because I have experienced that he who keeps silent, etc.” First, for one who keeps silent (that is, who does not confess), his bones quickly grow old, that is, his powers in which he formerly stood in good things are always reduced more and more by sins. For sin which is not washed away by repentance soon draws to another sin by its own weight, as is clear in the case of David. First he committed adultery, then he made Uriah drunk, and finally he had him killed (2 Sam. 11:4, 13, 15). Likewise Saul