Stifacu. Ne» ^nrk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1924 092 357 791 M^ Cornell University wM Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092357791 THE WORKS OF THAT LEARNED AND JUDICIOUS DIVINE, MR RICHARD HOOKER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH BY ISAAC WALTON. ARRANGED BY THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, M.A. LATB FELLOW OF OMEL COLLEGE, OXPOKD. SIXTH EDITION. VOL. III. OXFORD: AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. M.DCCC.LXXIY. H Sit- THE WORKS OF ME. RICHARD HOOKER. " All things ivritten in this booke I humbly and meekly submit to the censure of the grave and reverend Prelates -within this land^ to the judgment of learned men^ and the sober considera- tion of all others. Wherein 1 may hapfely erre as others before me have done^ hut an heretike by the help of Almighty God I ■will never be." — HooKER, MS. Note on the title leaf of the " Christian Letter," Honlron MACMILLAN AND CO. PUBIISHESS TO THE VNIYEBSITY OF ©iforD Lay Elders, one of the chief Points in Controversy. 1 OF THE LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. BOOK VI. CONTAINING THEIK FIFTH ASSEETION, WHICH IS% THAT OTJE EAWS ARE CORRUPT Ain) KEPUGNANT TO THE LAWS OF GOD, IN MATTER BELONGING TO THE POWER OF ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION, IN THAT WE HATE NOT THROUGHOUT ALL CHURCHES CERTAIN LAY- ELDERS ESTABLISHED FOR THE EXERCISE OF THAT POWER'. J. HE same men which in heat of contention do hardly bookvi. either speak or give ear to reason, being after sharp and " " " bitter conflict'' retired to a calm remembrance of all their jj^^ ^"f^" former proceedings ; the causes that brought them into tween us, quarrel, the course which their stirring<= affections have fol- congrega- lowed, and the issue whereunto they are come ; may per- *?°^^ °^ P*" adventure, as troubled waters, in small time, of their own ought to accord, by certain easy degrees settle themselves again, and j^® 7' so recover that clearness of well-advised judgment, whereby Tested with they shall stand at the length indifferent, both to yield and ,^^dk°ion admit any reasonable satisfaction, where before they could in spiritual not endure with patience to be gaiasayed. Neither will I despair of the like success in these unpleasant controversies ^ The words ■which, is, a/re inserted frmn, tJie Dublin MS. •> confliots Ed. 1651. (which will be designated in these notes by the letter E.) c striving E. 1 [Although the present editor is some rough draft of the book on lay convinced, for the reasons assigned elders ; secondly, because it seemed in the preface, that the sixth book safer to await the judgment of lite- completed by Hooker is now almost rary men in general, before ex- or altogether lost, still he has judged punging so large a portion of the it best on consideration to leave the treatise : thirdly, because he believes following pages in their usual place : the whole to be Hooker's, though first, because the early part of them wrongly inserted into his great does appear to have formed part of work!] HOOKER, VOL. III. B 2 Why this Appeal to the People about Lay Elders. BOOK VI. touching ecclesiastical policy ; the time of silence which both — ^-^^-^^ parts have willingly taken to breathe^, seeming now as it were a pledge of all menu's quiet contentment to hear with more indifferency the weightiest ^ and last remains of that cause. Jurisdiction*, Dignity^, Dominion Ecclesiastical^. For, let not"l any man imagine, that the bare and naked differ- ence of a few ceremonies could either have kindled so much fire, or have caused it to flame so long ; but that the parties which herein laboured mightily for change, and (as they say) for Eeformation, had somewhat more than this mark only«= whereat to aim?. [a.] Having therefore drawn out a complete form, as they supposed^, of pubKc service to be done to God, and set down their plot for the office of the ministry in that behalf} they very well knew how little their labours so far forth bestowed would avail them in the end, without a claim of jurisdiction to uphold the fabric which they had erected ; and this neither likely to be obtained but by the strong hand of the people, nor the people unlikely to favour it; the mores, if overture were made of their own interest, right, and title thereunto. Whereupon there are many which have con- jectured this to be the cause, why in all the projects of their discipline (it being manifest that their drift is to vTrest the key of spiritual authority out of the hands of former governors, and equally to possess therewith the pastors of aU several congregations) the people, first for surer accomplishment, and then for better defence thereof, are pretended s necessary actors in those things, whereunto their ability for the most part is as slender, as their title and challenge unjust. [3.] Notwithstanding whether they saw it necessary for _ a not om. E. e only om. E. f suppose E. e favour it the more. P'ulman m the margin of a copy of the first edition m O. C. 0. library. 2 [After 1S93, in which year omission here: for the following were published the first portion of sentence implies that a summary Hooker's work, and the two treatises had been given of the Puritan " plot of Bancroft, there was a pause for a " set down for the office of the while in the Puritan controversy.] " ministry," as being the end for » [See Pref. iv. S : and note 17.] which the objections about cere- * Lib. VI. monies were a pretence, and the I Lib. vu; agitation for lay elders a mean.! ; }'*■ ■>'"'• ^ [See Bancroft's Dang. Pes b iv ' [It may seem that there is some c. 12.] • • . Twofold Advantage of their claiming divine Right. 3 them so*' to persuade the people^ without whose help they bookvi. could do nothing ; or else, (which I rather think,) the affec- tion which they bare' towards this new form of government made them to imagine it God's own ordinance, their doctiine is, " that by the law of God, there must be for ever in all " congregations certain lay-elders, ministers of ecclesiastical "■ jurisdiction V^ inasmuch as our Lord and Saviour by testa- ment (for so they presume) hath left all ministers or pastors in the Church executors equally to the whole power of spiritual jurisdiction, and with them hath joined the people as colleagues. By maintenance of which assertion there is unto that pajct apparently gained a twofold advantage ; both because the people in this respect are much more easily drawn to. favour it, as a matter of their own interest ; and for that, if they chance to be crossed by such as oppose against them, the colour of divine authority, assumed for the grace and countenance of that power in the vulgar sort, fumisheth their leaders with great abundance of matter, behoveful for their encouragement to proceed always with hope of fortunate success in the end, considering their cause to be as David's was, a just defence of power given them from above, and consequently, their adversaries' quarrel the same with Saul's by whom the ordinance of God was withstood. [4.] Now on the contrary side, if this their surmise prove false ; if such, as in justification whereof no evidence sufficient either hath been or can be alleged (as I hope it shall clearly appear after due examination and trial), let them then con- sider whether those words of Korah, Dathan and Abiram against Moses and against Aaron 'o, " It is too much that ye "■ take upon you, seeing all the congregation is holy," be not the very true abstract and abridgment of all their published Admonitions, Demonstrations, Supplications, and Treatises whatsoever, whereby they have laboured to void the rooms of their spiritual superiors before authorized, and to advance the new fancied sceptre of lay presbyterial power. II. But before there can be any settled determination. The nature whether trath do'' rest on their part, or on ours, touching?^??™'"*' tion. h BO mti. E. i bear E. k doth D. » [Eccl. Disc. fol. 120—125,] '" Numb. xvi. 3. BOOK VI. Ch.ii. 2. 