The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

102 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.Nor is it less absurd to suppose that the practiceof Confession was introduced by degrees. How canwe imagine that the Fathers of the Church theClements, the Leos, the Gregories, the Chrysostoms,the Jeromes, the Basils, and Augustines, those intrepid High Priests of the Lord, who, in every age,at the risk of suffering persecution, and exile anddeath, have stood like faithful sentinels on the watchtowersof Israel, defending, with sleepless eyes, theoutskirts of the city of God from the smallest attackhow can we imagine, I say, that they would sufferthe enemy of truth to invade the very sanctuary *bfGod stemple? If they were so vigilant in cuttingoff the least error, how would they tamely submitto see such a monstrous exotic engrafted on the fruitful tree of the Church ?What gives additional weight to these remarks, isthe reflection that Confession is not a speculativedoctrine, but a doctrine of the most practicalkind,influencing our daily actions, words, and thoughts ;and a sacrament to which thousands of Christianshave constant recourse in every part of the world.It is a doctrine, moreover, hard to flesh and blood,and which no human power, even if it had the will,could be able to impose on the human race. It isonly a God that, in such a case, could exact thehomage of our assent.In whatever light, therefore, we view the presentquestion whether we consider the circumstancesof time, or place, or manner of its introduction