aia
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
 ^Doctrine
 
 By the same Author. 
 
 THE ANCIENT LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENG- 
 LAND. Second Edition. 1846. 1 vol. 8vo. 15*. 
 
 MONUMENTA RITUALIA ECCLESLE ANGLICANS. 
 
 1847. 3 vols. 8vo. 2/. 8*. 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE MARTIN MARPRELATE CON- 
 TROVERSY IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 1845. 
 1 vol. crown 8vo. 8s. 
 
 HOLY BAPTISM. A DISSERTATION. Second Edition. 1848. 
 
 1 vol. 8vo. 15s. 
 
 THE OUTWARD MEANS OF GRACE, A Sermon, preached 
 in the Church of ST. MAHY, TOTNES, at the Triennial Visitation of the Right 
 Reverend the Lord Bishop of Exeter, August 11, 1848. Printed by request. 
 Third Edition. 1848. 8vo. Is.
 
 AN ENQUIKY INTO THE 
 
 DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 
 
 OF ENGLAND UPON 
 ABSOLUTION. 
 
 BY THE REV. WILLIAM MASKELL, M.A 
 
 VICAR OF S. MARY CHURCH AND DOMESTIC 
 
 CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP 
 
 OF EXF/JTER. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 WILLIAM PICKERING 
 
 1849
 
 The reader is requested to make the following corrections. 
 
 p. 41. /. I- for representing, read refuting. 
 
 p. 164. L 16. for the power to forgive and to retain sins, read, the 
 necessity of confession. 
 
 /. 18. for that power, read, the power of absolution. 
 
 CANCELLED 
 LIBRARY.
 
 TO THE REVEREND THE CLERGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DIOCESE OF EXETER. 
 
 MY REVEREND BRETHREN, 
 
 T may be thought, and perhaps most 
 justly, a presumptuous thing that I 
 should inscribe this volume to you : 
 but it is not from any idle vanity, 
 nor because I suppose its pages to be worthy of 
 your regard, that I venture to do so. 
 
 There are local circumstances connected with 
 the publication of it, which I trust will serve, in 
 some measure, as my excuse for thus addressing 
 you. 
 
 In August last, at the visitation of the Bishop 
 of the diocese, I preached at Totnes. My sermon 
 contained statements upon chief doctrines of the 
 Christian Faith, which, left to recollection only, 
 might very easily have been mistaken or exagge- 
 
 b 
 
 J a^/C / o
 
 vi To the Clergy of the 
 
 rated. The Bishop with the concurrence of many 
 of the clergy desired that the sermon should be 
 printed ; in order that himself and all who had 
 heard it might have an opportunity to judge of 
 it, after deliberation. In expressing this desire, 
 his Lordship declared at the same time, that 
 there were statements in the sermon, to which, 
 as he heard them, he did not assent. 
 
 When published, the sermon caused excite- 
 ment and adverse remark in several parts of the 
 diocese. I cannot say that I was astonished at 
 this : on the contrary, I was prepared for remark : 
 but I was not prepared for accusation without 
 reasons, or for complaints without argument. 
 
 In particular; twenty clergymen addressed a 
 memorial to the Bishop, calling on his Lordship 
 for the expression of some grave episcopal cen- 
 sure of the sermon. Several letters followed, 
 which have been published, and, not troubling 
 you with details, let me make one or two re- 
 marks. 
 
 The whole correspondence was closed without 
 a single application from the memorialists to 
 myself to explain or to withdraw any one state- 
 ment in my sermon. Do not suppose that I think 
 that this was, in the most remote degree, im- 
 proper ; far from it ; my thanks are due to those 
 who, coming forward in so formal a manner to
 
 Diocese of Exeter. vii 
 
 ask for " a grave episcopal censure," whatever 
 they supposed that to be, gave me at least credit 
 for having carefully thought over beforehand all 
 that I deemed it right to speak in the presence 
 of the bishop and many clergy of the diocese 
 assembled in Visitation. And, let me add, herein 
 they did me justice. 
 
 Nor do I complain for one instant of the me- 
 morial itself. If I have preached unsound doc- 
 trine, let it be condemned. Only let no man pub- 
 lish accusations against another, be they heavy 
 or be they light, many or few, accusations, I 
 say, and not matters of dispute in controversy, 
 unless he is prepared to go on and try to prove 
 the truth of them. 
 
 I do not comprehend upon what principle it is, 
 that many people, well-intentioned, are so ready 
 to charge one another with all kinds of religious 
 errors ; neglecting at the same time to specify a 
 standard of appeal, and abstaining from all at- 
 tempt to offer evidence confirmatory of an oppo- 
 site view of Divine Truth. Accusations of teach- 
 ing erroneous doctrine are not light to bear : they 
 ought not to be lightly brought ; neither ought 
 they to be left unsupported. Although perhaps 
 an individual may hardly claim it, yet when one 
 or more of the clergy come forward, conscien- 
 tiously, to contradict some definite teaching, the
 
 viii To the Clergy of the 
 
 Church has a right to know the opposite view 
 which, by implication, they who object require 
 their brethren, and him also whose teaching they 
 condemn, to accept in its place. 
 
 There is one sentence only in the letters ad- 
 dressed by the Plymouth clergy to the Bishop 
 which I wish to lay before you. It is this : 
 
 " The statement [in the sermon] that the abso- 
 lution pronounced at the administration of the 
 Lord's Supper is intended only to meet the case 
 of venial sins, ... we allege to be in opposition 
 to the Form itself, in which the priest pronounces 
 these words, Almighty God have mercy upon you, 
 pardon and deliver yon from all your sins." 
 
 I quote this in order that you may decide how 
 far the present work meets the objections of the 
 memorialists, upon the doctrine of absolution. 
 The sentence, as it seems to me, (coupled with 
 the fact that no objection was made against my 
 interpretation of the form in the office of visiting 
 the sick) can only mean that, in their opinion, 
 the form in the communion Service conveys re- 
 mission of all sins. In other words ; the efficacy 
 which I restrict to a form of absolution after oral 
 confession, is by them extended to the form, after 
 a general confession, in the liturgy. If, on the 
 contrary, the memorialists had denied the grace 
 of absolution or explained it away : if, that is,
 
 Diocese of Exeter. ix 
 
 they had declared my doctrine to be unsound 
 because absolution is only a preaching generally 
 of the promises of God ; or, a particular declara- 
 tion of His promises to an individual ; or, again, is 
 only exercised in the administration of the sacra- 
 ments of baptism and the eucharist ; this would 
 have been another and an equally intelligible line 
 of argument; but then they would not have found 
 the errors on which it must be based treated of, 
 except very briefly, in the following pages. You 
 must impartially judge whether I have misrepre- 
 sented the obvious meaning of their words. If 
 I have not, then I am glad to think that I differ 
 from them, not about the effect of absolution as 
 a chief ordinance of the Christian Faith, but 
 about the interpretation which we are to give to 
 the several forms of absolution in our Common- 
 prayer Book. 
 
 There were other clergymen, besides the me- 
 morialists from Plymouth, who complained to 
 the Bishop of the diocese that I had preached 
 unsound doctrine. From only one of them did 
 I receive the courtesy of being made aware that 
 charges so serious had been brought against me. 
 As their letters have not been published, it pro- 
 bably would be thought improper for me to enter 
 into any particulars. I would only say this much : 
 that I have a right to ask for some justice at
 
 x To the Clergy of the 
 
 their hands. My argument upon the doctrine 
 which was especially objected against is now be- 
 fore them. 
 
 Some persons complained because my visita- 
 tion sermon was published without an appendix 
 of authorities ; let me ask them to consider how 
 I was to discover what part of it, in particular, 
 would be chiefly objected against? There are, 
 if I mistake not, important assertions in the ser- 
 mon upon other doctrines besides absolution ; 
 and here, upon that doctrine alone, is an at- 
 tempt at a distinct treatise to begin with. In- 
 complete (I know well) it is : there has been 
 but little time for me to finish it, because not a 
 sheet was written before the first of November. 
 I would plead this, as an excuse for so much 
 as perhaps it may be worth ; namely, for inac- 
 curacies of reference, or carelessness of style : 
 but, not as an excuse for erroneous statements 
 of doctrine, or for incorrect arguments, or for 
 misrepresentations of the teaching of our Church. 
 These last are not to be excused; they must be 
 explained, or retracted. 
 
 After this book, with the exception of the sup- 
 plement, was sent to press, I received a copy of a 
 printed Letter to myself, by the Rev. F. T. Hill 
 of Ottery S. Mary. This circumstance will ac- 
 count for my not having particularly noticed his
 
 Diocese of Exeter. xi 
 
 publication in my " Enquiry." But I think it 
 will be found that most of his objections are there 
 considered, so far as they fall within the scope of 
 my own argument. For (let me press it upon 
 you) this work is addressed to those who acknow- 
 ledge that sacerdotal absolution is an ordinance 
 of God, conveying grace and remission of sins ; 
 and that it is not merely an authoritative decla- 
 ration, whether general or particular, of such re- 
 mission. 
 
 But I must not conceal my sense of the kind 
 and Christian spirit in which the Letter of Mr. 
 Hill is written. It would be a source of regret to 
 me, if there should be a cause of offence to him 
 by any word that I have said. And his example, 
 by experience in my own case, has confirmed me 
 in a resolution which I have long striven to ob- 
 serve; namely " to avoid the use of harsh and 
 unkind words towards others, and to keep within 
 the reasonable bounds of Christian controversy." 
 Let me go on with this same sentence, written 
 more than two years ago, in the preface to an- 
 other work : " I have endeavoured to remember 
 that they whose judgements are different from my 
 own, may be far more competent than myself to 
 argue upon many matters, on which I have never- 
 theless not hesitated to speak plainly my belief; 
 .first, because it seemed not right to be silent, and,
 
 xii To the Clergy of the Diocese of Exeter. 
 
 secondly, because I was satisfied that I was but 
 uttering the doctrine of the Church of England, 
 in which I am a priest." 
 
 May God of His great goodness guide us into 
 all Truth. 
 
 I am, Rev. Brethren, 
 
 Your very faithful servant, 
 
 W. MASKELL. 
 
 S. MARY CHURCH, 
 Dec. 20th, 1848.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 |Y object, in the present publication, is to 
 enquire into and ascertain so much of 
 the doctrine of the Church of England 
 upon Absolution, as may be gathered 
 from, or is mixed up with, the forms of Absolution 
 contained in the Common Prayer Book. 
 
 Absolution is a doctrine so great, that the considera- 
 tion of any branch of it must involve consequences of 
 no little importance to every Christian : an importance 
 not to be estimated, when we have to argue points with 
 which practice is concerned. Then the discussion 
 can be no longer regarded by any one who is sincerely 
 anxious to work out his salvation, as merely one among 
 many questions debated in the schools ; but he must 
 acknowledge, in his own conscience, that he is himself 
 deeply and personally interested in the truth, whatever 
 that may at last be shewn to be. 
 
 B
 
 2 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 As we proceed, it will probably happen tbat I shall 
 advance arguments which some will desire to dispute, 
 and that I shall assert positions from which they will 
 be eager to dissent. Many causes, which it is not 
 now necessary for me to enter into in detail, will con- 
 duce to this : and let me earnestly request the reader, 
 to weigh dispassionately all that may be said, and, 
 before he decides against the truth or the correctness 
 of the conclusions at which we shall finally arrive, 
 carefully to recollect whether he is or is not influenced 
 by previous habits of thought and prejudice ; by a too 
 great and long- established reliance upon authorities 
 whose judgment he may not so accurately have ex- 
 amined, as he has hastily adopted ; or, by a desire to 
 consent to something which may look like an easier 
 explanation of what he must own to be very difficult 
 and obscure : easier, not in the mode by which it seeks 
 to remove the difficulty, but in the results to which it 
 leads, and in the claims which it makes upon the 
 active practice of those who accept it. 
 
 Nor in this place is it out of the way for me to ob- 
 serve, that the easiness, so understood, of explanations 
 of chief doctrines of the Holy Gospel, is in itself I 
 would not say a mark of error, but, at least a note 
 of warning, and an intelligible call upon us to hesitate 
 and doubt. If our earthly pilgrimage towards heaven 
 were over roads always plain, smooth, and pleasant ; 
 if it was quite certain that having wandered from the 
 right path, we could regain it without labour and pain 
 and sorrow; nay, more than this, if there were no
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 3 
 
 words in the discourses of our Divine Redeemer telling 
 us of our taking up His Cross ; of hating one's own 
 kindred for His sake ; of making foes of one's own 
 household ; of losing life itself ; then we might perhaps 
 be borne out in thus explaining all the duties which, 
 being His disciples, we are bound to perform : but we 
 should make His burthen so light, and His yoke so 
 easy, that neither the one nor the other would be any 
 longer a reality, but a shadow. 
 
 And if what has just been said be true, as undoubt- 
 edly it is, of the Christian life of those who, in purity 
 and constant faith, have their lives-long laboured to 
 walk worthy of their high calling, how much more 
 must it be true in regard to others who by wilful and 
 continued sin have stained, over and over again, their 
 baptismal robes, and fallen from grace. Who can 
 think that he speaks the language of the Gospel, when 
 to such as these he proposes, and proposes only, brief 
 and easy remedies ; and passports opening even, as it 
 were, upon the first demand, the door of reconciliation ? 
 
 It is a source of comfort to me, about to enter upon 
 such an enquiry as I have proposed, to remember that 
 these pages will not in any popular manner set before 
 our people generally, arguments and proofs and deci- 
 sions ; on the contrary, from the very nature of those 
 arguments, and from numerous quotations being given 
 in the language of the original writers, this work will 
 chiefly be read by the clergy, whose proper office it is 
 first to form their own judgement, and then to teach 
 men over whom they are placed in the Lord.
 
 4 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 I do not suppose that there is any Christian truth 
 which, so long as it is disputed, we ought to withdraw 
 (if I may say so) from common observation and the 
 strife of vulgar tongues more needfully than the doc- 
 trine of absolution. For, where there is not only no 
 foundation already laid of learning, but also the posi- 
 tive existence of prejudice and of an ignorant appre- 
 hension of hateful and most false consequences, we 
 must be prepared to hear from many to whom we 
 speak, the open expression of profane opinions and 
 sentiments : so profane, that the very persons by whom 
 such sentiments are avowed, would often be the first 
 to shrink from and to abhor them, if they had been 
 either better taught, or more prudently dealt with. 
 
 Absolution, as commonly understood, is that Divine 
 Ordinance or Sacrament, in which, and by means of 
 which, men may obtain remission of sins which they 
 have committed after Baptism. 
 
 And, here, before we go further, let me distinctly 
 say that I do not propose to enter at all into any proof 
 of the doctrine that sin after baptism may be remitted 
 without the application of absolution : in other words ; 
 that absolution, as a means of grace, is not necessary 
 to our salvation. No one, I presume, would assert 
 that the church of England since the middle of the 
 sixteenth century declares, as for a period before that 
 time she did declare, that all her members shall be 
 obliged to receive absolution. This, even if her 
 own authoritative documents could admit or suggest 
 doubt, has been made manifest enough by almost
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 5 
 
 innumerable writers, commonly referred to : and it 
 would now be for me a mere waste of labour to repeat 
 their arguments. My object is to shew, what some (at 
 least) have too much forgotten in the eagerness of con- 
 troversy ; namely, that whilst, upon the one hand, the 
 church of England, following the example of the 
 primitive Church and relying upon Holy Scripture, 
 does not believe absolution to be of necessity to salva- 
 tion, and to this belief I most entirely and unequivo- 
 cally consent ; yet that, upon the other hand, where 
 duly sought for and duly administered, she still holds 
 that absolution conveys the same graces and spiritual 
 blessings as of old, from generation to generation, up 
 to the days of the apostles. 
 
 Nor do I intend to include any discussion about 
 public offences, and public penance and absolution. 
 These would open up not only a long, but an utterly 
 distinct, class of subjects. Such an enquiry would be 
 concerned with the mode in which the violated external 
 discipline of the Church might be properly vindicated, 
 how the scandal might be fitly removed, and how the 
 offender, having been justly punished, might be restor- 
 ed to communion. But we have now to consider in 
 what manner the church of England teaches us, that 
 secret sins, known it may be only to oneself, may be 
 remitted in the sight of God, and the sinner again 
 placed in a state of justification. 
 
 Nor, once more, shall I argue at all whether sacer- 
 dotal absolution, as that term is used in our Church, 
 does or does not convey the Divine grace and pardon.
 
 6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 I am justly warranted in taking this for granted. My 
 debate is not with those who reject and disbelieve the 
 grace of absolution ; with those who make light of, 
 and explain away the awful commission of our Blessed 
 Lord, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted 
 unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are 
 retained ; " with those (in a word) who will not admit 
 the doctrine of sacramental grace at all ; but with 
 those who know and teach that " Absolution is a power 
 which the Church has ever thankfully acknowledged 
 to have been given to her by her Divine Head, and 
 which no particular Church can ever surrender, with- 
 out cutting itself from the Catholic Church of Christ, 
 and therein from Christ himself." 
 
 But, on the contrary, men who, unhappily, belong 
 to societies like many communities of foreign protes- 
 tants, or, for example, the presby terian kirk of Scotland, 
 which have separated themselves from the Catholic 
 Church, may, very consistently and intelligibly too, 
 consider absolution to be nothing more than a declara- 
 tion of the Infinite mercy of the Almighty towards all 
 truly repentant sinners ; or, nothing more than a ser- 
 viceable branch of the outward discipline of congrega- 
 tions, by which notorious offenders, who have been 
 expelled, might be again admitted ; or, a still higher 
 though perhaps a more confused idea, that it is nothing 
 more than a remission of sins in the sacrament of bap- 
 tism. I say this is intelligible enough, when alleged 
 by those to whom I am now referring. Nay, if such 
 societies claimed to have, even if they stoutly insisted
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 7 
 
 upon the necessity of, the grace of absolution in its 
 real sense and meaning, they would only be deceiving 
 their own selves, and talking about what they cannot, 
 out of the Church, by possibility possess. Absolution 
 of sin by the mouth of the ministers of God, even like 
 the blessed sacrament of the eucharist, can be obtained 
 only from those who have received both power and 
 commission to bestow it. It is a fearful truth, that so 
 many thousands and tens of thousands of baptized 
 persons live on from the font to the grave, I do not 
 say without the reception of absolution, for this they 
 do not desire or believe in, but without more than 
 the mere fiction and pretence of eating and drinking 
 the Body and the Blood of our adorable Redeemer, 
 the partaking of Which is " generally necessary to sal- 
 vation." 
 
 The method which I shall pursue will be, first to lay 
 before the reader the opinions of those writers upon 
 our Book of Common Prayer, who are commonly re- 
 garded as ritualists, and to whom the clergy of the 
 English church usually refer in order either to decide 
 doubts, or to explain difficulties. The reason why these 
 writers have been so almost universally appealed to, 
 as decisive, to the exclusion of earlier authorities who 
 have investigated the like subjects, may be traced to 
 various causes : chiefly, because the earlier books being 
 dear as well as scarce, have not been purchased by 
 many who, nevertheless, have perhaps spent money on 
 less worthy objects, and who have been therefore con- 
 tented to rely upon second-hand information, without
 
 8 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 taking the pains to enquire for themselves at better 
 sources. Or, again, because of the ignorant and long- 
 established and, until late years, wide-spread concep- 
 tion of the origin of our Book of Common Prayer; 
 namely, that it was " written " or " compiled " at the 
 reformation, when all things were made new ; and 
 therefore that we need do no more than adopt some 
 interpretation, out of the several authors since that 
 time, which best suits our own notions about the matter 
 in dispute. This last theory, if any fancy so visionary 
 and untrue may be called a theory, at once and alto- 
 gether deprives the Church herself, whose Book and 
 Ritual it is, of voice and authority. In fact, loudly 
 as people may choose to boast about the learning and 
 acuteness of Sparrow, or Wheatley, or Comber, or 
 Shepherd ; or to cry, " I am of this one," and " I of 
 that;" yet, after all, it is a mode of talking which 
 resolves itself into a simple assertion of each man's 
 individual and personal judgement. 
 
 I would wish not to be understood as undervaluing 
 the labours of those writers whom I am about to quote, 
 or as desiring not to recommend, as being useful, any 
 reference to their works. Very far from it : I have 
 often been myself much indebted to several of them. 
 And regarding points upon which there is little or no 
 difference amongst us; or, which have been so dis- 
 tinctly settled by the Church as to leave no room for 
 variety of opinion ; or, once more, as to the true inter- 
 pretation which we are to give to doubtful and seem- 
 ingly contradictory rubrics ; the clergy, equally with
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 9 
 
 the laity, will do well to avail themselves always of 
 their researches. But I would protest against the 
 overrating any one among them : and against the 
 placing one or two, or all together if it should be so, 
 in the place which is alone due to the church of Eng- 
 land herself. 
 
 To produce extracts from these writers will probably 
 seem to some tedious and unnecessary : but I do not 
 see how otherwise we can correctly estimate the pre- 
 sent difficulty of the question which we are about to 
 consider, or the value, in regard to it, of their different 
 opinions. So different, it may be added, that they 
 have at least involved in clouds much that would have 
 remained plain and clegr enough, if a more legitimate 
 mode of interpretation had never been departed from.
 
 i o The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ET us first take the notes of bishop 
 Overall, and of bishop Cosin, as they 
 are printed in the additions to the folio 
 edition of Nicholls on the common 
 prayer. Upon the confession and absolution before 
 morning prayer bishop Cosin says ; " In which con- 
 fession, we remember our daily offences in general; 
 and there is no means so powerful to obtain pardon 
 for them, as the daily prayers of the Church to that 
 purpose. So that the course which our Church here 
 prescribeth, for the pardon of our daily offences, being 
 put in practice, what can be more just, more due than 
 to declare that forgiveness and absolution, which those 
 that are (as they pretend to be) penitent for those sins, 
 do obtain ? What more comfortable, than to hear the 
 news of it from his mouth, by whom the Church 
 ministereth these offices ? what more seasonable, than 
 to do this before we come to give God His solemn 
 praise and honour in our publick service, that we 
 may be assured He accepts of the same at our hands." 
 The bishop makes a remark upon our superiority over 
 " other reformed churches" in this respect, and con-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. \ i 
 
 tinues : " The solemn beginning of our service with 
 confession and absolution, serves " [let me call the 
 reader's attention to this, not to convey remission of 
 those sins which are confessed, but] " to put the people 
 in mind, that all which follows is the solemn service 
 of Almighty God, preparing them to that attention 
 of mind, and devotion of spirit, which they owe to it, 
 and which is requisite to make it acceptable." 1 
 
 I need only observe here, that I believe bishop 
 Cosin stands alone in his reference of the confession 
 and absolution to the whole course of the prayers 
 about to follow, and which are, he tells us, the most 
 powerful means we have to obtain pardon for our 
 offences. Whether they be so or not, I shall not 
 enquire ; perhaps I have mistaken the author's mean- 
 ing, and the whole passage is decidedly obscure. But 
 this is, at any rate, evident and sufficient for my pre- 
 sent purpose : namely, that bishop Cosin's view of the 
 matter is, that the absolution is a declaration of that 
 forgiveness of sins which the truly penitent person 
 obtains, in some way or other, from God. 2 
 
 Upon the exhortation in the liturgy, that whosoever 
 is unquiet in his conscience should go to some priest 
 and receive the benefit of absolution, bishop Overall 
 
 1 Additional Notes, jo. 18. MS. collections ascribed to bishop 
 
 2 In the same collection, there Andrewes. " Because [the mi- 
 is the following note soon after, nisterj speaks [the absolution] 
 p. 19. which does not amount to authoritative, in the Name of 
 any thing, on either side of the Christ and His Church, he must 
 question. This note is from some not kneel, but stand up."
 
 12 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 declares ; " Confession of sins must necessarily be 
 made to them, to whom the dispensation of the mys- 
 teries of God is committed. For so they which in 
 former times repented among the saints, are read to 
 have done. It is written in the gospel, that they con- 
 fessed their sins to John Baptist. In the Acts they all 
 confessed their sins unto the apostles, of whom they 
 were baptized." The meaning of this I take to be, 
 not that particular confession of sins is necessary in 
 itself and always, but necessary in order to that spe- 
 cial absolution which persons are exhorted to seek for, 
 that they may not come in scruple and doubt and 
 unquiet to the holy sacrament. 3 
 
 In the next page the same writer says ; " It is most 
 expedient that this [the Exhortation] be read, to in- 
 duce the people, that they bethink themselves of the 
 sovereign benefit of absolution, by their penitent con- 
 fession." 
 
 Upon the form in the visitation of the sick, bishop 
 Overall further says : " The church of England how- 
 soever it holdeth not confession and absolution sacra- 
 mental, that is made unto and received from a priest, 
 to be so absolutely necessary, as that without it there 
 can be no remission of sins ; yet by this place it is 
 manifest, what she teacheth concerning the virtue and 
 force of this sacred action. The confession is com- 
 manded to be special, the absolution is the same that 
 the ancient Church, and the present church of Rome, 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 43.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 3 
 
 useth ; what would they have more ? . . . . Our if he 
 feels his conscience troubled, is no more than is si 
 inveniat peccata ; for if he be not troubled with sin, 
 what needs either confession or absolution? Venial 
 sins, that separate not from the grace of God, need 
 not so much to trouble a man's conscience. If he 
 hath committed any mortal sin, then we require con- 
 fession of it to a priest ; who may give him, upon his 
 true contrition and repentance, the benefit of absolu- 
 tion ; which takes effect according to his disposition 
 that is absolved .... The truth is, that in the priest's 
 absolution there is the true power and virtue of for- 
 giveness, which will most certainly take effect, nisi 
 ponitur obex, as in baptism." 4 
 
 I shall next take bishop Sparrow: and extract, from 
 his explanation of " the Absolution" in the daily 
 prayers, so much as will shew us his judgement upon 
 the question before us. In that part of his book, the 
 Rationale, he also considers (very naturally) the other 
 two forms which the church of England orders, and 
 the several occasions of them. 
 
 " This absolution [the first] is an act of authority, 5 
 by virtue of a i power and commandment of God to 
 
 ~* 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 62. stand : but, a* a fact, the rubric, 
 
 5 I pass by some preceding re- if it desired anything, desired the 
 marks about the omission in the minister to kneel. But the writer's 
 then rubric to stand. Bishop argument (and when in any case 
 Sparrow wrote originally upon this is so, it is in various degrees 
 the Book of 1604: in which no suspicious,) required such an as- 
 such order was given. The bishop sertion. 
 
 asserts that the minister ought to
 
 14 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 His ministers.' And as we read S. John 20. Whose- 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted. And if our 
 confession be serious and hearty, this absolution is 
 effectual, as if God did pronounce it from heaven." 
 The proof of this immediately follows : and I feel con- 
 fident that, where we might have expected to hear the 
 authority of the church of England appealed to, most 
 persons will be startled at that which is produced. 
 " So sayes" the bishop continues " the Confession of 
 Saxony and Bohemia ; and so sayes the Augustan Con- 
 fession, and which is more, so sayes S. Chrysost. in 
 his fifth horn, upon Esay .... The same says S. Greg. 
 Horn. 26. upon the Gospels . . . . S. Augustine and 
 Cyprian, and generally antiquity sayes the same ; so 
 does our Church in many places, particularly in the 
 form of absolution for the sick : but above all, holy 
 Scripture is clear, S. John 20. Whosesoever sins ye 
 remit, they are remitted unto them" 6 
 
 Such is the argument on which bishop Sparrow 
 grounds his assertion that if the general confession be 
 sincere, then the absolution which follows is " effec- 
 tual." When persons produce evidence which is not 
 what they would have us to suppose, we are generally 
 warranted in deciding against, at least in doubting, 
 the correctness of the conclusions which they draw. 
 There can be no one who will not think it very curious 
 that the absolution in the morning and evening prayer 
 is pronounced to be " effectual," because our Church 
 
 Rationale, p. 17. Edit. 1668.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 15 
 
 has a form of absolution in her order for visiting the 
 sick. 
 
 But we will pause a moment. These so-called 
 proofs, (let their relative value be what they may, 
 whether the judgements of holy fathers of the Catholic 
 Church, or of Confessions of foreign protestants,) are 
 to be taken as convincing evidence that when the 
 priest in the daily office of the English church pro- 
 nounces the Absolution, then that the truly penitent 
 sinner is, at that very time, actually absolved. Now, 
 in the first place, obscure as the Saxon, the Bohemian, 
 and the Augsburg confessions of faith are upon this 
 point of absolution, yet one thing at least is certain, 
 that not one of them refers at all to public general 
 confession and absolution, but, distinctly, to private 
 absolution. 7 Let it be understood that if they really 
 
 7 I shall not point out how in- tant, ut remissionem peccatorum, 
 
 adequate and obscure in detail per hujusmodi ministerium, sic a 
 
 these confessions are, in their ar- Christo institutum, consequantur. 
 
 tides " de pcenitentia" but it is Item docentur homines, ut ab- 
 
 right that the reader should see solutionem magni faciant, cre- 
 
 so much of them as relates to con- dantque indubitate fieri, quod per 
 
 fession and absolution, in order claves promittitur, cum vox Christi 
 
 that he may judge for himself, sit, et mandate ejus expressa, Jo- 
 
 I presume these to be the places hannis vigesimo : Accipite Spiri- 
 
 referred to by bishop Sparrow. turn Sanctum, cui remiseritis pec- 
 
 " Itidem decent, ut poenitentes cata, etc. Sciantque clavium usu 
 
 sacerdotem accedant, peccataque ac ministerio, Christique autori- 
 
 sua Deo ipsi coram illo confitean- tate verborum, sibi omnia peccata 
 
 tur, tametsi non praecipimus neque condonari.'' Confessio Bohce- 
 
 exigimus enumerationem peccato- mica. Art. v. 
 
 rum, consilium autem modumque " Cum hac fide in terroribus 
 
 vitandi peccati, et per claves ec- illis erigimur, consequimur certo 
 
 clesiae absolutionem ab ipso pe- remissionem peccatorum, sicut su-
 
 1 6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 did say what bishop Sparrow has pretended, neverthe- 
 less, in enquiring into the doctrine of the church of 
 England we must at once and utterly repudiate and 
 oppose their authority. I cannot allow that upon any 
 single point whatever, let it be weighty or let it be 
 light, the confessions and symbols, and formularies 
 and books of prayer, put forth by foreign protestant 
 communities, are to be listened to for a single instant, 
 when cited to determine the true meaning of the 
 Catholic church of England. Too long, unhappily 
 for us all, too long have those documents by many 
 been otherwise regarded: and we are, (God grant it 
 may be only for a time) involved in almost inextrica- 
 
 pra ostendimus. Et hanc fidem 
 concipiunt animi ex evangelic ; 
 item ex absolutione, quae evange- 
 lium annunciat et applicat pe'r- 
 terrefactis conscientiis. Ideoque 
 decent nostri retinendam esse in 
 ecclesiis privatam absolutionem, 
 et ejus dignitatem, et potestatem 
 clavium veris et amplissimis lau- 
 dibus ornant, quod videlicet potes- 
 tas clavium administret evange- 
 lium, non solum in genere omni- 
 bus, sed etiara privatim singulis, 
 sicut Christus inquit, Lucratus 
 erisfratrem, etc. Et quod voci 
 illi evangelii, quod ministerio ec- 
 clesiae nobis in absolutione ad- 
 ministratur, credendum sit, tan- 
 quam voci de coelo sonanti." 
 Confessio Augustana. 1540. 
 
 " De confessione privata fa- 
 cienda pastoribus, adfirmamus ri- 
 
 tum privatae absolutionis in eccle- 
 sia retinendum esse ; et constanter 
 retinemus, propter multas graves 
 causas. Sed simul docemus, non 
 praecipiendam esse, nee postulan- 
 dum enumerationem delictorum 
 in illo private colloquio : quia nee 
 divinitus mandata est ilia delicto- 
 rum recitatio, nee possibilis est : 
 et adducit pias mentes in dubita- 
 tionem, et fidem languefacit. Ma- 
 gis vero hoc taxamus, quod nus- 
 quam adversarii in doctrina de 
 poenitentia vel conversione, men- 
 tionem faciant fidei justificantis, 
 de qua supra dictum est : qua 
 sola vere accipitur remissio pecca- 
 torum, et cor in sensu irze Dei 
 erigitur, et liberatur ex doloribus 
 inferorum." Confessio Saxonica. 
 cap. xvj.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 17 
 
 ble difficulties, into which we need never have been 
 plunged, if we had been content to abide by and to 
 follow the clear and steady guidance of our Church 
 herself. But I pass on from this. 
 
 If the confessions cited by bishop Sparrow do not 
 prove his point, how can we expect the fathers would ? 
 Still, let us hear them. " Heaven " says S. Chrysostom 
 " waits and expects the priest's sentence here on earth ; 
 the Lord follows the servant, and what the servant 
 rightly binds or looses here on earth, that the Lord 
 confirms in heaven." And S. Gregory : " The apos- 
 tles (and in them all priests) were made God's vice- 
 gerents here on earth in His Name and stead to retain 
 or remit sins." Particular places are not given from 
 S. Cyprian or S. Augustine ; and I am quite content 
 to leave without further remark the above two quo- 
 tations. 
 
 Bishop Sparrow, a page or two after, proceeds : 
 " There be three several forms of absolution in the 
 Service .... All these several forms, in sense and 
 virtue are the same." If the writer were here merely 
 speaking of the difference in the forms, as being the 
 one declaratory, or another precatory, or a third au- 
 thoritative, (and in such a way I suppose from the 
 argument which accompanies it, that his opinion is to 
 be understood) then another and a very different ques- 
 tion is concerned. But, following so shortly upon his 
 previous statements, and with nothing introduced by 
 which we might comprehend that he is proceeding to 
 a new subject, we are naturally induced to interpret 
 
 c
 
 1 8 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 this as a further proof of what had been already ad- 
 vanced : namely, that the three forms are, as a fact in 
 their use by our church, the same in effect and virtue. 
 For, he concludes : " So then in which form soever of 
 tnese the absolution be pronounced, it is in substance 
 the same; an act of authority by virtue of Christ's 
 commission, effectual to remission of sins in the peni- 
 tent." 8 
 
 There is yet one other passage, which ought to be 
 included here. Whether, according to the commonly 
 received notion of bishop Sparrow's meaning, it is 
 reconcileable with what has gone before, is not for me 
 to enquire : but it bears upon and supports the extract 
 already given from the notes of bishop Overall. " Here 
 shall the sick person make a special confession, if he 
 feel his conscience troubled wilh any weighty matter. 
 It would be considered, whether every deadly sin be 
 not a weighty matter." 9 
 
 It will be observed, that I have all along been 
 allowing that bishop Sparrow's judgement is certainly 
 agreeable to that of persons who believe that the forms 
 of absolution in the daily prayers and in the liturgy, 
 after the general confessions, do effectually convey 
 remission of mortal sin. His argument is confused, 
 and it may, after all, not be so certain as at first sight 
 it seems. But however this may be, if it be not easy 
 to understand the author of the Rationale in this part 
 of his work, if it be still less easy to reconcile his state- 
 
 8 Rationale,/?. 2225. 9 Ibid. p. 331. Visit, of the sick.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 19 
 
 ments in different places of the same book, I must 
 altogether leave to others the attempt to reconcile this 
 exposition, if it must be so understood, with his famous 
 sermon preached before the university of Cambridge 
 in 1637. 10 
 
 In that sermon Sparrow says that confession is, of 
 necessity, to be made to God : to which all men consent. 
 "And," he goes on, " no pardon to be hoped for, unless 
 we confess to Him at least. But there is another con- 
 fessor, that should not be neglected. He that would 
 be sure of pardon," it may seem strange if I Italicize 
 words, so let the reader mark them for himself, " He 
 that would be sure of pardon, let him seek out a priest? 
 and make his humble confession to him ; for God, Who 
 alone hath the prime and original right of forgiving 
 sins, hath delegated the priests His judges here on 
 earth, and given them the power of absolution ; so that 
 they can, in His Name, forgive the sins of those, that 
 humbly confess unto them." He supports this declara- 
 tion by some extracts from the fathers, which, on this 
 occasion (whether valuable or not) are at any rate to 
 the point in hand, namely, the power in the priesthood 
 to forgive sins. And he continues. " But to put all 
 out of doubt, let us search the Scriptures ; look into 
 the xxth of St. John, v. 23rd. Whosesoever sins ye 
 remit, etc. Here is plainly a power of remitting sins 
 
 granted to the priest, by our blessed Saviour It 
 
 is not the power of preaching, or baptizing, which is 
 
 10 I quote from the edition of 1722.
 
 20 The Doctrine of Absolution* 
 
 here given to the apostles ; but as the fathers interpret 
 the place, a peculiar power of pronouncing as God's 
 deputed judges, pardon and remission to the penitent ; 
 a power of absolving from sins, in the Name of God, 
 all such as penitently confess unto them. A form of 
 which absolution our holy mother the Church hath 
 prescribed in the visitation for the sick. He then, that 
 assents to the church of England, or believes the scrip- 
 tures, or gives credit to the ancient fathers, cannot 
 deny the priest the power of remitting siris. And since 
 he can, in the Name of God, forgive us our sins, good 
 reason we should make our confession to him. . . . The 
 only means to obtain this absolution, is our confession 
 to him." 
 
 So, in his sermon, bishop Sparrow : and immediately 
 after in the same sermon he speaks, in a single sen- 
 tence, of our reaping " the great benefit of absolution " 
 by a confession " publicly before the congregation." 
 What the great benefit of this absolution is, he does 
 not say. But it may be what the reader likes to make 
 it, so long as it is not the same with the benefit of the 
 absolution which follows special and oral confession. 
 And before we can allow that bishop Sparrow intended 
 us to conclude that both have the same benefit, we must 
 convict him of what is worse than mere confusion of 
 language ; that is, of wilfully leading people through 
 a whole sermon to misunderstand his argument, which, 
 after all, upon the strength of a single sentence at the 
 end is to be made to signify nothing of the sort sup- 
 posed. For let it be remembered that not only is the
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 21 
 
 priestly power of absolution (in the passages above 
 quoted) and the exercise of that power asserted to be 
 most strictly judicial, but also that the confession which 
 is to precede it, whether to God or to the priest, must 
 be " Integra et perfecta. We must not confess by 
 halves, acknowledging some [sins], and concealing 
 others, but freely all that we can remember .... All 
 sins of weakness, all sins of presumption, all must be 
 confessed, if we would have God to pardon all. His 
 pardon is general, He never forgives one sin, but He 
 forgives all ; and our confession must be answerable, 
 we must confess not one but all, that after diligent 
 search and examination we find we have committed." 
 
 Dr. Comber, dean of Durham, compiled a long work 
 upon our Book of Common Prayer : the Companion 
 to the Temple. He says : " The true judgement of 
 the church of England concerning absolution may best 
 be gathered from the Liturgy, in which are three forms 
 of absolving set down. The first declaratory here, [he 
 is speaking in this place of the daily prayer,] which is 
 a solemn promulgation of pardon by a commissionated 
 person, repeated every day when the whole congrega- 
 tion confess their sins, wherein they are assured of 
 forgiveness if they repent and believe : .... so that 
 to those who truly do repent, it is present remission, to 
 those that do not, it is a monitor that they may repent. 
 .... And this being pronounced to all the people, 
 every one is to take his portion." 
 
 Upon this the reader will observe, that although Dr. 
 Comber explains this absolution to be declaratory, or,
 
 22 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 as he not improperly expresses it, "a promulgation 
 of pardon," 11 by which we must understand (for he is 
 distinguishing the three forms) that it is nothing more 
 than a promulgation, yet he says it is also " a present 
 remission," It is scarcely to be supposed that in one 
 breath such a writer would contradict himself: and 
 therefore I conclude that he cannot mean by those 
 words that this absolution conveys and effects remission 
 at that present time to the penitent. What else he 
 might mean by it, it is not worth our while to enquire. 
 
 There is not the same obscurity in his explanation 
 of the other two forms. " The second is petitionary 
 in the communion service, where the minister lays 
 down the promise, and on that ground, by virtue of his 
 
 own office, begs of God to make that promise good 
 
 The third \& judiciary in the office for the sick, wherein 
 the priest having declared there is a pardon, and 
 prayed for the sick person, doth by God's authority, 
 and as His substitute, declare him (whom he believes 
 truly penitent) loosed from the guilt of his sins by 
 Christ's merit. But this so high and solemn office is 
 not by our church prescribed to be performed, but only 
 to a weak or dying man, nor to him, but upon his 
 hearty confession, and being full of fear and sorrow." 
 
 Whatever there is of doubt, if there is any, concern- 
 ing the dean's meaning in the above, is cleared by his 
 fuller expositions of the two other forms, when, in the 
 course of his work, he comes to the particular consid- 
 
 11 Oxford edit. vol. 1. p. 99. cf. p. 100. " A bare telling of 
 pardon."
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 23 
 
 eration of them. The reader, who desires it, may refer 
 to those parts in the third and fourth volumes. I shall 
 now only further observe, that it would perhaps have 
 been as well, if the identical terms used by our Church 
 in her office for the sick had been adopted also by Dr. 
 Comber : if (that is) in the extract just given, he had said 
 " absolve " instead of " declare him loosed," by which 
 method he would have avoided confusion with his ex- 
 planation just preceding of the " declaratory " form : 
 and, if he had said " special" instead of " hearty" con- 
 fession. One cannot conceive why he should not have 
 done so, if he is really to be understood in the sense 
 which his whole paragraph seems intended to carry. 
 Indeed what other possible sense, in common honesty, 
 can we put upon his words ? 
 
 But it must not be overlooked that Dr. Comber in 
 the above passage takes no notice whatever of the 
 exhortation which, in the communion service, is made 
 to those who have troubled consciences, to come and 
 open their grief, and receive absolution. I am at a loss 
 to account for this ; more especially as in another 
 place, upon this same exhortation, he plainly says, " if 
 the conscience be wounded with guilt, he [the minister] 
 hath power from Christ, upon our contrition, to give 
 us absolution." 12 
 
 Next, Hamon L' Estrange : in his Alliance of Divine 
 Offices. At the beginning of his book we are told, 
 " Of absolution I shall treat in the communion of the 
 
 12 Ibid. vol. 3. p. 135.
 
 24 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 sick." Turning there, we find; " Confession and 
 absolution. Here the church approveth of, though she 
 
 doth not command, auricular confession But 
 
 there being two absolutions mentioned in the former 
 offices, it may be demanded, why only this is in the first 
 person, / absolve thee ? The answer is, there are three 
 opinions concerning absolution. The first, entertained 
 by a few, consider it optative, precarious, or by peti- 
 tion only, as praying for the pardon of the sins of the 
 penitent. The second think it declaratory only, that 
 is, pronouncing the penitent absolved, by applying 
 God's promises to the signs of his contrition. Lastly, 
 some contend that it is authoritative, as deriving power 
 and commission from God, not to declare the party 
 absolved but for the priest to do it, in words denoting 
 the first person. All these three opinions our Church 
 seemeth in part to favour, the first under these words ; 
 Almighty God have mercy on you, pardon, and deliver 
 you. The second under these words ; Hath given 
 charge and command to His ministers, to declare and 
 pronounce to His people, being penitent, the absolu- 
 tion and remission of their sins. The last by these 
 words ; / absolve thee. Which authoritative absolu- 
 tion is rather proper here, because where the priest 
 absolves in his own person, his absolution is not fitly 
 applicable to any, but such as have given him evident 
 tokens of hearty sorrow for their sins, such as Divine 
 chastisements usually causeth : extendible it is not 
 to whole congregations (as in the former instances) 
 where the confession is too general to be conceived
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 25 
 
 in all real. And a confession at large can at most 
 pretend but to an absolution at large, effectual only to 
 such as truly and sincerely repent." 13 
 
 I do not hesitate to say that, except for the last few 
 words, I should decide that L'Estrange's view of these 
 absolutions was that the first is declarative, the second 
 optative, and the third authoritative, in such a sense 
 as to make the last only to be an actual exercise by 
 the priest of the power of retaining and of remitting; 
 sins. Whether indeed this be the correct inference 
 from his words, I must fairly say, is rendered at least 
 doubtful by his concluding remark that however 
 " large" the absolution may be, it is " effectual" to 
 such as truly repent. The reader must form his own 
 judgement about it. 
 
 The next, whose opinion we shall refer to, in order 
 of time is Dr. Nicholls. He makes, in the first abso- 
 lution, the sentence ; " He pardoneth and absolveth 
 all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe 
 His holy Gospel," to be " the absolving Form ;" and 
 explains that it both (as he terms it) avoids the ancient 
 and modern Roman forms, which are in the first per- 
 son, Ego absolvo te, etc. ; and also is valid as a form. 
 It is almost, nay, it may be asserted, quite impossible 
 to discover from this author what he intended his 
 readers to understand by his note upon the first abso- 
 lution. He seems to speak of it as conveying pardon 
 to penitent sinners, else he would not have remarked 
 upon and distinguished " the absolving form ;" yet he
 
 26 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 goes on to say, that the declarative form was thought 
 by our Church " more proper for daily use ; as being 
 less liable to the exceptions of those, who would be apt 
 from thence to accuse the clergy, for aggrandizing 
 their own office, by so frequently repeating the power 
 which they are vested with." If such language means 
 anything, does it not appear that we are to conclude 
 that the church of England claims and exercises in 
 this absolution a power to forgive the sins of those 
 who are truly penitent, and nevertheless seeks to con- 
 ceal that power within the obscurity of altered lan- 
 guage ? Let this be the way of whomsoever it will to 
 evade a seeming difficulty, I, for my part, never will 
 consent to an opinion so pitiful and so disgraceful. 
 The real question is, does the Church intend by this 
 absolution to convey remission of sins to those who 
 are truly penitent? It would be easier after all to 
 interpret Dr. Nicholls as answering this question in 
 the negative, if he did not in his paraphrase which 
 follows the note, thus express himself : " God, ... by 
 the mouth of His minister, pronounceth pardon and 
 absolution to every one of you that is endowed with 
 the requisite qualifications for it." But, in short ; I 
 acknowledge that it is hard to determine upon which 
 side Dr. Nicholls is to be quoted; whether he believed 
 this absolution to be, or not to be, a conveyance and 
 not a declaration of God's mercy and pardon to the 
 penitent. Taking also, however, into our considera- 
 tion his remarks upon the order that none except a 
 priest is to pronounce it, he must, I conceive, be un-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 27 
 
 derstood as insisting upon its being (although of pur- 
 pose obscurely worded) an actual conveyance of par- 
 don, and not a mere declaration. In which sense I 
 shall refer to him, if necessary. 
 
 Upon the form in the communion Service, the same 
 writer speaks with more decision. Before we come to 
 it, it is well to quote his remark upon the exhortation, 
 when notice of communion is given. " That he may 
 receive the benefit of absolution. It is very plain," 
 he tells us, " from this passage, that our Church does 
 not condemn private confession and absolution : though 
 she does not universally require them (as the church 
 of Rome does) as being necessary for the pardon of 
 all sins. She only recommends them as things very 
 convenient to be put in practice, when persons cannot 
 quiet their own consciences otherwise ; but still leaves 
 them at their liberty whether they will make use of 
 this means or no." 
 
 The paraphrase which he gives of the absolution 
 itself leaves no doubt that he regarded it as a declara- 
 tion only of God's mercy. " This same good and 
 gracious God hath ordered me His minister, to declare 
 and pronounce His mercy to you, in pardoning and 
 delivering you from all your sins, if you truly repent 
 of them, as I charitably presume you do : and I put 
 up my prayers for you to Him, that He may confirm 
 you in a constant habit of virtue, etc." Hence Dr. 
 Nicholls placed this second absolution in a lower place, 
 so to speak, than the first. 
 
 It is scarcely to be wondered at, if we find our
 
 28 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 author equally hard to be understood as to the effect 
 and object of the absolution in the office for the sick : 
 rather, I fear it must at last be owned that, seeking to 
 please two parties, he evadest he question and decides 
 for neither. " Our Church," he observes, " has ordered 
 that the sick person, when he is visited by the minis- 
 ter, may be moved to make confession of such sins, as 
 he finds do trouble his conscience ; to the end that by 
 the spiritual advice and comfort, which he may receive 
 from him, his mind may be eased." Here it must be 
 objected, that this " advice and comfort" is not the 
 end of such confession : but, whatever may be the 
 value of absolution, absolution is the true and only 
 end proposed. But Dr. Nicholls continues : " Our 
 Church motions special confession, with relation only 
 to such sins as disquiet the person's mind .... our 
 Church does this, only with a view of instructing and 
 comforting the sick person." Not to repeat again the 
 objection just mentioned, another occurs : for it is 
 clear that the church of England is so far from 
 "motioning special confession" only of some sin or 
 eins in particular, that she orders " a special confes- 
 sion of sins, if the conscience is troubled with any 
 weighty matter." And I must request the reader very 
 carefully to mark how 7 material this distinction is. 
 
 The assertion is , again repeated that this special 
 confession is only in order to receive spiritual advice : 
 and being so, Dr. Nicholls was very wise in explain- 
 ing to us what the absolution which follows is not, 
 instead of what it /*. " It is not absolutely necessary
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 29 
 
 for the forgiveness of sins ; it is not judicial and 
 authoritative." With the first negative we unhesitat- 
 ingly agree : and with the second also, in the sense 
 in which the writer puts it ; namely, that " God 
 Almighty must not be thought to divest Himself of 
 His inherent right of forgiveness of sins, which the 
 scriptures say belongs to Him alone." It is sad to 
 find in books, so called, of authority, questions and 
 doctrines of the highest, nay, of vital importance, thus 
 evaded, by sonorous and empty arguments against 
 statements which every Christian would abhor; which 
 have nothing whatever to do with the matter really 
 enquired about ; which, nevertheless, unhappily serve 
 to blind the eyes of ignorant and hasty readers. 
 
 We come now to a ritualist, Wheatly, whose learn- 
 ing and judgement are to be readily acknowledged, 
 and whose work is very generally referred to by our 
 clergy ; but as upon all points it is not probable that 
 any one would consent to his decisions as final, so I 
 shall not hesitate to controvert them upon this question 
 of absolution. His book is in common use, and I shall 
 endeavour therefore to state only, as briefly as may be, 
 the conclusions at which he has arrived. 
 
 Wheatly considers the first absolution to be " an 
 actual conveyance of pardon, at the very instant of 
 pronouncing it, to all that come within the terms pro- 
 posed :" and he distinguishes and rejects the opinion, 
 which would have it to be merely a " declaration of 
 the terms." In other words : he contends, " that 
 since the priest has both power and commandment to
 
 30 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 declare and pronounce absolution ; therefore, when he 
 does, by virtue of this power and commandment, de- 
 clare and pronounce such absolution and remission 
 regularly in the congregation ; those in the congrega- 
 tion that truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's 
 holy gospel, (though the priest does not know who or 
 how many they are that do so,) have yet their pardon 
 conveyed and sealed to them at that very instant 
 through his ministration ; it being the ordinary method 
 of God with His church, to communicate His bless- 
 ings through the ministry of the priest." 
 
 The author goes on to say that in this explanation 
 he is sensible that he is carrying the point higher than 
 many who have preceded him : among others, he 
 specifies Dr. Marshall, the learned translator of S. 
 Cyprian, who regards this absolution as nothing more 
 than an authoritative declaration. And, indeed, with 
 respect to the effect of this absolution, according to 
 Wheatly's judgement, it does not seem possible to 
 carry it higher ; for it amounts to this : namely ; that 
 sinners, who are truly penitent, have their sins and 
 guilt removed and their pardon conveyed, at the 
 instant of (neither before nor after) the pronunciation 
 of this form. 
 
 Wheatly (as the reader has observed) declares that 
 the priest does not know who are and who are not, 
 out of the members of the congregation, thus absolved : 
 nor does he suggest any test or guide by which per- 
 sons themselves might know whether their contrition, 
 and mental confession, and resolutions of amendment,
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 31 
 
 and earnestness of faith have reached the point to 
 which they must of necessity attain, before the pro- 
 nouncing of the absolution shall be effective of so 
 great results. For example, he does not say how any 
 one during a whole life is to be made sure that the 
 absolution in the public daily office has at last both 
 conveyed and sealed to him, long truly (as he hopes) 
 repentant, pardon and remission of sins. If yester- 
 day, why not a week ago ? if not to-day, why to-mor- 
 row, or a twelvemonth hence? But considerations 
 like these will come before us, more properly, here- 
 after. 
 
 In support of his decision, novel according to his 
 own admission, Wheatly brings some proofs. One, 
 from the use of the term " pronounce :" " To be pro- 
 nounced by the priest alone" Now, let it be remem- 
 bered, that a doctrine of absolution so extraordinary 
 is made to rest upon the exact meaning of an English 
 word, derived from the Latin : how far it is to be thus 
 rested, it is of course impossible to say. So worthless 
 an argument, even at the best, could settle nothing in 
 an enquiry of such magnitude as that which is before 
 us : and I remember few things in modern theology 
 which, calmly considered, are so startling, as the at- 
 tempt to determine one of the most mysterious and 
 awful of Christian doctrines, one of the most weighty 
 in its consequences, one which involves continuance 
 in a state of guilt, or change of condition in the sight 
 of God, by the meaning of a word, the only word 
 which probably could, under any aspect, be well em-
 
 32 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 ployed on such an occasion. But let us, for one 
 instant, see whether the reasoning, so to call it, is 
 correct. 
 
 Wheatly does not, as he could not, found any argu- 
 ment upon the received meaning of the English word, 
 pronounce : it will be sufficient therefore to remark 
 that our two best lexicographers, Johnson and Rich- 
 ardson, explain the word as signifying an open, pub- 
 lic, or authoritative declaration of anything : in which 
 sense the rubric, as far as English is concerned, must 
 be understood. As to the Latin, pronuncio; this, we 
 are told, " signifies properly to pronounce or give 
 sentence : and therefore the word pronounced, here 
 used, must signify that this is a sentence of absolution 
 or remission of sins, to be authoritatively uttered by 
 one who has received commission from God." 
 
 I presume that Facciolati knew as well as Wheatly 
 the meaning of a Latin word : if so, it is strange, that 
 not only does he not give a like signification, as the 
 proper one, of pronuncio, but he does not even allow 
 it, except in an improper and unusual sense. To 
 utter, to speak, to proclaim, to publish abroad; 
 these are interpretations of the word : in one case, 
 when referred to a judge, and then only, does pro- 
 nuncio ever signify, pronouncing sentence. And 
 Wheatly himself had already plainly declared, that 
 there is nothing whatever judicial, not a shadow or a 
 pretence of it, in the " pronouncing" of this absolu- 
 tion. " The priest does not know who or how many 
 they are that are so ;" i. e. so absolved. So much for 
 the boasted term " to be pronounced"
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 33 
 
 The second proof alleged, is : " the priest reads his 
 commission before he executes his authority." The 
 question is, whether he does, in reality, at that time so 
 execute that authority. This must be left for us to 
 determine as we proceed. 
 
 The third proof is very curious : " this form is not 
 to be pronounced to such as the church desires should 
 repent, but to those who have repented." Were it 
 indeed so, there might be something for me to reply 
 to : but Wheatly himself forbids our entering on it at 
 all, by assuring us, ten lines after, that the form is 
 drawn up declaratively, because " it is to be pro- 
 nounced to a mixed congregation ;" i. e. of penitents 
 sincere and insincere. With which (apparent ?) con- 
 tradiction, I think there can be no harm to leave this 
 third proof. 
 
 Concerning the absolution in the liturgy, having 
 expressed his regret that the ancient discipline has 
 been laid aside, to the great detriment of the Church, 
 Wheatly refers us to his remarks upon the first abso- 
 lution in the daily office, and therefore attaches to it, 
 also, the same interpretation. 
 
