S^^P^&f^^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 Iv. ^«'r. 
 
 ^■^^^^^<. 
 
 S^ 
 
 MM. "jim^ 
 
 
 "^^^i
 
 I's- 
 
 \ ^ — — — V ^y 
 
 GOD'S CONFESSIONAL, 
 OR MAN'S: 
 
 WHICH SHALL IT BE? 
 
 REV. GEORGE EVERARD, M.A, 
 
 Vicar of St. Mark's, Wolverhampton. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM HUNT AND COMPANY. 
 
 HOLLES STREET, CAVEXDISH SQUARE ; 
 AND ALDIXE CHAMBERS, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 w 
 
 
 .^' 
 
 TRICE TWO-l-ENXE.
 
 WORKS BY THE 
 
 REV. GEORGE EYERARD, M.A., 
 
 Vicar of St. Mark's, Wolverhampton. 
 
 F'cap 8vo. clotli boards, 2s. 6d. ; extra cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 
 A Companion volume to "Day by Day." 
 
 STEPS ACROSS ; 
 
 Or, Guidance and. Help to the Anxious and Doubtful. 
 
 Contents. — Steps Across — What is Truth ?— Mistakes about Repent- 
 ance — From Death to Life — The Good Physician and His Patients — How 
 may I know that I am Forgiven? — Stones in the Way — The Stray One 
 recalled — On the necessity and right position of Good Works — On Con- 
 fessing Christ— The Feast of Blessing, and the Grace of the Comforter — 
 On Companions and Books— Faithful unto Death— Crossing the River, 
 and Resurrection Glory. 
 
 Uniform with " Not Youk Own." Limp cloth. Is. ; extra cloth, 
 gilt edges. Is. 6d. 
 
 THE HOME OP BETHANY; 
 
 Or, Christ Revealed as the Teacher and Comforter of 
 His People. 
 
 Contents.— The Sisters — The Dark Cloud — Love's Delay, and the 
 Journey to Judsea— The Master is come— Aroimd the Tomb— The Mighty 
 Voice— The Family re-united. 
 
 TURN TO THE STRONG-HOLD! 
 
 A New Year's Address. Price Id. 
 
 LONDON: WILLIAM HUNT AND COMPANY, 
 
 23, Holies Street, Cavendish Square ; and Aldine Chambers, 
 Paternoster Row.
 
 toll's (EonfcsstDiml, or iftan'5 : 
 
 WHICH SHALL IT BE ? • 
 
 No more blessed institution is to be found under 
 the sun than the Confessional of God's appointing. 
 Sinners of every sort are invited to come, and 
 there find a full remission of every sin. Back- 
 sliders are invited to come, and there every wound 
 shall be healed by the cleansing blood. Those 
 burdened by crimes of deepest dye are invited to 
 come, and sins that are as scarlet shall become 
 white as snow. Thank God without ceasing for 
 the True Confessional ! 
 
 Great and rich are the promises made to such as 
 frequent it. " If they shall confess their iniquity, 
 and the iniquity of their fathers, with their tres- 
 pass, that they have trespassed against Me... then 
 will I remember my covenant with Jacob." " He 
 that covereth his sin shall not prosper; but he 
 that confesseth and forsaketh it shall find mercy." 
 
 * I am indebted for many thoughts in this tract to the late 
 Bishop Jeune, in his sermon on "the Throne of Grace ;" to 
 the Very Rev. the Dean of Carlisle, and also to a valuable 
 article in the Quarterly Review.
 
 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 
 to forgive ns our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
 unriG^hteousness." 
 
 In this Confessional stands our great High 
 Priest, — the one Mediator between God and man ; 
 ever compassionate, ever ready to forgive ; wait- 
 ing to hear the sighs, the groans, the confessions 
 uttered or unuttered, — to mark the tears of peni- 
 tents, and to send them away in peace. 
 
 This Confessional has been frequented by the 
 saints of the Most High in all ages, since the 
 world began. Abel frequented it when he brought 
 his lamb in sacrifice, thus acknowledging his 
 desert of death. Abraham frequented it when he 
 went in before God, and acknowledged that he 
 was but dust and ashes. Jacob frequented it when 
 he confessed that he was not worthy of the least 
 of all God's mercies. Moses, and David, and 
 Daniel, and Ezra, and ISTehemiah frequented it as 
 they humbled themselves before God, for their 
 own sins, or the sins of the people. 
 
 So likewise has it been frequented by multi- 
 tudes awaking to a sense of sin, and seeking a 
 restoration to God's favour. See Manasseh in his 
 lowly dungeon at Babylon. There, alone with his 
 God and his own conscience, he humbled himself 
 greatly, and sought for mercy and found it. With 
 no eye upon him but that of the Searcher of all 
 hearts, he confessed his idolatries, his cruel treat- 
 ment of his people, and all the provocation where- 
 
 -*^% 
 
 5UIUC
 
 with he had provoked tlie Most High. Thence 
 he v/ent forth, a forgiveii, justified child of God, 
 henceforth holding communion with Him, and 
 striving to honour His holy name. 
 
 See the younger son, as given in the parable 
 by our Lord, coming home to the father's house. 
 Xone was by when the father met the long-lost 
 son. Alone with the father whom so long he had 
 forgotten, he receives the token of his forgiving 
 love, he pours out in his ear the confession which 
 he had purposed to make: "Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven, and before thee, and am no more 
 worthy to be called thy son." And how complete 
 the reconciliation which followed ! The best robe, 
 the feast prepared, the joy within the home, testify 
 alike the glad and willing mercy accorded to the 
 prodigal, — a true picture of the welcome given to 
 the returning sinner. 
 
