ROMANISM. 



derogatory to a member should be 

 made public. It necessarily occu- 

 pies a position like that of a con- 

 spiracy against the rest of the world, 

 as if it slept over a volcano that 

 might burst out at any time (how- 

 ever much it may feel assured of 

 the absolute submission of its devo- 

 tees), particularly when there are 

 " heretics " in the community. 

 That can be plainly seen in the fur- 

 tive glances of the priests, especially 

 when they cannot immediately tell 

 the persuasion of the people they 

 meet with, although their deport- | 

 ment towards them soon reveals 

 what it is. The priests know well 

 the estimation in which the " here- 

 tic " holds them, and few of them 

 can be unaware that their calling j 

 has been stamped upon their coun- I 

 tenances, let them disguise them- 

 selves in almost any way they 

 please; countenances which are 

 generally anything but pleasant for 

 the rest of the world to contem- 

 plate. 



The principal idea in the minds 

 of priests is that of " shepherds and 

 sheep;" and they "handle their 

 flocks " as if they were literally 

 sheep, confessing and pardoning 

 them, and collecting their dues, 

 with the expertness that comes from 

 practice, as real sheep are shorn or 

 dressed. Well has the confessional 

 been called a " slaughter-house of 

 consciences," for both confessor 

 and confessed. It presents a won- 

 derfully mutual and ghastly fascina- 

 tion for priest and people a spell, 

 laid upon both in early youth, and 

 practised ever since, that can hardly 

 be broken the one, of all ages and 

 sexes and conditions in life, pouring 

 into the mind of the other sins of every 

 nature, whether in thought, word 

 or deed, and often all the circum- 

 stances connected with them ; mak- 

 r ing the priest's mind the receptacle 

 of the moral filth of the world, dug 

 out by the most systematic cross- 

 questioning, and drawn up, as it 

 were, with a stomach-pump, and 



suggesting sins that might never 

 otherwise occur to the devotee. 

 The most deplorable part of the 

 confessional is when women must 

 divulge the most secret peculiarities 

 of their nature to the priests, to the 

 younger of whom it is often agree- 

 able enough; but many of them 

 will lament the result, and shed 

 tears when they, in their turn, con- 

 fess, and yet will almost immediately 

 afterwards enter the pulpit, and in 

 the most devout and eloquent lan- 

 guage expatiate on the "miraculous 

 interposition of God in keeping his 

 priests as pure as angels in the con- 

 fessional." They come well trained 

 to fill the office, having had to take 

 their degree of competency from 

 some hoary old professor of the 

 science. Then in God's name they 

 pardon the penitents, placing them in 

 the position of never having sinned ; 

 and that over and over again, even 

 hundreds of times, for the same per- 

 son, sinning, confessing and being 

 pardoned in rotation, each time 

 drawing their fees when they do it.* 

 In short, the priest is their " keeper" 

 in this world, and opens unto them 

 the gate of happiness in the next, 

 at his pleasure, or according to his 

 judgment, taking toll from them 

 when in life, and from their rela- 

 tions after death. There are so 

 many singular things peculiar to the 

 priests of Rome, that, in spite of the 

 honours and submission shown them 

 by their followers, one would think 

 they must have a sense of inward 

 degradation when possessed of some 

 of the finer feelings of our nature, 

 and to a great extent, if not alto- 

 gether, sincere in most of what they 

 teach and practise of their worship, 

 which is " in all things too religious," 

 as St. Paul characterized that of 

 the Athenians. And language can- 



* It will naturally occur to the reader 

 to ask, is this the system that some 

 people are anxious to see introduced as 

 part of the religion of the Church ot 

 England ? Let it be once established, and 

 it would soon swallow all the rest. 



