The first instruction teaches us to confess, simply and
sincerely, and to search out the very depths of our
hearts.
Dear children, I counsel, admonish and beseech
you, that ye learn to confess all your sins, simply and sincerely unto God, and
that ye learn to acknowledge that ye are verily and indeed guilty before Him,
and that ye ponder over your sins in deep sorrow. Do not set yourselves to make
a long outward confession; for that is of little use, and takes up the valuable
time of the Confessors, causing them much trouble and vexation. Children, much
talking does not do away with sin; and, as I have often said before, Confessors
have no power over sin. Commune with your own hearts, and there confess your
sins; for external, without internal confession, is of little avail in those
things which are not sins unto death; and it is a sign that he who thus
confesses neglects that which is within. For, where truth is to be found
within, events may even be so far forgotten, that it often becomes impossible
to say anything very definite about them; and we shall be best helped by
leaving all to God. I am now referring to daily sins; from sins unto death may
God preserve us!
Now, children, it is very necessary that we
should thus practice self-examination; for man has many a little nook within,
which covers up the ground of the heart, and is so overgrown, that it hides the
truth from the man himself; so that, though he knows many other things, he does
not really know himself. These sins surely resemble thirty or forty skins or
hides, like those of an ox, which cover up the ground, lying one upon another,
and so thick and hard that ye can neither confess them nor rid yourselves of
them as ye imagine. What are these skins? They are all those things that thou
hast in thyself, that thou thinkest of, and that thou usest, but of which God
is neither the true beginning nor the end. They are all idols, images of
things, such as self-will, self-pleasing, and the enjoyment of things
pertaining to the senses. Man clings to these, as Rachel did to her idols when
she sat upon them. Presumption, heedlessness, want of resignation in divine
things, all these sins help to form the skins. They should not be all confessed
outwardly, but man should examine his own heart about them, and acknowledge
them humbly before God, meekly falling down in self-abasement at His Feet. If
man will only thus fully acknowledge that he is guilty, all will be well with
him; that is, if he seeks diligently to turn away from them, as far as he is
able, with help of Almighty God.