It is not scruples to walk in the fear of God, and avoid sin and the occasions thereof:  that is wisdom; nor to frequent the sacraments and be assiduous in prayer through a deep concern for the welfare of one’s soul:  that is piety.

It is not scruples to be at a loss to decide whether a thing is wrong or right; that is doubt; nor to suffer keenly after the commission of a grievous sin; that is remorse.

It is not scruples to be greatly anxious and disturbed over past confessions when there is a reasonable cause for it:  that is natural.

A scrupulous person is one who, outside these several contingencies, is continually racked with fears, and persists, against all evidence, in seeing sin where there is none, or magnifies it beyond all proportion where it really is.

The first feature—­empty and perpetual fears—­concerns confessions which are sufficient, according to all the rules of prudence; prayers, which are said with overwrought anxiety, lest a single distraction creep in and mar them; and temptations, which are resisted with inordinate contention of mind, and perplexity lest consent be given.

The other and more desperate feature is pertinacity of judgment.  The scrupulous person will ask advice and not believe a word he is told.  The more information he gets, the worse he becomes, and he adds to his misery by consulting every adviser in sight.  He refuses to be put under obedience and seems to have a morbid affection for his very condition.

There is only one remedy for this evil, and that remedy is absolute and blind obedience to a prudent director.  Choose one, consult him as often as you desire, but do not leave him for another.  Then submit punctiliously to his direction.  His conscience must be yours, for the time being.  And if you should err in following him, God will hold him, and not you, responsible.

CHAPTER V. THE LAW OF GOD AND ITS BREACH.

Without going into any superflous details, we shall call the Law of God an act of His will by which He ordains what things we may do or not do, and binds us unto observance under penalty of His divine displeasure.

The law thus defined pertains to reasonable beings alone, and supposes on our part, as we have seen, knowledge and free will.  The rest of creation is blindly submissive under the hand of God, and yields a necessary obedience.  Man alone can obey or disobey; but in this latter case he renders himself amenable to God’s justice who, as his Creator, has an equal right to command him, and be obeyed.

The Maker first exercised this right when He put into His creature’s soul a sense of right and wrong, which is nothing more than conscience, or as it is called here, natural law.  To this law is subject every human being, pagan, Jew and Christian alike.  No creature capable of a human act is exempt.