patriots, whose crime was the attempt to free their dear country from Austrian barbarians, from the accursed French. At present the Pope and Satan are equal. I will prove my proposition. Satan was the first corrupter of the word of God in Paradise, when tempting Eve; and really Satan altered the true sense of the word of God. The first corrupters of the word of God in the church of Christ were the Popes, because we had not the Bible corrupted before we had the Popes. Satan introduced misery into this world, and death; and the Popes introduced blindness and slavery into religious and moral society-they introduced spiritual death. Therefore Popes and Satan are perfectly equal. But Satan never changes -he is always Satan. The Popes have never changed-they are always Popes. And in ancient times the ancient Popes prohibited the Bible as the present Pope does; therefore Satan and the Popes are perfectly equal. I have logically proved my proposition. Gregory XVI. wrote an encyclical letter against the readers of the Bible, and Pius IX. restored by God by Austrian bayonets and French troops -has shown his gratitude by publishing pains and penalties against any man who purchases, pays for, possesses, or dares to read a Bible. If the Popes permitted the reading of the Bible in Italy, after a few months Popes and Popery would disappear from the country- would be stripped of all authority, because they cannot subsist under the control of the Bible. Father Gavazzi then referred to the recent instances of erasures of Scpritural texts from tombs in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and other towns, and to the seizure of religious books in Italy, in the possession of English tourists, specially alluding to the case of the Maidai. But, he said, God will help Italy. For my Italy God will have pity, and at last my Italy will be delivered by God, and will rise in fair time to knowledge, to religious freedom, and will be one among the Christian nations. Great Britain is the first nation of the earth; but look at Spain, look at Portugal, look at my Italy. What are they without the Bible? Nothing. And what is France without the Bible? Less than nothing. In Prussia, Austria, France, Switzerland, every where, there is no comparison between Protestant and Catholic. The Catholics are wretched in body and soul. But the Protestant people-I speak without flattering you-I am glad to say, because I believe it, that you are the first nation in the world: first in commerce, first in industry, first in riches, first in science, first in arts, first in freedom of conscience, first in religious and civil freedom--first of all the earth-first of all the world. Between the Popes and bulls, misery, blindness, and slavery-or God and the Bible, happiness and liberty, choose--choose for yourselves and your rising generation. My dear English brethren, let me again caution you against Romish priests, Protestant Romish

priests, and Protestant Jesuits, who will surely, unless you be on your guard constantly, work your destruction. They are striving now with all their subtle energy to sap the great bulwark of freedom--your Protestantism. I see you in danger, and I warn you of it, as a man indebted to you for your hospitality. Whenever you see some Protestants contesting the supreme authority of the Bible--the authority of the people to freely read and discuss the Bible, conclude at once they are but Jesuits, Romish Protestants masked. The Bible is the great bulwark of Protest autism, and Protestantism is the bulwark of Freedom. If you remain Protestants you will keep your position-the first amongst the nations of the earth-your glory, your liberty; but if you become Romanists, you will also become blind, miserable, down-trodden slaves. If you wish to resist the conspiracies now forming against your liberties, be united. Let there be union amongst you; union, union, all-powerful and invincible union.

AURICULAR CONFESSION, NUNS, AND NUNNERIES.

LECTURE II.

Father Gavazzi said, the subject of his lecture would be "The Auricular Confession, Nuns, and Nunneries." I will prove that the auricular confession is immoral, because it substitutes mau for God-multiplies sins and sinners--and overthrows all civil and religious society. I shall also prove that nuns and nunneries are unscriptural and unreasonable. The safe-guard of Rome is certainly the auricular confession; without it, the Inquisition, the Church of Rome cannot exist one day. Therefore, every effort is made to maintain in its entirety the dogma of the auricular confession. But I don't find in the Scriptures an instance wherein Christ authorises auricular confession. In such a serious thing as to confess the secrets of the human heart, had Christ approved of it, he would have left some authority regarding it. When Christ was on earth, he absolved many sinners, but never heard any confession from them. He has taught us, in that beautiful prayer, that when we pray it shall be after this manner:--ʻ "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.' If we forgive much, he will forgive us much. He will forgive us, not the priests. He will absolve us from our sins. In Italy the father confessors were very ignorant men. Of father confessors there were three kinds that he would allude to. The Dominicans, very strict; the Franciscans, less rigid; and the St. Augustins, or Carmelite friars. In confessing a crime to the first, the confessed would receive an order to depart, and a curse; the second would, for the same crime, order penance, such as licking

