may absolve him who resolves to abstain from sin, though he himself believe that he shall not hold his resolution." Again, says the same father, "that he may be absolved, who from just and reasonable cause will not quit the occasion of sin, provided he make a firm resolution that he will not sin any more; though he have already relapsed thereinto many times." Just and reasonable cause for not quitting occasion of sin, is elsewhere explained to be, going into bad company for the sake of doing them good, though the person doing so have reason, from former experience, to suspect that they will lead him to sin, rather than that he shall lead them to forsake it. Again, Father Bauny teaches, "If, notwithstanding all that they have said and promised to their confessor in times past, they cannot forbear to break out into excess and greater liberty in the very same faults as before, they ought to be admitted to the sacrament, and may be absolved."—" That the penitent, purposing with true affection, and resorting to the feet of the priest to put an end to his sins, deserves to receive pardon though he amend not." Dicastillus speaks without hesitation on this subject: "that after it is experimented that he amends not at all, and after it is known that the penitent hath no will to quit the occasions, absolution may be given him. And when there is some reasonable cause why the penitent should not separate himself from the occasion of sin, though the penitent have relapsed into it very frequently, he is not to be obliged to avoid it, nor to be deprived of absolution, though his relapses be very frequent he ought on the contrary to be exhorted to come frequently to confession." See Jesuits' Morals, pp. 211-213.

Thus it appears that sin is the staple commodity of traffic in the church of Rome. It is by this that she has her wealth; and if persons were not perpetually sinning, and professing to repent at least once a year, the priests might shut shop. The greatest sinner is in fact the best customer; and, as in the case last cited, one who relapses very frequently, must not be obliged to avoid sin, or the occasion of it; he must rather be exhorted to come more frequently to confession; and as he must not come empty handed, the greater sinner he is, he is so much the better member of the holy church.

I expect to hear that our British Papists reject the authority of the great fathers from whose writings I have made such liberal extracts. They will plead that the Jesuit casuists were not the "Catholic church," and that therefore what they teach is not necessarily catholic doctrine. I might, perhaps, admit the plea, if it were urged by any other church than that of Rome; but as she firmly maintains, that all her priests are, in virtue of their ordination, successors of the apostles, and endowed with the authority of apostles to declare the word of God, and the true meaning of the scriptures with infallible certainty, she has no right to object to any doctrine which her priests may inculcate. Every lay person is in fact bound, under pain of anathema, to receive and hold fast whatever his priest may tell him on matters of faith. This is not the case in Protestant churches. In them every member is exhorted to read the Bible, and judge for himself; and to receive nothing from the mouth of any man except what he finds supported by the word of God. It is quite otherwise in the church of Rome, in which it is declared unlawful to exercise private judgment; and that every man must, under pain of damnation, receive implicitly what is taught by his

priest. Besides, the works from which the above extracts are made, contain not the sentiments of mere individual priests; they have the sanction of the superiors of the order of Jesuits, which is virtually the sanction of the whole body, not of the Jesuits only, but of the whole church, of which they are the most active agents and defenders.

I will show farther, that whatever the more consistent Papists of Spain and Portugal may plead on this subject, those in Britain are fairly committed as identifying themselves with the Jesuits. The Orthodox Journal, which is declared by itself to be now the only " Catholic Journal" in Britain, in the number which has just reached me, speaks of the Jesuits as the most meritorious order with which the church was ever blessed; and ascribes all the evils which have befallen Europe, during the last thirty years, to the suppression of the order; for such was their pure morality, and other good qualities, that had they not been suppressed, the French Revolution would probably not have taken place, and all its bitter consequences would have been prevented. This is the avowed opinion of the public organ of the English Papists, who is known to write under the patronage of a right reverend vicar apostolic, and who may be presumed to have the concurrence of the great body of his brethren. Let us hear, then, his account of the Society of Jesuits:

"The admirable constitution by which this renowned order was governed, showed the knowledge which its sainted founder had of human nature. By its rules, ambition, jealousy, and vain glory, were unknown among the disciples of Loyola, because there was no chance whatever left them to gratify these inordinate passions of the heart." It seems to be a rule with all popish writers, to disavow most peremptorily those vices of which they are most notoriously guilty; and thus, it seems, the Jesuits could not be accused of ambition, though their object was no less than to have the direction of all the governments in Christendom, and ultimately of the whole world.