 The third absolution, in the visitation of the sick, 
 would probably to many persons have seemed neces- 
 sarily to fall within the same class, (i. e. as being a 
 conveyance of pardon to the true penitent) because it 
 could not possibly be placed higher. But Wheatly 
 saw, I suppose, some difficulties in this : at least, many 
 would occur to us, if he had not been so acute. And, 
 therefore, it is not much to be marvelled at, although 
 
 D
 
 34 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 (I doubt not) people have been somewhat mystified at 
 a first glance of his explanation ; I say, it is not so 
 much to be marvelled at, if he placed, as indeed he 
 has placed, this third absolution far below either of 
 the other two. This, we are told, only removes 
 Church censures, and the punishment due to eccle- 
 siastical discipline ; those, on the contrary, removed 
 and took utterly away the guilt of sins committed 
 against God. Not to mention, in detail, several ob- 
 jections which would lie against any other mode of 
 explaining, according to his own theory, this third 
 absolution, and which will probably present them- 
 selves in the course of the present dissertation, I shall 
 merely observe that the author could not but have 
 seen that it alone was consistent with his preceding 
 statements, for this single reason: that as the absolu- 
 tion must, from the very nature of the thing, mean 
 something, and as that something (he saw clearly 
 enough) must be different from the consequences of 
 the two other absolutions, so there was literally no- 
 thing else left for it, in particular, to effect. 1 * 
 
 In the year 1754 Mr. Warner published his " illus- 
 tration" of the Book of Common Prayer : a large 
 folio, something after the plan of Dr. NichoU's work, 
 giving an exposition of the different parts, and a para- 
 phrase of the prayers. Of the first absolution this 
 author says ; " It is extremely surprising that all the 
 commentators on the common - prayer, except Dr. 
 Bennett and Mr. L'Estrange, and almost all the clergy, 
 
 14 1 quote from the late Oxford Edition, pp. 114. 283. 430.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 35 
 
 should be of opinion, that the rubric of the absolution, 
 directing it to be pronounced by the priest alone, 
 should be intended to restrain it to one in priest's 
 orders, and that it does not comprehend any minister 
 that officiates, whether priest or deacon. Let the dis- 
 pute as to the form of absolution, whether declarative 
 or effective, be decided as it may, for it has not been 
 decided by authority, yet nothing can be clearer, than 
 that this distinction of priest alone, means the minis- 
 ter without the people. The confession preceding it, 
 is to be said of the whole congregation after the minis- 
 ter, all kneeling ; and then comes the absolution to be 
 pronounced by the priest alone, standing, the people 
 still kneeling. This was therefore intended to direct 
 the people, not to repeat the words after the minister, 
 as they had been directed in the confession, but to 
 attend silently 'till he had pronounced it, and then 
 to say, Amen. The word minister, and the word 
 priest, as Dr. Bennett observes, are in this, and other 
 offices, used promiscuously." Mr. Warner gives Dr. 
 Comber's paraphrase, slightly altered, upon the second 
 absolution, and Wheatly's explanation of that in the 
 visitation of the sick : thus making the one merely 
 optative, and the other to be a remission of ecclesias- 
 tical censures only. So that, however his conclusion 
 might have been arrived at, or whatever the force 
 and value of his reasoning, this writer did not regard 
 either of the three absolutions as conveying remission 
 of deadly sins, or as an exercise of the sacerdotal 
 power of " the keys." 
 
 " The Elucidation of the book of Common Prayer"
 
 36 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 by Mr. Shepherd was, some years ago, regarded with 
 much respect by many members of our Church : there 
 is little doubt that it has latterly fallen to its true 
 level. Except by an ostentatious shew of somewhat 
 commonplace learning, and by a continual endeavour 
 to disparage his predecessor Wheatly, who was far 
 superior to himself both as a ritualist and a theologian, 
 the author of the Elucidation has but small means to 
 support his claims upon our attention. But the age 
 for which he wrote was not very discriminating, and 
 positive assertions, especially if they were in harmony 
 with the wishes and loose doctrines of the time, were 
 readily received. It is probable however that many 
 now living may, if they will, trace their present opi- 
 nions upon various parts of our Book of Common 
 Prayer to this work. Therefore it is necessary for 
 me to lay before my reader the explanation of the 
 three absolutions which is given in it. And I am 
 bound to say, that Mr. Shepherd appears to have 
 taken considerable pains in investigating this part of 
 his subject, not only including it in the natural course 
 of his Elucidation, but adding by way of an appendix 
 further remarks. 
 
 Mr. Shepherd, after some observations on the pro- 
 priety, to say the least, of a general confession and 
 absolution before common-prayer, explains the abso- 
 lution itself to be a declaration, and not a conveyance, 
 of pardon to the repentant sinner. " The priest does 
 not absolve in his own name. He simply promulgates 
 the terms of pardon, granted by the Father of our
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 37 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ. That this may be misunderstood 
 by none, is probably one reason, for which our form 
 repeats the nominative case. ' He' that is, Almighty 
 God f pardoneth and absolveth, etc.' ' Whatever the 
 intention of this absolution is, yet the most cursory 
 reader, one would suppose, must have seen the weak- 
 ness of such an argument in support of an elucidation 
 of it like this ; proving in reality nothing at all ; for no 
 one denies that it is God Who, alone, pardoneth and 
 absolveth all them that truly repent. But to pass on : 
 Mr. Shepherd thus continues, " Should there in a 
 mixed congregation be any hypocritical worshipper, 
 ... to him the absolution gives no encouragement. 
 It simply declares to him that there is forgiveness 
 with God, and points out the terms on which it is 
 granted. To those that truly repent, it conveys the 
 strongest assurance of remission of sins and accept- 
 ance with God." 15 In order that the meaning of this 
 passage may not be mistaken, it would be well to com- 
 pare it with the explanation which Wheatly gives, a 
 page or two above. 
 
 The force of the absolution in the communion Ser- 
 vice is not allowed by Mr. Shepherd to be greater 
 than, or indeed diiferent at all from, that in the daily 
 offices. 16 
 
 The third absolution, in the visitation of the sick, 
 is explained by the same author in his larger consi- 
 deration of absolution in general, at the end of his 
 
 15 Vol. i. p. 56. IG Vol. 2. p. 203.
 
 38 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 second volume. He first declares that " the dispen- 
 sation of absolution is reducible to these four heads. 
 1. The absolution of baptism, and of the supper of the 
 Lord, or sacramental absolution. 2. The absolution 
 of reconciliation to the Church, and re-admission into 
 its communion. 3. The absolution of word and doc- 
 trine, or declaratory absolution. 4. The absolution 
 of prayer, or precatory absolution.' 1 It is not requi- 
 site to delay to examine the proofs of all this, or to 
 shew how far they go in the support of it. Of the 
 third absolution itself he tells us ; " Since this very 
 form declares that remission is granted only to the 
 true penitent believer, that is to him alone whom God 
 has already pardoned and absolved, and who cannot 
 therefore need absolution from the hands of man, it 
 must necessarily follow, that the power to absolve . . . 
 is purely ministerial, or as our Church elsewhere ex- 
 presses it, ' the power and commandment given by 
 God to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His 
 people being penitent, the absolution and remission of 
 their sins.' " n 
 
 I desire, as much as possible, not to bring forward 
 living authors; and, therefore, the above are, I be- 
 lieve, all the writers who are commonly spoken of by 
 our people equally with our clergy, as ritualists whose 
 opinions are to be listened to as of weight and autho- 
 rity in explaining our Book of Common Prayer. But 
 to these it is not improper to add Bingham ; who, 
 
 17 Vol. 3. p. 489.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 39 
 
 though he did not especially direct his attention to 
 the illustration of our ritual and other offices, yet inci- 
 dentally in his valuable book of Christian antiquities 
 introduced much which is mixed up with the subject, 
 and wrote upon this particular question of absolution 
 some sermons and short treatises, 18 To these last, 
 therefore, we must I think pay also some attention. 
 
 His first sermon on absolution commences with a 
 statement with which all must agree, that the sentence 
 of men, as priests, in any act whatsoever is not un- 
 erring and infallible, except in so far as they observe 
 the rules prescribed by their sovereign Lord. And 
 then he distinguishes into four classes, the same ex- 
 actly as those of Shepherd just mentioned (and who 
 simply copied them from Bingham) the several methods 
 by which the ministers of Christ exercise the power 
 which they possess of retaining or remitting sins. 
 Into three of these, those which relate to the admi- 
 nistration of sacraments, to intercessions, and to pub- 
 lic discipline, we need not enquire. I would only 
 remark that it is very doubtful, as it seems to me, 
 whether either Bingham or his imitator Mr. Shep- 
 herd could have sustained, upon their own theory, 
 their distinctions of sacramental and precatory abso- 
 lution : I mean, as distinctions, with especial reference 
 to an actual exercise of the power of forgiving sins 
 which our Blessed Saviour bestowed upon the priests 
 of His Church. This, however, does not concern us : 
 
 18 Works. Vol. 8. p. 363
 
 40 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 for it is certain that those distinctions cannot hold 
 with what I believe to be the true and catholic doc- 
 trine. 
 
 Bingham refers the three absolutions in our Prayer- 
 book to the one head " declaratory :" " which consists 
 in publishing the terms and conditions upon which 
 the Gospel promises pardon and remission of sins. 
 This is either general or particular." As to the gene- 
 ral ; " the design of it is to excite and encourage all 
 sinners to repent and turn to God in hopes of mercy, 
 and to give consolation and comfort to all such, as do 
 actually and sincerely turn to Him." As to the par- 
 ticular : " In that case the minister is authorized, not 
 only to give those who labour under disquiet of mind 
 ghostly counsel and advice, but also the benefit of 
 absolution ; that is, if, upon a just examination of 
 their case, he judges them to be real penitents before 
 God, then he may not only declare to them the gene- 
 ral promises of pardon, but assure them in particular, 
 that as far as he can judge of their case by the visible 
 tokens and indications of their repentance, he esteems 
 them absolved before God, and accordingly declares 
 and pronounces to them their absolution." 
 
 This appears to be the result of Bingham's argu- 
 ments in his sermons and letters on absolution : a 
 result which reduces, as I have said, the three forms 
 to one class, emptying all equally of any spiritual 
 effect, except simply that of comfort and consolation. 
 Towards the end of his second letter he speaks again 
 of particular absolution of the sick, but as he is there
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 41 
 
 representing statements which no one admits, such as 
 that "a priest may open and shut heaven at his 
 pleasure," it is not worth while to refer to them. It 
 is sufficient to say, that he does not enlarge the limits 
 of his previous explanation.
 
 42 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 |E must now pause. And first let us see 
 to what extent we have obtained a reso- 
 lution of our doubts as to the meaning 
 and object of our Church, in the use of 
 her three forms of absolution. 
 
 Whatever the effect of absolution may be, whether 
 much or little, whether great or small, bishop Cosin 
 refers it (unless I have mistaken his meaning) to the 
 prayers of the whole congregation of the faithful which 
 succeed : and he makes the three forms, as forms, to 
 be declarative. This is one interpretation. Bishop 
 Sparrow in his Rationale assures us also that the three 
 forms are to be understood as equal and the same in 
 their intention, but authoritative by virtue of Christ's 
 commission, and effectual to the remission of sins, by 
 the infinite mercy of God, Who pardons the truly 
 repentant. Whether this be indeed the correct way 
 in which we ought to understand the bishop the 
 reader must decide : it is not the way in which his 
 Sermon explains the church of England doctrine of 
 absolution. Let it, however, stand for a second inter- 
 pretation. Dr. Comber says that the first is declara-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 43 
 
 tory, the second petitionary, the third judiciary. This 
 is a third interpretation. Dr. Nicholls makes the 
 first form to be effective of pardon and an actual con- 
 veyance of remission of sins to the truly penitent; 
 the second to be half declaratory, and half precatory ; 
 and the third not necessary, and not so judicial and 
 decisive as to divest the Almighty God of His own 
 inherent right of forgiveness of sins. This is a fourth 
 interpretation. Wheatly asserts the first two forms 
 to be effective of pardon, conveying remission of 
 sins: and that the third, being intended for another 
 purpose, releases the penitent offender from ecclesias- 
 tical censures, and remits the penalties to which he is 
 exposed according to the laws of public discipline. 
 This is a fifth interpretation. Mr. Warner declares 
 that none of the forms are really an exercise of the 
 power of absolution, that is, that by none of them 
 remission of sins is actually given and conveyed in 
 the sight of God. Nor do I see how, in reality, this 
 view differs from that of Bingham and Shepherd, 
 This is a sixth interpretation, 
 
 It would be an invidious thing, and I feel sure 
 quite uncalled for, to attempt to point out, much 
 more to pretend to insist upon, the very remarkable 
 fact which is here disclosed. In the Book of Common 
 Prayer and administration of the sacraments and 
 other rites, according to the Use of the Church of 
 England, there are three forms of absolution ; ordered 
 and adapted for certain separate and different occa- 
 sions. Eight or nine writers, each of authority when
 
 44 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 agreeable to the particular notions of those who cite 
 them, give six discordant judgements as to the object, 
 Hieanino-, and effect of these absolutions. More than 
 
 O 7 
 
 this, (let me not seek to disguise the matter) I have 
 presumed to put forth a seventh interpretation, agree- 
 ing entirely with none of the preceding. 
 
 It is necessary that I should here repeat in as few 
 words as possible what my interpretation is. So far 
 as I am able to comprehend the teaching of our 
 Church, she holds the grace of absolution to be given, 
 and to be given only, to the true penitent after a 
 distinct confession by word of mouth of all known and 
 remembered sins : such confession to be made to a 
 priest, not for the purpose of asking counsel and 
 advice, but in order to receive absolution through his 
 ministry. 
 
 Hence the third form in our office for the visitation 
 of the sick, and the absolution contemplated and 
 advised in the exhortation which follows the appointed 
 notice of communion, alone convey and assure the 
 grace of sacerdotal absolution, because they alone 
 fulfil the required conditions. If this position be true, 
 then as to the other two forms, which are contained 
 in our Common Prayer Book, it is, comparatively, of 
 no great consequence to examine very minutely into 
 the extent of the spiritual graces which commonly 
 accompany them. More than a declaration of com- 
 fort and consolation, by an authoritative assurance of 
 the infinite mercy of God towards all who repent and 
 amend their lives, with an exhortation so to amend,
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 45 
 
 the first so called absolution does not appear to be. 
 Nor do I know that the second absolution, that, 
 namely, which is in the Liturgy, although it may 
 convey remission of venial sin, can in any important 
 particular whatever be regarded as more than an 
 earnest supplication to God for mercy towards all 
 who are then present ; a supplication which, we may 
 well believe, He will especially listen to and answer, 
 uttered as it is by His minister, at a time when both 
 priest and people are about to enter upon the most 
 solemn part of the most solemn Service which they 
 can offer, and about to receive the best gifts which 
 our Almighty Father gives to us His children, even 
 the Body and the Blood of His Son. 
 
 But, it may be asked, is not the fact (supposing it 
 to be a fact) that this absolution remits venial sin, in 
 itself sufficient to distinguish it above and beyond a 
 prayer, however earnest and solemn? I think not. 
 Venial sins do not demand, under any aspect, a for- 
 mal absolution : they may be removed, through God's 
 mercy, in more ways than one. Immediate and sor- 
 rowful repentance, a repetition of the Lord's prayer, 
 giving of alms, reception of priestly benediction, these 
 and such as these are means by which we may trust 
 that we obtain at once pardon of such offences. 
 
 I do not intend, neither am I called upon, to ex- 
 plain the difference between mortal and venial sins. 
 Probably it would be vain to attempt accurately to 
 distinguish them, and to map out, as it were, exactly 
 where the one class ends and the other begins : or,
 
 46 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 again, how far circumstances and accident alter the* 
 character of a sin, and make it at one time and to 
 one person what it is not at another. Let whatever 
 distinctions be drawn, every case must at last be left 
 to each one's common sense and judgement to deter- 
 mine. But, generally, what I mean by venial sins 
 are those sudden and obtruding thoughts ; those pas- 
 sionate, ill-governed, hasty words and deeds, which 
 almost involuntarily sweep across the minds of all 
 even the best and holiest, and hurry us into the quick 
 doing of acts which we abhor. Having permitted 
 them, though it may be only for an instant, we cannot 
 (if we would) forget that such permission was a sin : 
 yet, call it what we will, we know, we feel, it is not a 
 sin of that kind which is " mortal," carrying with the 
 commission of it the sentence of death. It is not, 
 call it, let me repeat, by what name we will, it is 
 not a sin of that kind which is deliberate, whether 
 cherished and clung to in the heart, or executed in 
 wilful disobedience by the tongue or any other mem- 
 ber of the body. 
 
 I say then, that in common with some prayers and 
 spiritual acts performed in faith, the second absolution 
 may and often does remit sins, lighter, venial sins, 
 of this class. In this respect it is an absolution, and 
 yet not so distinguished by that quality as to alter in 
 any way the essential character by which priestly 
 absolution in its highest sense and meaning is raised 
 distinct and clear from any approach to or imitation 
 of it whatsoever. But, also, because it does remit
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 47 
 
 venial sin, it is, so far as I am able to discover, dis- 
 tinguished from the declaration, called an absolution, 
 prefixed to our daily office. 
 
 I am desirous once more to say that it is not, after 
 all, a matter of any material consequence whether, 
 upon this particular point, I am right or wrong : nor 
 should I be inclined to spend much time and argu- 
 ment with those who, after a careful comparison, are 
 prepared to insist that both the public general forms 
 are to be esteemed equal in their effects. From such 
 a statement I should be content with a mere expression 
 of individual dissent ; nothing is involved in it which 
 would not seem to suffer almost a total indifference 
 about it, when set against the weighty consequences 
 of the real question which is before us. In a word : 
 there appears to me to be evidence from the con- 
 struction and language of the two public forms, suffi- 
 cient to justify us in concluding that the first is a 
 simple declaration of God's infinite mercy, but that 
 the second is an actual conveyance of that mercy and 
 pardon, to some certain though small extent. Let 
 this be so or not as men may think : it is not worth 
 debate ; but what I do declare is this : that neither 
 the one nor the other conveys and seals pardon of 
 mortal, deadly, sins. Such pardon, so far as priestly 
 absolution is concerned, is to be obtained, and to be 
 obtained only, by that third way of which I have 
 already spoken. 
 
 To return to the variations of ritualists which have 
 been produced. I would use them for one end at
 
 48 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 present, and for no more : that is, they shew that 
 there could not have been, in justice, much reason for 
 the loud outcry which in more quarters than one, has 
 been made against this, the seventh interpretation. 
 Have I said that the first absolution is merely decla- 
 ratory? so do bishop Cosin, and Comber, and Warner, 
 and Bingham, and Shepherd. Have I said that the 
 second absolution is little more than the first, and yet 
 that there is a distinction, being half-declaratory, half 
 precatory? so does Dr. Comber, and with him Dr. 
 Nicholls. Have I said that the third form is a con- 
 veyance of pardon to the repentant sinner? so do 
 bishop Overall, and Dr. Comber, and (it may be) 
 Dr. Nicholls. 
 
 Let it not be thought that anything whatever of my 
 argument can be rested upon an agreement of this 
 kind with others ; an agreement which displays only 
 with truth and accuracy the simple fact that it is at 
 variance with all. I allude to such an agreement for 
 no purpose except to shew, and this I repeat that 
 the separate explanations which I had given may be 
 supported, by the authority of some one and more 
 separate names. Unfounded and unreasonable as the 
 objections made against me have been, such an answer, 
 worthless as themselves, is the only one which, justly, 
 they have a right to demand. 
 
 But it is a miserable matter merely to be able to 
 escape from condemnation. I am not content to think 
 that the interpretation which I insist upon is but one 
 of many which may or may not, according to indi-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 49 
 
 vidual caprice or individual ignorance, be held with- 
 out rebuke by our people and taught by our clergy- 
 If any one of the above theories is the true one, all 
 the rest are false. And are we for ever to remain 
 disputing? is there no voice by which we may learn 
 the truth? I believe that there is a voice, long neg- 
 lected and forgotten, the voice of the Church of 
 England. Let us listen to her teaching, and we shall 
 find that now as of old, by the great grace of God, she 
 does not speak with a doubting or hesitating tongue. 
 
 Here, though open to the charge of repetition, I 
 must again lay down the principle upon which alone 
 we can possibly decide what the judgement of the 
 church of England really is ; and to which principle 
 we are bound to bring for proof, as to a test, every 
 doctrine which we assert or deny. 
 
 We declare therefore that the Church of England 
 now holds, teaches, and insists upon, all things whether 
 of belief or practice, which she held, taught, and 
 insisted on, before the year 1540, unless she has since 
 that time, plainly, openly, and dogmatically asserted 
 the contrary. This we declare in general. And, in 
 particular, as regards that most important question, 
 the right interpretation of the various services in our 
 Common Prayer Book, we further add: that what- 
 soever we find handed down from the earlier rituals 
 of the Church of England, and neither limited nor 
 extended in its meaning by any subsequent canon or 
 article, must be understood to signify (upon the one 
 hand) fully and entirely all, and (on the other hand)
 
 50 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 no more than it signified before the revision of the 
 ritual. 
 
 In such a dissertation as the present, which aims at 
 nothing beyond an attempt to ascertain the present 
 judgement of our Church regarding absolution, it will 
 be amply sufficient for me to shew what her doctrine 
 was in the centuries immediately preceding the refor- 
 mation, and the alterations which were either made at 
 that period, or since. Whether this doctrine be true ; 
 whether it is agreeable to primitive practice and 
 catholic tradition ; whether, once more, it is founded 
 upon and can be proved by Holy Scripture ; all these 
 are questions well worthy our best labours as stewards 
 of the mysteries of God, and honest members of the 
 church of England. Not only, however, do they not 
 concern me now, but within the space to which my 
 argument must be confined, they could not possibly 
 be well treated of. 
 
 Few persons will deny that the existence of a doc- 
 trine, known, acknowledged, and taught, in the 
 church of England at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, coupled with the fact that no reformation or 
 alteration of that doctrine has at any time since been 
 made, and therefore that it was intended to be still 
 known, acknowledged, and taught, is strong evidence 
 by itself that such a doctrine must be true. The obli- 
 gation to enquire accurately into it and if possible 
 overthrow it, is in the first place upon the shoulders 
 of those who are inclined to doubt or to dispute. It 
 will then be for us to see if it can be defended.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 51 
 
 One thing only I am bound to say, before I pass 
 on. And it is this : that, equally on this matter of 
 Absolution as upon all other essential portions of the 
 One Faith once delivered to the saints, I believe that 
 the church of England holds the true and complete 
 doctrine of the Holy Gospel, and follows, in her 
 practice of it, the example of the primitive age. Our 
 Church now claims, in right of her succession, all the 
 ordinary powers and privileges which the apostles 
 received from their and her Almighty Lord: now 
 offers to her children all the means, whether in aid of 
 or as being necessary to the salvation of each one, 
 which were offered from the beginning : and now, as 
 of old and ever, either insists upon the reception, or 
 entreatingly urges the acceptance, according to their 
 various nature, of all and every of those means of 
 grace. 
 
 One or two preliminary remarks are necessary, 
 before the reader proceeds to examine the extracts 
 about to be produced. In the first place I must re- 
 mind him that it is proposed only to bring forward 
 sufficient proofs in order to establish the fact of the 
 doctrine anciently held by our Church : and this end 
 will be gained by a selection from the many canons of 
 councils which either incidentally or especially relate 
 to it. Again ; I shall not go back further than about 
 the year 1200 : to do so would be altogether unneces- 
 sary at present ; as it would have no bearing whatever 
 upon the immediate subject on which we are engaged. 
 Three centuries before the reformation will balance
 
 52 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 three centuries after it. Once more ; it is, above all, 
 to be remembered, that by the term "pcenitentia" is 
 commonly to be understood that ordinance, into the 
 details and effects and parts of which we are now en- 
 quiring. 
 
 One word more as to the signification of "pceni- 
 tentia." It would have been well if our writers gene- 
 rally had been more accurate in their use of the 
 different terms, penance or absolution, and confession. 
 Very much confusion has been caused by arguments 
 against the necessity of confession being mixed up 
 sometimes intentionally, with arguments against the 
 necessity of absolution or penance. The necessity 
 of confession, simply, and the necessity of confession 
 in order to absolution, are two questions as distinct as 
 it is possible for any questions to be. We may use, as 
 convertible terms, pcenitentia or penance and absolu- 
 tion : but we may not so use in like manner, except 
 in cases where no mistake can occur, the term, for 
 example, "confession." Confession, contrition, and 
 satisfaction must, in some way and to a certain extent, 
 precede the actual administration and conveyance of 
 absolution : in other words they are the parts of 
 " Penance." We may say (as we will) either that " pe- 
 nance" is not complete, or that absolution cannot be ob- 
 tained, unless these essentials shall have gone before. 
 
 In excepting, just above, from the strictness of this 
 rule cases in which no mistake can happen, I alluded 
 especially to the double meaning which the term pceni- 
 tentia itself frequently has. It is to be understood
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 53 
 
 sometimes for the ordinance or sacrament, and some- 
 times for the discipline or punishment which is ap- 
 pointed by the proper authority either to precede or 
 follow it. For example, every reader of ecclesias- 
 tical history and of the Concilia must recollect, how 
 very often the phrase occurs " imponenda est pceni- 
 tentia:" or " pcenitentiam confitenti imponat," and 
 the like. So in modern writers of the church of 
 Rome we often find "penance" spoken of which is 
 one thing, and "the sacrament of penance" which is 
 quite another. Nor indeed is the use of "confession" 
 instead of "penance" entirely confined to authors of 
 later days. In the " Ordinary e of a Chrysten man," 
 the fourth division of the book which treats of this 
 subject begins by letting the reader know that " there 
 shall be fyrst put some thynges generall touchynge 
 the sacrament of confessyon." 1 
 
 1 Edit. Wynkyn de Worde, 1506. Sign. P. i. v.
 
 54 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BOUT the year 1220 at a council at 
 Durham, one of the canons was "de 
 numero sacramentorum ; " the first sen- 
 tence of which, addressing priests, ex- 
 plains its object. " Cum in dispensatione sacramen- 
 torum vestrum consistat ministerium, ut sacramenta 
 a vobis rite tractentur, singula per ordinem prose- 
 quamur. Sunt autem septem sacramenta, quorum 
 quinque omnibus fidelibus sunt communia et neces- 
 saria." Presently it continues : " Tertium sacramen- 
 tum est poenitentia, quse ingressos in mundum, et 
 lapsos in peccatum relevat et reparat." 1 The same 
 council has several other canons entering into further 
 details ; of which I shall quote one only. " Sacra- 
 mentum autem pcenitentiae quam sit necessarium pro- 
 batur ex illo evangelii, Quorum remiseritis peccata, 
 remittuntur eis ; et quorum retinueritis peccata, re- 
 tenta sunt. Sed quoniam remissionem peccatorum 
 consequimur per veram confessionem, praecipimus, 
 canonum statuta sequentes, etc." 
 
 1 Wilkins ; Concilia, torn. i. /. 574.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 55 
 
 The synodal constitutions of Alexander, bishop of 
 Coventry, in 1237, declare: "Cum poenitentia con- 
 si stat in tribus ; in cordis contritione, oris confessione, 
 et operis satisfactione ; primo quserendum est ab illo, 
 qui venit ad confessionera, si dolet se peccasse, etcJ' 
 And in 1255, the constitutions of Walter Kirkham, 
 bishop of Durham, make the knowledge of the parti- 
 culars of penance a chief part of the duties of priests. 
 " Hi etiam, qui sunt sacerdotes, maxime sciant, quae 
 exiguntur ad verse confessionis et pcenitentiae sacra- 
 mentum." 2 
 
 In 1287, the canons of the synod of Exeter were 
 published ; nor among the documents which illustrate 
 the faith and practice of the church of England in 
 those ages, are there any, short of provincial constitu- 
 tions, which exceed these in value or authority. The 
 
 first chapter is " de sacramentis in genere Sunt 
 
 autem vij. Baptismus scilicet, qui est janua omnium 
 sacramentorum, et dicitur ingredientium, . . . unde 
 prima tabula ducens ad portum salutis post naufra- 
 gium appellatur .... Quartum vero sacramentum est 
 redeuntium, eo quod redeuntibus datur : propter quod 
 secunda tabula post naufragium appellatur poenitentia. 
 . . . Poenitentia necessaria est adultis, qui post bap- 
 tisma in crimen actuale inciderunt." The canons 
 proceed to treat of these seven sacraments in order 
 and in detail. We are now concerned only with the 
 5th ; De poenitentia. " Admiranda et multiplex Dei 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 644. 704.
 
 56 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 misericordia humanis lapsibus ita subvenit, ut, non 
 solum per baptism! gratiam, sed per pcenitentiae medi- 
 cinam spes vitse reparetur seternae; ut qui regenera- 
 tionis dona violassent, proprio se judicio condemnan- 
 tes, ad remissionem criminum pervenirent. Mediator 
 enim Dei seterni et hominum, homo Dominus Jesus 
 Christus praepositis ecclesise hanc tradidit potestatem, 
 ut sacerdotes confitentibus pcenitentiae satisfactionem 
 darent, juxta illud evangelii: quorum remiseritis pec- 
 cata, etc. . . . Quod si quispiam confessus non fuerit, 
 et communicaverit semel in anno, vivens ab ingressu 
 ecclesiae arceatur, et moriens ecclesiastica careat sepul- 
 tura." 3 In the last sentence, confession is mentioned 
 instead of " penance" or absolution ; but here, and in 
 all similar passages, confession is only so spoken of as 
 necessary, in order to absolution : and it will be im- 
 possible to produce a place from any formulary or 
 canon of the church of England, where confession is 
 plainly declared to be necessary in any other sense, 
 that is, except with that sole object in view. Nor, I 
 may here remark, was such a style of writing and 
 speaking in those days, when no doubt could arise as 
 to the real meaning of the thing intended, difficult to 
 be accounted for or improper in itself; although in 
 later times much confusion (as before mentioned) has 
 been the consequence. The necessity of previous con- 
 fession was the truth which kept back people from 
 obeying the command, incumbent then upon all the 
 
 3 Concil. torn. ij. />. 130.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 57 
 
 members of the Church, that once at least in every 
 year they should receive absolution. If the command 
 was expedient (and whether it was so or not is a 
 totally different matter) then the necessity of confes- 
 sion followed of course. And as on the one hand no 
 one would refuse absolution if it might be had without 
 ^the difficult duty of confession, and on the other none 
 in his senses would dream of any necessity of confes- 
 sion except as a preliminary essential in order to 
 absolution, it is not to be wondered at that we so fre- 
 quently find confession enjoined, as if abstractedly and 
 upon its own and sole account. 
 
 The very learned editor of the Concilia adds to the 
 canons of this same synod at Exeter some further 
 chapters from another manuscript : 4 these are on the 
 point before us, and. it will be advisable to make one 
 or two more extracts. The reader need not be re- 
 minded that we are concerned with an enquiry about 
 the doctrine of the church of England, and not with a 
 defence of the taste, so to speak, nor, indeed, of the cor- 
 rectness of the arguments by which it was, in those days, 
 defended and insisted on. This manuscript continues : 
 " Christus medicus est altissimus et dat dimissionem 
 in contritione, medicinam laxativam in confessione ; 
 disetam injungit in observatione jejuniorum ; balneum 
 praecipit in lachrymarum effusione ; phlebotomiam in- 
 jungit in passionis Christi recordatione. Sed quid est 
 medicina? utique pcenitentia, de qua dicit Augusti- 
 
 4 " Codex MS. ecclesise Exon."
 
 58 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 nus : * Poenitentia non solum praeteritum vulnus curat 
 imo, sed animam ultra a peccato vulnerari non sinit.' 
 Sed aliqui dicunt, * Inveniemus misericordiam, et in 
 fine pcenitebimus ;' quia dicit Dominus : ' Nolo mor- 
 tem peccatoris.' Contra dicit Augustinus sic : ' Nul- 
 lus debet spe misericordise in suis peccatis diutius re- 
 manere, sicut nee debet sibi vulnus procurare causa 
 curationis futurae; quia qui peccatori veniam pro- 
 mittit, diem crastinum non promittit. Ex praedictis 
 ergo patet, quod Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus 
 trinus et unus medicus est, quam Trinitatem offendit 
 peccator per peccatum. Peccatum vero morbus est : 
 poenitentia est medicina, quae per tres sui partes, scil. 
 contritionem, et confessionem, et satisfactionem, miti- 
 gatiram Trinitatis, quam peccando offendit peccator.'" 
 Then follow directions for confessors : after which ; 
 " consideratis his interrogationibus, suppleat discretus 
 sacerdos ignorantiam poenitentis, adhibita discretione 
 prsedicta in qusestionibus faciendis. Consideret autem 
 sacerdos absolvere volens poenitentem, si poenitens sit 
 christianus, id est, si fidem habeat. Quo invento, 
 doceat eum sacerdos articulos fidei, quos ignorat. 
 Deinde doceat eum, quod habeat contritionem amaram 
 cordis. . . Deinde videat et moneat eum sacerdos, quod 
 habeat oris proprii confessionem veram et mundam, 
 cum omnibus circumstantiis, quod omnia detegat, et 
 haec omnia faciat propter Deum. Deinde moneat eum 
 sacerdos, quod voluntarie satisfaciat . . . et hoc totum 
 
 sit propter Deum Est autem necessaria fides 
 
 sacramentorum, et eorum affectus; scilicet, . . . quod
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 59 
 
 vera pcenitentia delet peccatum actuale, mortale, 
 veniale. . . . Moneat etiam eum, quod solicite se cus- 
 todiat, ne recidivet ; . . . Et si forte labatur in pecca- 
 tum, statim post lapsum redeat ad sacerdotem, et in- 
 structum pcenitentem sacerdos absolvat, et in pace 
 dimittat." 5 
 
 I shall not continue to extract further notices from 
 the canons and constitutions of diocesan synods, for 
 not only would it demand more space than can be 
 afforded in this treatise, but except in the way of de- 
 tailed illustration it will not be required. The dis- 
 tinct assertion must suffice, that every order made 
 concerning the rite of administering " Penance," and 
 every doctrinal allusion or explanation of it, and every 
 direction given whether to the parish priest or to the 
 people, are in accordance from the 13th century to the 
 16th with the statements above. 
 
 But the constitutions of provincial councils must not 
 be passed over, nor, equal in importance with them, the 
 legatine constitutions of Otho and Othobon. These 
 are the highest authorities to which we can appeal, in 
 order to learn not only what the doctrine and prac- 
 tice of the church of England was at the various 
 periods when those constitutions were published, but 
 also, and no less, what the doctrine now is, in so far 
 as they have not been repealed by subsequent acts of 
 equal authority, whether expressed in formularies or 
 canons of discipline. 
 
 I shall not take these from the Concilia, but from 
 
 5 Coucil. torn. 2. p. 162.
 
 60 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 the Provinciale ; on account of the glosses of the two 
 great canonists, Lyndwood and John de Athon. 
 
 There is a short reference to absolution in a con- 
 stitution of archbishop Stratford in 1342, respecting 
 alienations by fraud or malice ' to the injury of the 
 Church, which may be first noticed, not because it 
 bears upon the exact question before us, but because 
 of the principle which Lyndwood lays down at the 
 beginning of his note upon it. " Donantes .... 
 propter sui gravitatem excessus non obstante quacun- 
 que absolutione impensa a praedicta sententia eccle- 
 siastica, careant sepultura." Upon this Lyndwood 
 says ; " Absolutions. Quae nemini in mortis articulo 
 denegari debet. Et potest fieri per quemcunque ha- 
 bentem potestatem et exercitium clavium." He then 
 enters into an examination of some difficulties mixed 
 up with this particular constitution, and concludes 
 by declaring that it is a special sentence, " ex causa, 
 sc. ad majorem terrorem." Wherefore it does not 
 militate against but is to be regarded as an excep- 
 tion to the general rule, " quod absolutus a sententia 
 canonis non impedietur sepeliri in ecclesiastica sepul- 
 tura, quia talis non decedit in peccato mortali, cum 
 poeniteat se talem fraudem fecisse, et delictum suum 
 confessus sit." 6 
 
 The following is a constitution of archbishop Boni- 
 face in 1260. " Cum sacramentum confessionis et 
 pcenitentiae secunda post naufragium tabula, ultirnus 
 
 6 Lib. 3. tit. xij. Cordis dolore. verb. Absolutione. Careant se- 
 pultura.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 6 1 
 
 humanae navigationis portus, ac finale refugium sit, 
 unicuique peccatori pernecessarium ad salutem, sub 
 poena excommunicationis districtius praecipimus, ne 
 aliquis praesumat impedire, quin hujusmodi sacramen- 
 tum pcenitentiae unicuique petenti libere impendatur, 
 et spatium liberum confitendi." 
 
 Lyndwood's gloss is important. " Confessionis. 
 Quae, secundum Aug. est per quam morbus latens spe 
 veniae aperitur. Ad cujus intellectum nota, quod 
 confessio tripliciter fit : aut in foro animae interius 
 coram Deo, aut in foro pcenitentiae exterius coram 
 Dei vicario, aut in foro contentioso coram judice. In 
 prima confessione peccatum latens non aperitur, quia 
 Deo apertum erat ; in ultima non aperitur spe veniae ; 
 in media vero aperitur peccatum latens spe veniae. 
 Poenitentice. Cujus pars est confessio, ut dixi. Et 
 nota, quod in hoc sacramento pcenitentia exterior est 
 sacramentum tantum, actus confitentis est quasi mate- 
 riale, actus autem sacerdotis, sc. absolutio, est quasi 
 formale. Interior vero poenitentia sive contritio non 
 est actus virtutis per se ; sed prout conjungitur poeni- 
 tentiae exteriori saltern in proposito, sic est pars sacra- 
 menti, et res et signum. Res quidem poenitentiae ex- 
 terioris est signum remissionis peccatorum, remissio 
 autem peccatorum est res tantum. Secunda tabula. 
 Prima tabula est baptismus, quo evadimus naufra- 
 gium peccati originalis. Secunda tabula est poeni- 
 tentia, qua lapsi post baptismum evadimus naufra- 
 
 gium peccati actualis Finale refugium. Hinc 
 
 Bernard, ait, ' O felix pcenitentium humilitas, o
 
 62 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 bona spes confitentium, quam facile vincis invincibilem, 
 quam cito tremebundum judicem convertis in piissi- 
 mum Patrem ! etc? Pernecessarium ad salutem. sc. 
 animae. Pcenitentia namque introducta est ad tollen- 
 dum offensam et reconciliandum amicitiam. Et ad 
 hanc sacramentaliter subeundam tenetur homo ex ne- 
 cessitate : omnis namque peccati sive originalis sive 
 actualis est remedium Passio Christi, illius autem Pas- 
 sionis virtus in sacramentis ecclesiae impressa est. 
 Unde non possumus a peccato sive actuali sive origi- 
 nali sanari sine sacramentorum susceptione, vel in re, 
 quando habetur opportunitas suscipiendi, vel in pro- 
 posito, cum articulus necessitatis excludit sacramen- 
 tum, et non contemptus religionis. Confessio vero 
 pertinet ad sacramentum, institutum contra morbum 
 peccati mortalis, ideo tenemur confiteri. Est autem 
 confessio sacramentalis de jure Divino, non de jure 
 naturali." 7 
 
 The next chapter of the same title is a constitution 
 of S. Edmund, about the year 1234. "In confessione 
 habeat sacerdos vultum humilem, . . . nee faciem respi- 
 ciat confitentis, . . et patienter audiat quicquid dixerit, 
 . . . et ei pro posse suadeat, et pluribus modis, quod 
 inte^re confiteatur : aliter vero non est confessio." 
 
 o 
 
 The gloss, so far as it relates to our special subject, 
 is : " Integre. Ut sc. omnia peccata dicat, non 
 dividendo ea inter diversos sacerdotes, sed uni totum 
 dicat : nam Dominus summe bonus opus imperfec- 
 
 7 Lib. 5. tit. xvj. Cum sacramentum.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 63 
 
 tionis non novit, aut enim totum hominem sanat, aut 
 nihil. Et Aug. dicit ; Caveas ne verecundia ductus, 
 dividas confessionem : nam hoc est semper venia ca- 
 rere, ad quam putas per frusta per venire. Alias enim 
 sunt qualitates requisite in confessione, sc. ut sit dis- 
 creta, hoc est, separata, et non generalis ; item quod 
 sit frequens ; item quod sit humilis ; debet etiam esse 
 recta, i. e. sine vitio ; item sui ipsius accusatoria, item 
 verecunda, item voluntaria, item amara, item provida, 
 item propria, item vera, item dolens, item individua. 
 Aliter vero. sc. si non fuerit integra." 8 
 
 Passing by some other constitutions, full of matter 
 most worthy of our consideration, but nevertheless not 
 immediately respecting our especial subject, let us 
 next take the following from the constitutions of arch- 
 bishop Peccham, in 1281. " Sacramentum pceniten- 
 tiae naufragantum remedium singulare, per quorundam 
 insipientiam sacerdotum debito fructu caret, etc" 
 Lyndwood says ; " Debito caret fructu. Tria nam- 
 que requiruntur, ut poenitentia sit fructifera, viz. in 
 corde contritio, in ore confessio, in opere satisfactio. 
 Ex satisfactione enim colliguntur digni fructus poeni- 
 tentise. Quse quidem satisfactio in poenitentia sacra- 
 mentali requirit alium judicem quam sit ipse delin- 
 quens. Unde in sacramento pcenitentiae contritio est 
 quasi citatio ad comparendum coram judice. Et hanc 
 sequitur rei apud judicem spontanea confessio. Deinde 
 sequitur emendge per judicem impositse solutio. Et 
 
 8 Ibid. In confessione.
 
 64 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 istud judicium differt a judicio fori contentiosi ; quia 
 in foro contentioso confessus condemnatur. Sed in 
 foro poenitentise absolvitur confessus. Fructus igitur 
 sive utilitas pcenitentiag est absolutio a peccatis, quam 
 quis non consequitur ab eo qui non est suus judex, nee 
 habet potestatem eum ligandi vel solvendi. . . . Sicut 
 ad mundationem peccati originalis in baptismo valet 
 ablutio aquae, ita ad mundationem actualis culpae valet 
 absolutio sacerdotalis ; quia istud sacramentum habet 
 pro materia actum hominis. Unde et Thomas dicit, 
 quod si ante absolutionem sacerdotalem aliquis non 
 fuisset perfecte dispositus ad gratiam suscipiendam in 
 ipsa confessione ex absolutione sacramentali gratiam 
 consequeretur, si obicem non poneret. Itidem dicit 
 Petrus, qui addit, quod sufficienter contrito datur ibi 
 augmentum gratise." 9 
 
 Two more extracts ought to be taken from the pro- 
 vincial constitutions which have reference to the rule 
 of discipline, at that time acted on by the church of 
 England ; viz. that all persons should be obliged to 
 confess in order to receive absolution, at least once in 
 every year. Both these which follow are from the 
 constitutions of archbishop Sudbury, in 1381. 
 
 " Moneantur etiam laici statim in principio qua- 
 dragesimae confiteri : et semper cito post lapsum, ne 
 peccatum suo pondere ad aliud trahat." Again. 
 " Confessiones ter in anno audiantur, ter communi- 
 cari moneantur, videlicet in pascha, in pentecoste, et 
 
 9 Ibid. Sacramentum poenit.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 65 
 
 natali Domini. Quicunque vero semel in anno ad 
 minus proprio confessus non fuerit sacerdoti, et ad 
 minus ad pascha sacramentum eucharistise non perce- 
 perit, nisi de consilio sacerdotis duxerit abstinendum, 
 et vivens ab ingressu ecclesise arceatur, et mortuus 
 Christiana careat sepultura, et hoc frequenter in eccle- 
 siis publicetur." 
 
 From the constitutions we turn to the gloss of the 
 canonist. " Semper, i. e. omni tempore etiam extra 
 quadragesimam. Cito post lapsum. Habita sc. op- 
 portunitate. Sed contra hoc opponitur, quod sufficit 
 semel in anno confiteri. Solutio. Illud potest intel- 
 ligi, quando post poenitentiam receptam aliquis non 
 peccat mortaliter, cui tamen consulitur, ut semel in 
 anno confiteatur, licet non sit in peccato mortali, quia 
 non debet se nimis assecurare. Vel die, quod etiam 
 loquitur de illis qui sunt in peccato mortali, viz. quod 
 ad minus semel in anno confiteantur. Sed propter 
 hoc non probatur, quod statim post peccatum non de- 
 beant confiteri, dummodo possint habere copiam sacer- 
 dotum, etc. Pondere. Ait enim Greg. 15. mora- 
 lium. c. 20. Omne peccatum quod per poenitentiam 
 non deletur, ipso suo pondere mox ad aliud trahit. 
 Unde non solum fit peccatum, sed peccatum et causa 
 peccati. Ex illo (inquit) vitio culpa subsequens oritur 
 ex qua mens crecata ducitur, ut pcenis ligetur ex alia. 
 Peccatum vero quod ex peccato oritur, jam non solum 
 peccatum est, sed peccatum et poana peccati : quin 
 justo Dei judicio omnipotens Deus cor peccatoris ob- 
 nubilat, ut prsecedentis peccati merito etiam in aliis 
 
 F
 
 66 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 cadat." " Communicari. i. e. eucharistiam recipere, 
 et loquitur de laicis. Semel. Immo pluries, quia ter 
 ut patet supra. In anno. Sufficit igitur, quod quo- 
 cunque anni tempore hoc fiat ; nee tempus paschae est 
 de necessitate praecepti : et hoc verum de pcenitentia, 
 sed de perceptione Corporis Christi tempus paschae 
 est de necessitate, secundum Hostien. et hoc probat 
 litera ad minus posita in dicto c. omnis. Et ex hac 
 litera ^videtur, quod peccator potest differre confes- 
 sionem per annum. Sed contra hoc opponitur de pee. 
 di. 1. multi, ubi patet, quod nullam moram patitur 
 vera conversio. . . . Et hoc tenent multi theologi, di- 
 centes quod illud c. omnis, non dat licentiam differendi, 
 sed prohibet confessionem negligi. In hac materia 
 dicit Joh. quod confessio secreta, quse fit soli Deo, 
 non debet differri ; sed confessio facienda homini bene 
 potest differri : quia ad praecepta affirmativa non tene- 
 tur quis ad semper, sed pro loco et tempore, quale 
 est illud in dicto c. omnis. Unde dicit Tho. quod 
 cum propositum confitendi sit annexum contritioni, 
 quoties peccatum menti occurrit, debit peccator do- 
 lere, et conteri, et propositum confitendi habere. 
 Sed ad confitendum actualiter non tenetur, nisi per 
 accidens ; ut quia semel in anno recipere debet Cor- 
 pus Christi ; vel quia est in mortis periculo, et in 
 aliis casibus hujusmodi. Ad minus, hoc dicit, quia 
 pluries potest comniunicare, ut patet supra, non tamen 
 tenetur ex necessitate. Ad pascha. i. e. in festo pas- 
 chae, quando quilibet fidelis solet communicari. Et 
 quod debet fieri in ipso festo, patet in d. c. omnis, ubi
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 67 
 
 dicitur, in pascha. Sed nunquid suspectus, qui non 
 communicat in anno, potest ad hoc compelli ? Videtur 
 quod non : quia tale sacramentum non recipitur sine 
 peccato, si recipiens sit in mortali peccato." 10 
 
 I shall make one extract from the constitutions 
 which, under Othobon, were passed at the council of 
 London in the year 1268, the archbishops and bishops 
 of both provinces, abbots, deans, archdeacons, &c., 
 being present. " Omnes autem, qui confessiones ali- 
 quorum audiunt, a peccatis expresse confitentes absol- 
 vant, verba subscripta specialiter exprimentes, Ego 
 te a peccatis tuis auctoritate qua fang or, absolvo. 
 Et quoniam confitens in ipso confessionis actu signa 
 debet contritionis et humilitatis ostendere, praecipi- 
 mus, ut omnes, qui confessiones audiunt, confitentes 
 inducant, ut cum reverentia sacerdoti, et humilitate 
 confiteantur peccata." 
 
 John de Athon says upon this : " Expresse. Hoc 
 habet respicere dictionem sequentem confitentes ; et 
 tune per hoc intellige excludi omnem velationem et 
 palliationem, quse tendere posset ad excusandas excu- 
 sationes in peccatis : vel potest determinare dictionem 
 absolvant hie sequentem, et sic hoc plenius declaratur 
 in textu, qui hie sequitur. A peccatis. sc. istis mihi 
 per te jam confessis, et ab aliis, de quibus non recor- 
 daris, auctoritate Dei Patris omnipotentis, et apos- 
 tolorum Petri et Pauli, ac ojjicii mihi commissi te 
 absolvo, et hsec est sacramentalis absolutio. Absolvo. 
 sc. te pcenitentem denuncio absolutum. etc. Signa. 
 
 10 Ibid. Confessiones mulierum. Confessiones ter in anno.
 
 68 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Quse vere insinuent signa haec sequentia : adesse enim 
 debent realiter confitenti in corde contritio, in ore 
 confessio, in opere tota humilitas : et haec est pceni- 
 tentia fructuosa. Unde in psal. Cor contritum et 
 humiliatum Deus non despicies. Haec autem evi- 
 dentius ostenduntur per exteriora signa, quae intus 
 geruntur in anima." 11 
 
 Yet there is one place in the gloss of the same Athon, 
 on the constitutions of Otho, which should not be 
 omitted. The constitution itself is directed especially 
 to the confessions of clerks and priests. The words 
 " valeant confiteri" occur: on which the canonist re- 
 marks ; " Valeant, id est, possunt, non enim aliquis 
 ad confessionem in foro poenitentiali arctatur praecise, 
 sed causative tantum, si velit esse de numero salvan- 
 doruni. Libero namque arbitrio in sacramentis reci- 
 piendis quis relinquitur, quoties saltern de foro con- 
 scientise agitur. Ratio est, quia voluntarium militem 
 eligit sibi Christus, coactum autem sibi actionatur 
 diabolus, id est, per actionem vendicat. Item, quia 
 a voluntariis peccata tantum contrahuntur, igitur tali- 
 bus tantum remittuntur. Confiteri. Peccata tarn 
 mortalia majora, quam venialia : diversimode tamen 
 confitentur ista. Nota etiam, quod in hujusmodi con- 
 fessionibus in foro prenitentiali simpliciter debet con- 
 fessor stare ori et relationi confitentis, licet in foro 
 judiciali eo casusecus esset dicendum." 12 
 
 I shall proceed from these decisions, to others of a 
 
 II Constit. Othobon. Quoniam caeca. w Cap. Quod in quodam.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 69 
 
 lower class, yet, though lower, of very high autho- 
 rity, as evidence of the doctrine and discipline of the 
 church of England, in the centuries immediately pre- 
 ceding the reformation. The reader must be content, 
 however, with some brief extracts from each, because 
 it would be idle, as it is I am confident unnecessary 
 also, to fill page after page with a mere accumulation 
 of repeated statements. 
 
