a right
conscience, not a conscience seared and deformed by human
traditions, but a conscience which is expert in the commandments
of God, and which knows that much more is to be left solely to
the goodness of God than is to be committed to its own diligence.

But what if the devil, when a man is dying, raises the obstacle
of sins which have not been confessed, as we read in many of the
stories?[9] I answer. Let these sins go long with those of which
it is said, "Who can understand his faults?" [Ps. 19:12] and with
those others of which it is written, "Enter not into judgment
with Thy servant." [Ps. 143:2] Whatever stories have been made up
contrary to these sayings, have either been invented under some
devilish delusion, or are not rightly understood. It is enough
that thou hast had the will to confess all things, if thou hadst
known them or hadst been able. God wills that His mercy be
glorified. But how? In our righteousness? Nay, in our sins and
miseries. The Scriptures should be esteemed more highly than any
stories.

NINTH

[Sidenote: Distinction between Sins]

By thus getting down to the thing itself,[10] the penitent, of
whom I have so often spoken, does away entirely with that riot of
distinctions; to wit, whether he has committed sin by fear
humbling him to evil, or by love inflaming him to evil; what sins
he has committed against the three theological virtues of faith,
hope, and charity; what sins against the four cardinal virtues;
what sins by the five senses; what of the seven mortal sins, what
against the seven sacraments, what against the seven gifts of the
Holy Spirit, what against the eight beatitudes, what of the nine
_peccata aliena_, what against the twelve Articles of Faith, what
of the silent sins, what of the sins crying to heaven; or whether
he has sinned by or against anything else.[11] That hateful and
wearisome catalogue of distinctions is altogether useless, nay,
it is altogether harmful. Some have added to these evils a most
troublesome business of "circumstances."

By all this they have produced two results. First, the penitent
makes so much of these trifles that he is not able really to give
heed to the thing of chief importance, namely, the desire for a
better life. He is compelled to tax his memory with such a mass
of details, and so to fill his heart with the business of rightly
expressing his cares and anxieties, while seeking out forgotten
sins or a way of confessing them, tha