der the doctrine of his adversaries odious? Yet this has been done, this is done, and this will always be done in a bad cause. It has been so foretold, and we must expect it.

But to return to the ministers of Strasbourg. What shall we think of their extraordinary conduct? The whole body of ministers in that extensive city, from the highest to the lowest, are convinced in their mind that important changes ought to be made in certain usages in the church of Strasbourg, and especially respecting the administration of the sacraments. They make the strongest representations on this head to the magistrate, signed by the whole body of ministers; but why does not this body take upon itself and in its own name, to make the regulations it deems necessary? Is it not the depository of ecclesiastical authority? Why have recourse to an authority purely secular, which has been created and established by God only to decide law-suits, and to make regulations of civil policy, and which is invested with no power to judge or decide in matters which concern religion? But this is not all; they address themselves to the magistrate, not to act in concert with him, and avail themselves of his protection, which in some respect would be tolerable, but to submit the result of their ecclesiastical deliberations with a full and entire deference to his ultimate and sovereign decision. Who are they that thus submit all their ideas and lights? And to whom do they submit them? masters and doctors in the church, who are willing and ready to listen to those as oracles who were once their scholars, and who know no more about religion, than what they had learnt in the days of their youth from these very masters who now consult them; pastors who submit to the judgment of their flock; persons whom professional duties attach to the constant study of religion, and who promise an unrestrained deference to all that shall be decided by those, whom domestic cares, the management of public concerns, commerce, or profane studies, devote to things altogether of a different nature.

Yet these are the persons who declare to these ministers, that they must not shew any external marks of respect by their geneflections, at the time of receiving the holy communion: that they must not confess singly and in a manner calculated to discover the true state of their conscience. It is true, that the whole body of the Strasbourg ministers, was of a different opinion, and after having maturely considered and weighed the matter too; but nevertheless, the heads of civil and political departments must be believed

possessed of superior lights in matters of religion. This, no doubt, was the principle which directed and influenced these ministers, and which rendered them so docile to the laconic refusal noted in the margin, and which was to serve as the answer to all their demands.

How much are they to be pitied, who stray from the paths marked out by providence. These same ministers and their reforming ancestors, were for ever raising their voice, and exclaiming against the ty rannical and imperious authority of the councils; they were unwilling to submit to the judgment of the bishops, who are the true and proper judges in religion, since they have been indeed constituted, Acts 20. 23. by the Holy Ghost himself, to rule the church of God; and they servilely crouch to a secular magistrate, they offer to receive instruction from those whom they ought to instruct, in short they submit to a sentiment in direct contradiction to the one they had themselves proposed without offering the least reply. How can they after this, boast of the conformity of their doctrine and rites with the holy scripture. They declare it to be their belief, that Jesus Christ ought to be adored in the Eucharist, and that penitents ought to confess their sins, one by one and in private; they cite scripture to prove and sup port their sentiment; the magistrate is of a different opinion, or does not find such an alteration convenient; they acquiesce in the senti ment of the magistrate, and yet equally proclaim to the people, that they always follow the scripture and conform to it throughout; what can we think after this? Can illusion go farther, can it manifest itself more seusibly?

The reader will pardon this digression, which is somewhat long, but which I have deemed very proper, to shew the great regard and esteem which our adversaries themselves have for auricular confession.

In the above transaction at Strasbourg, we have seen the Protestant clergy of that city, presenting a remonstrance to the magistrate,. to have confession restored, but now I shall shew the reverse of the case, viz. the Protestant magistrates themselves, of the illustrious city of Nuremberg, strenuously urging the same. So general was the decay of piety which ensued, (as Erasmus, though by the bye, no zealous advocate for the Catholic church, and even Luther himself testify) and so great the degeneracy of morals which was brought on by the change of religion, and by enfranchising men from the powerful curbs and penitential exercises of fasting, abstinence, confession, and

other religious duties, and which the magistrates of the above named city were so sensible of, that they solemnly petitioned the emperor Charles V. to re-establish auricular confession among them by an im→ perial law, as a check upon the prevailing libertinism, alledging, that they had learned by experience, that since it had been laid aside by them, their commonwealth was over-run with sins, against justice and other virtues, heretofore unknown in their country, and that restitution for injustices committed, was scarce any longer to be heard of, The petition (as the historians of those days inform us) only moved the court to laughter, as if a human law could compel men to the confession of the secrets of their consciences, and as if it was to be expected that any attention would be paid to the ordinance of man by a people who disregarded the institution of God, as the emperor replied. See Gahan's hist. of the church.

