for an industrious, sober man, in general: and as to his character with the priest, I assure you that both he and his wife were in several holy orders, as they are called in Ireland. So that, taking this man's character, I am convinced that I take a standard much too high as an example of the good effects following confession stations; for were I to select those stations which are held at publicans' houses, it would far exceed what I have detailed.

"It is the practice for the priest to publish from the altar, at certain periods of the year-I believe before Christmas, and before Lent-that he will hold stations for confession at certain houses, then and there named. These houses are selected without previous liberty obtained from the owners, perhaps lest they may make objections, which many of them would most certainly do, if not thus publicly given out from the altar. The individuals thus selected make the necessary preparations, (a general bill of the fare I have already presented to your readers) and as it has been a prevailing opinion from the time of the Jews, that the publicans (formerly tax-gatherers) were the greatest sinners, and consequently required most mending, I have observed that they are more frequently selected: nay, I have observed that those who have most business are particularly selected by the priest; it being reasonable to suppose, that the chief amongst the publicans must be chief amongst the sinners. As the liquor on these occasions is drawn from the cock, it is not so easy to calculate the expenditure; but as they ask their best customers, it would be natural to believe that the landlord is not backward in recommending his liquor, nor his guests in trying its strength, not having the usual reckoning to pay, and having previously quit scores with the priest.-As it may be alleged that the priest does not countenance these practices, I shall mention a fact. A female, invited to one of these confessional coteries, mentioned to some others how very polite the priest was at breakfast to the women, pressing the bashful ones to take whiskey in their tea. Faith,' says her husband, it was very easy to prevail on them to take it, and for him to offer what was not out of his own pocket.' The wife replied, 'You dare not tell him so at your next confession.'

Thus you may see, sir, how much the moral principle is degraded by such a system, and even by the priests; a system which holds out to its deluded followers a yearly, or half-yearly, acquittal for sin. Well may that truth, applied by our Saviour to the scribes and Pharisees, he applied to them: Ye encompass sea and land to gain one proselyte; and when ye have gained him, ye make him twofold more a child of

the devil.'

"That this system is equally opposed to every attempt to promote the moral and religious education of the poor children, I shall show by the following fact. A country gentleman of my acquaintance, of landed property, often deplored the wretched state of ignorance and wickedness in which his tenants' children were brought up; and more especially the profanation of the Lord's day, by every species of mischief, plundering orchards, breaking down young trees, gambling, dancing, drinking, &c.-conceived that some good might be done if these children could be brought into a Sunday school, and kept from idleness. Accordingly, he sent and received from the Hibernian Schools Society, sets of Moral Lessons for Children; he provided a house with two VOL. II.-26

rooms; one for boys, the other for girls: and, at no inconsiderable expense, had every thing prepared for opening the school on the most liberal plan; and lest the Bible should give any offence, it was not to be introduced. Having thus prepared his plans, he desired his tenants to send their children there for two hours every Sunday morning, and the same in the evening. Sunday morning came, and about sixty of the finest open-faced children attended, all anxious to learn to read. Information of this soon reached the priest's ears. He immediately cursed from the altar every person who would presume to send a child to the school to be instructed by a heretic; and fearing this would not deter them, he declared he would not give the rites of the church to any person when dying, who would, after this injunction, attempt to send a child there. Thus was an establishment, calculated merely to convey moral instruction, with the knowledge of reading and spelling, broken up: and although the gentleman himself waited on the priest, and assured him there was not the least wish to proselyte a single child, requesting he would personally visit the school, and begging the co-operation of any of his flock who would attend,-the priest was inexorable, and told him, he could not consent that Protestants should interfere with the education of his people. I could adduce many more instances of the uncongenial nature of popery, to every thing connected with the improvement of the degraded condition of the poor in that community, in this kingdom. They act on right views of the subject, no doubt; because it is impossible that the Roman Catholics, as a body, could be so priestridden, if the scale of moral and intellectual improvement were advanced. Masses are so common in Ireland, that the price of them is very cheap, considering the advantages stated to be received from them. Now, a pious son of the church can get a promise from the priest of saying as many masses for the souls of his dear relatives in purgatory, as will bring them clear and clean out, at half-a-crown each mass: for it is laid down as an invariable rule, that to make a mass efficacious, it must be paid for. Indeed, the priests are willing to say masses over the brute creation; as in cases of murrain among cattle, the rot among sheep, and the measles, &c. among pigs. I dare say you will hardly credit this; but I assure you, I knew of masses being said over a parcel of pigs who had got some distemper!

