surate to all sorts of sins perpetrated by the human race: it gives to man's actions merit before God; without it they could avail him nothing to eternal life. This David seems to have had in view, when, having asked himself, " what shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he hath rendered to me?" [1] and finding nothing worthy of such blessings but this satisfaction, which he expressed by the word " chalice," he replies: " I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." [2]
There is another sort of satisfaction, which is called canonical, and is performed within a certain fixed period of time. Hence, according to the most ancient practice of the Church, when penitents are absolved from their sins, some penance is imposed, the performance of which is commonly called " satisfaction."
Any sort of punishment endured for sin, although not imposed by the priest, but spontaneously undertaken by the sinner, is also called by the same name: it belongs not, however, to penance as a sacrament: the satisfaction which constitutes part of the sacrament is, as we have already said, that which is imposed by the priest, and which must be accompanied with a deliberate and firm purpose carefully to avoid sin for the future. To satisfy, as some define it, is to pay due honour to God, and this, it is evident, no person can do, who is not resolved to avoid sin. To satisfy is also to cut off* all occasions of sin, and to close every avenue of the heart against its suggestions. In accordance with this idea of satisfaction, some have considered it a cleansing, which effaces whatever defilement may remain in the soul from the stains of sin, and which exempts us from the temporal chastisements due to sin.
Such being the nature of satisfaction, it will not be found difficult to convince the faithful of the necessity imposed on the penitent, of satisfying for his sins: they are to be taught that sin carries in its train two evils, the stain which it affixes, and the punishment which it entails. The punishment of eternal death is, it is true, forgiven with the sin to which it was due, yet, as the Council of Trent declares, the stain is not always entirely effaced, nor is the temporal punishment always remit ted. [3] Of this the Scriptures afford many evident examples, as we find in the third chapter of Genesis, [4] in the twelfth and twenty-second of Numbers, [5] and in many other places. That of David, however, is the most conspicuous and illustrious. Already had Nathan announced to him: " The Lord also hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die;" [6] yet the royal penitent voluntarily subjected himself to the most severe penance, imploring, night and day, the mercy of God, in these words: " Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my iniquity and my sin is always before
