X<f 

 
 I B R.ARY 
 OF THL 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 or ILLINOIS
 
 On Confession aiid Absolution. 
 
 . A 
 
 PASTORAL LETTER 
 TO THE CLERGY AND LAITY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DIOCESE OF LINCOLE^. 
 
 By the bishop OF LINCOLN 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LINCOLN : JAMES WILLIAMSON. 
 RIVINGTONS : LONDON, OXFORD, & CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 1874. 
 Price Threepence.
 
 On Confession and Absolution, 
 
 A PASTORAL LETTER by the BISHOP of LINCOLN. 
 
 My dear Friends, — 
 
 Circumstances, which I need not particularize, have induced me 
 to address you in a Letter on Confession and Absolution. 
 
 Eor reasons which will hereafter appear I will begin with 
 Absolution. 
 
 Few — whether Bishops or Priests — can have taken part in the 
 service for the Ordination of Priests, and in pronouncing the words 
 which are said over them at the laying on of hands on those who 
 are ordained, without reflecting what thoughts will be produced 
 by those solemn words in the minds of those who are ordained, 
 and of others who are present at their Ordination. 
 
 Those words are as follows :— " 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. Whose sins thou dost 
 forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they 
 are retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of 
 God and of His Holy Sacraments ; in the Name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 What do these words mean ] 
 
 On the first portion of them, " Receive the Holy Ghost," I will 
 not now dwell. The objections which have been made by some 
 to the use of them have been fully considered and answered by the 
 writers whose names will be found in the note below.* 
 
 * Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. Ixxvii., 5-7. Bp. Andrewes Sermon on St. John, xx. 22, 23. 
 Works iii., 260, v., 82 ed., Oxford, 1843. Bp. Cosin, Sermon vi.. Vol. 1, p. 103, ed, Oxf. 1847. Dr. 
 Nicholl's Azotes on the Common Prayer on the Ordering of Priests, Lond.,1712.
 
 But the other part, viz. : — " Whose sins thou dost forgive, they 
 are forgiven," needs careful examination. 
 
 These words are derived from our Lord Himself, when speaking 
 to the disciples after His Eesurrection. (John xx., 22, 23.) And 
 by some among us the recital of them at the Ordination of Priests 
 is supposed to invest those who are ordained, with a power which 
 is specially, if not exclusively, to be exercised in the Ahsohdion of 
 penitents confessing their sins privately to the Priest ; and, after 
 such Confession, receiving the forgiveness of sins from him in the 
 utterance of a special form of Absolution, in the following terms, or 
 some equivalent to them : — " I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the 
 Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. — 
 Amen." 
 
 The consequences of such a construction of those words demand 
 serious consideration. 
 
 On the one side, some who resent the enforcement — and even 
 deny the use — of private confession, have been induced by that 
 construction to express an earnest desire to alter the Ordination 
 Service of the Church, and to expunge those words from it. 
 
 This wish has been recently uttered by some in the Church of 
 Ireland ; and consequently a serious misunderstanding, if not an 
 open schism, appears to be imminent between the Church of Ireland,'" 
 rejecting those words, on the one side, and the Churches of 
 England and America, and our Colonies, retaining them, in their 
 Ordinal, on the other. 
 
 But this is not all. 
 
 Whether the words in question are exjDunged from the Ordinal of 
 a Church or no, they can never be erased from the Gospel of St. 
 John ; and they have ever been regarded by the Church as having 
 a special reference to the Ordination of Christian Priests in every 
 age ; and if the construction put upon them by some, as above 
 described, be true, no removal of them from the Ordinal will aifect that 
 
 * See for example, the Rev, Canon Reichel's Speech in the General Synod of the Church 
 of Ireland, p. 2;'), Dublin, 1873. 

 
 construction, but rather will give it a sharper edge, by reason of 
 the implied recognition of that construction even by those who 
 greatly mislike it. 
 
 Yet further, if that construction be sound, then they, who are 
 ordained Priests, will feel it to be their duty to urge all men to 
 resort to private Confession ; and they will think that the words 
 said over their own heads at the most solemn hour of their lives, 
 have been uttered in vain, and have been mere idle and empty 
 sounds, unless they earnestly exhort their hearers to come to them 
 for Confession. 
 
 Therefore we must expect that youthful Priests, in the fervour 
 of their piety and zeal, will feel much distress of mind, as if they 
 were unfaithful to their trust, and untrue to Christ, Who has given 
 them their priestly Commission, and as if they were guilty of hiding 
 the talent entrusted to them at their Ordination, if they do not 
 immediately betake themselves to hear Confessions, and if they do 
 not all in their power to constrain all in their flocks, aged and young 
 alike, to come to them as their ghostly fathers and spiritual 
 physicians, for their souls' health, and to confess all their most secret 
 sins to them, in order to receive forgiveness at their hands. 
 
 The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain. In order, 
 therefore, to ascertain the sense of those words used in the Ordina- 
 tion Service, we must enquire into their force as spoken by 
 our Blessed Lord Himself to His ten Apostles on the Evening of 
 His Resurrection from the dead. 
 
 First, then, those words preserve us against the stern and 
 unmerciful heresy of the Novatians, who asserted that sins com- 
 mitted after baptism are irremissible ; and those words assure us 
 that Christ has left in his Chnrch power to forgive sins ; and 
 therefore in the Creed it is said, " I believe in the forgiveness of 
 sins," to which article were added in some ancient symbols the 
 words, "in the Holy Church."* 
 
 jN'ext, let us observe that the words of our Blessed Lord declare 
 that remission of sins is effectually dispensed by the Christian 
 
 * See Bishop Pearson on the Creed, Art. ix.
 
 Ministry. Christ did not say to His disciples, " Whosoever sins 
 ye attempt to remit ; " nor do the words, literally rendered, mean 
 "Whosesoever sins ye remit;" but, as speaking of a thing already 
 effected, He says, "Whosesoever sins ye shall have remitted, they 
 have been remitted unto them;" and, therefore, the Latin version 
 of those words is not " Quorum remittetis peccata," but, " Quorum 
 remiseritis peccata." 
 
