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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 87

Auricular Confession Addressed to Men and Women

Auricular Confession Addressed to Men and Women.

The subject of the lecture was "Auricular Confession." The rev. gentlemen said:—Have you ever remarked in the epistle to the Romans how Paul begins his salutations? In specifying some names which were dear to him and to the whole Church, he begins by giving expression of his gratitude to the women he had known. The more you read the Gospel of Christ, the more you will be struck by this strange thing that woman always appears in everything to have a higher place in the heart of Christ. It is evident that one of the objects of our dear Saviourwas to raise woman from the degraded position brought upon her by the first sin. As Eve was the first to fall, the daughters of Eve were the first to be raised up. It was of a woman that our Saviour said he had not found such faith in Israel as hers. It was not to a man that He paid such a compliment. And after his resurrection who was chosen to be the first to see Christ? A woman. When the apostles were in tears and desolate, and in doubt whether the Saviour would rise again, whose heart was filled with joy because she had seen the Saviour? A woman's. When men had banded together to crucify the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, do you find a single man among that multitude who felt for the victim? do you find one man whose heart was touched by his sufferings? Not one. But you see women weeping there. They understood the great sacrifice of the Saviour of the world. It is evident that as Satan had 'begun the destruction of mankind through a woman, so Christ came to raise the daughters of Eve before the sons of Adam, and to pour upon them His greatest blessings. It must have appeared strange to the Romans to hear Paul blessing the women first, because before Christ's time woman was degraded everywhere. She had come down below the level of the beasts; everywhere she was the slave of man. Even in the great Republic of Rome, which raised herself so high in sciences and in the arts, where philosophers spoke with such eloquence, where a Cicero filled the world with his beautiful language, where Virgil wrote poems which are still the object of our admiration, where there were so many wise, so many learned, what was the rank of woman? It was that of a brute beast; women had no rank at all in society. A man had the right to kill his wife without being brought before the law. The child was not obliged to obey his mother. In Greece woman's position was still worse. Now Christ came to save you, woman. He came to raise you up from your former degradation. See how the women of that time understood Christ and felt that he had come to raise them. See Mary who had lost her name and had become the scandal of Jerusalem, at her dear Saviour's feet, bathing them with her tears and pressing her lips to them; and what does the Saviour say to her?Woman, thy sins are forgiven because you have loved much." And He said that where-ever the Gospel would be preached, the action of that woman would be proclaimed. In the temple when Christ was at the door looking at the people giving for the public service of God, who attracted his attention? A woman. Now, my dear sisters, bless the Lord for having come to save you, not only from the yoke of man, but from the yoke of Satan. Bless Christ for having come to raise you up, to tell you that you are the daughters of God, the equal of man, that you are one with your husband. It is only in Christian nations that woman is on a level with man. For that reason, woman, keep near to Christ; let Christ reign in your heart. Christ was constantly helped in his work by women. He page 27 went constantly to the house of Martha and Mary, and the Gospel says positively that he loved them. From the time of Christ, woman has understood by a natural instinct that it is for her interest to keep the reign of Christ over the world—that it is an affair of life and death for her to keep Christianity in the bosom of humanity. Woman, you are honoured when you look upon that holy virgin Mary, who was chosen by God himself to be the mother of Him who on the cross was to save the world. You are almost divinised by that woman, whose name will be honoured to the end of the world. But just as Christ has begun the work of regenerating the world by raising woman, so Satan strove to destroy the work of Christ by degrading woman. When Satan framed, in the bosom of hell, that great, marvellous, diabolical institution which we call the Church of Rome, he was cunning enough to understand that the best way to destroy the work of Christ was by degrading woman, and to that end he invented a theory which is called a sacrament—auricular confession. Evidently, auricular confession was intended more for the destruction of women than of men. I have been in France, and studied the question; and I have learned from the lips of the priests themselves that there is not a man in one thousand in that country, which is called Roman Catholic, who goes to confession. In Canada, it is very seldom that a man who has intelligence or education goes to confession. When I was a young man in Canada, I was the friend of the leading men of the country, and related to some of them; and many a time I have tried to persuade them to come to confession; they only laughed at me; but their wives and their daughters came most regularly. And even among the Irish, that people whom I love so much, and who are so devoted to their Church, there are twenty confessions of women to one of men. Now, you see