Cap. 19. page 142. "Bona hereticorum, &c. The property of heretics is rightfully confiscated."

Cap. 6. page 135. "Ordinarii, &c. Prelates, vicars-general, and their delegates, and inquisitors, may enforce persons who have secular jurisdiction to execute their sentence upon heretics." But the punishment appointed by the merciful Papists, for heresy, is prior torture in the most excruciating forms, and final roasting to ashes amid the shouts and exultations of the delighted Babylonians.

It is a fact, attested by all those who have been converted from popish idolatry to the Christian religion, that ordinarily the last Roman principle of which they become divested is the spirit of persecution; and this is corroborated by the history of the reformers of the sixteenth century. They had renounced all the idolatries and mummeries of popery; they had exposed its impious absurdities, and drawn aside the veil which had concealed its matchless pollutions; and they had rejected the bondage by which they had been so long enthralled; but the feelings of persecution lingered within them, and long was it, before the Papal delusion of the unity of the church and exclusive salvation was driven from their hearts. Like the dumb spirit, Mark ix. 17-29. it was a kind of devil, which came forth by nothing but prayer and fasting."

At this period, and in our own country, there is no topic connected with the antichristian system, which is more steadfastly and pertinaciously imbued into the votaries of the dragon and the beast, than an inveterate hatred, and a revengeful, malicious feeling towards Protestants. The power to inflict mischief is taken away; and even in our civic institutions there is a strong counteracting influence against this thirst for blood, and this inextinguishable popish malevolence; but the spirit remains in all its energy, and often develops its latent venom and rage. The explanations which the infallible expositors give, of some passages of scripture, and which are taught in the confessional, as of oracular authority, will enable us accurately to comprehend the true qualities of this astounding machination of Babylon the Great, which when the apostle John saw, he "wondered with great admiration."

The Rhemish Testament, with its notes, is papistical infallible authority in private, however much it may be denied in public; and its comments are enforced as divine truths upon all the members of the Roman community. Every peculiar corruption of popery is inculcated as emanating from the source of all truth and wisdom; and full credence, with the consequent practice, is demanded, upon the penalty of the curse which the church denounces against all transgressors.

Matthew iii. "Heretics may be punished and suppressed, and may and ought, by public authority, either spiritual or temporal, to be chastised or executed."

Galatians i. 8. "Catholics should not spare their own parents, if heretics."

Hebrews v. 7. "The translators of the Protestant Bible, ought to be abhorred to the depths of hell.”

Revelation xvii. 6. "When Rome puts heretics to death, their blood is no more than the blood of thieves, mankillers, or other malefactors." All the doctrines taught in the notes to the Douay Bible, and the

Rhemish Testament, are of a similar tendency; they breathe nothing but fury, slaughter, and blood, against every person who does not bear "the mark of the beast;" and wherever it now sways, it retains all its fierce and vindictive attributes.

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It must be remembered, that neither of the canons above cited is abrogated, and neither of the blasphemous or butchering notes, appended to their deceitful and erroneous version of the scriptures, is cancelled. They retain all their power and authority; and in no particle of doctrine, ceremony, or practice, is Romanism altered or amended. That would overthrow the boasted infallibility. Therefore it must increase in impiety, perfidy, corruption, and barbarism, until its doomed extinction. The massacre of the French Protestants, after the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne of France, in 1815, certifies beyond all dispute, that nothing but the opportunity and the power are wanted; for then the Mother of Harlots would again glut herself with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus; and she would manifest that her forced respite from her voracious drunkenness, had only rendered her a more greedy bloodsucker than ever. The fact is incontestable, that as long as popery sways, so long will it discover its atrocious qualities, as a relentless tormentor of mankind, bound by no law but the restriction of force; and, as in modern Spain, Italy, Austria, and Ireland, proving that the superstitions, priestcraft, treachery, crimes, and ferocity of Romanism, are totally and for ever inseparable. II. POPERY EXTERMINATES ALL THAT IS MOST ENDEARING AND AMIABLE IN DOMESTIC SOCIETY.