 First, the Summa of Hostiensis. In the fifth book 
 of that great work we read : " Misericors et miserator 
 Dominus cujus misericordiae non est numerus, ac 
 salutem peccatorum sitiens, per hujus mundi pelagus 
 periculose navigantibus, et quandoque fluctuantibus, 
 remedia multa obtulit, inter quae specialiter paravit 
 duas naves, sive tabulas. Prima tabula est baptis- 
 mus. . . . Secunda tabula est pcenitentia, quae per 
 peccatum mortale naufragium passis necessaria est. 
 etc. . . . Quibus et quot diaetis sit ad pcenitentiam 
 properandum. Et quidem tribus, nam tres sunt di- 
 aetae, videlicet, cordis contritio, oris confessio, operis 
 satisfactio. . . . Secunda diaata est confessio ; est au- 
 tem confessio, secundum quod hie accipitur, canonica 
 coram sacerdote peccatorum facta declaratio : et di- 
 citur confessio, quasi simul vel ex toto undique fassio ; 
 nam ille confitetur, qui totum et certum fatetur. 
 Quis debet conjiteri. Omnis peccator quicunque sit 
 ille, qui actuale peccatum commisit. Qualis debet 
 esse confessio. Voluntaria, amara, discreta, festina, 
 frequens, integra. Voluntaria non coacta, sicut con- 
 fessio Achor. Sed spontanea sicut confessio latro-
 
 70 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 nis dextri in cruce. . . . Frequens, quod duobus modis 
 intelligi potest. Uno modo sic, ut si frequenter cadit 
 per peccatum, frequenter confiteatur : alioquin semel 
 cadens, in terra semper prostratus remanet, nisi re- 
 surgat : ergo si frequenter cadit, et vult resurgere, 
 necesse habet frequenter confiteri, ut sic per pceniten- 
 tiam resurgat, per hoc enim sacramentum non tantum 
 semel sicut in baptismo, sed saepe et saepius subvenitur. 
 Alio modo sic potest intelligi, ut etiam eadem peccata 
 frequenter confiteantur. . . . Integra, ut scilicet omnia 
 peccata dicat, ita quod nullum retineat. Nam Domi- 
 nus summe bonus, qui opus imperfectionis non novit, 
 aut totum hominem sanat, si scilicet integerrima sit 
 confessio : aut nihil sanat, si scilicet aliquid concele- 
 retur : . . . non peccata semel bona fide confessa iterum 
 necesse habeo confiteri. etc. Cui conjitendum sit. 
 Sacerdotibus, quibus data est hsec potestas a Media- 
 tore Dei et hominum, qui ipsos ecclesiae suae proposuit, 
 et solvendi ac ligandi tradidit potestatem ; et in hoc 
 sacerdos judex est. etc. Quando conjitendum est. 
 Et certe quandocunque homo peccaverit. Unde et si 
 saepius cadit homo per peccatum, saepe resurgendum 
 per pcenitentiam, nee tardari debet confessio. Ad 
 minus tamen semel in anno confiteri oportet, et in 
 paschate ad minus (nisi de consilio proprii sacerdotis 
 abstineat) debet recipere eucharistiae sacramentum. 
 . . . Confitendum est tempore sanitatis, et eo tempore 
 quo homo potest peccare, sunt relinquenda peccata : 
 et haec poenitentia certa est et indubitabilis. Si autem 
 tune vis agere poenitentiam, quando peccare non potes,
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 71 
 
 peccata dimiserunt te ; non tu ilia, et haec poenitentia 
 est incerta, non tamen est deneganda." 13 
 
 Let us now take the Pupilla oculi. The author 
 says ; " Dicto enim primo de sacramento baptismi, 
 per quod gratia inchoatur ; secundo de confirmatione 
 per quam gratia roboratur ; tertio de eucharistia per 
 quam nutritur et consummatur, congrue iiij loco sub- 
 jungitur poenitentia, per quam amissa gratia restaura- 
 tur. Primo ergo notandum est quod poenitentia iiij 
 modis sumitur : . . . quarto modo sumitur pro remedio 
 contra mortale peccatum actuale per ministerium sa- 
 cerdotis collato seu conferendo, et sic est sacramentum. 
 Poenitentia prout est sacramentum est absolutio homi- 
 nis pcenitentis, facta certis verbis debita intentione 
 prolatis a sacerdote, jurisdictionem habente ex institu- 
 tione divina, efficaciter significantibus absolutionem 
 animae a peccato. Aliae vero quae ponuntur quasi de- 
 finitiones a doctoribus et sanctis . . . non sunt defini- 
 tiones pcenitentiae sacramentalis sc. exterioris ; sed po- 
 tius quaedam notifications poenitentiae interioris quae 
 est res hujus sacramenti. Dicitur etiam poenitentia 
 illud quod a sacerdote imponitur pcenitenti in confes- 
 sione, et hujus pcenitentiae tres sunt species, sc. so- 
 lemnis, publica, et privata. C Solemnis pcenitentia 
 quae fit in capite quadragesimae cum solemnitate : hasc 
 pcenitentia non imponitur nisi ab episcopo vel de ejus 
 mandate. . . . <[ Poenitentia publica est quae fit in 
 publico non tamen cum ista solemnitate. . . . Hanc 
 
 13 Rub. xxxviij.
 
 72 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 posset imponere quilibet sacerdos parochialis. . . . 
 C Privata pcenitentia dicitur ilia qua? in secreto fit, et 
 in secreta confessione a sacerdote imponitur. . . . 
 C Nota quod ante baptismum non requiritur poeni- 
 tentia sacramentalis : quia baptismus est fundamen- 
 tura omnium sacramentorum. ... C In hoc sacramento 
 exterior est poenitentia sacramentum ut signum tantum 
 scilicet interioris prenitentiae, et est ibi actus pcenitentis 
 quasi materiale : actus autem sacerdotis, sc. absolutio, 
 quasi formale. Exterior prenitentia est sacramentum 
 remissionis actualium peccatorum ; res autem et non 
 sacramentum est ipsa peccatorum actualium remissio ; 
 quae est res tarn poenitentiae exterioris quam interioris. 
 Unde ut sui causam semper praesupponit poenitentiam 
 interiorem conjunctam exteriori in re vel in proposito ; 
 explicite vel implicite." M 
 
 The succeeding chapter to the above, is " de con- 
 tritione :" then comes, " de confessione :" with specific 
 directions how it ought to be performed in order 
 to absolution : and a consideration of various doubts 
 which suggest themselves. I am not able now to dwell 
 on these, but the reader will perceive that the follow- 
 ing is much to the purpose which we have in hand. 
 " CE Item, per confessionem generalem delentur veni- 
 alia. Pro quo nota quod duplex est confessio gene- 
 ralis. Videlicet, una sacramentalis quando quis in 
 secreto confitetur sacerdoti quaedam peccata quorum 
 meminit in speciali et alia venialia in generali, et 
 
 14 Pars. v. c/> i.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 73 
 
 tune ilia generalis confessio ex iiij habet quod valeat 
 ad remissionem venialium in toto vel in parte : sc. ex 
 contritione confitentis, ex humilitate confessionis, ex 
 oratione sacerdotis, et ex vi clavium. Alia est con- 
 fessio generalis non sacramentalis ; quae fit publice 
 coram multis, et haec habet efficaciam ad remissionem 
 venialium ex tribus primis et non ex vi clavium. . . . 
 C Confessio vocalis non est de jure naturali ; sed ex 
 nova lege ; nam in veteri lege non tenebantur homines 
 ad confessionem distinctam et specialem, sed ad gene- 
 ralem et indistinctam quam faciebat sacerdos de pec- 
 catis filiorum Israel. Confessio autem mentalis est de 
 jure naturali ; sed tamen in lege nova confessio [voca- 
 lis] est de necessitate salutis ei qui peccatum mortale 
 actuale habet, si adsit copia sacerdotis : turn quia 
 Christus earn implicite instituit cum dixit leproso 
 mundato : vade ostende te sacerdoti : turn, quia Jaco- 
 bus apostolus praeceptum de confitendo promulgavit 
 cum dixit, confitemini alterutrum peccata vestra : turn 
 iij quia quibus data est potestas judicandi de aliqua 
 causa, implicite datur eis potestas cognoscendi de ista. 
 Sed Christus non solum apostolis quorum episcopi sunt 
 successores, sed aliis discipulis quorum successores 
 sunt inferiores sacerdotes dedit potestatem judicandi 
 in foro conscientiae, dicens, quorum remiseritis peccata 
 remittuntur eis ; quam potestatem sacerdos exercere 
 non potest sufficienter nisi peccator ei per confessionem 
 suam conscientiam aperiat. Cum ergo Christus sacer- 
 dotes constituit judices aliorum in foro conscientiae, 
 tenentur illi qui conscientiam vulneratam habent per"
 
 74 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 peccatum earn suo judici aperire. C Item omnis 
 adultus fidelis, sive vir sive mulier, tenetur omnia 
 peccata sua simul saltern semel in anno confiteri fide- 
 liter proprio sacerdoti, ex prsecepto ecclesise, et in 
 pascha communicari. . . . |[ Item ad confessionem sta- 
 tim actualiter faciendam tenetur quilibet si tune debet 
 sumere eucharistiam : ad quam nullus post [peccatum] 
 mortale commissum, nisi confessus, debet accedere ha- 
 bita copia sacerdotis et necessitate non urgente. Simi- 
 liter si periculum mortis immineat, statim tenetur homo 
 confiteri. IE Item, si conscientia sibi dictet statim esse 
 confitendum, similiter ratione dubii." 15 
 
 I again pass by some chapters which explain the 
 ancient rules of restitution, and the different obliga- 
 tions and restrictions imposed upon an unlimited 
 choice of confessors, according to the different ranks 
 and positions of persons desiring to confess, and I shall 
 lay before the reader one or two passages from the 
 chapter, " De modo audiendi confessionem et inodo 
 confitendi. " 
 
 " Est hie advertendum quod sacerdos confessionem 
 alicujus auditurus, primo debet considerare utrum sit 
 parochianus suus, et si sit, audiat ipsum. Si non, 
 remittat eum proprio sacerdoti : nisi in casibus supra 
 notatis." Then follows a general form of confession 
 which might or might not be said : as at the conclusion 
 the author states : " Hunc modum [confitendi] hie inse- 
 rui, non ut ita dicatur omnino sicut scribitur ; sed ut 
 
 15 Ibid. cap. iij.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 75 
 
 peccator ante confessionem in isto diligenter aspiciat et 
 consideret in quibus peccatis ipse culpabilis fuerit ; et 
 ipsa sola dicat in sua confessione. Quia sicut nullum 
 peccatum quod occurrit est occultandum in sua con- 
 fessione : ita nullum peccatum de quo poenitens non 
 est culpabilis quovismodo ibi est dicendum. Finita 
 narratione sive confessione pcenitentis dicat ei modeste 
 confessor : Habesne plura dicere : et si poenitens 
 dicat se velle investigare si posset recolere, expectet 
 sacerdos patienter quousque omnia dixerit quse occur- 
 rent. . . . Expletis interrogationibus et confessione 
 plene audita, consideret confessor an occurrat aliquod 
 peccatum de quo poenitens absolvi non debet, ante 
 restitutionem factam, vel saltern sine firmo proposito 
 restituendi cum poterit. . . . C Generaliter absolutio 
 imponenda sub hac forma. ' Ego auctoritate Dei Patris 
 omnipotentis, et apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et officii 
 mihi in hac parte commissi, absolve te ab his peccatis 
 mihi per te confessis, et ab aliis de quibus non recor- 
 daris.' In constit. autem domini Othobonis, quoniam 
 cceca, haec forma traditur absolvendi : * Ego auctori- 
 tate qua fungor absolve te a peccatis tuis de quibus es 
 contritus et mihi confessus, et Dominus absolvat te, in 
 nomine Patris, etc.' Et prsemitti debet oratio, 'Mise- 
 reatur tui : ' ne forte effectus sacramenti impediatur 
 ex parte poenitentis ; et post absolutionem conveni- 
 enter apponitur ' In nomine Patris, etc.'' ad insinuan- 
 dum quod sacerdos non propria auctoritate absolvit, 
 sed quasi minister. Sed hoc relinquitur arbitrio sacer- 
 dotis nee requiritur in absolutione manus impositio,
 
 j6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 quia hoc sacramentum non ordinatur ad exequendum 
 aliquam excellentiam gratiae, sed ad remissionem 
 culpae." 16 
 
 I shall make extracts from one more work of this 
 kind, only : namely, the Manipulus curatorum : and 
 these shall be as brief as possible. For, as I have 
 before said, it is quite unnecessary to repeat again and 
 again almost the same statements. In this book, the 
 various distinctions of solemn, public, and private 
 penance being explained, the author, as to the last 
 proceeds : " Poenitentia privata est ilia quae singulariter 
 et private fit cum quis quotidie peccata sua secrete 
 confitetur sacerdoti, et de ista specialiter hie intenditur. 
 Pro qua sciendum quod quselibet perfecta pcenitentia 
 habet tres partes; scilicet, cordis contritionem, oris 
 confessionem, et operis satisfactionem . . . . De con- 
 fessione multa sunt consideranda . . . et primo de 
 institutione confessionis. In sacra scriptura duobus 
 modis accipitur confessio ; uno modo idem est quod 
 Dei laudatio . . . Alio modo idem est quod peccatorem 
 coram sacerdote manifestatio. Et isto modo definitur 
 sic, confessio est legitima coram sacerdote qui claves 
 habet et potestatem absolvendi peccatorum declaratio. 
 Dicitur primo, confessio est legitima peccatorum decla- 
 ratio, contra illos qui peccata sua occultant, vel excu- 
 sando vel celando. Dicitur etiam contra illos qui 
 recitant bona sua in confessione, vel confitentur per 
 abnegationem peccatorum : ut, non sum adulter, gulo- 
 
 16 Ibid. cap. vij . et seqq.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 77 
 
 sus, etc. Dicitur coram sacerdote qui claves habet 
 et potestatem absolvendi, ut omnes conditiones quae 
 ad veram confessionem requiruntur ostendantur. Et 
 dicitur confessio quasi simul vel ex toto sive undique 
 fassio. etc" 11 
 
 " <E Ca. ij. De illis qui tenentur ad confessionem. 
 Omnes adulti postquam ad annos discretionis pervene- 
 rint, ita quod possint discernere inter bonum et malum, 
 tenentur semel in anno. s. in quadragesima confiteri, 
 ex statute concilii generalis, Omnis utriusque sexus. 
 Et hujus sacratissimi ac saluberrimi consilii potest esse 
 triplex ratio. Primo fuit universalis indigentia: omnes 
 enim peccaverunt, ut dicit apostolus, et egent gratia 
 Dei .... Secunda ratio est sacrse communionis reve- 
 rentia. Cum enim omnes teneantur in pascha com- 
 municare, ut digne et munde possint accedere ad 
 tantum sacramentum, oportuit praemitti remedium pur- 
 gationis et lotionis peccati quse fit in confessione. 
 Tertia ratio fuit discretio gregis dominici, ne scilicet 
 lupi absconderint in grege qui manducarent agnos. 
 Ideo statutum est ut rectores ecclesiarum agnoscerent 
 vultum ovium suarum, ne hseretici sub pelle innocentiae 
 malitiam suam palliarent." 18 
 
 "Ca. iiij. cui est facienda confessio. Quoniam ille 
 cui est facienda confessio sacramentalis oportet quod 
 habeat claves, videndum est primo de clavibus. Pro 
 quo notandum quod hoc nomen clavis translatum est 
 a corporalibus ad spiritualia. Clavis enim in corpo- 
 
 17 Edit. 1496. 12rno. fol. Ixxxiij. 18 Ibid. fol. Ixxxv.
 
 78 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 ralibus est instrumentum ad removendum aliquod 
 obstaculum quod impediebat ne posset bene haberi 
 aditus ad domum, sic etiam in spiritualibus illud quod 
 removet peccatum mortale, quod est obstaculum ad 
 ingrediendum regnum coeleste, vocatur clavis. Et ista 
 clavis est triplex ; nam qusedam est auctoritatis, et 
 istam habet solus Deus .... Alia est clavis excellen- 
 tise, et hanc solus habet Christus homo . . . Tertia est 
 clavis ministerii, et istam clavem habent sacerdotes, 
 et datur eis in collatione ordinis sacerdotalis." 19 
 
 " C Ca. v. de quibus debet fieri confessio .... Debet 
 ergo confessio esse de peccatis. Pro quo notandum 
 quod peccatorum qusedam sunt venialia, qusedam mor- 
 talia. Quantum autem ad peccata venialia loquendo 
 simpliciter non sunt confitenda de necessitate, etc. 
 |[ Unde notandum quod peccata venialia multis modis 
 remittuntur, etiam absque confessione sacramentali. 
 Uno modo per confessionem generalem quse fit in 
 prima, et in completorio, et in principio missse. 20 Alio 
 
 19 Ibid. fol. Ixxxviij. cen t 3rd de mysteriis missts. lib. 
 
 :0 These general confessions are 2. cap. xiij. who both distinguish 
 
 mentioned by some of the early this general confession from the 
 
 ritualists. That in the Liturgy by vera poenitentia " and its neces- 
 
 Micrologus, cap. 23. In Gemma sary parts. And Hugh S. Victor 
 
 animae. lib. 2. cap. 64. we find somewhere says, "fit communis 
 
 of prime and compline ; " Ad com- confessio ut mundemur a peccatis 
 
 pletorium ideo confessionem agi- venialibus, sine quibus communis 
 
 mus, ut quicquid in die commisi- vita non facile ducitur." cit. 
 
 mus, diluamus. Ad primam vero Bayly's parallel of the Liturgy 
 
 ideo agimus, ut quicquid in nocte with the Mass-book, 4to. 1661. 
 peccavimus, puniamus." See also To the same effect is Venerable 
 
 Durand, lib. 4. cap. 7. and Inno- Bede, cited by bishop Fisher:
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 79 
 
 modo per benedictionem episcopalem. etc. Intelligas 
 tamen quando dico sic vel sic peccata venialia dimitti, 
 quando. s. persona non habet nisi venialia, quia si 
 haberet mortalia, nunquam sibi dimitterentur venialia 
 quousque mortalia essent remissa . . . . C Quantum 
 autem ad peccata mortalia : dico quod omnia tarn 
 manifesta quam occulta tenetur quilibet distincte et 
 sigillatim confiteri." 21 
 
 From these we will now return to the highest class 
 of documents to which we can appeal : namely, to the 
 synodical decisions of the church of England, and to 
 authoritative works accepted by her. And, with re- 
 gard to these, I am not aware of any which for an 
 especial reason calls now upon our attention, from the 
 date of the constitution of archbishop Sudbury, in 
 1378, above cited, down to nearly the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, when various changes were most 
 
 " Cosequalibus quotidiana et laevia, diaboli servitutem. Amisit enim 
 
 graviora vero sacerdotibus panda- regenerationem quam prius ac- 
 
 mus, et quanto jusserint tempore cepit, neque Dei jam, sed diaboli 
 
 purgare curemus, quia sine confes- filius efficitur. Non ita tamen, 
 
 sione peccata nequeunt dimitti." quod oporteat eum denuo bapti- 
 
 That is, by the sacrament of pe- zari, sed prenitentise sacramento, 
 
 nance. Opera, p. 46. Assertio jam satis ei fuerit reconciliari, qua 
 
 vij Sacram. De Poenitentia. et gratiam amissam illico recuper- 
 
 Compare also : " Neque enim du- abit. Caeterum nihil opus erit hoc 
 
 bium est cuivis erudito, quin factus fieri propter veniale peccatum, aut 
 
 sit per baptismum Christianus ini- propter manentem post baptis- 
 
 tium aliquod creaturae Dei, hoc mum fomitem, quern gratia quo- 
 
 est, nova per gratiam inchoatus tidie minuit, et purgat, donee totius 
 
 sit creatura. Verum hanc creati- hominis fiat perfecta consumma- 
 
 onem facile perdit, admisso lethali taque novitas." Ibid. p. 372. 
 
 crimine, quo fit ut revertatur ad 21 Ibid. fol. xciij.
 
 8o The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 distinctly made in many points both of the doctrine 
 and discipline of our Church. 
 
 There is however a general order passed by the 
 convocation at Oxford, in 1408, under archbishop 
 Arundell, which deserves attention. " Item, quia 
 turpis est pars, quae non convenit suo toti, decernimus 
 et ordinamus, quod nullus hujusmodi praedicator, aut 
 alia qucevis persona de sacramento altaris, matrimonio, 
 peccatorum confessione, aliove quocunque sacramento 
 ecclesiae, seu fidei articulo, aliter doceat, praedicet, aut 
 observet, quam quod per sanctam matrem ecclesiam 
 reperitur discussum. Nee vertat in dubium, quod per 
 ecclesiam terminatum fuerit, aut decisum, nee verba 
 scandalosa circa eadem scienter proferat, publice vel 
 occulte, neque sectam aut speciem hseresis quamcun- 
 que praedicet, doceat, vel observet, contra sanam eccle- 
 siae doctrinam." 22 
 
 We will therefore proceed to examine the dogmatic 
 formularies of the church of England, published and 
 enjoined to be observed, in the sixteenth century. I 
 shall use the edition of those documents, so far as it 
 contains them, published at the Oxford Clarendon 
 press in 1825. 
 
 First come the Articles about Religion, set forth 
 in the year 1536. These declare; "Thirdly, con- 
 cerning the sacrament of penance, we will that all 
 bishops and preachers shall instruct and teach our 
 
 22 Lyndw. Provincial. App. p. quia. cf. Wilkins. Condi, torn. 3. 
 65. cf. ibid. Lib. v. tit. 5. Item p. 317.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 81 
 
 people committed by us unto their spiritual charge, 
 that they ought and must most constantly believe, 
 that that sacrament was instituted of Christ in the 
 New Testament as a thing so necessary for man's sal- 
 vation, that no man which after his baptism is fallen 
 again, and hath committed deadly sin, can, without 
 the same, be saved, or attain everlasting life. 
 
 . . . Item, That this sacrament of perfect penance 
 which Christ requireth of such manner of persons, 
 consisteth of three parts, that is to say, contrition, 
 confession, with the amendment of the former life, 
 and a new obedient reconciliation unto the laws and 
 will of God, that is to say, exterior acts in works of 
 charity according as they be commanded of God, 
 which be called in scripture, fructus digni pcenitentia. 
 
 . . . Item . . . the second part of penance is neces- 
 sary, that is to say, confession to a priest, if it may be 
 had; for the absolution given by the priest was insti- 
 tuted of Christ to apply the promises of God's grace 
 and favours to the penitent. 
 
 Wherefore as touching confession, we will that all 
 bishops and preachers shall instruct and teach our 
 people committed by us to their spiritual charge, that 
 they ought and must certainly believe that the words 
 of absolution pronounced by the priest, be spoken by 
 the authority given to him by Christ in the gospel. 
 
 Item, That they ought and must give no less faith 
 and credence to the same words of absolution so pro- 
 nounced by the ministers of the church, than they 
 would give unto the very words and voice of God 
 
 G
 
 82 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Himself if He should speak unto us out of heaven, 
 according to the saying of Christ, Quorum remiseritis 
 peccata, etc, et qui vos audit, me audit. 
 
 Item. That in no ways they do contemn this auri- 
 cular confession which is made unto the ministers of 
 the church, but that they ought to repute the same as 
 a very and expedient and necessary mean, whereby 
 they may require and ask this absolution at the priest's 
 hands, at such time as they shall find their con- 
 sciences grieved with mortal sin, and have occasion 
 so to do, to the intent that they may thereby attain 
 certain comfort and consolation of their consciences." s3 
 
 It is not requisite for me to quote the Institution of 
 a Christian man, published in 1537, inasmuch as it 
 does little more than repeat the assertions of the 
 Articles of the preceding year, in this matter of abso- 
 lution. 24 
 
 In the year 1 539 the famous act of the Six Articles 
 was passed. The preamble of this declares that the 
 king's majesty had proposed certain articles touching 
 Christian religion to his parliament, synod and convo- 
 cation ; " Whereupon after a great and long deliberate 
 and advised disputation and consultation had and 
 made concerning the said articles, as well by the con- 
 sent of the king's highness, as by the assent of the 
 lords spiritual and temporal, and other learned men 
 of his clergy in their convocations, and by the consent 
 of the commons in this present parliament assembled, 
 
 23 Formularies, p. 8. 24 Ibid. p. 96.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 83 
 
 it was and is finally resolved, accorded and agreed 
 in manner and form following, that is to say, . . . 
 sixthly, That auricular confession is expedient and 
 necessary to be retained and continued, used and fre- 
 quented in the church of God." 25 
 
 In the year 1543, the Necessary Doctrine was put 
 forth. In this work which enters at greater length 
 into the doctrine of the sacraments, the reader will 
 perceive, where it varies from the preceding book, the 
 Institution, a clear indication of some of the changes 
 which were about to be definitely decided on. And 
 this is perhaps the case also (for I would speak doubt- 
 fully) in " the sacrament of penance." A passage in 
 the Preface may first be quoted, wherein the compilers 
 state ; " Incontinently after [the articles of the creed] 
 followeth the explication of the seven sacraments, 
 wherein God ordinarily worketh, and whereby He 
 participateth unto us His special gifts and graces in 
 this life." 
 
 " The sacrament of penance. For the clear under- 
 standing of this sacrament, it is to be considered what 
 penance is, and also what is the sacrament of penance. 
 
 Penance is an inward sorrow and grief of the heart 
 for the sins by us done and committed, and an hatred 
 and detestation of the same, with an earnest desire to be 
 purged from them, and to recover again the grace and 
 favour of God by such means and remedies as God 
 
 25 Ecclesiastical Statutes at Large, vol. 1. p. 161. cf. Wilkins. 
 Condi, torn. 3, p. 845.
 
 84 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 hath appointed for the obtaining thereof, with a stead- 
 fast purpose and mind never to offend again .... 
 And this penance is a thing so necessary for man's 
 salvation, that without it no man that offendeth God 
 can be saved, or attain everlasting life. 
 
 The sacrament of penance is properly the absolu- 
 tion pronounced by the priest upon such as be peni- 
 tent for their sins, and so do knowledge and shew 
 themselves to be. To the obtaining of which absolu- 
 tion or sacrament of penance be required contrition, 
 confession, and satisfaction, as ways and means ex- 
 pedient and necessary to obtain the said absolution. 
 In all which ways and means faith is necessarily re- 
 quired as the ground and foundation of all things that 
 are to be done, for to attain the benefit of the sacra- 
 ment of penance. For who can have true penance, 
 with hope to attain any grace of remission of sin 
 thereby, unless he believe steadfastly that God is, and 
 that in the New Testament, by the mean of our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and by the force of His passion, 
 there is promise made to His church to grant remis- 
 sion of sins by His ministers to such as falling from 
 the grace received in baptism, do at His calling turn 
 unto Him by penance. And . . . every man, before 
 he entereth into the ways of fruitful penance, must 
 have for a ground and foundation such a belief as 
 whereby he hopeth and looketh, by the sacrament of 
 penance, to attain remission of all his sins, whereunto 
 we do come (as is aforesaid) by contrition, confession, 
 and satisfaction.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 85 
 
 . . . And being moved and troubled in spirit, and 
 lamenting the miserable state which he is now in, by 
 his own default, is pricked and stirred in his heart, 
 according to the teaching of his mother, holy church, 
 to repair to such a minister as God hath ordained to 
 pronounce the sentence of remission of sin. And 
 knowing him to occupy that place, as deputed of God, 
 doth prostrate himself to God, and there humbly 
 proceedeth to confession, wherein he, calling to his 
 remembrance his sinful life past, doth knowledge to 
 the priest all such sins in which his conscience telleth 
 him that he hath grievously offended the goodness of 
 God Almighty; and the same before the priest, God's 
 minister, he declareth and uttereth with his mouth." 
 
 Then follow some explanations that by satisfaction, 
 which also the penitent is to be ready to make, is to 
 be understood first what it is ; namely, such discipline 
 and ways of reformation as the priest shall think con- 
 venient ; and a desire to please God with an humble, 
 lowly heart, ready to bring forth fruits in deed, as in 
 alms, prayer, and fasting, with all such means as may 
 serve for the cutting away of the occasion of sin, as 
 the minister shall think good, according to the word 
 of God. And, secondly, what satisfaction is not ; 
 namely, it " is not so to be taken as though the peni- 
 tent sinner could worthily merit or deserve remission 
 of sins by any pain or punishment to be by him suf- 
 fered, or to make to God any just or full recompense 
 equivalent to the sin that he hath committed against 
 Him, and so to satisfy, which he can never do ; for
 
 86 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 that satisfaction hath only our Saviour Christ wrought 
 in His glorious passion." 
 
 The book continues : " "Whereupon, after this con- 
 trition had in heart, confession made with mouth, 
 and satisfaction shewed and promised, the penitent 
 may desire to hear of the minister the comfortable 
 words of remission of sins. And the minister there- 
 upon, according to Christ's gospel, pronounce the sen- 
 tence of absolution ; unto the which absolution the 
 penitent must give credence, and believe with a per- 
 fect faith that his sins be now forgiven freely by the 
 merits of Christ's passion, to the which forgiveness he 
 hath recourse by the sacrament of penance, as he had 
 at the first entry unto Christ's religion by the sacra- 
 ment of baptism." 26 
 
 Once more : in another place the Necessary Doc- 
 trine declares, that " by the sacrament of penance, 
 they that be fallen into deadly sin may be restored 
 unto the state of grace received in baptism, and so 
 made again the lively members of Christ's mystical 
 body." 27 
 
 1 should wish to add to the above some notices 
 from the Concilia, not a little important in such in- 
 vestigations as the present ; furnishing, as it were, sup- 
 plementary evidence of the exact doctrine held by 
 the church, in the way of proving what opposite doc- 
 trines she opposed, from time to time, as heretical. 
 
 In the year 1368, the following position, with many 
 
 26 Formularies, p. 257. Ibid. p. 293.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 87 
 
 others, was condemned in a rescript to the university 
 of Oxford, by archbishop Langham : "13. Pro quoli- 
 bet peccato commisso in statu fidei, est remedium suf- 
 ficiens in natura, per quod redire potest viator ad gra- 
 dum deperditum per peccatum ; error." 28 
 
 A provincial synod under archbishop Courtney, in 
 1382, condemned this as an heretical conclusion : 
 " Item, quod si homo fuerit debite contritus, omnis 
 confessio exterior est sibi superflua vel inutilis." 29 
 And in consequence of this, very shortly after, some 
 suspect clergy were obliged to declare their assent to 
 the received doctrine, or rather their recantation of 
 the error charged against them. " Quod si homo 
 fuerit debite contritus, omnis confessio exterior est 
 sibi superflua et inutilis ; concedimus quod est hse- 
 resis." 30 
 
 Among several Lollard heresies of which some per- 
 sons at Leicester were accused before the same arch- 
 bishop in 1389, was this : Item, quod peccatorum 
 confessio facienda sacerdoti non est necessaria : et 
 quod quilibet bonus homo, licet literaturam nesciat, 
 est sacerdos." 31 And, again, in 1405, this among 
 other positions was publicly recanted by a certain 
 priest before the bishop of Norwich ; " Item, quod 
 peccatorum confessio facienda sacerdoti non est ne- 
 cessaria. I say that this article is false and erro- 
 
 28 Wilkins. torn. 3. p. 76. Ibid. p. 157. Ibid. p. 162. 
 3 1 Ibid. p. 208. 32 Ibid. p. 283.
 
 88 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 The case also of Sir John Oldcastle, as given in the 
 records of the convocation. He first put in before his 
 examiners a paper, in which, with other matters, he 
 stated ; " Also as for the sacrament of penance, I 
 beleve that it is nedfull to every man, that shall be 
 saved, to forsake synne, and do due penance for synne 
 bifore doon, wyth trewe confession, very contrition, 
 and duhe satisfaction, as goddes lawe lymiteth and 
 techeth, and ellys may not be saved." But, not only 
 this but other parts of his schedule appearing evasive, 
 he was further questioned, and on a later day dis- 
 tinctly stated, as the record proceeds to say : " Quo- 
 etiam-ad sacramentum pcenitentiae et confessionis, dixit 
 et asseruit expresse tune ibidem, quod si quis esset in 
 aliquo gravi peccato constitutus, a quo ipse surgere 
 nesciret, expediret et bonum esset sibi adire aliquem 
 sanctum et discretum sacerdotem, pro consilio ab eo 
 habendo. Sed quod confiteretur peccatum suum pro- 
 prio curato vel presbytero, etiamsi haberet copiam 
 ejusdem, non est necessarium ad salutem ; quia sola 
 contritione peccatum hujusmodi deleri posset, et ipse 
 peccator purgari." 33 
 
 In the year 1521, a mandate was directed to the 
 bishop of Hereford by cardinal Wolsey, to enquire after 
 heretical books, and at the end was added a catalogue 
 of some "pestiferous errors" from the works of Martin 
 Luther. Of these the 5th was : " Tres esse partes 
 poenitentise, contritionem, confessionem, et satisfac- 
 
 33 Wilkins. torn. 3. p. 354.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 89 
 
 tionem, non est fundatum in sacra scriptura, nee in 
 antiquis sanctis christianis doctoribus." And the 8th ; 
 " Summa poenitentia, optima poenitentia nova vita." 34 
 A few years after, a public instrument was made 
 by the archbishop and bishops, giving extracts from 
 many books about that time published " in the Eng- 
 lishe tongue, conteyning many detestable errours, and 
 dampnable opynyons." Among them; from the Booke 
 of the wicked Mammon, that " our prelats in synne 
 say they have power." Here the term prelates is 
 perhaps to be understood in its wider and not in 
 those days very unusual sense, of parson or curate. 
 Whether this be so or not, there follow these from 
 The obedience of a chrysten man. " Improbat con- 
 fessionem auricular em. f. 83. Every man is a preest, 
 and we nede noon other preest to be a meane." And 
 from The revelation of anticriste, " Nombring of 
 synnes maketh a man a more synner, ye a blasphemer 
 of the name of God." Again ; " The most spirituall 
 man of all, if he confesse his synnes to a preest, syn- 
 neth, for he shulde confesse against his will, for this 
 sentence standeth firme and stable, he that doth a 
 thing against his will, doth it not, and compellid ser- 
 vice please not God." From the Exposition into the 
 sevenith chapitre of the Jirste epistle to the Corin- 
 thians ; " Thow owest nothinge to God but faith and 
 confession ; by confession, I meane not the whisper- 
 ing of synnes into the prests eare, ne yet the confes- 
 
 34 Wilkins. torn. 3. p. 692.
 
 90 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 sion of thy synnes to God, but with Saint Paule, if 
 thow confesse with thy mowthe that Jesus is Christe, 
 and beleve in thy hart that God hath raysed him from 
 dethe, thow shalt be saved ; in all other thinges he 
 geveth the libertie after thyne own will, thou mayest 
 do all thinges without all jeopardie of conscience." 35 
 
 Once more: in the year 1536, the clergy of the 
 lower house of convocation brought to the upper house 
 a formal complaint of dangerous opinions then taught. 
 Among them, "3. Item, that priests have no more 
 authority to minister sacraments than the laymen 
 have. 26. Item, that confession auricular, absolution, 
 and penance are neither necessary nor profitable in 
 the church of God. 29. Item, that it is sufficient for 
 a man or woman to make their confession to God 
 alone. 32. Item, that it is sufficient that the sinner 
 do say I know myself a sinner. 5Q. Item, that it is 
 preached, because auricular confession hath brought 
 forth innumerable vices, it is clearly to be taken 
 away." 36 
 
 35 Wilkins. torn. 3. p. 728. etc. M Ibid. p. 805.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HAVE now, it is to be hoped, proceeded 
 so far in this investigation, as justly to 
 be able to call upon the reader to con- 
 sider what may be concluded from the 
 extracts which he has examined. 
 
 Let me assure him, and that no less earnestly than 
 honestly, that I believe those extracts to have been 
 fairly made : I am not aware that any statement has 
 been omitted which would bear upon and influence 
 the decision to which, I suppose, we must come. 
 Whilst I fear that upon the one hand it may seem 
 that there has been a repetition of proof and an accu- 
 mulation of evidence, yet on the other it could not but 
 be necessary to produce the books which have been 
 quoted, because they contain, undeniably, the received 
 doctrine of the church of England from the 13th to 
 the 16th centuries. 
 
 Nor do they merely contain it ; for they are the 
 sources to which we must go, if we would learn what 
 that doctrine really and authoritatively was. If there 
 is any dispute or doubt concerning it, in them and 
 from them we must obtain witness of the fact. By
 
 92 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 their aid, moreover, we shall be preserved from con- 
 senting idly and hastily to assertions, by whomsoever 
 made, which either by exaggeration would bring false 
 and railing accusations, or, by pretending to explain 
 the truth would in reality deny it. 
 
 I shall, therefore, now conclude, that in the year 
 1547, the doctrine of the church of England regarding 
 Absolution was, that it is a sacrament instituted by 
 our Blessed Lord; that power to administer it was 
 given by Him to His apostles, and in them to all who 
 should be their successors in the holy office of the 
 priesthood ; that none except priests can absolve ; that 
 in its effects, when duly received, it takes away all 
 guilt of sins whether mortal or venial, (having been 
 mercifully appointed as an especial and sure remedy 
 against them,) and restores the penitent to a state of 
 grace ; that as baptism is " prima tabula," so absolu- 
 tion is "secunda tabula post naufragium;" and that 
 as baptism avails to the washing away of original sin, 
 so, after baptism, absolution cleanses from actual sin ; 
 that confession to a priest, by word of mouth, as an 
 essential condition, must ordinarily precede absolu- 
 tion ; that this confession must distinctly include all 
 remembered deadly 'sins ; that absolution is not to be 
 denied to any one ; and not only not denied, but that 
 all persons, of sufficient age, are bound by the law of 
 the Church to confess, in order to be absolved, three 
 times or at least once every year; that the conse- 
 quences of continued disobedience to this law, would 
 be exclusion during life from participation in the
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 93 
 
 sacraments and other spiritual privileges of Christian 
 membership, and after death, from burial in conse- 
 crated ground and with holy rites ; that confession 
 must, nevertheless, be voluntary, even as it must be 
 complete and plain in detail ; that the sacrament of 
 the blessed eucharist is not to be received without 
 previous confession and absolution, by any who are in 
 their consciences guilty of mortal sin ; that remittance 
 of venial sins and of venial sins alone may be obtain- 
 ed by means of the general public confession and abso- 
 lution before some of the daily offices, or the liturgy, 
 in the same way as it may be obtained by other pious 
 acts of faith or practice ; and, lastly, that under certain 
 rules, requisite to prevent evasion, all persons are at 
 liberty to choose for themselves the priests to whom 
 they will confess. 
 
 Nor is it to be forgotten that this doctrine was 
 founded upon the promise and commission given by 
 our Blessed Lord, as recorded by the evangelists, S. 
 Matthew and S. John. " Verily I say unto you, what- 
 soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; 
 and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed 
 in heaven." And ; " When He had said this, He 
 breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye 
 the Holy Ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, they are 
 remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, 
 they are retained." 
 
 Such then being the doctrine of the church of Eng- 
 land in that year, as to the nature, the essential parts, 
 and the effects of priestly absolution, our next step
 
 94 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 will be, an examination of her ancient service books 
 and ritual, so far as absolution in either of its mean- 
 ings, whether the greater or the less, is concerned with 
 them. For this purpose I shall confine myself to the 
 offices according to the use of Sarum : with which, in 
 every essential particular, the other great use, the use 
 of York, exactly agreed. 
 
 First, the Breviary, from whence our present order 
 of morning and evening prayers is taken. 
 
 " Confiteor . Misereatur . et Absolutionem . tarn ad 
 primam quam ad completorium per totum annum. 
 Confiteor dicitur privatim ut mx audiatur a choro, 
 hoc modo. 
 
 C Sacerdos respiciens ad altare. Confiteor Deo, 
 beatae Marise, omnibus sanctis, 
 
 Vertens se ad chorum : 
 
 Et vobis : peccavi nimis cogitatione, locutione, et 
 opere, mea culpa ; 
 
 Respiciens ad altare: 
 
 Precor sanctam Mariam, et omnes sanctos Dei, 
 
 Respiciens ad chorum : 
 
 Et vos, or are pro me. 
 
 Chorus respondeat ad eum conversus : 
 
 Misereatur. 
 
 Postea primo ad altare conversus : 
 
 Confiteor. 
 
 Delude ad sacerdotem conversus ut prius sacerdos 
 se liabult : delude dicat sacerdos ad chorum : 
 
 Misereatur vestri omnipotens Deus, et dimittat vobis 
 omnia peccata vestra : liberet vos ab omni malo : con-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 95 
 
 servet et confirmet in bono : et ad vitam perducat 
 seternam. Amen. 
 
 Absolutionem et remissionem omnium peccatorum 
 vestrorum, spatium verse poenitentise, emendationem 
 vitee, gratiam et consolationem Sancti Spiritus, tribuat 
 vobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen." 1 
 
 Next, the Liturgy : 
 
 " Officio missce inchoato, cum post officium Gloria 
 Patri incipitur, accedat sacerdos cum suis ministris ad 
 gradum altaris, et dicat ipse confessionem, diacono as- 
 sistente a dextris, et subdiacono a sinistris, hoc modo 
 incipiendo : 
 
 Et ne nos. 
 
 Sed libera. 
 
 Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus. 
 
 Quoniam in ssecula misericordia ejus. 
 
 Sacerdos dicat : 
 
 Confiteor Deo, beatae Mariee, omnibus sanctis, et 
 vobis : quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, locutione, et 
 opere, mea culpa : precor sanctam Mariam, omnes 
 sanctos Dei, et vos orare pro me. 
 
 Ministri respondeant. 
 
 Misereatur vestri omnipotens Deus, et dimittat vobis 
 omnia peccata vestra, liberet vos ab omni malo, con- 
 servet et confirmet in bono, et ad vitam perducat 
 seternam. 
 
 Sacerdos. Amen. 
 
 Et posted dicant : 
 
 Confiteor. 
 
 1 Edit. Reynault. Paris. 1535. 4to. sign. I. ij.
 
 96 The Doctrine of j4b solution. 
 
 Quo dicto, dicat sacerdos, 
 
 Misereatur, ut supra. 
 
 Deinde dicat sacerdos : 
 
 Absolutionem et remissionem omnium peccatorum 
 vestrorum, spatium verse poenitentiae, et emendationem 
 vitae, gratiam et consolationem Sancti Spiritus, tribuat 
 vobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. 
 
 Ministri respondeant : Amen. 
 
 Deinde dicat sacerdos : 
 
 Vers. Adjutorium nostrum, etc." * 
 
 Thirdly, and lastly, the Office of the visitation of 
 the sick. This office, after some verses with their re- 
 sponses, and some prayers, proceeds to order that 
 before the sick man receive the holy communion, the 
 priest should exhort him to bear his sickness patiently : 
 and it proceeds : 
 
 " Frater carissime, quia viam universae carnis in- 
 gressurus es, esto firmus in fide .... 
 
 C Deinde bonum et valde expediens est ut sacerdos 
 exprimat infirmo xiiij articulos Jidei, etc. 
 
 C Deinde dicat sacerdos. 
 
 Carissime frater : quia sine caritate nihil proderit 
 tibi fides, .... ideo oportet te diligere Dominum Deum 
 tuum super omnia ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima 
 tua : et proximum tuum propter Deum sicut teipsum : 
 nam sine hujusmodi caritate nulla fides valet, etc. 
 
 C Deinde stabilito sic infirmo injide, caritate, et 
 spe, dicat ei sacerdos : 
 
 * Ancient Liturgy of the church of England. 2nd. edit. p. 12.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 97 
 
 Carissime frater : si veils ad visionem Dei perve- 
 nire, oportet omnino quod sis mundus in mente et 
 purus in conscicntia : ait enim Christus in evangelic : 
 Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. Si 
 ergo vis mundum cor et conscientiam sanam habere, 
 peccata tua universa confitere : etc. 
 
 C Deinde audita Integra confessione infirmi, et 
 factis interrogationibus expedientibus, injungat sa- 
 cerdos injlrmo quod si quid injuste alieni habuerit, 
 vel si quern injuste Iceserit sen damnificaverit, reddat 
 et satisfaciat si valeat : sinautem, veniam humiliter 
 postulet. Attamen non injungat ei sacerdos aliquam 
 pcenitentiam, sed dicat ei benigniter hoc modo : 
 
 Frater, tu tot et talia peccata commisisti ; pro qui- 
 bus si tu esses sanus talem poenitentiam debes agere 
 usque ad tale tempus. . . . 
 
 Deinde dicat sacerdos hoc modo : 
 
 Miscreatur tui omnipotens Deus, et dimittat tibi 
 omnia peccata tua ; liberet te ab omni malo ; conser- 
 vet et confirmet in bono, et ad vitam perducat seter- 
 nam. Amen. 
 
 C Deinde absolvat sacerdos infirmum, ab omnibus 
 peccatis suis, hoc modo, dicens : 
 
 Dominus noster Jesus Christus pro sua magna pie- 
 tate te absolvat : et ego auctoritate ejusdem Dei Do- 
 mini nostri Jesu Ghristi, et beatorum apostolorum 
 Petri ct Pauli, et auctoritate mihi tradita, absolve te 
 ab omnibus peccatis his de quibus corde contritus et 
 ore mihi confessus es : et ab omnibus aliis peccatis tuis 
 dc quibus si tuse occurrerent memorise libenter confi- 
 
 H
 
 98 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 teri velles : et sacramentis ecclesiae te restituo. In 
 nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." 3 
 
 The above are the forms of absolution to which the 
 three forms in our present Book correspond ; and from 
 which, it will be at once evident, they are derived. 
 
 I have shewn what was the judgement of the church 
 of England, upon absolution, in the last year of the 
 reign of king Henry the 8th, before any alterations, 
 affecting doctrine, had been made in her service 
 books. I shall now remind the reader, that even if 
 it had not been plainly stated by writers of authority, 
 that the absolutions joined to the daily offices and to 
 the liturgy do not convey remission of mortal sin, in 
 other words, that they are little more than earnest 
 mutual and alternate supplications to the Almighty 
 by both priest and people for pardon and grace, (the 
 first for the second, and then the second for the first) 
 not absolutely and actually conveying that pardon, 
 it would have been a necessary consequence from the 
 acknowledged principle, that oral confession is an es- 
 sential condition which must always, as a rule, be 
 required of every penitent before priestly absolution 
 from mortal sin can be given. I say, as a rule : and 
 the exception sometimes recognized, was both so dis- 
 tinctly limited and based on such extreme danger of 
 immediate death, that it served only to establish and 
 to clear from all shadow of doubt the stringency of the 
 rule. 
 
 3 Monumenta Ritualia. vol. 1. p. 74 80.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 99 
 
 Here also before we proceed it will be well to trace 
 higher these earlier rituals, upon which, as I have 
 said, our present offices are formed, from which they 
 are derived, and to which, in fact, they owe mainly 
 their authority as being the voice of a true branch of 
 the catholic Church in all formal acts whether public 
 or private. We must be confined only to private ab- 
 solution. 
 
 This is not a fitting place to attempt an account of 
 " penitentials." Every student of ecclesiastical his- 
 tory knows well how very accurately and minutely 
 they enter into the details of the ordinance of absolu- 
 tion. The very end and object of them was to enable 
 the priest to learn, in general cases, the proper disci- 
 pline for various sins, and the wise method of treating 
 or advising a penitent. Being so, how important a 
 fact in this enquiry are the penitentials of archbishop 
 Theodore, of venerable Bede, and of archbishop 
 Egbert : men, who could almost remember the land- 
 ing of S. Augustin. 
 
 It may be said that these penitentials chiefly have 
 respect to the public penances which in those days 
 were commonly performed. This may or may not be 
 correct. It does not at all follow that because they 
 would answer such a purpose, they were necessarily 
 to be employed for that only. But, however this may 
 be, the penitential of archbishop Egbert tells us espe- 
 cially how private absolution was to be given. 
 
 The rubric is : " Incipit qualiter suscipi debeant 
 pcenitentes" And after some admonitions to the
 
 ioo The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 priest, the order continues. " Cum ergo venerit ali- 
 quis ad sacerdotem conftteri peccata sua, prius in 
 secreto cordis sui hcec apud se debet orare. 
 
 Domine Deus omnipotens, propitius esto, etc. 
 
 Cum autem accesserit ad te, die super eum hanc 
 orationem. 
 
 Deus qui omnium confitentium, etc. 
 
 Item alia. Da nobis, Domine, ut sicut publicani. 
 
 Confessio peccatorum. Quando volueris confes- 
 sionem facere peccatorum tuorum, viriliter age et 
 confortare in Domino, et noli erubescere : et quia 
 inde venit indulgentia cum spe misericordise Dei hu- 
 militer confessus fueris peccata tua, et reliqueris ea, 
 quia sine confessione non est indulgentia. In primis 
 prosterne te in terra ad orationem . . . ut Deus omni- 
 potens dignetur tibi dare sapientiam perfectam, et 
 intelligentiam veram, et virtutem animi constantem 
 ad confitendum veraciter ex infirmo corde peccata 
 tua ; et postea surge, et cum fiducia, et vera creduli- 
 tate die ei cui confiteri vis peccata tua." 4 Then the 
 priest is directed to say several psalms, with three 
 other prayers for the penitent ; after which he is to 
 examine him as to the articles of the Creed, and 
 whether he knows the Lord's Prayer. " Post hcec 
 interroga eum crimina sua quce habet. . . . Die mihi 
 
 4 The prayer ends thus : " Sane- bus sanctis, intercede pro me mi- 
 
 ta et individua Trinitas miserere sero, ut Deo donante pnram facere 
 
 mei, et dona quae posco. Sancta valeam confessionem, quia aliter 
 
 Dei genitrix, cum angelis et omni- salvus esse non possum."
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 101 
 
 opera quse fecisti et cogitasti." Then follow some 
 forms of confession, intended to lead the penitent to 
 confess fully all his sins ; that is, those sins there in- 
 cluded which he had happened himself to have com- 
 mitted ; schemes, rather than forms : ending thus ; 
 
 " . . . Omnia fient in pura confessione Domino Deo 
 omnipotent!, et tibi Dei amico et sacerdoti, et rogo te 
 cum humilitate, ut digncris orare pro me infelice et 
 indigno, ut mihi dignetur per suam misericordiam 
 dare indulgentiam peccatorum meorum. 
 Et dicit sacerdos. 
 
 Omnipotens Deus, qui dixit qui me confessus fuerit 
 coram hominibus, confitebor et ego eum coram Patre 
 meo, ille te benedicat, et det tibi remissionem pecca- 
 torum." 
 
 Then succeed some other prayers, collects, and 
 psalms, to be said according as the time will allow : 
 after which ; 
 
 " Benedictio super pcenitentem. 
 
 Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et dimittat tibi 
 
 omnia peccata tua, liberet te ab omni malo, conservet 
 
 te in omni bono, et perducat ad vitam seternam. Per. 
 
 Alia. Sis namque absolutus a Deo Patre, et Filio, 
 
 et Sancto Spiritu, ab omnibus tuis peccatis, similiter 
 
 etiam sis absolutus a sanctis apostolis, et martyribus, 
 
 et confessoribus, sive ab omnibus timentibus Domi- 
 
 num, et a me quamvis indigno, et hie, et in futuro 
 
 sseculo. Amen." 5 
 
 5 Morinus, De pcenit. Antiqui poenitentiales. p. 13.
 
 io2 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Alcuin was a contemporary and disciple of arch- 
 bishop Egbert. His book de divinis officiis explains, 
 in one chapter, the rites in his day observed In capite 
 jejunii. He first declares that the priest's duty is to 
 admonish all persons that they are bound to confess 
 and be absolved at that time of the year. Then he 
 gives a long account of various crimes, much after 
 the manner of a penitential. After which ; 
 
 " Denique sacerdos suscipiens poenitentem, si laicus 
 est dimisso baculo, quisquis vero ille est, sive laicus, 
 sive clericus, sive monachus suppliciter se inclinet 
 ante sacerdotem. Tune sacerdos dicat hanc orati- 
 onem : Domine Deus omnipotens, propitius esto, etc. 
 Deinde jubeat eum sacerdos sedere contra se, 6 et 
 colloqui cum eo de supradictis vitiis, sive exhorta- 
 tionibus divinis, ne forte pro verecundia aut ignavia 
 sive oblivione aliquid putridum in corde remaneat, 
 per quod iterum diabolus eum ad vomitum peccati 
 reducat." 
 
 Then, says Alcuin, examination into faith was to 
 be made : and he is not singular in this arrangement. 
 For the old orders varied in this respect : some placing 
 the confession first, some and more of them placing 
 it after the profession of faith. " Quo facto, fixis ge- 
 nibus in terram, et super ipsa innixus stans, suppli- 
 citer tensis manibus, blando ac flebili vultu respiciens 
 sacerdotem, dicat his verbis : ' Multa quidem et innu- 
 
 6 Morinus observes : " Omnes catorum sedcndo editam testan- 
 antiqui rituales confessionem pec- tur." De pcanit. p. 213.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 103 
 
 merabilia sunt alia peccata mea, quse recordari nequeo, 
 in factis, in dictis, et cogitationibus, etc.' . . . Post hsec 
 vero dicat sacerdos super eum has orationes." The 
 prayers are not given by Alcuin, only the first words 
 of them : they were well known, and are common in 
 the penitentials. The whole ends with directions that 
 if time and opportunity would permit, both the priest 
 and penitent should go into the church, for the pur- 
 pose of special prayer and communion. 7 
 
 The reader will not forget that these are offices 
 which were in use among our forefathers eight hun- 
 dred years before the reformation. And I suppose 
 that he will recognize their value as evidence both of 
 the continued stream of doctrine in the church of 
 England, upwards to its source ; and of the unifor- 
 mity of practice which prevailed, in its more import- 
 ant features, for so many centuries. 
 
 7 Bibl. patrum. Auct. torn. 1. p. 239. 244.
 
 104 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HE first document which meets us at the 
 period of the revision of our Service 
 Books is of a most important character 
 in all enquiries into the history, whether 
 of the discipline or of the doctrine of the church of 
 England. A document of especial weight in its bear- 
 ing upon the question with which we are at present 
 engaged. I mean The Order of the Communion put 
 forth in the year 1548. 
 
 Here let me say that I shall altogether pass by any 
 argument whether for or against the relative autho- 
 rity of this Order, of the two Books of king Edward, 
 of Elizabeth, of James, and of the Book of Common 
 Prayer of 1662. The last has been undeniably ac- 
 cepted and agreed to by the church of England, and 
 by the temporal estates also of the realm. It is very 
 true that there are, as regards the others, various 
 formal deficiencies which, it may be said, diminish 
 their authority : but really, after all, as we know that 
 each later one was, confessedly, based upon the pre- 
 ceding ; as, moreover, the intermediate Orders from 
 1547 to 1662 were virtually, if not formally, without
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 105 
 
 dispute used and obeyed with very few exceptions by 
 all the members of our Church ; it does seem to me to 
 be rather a splitting of straws than a reasonable objec- 
 tion, to distinguish between the authority of the one 
 Book as greater than another. I would not be so 
 foolish as to pretend that we ought to forget facts : 
 whether weighty or not, whether the conclusions 
 which we draw from them are always equally correct 
 or just, they nevertheless are facts, and must both 
 remain so and be dealt with accordingly. However, 
 be this as it may, I shall now consider these several 
 Books as equally decisive links in the chain of autho- 
 ritative evidence, by which we are bound to test and 
 to learn the true doctrine of the church of England. 
 
 The order of the communion, set forth in 1548, was 
 intended to be used only for a season, until a more 
 complete revision of the service-books could be settled ; 
 and no alteration whatever was made in the liturgy 
 itself, except the direction both that the priest should 
 consecrate a larger quantity of wine, and that he should 
 not, as of old, consume the whole of it himself. This 
 necessarily followed from one chief object for which 
 the order was prepared ; namely, that the laity should 
 receive, according to the practice of the primitive 
 ages, the holy communion of the Body and Blood of 
 our Blessed Lord in both kinds, and not in one kind 
 only. 
 
 This, however, although one chief effect and purpose 
 of the order of 1548, was not the only one. There 
 was another, by which the people were left at liberty
 
 io6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 to avail themselves or not, as they might judge expe- 
 dient, of the sacrament of absolution. The obligation 
 to confess and to be absolved, before communion, was 
 distinctly and totally removed. And upon this second 
 point, no less than upon the first by which the Cup 
 was restored to the laity, I entirely believe that the 
 church of England returned to primitive practice, and 
 was to be supported in her decision by the plain words 
 of Scripture. 
 
 In the warning of communion which was to be given 
 to the parishioners on some day shortly preceding, the 
 priest, according to this order, first declared to his 
 people the duty of all persons who intended to receive 
 the sacrament : namely, that they must come (in a 
 word) " in the marriage garment required of God." 
 Next, he was to tell them of " The ways and means 
 thereto." First, that they must sincerely repent of all 
 former sins ; that they must confess them to Almighty 
 God; and ask of Him pardon, with inward sorrow 
 and tears, and with a promise to Him by themselves 
 of future amendment. So much as regarded their 
 duty towards God. As concerning their neighbours, 
 they were to put away all hatred and malice, to be 
 reconciled if possible, and to forgive as they would be 
 forgiven. These were the ways, and these alone, by 
 which it was necessary that all persons should prepare 
 themselves for communion ; thus they were to clothe 
 themselves " in the marriage garment " and " be found 
 worthy to come to such a table." 
 
 But if persons feared to rely upon their own judge-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 107 
 
 ment ; if, in spite of all prayers and sorrow and tears 
 and promises of amendment made secretly to God, 
 they still could not be certain that they were fit so to 
 come ; if they still doubted whether their past sins 
 really were forgiven them, and whether their garment 
 in which they clothed themselves were indeed sufficient 
 to appear at " such a table," and were indeed the 
 " garment required of God;" then, equally in full 
 accordance with the practice of all antiquity, and with 
 the Word of God, another means was offered by which 
 they might be assured. But let us hear the order 
 itself. 
 
 " And if there be any of you whose conscience is 
 troubled and grieved in any thing, lacking comfort or 
 counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet 
 and learned priest, taught in the law of God, and 
 confess and open his sin and grief secretly ; that he 
 may receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort, 
 that his conscience may be relieved, and that of us, as 
 a minister of God, and of the church, he may receive 
 comfort and absolution, to the satisfaction of his mind, 
 and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness : requiring 
 such as shall be satisfied with a general confession not 
 to be offended with them that doth use, to their further 
 satisfying, the auricular and secret confession to the 
 priest ; nor those also, which think needful or conve- 
 nient, for the quietness of their own consciences, par- 
 ticularly to open their sins to the priest, to be offended 
 with them that are satisfied with their humble confes- 
 sion to God, and the general confession to the church ;
 
 io8 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 but in all these things to follow and keep the rule of 
 charity ; and every man to be satisfied with his own 
 conscience, not judging other men's minds or acts, 
 whereas he hath no warrant of God's word for the 
 same." 
 
 At the time of the administration of communion, 
 the priest was again to exhort the people about to be 
 partakers. Nor were these repeated exhortations in 
 any wise uncalled for, now that each one was left at 
 liberty to ask, or not to ask, for absolution ; and, be- 
 cause so left, was laden with the responsibility of 
 deciding for himself whether he might believe that 
 God had indeed forgiven him his sins, whether he 
 might indeed meetly presume spiritually to " eat the 
 Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood." After this 
 renewed warning and exhortation the priest was to say : 
 " If any man here . . . doth not trust himself to be 
 reconciled to Almighty God ... let him yet awhile 
 bewail his sins, and not come to this holy table." 
 
 Then, all who were persuaded that they were so 
 " reconciled," persuaded by whatever means, be it 
 by priestly absolution or by private prayer and con- 
 fession and promises made to God alone, these were 
 desired to make their " humble confession to Almighty 
 God, and to His holy church, here gathered together 
 in His name." The rubric follows : 
 
 " Then shall a general confession he made, in the 
 name of all those that are minded to receive the holy 
 communion, either by one of them, or else by one of 
 the minister Sj or else by the priest himself.'"
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 109 
 
 The confession I do not extract, because it is the 
 same as that which we use at the present day in our 
 liturgy : admirable in its language, and adapted as it 
 seems to me, almost beyond possibility of amendment, 
 to the solemn occasion for which it is prepared. 
 
 But I must especially call upon the reader to remem- 
 ber that the term in the rubric " a general confes- 
 sion" was as well understood in that day by all persons, 
 and the intention and the effects of it, as in later times 
 both the term and the effects of such a confession have 
 been first forgotten, then confused, and then misre- 
 presented. I assert that it was impossible in those 
 days for any one to whom the priest spoke, to have 
 conceived that by such " a general confession " he 
 could obtain the benefits and the sure blessings of the 
 sacrament of absolution. Even if the language of the 
 warning just going before were not distinct enough, 
 calling on him to consider whether he could " trust 
 himself to be reconciled to Almighty God," that is, in 
 other words, could trust himself to be in a state of 
 grace, yet the known fact that this confession and its 
 succeeding absolution were but the continuance of the 
 ancient practice, could not have allowed even a shadow 
 of a doubt. If it was otherwise, if indeed this " gen- 
 eral confession " were to be regarded as quite another 
 thing from all that it had been believed to be before, 
 where was he to learn it ? who had said so ? was it 
 even hinted at, or pretended, or desired, or thought of 
 by any one ? if it was, where is the evidence ? 
 
 I must return here, for an instant to the passage in
 
 1 1 o The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 the previous notice, which required all who should use 
 auricular confession not to be offended with those who 
 " shall be satisfied with a general confession." 
 
 Will it be said that here is plain evidence that the 
 church of England has declared that priestly absolu- 
 tion, in its full meaning, can be obtained after and by 
 means of a " general confession " only ? What was in 
 truth in those days, a being " satisfied with a general 
 confession." Did it signify, could it possibly be under- 
 stood to signify, any thing except a being " satisfied " 
 without priestly absolution ? If this " general confes- 
 sion " and its succeeding " absolution " had never 
 been heard of by the people before ; if now, for the 
 first time, we found them introduced after such an 
 admonition ; then, I would myself argue that common 
 sense would oblige us to conclude that this general 
 confession and absolution are to be, and were intended 
 to be, taken in place of and equivalent to the old 
 obligatory absolution, after oral and special confession. 
 And I solemnly require the reader to reflect and to 
 remember, whether his opinion and judgement as to 
 the value or efficacy of this general confession and 
 absolution, was adopted and determined on before or 
 since he knew, as a fact, that this same general con- 
 fession and absolution are nothing new, but simply 
 retained from the old liturgies, after the example of 
 the practice of many centuries ? The value of the fact 
 is quite another question ; but I am entitled to make 
 this demand of my reader, and to call on him to answer 
 it honestly to himself at least.
 
 1 1 1 
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 I proceed to the absolution. " Then shall the priest 
 stand up and turning to the people, say thus : 
 
 " Our blessed Lord, who hath left power to His 
 church to absolve penitent sinners from their sins, and 
 to restore to the grace of the heavenly Father such as 
 truly believe in Christ ; Have mercy upon you ; par- 
 don and deliver you from all sins ; confirm and 
 strengthen you in all goodness ; and bring you to 
 everlasting life." 
 
 Because to all intents and purposes the latter part 
 of this absolution is the same now as in 1548, I shall 
 make one or two observations on it here, as it will be 
 useless to repeat it from succeeding Prayer-books. 
 
 Now I do earnestly require the reader to compare 
 this form with the old form, as it stood in the ancient 
 liturgies, and already laid before him, in p. 95. Do 
 people argue from the language ? " pardon and de- 
 liver you from all your sins " ? what is such an argu- 
 ment worth ? if it is worth anything now, of the same 
 force was it in the year 1547. Are these words 
 stronger, are they fuller, do they seem to be more large 
 in their purpose and consequent effects, than " di- 
 mittat vobis omnia peccata vestra, liberet vos ab omni 
 malo, conservet et confirmet in bono, et ad vitam per- 
 ducat seternam " ? if they are stronger, wherein does 
 the difference consist? what did that form mean in 
 1547 ? where is there one single atom, one pretence, 
 of proof, that the same form meant more in 1548 ? 
 
