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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional, by 
+Father Chiniquy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional
+
+Author: Father Chiniquy
+
+Release Date: December 16, 2006 [EBook #20120]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONFESSION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions
+(www.canadiana.org))
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN
+
+AND
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL.
+
+By FATHER CHINIQUY.
+
+Montreal:
+
+F. E. GRAFTON, BOOKSELLER.
+
+CORNER CRAIG ST. AND VICTORIA SQUARE.
+
+1875.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ENTERED according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
+One
+thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, by F. E. GRAFTON of
+Montreal, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE STRUGGLE BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF WOMANLY SELF-RESPECT IN THE
+CONFESSIONAL
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION A DEEP PIT OF PERDITION FOR THE PRIEST
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE VOW OF CELIBACY OF THE PRIESTS IS MADE EASY BY AURICULAR CONFESSION
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE HIGHLY EDUCATED AND REFINED WOMAN IN THE CONFESSIONAL.--WHAT BECOMES OF
+HER AFTER HER UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.--HER IRREPARABLE RUIN
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION DESTROYS ALL THE SACRED TIES OF MARRIAGE AND HUMAN
+SOCIETY
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS?
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DOES AURICULAR CONFESSION BRING PEACE TO THE SOUL?
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DOGMA OF AURICULAR CONFESSION A SACRILEGIOUS IMPOSTURE
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+GOD COMPELS THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONFESS THE ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR
+CONFESSION
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SOME OF THE MATTERS ON WHICH THE PRIEST OF ROME MUST QUESTION HIS
+PENITENTS.--A CHAPTER FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATORS, HUSBANDS,
+FATHERS, &C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+EZEKIEL.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth _month_, in the fifth
+_day_ of the month, _as_ I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat
+before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
+
+2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the
+appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even
+upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.
+
+3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head;
+and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought
+me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that
+looketh toward the north; where _was_ the seat of the image of jealousy,
+which provoketh to jealousy.
+
+4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel _was_ there, according to the
+vision that I saw in the plain.
+
+5  Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward
+the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold
+northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
+
+6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? _even_
+the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I
+should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, _and_ thou
+shalt see greater abominations.
+
+7  And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a
+hole in the wall.
+
+8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I had
+digged in the wall, behold a door.
+
+9 And he said unto me. Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they
+do here.
+
+10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and
+abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed
+upon the wall round about.
+
+11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of
+Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with
+every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
+
+12 Then said he unto me. Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of
+the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his
+imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the
+earth.
+
+13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, _and_ thou shalt see greater
+abominations that they do.
+
+14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which
+_was_ toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
+
+15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen _this_, O Son of man? turn thee yet
+again, _and_ thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
+
+16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold,
+at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar,
+_were_ about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the
+LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward
+the east.
+
+17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen _this_, O Son of man? Is it a light
+thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they
+commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned
+to provoke me to anger; and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
+
+18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither
+will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, _yet_
+will I not hear them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE STRUGGLE BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF WOMANLY SELF-RESPECT IN THE
+CONFESSIONAL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are two women who ought to be the constant objects of the compassion
+of the disciples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought to be offered
+at the mercy-seat--the Brahmin woman, who, deceived by her priests, burns
+herself on the corpse of her husband to appease the wrath of her wooden
+gods; and the Roman Catholic woman, who, not less deceived by her priests,
+suffers a torture far more cruel and ignominious in the confessional-box to
+appease the wrath of her wafer-god.
+
+For I do not exaggerate when I say that for many noble-hearted,
+well-educated, high-minded women to be forced to unveil their hearts before
+the eyes of a man, to open to him all the most sacred recesses of their
+souls, all the most sacred mysteries of their single or married life, to
+allow him to put to them questions which the most depraved woman would
+never consent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more horrible and
+intolerable than to be tied on burning coals.
+
+More than once I have seen women fainting in the confessional-box, who told
+me, afterwards, that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on
+certain things, on which the most common laws of decency ought to have for
+ever sealed their lips, had almost killed them! Not hundreds, but thousands
+of times I have heard from the dying lips of single girls, as well as of
+married women, the awful words: "I am for ever lost! All my past
+confessions and communions have been as many sacrileges! I have never dared
+to answer correctly the questions of my confessors! Shame has sealed my
+lips and damned my soul!"
+
+How many times I remained as one petrified by the side of a corpse when,
+these last words having hardly escaped the lips of one of my female
+penitents, she was snatched out of my reach by the merciless hand of death,
+before I could give her pardon through the deceitful sacramental
+absolution! I then believed, as the dead sinner herself believed, that she
+could not be forgiven except by that absolution.
+
+For there are not only thousands, but millions, of Roman Catholic girls and
+women whose keen sense of modesty and womanly dignity are above all the
+sophisms and diabolical machinations of their priests. They never can be
+persuaded to answer "Yes" to certain questions of their confessors. They
+would prefer to be thrown into the flames, and burnt to ashes with the
+Brahmin widows, rather than to allow the eyes of a man to pry into the
+sacred sanctuary of their souls. Though sometimes guilty before God, and
+under the impression that their sins will never be forgiven if not
+confessed, the laws of decency are stronger in their hearts than the laws
+of their cruel and perfidious Church. No consideration, not even the fear
+of eternal damnation, can persuade them to declare to a sinful man sins
+which God alone has the right to know, for He alone can blot them out with
+the blood of His Son shed on the cross.
+
+But what a wretched life that of those exceptional noble souls, which Rome
+keeps in the dark dungeons of her superstition! They read in all their
+books, and hear from all their pulpits, that if they conceal a single sin
+from their confessors they are for ever lost! But, being absolutely unable
+to trample under their feet the laws of self-respect and decency which God
+Himself has impressed in their souls, they live in constant dread of
+eternal damnation. No human words can tell their desolation and distress
+when, at the feet of their confessors, they find themselves between the
+horrible necessity of speaking of things on which they would prefer to
+suffer the most cruel death rather than to open their lips, or to be for
+ever damned if they do not degrade themselves for ever in their own eyes by
+speaking on matters which a respectable woman will never reveal to her own
+mother, much less to a man!
+
+I have known only too many of these noble-hearted women, who, when alone
+with God, in a real agony of desolation and with burning tears, had asked
+Him to grant them what they considered the greatest favour, which was to
+lose so much of their self-respect as to be enabled to speak of those
+unmentionable things just as their confessors wanted them to speak; and,
+hoping that their petition had been granted, they went again to the
+confessional-box, determined to unveil their shame before the eyes of that
+inexorable man. But, when the moment had come for the self-immolation,
+their courage failed, their knees trembled, their lips became pale as
+death. Cold sweat flowed from all their pores! The voice of modesty and
+womanly self-respect was speaking louder than the voice of their false
+religion. They had to go out of the confessional-box unpardoned--nay, with
+the burden of a new sacrilege on their conscience.
+
+Oh, how heavy is the yoke of Rome--how bitter is human life--how cheerless
+is the mystery of the cross to those deluded and perishing souls! How
+gladly they would rush into the blazing piles with the Brahmin women, if
+they could hope to see the end of their unspeakable miseries through the
+momentary tortures which would open to them the gates of a better life!
+
+I do here publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic priesthood to deny
+that the greater part of their female penitents remain a certain period of
+time--some longer, some shorter--under that most distressing state of mind.
+
+Yes, by far the greater majority of women, at first, find it next to
+impossible to pull down the sacred barriers of self-respect which God
+Himself has built around their hearts, intelligences, and souls, as the
+best safeguard against the snares of this polluted world. Those laws of
+self-respect, by which they cannot consent to speak an impure word into the
+ears of a man, and which shut all the avenues of their hearts against his
+unchaste questions, even, when speaking in the name of God--those laws of
+self-respect are so clearly written in their conscience, and they are so
+well understood by them to be a most Divine gift, that, as I have already
+said, many prefer to run the risk of being for ever lost by remaining
+silent.
+
+It takes many years of the most ingenious (I do not hesitate to call it
+diabolical) efforts on the part of the priests to persuade the majority of
+their female penitents to speak on questions which even pagan savages would
+blush to mention among themselves. Some persist in remaining silent on
+those matters during the greatest part of their lives, and many prefer to
+throw themselves into the hands of their merciful God and die without
+submitting to the defiling ordeal, even after they have felt the poisonous
+stings of the enemy, rather than receive their pardon from a man who, as
+they feel, would have surely been scandalized by the recital of their human
+frailties. All the priests of Rome are aware of this natural disposition of
+their female penitents. There is not a single one--no, not a single one of
+their moral theologians, who does not warn the confessors against that
+stern and general determination of the girls and married women never to
+speak in the confessional on matters which may, more or less, deal with
+sins against the seventh commandment. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Bailly,
+&c.--in a word, all the theologians of Rome--own that this is one of the
+greatest difficulties which the confessors have to contend with in the
+confessional-box.
+
+Not a single Roman Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on this
+matter; for they know that it would be easy for me to overwhelm them with
+such crowd of testimonies that their grand imposture would for ever be
+unmasked.
+
+I intend, some future day, if God spares me and gives me time for it, to
+make known some of the innumerable things which the Roman Catholic
+theologians and moralists have written on this question. It will form one
+of the most curious books ever written; and it will give an unanswerable
+evidence of the fact that, instinctively, without consulting each other,
+with an unanimity which is almost marvellous, the Roman Catholic women,
+guided by the honest instincts which God has given them, shrink from the
+snares put before them in the confessional-box; and that everywhere they
+struggle to nerve themselves with a superhuman courage against the torturer
+who is sent by the Pope to finish their ruin and to make shipwreck of their
+souls. Everywhere woman feels that there are things which ought never to be
+told, as there are things which ought never to be done, in the presence of
+the God of holiness. She understands that, to recite the history of certain
+sins, even of thoughts, is not less shameful and criminal than to do them;
+she hears the voice of God whispering into her ears, "Is it not enough that
+thou hast been guilty once, when alone, in My presence, without adding to
+thine iniquity, by allowing that man to know what should never have been
+revealed to him? Do you not feel that you make that man your own accomplice
+the very moment that you throw into his heart and soul the mire of your
+iniquities? He is as weak as you are; he is not less a sinner than
+yourself; what has tempted you will tempt him; what has made you weak will
+make him weak? what has polluted you will pollute him; what has thrown you
+down into the dust will throw him down into the dust. Is it not enough that
+My eyes had to look upon your iniquities? must my ears to-day listen to
+your impure conversation with that man? Were that man as holy as My prophet
+David, may he not fall before the unchaste unveiling of the new Bathsheba?
+Were he as strong as Sampson, may he not find in you his tempting Delilah?
+Were he as generous as Peter, may he not become a traitor at the
+maid-servant's voice?"
+
+Perhaps the world has never seen a more terrible, desperate, solemn
+struggle than the one which is going on in the soul of the poor trembling
+young woman, who, at the feet of that man, has to decide whether or not she
+will open her lips on those things which the infallible voice of God,
+united to the no less infallible voice of her womanly honour and
+self-respect, tell her never to reveal to any man!
+
+The history of that secret, fierce, desperate, and deadly struggle has
+never yet, so far as I know, been fully given. It would draw the tears of
+admiration and compassion of the whole world, if it could be written with
+its simple, sublime, and terrible realities.
+
+How many times I have wept as a child when some noble-hearted and
+intelligent young girl, or some respectable married woman, yielding to the
+sophisms with which I, or some other confessor, had persuaded them to give
+up their self-respect, their womanly dignity, to speak with me on matters
+on which a decent woman would never say a word with a man! They told me of
+their invincible repugnance, their horror of such questions and answers,
+and they asked me to have pity on them. Yes! I often wept bitterly on my
+degradation when a priest of Rome! I felt all the strength, the grandeur,
+the holiness of their motives for being silent on those defiling matters. I
+could not but admire them. It seemed, at times, that they were speaking the
+language of angels of light; that I ought to fall at their feet, and ask
+their pardon for having spoken to them of questions on which a man of
+honour ought never to converse with a woman whom he respects.
+
+But, alas! I had soon to reproach myself and regret these short instances
+of my wavering faith in the infallible voice of my Church; I had soon to
+silence the voice of my conscience, which was telling me, "Is it not a
+shame that you, an unmarried man, dare to speak on those matters with a
+woman? Do you not blush to put such questions to a young girl? Where is
+your self-respect? where is your fear of God? Do you not promote the ruin
+of that girl by forcing her to speak with a man on such questions?"
+
+I was compelled by all the Popes, the moral theologians, and the Councils
+of Rome, to believe that this warning voice of my merciful God was the
+voice of Satan; I had to believe, in spite of my own conscience and
+intelligence, that it was good, nay, necessary, to put those polluting,
+damning questions. My infallible Church was mercilessly forcing me to
+oblige those poor, trembling, weeping, desolated girls and women to swim
+with me and all her priests in those waters of Sodom and Gomorrha, under
+the pretext that their self-will would be broken down, their fear of sin
+and humility increased, and that they would be purified by our absolutions.
+
+In the beginning of my priesthood, I was not a little surprised and
+embarrassed to see a very accomplished and beautiful young lady, whom I
+used to meet almost every week in her father's house, entering the box of
+my confessional. She used to go to confess to another young priest of my
+acquaintance, and she was looked upon as one of the most pious girls of the
+city. Though she had disguised herself as much as possible, that I might
+not know her, I thought that I was not mistaken--she was the amiable Mary
+* * * *
+
+Not being absolutely sure of the correctness of my impressions, I left her
+entirely under the hope that she was a perfect stranger to me. At the
+beginning she could hardly speak; her voice was suffocated by her sobs;
+and, through the little apertures of the thin partition between her and me,
+I saw two streams of big tears trickling down her cheeks.
+
+After much effort, she said: "Dear Father, I hope you do not know me, and
+that you will never try to know me. I am a desperately great sinner. Oh! I
+fear that I am lost! But if there is still any hope for me to be saved, for
+God's sake, do not rebuke me! Before I begin my confession, allow me to ask
+you not to pollute my ears by the questions which our confessors are in the
+habit of putting to their female penitents. I have already been destroyed
+by those questions. Before I was seventeen years old, God knows that His
+angels are not more pure than I was; but the chaplain of the Nunnery where
+my parents had sent me for my education, though approaching old age, put to
+me in the confessional a question which, at first, I did not understand;
+but, unfortunately, he had put the same questions to one of my young
+class-mates, who made fun of them in my presence, and explained them to me;
+for she understood them too well. This first unchaste conversation of my
+life plunged my thoughts into a sea of iniquity, till then absolutely
+unknown to me; temptations of the most humiliating character assailed me
+for a week, day and night; after which, sins which I would blot out with my
+blood, if it were possible, overwhelmed my soul as with a deluge. But the
+joys of the sinner are short. Struck with terror at the thought of the
+judgments of God, after a few weeks of the most deplorable life, I
+determined to give up my sins and reconcile myself to God. Covered with
+shame, and trembling from head to foot, I went to confess to my old
+confessor, whom I respected as a saint and cherished as a father. It seems
+to me that with sincere tears of repentance I confessed to him the greatest
+part of my sins, though I concealed one of them through shame, and respect
+for my spiritual guide. But I did not conceal from him that the strange
+questions he had put to me at my last confession were, with the natural
+corruption of my heart, the principal cause of my destruction.
+
+"He spoke to me very kindly, encouraged me to fight against my bad
+inclinations, and, at first, gave me very kind and good advice. But when I
+thought he had finished speaking, and as I was preparing to leave the
+confessional-box, he put to me two new questions of such a polluting
+character that I fear neither the blood of Christ nor all the fires of hell
+will ever be able to blot them out from my memory. Those questions have
+achieved my ruin; they have stuck to my mind as two deadly arrows; they are
+day and night before my imagination; they fill my very arteries and veins
+with a deadly poison.
+
+"It is true that, at first, they filled me with horror and disgust; but,
+alas! I soon got so accustomed to them that they seemed to be incorporated
+with me, and as though becoming a second nature. Those thoughts have become
+a new source of innumerable criminal thoughts, desires, and actions.
+
+"A month later, we were obliged, by the rules of our convent, to go to
+confess; but this time, I was so completely lost that I no longer blushed
+at the idea of confessing my shameful sins to a man; it was the very
+contrary. I had a real, diabolical pleasure in the thought that I should
+have a long conversation with my confessor on those matters, and that he
+would ask me more of his strange questions.
+
+"In fact, when I had told him everything, without a blush, he began to
+interrogate me, and God knows what corrupting things fell from his lips
+into my poor criminal heart! Every one of his questions was thrilling my
+nerves, and filling me with the most shameful sensations. After an hour of
+this criminal _tête-á-tête_ with my old confessor (for it was nothing else
+but a criminal _tête-á-tête_), I perceived that he was as depraved as I was
+myself. With some half-covered words, he made me a criminal proposition,
+which I accepted with covered words also; and during more than a year, we
+have lived together in the most sinful intimacy. Though he was much older
+than I, I loved him in the most foolish way. When the course of my convent
+instruction was finished, my parents called me back to their home. I was
+really glad of that change of residence, for I was beginning to be tired of
+my criminal life. My hope was that, under the direction of a better
+confessor, I should reconcile myself to God and begin a Christian life.
+
+"Unfortunately for me, my new confessor, who was very young, began also his
+interrogations. He soon fell in love with me, and I loved him in a most
+criminal way. I have done with him things which I hope you will never
+request me to reveal to you, for they are too monstrous to be repeated,
+even in the confessional, by a woman to a man.
+
+"I do not say these things to take away the responsibility of my iniquities
+with this young confessor from my shoulders, for I think I have been more
+criminal than he was. It is my firm conviction that he was a good and holy
+priest before he knew me; but the questions he put to me, and the answers I
+had to give him, melted his heart--I know it--just as boiling lead would
+melt the ice on which it flows.
+
+"I know this is not such a detailed confession as our holy Church requires
+me to make, but I have thought it necessary for me to give you this short
+history of the life of the greatest and the most miserable sinner who ever
+asked you to help her to come out from the tomb of her iniquities. This is
+the way I have lived these last few years. But last Sabbath, God, in His
+infinite mercy, looked down upon me. He inspired you to give us the
+Prodigal Son as a model of true conversion, and as the most marvelous proof
+of the infinite compassion of the dear Saviour for the sinner. I have wept
+day and night since that happy day, when I threw myself into the arms of my
+loving, merciful Father. Even now I can hardly speak, because my regret for
+my past iniquities, and my joy that I am allowed to bathe the feet of my
+Saviour with my tears, are so great that my voice is as choked.
+
+"You understand that I have for ever given up my last confessor. I come to
+ask you the favour to receive me among your penitents. Oh! do not reject
+nor rebuke me, for the dear Saviour's sake! Be not afraid to have at your
+side such a monster of iniquity! But before going farther, I have two
+favours to ask from you. The first is, that you will never do anything to
+know my name; the second is, that you will never put me any of those
+questions by which so many penitents are lost and so many priests for ever
+destroyed. Twice I have been lost by those questions. We come to our
+confessors that they may throw upon our guilty souls the pure waters which
+flow from heaven to purify us; and, instead of that, with their
+unmentionable questions, they pour oil on the burning fires which arc
+already raging in our poor sinful hearts. Oh! dear father, let me become
+your penitent, that you may help me to go and weep with Magdalene at the
+Saviours feet! Do respect me, as He respected that true model of all the
+sinful but repenting women! Did Our Saviour put to her any question? did He
+extort from her the history of things which a sinful woman cannot say
+without forgetting the respect she owes to herself and to God? No! You told
+us, not long ago, that the only thing our Saviour did was to look at her
+tears and her love. Well, please do that, and you will save me!"
+
+I was a very young priest, and never had any words so sublime come to my
+ears in the confessional-box. Her tears and her sobs, mingled with the so
+frank declaration of the most humiliating actions, had made upon me such a
+profound impression that I was, for some time, unable to speak. It had come
+to my mind also that I might be mistaken about her identity, and that
+perhaps she was not the young lady that I had imagined. I could, then,
+easily grant her first request, which was to do nothing by which I could
+know her. The second part of her prayer was more embarrassing; for the
+theologians are very positive in ordering the confessors to question their
+penitents, particularly those of the female sex, in many circumstances.
+
+I encouraged her, in the best way I could, to persevere in her good
+resolutions by invoking the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomène, who was
+then the _Sainte à la mode_, just as Marie Alacoque is to-day, among the
+blind slaves of Rome. I told her that I would pray and think over the
+subject of her second request; and I asked her to come back, in a week, for
+my answer.
+
+The very same day, I went to my own confessor, the Rev. Mr. Baillargeon,
+then curate of Quebec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canada. I told him the
+singular and unusual request she had made that I should never put to her
+any of those questions suggested by the theologians, to insure the
+integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from him that I was much
+inclined to grant her that favour; for I repeated what I had already
+several times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with the infamous
+and polluting questions which the theologians forced us to put to our
+female penitents. I told him, frankly, that several young and old priests
+had already come to confess to me; and that, with the exception of two,
+they had all told me that they could not put those questions and hear the
+answers they elicited without falling into the most damnable sins.
+
+My confessor seemed to be much perplexed about what he could answer. He
+asked me to come the next day, that he might review his theological books
+in the interval. The next day, I took down in writing his answer, which I
+find in my old manuscripts; and I give it here in all its sad crudity:--
+
+"Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of the
+confessors is an unavoidable evil. It can not be helped; for such questions
+are absolutely necessary in the greatest part of the cases with which we
+have to deal. Men generally confess their sins with so much sincerity that
+there is seldom any need for questioning them, except when they are very
+ignorant. But St Liguori, as well as our personal observation, tells us
+that the greatest part of girls and women, through a false and criminal
+shame, very seldom confess the sins they commit against purity. It requires
+the utmost charity in the confessors to prevent those unfortunate slaves of
+their secret passions from making sacrilegious confessions and communions.
+With the greatest prudence and zeal, he must question them on those
+matters; beginning with the smallest sins, and going, little by little, as
+much as possible, by imperceptible degrees, to the most criminal actions.
+As it seems evident that the penitent referred to in your questions of
+yesterday is unwilling to make a full and detailed confession of all her
+iniquities, you cannot promise to absolve her without assuring yourself, by
+wise and prudent questions, that she has confessed everything.
+
+"You must not be discouraged when, through the confessional or any other
+way, you learn the fall of priests into the common frailties of human
+nature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew very well that the occasions
+and the temptations we have to encounter, in the confessions of girls and
+women, are so numerous, and sometimes so irrepressible, that many would
+fall. But He has given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who constantly asks and
+obtains their pardon; He has given them the sacrament of penance, where
+they can receive their pardon as often as they ask for it. The vow of
+perfect chastity is a great honour and privilege; but we cannot conceal
+from ourselves that it puts on our shoulders a burden which many cannot
+carry for ever. St Liguori says that we must not rebuke the penitent priest
+who falls only once a month; and some other trustworthy theologians are
+still more charitable."
+
+This answer was far from satisfying me. It seemed to me composed of
+soft-soap principles. I went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind;
+and God knows that I made many fervent prayers that this girl should never
+come again to give me her sad history. I was hardly twenty-six years old,
+full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the stings of a thousand wasps
+to my ears would not do me so much harm as the words of that dear,
+beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.
+
+I do not mean to say that the revelations which she made had, in any way,
+diminished my esteem and my respect for her. It was just the contrary. Her
+tears and her sobs, at my feet; her agonizing expressions of shame and
+regret; her noble words of protest against the disgusting and polluting
+interrogations of the confessors, had raised her very high in my mind. My
+sincere hope was that she would have a place in the kingdom of Christ with
+the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, and all those who have washed their
+robes in the blood of the Lamb.
+
+At the appointed day, I was in my confessional, listening to the confession
+of a young man, when, I saw Miss Mary entering the vestry, and coming
+directly to my confessional-box, where she knelt by me. Though she had,
+still more than at the first time, disguised herself behind a long, thick,
+black veil, I could not be mistaken; she was the very same amiable young
+lady in whose father's house I used to pass such pleasant and happy hours.
+I had so often heard, with breathless attention, her melodious voice when
+she was giving us, accompanied by her piano, some of our beautiful Church
+hymns. Who could see her without almost worshipping her? The dignity of her
+steps, and her whole mien, when she advanced towards my confessional,
+entirely betrayed her and destroyed her incognito.
+
+Oh! I would have given every drop of my blood, in that solemn hour, that I
+might have been free to deal with her just as she had so eloquently
+requested me to do--to let her weep and cry at the feet of Jesus to her
+heart's content! Oh! if I had been free to take her by the hand, and
+silently show her her dying Saviour, that she might have bathed His feet
+with her tears, and spread the oil of her love on His head, without my
+saying anything else but "Go in peace: thy sins are forgiven!"
+
+But there, in that confessional-box, I was not the servant of Christ, to
+follow His divine, saving words, and obey the dictates of my honest
+conscience. I was the slave of the Pope! I had to stifle the cry of my
+conscience, to ignore the inspirations of my God! There, my conscience had
+no right to speak; my intelligence was a dead thing! The theologians of the
+Pope, alone, had a right to be heard and obeyed! I was not there to save,
+but to destroy; for, under the pretext of purifying, the real mission of
+the confessor, often in spite of himself, is to scandalize and damn the
+souls.
+
+As soon as the young man, who was making his confession at my left hand,
+had finished, I, without noise, turned myself towards her, and said,
+through the little aperture, "Are you ready to begin your confession?"
+
+But she did not answer me. All that I could hear was, "Oh, my Jesus, have
+mercy upon me! Dear Saviour, here I am with all my sins; do not reject me!
+I come to wash my soul in Thy blood; wilt Thou rebuke me?"
+
+During several minutes, she raised her hands and her eyes to heaven, and
+wept and prayed. It was evident that she had not the least idea that I was
+observing her; she thought the door of the little partition between her and
+me was shut. But my eyes were fixed upon her; my tears were flowing with
+her tears, and my ardent prayers were going to the feet of Jesus with her
+prayers. I would not have interrupted her, for any consideration, in this
+her sublime communion with her merciful Saviour.
+
+But, after a pretty long time, I made a little noise with my hand, and,
+putting my lips near the opening of the partition which was between us, I
+said, in a low voice, "Dear sister, are you ready to begin your
+confession?"
+
+She turned her face a little towards me, and said, with a trembling voice,
+"Yes, dear Father, I am ready."
+
+But she then stopped again to weep and pray, though I could not hear what
+she said.
+
+After some time of silent prayer, I said, "My dear sister, if you are
+ready, please begin your confession."
+
+She then said, "My dear Father, do you remember the prayers which I made to
+you, the other day? Can you allow me to confess my sins without forcing me
+to forget the respect I owe to myself, to you, and to God, who hears us?
+And can you promise that you will not put to me any of those questions
+which have already done me such irreparable injury? I frankly declare to
+you that there are sins in me that I cannot reveal to any man, except to
+Christ, because He is my God, and that He already knows them all. Let me
+weep and cry at His feet, and do forgive me without adding to my iniquities
+by forcing me to say things that the tongue of a Christian woman cannot
+reveal to a man!"
+
+"My dear sister," I answered, "were I free to follow the voice of my own
+feelings I would be too happy to grant you your request; but I am here only
+as the minister of our holy Church, and bound to obey her laws. Through her
+most holy popes and theologians, she tells me that I cannot forgive you
+your sins, if you do not confess them all just as you have committed them.
+The Church tells me also that you must give the details which may add to
+the malice or change the nature of your sins. I am also sorry to tell you
+that our most holy theologians make it a duty of the confessor to question
+his penitent on the sins which he has good reason to suspect have been
+voluntarily or involuntarily omitted."
+
+With a piercing, cry she exclaimed, "Then, O my God, I am lost--for ever
+lost!"
+
+This cry fell upon me as a thunderbolt; but I was still more
+terror-stricken when, looking through the aperture, I saw she was fainting;
+and I heard the noise of her body falling upon the floor, and of her head
+striking against the sides of the confessional-box.
+
+Quick as lightning, I ran to help her, took her in my arms, and called a
+couple of men, who were at a little distance, to assist me in laying her on
+a bench. I washed her face with some cold water and vinegar. She was as
+pale as death, but her lips were moving, and she was saying something which
+nobody but I could understand,--
+
+"I am lost--lost for ever!"
+
+We took her to her disconsolate family, where, during a month, she lingered
+between life and death.
+
+Her two first confessors came to visit her: but, having asked every one to
+go out of the room, she politely but absolutely requested them to go away
+and never come again. She asked me to visit her everyday, "for," she said,
+"I have only a few more days to live. Help me to prepare myself for the
+solemn hour which will open to me the gates of eternity!"
+
+Every day I visited her, and I prayed and I wept with her.
+
+Many times, with tears, I requested her, when alone, to finish her
+confession; but, with a firmness which then seemed to me mysterious and
+inexplicable, she politely rebuked me.
+
+One day when, alone with her, I was kneeling by the side of her bed to
+pray, I was unable to articulate a single word, because of the
+inexpressible anguish of my soul on her account; she asked me, "Dear
+Father, why do you weep?"
+
+I answered, "How can you put such a question to your murderer? I weep
+because I have killed you, dear friend."
+
+This answer seemed to trouble her exceedingly. She was very weak that day.
+After she had wept and prayed in silence, she said, "Do not weep for me,
+but weep for so many priests who destroy their penitents in the
+confessional. I believe in the holiness of the sacrament of penitence,
+since our holy Church has established it. But there is, somewhere,
+something exceedingly wrong in the confessional. Twice I have been
+destroyed, and I know many girls who have also been destroyed by the
+confessional. This is a secret, but will that secret be kept for ever? I
+pity the poor priests the day that our fathers will know what becomes of
+the purity of their daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father
+would surely kill my two last confessors, if he could know how they have
+destroyed his poor child."
+
+I could not answer except by weeping.
+
+We remained mute for a long time; then she said, "It is true that I was not
+prepared for the rebuke you have given me, but you acted conscientiously as
+a good and honest priest. I know you must be bound by certain laws."
+
+She then pressed my hand with her cold hand and said, "Weep not, dear
+Father, because that sudden storm has wrecked my too fragile back. This
+storm was to take me out from the bottomless sea of my iniquities to the
+shore where Jesus was waiting to receive and pardon me. The night after you
+brought me, half dead, here to father's house, I had a dream. Oh, no, it
+was not a dream, it was a reality. My Jesus came to me; He was bleeding.
+His crown of thorns was on His head, the heavy cross was bruising His
+shoulders. He said to me, with a voice so sweet that no human tongue can
+imitate it, "I have seen thy tears, I have heard thy cries, and I know thy
+love for Me: thy sins are forgiven. Take courage; in a few days thou shalt
+be with Me!'"
+
+She had hardly finished her last word when she fainted, and I feared lest
+she should die just then when I was alone with her.
+
+I called the family, who rushed into the room. The doctor was sent for. He
+found her so weak that he thought proper to allow only one or two persons
+to remain in the room. He requested us not to speak at all, "For," said he,
+"the least emotion may kill her instantly; her disease is, in all
+probability, an aneurism of the aorta, the big vein which brings the blood
+to the heart; when it breaks she will go as quick as lightning."
+
+It was nearly ten at night when I left the house, to go and take some rest.
+But it is not necessary to say that I passed a sleepless night. My dear
+Mary was there, pale, dying from the deadly blow which I had given her in
+the confessional. She was there, on her bed of death, her heart pierced
+with the dagger which my Church had put into my hands! And instead of
+rebuking, cursing me for my savage, merciless fanaticism, she was blessing
+me! She was dying from a broken heart, and I was not allowed by my Church
+to give her a single word of consolation and hope, for she had not yet made
+her confession! I had mercilessly bruised that tender plant, and there was
+nothing in my hands to heal the wounds I had made!
+
+It was very probable that she would die the next day, and I was forbidden
+to show her the crown of glory which Jesus has prepared in His kingdom for
+the repenting sinner!
+
+My desolation was really unspeakable, and I think I would have been
+suffocated, and have died that night, if the stream of tears which
+constantly flowed from my eyes had not been as a balm to my distressed
+heart.
+
+How dark and long the hours of that night seemed to me!
+
+Before the dawn of day I arose, to read my theologians again, and see if I
+could not find some one who would allow me to forgive the sins of that dear
+child without forcing her to tell me everything she had done. But they
+seemed to me more than ever unanimously inexorable, and I put them back on
+the shelves of my library with a broken heart.
+
+At nine a.m. the next day I was by the bed of our dear sick Mary. I cannot
+sufficiently tell the joy I felt when the doctor and the whole family said
+to me, "She is much better; the rest of last night has wrought a marvelous
+change indeed."
+
+With a really angelic smile she extended her hand towards me, that I might
+press it in mine; and she said, "I thought, last evening, that the dear
+Saviour would take me to Him, but He wants me, dear Father, to give you a
+little more trouble; but be patient, it cannot, be long before the solemn
+hour of the appeal will ring. Will you please read me the history of the
+sufferings and death of the beloved Saviour which you read me the other
+day? It does me so much good to see how He has loved me, such a miserable
+sinner."
+
+There was a calm and a solemnity in her words which struck me singularly,
+as well as all those who were there.
+
+After I had finished reading, she exclaimed, "He has loved me so much that
+He died for my sins!" And she shut her eyes as if to meditate in silence,
+but there was a stream of big tears rolling down her cheeks.
+
+I knelt down by her bed with her family to pray, but I could not utter a
+single word. The idea that this dear child was there, dying from the cruel
+fanaticism of my theologians and my own cowardice in obeying them, was as a
+mill-stone to my neck. It was killing me.
+
+Oh! if by dying a thousand times I could have added a single day to her
+life, with what pleasure I would have accepted those thousand deaths!
+
+After we had silently prayed and wept by her bed-side, she requested her
+mother to leave her alone with me.
+
+When I saw myself alone, under the irresistible impression that this was
+her last day, I fell on my knees again, and with tears of the most sincere
+compassion for her soul, I requested her to shake off her shame and to obey
+our holy Church, which requires every one to confess their sins if they
+want to be forgiven.
+
+She calmly, but with an air of dignity which no human words can express,
+said, "Is it true that, after the sin of Adam and Eve, God Himself made
+coats of skins, and clothed them, that they might not see each other's
+nakedness?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "this is what the Holy Scriptures tell us."
+
+"Well, then, how is it possible that our confessors dare to take away from
+us that holy, divine coat of modesty and self-respect? Has not Almighty God
+Himself made with His own hands that coat of womanly modesty and
+self-respect that we might not be to you and to ourselves a cause of shame
+and sin?"
+
+I was really stunned by the beauty, simplicity, and sublimity of that
+comparison. I remained absolutely mute and confounded. Though it was
+demolishing all the traditions and doctrines of my Church, and pulverizing
+all my holy doctors and theologians, that noble answer found such an echo
+in my soul that it seemed to me a sacrilege to try to touch it with my
+finger.
+
+After a short time of silence, she continued, "Twice I have been destroyed
+by priests in the confessional. They took away from me that divine coat of
+modesty and self-respect which God gives to every human being who comes
+into this world, and twice I have become for those very priests a deep pit
+of perdition, into which they have fallen, and where, I fear, they are for
+ever lost! My merciful Heavenly Father has given me back that coat of
+skins, that nuptial robe of modesty, self-respect, and holiness, which had
+been taken away from me. He cannot allow you, or any other man, to tear
+again and spoil that vestment which is the work of His hands."
+
+These words had exhausted her; it was evident to me that she wanted some
+rest. I left her alone, but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled with
+admiration for the sublime lessons which I had received from the lips of
+that angel, who, it was evident, was soon to fly away from us, I felt a
+supreme disgust for myself, my theologians, and--shall I say it? yes--I
+felt, in that solemn hour, a supreme disgust for my Church, which was so
+cruelly defiling me and all the priests, in the confessional-box. I felt in
+that hour a supreme horror for that auricular confession, which is so often
+such a pit of perdition and supreme misery for the confessor and the
+penitent. I went out, walked two hours on the Plains of Abraham, to breathe
+the pure and refreshing air of the mountain. There alone I sat on a stone,
+on the very spot where Wolf and Montcalm had fought and died, and wept to
+my heart's content on my irreparable degradation, and the degradation of
+all the priests through the confessional.
+
+At four o'clock in the afternoon I went back again to the house of my dear
+dying Mary. The mother took me apart, and very politely said, "My dear Mr.
+Chiniquy, do you not think that it is time that our dear child should
+receive the last sacraments? She seemed to be much better this morning, and
+we were full of hope; but she is now rapidly sinking. Please lose no time
+in giving her the holy viaticum and the extreme unction."
+
+I said, "Yes, Madam; let me pass a few minutes alone with our poor dear
+child, that I may prepare her for the last sacraments."
+
+When alone with her, I again fell on my knees, and, amidst torrents of
+tears, I said, "Dear sister, it is my desire to give you the holy viaticum
+and the extreme unction; but tell me, how can I dare to do a thing so
+solemn against all the prohibitions of our holy Church? How can I give you
+the holy communion without first giving you absolution? and how can I give
+you absolution when you earnestly persist in telling me that you have
+committed sins which you will never declare either to me or any other
+confessor?
+
+"You know that I cherish and respect you as if you were an angel sent to me
+from heaven. You told me the other day that you blessed the day that you
+first saw and knew me. I say the same thing. I bless the day that I have
+known you; I bless every hour that I have passed by your bed of suffering;
+I bless every tear which I have shed with you on your sins and on my own; I
+bless every hour that we have passed together in looking to the wounds of
+our beloved, dying Saviour; I bless you for having forgiven me your death!
+for I know it, and I confess it a thousand times in the presence of God, I
+have killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer a thousand times to die than
+to say to you a word which would pain you in any way, or trouble the peace
+of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell me what I can and must do for
+you in this solemn hour."
+
+Calmly, and with a smile of joy, such as I had never seen before, nor have
+seen since, she said, "I thank and bless you, dear father, for the parable
+of the Prodigal Son, on which you preached a month ago. You have brought me
+to the feet of the dear Saviour; there, I have found a peace and a joy
+which surpass anything which human heart can feel; I have thrown myself
+into the arms of my heavenly Father, and I know He has mercifully accepted
+and forgiven His poor prodigal child! Oh, I see the angels with their
+golden harps around the throne of the Lamb! Do you not hear the celestial
+harmony of their songs? I go--I go to join them in my Father's house. I
+shall not be lost!"
+
+While she was thus speaking to me, my eyes were really turned into two
+fountains of tears, and I was unable, as well as unwilling, to see
+anything, so entirely overcome was I by the sublime words which were
+flowing from the dying lips of that dear child, who was no more a sinner,
+but a real angel of Heaven to me. I was listening to her words; there was a
+celestial music in every one of them. But she had raised her voice in such
+a strange way, when she had begun to say, "I go to my Father's house," and
+she had made such a cry of joy when she had let the last words, "not be
+lost," escape her lips, that I raised my head and opened my eyes to look at
+her. I suspected that something strange had occurred.
+
+I got upon my feet, passed my handkerchief over my face, to wipe away the
+tears which were preventing me from seeing with accuracy, and looked at
+her.
+
+Her hands were crossed on her breast, and there was on her face the
+expression of a really superhuman joy; her beautiful eyes were fixed as if
+they were looking on some grand and sublime spectacle; it seemed to me at
+first that she was praying.
+
+In that very same instant the mother rushed into the room, crying, "My God!
+my God! what does that cry 'lost' mean?"--for her last words, "not be
+lost," particularly the last one, had been pronounced with such a powerful
+voice that they had been heard almost everywhere in the house.
+
+I made a sign with my hand to prevent the distressed mother from making any
+noise, and troubling her dying child in her prayer, for I really thought
+that she had stopped speaking, as she used so often to do, when alone with
+me, in order to pray. But I was mistaken. That redeemed soul had gone, on
+the golden wings of love, to join the multitudes of those who have washed
+their robes in the blood of the Lamb, to sing the eternal Alleluia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION A DEEP PIT OF PERDITION FOR THE PRIEST
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was some time after our Mary had been buried. The terrible and
+mysterious cause of her death was known only to God and to me. Though her
+loving mother was still weeping over her grave, she had soon been
+forgotten, as usual, by the greatest part of those who had known her: but
+she was constantly present to my mind. I never entered the confessional-box
+without hearing her solemn, though so mild, voice telling me, "There must
+be somewhere something wrong in the auricular confession. Twice I have been
+destroyed by my confessors; and I have known several others who have been
+destroyed in the same way."
+
+More than once, when her voice was ringing in my ears from her tomb, I had
+shed bitter tears on the profound and unfathomable degradation into which
+I, with the other priests, had to fell in the confessional-box. For many,
+many times, stories as deplorable as that of this unfortunate girl were
+confessed to me by city as well as country females.
+
+One night I was awakened by the rumbling noise of thunder, when I heard
+some one knocking at the door. I hastened out of bed to ask who was there.
+The answer was that the Rev. Mr. ---- was dying, and that he wanted to see
+me before his death. I dressed myself, and was soon on the highway. The
+darkness was fearful; and often, had it not been for the lightning which
+was almost constantly tearing the clouds, we should not have known where we
+were. After a long and hard journey through the darkness and the storm, we
+arrived at the house of the dying priest. I went directly to his room, and
+really found him very low; he could hardly speak. With a sign of his hand
+he bade his servant-girl and a young man who were there go out, and leave
+him alone with me.
+
+Then, with a low voice, he said, "Is it you who prepared poor Mary to die?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I answered.
+
+"Please tell me the truth. Is it the fact that she died the death of a
+reprobate, and that her last words were, 'Oh, my God! I am lost'?"
+
+I answered: "As I was the confessor of that girl, and we were talking
+together on matters which pertained to her confession, in the very moment
+that she was unexpectedly summoned to appear before God, I cannot answer
+your question in any way; please, then, excuse me if I cannot say any more
+on that subject: but tell me who can have assured you that she died the
+death of a reprobate."
+
+"It was her own mother," answered the dying man. "She came, last week, to
+visit me, and when she was alone with me, with many tears and cries, she
+said how her poor child had refused to receive the last sacraments, and how
+her last cry was, 'I am lost!'" She added that that cry, 'Lost!' was
+pronounced with such a frightful power that it was heard through all the
+house."
+
+"If her mother has told you that," I replied, "you may believe what you
+please about the way that poor child died. I cannot say a word--you know
+it--about that matter."
+
+"But if she is lost," rejoined the old, dying priest, "I am the miserable
+one who has destroyed her. She was an angel of purity when she came to the
+convent. Oh! dear Mary, if you are lost, I am a thousandfold more lost! Oh,
+my God, my God! what will become of me? I am dying; and I am lost!"
+
+It was indeed an awful thing to see that old sinner tearing his own hands,
+rolling on his bed as if he had been on burning coals, with all the marks
+of the most frightful despair on his face, crying, "I am lost! Oh, my God,
+I am lost!"
+
+I was glad that the claps of thunder, which were shaking the house and
+roaring without ceasing, prevented the people outside the room from hearing
+those cries of desolation from that priest, whom every one considered a
+great saint.
+
+When it seemed to me that his terror had somewhat subsided, and that his
+mind was calmed a little, I said to him, "My dear friend, you must not give
+yourself up to such despair. Our merciful God has promised to forgive the
+repenting sinner who comes to Him, even at the last hour of the day.
+Address yourself to the Virgin Mary, she will ask and obtain your pardon."
+
+"Do you not think that it is too late to ask pardon? The doctor has
+honestly warned me that death is very near, and I feel I am just now dying!
+Is it not too late to ask and obtain pardon?" asked the dying priest.
+
+"No, my dear sir, it is not too late, if you sincerely regret your sins.
+Throw yourself into the arms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; make your
+confession without any more delay, and you will be saved."
+
+"But I have never made a good confession. Will you help me to make a
+general one?"
+
+It was my duty to grant him his request, and the rest of the night was
+spent by me in hearing the confession of his whole life.
+
+I do not want to give many particulars of the life of that priest. I will
+only mention two things. First: It was then that I understood why poor
+young Mary was absolutely unwilling to mention the iniquities which she had
+done with him. They were simply surpassingly horrible--unmentionable. No
+human tongue can express them--few human ears would consent to hear them.
+
+The second thing that I am bound in conscience to reveal is almost
+incredible, but it is nevertheless true. The number of married and
+unmarried females he had heard in the confessional was about 1500, of which
+he said he had destroyed or scandalized at least 1000 by his questioning
+them on most depraving things, for the simple pleasure of gratifying his
+own corrupted heart, without letting them know anything of his sinful
+thoughts and criminal desires towards them. But he confessed that he had
+destroyed the purity of ninety-five of those penitents, who had consented
+to sin with him.
+
+And would to God that this priest had been the only one whom I have known
+to be lost through the auricular confession! But, alas! how few are those
+who have escaped the snares of the tempter compared with those who have
+perished! I have heard the confessions of more than 200 priests, and, to
+say the truth, as God knows it, I must declare that only twenty-one had not
+to weep over the secret or public sins committed through the irresistibly
+corrupting influences of auricular confession!
+
+I am sixty six years old; in a short time I shall be in my grave. I shall
+have to give an account of what I say to-day. Well, it is in the presence
+of my great Judge, with my tomb before my eyes, that I declare to the world
+that very few--yes, very few--priests escape from falling into the pit of
+the most horrible moral depravity the world has ever known, through the
+confession of females.
+
+I do not say this because I have any bad feelings against those priests:
+God knows that I have none. The only feelings I have are of supreme
+compassion and pity. I do not reveal these awful things to make the world
+believe that the priests of Rome are a worse set of men than the rest of
+the innumerable fallen children of Adam. No, I do not entertain any such
+views; for, everything considered and weighed in the balance of religion,
+charity, and common sense--I think that the priests of Rome are far from
+being worse than any other set of men who would be thrown into the same
+temptations, dangers and unavoidable occasions of sin.
+
+For instance, let us take lawyers, merchants, or farmers, and, preventing
+them from living with their lawful wives, let us surround each of them from
+morning to night by ten, twenty, and sometimes more, beautiful women and
+tempting girls, who would speak to them of things which can pulverize a
+rock of Scotch granite, and you will see how many of those lawyers,
+merchants or farmers will go out of that terrible moral battle-field
+without being mortally wounded.
+
+The cause of the supreme--I dare say incredible, though
+unsuspected--immorality of the priests of Rome is a very evident and
+logical one. By the diabolical power of the Pope, the priest is put out of
+the ways which God has offered to the generality of men to be honest,
+upright, and holy[1]. And after the Pope has deprived them of the grand,
+holy, I say Divine (in this sense that it comes directly from God) remedy
+which God has given to man against his own concupiscence--holy marriage,
+they are placed unprotected, unguarded in the most perilous, difficult,
+irresistible moral dangers which human ingenuity or depravity can conceive.
+Those unmarried men are forced to be, from morning to night, in the midst
+of beautiful girls, and tempting, charming women, who have to tell them
+things which would melt the hardest steel. How can you expect that they
+will cease to be men, and become stronger than angels?
+
+Not only are the priests of Rome deprived by the devil of the _only_ remedy
+which God has given to help them to stand up, but they have, in the
+confessional, the greatest facility which can possibly be imagined for
+satisfying all the bad propensities of fallen human nature. In the
+confessional _they know_ those who are strong, and they know those who are
+weak among the females by whom they are surrounded; they know who would
+resist any attempt from the enemy; and they know who are ready--nay, who
+are longing after the deceitful charms of sin. If they still retain the
+fallen nature of man, what a terrible hour for them! what frightful battles
+inside the poor heart! What superhuman efforts and strength would be
+required to come out a conqueror from that battle field, where a David, a
+Samson, have fallen, mortally wounded!
+
+It is simply an act of supreme stupidity on the part of the Protestant, as
+well as Catholic public, to suppose, or suspect, or hope, that the
+generality of the priests can stand that trial. The pages of the history of
+Rome herself are filled with the unanswerable proofs that the great
+_generality_ of the confessors fall. If it were not so, the miracle of
+Joshua, stopping the march of the sun and the moon, would be a childish
+play compared with the miracle which would stop and reverse all the laws of
+our common fallen nature in the hearts of the 100,000 Roman Catholic
+confessors of the Church of Rome. Were I attempting to prove by public
+facts what I know of the horrible depravity caused by the confessional-box
+among the priests of France, Canada, Spain, Italy, England, I should have
+to write many big volumes in folio. For brevity's sake, I will speak only
+of Italy. I take that country because, being under the very eyes of their
+infallible and most holy (?) Pontiff, being in the land of daily miracles,
+of painted Madonnas, who weep and turn their eyes left and right, up and
+down, in a most marvellous way, being in the land of miraculous medals and
+heavenly spiritual favors, constantly flowing from the chair of St. Peter,
+the confessors in Italy are in the best possible circumstances to be
+strong, faithful, and holy. Well, let us hear an eye-witness, a
+contemporary, an unimpeachable witness about the way the confessors deal
+with their penitent females, in the only holy, apostolical, infallible (?)
+Church of Rome.
+
+The witness we will hear is of the purest blood of the princes of Italy.
+Her name is Henrietta Carracciolo, daughter of the Marshal Carracciolo,
+Governor of the Province of Bari, in Italy. Let us hear what she says of
+the Father Confessors, after twenty years of personal experience in
+different nunneries of Italy, in her remarkable book, "Mysteries of the
+Neapolitan Convents," pp. 150, 151, 152: "My confessor came the following
+day, and I disclosed to him the nature of the troubles which beset me.
+Later in the day, seeing that I had gone down to the place where we used to
+receive the holy communion, called Communichino, the conversa of my aunt
+rang the bell for the priest to come with the pyx.[2] He was a man of about
+fifty years of age, very corpulent, with a rubicund face, and a type of
+physiognomy as vulgar as it was repulsive.
+
+"I approached the little window to receive the sacred wafer on my tongue,
+with my eyes closed, as it is customary. I placed it upon my tongue; and,
+as I drew back, I felt my cheeks caressed. I opened my eyes, but the priest
+had withdrawn his hand, and, thinking I had been deceived, I gave it no
+more attention.
+
+"On the next occasion, forgetful of what had occurred before, I received
+the sacrament with closed eyes again, according to precept. This time I
+distinctly felt my chin caressed again; and on opening my eyes suddenly, I
+found the priest gazing rudely upon me, with a sensual smile on his face.
+
+"There could be no longer any doubt: these overtures were not the result of
+accident.
+
+"The daughter of Eve is endowed with a greater degree of curiosity than
+man. It occured to me to place myself in a contiguous apartment, where I
+could observe if this libertine priest was accustomed to take similar
+liberties with the nuns. I did so, and was fully convinced that only the
+old left him without being caressed!
+
+"All the others allowed him to do with them as he pleased; and even, in
+taking leave of him, did so with the utmost reverence.
+
+"'Is this the respect,' said I to myself, 'that the priests and the spouses
+of Christ have for the sacrament of the Eucharist? Shall the poor novice be
+enticed to leave the world in order to learn, in this school, such lessons
+of self-respect and chastity?'"
+
+Page 163, we read, "The fanatical passion of the nuns for their confessors,
+priests, and monks, exceeds belief. That which especially renders their
+incarceration endurable is the illimitable opportunity they enjoy of seeing
+and corresponding with those persons with whom they are in love. This
+freedom localizes and identifies them with the convent so closely that they
+are unhappy when, on account of any serious sickness, or while preparing to
+take the veil, they are obliged to pass some months in the bosom of their
+own families, in company with their fathers, mothers, brothers, and
+sisters. It is not to be presumed that these relatives would permit a young
+girl to pass many hours each day in a mysterious colloquy with a priest, or
+a monk, and maintain with him this continual correspondence. This is a
+liberty which they can enjoy in the convent only.
+
+"Many are the hours which the Heloïse spends in the confessional, in
+agreeable pastime with her Abelard in cassock.
+
+"Others, whose confessors happen to be old, have in addition a spiritual
+director, with whom they amuse themselves a long time every day,
+_tête-à-tête_, in the parlatorio. When this is not enough, they simulate an
+illness, in order to have him alone in their own rooms."
+
+Page 166, we read:--"Another nun, being somewhat infirm, her priest
+confessed her in her own room. After a time, the invalid penitent found
+herself in what is called an interesting situation, on which account, the
+physician declaring that her complaint was dropsy, she was sent away from
+the convent."
+
+Page 167:--"A young educanda was in the habit of going down every night to
+the convent burial-place, where, by a corridor which communicated with the
+vestry, she entered into a colloquy with a young priest attached to the
+church. Consumed by an amorous impatience, she was not deterred from these
+excursions either by bad weather or the fear of being discovered.
+
+"She heard a great noise one night near her. In the thick darkness which
+surrounded her, she imagined that she saw a viper winding itself around her
+feet. She was so much overcome by fright that she died from the effects of
+it a few months later."
+
+Page 168:--"One of the confessors had a young penitent in the convent.
+Every time he was called to visit a dying sister, and on that account
+passed the night in the convent, this nun would climb over the partition
+which separated her room from his, and betake herself to the master and
+director of souls.
+
+"Another, during the delirium of a typhoid fever, from which she was
+suffering, was constantly imitating the action of sending kisses to her
+confessor, who stood by the side of her bed. He, covered with blushes on
+account of the presence of strangers, held a crucifix before the eyes of
+the penitent, and in a commiserating tone exclaimed,--
+
+"'Poor thing! kiss thy own spouse!'"
+
+Page 168:--"Under the bonds of secrecy, an educanda, of fine form and
+pleasing manners, and of a noble family, confided to me the fact of her
+having received, from the hands of her confessor, a very interesting book
+(as she described it), which related to the monastic life. I expressed the
+wish to know the title, and she, before showing it to me, took the
+precaution to lock the door.
+
+"It proved to be the Monaca, by Dalembert, a book, as all know, filled with
+the most disgusting obscenity."
+
+Page 169:--"I received once from a monk, a letter in which he signified to
+me that he had hardly seen me, when 'he conceived the sweet hope of
+becoming my confessor.' An exquisite of the first water, a fop of scents
+and euphuism, could not have employed phrases more melodramic, to demand
+whether he might hope or despair."
+
+Page 169:--"A priest who enjoyed the reputation of being an incorruptible
+sacerdote, when he saw me pass through the parlatorio, used to address me
+as follows:--
+
+"'Ps, dear, come here! Ps, Ps, come here!'
+
+"These words, addressed to me by a priest, were nauseous in the extreme.
+
+"Finally, another priest, the most annoying of all for his obstinate
+assiduity, sought to secure my affections at all cost. There was not an
+image profane poetry could afford him, nor a sophism he could borrow from
+rhetoric, nor wily interpretation he could give to the Word of God, which
+he did not employ to convert me to his wishes. Here is an example of his
+logic:--
+
+"'Fair daughter,' said he to me one day, 'knowest thou who God truly is?'
+
+"'He is the Creator of the Universe,' I answered drily.
+
+"'No,--no,--no,--no! that is not enough,' he replied, laughing at my
+ignorance. 'God is love, but love in the abstract, which receives its
+incarnation in the mutual affection of two hearts which idolize each other.
+You, then, must not only love God in His abstract existance, but must also
+love Him in His incarnation, that is, in the exclusive love of a man who
+adores you. _Quod Deus est amor, nec colitur, nisi amando._'
+
+"'Then,' I replied, 'a woman who adores her own lover would adore Divinity
+itself?'
+
+"'Assuredly,' reiterated the priest over and over again, taking courage
+from my remark, and chuckling at what seemed to him to be the effect of his
+catechism.
+
+"'In that case,' said I hastily, 'I should select for my lover rather a man
+of the world than a priest.'
+
+"'God preserve you, my daughter! God preserve you from that sin!' added my
+interlocutor, apparently frightened. 'To love a man of the world, a sinner,
+a wretch, an unbeliever, an infidel! Why, you would go immediately to hell.
+The love of a priest is a sacred love, while that of a profane man is
+infamy; the faith of a priest emanates from that granted to the holy
+Church, while that of the profane is false,--false as the vanity of the
+world. The priest purifies his affections daily in communion with the Holy
+Spirit: the man of the world (if he ever knows love at all) sweeps the
+muddy crossings of the street with it day and night.
+
+"'But it is the heart, as well as the conscience, which prompts me to fly
+from the priests,' I replied.
+
+"'Well, if you cannot love me because I am your confessor, I will find
+means to assist you to get rid of your scruples. We will place the name of
+Jesus Christ before all our affectionate demonstration, and thus our love
+will be a grateful offering to the Lord, and will ascend fragrant with
+perfume to Heaven, like the smoke of the incense of the sanctuary. Say to
+me, for example, "I love you in Jesus Christ; last night I dreamed of you
+in Jesus Christ;" and you will have a tranquil conscience, because in doing
+this you will sanctify every transport of your love.'
+
+"Several circumstances not indicated here, by the way, compelled me to come
+in frequent contact with this priest afterwards, and I do not therefore
+give his name.
+
+"Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike for his age and his moral
+character, I inquired what signified the prefixing the name of Jesus Christ
+to amorous apostrophes.
+
+"'It is,' he said, 'an expression used by a horrible sect, and one
+unfortunately only too numerous, which, thus abusing the name of our Lord,
+permits to its members the most unbridled licentiousness.'"
+
+And it is my sad duty to say, before the whole world, that I know that by
+far the greater part of the confessors in America, Spain, France and
+England, reason and act just like that licentious Italian priest.
+
+Christian nations! if you could know what will become of the virtue of your
+fair daughters if you allow secret or public slaves of Rome to restore the
+auricular confession, with what a storm of holy indignation you would
+defeat their plans!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If any one wants to hear an eloquent oration, let him go when the Roman
+Catholic priest is preaching on the divine institution of auricular
+confession. There is no subject, perhaps, on which the priests display so
+much zeal and earnestness, and of which they speak so often. For this
+institution is really the corner-stone of their stupendous power; it is the
+secret of their almost irresistible influence. Let the people to-day open
+their eyes to the truth, and understand that auricular confession is one of
+the most stupendous impostures which Satan has invented to corrupt and
+enslave the world; let the people desert the confessional-box to-day, and
+tomorrow Romanism will fall into the dust. The priests understand this very
+well; hence their constant efforts to deceive the people on that question.
+To attain their object, they have recourse to the most egregious
+falsehoods; the Scriptures are misrepresented; the holy Fathers are brought
+to say the very contrary of what they have ever thought or written; the
+most extraordinary miracles and stories are invented. But two of the
+arguments to which they have more often recourse are the great and
+perpetual miracles which God makes to keep the purity of the confessional
+undefiled, and its secrets marvellously sealed. They make the people
+believe that the vow of perpetual chastity changes their nature, turns them
+into angels, and puts them above the common frailties of the fallen
+children of Adam.
+
+Bravely and with a brazen face, when they are interrogated on that subject,
+they say that they have special graces to remain pure and undefiled in the
+midst of the greatest dangers; that the Virgin Mary, to whom they are
+consecrated, is their powerful advocate to obtain from her Son that
+superhuman virtue of chastity; that what would be a cause of sure perdition
+to common men is without peril and danger for a true son of Mary; and, with
+amazing stupidity, the people consent to be duped, blinded, and deceived by
+those fooleries.
+
+But here let the world hear the truth as it is, from one who knows
+perfectly everything inside and outside the walls of that Modern Babylon;
+though many, I know, will disbelieve me and say, "We hope you are mistaken.
+It is impossible that the priests of Rome should turn out to be such
+impostors. They may be mistaken; they may believe and repeat things which
+are not true, but they are honest; they cannot be such impudent deceivers."
+
+Yes! though I know that many will hardly believe me, I must say the truth.
+
+Those very men who, when speaking to the people in such glowing terms of
+the marvellous way they are kept pure in the midst of the dangers which
+surround them, honestly blush, and often weep, when they speak to each
+other (when they are sure that nobody except priests hears them). They
+deplore their moral degradation with the utmost sincerity and honesty. They
+ask from God and men pardon for their unspeakable depravity.
+
+I have here in my hands, and under my eyes, one of their most remarkable
+secret books, written, or at least approved, by one of their greatest and
+best bishops and cardinals, the Cardinal De Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons.
+
+The book is written for the use of the priests alone. Its title is in
+French, "Examen de Conscience des Prêtres." At page 34 we read:--
+
+"Have I left certain persons to make the declarations of their sins in such
+a way that the imagination, once taken and impressed by pictures and
+representations, could be dragged into a long course of temptations and
+grievous sins? The priests do not pay sufficient attention to the continual
+temptations caused by the hearing of confessions. The soul is gradually
+enfeebled in such a way that, at the end, the virtue of chastity is for
+ever lost."
+
+Here is the address of a priest to other priests when he suspects that
+nobody but his co-sinner brethren hear him. Here is the honest language of
+truth.
+
+In the presence of God, those priests acknowledge that they have not a
+sufficient fear of those _constant_ (what a word--what an
+acknowledgment--constant!) temptations, and they honestly confess that
+those temptations come from the hearing of the confessions of so many
+scandalous sins. Here the priests honestly acknowledge that those constant
+temptations, at the end, destroy _for ever_ in them the holy virtue of
+purity![3]
+
+Ah! would to God that all the honest girls and women whom the devil entraps
+into the snares of auricular confession could hear the cries of distress of
+those poor priests whom they have tempted--_for ever destroyed!_ Would to
+God that they could see the torrents of tears shed by so many priests
+because, from the hearing of confessions, they had _for ever_ lost the
+virtue of purity! They would understand that the confessional is a snare, a
+pit of perdition, a Sodom for the priest; and they would be struck with
+horror and shame at the idea of the _continual_, shameful, dishonest,
+degrading temptations by which their confessor is tormented day and
+night--they would blush on account of the shameful sins which their
+confessors have committed--they would weep over the irreparable loss of
+their purity--they would promise before God and men that the
+confessional-box should never see them any more--they would prefer to be
+burned alive, if any sentiment of honesty and charity remained in them,
+rather than consent to be a cause of _constant_ temptation and damnable sin
+to that man.
+
+Would that respectable lady go any more to confess to that man if, after
+her confession, she could hear him lamenting the continual, shameful
+temptations which assail him day and night, and the damning sins which he
+has committed on account of what she has confessed to him? No--a thousand
+times no!
+
+Would that honest father allow his beloved daughter to go any more to that
+man to confess if he could hear his cries of distress, and see his tears
+flowing because the hearing of those confessions is the source of constant,
+shameful temptations and degrading iniquities?
+
+Oh! would to God that the honest Romanists all over the world--for there
+are millions who, though deluded, are honest--could see what is going on in
+the heart, the imagination of the poor confessor when he is, there,
+surrounded by attractive women, and tempting girls, speaking to him from
+morning to night on things which a man cannot hear without falling! Then
+that modern but grand imposture called the Sacrament of Penance would soon
+be ended.
+
+But here, again, who will not lament the consequence of the total
+perversity of our human nature? Those very same priests who, when alone in
+the presence of God, speak so plainly of the constant temptations by which
+they are assailed, and who so sincerely weep over the irreparable loss of
+their virtue of purity, when they think that nobody hears them, will yet in
+public deny with a brazen face those temptations. They will indignantly
+rebuke you as a slanderer if you say anything to lead them to suppose that
+you fear for their purity when they hear the confessions of girls or
+married women. There is not a single one of the Roman Catholic authors who
+have written on that subject for the priests, who has not deplored their
+innumerable and degrading sins against purity on account of the auricular
+confession; but those very men will be the first to try to prove the very
+contrary when they write books for the people. I have no words to say what
+was my surprise when, for the first time, I saw that this strange duplicity
+seemed to be one of the fundamental stones of my Church.
+
+It was not very long after my ordination, when a priest came to me to
+confess the most deplorable things. He honestly told me that there was not
+a single one of the girls or married women whom he had confessed who had
+not been a secret cause of the most shameful sins in thoughts, desires, or
+actions; but he wept so bitterly over his degradation, his heart seemed so
+sincerely broken on account of his own iniquities, that I could not refrain
+from mixing my tears with his. I wept with him, and I gave him the pardon
+of all his sins, as I thought, then, I had the power and right to give it.
+
+Two hours afterwards, that same priest, who was a good speaker, was in the
+pulpit. His sermon was on "The Divinity of Auricular Confession;" and, to
+prove that it was an institution coming directly from Christ, he said that
+the Son of God was making a _constant_ miracle to strengthen His priests,
+and prevent them from falling into sins, on account of what they might have
+heard in the confessional!
+
+The daily abominations, which are the result of auricular confession, are
+so horrible and so well known by the popes, the bishops, and the priests,
+that several times, public attempts have been made to diminish them by
+punishing the guilty priests; but all these have failed.
+
+One of the most remarkable of those efforts was made by Pius IV. about the
+year 1500. A Bull was published by him, by which all the girls and the
+married women who had been seduced into sins by their confessors were
+ordered to denounce them; and a certain number of high church officers of
+the Holy Inquisition were authorized to take the depositions of the fallen
+penitents. The thing was at first tried at Seville, one of the principal
+cities of Spain. When the edict was first published the number of women who
+felt bound in conscience to go and depose against their father confessors
+was so great that, though there were thirty notaries and as many
+inquisitors to take the depositions, they were unable to do the work in the
+appointed time. Thirty days more were given, but the inquisitors were so
+overwhelmed with the numberless depositions that another period of time of
+the same length was given. But this, again, was found insufficient. At the
+end, it was found that the number of priests who had destroyed the purity
+of their penitents was so great that it was impossible to punish them all.
+The inquest was given up, and the guilty confessors remained unpunished.
+Several attempts of the same nature have been tried by other popes, but
+with about the same success.
+
+But if those honest attempts, on the part of some well-meaning popes, to
+punish the confessors who destroy the purity of their penitents, have
+failed to touch the guilty parties, they are, in the good providence of
+God, infallible witnesses to tell to the world that auricular confession is
+nothing else than a snare to the confessor and his dupes. Yes, those Bulls
+of the popes are an irrefragable testimony that auricular confession is the
+most powerful invention of the devil to corrupt the heart, pollute the
+body, and damn the soul of the priest and his female penitent!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE VOW OF CELIBACY OF THE PRIESTS IS MADE EASY BY AURICULAR
+CONFESSION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Are not facts the best arguments? Well, here is an undeniable, a public
+fact, which is connected with a thousand collateral ones to prove that
+auricular confession is the most powerful engine of demoralization which
+the world has ever seen.
+
+About the year 183--, there was in Quebec a fine-looking young priest; he
+had a magnificent voice, and was a pretty good speaker.[4] Through regard
+for his family, which is still numerous and respectable, I will not give
+his name, I will call him Rev. Mr. D----. Having been invited to preach in
+a parish of Canada, about 100 miles distant from Quebec, called Verchères,
+he was also requested to hear the confessions during a few days of a kind
+of Novena (nine days of prayer), which was going on in that place. Among
+his penitents was a beautiful young girl, about nineteen years old. She
+wanted to make a general confession of all her sins from the first age of
+reason, and the confessor granted her request. Twice every day she was
+there, at the feet of her handsome young spiritual physician, telling all
+her thoughts, her deeds, her desires. Sometimes she was remarked to have
+remained a whole hour in the confessional-box, in accusing herself of all
+her human frailties. What did she say? God only knows; but what became
+hereafter known by the entire of Canada is that the confessor fell in love
+with his fair penitent, and that she burned with the same irresistible
+fires for her confessor, as it so often happens.
+
+It was not an easy matter for the priest and the young girl to meet each
+other in as complete a _tête-à-tête_ as they both wished, for there were
+too many eyes upon them. But the confessor was a man of resources. The last
+day of the Novena he said to his beloved penitent, "I am going to Montreal,
+but three days after I will take the steamer back to Quebec. That steamer
+is accustomed to stop here. At about twelve a.m., be on the wharf, dressed
+as a young man. Let no one know your secret. You will embark in the
+steamboat, where you will not be known, if you have any prudence. You will
+come to Quebec, where you will be engaged as a servant-boy by the curate,
+of whom I am the vicar. Nobody will know your sex except myself, and we
+will there be happy together."
+
+The fifth day after this there was a great desolation in the family of the
+girl, for she had suddenly disappeared and her robes had been found on the
+shores of the St. Lawrence river. There was not the least doubt in the
+minds of all relations and friends, that the general confession she had
+made had entirely upset her mind, and, in an excess of craziness, she had
+thrown herself into the deep and rapid waters of the St. Lawrence. Many
+searches were made to find her body, but all in vain; many public and
+private prayers were offered to God to help her to escape from the flames
+of Purgatory, where she might be condemned to suffer for many years, and
+much money was given to the priest to sing high masses, in order to
+extinguish the fires of that burning prison, where every Roman Catholic
+believes he must go to be purified before entering the regions of eternal
+happiness.
+
+I will not give the name of the girl, though I have it, through compassion
+for her family; I will call her Geneva.
+
+Well, when father and mother, brothers, sisters, and friends were shedding
+tears on the sad end of Geneva, she was in the rich parsonage of the Curate
+of Quebec, well paid, well fed and dressed; happy and cheerful with her
+beloved confessor. She was exceedingly neat in her person, always obliging,
+ready to run and do what you wanted at the very twinkling of your eye. Her
+new name was Joseph, by which I will now call her.
+
+Many times I have seen the smart Joseph at the parsonage of Quebec, and
+admired his politeness and good manners; though it seemed to me sometimes
+that he looked too much like a girl, and that he was a little too much at
+ease with Rev. Mr. D----, and also with the Right Rev. M----. But every
+time the idea came to me that Joseph was a girl, I felt indignant with
+myself. The high respect I had for the Coadjutor Bishop made it impossible
+to think that he would ever allow a beautiful girl to sleep in the
+adjoining room to his own, and to serve him day and night; for Joseph's
+sleeping-room was just by the one of the Coadjutor, who, for several bodily
+infirmities, which were not a secret to every one, wanted the help of his
+servant several times at night, as well as during the day.
+
+Things went on very smoothly with Joseph during two or three years in the
+Coadjutor Bishop's house; but at the end it seemed to many people outside
+that Joseph was taking too great airs of familiarity with the young vicars,
+and even with the venerable Coadjutor. Several of the citizens of Quebec,
+who were going more often than others to the parsonage, were surprised and
+shocked at the familiarity of that servant-boy with his masters; he really
+seemed sometimes to be on equal terms with, if not somewhat above them.
+
+An intimate friend of the Bishop, a most devoted Roman Catholic, who was my
+near relative, took one day upon himself to respectfully say to the Right
+Rev. Bishop that it would be prudent to turn out that impudent young man
+from his palace; that he was the object of strong and deplorable
+suspicions.
+
+The position of the Right Rev. Bishop and his vicars was not a very
+agreeable one. Their barque had evidently drifted among dangerous rocks. To
+keep Joseph among them was impossible, after the friendly advice which had
+come from such a high quarter, and to dismiss him was not less dangerous;
+he knew too much of the interior and secret lives of all those holy (?)
+celibates to deal with him as with another common servant-man. With a
+single word of his lips he could destroy them; they were as if tied to his
+feet by ropes, which at first seemed made with sweet cakes and ice-cream,
+but had suddenly turned into burning steel chains. Several days of anxiety
+passed away; many sleepless nights succeeded the too-happy ones of better
+times. But what to do? There were breakers ahead; breakers on the right, on
+the left, and on every side. But when every one, particularly the venerable
+(?) Coadjutor, felt as criminals who expect their sentence, and that their
+horizon seemed surrounded absolutely by only dark and stormy clouds, on a
+sudden, a happy opening presented itself to the anxious sailors.
+
+The curate of "Les Eboulements," the Rev. Mr. ----, had just come to Quebec
+on some private business, and had taken his quarters in the hospitable
+house of his old friend, the Right Rev. ----, Bishop Coadjutor. Both had
+been on very intimate terms for many years, and, in many instances, they
+had been of great service to each other. The Pontiff of the Church of
+Canada, hoping that his tried friend would perhaps help him out of the
+terrible difficulty of the moment, frankly told him all about Joseph, and
+asked him what he ought to do under such difficult circumstances.
+
+"My Lord," said the curate of the Eboulements, "Joseph is just the servant
+I want. Pay him well, that he may remain your friend, and that his lips may
+be sealed, and allow me to take him with me. My housekeeper left me a few
+weeks ago; I am alone in my parsonage with my old servant-man. Joseph is
+just the person I want."
+
+It would be difficult to tell the joy of the poor Bishop and his vicars,
+when they saw that heavy stone they had on their neck removed.
+
+Joseph, once installed into the parsonage of the pious (?) parish priest of
+the Eboulements, soon gained the favour of the whole people by his good and
+winning manners, and every parishioner complimented his curate on the
+smartness of his new servant. But the priest, of course, knew a little more
+of that smartness than the rest of the people. Three years passed on very
+smoothly. The priest and his servant seemed to be on the most perfect
+terms. The only thing which marred the happiness of that lucky couple was
+that, now and then, some of the farmers, whose eyes were sharper than those
+of their neighbours, seemed to think that the intimacy between the two was
+going a little too far, and that Joseph, was really keeping in his hands
+the sceptre of the little priestly kingdom. Nothing could be done without
+his advice; he was meddling in all the small and big affairs of the parish,
+and the curate seemed sometimes to be rather the servant than the master in
+his own house and parish. Those who had at first made those remarks
+privately began little by little to convey their views to the next
+neighbour, and this one to the next. In that way, at the end of the third
+year, grave and serious suspicions began to spread from one to the other in
+such a way that the Marguilliers (a kind of Elders) thought proper to say
+to the priest that it would be better for him to turn Joseph out than to
+keep him any longer. But the old curate had passed so many happy hours with
+his faithful Joseph that it was as hard as death to give him up.
+
+He knew, by confession, that a girl in the vicinity was given to an
+unmentionable abomination, to which Joseph was also addicted. He went to
+her and proposed that she should marry Joseph, and that he (the priest)
+would help them to live comfortably. Joseph, in order to continue to live
+near his good master, consented also to marry that girl. Both knew very
+well what the other was. The banns were published during three Sabbaths,
+after which the old curate, blessed the marriage of Joseph with the girl
+his parishioner.
+
+They lived together as husband and wife in such harmony that nobody could
+suspect the horrible depravity which was concealed behind that union.
+Joseph continued with his wife to work often for his priest, till after
+sometime that priest was removed, and another curate, called Tétreau, was
+sent in his place.
+
+This new curate, knowing absolutely nothing of that mystery of iniquity,
+employed also Joseph and his wife several times. One day when Joseph was
+working at the door of the parsonage, in the presence of several people, a
+stranger arrived, and inquired of him if the Rev. Mr. Tétreau, the curate,
+was there.
+
+Joseph answered, "Yes, sir. But as you seem to be a stranger, would you
+allow me to ask you whence you come?"
+
+"It is very easy, sir, to satisfy you. I come from Verchères," replied the
+stranger.
+
+At the word "Verchères" Joseph turned so pale that the stranger could not
+be but struck with his sudden change of colour.
+
+Then, fixing his eyes on Joseph, he cried out, "Oh, my God! what do I see
+here? Geneva! Geneva! I recognize you, and here you are in the disguise of
+a man!"
+
+"Dear uncle (for it was her uncle), for God's sake," she cried, "do not say
+a word more!"
+
+But it was too late. The people who were there had heard the uncle and
+niece. Their long secret suspicions were well-founded--one of their former
+priests had kept a girl under the disguise of a man in his house! and, to
+blind his people more thoroughly, he had married that girl to another one,
+in order to have them both in his house, when he pleased, without awakening
+any suspicion!!
+
+The news went almost as quick as lightning from one end to the other of the
+parish, and spread all over the northern country watered by the St Lawrence
+river.
+
+It is more easy to imagine than express the sentiments of surprise and
+horror which filled every one. The justices of the peace took up the
+matter; Joseph was brought before the civil tribunal, which decided that a
+physician should be charged to make, not a _post-mortem_, but _ante-mortem_
+inquest. The Honourable L----, who was called and made the proper inquiry,
+declared upon oath that Joseph was a girl! and the bonds of marriage were
+legally dissolved.
+
+During that time the honest Rev. Mr. Tétreau, struck with horror, had sent
+an express to the Right Reverend Bishop Coadjutor of Quebec, informing him
+that the young man whom he had kept in his house several years, under the
+name of Joseph, was a girl.
+
+Now, what were they to do with the girl, after all was discovered? Her
+presence in Canada would for ever compromise the holy (_?_) Church of Rome.
+She knew too well how the priests, through the confessional, select their
+victims, and help themselves, in their company, in keeping their solemn
+vows of celibacy! What would have become of the respect paid to the priest,
+if she had been taken by the hand and invited to speak, bravely, boldly,
+before the people of Canada?
+
+The holy (?) Bishop and his vicars understood these things very well.
+
+They immediately sent a trustworthy man with £500 to say to the girl that,
+if she remained in Canada, she could be prosecuted and severely punished;
+that it was her interest to leave the country, and emigrate to the United
+States. They offered her the £500 if she would promise to go and never
+return.
+
+She accepted the offer, crossed the lines, and we have never since heard
+anything of her.
+
+In the providence of God, I was invited to preach in that parish soon
+after, and I learned these facts accurately.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Tétreau, under whose pastorate this great iniquity was
+detected, began from that time to have his eyes opened to the awful
+depravity of the priests of Rome through the confessional. He wept and
+cried over his own degradation in the midst of that modern Sodom. Our
+merciful God looked down with compassion upon him, and sent him His saving
+grace. Not long after, he sent to the Bishop his renunciation of the errors
+and abominations of Romanism.
+
+To-day he is working in the vineyard of the Lord with the Methodists in the
+city of Montreal, where he is ready to prove the correctness of what we
+say.
+
+Let those who have ears to hear, and eyes to see, understand, by this fact,
+that Pagan nations have not known any institution so depraving as Auricular
+Confession!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE HIGHLY EDUCATED AND REFINED WOMAN IN THE CONFESSIONAL.--WHAT BECOMES OF
+HER AFTER HER UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.--HER IRREPARABLE RUIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The most skilful warrior has never had to display so much skill and so many
+_ruses de guerre_; he has never had to use more tremendous efforts to
+reduce and storm an impregnable citadel, as the confessor who wants to
+reduce and storm the citadel of self-respect and honesty which God Himself
+has built around the soul and the heart of every daughter of Eve.
+
+But, as it is through woman that the Pope wants to conquer the world, it is
+supremely important that he should enslave and degrade her by keeping her
+at his feet as his footstool, that she may become a passive instrument in
+the accomplishment of his vast and profound scheme.
+
+In order perfectly to master women in the higher circles of society, every
+confessor is ordered by the Pope to learn the most complicated and perfect
+strategy. He has to study a great number of treatises on the art of
+persuading the fair sex to confess to him plainly, clearly, and in detail,
+every thought, every secret desire, word, and deed, just as they occurred.
+
+And that art is considered so important and so difficult that all the
+theologians of Rome call it "the art of arts."
+
+Dens, St. Liguori, Chevassu, the author of the "Mirror of the Clergy,"
+Debreyne, and a multitude of authors too numerous to mention, have given
+the curious and scientific rules of that secret art.
+
+They all agree in declaring that it is a most difficult and dangerous art;
+they all confess that the least error of judgment, the least imprudence or
+temerity, when storming the impregnable citadel, is sure death (spiritual,
+of course) to the confessor and the penitent.
+
+The confessor is taught to make the first steps towards the citadel with
+the utmost caution, in order that his female penitent may not suspect at
+first what he wants her to reveal; for this would generally induce her to
+shut for ever the door of the fortress against him. After the first steps
+of advance, he is advised to make several steps back, and to put himself in
+a kind of spiritual ambuscade, to see the effect of his first advance. If
+there is any prospect of success, then the word "March on!" is given, and a
+more advanced post of the citadel must be tried and stormed if possible. In
+that way, little by little, the whole place is so well surrounded, so well
+crippled, denuded, and dismantled, that any more resistance seems
+impossible on the part of the rebellious soul.
+
+Then the last charge is ordered, the final assault is given; and if God
+does not perform a real miracle to save that soul, the last walls crumble,
+the doors are beaten down! Then the confessor makes a triumphant entry into
+the place; the very heart, soul, conscience, and intelligence, are
+conquered.
+
+When once master of the place, the priest visits all its most secret
+recesses and corners; he pries into its most sacred chambers. The conquered
+place is entirely, absolutely in his hands; he does what he pleases within
+its precincts; he is the supreme master, for the surrender has been
+unconditional. The confessor has become the _only_ infallible ruler in the
+conquered place--nay, he has become its only God--for it is in the name of
+God that he has besieged, stormed, and conquered it, it is in the name of
+God that, hereafter, he will speak and be obeyed.
+
+No human words can adequately give an idea of the irreparable ruin which
+follows the successful storming and unconditional surrender of the once so
+noble fortress. The longer the resistance has been, the more terrible and
+complete is the destruction of its beauty and strength; the nobler the
+struggle has been the more irretrievable are the ruin and loss. Just as the
+higher and stronger the dam is built to stem the current of the rapid and
+deep waters of the river, the more awful the disasters which follow its
+destruction, so it is with that noble soul. A mighty dam has been built by
+the very hand of God, called self-respect and womanly modesty, to guard her
+against the pollutions of this sinful world; but the day that the priest of
+Rome succeeds, after long efforts, in destroying it, the soul is carried by
+an irresistible power into unfathomable abysses of iniquity. Then it is
+that the once most respectable lady will consent to hear, without a blush,
+things against which the most degraded woman would indignantly shut her
+ears. Then it is that she freely speaks on matters for repeating which a
+printer in England has lately been sent to jail.
+
+At first, in spite of herself, but soon with a real sensual pleasure, that
+fallen angel will think, when alone, on what she has heard and what she has
+said in the confessional-box. In spite of herself, the vilest thoughts will
+at first irresistibly fill her mind; and soon the thoughts will engender
+temptations and sins. But those vile temptations and sins, which would have
+filled her with horror and regret before her entire surrender into the
+hands of the foe, beget very different sentiments now that she is no more
+her own self-possessor and guide, under the eyes of God. The conviction of
+her sins is no more connected with the thought of a God, infinitely holy
+and just, whom she must serve and fear. The conviction of her sins is now
+immediately connected with the thought of the man with whom she will have
+to speak, and who will easily make everything right and pure in her soul by
+his absolution.
+
+When the day of going to confess comes, instead of being sad and uneasy and
+bashful, as she used to be formerly, she feels pleased and delighted to
+have a new opportunity of conversing on those matters, without impropriety
+and sin to herself; for she is now fully persuaded that there is no
+impropriety, no shame, no sin, nay, she believes, or tries to believe, that
+it is a good, honest, Christian, and godly thing to converse with her
+priest on those matters.
+
+Her most happy hours are when she is at the feet of that spiritual
+physician showing him all the newly made wounds of her soul; explaining all
+her constant temptations, her bad thoughts, her most intimate secret
+desires and sins.
+
+Then it is that the most sacred mysteries of the married life are revealed;
+then it is that the mysterious and precious pearls which God has given as a
+crown of mercy to those whom He has made one body, one heart, one soul, by
+the blessed ties of a christian union, are lavishly thrown before swine.
+
+Whole hours are thus passed by the fair penitent in speaking to her Father
+Confessor with the utmost freedom on matters which would rank her among the
+most profligate and lost women, if it were only suspected by her friends
+and relatives. A single word of those intimate conversations would be
+followed by an act of divorce on the part of the husband, if it were known
+by him.
+
+But the betrayed husband knows nothing of the dark mysteries of auricular
+confession; the duped father suspects nothing; a cloud from hell has
+obscured the intelligence of both, and made them blind. It is just the
+contrary: husbands and fathers, friends and relations, feel edified and
+pleased with the touching spectacle of the piety of Madam and Miss ----. In
+the village, as well as in the city, every one has a word to speak in their
+praise. Mrs. ---- is so often seen humbly prostrated at the feet, or by the
+side, of her confessor! Miss ---- remains so long in the confessional-box!
+they receive the holy communion so frequently; they both speak so
+eloquently and so often of the admirable piety, modesty, holiness,
+patience, charity, of their incomparable spiritual Father!
+
+Every one congratulates them on their new and exemplary life; and they
+accept the compliment with the utmost humility, attributing their rapid
+progress in Christian virtues to the holiness of their confessor. He is
+such a spiritual man! who could not make rapid strides under such a holy
+guide?
+
+The more constant the temptations are, the more the secret sins overwhelm
+the soul, and the more airs of peace and holiness are put on. The more foul
+the secret emanations of the heart, the more the fair and refined penitent
+surrounds herself by an atmosphere of the sweetest perfumes of a sham
+piety. The more polluted the inside of the sepulchre is, the more shining
+and white the outside will be kept.
+
+Then it is that, unless God performs a miracle to prevent it, the ruin of
+that soul is sealed. She has drunk in the poisonous cup filled by "the
+mother of harlots," and she has found the wine of her prostitution sweet.
+She will henceforth delight in her spiritual and secret orgies.
+
+Her holy (?) confessor has told her that there is no impropriety, no shame,
+no sin, in that cup. The Pope has sacrilegiously written the word "Life" on
+that cup of "Death." She has believed the Pope: the terrible mystery of
+iniquity is accomplished!
+
+"The mystery of iniquity doth already work ... whose coming is after the
+working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
+deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they
+received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
+cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
+that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
+in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. ii. 7-12).
+
+Yes: the day that the rich, well-educated lady gives up her self-respect,
+and unconditionally surrenders the citadel of womanly modesty into the
+hands of a man, whatever be his name or titles, that he may freely put to
+her questions of the vilest character which she must answer, she is lost
+and degraded, just as if she were the humblest and poorest servant-girl.
+
+I purposely say "the rich and well-educated woman," for I know that there
+is a prevalent opinion that the social position of her class places her
+above the corrupting influences of the confessional, as if she were out of
+reach of the common miseries of our poor fallen and sinful nature.
+
+So long as the well-educated lady makes use of her accomplishments to
+defend the citadel of her womanly self-respect against the foe--so long as
+she sternly keeps the door of her heart shut against her deadly enemy--she
+is safe. But let no one forget this: she is safe only so long as she does
+_not_ surrender. When the enemy is once master of the place, I emphatically
+repeat, the ruinous consequences are as great, if not greater, and more
+irreparable than in the lowest classes of society. Throw a piece of
+precious gold into the mud, and tell me if it will not plunge deeper than
+the piece of rotten wood.
+
+What woman could be nobler, purer, and stronger than Eve when she came from
+the hands of her Divine Creator? But how quickly she fell when she gave ear
+to the seducing voice of the tempter! How irreparable was her ruin when she
+complacently looked on the forbidden fruit, and believed the lying voice
+which told her there was "_no sin_" in eating of it!
+
+I solemnly, in the presence of the great God who ere long will judge me,
+give my testimony on this grave subject. After 25 years' experience in the
+confessional, I declare that the confessor himself encounters more terrible
+dangers when hearing the confessions of refined and highly-educated ladies,
+than when listening to those of the humbler classes of his female
+penitents.
+
+I solemnly testify that the well-educated lady, when she has once
+surrendered herself to the power of her confessor, becomes, as a general
+rule, at least as vulnerable to the arrows of the enemy as the poorer and
+less educated. Nay, I must say that, once on the down-hill road of
+perdition, the high-bred lady runs headlong into the pit with a more
+deplorable rapidity than her humbler sister.
+
+All Canada is witness that a few years ago it was among the highest ranks
+of society that the Grand Vicar Superior of one of the richest and most
+influential colleges of Canada, was choosing his victims, when the public
+cry of indignation and shame forced the Bishop to send him back to Europe,
+where he soon after died. Was it not also among the higher classes of
+society that a Superior of the Seminary of Quebec was destroying souls,
+when he was detected, and forced, during a dark night, to fly and conceal
+himself behind the walls of the Trappist Monastery of Iowa?
+
+Many would be the folio volumes which I should have to write, were I to
+publish all that my twenty-five years' experience in the confessional has
+taught me of the unspeakable secret corruption of the _greatest_ part of
+the so-called respectable ladies who have unconditionally surrendered
+themselves into the hands of their holy (?) confessors. But the following
+fact will suffice for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and an
+intelligence to understand.
+
+In one of the most beautiful and thriving towns along the St. Lawrence
+River lived a rich merchant. He was young, and his marriage with a most
+lovely, rich, and accomplished young lady had made him one of the happiest
+men in the land.
+
+A few years after his marriage, the Bishop appointed to that town a young
+priest, really remarkable for his eloquence, zeal, and amiable qualities,
+and the merchant and the priest soon became connected by links of the most
+sincere friendship.
+
+The young, accomplished wife of the merchant soon became the model woman of
+the place, under the direction of her new confessor.
+
+Many and long were the hours she used to pass by the side of her spiritual
+Father, to be purified and enlightened by his godly advices. She soon was
+seen at the head of the few who had the privilege of receiving the holy
+communion once a week. The husband, who was a good Roman Catholic himself,
+blessed God and the Virgin Mary that he had the privilege of living with
+such an angel of piety.
+
+Nobody had the least suspicion of what was going on under that holy and
+white mantle of the most exalted piety. Nobody, except God and His angels,
+could hear the questions put by the priest to his fair pentitent, and the
+answers made during the long hours of their _tête-à-tête_, in the
+confessional-box. Nobody but God could see the hellish fires which were
+devouring the hearts of the confessor and his victim! For nearly one year,
+both the young priest and his spiritual patient enjoyed, in those intimate
+and private secret conversations, all the pleasures which lovers feel, when
+they can speak freely to each other of their secret thoughts and love.
+
+But this was not enough for them. They both wanted something more real,
+though the difficulties were great and seemed even insurmountable. The
+priest had his mother and sister with him, whose eyes were too sharp to
+allow him to invite the lady to his own house for any criminal object, and
+the young husband had no business at a distance which could keep him long
+enough out of his happy home to allow the Pope's confessor to accomplish
+his diabolical designs.
+
+But when a poor fallen daughter of Eve has a mind to do a thing, she very
+soon finds the means, particularly if high education has added to her
+natural shrewdness.
+
+And in this case, as in many others of a similar nature which have been
+revealed to me, she soon found how to attain her object without
+compromising herself or her holy (?) confessor. A plan was soon found, and
+cordially agreed to, and both patiently awaited their opportunity.
+
+"Why have you not gone to mass to-day and received the holy communion, my
+dear?" said the husband: "I had ordered the servant-man to put the horse in
+the buggy for you as usual."
+
+"I am not very well, my beloved; I have passed a sleepless night from
+head-ache."
+
+"I will send for the physician," replied the husband.
+
+"Yes, my dear; do send for the physician--perhaps he will do me good."
+
+One hour after, the physician called. He found his fair patient a little
+feverish, pronounced that there was nothing serious, and that she would
+soon be well. He gave her a little powder, to be taken three times a day,
+and left; but at nine p.m., she complained of a great pain in the chest,
+and soon fainted and fell on the floor.
+
+The doctor was again immediately sent for, but he was from home: it took
+nearly half an hour before he could come. When he arrived the alarming
+crisis was over--she was sitting in an arm-chair, with some neighbouring
+women, who were applying cold water and vinegar to her forehead.
+
+The physician was really at a loss what to say of the cause of such a
+sudden illness. At last he said that it might be an attack of the "ver
+solitaire" (tape-worm). He declared that it was not dangerous; that he knew
+how to cure her. He ordered some new powder to be taken, and left, after
+having promised to return the next day. Half an hour after she began to
+complain of a most terrible pain in her chest, and fainted again; but
+before doing so she said to her husband,--
+
+"My dear, you see that the physician understands absolutely nothing of the
+nature of my disease. I have not the least confidence in him, for I feel
+that his powders make me worse. I do not want to see him any more. I suffer
+more than you suspect, my beloved; and if there is not soon a change I may
+be dead tomorrow. The only physician I want is our holy confessor; please
+make haste to go and get him. I want to make a general confession, and to
+receive the holy viaticum (communion) and extreme unction before I grow
+worse."
+
+Beside himself with anxiety, the distracted husband ordered the horse to be
+put in the buggy, and made his servant accompany him on horseback, to ring
+the bell, while his pastor carried "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) to his
+dear sick wife.
+
+He found the priest piously reading his _breviarium_ (his book of daily
+prayers); and admired the charity and promptitude with which his good
+pastor, in that dark and chilly night, was ready to leave his warm and
+comfortable parsonage at the first appeal of the sick. In less than an hour
+the husband had taken the priest with "the good god" from the church to the
+bedroom of his wife.
+
+All along the way the servant-man had rung a big hand-bell to awaken the
+sleeping farmers, who, at the noise, had to jump, half naked out of their
+beds and worship, on their knees, with their faces prostrate in the dust,
+"the good god" which was being carried to the sick.
+
+On his arrival, the confessor, with every appearance of sincere piety,
+deposited "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) on a table, richly prepared for
+such a solemn occasion, and, approaching the bed, leaned his head towards
+his penitent, and inquired how she felt.
+
+She answered him, "I am very sick, and want to make a general confession
+before I die."
+
+Speaking to her husband, she said with a fainting voice, "Please, my dear,
+tell my friends to withdraw from the room, that I may not be distracted
+when making what may be my last confession."
+
+The husband respectfully requested the friends to leave the room with him,
+and shut the door, that the holy confessor might be _alone_ with his
+penitent during her general confession.
+
+One of the most diabolical schemes under the cover of auricular confession
+had perfectly succeeded. The mother of harlots, that great enchantress of
+souls, whose seat is on the city of the "seven hills," had, there, her
+priest to bring shame, disgrace, and damnation, under the mask of
+Christianity.
+
+The destroyer of souls, whose masterpiece is auricular confession, had
+there, for the millionth time, a fresh opportunity of insulting the God of
+purity, through one of the most criminal actions which the dark shades of
+night can conceal.
+
+But let us draw the veil over the abominations of that hour of iniquity,
+and let us leave to hell its dark secrets.
+
+After he had accomplished the ruin of his victim, and most cruelly and
+sacrilegiously abused the confidence of his friend, the young priest opened
+the door of the room and said, with a sanctimonious air, "You may enter to
+pray with me, while I give the last sacrament to our dear sick sister."
+
+They came in; "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) was given to the woman; and
+the husband, full of gratitude for the considerate attention of his priest,
+took him back to his parsonage, and thanked him most sincerely for having
+so kindly come to visit his wife in so chilly a night.
+
+Ten years later, I was called to preach a retreat (a kind of revival) in
+that same parish. That lady, then an absolute stranger to me, came to my
+confessional-box and confessed to me those details as I now give them. She
+seemed to be really penitent, and I gave her absolution and the entire
+pardon of her sins, as my Church told me to do. On the last day of the
+revival, the merchant invited me to a grand dinner. Then it was that I came
+to know who my penitent had been. I must not forget to mention that she had
+confessed to me that, of her four children, the last three belonged to her
+confessor! He had lost his mother, and, his sister having married, his
+parsonage had become more accessible to his fair penitents, many of whom
+had availed themselves of that opportunity to practise the lessons they had
+learned in the confessional. The priest had been removed to a higher
+position, where he, more than ever, enjoyed the confidence of his
+superiors, the respect of the people, and the love of his female penitents.
+
+I never felt so embarrassed in my life as when at the table of that
+cruelly-victimised man. We had hardly begun to take our dinner when he
+asked me if I had known their late pastor, the amiable Rev. Mr. ----
+
+I answered, "Yes, sir, I know him."
+
+"Is he not a most accomplished priest?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he is a most accomplished man," I answered.
+
+"Why is it," rejoined the good merchant, "that the Bishop has taken him
+away from us? He was doing so well here! He had so deservedly earned the
+confidence of all by his piety and gentlemanly manners that we made every
+effort to keep him with us. I drew up a petition myself, which all the
+people signed, to induce the Bishop to let him remain in our midst; but in
+vain. His lordship answered us that he wanted him for a more important
+place on account of his rare ability, and we had to submit. His zeal and
+devotedness knew no bounds. In the darkest and most stormy nights he was
+always ready to come to the first call of the sick. I shall never forget
+how quickly and cheerfully he responded to my appeal when, a few years ago,
+I went, in the midst of one of our most chilly nights, to request him to
+visit my wife, who was very sick."
+
+At this stage of the conversation, I must confess that I nearly laughed
+outright. The gratitude of that poor dupe of the confessional to the priest
+who had come to bring shame and destruction to his house, and the idea of
+that very man going himself to convey to his home the corrupter of his own
+wife, seemed to me so ludicrous that, for a moment, I had to make a
+superhuman effort to control myself.
