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CONTRITION AND ATTRITION.S27God ;and tho penitent mourns for his sin chiefly because ithas dishonoured God.This kind of contrition, the Councilof Trent teaches, may procure reconciliation with God withoutconfession and absolution ; but then perfect contrition,according to that Council, includes a desire for tho sacrament,and without that desire contrition cannot procurepardon.* Imperfect contrition, or attrition, as it is called,does not arise, according to Dens, from thelove of God, orany contemplation of his goodness and mercy, but from thodesire of pardon and the fear of hell.-f- Attrition of itselfcannot procure justification. It fails of its end unless it befollowed by the sacrament ; that is, unless it lead the personto confession and absolution. It was attrition whichthe Ninevites showed on the preaching of Jonah, and whichled them to do penance, and ultimately to share in thedivine mercy. Perfect contrition, the Church of Rome admits,may justify without the intervention of the priest.But such is the infirmity of human nature, that contrition isseldom or never attained, according to that Church. Thesorrow of the sinner in rare cases, ifin any, rises above attrition;and therefore the doctrine of Rome on the head ofpenance is, in point of fact, briefly this,—that without auricularconfession and priestly absolution no onecan hope toescape the torments of hell.The next act in the sacrament of penance is, confession.The Bible teaches the sinner to acknowledge his guilt tothat Majesty against whom the offence has been done, "whois rich in mercy, and ready to forgive :" Rome requires allto make confession to her priests; and if any refuse to do so,she sternly denies them pardon, and shuts against them thegates of paradise. It is " incumbent on every penitent,"says the Council of Trent, " to rehearse in confession allmortal sins which, after the most rigid and conscientiousscrutiny of himself, he can recollect; nor ought he to conceal* Concil. Trid. sess. xiv. cap. iv.t Theol. Mor. et Dog. Petri Dens, torn. vi. p. 53, et seq.