xt7b5m625h3k https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7b5m625h3k/data/mets.xml Rice, N. L. (Nathan Lewis), 1807-1877. 1837  books b92bx1765r482009 English D. Holcomb & Co., Printers : Louisville, Ky. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Catholic Church --Controversial literature --Protestant authors. Account of the law-suit instituted by Rev. G. A. M. Elder ... against Rev. N. L. Rice ... for a pretended libel on the character of Rev. David Duparque, a Roman priest. Together with some remarks on celibacy and nunneries. text Account of the law-suit instituted by Rev. G. A. M. Elder ... against Rev. N. L. Rice ... for a pretended libel on the character of Rev. David Duparque, a Roman priest. Together with some remarks on celibacy and nunneries. 1837 2009 true xt7b5m625h3k section xt7b5m625h3k 
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   42 
    
   AN

ACCOUNT

op

THE LAW-SUIT

instituted by

Rev. G. A. M. ELDER, PRESIDENT OF ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE,

against

Rev. N. L. RICE,

PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER,

rOR A PRETENDED LIBEL ON THE CHARACTER OF

Rev. DAVID DUPARQUE,

A ROMAN PRIEST.

TOGETHER WITH some REMARKS ON CELIBACY AND NUNNERIES.

BY REV. N. L. RICE,

pastor of the presbyterian church in bardstown.

LOUISVILLE, KY.:

I>. HOLCOMB $ CO., PRINTERS.

1837. 
    
   INTRODUCTION.

The present little volume would never have been obtruded upon the public, but for the recent efforts of the Roman clergy of Bardstown to ruin the author by a civil suit for a pretended libel upon the character of a priest. Providentially located in Bardstown several years since, he found Popery in power there. The Roman clergy, by means of the number of their adherents, their wealth, their literary institutions and their political power, exerted an almost irresistible influence. Circumstances made It his duty to deliver several lectures in defence of Protestantism, which had so long been misrepresented by them. This step on his part brought down upon him the wrath of the establishment. A controversy of considerable length ensued. They linally retired from the public discussion, a"d published against him a very abusive book, under a fictitious signature. Soon after this, they commenced the publication of the Catholic Advocate in Bardstown. In self-defence, he thought it necessary also to publish a paper. He therefore commenced the publication of the Western Protestant, a paper which ho still edits. Several articles published in the Protestant, concerning a Nun who had disappeared under suspicious circumstances, afforded the priests an opportunity, which they greedily embraced, to injure him by a civil suit.   The principal 
   iv

INTRODUCTION.

design of this little volume, is to present to the public the evidence introduced into Court in the trial. The evidence was taken down from the mouths of the witnesses, and read and signed by the Court. As this is the first suit of the kind that has occurred in our country, and as the testimony   ill throw some light upon the true character of Nunneries, the author has, at the solicitation of a number of friends, presented the evidence to an inquiring public.

In addition to this, the reader will find some remarks, in the first part of this work, on the subject of Cel'bacy, Nunneries, &c, designed to show the immoral tendency of such establishments, and the impropriety of educating young females in them. That the motives of the author will be impugned by Papists and their tools, is what he is induced by the past to anticipate. For that, however, he is not particularly concerned. He has for a length of time been convinced, that the public were deceived in relation to the true character of Nunneries; and he feels it to be his duty to submit "his views, formed after considerable examination, to a candid public, that they may judge of their correctness and act accordingly. The advantages in favor of Protestantism, resulting from the controversy thus far, reconcile him to the abuse which has been heaped upon him by the clergy and some of their misguided votaries. 
   CELIBACY.

"It is not good for man to he alone," was the language of God, when he first created him. Accordingly, he made for him "a help mete." This doctrine was believed and acted upon from the creation until the church of Rome discovered that celibacy was a holier state than matrimony. The priests who officiated at the altar under the old Dispensation, were required to he holy; but they vere never forbidden to marry. The apostles of Christ were expected to be "examples of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in purity;" (1 Tim. 4: 12;) yet they claimed the right "to lead about a sister, a wife," and the "brethren of the Lord and Cephas" exercised that right. 1 Cor. 9:5. It is rather remarkable, that Jesus Christ should have cho-son a married man for the first Pope; for Peter certainly had a wife. "And Simon's wife** mother was taken with a great fever." Luke 4: 38. It is true, Paul recommended in time of persecution, that those who could safely do so, should remain single: "I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress; I say, that it is good for a man so to be." 1 Cor. 7: 26. Yet in the verse preceding he says, "Now concerning virgins / have no commandment of the Lord;''' and so wrell was he acquainted with human nature, that after having said "It is good for a man not to touch a woman," he immedi-1* 
   6

