sions of doing good to others as to themselves; wherefore, let them with humanity discharge the meanest offices in the hospitals, frequently visit. the sick, the poor, and the prisoners, and readily and indifferently take the confession of all, that the novelty of such uncommon and diffusive charity, may excite in the principal inhabitants an admiration of our conduct, and forcibly draw them into an affection for us."

The reader will perceive the "cloven foot" at the conclusion of this rule, but it is still more apparent in the fifth and seventh of the same chapter. "At their first settlement, let our members be cautious of purchasing lands; but if they happen to buy such as are well situated, let this be done in the name of some faithful and trusty friend: And that our poverty may have the more colourable gloss of reality, let the purchases adjacent to the places wherein our colleges are founded, be assigned by the provincial to colleges at a distance; by which means, it will be impossible that princes and magistrates can ever attain a certain knowledge of what our revenues amount to."—" Let the greatest sums be always extorted from widows, by frequent remonstrances of our extreme necessities."

By the apparent humility and charity above recommended, the Jesuits deceive the simple, and work their way into the good opinion of many respectable Protestants. Nay, though gold be one of their chief idols, they will sometimes be at a little expense to commend themselves and their religion to persons in office, or those connected with them. One of the order who had recently settled in a certain town, went one day to a gentleman, and presenting him with half-a-crown, told him, it was his property. On being asked how that happened? he received for answer, "Ask no questions, I am the Catholic priest; this money is yours, and it is my duty to restore it to you." It was of course to be inferred that he had discovered by confession, that a servant had defrauded his master to that amount; and as might have been expected, the circumstance left upon the gentleman's mind a favourable impression of both the priest and his religion. Happily the love of money prevented the trick from being practised to any great extent; else for a few pounds the priest might have purchased the good opinion of all the chief men of the place. That it was a mere trick I am convinced from the rarity of the thing, in a place where Papists are known to form a very large proportion of the thieves. If the priests were able and willing to enforce the duty of restitution, we should hear of instances every day; but the fact is, after all the attention I have paid to the character and the conduct of popish priests, I have heard of only two instances besides the one above related: One was an offer of twenty pence to a gentleman in such terms as the above, which, however, he declined accepting, and desired the priest to give it to the poor. Sometime after, the same priest brought him ten shillings, which no doubt alarmed him with regard to the character of his servants, and not knowing the extent to which they might be robbing him, he took the money, which, it is supposed, was a disappointment to the priest, for he came to him no

more.

I shall conclude this subject with the "oath of secresy devised by the Roman clergy, as it remaineth on record at Paris, among the Society of Jesus." It is inserted in "Foxes and Firebrands," from a collection of papers by Archbishop Usher.

The Oath of Secresy.

I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the archangel, the blessed St. John Baptist, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and the saints and sacred host of heaven, and to you my ghostly father, do declare from my heart, without mental reservation, that his holiness Pope Urban is Christ's vicar general, and is the true and only head of the catholic or universal church throughout the earth; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given to his holiness by my Saviour Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths, and governments, all being illegal, without his sacred confirmation, and that they may safely be destroyed: therefore to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine, and his holiness' rights and customs against all usurpers of the heretical (or Protestant) autho rity whatsoever: especially against the now pretended authority and church of England, and all adherents, in regard that they and she be usurpal and heretical, opposing the sacred mother church of Rome. I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or state, named Protestants, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or officers. I do further declare, that the doctrine of the church of England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of other of the name Protestants, to be damnable, and they themselves are damned, and to be damned, that will not forsake the same. I do further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all, or any of his holiness' agents in any place, wherever I shall be, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or in any other territory or kingdom, I shall come to; and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestants' doctrine, and to destroy all their pretended powers regal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propagating of the mother-church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they intrust me, and not to divulge directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or cir cumstance, whatsoever; but to execute all what shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you my ghostly father, or by any of this sacred convent. All which I, A. B., do swear by the blessed Trinity, and blessed sacrament, which I now am to receive, to perform, and on my part to keep inviolably: And do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions, to keep this my oath. In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the eucharist; and witness the same further with my hand and seal in the face of this holy convent this

An. Dom. &c.

day of

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.

