Confession (Christianity)

“ To produce conviction and confession is the work of the Holy Ghost. He reveals to the sinner the sinfulness of his life, and so works in him repentance. (c) Another requirement is unfeigned faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." "Without faith it is impossible to please him." [208] "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." ”

“ The second part of confession is faith, and indeed faith in Jesus Christ, who hath made satisfaction for all thy sins and has also obtained forgiveness of the same. Faith is as a hand which appropriates the forgiveness of sins and receives it as an unmerited gift of divine grace. Without this faith all knowledge and sorrow for sin is only the confession of a Cain or a Judas, which ends in despair. But by faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all sinners, the heart is comforted and made quiet. ”

“ I have known this many a day that there needs no priest to make a confession valid, but that to every truly penitent heart the way to the very throne of Heaven is open, and that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. If I regretted aught, it was that I must die without another kind of confession—the confessing my faith openly before men. ”

“ Instead of brotherly confession one to another, or the pastoral sympathy of a fatherly elder, the religious mind of the day was instructed in an awful mysterious sacrament of confession, which gave to some human being a divine right to unlock the most secret chambers of the soul, to scrutinize and direct its most veiled and intimate thoughts, and, standing in God's stead, to direct the current of its most sensitive and most mysterious emotions. ”

“ In exhibiting this confession, as in all religious duties, we should be truly sincere; our love to Christ, the animating principle of this confession, must be sincere: Our zeal for the glory of God, the credit of his cause, the honour of his truth, the propagation of his gospel, the encouragement and comfort of his friends, and the conviction of his enemies, must be pure and unfeigned. Such a cause demands integrity and resolution of mind to carry it into effect: We should confess Christ boldly and without fear or shame. ”

“ If there be one here to-night who is anxiously inquiring the way to Jesus, I say to him: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father and the holy angels." "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." ”

“ I do not deny that a sincere and heart confession of Christ is a step, the first step, to these heavenly blessings; but I do deny that Christian perfection rests upon a naked confession of him by the mouth. The thoughtless sinner does not know Christ. ”

“ It is enough for God to know it; and to tell Him all is to receive at once his assurance of forgiveness, for the sake of Him who loved us and gave Himself a propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world. Directly the confession leaves our heart, nay, whilst it is in process, the Divine voice is heard assuring us that our sins, which are many, are put away as far as the east is from the west, and cast into the depths of the sea. ”

“ Wherefore, whereas the secret sacramental confession, which was in use from the beginning in Holy Church, and is still also in use, has always been commended by the most holy Fathers with a great and unanimous consent, the vain calumny of those is manifestly refuted who are not ashamed to teach that confession is alien from the divine command and is a human invention. ”

“ Christ is the Saviour, but only of those who follow him. There is forgiveness of sins, but only for those who make adequate confession. I, alas! have not followed him fully. What priest on earth can assure me I have ever confessed fully? ”

“ Whose daily intimacy with a disciple issued in that disciple's confession, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.' Such a method, starting from the Christian claim, and trying to trace out all that it involves, need not be only for the believer, any more than the quest for evidence or witness is for those only who do not believe. ”

“ So it is evident that the work of confession is nothing else than an occasion by which God is called to the fulfilment of His own promise, or by which we are trained to believe that we shall without doubt obtain the promise. ”

“ True confession can never be made into a priest's ear,—to men we can only confess the wrongs which we have done to men; but true confession is the awful tale of what we have done to God, against whom only we have sinned and done evil in His sight. ”

“ How men can think, as many seem to think, that they can confess Christ in spirit and truth, and at the same time reject the chief means by which Christ intends this confession to be made public, I can not see. ”

“ And, on the other hand, the men of tenderness of conscience and pure heart toward God and men, have leaned not only to the Confession of the permanently central truths, but to the eager and solemn Confession of whatever truth the time and its trial called for—to its Confession not only individually, but by the unanimous and accordant voice of the witnessing Church of Christ. ”

“ And when you turn to your Bibles, you will find Confession there—but you will not find confession to your priest necessarily enjoined; you will not find that, in order to absolution, you are bound to open to a fellow man all the secrets of your inmost soul. ”

“ The precious principles espoused by our ancestors, should not be deserted by us their sons. We are under the most solemn obligations to be faithful to God and his church and truth in our day. The summaries of divine truth in the Confession of Faith, in the Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, and in our own Testimony, should be frequently read by all, and inculcated by parents on their children, iu connection with a frequent perusal of the word of God. ”

“ The whole essence of faith is nothing else but the echo of the heart, answering the foregoing voice of the Spirit, and word of grace; the former declaring, Thy sins are forgiven thee; the latter answering, My sins are forgiven me. God sees no sin in believers, nor does he afflict them on this account. Repentance and confession of sin are not necessary to forgiveness. A believer may certainly conclude before confession, yea, as soon as he hath committed sin, the interest he hath in Christ, and the love of Christ embracing him. ”

“ He neither sanctions nor forbids it, but he gives a direction which shows that as regards the duty of confession to man, the normal condition of things is for any Christian to confess to any Christian. ”

“ And so if anything is rightly done or rightly decreed by us, if anything is obtained from the mercy of God by daily supplications, it is his work and merits whose power [pg 478] lives in his see and whose authority excels. For this, dearly beloved, that confession gained, that confession which, inspired in the Apostle's heart by God the Father, transcends all the uncertainty of human opinions, and was endued with the firmness of a rock, which no assaults could shake. ”

