It is not scruples to be greatly anxious and disturbed over past
confessions when there is a reasonable cause for it: that is natural.

A scrupulous person is one who, outside these several contingencies, is
continually racked with fears, and persists, against all evidence, in
seeing sin where there is none, or magnifies it beyond all proportion
where it really is.

The first feature--empty and perpetual fears--concerns confessions
which are sufficient, according to all the rules of prudence; prayers,
which are said with overwrought anxiety, lest a single distraction
creep in and mar them; and temptations, which are resisted with
inordinate contention of mind, and perplexity lest consent be given.

The other and more desperate feature is pertinacity of judgment. The
scrupulous person will ask advice and not believe a word he is told.
The more information he gets, the worse he becomes, and he adds to his
misery by consulting every adviser in sight. He refuses to be put under
obedience and seems to have a morbid affection for his very condition.

There is only one remedy for this evil, and that remedy is absolute and
blind obedience to a prudent director. Choose one, consult him as often
as you desire, but do not leave him for another. Then submit
punctiliously to his direction. His conscience must be yours, for the
time being. And if you should err in following him, God will hold him,
and not you, responsible.



CHAPTER V.