giving and retaining sins to the pastors of his Church, naturally and necessarily presupposed the necessity of confessing our sins to them for obtaining pardon and forgiveness; and by these means, this holy action of confessing was raised up to the dignity of being an essential part of the sacrament, and an effectual means of obtaining pardon for our sins; whereas before, it was only a legal observance, useful indeed, and conducive to the reconciliation of the penitent sinner with God, but not the efficacious and certain means, as it now is, of obtaining that favour.

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Q. 24. Is there any other reason to shew that the duty of confessing our sins is ordained by Jesus Christ?

A. The very nature of this duty itself proves it to a demonstration; for, as it is a duty exceedingly contrary to flesh and blood, most humbling to our pride, and most afflicting to self-love, it is plainly impossible that mankind could ever have been induced to practise it as a necessary duty, by any human authority, or indeed by any other means whatsoever, than the full conviction, that God himself required it from them; and this conviction they never could have got, if it had not been introduced into the world with Christianity itself, and flowed from the same divine source with it. Let us suppose, for example, that the Christians of the first ages had no knowledge of this practice, nor believed it necessary to confess their sins; who would ever have dared, in after ages, to introduce so heavy a yoke, or impose such a burden upon the faithful? What opposition must such an attempt have met with! What clamours would have been raised against it! What divisions and dissensions must it not have occasioned! And, how would every body have cried out against it as a novelty, an imposition, a heresy, and what not! Suppose any body at pre

sent should attempt to introduce it into a Protestant country, would any power on earth be able to establish it? It is, therefore, plainly impossible that ever it could have been established in the Christian world, but by the command of Almighty God himself. Besides, all monuments of antiquity clearly shew, that it has been universally received and practised through the whole Christian Church, in all countries, and in all ages; nor is it possible to assign any other beginning to it than that of Christianity itself. Add to all this, the infallible authority of the Church of Christ, which always did, and to this day does, hold and teach as a truth revealed by Jesus Christ to his apostles, and by them delivered to their followers, that the duty of confessing our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, is commanded by God himself, and is his express law to all Christians.

Q. 25. Is sacramental confession of any other advantage besides its being a necessary means of getting our sins pardoned?

A. It is, both to the penitent himself and to society; for, (1.) with regard to the penitent, it serves to discharge part of the debt of temporal punishment due to his sins, it delivers him from that dreadful confusion which he would have to undergo at the day of judgment, and which beginning then would last for all eternity, as one of the greatest torments of hell. It procures him many useful instructions, counsels, directions, and exhortations, for the advancing his soul in a life of virtue and piety. It is also a source of immense comfort and consolation to the poor soul in all her afflictions, especially in such as rise about her spiritual conIt affords an incredible ease and peace to the soul, when oppressed with the stings of a guilty conscience; for it is much to be observed, that, although confession be a very heavy burden upon

cerns.

flesh and blood, and perfectly inimical to self-love, yet, when a soul is once touched with a sense of the evil of sin, and conscience is awaked on that account, it is the only resource that nature itself points out for ease and comfort; insomuch that numbers of examples are seen, of those who, being troubled in conscience, but not being members of the Catholic Church, do not consider confession as a duty required by God; yet fly to some friend in whom they can confide, and sometimes even to Catholic priests themselves, on whose secrecy they can better depend, and lay open their souls to them for advice and consolation. (2.) With regard to the state and society, how many evils are remedied in confession, which the laws of man could never rectify? Losses are made up; injuries received are pardoned, and reparation made for such as are done; ill-gotten goods are restored; those at enmity reconciled, peace made up and restored; unjust contracts dissolved; scandals removed, and many other such benefits procured, which are of the highest advantage to society.

Q. 26. What are the qualities necessary for making a good confession?

A. There are several things required for making a good confession; but they may be all reduced to these following:

(1.) It ought to be humble. This is so necessary an ingredient in a good confession, that without it we can never expect to find favour with God. The proud Pharisee was one who led a good moral life in the eye of the world, free from any gross crime, and adorned with several virtuous and good actions: yet he was condemned in the sight of God on account of his pride; whereas the poor publican, though loaded with sins, yet approaching to God by an humble repentance, was justified in the sight of God, and found mercy. Every sin we commit is accompanied with an act of pride; because

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in every sin, we prefer our own will to the will of our Creator; as there fore repentance is the returning to God from sin, it must necessarily be accompanied with great humility. The Scripture says an humble and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise," Psal. li. 19. "The Lord is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart, and he will save the humble of spirit," Psal. xxxiii. 19. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble," James iv. 6. Hence we find, that all those true penitents who found mercy from God, were remarkable for their great humility; such as St. Mary Magdalen, the prodigal son, the humble publican, David,, &c. and they shewed their humility, both in the outward posture of the bodies, in what they did, and in every word they said. To excite this humility in our souls, we need only consider what we are as sinners; what we deserve for our sins; the Majesty of that great God before whom we are going to appear; and the important affair we are going about, in order to be restored again to his favour..

(2.) Our confession ought to be sincere; that is, we must declare our sins sincerely, such as they really are; we must not exaggerate them, neither must we disguise them; we must not seek to excuse them, nor blame others for them; nor soften and diminish the real malice of them, by equivocal and captious expressions, which may make our pastor think less of them than they really deserve. Our great interest here is, to lay open the true state of our souls, as far as we can, such as it really is in the sight of God. It is easy to deceive our pastor; but we would deceive ourselves infinitely worse if we did so, for we cannot deceive God; and his holy word assures us, that "the deceitful man God will abhor," Ps. v. 7.; that "the Holy Ghost will fly from the deceitful," Wisd. i. 5, and, there

fore, come not to the Lord with a double heart," Eccles. i. 36.; for "wo to them that are of a double heart, and to wicked lips... and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways," Ecclus. ii. 14.

(3.) It ought to be simple; that is we must, with all simplicity, declare the sins we have been guilty of without mixing any other subject along with them, which does not concern the state of our conscience. In doing this, we must declare, (1.) The different sins we have been guilty of; (2.) The number of times we have been guilty of each sin; and (3.) Such circumstances as either notably aggravate the guilt of the sin, or change it into another kind of sin; for example, there is a great difference between cheating our neighbour of twenty shillings, and cheating him of twenty pounds; between stealing a sum of money from a neighbbour, and stealing any sacred vessel, though of equal value to that sum, but dedicated to the service of God. In the former case the greatness of the sum aggravates the injury done, and consequently the guilt of the sin; in the latter case, the circumstance of stealing a sacred vessel changes the nature of the sin, from a simple act of injustice, to an unjust sacrilege. Now, the simplicity of our confession requires, that, having fully declared these three classes, we should rest there, without accusing others, or making complaints of our miseries and troubles, or speaking about our temporal affairs, or the like; and this is what is meant by the simplicity of confession.

(4.) It ought to be entire; that is, we must declare all that we have upon our conscience, without concealing, to our knowledge, one single mortal sin. We must not only tell the truth, but we must tell the whole trath, without concealing any thing; according to that of the wise man, "Be notashamed to say the truth for thy soul; for there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bring