"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: "That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.) * * * * * CHAPTER VII. SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS? * * * * * Let my readers who understand Latin peruse the extracts I give from Bishop Kenrick, Debreyne, Burchard, Dens or Liguori, and the most incredulous will learn for themselves that the world, even in the darkest ages of old paganism, has never seen anything so infamous and degrading as auricular confession. To say that auricular confession purifies the soul is not less ridiculous and silly than to say that the white robe of the virgin, or the lily of the valley, will become whiter by being dipped into a bottle of black ink. Has not the Pope's celibate, by studying his books before he goes to the confessional-box, corrupted his own heart, and plunged his mind, memory, and soul into an atmosphere of impurity which would have been intolerable even to the people of Sodom? We ask it not only in the name of religion, but of common sense. How can that man, whose heart and memory are just made the reservoir of all the grossest impurities the world has ever known, help others to be chaste and pure? The idolaters of India believe that they will be purified from their sins by drinking the water with which they have just washed the feet of their priests. What monstrous doctrine! The souls of men purified by the water which has washed the feet of a miserable, sinful man! Is there any religion more monstrous and diabolical than the Brahmin religion? Yes, there is one more monstrous, deceitful, and contaminating than that. It is the religion which teaches that the soul of man is purified by a few magical words (called absolution), which come from the lips of a miserable sinner, whose heart and intelligence have just been filled by the unmentionable impurities of Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Kenrick, &c., &c. For if the poor Indian's soul is not purified by the drinking of the holy (?) water which has touched the feet of his priest, at least that soul cannot be contaminated by it. But who does not clearly see that the drinking of the vile questions of the confessor contaminate, defile, and damn the soul?