Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland, Treatise · Section 3
OF CONFESSION.
OVr Challenger here telleth us, that the Doctors, Pastors and Fathers of the primitive Church, exhorted the people to confesse their sinnes unto their ghostly fathers. And wee tell him againe, that by the publike order prescribed in our Church, before the administration of the holy Communion, the Minister likewise doth exhort the people, that if there be any of them, which cannot quiet his owne conscience, but requireth further comfort or counsell; he should come to him, or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word, and open his griefe: that he may receive such ghostly counsell, advice and comfort, as his conscience may be relieved; and that by the ministery of Gods word hee may receive comfort, and the benefite of absolution, to the quieting of his conscience, and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse. Whereby it appeareth, that the exhorting of the people to confesse their sinnes unto their ghostly fathers, maketh no such wall of separation betwixt the ancient Doctors and us, but we may well for all this be of the same religion that they were of: and consequently, that this doughtie Champion hath more will then skill to manage controversies, who could make no wiser choyce of pointes of differences to bee insisted upon.
Be it therefore knowne unto him, that no kinde of Confession, either publick or private, is disallowed by us, that is anie way requisite for the due execution of that ancient power of the Keyes which Christ bestowed upon his Church: the thing which wee reject, is that new pick-lock of Sacramentall Confession, obtruded upon mens consciences, as a matter necessarie to salvation, by the Canons of the late Conventicle of Trent. where those good Fathers put their curse upon everie one, that either shall aSi quis negaverit Confessionem sacramentalem vel institutam, vel ad salutem necessariam esse jure divino: &c. Anathema sit. Concil. Trident. Sess. 14. Can. 6.deny, that Sacramentall confession was ordayned by divine right, and is by the same right necessary to salvation: or shall bSi quis dixerit, in sacramē to Poenitentiae ad remissionē peccatorum necessarium non esse jure divino, confiteri omnia & singula peccata mortalia, quorū memoria cū debitâ & diligenti praemeditatione habeatur, etiam occulta & quae sunt contra duo ultima Decalogi praecepta, & circumstantias quae peccati speciem mutant: sed eam confessionem tantùm esse utilem ad erudiendum & consolandum poenitentem, & olim observatam fuisse tantùm ad satisfactionem canonicam imponendam; &c Anathema sit. Ibid. can. 7.affirme, that in the Sacrament of Penance it is not by the ordinance of God necessarie for the obtayning of the remission of sinnes, to confesse all and every one of those mortall sinnes, the memory wherof by due and diligent premeditation may be had; even such as are hidden and be against the two last Commandements of the Decalogue, together with the circumstances which change the kinde of the sinne; but that this confession is only profitable to instruct and comfort the penitent, and was anciently observed onelyonly for the imposing of Canonicall satisfaction. This doctrine, I say, wee cannot but reject: as being repugnant to that which wee have learned both from the Scriptures and from the Fathers.
For in the Scriptures wee finde, that the confession which the penitent sinner maketh to God alone, hath the promise of forgivenesse annexed unto it: which no Priest upon earth hath power to make voyde, upon pretence that himselfe or some of his fellowes were not first particularly acquainted with the businesse. cPsalm. 32.5.I acknowledged my sinne unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sinne. And lest we should thinke that this was some peculiar priviledge vouchsafed to d2. Sam. 23.1.the man who was raised upon high, the Anointed of the God of Iacob: the same sweet Psalmist of Israel doth presently enlarge his note, and inferreth this generall conclusion thereupon. ePsalm. 32.6.For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found. King Salomon, in his prayer for the people at the dedication of the Temple, treadeth just in his Fathers stepps. If they turne (saith f2. Chronic. 6.37.39. 1. Kin. 8.47, 50.hee) and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying; Wee have sinned, we have done amisse, and have dealt wickedly: if they returne to thee with all their heart, and with all their soule; &c. forgive thy people, which have sinned against thee, all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee. And the poore gLuk. 18.13, 14.Publican putting up his supplication in the Temple accordingly [God bee mercifull to me a sinner,] went back to his house justified; without making confession to anie other ghostly Father, but onelyonly hHebr. 12.9.the Father of Spirits. of whom S. Iohn giveth us this assurance: that i1. Ioh. 1.9.if wee confesse our sinnes, he is faithfull and just, to forgive us our sinnes, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse. Which promise, that it appertained to such as did confesse their sinnes unto God, the ancient Fathers were so well assured of: that they cast in a maner all upon this Confession, and left little or nothing to that which was made unto man. Nay, they doe not onelyonly leave it free for men, to confesse or not confesse their sinnes unto others (which is the most that we would have:) but some of them also seeme, in words at least, to advise men not to doe it at all; which is more then we seeke for.
S. Chrysostome of all others is most copious in this argument: some of whose passages to this purpose, I will here lay downe. kNunc autem neque necessarium praesentibus testibus confiteri: cogitatione fiat delictorum exquisitio, absque teste sit hoc judicium. Solus te Deus confitentem videat. Chrysost. homil. de Poenitent. & Confession. tom. 5 edit. Latin. col. 901. edit. Basil. an. 1558.It is not necessary (saith he) that thou shouldest confesse in the presence of witnesses: let the inquiry of thy offences bee made in thy thought, let this judgement be without a witnesse; let God onelyonly see thee confessing. lforeign. Id. circa finem homiliae 5. foreign, de incomprehensib. Dei natur. tom. 6. edit. Graec. D. Hen. Savil. pag. 424. & tom. 5. pag 262.263.Therefore I intreat and beseech and pray you, that you would continually make your confession to God. For I doe not bring thee into the theater of thy fellow servants, neyther doe I constraine thee to discover thy sinnes unto men: unclaspe thy conscience before God, and shew thy wounds unto him, and of him aske a medicine. Shew them to him that will not reproach, but heale thee. For although thou hold thy peace, he knoweth all. mforeign Id. in epist. ad Hebr. cap 12. homil. 31. tom. 4. Savil. pag. 589.Let us not call our selves sinners onelyonly, but let us recount our sinnes, and repeate every one of them in speciall. I doe not say unto thee, Bring thy selfe upon the stage, nor, Accuse thy selfe unto others: but I counsaile thee to obey the Prophet, saying, Reveale thy way unto the Lord. Confesse them before God, confesse thy sinnes before the Iudge; praying, if not with thy tongue, yet at least with thy memory: and so looke to obtayne mercy. nforeign. Id. in Psalm. 50. hom. 2. tom. 1. Savil. pag. 708.But thou art ashamed to say, that thou hast sinned. Confesse thy faults then daily in thy prayer. For do I say; Confesse them to thy fellow-servant, who may reproach thee therewith? Confesse them to God, who healeth them. For, although thou confesse them not at all, God is not ignorant of them. oforeign. Id. homil. 4. de Lazaro, tom. 5. Savil. pag. 258.Wherefore then, tell me, art thou ashamed & blushest to confesse thy sinnes? For doest thou discover them to a man, that he may reproach thee? Doest thou confesse them to thy fellow servant, that he may bring thee upon the stage? To him who is thy Lord, who hath care of thee, who is kinde, who is thy physitian, thou shewest thy wound. pforeign. Id ibid.I constraine thee not, saith he, to go into the middest of the theater, and to make many witnesses of the matter. Confesse thy sin to me alone in privat, that I may heale thy sore, and free thee from griefe. qforeign. Id. in foreign ad pop. Antiochen. homil 2…. …om. 6. Savil. pag. 608.And this is not only wonderfull, that he forgiveth us our sinnes, but that he neither discovereth them, nor maketh them open and manifest, nor constraineth us to come forth in publike and disclose our misdemeanours; but commandeth us to give an account thereof unto him alone, and unto him to make confession of them.