that the deleterious effects, the polluting, diabolical, and irresistibly damning influences of the confessional, fall twenty times more on the women than on the men. And when a woman falls, she brings her husband with her to her ruin. There is an irresistible power in you, women: when a woman goes down, she never goes down alone. Look in the Garden of Eden. Satan wants to destroy Adam, but he does not dare to attack him. He feels he is not strong enough to bring down that giant fresh from the hands of God. He knows Adam will resist. But he knows there is a being in the Garden who has all power over Adam, and that if he can gain her she will bring down that giant. And when he has deceived her with his lies, how quick and easily she brings Adam down with her. Auricular confession is an institution by which the Church of Rome says that every man and woman who have attained the age of reason, generally about eight or nine years of age, are bound to go to the feet of their confessor to tell him all their bad thoughts, desires, and actions. And what is the consequence of a woman telling a bachelor priest all her most secret thoughts? The consequence is that a young girl in the Church of Rome has not arrived at the age of twelve years before she is taught everything that is criminal, shameful, and polluting in human nature. The most infamous mysteries and iniquities are poured into the ears of that little girl by her father confessor. There are, certainly, women who are exceptional cases, though in a bad Church, are yet the daughters of God, the redeemed souls of Christ, God, with His merciful hand, tries to take away from their hearts all the iniquity which the priest pours into it. By God speaking to them in their conscience, some women in the Church of Rome are kept in the ways of purity and honour. I do not come here to tell you that all the women in that Church are destroyed or polluted in the sense that they have lost every sentiment of honour. No; but though they are still honourable, yet, through the abominable impressions made upon them in the confessional, there is always a tempest in their heart, and they have to fight terrible battles to overcome the enemy. I spoke, yesterday, of a book which I received from Bishop Janson; it is called "An Examination of the Sins of Priests." Almost every year the priests are invited to make what they call a retreat, that is, to pass eight or ten days in a house of prayer, and it is then that they make a confession of all the sins of the past year. There are confessors chosen for the occasion, and as I was one of them, the Bishop gave me this book, which is approved by Cardinal De Bonald. I have the book here, and I wish some gentleman who understands French to come forward and read and translate some parts. Nobody offering to come forward, the rev. gentlemen read the following extract:—" When hearing the confession of females, have I put to them questions about their sins, which brought answers by which my imagination has been filled with thoughts which have led me into great temptation and sin. The priests in general do not pay sufficient attention to the bad effect which is produced by hearing the confessions of females. By these confessions they are constantly tempted, and these temptations weaken the soul of the priest to such a degree that his purity is entirely destroyed." That is pretty clear. You see it says the priests are constantly tempted; they are constantly induced to fall into sin, and very often they commit great sins. When the priests of Rome speak before the public page 28 they deny this, and speak of themselves as honourable men; and the Protestants are fools enough to believe that a priest, who is nothing but a man, or rather a poor miserable bachelor, which is less than a man, can hear the confessions of females and not be tempted. My friends this is a great mistake. PÈre Hyacinthe says that there is not more than one in a hundred who does not fall by hearing auricular confession. Only one in a hundred, says he publicly; and no man in France has dared to deny the fact. Here it is the same thing; and when you meet the priests, you may be sure that in one hundred cases, ninety-nine are brought down into the filth of the most infamous actions through hearing confessions. Women are more shrewd than men in these affairs. There is not a lady among the Roman Catholics who would allow her husband to go and confess to a beautiful young lady. If a Roman Catholic lady saw her son going once a month, or once a fortnight, to the feet of a young lady, to speak to her for hours about all that is going on in his poor heart, and to tell her all his thoughts and desires, she would go and take him away, and tell him it was not proper for him to be there. She would not permit her husband to go to the feet of the most respectable woman and tell her all his thoughts; and, if the husband urged that there was no danger, that the lady was as pure as an angel, and that he was highly respectable, she would only laugh at him, and bring him out of the confessional-box. But it is strange that the husband is not so shrewd. He is a stupid beast compared with his wife. He sees his pretty wife going to the feet of that handsome bachelor, and remaining alone with him for hours, telling him all her secret thoughts, but he says to himself there is no danger, as his wife is honest! And where is the difference between a man confessing all his sins to a woman, and a woman telling all her bad thoughts and actions to a man? You would not tolerate the former. It would be considered an offence against society—a public immorality. And in the latter case it is also a public immorality. It