4 Positive Authority of the Church in Jurisdiction. lay-elders ; we are to prepare the way thereunto, by expliea- - tion of some things requisite and very needful to be con- sidered ; as first, how besides that spiritual power which is of Order, and was instituted for performance of those duties whereof there hath been speech sufficient! already had, there is in the Church no less necessary a second kind, which we call the power of Jurisdiction. When the Apostle doth speak of i-uling the Church of God'', and of receiving accusations 12, his words have evident reference to the power of jurisdiction. Our Saviour's words to the power of order, when he giveth his disciples charge '3, saying, "Preach; baptize; do this in " remembrance of me." " A Bishop" (saith Ignatius) " doth " bear the image of God and of Christ j of God in ruling, of " Christ in administering, holy things i*." By this therefore we see a manifest difference acknowledged between the power of Ecclesiastical Order, and the power of Jurisdiction ecclesiastical. [a.] •» The spiritual power of the Church being such as neither can be challenged by right of nature, nor could by human authority be instituted, because the forces and effects thereof are supernatural and divine ; we are to make no doubt or question, but that from him which is the Head it hath descended unto us that are the body now invested therewith. He gave it for the benefit and good of souls, as a mean to keep them in the path which leadeth unto endless felicity, a bridle to hold them within their due and con- venient bounds, and if they do go astray, a forcible help to reclaim them. Now although there be no kind of spiritual power, for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not give both commission to exercise, and direction how to use the same, although his laws in that behalf recorded by the holy evan- gelists be the only ground and foundation, whereupon the practice of the Church must sustain itself : yet, as all multi- tudes, once grown to the form of societies, are even thereby ' Bufficient om. E. m iji. D. j'-'^^fxx. 28. ms apxi^pea, Oeov eiVdra opoCvTa- it LP' '^.' '9- „ ... «°™ M'/" '■" "PX"". eeoO Karh 8e t6 '•> Mark XVI. 15; Matt. xxvm. 19 ; ifparevitv, Xpio-rov. Epist Pinter I Cor. xi. 24. pol]adSmyrn. [C.O.] [This note '* Ttfia fitv TOP Qebp, ms aiTiov m SL forms part ot the text.! tSiv oXav KoX Kvptov' 'ETTta-Kcmov Se, Repentance, the End of Church Jurisdiction. 5 naturally warranted to enforce upon their own subjects par- book vi. ticularly those things which public wisdom shall judge expe dient for the common good : so it were absurd to imagine the Church itself, the most glorious amongst them, abridged of this liberty ; or to think that no law, constitution, or canon, can be fin-ther made either for limitation" or amplification" in the practice of our Saviour^s ordinances, whatsoever occa- sion be offered through variety of times and things, during the state of this unconstantP world, which bringing q forth daily such new evils as must of necessity by new remedies be redrest, did both of old enforce our venerable predecessors'', and win always constrain others, sometime to make, some- time to abrogate, sometime to augment, and again to abridge sometime ; in sum, often to vary, alter, and change customs incident into the manner of exercising that power which doth itself continue always one and the same. I therefore con- clude, that spiritual authority is a power which Christ hath given to be used over them which are subject unto it for the eternal good of their souls, according to his own most sacred laws and the wholesome positive constitutions of his Church. In doctrines^ referred unto action and practice, as this is which coneerneth' spiritual jurisdiction, the first step towards" sound and perfect understanding is the knowledge of the end, because thereby both use doth frame, and contemplation judge all things. Ill.y Seeing then^ that the ehiefest cause of spiritual Of pe™- jurisdiction is to provide for the health and safety of men's chiefestend souls, by bringing them to see and repent their grievous propound- offences committed against God, as also to reform all injuries spiritual offered with the breach of Christian love and charity, towards* r!"^"^*^"" their brethren, in matters of ecclesiastical cognizance ^S; the kinds of n limation made limitation hy A hp. Ussher mJ). ° ampliation D. P in- constant E. 1 bringeth E. which spoils the sentence. Pidmam conjectwed offered ; though imstead of offered through. ' predecessor E. ■ doctrine B. « concerns E. u step towards oro. E. » Penitenoy E. y iv. D. z then am. E. a toward E. '5 [This clause, " in matters of " &c.:" and so avoiding the claim ' ecclesiastical cognizance," is no of extreme prerogative, which the doubt inserted with especial purpose Puritans urged in order to draw all of qualifying the general expression causes into their spiritual courts. before, of " reforming all injuries, See Pref. c. vii. 4. In the statement 6 Distinction between the Virtue and Discipline of Repentance. .^c°m.T.'' ^®^ °^ ^^® power shall hj so mucli the plainlier appear^ if - — ; first the nature of repentance itself be known. the one a ' We are by repentance to appease whom we offend by sin. pnvate ~Pov which cause, whereas all sins deprive'' us of the favour duty to- . p . . . . , wards God, of Almighty God^ our way of reconciliation with him is the dut °* f ^ iiiw^^p6vrjae, "jamque justissimam poenam pro koi ovbeXs eSiKaiSdri, el p) touttjs " tantis criminibus inferenti, (si dici enefieXrjcraTo. " fas est) quodammodo obsistat, et 28 Fu]g. ,je Remis. Peecat. lib. ii. "quasi inviti (ut ita dixerim) dex- cap. 15. [" Ecce Saul dixit, Peccavi; " tram suspendat ultoris."] " David quoque dixit, Peccavi. Cum ^ Basil. Episc. Seleuc. p. 106, " ergo in confessione peccati utri- [ed. Commelin. IS96.] ^iXav6pamov " usque una vox fuerit, cur non una ffKtiifiaTrpo inpenitenoy D. c iv. D. * iniquity E. " cramentis non est dare alias partes " poenitentise, proprie loquendo."] " proprie dictas; sed contritio et ''3 Luc. vii. 47. " eatisfactio non sunt materia neque ■*■* Job xxxi. 33. " forma sacramenti poenitentiae : ^* " Tantum relevat confessio de- " forma enim consistit in verbis ab- " lictorum,quantumdissimulatio ex- " solutionis; materia vero siqua sit " aggerat. Confessio autem [enim] " in verbis confessionis, quibus pos- " satisfactionis consilium est, dissi- " nitens suam conscientiam aperit " mulatio contumaciae." Tertull. de " sacerdoti : ergo contritio et satis- Poenit. [0. 8. fin.] " factio non sunt partes sacramenti HOOKEE, VOL. III. ' C 18 Confession among the Jews on the Fast Bay. BOOK VI. " heavier. For he which confesseth hath a purpose to ap- Ch. iv.4. . . . \. ■ " pease God; he^ a determination to persist and continue od- " stiaate, which keepeth them secret to himself/' St. Chry- sostom almost in the same words *6, "Wickedness is by being " acknowledged lessened, and doth^ grow by being hid. If "■ men having done amiss let it sKp, as though they knew no " such matter, what is there to stay them from falling often' " into one and the same evil ? To call ourselves sinners avail- " eth nothing, except we lay our faults in the balance, and " take the weight of them one by one. Confess thy crimes to " Grod, disclose thy transgressions before thes Judge, by way '■'■ of humble supplication and suit, if not with tongue, at the "■ least with heart, and in this sort seek mercy. A general " persuasion that thou art a sinner wiU neither so humble " norh bridle thy soul, as if the catalogue of thy sins examined , " severally be continually kept in mind. This shall make " thee lowly in thine own eyes, this shall preserve thy feet " from falHng, and sharpen thy desire towards aU good things. " The mind I know doth hardly admit such unpleasant re- " membrances, but we must force it, we must constrain it " thereunto. It is safer now to be bitten with the memory, " than hereafter with the torment of sin." The Jews, with whom no repentance for sin is held' avail- able without confession, either conceived in mind or uttered ; which latter kind they call usually i^TI, confession delivered by word of mouth*?; had first that general confession which e doth but grow E. f often om.E. g thy E. li or D. i held om. E. Hebr. fOpp. torn iv. 589. 20. ed. rij ^vr,^r,, «al o0ra,s i^v i\ei,d^,ac. ^Xarrmvy^^v^rac p.r, opoXoyovp..,,, 8i, p.ivo, ^airbv ap.apLx6v dvaf oi< X^<.p^ocrv,'r,„, oibi- XV". i>: airi id,' iavrS,v rh aaaprr,- 1°V^7"™' Z^'f^'i^"' d ro.00- para, Ka\ «ar .kos i^.raC6p,va- ... Xoir Ix - '""'^" ''■^■•■f^ "'""^™- " "y"^° Orl L oL duelrm I Aovs KaXmpev cavroiis uovov, dXXa J/tivA ^So „. ' - " ""'^C^™ 1 rov e,ov Ti^vra opoX6y,,,ro„, inl roi 47 Levit. xvi. 2 1 8«ao-Tov o^o\o> rA apaprripara. Jewish Confessions voluntary and occasional. 19 once every year was made^ both severally by eaeb of the bookvi. people for himself upon the day of expiation^ and by the — ' priest for them aU**^ acknowledging unto God*9 the manifold transgressions of the whole nation, his own personal offences likewise, together with the sins, as well of his family, as of the rest of his rank and order. They had again their voluntary confessions, at aU'' times and seasons, when men, bethinking themselves of their wicked conversation past, were resolved to change their course, the beginning of which alteration was still confession of sins. Thirdly, over and besides these, the law imposed upon them also that special confession which they in their books call' ^^*l"'?2 I^V v5> ^^Tl, confession of that particular fault for which we namely seek pardon at God''s hands. The words of the law 5° concerning confession in this kind are as foUoweth: "'When a man or woman shall commit any sin " that men commit, and transgress against the Lord, their sin " which they have done'^ (that is to say, the very deed itself in particular) " they shall acknowledge." In Leviticus, after certain transgressions there mentioned, we read the like^i : " When a man hath sinned in any one of these things, he " shall then confess, how in that thing he hath offended.'" For such kind of special sins they had also special sacrifices, wherein the manner was, that the offender should lay his hands on the head of the sacrifice which he brought, and should there make confession to God, saying ^^^ ft Now, O " Lord, that I have offended, committed sin and done " wickedly in thy sight, this or this being my fault ; behold I " repent me, and am utterly ashamed of my doings j my pur- " pose is, never to returu more to the same crime." 