sinner,
but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." The
confessor is just as frail, as mortal, as subject to human weakness, as
susceptible of human passions and vices, as the penitent himself. The
character he assumes to perform, by the imposition of his hands, does not
allay in him either the violence of appetite, or the claims of
self-interest. How is it possible to believe that, in the exercise of
his ministry, he can entirely rid himself of sentiments of hatred,
sympathy, rancour, and envy, with respect to the man or woman who kneels
at his feet, imploring through him the pardon of sin?

People greatly deceive themselves who imagine that the confessional, at
least in Spain, bears the least analogy to the case of a man who,
burthened with sorrow and repentance, comes in confidence to deposit the
weight of the burden which oppresses him on the bosom of his friend. No;
do not believe that the penitent hopes to find in the confessor a kind
consoling guide to wipe away his tears, pour into his bosom the balm of
hope, and present to him an endearing hand which may lead him in the way
of holiness. The confessor is an implacable judge, who speaks with
gentle smiles or bland insinuations, but who tears out, with an imperious
tone and formidable menaces, the secrets of the heart, and not only those
which may be connected with crime worthy of deep contrition and sincere
repentance, but even others which pertain to an order of things exempt
from the sinfulness attaching to human actions. The confessor has an
absolute right to know every thing without exception. The most
insignificant actions, and even the most innocent ones, must come to his
knowledge. He is not content with the spontaneous declaration that the
penitent feels disposed to make of all infractions of duty; but he
insists on examining the case with the most scrupulous minuteness, and
takes as much pains as would a clever, cunning lawyer to extract every
particle of evidence from the witnesses for or against a culprit on his
trial. Under this last point of view, auricular confession may be
considered as the most tyrannical, odious, and unmoral institution, which
superstition, leagued with sordid interests, could ever have invented.

Innumerable are the abuses made of this wicked instrument by the Spanish
clergy, and which have resulted in the abandonment of the confessional by
every educated, discreet, and intelligent man. Of those abuse