 See the woman at the feet of Jesus. Xo words 
 are spoken; but tears flow fast, and these are 
 enough. He who reads her heart can see how 
 each tear is her sorrowful confession of some dark 
 hour of evil. But He forgives freely, unreservedly. 
 He attempts not to draw forth any detailed account 
 of past days : He will not thus add to her shame 
 and grief ; but with sin all fully and completely 
 cancelled, He sends her to her home, to rejoice in 
 love so great as His, and to live for Him who had 
 saved her. 
 
 See Peter after his threefold denial of our Lord.
 
 6 
 
 We read of him boasting, sleeping, fighting, cursing, 
 and then weeping. And well he might weep. 
 Alas for his broken vows ! Alas for his professed 
 allegiance to his Lord ! And he %vent out and 
 wept bitterly. He went perchance to the garden 
 of Gethsemane, now solitary and deserted by the 
 crowd who awhile before had there apprehended 
 Christ. There, in the shade of the olive-trees, 
 it may be, he poured out his soul before God, 
 and told how he too, by his unfaithfulness, had 
 shared the guilt of crucifying the Lord. He was 
 all alone. Not John, or James, or Andrew, or 
 Mary did he seek in his hour of bitter distress ; 
 but with no witness of his grief and sorrow did 
 he bewail his offence, and entreat the mercy that 
 he needed. He was alone, yet not alone. The 
 Saviour, by His Divine Omnipresence, was there by 
 his side. He was in the house of Caiaphas, or in the 
 Judgment-hall of Pilate, but also very near to his 
 repenting disciple, marking his contrition, accept- 
 ing his tears, assuaging the bitterness of his re- 
 morse, by recalling to his memory His own tender 
 pity, binding up the broken-hearted one, and giving 
 a slight foretaste of that assurance of forgiveness 
 which He afterwards bestowed upon him. 
 
 Ah, beloved, let us value this Confessional. 
 We need it perpetually. Let us get alone with 
 God and His Word and our own conscience. Let 
 us ask of Him to search us through and through, 
 and to reveal to us by His Spirit our most secret
 
 inic|uities. Let us desire to be thoroughly honest 
 with God and ourselves. Let us unfold all the 
 windings of our deceitful hearts : let us keep back 
 nothing. And let us ever do this in the joyful 
 confidence that the work of atonement is complete, 
 and that the sacrifice of Christ is all-sufficient to 
 purge our conscience from dead works, that with 
 a free heart we may serve the living God. 
 
 Side by side with this blessed means provided 
 of God for our increase of humility, peace, and 
 holiness, human tradition comes in, and has set 
 up a counterfeit Confessional. It has turned men 
 aside from God's Confessional, where Christ is the 
 Great Confessor and High Priest, to one where a 
 fellow-sinner professes to hear confessions, and to 
 bestow, in God's name, forgiveness and absolution. 
 In the Church of Eome, it is distinctly declared 
 that for mortal sins there is no forgiveness, except 
 by the Sacrament of Penance, of which Private 
 Confession is an essential part. 
 
 Nor is a lower ground for Auricular Confession 
 taken by those in our own Church who have in- 
 troduced this counterfeit Confessional amongst us. 
 It is without doubt the Eomish Confessional which 
 is being so zealously advocated. The very name 
 of " Sacramental Confession " teUs the tale, for it 
 refers us back to the decrees of the Council of 
 Trent and the Sacrament of Penance, which is 
 tliere said to consist of confession to a priest, 
 absolution, and satisfaction. • Let us hear too the
 
 language of those who are leaders in this move- 
 ment. I find in " The Ministry of Consolation " 
 the following statement, — a plain declaration of 
 what confession to a priest must be : " Confession, 
 the true confession to which alone absolution is 
 pronounced, must be, so far as it is possible to 
 make it, an actual forestalling of the judgment, in 
 obedience to that command of the Church which 
 says, 'Judge ye for yourselves, brethren, that ye 
 be not judged of the Lord.' The one earnest 
 effort of the penitent must be to detail every sin of 
 thought,- word, or deed, ivhich he can ever remember 
 to have committed, as fully, unreservedly, and strictly, 
 as they will he declared in the ears of all men at 
 the aioful judgment day, and with that same perfect 
 freedom from all palliation." 
 
 And as we are thus told it must be full and 
 explicit, hiding and concealing nothing, however 
 painful, so are we told, with equal distinctness, 
 that it is God's way of remitting sin, and must 
 therefore be absolutely essential. In the Manual 
 of Confession we find the following words : " Who- 
 ever has committed a deadly sin has the gates of 
 Paradise closed against him. But in this Holy 
 Ordinance our Saviour Christ has deposited His 
 most precious blood to be a life-giving i'ountain 
 to wash our souls from the filth of sin, to heal 
 them of their wounds, to comfort and strengthen 
 them in their weaknesses, and to enrich them with 
 His grace. Go then often to confession; and if
 
 9 
 
 you should have the grievous misfortune to fall 
 into deadly sin, go at once : do not think of living 
 one moment in mortal sin, least death should come 
 upon you, and cast you into hell-fire for eternity. 
 By means of a good confession, with repentance 
 and faith, the soul is again freed from the bondage 
 of the devil, the chains are broken, and you become 
 again the child of God." Thus, whilst we find repent- 
 ance and faith declared to be needful adjuncts, yet 
 it is by means of Sacramental confession, that sin 
 is forgiven. Language still more startling is found 
 in "The Church and the World:" "If priestly 
 absolution be the means ordained of God for 
 remitting sin, then it is fearful to contemplate the 
 ruin which may have been inflicted on souls by 
 the neglect of it. Souls have been launched into 
 eternity by us, unabsolved, because we did not 
 believe the power given us at our ordination, or we 
 were too timid to exercise it." 
 