53 Finally, there was no man amongst them at anytime, k at the times E. > book call B. ■^s "All Israel is bound on the text. See Clavering's notes, p. 137. " day of expiation to repent and and Talmud, Cod. Joma, as cited "confess." R.Mos.inlib. Mitsuoth by him.] haggadol. par. 2. prse. 16. [Comp. ^o Num. v. 6. *' Lev. v. 5. Tract. Teshuboth, c. ii. §9. p. 52. 62 Misne Tora, Tractatu Teshuba, ed. Clawering.] cap. i. [t. i. fol. 7. Venet. 1550.] et 49 "On the day of expiation the R.M. in lib. Misnoth, par. 2. cap. " high-priest maketh three express 16. " confessions." Idem, eodem loco. ^3 Mos. in Misnoth. par. 2. prse. [E. gives this note as part of the 16. [This note in E. is part of the C a BOOK VI. 20 Maimonides on the Virtue of Confession. ..... ,.. either condemned to suiFer death, or corrected, or chastised ""•"•^- with stripes, none ever sick and near his end, but they called upon him to repent and confess his sms. Of malefactors convict by witnesses, and thereupon either adiudged to die, or otherwise chastised, their custom was to exact, as Joshua did of Achan, open confessions^ : « My son, "now give glory to the Lord God of Israel; confess^ unto "him, and declare unto me what thou hast committed; " conceal it not from me." Concerning injuries and trespasses which happen between men, they highly commend such as will acknowledge before many. " "It is in him which repenteth accepted as an high "sacrifice, if he will confess before many, make them ac- " quainted with his oversights, and reveal the transgressions " which have passed between him and any of his brethren ; " saying, I have verily offended this man, thus and thus I " have done unto him ; but behold I do now repent and am " sorry. Contrariwise, whosoever is proud, and will not be " known of his faults, but cloaketh them, is not yet come to " perfect repentance ; for so it is vmtten^^^ ' He that hideth " his sins shall not prosper :' " which words of Solomon they do not farther extend, than only to sins committed agaiast men, which are in that respect meet before men to be acknow- ledged particularly. "But in sins between man and God, " there is no necessity that man should himself make any " such open and particular recital of them :" to God they are known, and of us it is required, that we cast not the memory of them carelessly and loosely behind our backs, but keep in mind, as near as we can, both our own debt and his grace which remitteth the same. > [5.] ""Wherefore, to let pass Jewish confession, and to come unto them which hold confession in the ear of the priest commanded, yea, commanded in the nature of a sacrament, and thereby so necessary that sin without it cannot be par- "T. D. text. Comp. Tract. Teshuboth, c. i. " fess their faults." [Ibid.] "To him § 3.] " None of them, whom either " which is sick and draweth towards " the house of judgment hath con- " death, they say. Confess." " demned to die, or of them which 64 Jog_ yj; jp_ " are to be punished with stripes, 56 [Maimonid.inTract.Teshuboth, " can be clear by being executed or c. ii. § 6.] " scourged, till they repent and con- 66 [Proy. xxviii. 13.] Confession as recommended hy St. James. 21 doned ; let them find such a commandment in holy Scripture^ book vl and we ask no more. John the Baptist was an extraordinary person ; his birth, his actions of life, his office extraordinary. It is therefore recorded for the strangeness of the act, but not set down as an everlasting law for the world ^7, " that to him " Jerusalem and all Judaea made confession of their sins;" besides, at the time of this confession, their pretended sacra- ment of repentance, as they grant, was not yet instituted ; neither was it sin after baptism which penitents did there confess. When that which befell the seven sons of Sceva'^, for using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in their conjura- tions, was notified to Jews and Grecians in Ephesus, it brought an universal fear upon them, insomuch that divers of them which had believed before, but not obeyed the laws of Christ as they should have done, being terrified by this example, came to the Apostle, and confessed their wicked deeds. Which good and virtuous act no wise man, (as I suppose,) will disallow, but commend highly in them, whom God^s good Spirit shall move to do the like when need requireth. Yet neither hath this example the force of any general command- ment or law, to make it necessary for every man to pour into the ears of the priest whatsoever hath been done amiss, or else to remain everlastingly culpable and guilty of sin ; in a word, it proveth confession practised as a virtuous act, but not com- manded j,s ajiacrament. Now concerning St. James his exhortation 59, whether the former branch be considered, which saith, " Is any sick " amongst you ? let him call for the ancients of the Church, " and let them make their prayers for him;" or the latter, which stirreth up all Christian men unto mutual acknowledg- ment of faults among themselves, "Lay open your minds, " make your confessions one to another;" is it not plain, that the one hath relation to that gift of healing, which our Saviour promised his Church, saying^o, " They shall lay their hands " on the sick, and the sick shall recover health ;" relation to that gift of healing, whereby the Apostle imposed his hands on the father of Publius^i, and made him miraculously a sound 57 Matt. iii. 6. ^^ James v. 14, 16. 58 Acts xix. 18. [Alleged by Bel- ^ Mark xvi. 18. larmine, de Poenit. iii. c. 4.] s' Acts xxviii. 8. 23 Confession as recommended by St. John. BOOK.!, man; relation, finally, to that gift of healing, which so long ^''•'-^- continued in practice after the ApostW times, that whereas the Novatianists denied the power of the Church of God m curing sin after baptism, St. Ambrose asked them again " Why it might not as well prevaU with God for spmtuaU^ "for corporal and bodily health j yea, wherefore, saith he " do ye youi-selves lay hands on the diseased, and beheve it « to be a work of benediction or prayer, if happily the sick " person be restored to his former safety V And of the other member, which toucheth mutual confession, do not some of themselves, as namely CajetanSs, deny that any other confes- sion is meant, than only that, "which seeketh either associa- " tion of prayers, or reconciliation, and pardon of wrongs V Is it not confessed by the greatest part of their own retinueS*, that we cannot certainly affirm sacramental confession to have been meant or spoken of in this place ? Howbeit Bellarmine, delighted to run a course by himself where colourable shifts of wit will but make the way passable, standeth as formally for this placets, and no less for that in St. John, than for this. St. John saith66, " If we confess our sins, God is faithM " and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- " righteousness ;" doth St. John say. If we confess to the priest, God is righteous to forgive ; and if not, that our sins are unpardonable? No, but the titles of God, just and righteous, do import that he pardoneth sin only for his pro- mise sake ; " And there is not" (they say) " any promise of " forgiveness upon confession made to God without the " priest 67. •'•' Not any promise, but with this condition, and yet 82 Ambros. de Poenitentia, lib. i. " peccatores, ut oretur pro nobis ; cap. 8. [" Cur ergo manus imponi- " et de confessione hine et inde er- " tis, et benedictionis opus creditis, " ratorum, pro mutua placatione et " si quis forte revaluerit segrotus ? " reconciliatione." fol. 419. Ludg. " Cur prsesumitis aliquos a eoUu- 1556.] " vione Diaboli per vos mundari °* Annot. Rhem. in Jac. 5. [" It " posse ? Cur baptizatis, si per " is not certain that he apeaketh " hominem peocata diraitti non li- " here of sacramental confession, " cet."] " yet the circumstance of the letter •^3 [In loc. " Nee hie est sermo " well beareth it, and very probable " de confessione sacramental! : (ut " it is that he meaneth of it." p. " patet ex eo quod dicit, ' confite- 653. ed. 1582.] " mmi inyicem.' Sacraraentalis enim ™ [Dg Poenit. lib. iii. c. 4.] " confessio non fit invicem, sed 66 j John i. 9. " sacerdotibus tantum ;) sed de con- 67 [Bellarm. ubi sup. "Verba " fessione, qua mutuo fatemur nos " ilia, ' FideUs est et Justus,' refe- Private Confession no primitive Sacrament. 