trusted with those Sacred Records so as to inform themselves of the terms of the New Covenant the conditions of the Pardon of sin and Salvation it is then but reasonable that the Priest should Judge for them and that they await their doom from his Mouth Yet I do not see why in a Protestant Church where the whole Religion is in the Mother Tongue the Old and especially the New Testament constantly and conscientiously expounded and the People allowed to search the Scriptures and to see whether things be so or no I see not I say Why in such a case the Priest may not in great measure be excused the trouble of attending secret Confessions without danger to the Souls of men But besides this there is a constant use of Confession and Absolution too in the Church of England in every Days Service which though they be both in general terms as they ought to be in publick Worship yet every Penitent can both from his own Conscience supply the generality of the Confession by a remorseful reflection upon his own particular sins as well as if he did it at the knees of a Priest and also by an Act of Faith can apply the general Sentence of Absolution to his own Soul with as good and comfortable effects as if it had been specially pronounced by his Confessor But this publick Confession doth not please the Romanists neither and they know a Reason for their dislike namely because this doth not conciliate so great a Veneration to the Priest-hood as when all men are brought to kneel to them for Salvation Neither doth this way make them to pry into the secret thoughts of Men as Auricular Confession doth wherein the Priest is not only made a Judge of mens estate but a Spy upon their behavior and is capable of becoming an Intelligencer to his Superiors of all the Designs Interests and even Constitutions of the People Moreover the Church of England allows of private Confessions also as particularly in the Visitation of the sick which office extends also to them that are troubled in Mind or Conscience as well as to the afflicted in Body where the Minister is directed to examine particularly the state of the Decumbents Soul to search and romage his Conscience to try his Faith his Repentance his Charity nay to move him to make a special Confession of his sins and afterwards to absolve him upon just grounds Nay further yet if besides the case of Sickness any Man shall either out of perplexity of Mind scrupulosity or remorse of Conscience or any other devout consideration think it needful to apply himself to a Priest of the Church of England for advice ease or relief he hath incouragement and direction so to do in the first Exhortation to the Holy Communion and may be sure to find those who will tenderly and faithfully as well as secretly administer to his necessities So that I see not what defect or omission can be objected to this Church in all this Affair or what Temptation any Man can have upon this account to go from us to the Church of Rome But all this will not satisfy them of the Church of Rome they are neither contented with publick confession nor with private no nor with secret neither if it be only occasional or voluntary It is the universality and necessity of it which they insist upon for it is not with them a Matter of Ecclesiastical Discipline to prevent the Scandal of the Society to conserve the Reverence of the Church or to rest rain men from sinning or much less an Office of Expediency and Prudence to be resorted to upon exigencies or such as may accidentally become necessary upon emergency as suppose upon the atrocity of some fact committed the scandalousness of some persons former life which may make him more doubtful of his Pardon the weakness of his Judgment the Melancholy of his Temper or the Anxiety of his Mind or any such like occasion but it must be the standing indispensable duty of all men as the condition of the Pardon of their Sins in one word it must be a Sacrament of Divine institution and of Universal Obligation For so the Council of Trent determins Sess 4. Canon 1. Si quis dixerit in Ecolesiâ Catholica poenitentiam nom esse verè propriè Sacramentum pro fidelibus quoties post Baptismum in peccata labentur ipsi Deo reconciliandi◠a Domino nostro institutum Anathema sit i. e. Let him be accursed who shall affirm that Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament instituted and appointed in the Universal Church by our Lord Christ himself for the reconciling those Christians to the Divine Majesty who have fallen into Sin after their Baptism And in the Doctrinal part of that Decree they teach and assert more particularly First That our Saviour instituted this Sacrament expresly Joh. 20. 22. 2. That this Sacrament consists of two parts viz. the Matter and the Form the Matter of the Sacrament or quasi materia as they cautiously speak is the act or acts of the Penitent namely Contrition Confession and Satisfaction the Form of it is the act of the Priest in these words Absolvote 3. That therefore it is the duty of every Man who hath fallen after Baptism as aforesaid to confess his sins at least once a year to a Priest 4. That this confession is to be secret for publick Confession they say is neither commanded nor expedient 5. That this confession of Mortal sin be very exact and particular together with all circumstances especially such as speciem facti mutant◠alter the kind or degree of sin and that it extend to the most secret sins even of thought or against the 9th and 10th Commandment 6. That the Penitent thus doing the Absolution of the Priest hereupon pronounced is not conditional or declarative only but absolute and judicial Now in opposition to this Doctrine and Decree of theirs and the practice of that Church pursuant thereof as well as in defence of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England in that particular I will here endeavor to make good these Three things 1. That our blessed Lord and Saviour hath neither in his Gospel instituted such an Auricular Confession as aforesaid nor much less such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome supposes in the recited Decree 2. That Auricular Confession hath not been of constant and universal use in the Christian Church as the Romanists pretend much less looked upon as of Sacramental and necessary Obligation 3. That Auricular Confession as it is now used in the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensome but in many respects very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion If the first of these appear to be true then at the worst the want of such an Auricular Confession in the reformed Churches can be but an irregularity and no essential defect If the
