thy soul, which Jesus Christ has bought with His Blood; and thou art willingly throwing it into hell for by sinning thou art already condemned according to the present justice and thus casting it away, thou art saying, I hope to regain it by confessing. But if thou shouldst not regain it? For in order to regain it, a true repentance is necessary, which is the gift of God. And if. God should not grant this repentance? And if death should come and deprive you of the time for confession?
Thou sayest that thou wilt not allow a week to pass without confession. But who promises thee this week? Thou sayest that thou wilt confess tomorrow. But who promises thee tomorrow? S. Augustine writes thus God has not promised to give thee tomorrow, perhaps He will give it to thee, and perhaps He will refuse to give it to thee; even as He has denied it to so many, who at night have gone to bed alive, and in the morning have been found dead. How many, indeed, in the act itself of sin, has the Lord struck dead, and sent to everlasting punishment? And if He should do the same with thee, how couldst thou amend thy eternal ruin? Know, that because of this mistake, in saying, " Afterwards I will confess," the devil has borne many thousands of Christian souls to hell; for it is very seldom that a sinner is found in such a desperate state, as to wish of his own free will to be condemned. All, when they sin, sin in the hope of confessing their sin, and thus have so many miserable ones been condemned, and now they can no longer remedy their condemnation.
But thou sayest, " I am not strong enough to resist that temptation;" this is the second dehtszon of the devil who tries to make thee feel that thou hast not strength to resist the present passion.
Firstly, we must understand that God, as the Apostle tells us, is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. (1 Cor. x. 13.) Moreover, I ask thee, if now thou art not strong enough to resist, how canst thou gain strength afterwards? Afterwards, the enemy will not cease to tempt thee to commit other sins; and then he will be much stronger against thee, and thou wilt be much weaker. If therefore, now thou art not strong enough to extinguish that flame, how wilt