23 this condition no where exprest ? Is it not strange, that the book vl Scripture speaking so lauch of repentance, and of the several — ' duties which appertain thereunto, should ever mean, and no where mention, that one condition, without which all the rest is utterly of ' none effect ? or will they say, because our Saviour hath said to his ministers, "Whose sins ye retain," &c. and because they can remit no more than what the offenders have confest, that therefore, by virtue of this " pro- mise, it standeth with the righteousness of God to take away no man's sins, until by auricular confession they be opened unto the priest ? [6.] ° They are men that would seem to honour antiquity, and none more to depend upon the reverend judgment thereof. I dare boldly affirm, that for many hundred years after Christ the Fathers held no such opinion; they did not gather by our Saviour's words any such necessity of seeking the priest's absolution from sin, by secret and (as they now term it) sacra- mental confession : public confession they thought necessary by way of discipline, not private confession, as in the nature of a sacrament, necessary. For to begin with the purest times, it is unto them which read and judge without partiality a thing most clear, that the ancient i^onoXoyrja-is or Confession, defined by Tertullian^s ^q be a discipline of humiliation and submission, framing men's behaviour in such sort as may be fittest to move pity, the con- fession which they use to speak of in the exercise of repent- ance, was made openly in the hearing of the whole both ecclesiastical consistory and assembly. ^9 This is the reason n his E. o Ti. D. " mntur ad promissionem divinam : " gesia prostemendi et humilificandi " ideo enim Deus fidelis et Justus " hominis disciplina est, conversa- " dicitur, dum peccata confitentibus " tionem injungens misericordiae il- " remittit, quia stat promissis suis, " licem."] " nee fidem fallit. At promissio de ^^ " Plerosque hoc opus ut publi- "remittendis peccatis iis qui confi- " cationem sui aut suffugere, aut de " tentur Deo peccata sua, non vide- " die in diem differre prsesumo pu- " tur ulla exstare in divinis Uteris : " doris magis memores quam salu- " exstat autem promissio apertissi- " tis ; velut illi qui, in partibus ve- " ma iis qui ad illos accedunt, qui- " recundioribus corporis contracta " bus dictum est Joannis xx"", " vexatione, conscientiam meden- " ' ftuorum remiseritis peccata, re- " tium vitant, et ita cum erubescen- " mittuntur eis.'"] " tia sua pereunt." Tertull. de Poe- 88 [De Poenit. c. ix. " Exomolo- nit. [c. lo.] BOOK VI, Ch. iv. 6. 24 Testimonies of lertuUim and Si. Qfprian, wherefore he perceiving- that divers were better content then- - sores should secretly fester and eat inward, than be laid so open to the eyes of many, blameth greatly their unwise bash- ftdness, and to reform the same, persuadeth with them, say- ing 70, " Amongst thy brethren and feUow-servants, which are " partakers with thee of one and the same nature, fear, joy, "■ grief, sufferings, (for of one common Lord and Father we " aU have received one spirit,) why shouldst thou not think " with thyself, that they are but thine ownself ? wherefore " dost thou avoid them, as likely to insult over thee, whom " thou knowest subject to the same haps ? At that which " grieveth any one part, the whole body cannot rejoice, it " must needs be that the whole will labour and strive to help " that wherewith a part of itself is molested." St. Cyprian, being grieved with the dealings of them, who in time of persecution had through fear betrayed their faith, and notwithstanding thought by shift to avoid in that case the necessary discipline of the church, wrote for their better instruction the book intituled De Lapsis j a treatise concern- ing such as had openly forsaken their religion, and yet were loth openly to confess their fault in such manner as they should have done : in which book he compareth with this sort of men, certain others which had but a purpose only to have departed from the faith ; and yet could not quiet theii' minds, tiU this very secret and hidden fault was confest: " How much both greater in faith," saith St. Cyprian 7i, "and " also as touching their fear better are those men, who " although neither sacrifice nor libel?^ could be objected " against them, yet because they thought to have done that 7" [Idem ibid. " Inter fratres " sunt, qui quamvis nullo sacrificii " atque conserves, ubi communis " aut libelli faoinore constricti, quo- " spes, metus, gaudium, dolor, pas- " niam tamen de hoc vel cogitave- " sio, (quia communis spiritus de " runt, hoc ipsum apud sacerdotes 'I communi Domino et Patre) quid " Dei dolenter, et simphciter confi- « t" y°^ aliud quiun te opinaris ? " tentes, exomologesin conscientise Quid consortes casuum tuorum ut " faciunt, animi sui pondus expo- '' plausores fugis ? Non potest cor- " nunt, salutarem medelam parvis pus de unius membri vexatione " Hcet et modicis vulneribua exqui- " loetum agere : condoleat univer- " runt."] ''^ sum, et ad remedium conlaboret 72 [Qui necessitafem sacrificandi necesseest. J pecunia apud magistratum redime- '' LL>e Laps. c. 14 Quaij o et bant, accepta securitatis syngrapha fide majores et timore mehores Libellatici dicebantur ] ' ^ ^ and from the HondUes ascriied to Emesenus. 35 " which they should not, even this their intent they dolefully book vi. " open unto God's priests ; they confess that whereof their " conscience aceuseth theoij the burden that presseth their " minds they discoverj they foreslow not of smaller and " slighter evils to seek remedy." He saith, they declared their fault, not to one only man in private, but they revealed it to God's priests ; they confest it before the whole consistory of God's ministers. Salvianus, (for I willingly embrace their conjecture, who ascribe those homilies to him, which have hitherto by common error past under the counterfeit name of Eusebius Emesenus'^^) I say, Salvianus, though coming long after Cyprian in time, giveth nevertheless the same evidence for this truth, in a case very little different from that before alleged ; his words are these : " T* Whereas, most dearly beloved, we see that " penance oftentimes is sought and sued for by holy souls, " which even from their youth have bequeathed themselves a " precious treasure unto God, let us know that the inspiration " of God's good spirit moveth them so to do for the benefit of " his Church, and let such as are wounded learn to inquire " for that remedy, whereunto the very soundest do thus offer " and obtrude as it were themselves, that if the virtuous " do bewail small offences, the other cease not to lament great. " And surely, when a man that hath less need, performeth sub " omilis Ecclesia, in the view, sight, and beholding of the " whole Church, an office worthy of his faith and compunc- " tion for sin, the good which others thereby reap is his own '3 [For an account of the literary " Deo thesaurum devoverunt, inspi- history of these Homilies, and of " rare hoc Deum pro Ecclesise nos- the various opinions which have " tree profectibus noverimus : ac been entertained regarding their " raedicinam quam invadunt sani origin, see Oudin. Comnient. de " discant quserere vulnerati : ut Scriptor. Eccles. i. 390 — 426. He " bonis etiam parva deflentibus, in- does not mention Salvian as one of " gentia ipsi mala lugere consue- the supposed authors, but after de- " scant : ac si quando jam ilia per- ciding against the claims of Euche- " sona quae forte minus indiget poe- rius and Hilary of Aries, acquiesces " nitentia aliquid fide dignum atque in that of Faustus Regiensis.] " compunctum sub oculis Ecclesite 74 Horn. i. de initio Quadrage- " gerit, fructum suum etiam de simae, [tom. v. par. i. p. 552. Bib- " aUena sedificatione multiplicat, et lioth.Patr.Col.Agripp. i6i8."Quod " meritum suiim delucroproficientis " autem, charissimi, videmus ali- " accumulat; ut dum perfectione " quoties etiam illas animas poeni- " illius emendatur alterius vita, spi- " tentiam petere, quae ab ineunte " ritali fcenore ad ipsum boni operis " adolescentia consecrata pretiosum " recurrat usura."] 26 PuhUe, not private Confession taught hy the Fathers : BOOK VI. " harvest, the heap of his rewards groweth by that which _chjv^ « another gaineth, and through a kind of spiritual usury, trom "that amendment of life which ^others learn by him, there " retumeth lucre into his coffers.-" The same Salvianus, in another of his Homilies?*, _ It " faults happily be not great and grievous, (for example, if a " man have offended in word, or in desire, worthy of reproof, " if in the wantonness of his eye, or the vanity of his heart,) " the stains of words and thoughts are by daUy prayer to be " cleansed, and by private compunction to be scoured out : but " if any man examining inwardly his own conscience, have « committed some high and capital offence, as, if by bearing " false witness he have quelled and betrayed his faith, and by " rashness of perjury have violated the sacred name of truth ; " if with the mire of lustful uncleanness he have sullied the " veil of baptism, and the gorgeous robe of virginity ; if by " being the cause of any man^s death, he have been the death " of the new man within himself; if by conference with sooth- " sayers, wizards, and charmers, he hath enthralled himself to " Satan: these and such Kke committed crimes cannot throughly " be taken away with ordinary, moderate, and secret satisfae- " tion ; but greater causes do require greater and sharper " remedies : they need such remedies as are not only sharp, " but solemn, open, and public." Again?