The basis of the family compact is that affection which, in addition to the instinctive attachments, is sealed by an unreserved confidence. A deep rooted conviction, that the conscientious obligations cannot be diminished, and that the reciprocal attachments cannot be exterminated, is the cement which binds all our social relations. Honour, truth, unity, and solicitude to promote the welfare of each other, who are joined together by the ties of blood and consanguinity, constitute the great principles which, in subordination to Christian motives, should actuate all those who are naturally thus connected. But popery enervates or uproots all that is sacred, tender, refined, and dignified, even in those bonds which the Creator has appointed, and in those relationships, without the existence of which the human family would speedily die. In matrimonial life, also, the purity of the husband and wife is an essential ingredient; at least, among those persons who have not deliberately resolved to discard the holiest and most delicate sensibilities of humanity. To which, it may be subjoined, that the very existence of households depends upon the conviction, that the trifling discords, and even the more painful exercises, which from infirmity of tempers, depression of circumstances, or even direct impropriety, occasionally disquiet the minds, and temporarily interrupt the harmony of the members, will remain unknown; and not be disclosed to add public scorn to private pungency, or to afford rivals or enemies an opportunity to gratify revenge by distorting truth, or transforming human involuntary and lamented waywardness, into the charge of obdurate guilt, until a fair reputation is suspected, and the comforts of life are irreparably lost.

In these aspects, popery is the destroyer of all that is charming and VOL. II-95

most valuable in the domestic society. This general proposition admits of proof not less easy than it is irrefragable. All the claims of the Romish priesthood are utterly at variance with the sincerity, trust, and integrity which the unity of a household necessarily presupposes. To a person of judgment and delicacy, nothing can be more revolting than the demands which are made by the papal hierarchy; and, when we consider the extent, and the object, and the application of their requirements, we can easily perceive, that the necessary confidence of the husband and wife, of parent and child, of master and servant, in all their various conditions, cannot possibly coexist with the mastery of Romanism, over the hearts of those persons who hold these relative characters.

1. No genuine connubial affection can long subsist without purity. From a variety of causes, a delicate woman may maintain a profound reserve upon those inordinacies in her husband which disgust her feelings, and even render her life wretched: but in that case, it is preposterous to talk of that indescribable bond which the Lord intimates ought to subsist between the husband and his wife, when he declares them one. If the bitterness be not greater, yet the consequences are much more pernicious, when the pure husband either suspects or is convinced that his wife is unfaithful.

Undoubtedly the major part of the papists know that chastity is practically excluded from the Roman creed. The passages already cited demonstrate beyond all possibility of doubt, that the violations of the seventh commandment, whether in the single or compound guiltiness, in their tariff of crimes, are the most venial of all sins. Indisputable testimony has also been adduced, which assures us, that ecclesiastics of all orders in the Roman hierarchy, from the terrestrial representative and vicar-general of the kingdom of darkness, the Italian pontiff himself, down to the most ignorant monk who ever muttered over his AveMary, or sung masses for souls, always, and universally have taught their female devotees, that licentious familiarities with their confessors, or with popish ecclesiastics, are not criminal; that it is their greatest honour to accede to their sensual desires; and that even admitting their intercourse was irregular, the priest is guiltless, and can also absolve the female who submits to his solicitations.

This pollution, however, is trifling, compared with the commutation for sin which is brought in to aid this priestcraft. In the Canones Penitentiales, or Canons for Penance, are several very edifying illustrations of this abhorrent contrivance. On page 1256, &c. of the Corpus Juris Canonici, I. "Si Presbyter cognovit," &c. IX. "Si Clericus contra naturam peccavit-si membro mulieris non ad hoc concesso voluerit uti-si coierit cum brutis, &c." For these nameless horrific crimes, penance is appointed for a specified time; but then comes forward the mystery of iniquity"-for all these, temporal punishments, as they are technically denominated, there are indulgences, and by repeating the appointed number of Ave-Marys, and Pater Nosters, with the usual fee to the priest, absolution must be pronounced, the sin is forgiven, and the penance is removed. Consequently, as all the doings of the confessional are transacted without witnesses, and as there is no crime so unpardonable, as that of divulging the secrets which occur at confession; and as there is no dread upon a Papist's mind, so weighty and terrifying as that of exposing

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the proceedings which occur before the tribunal of penance," as the priests craftily denominate it-the consequence is, that nothing obstructs the commission of iniquity by the priest and his infatuated bondwoman, unless it be the calculation on his part of the relative advantages which may attach to his course. That a system which sanctions such flagrant derelictions of all personal continence and connubial purity, must be destructive of that confidential cordiality which the matrimonial covenant authoritatively requires, it is superfluous to evince. But every Papist who is not perfectly stultified, is acquainted with the melancholy and debasing fact; and knows that he cannot confide with any assurance either in the chastity of his wife prior to his nuptials, or in her faithfulness after marriage-or rather, he feels assured, that in neither state can she be virtuous. But it is the universal custom, derived from antiquity. He consoles himself that he is not more dishonoured than his neighbours; and the Roman priests connive at the disorders of the men, or inflict only a nominal penance, that they may the more peaceably execute all their own intrigues with the females whom they shrive. This is the grand and unceasing source of all that overwhelming dissoluteness and profligacy which distinguish the dominions of "the Mother of Harlots."