of Rome is not countenanced in her practice of private and clancular Confessions by the general usage of the Church as they pretend 3. I observe concerning this Office of Penitentiary that as it was erected upon prudential considerations so it was upon the same grounds abolished by the same Authority of the Church which first instituted it and that after about Two hundred years continuance in the time of Nectarius as we have seen therein he was followed saith Sozomen by almost all the Bishops and Churches in the World this therefore was far from being thought either a Divine or Apostolical Constitution Petavius would here persuade us that it was only publick Confession and not private which was upon this occasion so generally laid aside as we have seen but this is done by him more out of tenderness of Auricular Confession than upon good reason and Valesius goes beyond him and will needs persuade us that neither publick nor private Confession were put down in this juncture but only that the lately erected Officer of Penitentiary was cashier'd but I must crave leave to say there is no sufficient reason for either of these conjectures but on the contrary plain Evidence against them for Socrates who is the first and principal relater of this whole story saith he was personally acquainted with this Presbyter Eudemon who gave the advice to Nectarius to make this change in the Discipline of the Church and that he had the aforesaid relation of it from his own Mouth and expostulated with him about it giving his reasons to the contrary and suggested his suspicions that the state of Piety would be much endamaged by this change and in plain words tells him that he had now bereft men of assistance in the conduct of their Consciences and hindred the great benefit men have or might have one of another by private advice and correption Now this fear of his had been the absurdest thing in the World if upon this counsel and advice of his only one certain Man in the Office of publick Confessioner had been laid aside but both the use of publick and private Confessions had been kept up and retained But after all for ought appears the Church of Rome kept her old Mumpsimus she tenacious of her own customs especially of such as may advance her Interest and Authority complies not with this Innovation or Reformation be it for better or worse but her Priests go on with their Confessions and turn all Religion almost into Clancular Transactions in despight of the example of other Churches It may be she met with opposition sometimes but she was forced to disemble it till the Heroick Age of the School-men and then those lusty Champions with their Fustian-stuff of videtur quod sic probatur quod non make good all her pretensions After them in the year 1215 comes the Fourth Lateran Council and that decrees Auricular Consession to be made by every body once a year at the least and last of all comes the Council of Trent and declares it to be of Divine Institution necessary to Salvation and the constant and universal custom of the Christian Church And so we have the Pedigree of the Romish Auricular Confession Sect. 4. I come now to the third and last Stage of my undertaking which is to shew that Secret or Auricular Confession as it is now prescribed and practised in and by the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensom in it self but also very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion For the former part of this charge if it be not evident enough already it will easily be made out from the Premises for they cannot deny that they make this kind of Confession necessary to Salvation at least as necessary as Baptism it self is supposing a Man hath sinned after Baptism now if it be neither made so by Divine Institution nor acknowledged to be so by the constant Opinion of the Church what an horrible imposition is here upon the Consciences of Men when in the highest and worst sense that can be they teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men and make Salvation harder than God hath made it and suspend mens hopes upon other terms then he hath done If it was prescribed by the present Church as a matter of Order and Discipline only or of convenience and expediency we should never boggle at it upon this account or dispute the point with them or if it was only declared necessary pro hîc nunc upon extraordinary emergency by the peculiar condition of the Penitent his weakness of judgment the perplexity of his Conscience his horrible guilt or extream Agonies we would not differ with them upon that neither but when it is made necessary universally and declared the indispensable duty of all men whatsoever who have sinned after Baptism when God hath required no such thing but declares himself satisfied with true contrition and hearty remorse for what is past and sincere Reformation for the time to come this I say is an intolerable Tyranny and usurpation upon the Consciences of Men. And that is not all neither for besides its burdensomness in the general it particularly aggravates and increases a Mans other burdens for instead of relieving perplexed Consciences which is the true and principal use of Confessions to Men this priestly Confession as it is prescribed by the Council intangles and afflicts them more for that injoyns that the Penitent lay open all his sins even the most secret although but in thought or desire only such as against the Ninth or Tenth Commandment according to their Division of the Decalogue now this is many times difficult enough but that 's not all he must also recount all the circumstances of these sins which may increase or diminish the guilt especially such as alter the species and kind of sin Now what sad work is here for a Melancholy Man All the circumstances are innumerable and how can he tell which are they that change the Species of the act unless he be as great a School-man as his Confessor Besides all this it may be he is not very skilful in the distinction between venial and mortal sins and if he omit one mortal sin he is undone therefore it is necessary for him by consequence to confess all venial sins too and then where shall the poor Man begin or when shall he make an end Such a Carnifieina such a rack and torture in a word such an Holy Inquisition is this business of Auricular Confession become And that Eminent Divine of Strasburgh of whom Beatus Rhenanus speaks seems very well to have understood both himself and this matter who pronounces that Scotus and Thomas had with their tricks and subtilties so perplexed this plain Business of Confession that now it was become plainly impossible And so much for that But as for the second part of this impeachment viz. That the Auricular Confession now used in the