is an offence against the laws of God, and it ought to be an offence against the laws of man. (Hear, hear.) But I do not say the priests of Rome are to be the objects of your contempt or hatred. You must pity them, and pray for them. They are men who are blind, who are in fetters, who are raised in a diabolical system. Many of them are miserable, and weep at their position. When I was in their midst, many a time I heard the voice of God saying to me, "Are you not ashamed to hear the recital of those infamous things in the confessional, are you not ashamed to speak with that woman of things so defiling? Come out !" But I heard another voice coming from Rome telling me I was bound to put those questions. And then a battle took place in my heart. Christ and Satan met there to fight hand to hand; and in the end Christ was to conquer. My dear sisters, you do not pray enough for the Roman Catholics. It seems to me there is a lack of zeal in you Protestants. You read the Gospel and make your prayers, but do you go to the mercy seat, and raising your hands to the Lord, ask Him to grant His light to the poor deluded Roman Catholics? One day when I was a very young priest, I had been invited to preach a retreat in a large parish. I was frequently chosen to speak to large multitudes, and I always invited a dozen or two priests to come and help me to hear the confessions. Well, we had been preaching all day, and hearing confessions. We returned to the parsonage at about ten o'clock at night to supper, but we were all so ashamed at what we had heard in the confessional, that we could not raise our eyes before each other. I could not eat; and although we were all great talkers, not a word was spoken. The curate saw our embarrassment, and said: "Well, gentlemen, I suspect you are disgusted at the things you have heard from the females of my parish in the confessional. You have heard of abominable doings, which are all the work of a certain priest, and you think I am that priest who has destroyed the females of this parish, and you are so disgusted with such a wretch that you do not dare to look me in the face. I am not the man. It was the priest who preceded me here. The fact of his infamy is well known in the parish. He has destroyed ninety-nine out of every hundred in the parish, and has done things which cannot be mentioned." We told him he had lifted a burden off our shoulders, and we were more at ease. The next morning a fine, tall, queenly looking woman came to confess to me. She was bathed in tears, and she knelt at my side. I tell you her confessions to give you an idea of the abominations of auricular confession. She said, When I was nine years old my father confessor destroyed my purity, and induced me to commit infamous things. He lived two years with me in this infamous way, and died suddenly. I was glad of it, because I was ashamed of what I had done, and I wanted to lead a different life. But another priest came, who also led me astray, and for five years I lived a most abominable life with him. He was removed, and I went to another place, where I was to be married. I went to confess, and the priest was again the cause of my fall. I married and had a child, but it was not the child of my husband, it was the child of the priest. When she was sixteen years old I sent her to confess. I thought she was very pious; such page 29 was my hope, and I thought that the priest, who was her father, would never attempt to destroy her. But one day she returned home from the church bathed in tears. I asked her the reason of her tears, and she said, 'Oh, dear mother, don't ask me. I will never go to confession any more. The priest has destroyed me.' When I heard that, I was beside myself with rage. I sprang to my feet, took a butcher's knife, and ran to the parsonage, determined to plunge the knife in the priest's breast. I said to him, 'Infamous wretch, it is not enough that you should destroy me, you also destroy my daughter, your child! You shall live no longer !' He fell on his knees, and cried, and implored me to spare his life. I considered a moment, and I said, 'I spare your life, for it is better that your crime should be known, that you may be shunned by every respectable person. If you do not leave this parish at once, I will tell the bishop all, and if he does not turn you out from the parish, I will tell my husband everything, and he will take your life !' The priest, trembling, swore he would get the bishop's permission to leave, and he left for another parish." Now, my friends, this is one instance among thousands which I know of, and which are public in Canada. Dear sisters, you see now why your ancestors preferred to be burned at the stake, to die on the scaffold, to be drowned in the sea, rather than remain in the Church of Rome. They understood the dignity of woman. And what will you do now? Oh, pray God that I may be enabled to rescue my dear countrymen from that ignominious bondage; pray for the women of Australia, whom auricular confession is degrading everywhere, that they may break their fetters and come to the feet of Christ, with Magdelene, for pardon. I will tell you another episode about the confessional. I was dragged before the court of Kankakee, and accused of a crime of which I had never thought. After two years of conflict I proved my innocence; but the priests, seeing they were going to lose their case, had the venue changed to Urbana, and again brought false, witnesses (among them were two priests) and did their best to get me sent to the Penitentiary for life. These two priests swore positively that they saw me commit the horrible crime. It was night. The court adjourned till next