If his pure life defies the voice of fame
A single crime against him to proclaim,
Then cry out HERESY-impeach his creed,
Call him A WOLF, and then you will succeed.
Fear will compel him to pull down his pride,
And cast the veil 'twixt him and you, aside.
But let no prayers, or tears, or length of time,
Avail to gain forgiveness of his crime,
Until by fees and fasting, render'd pure,
His reconciliation he secure.

When by close care and artifice refined,
You have explored the secrets of the mind;
When the fair sinner once has told you more
Than ever human ear had heard before;
When the rich rogue, to consequences blind,
Has told you what he did, and he designed;
When the pale murderer has told the tale,
Which brings him to the block if you reveal;
Then Proteus-like assume what form you please,
For all these victims may be spoil'd at ease.
Fear no refusal to your high demands,
Their character-their life is in your hands;
Nor lose your spoil by taking for your fee,
A worthless gratitude, which false must be.
For still who ever has uncased his mind,
To dread his confidant must be inclined.
Conscious of guilt, he wishes that man dead,
Whose frown can heap confusion on his head.
When issuing edicts, dip your pens in gall,
Keep taunting nick-names ready at a call,'
And when you wish to strike a Christian dead,
Pelt Latin texts of Scripture at his head.
In this we have a precedent of note,
For Lucifer himself could Moses quote.
Guard our old building, on Saint Peter's rock,
With energy against each hostile shock;
And when rash men, with sacrilegious eye,
Into this edifice should dare to pry,
And point out portions of the crazy wall,
Which never were built by Peter or by Paul,
Blast them as heretics condemned to dwell

To all eternity in flames of hell.

Nor with less fury than the flames below,
Let purgatory's profitable furnace glow.

With this great difference, that the purging flame,
By papal bulls, and masses, we may tame.
Tell the wild Irishmen, that when they die,
Their souls must here in horrid anguish lie,
Until surviving friends their pardon buy;

And should some wag in his own vulgar way,
To your grave reverences dare to say,
I see on each of you so mild a face,
And so much feeling in your features trace,

I cannot think there can be such a place.

For if ye have the power by pray'r or spell,
Yet use it not, to quench this new found hell,
How can the fear of GoD within ye dwell?

Reply that he with heresy is cramm'd,

And tell the clown that if he doubts he's damn'd;
And recollect, discanting on the mass,
To make our priestly dignity surpass

All competition, for no son of man,
On earth or sea's immeasurable span,
Except ourselves, can of some grains of wheat,
A living moving mass of flesh create;

Bow down to, and revere, a work so fine,

Then break in pieces, plunge it into wine,

Bruise, 'twixt the teeth, the blood, the bones, the skin,
And swallow all, a sacrifice for sin.

Thus thro' the land, your pious progress take,
At every step, some shining money make;
Rail at your king's religion-curse the fools,
Who send their children to Hibernian schools;
Absolve the ribbonman, on whom devolves
The mighty task of punishing the "WOLVES,"
Who "in sheep's clothing" have been found so bold,
As to affright the Propaganda fold.

Signata Romæ,

Sub Sigillo Piscatoris,
Prid. Kalend.- 1820.

I. D. F. Sec. &c.

This subject is intimately connected with that of penance. I shall therefore give the doctrine concerning both as laid down by the council of Trent, Sess. 4. Canon 1. Si quis dixerit, &c. "Let him be accursed, who shall affirm that penance is not truly, and properly, a sacrament, instituted and appointed in the universal church, by our Lord Christ himself, for the reconciling those Christians to the divine majesty, who have fallen into sin after their baptism." They teach farther, (Sess. 14. Cap. 2.) "That this sacrament consists of two parts, viz. the matter and the form; the matter of the sacrament is the act or acts of the penitent, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; the form of it is the act of the priest in these words, absolvo te." I absolve thee. "That therefore it is the duty of every man, (cap. 3.) who hath fallen after baptism, as aforesaid, to confess his sins at least once a year to a priest." "That this confession is to be secret, (cap. 5.); for public confession is neither commanded nor expedient." "That this confession of mortal sin be very exact (cap. 5.) and particular, together with all circumstances, especially such as speciem facti mutant, alter the kind or degree of sin, and that it extend to the most secret sins, even of thought, or against the 9th and 10th commandment." That is the 10th, according to our division, for the church of Rome divides it into two, to make up the number, having left out the second. And lastly, "That the penitent thus doing, (cap. 6.) the absolution hereupon pronounced is not conditional or declarative only, but absolute and judicial." That is, the priest, on receiving confession, as above described, pronounces a full and everlasting pardon of all the sins so confessed, a pardon which the sinner may take and plead at the day of judgment, against all charges that may then be brought against him on account of the sins which he has confessed.