 But the beginning of this absolution did vary both 
 from the old form and from the present. The assertion
 
 1 12 
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 of the power which our Blessed Lord left to His 
 church was new, so placed at least, and is now no 
 longer there. I do not conceive it is possible that any 
 person, who claims to be a theologian, will venture to 
 say that this addition, this mere assertion of a fact 
 could, by any stretch of imagination whatever, have so 
 altered the character of the absolution, as to make it 
 that which it was not before : as alone to be sufficient 
 to make it, indeed and in full completeness, something 
 new ; that is, an absolution from all sins, mortal and 
 venial ; a conveyance of the pardon of the Almighty 
 to the penitent ; effective of a change in the sinner's 
 state ; in a word, reconciling him to God. 
 
 Such an assertion in such a place and at such a 
 time was, however, felt to be uncalled for : and be- 
 cause it was so felt, within a few months, the Common 
 Prayer Book of 1549, (of which this Order of com- 
 munion was a first step and, so to speak, an instalment) 
 omitted it altogether. Then there was prefixed, be- 
 fore the ancient words, another assertion, perfectly 
 true and most appropriate in the way of comfort and 
 support ; another, I say, in the place of a declaration 
 of power and authority and a commission, which in 
 common consistency at least might well be expected 
 to be immediately followed by an actual exercise of 
 that authority and power. 
 
 Here, also, I think it well to notice a fact, which, 
 although it may seem trivial is not so, but really im- 
 portant in this discussion. Much weight perhaps has 
 been given to, certainly much confusion has been
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 1 3 
 
 caused by, the common use of the term "the abso- 
 lution," as applied both to the form in the liturgy, and 
 to those in the morning and evening prayer. Now 
 the use of this term sprung originally from the begin- 
 nings of the prayers (for such in truth they were, and 
 nothing more,) to which they were applied : " Abso- 
 lutionem et remissionem " were the first words : and 
 every ritualist knows well how common it has always 
 been to speak of prayers, and collects, and hymns, 
 and antiphons, by their first words, as a mere title. 
 
 Thus, by way simply of example : let the reader 
 take the old Salisbury missal. He will find, in Lent, 
 the weeks to be named, " post Invocavit ; " " post 
 Reminiscere ; " "post Oculi," and so on: these words 
 having been the commencement of the introits for the 
 Sundays. Or, again, the breviary : in that, the dirge 
 was so called because of the first words of the first 
 antiphon, " Dirige Domine ; " and the dirge was pre- 
 ceded by another office called " the Placebo," also 
 from the first words of the antiphon. I repeat that 
 this is a point well deserving the consideration of the 
 reader. 
 
 It would be a waste of time, to transcribe the corres- 
 ponding parts of the liturgy of our Church, since the first 
 Book of 1549 down to the present Book, which relate 
 to confession and absolution. Some changes have been 
 made, all and equally in no way affecting the con- 
 clusions to which we shall come. The chief omission 
 is, the advice (first contained in the Order of 1548 and 
 continued in 1549) that no person should find fault 
 
 i
 
 1 1 4 The Doctrine of sib solution. 
 
 with those who do not use auricular confession : or, 
 these last with others who avail themselves of it. 
 
 I shall, therefore, only insist upon the fact that in 
 our present liturgy, as in the first temporary Order of 
 1548, all persons are desired to "come holy and clean 
 to the heavenly Feast, in the marriage garment re- 
 quired by God in Holy Scripture." They are not 
 told where they are to obtain it when they come, but 
 they are to obtain it before they come : and " the way 
 and means thereto " are explained as clearly as before. 
 They are (let me repeat it once more) " to come holy 
 and clean ; " to come " in the marriage garment." 
 
 And if men cannot satisfy themselves ; if men still 
 doubt and fear and hesitate, because they are not 
 assured in their own consciences, be they never so 
 repentant, be they never so full of faith, be they never 
 so determined with God's grace to lead a better life, 
 that they are not after all reconciled to God, then is 
 their case, as from the first ages of the Faith, still pro- 
 vided for. And this ; not by telling them that they 
 can obtain remission of their sins, in the way of priestly 
 absolution, by means of the so called absolution which 
 they must listen to in the Service itself of the eucha- 
 rist, or, much less, by the so called absolutions of 
 morning and evening prayer, but by another and a 
 more excellent way; by the true way; true, because 
 from the beginning, and founded on the word and 
 promises of God. 
 
 Let us hear what this is. The priest is to say: 
 " And because it is requisite, that no man should
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 1 5 
 
 come to the holy Communion, but with a full trust in 
 God's mercy, and with a quiet conscience ; therefore 
 if there be any of you, who by this means [aforesaid] 
 cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth 
 further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to 
 some other discreet and learned minister of God's 
 Word, and open his grief: that by the ministry of 
 God's holy Word he may receive the benefit of abso~ 
 lution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to 
 the quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all 
 scruple and doubtfulness." 
 
 I shall now consider the absolution which is pre- 
 fixed to our offices for morning and evening prayer. 
 
 It is well known that in the first Book of king 
 Edward, matins and evensong began with the Lord's 
 Prayer : there was no so called absolution ; nor a con- 
 fession ; nor an exhortation ; nor sentences. It is 
 with the "absolution" and confession only that I have 
 now to deal : and it does seem to me that the character 
 which we are to attribute to them both, and to the 
 " absolution " especially as a means of grace, is no 
 less clearly shewn by the omission which we find in 
 the book of 1549, than by the addition which was 
 made in 1552. Whether justly an argument could 
 have been made out against my view of this "abso- 
 lution," if facts had been exactly the reverse, if, that 
 is, the omission had occurred in the book of 1552, 
 we need not care to enquire. I regard the fact how- 
 ever, as it stands, to be very significant indeed. 
 
 How it was that the revisers of the service-books in
 
 n 6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 1549 concluded that the old general confession and 
 absolution were not an appropriate commencement of 
 the daily prayers, I do not know : it is possible, that 
 having been attached always to prime and compline, 
 they were naturally (as it were) dropped together 
 with those separate Offices. One thing is undeniable ; 
 the year 1549 was not a time when any real means of 
 grace which God has vouchsafed to his Church was 
 either carelessly esteemed, or hastily given up. Not 
 less undeniable is (if I may say so) the amount of 
 value at which in the same year the church of England 
 estimated these forms of general confession and abso- 
 lution. If such an "absolution" were indeed, or could 
 be, an actual conveyance of remission of sins, the cir- 
 cumstance of its omission, in other words, the cir- 
 cumstance of its having been taken away in 1549 from 
 the people, is as inexplicable as it would be indefen- 
 sible. When we remember, however, the truth of the 
 case, and of what sort that "absolution" is, the cir- 
 cumstance is as clearly explained as it is easily to be 
 defended. 
 
 In 1552 the general confession and an "absolution" 
 were again placed before the offices for morning and 
 evening prayer : and they are still retained. They 
 are not in terms like the older forms in the breviary, 
 but certainly the first, if not the second, is similar in 
 its character. Whatever differences there may be, all 
 tend to a greater generality and vagueness than before, 
 rather than to~ the contrary. But this is not a point 
 worth consideration ; and if any one thinks that they
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 117 
 
 are not more vague, I shall not care to dispute it. At 
 any rate, they will not contradict me who are ready 
 to attribute an especial meaning to the " absolution " 
 in the liturgy, because it speaks of a deliverance from 
 "all your sins;" " Omnia peccata vestra." 
 
 Now I must reverse the argument which has just 
 above been used. No one will accuse those persons 
 who in 1552 governed the church of England, of any 
 undue partiality to doubtful means of grace, of any 
 leaning towards old erroneous superstitions, of any 
 tendency to invent new channels through which the 
 Divine grace might flow, or any desire to encourage 
 people to rely without most sure and certain proof 
 upon any asserted exercise of the power of the priest- 
 hood, and of administration of the sacraments of God. 
 If therefore this " absolution " does indeed convey re- 
 mission of sins ; if it is indeed an exercise of the 
 power of the keys ; if by it the priests of the church 
 of England fulfil that commission which has been 
 given to them of binding and loosing ; then we shall 
 have to defend the rulers of our Church in 1552, and 
 no less the church of England herself since that time 
 by her acquiescence, from the charge of inventing a 
 new sacrament, and of changing the limits within 
 which, according to the words of scripture and the 
 constant example of the whole Christian world, that 
 power of remitting and of retaining sins has alone 
 been claimed and exercised. And if, as I have said, 
 the determination of the first revisers in 1549 is not 
 to be explained, except upon the fact of the well
 
 1 1 8 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 known and universally acknowledged light in which 
 general confessions and "absolutions" were regarded, 
 so, in 1552, the conduct of the second reviewers is not 
 one whit less difficult of explanation, except because 
 of the very same well-known acknowledged fact. 
 That fact being so, and I defy any one to disprove 
 it, the decision come to in 1552 is equally with the 
 decision of 1 549 to be both explained and defended. 
 
 I can scarcely suppose that the reader does not see 
 that if the doctrine of the church with regard to 
 general confessions and absolutions is that which I 
 declare it to be, all other doubts which may be sug- 
 gested from the meaning of some particular words, 
 whether in the forms themselves or in their rubrics, 
 are of little consequence. 
 
 Not that I allow for an instant that there is any 
 force whatever in the argument which Wheatly and 
 others after him have relied on, as to the term " pro- 
 nounce." It is always dangerous, and sometimes silly, 
 to attempt to establish reception of great doctrines of 
 the catholic Faith, by means of single words, evidently 
 used accidentally and which cannot be conclusive. I 
 say it is sometimes silly; because by trying to prove 
 too much, we run the risk of losing what we can truly 
 and distinctly claim. But having already spoken of 
 this term "pronounce," it may be now passed by as 
 altogether unworthy further consideration. 
 
 Again, another doubt or argument is brought for- 
 ward on the strength of the alteration made in the 
 rubric, in 1662 ; previous to that review, the " abso- 
 lution" was to be said by the minister alone ; now it
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 119 
 
 is, by the priest alone, standing. Hence it is asserted 
 that this " absolution" must be an actual exercise of 
 the priestly power of remitting and retaining sins, and 
 that it does positively convey the grace of such re- 
 mission to every penitent who has said the previous 
 confession. Now, at least, this brings in something 
 new : the alteration was not made, as every one al- 
 lows, until 1662 ; therefore, if it was made in order to 
 prevent deacons from pretending to execute so high 
 an office pertaining solely to priests, the case is clear 
 that in 1552, and from that date downwards, this " ab- 
 solution" could not possibly have been supposed to be 
 what some now pretend it is, because deacons were al- 
 lowed to perform this part of the daily prayers. And 
 the direction of standing is insisted on : and all this 
 in order to prove, what ? not that the church of Eng- 
 land in 1662 desired to make more solemn and autho- 
 ritative this public declaration of the infinite mercies 
 and goodness of God towards those who truly repent, 
 which object may perhaps be well concluded from 
 such alterations of the rubric ; but, no less than this : 
 that by the mere change of minister alone into priest 
 alone standing the church of England in 1662 did 
 that which (if such an argument is good for any thing 
 must prove) the church of England in 1552 did not 
 dare to do ; namely, to deny for the first time her 
 whole unbroken chain of doctrine in this matter of 
 Absolution for 500 years, and declare that her people 
 might obtain remission of their sins by means of a ge- 
 neral confession and its succeeding absolution. 
 
 But they who use these arguments may most justly
 
 120 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 be required to decide upon which they will rely : upon 
 both is impossible. If they choose pronounce then 
 the other must be given up ; because no one pretends 
 that in their meaning of pronounce a deacon or any 
 minister other than a priest could at any time have 
 said this " absolution ;" if they rely on the rubric of 
 1662 having " priest" they must be content to trouble 
 us no more with fancies about the meaning of " pro- 
 nounce." So that, after all, instead of two arguments 
 we have but one : and as, at present, it is not easy to 
 guess which of the two will, upon further enquiry, be 
 found the most potent, I shall not waste the patience 
 of the reader by discussing either at hap-hazard. 
 
 It is not however to be forgotten that there was 
 one other alteration made, which, as we are disputing 
 about alterations of rubrics, may as well be noticed ; 
 because if the changes before this " absolution" prove 
 that it is not a prayer, but a real and absolute con- 
 veyance of pardon, so the change at the end of it 
 would equally prove that it is not a conveyance of 
 pardon, but a prayer. In the former books of 1552, 
 and 1604, it was ordered: " The people shall an- 
 swer. Amen." But in 1662 : " The people shall 
 answer here, and at the end of all oilier prayers, 
 Amen." I am not at all disposed to attempt to prove 
 much from such an alteration : but it does seem to me 
 to be well worth the attentive regard of those, who are 
 inclined to adopt and to defend new notions about the 
 great ordinances and doctrines of our Faith, upon the 
 strength only of verbal changes and amendments in 
 rubrics.
 
 121 
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 We come, lastly, to the third form of absolution, 
 namely, the form in our Order for the visitation of the 
 sick. 
 
 This Order, with respect to the exhortations imme- 
 diately preceding the absolution, follows with remark- 
 able exactness the ancient Office of visitation in the 
 old manuals. There are the exhortations to the sick 
 person to be patient, humble, and thankful ; the de- 
 claration of the necessity of soundness in the Faith ; 
 the warning to forgive all who have injured him, and 
 to make amends to those whom he has injured ; to 
 take such measures as are fitting for the due settle- 
 ment of his temporal estate ; and to give, if he has 
 ability, alms liberally to the poor. Then comes the 
 following : and with the exception of the inserted 
 words [of his sins], [be moved to], and [if he humbly 
 and heartily desire it] the present rubric is the same 
 with those of the books of 1604, 1559, and 1552 ; nor, 
 with the like exceptions, so far as concerns the sick 
 person, does it differ from the first book of king Ed- 
 ward in 1549, in any other point than in the words 
 " after this sort" instead of " after this form." 
 
 Our present rubric and Absolution is this : C Here 
 shall the sick person be moved to make a special con- 
 fession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled 
 with any weighty matter. After which Confession, 
 the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily 
 desire if) after this sort : 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath left power to His 
 Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and 
 believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine
 
 122 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 offences : And by His authority committed to me, I 
 absolve thee from all thy sins, In the Name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
 Amen." 
 
 The reader knows what the doctrine of the church 
 of England was in 1548 regarding the sacrament of 
 absolution, and that it required oral confession first 
 as essential always to its due administration and 
 reception. Let him compare this rubric, and this 
 absolution which is to be used now, according to our 
 present ritual, with the corresponding rubrics and ab- 
 solution in the manual of 1548. Let him, I say, do 
 this : and then prove, if it can be proved, that in any 
 particular doctrine regarding this same sacrament of 
 absolution, so far as it relates to eternity, the church of 
 England now holds and teaches any thing contrary to 
 what she held and taught regarding it, with one single 
 exception. That exception is, the necessity of priestly 
 absolution to our salvation. 
 
 It may be said that the collect which immediately 
 succeeds the absolution negatives the assertion that by 
 the absolution itself the sins of the penitent have been 
 already remitted. This is not an objection which can 
 be urged by any one who believes and insists upon the 
 grace, in some way, of absolution : and, be it remem- 
 bered that I have all along been arguing with those, 
 and with those only, who do so believe that priestly 
 absolution is a great ordinance and sacrament of God, 
 aiding and helping towards man's salvation. How- 
 ever, be this as it may, if the objection is worth any
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 123 
 
 thing against the modern doctrine of the church of 
 England, equally valid is it against her doctrine before 
 1549: in other words; mean what it will, it cannot 
 mean that, after confession, the sins of the penitent are 
 not remitted, according to the plain promises and 
 commission given by our blessed Lord, are not, I 
 say, remitted by means of an absolution ministerially, 
 but duly and with power, pronounced by His priest. 
 
 This is clear from the ancient ritual. In the year 
 1548, after the absolution, we find this collect ; in like 
 manner following, as it does now. And before I 
 quote it, I cannot help calling the reader's attention 
 to the great harmony, full of comfort and consolation, 
 which exists not only between all the Offices of our 
 Church, in matters of doctrine, when compared one 
 with another, but also with the various parts of each 
 separate Office. Truly indeed, if man may presume 
 to judge, the hand of the Most High has been over us 
 both preventing and assisting. So that, if He will ; if 
 ignorance on the one hand and fanaticism on the other 
 may for a while be checked and overruled, by His good 
 Providence, in this our day of strife if (I say) He 
 will, I see no reason yet for any fear at all lest the 
 candlestick of the church of England should be re- 
 moved ; I see no reason at all to doubt but that she 
 may remain to the end of the world, even as she has 
 been for nearly two thousand years, a branch of the 
 One Holy Catholic Church of Christ. 
 
 I shall now extract the old collect, of which our 
 present one is in many parts a mere translation.
 
 124 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 " Oratio. Deus misericors, Deus clemens, qui se- 
 cundum multitudinem miserationum tuarura peccata 
 pcenitentium deles, et praeteritorum criminum culpas 
 venia remissionis evacuas : respice super hunc famu- 
 lum tuum, sibi remissionem omnium peccatorum suo- 
 rum, tota cordis contritione, poscentem. Renova in 
 eo, piissime Pater, quicquid diabolica fraude violatum 
 est : et unitati corporis ecclesise tuse membrum in- 
 firmum, peccatorum percepta remissione, restitue. 
 Miserere, Domine, gemituum ejus : misere lachryma- 
 rum : miserere tribulationum atque dolorum : et non 
 habentem fiduciam nisi in tua misericordia, ad sacra- 
 mentum reconciliationis admitte. Per Christum Do- 
 minum nostrum." 1 
 
 Here then I stop. The reader has now before him 
 the proofs upon which I rest the interpretation which, 
 as it seems to me, not simply may, but must, be given 
 to the different forms of absolution contained in our 
 Book of common prayer and administration of the 
 sacraments. Let it be clearly understood that upon 
 one argument alone, independent of all others what- 
 soever, useful and excellent as they may be, whether 
 by way of illustration or of defence, all my assertions 
 are based. It will be for those who dispute with me to 
 prove that it is unsound or dangerous. Or, if they 
 
 1 Monumenta Ritualia. vol. \. p. 82.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 125 
 
 consent generally to the argument itself as good, they 
 must shew that I have misapplied it in the present 
 instance. 2 In either the one case or the other, they 
 must further be prepared to produce and to maintain, 
 in their turn, some other explanation of the doctrine 
 of absolution held by the church of England. It will 
 be very far indeed from sufficient simply to deny ; it 
 will be also necessary for them to affirm. And this, 
 not cloudily and with hesitation, but fully, openly, 
 distinctly, and with proof. 
 
 And, here concluding, I shall once more assert both 
 the interpretation and the principle on which the inter- 
 pretation rests. 
 
 First, the principle ; namely, that whatsoever in our 
 Common-prayer book we find handed down from the 
 
 2 It must carefully in all en- the Faith, such, for example, as 
 
 quiries, more especially if they the doctrines of the Trinity, the 
 
 are theological, be borne in mind Incarnation, Baptism, the Eucha- 
 
 that the truth of any principle rist, Absolution, Confirmation, 
 
 on which they are conducted Orders, it is evident that these 
 
 is distinct from the correctness are not equally to be decided and 
 
 and truth of the application of it. disposed of at once by the appli- 
 
 Again, every one can- perceive at cation of this rule, but many col- 
 
 once, that it does not follow, be- lateral decisions are to be most 
 
 cause the principle which I insist carefully weighed, and their results 
 
 upon may be good, that therefore estimated. I need do no more than 
 
 in respect of all points and subjects allude, especially, to the doctrine 
 
 to which it is applied, it must bear of the Eucharist, 
 
 with equal rigidness, or forbid But honesty and common sense 
 
 equally in all any modification with sufficient learning will be the 
 
 whatever. Not to speak of the best judge in all such matters, and 
 
 difference between outward rites to that common sense and honesty 
 
 or mere ceremonies when com. I unhesitatingly appeal, 
 pared with essential doctrines of
 
 i26 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 earlier rituals of the church of England, and neither 
 limited nor extended in its meaning by any subsequent 
 canon or article, must be understood to signify (upon 
 the one hand) fully and entirely all, and (on the other 
 hand) no more than it signified before the revision of 
 the ritual. 
 
 Hence I conclude that the first " absolution " in the 
 daily office cannot be more than an earnest prayer to 
 God, " to grant us true repentance and His Holy 
 Spirit," preceded by an authoritative declaration by 
 the priest that the Almighty will pardon sinners being 
 penitent ; in other words, an authoritative declaration 
 that those " who truly repent and unfeignedly believe 
 His holy Gospel " may obtain remission of their sins. 
 How they are to obtain it, this declaration does not 
 say : but it must be (I cannot doubt) not only by a 
 true repentance and unfeigned faith, but also by " the 
 way and means " by which men are to endeavour to 
 " come holy and clean," that is, " in the marriage 
 garment " to the holy Table. 
 
 Hence I conclude, secondly, of the " absolution " in 
 the liturgy, that being preceded in like manner by a 
 " general confession " it also is no more now than it 
 ever has been since its introduction into that Service ; 
 that is, no more than an earnest prayer offered to the 
 Almighty for pardon and deliverance, for confirmation 
 and strength : and (whatever doubt there may be con- 
 cerning the first absolution in this respect) that the 
 second absolution may be well believed to convey re- 
 mission of light and venial sin ; more than this it
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution* \ 27 
 
 cannot effect, because of the certain truth, always held 
 and taught by the Church, that oral confession of all 
 deadly sins must, of necessity, precede the reception 
 of the full grace of priestly absolution. 
 
 Hence, thirdly > I conclude ; that the essential parts 
 of the great ordinance of absolution being complete, 
 that is to say, if the penitent, whether he be sick or 
 well, shall have made a special confession of his sins ; 
 if, also, he humbly and heartily desire absolution ; if 
 he truly repent and sincerely believe ; then, that the 
 . priest, ministerially, by the authority and power com- 
 mitted to him at his ordination, does, using the third 
 Form of Absolution, actually absolve the sinner from 
 his sins, and does in consequence restore him to the 
 state of justification, to the state of favour and grace 
 from which he had fallen.
 
 128 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AVING thus explained, from her own 
 formularies, what the doctrine is of the 
 church of England upon absolution, it 
 would be absurd for me to pretend to be 
 ignorant of the fact that many writers, some learned 
 and some unlearned, have put forth opinions at variance 
 with the one constant decision of those formularies. 
 Indeed, the extracts which have been made from 
 ritualists quoted at the beginning of this work would 
 alone have been sufficient to shew how remarkable a 
 difference has existed from time to time. 
 
 But I am not prepared to attribute any force, as 
 being decisive, to the opinions of any single writer, 
 whoever he may be : we must ask for the reasons of 
 his opinion, before we either submit to it, or, much 
 more, before we can accept it in opposition to the voice 
 of the Church herself. If it be true, and it is true, 
 that an abundance of extracts from all kinds of authors 
 can be produced against the view which I insist upon 
 of the doctrine of absolution, yet, whether singly or all 
 together, they must not be allowed to be heard except 
 as expressions of individual opinion. And let all who
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 129 
 
 acknowledge absolution to be an ordinance of God 
 consider well, in every instance, how far the judgement 
 of those, to whom in this question they are ready to 
 appeal, may or may not have been influenced and 
 warped by low and heretical views of the grace not 
 only of absolution but of the two great sacraments of 
 baptism and the eucharist : how far, in short, they can 
 be proved to have acknowledged at all, in any true 
 sense, sacramental grace. 
 
 However, let this be as it may, if extracts can be 
 produced upon the one side so can they upon the other. 
 I shall now select two or three : not with the desire of 
 adding weight to that which I hold to be complete 
 already, namely, to the clear decisions of the Church ; 
 but with the intention of satisfying some who may 
 attribute greater importance than is due to such sort 
 of evidence ; and, more especially, for the grave con- 
 sideration of those who will be eager to bring forward 
 statements, from other writers, of a totally differ- 
 ent kind. It is no business of mine to attempt to 
 reconcile parties who are contrarient : I am content to 
 know that the authors from whom I quote, are, in 
 these quotations at least, in harmony with the teaching 
 of the church of England. It will be seen that the 
 succeeding extracts support chiefly the view which we 
 ought to take of the third form, in the visitation office. 
 But if upon the one hand it may be said that they do 
 explain that only, yet on the other hand, if the grace 
 of absolution of mortal or deadly sins were really con- 
 veyed also by the " absolutions " which .are given after 
 
 K
 
 130 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 general confessions, it is strange that no trace of that 
 notion is to be found, or any allusion whatsoever made 
 to them, in portions of books which expressly relate to 
 the subject of absolution. 
 
 Nor is it to be overlooked that there is a difficulty 
 in referring to the works of theologians shortly after 
 the reformation, whether we appeal to them in support 
 of or against previous confession in order to the full 
 grace of sacerdotal absolution : namely, it is a point 
 which scarcely seems to have come before them. It 
 would be begging the question, I suppose, for me to 
 say that they always took it for granted : but it is 
 not easy to suggest any other cause for the omission. 
 When particulars of the doctrine of absolution were to 
 be affirmed or denied, they dwelt upon and argued 
 sometimes the necessity of it for the remission of 
 mortal sin after baptism ; sometimes the effects of it ; 
 sometimes the meaning of the term ; sometimes the 
 claim of the church to convey it, in the same sense as 
 at the beginning, since the days of the apostles. 
 
 Yet, before we proceed to individual writers, let me 
 mention that it is a significant thing that in the requi- 
 sitions which were more than once presented to con- 
 vocation during queen Mary's reign, to restore doctrine 
 and discipline as before king Edward's time, there is 
 scarcely any reference to the doctrine of absolution. 
 The only notice that I remember is to the effect that 
 confession be again made, as it had been, obligatory. 
 Much less is there complaint that people had been of 
 late years taught that the blessings and grace of sacer-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 131 
 
 dotal absolution were to be obtained after the public 
 repetition of general confessions. The order to confess 
 once a year was again insisted on, and this was all : 
 as, for example, in the following among the articles of 
 visitation for the diocese of London in 1554, which I 
 quote chiefly because of the term " benefit of absolu- 
 tion." It is not unimportant, as an illustration of the 
 same words which from 1552 until now have been 
 continued in our Prayer-book. " Article xx. Item. 
 Whether they and every of them have diligently 
 moved and exhorted their parishioners . . . reverently 
 and devoutly to receive and use the sacraments, espe- 
 cially the sacrament of the altar, or to be confessed 
 and receive at the priest's hand the benefit of ab- 
 solution, according to the laudable customs of this 
 realm?" 1 
 
 In 1559 a declaration of certain principal articles 
 of religion was set out by the archbishops and bishops, 
 to be read by all parsons and curates, immediately 
 after the gospel, on two Sundays in the year. This 
 was to produce uniformity of doctrine, and the people 
 were to be required to assent to the same. Of these 
 articles, the 3rd was : "I do acknowledge also that 
 church to be the spouse of Christ, wherein the word of 
 God is truly taught, the sacraments orderly ministered 
 according to Christ's institution, and the authority of 
 the keys duly used." 2 There can be no more doubt 
 
 1 Wilkins ConciL torn. 4. p. 141. Foxe. Acts and Monuments. 
 10(i, cf. Documentary Annals, i. vol. 3. p. 37. 2 fbid. p. 195.
 
 132 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 about what is here meant by " the authority of the 
 keys," than that by " the sacraments " were intended 
 those which are generally necessary to salvation, bap- 
 tism and the supper of the Lord. 
 
 There is a curious item in one of the lists of requests 
 presented by some members of the lower house of 
 convocation in 1562, which, whatever else may be 
 thought of it, does appear to me to have been simply 
 impossible to have been proposed, if the " general 
 confession " had been believed in those days to be in 
 order to the grace of sacerdotal absolution. " v. That 
 it may be added to the confession which is used to be 
 made before the ministration of the holy communion, 
 that the communicants do detest and renounce the 
 idolatrous mass." I may add, by the way, that among 
 other things demanded at the same time were, that the 
 sign of the cross might be left off in baptism : that in 
 the time of ministering the communion, kneeling may 
 be left indifferent to the discretion of the ordinary : 
 that the use of copes and surplices may be taken away : 
 that in the 33rd article of doctrine concerning 
 ceremonies, these words may be mitigated : "Is, ut 
 qui peccat in publicum ordinem ecclesise, quique laedit 
 auctoritatem magistratus, et qui infirmorum fratrum 
 conscientias vulnerat, publica, ut caeteri timeant, ar- 
 guendus est" : that all saints, feasts, and holy-days, 
 bearing the name of a creature, may be clearly abro- 
 gated, etc. To find the name of one so notorious as 
 
 o ' 
 
 Sampson, dean of Christ Church, subscribed to this 
 paper, is only what one would have expected : how
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 133 
 
 are we to account for that name being immediately 
 preceded by " Nowell, dean of St. Paul's, proloc. "? 3 
 
 But to return. There is one more evidence of the 
 same kind occurring in the articles to be enquired of 
 in the metropolitical visitation of the cathedral and 
 collegiate churches by archbishop Parker in 1567. 
 " vj. Item. You shall enquire of the doctrine and 
 judgement of all and singular hedd and members of 
 your church : . . . whether any of them do either pri- 
 vilie or openlie preach or teach any unwholesome, 
 erroneous, seditious doctrine, ... or in any other 
 point do perswade or move any not to conform them- 
 selves to the order of religion reformed, restored, and 
 received by public authority in this church of England. 
 As for example, . . . that every article in our crede, 
 commonly received and used in the church, is not to 
 be received of necessity ; or that mortal or voluntary 
 sins committed after baptisme, be not remissible by 
 penance ; etc."* 
 
 We will now turn to the works of some writers in 
 our Church, to whom I have alluded. 
 
 First, archbishop Cranmer : " Now, when a man 
 after baptism hath greuously synned, and doubteth in 
 his conscience, whether he be in the favour of God or 
 no (as oftentymes yt happeneth) then it is harde for 
 hym to trust to his awn bare imaginations . . . But 
 [God] hath giuen the kayes of the kingdom of heauen, 
 and the authoritie to forgyue synne, to the ministers 
 
 n Ibid. p. 239. 4 Ibid. p. 253.
 
 134 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 of the churche. Wherefore let him that is a sinner, 
 go to one of them, let him knowledge and confesse his 
 synne, and praye him, that according to God's com- 
 maundemente, he wyll gyue him absolution and com- 
 fort him with the worde of grace and forgyuenes of 
 his synnes. And when the minister dothe so, then I 
 ought stedfastly to beleue, that my synnes are truly 
 forgyuen me in heauen . . . Wherefore, good children, 
 gyue good eare to this doctrine, and when your synnes 
 do make you af rayed and sadde, then seke and desyer 
 absolution and forgyuenes of your synnes of the min- 
 isters, whiche haue receaued a commission and com- 
 maundement from Christ hymselfe, to forgiue men 
 their synnes, and then your consciences shal haue 
 peace, tranquillitie and quietnes." 5 
 
 Of course, it will be at once objected against this 
 passage, that it is not archbishop Cranmer's writing : 
 and, in strictness, this objection is true : because, 
 although Burnet and some others do not appear to 
 have been aware of it, there is no doubt that the 
 catechism is a translation from the Latin or German 
 of Justus Jonas. But the archbishop fully adopted it: 
 and it has been said, (nor do I know of any evidence 
 to the contrary) that he professed to the very last to 
 "adhere to the statements therein made, and repudi- 
 ated the idea of his having deviated from the doctrine 
 therein propounded." 6 It is certain that it was put 
 
 5 Catechism, p. 202. Edit. 1829. 
 
 fi Notes to a visitation sermon by Dr. Hook. 1839. p. 98.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 135 
 
 forth by him, and intended to be of authority : and in 
 his own work, " The Defence, &c." published in 1550, 
 the archbishop refers to " a catechisme by me set 
 furth." Again, in his answer to Smith, he says : "not 
 long before 1 wrot the sayd catechisme." 7 
 
 Next, the homilies. These say, most truly, of abso- 
 lution, that "it is no such sacrament as baptism and 
 the communion are." But it declares, as truly, that 
 it " hath the promise of forgiveness of sin." 8 It is im- 
 possible to extract from the homily of repentance : 
 but let those who insist that remission of sins is given, 
 and that the power of sacerdotal absolution is exer- 
 cised, by the " absolutions" succeeding the general con- 
 fessions in the daily offices and liturgy, carefully ex- 
 amine it and see whether in any way such an opinion 
 is there supported. It explains and enforces suffi- 
 ciently well the great truth, that absolution, in its high- 
 est sense an absolution, such as has just been spoken 
 of, " a sacrament, having the promise of forgiveness of 
 sin," is not of necessity to salvation. But that, on 
 the contrary, we may hope and fully trust that God 
 will forgive our sins upon repentance which shall be 
 made up of four parts ; that is ; of contrition; of con- 
 fession to God ; of faith ; and of purpose of amend- 
 ment of life. 
 
 I proceed, however, to the next century. Bishop 
 Montagu asserts: " It is confessed that all priests, and 
 
 7 Editor's preface to the Gate- 8 Homily of common prayer and 
 chism. p. iv. sacraments.
 
 136 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 none but priests, have power to forgiue sinnes : it is 
 confessed, that private confession vnto a priest, is of 
 very ancient practice in the Church : of excellent vse 
 and practice, being discreetly handled. We refuse it 
 to none, if men require it, if neede be to haue it. We 
 urge it and perswade it in extreames : Wee require it 
 in case of perplexitie, for the quieting of men dis- 
 turbed, and their consciences. It hath been so acknow- 
 ledged by your fellowes," the bishop is arguing against 
 a Romanist, " that in the visitation of the sicke, it is 
 required : . . and likewise before the receiving of the 
 Lord's Supper." 9 
 
 9 The Gagge. p. 83. 
 
 Bishop Montagu continues : 
 " Which doctrine and injunction, 
 our bishops doe, or should enquire 
 in their visitations, touching the 
 vse and neglect of this so good an 
 order: as did that right learned 
 and reverend bishop of Norwich, 
 Dr. Overal, of late : a man for 
 admirable learning, and yet of 
 strange humility, in communi- 
 cating his knowledge vnto any 
 poore scholler, hardly equalled, 
 sure outgone by none since the 
 world had him. The 21 Article 
 enquired of in his visitation 1619, 
 concerning ministers, is : Whether 
 doth your minister before the seve- 
 ral times of the administration of 
 the Lord's supper, admonish and 
 exhort his parishioners, if they 
 have their consciences troubled 
 
 and disquieted, to resort vnto 
 him, or some other learned minis- 
 ter, and open his griefe, that hee 
 may receive such ghostly, counsell 
 and comfort, as his conscience 
 may be relieved, and by the minis- 
 ter he may receive the benefit of 
 absolution, to the quiet of his 
 conscience, and auoiding of scru- 
 ple. And if any man confesse his 
 secret and hidden sinnes, be he 
 sicke, or whole, to the minister, 
 for the vnburthening of his con- 
 science, and receyuing such spiri- 
 tuall consolation, doth or hath the 
 said minister at any time, reuealed 
 and made known to any person 
 whomsoever, any crime or offence 
 so committed to his trust, con- 
 trary to the 113 canon?" 
 
 Such enquiries in those days 
 were not unfrcquent in Articles
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 137 
 
 I must make another extract from the same writer, 
 which is especially important in its bearing upon the 
 argument which Wheatly rests upon the term pro- 
 nounce : and which proves that in the seventeenth 
 century a distinction was clearly observed between 
 "pronouncing" and "giving" remission of sins. "In 
 some sense," says the bishop, " it is not true, that none 
 but God can forgive sinnes or retaine them. For by 
 delegation others also might doe it ministerially. God 
 doth forgive them by the ministery of men. The 
 priest, to doe this, hath power conferred upon him by 
 God in as ample sort as he or any man can receive it. 
 And that this was indeed the doctrine of our Church, 
 I proved by the witnesse of an enemy and therefore 
 the stronger ; producing the verdict of a papist, who 
 confesseth, that priests have power not only to pro- 
 nounce, but to give remission of sinnes, which seemeth 
 to bee the doctrine of the communion booke in the 
 
 of visitation. Thus, " Doth your comfort the sick person, as con- 
 minister . . . commonly premonish cerning his soul's health, his state 
 his parishioners, if they be trou- to God-ward ? Doth he, upon 
 bled in conscience, to confess and hearing of his confession, which 
 open their griefs to him, that they he shall persuade him to make, 
 may receive the benefit of absolu- absolve him from his sins ? and 
 tion." Diocese of Peterborough. hath he at any time discovered 
 1636. And in almost the same any part of his confession?" Once 
 words, within the Diocese of Nor- more ; " Doth the minister visit 
 wich, 1636. Again, of bishop the sick? Doth he, upon their 
 Montagu himself in 1638, very confession, repentance and faith, 
 important in its bearing on con- (being thereunto desired) absolve 
 fession as an essential 3'equisite them?" Diocese of Ely. 1686. 
 beforehand. " Doth the minister
 
 138 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 visitation of the sick .... I relate what one of that 
 side saith : I say it not myselfe, but only recognize 
 the truth of his relation, which I could not deny. For 
 in the visitation of the sick, the doctrine and the prac- 
 tice is as hee relateth it .... The bishop of Meath 
 [archbishop Usher] was of the same opinion, pag. 109, 
 against a Jesuites challenge; i He hath done us open 
 wrong in charging us to deny, that priests have power 
 to forgive sins.' And hee giveth a reason irrefraga- 
 ble ; 'Whereas the very formall words which our 
 Church requireth to be used in the ordination of a 
 minister, are these : Whose sinnes thou dost forgive, 
 etc' The execution of which authority accordingly 
 is put in practice," let it be observed, not in the 
 daily office or in the liturgy, but, " in the visitation 
 of the sick." 10 
 
 About the same time also, bishop Cosin, in the in- 
 troduction to his well known book of private devotions, 
 thus declares the 5th of the Precepts of the Church. 
 "5. To receive the blessed sacrament of the Body and 
 Blood of Christ with frequent devotion . . . And for 
 better preparation thereunto, as occasion is, to dis- 
 burthen and quiet our consciences of those sins that 
 may grieve us, or scruples that may trouble us, to a 
 learned and discreet priest, and from him to receive 
 advice and the benefit of absolution." 
 
 Again, bishop Morton : some few years before : and 
 here, once more, let the reader observe the distinction 
 
 10 Appcllo Caesarem, p. 312.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 139 
 
 between the proclamation of pardon in the public 
 service, and the application of pardon by the office of 
 the minister. " The power of absolution, whether it 
 be general or particular, whether in publike or in pri- 
 vate, it is professed in our Church : where both in her 
 publike service is proclaimed pardon and absolution 
 upon all penitents, and a private applying of abso- 
 lution unto particular penitents by the office of the 
 minister ; and greater power than this no man hath 
 received from God." And he had before declared 
 concerning his adversaries of the church of Rome : 
 " It is not questioned between us (as their owne cardi- 
 nall witnesseth) whether it be convenient for a man 
 burthened with sinne, to lay open his conscience in 
 private, vnto the minister of God, and to seeke at his 
 hands both the counsell of instruction, and the com- 
 forts of God's pardon : but whether there be (as from 
 Christ's institution) such an absolute necessitie of this 
 private confession, as that without it there can be no 
 remission or pardon hoped for from God." 11 
 
 Contemporary with Morton, was Dr. Crackanthorp : 
 he declares, against the archbishop of Spalato ; " de 
 abrogata quoque apud nos auriculari confessione, veter- 
 atorie vafreque agis. Confessionem privatam, quo in 
 sinum, et si vis, in aurem presbyteri, angorem quis 
 animi sui pro perpetratis uno pluribusque peccatis 
 exonerat, etiam peccatoris talis post seriam, et non fu- 
 catam poenitentiam ab eo factam, absolutionem per 
 
 11 Catholiko Appeale. p. 270. 253.
 
 140 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 ecclesiae claves presbyteris omnibus commissas, et pro- 
 bat et docet ecclesia nostra." 12 
 
 Another, of the same time, was bishop White ; in 
 his answer to the Jesuit Fisher, he acknowledges 
 private confession and particular absolution to be 
 " profitable helps of virtue, godliness, and spiritual 
 comfort." But I chiefly quote him now, on account 
 of his adoption of and consent to a remarkable state- 
 ment in the Augsburg confession, which, so far as 
 that adoption by him is concerned, seems to be con- 
 clusive. " The Augustane confession," says bishop 
 White, " speaketh in this manner : * We retaine con- 
 fession, especially because of absolution, which is God's 
 word, applied to euerie priuate person ; therefore it 
 were an ungodly thing to remooue priuate absolution 
 out of the Church ; neither do they duly consider, 
 what is remission of sinnes, or the force of the keyes 
 of the kingdom of heauen, which contemne or repu- 
 diate priuate absolution/ " 13 He goes on to explain 
 the difference between the doctrines of Rome and 
 England on the question of confession : that whereas 
 the one holds private confession of all known mortal 
 sin to be " simply necessary" for the obtaining remis- 
 sion of sins after baptism, " our tenet is, that auricular 
 confession is not absolutely necessarie to remission, 
 . . . and the rigorous urging thereof not orthodoxall or 
 catholike faith : neither is penance a sacrament of the 
 
 12 Defensio eccl. anglic. e/>. 13 Answer to Fisher, p. 186 
 
 Ixxx. G.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 141 
 
 new testament, like vnto baptisme, and the holy eu- 
 charist." I am justly bound to refer the reader to the 
 remainder of this same chapter of the Answer, because 
 the author, in not very intelligible language, appears 
 to argue also that the priests execute their office of 
 forgiving sins "judicially" and " declaratively," by 
 "publishing God's judiciall act, and by applying the 
 word and sacraments to penitent persons." How far 
 administration of the two chief sacraments can be truly 
 said to be an exercise of the power of absolution, is, in 
 reality, altogether another question : and it is a con- 
 fusion of argument to mix it up with that which is 
 indeed the matter in dispute. However, I notice 
 it, and (as I have said) would desire the reader to 
 examine the rest of the chapter; or, otherwise, it may 
 be thought that I have quoted as an authority on my 
 part, one who is rather an authority against me. I 
 take the opportunity also of again repeating, that all 
 objections which are grounded upon assertions, that 
 the priestly office of absolution is to be referred merely 
 to administration of the sacraments of baptism and the 
 eucharist, not only cannot be urged by any who will 
 have it that absolution is conveyed by the forms after 
 "a general confession," but they must moreover be con- 
 tended against by such parties, no less than by myself. 
 Among the sermons of Dr. Donne, upon the peni- 
 tential psalms, is one on ps. xxxij. 5. The whole 
 sermon is well worth serious perusal. He argues, and 
 very forcibly; that our sins must be, in particular, 
 confessed to the Almighty, and that, after such con-
 
 142 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 fession, He will pardon them. Now I say, it is an 
 unaccountable thing, if, in Dr. Donne's day, so large an 
 effect as some now attribute to the public absolutions 
 was indeed the doctrine of the Church, that he should 
 have totally omitted all reference to such a mode and 
 means of pardon of sin. Nor is this all ; Dr. Donne 
 does speak somewhat of another confession than that 
 which, of necessity, we must make to God Himself; and 
 of a priestly absolution. Let us hear him. " Confite- 
 bor Domino, says David, / will confess my sins to the 
 Lord: sins are not confessed, if they be not confessed 
 to Him ; and if they be confessed to Him, in case of 
 necessity it will suffice, though they be confessed to 
 no other. Indeed, a confession is directed upon God, 
 though it be made to His minister : if God had ap- 
 pointed His angels, or His saints to absolve me, as He 
 hath His ministers, I would confess to them . . . Men 
 come not willingly to this manifestation of themselves ; 
 nor are they to be brought in chains, as they do in 
 the Roman church, by a necessity of an exact enu- 
 meration of all their sins ; but to be led with that 
 sweetness, with which our Church proceeds, in ap- 
 pointing sick persons, if they feel their consciences 
 troubled with any weighty matter, to make a special 
 confession, and to receive absolution at the hands of 
 the priest; and then to be remembered, that every 
 coming to the communion, is as serious a thing as our 
 transmigration out of this world, and we should do as 
 much here, for the settling of our conscience, as upon 
 our death-bed . . If I submit a cause to the arbiter-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 143 
 
 ment of any man, to end it, secundum voluntatem, 
 says the law, How he will, yet still arbitrium est arbi- 
 trium boni viri, His will must be regulated hy the 
 rules of common honesty, and general equity. So 
 when we lead men to this holy ease of discharging 
 their heavy spirits, by such private confessions, yet this 
 is still limited by the law of God, so far as God hath 
 instituted this power by His gospel, in His church, 
 and far from inducing; amongst us that torture of the 
 conscience, that usurpation of God's power, that spying 
 into the counsel of princes, with which the church of 
 Rome hath been deeply charged." Let this admirable 
 extract be well considered : whether it may seem to all 
 so excellent as it appears to me, I know not. But this 
 will hardly be denied ; it could not have been written 
 by a man who had heard of and was a supporter of 
 the opinion that priestly absolution is by the church 
 of England held to follow upon a public and general 
 confession. 14 
 
 Next, bishop Jeremy Taylor. " Besides this ex- 
 amination of your conscience, (which may be done 
 in secret, between God and your own soul) there 
 is great use of holy confession ; which, though it be 
 not generally in all cases, and peremptorily com- 
 manded, as if without it no salvation could possibly 
 be had ; yet you are advised by the Church, under 
 whose discipline you live, that before you are to 
 receive the holy sacrament, or when you are visited 
 
 14 Sermon Ivi. vol. 2. p. 563.
 
 144 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 with any dangerous sickness, if you find any one par- 
 ticular sin or more, that lies heavy upon you, to dis- 
 burthen yourself of it into the bosom of your confes- 
 sor, who not only stands between God and you, to 
 pray for you ; but hath the power of the keys commit- 
 ted to him, upon your true repentance to absolve you 
 in Christ's name, from those sins which you have con- 
 fessed to him. II. You are to remember that you are 
 to bring along with you to confession, sorrow for sins 
 past, and settled resolutions for the time to come. 
 For without this, confession is but a mere pageant; 
 and rather a mockery of God, than any effectual 
 means to reconcile you to him. III. That having 
 made choice of a confessor . . . you are advised plainly 
 and sincerely to open your heart to him ; and ... to 
 look upon him only as he is a trustee from God, and 
 commissioned by Him as His ministerial deputy, to 
 hear, and judge, and absolve you." 15 
 
 Again, Dr. Hammond. In his annotations on S. 
 James, cli. v. 15. he declares the absolution of which 
 the holy apostle speaks to be " of two sorts ; first, a 
 release from publick censures : secondly, more private 
 in case of any wasting sin more privately committed, 
 and in confession revealed to the spiritual person ; in 
 which case, . . . the elder may and ought to give the 
 sick person the peace of the Church, and the benefit 
 of absolution." And, upon the next verse, the same 
 learned writer contends " that the aXA^Aot?, one to 
 
 15 Guide to the penitent, p. 105. edit. 1735.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 145 
 
 another^ must be restrained only to the elders fore- 
 mentioned (as -rroivTis aAAijAoK uVoTa<r<r&/Ai>o, 1 Pet. V. 5., 
 must signifie, as it is defined by the matter, subjection 
 which is not mutual, nor of superiors to inferiors, nor 
 of equals to equals, but only of inferiors to superiors) 
 and the confessing of sins to them be here prescribed 
 as the preparative and condition of their absolution." 16 
 Dr. Hammond wrote also a treatise upon the power 
 of the keys, or binding and loosing. This is chiefly 
 concerned with his first division of absolution, as ex- 
 plained by himself, just above : still he speaks some- 
 what at last of private application of this ordinance. 
 I shall not enquire here or dispute whether Dr. Ham- 
 mond's account of the effects of sacerdotal absolution 
 in foro pcenitentice be or be not adequate to the full 
 teaching of the church of England : it scarcely to me 
 appears to be so : nevertheless he declares that the 
 effect of such an absolution is " a sealing to the peni- 
 tent a right of God's promise of forgiveness in heaven, 
 as it were solemnly, and in the court." But for my 
 present point he is sufficiently clear : plainly declaring 
 the necessity of a previous confession. He first cites 
 the exhortation in the communion service, beginning, 
 Because it is requisite, etc. and thus proceeds. " All 
 which being an exhortation of the church belonging 
 to a particular case, as they do imply that those fore- 
 said means may happily serve the turn, without open- 
 ing his case to the minister and consequently without 
 
 10 Works, vol. 3. p. 786. 
 
 i 
 
 L
 
 146 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 receiving absolution, so are they a fervent exhorta- 
 tion to all, in case those means prove not successful, to 
 seek out and make use of those auxiliaries." And 
 presently after he takes for granted that hefore the 
 minister can absolve he must have " a survey of the 
 soul; cognizance of the offence first and then of the 
 repentance." 17 
 
 And, once more, archbishop Wake : " The church 
 of England refuses no sort of confession either pub- 
 lic or private, which may be any way necessary to 
 the quieting of men's consciences ; or to the exer- 
 cising of that power of binding and loosing, which 
 our Saviour Christ has left to His Church. We have 
 our penitential canons for publick offenders ; we ex- 
 hort men, if they have any the least doubt or scruple, 
 nay sometimes though they have none, but especially 
 before they receive the holy sacrament, to confess 
 their sins. We propose to them the benefit not only 
 of ghostly advice how to manage their repentance, but 
 the great comfort of absolution too, as soon as they 
 shall have compleated it. . . When we visit our sick, 
 we never fail to exhort them to make a special con- 
 fession of their sins to him that ministers to them : 
 and when they have done it, the absolution is so full, 
 that the church of Rome itself could not desire to add 
 anything to it." 18 
 
 Many other passages to the same effect from very 
 
 17 Ibid. vol. 1. p. 256. of the Church of England. Gib- 
 
 18 An exposition of the doctrine son's Preservative, vol. 3. p. 31.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 147 
 
 learned writers in our Church, might be easily added 
 to the above : but, without an adequate object, it would 
 serve only to weary. I shall allude to one more, 
 Thorndike, who, at the end of a long dissertation on 
 the subject of absolution, does not hesitate to say, that, 
 " setting aside those gross abuses, which may follow 
 upon the perswasion, that those penalties which are to 
 be imposed by the power of the keyes, to produce that 
 disposition which qualifieth penitents for remission of 
 sinnes, tend onely to satisfie for the temporall penalty, 
 remaining due when the sin is pardoned ; and setting 
 aside those abuses in the practice of penance which tend 
 to introduce this perswasion : I must freely glorifie God, 
 by freely professing, that, in my judgement, no Christian 
 kingdom or state can maintain itself to be that which 
 it pretendeth, more effectually, than by giving force 
 and effect to the law of private confession once a year, 
 by such means, as may seem both requisite and effec- 
 tuall to inforce it." 19 
 
 Thorndike was a very learned and grave writer; 
 one whose opinion ought heedfully to be listened to 
 and not hastily rejected. Such a passage as that just 
 quoted from his great work, could not (I argue as 
 before of Dr. Donne) possibly have been written by 
 any one who thought that a general public confession 
 was alone required before reception, or administration, 
 of the grace of priestly absolution. This is all that, 
 in fact, concerns my present matter. But it is not all 
 
 19 Epilogue, book, 3. p. 104.
 
 148 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 that I think it well to say. Having placed here, for 
 any purpose whatever, such an opinion, I cannot allow 
 it to be doubtful whether I consent to it or not. Let 
 me, then, distinctly say, that not only, to the best of 
 my judgement, was the church of England fully justi- 
 fied in removing utterly the necessity of oral confes- 
 sion, but that I cannot conceive any combination of 
 circumstances which would warrant as a matter of 
 discipline, for more than discipline it cannot be, a 
 return to a rule so unscriptural in itself, and danger- 
 ous in it's results. Our Blessed Lord left the power 
 of absolution to His priests, to be sought for or not by 
 His people, being penitent, at their discretion. Can 
 it then be otherwise than wrong to abridge a liberty 
 which was granted from the beginning, and allowed 
 in the whole Church for more than one thousand 
 years ? And, by consequence, to change a high spi- 
 ritual privilege and sure means of grace when duly 
 and voluntarily used, into a sacrament like baptism or 
 the eucharist, necessary to salvation ? 
 
 Before I quoted these extracts from the works of 
 individual divines of our Church, I gave one or two 
 authorities of a higher character ; it would not be ill 
 to offer two of a similar kind by way of conclusion. 
 Let it be remembered that these also are for illustra- 
 tion only, not strictly for proof. 
 
 The 19th of the canons of Dublin in 1634 ordered, 
 that " people are often to be exhorted to enter into a 
 special examination of the state of their own souls ; 
 and that finding themselves either extreme dull, or
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 149 
 
 much troubled in mind, they do resort unto God's 
 ministers, to receive from them as well advice and 
 counsel for the quickening of their dead hearts, as the 
 benefit of absolution likewise for the quieting of their 
 consciences, by the power of the keys which Christ 
 hath committed to His ministers for that purpose." 20 
 Is there not here (to mention nothing else) an evident 
 opposition of "extreme dullness" and "trouble of 
 mind and an unquiet conscience ?" advice and coun- 
 sel being provided for the one, and absolution for the 
 other ? 
 
 Secondly : the declaration which was published in 
 1696, " by the archbishops and bishops, in and about 
 London, concerning the irregular proceedings of cer- 
 tain clergymen at the execution of Sir John Friend 
 and Sir William Parkins." This was the celebrated 
 case in which Collier was concerned. But, to my pre- 
 sent object, the declaration is important, on account 
 of the following paragraph. " Lastly, for those cler- 
 gymen .... the rubric in our office of the visitation 
 of the sick, from whence [in absolution] they took the 
 words they then used, and upon which, if upon any 
 thing in our liturgy, they must ground this their pro- 
 ceeding, gave them no authority nor no pretence for 
 the absolving these persons ; nay, as they managed 
 the affair, they acted in this absolution far otherwise, 
 than is there directed. That rubric is concerning 
 sick persons, and it is there required, first, that the 
 
 20 Wilkins. Condi, torn. 4. p. 501.
 
 150 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 sick person shall be moved to make a special confes- 
 sion of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with 
 any weighty matter, and then after such confession, 
 the priest shall absolve him, if he humbly and heartily 
 desire it. But here they absolved persons, without so 
 much as once moving them at that time to make a spe- 
 cial confession of their sins, at least of those sins for 
 which they were condemned." 21 I do not care to 
 argue whether the clergymen were or were not autho- 
 rized to give these criminals absolution ; nor, whether 
 their conduct in that business was becoming ; nor, 
 whether it would have been sufficient for the penitents 
 to have confessed " at least" those sins for which they 
 were about to suffer ; nor, whether the bishops in their 
 declaration were prejudiced by political opinions and 
 feelings of the time : but this I do say ; that the 
 bishops take for granted that confession by the peni- 
 tent ought to have gone before any exercise, or any 
 attempt to exercise, the power of absolution. Nor is 
 the above sentence, all ; it goes on thus : "If these 
 ministers knew not the state of those men's souls, 
 before they gave them absolution, as it is manifest two 
 of them did not; how could they without manifest 
 transgression of the church's order, as well as the pro- 
 fane abuse of the power Christ has left with His minis- 
 ters, absolve them from all their sins ?" 
 
 21 Ibid. p. 627.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 151 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AVING now adduced, whatever their 
 weight may be, these authorities in sup- 
 i|\ port of the interpretation which, accord- 
 ing to the expression of her own voice, 
 we ought to give to the three forms so-called of 
 absolution contained in the Common Prayer Book of 
 the church of England, I would desire to throw to- 
 gether some observations upon the whole matter. I 
 cannot pretend to offer these as, in any way, more 
 than mere suggestions for the consideration of the 
 reader : and the time which is allowed me, reasonably, 
 to publish the present work, will not permit an attempt 
 at any formal, much less, complete dissertation upon 
 the many, and most important, particulars involved in 
 an enquiry into the ordinance of absolution. 
 
 And, at once, in this place I must say that it is no 
 part of my duty now to defend the truth which our 
 Church insists upon, namely, that priestly absolution 
 is not necessary to salvation ; and, therefore, that oral 
 confession is not obligatory upon all her members. It 
 must be enough for me to declare my entire and un- 
 hesitating acceptance of this, her decision : nor that
 
 152 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 alone ; I would express also, with all humility, my 
 deep conviction that the removal of the old rule, and 
 the return to ancient practice in this respect, was one 
 great and chief blessing of the reformation. 
 
