ness. It is therefore not surprising, that the lives of those who belong to the ecclesiastical orders, whether male or female, are one continual routine of voluptuous idleness, and unrestrained sensual indulgence. The most marvellous facts are these; that notwithstanding all the corruptions with which the monasteries and nunneries were chargeable, they maintained their ascendancy over the benighted and abused people-and that in this country, they are now multiplying in number, and amplifying their wickedness, amid obstructions which nothing but Jesuitism would attempt to overcome.

Two universal facts illustrate this hideous topic, in all its scandalous inordinacy. Convents for the monks and their sisters are never widely separated. They cannot exist apart--where the nunnery is stationed, the monastery speedily is erected. In all the nations where popery has ruled, subterraneous or other secret avenues of communication between the friars and their sisters, have ever been found. In Tuscany, they were discovered, as recorded by Scipio de Ricci; and in Canada, they also existed. In the very nature of the case, it is impossible that purity and decorum can preside among the inmates of a convent.

If we desire accurately to understand the character of monastic residences, we must examine the statements made by the English historians, of those which were suppressed during the reign of Henry VIII., and of those which were unveiled in France at the period of the revolution in 1791 and 1792: and of the Spanish monasteries described by Blanco White; and of the Italian convents, as explored by order of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. A few only of the most decorous facts shall be stated; because to delineate the arcana of those "holds of every foul spirit," would be too offensive to be recited.

In the preamble to the act of the English parliament of the year 1539, it is stated, that the reason for the abolition of the monasteries was "their vicious, carnal, and abominable living," &c. The details connected with their suppression in France, and their doings in Spain, are still more repugnant. They were the perfect counterpart of the Italian convents; a correct idea of which may be formed from the following narratives.

Before the quotations which it is proposed to make are introduced, it is necessary to premise, that the most revolting consideration attached to this subject is this: that the doctrinal and practical iniquities which are adverted to, are the invention of men and women who impose themselves upon the world as the sole possessors of supernatural innocence and holiness.

The following portraits of this saintly race are drawn by popish artists. Relicto usu matrimonii vagas, dissolutas et illegitimas libidines sectantur. Ut legitimæ maris et feminæ conjunctio in adulterium convertatur, et honesta feminæ unius cohabitatio variis libidinibus tollatus." Belga de Schism. et Concil. Schism. 14.

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Flagitiose stupri, sodomiæ, bestialitatisque plures rei sunt. Et quod flendo cernimus, omnes in supradictis sæviunt sceleribus." "Pope Gregory, drawing his fish-pond, found more than six thousand heads of infants in it; upon which he deeply repented, and confessing that the decree of unnatural celibacy was the cause of so horrid a slaughter, he condemned it, adding: It is better to marry than to give occasion of death.'" Hulderic Epist. adv. constit. de Cleric. Celib.

"An non hi lupi," the author is writing of the mendicant friars, "rapaces sunt sub ovili imagine latitantes, qui more sacerdotum Belis in suis penetralibus, oblata devorant mero, et lautis epulis, cum non suis uxoribus licet sæpe cum suis parvulis, avide satiantes, cunctasque libidinibus quarum torrentur ardore, polluentes?" Clemangis, de Statu Eccles. cap. 22.

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The same author thus describes the interior of nunneries: “ Modesty forbids us to say many things concerning them. Ne non de cœtu virginum Deo dicatarum, sed magis de lupanaribus, de dolis, et procacia meretricum, de stupris et incestuosis operibus, dandum sermonem prolixe trahamus. Quid aliud sunt hoc tempore puellarum monasteria, nisi non Dei sanctuaria, sed veneris prostibula; sed lascivorum et impudicorum ad libidines explendas receptacula? Ut idem sit hodie puellam velare, quod publice ad scortandum exponere" Clemangis, de Corrupt. Statu Eccles. cap. 23.

According to the order of Saint Bridget, monks and nuns lived in the same house! "A prelate who was confessor to a nun, eam stuprat at confession, and constantly persuaded her, ad libidinem corporis perimplendum; making her believe that however often she sinned, if she immediately confessed and received his absolution, she would be innocent before God." Fuller, Church History, book 6.

"Monasterium omne novum Gomorrha est. Every monastery is a new Gomorrha." Balaus in Act. Pontif. Rom. Ad Lector.

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"Non male sunt monachis grata indita nomina patrum,
Cum numerant natos hic et ubique suos."-Balaus.

Res jam rediit ut vix centesimum invenias, qui a omni commercio feminarum abstineat. Eo necessitatis propemodum res redacta, ut aut conjugatus, aut concubinarius, sacerdos sit admittendus." Cassander, Consult. Artic. 23.