Having alluded to the orders instituted amongst the Romish laity, I shall endeavour to give you some idea of them. From amongst the most devoted to the priest, and of those most frequent at masses, stations, &c., the priest selects a certain number of both sexes, who, on payment of certain fees, and the performance of certain ceremonies, are decorated with the badges of the particular orders they are initiated into: such as the order of the virgin, (one of the highest, if not the highest,) the order of St. Bridget, of St. Francis, St. Benedict, &c. &c. These badges, or amulets, are worn inside, out of public view; and as they are first consecrated by the priest or bishop, the favourite devotee thinks him or herself placed under the immediate protection of that saint as a titular deity. These fraternities make a collection among themselves for particular masses, on these saints' days. I saw one of the rituals of one of these orders, which stated, That as nothing in heaven or in earth was so meritorious in the sight of God as the celebration of the mass, in each of which the sacrifice of Christ is as truly and really per

formed as when he died on Calvary; and as the frequent repetition of the same was recommended and enjoined to all the faithful, it seemed good to the bishop to create and appoint a certain confraternity of holy brothers and sisters, in such a place, under the patronage of such a saint,' &c. &c. next followed the rules. These fraternities are not confined at all, or prevented from carrying on their trades and several callings. But although the above is stated to be the ostensible cause for forming these fraternities, yet there are private rules and instructions given to them, by which they are bound to be under the immediate direction, and in strict obedience to the priest; to inform him of every thing done in his parish, which affects himself or the Roman Catholic cause; and, in general, to be the talebearers of the parish. They thus act as so many emissaries or spies, and are a great restraint on the people. Wo betide the person who dare speak disrespectfully of the priest, even if he should deserve it; or who attempts to read the Bible, or to eat meat on a fish-day, (but he may get drunk as often as he pleases, without any reprimand.) The account is brought in triumph by one of these his emissaries, and the party accused immediately cited, and condemned to pay a fine, and undergo a heavy penance; which if he should refuse, he is threatened with excommunication, and the thunders of the church. I never knew an instance of resistance to such penance by the poorer sort, although I have amongst some few of the rich and more independent; and I have observed, that, in the latter cases, the priest did not follow up his threat.

"But this is not all the service required from these confraternities. They are required to offer themselves to attend the sick Protestants, and the poorer classes particularly. If their services be received, they are directed to try every persuasive: first, by seeming compassion for their souls; and, if that is not strong enough, then, by promises of temporal assistance; next, by endeavours to frighten them by frightful tales of apparitions, visions, &c. &c., of the damned spirits of Protestants, or the revelations of saints, particularly the virgin. In the meanwhile, the priest's housekeeper is seen frequently calling to know how the patient is, and bringing tea, whey, &c.; although, if the patient prove finally obstinate in refusing the priest's assistance, he may starve for him. The consequence is, as you may suppose, that, in many cases, they thus succeed, and then trumpet their success through the different parishes. Many other causes contribute to their success; sometimes the want of a resident clergyman of the church of England; and the natural bias of the unregenerate mind to lean to popery, on the opinion that good works, with a little assistance, will help them into heaven. The Papist even dares to tell them, that though men may live Protestants, they wish to die Papists. Thus, they sometimes prevail by assiduity, affected kindness, and constant application, with the poor dying patient, who often does not know the principles of the new religion he is introduced into, and when his strength, and often his faculties, are exhausted. I shall now give you one example out of many. A poor Protestant, in the above town, was dying; his daughter having previously married a Papist, and turned to mass, exhorted, and pressed, and entreated him to have the priest sent for, but all to no purpose. His Bible was then taken from him, as that was supposed a hinderance. Next, his own daughter took the bed her poor dying father was lying

on from under him, saying to him, that straw was good enough for a heretic to die on. Every attempt was made by some of the fraternity, brought in by the daughter, to cajole or frighten him into a compliance, but all to no purpose. He begged a Protestant neighbour, who accidentally called to see him, to whom he related the above, (and who informed the writer,) to sit by him; the poor man saying, that he did not know what they might do to him before he died. This man sat beside him until he became speechless, and was in the agonies of death. He could bear the scene no longer. You may reasonably conclude he would now be allowed to die in peace; the Protestant neighbour at least thought so, and left him; but no! Papists are not so easily foiled. A messenger was now sent to the priest, who was waiting up at night to be called, to say that now the coast was clear. He comes and speaks to the man in the agonies of death, and asks him if he will die a good Catholic? No answer. He baptizes and anoints the man in this state; and, taking him by the hand, desires him to give a proof of his dying in the Catholic faith; and he calls out, O how he squeezes my hand! The fraternity publish this conversion, as they call it, with many things connected with it, which had no foundation in fact.