CELIBACY.

ately gives this advice: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1 Cor. 8: 1, 2. And so far from forbidding clergymen to marry, when directing Titus in the election of men to be ordained bishops he says, "If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children," &c. Titus 1 :.t>. ut Writing to Timothy he says, "A bishop must Be blameless, the Jmsbayid of one wife."   1 Tim. 3: 'Z.

Such is the plain and simple teaching of the word of God upon this subject. But the Pope and his clergy have become wise "above what is written." They have made the discovery, it would seem, that by marriage, which God says "is honorable in all," men contract a degree of impurity so great, that they are wholly unfit to exercise the office of the ministry. They have thought fit to annul or deny the doctrine of Paul, and to say, a bishop must not be the husband of one wife, must not have children. They would even depose a man from the ministry, who should be as impure as Peter was, and as Paul claimed the right to be! Nay, they will not even allow the lowest order of deacons to be as unholy as the apostles of Christ were! For it should be observed, that the Roman church does not require celibacy of her clergy merely as a matter of expediency, but because it is a holier state. The council of Trent says. "Whoever shall affirm, that the conjugal state is to be preferred to a life of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not better and more conducive to happiness to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be married; let him be accursed." And the Catechism of Trent says, "As it is the duty 
   t'KMBACY.

7

of the pastor to propose to himself the holiness and perfection of the faithful, his earnest desires must be in full accordance with those of the Apostle, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says, 'I would that all men were even as myself;' that is, that all embraced the virtue of continence." p. 225.

This doctrine is somewhat singular, when we consider that marriage is one of the seven sacraments of the Roman church. "Whoever shall affirm that matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law   and does not confer grace   let him be accursed." Matrimony is a sacrament which confers grace; and yet we have more grace by refusing, than by receiving it! It is worthy of remark, in passing, that in reference to the ability of all persons to live virtuously in a state of celibacy, the council of Trent flatly contradicts the word of God. They sny, "Whoever shall affirm, that all persons may marry who feel that though they should make a vow of chastity, they have not the gift thereof; let him be accursed   for God does not deny his gifts to those who ask aright, neither does he suffer us to be tempted above that we are able." Here we are taught that all persons can obtain the gift of chastity, as they call it, if they choose. But what does the Saviour say? "His disciples say unto him, 'If the case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.' " This looked something like a squinting at Popery. "But he said unto them '   Jill men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.'' " Math. 18: 10, 11. Paul says, "I would that all men were even as I myself; but every man hath his proper 
   celibacy.

gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that."   1 Cor. 7: 7.

But suppose we admit that Paul really desired that all men should abstain from marriage, and of course that the human race should become extinct; and that he did advise, all to remain unmarried; would this justify the church of Rome in positively commanding what God did not command? Paul says expressly, "Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord." And again, "But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned.'1' 1 Cor. 7: 25, 28. Paul had no commandment on this subject; but the Pope has. Paul says, if thou marry thou hast not sinned. The Pope says, thou hast sinned. Paul was enabled by inspiration to look into futurity and sec the origin of Popery; and he mentions as a characteristic of the great apos-tacy, "forbidding to marry." 1 Tim. 4: 3. God says to his ministers, you may marry; the Pope says, you shall not; I will depose you from the ministry if you do. Nay, more; God. says, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man (priest and all) have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." The Pope says, this is very bad advice   it is easy to avoid fornication without marriage; or rather, marriage is worse than fornication!     Paul says, "I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully; for some arc already turned aside after Satan." 1 Tim. 5: 14,15. But the Pope says, I will that the younger women marry not, that they be nuns, that they take the vow of "poverty, chastity and obedience," that they serve the clergy; 
   celibacy.

9

for it is not true, but a malicious slander, that "some arc already turned aside after Satan! Do not these contradictions of God look something like the man "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped?"

