““After David had confessed to Nathan that he had " sinned against the Lord," 6 the prophet consoled him by saying: " The Lord hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die." 7 But Nathan did not promise David remission of temporal punishment. On the contrary, he continued: " Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, ... the child that is born to thee shall surely die." 8 St. Paul mentions weakness, disease, and death among the evil effects of unworthy communion. " Therefore many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few are fallen asleep." 9 He evidently regards sickness and death as temporal punishments for irreverence shown to the Holy Eucharist; for among the afflicted Corinthians many returned to their senses in consequence of such chastise ments. 10 b) The teaching of Tradition on this subject may be gathered partly from the writings of the Fathers and partly from the penitential discipline of the ancient Church. a) Calvin admits that practically all the Fathers held the Catholic doctrine of satisfaction. 11 In view of this admission a few select texts will suffice for our purpose. St. Basil says: " If thy sin is great and grievous, thou””
