none will be allowed circulation in the college." In Mount St. Mary's College, near Emmitsburg, "No books are allowed to circulate among the students which have not received the president's approval." In the Academy of the Ursuline Nuns, the Prospectus says: "The scholars will not be permitted to bring any books, except such as are used in the school, and books of devotion." Among the rules of St. John's college, I find the following: "No books will be allowed circulation among the students, which have not been previously submitted to the supervision and received the approval of either the president of the college, or the prefect of studies."S

The children of Protestants, you perceive, especially if they are boarders, are wholly under the influence of Romanism. Parents can not put in their hands such religious books as they desire them to read, such, for example, as Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, Baxter's Saint's Rest, D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. Such books could never receive the approbation of presiding officers in those schools. And it is extremely questionable whether the Bible is not a prohibited book. Certainly the Protestant Bible is. Some years ago, Dr. Henry Riley, a most excellent man, with whom I am well acquainted, who had been a student in Georgetown College, published a particular account of his stay in that institution, and of his conversion to Popery. Among other things, he stated the following facts: "Previous to my leaving home, my mother (she was a Presbyterian) gave me a small Bible, with the hope that I would make good use of it. But her hopes were all in vain-for on reaching the college our trunks were sujected to rigid inspection, and everything removed beyond our control, except such books or things as they in their wisdom saw fit to entrust us with. Several of my books, I never afterward saw-what became of them is better known to others than to me. Fathers Grassie, Kohlman, McElroy, etc., can, no doubt, give some account of them. Restitution of unlawfully borrowed property is enjoined by these spiritual fathers, on those who in their confessions acknowledge the commission of such a crime. But it may be said, the books were of a demoralizing

•Catholic Almanac for 1846, p. 77. †Ibid., p. 78. Ibid., p. 97. §Ibid., p. 111.

character. They were such as a solicitous parent had given ine, and one was what God had given to a ruined world for its salvation. I occasionally saw one of these books in the hands of a novice (candidate for Holy orders, or rather for full admission into the society), and though I recognized it as mine, I dared not whisper that it was." Instead of the

books which a pious mother had put in the hands of her son, he says, "prayer-books, catechisms, etc., were put into my hands; and it was but a short time before I avowed myself a decided, determined Catholic. Ere long, he tells us, he 'had fully imbibed the sentiments which the officers of the college so industriously endeavored to impress on the minds of all, that out of the pale of the Catholic church, there is no possible salvation, and my purpose now was fully to become a priest-a thorough Jesuit." Dr. Riley was greatly troubled at the thought that his parents were Protestants; but so completely infatuated was he, that he felt confident of being able at once to convince them of the truth of his new creed, when he should return home. He says, It was my purpose, however, notwithstanding any opposition I might meet with, to remain firm in my determination to live, to labor, and to die, a Jesuit, for I had been taught not to heed the admonitions and the opposition of parents and friends in the prosecution of so good a cause. He mentions several others, sons, of Protestants, who, like himself, soon became confirmed Papists.

66

The officers of Roman schools, it is possible, may sometimes deem it wise to allow the child of Protestant parents to retain a Bible; but are young persons likely to read that sacred book, when they know the opposition of their teachers, and that perseverance in such a course will necessarily expose them to ridicule and reproach, if not to unkind treatment?

A

To show what reliance is to be placed on the pledges of Roman institutions not to interfere with the religious opinions of Protestant children, I must state another fact. Protestant lady who resided in one of the southern States, several years ago, sent her adopted son to St. Mary's college, in Kentucky, an institution under the care of the Jesuits. About twelve months after, she visited her son, and was surprised and exceedingly troubled when she ascertained that he had been already received into the Romish church. She

immediately removed him from the college, and placed him under my care. I afterwards published the facts as she stated them to me. The President of St. Joseph's college, situated at Bardstown, made a publication in reply, in which he asserted that, the boy's mother was a Roman Catholic, whose dying request to his adopted mother was to have him trained in that faith; that he had learned this from the adopted mother herself; and that her son, a gentleman of high standing, had so directed the professors of St. Mary's college; and he even obtained from one of those Jesuits a certificate to this effect. Providentially it so happened, that whilst the subject was exciting public attention, the gentleman who was said to have directed the boy to be taught in the Romish faith, reached the town, (Bardstown, Kentucky,) and imme diately gave me a certificate that he had given no such direction; that the boy's mother was not known to have been a Roman Catholic, and had never made such a request as the President of St. Joseph's had pretended. Thus did those Reverend gentlemen abuse the confidence placed in them, and then fabricate stories to shield themselves from merited reproach. Many similar facts might be stated, but it is unnecessary. It is a fact that the schools established in our country are regarded as a most important part of that machinery by which the Roman clergy hope to promote and establish their faith. Will they not, then, do their utmost to bring about the desired result? They may not, in all cases make direct efforts to convince the children of Protestants that the religion of their parents is heresy; for often they will see that indirect influences are likely to be the most effectual.