 Is it possible for any form of words to express 
 more strongly the absolute necessity for this ordi- 
 nance thus claimed by members of the English 
 Church ? And yet, with such language before us, 
 we are blamed for confounding the Eomish and 
 Anglican Confessional ; and we are told it is not 
 compulsory, but only recommended; and that it 
 is not regarded as required of necessity in Chris- 
 tians, but is offered as a help and assistance to 
 devotion and peace. I admit there are many in 
 our Church who would advocate confession, and 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 who yet would not use such strong language with 
 respect to it as that I have quoted ; but it is the 
 system of which I speak, and we can see by these 
 words of those who lead us in the movement to 
 what it is tending. It is very plain why, in many 
 cases, language is used to advise the Confessional, 
 without as yet enforcing it : it is no doubt the 
 system of advancing parallels. AVhen a fortress is 
 being taken, and it is too strong for an immediate 
 attack, trenches are dug, artillery are fixed, and 
 thus the attacking party are able to get nearer and 
 nearer to the citadel, and at -length it may be to 
 storm and take it. Tt is thus that a host of 
 enemies are endeavouring to capture the strong 
 citadel of English Protestantism. Most English 
 men abhor the Eomish Confessional, and therefore 
 those who would persuade them to adopt it must 
 use very guarded language. It is spoken of as a 
 help to self-examination, a cordial of refreshment 
 to the weary, an opportunity for obtaining spiritual 
 counsel. It is commended as being exceedingly 
 profitable in the case of those who have fallen into 
 some great sin, and then it is said we are not able 
 to judge which sins are so great as to need it. The 
 distinction between mortal and venial sins is very 
 subtle, and requires the guiding mind of a spiritual 
 director to unfold, and so little by little the soul 
 is caught in the wiles of this spiritual tyranny, 
 and regards it as a needful thing to confess every 
 secret of the heart in the ear of a priest.
 
 11 
 
 Be sure of this, — would we defend the fortress, 
 we must not wait till the last parallels are made : 
 we must resist the whole system ; we must do our 
 utmost, as men in a fortress, to resist the enemy 
 long before he reaches the gates. We must expose 
 the tactics of those who would rob us of our richest 
 inheritance, and maintain, as for our lives, the 
 liberty wherewith Christ has made us free ; and 
 in doing this, let us exercise charity. We make 
 no war against this man or that, but against a 
 system which we believe to be utterly opposed to 
 the moral and spiritual well-being both of indi- 
 viduals and of nations. Let us contend earnestly 
 for the faith as once delivered to the Saints ; but 
 let us contend in meekness and forbearance, and 
 pray on; and if we cannot convince those who 
 differ with us of the error of their views, let us at 
 least convince them that we have, with respect to 
 them, no other desire than that they with us may 
 seek above all things the glory of God, and be 
 guided into all truth by His own blessed Spirit. 
 And as we would exercise charity, so let us 
 exercise wisdom and discretion in discerning things 
 that differ. 
 
 There is an essential difference between Sacra- 
 mental Confession, and the help which a Christian 
 Pastor may give to anxious souls by the ministry 
 of God's Word; when they come with some grief, 
 or burden, or even sin, of which they desire to 
 speak to him. These two things are often con-
 
 12 
 
 founded, yet they are altogetlier different. Two 
 objects may seem alike at a little distance, and yet 
 when you are near you discern the difference ; 
 two bottles may be labelled almost alike, their 
 contents may be of the same colour, perhaps even 
 the taste may not be very different, — and yet one 
 may contain wholesome medicine, and the other 
 deadly poison. So I believe it is in this case. It 
 would be well if there were far more personal 
 intercourse between a pastor and his flock : it 
 w^ere well if those who felt anxious about their 
 souls were to come, and see if he could not assist 
 and strengthen them ; it were well if tempted 
 believers were to come and seek counsel and 
 prayer in their sore conflict. All this is good and 
 useful in its place. Come to us and unfold to us 
 any sorrow or grief which is oppressing you ; yea, 
 it may be a sin which weighs heavy on your mind, 
 and you fear whether it may not be too great to 
 be forgiven, or there has been a wrong done by it 
 to a fellow-creature, and you wish to make restitu- 
 tion. Come thus, and we will endeavour, by the 
 ministry of God's Word, to afford you relief: we 
 will point out to you the promise which suits your 
 case, and will endeavour to guide your footsteps 
 into the way of peace. But remember that this is 
 altogether different from the system of Sacramental 
 Confession. 
 
 The very root principle is ijower in the priest 
 and subjection in the 'penitent God's pardon must
 
 13 
 
 pass througli priestly hands : the deed of remission 
 is not sure and certain to the recipient unless it 
 bears the seal of the priest. It is not always put 
 exactly in this form, but this is the principle which 
 is sought to be established, and against which we 
 need very earnestly to contend. 
 