Neyther doth S. Chrysostome here walke alone. That saying of S. Augustine is to the same effect: rQuid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint omnes languores meos? Aug. Confess. lib. 10. cap. 3.What have I to doe with men, that they should heare my confessions, as though they should heale all my diseases? and that …ollection of S. Hilary upon the two last verses of the 52 Psalme, sConfessionis autem caussam addidit, dicens: Quia fecisti. au…orem scilicèt universitatis hujus Dominum esse cō fessus; nulli alii docens cō sitendū, quàm qui fecit Olivā fructife…am spei mise…icordia in seculum seculi. H. lar. in Psal. 51that David there teacheth us to confesse to no other but unto the Lord, vvho hath made the Olive fruitfull with the mercy of hope (or, the hope of merciemercy) for ever and ever. and that advise of Pinuphius the Aegyptian Abbat (which I finde also inserted amongst the tAntiqu. lib. Canon. 66. titulorum, MS. in Bibliot…ecâ Cottoni…nà.Canons collected for the use of the Church of England, in the time of the Saxons; under the title, De poenitentiâ soli Deo cōfitendâ:) uQuis est qui non possit suppliciter dicere? Peccatum meū cognitum tibi feci, & in…ustitiam meam non operui ut per hanc con…essionem etiā illud confidenter subjungere mereatur: Et tu remisisti impietatem cordis mei. Quòd si verecundiâ retrahente revelare ea coram hominibus erubescis, illi quem latere non possunt, confiteri ea jugi supplicatione non desinas, ac dicere [Iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, & peccatum meum contra me est semper: tibi soli peccavi, & malum coram te feci:] qui & abs que ullius verecundiae publicatione curare, & sine improperio peccata donare consuevi…. Io. Cassiar. Collat. 20 cap 8Who is it that cannot humbly say? I made my sinne knowne unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. that by this confession he may confidently adjoyne that which followeth: And thou forgavest the impiety of my heart. But if shamefastnesse doe so draw thee backe, that thou blushest to reveale them before men: cease not by continuall supplication to confesse them unto him from whom they cannot be hid, and to say [I know mine iniquitie, and my sinne is against me alwayes; To thee onelyonly have I sinned, and done evill before thee] whose custome is, both to cure without the publishing of any shame, and to forgive sinnes without upbraiding. S. Augustine, Cassiodor, and Gregory make a further observation upon that place of the 32 Psalme: I said, I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne. that God upon the onelyonly promise and purpose of making this confession, did forgive the sinne. Marke (saith xAttende quanta sit indulgentiae vitalis velocitas, quan…a misericordiae Dei commendatio: ut confitentis desiderium comitetur venia, antequàm ad cruciatum perveniat poenitentia; antè remissio ad cor perveniat, quàm confessio in vocem …rumpat. Gregor. exposit. 2. Psal. Poenit…ntia al.Gregory) how great the swiftnesse is of this vitall Indulgence, how great the commendation is of Gods mercy; that pardon should accompany the verie desire of him that is about to confesse, before that repentance doe come to afflict him; and remission should come to the heart, before that confession did break forth by the voice. So S. Basil, upon those other words of the Psalmist, I have roared by reason of the disquietnesse of my heart; (Psalm. 38.8.) maketh this paraphrase. yforeign. Basil. in Psalm. 37.I do not confesse with my lips, that I may manifest my selfe unto many. but inwardly in my very heart, shutting mine eyes, to thee alone who seest the things that are in secret, doe I shew my groanes, roaring within my selfe. For the groanes of my heart sufficed for a confession, and the lamentations sent to thee my God from the depth of my soule.
And as S. Basil maketh the groanes of the heart to be a sufficient confession so doth S. Ambrose the teares of the penitent. Teares (saith zLavant lachrymae delictum, quod voce pudor est cō fiteri. Et veniae fletus consulūt, & verecundiae: lachrymae sine horrore culpā loquuntur; lachrymae crimen sine offensione verecundiae confitentur. Ambros. lib. 10. commentar. in Luc. cap. 22.he) doe wash the sinne, which the voyce is ashamed to confesse. Weeping doth provide both for pardon and for shamefastnesse: teares doe speake our fault without horror, teares doe confesse our crime without offence of our shamefastnesse from whence, he that glosseth upon Gratian (who hath inserted these words of S. Ambrose into his collection of the Decrees) doth inferre; that aVnde etsi propter pudorem nolit quis confiteri; solae lachrymae delent peccata. Gloss. de Poenit. d…stinct 1. cap. 2. Lachrymaeif for shame a man will not confesse, teares alone doe blot out his sinne. Maximus Taurinensis followeth S. Ambrose herein almost verbatim. The teare (saith bLavat lachryma delictum, quod voce pudor est confiteri. Lachrymae ergo verecundiae consulunt pariter & saluti; nec erubescunt in petendo, & impetrant in rogando. Maxim. homil. de Poenitent. Petri. Tom. 5. Biblioth. Pat…. part. 1. pag. 21. edit. Colon.he) washeth the sinne, which the voyce is ashamed to confesse. Teares therefore doe equally provide both for our shamefastnesse and for our health: they neyther blush in asking, and they obtaine in requesting. Lastly Prosper, speaking of sinnes committed by such as are in the ministery, writeth thus cDeum sibi faciliùs placabunt illi, qui non humano cōvicti judicio, sed ultrò crimē agnoscunt: qui aut propriis illud confessionibus produnt, aut nescientibus aliis quales occulti sunt, ipsi in se voluntari…e excommunicationis sententiam ferūt, & ab altari cui ministrabant, non animo sed officio separati, vitam tanquā mortuam plangunt; certi, quòd reconciliato sibi efficacis poenitentiae fructibus Deo, non solùm amissa recipiant, sed etiā cives supernae civitatis effecti, ad gaudia sempiterna perveniant. Prosper, de vitâ contemplativâ, lib 2. cap. 7.They shall more easily appease God, who being not convicted by humane judgement, doe of their owne accord acknowledge their offence: who eyther do discover it by their owne confessions, or others not knowing what they are in secret, doe themselves give sentence of voluntarie excommunication upon themselves, and being separated (not in minde, but in office). from the Altar to which they did minister, doe lament their life as dead; assuring themselves, that God being reconciled unto them by the fruits of effectuall repentance, they shall not onelyonly receive what they have lost, but also being made citizens of that citie which is above, they shall come to everlasting joyes. By this it appeareth, that the ancient Fathers did not thinke, that the remission of sinnes was so tyed unto externall confession, that a man might not looke for salvation from God, if hee concealed his faults from Man: but that inward contrition, and confession made to God alone, was sufficient in this case. Otherwise, neyther they nor wee do debarre men from opening their grievances unto the Physicians of their soules: eyther for their better information in the true state of their disease, or for the quieting of their troubled consciences, or for receiving further direction from them out of Gods word, both for the recoverie of their present sicknesse and for the prevention of the like danger in time to come.