“ Oh, what a thought, that if indeed God has spoken to us often in our past lives, if He has given us special calls and warnings, we must often have resisted Him! There are many of us, I fear, who have altogether too little conscience on this subject. A man comes to confession after an absence of several years. He confesses his more prominent sins against the divine commandments, but perhaps he does not even mention his failure to perform each year his Easter duty. And if the confessor calls his attention to it, he has nothing to say but, "Oh, yes, I neglected that." ”

“ A. We should confess frequently, if we wish to lead a good life.
Q. 1351. Should we go to confession at our usual time even if we think we have not committed sin since our last confession? A. We should go to confession at our usual time even if we think we have not committed sin since our last confession, because the Sacrament of Penance has for its object not only to forgive sins, but also to bestow grace and strengthen the soul against temptation. ”

“ A confession, which they intend should include all mortal sin, and a few vocal prayers, comprise the whole of their preparation for the most solemn of all duties. The God of all sanctity is then introduced into a soul defiled with innumerable stains. ”

“ I answer that, We can have no hope for the forgiveness of our sins except through Christ: and since by confession a man submits to the keys of the Church which derive their power from Christ's Passion, therefore do we say that confession gives hope of salvation.
Reply to Objection 1: It is not our actions, but the grace of our Redeemer, that is the principal cause of the hope of salvation: and since confession relies upon the grace of our Redeemer, it gives hope of salvation, not only as a meritorious act, but also as part of a sacrament. ”

“ Further, a sin which is contracted from another, should receive its remedy from another. Therefore actual sin, which a man has committed through his own act, must take its remedy from the man himself. Now Penance is ordained against such sins. Therefore confession is not necessary for salvation. ”

“ Catholics, however, who believe in the necessity of confession of sins, take a different view of the matter. The requirements of a good confession are such as can be met only by those who know in what things they have sinned and how often. ”

“ We have therefore for the clearing of the truth we profess, that it may be at liberty, though we be in bonds, briefly published a Confession of our Faith, as desiring all that fear God, seriously to consider whether (if they compare what we here say and confess in the presence of the Lord Jesus and his Saints) men have not with their tongues in Pulpit, and pens in Print, both spoken and written things that are contrary to truth ”

“ In a word, you have never lost your faith. Do not delay having recourse to the remedy. Go to confession as soon as possible. Confession develops repentance, puts a seal on our good resolutions, and confers a special grace to keep them. I speak as I think. A repentance that remains purely human cannot be lasting.”
I promised to go to confession to Father——, and shall keep my promise.
“One favor more,” resumed Aline. “It is a somewhat delicate matter, but let us talk with the same freedom and simplicity that we did in our childhood. That is the shortest way to come to an understanding. ”

“ CONFESSION.
Before going to Confession, be sure to make a careful examination of your conscience. Do this, if possible, alone and in quiet; or do it in the church—there is no better place.
Beg light from God the Holy Ghost to see yourself, as far as may be, as you are in His sight. Call to mind all the sins of deed, word, thought, and omission that you have been guilty of since your last Confession.
If you have examined your conscience daily you will not find this difficult. ”

“ But such things are above nature as God reserves to Himself; and these are wrought either through the agency of nature, or in the working of miracles, or in the revelation of mysteries, or in the institution of the sacraments. Hence confession, which is of sacramental necessity, is according to Divine, but not according to natural law. ”

“ If now you bring such a penitent heart with you to confession, then you are able to receive the absolution which your confessor gives you, by virtue of which your sins are really and certainly forgiven thee by God in heaven. Forgiveness of sins Christ has obtained for all sinners by his death and the shedding of His blood and sealed it by His resurrection and commanded it to be preached and delivered to all the world through the Gospel. Now when the confessor absolves thee, he does nothing else than declare unto you the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins ”

“ Some confess Christ to be the holy One of God, that under the cloak of that profession they may carry on malicious mischievous designs; but their confession is doubly an abomination to the Lord Jesus, as it sues in his name for a license to sin, and shall therefore be put to silence and shame. But this is not all, he must not only hold his peace, but he must come out of the man ”

“ When we believe in Christ, every truth of his word will be precious to us, from its connection with his person, and from its connection with the other branches of the system: this will induce us to contend, as in an agony for the faith, the whole faith, once, and but once, delivered to the saints. Love to the truth also, is a strong reason for a full and consistent confession of Christ before men. Love is a most powerful principle of action, and especially when it operates about the great things of God. ”

“ Secondly, true confession must be promptly made, for dread of death, of increase of sinfulness, of forgetfulness of what should be confessed, of Christ’s refusal to hear if it be put off to the last day of life; and this condition has four terms; that confession be well pondered beforehand, that the man confessing have comprehended in his mind the number and greatness of his sins and how long he has lain in sin, that he be contrite for and eschew his sins, and that he fear and flee the occasions for that sin to which he is inclined. ”

“ As to pious people who frequent the Sacraments, and who seldom or never fall into a grievous sin, it is very desirable, when they go to confession, that, after confessing any sins committed since last .absolution, they should, at least in a general way, accuse themselves of all their past sins. ”