2. Domestic society, through the sway of popery, is divested of all confidence; because there is no privacy, and, of course, all the members of a household live in mutual dread of each other.-Every devoted priest-ridden Papist, is a spy upon all his associates. By this nefarious inquisition, the reputation, comforts, property, and actions of every individual, are at the control, of the confessor. When the Roman ecclesiastics swayed without control, as in former centuries, and the civil governments, in their ungodly perversion of their authority, were ever ready to execute the most diabolical injunctions of the priesthood, all orders of men lived in ceaseless terror. No concealment availed; silence was interpreted; and looks were understood. The members of the same family were all arrayed, as myrmidons of the hierarchy, to maintain a continual warfare; so that they unconsciously became panders for the priest's iniquity, and accessories to facilitate his schemes of plunder. This mighty conspiracy of vassalage, of defilement, and of robbery, is in the full tide of successful experiment in the American republic. Every artifice is adopted to introduce Papists as servants into Protestant families; and, by this crafty manœuvre, the Roman priests become acquainted with the associations, habits of life, modes of thinking, principles, language, and even can form a tolerable estimate of the wealth and influence of every citizen, who thus hires a devoted, sleepless, inimical spy, to watch, and report all that they see and hear, and all that they suspect or can invent.

In such circumstances, no family is safe. A Papist, who is consistent with his principles, is the sworn enemy of every Protestant. Those Protestant families, which keep bigoted Papists as domestic servants, deserve to have their silver purloined, and their habitations set on fire. They retain, in their houses, persons whose honesty, fidelity, and attachment, depend not upon their own feelings, but upon the direction of their priest; and there is not a genuine Papist in the world, who would not rather murder a Protestant family, than he would drink his usquebaugh; and there is not a priest, whe

ther a Jesuit, or of any other order, if they still exist, who would not deem it his highest honour and privilege to set fire to every Protestant house of prayer, with its congregation, which can be found on the face of our globe. Thus their canons, decretals, pontifical bulls, and rescripts, in every age, during nearly twelve hundred years past, affirm. Not one of those infallible thunderbolts has been revoked-they exist in all their assumed legitimate authority. How then can any persons presume that they are secure against such a mysterious and arrogating power?

It is evident, that a continual dread must unavoidably exist among papal families; admitting that any part of the household is sincere. To be convinced of this fact, it is only necessary to advert to the documentary evidence from the Roman authorities which already have been introduced. Questions are propounded to the husband, wife, parent, child, and every other domestic, which, if they are duly answered, preclude all possibility of confidence; and the knowledge that such inquiries are proposed by the confessor in secret, must alienate all affection, and destroy all the bonds of household fellowship. No more certain proof can possibly be given, that persons are in the broad road that leadeth to destruction, than that they attend the confessional of a Roman priest.

It is nugatory to reply, these painful results are not witnessed among us, and therefore, popery is not so abominable an evil as it is represented. No circumstances could be more easily substantiated, than the undeniable fact, that the Roman antichrist, the Italian pontifical tyrant, now exercises not less sway in this country, in proportion to the state of society, and the extent of his disciples, than he has ever done in Naples, Madrid, Vienna, and the Vatican!

Neither is it satisfactory to reply, that the evils which are thus detailed, have not yet been publicly witnessed in their results among us. The deadly mischief of popery in Protestant countries, is the impenetrable secrecy with which all its ungodly contrivances are executed; and the perfect sway which the priests retain over their degraded disciples. Many men, undoubtedly, have so far discarded the papal yoke, that they seldom or never go to confession, and by paying the priest's pecuniary claim, the jugglery is carried on; the priest and the nominal papist both agreeing to transform their own pretended sacrament into an infidel farce. The confessor tolerates the man's rejection of the laws of the church, because he will not alienate one from whom he can exact his wicked claim; and the man pays the church dues for the sake of worldly interest and domestic peace; at the same time avowing and fully believing that religion is all priestcraft, and that its ministers are all dissolute knaves.

In many cases, all the institutions of popery are as regular matters of bargain and sale, as any other articles in the market. Some men will not allow their wives and daughters and sisters, to go to confession at all; seldom or never go to mass themselves, and interpose every obstruction to the attendance of their households; occasionally listen to Protestant preachers; and read and study the Bible; and yet are denominated "Roman Catholics !"-But this is a perversion of language. They have virtually cast off the yoke; and the retention of the name, with the annual payment to the priest for their delinquency,