on.

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?

Who has not been filled with deep compassion and pity for those poor
idolaters of Hindustan who believe that they will secure to themselves a
happy passage to the next life if they have the good luck to die when
holding in their hands the tail of a cow? But there are people among us who
are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and pity, for they hope that
they will be purified from their sins and be for ever happy if a few
magical words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from the polluted
lips of a miserable sinner sent by the Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a
cow and the magical words of a confessor to purify the souls and wash away
the sins of the world are equally inventions of the Devil. Both religions
come f