power and efficacy, is reconciliation with God; which produces in pious souls, who receive this sacrament in a devotional manner, tranquillity and peace of conscience, accompanied with strong spiritual consolation.* In making these statements respecting the parts and effects of this sacrament, the holy council condemns the sentiments of those persons who contend that the terrors with which the conscience is smitten, and faith, are the parts of penance.

"CHAP. IV. Of contrition.

"Contrition, which holds the first place in the above-mentioned acts of the penitent, is the sorrow and detestation which the mind feels for past sin, with a purpose of sinning no more. Now, this emotion of contrition was always necessary in order to obtain the pardon of sins; and when a man has sinned after baptism it prepares him for the remission of sin, if joined with confidence in the mercy of God, and an earnest desire of performing whatever is necessary to the proper reception of the

regards the nature of penance, contrition and confession are sufficient for justification, yet, if unaccompanied with satisfaction, something is still wanting to its integrity. . . . . Why these are integral parts of penance may be thus explained :—We sin against God by thought, word, and deed: when recurring to the power of the keys we should therefore endeavour to appease his wrath, and obtain the pardon of our sins, by the very same means by which we offended his supreme majesty. In further explanation we may also add, that penance is, as it were, a compensation for offences, which proceed from the free-will of the person offending, and is appointed by the will of God, to whom the offence has been offered. On the part of the penitent, therefore, a willingness to make this compensation is required, and in this willingness chiefly consists contrition. The penitent must also submit himself to the judgment of the priest, who is the vicegerent of God, to enable him to award a punishment proportioned to his guilt, and hence are clearly understood the nature and necessity of confession and satisfaction."-Catechism, p. 262.

*"Of penance it may be truly said, that its root is bitter, but its fruit sweet. The great efficacy of penance is, therefore, that it restores us to the favour of God, and unites us to him in the closest bonds of friendship. From this reconciliation with God, the devout soul, who approaches the sacrament with deep sentiments of piety and religion, sometimes experiences the greatest tranquillity and peace of conscience-a tranquillity and peace accompanied with the sweetest spiritual joy. There is no sin, however grievous, no crime, however enormous or however frequently repeated, which penance does not remit."-Ibid. p. 260.

sacrament. Therefore the holy council declares, that this contrition includes not only the cessation from sin, and the purpose of beginning a new life, but also hatred of former transgression, according as it is written, Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.' (Ezek. xviii. 31.) And certainly, whoever considers those cries of the saints, "To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee,' (Psalm li. 6;) I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed,' (Psalm vi. 7 ;) I will recount to the Lord my years, in the bitterness of my soul,' (Isa. xxxviii. 15;) and others of the same kind, will easily perceive that they spring from vehement hatred of the past life, and a strong abhorrence of sin. The council further teaches, that although it may sometimes happen that this contrition is perfect in charity, and reconciles a man to God before the sacrament of penance is actually received, nevertheless the reconciliation is not to be ascribed to contrition without the desire of the sacrament, which was, in fact, included in it.* The council also declares that that imperfect contrition which is called attrition, commonly arising from a consideration of the turpitude of sin, and a fear of hell and punishment, (the intention of continuing in sin with the hope of receiving pardon at last being disavowed,) not only

* The qualities of true contrition are thus described :-"1. We must, in the first place, detest and deplore all our sins; if our sorrow and detestation extend only to some, our repentance cannot be sincere or salutary. 2. In the next place, our contrition must be accompanied with a desire of confessing and satisfying for our sins. 3. The penitent must form a fixed and firm purpose of amendment of life. 4. True contrition must be accompanied with forgiveness of the injuries which we may have sustained from others."-Catechism, p. 268.

On the efficacy of contrition the same writers observe :— "Other pious exercises, such as alms, fasting, prayer, and the like, in themselves holy and commendable, are sometimes, through human infirmity, rejected by Almighty God; but contrition can never be rejected by him, never prove unacceptable to him: A contrite and humbled heart, O God!' exclaims the prophet, 'thou wilt not despise.' Nay more, the same prophet declares that, as soon as we have received this contrition in our hearts, our sins are forgiven: 'I said, I will confess my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.'"-Ibid. p. 269. Query. If sin is forgiven as soon as contrition is experienced, what becomes of the assertion, that the sacrament of penance is necessary to salvation" ?---See chap. ii.

ness.

does not make a man a hypocrite and a greater sinner, but is really a gift of God, and an impulse of the Holy Spirit; not that the Spirit does as yet dwell in the soul, but merely excites the penitent, who, thus aided, prepares his way to righteousAnd although it cannot of itself conduct the sinner to justification, without the sacrament of penance, yet it disposes him to seek the grace of God in the sacrament of penance; for the Ninevites, being salutarily impressed with this fear by the terror-inspiring preaching of Jonah, did penance and sought mercy of the Lord. Therefore Catholic writers have been basely calumniated, as if they had affirmed that the sacrament of penance confers grace on those who receive it, without good dispositions; which sentiment the church of God hath never taught nor held. Some also falsely teach that contrition is extorted and forced, not free and voluntary.