 Take an illustration, which I believe is a true 
 representation of the principle for which accept- 
 ance is demanded from members of the Church of 
 England. The Queen sends down a pardon for a 
 certain convict under sentence of death : but she 
 makes it conditional. The Chaplain of the Gaol 
 is to examine the prisoner, and having done so, if 
 he countersign the pardon, it secures the prisoner's 
 release ; but if otherwise, the sentence takes its 
 course. 
 
 Thus we are taught it is with ourselves. Truly 
 it is declared only God forgives sin ; but He does 
 it through the priest. The priest has a judicial 
 power committed to him, and only when the word 
 of absolution is pronounced may we regard the 
 pardon as sure and complete. But what is the 
 result ? In the illustration E have employed, the fear 
 and hope of the convict will be fixed much more 
 on the Chaplain than on the Queen. The one who 
 immediatelv bestows the benefit, will be resfarded 
 far more than the benefactor who is at a distance. 
 And in the same way the priest becomes more and 
 more the object of fear and regard. The priest who 
 is near, — who speaks the word, who pronounces
 
 14 
 
 the solemn absolution, — is thought of more than 
 Him who is the Fountain of all mercy, more than 
 Him who died upon the cross to purchase salva- 
 tion for . us. This is the ultimate end of the 
 system. Very frequently it is not so in its earlier 
 stages : there is too much Gospel-light, there is 
 too much knowledge of the Scriptures, but it 
 tends in this direction. The more the eye is fixed 
 on Christ, looking for pardon only through Him, the 
 more our love and gratitude to Him will increase ; 
 but the more the heart leans upon the word of a 
 priest in confession and absolution, the less will 
 be our delight and joy in the Saviour of sinners. 
 
 But where can we find a shadow of authority for 
 this system ? Where is its foundation ? I boldly 
 affirm that we can find it neither in Christian 
 antiquity, nor in the formularies of the Church of 
 England, nor in the teaching of Holy Scripture. 
 Let us examine briefly each of these witnesses, 
 and we shall find the voice of each one of them is 
 utterly opposed to the system of which I speak. 
 
 Consider, first, the witness of Christian antiquity. 
 The early history of the Church of Christ is very 
 valuable as affording evidence of the doctrines that 
 were taught by the Apostles and their immediate 
 followers ; but history makes it very plain, that 
 Sacramental Confession had no place in their 
 teaching. How it first arose we can easily discover. 
 Those who were brought to faith in Christ had, in 
 some cases, been guilty previously of notorious
 
 15 
 
 crimes ; and others were restoi'ed to the Church 
 after forsakincf Christ in times of persecution. It 
 was thought fit that such should openly, before 
 the congregation, confess the evils of which they 
 were guilty. This naturally led to various scandals 
 and abuses ; and, in consequence, the confession 
 was first made privately so that the public con- 
 fession might in many cases be avoided. Private 
 confession was proved in experience to be equally 
 perilous, so much so that on one occasion it was 
 entirely abolished; but through the love of priestly 
 power it again crept in, and prevailed throughout 
 the Church, that the Council of Trent declared it 
 to be a Divine institution, and necessary for ever- 
 lasting salvation. 
 
 So that we can trace distinctly the rise of the 
 system in the Church. It was not a part of the 
 discipline of the early Church; it was not taught 
 by the immediate followers of the Apostles: it 
 came in with unnumbered innovations and corrup- 
 tions of Apostolic truths in later centuries, and 
 only took definite shape in decrees published after 
 fifteen centuries had rolled by. It is equally 
 instructive to mark the introduction of that form 
 of priestly absolution which is now held to be 
 essential. The fact ought to stand out plain and 
 clear, to be well remembered by all interested, as 
 a great landmark in this controversy, that the form, 
 Ego te Ahsoh'o, — the absolution of the penitent in 
 the first person, — " I absolve thee in the name of
 
 16 
 
 tlie Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost," — was never heard of for more than a 
 thousand years, and was only introduced in the 
 twelfth century. In the earliest documents, — the 
 Apostolic Constitutions, and the Liturgy of St. 
 James, belonging to the third and to the filth 
 centuries, — the form of absolution was a prayer, 
 similar in its character to the absolution in our 
 Communion Service. One of these forms for 
 receiving penitents was as follows : "Look gra- 
 ciously upon these Thy .servants, who here bow 
 themselves before Thee in humiliation and repent- 
 ance. Eeceive, we humbly beseech Tli^e, the 
 supplications of these who now turn unto Thee 
 with tears of repentance. There is mercy with 
 Thee. Eestore these to the bosom of Thy Holy 
 Church, and to the place and station which before 
 they held in it." 
 
 So that we may boldly affirm that priestly 
 absolution, as now understood, is a very modern 
 invention. If it be needful for salvation now, 
 then for the lack of it, Christians for more than 
 eleven centuries perished in their sins ! 
 
