The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-05-28

joyous, healthful splurge from heart to
lung.
Here the aid of the physician can well
be dispensed with No need is there to
pour humiliating confession in his ear.
But the soul is black with the leprosy OF
SIN
ITO the believing Catholic there exists
but one way in which it can be cleansed.
The sin-steeped soul must be saved and
purified again by the holy sacrament of
pcntence. Whose sins ye shall forgive
they are forgiven, whose sins yc shalt
retain they are retained.
In the solemn tribunal of the confess
sional, the priest as a man exists no
longer He is there as the tieshly rep
resentative of Christ. whose mouthuiece
he becomes when he pronoun2es the
mighty words, 'absolve, etc.
Imagine then, my friends, the magni-
tude and the multitude of the terrible
condolences which pass each day through
that middle man, the priest, to the ear
of the all-suffering Christ.
'There is no discrimination in the con-
fession as it flows from the remOrSe-
wrung soul of the repentant sinner to
the ear of his all merciful God.
Gentleman. | shall now tell you the
story of my first penitent.
1T is the one episode of my life which
in all the worlds to come | believe /
shall never forget.
HE poured into my ear the particulars
of Il crime so atrocious, a murder so in
human and appalling in the unnatural
and treacherous circumstances of It's
committal, that for weaks after | had
heard it | suffered the agonies of the
damned. In fact | was on the eve of
leaving the church i'll order to be able
to divulge the secret. j. seemed to me-
so terrible that my solemn oath ana
duty as a priest should prevent me FROM
delivering to justice the perpetrat0r of
so horrible Il murder.
For days and weeks an awful struggle
went on in my soul between my binding
duty of silence as the minister of God,
and what | believed to be my duty as Il
man to the State. There were times
when | almost resolved TO leave the
church and give the man up to justice.
Finally. one hot August night. when al
most on the verge of insanity from the
agony of the prolonged mental struggle,
as | sat at my window feverishly turn
ing the thing over and over again III
my mind. the divine inspiration touched
my soul with its BALM
1t said: why not go to the bishop,
and without mentioning names or he
from your young. inexperienced soul to
Shift the responsibility of decision
from you young. inexperienced soul to
the calm, clear judgment AID ripe OK
peIience of his.
Obey hin--that is ALL
Next morning FASTENED to the bishop,
and in a long private interview ! eX
planned everything to him, dwelling par
ticularly ON the great temptation and
desire which seemed urging me on to eX-
pose the criminal
After hearing all the bishop told nae
there could be no release from my duty
as the consecrated priest of God. That
duty bound me solemnly to keep for
ever the secret of the confessional.
Should | break my vow of silence, that
moment | fell from the high estate 0e
Gods ministry, and would be eXcom-
municated from the membership of the
church.
In conclusion the bishop said to me:
leave the sinner in the hands of Him
who has said, Justice is mine
Gentlemen, / obeyed, and every day