+
+But I was soon brought to my better senses by the shame which I felt at the
+idea of the unspeakable degradation and secret infamy of the clergy of
+which I was a member. At that instant hundreds of cases of similar, if not
+greater, depravity, which had been revealed to me through the confessional,
+came to my mind and distressed and disgusted me so much that my tongue was
+almost paralyzed.
+
+After dinner the merchant asked his lady to call the children, that I might
+see them, and I could not but admire their beauty; but I do not need to say
+that the pleasure of seeing those dear and lovely little ones was much
+marred by the secret though sure knowledge I had that the three youngest
+were the fruits of the unspeakable depravity of auricular confession in the
+higher ranks of society.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION DESTROYS ALL THE SACRED TIES OF MARRIAGE AND HUMAN
+SOCIETY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Would the banker allow his priest to open, when alone, the safe of his
+bank, manipulate and examine his papers, and pry into the most secret
+details of his banking business?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+How is it, then, that the same banker allows that priest to open the heart
+of his wife, manipulate her soul, and pry into the sacred chambers of her
+most intimate and secret thoughts?
+
+Are not the heart, the soul, the purity, and the self-respect of his wife
+as great and precious treasures as the safe of his bank? Are not the risks
+and dangers of temptations, imprudences, indiscretions, much greater and
+more irreparable in the second than in the first case?
+
+Would the jeweller, or goldsmith, allow his priest to come when he pleases,
+and handle the rich articles of his stores, ransack the desk where his
+money is deposited, and play with it as he pleases?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+But are not the heart, the soul, and the purity of his dear wife and
+daughter a thousandfold more valuable than his precious stones, or silver
+and gold wares? Are not the dangers of temptation and indiscretions, on the
+part of the priest, more formidable and irresistible in the second than in
+the first of these cases?
+
+Would the livery-man allow his priest to take his most valuable and
+unmanageable horses as he wishes, and drive alone, without any other
+consideration and security than the discretion of his pastor?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+That livery-man knows that he would soon be ruined if he should do so.
+Whatever may be his confidence in the discretion, honesty, and prudence of
+his priest, he will never push his confidence so far as to give him the
+unreserved control of the noble and fiery animals which are the glory of
+his stables and the support of his family.
+
+How, then, can the same man trust the entire, absolute management of his
+wife and dear daughters to the control of that one to whom he would not
+entrust his horses?
+
+Are not his wife and daughters as precious to him as those horses? Is there
+not greater danger of indiscretions, mismanagement, irreparable and fatal
+errors on the part of the priest, dealing alone with the wife and
+daughters, than when driving the horses? No human act of folly, moral
+depravity, and want of common sense, can equal the permission given by a
+man to his wife to go and confess to the priest.
+
+That day he abdicates the royal--I had almost said divine--dignity of
+husband; for it is from God that he holds it: his crown is forever lost,
+his sceptre broken!
+
+What would you do to any one mean enough to peep or listen through the
+key-hole of your door, in order to hear or see everything that was said or
+done within? Would you show so little self-respect as to tolerate such
+indiscretion? Would you not rather take a whip or a cane, and drive away
+the villain? Would you not even expose your life to free yourself from
+impudent curiosity?
+
+But what is the confessional, if not the key-hole of your house and of your
+very chamber, through which the priest can hear and see your most secret
+words and actions, nay, more, know your most intimate thoughts and
+aspirations?
+
+Are you men to submit to such sly and insulting inquisition? Do you deserve
+the name of men who consent to put up with such ignoble affront and
+humiliation?
+
+"The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the
+Church." "Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
+be to their own husbands, in everything" (Eph. v.) If these solemn words
+are the true oracles of divine wisdom, is not the husband divinely
+appointed the _only_ adviser, counsellor, help of his wife, just as Christ
+is the _only_ adviser, counsellor, and help of His Church?
+
+If the Apostle was not an impostor when he said that the wife is to her
+husband what the body is to the head, and that the husband is to his wife
+what the head is to the body--is not the husband appointed by God to be the
+light, the guide of his wife? Is it not his duty, as well as his privilege
+and glory, to console her in her afflictions, strengthen her in her hours
+of weakness, keep her up when she is in danger of fainting, and encourage
+her when she is on the rough and uphill ways of life?
+
+If Christ has not come to deceive the world through His Apostle, must not
+the wife go to her husband for advice? Ought she not to expect from him,
+and him alone, after God, the light she wants and the consolation she is in
+need of? Is it not to her husband, and to him alone, after God, she ought
+to look in her days of trial for help? Is it not under his leadership alone
+she must fight the battle of life and conquer? Are not this mutual and
+daily sharing of the anxieties of life, this constant shouldering on the
+battle-field, and this reciprocal and mutual protection and help renewed at
+every hour of the day, which form, under the eyes and by the mercy of God,
+the holiest and the purest charms of the married life? Is it not that
+unreserved confidence in each other which binds together those golden links
+of Christian love that make them happy in the very midst of the trials of
+life? Is it not through this mutual confidence alone that they are _one_ as
+God wants them to be _one_? Is it not in this unity of thoughts, fears and
+hopes, joys and love, which come from God, that they can cheerfully cross
+the thorny valley, and safely reach the Promised Land?
+
+The Gospel says that the husband is to his wife what Christ is to His
+Church! Is it not, then, a most sacrilegious iniquity for a wife to look to
+another rather than to her own husband for such advice, wisdom, strength,
+and life, as he is entitled, qualified, and ready to afford? As no other
+has the right to her love, so no other man has any right to her absolute
+confidence. As she becomes an adulteress the day that she gives her body to
+another man, is she any the less an adulteress, the day that she gives her
+confidence and trusts her soul to a stranger? The adultery of the heart and
+soul is not less criminal than the adultery of the body; and every time the
+wife goes to the feet of the priest to confess, does she not become guilty
+of that iniquity?
+
+In the Church of Rome, through the confessional, the priest is much more
+the husband of the wife than the man to whom she was wedded at the foot of
+the altar. The priest has the best part of the wife. He has the marrow,
+when the husband has the bones. He has the juice of the orange, the husband
+has the rind. He has the soul and the heart; the husband has the skeleton.
+He has the honey; the husband has the wax cell. He has the succulent
+oyster; the husband has the dry shell. As much as the soul is higher than
+the body, so much are the power and privileges of the priest higher than
+the power and privileges of the husband in the mind of the penitent wife.
+As the husband is the lord of the body which he feeds, so the priest is the
+lord of the soul, which he also feeds. The wife, then, has two lords and
+masters, whom she must love, respect, and obey. Will she not give the best
+part of her love, respect, and submission to the one who is as much above
+the other as the heavens are above the earth? But as one cannot serve two
+masters together, will not the master who prepares and fits her for an
+eternal life of glory, certainly be the object of her constant, real, and
+most ardent love, gratitude, and respect, when the worldly and sinful man
+to whom she is married will have _only_ the appearance or the crumbs of
+those sentiments? Will she not, naturally, instinctively serve, love,
+respect, and obey, as lord and master, the godly man whose yoke is so
+light, so holy, so divine, rather than the carnal man whose human
+imperfections are to her a source of daily trial and suffering?
+
+In the Church of Rome the thoughts and desires, the secret joys and fears
+of the soul, the very life of the wife, are sealed things to the husband.
+He has no right to look into the sanctuary of her heart; he has no remedy
+to apply to the soul; he has no mission from God to advise her in the dark
+hours of her anxieties; he has no balm to apply to the bleeding wounds, so
+often received in the daily battles of life; he must remain a perfect
+stranger in his own house.
+
+The wife, expecting nothing from her husband, has no revelation to make to
+him, no favour to ask, no debt of gratitude to pay. Nay, she shuts all the
+avenues of her soul, all the doors and windows of her heart, against her
+husband. The priest, and the priest alone, has a right to her entire
+confidence; to him, and him alone, she will go and reveal all her secrets,
+show all her wounds; to him, and him alone, she will turn her mind, her
+heart and soul, in the hour of trouble and anxiety; from him, and him
+alone, she will ask and expect the light and consolation she wants. Every
+day, more and more, her husband will become as a stranger to her, if he
+does not become a real nuisance, and an obstacle to her happiness and
+peace.
+
+Yes, through the confessional, an unfathomable abyss has been dug, by the
+Church of Rome, between the heart of the wife and the heart of the husband!
+Their bodies may be very near each other, but their souls, their real
+affections and their confidence, are at greater distance than the north is
+from the south pole of the earth. The confessor is the master, the ruler,
+the king of the soul; the husband, as the grave-yard keeper, must be
+satisfied with the carcase!
+
+The husband has the permission to look on the outside of the palace; he is
+allowed to rest his head on the cold marble, of the outdoor steps; but the
+confessor triumphantly walks into the mysterious starry rooms, examines at
+leisure their numberless and unspeakable wonders; and, alone, he is allowed
+to rest his head on the soft pillows of the unbounded confidence, respect,
+and love of the wife.
+
+In the Church of Rome, if the husband asks a favour from his wife, nine
+times in ten she will inquire from her father confessor whether or not she
+can grant him his request, and the poor husband will have to wait patiently
+for the permission of the master or the rebuke of the lord, according to
+the answer of the oracle which had to be consulted! If he gets impatient
+under the yoke, and murmurs, the wife will soon go to the feet of her
+confessor; to tell him how she has the misfortune to be united to a most
+unreasonable man, and how she has to suffer from him! She reveals to her
+"dear father" how she is unhappy under such a yoke, and how her life would
+be an unsupportable burden, had she not the privilege and happiness of
+coming often to his feet, to lay down her sorrows, hear his sympathetic
+words, and get his so affectionate and paternal advice! She tells him, with
+tears of gratitude, that it is only when by his side, and at his feet, she
+finds rest to her weary soul, balm to her bleeding heart, and peace to her
+troubled conscience.
+
+When she comes from the confessional, her ears are long filled as with a
+heavenly music, the honeyed words of her confessor ring for many days in
+her heart, she feels it lonesome to be separated from him, his image is
+constantly before her mind, and the _souvenir_ of his amiabilities is one
+of her most pleasant thoughts. There is nothing which she likes so much as
+to speak of his good qualities, his patience, his piety, his charity, she
+longs for the day when she will again go to confess, and pass a few hours
+by the side of that angelic man, in opening to him all the secrets of her
+heart, and in revealing all her _ennuis_. She tells him how she regrets
+that she cannot come oftener to see him, and receive the benefit of his
+charitable counsels; she does not even conceal from him how often, in her
+dreams, she feels too happy to be with him! More and more, every day, the
+gap between her and her husband widens; more and more, each day, she
+regrets that she has not the happiness to be the wife of such a holy man as
+her confessor! Oh! if it were possible...! But, then, she blushes or
+smiles, and sings a song.
+
+Then again, I ask it, Who is the true lord, ruler, and master in that
+house? For whom does that heart beat and live?
+
+Thus it is that that stupendous imposture, the dogma of auricular
+confession, does completely destroy all the links, the joys, the
+responsibilities, and divine privileges of the married life, and transforms
+it into a life of perpetual, though disguised, adultery. It becomes utterly
+impossible, in the church of Rome, that the husband should be _one_ with
+his wife, and that the wife should be _one_ with her husband: a "monstrous
+being" has been put between them both, called the confessor! Born in the
+darkest ages of the world, that being has received from hell his mission to
+destroy and contaminate the purest joys of the married life, to enslave the
+wife, to outrage the husband, and to damn the world!
+
+The more auricular confession is practised, the more the laws of public and
+private morality are trampled under feet. The husband wants his wife to be
+_his_--he does not, and could not, consent to share his authority over her
+with anybody: he wants to be the _only_ man who will have her confidence
+and her heart, as well as her respect and love. And so, the very moment
+that he anticipates the dark shadow of the confessor coming between him and
+the woman of his choice, he prefers silently to shrink from entering into
+the sacred bond; the holy joys of home and family lose their divine
+attractions; he prefers the cold life of an ignominious celibacy to the
+humiliation and opprobrium of the questionable privileges of an uncertain
+paternity.
+
+France, Spain, and many other Roman Catholic countries, thus witness the
+multitude of those bachelors increasing every year. The number of families
+and births, in consequence, is fast decreasing in their midst; and, if God
+does not perform a miracle to stop those nations on their downward course,
+it is easy to calculate the day when they will owe their existence to the
+tolerance and pity of the mighty Protestant nations by which they are
+surrounded.
+
+Why is it that the Irish Roman Catholic people are so irremediably degraded
+and clothed in rags? Why is it that that people, whom God has endowed with
+so many noble qualities, seem to be so deprived of intelligence and
+self-respect that they glory in their own shame? Why is it that their land
+has been for centuries the land of bloody riots and cowardly murders? The
+principal cause is the enslaving of the Irish women, by means of the
+confessional. Every one knows that the spiritual slavery and degradation of
+the Irish woman has no bounds. After she has been enslaved and degraded,
+she, in turn, has enslaved and degraded her husband and her sons. Ireland
+will be an object of pity; she will be poor, miserable, riotous,
+blood-thirsty, degraded, so long as she rejects Christ, to be ruled by the
+father confessor planted in every parish by the Pope.
+
+Who has not been amazed and saddened by the downfall of France? How is it
+that her once so mighty armies have melted away, that her brave sons have
+so easily been conquered and disarmed? How is it that France, fallen
+powerless at the feet of her enemies, has frightened the world by the
+spectacle of the incredible, bloody, and savage follies of the Commune? Do
+not look for the causes of the downfall, humiliation, and untold miseries
+of France anywhere else than in the confessional. For centuries has not
+that great country obstinately rejected Christ? Has she not slaughtered or
+sent into exile her noblest children, who wanted to follow the Gospel? Has
+she not given her fair daughters into the hands of the confessors, who have
+defiled and degraded them? How could women, in France, teach her husbands
+and sons to love liberty, and die for it, when she was herself a miserable,
+an abject slave? How could she form her husbands and sons to the manly
+virtues of heroes, when her own mind was defiled and her heart corrupted?
+
+The French woman had unconditionally surrendered the noble and fair citadel
+of her heart, intelligence, and womanly self-respect, into the hands of her
+confessor long before her sons surrendered their sword to the Germans at
+Sedan and Paris. The first unconditional surrender had brought the second.
+
+The complete moral destruction of woman by the confessor in France has been
+a long work. It has required centuries to bow down, break, and enslave the
+noble daughters of France. Yes; but those who know France know that that
+destruction is now as complete as it is deplorable. The downfall of woman
+in France, and her supreme degradation through the confessional, is now _un
+fait accompli_, which nobody can deny; the highest intellects have seen and
+confessed it. One of the most profound thinkers of that unfortunate
+country, Michelet, has depicted that supreme and irretrievable degradation
+in a most eloquent book, "The Priest, The Woman, The Family;" and not a
+voice has been raised to deny or refute what he has said. Those who have
+any knowledge of history and philosophy know very well that the moral
+degradation of the woman is soon followed, everywhere, by the moral
+degradation of the nation; and the moral degradation of the nation is very
+soon followed by ruin and overthrow.
+
+That French nation had been formed by God to be a race of giants. They were
+chivalrous and brave; they had bright intelligences, stout hearts, strong
+arms, and a mighty sword. But as the hardest granite rock yields and breaks
+under the drop of water which incessantly falls upon it, so that great
+nation had to break and to fall into pieces under, not the drop, but the
+rivers of impure waters which for centuries have incessantly flowed in upon
+it from the pestilential fountain of the confessional. "Righteousness
+exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach, to any people." (Proverbs xiv.)
+
+Why is it that Spain is so miserable, so weak, so poor, so foolishly and
+cruelly tearing her own bosom, and reddening her fair valleys with the
+blood of her own children? The principal, if not the only, cause of the
+downfall of that great nation is the confessional. There, also, the
+confessor has defiled, degraded, enslaved women, and women in turn have
+defiled and degraded their husbands and sons. Women have sown broadcast
+over their country the seeds of that slavery, of that want of Christian
+honesty, justice, and self-respect with which they had themselves been
+first imbued in the confessional.
+
+But when you see, without a single exception, the nations whose women drink
+the impure and poisonous waters which flow from the confessional sinking
+down so rapidly, do you not wonder how fast the neighbouring nations, who
+have destroyed those dens of impurity, prostitution, and abject slavery,
+are rising up? What a marvellous contrast is before our eyes! On one side,
+the nations who allow the woman to be degraded and enslaved at the feet of
+the confessor--France, Spain, Romish Ireland, Mexico, &c., &c.--are, there,
+fallen into the dust, bleeding, struggling, powerless, like the sparrow
+whose entrails are devoured by the vulture. On the other side, see how the
+nations whose women go to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb are
+soaring up, as on eagle wings, in the highest regions of progress, peace,
+and liberty!
+
+If legislators could once understand the respect and protection they owe to
+woman, they would soon, by stringent laws, prohibit auricular confession as
+contrary to good morals and the welfare of society; for, though the
+advocates of auricular confession have succeeded to a certain extent in
+blinding the public, and in concealing the abominations of the system under
+a lying mantle of holiness and religion, it is nothing else than a school
+of immorality.
+
+I say more than that. After twenty-five years of hearing the confessions of
+the common people and of the highest classes of society, of the laymen and
+the priests, of the grand vicars and bishops and the nuns, I
+conscientiously say before the world that the immorality of the
+confessional is of a more dangerous and degrading nature than that which we
+attribute to the social evil of our great cities. The injury caused to the
+intelligence and to the soul in the confessional, as a general rule, is of
+a more dangerous nature and more irremediable, because it is neither
+suspected nor understood by its victims.
+
+The unfortunate woman who lives an immoral life knows her profound misery;
+she often blushes and weeps over her degradation; she hears from every side
+voices which call her out of those ways of perdition. Almost at every hour
+of day and night the cry of her conscience warns her against the desolation
+and suffering of an eternity passed far away from the regions of holiness,
+light, and life. All those things are often so many means of grace, in the
+hands of our merciful God, to awaken the mind and to save the guilty soul.
+But in the confessional the poison is administered under the name of a pure
+and refreshing water; the deadly wound is inflicted by a sword so well
+oiled that the blow is not felt; the vilest and most impure notions and
+thoughts, in the form of questions and answers, are presented and accepted
+as the bread of life! All the notions of modesty, purity, and womanly
+self-respect and delicacy, are set aside and forgotten to propitiate the
+god of Rome. In the confessional the woman is told, and she believes, that
+there is no sin for her in hearing things which would make the vilest
+blush--no sin to say things which would make the most desperate villain of
+the streets of London to stagger--no sin to converse with her confessor on
+matters so filthy that if attempted in civil life would for ever exclude
+the perpetrator from the society of the virtuous.
+
+Yes, the soul and the intelligence defiled and destroyed in the
+confessional are often hopelessly defiled and destroyed. They are sinking
+into a complete, an irretrievable perdition; for, not knowing the guilt,
+they will not cry for mercy--not suspecting the fatal disease that is being
+fostered, they will not call for the true Physician. It was evidently when
+thinking of the unspeakable ruin of the souls of men through the wickedness
+culminating in the "Pope's confessors," that the Son of God said:--"If the
+blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." To every woman, with
+very few exceptions, coming out from the feet of her confessor, the
+children of light may say:--"I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
+thou livest, but thou art dead!" (Revelations iii.)
+
+Nobody has yet been, nor ever will be, able to answer the few following
+lines, which I addressed some years ago to the Rev. Mr. Bruyère, Roman
+Catholic Vicar-General of London, Canada:--
+
+"With a blush on my face and regret in my heart, I confess, before God and
+man, that I have been like you, and with you, through the confessional,
+plunged twenty-five years in that bottomless sea of iniquity, in which the
+blind priests of Rome have to swim day and night.
+
+"I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous questions which the Church
+of Rome forces every priest to learn. I had to put those impure, immoral
+questions to old and young females who were confessing their sins to me.
+These questions--you know it--are of such a nature that no prostitute would
+dare to put them to another. Those questions, and the answers they elicit,
+are so debasing that no man in London--you know it--except a priest of
+Rome, is sufficiently lost to every sense of shame as to put them to any
+woman.
+
+"Yes, I was bound, in conscience, as you are bound to-day, to put into the
+ears, the mind, the imagination, the memory, the heart and soul of females,
+questions of such a nature, the direct and immediate tendency of which--you
+know it well--is to fill the minds and the hearts of both priests and
+female penitents with thoughts, phantoms, and temptations of such a
+degrading nature, that I do not know any words adequate to express them.
+Pagan antiquity has never seen any institution so polluting as the
+confessional. I know nothing more corrupting than the law which forces a
+female to tell all her thoughts, desires, and most secret feelings and
+actions to an unmarried priest. The confessional is a school of perdition.
+You may deny that before the Protestants; but you cannot deny it before me.
+My dear Mr. Bruyère, if you call me a degraded man because I have lived
+twenty-five years in the atmosphere of the confessional, you are right. I
+was a degraded man, just as yourself and all the priests are to-day, in
+spite of your denegations. If you call me a degraded man, because my soul,
+my mind and my heart were, as your own are to-day, plunged into the deep
+waters of iniquity which flow from the confessional, I confess 'Guilty!' I
+was degraded and polluted by the confessional just as you and all the
+priests of Rome are.
+
+"It has required the whole blood of the great Victim, who died on Calvary
+for sinners, to purify me; and I pray that, through the same blood, you may
+be purified also."
+
+If the legislators knew the respect and protection they owe to women--I
+repeat it--they would by the most stringent laws prohibit auricular
+confession as a crime against society.
+
+Not long ago, a printer in England was sent to jail and severely punished
+for having published in English the questions put by the priests to the
+women in the confessional; and the sentence was equitable, for all who will
+read those questions will conclude that no girl or woman who brings her
+mind into contact with the contents of that book can escape from moral
+death. But what are the priests of Rome doing in the confessional? Do they
+not pass the greatest part of their time in questioning females, old and
+young, and hearing their answers, on those very matters? If it were a
+crime, punishable by law, to present those questions in a book, is it not a
+crime far more punishable by law to present those very things to married
+and unmarried women through the auricular confession?
+
+I ask it from every man of common sense, What is the difference between a
+woman or a girl learning those things in a book, or learning them from the
+lips of a man? Will not those impure, demoralizing suggestions sink more
+deeply into their minds, and impress themselves more forcibly in their
+memory, when told to them by a man of authority, speaking in the name of
+Almighty God, than when read in a book which has no authority?
+
+I say to the legislators of Europe and America: "Read for yourselves those
+horrible, unmentionable things;" and remember that the Pope has 100,000
+priests whose principal work is to put those very things into the
+intelligence and memory of the women whom they entrap into their snares.
+Let us suppose that each priest hears the confessions of only five female
+penitents (though we know that the daily average is ten). It gives us the
+awful number of 500,000 women whom the priests of Rome have the legal right
+to pollute and destroy every day!
+
+Legislators of the so-called Christian and civilized nations, I ask it
+again from you, Where is your consistency, your justice, your love of
+public morality, when you punish so severely the man who has printed the
+questions put to the women in the confessional, while you honour and let
+free, and often pay the men whose public and private life is spent in
+spreading the very same moral poison in a much more efficacious, scandalous
+and shameful way, under the sacrilegious mask of religion?
+
+The confessional is in the hands of the devil what West Point is to the
+United States, and Woolwich is to Great Britain, a training of the army to
+fight and conquer the enemy. It is in the confessional that 500,000 women
+every day, and 182,500,000 every year are trained by the Pope in the art of
+fighting against God, by destroying themselves and the whole world, through
+every imaginable kind of impurity and filthiness.
+
+Once more, I request the legislators, the husbands, and the fathers in
+Europe, as well as in America, to read in Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, in every
+theological book of Rome, what their wives and their daughters have to
+learn in the confessional.
+
+In order to screen themselves, the priests of Rome have recourse to the
+following miserable subterfuge:--"Is not the physician forced," they say,
+"to perform certain delicate operations on women? Do you complain of this?
+No; you let the physicians alone; you do not abuse them in their arduous
+and conscientious duties. Why, then, do you insult the physician of the
+soul, the confessor, in the accomplishment of his holy, though delicate,
+duties?
+
+I answer, first, The art and science of the physician are approved and
+praised in many places of the Scriptures. But the art and science of the
+confessor are nowhere to be found in the holy records. Auricular confession
+is nothing else than a most stupendous imposture. The filthy and impure
+questions of the confessor, with the polluting answers they elicit, were
+put among the most diabolical and forbidden actions by God Himself the day
+that the Spirit of Truth, Holiness, and Life wrote the imperishable
+words,--"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth" (Eph. iv.
+29).
+
+Secondly, The physician is not bound by a solemn oath to remain ignorant of
+the things which it will be his duty to examine and cure. But the priest of
+Rome is bound, by the most ridiculous and impious oath of celibacy, to
+remain ignorant of the very things which are the daily objects of his
+inquiries, observations, and thoughts! The priest of Rome has sworn never
+to taste of the fruits with which he feeds, his imagination, his memory,
+his heart, and his soul day and night! The physician is honest in the
+performance of his duties; but the priest of Rome becomes in fact a
+perjured man every time he enters the confessional-box.
+
+Thirdly, If a lady has a little sore on her small finger, and is obliged to
+go to the physician, for a remedy, she has only to show her little finger,
+allow the plaister or ointment to be applied, and all is finished. The
+physician _never_--no, never--says to that lady, "It is my duty to suspect
+that you have many other parts of your body which are sick; I am bound in
+conscience, under pain of death, to examine you from head to foot, in order
+to save your precious life from those _secret_ diseases, which may kill you
+if they are not cured just now. Several of those diseases are of such a
+nature that you never dared perhaps to examine them with the attention they
+deserve, and you are hardly conscious of them. I know, madam, that this is
+a very painful and delicate thing for both you and me, that I should be
+forced to make that thorough examination of your person, but there is no
+help; I am in duty bound to do it. But you have nothing to fear. I am a
+holy man, who has made a vow of celibacy. We are alone; neither your
+husband nor your father will ever know the secret infirmities I will find
+in you; they will never even suspect the perfect investigation I will make,
+and they will, for ever, be ignorant of the remedy I will apply."
+
+Has any physician ever been authorized to speak or act in this way with any
+of his female patients? No; never! never!
+
+But this is just the way the spiritual physician, with whom the devil
+enslaves and corrupts women, acts. When the fair, honest, and timid
+spiritual patient has come to her confessor, to show him the little sore
+she has on the small finger of her soul, the confessor _is bound_ in
+conscience to suspect that she has other sores,--secret, shameful sores!
+Yes, he is bound, nine times in ten; and he is _always allowed_ to suppose
+that she does not dare to reveal them! Then he is advised by the Church to
+induce her to let him search every corner of the heart, and of the soul,
+and to inquire about every kind of contaminations, impurities, secret and
+shameful unspeakable matters! The young priest is drilled in the diabolical
+art of going into the most sacred recesses of the soul and the heart,
+almost in spite of his penitents. I could bring hundreds of theologians as
+witnesses to what I say.--But it is enough just now to cite three.
+
+"Lest the Confessor should indolently hesitate in tracing out the
+circumstances of any sin, let him have the following versicle of
+circumstances in readiness:
+
+"Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando. Who, which, where,
+with whom, why, how, when." (Dens, vol. 6, p. 123. Liguori, vol. 2, p.
+464.)
+
+The celebrated book of the Priests, "The Mirror of the Clergy," page 357,
+says:
+
+"Oportet ut Confessor solet cognoscere quid quid debet judicare. Deligens
+igitur inquisitor et subtilis investigator sapienter quasi astute
+interrogat a peccatore quod ignorat, vel verecundia volit occultare."
+
+"It is necessary that the Confessor should know everything on which he has
+to exercise his judgment. Let him then, with wisdom and subtility,
+interrogate the sinners on the sins which he may ignore, or conceal through
+shame!"
+
+The poor, unprotected girl is thus thrown into the power of the priest,
+soul and body, to be examined on all the sins she may ignore, or which,
+through shame, she may conceal! On what boundless sea of depravity the poor
+fragile bark is launched by the priest! On what bottomless abysses of
+impurities she will have to pass and travel, in company with the priest
+alone, before he will have interrogated her on all the sins she may ignore,
+and which she may have concealed through shame!! Who can tell the
+sentiments of surprise and shame and distress, of a timid, honest young
+girl, when, for the first time, she is initiated to infamies which are
+ignored even in houses of prostitution!!!
+
+But such is the practice, the sacred duty of the spiritual physician. "Let
+him (the priest confessor) with wisdom and subtlety interrogate the sinner
+on the sins he may ignore or conceal with shame."
+
+And there are 100,000 men, not only allowed, but petted, and often paid by
+the governments to do that, under the name of the God of the Gospel!
+
+Fourthly, I answer to the sophism of the priest, When the physician has any
+delicate and dangerous operation to perform on a female patient, he is
+_never_ alone; the husband, or the father, the mother, the sister, or some
+friends of the patient are there, whose scrutinizing eyes and attentive
+ears make it _impossible_ for the physician to say or do any improper
+thing.
+
+But, when the poor deluded spiritual patient comes to be treated by her
+so-called spiritual physician, and shows him her diseases, is she not
+alone--shamefully alone--with him? Where are the protecting ears of the
+husband, the father, the mother, the sisters, or the friends? Where is the
+barrier interposed between this sinful, weak, tempted, and often depraved
+man and his victim?
+
+Would the priest so freely ask _this_ and _that_ from that married woman,
+if he knew that the husband could hear him? No, surely not; for he is well
+aware that the enraged husband would blow out the brains of the villain
+who, under the sacrilegious pretext of purifying the soul of his wife, is
+filling her honest heart with every kind of pollution and infamy.
+
+Fifthly, When the physician performs a delicate operation on one of his
+female patients, the operation is usually accompanied with pain, cries, and
+often with bloodshed. The sympathetic and honest physician suffers almost
+as much pain as his patient; those cries, acute pains, tortures, and
+bleeding wounds make it morally impossible that the physician should be
+tempted to any improper thing.
+
+But the sight of the spiritual wounds of that fair penitent! Is the poor
+depraved human heart really sorry to see and examine them? Oh, no! it is
+just the contrary!
+
+The dear Saviour weeps over those wounds; the angels are distressed at the
+sight. Yes. But the deceitful and corrupt heart of man, is it not rather
+apt to be pleased at the sight of wounds which are so much like the ones he
+has himself, so often been pleased to receive from the hand of the enemy?
+
+Was the heart of David pained and horror-struck at the sight of the fair
+Bath-sheba, when imprudently and too freely exposed in her bath? Was not
+that holy prophet smitten and brought down to the dust by that guilty look?
+Was not the mighty giant, Samson, undone by the charms of Delilah? Was not
+the wise Solomon ensnared and befooled in the midst of the women by whom he
+was surrounded?
+
+Who will believe that the bachelors of the Pope are made of stronger metal
+than the Davids, the Samsons, and the Solomons? Where is the man who has so
+completely lost his common sense as to believe that the priests of Rome are
+stronger than Samson, holier than David, wiser than Solomon? Who will
+believe that confessors will stand up on their feet amidst the storms which
+prostrate in the dust those giants of the armies of the Lord? To suppose
+that, in the generality of cases the confessor can resist the temptations
+by which he is daily surrounded in the confessional, that he will
+constantly refuse the golden opportunities which offer themselves to him,
+to satisfy the almost irresistible propensities of his fallen human nature,
+is neither wisdom nor charity; it is simply folly.
+
+I do not say that all the confessors and their female penitents fall into
+the same degree of abject degradation; thanks be to God, I have known
+several who nobly fought their battles and conquered on that field of so
+many shameful defeats. But these are the exceptions. It is just as when the
+fire has ravaged one of our grand forests of America--how sad it is to see
+the numberless noble trees fallen under the devouring element! But, here
+and there the traveller is not a little amazed and pleased to find some
+which have proudly stood the fiery trial without being consumed.
+
+Has not the world at large been struck with terror when they heard of the
+fire which a few years ago had reduced the great city of Chicago to ashes?
+But those who have visited that doomed city, and seen the desolating ruins
+of her 16,000 houses, had to stand in silent admiration before a few which,
+in the very midst of an ocean of fire, had escaped untouched by the
+destructive element.
+
+It is so that, owing to a most marvellous protection of God, some
+privileged souls do escape, here and there, the fatal destruction which
+overtakes so many others in the confessional.
+
+The confessional is just as the spider's web. How many too unsuspecting
+flies find death when seeking rest on the beautiful framework of their
+deceitful enemy! How few escape! and this only after a most desperate
+struggle. See how the perfidious spider looks harmless in his retired, dark
+corner; how motionless he is; how patiently he waits for his opportunity!
+But look how quickly he surrounds his victim with his silky, delicate, and
+imperceptible links! how mercilessly he sucks its blood and destroys its
+life!
+
+What does remain of the imprudent fly, after she has been entrapped into
+the nets of her foe? Nothing but a skeleton. So it is with your fair wife,
+your precious daughter; nine times in ten nothing but a moral skeleton
+returns to you, after the Pope's black spider has been allowed to suck the
+very blood of her heart and soul. Let those who would be tempted to think
+that I do exaggerate read the following extracts from the memoirs of the
+Venerable Scipio de Ricci, Roman Catholic Bishop of Pistoia and Prato, in
+Italy. They were published by the Italian Government, to show to the world
+that some measures ought to be taken by the civil and ecclesiastical
+authorities to prevent the nation from being entirely swept away by the
+deluge of corruption flowing from the confessional, even among the most
+perfect of Rome's followers, the monks and the nuns. The priests have never
+dared to deny a single iota of those terrible revelations. In page 115 we
+read the following letter from Sister Flavia Peraccini, Prioress of St
+Catherine, to Dr. Thomas Comparini, Rector of the Episcopal Seminary of
+Pistoia:--
+
+"_January 22, 1775._--In compliance with the request which you made me this
+day, I hasten to say something, but I know not how.
+
+"Of those who are gone out of the world I shall say nothing. Of those who
+are still alive and have very little decency of conduct there are many,
+among whom there is an ex-provincial named Father Dr. Ballendi, Calvi,
+Zoratti, Bigliaci, Guidi, Miglieti, Verde, Bianchi, Ducci, Seraphini,
+Bolla, Nera di Luca, Quaretti, &c. But wherefore any more? With the
+exception of three or four, all those whom I have ever known, alive or
+dead, are of the same character; they have all the same maxims and the same
+conduct.
+
+"They are on more intimate terms with the nuns than if they were married to
+them! I repeat it, it would require a great deal of time to tell half of
+what I know. It is the custom now, when they come to visit and hear the
+confession of a sick sister, to sup with the nuns, sing, dance, play, and
+sleep in the convent. It is a maxim of theirs that God has forbidden
+hatred, but _not love_, and that man is made for woman and woman for man.
+
+"I say that they can deceive the innocent and the most prudent and
+circumspect, and that it would be a miracle to converse with them and not
+fall!"
+
+Page 117.--"The priests are the husbands of the nuns, and the lay brothers
+of the lay sisters. In the chamber of one of the nuns I have mentioned, one
+day, a man was found; he fled away, but, soon after, they gave him to us as
+our confessor extraordinary.
+
+"How many bishops are there in the Papal States, who have come to the
+knowledge of those disorders, have held examinations and visitations, and
+yet never could remedy; it, because the monks, our confessors, tell us that
+those are excommunicated who reveal what passes in the Order!
+
+"Poor creatures! they think they are leaving the world to escape dangers,
+and they only meet with greater ones. Our fathers and mothers have given us
+a good education, and here we have to unlearn and forget what they have
+taught us."
+
+Page 118.--"Do not suppose that this is the case in our convent alone. It
+is just the same at St. Lucia, Prato, Pisa, Perugia, &c. I have known
+things that would astonish you. Everywhere it is the same. Yes, everywhere
+the same disorders, the same abuses prevail. I say, and I repeat it, let
+the superiors suspect as they may, they do not know the smallest part of
+the enormous wickedness that goes on between the monks and the nuns whom
+they confess. Every monk who passed by on his way to the chapter entreated
+a sick sister to confess to him, and...!"
+
+Page 119.--"With respect to Father Buzachini I say that he acted just as
+the others, sitting up late in the nunnery, diverting himself, and letting
+the usual disorders go on. There were several nuns who had love affairs on
+his account. His own principal mistress was Odaldi, of St. Lucia, who used
+to send him continual treats. He was also in love with the daughter of our
+factor, of whom they were very jealous here. He ruined also poor
+Cancellieri, who was sextoness. The monks are all alike with their
+penitents.
+
+"Some years ago, the nuns of St. Vincent, in consequence of the
+extraordinary passion they had for their father confessors Lupi and
+Borghiani, were divided into two parties, one calling themselves Le Lupe,
+the other Le Borghieni.
+
+"He who made the greatest noise was Donati. I believe he is now at Rome.
+Father Brandi, too, was also in great vogue. I think he is now prior of St.
+Gemignani. At St. Vincent, which passes for a very holy retreat, they have
+also their lovers...."
+
+My pen refuses to reproduce several things which the nuns of Italy have
+published against their father confessors. But this is enough to show to
+the most incredulous that the confession is nothing else but a school of
+perdition, even among those who make a profession to live in the highest
+regions of Roman Catholic holiness--the monks and the nuns.
+
+Now, from Italy let us go to America and see again the working of auricular
+confession, not between the holy (?) nuns and monks of Rome, but among the
+humblest classes of country women and priests. Great is the number of
+parishes where women have been destroyed by their confessors, but I will
+speak only of one.
+
+When curate of Beauport, I was called by the Rev. Mr. Proulx, curate of St.
+Antoine, to preach a retreat (a revival) with the Rev. Mr. Aubry, to his
+parishioners, and eight or ten other priests were also invited to come and
+help us to hear the confessions.
+
+The very first day after preaching and passing five or six hours in the
+confessional, the hospitable curate gave us a supper before going to bed.
+But it was evident that a kind of uneasiness pervaded the whole company of
+the father confessors. For my own part, I could hardly raise my eyes to
+look at my neighbour, and when I wanted to speak a word it seemed that my
+tongue was not free as usual; even my throat was as if it were choked; the
+articulation of the sounds was imperfect. It was evidently the same with
+the rest of the priests. Instead, then, of the noisy and cheerful
+conversation of the other meals, there were only a few insignificant words
+exchanged with a half-supressed tone.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Proulx (the curate) at first looked as if he were partaking
+also of that singular though general despondent feeling. During the first
+part of the lunch he hardly said a word; but at last, raising his head and
+turning his honest face towards us, in his usual gentlemanly and cheerful
+manner, he said:--
+
+"Dear friends, I see that you are all under the influence of the most
+painful feelings. There is a burden on you that you can neither shake off
+nor bear as you wish. I know the cause of your trouble, and I hope you will
+not find fault with me if I help you to recover from that disagreeable
+mental condition. You have heard in the confessional the history of many
+great sins, but I know that this is not what troubles you. You are all old
+enough in the confessional to know the miseries of poor human nature.
+Without any more preliminaries I will come to the subject. It is no more a
+secret in this place that one of the priests who has preceded me has been
+very unfortunate, weak, and guilty with the greatest part of the married
+women whom he has confessed. Not more than one in ten have escaped him. I
+would not mention this fact had I got it only from the confessional, but I
+know it well from other sources, and I can speak of it freely without
+breaking the secret seal of the confessional. Now what troubles you is
+that, probably, when a good number of those women have confessed to you
+what they had done with their confessor, you have not asked them how long
+it was since they had sinned with him, and in spite of yourselves you think
+that I am the guilty man. This does, naturally, embarrass you when you are
+in my presence and at my table. But please ask them, when they come again
+to confess, how many months or years have passed away since their last love
+affair with a confessor, and you will see that you may suppose that you are
+in the house of an honest man. You may look me in the face and have no fear
+to address me as if I were still worthy of your esteem; for, thanks be to
+God, I am not the guilty priest who has ruined and destroyed so many souls
+here."
+
+The curate had hardly pronounced the last word when a general "We thank
+you; for you have taken away a mountain from our shoulders," fell from
+almost every lip. "It is a fact that, notwithstanding the good opinion we
+had of you," said several, "we were in fear that you had missed the right
+track, and fallen down with your fair penitents into the ditch."
+
+I felt myself much relieved; for I was one of those who, in spite of
+myself, had my secret fears about the honesty of our host. When, very early
+the next morning, I had begun to hear the confessions, one of those
+unfortunate victims of the confessor's depravity came to me, and in the
+midst of many tears and sobs, she told me with great details what I repeat
+here in a few lines:--
+
+"I was only nine years old when my first confessor began to do very
+criminal things with me when I was at his feet, confessing my sins. At
+first I was ashamed and much disgusted; but soon after I became so depraved
+that I was looking eagerly for every opportunity of meeting him either in
+his own house, or in the church, in the vestry, and many times in his own
+garden when it was dark at night. That priest did not remain very long; he
+was removed, to my great regret, to another place, where he died. He was
+succeeded by another one, who seemed at first to be a very holy man. I made
+to him a general confession with, it seems to me, a sincere desire to give
+up for ever that sinful life, but I fear that my confessions became a cause
+of sin to that good priest; for not long after my confession was finished,
+he declared to me in the confessional his love, with such passionate words
+that he soon brought me down again into my former criminal habits with him.
+This lasted six years, when my parents removed to this place. I was very
+glad of it, for I hoped that, being far away from him, I should not be any
+more a cause of sin to him, and that I might begin a better life. But the
+fourth time that I went to confess to my new confessor, he invited me to go
+to his room, where we did things so horrible together that I do not know
+how to confess them. It was two days before my marriage, and the only child
+I have had is the fruit of that sinful hour. After my marriage I continued
+the same criminal life with my confessor. He was the friend of my husband;
+we had many opportunities of meeting each other, not only when I was going
+to confess, but when my husband was absent and my child was at school. It
+was evident to me that several other women were as miserable and criminal
+as I was myself. This sinful intercourse with my confessor went on till God
+Almighty stopped it with a real thunderbolt. My dear only daughter had gone
+to confess and receive the holy communion. As she had come back from church
+much later than I expected, I inquired the reason which had kept her so
+long. She then threw herself into my arms, and with convulsive cries said:
+'Dear mother, do not ask me any more to go to confess.... Oh! if you could
+know what my confessor has asked me when I was at his feet! and if you
+could know what he has done with me, and he has forced me to do with him
+when he had me alone in his parlour!'
+
+"My poor child could not speak any longer, she fainted in my arms.
+
+"But as soon as she recovered, without losing a minute, I dressed myself,
+and, full of an inexpressible rage, I directed my steps towards the
+parsonage. But before leaving my house, I had concealed under my shawl a
+sharp butcher's knife to stab and kill the villain who had destroyed my
+dearly beloved child. Fortunately for that priest, God changed my mind
+before I entered his room--my words to him were few and sharp.
+
+'You are a monster!' I said to him. 'Not satisfied to have destroyed me,
+you want to destroy my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame upon you!
+I had come with this knife to put an end to your infamies, but so short a
+punishment would be too mild a one for such a monster. I want you to live,
+that you may bear upon your head the curse of the too unsuspecting and
+unguarded friends whom you have so cruelly deceived and betrayed; I want
+you to live with the consciousness that you are known by me and many
+others, as one of the most infamous monsters who have ever defiled this
+world. But know that if you are not away from this place before the end of
+this week, I will reveal everything to my husband, and you may be sure that
+he will not let you live twenty-four hours longer, for he sincerely thinks
+that your daughter is his, and he will be the avenger of her honour! I go
+to denounce you this very day to the bishop, that he may take you away from
+this parish, which you have so shamelessly polluted.'
+
+"The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with tears, asked my pardon,
+imploring me not to denounce him to the bishop, promising that he would
+change his life and begin to live as a good priest. But I remained
+inexorable. I went to the bishop, made my deposition, and warned his
+lordship of the sad consequences which would follow, if he kept that curate
+any longer in this place, as he seemed inclined to do. But before the eight
+days had expired, he was put at the head of another parish, not very far
+away from here."
+
+The reader will, perhaps, like to know what has become of this priest.
+
+He has remained at the head of that most beautiful parish of ----, as
+curate, where I know it, he continued to destroy his penitents, till a few
+years before he died, with the reputation of a good priest, an amiable man,
+and a holy confessor!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:....
+
+"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
+the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His
+coming:
+
+"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and
+signs and lying wonders,
+
+"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
+because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
+
+"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
+believe a lie:
+
+"That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
+in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let my readers who understand Latin peruse the extracts I give from Bishop
+Kenrick, Debreyne, Burchard, Dens or Liguori, and the most incredulous will
+learn for themselves that the world, even in the darkest ages of old
+paganism, has never seen anything so infamous and degrading as auricular
+confession.
+
+To say that auricular confession purifies the soul is not less ridiculous
+and silly than to say that the white robe of the virgin, or the lily of the
+valley, will become whiter by being dipped into a bottle of black ink.
+
+Has not the Pope's celibate, by studying his books before he goes to the
+confessional-box, corrupted his own heart, and plunged his mind, memory,
+and soul into an atmosphere of impurity which would have been intolerable
+even to the people of Sodom?
+
+We ask it not only in the name of religion, but of common sense. How can
+that man, whose heart and memory are just made the reservoir of all the
+grossest impurities the world has ever known, help others to be chaste and
+pure?
+
+The idolaters of India believe that they will be purified from their sins
+by drinking the water with which they have just washed the feet of their
+priests.
+
+What monstrous doctrine! The souls of men purified by the water which has
+washed the feet of a miserable, sinful man! Is there any religion more
+monstrous and diabolical than the Brahmin religion?
+
+Yes, there is one more monstrous, deceitful, and contaminating than that.
+It is the religion which teaches that the soul of man is purified by a few
+magical words (called absolution), which come from the lips of a miserable
+sinner, whose heart and intelligence have just been filled by the
+unmentionable impurities of Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Kenrick, &c., &c. For
+if the poor Indian's soul is not purified by the drinking of the holy (?)
+water which has touched the feet of his priest, at least that soul cannot
+be contaminated by it. But who does not clearly see that the drinking of
+the vile questions of the confessor contaminate, defile, and damn the soul?
+
+Who has not been filled with deep compassion and pity for those poor
+idolaters of Hindustan who believe that they will secure to themselves a
+happy passage to the next life if they have the good luck to die when
+holding in their hands the tail of a cow? But there are people among us who
+are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and pity, for they hope that
+they will be purified from their sins and be for ever happy if a few
+magical words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from the polluted
+lips of a miserable sinner sent by the Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a
+cow and the magical words of a confessor to purify the souls and wash away
+the sins of the world are equally inventions of the Devil. Both religions
+come from Satan, for they equally substitute the magical power of vile
+creatures for the blood of Christ to save the guilty children of Adam. They
+both ignore that the blood of the Lamb _alone_ cleanseth us from all sin.
+
+Yes! auricular confession is a public act of idolatry, it is asking from a
+man what God _alone_, through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of
+sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to sinners, "Go to this or
+that man for repentance, pardon, and peace"? No; but He has said to all
+sinners, "Come unto Me." And from that day to the end of the world all the
+echoes of heaven and earth will repeat these words of the merciful Saviour
+to all the lost children of Adam, 'Come unto Me.'
+
+When Christ gave to His disciples the power of the keys in these words,
+"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
+ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviii. 18), He
+had just explained His mind by saying, "If thy brother shall trespass
+against thee" (v. 15). The Son of God Himself in that solemn hour protested
+against the stupendous imposture of Rome by telling us positively that that
+power of binding and loosing, forgiving and retaining sins, was _only_ in
+reference to sins committed against _each other_. Peter had correctly
+understood his Master's words when he asked, "How oft shall my brother sin
+_against me_ and I forgive him?"
+
+And in order that His true disciples might not be shaken by the sophisms of
+Rome, or by the glittering nonsense of that band of silly half-Popish sect
+called Tractarians, or Ritualists, the merciful Saviour gave the admirable
+parable of the poor servant, which He closed by what He has so often
+repeated, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
+from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
+(Matt. xviii. 35).
+
+Not long before, He had again mercifully given us his whole mind about the
+obligation and _power_ which every one of His disciples had of forgiving
+"For if ye forgive even their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also
+forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
+Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. vi. 14, 15).
+
+"Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful, forgive and ye
+shall be forgiven" (Luke vi. 36, 37).
+
+Auricular Confession, as the Rev. Dr. Wainwright has so eloquently put it
+in his "Confession not Auricular," is a diabolical caricature of the
+forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ, just as the impious dogma
+of Transubstantiation is a monstrous caricature of the salvation of the
+world through His death.
+
+The Romanists and their ugly tail, the Ritualistic party in the Episcopal
+Church, make a great noise about the words of our Saviour in St. John:
+"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: and whose soever
+sins ye retain, they are retained" (John xx. 23).
+
+But again, our Saviour had Himself, once for all, explained what He meant
+by forgiving and retaining sins--(Matt. xviii. 35; Matt. vi. 14, 15; Luke
+vi. 36, 37).
+
+Nobody but wilfully-blind men could misunderstand Him. Besides that, the
+Holy Ghost Himself has mercifully taken care that we should not be deceived
+by the lying traditions of men on that important subject, when in St. Luke
+He gave us the explanation of the meaning of John xx. 23, by telling us,
+"Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
+and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name
+among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke xxiv. 46, 47).
+
+In order that we may better understand the words of our Saviour in St. John
+xx. 23, let us put them face to face with his own explanations (Luke xxiv.
+46, 47):--
+
+        LUKE XXIV.                               JOHN XX.
+
+33. And they rose up the same hour,  18. Mary Magdalene came and told
+and returned to Jerusalem, and       the disciples that she had seen the
+found the eleven gathered together,  Lord, and that he had spoken these
+and them that were with them,        things unto her.
+
+34. Saying, The Lord is risen
+indeed, and hath appeared to
+Simon....
+
+36. And as they thus spake, Jesus    19. Then the same day at evening,
+himself stood in the midst of them,  being the first day of the week,
+and saith unto them, Peace be unto   when the doors were shut where the
+you.                                 disciples were assembled for fear
+                                     of the Jews, came Jesus and stood
+37. But they were terrified and      in the midst, and said unto them,
+affrighted, and supposed that they   Peace be unto you.
+had seen a spirit.
+
+38. And he said unto them, Why are
+ye troubled? and why do thoughts
+arise in your hearts?
+
+39. Behold my hands and my feet,     20. And when he had so said, he
+that it is I myself: handle me, and  shewed unto them his hands and his
+see; for a spirit hath not flesh     side. Then were the disciples glad,
+and bones, as ye see me have.        when they saw the Lord.
+
+40. And when he had thus spoken, he
+shewed them his hands and his feet.
+
+41. And while they yet believed not
+for joy, and wondered, he said unto
+them, Have ye here any meat?
+
+42. And they gave him a piece of a
+broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
+
+43. And he took it, and did eat
+before them.
+
+44. And he said unto them, These     21. Then said Jesus to them again,
+are the words which I spake unto     Peace be unto you: as my Father
+you, while I was yet with you, that  hath sent me, even so send I you.
+all things must be fulfilled, which
+were written in the law of Moses,
+and in the prophets, and in the
+psalms, concerning me.
+
+45. Then opened he their             22. And when he had said this, he
+understanding, that they might       breathed on them, and saith unto
+understand the scriptures,           them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
+
+46. And said unto them, Thus it is
+written, and thus it behoved Christ
+to suffer, and to rise from the
+dead the third day:
+
+47. And that repentance and          23. Whose soever sins ye remit,
+remission of sin should be preached  they are remitted unto them; whose
+in his name among all nations,       soever sins ye retain, they are
+beginning at Jerusalem.              retained.
+
+Three things are evident from comparing the report of St. John and St.
+Luke:--
+
+1. They speak of the same event, though one of them gives certain details
+omitted by the other, as we find in the rest of the gospels.
+
+2. The words of St. John, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
+unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," are
+explained by the Holy Ghost Himself, in St. Luke, as meaning that the
+apostles shall preach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ. It
+is just what our Saviour has Himself said in St. Matt. ix. 13: "But go ye
+and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am
+not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
+
+It is just the same doctrine taught by Peter (Acts ii. 38): "Then Peter
+said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
+Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
+the Holy Ghost."
+
+Just the same doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, not through auricular
+confession or absolution, but through the preaching of the Word: "Be it
+known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is
+preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts xiii. 38).
+
+3. The third thing which is evident is that the Apostles were not alone
+when Christ appeared and spoke, but that several of His other disciples,
+even some women, were there.
+
+If the Romanists, then, could prove that Christ established auricular
+confession, and gave the power of absolution, by what He said in that
+solemn hour, women as well as men--in fact, every believer in Christ--would
+be authorized to hear confessions and give absolution. The Holy Ghost was
+not promised or given only to the Apostles, but to every believer, as we
+see in Acts i. 15, and ii. 1, 2, 3.
+
+But the Gospel of Christ, as the history of the first ten centuries of
+Christianity, is the witness that auricular confession and absolution are
+nothing else but a sacrilegious as well as a most stupendous imposture.
+
+What tremendous efforts the priests of Rome have made these last five
+centuries, and are still making, to persuade their dupes that the Son of
+God was making of them a privileged caste, a caste endowed with the Divine
+and exclusive power of opening and shutting the gates of Heaven, when He
+said, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and
+whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."
+
+But our adorable Saviour, who perfectly foresaw those diabolical efforts on
+the part of the priests of Rome, entirely upset every vestige of their
+foundation by saying immediately, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you
+shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be
+done for them of my Father which is in Heaven. For where two or three are
+gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt.
+xviii. 19, 20).
+
+Would the priests of Rome attempt to make us believe that these words of
+the 19th and 20th verses are addressed to them exclusively? They have not
+yet dared to say it. They confess that these words are addressed to all His
+disciples. But our Saviour positively says that the other words,
+implicating the so-called power of the priests to hear the confession and
+give the absolution, are addressed to the _very same persons_--"I say unto
+you," &c., &c. The _you_ of the 19th and 20th verses is the same _you_ of
+the 18th. The power of loosing and unloosing is, then, given to all--those
+who would be offended and would forgive. Then, our Saviour had not in His
+mind to form a caste of men with any marvellous power over the rest of His
+disciples. The priests of Rome, then, are impostors, and nothing else, when
+they say that the power of loosing and unloosing sins was exclusively
+granted to them.
+
+Instead of going to the confessor, let the Christian go to his merciful
+God, through Christ, and say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them
+that trespass against us." This is the Truth, not as it comes from the
+Vatican, but as it comes from Calvary, where our debts were paid, with the
+only condition that we should believe, repent, and love.
+
+Have not the Popes publicly and repeatedly anathematized the sacred
+principle of Liberty of Conscience? Have they not boldly said, in the teeth
+of the nations of Europe, that _Liberty_ of Conscience must be
+destroyed--killed at any cost? Has not the whole world heard the sentence
+of death to Liberty coming from the lips of the old man of the Vatican? But
+where is the scaffold on which the doomed Liberty must perish? That
+scaffold is the confessional-box. Yes, in the confessional, the Pope had
+his 100,000 high executioners! There they are, day and night, with-sharp
+daggers in hand, stabbing Liberty to the heart.
+
+In vain will noble France expel her old tyrants to be free; in vain will
+she shed the purest blood of her heart to protect and save Liberty! True
+Liberty cannot live a day there so long as the executioners of the Pope are
+free to stab her on their 100,000 scaffolds.
+
+In vain chivalrous Spain will call Liberty to give a new life to her
+people. She cannot set her feet there except to die, so long as the Pope is
+allowed to strike her in his 50,000 confessionals.
+
+And free America, too, will see all her so dearly-bought liberties
+destroyed the day that the confessional-box is reared in her midst.
+
+Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot stand together on the same ground;
+either one or the other must fall.
+
+Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she has swept away the demon
+of slavery, or she is doomed to perish.
+
+Can a man be free in his own house, so long as there is another who has the
+legal right to spy all his actions, and direct not only every step, but
+every thought of his wife and children? Can that man boast of a home whose
+wife and children are under the control of another? Is not that unfortunate
+man really the slave of the ruler and master of his household? And when a
+whole nation is composed of such husbands and fathers, is it not a nation
+of abject, degraded slaves?
+
+To a thinking man, one of the most strange phenomena is that our modern
+nations allow all their most sacred rights to be trampled under feet, and
+destroyed by the Papacy, the sworn enemy of Liberty, through a mistaken
+respect and love for that same Liberty!
+
+No people have more respect for Liberty of Conscience than the Americans;
+but has the noble State of Illinois allowed Joe Smith and Brigham Young to
+degrade and enslave the American women under the pretext of Liberty of
+Conscience, appealed to by the so-called "Latter-day Saints?" No! The
+ground was soon made too hot for the tender conscience of the modern
+prophets. Joe Smith perished when attempting to keep his captive wives in
+his chains, and Brigham Young had to fly to the solitudes of the Far West,
+to enjoy what he called his liberty of conscience with the thirty women he
+had degraded and enchained under his yoke. But even in that remote solitude
+the false prophet has heard the distant peals of the roaring thunder. The
+threatening voice of the great Republic has troubled his rest, and he
+wisely speaks of going as much as possible out of the reach of Christian
+civilization, before the dark and threatening clouds which he sees on the
+horizon will hurl upon him their irresistible storms.
+
+Will any one blame the American people for so going to the rescue of woman?
+No, surely not.
+
+But what is this confessional-box? Nothing but a citadel and stronghold of
+Mormonism.
+
+What is this Father Confessor, with few exceptions, but a lucky Brigham
+Young?
+
+I do not want to be believed on my _ipse dixit_. What I ask from serious
+thinkers is, that they should read the encyclicals of the Piuses, the
+Gregorys, the Benoits, and many other Popes, "De Sollicitantibus." There
+they will see, with their own eyes, that, as a general thing, the confessor
+has more women to serve him than the Mormon prophets ever had. Let them
+read the memoirs of one of the most venerable men of the Church of Rome,
+Bishop de Ricci, and they will see, with their own eyes, that the
+confessors are more free with their penitents, even nuns, than husbands are
+with their wives. Let them hear the testimony of one of the noblest
+princesses of Italy, Henrietta Carraciolo, who still lives, and they will
+know that the Mormons have more respect for women than the greater part of
+the confessors have. Let them hear the lamentations of Cardinal Baronius,
+Saint Bernard, Savanarola, Pius, Gregory, St. Therese, St. Liguori, on the
+unspeakable and irreparable ruin spread all along the ways and all over the
+countries haunted by the Pope's confessors, and they will know that the
+confessional-box is the daily witness of abominations which would hardly
+have been tolerated in the lands of Sodom and Gomorrha. Let the
+legislators, the fathers and husbands of every nation and tongue,
+interrogate Father Gavazzi, Hyacinthe, and the thousands of living priests
+who, like myself, have miraculously been taken out from that Egyptian
+servitude to the promised land, and they will tell you the same old, old
+story--that the confessional-box is for the greatest part of the confessors
+and female penitents, a real pit of perdition, into which they
+promiscuously fall and perish. Yes; they will tell you that the soul and
+heart of your wife and daughter are purified by the magical words of the
+confessional, just as the souls of the poor idolaters of Hindoostan are
+purified by the tail of the cow which they hold in their hands when they
+die. Study the pages of the past history of England, France, Italy, Spain,
+&c., &c., and you will see that the gravest and most reliable historians
+have everywhere found mysteries of iniquity in the confessional-box which
+their pen refused to trace.
+
+In the presence of such public, undeniable, and lamentable facts, have not
+the civilized nations a duty to perform? Is it not time that the children
+of light, the true disciples of the Gospel, all over the world, should
+rally round the banners of Christ, and go, shoulder to shoulder, to the
+rescue of women?
+
+Woman is to society what the roots are to the most precious trees of your
+orchard. If you knew that a thousand worms are biting the root of those
+noble trees, that their leaves are already fading away, their rich fruits,
+though yet unripe, are falling on the ground, would you not unearth the
+roots and sweep away the worms?
+
+The confessor is the worm which is biting, polluting, and destroying the
+very roots of civil and religious society, by contaminating, debasing, and
+enslaving woman.
+
+Before the nations can see the reign of peace, happiness, and liberty,
+which Christ has promised, they must, like the Israelites, pull down the
+walls of Jericho. The confessional is the modern Jericho, which proudly and
+defiantly dares the children of God!
+
+Let, then, the people of the Lord, the true soldiers of Christ, rise up and
+rally around His banners; and let them fearlessly march, shoulder to
+shoulder, on the doomed city: let all the trumpets of Israel be sounded
+around its walls: let fervent prayers go to the throne of Mercy, from the
+heart of every one for whom the Lamb has been slain: let such a unanimous
+cry of indignation be heard, through the length and breadth of the land,
+against that greatest and most monstrous imposture of modern times, that
+the earth will tremble under the feet of the confessor, so that his very
+knees will shake, and soon the walls of Jericho will fall, the confessional
+will disappear, and its unspeakable pollutions will no more imperil the
+very existance of society.
+
+Then the multitudes who were kept captive will come to the Lamb, who will
+make them pure with His blood and free with His word.
+
+Then the redeemed nations will sing a song of joy: "Babylon, the great, the
+mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, is fallen! fallen!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DOES AURICULAR CONFESSION BRING PEACE TO THE SOUL?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The connecting of Peace with Auricular Confession is surely the most cruel
+sarcasm ever uttered in human language.
+
+It would be less ridiculous and false to admire the calmness of the sea,
+and the stillness of the atmosphere, when a furious storm raises the
+foaming waves to the skies, than to speak of the Peace of the soul either
+during or after the confession.
+
+I know it; the confessors and their dupes chorus every tune by crying
+"Peace, peace"! But the God of truth and holiness answers, "There is no
+peace for the wicked!"
+
+The fact is, that no human words can adequately express the anxieties of
+the soul before confession, its unspeakable confusion in the act of
+confessing, or its deadly terrors after confession.
+
+Let those who have never drunk of the bitter waters which flow from the
+confessional box, read the following plain and correct recital of my own
+first experiences in auricular confession. They are nothing else than the
+history of what nine tenths of the penitents[5] of Rome old and young are
+subject to; and they will know what to think of that marvellous Peace about
+which the Romanists, and their silly copyists, the Ritualists, have written
+so many eloquent lies.
+
+In the year 1819, my parents had sent me from Murray Bay (La Mal Baie)
+where they lived, to an excellent school, at St. Thomas. I was then, about
+ten years old. I boarded with an uncle, who, though a nominal Roman
+Catholic, did not believe a word of what his priest preached. But my Aunt
+had the reputation of being a very devoted woman. Our School-master, Mr.
+John Jones, was a well educated Englishman: and a staunch PROTESTANT. This
+last circumstance had excited the wrath of the Roman Catholic Priest
+against the teacher and his numerous pupils to such an extent, that they
+were often denounced from the pulpit with very hard words. But if he did
+not like us, I must admit that we were paying him with his own coin.
+
+But let us come to my first lesson in Auricular Confession, No! No words
+can express to those who have never had any experience in the matter, the
+consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor Romish child, when he hears his
+priest saying from the pulpit, in a grave and solemn tone; "This week, you
+will send your children to confession. Make them understand that this
+action is one of the most important of their lives, that for every one of
+them, it will decide their eternal happiness or ruin. Fathers, Mothers and
+guardians of those children, if, through your fault or theirs, your
+children are guilty of a false confession: if they do not confess every
+thing to the priest who holds the place of God, Himself, this sin is often
+irreparable: the Devil will take possession of their hearts: they will lie
+to their father confessor, or rather to Jesus Christ, of whom he is the
+representative: Their lives will be a series of sacrileges, their death and
+eternity, those of reprobates. Teach them therefore to examine thoroughly
+all their actions, words, thoughts and desires, in order to confess every
+thing just as it occurred, without any disguise."
+
+I was in the Church of St. Thomas, when these words fell upon me like a
+thunderbolt. I had often heard my mother say, when at home and my aunt,
+since I had come to St. Thomas, that upon the first confession depended my
+eternal happiness or misery. That week was, therefore, to decide the vital
+question of my eternity!
+
+Pale and dismayed, I left the church after the service, and returned to the
+house of my relations. I took my place at the table, but could not eat, so
+much was I troubled. I went to my room for the purpose of commencing my
+examination of conscience, and to try to recall every one of my sinful
+actions, thoughts and words!
+
+Although scarcely over ten years of age, this task was really overwhelming
+to me. I knelt down to pray to the Virgin Mary for help, but I was so much
+taken up with the fear of forgetting something or making a bad confession,
+that I muttered my prayers without the least attention to what I said. It
+became still worse, when I commenced counting my sins, my memory, though
+very good, became confused: my head grew dizzy: my heart beat with a
+rapidity which exhausted me, and my brow was covered with perspiration.
+After a considerable length of time, spent in those painful efforts, I felt
+bordering on despair from the fear that it was impossible for me to
+remember exactly every thing, and to confess each sin as it occurred. The
+night following was almost a sleepless one: and when sleep did come, it
+could hardly be called sleep, but a suffocating delirium. In a frightful
+dream, I felt as if I had been cast into hell, for not having confessed all
+my sins to the priest. In the morning, I awoke fatigued, and prostrate by
+the phantoms and emotions of that terrible night. In similar troubles of
+mind were passed the three days which preceeded my first confession.
+
+I had constantly before me the countenance of that stern priest who had
+never smiled upon me. He was present to my thoughts during the days, and in
+my dreams during the nights, as the minister of an angry God, justly
+irritated against me, on account of my sins. Forgiveness had indeed been
+promised to me, on condition of a good confession; but my place had also
+been shown to me in hell, if my confession was not as near perfection as
+possible.
+
+Now, my troubled conscience told me that there were ninety chances against
+one that my confession would be bad, either if by my own fault, I forget
+some sins, or if I was without that contrition of which I had heard so
+much, but the nature and effects of which were a perfect chaos in my mind.
+
+At length came the day of confession, or rather of judgment and
+condemnation. I presented myself to the priest, the Rev. Mr. Beaubien.
+
+He had then, the defects of lisping and stammering which we, often turned
+into ridicule. And as nature had unfortunately endowed me with admirable
+powers as a mimic, the infirmities of this poor priest afforded only too
+good an opportunity for the exercise of my talent. Not only was it one of
+my favorite amusements to imitate him before the pupils amidst roars of
+laughter but also, I preached portions of his sermons before his
+parishioners of villages, with similar results. Indeed, many of them came
+from considerable distances to enjoy the amusement of listening to me, and
+they rewarded me, more than once, with cakes of maple sugar, for my
+performances.
+
+These acts of mimicry were, of course, among my sins; and it became
+necessary for me to examine myself upon the number of times I had mocked
+the priests. This circumstance was not calculated to make my confession
+easier or more agreeable.
+
+At last, the dread moment arrived, I knelt for the first time, at the side
+of my confessor, my whole frame trembled: I repeated the prayer preparatory
+to confession, scarcely knowing what I said, so much was I troubled by
+fears.
+
+By the instructions which had been given us before confession, we had been
+made to believe that the priest was the true representative, yea, almost
+the personification of Jesus Christ. The consequence was that I believed my
+greatest sin was that of mocking the priest--and I, as I had been told that
+it was proper first to confess the greatest sins, I commenced thus: "Father
+I accuse myself of having mocked a priest!"
+
+Hardly had I uttered these words, "mocked a priest", when this pretended
+representative of the humble Jesus, turning towards me, and looking in my
+face, in order to know me, better, asked abruptly; "what priest did you
+mock, my boy?"
+
+I would have rather chosen to cut my own tongue than to tell him to his
+face who it was. I, therefore, kept silent for a while, but my silence made
+him very nervous, and almost angry. With a haughty tone of voice, he said:
+"what priest did you take the liberty of thus mocking, my boy?" I saw that
+I had to answer. Happily his haughtiness had made me bolder and firmer; I
+said: "sir, you are the priest whom I mocked!"
+
+"But how many times did you take upon you to mock me, my boy?" asked he
+angrily.
+
+"I tried to find out the number of times, but I never could."
+
+"You must tell me how many times, for to mock one's own priest is a great
+sin."
+
+"It is impossible for me to give you the number of times," I answered.
+
+"Well, my child, I will help your memory by asking you questions. Tell me
+the truth. Do you think you mocked me ten times?"
+
+"A great many times more," I answered.
+
+"Have you mocked me fifty times?"
+
+"Oh! many more still!"
+
+"A hundred times?"
+
+"Say, five hundred, and perhaps more;" I answered.
+
+"Well, my boy, do you spend all your time in mocking me?"
+
+"Not all my time: but unfortunately, I have done it very often."
+
+"Yes may you say: "unfortunately!" for to mock, your priest, who holds the
+place of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a great sin and a great misfortune for
+you. But tell me, my little boy, what reason have you for mocking me,
+thus?"
+
+In my examination of conscience, I had not forseen that I should be obliged
+to give the reasons for mocking the priest, and I was thunderstruck by his
+questions. I dared not answer, and I remained for a long time dumb, from
+the shame that overpowered me. But, with a harassing perseverance, the
+priest insisted upon my telling why I had mocked him: assuring me that I
+would be damned if I did not speak the whole truth. So, I decided to speak,
+and I said: "I mocked you for several things."
+
+"What made you, first mock me?" asked the priest.
+
+"I laughed at you, because you lisp: among the pupils of the school, and
+other people, it often happens that we imitate your preaching to laugh at
+you," I answered.
+
+"For what other reasons did you laugh at me, my little boy!"
+
+For a long time I was silent. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, my
+courage failed me. But the priest continued to urge me, I said at last; "It
+is rumoured in town, that you love girls: that you visit the Misses
+R's----almost every night; and this, often made us laugh."
+
+The poor priest was evidently overwhelmed by my answer, and ceased
+questioning me on that subject. Changing the conversation, he said: "what
+are your other sins?"
+
+I began to confess them according to the order in which they came to my
+memory. But the feeling of shame which overpowered me, in repeating all my
+sins to that man, was a thousand times greater than that of having offended
+God. In reality, this feeling of human shame, which absorbed my thoughts,
+nay, my whole being, left no room for any religious feeling at all.
+
+When I had confessed all the sins I could remember, the priest began to put
+to me the strangest questions about matters on which my pen must be
+silent.... I replied "Father, I do not understand what you ask me."
+
+"I question you," he answered, "on the the sins of the sixth commandment of
+God, (the seventh in the Bible) Do confess all, my little boy, for you will
+go to hell if, through your fault you omit any thing."
+
+And thereupon he dragged my thoughts into regions of iniquity which, thanks
+be to God, had been hitherto quite unknown to me.
+
+I answered him again, "I do not understand you," or "I have never done
+those wicked things."
+
+Then, skillfully shifting to some secondary matters, he would soon slyly
+and cunningly come back to his favorite subject, namely, sins of
+licentiousness.
+
+His questions were so unclean that I blushed and felt nauseated with
+disgust and shame. More than once, I had been to my great regret, in the
+company of bad boys, but not one of them had offended my moral nature so
+much as this priest had done. Not one of them had ever approached the
+shadow of the things from which that man tore the veil, and which he placed
+before the eyes of my soul. In vain I told him that I was not guilty of
+those things; that I did not even understand what he asked me; but he would
+not let me off.
+
+Like a vulture bent upon tearing the poor defenceless bird that falls into
+its claws, that cruel priest seemed determined to defile and ruin my heart.
+
+At last, he asked me a question in a form of expression so bad that I was
+really pained and put beside myself. I felt as if I had received the shock
+from an electric battery: a feeling of horror made me shudder. I was filled
+with such indignation that speaking loud enough to be heard by many, I told
+him: "Sir, I am very wicked, but I was never guilty of what you mention to
+me: please don't ask me any more of those questions which will teach me
+more wickedness than I ever knew."
+
+The remainder of my confession was short. The stern rebuke I had given him
+had evidently made that priest blush, if it had not frightened him. He
+stopped short, and gave me some very good advice which might have done me
+good, if the deep wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my soul,
+had not so absorbed my thoughts, as to prevent me from giving attention to
+what he said. He gave me a short penance and dismissed me.
+
+I left the confessional irritated and confused. From the shame of what I
+had just heard, I dared not raise my eyes from the ground. I went into a
+corner of the church to do my penance, that is to recite the prayers which
+he had indicated to me. I remained for a long time in the church. I had
+need of a calm, after the terrible trial through which I had just passed.
+But vainly sought I for rest. The shameful questions which had just been
+asked from me, the new world of iniquity into which I been introduced, the
+impure phantoms by which my childish head had been defiled, confused and
+troubled my mind so strongly, that I began to weep bitterly.
+
+I left the church only when forced to do so by the shades of night, and
+came back to my uncle's house, with a feeling of shame and uneasiness, as
+if I had done a bad action and feared lest I should be detected. My trouble
+was much increased when my uncle, jestingly, said: "now that you have been
+to confess, you will be a good boy. But if you are not a better boy, you
+will be a more learned one, if your confessor has taught you what mine did
+when I confessed for the first time."
+
+I blushed and remained silent. My aunt said: "you must feel happy, now that
+you have made your confession: do you not?"
+
+I gave an evasive answer, but could not entirely conceal the confusion
+which overwhelmed me. I went to bed early; but I could hardly sleep.
+
+I thought that I was the only boy whom the priest had asked these polluting
+questions: but great was my confusion, the next day when on going to
+school, I learned that my companions had not been happier than I had been.
+The only difference was that, instead of being grieved as I was, they
+laughed at it.
+
+"Did the priest ask you this and that," they would demand laughing
+boisterously; I refused to reply, and said: "are you not ashamed to speak
+of these things."
+
+"Ah! Ah! how scrupulous you are:" continued they, "if it is not a sin for
+the priest to speak to us on these matters, how can it be a sin for us to
+laugh at it." I felt confounded, not knowing what to answer. But my
+confusion increased not a little, when soon after, I perceived that the
+young girls of the school had not been less polluted, or scandalized than
+the boys. Although keeping at a sufficient distance from us to prevent us
+from understanding every thing they had to say on their confessional
+experience, those girls were sufficiently near to let us hear many things
+which it would have been better for us not to know. Some of them seemed
+thoughtful, sad and shameful: but several laughed heartily at what they had
+learned in the confessional box.
+
+I was very indignant against the priest; and thought in myself, that he was
+a very wicked man, for having put to us such repelling questions. But I was
+wrong. That priest was honest; he was only doing his duty, as I have known
+since, when studying the theologians of Rome. The Rev. Mr. Beaubien was a
+real gentleman, and if he had been free to follow the dictates of his
+honest conscience it is my strong conviction he would never have sullied
+our young hearts with such impure ideas. But what has the honest conscience
+of a priest to do in the confessional, except to be silent and dumb? The
+priest of Rome is an automaton, tied to the feet of the Pope by an iron
+chain. He can move, go right or left, up or down; he can think and act, but
+only at the bidding of the infallible god of Rome. The priest knows the
+will of his modern divinity only through his approved emissaries,
+embassadors and theologians. With shame on my brow, and bitter tears of
+regret flowing just now, on my cheeks, I confess that I have had myself to
+learn by heart those damning questions, and put them to the young and the
+old; who like me, were fed with the diabolical doctrines of the church of
+Rome, in reference to auricular confession.
+
+Some time after, some people waylaid and whipped that very same priest,
+when during a very dark night he was coming back from visiting his fair
+young penitents the Misses Rs.... And the next day, the conspirators having
+met at the house of Dr. Stephen Taché, to give a report of what they had
+done to the half _secret_ society to which they belonged, I was invited by
+my young friend Louis Casault[6] to conceal myself with him, in an
+adjoining room, where we could hear every thing without being seen. I find
+in the old manuscripts of "my young year's recollections" the following
+address of Mr. Dubord.
+
+Mr. President--"I was not among those who gave to the priest the expression
+of the public feelings with the eloquent voice of the whip: but I wish I
+had been, I would heartily have co-operated to give that so well deserved
+lesson to the father confessors of Canada, and let me give you my reasons
+for that.
+
+"My child who is hardly twelve years old, went to confess, as did the other
+girls of the village, some time ago. It was against my will. I know, by my
+own experience, that of all actions, confession is the most degrading of a
+person's life. I can imagine nothing so well calculated to destroy forever
+one's self-respect, as the modern invention of the confessional. Now, what
+is a person without self-respect? Especially a woman? Is not all forever
+lost without this?
+
+"In the confessional every thing is corruption of the lowest grade. There,
+the girl's thoughts, lips, hearts and souls are forever polluted. Do I need
+to prove you this? No! for though you have given up, long since auricular
+confession, as below the dignity of man, you have not forgotten the lessons
+of corruption which you have received from it. Those lessons have remained
+on your souls as the scars left by the red hot iron upon the brow of the
+slave to be a perpetual witness of his shame and servitude.
+
+"The confessional box is the place where our wives and daughters learn
+things which would make the most degraded woman of our cities blush!
+
+"Why are all Roman Catholic nations inferior to nations belonging to
+Protestanism? only in the confessional can the solution of that problem be
+found. And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in proportion to their
+submission to their priests? It is because the more often the individuals
+composing those nations go to confess, the more rapidly they sink in the
+sphere of intelligence and morality. A terrible example of the auricular
+confession depravity has just occurred in my own family.
+
+"As I have said a moment ago, I was against my own daughter going to
+confession, but her poor mother, who is under the control of the priest,
+earnestly wanted her to go. Not to have a disagreeable scene in my house, I
+had to yield to the tears of my wife.
+
+"On the following day of the confession, they believed I was absent, but I
+was in my office, with the door sufficiently opened to hear every thing
+which could be said by my wife and the child. And the following
+conversation took place:
+
+"What makes you so thoughtful and sad my dear Lucy, since you went to
+confess? It seems to me you should feel happier since you had the privilege
+of confessing your sins."
+
+My child answered not a word, she remained absolutely silent.
+
+After two or three minutes of silence, I heard the mother saying: "Why do
+you weep, my dear Lucy? are you sick?"
+
+But no answer yet from the child!
+
+"You may well suppose that I was all attention, I had my secret suspicions
+about the dreadful mystery which had taken place. My heart throbbed with
+uneasiness and anger.
+
+"After a short silence, my wife spoke again to her child, but with
+sufficient firmness to decide her to answer at last. In a trembling voice,
+she said:
+
+"Oh I dear Mamma, if you knew what the priest has asked me and what he said
+to me when I confessed, you would perhaps be sad as I am."
+
+"But what can he have said to you? He is a holy man, you must have
+misunderstood him, if you think that he has said anything wrong."
+
+"My child threw herself in her mother's arms, and answered with a voice
+half suffocated with her sobs: "Do not ask me to tell you what the priest
+has said--it is so shameful that I can not repeat it--His words have stuck
+to my heart as the leech put upon the arm of my little friend, the other
+day."
+
+"What does that priest think of me, for having put to me such questions?"
+
+My wife answered: "I will go to the priest and will teach him a lesson. I
+have noticed myself that he goes too far when questioning old people, but I
+had the hope he was more prudent with children. I ask of you, however,
+never to speak of this to anybody, especially; let not your poor father
+know anything about it; for he has little enough of religion already, and
+this would leave him without any at all."
+
+"I could not refrain myself any longer: I abruptly entered the parlor. My
+daughter threw herself into my arms: my wife screamed with terror, and
+almost fell into a swoon. I said to my child: If you love me, put your hand
+on my heart, and promise never to go again to confess. Fear God, my child,
+love Him and walk in his presence. For his eyes see you everywhere.
+Remember that He is always ready to forgive and bless you every time you
+turn your heart to him. Never place yourself again at the feet of a priest
+to be defiled and degraded."
+
+"This my daughter promised to me.
+
+"When my wife had recovered from her surprise, I told her.
+
+"Madame, it is long since the priest is everything, and your husband
+nothing to you! There is a hidden and terrible power which governs you, it
+is the power of the priest: this you have often denied, but it can not be
+denied any longer, the Providence of God has decided, to day, that this
+power should forever be destroyed in my house, I want to be the only ruler
+of my family: from this moment the power of the priest over you is forever
+abolished. Whenever you go and take your heart and your secrets to the feet
+of the priest, be so kind as not to come back any more into my house as my
+wife."
+
+This is one of the thousand and thousand specimens of the peace of
+conscience brought to the soul through auricular confession. I could give
+many similar instances, if it were my intention to publish a treatise on
+this subject, but as I only desire to write a short chapter, I will adduce
+but one other fact to show the awful deception practised by the Church of
+Rome when she invites persons to come to confession under the pretext that
+_peace_ to the soul will be the reward of their obedience. Let us hear the
+testimony of another living and unimpeachable witness about this peace of
+the soul, before, during, and after auricular confession. In her remarkable
+book "Personal experience of Roman Catholicism" Miss Eliza Richardson,
+writes, (Page 34 and 35.)
+
+"Thus I silenced my foolish quibbling, and went on to the test of a
+convert's fervour and sincerity in confession. And here was assuredly a
+fresh source of pain and disquiet, and one not so easily vanquished. "The
+theory had appeared, as a whole, fair and rational, but the reality, in
+some of its details, _was terrible_!"
+
+"Divested, for the public gaze, of its darkest ingredients, and dressed up,
+in their theological works, in false and meretricious pretentions to truth
+and purity, it exhibited a dogma only calculated to exert a beneficial
+influence on mankind, and to prove a source of morality and usefulness.
+_But oh, as with all ideals, how unlike was the actual!_"
+
+"Here, however, I may remark, in passing, the effect produced upon my mind
+by the first sight of the _older_ editions of "the Garden of the Soul". I
+remember the stumbling-block it was to me, my sense of womanly delicacy was
+shocked. It was a dark page in my experience, when first I knelt at the
+feet of a mortal man to confess what should have been poured into the ear
+of God alone. I cannot dwell upon this...."
+
+"Though I believe my Confessor was, on the whole, as guarded as his manners
+were kind; at some things I was strangely startled, utterly confounded."
+
+"The purity of mind and delicacy in which I had been nurtured, had not
+prepared me for such an ordeal; and my own sincerity, and dread of
+committing a sacrilege, tended to augment the painfulness of the occasion.
+One circumstance especially I will recall, which my fettered conscience
+persuaded me I was obliged to name. My distress and terror, doubtless, made
+me less explicit than I otherwise might have been. The questioning,
+however, it elicited, and the ideas supplied by it, outraged my feelings to
+such an extent, that, forgetting all respect for my Confessor, and
+careless, even, at the moment, whether I received absolution or not, I
+hastily exclaimed, "I cannot say a word more," while the thought rushed
+into my mind, "all is true that their enemies say of them." Here, however
+prudence dictated to my questioner to put the matter no further; and the
+kind and almost respectful tone he _immediately_ assumed, went far towards
+effacing an impression so injurious. On rising from my knees, when I should
+have gladly fled to any distance rather than have encountered his gaze, he
+addressed me in the most familiar manner on different subjects, and
+detained me some time in talking. What share I took in the conversation, I
+never knew and all that I remember, was my burning cheek, and inability to
+raise my eyes from the ground.
+
+"Here I would not be supposed to be intentionally casting a stigma upon an
+individual. Nor am I throwing unqualified blame upon the priesthood. _It is
+the system which is at fault_, a system which teaches that things, even at
+the _remembrance_ of which degraded humanity must blush in the presence of
+heaven and its angels, should be laid open, _dwelt upon, and exposed in
+detail_, to the sullied ears of a corrupt and fallen fellow-mortal who of
+like passions with the penitent at his feet, is thereby exposed to
+temptations the most dark and dangerous. But what shall we say of woman?
+Draw a veil! Oh purity, modesty! and every womanly feeling! a veil as
+oblivion, over the fearfully, dangerous experience thou art called to pass
+through! (page 37, and 38.")
+
+"Ah! there are things that cannot be recorded! facts too startling, and at
+the same time, too delicately intricate, to admit a public portrayal, or
+meet the public gaze; But the cheek can blush in secret at the true images
+which memory evokes, and the oppressed mind shrinks back, in horror, from
+the dark shadows which have saddened and overwhelmed it. I appeal to
+converts, to converts of the gentler sex, and ask them, fearlessly ask
+them, what was the first impression made on your minds and feelings by the
+confessional? I do not ask how subsequent familiarization has weakened the
+effects: but when acquaintance was first made with it, how were you
+affected by it? I ask not the impure, the already defiled, for to such, it
+is sadly susceptible of being made a darker source of guilt and shame;--but
+I appeal to the pure minded and delicate, the pure in heart and sentiment.
+Was not your _first_ impression one of inexpressible dread and
+bewilderment, followed by a sense of humiliation and degradation, not
+easily to be defined or supported? (page 39.) "The memory of that time
+(first auricular confession) will ever be painful and abhorent to me;
+though subsequent experience has thrown, even that, far into the back
+ground. It was my initiatory lesson upon subjects which ought never to
+enter the imagination of girlhood: my introduction into a region which
+should never be approached by the guileless and the pure." (page 61) One or
+two individuals (Roman Catholic) soon formed a close intimacy with me, and
+discoursed with a freedom and plainness I had never, before encountered. My
+acquaintances, however, had been brought up in convents, or familiar with
+them for years, and I could not gainsay their statement.
+
+"I was reluctant to believe more than I had experienced the proof, however,
+was destined to come in no dubious shape at a no distant day.... A dark and
+sullied page of experience was fast opening upon me; but so unaccustomed
+was the eye which scanned it, that I could not at all, at once, believe in
+its truth! And it was of hypocrisy so hateful, of sacrilege so terrible,
+and abuse so gross of all things pure and holy, and in the person of one
+bound by his vows, his position, and every law of his church, as well as of
+God, to set a high example, that, for a time, all confidence in the very
+existence of sincerity and goodness was in danger of being shaken,
+sacraments, deemed the most sacred, were profaned; vows disregarded,
+vaunted secrecy of the confessional covertly infringed, and its sanctity
+abused to an unhallowed purpose; while even private visitation was
+converted into a channel for temptation, and made the occasion of unholy
+freedom of words and manner. So ran the account of evil and a dire account
+it was. By it, all serious thoughts of religion were well nigh
+extinguished. The influence was fearful and polluting, the whirl of
+excitement inexpressible: I cannot enter into minute particulars here,
+every sense of feminine delicacy and womanly feeling shrink from such a
+task. This much, however, I can say that I, in conjunction with two other
+young friends, took a journey to a confessor, an inmate of a religious
+house, who lived at some distance, to lay the affair before him; thinking
+that he would take some remedial measures adequate to the urgency of the
+case. He heard our united statements, expressed great indignation, and, at
+once, commended us each to write and detail the circumstances of the case
+to the Bishop of the district. This we did; but of course, never heard the
+result. The reminiscences of these dreary and wretched months seem now like
+some hideous and guilty dream. It was actual familiarization with unholiest
+things! (page 63.)
+
+"The romish religion teaches that if you omit to name anything in
+confession, however repugnant or revolting to purity, which you even doubt
+having committed, your subsequent confessions are thus rendered null and
+sacrilegious; while it also inculcates that sins of thought should be
+confessed in order that the confessor may judge of their mortal or venial
+character. What sort of a chain this links around the strictly
+conscientious I would attempt to portray, if I could. But it must have been
+worn to understand its torturing character! Suffice it to say that, for
+months past, according to this standard, I had not made a good confession
+at all! And now, filled with remorse for my past sacrilegious sinfulness, I
+resolved on making a new general confession to the _religieux_ alluded to.
+But this confessor's scrupulosity exceeded everything I had, hitherto,
+encountered. He told me some things were mortal sins, which I had never
+before imagined could be such: and thus threw so many fetters around my
+conscience, that a host of anxieties for my first general confession was
+awakened within me. I had no resource then, but to re-make that, and thus I
+afresh entered on the bitter path I had deemed I should never have occasion
+again to tread. But if my first confession had lacerated my feelings, what
+was it to this one? Words have no power, language has no expression to
+characterise the emotion that marked it!
+
+"The difficulty I felt in making a full and explicit avowal all that
+distressed me, furnished my confessor with a plea for his assistance in the
+questioning department, and fain would I conceal much of what passed then,
+as a foul blot on my memory. I soon found that he made mortal sins of what
+my first confessor had professed to treat but lightly, and he did not
+scruple to say that I had never yet made a good confession at all. My ideas
+therefore became more complicated and confused as I proceeded, until, at
+length, I began to feel doubtful of ever accomplishing my task in any
+degree satisfactorily: and my mind and memory were positively racked to
+recall every iota of every kind, real or imaginary, that might, if omitted,
+hereafter be occasion of uneasiness. Things heretofore held comparatively
+trifling were recounted, and pronounced damnable sins: and as, day after
+day, I knelt at the feet of that man, answering questions and listening to
+admonitions calculated to bow my very soul to the dust, I felt as though I
+should hardly be able to raise my head again!" (page 63.)
+
+This is the peace which flows from auricular confession. I solemnly declare
+that except in a few cases, in which the confidence of the penitents is
+bordering on idiocy, or in which they have been transformed into immoral
+brutes, nine-tenths of the multitudes who go to confess, are obliged to
+recount some such desolate narrative as that of Miss Richardson, when they
+are sufficiently honest to say the truth.
+
+The most fanatical apostles of auricular confession cannot deny that the
+examination of conscience, which must precede confession, is a most
+difficult task; a task which, instead of filling the mind with peace, fills
+it with anxiety and serious fears. Is it then only after confession that
+they promise such peace? But they know very well that this promise is also
+a cruel deception ... for to make a good confession, the penitent has to
+relate not only all his bad actions, but all his bad thoughts and desires,
+their number, and various aggravating circumstances. But have they found a
+single one of their penitents who was certain to have remembered all the
+thoughts, the desires, all the criminal aspirations of the poor sinful
+heart? They are well aware that to count the thoughts of the mind for days
+and weeks gone by, and to narrate those thoughts accurately at a subsequent
+period, are just as easy as to weigh and count the clouds which have passed
+over the sun, in a three days storm, a month after that storm is over. It
+is simply impossible, absurd! This has never been, this will never be done.
+But there is no possible peace so long as the penitent _is not sure_ that
+he has remembered, counted and confessed every past sinful thought, word
+and deed. It is then impossible, yes! it is morally and physically
+_impossible_ for a soul to find peace through auricular confession. If the
+law which says to every sinner: "You are bound, under pain of eternal
+damnation, to remember all your bad thoughts and confess them to the best
+of your memory", were not so evidently a satanic invention, it ought to be
+put among the most infamous ideas which have ever come out from the brain
+of fallen man. For, who can remember and count the thoughts of a week, of a
+day, nay, of an hour of his sinful life?
+
+Where is the traveller who has crossed the swampy forests of America, in
+the three months of a warm summer, who could tell the number of musquitoes
+which have bitten him and drawn the blood from the veins?
+
+What should that traveller think of the man who, seriously, would tell him:
+"You must prepare yourself to die, if you do not tell me, to the best of
+your memory, how many times you have been bitten by the musquitoes, the
+last three summer months, when you crossed the swampy lands along the
+shores of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers?
+
+Would he not suspect that his merciless inquirer had just escaped from a
+lunatic asylum?
+
+But it would be much more easy for that traveller to say how many times he
+has suffered from the bitings of the musquitoes, than for the poor sinner
+to count the bad thoughts which have passed through his sinful heart,
+through any period of his life.
+
+Though the penitent is told that he must confess his thoughts only
+according to his _best_ recollection,--he will _never, never_ know if he
+has done his _best_ efforts to remember everything: he will constantly fear
+lest he has not done his _best_ to count and confess them correctly.
+
+Every honest priest will at once admit that his most intelligent and pious
+penitents, particularly among women, are constantly tortured by the fear of
+having omitted to disclose some sinful deeds or thoughts. Many of them,
+after having already made several general confessions, are constantly urged
+by the pricking of their conscience, to begin afresh, in the fear that
+their first confessions had some serious defects. Those past confessions,
+instead of being a source of spiritual joy and peace, are, on the contrary,
+like, so many Damocles' swords, day and night suspended over their heads,
+filling their souls with the terrors of an eternal death! Sometimes the
+terror-stricken consciences of those honest and pious women tell them that
+they were not sufficiently contrite; at another time, they reproach them
+for not having spoken sufficiently plain on some things fitter to make them
+blush.
+
+On many occasions, too, it has happened that sins which one confessor had
+declared to as venial, and which had long ceased to be confessed, another
+more scrupulous than the first would declare to be damnable. Every
+confessor thus knows perfectly well that he proffers what is flagrantly
+false every time he dismisses his penitents, after confession, with the
+salutation:--"Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee."
+
+But it is a mistake to say that the soul does not find peace in auricular
+confession: in many cases, peace is found. And if the reader desires to
+learn something of that peace, let him go to the grave-yard, open the
+tombs, and peep into the sepulchres. What awful silence! What profound
+quiet! What terrible and frightful peace! You hear not even the motion of
+the worms that creep in, and the worms that creep out, as they feast upon
+the dead carcase! Such is the peace of the confessional! The soul, the
+intelligence, the honor, the self-respect, the conscience, are there
+sacrificed. There they must die! Yes, the confessional is a veritable tomb
+of human conscience, a sepulchre of human honesty, dignity and liberty; the
+grave-yard of human soul! By its means, man, whom God hath made in his own
+image, is converted into the likeness of the beast that perishes; woman,
+created by God to be the glory and help-mate of man, is transformed into
+the vile and trembling slave of the priest. In the confessional, man and
+woman attain to the highest degree of popish perfection: they become as dry
+sticks, as dead branches, as silent corpses, in the hands of their
+confessors. Their spirits are destroyed, their consciences are stiff, their
+souls are ruined.
+
+This is the supreme and perfect result achieved, in its highest victories,
+by the Church of Rome.
+
+There is, verily, peace to be found in auricular confession--yes, but it is
+the peace of the grave!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DOGMA OF AURICULAR CONFESSION A SACRILEGIOUS IMPOSTURE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Both Roman Catholics and Protestants have fallen into very strange errors
+in reference to the words of Christ: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are
+remitted unto them; _and_ whose soever _sins_ ye retain, they are
+retained." (St. John xx. 23.)
+
+The first have seen in this text the inalienable attributes of God of
+forgiving and retaining sins transferred to sinful men; the second have
+most unwisely granted their position, even while attempting to refute their
+errors.
+
+A little more attention to the translation of the 3rd and 6th verses of
+chapter xiii. of Leviticus by the Septuagint would have prevented the
+former from falling into their sacrilegious errors, and would have saved
+the latter from wasting so much time in refuting errors which refute
+themselves.
+
+Every one knows that the Septuagint Bible was the Bible that was generally
+read and used by Jesus Christ and the Hebrew people, in our Saviour's days.
+Its language was evidently the one spoken by Christ and understood by his
+hearers. When addressing his apostles and disciples on their duties towards
+the spiritual lepers to whom they were to preach the ways of salvation,
+Christ constantly followed the very expression of the Septuagint. It was
+the foundation of his doctrine and the testimonial of his divine mission to
+which he constantly appealed: the book which was the greatest treasure of
+the nation.
+
+From the beginning to the end of the Old and the New Testament, the bodily
+leprosy, with which the Jewish priest had to deal, is presented as the
+figure of the spiritual leprosy, sin, the penalty of which our Saviour had
+taken upon himself, that we might be saved by his death. That spiritual
+leprosy was the very thing for the cleansing of which he had come to this
+world--for which he lived, suffered and died. Yes! the bodily leprosy with
+which the priests of the Jews had to deal, was the figure of the sins which
+Christ was to take away by shedding his blood, and with which his apostles
+were to deal till the end of the world.
+
+When speaking of the duties of the Hebrew priests towards the leper, our
+modern translations say: (Lev. xiii. v. 6.) "They will pronounce him clean"
+or (v. 3d.) "They will pronounce him unclean."
+
+But this action of the priests was expressed in a very different way by the
+Septuagint Bible, used by Christ and the people of his time. Instead of
+saying, "The priest shall pronounce the leper clean," as we read in our
+Bible, the Septuagint version says, "The priest shall clean (_katharei_,)
+or shall unclean (_mianei_,) the leper.
+
+No one had ever been so foolish, among the Jews, as to believe that because
+their Bible said _clean_, (_katharei_) their priests had the miraculous and
+supernatural power of taking away and curing the leprosy: and we nowhere
+see that the Jewish priests ever had the audacity to try to persuade the
+people that they had ever received any supernatural and divine power to
+"cleanse" the leprosy, because their God through the Bible, had said of
+them: "They will cleanse the leper." Both priest and people were
+sufficiently intelligent and honest to understand and acknowledge that by
+that expression, if was only meant that the priests had the legal right to
+see if the leprosy was gone or not, they had only to look at certain marks
+indicated by God Himself, through Moses, to know whether, or not, God had
+cured the leper before he presented himself to his priest. The leper, cured
+by the mercy and power of God alone, before presenting himself to the
+priest, was only declared to be clean by that priest. Thus the priest was
+said, by the Bible, to "clean" the leper, or the leprosy;--and, in the
+opposite case, to "unclean." (Septuagint, Leviticus xiii. v. 3. 6.)
