boy during the Canon of the Mass even in case
of the greatest necessity or danger. Finally, these men make the
fasting of nature one thing, and the fasting of the Church
another thing, and if one has thoughtlessly swallowed some drops
of liquid, or has taken some medicine, they exclude him utterly
from the sacrament, and make it a sin, even the very greatest
sin. I wonder whence these men have the authority to set up such
laws as these and to trouble consciences with sins of their own
invention. By these illustrations other, similar cases may be
judged.

Of the laity, one confesses that he has tasted sweets, another
that he has listened to jests, smelted perfumes, touched things
that were soft.

Let us come to greater things! The common people are persuaded
that to eat butter or eggs on fast-days is heretical; so cruelly
do the laws of men rave in the Church of God! And we
unconcernedly profit by this superstition of the people, nay, by
this tyranny of ours, caring nothing that the commandments of God
are taken in jest, so long as men tremble and turn pale at our
laws. No one calls an adulterer a heretic; fornication is a light
sin; schisms and discords, inspired, preserved and increased by
the authority and in the name of the Church, are merits; but to
eat meat on Friday is the sum of all heresies. Thus we teach the
people of Christ, and permit them to be taught! But I am
disgusted, wearied, shamed, distressed at the endless chaos of
superstitions which has been inflicted upon this most salutary
sacrament of confession by the ignorance of true theology, which
has been its own tyrant ever since the time that men have been
making its laws.

ELEVENTH

[Sidenote: Communion Without Confession]

I advise, therefore, as John Gerson[20] used to advise, that a
man shall now and then go to the altar or to the Sacrament "with
a scruple of conscience," that is, without confession, even if he
has been immoderate in drinking, talking, or sleeping, or has
done something else that is wrong, or has not prayed a single one
of the Hours. Would you know why this advice is given? Listen! It
is in order that a man may learn to trust more in the mercy of
God than in his own confession or in his own diligence. For
enough cannot be done toward shaking that accursed trust in our
own works. It should be done for this reason, too, that if a man
is assailed by some necessity, whether temptation or death, and
those hidden sins begin to a