IX.] ?,mVA?C?---COSrSSS?OS. :919 be rejected as impious: or the confessor can say absolutely, not rela- tively, to the inquiry, (Ego nil?'l ?do,) I know nothing; because the word (Ego) I refers to human knowledge. In like manner, if a con- t?.ssor should be cited before a court for trial, that he might give a rea- �?on for the denial, he ought to contend that in this matter as ]rNows NO SUPERIOR BUT GOD."* From the foregoing it follows that the Church of Rome teaches and practises, 1. That what a priest knows in confession, he knows it not ?,s man, but as God. 2. Hence, alas, if a priest hears a thing in con- I?ssion, and if, being asked and sworn, he shall say he never heard .?uch a thing, he neither lies nor is perjured. 3. It is not lawful to reveal any thing that is told only in confession, though it be to avoid the greatest evil, such as the death of a man, his damnation, the de- struction of the commonwealth, &c. 4. Hence we infer, that should the life of the president of the United States be in danger, or should the states themselves be in danger of destruction, a priest must not reveal a secret obtained through confession, should the discovery save The life of the chief magistrate, or preserve the whole Union from ruin. Indeed, it would be difficult to find, in so many words, such a total disregard to truth, and such blasphemous assumptions, as are contained in this quotation from Dens. Here b/asplemy is unblushingly taught; tbr the priest here affects to act a? God, thereby making himself equal with God, and manifesting the marked character of antichrist, who, ".?s GOD, sitteth in the throne of God." Here, too, a known sod ddi- ?erate lie, according to this veracious Rosaln Catholic writer, umy be ?old, and told by a preacher of religion, connected, too, with adminis- tering a sacrament, as they call it. To this is to be added PZeJuev, in order to make the deliberate lie pass for truth. Besides, the LZ?S of
- ? man, or even his SALV.?Tm?t, or the v?.s'raucTxos, interitu.? r?ipublic?,
t?e overtAvow of our relmblican government, (to use the very words of Dens,) are considered small matters, if necessary to keep up the autho- rity of the Roman Catholic priesthood! It is useless to inquire what kind of citizens Roman Catholic priests will make, when they are taught such horrible principles. A multitude of quotations from standard Roman Catholic authors might be given, who teach such doctrines on the seal of conlea/ion as Dens doth. Those who have not the opportunity of consulting them can see several specimens in Bishop Taylor,t' who refers to and quotes I�om BeHarmine, Binet, &c. Nor is it marvellous that some Roman Catholics will suppose that their church is misrepresented by the fore- going, e5pecially those who live among Protestants, fwm whom they imbibe better principles. Yet no consistent member of the Church of Rome can deny that inviolable secrecy is enjoined on the clergy and laity, even at the exp. enas of truth and the sacred obligation of an oath. $. As this confestoon is managed by the Church of Rome, it is so far from being a check upon men in the commission of the same sins ?gain--which is the greatest utility it claims?that, on the contrary, it ,?ives a great encouragement to sinners to continue in sin. It will be readily admitted, indeed, that in some instances the effect of conferion �Theol. ,d Usum. 8cmin. Do Sigillo Cont'e?sion?, No. 159, vol. vi, p. ?t89. .?Icchlin, 1830. ?' Di?suasive, book i, sec. 10. Work,, vol. ii, p. ?16. 1 ,Goocle
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