 Hence it is evident, that the work is not done by the Priest, 
 except ministerially, and as an instrument in the hand of God, and 
 by poAver and authority received from Him. For, "Who can forgive 
 sins but God only ?" (Mark ii. 7). " To Thee only it appertaineth to 
 forgive sins," we say in our Commination Service ; and it is a com- 
 mon thing with the Fathers of the ancient Church to prove the 
 Godhead of Christ from the fact of His forgiving sins.-''= And S. 
 Ambroset also proves the divinity of the Holy Ghost from the 
 words of Our Lord, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins 
 ye remit, &c., they are remitted unto them." For, (says S. 
 Ambrose,) " Behold here, that sins are forgiven through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost ; men contribute their ministry for the 
 remission of sins, but they do not exercise any right of power 
 therein. They do not remit sins in their own name, but in the 
 Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Ministers 
 pray for the forgiveness, but the Godhead grants it. Their part is 
 to obey ; but the gift is from God." And Saint Chrysostom 
 similarly says, in his homily on our Lord's words in St. John, 
 " The whole work of forgiveness is of Divine favour and grace. 
 It is God alone who gives what the priest dispenses ; and however 
 far our human philosophy may reach, it can never grasp the extent 
 of that grace. I say not this in order that men may presume upon 
 God's grace and be remiss, but in order that, although some priests 
 may be careless, ye may not heap evils upon yourselves. And why 
 
 * See S. Irenaaus ,v. 17 ; S. Athanasius, Contra Arianos Oral, iii ; S. Augustine, Serni. 99, 
 " Homo non potest peccata diniittere ; ilia qute sibi a Christo diinitti credidit, Christum Deum 
 esse credidit;" S.Jerome in Matth. ix ; S. Chrysostom in Matth., Hom. 29. See Ussher, 
 Answer to a Jesuit, p. 79, and Bingham, Book xix. 1. 
 
 t S. Ambrose, di Spiritu Saiuto, iii. 18 ; S. Augustine, Serm. 99, " Spiritus dimittit peccata ; 
 Spiritus Deus est."
 
 do I speak of priests 1 iSTeitlier angels nor archangels can do any- 
 thing to affect the gifts which are bestowed on us by God ; but the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost provide them all ; and the 
 priest only lends his own tongue and hand in dispensing them." 
 
 By this true doctrine of the ancient Church we are guarded 
 against the errors of some later times, and especially of those who 
 have taught since the fourth Lateran Council in the 13th century, 
 and the Council of Trent in the 16th century after Christ, that God 
 has disabled and divested Himself of His power to forgive sins, 
 except by the ministry of the Priest, and on terms which have 
 been devised by men. We hold that the removal of sin from the 
 soul is no priestly act, but the work of God alone. We do not say 
 with the Church of Eome, that Absolution takes away sin, but that 
 it assures us of God's gracious forgiveness of sin. Our assertion is 
 that God has given the key of pardon to His Church, but that the 
 key is God's key, and not man's, and that it has no power to open 
 the gate of forgiveness, unless the hand which holds it is guided by 
 God, and except the key moves in the wards of a true faith and 
 sincere repentance in the sinner's heart. 
 
 And now let us enquire — How is this ministerial work of 
 remission performed 1 
 
 1. Christ Himself supplies an answer to this question. After His 
 Resurrection He declared to His disciples His Will that "Eepentance 
 and remission of sins should be preached in His !N"ame among all 
 Nations," beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke xxiv. 47, cp. Acts iii. 19, 
 xiii. 38). " In Christ, (says the Apostle of the Gentiles,) " we have 
 redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to 
 the riches of His grace." (Eph. i. 7, Rom. iii. 24, 25.) St. Paul 
 describes this work of preaching remission of sins, as " the Ministry 
 of Reconciliation." " All things are of God (he says) who hath 
 reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the 
 ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling 
 the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, 
 and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation, ^""ow, 
 then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you 
 
 c
 
 8 
 
 by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God." 
 (2 Cor. V. 18 — 20.) Thus, then, the Ministers of Christ are rightly 
 said to remit sins, because they awaken men from the sleep of sin, 
 and dispose them to repentance by setting before them the terrors 
 of the Lord for the guilty, and the promises of life eternal to the 
 faithful, and by proclaiming in God's Name free pardon to all who 
 repent and believe, through "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
 which deanseth from all sin," (1 John i. 7,) and by preaching that 
 "Word which God, Who alone can remit sins by His own power, 
 has appointed and commanded to be preached for the remission of 
 sins. Thus they 7'emit sin, just as Timothy is said by St. Paul 
 to save himself and those that hear him, (1 Tim. iv. IG,) because he 
 ministered those things which Christ, Who is the only Saviour, had 
 instituted and appointed for the salvation of man ; and just as a 
 Physician of the body is said to heal a disease, because he applies 
 those medicines which the One Divine Creator and Healer has made 
 and given for that purpose. 
 
 2. ^N'ext, the Priests of the Church may be rightly said to 7'emit 
 sins, because they minister the Holy Sacrament of Baptism which 
 Christ has instituted for the remission of sins. St. Peter, having 
 received a commission from Christ, preached in his first sermon this 
 exhortation, " Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the 
 Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. (Acts ii. 38, cp. 
 Acts xxii. 16, Eph. v. 26.) And, therefore, we say in the Creed, 
 " I believe in one Baptism for the remission of sins." 
 
 I am writing, my dear friends, to those who revere the authority 
 of the ancient Fathers of the Church, and I would remind you that 
 the Fathers iu commenting on our Lord's words, " Whosesoever sins 
 ye remit, &c.," frequently apply them to the ministration of Baptism, 
 Thus S. Cyprian,* Bishop of Carthage and Martyr, in the third 
 century, having quoted those words applies them to that sacrament. 
 And so S. Cyril of Alexandria. t Baptism is called by TertullianJ 
 felix aquae sacramentum in quo ahhdis delidis in vitam aeternam 
 
 Cyprian, Ep. 69, ad Magnum, p. IS."), ed. Fell ; and Bp. 73, ad Jnhaianum, p. 201. 
 + S. Cyril, in Joann, c. 20. t Tertullian, de Baptismo, c. 1 .
 
 9 
 
 liberamur ; " and it is called by St. Augustine,* " magna indulgentia 
 (or principal remission) unde incipit omnis renovatio, in qua omnis 
 solvitur reatus et ingeneratus et additus." 
 
 But now it may be said, Do not Deacons administer Baptism, 
 and if our Lord's words refer to the ministry of Baptism, why does 
 the Church of England not use them in the Ordination of Deacons, 
 but in that of Priests ? To this question it may be replied, that 
 those words of our Lord were addressed to the ten Apostles ; and 
 that the Apostles, strictly speaking, were not Priests but Bishops. 
 The ancient Fathers teach, and the Church of England holds, that 
 there are three orders of ministers in the Church of God,t Bishops, 
 Priests, Deacons. Bishops are successors of the Apostles ; Priests 
 succeed the seventy, of whom St, Luke writes;}: (Luke x. 1 — 17) 
 Deacons are successors of those whose ordination is described in the 
 Acts of the Apostles (Acts vi. 1 — ^6). 
 
 With reverence be it said, the reason why our Lord addressed 
 these words to the Apostles was that the power of ministering the 
 Sacraments, and even of Preaching, is primarily in Bishops, and 
 subordinately in Priests and Deacons. According to the judgment 
 of the ancient Church, the Apostolic Office, — and after it the Epis- 
 copate, — which have their origin in Christ, the great Apostle of our 
 profession (Hebr. iii.,) contains in it the primary principle and germ 
 from which all the functions of the Priesthood and Diaconate are 
 evolved and developed. 
 