the dust; and the third, a Jesuit father, would say to the penitent, "Poor sinner, encourage yourself: God is always for you. Pray the Virgin Mary, and say two or three little prayers, receive holy absolution, and take the Lord's supper." It was all a farce--a disgusting farce. The prophets had declared of God that he alone was the scrutator of the human heart. Therefore, no man ought to confess to priests. The secrets of the confession were not "under a seal which could not be broken," as alleged by the Romish priests; for the ignorant, drunken priest, in his debauches, will often publish the whole. The confessional encouraged sinners, and promoted sin. All confessors were not alike. In Italy, some were good, some stupid, but most of them ignorant men. There was an annual confession at Easter; and in Italy it was a common thing for the folks to question each other thus::- "How many sins have you ?" "Oh, ten," twenty," "thirty." It was all the same, ten or a hundred. The confessor would absolve one hundred as easily as ten. By this means, crime was encouraged. The Roman Catholics boasted of their morality through the confession. He pointed to the Six Mile Bridge affray, the assassinations in Ireland, and the Ribbon Society, as proofs of their morality; and again, to the degradation of Spain, Naples, and other parts of the continent, as proofs of the thraldom of the people through Roman Catholicism. He called attention to the power of the priests, and the robberies they commit, in getting the rich father to disinherit his children, and leave their patrimony to the Church of Rome. Thus the families of England, professedly Protestant, were being robbed of their substance to support Cardinal Wiseman and the Church of Rome. Father Gavazzi then showed that nuns were made by confession; for when a father confessor once gets within his meshes a young lady, he seldom permits her to escape. Nuns were not of scriptural origin. Though Christ was followed by many faithful women, there is no mention of his having sent Mary Magdalene'or Martha to a cloister. Nunism was not supported by Christ; but Christ said, "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but putteth it on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house." Christ also said, "Let men see your good works, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven." Nuns, by their seclusion, could not fulfil this command, for their goodness was all hid from the world by the walls of the monasteries, and God was thereby deprived of part of his glory. There being no commandment from God in the matter, it was audacity and impudence on the part of the Popes to institute this order of nuns. It was said that the nuns prayed for the church. All the prayers were said in Latain, and not many nuns understood that tongue. How, then, could they pray for the church? The nuns, on the day of their

admission into the nunneries, were made to swear to forget all their relatives and friends. How, then, could the nunneries be a fit place for instructing the daughters of England? Their education was pigmy, jesuitical, confined to kitchen-work, making baby-linen, confectionary, &c. So that when the confessors were in bad humour, the nuns provided them with sugarplums and bon bons. Their one prayer was, "God convert the Protestant church." Last year some members of the British Parliament moved for an inquiry into nunneries. The British deputies don't know what nunneries are. You are mistaken in them. The devil in Paradise did not tempt Adam, he tempted Eve, and by seducing Eve the fatal apple was eat by Adam. The Jesuits do not come here, and openly attempt the overthrow of Protestantism. No. What are the means they adopt? They introduce among you nuns

"ladies of the sacred order"- sisters of mercy"- -"sisters of providence"--" sisters of of charity," and so on. These have in their hand the fatal apple of the Papacy, which is presented to you in so kind and gentle a mauner, that you cannot resist the temptation, but become Catholics. But for the nuns, many who are now Catholics would have been Protestants. Therefore, the existence of nuns is more dangerous than the existence of Jesuits. If you would preserve your country free from the Popish pestilence, don't fear only the Jesuits and monks, as emissaries of Rome; fear also the nuns, as more powerful emissaries. I will now speak of those poor victims, the nuns, and give some reason for their deliverance. English people-don't believe appearances !-don't believe the priests, when they say the nuns are contented and satisfied! Look at their iron gates, iron bars, iron padlocks! This is the happiness in which these poor victims live. My own experience is, that where the nuns are without heart, they live to be sixty or seventy years of age; but when they are gentle, warmhearted, they die between thirty and forty, despairing and repenting of their sacrifice. Oh, I ask of you help for these poor victims. They are not content-they are not satisfied. Take one fact. They are not all voluntary, not all content, not all satisfied nuns. To this subject, gentlemen of England are very indifferent. They don't take any care for these poor victims; and, therefore, I now appeal to you, English ladies for the sake of your husbands and brothers now sleeping with regard to this subject rise, Engglish ladies, and defend your sex against the priests of Rome. Rise! as, last year, you, in hundreds and thousands, signed the memorial to Queen Victoria, praying for an inspection of the nunneries, Rise in this present year, not in hundreds, not in thousands. No. You Protestant ladies must sign another memorial to Queen Victoria