^, " Let that soul," saith he, " answer me, which through pernicious shamefast- " ness is now so abasht to acknowledge his sin in, conspectw '* Horn. 10, ad Monachos, [p. " nece hominis occidit ; si per g86, 7. "Si levia sunt fortasse de- " augures et divinos atque incanta- " licta; verbi gratia, si homo vel in " tores captivum se Diabolo tradi- " sermone, vel in aliqua reprehensi- " dit : hsec atque hujusmodi com- " bili voluntate, si oculo peccavit, " missa expiari penitus communi et " aut corde ; verborum et cogita- " medioori vel secreta satisfactione " tionum maculae quotidiana ora- " non possunt, sed graves causae] " tione curandse, et privata com- " graviores et acriores et publicas " punctione tergendae sunt. Sivero " curaa requirunt." " quisque conscientiam suam intus '^ Horn. 8. ad Monach. [p. 585, " interrogans, facinus aliquod capi- " Respondeat mihi ilia anima, quae " tale commisit, aut si fidem suam " peccatum suum confusione mor- " falso testimonio expugnavit ac " tifera in conspectu fratrum sic ag- " prodidit, ac sacrum veritatis no- " nosoere erubuit, quomodo vitare " men perjurii temeritate violavit ; " debuisset ; quid faciet, cum ante " si velum baptismi vel tunicam et " tribunal divinum, cum ante caeles- " speciosam virginitatis holosericam " tis militise fuerit prsesentata con- " coenocommaculatipudorisinfecit; "sessum?"] " si in semet ipso novum hominem Testimonies of St. Ambrose and Gennadius. 27 "fratrum, before his brethren^ as he should have been before book vi. " abasht to commit the same^ what he will do in the presence ' " of that Divine tribunalj where he is to stand arraigned in ''the assembly of a glorious and celestial host?^' I win hereunto add but St. Ambrose^s testimony ; for the places which I might allege are more than the cause itself needeth. "There are many/' saith he", "who fearing the "judgment that is to come, and feeling inward remorse of " conscience, when they have offered themselves unto peni- " tency and are enjoined what they shall do, give back for " the only scar which they think that public supplication " wiU put them unto." He speaketh of them which sought voluntarily to be penanced, and yet withdrew themselves from open confession, which they that were penitents for public crimes could not possibly have done, and therefore it cannot be said he meaneth any other than secret sinners in that place. Gennadius, a Presbyter of Marsiles, in his book touching Ecclesiastical Assertions, maketh but two kinds of confession necessary : the one in private to God alone for smaller oifences ; the other open, when crimes committed are heinous and great's . "Although," saith he, "a man be bitten with " the conscienceP of sin, let his will be from thenceforward " to sin no more ; let him, before he communicate, satisfy " with tears and prayers, and then putting his trust in the " mercy of Almighty God (whose wont is to yield unto godly " confessions) let him boldly receive the sacrament. But I " speak this of such as have not burthened themselves with " capital sins : them I exhort to satisfy first by public penance, P with conscience E. 77 Lib. ii. de Poenitentia, c. 9. " pise confession! donare consuevit, [" Plerique futuri supplicii metu, " accedat ad Eucharistiam intrepi- " peccatorum suorum conscii, pee- " dus et securus. Sed hoc de illo " nitentiam petunt ; et cum accepe- " dico quem capitalia et mortalia " tint, publicse supplicationis revo- " peccata non gravant : nam quem " cantur pudore." t. ii. p. 434 e.] " mortalia crimina post Baptismum 78 Cap. 53. [" Quamvis quis pec- " commissa premunt, hortor priua " cato mordeatur, peccandi non ha- " publica poenitentia satisfacere, et "beat caetero voluntatem, et com- " itasacerdotisjudicioreconciliatum " municaturus satisfaciat lacrymis " communioni sociari, si vult non " et orationibus, et confidens de " ad judicium et ad condemnationem " Domini miseratione, qui peccata " sui Eucharistiam percipere."] 28 St. Cyprian did not press Aurieular Confession : BOOK VI. " that so beinar reconciled by the sentence of the priest^ they Ch. iv. 6. '^ r. -, -il- il. !' " may communicate sately witn omers. Thus still we hear of public confessions, although the crimes themselves discovered were not pubHe ; we hear that the cause of such confessions was not the openness, but the greatness, of men^s ofTences; finally, we hear that the same being now not heldf by the church of Rome to be sacra- mental, were the only penitential confessions used in the Church for a long time, and esteemed as necessary remedies against sin. They which will find auricular confessions in St. Cyprian?", therefore, must seek out some other passage than that which Bellarmine aUegeth j " Whereas in smaller faults which are " not committed against the Lord himself, there is a com- " petent time assigned unto penitency, and that confession is " made, after that observation so and trial had been had of " the penitent's behaviour, neither may any communicate till " the Bishop and clergy have laid their hands upon him ; " how much more ought all things to be warily and stayedly " observed, according to the discipline of the Lord, in those " most grievous and extreme crimes." St. Cyprian's speech is against rashness in admitting idolaters to the holy Com- munion, before they had shewed sufficient repentance, con- sidering that other offenders were forced to stay out their time, and that they made not their public confession, which was the last act of penitency, till their life and conversation had been seen into, not with the eye of auricular scrutiny, but of pastoral observation, according to that in the council of Nice", where, thirteen years being set for the penitency r now held B. 79 Cypr. Epist. 12. [al. 17. c. r. " et moderate secundum disciplinam ap. Bellarmm. de Poenit. lib. m. c. 7. " Domini observari oportet !" t. ii. " Cum m minoribus delictis, quee 39. ed Fell.] " non in Dominum coramittuntur, 8" " Inspecta vita ejus qui aeit poemtentia agatur justo tempore, " poenitentiam." " et exomologesis fiat, inspecta vita 8' Cone. Nic. par. 2 c 12 "Pro '' ejus, qui agit poenitentiam, nee " fide et conversatione' preniten- ^^ ad commumcationem venire quis " tium." \l^' Snam 8^ rovrow npo^- ., Possit, msi prras illi ah Ep.sc.po ,«6 ^.rdCn,, Ti,v npoatp.a-i^ kcI rf ^^ et Clero manus fuerit imposita, eiSos r^y p.ravolas. oVot uiu yl,p et e.xtremis delictis caute omnia KaUya^o.py.'a« x,).. eV.a-rpo0^^ fpy^ BeUarmine's Allegation from Cypriun answered. 29 of certain offenders, the severity of this decree is mitigated bookvi. with special caution : " That in all such cases, the mind of ^-^^^ " the penitent and the manner of his repentance is to be " noted, that as many as with fear and tears and meekness, " and the exercise of good works, declared themselves to be " converts indeed, and not in outward appearance only, " towards them the bishop at his discretion might use more " lenity." If the council of Nice suffice not, let Gratian, the founder of the Canon Law, expound Cyprian, who sheweth^^ that the stint of time in peniteney is either to be abridged or enlarged, as the penitent's faith and behaviour shall give occasion. " I have easilier found out men," saith St. Am- brose^s, "able to keep themselves free from crimes, than " conformable to the rules which in peniteney they should " observe." St. Gregory Bishop of Nyse complaineth and inveigheth bitterly against them, who in the time of their peniteney lived even as they had done always before ^^ ; " Their countenance as cheerful, their attire as neat, their " diet as costly, and their sleep as secure as ever, their " worldly business purposely followed, to exile pensive "■ thoughts from their minds, repentance pretended, but " indeed nothing less exprest :" these were the inspections of life whereunto St. Cyprian alludeth ; as for auricular ex- aminations he knew them not. [7.] s Were the Fathers then without use of private con- fession as long as public was in use ? I affirm no such thing. 6 vii. D. Kal m (TxflfiaTi ijriSelKWVTai, ojroi " doloris."] TrXrjpmaavTes rhv xpovov top hpurji-e- 83 Ambros. de Poenitentia, lib. ii. vov rrjs aKpodtreas cIkStois tS>v cv- cap. 10. ["Facilius inveni qui inno- xS>v Koivaivrjiio\6yovv. " apud homines erubescere non d fit, npos tijv eKaa-Tov apapriav, S, n " veretur : tamen quia non omnium xP^ noirja-m i} eKna-ai imTipiov dels " hujusmodi sunt peccata ut ea quae dwiXve, Trapa (rSiv avrav t^v binr)^ " pcenitentiam poscunt non timeant tlcnrpa^opivovs.^ " publicare, removeatur tam impro- I [Rather Nicephorus, referring " babihs consuetudo, ne multi a apparently to Socrates. His words " poemtentise remediis arceantur, are, (lib. xii. c. 28.) Nauanayott " dum aut erubescunt aut metuunt ovhepla mpl tovtov 'dan ^ouSn. " mimicis suis sua facta reserari, \6yos ye prjv exei koi fii' airovs p.S\- "quibuspossmtlegumconstitutione \ov Toir imvorjd^vai to i'pyov, un "percelh Tunc enim demum 6e\r)a-avTas Kotpav^aai tois eVi " plures ad poemtentiam poterunt 7-0) Si TrX^^c. r,s cK«X,cnar noxiis, qui nocentibus post scelera rat apaprms €|ayyeX«y npea^i- blanditur. [from D.l repov oe rav apima nokiTevopdvuv Penitentiaries, how abolished in the GreeJc Church. 