 Quite in accordance therefore with holy Scripture 
 and with catholic tradition is the statement that God 
 " pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, 
 and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel." Excellent 
 is the admonition which succeeds the pronunciation of 
 this statement ; " Let us beseech Him to grant us 
 true repentance, and His Holy Spirit, that those things 
 may please Him, which we do at this present : and 
 that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and 
 holy." Most true do I believe it to be, that if re- 
 turning sinners would once again be accepted of God, 
 would once again " come" before Him " holy and 
 clean," they may with all confidence rely upon " the 
 way and means thereto," alone and without other 
 means, which our Church has set before them : that 
 is ; " To examine their lives and conversations by the 
 rule of God's commandments ; and whereinsoever they 
 shall perceive themselves to have offended, either by 
 will, word, or deed, there to bewail their own sinful- 
 ness, and to confess themselves to Almighty God, with 
 full purpose of amendment of life." 
 
 And, once more ; fully do I accept, and, with God's 
 help, most plainly would I always endeavour to urge 
 and to insist upon, this truth also ; that, without any 
 resort at all to priestly absolution, without receiving 
 it, without desiring it, " if we have sinned, we have
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 153 
 
 an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the right- 
 eous. If, therefore, we return to Him, Who is the 
 merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners, we may 
 assure ourselves that He is ready to receive us, and 
 most willing to pardon us, if we come unto Him with 
 faithful repentance ; if we submit ourselves unto Him, 
 and from henceforth walk in His ways : if we will 
 take His easy yoke, to follow Him in lowliness, pa- 
 tience, and charity, and be ordered by the governance 
 of His Holy Spirit : seeking always His glory, and 
 serving Him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving. 
 This if we do, Christ will deliver us from the curse of 
 the law, and He will set us on His right hand, and 
 give us the gracious benediction of His Father, com- 
 manding us to take possession of His glorious king- 
 dom." These are, indeed, golden words : these are 
 words, I humbly and heartily believe, founded to their 
 full extent and in their obvious and honest meaning 
 upon the Word of God itself, and the primitive teach- 
 ing of the Church. 
 
 Yet, whilst I say that to defend these great Christian 
 truths is no part of my duty now, let me, nevertheless, 
 make one or two brief remarks. 
 
 Consider then, that the very texts themselves by 
 which we prove the grace of absolution, and the com- 
 mission to absolve which our Lord gave to the ministers 
 of His Church, prove no less, when compared with 
 other texts relating to the two great sacraments, that 
 absolution is not necessary to salvation. Power to 
 baptize, power to consecrate the holy eucharist, power
 
 154 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 to remit and to retain sins, were all and equally given 
 to the apostles, and in them to whomsoever in like 
 manner they, by the guidance of His Holy Spirit, 
 should deliver the same powers. And the effects of 
 all have been equally declared by the mouth of the 
 Divine Saviour. But although it is said of absolu- 
 tion, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose soever sins 
 ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose 
 soever sins ye retain, they are retained ; " where is it 
 said of absolution, as it is said of baptism, " Except a 
 man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God " ? or, as it is said of 
 the blessed eucharist, not only, " whoso eateth My 
 Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life," but 
 also, " Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and 
 drink His Blood, ye have no life in you." These are 
 texts by which we accept the statement of our Church 
 that baptism and the Lord's supper are " generally 
 necessary to salvation : " these are texts which, how- 
 ever large and many the blessings of sacerdotal remis- 
 sion of sins may be, however sure the promises upon 
 which those blessings depend, however great, in a word, 
 " the benefit of absolution " may be, these, I say, are 
 texts which remove into a class, not to be approached 
 by any other ordinance or sacrament whatsoever, the 
 sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Supper of the 
 Lord. 
 
 I should hesitate in admitting arguments to be con- 
 clusive against the necessity of sacerdotal absolution 
 which are obtained from the books of the old Testa-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 155 
 
 ment : such, for example, as that in Ezechiel ; " When 
 the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness 
 that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful 
 and right, he shall save his soul alive." * Or, in Isaiah ; 
 " Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in 
 returning and rest shall ye be saved ; " or, in the same 
 prophet ; " Wash you, make you clean ; put away the 
 evil of your doings from before Mine eyes, cease to do 
 evil, learn to do well, . . though your sins be as scarlet, 
 they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like 
 crimson, they shall be as wool." 2 Or, once more, in 
 the Psalter ; " I said, I will confess my sins unto the 
 Lord; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my 
 sin." 3 For it may truly be answered, our Blessed 
 Lord was yet to come, and to declare how far these 
 promises of free forgiveness of sins were to be limited 
 by the commands and institutions of His Gospel. Li- 
 mited to some extent, undeniably, they have been, by 
 the necessity of the sacraments of baptism and the 
 eucharist. 
 
 And, in like manner, all arguments must be very 
 accurately weighed which are brought against the ne- 
 cessity of absolution, from texts in the new Testament, 
 which turn upon the true interpretation which we are, 
 in each separate instance, to give to the terms ^ravoiiv, 
 and pcenitentiam agere, and repent. Such, for ex- 
 ample, as the admonitions in the Apocalypse to the 
 
 1 ch. xviij. v. 27. 3 Ps. xxxij. v. 6. 
 
 - ch. xxx. v. 15. ch. i. r. 18.
 
 156 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 churches of Ephesus and Sardis and Laodicea. These 
 references to Scripture do not alone decide the question 
 in dispute either way. 
 
 But, whilst these texts are not by themselves to be 
 received as conclusive, I do hold them, altogether, to 
 be very significant, and, to me at least, an argument 
 which receiving elsewhere further confirmation, will not 
 permit an answer short of a distinct assertion that sins 
 after baptism cannot be forgiven by means of sincere 
 repentance, as it is commonly understood; that is, 
 without sacerdotal absolution. Because though single 
 texts, they do not stand alone. If it is true, and it is 
 true, that " repentance " under the old Law, was mer- 
 cifully accepted before God in order to remission of 
 sins, we require some proof, irresistible if we may say 
 so, that so great a door of mercy was to be shut in 
 future against those who should be members of the 
 Church of Christ. All the proofs and evidences which 
 we bring in support of the sure remission of sins by 
 absolution when duly sought for and rightly received, 
 will not convince us that it is moreover true, that sins 
 after baptism cannot be forgiven except by absolution. 
 It must not only be shewn that absolution is an ordi- 
 nance of God, a means of grace offered ; but that it is 
 of necessity to be resorted to and used by all who will be 
 saved. And I do not know where we are to find the 
 evidence of such a doctrine in Holy Scripture, or how 
 we are to prove it thereby, so that it shall " be required 
 of any man that it should be believed as an article of 
 the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to sal- 
 vation."
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 157 
 
 And, as it is certain that no where in the gospels, 
 the acts, or in the epistles of S. Paul or the other 
 apostles, is there any declaration that absolution is 
 necessary for the remission of sins, so moreover there 
 are places which help very strongly to sustain the con- 
 trary and true doctrine. For example, the parable of 
 the prodigal son : the answer of S. Peter to Simon 
 Magus, " Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and 
 pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may 
 be forgiven thee:" and the admonition to the Corin- 
 thians : " Let a man examine himself, and so let him 
 eat of that bread and drink of that cup." 4 
 
 To say that, as to this last text, the words " examine 
 himself " must mean an examination before a priest by 
 oral confession in order to absolution, seems to me to 
 be nothing less than begging the question. If S. Paul 
 had intended that, it is natural to suppose that he 
 would have said so ; or at least would not have spoken 
 of a man's examining himself as the necessary, and 
 therefore in strictness the sufficient preparation for a 
 worthy receiving of the holy communion. It is replied 
 that an examination of conscience cannot be made 
 except by those means which Christ has Himself ap- 
 pointed : and therefore that no one can worthily par- 
 
 4 The council of Durham, in audite, filii carissimi, consilium 
 
 1223, interpolated this text. " Qui apostoli, quod tale est : probet 
 
 manducaverit carnem Domini et autem semetipsum homo unus- 
 
 biberit sanguinem ejus indigne, quisque per confessionem mun- 
 
 reus erit corporis et sanguinis dans et sanctificans, et sic de pane 
 
 Domini : terrere nos potest terri- illo edat, et de calice bibat." Wil- 
 
 bilis haec sententia. Propter hoc kins. Concilia, torn, i. p. 579.
 
 158 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 take without having before made use of those means ; 
 namely, of absolution. But, we still ask, where is the 
 certain evidence of this appointment, so that sin cannot 
 be forgiven without such absolution ? and, until it can 
 be produced, the declaration of S. Paul requires nei- 
 ther to be explained nor to be explained away, but 
 remains to be still taken in its obvious intention ; that 
 is, as a distinct positive assertion that, if men will, 
 they may prepare themselves, they may examine them- 
 selves, and so go worthily and with a sure trust to 
 God's holy Table. 
 
 But whilst I would, by these and such arguments, 
 endeavour to confirm the decision of our Church that 
 sacerdotal absolution is not necessary to the forgive- 
 ness of deadly sins, and that God will of His great 
 mercy pardon true penitents upon their own secret 
 sorrow and confession and resolutions made to Him 
 alone, yet we must no less contend for and support the 
 truth, that God has also left to His Church the power 
 of remitting and of retaining sins. A power which by 
 the Church has been committed to those who are 
 priests, only to be used after oral confession made to 
 them in order to absolution. This is a means of grace 
 which in its effects, when used, is not second even to 
 the grace of the holy eucharist itself; for what effects 
 can be greater than pardon and remission of sins ? 
 what effects can exceed those which reinstate the guilty 
 in the full favour of Almighty God ? But it is a means 
 which must voluntarily be sought for, and most heed- 
 fully be exercised.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 159 
 
 I know no reasonable answer which can be given to 
 the scripture which is usually brought to prove that 
 oral confession must precede sacerdotal absolution. 
 The fact that the church of England now holds this 
 doctrine as she always has so held, in strict accord- 
 ance, to the best of my belief, with the constant teaching 
 of the whole catholic Church, up to the apostolic age, 
 would in itself serve to convince us. If men contradict 
 the historical evidence of this fact, it is not enough that 
 that contradiction should be merely negative. We justly 
 demand some proof that the Church of Christ at any 
 time has declared, either as a matter of doctrine or of 
 practice, that the grace of priestly absolution could be 
 obtained equally without as with previous distinct 
 confession. I say, we justly demand this : it is a de- 
 mand which we have a right first to make, who can 
 produce the decisions and practice of the church for 
 1000 years from the present day. 
 
 Besides this, there is, as I have just observed, the 
 scripture, whereby the same doctrine may be confirmed. 
 Our Lord's words are in one place : " Verily I say 
 unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be 
 bound in heaven : and whatsoever ye shall loose on 
 earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 5 In another gospel, 
 in words still more distinct and, if we may dare so to 
 speak, more solemn : " When He had said this, He 
 breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, they are re- 
 
 5 S. Matt. ch. xviij. v. 18.
 
 160 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 mitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, 
 they are retained." 6 Most true it is that these texts 
 do not, cannot, prove the necessity of absolution ; or, 
 as it is commonly put, the necessity of confession to 
 our salvation. But I hold that they do prove the 
 essential necessity of confession before priestly absolu- 
 tion. 
 
 It will not be disputed, that the consent of the whole 
 Church from the beginning, where she has spoken 
 either collectively in council, or by the mouth of indi- 
 vidual fathers, has continually interpreted these texts 
 " judicially," when referred to the exercise of the 
 power of the keys in the matter of remission of mortal 
 sins. But (were this consent not so) if we would come 
 to the consideration of them with unbiassed minds ; if 
 we would forget that they have been unfairly cited to 
 prove, simply, the necessity of absolution, and that 
 they have been clearly shewn to fail in supporting that 
 doctrine ; if we would free ourselves from fantastic 
 notions of possible, yet really impossible, consequences 
 of arguing at all about absolution from these two texts ; 
 if, I say, we would do this, calmly and honestly, we 
 shall not fail to see that the power of loosing and bind- 
 ing, that the power of retaining and of remitting sins, 
 cannot, in the nature of the thing, be duly exercised 
 without a knowledge of the particular details of the 
 case which that authority or power claims to decide. 
 To say otherwise, is to contradict the voice of nature 
 
 6 S. John. ch. xx. r. 22-23.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 161 
 
 in all analogous concerns of man, which is nothing less 
 than to contradict the voice of God Himself : it is a 
 setting up of a new system by which the eternal rules 
 of justice are to be superseded. 
 
 If in for o pcenitentice our Blessed Saviour declared 
 His apostles and, in the priestly office, their successors 
 to be the authorities who should have power to bind 
 and to loose, to remit and to retain, so great a power 
 would be reduced into a fiction only and pretence, if 
 it were to be used hastily, and without consideration, 
 and without check or reason. If, in other words, it 
 were to be used as a mere matter of course, at the will 
 of the penitent and not of the priest. Nor can there 
 be, I suppose, any other possible method of forming a 
 right judgement upon each individual case, than by 
 learning its details and circumstances. And as this 
 knowledge cannot be, except by the voluntary accusa- 
 tion of the sinner by himself, in which he lays open to 
 God's minister all his sins, how is it then that any one 
 shall venture to say that oral confession is not by the 
 Divine law as truly necessary to absolution, as absolu- 
 tion is truly a sure means of grace by which our sins are 
 pardoned and ourselves forgiven ? What are the scrip- 
 tures upon which we rest to prove that absolution is 
 really that which we declare it to be ? the same texts 
 which declare the certainty of that doctrine, declare 
 also the necessity of confession in order to absolution. 
 
 If a distinct confession is not an essential part of the 
 ordinance of absolution, in its complete and solemn 
 meaning ; if it is not strictly to be required, as an 
 
 M
 
 1 62 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 essential, of every penitent, who seeks remission by 
 means of that ordinance ; then I should hesitate before 
 I could consent even to the permission of confession at 
 all. That it is a spiritual discipline does not seem to me 
 a sufficient reason for advising recourse to a practice or, 
 if for once only, to an act which is not simply painful 
 and difficult, but which demands great prudence and 
 honesty and faith from both the minister and the peni- 
 tent, and is, moreover, open to dangerous consequences. 
 Therefore, I repeat, if oral confession of sins is not 
 always an essential preliminary to the due reception of 
 sacerdotal absolution, I incline to think that it should 
 be utterly forbidden. Forbidden, that is, in connexion 
 with or in apparent order to such absolution. Other- 
 wise to check the confidence which should subsist be- 
 tween the people and the ministers of God's word and 
 sacraments would be no less improper ; perhaps no less 
 dangerous to the spiritual welfare of the members of 
 Christ's Church. But let such a confidence, let such 
 an intercourse, into whatever details and particulars it 
 may descend, always be understood to be, in order to 
 receive advice and comfort and consolation, and never 
 in order to absolution. So understood and so allowed, 
 we may safely assure ourselves that common sense and 
 common prudence would keep within limits, utterly 
 preventing all abuse, the confidential intercourse of 
 priests and people. 
 
 And that the Church so positively, not only suffers 
 but, "moves" penitents to confess if their consciences 
 are troubled, is to me a proof not a little convincing
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 163 
 
 of the necessity of such confession in order to absolu- 
 tion. Nor is this a decision which the Church has come 
 to, as it were, yesterday : far from it : where is the 
 evidence within five hundred years, nay since the age 
 itself of the apostles, that she either upon the one hand 
 dissuaded from confession, or, upon the other, gave 
 any man reason to suppose that he might receive 
 sacerdotal absolution without confession ? so that the 
 canon of S. Augustine again is to be listened to : 
 " Quod universa tenet ecclesia, nee conciliis insti- 
 tutum, sed semper retentum est, non nisi auctoritate 
 apostolica traditum rectissime creditur." 
 
 Add to this the conclusions which have been already 
 drawn from the texts in the Gospels : and then, if con- 
 fession is indeed essential to the due exercise and re- 
 ception of absolution, no dangers which may possibly 
 ensue can be thought a sufficient reason for the forbid- 
 dance of it. If our Blessed Lord gave authority to 
 any ministers of His church to bind and to loose, to 
 remit sins or to retain them, and if that authority, 
 according to the plain meaning of the terms of the 
 commission itself, and according to the constant voice 
 of all antiquity, cannot be exercised in foro pceni- 
 tentice without confession first made by the penitent, 
 then, to the best of our ability and in humble reliance 
 upon His grace Who gave the power, we must endea- 
 vour to do our duty. Nothing less than a withdrawal, 
 in terms as positive as the original grant, of the com- 
 mission under which the successors of the apostles, in 
 their priestly office, claim to forgive sins, would ever
 
 1 64 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 warrant a continued refusal to exercise that authority 
 in the case of penitents asking to be absolved. No 
 reasons that the Church should listen to, grounded 
 upon the dread of possible ill results, however for- 
 cible they may seem to the world and to man's judge- 
 ment, can stand in opposition to His words, Who said, 
 "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto 
 them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are re- 
 tained." This was a command to be obeyed, as well 
 as a commission and a power to be appealed to. 
 
 Hence, so long as the great Christian truth is 
 acknowledged and insisted on, that all members of 
 the Church may, at their own discretion, avail them- 
 selves or refuse to avail themselves of the grace of 
 sacerdotal absolution, many common objections which 
 are raised against the power to forgive and to retain 
 sins are not worth consideration. Such, for example, 
 as those which in reality explain that power utterly 
 away, by denying it to be judicial, and by interpret- 
 ing it of administration of the sacraments or preaching 
 of the word of God. Let me once more say that it is 
 no part of my purpose, nor am I called on, to prove 
 the incorrectness of such an explanation of our Lord's 
 promises given to the apostles and, in them, to His 
 Church. My business is entirely with those who allow, 
 with the church of England, the grace and spiritual 
 effects of sacerdotal absolution. But that I may shew, 
 in the way of suggestion, how it is that these objections 
 are valid only against the necessity of absolution, let 
 me notice briefly one or two.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 165 
 
 A not uncommon method of explaining away the 
 necessity of confession before sacerdotal absolution, 
 after arguing justly against the necessity of absolution 
 itself, is, by asserting that the promises of power to 
 forgive sins, given by our Lord to His church, are 
 fully accomplished in, and therefore refer to, the 
 sacrament of holy baptism ; in which, undeniably, 
 remission of sin is conveyed as its especial grace. 
 And yet, as all allow, there is no need of confession 
 before baptism. 
 
 It is true that some of the fathers, S. Cyril of 
 Alexandria certainly, and (it may be) others, though 
 I am not able to refer to them, do speak of the pro- 
 mise of forgiveness of sins, to which this text relates, 
 as being fulfilled in baptism, both as regards the 
 minister and the person baptized. S. Cyril says 7 that 
 there are two ways in which God's appointed minis- 
 ters retain or remit sins. It is observable that he 
 speaks of baptism, after all, only as one of two. The 
 first ; when they admit candidates to the sacrament 
 of baptism, who have been proved worthy by purity 
 of living and sincerity of faith ; or, on the contrary, 
 repel them as being unworthy. The second ; when 
 they refuse to absolve those who do not repent ; or, 
 in God's name, forgive the sins of the penitent. Nor 
 is it less to be observed that, when exercised, the 
 remission is said by S. Cyril to be the same ; that is, 
 in kind. If, therefore sins are not merely declared 
 forgiven in holy baptism, so, according to S. Cyril, 
 
 7 In Joan. lib. xij.
 
 1 66 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 they are not declared only, in absolution. In both, 
 pardon of sins is actually conveyed. 
 
 But there is no need of confession of sins before 
 baptism, because although there is an exercise of the 
 power of remission in that sacrament, there is not 
 always room for the exercise of the power of retaining. 
 Baptism is a sacrament in the administration of which 
 faithful recipients are indeed always loosed, but by 
 the refusal of it men are not truly bound. Not only 
 does our reason tell us that our Lord's words must be 
 interpreted of one and the same subject matter, so 
 that He cannot be understood to speak primarily and 
 chiefly of some ministerial act in which all His promise 
 shall not as occasions arise be completely fulfilled, 
 but the almost unanimous voice of the Church from 
 the beginning has been, that this power to forgive and 
 to retain is to be referred to those who are within, and 
 not without, the Church. I say almost unanimous : 
 such an example as S. Cyril just quoted can scarcely 
 be thought to injure the chain of Catholic consent. 
 The authority which our Lord gave to the eleven 
 apostles was judicial: and asks S. Paul, "What have 
 I to do to judge them that are without? them that are 
 without God judgeth.'" And, moreover, to retain 
 sins is not merely to refuse to remit, but, as we con- 
 nect the two texts in both the gospels, to retain is the 
 same as to bind. Not to insist upon the difficulty (as 
 it seems to me, insuperable) of exercising the power of 
 
 8 1 Cor. ch. 5. v. 12
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 167 
 
 binding over any persons who are not baptized, it is 
 clearly impossible, in the case of infants. They are 
 bound already : born in original sin and the children 
 of wrath. Loosed indeed they may be, but they may 
 not be bound. Therefore the commission of our 
 Blessed Lord did not primarily relate to, as it could 
 not be obeyed in, baptism. 
 
 Another and a modified reference of this promise 
 to the sacrament of baptism is by those, who, denying 
 the grace of absolution, assert that it is sufficient for 
 sinners to remember (as they term it) their baptism. 
 But, not again to speak of the differences which exist 
 between the two ordinances of baptism and absolution, 
 making the two as distinct as it is possible to be ; 
 differences of time and words of institution ; of the 
 grace conveyed ; of the subjects over whom they are 
 to be exercised ; of the ministers of each ; it is very 
 remarkable (allowing for an instant such an explana- 
 tion of our Saviour's commission) that there is very 
 much said in the scriptures about forgiveness of sins 
 by a true repentance, but nothing whatever of any 
 calling back of baptism to the memory. Thus S. Peter 
 did not desire Simon Magus to think upon his bap- 
 tism, but, " Repent of this thy wickedness and pray 
 God." Not a word, again, of thoughts of baptism 
 does S. Paul say, in reference to the restoration of the 
 penitent Corinthian : nor S. John, nor S. James : but, 
 the one ; "If we confess our sins God is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins : " and the other ; " Confess 
 your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
 
 1 68 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 etc" And, in short, if forgiveness of sins before baptism 
 and of sins after baptism may be thus confounded, so 
 as to reject all belief in sacerdotal absolution, except 
 in baptism or as connected with it, it is not easy to 
 see why the sacrament of the Lord's Supper may not 
 as truly be explained away : and increase of grace and 
 spiritual sustenance to be sought for and to be obtained 
 by a recollection of the grace and blessings once given, 
 long ago, in baptism. It would be absurd also to say 
 another word about any especial or peculiar grace in 
 Confirmation. 
 
 Who can find a trace of such an opinion in the early 
 Church ? if there is any one doctrine which clearly 
 stands conspicuous in its documents, it is, the distinc- 
 tion between baptism and remission of post-baptismal 
 sin. Whatever in the fathers pcenitentia meant, it 
 never meant baptism or remembrance of it. The 
 secunda post naufragium tabula was something very 
 different from the prima tabula. When S. Ambrose 
 and Pacian argued against the Novatians, that sin 
 might be forgiven, they spoke of such remission either 
 as by repentance, or by the power of the keys : and 
 S. Augustine likewise in innumerable places. Besides, 
 on such a notion, what becomes of all their warnings, 
 so full, so repeated, so solemn, of the difficulty of 
 obtaining pardon of post-baptismal sin, because of its 
 great heinousness in comparison with sin committed 
 in the unregenerated state ? 9 It is as easy, nay easier 
 
 9 I do not mean that to obtain held by the primitive church to be 
 remission of sins by baptism was an easy and rapid business, in the
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 169 
 
 to remember baptism than to be baptized. But, not 
 to quote more tban one place, what says S. Augustine? 
 speaking of those who, having been baptized, had 
 sinned. " Non enim sufficit mores in melius commu- 
 tare, et a factis malis recedere ; nisi etiam de his quse 
 facta sunt, satisfiat Deo per pcenitentise dolorem, per 
 humilitatis gemitum, per contriti cordis sacrificium, 
 cooperantibus eleemosynis. Non enim dictum est, ut 
 tantum abstineamus a peccatis : sed et de prceteritis, 
 inquit, deprecare Dominum, ut tibi dimittantur. Et 
 Petrus jam erat fidelis, jam in Christo et alios baptiz- 
 averat. etc" 10 
 
 Again ; (to return from this digression ;) it is at 
 once obvious that the penitent, by seeking absolution, 
 himself owns, nay constitutes, the judicial character 
 which, as to that particular, attaches to the priesthood. 
 He acknowledges not only that God's ministers are 
 stewards of His mysteries, ambassadors, dispensers of 
 the word and sacraments, but that inforo pcenitenticB 
 they have authority to bind or to loose, to forgive or 
 to retain. It is simply impossible for him to believe 
 in the one, namely, in the power of remission, unless 
 he consents as fully to the other, namely, the power of 
 retention. And if this be not judicial, it would be 
 
 case of adults. Long and arduous student, by Morinus. " De dis- 
 
 also for them, under the realities ciplina a patribus observata in 
 
 of the first ages of the Faith, was catechumenorum expiatione." 4to. 
 
 the preparation even for entrance Reprinted in Zaccaria. Thes. 
 
 into the Church of God. An ad- Theologicus. torn. x. opusc. 2. 
 
 mirable treatise on this question 10 Opera, torn. 5. p. 1362, 
 
 is well worth the attention of the Serm. de pcenitentia.
 
 170 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 hard to say what can be so. Nor let that idle conse- 
 quence be supposed to follow, that, if judicial, this 
 power is also at the mere will and pleasure of the 
 priest. In one sense it is ; but in no other sense than 
 that in which all judicial power may be said to be 
 exercised according to the will and pleasure of the 
 judge. Although strictly judicial, the sacerdotal power 
 of forgiving sins is as strictly ministerial. The mi- 
 nisters of Christ, whom He has appointed to dispense 
 His grace, act not upon their own authority, nor in 
 their own name; but in the Name of God, accord- 
 ing to plain laws and by certain means prescribed by 
 Him. 
 
 Again, how utterly inadequate is that explanation 
 of the famous texts in S. Matthew and S. John, which 
 refers them only to outward discipline, or to preaching 
 of the gospel. 
 
 Power and authority to carry on the external go- 
 vernment of the Church, to rebuke and to punish 
 offenders, to expel them from communion, to re-admit 
 penitents, to enact canons and to enforce them ; all 
 this and the like must have been, from the very nature 
 itself of the Christian Church as one body under one 
 Head. But the words of the Saviour were, " It shall 
 be bound in heaven ;" " it shall be loosed in heaven ;" 
 that is, before and in the sight of God. In His sight, 
 we say, in some far different sense from that in which 
 all things whether in heaven or on earth are before 
 Him. No greater delegated authority than this can, 
 I suppose, be exercised by the Church : it is answer-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 171 
 
 able to that in civil jurisdiction, which extends to life 
 or death. Excommunication and the lighter censures 
 of the Church which sustain outward unity by enforc- 
 ing outward discipline are powers of a very inferior 
 kind. The assurance which was given to the Church, 
 of authority to forgive and to retain sins, raised her, 
 by the alone fact of the assurance, into the highest and 
 the last tribunal upon earth. A tribunal which is to 
 be resorted to by the guilty of their own voluntary 
 will ; not a tribunal before which all members of the 
 Church must of necessity appear, if they would be 
 saved. 
 
 And mark the repetition of this commission in the 
 gospel of S. John. " When He had said this, He 
 breathed on them and said, Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost." Can an act so solemn, can words so weighty, 
 intend and no more than intend, Tell men that their 
 sins shall be forgiven ? no more than, Tell them that 
 if they will believe on me, if they will be baptized, 
 that then they shall be saved ? Set aside all consent 
 of old tradition ; all contending arguments against and 
 for that consent ; take the scripture and the scripture 
 only ; and is this, I ask, the first, full, plain, obvious 
 meaning of that deed and saying of our Divine Re- 
 deemer ? 
 
 I shall refer to one or two places from the fathers, 
 out of many which might be heaped up, if there were 
 occasion. 
 
 But before we do this, I would observe, that the 
 reader in examining 1 extracts from the fathers which
 
 172 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 relate to the great ordinance of absolution and to the 
 ancient discipline of penance, must always be espe- 
 cially careful to distinguish, first, whether the author 
 cited is writing generally upon the power of absolution 
 in the priesthood, or upon the exercise of that power 
 under particular circumstances : and, secondly, if con- 
 fession to man is spoken of, either as being necessary 
 or unnecessary, he must ascertain the exact purpose 
 for which it is so spoken of. Nothing has led to 
 greater confusion in this whole question, I repeat it 
 at the risk of being wearisome, nothing, I say, more 
 than producing from the fathers passages which prove 
 clearly enough that confession to man is not necessary 
 to our salvation, by way of proving, what they do not 
 and cannot prove, that confession is not necessary to 
 the true exercise of sacerdotal absolution. 
 
 I am not at all inclined to dispute how far the posi- 
 tion of a very learned writer is correct, that " in all 
 the places [quoted by him] in which the fathers speak 
 of the necessity of confession, they have regard to it, 
 first, as the door to a course of public penance, which 
 humbled the penitent, subjected him to a healthful 
 discipline, and kept him for a while from the Holy 
 Communion which might be hurtful to him ; secondly, 
 as obtaining for individuals spiritual counsel for the 
 specific case of each ; thirdly, as gaining the interces- 
 sions of the Church, and so of Christ." 11 And whilst 
 
 1 Library of the Fathers. TertulUan, by Dr. Pusey. Note. M. 
 p. 380.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 173 
 
 this may be so upon the one hand, how conclusive 
 are other places quoted from the fathers hy the same 
 writer, (and I would add, almost numberless other 
 declarations, express or implied) which assure the re- 
 pentant sinner, that if he will confess his sins to God 
 alone, it shall be sufficient. 
 
 To name no more, it has been well said of S. Chry- 
 sostom, that he urges this truth " so repeatedly, and so 
 strongly, as to leave no question as to his meaning. 
 Thus he says, ' Not this alone is wondrous, that God 
 remits us our sins, but that He does not reveal, nor 
 make them manifest or open, nor compels us to come 
 forward and speak out our transgressions, but bids us 
 plead before Him alone, and confess to Him.' . . . 
 Again, putting the words into the very mouth of 
 God, * I compel thee not. Tell Me alone thy sin 
 apart, that I may heal the sore, and free thee from 
 the pain.' ... In another place, ' Let us persuade 
 ourselves that we have sinned. Let us not say so 
 with the tongue only, but with the mind; let us not 
 call ourselves only sinners, but let us also count up 
 our sins, recounting each severally. I tell thee not, 
 expose thyself to public show, nor accuse thyself to 
 others, but I counsel thee to obey the prophet who 
 saith, Reveal thy way unto the Lord ; confess these 
 things unto God ; confess thy sins to the Judge ; pray- 
 ing, if not with the tongue, yet with the memory, and 
 to obtain mercy." 12 I wish much that I could quote 
 
 13 Ibid. p. 399.
 
 1/4 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 here, so very valuable are these testimonies of S. Chry- 
 sostome, more such places from his works : but I must 
 content myself with adding only the conclusion of the 
 same writer : " There could" he most truly and justly 
 observes, "be no way in which confession to God 
 alone, exclusive of man, could be expressed, if not 
 here. S. Chrysostom says * to God alone,' ' apart in 
 private' (xar' i'JWi/) ' to Him who knoweth beforehand,' 
 ' no one knowing,' ' no one present save Him Who 
 knoweth,' ' God alone seeing,' ' unwitnessed,' ' not to 
 man,' * within,' 'in the conscience,' 'judging thyself,' 
 &c. Accordingly, one Romanist writer boldly pro- 
 nounces all these passages spurious ; and (since they 
 are unquestionable) another, of great name, Petavius, 
 condemns them as being uttered in a declamatory way 
 to the ignorant multitude for the sake of impressive- 
 ness. But certainly, poor as such an excuse would 
 be for what, according to Romanists, is false teaching, 
 the passages are too numerous and too uniform, to 
 admit of it ; they manifestly contain S. Chrysostom 's 
 settled teaching." 13 
 
 I do more than consent to, I assert that these and 
 
 13 Ibid. p. 401. Dr. Pusey adds say anything of a general confes- 
 
 to Judging thyself " [in lieu of sion: the Church is a holy place, 
 
 the priest being the judge.]" in which men may, privately and 
 
 True; but is it also true, if the alone, piously and well confess 
 
 priest was to be applied to for the their sins to God. But even were 
 
 grace of absolution ? Again, " in that father's words so to be taken ; 
 
 church, to God." It is added does he go on to speak of " abso- 
 
 " [ i. e. in the general confes- lution " that is, sacerdotal absolu- 
 
 sion.] " S. Chrysostom does not tion, following?
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 175 
 
 such passages prove, so far as a thing is capable of 
 proof, that confession to man is not essential to salva- 
 tion ; that it is not necessary in order that we may 
 receive pardon from God of sins committed after bap- 
 tism ; and being not necessary, it is left entirely to 
 each and every one to be resorted to at his own dis- 
 cretion. But, to the point really before us now, the 
 authors appealed to decide, in the places cited, nothing 
 at all : they stop, just where they are required to speak ; 
 they are in them utterly silent against the necessity of 
 confession in order to receive the grace of absolution. 
 And it is a very remarkable thing, that they do so 
 stop : whilst they loudly teach us of God forgiving sins 
 confessed to Him alone, they do not give a hint, how- 
 ever distant, that such forgiveness shall be conveyed 
 by means of His ministers upon earth ; by the means, 
 that is, of sacerdotal absolution. 
 
 And whilst the fathers upon the one hand furnish 
 us with abundant confirmation of the great scriptural 
 truth, that priestly absolution is not of necessity to 
 salvation ; and, upon the other hand do not tell us 
 that such absolution, if sought for, can be obtained 
 without previous oral and distinct confession ; so more- 
 over, there is very much indeed in their works which 
 cannot be understood or explained except upon the 
 fact, that the exercise of " the power of the keys" is a 
 judicial act ; that it is not to be referred to the mere 
 preaching of the gospel, and that confession before- 
 hand is an essential requisite. I shall lay before the 
 reader a few places to this effect, which will enable
 
 176 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 him to see the principle upon which the doctrine of 
 absolution was held by the early Church ; and to 
 which, as a principle, we are to bring particular cases, 
 if at any time they seem to present a difficulty ; more 
 than a difficulty they do not make ; they do not, as a 
 whole, complete a contradiction. 
 
 Passing by the book of S. Chrysostom on the Priest- 
 hood, which is well-known to most of the clergy of our 
 Church, in which (citing the text from S. John) he 
 distinctly declares that God has given to men who 
 dwell upon earth a power which He has not thought 
 fit to entrust even to angels or archangels ; u let us 
 take S. Ambrose. 
 
 " Sed aiunt," he tells us of the Novatians, " se 
 Domino deferre reverentiam, cui soli remittendorum 
 criminum potestatem reservent. Immo nulli majorem 
 injuriam faciunt, quam qui cujus volunt mandata rescin- 
 dere, commissum munus refundere. Nam cum ipse 
 in evangelio suo dixerit Dominus Jesus ; Accipite 
 Spiritum Sanctum ; quorum remiseritis peccata, etc. 
 quis est ergo qui magis honorat, utrum qui mandatis 
 obtemperat, an qui resistit ? Ecclesia in utroque servat 
 obedientiam, ut peccatum et alliget et relaxet. Haere- 
 sis in altero immitis, in altero inobediens, vult ligare 
 quod non resolvat, non vult solvere quod ligavit ; in 
 quo se sua damnat sententia. Dominus enim par jus 
 et solvendi esse voluit et ligandi, qui utrumque pari 
 conditione permisit. Ergo qui solvendi jus non habet, 
 
 14 Lib. 3. ch.5.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 77 
 
 nee ligandi habet. Sicut enim secundum Domini- 
 cam sententiam, qui ligandi jus habet, et solvendi ha- 
 bet, ita istorum assertio seipsam strangulat, ut quia 
 solvendi sibi jus negant, negare debeant et ligandi. 
 Quomodo igitur potest alterum licere, alterum non 
 licere ? Quibus donatum utrumque est, aut utrumque 
 licere manifestum est, aut utrumque non licere certum 
 est. Ecclesice utrumque licet, haeresi utrumque non li- 
 cet ; jus enim hoc solis permissum sacerdotibus est. 
 Recte igitur ecclesia vindicat, quae veros sacerdotes 
 habet : haeresis vindicare non potest, quee sacerdotes 
 Dei non habet." 15 
 
 Not to notice particularly other very remarkable 
 points in this extract, let me ask whether it is possible 
 that the Novatians could have produced so absurd an 
 assertion, or that S. Ambrose should have thought it 
 worth his while to deny, that the ministers of the 
 Church have no commission or authority to preach 
 remission of sins, but that it is an office or prerogative 
 to be attributed to God alone ? The power which the 
 Novatians denied was the judicial power of remitting 
 and of retaining sins ; sins, not public against outward 
 discipline, but secret, after baptism, deadly, in the 
 sight of God. S. Ambrose contends against them : 
 and he rests his argument upon the words of our Lord, 
 " Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose soever sins ye 
 forgive, etc." 16 
 
 15 De poenit. lib. 1. cap. 2. S. Ambrose. " Si vis justificari, 
 
 Opera, torn. 2. p. 391. fatere delictum tuura. Solvitenim 
 
 '" There is another passage in criminum nexus verecunda con- 
 
 N
 
 178 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Again, S. Hilary : in his commentary on the gospel 
 of S. Matthew. " Ad terrorem autem metus maximi, 
 quo in prsesens omnes continerentur, immobile severi- 
 tatis apostolicae judicium prsemisit : ut quos in terris 
 ligaverint, id est, peccatorum nodis innexos reliquerint, 
 et quos solverint, confessione videlicet venise recepe- 
 rint in salutem ; hi apostolicse conditione sententiae in 
 coelis quoque aut soluti sint aut ligati." 17 It has been 
 said that S. Hilary here speaks only of confession 
 generally, without explanation. Even if it be so, it 
 does not prove, as it has been (to my wonder) brought 
 to prove, that absolution may be given without confes- 
 sion. On the contrary, as it would be nonsense to 
 refer Venice to confessione and not to the succeeding 
 words in salutem, I insist that S. Hilary connects con- 
 fession, as an essential, with the exercise of the power 
 of binding and loosing. 
 
 fessio peccatorum." De pcenit. at least regarding it, do I hesitate 
 
 lib. 2. cap, vj. I place this in a to say that the passage appears in 
 
 note, because it is not clear that the same light to myself; that is, 
 
 S. Ambrose alludes to more than to relate to sacerdotal absolution, 
 
 to that private confession to the The whole subject of the book is, 
 
 Almighty, which is sufficient for de pcenitentia. And immediately 
 
 pardon from Him. And the Bene- after the sentence just quoted is 
 
 dictine editors admit that although the following : " Vides quid a te 
 
 appealed to for the purpose of exigat Deus tuus, ut memor sis 
 
 shewing the necessity of confession ejus quam accepisti gratise, et non 
 
 before absolution, the passage falls glorieris quasi non acceperis. Vi- 
 
 short. " Fatendum est a nobis des qua remissionis pollicitatione 
 
 hie desiderari summam illam evi- te provocet ad confitendum." This 
 
 dentiam." Nevertheless they in- scarcely looks like the language 
 
 cline to think that the holy father of one urging the duty of private 
 
 did intend so to be understood. confession only to God. 
 Nor, being entitled to an opinion 17 . 8. Opera, p. 699.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 179 
 
 This extract from S. Hilary must not be left without 
 also remarking that Dallseus, who notices it, has no 
 other explanation of it to give, than to urge, first, that 
 the whole force of it rests upon the single word con- 
 fessione ; and that if that one word was not there, the 
 sentence would not prove that confession must precede 
 absolution. Who ever pretended to the contrary? 
 But the word is there : then says Dalleeus, against the 
 evidence of all the manuscripts and all the editions 
 even of Erasmus), that the true reading is concessions. 
 " Omnino locum corrigendum putaverim, et levi muta- 
 tione legendum ; et quos solverint, concessione scilicet 
 Venice receperint in salutem. Sic enim omnia clara 
 sunt, et expedita." 18 Easy, truly, is such a method of 
 argument ; and marvellous the changes which it would 
 produce. We need only, when we are hard pressed 
 by any passage of an ancient father, or of the Holy 
 Scriptures, use our pleasant liberty of " slightly alter- 
 ing " the text. I am glad of this opportunity of men- 
 tioning Dallseus : for it enables me to remind the 
 reader that the true object of his work (and an able 
 and learned work it is) de confessions auriculari, does 
 not turn upon the question of the necessity of confes- 
 sion in order to absolution, but of the necessity of 
 sacerdotal absolution in order to salvation. And it 
 is not to be forgotten that he denies that doctrine 
 which the church of England holds, namely, the spiri- 
 tual grace of such an absolution : he denies it, by ex- 
 
 18 De confess. lib. 3. cap. ix.
 
 180 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 plaining it away. Nor could he do otherwise, accord- 
 ing to the tenets of his particular sect, the Calvinists. 
 It would be well sometimes, if men's opinions upon 
 vital matters of the Christian Faith were honestly 
 stated and understood, before they are cited (almost as 
 a matter of course) as trustworthy authorities to whom 
 we might refer. 
 
 Again, S. Jerome : in one of his epistles pressing 
 his friend to return to the monastic life, he is led to 
 speak of the clergy. He asks, " An de his aliquid 
 audeam dicere, qui certe in suis urbibus commorantur ? 
 Absit ut de his quidquam sinistrum loquar, quia apos- 
 tolico gradui succedentes, Christi Corpus sacro ore 
 conficiunt; per quos et nos Christiani sumus. Qui 
 claves regni ccelorum habentes, quodammodo ante ju- 
 dicii diem judicant." 19 It is upon this passage that 
 bishop Sparrow in his sermon already mentioned above, 
 p. 19, observes, " he that can construe judicant) and 
 understand what it signifies, needs no comment upon 
 the words." Nor indeed do they require explanation : 
 to administer the three means of grace, all great 
 though not all necessary to our salvation, namely, 
 baptism, the eucharist, and absolution, is here de- 
 clared by S. Jerome to be the high office and dignity 
 of the priesthood. 
 
 Again, S. Gregory the great : he preaches in his 
 26th homily on the gospels, upon the end of the 20th 
 chapter of S. John. Coming to the 21st verse h says : 
 
 19 Epist. xiv. ad Heliodorum. Opera, torn. i. p. 34.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 8 1 
 
 " Sciendum vero est, quod hi qui prius Spiritum 
 Sanctum habuerunt, ut et ipsi innocenter viverent, et 
 in praedicatione quibusdam prodessent ; idcirco hunc 
 post resurrectionem Domini potenter acceperunt, ut 
 prodesse non paucis, sed pluribus possent. Unde et in 
 hac ipsa datione Spiritus dicitur ; Quorum remiseritis 
 peccata, remittuntur eis : et quorum retinueritis, re- 
 tenta sunt. Libet intueri, illi discipuli ad tanta onera 
 humilitatis vocati, ad quantum culmen glorise sint per- 
 ducti. Ecce non solum de semetipsis securi fiunt, sed 
 etiam alienae obligationis potestatem et relaxationis 
 accipiunt ; principatumque superni judicii sortiuntur, 
 ut vice Dei quibusdum peccata retineant, quibusdam 
 relaxent. Sic eos a Deo decebat erigi, qui tantum pro 
 Deo consenserant humiliari. Ecce qui districtum Dei 
 judicium metuunt, animarum judices fiunt; et alios 
 damnant vel liberant, qui semetipsos damnari metue- 
 bant .... Causae ergo pensandse sunt, et tune ligandi 
 atque solvendi potestas exercenda. Videndum est 
 quse culpa prsecessit, aut quse sit poenitentia secuta post 
 culpam : ut quos omnipotens Deus per compunctionis 
 gratiam visitat, illos pastoris sententia absolvat." 20 
 
 20 Lib. 2. homil. xxvj. Opera. S. Gregory continues. " Tune 
 
 torn. i. p. 1555. enim vera est absolutio praesiden- 
 
 I cannot resist quoting in a note tis, cum interni arbitrium sequitur 
 
 the remainder of this section, pla- judicis. Quod bene quatriduani 
 
 cing as it does the illustration mortui resuscitatio ilia significat, 
 
 which, every one knows, is so quae videlicet demonstrat, quia 
 
 often brought from the raising of prius mortuum Dominus vocavit 
 
 Lazarus in a most striking way. et vivificavit, dicens :
 
 182 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 And S. Gregory the great brings us, by an imme- 
 diate link, to England, and through S. Augustin, 
 
 veni foras : et postmodum is qui 
 vivens egressus fuerat a discipulis 
 est solutus, sicut scriptum est: 
 Cumque egressus esset qui fuerat 
 ligatus institis, tune dixit discipu- 
 lis : Solvite eum, et sinite abire. 
 Ecce ilium discipuli jam viventem 
 solvunt, quern magister resuscita- 
 Terat mortuum. Si enim discipuli 
 Lazarum mortuum solverent, fce- 
 torem magis ostenderent, quam 
 virtutem. Ex qua consideratione 
 intucndum est, quod illos nos de- 
 bemus per pastoralem auctorita- 
 tem solvere, quos auctorem nos- 
 trum cognoncimus per suscitantem 
 gratiam vivificare. Quae nimirum 
 vivificatio ante operationem recti- 
 tudinis in ipsa jam cognoscitur 
 confessione peccati. Unde et huic 
 ipsi mortuo Lazaro nequaquam 
 dicitur, Revivisce : sed, Veni fo- 
 ras. Omnis quippe peccator dum 
 culpam suam intra conscientiam 
 abscondit, introrsum latet, in suis 
 penetralibus occultatur. Sed mor- 
 tuus venit foras, cum peccator 
 nequitias suas sponte confitetur. 
 Lazaro ergo dicitur, Veni foras. 
 Ac si aperte cuilibet mortuo in 
 culpa diceretur ; cur reatum tuum 
 intra conscientiam abscondis ? 
 Foras jam per confessionem egre- 
 dere, qui apud te interius per ne- 
 gationem lates. Veniat itaque 
 foras mortuus, id est culpam con- 
 
 fiteatur peccator. Venientem vero 
 foras solvant discipuli." 
 
 S. Augustine also : " Remissio 
 peccatorum, solutio est. Quid 
 enim prodesset Lazaro, quia pro- 
 cessit de monumento, nisi dicere- 
 tur, Solvite eum, et sinite abire? 
 Ipse quidem voce de sepulchro 
 suscitavit, ipse clamando animam 
 reddidit, ipse terrenam molem se- 
 pulto impositam vicit, et processit 
 ille vinctus : non ergo pedibus 
 propriis, sed virtute producentis. 
 Fit hoc in corde poenitentis : cum 
 audis hominem poenitere peccato- 
 rum suorum, jam revixit : cum 
 audis hominem confitentem pro- 
 ferre conscientiam, jam de sepul- 
 chro eductus est, sed nondum so- 
 lutus est. Quando solvitur? a 
 quibus solvitur? Quse solveritis, 
 inquit, in terra, erunt soluta et in 
 coelo. Merito per ecclesiam dari 
 solutio peccatorum potest : susci- 
 tari autem ipse mortuus nonnisi 
 intus clamante Domino potest : 
 hsec enim Deus interius agit." In 
 ps, 101. serm. ij. torn. 4. p. 1103. 
 
 Again, the same father, in his 
 50th tract upon the gospel of S. 
 John : in words to which I beg 
 the reader's especial attention. 
 " Lazare, veni foras. Quomodo 
 processit ligatis pedibus miraris, 
 et non miraris, quia surrexit qua- 
 triduanus ? in utroque potcntia
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 183 
 
 Venerable Bede, Egbert, and a long line of saints, to 
 S. Anselm and the 12th century. I have already 
 spoken of the penitentials of Bede and archbishops 
 Theodore and Egbert. Here we may also add one or 
 two further notices about confession and absolution, 
 taken from the early records of the Anglo-saxon 
 church. Nor do I doubt but that these will, espe- 
 cially, meet the requirements of some whose opinion 
 on the whole matter I justly value. 
 
 Archbishop Theodore has this rule in his peniten- 
 tial : " Siquis non poenitet, et forsitan ceciderit in 
 ffigritudinem, et qusesierit communicare, non prohi- 
 beatur, et date ei sanctam communionem, ita tamen 
 ut omnia sit ante confessus." 21 
 
 Again ; archbishop Egbert ; also in his penitential : 
 " Hoc necesse est, ut sacerdos hujusmodi hominem 
 
 Domini erat, non vires mortui. terra, soluta erunt et in coelo." 
 
 Processit, et adhuc ligatus est : Tom. 3. p. 627. 
 
 adhuc involutus, tamen jam foras Again, S. Ambrose : " Veni 
 
 processit. Quid significat ? Quan- foras : hoc est, Qui jaces in tene- 
 
 do contemnis, mortuus jaces : bris conscientiae, et delictorum 
 
 quando confiteris, procedis. Quid tuorum sordibus, quodam reorum 
 
 est enim procedere, nisi ab occul- carcere, exi foras, delictum pro- 
 
 tis velut exeundo manifestari ? sed prium prode, ut justificeris : Ore 
 
 ut confi tearis, Deus facit magna enim confessiojit ad salutem. Si 
 
 voce clamando, id est, magna gra- confessus fueris, a Christo voca- 
 
 tia vocando. Ideo cum proces- tus, claustra rumpentur, et omnia 
 
 sisset mortuus adhuc ligatus, con- solventur vincula, etiam si cor- 
 
 fitens et adhuc reus : ut solve- ruptelae corporese fcetor gravis 
 
 rentur peccata ejus, ministris hoc sit." De paenit. lib. 2. cap. 7. 
 
 dixit Dominus, Solvite ilium, et torn. 2. p. 429. 
 
 sinite abire. Quid est Solvite et 21 Thorpe ; Ancient laws and 
 
 finite abire? Quas solveritis in institutes, vol. 2. p. 49.
 
 184 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 consoletur, et confessionem ejus audiat, et ei saltern 
 eucharistiam non deneget ; et quamvis ab ilia infirmi- 
 tate adeo labefactus sit, ut loqui nequeat, sicut antea 
 poterat, tamen si testimonium habeat illorum hominum 
 qui cum eo sunt, quod confessionem et eucharistiam 
 desideravisset, tune sacerdos ei remissionem det, et 
 ritus ejus exequatur." In the same book of the peni- 
 tential ; " Homo qui multis criminibus vinctus est, et 
 ea, cum animo compuncto, et ex amore vitae seternse, 
 confessario suo confiteri, et, prout ipse ei prasscrip- 
 serit, emendare velit, credimus quod apud Deum re- 
 missionem habeat." 
 
 The Anglo-saxon ecclesiastical institutes, are much 
 to our purpose, both as to the duty of confessing only 
 to God, and of confession in order to sacerdotal abso- 
 lution. " Every day we ought twice or oftener, if we 
 can, in our prayer, to confess our sins to God, accord- 
 ing to what the prophet says; . . . then, after the 
 confession, we should pray to the Lord . . . The 
 confession of our sins, which we make to priests, does 
 this for our good, that we may thereby blot out our 
 sins, [pe mit> pon ma3on vjie fynna at>ili3ian.] But 
 the confessions which we confess to God alone, does 
 this for our good : the oftener that we remember them, 
 so does God the sooner forget them. But on the con- 
 trary, the oftener that we forget misdeeds, the more 
 readily does God remember them .... Every sin a 
 man shall confess to his confessor, which he ever com- 
 mitted, either in word, or in work, or in thought. 
 When any one comes to his confessor, for the sake of
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 185 
 
 telling him his deeds and confessing his sins, then 
 ought the confessor earnestly to ask him concerning 
 those things which he confesses. The confessor shall 
 ask him everything, who imparts his need to him, and 
 enjoins him to hide nothing from him, neither in word 
 nor in work, of what he supposes he may ever have 
 wrought against God's will." Again, in the same : 
 " Penance is like to a second baptism ; and in baptism 
 the sins before committed are forgiven : so also through 
 penance the sins are purified, which were committed 
 after baptism : [j"pa beo^ eac pvjrh pa frsebbote 3e- 
 cl8enj-ote pa j-ynna pe aepreji pam pulpihre 3epjie- 
 mebe beoS]. 22 
 
 Of Bede we shall hear presently : take now this 
 from his 27th homily . "Et quodcunque ligaveris, etc. 
 Qua? solvendi atque ligandi potestas, quamvis soli 
 Petro videatur a Domino data, absque ulla tamen 
 dubietate noscendum est, quia et cseteris apostolis 
 datur ipso teste qui post passionis resurrectionisque 
 suse triumphum, apparens eis insufflavit, et dixit eis, 
 Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, etc. Necnon etiam nunc 
 in episcopis ac presbyteris omni ecclesise officium idem 
 committitur, ut videlicet agnitis peccantium causis, 
 quoscunque humiles ac vere poenitentes aspexerit, hos 
 jam a timore perpetuae mortis miserans absolvat : quos 
 vero in peccatis qui egerint persistere cognoverit, illos 
 perennibus suppliciis obligandos insinuet." 23 
 
 At a somewhat later period, archbishop ./Elfric. In 
 
 22 Ibid. p. 173. 179. 427. 435. " 3 Opera, torn. 5. p. 198.
 
 1 86 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 his homily for the first Sunday after Easter, he thus 
 applies the miracle of the raising of Lazarus. Having- 
 declared that our Lord gave power to forgive sins to 
 His apostles and, in them, to their successors, he goes 
 on to say : " Christ raised from death the stinking 
 Lazarus, and when he was quickened, He said to His 
 disciples, loose his bands, that he may go. They 
 loosed the bands of the requickened man, whom Christ 
 had raised to life. Therefore should our teachers un- 
 bind from their sins those whom Christ quickens by 
 stimulation. Every sinful man who conceals his sins, 
 lies dead in the sepulchre ; but if he confesses his sins 
 through stimulation, then he goes from the sepulchre, 
 as Lazarus did, when Christ bade him arise : then 
 shall the teacher unbind him from the eternal punish- 
 ment, as the apostles bodily unbound Lazarus." 24 
 Again, in another place, speaking of sacerdotal abso- 
 lution ; " Let no man be ashamed to make known his 
 sins to one teacher, for he who will not in this world 
 confess his sins with true repentance, shall be put to 
 shame before God Almighty, and before His hosts of 
 angels, and before all men, at the great doom. His 
 shame shall be endless. For no man obtains forgive- 
 ness of his sins from God, unless he confess them to 
 some man of God, and by his doom expiate them : [and 
 be his dome gebete]." 25 The question is not whether 
 -ZElfric thought absolution to be of necessity to remis- 
 
 4 Homilies of /Elfric. vol. 1. 2 ' In xl Of penitence. Ibid. 
 /' 235. P0 /. o. p. 603.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 87 
 
 sion of sins, but, whether he believed that confession 
 was an essential preliminary. 
 
 Passing onwards, the tract of archbishop Lanfranc 
 de celanda confessions is worth the careful perusal of 
 the reader. It is somewhat obscure both in its imme- 
 diate object and language : still, no one can fail to 
 perceive from it how distinctly in Lanfranc's judge- 
 ment, sacerdotal absolution and forgiveness of God 
 depended upon a previous confession. I shall quote 
 one sentence. " Visibilia sacramenta et operantur, et 
 significant invisibilia. In hoc cognoscimus quia de 
 occultis omni ecclesiastico ordini confiteri debemus ; 
 de apertis vero solis convenit sacerdotibus, per quos 
 ecclesia, quse publice novit, et solvit, et ligat." 26 
 
 There can be no doubt that here venial sins are 
 distinguished by the term occulta, from open, aperta 
 peccata; that is, (as his editor remarks) aperte mala. 
 In this sense the words of the venerable Bede are to 
 be understood in his commentary upon S. James : 
 where, first connecting, as equally indispensable, con- 
 fession and amendment with absolution, he thus speaks : 
 " Si ergo infirmi in peccatis sint, et haec presbyteris 
 ecclesiae confessi fuerint, ac perfecto corde ea relin- 
 quere atque emendare satagerint, dimittentur eis." 
 And he emphatically repeats this necessity of promise 
 of amendment, no less than of confession of the past. 
 " Neque enim sine confessione emendationis, peccata 
 queunt dimitti." And then he continues ; " Unde 
 
 ~' Opera. ;>. 08 1.
 