 Thus S. Ignatius says,* "it is not lawful to baptize, or to 
 administer the Holy Communion mthout the leave of the Bishop." 
 And S. Ambrose says,t " although Priests baptize, yet the origin 
 (exordium) of their power is from the Bishop ; " and Tertullian,J and 
 St. Jerome say, that neither Deacons nor Priests have power to 
 administer baptism without the authority of the BishojD. In our 
 
 * S. Augustine, Enchh-id., c. 64, 
 
 t See the Preface to the Ordination Services in the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 X See S. Jerome, de Mansionibus, Mans, vi., and Theophylact on S, Luke x. Bishoj) Andrewes 
 says to Peter Moulin, in Opuscula Postuma, p. 183 & 210, ed. 0x1, 18.52, and compare Vol. ii. 
 p. 63. " Everywhere among tlie Fathers, Bishops are said to have succeeded the Apostles, 
 and Presbyters the Seventy-two." 
 
 * S. Ignatius, Epist., ad Smyrn., c. 8. t S. Ambrose, de Sacramentis, iii., 1. J Tertullian, 
 de Bapt., c. 17 ; S. Jerome, Contra Luci/erianos, pt. ii., p. 295, ed. Bened. Paris, 1706; see 
 Bingham, Book ii., chap. iii.
 
 10 
 
 own Church, Deacons have authority to baj)tize in " the absence of 
 the Priest ; " and in case of the baptism of adults, reference is to 
 be made by Priests to the Bishop. 
 
 Let me here observe in passing, that they who preach and 
 baptize without any sanction and commission from a Bishop, will 
 not find any allowance of such a j)roceeding in the writings of 
 Christian Antiquity. 
 
 I see no reason therefore to doubt the soundness of the opinion 
 delivered by some of our most learned divines,^ following the 
 ancient Fathers of the Church, that the words of our Blessed Lord, 
 " Whosesoever sins ye remit," contain a commission to administer 
 the Sacrament of Baptism and to confer Absolution thereby. 
 
 3. It cannot be questioned that they also comprehend a power to 
 consecrate the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 which, as our Lord Himself declared, was instituted by Him for the 
 remission of si-ns (Matt. xxvi. 28), and to give Absolut ion thereby 
 to all penitent, faithful, and loving receivers of the Holy Eucharist 
 who confess their sins to God. And, therefore, in our Office for 
 that Sacrament, when we are about to confess our sins to Him 
 and to receive those mysteries, we pray to God for grace " so to eat 
 the flesh and drink the Blood of His dear Son, that our sinful 
 bodies may be made dean by His Body, and our soids washed 
 through His most precious Blood." 
 
 The Holy Communion is the true '' Sacrament of Penance," 
 after Baptism. It is of divine appointment for the pardon of sins. 
 It has the essence of a Sacrament both in outward form and inward 
 virtue ; which cannot be said "of the so-called " Sacrament of 
 Penance." And it is derogatory to its dignity, and to the honour of 
 Him Who instituted it, to put any thing else as "a Sacrament of 
 Penance," with that title, in its place. 
 
 The doctrine of the so-called " Sacrament of Penance," as taught 
 by the Church of Rome, is beset with contradictions ; there is no 
 
 * Snoh as Francis Mason, De Mlnisterio Anglicuno, Book V., chap. x. ; Dr. Isaac Barrow, 
 De Potestate Clavium, Vol. iv., 11. oH, ed. Lond., 1 (187 ; Bp. Jeremy Taylor, Doctrine of Repentance, 
 chap. X., sect. 4 ; Joseph Bingham, AiUiquitics, xix. 1, and his two excellent Sci-mons and two 
 Letters to the Bishop of Winchester (Bp. Trelawny), on Absolution, at the end of his Antiqiiitu's 
 of the Christian Church, Vol. viii., Lond., 1829; also Bp. Jewel, Aiwl., c. vi. ; Abp. Bramhall 
 on Consecration, <fcf.,chap. xi., vol. iii., p. 167, ed. Oxford, 1844.
 
 11 
 
 consistency in her teaching as to what constitutes the form of the 
 said Sacrament, and in what its matter consists (Hooker, VI. iv. 
 3. cp. Chemnit. Examen Condi. Trid. de Poenit., c. iii), and that 
 Church makes satisfaction to be a part of the Sacrament of Penance 
 (Condi. Trident. Sessio xiv. 3), and yet separates satisfaction from 
 it, by pronouncing Absolution first, and by imposing works of 
 satisfaction to be done afterwards ; which is repugnant to the 
 teaching of Scripture, and to the doctrine and practice of the 
 primitive Church. 
 
 4. Another mode of remitting sins is by the prayers of the 
 Priests of God. This is what St. James declares, when he exhorts 
 the sick " to send for the elders," or priests of the Church, that they 
 may pray over him, and his sins shall be forgiven (James v. 14, 15). 
 
 And therefore, S. Chrysostom says, combining various ways in 
 which the Christian Priest remits sins, that they do it when 
 they regenerate men (by baptism), and also when they do it by 
 prayer, and he then quotes the words of St. James. And St. 
 Ambrose,'^ referring to our Lord's words (John xx. 23), says, "Men 
 exercise their ministry in forgiving sins. They pray to God, and 
 He gives pardon." 
 
 Thus, then, we may say in reply to the question, What is 
 the force of the words, " Whosesoever sins ye remit," spoken by 
 our Blessed Lord to the Apostles on the evening of the Eesurrection, 
 after He had breathed upon them, and said, "Receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost," and spoken to the Priests of the Church of Goo at 
 their ordination, that they contain a commission and a power 
 derived from the Holy Ghost, given by the Eternal Son of the 
 Father — to remit sin by ajjplying those means which Christ has 
 instituted and aj^pointed for its remission ; namely — 
 (1). The sincere Word of God duly preached. The declaration of 
 remission of sins in Christ's iSTame to all those who repent and 
 believe. 
 (2). The Holy Sacrament of Baptism duly administered. 
 
 * Ambrose, de Spiritu Sancto, iii. 18. 
 t S. Chrysostom, de Sacerdolio, lib. iii., p. 88 ; ed. Hughes, Cant. 1710.
 
 12 
 
 (3). The Holy Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist rightly conse- 
 crated, and fidly and freely dispensed. 
 (4). The prayers of the Priesthood for the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 The Christian Priest, who faithfully discharges his duty in 
 performing these functions of his ministry, may cherish a humble 
 and joyful hope that the priestly commission has been given him 
 for gracious purposes and glorious ends, and that the work of his 
 ministry will be approved and rewarded at the great day by the 
 Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. 
 
 It has indeed been said by certain writers^ that some of these 
 powers were given by Christ to His Apostles before His Eesurrection, 
 and had been exercised by them. Por example, they had already 
 been sent forth to preach (Matt. x. 7 ; Luke ix. 2) and baptize 
 (John iv. 2). And therefore it is alleged, that the gift of these 
 powers could not be implied in those words spoken by our Lord 
 after His Eesurrection. 
 
