perienced youth. Many good Presbyterians imagine that all alarm on this score, is in a great measure groundless, if not ridiculous. They suppose that the Popish controversy, however important in former times, or in other countries, has ceased to be worthy of particular attention on the part of American Christians. They believe that the system of superstition and of spiritual tyranny built up by the Church of Rome is so manifestly unscriptural, so unreasonable, so essentially subversive of all the rights of conscience, and of private judgment, and so utterly at war with all the interests of good morals, that no Protestant youth of the least intelligence can be in danger of becoming a convert to such a system. But the truth is, that although the real character of the system is just as unscriptural, unreasonable, tyrannical and pestiferous as has been mentioned;-it has attractions to which the young, the inexperienced, and the dissolute are peculiarly apt to fall a prey. It may be said, without impropriety, that the religion of the Papacy is the religion of human nature. As Mr. Toplady, a pious clergyman of the Church of England, was acccustomed to say, that " every man is born an Arminian;' so it has also been said with equal truth, that "every man is born a Papist." That is, every man is born with such principles and tendencies as, left to themselves, will naturally conduct him to the substance of this system, as the foundation of his hope, and the guide of his life. Nothing is more certain than that the humbling, holy, self-denying plan of salvation by Christ, as laid down in the Gospel, is, of all others, the most distasteful to the natural feelings of the human heart. Pride, which was "the condemnation and snare of the devil," is equally "the condemnation and snare" of man. Guilty and polluted as sinful man is, he has an innate propensity to trust in himself, or in something done, or intended to be done, by himself, to avert the displeasure, and merit the favour of heaven. The hope of being in some way his own saviour, is the last which the rebel abandons. He is willing to undergo the heaviest drudgery of rites and ceremonies; to submit to the severest penances; to make long journies; to pay large sums of money; in short, to lacerate his body, and tax his purse, as far as he can bear, for a season, if by these he can enjoy the prospect of gaining the heavenly paradise. Any, or all these, he is willing to give for such a hope; but his heart he cannot, will not give.

Now, to relieve this impenitent unyielding mind,-which is

the mind of all men by nature-the system of Romanism comes in with the most plausible and fascinating allurements. It meets him with a system of most ingenious expedients for removing every difficulty, and satisfying every doubt, without the sacrifice of a single lust. It persuades him that if he be in regular communion with the church of Rome, he is, of course, in real covenant and communion with Christ:- that there is no need of any radical change of heart, provided he will submit to the dictation and the discipline of the constituted authorities of that church :-that by the sacrament of baptism a priest can regenerate him, and that no other change than that which baptism includes, need be sought or expected:that by this baptism, when regularly administered, all his sins are taken away, and he reconciled to God:-that by a regular attendance on the sacrament of penance, all his sins, committed from time to time, after baptism, may be certainly forgiven:

and that, by a regular confession and absolution during life, and the reception of extreme unction, when he comes to die, he may be assured of everlasting happiness; or that, at the worst, he will only be detained some time in purgatory, which, however, will be made very short and light, if he bequeath a handsome sum of money to the church, or if his surviving friends shall pay liberally for the prayers that may be said, and the masses performed for the rest of his soul. In short, according to this delusive system, a man may live and die without any real holiness, either of heart or of life, and yet, in spite of all that the Scriptures have so solemnly pronounced to the contrary, may be certain of seeing the Lord in peace. He need not trouble himself to read the Scriptures. The church reads, judges, and engages for him. The church has a stock of merit to dispose of, which, upon being properly paid for, she can set down to his account, and make available to his acceptance. So that, however multiplied and enormous his sins, and however obstinately and impenitently persisted in, to the last hour of his life;-still if he reverently submit to all the rites of the church, he is certain of salvation.—All this, provided he be sincere in his penances; and we all know what Papal sincerity means. If any should be at a loss on that point, let them read the account which the learned and venerable Dr. Mosheim gives of the Jesuit doctrine of philosophical sin, in his history of the seventeenth century. In support of these statements, testimony of the most unequivocal kind might be produced. I am aware, indeed, that several of them have been either denied, or ingeniously varnished over by

artful apologists for these unhallowed claims :-but I am very sure that when the whole system, taken together, if compared with its most authentic vouchers, my representation will be completely borne out in every particular. At any rate, it is certain that the system has been and is so represented by a multitude of its actual ecclesiastical administrators, and so understood by the great mass of its devoted adherents.

Now, I ask, is it any wonder that multitudes, and especially of the young, the sanguine, and the inexperienced, are captivated with this system, and fly to it as a refuge from every doubt and fear? Is it any wonder that such a plausible and insinuating form of religion, adapted to conciliate the strongest propensities of our nature, and, at the same time, embodied in a gaudy, dazzling ritual--should be found to attract and beguile those who have not been faithfully put on their guard against its delusions? In truth, it would rather be wonderful if it were not so. And those parents who are not aware of the danger to which youth are peculiarly exposed, when brought in contact with this flattering, delusive plan of acceptance with God, are but poorly qualified to be their counsellors and guides in spiritual things.

