g to your confession than a
lustful curiosity or a sinful desire of exciting his evil passions?

3. "_Nonne ex auditis in confessiones occasionem sumpsi paenitentes
utriusque sexus ad peccandam sollicitandi?_" (Idem, p. 582)

Have I not availed myself of what I heard in confession to induce my
penitents to commit sin?

I would run a great risk of being treated with the utmost contempt, should
I dare to put to your priests such a question. You would very likely call
me a scoundrel for daring to question the honesty and purity of such holy
men. You would perhaps go as far as to contend that it is utterly
impossible for them to be guilty of such sins as are alluded to in the
above question; that never such shameful deeds have been perpetrated
through confession. And you would, maybe, emphatically deny that your
confessor has ever said or done anything that might lead you to sin or even
commit any breach of propriety or modesty. You feel perfectly safe on that
score, and see no danger to apprehend.

Let me tell you, good ladies, that you are altogether too confident and in
the most fatal delusion. Your own church, through the merciful and warning
voice of God speaking to the conscience of your own theologians, tells you
that there is a real and eminent danger where you fancy yourself in perfect
security. You may never have suspected the danger, but it is there, within
the walls of the confessional; nay, more, it is lurking in your very hearts
and that of your confessor. He may hitherto have refrained from
temptations; he may, at least, have kept within the proper limits of
outward morality or decency. But nothing warrants you that he may not be
tempted; and nothing could shield you from his attempts on your virtue
should he give way to temptation; as cases are not wanting to prove the
truth of my assertion. You are sadly mistaken, in a false and dangerous
security. You are perhaps, although unawares, on the very brink of a
precipice, where so many have fallen through their blind confidence in
their own strength or their confessor's prudence and sanctity. Your own
church is very anxious about your safety; she trembles for your innocence
and purity. In her fear, she cautions the priest to be watchful over his
wicked passions and human frailty. How dare you pretend to be stronger and
more holy? Why should you so wilfully imperil your chastity or modesty? Why
expose yourself to danger, when it could be so easily avoided? How