35 " innocent to sin." And tberefore they themselves admitted book vi. no man to their communion upon any repentance, which once - — ' ' ' was known to have offended after baptism, making' sinners thereby not the fewer, but the closer and the more obdurate, how fair soever their pretence tnight seem. [9.] V The Grecians'" canon for some one presbyter in every Church to undertake the charge of penitency, and to receive their voluntary confessions which had sinned after baptism, continued in force for the space of about some hundred years 3, tiU Neetarius, and the bishops of churches under him, began a second alteration, aboUshing even that confession which their penitentiaries took in private. There came to the penitentiary of the Church of Constantinople a certain gentlewoman*, and to him she made particular confession of her faults committed after baptism, whom thereupon he advised to continue in fasting and prayer, that as with tongue she had acknowledged her sins, so there might appear in her likewise some work worthy of repentance. But the gentle- woman goeth forward, and detecteth herself of a crime, whereby they were forced to disrobe an ecclesiastical person, that is, to degrade a deacon of the same Church. When the matter by this mean came to public notice, the people were in a kind of tumult offended', not only at that which was done, vlx. D. 8 [From the schism of Novatian, gave offence, but also that the cit-c. A.D. 253, to the episcopate of method of penance prescribed in Neetarius, circ. 391.] the case led to a new crime. Such 4 [Soc. V. 19. Vvvi) Tis TfflK evye- is the construction put on the words vav 7rpo<7r]\6iv tS eVi rrjs juTavolas of Sozomen by Nicephorus, E. H. 7rpe' Kcu Kara ficpoy i^ojio- xii. 28, and in Hist. Tripart. ix. 35, XoyciT-ai Tos afiaprias, as iireKpaxei as also by Valesius in his note on lUTaTb^djTTia-iia. 'Obkirpta^vTepos the place of Socrates.] HraprfyyeCKe rfj yvvaiKi irtja-reieiv Koi * [E. H. v. 19. r/yavaKTOvV yap &vve\ais €il)(€a6ai, Iva avv rfj ofiO" ov fiovov eirX tw y€vop,€v(^, aXK on \6yta kal 'ipyov t\ SetKinieiv fxV ''^^ '^'"^ '^ iKKKr/cria ff\a(r(j>Tifiiav 17 irpa^is jXfTavoias &^i.ov. 'H 8e yvvrj irpo^ai- Kal v^piv npov^evrjo-ep. Aiaa-vpoixevmv vova-a xal oKKo iTToia-p^ iavrrjs Karri- 8e ck toutov tS>v hpap-ivaiv dvSpmv, y6pei' eXeye yap, cbr firj crvyKadev- Ei8aip.r,v f .n,,.- Omv,iv ap^apevijs- eirei 7rp6Tepov, i>s para, p^8^ d>v\irTuv rh Toi'LL « _a,6ov9 rax e|ayy€XXoy™v riis avyKOLvcouelre toXs ?ovow ro« v i\h^„h ' '^ "^""^ ^' ""' KpiT&V.j '"■ 'J Baronius' Charge against Socrates and Sozomen. 37 " you have given occasion^ whereby we shall not now any book vi " more reprehend one another's faultsj nor observe that - " apostolic precept, which saith. Have no fellowship with " the imfruitfiil works of darkness, but rather be ye also " reprovers of them." With Socrates, Sozomen' bothagreeth in the occasion of abolishing penitentiaries ; and moreover testifieth also, that in his time, living with the younger Theo^ dosius, the same abolition did still continue, and that the bishops had in a manner every where followed the example given them by Nectarius. [io.]2 "Wherefore to implead the truth of this history. Cardinal Baronius allegeth that Socrates, Sozomen and Eudee- mon were aU Novatianists; and that they falsify in saying (for so they report), that as many as held the consubstantial being of Christ, gave their assent to the abrogation of the fore- rehearsed canon. The sum is, he would have it taken for a fable, and the world to be persuaded that Nectarius did never any such things. Why then should Socrates first and afterwards Sozomen publish it? To please their pew-fellows, the disciples of Novatian. A poor gratification, and they very silly friends, that would take lies for good turns. For the more acceptable the matter was, being deemed true, the less they must needs (when they found the contrary) either credit or affect him, which had deceived them. Notwithstanding we know that joy and gladness rising from false information, do not only make men forward* to believe that which they z X. D. « so forward E. 8 [Sozorn. Hist Eccles. 1. vii. c. " fuisse credendum est." Ibid. l6. inrjKoXovdriiTav 8e irx^Sbv oJ [c. 27.] Travraxov eVicrKOTToi. . . .Kai e| (Keivov " Sacerdos ille merito a Nectario TovTo Kparovv bicfieivev.'] " est gradu amotus officioque de- 9 " Tanta haec Socrati testanti " positus, quo facto Novatiani (ut " praestanda est fides, quanta caete- " mos est hBereticorum) quam- " ris hsereticis de suis dogmatibus " cunque licet levem, ut sinceris " tractantibus; quippe Novatianus "dogmatibus detrahant, accipere " secta cum fuerit, quam vere ac " ausi occasionem, non tantum " sincere haec scripserit adversus " Presbyterum poenitentiarium in " poenitentiam in Ecclesia adminis- " ordinem redactum, sed et poeni- " trari solitam, quemlibet puto posse " tentiam ipsam una cum eo fuisse " facile judicare." Baron, torn. i. " proscriptam, calumniose admo- ann. Chr. 56. [c. 26.] " dum conclamarunt, cum tamen " Sozomenum eandera prorsus " ilia potius theatralis fieri interdum " causam fovisse certum est." Ibid. " solita confessio peccatorum fuerit " Nee Eudsemonem ilium alium " abrogata." Ibid, [c. 34.] " quam Novatianse sectae hominem Ch. iv. 1 38 Socrates and Sozomen, not Novatianists. BOOK VI first hear, but also apt to schoUe upon it, and to report as true "' :-'^-'°- whatsoever they wish were true. But so far is Socrates from any such purpose, that the fact of Nectarius, which others did both like and follow, he doth both^' disallow and reprove. His speech to Eudeemon, before set down, is proof sufficient that he writeth nothing but what was famously known to aU, and what himself did wish had been otherwise. As for Sozo- men's correspondence" with heretics, having shewed to what end the Church did first ordain penitentiaries, he addeth im- mediately, that Novatianists, which had no care of repentance, could have no need of this office i". Are these the words of a friend or an enemy ? Besides, in the entrance of that whole narration 11, "Not to sin," saith he, "at all, would require a " nature more divine than ours is : but God hath commanded " to pardon sinners ; yea, although they transgress and offend " often." Could there be any thing spoken more directly opposite to the doctrine of Novatian ? Eudsemon was presbyter under Nectarius. To Novatianists the Emperor gave liberty of using their religion quietly by themselves, under a bishop of their own, even within the city, for that they stood with the Church in defence of the CathoHe faith against all other heretics besides 12. Had therefore Eudsemon favoured their heresy, their camps were not pitched so far off, but he might at all times have found easy access unto them. Is there any man that lived with him, and hath touched him that way? if -not, why suspect we him more thau Nectarius? Their report touching Grecian catholic bishops, who gave approbation to that which was done, and did also the like themselves in their own churches, we have no reason to dis- credit, without some manifest and clear evidence brought b both om. E. ^ corresponding E. 1" [Ubi supr. Navarmvols fiiv, ols 12 [Socr. v. 10. o /Sao-tXtiij ou 'hoyoi iitTcuioias, oiiSev tovtov (Theodosius) davjiasras avTutv Trjv eSerjo-evJ] ircpl Toi/s oiKetovs Kara rrju n'uTTiv 'I. \}i^^- ^ii- "^^P- l^- To I^V '^"''- oiiovoiav, fd/io) eice'Xfue rav fih oUel- TfXSs a/wpTfiv SeioTipas fj Kara an- av Kpareiv ahems evKTTjpiav Toirav, 6pa>7rov€SeiTO i^vo-cmy ^era/ieXou/if'- exeiv Se Koi Trpovo/iia ras CKKXriaias vois 81 leal TToXXdKis aixapTavova-i avTwv, airep koX 01 t^s airov mcTTem avyyvap.r]v vejitiv 6 Beos iraptiUKev- rj(ou(r«/.] (TOTO.J ^ Intrinsic Weehness of Baronius's Argument. 39 against it. For of CathoKc bishopSj no likelihood but that book vi. their greatest respect to Nectarius, a man honoured in those — '— — '- parts no less than the Bishop of Rome himself in the western churches, brought them both easily and speedily unto con- formity with him; Arians, Eunomians, ApoUiaarians, and the rest that stood divided from the Church, held their peni- tentiaries as before. NoYatianists from the beginning had never any, because their opinion touching penitency was against the practice of the Church therein, and a cause why they severed themselves from the Church : so that the very state of things as they then stood, giveth great show of proba- bility to his speech, who hath affirmed i^, ''That they only " which held the Son consubstantial with the Father, and " Novatianists which joiaed with them in the same opinion, " had no penitentiaries in their churches, the rest retained " them." By this it appeareth therefore how Baronius, finding the relation plain, that Neetarius did abolish even those private secret confessions, which the people had before been ac- customed to make to him that was penitentiary, laboureth what he may to discredit the authors of the report, and to leave it imprinted in menu's minds, that whereas Nectarius did but abrogate public confession, Novatianists have maliciously forged the abolition of private. As if the odds between these two were so great in the balance of their judgment, which equally hated and contemned both ; or, as if it were not more clear than light, that the first alteration which established penitentiaries took away the burthen of public confession in that kind of penitents, and therefore the second must either abrogate private, or nothing. [ii.]"