"The horrible disorders, seductions, adulteries, and abominations of every kind that have sprung from this practice of auricular confession, especially in Spain and other popish countries, are fa miliar to all acquainted with the history of popery for the six centuries that have transpired since the fourth council of Lateran. The details of individual facts on this subject are hardly fit to meet the public eye, though multitudes of them might easily be cited, derived not merely from the testimonies of Protestants, but from the admissions of papists themselves, and from the numerous though ineffectual laws that have been passed to restrain the practice of priestly solicitation of females at confession. Nor can this be a matter of surprise. The evil is inherent in the system. Let any person of common sense examine the list of subjects, and the questions for examination of conscience in any popish book of devotion, but more especially (if he understands Latin) the directions to young priests in Dens and other standard works for the study of popish theology; then let him remember that the subjects of these beastly inquiries are often young, beautiful, and interesting females; and that the questioners are men, often young and vigorous, burning with fire of passion, in some instances almost wrought up to frenzy by a vow of celibacy which they would be glad to shake off, and then he will cease to wonder that the confessional has so often been turned into a school of licentiousness, seduction, and adultery." No one can calculate how many thousand persons this abominable custom has corrupted and seduced. This custom has now existed in the Catholic Church for more than six hundred years by the name of auricular confession. The Day of Judgment alone can reveal the mystery of cunning and iniquity of the great harlot in this direction. Wickedness of the Clergy. Although the clergy of the Roman Church boast of the infallibility and holiness of their church, yet the fact remains that no church can be found with a clergy so immoral and corrupt. Pope John VIII was a blood-thirsty and cruel monster. He filled the papal see from A. D. 872 to 882. By him Dowling's "History of Romanism," book v, chap. x, par. 92. Charles the Bald was crowned and made emperor with great solemnity in the church of St. Peter in Rome, Dec. 25, 875. When Athanasius, bishop of Naples, put out the eyes of his own brother Sergius, duke of the same city, and sent him in that state to the pope to answer to a charge of rebellion against the holy see, the heartless wretch commended the unnatural barbarity and promised to recompense him for so meritorious an act. But soon after this the bishop seized upon the vacant dukedom and in his turn was excommunicated by the pope. "Subdued by the terror of the spiritual thunder, the refractory bishop, and duke sent to implore absolution of the pope, but the blood-thirsty pontiff sent him a reply that the only terms upon which he would grant him absolution were that he should deliver to his vengeance several men, of whose names he sent him a list, and that he should cut the throats of the rest of the pope's Saracen enemies in the presence of his legates. Such was the cruel spirit of this professed disciple of the Prince of Peace, and link in the unbroken chain of apostolical succession! "5 John XI was the bastard son of his holiness pope Sergius III. He was made pope A. D. 931, and occupied the papal see one year. His successor in the office was John XII. He was raised to the popedom at the age of eighteen years. He was a monster of cruelty and wickedness. He kept concubines and increased their number with his father's concubines and his two sisters. The people of Rome complained to the emperor Otho, whereupon the pope was solemnly tried and deposed. When Otho arrived at Rome, the pope fled from the city. The emperor summoned him to appear, and sent him a letter wherein he said: "Know, then, that you are accused not by some few, but by all the clergy as well as the laity, of murder, perjury, sacrilage, and incest with your own two sisters, etc., etc. We therefore earnestly entreat you to come and clear yourself from these imputations.” 5 Dowling's "History of Romanism," book iv, chap iv, par. 31. To this letter his holiness returned the following laconic answer: "John, servant of the servants of God, to all bishops: We hear that you want to make another pope. If that is your design, I excommunicate you all in the name of the Almighty, that you may not have it in your power to ordain any other, or even to celebrate mass. The emperor and the council deposed nevertheless. this monster without one single virtue to atone for his many vices," as he was called by the bishops in the council, and elected a successor. Let it be remembered, that this monster John XII is reckoned in the regular line of the popes. "No sooner had the emperor Otho left Rome, than several of the licentious women of the city, with whom Pope John had been accustomed to spend the greater portion of his time, in concert with several persons of rank, conspired to murder the new pope, and to restore John to his see. The former was fortunate enough to make his escape to the emperor then at Camerino, and the latter was brought back in triumph to the Lateran palace. Upon his return Pope John seized upon several of the clergy who were opposed to him, and inflicted on them the most horrible tortures. Otger, bishop of Spire, was whipped by his command till he was almost dead; another, cardinal John, was mutilated by having his right hand cut off, and Azo by the loss of his tongue, nose, and two fingers. But these horrible enormities were not permitted to continue long. Shortly after his return to the city the pope was killed on account of his immorality." These excesses are also spoken of by Catholic authors and severely blamed. Nothing less could naturally be expected than that many of the clergy would follow their leaders in the path. of vice, and to this, history also fully testifies. "In the tenth and eleventh centuries, concubinage was openly practiced by the clergy, and it was regarded by popes and prelates as a far less crime to keep a concubine than to marry a wife."7 6 Dowling's "History of Romanism," book iv, chap. iv, par. 35. |