Priest in a corner and that under the inviolable Seal of Confession what great shame can this put me to What remorse is it likely to work in me What shall discourage me from going on to sin again if no worse thing happen to me 2. And then for the multitude of Confessions in the Church of Rome that also takes off the shame and weakens the efficacy of it so that if it do no harm it is not likely to do any good for who is concern'd much in the doing that which he sees all the World do as well as himself if only notorious Sinners were brought to Confession as it was in the Primitive Church then it might probably and reasonably provoke a blush and cause a remorse in him to whom such a remedy was prescribed but when he sees the whole Parish and the Priest too brought to it and Men as generally complying with it as they approach to the Lord's Table What great wonders can this work What shame can it inflict upon any Man What effect can be expected from it but that it ordinarily makes Men secure and careless and grow as familiar with sin as with the remedy or at least think as well of themselves as of other Men since it seems they have as much need of Confession and absolution as himself 3. To which the frequency and often repetitions of these kind of Confessions adds very much it is very likely that modesty may work much upon a Man the first or second time he goes to Confession and it may something discompose his Countenance when he lays open all his secret miscarriages to a Person especially for whom he hath a Reverence for we see every thing even sin it self is modest in its beginnings and no doubt it is some restraint of sin whilst a Man is sensible that he must undergo a great deal of pain and shame in vomiting up again his sweet Morsels which he eats in secret But by that time he hath been used to this a while it grows easie and habitual to him and custom hath made the very punishment pleasant as well as the sin especially if we add 4. The formal cursory hypocritical and illusive ways of Confession in frequent use amongst them as that a Man may choose his own Priest and then to be sure the greatest Sinner will have a Confessour right for his turn that shall not be too severe and scrupulous with him that a Man may confess in transitu in a hurry or huddle and then there can be no remark made upon his Person nor his sins that a Man may make one part of his Confession to one Priest and reserve the other part for another so that neither of them shall be able to make any thing of it that he may have one Confessour for his Mortal sins and another for his Venial so that one shall save him if the other damn him nay for failing the forgetful sinner may have another Man to confess for him or at least he may confess that he hath not confessed these and abundance more such illusive Methods are in daily use amongst them and not only taken up by the licentious and unconscionable People but allowed by some or other of their great Casuists now let any Man judge whether this be a likelier way to restrain sin or to encourage it whether the easiness of the remedy if this be one must not of necessity make the Disease seem not very formidable in a word whether this be not a ridiculing their own Religion and which is worse a teaching Men to be so fool hardy as to make a mock of sin 5. This sad reckoning will be inflamed yet higher if we consider the slight Penances usually imposed by these Spiritual Judges upon the greatest Crimes The Council determines that the Confessour must be exactly made acquainted with all the circumstances of the sin that so he may be able to adjust a Penance to it now when some great sin is confessed and that in very foul circumstances if the Penance proportioned to it by the Priest be to say two or three Pater Nosters or Ave-Maria's extraordinary to give a little Money in Alms to the Poor or some Pious use to kneel on his bare knees before such a Shrine to kiss such an Image to go on Pilgrimage a few Miles to such a Saint or at most to wear an Hair Shirt or it may be to fast with Pish and Wine and Sweetmeats c. doth not this make that sin which is thus mawled and stigmatized look very dreadfully can any Man find in his Heart to sin again when it hath cost him so dear already Oh but they will tell us these Penances are not intended to correspond with the guilt of the sin but only to satisfy the debt of Temporal punishment But we had thought that the end of Penance had been to work in the Penitent a disposition for Pardon by giving him both opportunities and direction to express the sincerity of his Repentance and this was the use of Penance in the Primitive Church together with the taking off the Scandal from the Society and for that other end how doth the Church of Rome know so certainly that there is a debt of Temporal punishment remaining due after the sin is pardoned before God it is true God may pardon so far only as he pleases he may resolve to punish temporally those whom he hath forgiven eternally as we see he did in the case of David but that this is not his constant Method appears by this that our Saviour releases the Temporal punishment to many in the Gospel whose diseases he cured saying to them Your sins are forgiven you when as yet it did not appear that all Scores were quitted with God so but that they might have perished eternally if they did not prevent it by Faith and Repentance 6. But lastly to come to an end of this sad story the easiness and prostitution of their absolutions in the Church of Rome contributes as much to the encouraging of Vice and carelesness in Religion as any of the former for what else can be the natural effect and consequence of that ruled case among their Casuists as I shew'd before that the Priest is bound to absolve him that confesses and saith he is sorry for his sin though he doth in his Heart believe that he is not contrite but that either the Priests Pardon is a very cheat or else that Pardon is due of course to the most impenitent Sinner and there is no more to do but Confess and be Saved or what is the meaning of their common practice to absolve men upon their Death-beds whether they be contrite or attrite or neither at least when they can give no Evidence of either If they intended this only for absolution from the Censures of the Church it might be called Charity and look something like the practice of the Primitive Church which released those upon their Death-beds whom it