If God had required all his ministers to live unmarried, doubtless he would have enabled them to do so. But are we to imagine, that he will restrain and subdue the passions of men to enable them to observe one of "the traditions of men"   a law directly in the face of his word? It was but reasonable to anticipate the shameful immoralities which have prevailed, as the inevitable consequence of the arbitrary and unscriptural law of celibacy. It is not surprising, that in every age licentiousness has been the crying sin of the Roman clergy. The following dark picture of the morals of the Popes and inferior clergy at the beginning of the 11th cGntury, is drawn by Rev. Joseph Reeve, a Roman Catholic historian:

"Simony and incontinence had struck deep root among the clergy of England, Italy, Germany, and France. The evil began under those unworthy Popes, who so shamefully disgraced the tiara by their immoral conduct, in the tenth century; the scandal spread, and had now continued so long, that the inferior clergy pleaded custom for their irregularities. Many even of the bishops were equally unfaithful to their vow, and with greater guilt. Hence the corrupt laity, being under no apprehension of a reproof from men as deeply immersed in vice as they, gave free scope to their passions. To 
   to

celibacy.

stem the torrent of so general a licentiousness which then deluged the Christian world, required the fortitude of an apostle." Church Hist., vol. 1, Sec. 9.

This is but one example of what has constantly occurred, to a greater or less extent, in consequence of the law of celibacy. All history proclaims the licentiousness of the Roman clergy. Robertson, the historian, says, "The severe and unnatural law of celibacy occasioned such irregularities, that in several parts of Europe the concubinage of priests wa   not only permitted, but enjoined." . Charles V., Book 2, p. 136. We would by no means assert, that all the Roman priesthood violate their vow; but we do say, that occurrences of this kind must inevitably be very frequent, so long as the law of celibacy exists. Young men, who know little of themselves or of the temptations that await them in life, are induced to take the vow and enter the priesthood. They may be very sincere in their resolution to keep the solemn vow they have taken; but they who are acquainted with human nature, and who know the strong temptations to which they must be exposed, will greatly doubt whether their resolution may not fail. Such would naturally he our apprehensions, even without any knowledge of facts; but when Roman historians inform us, that the church has been deluged with the crime of licentiousness   that Popes, bishops, priests, and inferior clergy have fallen and broken their vow, and that by their example the people were corrupted; and when we know, that in Europe, South America and Mexico, incontinence pre- 
   celibacy.

11

vails even now among the clergy of all grades    how can we resist the conviction, that even in our own country they are not all chaste? I cannot withhold from my readers the following painfully eloquent testimony of Rev. J. 13. White on this subject. lie was for many years a priest in Spain,and speaks what he personally knows:

"That my feelings arc painfully vehement when I dwell upon this subject; that neither the freedom I have enjoyed so many years, nor the last repose of the victims, the remembrance of whom s'ill wrings tears from my eyes, can allay bitter pangs of my youth   are proofs that my views arise from a real, painful, and protracted experience. Of monks and friars I knew comparatively little, because the vague suspicions, of which even the most pious Spanish parents cannot divest themselves, prevented my frequenting the interior of monasteries during boyhood. My own judgment, and the general disgust which the prevailing grossness and vulgarity of the regulars create in those who daily see them, kept me subsequently away from all friendly.intcrcouise with the cowled tribes; but of the secular clergy, and the amiable life prisoners of the church of Rome, few, if any, can possess a more intimate knowledge than myself. Devoted to the ecclesiastical profession since the age of fifteen, when I received the minor orders, I lived in constant friendship with the most distinguished youths who, in my town, were preparing for the priesthood. Men of the first eminence in the church were the old friends of my family, my parents' and my own spiritual directors.   Thus I grew up, thus I continued in 
   12

CELIBACY*

manhood, till, at the age of five-and-thirty, religion, and religion alone, tore me away from kindred and country. The intimacy of friendship, the undisguised converse of sacramental confession, opened to me the hearts of many, whose exterior conduct might have deceived a common observer. The coarse frankness of associate dissoluteness, left no secrets among the spiritual slaves, who, unable to separate the laws of God from those of their tyrannical church, trampled both under foot, in riotous despair. Such are the sources of the knowledge I possess: God, sorrow, and remorse, are my witnesses.

