More than that, St. Augustine has written a most admirable book, called: "Confessions," in which he gives us the history of his life. With that marvellous book in hand, we follow him, step by step, wherever he goes; we are the witnesses of what he does and thinks; we attend with him those celebrated schools, where his faith and morality were so sadly wrecked; he takes us with him into the garden where, wavering between heaven and hell, bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree and cries, "Oh Lord! how long will I remain in my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with emotions, with his soul, when we hear, with him, the sweet and mysterious voice: "Tolle! lege!" take and read. We run with him to the places where he had left his gospel book; with a trembling hand, we open it, and we read: "Let us walk honestly as in the day ... put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom. xiii, 13, 14.) That incomparable book of Augustine makes us weep and shout with joy with him; it initiates us into all, his most secret actions, to all his sorrows, anxieties and joys, it reveals and unvails his whole life. It tells us where he goes, with whom he sins, and with whom he praises God; it makes us pray, sing and bless the Lord with him. Is it possible that Augustine could have been to confess without telling us when, where and to whom he made confession? Could he have received the absolution and pardon of his sins from his confessor, without making us partakers of his joys, and requesting us to bless that confessor with him. But, it is in vain that you look in that book for a single word about auricular confession. That book is an unimpeachable witness that neither Augustine nor his saintly mother Monica, whom it mentions so often, lived and died without ever having been to confess. That book may be called the most crushing evidence to prove that, "the dogma of auricular confession" is a modern imposture. From the beginning to the end of that book, we see that Augustine believed and said that God alone could forgive the sins of men, and that it was to Him alone that men had to confess in order to be pardoned. If he writes his confession, it is only that the world might know how God had been merciful to him, and that they might help him to praise and bless the merciful Heavenly Father. In the tenth book of his Confessions, chapter III, Augustine protests against the idea that men could do anything to cure the spiritual leper, or forgive the sins of their fellow-men; here is his eloquent protest: "Quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint languores meas? Curiosum genus ad cognoscendam vitam alienam; desidiosum ad corrigendam." "What have I to do with men that I might be obliged to confess my sins to them, as if they were able to heal my infirmities? Oh Lord! that human race is very fond of knowing the sins of their neighbors; but they are very neglectful in correcting their own lies."