Cardinal Hugo delivered a discourse at the dissolution of the council of Lyons; and the character of Roman ecclesiastics, cardinals, prelates, abbots, priests, and nuns, cannot be so powerfully described as by himself. With matchless impudence he thus publicly addressed his farewell to the magistrates and inhabitants of that city:

Amici, magnam fecimus postquam in hanc urbem venimus, utilitatem, et eleemosynam. Quando enim primo huc venimus tria vel quatuor prostibula, invenimus. Sed nunc recedentes unum solum reliquimus. Verum ipsum durat continuatum ab orientali porta civitatis usque ad occidentalem." Mat. Paris, Hist. anno 1251.

The same author, M. Paris, records of Cardinal Cremensis, Hist. anno 1125: "Res notissima, negari non potuit; dum magnum decus in summum dedecus mutavit."

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Sleidan, Comment. 1524, declares, that it was the decision of Cardinal Campeggius: Quod sacerdotes fiant mariti multo esse gravius peccatum, quam si plurimas meretrices alant."

It may be retorted, that these are facts of ancient times, which have ceased to exist; and that the system of monachism is so much amended, that those evils have vanished. This is a very mischievous delusion. In the memoirs of Scipio de Ricci, who, although a bigoted Roman prelate, endeavoured to meliorate the degraded condition of the people of Tuscany, the following description of popery is recorded; every

part of which existed not fifty years ago, and which could not be reformed, in any one point, in consequence of the insurmountable opposition made by the Roman pontiff and his obsequious ecclesiastics. "The Dominican monks, who were members of one of the most numerous ecclesiastical orders, had been the scandal of all Italy, during one hundred and fifty years, for their total corruption: and their direction of the female convents had degenerated into a scene of the basest profligacy. Long habit had so accustomed them to the greatest licentiousness, that scarcely any respect for public decency remained." Memoirs of Scipio de Ricci, vol. i. pages 96, 97.

The nuns of Pistoia testified that the monks taught them omnia flagitia, and that they should look upon it as a great happiness, libidines satisfacere potuerunt, sine infantum incommodo."

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It was necessary to raze from the foundations a monastery and a female convent of Carmelites, which were in fact joined by means of subterranean passages. Vol. i. pages 98, 121.

The Dominican monks were all debased in the utmost moral and religious depravity; which they endeavoured to propagate, by initiating in the most impious materialism those nuns who were to minister to their sensuality. The Jesuits also taught the nuns-" Pudenda exhibere virtus est;-assuring them that they thereby performed an act of virtue, because they overcame a natural repugnance; puellæ pudicitiam repugnabunt." Vol. i. pages 131, 132.

To prove that the system of Jesuitism and monkery is the same in all parts of the world, the following testimony by a Hindoo brahmin, who became a Roman priest, and migrated to Europe, was given no longer since than the year 1798.-" The Roman priests in India are like the bonzes of Japan. The nuns are the disciples of Diana, and their nunneries are seraglios for the monks. They were more often pregnant than married women in general. The Jesuits had become brahmins, in order to enjoy the privileges of that caste; among which were exemption from death for crime; and the right rem habere cum omni muliere: because it is a Hindoo doctrine, that a brahmin priest feminam sanctificat, cum qua coit." Vol. ii. pages 216, 217.

"The monks, confessors of the convents, openly taught the Tuscan nuns atheism; encouraged the most disgraceful libertinism; and filled them with impurity, sacrilege, and debauchery of the foulest kinds. Immorality was thus added to profanation; and corruption brought forth impiety. By tolerating these crimes, the pope plainly announced his indulgence of them; and by encouraging the commission of those iniquities, he became an accomplice." Vol. ii. pages 263, 264.

"The false or forced virtues of the monks and nuns are but a tissue of hypocrisy, and a stimulant to the most odious vices. The institutions called Virginales were schools of corruption and licentiousness; and the soi-disant tribunal of penitence is the constant source of infamous wickedness, by those impudent jugglers, whose authority depends on the blindness of men. The monks, the nuns, their superiors, and even the pope himself, not only tolerated these disorders, but took no measures to arrest the infidelity and impiety of those who were daily adding new victims to their atheism" and inordinate voluptuousness. Vol. ii. pages 276, 277.

As it is requisite to add some of the decisions which the Jesuit

writers, who are the Roman oracles on all moral and casuistical questions, have promulged, and which they constantly and universally teach in reference to the abhorrent impurities that inhere in those prostibula where monks and nuns reside-and as these same facts and testimonies will illustrate the character and effects of popery and Jesuitism in reference to domestic society and personal character, the whole condensed summary is inserted in two concise sections; the first includes the principles which the ecclesiastics profess and teach, and the second contains the examining questions in the confessional. Their extreme corruption is veiled in the foreign languages; and it is not superfluous to be reminded, that if no other reason subsisted, popery merits universal and utter execration; because this abominable wickedness has been invented by monks and nuns, who profess unparalleled sanctity; and notwithstanding all the unmitigable urgency which exists to fill the public mind with incontrovertible facts; because the evidence is so revolting, that the volumes written by their canonized authors, and promulged under the sanction of pontifical infallibility, are so diabolical, that they cannot be published by a translation in our vernacular language.