dSi peccavero, etiam in quocunque minuto peccato, & consumit me cogitatio mea, & arguit me, dicens: Quare peccâsti? quid faciam? Respondit senex: Quacunque horâ ceciderit homo in culpam, & dixerit ex corde, Domine Deus peccavi, indulge mihi; mox cessabit cogitationis vel tristitiae illa consumptio, Respons. Patr. Aegypt. á Pas…hasio diacono Latiné vers. cap. 11.If I shall sinne, although it be in anie small offence, and my thought doe consume me, and accuse me, saying; Why hast thou sinned? what shall I doe? said a brother once to Abbat Arsenius. The old man answered: Whatsoever houre a man shall fall into a fault, and shall say from his heart, Lord God I have sinned, grant mee pardon; that consumption of thought or heavinesse shall cease forthwith. And it was as good a remedie as could be prescribed for a greene wound: to take it in hand presently, to present it to the view of our heavenly Physician, eNovit omnia Dominus, sed expectat vocē tuam; non ut puniat, sed ut ignoscat: non vult ut insultet tibi Diabolus, & celantē peccata tua arguat. Praeveni accusatorem tuum: si te ipse accusaveris, accusatorem nullum timebis. Ambr. de Poenitent. lib. 2. cap. 17.to prevent Satan by taking his office (as it were) out of his hand, and fforeign. LXX. in Esa. 43.26. & P…overb. 18 17.accusing our selves first, that we may be justified. But when it is not taken in time, but suffered to fester and ranckle; the cure will not now prove to be so easie: it being found true by often experience, that the wounded conscience will still pinch grievously, notwithstanding the confession made unto God in secret. At such a time as this then, where the sinner can finde no ease at home, what should hee doe but use the best means he can to finde it abroad? Is gIerem. 8.22.there no balme in Gilead? is there no physician there? No doubt but God hath provided both the one and the other, for recovering of the health of the daughter of his people: and S. Iames hath herein given us this direction. hIam. 5.16.Confesse your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that yee may be healed. According to which prescription, Gregory Nyssen, toward the end of his Sermon of Repentance, useth this exhortation to the sinner. iforeign, &c. foreign, Greg. Nyssen. de Poenitent. in Operū Appendice, edit. Paris. an. 1618. pag. 175.176.Be sensible of the disease, vvherewith thou art taken, afflict thy selfe as much as thou canst. Seeke also the mourning of thy intirely affected brethren, to helpe thee unto libertie. Shew me thy bitter and aboundant teares, that I may also mingle mine therewith. Take likewise the Priest for a partner of thine affliction, as thy Father. For who is it that so falsely obtayneth the name of a father, or hath so adamantine a soule, that he will not condole with his sonns lamenting? Shew unto him without blushing the things that were kept close: discover the secrets of thy soule, as showing thy hidden disease unto thy physician. Hee will have care both of thy credit and of thy cure.
It was no part of his meaning to advise us, that wee should open our selves in this maner unto everie hedge-priest; as if there were a vertue generally annexed to the order, that upon confession made and absolution received from anie of that ranke, all should be straight made up: but he would have us communicate our case both to such Christian brethren, and to such a ghostly father, as had skill in physick of this kinde, and out of a fellow-feeling of our griefe, would apply themselves to our recoverie. Therefore, saith Origen, kTantummodò circumspice diligentiùs, cui debeas confiteri peccatum tuum Proba priùs medicum, cui debeas caussam languoris expone…e, qui sciat infirmari cum infirmante, fle…e cum flente, qui condolendi & compatiendi noverit disciplinam: ut ita demùm si quid ille dixerit, qui se priùs & eruditum medicū ostenderit & mise…icordem, si quid consilii dederit, facias, & sequaris Origen. in Psal. 37. homil. 2.looke about thee diligently, unto whom thou oughtest to confesse thy sinne. Try first the physician, unto whom thou oughtest to declare the cause of thy maladie, vvho knoweth to be weake with him that is weake, to weepe with him that weepeth, who understandeth the discipline of condoling and compassionating: that so at length, if hee shall say anie thing, who hath first shewed himselfe to be both a skilfull physician and a mercifull, or if he shall give anie counsaile, thou mayest doe and follow it. For, as S. Basil well noteth, lforeign. Basil. in Regul. breviorib. resp. 229.the verie same course is to be held in the confession of sinnes, which is in the opening of the diseases of the bodie. As men therefore do not discover the diseases of their bodie to all, nor to everie sort of people, but to those that are skilfull in the cure thereof: even so ought the confession of our sinnes be made, unto such as are able to cure them; according to that which is written. Yee that are strong, beare the infirmities of the weake, that is, take them away by your diligence. He requireth care and diligence in performance of the cure: being ignorant (good man) of that new compendious method of healing, invented by our Romane Paracelsians, whereby a man mSecundùm Archiepisc. imò sanctum Thomam, & alios Theologos, in confessione fit quis de attrito contritus, virtute clavium. Summa Sylvestrina: de Confess Sacramental. ca. 1. sect. 1.in confession of attrite is made contrite by vertue of the keyes; that the sinner need put his ghostly father to no further trouble then this. Speake the word onelyonly, and I shall be healed. And this is that Sacramentall confession, devised of late by the Priests of Rome: which they notwithstanding would faine father upon S. Peter, from whom the Church of Rome (as they would have us beleeve) received this instruction. nQuòd si fortè alicujus cor vel livor, vel infidelitas, vel aliquod malum latenter irrepserit; non erubescat, qui animae suae curam gerit, confiteri haec huic qui prae est, ut ab ipso per verbū Dei & consilium salubre curetur. Clem. epist. 1.that if envie, or infidelitie, or anie other evill did secretly creepe into anie mans heart, hee who had care of his owne soule should not be ashamed to confesse those things unto him who had the oversight over him; that by Gods word and wholsome counsaile, he might be cured by him. And so indeed we reade in the apocryphall epistle of Clement, pretended to be written unto S. Iames the brother of our Lord: where in the severall editions of Crab, Sichardus, Venradius, Surius, Nicolinus, and Binius, wee finde this note also laid downe in the margent; Nota de confessione sacramentali, Marke this of sacramentall confession. But their owne oMaldonat. Disputat. de Sacrament, tom. 2. de Confessionis origine cap. 2.Maldonat would have taught them, that this note was not worth the marking: forasmuch as the proper end of sacramentall confession, is the obtayning of remission of sinnes, by vertue of the keyes of the Church; whereas the end of the confession here said to be commended by S. Peter, was the obtayning of counsaile out of Gods word for the remedie of sinnes. which kinde of medicinall confession wee well approve of, and acknowledge to have beene ordinarily prescribed by the ancient Fathers for the cure of secret sinnes.