 Let us hear the words of one who is boldly 
 advocating the necessity of this kind of absolution. 
 " We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in 
 that we saw the anguish of his soul as the gates 
 of hell opened upon him, and he beheld the doors 
 of the shadow of death. And we cast him in 
 bound hand and foot, having first, with cruel 
 
 I
 
 17 
 
 kindness, stupified him with the dram-drinking 
 of a false assurance " {i.e., apparently by directing 
 to rely only upon the Saviour), when we might 
 have loosed him and let him go." " We are verily 
 guilty concerning our brother ! We have let the 
 sin of his youth fester in his conscience and poison 
 his whole spiritual life, when as good physicians 
 we should have probed the wound, extracted the 
 deleterious matter, and healed with the absolving 
 blood." Nay : is it so ? Is this the guilt that lies 
 at the door of Christ's ministers ? Is it that we 
 have failed to demand a revelation to us of all the 
 evil that has dwelt within the breast? Is it that 
 we have never lifted up the right hand and pro- 
 claimed, " I absolve thee " ? Then are we content 
 to share this guilt with Christ's chosen Apostles, 
 for never did they thus act and speak. We are 
 content to share it with all noble-hearted ministers 
 of the Cross, who endured sach fearful persecutions 
 in the early days of Christianity. We are content 
 to stand where Paul and Peter and John stood, 
 hiding ourselves behind Him of whom we testify, 
 and desiring that men should turn their eyes from 
 the human instrumentality, if they will but " Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin 
 of the world." 
 
 But what saith our second witness ? What is 
 the voice of our Pteformed Church ? Is there any 
 uncertainty in her testimony ? Surely none, if we 
 are willing honestly to look into the matter.
 
 18 
 
 Had the view of our Church been at all in 
 accordance with the views of those who are 
 straining every nerve to change and transform her 
 doctrine and discipline, we should have found the 
 system in our Eubrics, in our Catechism for the 
 young, and running through all her Articles and 
 her Services : but we find it tlie very reverse. 
 Look at her Articles. Look at the sixteenth 
 Article : it is on the subject of Sin after Baptism. 
 And we remember that Sacramental Confession 
 is declared needful for post-baptismal sin, by those 
 who strive to promote it. Yet read the Article. 
 Where is one word of Confession to a priest, or of 
 absolution? To repent, to arise again, to amend 
 the life, — this is the condition of forgiveness of 
 which the Article speaks. Then again see the 
 twenty-fifth Article. This very doctrine of Penance 
 is evidently condemned as '' having grown of the 
 corrupt following of the Apostles." Look again 
 at the witness borne by our Collects. Again and 
 again they tell us how sin may be completely 
 forgiven ; but there is no hint in them of private 
 confession. I need but refer to the Collect for 
 Ash-Wednesday, for the twelfth, the twenty-first, 
 and twenty-fourth Sundays after Trinity. 
 
 Take again the exhortation to the Communion. 
 It is often quoted as giving some sort of sanction to 
 the system ; but there is no part of our foi^mularies 
 which more clearly condemns it. Eememember that 
 in the Church of Eome the way to the altar was
 
 19 
 
 by the Sacrament of penance, including confession, 
 absolution, and satisfaction. What does our Church 
 declare to be the way to the Holy Communion ? 
 She points to the true Confessional. We must 
 examine ourselves, and then, wherever we have 
 failed, we must confess ourselves to Almighty 
 God. Then instead of satisfaction to God, which 
 we can never make, she bids us make restitution 
 to our neighbour in whatever we have wTonged 
 him. Then comes an exceptional case. There 
 may be an anxious, troubled soul who cannot 
 thus find peace ; if it be so, by all means our 
 Church bids him come to some learned and discreet 
 minister of God's Word and open his grief 
 
 And the changes from the former Prayer-book 
 are most instructive. It was formerly "to open 
 his sin and grief secretly ; " now the " sin " and the 
 "secretly" are left out, so that the help may as much 
 be sought without a specific mention of the sin, 
 and in the presence of a third party as otherwise. 
 Then, too, whilst the benefit of absolution is spoken 
 of, we have the addition " by the ministry of God's 
 Word;" so that "the ministry of the Word" is 
 substituted for the judicial absolution of the priest. 
 
 An example has been given of the view taken 
 by our English Eeformers with respect to the 
 character of absolution. Careless writes to Brad- 
 ford under a deep sense of sin, and asks him for 
 absolution. Bradford thus replies : " Concerning 
 your rec[uest for absolution, my dearest brother,
 
 20 
 
 what shall I say but even as the truth is, — that the 
 Lord of all mercy and Father of all comfort, through 
 the merits and the mediation of His dear Son, our 
 Lord and Saviour, hath clearly remitted and par- 
 doned all thine offences, whatsoever they be, that 
 hitherto thou hast committed against His Majesty ; 
 therefore He hath given thee, as His child, a penitent 
 and believing heart: i.e., a heart that desireth to 
 repent and believe, for He taketh the will for the 
 deed. Wherefore, my good brother, be merry, glad, 
 and of good cheer, for the Lord hath taken away 
 thy sins." Thus did Bradford, by the ministry of 
 God's Word, absolve and comfort one burdened by 
 the remembrance of his sin. 
 