 188 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 recte subjungitur, Confitemini ergo alterutrum, etc. 
 In hac autem sententia, ilia debet esse discretio, ut 
 quotidiana leviaque peccata alterutrum coaequalibus 
 confiteamur, eorumque quotidiana credamus oratione 
 salvari. Porro gravioris leprae immunditiam juxta 
 legem sacerdotii pandamus, atque ad ejus arbitrium 
 qualiter et quanto tempore jusserit, purificare cure- 
 mus." c7 And Dachief upon the same place of Arch- 
 bishop Lanfranc cites the following from a contempora- 
 ry ; (Radulphus Ardens, A. D. 1 100 : the author of some 
 homilies :) much to the purpose : inasmuch as it suffici- 
 ently explains the exposition of Bede also. " Cui fieri 
 debet confessio ? Confessio criminalium debet fieri 
 sacerdoti, et nomination, qui solus habeat potestatem li- 
 gandi atque solvendi, sicut ut leprae judicium solis sa- 
 cerdotibus in lege erat commissum. Confessio vero 
 venialium, alterutri et cuilibet, etiam minori potest 
 fieri : quoniam propter venialia non separatur homo 
 a Deo, nisi per incuriam. Fit autem haec confessio, 
 non quod possit a peccatis absolvere, sed quia propter 
 propriam humiliationem, et peccatorum nostrorum 
 
 27 Opera, torn. 12. p. 201. In test, quotidiana confessionis et in- 
 
 epist. Jacobi. cap. v. tercessionis mutuae medicamenta 
 
 I would quote another place of concessit ; dicens per apostolum 
 
 Bede, to the same purpose : and Jacobum : Confitemini alteru- 
 
 with an evident allusion (as it trum peccata vestra, et orate 
 
 seems) to the public confessions pro inviceni ut salvemini. Ipse 
 
 and absolutions in divine service, rogari ut prsestet, admonet, qui 
 
 " Ipse [Dominus] levioribus quo- animos inopum ad se rogandum 
 
 tidianique nostris erratibus, sine largus donator erigit." Homil. 
 
 quibus hasc vita transigi non po- vij. torn. 5. p. 49.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 189 
 
 accusationem, mundamur a peccatis. Unde et non 
 dicimus : Ego dimitto tibi peccata tua ; sed dicimus 
 orando : Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, etc." 28 
 Here is a most plain reference, it may be further 
 remarked, to the general forms of absolution in the 
 public offices of the Church. 
 
 There are many parts of S. Anselm's works which 
 are concerned with the doctrine of repentance and 
 absolution. I can do no more than extract a few sen- 
 tences. In his fifth homily, upon a gospel from S. 
 Matthew, speaking of the cruel servant, he connects, 
 as an acknowledged truth, confession and repentance 
 in order to forgiveness. " Per confessionem ac poeni- 
 tentiam, dimisit ei debitum omne culparum." Again, 
 upon a gospel from S. Luke, and the healing of the 
 lepers. " Quos ut intuitu dementias vidit, dixit, Ite 
 ostendite vos sacerdotibus, id est, per humilem oris 
 confessionem sacerdotibus veraciter manifestate omnes 
 interioris lepraa vestrae maculas, ut mundari possitis. 
 Et quod rogabant, factum est eis dum irent ad sacer- 
 dotes ; quia, sc. mundati sunt ; quoniam peccatores, 
 licet gravi criminum lepra sint foedati, euntes tamen 
 ad confitendum purgantur in ipsa confessione propter 
 poenitentiam, quam acturi sunt. Dum irent, mundati 
 sunt ; quia ex quo iter hoc intrant, incipiunt operari 
 justitiam, et justitise operatic est eorum mundatio. 
 Dum irent, mundati sunt ; quia ex quo tendentes ad 
 confessionem et poenitentiam, tota deliberatione mentis 
 
 28 Cone, in lit. maj. cit. p. 384. Animadvers. L. Dacherii.
 
 190 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 peccata sua damnant, et deserunt ; liberantur ab eis in 
 conspectu intern! inspectoris. Perveniendum tamen 
 est ad sacerdotes, et ab eis quaerenda solutio ; ut qui 
 jam coram Deo sunt mundati, sacerdotum judicio etiam 
 hominibus ostendantur mundi." 29 
 
 Again, in his Meditations : a work which it would be 
 well for many of us most carefully to study : abound- 
 ing, as they do, with thoughts most pious and divine. 
 
 29 This passage of S. Anselm 
 leads me to say one word upon 
 a subject on which very much 
 might be and has been written ; 
 namely, the separate efficacy of 
 each act of the penitent and of 
 the priest towards the final com- 
 pletion of remission of sins in the 
 ordinance of absolution. The 
 schoolmen enquired very parti- 
 cularly into this, and, some of 
 them at least, attempted to define 
 it accurately. Hence for example 
 came the exact distinctions which 
 were insisted on between contri- 
 tion and attrition ; hence the en- 
 quiry how far the words of the 
 priest at last, when all was finished 
 and in his judgement sufficient, 
 declared rather than conveyed re- 
 mission. But whilst we must 
 lament that later writers have 
 availed themselves of these scho- 
 lastical disputations, to involve 
 the real matter in much obscurity, 
 by citing sometimes one author 
 and sometimes another, to prove 
 some heretical doctrine, yet the 
 fact remains perfectly undeniable 
 
 that none of them so treated ab- 
 solution as a whole, as to make it a 
 mere idle ceremony, effecting no- 
 thing, conveying nothing, remit- 
 ting nothing. The schoolmen be- 
 gan with the entire acceptance of 
 the great truth, that sacerdotal ab- 
 solution is an ordinance of Christ, 
 instituted by Him, and accom- 
 panied with His sure promise. 
 But, as I cannot discuss this now, 
 let me remind the reader of the 
 wise words of S. Bernard, to one 
 anxious to learn too minutely ; in 
 days when the speculations of the 
 schools were about to commence. 
 " Nunquid patribus doctiores aut 
 devotiores sumus ? Periculose 
 praesumimus quidquid ipsorum in 
 talibus prudentia prEeterivit. Nee 
 vero id tale est, quod nisi prseter- 
 eundum fuerit, patrum quiverit 
 omnino diligentiam prseteriisse." 
 Epist. 174. torn. 1. p. 170. Or, 
 about the same period, Hugo S. 
 Victor. " Quia de auctoritate 
 nihil habemus, de nostro sensu 
 nihil asserere de his audemus." 
 Summte, Tr, 6. cap. ix.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 1 9 1 
 
 S. Anselm thus speaks in the sixth. " Nullum est 
 enim tarn grave peccatum, quod non possit per pceni- 
 tentiam aboleri, ita ut nee jam amplius vel ipse diabo- 
 lus de eo valeat reminisci. Cernentes ergo peccatores 
 tantam dulcedinem creatoris sui, coeperunt et ipsi cer- 
 tatim ad fontem currere misericordiee, ad fontem pie- 
 tatis, et peccata sua in eo lavare. Ccepit autem et 
 ipse fons pietatis cum peccatoribus convesci, coepit eis 
 aperire sacramenta confessionis sanctse, per quam alle- 
 viatur omne onus peccati : quia in vera confessione 
 mundatur omnis macula delicti." In the same medi- 
 tation, how excellent are these words : upon the effi- 
 cacy, always, of a sincere repentance ; " Nullus ergo 
 peccator desperet, quando fornicata cum multis amato- 
 ribus recipitur, quia fons pietatis et misericordise Jesus 
 Christus, nullius [a/, nullis] iniquitatibus exhauritur, 
 nullius sceleribus polluitur ; sed semper purus et 
 abundans gratia dulcedinis, omnes ad se revertentes 
 infirmos et peccatores recipit ; et quibuscunque peccatis 
 sint maculati, abluit. Et ut certi sint omnes pecca- 
 tores et iniqui se veniam peccatorum suorum accipere, 
 si ipsa peccata sua curant dimitti et poenitentiam 
 agere ; ipse fons pietatis, pro amore quern erga nos 
 habebat, eandem camera quam pro eis sumpsit, sicut 
 superius exposui, pertulit crucifigi : ut qui erant pec- 
 catis mortui, nee aliter ad vitam redire poterant, nisi 
 pretio sanguinis ejus redempti, nullo modo desperent, 
 cernentes pretium quod est datum pro peccatis suis." 
 And, once more, still in the same meditation : " Latro 
 vero ille, qui pro suis sceleribus Tecum crucifixus est,
 
 192 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 usque ad ipsius animae exitum semper in peccatis fuit : 
 sed tamen in ipsa hora suae expirationis, quia sua mala 
 confessus est, et culpam clamavit, misericordiam inve- 
 nit : et Tecum in ipso die in paradise fuit." 30 
 
 30 Opera, p. 168. 185. 213. 
 
 I place in a note another pas- 
 sage ; from the Elucidarium, 
 which some doubt to be S. An- 
 selm's ; but, by whomsoever, a 
 contemporary work. " Discip. 
 Quid valet confessio ? Magister. 
 Quantum baptismus. Sicut enim 
 in baptismo originalia, ita in con- 
 fessione remittuntur peccata actu- 
 alia. D. Est etiam judicium ? M. 
 Duo sunt judicia Dei : unum hie 
 per confessionem ; aliud in ultimo 
 die per examinationem : in quo 
 ipse Deus judex erit, diabolus 
 accusator, homo reus. In isto 
 vero sacerdos, Christi vicarius, 
 judex ; homo et accusator et reus ; 
 poenitentia est sententia. Qui hie 
 judicatur, non ibi accusatur, ut 
 dicitur ; Non judicat Deus bis in 
 idipsum; et alibi; Si nos judi- 
 caremus non utique judicare- 
 mur" Lib. 2. cap. xix. Ibid. p. 
 475. 
 
 The following will serve to 
 illustrate S. Anselm's argument 
 from the example of the penitent 
 thief: part of a pious tract by a 
 contemporary of his own, upon 
 the last words of our Blessed 
 
 Lord. " Quasi plagarum et san- 
 guinis immemor, dictator evan- 
 gelii latro efficitur; et Christum 
 Deum in cruce fatetur ; ibi orat, 
 ibi adorat, multa simul pietatis of- 
 ficia complectitur. Credit, timet, 
 compungitur, et poenitet, confi- 
 tetur, et praedicat, amat, confidit, 
 et orat . . . Poenitentia concutitur, 
 confessione purgatur ; . . . Ne 
 irascaris, princeps apostolorum : 
 tibi dico, Petre, cui claves regni 
 coelorum commissae sunt .... 
 Nee ibi apostolica auctoritate ute- 
 ris, ubi ad invicem fixis juxta 
 crucibus privata miscent collo- 
 quia salvator et peccator. Ab- 
 sens eras, et ministerii tui claves 
 modo non prefers. Supplet vicem 
 tuam summus sacerdos .... 
 Inter cetera pietatis exempla, 
 latro noster nobis occurrit, poeni- 
 tentiae regula, confessionis forma, 
 indulgentiae praeco, spei exem- 
 plum: qui dura ingemit, subito 
 quod quserit invenit, quod petit 
 accipit, et ilico audit, Hodie me- 
 cum eris in paradiso." Arnold. 
 Carnotensis, in bibl. patr. torn, 
 22. p. 1266.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 193 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ET me now proceed, in this chapter, to of- 
 fer some general considerations, which, 
 although they may not be singly or alone 
 >f of sufficient weight to determine the ques- 
 tion which we have been discussing, are yet, as it 
 seems to me, not altogether valueless in confirmation 
 of what, I trust, has been shewn to be the teaching of 
 the church of England upon absolution. We all know 
 how satisfactory it often is to find that arguments from 
 other sources support doctrines and statements which 
 we are already prepared to receive ; or, on the other 
 hand to find, if difficulties may be suggested against 
 one opinion, that they are less and fewer in number 
 than may be produced against another opinion which 
 we may be called upon to accept instead. 
 
 It is said that sacerdotal absolution is not necessary 
 as a means of grace for the remission of sins, because 
 remission is to be received in the sacrament of the 
 Blessed Eucharist. As to its necessity, all through 
 this work from time to time I have repeated my 
 firm conviction that such absolution is not necessary
 
 194 Th e Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 for remission of sins ; in other words, that it is not 
 necessary to our salvation. But, if I am asked to ex- 
 plain to what extent in individual cases it is not neces- 
 sary, I should refuse to reply. It cannot but be the 
 duty of every minister in the church of England to 
 leave, as she has herself left, that question unanswered. 
 The Church in her ordinal speaking to those who 
 are being admitted into " the holy office of priesthood," 
 into that " high dignity and weighty charge," gives 
 them power to forgive and to retain sins ; in her 
 ritual she appoints a form of absolution, which, after 
 hearing the confession of the penitent, they are to use ; 
 she desires them to " move " the sick man to make a 
 special confession, if he feel his conscience troubled ; 
 she invites all who have unquiet consciences to go 
 to her ministers, and at their hands to receive by the 
 ministry of God's holy word the benefit of absolution. 
 Who then among us will attempt to distinguish, by 
 laying down general rules, when men ought and when 
 men ought not to avail themselves of this great privi- 
 lege and means of grace which God and His Church 
 offer them ? Who among us will venture to nullify the 
 exhortations which we are commanded to make, and 
 the warnings which it is our duty constantly to press, 
 by limiting the necessity of sacerdotal absolution ? 
 Our people have full liberty to resort to absolution or 
 not ; and, so far as the Church can say generally to 
 each, with a safe conscience. On the other hand they 
 are all invited, they are exhorted, they are to be moved, 
 to confess in order to receive absolution. There the
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 195 
 
 Church of England, with most wise moderation, leaves 
 the matter; there, as it seems to me, all her ministers 
 should leave it also. 
 
 I cannot enter into any enquiry which could possibly 
 do justice to the subject, how far the blessed eucharist 
 is rightly to be regarded as conveying remission of 
 sins to the truly repentant. It is obvious that, at least, 
 it must not be so looked upon, as to do away with alto- 
 gether, or even to interfere with, the due exercise and 
 proper effects of the ordinance of absolution. The 
 eucharist and absolution cannot both be " for the re- 
 mission of sins," in such a sense as to clash, the one 
 with the other. Nor do I remember that there is 
 evidence that the church of England teaches us that 
 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was especially 
 instituted for such a purpose. Let me not be misun- 
 derstood : I believe that in some most mysterious way, 
 as a seal, a consummation, a perfecting, the holy eu- 
 charist is a cleansing 1 of the soul ; an assurance of 
 remission ; a confirmation of complete and full for- 
 giveness. None can think otherwise who remember 
 Whose that Body is, and Whose that Blood, Which 
 then the penitent receives : but I shrink from a vain 
 trying to ascertain by what means and in what man- 
 ner, all this is so. 1 
 
 It is not to be forgotten that the great commentators 
 
 1 The reader will recollect how ner, if I may say so, as being a 
 the sacrament of baptism has partaking of the Body and the 
 been often spoken of in like man- Blood of Christ.
 
 1 96 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 from the first ages to the sixteenth century, S. Am- 
 brose, S. Augustine, S. Jerome, S. Chrysostom, or 
 Theophylact : or again, in later days, de Lyra, and 
 Hugo S. Charo, do not connect the text in S. Matt. ch. 
 xx vj. v. 28, with remission of sins in the sacrament of 
 the eucharist. Nor, a circumstance perhaps which 
 may have its peculiar weight with some persons, does 
 Erasmus in his paraphrase ; a work, at one time ex- 
 tensively circulated, under the sanction of high autho- 
 rity, among the people of the English church. 
 
 This last author says of the institution of the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper, commenting upon the verse 
 alluded to ; " Wherein the Lorde Jesus, deliuering 
 his body wyllynly vnto death, and shedynge his bloude, 
 went aboute to dense the synnes of the whole worlde, 
 reconcylynge vnto God all men frely, whosoeuer wold 
 professe this leage of the newe testamente .... But 
 leaste so greate a benefyte myghte go out of mennes 
 myndes, or leaste they myght forget the holy leage 
 once entred, and the authoure of theyr healthe also, he 
 dyd institute and ordayne that with often communion 
 of the holy breade, and of the cup, the memory shuld 
 be renewed amonge the professoures of the euangelicall 
 lawe." 
 
 And, if it be enquired, what then is the object and 
 effect of the eucharist, we shall not be at a loss to an- 
 swer. Although an assurance of remission were, as it 
 ought not to be, altogether put away from our thoughts, 
 in connexion with that great sacrament, yet how 
 manifold are the blessings of which it is the efficient
 
 The Doctrine of sib solution. 197 
 
 cause by the promise of our Lord. Many and infinite, 
 I say, the blessings, even though we dwell not at all 
 upon the Sacrifice and Service which, in and by the 
 holy eucharist, the Church of Christ continually offers 
 to the Almighty Father. 2 But let us listen to our Church 
 herself. 
 
 It is observable, that (as was just observed) the 
 church of England does not specify remission of sins 
 as the end, or even one end and purpose of the eucha- 
 rist. In earlier times she frequently explained her 
 doctrine on this head. For example : in 1220. " De 
 effectu eucharistice. Vis autem, et virtus, et effectus 
 hujus sacramenti verbis Domini evidenter exprimitur : 
 ' Hie panis, quern ego dabo vobis, caro mea est, pro 
 mundi vita ; caro mea vere est cibus, et sanguis meus 
 vere est potus. Et si quis manducaverit carnem meam, 
 et biberit meum sanguinem, vivet in seternum.' " 3 And 
 
 2 Or, again, the Eucharist is So also, in the Homily " con- 
 
 our great giving of thanks : as cerning the sacrament." In it, 
 
 the very name implies. So, by we are told, " this is not esteemed 
 
 the way, Lyndwood. " Eucha- least, to render thanks to Almighty 
 
 ristia. Istud est sacramentum God for all His benefits ; . . . the 
 
 progredientium, unde et viaticum which thing, because we ought 
 
 dicitur. Et dicitur eucharistia, chiefly at this Table to solemnize, 
 
 ab ev quod est bonum, et \apie the godly fathers named it Eu- 
 
 quod est gratia, unde eucharistia, charistia : as if they should have 
 
 i. e. bona gratia, vel gratiarum said, Now above all other times 
 
 actio." Lib. i. tit. 7. Ignorantia. ye ought to laud and praise 
 
 On the contrary, baptism is " sa- God." 
 
 cramentum introeuntium." Con- 3 Wilkins. Concilia, torn. i. p. 
 
 firmation ; " pugnantium." Ab- 578. 
 solution ; " redeuntium."
 
 198 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 so, in many places, at greater length. But we have 
 now to deal rather with later expositions. 
 
 The first Book of 1549, following the order of com- 
 munion of 1548, not only in its exhortation before 
 communion spoke to the people of the "meritorious 
 Cross and Passion, whereby alone we obtain remission 
 of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of 
 heaven ; " but also it went on to say ; " whereof we be 
 assured and ascertained, if we come to the said sacra- 
 ment with hearty repentance, steadfast faith, etc." This 
 was afterwards removed. 4 
 
 We are now told that " God hath given His Son not 
 only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and 
 sustenance in that holy sacrament/' Again ; " that 
 our duty is to receive the communion in remembrance 
 of the sacrifice of His death : " that, " if with a true 
 penitent heart we receive that holy sacrament, then 
 we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ, and drink His 
 Blood ; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us ; we 
 are one with Christ, and Christ with us : " and that 
 " these holy mysteries are ordained, as pledges of His 
 love, to our great and endless comfort." Here there 
 
 4 I have been again and again church of England. It is, to me, 
 
 much struck with the circumstance questionable whether at the time, 
 
 that one or two alterations in the namely 1552, the effect of such 
 
 way both of omission and of addi- alterations was either foreseen or 
 
 tion which have been made from meant by man. Take the present 
 
 the book of 1549, are not to be instance as an example. The 
 
 explained, except by the acknow- sentence in the text could not 
 
 ledgement of the ever superin- have been misunderstood in 1549: 
 
 tending hand of God, over the after 1552 it might have been.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 199 
 
 is not only no mention made of remission of sins 
 as an effect and especial grace of the eucharist, but all 
 persons are moreover warned and exhorted " to come 
 holy and clean to such a heavenly Feast," to come " in 
 the marriage garment required by God;" to come 
 and " be received as worthy partakers of that holy 
 Table." 
 
 Most true it is that in a spirit of deep humility, we 
 pray to the Father just before the Prayer of Consecra- 
 tion, that we may " so eat the Flesh of His dear Son ? 
 Jesus Christ, and drink His Blood, that our sinful bodies 
 may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed 
 through His most precious Blood." But this is in that 
 sense, and in that sense only, of which I have already 
 spoken above : a sense in which it cannot contradict, 
 as otherwise perhaps it might, the plain teaching of 
 the Church in other places. A sense also, such as 
 that in which the early Church at Csesarea prayed at 
 a like time and occasion. "u o &eog ri 
 
 K7TO 7TOC.VTOS 
 
 rrniXtiv tv <pofiu <rcv." Or, as in the Syriac 
 liturgy of S. James ; " Grant, O Lord, that our 
 bodies may be sanctified by Thy Holy Body, and our 
 souls purified by Thy propiatory Blood : " or, as in 
 the canon of the old Sarum and Hereford missals ; 
 " Domine, sancte Pater, ... da mini hoc sacrosanctum 
 corpus et sanguinem ita digne sumere : ut merear per 
 hoc remissionem omnium peccatorum meorum acci- 
 pere." 
 
 Again, take the catechism : upon the sacrament of
 
 200 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 the Lord's Supper. " Question. What are the benefits 
 whereof we are partakers thereby ? Answer. The 
 strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body 
 and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread 
 and Wine." Not a word, or an allusion even, of for- 
 giveness of sins. 
 
 Once more, the Homilies. " We must be sure to 
 hold, that in the Supper of the Lord, there is no vain 
 ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing 
 absent ; But, as the scripture saith, the table of the 
 Lord, . . . the communion of the Body and Blood of 
 the Lord, in a marvellous incorporation, which by the 
 operation of the Holy Ghost (the very bond of our 
 conjunction with Christ} is through faith wrought in 
 the souls of the faithful, whereby not only their souls 
 live to eternal life, but they surely trust to win their 
 bodies a resurrection to immortality. The true under- 
 standing of this fruition and union, . . . the ancient 
 fathers both perceiving themselves, and commending 
 to their people, were not afraid to call this Supper, 
 some of them, the salve of immortality, and sovereign 
 preservative against death ; other, a deifical commu- 
 nion ; other, the sweet dainties of our Saviour, the 
 pledge of eternal health, the defence of faith, the hope 
 of the resurrection ; other, the food of immortality, the 
 healthful grace, and the conservatory to everlasting 
 life. All which sayings both of the holy Scripture and 
 godly men, truly attributed to this celestial banquet 
 and feast, O how would they inflame our hearts to 
 desire the participation of these mysteries, and often-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 201 
 
 times to covet after this bread, continually to thirst for 
 this food!" 5 It is strange that there should be no 
 mention of forgiveness of sins, as an especial grace 
 conveyed by the holy eucharist, if that forgiveness in 
 its proper meaning be indeed an end and purpose of 
 that sacrament. 
 
 I have been led further, perhaps, than is required of 
 me now, in my observations upon the teaching of our 
 Church in this matter. I am nevertheless confident, 
 that on account of its manifest importance, the reader 
 will pardon me, even though I have done no more than 
 offered some suggestions which he can follow on for 
 himself. With regard to the immediate subject of 
 this dissertation, objections based upon the doctrine of 
 "forgiveness of sins" in the eucharist, can not be 
 brought against my interpretation of the three forms of 
 
 5 The first part of the Sermon immortalitatem, et per quam con- 
 concerning the Sacrament. jungimur,unimur,etincorporamur 
 
 And I would quote also the Christo, ut nos in illo maneamus, 
 
 apology of bishop Jewell : in which et ille in nobis .... Eucharistiam 
 
 the omission of all reference to esse sacramentum, . . . ut de ejus 
 
 remission of sins in the Eucharist morte et nostra liberatione gratias 
 
 is equally to be remarked. " Di- agamus, et frequentatione sacra- 
 
 serte pronunciamus in Coena ere- mentorum [sz'c] ejus rei memori- 
 
 dentibus vere exhiberi Corpus et am assidue renovemus. Ut vero 
 
 Sanguinem Domini, Camera Filii Christi Corpore et Sanguine ala- 
 
 Dei, vivificantem animas nostras, mur, in spem resurrectionis et 
 
 cibum superne venientem, immor- vitae seternae, utque pro certissimo 
 
 talitatis alimoniam, gratiam, veri- habeamus, id esse animis nostris 
 
 tatem, vitam : eamque communio- alendis Corpus et Sanguinem 
 
 nem esse Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, quod alendis corporibus 
 
 Christi, cujus participatione vivifi- est panis et vinum." 
 camur, vegetamur, et pascimur ad
 
 202 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 absolution in our Prayer-book, by those who argue, with 
 Wheatly, that such remission is conveyed to sincere 
 penitents by the so called absolutions either of the 
 daily prayers, or of the liturgy. It may, perhaps, be 
 consistently urged by persons who deny or explain 
 away entirely the grace of sacerdotal absolution ; by 
 those who would have us believe that the power of the 
 keys the power of remitting and of retaining sins ; 
 the power of loosing and of binding ; is exercised 
 only by promulgating and preaching the gospel, or 
 by administering baptism and the Lord's Supper, and 
 by no other way. But with these I am not now con- 
 cerned. It is sufficient to know and to repeat that, 
 of whatever value such an argument from the nature 
 and effects of the blessed eucharist may be, it cannot 
 be adopted by those who insist that absolutions fol- 
 lowing upon "general confessions" convey and seal 
 pardon and remission of sins : unless, and the as- 
 sumption is so monstrous that it does not demand refu- 
 tation, unless they assert that a general confession 
 and absolution is an essential part of the Service of 
 the eucharist. 
 
 Nor must I fail to remark, that whatever comfort 
 and consolation and hope we may derive from the 
 doctrine, if it be indeed true, of remission of sins in 
 the eucharist, as an effect and especial grace of that 
 sacrament, these may be both claimed and admitted 
 by all who deny, with me, that that remission is con- 
 veyed by the general absolution. Though we do not 
 forget the remarkable silence on the subject which
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 203 
 
 has been shown to be observed by our Church, we 
 cannot but remember also how much there is in the 
 fathers which, to say the least, looking that way will 
 make us long hesitate before we reject such hope and 
 comfort altogether. At any rate, in the present con- 
 dition both of ourselves, the clergy, and of our people, 
 we must not be too hasty in laying out harsh systems 
 of theology : but rather, whilst we are careful never to 
 be lulled into vain hopes and a false security, we may 
 rely upon the general promises of God made to us in 
 holy scripture, and upon reasonable deductions from 
 those promises ; more especially if they receive some 
 warrant from the writings of men who lived in purer 
 days ; who lived when Christianity was not so widely 
 known as a name more than a reality ; who lived when 
 godly discipline was not so relaxed, as to oblige our 
 Church publicly, and for three hundred years vainly, 
 in the hearing of all her people to wish that it might 
 be restored again. 
 
 The proofs which may be adduced from the lan- 
 guage of our Ordinal are not to be overlooked. In 
 some way, and to some extent, the words " Receive 
 ye the Holy Ghost ; whose soever sins ye remit, they 
 are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye 
 retain, they are retained," must have (as I have said 
 elsewhere) some bearing upon the doctrine of absolu- 
 tion. Were it otherwise, if, that is, they were sounds 
 only and signifying nothing, how strange a mockery, 
 nay, how detestable would be the blasphemy of that 
 language, which idly and without meaning, upon the
 
 204 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 solemnity of ordination, dares to repeat those words ! 
 to repeat them, not idly, but deliberately and as com- 
 municating power : not as recording some historical 
 truth, that such an authority was once given to the 
 apostles, but as claiming for those who speak the same 
 authority to themselves, the successors of the apostles, 
 and delivering it to whom they will. 
 
 Now, without disputing against persons, if there be 
 any, who deny that this part of our Ordinal is to be re- 
 ferred to any exercise of the power of absolution, they, 
 for whom especially these pages are written, will allow 
 as fully as I can myself, that it does relate to that or- 
 dinance, and to the forms of absolution in our Com- 
 mon prayer-book. I would have them recollect there- 
 fore what the teaching of the church of England was 
 in the sixteenth century, just before the reformation. 
 Then, as now, there were in her service-books general 
 confessions and general absolutions ; then, as now, 
 there was in her ritual a form of absolution after con- 
 fessions special and distinct. Nor is there any doubt 
 whatever, that in the last case only did the church of 
 England believe, whether clergy or people, that the 
 true power of absolution was actually exercised. 
 
 How, at that same period, stood the ancient ordi- 
 nal ? After some prayers and a proper Preface, the 
 Order for the ordination of priests directed the bishop 
 first to give them authority to consecrate and to bless. 
 
 " Consecratio manuum sacerdotis. Consecrare et 
 sanctificare digneris, Domine, manus istas per istam 
 unctionem et nostram benedictionem, ut qusecunque
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 205 
 
 consecraverint consecrentur, et qusecunque benedixe- 
 rint benedicantur, et sanctificentur, in nomine Domini 
 nostri, Jesu Christi." 
 
 Then power to offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist. 
 
 " Accipe potestatem offerre sacrificium Deo, mis- 
 samque celebrare tarn pro vivis quam pro defunctis. 
 In nomine Domini Jesu Christi." 
 
 After this the holy communion, in which Service 
 (as now) ordinations were performed, was continued, 
 until immediately before the post-communion. Then 
 it was directed ; 
 
 " Antequam dicatur post-communio, ponat episco- 
 pus manus suas super capita singulorum, dicens : 
 
 Accipe Spiritum Sanctum : quorum remiseris pec- 
 cata, remittuntur eis; et quorum retinueris, retenta 
 erunt." 6 
 
 The omissions which were made in this part of the 
 Ordinal in 1549 are most observable. The separate 
 delivery of powers to consecrate and bless, and to offer 
 the sacrifice of the Eucharist, was withdrawn : and 
 the office of the priesthood in those respects was com- 
 mitted to the candidate, with imposition of hands, by 
 the words alone ; " Receive the Holy Ghost." But 
 express power was given in regard to absolution : 
 " Whose sins" it was instantly added " thou dost for- 
 give, they are forgiven, and whose sins thou dost re- 
 tain, they are retained." It was not until 1662 that 
 the very proper Form was introduced, " Receive the 
 
 Monuraenta ritualia. vol. 3. p. 213220.
 
 206 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest now com- 
 mitted unto thee by the imposition of our hands." 
 
 Was there, I would ask, in the year 1549, has 
 there ever been since then, in any alterations of the 
 Ordinal of the church of England, the most remote 
 hint that the priestly power of loosing and binding, 
 of remitting and of retaining, was no longer, as of old, 
 to be exercised in right of this distinct commission ? 
 or, again, that it was in future to be exercised according 
 to a wider fashion, and in a totally different manner ? 
 no longer, that is, after private and full confession, 
 but by the utterance of the precatory and declaratory 
 public forms retained in the liturgy and in the daily 
 offices ? 
 
 Great as were some of the alterations then made 
 in the doctrine and in the discipline of the English 
 church, none were greater than this change would 
 have been as to the doctrine of absolution. And yet, 
 not only are people, who assert that a change was made, 
 unable to tell us to what amount exactly the alteration 
 reached, but they cannot prove even an appearance 
 of authoritative change at all. Whilst, on the other 
 hand, we place before them the ritual, the daily pray- 
 ers, the liturgy, the ordinal, all now continuing the 
 ancient observances of general confessions, and private 
 and particular absolutions, and the ancient commis- 
 sion to forgive sins or to retain them ; and we further 
 ask, why are we not to understand and to interpret all 
 according also to the same ancient doctrine ? 
 
 Even if this clause, in like manner with the others,
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 207 
 
 had been omitted, so that the form had simply been 
 as settled in 1662, " Receive the Holy Ghost for the 
 office and work of a priest in the church of God, now 
 committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands," 
 yet this would have been but a return to an earlier 
 practice, which had prevailed in our Church until 
 about the llth century. Up to that period the form 
 at ordination of priests did not in particular specify 
 this power of forgiving and of retaining sins. This 
 circumstance could not have been unknown to the 
 revisers of our Ordinal in 1552 ; and the fact (as 
 I have before remarked) that they retained the clause, 
 coupled with the then known and received doctrine of 
 sacerdotal absolution, is most significant. 
 
 Probably some of my readers are aware that a 
 somewhat difficult question is involved in this addi- 
 tion, joined as it anciently was, in the ordinals of the 
 church of England before the reformation, with a 
 second imposition of hands ; which second imposition 
 some foreign theologians have pronounced to be essen- 
 tial. Into this we need not now enter. I may be ex- 
 cused however, in repeating here (from another work) 
 one observation : that " the true explanation of the 
 difficulty is, that there being inherent in the priestly 
 office power over both the mystical and the eucha- 
 ristical body of Christ, power, that is, to consecrate 
 the sacred elements of Bread and Wine, and power 
 to rule and to absolve the living members of the 
 Church militant, this power is given entirely and at 
 once by the single imposition of hands. It was very
 
 208 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 wise in the revisers of our ordinal not to omit this 
 clause, Whose sins thou dost forgive, etc. and it was 
 equally wise and accordant with all ancient precedent 
 both of opinion and practice, by uniting the two forms 
 and restoring the one imposition of hands, to remove 
 doubts and difficulties upon this point." 7 
 
 And as, upon the one side, we can argue from 
 ancient forms and rites which have been retained in 
 our Church, so, upon the other side, we may derive, 
 at least, illustration from the rejection of the same 
 rites by societies which separated from the Church 
 about the 16th century. For example : the Middel- 
 burg " Booke of common prayers, etc" in 1586, does 
 not pretend in its ordinal, (so to call it) to convey a 
 power to forgive or to retain sins. " The reformed 
 churches" for whose use this Book was drawn up, and 
 by whom it was very largely used not only abroad but 
 in England, did not believe in absolution, in the sense 
 in which the catholic Church has always accepted that 
 term ; therefore it would have been idle to have al- 
 luded to it in their book for public worship. Their 
 order was this : 
 
 " After that, he [the pastor elect] is to be ordained 
 by the laying on of the hands of the eldership of that 
 congregation, and the ministers appointed for that 
 purpose, whereof one is to pronounce these words : 
 According to this lawful calling, agreeable to the word 
 of God, whereby thou art chosen pastor in the name 
 
 T Ibid. p. 221.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 209 
 
 of God, stand thou charged with the pastoral charge 
 of this people, over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
 thee overseer, to govern this flock of God, which He 
 hath purchased with His blood." 
 
 Again, in exactly the same way and for the same 
 reasons, absolution being rejected, the form of ordain- 
 ing ministers according to John Knox's well known 
 book, afterwards adopted by the kirk of Scotland, 
 makes no claim to the power of forgiving sins. 
 " Prayer ended, the rest of the ministers, if any be 
 elders of that church, present, in signe of their con- 
 sent shall take the elected by the hand. The chiefs 
 minister shall give the benediction asfolloweth. God 
 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath com- 
 manded his gospel to be preached to the comfort of 
 his elect, and hath called thee to the office of a watch- 
 man ouer his people, multiplie his graces with thee, 
 illuminate thee with his Holy Spirit, comfort and 
 strengthen thee in al vertue, gouerne and guide thy 
 ministry to the praise of his holy name, to the propa- 
 gation of Christ's kingdome, to the comfort of his 
 church, and finally to the plaine discharge and assu- 
 rance of thy owne conscience, in the day of the Lord 
 Jesus; to whom, etc." 8 
 
 I shall not delay about any other Books of public 
 prayer of a like kind ; the above will sufficiently shew 
 the purpose for which they have been mentioned. 
 There is one other Book of common-prayer formed 
 
 8 Edit. Edinbvrgh. 1611. 8vo. Cum privilegio. 
 P
 
 2io The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 upon the model of our own Book, to which it were 
 much to be wished that reference might be made in 
 this matter of absolution, with the same satisfaction 
 which we can derive from it in some other respects. 
 I speak now of the Prayer-book of the Church in the 
 United States which is in communion with us. To 
 say that she has " surrendered" the power of remit- 
 ting and of retaining left by our Lord to His Church, 
 would be to assert that " she has cut herself from the 
 Catholic Church of Christ, and therein from Christ 
 Himself." And the American Church has not sur- 
 rendered it. In the Preface it is most distinctly de- 
 clared that " this Church is far from intending to 
 depart from the church of England in any essential 
 point of doctrine, discipline, or worship." And in 
 her Ordinal, for priests, she retains the same form at 
 imposition of hands which we use. But there follows, 
 " Or this : Take thou authority to execute the office 
 of a priest in the Church of God, now committed to 
 thee by the imposition of our hands ; and be thou a 
 faithful dispenser of the word of God and of His holy 
 sacraments ; in the Name, etc." 
 
 Now I have already said that this is, to all intents 
 and purposes whatever, a full, sufficient, and valid 
 form. Yet, it would have been well not to have given 
 an option between two forms : not also, as it were, so 
 to have distinguished the two, as to point out, and, by 
 pointing out, to leave apparently indifferent the de- 
 livery of this commission. Nor is this all. In the ad- 
 monition before communion, persons who are troubled
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 211 
 
 in conscience are desired to come to the minister that 
 they may receive godly counsel and advice ; but the 
 words " and the benefit of absolution" are left out. 
 Nor is this all. In the visitation of the sick, there is 
 no order given that the sick man should be " moved 
 to confess," if he feel the weight of any grievous sin : 
 and the absolution which ought to follow upon such 
 confession is omitted also. 
 
 What are we to say to all this ? if there is not a 
 " surrender" of the power, and it clearly is not sur- 
 rendered, | has there not been an attempt improperly 
 to check the] exercise of it, nay, more, to conceal it ? 
 Compare the American book with our own : and what 
 must both priests and people think of alterations such 
 as these ? In the Preface it is further said, that by 
 such a comparison the reasons of all changes " will, it 
 is to be hoped, appear." What reason was there, why 
 the American church should have recommended with 
 a less firm voice than the church of England ever has, 
 the duty, under certain circumstances, of receiving 
 the benefit of absolution, or should not as openly have 
 provided for the fulfilment of it ? We may thank 
 God that He has not permitted our church thus to 
 hesitate and give offence : for it is a cause of offence 
 when a branch of the universal Church speaks with a 
 dubious voice : claiming and holding fast upon the 
 one hand, neglecting and hiding upon the other. It 
 may be worldly wisdom to endeavour so to gain an 
 end : it is not, in its proper acceptation, . worldly 
 honesty, and it is not most certainly the wisdom of the
 
 212 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Gospel. Nothing can excuse, as it seems to me, even 
 an appearance of prevarication in the statement of 
 chief doctrines of the Faith : we ought to have some 
 means of knowing what all bodies of professing Chris- 
 tians hold, and what they do not hold. Let then 
 the American church speak out : let her tell us, so 
 that no man can misunderstand her, whether she be- 
 lieves the same doctrine of absolution with the church 
 of England and the Church catholic, or, whether she 
 rejects that doctrine with the presbyterian kirk of 
 Scotland, and the protestants abroad. 
 
 We will now pass on from this enquiry into the old 
 and modern ordinals of the Church : it is a question 
 which, mixed up as it is with the true doctrine of 
 absolution, could not have been rightly disregarded 
 altogether : and, well considered, there is not a little 
 with which it supplies us towards the object which we 
 have had in view. 
 
 It has been objected against my Visitation Sermon, 
 that I have there said that a deacon may pronounce 
 the "absolution" at morning and evening prayer: 
 but it was not so. Neither, I hope, would such an 
 assertion be deliberately made by any one, in the face 
 of the rubric " by the priest, alone" My argument 
 was, and I again insist upon it, that we cannot argue, 
 as some will, for any sacerdotal character to be espe- 
 cially attributed to that absolution, " solely on account 
 of common practice, and the wording of the rubric." 
 Because, if it were an argument, we ought equally to 
 conclude that no deacon ought to say the versicles
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 213 
 
 after the creed, or the beginning of the Service of the 
 holy communion. There is little doubt I suppose that 
 where our Church in her rubrics says priest, she 
 means priest : and also, that it was never contemplated 
 that a deacon should have the charge of a parish, or, 
 alone, should say the daily prayers publicly in the 
 congregation. But many things have been forced 
 upon the Church, contrary to her orders and desire. 
 This permission of the ministry of a deacon is one 
 example : yet not such an one, as that we must of 
 necessity conclude that because deacons do not pro- 
 nounce this " absolution," therefore the Church herself 
 by the words in the rubric, the priest, alone, intended 
 the absolution to be an exercise of " the power of the 
 keys," and a conveyance of remission of sins to the 
 truly penitent. 
 
 And I am borne out in this view of the rubric by 
 an author already cited above, Warner ; in his illus- 
 tration of the Common-prayer. He says : " The word 
 minister and the word priest, are in this, and other 
 offices, used promiscuously. For if the word priest, 
 must necessarily be restrained to mean one in priest's 
 orders," [as, I presume, with all submission to Mr. 
 Warner, it necessarily must be,] " then a deacon must 
 not say the part intended for the minister in the ver- 
 sicles after the Lord's prayer, no, nor the Lord's 
 prayer itself, nor many other parts of the Liturgy, 
 which are expressly appointed to be said by the priest, 
 and yet nobody I believe questions, but what a deacon 
 may say. And indeed in all the common-prayer
 
 214 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 books in king Edward's and queen Elizabeth's time, 
 nay, from the first inserting the form of absolution, 
 till after the restoration of king Charles the second, 
 the word minister was the word made use of in this 
 rubrick : which shews, that the compilers intended no 
 distinction of orders, but that the people should not 
 join in it. And according to this intention, in the 
 proceedings of the ecclesiastical commissioners in 
 1689, it was determined ' that the absolution may be 
 red by a deacon, and that the word priest in the rubric 
 should be changed into minister"' 
 
 Here, being on the subject of objections charged 
 against my Sermon, let me observe upon the use 
 which was therein made of the term sacrament, as 
 applied to other ordinances and means of grace ap- 
 pointed by our Blessed Lord, than to those only of 
 baptism and the eucharist, 
 
 I am not now about to enter into a discussion as to 
 the liberty which the church of England permits of 
 the use of the term, sacrament. No one can deny 
 that she does not herself restrict it to the two great 
 ordinances of baptism and the supper of the Lord. 
 She teaches us that those two are sacraments gene- 
 
 o 
 
 rally necessary to salvation : she teaches us that con- 
 firmation, orders, absolution, matrimony, are sacra- 
 ments, because they are means of spiritual aid and of 
 the conveyance of God's grace to those who desire to 
 receive them : still, not sacraments in the same sense 
 in which baptism and the eucharist alone are. And 
 if we acknowledge that all these ordinances are indeed
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 215 
 
 means of spiritual aid, by which upon the one part 
 we receive, and upon the other part the Almighty 
 Saviour conveys, His grace, then it is in one respect 
 a very light matter by what term we call them. Then 
 we may well say, as did bishop Andrewes ; " the 
 whole matter is a meere Xoyo^a.^a. : if the thing were 
 agreed upon, we should not strive for the name." 9 
 
 9 Answer to cardinal Perron, 
 xvj. 
 
 I do not care to give quotations 
 from individual writers in our 
 Church since the reformation, who 
 have commonly used the term sa- 
 crament of other ordinances he- 
 sides baptism and the eucharist, 
 following the doctrine of the pri- 
 mitive fathers ; and for the same 
 reason, because they are sacra- 
 ments. And being sacraments 
 (unless we can be bold enough to 
 say that the church may make 
 them at her will, which would be 
 heresy,) they must all have been 
 instituted and ordained by Christ 
 Himself, either immediately by 
 His own mouth, or, mediately, by 
 the mouth and teaching of His 
 apostles. 
 
 The cause why, in later years 
 and under a system of very loose 
 theology, the term sacrament has 
 been (if I may say so) avoided, is, 
 at least I can find no other cause, 
 from a misapprehension of that 
 part of the xxv th article, beginning 
 " Those five commonly called sa- 
 craments." Now, even this clause 
 
 does not say they are no longer 
 to be so " commonly called," but 
 that, whether so called or not, 
 they " have not the like nature of 
 sacraments with baptism and the 
 Lord's supper ; for that they have 
 not any visible sign or ceremony 
 ordained of God." Whether, if 
 these sacraments had a visible 
 sign ordained of God, they would 
 then have the like nature with 
 baptism or the Lord's supper, the 
 article does not determine : it 
 states the fact, and draws its con- 
 clusion, a very just one, and, as 
 it seems to me, not the only one 
 upon which we can rely, for the 
 great truth that (for example) 
 confirmation and orders are not 
 ordinances having " the like na- 
 ture of sacraments with baptism 
 and the Lord's supper." 
 
 No one, I suppose, would pre- 
 tend to say that this same 25th 
 article is clearly worded. If it 
 were, there would be no disputes 
 about the exact meaning of it. 
 For instance : as to confirmation 
 being " a corrupt following of the 
 apostles." The practice of it might
 
 2 1 6 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 But in another respect it involves important con- 
 sequences : if the thing is not agreed upon, then the 
 
 be made to be so ; or, if it was 
 held to have the like nature of a 
 sacrament with baptism : but " a 
 corrupt following of the apostles " 
 it cannot possibly be, in any sense 
 which shall contradict the teach- 
 ing of the Church in her Prayer- 
 book. In that Book, unless con- 
 firmation is, as I believe it to be, 
 " an effectual sign of grace, and 
 of God's good will towards us, by 
 the which He doth work invisibly 
 in us, and doth not only quicken, 
 but also strengthen and confirm 
 our faith in Him;" if, I say, 
 confirmation be not this, it is, as 
 practised in our Church, some- 
 thing worse than a mockery and 
 pretence. 
 
 So, also, of absolution : if the 
 Prayer-book teach sound doctrine, 
 and does not play with one of the 
 most awful and solemn ordinances 
 of the holy gospel ; if it does not 
 play with and make a jest of the 
 power given to His Church by 
 our Blessed Saviour to remit 
 and to retain sins ; if, in a word, 
 the church of England has neither 
 two faces nor a double tongue ; 
 we must not so interpret the 25th 
 article as to make her practice of 
 absolution to be " a corrupt fol- 
 lowing of the apostles." 
 
 That the word " sacraments " 
 even by the article is not limited 
 
 to baptism and the eucharist, may 
 perhaps be argued from its own 
 words. " The sacraments were 
 not ordained of Christ to be gazed 
 upon, etc." We all know against 
 what abuse this was especially 
 directed. But who ever heard of 
 the sacrament of baptism being 
 " gazed upon or carried about?" 
 Much more weighty in its bear- 
 ing is the answer in the cate- 
 chism : " two only, as generally 
 necessary to salvation, etc." Nor 
 would the church of England have 
 said that Orders is not a sacra- 
 ment in one and a most true sense 
 no less necessary than baptism or 
 the eucharist : necessary, that is, 
 not to the salvation of any indi- 
 vidual, but necessary to the whole 
 Church. I know not that she has 
 ever altered her teaching upon 
 this point, since the time when, in 
 the Necessary Doctrine, she de- 
 clared ; " The sacrament of order, 
 although it be not commanded to 
 any particular man as necessary 
 for the attaining of everlasting 
 life, yet in the Church, which is 
 the mystical body of Christ, it 
 hath a necessity, to the intent that 
 by ministers duly placed there 
 may be due spiritual fathers for 
 spiritual generation." formula- 
 ries, p. 293.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 2 1 7 
 
 name is not so lightly to be used. Nor did I use it 
 lightly : knowing that the ordinances of orders and 
 absolution, for example, are believed by some to be 
 nothing except the very merest, simplest, ceremonies ; 
 knowing, moreover, that the church of England 
 estimates them much higher and looks on them with a 
 much more mysterious and solemn regard ; knowing 
 that in the first of these our Church believes that the 
 Holy Ghost is given unto men that they may execute 
 the work of priests in the Church of God ; that in the 
 second, duly received and administered, remission of 
 mortal sin is conveyed and assurance of forgiveness, 
 and a restoring to a state of justification ; knowing, 
 I say, this, I used and shall continue to use the term, 
 Sacrament, advisedly and with deliberate purpose. 
 
 Fully relying, as by the grace of God I do, on the 
 complete truth of the doctrines of the church of Eng- 
 land, I employ the word, Sacrament, when writing of 
 such ordinances as absolution, with the same intent 
 and for the same reason, that some persons use the 
 names " rite" and " ceremony" when they speak of 
 Holy Baptism or the Eucharist. They are consistent, 
 and so, I trust, am I also. They use those terms, be- 
 cause, denying the great gift of spiritual regeneration, 
 and of spiritual sustenance by the eating the Flesh 
 of Christ and by the drinking His Blood, they deny 
 also in every real sense those ordinances to be anything 
 beyond " rites" and " ceremonies." I use the term 
 sacrament, of absolution, because, accepting the teach- 
 ing of the church of England, I believe that an ordi-
 
 2i 8 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 nance which conveys remission of mortal sins, must 
 be, and ought in reason to be called, something far 
 beyond a ceremony or rite. 
 
 It is not well to pass over, without any remark at 
 all, the xvith of the 39 articles, Of sin after baptism. 
 As it now is in the English version, it does not seem to 
 me that any argument for or against can be based on it, 
 towards determining the sense of the church of Eng- 
 land upon the doctrine of absolution. We need not 
 touch upon the clauses which were distinctly directed 
 against the heresy of the Lutherans that justification, 
 gratia data, cannot be lost except faith be lost also ; 
 or of the Calvinists that it absolutely is not to be lost 
 at all by those who, being among the elect, have once 
 received it. As to the remainder of the article, if it was 
 not directed against a heresy which, something like that 
 of the Novatians of old, refused hope of forgiveness 
 by God to those who should sin wilfully after baptism, 
 and I do not remember that this was a heresy of 
 the sixteenth century, it appears as it stands in the 
 English and in the common acceptation of the term 
 " repentance, 5 ' to be little more than a simple enuncia- 
 tion of undeniable truths. No one would pretend that 
 every deadly sin after baptism is the sin in its nature 
 unpardonable, the sin against the Holy Ghost ; or, if 
 he listens to the dictates of natural reason confirmed 
 as they are by the obvious meaning of numberless 
 passages in Scripture, would assert that baptized men 
 may not repent after the commission of wilful sin. 
 
 But, when we turn to the Latin text of the articles
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 219 
 
 and, if we can do so, throw ourselves back into the 
 times when they were agreed upon, remembering 1 the 
 opinions and common language of those days also, we 
 may see this 16th article under another aspect. I do 
 not say that it must be, but that it rightly may be, so 
 looked upon. And if it may, then, remembering no 
 less the wild enthusiasm of that age, we shall find that 
 there was ample cause why such an article should be 
 included with the rest. Then the terms " peccatum 
 mortale" as opposed toveniale, " irremissibile," "lap- 
 sis a baptismo," " locus pcenitentise," 10 " a gratia re- 
 cedere," " resipiscentibus," begin to have a fixed 
 meaning, and we can establish for the whole of the 
 article a sufficient aim and object. 
 
 " De lapsis post baptismum. Non omne peccatum 
 mortale post baptismum voluntarie perpetratum est 
 peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum, et irremissibile : pro- 
 inde lapsis a baptismo in peccata, locus prenitentise 
 non est negandus. Post acceptum Spiritum Sanctum 
 possumus a gratia data recedere, atque peccare, de- 
 nuoque per gratiam Dei resurgere, ac resipiscere : 
 ideoque illi damnandi sunt, qui se, quamdiu hie vivant, 
 amplius non posse peccare affirmant, aut vere resipis- 
 centibus pcenitentise locum denegant." 
 
 The articles of 1552 added to this, then the 15th, 
 another concerning the exact nature of the unpardon- 
 able sin against the Holy Ghost : but this does not 
 bear upon the point before us. It is more to the pur- 
 
 ln " The place for penitentes." 1552.
 
 220 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 pose to observe, that in the year 1571, the edition 
 published after the articles had received also the au- 
 thority and sanction of parliament altered the last 
 clause from pcenitentice locum into venia locum dene- 
 gant. 
 
 I repeat that I do not wish to insist upon this article 
 strongly as having been evidently intended, at the 
 time when it was drawn up, to have reference to 
 remission of sins by penance, pcenitentia : but it cer- 
 tainly, that is the Latin, does come in by way of 
 illustration to confirm the doctrine of the church of 
 England in other formularies. 
 
 It is moreover to be remembered that the Latin is 
 the language in which the articles were originally 
 settled and subscribed ; the English version, though 
 afterwards also in like manner subscribed, is yet a 
 translation only and so far of inferior value. Inferior, 
 I mean, in the case of doubtful words or terms : to 
 determine which we are in duty bound to appeal to 
 the Latin. Thus, the present instance of " repent- 
 ance" in the xiijth article : and, again, " prayer unto 
 God" in the xxvijth. And if we can learn the signi- 
 fication in which such terms as " vis divinse invoca- 
 tionis" with respect to baptism, or, " locus poeni- 
 tentiae" with respect to the commission of sins after 
 baptism, were at that time, 1562, accepted and allowed 
 by theologians, it is common sense to say nothing of 
 common fairness to interpret the English, which is a 
 version of the Latin, according to that signification. 
 
 Hence, also, we can understand better such enquiries
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 221 
 
 as that in the visitation articles of Edward the Sixth, 
 in 1550 ; " Whether any saith that Christian men 
 cannot be allowed to repentance, if they sin voluntary 
 after baptism ?" And, again, the enquiry made by arch- 
 bishop Parker in 1567, and already quoted above; 11 
 " Do any affirm and maintain that mortal or voluntary 
 sins committed after baptisme, be not remissible by 
 penance ? " 
 
 One word, also, in this place upon the doctrine that 
 in order to receive the grace of sacerdotal absolution, 
 it is necessary that all sins, which are upon the con- 
 science, should be confessed : or, to put it otherwise, 
 that a priest in the due exercise of the power of the 
 keys cannot remit one sin only, leaving another uncon- 
 fessed and therefore unremitted. 
 
 I have carefully avoided in this dissertation refer- 
 ence to the schoolmen : it did not seem to be required, 
 on the present occasion, to complete the proof of the doc- 
 trine of the church of England. But on this particular 
 of our subject, we may turn (and I think with profit) 
 to the Summa of Aquinas : nor, regarding a point 
 upon which it is scarcely reasonable to doubt, accord- 
 ing to the analogy of the rest of God's dealings with 
 mankind, will the reader wish to be burthened with 
 any discussion. 
 
 The question of Aquinas is : " Utrum possit per 
 pcenitentiam unum peccatum sine alio remitti ?" And 
 before he gives his own judgement, he quotes the fol- 
 
 11 P. 133.
 
 222 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 lowing from a work long attributed to S. Augustine, 
 but now generally acknowledged to be by some other 
 hand ; namely, the De vera et falsa pcenitentia. It is 
 an argument, however, to the purpose, so I extract it 
 also : " [de pcenit. cap. vj.] Sunt plures, quos poenitet 
 peccasse, sed, non omnino, reservantes sibi quaedam, 
 in quibus delectantur : non animadvertentes, Dominum 
 simul mutum et surdum a daemonic liberasse, per hoc 
 docens, nos nunquam, nisi de omnibus, sanari." Aqui- 
 nas proceeds. " <[ Respondeo dicendum, quod impos- 
 sible est, per poenitentiam unum peccatum sine alio 
 remitti. Primo quidem, quia peccatum remittitur, 
 inquantum tollitur Dei offensa per gratiam. Unde in 
 secunda parte [qu. 109. a. vij.] habitum est, quod 
 nullum peccatum potest remitti sine gratia : omne 
 autem peccatum mortale contrariatur gratise, et exclu- 
 dit earn. Unde impossibile est, quod unum peccatum 
 sine alio remittatur. Secundo, quia peccatum mortale 
 non potest sine vera prenitentia remitti, ad quam per- 
 tinet deserere peccatum, inquantum est contra Deum, 
 quod quidem est commune omnibus peccatis mortali- 
 bus : ubi autem est eadem causa, et idem effectus. 
 Unde non potest esse vere poenitens, qui de uno pec- 
 cato poenitet, et non de alio. Si enim displiceret ei 
 illud peccatum, quia est contra Deum super omnia 
 dilectum (quod requiritur ad rationem verse poeniten- 
 tiae) sequeretur, quod de omnibus peccatis poeniteret. 
 Unde sequitur, quod impossibile sit, unum peccatum 
 per poenitentiam remitti sine alio. Tertio, quia hoc 
 esset contra perfectionem misericordiae Dei, cujus per-
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 223 
 
 fecta sunt opera, uncle cujus miseretur, totaliter mise- 
 retur : et hoc est, quod August, dicit, in lib. de pceni- 
 tentia : Qucedam impietas infidelitatis est ab illo, qui 
 Justus, et justitia est, dimidiam sperare veniam." 12 
 
 Hence we see the reason why the absolution in our 
 visitation office, following upon a special confession, 
 has these words ; "I absolve thee from all thy sins :" 
 after the example of and to the same effect as the 
 more particular form in the earlier ritual quoted 
 above : " Absolve te ab omnibus peccatis tuis, de qui- 
 bus corde contritus et ore mihi confessus es : et ab 
 omnibus aliis peccatis tuis de quibus si tuse occurre- 
 rent memorise confiteri velles." And, moreover, the 
 rubric which precedes is framed upon the acknow- 
 ledgement of the same truth : if the sick man feel his 
 conscience troubled with any weighty matter, he shall 
 be moved " to make a special confession of his sins :" 
 not of that particular weighty matter, or matters, 
 alone. " After which confession," only, the priest 
 shall venture to absolve him. 
 
 We will now sum up the contents of the preceding 
 pages, the main purpose of which has been to esta- 
 blish the true interpretation which we ought to put 
 upon the three Forms of absolution in our Common 
 Prayer-book; and in that interpretation is involved 
 
 12 Summa. pars. nr. qu. Ixxxvi. art, 3.
 
 224 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 the doctrine also upon absolution which the church of 
 England holds. 
 
