er they are sins, or temptations by which merit is
increased. And yet it is marvelous how a patent is vexed and
worried in these matters by the present wordy manner of
confessing. A purpose ought to be certain, and directed toward
things which are certain and which can be shunned in common
living, like the aforesaid open, mortal sins.

SIXTH

[Sidenote: Hidden Sins--Are They to be Confessed?]

Whether the hidden sins of the heart, which are known only to God
and the man who commits them, belong to sacramental confession or
not, is more than I can say. I should prefer to say that they do
not. For the need of confessing these sins can in no way be
proved, either by reason or by Scripture, and I have often
suspected that it was all an invention of avaricious or curious
or tyrannical prelates, who took this way of bringing the people
of Christ to fear them. This is, in my opinion, laying hands on
the judgment of God and is a violation of the rights of God,
especially if men are forced to it.[5]

Here comes in that whole sea of laws and impossible questions
about "cases of sin," [6] etc., since it is impossible for a man
to know when he has in his heart committed the mortal sins of
pride, lust, or envy. Nay, how can the priest know this, when he
is set in judgment upon mortal sins alone? Can he know another's
heart who does not thoroughly know his own? Hence it comes that
many people confess many things, not knowing whether they are
sins or not; and to this they are driven by that sentence of
Gregory, "A good mind will confess guilt even where there is no
guilt." They [i. e., the priests] wish that what is offered to God
shall be offered to themselves--so immense is the arrogance of
priests and pontiffs, and so haughty the pride of the
Pharisees--and they do not see, meanwhile, that if this offering
were made to man, the whole of life would be nothing else than
confession, and that even this confession would have to be
confessed in another confession by the man who fears guilt where
there is no guilt, since even good works are not without guilt,
and Job is afraid of all his works. [Job 9:28]

SEVENTH

[Sidenote: Hidden Sins--What Hidden Sins Should be Confessed?]

Let some one else, then, explain this. I am content with this,
that not all the sins of the heart are to be confessed. But if
some are to be confessed, I say that it is only those which a man
clearly knows that he has purposed in his heart against the
c