speedily disappear. But the pontifical despotism kills all of them, and substitutes for this exemplary proof of divine mercy, an animated, blind, deceitful, debauched, and therefore, a mischievous slave. This result is effected by the following process.

1. A Papist is completely ignorant of all correct knowledge. Our discussion adverts not to those acquisitions which are merely ornamental or literary; but to those attainments which influence the moral relations of man with his God, his judge, and with society. Some Papists have been erudite scholars; others have been sound casuists as far as they dared; and many of them have been upright in their intercourse with the world; but they have professed to be humble "worshippers of the Beast" and consequently, were learned, pure, and just, in despite of the unholy jurisdiction to which they professed nominally to submit. But even these examples are "few and far between;" for scarcely a single instance occurs during the seven centuries, which are emphatically called the "dark ages.' To denominate Berengarius, Claude, Wickliffe, Savaranola, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Chaucer, Dante, Petrarch, and a few others, Papists, would be nearly as great a perversion as to allege that the Waldenses and Albigenses were adherents of the Roman antichrist. And to cite as examples of popish erudition and morals, the Papists who have dwelt in Britain, Saxony or America, during the last two hundred years, is not one jot more relevant, than in speaking of all those "in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints," to fancy that Pope Gregory XVI. and his proverbially dissolute cardinals were intended by the Apostle Paul, when he wrote his famous epistle.

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It is a fundamental principle of the papal system, that popular ignorance is essential to the prevalence of priestcraft. Hence, the Holy Scriptures are peremptorily forbidden to be perused and studied, and in their stead is imposed the priestly oracle; who is generally as ignorant of biblical truth, and of pure morality, as he is skilled in tortuous casuistry and practical vice. All the knowledge which an obedient Papist ever attains of morality, as long as he continues to dwell within the gloomy domains of Babylon the Great, is imbibed from the instructions of the confessor, or from the common "manuals," which usually teach more wickedness than can be found in any other volumes.

Profound ignorance of the sacred book, with a total disregard of all its spiritual import; and in reference to the second commandment, an entire erasure of its injunctions, are manifest proofs, that to inculcate evangelical truth and religious duty constitutes no part of Romish instruction. As the unavoidable consequence, the countless majority of the pontifical subjects are engulfed in the darkness which may be felt; attended by all the contamination which must unavoidably flow from hearts depraved, prone to evil, and without legitimate restraint.

The Papist is early taught that all his feelings, wishes, and illumination, must be directed by his priest-that his instructions alone are true and obligatory-that it is mortally sinful to know any thing which his confessor prohibits-that if he imbibes any novelties it is his immediate duty to appeal to the priest to ascertain whether they are admissible and in short to credit without hesitation all that his God the church prescribes; and to repudiate every thing which "the speaking VOL. II.-94

tribunal," the priest, declares to be contrary to the orders of the pope, and not conformable to the interests of "the Mother of Harlots." Now it follows, that men in this state of mental vassalage must be ignorant, even in the midst of every facility to acquire knowledge. But the Roman hierarchy also contrive every possible impediment to the use of those means by which information can be obtained. Not only is the word of God, and all religious books which correctly illustrate it, removed as far as practicable from the sight, and also from the acquaintance of the people; but that instruction which might qualify them to attain additional light is pertinaciously withheld; and "schools for all" are opposed with an energy and malevolence unexampled in the annals of mankind.

Thus a determination is resolutely developed, if possible, to perpetuate the darkness where it still hovers, and to extinguish even that small portion of light which now irradiates the Protestant portions of the world. In this respect the Jesuit colleges, seminaries, and convents, under the hypocritical pretext of educating youth in the higher departments of literature, are gradually restoring the spiritual blindness and the indescribable impurities and corruptions of the Gothic ages.

In addition to this fact, it must be noticed, that there is a Papal bull denouncing all those who read any books without the priest's dispensation; that the indexes, prohibitory and expurgatorius, directly forbid the perusal of the sacred volume, and of every other book which promulge the "pure and undefiled religion" of the Lord Jesus Christ; that there is a Papal congregation expressly appointed to examine and decide upon the character of all works which are issued from the press; and that no book is allowed which opposes the Roman craft, and explains the satanic policy, the debasing slavery, and the unparalleled turpitude of the papacy.

That which might be expected is therefore discoverable in all districts, and in various degrees, in every house, and in each individual, over whom popery reigns. They are ignorant of all good; and the converse of the proposition is not less true; they are proficients in all mischief." They have committed two evils; they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters; and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah ii. 12, 13.