 I have endeavoured to accomplish this, first, by 
 showing the extraordinary variety of opinions upon 
 the subject, which have been produced and defended 
 by our chief ritualists, from the time of bishop Overal 
 to the present day : not one of whom (a circumstance 
 no less extraordinary) has attempted to support his 
 view by any consistent or continued reference to the 
 dogmatic and authoritative formularies, articles, or 
 canons of the English church. Secondly ; an appeal 
 has been at last made to those formularies ; the canons 
 and constitutions of diocesan and provincial councils 
 from the 13th to the 16th century have been brought 
 forward, and confirmed by the concurrent testimony 
 of our greatest canonists, Lyndwood, John de Athon, 
 Hostiensis, the Pupilla oculi, and the Manipulus cura- 
 torum. From these works and original documents, 
 we have obtained a clear and precise statement of 
 doctrine concerning the ordinance or sacrament of 
 absolution. Thirdly ; I extracted from the ancient 
 service-books, adopted by our Church before the re- 
 formation, the several forms of absolution in the daily 
 office, the liturgy, and the ritual, which correspond 
 with the forms retained by us now ; and they were 
 explained in strict accordance with the received and 
 established doctrine. Fourthly : the differences and 
 alterations, whether by omission or addition, in those 
 forms, which took place during the 16th and 17th 
 centuries, were traced and examined, and, in the same
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 225 
 
 manner as before, the changes made in the doctrine 
 of absolution were also searched out and insisted on. 
 Fifthly, I laid before the reader extracts from the 
 works of English divines, with a few further observa- 
 tions as we went on, confirming all these by the autho- 
 rity of fathers in the early Church : and, lastly, some 
 two or three questions have been briefly discussed, 
 which bear upon and illustrate the whole subject. 
 
 Am I not therefore entitled, at least, to ask for a 
 patient, calm, and (if it may be) unprejudiced con- 
 sideration of the correctness of that interpretation 
 which, as it appears to me, the three forms of absolution 
 in our prayer-book can, justly, alone bear ? Probably, 
 there are many errors in the foregoing pages ; errors 
 of fact, of inference, of citation, of omission : they are 
 not wilful, neither have they been caused, and here 
 I speak earnestly, by the most distant wish to influ- 
 ence improperly the fair and honest decision at which 
 we all desire to arrive. May God grant that the truth 
 of the whole matter shall, in some way or other, be both 
 proved and recognized. Personal pride and the poor 
 selfish ambition of being able by subtle reasoning or 
 clever objections still to hold fast by some declaration 
 formerly made of individual opinion, are not to be list- 
 ened to for one instant in any case whatever against the 
 voice of Truth : and if this be so, always, in common 
 concerns even of the world, how much more in the de- 
 termination of those questions which, involving the sal- 
 vation of souls, depend upon the one meaning of the 
 
 Q
 
 226 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Inspired Word of God and the declared consent of 
 His Church. 
 
 Let then all errors of fact be pointed out, and they 
 shall readily be withdrawn ; let it be shewn how far 
 they have served to establish the conclusion which 
 has been in view, and how far, in consequence, that 
 conclusion is weakened through want of their support ; 
 let the conclusion itself be shewn to be altogether 
 erroneous and incorrect : and then, besides all this, let 
 some other interpretation of the three forms, and some 
 other exposition of the doctrine of absolution be pro- 
 duced and proved : proved, not by mere argument 
 alone; not by its adaptation to the principles and 
 wishes and practice of the present day; not by its 
 accordance with modern opinions, however widely 
 spread ; but, much more, by the authoritative docu- 
 ments, and by the reasonable construction which we 
 ought to give to the language, of the Church of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Many arguments also will probably be urged against 
 my positions : against all ; against some in particular. 
 It is my duty to expect them, and (if it may be) to 
 answer them. God forbid that I should fancy that 
 the expression of my judgement should go far in the 
 decision of a question of such vital consequence as is 
 the question of sacerdotal absolution : were it so in 
 the case of any man, he would hesitate to put pen to 
 paper. If the doctrine of the church of England be 
 indeed doubtful upon this point, and doubtful I can- 
 not conceive it to be, then I humbly offer all that I
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 227 
 
 have said as materials towards discussion. For many 
 a year we have neglected enquiry about sacerdotal 
 absolution altogether. Is it a truth of the Gospel, or 
 is it a fiction and pretence ? Whatever it is, let us 
 try to settle it.
 
 228 The Doctrine of Absolution . 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EFORE we conclude, I have yet to offer 
 one or two more remarks ; together with 
 the suggestion of some difficulties which, 
 if I am not mistaken, lie against such an 
 explanation of the two forms of general confession and 
 absolution as would represent them to be an effectual 
 conveyance of remission of sins. 
 
 It has been often repeated that the church of Eng- 
 land, in all matters of faith, now holds and teaches 
 the same doctrines which she held and taught in the 
 year 1560, unless after that time we can find some 
 change or modification in her formularies ; such as the 
 xxxix articles, the canons of 1604, or the prayer-book 
 of 1662. Is there any evidence at all of change since 
 1560 regarding absolution? and, if not, what must 
 have been the result of an examination made by a 
 clergyman in that year of the alterations regarding 
 the same doctrine, since 1545? Fifteen years is no 
 large space of time: some hundreds of clergy, who 
 were living in the first year of queen Elizabeth, had 
 been ordained before the death of king Henry the 
 eighth. It was a period also of excitement; novel
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 229 
 
 opinions of all sorts were abroad, and on every side 
 enthusiasts eager to recommend their several peculiar 
 fancies. Neither was there any lack of opportunity for 
 forcing these, each in its turn, prominently before the 
 notice of persons who then ruled over our Church. 
 At such a time men do not sit idle or unconcerned ; 
 and it would be monstrous to suppose that the English 
 clergy did not watch narrowly every alteration debated 
 and resolved upon in the convocations, and that they 
 were not well assured that every word in which the 
 decisions were published to the world had been well 
 weighed and deliberately chosen. Hence, it would of 
 necessity follow that whilst, upon the one hand, they 
 accepted and recognized the full propriety of the re- 
 formations which were made both in doctrine and 
 practice, they would, upon the other hand, justly con- 
 clude that all that was not altered was to be retained. 
 To be retained, I would add, according to the esta- 
 blished and precise theological teaching of the Church 
 for centuries before. 
 
 It is not easy to discover in what way, and upon what 
 grounds, any sensible person whether lay or clergy 
 could have learnt that in 1560 he was to believe that 
 he might obtain the benefit of priestly absolution after 
 only a general confession, and that a distinct oral con- 
 fession in order to such an absolution was no longer to 
 be required, or thought to be essential. He would 
 demand ; Where has the church of England told me 
 this ? and we must still make the like demand. 
 
 Or, apply the same line of argument for an instant
 
 230 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 to another modern explanation of the doctrine of abso- 
 lution. 
 
 In 1560, after 15 years of diligent and repeated en- 
 quiry, after most distinct alterations had been settled, 
 by the reformation of abuse, in more than one chief 
 article of the Christian faith, the church of England 
 still openly retained a form of special absolution of the 
 penitent in her ritual ; still urged all to confess whose 
 consciences might be troubled with grievous sin ; still 
 offered them absolution ; and still gave to her priests, 
 in the same words as of old, the power to forgive and 
 to retain, to bind and to loose. If, therefore, this term 
 " absolution " in the liturgy or the ritual, was to be 
 understood to mean, and to mean nothing more than, 
 a preaching of the promises of God or a particular 
 application of them to particular cases ; or, again, if 
 the power to forgive and to retain, to bind and to 
 loose, was to be understood as to be exercised in future 
 only in the administration of the sacraments of baptism 
 and the eucharist; then I do assert that there is no 
 fact in the history of any branch of the catholic church 
 of Christ in any age so startling, so utterly opposed to 
 the spirit of the Gospel, as that fact must have been. 
 For it would have been nothing less than a deceiving 
 of men ; it would have been, to all appearance, a 
 leaving, nay, more, a persisting in the use of an old 
 term and of an old ordinance, when in reality the 
 one was to be taken in a totally new sense, and the 
 other utterly put a stop to, without a single word of 
 explanation. I cannot believe it.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 231 
 
 We must not forget, moreover, that the people and 
 clergy of the church of England in the reign of king 
 Edward the sixth, were well aware of all that was 
 being done and written by the reformers abroad. 
 Communications were frequent, and not only before 
 1552, but, after queen Mary's death, until the end of 
 the century, constant efforts were being made by 
 violent partizans to force upon our Church the accept- 
 ance of many opinions which had been promulgated at 
 Geneva, or Frankfort, or Zurich. 
 
 But, by God's mercy, the English convocations 
 firmly and constantly resisted. On whatever great 
 names defended, on whatever high authority sup- 
 ported, still the great test by which all doctrines were 
 then tried among ourselves, at home, was Scripture 
 interpreted by catholic tradition. This was the fire 
 (if I may so say) through which all that we have 
 retained was passed ; and which in like manner de- 
 stroyed the dry and fantastic notions which from time 
 to time men sought to introduce. 
 
 Let us remember all this : and then remember also 
 the assertions of Calvin, of Bucer, and Zuingle, re- 
 garding this very question of sacerdotal absolution. 1 
 
 1 Take one of these, the chief- persolumbaptismumnobisdatur." 
 
 est, for example ; Calvin in his I do not at all pretend to under- 
 
 Institutes. " Equidem scio aliud stand what Calvin meant by these 
 
 communiter receptum esse, poeni- last words about regeneration in 
 
 tentiae et clavium beneficio nos baptism. But to continue. " Sed 
 
 obtinere post baptismum remissi- qui hoc comminiscuntur in eo 
 
 onem, quae prima regeneratione errant quod non cogitant potes-
 
 232 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 And then, once more, let us call to mind the deli- 
 berate decision of the church of England, at the 
 beginning of the succeeding century, when the whirl- 
 wind, during which she had stood so firm, had some- 
 what passed away ; when during a space of some forty 
 years or more, she had had time calmly to contem- 
 plate the changes, and had proved, by experience, the 
 reformations she had made. " The abuse of a thing 
 doth not take away the lawful use of it. Nay, so far 
 was it from the purpose of the church of England to 
 forsake and reject the churches of Italy, France, 
 Spain, Germany, or any such like churches, in all 
 things which they held and practised, that it doth with 
 reverence retain those ceremonies, which do neither 
 endamage the church of God, nor offend the minds of 
 sober men ; and only departed from them in those 
 particular points, wherein they were fallen both from 
 
 tatem clavium, de qua loquuntur, pro Sacramento. Primum quod 
 
 a baptismo sic pendere ut nullo nulla Dei promissio singularis ad 
 
 modo separari debeat. Remis- hanc rem extet, unica sacramenti 
 
 sionem accipit peccator ecclesiae hypostatis." By the way, our 
 
 ministerio, nempe non sine evan- homilies assert that absolution 
 
 gelii praedicatione. Qualis autem hath the promise of forgiveness 
 
 ilia est? Nos sanguine Christi of sin. "Deinde quod quaecun- 
 
 emundari a peccatis. Atqui lava- que hie caeremonia proferatur, 
 
 cri illius signum ac testimonium merum sit hominum inventum . . . 
 
 quid est nisi baptismus ? Vide- Aptissime itaque dixeris si bap- 
 
 mus igitur ut ad baptismum abso- tismum vocaveris poenitentiae sa- 
 
 lutio ilia referatur." Lib. 4. cap. cramentum, quum in confirmati- 
 
 xv. . 4. onem gratiae et fiduciae sigillum 
 
 Again : " Ne tamen aniraos tol- us datus sit qui poenitentiam medi- 
 
 lant,quacunqueinpartesacramen- tantur." Cap. xix. . 17. 
 turn posuerint, nego jure haberi
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 233 
 
 themselves in their ancient integrity, and from the 
 apostolical churches, which were their first founders." 
 Shall we venture to think, whilst this was the language 
 of our Church about comparatively matters of indif- 
 ference, about mere rites and outward ceremonies, that 
 she would have spoken otherwise of ordinances and 
 sacraments of the Gospel ? 
 
 There is one consideration which has weighed 
 heavily upon me, urging as it does the very great 
 importance of the enquiry on which we have been 
 engaged, and, if I may say so, obliging me to speak 
 plainly what seems to be the truth. It is this : if my 
 interpretation of the forms of absolution be correct, 
 then, first to say that absolution is an ordinance of 
 God given to His Church by which men may obtain 
 forgiveness of their sins, and, secondly, to teach people, 
 or to suffer them to be taught, that they can, if truly 
 penitent, obtain this especial grace in and by means 
 of the general public forms of the daily office and the 
 liturgy, all this is a keeping up and a promoting of 
 error, delusion, and mockery. So far as I can learn 
 from the decisions of our Church, she not only does 
 not assert anything of the kind, but she does declare 
 just the contrary. Better is it, because less dan- 
 gerous, to deny or to explain away altogether the 
 grace of the sacrament of absolution, than to admit and 
 to insist upon it, speaking peace where is no peace, and 
 sending our people to wells where there is no water. 
 
 This, however, is a consideration to which due 
 weight must be allowed, equally, under another as-
 
 234 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 pect. If my view of this whole matter be incorrect, 
 if it be not (after all) the sound teaching of the church 
 of England, then, (let me own it) first in bringing it 
 so prominently forward, and, secondly, in the vain 
 attempt to establish and confirm it by documentary 
 evidence and proof, I have been so very wrong, that I 
 must prepare to meet, as I deserve to receive, every 
 mark of condemnation. To shut up true channels of 
 spiritual gifts, and to propose to put limits upon the 
 means by which the grace of Christ comes to us, 
 other and stricter than those laid down by His Church, 
 cannot be less dangerous, cannot be worse, than to dare 
 to open or enlarge them in ways which are not His 
 ways, and after our imaginations instead of His word. 
 Something has been already said above, upon the 
 reasonable conclusion, which seems inevitably to follow 
 from the commissions given by our Blessed Lord to 
 His Church : to retain and remit ; to bind and to 
 loose ; hence that it is a judicial authority, and that 
 they who seek for the blessing must not refuse to 
 acknowledge also a power, if it be required, in the 
 same hands to withhold it. I allude to this now, as 
 well worth the attentive regard of all who, taking 
 Wheatly's explanation, assert that the priest exercises 
 the power of the keys by the absolutions which follow 
 after the public general confessions, and then conveys 
 to the true penitent remission of sins. For if this be 
 so, the constant tradition of the catholic Church is not 
 to be listened to, and the commission given was not 
 judicial.
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 235 
 
 According to Wheatly, those persons who have 
 committed deadly, wilful, sins, and have repented of 
 their sins, come into the church in a state obnoxious 
 to the wrath of God, with those sins unforgiven. If 
 they do not so come to church, if in any other way they 
 have been restored already to God's favour and to a 
 state of justification, then I have no further controversy 
 either with Wheatly or his followers : because then the 
 general absolutions do not convey remission and we 
 agree together. But he says that they do convey. We 
 return therefore to the penitent sinner, entering the 
 church. How long ago his sin or sins may have been 
 committed, how much and how deeply soever he may 
 have repented, how earnestly soever he may have 
 prayed, how tearfully confessed all this he knows, and 
 no one else : and, in his own mind he thinks; " I have 
 done enough, I now go to be absolved." Now, what 
 is this, what can it be, but to say, as it were, to the 
 priest, " Loose me, unbind me, forgive my sins, you 
 may and shall : bind me, you shall not." 
 
 I have frequently repeated in this dissertation that 
 the church of England does not teach now the grace 
 of absolution to be of necessity to salvation. Wheatly 's 
 view is in contradiction to this truth. For if the pub- 
 lic general absolutions do always, as he asserts, convey 
 to the truly penitent pardon and remission, it is diffi- 
 cult to apprehend, unless people seldom go to church, 
 how sins are forgiven ordinarily by Almighty God in 
 any other way. To this we may add, that if such a 
 doctrine of absolution be indeed the doctrine of our
 
 236 The Doctrine of Absolution* 
 
 Church, then I suppose there can be no doubt that she 
 speaks the truth, and, therefore, these public forms 
 are, as some say they are, certain means of grace. 
 But, in that case, the church of England by placing 
 them in her daily offices and in the liturgy would 
 compel all persons who cannot consent to so strange a 
 teaching to reject continually, day after day perhaps 
 and in a very positive manner, great gifts not simply 
 offered to them by God, but, as it were, thrust upon 
 their acceptance by His Church. 
 
 How inconsistent, moreover, would such teaching 
 be : telling us as plainly as possible upon the one 
 hand that sacerdotal absolution is not necessary, be- 
 cause God may forgive our sins if we sincerely repent, 
 in some other way secret to us, but yet we trust as 
 sure : and, upon the other hand, never permitting her 
 people to assemble for the daily office or the holy 
 communion without conveying this pardon and remis- 
 sion of their sins to all who are truly penitent by 
 this very means, and by no other, of sacerdotal ab- 
 solution. 
 
 But it may be answered, there is no forcing (so to 
 speak) of this absolution upon those who are unwilling 
 to receive it : each person is to appropriate it to him- 
 self according as he is desirous of it's benefits, and 
 according to the sincerity and completeness of his re- 
 pentance. Now, not to mention how unlike to the 
 whole system of the Christian faith, this careless scat- 
 tering, this sowing broad-cast, of chief gifts of God 
 must be, to be accepted; to be rejected; to be shrunk
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 237 
 
 from ; put it how one will, it results at last in each 
 man being both his own judge and his own priest. 
 He has had sin, many sins perhaps, upon his con- 
 science : he has long repented of them, long prayed, 
 confessed, and inwardly resolved : at length he fixes 
 on a certain day upon which he decides that he may 
 at last, in faith, listen to the absolution " as a convey- 
 ance and sealing to him of pardon at that very instant 
 through the priest's ministration." I say, in faith : 
 for I presume that this great grace of God, being no 
 less than pardon and remission of sins, does require 
 (and strictly too) faith : or, let us sink its demand to 
 some far lower quality, a reasonable hope. Really 
 this is the veriest example, if it be true, of an opus 
 operatum that ever was thought of. And how is any 
 man to know, when he has fixed on one day, in a given 
 month, for this pardon "to be conveyed and sealed 
 to him," that he may not be a month too soon, and 
 that, what he himself trusts is a sincere and complete 
 repentance is not so, after all ? 
 
 Let no one think that what has just been said is an 
 exaggeration or a misrepresenting of the consequences 
 of such a theory as Wheatly's, until he has realized to 
 himself what the real grace of absolution is ; namely, 
 as that author correctly says, " a pardon conveyed 
 and sealed to the penitent through the ministry of the 
 priest." If the effects of the general public absolu- 
 tions be anything less than or different from this, then 
 I do not care to dispute what those effects may be, be- 
 cause they are not the especial grace of God given by
 
 238 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 Him to man through His appointed means of sacer- 
 dotal absolution. 2 In opposition to the difficulties 
 and the inconsistencies of Wheatly's theory, how 
 plain and simple, how intelligible and accordant 
 with scripture is the constant teaching of the church 
 of England. On the one hand, offering to all her 
 people the grace of sacerdotal absolution, if, having 
 troubled and unquiet consciences, they seek for it in the 
 right way : on the other, permitting them to hope that 
 this method is not the only one by which they may 
 obtain pardon of sin committed after baptism. And 
 in her public offices, she authoritatively declares this 
 truth, pronouncing it to those present, that God " par- 
 doneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and 
 unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel :" again, in her 
 liturgy, she prays most devoutly that God will have 
 mercy upon His repentant children ; that He will par- 
 don and deliver them from all their sins ; confirm and 
 strengthen them in all goodness ; and bring them to 
 everlasting life : lastly, exhorting all who cannot quiet 
 
 - I may here remark besides, keys, and equally conveys grace ; 
 
 that to argue from the terms of or, say that the second is of more 
 
 the two general confessions, from efficacy than the first, because the 
 
 the fulness of the one as com- confession is more humble and 
 
 pared with the greater vagueness particular, and that as is the con- 
 
 of the other, is, in fact, to allow fession so must be the forgiveness ; 
 
 my interpretation. I have a right or, deny altogether the grace of 
 
 to say to all objectors; "fix upon sacerdotal absolution; but. fix 
 
 your interpretation and the rea- upon one of these or any other that 
 
 sons of it. Say, either, that each you like. You will find, upon ex- 
 
 of the three absolutions is equally amination, that you cannot consis- 
 
 an exercise of the power of the tently argue from more than one."
 
 7 'he Doctrine of Absolution . 239 
 
 their own consciences to use the means which God 
 has of His infinite goodness given, she provides those 
 means before the sight of all men, and commands her 
 ministers duly and fitly to apply them. 3 
 
 I have, now, only a few words more to say. In the 
 sermon which I preached at Totnes, and in this pre- 
 sent dissertation, my aim has been to do what seems 
 to be a bounden duty : that is, to endeavour, humbly 
 but earnestly, to prove that whilst our Church insists 
 on nothing, as of necessity to salvation, which is not 
 to be found in scripture or can be proved thereby, yet 
 no less now than in former ages, she offers to her peo- 
 ple all requisite means of grace and spiritual aid. 
 
 Will it be said that all this is not required ? Would 
 that it indeed were uncalled for labour. But, without 
 arguing the question, let us ask whether our people, 
 
 3 An inconsistency may be re- morning 1 prayer : a second must 
 marked in a note, which, on be in the celebration of the eu- 
 Wheatly's notion, I do not pre- charist about to take place : and 
 tend to explain. The exhortation yet we hear the call, " Come to 
 in the notice of communion says me, and receive the benefit of ab- 
 to all who are unquiet in con- solution." If this can give no 
 science ; " Come and receive the more than the general forms con- 
 benefit of absolution." Now, vey and seal, no more grace, no 
 granting that there is any grace more assurance, is it not a mere 
 at all in sacerdotal absolution, a playing and jesting with people, 
 grace conveying pardon, a grace so solemnly to urge them to 
 beyond the preaching of God's " come?" To come for some- 
 mercy in particular to the peni- thing which they can obtain and 
 tent, what can this exhortation, in apply to themselves just as well, 
 seriousness, mean ? If the forms any day and twice, perhaps, every 
 are alike in their effects, one has day, without " coming" at all. 
 been already " pronounced" at
 
 240 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 as a people, value the blessed sacraments of Christ's 
 holy Gospel ? do they regard baptism and the eucha- 
 rist as generally necessary to their salvation ? neces- 
 sary, so that, where they can be had, spiritual life and 
 immortality cannot begin without the one, nor continue 
 without the other. Why is this ? is it in spite of the 
 constant and honest and open teaching of a learned 
 clergy, enforcing and explaining the doctrines of the 
 Christian Faith ? is it in spite of a clergy not neglecting 
 to learn for themselves first, and afterwards not fearing 
 to speak, the great truths held by the church of Eng- 
 land? 
 
 A Church without dogmatic theology is a fiction 
 and a shadow. Upon all chief questions, especially 
 those which concern our salvation by the proper use 
 of holy sacraments, every Church, claiming the name 
 at least, must have some documents from which, when 
 rightly appealed to, her judgement shall be learnt. 
 Take this question of absolution. Put it upon its 
 lowest grounds : say, that the church of England has 
 declared it to be, in feet, nothing : to be but a preach- 
 ing of the Word of God, or administration of baptism 
 and the Lord's supper. Must that doctrine be held ? 
 If not, must the doctrine advocated in the preceding 
 pages ? if neither, where does the exact doctrine lie 
 between the two ? 
 
 We live in times of enquiry, of controversy, of 
 doubt, and cavil : they who, from whatever circum- 
 stance, take a part and interest in the strife more 
 than a mere looking on, must be prepared to meet
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 241 
 
 with opposition, with contempt perhaps and rebuke. 
 Their reward must be, an inward hope that no un- 
 worthy motive has been mixed up with what they 
 have done, and that their chief object has been, even 
 though themselves mistaken, at least to promote the 
 honour and glory of God, and to establish the true 
 doctrines taught by His Church. 
 
 Against one thing we must be especially guarded : 
 namely, against any attempt to make systems for our- 
 selves, by taking what we like, and refusing the rest : 
 if we adopt a course so contemptible, we shall cer- 
 tainly not be able to resist the gainsayer, and we shall 
 scarcely be more likely to satisfy ourselves. The 
 question in all subjects which relate to God and to 
 eternity, is not what we like, but what is true : if we 
 remember that, we shall not be so ready (as we often 
 are) to set up authorities one minute, and throw them 
 down the next : nor shall we have " gods many and 
 lords many" among us ; first this one and then that; 
 but we shall turn in faith and obedience to the only 
 fountain of Divine Truth; that is, to the revealed 
 Word of the Most High God, and the voice of His 
 Church. 
 
 We shall be very much mistaken, let me say 
 another word on this, if we presume that we may 
 hold a single great doctrine of the gospel and be at 
 liberty to accept or not, as we think it agreeable, other 
 doctrines which rest upon precisely the like founda- 
 tion, and which are supported by the Eke kind of 
 evidence. For example ; it is mere idle talk to insist 
 
 R
 
 242 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 upon the truths of regeneration in holy baptism, or of 
 eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking His Blood in 
 the eucharist, or of the apostolical succession of bishops 
 and priests always in the Church, unless we are pre- 
 pared to believe and to teach other truths of the same 
 one great chain of doctrine, no less important whether 
 in regard of faith or practice. As a matter of mere 
 argument and speculation, rather than of reality, we 
 may perhaps select this one and not that : may (so to 
 speak) pick and choose : far otherwise, however, if we 
 remember what we are doing ; if we can but bring 
 ourselves to the conviction that we are not disputing 
 and enquiring about dialectical subtleties, but about 
 the deep things of God ; about His dealings with sinful 
 and fallen man ; about eternity ; about the application 
 of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, 
 God Himself, to the soul and body of each member of 
 the Church ; about questions which, dispute as long as 
 we will, are, in some one sense and meaning, true 
 independent utterly of us, and only in that one sense 
 are true. 
 
 The spiritual life is as real as our earthly. Having 
 been new-born in baptism, and at that time made 
 children of God even as by our natural birth we are 
 children of men, we must, whether we would have it 
 so or not, if we would be saved at last, go on and 
 grow. AVe must grow in heavenly strength, and 
 power, and capability. This encrease comes to us, 
 not of ourselves alone or by our own efforts, but in 
 God's sacraments, the means of grace and aid which
 
 The Doctrine of Absolution. 243 
 
 He has appointed. If we encrease, then we are subject 
 to no decay : no, strictly not even in our bodies, for 
 they die only in order to immortality. That which is 
 sown is not quickened, except it die. But if this 
 growth be checked, or marred, or stayed, then we 
 must seek for remedies : as the earthly body is helped 
 in sickness and disease by medicine, and restored to 
 its full powers again by bread and wine. 
 
 It is a ready charge to make against any man, 
 brought generally by those who have little else to ob- 
 ject, that he is teaching Romish error; it is a scan- 
 dalous and detestable charge unless it can be clearly 
 proved, because it is a cry for the multitude, a cry 
 which the ignorant and the enthusiastic catch at, and 
 repeat ; it is a charge which no clergyman should 
 make against another, unless he is prepared as the 
 case may be to support or to retract it. I have been 
 thus accused. 
 
 Yet, when this charge is brought, some sources of 
 support exist : to say that they remove all pain and 
 anxiety would be to reject proudly what God may 
 perhaps have sent as trial and discipline : still they 
 suggest patience and give comfort. Such, for exam- 
 ple, as to remember, that it is, and for three centuries 
 has been, an easy and a vulgar charge : that it was 
 made against men in whose footsteps none need be 
 ashamed to tread, against archbishops Parker, and 
 Whitgift, Laud and Bancroft ; against bishops Cooper, 
 Andrewes, Overal, and Montagu, White, Morton, 
 Bramhall, Bull, Pearson, and Ken ; against Hooker,
 
 244 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 and Field, and Hammond. Or, again, to feel that it 
 is most false : to be assured, if I know myself, that I 
 have never doubted for one instant as to the posi- 
 tion of the church of England in the dispensations of 
 God's providence ; that I have ever firmly believed 
 her to be a sound and true branch of the One Holy 
 Catholic Church, in which the word of God is preached, 
 and the sacraments duly administered ; that I both 
 comprehend and acknowledge how, in many points, 
 the church of Rome has grievously departed from the 
 pure faith and practice of the gospel ; and that it 
 would be a most base and sinful thing to introduce, = 
 whether openly or by stealth it matters not, as doc- 
 trines of the church of England, errors which she has 
 herself distinctly repudiated and disowned, but errors, 
 nevertheless, still held by the church of Rome. Or, 
 once more, it is a consolation to remember, that at 
 least I have endeavoured to speak plainly what I sup- 
 pose to be the truth : and, whilst I would not shrink, 
 and never have shrunk, when occasion calls for it, 
 from pointing out and from opposing erroneous doc- 
 trines by whomsoever taught, yet that I have never 
 pandered to the desires of those who can see Rome in 
 almost every article of the Faith ; nor feared, be the 
 cost what it might, to uphold to its full and reasonable 
 extent, the holy and catholic teaching of the church of 
 England.
 
 Supplement
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 HE preceding Dissertation was directed 
 especially to one object, namely, to the 
 right interpretation which we ought to 
 put upon the forms of absolution in our 
 Common-prayer book. I avoided, therefore, mixing 
 up with that enquiry more than was required for the 
 purpose immediately in hand. But there are two or 
 three other particulars which will excuse, I trust, some 
 brief remarks by way of a supplement. 
 
 It. has been well and truly said of the power of ab- 
 solution that " it is a power which the Church has 
 ever thankfully acknowledged to have been given to 
 her by her Divine Head, and which no particular 
 Church can ever surrender, without cutting itself from 
 the Catholic Church of Christ, and therein from Christ 
 Himself." In reply to this it has been asked, as if it 
 were an irrefragable objection ; " How is it that, if the 
 priesthood possess this ' power of absolution,' it was 
 never exercised for the first twelve centuries that suc- 
 ceeded the apostolic times ?" Never exercised, we are 
 told, because " during this whole period, the form that
 
 248 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 was exclusively used was precatory or optative" And 
 we are further told, that it is so clear that " a prayer 
 for a blessing, or an expression of a desire for it, is in- 
 consistent with the notion that he who uses that form 
 does himself give it," that no one " need stop to prove 
 it." But, with submission, I must be allowed to say 
 that this is rather a rapid mode of settling a question 
 upon which much by very learned men has already 
 been written. 
 
 If I understand the objection, it does not stop short 
 of a denial that the church of England now exercises 
 in any way, or by any form, the power of absolution. 
 This is a statement which I shall leave others, who 
 think it worth while, to contend against, for the pre- 
 sent work throughout is addressed only to persons 
 who accept and believe the doctrine that our Church 
 not merely claims but really and duly exercises " the 
 power of absolution." But it will be well to enquire 
 a little into the extent of the consequences of this 
 change, if it was made, of a precatory or an optative 
 form into an indicative form. 
 
 Morinus, one of the most learned men of his age, 
 examined this question at much length, in his elabo- 
 rate work on the sacrament of penance ; and from 
 him, who almost exhausted the sources of information 
 about it, later writers have been contented to take the 
 grounds of their arguments. Before I pass on to his 
 statements, I must observe, that the great author to 
 whom such objectors (as I have spoken of) are in- 
 debted for the proofs of the reality of their objection,
 
 Supplement. 249 
 
 did not himself conceive that the facts upon which he 
 insisted, interfered even in the most remote degree, 
 with the full, complete, and constant exercise of the 
 power of absolution by the Church, during the first 
 twelve, as well as during the last six, centuries of the 
 Faith. It is, therefore, to say the least, somewhat 
 curious to find the whole question not only quietly de- 
 cided against the deliberate judgement of the best 
 writer on the subject, but decided as if not worth the 
 trouble of examination. However, until I see proofs 
 to the contrary, I am satisfied to err in this particular 
 with Morinus, and to believe that even if for twelve 
 hundred years, the forms of absolution in the western 
 Church were, as he asserts they were, precatory and 
 optative, yet that nevertheless the power of absolution 
 was as fully exercised and claimed by the Church then 
 as now, and the grace of that sacrament as completely 
 and entirely conveyed to the penitent and faithful re- 
 cipient. 
 
 For the real question, as every one unprejudiced 
 must see, is not in what words the remission of sin 
 was conveyed by the ministry of the priest, but 
 whether such an ordinance as pcenitentia, or absolu- 
 tion, was or was not believed by the Catholic Church 
 for the first 1200 years to be an ordinance of our 
 Blessed Lord. If it was not so believed, and this is 
 the conclusion which we are desired to arrive at, be- 
 cause for 1200 years the form is said to have been 
 precatory, how are we to account for the innumera- 
 ble passages in the fathers, about the necessity of con-
 
 250 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 fession in order to the grace of absolution ; for the old 
 penitentials ; and for the rites with which administra- 
 tion of the sacrament of absolution was performed ? 
 
 Before any person takes upon himself to decide that 
 a form is not sufficient (sufficient, that is, to convey 
 the characteristic grace of the sacrament of which it 
 is the form) he ought distinctly to prove what essen- 
 tially constitutes the form. Take now our present 
 form in the order of visitation of the sick : it is not 
 short, and every word in it is most admirably adapted 
 for the occasion; so that it would not appear to be 
 easy to say how a word should be altered, much less 
 omitted, with propriety. There is the declaration of 
 the power of absolution, and of the qualifications ne- 
 cessary in the recipient ; a short prayer that our Lord 
 would forgive the penitent ; an assertion by the min- 
 ister that to him individually this power has been com- 
 mitted ; the exercise of that power ; closing with the 
 awful formula, In the Name of the Blessed and Un- 
 divided Trinity. 
 
 But when, leaving " propriety" we pass on to the 
 essential part of this form, I cannot see but that three 
 words alone, / absolve thee, are sufficient ; following, 
 as they do, after distinct confession of sins, and in 
 order to assurance of pardon. I am not saying that 
 these must be in every form of absolution, but that 
 they alone would, and perhaps do, entirely and com- 
 pletely convey the grace of sacerdotal absolution. 
 And in like manner as they convey it, so also do equi- 
 valent words. The reason is, because these or equi-
 
 Supplement. 251 
 
 valent words fully express the action of the minister, 
 the person of the recipient, and the grace of the ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 The addition In the Name, etc. is essential to the 
 form in baptism, because it was positively appointed 
 by our Lord : not so, in the exercise of the power of 
 sacerdotal absolution. Again ; the Church has, from 
 the beginning, ruled the necessity of them in the one 
 case, and has not so ruled in the other. Once more ; 
 belief in the deep mystery of the Holy Trinity, is a 
 primary object of that religion, of which baptism is, 
 upon the part of the recipient, a solemn profession ; ' 
 not so, in any especial way, in the administration of 
 absolution. 
 
 But, not to delay upon these enquiries, which are 
 rather suited to the subtle disputations of the schools, 
 than, in practice, tend to much general profit, let us 
 examine a little further into the accounts which we 
 have of the precatory form. 
 
 Morinus tells us e that he found in almost every 
 ritual or penitential which he had seen, earlier than 
 the year 1200, no other than a precatory or optative 
 form of absolution in the administration of the sacra- 
 ment of penance : in one or two of greater antiquity, 
 and in more, about that period itself, he had observed 
 the indicative form together with several prayers, or 
 an optative form, preceding or following it. After the 
 
 1 Dissertation on Holy Baptism. 2 De admin, sacram. poeniten- 
 p. 98. tiae. lib. viij. cap. ij.
 
 252 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 year 1200, he continues, it was decided that in gene- 
 ral practice, this indicative Absolve te should always 
 be added to the prayers : for the more evident confir- 
 mation to the penitent, so to speak, of that grace of for- 
 giveness which he was receiving. And the following 
 were the scholastic reasons for this rule. 
 
 " Primum, gratiam primam omnis meriti princi- 
 pium quae non cadit sub meritum, quamque Deus pro- 
 ducit in nobis sine nobis, esse gratiam habitualem nos 
 justificantem, et gratos Deo reddentem. Secundum, 
 quod ex priore non male concludebatur, confessionem 
 ut esset valida et meritoria in charitate sive post justi- 
 ficationem et veram contritionem animo conceptam 
 fieri debere, aut saltern finiri. Tertium axioma utrius- 
 que prsecedentis consentaneuin est, absolutionem esse 
 tantum declarationem reo de remissione criminis sui 
 factam." It was from these principles that the school- 
 men concluded that the form of absolution ought to be 
 in the indicative rather than in a precatory form : and 
 arguing first from the propriety of the change, some of 
 them insisted also upon its necessity : which last posi- 
 tion, if true, would carry with it as a consequence the 
 fact that the Church, from the beginning, had always 
 used an indicative form. 
 
 The reader will now observe, that in this question 
 there are two important particulars. One, upon which 
 the most learned men are divided ; namely, the facts 
 of the case : that is, how far Morinus is correct in his 
 assertion, that for the first twelve centuries absolution 
 was given by an optative or precatory form only : and
 
 Supplement . 253 
 
 the second, whether absolution given by a precatory 
 form would be equally valid as by an indicative. Upon 
 this second particular, I really do not see why it may 
 not be plainly asserted that theologians are unanimous 
 in the affirmative : I do not remember to have met 
 with any work yet in which the contrary position, 
 that absolution cannot be conveyed by a precatory 
 form, has even been fairly discussed, much less so 
 far confirmed as to create a reasonable doubt. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, I may at once give my own 
 opinion : which is, that it is doubtful whether Morinus, 
 strong as many of his proofs are, has completely esta- 
 blished his point ; and that there is no doubt or ques- 
 tion at all, whatever form may have been in use at 
 any time, that the Catholic Church has always, from 
 the age of the apostles to the present hour, both claim- 
 ed and exercised the power of sacerdotal absolution 
 which was given to her by our Blessed Lord : a power 
 by which, through the ministry of her priests, she has 
 conveyed remission of all sins to those who, having 
 confessed, are sincerely penitent. 
 
 The arguments of Morinus are, after all, of a nega- 
 tive kind : not that they are therefore, without weight ; 
 for I have said that they are very weighty; but still 
 they are so far negative, that they rest upon the ab- 
 sence in the earlier rituals, which have come down to 
 us, of the indicative form. We know very well how 
 cautious the primitive Church was in dispersing, even 
 among her own people, the books of her divine worship. 
 As time went on, and first one office and then another
 
 254 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 was published, yet these were of the less sacred charac- 
 ter : and it was many ages before the liturgy was fully in 
 all its parts given openly to the world. This principle 
 may have been, and very probably was, extended some- 
 what strictly to more parts than one of the ritual which 
 concerned the administration of absolution, and to the 
 penitentials. It by no means follows that because ri- 
 tuals still extant of the 9th, 10th and llth centuries 
 do not contain the actual indicative form itself, that 
 therefore it was not in use : common and constant 
 practice would have been an amply sufficient rule. 
 No one who has studied the ancient manuscript ser- 
 vice-books of the Church, and remembers how many 
 the omissions frequently are, and the evident taking 
 for granted of many things which now we are more 
 ignorant about, will dispute the truth of this. 
 
 But, let those who, appealing to the old manuscripts 
 or rather to the statements of the very learned Mori- 
 nus, argue from them the novelty of the doctrine of 
 sacerdotal absolution, explain to us how it is that we 
 find all that doctrine, fully, plainly, and unequivocally, 
 in these same manuscripts, with the sole exception of 
 an indicative form ? If a precatory form will not, 
 cannot, convey equally the essential grace of absolu- 
 tion, then there may be something in the objection : 
 into what that something will develope, I confess that 
 I am at a loss to perceive ; for a much greater diffi- 
 culty it would be to account, reasonably, for all the 
 exhortations and doctrines of the fathers, and the long 
 apparatus of penitentials and rituals for 1000 years.
 
 Supplement . 255 
 
 But, however this may be, the^zrs^ step not the second 
 is to prove the invalidity of a precatory form : when 
 that point is settled, and settled against the judgement 
 of all who have hitherto investigated it, and not till 
 then, we may begin to enquire, with some doubt 
 about the truth of the Catholic doctrine of sacerdotal 
 absolution, whether the indicative form was or was not 
 introduced about the year 1200 ? 
 
 A chief argument which Morinus urges, is from the 
 scripture : but then that scripture is the text in S. 
 James, ch. 5. v. 16. Of course, if persons allow that 
 S. James in that place is indeed publishing and en- 
 forcing the ordinance of absolution, long before insti- 
 tuted by our Blessed Lord, they may justly and con- 
 sistently draw what inferences they can prove, from 
 the text itself. But unless they begin with the ac- 
 knowledgment of this as a fact, they cannot argue 
 from the admonition of the inspired apostle, either one 
 way or the other. The conclusion to which Morinus 
 comes will shew what I mean ; and how requisite it is 
 to understand in more lights than one the bearing of 
 passages in holy scripture to which we are ready to 
 appeal, when we think that on some particular subject 
 they may happen to support us. " Confitemini invi- 
 cem, sive alterutrum, hoc est, iis quibus peccata re- 
 mittendi facultas concessa est. 3 Sacerdotes igitur 
 orationibus suis peccata remittunt sibi confitentibus. 
 Hoc insuper demonstratur eodem prorsus argumento 
 
 3 See above: p. 144: the argument of Dr. Hammond.
 
 256 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 quo idem de extrema unctione demonstrari potest : 
 eadem enim videtur consequentia. Quapropter si ex 
 hoc loco demonstratur deprecatoriam formulam in ex- 
 trema unctione valere, eadem ratione idem de confes- 
 sione demonstrabitur." 4 
 
 There are, it is quite certain, many places in the 
 fathers in which they attribute the effect of sacerdotal 
 absolution to intercession rather than to an indicative 
 expression of authority. Such, for example, as these 
 two or three which follow : and, whatever their value 
 in proof of the use, very anciently, of a precatory 
 form, they will not help persons much who deny the 
 grace of the sacrament of absolution altogether. Thus, 
 S. Ambrose, answering the heretical objection from 
 the 1st book of Samuel, ch. 2. v. 25, says : " Non 
 scriptum est, nullus orabit pro eo ; sed, quls orabit, 
 hoc est, quis ille sit, qui in tali causa orare possit, 
 quseritur, non excluditur." 5 Compare also this place 
 in his treatise of the Holy Spirit, where he speaks of a 
 form though, it may be, precatory. " Nunc videamus 
 utrum peccata donet Spiritus. Sed hie dubitari non 
 potest, cum ipse Dominus dixerit, Accipite Spiritum 
 Sanctum ; quorum remiseritis peccata, remissa erunt. 
 Ecce quia per Spiritum Sanctum peccata donantur. 
 Homines autem in remissione peccatorum ministerium 
 suum exhibent, non jus alicujus potestatis exercent. 
 Neque enim in suo, sed in Patris et Filii et Spiritus 
 Sancti nomine peccata dimittunt. Isti rogant, divinitas 
 
 4 De poenit. loc. cit. iv. 5 De poenit. lib. 1. cap. 
 
 ix.
 
 Supplement. 257 
 
 donat; humanum enim obsequium, sed munificentia 
 supernae est potestatis." 6 
 
 S. Augustine also, arguing against the Donatists, 
 applies the same reasoning to imposition of hands in 
 giving absolution which he applies to the sacrament of 
 holy baptism. The Donatists denied the grace of the 
 sacraments when administered by wicked men. " Si 
 ergo ad hoc valet quod dictum est in evangelio, Deus 
 peccatorem non audit, ut per peccatorem sacramenta 
 non celebrentur ; quomodo exaudit homicidam depre- 
 cantem, vel super aquam baptismi, vel super oleum, 
 vel super eucharistiam, vel super capita eorum quibus 
 manus imponitur ? Qua? omnia tamen fiunt et valeat, 
 etiam per homicidas." 7 
 
 Again, S. Leo in an epistle to some bishops of 
 Campania : " Sufficit ilia confessio, quae primum Deo 
 offertur, tune etiam sacerdoti qui pro delictis poeniten- 
 tium precator accedit." And in another place ; " Mul- 
 tum utile ac necessarium est, ut peccatorum reatus 
 ante ultimum diem sacerdotali supplicatione solva- 
 tur." 8 
 
 6 Lib. 3. cap. xviij. the objection. " |[ 2. Praeterea. 
 
 Leo Papa dicit, quod indulgentia 
 
 7 De bapt. lib. 5. cap. xx. ~ . . f .. *. ., 
 
 JJei, nisi supphcationibus sacerdo- 
 
 8 Epist. Ixxx-xci. turn, nequit obtineri : loquitur 
 Morinus quotes S. Leo, and it autem de indulgentia Dei, quae 
 
 may serve towards a more due praestatur poenitentibus ; ergo for- 
 
 estimate of his authorities to re- ma hujus sacramenti debet esse 
 
 member, that Aquinas also refers per modum deprecationis 
 
 to S. Leo, by way of an objection Ad secundum dicendura, quod 
 
 to his own argument : and answers verbum Leonis est intelligendum
 
 258 Doctrine of Abso lutlon . 
 
 But, to pass over other testimonies of this kind 
 which Morinus has produced, I shall trouble the 
 reader further only with a passage, very famous in 
 this controversy, from the works of William, bishop of 
 Paris, about 1230. Speaking of a certain case, he 
 says that in absolving the priest does not use an indi- 
 cative form, but, (he continues) " magis orationem 
 facit super eum, ut Deus absolutionem et remissionem, 
 atque gratiam sanctificationis tribuat. Et nemo dubitat 
 quin possit, et debeat confessor orare Patrem miseri- 
 cordiarum, et etiam remittat peccanti peccata, quae 
 nee ipse pcenitens in se cognoscit, et eidem confessori 
 recognoscit. Unde in absolutione confitentium non 
 consueverunt dicere sacerdotes, Dimittat tibi Deus 
 peccata, quae confessus es mihi, sed potius omnia." 9 
 
 The practice of the Greek Church, the effect and 
 object of which no one I believe disputes, has always 
 been to use a precatory form. 10 And upon that effect 
 
 quantum ad deprecationem, quae whole matter at length in detail, 
 
 praemittitur absolutioni, non autem continues : " His relictis opinioni- 
 
 removet, quin sacerdotes absol- bus postremo loco omnium proba- 
 
 vant." Summa. pars. in. qu. bilissimam, dixerim etiam certis- 
 
 Ixxxiv. art. 3. simam, quippe quae minimam, vel 
 
 potius nullam meo judicio patiatur 
 
 De sacram. poenitentiae. cap. difficultatem h ic inserendam, et 
 
 stabiliendam esse duxi sententiam. 
 
 The learned reader will re- Ea vero ejusmodi est quae asserat 
 
 member that some great author!- hujus sacramenti formam apud 
 
 ties argue that the Greek Form Graecos non esse imperativam, non 
 
 is not optative in that sense which deprecatoriam, neque mixtam, sed 
 
 some would put upon it. Thus, omnino enunciativam, et ut ita di- 
 
 Arcudius, having discussed the cam avdcyriK^v KOI
 
 Supplement. 259 
 
 and grace of absolution so conveyed, we may hear one 
 of their own patriarchs, of Constantinople, who is 
 
 auctoritativam, ac judicialem 
 (quanquam et imperativa talis esse 
 possit) talem enim prae se fert sen- 
 susetsignificatiohorum verborum, 
 e^w era ffvyKe^Mpi'ifAtvov, ad ver- 
 bum, habeo te venia donatum, hoc 
 est, ffvyj^wpw aot ru a/Ltaprfi/Lia.ra, 
 veniam do, ignosco, condono, in- 
 dulgeo, seu remitto tibi peccata." 
 Concordia. lib. iv. cap. 2. p 369. 
 And he proceeds to establish this 
 explanation by many similar ex- 
 amples. 
 
 But at the commencement of 
 the chapter, Arcudius says. " An- 
 te omnia duo sunt consideranda. 
 Alterum, nullam unquam fuisse 
 controversiam de hac re inter 
 Graecos, et Latinos, ac proinde 
 non esse verisimile, antiquam for- 
 mam hujus sacramenti ex odio 
 alicujus, vel malitia mutatam ali- 
 quando fuisse .... Alterum, in- 
 credibile dictu videri, Graecorum 
 ecclesiam nunquam habuisse ve- 
 ram formam hujus sacramenti." 
 Ibid. p. 351. and, in another 
 place, he further observes : " Con- 
 venit inter Graecos et Latinos 
 causam supremam, et primam 
 remissionis peccatorum, esse De- 
 urn optimum maximum. Minis- 
 trum vero constat esse causam 
 instrumentalem, quae ut conse- 
 quatur suum effectum, a principali 
 agente moveatur necesse est .... 
 Prseterea quod forma per modum 
 
 orationis aequipolleat indicativis ex 
 eo probatur. ^Eque enim benedi- 
 cit sacerdos cum dicit, benedico te, 
 et cum dicit, te Deus benedicat, 
 loquens ad hominem. etc" Ibid, 
 p. 357. 
 
 Goar also ; " Certe forma hujus 
 sacramenti etsi deprecativa, non 
 excludit, imo continet actionem 
 ministri, sicque ad indicativam po- 
 test reduci ; quemadmodum et 
 indicativa Dei misericordiam pce- 
 nitenti necessariam expostulat 
 simplicite . . . Forma autem est 
 hujusmodi, t\f>> <rt arvyKf^uprj/^i- 
 vov, Habeo te condonatum: poe- 
 nitens si quidem omnis cum pec- 
 catis enumeratis, et cordis contri- 
 tione manifesta, veniam a Deo, et 
 a spirituali patre rogare soleat, his 
 vulgaribus suae linguae verbis : 
 irapaKoXCJ va fiov ffvy^u/ofiffrjg, 
 precor ut veniam rnihi eroges, si 
 petition i annuat, et peccatorem 
 indulgentia dignum putet, ad men- 
 tern rogantis laudatum illud, 'i\u 
 i/yneVov, respondet 
 Quae verba Latino- 
 rum sequipollere formae, et eadem 
 virtute pollere, fuse demonstrat 
 Arcudius : praeter cujus exposi- 
 tionem, hoc solum superest ad- 
 dendum : illud, habeo te venia 
 donatum, aut condonatum, esse 
 idem penitus ac, facio, reddo te 
 venia donatum, aut condonatum, 
 quod absolute est venia donare,
 
 26 o Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 quoted by Morinus. The argument as stated by this 
 writer is as follows : 
 
 " Hieremias . . . precibus sacerdotis remissionem 
 peccatorum tribuit. Docet Hieremias peccata remitti 
 a sacerdote si prenitens ea confiteatur, corde contrito 
 et humiliato. . . . Confitenda autem esse omnia peccata 
 paulo ante dixerat, ' Oportet, confitentem quoad possit 
 et recordetur, peccata particulatim exponere : ' et sta- 
 tim post ilia verba quibus orationis virtutem commen- 
 davit, addit ex S. Basilio, * Omne peccatum exponen- 
 dum est apud antistitem, malitia enim silentio tecta 
 morbus est subexulceratus animae. Et cap. 13. sacra- 
 mentorum virtutem precibus tribuit, * Precationes enim 
 ad Deum convertunt, peccatorumque veniam impe- 
 trant.' His etiam simul cum oraculis divinis virtutem 
 tribuit conversionis panis in Corpus Christi." n 
 
 Here let me remark, in a brief word ; that the effect 
 of prayer, either implied as by the whole Church or 
 expressed at the time of administration by the minister, 
 is one of the most deep and subtle questions in theo- 
 logy. With regard to baptism, I have largely ex- 
 plained the judgement of the Church in another work ; 
 so also as to the eucharist (of which Hieremias speaks) 
 elsewhere ; and who shall venture to put limits to its 
 necessity and to its efficacy in the sacrament of abso- 
 
 aut condonare : mutua est enim stituere potest : condonare autem 
 
 activorum et passivorum conse- peccatum, est illud absolvere." 
 
 quentia et correlatio, nee nisi venia Euchologion. p. 676. 
 donans, alium venia donatum con- n De pcenit. loc. cit. cap. xij.
 
 Supplement. 26 1 
 
 lution ? And, properly understood, no difficulties arise 
 from the acknowledgment of this truth, which inter- 
 fere at all with the catholic doctrine of the certainty 
 of sacramental grace. We may well say with Albertus 
 Magnus, " Ecclesise orationes certas esse, licet particu- 
 lares, vel singulares incertae essent. Unde omne sa- 
 cramentum contrahit certitudinem sui effectus per hoc 
 quod non innititur orationi unius personse, sed eccle- 
 sise. Impossibile est enim orationes ecclesiae non ex- 
 audiri ; et ideo propter certitudinem non oportebat 
 formam suam esse in oratione enuntiativa." 12 And 
 with another writer whom Morinus quotes ; " Neque 
 vero ex eo quod sit deprecatoria sequitur effectum ejus 
 esse incertum, quia Deus non exaudit peccatores, et 
 peccator sacramentum ministrans potest esse improbus, 
 et male dispositus; neque enim oratio tune fit solo 
 nomine sacerdotis, sed praesertim nomine Christi, et 
 ecclesiae cui sacerdos vicarius est, sicque oratio non 
 privatur idcirco suo effectu saltern primario, sed eum 
 obtinet ex opere operate propter Christi institutionem, 
 ac promissionem ecclesiae factam." And, once more, 
 with Laiman : " In eo conveiiiunt formae omnes sa- 
 cramentorum quod eorum efficacitas non pendeat ex 
 vi orationis, ut est opus operantis, sed ex virtute pro- 
 missionis Christi secundum quam ad Deum Patrem 
 oratio funditur." 13 
 
 If the meaning and intent of absolution had been 
 supposed by the Church for the first twelve hundred 
 
 Vi In iv. ditt. 2-3. ni-t. 4.; " C\t. Morinus. cap. xx.
 
 262 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 years to be but a loosing from ecclesiastical censures, 
 and restoration to outward communion, it would be 
 a hard thing to account for the use of an optative or 
 precatory form. The power of enforcing external 
 discipline, or, at least, the claim to it, is so natural, 
 nay, so inherent in the very constitution itself of all 
 communities, that there would have been little need 
 for an avowal of humility in its actual exercise. And 
 the very fact, if it is true, that the precatory form was 
 in use for so many centuries, is to my mind a strongly 
 convincing evidence of the truth of the doctrine now 
 held by the church of England. That is ; that the 
 effect of sacerdotal absolution is the removal of the 
 guilt and penalty of mortal sin. But I shall again 
 avail myself of the language of Morinus. " Effectus 
 in poenitente per absolutionem productus, remissio est 
 peccatorum, et Sancti Spiritus donatio. Dona sane 
 tanta, tarn magnifica, ut digna omnino sint propter 
 quse vadimonium ut ita dicam deseratur, consuetaque 
 judicibus loquendi formula. Inh'nitis enim parasangis 
 superant hi effectus omnium creaturarum potestatem. 
 Quapropter cum tantee sit efficacise sententia sacer- 
 dotis absolutoria super pcenitentem pronunciata, quid 
 mirum si verecundatus sacerdos modo deprecatorio 
 earn effert, ut sic Deum auctorem, se vero tarn excelsi 
 doni ministrum solum profiteatur. S. Chrysostomus 
 notat Dominum nostrum paralytico a se sanato dixisse, 
 Sanusfactus es, etc. non, sanum te feci, ut humilita- 
 tem et modestiam suam demonstraret, eaque nos ad 
 eamerudiret. . . . Quanto magis sacerdos misellus pec-
 
 Supplement. 263 
 
 cator oratione sua se nudum esse tanti effectus minis- 
 trum declarabit. Aliquando oratione, (Inquit Chrysos- 
 tomus) aliquando auctoritate miracula patrabat, et 
 peccata remittebat; oratione, ut humilitate sua se a 
 Patre missum ; auctoritate, ut se Patri aequalem de- 
 monstraret. . . . Est igitur idem utriusque locutionis 
 effectus ; sed indicativus primae personae principalem 
 causara sonat, et auctoritatem innuit sibi per semetip- 
 sum competentem, otvQtwKv xal a.vTt%ov<riow. Fortius 
 enim prima causa loqui non possit. Deprecativa vero 
 ministerialem necessario dicit, et a prima usurpari non 
 potest. Ideo Christus ut flea'i^pwiro? utraque usus est : 
 posteriore ut humili et ministerial!, cum Divinitatis 
 radios emicantes comprimere voluit." u 
 
 I shall conclude this part of my observations upon 
 the precatory form, with the forcible enquiry of a very 
 celebrated author ; " Si expressio solius ministri suffi- 
 cit, ut exercentis actum, Ego te baptizo, cur non suffi- 
 ciat expressio Christi qui per suum ministrum bapti- 
 zat?" 15 
 
 But, as has been already said, this fact of a preca- 
 tory form alone for so many hundred years, is a dis- 
 puted point. At the very time when, according to 
 Morinus, the indicative form was introduced, Aquinas 
 wrote a treatise in which he uses expressions scarcely 
 in possible accordance with such a fact, if it be true. 
 In quoting these, I adduce them merely and simply as 
 
 14 Ibid. cap. xx. 
 
 15 Sotus, in 4, dist. iij, yu. unica. art. 5. cit. ibid. cap. xxij.
 
 264 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 they bear upon the question of fact, and not of doc- 
 trine. 
 
