June 30 — On Sincerity in Confession

Consider, first, the necessity of being sincere in the confos. sk>n of our sins, if we hope for the forgiveness of them. All; hypocrisy and doublelealing, in matters of this consequence, is 'abominable in the sight of God. The prophet pronounces a curse against them that do the work of God deceitfully Jerem. alviti. 10. And surely they must be guilty, in the highest degree, of doing the work of God deceitfully, that go to confession with fraud and deceit, and, while they outwardly profess humility and sincerity, conceal, through the pride of their heart, and disguise by lies, the guilt of theh conscience. Ananias and Sapliira were struck dead, by a visible judgment of God, for telling a Ue to the Holy Ghost, A($ts v. And are not all such as are insincere in the confession of their sins, guilty, in like man- -ner, of telling a lie to the Holy Ghost, whilst they seek to impose ■upon the nnnister of God, in this most solemn and sacred function? They are guilty, also, of a grievous sacrilege, as often as they receive absolution in this case, by their profaning the sacrament of penance; which sacrilege is commonly followed by another still greater — by their making themselves, sdso, guilty of the body and blood of Christ, by an unworthy communion, and thereby receiving damnation to themselves. Good God, preserve is from so. heinous and so dreadful an evil 1

Consider, secondly, the dismal consequences of suffering one’s self to be imposed upon in such manner by the father of lies, as to conceal any matter of moment in confession, either through dbame, or fear, or pride of heart. Alas! to avoid a little present confusion, which would be immediately followed with the recovery of God’s favour, with peace of conscience, comfort, and joy, what a bottomless pit of dreadful and endless evils does the soul cast herself headlong into! what inextricable difficulties, pains, and perplexities! For she has no sooner yielded herself up to the old serpent, by this criminal concealment, but this dumb devil takes such possession of her, as to make her apprehend the confession of her guilt more than either death or hell. Hence she goes on, adding sin to sin, sacrilege to sacrilege; butchered all the while by her own conscience, gnawed With A remorse which she seeks in vain to stifle, and carrying about with her a painful impostume in her heart, which never suffers her to be easy. She deludes herself, indeed, with vain purposes of confessing some time or other hereafter; bat, in the mean lime, her difficulties increase, the devil daily acquires more and more power over her, and the grace -of God is irlhoved still farther and farther from her; till, at length, mercy abused gives place to justice, and, when she least expects it, she is cut off in her sins, and carries down with her the guilt of them all, to be confessed, too, too late, in hell.

Consider, thirdly, how little reason there is for a penitent to be 80 much ashamed of thi confession of his sins. Sin, indeed. 292 MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEiR.

is shameful; but the confession of one’s sins is not so. No; the humble confession of a sinner gives glory to God, is honourable to the penitent himself, and affords joy to the whole court of heaven. And as to the confessor, besides that he is tied up by all laws to an eternal secrecy, and can make no manner of use of the knowledge he receives by confession, that can any ways be disagreeable to the penitent; he is so far, even in his own mind, from despising, or thinking worse of the prodigal child, returning home by confession, or having less regard or affection for his penitent on that occasion, that, on the contrary, as he more clearly sees the hand of God in the humility and sincerity of the confession, he rejoices in this happy change, he likes the penitent better than before, and conceives greater hopes of him for the future; and, thinking no more of what is past, he has a more tender regard than ever to a soul that has thus unbosomed herself to him. In the mean time, the penitent finds himself, in a manner, in Paradise, by the comfort and joy that he feels in having discharged his conscience of its load, and let out the impostume that would not suffer him to be easy.

Conclude to beware of the tricks of the father of lies, who hates nothing so much as an humble confession, and therefore makes use of innumerable artifices to induce Christians to pass over, or disguise, at least, their sins, in the sacrament of penance. Ah, how many thousands of souls has he deluded by these artifices, and drawn down into the bottomless pit! Alas! how easy it is for persons to be deceived in these occasions, who, in effect, have a mind to be deceived, and are willing, at any rate, to form to themselves a false conscience, by some pretext or other, to spare themselves the shame of confessing their sins. See, my soul, this never be thy case; and therefore, whensoever thou findest a repugnance to confess any part of thy guilt, and a willingness to find some reason to dispense with thyself, be sure to confess the sooner that which thou findest this repugnance to declare, for fear of thy being imposed upon by pride or sellove.