For as for notorious offences, which bred open scandall, private confession was not thought sufficient: but there was further required publick acknowledgement of the fault, & the solemne use of the keyes for the reconciliation of the penitent. pSi peccatum ejus non solùm in gravi ejus malo, sed etiā in tanto scandalo est aliorū, atque hoc expedire utilitati Ecclesiae videtur Antistiti, in notitiâ multorum, vel etiā totius plebis agere poenitentiam non recuset, non resistat, non lethali & mortiferae plagae per pudorē addat tumorē. August. in lib. de Poenitentiâ: quae postrema est homilia ex 50. in 10. Tom.If his sin do not only redound to his own evill, but also unto much scandall of others, and the Bishop thinketh it to be expedient for the profit of the Church, let him not refuse to performe his penance in the knowledge of manie or of the whole people also, let him not resist, let him not by his shamefastnesse add swelling to his deadly and mortall wound: saith S. Augustine. and more largely in another place; where he meeteth with the objection, of the sufficiencie of internall repentance, in this maner. qNemo sibi dicat, Occulté ago, apud Deū ago; novit Deus qui mihi ignoscit, quia in corde ago. Ergo sine caussâ dictum est: Quae solveritis in terrâ, soluta erunt in coelo? Ergo sine caussâ sunt claves datae Ecclesiae Dei? Frustramus Evangelium Dei: frustramus verba Christi? Promittimus vobis quod ille negat? Nónne vos decipimus? Iob dicit: Si erubui in conspectu populi confiteri peccata mea. Talis justus thesauri divini obryzi, tali camino probatus, ista dicit: & resistit mihi filius pestilentiae, & erubescit genu figere sub benedictione Dei? Quod non erubuit Imperator, erubescit nec senator, sed tantùm curialis? Superba cervix, mens tortuosa. fortassis, imò quod non dubitatur, proptereà Deus v…luit ut Theodosius Imperator ageret poenitentiam publicam in conspectu populi, maximé quia peccatum ejus celari non potuit: & erubescit Senator, quod non erubuit Imperator? erubescit nec Senator, sed tantùm curialis, quod nō erubuit Imperator? Erubescit plebeius sive negotiator, quod nō erubuit Imperator? Quae ista superbia est? Nónne sola sufficeret gehēnae, etiamsi adulteriū nullū esset. Id. hom. 49. ex 50. ca. 3.Let no man say unto himselfe: I doe it secretly, I doe it before God; God vvho pardoneth me doth know, that I doe it in my heart. Is it therefore said without cause; Whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven? Are the keyes therfore without cause given unto the Church of God? Doe we frustrate the Gospell of God? doe we frustrate the words of Christ? Doe we promise that to you which hee denieth you? Do wee not deceive you? Iob saith: If I was abashed to confesse my sinnes in the sight of the people. So just a man of Gods rich threasure, who was tried in such a furnace, saith thus: and doth the childe of pestilence vvithstand me, and is ashamed to bow his knee under th… blessing of God? That which the Emperor was not ashamed to doe, is he ashamed of, who is not as much as a Senator, but only a simple Courtier? O proud neck, ó crooked minde! perhaps, nay it is not to be doubted, it was for this reason God would that Theodosius the Emperour should doe publick penance in the sight of the people, especially because his sinne could not be concealed: and is a Senator ashamed of that, whereof the Emperour was not ashamed? is he ashamed of that who is no Senator, but a Courtier onelyonly, whereof the Emperour was not ashamed? Is one of the vulgar sort, or a trader ashamed of that, whereof the Emperour was not ashamed? What pride is this? Were not this alone sufficient to bring them to hell, although no adultery had beene committed? Thus farre S. Augustine, concerning the necessitie of publike Repentance for knowne offences: which being in tract of time disused in some places, long after this, the rConcil. Arelat. IV cap 26 & Cabilonens. II. cap. 25.Bishops of France, by the assistance of Charles the great, caused it to be brought in use againe, according to the order of the olde Canons.
Neyther is it here to be omitted, that in the time of the more ancient Fathers this strict discipline was not so restrayned to the censure of publicke crimes; but that private transgressions also were sometimes drawn within the compasse of it. For whereas at first, publike confession was enjoyned onelyonly for publike offences: men afterwards, discerning what great benefit redounded to the penitents thereby, (aswell for the subduing of the stubburnesse of their hard hearts, and the furthering of their deeper humiliation; as for their raysing up againe by those sensible comforts which they received by the publike prayers of the Congregation, and the use of the keyes) some men, I say, discerning this, and finding their owne consciences burdened with the like sinnes, which being carried in secrecie, were not subject to the censures of the Church; to the end they might obtaine the like consolation and quiet of minde, did voluntarily submit themselves to the Churches discipline herein, and undergoe the burden of publick Confession and Penance. This appeareth by Origen in his second Homily upon the 37 Psalme, Tertullian in his booke de Poenitentiâ, chap. 9. S. Cyprian in his Treatise de Lapsis, sect. 23. (or 11. according to Pamelius his distinction) S. Ambrose in his first booke de Poenitentiâ, chap. 16. and others. And to the end that this publication of secret faults might be performed in the best maner: some prudent Minister was first of all made acquainted therewith; by whose direction the delinquent might understand what sinnes were fit to be brought to the publick notice of the Church, and in what maner the penance was to bee performed for them. Therefore did Origen advise (as wee heard) that one should use great care in making choyce of a good and skilfull physician, to whom hee should disclose his griefe in this kinde. and sSi intellexerit, & praeviderit talem esse languorem tuū qui in conventu totius Ecclesiae exponi debeat, & curari, ex quo for…assis & caeteri aedificari poterunt, & tu ipse facilè sanari: multâ hoc deliberatione, & satis perito medici illius consilio procurandū est. Origen. in Psal. 37. h…mil. 2.if hee understand (saith he) and foresee that thy disease is such as ought to be declared in the assembly of the whole Church, and cured there, whereby peradventure both others may be edified, and thou thy selfe more easily healed; with much deliberation, and by the very skilfull counsaile of that physician, must this be done.
But within a while (shortly after the persecution raysed in the dayes of Decius the Emperour) it was no longer left free to the Penitent to make choyce of his ghostly father: but by the generall consent of the Bishops it was ordayned, that in every Church one certaine discreet Minister should be appointed to receive the confessions of such as relapsed into sinne after Baptisme. This is that addition, which tforeign. Socrat. hist. lib. 5. cap. 19.Socrates in his Ecclesiasticall historie noteth to have beene then made unto the Penitentiall Canon; and to have beene observed by the governours of the Church for a long time: untill at length in the time of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople (which was about CXL. yeares after the persecution of Decius) upon occasion of an infamy drawne upon the Clergie by the confession of a Gentlewoman, defiled by a Deacon in that citie, it was thought fit it should be abolished, and that uforeign. Socrat. ibid. foreign. Sozomen. lib. 7. histor. cap. 16.libertie should be given unto everie one, upon the private examination of his owne conscience, to resort to the holy Communion. Which was agreeable both to the rule of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 11.28. (Let a man examine himselfe, and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup:) and to the judgement of the more ancient Fathers, as appeareth by Clemens Alexandrinus, who accounteth a mans owne conscience to be his xforeign. Clem. Alexandr. lib. 1. S…rom.best directer in this case. howsoever our new Masters of yConcil. Trid…t. Sess. 13. Can. 11.Trent have not onelyonly determined that sacramentall confession must necessarily be premised before the receyving of the Eucharist; but also have pronounced them to be excommunicate ipso facto, that shall presume to teach the contrarie.