 But, with deference to those who say this, it may be replied 
 that, if a general commission to that effect had been given by Christ 
 before His Eesurrection, and a general ability to execute it, He 
 would not have said, as we know from St. Matthew (xxviii. 19, 
 20), and St. Mark (xvi. 15), that he did after His Resurrection^ 
 '' Go and teach all Nations, ba;^izing them — Go ye into all the 
 World, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Such words 
 would have been superfluous. But the fact is, hefore the Eesur- 
 rection no such command had been uttered ; no such unlimited 
 power had been bestowed upon the Apostles ; the exercise of their 
 ministry had been confined "to the lost shee|) of the house of 
 Israel " (Matth. x, 6), and within the narrow range of Palestine. 
 
 But after that He, Who alone has the Key of Death, and 
 Who " openeth and no man shutteth" (Eev. i. 18, iii. 17), had 
 opened the gate of Death by His Eesurrection, He took into 
 His hand the Key of Pardon, and unlocked also the doors of 
 the prison-house of Sin, and put that Key into the hands of His 
 
 X Cornelius a Lapide, on John xx. 22, and compare Bishop Andrewes on John xx, 23 
 Vol V. p. 95.
 
 13 
 
 Apostles and their successors, and breathed upon them the quick- 
 ening breath of the life-giving Spirit (Eom. iv. 24 ; John vi. 63), 
 and enabled them to raise all, in every age and nation, from the 
 death of sin to the life of righteousness, and gave them a charter of 
 emancipation as free as air and as wide as the universe, and said, 
 " Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." 
 
 (5). We are now arrived at the consideration of the other means 
 by which the Priests of God's Church remit sin, namely, by ^9?'o- 
 nouncing Absolution. 
 
 This is done either puhlicly or 'pi'ivately. 
 
 It is done publicly by them in our daily office of Morning and 
 Evening Prayer, and in the celebration of the Holy Communion. 
 
 It is clear that the Church regards the words then uttered as 
 having power to convey an assurance of remission of sins to every one 
 there present who is qualified by faith and repentance to receive it. 
 
 Let us refer to the Book of Common Prayer. There we read 
 (after the introductory Sentences and the Exhortation, calling to 
 repentance and acknowledgment of sin), " A General Confession to 
 be said of the congregation after the Minister, all kneeling ;'' and 
 after the Confession, ''the Absolution or Remission of sins to be 
 pronounced by the Priest alone standing, the people still kneeling." 
 
 A similar order is followed at the Holy Communion. "After the 
 Confession, to be said by all kneeling" ''then shall the Priest, or 
 the Bishop, being present, stand up, and turning himself to the 
 people, pronounce this Absolution." The Church of England does 
 not say with the Church of Rome, that Absolution is a Sacrament 
 of the Gospel,- and confers grace, as the two Sacraments of Baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper do. But it is evident that the Church of 
 England intends that the words publicly pronounced by the Priest 
 in Absolution should be regarded as having power to convey a com- 
 fortable assurance to those who are conscious to themselves of sin, 
 
 * See Article xxv. and the Homily on Common Prayer and Sacraments, p 330, ed, Oxf ., 1822, 
 " Absolution is no such Sacrament as Baptism and the Communion are."' Cp. Hooker VI. iv. 3. 
 who observes that it was never regarded as a Sacrament instituted by Christ for tlie convey- 
 ance of Grace till the 13th century. See also, Ibid, VI. vi. 4,
 
 14 
 
 and also of sincere faith and repentance. She expressly calls each of 
 these forms an Ahsolutlon ; and her intention is to certify every 
 penitent and faithful person there present, and confessing his sins 
 to God, Who searcheth the heart, that God, Who alone can forgive 
 sins, uses and blesses the ministry of His chosen and appointed 
 servant the Priest, and gives remission of sins by means of the 
 ministry which Christ has instituted; and that so our Lord's promise 
 is fulfilled, " W hatsoever ye shall loose" (literally shall have loosed) on 
 earth, shall be loosed in heaven ; (Matth. xviii. 18), and "whosesoever 
 sins ye remit (literally shall have remitted), they are (literally 
 have been) remitted unto them. 
 
 It is much to be dejDlored that these two forms of Absolution 
 (viz., in the daily office of our Church, and in the Holy Communion) 
 are now disparaged and despised by some among us, as if these forms 
 were almost powerless and valueless, and had little relevance to the 
 question of Confession and Absolution. 
 
 The great divines of the more learned days of the Church of 
 England did not deem so lightly of them. 
 
 Let any one read what Richard Hooker* has written concerning 
 the Absolution in the Morning and Evening Prayer. I will quote 
 his words : — " It standeth with us in the Church of England, as 
 to^iching public Confession, thus : — First, seeing day by day we in 
 our Church begin our public prayers to Almighty God with public 
 acknowledgment of our sins, in which confession every man, prostrate 
 as it were before His glorious Majesty, crieth guilty against himself ; 
 and the Minister, with one sentence, pronounceth universally all clear 
 whose acknowledgment so made hath proceeded from a true penitent 
 mind ; what reason is there every man should not, under the general 
 terms of Confession, represent to himself his own particulars what- 
 soever ; and adjoining thereunto that affection which a contrite 
 spirit worketh, embrace to as full effect the words of divine grace, 
 as if the same were severally and particularly uttered with addition 
 of prayers, imposition of hands, or all the ceremonies and solemnities 
 
 * Hooker, Eccl. Pol. VI. iv. 15.
 
 15 
 
 that might be used for the strengthening of men's affiance in God's 
 peculiar mercy towards them ? Such complements are helps to sup- 
 port our weakness, and not causes that serve to procure or produce 
 His gifts. If with us there be "truth in the inward parts;" as 
 David speaketh, the difference of general and particular forms in 
 Confession and Absolution is not so material, that any man's safety 
 or ghostly good should depend upon it." 
 
 So far Eichard Hooker. And is it not also true that our 
 best divines were ever of opinion that thanks are due from us 
 to Almighty God that He had put it into the mind of the Church 
 of England to place these forms of Absolution in her Office ; and 
 that, on account of the wisdom given her in this respect, she is justly 
 an object of admiration and envy to other Churches 1 Is not this 
 the language of Bishop Cosin,* of Joseph Bingham,t of Dean 
 Comber,J and others 1 These our wise and pious forefathers would 
 have felt sorrow and shame that we should unthankfuUy despise 
 what they most lovingly esteemed as a precious gift of God to the 
 Church of England, and to all faithful and penitent members of it. 
 