! Cardinal Bellarmine therefore finding that against the writers of the history it is but in vain to stand upon so doubtful terms and exceptions, endeavoureth mightily to prove, even by their report, no other confession taken away than public, which penitentiaries used in private to impose «3d. D. 13 Socrat. Hist Eccles. lib. v. jria-nv ofio^poves TfiavanavoX, tov in\ C. 19*. \ji6voi 01 Tov 'Ofioovaiov ^po- Trjs iieravoias jrpearlSvTepov irapuTTj- vfifiaToi, Koi 01 TovTois Kara rfjv o-airo.] * This reference not in D. 40 Bellarmine's UT fe^^Acr-=-yi " For why? It is," saith he, BOOK VI. upon public ofienders'*. ior wuj' +t,„ -i?p+T,prq' ^■'•'— "very certain, that the name of penitents m the Fathers -writings signifieth only public penitents; certain, that to " hear the confessions of the rest was more than one could -possibly have done; certain, that ^^^^'T'l'^ f^'\'T, " the Latin Church retained in his time what the Greek had « clean cast off, deelareth the whole order of public penitency " used in the Church of Rome, but of private he maketh no « mention." And, in these considerations, Bellarmine will have it the meaning both of Socrates and off Sozomen, that the former episcopal constitution, which first did erect peniten- tiaries, could not concern any other offenders, than such as publicly had sinned after baptism; that only they were pro- hibited to come to the holy communion, except they did first in secret confess aU their sins to the penitentiary, by his appointment openly acknowledge their open crimes, and do public penance for them; that whereas, before Novatian's uprising, no man was constrainable to confess publicly any sin, this canon enforced public offenders thereunto, till such lime as Nectarius thought good to extinguish the practice thereof. Let us examine therefore these subtile and fine conjectures, f of om. D. '■* Bellarm. de Poenit. lib. iii. c. " solos pcenitentes publicos perti- 14. [p. 1399, 1400.] " Apud veteres " nebat." " nomine pcenitentium, soli public! " Colligimus, constitutionem Epi- " poenitentes, intelligi solebant." " scoporum,de qua historici loquun- " NuUo modo fieri potuit, utunus " tur, id solum complexam, ut qui " presbyter satisfaceret tantse multi- " publice lapsi essent post Baptis- " tudini, quantam Constantinopoli, " mum, ii ad sacram Eucharistiam " vel in aliis civitatibus, poenitentiae " non accederent, nisi Presbytero " remedio indigebat : non igitur " poenitentiario privatim omnia pec- " omnes eum Presbyterum adire " cata sua confess! essent, et deinde " cogebantur, sed ii solum, qui " ad ejus arbitrium publice coram " pcenitentiam publicam suscipie- " coetu Ecclesise peccata publica " bant." " detexissent, et pcenitentiam publi- " Sozomenus, ubi disertis verbis " cam egissent . . . Ante exortam " affirmasset, constitutionem de " hseresin Novati, nemo cogebatur " Presbytero peenitentiali, quam " certum Presbyterum adire, neque " prisci Episcopi invexerant, et Nee- " peccata ulla publice confiteri . . . " tarius postea Constantinopoli ab- " Ceeterum post Novati haeresin " rogaverat, Romse potissimum ac- " excitatam, placuit Episcopis ali- " curate servari; continuo explicare " quid adders, ne Novatiani Catho- " ccepit ritum poenitentise publicae, " licos reprehendere possent quod " quae RomEe suo tempore serva- '• nimis facile lapses ad commu- " batur : igitur constitutio iUa ad " nionem admitterent."] Penitentiaries not in order to Public Confesmn. 41 whether they be able to hold the touch. " It seemed good," book vi. saith Socrates, " to put down the office of these priests which "had charge of penitencyi^;" what charge that was, the kinds of penitency then usual must make manifest. There is often speech in the Fathers^ writings, in their books frequent mention of penitency, exercised within the chambers of our own heart, and seen of God, and not communicated to any other, the whole charge of which penitency is imposed of God, and doth rest upon the sinner himself. But if penitents in secret being guilty of crimes whereby they knew they had made themselves unfit guests for the table of our Lord, did seek direction for their better performance of that which should set them clear ; it was in this case the Penitentiary's office to take their confessions, to advise them the best way he could for their souFs good, to admonish them, to counsel them, but not to lay upon them more than private penance. As for no- torious wicked persons, whose crimes were known, to con- vents, judge, and punish them, was the office of the ecclesias- tical consistory ; Penitentiaries had their institution to another end. Now^ unless we imagine that the ancient time knew no other repentance than public, or that they had little occa- sion to speak of any other repentance, or else that in speaking thereof they used continually some other name, and not the name of repentance, whereby to express private penitency j how standeth it with reason, that wheresoever* they write of penitents, it should be thought they meant only public peni- tents ? The truth is, they handle aU three kinds, but private and voluntary repentance much oftener, as being of far more general use ; whereas public was but incident unto few, and not oftener than once incident unto any. Howbeit, because they do not distinguish one kiad of penitency from another by difference of names, our safest way for construction is to follow circumstance of matter, which in this narration will not yield itself appUable only unto public penance, do what they can that would so expound it. They boldly and confidently affirm, that no man being com- pellable to confess publicly any sin before Novatian's tune, the e convict E. h But B, ' whensoever E. '* Toil eV( T^s fieTavoias 7Tepi(K(lv Trpfo-PvTcpovs. [Hist. Eccles. lib. v. C. 19.] 43 PiiUie Confession practised hefore Novatian. BOOK VI end of instituting penitentiaries afterward in the Church was, "'■•"'■"• that by them men might be constrained unto pubhc confession. Is there any record in the world which doth testify this to be true? There is that tgstifieth the plain contrary. For Sozo- men declaring purposely the cause of their institution, saith'6, " That whereas men openly craving pardon at God's hands " (for public confession, the last act of penitency, was always " made in the form of a contrite prayer unto God), it could not " be avoided but they must withal confess what their offences " were ; this in the opinion of their prelates seemed from th« " first beginning (as we may probably think) to be somewhat " burthensome ;" not burthensome, I think^^ to notorious offenders ; for what more just than in such sort to discipline them? but burthensome, that men whose crimes were un- known should blaze their own faults as it were on a stage, acquainting all the people vdth whatsoever they had done amiss. And therefore to remedy this inconvenience, they laid the charge upon one only priest, chosen out of such as were of best conversation, a silent and a discreet man, to whom they which had offended might resort and lay open their lives. He according to the quality of every one's transgressions ap- pointed what they should do or suffer, and left them to execute it upon themselves. Can we wish a more direct and evident testimony, that the office here spoken of was to ease voluntary penitents from the burthen of public confessions, and not to constrain notorious offenders thereunto ? That such offenders were not compellable to open confession' till Novatian's time, that is to say, till after the days of persecution under Deeius the emperor, they of all men should not so peremptorily avouch ; with whom if Fabian bishop of Rome, who suffered martyrdom ™the first year of Deeius, be of any authority and credit, it must enforce them to reverse their sentence, his words are so plain and clear against them 1 7. "For such as " commit those crimes, whereof the Apostle hath said. They ^ Thefollowimg clause to the repetition of the word burthensome is omitted im E. 1 confesaions E. m in the first E. '^ Sozom. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. " ' Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum c. 1 6. [vid. supr. § 8. note 96.] " Dei non consequentur/ valde ca- 17 Fab. Decret. Ep. 2. torn. i. " vendi sunt, et ad emendationem, Cone. p. 358. [" nil qui lUa perpe- " si voluntarie noluerint, compel- ' trant, de quibus Apostolus ait " lendi ; quia infamis maculis sunt Hessiliu^ Explanation untenable. 4S '' that do them shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven, book vi. " must/'' saith he, " be forced unto amendment, because they — !