A more blameless, ingenuous, religious fct of youths than that in the enjoyment of whose friendship I passed the best years of my life, the world cannot boast of. Eight of us, all nearly of the same age, lived in the closest bond of affection, from sixteen till one-and-twenty; and four, at least, continued in the same intimacy till that of about thirty-five. Of this knot of friends, not one was tainted by the breath of vice till the church had doomed them to a life of celibacy, and turned the best affections of their hearts into crime. It is the very refinement of church cruelty to say they were free when they deprived themselves of their natural rights. Less, indeed, would be the unfeelingness of a parent who, watching a moment of generous excitement, would deprive a son of his birth-right, and doom him, by a voluntary act, to pine away through life in want and misery. A virtuous youth of onc-and-twenty, who is made to believe Christian perfection inseparable from a life of celibacy, will 
   celibacy.

13

easily overlook the dangers which beset that state of life. Those viho made, and those who still support the unnatural law, which turns the mistaken piety of youth into a source of future vice, ought to have learned mercy from their own experience: hut a priest who has waded (as most do) through the miry slough of a life of incessant temptation   falling, and rising, stumbling, struggling, and falling again, without at once casting off Catholicism with Christianity, contracts generally habits of mind not unlike those of the guards of oricntial beauty. Their hearts have been seared with envy.

I cannot think of the wanderings of the friends of my youth without heart-rending pain. One, now no more, whose talents raised him to one of the highest dignities of the church of Spain, was for many years a model of Christian purity. When, by- the powerful influence of his mind and the warmth of his devotion, this man had drawn many into the clerical and the religious life, (my youngest sister among the latter,) he sunk at once into the grossest and most daring profligacy. 1 heard him boast that the night before the solemn procession of Corpus Christi, where he appeared nearty at the head of his chapter, one of two children had been born, which his two concubines brought to light within a few days of each other. The intrigues of ambition soon shared his mind with the pursuit of pleasure; and the fall of a potentate, whom he took the trouble to instruct in the policy of Machiavel, involved him in danger and distress for a time. He had risen again into court influence, when death cut him off in the flower of life. I had loved him when both 2 
   CELIBACY.

our minds were pure: I loved him when Catholicism had driven us both from the path of virtue: I still love, and will love his memory, and hope that God's mercy has pardoned his life of sin, without imputing it to the .abettors of the barbarous laws which caused his spiritual ruin.

Such, more or less, has been the fate of my early friends, whose minds and hearts were much above the common standard of the Spanish clergy. What then need I say of the vulgar crowd of priests, who, coming, as the Spanish phrase has it, from coarse swaddling clothes, and raised by ordination to a rank of life for which     hey have not been prepared, mingle vice and superstition, grossncss of feeling, and pride of office, in their characters? Ihave known the best among them; I have heard their confessions; I have heard the confessions of young persons of both sexes, who fell under the influence of their suggestions and example; and I do declare that nothing enn he more dangerous to } oufhful virtue than their company. How many souls would be saved from crime, but for the vain display of pretended superior virtue, which Rome demands of her clergy."

Such is the testimony of White, and such the uniform testimony of all who leave the Roman priesthood. 
   DANGER FROM CONFESSION.

15

DANGER FROM CONFESSION.

It is a wise arrangement of Divine Providence, that we can know the thoughts and feelings of our fellow-creatures, only so far as they choose to reveal them. There is in every one's bosom a sacred retreat, within which none can intrude j and this is one of the chief safeguards to virtue. Every mind has its thoughts and feelings, which should be known only to the Searcher of hearts, and which that delicacy which God has implanted in the bosom, forbids us to reveal to any. Into this sacred temple of the soul the church of Rome bids her priests to enter. She teaches the absurd and impious doctrine, that the clergy have the power to forgive sins, and that thi* forgiveness "is not to be considered as merely a ministry, whether to publish the gospel or to declare the remission of sins, but as of the nature of a judicial act, in which sentence is pronounced by him (the priest) as a judge." Council of Trent, Chap. 6, on Penance. Hence the same council makes the following declarations: "For it is plain that the priests cannot sustain the office of judge, if the cause be unknown to them, or inflict equitable punishments if sins are only confessed in general, and not minutely and individually described. For this reason it follows that penitents are bound to rehearse in confession all mortal sins, of which after diligent examination of themselves they are conscious, even though they be of the most secret kind, and only committed against the two last precepts of the deca- 
   L6

DANGER FROM CONFESSION.