The following quotation was published in England, about 1680, and is supposed to have been written by Bishop Burnet. It constitutes a suitable addition to the principles inculcated by this essay; as it is believed, that the dreadful indictment will be fully proved. It is extracted from a small work, entitled, " Popish Principles and Practices Pernicious." Section VII.

"A Papist acting according to the principles of his religion, cannot be an honest man, a good neighbour, a true friend, or a faithful subject. This general proposition is evident from these four arguments.

"He who believeth it not only lawful, but necessary, to dissemble, lie, violate his vows, break his oaths, make light of his word and promises, swear and forswear, say or do any thing, when either his priest commands it, or the interests of the pope and the papal cause require it; and also he who is persuaded, that say or do what he will upon that account, there is one in the world, who by his own power, and many others, who by a power from that one, can dispense with

him for it-pardon all, and make that which is in itself sinful, to be no sin-can you truly think such a one to be an honest man?

"He who believes it lawful to deceive and undermine his neighbour, to injure him in his body, goods, or reputation, if by reason of any of these he stand in his way, and hinder his design of promoting the cause he hath undertaken-he whose avowed principle it is, that faith is not to be kept with heretics, or men of a different persuasion from himself-he who is persuaded that he owes nothing of love, kindness, affection, and good will to any persons, unless they be serviceable to him in his ill designs upon others who hath devoted himself wholly to one interest and one party, and looks upon all the world besides as heathens and publicans, and to be dealt with accordingly-Have you so much false charity as to think, that such a person can be a good neighbour, when he hath an opportunity to be otherwise?

"He of whose sincerity we cannot be assured, and of whose fidelity we have all the reason in the world to doubt, because his principles teach him to dissemble, and his religion allows him to deceive ushe, to whom we cannot with confidence commit any secret, and from whom we cannot expect any kindness, unless we join interests with him, and drive on the same design that he doth; who believes it not only lawful, but sometimes necessary, to deceive, betray, and expose his best friends to all the dangers that are imaginable, merely to advance an interest which he hath espoused; whom no obligation, either of relation or affection, or kindness, or vows, or promises, or oaths, or any other engagement whatsoever, can keep within the rules either of justice or friendship, when the overruling interests of the Roman church require it should be otherwise-can you imagine that such a one can ever make a good friend?

"He who believes that there is a foreign power superior to that of his own government, even in his own country; and that he is bound in conscience to obey the former, and disobey the latter, if at any time their commands happen to run counter; that he may be absolved from his allegiance, and dispensed with for his duty and obedience, that it may be lawful for him to resist and rebel against his government; but if at any time it happen, that this superior power should be evil disposed, and declare the governors to be heretical and excommunicate, then he not only may, but ought to do all that in him lies, to depose, dethrone, and deprive this government of their authority; to destroy the laws, to ruin the constitution, and to subvert all established rule and order in the state-while a man is of this persuasion, can any person believe, that such a one can ever be a good subject?"

The ensuing discussion will necessarily include a reference to the principles which have already been cited-because it is nugatory to plead the ignorance or disbelief, or even the rejection by one man of the standard code of the community to which he belongs.

It is true, that popery, since the reformation in the sixteenth century is a perfect masquerader in Protestant countries, which assumes all forms and every disguise, expressly to evade scrutiny, and to bewilder the judgment. We must not estimate it, therefore, by this delusive appearance, assumed intentionally to deceive; but we must form our opinion by its standard commentators, and its pretended infallible

examples; not by the declarations of those who know not whereof they affirm, nor by the actions of men who have really rejected the usurpation, to which they nominally profess "for lucre's sake" to adhere. By this criterion only, the influence of popery will be examined in the topics which remain to be discussed.

