To this SECOND EDITION there have been added certain statements and
passages, to meet sundry questions addressed to the Author on the
subject of Confession and Absolution.

Feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph, 1884.




CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION.

TEXT: "God hath reconciled us to Himself by Christ, and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation. For God indeed
was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, and He hath
placed in us the word of reconciliation; we are therefore
ambassadors for Christ."--2 COR. v, 18.

No more important question can be submitted for consideration to those
who believe in the existence of God, in man's responsibility to his
Creator, and in divine revelation, than what are God's conditions for
pardoning sin committed after baptism. For however much men may doubt,
deny, or dispute about religion, they can never impugn the fact that
they are individually sinners. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us;"[1] "in many things we all
offend;"[2] even "the just man shall offend seven times."[3]

Good sense, as well as faith, tells us that having willingly committed
or consented to any thought, word, or deed prohibited by God, or
having knowingly and wilfully omitted any duty imposed by the divine