logue." Ib., Chap. 5, of Confession. But the penitent is required to do more than enumerate all his mortal sins in confession. The Catechism of Trent says "With the bare enumeration of our mortal sins, we should not be satisfied; that enumeration we should accompany with the relation of such circumstances as considerably aggravate or extenuate their malice. Has any one imbrued his hands in the blood of his fellow-man? He must state whether his victim was a layman or an ecclesiastic. Has he had criminal intercourse with any one? He must state whether the female was married or unmarried, a relative or a person consecrated to God by vow." Pp. 194, 195, Donovan's Translation. Tf any nnp neglect to rojvfcss any mortal sin of which, after careful self-examination, he is conscious; "he not only does not obtain the pardon of his sins, but involves himself in deeper guilt," and "profanes the sanctity of the sacrament." Great fault is found with those, "who yielding to a foolish bashfulness, cannot induce themselves to confess their sins. Such persons are to be encouraged by exhortation, and to be reminded, that there is no reason whatever why they should yield to such false delicacy." Ib., pp. 195, 198.

Such is the infallible doctrine of the church of Rome in regard to confession to a priest. Every Roman clergyman is an unmarried man; and yet he must hear the confessions of all classes of females; and they must, at the peril of their souls, rehearse to him every mortal sin, even the most secret, with all the attending circumstances; and this is to be done in private. Need I do more than simply mention these facts, to 
   DANGER FROM CONFESSION.   1

convince every one that the confessional presents the strongest possible temptations to licentiousness? And is it not equally manifest, that it affords to the dissolute priest the fairest opportunity to ruin his female penitents? We must give the Roman clergy credit for much more holiness than we suppose others to possess, if our confidence in their virtue be not shaken by these considerations; and we must regard the present generation as far purer than their predecessors in the ministry. Nay, we must suppose that their own standard writers have slandered them. The following is the language of Ligori (who has been sainted) on this subject: "In hearing the confessions of women, and in holding communications with them, let him (the confessor) exercise that austerity which is proper, according to prudence; and therefore let him refuse small presents; let him avoid familiarity, and all other things which can be cause of attachment. (Adhesionis.) OA, how many confessors, on account of some negligence about this, have ruined (peridederunt) their own souls, and the souls of their penitents." Moralis Theol. vol. 9, p. 172. We presume, it will scarcely be maintained, that St. Ligori has slandered his brethren; and he declares   for the exclamation is equivalent to a declaration    that, very many confessors have ruined their penitents in the confessional! Parents may well tremble for the virtue of their daughters, when such is the testimony, not of enemies, but of standard writers and saints. And why are this temptation to the priest and this exposure of female delicacy necessary? Only because in their presumption the Roman clerery have 2* 
   18

DANGER FROM CONFESSION.

claimed authority which belongs alone to God: authority to forgive the sins of men!

We have made these remarks to show that there are just grounds for withholding from the Roman clergy that unlimited confidence which they claim; for since they have the superintendence of female academies, and are establishing institutions throughout our country, into which young females are enticed under the pretence of living a more religious life, the public are interested in knowing how far they may safely confide in them. We have no objection that men who prefer a state of celibacy should embrace it; nor do we suspect their purity on that account. Many of the most respectable men, men whose characters are above reproach, are unmarried. But the thing to which we object, as mischievous in its tendency, is compelling yonng men, before they can enter the ministry, to bind themselves by a most solemn oath to a mode of life for which they are not fitted. Let it be matter of choice to every one to marry or not, as he pleases, and when he pleases; and our objections cease.

Still more do we object to the doctrine which compels females to confess to such unmarried men all their mortal sins. This places temptation before them in its most dangerous form; while it offers impunitj to dissolute conduct. The doctrines of celibacy and of auricular con-confession can never exist together, without producing, in many instances, results the most disastrous. If ministers of Protestant denominations choose single life, they have no auricular confessions to tempt them to depart from the path of virtue.   And it is well worthy of ro- 
   NUNNERIES.

mark, that whatever failings or sins may have been observable in Protestant ministers, there never has been a period when they have been chargeable, to any considerable extent, with the sin of licentiousness; or when the Protestant churches have been '   '   deluged" as Reeve says of the Roman church, with that sin. For this difference between Roman and Protestant clergymen, there are two important reasons   the latter are allowed to marry if they choose, and they hear no secret confessions.

NUNNERIES.