2. Papists generally are impure. This is a grave and momentous charge, but it is attested by evidence irresistible; for no part of the annals of popery obtrudes itself upon attention with so much offensiveness, and with equal certainty, as the extreme sensuality of the Roman irreligion. It is not to be deemed an adventitious or an unnatural morbid excrescence, occasionally developed in connexion with a pure and healthful system; but it is the most essential, ostensible, and permanent quality of the antichristian confraternity. Romanism could not subsist without the utmost inordinate licentiousness. Popery never attained any comparative influence, until nominal Christendom substituted idolatry for devotion, and the traditions of men instead of the mandates of Jehovah; which unholy change unavoidably produced, as impiety always does, a laxity of moral principle, and as the natural result, a dissolute life. All the nations called Christian have been sensual, in exact proportion to the extent of the pontifical bondage in which they have been immured; and at this hour those individuals, families, and nations, perverse exceptions always excluded, are the most delicate and refined, which have removed the farthest in distance from the confines of Babylon. These are historical facts, which the history of Europe since the death of Theodosius undeniably confirms; and which are oracularly corroborated by the existing contrasts on the American continent. There is nearly as much difference existing between the state of society in Boston and Lima, or Philadelphia and Mexico, as between the scenes anciently enacted in the tents of Succoth Benoth, and the solemnities of a modern Christian devotional assembly.

This state of things and this diversity of moral character are naturally consequent upon the manner in which persons are educated. Nothing is more obviously true than the fact, that they who are trained up in the confessional, where the questions and the canons, which already have been cited, are discussed and enforced from their youth, like the old Romans, must be "filled with all unrighteousness."

It is unavailing to retort, that many Papists have been indisputably holy men and women; because the admission of the extraordinary fact only verifies the almost generality of the rule against which so feeble an exception only can be alleged. There may have existed honest Jesuits, continent friars, and chaste nuns; but this only proves, that, through divine mercy, they were better than their avowed rules, and that their whole life was a ceaseless tissue of practical inconsistency. The true condition of society, and of course, the temper of those individuals who compose it, in this reference may be accurately known, from one feature which has universally existed wherever popery predominates. A large proportion of the adult population pass their lives in celibacy. The Roman sacrament of marriage, of which the ecclesiastics, of all orders and of both sexes, are forbidden to partake, possesses neither sanctity nor attractions sufficient to interest even the laymen. Why should this antisocial state retain the ascendancy?

This system in the very highest degree is unnatural. Not only is it

destructive of national energy and opulence, but as essentially fraught with every species of disorder and crime, it must be in its own nature unspeakably reprehensible. If the cause be sought, it is found in the general and deep-rooted conviction, that through the evils which are practised and taught by the confessors to youth; by the secrecy with which every atrocity can be perpetrated by the priest and his devotees; and by the knowledge which the parties have acquired of the operations of the Roman system, personal purity is in a great measure extinguished: and as is the invariable result, both in men and women, all the tender emotions of delicacy, honour, confidence, and attachment, wither and expire.

No persons but the parties are acquainted with the horrid impurities of the confessional. Some idea of the vastness of the popish "mystery of iniquity" may be formed from the citations which have been introduced in the former section. It is peremptorily enjoined that the questions introduced in the French and Spanish languages shall be propounded to all persons without exception, who attend upon the priest to confess their sins, and to obtain absolution. The confessor may put them all or not at his option-but that some of the most offensive of them are part of "the examination of conscience," as it is so wickedly entitled, which is adopted in this country, is known to all persons who are acquainted with this revolting topic.

The inference is unavoidable:-no Papist who complies with the requisitions of that system of impiety to the obligations of which he professes to submit, can possibly maintain that pudicity and decorum either in feeling or action, without which all the dignified qualities of man are eclipsed and degraded. This is the prophetic delineation of popery in the Holy Bible-this is the record of Romanism in every country during a thousand years-and this is the universal character of Papists at this day; because popery and carnality in all its multifarious crimes are as inseparable as cause and effect.

3. Popery is a compound of deceitfulness.

The descriptions of "the working of Satan" which reigns at Rome, are precisely assimilated to its character as revealed by "the spirit of prophecy." In the minor transactions of life, or with his confederates, a Papist perchance may act uprightly; but in all the complicated questions and relations in which he is involved as a resident of a Protestant country, it is absolutely impossible, that he who succumbs to the priestly yoke can act consistently with rectitude and truth. He is taught from his earliest youth that dissimulation, equivocations, mental reservations and even direct falsehoods, for his own benefit or for the good of the church, are either venial sins, or else meritorious acts. He is assured, that no performances are more conformable to the commands of the Holy Roman church, that no good works are more expiatory of mortal transgressions, and that no religious services are more acceptable to God, than deceiving, obstructing and injuring heretics; and that the mischief which would be criminal if done to a Papist, becomes a subject of reward when executed upon a Protestant.

The doctrine of faithlessness in transactions with heretics, so as to sanction the violation of all treaties, covenants, promises and contracts, is ratified by popes and councils as obligatory upon all Papists, when it can be achieved with safety and impunity; and to accomplish the