The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-01-06

lnilltence present to the soul is one un-
favorable to its happiness. Now a
sense OF guilt is, of all emotions which
affect the soul. the one which causes
the most deeply-rooted misery and is
the most destructive of all true peace
Shame, self-reproach, fear, remorse,
disgust at the thought Of the past and
dependency at the prospect OF the flu
ture all combine to make life almost in
tolcrable. The desire to exterminate
that which is the source OF our mental
suffering sometimes becomes irresisti-
Bile
The story OF Eugene Aram is ain in
stance i'll point, as is that OF the muir
derer who approached the cradle OF his
victims infant in order that he might
whisper to human ear the crime that
he could no longer bear in silence
Probably most OF my readers have, in
the course Of their lives, listened to the
condolences OF some friend or acquaint-
ance who poured forth, in the cleaning
or by the dull freight, the honest and
self-accusing story OF his past misdeeds.
am not concerned with the source
this curious instinct OF sef-revelation
but the fact OF the relief that it affords
to the heavily burdcned soul is undeni-
able. 1t certainly is much stronger
among Christians than among those
who belong to other religions and the
reason Of this is that the sense of the
evil of sin is far more keen in those
who believe in the incarnation and
death of the son OF God. Almost every
revival OF religion, outside the Catholic
church, has been accompanied with
some form or other OF public or pri-
vate confession. The early Wesleyans
related in public their religious "expe-
riences," and the elders of the evangel-
zeal movement at the beginning OF the
present century received from their dis
ciples a manifestation of conscience
that was little else than a confession O
their sins. The rapid growth of the
practice OF confession among the ritual
lists it not mere imitation of Rome
but is the natural outcome of their re-
llgious earnestness and sincerity.
Aside from its purely religious sig
nifcance, says Father Clarke, the con-
lessional furnishes practical benefits OF
high order in the counsel it provides
to all who arc in any intellectual or
moral perpleNity or distress.
In all such cases, he continues, the
confessional furnishes counselor who
is perfectly unprejudiced, whose one
and only desire is to promote the hap
p1ness and welbeing OF his penitent,
who speaks with the authority belong
ing to his office, whose long experience
gives weight to his words, and who,
above all, knows the severe account
that Almighty God will exact of him,
and the awful responsibility OF the task
entrusted to him. He knows that if he
swerves one hairs breadth from the
law OF God in the advice given, out OF
any human respect, or desire to please,
or any other inferior motive, lie will
be guilty of a great sin before God
What better means than this could pos
sibly be devised for giving peace to
troubled souls, or for settling doubts
and difficulties that, to those who are
entangled in them, often seem insou-
BILE? I do not mean to say that the
confessor is infallible or may not Judge
the case wrongly. But there is every
possible chance that his judgment will
be the right one, and that he will be
able to give such advice as may re-
lease the perplexed conscience from its
difficulties and dangers. My own ex-
periencc is that seldom have I encoun
tered any problem as to future action
however apparently hopeless, which did
not admit of solution that was not
only practically possible, but that could
be carried out without any very serious
difficulty by the person asking advice.