 There yet remains the well-known absolution 
 in the Visitation of the Sick. There can be little 
 doubt it was permitted, in an exceptional case, for 
 the relief of the consciences of the weaker brethren. 
 Just emerging from the dark shadows of Eomish 
 superstition, there were those who had been long 
 accustomed to the form, — ''I absolve thee in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost ; " therefore, in the case of sickness, 
 the Church permits it, in certain cases. I say, in 
 case of sickness, for the omission of the Eubric 
 originally found that the same form of absolution 
 should be used at other times, clearly shows that 
 the mind of our Church is that this form is only 
 for the sick ; whosoever uses it for those in health, 
 is plainly not in accord with the Church in the
 
 21 
 
 matter. Then we ought to mark how carefully our 
 Church hedges in this permission lest it should be 
 abused. If the sick man is at peace with God, 
 trusting in the blood of Christ, no confession is to 
 be asked or absolution used ; or if it is, only for 
 one " whose conscience is troubled by some weighty 
 matter." Neither is it to be used unless humbly 
 and heartily desired ; and when it has been used, 
 it is followed by a prayer for pardon and forgive- 
 ness. And yet this absolution, appointed only for 
 the sick, and hedged in on all sides so as to make 
 it exceptional even in sickness, is now spoken of 
 as if the Church authorized its use in those who are 
 in health and habitually come to confession. It 
 is as if men should take a medicine, reserved only 
 for great emergencies because of the danger con- 
 nected with its use, and should mingle it with their 
 daily food. Whatever we may think of the wisdom 
 of our reformers in allowing it in any case, it gives 
 not the faintest shadow of ground for its ordinary use. 
 Does the Church teach or allow this Auricular 
 Confession ? Would that the words of our Homily 
 on repentance might ring in the ears of every 
 English Churchman who is doubtful on the subject i 
 The Homilies are an authority we cannot gainsay. 
 They were the authorized sermons to be preached 
 by those who were unable to preach otherwise, 
 and are declared in our Articles "to contain a 
 godly and wholesome doctrine." " I do not say 
 but that if any do find themselves troubled in
 
 22 
 
 conscience, they may repair to their pastor, and 
 show the trouble and doubt of their conscience, 
 that they may receive from him the comfortable 
 salve of God's Word (here is an authoritative 
 exjolanation of what is meant in the Communion 
 Service by the benefit of absolution by the ministry 
 of God's Word) ; but it is against the true Chris- 
 tian liberty that any man should be bound to the 
 numbering of his sins, as it hath been used here- 
 tofore in the time of blindness and ignorance." 
 Such is the distinct testimony of the Church of 
 England. From her Collects, her Articles, her 
 Services, her Homilies, we gather that which has 
 lately been declared by the united voice of her 
 Bishops in convocation, — that Sacramental Con- 
 fession is not in harmony with, but utterly opposed 
 to, the teaching of the Church of England. 
 
 But let us go a step further. Holy Scripture 
 must ever be the standard of final appeal; and 
 every clergyman promises in his Ordination that 
 "he will teach nothing as required of necessity 
 to eternal salvation, but that which he shall he 
 2oersuaded may he concluded and proved by the 
 Scriptures : " a promise which I fear is too often 
 forgotten now, when human traditions are so 
 frequently put in the place of God's Word. And 
 when we turn to Holy Scripture I boldly assert 
 that not one single passage can be quoted giving 
 authority to anything the least resembling the 
 system of Sacramental Confession.
 
 23 
 
 The penitent who brought his sacrifice under 
 law, confessed some particular offence of which he 
 had been guilty, but it was in open daylight, and 
 before the people. The publicans and sinners who 
 flocked around the Baptist openly confessed their 
 sins, but were neither required, nor was it possible, 
 to enter into any detailed confession. 
 
 The Ephesians, too, under the light of heaven, 
 openl}^ confessed the wicked deeds they had com- 
 mitted ; and it is blessed proof of the power of 
 the Gospel when men do the same now, as we 
 occasionally read is the case in our Mission work. 
 St. James recommends mutual confession ; but it 
 is not confession all on one side, nor is it followed 
 by a judicial absolution. 
 
 There is but one passage on which any difficulty 
 exists : it is the Word of our Lord originally 
 addressed to the Apostles, and now employed in 
 the Ordination Service for Priests : " Eeceive ye 
 the Holy Ghost. AYhose soever sins ye remit, they 
 are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye 
 retain, they are retained." On this single text, 
 taken out from its connection with the rest of 
 Scripture, the whole system is built. 
 
 It is a very instructive fact that has lately been 
 distinctly brought out, that in no Church for more 
 than a thousand years were these words employed 
 in the Ordination of Christ's ministers. When 
 rightly understood they may lawfully be used as 
 in our own Service ; but those who make them
 
 24 
 
 all-essential ought to remember that they have 
 only been introduced within the last six or seven 
 centuries. But let us inquire what ground is 
 there for connecting these words with private 
 confession ? In John xx., is there the very least 
 reference to any such practice ? and if not, w^hat is 
 it but pure assumption to require it ? Study the 
 whola Gospel from which this passage is taken, 
 and you find promise after promise, that every one 
 who believes in Christ shall have eternal life ; 
 but not one solitary passage that would imply the 
 need of confessing to man. But how were these 
 words understood by the Apostles ? Tliey w^ere 
 fully equipped for their work by the direct inspira- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost: they understood, far better 
 than we can, our Lord's purpose and intention in 
 uttering them ; yet what do you find ? Can you 
 discover a single verse in the Acts of the Apostles 
 where any one of the twelve either received private 
 confessions, or exercised anything like a judicial 
 power to absolve men from sin ? In one sense 
 they forgave sin, and retained it. Paul, in the 
 name of Christ, forgave the man who had fallen, 
 and bade the Corinthians receive him back into 
 the Clmrch ; Peter retained sin when he so spoke 
 that Ananias and Sapphira were carried out dead 
 from his presence. But in the case of the Cor- 
 rinthian the forgiveness had reference to restoration 
 to the Church; and Paul had certainly never 
 heard him confess sin. 
 
