I am far from supposing that I
_ought_ to have fell myself indissolubly tied to the Roman Catholic
church by any sacrament that I might have received, or by any
engagement that I might have entered into: on the contrary, I lay it
down as an incontestable principle, that every vow and every oath are
null, and neither can nor ought to bind any one to a church in which
he has discovered errors, or doctrines and habits opposed to the word
of God, and contrary to his own conscience. Truth alone, and the full
conviction of truth, constitute a tie which can inviolably connect
us with any church whatever. From the moment that this conviction no
longer exists, and that error is discovered, it is an imperative duty
to abandon a mode of worship which does not accord with our true
sentiments; and he who perseveres against this conviction becomes a
hypocrite, contemptible in the eyes of men, and condemned before God.]

Unknown to me, that is, at an age when I could have no idea of what
was done to me, I was doubtless received into the church by the
usual ceremony; but as this act was performed without any consent or
co-operation on my part, I have never regarded it in the light of an
engagement to the Catholic church.

With regard to what is called "the first communion," (which is
considered as the public ratification and confirmation of the vow of
my parents,) this I never received in the Romish church, nor did I
receive what is called the Sacrament of confirmation.

Before I could be united by the sacred bond of marriage to your
virtuous and beloved mother, it was necessary that I should confess.
This I did with extreme reluctance, feeling that nothing could be at
once more absurd, more tyrannical, or more degrading, than to oblige a
man to prostrate himself at the feet of a priest, a mortal, a sinner,
a child of corruption like himself, and there to make confessions to
him, which offended Deity alone could have a right to require: and to
receive absolution from him for faults with which he had no concern.
I could not, however, marry without confession, and therefore I was
obliged to submit; but no power on earth could have constrained me to
go further. The Sacrament, as the Roman Catholics receive it, had,
from infancy, excited in me feelings of disgust. My mind had always
revolted at the idea, that the great God of heaven could allow himself
to be _eaten_ by his creatures in the form of a little flour. Under
various pretence