THIS little book was not written from a diary containing minute details of the events as they occurred day by day, and therefore it cannot pretend to be more or less than what it really is—recollections of past events as they have come to my mind at different times. This will account for the somewhat unconnected form in which they are presented to the reader. As for the truth of what is contained in this pamphlet, I can vouch for every statement, not having written it at the suggestion or desire of any one, but really to serve the cause of truth.
Whether it will be believed or not I do not know, but I fear no criticism that may be passed by any, being fully conscious of the trustworthy statements of its pages, however faulty the style of expressing those statements may be.
The pernicious and wide-spreading influence of monasticism is in no need of exaggeration to excite interest and attention of those who desire to see our common faith—that faith which was once delivered to the saints—preserved in all its purity and holiness, unmixed or contaminated by the subtle poison of Priestcraft.
We live in a day of what men call great and rapid progress, progress indeed in the world of science, advancement in all the worldly economy of this life; but alas! in all that pertains to the glory of our God and His church the movement cannot be spoken of as anything else than retrograde.
Yes; indeed, events travel very fast in our day, and Romanism, too, is making rapid strides in the country, in proof of which I have only to quote the following extract from a recent article in the "Weekly Register," a Roman Catholic journal: — “In England the work of conversion has continued during the past year with steady and not very slow steps. To name or even indicate individuals who have been received during the past twelve months would be foreign to our purpose. This much we may say, that the number of converts in London alone has been upwards of two thousand during the past year, and has during the past few weeks increased very much. From every Ritualistic congregation in London there is a continual stream of converts drifting towards us, and the number would be increased had we priests sufficient.
“In various parts of the country different Anglican clergymen have been received into the church, to the number of some ten or a dozen: and at least as many ladies connected with the various Anglican sisterhoods have followed in the same direction.”
It is perhaps no wonder that Rome walks forward with gloomy footsteps, yet confident of victory, to what she believes will be a great consummation in her history, and will make amends for her humiliation in the past. For the time when all that seductive show of outward sanctity was, through the mercy of God, torn aside, revealed to the world at large the real character of that system which professes to be the only true church of God on earth, with direct succession from apostolic times and many other pretensions equally false.
The following recollections are the history of ten years, which have been years of peculiar interest in my life. I have been separated from the world, from my kindred and friends, from all life's ordinary pursuits and objects, its anxieties, hopes, and fears, and been trained in spirit like men are sometimes trained in body who have to struggle desperately for mastery, or to perform feats of skill which seem impossible to ordinary men.
I learned to wrench myself from mother, brother, friends, and, indeed, all my connections, or, as we may say in a word, from society root and branch, in order to be reconstructed as an individual. But perhaps you will ask, what, was the high and lofty object that would induce any one to undergo this painful process—what was the goal to which such instructions would tend?
I can only reply that although I had an ideal state before my mind to which I hoped to attain, yet on looking back from the present time I can see that it was for no better purpose than to further the plans of Rome.
Since leaving the monastic state I have spoken of these experiences to some of my friends from time to time, and as they have been interested with the recital I thought that perhaps a narrative of my spiritual training under the influences of monasticism would be instructive to many, especially at the present time when the religious world all the country over seems to be yearning after change or novelty in forms of worship.
These pages, therefore, consist mainly of just such hidden thought and feelings as a great many are apt to indulge in, but which they are too cautious and prudent to lay before the world; but my object is not to gratify any personal feeling, but to give a clear idea of the nature and spirit of that monasticism which is now working so successfully in our very midst.