onosor, or will they suffer themselves to be devoured by the flames? Come, tell me what would you have done, had the alternative been offered to you to sin or to die? The young Machabee already cries out to the tyrant, "I will not obey the commandment of the king, but the commandment of the law which was given us by Moses" (a). And in the other instance, Ananias exclaims with his companions, "Be it known to thee, O King, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up" (b) And what would you have said? What would you have done? Would it not be an overwhelming disgrace, that four tender Jewish youths should have had a greater horror of sin than a Christian, a Religious, a priest of Jesus Christ? Oh, if such should be the case, what a reproach will Eleazar one day be to you, who, to save his life, would not so much as pretend to eat the forbidden meats, but publicly cried out "that he would rather be sent into the other world!" (c) Remark the words "into the other world"; he not only despises all the torments which this world could inflict upon him, but he would have preferred to be cast into the very pit of hell rather than even pretend to sin.

II. O God! in presence of these three examples, what answer will they be able to give, who, without any pressure on the part of a tyrant, or any threat of death, do not hesitate, for a mere nothing, for some base pleasure, to offend and irritate the infinite goodness, the tremendous justice, the immense greatness of God! Ah! the saints say that 66 even the very least offence of God is far more intolerable than the

(a) 2 Mach. vii. 30. (b) Daniel iii. 18. (c) Mach. vi. 23.

fire of hell itself" (a). And yet you sin so easily! you sin so frequently! As you love God, as you fear hell, fly—ah, fly from sin, and not only from mortal, but from venial sins. Yes! fly also from venial sins; for " more evil is wrought by one even lesser sin, than by all hell together" (b).

§ IV.

I. As regards confession, which is the second means proposed for purifying our souls, although S. Ignatius counsels us to make it after the first week of the Exercises, he suggests, nevertheless, that from the beginning we should go through a general examination of conscience, as being of the greatest importance both for the purifying of our souls, and as a preparation for confession. This can be performed during the free time which is placed at our own disposal; but we should be careful not to devote to it any of the time which has been already marked out for other Exercises. Though in making this examination, we ought studiously to avoid, on the one part, an over-anxious diligence, as being calculated to produce scruples and annoyances; yet, an the other hand, we ought to make it with such an amount of accuracy, as may ensure it being to us, afterwards, and particularly at the hour of death, a source of peace and tranquillity. We ought, therefore, to employ this exact diligence with regard to the time elapsed since our last good confession; 2, regarding the number and gravity of the sins committed since then;

(a) S. Catharine of Genoa.

(b) S. Teresa, in her life written by herself, ch. xxv.

3, regarding the nature of the avocations in which we have been since that time engaged; 4, and regarding the variety of the offices which we have since then filled.

II. We should leave it to the judgment of our confessor, to decide whether this examination ought to extend over our entire life, or over a year, or over a shorter period even. However, whether our confession be general or particular, we should always be particularly diligent in confessing those sins which up to that time may not have been well confessed, those which trouble or specially annoy us, and those which we have reason to fear may cause us uneasiness at the hour of death. Let us seek out above all our hidden sins, and sins of omission ;-the good which we have omitted to perform; our negligence in discharging the duties of our state; and let our great aim be to confess our sins in the same plain, unvarnished language, which the devil will one day employ, when he stands as our accuser before God.

In one word, we should make this confession with as much diligence as if, immediately after leaving the confessional, we were to be summoned to present ourselves before the tribunal of Jesus Christ; so that we may feel a certain interior assurance, that in the course of these Exercises we have exactly balanced the accounts of our soul, and that there no longer remains any necessity for further examination. Whoever comes out of Retreat without feeling this security, deprives himself of the principal comfort, and one of the most remarkable advantages which he might derive therefrom.

III. The two greatest difficulties to be encountered in the execution of this so holy and so useful an

undertaking, are the labour involved in the examination of our conscience, and the shame of confessing our sins. As regards the labour, it will be lightened by considering the priceless advantages which result from it. These are-1, a clearer knowledge of the malice of our sins; 2, a more intense grief for having committed them; 3, a more firm determination to avoid them, and more abundant grace from heaven to carry this resolution into effect; 4, a better preparation for the reception of the most Holy Eucharist; and 5, a more firmly-grounded hope of salvation, and a more secure source of comfort in our last agony.

As regards the shame which we feel in confessing our sins, S. Augustine supplies us with the following motives to enable us to overcome it. The first motive he draws from the person of the sinner himself: "Why," he says, 66 do you blush to confess what you did not at all blush to commit? Be not ashamed to acknowledge before one, what you were not ashamed to do, perhaps, in the presence of, and with, many." You feel no shame in sinning, and are you afterwards ashamed to confess your sin? The Saint draws the second motive from the person of the confessor. "O man!" he exclaims, "why do you fear to confess? I know less of what I learn through confession, than I do of matters of which I am entirely ignorant. Why are you ashamed to confess your sins? I, too, am a sinner like yourself." 3. The third motive is drawn from the general judgment. suredly," writes the Saint, "it is better to suffer a little confusion before one, than, branded with infamy, to shrink before the gaze of so many thousands on the

"As.

day of judgment" (a). You are ashamed to confess your sins to one man, while on the day of judgment they shall be manifested to the entire world. To these reasons we may add another, namely, that we must either confess or be damned-there is no alternative.

Wherefore, for God's sake, for the sake of Heaven, for the sake of your own soul, "be not ashamed to say the truth, for there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and grace" (b). For, to overcome in oneself this kind of shame, is an undertaking worthy of generous souls, and full of glory, as S. Gregory attests, saying "I admire an humble confession of sins as much as I do acts of heroic virtue: for greater courage is sometimes required to confess a fault than to avoid it" (c).

From the use of these two remedies, namely, an intense sorrow, and a sincere confession, will follow the purification of our soul, which is the second advantage to be aimed at during the first week of the Exercises; the first being the spirit of indifference, which we endeavoured to acquire yesterday. But as the soul cannot be said to be purified at all, if we do not pluck out from it, also, the root of our sins, which, as has been said, consists in pride and sensuality, we must hold these vices in utter abhorrence, and employ every means to eradicate them from our souls.

To redouble our sorrow and detestation for sin, we shall, in the next meditation, direct our attention to our personal sins, which, if we bestow due considera

(a) S. Augustine, Lib. De visit. infir. cap. v. (6) Eccles. iv. 24, 25. (c) S. Greg. lib. xxii. Moral. cap. x.