not to inquire into monasteries and

Father Gavazzi exclaimed, I shall prove that the Inquisition is inimical to the spiritual liberty granted by Christ; to the spirit of meekness, humility, and love which is a characteristic of the mission of the Christian clergy; and to that charity on which is founded the true church of Christ. All the precepts of Christ, in the articles of the true faith, were embodied in the one command of our Saviour, "Go ye forth and preach the gospel to every creature," and whosoever will believe shall be saved, and whosoever will not believe shall be condemned." Therefore the believing or not believing is left to the free choice of every one. Religion is a great gift of God, the best comforter in tribulation, and the beacon of hope in the future; but the first and greatest gift of God to mankind is liberty. Without doubt religion is a great benefit, but a man without liberty is nothing; and religion without liberty is no longer a benefit but a curse, and man so deprived of liberty is reduced to the condition of a slave-a brute. Leave me free in the choice of my creed, and I shall be happy in my conscience, but make me compulsorily embrace any religion, then I repeat a hundred times that my religion is no longer a benefit. But this is not the case in the Church of Rome. In the Romish church, whoever is born a Roman Catholie, must live a Roman Catholic, and die a Roman Catholic. If a Roman Catholic, after reading his Bible, entertains some doubts as to the purity of his creed, and becoming at length convinced, decides to abandon the Romish church, the Inquisition puts its hand upon him, nl withcu even the formula of a trial, imprisons him in one of its deep, dark, ugly dung ons, tortures him, burns him, denies him Christian burial, disperses his ashes, condemns to ignominy his family, and curses him, and his children, and his children's children, to the fourth generation, and calls these barbarous atrocities the mercy of heaven in the preservation of his soul. This is the mercy, this is the charity, shown by our Romish brethren to all good and courageous characters, and this is done for the preservation of their faith-the Roman Catholic faith-my friends. Heaven preserve us from their mercy! Man is a reasonable being, and if the reason for a thing is shown to him, he will at once embrace it; and it is so with regard to religion: if it is a reasonable religion, he will hold to it. But what is the religion of the Church of Rome ? Nothing: because nothing in the principles and

creed of that church is scriptural. Therefore, nothing is reasonable in the Romish church, because nothing is scriptural; and if the Church of Rome violates the gospel in order to set up her theories and practices, she is no longer a church of Christ, of truth, of justice, of charity, of love; but a church of lies, of ignorance, and impostures. I will repeat, nothing is reasonable in the Church of Rome, because nothing is scriptural. The conception of the Virgin Mary is not reasonable. The autocracy and infallibility of the Pope is unreasonable. The belief in purgatory is unreasonable. Transubstantiation is unreasonable. Indulgences are unreasonable. Works of supererogation, justification by works, and auricular confession, are unreasonable; and all is unreasonable in the Church of Rome. But mark, the Church of Rome believes in the necessity for the Inquisition, and that is very unreasonable. Nevertheless, I say, that without the Inquisition the Church of Rome could not exist-without the Inquisition, all Europe would be Protestantwithout the Inquisition, my dear Italy would not be a Papal country. If you believe the bigot priests, you will believe that Christianity must have law and compulsion to support it; because they have already got the Inquisition, the torture, the penance, and the pile (the fagot). It is not the merit of Popery, of her theories, her practices-it is not by the grace of Christ that it spreads amongst the peopleit is by the strength, the power, and the terrors of the Inquisition. Christ, teaching his disciples, said, "When ye enter a house say, Peace be to this house;" therefore I think the true mission of all Christian ministers is one of peace, of meekness, of love, and charity. Christ said to his ministers, "I send you as sheep amongst wolves;" therefore the mission of the Christian clergy is evidently a mission of peace, of mercy, and of clemency, and the priests who have changed this religion of heavenly light, of love, and of liberty, to intolerance, persecution, and death, are no more the ministers of our Saviour, but the Judas Iscarriots of Christ. The priests who support this tribunal of life and death are no priesthood of Christ, but executioners. The ancient tyrants -Nero, Tiberius, Caligula, and other Pagan monsters-invented one species of torture, but the meek clergy of Rome have invented fourteen, some of the most diabolical character, not to be inflicted upon enemies, as in the case of the ancients, but upon brethren and Chiistians. It would be impossible for me to describe the whole of them to you, and too cruel, but I will not pass on without at least remembering three or four of them. Some Roman Catholics would say that their church never spilled human blood. Granted: but why? Because the sentences of death in the Inquisition were always by strangling, burning alive, or other modes. This is one means by which the torturing priests avoid spilling human