The case then (if these mens censures were ought worth) would goe hard with Nectarius, and all the Bishops that followed him; but especially with S. Iohn Chrysostom, who was his immediat successor in the See of Constantinople. for thus doth hee expound that place of the Apostle: zforeign. Chrysost. in 1. Cor. 11. homil. 28.Let every one examine himselfe, and then let him come. He doth not bid one man to examine another, but every one himselfe; making the judgement private, and the tryall without witnesses. and in the end of his second homily of Fasting (which in others is the eighth de Poenitentiâ) frameth his exhortation accordingly. aforeign. Id. tom. 6. Savil. pag. 837.Within thy conscience, none being present but God who seeth all things, enter thou into judgement and into a search of thy sinnes, and recounting thy whole life, bring thy sinnes unto judgement in thy minde: reforme thy excesses, and so vvith a pure conscience draw neare to that sacred Table, and partake of that holy sacrifice. Yet in another place hee deepely chargeth Ministers, not to admit knowne offendors unto the Communion. But bforeign Id. in fine hom. 82 in Matt. …dit. Graec. vel 83 Latin.if one (saith hee) be ignorant that hee is an evill person, after that hee hath used much diligence ther…in, he is not to be blamed. for these things are spoken by me of such as are knowne. And we finde both in him, and in the practise of the times following, that the order of publick Penance was not wholly taken away; but according to the ancient discipline established by the Apostles in the Church, open offendors were openly censured and pressed to make publick confession of their faults. Whereby it is manifest, that the libertie brought in by Nectarius, of not resorting to any Penitentiarie, respected the disclosing of secret sinnes only; such as that foule one was, from whence the publick scandall arose, which gave occasion to the repeale of the former Constitution. For to suffer open and notorious crimes, committed in the Church, to passe without controule, was not a meane to prevent but to augment scandalls; nay the readie way, to make the house of God become a denne of theeves.
Two observations more I will adde upon this part of the historie. The one: that the abrogation of this Canon sheweth, that the forme of Confession used by the ancient, was Canonical, that is, appertayning to that externall discipline of the Church which upon just occasion might be altered; and not Sacramentall, and of perpetuall right, which is that our Iesuites stand for. The other: that the course taken herein by Nectarius, was not onelyonly approved by S. Chrysostome, who succeeded him at Constantinople; but cforeign. Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 16.generally in a maner by the Catholick Bishops of other places. howsoever the Arrians, and the rest of the sectaries (the Novatians onelyonly excepted, who from the beginning would not admit the discipline used in the Church for the reconciliation of Penitents) retained still the former usage. as by the relation of Socrates and Sozomen more fully may appeare. And therefore when within some XXI. yeares after the time wherein they finished their histories, and about LXX. after that the publication of secret offences began to be abolished by Nectarius, certaine in Italy did so doe their penance, that they caused a writing to be publickly read, containing a profession of their severall sinnes: Leo, who at that time was Bishop of Rome, gave order, that by all meanes dNe de singulorum peccatorum genere libellis scripta professio publicé recitetur: cùm reatus cō scientiarum sufficiat solis sacerdotibus indicari confessione secretâ. Quamvis enim plenitudo fidei videatur esse laudabilis, quae propter Dei timorem apud homines erubescere non veretur: tamen quia non omnium hujusmodi sunt peccata, ut ea, quae poenitentiam poscunt, non timeant publicare, removeatur tam impro babilis consuetudo; ne multi á poenitentiae remediis arceantur, dum aut crubescunt, aut metuunt inimicis suis sua facta referare, quibus possint legum constitutione percelli. Sufficit enim illa confess…o, quae primùm Deo offertur, tum etiam Sacerdoti, qui pro delictis poenitentium precator accedit. Tunc enim demùm plures ad poenitentiā poterunt provocari si populi aur…bus non publicetur conscientia confitentis. Leo, epist. 80. ad Epis…opos Campaniae, Samnij & Pi…ni.that course should be broken off; forasmuch as it was sufficient, that the guilt of mens consciences should be declared in secret confession to the Priests alone. For although (saith he) the fulnesse of faith may seeme to be laudable, vvhichwhich for the feare of God doth not feare to blush before men: yet because all mens sinnes are not of that kinde, that they may not feare to publish such of them as require repentance, let so inconvenient a custome be removed; lest many be driven away from the remedies of repentance, vvhile eyther they are ashamed, or afraid to disclose their deedes unto their enemies, whereby they may be drawne within the perill of the lawes. For that confession is sufficient, which is offered first unto God, and then unto the Priest, who commeth as an intercessor for the sinnes of the penitent. For then at length more may be provoked to repentance, if that the conscience of him who confesseth be not published to the eares of the people.
By this place of Leo we may easily understand, how upon the removeall of publick Confession of secret faults (together with the private made unto the Penitentiarie, which was adjoyned as a preparative thereunto) Auricular confession began to be substituted in the roome thereof: to the end, that by this meanes more might be drawne on to this exercise of repentance; the impediments of shame and feare, which accompanied the former practise, being taken out of the way. for indeed the shame of this publick Penance was such, that in the time of Tertullian (when this discipline was thought most needefull for the Church) it was strongly ePlerosque tamen hoc opus ut publicationē sui aut suffugere, aut de die in diem differre, praesumo; pudoris magis memores quàm salutis. Tertull. de Poenit cap. 9.presumed, that many did eyther shunne this worke as a publication of themselves, or deferred it from day to day, being more mindefull (as hee saith) of their shame than of their salvation. Nay S. Ambrose observed that fNam plerique futuri supplicii metu, peccatorū suorum conscii, poenitentiam petunt: & cùm acceperint, publicae supplicationis r…vocantur pudore. Hi videntur malorū petisse poenitentiam, agere bonorū, Ambr. de poenitent. lib. 2. cap 9.some, who for feare of the punishment in the other world, being conscious to themselves of their sinnes, did here desire their penance, vvere yet for shame of their publick supplication drawne back, after they had received it. Therfore the conjecture of gPorrò non aliam ob caussam compluriū hîc testimoniis usi sumus, quàm ne quis admiretur Tertullianum de clanculariâ istâ admissorum confessione nihil locutum: quae, quantum conjicimus, nata est ex istâ Exomologesi per ultroneam hominum pietatem, ut occultorum peccatorum esset & Exomologesis occulta. Nec enim usquàm praeceptam olim legimus. B. Rhenan. argument. in lib. Tertullian. de Poenitent.Rhenanus is not to be contemned, that from this publick confession, the private tooke his originall: which by Stapleton, (in his Fortresse, part. 2. chap. 4.) is positively delivered in this maner. Afterward this open and sharpe penance vvas brought to the private and particular confession now used; principally for the lewdnesse of the common lay Christians, which in this open confession began at length to mocke and insult at their brethrens simplicity and devotion. although it may seeme by that which is written by hSi ergo hujusmodi homo memor delicti sui, confitea tur quae commisit, & humanâ▪ confusione parvi pendat eos qui exprobrant eum confitentem, & notant vel irrident: &c. Origen. in Psalm. 37. homil. 2.Origen, that the seeds of this lewdnesse began to sprout long before; howsoever iCerté periculum ejus tunc si fortè onerosum est, cùm penes insultaturos in risiloquio consistit, ubi de alterius ruinâ alter attollitur, ubi prostrato superscenditur. Caeterùm inter fratres atque cons…rvos, ubi communis spes, metus, gaudium, dolor, passio: quid tuos aliud quàm te opinaris? Quid consortes casuum tuorum, ut plausores fugis? Non potest corpus de unius membri vexatione laetum agere: Tertullian. de Poenitent. cap 9.Tertullian imagined, that no member of the Church would be so ungracious as to commit such folly.
