Article January 8, 1910 Issue

CONFESSING OUR FAULTS

REV. CHARLES D. REYNOLDS.

The Scriptures enjoin upon all seekers of righteousness the necessity of confessing their errors and sins; not as an arbitrary formality to be observed as ritual, but because the acknowledgment of our faults and mistake is one of the most effectual means of correcting them, and of removing their effects on ourselves and others.

It cannot be denied that the major portion of all the contentions or divisions which arise among brethren could be and would be prevented if there had been at the very beginning of the difficulty a willingness to make proper acknowledgment of mistakes and faults. The benefits accruing from the honest admission of our faults and failures is twofold: it is needed to bring about the necessary correction or overcoming of the fault itself, in the one who is honest enough to make the confession; and it is necessary to the healing of the discords produced by these errors and mistakes. It is absolutely necessary for the student who desires to advance spiritually to be willing to make proper confession to the person injured for every mistaken act. This implies and impels a mental state of humility, without which the requisite honesty necessary to insure further spiritual growth is lacking. After all, it is but the subjugation of self to what is just and right.

If we have cause, or think we have, to believe that a brother has wronged us, or is not leading a consistent life; or if we waken to the realization that another has received wrong at our hands, the master Metaphysician has left us specific directions for our guidance. Picture what would be the result if these words from the Sermon on the Mount were carefully followed in that spirit of love in which they were meant to be applied: "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Virtually this teaching declares that, as compared with the practical duty of seeking to cancel our differences with our neighbor, and particularly those who are of the same fellowship with us, public professions and confessions are secondary and invalid, or nearly so.

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