-LlI!l_ " slip down to hell, if ecclesiastical authority stay them not.'" Their conceit of impossibility, that one man should suffice to take the general charge of peniteney in such a church as Con- stantinople, hath risen from a mere erroneous supposal, that the ancient manner of private confession was like the shrift at this day usual in the Church of Rome, which tieth all men at | one certain time to make confession ; whereas confession was then neither looked for till men did offer it, nor offered for the most part by any other than such as were guilty of heinous transgressions, nor to them any time appointed for that pur- pose. Finally, the drift which Sozomen had in relating the discipline of Rome, and the form of public peniteney there retained even till his time, is not to signify that only public confession was abrogated by Nectarius, but that the west or Latin Church held still one and the same order from the very beginning, and had not, as the Greek, first cut off public volimtary confession by ordaining, and then private by re- moving Penitentiaries. Wherefore to conclude, it standeth, I hope, very plain and clear, first against the one Cardinal, that Nectarius did truly abrogate confession in such sort as the ecclesiastical history bath reported; and secondly, as clear against them both, that it was not public confession only which Nectarius did abolish. [i3.]" The paradox in maintenance whereof Hassels wrote purposely a book touching this argument, to shew that Necta- rius did but put the penitentiary from his offieej and not take away the office itself, is repugnant to the whole advice which Eudaemon gave, of leaving the people from that time forward to their own consciences ; repugnant to the conference be- tween Socrates and EudsBmon, wherein complaint is made of some inconvenience which the want of the office, would breed ; finally, repugnant to that which the history declareth concern- ing other churches, which did as Nectarius had done before n xii. D. " aspersi, et in barathrum delabun- Labb. et Cossart. i. 643. The epi- " tur, iiisi eis sacerdotali auctori- stle is believed to be spurious.] " tate subventum fuerit." Cone, ed. 44 The Course of ancient penitential Discipline BOOK VI. them, not in deposing the same man (for that was impos- '^'''"'3- sible) but in removing the same office out of their churches, which Nectarius had banished from his. For which cause Bellarmineis doth well reject the opinion of Hessels, howso- ever it please Pameliusi^ to admire it as a wonderful happy invention. But in sum, they are all gravelled, no one of them able to go smoothly away, and to satisfy either others or himself with his own conceit concerning Nectarius. [13.]" Only in this they are stiff, that auricular confession Nectarius did not abrogate, lest if so much should be acknow- ledged, it might enforce them to grant that the Greek church at that time held not confession, as the Latin now doth, to be the pai-t of a sacrament instituted by our Saviour Jesus Christ, which therefore the Church till the world's end hath no power to alter. Yet seeing that as long as public voluntary confes- sion of private crimes did continue in either church (as in the one it remained not much above two hundred years, in the other about four hundred) the only acts of such repentance were ; first, the offender's intimation of those crimes to some one presbyter, for which imposition of penance was sought ; secondly, the undertaking of penance imposed by the Bishop; thirdly, after the same performed and ended, open confession to God in the hearing of the whole church; whereupon "en- sued the prayers of the Church ; Pthen the Bishop's imposi- tion of hands; and so <3the party's reconciliation or restitution to his former right in the holy sacrament: I would gladly: know of them which make only private confession a part of their sacrament of penance, how it could be so in those times. For where the sacrament of penance is ministered, they hold that confession to be sacramental which he receiveth who must absolve; whereas during the fore-rehearsed manner of penance, it can no where be shewed, that the priest to whom secret information was given did reconcile or absolve any; for how could he, when public confession was to go before 1 xiii. D. o fourthly ins. E. P fifthly ins. E. q sixthly ins. E. 18 [De Poenit. iii. 14. p. 1399.] " poenitentialem illo ofSeio suo mo- 19 "Non [nee E.] est quod sibi " verit; uti amplissime deducit D. " blandiantur illi de facto Nectarii, " Johannes Hesselius." Pamel. in " cum id potius secretorum pecca- Cypr. lib. [de Lapsis, p. 251.] aniiot. " torum confessionem comprobet, 98. et in lib. TertuU. de Poenit. an- " et non aliud quam Presbyterum not. 1. [p. 200. Paris. 1508.1 did not imply Auricular Confession. 45 reconciliatioTij and reconciliation likewise in public thereupon book vi. Ch. iv. 13. to ensue ? So that if they did account any confession"^ sacra- - mental, it was surely public, which is now abolisht in the Church of Rome ; and as for that which the Church of Eome doth so esteem, the ancient neither had it in such estimation, nor thought it to be of so absolute necessity for the taking away of sin. But (for any thing that I could ever observe out of them) although not only in crimes open and notorious, which made men unworthy and uncapable of holy mysteries, their dis- cipliae required first public penance, and then granted that which St. Hierom mentioneth, saying, " The priest layeth his "■ hand upon the penitent, and by invocation entreateth that " the Holy Ghost may return to him again, and so after " having enjoined solemnly all the people to pray for him, " reconcUeth to the altar him who was delivered to Satan for " the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit might be safe in " the day of the Lord^o :" — ^Although I say not only in such offences being famously known to the world, but also if the same were committed secretly, it was the custom of those times, both that private intimation should be given, and public con- fession made thereof; in which respect, whereas all men did wilhngly the one, but would as willingly have withdrawn themselves from the other, had they known how; "Is it "tolerable," saith St. Ambrose^', "that to sue to God thou " shouldst be ashamed, which blushest not to seek and sue " unto man ? Should it grieve thee to be a suppliant to him r profession D. 20 « SacerdoB imponit manum " refugis, cum si homini satisfa- " subjecto, reditum Spiritus Sancti " ciendum sit, multos necesse est " invocat, atque itaeum quitraditus " ambias obsecres, ut dignentur " fuerat Satanse in interitum carnis, " intervenire ; ad genua te ipse " ut spiritus salvus fieret, indicta " prosternas, osculeris vestigia, fi- " in populum oratione altari recon- " lios offeras culpse adhuc ignaros, " ciliat." Hieron. advers. Lucif. " paternse etiam veniae precatores ? [§ 5. t. ii. p. 175. a. ed. Vallarsii.] " Hoc ergo in ecclesia facere fasti- 21 Ambros. de Poenit. lib. ii. cap. " dis, ut Deo supplices, ut patroci- 10. ["An quisquam ferat ut eru- " nium tibi ad obsecrandum sanctse " bescas Deum rogare, qui non eru- " plebis requiras : ubi nihil est quod " bescis rogare hominem ? et pudeat " pudori esse debeat, nisi non fateri, " te Deo supplioare, quern non " cum omnes simus peecatores ; ubi " lates, cum te non pudeat peccata " ille laudabilior, qui humilior, ille " tua homini, quemlateaSjConfiteri? "justior.qui sibi abjeotior." t. ii. " An testes precationis et conscios 435-] 46 Authorities against the Need of Auricular Confession. BooKvi. " from whom thou canst not possibly hide thyself; when to ""■"'■■^' « open thy sins to him, from whom, if thou wouMst, thou « mightest conceal them, it doth not any thing at all trouble "thee? This thou art loth to do in the Church, where, "all being- sinners, nothing is more opprobrious indeed " than concealment of sin, the most humble the best thought " of, and the lowliest accounted the justest :" — All this not- withstanding, we should do them very great wrong, to father any such opinion upon them, as if they did teach it a thing impossible for any sinner to reconcile himself imto God, with- out confession unto the priest. 22 Would Chrysostom thus persuaded have said, " Let the inquiry and presentments of " thy offences be made in thine own thoughte j let the tribunal " whereat thou arraignest thyself be without witness : let Crod " and only God see thee and thy confession?" Would Cassia- nus23j BO believing, have given counsel, "That if any were " withheld by bashfulness from discovering their faults to men, " they should be so much the more instant and constant in " opening them by supplication to God himself, whose wont " is to help without publication of men's shame, and not to up- " braid them when he pardoneth ?" Finally, would Prosper^*, settled in this opinion, have made it, as touching reconciliation to God, a matter indifferent. " Whethet men of ecclesiastical " order did detect their crimes by confession, or leaving the " world ignorant thereof, would separate voluntarily them- " selves for a time from the altar, though not in affection, yet s punishment E. 22 Chrys. Horn. Ilep\ lieravolas ii. c. 7. [" Deum sibi facilius placa- Koi e^ofioKoyrjtreas. Hapa rols Xoyicr- " bunt illi, qui non humano convicti uois yeveirBa tS>u TrejrkrjiifieKrjiievuv " judicio sed ultro crimen cognos- Tj i^iraa-is' dudprvpov e