Cleanse Me From Secret Faults

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By John Henry Newman on January 1, 2010 ,

Cleanse Me From Secret Faults

Strange as it may seem, multitudes called Christians go through life with no effort to obtain a correct knowledge of themselves. They are contented with general and vague impressions concerning their real state; and, if they have more than this, it is merely such accidental information about themselves as the events of life force upon them. But exact systematic knowledge they have none, and do not aim at it.

[Yet] unless we have some just idea of our hearts and of sin, we can have no right idea of a Moral Governor, a Savior, or a Sanctifier that is, in professing to believe in Them, we shall be using words without attaching distinct meaning to them. Thus self-knowledge is at the root of all real religious knowledge; and it is in vain—worse than vain, it is a deceit and a mischief—to think to understand the Christian doctrines as a matter of course, merely by being taught by books, or by attending sermons, or by any outward means, however excellent, taken by themselves. For it is . . . as we search our hearts and understand our own nature that we understand what is meant by an Infinite Governor and Judge; in proportion as we comprehend the nature of disobedience and our actual sinfulness, that we feel what is the blessing of the removal of sin, redemption, pardon, sanctification, which otherwise are mere words. . .

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John Henry Newman

Priest

John Henry Newman, (1801 – 1890) was a 19th-century English-speaking Catholic theologian. He was a priest, preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both Catholic and Anglican churches. He studied at Oxford’s Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church. John Henry Newman was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. Newman wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive today. Most famous are his Essays on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua—his spiritual autobiography up to 1864, and Essay on the Grammar of Assent.

 

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