The publick confession therefore of secret sinnes being thus abolished, by Nectarius first (for the scandall that came thereby unto others) and by the rest of the Catholick Bishops after him (for the reproach and danger, whereunto the penitents by this meanes were layd open:) private Confession was so brought in to supply the defect thereof, that it was accounted no more sacramentall, nor esteemed (at least generally) to be of more necessitie for the obtayning of remission of sinnes, then that other. So that whatsoever order afterward was taken herein, may well be judged to have had the nature of a temporall law, which, according to the definition of S. Augustine, kAppellemus istam legem, si placet, temporalem, quae quamvis justa sit, commutari tamen per tempora justé potest. August. de lib. arbitr. lib. 1. cap. 6.although it be just, yet in time may be justly also changed. Nay we finde that Laurence Bishop of Novaria, in his homily de Poenitentiâ, doth resolutely determine, that for obtayning remission of sinnes, a man needeth not to resort unto anie Priest, but that his owne internall repentance is sufficient for that matter: God (saith lPost Baptisma, remedium tuum in teipso statuit, remissionem in arbitrio tuo posuit, ut non quaeras Sacerdotē cùm necessitas flagitaverit: sed ipse jam acsi scitus perspicuusque magister, errorem tuum intra te emendes, & peccatum tuū poenitudine abluas La…r. Nouar …om. 6. Biblioth. Patr. part. 1. pag. 337. a edit. Colon.hee) after Baptisme hath appoynted thy remedy within thy selfe, hee hath put remission in thine owne power, that thou needest not seeke a Priest when thy necessity requireth; but thou thy selfe now, as a skilfull and plaine master, mayest amend thine error within thy selfe, & wash away thy sin by repentance. mforeign Author homiliae in illud; Quaecunque ligaveritis &c. inter opera Chrysostomi, tom. 7. edit. Savil. pag. 268.He hath given unto thee (saith another, somewhat to the same purpose) the power of binding and loosing. Thou hast bound thy selfe with the chayn of the love of wealth; loose thy selfe with the injunction of the love of povertie. Thou hast bound thy selfe with the furious desire of pleasures; loose thy selfe with temperance. Thou hast bound thy selfe with the misbeleefe of Eunomius; loose thy selfe with the religious embracing of the right faith.
And, that wee may see how variable mens judgements were touching the matter of Confession in the ages following: Bede would have us nIn hâc sententiâ illa debet esse discretio; ut quotidiana leviá que pecca…a alteru…um coaequalibus confiteamur, corumque quotidianâ credamus oratione salvari. Porrò gravioris leprae immūditiā juxta legem sacerdoti pandamus, atque ad ejus arbitrium qualiter & quanto tempore jusserit, purificari curemus. Bed. in Iacob. 5.confesse our daily & light sinnes one unto another, but open the uncleanenesse of the greater leprosie to the Priest. Alcuinus, not long after him, would have us oVolens dimittere omnia his qui in se peccaverunt, confiteatur omnia peccata sua, quae recordari potest. Alcuin. de divin. offi…. cap 13 in capite Iejunii.confesse all the sinnes that we can remember. Others were of another minde. For some (as it appeareth by the writings of the same pId. epist. 26.Alcuinus and of qHaymo in Evangel. Dominic. 15. post Pentecost. Ite ostēdite vos Sacerdotib.Haymo) would not confesse their sinnes to the Priest; but rDicentes, sibi sussicere, ut soli Deo peccata sua confiteātur; si tantùm ab ipsis peccatis in reliquo cessent. Haymo, ut supra.said, it was sufficient for them that they did confesse their sinnes to God alone, provided alwayes that they ceased from those sinnes for the time to come. Others confessed their sinnes unto the Priests, but not fully sSed & hoc emendatione egere perspeximus, quòd quidā dū cōfitentur peccata sua sacerdotibus, non plené id faciūt. Concil. C. bilo…. II. cap. 32.: as may be seene in the Councell of Cauailon, held in the dayes of Charles the great where, though the Fathers thinke that this had need to be amended: yet they freely acknowledge, that it remained still a question, whether men should only confesse to God, or to the Priests also; and they themselves put this difference betwixt both those confessions, that the one did properly serve for the cure, the other for direction in what sort the repentance (and so the cure) should be performed. Their words are these. tQuidā solūmodò Deo cōfiteri debere dicūt peccata, quidā veró Sacerdotibus confitēda esse percensent: quod utrūque non sine magno fructu intra sanctam fit Ecclesiā ita duntaxat, ut & Deo, qui remissor est peccatorū, confiteamur peccata nostra, (& cum David dicamus: Delictū meū cognitū tibi feci, & injustitiā meam non abscōdi, Dixi, Cōfitebor adversùm me injustitias meas Domino, & tu remisisti impietatē peccati mei.) et secundùm institutionē Apostoli, cōfiteamur alterutrū peccata nostra, & oremus pro invicem ut salvemur. Confessio itaque quae Deo fit, purgat peccata: ea veró quae Sacerdoti fit, docet qualiter ipsa purgētur peccata. Deus nam que salutis & sanitatis author & largitor, plerūque hāc praebet suae potētiae invisibili administratione, plerūque Medicorū operatione. Ibid. cap. 33Some say, that they ought to confesse their sinnes onelyonly unto God, and some thinke that they are to be confessed unto the Priests: both of which, not without great fruit, is practised within the holy Church. namely thus, that wee both confesse our sinnes unto God, who is the forgiver of sinnes (saying with David: I acknowledged my sinne unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confesse against my selfe my transgressions vntounto the Lord: and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne.) and according to the institution of the Apostle, confesse our sinnes one unto another, and pray one for another, that we may be healed. The Confession therfore which is made unto God, purgeth sins: but that which is made unto the Priest, teacheth in what sort those sinnes should be purged. For God the author and bestower of salvation and health, giveth the same sometime by the invisible administration of his power, sometime by the operation of Physicians.