These remarks, my Christian brethren, are something more than mere theory. It is well known to intelligent observers of passing scenes, that our Roman Catholic neighbours, knowing where their strength lies, and deeply acquainted with human nature, are labouring with unwearied diligence, to obtain the education of as large a portion of our youth as possible. They multiply seminaries beyond the wants of their own population. They take the utmost pains to furnish them with popular, attractive teachers; to puff them liberally in newspaper advertisements; and to invite all denominations of Christians to come in and partake of their advantages. They promise to do more for their pupils, and upon far cheaper terms, than any of their neighbours. And they deceive the simple by the most solemn assurances, that no attempt to interfere with the religious opinions of their pupils will in any case be allowed. On the faith of such offers and assurances, Protestants, in large numbers, have been induced to send their children to these Popish institutions; and to subscribe, in some cases largely, toward their support, under the impression that they were thereby promoting a plan by no means sectarian, but perfectly liberal and benevolent in its whole design. It is against this deception that I wish to put Presbyterians on their guard. It may be safely asserted that pledges of total non-interference

with the religious principles and connexions of children committed for education to the care of Papists, however absolute and solemn, are seldom, nay, strictly speaking, almost never redeemed. Of the truth of this assertion, it has fallen to my lot not only to hear, but to know of the most flagrant and distressing examples. Indeed it is due to candour, and to the veracity of those who make such pledges, to say, that it is almost impossible they should be really and faithfully redeemed. The spirit of the Papacy is a spirit of proselytism to the very core. The whole tendency of its rites is to dazzle and allure. It cannot be expected, or even requested, of the conductors of such seminaries as I have alluded to, that they should hide from the eyes of their pupils the rites and ceremonies of their own worship. Yet it is almost impossible that those rites should be even witnessed by youthful minds, from day to day, for a considerable time together, without mischief. The instructors, indeed, may so far keep their promise, as never to say a word to their pupils, which if heard, even by their parents themselves, would be construed into a direct violation of their engagement. But they can, systematically, pursue a course of treatment peculiarly affectionate and attractive toward those whom they wish to win. They can flatter, cajole, and ensnare them in ten thousand nameless and covert ways. They can manage so as to present some of their most peculiar rites and practices under very alluring aspects. They can contrive to give hints and inuendoes, and to make impressions in favour of what they wish to recommend, not only without words, but, perhaps, more powerfully without than with them. Of these unceasing artifices, pious, simple-hearted Protestants are not sufficiently aware; but Jesuits, and those who have imbibed Jesuitical maxims and principles, which without injustice may be said essentially to belong to the general system of Romanism,-understand them perfectly.

It is perfect infatuation, then, for Protestants, in any case, to expose their children to such a snare. For, on the one hand, I know of no Popish Seminary in the United States which affords any advantage not to be obtained in an equal degree in Protestant institutions; and, on the other, I have seen, in so many instances, the most irreparable mischief done to the religious character of youth by committing their literary training to the hands of Roman Catholics, that I would lift up my voice, if it were possible, in every part of the United States, and warn all Protestants, and especially all Presbyterians, if

they have the least regard to the everlasting well-being of their children, not to expose their tender years and their forming minds to an influence so likely to be followed by fatal injury. It is, no doubt, the duty of Christian parents to place their children in situations as favourable as possible to the development and culture of their intellectual powers. But they are still more solemnly bound to provide for the faithful and sound culture of their moral and religious principles, and to guard them with the utmost vigilance against those dazzling deceptions which cannot fail of putting the soul to hazard. If ever there was an instance of false and ruinous "liberality," it is that which will not believe the dangers of Popish instruction; which pronounces all opposition to it, and warning against it, "bigotry" and "persecution;" and which is ready to subject youth to the most formidable snare, rather than forego the tinsel advantages, which might be quite as well attained from other sources, without any countervailing peril. If you wish your children to be allured into the belief of " another Gospel" from that on which you profess to rest your own hopes; if you wish them to be betrayed into an abandonment of the right of private judgment, and a submission to the most degrading spiritual tyranny that ever held in chains the consciences of men, then send them for their education to Popish Seminaries.

Let none imagine that the system of Popery is either less corrupt, or less dangerous than it once was. Hear, on this subject, the opinion of the eloquent, pious, and learned Robert Hall, late of Great Britain, whose faithful warning is couched in the following strong language-" Popery still is what it always was, a detestable system of impiety, cruelty, and imposture, fabricated by the father of lies. It combines the "form of godliness" with a total " denial of its power." A heap of unmeaning ceremonies, adapted to fascinate the imagination, and engage the senses; implicit faith in human authority, combined with an utter neglect of divine teaching; ignorance the most profound, joined to dogmatism the most presumptuous;--a vigilant exclusion of biblical knowledge, together with a total extinction of free inquiry;-present the spectacle of a religion lying in state, surrounded with the silent pomp of death. The very absurdities of such a religion render it less unacceptable to men whose decided hostility to truth inclines them to view with complacency whatever obscures its beauty, or impedes its operation. Of all the corruptions of Christianity which have prevailed to any considerable extent,