"6. Solicitation in the confessional, although no confession is made, 1 case.

"7. Solicitation in any other place besides the confessional, if it is used for purposes of confession, 2 cases."

The laws on some of these cases are thus given :

"I. 5. Any thing written on paper adapted to excite love, or a loveletter, delivered in the tribunal, is equivalent to solicitation in the confessional.

“IV., 2.... Who from any frailty discovered in confession, takes an occasion afterwards to tempt the female who has confessed.

"3. Whoever shall remind a female, either by word or sign, of a sin which she has revealed in confession, whilst at another time he solicits her, is justly considered as having taken an occasion to solicit from confession, and is guilty of violating the seal-i.e., of secrecy.

"4. Who solicits a female to sin, promising that he will afterwards receive her to make confession. . . .

"V. If a priest suggests to a female refusing to comply with his desires, on account of exposing her reputation to peril, that she should send for him under a pretext of desiring to confess to him, he is to be regarded as soliciting under pretext of confession."

Archbishop Kenrick was for 12 years the head of the Roman Catholic church in the United States after he thus admitted the existence of such crimes in connection with the confessional, and published the papal legislation in respect to them. The Protestant may well ask, Was he a slanderer of the confessional and of his church, or are these alleged dangers and crimes real and terrible?

"But there are laws and penalties against those priests who thus abuse the sacrament of confession," the Roman Catholic may rejoin; to which the Protestant may reply, Of what use are laws and penalties, unless they are enforced? Human laws will not execute themselves; sinning priests are doubtless sometimes punished by their bishops; they have been mildly punished by the Inquisition, as has been already stated; but the offenders at Seville escaped punishment, because they were so numerous, and the officers of the Inquisition were

doubtless no better than they. It is declared to be the injured female's duty to report the offending priest to the Inquisition or to the bishop; but suppose she fails to substantiate her charge by other testimony than her own, she herself may not only incur his vengeance, but may be punished for slandering the priest. Listen to Archbishop Kenrick further:

"No one is to be condemned to those most severe punishments on the accusation of one witness.

"It is the pleasure of the pope that false charges against innocent priests shall subject the accuser to deserved retribution."

The priest who attempts to seduce a woman by means of the confessional may therefore laugh at human penalties; no one knows the fact but himself and his victim; or if she communicates it to others, she only publishes her own shame, and becomes a slanderer of her spiritual guide and intercessor with God. He can not be convicted of sin on her testimony, but she may be punished without mercy for bringing up an evil report of the priesthood, the sacraments, the church. The priest knows all the secrets of every female heart in his parish, and, as the church teaches, holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven; not a girl or a woman within his jurisdiction but must blush and tremble before him; she must confess to him every unchaste thought, desire, and action under pain of eternal damnation ; she is taught from her infancy to reverence him, to regard him as the infallible representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and his word as the word of God himself to her. The so-called sacrament of confession is a mere human invention, unscriptural and anti-scriptural, unalterably and grossly immoral in its nature and tendency, fraught with the most imminent and dreadful danger, temporal and spiritual, to priest and to people, to the church and to mankind, for this world and for the world to come. Such is the Protestant view based upon innumerable and incontrovertible facts.

CHAPTER XVIII

FFENSES AND PENALTIES.

THE word "penance," as well as "penitence," comes from the Latin pœnitentia, and is commonly used in the Douay Bible where pænitentia occurs in the Latin Vulgate; and thus "penance" takes the place of " repentance," and " do penance" of "repent," as applied to man in the English Bible (e. g. 1 Kings 8:47. Job 42: 6. Matt. 3:2, 8, 11. 11: 20, 21. Heb. 6:1, 6, &c. See also Chap. XIII.). But "penance" and "penitence" now express very different ideas. "Penance," according to the Roman Catholic authorities (see Chap. II.), involves contrition, confession, and satisfaction. "Contrition," when it is perfect, according to the Catechism of the Council of Trent," blots out sin';" but this is so rare, that "through perfect contrition alone, very few indeed could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins." "Confession" is the subject of the preceding chapter. "Satisfaction" is defined "the compensation made by man to God, by doing something in atonement for the sins which he has committed." The satisfaction which Christ makes on the cross, it is declared, "gives to man's actions merit before God"; but the satisfaction which is

1 Protestants believe that no amount or degree of contrition can efface sin; that the salvation which God bestows is of grace through faith; and that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses" from all sin" those who walk in the light, or heartily trust and obey God (Eph. 2: 8, 9. 1 John 1:7, &c.).