 We find that these forms of Absolution are now undervalued by 
 some, for two reasons, 
 
 (1) because they are declaratory and precatory, that is, because 
 in them the Priest declares and pronounces forgiveness in God's 
 Name, and for Christ's Sake, as in the daily Office ; or else that (as 
 in the Communion Service) he jirays for the bestowal of pardon 
 
 ^m God on those who have confessed their sins ; but does not 
 say " I absolve thee from thy sins," and because in their opinion 
 (as in that of the Trent Council, )t the principal force of the form 
 of what the Church of Eome calls the Sacrament of Penance 
 consists in the use of those words, " Ego ahsolvo te" and that 
 consequently the use of tliat form is necessary ; and further 
 
 (2) because the above words of Absolution are spoken in public 
 
 * Bishop Cosin, Notes on the Order fo?- Morning Prayer, Third Series, Vol. v. p. 443, cp. 
 Ibid, p. 47. t Bingham, Vol. viii. p. 416, 417. t Dean Comber, Companion to the Templ^, 
 Part 1, Sect. iv. Dr. Bisse, on the Beauty of Holiness in the Common Prayer, Serm. ii. p. 37. 
 
 t Concil. Tridentiu. Sess. xiv. Cap. 3, and Thomas Aquinas, Summa, Pars. iii. qu. 84, 
 cp. Hooker, VI. iv. 3.
 
 16 
 
 to many persons confessing their sins to God, and not in private 
 to one singly confessing his sins to the Priest. 
 
 "With regard to the first of these reasons we may reply, thatj if 
 it had any weight, there was no such thing as any Absolution 
 of sins pronounced for eleven hundred years after Christ, inasmuch 
 as it is unquestionable that all the forms of Absolution used in 
 the Church during that time were declaratory- or precatory, and 
 the form, " I absolve thee " (although an allowable formt when 
 rightly applied), was not used till the eleventh century after Christ 
 and has not been used in the Greek Church to this day. 
 
 This is acknowledged by the most learned divines of the Church 
 of Eome herself,J and has been shown at large by our own Avriters.§ 
 
 No one, who is acquainted with the practice of the Catholic 
 Church of God for a thousand years, would venture to censure or 
 disparage the forms of Absolution contained in our daily office, and 
 at the Holy Communion, because they are declaratory and precatory. 
 In doing so he would be setting himself against the Church universal, 
 which used no other forms before the eleventh century. Eobert 
 Nelson informs us that Bishop Bull, in his last illness, j>re/erre(i the 
 use of the form in the Communion Office as most primitive and 
 catholic. (Life, p. 393). 
 
 The second allegation is, that the virtue of Absolution consists 
 in the private exercise of the priestly office on the souls of individuals 
 
 * Peter Lombard, one of the greatest Roman Catholic divines and schoolmen of the 
 twelfth century, the scholar of St. Bernard, and professor of theology at Paris, afterwards 
 Bishop there f A.D. IIGO)), and commonly called the " Master of the Sentences," affirmed that 
 all forms of Absolution were in fact declaratory. See the remarkable words in his Libri 
 A'e?i/enf(rtrw/?i, Lib. iv.. Distinct 18, p. 375, ed. Paris, 18-11. He thus speaks:- "It is evident 
 from what has been said, that God Himself releases the penitent from liability to punishment ; 
 and He releases him then when He enlightens his soul and gives him true contrition of heart. 
 Therefore, he is not loosed from everlasting wrath by the priest to whom he confesses his sin, 
 but he is already loosed by God, to whom he has made his confession." And Peter Lombard 
 then quotes S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, and S. Jerome to the same effect ; and compares the 
 work of Absolution to the raising of Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus was raised by Christ, 
 Who afterwards commanded His disciples to loose Him from his grave clothes, and let him go. 
 (John xi. 44.) So it is with the penitent. And (following S. Jei-ome in his note on Matth. 
 xvi.) he illustrates it by the act of the Levitical priests, who declared the leper to be clean, 
 and to be restored to communion with the people of God ; but the act of healing was the act of 
 God, and of God alone ; and " God regards not so much the sentence of the priest as the heart 
 and life of the penitent." 
 
 t See Bingham, xix. ii 6. 
 
 % e.g. Morinus, de Poenitentid, lib. viii. c. 8 The work of Thomas Aquinas in defence of 
 that form may be seen in his works, vol. xix., p. 176, ed. Venet, 1787, 
 
 § e.g. Abp, Ussher, Aimcer to a Jesuit, p. 89 ; see also Bp, Fell in his edition of St. Cypriaii, 
 De lapsis, p. lo6 ; and Marshall in his learned work on the Penitential Discipline of the Ancient 
 Church, chap, iii., sect. iv. ; Bingham, Antiquities xix. ii,, and vol. 8, p. 450— 454.
 
 17 
 
 in the Confessional ; and that our Lord's words had special reference 
 to that exercise. 
 
 This, then, brings us to examine the question of private 
 Confession. 
 
 "What is to be said concerning it ? 
 
 First let it not be supposed* that we would in the least degree dis- 
 parage that sober and comforting use of " the ministry of reconciha- 
 tion,"f which Holy Scripture and the Primitive Church sanction, and 
 which the Church of England commends to her children, in special 
 cases, in the Exhortation to the Holy Communion, and in the Office 
 for the Visitation of the Sick.| We do not forget that our best 
 divines have recommended it, in certain circumstances, and under 
 certain conditions,§ and that the most celebrated foreign Eeformers, 
 Calvin, Beza, and the authors of the Lutheran ' Confession, '|| have 
 done the same. On the contrary, we feel persuaded that in this, 
 as in other matters, the abuse of what in special cases and under 
 certain restrictions is good and wholesome, holy and wise, has created 
 a prejudice against the use of it. 
 
 The Church of England, in her Exhortation to the Holy Com- 
 munion, recommends private confession of sin to those of her 
 children who " cannot otherwise quiet their own consciences, but 
 require further comfort and counsel." And in her office for the 
 Visitation of the sick she says that if the sick person feels his 
 conscience troubled with any weighty matter, he is to be moved 
 by the Priest to make a special Confession of his sins. 
 
 The reasons why she does this in the former of these two special 
 cases are clearly stated by herself in that Exhortation ; and the causes 
 why she does it in the latter are declared by Hooker,* as follows — 
 " They who during life and health are never destitute of ways to 
 elude repentance, do, notwithstanding, oftentimes when their last 
 hour draweth on, both feel that sting which before lay dead in them, 
 and also thirst after such helps as have been always till then 
 
 * Some sentences which follow have been printed by the Author in the Twelve Addresses 
 delivered at his Visitation in 1873. 
 
 t '1 Cor. v, 18. X Compare Hooker VI., iv. 6 and 15. § e.g., Bp, Jewel, Ajwl. V- loS.ed. 1611 ; 
 Hooker, vi. iv. 15, and vi. vi. 5. || Calvin, Institut. iv. c. 1 ; lieza, homil. 16, in Hist, Resurrect. , 
 p. 394, 395 ; Confessio Augustin. Art. xi. xii. Chemnit. p. 373, 394. 
 * Hooker VI. iv, 5.
 
 18 
 
 unsavoury. . . . Yea, because to countervail the fault of delay, there 
 are in the latest repentance oftentimes the surest tokens of sincere 
 dealing, therefore, upon special confession made to the minister of 
 God, he presently absolveth, in this case, the sick party from all his 
 sins by that authority which Jesus Christ hath committed to him." 
 