you cannot ! and you are no longer the ministers of Christ, but consecrated executioners of his people. This, then, is the charity of the Church of Rome; and what are her ministers? Executioners, murderers, assassins. These are the means by which she triumphs over her enemies; but woe, woe, woe unto her, for the day of retribution is at hand. All this is exaggerated, say the Romish priests. The Inquisition is a particularly pleasing (?) subject for a Protestant audience, and therefore the lecturers always select it, in order to excite sympathy. But they do not attempt to prove that it is exaggerated, while you can remember the martyrdoms and blazing fagots in your Smithfield, the slaughter of the Huguenots in France, and the Auto-da-fe in Spain and Italy. An Irish Roman Catholic priest, preaching in Perth, tells his benighted hearers, that Roman Catholics had never persecuted any one for their religious opinions, and his poor ignorant dupes shut their eyes and answer, Amen. The Inquisition, says another, is not an ecclesiastical institution-it is a tribunal of the saints. They say the Inquisition is not supported by the clergy, but by secular agency. But I say it is, always was, and always will be, an ecclesiastical tribunal. Was it not founded by Don Gusman, a Dominican friar? Yes. Then it was founded by an ecclesiastical man, and not a layman. Its permanent establishment was effected by 24 bulls from the Pope, and not by a layman. The Grand Inquisitors are now, and always were, Franciscan or Dominican friars, and not laymen. The Inquisition was always situated in the monasteries of the Franciscan or Dominican friars, and not amongst laymen. And finally, the High Prefect of this tribunal is to-day, always was, and always shall be, the Pope, and not a layman. With regard to the Roman Catholics never having persecuted any one for their religious opinions, let me again remind you of Smithfield-of the dreadful cruelties practised on the Covenanters in Scotland

blood:-Upon a stone the prisoner is chained. | An iron mask over his face is never opened except by the executioner to give him bread and water. Water is allowed to drop, drop by drop, perpetually upon one spot of his head. Gradually it took off the hair, macerated the skin, penetrated the integument, perforated the skull, and reached the brain; all was then over. A second species of torture is:-A great embrasure filled with coals is placed in the middle of the prison, and the feet of the victim are put very near the fire. Soon the feet begin to be inflamed, afterwards to burst, and from the flesh broken by the wounds comes blood and matter; from the fire arises a horrible smoke and a most horrible smell. This torture is always endured from twenty to thirty minutes. After suffering this torture for five or six minutes, the victim can never again use his feet; and in many instances the feet become swollen, the flesh separates from the bones, and falls into the fire in the embrasure. The third species of torture which I shall speak of, is that invented for delicate women : A great wheel is fitted up with sharp hooks. Two strong executioners, generally two Dominican friars of great strength, turn round this wheel, upon which is distended the delicate woman, undressed. At the command of the inquisitor the wheel is moved rapidly round, and the victim is asked, "Have you committed the crime imputed to you?" If she answers "No," the inquisitor gives orders to stop the wheel immediately, and the excutioners stop it suddenly; in doing which the hooks upon the wheel enter the delicate skin of the victim, rendering her insensible, and sometimes lifeless. The last species of torture that I will mention, is the torture by water:-The victim is bound upon a bench, with a wet linen cloth over his face. Upon his face there descends, without ceasing, drops of water. spiration consequently becomes difficult, and the victim breathes with pain; he feels as if he was being strangled. After ten minutes of such a martyrdom comes the first interrogation, "Are you guilty of the crime imputed to you?" The poor victim, breathing painfully and gasping, replies, "No-I am not guilty of the crime-imputed-to me." The water still goes on falling, drop after drop. Then comes the second interrogatory, guilty of the crime imputed to you ?" The victim, in horrible pangs, again replies, but more slowly, "No-I am not guilty--of the -crime-impu-ted-to me." And the water still falls, drop after drop. In ten minutes more comes the third interrogation, "Are you guilty of the crime imputed to you ?" The victim replies, more slowly still, aud in the agonies of death, "I-am-uot-guilty