day. My lawyers came to me and said, "Chiniquy, you are lost. It is evident the priests have made a false oath, but the jury is not intelligent enough to see through the ways of the priests, and believe you are guilty. "One of the lawyers said, "there is only one way to be saved. Go to God, and He will save you." I went to my room and I prayed and I wept. I hope none of you will ever know what it is to pass a night before the day when you expect to be sent to prison for life for a crime you never committed. I have known such a night. Oh, how dark and long were the hours of that terrible night! I could not see how salvation could come, as the evidence appeared so much against me. During the night I heard three knocks at my door. It was Abraham Lincoln, my lawyer, who afterwards became President of the United States. He said, "Chiniquy, cheer up; I have the priests in my hands, and if they do not leave the city tomorrow morning they will be lynched." That very night the priests heard that their plot had been discovered, and they left the city by the five o'clock morning train, as they knew what to expect. At nine o'clock the Public Accuser entered the Court, which was crammed with Protestants and Roman Catholics-the former hoping I would prove my innocence, although the oath of the priests confounded them; the latter hoping I would be found guilty. The Public Accuser stood up and asked that the charge might be withdrawn, as they had found I was innocent. (Cheers.) And in the books of the Court of Urbana is recorded my innocence. I will tell you how this plot was formed, and how God destroyed it. One of these priests had gone to his own sister and said, "You see that Chiniquy is destroying our holy religion on this Continent. He has been chosen for the work by Satan. We must put him down, and you are the woman I have selected to do this great work, just as Judith cut off the head of Holofernes, I want you to swear that Chiniquy has forced you to do certain things with him in spite of you, and then he will be sent to the Penitentiary. She refusing to become a party of such wickedness, her brother refused to support her. She told him she would rather starve than do such iniquity. Then he pressed her again, and said, "Consider the thousands of souls which Chiniquy will send to hell. Now, I don't want you to be damned for telling a lie, under oath, but you can come and confess to me afterwards, and I will give you absolution and forgive your sin." On his assuring her of his power to clear her soul of the guilt, she consented to make the oath. The suit created great excitement in Illinois, and the press was reproducing every day the evidence. The very same day that the two priests made the false oath against me, the telegraph operator sent word to the Tribune of Chicago that it was evident I was guilty, because two priests had sworn they had detected me in the act, and I would surely be sent to gaol. The newsboys were running about the streets crying out, "Chiniquy will page 30 be hung; Chiniquy will be hung;" and they sold ten thousand extra copies of the Tribune that day, because every Roman Catholic was jubliant. Among the Roman Catholics who bought the paper was a man named Narcisse Terrien, who told his wife the good news that I was to be imprisoned for life, or hung. She said, "he is not guilty; I know it." He was surprised, and asked how she knew that. She said, "I and another young lady, Mary Moffat, were paying a visit to the niece of the priest, who was with his sister in the parlour. The door of the room was ajar, and we could hear all the conversation that took place between the priest and his sister, but they could not see us. And we heard the poor woman saying that Chiniquy was innocent, and had always been honourable in all his dealings with her. And we heard the whole plot of the priest. "Well," said the husband, "I do not like Chiniquy, but it would be a crime for you and me to let him go to the Penitentiary when we know he is innocent." Then they ran down to the railway station, got into the cars, and came to the city where I was being tried, a distance of 100 miles. They arrived late at night, and went to Abraham Lincoln, and told him all, and he then came to me and rescued me. You see how the priests make the poor people believe they can commit any crime provided they go to confession and get absolution. That is the reason why your gaols are filled with Roman Catholics; that is the reason why Roman Catholics who are naturally as honest as you, are made dishonest. Now you must pray for them, and help me in my work; help me to throw light into the midst of this abominable darkness. I do not come to beg. It would be infamous if I were to change this great mission into a begging affair; but it is my duty to tell you my position. I have sixteen young men ministers, and I want fifty more. I want to keep up a college for them, to be perpetuated after my death. When a priest comes out of the Church of Rome, he is in danger of starving to death. He is an outcast from the Church of Rome, and the Protestants have no confidence in him. These priests come to me, and I have sometimes to support them for five or six months. They have cost me much already. I know priests who would immediately come out if I could keep them for a short time—give them a home, where during a few weeks or months they could study the Word of God, and prepare themselves to preach. Pray that God grant me success, and through those converted priests, many souls will be saved, by the grace of God—and the walls of Babylon will be shaken and fall.

The benediction was pronounced, and the audience sang the doxology and the National Anthem.