+
+Now, let us put what God has said, through Moses, to the priests of the old
+law, in reference to the bodily leprosy, face to face with what God has
+said, through his Son Jesus, to his apostles and his whole church, in
+reference to the spiritual leprosy from which Christ has delivered us on
+the cross.
+
+  Septuagint Bible, Levit. xiii.    |    New Testament, John xx., 23.
+                                    |
+"And the Priest shall look on the   |  "Whose soever sins ye remit, they
+plague, in the skin of the flesh,   |  are remitted unto them; and whose
+and when the hair in the plague is  |  soever sins ye retain, they are
+turned white, and the plague in     |  retained."
+sight be deeper than the skin of    |
+his flesh, it is a plague of        |
+leprosy: and the priest shall look  |
+on him and UNCLEAN HIM (_mianei_).  |
+                                    |
+"And the Priest shall look on him   |
+again the seventh day, and if the   |
+plague is somewhat dark and does    |
+not spread on the skin, the Priest  |
+shall CLEAN HIM (_katharei_): and   |
+he shall wash his clothes and BE    |
+CLEAN," (katharos.)                 |
+
+The analogy of the diseases with which the Hebrew priests and the disciples
+of Christ had to deal, is striking: so the analogy of the expressions
+prescribing their respective duties is also striking.
+
+When God said to the priests of the Old Law, "You shall clean the leper,"
+and he shall be "cleaned," or, "you shall unclean the leper," and he shall
+be "uncleaned," He only gave the legal power to see if there were any signs
+or indications by which they could say that God had cured the leper before
+he presented himself to the priest. So, when Christ said to his apostles
+and his whole church, "Whose soever sins ye shall forgive, shall be
+forgiven unto them," He only repeated what Moses had said in an analagous
+case: He only gave them the authority to say when the spiritual lepers, the
+sinners, had reconciled themselves to God, and received their pardon from
+Him and Him alone, previous to their coming to the apostles.
+
+It is true that the priests of the Old Law had regulations from God,
+through Moses, which they had to follow, by which they could see and say
+whether, or not, the leprosy was gone.
+
+"If the plague spread not on the skin ... the priest shall clean him ...
+but if the priest see that the scab spread on the skin, it is leprosy: he
+shall "unclean" him. (Septuagint, Levit. xiii. 3. 6.)
+
+So Christ had given to his apostles and his whole church equally,
+infallible rules and marks to determine whether, or not, the spiritual
+leprosy was gone, that they might clean the leper and tell him,
+
+   I clean thee,    |   I forgive thy sins,
+         or         |          or
+  I unclean thee.   |   I retain thy sins.
+
+I would have, indeed, many passages of the Old and New Testaments to copy,
+were it my intention to reproduce all the marks given by God Himself,
+through his prophets, or by Christ and apostles, that His ambassadors might
+know when they should say to the sinner that he was delivered from his
+iniquities. I will give only a few.
+
+First: "And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the
+gospel to every creature:
+
+"He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: but he that believeth
+not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 15, 16.)
+
+What a strange want of memory in the Saviour of the world! He has entirely
+forgotten that "Auricular Confession," besides Faith and Baptism are
+necessary to be saved! To those who believe and are baptised, the apostles
+and the church are authorised by Christ to say: "You are saved! your sins
+are forgiven! I clean you!"
+
+Second: "And when ye come into an house, salute it.
+
+"And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not
+worthy, let your peace return to you.
+
+"And whose soever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye
+depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
+
+"Verily, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of
+Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of Judgment, than for that city." (Math x.
+12-15.)
+
+Here again the Great Physician tells his disciples when the leprosy will be
+gone, the sins forgiven, the soul purified. It is when the lepers, the
+sinners, will have welcomed his messengers, heard and received their
+message. Not a word about auricular confession: this great panacea of the
+Pope's was evidently ignored by Christ.
+
+Third: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
+forgive you--But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
+Father forgive your trespasses." (Math vi. 14, 15.)
+
+Was it possible to give a more striking and simple rule to the Apostles and
+the Disciples that they might know when they could say to a sinner: "Thy
+sins are forgiven!" or, "Thy sins are retained?" Here the double keys of
+heaven are most solemnly and publicly given to every child of Adam! As sure
+as there is a God in heaven and that Jesus died to save sinners, so it is
+sure that if one forgives the trespasses of his neighbor for the dear
+Saviour's sake, his own sins have been forgiven! To the end of the world,
+then, let the disciples of Christ say to the sinner, "Thy sins are
+forgiven," not because you have confessed your sins to me, but for Christ's
+sake; the evidence of which is that you have forgiven those who had
+offended you.
+
+Fourth: "And behold, a certain one stood up and tempted him, saying:
+Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
+
+"He said unto him: What is written in the law? how readest thou?
+
+"And he, answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
+heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
+mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.
+
+"And He said unto him, thou hast answered right; this do and thou shalt
+live." (Luke x. 25-28.)
+
+What a fine opportunity for the Saviour to speak of "auricular confession"
+as a means given by him to be saved! But here again, Christ forgets that
+marvellous medicine of the Popes. Jesus, speaking absolutely, like the
+Protestants, bids his messengers to proclaim pardon, forgiveness of sins,
+not to those who confess their sins to a man, but to those who love God and
+their neighbor. And so will his true disciples and messengers do to the end
+of the world!
+
+Fifth: "And when he (the prodigal son) came to himself, he said: ... I will
+arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
+against Heaven and before thee: and I am not worthy to be called thy son:
+make me as one of thy hired servants.
+
+"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off,
+his father saw him and had compassion and ran; and he fell on his neck and
+kissed him.
+
+"And the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight,
+and am not worthy to be called thy son.
+
+"But the father said to his servants: Bring forth his best robe, and put it
+on him: put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the
+fat calf. For this my son was dead, and he is alive again, he was lost and
+he is found." (Luke xv, 17-24.)
+
+Apostles and disciples of Christ, wherever you will hear, on this land of
+sin and misery, the cry of the Prodigal Son: "I will arise and go to my
+Father" every time you see him, not at your feet, but at the feet of his
+true Father, crying: "Father I have sinned against thee," unite your hymns
+of joy to the joyful songs of the angels of God; repeat into the ears of
+that redeemed sinner the sentence just fallen from the lips of the Lamb,
+whose blood cleanses us from all our sins; say to him, "Thy sins are
+forgiven."
+
+Sixth: "Come unto me all ye who labour, and are heavy-laden, and I will
+give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and
+lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy
+and my burden is light." (Math. xi, 28-30.)
+
+Though these words were pronounced more than 1800 years ago, they were
+pronounced this very morning; they come at every hour of day and night from
+the lips and the heart of Christ to every one of us sinners. It is just now
+that Jesus says to every sinner, "Come to me and I will give ye rest."
+Christ has never said and he will never say to any sinner: "Go to my
+priests and they will give you rest!" But he has said, "Come to me and I
+will give you rest."
+
+Let the apostles and disciples of the Saviour, then, proclaim peace,
+pardon, rest, not to the sinners who come to confess to them all their most
+secretly sinful thoughts, desires, or actions, but to those who go to
+Christ and Him alone, for peace, pardon and rest. For "Come to me," from
+Jesus lips, has never meant, it will never mean, "Go and confess to the
+priests."
+
+Christ would never have said: "My yoke is easy and my burden light" if he
+had instituted auricular confession. For the world has never seen a yoke so
+heavy, humiliating and degrading as auricular confession.
+
+Seventh: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
+the Son of man be lifted up; that who soever believeth in him should not
+perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14.)
+
+Did Almighty God require any auricular confession in the wilderness, from
+the sinners, when He ordered Moses to lift up the serpent? No! Neither did
+Christ speak of auricular confession as a condition of salvation to those
+who look to Him when He dies on the Cross to pay their debts. A free pardon
+was offered to the Israelites who looked to the uplifted serpent. A free
+pardon is offered by Christ crucified to all those who look to Him with
+faith, repentance and love. To such sinners the ministers of Christ, to the
+end of the world, are authorised to say: "Your sins are forgiven--we
+"clean" your leprosy."
+
+Eighth: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
+that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
+
+"For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world, through
+him, might be saved.
+
+"He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not, is
+condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
+begotten Son of God.
+
+"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and man
+loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every
+one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest
+his deeds should be reproved.
+
+"But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
+manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John iii, 16-21.)
+
+In the religion of Rome, it is only through auricular confession that the
+sinner can be reconciled to God; it is only after he has heard a most
+detailed confession of all the thoughts, desires and actions of the guilty
+one that he can tell him: "Thy sins are forgiven." But in the religion of
+the Gospel, the reconciliation of the sinner with his God is absolutely and
+entirely the work of Christ. That marvellous forgiveness is a free gift
+offered not for any outward act of the sinner: nothing is required from him
+but faith, repentance and love. These are marks by which the leprosy is
+known to be cured and the sins forgiven. To all those who have these marks,
+the ambassadors of Christ are authorized to say, "Your sins are forgiven,"
+we "clean" you.
+
+Ninth: "The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
+eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: God! be merciful to me a
+sinner!
+
+"I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified." (Luke xviii 13,
+14.). Yes! justified! and without auricular confession!
+
+Ministers and disciples of Christ, when you see the repenting sinner
+smiting his breast and crying: "Oh, God! have mercy upon me a sinner!" shut
+your ears to the deceptive words of Rome who tells you to force that
+redeemed sinner to make to you a special confession of all his sins, to get
+his pardon. But go to him and deliver the message of love, peace and mercy,
+which you received from Christ: "Thy sins are forgiven! I "clean" thee!
+
+Tenth: "And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him,
+saying: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
+
+"But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying: Doest not thou fear God,
+seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly, but this
+man hath done nothing amiss.
+
+"And he said unto Jesus: Remember me, when thou art in thy Kingdom. And
+Jesus said unto him: Verily, I say Unto thee: to-day, shalt thou be with me
+in Paradise." (Luke xxii, 39-43.)
+
+Yes, in the Paradise or Kingdom of Christ without auricular confession!
+From Calvary, when his hands are nailed to the cross, and his blood is
+poured out, Christ even then protests against the great imposture of
+auricular confession. Jesus will be to the end of the world what he was
+there on the cross: the sinner's friend; always ready to hear and pardon
+those who invoke his name and trust in him.
+
+Disciples of the gospel, wherever you hear the cry of the repenting sinner
+to the crucified Saviour: "Remember me when thou comest to thy Kingdom," go
+and give the assurance to that penitent and redeemed child of Adam that
+"his sins are forgiven"--clean the leper.
+
+Eleventh: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
+thoughts: and let him return to the Lord; and he will have mercy upon him
+and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isa. lv. 7. 8.)
+
+"Wash you, and make you clean, put away the evils of your doings from
+before mine eyes: cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
+relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
+
+"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be
+as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
+they shall be as wool." (Isa. i, 16-18.)
+
+Here are the landmarks of the mercy of God, put by his own almighty hands!
+Who will dare to remove them in order to put others in their place? Has
+ever Christ touched those landmarks? Has he ever intimated that anything
+but faith, repentance and love, with their blessed fruits, were required
+from the sinners to secure his pardon? No--never.
+
+Have the prophets of the Old Testament or the apostles of the New ever said
+a word about "auricular confession" as a condition for pardon? No--never.
+
+What does David say? "I confess my sins unto thee, and mine iniquity have I
+not hid. I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and thou
+forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Psalm xxxii, 5.)
+
+What does the Apostle John say? "If we say that we have fellowship with
+Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
+
+"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
+with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from
+sin;
+
+"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
+in us.
+
+"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to
+CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness." (i. John i, 6-9.)
+
+This is the language of the prophets and apostles. This is the language of
+the Old and the New Testament. It is to God and Him alone that the sinner
+is requested to confess his sins. It is from God and Him alone that he can
+expect his pardon.
+
+The apostle Paul writes fifteen epistles, in which he speaks of all the
+duties imposed upon human conscience by the laws of God and the
+prescriptions of the Gospel of Christ. A thousand times he speaks to
+sinners and tells them how they may be reconciled to God. But does he say a
+word about auricular confession? No, not one!
+
+The apostles Peter, John, Jude address six letters to the different
+churches--in which they state with the greatest detail what the different
+classes of Christians have to do. But again, not a single word comes from
+them about auricular confession.
+
+St. James says, "confess your faults one to another." But this is so
+evidently the repetition of what the Saviour had said about the way of
+reconciliation between those who had offended one another, and it is so far
+from the dogma of a secret confession to the priest, that the most zealous
+supporters of auricular confession have not dared to mention that text in
+favour of their modern invention.
+
+But if we look in vain in the Old and New Testament for a word in favour of
+auricular confession as a dogma, will it be possible to find that dogma in
+the records of the first thousand years of Christianity? No! for the more
+one studies the records of the Christian church during the first ten
+centuries, the more he will be convinced that auricular confession is a
+miserable imposture, of the darkest days of the world and the church.
+
+We have the life of Paul, the hermit, of the third century, by one of the
+early fathers of the church. But not a word is said in it of his confessing
+his sins to any one, though a thousand things are said of him which are of
+a far less interesting character.
+
+So it is with the life of St. Mary, the Egyptian. The minute history of her
+life, her public scandals, her conversion, long prayers and fastings in
+solitude, the detailed history of her last days and of her death, all these
+we have; but not a single word is said of her confessing to any one. It is
+evident that she lived and died without ever having thought of going to
+confess.
+
+The deacon Pontius wrote also the life St. Cyprien, who lived in the third
+century; but he does not say a word of his ever having gone to confession,
+or having heard the confession of any one. More than that, we learn from
+this reliable historian that Cyprien was excommunicated by the Pope of
+Rome, called Stephen, and that he died without having ever asked from any
+one absolution from that excommunication; a thing which has not seemingly
+prevented him from going to Heaven, since the infallible Popes of Rome, who
+succeeded Stephen, have assured us that he is a saint.
+
+Gregory of Nyssa has given us the life of St. Gregory of Neo-Cæsarea, of
+the 3rd century, and of St. Basil, of the 4th century. But neither speak of
+their having gone to confess, or having heard the confession of any one. It
+is thus evident that those two great and good men, with all the Christians
+of their times, lived and died without ever knowing any thing about the
+dogma of auricular confession.
+
+We have the interesting life of St Ambrose, of the 4th century, by
+Paulinus; and from that book it is as evident as two and two make four,
+that St. Ambrose never went to confess.
+
+The history of St Martin of Tours, of the 4th century by Severus Sulpicius
+of the 5th century, is another monument left by antiquity to prove that
+there was no dogma of auricular confession in those days; for St. Martin
+has evidently lived and died without ever going to confess.
+
+Pallas and Theodoret have left us the history of the life, sufferings and
+death of St. Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, who died at the
+beginning of the 5th century, and both are absolutely mute about that
+dogma. No fact is more evident, by what they say, than that holy and
+eloquent bishop lived and died also without ever thinking of going to
+confess.
+
+No man has ever more perfectly entered into the details of a Christian
+life, when writing on that subject, than the learned and eloquent St
+Jerome, of the 5th century. A great number of his admirable letters are
+written to the priests of his day, or to some Christian ladies and virgins,
+who had requested him to give them some good advices about the best way to
+lead a Christian life. His letters, which form five volumes, are most
+interesting monuments of the manners, habits, views, morality, practical
+and dogmatical faith of the first centuries of the church; and they are a
+most unanswerable evidence that auricular confession, as a dogma, had then
+no existence, and is quite a modern invention. Would it be possible that
+Jerome could have forgotten to give some advices or rules about auricular
+confession, to the priests of his time who asked his counsel about the best
+way to fulfil their ministerial duties, if it had been one of their duties
+to hear the confessions of the people? But we challenge the most devoted
+modern priest of Rome to find a single line in all the letters of St Jerome
+in favour of auricular confession. In his admirable letter to the priest
+Nepotianus, on the life of priests, vol. II, p. 203, when speaking of the
+relations of priests with women, he says: "Solus cum sola, secreto et
+absque arbitrio vel teste, non sedeas. Si familiarus est aliquid loquendum,
+habet nutricem majorem domus, virginem, viduam, vel maritatam; non est tam
+inhumana ut nullum præter te habeat cui se audeat credere."
+
+"Never sit in secret, alone, in a retired place, with a female who is alone
+with you. If she has any particular thing to tell you, let her take the
+female attendant of the house, a young girl, a widow, or a married woman.
+She can not be so ignorant of the rules of human life as to expect to have
+you as the only one to whom she can trust those things."
+
+It would be easy to cite a great number of other remarkable passages where
+Jerome shows himself the most determined and implacable opponent of those
+secret "tête-à-tête" between a priest and a female, which, under the
+plausible pretext of mutual advice and spiritual consolation, are generally
+nothing but bottomless pits of infamy and perdition for both. But this is
+enough.
+
+We have also the admirable life of St. Paulina, written by St. Jerome. And
+though in it he gives us every imaginable detail of her life when young,
+married and widow, though he tells us even how her bed was composed of the
+simplest and rudest materials, he has not a word about her ever having gone
+to confess. Jerome speaks of the acquaintances of St. Paulina and gives
+their names; he enters into the minutest details of her long voyages, her
+charities, her foundations of monasteries for men and women, her
+temptations, human frailties, heroic virtues, her macerations and her holy
+death: but he has not a word to say about the frequent or rare auricular
+confessions of St. Paulina; not a word about her wisdom in the choice of a
+prudent and holy (?) confessor.
+
+He tells us that after her death, her body was carried to her grave on the
+shoulders of bishops and priests, as a token of their profound respect for
+the saint. But he never says that any of those priests sat there in a dark
+corner with her, and forced her to reveal to their ears the secret history
+of all the thoughts, desires, and human frailties of her long and eventful
+life. Jerome is an unimpeachable witness that his saintly and noble friend
+St. Paulina lived and died without having ever thought of going to confess.
+
+Possidius has left us the interesting life of St. Augustine, of the fifth
+century; and again it is in vain that we look for the place or the time
+when that celebrated bishop of Hippo went to confess, or heard the secret
+confessions of his people.
+
+More than that, St. Augustine has written a most admirable book, called:
+"Confessions," in which he gives us the history of his life. With that
+marvellous book in hand, we follow him, step by step, wherever he goes; we
+are the witnesses of what he does and thinks; we attend with him those
+celebrated schools, where his faith and morality were so sadly wrecked; he
+takes us with him into the garden where, wavering between heaven and hell,
+bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree and cries, "Oh Lord! how long
+will I remain in my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with emotions, with his
+soul, when we hear, with him, the sweet and mysterious voice: "Tolle!
+lege!" take and read. We run with him to the places where he had left his
+gospel book; with a trembling hand, we open it, and we read: "Let us walk
+honestly as in the day ... put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom. xiii,
+13, 14.)
+
+That incomparable book of Augustine makes us weep and shout with joy with
+him; it initiates us into all, his most secret actions, to all his sorrows,
+anxieties and joys, it reveals and unvails his whole life. It tells us
+where he goes, with whom he sins, and with whom he praises God; it makes us
+pray, sing and bless the Lord with him. Is it possible that Augustine could
+have been to confess without telling us when, where and to whom he made
+confession? Could he have received the absolution and pardon of his sins
+from his confessor, without making us partakers of his joys, and requesting
+us to bless that confessor with him.
+
+But, it is in vain that you look in that book for a single word about
+auricular confession. That book is an unimpeachable witness that neither
+Augustine nor his saintly mother Monica, whom it mentions so often, lived
+and died without ever having been to confess. That book may be called the
+most crushing evidence to prove that, "the dogma of auricular confession"
+is a modern imposture.
+
+From the beginning to the end of that book, we see that Augustine believed
+and said that God alone could forgive the sins of men, and that it was to
+Him alone that men had to confess in order to be pardoned. If he writes his
+confession, it is only that the world might know how God had been merciful
+to him, and that they might help him to praise and bless the merciful
+Heavenly Father. In the tenth book of his Confessions, chapter III,
+Augustine protests against the idea that men could do anything to cure the
+spiritual leper, or forgive the sins of their fellow-men; here is his
+eloquent protest: "Quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones
+meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint languores meas? Curiosum genus ad
+cognoscendam vitam alienam; desidiosum ad corrigendam."
+
+"What have I to do with men that I might be obliged to confess my sins to
+them, as if they were able to heal my infirmities? Oh Lord! that human race
+is very fond of knowing the sins of their neighbors; but they are very
+neglectful in correcting their own lies."
+
+Before Augustine had built up that sublime and imperishable monument
+against auricular confession, St. John Chrysostom had raised his eloquent
+voice against it, in his homily on the 50th Psalm, where, speaking in the
+name of the Church, he said: "We do not request you to go to confess your
+sins to any of your fellow-men, but only to God!"
+
+Nestorius, of the 4th century, the predecessor of John Chrysostom, had, by
+a public defense, which the best Roman Catholic historians have had to
+acknowledge, solemnly forbidden the practice of auricular confession. For,
+just as there has always been thieves, drunkards and malefactors in the
+world, so there has always been men and women who, under the pretext of
+opening their minds to each other for mutual comfort and edification, were
+giving themselves to every kind of iniquity and lust. The celebrated
+Chrysostom was only giving the sanction of his authority to what his
+predecessor had done when, thundering against the newly born monster, he
+said to the Christians of his time, "We do not ask you to go and confess
+your iniquities to a sinful man for pardon--but only to God." (Homily on
+50th Psalm.)
+
+Auricular confession originated with the early heretics, especially with
+Marcion. Bellarmin speaks of it as something to be practiced. But let us
+hear what the contemporary writers have to say on the question:
+
+"Certain women were in the habit of going to the heretic Marcion to confess
+their sins to him. But, as he was smitten with their beauty, and they loved
+him also, they abandoned themselves to sin with him."
+
+Listen now to what St. Basil, in his commentary on Ps. xxxvii, says of
+confession:
+
+"I have not to come before the world to make a confession with my lips. But
+I close my eyes, and confess my sins in the secret of my heart. Before
+thee, O God, I pour out my sighs, and thou alone art the witness. My groans
+are within my soul. There is no need of many words to confess: sorrow and
+regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamentations of the soul, which
+thou art pleased to hear, are the best confession."
+
+Chrysostom, in his homily: De pænitentia, vol. IV., col. 901, has the
+following: "You need no witnesses of your confession. Secretly acknowledge
+your sins, and let God alone hear you."
+
+In his homily V., De incomprehensibili Dei naturâ, vol. I, he says:
+"Therefore, I beseech you, always confess your sins to God! I in no way ask
+you to confess them to me. To God alone should you expose the wounds of
+your souls, and from him alone expect the cure. Go to him, then; and you
+shall not be cast off, but healed. For, before you utter a single word, God
+knows your prayer."
+
+In his commentary on Heb. xii., hom. xxxi., vol. xii., p. 289, he further
+says: "Let us not be content with calling ourselves sinners. But let us
+examine and number our sins. And then, I do not tell you to go and confess
+them, according to the caprice of some; but I will say to you, with the
+prophet: "Confess your sins before God, acknowledge your iniquities at the
+feet of your Judge; pray in your heart and your mind, if not with your
+tongue, and you shall be pardoned."
+
+In his homily on Ps. I., vol. V., p. 589, the same Chrysostom says:
+"Confess you sins every day in prayer. Why should you hesitate to do so? I
+do not tell you to go and confess to a man, sinner as you are, and who
+might despise you if he knew your faults. But confess them to God, who can
+forgive them to you."
+
+In his admirable homily IV., De Lazaro, vol. I., p. 757, he explains: "Why,
+tell me, should you be ashamed to confess your sins? Do we compel you to
+reveal them to a man, who might, one day, throw them into your face? Are
+you commanded to confess them to one of your equals, who could publish them
+and ruin you? What we ask of you, is simply to show the sores of your soul
+to your Lord and Master, who is also your friend, your guardian and
+physician."
+
+In a small work of Chrysostom's, intitled: "Catechesis ad illuminandos,"
+vol. II., p. 210, we read these remarkable words: "What we should most
+admire, is not that God forgives our sins, but that he does not disclose
+them to any one, nor wishes us to do so. What he demands of us, is to
+confess our transgressions to him alone to obtain pardon."
+
+St. Augustine, in his beautiful homily on the 31st Ps., says: "I shall
+confess my sins to God, and he will pardon all my iniquities. And such
+confession is made not with the lips, but with the heart only. I had hardly
+opened my mouth to confess my sins, when they were pardoned; for God had
+already heard the voice of my heart."
+
+In the edition of the Fathers by Migne, vol. 67, p. 614, 615, we read:
+"About the year 390, the office of penitentiary was abolished in the
+church, in consequence of a great scandal given by a woman who publicly
+accused herself of having committed a crime against chastity with a
+deacon."
+
+The office of penitentiary was this: in every large city, a priest or
+minister was specially appointed to preside over the church meetings where
+the members who had committed public sins were obliged to confess them
+publicly before the assembly, in order to be reinstated in the privileges
+of their membership; and that minister had the charge of reading or
+pronouncing the sentence of pardon granted by the church to the guilty
+ones, before they could be admitted again to communion. This was perfectly
+in accordance with what St. Paul had done with regard to the incestuous one
+of Corinth, that scandalous sinner, who had cast obloquy on the Christian
+name; but who, after confessing and weeping over his sins, before the
+church, obtained his pardon--not from a priest in whose ears he had
+whispered all the shocking details of his incestuous intercourse, but from
+the whole church assembled. St. Paul gladly approves the Church of Corinth
+in thus receiving again in their midst a wandering but repenting brother.
+
+There is as much difference between such public confessions and auricular
+confessions, as there is between heaven and hell, between God and his great
+enemy, Satan.
+
+Public confession, then, dates from the time of the apostles, and is still
+practised in protestant churches of our day. But auricular confession was
+unknown by the disciples of Christ; as it is rejected, to-day, with horror
+by all the true followers of the Son of God.
+
+Erasmus, one of the most learned Roman Catholics which opposed the
+Reformation in the 16th century, so admirably begun by Luther and Calvin,
+fearlessly and honestly makes the following declaration in his treaty: De
+Pænitantia, Dis 5. "This institution of penance began rather of some
+tradition of the Old or New Testament. But our divines, not advisedly
+considering what the old doctors do say, are deceived: that which they say
+of general and open confession, they wrest by and by to this secret and
+privy kind of confession.
+
+It is a public fact, which no learned Roman Catholic has ever denied, that
+auricular confession became a dogma and obligatory practice of the church
+only at the council of Lateran in the year 1215, under the Pope Innocent
+III. Not a single trace of auricular confession, as a dogma, can be found
+before that year.
+
+Thus, it has taken more than twelve hundred years of efforts for Satan to
+bring out that master-piece of his inventions to conquer the world and
+destroy the souls of men.
+
+Little by little, that imposture had crept into the world, just as the
+shadows of a stormy night creep without any one being able to note the
+moment when the first rays of light give way before the dark clouds. We
+know very well when the sun was shining, we know when it was very dark all
+over the world, but no one can tell positively when the first ray of light
+faded away. So saith the Lord:
+
+"The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his
+field.
+
+"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and
+went his way.
+
+"But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, there appeared
+the tares also.
+
+"So the servants of the house-holder came and said unto him: Sir, dist not
+thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath it tares?
+
+"He said unto them: The enemy hath done this." (Mat. xiii, 24-28.)
+
+Yes, the Good Master tells us that the enemy sowed those tares in his field
+during the night--when men were sleeping.
+
+But he does not tell us precisely the hour of the night when the enemy cast
+the tares among the wheat.
+
+If any one likes to know how fearfully dark was the night which covered the
+"Kingdom," and how cruel, implacable and savage was the enemy who sowed the
+tares, let him read the testimony of the most devoted and learned cardinal
+whom Rome has ever had, Baronius, Annals, Anno 900:
+
+"It is evident that one can scarcely believe what unworthy, base, execrable
+and abominable things the holy Apostolical See, which is the pivot upon
+which the whole Catholic Church revolves, was forced to endure, when
+princes of the age, though Christians, arrogated to themselves the election
+of the Roman Pontiffs. Alas, the shame! alas, the grief! What monsters,
+horrible to behold, were then intruded on the Holy See! What evils ensued!
+What tragedies they perpatrated! With what pollutions was this See, though
+itself without spot, then stained! With what corruptions infected! _With
+what filthiness defiled! And by these things blackened with perpetual
+infamy!_ (Baronius, Annals, Anno 900.)
+
+"Est plane, ut vix aliquis credat, immo, nec vix quidem sit crediturus,
+nisi suis inspiciat ipse oculis, manibusque contractat, quam indigna,
+quamque turpia, atque deformia, execranda, insuper et abominanda sit coacta
+pati sacrosancta apostolica sedes, in cujus cardine universa Ecclesia
+catholica vertitur, cum principes sæculi hujus, quantumlibet christiani,
+hac tamen ex parte dicendi tyranni sævissimi, arrogaverunt sibi tirannice
+electionem Romanorum pontificum. Quot tunc ab eis, proh pudor! proh dolor!
+in eandem sedem, angelis reverandam, visu horrenda intrusa sunt monstra!
+Quot ex eis oborta sunt mala, consummatæ tragediæ! Quibus tunc ipsam sine
+maculâ et sine rugâ contigit aspergi sordibus, putoribus infici, quinati
+spurcitiis, ex hisque perpetuâ infamiâ denigrari!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+GOD COMPELS THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONFESS THE ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR
+CONFESSION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Romish priests will resort to various means in order to deceive the people
+on the immorality resulting from auricular confession. One of their
+favorite stratagems is to quote some disconnected passages from
+theologians, recommending caution on the part of the priest in questioning
+his penitents on delicate subjects, should he see or apprehend any danger
+for the latter of being shocked by his questions. True, there are such
+prudent theologians, who seem to realize more than others the real danger
+for the priest in confession. But those wise counsellors resemble very much
+a father who would allow his child to put his fingers in the fire while
+advising him to be cautious lest he should burn his fingers. There is just
+as much wisdom in the one case as there would be in the other. Or what
+would you say of a brutal parent casting a young, weak, and inexperienced
+boy among wild beasts, with the foolish and cruel expectation that his
+prudence might save him from all injury?
+
+Such theologians may be perfectly honest in giving such advice, although it
+is anything but wise or reasonable. But those are far from being honest or
+true who contend that the Church of Rome, in commanding every one to
+confess all his sins to the priests, has made an exception in favor of sins
+against chastity. This is only so much dust thrown in the eyes of ignorant
+people to prevent them from seeing through the frightful mysteries of
+confession.
+
+When the council of Latran decided that every adult, of either sex, should
+confess all their sins to a priest, at least once a year, there was no
+provision made for any special class of sins, not even for those committed
+against modesty or purity. And the council of Trent, when ratifying or
+renewing the previous decision, no exception was made, either, of the sins
+in question. They were expected and had to be confessed, as all other sins.
+
+The law of both councils is still unrepealed and binding for all sins,
+without any exception. It is imperative, absolute; and every good Catholic,
+man or woman, must submit to it by confessing _all_ his or her sins at
+least once a year.
+
+I have in my hand Butler's Catechism, approved by several bishops of
+Quebec. On page 61, it reads that all penitents should examine themselves
+on the capital sins, and confess them "all, without exception, under
+penalty of eternal damnation."
+
+Therefore, the young and timid girl, the chaste and modest woman must think
+of shameful deeds and fill their minds with impure ideas, in order to
+confess to an unmarried man whatever they may be guilty of, however
+repugnant may be to them such confession, or dangerous for the priest who
+is bound to hear, and even demand it. No one is exempt from the loathsome
+and often polluting task. Both priest and penitent are required and
+compelled to go through the fiery ordeal of contamination and shame. They
+are bound, on every particular, the one to ask, and the other to answer,
+under penalty of eternal damnation.
+
+Such is the rigorous, inflexible law of the Church of Rome with regard to
+confession. It is taught not only in works on theology or from the pulpit,
+but in prayer-books and various other religious publications. It is so
+deeply impressed in the minds of Romanists as to have become a part of
+their religion. Such is the law which the priest himself has to obey, and
+which puts his penitents at his own discretion.
+
+But there are husbands with a jealous disposition, who would little fancy
+the idea of bachelors confessing their wives, if they knew exactly what
+questions they have to answer in confession. There are fathers and mothers
+who don't like much to see their daughters alone with a man, behind a
+curtain, and who would certainly tremble for their honor and virtue if they
+knew all the abominable mysteries of confession. It is necessary,
+therefore, to keep the people, as much as possible, in ignorance, and
+prevent light from reaching that empire of darkness, the confessional. In
+that view, confessors are advised to be cautious "on those matters;" to
+"broach these questions in a sort of covert way, and with the greatest
+reserve." For it is very desirable "not to shock modesty, neither frighten
+the penitent nor grieve her." "Sins, however, _must_ be confessed."
+
+Such is the prudent advice given to the confessor on certain occasions. In
+the hands or under the command of Liguori, Father Gury, Scavani, or other
+casuists, the priest is a sort of general, sent, with his army, during the
+night, to storm a citadel or a strong position, having for order to operate
+cautiously and before daylight. His mission is one of darkness and cunning,
+violence and cruelty; for when the pope commands, the priest, as his loyal
+soldier, must be ready to obey. But many a time, after the place has been
+captured by dint of strategy and secrecy, the poor soldier is left, badly
+wounded and completely disabled, on the battle-field. He has paid dearly
+for his victory; and the conquered citadel has received an injury from
+which it may never recover. But the crafty priest has gained his point: he
+has succeeded in persuading his lady penitent that there was no
+impropriety, that it was even necessary for them to have a parley on things
+that made her blush a few moments before. She is so well convinced that she
+would swear that there is nothing wrong in confession. Truly this is a
+fulfilment of the words:
+
+  "Abyssus abyssum invocat."
+
+Have the Romish theologians Gury, Scavani, Liguori, etc., ever been honest
+enough, in their works on confession, to say that the Most Holy God could
+never command or require woman to degrade and pollute herself and the
+priest in pouring in the ear of a frail and sinful mortal, words unfit even
+for an angel? No; they were very careful not to say so; for from that very
+moment, their shameless lies would have been exposed; the stupendous but
+weak structure of auricular confession would fall to the ground with sad
+havoc and ruin to its upholders. Men and women would open their eyes, and
+see its weakness and fallacy. "If God," they might say, "can forgive our
+most grievous sins, against modesty, he can and will certainly do the same
+with those of less gravity; therefore there is no necessity or occasion for
+us to confess to a priest."
+
+But those shrewd casuists know too well that by such frank confession, they
+would soon lose their hold on Catholic populations, especially on women, by
+whom, through confession, they rule the world. They much prefer to keep
+their gripe on benighted minds, frightened consciences, and trembling
+souls. No wonder, then, that they fully endorse and confirm the decisions
+of the councils of Latran and Trent ordering "that all sins must be
+confessed such as God knows them." No wonder that they try their best or
+worst to overcome the natural repugnance of women for making such
+confessions, and to conceal the terrible dangers for the priests in hearing
+the same.
+
+But God, in His infinite mercy, and for the sake of truth, has compelled,
+as it were, the Church of Rome to acknowledge the moral dangers and
+corrupting tendencies of auricular confession. In His eternal wisdom, he
+knew that Roman Catholics would close their ears to whatever might be said
+of the demoralizing influence of that institution; that they would even
+reply with insult and fallacy to the words of truth kindly addressed to
+them: as the Jews of old returned hatred and insult to the good Saviour who
+was bringing to them the glad tidings of a free salvation. He knew that
+Romish devotees, led astray by their priests, as were the poor blinded
+Jews, would call the apostles of truth liars, seducers, possessed of the
+devil, as Christ was constantly called a demoniac, an impostor, and finally
+put to death by his false accusers.
+
+But God, just as compassionate now as he was then for the poor benighted
+and deluded souls, has wrought a real miracle to open the eyes of their
+minds, and compel them, as it were, to believe us, when we say, on his
+authority, that auricular confession was invented by Satan to ruin both the
+priest and his female penitents, for time and eternity. For, what we would
+never have dared to say of ourself to the Roman Catholics with regard to
+what frequently happens between their priests and their wives and
+daughters, either during or after confession, God has constrained the
+Church of Rome to acknowledge herself in revealing things that would have
+seemed incredible had they come simply from our mouth or our pen. In this,
+as in other instances, that apostate church has unwittingly been the
+mouth-piece of God for the accomplishment of his great and merciful ends.
+
+Listen to the questions that the Church of Rome, through her theologians,
+puts to every priest after he has heard the confession of your wives or
+daughters:
+
+1. "_Nonne inter audiendas confessiones quasdam proposui questiones circa
+sextum decalogi præceptum cum intentione lubidinosâ?_" (Miroir du Clergé,
+p. 582.)
+
+While hearing confessions, have I not asked questions on sins against the
+sixth (the seventh in the Decalogue) commandment with the intention of
+satisfying my evil passions?
+
+Such is the man, O mothers and daughters, to whom you dare to unbosom the
+most secret as well as the most shameful actions. You kneel down at his
+feet and whisper in his ear your most intimate thoughts and desires, and
+your most polluting deeds; because your church, by dint of cunning and
+sophistry, has succeeded in persuading you that there was no impropriety or
+danger in doing so; that the man whom you chose for your spiritual guide
+and confident could never be tempted or tainted by such foul recitals. But
+that same church, through some mysterious providences, is made to
+acknowledge, in her own books, her own lies. In spite of herself, she
+admits that there is real danger in confession, both for the woman and for
+the priest; that willingly or otherwise, and sometimes both unawares, they
+lay for each other dangerous snares. The Church of Rome, as if she had an
+evil conscience for allowing her priest to hold such close and secret
+converse with a woman, on such delicate subjects, keeps, as it were, a
+watchful eye on him while the poor misguided woman is pouring in his ear
+the filthy burthen of her soul; and as soon as she is off, questions the
+priest as to the purity of his motives, the honesty of his intentions in
+putting the requisite questions. Have you not, she asks him immediately,
+under the pretence of helping that woman in her confession, put to her
+certain questions simply in order to gratify your lust, and with the object
+of satisfying your evil propensities?
+
+2. "_Nonne munus audiendi confessione suscepi, aut peregi ex pravâ
+incontinentiæ appetâ?_" (Idem, p. 582.)
+
+Have I not repaired to the confessional and heard confessions with the
+intention of gratifying my evil passions?
+
+O, ye women, who tremble like slaves at the feet of the priests, you
+sometimes admire the patience and charity of those good (?) priests, who
+are willing to spend so many long and tedious hours in hearing the
+confession of your secret sins; and you hardly know how to express your
+gratitude for so much kindness and charity. But hush! Listen to the voice
+of God speaking to the conscience of the priest, through the Church of
+Rome! "Have you not" she asks him, "heard the confession of women simply to
+foster or gratify the groveling passions of your fallen nature and corrupt
+heart?"
+
+Please notice, it is not I, or the enemies of your religion, who put to
+your priests the above questions: it is God himself who, in his pity and
+compassion, compels your own church to ask such questions; that your eyes
+may be opened, and that you may be rescued from all the dangerous
+obscenities and the humiliating and degrading slavery of auricular
+confession. It is God's will to deliver you from such bondage and
+degradation. In his tender mercies, he has provided means to drag you out
+of that cess-pool called confession; to break the chains which bind you to
+the feet of a miserable and blasphemous sinner called confessor, who, under
+the presence of being able to pardon your sins, usurps the place of your
+Saviour and your God! For while you are whispering your sins in his ear,
+God says to him, through his church, in tones loud enough to be heard: "In
+hearing the confession of these women, are you not actuated by lust,
+spurred by evil passions?"
+
+Is this not sufficient to warn you of the danger of auricular confession?
+Can you now with any sense of safety or propriety, come to that priest, for
+whom your very confession may be a snare, a cause of fall or fearful
+temptation? Can you with a particle of honor or modesty willingly expose
+yourself to impure desires or shameful deeds? Can you, with any sort of
+womanly dignity consent to entrust that man with your inmost thoughts and
+desires, your most humiliating and secret actions, when you know that that
+man may not have any higher object in listening to your confession than a
+lustful curiosity or a sinful desire of exciting his evil passions?
+
+3. "_Nonne ex auditis in confessiones occasionem sumpsi pænitentes
+utriusque sexûs ad peccandam sollicitandi?_" (Idem, p. 582)
+
+Have I not availed myself of what I heard in confession to induce my
+penitents to commit sin?
+
+I would run a great risk of being treated with the utmost contempt, should
+I dare to put to your priests such a question. You would very likely call
+me a scoundrel for daring to question the honesty and purity of such holy
+men. You would perhaps go as far as to contend that it is utterly
+impossible for them to be guilty of such sins as are alluded to in the
+above question; that never such shameful deeds have been perpetrated
+through confession. And you would, maybe, emphatically deny that your
+confessor has ever said or done anything that might lead you to sin or even
+commit any breach of propriety or modesty. You feel perfectly safe on that
+score, and see no danger to apprehend.
+
+Let me tell you, good ladies, that you are altogether too confident and in
+the most fatal delusion. Your own church, through the merciful and warning
+voice of God speaking to the conscience of your own theologians, tells you
+that there is a real and eminent danger where you fancy yourself in perfect
+security. You may never have suspected the danger, but it is there, within
+the walls of the confessional; nay, more, it is lurking in your very hearts
+and that of your confessor. He may hitherto have refrained from
+temptations; he may, at least, have kept within the proper limits of
+outward morality or decency. But nothing warrants you that he may not be
+tempted; and nothing could shield you from his attempts on your virtue
+should he give way to temptation; as cases are not wanting to prove the
+truth of my assertion. You are sadly mistaken, in a false and dangerous
+security. You are perhaps, although unawares, on the very brink of a
+precipice, where so many have fallen through their blind confidence in
+their own strength or their confessor's prudence and sanctity. Your own
+church is very anxious about your safety; she trembles for your innocence
+and purity. In her fear, she cautions the priest to be watchful over his
+wicked passions and human frailty. How dare you pretend to be stronger and
+more holy? Why should you so wilfully imperil your chastity or modesty? Why
+expose yourself to danger, when it could be so easily avoided? How can you
+be so rash, so devoid of common prudence and modesty as to shamelessly put
+yourselves in a position to tempt and be tempted, and thereby incur your
+temporal and eternal perdition?
+
+4. "_Nonne extra tribunal, vel in ipso confessionis actu, aliquia dixi aut
+egi cum intentione diabolicâ has personas seducendi?_ (Idem, idem.)
+
+Have I not, either during or after confession, done or said anything with a
+diabolical intention of seducing my female penitents?
+
+"What arch-enemy of our holy religion is so bold and impious as to put to
+our saintly priests such an impudent and insulting question?" may ask some
+of our Roman Catholic readers. It is easy to answer. This great enemy of
+your religion is no less than a justly offended God, admonishing and
+reproving your priests for exposing both you and themselves to dangerous
+allurements and seductions. It is his voice speaking to their consciences,
+and warning them of the danger and corruption of auricular confession. It
+says to them: Beware! for ye might be tempted, as surely you will, to do or
+say something against honor and purity. Husbands and fathers, who rightly
+value the honor of your wives and daughters more than all treasures, who
+consider it too precious a boon to be exposed to the dangers of pollution,
+and who would prefer to lose your life a thousand times than to see those
+you love most on earth fall in the snares of the seducer, read once more
+and ponder what your church asks the priest after he has heard your wife or
+daughter in confession: "Have you not, either during or after confession,
+done or said anything with a diabolical intention of seducing your female
+penitents?"
+
+If your priest remains deaf to these words addressed to his conscience, you
+cannot help giving heed to them and understanding their full significance.
+You can not be easy and fear nothing from that priest in those close
+interviews with your wives and daughters, when his superiors and your own
+Church tremble for him, and question his purity and honesty. They see a
+great danger for both the confessor and his penitent; for they know that
+confession has many a time been the pretence or the cause of the most
+shameful seductions.
+
+If there was no real danger for the chastity of women, in confessing to a
+man their most secret sins, do you believe that your popes and theologians
+would be so stupid as to acknowledge it and put to confessors questions
+that would be most insulting and out of place, should there be no occasion
+for them?
+
+Is it not presumption and folly on your part to think that there is no
+danger, when the Church of Rome tells you positively that there is danger,
+and uses the strongest terms in expressing her uneasiness and apprehension?
+
+Why, your church sees the most pressing reasons to fear for the honor of
+your wives and daughters, as well as for the chastity of her priest: and
+still you remain unconcerned, indifferent to the fearful peril to which
+they are exposed! Are you like the Jewish people of old, to whom it was
+said; "Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive
+not?" (Isa. vi, 9).
+
+But if you see or suspect the danger you are warned of; if the eye of your
+intelligence can fathom the dreadful abyss where the dearest objects of
+your heart are in danger of falling, then it behoves you to keep them from
+the paths that lead to the fearful chasm. Do not wait till it is too late,
+when they are too near the precipice to be rescued. You may think the
+danger to be far off, while it is near at hand. Profit by the sad
+experience of so many victims of confession who have been irretrievably
+lost, irrecoverably ruined for time and eternity. The voice of your
+conscience, of honor, of God himself, tells you that it may become too late
+to save them from destruction, through your neglect and procrastination.
+While thanking God for having preserved them from temptations that have
+proved fatal to so many married or unmarried women, do not lose a single
+moment in taken the necessary means to keep them from temptation and falls.
+
+Instead of allowing them to go and kneel at the feet of a man to obtain the
+remission of their sins, lead them to the cross, the only place where they
+can secure pardon and peace everlasting. And why, after so many unfruitful
+attempts, should they try any longer to wash themselves in a puddle, when
+the pure waters of eternal life are offered them so freely, through Christ
+Jesus, their only Saviour and Mediator?
+
+Instead of seeking their pardon from a poor and miserable sinner, weak and
+tempted as they are, let them go to Christ, the only strong and perfect
+man, the only hope and salvation of the world.
+
+O poor deluded Catholic woman! listen no longer to the deceiving words of
+the Church of Rome, who has no pardon, no peace for you, but only snares;
+who offers you thraldom and shame in return for the confession of your
+sins! But listen rather to the invitations of your Saviour, who has died on
+the cross that you might be saved, and who alone can give rest to your
+weary souls.
+
+Harken to His words when he says to you: "Come to me, O ye heavily laden,
+crushed, as it were, under the burden of your sins, and I shall give you
+rest.... I am the physician of your souls.... Those who are well have no
+need of a physician, but those who are sick.... Come then to me and ye
+shall be healed.... I have sent back nor lost none who have come to me....
+Invoke my name.... believe in me.... repent.... love God and your neighbor
+as yourself, and you shall be saved.... For all who believe in me and call
+upon my name, shall be saved.... When I am raised up between heaven and
+earth, I shall draw every one to me"....
+
+O, mothers and daughters, instead of going to the priest for pardon and
+salvation, go to Jesus, who is so pressingly inviting you, and the more so
+as you have more need of divine help and grace. Even if you are as great a
+sinner as Mary Magdalene you can, like her, wash the feet of the Saviour
+with the flowing tears of your repentance and your love, and like her,
+receive the pardon of your sins.
+
+To Jesus then, and to him alone for the confession and pardon of your sins:
+for there only you can find peace, light, and life!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SOME OF THE MATTERS ON WHICH THE PRIEST OF ROME MUST QUESTION HIS
+PENITENTS.
+
+A CHAPTER FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATORS, HUSBANDS, AND FATHERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dens wants the confessors to interrogate on the following matters:--
+
+1. "Peccant uxores, quæ susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+conantur." (Dens, tom. vii. p. 147).
+
+2. "Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si copulâ inceptâ, cohibeant
+seminationem."
+
+3. "Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter peccat, si se
+retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando seminationem
+uxoris." (p. 153).
+
+4. "Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari modus,
+sive situs; imo ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula habeatur in vase
+præpostero, alioquoque non naturali. Si fiat accedendo a postero, a latere,
+stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit succumbus." (p. 166).
+
+5. "Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam cum
+seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi. Vel, ut
+si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius viri, non respectu alterius".
+(vol. vii. p. 273).
+
+6. "Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen earum
+non effluat extra membrum genitale.
+
+Indicium istius allegat Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis
+resolutionem cum magno voluptatis sensu, quâ completâ, passio satiatur"
+(vol. iv. p. 168).
+
+7. "Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum, interrogetur
+an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit" (vol. vii. p. 168).
+
+8. "Confessarius poenitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum sacerdote, vel
+sollicitatam ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum ille sacerdos sit
+ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollitaverit" (vol. vi. p. 294).
+
+There are a great many other unmentionable things on which Dens, in his
+fourth, fifth, and seventh volumes, requires the confessor to ask from his
+penitent, which I omit.
+
+Now let us come to Liguori. That so-called Saint, Liguori is not less
+diabolically impure than Dens, in his questions to the women. But I will
+cite only two of the things on which the spiritual physician of the Pope
+must not fail to examine his spiritual patient:--
+
+1. "Quærat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os uxoris?...
+
+Verius affirmo quia, in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum periculum
+pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriæ contra naturam, dicta,
+irruminatio."
+
+2. "Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali, qui, in actu copulæ,
+immiteret digitum in vas præposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc actu
+adest affectus ad Sodomiam" (Liguori, tom. vi. p. 935).
+
+The celebrated Burchard, Bishop of Worms, has made a book of the questions
+which had to be put by the confessors to their penitents of both sexes.
+During several centuries it was the standard book of the priests of Rome.
+Though that work to-day is out of print, Dens, Liguori, Debreysne, &c.,
+&c., have ransacked its polluting pages, and given them to study to the
+modern confessors, in order to question their penitents. I will select only
+a few questions of the Roman Catholic bishop to the young men:--
+
+1. "Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita dico ut
+ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic duceres præputium
+tuum, et manu propriâ commoveres, ut, sic, per illam delectationem semen
+projiceres?"
+
+2. "Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum virile
+membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen funderes?"
+
+3. "Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidem facere solent, ut tuum virile membrum
+in lignum perforâtum, aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres, et, sic, per
+illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?"
+
+4. "Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+animalibus coire, id est cum equo, cum vaccâ, vel asinâ, vel aliquo
+animali?" (vol. i. p. 136.)
+
+Among the questions we find in the Compendium of the Right Rev. Burchard,
+Bishop of Worms, which must be put to women, are the following (p. 115):--
+
+1. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut machinamentum
+in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuæ voluptatis, et illud loco
+verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis, ut fornicationem
+faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alia eodem instrumento, sive alio tecum?"
+
+2. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+molimine, vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+fornicationem?"
+
+3. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+vexantem extinguere volunt, quæ se conjungunt quasi coire debeant et
+possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperia sua, et sic, fricando pruritum
+illarum extinguere desiderant?"
+
+4. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio suo parvulo
+fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra turpidinem tuam
+poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?"
+
+5. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio, ut sic
+coiret tecum?"
+
+The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book, composed of the most
+incredible details of impurities, to instruct the young confessors in the
+art of questioning their penitents. The name of the book is "Moechiology,"
+or "treaty on all the sins against the six (seven) and the nine
+commandments, as well as on all the questions of the married life which
+refer to them."
+
+That work is much approved and studied in the Church of Rome. I do not know
+that the world has ever seen anything comparable to the filthy and infamous
+details of that book. I will cite only two of the questions which Debreyne
+wants the confessor to put to his penitent.
+
+To the young men (page 95) the confessor will ask:--
+
+"Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore et
+quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quosdam motus in corpore experti fuerint,
+et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus nihil insolitum et
+turpe acciderit; an non longe majorem in corpore voluptatem perceperint in
+fine tactuum quam in eorum principio; an tum in fine quando magnam
+delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus corporis cessaverint; an non
+madefacti fuerint?" &c., &.
+
+To the girl the confessor will ask:--
+
+"Quæ sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+voluptatem; an tunc, ipsimet tactus cessaverint?" &c., &c.
+
+The Right Rev. Kenrick, late Bishop of Boston, United States, in his book
+for the teaching of confessors on what matters they must question their
+penitents, has the following, which I select among thousands as impure and
+damnable to the soul and body:--
+
+"Uxor quæ, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel statim
+post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat; sed opus non
+est ut diu resupina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi, semen attrahat, et mox,
+arctissime claudatur" (vol. iii. p. 317).
+
+"Puellæ patienti licet se vertere, et conari ut non recipiat semen, quod
+injuria ei immittitur; sed, exceptum, non licet expellere, quia jam
+possessionem pacificam habet, et haud absque injuriâ naturæ ejiceretur"
+(tom. iii. p. 317).
+
+"Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpâ, licet contingat semen extra
+vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitate naturæ. Quod si vires
+adeo sint fractæ ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas spes, jam nequeunt jure
+conjugii uti" (tom. iii. p. 317).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Notes
+
+[1] "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every
+woman have her own husband." (1 Cor. vii. 2.)
+
+[2] A silver box containing consecrated bread, which is believed to be the
+real body, blood, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
+
+[3] And remark that all their religious authors who have written on that
+subject hold the same language. They all speak of those continual degrading
+temptations; they all lament the damning sins which follow those
+temptations; they all entreat the priests to fight those temptations and
+repent of those sins.
+
+[4] He is dead long ago.
+
+[5] By the word _penitents_, Rome means not those who _repent_, but those
+who _confess_ to the priest.
+
+[6] He died many years after when at the head of the Laval University.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Corrections made to printed original.
+
+Chapter I. Para. 9. "I do here publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic
+priesthood" - 'hear' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 13. "everywhere they struggle nerve themselves with a superhuman
+courage" - 'stuggle' in original.
+
+Chapter II. Para. 1. "The terrible and mysterious cause of her death was
+known" - 'known' in original.
+
+Chapter III. Para 9. "he suspects that nobody but his co-sinner brethren" -
+'brethern' in original.
+
+Chapter V. Para 12. "a good, honest, Christian, and godly thing" -
+'Christain' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 36. "particularly if high education has added to her natural
+shrewdness." - 'particulary' in original.
+
+Chapter VI. Para 30. "humiliation and opprobrium of the questionable
+privileges of an uncertain paternity." - 'questioable' in original
+
+ibid. Para 39. "it is nothing else than a school of immorality." - 'im-' at
+end of one line is not completed in original, this completion seems best to
+fit the sense of the next paragraph.
+
+CHAPTER VII. Heading - 'CHAPTER VIII.' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 12. "the obligation and power which every one of His disciples
+had of forgiving" - 'desciples' in original.
+
+Chapter IX. Para 80. "secreto et absque arbitrio" - 'and' for 'et' in
+original. "aliquid loquendum habet" - 'loquem dum' in original
+
+ibid. Para 89. "Curiosum genus ad cognoscendam vitam alienam;" -
+'cognescendam' in original
+
+ibid. Para 121. "ex hisque perpetuâ infamiâ denigrari!" - 'hisgue' in
+original
+
+Chapter XI. Para 20. "which must be put to women" - 'womem' in original.
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional, by 
+Father Chiniquy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional
+
+Author: Father Chiniquy
+
+Release Date: December 16, 2006 [EBook #20120]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONFESSION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions
+(www.canadiana.org))
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;">
+  <tr>
+    <td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top">
+      Transcriber's note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+        A few typographical errors have been corrected. They
+        appear in the text <span class="correction"
+        title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the
+        explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked
+        passage.
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<h2>THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN</h2>
+
+<p class="cenhead">AND</p>
+
+<h2>THE CONFESSIONAL.</h2>
+
+<h2>By FATHER CHINIQUY.</h2>
+
+<h3>Montreal:</h3>
+
+<h3>F. E. GRAFTON, BOOKSELLER.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">CORNER CRAIG ST. AND VICTORIA SQUARE.</p>
+
+<h3>1875.</h3>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr >
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">Entered</span> according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year One<br />
+thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, by <span class="sc">F. E. Grafton</span> of<br />
+Montreal, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr >
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_I">CHAPTER I</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the struggle before the surrender of womanly self-respect in the confessional</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_II">CHAPTER II</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">auricular confession a deep pit of perdition for the priest</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_III">CHAPTER III</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the confessional is the modern sodom</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_IV">CHAPTER IV</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">how the vow of celibacy of the priests is made easy by auricular confession</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_V">CHAPTER V</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the highly educated and refined woman in the confessional.&mdash;what becomes of her after her unconditional surrender.&mdash;her irreparable ruin</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_VI">CHAPTER VI</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">auricular confession destroys all the sacred ties of marriage and human society</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_VII">CHAPTER VII</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">should auricular confession be tolerated among civilized nations?</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">does auricular confession bring peace to the soul?</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_IX">CHAPTER IX</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the dogma of auricular confession a sacrilegious imposture</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_X">CHAPTER X</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">god compels the church of rome to confess the abominations of auricular confession</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#chapter_XI">CHAPTER XI</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">some of the matters on which the priest of rome must question his penitents.&mdash;a chapter for the consideration of legislators, husbands, fathers, &amp;c.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="full" >
+
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3>EZEKIEL.</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Chapter</span> VIII.</h3>
+
+  <p>1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth <i>month</i>, in
+  the fifth <i>day</i> of the month, <i>as</i> I sat in mine house, and the
+  elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord <span
+  class="sc">God</span> fell there upon me.</p>
+
+  <p>2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the
+  appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even
+  upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.</p>
+
+  <p>3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine
+  head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and
+  brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner
+  gate that looketh toward the north; where <i>was</i> the seat of the
+  image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.</p>
+
+  <p>4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel <i>was</i> there,
+  according to the vision that I saw in the plain.</p>
+
+  <p>5 ¶ Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way
+  toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and
+  behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the
+  entry.</p>
+
+  <p>6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do?
+  <i>even</i> the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth
+  here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet
+  again, <i>and</i> thou shalt see greater abominations.</p>
+
+  <p>7 ¶ And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked,
+  behold a hole in the wall.</p>
+
+  <p>8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I
+  had digged in the wall, behold a door.</p>
+
+  <p>9 And he said unto me. Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that
+  they do here.</p>
+
+  <p>10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and
+  abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed
+  upon the wall round about.</p>
+
+  <p>11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the
+  house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of
+  Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of
+  incense went up.</p>
+
+  <p>12 Then said he unto me. Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients
+  of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his
+  imagery? for they say, The <span class="sc">Lord</span> seeth us not; the
+  <span class="sc">Lord</span> hath forsaken the earth.</p>
+
+  <p>13 ¶ He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, <i>and</i> thou shalt
+  see greater abominations that they do.</p>
+
+  <p>14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the <span
+  class="sc">Lord's</span> house which <i>was</i> toward the north; and,
+  behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.</p>
+
+  <p>15 ¶ Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen <i>this</i>, O Son of man?
+  turn thee yet again, <i>and</i> thou shalt see greater abominations than
+  these.</p>
+
+  <p>16 And he brought me into the inner court of the <span
+  class="sc">Lord's</span> house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of
+  the <span class="sc">Lord</span>, between the porch and the altar,
+  <i>were</i> about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple
+  of the <span class="sc">Lord</span>, and their faces toward the east; and
+  they worshipped the sun toward the east.</p>
+
+  <p>17 ¶ Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen <i>this</i>, O Son of man?
+  Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the
+  abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with
+  violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger; and, lo, they put the
+  branch to their nose.</p>
+
+  <p>18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare,
+  neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud
+  voice, <i>yet</i> will I not hear them.</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_I">CHAPTER I</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the struggle before the surrender of womanly self-respect in the confessional.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>There are two women who ought to be the constant objects of the
+  compassion of the disciples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought
+  to be offered at the mercy-seat&mdash;the Brahmin woman, who, deceived by
+  her priests, burns herself on the corpse of her husband to appease the
+  wrath of her wooden gods; and the Roman Catholic woman, who, not less
+  deceived by her priests, suffers a torture far more cruel and ignominious
+  in the confessional-box to appease the wrath of her wafer-god.</p>
+
+  <p>For I do not exaggerate when I say that for many noble-hearted,
+  well-educated, high-minded women to be forced to unveil their hearts
+  before the eyes of a man, to open to him all the most sacred recesses of
+  their souls, all the most sacred mysteries of their single or married
+  life, to allow him to put to them questions which the most depraved woman
+  would never consent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more
+  horrible and intolerable than to be tied on burning coals.</p>
+
+  <p>More than once I have seen women fainting in the confessional-box, who
+  told me, afterwards, that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man
+  on certain things, on which the most common laws of decency ought to have
+  for ever sealed their lips, had almost killed them! Not hundreds, but
+  thousands of times I have heard from the dying lips of single girls, as
+  well as of married women, the awful words: "I am for ever lost! All my
+  past confessions and communions have been as many sacrileges! I have
+  never dared to answer correctly the questions of my confessors! Shame has
+  sealed my lips and damned my soul!"</p>
+
+  <p>How many times I remained as one petrified by the side of a corpse
+  when, these last words having hardly escaped the lips of one of my female
+  penitents, she was snatched out of my reach by the merciless hand of
+  death, before I could give her pardon through the deceitful sacramental
+  absolution! I then believed, as the dead sinner herself believed, that
+  she could not be forgiven except by that absolution.</p>
+
+  <p>For there are not only thousands, but millions, of Roman Catholic
+  girls and women whose keen sense of modesty and womanly dignity are above
+  all the sophisms and diabolical machinations of their priests. They never
+  can be persuaded to answer "Yes" to certain questions of their
+  confessors. They would prefer to be thrown into the flames, and burnt to
+  ashes with the Brahmin widows, rather than to allow the eyes of a man to
+  pry into the sacred sanctuary of their souls. Though sometimes guilty
+  before God, and under the impression that their sins will never be
+  forgiven if not confessed, the laws of decency are stronger in their
+  hearts than the laws of their cruel and perfidious Church. No
+  consideration, not even the fear of eternal damnation, can persuade them
+  to declare to a sinful man sins which God alone has the right to know,
+  for He alone can blot them out with the blood of His Son shed on the
+  cross.</p>
+
+  <p>But what a wretched life that of those exceptional noble souls, which
+  Rome keeps in the dark dungeons of her superstition! They read in all
+  their books, and hear from all their pulpits, that if they conceal a
+  single sin from their confessors they are for ever lost! But, being
+  absolutely unable to trample under their feet the laws of self-respect
+  and decency which God Himself has impressed in their souls, they live in
+  constant dread of eternal damnation. No human words can tell their
+  desolation and distress when, at the feet of their confessors, they find
+  themselves between the horrible necessity of speaking of things on which
+  they would prefer to suffer the most cruel death rather than to open
+  their lips, or to be for ever damned if they do not degrade themselves
+  for ever in their own eyes by speaking on matters which a respectable
+  woman will never reveal to her own mother, much less to a man!</p>
+
+  <p>I have known only too many of these noble-hearted women, who, when
+  alone with God, in a real agony of desolation and with burning tears, had
+  asked Him to grant them what they considered the greatest favour, which
+  was to lose so much of their self-respect as to be enabled to speak of
+  those unmentionable things just as their confessors wanted them to speak;
+  and, hoping that their petition had been granted, they went again to the
+  confessional-box, determined to unveil their shame before the eyes of
+  that inexorable man. But, when the moment had come for the
+  self-immolation, their courage failed, their knees trembled, their lips
+  became pale as death. Cold sweat flowed from all their pores! The voice
+  of modesty and womanly self-respect was speaking louder than the voice of
+  their false religion. They had to go out of the confessional-box
+  unpardoned&mdash;nay, with the burden of a new sacrilege on their
+  conscience.</p>
+
+  <p>Oh, how heavy is the yoke of Rome&mdash;how bitter is human
+  life&mdash;how cheerless is the mystery of the cross to those deluded and
+  perishing souls! How gladly they would rush into the blazing piles with
+  the Brahmin women, if they could hope to see the end of their unspeakable
+  miseries through the momentary tortures which would open to them the
+  gates of a better life!</p>
+
+  <p>I do <span class="correction" title="'hear' in original">here</span>
+  publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic priesthood to deny that the
+  greater part of their female penitents remain a certain period of
+  time&mdash;some longer, some shorter&mdash;under that most distressing
+  state of mind.</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, by far the greater majority of women, at first, find it next to
+  impossible to pull down the sacred barriers of self-respect which God
+  Himself has built around their hearts, intelligences, and souls, as the
+  best safeguard against the snares of this polluted world. Those laws of
+  self-respect, by which they cannot consent to speak an impure word into
+  the ears of a man, and which shut all the avenues of their hearts against
+  his unchaste questions, even, when speaking in the name of
+  God&mdash;those laws of self-respect are so clearly written in their
+  conscience, and they are so well understood by them to be a most Divine
+  gift, that, as I have already said, many prefer to run the risk of being
+  for ever lost by remaining silent.</p>
+
+  <p>It takes many years of the most ingenious (I do not hesitate to call
+  it diabolical) efforts on the part of the priests to persuade the
+  majority of their female penitents to speak on questions which even pagan
+  savages would blush to mention among themselves. Some persist in
+  remaining silent on those matters during the greatest part of their
+  lives, and many prefer to throw themselves into the hands of their
+  merciful God and die without submitting to the defiling ordeal, even
+  after they have felt the poisonous stings of the enemy, rather than
+  receive their pardon from a man who, as they feel, would have surely been
+  scandalized by the recital of their human frailties. All the priests of
+  Rome are aware of this natural disposition of their female penitents.
+  There is not a single one&mdash;no, not a single one of their moral
+  theologians, who does not warn the confessors against that stern and
+  general determination of the girls and married women never to speak in
+  the confessional on matters which may, more or less, deal with sins
+  against the seventh commandment. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Bailly,
+  &amp;c.&mdash;in a word, all the theologians of Rome&mdash;own that this
+  is one of the greatest difficulties which the confessors have to contend
+  with in the confessional-box.</p>
+
+  <p>Not a single Roman Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on
+  this matter; for they know that it would be easy for me to overwhelm them
+  with such crowd of testimonies that their grand imposture would for ever
+  be unmasked.</p>
+
+  <p>I intend, some future day, if God spares me and gives me time for it,
+  to make known some of the innumerable things which the Roman Catholic
+  theologians and moralists have written on this question. It will form one
+  of the most curious books ever written; and it will give an unanswerable
+  evidence of the fact that, instinctively, without consulting each other,
+  with an unanimity which is almost marvellous, the Roman Catholic women,
+  guided by the honest instincts which God has given them, shrink from the
+  snares put before them in the confessional-box; and that everywhere they
+  <span class="correction" title="'stuggle' in original">struggle</span> to
+  nerve themselves with a superhuman courage against the torturer who is
+  sent by the Pope to finish their ruin and to make shipwreck of their
+  souls. Everywhere woman feels that there are things which ought never to
+  be told, as there are things which ought never to be done, in the
+  presence of the God of holiness. She understands that, to recite the
+  history of certain sins, even of thoughts, is not less shameful and
+  criminal than to do them; she hears the voice of God whispering into her
+  ears, "Is it not enough that thou hast been guilty once, when alone, in
+  My presence, without adding to thine iniquity, by allowing that man to
+  know what should never have been revealed to him? Do you not feel that
+  you make that man your own accomplice the very moment that you throw into
+  his heart and soul the mire of your iniquities? He is as weak as you are;
+  he is not less a sinner than yourself; what has tempted you will tempt
+  him; what has made you weak will make him weak? what has polluted you
+  will pollute him; what has thrown you down into the dust will throw him
+  down into the dust. Is it not enough that My eyes had to look upon your
+  iniquities? must my ears to-day listen to your impure conversation with
+  that man? Were that man as holy as My prophet David, may he not fall
+  before the unchaste unveiling of the new Bathsheba? Were he as strong as
+  Sampson, may he not find in you his tempting Delilah? Were he as generous
+  as Peter, may he not become a traitor at the maid-servant's voice?"</p>
+
+  <p>Perhaps the world has never seen a more terrible, desperate, solemn
+  struggle than the one which is going on in the soul of the poor trembling
+  young woman, who, at the feet of that man, has to decide whether or not
+  she will open her lips on those things which the infallible voice of God,
+  united to the no less infallible voice of her womanly honour and
+  self-respect, tell her never to reveal to any man!</p>
+
+  <p>The history of that secret, fierce, desperate, and deadly struggle has
+  never yet, so far as I know, been fully given. It would draw the tears of
+  admiration and compassion of the whole world, if it could be written with
+  its simple, sublime, and terrible realities.</p>
+
+  <p>How many times I have wept as a child when some noble-hearted and
+  intelligent young girl, or some respectable married woman, yielding to
+  the sophisms with which I, or some other confessor, had persuaded them to
+  give up their self-respect, their womanly dignity, to speak with me on
+  matters on which a decent woman would never say a word with a man! They
+  told me of their invincible repugnance, their horror of such questions
+  and answers, and they asked me to have pity on them. Yes! I often wept
+  bitterly on my degradation when a priest of Rome! I felt all the
+  strength, the grandeur, the holiness of their motives for being silent on
+  those defiling matters. I could not but admire them. It seemed, at times,
+  that they were speaking the language of angels of light; that I ought to
+  fall at their feet, and ask their pardon for having spoken to them of
+  questions on which a man of honour ought never to converse with a woman
+  whom he respects.</p>
+
+  <p>But, alas! I had soon to reproach myself and regret these short
+  instances of my wavering faith in the infallible voice of my Church; I
+  had soon to silence the voice of my conscience, which was telling me, "Is
+  it not a shame that you, an unmarried man, dare to speak on those matters
+  with a woman? Do you not blush to put such questions to a young girl?
+  Where is your self-respect? where is your fear of God? Do you not promote
+  the ruin of that girl by forcing her to speak with a man on such
+  questions?"</p>
+
+  <p>I was compelled by all the Popes, the moral theologians, and the
+  Councils of Rome, to believe that this warning voice of my merciful God
+  was the voice of Satan; I had to believe, in spite of my own conscience
+  and intelligence, that it was good, nay, necessary, to put those
+  polluting, damning questions. My infallible Church was mercilessly
+  forcing me to oblige those poor, trembling, weeping, desolated girls and
+  women to swim with me and all her priests in those waters of Sodom and
+  Gomorrha, under the pretext that their self-will would be broken down,
+  their fear of sin and humility increased, and that they would be purified
+  by our absolutions.</p>
+
+  <p>In the beginning of my priesthood, I was not a little surprised and
+  embarrassed to see a very accomplished and beautiful young lady, whom I
+  used to meet almost every week in her father's house, entering the box of
+  my confessional. She used to go to confess to another young priest of my
+  acquaintance, and she was looked upon as one of the most pious girls of
+  the city. Though she had disguised herself as much as possible, that I
+  might not know her, I thought that I was not mistaken&mdash;she was the
+  amiable Mary *&nbsp;*&nbsp;*&nbsp;*</p>
+
+  <p>Not being absolutely sure of the correctness of my impressions, I left
+  her entirely under the hope that she was a perfect stranger to me. At the
+  beginning she could hardly speak; her voice was suffocated by her sobs;
+  and, through the little apertures of the thin partition between her and
+  me, I saw two streams of big tears trickling down her cheeks.</p>
+
+  <p>After much effort, she said: "Dear Father, I hope you do not know me,
+  and that you will never try to know me. I am a desperately great sinner.
+  Oh! I fear that I am lost! But if there is still any hope for me to be
+  saved, for God's sake, do not rebuke me! Before I begin my confession,
+  allow me to ask you not to pollute my ears by the questions which our
+  confessors are in the habit of putting to their female penitents. I have
+  already been destroyed by those questions. Before I was seventeen years
+  old, God knows that His angels are not more pure than I was; but the
+  chaplain of the Nunnery where my parents had sent me for my education,
+  though approaching old age, put to me in the confessional a question
+  which, at first, I did not understand; but, unfortunately, he had put the
+  same questions to one of my young class-mates, who made fun of them in my
+  presence, and explained them to me; for she understood them too well.
+  This first unchaste conversation of my life plunged my thoughts into a
+  sea of iniquity, till then absolutely unknown to me; temptations of the
+  most humiliating character assailed me for a week, day and night; after
+  which, sins which I would blot out with my blood, if it were possible,
+  overwhelmed my soul as with a deluge. But the joys of the sinner are
+  short. Struck with terror at the thought of the judgments of God, after a
+  few weeks of the most deplorable life, I determined to give up my sins
+  and reconcile myself to God. Covered with shame, and trembling from head
+  to foot, I went to confess to my old confessor, whom I respected as a
+  saint and cherished as a father. It seems to me that with sincere tears
+  of repentance I confessed to him the greatest part of my sins, though I
+  concealed one of them through shame, and respect for my spiritual guide.
+  But I did not conceal from him that the strange questions he had put to
+  me at my last confession were, with the natural corruption of my heart,
+  the principal cause of my destruction.</p>
+
+  <p>"He spoke to me very kindly, encouraged me to fight against my bad
+  inclinations, and, at first, gave me very kind and good advice. But when
+  I thought he had finished speaking, and as I was preparing to leave the
+  confessional-box, he put to me two new questions of such a polluting
+  character that I fear neither the blood of Christ nor all the fires of
+  hell will ever be able to blot them out from my memory. Those questions
+  have achieved my ruin; they have stuck to my mind as two deadly arrows;
+  they are day and night before my imagination; they fill my very arteries
+  and veins with a deadly poison.</p>
+
+  <p>"It is true that, at first, they filled me with horror and disgust;
+  but, alas! I soon got so accustomed to them that they seemed to be
+  incorporated with me, and as though becoming a second nature. Those
+  thoughts have become a new source of innumerable criminal thoughts,
+  desires, and actions.</p>
+
+  <p>"A month later, we were obliged, by the rules of our convent, to go to
+  confess; but this time, I was so completely lost that I no longer blushed
+  at the idea of confessing my shameful sins to a man; it was the very
+  contrary. I had a real, diabolical pleasure in the thought that I should
+  have a long conversation with my confessor on those matters, and that he
+  would ask me more of his strange questions.</p>
+
+  <p>"In fact, when I had told him everything, without a blush, he began to
+  interrogate me, and God knows what corrupting things fell from his lips
+  into my poor criminal heart! Every one of his questions was thrilling my
+  nerves, and filling me with the most shameful sensations. After an hour
+  of this criminal <i>tête-á-tête</i> with my old confessor (for it was
+  nothing else but a criminal <i>tête-á-tête</i>), I perceived that he was
+  as depraved as I was myself. With some half-covered words, he made me a
+  criminal proposition, which I accepted with covered words also; and
+  during more than a year, we have lived together in the most sinful
+  intimacy. Though he was much older than I, I loved him in the most
+  foolish way. When the course of my convent instruction was finished, my
+  parents called me back to their home. I was really glad of that change of
+  residence, for I was beginning to be tired of my criminal life. My hope
+  was that, under the direction of a better confessor, I should reconcile
+  myself to God and begin a Christian life.</p>
+
+  <p>"Unfortunately for me, my new confessor, who was very young, began
+  also his interrogations. He soon fell in love with me, and I loved him in
+  a most criminal way. I have done with him things which I hope you will
+  never request me to reveal to you, for they are too monstrous to be
+  repeated, even in the confessional, by a woman to a man.</p>
+
+  <p>"I do not say these things to take away the responsibility of my
+  iniquities with this young confessor from my shoulders, for I think I
+  have been more criminal than he was. It is my firm conviction that he was
+  a good and holy priest before he knew me; but the questions he put to me,
+  and the answers I had to give him, melted his heart&mdash;I know
+  it&mdash;just as boiling lead would melt the ice on which it flows.</p>
+
+  <p>"I know this is not such a detailed confession as our holy Church
+  requires me to make, but I have thought it necessary for me to give you
+  this short history of the life of the greatest and the most miserable
+  sinner who ever asked you to help her to come out from the tomb of her
+  iniquities. This is the way I have lived these last few years. But last
+  Sabbath, God, in His infinite mercy, looked down upon me. He inspired you
+  to give us the Prodigal Son as a model of true conversion, and as the
+  most marvelous proof of the infinite compassion of the dear Saviour for
+  the sinner. I have wept day and night since that happy day, when I threw
+  myself into the arms of my loving, merciful Father. Even now I can hardly
+  speak, because my regret for my past iniquities, and my joy that I am
+  allowed to bathe the feet of my Saviour with my tears, are so great that
+  my voice is as choked.</p>
+
+  <p>"You understand that I have for ever given up my last confessor. I
+  come to ask you the favour to receive me among your penitents. Oh! do not
+  reject nor rebuke me, for the dear Saviour's sake! Be not afraid to have
+  at your side such a monster of iniquity! But before going farther, I have
+  two favours to ask from you. The first is, that you will never do
+  anything to know my name; the second is, that you will never put me any
+  of those questions by which so many penitents are lost and so many
+  priests for ever destroyed. Twice I have been lost by those questions. We
+  come to our confessors that they may throw upon our guilty souls the pure
+  waters which flow from heaven to purify us; and, instead of that, with
+  their unmentionable questions, they pour oil on the burning fires which
+  arc already raging in our poor sinful hearts. Oh! dear father, let me
+  become your penitent, that you may help me to go and weep with Magdalene
+  at the Saviours feet! Do respect me, as He respected that true model of
+  all the sinful but repenting women! Did Our Saviour put to her any
+  question? did He extort from her the history of things which a sinful
+  woman cannot say without forgetting the respect she owes to herself and
+  to God? No! You told us, not long ago, that the only thing our Saviour
+  did was to look at her tears and her love. Well, please do that, and you
+  will save me!"</p>
+
+  <p>I was a very young priest, and never had any words so sublime come to
+  my ears in the confessional-box. Her tears and her sobs, mingled with the
+  so frank declaration of the most humiliating actions, had made upon me
+  such a profound impression that I was, for some time, unable to speak. It
+  had come to my mind also that I might be mistaken about her identity, and
+  that perhaps she was not the young lady that I had imagined. I could,
+  then, easily grant her first request, which was to do nothing by which I
+  could know her. The second part of her prayer was more embarrassing; for
+  the theologians are very positive in ordering the confessors to question
+  their penitents, particularly those of the female sex, in many
+  circumstances.</p>
+
+  <p>I encouraged her, in the best way I could, to persevere in her good
+  resolutions by invoking the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomène, who
+  was then the <i>Sainte à la mode</i>, just as Marie Alacoque is to-day,
+  among the blind slaves of Rome. I told her that I would pray and think
+  over the subject of her second request; and I asked her to come back, in
+  a week, for my answer.</p>
+
+  <p>The very same day, I went to my own confessor, the Rev. Mr.
+  Baillargeon, then curate of Quebec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canada.
+  I told him the singular and unusual request she had made that I should
+  never put to her any of those questions suggested by the theologians, to
+  insure the integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from him that I
+  was much inclined to grant her that favour; for I repeated what I had
+  already several times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with the
+  infamous and polluting questions which the theologians forced us to put
+  to our female penitents. I told him, frankly, that several young and old
+  priests had already come to confess to me; and that, with the exception
+  of two, they had all told me that they could not put those questions and
+  hear the answers they elicited without falling into the most damnable
+  sins.</p>
+
+  <p>My confessor seemed to be much perplexed about what he could answer.
+  He asked me to come the next day, that he might review his theological
+  books in the interval. The next day, I took down in writing his answer,
+  which I find in my old manuscripts; and I give it here in all its sad
+  crudity:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of
+  the confessors is an unavoidable evil. It can not be helped; for such
+  questions are absolutely necessary in the greatest part of the cases with
+  which we have to deal. Men generally confess their sins with so much
+  sincerity that there is seldom any need for questioning them, except when
+  they are very ignorant. But St Liguori, as well as our personal
+  observation, tells us that the greatest part of girls and women, through
+  a false and criminal shame, very seldom confess the sins they commit
+  against purity. It requires the utmost charity in the confessors to
+  prevent those unfortunate slaves of their secret passions from making
+  sacrilegious confessions and communions. With the greatest prudence and
+  zeal, he must question them on those matters; beginning with the smallest
+  sins, and going, little by little, as much as possible, by imperceptible
+  degrees, to the most criminal actions. As it seems evident that the
+  penitent referred to in your questions of yesterday is unwilling to make
+  a full and detailed confession of all her iniquities, you cannot promise
+  to absolve her without assuring yourself, by wise and prudent questions,
+  that she has confessed everything.</p>
+
+  <p>"You must not be discouraged when, through the confessional or any
+  other way, you learn the fall of priests into the common frailties of
+  human nature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew very well that the
+  occasions and the temptations we have to encounter, in the confessions of
+  girls and women, are so numerous, and sometimes so irrepressible, that
+  many would fall. But He has given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who
+  constantly asks and obtains their pardon; He has given them the sacrament
+  of penance, where they can receive their pardon as often as they ask for
+  it. The vow of perfect chastity is a great honour and privilege; but we
+  cannot conceal from ourselves that it puts on our shoulders a burden
+  which many cannot carry for ever. St Liguori says that we must not rebuke
+  the penitent priest who falls only once a month; and some other
+  trustworthy theologians are still more charitable."</p>
+
+  <p>This answer was far from satisfying me. It seemed to me composed of
+  soft-soap principles. I went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind;
+  and God knows that I made many fervent prayers that this girl should
+  never come again to give me her sad history. I was hardly twenty-six
+  years old, full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the stings of a
+  thousand wasps to my ears would not do me so much harm as the words of
+  that dear, beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.</p>
+
+  <p>I do not mean to say that the revelations which she made had, in any
+  way, diminished my esteem and my respect for her. It was just the
+  contrary. Her tears and her sobs, at my feet; her agonizing expressions
+  of shame and regret; her noble words of protest against the disgusting
+  and polluting interrogations of the confessors, had raised her very high
+  in my mind. My sincere hope was that she would have a place in the
+  kingdom of Christ with the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, and all those
+  who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.</p>
+
+  <p>At the appointed day, I was in my confessional, listening to the
+  confession of a young man, when, I saw Miss Mary entering the vestry, and
+  coming directly to my confessional-box, where she knelt by me. Though she
+  had, still more than at the first time, disguised herself behind a long,
+  thick, black veil, I could not be mistaken; she was the very same amiable
+  young lady in whose father's house I used to pass such pleasant and happy
+  hours. I had so often heard, with breathless attention, her melodious
+  voice when she was giving us, accompanied by her piano, some of our
+  beautiful Church hymns. Who could see her without almost worshipping her?
+  The dignity of her steps, and her whole mien, when she advanced towards
+  my confessional, entirely betrayed her and destroyed her incognito.</p>
+
+  <p>Oh! I would have given every drop of my blood, in that solemn hour,
+  that I might have been free to deal with her just as she had so
+  eloquently requested me to do&mdash;to let her weep and cry at the feet
+  of Jesus to her heart's content! Oh! if I had been free to take her by
+  the hand, and silently show her her dying Saviour, that she might have
+  bathed His feet with her tears, and spread the oil of her love on His
+  head, without my saying anything else but "Go in peace: thy sins are
+  forgiven!"</p>
+
+  <p>But there, in that confessional-box, I was not the servant of Christ,
+  to follow His divine, saving words, and obey the dictates of my honest
+  conscience. I was the slave of the Pope! I had to stifle the cry of my
+  conscience, to ignore the inspirations of my God! There, my conscience
+  had no right to speak; my intelligence was a dead thing! The theologians
+  of the Pope, alone, had a right to be heard and obeyed! I was not there
+  to save, but to destroy; for, under the pretext of purifying, the real
+  mission of the confessor, often in spite of himself, is to scandalize and
+  damn the souls.</p>
+
+  <p>As soon as the young man, who was making his confession at my left
+  hand, had finished, I, without noise, turned myself towards her, and
+  said, through the little aperture, "Are you ready to begin your
+  confession?"</p>
+
+  <p>But she did not answer me. All that I could hear was, "Oh, my Jesus,
+  have mercy upon me! Dear Saviour, here I am with all my sins; do not
+  reject me! I come to wash my soul in Thy blood; wilt Thou rebuke me?"</p>
+
+  <p>During several minutes, she raised her hands and her eyes to heaven,
+  and wept and prayed. It was evident that she had not the least idea that
+  I was observing her; she thought the door of the little partition between
+  her and me was shut. But my eyes were fixed upon her; my tears were
+  flowing with her tears, and my ardent prayers were going to the feet of
+  Jesus with her prayers. I would not have interrupted her, for any
+  consideration, in this her sublime communion with her merciful
+  Saviour.</p>
+
+  <p>But, after a pretty long time, I made a little noise with my hand,
+  and, putting my lips near the opening of the partition which was between
+  us, I said, in a low voice, "Dear sister, are you ready to begin your
+  confession?"</p>
+
+  <p>She turned her face a little towards me, and said, with a trembling
+  voice, "Yes, dear Father, I am ready."</p>
+
+  <p>But she then stopped again to weep and pray, though I could not hear
+  what she said.</p>
+
+  <p>After some time of silent prayer, I said, "My dear sister, if you are
+  ready, please begin your confession."</p>
+
+  <p>She then said, "My dear Father, do you remember the prayers which I
+  made to you, the other day? Can you allow me to confess my sins without
+  forcing me to forget the respect I owe to myself, to you, and to God, who
+  hears us? And can you promise that you will not put to me any of those
+  questions which have already done me such irreparable injury? I frankly
+  declare to you that there are sins in me that I cannot reveal to any man,
+  except to Christ, because He is my God, and that He already knows them
+  all. Let me weep and cry at His feet, and do forgive me without adding to
+  my iniquities by forcing me to say things that the tongue of a Christian
+  woman cannot reveal to a man!"</p>
+
+  <p>"My dear sister," I answered, "were I free to follow the voice of my
+  own feelings I would be too happy to grant you your request; but I am
+  here only as the minister of our holy Church, and bound to obey her laws.
+  Through her most holy popes and theologians, she tells me that I cannot
+  forgive you your sins, if you do not confess them all just as you have
+  committed them. The Church tells me also that you must give the details
+  which may add to the malice or change the nature of your sins. I am also
+  sorry to tell you that our most holy theologians make it a duty of the
+  confessor to question his penitent on the sins which he has good reason
+  to suspect have been voluntarily or involuntarily omitted."</p>
+
+  <p>With a piercing, cry she exclaimed, "Then, O my God, I am
+  lost&mdash;for ever lost!"</p>
+
+  <p>This cry fell upon me as a thunderbolt; but I was still more
+  terror-stricken when, looking through the aperture, I saw she was
+  fainting; and I heard the noise of her body falling upon the floor, and
+  of her head striking against the sides of the confessional-box.</p>
+
+  <p>Quick as lightning, I ran to help her, took her in my arms, and called
+  a couple of men, who were at a little distance, to assist me in laying
+  her on a bench. I washed her face with some cold water and vinegar. She
+  was as pale as death, but her lips were moving, and she was saying
+  something which nobody but I could understand,&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"I am lost&mdash;lost for ever!"</p>
+
+  <p>We took her to her disconsolate family, where, during a month, she
+  lingered between life and death.</p>
+
+  <p>Her two first confessors came to visit her: but, having asked every
+  one to go out of the room, she politely but absolutely requested them to
+  go away and never come again. She asked me to visit her everyday, "for,"
+  she said, "I have only a few more days to live. Help me to prepare myself
+  for the solemn hour which will open to me the gates of eternity!"</p>
+
+  <p>Every day I visited her, and I prayed and I wept with her.</p>
+
+  <p>Many times, with tears, I requested her, when alone, to finish her
+  confession; but, with a firmness which then seemed to me mysterious and
+  inexplicable, she politely rebuked me.</p>
+
+  <p>One day when, alone with her, I was kneeling by the side of her bed to
+  pray, I was unable to articulate a single word, because of the
+  inexpressible anguish of my soul on her account; she asked me, "Dear
+  Father, why do you weep?"</p>
+
+  <p>I answered, "How can you put such a question to your murderer? I weep
+  because I have killed you, dear friend."</p>
+
+  <p>This answer seemed to trouble her exceedingly. She was very weak that
+  day. After she had wept and prayed in silence, she said, "Do not weep for
+  me, but weep for so many priests who destroy their penitents in the
+  confessional. I believe in the holiness of the sacrament of penitence,
+  since our holy Church has established it. But there is, somewhere,
+  something exceedingly wrong in the confessional. Twice I have been
+  destroyed, and I know many girls who have also been destroyed by the
+  confessional. This is a secret, but will that secret be kept for ever? I
+  pity the poor priests the day that our fathers will know what becomes of
+  the purity of their daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father
+  would surely kill my two last confessors, if he could know how they have
+  destroyed his poor child."</p>
+
+  <p>I could not answer except by weeping.</p>
+
+  <p>We remained mute for a long time; then she said, "It is true that I
+  was not prepared for the rebuke you have given me, but you acted
+  conscientiously as a good and honest priest. I know you must be bound by
+  certain laws."</p>
+
+  <p>She then pressed my hand with her cold hand and said, "Weep not, dear
+  Father, because that sudden storm has wrecked my too fragile back. This
+  storm was to take me out from the bottomless sea of my iniquities to the
+  shore where Jesus was waiting to receive and pardon me. The night after
+  you brought me, half dead, here to father's house, I had a dream. Oh, no,
+  it was not a dream, it was a reality. My Jesus came to me; He was
+  bleeding. His crown of thorns was on His head, the heavy cross was
+  bruising His shoulders. He said to me, with a voice so sweet that no
+  human tongue can imitate it, "I have seen thy tears, I have heard thy
+  cries, and I know thy love for Me: thy sins are forgiven. Take courage;
+  in a few days thou shalt be with Me!'"</p>
+
+  <p>She had hardly finished her last word when she fainted, and I feared
+  lest she should die just then when I was alone with her.</p>
+
+  <p>I called the family, who rushed into the room. The doctor was sent
+  for. He found her so weak that he thought proper to allow only one or two
+  persons to remain in the room. He requested us not to speak at all,
+  "For," said he, "the least emotion may kill her instantly; her disease
+  is, in all probability, an aneurism of the aorta, the big vein which
+  brings the blood to the heart; when it breaks she will go as quick as
+  lightning."</p>
+
+  <p>It was nearly ten at night when I left the house, to go and take some
+  rest. But it is not necessary to say that I passed a sleepless night. My
+  dear Mary was there, pale, dying from the deadly blow which I had given
+  her in the confessional. She was there, on her bed of death, her heart
+  pierced with the dagger which my Church had put into my hands! And
+  instead of rebuking, cursing me for my savage, merciless fanaticism, she
+  was blessing me! She was dying from a broken heart, and I was not allowed
+  by my Church to give her a single word of consolation and hope, for she
+  had not yet made her confession! I had mercilessly bruised that tender
+  plant, and there was nothing in my hands to heal the wounds I had
+  made!</p>
+
+  <p>It was very probable that she would die the next day, and I was
+  forbidden to show her the crown of glory which Jesus has prepared in His
+  kingdom for the repenting sinner!</p>
+
+  <p>My desolation was really unspeakable, and I think I would have been
+  suffocated, and have died that night, if the stream of tears which
+  constantly flowed from my eyes had not been as a balm to my distressed
+  heart.</p>
+
+  <p>How dark and long the hours of that night seemed to me!</p>
+
+  <p>Before the dawn of day I arose, to read my theologians again, and see
+  if I could not find some one who would allow me to forgive the sins of
+  that dear child without forcing her to tell me everything she had done.
