disorders must be avoided, certain rules of prudence must be observed in order not to err.

L What disorders should be avoided during elections ?

Bcar in mind, O.-D.-B.-B., that whatever is forbidden in ordinary times, is equally forbidden during elections. Furthermore, it can be truly said that the faults committed, on the occasion of elections, against truth, against justice, against charity, against temperance, are more grievous because cf the consequences which result therefrom, not only against the neighbor, but also against the whole country.

1. You know that it is a mortal sin to take a false oath. Do not therfore perjure yourself during the election.

It is an enormous scandal to induce any one to take a false oath.

Perjury is, in this province, a reserved case, that is to say, that all who have been 80 unfortunate as to per-

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