I have not room for one half of what this writer says in praise of the Jesuits; but it may come in my way again.

I beg leave to recommend to the reader a small pamphlet just published, entitled, "God's revenge against Rebellion; an Historical Poem with copious notes, illustrative of the present state of Ireland: Occasioned by a late edict from Rome, and a circular letter of a titular Bishop in the west of Ireland, against Bibles and Protestant Schoolmasters. By the Rev. John Graham, M. A." This poem was addressed to THE PROTESTANT, but being too large for insertion in his work, he recommended its separate publication. It contains a great deal of information with regard to the present state of Ireland, and the mischiefs occasioned by popery in that unhappy country. It may be had of all the booksellers, price sixpence. I am indebted to the author for many other valuable communications, particularly the poem inserted in my eighty-first and eighty-sixth numbers.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

LETTER OF THE REV. PATRICK BRADLEY, A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS CONVERSION FROM POPERY.

SATURDAY, March 25th, 1820. THE following letter contains only one paragraph on auricular confession, which is my present subject of discussion; but that paragraph which contains the testimony of a living credible witness, is worth fifty arguments in order to demonstrate the wickedness of popery in this matter alone. Indeed, the whole letter is so very interesting, that I am sure the reader will thank me for interrupting the course of my argument in order to give place to it.

"Lillieslief, 12th February, 1820. "MY DEAR SIR,-While the facts I am now going to state, will form my apology for troubling you with this long letter, they will show you that I must feel a more than ordinary interest in the admirable work which you are carrying on, under title of THE PROTESTANT.'

"I am a native of Ireland; and was brought up in the profession of Christianity, as taught by the ministers of the church of Rome, until about the beginning of the eighteenth year of my age. In my early years, I was favoured with a better education than Papists generally give their children in that ill-fated, but admirable country. Protestants forming a large portion of the community, the Bible was among us a common school book; this is a circumstance for which I can never be sufficiently grateful; for although I did not then understand the will of God as revealed in the Bible, the repeated perusal of it rendered its language and sentiments familiar to my mind; and the knowledge which I thus acquired was afterwards of great

use to me.

"In my sixteenth year, I was, by the advice of my parents and the priest, admitted to the communion of the church. I had then, and once afterwards, a specimen of 'auricular confession:' to these two events in my life, I look back with horror! If auricular confession be at all times conducted as it was when I was engaged in it, I have no hesitation in saying, that I consider it one of the most abominable and corrupting institutions of popery. If the person confessing hesitates for a moment, through defect of memory, or through the feelings of shame, the father confessor proposes a leading question on the various kinds and degrees of iniquity, and thus stimulates the reluctant devotee, and drags from him or her the inmost secrets of the heart. To say a single word in explanation of the questions which a father confessor will thus propose to a young man or a young woman, to a husband or a wife, would be to imitate his vile example. You will perceive, at a single glance, that they tend to increase the knowledge of the young and simple in the ways of transgression, and to render vices, of the most injurious and disgusting kind, familiar to all.

"About the time I have already mentioned, a Protestant friend lent me three sermons, which he had bought from some person selling

tracts. These sermons are by three men whose praise is deservedly great in the churches of Christ-Thomas Boston, E. and R. Erskine. The sermon by Mr. Boston is called, The Everlasting Espousals,' on these words, (Hosea ii. 19) 'I will betroth thee unto me for ever;' the one by Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, is called, The Plant of Renown,' on Ezekiel xxxiv. 29; and the one by Ralph Erskine, is on Isaiah xlv. 11. In the sermon by E. Erskine, the person and work of Jesus Christ, as Mediator, are exhibited with great force and accuracy; in the sermon by Mr. Boston, the way in which the people of God are brought into his family, and made partakers of its blessings, are delineated in the peculiar manner of that able and evangelical writer; and in the sermon by R. Erskine, there is a full account of the high privilege of believers, in being allowed at all times to approach into the presence of their God and Father, through Jesus the only Mediator, to supplicate those things which are promised to them, and of which they have need.