Before proceeding to expose the wickedness of the doctrines above taught, I shall give more in detail, what Papists avow, as well as what they disavow, on the subject of confession, from Gother's "Papist Misrepresented and Represented." First, what they disavow, as in the words following:-"The Papist misrepresented believes it part of his religion to make gods of men; foolishly thinking that these have power to forgive sins. And therefore as often as he finds his conscience oppressed with the guilt of his offences, he calls for one of his priests; and having run over a catalogue of his sins, he asks of him pardon and forgiveness. And what is most absurd of all, he is so stupid as to believe that, if his ghostly father, after he has heard all his villanies in his ear, does but pronounce three or four Latin words over his head,

his sins are forgiven him, although he had never any thoughts of amendment, or intention to forsake his wickedness." I hope to show, before I have done, that there is no misrepresentation in the above, but let us first hear what is avowed on this subject.

"The Papist truly represented believes it damnable in any religion to make gods of men. However, he firmly holds, that when Christ, speaking to his apostles, said, John xx. 21., Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained; he gave them and their successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic church, authority to absolve any penitent sinner from his sins. And God having thus given them the ministry of reconciliation, and made them Christ's legates, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20. Christ's ministers, and the dispensers of the mystery of Christ, 1 Cor. iv., and given them power that whosoever they loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, Mat. xxviii. 18., he undoubtedly believes that whosoever comes to him, making a sincere and humble confession of his sins, with a true repentance and firm purpose of amendment, and a hearty resolution of turning from his evil ways, may from them receive absolution, by the authority given them from heaven, and no doubt but God ratifies above the sentence pronounced in that tribunal; loosing in heaven whatsoever is thus loosed by them on earth. And that whosoever comes without the due preparation, without a repentance from the bottom of his heart, and real intention of forsaking his sins, receives no benefit by the absolution; but adds sin to sin, by a high contempt of God's mercy, and abuse of his sacraments."

From the above authorities it appears that the church of Rome makes it the indispensable duty of every member of her body, to tell all his or her sins to a priest at least once a year. Now, if this were literally obeyed, I venture to affirm that every member of the church would require to have a priest to himself, and that the whole year would be occupied by every priest in hearing the confessions of a single individual. There is not an hour of a man's life, in which he does not commit sin in thought, word, or deed. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evil, and only evil continually. He who alone knows the human heart has declared this to be its character. What then must we think of that religion which teaches that a person may, in a few minutes, confess to a priest all the sins which he has committed in the course of a whole year? The thing is as impossible, as to recal and relate all the thoughts which have passed through his mind during the same period; it is as impossible as to recal in an hour, and preserve in a bottle, all the air that has passed through his lungs in breathing during twelve months. Yet, according to the doctrine of the church of Rome, it is necessary that every man and woman effect this impossibility.

I know that the Romish casuists make an exception of sins which they call venial; and they require only that a man confess the mortal sins which he may have committed in the course of the year; but this is a distinction of their own making, and it involves an error the most pernicious and fatal, that ever was invented by the father of lies. Sin in every form, and every degree, is the object of divine abhorrence. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, without exception. Men, thinking only of what affects their own comfort and security in this world, look upon some sins as great, and

others as little. Robbery and murder, for instance, are great sins, and swearing and false worship are little ones, because the latter do us little harm, whereas the former are hurtful to society. But this is not the rule by which the Almighty judges. It is the alienation of the heart of man from himself that constitutes the guilt of the sinner in His sight; and this alienation appears to him in the most secret thoughts, and the most trivial actions of the sinner, as really as in those actions which are most condemned by his fellow-creatures. If our popish doctors were to sit down and make out a list of the sins which they call venial, I am verily persuaded they would place that of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit at the top of the list. I defy them to find, in the whole catalogue of human transgressions, from the creation of the world, one, considered in itself, more venial than this. What harm could there be in eating the fruit of one tree more than another? This is the cavil of infidels at this day; and, upon the supposition that any sin is venial, it is impossible to make a satisfactory reply.