+  But they seemed to me more than ever unanimously inexorable, and I put
+  them back on the shelves of my library with a broken heart.</p>
+
+  <p>At nine a.m. the next day I was by the bed of our dear sick Mary. I
+  cannot sufficiently tell the joy I felt when the doctor and the whole
+  family said to me, "She is much better; the rest of last night has
+  wrought a marvelous change indeed."</p>
+
+  <p>With a really angelic smile she extended her hand towards me, that I
+  might press it in mine; and she said, "I thought, last evening, that the
+  dear Saviour would take me to Him, but He wants me, dear Father, to give
+  you a little more trouble; but be patient, it cannot, be long before the
+  solemn hour of the appeal will ring. Will you please read me the history
+  of the sufferings and death of the beloved Saviour which you read me the
+  other day? It does me so much good to see how He has loved me, such a
+  miserable sinner."</p>
+
+  <p>There was a calm and a solemnity in her words which struck me
+  singularly, as well as all those who were there.</p>
+
+  <p>After I had finished reading, she exclaimed, "He has loved me so much
+  that He died for my sins!" And she shut her eyes as if to meditate in
+  silence, but there was a stream of big tears rolling down her cheeks.</p>
+
+  <p>I knelt down by her bed with her family to pray, but I could not utter
+  a single word. The idea that this dear child was there, dying from the
+  cruel fanaticism of my theologians and my own cowardice in obeying them,
+  was as a mill-stone to my neck. It was killing me.</p>
+
+  <p>Oh! if by dying a thousand times I could have added a single day to
+  her life, with what pleasure I would have accepted those thousand
+  deaths!</p>
+
+  <p>After we had silently prayed and wept by her bed-side, she requested
+  her mother to leave her alone with me.</p>
+
+  <p>When I saw myself alone, under the irresistible impression that this
+  was her last day, I fell on my knees again, and with tears of the most
+  sincere compassion for her soul, I requested her to shake off her shame
+  and to obey our holy Church, which requires every one to confess their
+  sins if they want to be forgiven.</p>
+
+  <p>She calmly, but with an air of dignity which no human words can
+  express, said, "Is it true that, after the sin of Adam and Eve, God
+  Himself made coats of skins, and clothed them, that they might not see
+  each other's nakedness?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes," I said, "this is what the Holy Scriptures tell us."</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, then, how is it possible that our confessors dare to take away
+  from us that holy, divine coat of modesty and self-respect? Has not
+  Almighty God Himself made with His own hands that coat of womanly modesty
+  and self-respect that we might not be to you and to ourselves a cause of
+  shame and sin?"</p>
+
+  <p>I was really stunned by the beauty, simplicity, and sublimity of that
+  comparison. I remained absolutely mute and confounded. Though it was
+  demolishing all the traditions and doctrines of my Church, and
+  pulverizing all my holy doctors and theologians, that noble answer found
+  such an echo in my soul that it seemed to me a sacrilege to try to touch
+  it with my finger.</p>
+
+  <p>After a short time of silence, she continued, "Twice I have been
+  destroyed by priests in the confessional. They took away from me that
+  divine coat of modesty and self-respect which God gives to every human
+  being who comes into this world, and twice I have become for those very
+  priests a deep pit of perdition, into which they have fallen, and where,
+  I fear, they are for ever lost! My merciful Heavenly Father has given me
+  back that coat of skins, that nuptial robe of modesty, self-respect, and
+  holiness, which had been taken away from me. He cannot allow you, or any
+  other man, to tear again and spoil that vestment which is the work of His
+  hands."</p>
+
+  <p>These words had exhausted her; it was evident to me that she wanted
+  some rest. I left her alone, but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled
+  with admiration for the sublime lessons which I had received from the
+  lips of that angel, who, it was evident, was soon to fly away from us, I
+  felt a supreme disgust for myself, my theologians, and&mdash;shall I say
+  it? yes&mdash;I felt, in that solemn hour, a supreme disgust for my
+  Church, which was so cruelly defiling me and all the priests, in the
+  confessional-box. I felt in that hour a supreme horror for that auricular
+  confession, which is so often such a pit of perdition and supreme misery
+  for the confessor and the penitent. I went out, walked two hours on the
+  Plains of Abraham, to breathe the pure and refreshing air of the
+  mountain. There alone I sat on a stone, on the very spot where Wolf and
+  Montcalm had fought and died, and wept to my heart's content on my
+  irreparable degradation, and the degradation of all the priests through
+  the confessional.</p>
+
+  <p>At four o'clock in the afternoon I went back again to the house of my
+  dear dying Mary. The mother took me apart, and very politely said, "My
+  dear Mr. Chiniquy, do you not think that it is time that our dear child
+  should receive the last sacraments? She seemed to be much better this
+  morning, and we were full of hope; but she is now rapidly sinking. Please
+  lose no time in giving her the holy viaticum and the extreme
+  unction."</p>
+
+  <p>I said, "Yes, Madam; let me pass a few minutes alone with our poor
+  dear child, that I may prepare her for the last sacraments."</p>
+
+  <p>When alone with her, I again fell on my knees, and, amidst torrents of
+  tears, I said, "Dear sister, it is my desire to give you the holy
+  viaticum and the extreme unction; but tell me, how can I dare to do a
+  thing so solemn against all the prohibitions of our holy Church? How can
+  I give you the holy communion without first giving you absolution? and
+  how can I give you absolution when you earnestly persist in telling me
+  that you have committed sins which you will never declare either to me or
+  any other confessor?</p>
+
+  <p>"You know that I cherish and respect you as if you were an angel sent
+  to me from heaven. You told me the other day that you blessed the day
+  that you first saw and knew me. I say the same thing. I bless the day
+  that I have known you; I bless every hour that I have passed by your bed
+  of suffering; I bless every tear which I have shed with you on your sins
+  and on my own; I bless every hour that we have passed together in looking
+  to the wounds of our beloved, dying Saviour; I bless you for having
+  forgiven me your death! for I know it, and I confess it a thousand times
+  in the presence of God, I have killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer
+  a thousand times to die than to say to you a word which would pain you in
+  any way, or trouble the peace of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell
+  me what I can and must do for you in this solemn hour."</p>
+
+  <p>Calmly, and with a smile of joy, such as I had never seen before, nor
+  have seen since, she said, "I thank and bless you, dear father, for the
+  parable of the Prodigal Son, on which you preached a month ago. You have
+  brought me to the feet of the dear Saviour; there, I have found a peace
+  and a joy which surpass anything which human heart can feel; I have
+  thrown myself into the arms of my heavenly Father, and I know He has
+  mercifully accepted and forgiven His poor prodigal child! Oh, I see the
+  angels with their golden harps around the throne of the Lamb! Do you not
+  hear the celestial harmony of their songs? I go&mdash;I go to join them
+  in my Father's house. I shall not be lost!"</p>
+
+  <p>While she was thus speaking to me, my eyes were really turned into two
+  fountains of tears, and I was unable, as well as unwilling, to see
+  anything, so entirely overcome was I by the sublime words which were
+  flowing from the dying lips of that dear child, who was no more a sinner,
+  but a real angel of Heaven to me. I was listening to her words; there was
+  a celestial music in every one of them. But she had raised her voice in
+  such a strange way, when she had begun to say, "I go to my Father's
+  house," and she had made such a cry of joy when she had let the last
+  words, "not be lost," escape her lips, that I raised my head and opened
+  my eyes to look at her. I suspected that something strange had
+  occurred.</p>
+
+  <p>I got upon my feet, passed my handkerchief over my face, to wipe away
+  the tears which were preventing me from seeing with accuracy, and looked
+  at her.</p>
+
+  <p>Her hands were crossed on her breast, and there was on her face the
+  expression of a really superhuman joy; her beautiful eyes were fixed as
+  if they were looking on some grand and sublime spectacle; it seemed to me
+  at first that she was praying.</p>
+
+  <p>In that very same instant the mother rushed into the room, crying, "My
+  God! my God! what does that cry 'lost' mean?"&mdash;for her last words,
+  "not be lost," particularly the last one, had been pronounced with such a
+  powerful voice that they had been heard almost everywhere in the
+  house.</p>
+
+  <p>I made a sign with my hand to prevent the distressed mother from
+  making any noise, and troubling her dying child in her prayer, for I
+  really thought that she had stopped speaking, as she used so often to do,
+  when alone with me, in order to pray. But I was mistaken. That redeemed
+  soul had gone, on the golden wings of love, to join the multitudes of
+  those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, to sing the
+  eternal Alleluia.</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_II">CHAPTER II</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">auricular confession a deep pit of perdition for the priest</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>It was some time after our Mary had been buried. The terrible and
+  mysterious cause of her death was <span class="correction" title="'know' in original"
+  >known</span> only to God and to me. Though her loving mother was still
+  weeping over her grave, she had soon been forgotten, as usual, by the
+  greatest part of those who had known her: but she was constantly present
+  to my mind. I never entered the confessional-box without hearing her
+  solemn, though so mild, voice telling me, "There must be somewhere
+  something wrong in the auricular confession. Twice I have been destroyed
+  by my confessors; and I have known several others who have been destroyed
+  in the same way."</p>
+
+  <p>More than once, when her voice was ringing in my ears from her tomb, I
+  had shed bitter tears on the profound and unfathomable degradation into
+  which I, with the other priests, had to fell in the confessional-box. For
+  many, many times, stories as deplorable as that of this unfortunate girl
+  were confessed to me by city as well as country females.</p>
+
+  <p>One night I was awakened by the rumbling noise of thunder, when I
+  heard some one knocking at the door. I hastened out of bed to ask who was
+  there. The answer was that the Rev. Mr. &mdash;&mdash; was dying, and
+  that he wanted to see me before his death. I dressed myself, and was soon
+  on the highway. The darkness was fearful; and often, had it not been for
+  the lightning which was almost constantly tearing the clouds, we should
+  not have known where we were. After a long and hard journey through the
+  darkness and the storm, we arrived at the house of the dying priest. I
+  went directly to his room, and really found him very low; he could hardly
+  speak. With a sign of his hand he bade his servant-girl and a young man
+  who were there go out, and leave him alone with me.</p>
+
+  <p>Then, with a low voice, he said, "Is it you who prepared poor Mary to
+  die?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Please tell me the truth. Is it the fact that she died the death of a
+  reprobate, and that her last words were, 'Oh, my God! I am lost'?"</p>
+
+  <p>I answered: "As I was the confessor of that girl, and we were talking
+  together on matters which pertained to her confession, in the very moment
+  that she was unexpectedly summoned to appear before God, I cannot answer
+  your question in any way; please, then, excuse me if I cannot say any
+  more on that subject: but tell me who can have assured you that she died
+  the death of a reprobate."</p>
+
+  <p>"It was her own mother," answered the dying man. "She came, last week,
+  to visit me, and when she was alone with me, with many tears and cries,
+  she said how her poor child had refused to receive the last sacraments,
+  and how her last cry was, 'I am lost!'" She added that that cry, 'Lost!'
+  was pronounced with such a frightful power that it was heard through all
+  the house."</p>
+
+  <p>"If her mother has told you that," I replied, "you may believe what
+  you please about the way that poor child died. I cannot say a
+  word&mdash;you know it&mdash;about that matter."</p>
+
+  <p>"But if she is lost," rejoined the old, dying priest, "I am the
+  miserable one who has destroyed her. She was an angel of purity when she
+  came to the convent. Oh! dear Mary, if you are lost, I am a thousandfold
+  more lost! Oh, my God, my God! what will become of me? I am dying; and I
+  am lost!"</p>
+
+  <p>It was indeed an awful thing to see that old sinner tearing his own
+  hands, rolling on his bed as if he had been on burning coals, with all
+  the marks of the most frightful despair on his face, crying, "I am lost!
+  Oh, my God, I am lost!"</p>
+
+  <p>I was glad that the claps of thunder, which were shaking the house and
+  roaring without ceasing, prevented the people outside the room from
+  hearing those cries of desolation from that priest, whom every one
+  considered a great saint.</p>
+
+  <p>When it seemed to me that his terror had somewhat subsided, and that
+  his mind was calmed a little, I said to him, "My dear friend, you must
+  not give yourself up to such despair. Our merciful God has promised to
+  forgive the repenting sinner who comes to Him, even at the last hour of
+  the day. Address yourself to the Virgin Mary, she will ask and obtain
+  your pardon."</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you not think that it is too late to ask pardon? The doctor has
+  honestly warned me that death is very near, and I feel I am just now
+  dying! Is it not too late to ask and obtain pardon?" asked the dying
+  priest.</p>
+
+  <p>"No, my dear sir, it is not too late, if you sincerely regret your
+  sins. Throw yourself into the arms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; make your
+  confession without any more delay, and you will be saved."</p>
+
+  <p>"But I have never made a good confession. Will you help me to make a
+  general one?"</p>
+
+  <p>It was my duty to grant him his request, and the rest of the night was
+  spent by me in hearing the confession of his whole life.</p>
+
+  <p>I do not want to give many particulars of the life of that priest. I
+  will only mention two things. First: It was then that I understood why
+  poor young Mary was absolutely unwilling to mention the iniquities which
+  she had done with him. They were simply surpassingly
+  horrible&mdash;unmentionable. No human tongue can express them&mdash;few
+  human ears would consent to hear them.</p>
+
+  <p>The second thing that I am bound in conscience to reveal is almost
+  incredible, but it is nevertheless true. The number of married and
+  unmarried females he had heard in the confessional was about 1500, of
+  which he said he had destroyed or scandalized at least 1000 by his
+  questioning them on most depraving things, for the simple pleasure of
+  gratifying his own corrupted heart, without letting them know anything of
+  his sinful thoughts and criminal desires towards them. But he confessed
+  that he had destroyed the purity of ninety-five of those penitents, who
+  had consented to sin with him.</p>
+
+  <p>And would to God that this priest had been the only one whom I have
+  known to be lost through the auricular confession! But, alas! how few are
+  those who have escaped the snares of the tempter compared with those who
+  have perished! I have heard the confessions of more than 200 priests,
+  and, to say the truth, as God knows it, I must declare that only
+  twenty-one had not to weep over the secret or public sins committed
+  through the irresistibly corrupting influences of auricular
+  confession!</p>
+
+  <p>I am sixty six years old; in a short time I shall be in my grave. I
+  shall have to give an account of what I say to-day. Well, it is in the
+  presence of my great Judge, with my tomb before my eyes, that I declare
+  to the world that very few&mdash;yes, very few&mdash;priests escape from
+  falling into the pit of the most horrible moral depravity the world has
+  ever known, through the confession of females.</p>
+
+  <p>I do not say this because I have any bad feelings against those
+  priests: God knows that I have none. The only feelings I have are of
+  supreme compassion and pity. I do not reveal these awful things to make
+  the world believe that the priests of Rome are a worse set of men than
+  the rest of the innumerable fallen children of Adam. No, I do not
+  entertain any such views; for, everything considered and weighed in the
+  balance of religion, charity, and common sense&mdash;I think that the
+  priests of Rome are far from being worse than any other set of men who
+  would be thrown into the same temptations, dangers and unavoidable
+  occasions of sin.</p>
+
+  <p>For instance, let us take lawyers, merchants, or farmers, and,
+  preventing them from living with their lawful wives, let us surround each
+  of them from morning to night by ten, twenty, and sometimes more,
+  beautiful women and tempting girls, who would speak to them of things
+  which can pulverize a rock of Scotch granite, and you will see how many
+  of those lawyers, merchants or farmers will go out of that terrible moral
+  battle-field without being mortally wounded.</p>
+
+  <p>The cause of the supreme&mdash;I dare say incredible, though
+  unsuspected&mdash;immorality of the priests of Rome is a very evident and
+  logical one. By the diabolical power of the Pope, the priest is put out
+  of the ways which God has offered to the generality of men to be honest,
+  upright, and holy<a name="Ft_1" href="#FtN_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>. And
+  after the Pope has deprived them of the grand, holy, I say Divine (in
+  this sense that it comes directly from God) remedy which God has given to
+  man against his own concupiscence&mdash;holy marriage, they are placed
+  unprotected, unguarded in the most perilous, difficult, irresistible
+  moral dangers which human ingenuity or depravity can conceive. Those
+  unmarried men are forced to be, from morning to night, in the midst of
+  beautiful girls, and tempting, charming women, who have to tell them
+  things which would melt the hardest steel. How can you expect that they
+  will cease to be men, and become stronger than angels?</p>
+
+  <p>Not only are the priests of Rome deprived by the devil of the
+  <i>only</i> remedy which God has given to help them to stand up, but they
+  have, in the confessional, the greatest facility which can possibly be
+  imagined for satisfying all the bad propensities of fallen human nature.
+  In the confessional <i>they know</i> those who are strong, and they know
+  those who are weak among the females by whom they are surrounded; they
+  know who would resist any attempt from the enemy; and they know who are
+  ready&mdash;nay, who are longing after the deceitful charms of sin. If
+  they still retain the fallen nature of man, what a terrible hour for
+  them! what frightful battles inside the poor heart! What superhuman
+  efforts and strength would be required to come out a conqueror from that
+  battle field, where a David, a Samson, have fallen, mortally wounded!</p>
+
+  <p>It is simply an act of supreme stupidity on the part of the
+  Protestant, as well as Catholic public, to suppose, or suspect, or hope,
+  that the generality of the priests can stand that trial. The pages of the
+  history of Rome herself are filled with the unanswerable proofs that the
+  great <i>generality</i> of the confessors fall. If it were not so, the
+  miracle of Joshua, stopping the march of the sun and the moon, would be a
+  childish play compared with the miracle which would stop and reverse all
+  the laws of our common fallen nature in the hearts of the 100,000 Roman
+  Catholic confessors of the Church of Rome. Were I attempting to prove by
+  public facts what I know of the horrible depravity caused by the
+  confessional-box among the priests of France, Canada, Spain, Italy,
+  England, I should have to write many big volumes in folio. For brevity's
+  sake, I will speak only of Italy. I take that country because, being
+  under the very eyes of their infallible and most holy (?) Pontiff, being
+  in the land of daily miracles, of painted Madonnas, who weep and turn
+  their eyes left and right, up and down, in a most marvellous way, being
+  in the land of miraculous medals and heavenly spiritual favors,
+  constantly flowing from the chair of St. Peter, the confessors in Italy
+  are in the best possible circumstances to be strong, faithful, and holy.
+  Well, let us hear an eye-witness, a contemporary, an unimpeachable
+  witness about the way the confessors deal with their penitent females, in
+  the only holy, apostolical, infallible (?) Church of Rome.</p>
+
+  <p>The witness we will hear is of the purest blood of the princes of
+  Italy. Her name is Henrietta Carracciolo, daughter of the Marshal
+  Carracciolo, Governor of the Province of Bari, in Italy. Let us hear what
+  she says of the Father Confessors, after twenty years of personal
+  experience in different nunneries of Italy, in her remarkable book,
+  "Mysteries of the Neapolitan Convents," pp. 150, 151, 152: "My confessor
+  came the following day, and I disclosed to him the nature of the troubles
+  which beset me. Later in the day, seeing that I had gone down to the
+  place where we used to receive the holy communion, called Communichino,
+  the conversa of my aunt rang the bell for the priest to come with the
+  pyx.<a name="Ft_2" href="#FtN_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> He was a man of about
+  fifty years of age, very corpulent, with a rubicund face, and a type of
+  physiognomy as vulgar as it was repulsive.</p>
+
+  <p>"I approached the little window to receive the sacred wafer on my
+  tongue, with my eyes closed, as it is customary. I placed it upon my
+  tongue; and, as I drew back, I felt my cheeks caressed. I opened my eyes,
+  but the priest had withdrawn his hand, and, thinking I had been deceived,
+  I gave it no more attention.</p>
+
+  <p>"On the next occasion, forgetful of what had occurred before, I
+  received the sacrament with closed eyes again, according to precept. This
+  time I distinctly felt my chin caressed again; and on opening my eyes
+  suddenly, I found the priest gazing rudely upon me, with a sensual smile
+  on his face.</p>
+
+  <p>"There could be no longer any doubt: these overtures were not the
+  result of accident.</p>
+
+  <p>"The daughter of Eve is endowed with a greater degree of curiosity
+  than man. It occured to me to place myself in a contiguous apartment,
+  where I could observe if this libertine priest was accustomed to take
+  similar liberties with the nuns. I did so, and was fully convinced that
+  only the old left him without being caressed!</p>
+
+  <p>"All the others allowed him to do with them as he pleased; and even,
+  in taking leave of him, did so with the utmost reverence.</p>
+
+  <p>"'Is this the respect,' said I to myself, 'that the priests and the
+  spouses of Christ have for the sacrament of the Eucharist? Shall the poor
+  novice be enticed to leave the world in order to learn, in this school,
+  such lessons of self-respect and chastity?'"</p>
+
+  <p>Page 163, we read, "The fanatical passion of the nuns for their
+  confessors, priests, and monks, exceeds belief. That which especially
+  renders their incarceration endurable is the illimitable opportunity they
+  enjoy of seeing and corresponding with those persons with whom they are
+  in love. This freedom localizes and identifies them with the convent so
+  closely that they are unhappy when, on account of any serious sickness,
+  or while preparing to take the veil, they are obliged to pass some months
+  in the bosom of their own families, in company with their fathers,
+  mothers, brothers, and sisters. It is not to be presumed that these
+  relatives would permit a young girl to pass many hours each day in a
+  mysterious colloquy with a priest, or a monk, and maintain with him this
+  continual correspondence. This is a liberty which they can enjoy in the
+  convent only.</p>
+
+  <p>"Many are the hours which the Heloïse spends in the confessional, in
+  agreeable pastime with her Abelard in cassock.</p>
+
+  <p>"Others, whose confessors happen to be old, have in addition a
+  spiritual director, with whom they amuse themselves a long time every
+  day, <i>tête-à-tête</i>, in the parlatorio. When this is not enough, they
+  simulate an illness, in order to have him alone in their own rooms."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 166, we read:&mdash;"Another nun, being somewhat infirm, her
+  priest confessed her in her own room. After a time, the invalid penitent
+  found herself in what is called an interesting situation, on which
+  account, the physician declaring that her complaint was dropsy, she was
+  sent away from the convent."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 167:&mdash;"A young educanda was in the habit of going down every
+  night to the convent burial-place, where, by a corridor which
+  communicated with the vestry, she entered into a colloquy with a young
+  priest attached to the church. Consumed by an amorous impatience, she was
+  not deterred from these excursions either by bad weather or the fear of
+  being discovered.</p>
+
+  <p>"She heard a great noise one night near her. In the thick darkness
+  which surrounded her, she imagined that she saw a viper winding itself
+  around her feet. She was so much overcome by fright that she died from
+  the effects of it a few months later."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 168:&mdash;"One of the confessors had a young penitent in the
+  convent. Every time he was called to visit a dying sister, and on that
+  account passed the night in the convent, this nun would climb over the
+  partition which separated her room from his, and betake herself to the
+  master and director of souls.</p>
+
+  <p>"Another, during the delirium of a typhoid fever, from which she was
+  suffering, was constantly imitating the action of sending kisses to her
+  confessor, who stood by the side of her bed. He, covered with blushes on
+  account of the presence of strangers, held a crucifix before the eyes of
+  the penitent, and in a commiserating tone exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"'Poor thing! kiss thy own spouse!'"</p>
+
+  <p>Page 168:&mdash;"Under the bonds of secrecy, an educanda, of fine form
+  and pleasing manners, and of a noble family, confided to me the fact of
+  her having received, from the hands of her confessor, a very interesting
+  book (as she described it), which related to the monastic life. I
+  expressed the wish to know the title, and she, before showing it to me,
+  took the precaution to lock the door.</p>
+
+  <p>"It proved to be the Monaca, by Dalembert, a book, as all know, filled
+  with the most disgusting obscenity."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 169:&mdash;"I received once from a monk, a letter in which he
+  signified to me that he had hardly seen me, when 'he conceived the sweet
+  hope of becoming my confessor.' An exquisite of the first water, a fop of
+  scents and euphuism, could not have employed phrases more melodramic, to
+  demand whether he might hope or despair."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 169:&mdash;"A priest who enjoyed the reputation of being an
+  incorruptible sacerdote, when he saw me pass through the parlatorio, used
+  to address me as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"'Ps, dear, come here! Ps, Ps, come here!'</p>
+
+  <p>"These words, addressed to me by a priest, were nauseous in the
+  extreme.</p>
+
+  <p>"Finally, another priest, the most annoying of all for his obstinate
+  assiduity, sought to secure my affections at all cost. There was not an
+  image profane poetry could afford him, nor a sophism he could borrow from
+  rhetoric, nor wily interpretation he could give to the Word of God, which
+  he did not employ to convert me to his wishes. Here is an example of his
+  logic:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"'Fair daughter,' said he to me one day, 'knowest thou who God truly
+  is?'</p>
+
+  <p>"'He is the Creator of the Universe,' I answered drily.</p>
+
+  <p>"'No,&mdash;no,&mdash;no,&mdash;no! that is not enough,' he replied,
+  laughing at my ignorance. 'God is love, but love in the abstract, which
+  receives its incarnation in the mutual affection of two hearts which
+  idolize each other. You, then, must not only love God in His abstract
+  existance, but must also love Him in His incarnation, that is, in the
+  exclusive love of a man who adores you. <i>Quod Deus est amor, nec
+  colitur, nisi amando.</i>'</p>
+
+  <p>"'Then,' I replied, 'a woman who adores her own lover would adore
+  Divinity itself?'</p>
+
+  <p>"'Assuredly,' reiterated the priest over and over again, taking
+  courage from my remark, and chuckling at what seemed to him to be the
+  effect of his catechism.</p>
+
+  <p>"'In that case,' said I hastily, 'I should select for my lover rather
+  a man of the world than a priest.'</p>
+
+  <p>"'God preserve you, my daughter! God preserve you from that sin!'
+  added my interlocutor, apparently frightened. 'To love a man of the
+  world, a sinner, a wretch, an unbeliever, an infidel! Why, you would go
+  immediately to hell. The love of a priest is a sacred love, while that of
+  a profane man is infamy; the faith of a priest emanates from that granted
+  to the holy Church, while that of the profane is false,&mdash;false as
+  the vanity of the world. The priest purifies his affections daily in
+  communion with the Holy Spirit: the man of the world (if he ever knows
+  love at all) sweeps the muddy crossings of the street with it day and
+  night.</p>
+
+  <p>"'But it is the heart, as well as the conscience, which prompts me to
+  fly from the priests,' I replied.</p>
+
+  <p>"'Well, if you cannot love me because I am your confessor, I will find
+  means to assist you to get rid of your scruples. We will place the name
+  of Jesus Christ before all our affectionate demonstration, and thus our
+  love will be a grateful offering to the Lord, and will ascend fragrant
+  with perfume to Heaven, like the smoke of the incense of the sanctuary.
+  Say to me, for example, "I love you in Jesus Christ; last night I dreamed
+  of you in Jesus Christ;" and you will have a tranquil conscience, because
+  in doing this you will sanctify every transport of your love.'</p>
+
+  <p>"Several circumstances not indicated here, by the way, compelled me to
+  come in frequent contact with this priest afterwards, and I do not
+  therefore give his name.</p>
+
+  <p>"Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike for his age and his
+  moral character, I inquired what signified the prefixing the name of
+  Jesus Christ to amorous apostrophes.</p>
+
+  <p>"'It is,' he said, 'an expression used by a horrible sect, and one
+  unfortunately only too numerous, which, thus abusing the name of our
+  Lord, permits to its members the most unbridled licentiousness.'"</p>
+
+  <p>And it is my sad duty to say, before the whole world, that I know that
+  by far the greater part of the confessors in America, Spain, France and
+  England, reason and act just like that licentious Italian priest.</p>
+
+  <p>Christian nations! if you could know what will become of the virtue of
+  your fair daughters if you allow secret or public slaves of Rome to
+  restore the auricular confession, with what a storm of holy indignation
+  you would defeat their plans!</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_III">CHAPTER III</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the confessional is the modern sodom.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>If any one wants to hear an eloquent oration, let him go when the
+  Roman Catholic priest is preaching on the divine institution of auricular
+  confession. There is no subject, perhaps, on which the priests display so
+  much zeal and earnestness, and of which they speak so often. For this
+  institution is really the corner-stone of their stupendous power; it is
+  the secret of their almost irresistible influence. Let the people to-day
+  open their eyes to the truth, and understand that auricular confession is
+  one of the most stupendous impostures which Satan has invented to corrupt
+  and enslave the world; let the people desert the confessional-box to-day,
+  and tomorrow Romanism will fall into the dust. The priests understand
+  this very well; hence their constant efforts to deceive the people on
+  that question. To attain their object, they have recourse to the most
+  egregious falsehoods; the Scriptures are misrepresented; the holy Fathers
+  are brought to say the very contrary of what they have ever thought or
+  written; the most extraordinary miracles and stories are invented. But
+  two of the arguments to which they have more often recourse are the great
+  and perpetual miracles which God makes to keep the purity of the
+  confessional undefiled, and its secrets marvellously sealed. They make
+  the people believe that the vow of perpetual chastity changes their
+  nature, turns them into angels, and puts them above the common frailties
+  of the fallen children of Adam.</p>
+
+  <p>Bravely and with a brazen face, when they are interrogated on that
+  subject, they say that they have special graces to remain pure and
+  undefiled in the midst of the greatest dangers; that the Virgin Mary, to
+  whom they are consecrated, is their powerful advocate to obtain from her
+  Son that superhuman virtue of chastity; that what would be a cause of
+  sure perdition to common men is without peril and danger for a true son
+  of Mary; and, with amazing stupidity, the people consent to be duped,
+  blinded, and deceived by those fooleries.</p>
+
+  <p>But here let the world hear the truth as it is, from one who knows
+  perfectly everything inside and outside the walls of that Modern Babylon;
+  though many, I know, will disbelieve me and say, "We hope you are
+  mistaken. It is impossible that the priests of Rome should turn out to be
+  such impostors. They may be mistaken; they may believe and repeat things
+  which are not true, but they are honest; they cannot be such impudent
+  deceivers."</p>
+
+  <p>Yes! though I know that many will hardly believe me, I must say the
+  truth.</p>
+
+  <p>Those very men who, when speaking to the people in such glowing terms
+  of the marvellous way they are kept pure in the midst of the dangers
+  which surround them, honestly blush, and often weep, when they speak to
+  each other (when they are sure that nobody except priests hears them).
+  They deplore their moral degradation with the utmost sincerity and
+  honesty. They ask from God and men pardon for their unspeakable
+  depravity.</p>
+
+  <p>I have here in my hands, and under my eyes, one of their most
+  remarkable secret books, written, or at least approved, by one of their
+  greatest and best bishops and cardinals, the Cardinal De Bonald,
+  Archbishop of Lyons.</p>
+
+  <p>The book is written for the use of the priests alone. Its title is in
+  French, "Examen de Conscience des Prêtres." At page 34 we
+  read:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Have I left certain persons to make the declarations of their sins in
+  such a way that the imagination, once taken and impressed by pictures and
+  representations, could be dragged into a long course of temptations and
+  grievous sins? The priests do not pay sufficient attention to the
+  continual temptations caused by the hearing of confessions. The soul is
+  gradually enfeebled in such a way that, at the end, the virtue of
+  chastity is for ever lost."</p>
+
+  <p>Here is the address of a priest to other priests when he suspects that
+  nobody but his co-sinner <span class="correction" title="'brethern' in original"
+  >brethren</span> hear him. Here is the honest language of truth.</p>
+
+  <p>In the presence of God, those priests acknowledge that they have not a
+  sufficient fear of those <i>constant</i> (what a word&mdash;what an
+  acknowledgment&mdash;constant!) temptations, and they honestly confess
+  that those temptations come from the hearing of the confessions of so
+  many scandalous sins. Here the priests honestly acknowledge that those
+  constant temptations, at the end, destroy <i>for ever</i> in them the
+  holy virtue of purity!<a name="Ft_3" href="#FtN_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Ah! would to God that all the honest girls and women whom the devil
+  entraps into the snares of auricular confession could hear the cries of
+  distress of those poor priests whom they have tempted&mdash;<i>for ever
+  destroyed!</i> Would to God that they could see the torrents of tears
+  shed by so many priests because, from the hearing of confessions, they
+  had <i>for ever</i> lost the virtue of purity! They would understand that
+  the confessional is a snare, a pit of perdition, a Sodom for the priest;
+  and they would be struck with horror and shame at the idea of the
+  <i>continual</i>, shameful, dishonest, degrading temptations by which
+  their confessor is tormented day and night&mdash;they would blush on
+  account of the shameful sins which their confessors have
+  committed&mdash;they would weep over the irreparable loss of their
+  purity&mdash;they would promise before God and men that the
+  confessional-box should never see them any more&mdash;they would prefer
+  to be burned alive, if any sentiment of honesty and charity remained in
+  them, rather than consent to be a cause of <i>constant</i> temptation and
+  damnable sin to that man.</p>
+
+  <p>Would that respectable lady go any more to confess to that man if,
+  after her confession, she could hear him lamenting the continual,
+  shameful temptations which assail him day and night, and the damning sins
+  which he has committed on account of what she has confessed to him?
+  No&mdash;a thousand times no!</p>
+
+  <p>Would that honest father allow his beloved daughter to go any more to
+  that man to confess if he could hear his cries of distress, and see his
+  tears flowing because the hearing of those confessions is the source of
+  constant, shameful temptations and degrading iniquities?</p>
+
+  <p>Oh! would to God that the honest Romanists all over the
+  world&mdash;for there are millions who, though deluded, are
+  honest&mdash;could see what is going on in the heart, the imagination of
+  the poor confessor when he is, there, surrounded by attractive women, and
+  tempting girls, speaking to him from morning to night on things which a
+  man cannot hear without falling! Then that modern but grand imposture
+  called the Sacrament of Penance would soon be ended.</p>
+
+  <p>But here, again, who will not lament the consequence of the total
+  perversity of our human nature? Those very same priests who, when alone
+  in the presence of God, speak so plainly of the constant temptations by
+  which they are assailed, and who so sincerely weep over the irreparable
+  loss of their virtue of purity, when they think that nobody hears them,
+  will yet in public deny with a brazen face those temptations. They will
+  indignantly rebuke you as a slanderer if you say anything to lead them to
+  suppose that you fear for their purity when they hear the confessions of
+  girls or married women. There is not a single one of the Roman Catholic
+  authors who have written on that subject for the priests, who has not
+  deplored their innumerable and degrading sins against purity on account
+  of the auricular confession; but those very men will be the first to try
+  to prove the very contrary when they write books for the people. I have
+  no words to say what was my surprise when, for the first time, I saw that
+  this strange duplicity seemed to be one of the fundamental stones of my
+  Church.</p>
+
+  <p>It was not very long after my ordination, when a priest came to me to
+  confess the most deplorable things. He honestly told me that there was
+  not a single one of the girls or married women whom he had confessed who
+  had not been a secret cause of the most shameful sins in thoughts,
+  desires, or actions; but he wept so bitterly over his degradation, his
+  heart seemed so sincerely broken on account of his own iniquities, that I
+  could not refrain from mixing my tears with his. I wept with him, and I
+  gave him the pardon of all his sins, as I thought, then, I had the power
+  and right to give it.</p>
+
+  <p>Two hours afterwards, that same priest, who was a good speaker, was in
+  the pulpit. His sermon was on "The Divinity of Auricular Confession;"
+  and, to prove that it was an institution coming directly from Christ, he
+  said that the Son of God was making a <i>constant</i> miracle to
+  strengthen His priests, and prevent them from falling into sins, on
+  account of what they might have heard in the confessional!</p>
+
+  <p>The daily abominations, which are the result of auricular confession,
+  are so horrible and so well known by the popes, the bishops, and the
+  priests, that several times, public attempts have been made to diminish
+  them by punishing the guilty priests; but all these have failed.</p>
+
+  <p>One of the most remarkable of those efforts was made by Pius IV. about
+  the year 1500. A Bull was published by him, by which all the girls and
+  the married women who had been seduced into sins by their confessors were
+  ordered to denounce them; and a certain number of high church officers of
+  the Holy Inquisition were authorized to take the depositions of the
+  fallen penitents. The thing was at first tried at Seville, one of the
+  principal cities of Spain. When the edict was first published the number
+  of women who felt bound in conscience to go and depose against their
+  father confessors was so great that, though there were thirty notaries
+  and as many inquisitors to take the depositions, they were unable to do
+  the work in the appointed time. Thirty days more were given, but the
+  inquisitors were so overwhelmed with the numberless depositions that
+  another period of time of the same length was given. But this, again, was
+  found insufficient. At the end, it was found that the number of priests
+  who had destroyed the purity of their penitents was so great that it was
+  impossible to punish them all. The inquest was given up, and the guilty
+  confessors remained unpunished. Several attempts of the same nature have
+  been tried by other popes, but with about the same success.</p>
+
+  <p>But if those honest attempts, on the part of some well-meaning popes,
+  to punish the confessors who destroy the purity of their penitents, have
+  failed to touch the guilty parties, they are, in the good providence of
+  God, infallible witnesses to tell to the world that auricular confession
+  is nothing else than a snare to the confessor and his dupes. Yes, those
+  Bulls of the popes are an irrefragable testimony that auricular
+  confession is the most powerful invention of the devil to corrupt the
+  heart, pollute the body, and damn the soul of the priest and his female
+  penitent!</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_IV">CHAPTER IV</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">how the vow of celibacy of the priests is made easy by auricular confession.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Are not facts the best arguments? Well, here is an undeniable, a
+  public fact, which is connected with a thousand collateral ones to prove
+  that auricular confession is the most powerful engine of demoralization
+  which the world has ever seen.</p>
+
+  <p>About the year 183&mdash;, there was in Quebec a fine-looking young
+  priest; he had a magnificent voice, and was a pretty good speaker.<a
+  name="Ft_4" href="#FtN_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> Through regard for his
+  family, which is still numerous and respectable, I will not give his
+  name, I will call him Rev. Mr. D&mdash;&mdash;. Having been invited to
+  preach in a parish of Canada, about 100 miles distant from Quebec, called
+  Verchères, he was also requested to hear the confessions during a few
+  days of a kind of Novena (nine days of prayer), which was going on in
+  that place. Among his penitents was a beautiful young girl, about
+  nineteen years old. She wanted to make a general confession of all her
+  sins from the first age of reason, and the confessor granted her request.
+  Twice every day she was there, at the feet of her handsome young
+  spiritual physician, telling all her thoughts, her deeds, her desires.
+  Sometimes she was remarked to have remained a whole hour in the
+  confessional-box, in accusing herself of all her human frailties. What
+  did she say? God only knows; but what became hereafter known by the
+  entire of Canada is that the confessor fell in love with his fair
+  penitent, and that she burned with the same irresistible fires for her
+  confessor, as it so often happens.</p>
+
+  <p>It was not an easy matter for the priest and the young girl to meet
+  each other in as complete a <i>tête-à-tête</i> as they both wished, for
+  there were too many eyes upon them. But the confessor was a man of
+  resources. The last day of the Novena he said to his beloved penitent, "I
+  am going to Montreal, but three days after I will take the steamer back
+  to Quebec. That steamer is accustomed to stop here. At about twelve a.m.,
+  be on the wharf, dressed as a young man. Let no one know your secret. You
+  will embark in the steamboat, where you will not be known, if you have
+  any prudence. You will come to Quebec, where you will be engaged as a
+  servant-boy by the curate, of whom I am the vicar. Nobody will know your
+  sex except myself, and we will there be happy together."</p>
+
+  <p>The fifth day after this there was a great desolation in the family of
+  the girl, for she had suddenly disappeared and her robes had been found
+  on the shores of the St. Lawrence river. There was not the least doubt in
+  the minds of all relations and friends, that the general confession she
+  had made had entirely upset her mind, and, in an excess of craziness, she
+  had thrown herself into the deep and rapid waters of the St. Lawrence.
+  Many searches were made to find her body, but all in vain; many public
+  and private prayers were offered to God to help her to escape from the
+  flames of Purgatory, where she might be condemned to suffer for many
+  years, and much money was given to the priest to sing high masses, in
+  order to extinguish the fires of that burning prison, where every Roman
+  Catholic believes he must go to be purified before entering the regions
+  of eternal happiness.</p>
+
+  <p>I will not give the name of the girl, though I have it, through
+  compassion for her family; I will call her Geneva.</p>
+
+  <p>Well, when father and mother, brothers, sisters, and friends were
+  shedding tears on the sad end of Geneva, she was in the rich parsonage of
+  the Curate of Quebec, well paid, well fed and dressed; happy and cheerful
+  with her beloved confessor. She was exceedingly neat in her person,
+  always obliging, ready to run and do what you wanted at the very
+  twinkling of your eye. Her new name was Joseph, by which I will now call
+  her.</p>
+
+  <p>Many times I have seen the smart Joseph at the parsonage of Quebec,
+  and admired his politeness and good manners; though it seemed to me
+  sometimes that he looked too much like a girl, and that he was a little
+  too much at ease with Rev. Mr. D&mdash;&mdash;, and also with the Right
+  Rev. M&mdash;&mdash;. But every time the idea came to me that Joseph was
+  a girl, I felt indignant with myself. The high respect I had for the
+  Coadjutor Bishop made it impossible to think that he would ever allow a
+  beautiful girl to sleep in the adjoining room to his own, and to serve
+  him day and night; for Joseph's sleeping-room was just by the one of the
+  Coadjutor, who, for several bodily infirmities, which were not a secret
+  to every one, wanted the help of his servant several times at night, as
+  well as during the day.</p>
+
+  <p>Things went on very smoothly with Joseph during two or three years in
+  the Coadjutor Bishop's house; but at the end it seemed to many people
+  outside that Joseph was taking too great airs of familiarity with the
+  young vicars, and even with the venerable Coadjutor. Several of the
+  citizens of Quebec, who were going more often than others to the
+  parsonage, were surprised and shocked at the familiarity of that
+  servant-boy with his masters; he really seemed sometimes to be on equal
+  terms with, if not somewhat above them.</p>
+
+  <p>An intimate friend of the Bishop, a most devoted Roman Catholic, who
+  was my near relative, took one day upon himself to respectfully say to
+  the Right Rev. Bishop that it would be prudent to turn out that impudent
+  young man from his palace; that he was the object of strong and
+  deplorable suspicions.</p>
+
+  <p>The position of the Right Rev. Bishop and his vicars was not a very
+  agreeable one. Their barque had evidently drifted among dangerous rocks.
+  To keep Joseph among them was impossible, after the friendly advice which
+  had come from such a high quarter, and to dismiss him was not less
+  dangerous; he knew too much of the interior and secret lives of all those
+  holy (?) celibates to deal with him as with another common servant-man.
+  With a single word of his lips he could destroy them; they were as if
+  tied to his feet by ropes, which at first seemed made with sweet cakes
+  and ice-cream, but had suddenly turned into burning steel chains. Several
+  days of anxiety passed away; many sleepless nights succeeded the
+  too-happy ones of better times. But what to do? There were breakers
+  ahead; breakers on the right, on the left, and on every side. But when
+  every one, particularly the venerable (?) Coadjutor, felt as criminals
+  who expect their sentence, and that their horizon seemed surrounded
+  absolutely by only dark and stormy clouds, on a sudden, a happy opening
+  presented itself to the anxious sailors.</p>
+
+  <p>The curate of "Les Eboulements," the Rev. Mr. &mdash;&mdash;, had just
+  come to Quebec on some private business, and had taken his quarters in
+  the hospitable house of his old friend, the Right Rev. &mdash;&mdash;,
+  Bishop Coadjutor. Both had been on very intimate terms for many years,
+  and, in many instances, they had been of great service to each other. The
+  Pontiff of the Church of Canada, hoping that his tried friend would
+  perhaps help him out of the terrible difficulty of the moment, frankly
+  told him all about Joseph, and asked him what he ought to do under such
+  difficult circumstances.</p>
+
+  <p>"My Lord," said the curate of the Eboulements, "Joseph is just the
+  servant I want. Pay him well, that he may remain your friend, and that
+  his lips may be sealed, and allow me to take him with me. My housekeeper
+  left me a few weeks ago; I am alone in my parsonage with my old
+  servant-man. Joseph is just the person I want."</p>
+
+  <p>It would be difficult to tell the joy of the poor Bishop and his
+  vicars, when they saw that heavy stone they had on their neck
+  removed.</p>
+
+  <p>Joseph, once installed into the parsonage of the pious (?) parish
+  priest of the Eboulements, soon gained the favour of the whole people by
+  his good and winning manners, and every parishioner complimented his
+  curate on the smartness of his new servant. But the priest, of course,
+  knew a little more of that smartness than the rest of the people. Three
+  years passed on very smoothly. The priest and his servant seemed to be on
+  the most perfect terms. The only thing which marred the happiness of that
+  lucky couple was that, now and then, some of the farmers, whose eyes were
+  sharper than those of their neighbours, seemed to think that the intimacy
+  between the two was going a little too far, and that Joseph, was really
+  keeping in his hands the sceptre of the little priestly kingdom. Nothing
+  could be done without his advice; he was meddling in all the small and
+  big affairs of the parish, and the curate seemed sometimes to be rather
+  the servant than the master in his own house and parish. Those who had at
+  first made those remarks privately began little by little to convey their
+  views to the next neighbour, and this one to the next. In that way, at
+  the end of the third year, grave and serious suspicions began to spread
+  from one to the other in such a way that the Marguilliers (a kind of
+  Elders) thought proper to say to the priest that it would be better for
+  him to turn Joseph out than to keep him any longer. But the old curate
+  had passed so many happy hours with his faithful Joseph that it was as
+  hard as death to give him up.</p>
+
+  <p>He knew, by confession, that a girl in the vicinity was given to an
+  unmentionable abomination, to which Joseph was also addicted. He went to
+  her and proposed that she should marry Joseph, and that he (the priest)
+  would help them to live comfortably. Joseph, in order to continue to live
+  near his good master, consented also to marry that girl. Both knew very
+  well what the other was. The banns were published during three Sabbaths,
+  after which the old curate, blessed the marriage of Joseph with the girl
+  his parishioner.</p>
+
+  <p>They lived together as husband and wife in such harmony that nobody
+  could suspect the horrible depravity which was concealed behind that
+  union. Joseph continued with his wife to work often for his priest, till
+  after sometime that priest was removed, and another curate, called
+  Tétreau, was sent in his place.</p>
+
+  <p>This new curate, knowing absolutely nothing of that mystery of
+  iniquity, employed also Joseph and his wife several times. One day when
+  Joseph was working at the door of the parsonage, in the presence of
+  several people, a stranger arrived, and inquired of him if the Rev. Mr.
+  Tétreau, the curate, was there.</p>
+
+  <p>Joseph answered, "Yes, sir. But as you seem to be a stranger, would
+  you allow me to ask you whence you come?"</p>
+
+  <p>"It is very easy, sir, to satisfy you. I come from Verchères," replied
+  the stranger.</p>
+
+  <p>At the word "Verchères" Joseph turned so pale that the stranger could
+  not be but struck with his sudden change of colour.</p>
+
+  <p>Then, fixing his eyes on Joseph, he cried out, "Oh, my God! what do I
+  see here? Geneva! Geneva! I recognize you, and here you are in the
+  disguise of a man!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Dear uncle (for it was her uncle), for God's sake," she cried, "do
+  not say a word more!"</p>
+
+  <p>But it was too late. The people who were there had heard the uncle and
+  niece. Their long secret suspicions were well-founded&mdash;one of their
+  former priests had kept a girl under the disguise of a man in his house!
+  and, to blind his people more thoroughly, he had married that girl to
+  another one, in order to have them both in his house, when he pleased,
+  without awakening any suspicion!!</p>
+
+  <p>The news went almost as quick as lightning from one end to the other
+  of the parish, and spread all over the northern country watered by the St
+  Lawrence river.</p>
+
+  <p>It is more easy to imagine than express the sentiments of surprise and
+  horror which filled every one. The justices of the peace took up the
+  matter; Joseph was brought before the civil tribunal, which decided that
+  a physician should be charged to make, not a <i>post-mortem</i>, but
+  <i>ante-mortem</i> inquest. The Honourable L&mdash;&mdash;, who was
+  called and made the proper inquiry, declared upon oath that Joseph was a
+  girl! and the bonds of marriage were legally dissolved.</p>
+
+  <p>During that time the honest Rev. Mr. Tétreau, struck with horror, had
+  sent an express to the Right Reverend Bishop Coadjutor of Quebec,
+  informing him that the young man whom he had kept in his house several
+  years, under the name of Joseph, was a girl.</p>
+
+  <p>Now, what were they to do with the girl, after all was discovered? Her
+  presence in Canada would for ever compromise the holy (<i>?</i>) Church
+  of Rome. She knew too well how the priests, through the confessional,
+  select their victims, and help themselves, in their company, in keeping
+  their solemn vows of celibacy! What would have become of the respect paid
+  to the priest, if she had been taken by the hand and invited to speak,
+  bravely, boldly, before the people of Canada?</p>
+
+  <p>The holy (?) Bishop and his vicars understood these things very
+  well.</p>
+
+  <p>They immediately sent a trustworthy man with £500 to say to the girl
+  that, if she remained in Canada, she could be prosecuted and severely
+  punished; that it was her interest to leave the country, and emigrate to
+  the United States. They offered her the £500 if she would promise to go
+  and never return.</p>
+
+  <p>She accepted the offer, crossed the lines, and we have never since
+  heard anything of her.</p>
+
+  <p>In the providence of God, I was invited to preach in that parish soon
+  after, and I learned these facts accurately.</p>
+
+  <p>The Rev. Mr. Tétreau, under whose pastorate this great iniquity was
+  detected, began from that time to have his eyes opened to the awful
+  depravity of the priests of Rome through the confessional. He wept and
+  cried over his own degradation in the midst of that modern Sodom. Our
+  merciful God looked down with compassion upon him, and sent him His
+  saving grace. Not long after, he sent to the Bishop his renunciation of
+  the errors and abominations of Romanism.</p>
+
+  <p>To-day he is working in the vineyard of the Lord with the Methodists
+  in the city of Montreal, where he is ready to prove the correctness of
+  what we say.</p>
+
+  <p>Let those who have ears to hear, and eyes to see, understand, by this
+  fact, that Pagan nations have not known any institution so depraving as
+  Auricular Confession!</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_V">CHAPTER V</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the highly educated and refined woman in the confessional.&mdash;what becomes of her after her unconditional surrender.&mdash;her irreparable ruin.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>The most skilful warrior has never had to display so much skill and so
+  many <i>ruses de guerre</i>; he has never had to use more tremendous
+  efforts to reduce and storm an impregnable citadel, as the confessor who
+  wants to reduce and storm the citadel of self-respect and honesty which
+  God Himself has built around the soul and the heart of every daughter of
+  Eve.</p>
+
+  <p>But, as it is through woman that the Pope wants to conquer the world,
+  it is supremely important that he should enslave and degrade her by
+  keeping her at his feet as his footstool, that she may become a passive
+  instrument in the accomplishment of his vast and profound scheme.</p>
+
+  <p>In order perfectly to master women in the higher circles of society,
+  every confessor is ordered by the Pope to learn the most complicated and
+  perfect strategy. He has to study a great number of treatises on the art
+  of persuading the fair sex to confess to him plainly, clearly, and in
+  detail, every thought, every secret desire, word, and deed, just as they
+  occurred.</p>
+
+  <p>And that art is considered so important and so difficult that all the
+  theologians of Rome call it "the art of arts."</p>
+
+  <p>Dens, St. Liguori, Chevassu, the author of the "Mirror of the Clergy,"
+  Debreyne, and a multitude of authors too numerous to mention, have given
+  the curious and scientific rules of that secret art.</p>
+
+  <p>They all agree in declaring that it is a most difficult and dangerous
+  art; they all confess that the least error of judgment, the least
+  imprudence or temerity, when storming the impregnable citadel, is sure
+  death (spiritual, of course) to the confessor and the penitent.</p>
+
+  <p>The confessor is taught to make the first steps towards the citadel
+  with the utmost caution, in order that his female penitent may not
+  suspect at first what he wants her to reveal; for this would generally
+  induce her to shut for ever the door of the fortress against him. After
+  the first steps of advance, he is advised to make several steps back, and
+  to put himself in a kind of spiritual ambuscade, to see the effect of his
+  first advance. If there is any prospect of success, then the word "March
+  on!" is given, and a more advanced post of the citadel must be tried and
+  stormed if possible. In that way, little by little, the whole place is so
+  well surrounded, so well crippled, denuded, and dismantled, that any more
+  resistance seems impossible on the part of the rebellious soul.</p>
+
+  <p>Then the last charge is ordered, the final assault is given; and if
+  God does not perform a real miracle to save that soul, the last walls
+  crumble, the doors are beaten down! Then the confessor makes a triumphant
+  entry into the place; the very heart, soul, conscience, and intelligence,
+  are conquered.</p>
+
+  <p>When once master of the place, the priest visits all its most secret
+  recesses and corners; he pries into its most sacred chambers. The
+  conquered place is entirely, absolutely in his hands; he does what he
+  pleases within its precincts; he is the supreme master, for the surrender
+  has been unconditional. The confessor has become the <i>only</i>
+  infallible ruler in the conquered place&mdash;nay, he has become its only
+  God&mdash;for it is in the name of God that he has besieged, stormed, and
+  conquered it, it is in the name of God that, hereafter, he will speak and
+  be obeyed.</p>
+
+  <p>No human words can adequately give an idea of the irreparable ruin
+  which follows the successful storming and unconditional surrender of the
+  once so noble fortress. The longer the resistance has been, the more
+  terrible and complete is the destruction of its beauty and strength; the
+  nobler the struggle has been the more irretrievable are the ruin and
+  loss. Just as the higher and stronger the dam is built to stem the
+  current of the rapid and deep waters of the river, the more awful the
+  disasters which follow its destruction, so it is with that noble soul. A
+  mighty dam has been built by the very hand of God, called self-respect
+  and womanly modesty, to guard her against the pollutions of this sinful
+  world; but the day that the priest of Rome succeeds, after long efforts,
+  in destroying it, the soul is carried by an irresistible power into
+  unfathomable abysses of iniquity. Then it is that the once most
+  respectable lady will consent to hear, without a blush, things against
+  which the most degraded woman would indignantly shut her ears. Then it is
+  that she freely speaks on matters for repeating which a printer in
+  England has lately been sent to jail.</p>
+
+  <p>At first, in spite of herself, but soon with a real sensual pleasure,
+  that fallen angel will think, when alone, on what she has heard and what
+  she has said in the confessional-box. In spite of herself, the vilest
+  thoughts will at first irresistibly fill her mind; and soon the thoughts
+  will engender temptations and sins. But those vile temptations and sins,
+  which would have filled her with horror and regret before her entire
+  surrender into the hands of the foe, beget very different sentiments now
+  that she is no more her own self-possessor and guide, under the eyes of
+  God. The conviction of her sins is no more connected with the thought of
+  a God, infinitely holy and just, whom she must serve and fear. The
+  conviction of her sins is now immediately connected with the thought of
+  the man with whom she will have to speak, and who will easily make
+  everything right and pure in her soul by his absolution.</p>
+
+  <p>When the day of going to confess comes, instead of being sad and
+  uneasy and bashful, as she used to be formerly, she feels pleased and
+  delighted to have a new opportunity of conversing on those matters,
+  without impropriety and sin to herself; for she is now fully persuaded
+  that there is no impropriety, no shame, no sin, nay, she believes, or
+  tries to believe, that it is a good, honest, <span class="correction"
+  title="'Christain' in original">Christian</span>, and godly thing to
+  converse with her priest on those matters.</p>
+
+  <p>Her most happy hours are when she is at the feet of that spiritual
+  physician showing him all the newly made wounds of her soul; explaining
+  all her constant temptations, her bad thoughts, her most intimate secret
+  desires and sins.</p>
+
+  <p>Then it is that the most sacred mysteries of the married life are
+  revealed; then it is that the mysterious and precious pearls which God
+  has given as a crown of mercy to those whom He has made one body, one
+  heart, one soul, by the blessed ties of a christian union, are lavishly
+  thrown before swine.</p>
+
+  <p>Whole hours are thus passed by the fair penitent in speaking to her
+  Father Confessor with the utmost freedom on matters which would rank her
+  among the most profligate and lost women, if it were only suspected by
+  her friends and relatives. A single word of those intimate conversations
+  would be followed by an act of divorce on the part of the husband, if it
+  were known by him.</p>
+
+  <p>But the betrayed husband knows nothing of the dark mysteries of
+  auricular confession; the duped father suspects nothing; a cloud from
+  hell has obscured the intelligence of both, and made them blind. It is
+  just the contrary: husbands and fathers, friends and relations, feel
+  edified and pleased with the touching spectacle of the piety of Madam and
+  Miss &mdash;&mdash;. In the village, as well as in the city, every one
+  has a word to speak in their praise. Mrs. &mdash;&mdash; is so often seen
+  humbly prostrated at the feet, or by the side, of her confessor! Miss
+  &mdash;&mdash; remains so long in the confessional-box! they receive the
+  holy communion so frequently; they both speak so eloquently and so often
+  of the admirable piety, modesty, holiness, patience, charity, of their
+  incomparable spiritual Father!</p>
+
+  <p>Every one congratulates them on their new and exemplary life; and they
+  accept the compliment with the utmost humility, attributing their rapid
+  progress in Christian virtues to the holiness of their confessor. He is
+  such a spiritual man! who could not make rapid strides under such a holy
+  guide?</p>
+
+  <p>The more constant the temptations are, the more the secret sins
+  overwhelm the soul, and the more airs of peace and holiness are put on.
+  The more foul the secret emanations of the heart, the more the fair and
+  refined penitent surrounds herself by an atmosphere of the sweetest
+  perfumes of a sham piety. The more polluted the inside of the sepulchre
+  is, the more shining and white the outside will be kept.</p>
+
+  <p>Then it is that, unless God performs a miracle to prevent it, the ruin
+  of that soul is sealed. She has drunk in the poisonous cup filled by "the
+  mother of harlots," and she has found the wine of her prostitution sweet.
+  She will henceforth delight in her spiritual and secret orgies.</p>
+
+  <p>Her holy (?) confessor has told her that there is no impropriety, no
+  shame, no sin, in that cup. The Pope has sacrilegiously written the word
+  "Life" on that cup of "Death." She has believed the Pope: the terrible
+  mystery of iniquity is accomplished!</p>
+
+  <p>"The mystery of iniquity doth already work ... whose coming is after
+  the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with
+  all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they
+  received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
+  this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe
+  a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
+  pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. ii. 7-12).</p>
+
+  <p>Yes: the day that the rich, well-educated lady gives up her
+  self-respect, and unconditionally surrenders the citadel of womanly
+  modesty into the hands of a man, whatever be his name or titles, that he
+  may freely put to her questions of the vilest character which she must
+  answer, she is lost and degraded, just as if she were the humblest and
+  poorest servant-girl.</p>
+
+  <p>I purposely say "the rich and well-educated woman," for I know that
+  there is a prevalent opinion that the social position of her class places
+  her above the corrupting influences of the confessional, as if she were
+  out of reach of the common miseries of our poor fallen and sinful
+  nature.</p>
+
+  <p>So long as the well-educated lady makes use of her accomplishments to
+  defend the citadel of her womanly self-respect against the foe&mdash;so
+  long as she sternly keeps the door of her heart shut against her deadly
+  enemy&mdash;she is safe. But let no one forget this: she is safe only so
+  long as she does <i>not</i> surrender. When the enemy is once master of
+  the place, I emphatically repeat, the ruinous consequences are as great,
+  if not greater, and more irreparable than in the lowest classes of
+  society. Throw a piece of precious gold into the mud, and tell me if it
+  will not plunge deeper than the piece of rotten wood.</p>
+
+  <p>What woman could be nobler, purer, and stronger than Eve when she came
+  from the hands of her Divine Creator? But how quickly she fell when she
+  gave ear to the seducing voice of the tempter! How irreparable was her
+  ruin when she complacently looked on the forbidden fruit, and believed
+  the lying voice which told her there was "<i>no sin</i>" in eating of
+  it!</p>
+
+  <p>I solemnly, in the presence of the great God who ere long will judge
+  me, give my testimony on this grave subject. After 25 years' experience
+  in the confessional, I declare that the confessor himself encounters more
+  terrible dangers when hearing the confessions of refined and
+  highly-educated ladies, than when listening to those of the humbler
+  classes of his female penitents.</p>
+
+  <p>I solemnly testify that the well-educated lady, when she has once
+  surrendered herself to the power of her confessor, becomes, as a general
+  rule, at least as vulnerable to the arrows of the enemy as the poorer and
+  less educated. Nay, I must say that, once on the down-hill road of
+  perdition, the high-bred lady runs headlong into the pit with a more
+  deplorable rapidity than her humbler sister.</p>
+
+  <p>All Canada is witness that a few years ago it was among the highest
+  ranks of society that the Grand Vicar Superior of one of the richest and
+  most influential colleges of Canada, was choosing his victims, when the
+  public cry of indignation and shame forced the Bishop to send him back to
+  Europe, where he soon after died. Was it not also among the higher
+  classes of society that a Superior of the Seminary of Quebec was
+  destroying souls, when he was detected, and forced, during a dark night,
+  to fly and conceal himself behind the walls of the Trappist Monastery of
+  Iowa?</p>
+
+  <p>Many would be the folio volumes which I should have to write, were I
+  to publish all that my twenty-five years' experience in the confessional
+  has taught me of the unspeakable secret corruption of the <i>greatest</i>
+  part of the so-called respectable ladies who have unconditionally
+  surrendered themselves into the hands of their holy (?) confessors. But
+  the following fact will suffice for those who have eyes to see, ears to
+  hear, and an intelligence to understand.</p>
+
+  <p>In one of the most beautiful and thriving towns along the St. Lawrence
+  River lived a rich merchant. He was young, and his marriage with a most
+  lovely, rich, and accomplished young lady had made him one of the
+  happiest men in the land.</p>
+
+  <p>A few years after his marriage, the Bishop appointed to that town a
+  young priest, really remarkable for his eloquence, zeal, and amiable
+  qualities, and the merchant and the priest soon became connected by links
+  of the most sincere friendship.</p>
+
+  <p>The young, accomplished wife of the merchant soon became the model
+  woman of the place, under the direction of her new confessor.</p>
+
+  <p>Many and long were the hours she used to pass by the side of her
+  spiritual Father, to be purified and enlightened by his godly advices.
+  She soon was seen at the head of the few who had the privilege of
+  receiving the holy communion once a week. The husband, who was a good
+  Roman Catholic himself, blessed God and the Virgin Mary that he had the
+  privilege of living with such an angel of piety.</p>
+
+  <p>Nobody had the least suspicion of what was going on under that holy
+  and white mantle of the most exalted piety. Nobody, except God and His
+  angels, could hear the questions put by the priest to his fair pentitent,
+  and the answers made during the long hours of their <i>tête-à-tête</i>,
+  in the confessional-box. Nobody but God could see the hellish fires which
+  were devouring the hearts of the confessor and his victim! For nearly one
+  year, both the young priest and his spiritual patient enjoyed, in those
+  intimate and private secret conversations, all the pleasures which lovers
+  feel, when they can speak freely to each other of their secret thoughts
+  and love.</p>
+
+  <p>But this was not enough for them. They both wanted something more
+  real, though the difficulties were great and seemed even insurmountable.
+  The priest had his mother and sister with him, whose eyes were too sharp
+  to allow him to invite the lady to his own house for any criminal object,
+  and the young husband had no business at a distance which could keep him
+  long enough out of his happy home to allow the Pope's confessor to
+  accomplish his diabolical designs.</p>
+
+  <p>But when a poor fallen daughter of Eve has a mind to do a thing, she
+  very soon finds the means, <span class="correction" title="'particulary' in original"
+  >particularly</span> if high education has added to her natural
+  shrewdness.</p>
+
+  <p>And in this case, as in many others of a similar nature which have
+  been revealed to me, she soon found how to attain her object without
+  compromising herself or her holy (?) confessor. A plan was soon found,
+  and cordially agreed to, and both patiently awaited their
+  opportunity.</p>
+
+  <p>"Why have you not gone to mass to-day and received the holy communion,
+  my dear?" said the husband: "I had ordered the servant-man to put the
+  horse in the buggy for you as usual."</p>
+
+  <p>"I am not very well, my beloved; I have passed a sleepless night from
+  head-ache."</p>
+
+  <p>"I will send for the physician," replied the husband.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, my dear; do send for the physician&mdash;perhaps he will do me
+  good."</p>
+
+  <p>One hour after, the physician called. He found his fair patient a
+  little feverish, pronounced that there was nothing serious, and that she
+  would soon be well. He gave her a little powder, to be taken three times
+  a day, and left; but at nine p.m., she complained of a great pain in the
+  chest, and soon fainted and fell on the floor.</p>
+
+  <p>The doctor was again immediately sent for, but he was from home: it
+  took nearly half an hour before he could come. When he arrived the
+  alarming crisis was over&mdash;she was sitting in an arm-chair, with some
+  neighbouring women, who were applying cold water and vinegar to her
+  forehead.</p>
+
+  <p>The physician was really at a loss what to say of the cause of such a
+  sudden illness. At last he said that it might be an attack of the "ver
+  solitaire" (tape-worm). He declared that it was not dangerous; that he
+  knew how to cure her. He ordered some new powder to be taken, and left,
+  after having promised to return the next day. Half an hour after she
+  began to complain of a most terrible pain in her chest, and fainted
+  again; but before doing so she said to her husband,&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"My dear, you see that the physician understands absolutely nothing of
+  the nature of my disease. I have not the least confidence in him, for I
+  feel that his powders make me worse. I do not want to see him any more. I
+  suffer more than you suspect, my beloved; and if there is not soon a
+  change I may be dead tomorrow. The only physician I want is our holy
+  confessor; please make haste to go and get him. I want to make a general
+  confession, and to receive the holy viaticum (communion) and extreme
+  unction before I grow worse."</p>
+
+  <p>Beside himself with anxiety, the distracted husband ordered the horse
+  to be put in the buggy, and made his servant accompany him on horseback,
+  to ring the bell, while his pastor carried "the good god" (<i>Le Bon
+  Dieu</i>) to his dear sick wife.</p>
+
+  <p>He found the priest piously reading his <i>breviarium</i> (his book of
+  daily prayers); and admired the charity and promptitude with which his
+  good pastor, in that dark and chilly night, was ready to leave his warm
+  and comfortable parsonage at the first appeal of the sick. In less than
+  an hour the husband had taken the priest with "the good god" from the
+  church to the bedroom of his wife.</p>
+
+  <p>All along the way the servant-man had rung a big hand-bell to awaken
+  the sleeping farmers, who, at the noise, had to jump, half naked out of
+  their beds and worship, on their knees, with their faces prostrate in the
+  dust, "the good god" which was being carried to the sick.</p>
+
+  <p>On his arrival, the confessor, with every appearance of sincere piety,
+  deposited "the good god" (<i>Le Bon Dieu</i>) on a table, richly prepared
+  for such a solemn occasion, and, approaching the bed, leaned his head
+  towards his penitent, and inquired how she felt.</p>
+
+  <p>She answered him, "I am very sick, and want to make a general
+  confession before I die."</p>
+
+  <p>Speaking to her husband, she said with a fainting voice, "Please, my
+  dear, tell my friends to withdraw from the room, that I may not be
+  distracted when making what may be my last confession."</p>
+
+  <p>The husband respectfully requested the friends to leave the room with
+  him, and shut the door, that the holy confessor might be <i>alone</i>
+  with his penitent during her general confession.</p>
+
+  <p>One of the most diabolical schemes under the cover of auricular
+  confession had perfectly succeeded. The mother of harlots, that great
+  enchantress of souls, whose seat is on the city of the "seven hills,"
+  had, there, her priest to bring shame, disgrace, and damnation, under the
+  mask of Christianity.</p>
+
+  <p>The destroyer of souls, whose masterpiece is auricular confession, had
+  there, for the millionth time, a fresh opportunity of insulting the God
+  of purity, through one of the most criminal actions which the dark shades
+  of night can conceal.</p>
+
+  <p>But let us draw the veil over the abominations of that hour of
+  iniquity, and let us leave to hell its dark secrets.</p>
+
+  <p>After he had accomplished the ruin of his victim, and most cruelly and
+  sacrilegiously abused the confidence of his friend, the young priest
+  opened the door of the room and said, with a sanctimonious air, "You may
+  enter to pray with me, while I give the last sacrament to our dear sick
+  sister."</p>
+
+  <p>They came in; "the good god" (<i>Le Bon Dieu</i>) was given to the
+  woman; and the husband, full of gratitude for the considerate attention
+  of his priest, took him back to his parsonage, and thanked him most
+  sincerely for having so kindly come to visit his wife in so chilly a
+  night.</p>
+
+  <p>Ten years later, I was called to preach a retreat (a kind of revival)
+  in that same parish. That lady, then an absolute stranger to me, came to
+  my confessional-box and confessed to me those details as I now give them.
+  She seemed to be really penitent, and I gave her absolution and the
+  entire pardon of her sins, as my Church told me to do. On the last day of
+  the revival, the merchant invited me to a grand dinner. Then it was that
+  I came to know who my penitent had been. I must not forget to mention
+  that she had confessed to me that, of her four children, the last three
+  belonged to her confessor! He had lost his mother, and, his sister having
+  married, his parsonage had become more accessible to his fair penitents,
+  many of whom had availed themselves of that opportunity to practise the
+  lessons they had learned in the confessional. The priest had been removed
+  to a higher position, where he, more than ever, enjoyed the confidence of
+  his superiors, the respect of the people, and the love of his female
+  penitents.</p>
+
+  <p>I never felt so embarrassed in my life as when at the table of that
+  cruelly-victimised man. We had hardly begun to take our dinner when he
+  asked me if I had known their late pastor, the amiable Rev. Mr.
+  &mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>I answered, "Yes, sir, I know him."</p>
+
+  <p>"Is he not a most accomplished priest?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir, he is a most accomplished man," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Why is it," rejoined the good merchant, "that the Bishop has taken
+  him away from us? He was doing so well here! He had so deservedly earned
+  the confidence of all by his piety and gentlemanly manners that we made
+  every effort to keep him with us. I drew up a petition myself, which all
+  the people signed, to induce the Bishop to let him remain in our midst;
+  but in vain. His lordship answered us that he wanted him for a more
+  important place on account of his rare ability, and we had to submit. His
+  zeal and devotedness knew no bounds. In the darkest and most stormy
+  nights he was always ready to come to the first call of the sick. I shall
+  never forget how quickly and cheerfully he responded to my appeal when, a
+  few years ago, I went, in the midst of one of our most chilly nights, to
+  request him to visit my wife, who was very sick."</p>
+
+  <p>At this stage of the conversation, I must confess that I nearly
+  laughed outright. The gratitude of that poor dupe of the confessional to
+  the priest who had come to bring shame and destruction to his house, and
+  the idea of that very man going himself to convey to his home the
+  corrupter of his own wife, seemed to me so ludicrous that, for a moment,
+  I had to make a superhuman effort to control myself.</p>
+
+  <p>But I was soon brought to my better senses by the shame which I felt
+  at the idea of the unspeakable degradation and secret infamy of the
+  clergy of which I was a member. At that instant hundreds of cases of
+  similar, if not greater, depravity, which had been revealed to me through
+  the confessional, came to my mind and distressed and disgusted me so much
+  that my tongue was almost paralyzed.</p>
+
+  <p>After dinner the merchant asked his lady to call the children, that I
+  might see them, and I could not but admire their beauty; but I do not
+  need to say that the pleasure of seeing those dear and lovely little ones
+  was much marred by the secret though sure knowledge I had that the three
+  youngest were the fruits of the unspeakable depravity of auricular
+  confession in the higher ranks of society.</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_VI">CHAPTER VI</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">auricular confession destroys all the sacred ties of marriage and human society.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Would the banker allow his priest to open, when alone, the safe of his
+  bank, manipulate and examine his papers, and pry into the most secret
+  details of his banking business?</p>
+
+  <p>No! surely not.</p>
+
+  <p>How is it, then, that the same banker allows that priest to open the
+  heart of his wife, manipulate her soul, and pry into the sacred chambers
+  of her most intimate and secret thoughts?</p>
+
+  <p>Are not the heart, the soul, the purity, and the self-respect of his
+  wife as great and precious treasures as the safe of his bank? Are not the
+  risks and dangers of temptations, imprudences, indiscretions, much
+  greater and more irreparable in the second than in the first case?</p>
+
+  <p>Would the jeweller, or goldsmith, allow his priest to come when he
+  pleases, and handle the rich articles of his stores, ransack the desk
+  where his money is deposited, and play with it as he pleases?</p>
+
+  <p>No! surely not.</p>
+
+  <p>But are not the heart, the soul, and the purity of his dear wife and
+  daughter a thousandfold more valuable than his precious stones, or silver
+  and gold wares? Are not the dangers of temptation and indiscretions, on
+  the part of the priest, more formidable and irresistible in the second
+  than in the first of these cases?</p>
+
+  <p>Would the livery-man allow his priest to take his most valuable and
+  unmanageable horses as he wishes, and drive alone, without any other
+  consideration and security than the discretion of his pastor?</p>
+
+  <p>No! surely not.</p>
+
+  <p>That livery-man knows that he would soon be ruined if he should do so.
+  Whatever may be his confidence in the discretion, honesty, and prudence
+  of his priest, he will never push his confidence so far as to give him
+  the unreserved control of the noble and fiery animals which are the glory
+  of his stables and the support of his family.</p>
+
+  <p>How, then, can the same man trust the entire, absolute management of
+  his wife and dear daughters to the control of that one to whom he would
+  not entrust his horses?</p>
+
+  <p>Are not his wife and daughters as precious to him as those horses? Is
+  there not greater danger of indiscretions, mismanagement, irreparable and
+  fatal errors on the part of the priest, dealing alone with the wife and
+  daughters, than when driving the horses? No human act of folly, moral
+  depravity, and want of common sense, can equal the permission given by a
+  man to his wife to go and confess to the priest.</p>
+
+  <p>That day he abdicates the royal&mdash;I had almost said
+  divine&mdash;dignity of husband; for it is from God that he holds it: his
+  crown is forever lost, his sceptre broken!</p>
+
+  <p>What would you do to any one mean enough to peep or listen through the
+  key-hole of your door, in order to hear or see everything that was said
+  or done within? Would you show so little self-respect as to tolerate such
+  indiscretion? Would you not rather take a whip or a cane, and drive away
+  the villain? Would you not even expose your life to free yourself from
+  impudent curiosity?</p>
+
+  <p>But what is the confessional, if not the key-hole of your house and of
+  your very chamber, through which the priest can hear and see your most
+  secret words and actions, nay, more, know your most intimate thoughts and
+  aspirations?</p>
+
+  <p>Are you men to submit to such sly and insulting inquisition? Do you
+  deserve the name of men who consent to put up with such ignoble affront
+  and humiliation?</p>
+
+  <p>"The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of
+  the Church." "Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the
+  wives be to their own husbands, in everything" (Eph. v.) If these solemn
+  words are the true oracles of divine wisdom, is not the husband divinely
+  appointed the <i>only</i> adviser, counsellor, help of his wife, just as
+  Christ is the <i>only</i> adviser, counsellor, and help of His
+  Church?</p>
+
+  <p>If the Apostle was not an impostor when he said that the wife is to
+  her husband what the body is to the head, and that the husband is to his
+  wife what the head is to the body&mdash;is not the husband appointed by
+  God to be the light, the guide of his wife? Is it not his duty, as well
+  as his privilege and glory, to console her in her afflictions, strengthen
+  her in her hours of weakness, keep her up when she is in danger of
+  fainting, and encourage her when she is on the rough and uphill ways of
+  life?</p>
+
+  <p>If Christ has not come to deceive the world through His Apostle, must
+  not the wife go to her husband for advice? Ought she not to expect from
+  him, and him alone, after God, the light she wants and the consolation
+  she is in need of? Is it not to her husband, and to him alone, after God,
+  she ought to look in her days of trial for help? Is it not under his
+  leadership alone she must fight the battle of life and conquer? Are not
+  this mutual and daily sharing of the anxieties of life, this constant
+  shouldering on the battle-field, and this reciprocal and mutual
+  protection and help renewed at every hour of the day, which form, under
+  the eyes and by the mercy of God, the holiest and the purest charms of
+  the married life? Is it not that unreserved confidence in each other
+  which binds together those golden links of Christian love that make them
+  happy in the very midst of the trials of life? Is it not through this
+  mutual confidence alone that they are <i>one</i> as God wants them to be
+  <i>one</i>? Is it not in this unity of thoughts, fears and hopes, joys
+  and love, which come from God, that they can cheerfully cross the thorny
+  valley, and safely reach the Promised Land?</p>
+
+  <p>The Gospel says that the husband is to his wife what Christ is to His
+  Church! Is it not, then, a most sacrilegious iniquity for a wife to look
+  to another rather than to her own husband for such advice, wisdom,
+  strength, and life, as he is entitled, qualified, and ready to afford? As
+  no other has the right to her love, so no other man has any right to her
+  absolute confidence. As she becomes an adulteress the day that she gives
+  her body to another man, is she any the less an adulteress, the day that
+  she gives her confidence and trusts her soul to a stranger? The adultery
+  of the heart and soul is not less criminal than the adultery of the body;
+  and every time the wife goes to the feet of the priest to confess, does
+  she not become guilty of that iniquity?</p>
+
+  <p>In the Church of Rome, through the confessional, the priest is much
+  more the husband of the wife than the man to whom she was wedded at the
+  foot of the altar. The priest has the best part of the wife. He has the
+  marrow, when the husband has the bones. He has the juice of the orange,
+  the husband has the rind. He has the soul and the heart; the husband has
+  the skeleton. He has the honey; the husband has the wax cell. He has the
+  succulent oyster; the husband has the dry shell. As much as the soul is
+  higher than the body, so much are the power and privileges of the priest
+  higher than the power and privileges of the husband in the mind of the
+  penitent wife. As the husband is the lord of the body which he feeds, so
+  the priest is the lord of the soul, which he also feeds. The wife, then,
+  has two lords and masters, whom she must love, respect, and obey. Will
+  she not give the best part of her love, respect, and submission to the
+  one who is as much above the other as the heavens are above the earth?
+  But as one cannot serve two masters together, will not the master who
+  prepares and fits her for an eternal life of glory, certainly be the
+  object of her constant, real, and most ardent love, gratitude, and
+  respect, when the worldly and sinful man to whom she is married will have
+  <i>only</i> the appearance or the crumbs of those sentiments? Will she
+  not, naturally, instinctively serve, love, respect, and obey, as lord and
+  master, the godly man whose yoke is so light, so holy, so divine, rather
+  than the carnal man whose human imperfections are to her a source of
+  daily trial and suffering?</p>
+
+  <p>In the Church of Rome the thoughts and desires, the secret joys and
+  fears of the soul, the very life of the wife, are sealed things to the
+  husband. He has no right to look into the sanctuary of her heart; he has
+  no remedy to apply to the soul; he has no mission from God to advise her
+  in the dark hours of her anxieties; he has no balm to apply to the
+  bleeding wounds, so often received in the daily battles of life; he must
+  remain a perfect stranger in his own house.</p>
+
+  <p>The wife, expecting nothing from her husband, has no revelation to
+  make to him, no favour to ask, no debt of gratitude to pay. Nay, she
+  shuts all the avenues of her soul, all the doors and windows of her
+  heart, against her husband. The priest, and the priest alone, has a right
+  to her entire confidence; to him, and him alone, she will go and reveal
+  all her secrets, show all her wounds; to him, and him alone, she will
+  turn her mind, her heart and soul, in the hour of trouble and anxiety;
+  from him, and him alone, she will ask and expect the light and
+  consolation she wants. Every day, more and more, her husband will become
+  as a stranger to her, if he does not become a real nuisance, and an
+  obstacle to her happiness and peace.</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, through the confessional, an unfathomable abyss has been dug, by
+  the Church of Rome, between the heart of the wife and the heart of the
+  husband! Their bodies may be very near each other, but their souls, their
+  real affections and their confidence, are at greater distance than the
+  north is from the south pole of the earth. The confessor is the master,
+  the ruler, the king of the soul; the husband, as the grave-yard keeper,
+  must be satisfied with the carcase!</p>
+
+  <p>The husband has the permission to look on the outside of the palace;
+  he is allowed to rest his head on the cold marble, of the outdoor steps;
+  but the confessor triumphantly walks into the mysterious starry rooms,
+  examines at leisure their numberless and unspeakable wonders; and, alone,
+  he is allowed to rest his head on the soft pillows of the unbounded
+  confidence, respect, and love of the wife.</p>
+
+  <p>In the Church of Rome, if the husband asks a favour from his wife,
+  nine times in ten she will inquire from her father confessor whether or
+  not she can grant him his request, and the poor husband will have to wait
+  patiently for the permission of the master or the rebuke of the lord,
+  according to the answer of the oracle which had to be consulted! If he
+  gets impatient under the yoke, and murmurs, the wife will soon go to the
+  feet of her confessor; to tell him how she has the misfortune to be
+  united to a most unreasonable man, and how she has to suffer from him!
+  She reveals to her "dear father" how she is unhappy under such a yoke,
+  and how her life would be an unsupportable burden, had she not the
+  privilege and happiness of coming often to his feet, to lay down her
+  sorrows, hear his sympathetic words, and get his so affectionate and
+  paternal advice! She tells him, with tears of gratitude, that it is only
+  when by his side, and at his feet, she finds rest to her weary soul, balm
+  to her bleeding heart, and peace to her troubled conscience.</p>
+
+  <p>When she comes from the confessional, her ears are long filled as with
+  a heavenly music, the honeyed words of her confessor ring for many days
+  in her heart, she feels it lonesome to be separated from him, his image
+  is constantly before her mind, and the <i>souvenir</i> of his
+  amiabilities is one of her most pleasant thoughts. There is nothing which
+  she likes so much as to speak of his good qualities, his patience, his
+  piety, his charity, she longs for the day when she will again go to
+  confess, and pass a few hours by the side of that angelic man, in opening
+  to him all the secrets of her heart, and in revealing all her
+  <i>ennuis</i>. She tells him how she regrets that she cannot come oftener
+  to see him, and receive the benefit of his charitable counsels; she does
+  not even conceal from him how often, in her dreams, she feels too happy
+  to be with him! More and more, every day, the gap between her and her
+  husband widens; more and more, each day, she regrets that she has not the
+  happiness to be the wife of such a holy man as her confessor! Oh! if it
+  were possible...! But, then, she blushes or smiles, and sings a song.</p>
+
+  <p>Then again, I ask it, Who is the true lord, ruler, and master in that
+  house? For whom does that heart beat and live?</p>
+
+  <p>Thus it is that that stupendous imposture, the dogma of auricular
+  confession, does completely destroy all the links, the joys, the
+  responsibilities, and divine privileges of the married life, and
+  transforms it into a life of perpetual, though disguised, adultery. It
+  becomes utterly impossible, in the church of Rome, that the husband
+  should be <i>one</i> with his wife, and that the wife should be
+  <i>one</i> with her husband: a "monstrous being" has been put between
+  them both, called the confessor! Born in the darkest ages of the world,
+  that being has received from hell his mission to destroy and contaminate
+  the purest joys of the married life, to enslave the wife, to outrage the
+  husband, and to damn the world!</p>
+
+  <p>The more auricular confession is practised, the more the laws of
+  public and private morality are trampled under feet. The husband wants
+  his wife to be <i>his</i>&mdash;he does not, and could not, consent to
+  share his authority over her with anybody: he wants to be the <i>only</i>
+  man who will have her confidence and her heart, as well as her respect
+  and love. And so, the very moment that he anticipates the dark shadow of
+  the confessor coming between him and the woman of his choice, he prefers
+  silently to shrink from entering into the sacred bond; the holy joys of
+  home and family lose their divine attractions; he prefers the cold life
+  of an ignominious celibacy to the humiliation and opprobrium of the <span
+  class="correction" title="'questioable' in original">questionable</span>
+  privileges of an uncertain paternity.</p>
+
+  <p>France, Spain, and many other Roman Catholic countries, thus witness
+  the multitude of those bachelors increasing every year. The number of
+  families and births, in consequence, is fast decreasing in their midst;
+  and, if God does not perform a miracle to stop those nations on their
+  downward course, it is easy to calculate the day when they will owe their
+  existence to the tolerance and pity of the mighty Protestant nations by
+  which they are surrounded.</p>
+
+  <p>Why is it that the Irish Roman Catholic people are so irremediably
+  degraded and clothed in rags? Why is it that that people, whom God has
+  endowed with so many noble qualities, seem to be so deprived of
+  intelligence and self-respect that they glory in their own shame? Why is
+  it that their land has been for centuries the land of bloody riots and
+  cowardly murders? The principal cause is the enslaving of the Irish
+  women, by means of the confessional. Every one knows that the spiritual
+  slavery and degradation of the Irish woman has no bounds. After she has
+  been enslaved and degraded, she, in turn, has enslaved and degraded her
+  husband and her sons. Ireland will be an object of pity; she will be
+  poor, miserable, riotous, blood-thirsty, degraded, so long as she rejects
+  Christ, to be ruled by the father confessor planted in every parish by
+  the Pope.</p>
+
+  <p>Who has not been amazed and saddened by the downfall of France? How is
+  it that her once so mighty armies have melted away, that her brave sons
+  have so easily been conquered and disarmed? How is it that France, fallen
+  powerless at the feet of her enemies, has frightened the world by the
+  spectacle of the incredible, bloody, and savage follies of the Commune?
+  Do not look for the causes of the downfall, humiliation, and untold
+  miseries of France anywhere else than in the confessional. For centuries
+  has not that great country obstinately rejected Christ? Has she not
+  slaughtered or sent into exile her noblest children, who wanted to follow
+  the Gospel? Has she not given her fair daughters into the hands of the
+  confessors, who have defiled and degraded them? How could women, in
+  France, teach her husbands and sons to love liberty, and die for it, when
+  she was herself a miserable, an abject slave? How could she form her
+  husbands and sons to the manly virtues of heroes, when her own mind was
+  defiled and her heart corrupted?</p>
+
+  <p>The French woman had unconditionally surrendered the noble and fair
+  citadel of her heart, intelligence, and womanly self-respect, into the
+  hands of her confessor long before her sons surrendered their sword to
+  the Germans at Sedan and Paris. The first unconditional surrender had
+  brought the second.</p>
+
+  <p>The complete moral destruction of woman by the confessor in France has
+  been a long work. It has required centuries to bow down, break, and
+  enslave the noble daughters of France. Yes; but those who know France
+  know that that destruction is now as complete as it is deplorable. The
+  downfall of woman in France, and her supreme degradation through the
+  confessional, is now <i>un fait accompli</i>, which nobody can deny; the
+  highest intellects have seen and confessed it. One of the most profound
+  thinkers of that unfortunate country, Michelet, has depicted that supreme
+  and irretrievable degradation in a most eloquent book, "The Priest, The
+  Woman, The Family;" and not a voice has been raised to deny or refute
+  what he has said. Those who have any knowledge of history and philosophy
+  know very well that the moral degradation of the woman is soon followed,
+  everywhere, by the moral degradation of the nation; and the moral
+  degradation of the nation is very soon followed by ruin and
+  overthrow.</p>
+
+  <p>That French nation had been formed by God to be a race of giants. They
+  were chivalrous and brave; they had bright intelligences, stout hearts,
+  strong arms, and a mighty sword. But as the hardest granite rock yields
+  and breaks under the drop of water which incessantly falls upon it, so
+  that great nation had to break and to fall into pieces under, not the
+  drop, but the rivers of impure waters which for centuries have
+  incessantly flowed in upon it from the pestilential fountain of the
+  confessional. "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach, to
+  any people." (Proverbs xiv.)</p>
+
+  <p>Why is it that Spain is so miserable, so weak, so poor, so foolishly
+  and cruelly tearing her own bosom, and reddening her fair valleys with
+  the blood of her own children? The principal, if not the only, cause of
+  the downfall of that great nation is the confessional. There, also, the
+  confessor has defiled, degraded, enslaved women, and women in turn have
+  defiled and degraded their husbands and sons. Women have sown broadcast
+  over their country the seeds of that slavery, of that want of Christian
+  honesty, justice, and self-respect with which they had themselves been
+  first imbued in the confessional.</p>
+
+  <p>But when you see, without a single exception, the nations whose women
+  drink the impure and poisonous waters which flow from the confessional
+  sinking down so rapidly, do you not wonder how fast the neighbouring
+  nations, who have destroyed those dens of impurity, prostitution, and
+  abject slavery, are rising up? What a marvellous contrast is before our
+  eyes! On one side, the nations who allow the woman to be degraded and
+  enslaved at the feet of the confessor&mdash;France, Spain, Romish
+  Ireland, Mexico, &amp;c., &amp;c.&mdash;are, there, fallen into the dust,
+  bleeding, struggling, powerless, like the sparrow whose entrails are
+  devoured by the vulture. On the other side, see how the nations whose
+  women go to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb are soaring up, as
+  on eagle wings, in the highest regions of progress, peace, and
+  liberty!</p>
+
+  <p>If legislators could once understand the respect and protection they
+  owe to woman, they would soon, by stringent laws, prohibit auricular
+  confession as contrary to good morals and the welfare of society; for,
+  though the advocates of auricular confession have succeeded to a certain
+  extent in blinding the public, and in concealing the abominations of the
+  system under a lying mantle of holiness and religion, it is nothing else
+  than a school of <span class="correction" title="only 'im-' at end of one line, not continued in original"
+  >immorality</span>.</p>
+
+  <p>I say more than that. After twenty-five years of hearing the
+  confessions of the common people and of the highest classes of society,
+  of the laymen and the priests, of the grand vicars and bishops and the
+  nuns, I conscientiously say before the world that the immorality of the
+  confessional is of a more dangerous and degrading nature than that which
+  we attribute to the social evil of our great cities. The injury caused to
+  the intelligence and to the soul in the confessional, as a general rule,
+  is of a more dangerous nature and more irremediable, because it is
+  neither suspected nor understood by its victims.</p>
+
+  <p>The unfortunate woman who lives an immoral life knows her profound
+  misery; she often blushes and weeps over her degradation; she hears from
+  every side voices which call her out of those ways of perdition. Almost
+  at every hour of day and night the cry of her conscience warns her
+  against the desolation and suffering of an eternity passed far away from
+  the regions of holiness, light, and life. All those things are often so
+  many means of grace, in the hands of our merciful God, to awaken the mind
+  and to save the guilty soul. But in the confessional the poison is
+  administered under the name of a pure and refreshing water; the deadly
+  wound is inflicted by a sword so well oiled that the blow is not felt;
+  the vilest and most impure notions and thoughts, in the form of questions
+  and answers, are presented and accepted as the bread of life! All the
+  notions of modesty, purity, and womanly self-respect and delicacy, are
+  set aside and forgotten to propitiate the god of Rome. In the
+  confessional the woman is told, and she believes, that there is no sin
+  for her in hearing things which would make the vilest blush&mdash;no sin
+  to say things which would make the most desperate villain of the streets
+  of London to stagger&mdash;no sin to converse with her confessor on
+  matters so filthy that if attempted in civil life would for ever exclude
+  the perpetrator from the society of the virtuous.</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, the soul and the intelligence defiled and destroyed in the
+  confessional are often hopelessly defiled and destroyed. They are sinking
+  into a complete, an irretrievable perdition; for, not knowing the guilt,
+  they will not cry for mercy&mdash;not suspecting the fatal disease that
+  is being fostered, they will not call for the true Physician. It was
+  evidently when thinking of the unspeakable ruin of the souls of men
+  through the wickedness culminating in the "Pope's confessors," that the
+  Son of God said:&mdash;"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
+  the ditch." To every woman, with very few exceptions, coming out from the
+  feet of her confessor, the children of light may say:&mdash;"I know thy
+  works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, but thou art dead!"
+  (Revelations iii.)</p>
+
+  <p>Nobody has yet been, nor ever will be, able to answer the few
+  following lines, which I addressed some years ago to the Rev. Mr.
+  Bruyère, Roman Catholic Vicar-General of London, Canada:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"With a blush on my face and regret in my heart, I confess, before God
+  and man, that I have been like you, and with you, through the
+  confessional, plunged twenty-five years in that bottomless sea of
+  iniquity, in which the blind priests of Rome have to swim day and
+  night.</p>
+
+  <p>"I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous questions which the
+  Church of Rome forces every priest to learn. I had to put those impure,
+  immoral questions to old and young females who were confessing their sins
+  to me. These questions&mdash;you know it&mdash;are of such a nature that
+  no prostitute would dare to put them to another. Those questions, and the
+  answers they elicit, are so debasing that no man in London&mdash;you know
+  it&mdash;except a priest of Rome, is sufficiently lost to every sense of
+  shame as to put them to any woman.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, I was bound, in conscience, as you are bound to-day, to put into
+  the ears, the mind, the imagination, the memory, the heart and soul of
+  females, questions of such a nature, the direct and immediate tendency of
+  which&mdash;you know it well&mdash;is to fill the minds and the hearts of
+  both priests and female penitents with thoughts, phantoms, and
+  temptations of such a degrading nature, that I do not know any words
+  adequate to express them. Pagan antiquity has never seen any institution
+  so polluting as the confessional. I know nothing more corrupting than the
+  law which forces a female to tell all her thoughts, desires, and most
+  secret feelings and actions to an unmarried priest. The confessional is a
+  school of perdition. You may deny that before the Protestants; but you
+  cannot deny it before me. My dear Mr. Bruyère, if you call me a degraded
+  man because I have lived twenty-five years in the atmosphere of the
+  confessional, you are right. I was a degraded man, just as yourself and
+  all the priests are to-day, in spite of your denegations. If you call me
+  a degraded man, because my soul, my mind and my heart were, as your own
+  are to-day, plunged into the deep waters of iniquity which flow from the
+  confessional, I confess 'Guilty!' I was degraded and polluted by the
+  confessional just as you and all the priests of Rome are.</p>
+
+  <p>"It has required the whole blood of the great Victim, who died on
+  Calvary for sinners, to purify me; and I pray that, through the same
+  blood, you may be purified also."</p>
+
+  <p>If the legislators knew the respect and protection they owe to
+  women&mdash;I repeat it&mdash;they would by the most stringent laws
+  prohibit auricular confession as a crime against society.</p>
+
+  <p>Not long ago, a printer in England was sent to jail and severely
+  punished for having published in English the questions put by the priests
+  to the women in the confessional; and the sentence was equitable, for all
+  who will read those questions will conclude that no girl or woman who
+  brings her mind into contact with the contents of that book can escape
+  from moral death. But what are the priests of Rome doing in the
+  confessional? Do they not pass the greatest part of their time in
+  questioning females, old and young, and hearing their answers, on those
+  very matters? If it were a crime, punishable by law, to present those
+  questions in a book, is it not a crime far more punishable by law to
+  present those very things to married and unmarried women through the
+  auricular confession?</p>
+
+  <p>I ask it from every man of common sense, What is the difference
+  between a woman or a girl learning those things in a book, or learning
+  them from the lips of a man? Will not those impure, demoralizing
+  suggestions sink more deeply into their minds, and impress themselves
+  more forcibly in their memory, when told to them by a man of authority,
+  speaking in the name of Almighty God, than when read in a book which has
+  no authority?</p>
+
+  <p>I say to the legislators of Europe and America: "Read for yourselves
+  those horrible, unmentionable things;" and remember that the Pope has
+  100,000 priests whose principal work is to put those very things into the
+  intelligence and memory of the women whom they entrap into their snares.
+  Let us suppose that each priest hears the confessions of only five female
+  penitents (though we know that the daily average is ten). It gives us the
+  awful number of 500,000 women whom the priests of Rome have the legal
+  right to pollute and destroy every day!</p>
+
+  <p>Legislators of the so-called Christian and civilized nations, I ask it
+  again from you, Where is your consistency, your justice, your love of
+  public morality, when you punish so severely the man who has printed the
+  questions put to the women in the confessional, while you honour and let
+  free, and often pay the men whose public and private life is spent in
+  spreading the very same moral poison in a much more efficacious,
+  scandalous and shameful way, under the sacrilegious mask of religion?</p>
+
+  <p>The confessional is in the hands of the devil what West Point is to
+  the United States, and Woolwich is to Great Britain, a training of the
+  army to fight and conquer the enemy. It is in the confessional that
+  500,000 women every day, and 182,500,000 every year are trained by the
+  Pope in the art of fighting against God, by destroying themselves and the
+  whole world, through every imaginable kind of impurity and
+  filthiness.</p>
+
+  <p>Once more, I request the legislators, the husbands, and the fathers in
+  Europe, as well as in America, to read in Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, in
+  every theological book of Rome, what their wives and their daughters have
+  to learn in the confessional.</p>
+
+  <p>In order to screen themselves, the priests of Rome have recourse to
+  the following miserable subterfuge:&mdash;"Is not the physician forced,"
+  they say, "to perform certain delicate operations on women? Do you
+  complain of this? No; you let the physicians alone; you do not abuse them
+  in their arduous and conscientious duties. Why, then, do you insult the
+  physician of the soul, the confessor, in the accomplishment of his holy,
+  though delicate, duties?</p>
+
+  <p>I answer, first, The art and science of the physician are approved and
+  praised in many places of the Scriptures. But the art and science of the
+  confessor are nowhere to be found in the holy records. Auricular
+  confession is nothing else than a most stupendous imposture. The filthy
+  and impure questions of the confessor, with the polluting answers they
+  elicit, were put among the most diabolical and forbidden actions by God
+  Himself the day that the Spirit of Truth, Holiness, and Life wrote the
+  imperishable words,&mdash;"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of
+  your mouth" (Eph. iv. 29).</p>
+
+  <p>Secondly, The physician is not bound by a solemn oath to remain
+  ignorant of the things which it will be his duty to examine and cure. But
+  the priest of Rome is bound, by the most ridiculous and impious oath of
+  celibacy, to remain ignorant of the very things which are the daily
+  objects of his inquiries, observations, and thoughts! The priest of Rome
+  has sworn never to taste of the fruits with which he feeds, his
+  imagination, his memory, his heart, and his soul day and night! The
+  physician is honest in the performance of his duties; but the priest of
+  Rome becomes in fact a perjured man every time he enters the
+  confessional-box.</p>
+
+  <p>Thirdly, If a lady has a little sore on her small finger, and is
+  obliged to go to the physician, for a remedy, she has only to show her
+  little finger, allow the plaister or ointment to be applied, and all is
+  finished. The physician <i>never</i>&mdash;no, never&mdash;says to that
+  lady, "It is my duty to suspect that you have many other parts of your
+  body which are sick; I am bound in conscience, under pain of death, to
+  examine you from head to foot, in order to save your precious life from
+  those <i>secret</i> diseases, which may kill you if they are not cured
+  just now. Several of those diseases are of such a nature that you never
+  dared perhaps to examine them with the attention they deserve, and you
+  are hardly conscious of them. I know, madam, that this is a very painful
+  and delicate thing for both you and me, that I should be forced to make
+  that thorough examination of your person, but there is no help; I am in
+  duty bound to do it. But you have nothing to fear. I am a holy man, who
+  has made a vow of celibacy. We are alone; neither your husband nor your
+  father will ever know the secret infirmities I will find in you; they
+  will never even suspect the perfect investigation I will make, and they
+  will, for ever, be ignorant of the remedy I will apply."</p>
+
+  <p>Has any physician ever been authorized to speak or act in this way
+  with any of his female patients? No; never! never!</p>
+
+  <p>But this is just the way the spiritual physician, with whom the devil
+  enslaves and corrupts women, acts. When the fair, honest, and timid
+  spiritual patient has come to her confessor, to show him the little sore
+  she has on the small finger of her soul, the confessor <i>is bound</i> in
+  conscience to suspect that she has other sores,&mdash;secret, shameful
+  sores! Yes, he is bound, nine times in ten; and he is <i>always
+  allowed</i> to suppose that she does not dare to reveal them! Then he is
+  advised by the Church to induce her to let him search every corner of the
+  heart, and of the soul, and to inquire about every kind of
+  contaminations, impurities, secret and shameful unspeakable matters! The
+  young priest is drilled in the diabolical art of going into the most
+  sacred recesses of the soul and the heart, almost in spite of his
+  penitents. I could bring hundreds of theologians as witnesses to what I
+  say.&mdash;But it is enough just now to cite three.</p>
+
+  <p>"Lest the Confessor should indolently hesitate in tracing out the
+  circumstances of any sin, let him have the following versicle of
+  circumstances in readiness:</p>
+
+  <p>"Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando. Who, which,
+  where, with whom, why, how, when." (Dens, vol. 6, p. 123. Liguori, vol.
+  2, p. 464.)</p>
+
+  <p>The celebrated book of the Priests, "The Mirror of the Clergy," page
+  357, says:</p>
+
+  <p>"Oportet ut Confessor solet cognoscere quid quid debet judicare.
