With this conviction he kneels down before the wily Father, who is ready with dexterous skill to draw out from him under the pressure of his religious conviction every doubt that has ever troubled him, every book that he has ever read, and every opinion that he has ever entertained upon the subject. If any wavering is discovered in confession, it is all written down and carefully transmitted as a reserved case to the General. {42b} But should it be brought to light in the manifestation of his conscience, it must all, as a matter of course, be forwarded to Rome. The result of which is that in a few weeks the young man is seen no more; perhaps he is gone to some distant land; perhaps he is sent off to be a servant in some distant convent; perhaps he finds himself in the vaults of the Inquisition; perhaps he dies. And all that can be said is that the young man is gone,—those who once knew him know him no more,—his place is filled by another—he is gone. How then is a young man to break away from Jesuitism? and how deeply ought we to compassionate the poor unhappy victim of such a monstrous and soul-enthralling tyranny? Oh! there is something inexpressibly melancholy in the thought that there are thousands of intelligent men at this very hour, thus enslaved, and that the original means of their slavery was their real desire for life eternal in Christ Jesus. There are, I believe, untold horrors within the walls of the Inquisition, but better far would it be to have the poor body lacerated there by a merciless Inquisitor, while the conscience was free, and the conviction of the heart obeyed, than to be forced on through life a slave, and yet apparently a free man; responsible to God for transgression, and yet compelled to sin, because there is no power to burst the fetters which men have rivetted on the soul.