"The perusal of these sermons produced a deep and painful impression upon my mind. All my former views of religion were distracted and confounded; and new views of sin and duty were forcibly pressed upon my attention. In these sermons, the scriptures seemed to me to speak a new language, and to present to my mind an entirely new scene of contemplation: they certainly set before me the ground of a sinner's hope of pardon, and acceptance with God, in a light directly opposite to that in which I was formerly taught to view them. But although I was by the perusal of these sermons surprised and confounded, I was not convinced. I determined to read them again with my Bible in my hand; and I did so, comparing every opinion of the writers, and every passage which they quoted in support of their opinions, with the oracles of God. This second perusal increased the pain I felt in a very high degree. From the scriptures I found I could not refute the doctrines taught in these sermons; and to admit these doctrines to be true, was, according to the lessons I had been taught from my infancy, to expose myself to all the horrors of eternal damnation. In this state of mind I knew not what to do. I dared not consult my parents; for to do so, I certainly knew was to bring upon me their high displeasure, and perhaps all the sarcasm and censures of my ghostly father; and to apply to any Protestant, I felt was in some measure to commit myself, without being fully persuaded in my own mind. Thus matters proceeded with me for some time. I read the scriptures, and some Protestant books which I procured from the same friend, most attentively; offered up frequent and fervent prayers to Almighty God for light to perceive, and courage to persevere, in the way of duty; and often went to hear the sermons of some Presbyterian ministers in the neighbourhood. While proceeding in this tenor of conduct, I found light gradually shed on my mind, and I thought I began in some measure to perceive the way in which I ought to go.

"By the manner in which I had for some time conducted myself, I had attracted the attention of my mother. Observing my absence from mass, and hearing of my attendance at Protestant places of worship, she began to dread the very worst of me, that a popish parent can dread of a child-heresy. It was on a Sabbath morning that she first spoke to me on the subject. She began by asking me, If I was going that

day with the rest of the family to prayers? At that moment my whole frame shook; and, through fear and anxiety, I found myself wholly unable to speak. I had long wished for such an opportunity as this, to speak to my tender-hearted and affectionate mother, on a subject that engrossed my whole attention; and yet, when it presented itself to me unexpectedly, I found myself quite unable. She saw my confusion, and was grieved to the heart. The sorrow I saw in her face was the first thing that roused me from the stupor into which I had sunk; and I said to her, 'No-I am not going with the rest of the family to prayers to-day.' She said, 'Why?' I had been reading in the New Testament when this conversation commenced, and holding it out to her, I said-Because I find no authority for mass in this book.' She quickly asked what book it was, I was reading? and I told her. She then felt all that a tender-hearted affectionate Roman Catholic mother could feel in such circumstances; and I find, sir, nineteen years after this interview, that I have not nerves to proceed with the story of it.

"Of the part I had now acted, the priest was soon informed; and, with the mild and merciful spirit of his order, he passed sentence upon me, without ever condescending to converse with me, and without ever making a single effort to enlighten my mind, and reclaim me from my supposed heresy. The sentence which he passed, as I was informed, was, 'That I was a heretic, and must be banished from the family;' sagely adding, That the clean must be kept from the unclean.' This sentence, though communicated to me, my parents, influenced by strong affection, hesitated to carry into execution. But a popish priest knows nothing about parental affection, and cares far less about it, in such a case as this. He therefore repeated the sentence, and accompanied the repetition with considerations fitted to command an immediate compliance. A popish priest in Ireland is never at a loss for considerations to influence the conduct of his flock, in matters connected with their religion. In obedience, therefore, to the repeated commands of a man who called himself a minister of the gospel of peace, and who professed himself a disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus, I was banished from my father's house, for no crime-but the crime of desiring to worship the God that made me, according to the dictates of my conscience!

"I believe my parents thought that the very attempt to banish me from the family, would bring me to an immediate submission; and that they, on that account, yielded the more easily to the commands of the priest. In the affair my father took no direct hand: the painful task devolved upon my mother; and I believe was devolved upon her, in the hope that her tenderness and affection would so work upon my feelings, that I would not be able to part with her. On the day fixed for this banishment, she rolled up a small parcel of linens, and desired me, with an aching heart, to accompany her on a short journey. I did so; and when about a mile from the village, she stopped suddenly, and made the last appeal to my feelings. She did every thing which reasoning, and prayers, and tears, could do, to induce me to return to the bosom of that church, out of which she believed, and declared, there is no salvation. I felt deeply and wept bitterly; but God enabled me to remain faithful. After some minutes of great suffering on both sides, we parted; and I was not permitted for about two years to enter my father's house, although I had often occasion to pass very near to it. At the time I