 I
 
 25 
 
 Bat as to the forgiveness ^vliicli remits sin in 
 the presence of the great Judge, with one voice 
 Peter and John and all the Apostles ever directed 
 their hearers to Christ alone. Whether it were 
 Peter preaching in the house of Cornelius, or Paul 
 preaching in the streets of Antioch, or the same 
 Apostle speaking to the jailor at Phillippi, the 
 message was still the same : '' To Him give all the 
 prophets witness, that, through His name, whoso- 
 ever believeth in Him shall receive remission of 
 sins." " By Him all that believe are justified from 
 all things, from which ye could not be justified by 
 the law of Moses." "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
 Depend upon it, the historical interpretation of 
 this passage must be the true one. It must be 
 understood iu harmony with the book of Acts and 
 the Apostolic Epistles ; and if this be so, what is 
 the true interpretation ? Our Lord Jesus gave to 
 His Apostles power to rule His Church by the rod 
 of wholesome discipline. Such sins as were open 
 and manifest they must boldly reprove, and, if 
 needful, cast the offender out of the Church, and 
 when penitent they might mercifully restore him. 
 And their commission included also that which is 
 the work of Christ's ministers in all ages : they 
 were to declare God's ready forgiveness to all 
 penitent and believing souls, and His sure judg- 
 ments on aU who rejected His salvation. 
 
 A few additional thoughts from Holy Scripture
 
 26 
 
 may confirm us in the assurance that God's Word 
 gives no sanction to the teaching of Sacerdotalism. 
 
 In the book of Psalms we have the man of God 
 described in all his varied experience ; and from 
 beginning to the end it tells of the direct inter- 
 course between the soul of man and the great 
 Father of spirits. We have the soul pouring out its 
 confessions, sorrows, griefs, and receiving back the 
 assurance of mercy, favour, help. " Hide Thy face 
 from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." " I 
 said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, 
 and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." " As 
 far as the east is from the west, so far hast Thou 
 set our transgressions from us." What room is 
 there here for a priest to come in between the soul 
 and its God ? 
 
 The prayer which Christ hath left us for the 
 guidance and help of His Church in all time, is 
 another evidence of God's will in this matter. 
 There are many now who call a priest Father, 
 and regard their confession as defective if not 
 made in his presence. " I confess to Almighty 
 God and to thee, holy father," etc. But let us turn 
 to our Lord's prayer. He was speaking of secret 
 prayer ; the door must be shut, and we must be 
 alone with God. " Thou, when thou prayest, enter 
 into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, 
 pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy 
 Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward 
 thee openly." Then it is all alone with our Father
 
 27 
 
 in heaven we must confess our sins and seek for- 
 giveness. With a true contrition and unfeigned 
 repentance we must look up to Him ouly. " Our 
 
 Father, which art in lieaven Forgive us our 
 
 trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against 
 us." 
 
 Consider again the free invitations of the Saviour 
 Perpetually do we find Christ in the Gospels 
 inviting men to come straight to Himself : " If any 
 man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." " I 
 am the door, by Me, if any man enter in, he shall 
 be saved." Above all, the golden promise in Matt, 
 xi. 28 strikes a death-blow at any system that 
 would prevent the freest access : " Come unto Me," 
 saith Christ, "all ye that labour, and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 But who is he that dare beckon the sinner 
 away ? " Nay : you are too bold, too venturesome. 
 You need first to come to me, that in His name I 
 may absolve you, and then you may go to Him 
 with confidence." "Not so," saith the believing 
 soul : " I believe Christ. I believe that I may 
 go to Him with all my evil, and He will not reject 
 me, but bestow on me only good. I will not turn 
 aside to another even for a moment. To Him 
 only will I go, for He hath called me." 
 
 Just as 1 am : Thy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down ; 
 Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
 Oh, Lamb of God, I come.
 
 28 
 
 Let me remind the reader, in conclusion, how 
 great and far-reaching are the evils that necessarily 
 arise from this man-made Confessional, and from 
 this doctrine of priestly absolution. 
 
 (1) It usurps the place of the true Confessional. 
 The more persons imagine it needful to confess in 
 secret to a priest, the less will they feel confidence 
 in going alone before God, and there humbling 
 themselves before Him. The assurance that a 
 blessing is invariably found in thus coming boldly 
 to the mercy-seat will be lost, and this unspeakable 
 privilege which God hath granted to us will be 
 reckoned of small account. 
 
 (2) It entangles men in a yoke of bondage, and 
 destroys all Christian liberty. Christ hath purchased 
 for His people a blessed liberty, — the liberty of a 
 conscience set free from guilt by the sprinkling of 
 His precious blood, and the liberty of sonship 
 through the Spirit of adoption, enabling them to 
 cry, "Abba, Father." But how can this liberty 
 exist if I am dependent on the absolving word of 
 a priest for forgiveness, and am forbidden without 
 it to be assured of my acceptance before God? 
 True liberty depends on our right of immediate 
 access to the Father at all times through the 
 blood, and whatever stands in the way of this, 
 destroys that liberty which Christ hath bestowed. 
 But more tlmn this. You put an iron rod into 
 the hand of Christ's ambassador ; you give a 
 mortal, sinful man a marvellous secret power over
 
 29 
 
 the heart and conscience and life of a fellow- 
 sinner ; you put into his hand the authority by 
 which he can turn him hither and thither at his 
 Avill ; you make him a very god, for unto God 
 alone doth it appertain to search the hearts and 
 reins of the children of men. Is there no bondage 
 here for Christ's freemen ? 
 