 But surely, to infer from these two exceptional cases, that the 
 Church of England authorises her Ministers to recommend private 
 Confession as a regular practice is strangely to pervert her words, and 
 to affirm that she intends her Clergy to feed her children with 
 medicines which she has provided for the sick. 
 
 Again, she exhorts those who are troubled in mind, and who 
 cannot quiet their own consciences, to resort " to some discreet and 
 learned minister of God's Word, and open his grief ; that by the 
 ministry of God's Holy Word he may have the benefit of absolution, 
 together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the c^uieting of his 
 conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness." But 
 some among us would invert this order ; they would constrain the 
 people of a parish to come habitually and confess to their minister, 
 who may be some youthful priest, perhaps neither learned nor 
 discreet, and who may be more able to create scruples and doubtful- 
 ness in the minds of others, than to quiet them by the ministry of 
 God's Holy Word. 
 
 And some would persuade us that the solemn words of our 
 Blessed Lord, pronounced at the Ordination of Priests at the laying 
 on of hands, have been spoken to little purpose unless the newly 
 made Priest applies himself at once to exercise his ministry by 
 hearing private Confessions and by pronouncing private Absolutions. 
 
 The Church of Eome wisely requires that a person who under- 
 takes the difficult and responsible office of hearing Confessions 
 should be eminent in theological science, learning, and wisdom.* 
 
 * See the Trent Catechism, pt. ii., cap. v. qu. 49, where this rule is laid down, " Ut hiijus 
 sacrameuti minister tum scientia et eru<litione turn prudentia praeditus sit. Judicis enim 
 ttmedici simul personam gerit. Ex quo poterunt fideles intelUgere, cuivis maximo studio 
 cnrandum esse, ut cum sibi sacerdotem eligat, quern vitae integritas, doctrina, prudens 
 judicium, commendet, qui, quae cuique sccleri poena couveniat, et qui vel solvendi vel ligandi 
 sint, optime noverit." Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, in his "Monita ad Confessores" 
 of his diocese, thus writes :— " Let no secular or regular priest presume to minister the sacra- 
 ment of penance (in this diocese) unless he has first obtained from us a written licence and
 
 19 
 
 This is a grave and serious matter. In the medical treatment 
 of our perishable bodies, quackery is punishable by law. Surely 
 spiritual empiricism, which may jeopardize the health of immortal 
 souls, ought not to escape scot-free. The physician of the body is 
 not allowed to write a prescription without having obtained a 
 diploma : and shall any one venture to undertake the office of a 
 Penitentiary in the Church of God without being duly qualified and 
 authorised to do so ? Heaven forbid ! I confess that when I think 
 of devout j)ersons, especially young women, of ardent afiections and 
 delicate sensibilities, being invited, and almost constrained, perhaps 
 by some youthful priest, to resort habitually to private Confession, I 
 shudder at the thought. By so doing, instead of looking up to God 
 as their loving Father, having His ear open to their prayers, and 
 ever ready to receive them, on their faith and repentance, as His dear 
 children in Christ, they are led to look to a man, and to seek com- 
 fort and forgiveness of him. They put themselves under his 
 dominion, and thus submit their will, reason, and conscience to him, 
 and rob Christ of themselves, whom He has purchased with His 
 own Blood.* And further, by being tempted to brood over their 
 own spiritual sensations, emotions, and symptoms, and to talk or 
 write of them to their chosen spiritual guides, they are in danger of 
 acquiring an egotistical spirit of self-consciousness, and of morbid 
 and hypochoncb?iacal sentimentalism, and to lose that healthful 
 vigour and genuine freshness and holy beauty of soul which are 
 produced and cherished by direct communion with God, and by 
 looking upward to Him, and by losing self in adoration of Him, 
 and in zeal for His glory, and in love for His presence in the 
 heart — which is the life of angels. I shrink from the thought 
 of the anatomical dissection of consciences to which such votaries 
 are required to submit, and from that long catalogue of interro- 
 gatories, which may be seen in any " Manual of Confession " — 
 
 faculty to do so, as the Council of Treiit prescribes ; otherwise he will have incurred excom- 
 munication ipso facto:' It would be well if priests of the Church of England, who are eager 
 to constrain others to come to them for confession, would carefulli' read these " Monita ad 
 Confessores " of one of the wisest and holiest Bishops of the Church of Rome. In the Greek 
 Church (says Dr. Covel on the " Greek Church," p. 252) "acorfessor ought to be a most 
 casuist, and be at least forty years old." 
 
 * 1 Cor. vi. 20, vii. 23 ; Gal. v. 1.
 
 20 
 
 as taught and practised by tlie Churcli of Rome — and whicli are an 
 outrage against purity, modesty, and virtue. 
 
 It is earnestly to be hoped, for reasons such as these, that the desires 
 and intentions of some persons to introduce the practice of private 
 Confession into English schools, public and private, may never be 
 realized. The condition of schools in France, where sach a practice 
 prevails, is deplored by all who know them. And it is certain that 
 the habit of going to Confession would give occasion to levity among 
 the scholars, by ministering topics for loose talking and jesting 
 among them, and thus be a cause of irreverence and profaneness. 
 
 But while I say this, let me earnestly exhort and entreat my 
 reverend Bretheren to cultivate habits of personal intercourse 
 with their parishioners, especially the young, in preparing them for 
 Confirmation; and as members of communicant classes. And let 
 me request you to urge upon them the importance and necessity of 
 TeguhY self-examination— da.ilj, if possible; and for this purpose, 
 I would ask you to recommend to each of them some good Manual 
 of self-examination ; such as may be found in Bishop Ken's Ex- 
 'position of the Cliurch Catechism. 
 
 Private Confession is exacted by the Church of Rome, which has 
 converted penance into a Sacrament : and she by requiring private 
 Confession as a pre-requisite to the Holy Communion, places one 
 Sacrament, made by herself, as a bar to the reception of the Sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper, instituted by Christ. =''= And whereas 
 the Holy Spirit says, by St. Paul, " Let a man examine himself, and 
 so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup," t she says, 
 " Let a man confess to a Priest and submit himself to be examined 
 by a Priest and so let him come to Communion ; " and also, whereas 
 St. John J says, " If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins," she ventures to say that it is necessary to resort 
 to the human minister in order to obtain pardon from God, Whose 
 servant he is. And Confession in the Church of Rome is not so 
 
 * Goncil. Latercm. IV., A,b. 1215, can. 21 ; Cone. Trident. Sep. XIII., cap. 7, can. 11 ; 
 Catechism. Rom., Part II., cap, iv,, qu. 43, Cp. Hooker VI., iv, 3. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xi. 28. J 1 John i. 9.
 
 21 
 
 much a voluntary unburdening of sorrow on the part of the penitent, 
 as an inquisitorial scrutiny of the penitent on the part of the priest. 
 Holy Scripture speaks much concerning the duty of repentance, 
 but in no case does it require Confession, as a matter of necessity, to 
 anyone but God. 
 
