Augustine of Hippo

"I will make confession unto You, O Lord," he says, "with my whole heart" [Psalm 111:1]. Confession is not always confession of sins, but the praise of God is poured forth in the devotion of confession. The former mourns, the latter rejoices: the former shows the wound to the physician, the latter gives thanks for health. The latter confession signifies some one, not merely freed from every evil, but even separate from all the ill-disposed. And for this reason let us consider the place where he confesses unto the Lord with all his heart. "In the counsel," he says, "of the upright, and in the congregation:" I suppose, of those who shall "sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." [Matthew 19:28] For there will be no longer an unjust man among them, the thefts of no Judas are allowed, no Simon Magus is baptized, wishing to buy the Spirit, while he designs to sell it; no coppersmith like Alexander does many evil deeds, [2 Timothy 4:14] no man covered with sheep's clothing creeps in with feigned fraternity; such as those among whom the Church must now groan, and such as she must then shut out, when all the righteous shall be gathered together.