+  Deligens igitur inquisitor et subtilis investigator sapienter quasi
+  astute interrogat a peccatore quod ignorat, vel verecundia volit
+  occultare."</p>
+
+  <p>"It is necessary that the Confessor should know everything on which he
+  has to exercise his judgment. Let him then, with wisdom and subtility,
+  interrogate the sinners on the sins which he may ignore, or conceal
+  through shame!"</p>
+
+  <p>The poor, unprotected girl is thus thrown into the power of the
+  priest, soul and body, to be examined on all the sins she may ignore, or
+  which, through shame, she may conceal! On what boundless sea of depravity
+  the poor fragile bark is launched by the priest! On what bottomless
+  abysses of impurities she will have to pass and travel, in company with
+  the priest alone, before he will have interrogated her on all the sins
+  she may ignore, and which she may have concealed through shame!! Who can
+  tell the sentiments of surprise and shame and distress, of a timid,
+  honest young girl, when, for the first time, she is initiated to infamies
+  which are ignored even in houses of prostitution!!!</p>
+
+  <p>But such is the practice, the sacred duty of the spiritual physician.
+  "Let him (the priest confessor) with wisdom and subtlety interrogate the
+  sinner on the sins he may ignore or conceal with shame."</p>
+
+  <p>And there are 100,000 men, not only allowed, but petted, and often
+  paid by the governments to do that, under the name of the God of the
+  Gospel!</p>
+
+  <p>Fourthly, I answer to the sophism of the priest, When the physician
+  has any delicate and dangerous operation to perform on a female patient,
+  he is <i>never</i> alone; the husband, or the father, the mother, the
+  sister, or some friends of the patient are there, whose scrutinizing eyes
+  and attentive ears make it <i>impossible</i> for the physician to say or
+  do any improper thing.</p>
+
+  <p>But, when the poor deluded spiritual patient comes to be treated by
+  her so-called spiritual physician, and shows him her diseases, is she not
+  alone&mdash;shamefully alone&mdash;with him? Where are the protecting
+  ears of the husband, the father, the mother, the sisters, or the friends?
+  Where is the barrier interposed between this sinful, weak, tempted, and
+  often depraved man and his victim?</p>
+
+  <p>Would the priest so freely ask <i>this</i> and <i>that</i> from that
+  married woman, if he knew that the husband could hear him? No, surely
+  not; for he is well aware that the enraged husband would blow out the
+  brains of the villain who, under the sacrilegious pretext of purifying
+  the soul of his wife, is filling her honest heart with every kind of
+  pollution and infamy.</p>
+
+  <p>Fifthly, When the physician performs a delicate operation on one of
+  his female patients, the operation is usually accompanied with pain,
+  cries, and often with bloodshed. The sympathetic and honest physician
+  suffers almost as much pain as his patient; those cries, acute pains,
+  tortures, and bleeding wounds make it morally impossible that the
+  physician should be tempted to any improper thing.</p>
+
+  <p>But the sight of the spiritual wounds of that fair penitent! Is the
+  poor depraved human heart really sorry to see and examine them? Oh, no!
+  it is just the contrary!</p>
+
+  <p>The dear Saviour weeps over those wounds; the angels are distressed at
+  the sight. Yes. But the deceitful and corrupt heart of man, is it not
+  rather apt to be pleased at the sight of wounds which are so much like
+  the ones he has himself, so often been pleased to receive from the hand
+  of the enemy?</p>
+
+  <p>Was the heart of David pained and horror-struck at the sight of the
+  fair Bath-sheba, when imprudently and too freely exposed in her bath? Was
+  not that holy prophet smitten and brought down to the dust by that guilty
+  look? Was not the mighty giant, Samson, undone by the charms of Delilah?
+  Was not the wise Solomon ensnared and befooled in the midst of the women
+  by whom he was surrounded?</p>
+
+  <p>Who will believe that the bachelors of the Pope are made of stronger
+  metal than the Davids, the Samsons, and the Solomons? Where is the man
+  who has so completely lost his common sense as to believe that the
+  priests of Rome are stronger than Samson, holier than David, wiser than
+  Solomon? Who will believe that confessors will stand up on their feet
+  amidst the storms which prostrate in the dust those giants of the armies
+  of the Lord? To suppose that, in the generality of cases the confessor
+  can resist the temptations by which he is daily surrounded in the
+  confessional, that he will constantly refuse the golden opportunities
+  which offer themselves to him, to satisfy the almost irresistible
+  propensities of his fallen human nature, is neither wisdom nor charity;
+  it is simply folly.</p>
+
+  <p>I do not say that all the confessors and their female penitents fall
+  into the same degree of abject degradation; thanks be to God, I have
+  known several who nobly fought their battles and conquered on that field
+  of so many shameful defeats. But these are the exceptions. It is just as
+  when the fire has ravaged one of our grand forests of America&mdash;how
+  sad it is to see the numberless noble trees fallen under the devouring
+  element! But, here and there the traveller is not a little amazed and
+  pleased to find some which have proudly stood the fiery trial without
+  being consumed.</p>
+
+  <p>Has not the world at large been struck with terror when they heard of
+  the fire which a few years ago had reduced the great city of Chicago to
+  ashes? But those who have visited that doomed city, and seen the
+  desolating ruins of her 16,000 houses, had to stand in silent admiration
+  before a few which, in the very midst of an ocean of fire, had escaped
+  untouched by the destructive element.</p>
+
+  <p>It is so that, owing to a most marvellous protection of God, some
+  privileged souls do escape, here and there, the fatal destruction which
+  overtakes so many others in the confessional.</p>
+
+  <p>The confessional is just as the spider's web. How many too
+  unsuspecting flies find death when seeking rest on the beautiful
+  framework of their deceitful enemy! How few escape! and this only after a
+  most desperate struggle. See how the perfidious spider looks harmless in
+  his retired, dark corner; how motionless he is; how patiently he waits
+  for his opportunity! But look how quickly he surrounds his victim with
+  his silky, delicate, and imperceptible links! how mercilessly he sucks
+  its blood and destroys its life!</p>
+
+  <p>What does remain of the imprudent fly, after she has been entrapped
+  into the nets of her foe? Nothing but a skeleton. So it is with your fair
+  wife, your precious daughter; nine times in ten nothing but a moral
+  skeleton returns to you, after the Pope's black spider has been allowed
+  to suck the very blood of her heart and soul. Let those who would be
+  tempted to think that I do exaggerate read the following extracts from
+  the memoirs of the Venerable Scipio de Ricci, Roman Catholic Bishop of
+  Pistoia and Prato, in Italy. They were published by the Italian
+  Government, to show to the world that some measures ought to be taken by
+  the civil and ecclesiastical authorities to prevent the nation from being
+  entirely swept away by the deluge of corruption flowing from the
+  confessional, even among the most perfect of Rome's followers, the monks
+  and the nuns. The priests have never dared to deny a single iota of those
+  terrible revelations. In page 115 we read the following letter from
+  Sister Flavia Peraccini, Prioress of St Catherine, to Dr. Thomas
+  Comparini, Rector of the Episcopal Seminary of Pistoia:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>January 22, 1775.</i>&mdash;In compliance with the request which
+  you made me this day, I hasten to say something, but I know not how.</p>
+
+  <p>"Of those who are gone out of the world I shall say nothing. Of those
+  who are still alive and have very little decency of conduct there are
+  many, among whom there is an ex-provincial named Father Dr. Ballendi,
+  Calvi, Zoratti, Bigliaci, Guidi, Miglieti, Verde, Bianchi, Ducci,
+  Seraphini, Bolla, Nera di Luca, Quaretti, &amp;c. But wherefore any more?
+  With the exception of three or four, all those whom I have ever known,
+  alive or dead, are of the same character; they have all the same maxims
+  and the same conduct.</p>
+
+  <p>"They are on more intimate terms with the nuns than if they were
+  married to them! I repeat it, it would require a great deal of time to
+  tell half of what I know. It is the custom now, when they come to visit
+  and hear the confession of a sick sister, to sup with the nuns, sing,
+  dance, play, and sleep in the convent. It is a maxim of theirs that God
+  has forbidden hatred, but <i>not love</i>, and that man is made for woman
+  and woman for man.</p>
+
+  <p>"I say that they can deceive the innocent and the most prudent and
+  circumspect, and that it would be a miracle to converse with them and not
+  fall!"</p>
+
+  <p>Page 117.&mdash;"The priests are the husbands of the nuns, and the lay
+  brothers of the lay sisters. In the chamber of one of the nuns I have
+  mentioned, one day, a man was found; he fled away, but, soon after, they
+  gave him to us as our confessor extraordinary.</p>
+
+  <p>"How many bishops are there in the Papal States, who have come to the
+  knowledge of those disorders, have held examinations and visitations, and
+  yet never could remedy; it, because the monks, our confessors, tell us
+  that those are excommunicated who reveal what passes in the Order!</p>
+
+  <p>"Poor creatures! they think they are leaving the world to escape
+  dangers, and they only meet with greater ones. Our fathers and mothers
+  have given us a good education, and here we have to unlearn and forget
+  what they have taught us."</p>
+
+  <p>Page 118.&mdash;"Do not suppose that this is the case in our convent
+  alone. It is just the same at St. Lucia, Prato, Pisa, Perugia, &amp;c. I
+  have known things that would astonish you. Everywhere it is the same.
+  Yes, everywhere the same disorders, the same abuses prevail. I say, and I
+  repeat it, let the superiors suspect as they may, they do not know the
+  smallest part of the enormous wickedness that goes on between the monks
+  and the nuns whom they confess. Every monk who passed by on his way to
+  the chapter entreated a sick sister to confess to him, and...!"</p>
+
+  <p>Page 119.&mdash;"With respect to Father Buzachini I say that he acted
+  just as the others, sitting up late in the nunnery, diverting himself,
+  and letting the usual disorders go on. There were several nuns who had
+  love affairs on his account. His own principal mistress was Odaldi, of
+  St. Lucia, who used to send him continual treats. He was also in love
+  with the daughter of our factor, of whom they were very jealous here. He
+  ruined also poor Cancellieri, who was sextoness. The monks are all alike
+  with their penitents.</p>
+
+  <p>"Some years ago, the nuns of St. Vincent, in consequence of the
+  extraordinary passion they had for their father confessors Lupi and
+  Borghiani, were divided into two parties, one calling themselves Le Lupe,
+  the other Le Borghieni.</p>
+
+  <p>"He who made the greatest noise was Donati. I believe he is now at
+  Rome. Father Brandi, too, was also in great vogue. I think he is now
+  prior of St. Gemignani. At St. Vincent, which passes for a very holy
+  retreat, they have also their lovers...."</p>
+
+  <p>My pen refuses to reproduce several things which the nuns of Italy
+  have published against their father confessors. But this is enough to
+  show to the most incredulous that the confession is nothing else but a
+  school of perdition, even among those who make a profession to live in
+  the highest regions of Roman Catholic holiness&mdash;the monks and the
+  nuns.</p>
+
+  <p>Now, from Italy let us go to America and see again the working of
+  auricular confession, not between the holy (?) nuns and monks of Rome,
+  but among the humblest classes of country women and priests. Great is the
+  number of parishes where women have been destroyed by their confessors,
+  but I will speak only of one.</p>
+
+  <p>When curate of Beauport, I was called by the Rev. Mr. Proulx, curate
+  of St. Antoine, to preach a retreat (a revival) with the Rev. Mr. Aubry,
+  to his parishioners, and eight or ten other priests were also invited to
+  come and help us to hear the confessions.</p>
+
+  <p>The very first day after preaching and passing five or six hours in
+  the confessional, the hospitable curate gave us a supper before going to
+  bed. But it was evident that a kind of uneasiness pervaded the whole
+  company of the father confessors. For my own part, I could hardly raise
+  my eyes to look at my neighbour, and when I wanted to speak a word it
+  seemed that my tongue was not free as usual; even my throat was as if it
+  were choked; the articulation of the sounds was imperfect. It was
+  evidently the same with the rest of the priests. Instead, then, of the
+  noisy and cheerful conversation of the other meals, there were only a few
+  insignificant words exchanged with a half-supressed tone.</p>
+
+  <p>The Rev. Mr. Proulx (the curate) at first looked as if he were
+  partaking also of that singular though general despondent feeling. During
+  the first part of the lunch he hardly said a word; but at last, raising
+  his head and turning his honest face towards us, in his usual gentlemanly
+  and cheerful manner, he said:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Dear friends, I see that you are all under the influence of the most
+  painful feelings. There is a burden on you that you can neither shake off
+  nor bear as you wish. I know the cause of your trouble, and I hope you
+  will not find fault with me if I help you to recover from that
+  disagreeable mental condition. You have heard in the confessional the
+  history of many great sins, but I know that this is not what troubles
+  you. You are all old enough in the confessional to know the miseries of
+  poor human nature. Without any more preliminaries I will come to the
+  subject. It is no more a secret in this place that one of the priests who
+  has preceded me has been very unfortunate, weak, and guilty with the
+  greatest part of the married women whom he has confessed. Not more than
+  one in ten have escaped him. I would not mention this fact had I got it
+  only from the confessional, but I know it well from other sources, and I
+  can speak of it freely without breaking the secret seal of the
+  confessional. Now what troubles you is that, probably, when a good number
+  of those women have confessed to you what they had done with their
+  confessor, you have not asked them how long it was since they had sinned
+  with him, and in spite of yourselves you think that I am the guilty man.
+  This does, naturally, embarrass you when you are in my presence and at my
+  table. But please ask them, when they come again to confess, how many
+  months or years have passed away since their last love affair with a
+  confessor, and you will see that you may suppose that you are in the
+  house of an honest man. You may look me in the face and have no fear to
+  address me as if I were still worthy of your esteem; for, thanks be to
+  God, I am not the guilty priest who has ruined and destroyed so many
+  souls here."</p>
+
+  <p>The curate had hardly pronounced the last word when a general "We
+  thank you; for you have taken away a mountain from our shoulders," fell
+  from almost every lip. "It is a fact that, notwithstanding the good
+  opinion we had of you," said several, "we were in fear that you had
+  missed the right track, and fallen down with your fair penitents into the
+  ditch."</p>
+
+  <p>I felt myself much relieved; for I was one of those who, in spite of
+  myself, had my secret fears about the honesty of our host. When, very
+  early the next morning, I had begun to hear the confessions, one of those
+  unfortunate victims of the confessor's depravity came to me, and in the
+  midst of many tears and sobs, she told me with great details what I
+  repeat here in a few lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"I was only nine years old when my first confessor began to do very
+  criminal things with me when I was at his feet, confessing my sins. At
+  first I was ashamed and much disgusted; but soon after I became so
+  depraved that I was looking eagerly for every opportunity of meeting him
+  either in his own house, or in the church, in the vestry, and many times
+  in his own garden when it was dark at night. That priest did not remain
+  very long; he was removed, to my great regret, to another place, where he
+  died. He was succeeded by another one, who seemed at first to be a very
+  holy man. I made to him a general confession with, it seems to me, a
+  sincere desire to give up for ever that sinful life, but I fear that my
+  confessions became a cause of sin to that good priest; for not long after
+  my confession was finished, he declared to me in the confessional his
+  love, with such passionate words that he soon brought me down again into
+  my former criminal habits with him. This lasted six years, when my
+  parents removed to this place. I was very glad of it, for I hoped that,
+  being far away from him, I should not be any more a cause of sin to him,
+  and that I might begin a better life. But the fourth time that I went to
+  confess to my new confessor, he invited me to go to his room, where we
+  did things so horrible together that I do not know how to confess them.
+  It was two days before my marriage, and the only child I have had is the
+  fruit of that sinful hour. After my marriage I continued the same
+  criminal life with my confessor. He was the friend of my husband; we had
+  many opportunities of meeting each other, not only when I was going to
+  confess, but when my husband was absent and my child was at school. It
+  was evident to me that several other women were as miserable and criminal
+  as I was myself. This sinful intercourse with my confessor went on till
+  God Almighty stopped it with a real thunderbolt. My dear only daughter
+  had gone to confess and receive the holy communion. As she had come back
+  from church much later than I expected, I inquired the reason which had
+  kept her so long. She then threw herself into my arms, and with
+  convulsive cries said: 'Dear mother, do not ask me any more to go to
+  confess.... Oh! if you could know what my confessor has asked me when I
+  was at his feet! and if you could know what he has done with me, and he
+  has forced me to do with him when he had me alone in his parlour!'</p>
+
+  <p>"My poor child could not speak any longer, she fainted in my arms.</p>
+
+  <p>"But as soon as she recovered, without losing a minute, I dressed
+  myself, and, full of an inexpressible rage, I directed my steps towards
+  the parsonage. But before leaving my house, I had concealed under my
+  shawl a sharp butcher's knife to stab and kill the villain who had
+  destroyed my dearly beloved child. Fortunately for that priest, God
+  changed my mind before I entered his room&mdash;my words to him were few
+  and sharp.</p>
+
+  <p>'You are a monster!' I said to him. 'Not satisfied to have destroyed
+  me, you want to destroy my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame
+  upon you! I had come with this knife to put an end to your infamies, but
+  so short a punishment would be too mild a one for such a monster. I want
+  you to live, that you may bear upon your head the curse of the too
+  unsuspecting and unguarded friends whom you have so cruelly deceived and
+  betrayed; I want you to live with the consciousness that you are known by
+  me and many others, as one of the most infamous monsters who have ever
+  defiled this world. But know that if you are not away from this place
+  before the end of this week, I will reveal everything to my husband, and
+  you may be sure that he will not let you live twenty-four hours longer,
+  for he sincerely thinks that your daughter is his, and he will be the
+  avenger of her honour! I go to denounce you this very day to the bishop,
+  that he may take you away from this parish, which you have so shamelessly
+  polluted.'</p>
+
+  <p>"The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with tears, asked my
+  pardon, imploring me not to denounce him to the bishop, promising that he
+  would change his life and begin to live as a good priest. But I remained
+  inexorable. I went to the bishop, made my deposition, and warned his
+  lordship of the sad consequences which would follow, if he kept that
+  curate any longer in this place, as he seemed inclined to do. But before
+  the eight days had expired, he was put at the head of another parish, not
+  very far away from here."</p>
+
+  <p>The reader will, perhaps, like to know what has become of this
+  priest.</p>
+
+  <p>He has remained at the head of that most beautiful parish of
+  &mdash;&mdash;, as curate, where I know it, he continued to destroy his
+  penitents, till a few years before he died, with the reputation of a good
+  priest, an amiable man, and a holy confessor!"</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:....</p>
+
+  <p>"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
+  with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
+  His coming:</p>
+
+  <p>"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power
+  and signs and lying wonders,</p>
+
+  <p>"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
+  because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
+  saved.</p>
+
+  <p>"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they
+  should believe a lie:</p>
+
+  <p>"That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
+  pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.)</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><span class="correction" title="'CHAPTER&nbsp;VIII.' in original"><a name="chapter_VII">CHAPTER VII</a>.</span></h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">should auricular confession be tolerated among civilized nations?</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Let my readers who understand Latin peruse the extracts I give from
+  Bishop Kenrick, Debreyne, Burchard, Dens or Liguori, and the most
+  incredulous will learn for themselves that the world, even in the darkest
+  ages of old paganism, has never seen anything so infamous and degrading
+  as auricular confession.</p>
+
+  <p>To say that auricular confession purifies the soul is not less
+  ridiculous and silly than to say that the white robe of the virgin, or
+  the lily of the valley, will become whiter by being dipped into a bottle
+  of black ink.</p>
+
+  <p>Has not the Pope's celibate, by studying his books before he goes to
+  the confessional-box, corrupted his own heart, and plunged his mind,
+  memory, and soul into an atmosphere of impurity which would have been
+  intolerable even to the people of Sodom?</p>
+
+  <p>We ask it not only in the name of religion, but of common sense. How
+  can that man, whose heart and memory are just made the reservoir of all
+  the grossest impurities the world has ever known, help others to be
+  chaste and pure?</p>
+
+  <p>The idolaters of India believe that they will be purified from their
+  sins by drinking the water with which they have just washed the feet of
+  their priests.</p>
+
+  <p>What monstrous doctrine! The souls of men purified by the water which
+  has washed the feet of a miserable, sinful man! Is there any religion
+  more monstrous and diabolical than the Brahmin religion?</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, there is one more monstrous, deceitful, and contaminating than
+  that. It is the religion which teaches that the soul of man is purified
+  by a few magical words (called absolution), which come from the lips of a
+  miserable sinner, whose heart and intelligence have just been filled by
+  the unmentionable impurities of Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Kenrick,
+  &amp;c., &amp;c. For if the poor Indian's soul is not purified by the
+  drinking of the holy (?) water which has touched the feet of his priest,
+  at least that soul cannot be contaminated by it. But who does not clearly
+  see that the drinking of the vile questions of the confessor contaminate,
+  defile, and damn the soul?</p>
+
+  <p>Who has not been filled with deep compassion and pity for those poor
+  idolaters of Hindustan who believe that they will secure to themselves a
+  happy passage to the next life if they have the good luck to die when
+  holding in their hands the tail of a cow? But there are people among us
+  who are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and pity, for they hope
+  that they will be purified from their sins and be for ever happy if a few
+  magical words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from the polluted
+  lips of a miserable sinner sent by the Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a
+  cow and the magical words of a confessor to purify the souls and wash
+  away the sins of the world are equally inventions of the Devil. Both
+  religions come from Satan, for they equally substitute the magical power
+  of vile creatures for the blood of Christ to save the guilty children of
+  Adam. They both ignore that the blood of the Lamb <i>alone</i> cleanseth
+  us from all sin.</p>
+
+  <p>Yes! auricular confession is a public act of idolatry, it is asking
+  from a man what God <i>alone</i>, through His Son Jesus, can grant:
+  forgiveness of sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to sinners,
+  "Go to this or that man for repentance, pardon, and peace"? No; but He
+  has said to all sinners, "Come unto Me." And from that day to the end of
+  the world all the echoes of heaven and earth will repeat these words of
+  the merciful Saviour to all the lost children of Adam, 'Come unto
+  Me.'</p>
+
+  <p>When Christ gave to His disciples the power of the keys in these
+  words, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
+  whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt.
+  xviii. 18), He had just explained His mind by saying, "If thy brother
+  shall trespass against thee" (v. 15). The Son of God Himself in that
+  solemn hour protested against the stupendous imposture of Rome by telling
+  us positively that that power of binding and loosing, forgiving and
+  retaining sins, was <i>only</i> in reference to sins committed against
+  <i>each other</i>. Peter had correctly understood his Master's words when
+  he asked, "How oft shall my brother sin <i>against me</i> and I forgive
+  him?"</p>
+
+  <p>And in order that His true disciples might not be shaken by the
+  sophisms of Rome, or by the glittering nonsense of that band of silly
+  half-Popish sect called Tractarians, or Ritualists, the merciful Saviour
+  gave the admirable parable of the poor servant, which He closed by what
+  He has so often repeated, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also
+  unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
+  trespasses." (Matt. xviii. 35).</p>
+
+  <p>Not long before, He had again mercifully given us his whole mind about
+  the obligation and <i>power</i> which every one of His <span
+  class="correction" title="'desciples' in original">disciples</span> had
+  of forgiving "For if ye forgive even their trespasses, your Heavenly
+  Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
+  neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. vi. 14, 15).</p>
+
+  <p>"Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful, forgive and
+  ye shall be forgiven" (Luke vi. 36, 37).</p>
+
+  <p>Auricular Confession, as the Rev. Dr. Wainwright has so eloquently put
+  it in his "Confession not Auricular," is a diabolical caricature of the
+  forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ, just as the impious dogma
+  of Transubstantiation is a monstrous caricature of the salvation of the
+  world through His death.</p>
+
+  <p>The Romanists and their ugly tail, the Ritualistic party in the
+  Episcopal Church, make a great noise about the words of our Saviour in
+  St. John: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: and
+  whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John xx. 23).</p>
+
+  <p>But again, our Saviour had Himself, once for all, explained what He
+  meant by forgiving and retaining sins&mdash;(Matt. xviii. 35; Matt. vi.
+  14, 15; Luke vi. 36, 37).</p>
+
+  <p>Nobody but wilfully-blind men could misunderstand Him. Besides that,
+  the Holy Ghost Himself has mercifully taken care that we should not be
+  deceived by the lying traditions of men on that important subject, when
+  in St. Luke He gave us the explanation of the meaning of John xx. 23, by
+  telling us, "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
+  the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be
+  preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke
+  xxiv. 46, 47).</p>
+
+  <p>In order that we may better understand the words of our Saviour in St.
+  John xx. 23, let us put them face to face with his own explanations (Luke
+  xxiv. 46, 47):&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<table width="87%" class="nob" summary="Biblical passages" title="Biblical passages">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left; width:50%">
+<p class="cenhead">LUKE XXIV.</p>
+
+      <p>33. And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and
+      found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,</p>
+      <p>34. Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to
+      Simon....</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left; width:50%">
+<p class="cenhead">JOHN XX.</p>
+
+      <p>18. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen
+      the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>36. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of
+      them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.</p>
+      <p>37. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they
+      had seen a spirit.</p>
+      <p>38. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do
+      thoughts arise in your hearts?</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
+      when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear
+      of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them,
+      Peace be unto you.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>39. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me,
+      and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
+      have.</p>
+      <p>40. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his
+      feet.</p>
+      <p>41. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said
+      unto them, Have ye here any meat?</p>
+      <p>42. And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an
+      honeycomb.</p>
+      <p>43. And he took it, and did eat before them.</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>20. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his
+      side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto
+      you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
+      which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
+      the psalms, concerning me.</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father
+      hath sent me, even so send I you.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>45. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand
+      the scriptures,</p>
+      <p>46. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
+      Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto
+      them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>47. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in
+      his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left">
+      <p>23. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; whose
+      soever sins ye retain, they are retained.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+  <p>Three things are evident from comparing the report of St. John and St.
+  Luke:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. They speak of the same event, though one of them gives certain
+  details omitted by the other, as we find in the rest of the gospels.</p>
+
+  <p>2. The words of St. John, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are
+  remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained,"
+  are explained by the Holy Ghost Himself, in St. Luke, as meaning that the
+  apostles shall preach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ.
+  It is just what our Saviour has Himself said in St. Matt. ix. 13: "But go
+  ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for
+  I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."</p>
+
+  <p>It is just the same doctrine taught by Peter (Acts ii. 38): "Then
+  Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
+  name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
+  gift of the Holy Ghost."</p>
+
+  <p>Just the same doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, not through
+  auricular confession or absolution, but through the preaching of the
+  Word: "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
+  this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts xiii.
+  38).</p>
+
+  <p>3. The third thing which is evident is that the Apostles were not
+  alone when Christ appeared and spoke, but that several of His other
+  disciples, even some women, were there.</p>
+
+  <p>If the Romanists, then, could prove that Christ established auricular
+  confession, and gave the power of absolution, by what He said in that
+  solemn hour, women as well as men&mdash;in fact, every believer in
+  Christ&mdash;would be authorized to hear confessions and give absolution.
+  The Holy Ghost was not promised or given only to the Apostles, but to
+  every believer, as we see in Acts i. 15, and ii. 1, 2, 3.</p>
+
+  <p>But the Gospel of Christ, as the history of the first ten centuries of
+  Christianity, is the witness that auricular confession and absolution are
+  nothing else but a sacrilegious as well as a most stupendous
+  imposture.</p>
+
+  <p>What tremendous efforts the priests of Rome have made these last five
+  centuries, and are still making, to persuade their dupes that the Son of
+  God was making of them a privileged caste, a caste endowed with the
+  Divine and exclusive power of opening and shutting the gates of Heaven,
+  when He said, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
+  Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
+  Heaven."</p>
+
+  <p>But our adorable Saviour, who perfectly foresaw those diabolical
+  efforts on the part of the priests of Rome, entirely upset every vestige
+  of their foundation by saying immediately, "Again I say unto you, That if
+  two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall
+  ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven. For where
+  two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
+  them" (Matt. xviii. 19, 20).</p>
+
+  <p>Would the priests of Rome attempt to make us believe that these words
+  of the 19th and 20th verses are addressed to them exclusively? They have
+  not yet dared to say it. They confess that these words are addressed to
+  all His disciples. But our Saviour positively says that the other words,
+  implicating the so-called power of the priests to hear the confession and
+  give the absolution, are addressed to the <i>very same
+  persons</i>&mdash;"I say unto you," &amp;c., &amp;c. The <i>you</i> of
+  the 19th and 20th verses is the same <i>you</i> of the 18th. The power of
+  loosing and unloosing is, then, given to all&mdash;those who would be
+  offended and would forgive. Then, our Saviour had not in His mind to form
+  a caste of men with any marvellous power over the rest of His disciples.
+  The priests of Rome, then, are impostors, and nothing else, when they say
+  that the power of loosing and unloosing sins was exclusively granted to
+  them.</p>
+
+  <p>Instead of going to the confessor, let the Christian go to his
+  merciful God, through Christ, and say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we
+  forgive them that trespass against us." This is the Truth, not as it
+  comes from the Vatican, but as it comes from Calvary, where our debts
+  were paid, with the only condition that we should believe, repent, and
+  love.</p>
+
+  <p>Have not the Popes publicly and repeatedly anathematized the sacred
+  principle of Liberty of Conscience? Have they not boldly said, in the
+  teeth of the nations of Europe, that <i>Liberty</i> of Conscience must be
+  destroyed&mdash;killed at any cost? Has not the whole world heard the
+  sentence of death to Liberty coming from the lips of the old man of the
+  Vatican? But where is the scaffold on which the doomed Liberty must
+  perish? That scaffold is the confessional-box. Yes, in the confessional,
+  the Pope had his 100,000 high executioners! There they are, day and
+  night, with-sharp daggers in hand, stabbing Liberty to the heart.</p>
+
+  <p>In vain will noble France expel her old tyrants to be free; in vain
+  will she shed the purest blood of her heart to protect and save Liberty!
+  True Liberty cannot live a day there so long as the executioners of the
+  Pope are free to stab her on their 100,000 scaffolds.</p>
+
+  <p>In vain chivalrous Spain will call Liberty to give a new life to her
+  people. She cannot set her feet there except to die, so long as the Pope
+  is allowed to strike her in his 50,000 confessionals.</p>
+
+  <p>And free America, too, will see all her so dearly-bought liberties
+  destroyed the day that the confessional-box is reared in her midst.</p>
+
+  <p>Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot stand together on the same
+  ground; either one or the other must fall.</p>
+
+  <p>Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she has swept away the
+  demon of slavery, or she is doomed to perish.</p>
+
+  <p>Can a man be free in his own house, so long as there is another who
+  has the legal right to spy all his actions, and direct not only every
+  step, but every thought of his wife and children? Can that man boast of a
+  home whose wife and children are under the control of another? Is not
+  that unfortunate man really the slave of the ruler and master of his
+  household? And when a whole nation is composed of such husbands and
+  fathers, is it not a nation of abject, degraded slaves?</p>
+
+  <p>To a thinking man, one of the most strange phenomena is that our
+  modern nations allow all their most sacred rights to be trampled under
+  feet, and destroyed by the Papacy, the sworn enemy of Liberty, through a
+  mistaken respect and love for that same Liberty!</p>
+
+  <p>No people have more respect for Liberty of Conscience than the
+  Americans; but has the noble State of Illinois allowed Joe Smith and
+  Brigham Young to degrade and enslave the American women under the pretext
+  of Liberty of Conscience, appealed to by the so-called "Latter-day
+  Saints?" No! The ground was soon made too hot for the tender conscience
+  of the modern prophets. Joe Smith perished when attempting to keep his
+  captive wives in his chains, and Brigham Young had to fly to the
+  solitudes of the Far West, to enjoy what he called his liberty of
+  conscience with the thirty women he had degraded and enchained under his
+  yoke. But even in that remote solitude the false prophet has heard the
+  distant peals of the roaring thunder. The threatening voice of the great
+  Republic has troubled his rest, and he wisely speaks of going as much as
+  possible out of the reach of Christian civilization, before the dark and
+  threatening clouds which he sees on the horizon will hurl upon him their
+  irresistible storms.</p>
+
+  <p>Will any one blame the American people for so going to the rescue of
+  woman? No, surely not.</p>
+
+  <p>But what is this confessional-box? Nothing but a citadel and
+  stronghold of Mormonism.</p>
+
+  <p>What is this Father Confessor, with few exceptions, but a lucky
+  Brigham Young?</p>
+
+  <p>I do not want to be believed on my <i>ipse dixit</i>. What I ask from
+  serious thinkers is, that they should read the encyclicals of the Piuses,
+  the Gregorys, the Benoits, and many other Popes, "De Sollicitantibus."
+  There they will see, with their own eyes, that, as a general thing, the
+  confessor has more women to serve him than the Mormon prophets ever had.
+  Let them read the memoirs of one of the most venerable men of the Church
+  of Rome, Bishop de Ricci, and they will see, with their own eyes, that
+  the confessors are more free with their penitents, even nuns, than
+  husbands are with their wives. Let them hear the testimony of one of the
+  noblest princesses of Italy, Henrietta Carraciolo, who still lives, and
+  they will know that the Mormons have more respect for women than the
+  greater part of the confessors have. Let them hear the lamentations of
+  Cardinal Baronius, Saint Bernard, Savanarola, Pius, Gregory, St. Therese,
+  St. Liguori, on the unspeakable and irreparable ruin spread all along the
+  ways and all over the countries haunted by the Pope's confessors, and
+  they will know that the confessional-box is the daily witness of
+  abominations which would hardly have been tolerated in the lands of Sodom
+  and Gomorrha. Let the legislators, the fathers and husbands of every
+  nation and tongue, interrogate Father Gavazzi, Hyacinthe, and the
+  thousands of living priests who, like myself, have miraculously been
+  taken out from that Egyptian servitude to the promised land, and they
+  will tell you the same old, old story&mdash;that the confessional-box is
+  for the greatest part of the confessors and female penitents, a real pit
+  of perdition, into which they promiscuously fall and perish. Yes; they
+  will tell you that the soul and heart of your wife and daughter are
+  purified by the magical words of the confessional, just as the souls of
+  the poor idolaters of Hindoostan are purified by the tail of the cow
+  which they hold in their hands when they die. Study the pages of the past
+  history of England, France, Italy, Spain, &amp;c., &amp;c., and you will
+  see that the gravest and most reliable historians have everywhere found
+  mysteries of iniquity in the confessional-box which their pen refused to
+  trace.</p>
+
+  <p>In the presence of such public, undeniable, and lamentable facts, have
+  not the civilized nations a duty to perform? Is it not time that the
+  children of light, the true disciples of the Gospel, all over the world,
+  should rally round the banners of Christ, and go, shoulder to shoulder,
+  to the rescue of women?</p>
+
+  <p>Woman is to society what the roots are to the most precious trees of
+  your orchard. If you knew that a thousand worms are biting the root of
+  those noble trees, that their leaves are already fading away, their rich
+  fruits, though yet unripe, are falling on the ground, would you not
+  unearth the roots and sweep away the worms?</p>
+
+  <p>The confessor is the worm which is biting, polluting, and destroying
+  the very roots of civil and religious society, by contaminating,
+  debasing, and enslaving woman.</p>
+
+  <p>Before the nations can see the reign of peace, happiness, and liberty,
+  which Christ has promised, they must, like the Israelites, pull down the
+  walls of Jericho. The confessional is the modern Jericho, which proudly
+  and defiantly dares the children of God!</p>
+
+  <p>Let, then, the people of the Lord, the true soldiers of Christ, rise
+  up and rally around His banners; and let them fearlessly march, shoulder
+  to shoulder, on the doomed city: let all the trumpets of Israel be
+  sounded around its walls: let fervent prayers go to the throne of Mercy,
+  from the heart of every one for whom the Lamb has been slain: let such a
+  unanimous cry of indignation be heard, through the length and breadth of
+  the land, against that greatest and most monstrous imposture of modern
+  times, that the earth will tremble under the feet of the confessor, so
+  that his very knees will shake, and soon the walls of Jericho will fall,
+  the confessional will disappear, and its unspeakable pollutions will no
+  more imperil the very existance of society.</p>
+
+  <p>Then the multitudes who were kept captive will come to the Lamb, who
+  will make them pure with His blood and free with His word.</p>
+
+  <p>Then the redeemed nations will sing a song of joy: "Babylon, the
+  great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, is fallen!
+  fallen!"</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">does auricular confession bring peace to the soul?</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>The connecting of Peace with Auricular Confession is surely the most
+  cruel sarcasm ever uttered in human language.</p>
+
+  <p>It would be less ridiculous and false to admire the calmness of the
+  sea, and the stillness of the atmosphere, when a furious storm raises the
+  foaming waves to the skies, than to speak of the Peace of the soul either
+  during or after the confession.</p>
+
+  <p>I know it; the confessors and their dupes chorus every tune by crying
+  "Peace, peace"! But the God of truth and holiness answers, "There is no
+  peace for the wicked!"</p>
+
+  <p>The fact is, that no human words can adequately express the anxieties
+  of the soul before confession, its unspeakable confusion in the act of
+  confessing, or its deadly terrors after confession.</p>
+
+  <p>Let those who have never drunk of the bitter waters which flow from
+  the confessional box, read the following plain and correct recital of my
+  own first experiences in auricular confession. They are nothing else than
+  the history of what nine tenths of the penitents<a name="Ft_5"
+  href="#FtN_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> of Rome old and young are subject to;
+  and they will know what to think of that marvellous Peace about which the
+  Romanists, and their silly copyists, the Ritualists, have written so many
+  eloquent lies.</p>
+
+  <p>In the year 1819, my parents had sent me from Murray Bay (La Mal Baie)
+  where they lived, to an excellent school, at St. Thomas. I was then,
+  about ten years old. I boarded with an uncle, who, though a nominal Roman
+  Catholic, did not believe a word of what his priest preached. But my Aunt
+  had the reputation of being a very devoted woman. Our School-master, Mr.
+  John Jones, was a well educated Englishman: and a staunch PROTESTANT.
+  This last circumstance had excited the wrath of the Roman Catholic Priest
+  against the teacher and his numerous pupils to such an extent, that they
+  were often denounced from the pulpit with very hard words. But if he did
+  not like us, I must admit that we were paying him with his own coin.</p>
+
+  <p>But let us come to my first lesson in Auricular Confession, No! No
+  words can express to those who have never had any experience in the
+  matter, the consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor Romish child, when
+  he hears his priest saying from the pulpit, in a grave and solemn tone;
+  "This week, you will send your children to confession. Make them
+  understand that this action is one of the most important of their lives,
+  that for every one of them, it will decide their eternal happiness or
+  ruin. Fathers, Mothers and guardians of those children, if, through your
+  fault or theirs, your children are guilty of a false confession: if they
+  do not confess every thing to the priest who holds the place of God,
+  Himself, this sin is often irreparable: the Devil will take possession of
+  their hearts: they will lie to their father confessor, or rather to Jesus
+  Christ, of whom he is the representative: Their lives will be a series of
+  sacrileges, their death and eternity, those of reprobates. Teach them
+  therefore to examine thoroughly all their actions, words, thoughts and
+  desires, in order to confess every thing just as it occurred, without any
+  disguise."</p>
+
+  <p>I was in the Church of St. Thomas, when these words fell upon me like
+  a thunderbolt. I had often heard my mother say, when at home and my aunt,
+  since I had come to St. Thomas, that upon the first confession depended
+  my eternal happiness or misery. That week was, therefore, to decide the
+  vital question of my eternity!</p>
+
+  <p>Pale and dismayed, I left the church after the service, and returned
+  to the house of my relations. I took my place at the table, but could not
+  eat, so much was I troubled. I went to my room for the purpose of
+  commencing my examination of conscience, and to try to recall every one
+  of my sinful actions, thoughts and words!</p>
+
+  <p>Although scarcely over ten years of age, this task was really
+  overwhelming to me. I knelt down to pray to the Virgin Mary for help, but
+  I was so much taken up with the fear of forgetting something or making a
+  bad confession, that I muttered my prayers without the least attention to
+  what I said. It became still worse, when I commenced counting my sins, my
+  memory, though very good, became confused: my head grew dizzy: my heart
+  beat with a rapidity which exhausted me, and my brow was covered with
+  perspiration. After a considerable length of time, spent in those painful
+  efforts, I felt bordering on despair from the fear that it was impossible
+  for me to remember exactly every thing, and to confess each sin as it
+  occurred. The night following was almost a sleepless one: and when sleep
+  did come, it could hardly be called sleep, but a suffocating delirium. In
+  a frightful dream, I felt as if I had been cast into hell, for not having
+  confessed all my sins to the priest. In the morning, I awoke fatigued,
+  and prostrate by the phantoms and emotions of that terrible night. In
+  similar troubles of mind were passed the three days which preceeded my
+  first confession.</p>
+
+  <p>I had constantly before me the countenance of that stern priest who
+  had never smiled upon me. He was present to my thoughts during the days,
+  and in my dreams during the nights, as the minister of an angry God,
+  justly irritated against me, on account of my sins. Forgiveness had
+  indeed been promised to me, on condition of a good confession; but my
+  place had also been shown to me in hell, if my confession was not as near
+  perfection as possible.</p>
+
+  <p>Now, my troubled conscience told me that there were ninety chances
+  against one that my confession would be bad, either if by my own fault, I
+  forget some sins, or if I was without that contrition of which I had
+  heard so much, but the nature and effects of which were a perfect chaos
+  in my mind.</p>
+
+  <p>At length came the day of confession, or rather of judgment and
+  condemnation. I presented myself to the priest, the Rev. Mr.
+  Beaubien.</p>
+
+  <p>He had then, the defects of lisping and stammering which we, often
+  turned into ridicule. And as nature had unfortunately endowed me with
+  admirable powers as a mimic, the infirmities of this poor priest afforded
+  only too good an opportunity for the exercise of my talent. Not only was
+  it one of my favorite amusements to imitate him before the pupils amidst
+  roars of laughter but also, I preached portions of his sermons before his
+  parishioners of villages, with similar results. Indeed, many of them came
+  from considerable distances to enjoy the amusement of listening to me,
+  and they rewarded me, more than once, with cakes of maple sugar, for my
+  performances.</p>
+
+  <p>These acts of mimicry were, of course, among my sins; and it became
+  necessary for me to examine myself upon the number of times I had mocked
+  the priests. This circumstance was not calculated to make my confession
+  easier or more agreeable.</p>
+
+  <p>At last, the dread moment arrived, I knelt for the first time, at the
+  side of my confessor, my whole frame trembled: I repeated the prayer
+  preparatory to confession, scarcely knowing what I said, so much was I
+  troubled by fears.</p>
+
+  <p>By the instructions which had been given us before confession, we had
+  been made to believe that the priest was the true representative, yea,
+  almost the personification of Jesus Christ. The consequence was that I
+  believed my greatest sin was that of mocking the priest&mdash;and I, as I
+  had been told that it was proper first to confess the greatest sins, I
+  commenced thus: "Father I accuse myself of having mocked a priest!"</p>
+
+  <p>Hardly had I uttered these words, "mocked a priest", when this
+  pretended representative of the humble Jesus, turning towards me, and
+  looking in my face, in order to know me, better, asked abruptly; "what
+  priest did you mock, my boy?"</p>
+
+  <p>I would have rather chosen to cut my own tongue than to tell him to
+  his face who it was. I, therefore, kept silent for a while, but my
+  silence made him very nervous, and almost angry. With a haughty tone of
+  voice, he said: "what priest did you take the liberty of thus mocking, my
+  boy?" I saw that I had to answer. Happily his haughtiness had made me
+  bolder and firmer; I said: "sir, you are the priest whom I mocked!"</p>
+
+  <p>"But how many times did you take upon you to mock me, my boy?" asked
+  he angrily.</p>
+
+  <p>"I tried to find out the number of times, but I never could."</p>
+
+  <p>"You must tell me how many times, for to mock one's own priest is a
+  great sin."</p>
+
+  <p>"It is impossible for me to give you the number of times," I
+  answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, my child, I will help your memory by asking you questions. Tell
+  me the truth. Do you think you mocked me ten times?"</p>
+
+  <p>"A great many times more," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Have you mocked me fifty times?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh! many more still!"</p>
+
+  <p>"A hundred times?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Say, five hundred, and perhaps more;" I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, my boy, do you spend all your time in mocking me?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Not all my time: but unfortunately, I have done it very often."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes may you say: "unfortunately!" for to mock, your priest, who holds
+  the place of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a great sin and a great misfortune
+  for you. But tell me, my little boy, what reason have you for mocking me,
+  thus?"</p>
+
+  <p>In my examination of conscience, I had not forseen that I should be
+  obliged to give the reasons for mocking the priest, and I was
+  thunderstruck by his questions. I dared not answer, and I remained for a
+  long time dumb, from the shame that overpowered me. But, with a harassing
+  perseverance, the priest insisted upon my telling why I had mocked him:
+  assuring me that I would be damned if I did not speak the whole truth.
+  So, I decided to speak, and I said: "I mocked you for several
+  things."</p>
+
+  <p>"What made you, first mock me?" asked the priest.</p>
+
+  <p>"I laughed at you, because you lisp: among the pupils of the school,
+  and other people, it often happens that we imitate your preaching to
+  laugh at you," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"For what other reasons did you laugh at me, my little boy!"</p>
+
+  <p>For a long time I was silent. Every time I opened my mouth to speak,
+  my courage failed me. But the priest continued to urge me, I said at
+  last; "It is rumoured in town, that you love girls: that you visit the
+  Misses R's&mdash;&mdash;almost every night; and this, often made us
+  laugh."</p>
+
+  <p>The poor priest was evidently overwhelmed by my answer, and ceased
+  questioning me on that subject. Changing the conversation, he said: "what
+  are your other sins?"</p>
+
+  <p>I began to confess them according to the order in which they came to
+  my memory. But the feeling of shame which overpowered me, in repeating
+  all my sins to that man, was a thousand times greater than that of having
+  offended God. In reality, this feeling of human shame, which absorbed my
+  thoughts, nay, my whole being, left no room for any religious feeling at
+  all.</p>
+
+  <p>When I had confessed all the sins I could remember, the priest began
+  to put to me the strangest questions about matters on which my pen must
+  be silent.... I replied "Father, I do not understand what you ask
+  me."</p>
+
+  <p>"I question you," he answered, "on the the sins of the sixth
+  commandment of God, (the seventh in the Bible) Do confess all, my little
+  boy, for you will go to hell if, through your fault you omit any
+  thing."</p>
+
+  <p>And thereupon he dragged my thoughts into regions of iniquity which,
+  thanks be to God, had been hitherto quite unknown to me.</p>
+
+  <p>I answered him again, "I do not understand you," or "I have never done
+  those wicked things."</p>
+
+  <p>Then, skillfully shifting to some secondary matters, he would soon
+  slyly and cunningly come back to his favorite subject, namely, sins of
+  licentiousness.</p>
+
+  <p>His questions were so unclean that I blushed and felt nauseated with
+  disgust and shame. More than once, I had been to my great regret, in the
+  company of bad boys, but not one of them had offended my moral nature so
+  much as this priest had done. Not one of them had ever approached the
+  shadow of the things from which that man tore the veil, and which he
+  placed before the eyes of my soul. In vain I told him that I was not
+  guilty of those things; that I did not even understand what he asked me;
+  but he would not let me off.</p>
+
+  <p>Like a vulture bent upon tearing the poor defenceless bird that falls
+  into its claws, that cruel priest seemed determined to defile and ruin my
+  heart.</p>
+
+  <p>At last, he asked me a question in a form of expression so bad that I
+  was really pained and put beside myself. I felt as if I had received the
+  shock from an electric battery: a feeling of horror made me shudder. I
+  was filled with such indignation that speaking loud enough to be heard by
+  many, I told him: "Sir, I am very wicked, but I was never guilty of what
+  you mention to me: please don't ask me any more of those questions which
+  will teach me more wickedness than I ever knew."</p>
+
+  <p>The remainder of my confession was short. The stern rebuke I had given
+  him had evidently made that priest blush, if it had not frightened him.
+  He stopped short, and gave me some very good advice which might have done
+  me good, if the deep wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my
+  soul, had not so absorbed my thoughts, as to prevent me from giving
+  attention to what he said. He gave me a short penance and dismissed
+  me.</p>
+
+  <p>I left the confessional irritated and confused. From the shame of what
+  I had just heard, I dared not raise my eyes from the ground. I went into
+  a corner of the church to do my penance, that is to recite the prayers
+  which he had indicated to me. I remained for a long time in the church. I
+  had need of a calm, after the terrible trial through which I had just
+  passed. But vainly sought I for rest. The shameful questions which had
+  just been asked from me, the new world of iniquity into which I been
+  introduced, the impure phantoms by which my childish head had been
+  defiled, confused and troubled my mind so strongly, that I began to weep
+  bitterly.</p>
+
+  <p>I left the church only when forced to do so by the shades of night,
+  and came back to my uncle's house, with a feeling of shame and
+  uneasiness, as if I had done a bad action and feared lest I should be
+  detected. My trouble was much increased when my uncle, jestingly, said:
+  "now that you have been to confess, you will be a good boy. But if you
+  are not a better boy, you will be a more learned one, if your confessor
+  has taught you what mine did when I confessed for the first time."</p>
+
+  <p>I blushed and remained silent. My aunt said: "you must feel happy, now
+  that you have made your confession: do you not?"</p>
+
+  <p>I gave an evasive answer, but could not entirely conceal the confusion
+  which overwhelmed me. I went to bed early; but I could hardly sleep.</p>
+
+  <p>I thought that I was the only boy whom the priest had asked these
+  polluting questions: but great was my confusion, the next day when on
+  going to school, I learned that my companions had not been happier than I
+  had been. The only difference was that, instead of being grieved as I
+  was, they laughed at it.</p>
+
+  <p>"Did the priest ask you this and that," they would demand laughing
+  boisterously; I refused to reply, and said: "are you not ashamed to speak
+  of these things."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! Ah! how scrupulous you are:" continued they, "if it is not a sin
+  for the priest to speak to us on these matters, how can it be a sin for
+  us to laugh at it." I felt confounded, not knowing what to answer. But my
+  confusion increased not a little, when soon after, I perceived that the
+  young girls of the school had not been less polluted, or scandalized than
+  the boys. Although keeping at a sufficient distance from us to prevent us
+  from understanding every thing they had to say on their confessional
+  experience, those girls were sufficiently near to let us hear many things
+  which it would have been better for us not to know. Some of them seemed
+  thoughtful, sad and shameful: but several laughed heartily at what they
+  had learned in the confessional box.</p>
+
+  <p>I was very indignant against the priest; and thought in myself, that
+  he was a very wicked man, for having put to us such repelling questions.
+  But I was wrong. That priest was honest; he was only doing his duty, as I
+  have known since, when studying the theologians of Rome. The Rev. Mr.
+  Beaubien was a real gentleman, and if he had been free to follow the
+  dictates of his honest conscience it is my strong conviction he would
+  never have sullied our young hearts with such impure ideas. But what has
+  the honest conscience of a priest to do in the confessional, except to be
+  silent and dumb? The priest of Rome is an automaton, tied to the feet of
+  the Pope by an iron chain. He can move, go right or left, up or down; he
+  can think and act, but only at the bidding of the infallible god of Rome.
+  The priest knows the will of his modern divinity only through his
+  approved emissaries, embassadors and theologians. With shame on my brow,
+  and bitter tears of regret flowing just now, on my cheeks, I confess that
+  I have had myself to learn by heart those damning questions, and put them
+  to the young and the old; who like me, were fed with the diabolical
+  doctrines of the church of Rome, in reference to auricular
+  confession.</p>
+
+  <p>Some time after, some people waylaid and whipped that very same
+  priest, when during a very dark night he was coming back from visiting
+  his fair young penitents the Misses Rs.... And the next day, the
+  conspirators having met at the house of Dr. Stephen Taché, to give a
+  report of what they had done to the half <i>secret</i> society to which
+  they belonged, I was invited by my young friend Louis Casault<a
+  name="Ft_6" href="#FtN_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> to conceal myself with him,
+  in an adjoining room, where we could hear every thing without being seen.
+  I find in the old manuscripts of "my young year's recollections" the
+  following address of Mr. Dubord.</p>
+
+  <p>Mr. President&mdash;"I was not among those who gave to the priest the
+  expression of the public feelings with the eloquent voice of the whip:
+  but I wish I had been, I would heartily have co-operated to give that so
+  well deserved lesson to the father confessors of Canada, and let me give
+  you my reasons for that.</p>
+
+  <p>"My child who is hardly twelve years old, went to confess, as did the
+  other girls of the village, some time ago. It was against my will. I
+  know, by my own experience, that of all actions, confession is the most
+  degrading of a person's life. I can imagine nothing so well calculated to
+  destroy forever one's self-respect, as the modern invention of the
+  confessional. Now, what is a person without self-respect? Especially a
+  woman? Is not all forever lost without this?</p>
+
+  <p>"In the confessional every thing is corruption of the lowest grade.
+  There, the girl's thoughts, lips, hearts and souls are forever polluted.
+  Do I need to prove you this? No! for though you have given up, long since
+  auricular confession, as below the dignity of man, you have not forgotten
+  the lessons of corruption which you have received from it. Those lessons
+  have remained on your souls as the scars left by the red hot iron upon
+  the brow of the slave to be a perpetual witness of his shame and
+  servitude.</p>
+
+  <p>"The confessional box is the place where our wives and daughters learn
+  things which would make the most degraded woman of our cities blush!</p>
+
+  <p>"Why are all Roman Catholic nations inferior to nations belonging to
+  Protestanism? only in the confessional can the solution of that problem
+  be found. And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in proportion to
+  their submission to their priests? It is because the more often the
+  individuals composing those nations go to confess, the more rapidly they
+  sink in the sphere of intelligence and morality. A terrible example of
+  the auricular confession depravity has just occurred in my own
+  family.</p>
+
+  <p>"As I have said a moment ago, I was against my own daughter going to
+  confession, but her poor mother, who is under the control of the priest,
+  earnestly wanted her to go. Not to have a disagreeable scene in my house,
+  I had to yield to the tears of my wife.</p>
+
+  <p>"On the following day of the confession, they believed I was absent,
+  but I was in my office, with the door sufficiently opened to hear every
+  thing which could be said by my wife and the child. And the following
+  conversation took place:</p>
+
+  <p>"What makes you so thoughtful and sad my dear Lucy, since you went to
+  confess? It seems to me you should feel happier since you had the
+  privilege of confessing your sins."</p>
+
+  <p>My child answered not a word, she remained absolutely silent.</p>
+
+  <p>After two or three minutes of silence, I heard the mother saying: "Why
+  do you weep, my dear Lucy? are you sick?"</p>
+
+  <p>But no answer yet from the child!</p>
+
+  <p>"You may well suppose that I was all attention, I had my secret
+  suspicions about the dreadful mystery which had taken place. My heart
+  throbbed with uneasiness and anger.</p>
+
+  <p>"After a short silence, my wife spoke again to her child, but with
+  sufficient firmness to decide her to answer at last. In a trembling
+  voice, she said:</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh I dear Mamma, if you knew what the priest has asked me and what he
+  said to me when I confessed, you would perhaps be sad as I am."</p>
+
+  <p>"But what can he have said to you? He is a holy man, you must have
+  misunderstood him, if you think that he has said anything wrong."</p>
+
+  <p>"My child threw herself in her mother's arms, and answered with a
+  voice half suffocated with her sobs: "Do not ask me to tell you what the
+  priest has said&mdash;it is so shameful that I can not repeat
+  it&mdash;His words have stuck to my heart as the leech put upon the arm
+  of my little friend, the other day."</p>
+
+  <p>"What does that priest think of me, for having put to me such
+  questions?"</p>
+
+  <p>My wife answered: "I will go to the priest and will teach him a
+  lesson. I have noticed myself that he goes too far when questioning old
+  people, but I had the hope he was more prudent with children. I ask of
+  you, however, never to speak of this to anybody, especially; let not your
+  poor father know anything about it; for he has little enough of religion
+  already, and this would leave him without any at all."</p>
+
+  <p>"I could not refrain myself any longer: I abruptly entered the parlor.
+  My daughter threw herself into my arms: my wife screamed with terror, and
+  almost fell into a swoon. I said to my child: If you love me, put your
+  hand on my heart, and promise never to go again to confess. Fear God, my
+  child, love Him and walk in his presence. For his eyes see you
+  everywhere. Remember that He is always ready to forgive and bless you
+  every time you turn your heart to him. Never place yourself again at the
+  feet of a priest to be defiled and degraded."</p>
+
+  <p>"This my daughter promised to me.</p>
+
+  <p>"When my wife had recovered from her surprise, I told her.</p>
+
+  <p>"Madame, it is long since the priest is everything, and your husband
+  nothing to you! There is a hidden and terrible power which governs you,
+  it is the power of the priest: this you have often denied, but it can not
+  be denied any longer, the Providence of God has decided, to day, that
+  this power should forever be destroyed in my house, I want to be the only
+  ruler of my family: from this moment the power of the priest over you is
+  forever abolished. Whenever you go and take your heart and your secrets
+  to the feet of the priest, be so kind as not to come back any more into
+  my house as my wife."</p>
+
+  <p>This is one of the thousand and thousand specimens of the peace of
+  conscience brought to the soul through auricular confession. I could give
+  many similar instances, if it were my intention to publish a treatise on
+  this subject, but as I only desire to write a short chapter, I will
+  adduce but one other fact to show the awful deception practised by the
+  Church of Rome when she invites persons to come to confession under the
+  pretext that <i>peace</i> to the soul will be the reward of their
+  obedience. Let us hear the testimony of another living and unimpeachable
+  witness about this peace of the soul, before, during, and after auricular
+  confession. In her remarkable book "Personal experience of Roman
+  Catholicism" Miss Eliza Richardson, writes, (Page 34 and 35.)</p>
+
+  <p>"Thus I silenced my foolish quibbling, and went on to the test of a
+  convert's fervour and sincerity in confession. And here was assuredly a
+  fresh source of pain and disquiet, and one not so easily vanquished. "The
+  theory had appeared, as a whole, fair and rational, but the reality, in
+  some of its details, <i>was terrible</i>!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Divested, for the public gaze, of its darkest ingredients, and
+  dressed up, in their theological works, in false and meretricious
+  pretentions to truth and purity, it exhibited a dogma only calculated to
+  exert a beneficial influence on mankind, and to prove a source of
+  morality and usefulness. <i>But oh, as with all ideals, how unlike was
+  the actual!</i>"</p>
+
+  <p>"Here, however, I may remark, in passing, the effect produced upon my
+  mind by the first sight of the <i>older</i> editions of "the Garden of
+  the Soul". I remember the stumbling-block it was to me, my sense of
+  womanly delicacy was shocked. It was a dark page in my experience, when
+  first I knelt at the feet of a mortal man to confess what should have
+  been poured into the ear of God alone. I cannot dwell upon this...."</p>
+
+  <p>"Though I believe my Confessor was, on the whole, as guarded as his
+  manners were kind; at some things I was strangely startled, utterly
+  confounded."</p>
+
+  <p>"The purity of mind and delicacy in which I had been nurtured, had not
+  prepared me for such an ordeal; and my own sincerity, and dread of
+  committing a sacrilege, tended to augment the painfulness of the
+  occasion. One circumstance especially I will recall, which my fettered
+  conscience persuaded me I was obliged to name. My distress and terror,
+  doubtless, made me less explicit than I otherwise might have been. The
+  questioning, however, it elicited, and the ideas supplied by it, outraged
+  my feelings to such an extent, that, forgetting all respect for my
+  Confessor, and careless, even, at the moment, whether I received
+  absolution or not, I hastily exclaimed, "I cannot say a word more," while
+  the thought rushed into my mind, "all is true that their enemies say of
+  them." Here, however prudence dictated to my questioner to put the matter
+  no further; and the kind and almost respectful tone he <i>immediately</i>
+  assumed, went far towards effacing an impression so injurious. On rising
+  from my knees, when I should have gladly fled to any distance rather than
+  have encountered his gaze, he addressed me in the most familiar manner on
+  different subjects, and detained me some time in talking. What share I
+  took in the conversation, I never knew and all that I remember, was my
+  burning cheek, and inability to raise my eyes from the ground.</p>
+
+  <p>"Here I would not be supposed to be intentionally casting a stigma
+  upon an individual. Nor am I throwing unqualified blame upon the
+  priesthood. <i>It is the system which is at fault</i>, a system which
+  teaches that things, even at the <i>remembrance</i> of which degraded
+  humanity must blush in the presence of heaven and its angels, should be
+  laid open, <i>dwelt upon, and exposed in detail</i>, to the sullied ears
+  of a corrupt and fallen fellow-mortal who of like passions with the
+  penitent at his feet, is thereby exposed to temptations the most dark and
+  dangerous. But what shall we say of woman? Draw a veil! Oh purity,
+  modesty! and every womanly feeling! a veil as oblivion, over the
+  fearfully, dangerous experience thou art called to pass through! (page
+  37, and 38.")</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! there are things that cannot be recorded! facts too startling,
+  and at the same time, too delicately intricate, to admit a public
+  portrayal, or meet the public gaze; But the cheek can blush in secret at
+  the true images which memory evokes, and the oppressed mind shrinks back,
+  in horror, from the dark shadows which have saddened and overwhelmed it.
+  I appeal to converts, to converts of the gentler sex, and ask them,
+  fearlessly ask them, what was the first impression made on your minds and
+  feelings by the confessional? I do not ask how subsequent familiarization
+  has weakened the effects: but when acquaintance was first made with it,
+  how were you affected by it? I ask not the impure, the already defiled,
+  for to such, it is sadly susceptible of being made a darker source of
+  guilt and shame;&mdash;but I appeal to the pure minded and delicate, the
+  pure in heart and sentiment. Was not your <i>first</i> impression one of
+  inexpressible dread and bewilderment, followed by a sense of humiliation
+  and degradation, not easily to be defined or supported? (page 39.) "The
+  memory of that time (first auricular confession) will ever be painful and
+  abhorent to me; though subsequent experience has thrown, even that, far
+  into the back ground. It was my initiatory lesson upon subjects which
+  ought never to enter the imagination of girlhood: my introduction into a
+  region which should never be approached by the guileless and the pure."
+  (page 61) One or two individuals (Roman Catholic) soon formed a close
+  intimacy with me, and discoursed with a freedom and plainness I had
+  never, before encountered. My acquaintances, however, had been brought up
+  in convents, or familiar with them for years, and I could not gainsay
+  their statement.</p>
+
+  <p>"I was reluctant to believe more than I had experienced the proof,
+  however, was destined to come in no dubious shape at a no distant day....
+  A dark and sullied page of experience was fast opening upon me; but so
+  unaccustomed was the eye which scanned it, that I could not at all, at
+  once, believe in its truth! And it was of hypocrisy so hateful, of
+  sacrilege so terrible, and abuse so gross of all things pure and holy,
+  and in the person of one bound by his vows, his position, and every law
+  of his church, as well as of God, to set a high example, that, for a
+  time, all confidence in the very existence of sincerity and goodness was
+  in danger of being shaken, sacraments, deemed the most sacred, were
+  profaned; vows disregarded, vaunted secrecy of the confessional covertly
+  infringed, and its sanctity abused to an unhallowed purpose; while even
+  private visitation was converted into a channel for temptation, and made
+  the occasion of unholy freedom of words and manner. So ran the account of
+  evil and a dire account it was. By it, all serious thoughts of religion
+  were well nigh extinguished. The influence was fearful and polluting, the
+  whirl of excitement inexpressible: I cannot enter into minute particulars
+  here, every sense of feminine delicacy and womanly feeling shrink from
+  such a task. This much, however, I can say that I, in conjunction with
+  two other young friends, took a journey to a confessor, an inmate of a
+  religious house, who lived at some distance, to lay the affair before
+  him; thinking that he would take some remedial measures adequate to the
+  urgency of the case. He heard our united statements, expressed great
+  indignation, and, at once, commended us each to write and detail the
+  circumstances of the case to the Bishop of the district. This we did; but
+  of course, never heard the result. The reminiscences of these dreary and
+  wretched months seem now like some hideous and guilty dream. It was
+  actual familiarization with unholiest things! (page 63.)</p>
+
+  <p>"The romish religion teaches that if you omit to name anything in
+  confession, however repugnant or revolting to purity, which you even
+  doubt having committed, your subsequent confessions are thus rendered
+  null and sacrilegious; while it also inculcates that sins of thought
+  should be confessed in order that the confessor may judge of their mortal
+  or venial character. What sort of a chain this links around the strictly
+  conscientious I would attempt to portray, if I could. But it must have
+  been worn to understand its torturing character! Suffice it to say that,
+  for months past, according to this standard, I had not made a good
+  confession at all! And now, filled with remorse for my past sacrilegious
+  sinfulness, I resolved on making a new general confession to the
+  <i>religieux</i> alluded to. But this confessor's scrupulosity exceeded
+  everything I had, hitherto, encountered. He told me some things were
+  mortal sins, which I had never before imagined could be such: and thus
+  threw so many fetters around my conscience, that a host of anxieties for
+  my first general confession was awakened within me. I had no resource
+  then, but to re-make that, and thus I afresh entered on the bitter path I
+  had deemed I should never have occasion again to tread. But if my first
+  confession had lacerated my feelings, what was it to this one? Words have
+  no power, language has no expression to characterise the emotion that
+  marked it!</p>
+
+  <p>"The difficulty I felt in making a full and explicit avowal all that
+  distressed me, furnished my confessor with a plea for his assistance in
+  the questioning department, and fain would I conceal much of what passed
+  then, as a foul blot on my memory. I soon found that he made mortal sins
+  of what my first confessor had professed to treat but lightly, and he did
+  not scruple to say that I had never yet made a good confession at all. My
+  ideas therefore became more complicated and confused as I proceeded,
+  until, at length, I began to feel doubtful of ever accomplishing my task
+  in any degree satisfactorily: and my mind and memory were positively
+  racked to recall every iota of every kind, real or imaginary, that might,
+  if omitted, hereafter be occasion of uneasiness. Things heretofore held
+  comparatively trifling were recounted, and pronounced damnable sins: and
+  as, day after day, I knelt at the feet of that man, answering questions
+  and listening to admonitions calculated to bow my very soul to the dust,
+  I felt as though I should hardly be able to raise my head again!" (page
+  63.)</p>
+
+  <p>This is the peace which flows from auricular confession. I solemnly
+  declare that except in a few cases, in which the confidence of the
+  penitents is bordering on idiocy, or in which they have been transformed
+  into immoral brutes, nine-tenths of the multitudes who go to confess, are
+  obliged to recount some such desolate narrative as that of Miss
+  Richardson, when they are sufficiently honest to say the truth.</p>
+
+  <p>The most fanatical apostles of auricular confession cannot deny that
+  the examination of conscience, which must precede confession, is a most
+  difficult task; a task which, instead of filling the mind with peace,
+  fills it with anxiety and serious fears. Is it then only after confession
+  that they promise such peace? But they know very well that this promise
+  is also a cruel deception ... for to make a good confession, the penitent
+  has to relate not only all his bad actions, but all his bad thoughts and
+  desires, their number, and various aggravating circumstances. But have
+  they found a single one of their penitents who was certain to have
+  remembered all the thoughts, the desires, all the criminal aspirations of
+  the poor sinful heart? They are well aware that to count the thoughts of
+  the mind for days and weeks gone by, and to narrate those thoughts
+  accurately at a subsequent period, are just as easy as to weigh and count
+  the clouds which have passed over the sun, in a three days storm, a month
+  after that storm is over. It is simply impossible, absurd! This has never
+  been, this will never be done. But there is no possible peace so long as
+  the penitent <i>is not sure</i> that he has remembered, counted and
+  confessed every past sinful thought, word and deed. It is then
+  impossible, yes! it is morally and physically <i>impossible</i> for a
+  soul to find peace through auricular confession. If the law which says to
+  every sinner: "You are bound, under pain of eternal damnation, to
+  remember all your bad thoughts and confess them to the best of your
+  memory", were not so evidently a satanic invention, it ought to be put
+  among the most infamous ideas which have ever come out from the brain of
+  fallen man. For, who can remember and count the thoughts of a week, of a
+  day, nay, of an hour of his sinful life?</p>
+
+  <p>Where is the traveller who has crossed the swampy forests of America,
+  in the three months of a warm summer, who could tell the number of
+  musquitoes which have bitten him and drawn the blood from the veins?</p>
+
+  <p>What should that traveller think of the man who, seriously, would tell
+  him: "You must prepare yourself to die, if you do not tell me, to the
+  best of your memory, how many times you have been bitten by the
+  musquitoes, the last three summer months, when you crossed the swampy
+  lands along the shores of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers?</p>
+
+  <p>Would he not suspect that his merciless inquirer had just escaped from
+  a lunatic asylum?</p>
+
+  <p>But it would be much more easy for that traveller to say how many
+  times he has suffered from the bitings of the musquitoes, than for the
+  poor sinner to count the bad thoughts which have passed through his
+  sinful heart, through any period of his life.</p>
+
+  <p>Though the penitent is told that he must confess his thoughts only
+  according to his <i>best</i> recollection,&mdash;he will <i>never,
+  never</i> know if he has done his <i>best</i> efforts to remember
+  everything: he will constantly fear lest he has not done his <i>best</i>
+  to count and confess them correctly.</p>
+
+  <p>Every honest priest will at once admit that his most intelligent and
+  pious penitents, particularly among women, are constantly tortured by the
+  fear of having omitted to disclose some sinful deeds or thoughts. Many of
+  them, after having already made several general confessions, are
+  constantly urged by the pricking of their conscience, to begin afresh, in
+  the fear that their first confessions had some serious defects. Those
+  past confessions, instead of being a source of spiritual joy and peace,
+  are, on the contrary, like, so many Damocles' swords, day and night
+  suspended over their heads, filling their souls with the terrors of an
+  eternal death! Sometimes the terror-stricken consciences of those honest
+  and pious women tell them that they were not sufficiently contrite; at
+  another time, they reproach them for not having spoken sufficiently plain
+  on some things fitter to make them blush.</p>
+
+  <p>On many occasions, too, it has happened that sins which one confessor
+  had declared to as venial, and which had long ceased to be confessed,
+  another more scrupulous than the first would declare to be damnable.
+  Every confessor thus knows perfectly well that he proffers what is
+  flagrantly false every time he dismisses his penitents, after confession,
+  with the salutation:&mdash;"Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee."</p>
+
+  <p>But it is a mistake to say that the soul does not find peace in
+  auricular confession: in many cases, peace is found. And if the reader
+  desires to learn something of that peace, let him go to the grave-yard,
+  open the tombs, and peep into the sepulchres. What awful silence! What
+  profound quiet! What terrible and frightful peace! You hear not even the
+  motion of the worms that creep in, and the worms that creep out, as they
+  feast upon the dead carcase! Such is the peace of the confessional! The
+  soul, the intelligence, the honor, the self-respect, the conscience, are
+  there sacrificed. There they must die! Yes, the confessional is a
+  veritable tomb of human conscience, a sepulchre of human honesty, dignity
+  and liberty; the grave-yard of human soul! By its means, man, whom God
+  hath made in his own image, is converted into the likeness of the beast
+  that perishes; woman, created by God to be the glory and help-mate of
+  man, is transformed into the vile and trembling slave of the priest. In
+  the confessional, man and woman attain to the highest degree of popish
+  perfection: they become as dry sticks, as dead branches, as silent
+  corpses, in the hands of their confessors. Their spirits are destroyed,
+  their consciences are stiff, their souls are ruined.</p>
+
+  <p>This is the supreme and perfect result achieved, in its highest
+  victories, by the Church of Rome.</p>
+
+  <p>There is, verily, peace to be found in auricular confession&mdash;yes,
+  but it is the peace of the grave!</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_IX">CHAPTER IX</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">the dogma of auricular confession a sacrilegious imposture.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Both Roman Catholics and Protestants have fallen into very strange
+  errors in reference to the words of Christ: "Whose soever sins ye remit,
+  they are remitted unto them; <i>and</i> whose soever <i>sins</i> ye
+  retain, they are retained." (St. John xx. 23.)</p>
+
+  <p>The first have seen in this text the inalienable attributes of God of
+  forgiving and retaining sins transferred to sinful men; the second have
+  most unwisely granted their position, even while attempting to refute
+  their errors.</p>
+
+  <p>A little more attention to the translation of the 3rd and 6th verses
+  of chapter xiii. of Leviticus by the Septuagint would have prevented the
+  former from falling into their sacrilegious errors, and would have saved
+  the latter from wasting so much time in refuting errors which refute
+  themselves.</p>
+
+  <p>Every one knows that the Septuagint Bible was the Bible that was
+  generally read and used by Jesus Christ and the Hebrew people, in our
+  Saviour's days. Its language was evidently the one spoken by Christ and
+  understood by his hearers. When addressing his apostles and disciples on
+  their duties towards the spiritual lepers to whom they were to preach the
+  ways of salvation, Christ constantly followed the very expression of the
+  Septuagint. It was the foundation of his doctrine and the testimonial of
+  his divine mission to which he constantly appealed: the book which was
+  the greatest treasure of the nation.</p>
+
+  <p>From the beginning to the end of the Old and the New Testament, the
+  bodily leprosy, with which the Jewish priest had to deal, is presented as
+  the figure of the spiritual leprosy, sin, the penalty of which our
+  Saviour had taken upon himself, that we might be saved by his death. That
+  spiritual leprosy was the very thing for the cleansing of which he had
+  come to this world&mdash;for which he lived, suffered and died. Yes! the
+  bodily leprosy with which the priests of the Jews had to deal, was the
+  figure of the sins which Christ was to take away by shedding his blood,
+  and with which his apostles were to deal till the end of the world.</p>
+
+  <p>When speaking of the duties of the Hebrew priests towards the leper,
+  our modern translations say: (Lev. xiii. v. 6.) "They will pronounce him
+  clean" or (v. 3d.) "They will pronounce him unclean."</p>
+
+  <p>But this action of the priests was expressed in a very different way
+  by the Septuagint Bible, used by Christ and the people of his time.
+  Instead of saying, "The priest shall pronounce the leper clean," as we
+  read in our Bible, the Septuagint version says, "The priest shall clean
+  (<i>katharei</i>,) or shall unclean (<i>mianei</i>,) the leper.</p>
+
+  <p>No one had ever been so foolish, among the Jews, as to believe that
+  because their Bible said <i>clean</i>, (<i>katharei</i>) their priests
+  had the miraculous and supernatural power of taking away and curing the
+  leprosy: and we nowhere see that the Jewish priests ever had the audacity
+  to try to persuade the people that they had ever received any
+  supernatural and divine power to "cleanse" the leprosy, because their God
+  through the Bible, had said of them: "They will cleanse the leper." Both
+  priest and people were sufficiently intelligent and honest to understand
+  and acknowledge that by that expression, if was only meant that the
+  priests had the legal right to see if the leprosy was gone or not, they
+  had only to look at certain marks indicated by God Himself, through
+  Moses, to know whether, or not, God had cured the leper before he
+  presented himself to his priest. The leper, cured by the mercy and power
+  of God alone, before presenting himself to the priest, was only declared
+  to be clean by that priest. Thus the priest was said, by the Bible, to
+  "clean" the leper, or the leprosy;&mdash;and, in the opposite case, to
+  "unclean." (Septuagint, Leviticus xiii. v. 3. 6.)</p>
+
+  <p>Now, let us put what God has said, through Moses, to the priests of
+  the old law, in reference to the bodily leprosy, face to face with what
+  God has said, through his Son Jesus, to his apostles and his whole
+  church, in reference to the spiritual leprosy from which Christ has
+  delivered us on the cross.</p>
+
+
+<table width="87%" class="nob" summary="Biblical passages" title="Biblical passages">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left; border-right : thin solid black; width:50%">
+<p class="cenhead">Septuagint Bible, Levit. xiii.</p>
+
+      <p>"And the Priest shall look on the plague, in the skin of the
+      flesh, and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the
+      plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague
+      of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him and <span
+      class="sc">unclean him</span> (<i>mianei</i>).</p>
+      <p>"And the Priest shall look on him again the seventh day, and if
+      the plague is somewhat dark and does not spread on the skin, the
+      Priest shall <span class="sc">clean him</span> (<i>katharei</i>): and
+      he shall wash his clothes and <span class="sc">be clean</span>,"
+      (katharos.)</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left; width:50%">
+<p class="cenhead">New Testament, John xx., 23.</p>
+
+      <p>"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
+      whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+  <p>The analogy of the diseases with which the Hebrew priests and the
+  disciples of Christ had to deal, is striking: so the analogy of the
+  expressions prescribing their respective duties is also striking.</p>
+
+  <p>When God said to the priests of the Old Law, "You shall clean the
+  leper," and he shall be "cleaned," or, "you shall unclean the leper," and
+  he shall be "uncleaned," He only gave the legal power to see if there
+  were any signs or indications by which they could say that God had cured
+  the leper before he presented himself to the priest. So, when Christ said
+  to his apostles and his whole church, "Whose soever sins ye shall
+  forgive, shall be forgiven unto them," He only repeated what Moses had
+  said in an analagous case: He only gave them the authority to say when
+  the spiritual lepers, the sinners, had reconciled themselves to God, and
+  received their pardon from Him and Him alone, previous to their coming to
+  the apostles.</p>
+
+  <p>It is true that the priests of the Old Law had regulations from God,
+  through Moses, which they had to follow, by which they could see and say
+  whether, or not, the leprosy was gone.</p>
+
+  <p>"If the plague spread not on the skin ... the priest shall clean him
+  ... but if the priest see that the scab spread on the skin, it is
+  leprosy: he shall "unclean" him. (Septuagint, Levit. xiii. 3. 6.)</p>
+
+  <p>So Christ had given to his apostles and his whole church equally,
+  infallible rules and marks to determine whether, or not, the spiritual
+  leprosy was gone, that they might clean the leper and tell him,</p>
+
+
+<table width="50%" class="nob" summary="Biblical passages" title="Biblical passages">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; border-right : thin solid black; width:50%">
+      <p>I clean thee,<br /> or<br /> I unclean
+      thee.</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; width:50%">
+      <p>I forgive thy sins,<br /> or<br /> I retain thy
+      sins.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+  <p>I would have, indeed, many passages of the Old and New Testaments to
+  copy, were it my intention to reproduce all the marks given by God
+  Himself, through his prophets, or by Christ and apostles, that His
+  ambassadors might know when they should say to the sinner that he was
+  delivered from his iniquities. I will give only a few.</p>
+
+  <p>First: "And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the
+  gospel to every creature:</p>
+
+  <p>"He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: but he that
+  believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 15, 16.)</p>
+
+  <p>What a strange want of memory in the Saviour of the world! He has
+  entirely forgotten that "Auricular Confession," besides Faith and Baptism
+  are necessary to be saved! To those who believe and are baptised, the
+  apostles and the church are authorised by Christ to say: "You are saved!
+  your sins are forgiven! I clean you!"</p>
+
+  <p>Second: "And when ye come into an house, salute it.</p>
+
+  <p>"And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be
+  not worthy, let your peace return to you.</p>
+
+  <p>"And whose soever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye
+  depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.</p>
+
+  <p>"Verily, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the
+  land of Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of Judgment, than for that city."
+  (Math x. 12-15.)</p>
+
+  <p>Here again the Great Physician tells his disciples when the leprosy
+  will be gone, the sins forgiven, the soul purified. It is when the
+  lepers, the sinners, will have welcomed his messengers, heard and
+  received their message. Not a word about auricular confession: this great
+  panacea of the Pope's was evidently ignored by Christ.</p>
+
+  <p>Third: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
+  also forgive you&mdash;But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
+  neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Math vi. 14, 15.)</p>
+
+  <p>Was it possible to give a more striking and simple rule to the
+  Apostles and the Disciples that they might know when they could say to a
+  sinner: "Thy sins are forgiven!" or, "Thy sins are retained?" Here the
+  double keys of heaven are most solemnly and publicly given to every child
+  of Adam! As sure as there is a God in heaven and that Jesus died to save
+  sinners, so it is sure that if one forgives the trespasses of his
+  neighbor for the dear Saviour's sake, his own sins have been forgiven! To
+  the end of the world, then, let the disciples of Christ say to the
+  sinner, "Thy sins are forgiven," not because you have confessed your sins
+  to me, but for Christ's sake; the evidence of which is that you have
+  forgiven those who had offended you.</p>
+
+  <p>Fourth: "And behold, a certain one stood up and tempted him, saying:
+  Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?</p>
+
+  <p>"He said unto him: What is written in the law? how readest thou?</p>
+
+  <p>"And he, answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
+  thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all
+  thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.</p>
+
+  <p>"And He said unto him, thou hast answered right; this do and thou
+  shalt live." (Luke x. 25-28.)</p>
+
+  <p>What a fine opportunity for the Saviour to speak of "auricular
+  confession" as a means given by him to be saved! But here again, Christ
+  forgets that marvellous medicine of the Popes. Jesus, speaking
+  absolutely, like the Protestants, bids his messengers to proclaim pardon,
+  forgiveness of sins, not to those who confess their sins to a man, but to
+  those who love God and their neighbor. And so will his true disciples and
+  messengers do to the end of the world!</p>
+
+  <p>Fifth: "And when he (the prodigal son) came to himself, he said: ... I
+  will arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, Father, I have
+  sinned against Heaven and before thee: and I am not worthy to be called
+  thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.</p>
+
+  <p>"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way
+  off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran; and he fell on his
+  neck and kissed him.</p>
+
+  <p>"And the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy
+  sight, and am not worthy to be called thy son.</p>
+
+  <p>"But the father said to his servants: Bring forth his best robe, and
+  put it on him: put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring
+  hither the fat calf. For this my son was dead, and he is alive again, he
+  was lost and he is found." (Luke xv, 17-24.)</p>
+
+  <p>Apostles and disciples of Christ, wherever you will hear, on this land
+  of sin and misery, the cry of the Prodigal Son: "I will arise and go to
+  my Father" every time you see him, not at your feet, but at the feet of
+  his true Father, crying: "Father I have sinned against thee," unite your
+  hymns of joy to the joyful songs of the angels of God; repeat into the
+  ears of that redeemed sinner the sentence just fallen from the lips of
+  the Lamb, whose blood cleanses us from all our sins; say to him, "Thy
+  sins are forgiven."</p>
+
+  <p>Sixth: "Come unto me all ye who labour, and are heavy-laden, and I
+  will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek
+  and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke
+  is easy and my burden is light." (Math. xi, 28-30.)</p>
+
+  <p>Though these words were pronounced more than 1800 years ago, they were
+  pronounced this very morning; they come at every hour of day and night
+  from the lips and the heart of Christ to every one of us sinners. It is
+  just now that Jesus says to every sinner, "Come to me and I will give ye
+  rest." Christ has never said and he will never say to any sinner: "Go to
+  my priests and they will give you rest!" But he has said, "Come to me and
+  I will give you rest."</p>
+
+  <p>Let the apostles and disciples of the Saviour, then, proclaim peace,
+  pardon, rest, not to the sinners who come to confess to them all their
+  most secretly sinful thoughts, desires, or actions, but to those who go
+  to Christ and Him alone, for peace, pardon and rest. For "Come to me,"
+  from Jesus lips, has never meant, it will never mean, "Go and confess to
+  the priests."</p>
+
+  <p>Christ would never have said: "My yoke is easy and my burden light" if
+  he had instituted auricular confession. For the world has never seen a
+  yoke so heavy, humiliating and degrading as auricular confession.</p>
+
+  <p>Seventh: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
+  must the Son of man be lifted up; that who soever believeth in him should
+  not perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14.)</p>
+
+  <p>Did Almighty God require any auricular confession in the wilderness,
+  from the sinners, when He ordered Moses to lift up the serpent? No!
+  Neither did Christ speak of auricular confession as a condition of
+  salvation to those who look to Him when He dies on the Cross to pay their
+  debts. A free pardon was offered to the Israelites who looked to the
+  uplifted serpent. A free pardon is offered by Christ crucified to all
+  those who look to Him with faith, repentance and love. To such sinners
+  the ministers of Christ, to the end of the world, are authorised to say:
+  "Your sins are forgiven&mdash;we "clean" your leprosy."</p>
+
+  <p>Eighth: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
+  Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
+  life.</p>
+
+  <p>"For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world,
+  through him, might be saved.</p>
+
+  <p>"He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not,
+  is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
+  only begotten Son of God.</p>
+
+  <p>"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and
+  man loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
+  every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
+  lest his deeds should be reproved.</p>
+
+  <p>"But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
+  manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John iii, 16-21.)</p>
+
+  <p>In the religion of Rome, it is only through auricular confession that
+  the sinner can be reconciled to God; it is only after he has heard a most
+  detailed confession of all the thoughts, desires and actions of the
+  guilty one that he can tell him: "Thy sins are forgiven." But in the
+  religion of the Gospel, the reconciliation of the sinner with his God is
+  absolutely and entirely the work of Christ. That marvellous forgiveness
+  is a free gift offered not for any outward act of the sinner: nothing is
+  required from him but faith, repentance and love. These are marks by
+  which the leprosy is known to be cured and the sins forgiven. To all
+  those who have these marks, the ambassadors of Christ are authorized to
+  say, "Your sins are forgiven," we "clean" you.</p>
+
+  <p>Ninth: "The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
+  his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: God! be merciful
+  to me a sinner!</p>
+
+  <p>"I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified." (Luke xviii
+  13, 14.). Yes! justified! and without auricular confession!</p>
+
+  <p>Ministers and disciples of Christ, when you see the repenting sinner
+  smiting his breast and crying: "Oh, God! have mercy upon me a sinner!"
+  shut your ears to the deceptive words of Rome who tells you to force that
+  redeemed sinner to make to you a special confession of all his sins, to
+  get his pardon. But go to him and deliver the message of love, peace and
+  mercy, which you received from Christ: "Thy sins are forgiven! I "clean"
+  thee!</p>
+
+  <p>Tenth: "And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him,
+  saying: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.</p>
+
+  <p>"But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying: Doest not thou fear
+  God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly, but
+  this man hath done nothing amiss.</p>
+
+  <p>"And he said unto Jesus: Remember me, when thou art in thy Kingdom.
+  And Jesus said unto him: Verily, I say Unto thee: to-day, shalt thou be
+  with me in Paradise." (Luke xxii, 39-43.)</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, in the Paradise or Kingdom of Christ without auricular
+  confession! From Calvary, when his hands are nailed to the cross, and his
+  blood is poured out, Christ even then protests against the great
+  imposture of auricular confession. Jesus will be to the end of the world
+  what he was there on the cross: the sinner's friend; always ready to hear
+  and pardon those who invoke his name and trust in him.</p>
+
+  <p>Disciples of the gospel, wherever you hear the cry of the repenting
+  sinner to the crucified Saviour: "Remember me when thou comest to thy
+  Kingdom," go and give the assurance to that penitent and redeemed child
+  of Adam that "his sins are forgiven"&mdash;clean the leper.</p>
+
+  <p>Eleventh: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
+  thoughts: and let him return to the Lord; and he will have mercy upon him
+  and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isa. lv. 7. 8.)</p>
+
+  <p>"Wash you, and make you clean, put away the evils of your doings from
+  before mine eyes: cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
+  relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.</p>
+
+  <p>"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
+  sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red
+  like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. i, 16-18.)</p>
+
+  <p>Here are the landmarks of the mercy of God, put by his own almighty
+  hands! Who will dare to remove them in order to put others in their
+  place? Has ever Christ touched those landmarks? Has he ever intimated
+  that anything but faith, repentance and love, with their blessed fruits,
+  were required from the sinners to secure his pardon? No&mdash;never.</p>
+
+  <p>Have the prophets of the Old Testament or the apostles of the New ever
+  said a word about "auricular confession" as a condition for pardon?
+  No&mdash;never.</p>
+
+  <p>What does David say? "I confess my sins unto thee, and mine iniquity
+  have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord,
+  and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Psalm xxxii, 5.)</p>
+
+  <p>What does the Apostle John say? "If we say that we have fellowship
+  with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.</p>
+
+  <p>"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
+  fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son
+  cleanseth us from sin;</p>
+
+  <p>"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
+  not in us.</p>
+
+  <p>"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins
+  and to <span class="sc">cleanse</span> us from all unrighteousness." (i.
+  John i, 6-9.)</p>
+
+  <p>This is the language of the prophets and apostles. This is the
+  language of the Old and the New Testament. It is to God and Him alone
+  that the sinner is requested to confess his sins. It is from God and Him
+  alone that he can expect his pardon.</p>
+
+  <p>The apostle Paul writes fifteen epistles, in which he speaks of all
+  the duties imposed upon human conscience by the laws of God and the
+  prescriptions of the Gospel of Christ. A thousand times he speaks to
+  sinners and tells them how they may be reconciled to God. But does he say
+  a word about auricular confession? No, not one!</p>
+
+  <p>The apostles Peter, John, Jude address six letters to the different
+  churches&mdash;in which they state with the greatest detail what the
+  different classes of Christians have to do. But again, not a single word
+  comes from them about auricular confession.</p>
+
+  <p>St. James says, "confess your faults one to another." But this is so
+  evidently the repetition of what the Saviour had said about the way of
+  reconciliation between those who had offended one another, and it is so
+  far from the dogma of a secret confession to the priest, that the most
+  zealous supporters of auricular confession have not dared to mention that
+  text in favour of their modern invention.</p>
+
+  <p>But if we look in vain in the Old and New Testament for a word in
+  favour of auricular confession as a dogma, will it be possible to find
+  that dogma in the records of the first thousand years of Christianity?
+  No! for the more one studies the records of the Christian church during
+  the first ten centuries, the more he will be convinced that auricular
+  confession is a miserable imposture, of the darkest days of the world and
+  the church.</p>
+
+  <p>We have the life of Paul, the hermit, of the third century, by one of
+  the early fathers of the church. But not a word is said in it of his
+  confessing his sins to any one, though a thousand things are said of him
+  which are of a far less interesting character.</p>
+
+  <p>So it is with the life of St. Mary, the Egyptian. The minute history
+  of her life, her public scandals, her conversion, long prayers and
+  fastings in solitude, the detailed history of her last days and of her
+  death, all these we have; but not a single word is said of her confessing
+  to any one. It is evident that she lived and died without ever having
+  thought of going to confess.</p>
+
+  <p>The deacon Pontius wrote also the life St. Cyprien, who lived in the
+  third century; but he does not say a word of his ever having gone to
+  confession, or having heard the confession of any one. More than that, we
+  learn from this reliable historian that Cyprien was excommunicated by the
+  Pope of Rome, called Stephen, and that he died without having ever asked
+  from any one absolution from that excommunication; a thing which has not
+  seemingly prevented him from going to Heaven, since the infallible Popes
+  of Rome, who succeeded Stephen, have assured us that he is a saint.</p>
+
+  <p>Gregory of Nyssa has given us the life of St. Gregory of Neo-Cæsarea,
+  of the 3rd century, and of St. Basil, of the 4th century. But neither
+  speak of their having gone to confess, or having heard the confession of
+  any one. It is thus evident that those two great and good men, with all
+  the Christians of their times, lived and died without ever knowing any
+  thing about the dogma of auricular confession.</p>
+
+  <p>We have the interesting life of St Ambrose, of the 4th century, by
+  Paulinus; and from that book it is as evident as two and two make four,
+  that St. Ambrose never went to confess.</p>
+
+  <p>The history of St Martin of Tours, of the 4th century by Severus
+  Sulpicius of the 5th century, is another monument left by antiquity to
+  prove that there was no dogma of auricular confession in those days; for
+  St. Martin has evidently lived and died without ever going to
+  confess.</p>
+
+  <p>Pallas and Theodoret have left us the history of the life, sufferings
+  and death of St. Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, who died at the
+  beginning of the 5th century, and both are absolutely mute about that
+  dogma. No fact is more evident, by what they say, than that holy and
+  eloquent bishop lived and died also without ever thinking of going to
+  confess.</p>
+
+  <p>No man has ever more perfectly entered into the details of a Christian
+  life, when writing on that subject, than the learned and eloquent St
+  Jerome, of the 5th century. A great number of his admirable letters are
+  written to the priests of his day, or to some Christian ladies and
+  virgins, who had requested him to give them some good advices about the
+  best way to lead a Christian life. His letters, which form five volumes,
+  are most interesting monuments of the manners, habits, views, morality,
+  practical and dogmatical faith of the first centuries of the church; and
+  they are a most unanswerable evidence that auricular confession, as a
+  dogma, had then no existence, and is quite a modern invention. Would it
+  be possible that Jerome could have forgotten to give some advices or
+  rules about auricular confession, to the priests of his time who asked
+  his counsel about the best way to fulfil their ministerial duties, if it
+  had been one of their duties to hear the confessions of the people? But
+  we challenge the most devoted modern priest of Rome to find a single line
+  in all the letters of St Jerome in favour of auricular confession. In his
+  admirable letter to the priest Nepotianus, on the life of priests, vol.
+  <span class="sc">ii</span>, p. 203, when speaking of the relations of
+  priests with women, he says: "Solus cum sola, secreto <span
+  class="correction" title="'and' in original">et</span> absque arbitrio
+  vel teste, non sedeas. Si familiarus est aliquid <span class="correction"
+  title="'loquem dum' in original">loquendum</span>, habet nutricem majorem
+  domus, virginem, viduam, vel maritatam; non est tam inhumana ut nullum
+  præter te habeat cui se audeat credere."</p>
+
+  <p>"Never sit in secret, alone, in a retired place, with a female who is
+  alone with you. If she has any particular thing to tell you, let her take
+  the female attendant of the house, a young girl, a widow, or a married
+  woman. She can not be so ignorant of the rules of human life as to expect
+  to have you as the only one to whom she can trust those things."</p>
+
+  <p>It would be easy to cite a great number of other remarkable passages
+  where Jerome shows himself the most determined and implacable opponent of
+  those secret "tête-à-tête" between a priest and a female, which, under
+  the plausible pretext of mutual advice and spiritual consolation, are
+  generally nothing but bottomless pits of infamy and perdition for both.
+  But this is enough.</p>
+
+  <p>We have also the admirable life of St. Paulina, written by St. Jerome.
