Anf-03 v.iv.v.xlv Pg 6
In St. Augustine’s time, when moral theology became systematized in the West, by his mighty genius and influence, the following were recognized degrees of guilt: (1.) Sins deserving excommunication. (2.) Sins requiring to be confessed to the brother offended in order to God’s forgiveness, and (3.) sins covered by God’s gracious covenant, when daily confessed in the Lord’s Prayer, in public, or in private. And this classification was professedly based on Holy Scripture. Thus: (1.) on the text—“To deliver such an one unto Satan, etc.” (1 Cor. v. 4–5). (2.) On the text—(Matt. xviii. 15), “Confess your sins one to another, brethren” (James v. 16), and (3.) on the text—(Matt. vi. 12) “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.” This last St. Augustine5190
5190 Opp. Tom. vi. p. 228. Ed. Migne.
regards as the “daily medication” of our ordinary life, habitual penitence and faith and the baptismal covenant being presupposed.