"Are

Re

you

the crime-im-pu-ted-to-me" (choking). There is no more life in the victim. Deny, Roman Catholic priests, if you can, that you inflict such devilish tortures;

III. It is in Italy, and we have some species of Inquisition in every country, especially against the Word of God. The Imperial Government, some time ago, expelled every Protestant from Vienna. From Austria they have expelled Protestant Bibles, and it is, as you know, now death to be found reading one. In my Italy, and in all the Florentine countries, it is a great crime to be found with a Bible. The Inquisition is now in England! You start, my dear friends, but it is amongst you; its powers, I will admit, are but feeble at present, but they will grow stronger. With Cardinal Wiseman came the Inquisition, as by the canon law of the Romish church he is strictly enjoined with the persecution and extermination of all heretics, and as such you are considered by your Romish neighbors. If he does not obey the laws of his holy father, the Pope, it

is only because he has not the power; there is no want of hearty good-will. You are acquainted with the secresy and mystery of the proceedings of the Inquisition. You know the process of trial, without the prisoner being permitted to confront the witnesses, without the chance of an appeal hereafter, and without the opportunity of making known to friends the agonizing occurrences which pass within those gloomy prison walls. Beware, then, Englishmen take care of your rights, of your liberty of conscience, of your privileges, with jealous care, for your own sake, and for the sake of your children. Take my advice, and send this Cardinal Wiseman back to his master in Rome. But no persecution, no intolerance, that is the exclusive property of the Church of Rome. You will have plenty to do to tolerate some people at Oxford.

ALMOST every professor of the Christian religion freely admits, that God has revealed his will to man; and if we ask for what purpose, the answer invariably is, that His will may be known in order to be obeyed. And as God is a jealous God, any departure therefrom: or want of conformity thereto, is sure to incur His displeasure, if not His wrath and vengeance. The smallest as well the chief of His commandments, must be obeyed. To say any one law or precept is of minor importance, and not essential to salvation, is a very irreverent manner of speaking, certainly the reverse of trembling at the word of God. All Scripture given by inspiration, is profitable for doctrine, conviction, correction, and instruction in righteousness, adapted to make perfect in every good word and work, even wise unto salvation.

The reason of the many existing and conflicting sects, is owing to the not making the Scriptures the sole standard of religious truth the rule, and the only rule of conduct to individual Christians and the Christian church.

Unless what is believed and practiced can be substantiated by an appeal to

the Word, understood in the sense conveyed by the Holy Spirit, (and this undoubtedly is attainable by every truthseeking mind) there is wanting the evidence of being built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ the corner stone.

We reformers are charged with presuming to think, that all who differ from us are in error. To which we reply -If they whose aim, desire, and determination is, to adhere to the spirit and letter of God's Word, be wrong, none differing from us can surely be right. "Call no man master or father upon earth; one is your Father who is in heaven, and one is your Master even Christ," to whose will, in all matters of faith and obedience, (the faith and obedience of the gospel) we are commanded to bow with unreserved submission. How pertinent the question, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Most religious communities seem ignorant as to the nature of that close and intimate union required, and which ought to subsist in every church of Christ. Thus writes the Apostle to the Romans "We, the many, are one body in Christ, and