+  And though in it he gives us every imaginable detail of her life when
+  young, married and widow, though he tells us even how her bed was
+  composed of the simplest and rudest materials, he has not a word about
+  her ever having gone to confess. Jerome speaks of the acquaintances of
+  St. Paulina and gives their names; he enters into the minutest details of
+  her long voyages, her charities, her foundations of monasteries for men
+  and women, her temptations, human frailties, heroic virtues, her
+  macerations and her holy death: but he has not a word to say about the
+  frequent or rare auricular confessions of St. Paulina; not a word about
+  her wisdom in the choice of a prudent and holy (?) confessor.</p>
+
+  <p>He tells us that after her death, her body was carried to her grave on
+  the shoulders of bishops and priests, as a token of their profound
+  respect for the saint. But he never says that any of those priests sat
+  there in a dark corner with her, and forced her to reveal to their ears
+  the secret history of all the thoughts, desires, and human frailties of
+  her long and eventful life. Jerome is an unimpeachable witness that his
+  saintly and noble friend St. Paulina lived and died without having ever
+  thought of going to confess.</p>
+
+  <p>Possidius has left us the interesting life of St. Augustine, of the
+  fifth century; and again it is in vain that we look for the place or the
+  time when that celebrated bishop of Hippo went to confess, or heard the
+  secret confessions of his people.</p>
+
+  <p>More than that, St. Augustine has written a most admirable book,
+  called: "Confessions," in which he gives us the history of his life. With
+  that marvellous book in hand, we follow him, step by step, wherever he
+  goes; we are the witnesses of what he does and thinks; we attend with him
+  those celebrated schools, where his faith and morality were so sadly
+  wrecked; he takes us with him into the garden where, wavering between
+  heaven and hell, bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree and cries,
+  "Oh Lord! how long will I remain in my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with
+  emotions, with his soul, when we hear, with him, the sweet and mysterious
+  voice: "Tolle! lege!" take and read. We run with him to the places where
+  he had left his gospel book; with a trembling hand, we open it, and we
+  read: "Let us walk honestly as in the day ... put ye on the Lord Jesus
+  Christ..." (Rom. xiii, 13, 14.)</p>
+
+  <p>That incomparable book of Augustine makes us weep and shout with joy
+  with him; it initiates us into all, his most secret actions, to all his
+  sorrows, anxieties and joys, it reveals and unvails his whole life. It
+  tells us where he goes, with whom he sins, and with whom he praises God;
+  it makes us pray, sing and bless the Lord with him. Is it possible that
+  Augustine could have been to confess without telling us when, where and
+  to whom he made confession? Could he have received the absolution and
+  pardon of his sins from his confessor, without making us partakers of his
+  joys, and requesting us to bless that confessor with him.</p>
+
+  <p>But, it is in vain that you look in that book for a single word about
+  auricular confession. That book is an unimpeachable witness that neither
+  Augustine nor his saintly mother Monica, whom it mentions so often, lived
+  and died without ever having been to confess. That book may be called the
+  most crushing evidence to prove that, "the dogma of auricular confession"
+  is a modern imposture.</p>
+
+  <p>From the beginning to the end of that book, we see that Augustine
+  believed and said that God alone could forgive the sins of men, and that
+  it was to Him alone that men had to confess in order to be pardoned. If
+  he writes his confession, it is only that the world might know how God
+  had been merciful to him, and that they might help him to praise and
+  bless the merciful Heavenly Father. In the tenth book of his Confessions,
+  chapter <span class="sc">iii</span>, Augustine protests against the idea
+  that men could do anything to cure the spiritual leper, or forgive the
+  sins of their fellow-men; here is his eloquent protest: "Quid mihi ergo
+  est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint
+  languores meas? Curiosum genus ad <span class="correction"
+  title="'cognescendam' in original">cognoscendam</span> vitam alienam;
+  desidiosum ad corrigendam."</p>
+
+  <p>"What have I to do with men that I might be obliged to confess my sins
+  to them, as if they were able to heal my infirmities? Oh Lord! that human
+  race is very fond of knowing the sins of their neighbors; but they are
+  very neglectful in correcting their own lies."</p>
+
+  <p>Before Augustine had built up that sublime and imperishable monument
+  against auricular confession, St. John Chrysostom had raised his eloquent
+  voice against it, in his homily on the 50th Psalm, where, speaking in the
+  name of the Church, he said: "We do not request you to go to confess your
+  sins to any of your fellow-men, but only to God!"</p>
+
+  <p>Nestorius, of the 4th century, the predecessor of John Chrysostom,
+  had, by a public defense, which the best Roman Catholic historians have
+  had to acknowledge, solemnly forbidden the practice of auricular
+  confession. For, just as there has always been thieves, drunkards and
+  malefactors in the world, so there has always been men and women who,
+  under the pretext of opening their minds to each other for mutual comfort
+  and edification, were giving themselves to every kind of iniquity and
+  lust. The celebrated Chrysostom was only giving the sanction of his
+  authority to what his predecessor had done when, thundering against the
+  newly born monster, he said to the Christians of his time, "We do not ask
+  you to go and confess your iniquities to a sinful man for
+  pardon&mdash;but only to God." (Homily on 50th Psalm.)</p>
+
+  <p>Auricular confession originated with the early heretics, especially
+  with Marcion. Bellarmin speaks of it as something to be practiced. But
+  let us hear what the contemporary writers have to say on the
+  question:</p>
+
+  <p>"Certain women were in the habit of going to the heretic Marcion to
+  confess their sins to him. But, as he was smitten with their beauty, and
+  they loved him also, they abandoned themselves to sin with him."</p>
+
+  <p>Listen now to what St. Basil, in his commentary on Ps. xxxvii, says of
+  confession:</p>
+
+  <p>"I have not to come before the world to make a confession with my
+  lips. But I close my eyes, and confess my sins in the secret of my heart.
+  Before thee, O God, I pour out my sighs, and thou alone art the witness.
+  My groans are within my soul. There is no need of many words to confess:
+  sorrow and regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamentations of the
+  soul, which thou art pleased to hear, are the best confession."</p>
+
+  <p>Chrysostom, in his homily: De pænitentia, vol. IV., col. 901, has the
+  following: "You need no witnesses of your confession. Secretly
+  acknowledge your sins, and let God alone hear you."</p>
+
+  <p>In his homily V., De incomprehensibili Dei naturâ, vol. I, he says:
+  "Therefore, I beseech you, always confess your sins to God! I in no way
+  ask you to confess them to me. To God alone should you expose the wounds
+  of your souls, and from him alone expect the cure. Go to him, then; and
+  you shall not be cast off, but healed. For, before you utter a single
+  word, God knows your prayer."</p>
+
+  <p>In his commentary on Heb. xii., hom. xxxi., vol. xii., p. 289, he
+  further says: "Let us not be content with calling ourselves sinners. But
+  let us examine and number our sins. And then, I do not tell you to go and
+  confess them, according to the caprice of some; but I will say to you,
+  with the prophet: "Confess your sins before God, acknowledge your
+  iniquities at the feet of your Judge; pray in your heart and your mind,
+  if not with your tongue, and you shall be pardoned."</p>
+
+  <p>In his homily on Ps. I., vol. V., p. 589, the same Chrysostom says:
+  "Confess you sins every day in prayer. Why should you hesitate to do so?
+  I do not tell you to go and confess to a man, sinner as you are, and who
+  might despise you if he knew your faults. But confess them to God, who
+  can forgive them to you."</p>
+
+  <p>In his admirable homily IV., De Lazaro, vol. I., p. 757, he explains:
+  "Why, tell me, should you be ashamed to confess your sins? Do we compel
+  you to reveal them to a man, who might, one day, throw them into your
+  face? Are you commanded to confess them to one of your equals, who could
+  publish them and ruin you? What we ask of you, is simply to show the
+  sores of your soul to your Lord and Master, who is also your friend, your
+  guardian and physician."</p>
+
+  <p>In a small work of Chrysostom's, intitled: "Catechesis ad
+  illuminandos," vol. II., p. 210, we read these remarkable words: "What we
+  should most admire, is not that God forgives our sins, but that he does
+  not disclose them to any one, nor wishes us to do so. What he demands of
+  us, is to confess our transgressions to him alone to obtain pardon."</p>
+
+  <p>St. Augustine, in his beautiful homily on the 31st Ps., says: "I shall
+  confess my sins to God, and he will pardon all my iniquities. And such
+  confession is made not with the lips, but with the heart only. I had
+  hardly opened my mouth to confess my sins, when they were pardoned; for
+  God had already heard the voice of my heart."</p>
+
+  <p>In the edition of the Fathers by Migne, vol. 67, p. 614, 615, we read:
+  "About the year 390, the office of penitentiary was abolished in the
+  church, in consequence of a great scandal given by a woman who publicly
+  accused herself of having committed a crime against chastity with a
+  deacon."</p>
+
+  <p>The office of penitentiary was this: in every large city, a priest or
+  minister was specially appointed to preside over the church meetings
+  where the members who had committed public sins were obliged to confess
+  them publicly before the assembly, in order to be reinstated in the
+  privileges of their membership; and that minister had the charge of
+  reading or pronouncing the sentence of pardon granted by the church to
+  the guilty ones, before they could be admitted again to communion. This
+  was perfectly in accordance with what St. Paul had done with regard to
+  the incestuous one of Corinth, that scandalous sinner, who had cast
+  obloquy on the Christian name; but who, after confessing and weeping over
+  his sins, before the church, obtained his pardon&mdash;not from a priest
+  in whose ears he had whispered all the shocking details of his incestuous
+  intercourse, but from the whole church assembled. St. Paul gladly
+  approves the Church of Corinth in thus receiving again in their midst a
+  wandering but repenting brother.</p>
+
+  <p>There is as much difference between such public confessions and
+  auricular confessions, as there is between heaven and hell, between God
+  and his great enemy, Satan.</p>
+
+  <p>Public confession, then, dates from the time of the apostles, and is
+  still practised in protestant churches of our day. But auricular
+  confession was unknown by the disciples of Christ; as it is rejected,
+  to-day, with horror by all the true followers of the Son of God.</p>
+
+  <p>Erasmus, one of the most learned Roman Catholics which opposed the
+  Reformation in the 16th century, so admirably begun by Luther and Calvin,
+  fearlessly and honestly makes the following declaration in his treaty: De
+  Pænitantia, Dis 5. "This institution of penance began rather of some
+  tradition of the Old or New Testament. But our divines, not advisedly
+  considering what the old doctors do say, are deceived: that which they
+  say of general and open confession, they wrest by and by to this secret
+  and privy kind of confession.</p>
+
+  <p>It is a public fact, which no learned Roman Catholic has ever denied,
+  that auricular confession became a dogma and obligatory practice of the
+  church only at the council of Lateran in the year 1215, under the Pope
+  Innocent III. Not a single trace of auricular confession, as a dogma, can
+  be found before that year.</p>
+
+  <p>Thus, it has taken more than twelve hundred years of efforts for Satan
+  to bring out that master-piece of his inventions to conquer the world and
+  destroy the souls of men.</p>
+
+  <p>Little by little, that imposture had crept into the world, just as the
+  shadows of a stormy night creep without any one being able to note the
+  moment when the first rays of light give way before the dark clouds. We
+  know very well when the sun was shining, we know when it was very dark
+  all over the world, but no one can tell positively when the first ray of
+  light faded away. So saith the Lord:</p>
+
+  <p>"The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in
+  his field.</p>
+
+  <p>"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat
+  and went his way.</p>
+
+  <p>"But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, there
+  appeared the tares also.</p>
+
+  <p>"So the servants of the house-holder came and said unto him: Sir, dist
+  not thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath it tares?</p>
+
+  <p>"He said unto them: The enemy hath done this." (Mat. xiii, 24-28.)</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, the Good Master tells us that the enemy sowed those tares in his
+  field during the night&mdash;when men were sleeping.</p>
+
+  <p>But he does not tell us precisely the hour of the night when the enemy
+  cast the tares among the wheat.</p>
+
+  <p>If any one likes to know how fearfully dark was the night which
+  covered the "Kingdom," and how cruel, implacable and savage was the enemy
+  who sowed the tares, let him read the testimony of the most devoted and
+  learned cardinal whom Rome has ever had, Baronius, Annals, Anno 900:</p>
+
+  <p>"It is evident that one can scarcely believe what unworthy, base,
+  execrable and abominable things the holy Apostolical See, which is the
+  pivot upon which the whole Catholic Church revolves, was forced to
+  endure, when princes of the age, though Christians, arrogated to
+  themselves the election of the Roman Pontiffs. Alas, the shame! alas, the
+  grief! What monsters, horrible to behold, were then intruded on the Holy
+  See! What evils ensued! What tragedies they perpatrated! With what
+  pollutions was this See, though itself without spot, then stained! With
+  what corruptions infected! <i>With what filthiness defiled! And by these
+  things blackened with perpetual infamy!</i> (Baronius, Annals, Anno
+  900.)</p>
+
+  <p>"Est plane, ut vix aliquis credat, immo, nec vix quidem sit
+  crediturus, nisi suis inspiciat ipse oculis, manibusque contractat, quam
+  indigna, quamque turpia, atque deformia, execranda, insuper et abominanda
+  sit coacta pati sacrosancta apostolica sedes, in cujus cardine universa
+  Ecclesia catholica vertitur, cum principes sæculi hujus, quantumlibet
+  christiani, hac tamen ex parte dicendi tyranni sævissimi, arrogaverunt
+  sibi tirannice electionem Romanorum pontificum. Quot tunc ab eis, proh
+  pudor! proh dolor! in eandem sedem, angelis reverandam, visu horrenda
+  intrusa sunt monstra! Quot ex eis oborta sunt mala, consummatæ tragediæ!
+  Quibus tunc ipsam sine maculâ et sine rugâ contigit aspergi sordibus,
+  putoribus infici, quinati spurcitiis, ex <span class="correction"
+  title="'hisgue' in original">hisque</span> perpetuâ infamiâ
+  denigrari!"</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_X">CHAPTER X</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">God compels the Church of Rome to confess the abominations of auricular confession.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Romish priests will resort to various means in order to deceive the
+  people on the immorality resulting from auricular confession. One of
+  their favorite stratagems is to quote some disconnected passages from
+  theologians, recommending caution on the part of the priest in
+  questioning his penitents on delicate subjects, should he see or
+  apprehend any danger for the latter of being shocked by his questions.
+  True, there are such prudent theologians, who seem to realize more than
+  others the real danger for the priest in confession. But those wise
+  counsellors resemble very much a father who would allow his child to put
+  his fingers in the fire while advising him to be cautious lest he should
+  burn his fingers. There is just as much wisdom in the one case as there
+  would be in the other. Or what would you say of a brutal parent casting a
+  young, weak, and inexperienced boy among wild beasts, with the foolish
+  and cruel expectation that his prudence might save him from all
+  injury?</p>
+
+  <p>Such theologians may be perfectly honest in giving such advice,
+  although it is anything but wise or reasonable. But those are far from
+  being honest or true who contend that the Church of Rome, in commanding
+  every one to confess all his sins to the priests, has made an exception
+  in favor of sins against chastity. This is only so much dust thrown in
+  the eyes of ignorant people to prevent them from seeing through the
+  frightful mysteries of confession.</p>
+
+  <p>When the council of Latran decided that every adult, of either sex,
+  should confess all their sins to a priest, at least once a year, there
+  was no provision made for any special class of sins, not even for those
+  committed against modesty or purity. And the council of Trent, when
+  ratifying or renewing the previous decision, no exception was made,
+  either, of the sins in question. They were expected and had to be
+  confessed, as all other sins.</p>
+
+  <p>The law of both councils is still unrepealed and binding for all sins,
+  without any exception. It is imperative, absolute; and every good
+  Catholic, man or woman, must submit to it by confessing <i>all</i> his or
+  her sins at least once a year.</p>
+
+  <p>I have in my hand Butler's Catechism, approved by several bishops of
+  Quebec. On page 61, it reads that all penitents should examine themselves
+  on the capital sins, and confess them "all, without exception, under
+  penalty of eternal damnation."</p>
+
+  <p>Therefore, the young and timid girl, the chaste and modest woman must
+  think of shameful deeds and fill their minds with impure ideas, in order
+  to confess to an unmarried man whatever they may be guilty of, however
+  repugnant may be to them such confession, or dangerous for the priest who
+  is bound to hear, and even demand it. No one is exempt from the loathsome
+  and often polluting task. Both priest and penitent are required and
+  compelled to go through the fiery ordeal of contamination and shame. They
+  are bound, on every particular, the one to ask, and the other to answer,
+  under penalty of eternal damnation.</p>
+
+  <p>Such is the rigorous, inflexible law of the Church of Rome with regard
+  to confession. It is taught not only in works on theology or from the
+  pulpit, but in prayer-books and various other religious publications. It
+  is so deeply impressed in the minds of Romanists as to have become a part
+  of their religion. Such is the law which the priest himself has to obey,
+  and which puts his penitents at his own discretion.</p>
+
+  <p>But there are husbands with a jealous disposition, who would little
+  fancy the idea of bachelors confessing their wives, if they knew exactly
+  what questions they have to answer in confession. There are fathers and
+  mothers who don't like much to see their daughters alone with a man,
+  behind a curtain, and who would certainly tremble for their honor and
+  virtue if they knew all the abominable mysteries of confession. It is
+  necessary, therefore, to keep the people, as much as possible, in
+  ignorance, and prevent light from reaching that empire of darkness, the
+  confessional. In that view, confessors are advised to be cautious "on
+  those matters;" to "broach these questions in a sort of covert way, and
+  with the greatest reserve." For it is very desirable "not to shock
+  modesty, neither frighten the penitent nor grieve her." "Sins, however,
+  <i>must</i> be confessed."</p>
+
+  <p>Such is the prudent advice given to the confessor on certain
+  occasions. In the hands or under the command of Liguori, Father Gury,
+  Scavani, or other casuists, the priest is a sort of general, sent, with
+  his army, during the night, to storm a citadel or a strong position,
+  having for order to operate cautiously and before daylight. His mission
+  is one of darkness and cunning, violence and cruelty; for when the pope
+  commands, the priest, as his loyal soldier, must be ready to obey. But
+  many a time, after the place has been captured by dint of strategy and
+  secrecy, the poor soldier is left, badly wounded and completely disabled,
+  on the battle-field. He has paid dearly for his victory; and the
+  conquered citadel has received an injury from which it may never recover.
+  But the crafty priest has gained his point: he has succeeded in
+  persuading his lady penitent that there was no impropriety, that it was
+  even necessary for them to have a parley on things that made her blush a
+  few moments before. She is so well convinced that she would swear that
+  there is nothing wrong in confession. Truly this is a fulfilment of the
+  words:</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Abyssus abyssum invocat."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  <p>Have the Romish theologians Gury, Scavani, Liguori, etc., ever been
+  honest enough, in their works on confession, to say that the Most Holy
+  God could never command or require woman to degrade and pollute herself
+  and the priest in pouring in the ear of a frail and sinful mortal, words
+  unfit even for an angel? No; they were very careful not to say so; for
+  from that very moment, their shameless lies would have been exposed; the
+  stupendous but weak structure of auricular confession would fall to the
+  ground with sad havoc and ruin to its upholders. Men and women would open
+  their eyes, and see its weakness and fallacy. "If God," they might say,
+  "can forgive our most grievous sins, against modesty, he can and will
+  certainly do the same with those of less gravity; therefore there is no
+  necessity or occasion for us to confess to a priest."</p>
+
+  <p>But those shrewd casuists know too well that by such frank confession,
+  they would soon lose their hold on Catholic populations, especially on
+  women, by whom, through confession, they rule the world. They much prefer
+  to keep their gripe on benighted minds, frightened consciences, and
+  trembling souls. No wonder, then, that they fully endorse and confirm the
+  decisions of the councils of Latran and Trent ordering "that all sins
+  must be confessed such as God knows them." No wonder that they try their
+  best or worst to overcome the natural repugnance of women for making such
+  confessions, and to conceal the terrible dangers for the priests in
+  hearing the same.</p>
+
+  <p>But God, in His infinite mercy, and for the sake of truth, has
+  compelled, as it were, the Church of Rome to acknowledge the moral
+  dangers and corrupting tendencies of auricular confession. In His eternal
+  wisdom, he knew that Roman Catholics would close their ears to whatever
+  might be said of the demoralizing influence of that institution; that
+  they would even reply with insult and fallacy to the words of truth
+  kindly addressed to them: as the Jews of old returned hatred and insult
+  to the good Saviour who was bringing to them the glad tidings of a free
+  salvation. He knew that Romish devotees, led astray by their priests, as
+  were the poor blinded Jews, would call the apostles of truth liars,
+  seducers, possessed of the devil, as Christ was constantly called a
+  demoniac, an impostor, and finally put to death by his false
+  accusers.</p>
+
+  <p>But God, just as compassionate now as he was then for the poor
+  benighted and deluded souls, has wrought a real miracle to open the eyes
+  of their minds, and compel them, as it were, to believe us, when we say,
+  on his authority, that auricular confession was invented by Satan to ruin
+  both the priest and his female penitents, for time and eternity. For,
+  what we would never have dared to say of ourself to the Roman Catholics
+  with regard to what frequently happens between their priests and their
+  wives and daughters, either during or after confession, God has
+  constrained the Church of Rome to acknowledge herself in revealing things
+  that would have seemed incredible had they come simply from our mouth or
+  our pen. In this, as in other instances, that apostate church has
+  unwittingly been the mouth-piece of God for the accomplishment of his
+  great and merciful ends.</p>
+
+  <p>Listen to the questions that the Church of Rome, through her
+  theologians, puts to every priest after he has heard the confession of
+  your wives or daughters:</p>
+
+  <p>1. "<i>Nonne inter audiendas confessiones quasdam proposui questiones
+  circa sextum decalogi præceptum cum intentione lubidinosâ?</i>" (Miroir
+  du Clergé, p. 582.)</p>
+
+  <p>While hearing confessions, have I not asked questions on sins against
+  the sixth (the seventh in the Decalogue) commandment with the intention
+  of satisfying my evil passions?</p>
+
+  <p>Such is the man, O mothers and daughters, to whom you dare to unbosom
+  the most secret as well as the most shameful actions. You kneel down at
+  his feet and whisper in his ear your most intimate thoughts and desires,
+  and your most polluting deeds; because your church, by dint of cunning
+  and sophistry, has succeeded in persuading you that there was no
+  impropriety or danger in doing so; that the man whom you chose for your
+  spiritual guide and confident could never be tempted or tainted by such
+  foul recitals. But that same church, through some mysterious providences,
+  is made to acknowledge, in her own books, her own lies. In spite of
+  herself, she admits that there is real danger in confession, both for the
+  woman and for the priest; that willingly or otherwise, and sometimes both
+  unawares, they lay for each other dangerous snares. The Church of Rome,
+  as if she had an evil conscience for allowing her priest to hold such
+  close and secret converse with a woman, on such delicate subjects, keeps,
+  as it were, a watchful eye on him while the poor misguided woman is
+  pouring in his ear the filthy burthen of her soul; and as soon as she is
+  off, questions the priest as to the purity of his motives, the honesty of
+  his intentions in putting the requisite questions. Have you not, she asks
+  him immediately, under the pretence of helping that woman in her
+  confession, put to her certain questions simply in order to gratify your
+  lust, and with the object of satisfying your evil propensities?</p>
+
+  <p>2. "<i>Nonne munus audiendi confessione suscepi, aut peregi ex pravâ
+  incontinentiæ appetâ?</i>" (Idem, p. 582.)</p>
+
+  <p>Have I not repaired to the confessional and heard confessions with the
+  intention of gratifying my evil passions?</p>
+
+  <p>O, ye women, who tremble like slaves at the feet of the priests, you
+  sometimes admire the patience and charity of those good (?) priests, who
+  are willing to spend so many long and tedious hours in hearing the
+  confession of your secret sins; and you hardly know how to express your
+  gratitude for so much kindness and charity. But hush! Listen to the voice
+  of God speaking to the conscience of the priest, through the Church of
+  Rome! "Have you not" she asks him, "heard the confession of women simply
+  to foster or gratify the groveling passions of your fallen nature and
+  corrupt heart?"</p>
+
+  <p>Please notice, it is not I, or the enemies of your religion, who put
+  to your priests the above questions: it is God himself who, in his pity
+  and compassion, compels your own church to ask such questions; that your
+  eyes may be opened, and that you may be rescued from all the dangerous
+  obscenities and the humiliating and degrading slavery of auricular
+  confession. It is God's will to deliver you from such bondage and
+  degradation. In his tender mercies, he has provided means to drag you out
+  of that cess-pool called confession; to break the chains which bind you
+  to the feet of a miserable and blasphemous sinner called confessor, who,
+  under the presence of being able to pardon your sins, usurps the place of
+  your Saviour and your God! For while you are whispering your sins in his
+  ear, God says to him, through his church, in tones loud enough to be
+  heard: "In hearing the confession of these women, are you not actuated by
+  lust, spurred by evil passions?"</p>
+
+  <p>Is this not sufficient to warn you of the danger of auricular
+  confession? Can you now with any sense of safety or propriety, come to
+  that priest, for whom your very confession may be a snare, a cause of
+  fall or fearful temptation? Can you with a particle of honor or modesty
+  willingly expose yourself to impure desires or shameful deeds? Can you,
+  with any sort of womanly dignity consent to entrust that man with your
+  inmost thoughts and desires, your most humiliating and secret actions,
+  when you know that that man may not have any higher object in listening
+  to your confession than a lustful curiosity or a sinful desire of
+  exciting his evil passions?</p>
+
+  <p>3. "<i>Nonne ex auditis in confessiones occasionem sumpsi pænitentes
+  utriusque sexûs ad peccandam sollicitandi?</i>" (Idem, p. 582)</p>
+
+  <p>Have I not availed myself of what I heard in confession to induce my
+  penitents to commit sin?</p>
+
+  <p>I would run a great risk of being treated with the utmost contempt,
+  should I dare to put to your priests such a question. You would very
+  likely call me a scoundrel for daring to question the honesty and purity
+  of such holy men. You would perhaps go as far as to contend that it is
+  utterly impossible for them to be guilty of such sins as are alluded to
+  in the above question; that never such shameful deeds have been
+  perpetrated through confession. And you would, maybe, emphatically deny
+  that your confessor has ever said or done anything that might lead you to
+  sin or even commit any breach of propriety or modesty. You feel perfectly
+  safe on that score, and see no danger to apprehend.</p>
+
+  <p>Let me tell you, good ladies, that you are altogether too confident
+  and in the most fatal delusion. Your own church, through the merciful and
+  warning voice of God speaking to the conscience of your own theologians,
+  tells you that there is a real and eminent danger where you fancy
+  yourself in perfect security. You may never have suspected the danger,
+  but it is there, within the walls of the confessional; nay, more, it is
+  lurking in your very hearts and that of your confessor. He may hitherto
+  have refrained from temptations; he may, at least, have kept within the
+  proper limits of outward morality or decency. But nothing warrants you
+  that he may not be tempted; and nothing could shield you from his
+  attempts on your virtue should he give way to temptation; as cases are
+  not wanting to prove the truth of my assertion. You are sadly mistaken,
+  in a false and dangerous security. You are perhaps, although unawares, on
+  the very brink of a precipice, where so many have fallen through their
+  blind confidence in their own strength or their confessor's prudence and
+  sanctity. Your own church is very anxious about your safety; she trembles
+  for your innocence and purity. In her fear, she cautions the priest to be
+  watchful over his wicked passions and human frailty. How dare you pretend
+  to be stronger and more holy? Why should you so wilfully imperil your
+  chastity or modesty? Why expose yourself to danger, when it could be so
+  easily avoided? How can you be so rash, so devoid of common prudence and
+  modesty as to shamelessly put yourselves in a position to tempt and be
+  tempted, and thereby incur your temporal and eternal perdition?</p>
+
+  <p>4. "<i>Nonne extra tribunal, vel in ipso confessionis actu, aliquia
+  dixi aut egi cum intentione diabolicâ has personas seducendi?</i> (Idem,
+  idem.)</p>
+
+  <p>Have I not, either during or after confession, done or said anything
+  with a diabolical intention of seducing my female penitents?</p>
+
+  <p>"What arch-enemy of our holy religion is so bold and impious as to put
+  to our saintly priests such an impudent and insulting question?" may ask
+  some of our Roman Catholic readers. It is easy to answer. This great
+  enemy of your religion is no less than a justly offended God, admonishing
+  and reproving your priests for exposing both you and themselves to
+  dangerous allurements and seductions. It is his voice speaking to their
+  consciences, and warning them of the danger and corruption of auricular
+  confession. It says to them: Beware! for ye might be tempted, as surely
+  you will, to do or say something against honor and purity. Husbands and
+  fathers, who rightly value the honor of your wives and daughters more
+  than all treasures, who consider it too precious a boon to be exposed to
+  the dangers of pollution, and who would prefer to lose your life a
+  thousand times than to see those you love most on earth fall in the
+  snares of the seducer, read once more and ponder what your church asks
+  the priest after he has heard your wife or daughter in confession: "Have
+  you not, either during or after confession, done or said anything with a
+  diabolical intention of seducing your female penitents?"</p>
+
+  <p>If your priest remains deaf to these words addressed to his
+  conscience, you cannot help giving heed to them and understanding their
+  full significance. You can not be easy and fear nothing from that priest
+  in those close interviews with your wives and daughters, when his
+  superiors and your own Church tremble for him, and question his purity
+  and honesty. They see a great danger for both the confessor and his
+  penitent; for they know that confession has many a time been the pretence
+  or the cause of the most shameful seductions.</p>
+
+  <p>If there was no real danger for the chastity of women, in confessing
+  to a man their most secret sins, do you believe that your popes and
+  theologians would be so stupid as to acknowledge it and put to confessors
+  questions that would be most insulting and out of place, should there be
+  no occasion for them?</p>
+
+  <p>Is it not presumption and folly on your part to think that there is no
+  danger, when the Church of Rome tells you positively that there is
+  danger, and uses the strongest terms in expressing her uneasiness and
+  apprehension?</p>
+
+  <p>Why, your church sees the most pressing reasons to fear for the honor
+  of your wives and daughters, as well as for the chastity of her priest:
+  and still you remain unconcerned, indifferent to the fearful peril to
+  which they are exposed! Are you like the Jewish people of old, to whom it
+  was said; "Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but
+  perceive not?" (Isa. vi, 9).</p>
+
+  <p>But if you see or suspect the danger you are warned of; if the eye of
+  your intelligence can fathom the dreadful abyss where the dearest objects
+  of your heart are in danger of falling, then it behoves you to keep them
+  from the paths that lead to the fearful chasm. Do not wait till it is too
+  late, when they are too near the precipice to be rescued. You may think
+  the danger to be far off, while it is near at hand. Profit by the sad
+  experience of so many victims of confession who have been irretrievably
+  lost, irrecoverably ruined for time and eternity. The voice of your
+  conscience, of honor, of God himself, tells you that it may become too
+  late to save them from destruction, through your neglect and
+  procrastination. While thanking God for having preserved them from
+  temptations that have proved fatal to so many married or unmarried women,
+  do not lose a single moment in taken the necessary means to keep them
+  from temptation and falls.</p>
+
+  <p>Instead of allowing them to go and kneel at the feet of a man to
+  obtain the remission of their sins, lead them to the cross, the only
+  place where they can secure pardon and peace everlasting. And why, after
+  so many unfruitful attempts, should they try any longer to wash
+  themselves in a puddle, when the pure waters of eternal life are offered
+  them so freely, through Christ Jesus, their only Saviour and
+  Mediator?</p>
+
+  <p>Instead of seeking their pardon from a poor and miserable sinner, weak
+  and tempted as they are, let them go to Christ, the only strong and
+  perfect man, the only hope and salvation of the world.</p>
+
+  <p>O poor deluded Catholic woman! listen no longer to the deceiving words
+  of the Church of Rome, who has no pardon, no peace for you, but only
+  snares; who offers you thraldom and shame in return for the confession of
+  your sins! But listen rather to the invitations of your Saviour, who has
+  died on the cross that you might be saved, and who alone can give rest to
+  your weary souls.</p>
+
+  <p>Harken to His words when he says to you: "Come to me, O ye heavily
+  laden, crushed, as it were, under the burden of your sins, and I shall
+  give you rest.... I am the physician of your souls.... Those who are well
+  have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.... Come then to me
+  and ye shall be healed.... I have sent back nor lost none who have come
+  to me.... Invoke my name.... believe in me.... repent.... love God and
+  your neighbor as yourself, and you shall be saved.... For all who believe
+  in me and call upon my name, shall be saved.... When I am raised up
+  between heaven and earth, I shall draw every one to me"....</p>
+
+  <p>O, mothers and daughters, instead of going to the priest for pardon
+  and salvation, go to Jesus, who is so pressingly inviting you, and the
+  more so as you have more need of divine help and grace. Even if you are
+  as great a sinner as Mary Magdalene you can, like her, wash the feet of
+  the Saviour with the flowing tears of your repentance and your love, and
+  like her, receive the pardon of your sins.</p>
+
+  <p>To Jesus then, and to him alone for the confession and pardon of your
+  sins: for there only you can find peace, light, and life!</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3><a name="chapter_XI">CHAPTER XI</a>.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">some of the matters on which the priest of rome must question his penitents.</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">a chapter for the consideration of legislators, husbands, and fathers.</span></p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+  <p>Dens wants the confessors to interrogate on the following
+  matters:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. "Peccant uxores, quæ susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+  conantur." (Dens, tom. vii. p. 147).</p>
+
+  <p>2. "Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si copulâ inceptâ, cohibeant
+  seminationem."</p>
+
+  <p>3. "Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter peccat, si
+  se retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando
+  seminationem uxoris." (p. 153).</p>
+
+  <p>4. "Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari
+  modus, sive situs; imo ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula habeatur
+  in vase præpostero, alioquoque non naturali. Si fiat accedendo a postero,
+  a latere, stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit succumbus." (p. 166).</p>
+
+  <p>5. "Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam
+  cum seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi.
+  Vel, ut si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius viri, non respectu
+  alterius". (vol. vii. p. 273).</p>
+
+  <p>6. "Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen
+  earum non effluat extra membrum genitale.</p>
+
+  <p>Indicium istius allegat Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis
+  resolutionem cum magno voluptatis sensu, quâ completâ, passio satiatur"
+  (vol. iv. p. 168).</p>
+
+  <p>7. "Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum,
+  interrogetur an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit" (vol. vii. p.
+  168).</p>
+
+  <p>8. "Confessarius p&oelig;nitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum
+  sacerdote, vel sollicitatam ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum
+  ille sacerdos sit ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollitaverit"
+  (vol. vi. p. 294).</p>
+
+  <p>There are a great many other unmentionable things on which Dens, in
+  his fourth, fifth, and seventh volumes, requires the confessor to ask
+  from his penitent, which I omit.</p>
+
+  <p>Now let us come to Liguori. That so-called Saint, Liguori is not less
+  diabolically impure than Dens, in his questions to the women. But I will
+  cite only two of the things on which the spiritual physician of the Pope
+  must not fail to examine his spiritual patient:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. "Quærat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os
+  uxoris?...</p>
+
+  <p>Verius affirmo quia, in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum
+  periculum pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriæ contra naturam,
+  dicta, irruminatio."</p>
+
+  <p>2. "Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali, qui, in actu copulæ,
+  immiteret digitum in vas præposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc actu
+  adest affectus ad Sodomiam" (Liguori, tom. vi. p. 935).</p>
+
+  <p>The celebrated Burchard, Bishop of Worms, has made a book of the
+  questions which had to be put by the confessors to their penitents of
+  both sexes. During several centuries it was the standard book of the
+  priests of Rome. Though that work to-day is out of print, Dens, Liguori,
+  Debreysne, &amp;c., &amp;c., have ransacked its polluting pages, and
+  given them to study to the modern confessors, in order to question their
+  penitents. I will select only a few questions of the Roman Catholic
+  bishop to the young men:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. "Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita
+  dico ut ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic duceres
+  præputium tuum, et manu propriâ commoveres, ut, sic, per illam
+  delectationem semen projiceres?"</p>
+
+  <p>2. "Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum
+  virile membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen
+  funderes?"</p>
+
+  <p>3. "Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidem facere solent, ut tuum virile
+  membrum in lignum perforâtum, aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres, et,
+  sic, per illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?"</p>
+
+  <p>4. "Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+  animalibus coire, id est cum equo, cum vaccâ, vel asinâ, vel aliquo
+  animali?" (vol. i. p. 136.)</p>
+
+  <p>Among the questions we find in the Compendium of the Right Rev.
+  Burchard, Bishop of Worms, which must be put to <span class="correction"
+  title="'womem' in original">women</span>, are the following (p.
+  115):&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut
+  machinamentum in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuæ voluptatis, et
+  illud loco verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis, ut
+  fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alia eodem instrumento,
+  sive alio tecum?"</p>
+
+  <p>2. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+  molimine, vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+  fornicationem?"</p>
+
+  <p>3. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+  vexantem extinguere volunt, quæ se conjungunt quasi coire debeant et
+  possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperia sua, et sic, fricando pruritum
+  illarum extinguere desiderant?"</p>
+
+  <p>4. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio suo
+  parvulo fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra turpidinem
+  tuam poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?"</p>
+
+  <p>5. "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+  jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio, ut sic
+  coiret tecum?"</p>
+
+  <p>The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book, composed of the most
+  incredible details of impurities, to instruct the young confessors in the
+  art of questioning their penitents. The name of the book is
+  "M&oelig;chiology," or "treaty on all the sins against the six (seven)
+  and the nine commandments, as well as on all the questions of the married
+  life which refer to them."</p>
+
+  <p>That work is much approved and studied in the Church of Rome. I do not
+  know that the world has ever seen anything comparable to the filthy and
+  infamous details of that book. I will cite only two of the questions
+  which Debreyne wants the confessor to put to his penitent.</p>
+
+  <p>To the young men (page 95) the confessor will ask:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore
+  et quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quosdam motus in corpore experti
+  fuerint, et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus nihil
+  insolitum et turpe acciderit; an non longe majorem in corpore voluptatem
+  perceperint in fine tactuum quam in eorum principio; an tum in fine
+  quando magnam delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus corporis
+  cessaverint; an non madefacti fuerint?" &amp;c., &amp;.</p>
+
+  <p>To the girl the confessor will ask:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Quæ sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+  tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+  voluptatem; an tunc, ipsimet tactus cessaverint?" &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
+
+  <p>The Right Rev. Kenrick, late Bishop of Boston, United States, in his
+  book for the teaching of confessors on what matters they must question
+  their penitents, has the following, which I select among thousands as
+  impure and damnable to the soul and body:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Uxor quæ, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel
+  statim post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat; sed
+  opus non est ut diu resupina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi, semen attrahat,
+  et mox, arctissime claudatur" (vol. iii. p. 317).</p>
+
+  <p>"Puellæ patienti licet se vertere, et conari ut non recipiat semen,
+  quod injuria ei immittitur; sed, exceptum, non licet expellere, quia jam
+  possessionem pacificam habet, et haud absque injuriâ naturæ ejiceretur"
+  (tom. iii. p. 317).</p>
+
+  <p>"Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpâ, licet contingat semen
+  extra vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitate naturæ. Quod
+  si vires adeo sint fractæ ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas spes, jam
+  nequeunt jure conjugii uti" (tom. iii. p. 317).</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="full" >
+
+<h3>Notes</h3>
+
+<div class="note">
+  <p><a name="FtN_1" href="#Ft_1">[1]</a> "To avoid fornication, let every
+  man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." (1 Cor.
+  vii. 2.)</p>
+
+  <p><a name="FtN_2" href="#Ft_2">[2]</a> A silver box containing
+  consecrated bread, which is believed to be the real body, blood, and
+  divinity of Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="FtN_3" href="#Ft_3">[3]</a> And remark that all their
+  religious authors who have written on that subject hold the same
+  language. They all speak of those continual degrading temptations; they
+  all lament the damning sins which follow those temptations; they all
+  entreat the priests to fight those temptations and repent of those
+  sins.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="FtN_4" href="#Ft_4">[4]</a> He is dead long ago.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="FtN_5" href="#Ft_5">[5]</a> By the word <i>penitents</i>,
+  Rome means not those who <i>repent</i>, but those who <i>confess</i> to
+  the priest.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="FtN_6" href="#Ft_6">[6]</a> He died many years after when at
+  the head of the Laval University.</p>
+
+</div>
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="full" >
+
+<h3>Works Published by F. E. Grafton,</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">Publisher, Bookseller and Stationer</span>,</p>
+
+<h3>Montreal.</h3>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="full" >
+
+<p class="cenhead">SONG LIFE,</p>
+
+  <p>Over 250 of the best Hymns and Tunes ... Price 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE HYMNAL.</p>
+
+  <p>A collection of Hymns for Prayer Meetings and Evangelistic services,
+  10 cts. each, ... $8 per 100</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE S. S. MELODIST.</p>
+
+  <p>100 Hymns and Tunes ... $9 per 100</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE CHILDREN'S MESSENGER.</p>
+
+  <p>A Monthly Sabbath School Paper at 15 cts. per copy per annum, when 10
+  or more copies are taken to one address.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">HAND-BOOK OF SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY.</p>
+
+  <p>This useful work should be in the hands of every Bible Student. It
+  contains sixteen maps with nearly 2000 questions and answers ... 45
+  cts.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE SCRIPTURE ATLAS.</p>
+
+  <p>Sixteen maps and diagrams illustrating Scripture Geography, ... Price
+  25 cts.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">TRACTS ON GIVING.</p>
+
+  <p>Tracts explaining and enforcing the duty of giving weekly. Four
+  different sorts, ... 50 cts. per 100</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">FATHER CHINIQUY ON THE CONFESSIONAL.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">The Priest, the Woman and the Confessional.<br />
+One Dollar.</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+<h3>BOOKS AND TRACTS ON ROMANISM,</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><i>FOR SALE BY F. E. GRAFTON</i>,</p>
+
+  <p><br style="clear:both" /></p>
+<hr class="short" >
+
+
+<table class="nob" summary="Books and tracts on Romanism" title="Books and tracts on Romanism">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>BLAKENEYS Manual of the Romish Controversy,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>75c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>The Protestant Catechism,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>12c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>Popery in its Social Aspect,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>60c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>The Protestant Missionary's Catechism,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>15c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>Will you give up your Lantern? or the Bible and the Church of
+      Rome,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>15c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>ELLIOTT'S Delineation of Roman Catholicism</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$3.50.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>RULE'S History of the Inquisition,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$2.50.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>HISTORY of the Jesuits,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>50c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THREE YEARS in the Church of Rome, what I saw, and why I left
+      it,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>30c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>WAS PETER ever at Rome, a discussion held in Rome between R. C.
+      Priests and Protestants</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>17c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>HOW I CAME out of Rome, by a Romish Priest,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>75c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>SECRET HISTORY of Romanism</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$1.10.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE COUNCIL and Infallibility, by Dr. Merle D'Aubigne</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>10c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE HAMMERSMITH Discussion between Mr. French and Dr. Cumming</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$1.50.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>TRACTS ON ROMANISM. A packet of 25 different Tracts,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>15c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:center" colspan="2">
+      <p><i>Protestant Magazines and Papers.</i></p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE BULWARK.&mdash;A Monthly Magazine,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>per an. $1.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE ARMORY.&mdash;A Magazine of Facts and Arguments,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$1.00 per annum.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE TRUE CATHOLIC.&mdash;Monthly,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>45c.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:left">
+      <p>THE ROCK.&mdash;A Weekly Newspaper,</p>
+    </td>
+    <td class="spac" style="text-align:right">
+      <p>$2.50 per annum.</p>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Priest, The Woman And The
+Confessional, by Father Chiniquy
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional, by
+Father Chiniquy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional
+
+Author: Father Chiniquy
+
+Release Date: December 16, 2006 [EBook #20120]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONFESSION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions
+(www.canadiana.org))
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN
+
+AND
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL.
+
+By FATHER CHINIQUY.
+
+Montreal:
+
+F. E. GRAFTON, BOOKSELLER.
+
+CORNER CRAIG ST. AND VICTORIA SQUARE.
+
+1875.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ENTERED according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
+One
+thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, by F. E. GRAFTON of
+Montreal, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE STRUGGLE BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF WOMANLY SELF-RESPECT IN THE
+CONFESSIONAL
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION A DEEP PIT OF PERDITION FOR THE PRIEST
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE VOW OF CELIBACY OF THE PRIESTS IS MADE EASY BY AURICULAR CONFESSION
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE HIGHLY EDUCATED AND REFINED WOMAN IN THE CONFESSIONAL.--WHAT BECOMES OF
+HER AFTER HER UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.--HER IRREPARABLE RUIN
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION DESTROYS ALL THE SACRED TIES OF MARRIAGE AND HUMAN
+SOCIETY
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS?
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DOES AURICULAR CONFESSION BRING PEACE TO THE SOUL?
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DOGMA OF AURICULAR CONFESSION A SACRILEGIOUS IMPOSTURE
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+GOD COMPELS THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONFESS THE ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR
+CONFESSION
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SOME OF THE MATTERS ON WHICH THE PRIEST OF ROME MUST QUESTION HIS
+PENITENTS.--A CHAPTER FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATORS, HUSBANDS,
+FATHERS, &C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+EZEKIEL.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth _month_, in the fifth
+_day_ of the month, _as_ I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat
+before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
+
+2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the
+appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even
+upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.
+
+3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head;
+and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought
+me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that
+looketh toward the north; where _was_ the seat of the image of jealousy,
+which provoketh to jealousy.
+
+4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel _was_ there, according to the
+vision that I saw in the plain.
+
+5  Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward
+the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold
+northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
+
+6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? _even_
+the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I
+should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, _and_ thou
+shalt see greater abominations.
+
+7  And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a
+hole in the wall.
+
+8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I had
+digged in the wall, behold a door.
+
+9 And he said unto me. Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they
+do here.
+
+10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and
+abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed
+upon the wall round about.
+
+11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of
+Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with
+every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
+
+12 Then said he unto me. Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of
+the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his
+imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the
+earth.
+
+13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, _and_ thou shalt see greater
+abominations that they do.
+
+14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which
+_was_ toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
+
+15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen _this_, O Son of man? turn thee yet
+again, _and_ thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
+
+16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold,
+at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar,
+_were_ about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the
+LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward
+the east.
+
+17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen _this_, O Son of man? Is it a light
+thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they
+commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned
+to provoke me to anger; and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
+
+18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither
+will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, _yet_
+will I not hear them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE STRUGGLE BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF WOMANLY SELF-RESPECT IN THE
+CONFESSIONAL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are two women who ought to be the constant objects of the compassion
+of the disciples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought to be offered
+at the mercy-seat--the Brahmin woman, who, deceived by her priests, burns
+herself on the corpse of her husband to appease the wrath of her wooden
+gods; and the Roman Catholic woman, who, not less deceived by her priests,
+suffers a torture far more cruel and ignominious in the confessional-box to
+appease the wrath of her wafer-god.
+
+For I do not exaggerate when I say that for many noble-hearted,
+well-educated, high-minded women to be forced to unveil their hearts before
+the eyes of a man, to open to him all the most sacred recesses of their
+souls, all the most sacred mysteries of their single or married life, to
+allow him to put to them questions which the most depraved woman would
+never consent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more horrible and
+intolerable than to be tied on burning coals.
+
+More than once I have seen women fainting in the confessional-box, who told
+me, afterwards, that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on
+certain things, on which the most common laws of decency ought to have for
+ever sealed their lips, had almost killed them! Not hundreds, but thousands
+of times I have heard from the dying lips of single girls, as well as of
+married women, the awful words: "I am for ever lost! All my past
+confessions and communions have been as many sacrileges! I have never dared
+to answer correctly the questions of my confessors! Shame has sealed my
+lips and damned my soul!"
+
+How many times I remained as one petrified by the side of a corpse when,
+these last words having hardly escaped the lips of one of my female
+penitents, she was snatched out of my reach by the merciless hand of death,
+before I could give her pardon through the deceitful sacramental
+absolution! I then believed, as the dead sinner herself believed, that she
+could not be forgiven except by that absolution.
+
+For there are not only thousands, but millions, of Roman Catholic girls and
+women whose keen sense of modesty and womanly dignity are above all the
+sophisms and diabolical machinations of their priests. They never can be
+persuaded to answer "Yes" to certain questions of their confessors. They
+would prefer to be thrown into the flames, and burnt to ashes with the
+Brahmin widows, rather than to allow the eyes of a man to pry into the
+sacred sanctuary of their souls. Though sometimes guilty before God, and
+under the impression that their sins will never be forgiven if not
+confessed, the laws of decency are stronger in their hearts than the laws
+of their cruel and perfidious Church. No consideration, not even the fear
+of eternal damnation, can persuade them to declare to a sinful man sins
+which God alone has the right to know, for He alone can blot them out with
+the blood of His Son shed on the cross.
+
+But what a wretched life that of those exceptional noble souls, which Rome
+keeps in the dark dungeons of her superstition! They read in all their
+books, and hear from all their pulpits, that if they conceal a single sin
+from their confessors they are for ever lost! But, being absolutely unable
+to trample under their feet the laws of self-respect and decency which God
+Himself has impressed in their souls, they live in constant dread of
+eternal damnation. No human words can tell their desolation and distress
+when, at the feet of their confessors, they find themselves between the
+horrible necessity of speaking of things on which they would prefer to
+suffer the most cruel death rather than to open their lips, or to be for
+ever damned if they do not degrade themselves for ever in their own eyes by
+speaking on matters which a respectable woman will never reveal to her own
+mother, much less to a man!
+
+I have known only too many of these noble-hearted women, who, when alone
+with God, in a real agony of desolation and with burning tears, had asked
+Him to grant them what they considered the greatest favour, which was to
+lose so much of their self-respect as to be enabled to speak of those
+unmentionable things just as their confessors wanted them to speak; and,
+hoping that their petition had been granted, they went again to the
+confessional-box, determined to unveil their shame before the eyes of that
+inexorable man. But, when the moment had come for the self-immolation,
+their courage failed, their knees trembled, their lips became pale as
+death. Cold sweat flowed from all their pores! The voice of modesty and
+womanly self-respect was speaking louder than the voice of their false
+religion. They had to go out of the confessional-box unpardoned--nay, with
+the burden of a new sacrilege on their conscience.
+
+Oh, how heavy is the yoke of Rome--how bitter is human life--how cheerless
+is the mystery of the cross to those deluded and perishing souls! How
+gladly they would rush into the blazing piles with the Brahmin women, if
+they could hope to see the end of their unspeakable miseries through the
+momentary tortures which would open to them the gates of a better life!
+
+I do here publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic priesthood to deny
+that the greater part of their female penitents remain a certain period of
+time--some longer, some shorter--under that most distressing state of mind.
+
+Yes, by far the greater majority of women, at first, find it next to
+impossible to pull down the sacred barriers of self-respect which God
+Himself has built around their hearts, intelligences, and souls, as the
+best safeguard against the snares of this polluted world. Those laws of
+self-respect, by which they cannot consent to speak an impure word into the
+ears of a man, and which shut all the avenues of their hearts against his
+unchaste questions, even, when speaking in the name of God--those laws of
+self-respect are so clearly written in their conscience, and they are so
+well understood by them to be a most Divine gift, that, as I have already
+said, many prefer to run the risk of being for ever lost by remaining
+silent.
+
+It takes many years of the most ingenious (I do not hesitate to call it
+diabolical) efforts on the part of the priests to persuade the majority of
+their female penitents to speak on questions which even pagan savages would
+blush to mention among themselves. Some persist in remaining silent on
+those matters during the greatest part of their lives, and many prefer to
+throw themselves into the hands of their merciful God and die without
+submitting to the defiling ordeal, even after they have felt the poisonous
+stings of the enemy, rather than receive their pardon from a man who, as
+they feel, would have surely been scandalized by the recital of their human
+frailties. All the priests of Rome are aware of this natural disposition of
+their female penitents. There is not a single one--no, not a single one of
+their moral theologians, who does not warn the confessors against that
+stern and general determination of the girls and married women never to
+speak in the confessional on matters which may, more or less, deal with
+sins against the seventh commandment. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Bailly,
+&c.--in a word, all the theologians of Rome--own that this is one of the
+greatest difficulties which the confessors have to contend with in the
+confessional-box.
+
+Not a single Roman Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on this
+matter; for they know that it would be easy for me to overwhelm them with
+such crowd of testimonies that their grand imposture would for ever be
+unmasked.
+
+I intend, some future day, if God spares me and gives me time for it, to
+make known some of the innumerable things which the Roman Catholic
+theologians and moralists have written on this question. It will form one
+of the most curious books ever written; and it will give an unanswerable
+evidence of the fact that, instinctively, without consulting each other,
+with an unanimity which is almost marvellous, the Roman Catholic women,
+guided by the honest instincts which God has given them, shrink from the
+snares put before them in the confessional-box; and that everywhere they
+struggle to nerve themselves with a superhuman courage against the torturer
+who is sent by the Pope to finish their ruin and to make shipwreck of their
+souls. Everywhere woman feels that there are things which ought never to be
+told, as there are things which ought never to be done, in the presence of
+the God of holiness. She understands that, to recite the history of certain
+sins, even of thoughts, is not less shameful and criminal than to do them;
+she hears the voice of God whispering into her ears, "Is it not enough that
+thou hast been guilty once, when alone, in My presence, without adding to
+thine iniquity, by allowing that man to know what should never have been
+revealed to him? Do you not feel that you make that man your own accomplice
+the very moment that you throw into his heart and soul the mire of your
+iniquities? He is as weak as you are; he is not less a sinner than
+yourself; what has tempted you will tempt him; what has made you weak will
+make him weak? what has polluted you will pollute him; what has thrown you
+down into the dust will throw him down into the dust. Is it not enough that
+My eyes had to look upon your iniquities? must my ears to-day listen to
+your impure conversation with that man? Were that man as holy as My prophet
+David, may he not fall before the unchaste unveiling of the new Bathsheba?
+Were he as strong as Sampson, may he not find in you his tempting Delilah?
+Were he as generous as Peter, may he not become a traitor at the
+maid-servant's voice?"
+
+Perhaps the world has never seen a more terrible, desperate, solemn
+struggle than the one which is going on in the soul of the poor trembling
+young woman, who, at the feet of that man, has to decide whether or not she
+will open her lips on those things which the infallible voice of God,
+united to the no less infallible voice of her womanly honour and
+self-respect, tell her never to reveal to any man!
+
+The history of that secret, fierce, desperate, and deadly struggle has
+never yet, so far as I know, been fully given. It would draw the tears of
+admiration and compassion of the whole world, if it could be written with
+its simple, sublime, and terrible realities.
+
+How many times I have wept as a child when some noble-hearted and
+intelligent young girl, or some respectable married woman, yielding to the
+sophisms with which I, or some other confessor, had persuaded them to give
+up their self-respect, their womanly dignity, to speak with me on matters
+on which a decent woman would never say a word with a man! They told me of
+their invincible repugnance, their horror of such questions and answers,
+and they asked me to have pity on them. Yes! I often wept bitterly on my
+degradation when a priest of Rome! I felt all the strength, the grandeur,
+the holiness of their motives for being silent on those defiling matters. I
+could not but admire them. It seemed, at times, that they were speaking the
+language of angels of light; that I ought to fall at their feet, and ask
+their pardon for having spoken to them of questions on which a man of
+honour ought never to converse with a woman whom he respects.
+
+But, alas! I had soon to reproach myself and regret these short instances
+of my wavering faith in the infallible voice of my Church; I had soon to
+silence the voice of my conscience, which was telling me, "Is it not a
+shame that you, an unmarried man, dare to speak on those matters with a
+woman? Do you not blush to put such questions to a young girl? Where is
+your self-respect? where is your fear of God? Do you not promote the ruin
+of that girl by forcing her to speak with a man on such questions?"
+
+I was compelled by all the Popes, the moral theologians, and the Councils
+of Rome, to believe that this warning voice of my merciful God was the
+voice of Satan; I had to believe, in spite of my own conscience and
+intelligence, that it was good, nay, necessary, to put those polluting,
+damning questions. My infallible Church was mercilessly forcing me to
+oblige those poor, trembling, weeping, desolated girls and women to swim
+with me and all her priests in those waters of Sodom and Gomorrha, under
+the pretext that their self-will would be broken down, their fear of sin
+and humility increased, and that they would be purified by our absolutions.
+
+In the beginning of my priesthood, I was not a little surprised and
+embarrassed to see a very accomplished and beautiful young lady, whom I
+used to meet almost every week in her father's house, entering the box of
+my confessional. She used to go to confess to another young priest of my
+acquaintance, and she was looked upon as one of the most pious girls of the
+city. Though she had disguised herself as much as possible, that I might
+not know her, I thought that I was not mistaken--she was the amiable Mary
+* * * *
+
+Not being absolutely sure of the correctness of my impressions, I left her
+entirely under the hope that she was a perfect stranger to me. At the
+beginning she could hardly speak; her voice was suffocated by her sobs;
+and, through the little apertures of the thin partition between her and me,
+I saw two streams of big tears trickling down her cheeks.
+
+After much effort, she said: "Dear Father, I hope you do not know me, and
+that you will never try to know me. I am a desperately great sinner. Oh! I
+fear that I am lost! But if there is still any hope for me to be saved, for
+God's sake, do not rebuke me! Before I begin my confession, allow me to ask
+you not to pollute my ears by the questions which our confessors are in the
+habit of putting to their female penitents. I have already been destroyed
+by those questions. Before I was seventeen years old, God knows that His
+angels are not more pure than I was; but the chaplain of the Nunnery where
+my parents had sent me for my education, though approaching old age, put to
+me in the confessional a question which, at first, I did not understand;
+but, unfortunately, he had put the same questions to one of my young
+class-mates, who made fun of them in my presence, and explained them to me;
+for she understood them too well. This first unchaste conversation of my
+life plunged my thoughts into a sea of iniquity, till then absolutely
+unknown to me; temptations of the most humiliating character assailed me
+for a week, day and night; after which, sins which I would blot out with my
+blood, if it were possible, overwhelmed my soul as with a deluge. But the
+joys of the sinner are short. Struck with terror at the thought of the
+judgments of God, after a few weeks of the most deplorable life, I
+determined to give up my sins and reconcile myself to God. Covered with
+shame, and trembling from head to foot, I went to confess to my old
+confessor, whom I respected as a saint and cherished as a father. It seems
+to me that with sincere tears of repentance I confessed to him the greatest
+part of my sins, though I concealed one of them through shame, and respect
+for my spiritual guide. But I did not conceal from him that the strange
+questions he had put to me at my last confession were, with the natural
+corruption of my heart, the principal cause of my destruction.
+
+"He spoke to me very kindly, encouraged me to fight against my bad
+inclinations, and, at first, gave me very kind and good advice. But when I
+thought he had finished speaking, and as I was preparing to leave the
+confessional-box, he put to me two new questions of such a polluting
+character that I fear neither the blood of Christ nor all the fires of hell
+will ever be able to blot them out from my memory. Those questions have
+achieved my ruin; they have stuck to my mind as two deadly arrows; they are
+day and night before my imagination; they fill my very arteries and veins
+with a deadly poison.
+
+"It is true that, at first, they filled me with horror and disgust; but,
+alas! I soon got so accustomed to them that they seemed to be incorporated
+with me, and as though becoming a second nature. Those thoughts have become
+a new source of innumerable criminal thoughts, desires, and actions.
+
+"A month later, we were obliged, by the rules of our convent, to go to
+confess; but this time, I was so completely lost that I no longer blushed
+at the idea of confessing my shameful sins to a man; it was the very
+contrary. I had a real, diabolical pleasure in the thought that I should
+have a long conversation with my confessor on those matters, and that he
+would ask me more of his strange questions.
+
+"In fact, when I had told him everything, without a blush, he began to
+interrogate me, and God knows what corrupting things fell from his lips
+into my poor criminal heart! Every one of his questions was thrilling my
+nerves, and filling me with the most shameful sensations. After an hour of
+this criminal _tete-a-tete_ with my old confessor (for it was nothing else
+but a criminal _tete-a-tete_), I perceived that he was as depraved as I was
+myself. With some half-covered words, he made me a criminal proposition,
+which I accepted with covered words also; and during more than a year, we
+have lived together in the most sinful intimacy. Though he was much older
+than I, I loved him in the most foolish way. When the course of my convent
+instruction was finished, my parents called me back to their home. I was
+really glad of that change of residence, for I was beginning to be tired of
+my criminal life. My hope was that, under the direction of a better
+confessor, I should reconcile myself to God and begin a Christian life.
+
+"Unfortunately for me, my new confessor, who was very young, began also his
+interrogations. He soon fell in love with me, and I loved him in a most
+criminal way. I have done with him things which I hope you will never
+request me to reveal to you, for they are too monstrous to be repeated,
+even in the confessional, by a woman to a man.
+
+"I do not say these things to take away the responsibility of my iniquities
+with this young confessor from my shoulders, for I think I have been more
+criminal than he was. It is my firm conviction that he was a good and holy
+priest before he knew me; but the questions he put to me, and the answers I
+had to give him, melted his heart--I know it--just as boiling lead would
+melt the ice on which it flows.
+
+"I know this is not such a detailed confession as our holy Church requires
+me to make, but I have thought it necessary for me to give you this short
+history of the life of the greatest and the most miserable sinner who ever
+asked you to help her to come out from the tomb of her iniquities. This is
+the way I have lived these last few years. But last Sabbath, God, in His
+infinite mercy, looked down upon me. He inspired you to give us the
+Prodigal Son as a model of true conversion, and as the most marvelous proof
+of the infinite compassion of the dear Saviour for the sinner. I have wept
+day and night since that happy day, when I threw myself into the arms of my
+loving, merciful Father. Even now I can hardly speak, because my regret for
+my past iniquities, and my joy that I am allowed to bathe the feet of my
+Saviour with my tears, are so great that my voice is as choked.
+
+"You understand that I have for ever given up my last confessor. I come to
+ask you the favour to receive me among your penitents. Oh! do not reject
+nor rebuke me, for the dear Saviour's sake! Be not afraid to have at your
+side such a monster of iniquity! But before going farther, I have two
+favours to ask from you. The first is, that you will never do anything to
+know my name; the second is, that you will never put me any of those
+questions by which so many penitents are lost and so many priests for ever
+destroyed. Twice I have been lost by those questions. We come to our
+confessors that they may throw upon our guilty souls the pure waters which
+flow from heaven to purify us; and, instead of that, with their
+unmentionable questions, they pour oil on the burning fires which arc
+already raging in our poor sinful hearts. Oh! dear father, let me become
+your penitent, that you may help me to go and weep with Magdalene at the
+Saviours feet! Do respect me, as He respected that true model of all the
+sinful but repenting women! Did Our Saviour put to her any question? did He
+extort from her the history of things which a sinful woman cannot say
+without forgetting the respect she owes to herself and to God? No! You told
+us, not long ago, that the only thing our Saviour did was to look at her
+tears and her love. Well, please do that, and you will save me!"
+
+I was a very young priest, and never had any words so sublime come to my
+ears in the confessional-box. Her tears and her sobs, mingled with the so
+frank declaration of the most humiliating actions, had made upon me such a
+profound impression that I was, for some time, unable to speak. It had come
+to my mind also that I might be mistaken about her identity, and that
+perhaps she was not the young lady that I had imagined. I could, then,
+easily grant her first request, which was to do nothing by which I could
+know her. The second part of her prayer was more embarrassing; for the
+theologians are very positive in ordering the confessors to question their
+penitents, particularly those of the female sex, in many circumstances.
+
+I encouraged her, in the best way I could, to persevere in her good
+resolutions by invoking the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomene, who was
+then the _Sainte a la mode_, just as Marie Alacoque is to-day, among the
+blind slaves of Rome. I told her that I would pray and think over the
+subject of her second request; and I asked her to come back, in a week, for
+my answer.
+
+The very same day, I went to my own confessor, the Rev. Mr. Baillargeon,
+then curate of Quebec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canada. I told him the
+singular and unusual request she had made that I should never put to her
+any of those questions suggested by the theologians, to insure the
+integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from him that I was much
+inclined to grant her that favour; for I repeated what I had already
+several times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with the infamous
+and polluting questions which the theologians forced us to put to our
+female penitents. I told him, frankly, that several young and old priests
+had already come to confess to me; and that, with the exception of two,
+they had all told me that they could not put those questions and hear the
+answers they elicited without falling into the most damnable sins.
+
+My confessor seemed to be much perplexed about what he could answer. He
+asked me to come the next day, that he might review his theological books
+in the interval. The next day, I took down in writing his answer, which I
+find in my old manuscripts; and I give it here in all its sad crudity:--
+
+"Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of the
+confessors is an unavoidable evil. It can not be helped; for such questions
+are absolutely necessary in the greatest part of the cases with which we
+have to deal. Men generally confess their sins with so much sincerity that
+there is seldom any need for questioning them, except when they are very
+ignorant. But St Liguori, as well as our personal observation, tells us
+that the greatest part of girls and women, through a false and criminal
+shame, very seldom confess the sins they commit against purity. It requires
+the utmost charity in the confessors to prevent those unfortunate slaves of
+their secret passions from making sacrilegious confessions and communions.
+With the greatest prudence and zeal, he must question them on those
+matters; beginning with the smallest sins, and going, little by little, as
+much as possible, by imperceptible degrees, to the most criminal actions.
+As it seems evident that the penitent referred to in your questions of
+yesterday is unwilling to make a full and detailed confession of all her
+iniquities, you cannot promise to absolve her without assuring yourself, by
+wise and prudent questions, that she has confessed everything.
+
+"You must not be discouraged when, through the confessional or any other
+way, you learn the fall of priests into the common frailties of human
+nature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew very well that the occasions
+and the temptations we have to encounter, in the confessions of girls and
+women, are so numerous, and sometimes so irrepressible, that many would
+fall. But He has given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who constantly asks and
+obtains their pardon; He has given them the sacrament of penance, where
+they can receive their pardon as often as they ask for it. The vow of
+perfect chastity is a great honour and privilege; but we cannot conceal
+from ourselves that it puts on our shoulders a burden which many cannot
+carry for ever. St Liguori says that we must not rebuke the penitent priest
+who falls only once a month; and some other trustworthy theologians are
+still more charitable."
+
+This answer was far from satisfying me. It seemed to me composed of
+soft-soap principles. I went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind;
+and God knows that I made many fervent prayers that this girl should never
+come again to give me her sad history. I was hardly twenty-six years old,
+full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the stings of a thousand wasps
+to my ears would not do me so much harm as the words of that dear,
+beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.
+
+I do not mean to say that the revelations which she made had, in any way,
+diminished my esteem and my respect for her. It was just the contrary. Her
+tears and her sobs, at my feet; her agonizing expressions of shame and
+regret; her noble words of protest against the disgusting and polluting
+interrogations of the confessors, had raised her very high in my mind. My
+sincere hope was that she would have a place in the kingdom of Christ with
+the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, and all those who have washed their
+robes in the blood of the Lamb.
+
+At the appointed day, I was in my confessional, listening to the confession
+of a young man, when, I saw Miss Mary entering the vestry, and coming
+directly to my confessional-box, where she knelt by me. Though she had,
+still more than at the first time, disguised herself behind a long, thick,
+black veil, I could not be mistaken; she was the very same amiable young
+lady in whose father's house I used to pass such pleasant and happy hours.
+I had so often heard, with breathless attention, her melodious voice when
+she was giving us, accompanied by her piano, some of our beautiful Church
+hymns. Who could see her without almost worshipping her? The dignity of her
+steps, and her whole mien, when she advanced towards my confessional,
+entirely betrayed her and destroyed her incognito.
+
+Oh! I would have given every drop of my blood, in that solemn hour, that I
+might have been free to deal with her just as she had so eloquently
+requested me to do--to let her weep and cry at the feet of Jesus to her
+heart's content! Oh! if I had been free to take her by the hand, and
+silently show her her dying Saviour, that she might have bathed His feet
+with her tears, and spread the oil of her love on His head, without my
+saying anything else but "Go in peace: thy sins are forgiven!"
+
+But there, in that confessional-box, I was not the servant of Christ, to
+follow His divine, saving words, and obey the dictates of my honest
+conscience. I was the slave of the Pope! I had to stifle the cry of my
+conscience, to ignore the inspirations of my God! There, my conscience had
+no right to speak; my intelligence was a dead thing! The theologians of the
+Pope, alone, had a right to be heard and obeyed! I was not there to save,
+but to destroy; for, under the pretext of purifying, the real mission of
+the confessor, often in spite of himself, is to scandalize and damn the
+souls.
+
+As soon as the young man, who was making his confession at my left hand,
+had finished, I, without noise, turned myself towards her, and said,
+through the little aperture, "Are you ready to begin your confession?"
+
+But she did not answer me. All that I could hear was, "Oh, my Jesus, have
+mercy upon me! Dear Saviour, here I am with all my sins; do not reject me!
+I come to wash my soul in Thy blood; wilt Thou rebuke me?"
+
+During several minutes, she raised her hands and her eyes to heaven, and
+wept and prayed. It was evident that she had not the least idea that I was
+observing her; she thought the door of the little partition between her and
+me was shut. But my eyes were fixed upon her; my tears were flowing with
+her tears, and my ardent prayers were going to the feet of Jesus with her
+prayers. I would not have interrupted her, for any consideration, in this
+her sublime communion with her merciful Saviour.
+
+But, after a pretty long time, I made a little noise with my hand, and,
+putting my lips near the opening of the partition which was between us, I
+said, in a low voice, "Dear sister, are you ready to begin your
+confession?"
+
+She turned her face a little towards me, and said, with a trembling voice,
+"Yes, dear Father, I am ready."
+
+But she then stopped again to weep and pray, though I could not hear what
+she said.
+
+After some time of silent prayer, I said, "My dear sister, if you are
+ready, please begin your confession."
+
+She then said, "My dear Father, do you remember the prayers which I made to
+you, the other day? Can you allow me to confess my sins without forcing me
+to forget the respect I owe to myself, to you, and to God, who hears us?
+And can you promise that you will not put to me any of those questions
+which have already done me such irreparable injury? I frankly declare to
+you that there are sins in me that I cannot reveal to any man, except to
+Christ, because He is my God, and that He already knows them all. Let me
+weep and cry at His feet, and do forgive me without adding to my iniquities
+by forcing me to say things that the tongue of a Christian woman cannot
+reveal to a man!"
+
+"My dear sister," I answered, "were I free to follow the voice of my own
+feelings I would be too happy to grant you your request; but I am here only
+as the minister of our holy Church, and bound to obey her laws. Through her
+most holy popes and theologians, she tells me that I cannot forgive you
+your sins, if you do not confess them all just as you have committed them.
+The Church tells me also that you must give the details which may add to
+the malice or change the nature of your sins. I am also sorry to tell you
+that our most holy theologians make it a duty of the confessor to question
+his penitent on the sins which he has good reason to suspect have been
+voluntarily or involuntarily omitted."
+
+With a piercing, cry she exclaimed, "Then, O my God, I am lost--for ever
+lost!"
+
+This cry fell upon me as a thunderbolt; but I was still more
+terror-stricken when, looking through the aperture, I saw she was fainting;
+and I heard the noise of her body falling upon the floor, and of her head
+striking against the sides of the confessional-box.
+
+Quick as lightning, I ran to help her, took her in my arms, and called a
+couple of men, who were at a little distance, to assist me in laying her on
+a bench. I washed her face with some cold water and vinegar. She was as
+pale as death, but her lips were moving, and she was saying something which
+nobody but I could understand,--
+
+"I am lost--lost for ever!"
+
+We took her to her disconsolate family, where, during a month, she lingered
+between life and death.
+
+Her two first confessors came to visit her: but, having asked every one to
+go out of the room, she politely but absolutely requested them to go away
+and never come again. She asked me to visit her everyday, "for," she said,
+"I have only a few more days to live. Help me to prepare myself for the
+solemn hour which will open to me the gates of eternity!"
+
+Every day I visited her, and I prayed and I wept with her.
+
+Many times, with tears, I requested her, when alone, to finish her
+confession; but, with a firmness which then seemed to me mysterious and
+inexplicable, she politely rebuked me.
+
+One day when, alone with her, I was kneeling by the side of her bed to
+pray, I was unable to articulate a single word, because of the
+inexpressible anguish of my soul on her account; she asked me, "Dear
+Father, why do you weep?"
+
+I answered, "How can you put such a question to your murderer? I weep
+because I have killed you, dear friend."
+
+This answer seemed to trouble her exceedingly. She was very weak that day.
+After she had wept and prayed in silence, she said, "Do not weep for me,
+but weep for so many priests who destroy their penitents in the
+confessional. I believe in the holiness of the sacrament of penitence,
+since our holy Church has established it. But there is, somewhere,
+something exceedingly wrong in the confessional. Twice I have been
+destroyed, and I know many girls who have also been destroyed by the
+confessional. This is a secret, but will that secret be kept for ever? I
+pity the poor priests the day that our fathers will know what becomes of
+the purity of their daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father
+would surely kill my two last confessors, if he could know how they have
+destroyed his poor child."
+
+I could not answer except by weeping.
+
+We remained mute for a long time; then she said, "It is true that I was not
+prepared for the rebuke you have given me, but you acted conscientiously as
+a good and honest priest. I know you must be bound by certain laws."
+
+She then pressed my hand with her cold hand and said, "Weep not, dear
+Father, because that sudden storm has wrecked my too fragile back. This
+storm was to take me out from the bottomless sea of my iniquities to the
+shore where Jesus was waiting to receive and pardon me. The night after you
+brought me, half dead, here to father's house, I had a dream. Oh, no, it
+was not a dream, it was a reality. My Jesus came to me; He was bleeding.
+His crown of thorns was on His head, the heavy cross was bruising His
+shoulders. He said to me, with a voice so sweet that no human tongue can
+imitate it, "I have seen thy tears, I have heard thy cries, and I know thy
+love for Me: thy sins are forgiven. Take courage; in a few days thou shalt
+be with Me!'"
+
+She had hardly finished her last word when she fainted, and I feared lest
+she should die just then when I was alone with her.
+
+I called the family, who rushed into the room. The doctor was sent for. He
+found her so weak that he thought proper to allow only one or two persons
+to remain in the room. He requested us not to speak at all, "For," said he,
+"the least emotion may kill her instantly; her disease is, in all
+probability, an aneurism of the aorta, the big vein which brings the blood
+to the heart; when it breaks she will go as quick as lightning."
+
+It was nearly ten at night when I left the house, to go and take some rest.
+But it is not necessary to say that I passed a sleepless night. My dear
+Mary was there, pale, dying from the deadly blow which I had given her in
+the confessional. She was there, on her bed of death, her heart pierced
+with the dagger which my Church had put into my hands! And instead of
+rebuking, cursing me for my savage, merciless fanaticism, she was blessing
+me! She was dying from a broken heart, and I was not allowed by my Church
+to give her a single word of consolation and hope, for she had not yet made
+her confession! I had mercilessly bruised that tender plant, and there was
+nothing in my hands to heal the wounds I had made!
+
+It was very probable that she would die the next day, and I was forbidden
+to show her the crown of glory which Jesus has prepared in His kingdom for
+the repenting sinner!
+
+My desolation was really unspeakable, and I think I would have been
+suffocated, and have died that night, if the stream of tears which
+constantly flowed from my eyes had not been as a balm to my distressed
+heart.
+
+How dark and long the hours of that night seemed to me!
+
+Before the dawn of day I arose, to read my theologians again, and see if I
+could not find some one who would allow me to forgive the sins of that dear
+child without forcing her to tell me everything she had done. But they
+seemed to me more than ever unanimously inexorable, and I put them back on
+the shelves of my library with a broken heart.
+
+At nine a.m. the next day I was by the bed of our dear sick Mary. I cannot
+sufficiently tell the joy I felt when the doctor and the whole family said
+to me, "She is much better; the rest of last night has wrought a marvelous
+change indeed."
+
+With a really angelic smile she extended her hand towards me, that I might
+press it in mine; and she said, "I thought, last evening, that the dear
+Saviour would take me to Him, but He wants me, dear Father, to give you a
+little more trouble; but be patient, it cannot, be long before the solemn
+hour of the appeal will ring. Will you please read me the history of the
+sufferings and death of the beloved Saviour which you read me the other
+day? It does me so much good to see how He has loved me, such a miserable
+sinner."
+
+There was a calm and a solemnity in her words which struck me singularly,
+as well as all those who were there.
+
+After I had finished reading, she exclaimed, "He has loved me so much that
+He died for my sins!" And she shut her eyes as if to meditate in silence,
+but there was a stream of big tears rolling down her cheeks.
+
+I knelt down by her bed with her family to pray, but I could not utter a
+single word. The idea that this dear child was there, dying from the cruel
+fanaticism of my theologians and my own cowardice in obeying them, was as a
+mill-stone to my neck. It was killing me.
+
+Oh! if by dying a thousand times I could have added a single day to her
+life, with what pleasure I would have accepted those thousand deaths!
+
+After we had silently prayed and wept by her bed-side, she requested her
+mother to leave her alone with me.
+
+When I saw myself alone, under the irresistible impression that this was
+her last day, I fell on my knees again, and with tears of the most sincere
+compassion for her soul, I requested her to shake off her shame and to obey
+our holy Church, which requires every one to confess their sins if they
+want to be forgiven.
+
+She calmly, but with an air of dignity which no human words can express,
+said, "Is it true that, after the sin of Adam and Eve, God Himself made
+coats of skins, and clothed them, that they might not see each other's
+nakedness?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "this is what the Holy Scriptures tell us."
+
+"Well, then, how is it possible that our confessors dare to take away from
+us that holy, divine coat of modesty and self-respect? Has not Almighty God
+Himself made with His own hands that coat of womanly modesty and
+self-respect that we might not be to you and to ourselves a cause of shame
+and sin?"
+
+I was really stunned by the beauty, simplicity, and sublimity of that
+comparison. I remained absolutely mute and confounded. Though it was
+demolishing all the traditions and doctrines of my Church, and pulverizing
+all my holy doctors and theologians, that noble answer found such an echo
+in my soul that it seemed to me a sacrilege to try to touch it with my
+finger.
+
+After a short time of silence, she continued, "Twice I have been destroyed
+by priests in the confessional. They took away from me that divine coat of
+modesty and self-respect which God gives to every human being who comes
+into this world, and twice I have become for those very priests a deep pit
+of perdition, into which they have fallen, and where, I fear, they are for
+ever lost! My merciful Heavenly Father has given me back that coat of
+skins, that nuptial robe of modesty, self-respect, and holiness, which had
+been taken away from me. He cannot allow you, or any other man, to tear
+again and spoil that vestment which is the work of His hands."
+
+These words had exhausted her; it was evident to me that she wanted some
+rest. I left her alone, but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled with
+admiration for the sublime lessons which I had received from the lips of
+that angel, who, it was evident, was soon to fly away from us, I felt a
+supreme disgust for myself, my theologians, and--shall I say it? yes--I
+felt, in that solemn hour, a supreme disgust for my Church, which was so
+cruelly defiling me and all the priests, in the confessional-box. I felt in
+that hour a supreme horror for that auricular confession, which is so often
+such a pit of perdition and supreme misery for the confessor and the
+penitent. I went out, walked two hours on the Plains of Abraham, to breathe
+the pure and refreshing air of the mountain. There alone I sat on a stone,
+on the very spot where Wolf and Montcalm had fought and died, and wept to
+my heart's content on my irreparable degradation, and the degradation of
+all the priests through the confessional.
+
+At four o'clock in the afternoon I went back again to the house of my dear
+dying Mary. The mother took me apart, and very politely said, "My dear Mr.
+Chiniquy, do you not think that it is time that our dear child should
+receive the last sacraments? She seemed to be much better this morning, and
+we were full of hope; but she is now rapidly sinking. Please lose no time
+in giving her the holy viaticum and the extreme unction."
+
+I said, "Yes, Madam; let me pass a few minutes alone with our poor dear
+child, that I may prepare her for the last sacraments."
+
+When alone with her, I again fell on my knees, and, amidst torrents of
+tears, I said, "Dear sister, it is my desire to give you the holy viaticum
+and the extreme unction; but tell me, how can I dare to do a thing so
+solemn against all the prohibitions of our holy Church? How can I give you
+the holy communion without first giving you absolution? and how can I give
+you absolution when you earnestly persist in telling me that you have
+committed sins which you will never declare either to me or any other
+confessor?
+
+"You know that I cherish and respect you as if you were an angel sent to me
+from heaven. You told me the other day that you blessed the day that you
+first saw and knew me. I say the same thing. I bless the day that I have
+known you; I bless every hour that I have passed by your bed of suffering;
+I bless every tear which I have shed with you on your sins and on my own; I
+bless every hour that we have passed together in looking to the wounds of
+our beloved, dying Saviour; I bless you for having forgiven me your death!
+for I know it, and I confess it a thousand times in the presence of God, I
+have killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer a thousand times to die than
+to say to you a word which would pain you in any way, or trouble the peace
+of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell me what I can and must do for
+you in this solemn hour."
+
+Calmly, and with a smile of joy, such as I had never seen before, nor have
+seen since, she said, "I thank and bless you, dear father, for the parable
+of the Prodigal Son, on which you preached a month ago. You have brought me
+to the feet of the dear Saviour; there, I have found a peace and a joy
+which surpass anything which human heart can feel; I have thrown myself
+into the arms of my heavenly Father, and I know He has mercifully accepted
+and forgiven His poor prodigal child! Oh, I see the angels with their
+golden harps around the throne of the Lamb! Do you not hear the celestial
+harmony of their songs? I go--I go to join them in my Father's house. I
+shall not be lost!"
+
+While she was thus speaking to me, my eyes were really turned into two
+fountains of tears, and I was unable, as well as unwilling, to see
+anything, so entirely overcome was I by the sublime words which were
+flowing from the dying lips of that dear child, who was no more a sinner,
+but a real angel of Heaven to me. I was listening to her words; there was a
+celestial music in every one of them. But she had raised her voice in such
+a strange way, when she had begun to say, "I go to my Father's house," and
+she had made such a cry of joy when she had let the last words, "not be
+lost," escape her lips, that I raised my head and opened my eyes to look at
+her. I suspected that something strange had occurred.
+
+I got upon my feet, passed my handkerchief over my face, to wipe away the
+tears which were preventing me from seeing with accuracy, and looked at
+her.
+
+Her hands were crossed on her breast, and there was on her face the
+expression of a really superhuman joy; her beautiful eyes were fixed as if
+they were looking on some grand and sublime spectacle; it seemed to me at
+first that she was praying.
+
+In that very same instant the mother rushed into the room, crying, "My God!
+my God! what does that cry 'lost' mean?"--for her last words, "not be
+lost," particularly the last one, had been pronounced with such a powerful
+voice that they had been heard almost everywhere in the house.
+
+I made a sign with my hand to prevent the distressed mother from making any
+noise, and troubling her dying child in her prayer, for I really thought
+that she had stopped speaking, as she used so often to do, when alone with
+me, in order to pray. But I was mistaken. That redeemed soul had gone, on
+the golden wings of love, to join the multitudes of those who have washed
+their robes in the blood of the Lamb, to sing the eternal Alleluia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION A DEEP PIT OF PERDITION FOR THE PRIEST
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was some time after our Mary had been buried. The terrible and
+mysterious cause of her death was known only to God and to me. Though her
+loving mother was still weeping over her grave, she had soon been
+forgotten, as usual, by the greatest part of those who had known her: but
+she was constantly present to my mind. I never entered the confessional-box
+without hearing her solemn, though so mild, voice telling me, "There must
+be somewhere something wrong in the auricular confession. Twice I have been
+destroyed by my confessors; and I have known several others who have been
+destroyed in the same way."
+
+More than once, when her voice was ringing in my ears from her tomb, I had
+shed bitter tears on the profound and unfathomable degradation into which
+I, with the other priests, had to fell in the confessional-box. For many,
+many times, stories as deplorable as that of this unfortunate girl were
+confessed to me by city as well as country females.
+
+One night I was awakened by the rumbling noise of thunder, when I heard
+some one knocking at the door. I hastened out of bed to ask who was there.
+The answer was that the Rev. Mr. ---- was dying, and that he wanted to see
+me before his death. I dressed myself, and was soon on the highway. The
+darkness was fearful; and often, had it not been for the lightning which
+was almost constantly tearing the clouds, we should not have known where we
+were. After a long and hard journey through the darkness and the storm, we
+arrived at the house of the dying priest. I went directly to his room, and
+really found him very low; he could hardly speak. With a sign of his hand
+he bade his servant-girl and a young man who were there go out, and leave
+him alone with me.
+
+Then, with a low voice, he said, "Is it you who prepared poor Mary to die?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I answered.
+
+"Please tell me the truth. Is it the fact that she died the death of a
+reprobate, and that her last words were, 'Oh, my God! I am lost'?"
+
+I answered: "As I was the confessor of that girl, and we were talking
+together on matters which pertained to her confession, in the very moment
+that she was unexpectedly summoned to appear before God, I cannot answer
+your question in any way; please, then, excuse me if I cannot say any more
+on that subject: but tell me who can have assured you that she died the
+death of a reprobate."
+
+"It was her own mother," answered the dying man. "She came, last week, to
+visit me, and when she was alone with me, with many tears and cries, she
+said how her poor child had refused to receive the last sacraments, and how
+her last cry was, 'I am lost!'" She added that that cry, 'Lost!' was
+pronounced with such a frightful power that it was heard through all the
+house."
+
+"If her mother has told you that," I replied, "you may believe what you
+please about the way that poor child died. I cannot say a word--you know
+it--about that matter."
+
+"But if she is lost," rejoined the old, dying priest, "I am the miserable
+one who has destroyed her. She was an angel of purity when she came to the
+convent. Oh! dear Mary, if you are lost, I am a thousandfold more lost! Oh,
+my God, my God! what will become of me? I am dying; and I am lost!"
+
+It was indeed an awful thing to see that old sinner tearing his own hands,
+rolling on his bed as if he had been on burning coals, with all the marks
+of the most frightful despair on his face, crying, "I am lost! Oh, my God,
+I am lost!"
+
+I was glad that the claps of thunder, which were shaking the house and
+roaring without ceasing, prevented the people outside the room from hearing
+those cries of desolation from that priest, whom every one considered a
+great saint.
+
+When it seemed to me that his terror had somewhat subsided, and that his
+mind was calmed a little, I said to him, "My dear friend, you must not give
+yourself up to such despair. Our merciful God has promised to forgive the
+repenting sinner who comes to Him, even at the last hour of the day.
+Address yourself to the Virgin Mary, she will ask and obtain your pardon."
+
+"Do you not think that it is too late to ask pardon? The doctor has
+honestly warned me that death is very near, and I feel I am just now dying!
+Is it not too late to ask and obtain pardon?" asked the dying priest.
+
+"No, my dear sir, it is not too late, if you sincerely regret your sins.
+Throw yourself into the arms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; make your
+confession without any more delay, and you will be saved."
+
+"But I have never made a good confession. Will you help me to make a
+general one?"
+
+It was my duty to grant him his request, and the rest of the night was
+spent by me in hearing the confession of his whole life.
+
+I do not want to give many particulars of the life of that priest. I will
+only mention two things. First: It was then that I understood why poor
+young Mary was absolutely unwilling to mention the iniquities which she had
+done with him. They were simply surpassingly horrible--unmentionable. No
+human tongue can express them--few human ears would consent to hear them.
+
+The second thing that I am bound in conscience to reveal is almost
+incredible, but it is nevertheless true. The number of married and
+unmarried females he had heard in the confessional was about 1500, of which
+he said he had destroyed or scandalized at least 1000 by his questioning
+them on most depraving things, for the simple pleasure of gratifying his
+own corrupted heart, without letting them know anything of his sinful
+thoughts and criminal desires towards them. But he confessed that he had
+destroyed the purity of ninety-five of those penitents, who had consented
+to sin with him.
+
+And would to God that this priest had been the only one whom I have known
+to be lost through the auricular confession! But, alas! how few are those
+who have escaped the snares of the tempter compared with those who have
+perished! I have heard the confessions of more than 200 priests, and, to
+say the truth, as God knows it, I must declare that only twenty-one had not
+to weep over the secret or public sins committed through the irresistibly
+corrupting influences of auricular confession!
+
+I am sixty six years old; in a short time I shall be in my grave. I shall
+have to give an account of what I say to-day. Well, it is in the presence
+of my great Judge, with my tomb before my eyes, that I declare to the world
+that very few--yes, very few--priests escape from falling into the pit of
+the most horrible moral depravity the world has ever known, through the
+confession of females.
+
+I do not say this because I have any bad feelings against those priests:
+God knows that I have none. The only feelings I have are of supreme
+compassion and pity. I do not reveal these awful things to make the world
+believe that the priests of Rome are a worse set of men than the rest of
+the innumerable fallen children of Adam. No, I do not entertain any such
+views; for, everything considered and weighed in the balance of religion,
+charity, and common sense--I think that the priests of Rome are far from
+being worse than any other set of men who would be thrown into the same
+temptations, dangers and unavoidable occasions of sin.
+
+For instance, let us take lawyers, merchants, or farmers, and, preventing
+them from living with their lawful wives, let us surround each of them from
+morning to night by ten, twenty, and sometimes more, beautiful women and
+tempting girls, who would speak to them of things which can pulverize a
+rock of Scotch granite, and you will see how many of those lawyers,
+merchants or farmers will go out of that terrible moral battle-field
+without being mortally wounded.
+
+The cause of the supreme--I dare say incredible, though
+unsuspected--immorality of the priests of Rome is a very evident and
+logical one. By the diabolical power of the Pope, the priest is put out of
+the ways which God has offered to the generality of men to be honest,
+upright, and holy[1]. And after the Pope has deprived them of the grand,
+holy, I say Divine (in this sense that it comes directly from God) remedy
+which God has given to man against his own concupiscence--holy marriage,
+they are placed unprotected, unguarded in the most perilous, difficult,
+irresistible moral dangers which human ingenuity or depravity can conceive.
+Those unmarried men are forced to be, from morning to night, in the midst
+of beautiful girls, and tempting, charming women, who have to tell them
+things which would melt the hardest steel. How can you expect that they
+will cease to be men, and become stronger than angels?
+
+Not only are the priests of Rome deprived by the devil of the _only_ remedy
+which God has given to help them to stand up, but they have, in the
+confessional, the greatest facility which can possibly be imagined for
+satisfying all the bad propensities of fallen human nature. In the
+confessional _they know_ those who are strong, and they know those who are
+weak among the females by whom they are surrounded; they know who would
+resist any attempt from the enemy; and they know who are ready--nay, who
+are longing after the deceitful charms of sin. If they still retain the
+fallen nature of man, what a terrible hour for them! what frightful battles
+inside the poor heart! What superhuman efforts and strength would be
+required to come out a conqueror from that battle field, where a David, a
+Samson, have fallen, mortally wounded!
+
+It is simply an act of supreme stupidity on the part of the Protestant, as
+well as Catholic public, to suppose, or suspect, or hope, that the
+generality of the priests can stand that trial. The pages of the history of
+Rome herself are filled with the unanswerable proofs that the great
+_generality_ of the confessors fall. If it were not so, the miracle of
+Joshua, stopping the march of the sun and the moon, would be a childish
+play compared with the miracle which would stop and reverse all the laws of
+our common fallen nature in the hearts of the 100,000 Roman Catholic
+confessors of the Church of Rome. Were I attempting to prove by public
+facts what I know of the horrible depravity caused by the confessional-box
+among the priests of France, Canada, Spain, Italy, England, I should have
+to write many big volumes in folio. For brevity's sake, I will speak only
+of Italy. I take that country because, being under the very eyes of their
+infallible and most holy (?) Pontiff, being in the land of daily miracles,
+of painted Madonnas, who weep and turn their eyes left and right, up and
+down, in a most marvellous way, being in the land of miraculous medals and
+heavenly spiritual favors, constantly flowing from the chair of St. Peter,
+the confessors in Italy are in the best possible circumstances to be
+strong, faithful, and holy. Well, let us hear an eye-witness, a
+contemporary, an unimpeachable witness about the way the confessors deal
+with their penitent females, in the only holy, apostolical, infallible (?)
+Church of Rome.
+
+The witness we will hear is of the purest blood of the princes of Italy.
+Her name is Henrietta Carracciolo, daughter of the Marshal Carracciolo,
+Governor of the Province of Bari, in Italy. Let us hear what she says of
+the Father Confessors, after twenty years of personal experience in
+different nunneries of Italy, in her remarkable book, "Mysteries of the
+Neapolitan Convents," pp. 150, 151, 152: "My confessor came the following
+day, and I disclosed to him the nature of the troubles which beset me.
+Later in the day, seeing that I had gone down to the place where we used to
+receive the holy communion, called Communichino, the conversa of my aunt
+rang the bell for the priest to come with the pyx.[2] He was a man of about
+fifty years of age, very corpulent, with a rubicund face, and a type of
+physiognomy as vulgar as it was repulsive.
+
+"I approached the little window to receive the sacred wafer on my tongue,
+with my eyes closed, as it is customary. I placed it upon my tongue; and,
+as I drew back, I felt my cheeks caressed. I opened my eyes, but the priest
+had withdrawn his hand, and, thinking I had been deceived, I gave it no
+more attention.
+
+"On the next occasion, forgetful of what had occurred before, I received
+the sacrament with closed eyes again, according to precept. This time I
+distinctly felt my chin caressed again; and on opening my eyes suddenly, I
+found the priest gazing rudely upon me, with a sensual smile on his face.
+
+"There could be no longer any doubt: these overtures were not the result of
+accident.
+
+"The daughter of Eve is endowed with a greater degree of curiosity than
+man. It occured to me to place myself in a contiguous apartment, where I
+could observe if this libertine priest was accustomed to take similar
+liberties with the nuns. I did so, and was fully convinced that only the
+old left him without being caressed!
+
+"All the others allowed him to do with them as he pleased; and even, in
+taking leave of him, did so with the utmost reverence.
+
+"'Is this the respect,' said I to myself, 'that the priests and the spouses
+of Christ have for the sacrament of the Eucharist? Shall the poor novice be
+enticed to leave the world in order to learn, in this school, such lessons
+of self-respect and chastity?'"
+
+Page 163, we read, "The fanatical passion of the nuns for their confessors,
+priests, and monks, exceeds belief. That which especially renders their
+incarceration endurable is the illimitable opportunity they enjoy of seeing
+and corresponding with those persons with whom they are in love. This
+freedom localizes and identifies them with the convent so closely that they
+are unhappy when, on account of any serious sickness, or while preparing to
+take the veil, they are obliged to pass some months in the bosom of their
+own families, in company with their fathers, mothers, brothers, and
+sisters. It is not to be presumed that these relatives would permit a young
+girl to pass many hours each day in a mysterious colloquy with a priest, or
+a monk, and maintain with him this continual correspondence. This is a
+liberty which they can enjoy in the convent only.
+
+"Many are the hours which the Heloise spends in the confessional, in
+agreeable pastime with her Abelard in cassock.
+
+"Others, whose confessors happen to be old, have in addition a spiritual
+director, with whom they amuse themselves a long time every day,
+_tete-a-tete_, in the parlatorio. When this is not enough, they simulate an
+illness, in order to have him alone in their own rooms."
+
+Page 166, we read:--"Another nun, being somewhat infirm, her priest
+confessed her in her own room. After a time, the invalid penitent found
+herself in what is called an interesting situation, on which account, the
+physician declaring that her complaint was dropsy, she was sent away from
+the convent."
+
+Page 167:--"A young educanda was in the habit of going down every night to
+the convent burial-place, where, by a corridor which communicated with the
+vestry, she entered into a colloquy with a young priest attached to the
+church. Consumed by an amorous impatience, she was not deterred from these
+excursions either by bad weather or the fear of being discovered.
+
+"She heard a great noise one night near her. In the thick darkness which
+surrounded her, she imagined that she saw a viper winding itself around her
+feet. She was so much overcome by fright that she died from the effects of
+it a few months later."
+
+Page 168:--"One of the confessors had a young penitent in the convent.
+Every time he was called to visit a dying sister, and on that account
+passed the night in the convent, this nun would climb over the partition
+which separated her room from his, and betake herself to the master and
+director of souls.
+
+"Another, during the delirium of a typhoid fever, from which she was
+suffering, was constantly imitating the action of sending kisses to her
+confessor, who stood by the side of her bed. He, covered with blushes on
+account of the presence of strangers, held a crucifix before the eyes of
+the penitent, and in a commiserating tone exclaimed,--
+
+"'Poor thing! kiss thy own spouse!'"
+
+Page 168:--"Under the bonds of secrecy, an educanda, of fine form and
+pleasing manners, and of a noble family, confided to me the fact of her
+having received, from the hands of her confessor, a very interesting book
+(as she described it), which related to the monastic life. I expressed the
+wish to know the title, and she, before showing it to me, took the
+precaution to lock the door.
+
+"It proved to be the Monaca, by Dalembert, a book, as all know, filled with
+the most disgusting obscenity."
+
+Page 169:--"I received once from a monk, a letter in which he signified to
+me that he had hardly seen me, when 'he conceived the sweet hope of
+becoming my confessor.' An exquisite of the first water, a fop of scents
+and euphuism, could not have employed phrases more melodramic, to demand
+whether he might hope or despair."
+
+Page 169:--"A priest who enjoyed the reputation of being an incorruptible
+sacerdote, when he saw me pass through the parlatorio, used to address me
+as follows:--
+
+"'Ps, dear, come here! Ps, Ps, come here!'
+
+"These words, addressed to me by a priest, were nauseous in the extreme.
+
+"Finally, another priest, the most annoying of all for his obstinate
+assiduity, sought to secure my affections at all cost. There was not an
+image profane poetry could afford him, nor a sophism he could borrow from
+rhetoric, nor wily interpretation he could give to the Word of God, which
+he did not employ to convert me to his wishes. Here is an example of his
+logic:--
+
+"'Fair daughter,' said he to me one day, 'knowest thou who God truly is?'
+
+"'He is the Creator of the Universe,' I answered drily.
+
+"'No,--no,--no,--no! that is not enough,' he replied, laughing at my
+ignorance. 'God is love, but love in the abstract, which receives its
+incarnation in the mutual affection of two hearts which idolize each other.
+You, then, must not only love God in His abstract existance, but must also
+love Him in His incarnation, that is, in the exclusive love of a man who
+adores you. _Quod Deus est amor, nec colitur, nisi amando._'
+
+"'Then,' I replied, 'a woman who adores her own lover would adore Divinity
+itself?'
