“Suppose, then, a young man, well born, and so far well trained, at twenty years of age, away from home, falls into bad company, and, yielding to temptation, commits a great crime, but, escaping by a bit of sagacious stratagem, succeeds in causing his parents to believe that he is dead and mourn him as such, wholly unsuspicious in their minds that he has committed a crime.  In the meantime he, in a distant land, lives a useful and honorable life, deeply repenting the sad mishap of his life, and fully redeeming his crime, so that no one but himself and the unhappy parents suffer by his unfortunate act.  Furthermore, he occupies a most honorable and useful position, his employer, of course, knowing nothing of his previous misdeeds.  Now, as already has been inferred, this young man is living a pure and honorable life, loved by all who know him; but he claims that to reveal to his parents the fact that he is alive would entail more and deeper sorrow upon them than to allow them to continue to believe him dead.  He declares that they would suffer less in believing him dead than to know him to be a living criminal.

“Now, my dear Bishop, I write this note to you, calling it hypothetical; but to me, it is more than hypothetical—­it is a real case.  This young man is one of my patients, and I love him as dearly as if he were my own son for his noble qualities and his sincere penitence, as well as for the pure life he lives.  His physical condition is indeed precarious, and I feel sure that his life will be shortened unless he receives relief.  Kindly give me your righteous judgment of this case.  I have his confidence, and cannot betray it; hence the secrecy of this inquiry.

“Sincerely yours,

“Marmion.”

A few days later the doctor received the following: 

“My dear doctor Marmion:  Your hypothetical (?) note is here.  I have read it several times, with increasing interest, and with a prayerful desire to be able to assist you to arrive at a righteous decision in what seems to be a very important matter.

“First.  You say (if I understand correctly) that restitution has been made to the parties against whom the crime was perpetrated.  That is well and so far satisfactory.

“But, second.  The crime was a double one.  When that wrong was righted to the first parties, then the second parties, in the deception practiced upon them, suffered more and longer than the parties of the first part, so that really the crime is only partially expiated until the wronged parents are undeceived, and he has made his peace with them.  I feel safe in saying that this young man will never be happy, nor his physical condition improved, until he pays the full price of his sin.  All who have been wronged must be righted.  Depend upon it, his life will be chaotic, unreliable, and unhappy until he makes a clean breast of it to his parents.  When he does this, if I were his father, I would take him to my heart, and give him a father’s love and forgiveness.  If I were his employer, and he came to me honestly confessing his sin, I should not dare to withhold either my confidence or my love.  I should pity as a father pities, and I should say:  “Go, sin no more.”