 (3) It 2^ollutes alike the soul of the confessor, and 
 of those icho confess. It must needs be so, when men 
 are called to unlock the secrets of an evil heart and 
 are bidden lay bare to a human eye the innermost 
 recesses of the soul AYe find " A few hints given 
 to the priest in absolution" which show us what we 
 must expect. '' Touching the subject of chastity, the 
 penitent ought to be questioned about works, then 
 words, then thoughts. If the penitent confess wilful 
 thoughts, he should be questioned about con- 
 versation, looks, etc. : if he confess these, he should 
 be questioned whether perchance anything worse 
 has been committed, or at any rate lusted after, if 
 fear or shame had not kept him back. Finally, 
 the nature and number of sins should be asked." 
 I dare not dwell on this point : it is defiling even 
 to speak of it. But if this be the case, let those 
 who imagine the introduction of the Confessional 
 a matter of small moment, consider what must 
 necessarily be the effect of following out directions 
 such as these. The less you touch j^itch the better. 
 It was a terrible day for Eve when, by tasting the 
 fruit, she gained the knowledcfe of evil ; and it is
 
 30 
 
 a terrible probation for the minister, however 
 humble and holy he may be, to become the 
 receptacle of the evil ways and thoughts of his 
 fellow-man. Nor less injurious is it to the penitent. 
 Far more evil has been suggested by the Con- 
 fessional than has ever been cured by it. The 
 way to cast out evil thoughts is not to speak of 
 them, but to fill the heart with the holy thoughts 
 revealed to us through God's Word. 
 
 (4) It makes a perilous and unscriptural distinc- 
 tion hetween venial and mortal sins. It is quite 
 true that a distinction exists as to the character 
 and heinousness of sins in God's sight. One sin 
 may be far greater than another on account of its 
 commission being wilful and deliberate, and for 
 many other reasons ; but the way to which this 
 distinction is drawn by the Church of Eome is 
 utterly opposed to the Word of God. Besides, 
 there is but one way in which any sin can be 
 forgiven. Mortal sins are not forgiven by means 
 of Sacramental Confession, and other sins by other 
 means ; but Christ's blood pleaded in humble faith 
 before the mercy-seat sets a man free from all sins, 
 venial and mortal. " The blood of Christ cleanseth 
 us from all sin." A present cleansing for each of 
 Christ's flock, and from the whole guilt of sin. 
 
 (5) It hreahs up the peace of families. The all- 
 pervading character of the confession, and the 
 spiritual direction which accompanies absolution, 
 changes the Christian pastor from being the valued
 
 friend and counsellor of the household, to such a 
 position of knowledge and influence, that the 
 husband no longer is supreme within his own 
 house. A new head is thus found in each house- 
 hold ; and this again and again has utterly 
 destroyed all family confidence and happiness. 
 
 (6) It tends to undemmie the national character. 
 It destroys the manliness, the straightforwardness 
 which Englishmen ought ever to cherish. Con- 
 fession to God makes a man brave, strong, fearless 
 of danger; for when I have confessed my sin to my 
 Father, and I know that He has forgiven me, God 
 is on my side, and no peril can harm me. Though 
 ten thousand set themselves against me, yet they 
 cannot prevail. But confession to one on earth 
 has the very opposite result : it brings in the fear 
 of man. We see it in its fullest development in 
 the subjection of many of the Irish peasantry to 
 the priesthood ; and the more confession to the 
 priest is brought in, the more clearly will such a 
 result be produced in our own country. 
 
 Very earnestly would I entreat the reader to 
 resist, by every lawful means, the introduction of 
 this pernicious system. It may be recommended 
 for your acceptance by devout and learned men ; 
 it may be advocated with a burning eloquence as 
 of one who may appear to you as an angel from 
 heaven ; it may be spoken of as a most helpful 
 assistance in the Divine life. Those who oppose 
 it may be condemned as narrow-minded Protes-
 
 tants, as having no claim to your regard; but 
 after all it is not the system of Holy Scripture, — 
 it is not in accordance with the teaching of the 
 English Church, or of the Church of Christ in its 
 earliest and best days. Long experience of its 
 effects in our own country before the Eeformation 
 and in other lands since, alike confirm the verdict 
 which most Englishmen would rightly give, — that 
 it is socially, morally, and spiritually injurious to 
 the welfare of individuals and nations. Therefore 
 give no heed to those who would beguile you by 
 fair speeches : resist it in all its shapes. Be 
 faithful to your Church, be faithful to the Word 
 of God, be faithful to the Eeformation which has 
 been such a priceless boon to us the last three 
 hundred years. Let none who are under your in- 
 fluence ever be permitted to go to private confes- 
 sion, or be sent to schools where it is advocated. 
 The welfare, of our country, the purity of the faith, 
 the spiritual freedom of our children, and of our 
 children's children, demand at our hands a bold, 
 unflinching, persevering opposition to any who 
 would thus rob us of our liberty in Christ. " Watch 
 ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be 
 strong." 
 
 London: William Hunt and Company, Hollts Street; and 
 Aldiue Chatnbers, Paternoster Row.
 
 mm:^.^ 
 
 
 ^- lifer