I. Exposition of the commandments by Jesuit Causists.

1. "An dari possit ignorantia invincibilis fornicationis? Respondeo, posse dari." Filiucius, Mor. Quest. tom. 1. Tr. 30. cap. 2. No. 50. page 189. Which Azor, tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 13. page 34. confirms in more plain terms, when he says, that "ad scortum accedere," is a sin of which a man may be invincibly ignorant. And Charli, Cens. Episcop. prop. 13. page 12., asserts, that not only may an invincible ignorance exist; but that the transgressor "may merit by following his erroneous conscience." This doctrine is most craftily devised to ruin boys in Jesuit colleges; and to pollute girls in the nunneries which are managed by their seducing panders, the sisters of charity.

2. Doctrine of probability. "The doctrine of probability among the Jesuits consists of the following principles. The Jesuit casuistry makes all things probable; and an advice of conscience may be founded upon an opinion that is simply probable. An opinion is probable, if only one author, or one single divine, or one reason which we esteem good, maintains it. Of two probable opinions, it is lawful to follow that which we like best; or that which is less probable and safe, if it be more profitable or more favourable.--Both opinions may be followed in different affairs, and even in the same affair, acting and giving contrary counsels, now after the one, and then after the other. Although we believe an opinion to be assuredly false, yet we may send another person to those who hold it, that he may follow their advice.We may follow an opinion with a safe conscience, if we know with probability, that it is probable.-A confessor must absolve any man, who holds an opinion which he believes to be probable, although the confessor knows it to be utterly false. He who believes these maxims may counsel, say, and do all that he will; and there can be no affair of conscience so troublesome and so desperate, for which expedients may not be found, and no black crimes so heinous, which may not easily be excused and completely justified." Jesuits' Morals, pages 112, 120. The pernicious effects and awful consequences of this doctrine are these. It favours profligates in their inordinate crimes, impious men in

their evil course, and irreligious men and those who are not Christians in their infidelity. It teaches men to elude the commandments of God, and overturns all laws, civil, ecclesiastical, and divine. It destroys the authority of all governments, of all parents, and of all other superiors. It introduces licentiousness, and conducts to irreligion. If once received and taught, it cannot be destroyed nor hindered from having course in the world." Jesuits' Morals, page 133.

The following general maxims will illustrate these statements.

"All probable opinions are of themselves equally safe, but the more pleasant, although they be less probable, are always by accident more profitable and safe." Caramuel, Comment. in Reg. Benedict. and Theolog. Fundam. page 134.

"Whether men follow one or the other of two entirely opposite opinions, they will go on directly to heaven." Escobar, in proleg. tom. 1. cap. 3. No. 13. According to this doctrine, the Roman claim to exclusive salvation in their community is extinguished; because a man may assert that he believes the Protestant religion to be probable; and it is more beneficial to him to follow it, and therefore he continues his adhesion to it; and the same argument might be adduced in favour of Mahometanism or paganism.

The council of Trent pronounces an excommunication against those who steal women. Tamburin exempts from the curse, and from all other punishment, "those who carry them away by force to defile, but not to marry them." Tamburin. lib. 7. cap. 6. No. 11.

"The Jesuits promulge four sorts of principles for ruining the authority of superiors. By corrupting or destroying it by bounding or encroaching upon it-by rejecting or weakening it-and by directly hindering obedience." Jesuits' Morals, page 150.

The casuistry of the Jesuits is obsequious and mercenary. By fol lowing their principles, all consciences are quieted, and all persons satisfied-and hence the Jesuits, who are slaves to their own lusts, flatter the passions of others, that they may retain them in the basest servitude. Thus Escobar inquires, In Proem. Exam. 3. cap. 6. No. 24. page 28. "What must be said to a penitent or other person, who demands which of two opinions is most probable? If he desires to know what he ought to do in the practice, we may advise him to that which is less probable; and we shall often do him better service, by advising him to that which is more easy, and which he may do with less danger and inconvenience."

Celot, Reg. Prof. Scholast. Sect. 6., gives the following rule. "When there are opinions of any author which offend and are not received in any province, they must be careful not to teach them. For sage and prudent charity wills that we comply with the humour of those among whom they live." In illustration of this rule, the following example is adduced in the Jesuits' Morals, page 161. The Jesuit Hereau publicly taught in the Clermont college, Paris, that "murder might be committed against all persons, and that mothers might kill their children or procure abortion." Causin, another Jesuit, does not disown these pernicious maxims, but blames him for indiscretion in thus openly avowing the opinions of the society; so that Jesuitism addicts itself entirely to the humours of men, and to the difference of times and places.

3. The next occasion of sin. All persons should avoid the occasions VOL. II.-91