"CHAP. V. Of confession.

"The universal church has always understood that a full confession of sins was instituted by the Lord as a part of the sacrament of penance, now explained; and that it is necessary, by divine appointment, for all who sin after baptism, because our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was about to ascend from earth to heaven, left his priests in his place, as presidents and judges to whom all mortal offences into which the faithful might fall should be submitted, that they might pronounce sentence of remission or retention of sins, by the power of the keys. For it is plain that the priests cannot sustain the office of judge if the cause be unknown to them, nor 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 decalogue,* which sometimes do more grievously wound souls, and are more perilous than those which are open and manifest. For venial offences, by which we are not excluded from the grace of God, and into which we so frequently fall, may be concealed with

* The tenth, according to the Protestant classification.

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out fault, and expiated in many other ways, although, as the pious custom of many demonstrates, they may be mentioned in confession very properly and usefully, and without any presumption. But seeing that all mortal sins, even of thought, make men children of wrath and enemies of God, it is necessary to seek from him pardon of every one of them, with open and humble confession. Therefore when the faithful in Christ labour to confess every sin that occurs to their memory, without doubt they place all before the divine mercy, that they may be pardoned. Those who do otherwise, and knowingly conceal any sins, present nothing to the divine goodness to be forgiven by the priest; for if the sick man is ashamed to shew his wound to the surgeon, that cannot be cured which is unknown. Moreover, it follows that even those circumstances which alter the species of sin are to be explained in confession, since otherwise the penitents cannot fully confess their sins, nor the judges know them; and it becomes impossible to form a right estimate of the heinousness of the offence, or inflict a suitable punishment.* Whence it is very unreasonable to teach that these circumstances are the inventions of idle men, or that it is sufficient to confess one circumstance only,-as for instance, that we have sinned against a brother. And it is truly impious to assert that such confession as is here enjoined is impossible, or to call it a torture of consciences; for it is plain that nothing else is required by the church of penitents, than that when they have carefully examined themselves, and explored all the corners and recesses of their consciences, they should confess those sins in the commission of which they remember to have mortally offended their Lord and God; but that other offences, which are not brought to mind in this diligent inquiry, are understood to be generally included in the same confession; concerning which offences we sincerely adopt the language of the prophet, From secret ones cleanse

* "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. Some circumstances are such as, of themselves, to constitute mortal guilt; on no account or occasion whatever, therefore, are such circumstances to be omitted. 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,

me, O Lord,' (Psalm xix. 13.)* Besides, the difficulty of such confession as this, and the shame of discovering our offences, which seem hard to be overcome, are alleviated by the many and great advantages and consolations which are unquestionably bestowed in absolution on those who worthily receive the sacrament. And now with regard to the practice of confessing secretly to the priest alone: although Christ has not prohibited any one from publicly confessing his crimes, as a punishment for his offences, and for his own humiliation, as well as for an example to others and for the

a relative, or a person consecrated to God by vow. These are circumstances which alter the species of the sins: the first is called simple fornication; the second, adultery; the third, incest; and the fourth, sacrilege. Again, theft is numbered in the catalogue of sins: but if a person has stolen a guinea, his sin is less grievous than if he had stolen one or two hundred guineas, or a considerable sum; and if the stolen money were sacred, the sin would be still aggravated.” "So important, as we have already said, is integrity to confession, that if the penitent wilfully neglect to accuse himself of some sins which should be confessed, and suppress others, he not only does not obtain the pardon of his sins, but involves himself in deeper guilt. Such an enumeration cannot be called sacramental confession; on the contrary, the penitent must repeat his confession, not omitting to accuse himself of having, under the semblance of confession, profaned the sanctity of the sacrament." "Our confession should be such as to reflect a true image of our lives, such as we ourselves know them to be, exhibiting as doubtful that which is doubtful, and as certain that which is certain."-Catechism, p. 278.

* Dr. Challoner has furnished Roman Catholics with an "Examination of conscience upon the ten commandments," to be used before confession. Take some specimens :—

“1. Have you been guilty of heresy, or disbelief of any article of faith, or of voluntary doubting of any article of faith? How often? and for how long a time? or have you rashly exposed yourself to the danger of infidelity, by reading bad books, or keeping wicked company? How often?

"Have you, by word or deed, denied your religion, or gone to the churches or meetings of heretics, so as to join any way with them in their worship? or to give scandal? How often?

"Have you blasphemed God or his saints? How often?"

"3. [4.] Have you broke the days of abstinence commanded by the church, or eaten more than one meal on fasting days? or been accessory to others so doing? How often?

"Have you neglected to confess your sins once a year, or to receive the blessed sacrament at Easter?

"Have you presumed to receive the blessed sacrament after having broken your fast?"

“5. [6.] Have you committed anything that you judged or doubted to be