 The examples of acknowledgments of sin which are mentioned 
 in the New Testament as being made to men, are either public 
 avowals of public sin, as that of those who came to St. John's 
 Baptism,- and of the men at Ephesus,! and of St. Paul at Jerusalem 
 for his share in the death of St. Stephen ; J or else they were Con- 
 fessions of wrong done to a brother, and with a petition for pardon 
 from him, as those specified by St. James. § To cite again the words 
 of Richard Hooker :J "There are men that would seem to honour 
 Antiquity, and none more to depend on the reverend judgment 
 thereof. I dare boldly affirm that for many hundred years after 
 Christ, the Fathers held no such opinion concerning our Saviour's 
 words, " Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye 
 retain they are retained (John xx. 23) ;" they did not gather by 
 our Saviour's words any such necessity of seeking the Priest's 
 Absolution from sin by secret and (as they now term it) Sacra- 
 mental Confession; public Confession they thought necessary by 
 way of discipline, not private Confession as in the nature of a 
 Sacrament necessary." Again, he says, (A^L, iv. 14) : In the times 
 of the Holy Fathers " it was not the faith and doctrine of God's 
 Church as it is of the Papacy at the present time, (1) that the only 
 remedy for sin after Baptism is Sacramental penitency ; (2) that 
 Confession in secret is an essential part thereof; (3) that God 
 Himself cannot now forgive sin without the Priest ; (4) that because 
 forgiveness at the hands of the Priest must arise from Confession in 
 the offenders, therefore Confession unto him is a matter of such 
 necessity as being not either in deed or at the least in desire per- 
 formed excludeth utterly from all pardon. Xo, no ; these opinions 
 have youth in their countenance. Antiquity knew them not ; it 
 never thought or dreamed of them." 
 
 * Matt. iii. 6. t Acts xix. 18 t Acts xxii. 20. § James v. 14, 16. || Hooker, VI., iv, 6.
 
 22 
 
 • Public Confession is recommended to penitents by Tertullian* 
 and by Cypriant and St. Ambrose,^ with a view of obtaining the 
 benefit of the prayers of the Church. In the third century, as it 
 seems,§ in order to obviate the scandals that arose " from the multi- 
 tude of public penitents/' the Greek Church appointed some one 
 presbyter to be a penitentiary in each church to receive voluntary 
 Confessions in private, with a view to public penance, if requisite, 
 and consequent Absolution by the Bishop. But this office was 
 abolished by Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople, at the end of 
 the fourth century, || and the successor of Nectarius, St. Chrysostom, 
 in several places gives as his counsel to penitents to confess their 
 sins to God ; but expressly disclaims any intention or desire of 
 making them confess to man;** and so in like terms St. Augustine.ff 
 At that time, Confession of secret sins to God alone was the prac- 
 tice of the Church. Jl 
 
 Public offenders were put to public penance, but the Confession 
 of secret sins was left to the discretion and conscience of those who 
 committed them.§§ 
 
 Indeed, if private Confession and private Absolution were, as 
 some allege, necessary to the spiritual health of the soul, it must be 
 acknowledged that the Church of God was in a state of spiritual 
 sickness from the time of the Holy Apostles for 1,200 years; for it 
 was not till the year after Christ 1215, that private Confession 
 was made obligatory even by the Church of Rome,|l|| and then only 
 once a year. 
 
 * Tertullian, De Poenitent, c. 9 and c. 10 ; Bingham, Book XVII., chap. iii. 
 
 t S. Cyprian, De Lapsis, c. 14. 
 
 X S. Ambrose, De PcenUentia, ii. 7 ; Quid vereris apud bonum Dominum tttas iniquitates 
 fateri? and ii. 10, Fleat pro te Mater Ecclesia; ainat Christus ut pro uno multi rogent. 
 
 § See Mr. Kehle on Hooker, VI., iv. 9. 
 
 II Socrates, H. E., v. lit ; Sozomen, vii. 16. Cp. Hooker, VI., iv. 
 
 ** S. Chrysostom, Ilomil. xxxi., Epist. ad Hebraeos, Tom.;cii., p. '289, ed. Montfaucon, and 
 De Inconipre/iensibUi Dei nati/rd, Homil. v., sec. 7, Tom. i., p. 490, where he says, "I do not 
 lead theo into a theatre of thy fellow-servants, or compel thee to reveal thy sins to men; 
 unfold thy conscience before God, and show thy wounds to Him, and beseech Him to heal 
 them." Cp. Bingham, Book XV., chap, viii,, sec. C, and Book XVIIT., chap. iii. 
 
 tt S. Augustine, Confession, x. 3 ; Quidmihi cum /loininlbits, ut audiaut Coiifessiones ineas? 
 
 XX See Bingham, chap, iii., and Marshall's Penitential Discipline, c\xa,\). 2, sec. i. p. 43, ed. 
 Oxford, 1H44. 
 
 §§ Marshall, p. 44; Bingham, Rook XV., chap, viii., sec. 6. 
 
 nil At the Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 21 Concil. ed. Labbe, xi., p. 172, That private 
 Confession was not enforced in the twelfth century is clear from the words of Gratian, in 
 Jus Canonicum Dist. de Poenitentid, c. 79.
 
 23 
 
 Our own Church expresses a desire* for the restoration of ancient 
 public cliscipHne. Let us help her in her endeavours for this pur- 
 pose ; and in order that we may do this more effectually, let us 
 imitate her wisdom and moderation in following the rule of Scrip- 
 ture and the Primitive Church with regard to private Confession. 
 
 And now, my dear friends, let me say a few words in conclusion. 
 
 In the controversies on this subject, which now agitate the 
 minds of many among us, let us endeavour, with God's help, to 
 cherish a spirit of calmness and of love. In the strifes of earth 
 let us lift up our hearts to the peace of heaven. Let us praise God 
 for the blessings He has bestowed on us in the Church of England, 
 where we enjoy, by His mercy, all things necessary for our growth 
 in grace on earth, and for the attainment of everlasting glory in 
 heaven. Let us bless Him for the wisdom He has given to the 
 Church of England to pursue a middle course between two opposite 
 extremes. 
 
 On the one side, let us shun the error of those who do wrong to 
 Him, and injure their own souls, and those of others, by scorning 
 those spiritual comforts which He offers by the ministry of the 
 Christian Priesthood, deriving its authority from Christ, Who 
 breathed on the Apostles and said, "Eeceive the Holy Ghost; 
 "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." 
 
 On the other side, let us avoid the dangerous delusion of those 
 who do dishonour to God and to Christ, and restrain and curtail His 
 free grace and mercy to the wounded and bleeding soul, by teaching 
 that there is no remedy for mortal sin after baptism, but by " the 
 Sacrament of Penance ; " and that no contrition of the heart, and 
 no confession of the lips, are of any avail, without the intervention 
 of a spiritual guide ; and that no reparation of wrong, no amend- 
 ment of life, no works of piety and mercy, no ftisting, no almsgiving, 
 are of use to the penitent, except imposed by a confessor ; and who 
 bind all men upon pain of everlasting condemnation to make private 
 Confession of every great offence that they know and remember that 
 
 * In the beginning of the Commination Service.
 
