thou to Him these seven acts, with which thou mayest dispose thyself to receive them, gape " seven times " like "the child" [1] whom the prophet Eliseus raised from death, eliciting these seven affections, that Almighty God may exalt thee to a new life, and exalt thee even to. its height.
POINT III.
1. Thirdly, I am to consider the graces and favours that Almighty God does to those that confess themselves, receiving the sacrament with that disposition which is requisite, which we may reduce to three, in which St. Paul puts " the kingdom of God," saying that it is "justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," [2] which kingdom is promised to those that truly " do penance." [3]
i. He grants them "justice," which is the grace of justification, justifying them of all their sins, making them His friends and adopted children, and inheritors of His heaven. And with this grace He gives them charity, and virtues infused, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and the true beauty of the soul, which goes together with humble confession. [4] And if they come to confession with justice, there it is augmented, communicating to them greater grace, and fulfilling that which is said in the Apocalypse: " He that is just, let him be justified still," [5] endeavouring not to cease, but more and more " to be justified, even to death." [6]
ii. Secondly, He grants them "peace " supernatural, not only because He reconciles them to Himself, but also because, in reward of the glorious victory which they obtain of themselves in vanquishing the difficulties of confession, He gives them three victories over their enemies, destroy-
