freed from all responsibility with respect to the civil
power, united among themselves by the bonds of a common interest, and
forming a privileged caste, considered generally as the depositaries of
divine power. All this rested upon the basis of confession.

But the most deplorable inconvenience of these practices, and that which
makes it incompatible with the public morals, is the facility of pardon
offered for those criminal excesses and to the most abandoned depravity.
He who can be assured of the efficacy of a remedy which is at his
disposition every moment does not fear exposing himself to temptation.
The most obstinate sinner, the perpetrator of the most atrocious crimes,
knows that he has in his hand, already, absolution for all his
excesses,--that he is free from all responsibility and all
consequences,--and, in a word, that he can transform himself into a saint
or an angel by the mere performance of the rite which his church
prescribes. If, after this purification, he returns to his old habits,
and gives himself up to his wicked inclinations, the same process of
absolution is at hand, and can be repeated as often as he pleases; and as
the administration of this sacrament, on the part of the priest, becomes,
through force of repetition, a mere matter of routine, it can hardly be
supposed that the words he utters can carry along with them any efficacy,
as they might be expected to do if they were those of a truly devoted
minister of Jesus Christ. To assure oneself of these truths, let any one
attend a Spanish church on one of those days on which it is necessary
"_to comply with the church_," and draw near to those confessional-boxes
which are there erected for the use of the penitents. He will there see
people successively throw themselves down on their knees before a priest,
pronounce a few words, hear a slight admonition, and then rise up to make
way for another person who in his turn does the like, and so on during
the day. Can any one believe that this almost insignificant ceremony is
sufficient to impress on any mind that profound feeling, that intense
grief for past sins, and that firm resolve to sin no more, which are the
true signs of contrition and repentance? Can it be believed that the
treasures of divine mercy and forgiveness are open to all comers, who,
persisting in their sinful course, think fit to come, and, as a matter of
right, demand them as they would passports at the office of the police?