+
+"'Assuredly,' reiterated the priest over and over again, taking courage
+from my remark, and chuckling at what seemed to him to be the effect of his
+catechism.
+
+"'In that case,' said I hastily, 'I should select for my lover rather a man
+of the world than a priest.'
+
+"'God preserve you, my daughter! God preserve you from that sin!' added my
+interlocutor, apparently frightened. 'To love a man of the world, a sinner,
+a wretch, an unbeliever, an infidel! Why, you would go immediately to hell.
+The love of a priest is a sacred love, while that of a profane man is
+infamy; the faith of a priest emanates from that granted to the holy
+Church, while that of the profane is false,--false as the vanity of the
+world. The priest purifies his affections daily in communion with the Holy
+Spirit: the man of the world (if he ever knows love at all) sweeps the
+muddy crossings of the street with it day and night.
+
+"'But it is the heart, as well as the conscience, which prompts me to fly
+from the priests,' I replied.
+
+"'Well, if you cannot love me because I am your confessor, I will find
+means to assist you to get rid of your scruples. We will place the name of
+Jesus Christ before all our affectionate demonstration, and thus our love
+will be a grateful offering to the Lord, and will ascend fragrant with
+perfume to Heaven, like the smoke of the incense of the sanctuary. Say to
+me, for example, "I love you in Jesus Christ; last night I dreamed of you
+in Jesus Christ;" and you will have a tranquil conscience, because in doing
+this you will sanctify every transport of your love.'
+
+"Several circumstances not indicated here, by the way, compelled me to come
+in frequent contact with this priest afterwards, and I do not therefore
+give his name.
+
+"Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike for his age and his moral
+character, I inquired what signified the prefixing the name of Jesus Christ
+to amorous apostrophes.
+
+"'It is,' he said, 'an expression used by a horrible sect, and one
+unfortunately only too numerous, which, thus abusing the name of our Lord,
+permits to its members the most unbridled licentiousness.'"
+
+And it is my sad duty to say, before the whole world, that I know that by
+far the greater part of the confessors in America, Spain, France and
+England, reason and act just like that licentious Italian priest.
+
+Christian nations! if you could know what will become of the virtue of your
+fair daughters if you allow secret or public slaves of Rome to restore the
+auricular confession, with what a storm of holy indignation you would
+defeat their plans!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If any one wants to hear an eloquent oration, let him go when the Roman
+Catholic priest is preaching on the divine institution of auricular
+confession. There is no subject, perhaps, on which the priests display so
+much zeal and earnestness, and of which they speak so often. For this
+institution is really the corner-stone of their stupendous power; it is the
+secret of their almost irresistible influence. Let the people to-day open
+their eyes to the truth, and understand that auricular confession is one of
+the most stupendous impostures which Satan has invented to corrupt and
+enslave the world; let the people desert the confessional-box to-day, and
+tomorrow Romanism will fall into the dust. The priests understand this very
+well; hence their constant efforts to deceive the people on that question.
+To attain their object, they have recourse to the most egregious
+falsehoods; the Scriptures are misrepresented; the holy Fathers are brought
+to say the very contrary of what they have ever thought or written; the
+most extraordinary miracles and stories are invented. But two of the
+arguments to which they have more often recourse are the great and
+perpetual miracles which God makes to keep the purity of the confessional
+undefiled, and its secrets marvellously sealed. They make the people
+believe that the vow of perpetual chastity changes their nature, turns them
+into angels, and puts them above the common frailties of the fallen
+children of Adam.
+
+Bravely and with a brazen face, when they are interrogated on that subject,
+they say that they have special graces to remain pure and undefiled in the
+midst of the greatest dangers; that the Virgin Mary, to whom they are
+consecrated, is their powerful advocate to obtain from her Son that
+superhuman virtue of chastity; that what would be a cause of sure perdition
+to common men is without peril and danger for a true son of Mary; and, with
+amazing stupidity, the people consent to be duped, blinded, and deceived by
+those fooleries.
+
+But here let the world hear the truth as it is, from one who knows
+perfectly everything inside and outside the walls of that Modern Babylon;
+though many, I know, will disbelieve me and say, "We hope you are mistaken.
+It is impossible that the priests of Rome should turn out to be such
+impostors. They may be mistaken; they may believe and repeat things which
+are not true, but they are honest; they cannot be such impudent deceivers."
+
+Yes! though I know that many will hardly believe me, I must say the truth.
+
+Those very men who, when speaking to the people in such glowing terms of
+the marvellous way they are kept pure in the midst of the dangers which
+surround them, honestly blush, and often weep, when they speak to each
+other (when they are sure that nobody except priests hears them). They
+deplore their moral degradation with the utmost sincerity and honesty. They
+ask from God and men pardon for their unspeakable depravity.
+
+I have here in my hands, and under my eyes, one of their most remarkable
+secret books, written, or at least approved, by one of their greatest and
+best bishops and cardinals, the Cardinal De Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons.
+
+The book is written for the use of the priests alone. Its title is in
+French, "Examen de Conscience des Pretres." At page 34 we read:--
+
+"Have I left certain persons to make the declarations of their sins in such
+a way that the imagination, once taken and impressed by pictures and
+representations, could be dragged into a long course of temptations and
+grievous sins? The priests do not pay sufficient attention to the continual
+temptations caused by the hearing of confessions. The soul is gradually
+enfeebled in such a way that, at the end, the virtue of chastity is for
+ever lost."
+
+Here is the address of a priest to other priests when he suspects that
+nobody but his co-sinner brethren hear him. Here is the honest language of
+truth.
+
+In the presence of God, those priests acknowledge that they have not a
+sufficient fear of those _constant_ (what a word--what an
+acknowledgment--constant!) temptations, and they honestly confess that
+those temptations come from the hearing of the confessions of so many
+scandalous sins. Here the priests honestly acknowledge that those constant
+temptations, at the end, destroy _for ever_ in them the holy virtue of
+purity![3]
+
+Ah! would to God that all the honest girls and women whom the devil entraps
+into the snares of auricular confession could hear the cries of distress of
+those poor priests whom they have tempted--_for ever destroyed!_ Would to
+God that they could see the torrents of tears shed by so many priests
+because, from the hearing of confessions, they had _for ever_ lost the
+virtue of purity! They would understand that the confessional is a snare, a
+pit of perdition, a Sodom for the priest; and they would be struck with
+horror and shame at the idea of the _continual_, shameful, dishonest,
+degrading temptations by which their confessor is tormented day and
+night--they would blush on account of the shameful sins which their
+confessors have committed--they would weep over the irreparable loss of
+their purity--they would promise before God and men that the
+confessional-box should never see them any more--they would prefer to be
+burned alive, if any sentiment of honesty and charity remained in them,
+rather than consent to be a cause of _constant_ temptation and damnable sin
+to that man.
+
+Would that respectable lady go any more to confess to that man if, after
+her confession, she could hear him lamenting the continual, shameful
+temptations which assail him day and night, and the damning sins which he
+has committed on account of what she has confessed to him? No--a thousand
+times no!
+
+Would that honest father allow his beloved daughter to go any more to that
+man to confess if he could hear his cries of distress, and see his tears
+flowing because the hearing of those confessions is the source of constant,
+shameful temptations and degrading iniquities?
+
+Oh! would to God that the honest Romanists all over the world--for there
+are millions who, though deluded, are honest--could see what is going on in
+the heart, the imagination of the poor confessor when he is, there,
+surrounded by attractive women, and tempting girls, speaking to him from
+morning to night on things which a man cannot hear without falling! Then
+that modern but grand imposture called the Sacrament of Penance would soon
+be ended.
+
+But here, again, who will not lament the consequence of the total
+perversity of our human nature? Those very same priests who, when alone in
+the presence of God, speak so plainly of the constant temptations by which
+they are assailed, and who so sincerely weep over the irreparable loss of
+their virtue of purity, when they think that nobody hears them, will yet in
+public deny with a brazen face those temptations. They will indignantly
+rebuke you as a slanderer if you say anything to lead them to suppose that
+you fear for their purity when they hear the confessions of girls or
+married women. There is not a single one of the Roman Catholic authors who
+have written on that subject for the priests, who has not deplored their
+innumerable and degrading sins against purity on account of the auricular
+confession; but those very men will be the first to try to prove the very
+contrary when they write books for the people. I have no words to say what
+was my surprise when, for the first time, I saw that this strange duplicity
+seemed to be one of the fundamental stones of my Church.
+
+It was not very long after my ordination, when a priest came to me to
+confess the most deplorable things. He honestly told me that there was not
+a single one of the girls or married women whom he had confessed who had
+not been a secret cause of the most shameful sins in thoughts, desires, or
+actions; but he wept so bitterly over his degradation, his heart seemed so
+sincerely broken on account of his own iniquities, that I could not refrain
+from mixing my tears with his. I wept with him, and I gave him the pardon
+of all his sins, as I thought, then, I had the power and right to give it.
+
+Two hours afterwards, that same priest, who was a good speaker, was in the
+pulpit. His sermon was on "The Divinity of Auricular Confession;" and, to
+prove that it was an institution coming directly from Christ, he said that
+the Son of God was making a _constant_ miracle to strengthen His priests,
+and prevent them from falling into sins, on account of what they might have
+heard in the confessional!
+
+The daily abominations, which are the result of auricular confession, are
+so horrible and so well known by the popes, the bishops, and the priests,
+that several times, public attempts have been made to diminish them by
+punishing the guilty priests; but all these have failed.
+
+One of the most remarkable of those efforts was made by Pius IV. about the
+year 1500. A Bull was published by him, by which all the girls and the
+married women who had been seduced into sins by their confessors were
+ordered to denounce them; and a certain number of high church officers of
+the Holy Inquisition were authorized to take the depositions of the fallen
+penitents. The thing was at first tried at Seville, one of the principal
+cities of Spain. When the edict was first published the number of women who
+felt bound in conscience to go and depose against their father confessors
+was so great that, though there were thirty notaries and as many
+inquisitors to take the depositions, they were unable to do the work in the
+appointed time. Thirty days more were given, but the inquisitors were so
+overwhelmed with the numberless depositions that another period of time of
+the same length was given. But this, again, was found insufficient. At the
+end, it was found that the number of priests who had destroyed the purity
+of their penitents was so great that it was impossible to punish them all.
+The inquest was given up, and the guilty confessors remained unpunished.
+Several attempts of the same nature have been tried by other popes, but
+with about the same success.
+
+But if those honest attempts, on the part of some well-meaning popes, to
+punish the confessors who destroy the purity of their penitents, have
+failed to touch the guilty parties, they are, in the good providence of
+God, infallible witnesses to tell to the world that auricular confession is
+nothing else than a snare to the confessor and his dupes. Yes, those Bulls
+of the popes are an irrefragable testimony that auricular confession is the
+most powerful invention of the devil to corrupt the heart, pollute the
+body, and damn the soul of the priest and his female penitent!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE VOW OF CELIBACY OF THE PRIESTS IS MADE EASY BY AURICULAR
+CONFESSION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Are not facts the best arguments? Well, here is an undeniable, a public
+fact, which is connected with a thousand collateral ones to prove that
+auricular confession is the most powerful engine of demoralization which
+the world has ever seen.
+
+About the year 183--, there was in Quebec a fine-looking young priest; he
+had a magnificent voice, and was a pretty good speaker.[4] Through regard
+for his family, which is still numerous and respectable, I will not give
+his name, I will call him Rev. Mr. D----. Having been invited to preach in
+a parish of Canada, about 100 miles distant from Quebec, called Vercheres,
+he was also requested to hear the confessions during a few days of a kind
+of Novena (nine days of prayer), which was going on in that place. Among
+his penitents was a beautiful young girl, about nineteen years old. She
+wanted to make a general confession of all her sins from the first age of
+reason, and the confessor granted her request. Twice every day she was
+there, at the feet of her handsome young spiritual physician, telling all
+her thoughts, her deeds, her desires. Sometimes she was remarked to have
+remained a whole hour in the confessional-box, in accusing herself of all
+her human frailties. What did she say? God only knows; but what became
+hereafter known by the entire of Canada is that the confessor fell in love
+with his fair penitent, and that she burned with the same irresistible
+fires for her confessor, as it so often happens.
+
+It was not an easy matter for the priest and the young girl to meet each
+other in as complete a _tete-a-tete_ as they both wished, for there were
+too many eyes upon them. But the confessor was a man of resources. The last
+day of the Novena he said to his beloved penitent, "I am going to Montreal,
+but three days after I will take the steamer back to Quebec. That steamer
+is accustomed to stop here. At about twelve a.m., be on the wharf, dressed
+as a young man. Let no one know your secret. You will embark in the
+steamboat, where you will not be known, if you have any prudence. You will
+come to Quebec, where you will be engaged as a servant-boy by the curate,
+of whom I am the vicar. Nobody will know your sex except myself, and we
+will there be happy together."
+
+The fifth day after this there was a great desolation in the family of the
+girl, for she had suddenly disappeared and her robes had been found on the
+shores of the St. Lawrence river. There was not the least doubt in the
+minds of all relations and friends, that the general confession she had
+made had entirely upset her mind, and, in an excess of craziness, she had
+thrown herself into the deep and rapid waters of the St. Lawrence. Many
+searches were made to find her body, but all in vain; many public and
+private prayers were offered to God to help her to escape from the flames
+of Purgatory, where she might be condemned to suffer for many years, and
+much money was given to the priest to sing high masses, in order to
+extinguish the fires of that burning prison, where every Roman Catholic
+believes he must go to be purified before entering the regions of eternal
+happiness.
+
+I will not give the name of the girl, though I have it, through compassion
+for her family; I will call her Geneva.
+
+Well, when father and mother, brothers, sisters, and friends were shedding
+tears on the sad end of Geneva, she was in the rich parsonage of the Curate
+of Quebec, well paid, well fed and dressed; happy and cheerful with her
+beloved confessor. She was exceedingly neat in her person, always obliging,
+ready to run and do what you wanted at the very twinkling of your eye. Her
+new name was Joseph, by which I will now call her.
+
+Many times I have seen the smart Joseph at the parsonage of Quebec, and
+admired his politeness and good manners; though it seemed to me sometimes
+that he looked too much like a girl, and that he was a little too much at
+ease with Rev. Mr. D----, and also with the Right Rev. M----. But every
+time the idea came to me that Joseph was a girl, I felt indignant with
+myself. The high respect I had for the Coadjutor Bishop made it impossible
+to think that he would ever allow a beautiful girl to sleep in the
+adjoining room to his own, and to serve him day and night; for Joseph's
+sleeping-room was just by the one of the Coadjutor, who, for several bodily
+infirmities, which were not a secret to every one, wanted the help of his
+servant several times at night, as well as during the day.
+
+Things went on very smoothly with Joseph during two or three years in the
+Coadjutor Bishop's house; but at the end it seemed to many people outside
+that Joseph was taking too great airs of familiarity with the young vicars,
+and even with the venerable Coadjutor. Several of the citizens of Quebec,
+who were going more often than others to the parsonage, were surprised and
+shocked at the familiarity of that servant-boy with his masters; he really
+seemed sometimes to be on equal terms with, if not somewhat above them.
+
+An intimate friend of the Bishop, a most devoted Roman Catholic, who was my
+near relative, took one day upon himself to respectfully say to the Right
+Rev. Bishop that it would be prudent to turn out that impudent young man
+from his palace; that he was the object of strong and deplorable
+suspicions.
+
+The position of the Right Rev. Bishop and his vicars was not a very
+agreeable one. Their barque had evidently drifted among dangerous rocks. To
+keep Joseph among them was impossible, after the friendly advice which had
+come from such a high quarter, and to dismiss him was not less dangerous;
+he knew too much of the interior and secret lives of all those holy (?)
+celibates to deal with him as with another common servant-man. With a
+single word of his lips he could destroy them; they were as if tied to his
+feet by ropes, which at first seemed made with sweet cakes and ice-cream,
+but had suddenly turned into burning steel chains. Several days of anxiety
+passed away; many sleepless nights succeeded the too-happy ones of better
+times. But what to do? There were breakers ahead; breakers on the right, on
+the left, and on every side. But when every one, particularly the venerable
+(?) Coadjutor, felt as criminals who expect their sentence, and that their
+horizon seemed surrounded absolutely by only dark and stormy clouds, on a
+sudden, a happy opening presented itself to the anxious sailors.
+
+The curate of "Les Eboulements," the Rev. Mr. ----, had just come to Quebec
+on some private business, and had taken his quarters in the hospitable
+house of his old friend, the Right Rev. ----, Bishop Coadjutor. Both had
+been on very intimate terms for many years, and, in many instances, they
+had been of great service to each other. The Pontiff of the Church of
+Canada, hoping that his tried friend would perhaps help him out of the
+terrible difficulty of the moment, frankly told him all about Joseph, and
+asked him what he ought to do under such difficult circumstances.
+
+"My Lord," said the curate of the Eboulements, "Joseph is just the servant
+I want. Pay him well, that he may remain your friend, and that his lips may
+be sealed, and allow me to take him with me. My housekeeper left me a few
+weeks ago; I am alone in my parsonage with my old servant-man. Joseph is
+just the person I want."
+
+It would be difficult to tell the joy of the poor Bishop and his vicars,
+when they saw that heavy stone they had on their neck removed.
+
+Joseph, once installed into the parsonage of the pious (?) parish priest of
+the Eboulements, soon gained the favour of the whole people by his good and
+winning manners, and every parishioner complimented his curate on the
+smartness of his new servant. But the priest, of course, knew a little more
+of that smartness than the rest of the people. Three years passed on very
+smoothly. The priest and his servant seemed to be on the most perfect
+terms. The only thing which marred the happiness of that lucky couple was
+that, now and then, some of the farmers, whose eyes were sharper than those
+of their neighbours, seemed to think that the intimacy between the two was
+going a little too far, and that Joseph, was really keeping in his hands
+the sceptre of the little priestly kingdom. Nothing could be done without
+his advice; he was meddling in all the small and big affairs of the parish,
+and the curate seemed sometimes to be rather the servant than the master in
+his own house and parish. Those who had at first made those remarks
+privately began little by little to convey their views to the next
+neighbour, and this one to the next. In that way, at the end of the third
+year, grave and serious suspicions began to spread from one to the other in
+such a way that the Marguilliers (a kind of Elders) thought proper to say
+to the priest that it would be better for him to turn Joseph out than to
+keep him any longer. But the old curate had passed so many happy hours with
+his faithful Joseph that it was as hard as death to give him up.
+
+He knew, by confession, that a girl in the vicinity was given to an
+unmentionable abomination, to which Joseph was also addicted. He went to
+her and proposed that she should marry Joseph, and that he (the priest)
+would help them to live comfortably. Joseph, in order to continue to live
+near his good master, consented also to marry that girl. Both knew very
+well what the other was. The banns were published during three Sabbaths,
+after which the old curate, blessed the marriage of Joseph with the girl
+his parishioner.
+
+They lived together as husband and wife in such harmony that nobody could
+suspect the horrible depravity which was concealed behind that union.
+Joseph continued with his wife to work often for his priest, till after
+sometime that priest was removed, and another curate, called Tetreau, was
+sent in his place.
+
+This new curate, knowing absolutely nothing of that mystery of iniquity,
+employed also Joseph and his wife several times. One day when Joseph was
+working at the door of the parsonage, in the presence of several people, a
+stranger arrived, and inquired of him if the Rev. Mr. Tetreau, the curate,
+was there.
+
+Joseph answered, "Yes, sir. But as you seem to be a stranger, would you
+allow me to ask you whence you come?"
+
+"It is very easy, sir, to satisfy you. I come from Vercheres," replied the
+stranger.
+
+At the word "Vercheres" Joseph turned so pale that the stranger could not
+be but struck with his sudden change of colour.
+
+Then, fixing his eyes on Joseph, he cried out, "Oh, my God! what do I see
+here? Geneva! Geneva! I recognize you, and here you are in the disguise of
+a man!"
+
+"Dear uncle (for it was her uncle), for God's sake," she cried, "do not say
+a word more!"
+
+But it was too late. The people who were there had heard the uncle and
+niece. Their long secret suspicions were well-founded--one of their former
+priests had kept a girl under the disguise of a man in his house! and, to
+blind his people more thoroughly, he had married that girl to another one,
+in order to have them both in his house, when he pleased, without awakening
+any suspicion!!
+
+The news went almost as quick as lightning from one end to the other of the
+parish, and spread all over the northern country watered by the St Lawrence
+river.
+
+It is more easy to imagine than express the sentiments of surprise and
+horror which filled every one. The justices of the peace took up the
+matter; Joseph was brought before the civil tribunal, which decided that a
+physician should be charged to make, not a _post-mortem_, but _ante-mortem_
+inquest. The Honourable L----, who was called and made the proper inquiry,
+declared upon oath that Joseph was a girl! and the bonds of marriage were
+legally dissolved.
+
+During that time the honest Rev. Mr. Tetreau, struck with horror, had sent
+an express to the Right Reverend Bishop Coadjutor of Quebec, informing him
+that the young man whom he had kept in his house several years, under the
+name of Joseph, was a girl.
+
+Now, what were they to do with the girl, after all was discovered? Her
+presence in Canada would for ever compromise the holy (_?_) Church of Rome.
+She knew too well how the priests, through the confessional, select their
+victims, and help themselves, in their company, in keeping their solemn
+vows of celibacy! What would have become of the respect paid to the priest,
+if she had been taken by the hand and invited to speak, bravely, boldly,
+before the people of Canada?
+
+The holy (?) Bishop and his vicars understood these things very well.
+
+They immediately sent a trustworthy man with L500 to say to the girl that,
+if she remained in Canada, she could be prosecuted and severely punished;
+that it was her interest to leave the country, and emigrate to the United
+States. They offered her the L500 if she would promise to go and never
+return.
+
+She accepted the offer, crossed the lines, and we have never since heard
+anything of her.
+
+In the providence of God, I was invited to preach in that parish soon
+after, and I learned these facts accurately.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Tetreau, under whose pastorate this great iniquity was
+detected, began from that time to have his eyes opened to the awful
+depravity of the priests of Rome through the confessional. He wept and
+cried over his own degradation in the midst of that modern Sodom. Our
+merciful God looked down with compassion upon him, and sent him His saving
+grace. Not long after, he sent to the Bishop his renunciation of the errors
+and abominations of Romanism.
+
+To-day he is working in the vineyard of the Lord with the Methodists in the
+city of Montreal, where he is ready to prove the correctness of what we
+say.
+
+Let those who have ears to hear, and eyes to see, understand, by this fact,
+that Pagan nations have not known any institution so depraving as Auricular
+Confession!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE HIGHLY EDUCATED AND REFINED WOMAN IN THE CONFESSIONAL.--WHAT BECOMES OF
+HER AFTER HER UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.--HER IRREPARABLE RUIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The most skilful warrior has never had to display so much skill and so many
+_ruses de guerre_; he has never had to use more tremendous efforts to
+reduce and storm an impregnable citadel, as the confessor who wants to
+reduce and storm the citadel of self-respect and honesty which God Himself
+has built around the soul and the heart of every daughter of Eve.
+
+But, as it is through woman that the Pope wants to conquer the world, it is
+supremely important that he should enslave and degrade her by keeping her
+at his feet as his footstool, that she may become a passive instrument in
+the accomplishment of his vast and profound scheme.
+
+In order perfectly to master women in the higher circles of society, every
+confessor is ordered by the Pope to learn the most complicated and perfect
+strategy. He has to study a great number of treatises on the art of
+persuading the fair sex to confess to him plainly, clearly, and in detail,
+every thought, every secret desire, word, and deed, just as they occurred.
+
+And that art is considered so important and so difficult that all the
+theologians of Rome call it "the art of arts."
+
+Dens, St. Liguori, Chevassu, the author of the "Mirror of the Clergy,"
+Debreyne, and a multitude of authors too numerous to mention, have given
+the curious and scientific rules of that secret art.
+
+They all agree in declaring that it is a most difficult and dangerous art;
+they all confess that the least error of judgment, the least imprudence or
+temerity, when storming the impregnable citadel, is sure death (spiritual,
+of course) to the confessor and the penitent.
+
+The confessor is taught to make the first steps towards the citadel with
+the utmost caution, in order that his female penitent may not suspect at
+first what he wants her to reveal; for this would generally induce her to
+shut for ever the door of the fortress against him. After the first steps
+of advance, he is advised to make several steps back, and to put himself in
+a kind of spiritual ambuscade, to see the effect of his first advance. If
+there is any prospect of success, then the word "March on!" is given, and a
+more advanced post of the citadel must be tried and stormed if possible. In
+that way, little by little, the whole place is so well surrounded, so well
+crippled, denuded, and dismantled, that any more resistance seems
+impossible on the part of the rebellious soul.
+
+Then the last charge is ordered, the final assault is given; and if God
+does not perform a real miracle to save that soul, the last walls crumble,
+the doors are beaten down! Then the confessor makes a triumphant entry into
+the place; the very heart, soul, conscience, and intelligence, are
+conquered.
+
+When once master of the place, the priest visits all its most secret
+recesses and corners; he pries into its most sacred chambers. The conquered
+place is entirely, absolutely in his hands; he does what he pleases within
+its precincts; he is the supreme master, for the surrender has been
+unconditional. The confessor has become the _only_ infallible ruler in the
+conquered place--nay, he has become its only God--for it is in the name of
+God that he has besieged, stormed, and conquered it, it is in the name of
+God that, hereafter, he will speak and be obeyed.
+
+No human words can adequately give an idea of the irreparable ruin which
+follows the successful storming and unconditional surrender of the once so
+noble fortress. The longer the resistance has been, the more terrible and
+complete is the destruction of its beauty and strength; the nobler the
+struggle has been the more irretrievable are the ruin and loss. Just as the
+higher and stronger the dam is built to stem the current of the rapid and
+deep waters of the river, the more awful the disasters which follow its
+destruction, so it is with that noble soul. A mighty dam has been built by
+the very hand of God, called self-respect and womanly modesty, to guard her
+against the pollutions of this sinful world; but the day that the priest of
+Rome succeeds, after long efforts, in destroying it, the soul is carried by
+an irresistible power into unfathomable abysses of iniquity. Then it is
+that the once most respectable lady will consent to hear, without a blush,
+things against which the most degraded woman would indignantly shut her
+ears. Then it is that she freely speaks on matters for repeating which a
+printer in England has lately been sent to jail.
+
+At first, in spite of herself, but soon with a real sensual pleasure, that
+fallen angel will think, when alone, on what she has heard and what she has
+said in the confessional-box. In spite of herself, the vilest thoughts will
+at first irresistibly fill her mind; and soon the thoughts will engender
+temptations and sins. But those vile temptations and sins, which would have
+filled her with horror and regret before her entire surrender into the
+hands of the foe, beget very different sentiments now that she is no more
+her own self-possessor and guide, under the eyes of God. The conviction of
+her sins is no more connected with the thought of a God, infinitely holy
+and just, whom she must serve and fear. The conviction of her sins is now
+immediately connected with the thought of the man with whom she will have
+to speak, and who will easily make everything right and pure in her soul by
+his absolution.
+
+When the day of going to confess comes, instead of being sad and uneasy and
+bashful, as she used to be formerly, she feels pleased and delighted to
+have a new opportunity of conversing on those matters, without impropriety
+and sin to herself; for she is now fully persuaded that there is no
+impropriety, no shame, no sin, nay, she believes, or tries to believe, that
+it is a good, honest, Christian, and godly thing to converse with her
+priest on those matters.
+
+Her most happy hours are when she is at the feet of that spiritual
+physician showing him all the newly made wounds of her soul; explaining all
+her constant temptations, her bad thoughts, her most intimate secret
+desires and sins.
+
+Then it is that the most sacred mysteries of the married life are revealed;
+then it is that the mysterious and precious pearls which God has given as a
+crown of mercy to those whom He has made one body, one heart, one soul, by
+the blessed ties of a christian union, are lavishly thrown before swine.
+
+Whole hours are thus passed by the fair penitent in speaking to her Father
+Confessor with the utmost freedom on matters which would rank her among the
+most profligate and lost women, if it were only suspected by her friends
+and relatives. A single word of those intimate conversations would be
+followed by an act of divorce on the part of the husband, if it were known
+by him.
+
+But the betrayed husband knows nothing of the dark mysteries of auricular
+confession; the duped father suspects nothing; a cloud from hell has
+obscured the intelligence of both, and made them blind. It is just the
+contrary: husbands and fathers, friends and relations, feel edified and
+pleased with the touching spectacle of the piety of Madam and Miss ----. In
+the village, as well as in the city, every one has a word to speak in their
+praise. Mrs. ---- is so often seen humbly prostrated at the feet, or by the
+side, of her confessor! Miss ---- remains so long in the confessional-box!
+they receive the holy communion so frequently; they both speak so
+eloquently and so often of the admirable piety, modesty, holiness,
+patience, charity, of their incomparable spiritual Father!
+
+Every one congratulates them on their new and exemplary life; and they
+accept the compliment with the utmost humility, attributing their rapid
+progress in Christian virtues to the holiness of their confessor. He is
+such a spiritual man! who could not make rapid strides under such a holy
+guide?
+
+The more constant the temptations are, the more the secret sins overwhelm
+the soul, and the more airs of peace and holiness are put on. The more foul
+the secret emanations of the heart, the more the fair and refined penitent
+surrounds herself by an atmosphere of the sweetest perfumes of a sham
+piety. The more polluted the inside of the sepulchre is, the more shining
+and white the outside will be kept.
+
+Then it is that, unless God performs a miracle to prevent it, the ruin of
+that soul is sealed. She has drunk in the poisonous cup filled by "the
+mother of harlots," and she has found the wine of her prostitution sweet.
+She will henceforth delight in her spiritual and secret orgies.
+
+Her holy (?) confessor has told her that there is no impropriety, no shame,
+no sin, in that cup. The Pope has sacrilegiously written the word "Life" on
+that cup of "Death." She has believed the Pope: the terrible mystery of
+iniquity is accomplished!
+
+"The mystery of iniquity doth already work ... whose coming is after the
+working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
+deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they
+received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
+cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
+that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
+in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. ii. 7-12).
+
+Yes: the day that the rich, well-educated lady gives up her self-respect,
+and unconditionally surrenders the citadel of womanly modesty into the
+hands of a man, whatever be his name or titles, that he may freely put to
+her questions of the vilest character which she must answer, she is lost
+and degraded, just as if she were the humblest and poorest servant-girl.
+
+I purposely say "the rich and well-educated woman," for I know that there
+is a prevalent opinion that the social position of her class places her
+above the corrupting influences of the confessional, as if she were out of
+reach of the common miseries of our poor fallen and sinful nature.
+
+So long as the well-educated lady makes use of her accomplishments to
+defend the citadel of her womanly self-respect against the foe--so long as
+she sternly keeps the door of her heart shut against her deadly enemy--she
+is safe. But let no one forget this: she is safe only so long as she does
+_not_ surrender. When the enemy is once master of the place, I emphatically
+repeat, the ruinous consequences are as great, if not greater, and more
+irreparable than in the lowest classes of society. Throw a piece of
+precious gold into the mud, and tell me if it will not plunge deeper than
+the piece of rotten wood.
+
+What woman could be nobler, purer, and stronger than Eve when she came from
+the hands of her Divine Creator? But how quickly she fell when she gave ear
+to the seducing voice of the tempter! How irreparable was her ruin when she
+complacently looked on the forbidden fruit, and believed the lying voice
+which told her there was "_no sin_" in eating of it!
+
+I solemnly, in the presence of the great God who ere long will judge me,
+give my testimony on this grave subject. After 25 years' experience in the
+confessional, I declare that the confessor himself encounters more terrible
+dangers when hearing the confessions of refined and highly-educated ladies,
+than when listening to those of the humbler classes of his female
+penitents.
+
+I solemnly testify that the well-educated lady, when she has once
+surrendered herself to the power of her confessor, becomes, as a general
+rule, at least as vulnerable to the arrows of the enemy as the poorer and
+less educated. Nay, I must say that, once on the down-hill road of
+perdition, the high-bred lady runs headlong into the pit with a more
+deplorable rapidity than her humbler sister.
+
+All Canada is witness that a few years ago it was among the highest ranks
+of society that the Grand Vicar Superior of one of the richest and most
+influential colleges of Canada, was choosing his victims, when the public
+cry of indignation and shame forced the Bishop to send him back to Europe,
+where he soon after died. Was it not also among the higher classes of
+society that a Superior of the Seminary of Quebec was destroying souls,
+when he was detected, and forced, during a dark night, to fly and conceal
+himself behind the walls of the Trappist Monastery of Iowa?
+
+Many would be the folio volumes which I should have to write, were I to
+publish all that my twenty-five years' experience in the confessional has
+taught me of the unspeakable secret corruption of the _greatest_ part of
+the so-called respectable ladies who have unconditionally surrendered
+themselves into the hands of their holy (?) confessors. But the following
+fact will suffice for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and an
+intelligence to understand.
+
+In one of the most beautiful and thriving towns along the St. Lawrence
+River lived a rich merchant. He was young, and his marriage with a most
+lovely, rich, and accomplished young lady had made him one of the happiest
+men in the land.
+
+A few years after his marriage, the Bishop appointed to that town a young
+priest, really remarkable for his eloquence, zeal, and amiable qualities,
+and the merchant and the priest soon became connected by links of the most
+sincere friendship.
+
+The young, accomplished wife of the merchant soon became the model woman of
+the place, under the direction of her new confessor.
+
+Many and long were the hours she used to pass by the side of her spiritual
+Father, to be purified and enlightened by his godly advices. She soon was
+seen at the head of the few who had the privilege of receiving the holy
+communion once a week. The husband, who was a good Roman Catholic himself,
+blessed God and the Virgin Mary that he had the privilege of living with
+such an angel of piety.
+
+Nobody had the least suspicion of what was going on under that holy and
+white mantle of the most exalted piety. Nobody, except God and His angels,
+could hear the questions put by the priest to his fair pentitent, and the
+answers made during the long hours of their _tete-a-tete_, in the
+confessional-box. Nobody but God could see the hellish fires which were
+devouring the hearts of the confessor and his victim! For nearly one year,
+both the young priest and his spiritual patient enjoyed, in those intimate
+and private secret conversations, all the pleasures which lovers feel, when
+they can speak freely to each other of their secret thoughts and love.
+
+But this was not enough for them. They both wanted something more real,
+though the difficulties were great and seemed even insurmountable. The
+priest had his mother and sister with him, whose eyes were too sharp to
+allow him to invite the lady to his own house for any criminal object, and
+the young husband had no business at a distance which could keep him long
+enough out of his happy home to allow the Pope's confessor to accomplish
+his diabolical designs.
+
+But when a poor fallen daughter of Eve has a mind to do a thing, she very
+soon finds the means, particularly if high education has added to her
+natural shrewdness.
+
+And in this case, as in many others of a similar nature which have been
+revealed to me, she soon found how to attain her object without
+compromising herself or her holy (?) confessor. A plan was soon found, and
+cordially agreed to, and both patiently awaited their opportunity.
+
+"Why have you not gone to mass to-day and received the holy communion, my
+dear?" said the husband: "I had ordered the servant-man to put the horse in
+the buggy for you as usual."
+
+"I am not very well, my beloved; I have passed a sleepless night from
+head-ache."
+
+"I will send for the physician," replied the husband.
+
+"Yes, my dear; do send for the physician--perhaps he will do me good."
+
+One hour after, the physician called. He found his fair patient a little
+feverish, pronounced that there was nothing serious, and that she would
+soon be well. He gave her a little powder, to be taken three times a day,
+and left; but at nine p.m., she complained of a great pain in the chest,
+and soon fainted and fell on the floor.
+
+The doctor was again immediately sent for, but he was from home: it took
+nearly half an hour before he could come. When he arrived the alarming
+crisis was over--she was sitting in an arm-chair, with some neighbouring
+women, who were applying cold water and vinegar to her forehead.
+
+The physician was really at a loss what to say of the cause of such a
+sudden illness. At last he said that it might be an attack of the "ver
+solitaire" (tape-worm). He declared that it was not dangerous; that he knew
+how to cure her. He ordered some new powder to be taken, and left, after
+having promised to return the next day. Half an hour after she began to
+complain of a most terrible pain in her chest, and fainted again; but
+before doing so she said to her husband,--
+
+"My dear, you see that the physician understands absolutely nothing of the
+nature of my disease. I have not the least confidence in him, for I feel
+that his powders make me worse. I do not want to see him any more. I suffer
+more than you suspect, my beloved; and if there is not soon a change I may
+be dead tomorrow. The only physician I want is our holy confessor; please
+make haste to go and get him. I want to make a general confession, and to
+receive the holy viaticum (communion) and extreme unction before I grow
+worse."
+
+Beside himself with anxiety, the distracted husband ordered the horse to be
+put in the buggy, and made his servant accompany him on horseback, to ring
+the bell, while his pastor carried "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) to his
+dear sick wife.
+
+He found the priest piously reading his _breviarium_ (his book of daily
+prayers); and admired the charity and promptitude with which his good
+pastor, in that dark and chilly night, was ready to leave his warm and
+comfortable parsonage at the first appeal of the sick. In less than an hour
+the husband had taken the priest with "the good god" from the church to the
+bedroom of his wife.
+
+All along the way the servant-man had rung a big hand-bell to awaken the
+sleeping farmers, who, at the noise, had to jump, half naked out of their
+beds and worship, on their knees, with their faces prostrate in the dust,
+"the good god" which was being carried to the sick.
+
+On his arrival, the confessor, with every appearance of sincere piety,
+deposited "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) on a table, richly prepared for
+such a solemn occasion, and, approaching the bed, leaned his head towards
+his penitent, and inquired how she felt.
+
+She answered him, "I am very sick, and want to make a general confession
+before I die."
+
+Speaking to her husband, she said with a fainting voice, "Please, my dear,
+tell my friends to withdraw from the room, that I may not be distracted
+when making what may be my last confession."
+
+The husband respectfully requested the friends to leave the room with him,
+and shut the door, that the holy confessor might be _alone_ with his
+penitent during her general confession.
+
+One of the most diabolical schemes under the cover of auricular confession
+had perfectly succeeded. The mother of harlots, that great enchantress of
+souls, whose seat is on the city of the "seven hills," had, there, her
+priest to bring shame, disgrace, and damnation, under the mask of
+Christianity.
+
+The destroyer of souls, whose masterpiece is auricular confession, had
+there, for the millionth time, a fresh opportunity of insulting the God of
+purity, through one of the most criminal actions which the dark shades of
+night can conceal.
+
+But let us draw the veil over the abominations of that hour of iniquity,
+and let us leave to hell its dark secrets.
+
+After he had accomplished the ruin of his victim, and most cruelly and
+sacrilegiously abused the confidence of his friend, the young priest opened
+the door of the room and said, with a sanctimonious air, "You may enter to
+pray with me, while I give the last sacrament to our dear sick sister."
+
+They came in; "the good god" (_Le Bon Dieu_) was given to the woman; and
+the husband, full of gratitude for the considerate attention of his priest,
+took him back to his parsonage, and thanked him most sincerely for having
+so kindly come to visit his wife in so chilly a night.
+
+Ten years later, I was called to preach a retreat (a kind of revival) in
+that same parish. That lady, then an absolute stranger to me, came to my
+confessional-box and confessed to me those details as I now give them. She
+seemed to be really penitent, and I gave her absolution and the entire
+pardon of her sins, as my Church told me to do. On the last day of the
+revival, the merchant invited me to a grand dinner. Then it was that I came
+to know who my penitent had been. I must not forget to mention that she had
+confessed to me that, of her four children, the last three belonged to her
+confessor! He had lost his mother, and, his sister having married, his
+parsonage had become more accessible to his fair penitents, many of whom
+had availed themselves of that opportunity to practise the lessons they had
+learned in the confessional. The priest had been removed to a higher
+position, where he, more than ever, enjoyed the confidence of his
+superiors, the respect of the people, and the love of his female penitents.
+
+I never felt so embarrassed in my life as when at the table of that
+cruelly-victimised man. We had hardly begun to take our dinner when he
+asked me if I had known their late pastor, the amiable Rev. Mr. ----
+
+I answered, "Yes, sir, I know him."
+
+"Is he not a most accomplished priest?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he is a most accomplished man," I answered.
+
+"Why is it," rejoined the good merchant, "that the Bishop has taken him
+away from us? He was doing so well here! He had so deservedly earned the
+confidence of all by his piety and gentlemanly manners that we made every
+effort to keep him with us. I drew up a petition myself, which all the
+people signed, to induce the Bishop to let him remain in our midst; but in
+vain. His lordship answered us that he wanted him for a more important
+place on account of his rare ability, and we had to submit. His zeal and
+devotedness knew no bounds. In the darkest and most stormy nights he was
+always ready to come to the first call of the sick. I shall never forget
+how quickly and cheerfully he responded to my appeal when, a few years ago,
+I went, in the midst of one of our most chilly nights, to request him to
+visit my wife, who was very sick."
+
+At this stage of the conversation, I must confess that I nearly laughed
+outright. The gratitude of that poor dupe of the confessional to the priest
+who had come to bring shame and destruction to his house, and the idea of
+that very man going himself to convey to his home the corrupter of his own
+wife, seemed to me so ludicrous that, for a moment, I had to make a
+superhuman effort to control myself.
+
+But I was soon brought to my better senses by the shame which I felt at the
+idea of the unspeakable degradation and secret infamy of the clergy of
+which I was a member. At that instant hundreds of cases of similar, if not
+greater, depravity, which had been revealed to me through the confessional,
+came to my mind and distressed and disgusted me so much that my tongue was
+almost paralyzed.
+
+After dinner the merchant asked his lady to call the children, that I might
+see them, and I could not but admire their beauty; but I do not need to say
+that the pleasure of seeing those dear and lovely little ones was much
+marred by the secret though sure knowledge I had that the three youngest
+were the fruits of the unspeakable depravity of auricular confession in the
+higher ranks of society.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+AURICULAR CONFESSION DESTROYS ALL THE SACRED TIES OF MARRIAGE AND HUMAN
+SOCIETY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Would the banker allow his priest to open, when alone, the safe of his
+bank, manipulate and examine his papers, and pry into the most secret
+details of his banking business?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+How is it, then, that the same banker allows that priest to open the heart
+of his wife, manipulate her soul, and pry into the sacred chambers of her
+most intimate and secret thoughts?
+
+Are not the heart, the soul, the purity, and the self-respect of his wife
+as great and precious treasures as the safe of his bank? Are not the risks
+and dangers of temptations, imprudences, indiscretions, much greater and
+more irreparable in the second than in the first case?
+
+Would the jeweller, or goldsmith, allow his priest to come when he pleases,
+and handle the rich articles of his stores, ransack the desk where his
+money is deposited, and play with it as he pleases?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+But are not the heart, the soul, and the purity of his dear wife and
+daughter a thousandfold more valuable than his precious stones, or silver
+and gold wares? Are not the dangers of temptation and indiscretions, on the
+part of the priest, more formidable and irresistible in the second than in
+the first of these cases?
+
+Would the livery-man allow his priest to take his most valuable and
+unmanageable horses as he wishes, and drive alone, without any other
+consideration and security than the discretion of his pastor?
+
+No! surely not.
+
+That livery-man knows that he would soon be ruined if he should do so.
+Whatever may be his confidence in the discretion, honesty, and prudence of
+his priest, he will never push his confidence so far as to give him the
+unreserved control of the noble and fiery animals which are the glory of
+his stables and the support of his family.
+
+How, then, can the same man trust the entire, absolute management of his
+wife and dear daughters to the control of that one to whom he would not
+entrust his horses?
+
+Are not his wife and daughters as precious to him as those horses? Is there
+not greater danger of indiscretions, mismanagement, irreparable and fatal
+errors on the part of the priest, dealing alone with the wife and
+daughters, than when driving the horses? No human act of folly, moral
+depravity, and want of common sense, can equal the permission given by a
+man to his wife to go and confess to the priest.
+
+That day he abdicates the royal--I had almost said divine--dignity of
+husband; for it is from God that he holds it: his crown is forever lost,
+his sceptre broken!
+
+What would you do to any one mean enough to peep or listen through the
+key-hole of your door, in order to hear or see everything that was said or
+done within? Would you show so little self-respect as to tolerate such
+indiscretion? Would you not rather take a whip or a cane, and drive away
+the villain? Would you not even expose your life to free yourself from
+impudent curiosity?
+
+But what is the confessional, if not the key-hole of your house and of your
+very chamber, through which the priest can hear and see your most secret
+words and actions, nay, more, know your most intimate thoughts and
+aspirations?
+
+Are you men to submit to such sly and insulting inquisition? Do you deserve
+the name of men who consent to put up with such ignoble affront and
+humiliation?
+
+"The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the
+Church." "Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
+be to their own husbands, in everything" (Eph. v.) If these solemn words
+are the true oracles of divine wisdom, is not the husband divinely
+appointed the _only_ adviser, counsellor, help of his wife, just as Christ
+is the _only_ adviser, counsellor, and help of His Church?
+
+If the Apostle was not an impostor when he said that the wife is to her
+husband what the body is to the head, and that the husband is to his wife
+what the head is to the body--is not the husband appointed by God to be the
+light, the guide of his wife? Is it not his duty, as well as his privilege
+and glory, to console her in her afflictions, strengthen her in her hours
+of weakness, keep her up when she is in danger of fainting, and encourage
+her when she is on the rough and uphill ways of life?
+
+If Christ has not come to deceive the world through His Apostle, must not
+the wife go to her husband for advice? Ought she not to expect from him,
+and him alone, after God, the light she wants and the consolation she is in
+need of? Is it not to her husband, and to him alone, after God, she ought
+to look in her days of trial for help? Is it not under his leadership alone
+she must fight the battle of life and conquer? Are not this mutual and
+daily sharing of the anxieties of life, this constant shouldering on the
+battle-field, and this reciprocal and mutual protection and help renewed at
+every hour of the day, which form, under the eyes and by the mercy of God,
+the holiest and the purest charms of the married life? Is it not that
+unreserved confidence in each other which binds together those golden links
+of Christian love that make them happy in the very midst of the trials of
+life? Is it not through this mutual confidence alone that they are _one_ as
+God wants them to be _one_? Is it not in this unity of thoughts, fears and
+hopes, joys and love, which come from God, that they can cheerfully cross
+the thorny valley, and safely reach the Promised Land?
+
+The Gospel says that the husband is to his wife what Christ is to His
+Church! Is it not, then, a most sacrilegious iniquity for a wife to look to
+another rather than to her own husband for such advice, wisdom, strength,
+and life, as he is entitled, qualified, and ready to afford? As no other
+has the right to her love, so no other man has any right to her absolute
+confidence. As she becomes an adulteress the day that she gives her body to
+another man, is she any the less an adulteress, the day that she gives her
+confidence and trusts her soul to a stranger? The adultery of the heart and
+soul is not less criminal than the adultery of the body; and every time the
+wife goes to the feet of the priest to confess, does she not become guilty
+of that iniquity?
+
+In the Church of Rome, through the confessional, the priest is much more
+the husband of the wife than the man to whom she was wedded at the foot of
+the altar. The priest has the best part of the wife. He has the marrow,
+when the husband has the bones. He has the juice of the orange, the husband
+has the rind. He has the soul and the heart; the husband has the skeleton.
+He has the honey; the husband has the wax cell. He has the succulent
+oyster; the husband has the dry shell. As much as the soul is higher than
+the body, so much are the power and privileges of the priest higher than
+the power and privileges of the husband in the mind of the penitent wife.
+As the husband is the lord of the body which he feeds, so the priest is the
+lord of the soul, which he also feeds. The wife, then, has two lords and
+masters, whom she must love, respect, and obey. Will she not give the best
+part of her love, respect, and submission to the one who is as much above
+the other as the heavens are above the earth? But as one cannot serve two
+masters together, will not the master who prepares and fits her for an
+eternal life of glory, certainly be the object of her constant, real, and
+most ardent love, gratitude, and respect, when the worldly and sinful man
+to whom she is married will have _only_ the appearance or the crumbs of
+those sentiments? Will she not, naturally, instinctively serve, love,
+respect, and obey, as lord and master, the godly man whose yoke is so
+light, so holy, so divine, rather than the carnal man whose human
+imperfections are to her a source of daily trial and suffering?
+
+In the Church of Rome the thoughts and desires, the secret joys and fears
+of the soul, the very life of the wife, are sealed things to the husband.
+He has no right to look into the sanctuary of her heart; he has no remedy
+to apply to the soul; he has no mission from God to advise her in the dark
+hours of her anxieties; he has no balm to apply to the bleeding wounds, so
+often received in the daily battles of life; he must remain a perfect
+stranger in his own house.
+
+The wife, expecting nothing from her husband, has no revelation to make to
+him, no favour to ask, no debt of gratitude to pay. Nay, she shuts all the
+avenues of her soul, all the doors and windows of her heart, against her
+husband. The priest, and the priest alone, has a right to her entire
+confidence; to him, and him alone, she will go and reveal all her secrets,
+show all her wounds; to him, and him alone, she will turn her mind, her
+heart and soul, in the hour of trouble and anxiety; from him, and him
+alone, she will ask and expect the light and consolation she wants. Every
+day, more and more, her husband will become as a stranger to her, if he
+does not become a real nuisance, and an obstacle to her happiness and
+peace.
+
+Yes, through the confessional, an unfathomable abyss has been dug, by the
+Church of Rome, between the heart of the wife and the heart of the husband!
+Their bodies may be very near each other, but their souls, their real
+affections and their confidence, are at greater distance than the north is
+from the south pole of the earth. The confessor is the master, the ruler,
+the king of the soul; the husband, as the grave-yard keeper, must be
+satisfied with the carcase!
+
+The husband has the permission to look on the outside of the palace; he is
+allowed to rest his head on the cold marble, of the outdoor steps; but the
+confessor triumphantly walks into the mysterious starry rooms, examines at
+leisure their numberless and unspeakable wonders; and, alone, he is allowed
+to rest his head on the soft pillows of the unbounded confidence, respect,
+and love of the wife.
+
+In the Church of Rome, if the husband asks a favour from his wife, nine
+times in ten she will inquire from her father confessor whether or not she
+can grant him his request, and the poor husband will have to wait patiently
+for the permission of the master or the rebuke of the lord, according to
+the answer of the oracle which had to be consulted! If he gets impatient
+under the yoke, and murmurs, the wife will soon go to the feet of her
+confessor; to tell him how she has the misfortune to be united to a most
+unreasonable man, and how she has to suffer from him! She reveals to her
+"dear father" how she is unhappy under such a yoke, and how her life would
+be an unsupportable burden, had she not the privilege and happiness of
+coming often to his feet, to lay down her sorrows, hear his sympathetic
+words, and get his so affectionate and paternal advice! She tells him, with
+tears of gratitude, that it is only when by his side, and at his feet, she
+finds rest to her weary soul, balm to her bleeding heart, and peace to her
+troubled conscience.
+
+When she comes from the confessional, her ears are long filled as with a
+heavenly music, the honeyed words of her confessor ring for many days in
+her heart, she feels it lonesome to be separated from him, his image is
+constantly before her mind, and the _souvenir_ of his amiabilities is one
+of her most pleasant thoughts. There is nothing which she likes so much as
+to speak of his good qualities, his patience, his piety, his charity, she
+longs for the day when she will again go to confess, and pass a few hours
+by the side of that angelic man, in opening to him all the secrets of her
+heart, and in revealing all her _ennuis_. She tells him how she regrets
+that she cannot come oftener to see him, and receive the benefit of his
+charitable counsels; she does not even conceal from him how often, in her
+dreams, she feels too happy to be with him! More and more, every day, the
+gap between her and her husband widens; more and more, each day, she
+regrets that she has not the happiness to be the wife of such a holy man as
+her confessor! Oh! if it were possible...! But, then, she blushes or
+smiles, and sings a song.
+
+Then again, I ask it, Who is the true lord, ruler, and master in that
+house? For whom does that heart beat and live?
+
+Thus it is that that stupendous imposture, the dogma of auricular
+confession, does completely destroy all the links, the joys, the
+responsibilities, and divine privileges of the married life, and transforms
+it into a life of perpetual, though disguised, adultery. It becomes utterly
+impossible, in the church of Rome, that the husband should be _one_ with
+his wife, and that the wife should be _one_ with her husband: a "monstrous
+being" has been put between them both, called the confessor! Born in the
+darkest ages of the world, that being has received from hell his mission to
+destroy and contaminate the purest joys of the married life, to enslave the
+wife, to outrage the husband, and to damn the world!
+
+The more auricular confession is practised, the more the laws of public and
+private morality are trampled under feet. The husband wants his wife to be
+_his_--he does not, and could not, consent to share his authority over her
+with anybody: he wants to be the _only_ man who will have her confidence
+and her heart, as well as her respect and love. And so, the very moment
+that he anticipates the dark shadow of the confessor coming between him and
+the woman of his choice, he prefers silently to shrink from entering into
+the sacred bond; the holy joys of home and family lose their divine
+attractions; he prefers the cold life of an ignominious celibacy to the
+humiliation and opprobrium of the questionable privileges of an uncertain
+paternity.
+
+France, Spain, and many other Roman Catholic countries, thus witness the
+multitude of those bachelors increasing every year. The number of families
+and births, in consequence, is fast decreasing in their midst; and, if God
+does not perform a miracle to stop those nations on their downward course,
+it is easy to calculate the day when they will owe their existence to the
+tolerance and pity of the mighty Protestant nations by which they are
+surrounded.
+
+Why is it that the Irish Roman Catholic people are so irremediably degraded
+and clothed in rags? Why is it that that people, whom God has endowed with
+so many noble qualities, seem to be so deprived of intelligence and
+self-respect that they glory in their own shame? Why is it that their land
+has been for centuries the land of bloody riots and cowardly murders? The
+principal cause is the enslaving of the Irish women, by means of the
+confessional. Every one knows that the spiritual slavery and degradation of
+the Irish woman has no bounds. After she has been enslaved and degraded,
+she, in turn, has enslaved and degraded her husband and her sons. Ireland
+will be an object of pity; she will be poor, miserable, riotous,
+blood-thirsty, degraded, so long as she rejects Christ, to be ruled by the
+father confessor planted in every parish by the Pope.
+
+Who has not been amazed and saddened by the downfall of France? How is it
+that her once so mighty armies have melted away, that her brave sons have
+so easily been conquered and disarmed? How is it that France, fallen
+powerless at the feet of her enemies, has frightened the world by the
+spectacle of the incredible, bloody, and savage follies of the Commune? Do
+not look for the causes of the downfall, humiliation, and untold miseries
+of France anywhere else than in the confessional. For centuries has not
+that great country obstinately rejected Christ? Has she not slaughtered or
+sent into exile her noblest children, who wanted to follow the Gospel? Has
+she not given her fair daughters into the hands of the confessors, who have
+defiled and degraded them? How could women, in France, teach her husbands
+and sons to love liberty, and die for it, when she was herself a miserable,
+an abject slave? How could she form her husbands and sons to the manly
+virtues of heroes, when her own mind was defiled and her heart corrupted?
+
+The French woman had unconditionally surrendered the noble and fair citadel
+of her heart, intelligence, and womanly self-respect, into the hands of her
+confessor long before her sons surrendered their sword to the Germans at
+Sedan and Paris. The first unconditional surrender had brought the second.
+
+The complete moral destruction of woman by the confessor in France has been
+a long work. It has required centuries to bow down, break, and enslave the
+noble daughters of France. Yes; but those who know France know that that
+destruction is now as complete as it is deplorable. The downfall of woman
+in France, and her supreme degradation through the confessional, is now _un
+fait accompli_, which nobody can deny; the highest intellects have seen and
+confessed it. One of the most profound thinkers of that unfortunate
+country, Michelet, has depicted that supreme and irretrievable degradation
+in a most eloquent book, "The Priest, The Woman, The Family;" and not a
+voice has been raised to deny or refute what he has said. Those who have
+any knowledge of history and philosophy know very well that the moral
+degradation of the woman is soon followed, everywhere, by the moral
+degradation of the nation; and the moral degradation of the nation is very
+soon followed by ruin and overthrow.
+
+That French nation had been formed by God to be a race of giants. They were
+chivalrous and brave; they had bright intelligences, stout hearts, strong
+arms, and a mighty sword. But as the hardest granite rock yields and breaks
+under the drop of water which incessantly falls upon it, so that great
+nation had to break and to fall into pieces under, not the drop, but the
+rivers of impure waters which for centuries have incessantly flowed in upon
+it from the pestilential fountain of the confessional. "Righteousness
+exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach, to any people." (Proverbs xiv.)
+
+Why is it that Spain is so miserable, so weak, so poor, so foolishly and
+cruelly tearing her own bosom, and reddening her fair valleys with the
+blood of her own children? The principal, if not the only, cause of the
+downfall of that great nation is the confessional. There, also, the
+confessor has defiled, degraded, enslaved women, and women in turn have
+defiled and degraded their husbands and sons. Women have sown broadcast
+over their country the seeds of that slavery, of that want of Christian
+honesty, justice, and self-respect with which they had themselves been
+first imbued in the confessional.
+
+But when you see, without a single exception, the nations whose women drink
+the impure and poisonous waters which flow from the confessional sinking
+down so rapidly, do you not wonder how fast the neighbouring nations, who
+have destroyed those dens of impurity, prostitution, and abject slavery,
+are rising up? What a marvellous contrast is before our eyes! On one side,
+the nations who allow the woman to be degraded and enslaved at the feet of
+the confessor--France, Spain, Romish Ireland, Mexico, &c., &c.--are, there,
+fallen into the dust, bleeding, struggling, powerless, like the sparrow
+whose entrails are devoured by the vulture. On the other side, see how the
+nations whose women go to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb are
+soaring up, as on eagle wings, in the highest regions of progress, peace,
+and liberty!
+
+If legislators could once understand the respect and protection they owe to
+woman, they would soon, by stringent laws, prohibit auricular confession as
+contrary to good morals and the welfare of society; for, though the
+advocates of auricular confession have succeeded to a certain extent in
+blinding the public, and in concealing the abominations of the system under
+a lying mantle of holiness and religion, it is nothing else than a school
+of immorality.
+
+I say more than that. After twenty-five years of hearing the confessions of
+the common people and of the highest classes of society, of the laymen and
+the priests, of the grand vicars and bishops and the nuns, I
+conscientiously say before the world that the immorality of the
+confessional is of a more dangerous and degrading nature than that which we
+attribute to the social evil of our great cities. The injury caused to the
+intelligence and to the soul in the confessional, as a general rule, is of
+a more dangerous nature and more irremediable, because it is neither
+suspected nor understood by its victims.
+
+The unfortunate woman who lives an immoral life knows her profound misery;
+she often blushes and weeps over her degradation; she hears from every side
+voices which call her out of those ways of perdition. Almost at every hour
+of day and night the cry of her conscience warns her against the desolation
+and suffering of an eternity passed far away from the regions of holiness,
+light, and life. All those things are often so many means of grace, in the
+hands of our merciful God, to awaken the mind and to save the guilty soul.
+But in the confessional the poison is administered under the name of a pure
+and refreshing water; the deadly wound is inflicted by a sword so well
+oiled that the blow is not felt; the vilest and most impure notions and
+thoughts, in the form of questions and answers, are presented and accepted
+as the bread of life! All the notions of modesty, purity, and womanly
+self-respect and delicacy, are set aside and forgotten to propitiate the
+god of Rome. In the confessional the woman is told, and she believes, that
+there is no sin for her in hearing things which would make the vilest
+blush--no sin to say things which would make the most desperate villain of
+the streets of London to stagger--no sin to converse with her confessor on
+matters so filthy that if attempted in civil life would for ever exclude
+the perpetrator from the society of the virtuous.
+
+Yes, the soul and the intelligence defiled and destroyed in the
+confessional are often hopelessly defiled and destroyed. They are sinking
+into a complete, an irretrievable perdition; for, not knowing the guilt,
+they will not cry for mercy--not suspecting the fatal disease that is being
+fostered, they will not call for the true Physician. It was evidently when
+thinking of the unspeakable ruin of the souls of men through the wickedness
+culminating in the "Pope's confessors," that the Son of God said:--"If the
+blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." To every woman, with
+very few exceptions, coming out from the feet of her confessor, the
+children of light may say:--"I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
+thou livest, but thou art dead!" (Revelations iii.)
+
+Nobody has yet been, nor ever will be, able to answer the few following
+lines, which I addressed some years ago to the Rev. Mr. Bruyere, Roman
+Catholic Vicar-General of London, Canada:--
+
+"With a blush on my face and regret in my heart, I confess, before God and
+man, that I have been like you, and with you, through the confessional,
+plunged twenty-five years in that bottomless sea of iniquity, in which the
+blind priests of Rome have to swim day and night.
+
+"I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous questions which the Church
+of Rome forces every priest to learn. I had to put those impure, immoral
+questions to old and young females who were confessing their sins to me.
+These questions--you know it--are of such a nature that no prostitute would
+dare to put them to another. Those questions, and the answers they elicit,
+are so debasing that no man in London--you know it--except a priest of
+Rome, is sufficiently lost to every sense of shame as to put them to any
+woman.
+
+"Yes, I was bound, in conscience, as you are bound to-day, to put into the
+ears, the mind, the imagination, the memory, the heart and soul of females,
+questions of such a nature, the direct and immediate tendency of which--you
+know it well--is to fill the minds and the hearts of both priests and
+female penitents with thoughts, phantoms, and temptations of such a
+degrading nature, that I do not know any words adequate to express them.
+Pagan antiquity has never seen any institution so polluting as the
+confessional. I know nothing more corrupting than the law which forces a
+female to tell all her thoughts, desires, and most secret feelings and
+actions to an unmarried priest. The confessional is a school of perdition.
+You may deny that before the Protestants; but you cannot deny it before me.
+My dear Mr. Bruyere, if you call me a degraded man because I have lived
+twenty-five years in the atmosphere of the confessional, you are right. I
+was a degraded man, just as yourself and all the priests are to-day, in
+spite of your denegations. If you call me a degraded man, because my soul,
+my mind and my heart were, as your own are to-day, plunged into the deep
+waters of iniquity which flow from the confessional, I confess 'Guilty!' I
+was degraded and polluted by the confessional just as you and all the
+priests of Rome are.
+
+"It has required the whole blood of the great Victim, who died on Calvary
+for sinners, to purify me; and I pray that, through the same blood, you may
+be purified also."
+
+If the legislators knew the respect and protection they owe to women--I
+repeat it--they would by the most stringent laws prohibit auricular
+confession as a crime against society.
+
+Not long ago, a printer in England was sent to jail and severely punished
+for having published in English the questions put by the priests to the
+women in the confessional; and the sentence was equitable, for all who will
+read those questions will conclude that no girl or woman who brings her
+mind into contact with the contents of that book can escape from moral
+death. But what are the priests of Rome doing in the confessional? Do they
+not pass the greatest part of their time in questioning females, old and
+young, and hearing their answers, on those very matters? If it were a
+crime, punishable by law, to present those questions in a book, is it not a
+crime far more punishable by law to present those very things to married
+and unmarried women through the auricular confession?
+
+I ask it from every man of common sense, What is the difference between a
+woman or a girl learning those things in a book, or learning them from the
+lips of a man? Will not those impure, demoralizing suggestions sink more
+deeply into their minds, and impress themselves more forcibly in their
+memory, when told to them by a man of authority, speaking in the name of
+Almighty God, than when read in a book which has no authority?
+
+I say to the legislators of Europe and America: "Read for yourselves those
+horrible, unmentionable things;" and remember that the Pope has 100,000
+priests whose principal work is to put those very things into the
+intelligence and memory of the women whom they entrap into their snares.
+Let us suppose that each priest hears the confessions of only five female
+penitents (though we know that the daily average is ten). It gives us the
+awful number of 500,000 women whom the priests of Rome have the legal right
+to pollute and destroy every day!
+
+Legislators of the so-called Christian and civilized nations, I ask it
+again from you, Where is your consistency, your justice, your love of
+public morality, when you punish so severely the man who has printed the
+questions put to the women in the confessional, while you honour and let
+free, and often pay the men whose public and private life is spent in
+spreading the very same moral poison in a much more efficacious, scandalous
+and shameful way, under the sacrilegious mask of religion?
+
+The confessional is in the hands of the devil what West Point is to the
+United States, and Woolwich is to Great Britain, a training of the army to
+fight and conquer the enemy. It is in the confessional that 500,000 women
+every day, and 182,500,000 every year are trained by the Pope in the art of
+fighting against God, by destroying themselves and the whole world, through
+every imaginable kind of impurity and filthiness.
+
+Once more, I request the legislators, the husbands, and the fathers in
+Europe, as well as in America, to read in Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, in every
+theological book of Rome, what their wives and their daughters have to
+learn in the confessional.
+
+In order to screen themselves, the priests of Rome have recourse to the
+following miserable subterfuge:--"Is not the physician forced," they say,
+"to perform certain delicate operations on women? Do you complain of this?
+No; you let the physicians alone; you do not abuse them in their arduous
+and conscientious duties. Why, then, do you insult the physician of the
+soul, the confessor, in the accomplishment of his holy, though delicate,
+duties?
+
+I answer, first, The art and science of the physician are approved and
+praised in many places of the Scriptures. But the art and science of the
+confessor are nowhere to be found in the holy records. Auricular confession
+is nothing else than a most stupendous imposture. The filthy and impure
+questions of the confessor, with the polluting answers they elicit, were
+put among the most diabolical and forbidden actions by God Himself the day
+that the Spirit of Truth, Holiness, and Life wrote the imperishable
+words,--"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth" (Eph. iv.
+29).
+
+Secondly, The physician is not bound by a solemn oath to remain ignorant of
+the things which it will be his duty to examine and cure. But the priest of
+Rome is bound, by the most ridiculous and impious oath of celibacy, to
+remain ignorant of the very things which are the daily objects of his
+inquiries, observations, and thoughts! The priest of Rome has sworn never
+to taste of the fruits with which he feeds, his imagination, his memory,
+his heart, and his soul day and night! The physician is honest in the
+performance of his duties; but the priest of Rome becomes in fact a
+perjured man every time he enters the confessional-box.
+
+Thirdly, If a lady has a little sore on her small finger, and is obliged to
+go to the physician, for a remedy, she has only to show her little finger,
+allow the plaister or ointment to be applied, and all is finished. The
+physician _never_--no, never--says to that lady, "It is my duty to suspect
+that you have many other parts of your body which are sick; I am bound in
+conscience, under pain of death, to examine you from head to foot, in order
+to save your precious life from those _secret_ diseases, which may kill you
+if they are not cured just now. Several of those diseases are of such a
+nature that you never dared perhaps to examine them with the attention they
+deserve, and you are hardly conscious of them. I know, madam, that this is
+a very painful and delicate thing for both you and me, that I should be
+forced to make that thorough examination of your person, but there is no
+help; I am in duty bound to do it. But you have nothing to fear. I am a
+holy man, who has made a vow of celibacy. We are alone; neither your
+husband nor your father will ever know the secret infirmities I will find
+in you; they will never even suspect the perfect investigation I will make,
+and they will, for ever, be ignorant of the remedy I will apply."
+
+Has any physician ever been authorized to speak or act in this way with any
+of his female patients? No; never! never!
+
+But this is just the way the spiritual physician, with whom the devil
+enslaves and corrupts women, acts. When the fair, honest, and timid
+spiritual patient has come to her confessor, to show him the little sore
+she has on the small finger of her soul, the confessor _is bound_ in
+conscience to suspect that she has other sores,--secret, shameful sores!
+Yes, he is bound, nine times in ten; and he is _always allowed_ to suppose
+that she does not dare to reveal them! Then he is advised by the Church to
+induce her to let him search every corner of the heart, and of the soul,
+and to inquire about every kind of contaminations, impurities, secret and
+shameful unspeakable matters! The young priest is drilled in the diabolical
+art of going into the most sacred recesses of the soul and the heart,
+almost in spite of his penitents. I could bring hundreds of theologians as
+witnesses to what I say.--But it is enough just now to cite three.
+
+"Lest the Confessor should indolently hesitate in tracing out the
+circumstances of any sin, let him have the following versicle of
+circumstances in readiness:
+
+"Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando. Who, which, where,
+with whom, why, how, when." (Dens, vol. 6, p. 123. Liguori, vol. 2, p.
+464.)
+
+The celebrated book of the Priests, "The Mirror of the Clergy," page 357,
+says:
+
+"Oportet ut Confessor solet cognoscere quid quid debet judicare. Deligens
+igitur inquisitor et subtilis investigator sapienter quasi astute
+interrogat a peccatore quod ignorat, vel verecundia volit occultare."
+
+"It is necessary that the Confessor should know everything on which he has
+to exercise his judgment. Let him then, with wisdom and subtility,
+interrogate the sinners on the sins which he may ignore, or conceal through
+shame!"
+
+The poor, unprotected girl is thus thrown into the power of the priest,
+soul and body, to be examined on all the sins she may ignore, or which,
+through shame, she may conceal! On what boundless sea of depravity the poor
+fragile bark is launched by the priest! On what bottomless abysses of
+impurities she will have to pass and travel, in company with the priest
+alone, before he will have interrogated her on all the sins she may ignore,
+and which she may have concealed through shame!! Who can tell the
+sentiments of surprise and shame and distress, of a timid, honest young
+girl, when, for the first time, she is initiated to infamies which are
+ignored even in houses of prostitution!!!
+
+But such is the practice, the sacred duty of the spiritual physician. "Let
+him (the priest confessor) with wisdom and subtlety interrogate the sinner
+on the sins he may ignore or conceal with shame."
+
+And there are 100,000 men, not only allowed, but petted, and often paid by
+the governments to do that, under the name of the God of the Gospel!
+
+Fourthly, I answer to the sophism of the priest, When the physician has any
+delicate and dangerous operation to perform on a female patient, he is
+_never_ alone; the husband, or the father, the mother, the sister, or some
+friends of the patient are there, whose scrutinizing eyes and attentive
+ears make it _impossible_ for the physician to say or do any improper
+thing.
+
+But, when the poor deluded spiritual patient comes to be treated by her
+so-called spiritual physician, and shows him her diseases, is she not
+alone--shamefully alone--with him? Where are the protecting ears of the
+husband, the father, the mother, the sisters, or the friends? Where is the
+barrier interposed between this sinful, weak, tempted, and often depraved
+man and his victim?
+
+Would the priest so freely ask _this_ and _that_ from that married woman,
+if he knew that the husband could hear him? No, surely not; for he is well
+aware that the enraged husband would blow out the brains of the villain
+who, under the sacrilegious pretext of purifying the soul of his wife, is
+filling her honest heart with every kind of pollution and infamy.
+
+Fifthly, When the physician performs a delicate operation on one of his
+female patients, the operation is usually accompanied with pain, cries, and
+often with bloodshed. The sympathetic and honest physician suffers almost
+as much pain as his patient; those cries, acute pains, tortures, and
+bleeding wounds make it morally impossible that the physician should be
+tempted to any improper thing.
+
+But the sight of the spiritual wounds of that fair penitent! Is the poor
+depraved human heart really sorry to see and examine them? Oh, no! it is
+just the contrary!
+
+The dear Saviour weeps over those wounds; the angels are distressed at the
+sight. Yes. But the deceitful and corrupt heart of man, is it not rather
+apt to be pleased at the sight of wounds which are so much like the ones he
+has himself, so often been pleased to receive from the hand of the enemy?
+
+Was the heart of David pained and horror-struck at the sight of the fair
+Bath-sheba, when imprudently and too freely exposed in her bath? Was not
+that holy prophet smitten and brought down to the dust by that guilty look?
+Was not the mighty giant, Samson, undone by the charms of Delilah? Was not
+the wise Solomon ensnared and befooled in the midst of the women by whom he
+was surrounded?
+
+Who will believe that the bachelors of the Pope are made of stronger metal
+than the Davids, the Samsons, and the Solomons? Where is the man who has so
+completely lost his common sense as to believe that the priests of Rome are
+stronger than Samson, holier than David, wiser than Solomon? Who will
+believe that confessors will stand up on their feet amidst the storms which
+prostrate in the dust those giants of the armies of the Lord? To suppose
+that, in the generality of cases the confessor can resist the temptations
+by which he is daily surrounded in the confessional, that he will
+constantly refuse the golden opportunities which offer themselves to him,
+to satisfy the almost irresistible propensities of his fallen human nature,
+is neither wisdom nor charity; it is simply folly.
+
+I do not say that all the confessors and their female penitents fall into
+the same degree of abject degradation; thanks be to God, I have known
+several who nobly fought their battles and conquered on that field of so
+many shameful defeats. But these are the exceptions. It is just as when the
+fire has ravaged one of our grand forests of America--how sad it is to see
+the numberless noble trees fallen under the devouring element! But, here
+and there the traveller is not a little amazed and pleased to find some
+which have proudly stood the fiery trial without being consumed.
+
+Has not the world at large been struck with terror when they heard of the
+fire which a few years ago had reduced the great city of Chicago to ashes?
+But those who have visited that doomed city, and seen the desolating ruins
+of her 16,000 houses, had to stand in silent admiration before a few which,
+in the very midst of an ocean of fire, had escaped untouched by the
+destructive element.
+
+It is so that, owing to a most marvellous protection of God, some
+privileged souls do escape, here and there, the fatal destruction which
+overtakes so many others in the confessional.
+
+The confessional is just as the spider's web. How many too unsuspecting
+flies find death when seeking rest on the beautiful framework of their
+deceitful enemy! How few escape! and this only after a most desperate
+struggle. See how the perfidious spider looks harmless in his retired, dark
+corner; how motionless he is; how patiently he waits for his opportunity!
+But look how quickly he surrounds his victim with his silky, delicate, and
+imperceptible links! how mercilessly he sucks its blood and destroys its
+life!
+
+What does remain of the imprudent fly, after she has been entrapped into
+the nets of her foe? Nothing but a skeleton. So it is with your fair wife,
+your precious daughter; nine times in ten nothing but a moral skeleton
+returns to you, after the Pope's black spider has been allowed to suck the
+very blood of her heart and soul. Let those who would be tempted to think
+that I do exaggerate read the following extracts from the memoirs of the
+Venerable Scipio de Ricci, Roman Catholic Bishop of Pistoia and Prato, in
+Italy. They were published by the Italian Government, to show to the world
+that some measures ought to be taken by the civil and ecclesiastical
+authorities to prevent the nation from being entirely swept away by the
+deluge of corruption flowing from the confessional, even among the most
+perfect of Rome's followers, the monks and the nuns. The priests have never
+dared to deny a single iota of those terrible revelations. In page 115 we
+read the following letter from Sister Flavia Peraccini, Prioress of St
+Catherine, to Dr. Thomas Comparini, Rector of the Episcopal Seminary of
+Pistoia:--
+
+"_January 22, 1775._--In compliance with the request which you made me this
+day, I hasten to say something, but I know not how.
+
+"Of those who are gone out of the world I shall say nothing. Of those who
+are still alive and have very little decency of conduct there are many,
+among whom there is an ex-provincial named Father Dr. Ballendi, Calvi,
+Zoratti, Bigliaci, Guidi, Miglieti, Verde, Bianchi, Ducci, Seraphini,
+Bolla, Nera di Luca, Quaretti, &c. But wherefore any more? With the
+exception of three or four, all those whom I have ever known, alive or
+dead, are of the same character; they have all the same maxims and the same
+conduct.
+
+"They are on more intimate terms with the nuns than if they were married to
+them! I repeat it, it would require a great deal of time to tell half of
+what I know. It is the custom now, when they come to visit and hear the
+confession of a sick sister, to sup with the nuns, sing, dance, play, and
+sleep in the convent. It is a maxim of theirs that God has forbidden
+hatred, but _not love_, and that man is made for woman and woman for man.
+
+"I say that they can deceive the innocent and the most prudent and
+circumspect, and that it would be a miracle to converse with them and not
+fall!"
+
+Page 117.--"The priests are the husbands of the nuns, and the lay brothers
+of the lay sisters. In the chamber of one of the nuns I have mentioned, one
+day, a man was found; he fled away, but, soon after, they gave him to us as
+our confessor extraordinary.
+
+"How many bishops are there in the Papal States, who have come to the
+knowledge of those disorders, have held examinations and visitations, and
+yet never could remedy; it, because the monks, our confessors, tell us that
+those are excommunicated who reveal what passes in the Order!
+
+"Poor creatures! they think they are leaving the world to escape dangers,
+and they only meet with greater ones. Our fathers and mothers have given us
+a good education, and here we have to unlearn and forget what they have
+taught us."
+
+Page 118.--"Do not suppose that this is the case in our convent alone. It
+is just the same at St. Lucia, Prato, Pisa, Perugia, &c. I have known
+things that would astonish you. Everywhere it is the same. Yes, everywhere
+the same disorders, the same abuses prevail. I say, and I repeat it, let
+the superiors suspect as they may, they do not know the smallest part of
+the enormous wickedness that goes on between the monks and the nuns whom
+they confess. Every monk who passed by on his way to the chapter entreated
+a sick sister to confess to him, and...!"
+
+Page 119.--"With respect to Father Buzachini I say that he acted just as
+the others, sitting up late in the nunnery, diverting himself, and letting
+the usual disorders go on. There were several nuns who had love affairs on
+his account. His own principal mistress was Odaldi, of St. Lucia, who used
+to send him continual treats. He was also in love with the daughter of our
+factor, of whom they were very jealous here. He ruined also poor
+Cancellieri, who was sextoness. The monks are all alike with their
+penitents.
+
+"Some years ago, the nuns of St. Vincent, in consequence of the
+extraordinary passion they had for their father confessors Lupi and
+Borghiani, were divided into two parties, one calling themselves Le Lupe,
+the other Le Borghieni.
+
+"He who made the greatest noise was Donati. I believe he is now at Rome.
+Father Brandi, too, was also in great vogue. I think he is now prior of St.
+Gemignani. At St. Vincent, which passes for a very holy retreat, they have
+also their lovers...."
+
+My pen refuses to reproduce several things which the nuns of Italy have
+published against their father confessors. But this is enough to show to
+the most incredulous that the confession is nothing else but a school of
+perdition, even among those who make a profession to live in the highest
+regions of Roman Catholic holiness--the monks and the nuns.
+
+Now, from Italy let us go to America and see again the working of auricular
+confession, not between the holy (?) nuns and monks of Rome, but among the
+humblest classes of country women and priests. Great is the number of
+parishes where women have been destroyed by their confessors, but I will
+speak only of one.
+
+When curate of Beauport, I was called by the Rev. Mr. Proulx, curate of St.
+Antoine, to preach a retreat (a revival) with the Rev. Mr. Aubry, to his
+parishioners, and eight or ten other priests were also invited to come and
+help us to hear the confessions.
+
+The very first day after preaching and passing five or six hours in the
+confessional, the hospitable curate gave us a supper before going to bed.
+But it was evident that a kind of uneasiness pervaded the whole company of
+the father confessors. For my own part, I could hardly raise my eyes to
+look at my neighbour, and when I wanted to speak a word it seemed that my
+tongue was not free as usual; even my throat was as if it were choked; the
+articulation of the sounds was imperfect. It was evidently the same with
+the rest of the priests. Instead, then, of the noisy and cheerful
+conversation of the other meals, there were only a few insignificant words
+exchanged with a half-supressed tone.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Proulx (the curate) at first looked as if he were partaking
+also of that singular though general despondent feeling. During the first
+part of the lunch he hardly said a word; but at last, raising his head and
+turning his honest face towards us, in his usual gentlemanly and cheerful
+manner, he said:--
+
+"Dear friends, I see that you are all under the influence of the most
+painful feelings. There is a burden on you that you can neither shake off
+nor bear as you wish. I know the cause of your trouble, and I hope you will
+not find fault with me if I help you to recover from that disagreeable
+mental condition. You have heard in the confessional the history of many
+great sins, but I know that this is not what troubles you. You are all old
+enough in the confessional to know the miseries of poor human nature.
+Without any more preliminaries I will come to the subject. It is no more a
+secret in this place that one of the priests who has preceded me has been
+very unfortunate, weak, and guilty with the greatest part of the married
+women whom he has confessed. Not more than one in ten have escaped him. I
+would not mention this fact had I got it only from the confessional, but I
+know it well from other sources, and I can speak of it freely without
+breaking the secret seal of the confessional. Now what troubles you is
+that, probably, when a good number of those women have confessed to you
+what they had done with their confessor, you have not asked them how long
+it was since they had sinned with him, and in spite of yourselves you think
+that I am the guilty man. This does, naturally, embarrass you when you are
+in my presence and at my table. But please ask them, when they come again
+to confess, how many months or years have passed away since their last love
+affair with a confessor, and you will see that you may suppose that you are
+in the house of an honest man. You may look me in the face and have no fear
+to address me as if I were still worthy of your esteem; for, thanks be to
+God, I am not the guilty priest who has ruined and destroyed so many souls
+here."
+
+The curate had hardly pronounced the last word when a general "We thank
+you; for you have taken away a mountain from our shoulders," fell from
+almost every lip. "It is a fact that, notwithstanding the good opinion we
+had of you," said several, "we were in fear that you had missed the right
+track, and fallen down with your fair penitents into the ditch."
+
+I felt myself much relieved; for I was one of those who, in spite of
+myself, had my secret fears about the honesty of our host. When, very early
+the next morning, I had begun to hear the confessions, one of those
+unfortunate victims of the confessor's depravity came to me, and in the
+midst of many tears and sobs, she told me with great details what I repeat
+here in a few lines:--
+
+"I was only nine years old when my first confessor began to do very
+criminal things with me when I was at his feet, confessing my sins. At
+first I was ashamed and much disgusted; but soon after I became so depraved
+that I was looking eagerly for every opportunity of meeting him either in
+his own house, or in the church, in the vestry, and many times in his own
+garden when it was dark at night. That priest did not remain very long; he
+was removed, to my great regret, to another place, where he died. He was
+succeeded by another one, who seemed at first to be a very holy man. I made
+to him a general confession with, it seems to me, a sincere desire to give
+up for ever that sinful life, but I fear that my confessions became a cause
+of sin to that good priest; for not long after my confession was finished,
+he declared to me in the confessional his love, with such passionate words
+that he soon brought me down again into my former criminal habits with him.
+This lasted six years, when my parents removed to this place. I was very
+glad of it, for I hoped that, being far away from him, I should not be any
+more a cause of sin to him, and that I might begin a better life. But the
+fourth time that I went to confess to my new confessor, he invited me to go
+to his room, where we did things so horrible together that I do not know
+how to confess them. It was two days before my marriage, and the only child
+I have had is the fruit of that sinful hour. After my marriage I continued
+the same criminal life with my confessor. He was the friend of my husband;
+we had many opportunities of meeting each other, not only when I was going
+to confess, but when my husband was absent and my child was at school. It
+was evident to me that several other women were as miserable and criminal
+as I was myself. This sinful intercourse with my confessor went on till God
+Almighty stopped it with a real thunderbolt. My dear only daughter had gone
+to confess and receive the holy communion. As she had come back from church
+much later than I expected, I inquired the reason which had kept her so
+long. She then threw herself into my arms, and with convulsive cries said:
+'Dear mother, do not ask me any more to go to confess.... Oh! if you could
+know what my confessor has asked me when I was at his feet! and if you
+could know what he has done with me, and he has forced me to do with him
+when he had me alone in his parlour!'
+
+"My poor child could not speak any longer, she fainted in my arms.
+
+"But as soon as she recovered, without losing a minute, I dressed myself,
+and, full of an inexpressible rage, I directed my steps towards the
+parsonage. But before leaving my house, I had concealed under my shawl a
+sharp butcher's knife to stab and kill the villain who had destroyed my
+dearly beloved child. Fortunately for that priest, God changed my mind
+before I entered his room--my words to him were few and sharp.
+
+'You are a monster!' I said to him. 'Not satisfied to have destroyed me,
+you want to destroy my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame upon you!
+I had come with this knife to put an end to your infamies, but so short a
+punishment would be too mild a one for such a monster. I want you to live,
+that you may bear upon your head the curse of the too unsuspecting and
+unguarded friends whom you have so cruelly deceived and betrayed; I want
+you to live with the consciousness that you are known by me and many
+others, as one of the most infamous monsters who have ever defiled this
+world. But know that if you are not away from this place before the end of
+this week, I will reveal everything to my husband, and you may be sure that
+he will not let you live twenty-four hours longer, for he sincerely thinks
+that your daughter is his, and he will be the avenger of her honour! I go
+to denounce you this very day to the bishop, that he may take you away from
+this parish, which you have so shamelessly polluted.'
+
+"The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with tears, asked my pardon,
+imploring me not to denounce him to the bishop, promising that he would
+change his life and begin to live as a good priest. But I remained
+inexorable. I went to the bishop, made my deposition, and warned his
+lordship of the sad consequences which would follow, if he kept that curate
+any longer in this place, as he seemed inclined to do. But before the eight
+days had expired, he was put at the head of another parish, not very far
+away from here."
+
+The reader will, perhaps, like to know what has become of this priest.
+
+He has remained at the head of that most beautiful parish of ----, as
+curate, where I know it, he continued to destroy his penitents, till a few
+years before he died, with the reputation of a good priest, an amiable man,
+and a holy confessor!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:....
+
+"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
+the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His
+coming:
+
+"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and
+signs and lying wonders,
+
+"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
+because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
+
+"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
+believe a lie:
+
+"That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
+in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let my readers who understand Latin peruse the extracts I give from Bishop
+Kenrick, Debreyne, Burchard, Dens or Liguori, and the most incredulous will
+learn for themselves that the world, even in the darkest ages of old
+paganism, has never seen anything so infamous and degrading as auricular
+confession.
+
+To say that auricular confession purifies the soul is not less ridiculous
+and silly than to say that the white robe of the virgin, or the lily of the
+valley, will become whiter by being dipped into a bottle of black ink.
+
+Has not the Pope's celibate, by studying his books before he goes to the
+confessional-box, corrupted his own heart, and plunged his mind, memory,
+and soul into an atmosphere of impurity which would have been intolerable
+even to the people of Sodom?
+
+We ask it not only in the name of religion, but of common sense. How can
+that man, whose heart and memory are just made the reservoir of all the
+grossest impurities the world has ever known, help others to be chaste and
+pure?
+
+The idolaters of India believe that they will be purified from their sins
+by drinking the water with which they have just washed the feet of their
+priests.
+
+What monstrous doctrine! The souls of men purified by the water which has
+washed the feet of a miserable, sinful man! Is there any religion more
+monstrous and diabolical than the Brahmin religion?
+
+Yes, there is one more monstrous, deceitful, and contaminating than that.
+It is the religion which teaches that the soul of man is purified by a few
+magical words (called absolution), which come from the lips of a miserable
+sinner, whose heart and intelligence have just been filled by the
+unmentionable impurities of Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Kenrick, &c., &c. For
+if the poor Indian's soul is not purified by the drinking of the holy (?)
+water which has touched the feet of his priest, at least that soul cannot
+be contaminated by it. But who does not clearly see that the drinking of
+the vile questions of the confessor contaminate, defile, and damn the soul?
+
+Who has not been filled with deep compassion and pity for those poor
+idolaters of Hindustan who believe that they will secure to themselves a
+happy passage to the next life if they have the good luck to die when
+holding in their hands the tail of a cow? But there are people among us who
+are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and pity, for they hope that
+they will be purified from their sins and be for ever happy if a few
+magical words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from the polluted
+lips of a miserable sinner sent by the Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a
+cow and the magical words of a confessor to purify the souls and wash away
+the sins of the world are equally inventions of the Devil. Both religions
+come from Satan, for they equally substitute the magical power of vile
+creatures for the blood of Christ to save the guilty children of Adam. They
+both ignore that the blood of the Lamb _alone_ cleanseth us from all sin.
+
+Yes! auricular confession is a public act of idolatry, it is asking from a
+man what God _alone_, through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of
+sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to sinners, "Go to this or
+that man for repentance, pardon, and peace"? No; but He has said to all
+sinners, "Come unto Me." And from that day to the end of the world all the
+echoes of heaven and earth will repeat these words of the merciful Saviour
+to all the lost children of Adam, 'Come unto Me.'
+
+When Christ gave to His disciples the power of the keys in these words,
+"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
+ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviii. 18), He
+had just explained His mind by saying, "If thy brother shall trespass
+against thee" (v. 15). The Son of God Himself in that solemn hour protested
+against the stupendous imposture of Rome by telling us positively that that
+power of binding and loosing, forgiving and retaining sins, was _only_ in
+reference to sins committed against _each other_. Peter had correctly
+understood his Master's words when he asked, "How oft shall my brother sin
+_against me_ and I forgive him?"
+
+And in order that His true disciples might not be shaken by the sophisms of
+Rome, or by the glittering nonsense of that band of silly half-Popish sect
+called Tractarians, or Ritualists, the merciful Saviour gave the admirable
+parable of the poor servant, which He closed by what He has so often
+repeated, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
+from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
+(Matt. xviii. 35).
+
+Not long before, He had again mercifully given us his whole mind about the
+obligation and _power_ which every one of His disciples had of forgiving
+"For if ye forgive even their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also
+forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
+Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. vi. 14, 15).
+
+"Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful, forgive and ye
+shall be forgiven" (Luke vi. 36, 37).
+
+Auricular Confession, as the Rev. Dr. Wainwright has so eloquently put it
+in his "Confession not Auricular," is a diabolical caricature of the
+forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ, just as the impious dogma
+of Transubstantiation is a monstrous caricature of the salvation of the
+world through His death.
+
+The Romanists and their ugly tail, the Ritualistic party in the Episcopal
+Church, make a great noise about the words of our Saviour in St. John:
+"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: and whose soever
+sins ye retain, they are retained" (John xx. 23).
+
+But again, our Saviour had Himself, once for all, explained what He meant
+by forgiving and retaining sins--(Matt. xviii. 35; Matt. vi. 14, 15; Luke
+vi. 36, 37).
+
+Nobody but wilfully-blind men could misunderstand Him. Besides that, the
+Holy Ghost Himself has mercifully taken care that we should not be deceived
+by the lying traditions of men on that important subject, when in St. Luke
+He gave us the explanation of the meaning of John xx. 23, by telling us,
+"Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
+and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name
+among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke xxiv. 46, 47).
+
+In order that we may better understand the words of our Saviour in St. John
+xx. 23, let us put them face to face with his own explanations (Luke xxiv.
+46, 47):--
+
+        LUKE XXIV.                               JOHN XX.
+
+33. And they rose up the same hour,  18. Mary Magdalene came and told
+and returned to Jerusalem, and       the disciples that she had seen the
+found the eleven gathered together,  Lord, and that he had spoken these
+and them that were with them,        things unto her.
+
+34. Saying, The Lord is risen
+indeed, and hath appeared to
+Simon....
+
+36. And as they thus spake, Jesus    19. Then the same day at evening,
+himself stood in the midst of them,  being the first day of the week,
+and saith unto them, Peace be unto   when the doors were shut where the
+you.                                 disciples were assembled for fear
+                                     of the Jews, came Jesus and stood
+37. But they were terrified and      in the midst, and said unto them,
+affrighted, and supposed that they   Peace be unto you.
+had seen a spirit.
+
+38. And he said unto them, Why are
+ye troubled? and why do thoughts
+arise in your hearts?
+
+39. Behold my hands and my feet,     20. And when he had so said, he
+that it is I myself: handle me, and  shewed unto them his hands and his
+see; for a spirit hath not flesh     side. Then were the disciples glad,
+and bones, as ye see me have.        when they saw the Lord.
+
+40. And when he had thus spoken, he
+shewed them his hands and his feet.
+
+41. And while they yet believed not
+for joy, and wondered, he said unto
+them, Have ye here any meat?
+
+42. And they gave him a piece of a
+broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
+
+43. And he took it, and did eat
+before them.
+
+44. And he said unto them, These     21. Then said Jesus to them again,
+are the words which I spake unto     Peace be unto you: as my Father
+you, while I was yet with you, that  hath sent me, even so send I you.
+all things must be fulfilled, which
+were written in the law of Moses,
+and in the prophets, and in the
+psalms, concerning me.
+
+45. Then opened he their             22. And when he had said this, he
+understanding, that they might       breathed on them, and saith unto
+understand the scriptures,           them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
+
+46. And said unto them, Thus it is
+written, and thus it behoved Christ
+to suffer, and to rise from the
+dead the third day:
+
+47. And that repentance and          23. Whose soever sins ye remit,
+remission of sin should be preached  they are remitted unto them; whose
+in his name among all nations,       soever sins ye retain, they are
+beginning at Jerusalem.              retained.
+
+Three things are evident from comparing the report of St. John and St.
+Luke:--
+
+1. They speak of the same event, though one of them gives certain details
+omitted by the other, as we find in the rest of the gospels.
+
+2. The words of St. John, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
+unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," are
+explained by the Holy Ghost Himself, in St. Luke, as meaning that the
+apostles shall preach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ. It
+is just what our Saviour has Himself said in St. Matt. ix. 13: "But go ye
+and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am
+not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
+
+It is just the same doctrine taught by Peter (Acts ii. 38): "Then Peter
+said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
+Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
+the Holy Ghost."
+
+Just the same doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, not through auricular
+confession or absolution, but through the preaching of the Word: "Be it
+known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is
+preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts xiii. 38).
+
+3. The third thing which is evident is that the Apostles were not alone
+when Christ appeared and spoke, but that several of His other disciples,
+even some women, were there.
+
+If the Romanists, then, could prove that Christ established auricular
+confession, and gave the power of absolution, by what He said in that
+solemn hour, women as well as men--in fact, every believer in Christ--would
+be authorized to hear confessions and give absolution. The Holy Ghost was
+not promised or given only to the Apostles, but to every believer, as we
+see in Acts i. 15, and ii. 1, 2, 3.
+
+But the Gospel of Christ, as the history of the first ten centuries of
+Christianity, is the witness that auricular confession and absolution are
+nothing else but a sacrilegious as well as a most stupendous imposture.
+
+What tremendous efforts the priests of Rome have made these last five
+centuries, and are still making, to persuade their dupes that the Son of
+God was making of them a privileged caste, a caste endowed with the Divine
+and exclusive power of opening and shutting the gates of Heaven, when He
+said, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and
+whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."
+
+But our adorable Saviour, who perfectly foresaw those diabolical efforts on
+the part of the priests of Rome, entirely upset every vestige of their
+foundation by saying immediately, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you
+shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be
+done for them of my Father which is in Heaven. For where two or three are
+gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt.
+xviii. 19, 20).
+
+Would the priests of Rome attempt to make us believe that these words of
+the 19th and 20th verses are addressed to them exclusively? They have not
+yet dared to say it. They confess that these words are addressed to all His
+disciples. But our Saviour positively says that the other words,
+implicating the so-called power of the priests to hear the confession and
+give the absolution, are addressed to the _very same persons_--"I say unto
+you," &c., &c. The _you_ of the 19th and 20th verses is the same _you_ of
+the 18th. The power of loosing and unloosing is, then, given to all--those
+who would be offended and would forgive. Then, our Saviour had not in His
+mind to form a caste of men with any marvellous power over the rest of His
+disciples. The priests of Rome, then, are impostors, and nothing else, when
+they say that the power of loosing and unloosing sins was exclusively
+granted to them.
+
+Instead of going to the confessor, let the Christian go to his merciful
+God, through Christ, and say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them
+that trespass against us." This is the Truth, not as it comes from the
+Vatican, but as it comes from Calvary, where our debts were paid, with the
+only condition that we should believe, repent, and love.
+
+Have not the Popes publicly and repeatedly anathematized the sacred
+principle of Liberty of Conscience? Have they not boldly said, in the teeth
+of the nations of Europe, that _Liberty_ of Conscience must be
+destroyed--killed at any cost? Has not the whole world heard the sentence
+of death to Liberty coming from the lips of the old man of the Vatican? But
+where is the scaffold on which the doomed Liberty must perish? That
+scaffold is the confessional-box. Yes, in the confessional, the Pope had
+his 100,000 high executioners! There they are, day and night, with-sharp
+daggers in hand, stabbing Liberty to the heart.