CHAPTER CXLIV.

SUITABLE ESSAYS RECOMMENDED; IT NOT Being the deSIGN OF THE PROTESTANT TO DISCUSS THE SUBJECT. FURTHER LETTER ON THE STATE

OF POPERY IN IRELAND.

MEROUS INTERCESSORS.

TREATMENT OF THE SICK. PROCESSION OF THE HOST. NU-
SAINTSHIP CONFERRED.

SATURDAY, April 14th, 1821

HAVING finished what I had to say about the Jesuits, I shall take the opportunity of a pause, or break in the thread of my discussion, to say a few words to some correspondents, who wish to know if I intend at this time to take up the subject of what is called "Catholic emancipation." My friends will be satisfied when I inform them, that it is not lawful in such a work as mine to discuss matters pending in parliament, or indeed any topic of a purely political nature. The late act relating to cheap periodical publications, lays me under the necessity of keeping within the circle which I prescribed to myself at first; that of exposing the errors of popery as a religious system, and of showing how these errors tend to the ruin of the souls and bodies of individuals, and to the great injury of civil society, when men holding them have power in their hands.

To such of my readers as have access to the Morning Post London newspaper, I strongly recommend a series of letters under the signature of PHILOPATRIS, as perfectly conclusive and unanswerable on the subject of my correspondents' inquiry. I think the author would render essential service to his country by publishing them in a cheap form, that they might be extensively circulated. In the Morning Post, there is also in course of publication, a series of letters addressed to Mr. Wilberforce, well worthy of attention. And in the number of that paper for the 30th of last month, there is a powerful letter by the Reverend Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart., a gentleman who has written more against popery within the last eighteen months, than almost all his brethren together. I have been informed that his exertions have had a powerful effect in convincing the Protestants in Ireland of the very great danger to their own safety, that will result from the admission of Papists to authority over them, and even some of the priests have felt the power of his pen; one young gentleman, in particular, who was preparing for orders, has abandoned his purpose, and avowed in a letter to Sir H. which is printed in The Religious Retrospect, attached to the Antijacobin Review, for Nov. last, that he has convinced him of the errors of popery. One thing is certain, we hear nothing now of Irish Protestants petitioning to have their enemies set over them, which was common enough of late years; and the change is said to be owing in a great measure to this gentleman's labours.

I have of late received a good deal of information from Ireland, with respect to the practices of Papists in that kingdom. One gentleman writes me as follows:

"SIR-I concluded my former letter* with an affecting, but well authenticated account of one of the numberless instances of those stratagems resorted to by priests and Papists in Ireland, for the purpose of * See PROT. Chap. CXXXV.

supporting the tottering fabric of popery; and it is astonishing what effect the pretended conversions of Protestants have upon the minds of that community. Many objects are hereby gained by its votaries: the estimation of that religion, which, as they pretend so many Protestants embrace, is enhanced, and considered the exclusive one; and it cuts off the inquiring or the wavering from any idea of examining into the principles of the reformed religion, which they are assured by their priests, will not bear the test of a death-bed; and thereby giving them an unlimited ascendancy over the purses and consciences of their flocks. To gain these desirable objects, every engine is set to work, and every device practised. Of many take the following:

"The priests call at the houses of the better description of sick Protestants, in country places, apparently to inquire after their health. This has all the appearance of good nature; but their real object is to make their flocks believe that they have been sent for by the sick; and as the wisdom of our forefathers, knowing the proselyting system of popery, enacted a law, enforced by a penalty, to prevent Roman Catholic priests from visiting sick or dying Protestants, unless sent for by a Protestant messenger over the age of sixteen years; the priest says that the circumstance must be kept secret, but that the sick person has died in the Catholic faith (as they call their profession.) A case of this nature lately occurred in my neighbourhood, when it was asserted by a priest, that a Protestant clergyman on his death-bed had sent for him, and had changed his religion. The priest being charged with this report, refused to give any satisfaction, until two Protestant attendants proved upon oath, that the priest only called to inquire after the man's health, and never opened his lips on the subject of religion. Indeed, this prac tice is so general in country towns and country places, that contrary to the acknowledged hospitality of the Irish, the writer has known of many instances where directions were given, not to admit a priest inside the doors if he should call. Nurse-tenders also are instructed to countenance these practices by admitting the priest at night into the house, and if possible to the sick. In a case of this kind which came under my own observation, a Roman Catholic gentleman of my acquaintance, and a relative of a Protestant lady who was sick, was so indignant, that he declared that he himself should be the first to prosecute the priest, if he persisted to persevere in such unworthy schemes of clandestine interference.

The

"A Protestant, a man in comfortable circumstances, had married a Roman Catholic, (a custom too prevalent in Ireland, and encouraged by the priests;) the sons went to church, the daughter to mass. writer has been assured by the sons themselves, that they were obliged to watch their dying father, to prevent the introduction of a priest which the man detested; and when every attempt made by the daughter proved abortive to prevail on the dying man to have a priest sent for, she left him in a rage, to die and be damned! One of the fraternity having spitefully assured him, that unless he sent for the priest, he should not be buried near his wife, (who was dead,) the dying man mildly replied, The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.'

·

"The Roman Catholics, sir, complain of persecution on account of their religion; but is it not a most grievous persecution which they thus carry on by every means at present in their power against the poor

dying Protestants? Surely a tyrant would allow his dying enemy to die in peace; but this privilege is not allowed to many Protestants who detest popery. What, sir, may we expect from men of like principles with increased power? or what may be expected from a people where popery is predominant? No longer should we find them privately plotting the advancement of their religion by persuasives, or even by threats of future punishment-we should again see present and temporal, not future and spiritual, punishment applied-we should again see Smithfield in a blaze.

"I have frequently charged some of the better description of Roman Catholics with believing that the priest has power to forgive sins; but this they have denied, although they allowed that the poor and ignorant of their profession thought so, but they acknowledged that they believed that the priest had power to forgive the sins of a dying person, being confessed and anointed; this they call being prepared! which still brings us to the same conclusion, that they are made to believe that it rests with the priest whether any person shall go to heaven or to hell. Indeed, that this is the opinion of Roman Catholics is most evident; because they will not allow a Roman Catholic, at least, to be buried in consecrated ground in country places, who has not been prepared by the priest. Many instances could be adduced of their coffins being thrown by night out of their graves, and even over the walls. Their enmity, instigated by their priests, is particularly excited against the bodies of those Roman Catholics who had renounced popery, to deter the living from following their example. In cases of this nature, Protestant clergymen have been prevented from reading the burial service, and more than once knocked down.

"The last ceremony to be performed by the priest to the dying, after confession and the sacrament, is the application of what they call the consecrated oil to particular parts of the body; after which the person is not on any account to speak one word, otherwise the entire ceremony must be gone through again; in this stage the person is said to be prepared.

"A man formerly in my employment, of dissipated morals, having been considered in a dying state, the priest was sent for, who, a short time after informed me, that he had prepared him. He also told the persons about the sick man, that he was now as free from sin as the child new born; and that he would soon as certainly be in heaven. Unfortunately for the priest's prediction, the man recovered, but has not since evidenced the least change for the better in his religious or moral conduct.

"Whatever pretended sanctity may be thought to reside in the use of this holy oil, as well as in other popish ceremonies of even higher supposed sanctity, I am convinced that many of the better informed Roman Catholics, as well as many of the priests, are not so well satisfied with their efficacy as to place unlimited confidence in them in general you will find that Roman Catholics of liberal education, look with indifference upon those things so highly valued by the commonalty. I have heard several express perfect indifference, bordering upon contempt, in speaking of them, and I shall hereafter show that some of the priests themselves are of the same way of thinking, whatever they may pretend to the contrary.