 Aquinas is contending against a writer who had ar- 
 gued that the form Ego te absolvo ought not to be 
 used : and he continues ; " quod quidem praesumptuo- 
 sum judico, quia repugnat evangelicis dictis. Dicit enim 
 
 Dominus, quodcunque solveris, etc Patet ergo 
 
 ex dictis Salvatoris, quod habens claves absolvit. 
 Praesumptuosum est ergo, ne dicam erroneum, ut sa- 
 cerdos dicere non possit, Ego absolvo te, quern Domi- 
 nus absolvere confitetur." This would all be com- 
 patible with a mere allowance of either form : but 
 presently, we find : " Potest, ergo, habens claves ex 
 tradita sibi potestate dicere, Ego te absolvo. Non 
 Bolum autem hoc convenienter dicere potest, sed et 
 necessarium esse videtur : sacramenta enim novae legis 
 efficiunt quod figurant ; figurant autem seu significant 
 et ex materia, et ex forma verborum." And, after- 
 wards : "In sacramento poenitentiae verba scrip turae, 
 quag maxime sunt sectanda, non faciunt mentionem de 
 aliqua deprecatione ; sed magis verbo indicative uti- 
 tur. Non enim dicit : quaecunque petieris esse sol- 
 venda, erunt soluta; sed, qucecunque solve?is, erunt 
 soluta, etc." 16 
 
 We must allow, I suppose, if a precatory form alone 
 had been in use until the end of the 12th century, 
 that such language as the above would be strange and 
 unaccountable in the mouth of so great a writer as 
 
 16 Opusc. 22.
 
 Supplement. 265 
 
 Aquinas ; who, himself flourishing about the year 
 1250, must have known almost by experience the 
 practice of the preceding century, even if he had not 
 been so learned as he was, or so constantly in the 
 society of learned men. Nor is it quite easy to disco- 
 ver, why any one should be called presumptuous and 
 an opposer of the plain words of scripture, who should 
 endeavour in the beginning of the 12th century to 
 support the continued reception of a form, which had 
 been in constant use from the age of the apostles down 
 to the year 1200. 
 
 I shall also quote Aquinas, more generally, from 
 his argument in the Summa. " C. 3. Praeterea. Idem 
 est absolvere a peccato, quod peccatum remittere : sed 
 solus Deus peccatum remittit, qui etiam solus interius 
 hominem a peccato mundat ; ergo videtur, quod solus 
 Deus a peccato absolvat : non ergo debet sacerdos 
 dicere, Ego te absolvo, sicut non dicit, Ego tibi pec- 
 cata remitto . . . . <T Ad tertium dicendum, quod 
 solus Deus per auctoritatem et a peccato absolvit, et 
 peccatum remittit : sacerdotes tamen utrumque faciunt 
 per ministerium, in quantum, sc. verba sacerdotis in 
 hoc sacramento instrumentaliter operantur in virtute 
 divina, sicut etiam in aliis sacramentis. Nam virtus 
 divina est, quse interius operatur in omnibus sacramen- 
 talibus signis, sive sint res, sive verba : unde et Domi- 
 nus expressit utrumque : nam Matt. xvj. dixit Petro ; 
 Quodcunque solveris super terram, etc. et Joan, xx, 
 dixit discipulis ; Quorum remiseritis peccata, remit- 
 tuntur eis : ideo tamen sacerdos potius dicit : Ego te
 
 266 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 absolve, quam ; Ego tibi peccata remitto : quia. hoc 
 magis congruit verbis, quae Dominus dixit, virtutem 
 clavium ostendens, per quas sacerdotes absolvunt : 
 quia tamen sacerdos, sicut minister, absolvit, conve- 
 nienter apponitur aliquid, quod pertineat ad primam 
 auctoritatem Dei, sc. ut dicatur : Ego te absolvo in 
 nomine Patris, etc. vel per virtutem passionis Christi, 
 vel auctoritate Dei. Quia tamen hoc non est deter- 
 minatum ex verbis Christi, sicut in baptismo, talis ap- 
 positio relinquitur arbitrio sacerdotis." 17 
 
 To return : the change, moreover, from a precatory 
 to an indicative form is not a slight matter : slight, 
 that is, as people commonly would have naturally 
 regarded it at the time. And where, except nega- 
 tively, is the evidence of this change ? from one uni- 
 versal observance to another, which could not fail to 
 have been observed and commented on very largely 
 
 17 Pars. III. qu. Ixxxiv. art. 3. turn per verba, et facta, et non 
 And he further argues against the solum significative, sed etiam ef- 
 objection that Ego te absolvo fective, ita etiam, cum dicit ; Ego 
 means Absolutum ostendo, which te absolvo, ostendit hominem ab- 
 no one who has not received a re- solutum non solum significative, 
 velation can say without presump- sed etiam effective, nee tamen lo- 
 tion : " f[ Ad quintum dicendum, quitur quasi de re incerta. Quia, 
 quod ista expositio, Ego te absol- sicut alia sacramenta novae legis 
 vo, id est, absolutum ostendo, habent de se certum effectum ex 
 quantum ad aliquid quidem vera virtute passionis Christi, licet pos- 
 est, non tamen est perfects : sa- sit impediri ex parte recipients, 
 cramenta enim novae legis non ita etiam et in hoc sacramento. 
 solum significant, sed etiam fa- Unde nee sacerdos indiget speciali 
 ciunt, quod significant. Unde, revelatione sibi facta, sed sufficit 
 sicut sacerdos, baptizando aliquem, generalis revelatio fidei, per quam 
 ostendit hominem interius ablu- remittuntur peccata." Ibid.
 
 Supplement. 267 
 
 at the time. Where, again, is any decree, or canon of 
 general council, to the same purpose ? How, also, is 
 it that some one or more particular churches did not 
 retain the old form ? How came it that all, as by 
 mutual consent, should at once adopt a new form ? 
 Was there any flagrant error at that period which de- 
 manded such a substitution ? 
 
 Nor, in the centuries immediately succeeding the 
 1 2th, does Aquinas stand alone in his assertion as to 
 the necessity of an indicative form. I repeat, that we 
 are not now, in any way, discussing doctrine, but fact : 
 and, whatever may be said against the correctness of 
 such a conclusion about necessity, and I think it cer- 
 tainly incorrect, in any other sense than referred to 
 the authority and order of the Church, yet as to the 
 historical fact, it is a difficult thing to account for such 
 opinions, if the precatory form had only very lately 
 been discontinued throughout the whole Western 
 Church. It can only be accounted for by presuming 
 the existence of a system of argument, of which no one 
 other example can be produced. 
 
 Thus, in the 14th century, John Gerson begins his 
 note upon the form of absolution : " Forma absolutio- 
 nis a peccatis et necessaria, est, Ego absolve te." 18 
 
 18 Opera, torn. 2. p. 482. At solvit ; vel quia omnia sacramenta 
 
 the end he says : fiunt in virtute fidei Trinitatis, et 
 
 " Nota. Ilia particula : In no- passionis Jesu Christi Domini 
 
 mine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus nostri : Nee est, (ut Thomas dicit 
 
 Sancti, Amen ; additur ad deno- in tertia parte Summae) de sub- 
 
 tandum quod a Deo est quod ab- stantia absolutionis ; sed relin-
 
 268 Doctrine of Absolution . 
 
 In the next century, Gabriel Biel. " Forma absolu- 
 tionis hsec est: Absolve te ab omnibus peccatis tuis, et 
 sumitur ex verbis Christi, Quodcunque solveris super 
 terrain, erit solutum et in ccelis. Absolutiones autem 
 in publico factae, sc. Misereatur tui, etc. vel Indul- 
 gentiam et remissionem, etc. non sunt sacramentales, 
 sed orationes ordinatae ad remissionem peccatorum 
 venialium. En ergo in sacramentali absolutione non 
 sufficeret eas dicere : quia presbyter non per eas signi- 
 ficat fieri absolutionem, sed petit ut fiat." 19 
 
 We will not further discuss this matter ; in truth, 
 as I have said already, the question whether there was 
 in the western Church for 1200 years a precatory 
 form of absolution, and no other, a question very 
 doubtful indeed as it seems to me, whichever way 
 decided, does not affect the catholic doctrine of the 
 grace of sacerdotal absolution. It is a question of 
 ecclesiastical discipline and rule : similar exactly to 
 the ancient rite of trine immersion in the sacrament 
 of holy baptism. Able as the arguments are which 
 have been brought forward by Morinus, they yet, 
 even if the difficulty from testimonies of the 13th and 
 
 quitur arbitrio sacerdotis, qui natum ex verbis Christi : Quod- 
 
 cum sit ut instrumentaliter con- cunque ligaveris super terram, 
 
 currens, etc. sive ut minister ab- etc. sicut in baptismo ; talis appo- 
 
 solvat, convenienter apponit illud sitio ibi, et non in baptismo, re- 
 
 quod pertinet ad primam auctori- linquitur arbitrio sacerdotis." . 
 
 tatem Dei, sc. ut dicatur; Ego 483. 
 te absolvo in nomine Patris, etc. 
 
 quia tamen hoc non est determi- 19 In 4. (list. xiv. qn. 2.
 
 Supplement. 269 
 
 14th centuries were passed over, fail in the complete 
 establishment of his assertion. And when we come to 
 examine carefully his strongest point, namely, the ab- 
 sence of the indicative form in the earliest manuscripts, 
 we find that the rituals which he cites are not all, in 
 those places, giving the rite of administration of pri- 
 vate or sacerdotal absolution. We cease, therefore, to 
 wonder that prayers only are in those offices which 
 were drawn up for the public reconciliation of noto- 
 rious offenders in ccena Domini, or for the quick and 
 hurried absolution of a penitent at the point of death. 
 The whole subject is well worthy the diligent care of 
 the student, opening up, as it does, many deep ques- 
 tions in theology : he will be repaid for whatever 
 labour he may be able to bestow on it. 
 
 But it will be according to my plan, to lay before 
 the reader an extract from a note upon the form in 
 the due administration of the sacrament of absolution, 
 which John de Athon makes upon one of the constitu- 
 tions of Othobon : it is important as shewing that ac- 
 cording to the judgement at that time of the great 
 canonist, the indicative form in the exact words of the 
 constitution was not essential. The canon ordered ; 
 " Omnes autem, qui confessiones aliquorum audiunt, 
 a peccatis expresse confitentes absolvant, verba sub- 
 scripta specialiter exprimentes, Ego te a peccatis tuis 
 auctoritate quafungor, absolvo" The gloss is : "Ex- 
 presse. Hoc habet respicere dictionem sequentem 
 confitentes : et tune per hoc intellige excludie omnem 
 velationem et palliationem, quae tendere posset ad ex-
 
 270 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 cusandas excusationes in peccatis: vel potest determi- 
 nare dictionem absolvant hie sequentem, et sic hoc 
 plenius declaratur in textu, qui hie sequitur. Absolvo 
 .... debet ergo absolutio impertiri per haec expressa 
 verba, ut hie patet, supple, vel sequipollentia. Nam 
 cum hie se referat ad effectum potius quod ad exactam 
 form am faciendi, non refer t qualiter fiat, dummodo 
 fit." 20 
 
 I have but one more brief observation to offer, be- 
 fore I pass from this question of the Form in absolu- 
 tion. It has always appeared to me to be an extraor- 
 dinary question for any priest of the church of Eng- 
 land to enquire, " What form ought I to use in the 
 administration of private absolution?" I say, extra- 
 ordinary : because if he can have managed to convince 
 himself that our Church no longer claims and exer- 
 cises, or no longer orders her ministers to exercise, 
 the power of remitting and of retaining sins, he would 
 not dare to make a pretence of doing this very act, 
 for any conceivable purpose which I can imagine. 
 Or, again, if he does believe that the doctrine of the 
 church of England upon absolution is in accordance 
 with all antiquity and with her own formularies, it is 
 a question which he ought to have settled for himself 
 before he ventured, kneeling before the bishop, to 
 " receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of 
 a priest in the Church of God." Part of that work 
 is, to give to those who need it " the benefit of abso- 
 
 20 Tit. 2. cap. Quoniam caeca.
 
 Supplement. 271 
 
 lution." The visitation office of the sick supplies a 
 proper form : being there provided, the most proper 
 for every occasion : still, if he would wish to use some 
 other, he is not bound to that form only. All essen- 
 tial conditions being completed ; his own judgement 
 satisfied; both priest and penitent knowing and in- 
 tending what is about to be performed ; it would be, 
 as I have already said, sufficient, if he simply said, 
 " I absolve thee." Few men indeed, I suppose, would 
 say these words only, so bare ; few but who would also, 
 with the fuller and authorized form, say some psalms, 
 and prayers before the absolution, and some prayers 
 afterwards : among these last, especially, that most 
 ancient and solemn prayer (itself, alone, possibly a 
 sufficient form); " O most merciful God, Who, accord- 
 ing to the multitude of Thy mercies, etc."" But in 
 short, he would remember the rule of the canonist : 
 " non refert qualiter fiat, dummodo fit." 
 
 II. In a note above, p. 190. I have alluded to the 
 fact that among the disputations of the schools, it was 
 not unfrequently debated, how far each part of the 
 ordinance of penance availed towards the completion 
 of the whole. Contrition ; and resolutions of amend- 
 ment ; and faith ; and distinct confession ; and a formal 
 absolution; all these being held to be necessary to 
 remission of sins in and by this ordinance, theologians 
 went on to dispute the relative value, so to put it, of 
 each. Thus, some argued that God Himself par- 
 doned the sinner and admitted him again into a state 
 of grace upon contrition only : others, on the contrary,
 
 272 Doctrine of Absolution . 
 
 that pardon was not given until the absolution also 
 had been pronounced by the priest. Hence the first 
 would hold that the form is declarative rather than 
 effective ; the last that it is strictly effective. 
 
 But the question in this manner debated was en- 
 tirely upon details in no kind of way, so far as the 
 arguments of the schoolmen are concerned, affecting 
 the real matter which authors in later ages have de- 
 nied, viz : the grace itself of sacerdotal absolution. 
 Nor is there the slightest reason for the objection 
 which has been often urged against absolution alto- 
 gether, as derived from their works: namely, that ac- 
 cording to the acknowledgement of the schoolmen, 
 contrition is alone sufficient to restore man to the 
 favour of God. This may or may not be true, as a 
 doctrine ; into that point I am not enquiring now ; 
 what I assert is, that such a statement is not really 
 to be found in any of the writings which have been 
 hitherto appealed to for this purpose. Whenever any 
 of those authors speak of contrition as effective (so to 
 speak) of remission of sins, they are always discoursing 
 of the ordinance or sacrament of penance as a whole : 
 in other words they hold, without exception, this doc- 
 trine ; that contrition, however perfect it may be, does 
 not remit deadly sins, nisi in ordine ad cloves eccle- 
 sicB. I think the reader will at once perceive how 
 utterly this alters the state of the case. 
 
 It has been said, " In fact, the doctrine that actual 
 remission of sin is conveyed by priestly absolution, is 
 contrary to the universal opinion of the ancients ; for
 
 Supplement . 273 
 
 they all admitted, even the Master of Sentences, that 
 wherever there was true contrition, there was actual 
 remission previous to any sacerdotal absolution." 21 
 I have just explained in what sense the schoolmen, 
 when they so argued, are to be understood ; but, 
 besides this, it is not correct to say that they " all 
 admitted it." It was a question debated, not settled : 
 and, let me further observe, it was a question (treated 
 as it then was) in reality falling far short of much 
 practical good, though it sprang from a most excellent 
 and Christian principle; namely, from the desire to 
 insist upon and to press the absolute necessity of con- 
 trition in order to the reception of the blessings of 
 sacerdotal absolution. I say, it failed as to its prac- 
 tical results ; because those writers never considered 
 contrition as sufficient apart and distinct from absolu- 
 tion. If they had done so, and deliberated upon it in 
 the spirit and according to the judgement of earlier 
 fathers of the Church, I cannot doubt but that we 
 might have derived, upon this article of the Faith also, 
 a purer doctrine from their labours. 
 
 The place usually referred to in this discussion is 
 from the sentences of Peter Lombard, and the reader 
 will wish to see it. It is in part of the 18th distinction 
 of the 4th book. Having referred to the old illustra- 
 tion of the loosing of Lazarus, first raised from the 
 dead by our Blessed Lord, and to the Levitical rule 
 
 21 A Letter, etc. By the Rev. F. T. Hill. p. 11. 
 T
 
 274 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 regarding lepers, he continues : " Evangelic! sacer- 
 dotes peccata dimittunt, vel retinent, dum dimissa a 
 Deo vel retenta judicant, et ostendunt." Nor does the 
 Master stand alone ; he has other great names in 
 support of the same opinion ; if I am not mistaken, 
 Bonaventure, Gabriel Biel, and Alensis. 
 
 Since therefore Peter Lombard has been quoted to 
 prove that contrition alone is sufficient to obtain 
 pardon from God, it is but just to him that we should 
 enquire what he meant by contrition : for if he did 
 not mean that absolution after oral confession is there- 
 fore unnecessary, I do not quite see of what use his 
 authority is in this discussion. The Distinction which 
 precedes the one just extracted from, is concerned with 
 the question of the necessity of confession. Having 
 stated the various opinions which men, from time to 
 time, had offered, he proceeds thus : " Quid ergo 
 super his sentiendum sit, quid tenendum ? sane dici 
 potest, quod sine confessione oris, et solutione poenae 
 exterioris peccata delentur per contritionem et humi- 
 litatem cordis. Ex quo enim proponit mente com- 
 puncta se confessurum, Deus dimittit : quia ibi est 
 confessio cordis, etsi non oris, per quam anima inte- 
 rius mundatur a macula, et contagione peccati com- 
 missi, et debitum seternse mortis relaxatur .... Sicut 
 enim praecepta est nobis interior poenitentia, et ita oris 
 confessio, et exterior satisfactio, si adsit facultas. Unde 
 nee vere poenitens est, qui confessionis votum non habet 
 
 . . Oportet ergo poenitentum confiteri peccata, si 
 tempus habeat : et tamen antequam sit confessio in
 
 Supplement . 275 
 
 ore, si votum sit in corde, 22 prsestatur ei remissio." 
 The author then enquires whether confession made to 
 God alone, can suffice ? and thus concludes : " Indubi- 
 tanter ostenditur, oportere Deo primum, et deinde 
 sacerdoti offerri confessionem : nee aliter posse per- 
 veniri ad ingressum Paradisi, si adsit facultas." As 
 I cannot admit the truth of this conclusion, so neither 
 
 22 " Objicis primo, de fide esse 
 contritionem justificare peccato- 
 rem : ergo ilia sufficit. Respon- 
 detur contritionem nee haberi, 
 neque esse veram contritionem 
 sine voto sacramenti respective ad 
 peccata non confessa ; hoc autem 
 votum cessat, quando adest op- 
 portunitas confitendi de praesenti ; 
 quam si quis negligat sine impe- 
 dimento, contemnit .... Con- 
 tritio est medium extraordinarium 
 et subordinatum poenitentiae, cui 
 non sequivalet; quantum ad obli- 
 gationem prsecepti, quando ipsa 
 pcenitentia adhiberi potest .... 
 Dices, ipsa contritio perfecta sem- 
 per justificat ante confessionem, 
 et absolutionem etiam in sacra- 
 men to : ergo ex necessitate justi- 
 ficationis, ex qua colligitur prae- 
 ceptum poenitendi, non sequitur 
 obligatio confessionis. Respon- 
 detur clarum esse obligationem 
 manere, non obstante contritione, 
 sive turn, sive alias fiat confessio: 
 quia Deus non remittit peccatum 
 nisi in ordine ad confessionem 
 faciendam, et sine ejus voto : in- 
 
 tentio autem confitendi de prae- 
 senti continet in se votum confes- 
 sionis. Itaque contritioni etiam 
 ut in sacramento sit, non corres- 
 pondet justificatio, nisi ut subest 
 tali intentioni, sicut nee extra 
 sacramentum, nisi ut subest voto : 
 satisfactio enim completa, quam 
 Deus exigit pro peccato, per con- 
 tritionem et confessionem fit, 
 ideoque requirit ut confessio ex- 
 hibeatur in reipsa, vel certe in 
 affectu, et proposito absolute con- 
 fitendi, sive de prsesenti, si adest 
 copia confessoris, et urgeat prae- 
 ceptum, sive de futuro ; alterutro 
 deficiente, deficit vera poeniten- 
 tia." Duns Scotus. Opera, torn. 
 9. Hiqucsi comment, p. 320. 
 Sentent. lib. iv. dist. 17. Pro- 
 testing against the truth of the 
 doctrine advocated in this extract, 
 I yet assert that it is a true and 
 correct view of the teaching of 
 Lombard, or Bonaventure, upon 
 the value of contrition, as being 
 effective of remission of deadly 
 sin.
 
 276 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 should I think it right to appeal to Peter Lombard as 
 an authority to prove that remission of sins is not con- 
 veyed by priestly absolution, because that writer argues 
 that by contrition previous to confession, si votum sit 
 in corde, pardon is obtained. 
 
 The reader has probably not forgotten the extracts 
 which have been given above, referring to the resur- 
 rection of Lazarus, in illustration of the catholic doc- 
 trine of the grace of sacerdotal absolution. Even as 
 that saint was not loosed from the bonds wherewith he 
 was bound until after he had been raised from the 
 dead, and had come forth, at the voice of the Redeemer ; 
 so when priestly absolution is sought for by the peni- 
 tent, it has no effect unless beforehand the sinner has 
 been raised by the Lord from the death of sin, and his 
 resurrection to a life again of grace begun, though not 
 perfected and complete. In such an one, the spiritual 
 life begun is the effect of actual grace inwardly exci- 
 ting and rousing the soul. Completed resurrection 
 and perfect spiritual life, life renewed and set at 
 liberty, is the effect of justifying grace. The first 
 may be believed to precede always sacramental abso- 
 lution, in like manner as the raising of Lazarus by our 
 Lord preceded the loosing of his bonds by the disci- 
 ples ; the second is given by the power and efficacy of 
 absolution itself. Hence we see the true force and 
 meaning of the passage, cited above, from S. Gregory : 
 " ut quos omnipotens Deus per compunctionis gratiam 
 visitat, illos pastoris sententia absolvat. " 
 
 But I shall finish these remarks with two passages
 
 Supplement. 277 
 
 from Aquinas : to which no one can object, seeing 
 that this difficulty about contrition is solely based upon 
 the authority of the schools. " Constat enim, quod 
 Dominus Lazarum suscitavit, et discipulis solvendum 
 mandavit : ergo discipuli absolvunt. Per hoc ergo non 
 ostenditur, quod sacerdos non absolvat, aut non debeat 
 dicere, Ego te absolvo, sed quod eum non debet absol- 
 vere in quo signa contritionis non videt, per quam 
 homo justificatur interius a Deo culpa remissa." 23 
 And again, on the Distinction itself in the sentences. 
 " Poenitentia, in quantum est sacramentum, prsecipue 
 in confessione perficitur ; quia per earn homo ministris 
 ecclesise se subdit, qui sunt sacramentorum dispensa- 
 tores. Contritio enim votum confessionis annexum 
 habet. Et quia in sacramento poenitentiae gratia in- 
 funditur, per quam fit remissio peccatorum, sicut in 
 baptismo ; ideo eodem modo ex vi absolutionis con- 
 junctae remittit culpam, sicut baptismus." 24 
 
 23 Opusc. xxij. Opera, torn. 17. sacerdos ut minister tradit, non 
 fol, 194. v. se extendat ad remissionem culpae, 
 
 Again : " Nullus reputatur con- falsum dicit. Sicut enim per bap- 
 
 tritus, nisi habeat, propositum sub- tismum dimittitur omnis culpa et 
 
 jiciendi se ecclesiae clavibus, quod originalis, et actualis ; ita per sa- 
 
 est habere sacramentum in voto." cramentum pcenitentiae remittitur 
 
 Ibid. actualis culpa. Contingit autem 
 
 24 Sentent. IV. dist. xvij. qu. quandoque in baptismo, quod ali- 
 3. a. 5. quis antequam sacramentum bap- 
 
 " Sciendum est, quod si intelli- tismi actu percipit dum habet 
 gat, quod sacerdos sua auctoritate sacramentum in voto, vel in pro- 
 super culpam potentiam non ha- posito, consequitur justificationem 
 bet, dicit verum. Si autem in- a solo Deo, et tamen si ante con- 
 telligit quod sacramentum quod secutus non fuerit ex vi sacra-
 
 278 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 In short, the whole question is exactly parallel with 
 one which may be raised upon the declaration in our 
 Common-prayer book regarding the sacrament of 
 baptism ; namely ; " Whereby ye may perceive the 
 great necessity of this sacrament, where it may be 
 had." Or, again, regarding the eucharist ; that " If 
 a man by any just impediment, do not receive the 
 sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, the curate 
 shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent of his 
 sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ has suf- 
 fered death upon the Cross for him, and shed His 
 Blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the 
 benefits he hath thereby, and giving Him hearty 
 thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body and 
 Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's 
 health, although he do not receive the sacrament with 
 his mouth." 25 Both these statements are in entire ac- 
 cordance with the constant doctrine of our Church 
 from all antiquity : but who would presume to con- 
 clude from them that any derogation was intended of 
 the actual, certain, and ordinary blessings of either 
 sacrament ? So it is, when men, speaking and arguing 
 expressly of the ordinance of sacerdotal absolution, go 
 
 menti, nisi obicem opponat, justi- say to the sick man : " Frater, in 
 
 ficationem consequitur sacramen- hoc casu sufficit tibi vera fides, 
 
 turn suscipiendo: ita omnino est et bona voluntas: tantum crede, 
 
 de poenitentia." Id. Opusc. xxij. et manducasti." Monum. Ritu- 
 
 25 Anciently these were the alia. vol. 1. p. 89. And see the 
 
 consoling words which, in such a note there, 
 case, the priest was directed to
 
 Supplement. 279 
 
 on to enquire into and distinguish its several parts, 
 and determine how far contrition will alone convey 
 remission and God's grace to the penitent, where abso- 
 lution itself, being earnestly desired, cannot be had. 
 
 III. I would say one or two words upon venial sins: 
 and this, without any attempt to discuss the subtle ques- 
 tions which many authors have raised in this matter. 
 
 When we talk of venial sin, as opposed to the mortal 
 or deadly sin, of which the litany and the xvjth article 
 speak, we cannot, I believe, justly include under that 
 term any offence beyond some light and wandering 
 thought, or hasty word, or immoderate action, which 
 if we had had time seriously to reflect upon, we would 
 with God's assistance have used our best endeavours 
 to restrain. Wilfulness of intention, or deliberation 
 about the act itself, alters its character. Even how- 
 ever rapid such offences may in the commission of them 
 be, however acutely we may grieve about them the 
 moment after, we must nevertheless sorrowfully own 
 that they were an offence in the sight of the Most 
 High, and have left stains and spots upon the soul. I 
 know very well how difficult, nay how impossible it 
 must be, to distinguish and to determine classes of 
 sins : to myself, the mere attempt appears to be both 
 dangerous and improper. Better is it to say with S. 
 Augustine : " Quae sint autem levia, et quoe gravia 
 peccata, non humano sed divino sunt pensanda judi- 
 cio." 26 Or, again ; " Quae sint ipsa peccata, quse ita 
 
 2G Enchiridion, cap. Ixxviij.
 
 280 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 impediunt perventionem ad regnum Dei, difficillimum 
 est in venire, periculosissimum definire." 27 
 
 But, on the other hand, it is no less repulsive to our 
 judgement, and to our trust in the infinite goodness 
 of God, to be called upon to include all actions which 
 offend Him under one equal class of deadly, heinous, 
 sin. And not only so, but to listen to positions such 
 as this which was put forth and defended by Luther ; 
 " Opus bonum optime factum, est veniale peccatum." ** 
 Melancthon wrote in language more accordant with 
 the truth : when, after speaking of heathens, he con- 
 tinues ; " Sed de renatis necesse est quseri, qui habeant 
 peccata venialia, et qui eorum lapsus dicantur morta- 
 lia peccata. Quanquam igitur renati, in quibus ac- 
 censa est agnitio Christi, . . . tamen in eis adhuc in 
 
 27 De civitate Dei. lib. 21. cap. 
 xxvij. 
 
 28 Assertio articulorum. xxxij. 
 Opera, torn. 2. p. 116. 
 
 Bishop Fisher thus addresses 
 Luther : " Nunquara assequeris, 
 Luthere, meo judicio veritatem, 
 quamdtu promiscue res ad hunc 
 modum hasce confundis. Nihil 
 enim distinguis inter regeneratio- 
 nem unam aut alteram, nihil inter 
 concupiscentiam et peccatum, nihil 
 inter veniale peccatum, et mor- 
 tale." Assert. Lutheran, confuta- 
 tio. Art. i].fol. xl. b. 
 
 A number of erroneous propo- 
 sitions were complained of by the 
 lower house of Convocation in 
 
 1536, as being " commonly preach, 
 ed, taught, and spoken" at that 
 time in this realm ; I have already, 
 above, cited this complaint. Among 
 them, that it was taught, for ex- 
 ample ; " that a man hath no free- 
 will ;" or, " that it is not neces- 
 sary or profitable to have any 
 church or chancel to pray in ;" 
 &c. and to our present purpose, 
 these : " Item, that there is no 
 distinction of sins after this sort, 
 sin to be venial, and sin to be 
 mortal. Item. That all sins, after 
 that the sinner be once converted, 
 are made by the merits of Christ's 
 passion venial sins, that is to say, 
 sins clean forgiven." Wilkins. 
 Condi, torn. 3. p. 805.
 
 Supplement. 281 
 
 hac vita manet ingens infirmitas, videlicet calico in 
 
 o ' o 
 
 mente de Deo, et voluntatis ac cordis prava inclinatio, 
 et multi vitiosi affectus. Incurrunt in animum pravse 
 dubitationes . . . sunt item ignorantise et omissionis 
 peccata plurima in sanctis. Hsec mala in renatis sunt 
 contra legem Dei ; et quanta sit deformitas, quanta 
 magnitudo horum malorum, pii in veris doloribus ali- 
 quo modo agnoscunt .... Dixi de veniali peccato. 
 Sed cum hi qui fuerunt renati, scientes et volentes 
 violant legem Dei . . . has actiones contra conscien- 
 tiam, sunt peccata mortalia, quae admittens, amittit 
 gratiam, fidem, et Spiritum Sanctum." Again ; under 
 another title of the same common-places : " Peccatum 
 aliud est regnans, sen mortale. Aliud est non reg- 
 nans, quod usitate nominatur veniale .... Mortale 
 est, cum is, qui fuerat renatus, assentitur errori in 
 fundamento, aut labitur contra conscientiam. Tune 
 enim amittit gratiam, Spiritum Sanctum, et fidem . . . 
 Peccatum non regnans quod nominatur veniale, id est, 
 propter quod non amittuntur gratia, Spiritus Sanctus, 
 et fides, est in renatis in hac vita malum originis, et 
 dubitationes, et incendia malorum affectuum, quibus 
 tamen repugnant renati, ne ruant contra conscientiam, 
 et dolent propter has sordes, et credunt se propter 
 Mediatorem Deo placere, tegi -has sordes, et gratiam 
 exuberare supra peccatum." 29 
 
 If one would still ask of what kind or description 
 deadly sin certainly is, let him read carefully besides 
 
 i9 Loc. comm./o/. 224. 310.
 
 282 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 other parts of holy Scripture, the first chapter of the 
 epistle to the Romans ; or the sixth of the first epistle 
 to the Corinthians ; or the fifth chapter to the Gala- 
 tians. Let him further remember that where there is 
 the slightest determination and intent, with forethought, 
 to commit one of those sins, or any sins like them, 
 whether in the mind or with any member of the body, 
 the commission of it cannot be called by a name so 
 light, mean what it will, as venial. The knowledge 
 of all this, and the practice of it, will effectually pre- 
 vent any danger being the consequence of observing 
 the distinction of mortal and venial sin. Venial sin is 
 that which, daily and hourly, prevents the best and 
 holiest men from being perfect : it is that which hum- 
 bles them by the experience of their own weakness, 
 and continually brings them in grief and sorrow be- 
 fore the throne of the Almighty, crying ; " Forgive us 
 our trespasses :" it is that, and that only, which none 
 of us, with all our endeavours can, if I may say so, 
 help committing from the infection of nature which 
 " doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated." 
 Still, nevertheless, sin. 
 
 S. Augustin in the de civitate Dei has some re- 
 marks upon the "lust of the flesh," which he intro- 
 duces as a comment upon the text, Gen. ch. iv. v. 7. 
 The reader will do well to refer to them. 30 Another 
 text often appealed to in this matter by theologians, is 
 that of the apostle, " the flesh lusteth against the spirit." 
 
 30 Lib. 15. cap. vij.
 
 Supplement. 283 
 
 Waldensis puts the argument in a way which I can- 
 not but think very much to the purpose. " In hac 
 parte carnali habitat peccatum, secundum apostolum, 
 illud scilicet quod ibi relictum est ex traduce, vel ex 
 consuetudine delinquendi. Habitat autem ibi quasi 
 ad fores animae : quod si mens intro susceperit per 
 consensum, jam concupiscentia ipsa generavit pecca- 
 tum, et peccatum mortem : efficiturque mortale pec- 
 catum, quod in foribus habitans veniale fuisset. Unde 
 Ambrosius. ' In carne [inquit] habitat peccatum qua- 
 si ad januas animaB, ut non illam permittat ire quo 
 vult. In anima autem si habitaret, nunquam se cog- 
 nosceret homo. Nunc autem cognoscit se, et conde- 
 lectatur legi Dei.' Hoc ergo genus est peccati, quod 
 homo trahit invitus : sed sic attractum observat, et 
 per conversionem sui ad se per Dei gratiam perimit. 
 Unde ex sui conditione efficitur veniale ; quia adhuc 
 per consensum mentis non placuit, ut esset mortale." 31 
 
 31 Doctrinale. Opera, torn. 2. sin, its cause, its transmission, 
 
 p. 892. Allusion is made in the its effects, its guilt, its conse- 
 
 above passage to the doctrine re- quences, will dare to think 
 
 garding the mode whereby the sin lightly of the disputes which at 
 
 of Adam was transmitted to his various times have occupied men's 
 
 descendants. The schoolmen ge- minds about it. Some particulars 
 
 nerally rejected the opinion, that involved in it are far more prac- 
 
 souls were transmitted through tical than others : none, however, 
 
 generation by the parents to their are to be deemed trifling, and of 
 
 children, traducianismus ; and, little weight : and all are, to us, 
 
 the majority at least, held that an unfathomable mystery, 
 
 souls are created continually and The extract from S. Ambrose 
 
 ever by God, creatianismus. No by Waldensis, is from a book now 
 
 one who has ever meditated on commonly acknowledged not to 
 
 this most deep mystery of original be by that father: viz. the com-
 
 284 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 The reader will already have learnt from the pre- 
 ceding dissertation that distinct confession of venial 
 sins was never held to be necessary in order to their 
 remission, (whether by sacerdotal absolution, or by 
 any other way) according to the teaching of the 
 Church. Hence there is no force in the objection 
 which has been suggested against the effect of the 
 absolution in the liturgy, as interpreted above : I 
 mean, this objection : " If our Church does not hold 
 auricular confession to be necessary, then, how does 
 the absolution in the communion Service convey ac- 
 tual remission of [venial] sins ? or how should it be 
 thought that our Church intended it should, since she 
 does not require" distinct confession before this abso- 
 lution, " which is deemed to be an essential condition" 
 of the grace of absolution ? 32 
 
 It would be very easy to heap up authorities from 
 writers of the church of England respecting the va- 
 rious modes by which pardon of venial sin is obtained, 
 through the infinite mercies of the Almighty. But 
 these are not now required. Yet it is well to hear S. 
 Augustine upon the same point. He thus speaks first 
 of deadly sins in his Enchiridion, Dejide, spe, et cari- 
 tate. "Sane cavendum est, ne quisquam existimet 
 infanda ilia crimina, qualia qui agunt, regnum Dei 
 
 mentary on the Epistles of S. vivitur : sed quia statim venia de- 
 Paul. Still a very early work, letur, dicitur veniale, puta ora- 
 and of considerable authority. tione devota sui." Ibid. p. 894. 
 ".Igitur est peccatum," says 32 Letter, etc. by the Rev. F. 
 Waldensis in the next chapter, T. Hill, p. 4. 
 " sine quo nee a justis viris hie
 
 Supplement. 285 
 
 non possidebunt, quotidie perpetranda, et eleemosynis 
 quotidie redimenda. In melius quippe est vita mu- 
 tanda. . . . De quotidianis autem brevibus levibusque 
 peccatis, sine quibus hsec vita non ducitur, quotidiana 
 fidelium oratio satisfacit. Eorum est enim dicere, 
 Pater noster qui es in coslis, qui jam Patri tali rege- 
 nerati sunt ex aqua et Spiritu. Delet omnino hsec 
 oratio minima et quotidiana peccata." 33 But the works 
 of S. Augustine abound with references to venial or 
 daily sins. Take one more extract, from one of the 
 homilies on repentance. Having mentioned many sins 
 which, daily, Christian men cannot altogether avoid, 
 he continues : " Quam multa sunt alia peccata, sive in 
 loquendo de rebus et negotiis alienis, quae non ad te 
 pertinent, sive in vanis cachinnationibus, cum scriptum 
 sit, Stultus in risu exaltat vocem suam, sapiens autem 
 via: tacite ridebit: sive in ipsis escis, quse ad neces- 
 sitatem sustentandae hujus vitaB prseparantur, avidior 
 atque immoderatior appetitus; sive in vendendis et 
 emendis rebus caritatis et vilitatis vota perversa. Pi- 
 get cuncta colligere, quae quisque in se ipso certius 
 comprehendit atque reprehendit, si divinarum scrip- 
 turarum speculum non negligenter adtendat. Quse 
 quemvis singula non lethali vulnere ferire sentiantur, 
 sicuti homicidium et adulterium, vel caeterahujusmodi, 
 tamen omnia simul congregata velut scabies, quo 
 plura sunt necant, . . . nisi medicamento quotidianae 
 pcenitentiae desiccentur." 3 * 
 
 33 Cap, Ixx. Opera, torn. 6. p. 223. 
 
 34 Serm. ccclj. torn. 5. p. 1355.
 
 286 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 I would conclude these remarks with one or two 
 quotations from divines of our Church in the seven- 
 teenth century. First, Field. Having confuted a 
 statement of cardinal Bellarmin, he continues : " Wee 
 say therefore that some sinnes are mortall and some 
 veniall, not because some deserve eternity of punish- 
 ment, and others do not ; . . . but because some sins, 
 either in respect of the matter wherein men do offend, 
 or ex imperfections actus, in that they are not com- 
 mitted with full consent, exclude not grace, the roote 
 of remission, and pardon, out of the soule of him that 
 committeth them : whereas other, either in respect of 
 the matter wherein they are conversant, or the full 
 consent wherewith they are committed, cannot stand 
 with grace. So that no sin is venial in its own nature, 
 without respect had to the state of grace." 35 I should 
 hesitate, let me observe, in extending so widely as Dr. 
 Field the limits within which venial sin would range ; 
 and I altogether dissent from the line of argument 
 upon which (as the reader by referring to his work will 
 see) his conclusions are founded. But he is quoted 
 here simply to establish the distinction always recog- 
 nized between deadly and venial sins. 
 
 Bishop Overal, in a passage already quoted above, 
 p. 13, in the former part of this book : " Venial sins, 
 that separate not from the grace of God, need not so 
 much to trouble a man's conscience. If he have com- 
 mitted any mortal sin, then we require, etc" 
 
 3 > Of the Church, Book. 3. app.p. 279.
 
 Supplement. 287 
 
 Again, Thorndike ; in his enquiry into the distinc- 
 tion between sins. " It is manifest, that they who un- 
 dertake to be Christians come into the world with 
 concupiscence ; and therefore cannot undertake never 
 to sinne : though they may undertake to persecute and 
 crucify their owne inclination to sinne, and to deny 
 themselves things otherwise lawfull, when they find 
 themselves subject, thereby to be seduced to sinne. . . . 
 Here is then the ground, why those thinges which are 
 done against the rule which the gospel proposeth, out 
 of invincible ignorance, or out of meer surprizes of 
 concupiscence, cannot by the gospell, be imputed to 
 Christians, striving toward that perfection which 
 Christianity importeth .... And though these are 
 sinnes against the originall law of paradise, and the 
 directive part of Christ's law, which revives it ; yet 
 they are not sinnes against the covenant of grace, 
 contracted upon supposition of originall sinne ; nor 
 against the vindicative part of Christ's law, according 
 to which He will judge Christians." 36 
 
 Once more ; bishop Jeremy Taylor. I pass by, 
 most reluctantly, with a mere reference to them, his 
 chapters upon The difference of sins and their reme- 
 dies, in his Doctrine and Practice of repentance. 
 And from another work, more famous, take the fol- 
 lowing : " The distinction of mortal and venial sins as 
 it is taught in the church of Rome, is a great cause of 
 wickedness and careless conversation. For although 
 
 36 Epilogue. Sook. 2. p. 286.
 
 288 Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 we do, with all the ancient doctors, admit of the dis- 
 tinction of sins mortal and venial ; yet we also teach, 
 that in their own nature, and in the rigour of the Di- 
 vine justice, every sin is damnable and deserves God's 
 anger : . . . . yet, by the Divine mercy and compas- 
 sion, the smaller sins which come by surprize, or by 
 invincible ignorance, or inadvertency, or unavoidable 
 infirmity, shall not be imputed to those who love God, 
 and delight not in the smallest sin, but use caution and 
 prayers, watchfulness and remedies, against them. 37 
 
 Nor upon a point so grave as that which has been 
 now before us, and regarding which so many strange 
 assertions have been put forth by late writers of the 
 church of Rome, do I hesitate to sum up all that I 
 have now said, in the words also of bishop Taylor. 
 Whilst we must not allow with careless authors of our 
 own day that no distinction exists, the present is not a 
 time when we may hastily seem to give any counte- 
 nance whatever to popular and loose notions of venial 
 sin ; as if there is, which indeed there is not, any one 
 sin on earth which a Christian may deliberately and 
 without guilt give way to. So let me heartily say 
 with Jeremy Taylor ; " Because the doctors differ so 
 infinitely and irreconcilably, in saying what is and 
 what is not venial ; whoever shall trust to their doc- 
 trine, saying, [beforehand] that such a sin is venial ; 
 and to their doctrine, that says, it does not exclude 
 
 87 Dissuasive from popery. Works, vol. 10. p. 209.
 
 Supplement. 289 
 
 from God's favour, may, by these two propositions, be 
 damned before he is aware." 38 
 
 IV. It may not be out of place here for me to no- 
 tice very briefly the " Letter" to which reference has 
 twice been made, and of which I have spoken also in 
 my preface to this Enquiry. I say, very briefly ; not 
 from any want of courtesy towards the writer, but 
 because his objections have been already considered : 
 and, indeed, I again would refer to them particularly 
 now, both because it may not seem that they have not 
 received due attention, and because I may make what 
 return I may, in acknowledgment of the kind tone 
 and Christian spirit in which they have been brought 
 before me. 
 
 It is said in that Letter ; " The church of Rome 
 has decreed that it is necessary, by the Divine law, to 
 confess all and single mortal sins, which can, by dili- 
 gent premeditation, be remembered ; whereas the most 
 that our Church has conceived it expedient to do, is 
 to order her ministers to advise the sick person to a 
 special confession, if he feel his conscience troubled by 
 any weighty matter. The church of Rome requires 
 this confession as necessary our Church only re- 
 commends it as expedient. The church of Rome de- 
 mands confession of all sins whatsoever our church 
 only advises it in regard to those sins which press 
 heavy on the conscience and disturb the mind ; and 
 only enjoins absolution to the sick man in case he 
 
 18 Ibid. p. 212. 
 u
 
 290 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 earnestly desires it." 39 May it not be said that there 
 is here a confusion, not uncommonly to be met with, 
 (as I have before observed,) between the two questions 
 of the necessity simply of oral confession, and the ne- 
 cessity of oral confession in order to sacerdotal absolu- 
 tion ? Upon this matter I have explained myself over 
 and over again. But if the argument means that the 
 church of England does not insist upon confession of 
 all remembered sins, before sacerdotal absolution, then 
 it must be rejected as incorrect : because not only her 
 constant doctrine is plainly opposed to such an asser- 
 tion, but also the rubric distinctly requires, if the sick 
 person feel his conscience troubled with any weighty 
 matter, a special confession, not of that weighty mat- 
 ter alone, but, of his sins. 
 
 I readily own, if this one word had been in the 
 singular instead of the plural, that an objection might 
 possibly have lain against my interpretation of the 
 forms of absolution in our Common-prayer book. To 
 what extent that objection would have reached, and 
 whether it would have so altered the whole doctrine of 
 the church of England regarding absolution, as to 
 have placed her with respect to one essential parti- 
 cular, in avowed opposition to the judgement not only 
 of herself for nearly 2000 years but of the catholic 
 Church also, I shall not trouble to enquire. The fact 
 remains: confession of his sins. From 1549, when 
 no doubt of the doctrine of our Church had been 
 
 39 " Letter" by Rev. F. T. Hill. p. 5.
 
 Supplement. 291 
 
 stirred in this matter, down to 1662, the rubric or- 
 dered, in equivalent although more general terms, a 
 special confession : at the last review, the addition was 
 made, of his sins. 
 
 The more I consider this circumstance, with the 
 more heartfelt thankfulness and confidence do I look 
 upon it, as a token among many, hardly to be unseen, 
 of the care and guiding with which the Almighty 
 Head of the universal Church ceaselessly has guarded, 
 to His own wise ends and purposes, this our church 
 of England. These considerations, and such as these, 
 bring their especial comfort. Some men perhaps may 
 be indifferent about them. For myself, at one time 
 in one thing and at another in another, light and tri- 
 vial as alone or singly they may or might have been, 
 together in their accumulation they supply not argu- 
 guments merely, for that in comparison would be a 
 poor result, but patience in days of dispute and dif- 
 ficulty, in days of trial and obloquy and reproach ; 
 motives, again, to exertion and untiring labour in our 
 Church's cause ; constant confirmation of the sacred 
 truths which I believe she holds ; and, above all, with 
 God's most gracious help, an undoubting determina- 
 tion to endeavour by all means and in every possible 
 way, under her own holy shadow and protection, still 
 and for ever to defend her against avowed enemies 
 from without, and against mistaken friends within. 
 
 Again, Mr. Hill quotes Hooker, in his sixth book. 
 The passage as given in the Letter, is : " The act of 
 sin God alone remitteth . . as for the ministerial
 
 292 The Doctrine of Absolution. 
 
 sentence of private absolution, it can be no more than 
 a declaration of what God hath done .... The 
 priest doth never in absolution, no, not so much as by 
 way of service and ministry, really either forgive the 
 act, or remove the punishment of sin ; but if the party 
 penitent come contrite, he hath by their own grant, 
 absolution before absolution." The writer of the Let- 
 ter concludes that there will be objection made to this 
 sixth book being certainly a genuine part of the great 
 work of Richard Hooker : I do not intend to dispute 
 it controversially, but I have no hesitation in saying, 
 that, as we now possess it, I for one do doubt about 
 it. This very extract itself is not quite like the 
 first and the fifth books of the Ecclesiastical Polity. 
 If the words " not so much as by way of service and 
 ministry" are really to be understood in their theolo- 
 gical sense, they are not according to the usual well 
 weighed language, nor in the spirit, of the author so 
 long called amongst us "judicious." They prove too 
 much. But if they are to be taken in a looser sense, 
 (of which we have no example in the preceding books,) 
 then there is not in the extract anything which mili- 
 tates against the doctrine of absolution advocated by 
 many of the schoolmen, against whom this part of the 
 so-called seventh book was written. And here let me 
 observe that whatever part, under the mysterious plan 
 of God's dealings with mankind in and by His Church, 
 the ministers of that Church fulfil and complete in the 
 administration of the sacrament of absolution, it is the 
 same and no more than they fulfil in the administra-
 
 Supplement. 293 
 
 tion of the sacrament of holy baptism. In the one 
 case, as it is said that they forgive all sins committed 
 before baptism ; so, exactly, and in no other way 
 whilst in the same way, it is said that in absolution 
 they forgive all sins after baptism. The ministers of 
 the Most High God are the ministers of His sacra- 
 ments : in which sacraments " God ordinarily worketh, 
 and whereby He participateth unto us His special gifts 
 and graces in this life." 
 
 But, as I have repeated very often, the question is 
 not what any one divine, however great, may have 
 declared to be his individual opinion, but what the 
 judgement is of the Church of England. To her au- 
 thority alone will I defer; and by her voice alone 
 this doctrine of absolution, and every other doctrine, 
 is to be decided. 
 
 OBcce taint tooci Cuae, tiocem 
 
 Date gloriam Deo fuper Jfrael: magmficetv 
 tia ejus, et turtus ems in nii&iiws, 
 
 ^iratJilis Deus in fanctis ftu.s; Deu0 Jfrael: 
 ipfe nafrit tnrtutem et fortituninem plefu Cuae, 
 Deus*
 
 ftpptnfcip* 
 
 Extract from a Sermon on " The Outward Means 
 of Grace" preached at the Visitation of the Lord 
 Bishop of Exeter, at Totnes, Aug. llth, 1848. 
 
 >N the Book of Common-prayer, we find three 
 forms, called, of absolution. The first is at the 
 beginning of morning and evening prayer : and, 
 as you are well aware, was added with the sen- 
 tences to the second Book of King Edward in 1552. There 
 is propriety in such a commencement. The sentences, the 
 exhortation, the unanimous voice of confession by those who 
 may happen to have already assembled, the declaration of 
 God's infinite mercy, all is appropriate and good : more than 
 appropriate, I do not esteem it : nor do I see any ground for 
 concluding that there is any thing in it sacramental. The 
 confession is a prayer : the absolution is declaratory ; telling of 
 the power which God has given to His ministers, the freeness 
 of pardon to the true penitent, and the necessity of calling 
 upon Him. I am unable also to perceive any force in the use 
 of the term " pronounce," and in the words " the priest alone." 
 In practice it is true that deacons officiating omit this decla- 
 ration ; and rightly so : the question whether they ought not 
 also, as rightly, to omit other parts of the offices where " the 
 priest" is especially mentioned, immediately occurs: as they 
 do not so strictly interpret the rubric in one place, why should 
 they in another? I am very far from asserting that it is the 
 function of a deacon to "pronounce" this absolution, but I do 
 mean that we cannot argue for any sacerdotal character to be 
 especially attributed to it, solely on account of common prac- 
 tice, and the wording of the rubric. 
 
 We come now to the absolution which is in the Liturgy*
 
 296 Appendix. 
 
 This certainly has an effect : and in order to learn what effect, 
 we must remember that for a thousand years in our Church 
 the Service of the holy communion has never been celebrated 
 without this or a similar form of confession and absolution, 
 immediately preceding consecration and reception. Continued 
 therefore as it has thus been, through all the various revisions 
 of our Service-books, we must regard it as meaning now what 
 it always meant, and still working the same effects. We have 
 no right to put upon it any new interpretation : if it was not 
 in old time merely declaratory, so, neither, is it not now : if it 
 was not then an exercise in its full extent of the priestly 
 power of absolution, reaching over all sins, great or small, 
 venial or mortal, so is it not now. And this ancient form of 
 absolution, at such a time, was never held by the church of 
 England to fall within either the one of these classes, or the 
 other : the first would sink it too low, the last exalt it far too 
 high. Its intention was this. You know that before the 
 year 1549 the constant rule for many centuries had been, that 
 no one, having sin upon his conscience, should receive the holy 
 communion, except he had first orally confessed, and obtained 
 absolution. This duty however, it could not but often be, must 
 have preceded, by a longer or shorter time, actual communion. 
 Yet so great a service was not to be approached, except in as 
 pure and purified a state as might be. And all men owned 
 that even for a few hours it was hardly possible to be without 
 sin. Without mortal, wilful sin, by God's grace and earnest 
 faith, it might be : but still there would be perhaps an inad- 
 vertance, perhaps a careless thought, perhaps a hasty word, 
 which still would be sin, though checked. It was to meet 
 these cases, venial sins, that this form was always part of 
 the office of the Eucharist: and it was intended to convey 
 remission of those sins, and of those sins only. 
 
 Such is still the force and value of this form. Whether, in 
 accordance with the permission now granted by the church of 
 England, (and of which I have already spoken,) we have, in 
 secret, relying on our own judgment, carefully searched our con- 
 sciences, and spread out our grievous sins in all their naked
 
 Appendix. 297 
 
 ness before the Almighty Throne, and humbly and with bitter 
 sorrow asked for pardon; whether, being doubtful and un- 
 quiet, we have gone, as we are bid to do, to the priest, and 
 opened our grief, and at his hands received the benefit of ab- 
 solution in its higher sense and meaning; whatever may 
 have been our determination, still the succeeding absolution, 
 in the immediate presence of God, before His altar, remits, as 
 in old time, the lighter venial sins, and those sins only. 
 
 We come to the third form, viz. that in the Office of Visi- 
 tation of the sick. Now, at first sight, there is a most obvi- 
 ous and special distinction between this and the previous 
 forms, which must often have occurred to every one of us : a 
 distinction which, whilst it holds with regard to the form in the 
 communion Service, is so clear with regard to the first form, 
 namely, that prefixed to morning and evening prayer, that it 
 seems to me, in itself and alone, to be decisive against in- 
 cluding the three forms under one class. 
 
 In the first form, we find a declaration of the infinite mercy 
 of God towards truly repentant sinners, and of authority given 
 to his ministers, followed by a conclusion from those premises ; 
 " Wherefore," &c. and an exhortation so to repent and, if it 
 may be, be forgiven. In the Communion it is said, in a very 
 remarkable mode of expression, half-precatory, half declara- 
 tory ; " Almighty God have mercy upon you ; pardon and 
 
 deliver you ; &c. " But, how different is the form which 
 we are now considering ; how exactly accordant with the ex- 
 amples in like cases, of centuries on centuries, up to the apos- 
 tolic age, and therefore to be interpreted according to the same 
 theology. 
 
 For let me repeat and urge upon you, reverend brethren, 
 the soundest principle of interpretation which we can use, in 
 enquiring into the true meaning of the various services in our 
 Common-prayer-book ; that whatsoever we there find handed 
 down from the earlier rituals of the church of England, and 
 not limited in its meaning by any subsequent canon or article 
 must be understood to signify fully and entirely, all that it 
 signified before the revision of the ritual. Few, I suppose,
 
 298 Appendix. 
 
 would argue that we are, each of us, at liberty to put the 
 crude and often ignorant conclusions of our private judgment 
 upon the pregnant sentences and words of our Common- 
 prayer-book. 
 
 Recollect then the form appointed in the Office for the Sick : 
 " Our Lord Jesus Christ hath left power to His Church, 
 and by His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all 
 thy sins, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost." Are these words meaningless ? Are they 
 terms expressive of hope that the Lord God Almighty will have 
 mercy upon a truly repentant sinner? Is language so awful, 
 as this is, called for, for such a simple end as that ? " / ab- 
 solve thee from all thy sins!" We, brethren, did not arrogate 
 and usurp power to ourselves ; we did not draw up the form 
 by which it is to be exercised; but we are priests in the 
 Church of God, and have both received power and are bound 
 to use it. Using it, what are the effects that follow? Briefly; 
 and without enquiring into what may also be the amount 
 of spiritual grace given, for the further purpose of strengthen- 
 ing against temptation, and of confirming in all good resolu- 
 tions, and of increasing faith; briefly, I say, we must hold 
 them to be these : that if the penitent shall have made a spe- 
 cial confession of his sins, if, also, he humbly and heartily 
 desire absolution, if he truly repent, and sincerely believe, 
 then that the priest, ministerially, by the authority and power 
 committed to him at his ordination, does, using this form, 
 actually and entirely absolve him from the guilt of those sins, 
 and in consequence restore him by the sacrament of absolu- 
 tion to the state of justification, to the state of favour and of 
 grace from which he had fallen. 
 
 I cannot honestly conceive that such plain words are not 
 so plainly to be understood ; nor this solely upon that account, 
 but for other reasons : because I have not discovered any 
 trace of variation in the formal teaching of the church of Eng_ 
 land on this matter; because I am confident that she has 
 always attached one constant meaning to the form which we 
 have been considering ; because I think that meaning to be
 
 Appendix. 299 
 
 in strict accordance with the faith of the Holy Catholic Church 
 and with the written Word ; because I cannot see in the 
 doctrine of restoring a lapsed Christian to his state of justifi- 
 cation by absolution, a greater difficulty than in the truth that 
 he is admitted into that state, originally, by baptism. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. WH1TTINGHAM. CHISWICK.
 
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