The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

400 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.These writers seem incapable of distinguishing between a law obliging us to a certain duty and a statute fixing the time for fulfilling it.They might aswell suppose that the revenue officer creates the lawregarding the payment of taxes, when he issues anotice requiring the revenue to be paid within agiven time.Going back to the ninth century, we find thatConfession could not have had its rise then. It wasat that period that the Greek schism took its rise,under the leadership of Photius. The Greek schismatic church has remained since then a communionseparate from the Catholic Church, having no spiritual relations with us. Now, the Greek church isas tenaciously attached as we are to private Confession.For the same reasons, Confession could not dateits origin from the fifth or fourth century. TheArians revolted from the Church in the fourthcentury, and the Nestorians and Eutychians in thefifth. The two latter sects still exist in large numbers in Persia, Abyssinia, and along the coast ofMalabar, and retain Confession as one of theirmost sacred and cherished practices.In fine, no human agency could succeed in instituting Confession between the first and fourth century ; for the teachings of our divine Redeemerand of His disciples had made too vivid an impression on the Christian community to be easilyeffaced ;and the worst enemies of the Church ad-