The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-03-03

The powerful and eficacious influence of
confession in preventing sin, especially

mhe ain Of all most sure to blight
Tue Gin Of all that the souls light
10 soonest extinguished in -
ls not merely theological dogma or the
illogical conclusion to be reasoned out. 1t
Is a fact not local or occasional, or obsc ure
or discoverable only by q few select wit
nesses, however respectable and weighty.
1t Is fact, plain, tangible, world wide, and
ages long; existing on the face of the
earth everywhere witnessed, through
every day that dawns and declines, through
every generation that comes and goes, by
every priest that sits in the tribunal of con-
tesslon, by everS penltent who kneels
there, witnessed by millions and millions
OF every cline, of every race, of every pro-
fesslon, OF every state and condition and
line of life, from the king on his throne to
the beggar in the street, from the polished
courtier to the reclaimed savage, from the
learned theologian and philosopher to the
unit tsered clown; witnessed by mar
red and unmarried, rich and poor, by the
father and mother~ef many children by
their daughter, a girl at school by their
daughter, about to become a bride; by
their daughter, clustered nun by their
son, Zouave in the army by their son
student at college; by their son, prac-
! ticing at the bar; by their son, judge on
the bencG; by the Lord Chancellor 0f.Ire :
land CONVICT under sentence Of death; by
| the soldier on the eve of battle; by the
! evicted peasant about to leave the land of
sadly lost it; by the matured man, after
years of dissipation; by the hoary sinner
on his dying bed. OF the millions who in
every quarter of the Catholic world are
| every day of every year crowding round
TIE confessional, is there one who, going
there with sincere heart and upright in
tention, does not feel on leaving it that he
has received n new principle Of life, new
strength to fight the good fight, new love
Of holiness, an odor of paradise scenting
his soul, his youth renewed like the eagle'sf
He may fall again, as many do-that Is
poor human nature but we'll he knows, as
all who have tried know we'll that his only
hope of rising again is in return again to
drink of the invigoratipg waters Of that
sacred fountain. Is there any other fact,
has there ever been any other fact, on the
face of Gods earth, attested by such a
body of such witnesses, who themselves
have felt, and seen, and known, stretching
out from land to land, from generation to
generation Yet there has ever been, as
there will be, that infinite number of fools,
of whom the wise man speaks, and who have
eyes and see not. Where these things are.
city of God. Here surely ia fulfilled,
| though it is but part of the fulflment OF
the prophecy of DIDO poor little one,
tossed with tempest, without any comfort,
behold will lay thy stones in order, and
will lay thy foundations. with sapphires,
and will make thy bulwarks of jasper, and
thy gates of craven stones, and all thy
borders of desirable stones. All thy chill
dren. shall be taught of the Lord, and
great shall be the peace of the children
Aye, and the children of that church, who
frequent this holy institution, and this tthe
II great means of sanctifcation entrusted to
I her, feel that peace of God'which sust..sRst
all understanding, that peace which tn,
world can neither give nor take away, ant
feel it in the deepest depths of the soul
Ask them you who are not of them, ant
with one voice they will tell you it so
Then, "Why stand you here all day idle
Go you also into my vineyard."-Dn5lu
! RerieW.