Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
The Forgiveness of Sins.
"And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Son, be of good heart; thy sins are forgiven thee." — Matt. ix. 2.
SYNOPSIS.
Ex.: I. Sin general. II. Justification by faith. III. Refutation.
I. True means : I. Baptism and Penance. 2. Virtue and Sacrament. 3. Power delegated.
II. Parts of Sacrament : 1. Contrition. 2. Confession. 3. Satisfaction.
III. De profundis: 1. There is forgiveness. 2. Conversion. 3. Example for others.
Per.: 1. Probatica. 2. Moving of waters. 3. Miracle repeated.
SERMON.
Brethren, it is a deplorable fact that in this world of ours few things are more common than sin. Ever since the fall of man sin has been almost a part of our very nature, for: "Behold," says the Psalmist, "we were begotten in iniquities, and in sin did our mothers conceive us." And besides that original and hereditary guilt, each of us has added to the world's wickedness many actual, personal transgressions, for, says St. John: "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Is it not strange, then, that notwithstanding the prevalence and dreadful nature of this spiritual disease, the Christian world should be divided as to its proper remedy? One of the very few tenets upon which the various Protestant sects are united is the doctrine of justification by faith. In the face of innumerable texts of Scripture implying or