"I said the religion of Papists was intolerant and cruel. The above specimen will confirm this sentiment: and this is only one instance out of many of the practices which Papists are convicted of. It was of no consequence what may be the feelings of the dying man under the above operation, or whether he had any feeling at all: dead men cannot tell tales; and therefore they may invent as many stories of conversion of Protestants as they please.

J. A."

The above presents popery in a truly fiendlike character. Under the influence of this delusion, filial affection, and every other amiable affection of human nature, is set at defiance. No matter what the living or the dying may suffer, in body or in mind, if the cause of holy church be promoted, and if the priests can persuade people to believe their lie. A man who submits to have the consecrated oil applied to parts of his body by the hand of a priest, or whether he submit to it or not, if it be but applied, as in the above instance, is understood to die in the true faith, and the devil can have no power over him; whereas, without such anointing, he would be in danger, nay, would certainly be lost. This will form the subject of the next, and some following numbers.

CHAPTER CXXXVI.

EXTREME UNCTION. COUNCIL OF TRENT AND BISHOP HAY ON THIS SUBJECT. DISCUSSION. SCRIPTURE MISINTERPRETED.

SATURDAY, February 17th, 1821. Ar the beginning of my last number, I gave an extract of a letter which I had received from a clergyman of the established church, in Ireland, relating to the miserably corrupted state of that edition of the holy scriptures, which the council of Trent declared to be the only authentic and true version. The following is another extract from the

same letter, which will serve to introduce the next general head of discussion:

"But the ceremony of anointing," says my correspondent, "has done more mischief here than any other tenet, if I may except the claim of Peter, and of one church; for the epistle of James seems to make it so completely an ordinance of the church, that when it is read, and the words (chap. v. 14, 15.) put strongly to the consciences of dying Protestants, it has caused multitudes of them to send for a priest, fearing to die without the benefit of it. Were it to end here, it would not be a matter of much consequence, as an unbeliever may as well be deceived by that, as by the partaking of bread and wine, which is the viaticum of all the Protestants, who know not the truth as it is in Jesus. But the system among them is, when an ignorant dying Protestant is worked on by a popish friend, and they are ever on the watch for such, and that a priest is sent for, if he finds the person under any alarm, and the conscience weak, after he has spoken for some time, he says, that he will not absolve, or administer the holy oil, unless not only the dying person is baptized into the church, but also the whole family; and this, too, often succeeds, and is the principal cause of the sad relapse to popery, which has been so great within thirty years back, that more than two-thirds of the lower orders of the southern Protestants have gone over to the church of Rome." This short and interesting statement, by a native Irishman, and a minister of the established church, who knows his country well, and has travelled over a great part of it, might lead to many serious reflections; but I have used it only as an introduction to the subject of extreme unction, which the church of Rome puts in the list of her sacraments; and by means of which, along with her other impositions, she deceives many souls to their destruction.

I shall, as usual, lay down the doctrine of the church of Rome respecting this sacrament, in the very words of her own approved authors, including the canon of the council of Trent.

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Q. What," says bishop Hay, "is the end and design of the sacrament of extreme unction? A. The council of Trent declares it in these words: Our most merciful Redeemer, who desired that his servants should at all times be provided with wholesome remedies against all the darts of their enemies, as in the other sacraments he gave Christians the greatest helps, to enable them to pass their lives in a Christian manner, and free from any grievous spiritual detriment, so he hath fortified the latter end of our life with the most powerful protection of the sacrament of extreme unction. For, though our adversary seeks, and seizes, during our whole life, every possible occasion of ruining our souls, yet there is no time wherein he more vehemently exerts all his strength and art to ruin us entirely, and destroy, if possible, our confidence in the mercy of God, than when he sees the last moment of life approaching.' Sess. XIV. in doct. de Extr. Unct. By this we see, that the intention of our blessed Saviour, in instituting this sacrament, is to be the means of fortifying our souls against all the violent attacks and snares of our spiritual enemies at our last moments, and to enable us to make a holy death, and secure a happy eternity.

"Q. Does the devil attack souls with more violence than ordinary in their last moments? A. He certainly does so, as this general coun