This Canon is cyted by uGrat. de Poenit. distinct. 1. cap. ult. Quidā Deo.Gratian out of the Penitentiall of Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury: but clogged with some unnecessarie additions. as when in the beginning thereof it is made the xQuidā Deo solummodò cōfiteri debere peccata dicūt, ut Graeci: qui dam veró Sacerdotibus cō fitenda esse percensent, ut tota feré sancta Ecclesia. Ibid.opinion of the Grecians, that sinnes should be confessed onelyonly unto God; and of the rest of the Church, that they should be confessed to Priests. where those words, ut Graeci, in Gratian seeme unto Cardinall Bellarmine, yVidetur irrepsisse in textum ex margine: & marginalem annotationem imperiti alicujus fuisse, qui ex facto Nectarii collegit sublatam omnino Confessionem Sacramentalem apud Graecos. Nam alioqui in ipso capitulari Theodori, unde canon ille descriptus est, non habentur duae illae voces [ut Graeci,] neque etiam habentur in Concilio II. Cabilonensi, c. 33. unde Theodorus Capitulum illud accepisse videtur: sed nec Magister Sentent. in 4. lib. dist. 17. eandem sententiam adducens, addidit illud, [ut Graeci.] Bellarmin. de Poenitent. lib. 3. cap. 5.to have crept out of the margent into the text; and to have beene a marginall annotation of some unskilfull man, who gathered by the fact of Nectarius, that Sacramentall Confession was wholly taken away among the Grecians. For otherwise (saith hee) in the Capitular it selfe of Theodorus, whence that Canon was transcribed, those two words [ut Graeci] are not to be had; nor are they also to be had in the second Councell of Cauaillon, c. 33. whence Theodorus seemeth to have taken that chapter: neyther yet doth the Master of the Sentences, in his 4. booke and 17. distinction bringing in the same sentence, adde those words [ut Graeci.] But the Cardinalls conjecture of the translating of these words out of the margent into the text of Gratian, is of little worth: seeing wee finde them expressely laid downe in the elder collections of the Decrees, made by zBurchard. Decret. lib. 19 cap. 145.Burchardus and aIvo Decret. part. 15. cap. 155.Ivo; from whence it is evident that Gratian borrowed this whole chapter, as he hath done manie a one beside. For as for the Capitular it selfe of Theodorus, whence the Cardinall too too boldly affirmeth that Canon was transcribed; as if hee had looked into the booke himselfe: we are to know, that no such Capitular of Theodorus is to be found: onelyonly Burchardus and Ivo, (in whom, as we said, those controverted words are extant) setteth downe this whole chapter as taken out of Theodors Penitentiall, & so misguided Gratian. for indeed in Theodorus his Penitentiall (which I did lately transcribe out of a most ancient copie kept in Sir Robert Cottons Threasurie) no part of that chapter can be seene: nor yet any thing else tending to the matter now in hand, this short sentence onelyonly excepted. Confessionem suam Deo soli, si necesse est, licebit agere. It is lawfull, that Confession be made unto God alone, if need require. And to suppose as the Cardinall doth that Theodorus should take this chapter out of the second Councell of Cauaillon: were an idle imagination▪ seeing it is well knowne that Theodore died Archbishop of Canterbury in the yeare of our Lord 690: and the Councell of Cauaillon was held in the yeare 813. that is, 123. yeares after the others death. The truth is; hee who made the additions to the Capitularia of Charles the great and Ludovicus Pius, (gathered by Ansegisus and Benedict) translated this Canon out of that Councell into his bAd. lit. 3. cap. 31. edit. Pi…ae…, & Lindenbrogij.Collection: which Bellarmine, as it seemeth, having someway heard of, knew not to distinguish between those Capitularia, and Theodors Penitentiall. being herein as negligent, as in his allegation of the fourth book of the Sentences: where the Master doth not bring in this sentence at all, but having among other questions propounded this also for one, cVtrum sufficiat peccata confiteri soli Deo, an op…rteat confiteri Sacerdoti Quibusdam visum est sufficere, si soli Deo fiat confessio sine judicio Sacerdotali & confessione ecclesiae. quia David dixit; Dixi Confitebor Domino, &c. non ait, Sacerdoti: & tamen remissum sibi peccatum dicit. Petr. Lombard. lib. 4. Senten… dist. 17.Whether it be sufficient that a man confesse his sinnes to God alone, or whether hee must confesse to a Priest; doth thereupon set down the diversitie of mens opinions touching that matter, and saith, that unto some it seemed to suffice, if confession vvere made to God onelyonly without the judgement of the Priest or the confession of the Church. because David said; I said, I will confesse unto the Lord: he saith not, VntoUnto the Priest; and yet he sheweth that his sinne was forgiven him. For in these points, as the same author had before noted,dIn his enim etiam docti diversa s…ntire inveniuntur: quia super his varia ac pené adversa tradidisse videntur doctores. Ibid. even the learned were found to hold diversly: because the Doctors seemed to deliver diverse and almost contrarie judgement… therein.
The diverse sentences of the Doctors touching this question, whether externall confession were necessarie or not, are at large layd downe by Gratian: who in the end, leaveth the matter in suspense, and concludeth in this maner. eQuibus auctoritatibus, vel quibus rationū firmamentis utraque sententia innitatur, in medium breviter exposuimus. Cui autem harum potiùs adhaerendum sit, lectoris judicio reservatur. Vtraque enim fautores habet sapientes, & religiosos viros, De P…ie. dist. 1. cap. 29▪ Quamvis.VponUpon what authorities, or upon what strength of reasons both these opinions are grounded, I have briefly layd open. But to whether of them wee should rather cleave to, is reserved to the judgement of the reader. For both of them have for their favourers both wise and religious men. And so the matter rested undetermined 1150. yeares after Christ: howsoever the Romane Correctors of Gratian doe tell us, that now the case is altered, and that fCertissimum est. & pro certissimo habendum peccati mortalis necessariam esse cō fessionem sacramentalem eo modo, ac tē pore adhibitā, quo in Concilio Tridentino post alia Concilia est constitutum. Rom. C…rrect. ibid.it is most certaine, and must be held for most certaine, that the sacramentall confession of mortall sinnes is necessary, used in that maner, and at such time, as in the Councell of Trent after other Councels it is appointed. But the first Councell, wherein we finde any thing determined touching this necessitie, is that of Lateran under Innocent the III. wherein wee heard that Transsubstantiation was established▪ for there it was ordayned, that gOmnis utriusque sexus fidelis, postquàm ad annos discretionis pervenerit, omnia sua solus peccata confiteatur fideliter saltem semel in anno proprio sacerdoti; & injunctam sibi poenitentiam studeat pro viribus adimplere, suscipiens reverenter ad minùs in Pascha Eucharistiae sacramentum: &c. alioquin & vivens ab ingressu Ecclesiae arceatur, & moriens Christianâ careat sepulturâ. Concil. Lateran. cap 21.Omnis utriusque sexus sidelis, every faithfull one of eyther sex, being come to yeares of discretion, should by himselfe alone, once in the yeare at least, faithfully confesse his sinnes unto his owne Priest; and indevour according to his strength to fulfill the penance injoyned unto him, receiving reverently at least at Easter the sacrament of the Eucharist: otherwise, that both being alive hee should be kept from entring into the Church, and being dead should want Christian buriall. Since which determination, Thomas Aquinas (in his exposition of the text of the fourth booke of the Sentences, distinct. 17.) holdeth hMagister & Gratianus hoc pro opinione ponunt Sed nunc post determinationem Ecclesiae sub Inn. 111. factam, haeresis reputanda est. Thom.the deniall of the necessitie of Confession unto salvation to be heresie: which before that time (saith Bonaventure, in his disputations upon the same fourth booke) was not hereticall, forasmuch as manie Catholick Doctors did hold contrarie opinions therein, as appeareth by Gratian.