+
+In vain will noble France expel her old tyrants to be free; in vain will
+she shed the purest blood of her heart to protect and save Liberty! True
+Liberty cannot live a day there so long as the executioners of the Pope are
+free to stab her on their 100,000 scaffolds.
+
+In vain chivalrous Spain will call Liberty to give a new life to her
+people. She cannot set her feet there except to die, so long as the Pope is
+allowed to strike her in his 50,000 confessionals.
+
+And free America, too, will see all her so dearly-bought liberties
+destroyed the day that the confessional-box is reared in her midst.
+
+Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot stand together on the same ground;
+either one or the other must fall.
+
+Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she has swept away the demon
+of slavery, or she is doomed to perish.
+
+Can a man be free in his own house, so long as there is another who has the
+legal right to spy all his actions, and direct not only every step, but
+every thought of his wife and children? Can that man boast of a home whose
+wife and children are under the control of another? Is not that unfortunate
+man really the slave of the ruler and master of his household? And when a
+whole nation is composed of such husbands and fathers, is it not a nation
+of abject, degraded slaves?
+
+To a thinking man, one of the most strange phenomena is that our modern
+nations allow all their most sacred rights to be trampled under feet, and
+destroyed by the Papacy, the sworn enemy of Liberty, through a mistaken
+respect and love for that same Liberty!
+
+No people have more respect for Liberty of Conscience than the Americans;
+but has the noble State of Illinois allowed Joe Smith and Brigham Young to
+degrade and enslave the American women under the pretext of Liberty of
+Conscience, appealed to by the so-called "Latter-day Saints?" No! The
+ground was soon made too hot for the tender conscience of the modern
+prophets. Joe Smith perished when attempting to keep his captive wives in
+his chains, and Brigham Young had to fly to the solitudes of the Far West,
+to enjoy what he called his liberty of conscience with the thirty women he
+had degraded and enchained under his yoke. But even in that remote solitude
+the false prophet has heard the distant peals of the roaring thunder. The
+threatening voice of the great Republic has troubled his rest, and he
+wisely speaks of going as much as possible out of the reach of Christian
+civilization, before the dark and threatening clouds which he sees on the
+horizon will hurl upon him their irresistible storms.
+
+Will any one blame the American people for so going to the rescue of woman?
+No, surely not.
+
+But what is this confessional-box? Nothing but a citadel and stronghold of
+Mormonism.
+
+What is this Father Confessor, with few exceptions, but a lucky Brigham
+Young?
+
+I do not want to be believed on my _ipse dixit_. What I ask from serious
+thinkers is, that they should read the encyclicals of the Piuses, the
+Gregorys, the Benoits, and many other Popes, "De Sollicitantibus." There
+they will see, with their own eyes, that, as a general thing, the confessor
+has more women to serve him than the Mormon prophets ever had. Let them
+read the memoirs of one of the most venerable men of the Church of Rome,
+Bishop de Ricci, and they will see, with their own eyes, that the
+confessors are more free with their penitents, even nuns, than husbands are
+with their wives. Let them hear the testimony of one of the noblest
+princesses of Italy, Henrietta Carraciolo, who still lives, and they will
+know that the Mormons have more respect for women than the greater part of
+the confessors have. Let them hear the lamentations of Cardinal Baronius,
+Saint Bernard, Savanarola, Pius, Gregory, St. Therese, St. Liguori, on the
+unspeakable and irreparable ruin spread all along the ways and all over the
+countries haunted by the Pope's confessors, and they will know that the
+confessional-box is the daily witness of abominations which would hardly
+have been tolerated in the lands of Sodom and Gomorrha. Let the
+legislators, the fathers and husbands of every nation and tongue,
+interrogate Father Gavazzi, Hyacinthe, and the thousands of living priests
+who, like myself, have miraculously been taken out from that Egyptian
+servitude to the promised land, and they will tell you the same old, old
+story--that the confessional-box is for the greatest part of the confessors
+and female penitents, a real pit of perdition, into which they
+promiscuously fall and perish. Yes; they will tell you that the soul and
+heart of your wife and daughter are purified by the magical words of the
+confessional, just as the souls of the poor idolaters of Hindoostan are
+purified by the tail of the cow which they hold in their hands when they
+die. Study the pages of the past history of England, France, Italy, Spain,
+&c., &c., and you will see that the gravest and most reliable historians
+have everywhere found mysteries of iniquity in the confessional-box which
+their pen refused to trace.
+
+In the presence of such public, undeniable, and lamentable facts, have not
+the civilized nations a duty to perform? Is it not time that the children
+of light, the true disciples of the Gospel, all over the world, should
+rally round the banners of Christ, and go, shoulder to shoulder, to the
+rescue of women?
+
+Woman is to society what the roots are to the most precious trees of your
+orchard. If you knew that a thousand worms are biting the root of those
+noble trees, that their leaves are already fading away, their rich fruits,
+though yet unripe, are falling on the ground, would you not unearth the
+roots and sweep away the worms?
+
+The confessor is the worm which is biting, polluting, and destroying the
+very roots of civil and religious society, by contaminating, debasing, and
+enslaving woman.
+
+Before the nations can see the reign of peace, happiness, and liberty,
+which Christ has promised, they must, like the Israelites, pull down the
+walls of Jericho. The confessional is the modern Jericho, which proudly and
+defiantly dares the children of God!
+
+Let, then, the people of the Lord, the true soldiers of Christ, rise up and
+rally around His banners; and let them fearlessly march, shoulder to
+shoulder, on the doomed city: let all the trumpets of Israel be sounded
+around its walls: let fervent prayers go to the throne of Mercy, from the
+heart of every one for whom the Lamb has been slain: let such a unanimous
+cry of indignation be heard, through the length and breadth of the land,
+against that greatest and most monstrous imposture of modern times, that
+the earth will tremble under the feet of the confessor, so that his very
+knees will shake, and soon the walls of Jericho will fall, the confessional
+will disappear, and its unspeakable pollutions will no more imperil the
+very existance of society.
+
+Then the multitudes who were kept captive will come to the Lamb, who will
+make them pure with His blood and free with His word.
+
+Then the redeemed nations will sing a song of joy: "Babylon, the great, the
+mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, is fallen! fallen!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DOES AURICULAR CONFESSION BRING PEACE TO THE SOUL?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The connecting of Peace with Auricular Confession is surely the most cruel
+sarcasm ever uttered in human language.
+
+It would be less ridiculous and false to admire the calmness of the sea,
+and the stillness of the atmosphere, when a furious storm raises the
+foaming waves to the skies, than to speak of the Peace of the soul either
+during or after the confession.
+
+I know it; the confessors and their dupes chorus every tune by crying
+"Peace, peace"! But the God of truth and holiness answers, "There is no
+peace for the wicked!"
+
+The fact is, that no human words can adequately express the anxieties of
+the soul before confession, its unspeakable confusion in the act of
+confessing, or its deadly terrors after confession.
+
+Let those who have never drunk of the bitter waters which flow from the
+confessional box, read the following plain and correct recital of my own
+first experiences in auricular confession. They are nothing else than the
+history of what nine tenths of the penitents[5] of Rome old and young are
+subject to; and they will know what to think of that marvellous Peace about
+which the Romanists, and their silly copyists, the Ritualists, have written
+so many eloquent lies.
+
+In the year 1819, my parents had sent me from Murray Bay (La Mal Baie)
+where they lived, to an excellent school, at St. Thomas. I was then, about
+ten years old. I boarded with an uncle, who, though a nominal Roman
+Catholic, did not believe a word of what his priest preached. But my Aunt
+had the reputation of being a very devoted woman. Our School-master, Mr.
+John Jones, was a well educated Englishman: and a staunch PROTESTANT. This
+last circumstance had excited the wrath of the Roman Catholic Priest
+against the teacher and his numerous pupils to such an extent, that they
+were often denounced from the pulpit with very hard words. But if he did
+not like us, I must admit that we were paying him with his own coin.
+
+But let us come to my first lesson in Auricular Confession, No! No words
+can express to those who have never had any experience in the matter, the
+consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor Romish child, when he hears his
+priest saying from the pulpit, in a grave and solemn tone; "This week, you
+will send your children to confession. Make them understand that this
+action is one of the most important of their lives, that for every one of
+them, it will decide their eternal happiness or ruin. Fathers, Mothers and
+guardians of those children, if, through your fault or theirs, your
+children are guilty of a false confession: if they do not confess every
+thing to the priest who holds the place of God, Himself, this sin is often
+irreparable: the Devil will take possession of their hearts: they will lie
+to their father confessor, or rather to Jesus Christ, of whom he is the
+representative: Their lives will be a series of sacrileges, their death and
+eternity, those of reprobates. Teach them therefore to examine thoroughly
+all their actions, words, thoughts and desires, in order to confess every
+thing just as it occurred, without any disguise."
+
+I was in the Church of St. Thomas, when these words fell upon me like a
+thunderbolt. I had often heard my mother say, when at home and my aunt,
+since I had come to St. Thomas, that upon the first confession depended my
+eternal happiness or misery. That week was, therefore, to decide the vital
+question of my eternity!
+
+Pale and dismayed, I left the church after the service, and returned to the
+house of my relations. I took my place at the table, but could not eat, so
+much was I troubled. I went to my room for the purpose of commencing my
+examination of conscience, and to try to recall every one of my sinful
+actions, thoughts and words!
+
+Although scarcely over ten years of age, this task was really overwhelming
+to me. I knelt down to pray to the Virgin Mary for help, but I was so much
+taken up with the fear of forgetting something or making a bad confession,
+that I muttered my prayers without the least attention to what I said. It
+became still worse, when I commenced counting my sins, my memory, though
+very good, became confused: my head grew dizzy: my heart beat with a
+rapidity which exhausted me, and my brow was covered with perspiration.
+After a considerable length of time, spent in those painful efforts, I felt
+bordering on despair from the fear that it was impossible for me to
+remember exactly every thing, and to confess each sin as it occurred. The
+night following was almost a sleepless one: and when sleep did come, it
+could hardly be called sleep, but a suffocating delirium. In a frightful
+dream, I felt as if I had been cast into hell, for not having confessed all
+my sins to the priest. In the morning, I awoke fatigued, and prostrate by
+the phantoms and emotions of that terrible night. In similar troubles of
+mind were passed the three days which preceeded my first confession.
+
+I had constantly before me the countenance of that stern priest who had
+never smiled upon me. He was present to my thoughts during the days, and in
+my dreams during the nights, as the minister of an angry God, justly
+irritated against me, on account of my sins. Forgiveness had indeed been
+promised to me, on condition of a good confession; but my place had also
+been shown to me in hell, if my confession was not as near perfection as
+possible.
+
+Now, my troubled conscience told me that there were ninety chances against
+one that my confession would be bad, either if by my own fault, I forget
+some sins, or if I was without that contrition of which I had heard so
+much, but the nature and effects of which were a perfect chaos in my mind.
+
+At length came the day of confession, or rather of judgment and
+condemnation. I presented myself to the priest, the Rev. Mr. Beaubien.
+
+He had then, the defects of lisping and stammering which we, often turned
+into ridicule. And as nature had unfortunately endowed me with admirable
+powers as a mimic, the infirmities of this poor priest afforded only too
+good an opportunity for the exercise of my talent. Not only was it one of
+my favorite amusements to imitate him before the pupils amidst roars of
+laughter but also, I preached portions of his sermons before his
+parishioners of villages, with similar results. Indeed, many of them came
+from considerable distances to enjoy the amusement of listening to me, and
+they rewarded me, more than once, with cakes of maple sugar, for my
+performances.
+
+These acts of mimicry were, of course, among my sins; and it became
+necessary for me to examine myself upon the number of times I had mocked
+the priests. This circumstance was not calculated to make my confession
+easier or more agreeable.
+
+At last, the dread moment arrived, I knelt for the first time, at the side
+of my confessor, my whole frame trembled: I repeated the prayer preparatory
+to confession, scarcely knowing what I said, so much was I troubled by
+fears.
+
+By the instructions which had been given us before confession, we had been
+made to believe that the priest was the true representative, yea, almost
+the personification of Jesus Christ. The consequence was that I believed my
+greatest sin was that of mocking the priest--and I, as I had been told that
+it was proper first to confess the greatest sins, I commenced thus: "Father
+I accuse myself of having mocked a priest!"
+
+Hardly had I uttered these words, "mocked a priest", when this pretended
+representative of the humble Jesus, turning towards me, and looking in my
+face, in order to know me, better, asked abruptly; "what priest did you
+mock, my boy?"
+
+I would have rather chosen to cut my own tongue than to tell him to his
+face who it was. I, therefore, kept silent for a while, but my silence made
+him very nervous, and almost angry. With a haughty tone of voice, he said:
+"what priest did you take the liberty of thus mocking, my boy?" I saw that
+I had to answer. Happily his haughtiness had made me bolder and firmer; I
+said: "sir, you are the priest whom I mocked!"
+
+"But how many times did you take upon you to mock me, my boy?" asked he
+angrily.
+
+"I tried to find out the number of times, but I never could."
+
+"You must tell me how many times, for to mock one's own priest is a great
+sin."
+
+"It is impossible for me to give you the number of times," I answered.
+
+"Well, my child, I will help your memory by asking you questions. Tell me
+the truth. Do you think you mocked me ten times?"
+
+"A great many times more," I answered.
+
+"Have you mocked me fifty times?"
+
+"Oh! many more still!"
+
+"A hundred times?"
+
+"Say, five hundred, and perhaps more;" I answered.
+
+"Well, my boy, do you spend all your time in mocking me?"
+
+"Not all my time: but unfortunately, I have done it very often."
+
+"Yes may you say: "unfortunately!" for to mock, your priest, who holds the
+place of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a great sin and a great misfortune for
+you. But tell me, my little boy, what reason have you for mocking me,
+thus?"
+
+In my examination of conscience, I had not forseen that I should be obliged
+to give the reasons for mocking the priest, and I was thunderstruck by his
+questions. I dared not answer, and I remained for a long time dumb, from
+the shame that overpowered me. But, with a harassing perseverance, the
+priest insisted upon my telling why I had mocked him: assuring me that I
+would be damned if I did not speak the whole truth. So, I decided to speak,
+and I said: "I mocked you for several things."
+
+"What made you, first mock me?" asked the priest.
+
+"I laughed at you, because you lisp: among the pupils of the school, and
+other people, it often happens that we imitate your preaching to laugh at
+you," I answered.
+
+"For what other reasons did you laugh at me, my little boy!"
+
+For a long time I was silent. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, my
+courage failed me. But the priest continued to urge me, I said at last; "It
+is rumoured in town, that you love girls: that you visit the Misses
+R's----almost every night; and this, often made us laugh."
+
+The poor priest was evidently overwhelmed by my answer, and ceased
+questioning me on that subject. Changing the conversation, he said: "what
+are your other sins?"
+
+I began to confess them according to the order in which they came to my
+memory. But the feeling of shame which overpowered me, in repeating all my
+sins to that man, was a thousand times greater than that of having offended
+God. In reality, this feeling of human shame, which absorbed my thoughts,
+nay, my whole being, left no room for any religious feeling at all.
+
+When I had confessed all the sins I could remember, the priest began to put
+to me the strangest questions about matters on which my pen must be
+silent.... I replied "Father, I do not understand what you ask me."
+
+"I question you," he answered, "on the the sins of the sixth commandment of
+God, (the seventh in the Bible) Do confess all, my little boy, for you will
+go to hell if, through your fault you omit any thing."
+
+And thereupon he dragged my thoughts into regions of iniquity which, thanks
+be to God, had been hitherto quite unknown to me.
+
+I answered him again, "I do not understand you," or "I have never done
+those wicked things."
+
+Then, skillfully shifting to some secondary matters, he would soon slyly
+and cunningly come back to his favorite subject, namely, sins of
+licentiousness.
+
+His questions were so unclean that I blushed and felt nauseated with
+disgust and shame. More than once, I had been to my great regret, in the
+company of bad boys, but not one of them had offended my moral nature so
+much as this priest had done. Not one of them had ever approached the
+shadow of the things from which that man tore the veil, and which he placed
+before the eyes of my soul. In vain I told him that I was not guilty of
+those things; that I did not even understand what he asked me; but he would
+not let me off.
+
+Like a vulture bent upon tearing the poor defenceless bird that falls into
+its claws, that cruel priest seemed determined to defile and ruin my heart.
+
+At last, he asked me a question in a form of expression so bad that I was
+really pained and put beside myself. I felt as if I had received the shock
+from an electric battery: a feeling of horror made me shudder. I was filled
+with such indignation that speaking loud enough to be heard by many, I told
+him: "Sir, I am very wicked, but I was never guilty of what you mention to
+me: please don't ask me any more of those questions which will teach me
+more wickedness than I ever knew."
+
+The remainder of my confession was short. The stern rebuke I had given him
+had evidently made that priest blush, if it had not frightened him. He
+stopped short, and gave me some very good advice which might have done me
+good, if the deep wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my soul,
+had not so absorbed my thoughts, as to prevent me from giving attention to
+what he said. He gave me a short penance and dismissed me.
+
+I left the confessional irritated and confused. From the shame of what I
+had just heard, I dared not raise my eyes from the ground. I went into a
+corner of the church to do my penance, that is to recite the prayers which
+he had indicated to me. I remained for a long time in the church. I had
+need of a calm, after the terrible trial through which I had just passed.
+But vainly sought I for rest. The shameful questions which had just been
+asked from me, the new world of iniquity into which I been introduced, the
+impure phantoms by which my childish head had been defiled, confused and
+troubled my mind so strongly, that I began to weep bitterly.
+
+I left the church only when forced to do so by the shades of night, and
+came back to my uncle's house, with a feeling of shame and uneasiness, as
+if I had done a bad action and feared lest I should be detected. My trouble
+was much increased when my uncle, jestingly, said: "now that you have been
+to confess, you will be a good boy. But if you are not a better boy, you
+will be a more learned one, if your confessor has taught you what mine did
+when I confessed for the first time."
+
+I blushed and remained silent. My aunt said: "you must feel happy, now that
+you have made your confession: do you not?"
+
+I gave an evasive answer, but could not entirely conceal the confusion
+which overwhelmed me. I went to bed early; but I could hardly sleep.
+
+I thought that I was the only boy whom the priest had asked these polluting
+questions: but great was my confusion, the next day when on going to
+school, I learned that my companions had not been happier than I had been.
+The only difference was that, instead of being grieved as I was, they
+laughed at it.
+
+"Did the priest ask you this and that," they would demand laughing
+boisterously; I refused to reply, and said: "are you not ashamed to speak
+of these things."
+
+"Ah! Ah! how scrupulous you are:" continued they, "if it is not a sin for
+the priest to speak to us on these matters, how can it be a sin for us to
+laugh at it." I felt confounded, not knowing what to answer. But my
+confusion increased not a little, when soon after, I perceived that the
+young girls of the school had not been less polluted, or scandalized than
+the boys. Although keeping at a sufficient distance from us to prevent us
+from understanding every thing they had to say on their confessional
+experience, those girls were sufficiently near to let us hear many things
+which it would have been better for us not to know. Some of them seemed
+thoughtful, sad and shameful: but several laughed heartily at what they had
+learned in the confessional box.
+
+I was very indignant against the priest; and thought in myself, that he was
+a very wicked man, for having put to us such repelling questions. But I was
+wrong. That priest was honest; he was only doing his duty, as I have known
+since, when studying the theologians of Rome. The Rev. Mr. Beaubien was a
+real gentleman, and if he had been free to follow the dictates of his
+honest conscience it is my strong conviction he would never have sullied
+our young hearts with such impure ideas. But what has the honest conscience
+of a priest to do in the confessional, except to be silent and dumb? The
+priest of Rome is an automaton, tied to the feet of the Pope by an iron
+chain. He can move, go right or left, up or down; he can think and act, but
+only at the bidding of the infallible god of Rome. The priest knows the
+will of his modern divinity only through his approved emissaries,
+embassadors and theologians. With shame on my brow, and bitter tears of
+regret flowing just now, on my cheeks, I confess that I have had myself to
+learn by heart those damning questions, and put them to the young and the
+old; who like me, were fed with the diabolical doctrines of the church of
+Rome, in reference to auricular confession.
+
+Some time after, some people waylaid and whipped that very same priest,
+when during a very dark night he was coming back from visiting his fair
+young penitents the Misses Rs.... And the next day, the conspirators having
+met at the house of Dr. Stephen Tache, to give a report of what they had
+done to the half _secret_ society to which they belonged, I was invited by
+my young friend Louis Casault[6] to conceal myself with him, in an
+adjoining room, where we could hear every thing without being seen. I find
+in the old manuscripts of "my young year's recollections" the following
+address of Mr. Dubord.
+
+Mr. President--"I was not among those who gave to the priest the expression
+of the public feelings with the eloquent voice of the whip: but I wish I
+had been, I would heartily have co-operated to give that so well deserved
+lesson to the father confessors of Canada, and let me give you my reasons
+for that.
+
+"My child who is hardly twelve years old, went to confess, as did the other
+girls of the village, some time ago. It was against my will. I know, by my
+own experience, that of all actions, confession is the most degrading of a
+person's life. I can imagine nothing so well calculated to destroy forever
+one's self-respect, as the modern invention of the confessional. Now, what
+is a person without self-respect? Especially a woman? Is not all forever
+lost without this?
+
+"In the confessional every thing is corruption of the lowest grade. There,
+the girl's thoughts, lips, hearts and souls are forever polluted. Do I need
+to prove you this? No! for though you have given up, long since auricular
+confession, as below the dignity of man, you have not forgotten the lessons
+of corruption which you have received from it. Those lessons have remained
+on your souls as the scars left by the red hot iron upon the brow of the
+slave to be a perpetual witness of his shame and servitude.
+
+"The confessional box is the place where our wives and daughters learn
+things which would make the most degraded woman of our cities blush!
+
+"Why are all Roman Catholic nations inferior to nations belonging to
+Protestanism? only in the confessional can the solution of that problem be
+found. And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in proportion to their
+submission to their priests? It is because the more often the individuals
+composing those nations go to confess, the more rapidly they sink in the
+sphere of intelligence and morality. A terrible example of the auricular
+confession depravity has just occurred in my own family.
+
+"As I have said a moment ago, I was against my own daughter going to
+confession, but her poor mother, who is under the control of the priest,
+earnestly wanted her to go. Not to have a disagreeable scene in my house, I
+had to yield to the tears of my wife.
+
+"On the following day of the confession, they believed I was absent, but I
+was in my office, with the door sufficiently opened to hear every thing
+which could be said by my wife and the child. And the following
+conversation took place:
+
+"What makes you so thoughtful and sad my dear Lucy, since you went to
+confess? It seems to me you should feel happier since you had the privilege
+of confessing your sins."
+
+My child answered not a word, she remained absolutely silent.
+
+After two or three minutes of silence, I heard the mother saying: "Why do
+you weep, my dear Lucy? are you sick?"
+
+But no answer yet from the child!
+
+"You may well suppose that I was all attention, I had my secret suspicions
+about the dreadful mystery which had taken place. My heart throbbed with
+uneasiness and anger.
+
+"After a short silence, my wife spoke again to her child, but with
+sufficient firmness to decide her to answer at last. In a trembling voice,
+she said:
+
+"Oh I dear Mamma, if you knew what the priest has asked me and what he said
+to me when I confessed, you would perhaps be sad as I am."
+
+"But what can he have said to you? He is a holy man, you must have
+misunderstood him, if you think that he has said anything wrong."
+
+"My child threw herself in her mother's arms, and answered with a voice
+half suffocated with her sobs: "Do not ask me to tell you what the priest
+has said--it is so shameful that I can not repeat it--His words have stuck
+to my heart as the leech put upon the arm of my little friend, the other
+day."
+
+"What does that priest think of me, for having put to me such questions?"
+
+My wife answered: "I will go to the priest and will teach him a lesson. I
+have noticed myself that he goes too far when questioning old people, but I
+had the hope he was more prudent with children. I ask of you, however,
+never to speak of this to anybody, especially; let not your poor father
+know anything about it; for he has little enough of religion already, and
+this would leave him without any at all."
+
+"I could not refrain myself any longer: I abruptly entered the parlor. My
+daughter threw herself into my arms: my wife screamed with terror, and
+almost fell into a swoon. I said to my child: If you love me, put your hand
+on my heart, and promise never to go again to confess. Fear God, my child,
+love Him and walk in his presence. For his eyes see you everywhere.
+Remember that He is always ready to forgive and bless you every time you
+turn your heart to him. Never place yourself again at the feet of a priest
+to be defiled and degraded."
+
+"This my daughter promised to me.
+
+"When my wife had recovered from her surprise, I told her.
+
+"Madame, it is long since the priest is everything, and your husband
+nothing to you! There is a hidden and terrible power which governs you, it
+is the power of the priest: this you have often denied, but it can not be
+denied any longer, the Providence of God has decided, to day, that this
+power should forever be destroyed in my house, I want to be the only ruler
+of my family: from this moment the power of the priest over you is forever
+abolished. Whenever you go and take your heart and your secrets to the feet
+of the priest, be so kind as not to come back any more into my house as my
+wife."
+
+This is one of the thousand and thousand specimens of the peace of
+conscience brought to the soul through auricular confession. I could give
+many similar instances, if it were my intention to publish a treatise on
+this subject, but as I only desire to write a short chapter, I will adduce
+but one other fact to show the awful deception practised by the Church of
+Rome when she invites persons to come to confession under the pretext that
+_peace_ to the soul will be the reward of their obedience. Let us hear the
+testimony of another living and unimpeachable witness about this peace of
+the soul, before, during, and after auricular confession. In her remarkable
+book "Personal experience of Roman Catholicism" Miss Eliza Richardson,
+writes, (Page 34 and 35.)
+
+"Thus I silenced my foolish quibbling, and went on to the test of a
+convert's fervour and sincerity in confession. And here was assuredly a
+fresh source of pain and disquiet, and one not so easily vanquished. "The
+theory had appeared, as a whole, fair and rational, but the reality, in
+some of its details, _was terrible_!"
+
+"Divested, for the public gaze, of its darkest ingredients, and dressed up,
+in their theological works, in false and meretricious pretentions to truth
+and purity, it exhibited a dogma only calculated to exert a beneficial
+influence on mankind, and to prove a source of morality and usefulness.
+_But oh, as with all ideals, how unlike was the actual!_"
+
+"Here, however, I may remark, in passing, the effect produced upon my mind
+by the first sight of the _older_ editions of "the Garden of the Soul". I
+remember the stumbling-block it was to me, my sense of womanly delicacy was
+shocked. It was a dark page in my experience, when first I knelt at the
+feet of a mortal man to confess what should have been poured into the ear
+of God alone. I cannot dwell upon this...."
+
+"Though I believe my Confessor was, on the whole, as guarded as his manners
+were kind; at some things I was strangely startled, utterly confounded."
+
+"The purity of mind and delicacy in which I had been nurtured, had not
+prepared me for such an ordeal; and my own sincerity, and dread of
+committing a sacrilege, tended to augment the painfulness of the occasion.
+One circumstance especially I will recall, which my fettered conscience
+persuaded me I was obliged to name. My distress and terror, doubtless, made
+me less explicit than I otherwise might have been. The questioning,
+however, it elicited, and the ideas supplied by it, outraged my feelings to
+such an extent, that, forgetting all respect for my Confessor, and
+careless, even, at the moment, whether I received absolution or not, I
+hastily exclaimed, "I cannot say a word more," while the thought rushed
+into my mind, "all is true that their enemies say of them." Here, however
+prudence dictated to my questioner to put the matter no further; and the
+kind and almost respectful tone he _immediately_ assumed, went far towards
+effacing an impression so injurious. On rising from my knees, when I should
+have gladly fled to any distance rather than have encountered his gaze, he
+addressed me in the most familiar manner on different subjects, and
+detained me some time in talking. What share I took in the conversation, I
+never knew and all that I remember, was my burning cheek, and inability to
+raise my eyes from the ground.
+
+"Here I would not be supposed to be intentionally casting a stigma upon an
+individual. Nor am I throwing unqualified blame upon the priesthood. _It is
+the system which is at fault_, a system which teaches that things, even at
+the _remembrance_ of which degraded humanity must blush in the presence of
+heaven and its angels, should be laid open, _dwelt upon, and exposed in
+detail_, to the sullied ears of a corrupt and fallen fellow-mortal who of
+like passions with the penitent at his feet, is thereby exposed to
+temptations the most dark and dangerous. But what shall we say of woman?
+Draw a veil! Oh purity, modesty! and every womanly feeling! a veil as
+oblivion, over the fearfully, dangerous experience thou art called to pass
+through! (page 37, and 38.")
+
+"Ah! there are things that cannot be recorded! facts too startling, and at
+the same time, too delicately intricate, to admit a public portrayal, or
+meet the public gaze; But the cheek can blush in secret at the true images
+which memory evokes, and the oppressed mind shrinks back, in horror, from
+the dark shadows which have saddened and overwhelmed it. I appeal to
+converts, to converts of the gentler sex, and ask them, fearlessly ask
+them, what was the first impression made on your minds and feelings by the
+confessional? I do not ask how subsequent familiarization has weakened the
+effects: but when acquaintance was first made with it, how were you
+affected by it? I ask not the impure, the already defiled, for to such, it
+is sadly susceptible of being made a darker source of guilt and shame;--but
+I appeal to the pure minded and delicate, the pure in heart and sentiment.
+Was not your _first_ impression one of inexpressible dread and
+bewilderment, followed by a sense of humiliation and degradation, not
+easily to be defined or supported? (page 39.) "The memory of that time
+(first auricular confession) will ever be painful and abhorent to me;
+though subsequent experience has thrown, even that, far into the back
+ground. It was my initiatory lesson upon subjects which ought never to
+enter the imagination of girlhood: my introduction into a region which
+should never be approached by the guileless and the pure." (page 61) One or
+two individuals (Roman Catholic) soon formed a close intimacy with me, and
+discoursed with a freedom and plainness I had never, before encountered. My
+acquaintances, however, had been brought up in convents, or familiar with
+them for years, and I could not gainsay their statement.
+
+"I was reluctant to believe more than I had experienced the proof, however,
+was destined to come in no dubious shape at a no distant day.... A dark and
+sullied page of experience was fast opening upon me; but so unaccustomed
+was the eye which scanned it, that I could not at all, at once, believe in
+its truth! And it was of hypocrisy so hateful, of sacrilege so terrible,
+and abuse so gross of all things pure and holy, and in the person of one
+bound by his vows, his position, and every law of his church, as well as of
+God, to set a high example, that, for a time, all confidence in the very
+existence of sincerity and goodness was in danger of being shaken,
+sacraments, deemed the most sacred, were profaned; vows disregarded,
+vaunted secrecy of the confessional covertly infringed, and its sanctity
+abused to an unhallowed purpose; while even private visitation was
+converted into a channel for temptation, and made the occasion of unholy
+freedom of words and manner. So ran the account of evil and a dire account
+it was. By it, all serious thoughts of religion were well nigh
+extinguished. The influence was fearful and polluting, the whirl of
+excitement inexpressible: I cannot enter into minute particulars here,
+every sense of feminine delicacy and womanly feeling shrink from such a
+task. This much, however, I can say that I, in conjunction with two other
+young friends, took a journey to a confessor, an inmate of a religious
+house, who lived at some distance, to lay the affair before him; thinking
+that he would take some remedial measures adequate to the urgency of the
+case. He heard our united statements, expressed great indignation, and, at
+once, commended us each to write and detail the circumstances of the case
+to the Bishop of the district. This we did; but of course, never heard the
+result. The reminiscences of these dreary and wretched months seem now like
+some hideous and guilty dream. It was actual familiarization with unholiest
+things! (page 63.)
+
+"The romish religion teaches that if you omit to name anything in
+confession, however repugnant or revolting to purity, which you even doubt
+having committed, your subsequent confessions are thus rendered null and
+sacrilegious; while it also inculcates that sins of thought should be
+confessed in order that the confessor may judge of their mortal or venial
+character. What sort of a chain this links around the strictly
+conscientious I would attempt to portray, if I could. But it must have been
+worn to understand its torturing character! Suffice it to say that, for
+months past, according to this standard, I had not made a good confession
+at all! And now, filled with remorse for my past sacrilegious sinfulness, I
+resolved on making a new general confession to the _religieux_ alluded to.
+But this confessor's scrupulosity exceeded everything I had, hitherto,
+encountered. He told me some things were mortal sins, which I had never
+before imagined could be such: and thus threw so many fetters around my
+conscience, that a host of anxieties for my first general confession was
+awakened within me. I had no resource then, but to re-make that, and thus I
+afresh entered on the bitter path I had deemed I should never have occasion
+again to tread. But if my first confession had lacerated my feelings, what
+was it to this one? Words have no power, language has no expression to
+characterise the emotion that marked it!
+
+"The difficulty I felt in making a full and explicit avowal all that
+distressed me, furnished my confessor with a plea for his assistance in the
+questioning department, and fain would I conceal much of what passed then,
+as a foul blot on my memory. I soon found that he made mortal sins of what
+my first confessor had professed to treat but lightly, and he did not
+scruple to say that I had never yet made a good confession at all. My ideas
+therefore became more complicated and confused as I proceeded, until, at
+length, I began to feel doubtful of ever accomplishing my task in any
+degree satisfactorily: and my mind and memory were positively racked to
+recall every iota of every kind, real or imaginary, that might, if omitted,
+hereafter be occasion of uneasiness. Things heretofore held comparatively
+trifling were recounted, and pronounced damnable sins: and as, day after
+day, I knelt at the feet of that man, answering questions and listening to
+admonitions calculated to bow my very soul to the dust, I felt as though I
+should hardly be able to raise my head again!" (page 63.)
+
+This is the peace which flows from auricular confession. I solemnly declare
+that except in a few cases, in which the confidence of the penitents is
+bordering on idiocy, or in which they have been transformed into immoral
+brutes, nine-tenths of the multitudes who go to confess, are obliged to
+recount some such desolate narrative as that of Miss Richardson, when they
+are sufficiently honest to say the truth.
+
+The most fanatical apostles of auricular confession cannot deny that the
+examination of conscience, which must precede confession, is a most
+difficult task; a task which, instead of filling the mind with peace, fills
+it with anxiety and serious fears. Is it then only after confession that
+they promise such peace? But they know very well that this promise is also
+a cruel deception ... for to make a good confession, the penitent has to
+relate not only all his bad actions, but all his bad thoughts and desires,
+their number, and various aggravating circumstances. But have they found a
+single one of their penitents who was certain to have remembered all the
+thoughts, the desires, all the criminal aspirations of the poor sinful
+heart? They are well aware that to count the thoughts of the mind for days
+and weeks gone by, and to narrate those thoughts accurately at a subsequent
+period, are just as easy as to weigh and count the clouds which have passed
+over the sun, in a three days storm, a month after that storm is over. It
+is simply impossible, absurd! This has never been, this will never be done.
+But there is no possible peace so long as the penitent _is not sure_ that
+he has remembered, counted and confessed every past sinful thought, word
+and deed. It is then impossible, yes! it is morally and physically
+_impossible_ for a soul to find peace through auricular confession. If the
+law which says to every sinner: "You are bound, under pain of eternal
+damnation, to remember all your bad thoughts and confess them to the best
+of your memory", were not so evidently a satanic invention, it ought to be
+put among the most infamous ideas which have ever come out from the brain
+of fallen man. For, who can remember and count the thoughts of a week, of a
+day, nay, of an hour of his sinful life?
+
+Where is the traveller who has crossed the swampy forests of America, in
+the three months of a warm summer, who could tell the number of musquitoes
+which have bitten him and drawn the blood from the veins?
+
+What should that traveller think of the man who, seriously, would tell him:
+"You must prepare yourself to die, if you do not tell me, to the best of
+your memory, how many times you have been bitten by the musquitoes, the
+last three summer months, when you crossed the swampy lands along the
+shores of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers?
+
+Would he not suspect that his merciless inquirer had just escaped from a
+lunatic asylum?
+
+But it would be much more easy for that traveller to say how many times he
+has suffered from the bitings of the musquitoes, than for the poor sinner
+to count the bad thoughts which have passed through his sinful heart,
+through any period of his life.
+
+Though the penitent is told that he must confess his thoughts only
+according to his _best_ recollection,--he will _never, never_ know if he
+has done his _best_ efforts to remember everything: he will constantly fear
+lest he has not done his _best_ to count and confess them correctly.
+
+Every honest priest will at once admit that his most intelligent and pious
+penitents, particularly among women, are constantly tortured by the fear of
+having omitted to disclose some sinful deeds or thoughts. Many of them,
+after having already made several general confessions, are constantly urged
+by the pricking of their conscience, to begin afresh, in the fear that
+their first confessions had some serious defects. Those past confessions,
+instead of being a source of spiritual joy and peace, are, on the contrary,
+like, so many Damocles' swords, day and night suspended over their heads,
+filling their souls with the terrors of an eternal death! Sometimes the
+terror-stricken consciences of those honest and pious women tell them that
+they were not sufficiently contrite; at another time, they reproach them
+for not having spoken sufficiently plain on some things fitter to make them
+blush.
+
+On many occasions, too, it has happened that sins which one confessor had
+declared to as venial, and which had long ceased to be confessed, another
+more scrupulous than the first would declare to be damnable. Every
+confessor thus knows perfectly well that he proffers what is flagrantly
+false every time he dismisses his penitents, after confession, with the
+salutation:--"Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee."
+
+But it is a mistake to say that the soul does not find peace in auricular
+confession: in many cases, peace is found. And if the reader desires to
+learn something of that peace, let him go to the grave-yard, open the
+tombs, and peep into the sepulchres. What awful silence! What profound
+quiet! What terrible and frightful peace! You hear not even the motion of
+the worms that creep in, and the worms that creep out, as they feast upon
+the dead carcase! Such is the peace of the confessional! The soul, the
+intelligence, the honor, the self-respect, the conscience, are there
+sacrificed. There they must die! Yes, the confessional is a veritable tomb
+of human conscience, a sepulchre of human honesty, dignity and liberty; the
+grave-yard of human soul! By its means, man, whom God hath made in his own
+image, is converted into the likeness of the beast that perishes; woman,
+created by God to be the glory and help-mate of man, is transformed into
+the vile and trembling slave of the priest. In the confessional, man and
+woman attain to the highest degree of popish perfection: they become as dry
+sticks, as dead branches, as silent corpses, in the hands of their
+confessors. Their spirits are destroyed, their consciences are stiff, their
+souls are ruined.
+
+This is the supreme and perfect result achieved, in its highest victories,
+by the Church of Rome.
+
+There is, verily, peace to be found in auricular confession--yes, but it is
+the peace of the grave!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DOGMA OF AURICULAR CONFESSION A SACRILEGIOUS IMPOSTURE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Both Roman Catholics and Protestants have fallen into very strange errors
+in reference to the words of Christ: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are
+remitted unto them; _and_ whose soever _sins_ ye retain, they are
+retained." (St. John xx. 23.)
+
+The first have seen in this text the inalienable attributes of God of
+forgiving and retaining sins transferred to sinful men; the second have
+most unwisely granted their position, even while attempting to refute their
+errors.
+
+A little more attention to the translation of the 3rd and 6th verses of
+chapter xiii. of Leviticus by the Septuagint would have prevented the
+former from falling into their sacrilegious errors, and would have saved
+the latter from wasting so much time in refuting errors which refute
+themselves.
+
+Every one knows that the Septuagint Bible was the Bible that was generally
+read and used by Jesus Christ and the Hebrew people, in our Saviour's days.
+Its language was evidently the one spoken by Christ and understood by his
+hearers. When addressing his apostles and disciples on their duties towards
+the spiritual lepers to whom they were to preach the ways of salvation,
+Christ constantly followed the very expression of the Septuagint. It was
+the foundation of his doctrine and the testimonial of his divine mission to
+which he constantly appealed: the book which was the greatest treasure of
+the nation.
+
+From the beginning to the end of the Old and the New Testament, the bodily
+leprosy, with which the Jewish priest had to deal, is presented as the
+figure of the spiritual leprosy, sin, the penalty of which our Saviour had
+taken upon himself, that we might be saved by his death. That spiritual
+leprosy was the very thing for the cleansing of which he had come to this
+world--for which he lived, suffered and died. Yes! the bodily leprosy with
+which the priests of the Jews had to deal, was the figure of the sins which
+Christ was to take away by shedding his blood, and with which his apostles
+were to deal till the end of the world.
+
+When speaking of the duties of the Hebrew priests towards the leper, our
+modern translations say: (Lev. xiii. v. 6.) "They will pronounce him clean"
+or (v. 3d.) "They will pronounce him unclean."
+
+But this action of the priests was expressed in a very different way by the
+Septuagint Bible, used by Christ and the people of his time. Instead of
+saying, "The priest shall pronounce the leper clean," as we read in our
+Bible, the Septuagint version says, "The priest shall clean (_katharei_,)
+or shall unclean (_mianei_,) the leper.
+
+No one had ever been so foolish, among the Jews, as to believe that because
+their Bible said _clean_, (_katharei_) their priests had the miraculous and
+supernatural power of taking away and curing the leprosy: and we nowhere
+see that the Jewish priests ever had the audacity to try to persuade the
+people that they had ever received any supernatural and divine power to
+"cleanse" the leprosy, because their God through the Bible, had said of
+them: "They will cleanse the leper." Both priest and people were
+sufficiently intelligent and honest to understand and acknowledge that by
+that expression, if was only meant that the priests had the legal right to
+see if the leprosy was gone or not, they had only to look at certain marks
+indicated by God Himself, through Moses, to know whether, or not, God had
+cured the leper before he presented himself to his priest. The leper, cured
+by the mercy and power of God alone, before presenting himself to the
+priest, was only declared to be clean by that priest. Thus the priest was
+said, by the Bible, to "clean" the leper, or the leprosy;--and, in the
+opposite case, to "unclean." (Septuagint, Leviticus xiii. v. 3. 6.)
+
+Now, let us put what God has said, through Moses, to the priests of the old
+law, in reference to the bodily leprosy, face to face with what God has
+said, through his Son Jesus, to his apostles and his whole church, in
+reference to the spiritual leprosy from which Christ has delivered us on
+the cross.
+
+  Septuagint Bible, Levit. xiii.    |    New Testament, John xx., 23.
+                                    |
+"And the Priest shall look on the   |  "Whose soever sins ye remit, they
+plague, in the skin of the flesh,   |  are remitted unto them; and whose
+and when the hair in the plague is  |  soever sins ye retain, they are
+turned white, and the plague in     |  retained."
+sight be deeper than the skin of    |
+his flesh, it is a plague of        |
+leprosy: and the priest shall look  |
+on him and UNCLEAN HIM (_mianei_).  |
+                                    |
+"And the Priest shall look on him   |
+again the seventh day, and if the   |
+plague is somewhat dark and does    |
+not spread on the skin, the Priest  |
+shall CLEAN HIM (_katharei_): and   |
+he shall wash his clothes and BE    |
+CLEAN," (katharos.)                 |
+
+The analogy of the diseases with which the Hebrew priests and the disciples
+of Christ had to deal, is striking: so the analogy of the expressions
+prescribing their respective duties is also striking.
+
+When God said to the priests of the Old Law, "You shall clean the leper,"
+and he shall be "cleaned," or, "you shall unclean the leper," and he shall
+be "uncleaned," He only gave the legal power to see if there were any signs
+or indications by which they could say that God had cured the leper before
+he presented himself to the priest. So, when Christ said to his apostles
+and his whole church, "Whose soever sins ye shall forgive, shall be
+forgiven unto them," He only repeated what Moses had said in an analagous
+case: He only gave them the authority to say when the spiritual lepers, the
+sinners, had reconciled themselves to God, and received their pardon from
+Him and Him alone, previous to their coming to the apostles.
+
+It is true that the priests of the Old Law had regulations from God,
+through Moses, which they had to follow, by which they could see and say
+whether, or not, the leprosy was gone.
+
+"If the plague spread not on the skin ... the priest shall clean him ...
+but if the priest see that the scab spread on the skin, it is leprosy: he
+shall "unclean" him. (Septuagint, Levit. xiii. 3. 6.)
+
+So Christ had given to his apostles and his whole church equally,
+infallible rules and marks to determine whether, or not, the spiritual
+leprosy was gone, that they might clean the leper and tell him,
+
+   I clean thee,    |   I forgive thy sins,
+         or         |          or
+  I unclean thee.   |   I retain thy sins.
+
+I would have, indeed, many passages of the Old and New Testaments to copy,
+were it my intention to reproduce all the marks given by God Himself,
+through his prophets, or by Christ and apostles, that His ambassadors might
+know when they should say to the sinner that he was delivered from his
+iniquities. I will give only a few.
+
+First: "And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the
+gospel to every creature:
+
+"He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: but he that believeth
+not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 15, 16.)
+
+What a strange want of memory in the Saviour of the world! He has entirely
+forgotten that "Auricular Confession," besides Faith and Baptism are
+necessary to be saved! To those who believe and are baptised, the apostles
+and the church are authorised by Christ to say: "You are saved! your sins
+are forgiven! I clean you!"
+
+Second: "And when ye come into an house, salute it.
+
+"And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not
+worthy, let your peace return to you.
+
+"And whose soever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye
+depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
+
+"Verily, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of
+Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of Judgment, than for that city." (Math x.
+12-15.)
+
+Here again the Great Physician tells his disciples when the leprosy will be
+gone, the sins forgiven, the soul purified. It is when the lepers, the
+sinners, will have welcomed his messengers, heard and received their
+message. Not a word about auricular confession: this great panacea of the
+Pope's was evidently ignored by Christ.
+
+Third: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
+forgive you--But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
+Father forgive your trespasses." (Math vi. 14, 15.)
+
+Was it possible to give a more striking and simple rule to the Apostles and
+the Disciples that they might know when they could say to a sinner: "Thy
+sins are forgiven!" or, "Thy sins are retained?" Here the double keys of
+heaven are most solemnly and publicly given to every child of Adam! As sure
+as there is a God in heaven and that Jesus died to save sinners, so it is
+sure that if one forgives the trespasses of his neighbor for the dear
+Saviour's sake, his own sins have been forgiven! To the end of the world,
+then, let the disciples of Christ say to the sinner, "Thy sins are
+forgiven," not because you have confessed your sins to me, but for Christ's
+sake; the evidence of which is that you have forgiven those who had
+offended you.
+
+Fourth: "And behold, a certain one stood up and tempted him, saying:
+Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
+
+"He said unto him: What is written in the law? how readest thou?
+
+"And he, answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
+heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
+mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.
+
+"And He said unto him, thou hast answered right; this do and thou shalt
+live." (Luke x. 25-28.)
+
+What a fine opportunity for the Saviour to speak of "auricular confession"
+as a means given by him to be saved! But here again, Christ forgets that
+marvellous medicine of the Popes. Jesus, speaking absolutely, like the
+Protestants, bids his messengers to proclaim pardon, forgiveness of sins,
+not to those who confess their sins to a man, but to those who love God and
+their neighbor. And so will his true disciples and messengers do to the end
+of the world!
+
+Fifth: "And when he (the prodigal son) came to himself, he said: ... I will
+arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
+against Heaven and before thee: and I am not worthy to be called thy son:
+make me as one of thy hired servants.
+
+"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off,
+his father saw him and had compassion and ran; and he fell on his neck and
+kissed him.
+
+"And the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight,
+and am not worthy to be called thy son.
+
+"But the father said to his servants: Bring forth his best robe, and put it
+on him: put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the
+fat calf. For this my son was dead, and he is alive again, he was lost and
+he is found." (Luke xv, 17-24.)
+
+Apostles and disciples of Christ, wherever you will hear, on this land of
+sin and misery, the cry of the Prodigal Son: "I will arise and go to my
+Father" every time you see him, not at your feet, but at the feet of his
+true Father, crying: "Father I have sinned against thee," unite your hymns
+of joy to the joyful songs of the angels of God; repeat into the ears of
+that redeemed sinner the sentence just fallen from the lips of the Lamb,
+whose blood cleanses us from all our sins; say to him, "Thy sins are
+forgiven."
+
+Sixth: "Come unto me all ye who labour, and are heavy-laden, and I will
+give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and
+lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy
+and my burden is light." (Math. xi, 28-30.)
+
+Though these words were pronounced more than 1800 years ago, they were
+pronounced this very morning; they come at every hour of day and night from
+the lips and the heart of Christ to every one of us sinners. It is just now
+that Jesus says to every sinner, "Come to me and I will give ye rest."
+Christ has never said and he will never say to any sinner: "Go to my
+priests and they will give you rest!" But he has said, "Come to me and I
+will give you rest."
+
+Let the apostles and disciples of the Saviour, then, proclaim peace,
+pardon, rest, not to the sinners who come to confess to them all their most
+secretly sinful thoughts, desires, or actions, but to those who go to
+Christ and Him alone, for peace, pardon and rest. For "Come to me," from
+Jesus lips, has never meant, it will never mean, "Go and confess to the
+priests."
+
+Christ would never have said: "My yoke is easy and my burden light" if he
+had instituted auricular confession. For the world has never seen a yoke so
+heavy, humiliating and degrading as auricular confession.
+
+Seventh: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
+the Son of man be lifted up; that who soever believeth in him should not
+perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14.)
+
+Did Almighty God require any auricular confession in the wilderness, from
+the sinners, when He ordered Moses to lift up the serpent? No! Neither did
+Christ speak of auricular confession as a condition of salvation to those
+who look to Him when He dies on the Cross to pay their debts. A free pardon
+was offered to the Israelites who looked to the uplifted serpent. A free
+pardon is offered by Christ crucified to all those who look to Him with
+faith, repentance and love. To such sinners the ministers of Christ, to the
+end of the world, are authorised to say: "Your sins are forgiven--we
+"clean" your leprosy."
+
+Eighth: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
+that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
+
+"For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world, through
+him, might be saved.
+
+"He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not, is
+condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
+begotten Son of God.
+
+"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and man
+loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every
+one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest
+his deeds should be reproved.
+
+"But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
+manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John iii, 16-21.)
+
+In the religion of Rome, it is only through auricular confession that the
+sinner can be reconciled to God; it is only after he has heard a most
+detailed confession of all the thoughts, desires and actions of the guilty
+one that he can tell him: "Thy sins are forgiven." But in the religion of
+the Gospel, the reconciliation of the sinner with his God is absolutely and
+entirely the work of Christ. That marvellous forgiveness is a free gift
+offered not for any outward act of the sinner: nothing is required from him
+but faith, repentance and love. These are marks by which the leprosy is
+known to be cured and the sins forgiven. To all those who have these marks,
+the ambassadors of Christ are authorized to say, "Your sins are forgiven,"
+we "clean" you.
+
+Ninth: "The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
+eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: God! be merciful to me a
+sinner!
+
+"I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified." (Luke xviii 13,
+14.). Yes! justified! and without auricular confession!
+
+Ministers and disciples of Christ, when you see the repenting sinner
+smiting his breast and crying: "Oh, God! have mercy upon me a sinner!" shut
+your ears to the deceptive words of Rome who tells you to force that
+redeemed sinner to make to you a special confession of all his sins, to get
+his pardon. But go to him and deliver the message of love, peace and mercy,
+which you received from Christ: "Thy sins are forgiven! I "clean" thee!
+
+Tenth: "And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him,
+saying: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
+
+"But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying: Doest not thou fear God,
+seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly, but this
+man hath done nothing amiss.
+
+"And he said unto Jesus: Remember me, when thou art in thy Kingdom. And
+Jesus said unto him: Verily, I say Unto thee: to-day, shalt thou be with me
+in Paradise." (Luke xxii, 39-43.)
+
+Yes, in the Paradise or Kingdom of Christ without auricular confession!
+From Calvary, when his hands are nailed to the cross, and his blood is
+poured out, Christ even then protests against the great imposture of
+auricular confession. Jesus will be to the end of the world what he was
+there on the cross: the sinner's friend; always ready to hear and pardon
+those who invoke his name and trust in him.
+
+Disciples of the gospel, wherever you hear the cry of the repenting sinner
+to the crucified Saviour: "Remember me when thou comest to thy Kingdom," go
+and give the assurance to that penitent and redeemed child of Adam that
+"his sins are forgiven"--clean the leper.
+
+Eleventh: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
+thoughts: and let him return to the Lord; and he will have mercy upon him
+and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isa. lv. 7. 8.)
+
+"Wash you, and make you clean, put away the evils of your doings from
+before mine eyes: cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
+relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
+
+"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be
+as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
+they shall be as wool." (Isa. i, 16-18.)
+
+Here are the landmarks of the mercy of God, put by his own almighty hands!
+Who will dare to remove them in order to put others in their place? Has
+ever Christ touched those landmarks? Has he ever intimated that anything
+but faith, repentance and love, with their blessed fruits, were required
+from the sinners to secure his pardon? No--never.
+
+Have the prophets of the Old Testament or the apostles of the New ever said
+a word about "auricular confession" as a condition for pardon? No--never.
+
+What does David say? "I confess my sins unto thee, and mine iniquity have I
+not hid. I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and thou
+forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Psalm xxxii, 5.)
+
+What does the Apostle John say? "If we say that we have fellowship with
+Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
+
+"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
+with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from
+sin;
+
+"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
+in us.
+
+"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to
+CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness." (i. John i, 6-9.)
+
+This is the language of the prophets and apostles. This is the language of
+the Old and the New Testament. It is to God and Him alone that the sinner
+is requested to confess his sins. It is from God and Him alone that he can
+expect his pardon.
+
+The apostle Paul writes fifteen epistles, in which he speaks of all the
+duties imposed upon human conscience by the laws of God and the
+prescriptions of the Gospel of Christ. A thousand times he speaks to
+sinners and tells them how they may be reconciled to God. But does he say a
+word about auricular confession? No, not one!
+
+The apostles Peter, John, Jude address six letters to the different
+churches--in which they state with the greatest detail what the different
+classes of Christians have to do. But again, not a single word comes from
+them about auricular confession.
+
+St. James says, "confess your faults one to another." But this is so
+evidently the repetition of what the Saviour had said about the way of
+reconciliation between those who had offended one another, and it is so far
+from the dogma of a secret confession to the priest, that the most zealous
+supporters of auricular confession have not dared to mention that text in
+favour of their modern invention.
+
+But if we look in vain in the Old and New Testament for a word in favour of
+auricular confession as a dogma, will it be possible to find that dogma in
+the records of the first thousand years of Christianity? No! for the more
+one studies the records of the Christian church during the first ten
+centuries, the more he will be convinced that auricular confession is a
+miserable imposture, of the darkest days of the world and the church.
+
+We have the life of Paul, the hermit, of the third century, by one of the
+early fathers of the church. But not a word is said in it of his confessing
+his sins to any one, though a thousand things are said of him which are of
+a far less interesting character.
+
+So it is with the life of St. Mary, the Egyptian. The minute history of her
+life, her public scandals, her conversion, long prayers and fastings in
+solitude, the detailed history of her last days and of her death, all these
+we have; but not a single word is said of her confessing to any one. It is
+evident that she lived and died without ever having thought of going to
+confess.
+
+The deacon Pontius wrote also the life St. Cyprien, who lived in the third
+century; but he does not say a word of his ever having gone to confession,
+or having heard the confession of any one. More than that, we learn from
+this reliable historian that Cyprien was excommunicated by the Pope of
+Rome, called Stephen, and that he died without having ever asked from any
+one absolution from that excommunication; a thing which has not seemingly
+prevented him from going to Heaven, since the infallible Popes of Rome, who
+succeeded Stephen, have assured us that he is a saint.
+
+Gregory of Nyssa has given us the life of St. Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, of
+the 3rd century, and of St. Basil, of the 4th century. But neither speak of
+their having gone to confess, or having heard the confession of any one. It
+is thus evident that those two great and good men, with all the Christians
+of their times, lived and died without ever knowing any thing about the
+dogma of auricular confession.
+
+We have the interesting life of St Ambrose, of the 4th century, by
+Paulinus; and from that book it is as evident as two and two make four,
+that St. Ambrose never went to confess.
+
+The history of St Martin of Tours, of the 4th century by Severus Sulpicius
+of the 5th century, is another monument left by antiquity to prove that
+there was no dogma of auricular confession in those days; for St. Martin
+has evidently lived and died without ever going to confess.
+
+Pallas and Theodoret have left us the history of the life, sufferings and
+death of St. Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, who died at the
+beginning of the 5th century, and both are absolutely mute about that
+dogma. No fact is more evident, by what they say, than that holy and
+eloquent bishop lived and died also without ever thinking of going to
+confess.
+
+No man has ever more perfectly entered into the details of a Christian
+life, when writing on that subject, than the learned and eloquent St
+Jerome, of the 5th century. A great number of his admirable letters are
+written to the priests of his day, or to some Christian ladies and virgins,
+who had requested him to give them some good advices about the best way to
+lead a Christian life. His letters, which form five volumes, are most
+interesting monuments of the manners, habits, views, morality, practical
+and dogmatical faith of the first centuries of the church; and they are a
+most unanswerable evidence that auricular confession, as a dogma, had then
+no existence, and is quite a modern invention. Would it be possible that
+Jerome could have forgotten to give some advices or rules about auricular
+confession, to the priests of his time who asked his counsel about the best
+way to fulfil their ministerial duties, if it had been one of their duties
+to hear the confessions of the people? But we challenge the most devoted
+modern priest of Rome to find a single line in all the letters of St Jerome
+in favour of auricular confession. In his admirable letter to the priest
+Nepotianus, on the life of priests, vol. II, p. 203, when speaking of the
+relations of priests with women, he says: "Solus cum sola, secreto et
+absque arbitrio vel teste, non sedeas. Si familiarus est aliquid loquendum,
+habet nutricem majorem domus, virginem, viduam, vel maritatam; non est tam
+inhumana ut nullum praeter te habeat cui se audeat credere."
+
+"Never sit in secret, alone, in a retired place, with a female who is alone
+with you. If she has any particular thing to tell you, let her take the
+female attendant of the house, a young girl, a widow, or a married woman.
+She can not be so ignorant of the rules of human life as to expect to have
+you as the only one to whom she can trust those things."
+
+It would be easy to cite a great number of other remarkable passages where
+Jerome shows himself the most determined and implacable opponent of those
+secret "tete-a-tete" between a priest and a female, which, under the
+plausible pretext of mutual advice and spiritual consolation, are generally
+nothing but bottomless pits of infamy and perdition for both. But this is
+enough.
+
+We have also the admirable life of St. Paulina, written by St. Jerome. And
+though in it he gives us every imaginable detail of her life when young,
+married and widow, though he tells us even how her bed was composed of the
+simplest and rudest materials, he has not a word about her ever having gone
+to confess. Jerome speaks of the acquaintances of St. Paulina and gives
+their names; he enters into the minutest details of her long voyages, her
+charities, her foundations of monasteries for men and women, her
+temptations, human frailties, heroic virtues, her macerations and her holy
+death: but he has not a word to say about the frequent or rare auricular
+confessions of St. Paulina; not a word about her wisdom in the choice of a
+prudent and holy (?) confessor.
+
+He tells us that after her death, her body was carried to her grave on the
+shoulders of bishops and priests, as a token of their profound respect for
+the saint. But he never says that any of those priests sat there in a dark
+corner with her, and forced her to reveal to their ears the secret history
+of all the thoughts, desires, and human frailties of her long and eventful
+life. Jerome is an unimpeachable witness that his saintly and noble friend
+St. Paulina lived and died without having ever thought of going to confess.
+
+Possidius has left us the interesting life of St. Augustine, of the fifth
+century; and again it is in vain that we look for the place or the time
+when that celebrated bishop of Hippo went to confess, or heard the secret
+confessions of his people.
+
+More than that, St. Augustine has written a most admirable book, called:
+"Confessions," in which he gives us the history of his life. With that
+marvellous book in hand, we follow him, step by step, wherever he goes; we
+are the witnesses of what he does and thinks; we attend with him those
+celebrated schools, where his faith and morality were so sadly wrecked; he
+takes us with him into the garden where, wavering between heaven and hell,
+bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree and cries, "Oh Lord! how long
+will I remain in my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with emotions, with his
+soul, when we hear, with him, the sweet and mysterious voice: "Tolle!
+lege!" take and read. We run with him to the places where he had left his
+gospel book; with a trembling hand, we open it, and we read: "Let us walk
+honestly as in the day ... put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom. xiii,
+13, 14.)
+
+That incomparable book of Augustine makes us weep and shout with joy with
+him; it initiates us into all, his most secret actions, to all his sorrows,
+anxieties and joys, it reveals and unvails his whole life. It tells us
+where he goes, with whom he sins, and with whom he praises God; it makes us
+pray, sing and bless the Lord with him. Is it possible that Augustine could
+have been to confess without telling us when, where and to whom he made
+confession? Could he have received the absolution and pardon of his sins
+from his confessor, without making us partakers of his joys, and requesting
+us to bless that confessor with him.
+
+But, it is in vain that you look in that book for a single word about
+auricular confession. That book is an unimpeachable witness that neither
+Augustine nor his saintly mother Monica, whom it mentions so often, lived
+and died without ever having been to confess. That book may be called the
+most crushing evidence to prove that, "the dogma of auricular confession"
+is a modern imposture.
+
+From the beginning to the end of that book, we see that Augustine believed
+and said that God alone could forgive the sins of men, and that it was to
+Him alone that men had to confess in order to be pardoned. If he writes his
+confession, it is only that the world might know how God had been merciful
+to him, and that they might help him to praise and bless the merciful
+Heavenly Father. In the tenth book of his Confessions, chapter III,
+Augustine protests against the idea that men could do anything to cure the
+spiritual leper, or forgive the sins of their fellow-men; here is his
+eloquent protest: "Quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones
+meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint languores meas? Curiosum genus ad
+cognoscendam vitam alienam; desidiosum ad corrigendam."
+
+"What have I to do with men that I might be obliged to confess my sins to
+them, as if they were able to heal my infirmities? Oh Lord! that human race
+is very fond of knowing the sins of their neighbors; but they are very
+neglectful in correcting their own lies."
+
+Before Augustine had built up that sublime and imperishable monument
+against auricular confession, St. John Chrysostom had raised his eloquent
+voice against it, in his homily on the 50th Psalm, where, speaking in the
+name of the Church, he said: "We do not request you to go to confess your
+sins to any of your fellow-men, but only to God!"
+
+Nestorius, of the 4th century, the predecessor of John Chrysostom, had, by
+a public defense, which the best Roman Catholic historians have had to
+acknowledge, solemnly forbidden the practice of auricular confession. For,
+just as there has always been thieves, drunkards and malefactors in the
+world, so there has always been men and women who, under the pretext of
+opening their minds to each other for mutual comfort and edification, were
+giving themselves to every kind of iniquity and lust. The celebrated
+Chrysostom was only giving the sanction of his authority to what his
+predecessor had done when, thundering against the newly born monster, he
+said to the Christians of his time, "We do not ask you to go and confess
+your iniquities to a sinful man for pardon--but only to God." (Homily on
+50th Psalm.)
+
+Auricular confession originated with the early heretics, especially with
+Marcion. Bellarmin speaks of it as something to be practiced. But let us
+hear what the contemporary writers have to say on the question:
+
+"Certain women were in the habit of going to the heretic Marcion to confess
+their sins to him. But, as he was smitten with their beauty, and they loved
+him also, they abandoned themselves to sin with him."
+
+Listen now to what St. Basil, in his commentary on Ps. xxxvii, says of
+confession:
+
+"I have not to come before the world to make a confession with my lips. But
+I close my eyes, and confess my sins in the secret of my heart. Before
+thee, O God, I pour out my sighs, and thou alone art the witness. My groans
+are within my soul. There is no need of many words to confess: sorrow and
+regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamentations of the soul, which
+thou art pleased to hear, are the best confession."
+
+Chrysostom, in his homily: De paenitentia, vol. IV., col. 901, has the
+following: "You need no witnesses of your confession. Secretly acknowledge
+your sins, and let God alone hear you."
+
+In his homily V., De incomprehensibili Dei natura, vol. I, he says:
+"Therefore, I beseech you, always confess your sins to God! I in no way ask
+you to confess them to me. To God alone should you expose the wounds of
+your souls, and from him alone expect the cure. Go to him, then; and you
+shall not be cast off, but healed. For, before you utter a single word, God
+knows your prayer."
+
+In his commentary on Heb. xii., hom. xxxi., vol. xii., p. 289, he further
+says: "Let us not be content with calling ourselves sinners. But let us
+examine and number our sins. And then, I do not tell you to go and confess
+them, according to the caprice of some; but I will say to you, with the
+prophet: "Confess your sins before God, acknowledge your iniquities at the
+feet of your Judge; pray in your heart and your mind, if not with your
+tongue, and you shall be pardoned."
+
+In his homily on Ps. I., vol. V., p. 589, the same Chrysostom says:
+"Confess you sins every day in prayer. Why should you hesitate to do so? I
+do not tell you to go and confess to a man, sinner as you are, and who
+might despise you if he knew your faults. But confess them to God, who can
+forgive them to you."
+
+In his admirable homily IV., De Lazaro, vol. I., p. 757, he explains: "Why,
+tell me, should you be ashamed to confess your sins? Do we compel you to
+reveal them to a man, who might, one day, throw them into your face? Are
+you commanded to confess them to one of your equals, who could publish them
+and ruin you? What we ask of you, is simply to show the sores of your soul
+to your Lord and Master, who is also your friend, your guardian and
+physician."
+
+In a small work of Chrysostom's, intitled: "Catechesis ad illuminandos,"
+vol. II., p. 210, we read these remarkable words: "What we should most
+admire, is not that God forgives our sins, but that he does not disclose
+them to any one, nor wishes us to do so. What he demands of us, is to
+confess our transgressions to him alone to obtain pardon."
+
+St. Augustine, in his beautiful homily on the 31st Ps., says: "I shall
+confess my sins to God, and he will pardon all my iniquities. And such
+confession is made not with the lips, but with the heart only. I had hardly
+opened my mouth to confess my sins, when they were pardoned; for God had
+already heard the voice of my heart."
+
+In the edition of the Fathers by Migne, vol. 67, p. 614, 615, we read:
+"About the year 390, the office of penitentiary was abolished in the
+church, in consequence of a great scandal given by a woman who publicly
+accused herself of having committed a crime against chastity with a
+deacon."
+
+The office of penitentiary was this: in every large city, a priest or
+minister was specially appointed to preside over the church meetings where
+the members who had committed public sins were obliged to confess them
+publicly before the assembly, in order to be reinstated in the privileges
+of their membership; and that minister had the charge of reading or
+pronouncing the sentence of pardon granted by the church to the guilty
+ones, before they could be admitted again to communion. This was perfectly
+in accordance with what St. Paul had done with regard to the incestuous one
+of Corinth, that scandalous sinner, who had cast obloquy on the Christian
+name; but who, after confessing and weeping over his sins, before the
+church, obtained his pardon--not from a priest in whose ears he had
+whispered all the shocking details of his incestuous intercourse, but from
+the whole church assembled. St. Paul gladly approves the Church of Corinth
+in thus receiving again in their midst a wandering but repenting brother.
+
+There is as much difference between such public confessions and auricular
+confessions, as there is between heaven and hell, between God and his great
+enemy, Satan.
+
+Public confession, then, dates from the time of the apostles, and is still
+practised in protestant churches of our day. But auricular confession was
+unknown by the disciples of Christ; as it is rejected, to-day, with horror
+by all the true followers of the Son of God.
+
+Erasmus, one of the most learned Roman Catholics which opposed the
+Reformation in the 16th century, so admirably begun by Luther and Calvin,
+fearlessly and honestly makes the following declaration in his treaty: De
+Paenitantia, Dis 5. "This institution of penance began rather of some
+tradition of the Old or New Testament. But our divines, not advisedly
+considering what the old doctors do say, are deceived: that which they say
+of general and open confession, they wrest by and by to this secret and
+privy kind of confession.
+
+It is a public fact, which no learned Roman Catholic has ever denied, that
+auricular confession became a dogma and obligatory practice of the church
+only at the council of Lateran in the year 1215, under the Pope Innocent
+III. Not a single trace of auricular confession, as a dogma, can be found
+before that year.
+
+Thus, it has taken more than twelve hundred years of efforts for Satan to
+bring out that master-piece of his inventions to conquer the world and
+destroy the souls of men.
+
+Little by little, that imposture had crept into the world, just as the
+shadows of a stormy night creep without any one being able to note the
+moment when the first rays of light give way before the dark clouds. We
+know very well when the sun was shining, we know when it was very dark all
+over the world, but no one can tell positively when the first ray of light
+faded away. So saith the Lord:
+
+"The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his
+field.
+
+"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and
+went his way.
+
+"But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, there appeared
+the tares also.
+
+"So the servants of the house-holder came and said unto him: Sir, dist not
+thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath it tares?
+
+"He said unto them: The enemy hath done this." (Mat. xiii, 24-28.)
+
+Yes, the Good Master tells us that the enemy sowed those tares in his field
+during the night--when men were sleeping.
+
+But he does not tell us precisely the hour of the night when the enemy cast
+the tares among the wheat.
+
+If any one likes to know how fearfully dark was the night which covered the
+"Kingdom," and how cruel, implacable and savage was the enemy who sowed the
+tares, let him read the testimony of the most devoted and learned cardinal
+whom Rome has ever had, Baronius, Annals, Anno 900:
+
+"It is evident that one can scarcely believe what unworthy, base, execrable
+and abominable things the holy Apostolical See, which is the pivot upon
+which the whole Catholic Church revolves, was forced to endure, when
+princes of the age, though Christians, arrogated to themselves the election
+of the Roman Pontiffs. Alas, the shame! alas, the grief! What monsters,
+horrible to behold, were then intruded on the Holy See! What evils ensued!
+What tragedies they perpatrated! With what pollutions was this See, though
+itself without spot, then stained! With what corruptions infected! _With
+what filthiness defiled! And by these things blackened with perpetual
+infamy!_ (Baronius, Annals, Anno 900.)
+
+"Est plane, ut vix aliquis credat, immo, nec vix quidem sit crediturus,
+nisi suis inspiciat ipse oculis, manibusque contractat, quam indigna,
+quamque turpia, atque deformia, execranda, insuper et abominanda sit coacta
+pati sacrosancta apostolica sedes, in cujus cardine universa Ecclesia
+catholica vertitur, cum principes saeculi hujus, quantumlibet christiani,
+hac tamen ex parte dicendi tyranni saevissimi, arrogaverunt sibi tirannice
+electionem Romanorum pontificum. Quot tunc ab eis, proh pudor! proh dolor!
+in eandem sedem, angelis reverandam, visu horrenda intrusa sunt monstra!
+Quot ex eis oborta sunt mala, consummatae tragediae! Quibus tunc ipsam sine
+macula et sine ruga contigit aspergi sordibus, putoribus infici, quinati
+spurcitiis, ex hisque perpetua infamia denigrari!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+GOD COMPELS THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONFESS THE ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR
+CONFESSION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Romish priests will resort to various means in order to deceive the people
+on the immorality resulting from auricular confession. One of their
+favorite stratagems is to quote some disconnected passages from
+theologians, recommending caution on the part of the priest in questioning
+his penitents on delicate subjects, should he see or apprehend any danger
+for the latter of being shocked by his questions. True, there are such
+prudent theologians, who seem to realize more than others the real danger
+for the priest in confession. But those wise counsellors resemble very much
+a father who would allow his child to put his fingers in the fire while
+advising him to be cautious lest he should burn his fingers. There is just
+as much wisdom in the one case as there would be in the other. Or what
+would you say of a brutal parent casting a young, weak, and inexperienced
+boy among wild beasts, with the foolish and cruel expectation that his
+prudence might save him from all injury?
+
+Such theologians may be perfectly honest in giving such advice, although it
+is anything but wise or reasonable. But those are far from being honest or
+true who contend that the Church of Rome, in commanding every one to
+confess all his sins to the priests, has made an exception in favor of sins
+against chastity. This is only so much dust thrown in the eyes of ignorant
+people to prevent them from seeing through the frightful mysteries of
+confession.
+
+When the council of Latran decided that every adult, of either sex, should
+confess all their sins to a priest, at least once a year, there was no
+provision made for any special class of sins, not even for those committed
+against modesty or purity. And the council of Trent, when ratifying or
+renewing the previous decision, no exception was made, either, of the sins
+in question. They were expected and had to be confessed, as all other sins.
+
+The law of both councils is still unrepealed and binding for all sins,
+without any exception. It is imperative, absolute; and every good Catholic,
+man or woman, must submit to it by confessing _all_ his or her sins at
+least once a year.
+
+I have in my hand Butler's Catechism, approved by several bishops of
+Quebec. On page 61, it reads that all penitents should examine themselves
+on the capital sins, and confess them "all, without exception, under
+penalty of eternal damnation."
+
+Therefore, the young and timid girl, the chaste and modest woman must think
+of shameful deeds and fill their minds with impure ideas, in order to
+confess to an unmarried man whatever they may be guilty of, however
+repugnant may be to them such confession, or dangerous for the priest who
+is bound to hear, and even demand it. No one is exempt from the loathsome
+and often polluting task. Both priest and penitent are required and
+compelled to go through the fiery ordeal of contamination and shame. They
+are bound, on every particular, the one to ask, and the other to answer,
+under penalty of eternal damnation.
+
+Such is the rigorous, inflexible law of the Church of Rome with regard to
+confession. It is taught not only in works on theology or from the pulpit,
+but in prayer-books and various other religious publications. It is so
+deeply impressed in the minds of Romanists as to have become a part of
+their religion. Such is the law which the priest himself has to obey, and
+which puts his penitents at his own discretion.
+
+But there are husbands with a jealous disposition, who would little fancy
+the idea of bachelors confessing their wives, if they knew exactly what
+questions they have to answer in confession. There are fathers and mothers
+who don't like much to see their daughters alone with a man, behind a
+curtain, and who would certainly tremble for their honor and virtue if they
+knew all the abominable mysteries of confession. It is necessary,
+therefore, to keep the people, as much as possible, in ignorance, and
+prevent light from reaching that empire of darkness, the confessional. In
+that view, confessors are advised to be cautious "on those matters;" to
+"broach these questions in a sort of covert way, and with the greatest
+reserve." For it is very desirable "not to shock modesty, neither frighten
+the penitent nor grieve her." "Sins, however, _must_ be confessed."
+
+Such is the prudent advice given to the confessor on certain occasions. In
+the hands or under the command of Liguori, Father Gury, Scavani, or other
+casuists, the priest is a sort of general, sent, with his army, during the
+night, to storm a citadel or a strong position, having for order to operate
+cautiously and before daylight. His mission is one of darkness and cunning,
+violence and cruelty; for when the pope commands, the priest, as his loyal
+soldier, must be ready to obey. But many a time, after the place has been
+captured by dint of strategy and secrecy, the poor soldier is left, badly
+wounded and completely disabled, on the battle-field. He has paid dearly
+for his victory; and the conquered citadel has received an injury from
+which it may never recover. But the crafty priest has gained his point: he
+has succeeded in persuading his lady penitent that there was no
+impropriety, that it was even necessary for them to have a parley on things
+that made her blush a few moments before. She is so well convinced that she
+would swear that there is nothing wrong in confession. Truly this is a
+fulfilment of the words:
+
+  "Abyssus abyssum invocat."
+
+Have the Romish theologians Gury, Scavani, Liguori, etc., ever been honest
+enough, in their works on confession, to say that the Most Holy God could
+never command or require woman to degrade and pollute herself and the
+priest in pouring in the ear of a frail and sinful mortal, words unfit even
+for an angel? No; they were very careful not to say so; for from that very
+moment, their shameless lies would have been exposed; the stupendous but
+weak structure of auricular confession would fall to the ground with sad
+havoc and ruin to its upholders. Men and women would open their eyes, and
+see its weakness and fallacy. "If God," they might say, "can forgive our
+most grievous sins, against modesty, he can and will certainly do the same
+with those of less gravity; therefore there is no necessity or occasion for
+us to confess to a priest."
+
+But those shrewd casuists know too well that by such frank confession, they
+would soon lose their hold on Catholic populations, especially on women, by
+whom, through confession, they rule the world. They much prefer to keep
+their gripe on benighted minds, frightened consciences, and trembling
+souls. No wonder, then, that they fully endorse and confirm the decisions
+of the councils of Latran and Trent ordering "that all sins must be
+confessed such as God knows them." No wonder that they try their best or
+worst to overcome the natural repugnance of women for making such
+confessions, and to conceal the terrible dangers for the priests in hearing
+the same.
+
+But God, in His infinite mercy, and for the sake of truth, has compelled,
+as it were, the Church of Rome to acknowledge the moral dangers and
+corrupting tendencies of auricular confession. In His eternal wisdom, he
+knew that Roman Catholics would close their ears to whatever might be said
+of the demoralizing influence of that institution; that they would even
+reply with insult and fallacy to the words of truth kindly addressed to
+them: as the Jews of old returned hatred and insult to the good Saviour who
+was bringing to them the glad tidings of a free salvation. He knew that
+Romish devotees, led astray by their priests, as were the poor blinded
+Jews, would call the apostles of truth liars, seducers, possessed of the
+devil, as Christ was constantly called a demoniac, an impostor, and finally
+put to death by his false accusers.
+
+But God, just as compassionate now as he was then for the poor benighted
+and deluded souls, has wrought a real miracle to open the eyes of their
+minds, and compel them, as it were, to believe us, when we say, on his
+authority, that auricular confession was invented by Satan to ruin both the
+priest and his female penitents, for time and eternity. For, what we would
+never have dared to say of ourself to the Roman Catholics with regard to
+what frequently happens between their priests and their wives and
+daughters, either during or after confession, God has constrained the
+Church of Rome to acknowledge herself in revealing things that would have
+seemed incredible had they come simply from our mouth or our pen. In this,
+as in other instances, that apostate church has unwittingly been the
+mouth-piece of God for the accomplishment of his great and merciful ends.
+
+Listen to the questions that the Church of Rome, through her theologians,
+puts to every priest after he has heard the confession of your wives or
+daughters:
+
+1. "_Nonne inter audiendas confessiones quasdam proposui questiones circa
+sextum decalogi praeceptum cum intentione lubidinosa?_" (Miroir du Clerge,
+p. 582.)
+
+While hearing confessions, have I not asked questions on sins against the
+sixth (the seventh in the Decalogue) commandment with the intention of
+satisfying my evil passions?
+
+Such is the man, O mothers and daughters, to whom you dare to unbosom the
+most secret as well as the most shameful actions. You kneel down at his
+feet and whisper in his ear your most intimate thoughts and desires, and
+your most polluting deeds; because your church, by dint of cunning and
+sophistry, has succeeded in persuading you that there was no impropriety or
+danger in doing so; that the man whom you chose for your spiritual guide
+and confident could never be tempted or tainted by such foul recitals. But
+that same church, through some mysterious providences, is made to
+acknowledge, in her own books, her own lies. In spite of herself, she
+admits that there is real danger in confession, both for the woman and for
+the priest; that willingly or otherwise, and sometimes both unawares, they
+lay for each other dangerous snares. The Church of Rome, as if she had an
+evil conscience for allowing her priest to hold such close and secret
+converse with a woman, on such delicate subjects, keeps, as it were, a
+watchful eye on him while the poor misguided woman is pouring in his ear
+the filthy burthen of her soul; and as soon as she is off, questions the
+priest as to the purity of his motives, the honesty of his intentions in
+putting the requisite questions. Have you not, she asks him immediately,
+under the pretence of helping that woman in her confession, put to her
+certain questions simply in order to gratify your lust, and with the object
+of satisfying your evil propensities?
+
+2. "_Nonne munus audiendi confessione suscepi, aut peregi ex prava
+incontinentiae appeta?_" (Idem, p. 582.)
+
+Have I not repaired to the confessional and heard confessions with the
+intention of gratifying my evil passions?
+
+O, ye women, who tremble like slaves at the feet of the priests, you
+sometimes admire the patience and charity of those good (?) priests, who
+are willing to spend so many long and tedious hours in hearing the
+confession of your secret sins; and you hardly know how to express your
+gratitude for so much kindness and charity. But hush! Listen to the voice
+of God speaking to the conscience of the priest, through the Church of
+Rome! "Have you not" she asks him, "heard the confession of women simply to
+foster or gratify the groveling passions of your fallen nature and corrupt
+heart?"
+
+Please notice, it is not I, or the enemies of your religion, who put to
+your priests the above questions: it is God himself who, in his pity and
+compassion, compels your own church to ask such questions; that your eyes
+may be opened, and that you may be rescued from all the dangerous
+obscenities and the humiliating and degrading slavery of auricular
+confession. It is God's will to deliver you from such bondage and
+degradation. In his tender mercies, he has provided means to drag you out
+of that cess-pool called confession; to break the chains which bind you to
+the feet of a miserable and blasphemous sinner called confessor, who, under
+the presence of being able to pardon your sins, usurps the place of your
+Saviour and your God! For while you are whispering your sins in his ear,
+God says to him, through his church, in tones loud enough to be heard: "In
+hearing the confession of these women, are you not actuated by lust,
+spurred by evil passions?"
+
+Is this not sufficient to warn you of the danger of auricular confession?
+Can you now with any sense of safety or propriety, come to that priest, for
+whom your very confession may be a snare, a cause of fall or fearful
+temptation? Can you with a particle of honor or modesty willingly expose
+yourself to impure desires or shameful deeds? Can you, with any sort of
+womanly dignity consent to entrust that man with your inmost thoughts and
+desires, your most humiliating and secret actions, when you know that that
+man may not have any higher object in listening to your confession than a
+lustful curiosity or a sinful desire of exciting his evil passions?
+
+3. "_Nonne ex auditis in confessiones occasionem sumpsi paenitentes
+utriusque sexus ad peccandam sollicitandi?_" (Idem, p. 582)
+
+Have I not availed myself of what I heard in confession to induce my
+penitents to commit sin?
+
+I would run a great risk of being treated with the utmost contempt, should
+I dare to put to your priests such a question. You would very likely call
+me a scoundrel for daring to question the honesty and purity of such holy
+men. You would perhaps go as far as to contend that it is utterly
+impossible for them to be guilty of such sins as are alluded to in the
+above question; that never such shameful deeds have been perpetrated
+through confession. And you would, maybe, emphatically deny that your
+confessor has ever said or done anything that might lead you to sin or even
+commit any breach of propriety or modesty. You feel perfectly safe on that
+score, and see no danger to apprehend.
+
+Let me tell you, good ladies, that you are altogether too confident and in
+the most fatal delusion. Your own church, through the merciful and warning
+voice of God speaking to the conscience of your own theologians, tells you
+that there is a real and eminent danger where you fancy yourself in perfect
+security. You may never have suspected the danger, but it is there, within
+the walls of the confessional; nay, more, it is lurking in your very hearts
+and that of your confessor. He may hitherto have refrained from
+temptations; he may, at least, have kept within the proper limits of
+outward morality or decency. But nothing warrants you that he may not be
+tempted; and nothing could shield you from his attempts on your virtue
+should he give way to temptation; as cases are not wanting to prove the
+truth of my assertion. You are sadly mistaken, in a false and dangerous
+security. You are perhaps, although unawares, on the very brink of a
+precipice, where so many have fallen through their blind confidence in
+their own strength or their confessor's prudence and sanctity. Your own
+church is very anxious about your safety; she trembles for your innocence
+and purity. In her fear, she cautions the priest to be watchful over his
+wicked passions and human frailty. How dare you pretend to be stronger and
+more holy? Why should you so wilfully imperil your chastity or modesty? Why
+expose yourself to danger, when it could be so easily avoided? How can you
+be so rash, so devoid of common prudence and modesty as to shamelessly put
+yourselves in a position to tempt and be tempted, and thereby incur your
+temporal and eternal perdition?
+
+4. "_Nonne extra tribunal, vel in ipso confessionis actu, aliquia dixi aut
+egi cum intentione diabolica has personas seducendi?_ (Idem, idem.)
+
+Have I not, either during or after confession, done or said anything with a
+diabolical intention of seducing my female penitents?
+
+"What arch-enemy of our holy religion is so bold and impious as to put to
+our saintly priests such an impudent and insulting question?" may ask some
+of our Roman Catholic readers. It is easy to answer. This great enemy of
+your religion is no less than a justly offended God, admonishing and
+reproving your priests for exposing both you and themselves to dangerous
+allurements and seductions. It is his voice speaking to their consciences,
+and warning them of the danger and corruption of auricular confession. It
+says to them: Beware! for ye might be tempted, as surely you will, to do or
+say something against honor and purity. Husbands and fathers, who rightly
+value the honor of your wives and daughters more than all treasures, who
+consider it too precious a boon to be exposed to the dangers of pollution,
+and who would prefer to lose your life a thousand times than to see those
+you love most on earth fall in the snares of the seducer, read once more
+and ponder what your church asks the priest after he has heard your wife or
+daughter in confession: "Have you not, either during or after confession,
+done or said anything with a diabolical intention of seducing your female
+penitents?"
+
+If your priest remains deaf to these words addressed to his conscience, you
+cannot help giving heed to them and understanding their full significance.
+You can not be easy and fear nothing from that priest in those close
+interviews with your wives and daughters, when his superiors and your own
+Church tremble for him, and question his purity and honesty. They see a
+great danger for both the confessor and his penitent; for they know that
+confession has many a time been the pretence or the cause of the most
+shameful seductions.
+
+If there was no real danger for the chastity of women, in confessing to a
+man their most secret sins, do you believe that your popes and theologians
+would be so stupid as to acknowledge it and put to confessors questions
+that would be most insulting and out of place, should there be no occasion
+for them?
+
+Is it not presumption and folly on your part to think that there is no
+danger, when the Church of Rome tells you positively that there is danger,
+and uses the strongest terms in expressing her uneasiness and apprehension?
+
+Why, your church sees the most pressing reasons to fear for the honor of
+your wives and daughters, as well as for the chastity of her priest: and
+still you remain unconcerned, indifferent to the fearful peril to which
+they are exposed! Are you like the Jewish people of old, to whom it was
+said; "Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive
+not?" (Isa. vi, 9).
+
+But if you see or suspect the danger you are warned of; if the eye of your
+intelligence can fathom the dreadful abyss where the dearest objects of
+your heart are in danger of falling, then it behoves you to keep them from
+the paths that lead to the fearful chasm. Do not wait till it is too late,
+when they are too near the precipice to be rescued. You may think the
+danger to be far off, while it is near at hand. Profit by the sad
+experience of so many victims of confession who have been irretrievably
+lost, irrecoverably ruined for time and eternity. The voice of your
+conscience, of honor, of God himself, tells you that it may become too late
+to save them from destruction, through your neglect and procrastination.
+While thanking God for having preserved them from temptations that have
+proved fatal to so many married or unmarried women, do not lose a single
+moment in taken the necessary means to keep them from temptation and falls.
+
+Instead of allowing them to go and kneel at the feet of a man to obtain the
+remission of their sins, lead them to the cross, the only place where they
+can secure pardon and peace everlasting. And why, after so many unfruitful
+attempts, should they try any longer to wash themselves in a puddle, when
+the pure waters of eternal life are offered them so freely, through Christ
+Jesus, their only Saviour and Mediator?
+
+Instead of seeking their pardon from a poor and miserable sinner, weak and
+tempted as they are, let them go to Christ, the only strong and perfect
+man, the only hope and salvation of the world.
+
+O poor deluded Catholic woman! listen no longer to the deceiving words of
+the Church of Rome, who has no pardon, no peace for you, but only snares;
+who offers you thraldom and shame in return for the confession of your
+sins! But listen rather to the invitations of your Saviour, who has died on
+the cross that you might be saved, and who alone can give rest to your
+weary souls.
+
+Harken to His words when he says to you: "Come to me, O ye heavily laden,
+crushed, as it were, under the burden of your sins, and I shall give you
+rest.... I am the physician of your souls.... Those who are well have no
+need of a physician, but those who are sick.... Come then to me and ye
+shall be healed.... I have sent back nor lost none who have come to me....
+Invoke my name.... believe in me.... repent.... love God and your neighbor
+as yourself, and you shall be saved.... For all who believe in me and call
+upon my name, shall be saved.... When I am raised up between heaven and
+earth, I shall draw every one to me"....
+
+O, mothers and daughters, instead of going to the priest for pardon and
+salvation, go to Jesus, who is so pressingly inviting you, and the more so
+as you have more need of divine help and grace. Even if you are as great a
+sinner as Mary Magdalene you can, like her, wash the feet of the Saviour
+with the flowing tears of your repentance and your love, and like her,
+receive the pardon of your sins.
+
+To Jesus then, and to him alone for the confession and pardon of your sins:
+for there only you can find peace, light, and life!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SOME OF THE MATTERS ON WHICH THE PRIEST OF ROME MUST QUESTION HIS
+PENITENTS.
+
+A CHAPTER FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATORS, HUSBANDS, AND FATHERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dens wants the confessors to interrogate on the following matters:--
+
+1. "Peccant uxores, quae susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+conantur." (Dens, tom. vii. p. 147).
+
+2. "Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si copula incepta, cohibeant
+seminationem."
+
+3. "Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter peccat, si se
+retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando seminationem
+uxoris." (p. 153).
+
+4. "Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari modus,
+sive situs; imo ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula habeatur in vase
+praepostero, alioquoque non naturali. Si fiat accedendo a postero, a latere,
+stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit succumbus." (p. 166).
+
+5. "Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam cum
+seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi. Vel, ut
+si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius viri, non respectu alterius".
+(vol. vii. p. 273).
+
+6. "Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen earum
+non effluat extra membrum genitale.
+
+Indicium istius allegat Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis
+resolutionem cum magno voluptatis sensu, qua completa, passio satiatur"
+(vol. iv. p. 168).
+
+7. "Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum, interrogetur
+an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit" (vol. vii. p. 168).
+
+8. "Confessarius poenitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum sacerdote, vel
+sollicitatam ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum ille sacerdos sit
+ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollitaverit" (vol. vi. p. 294).
+
+There are a great many other unmentionable things on which Dens, in his
+fourth, fifth, and seventh volumes, requires the confessor to ask from his
+penitent, which I omit.
+
+Now let us come to Liguori. That so-called Saint, Liguori is not less
+diabolically impure than Dens, in his questions to the women. But I will
+cite only two of the things on which the spiritual physician of the Pope
+must not fail to examine his spiritual patient:--
+
+1. "Quaerat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os uxoris?...
+
+Verius affirmo quia, in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum periculum
+pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriae contra naturam, dicta,
+irruminatio."
+
+2. "Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali, qui, in actu copulae,
+immiteret digitum in vas praeposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc actu
+adest affectus ad Sodomiam" (Liguori, tom. vi. p. 935).
+
+The celebrated Burchard, Bishop of Worms, has made a book of the questions
+which had to be put by the confessors to their penitents of both sexes.
+During several centuries it was the standard book of the priests of Rome.
+Though that work to-day is out of print, Dens, Liguori, Debreysne, &c.,
+&c., have ransacked its polluting pages, and given them to study to the
+modern confessors, in order to question their penitents. I will select only
+a few questions of the Roman Catholic bishop to the young men:--
+
+1. "Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita dico ut
+ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic duceres praeputium
+tuum, et manu propria commoveres, ut, sic, per illam delectationem semen
+projiceres?"
+
+2. "Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum virile
+membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen funderes?"
+
+3. "Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidem facere solent, ut tuum virile membrum
+in lignum perforatum, aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres, et, sic, per
+illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?"
+
+4. "Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+animalibus coire, id est cum equo, cum vacca, vel asina, vel aliquo
+animali?" (vol. i. p. 136.)
+
+Among the questions we find in the Compendium of the Right Rev. Burchard,
+Bishop of Worms, which must be put to women, are the following (p. 115):--
+
+1. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut machinamentum
+in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuae voluptatis, et illud loco
+verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis, ut fornicationem
+faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alia eodem instrumento, sive alio tecum?"
+
+2. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+molimine, vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+fornicationem?"
+
+3. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+vexantem extinguere volunt, quae se conjungunt quasi coire debeant et
+possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperia sua, et sic, fricando pruritum
+illarum extinguere desiderant?"
+
+4. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio suo parvulo
+fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra turpidinem tuam
+poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?"
+
+5. "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio, ut sic
+coiret tecum?"
+
+The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book, composed of the most
+incredible details of impurities, to instruct the young confessors in the
+art of questioning their penitents. The name of the book is "Moechiology,"
+or "treaty on all the sins against the six (seven) and the nine
+commandments, as well as on all the questions of the married life which
+refer to them."
+
+That work is much approved and studied in the Church of Rome. I do not know
+that the world has ever seen anything comparable to the filthy and infamous
+details of that book. I will cite only two of the questions which Debreyne
+wants the confessor to put to his penitent.
+
+To the young men (page 95) the confessor will ask:--
+
+"Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore et
+quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quosdam motus in corpore experti fuerint,
+et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus nihil insolitum et
+turpe acciderit; an non longe majorem in corpore voluptatem perceperint in
+fine tactuum quam in eorum principio; an tum in fine quando magnam
+delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus corporis cessaverint; an non
+madefacti fuerint?" &c., &.
+
+To the girl the confessor will ask:--
+
+"Quae sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+voluptatem; an tunc, ipsimet tactus cessaverint?" &c., &c.
+
+The Right Rev. Kenrick, late Bishop of Boston, United States, in his book
+for the teaching of confessors on what matters they must question their
+penitents, has the following, which I select among thousands as impure and
+damnable to the soul and body:--
+
+"Uxor quae, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel statim
+post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat; sed opus non
+est ut diu resupina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi, semen attrahat, et mox,
+arctissime claudatur" (vol. iii. p. 317).
+
+"Puellae patienti licet se vertere, et conari ut non recipiat semen, quod
+injuria ei immittitur; sed, exceptum, non licet expellere, quia jam
+possessionem pacificam habet, et haud absque injuria naturae ejiceretur"
+(tom. iii. p. 317).
+
+"Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpa, licet contingat semen extra
+vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitate naturae. Quod si vires
+adeo sint fractae ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas spes, jam nequeunt jure
+conjugii uti" (tom. iii. p. 317).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Notes
+
+[1] "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every
+woman have her own husband." (1 Cor. vii. 2.)
+
+[2] A silver box containing consecrated bread, which is believed to be the
+real body, blood, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
+
+[3] And remark that all their religious authors who have written on that
+subject hold the same language. They all speak of those continual degrading
+temptations; they all lament the damning sins which follow those
+temptations; they all entreat the priests to fight those temptations and
+repent of those sins.
+
+[4] He is dead long ago.
+
+[5] By the word _penitents_, Rome means not those who _repent_, but those
+who _confess_ to the priest.
+
+[6] He died many years after when at the head of the Laval University.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Corrections made to printed original.
+
+Chapter I. Para. 9. "I do here publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic
+priesthood" - 'hear' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 13. "everywhere they struggle nerve themselves with a superhuman
+courage" - 'stuggle' in original.
+
+Chapter II. Para. 1. "The terrible and mysterious cause of her death was
+known" - 'known' in original.
+
+Chapter III. Para 9. "he suspects that nobody but his co-sinner brethren" -
+'brethern' in original.
+
+Chapter V. Para 12. "a good, honest, Christian, and godly thing" -
+'Christain' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 36. "particularly if high education has added to her natural
+shrewdness." - 'particulary' in original.
+
+Chapter VI. Para 30. "humiliation and opprobrium of the questionable
+privileges of an uncertain paternity." - 'questioable' in original
+
+ibid. Para 39. "it is nothing else than a school of immorality." - 'im-' at
+end of one line is not completed in original, this completion seems best to
+fit the sense of the next paragraph.
+
+CHAPTER VII. Heading - 'CHAPTER VIII.' in original.
+
+ibid. Para 12. "the obligation and power which every one of His disciples
+had of forgiving" - 'desciples' in original.
+
+Chapter IX. Para 80. "secreto et absque arbitrio" - 'and' for 'et' in
+original. "aliquid loquendum habet" - 'loquem dum' in original
+
+ibid. Para 89. "Curiosum genus ad cognoscendam vitam alienam;" -
+'cognescendam' in original
+
+ibid. Para 121. "ex hisque perpetua infamia denigrari!" - 'hisgue' in
+original
+
+Chapter XI. Para 20. "which must be put to women" - 'womem' in original.
+
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