Some years ago, Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, Kentucky, wrote to his friends in Europe, as follows: "Still, had I treasures at my disposal, I would multiply colleges and schools for girls and boys; I would consolidate all these establishments, by annexing to them lands or annual rents; I would build hospitals and public houses; in a word I would compel all my Kentuckians to admire and love a religion so

These facts, and others connected with the case, were published in the Western Protestant, then edited by the author of these lectures, in Bardstown, Kentucky, in the summer of 1836. The Protestant was the first paper in the West, so far as the editor is informed, devoted to the Romish controversy.

benevolent and generous, and perhaps I should finish by converting them." The editor of the Annals of the Associa tion for the Propagation of the Faith, comments as follows on Bishop Flaget's communication: "Mgr. Flaget has established in his diocese many convents of nuns, devoted to the education of young females. These establishments do wonderful good. Catholics and Protestants are admitted indiscriminately. The latter, after having finished their education, return to the bosom of their families, full of esteem and veneration for their instructresses. They are ever ready to refute the calumnies which the jealousy of heretics loves to spread against the religious communities; and often, when they have no longer the opposition of their relations to fear, they embrace the Catholic religion." In the publications made by the Roman clergy in this country, concerning these schools, Protestant parents are assured that no influence will be exerted on the minds of their children, to change their religious sentiments, or to convert them to Popery. But in their communications to their patrons in Europe, they boast of the number of Protestant children converted, who, so soon as they can do so, openly embrace the Romish faith. Representations so contradictory can never be reconciled with truth and candor; and none but a corrupt system of religion would seek to sustain itself by such means.

But even if the conductors of Roman schools should strictly regard their pledge not to interfere with the religious sentiments of Protestant children, it would still be most unsafe to commit to them their education. They can not give such an education as American parents should desire their children to have; and the various influences brought to bear upon them, directly or indirectly, would still secure the conversion of many of them to Popery. It will be found, on examination, that the large proportion of the youth educated in Roman schools, if they are not decided converts, are decidedly prejudiced in favor of their teachers and of their religious faith. There are in the minds of all of us, pleasing and hallowed recollections connected with our school-boy days; and it is most unwise in parents to allow those pleasing recollections to be associated with religious error and a loose morality.

The very best that Protestant parents hope for their children, when placed in Roman schools, is, that they will not be

seriously injured as to their moral and religious principles. They do not expect them to receive correct religious instruction. But what right have parents to place their children beyond the reach of scriptural instruction and Christian influence, during that most interesting period of life when the deepest and most permanent impressions are made upon them? What right have they to expose them to dangers which more mature minds often fail to resist? When they pray for themselves, "Lead us not into temptation," what kind of a prayer do they offer for their children whom they have placed in Roman schools?

I can not close this lecture without saying something particularly concerning those nunneries in which so many Protestant children are educated. The nuns all take the vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. However rich the institution with which they are connected, they possess nothing. Separated from friends and relatives, they must yield the most implicit obedience to their superiors. They are the best slaves in the world. Their vows are more potent than the legal claims of slaveholders; and, as they are taught to believe that sufferings endured in this life will shorten their stay in the fires of purgatory, they deny themselves the comforts of life, and endure the greatest hardships most willingly. Or, if they discover their error, and deplore the folly committed in taking such vows upon them, there is no escape from their gloomy prison. It is so disreputable in the view of Romanists to return to the world, that they prefer suffering even unto death, to such a course.

Nunneries are money-making establishments. Some of the nuns are employed as teachers; some are house and kitchen servants; and some labor in the fields! In Kentucky they have been seen in the harvest fields, driving the ox-cart, making a fire for the priest, saddling his horse, and the like. All their labors are performed, as already intimated, without hope of pecuniary compensation. There is a nunnery near Bardstown, Kentucky, located on a farm of several hundred acres, the number of whose female boarders has averaged from one hundred to one hundred and fifty. The charges for each, including extras, would not be less than one hundred and fifty dollars. The annual income of the institution is not less than fifteen thousand dollars. The outlay is not very