922 ru.?i?CE t'ONF'amOM. [Boor ment to commit greater sins, and repeat their former ones, in the place of a restraint it will serve as an encouragvment to commit sin. This is its true practical effect, whatever may be the plausible theories invented to give a different colouring. Although person8 may live in the prac- tice of every vice, yet by confessing once a year at least they receive absolution, which is understood to be as effectual, and satisfies as well the deluded Roman Catholic, as if he were favoured with a voice from heaven, ?tssuring him of his acceptance with Ood. Seldom have we Been so much misrepresentation and untruth as is to be found in the following quotation from the Roman Catechism :m "Confession contributes powerfully to the preservation of social order. Abolish sacram?tal confession, and that moment you deluge seelS. ! with a]l sorts 6f secret crimes--crimes too, and others too of greater enorn?ty, which men, once that they have been depraved by vicious habits, will not dread to commit in open day. The salutary uhame that attends confession restrains licentiousness, bridles desire, and coerces the evil propensities of corrupt hature."* The very re- verse is the fact, as might be shown by a comparative view of the Mate of morals in popish and Protestant countries. History fully warrants the assertion, that priestly absolution, 83 practised in the Romish Church, offers a large bounty to crime, and that the confessional is the school of vice. This will appear more fully by taking into considera- tion the following. 9. Auricular conferion is not only useless or corrupting to him who makes it, but is extremely pernicious to him who hears it. The mind of a priest must become the common receptacle of all the 61th in his parish. There is, as the word of Ood says, a desperate wickedness in the heart of man. God only can know the depth of this depravity. Nor can the wickedness of the heart be safely made known to any but C_,od. alone, who, being infinitely hoty, is incapable of pollution. To tell all the evil that is in one% heart to a fellow- creature would corrupt the most innocent, ami increase the wickedness of the most wicked. This, however, is what every priest exacts of his ?1ock, without exception.; and thus, by becoming familiar with the de- p?tfivtty of others, his own must be fearfully augmented. Nay, the est himself becomes frequently so hardened in sin as to become the oormpter of the young and the comparatively innocent. He insinuates the poison into the hearts of the inexperienced, and effects their seduc- tion under the pretext of promoting their salvation. M'Gavin, in his Master Key, says: "To the discovery of mortal sins, the father con- fezzor doth very much help the penitent; for he sometimes, out of pure ?mal, but most commonly out of curiosity, asks them many questions, to know whether they do remember all their sins, or not. By these and the like questions the confe?ors do more harm than good, especially to the ignorant people and young women.""And when they come to that tribunal, with a sincere, ignorant heart, to receive advice and in. sl?uction, the? go home with light and knowledge, ?nd an idea of ?ins ?n- known to them before."Sucllmis the testimony of one who mss con- v?rnnt with the come pmue(? in confe?ima. To give a clearer view of the onrmpting influence which tho hearing of confe?aio? must have oigitize by Goodie
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