contact with this priest afterwards, and I do not therefore
give his name.

"Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike for his age and his moral
character, I inquired what signified the prefixing the name of Jesus Christ
to amorous apostrophes.

"'It is,' he said, 'an expression used by a horrible sect, and one
unfortunately only too numerous, which, thus abusing the name of our Lord,
permits to its members the most unbridled licentiousness.'"

And it is my sad duty to say, before the whole world, that I know that by
far the greater part of the confessors in America, Spain, France and
England, reason and act just like that licentious Italian priest.

Christian nations! if you could know what will become of the virtue of your
fair daughters if you allow secret or public slaves of Rome to restore the
auricular confession, with what a storm of holy indignation you would
defeat their plans!

* * * * *

CHAPTER III.

THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM.

* * * * *

If any one wants to hear an eloquent oration, let him go when the Roman
Catholic priest is preaching on the divine institution of auricular
confession. There is no subject, perhaps, on which the priests display so
much zeal and earnestness, and of which they speak so often. For this
institution is really the corner-stone of their stupendous power; it is the
secret of their almost irresistible influence. Let the people to-day open
their eyes to the truth, and understand that auricular confession is one of
the most stupendous impostures which Satan has invented to corrupt and
enslave the world; let the people desert the confessional-box to-day, and
tomorrow Romanism will fall into the dust. The priests understand this very
well; hence their constant efforts to deceive the people on that question.
To attain their object, they have recourse to the most egregious
falsehoods; the Scriptures are misrepresented; the holy Fathers are brought
to say the very contrary of what they have ever thought or written; the
most extraordinary miracles and stories are invented. But two of the
arguments to which they have more often recourse are the great and
perpetual miracles which God makes to keep the purity of the confessional
undefiled, and its secrets marvellously sealed. They make the people
believe that the vow of perpetual chastity changes their nature, turns them
into angels, and puts them above the