But in point of fact, we know that this sin "brought death into the world, and all our wo." By this single offence of one man, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Sin consists in disobedience to our Creator and Lawgiver; and whether this disobedience appear in things which men call great, or things which they call little, it indicates a state of mind at enmity against God, and which deserves all the punishment which he has threatened against transgressors.

What an enemy to the souls of men, therefore, must the church of Rome be, which teaches that there are some sins so venial, that is, so trifling, that it is not worth while to confess them; that God will not mark them, at least not mark them, or remember them, so as to exact punishment for them! This, however, is so interwoven with popery, as to constitute an essential part of the system; and if there was nothing else objectionable in it, this alone would exhibit it to the world, as a religion, not of God, but a mystery of iniquity emanating from the prince of darkness.

The revelation of divine mercy, by the gospel of Christ, proceeds upon the assumption, that all men are utterly lost and undone, on account of sin. Christ came to put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself. He laid down his life as a ransom for many. Now in the whole history of this wonderful transaction, we find not the least hint that any sin was so venial, as not to require expiation. It was to put away sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, that the Saviour of the world laid down his life. It was sin, without distinction of great or little, venial or mortal, that rendered this infinite sacrifice necessary, in order that we might be saved. Those who are saved by grace cannot possibly look upon any sin as venial. They will, in secret, confess to God every sin of which they are conscious, encouraged to do so by his own word, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity."

But popery carnalizes every thing. It reduces this sublime view of Christian piety, and privilege, to the mere annual form of confessing to a fellow-creature, and receiving his absolution: And as such fellow-creature cannot hear the thousandth part of the confessing sinner's transgressions, but only a few of his enormous crimes, such as eating flesh on Friday, or in Lent, the penitent is taught to believe that

his other sins are merely venial, or no sins at all. Thus the priests prophesy lies; the people love to have it so; and thousands annually go down to the grave with a lie in their months.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

AURICULAR CONFESSION. ENUMERATION OF MORTAL AND VENIAL SINS. CONFESSION CALCULATED TO ENCOURAGE SIN. PASCAL'S REPRESENTATION OF THE ERRORS OF

THE JESUITS.

SATURDAY, March 11th, 1820.

It is imperiously required of every Papist that he confess his sins to a priest at least once every year. I showed in my last number, that if this order were literally observed, every sinner would require to have a priest of his own; and that both he and the priest would have enough to do, though they minded nothing else, from the end of one year to the end of another. The man who believes it to be possible to confess at one sitting, or rather at one kneeling, the sins of twelve months, must have a very different notion of what sin is from the representations which the word of God gives of it; and in fact, he has the authority of the church, which he considers infallible, for regarding the most part of those things which the Bible calls sins, as mere peccadilloes, not worthy of being remembered, much less of being punished, either by God or man.

I need not stop to expose the error of this doctrine; the error is manifest to every man who reads his Bible, and who understands but the first principles of the word of God. My present object is to prove the fact, that the church of Rome teaches the doctrine that some sins are only venial, while others, and these but few in number, are esteemed mortal; and that, having persuaded her blinded adherents to believe this impious absurdity, she allows them to rest satisfied with having made a confession, though it should not embrace one in ten thousand of their real transgressions.

Thus, the words of the council of Trent, (Sess. 14. cap. 6.) are, "that this confession of mortal sin be very exact and particular;" which leaves it to be inferred, that sins, which are not considered mortal, need not be confessed at all; and as every sinner is disposed to think his own sins but venial, at least the greater part of them, he will have but few mortal ones to confess; no more in ordinary cases, in the course of a year, than he can detail to his priest, with all their aggravations, in an hour.

The Douay catechism is honourably explicit on this subject. It reduces the deadly or capital sins to seven in number. To these, of course, a penitent may restrict his confession; and if he cannot accuse himself of any of these, he has no confession to make. He has only to declare himself as innocent as on the day of his baptism, by which rite he believes he was cleansed from original sin, and to demand the body of his Creator in the sacrament of his body and blood, it being necessary, in order to the reception of this, that a man be in a state of grace, that is, free from mortal sin. The seven deadly sins are, pride, covetousness, luxury, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. The French VOL. I.-77