But Medina will not admit by anie meanes, iIdeò dicendum, quòd praesata assertio non est stricté haeresis, sed sapit haeresim. Io. Medina. tractat. 2. de Confessione, quaest. 4.that it should be accounted strictly heresie: but would have it said, that it savours of heresie. and for this decree of Confession to be made once in the yeare, hee saith kNam illud, quod illic dicitur de confessione semel in anno, non procedit declarando, nec divinū jus interpretā do, sed potiùs tempus confitendi instituendo. Id. ibid. quaest· 2.that it doth not declare nor interpret any divine right of the thing, but rather appointeth the time of confessing. Durand thinketh that it may be said, that this statute contayneth lIn quo praemittitur exhortatio sancta & salubris de cō fessione faciendâ, & subjungitur praeceptū de perceptione Eucharistiae vallatum poenâ. Durand. in lib. 4. Sentent. distinct. 17. quaest. 14.an holy and wholsome exhortation of making confession, and then adjoyneth a precept of the receiving of the Eucharist backed with a penaltie: or if both of them be precepts, that mEt ob hoc posset rationabiliter videri alicui, quòd praedicta poena illius statuti respicit solum praeceptum de communione de cujus transgressione constare potest, & non praeceptum de confessione. Id. ibid.the penaltie respecteth onelyonly the precept of communicating (of the transgression whereof knowledge may be taken) and not the precept of confession, of the transgression whereof the Church can take no certaine notice, and therefore can appoint no certaine penaltie for it. But howsoever; this wee are sure of, that the Canonists afterward held no absolute necessitie of obedience to be required therein, as unto a Sacramentall institution ordayned by Christ for obtayning remission of sinnes; but a Canonicall obedience onelyonly, as unto an usefull constitution of the Church. And therefore where Gratian in his first distinction de Poenitentiâ, had in the 34. chapter and the three next following, propounded the allegations which made for them who held, nVnde datur intelligi, quòd etiam ore tacente, veniam consequi possumus. De Poenit. dist. 1. cap. 34. Convertimini. Vid. initium eiusd. distinct. & Glossam. ibid. verb. Sunt enim.that men might obtaine pardon for their sinnes without anie orall confession of them; and then proceeded to the authorities which might seeme to make for the contrarie opinion: Iohannes Semeca at the beginning of that part, upon those words of Gratian, Alij é contrario tes…antur, putteth too this Glosse. oAb hoc loco usque ad sect. His auctoritatib. pro aliâ parte allegat, quòd scilicèt adulto peccati… non dimittitur sine oris confessione. quod tamen falsum est G…oss.From this place untill the section His auctoritatib. he alledgeth for the other part, that sinne is not forgiven unto such as are of yeares, without confession of the mouth which yet is false: saith he. But this free dealing of his did so displease Friar Manrique, who by the command of Pius Quintus, set out a censure upon the Glosses of the Canon law; that hee gave direction these words, which yet is false, should be cleane blotted out. which direction of his notwithstanding, the Romane Correctors under Gregory the XIII. did not follow: but letting the words still stand, give them a check only with this marginall annotation. pImó verissimum sine confessione in voto non dimitti peccatum. Rom. Correct. ibid. in marg.Nay it is most true, that without confession, in desire at least, the sinne is not forgiven.
In like maner, where the same Semeca holdeth it to be the better opinion, that Confession was qMeliùs dicitur ea… institutam fuisse à quadam universalis Ecclesiae traditione, potiùs quàm ex novi v…l veteris Testamē ti auctoritate, Gloss. de Poenitēt. init. distinct. 5. In poenitentia.ordayned by a certaine tradition of the universall Church, rather then by the authoritie of the new or old Testament, and inferreth thereupon, that it is rErgo necessaria est confessio in mortalibus apud nos, apud Graecos non: quia non emanavit apud illos traditio talis Ibid.necessarie among the Latins, but not among the Greekes, because that tradition did not spread to them: Friar Manrique commandeth all that passage to be blotted out, but the Romane Correctors clap this note upon the margent for an antidote. sImò confessio est instituta à Domino, & est omnibus post Baptismum lapsis in mortale peccatū, tam Graecis quàm Latinis, jure divino necessaria. Rom. Correct. ibid. in marg.Nay confession was ordayned by our Lord, and by Gods Law is necessary to all that fall into mortall sinne after Baptisme, as well Greekes as Latins. and for this they quote onelyonly the 14. Session of the Councell of Trent: where that opinion is accursed in us, which was held two or three hundred yeares ago by the men of their owne religion. among whom, tMichael Angrianus in Psal. 29.Michael of Bononia (who was Prior general of the order of the Carmelites in the dayes of Pope Vrban the sixth) doth conclude strongly out of their owne received grounds; that confession is not necessary for the obtayning of the pardon of our sinne: and Panormitan the great Canonist, uMultùm mihi placet illa opinio: quia nō est aliqua authoritas aperta, quae innuat Deū seu Christum aperté instituisse confessionem fiendā Sacerdoti. Panorm. in 5. Decretal. de Poenit. & remiss. cap. 12. Omnis utriusque. sect. 18.professeth that the opinion of Semeca doth much please him, which referreth the originall of Confession to a generall tradition of the Church: because (saith he) there is not anie cleare authority, which sheweth that God or Christ did clearely ordayne that Confession should be made unto a Priest. Yea, xOmnes juris Pontificii periti, secuti primū suum Interpretem, dicunt Confessionem tantùm esse introductam jure Ecclesiastico. Maldonat. Disp. de Sacrament. Tom. 2. de Confess. orig. cap. 2.all the Canonists, following their first Interpreter, say that Confession was brought in onelyonly by the law of the Church, and not by anie divine precept: if we will beleeve Maldonat. who addeth notwithstanding, that ySed tamen haec opinio, aut jam declarata est satis tanquā haeresis ab Ecclesiâ; aut faceret Ecclesia operae pretium, si declararet esse haeresim. Id. ibid. de praecepto Confess. cap 3.this opinion is eyther alreadie sufficiently declared by the Church to be heresie, or that the Church should doe well if it did declare it to be heresie.
And we finde indeed, that in the yeare of our Lord 1479. (which was 34. yeares after the death of Panormitan) by a speciall commission directed from Pope Sixtus the fourth unto Alfonsus Carillus Archbishop of Toledo, one Petrus Oxomensis, professor of Divinitie in the Vniversitie of Salamanca, was driven to abjure zQuòd confessio de peccatis in specie suerit ex aliquo statuto universalis Ecclesiae, non de jure divino. Congregat. Complutens. sub Alfonso Carillo: apud Ca…ranzam in Summâ Concil. sub Sixto IV.this conclusion, which hee had before delivered as agreeable to the common opinion of the Doctors; that confession of sinnes in particular vvas grounded upon some statute of the universall Church, and not upon divine right. and when learned men for all this would not take warning, but would needs be medling againe with that which the Popish Clergie could not indure should be touched, (as Iohannes de Selva, among others, in the end of his treatise de Iurejurando; Erasmus in diverse of his workes, and Beatus Rhenanus in his argument upon Tertullians booke de Poenitentiâ:) the fathers of Trent within 72. yeares after that, conspired together to stop all mens mouthes with *Concil. Trident. S…ss. 14. Can. 6.an anathema, that should denie sacramentall confession to be of divine institution or to be necessarie unto salvation. And so we are come to an end of that point.