The female convents established in our country by the Roman clergy, are now become objects of attention, both because of their number, and because they are proposed as places of education for our daughters. Their character as literary institutions, and their moral influence, are proper subjects of inquiry. The precise number of Nunneries, properly so called, in the U. States, we do not know; but we learn from the Catholic Almanac of 1837, that there are twenty-three Female Religious Institutions and twenty-seven Female Academics, with a number of charitable institutions, under the care of the various order of Nuns. That these institutions, annually multiplying, exert a powerful influence upon society, cannot be doubted.   The charac- 
   20

nunneries.

ter of that influence every patriot and every Christian is interested to know. I am convinced, after considerable investigation of this subject, that their tendency and their influence have been, and ever must be, injurious, wherever- they exist. I will briefly give some of the reasons by which I have been led to this conclusion, and leave the candid to weigh their importance.

In the first place, it is proper to remark, that such establishments were unknown to the primitive church. We read nothing concerning them either in the Old or in the New Testament   so that we may safely oppose them, without opposing Christianity. Monkery had its origin in that absurd maxim of ancient Philosophy, "that in order to the attainment of the true-felicity and communion with God, it was necessary that the soul should be separated from the body even here below, and the body was to be macerated and mortified for that purpose." The adoption of this erroneous principle in the third century "drove many into caves and deserts, where they macerated their bodies with hunger and thirst, and submitted to all the miseries of the severest discipline that a gloomy imagination could prescribe." This wild fanaticism had its origin in Egypt and the surrounding countries, and was doubtless strengthened by the peculiarity of the climate. In a form considerably modified and mitigated, it was introduced into Europe, and soon caused most deplorable evils. An institution founded upon a principh so very absurd, could scarcely be supposed to be favorable to religion or science. 
   NUNNERIES.

21

Second.   We object to the monastic system because of the vows imposed on its votaries. Young females, unacquainted with themselves and with the world, are induced, under the influence of romantic feelings and superstitious notions, to forsake their homes and their parents, and to bind themselves by a religious vow to a certain mode of life during the rest of their days. Their vow is "poverty, chastity and obedience." In many instances they bind themselves to live and die upon the spot where stands their prison, and never to leave its gloomy walls. Have they the right thus to dispose of themselves for life? Suppose their parents,in the afflictions of declining age, should need their filial attentions.   Reason, affection, and the law

of rj-nr^-r-gqnirp flipm in gf> :ind   rorpfort them:

but their blind guides have imposed on them an oath that forbids them to obey. It was conduct based on this principle that the Saviour so severely condemned in the Scribes and Pharisees. "For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your traditions." Math. 15: 4, G. Just so, if the parents of a veiled Nun need her assistance, she can say to them, "It is a gift"   I am consecrated to God   I cannot honor my father and mother. Or suppose the health of a Nun, who has taken the veil for life, should fail, and might be restored by leaving the convent: her vow 
   22

NUNNERIES.

binds her to the prison, and compels her to break that commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." Or suppose she is unhappy in the cloister; she may weep bitter tears in her cell, but she is chained to the spot by a most solemn vow, if by no more powerful means. Besides, were she to break her vow and return to the world, she must meet the withering scorn of all her relations and former friends. Detained by motives so strong, if not by physical force, many a delicate female has in wretchedness pined away, and found an early grave. But my readers will be more interested by the following remarks of Rev. J. B. White, once a Roman priest and afterwards an Episcopalian clergyman, than by any thing that I can say:

"The picture of female convents requires a more delicate pencil; yet I cannot find tints sufficiently dark and gloomy to portray the miseries which I have witnessed in their inmates. Crime, indeed, makes its way into those recesses, in spite of the spiked walls and prison grates which protect the inhabitants. This I know with all the certainty which the self-accusation of the guilty can give. It is, besides, a notorious fact, that the nunneries in Estremadura and Portugal are frequently infected with vice of the grossest kind. But I will not dwell on this revolting part of the picture. The greater part of the nuns whom I have known were beings of much higher description   females whose purity owed nothing to the strong gates and high walls of the cloister; but who still had a human heart, and felt, in many instances, and during a great portion 
   nunneries.

23

of their lives, the weight of the vows which had deprived them of their liberty. Some there arc, I confess, among the nuns, who, like birds hatched in a cage, never seem to long for freedom; but the happi