"I will recount to Thee, O Lord, all my years in the bitterness of my soul." Finally, another great advantage which the practice of general confession affords us is, a stricter union and friendship with God. It is universally acknowledged by all the Saints, that the more perfectly we cleanse ourselves from all stains of sin, the more does He communicate Himself to our souls who is the Giver of every best gift, and whose very nature is infinite goodness; and the more does He raise us to an intimate union with His divine Majesty. We have a proof of this in the life of St. Margaret of Cortona, who, from the time of her conversion, was favoured by God with singular blessings, especially in her prayers, during which she often enjoyed the greatest sweetness and delight. But notwithstanding these heavenly favours, she never heard her divine Saviour address her by the familiar title of daughter until she made a general confession, in which she renewed with greater fervour than ever her sorrow for her sins and her firm resolution of devoting herself entirely to the love and service of God. After she had thus humbled herself, and was approaching to the holy communion, she heard our Lord speak to her interiorly in the sweetest accents of love, calling her by the endearing name of daughter; which so much moved and delighted her, that she fainted away.

Having shewn to what kind of persons the general confession is most useful, it now remains that we speak of those to whom it would be injurious and prejudicial. As a general rule it may be said, that general confession is prejudicial to all those who are of a scrupulous and over-anxious disposition. Experience teaches us that there are certain persons who affect to be scrupulous, but are not so in reality. Such, among the Jewish people,

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were the Scribes and Pharisees, who made a scruple of not washing their hands before taking food, of not paying tithe of the mint and cummin which grew in their gardens, and of other similar trifles, and yet (as they were reproached by our divine Master) thought nothing of transgressing the more weighty precepts of the holy law of God. And in those infamous proceedings by which they sought to procure the condemnation of Jesus Christ to death, these wicked men scrupled to enter into Pilate's hall, because he was a Pagan, lest they might thereby be defiled; scrupled to restore to the treasury the thirty pieces of silver brought back by Judas; scrupled to let our blessed Saviour remain on the cross during the great and most solemn Sabbath day after the Pasch; but at the same time they were not afraid of inventing against their divine and innocent Victim the blackest calumnies; of suborning false witnesses to substantiate their unjust charges; of purchasing His betrayal by a faithless disciple for a most vile price; of compelling, by their clamours and menaces, a weak and irresolute judge, who recognised and acknowledged His innocence, to pronounce upon Him the cruel sentence of death; of causing Him to be crucified as a shameless malefactor on the cross, and at last of loading Him with every species of contumely and affront whilst He hung in torture and agony. These were not scrupulous persons, but true hypocrites, wolves in sheep's clothing; a generation of vipers, as St. John Baptist termed them, -fair without, but within full of poison and corruption. Of these I speak not, because they belong to the first class of persons, who, as I have said, stand in extreme need of a general confession; and woe to them if they make it not as they ought. But I allude to the really scrupulous-such

persons as live in the holy fear of God, have a horror of sin, and who would make any sacrifice, and endure any evil, rather than wilfully offend their bountiful Lord; but either through ignorance, or by the instrumentality of the devil, or it may even be by way of a trial, which God is pleased to make of their fidelity, are alarmed and disquieted about every thing. They are full of fear for the past, and imagine that they have never confessed themselves properly; they are afraid for the present, and think that they do nothing but sin; they are apprehensive for the future; and their disordered imagination is for ever haunted with doubts, terrors, perplexities, uncertainties, and anxieties.

Now these poor souls, whenever they perform a spiritual retreat, or hear another speak of general confession, are agitated, disquieted, unsettled, and wish immediately to make it. If they are asked, Have you ever made a general confession? their reply is Yes; and some might add, several times. But they add, Who knows whether we ever confessed rightly? Who can tell whether God has pardoned us? We experience so much interior embarrassment, uneasiness, and remorse, and it seems to us that, by another general confession, we might regain our lost peace of mind. No such thing: you are quite mistaken. By reviewing once more your past faults, you will only increase your perplexity and remorse. It would happen to you, as to a clear and limpid stream, which the more its waters are stirred, the more thick and muddy they become. A general confession would never do for you. Abide implicitly by the advice of your spiritual director, who has told you more than once to think no more of your past confessions. Be not of the number of those bewildered and unhappy souls who take fright at

every little difficulty, and behold danger where none is to be found; and of whom the holy Prophet David has said: "There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear." To desire to make another general confession, in order that you may be sure of having obtained from God the pardon of your sins, without a doubt, is a perfect delusion and snare of the enemy. If you could make it over again, or a hundred times, do you think that you would thereby obtain this desired security? Would you then be able to say: I know for certain that I have made a good confession, and that God has pardoned me? No; you would be unable to say this without a special revelation from God, which He does not make, except to very few chosen souls. He exhorts us, nay, commands us, to hope in Him, and to repose a perfect and well-assured confidence in His infinite mercy; but it is not His will that we should possess an infallible assurance whether we are in His grace and favour or not. And this He so ordains, in order that we may remain humble and mean in our own eyes, and work out, as He instructs us by His apostle, "with fear and trembling our eternal salvation."

Having, then, done in your past confessions all that consistently with human weakness you were able to do, throw yourselves entirely on the mercy of God, cast yourselves into His blessed arms, trust in Him, and lay aside all your excessive fears, doubts, and perplexities. Instead of indulging in your uneasiness and anxiety of mind respecting confession, dilate your heart to a holy confidence, and labour, by means of good works, to secure your eternal salvation. Wherefore, brethren," says St. Peter, “labour the more, that by good works you make sure your calling and election."

ARTICLE V.

ON THE PROPERTIES OF A GOOD AND FRUITFUL CONFESSION.

It is certain that the Sacrament of Penance, when received worthily, has power to cleanse our souls from every stain of actual sin. However grievous our wounds, and filthy our souls may be, yet we are sure that, by approaching worthily the holy tribunal, we shall be healed from them, and restored again to the happy state of grace. “If your sins be as scarlet," to use the comforting words of the Prophet Isaias, "they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be made as white as wool."

But how shall we act in order to receive worthily this holy sacrament? What are the dispositions which are requisite on our part, in order that we may approach devoutly to this source of mercy, and draw from thence those inestimable blessings which it has power to procure?

There are three conditions which are requisite for this purpose, and which shall form the subject of the following sections.

SECTION I.

First property of a good and fruitful confession-Contrition.

The first disposition which we should bring to the holy tribunal is a contrite heart, or a true sorrow for having offended God by our sins. The mark of a good confession,' says St. Gregory, 'does not consist so much in the expressions of our lips as in the contrition of our heart. For a sinner can never be regarded as being truly converted to God, unless he endeavours to exhibit by the