So much for Protestant testimonies in favour of the utility and importance of sacramental confession. Let us now see what the opinion of philosophers and free-thinkers is, on this subject. In order not to swell the Appendix too much, I shall confine myself to a few only. "There is not perhaps a wiser institution," says Voltaire, in Rem. on the Trag. of Olympia. "Most men when they have fallen into great crimes, naturally feel remorse. The law-makers, who established mysteries and expiations, were equally studious to prevent the guilty from yielding to despair and relapsing into their crimes, "Confession," says the Philosophical Dictionary, art. The Parson's Catechism," is an excellent thing, a curb to inveterate wickedness. In the remotest antiquity, confession was practised in the « celebration of all the ancient mysteries. We have imitated * and

* It is altogether unnecessary to examine this imitation particular ly, as the author seems himself to reject it in the following passage, where on the contrary, it is human wisdom, that has perceived the utility and embraced the shadow of so useful an institution. It is well known, the philosophers would fain derive from the ancient nations all the Christian customs and practises. And their efforts have been seconded by a performance of Dr. Conyers Middleton, entitled, A letter from Rome: but this work has been so completely refuted by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challenor, that I shali take no farther notice of it. My sole object at present is to shew the homage these very men. pay to the importance and utility of confession.

"sanctified this wise practice; it is excellent to induce ulcerated "hearts to forgive; and to make thieves restore what they have un"justly taken from their neighbour.”

"The enemies of the church of Rome," say the annals of the Emp. tom. 2. p. 41." who have declared against this wholesome institution, "seemed to have deprived the world of the best check that could be given to vice. The sages of antiquity were themselves sensible of "its importance. If they could not impose it on man as an obligation, "they established the practice for those who aspired to a life of greater "purity. It was the first expiation of the initiated among the Egyp"tians, and in the mysteries of Elusinian Ceres. Thus has the Chris"tian religion sanctified a practice of which God permitted, that hu* man wisdom should discover the utility and embrace the shadow." The author of the Philosophical and Political history of the commerce of the Indies could not refuse, in vol. 3. p. 250. his encomiums to confession. "The Jesuits have established, says he, a theocratical દ government in Paraguay, but with a peculiar advantage to the religion on which it is built. This is the practice of confession, a prac"tice of immense benefit as long as its ministers will not make a bad use of it. This alone stands in lieu of penal laws, and watches

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* No Catholic will deny that in confession, as in every thing else, there have been some abuses, from which the church has laboured and still labours to reclaim, by her authority, those who have deviated from the established rules. There have been severities, and there have been laxities: some appeared to have considered confession as a bare recital of sins, without attending to the penitential feelings from which it must flow, like the stream from its fountain head. Others have made it a benefit of such difficult access, that there is scarce any aspiring to it. What does this prove, but that people may reason very ill upon things that are very good in themselves and very true? The evils occasioned by the indiscreet zeal of some confessors, have been few and transitory, but the good effects of confession, are daily and permanent. Would the philosophers have people renounce eating and drinking, because some gluttons have killed themselves by eating too much? Do the abuses hinder confession from being a curb to licentiousness, an abundant source of wholesome advice, an heartfelt consolation to souls afflicted for their sins? Does

"over the purity of morals. In Paraguay, religion more power"ful than the force of arms, leads the culprit to the feet of the magis"trate. There it is that, far from palliating his crimes, religion "prompts him to aggravate them; instead of eluding the punishment, " he comes to beg it on his knees: the more severe and public it is, the “more it pacifies and composes the conscience of the criminal. Thus "the punishment, which every where else frightens the guilty, is here "a comfort to them, as it smothers remorse by expiation. The people "of Paraguay have no civil laws, being unacquainted with property, "nor have they any criminal laws, because each individual accuses " himself, and inflicts on himself voluntary punishment. All their laws "are precepts of religion. The best of all governments, would be a "theocracy, in which the tribunal of confession were established, if always directed by virtuous men, and upon rational principles."

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The celebrated Addison, being in Italy, could not behold the inscriptions from Holy Writ on the confessionals, without feeling himself struck, and relating them with a pious complacency.-These in

confession cease to be an excellent means of improving the seeds of virtue in well disposed minds, of preventing the growing passions, from smothering them in others, from affording a support to innocence, from repairing the depredations of theft, from drawing closer the bonds of charity, from keeping up the love of peace, of subordination, of justice, of every virtue, from eradicating the habits of waywardness, dissention, rebellion, and all kinds of vice?

A thing well worth observing, and really supernatural and miraculous, is the seal of confession, entrusted every day to thousands of priests, often, alas! ill qualified for the profession, and capable of any other prevarication, and yet so faithfully kept. Scarce can all church history, furnish one example of infidelity in this point. If in making this observation, one should reflect on the inconsistence of mankind, on the curiosity of some, and the loquacity of others, on the nature and importance of the affairs entrusted to the ministers of this sacrament, whereof the revelation would often have astonishing effects, on the means which various interests, avarice, jealousy, and other passions, fail not to try, in order to compass their ends, &c. there will remain no doubt but that God watches over the preservation of his own work. De Feller's Phil. Cat.