 24 
 
 they have ever committed against God, and who affirm that He 
 will never pardon our sins unless we first reveal them to a Priest, 
 or earnestly desire to do so.* 
 
 Of these two errors, that which I have just described has, by an 
 excess of reaction common in human affairs, produced the former. 
 If, therefore, we are desirous for the sake of Christ and of His 
 Church, that the Christian Priesthood should receive due honour 
 from the People, let us beware of claiming more for it than has been 
 granted to it by Christ, lest by lording it over God s heritage 
 (1 Pet. V. 3) we forfeit the reverence of those whose love is a 
 precious talent entrusted to us by Him. 
 
 The gift of pardon for sin is from God alone. But the assurance 
 of the bestowal of the gift is conveyed to us by the ministry of the 
 Priesthood ; the act of which, in pronouncing Absolution, is a proof 
 to us of the reality of the gift, because the ministry of the Priest 
 hood was instituted and appointed by Christ, and is commissioned 
 by him to certify us of the fact of the gift. The act of the Priest 
 or Bishop, standing up in the congregation, while we are kneeling 
 on our knees, and in that attitude of authority pronouncing Absolu- 
 tion and invoking God's pardon upon us, in the I^ame of God "Who 
 hath given power and commandment to his Ministers to declare and 
 pronounce to his people being penitent, the Absolution and remission 
 of their sins," is like a royal seal and authentic sign-manual attached 
 to a reprieve, brought by a royal officer and delegate to a penitent 
 criminal, and assuring him of pardon from his Sovereign. 
 
 The Dove, which the Patriarch JSToali saw returning to him in 
 the evening into the Ark, with the olive leaf plucked off in her 
 mouth, was ??o^ a cause of the assuaging of the waters of the Flood 
 (Gen. viii. 2), but it was a sign and assurance to him that they were 
 assuaged, and filled his heart with thankfulness and joy. The 
 wagons which Joseph had sent, and which the Patriarch Jacob saw 
 coming to him from Egypt into Canaan, tr carry him to his beloved 
 
 * See Concil. Trldentin. Sess. xiv, capp, 1—9, de Sacramento Pcenitentiae ; Bellarmin(\ 
 lib. iv, De Pcenitentia, Tom. iii., ed. KJlo, pp. o76 — 482, especially lib, iii,, p. 435, where he says 
 "that no one who has sinned after baptism, can be restored withont the ministry of the 
 Priest." Perrone, de Fcenitentid, pp. 344—354, ed. Paris, 1842. Cp. Hooker, VI. vi. 
 Bingham, vol. viii. p, 432 .
 
 25 
 
 son, whom lie had thought to be dead (Gen. xlv. 27), were not a 
 cause of Joseph's restoration to life and to his father, but they 
 were a sure sign and confirmation to him of that which he had 
 hardly hoped, but which he now fully believed, and therefore "his 
 spirit revived, and he said It is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet 
 alive ; I will go and see him before I die." (Gen. xlv. 28). 
 
 Let us also recognize in our appointed office of ministering the 
 Holy Word and Sacraments, which God has instituted as means and 
 instruments for the forgiveness of iniquities, and in our daily func- 
 tion of declaring and pronouncing Absolution and remission of the 
 sins of others, a constraining motive to keep ourselves unspotted 
 from the world, and to endeavour to perfect holiness in the fear of 
 God. (James i. 27 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1.) "Physician, heal thyself." 
 (Luke iv. 23.) It is an unseemly thing in the eyes of God and 
 men to profess to cleanse others, while we ourselves are unclean ; 
 and to pretend to wash away the stains of others, while our own 
 hearts and hands are defiled by sin. Therefore "be ye clean that 
 bear 'the vessels of the Lord." (Isaiah lii. 11). 
 
 Next, since the Priests of God's Church are spiritual physicians, 
 and ought to be able to prescribe and apply those spiritual medicines 
 which are needed by the sick soul, conscious to itself of sin, and in 
 doubt, sorrow, and distress, and even in agony ard anguish of spirit, 
 therefore they ought to be diligent and unwearied in the study of 
 God's Holy Word, and of such other sacred learning, as may best 
 qualify them by the grace given to earnest prayer for the due dis- 
 charge of their office in this difficult matter.* "The Priest's lips 
 should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his 
 mouth." (Malachi ii. 7). 
 
 To our lay brethren let me also say, — You owe a debt of 
 reverence, gratitude, and love to the Christian Priesthood. It might 
 have pleased God to save you without its help. He might have 
 saved you without its ministry, or without any means of grace 
 at all. But in order to bind you more closely to us, and to join us 
 to you in the bonds of the nearest and dearest affection, He has 
 made our office in ministering the means of pardon and grace, — the 
 
 * See Bishop Bull's Sermon. Sermon vi., •' The Priest's office difficult and dangerous."
 
 26 
 
 Word of God and Sacraments, and Prayer, — to be necessary to your 
 Salvation, where ever they may be had. And let no one imagine our 
 ministry to be a feeble thing, although, in declaring and pronounc- 
 ing Absolution and Eemission of sins in the daily office of Morning 
 and Evening Prayer, or in invoking God's pardon and blessing upon 
 you in the Holy Communion, or in lifting our hands over you in 
 the stillness of the private chamber, in the hours of sickness and of 
 death, and in saying those solemn words, — " By Christ's 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," — we do not 
 claim for ourselves the power to give pardon, but only as heralds sent 
 from God Himself, to certify and assure you, that He is ever ready 
 to be gracious to you for His dear Son's sake, and that if you have 
 true repentance, lively faith, and fervent love to God and man, and 
 are resolved to forsake your sins, and to make reparation for them, 
 and heartily pray for pardon from Him, and for the Grace of the 
 Holy Ghost to enable you to keep your good resolutions of amend- 
 ment. He has washed away your sins in the Blood of Christ, and 
 will remember them no more. And let no one persuade you, that 
 by whatever name these forms of Absolution may be called, whether 
 they be declaratory, or precatory, or indicative, it matters httle by 
 lolwm they are pronounced, and that they may as well be uttered 
 by an unordained person, as by a Priest of the Church of God. But 
 be sure that God will bless your faithful, obedient, and loving use 
 of that Apostolic Ministry, which Christ has instituted for convey- 
 ing God's pardon to you, and in which the Divine Breath of Christ 
 still lives and moves, which he breathed on the Apostles themselves 
 on the evening of His Resurrection, when He said, "Receive ye 
 the Holy Ghost, Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto 
 
 them." 
 
 I am, my dear friends. 
 
 Your affectionate brother in Christ, 
 
 C. LINCOLN. 
 
 Riselwlme, Lincoln, 
 
 Epiphany J 1874.
 
 
 
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