Who will believe that the bachelors of the Pope are made of stronger metal than the Davids, the Samsons, and the Solomons? Where is the man who has so completely lost his common sense as to believe that the priests of Rome are stronger than Samson, holier than David, wiser than Solomon? Who will believe that confessors will stand up on their feet amidst the storms which prostrate in the dust those giants of the armies of the Lord? To suppose that, in the generality of cases the confessor can resist the temptations by which he is daily surrounded in the confessional, that he will constantly refuse the golden opportunities which offer themselves to him, to satisfy the almost irresistible propensities of his fallen human nature, is neither wisdom nor charity; it is simply folly. I do not say that all the confessors and their female penitents fall into the same degree of abject degradation; thanks be to God, I have known several who nobly fought their battles and conquered on that field of so many shameful defeats. But these are the exceptions. It is just as when the fire has ravaged one of our grand forests of America--how sad it is to see the numberless noble trees fallen under the devouring element! But, here and there the traveller is not a little amazed and pleased to find some which have proudly stood the fiery trial without being consumed. Has not the world at large been struck with terror when they heard of the fire which a few years ago had reduced the great city of Chicago to ashes? But those who have visited that doomed city, and seen the desolating ruins of her 16,000 houses, had to stand in silent admiration before a few which, in the very midst of an ocean of fire, had escaped untouched by the destructive element. It is so that, owing to a most marvellous protection of God, some privileged souls do escape, here and there, the fatal destruction which overtakes so many others in the confessional. The confessional is just as the spider's web. How many too unsuspecting flies find death when seeking rest on the beautiful framework of their deceitful enemy! How few escape! and this only after a most desperate struggle. See how the perfidious spider looks harmless in his retired, dark corner; how motionless he is; how patiently he waits for his opportunity! But look how quickly he surrounds his victim with his silky, delicate, and imperceptible links! how mercilessly he sucks its blood and destroys its life!