2 The idea of human merit before God is regarded by Protestants as in direct contradiction to the Scriptures, which represent salvation as wholly of grace—“ not of works, lest any man should boast" (Rom. 3:24. 4:2. Eph. 2:8, 9, &c.)

called "canonical," and constitutes part of the sacrament of penance, is something-prayer, fasting, or alms-deeds" which is imposed by the priest, and which must be accompanied with a deliberate and firm purpose carefully to avoid sin for the future." This canonical satisfaction, which is imposed by the priest when penitents are absolved from their sins, and which is itself often called "penance," is directed by the council of Trent to be proportioned to the nature of the offense and the capability of the offender.

And here comes in the grand distinction between "mortal " (= deadly) and venial (= pardonable) sins. The Catechism of the Council of Trent says:

1 The following questions and answers are taken from "A General Catechism of the Christian Doctrine, prepared by order of the National Council, for the use of Catholics in the United States of America. Approved by the Most Rev. John Hughes, D. D., Archbishop of New York."

"Q. What is mortal sin?

"A. Mortal sin is that which kills the soul, and deserves hell.

"" Q. How does mortal sin kill the soul?

"A. Mortal sin kills the soul by destroying the life of the soul, which is the grace of God.

Q. What is venial sin?

"A. Venial sin is that which does not kill the soul, yet displeases God.

"

Q. Are any others condemned to hell beside the devils or bad angels?

"A. All who die enemies to God, that is, all who die in the state of mortal sin, go to hell."

Collot's "Doctrinal and Scriptural Catechism," translated by Mrs. Sadlier, and also approved by the late archbishop Hughes, teaches that a sin is venial," when its matter is trivial (some little passing distractions, some idle words, the loss of a little time, a little unwillingness to obey, &c.), or when the consent is imperfect (when the will is not fully determined) even although the matter be considerable." Bishop Challoner's "Catholic Christian Instructed," published by "The Catholic Publication Society," says:

"All those sins are to be esteemed mortal which the word of God represents to us as hateful to God, against which he pronounces a woe, or of which it declares that such as do those things shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven: of these we have many instances (Rom. 1: 29, 30, 31. 1 Cor. 6:9, 10. Gal. 5: 19, 20, 21. Eph. 55. Apocalypse 21:8; and in the Old Testament, Is. v., Ezek. xviii., &c.). But though it be very easy to know that some sins are mortal, and others but venial, yet to pretend to be able always perfectly to distinguish which are mortal and which are not, is above the reach of the most able divines; and therefore a pru

"All mortal sins must be revealed to the minister of religion: venial sins, which do not separate us from the grace of God, and into which we frequently fall, although, as the experience of the pious proves, proper and profitable to be confessed, may be omitted without sin, and expiated by a variety of other means."

The Roman Catholic church, as Dr. Wiseman says, "professes to be divinely authorized to exact interior assent to all that it teaches, under the penalty of being separated from its communion" (see Chapter II.); in other words, it claims the right to enforce complete uniformity of belief and practice, and hence excommunicates every one who violates a commandment of the church, unless he makes the required satisfaction by "doing penance."

The "General Catechism of the Christian Doctrine," cited in the note on p. 518, has the following questions and answers:

"Q. How many are the commandments of the Church?

"A. The commandments of the Church are chiefly six, which are: "1st. To hear mass, and to rest from servile works on Sundays and Holydays of obligation. 1

"2d. To keep fast in Lent, the Ember-days, the Fridays in Advent, and eves of certain Festivals, and to abstain from flesh on Fridays, and on other appointed days of abstinence.

"3d. To confess our sins to our Pastor, or other Priest, duly authorized, at least once a year.2

"4th. To receive the Blessed Sacrament at Easter or thereabout.3 "5th. To contribute to the support of our Pastors.4

dent Christian will not easily pass over sins in confession, under the pretense of their being venial, unless he be certain of it. And this caution is more particularly necessary in certain cases, where persons being ashamed to confess their sins, are willing to persuade themselves they are but venial; for in such cases it is much to be feared, lest their self-love should bias their judgment."

1 On Holydays, Fasts, Festivals, &c., see Chapter XVI.; on Mass, see Chapter XIV. 2 On Confession, see Chapter XVII.

8 The decree of the 4th Lateran council about annual communion with the annexed penalty—“Let one living otherwise be prohibited from entering a church, and, when he dies, let him be deprived of Christian burial "—was again promulgated by the 2d Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, at whose request the Holy See granted them the privilege of " prolonging the time of the paschal communion from the first Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday inclusive." * See Chapter XXI.