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ENTIRE ABSOLUTION OF THE PENITENT.

A SERMON,

mostly preached

BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY,

IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, IN OXFORD,

ON THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

REV. E. B. PUSEY, D.D.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, AND
LATE FELLOW OF OKIEL COLLEGE.

OXFORD,
JOHN HENRY PARKER;
j^ ) .. F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON.
rl n^3 C. 1846.
f .'^^ 

LONDON :
GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. John's square.

PREFACE.

The writer of the present Sermon has already stated,
in the course of it, what was not, as well as what
was, his object ; yet it may possibly save some mis
understanding, here to restate it. Its object is, the
relief of individual penitents. Consciences are bur
dened. There is a provision, on the part of God, in
His Church, to relieve them. They wish to be, and
to know that they are, in a state of grace. God has
provided a means, however deeply any have fallen,
to replace them in it. They feel that they cannot
take ofF their own burden, loose the chains of their
past sins, and set themselves free to serve God.
They look for some act out of themselves, if there
be one, which shall do this. God has provided it.
They want something to sever between past and
future, that they may begin anew. By His absolving
sentence, God does efface the past. They cannot
estimate their own repentance and faith. He has
provided Physicians of the soul, to relieve and judge
for those who " open their griefs" to them. They
wish to know how to overcome besetting tempta
tions; God has provided those, experienced in the
sad history of man's sins and sorrows, who can tell
them how others, through the grace of God, have
overcome them. A '2

iv PREFACE.
Such are the cases to which the Church of which
we are members, most directly applies the remedy
of private Absolution, cases of heavy sin, or of
timorous, scrupulous consciences ; and this, either
previous to the Holy Communion, or at the hour
of death. There is a deep instinctive feeling, by
which the soul (unless warped by human systems)
does long to lay open any oppressive sin, before it
comes into the presence of its Judge. Persons, who
for a long period of life have carried about them
the oppressive consciousness of some past, secret,
sin, cannot bear it then ; those who could not bring
themselves to endure the pain and shame of con
fession in life, still often could not bear the thought
of carrying their sin with them, unconfessed, into
the very Presence of God. "They," says Hooker',
" which during life and health, are never destitute
of ways to delude repentance, do, notwithstanding,
oftentimes, when their last hour draweth on, both
feel that sting which before lay dead in them, and
also thirst after such helps as have always till then
been unsavoury." People have, through years of
life, purposed to confess (if God enable them) at
their death. But what instinctive reverence for
Almighty God tells them should be done before
death, should, if possible, be done in life. And so
souls of the more earnest sort desire to undergo
present pain, that they may obtain not forgiveness
only, but enlarged grace and increased strength
On " Private Confession and Absolution with us," bk. vi.
4. 15.

PREFACE. V
against evil, and so the fuller favour of Almighty
God. And this is obviously the more necessary, in sad
cases of relapse, where the will is good but weak,
and evil habits strong ; and men break oiFa habit for
awhile perhaps, and then are overtaken by it, and
then perhaps despond, and give themselves up to it,
or give up other good habits, as though all were
lost. And, in bad cases of relapse, a person cannot or
ought not, without repentance proportionate, to go
to the Holy Communion " with a quiet conscience."
And so our Church, in her two exhortations, both
warns us of the peril of " those who will presume to
receive it unworthily," and if we are alarmed by her
warnings, directs us how to find relief; which, doubt
less, she intended also to encourage by the direc
tion ^, that " those who intend to be partakers of the
Holy Communion shall signify their names to the
Curate, at least some time the day before." " Be
cause," says Hooker I " there are but few that con
sider how much that part of DiA'ine service, which
consisteth in partaking the holy Eucharist, doth im
port their souls ; what they lose by neglect thereof,
and what by devout practice they might attain unto ;
therefore, lest carelessness of general confession
should, as commonly it doth, extinguish all remorse
of men's particular enormous crimes, our custom
(whensoever men present themselves at the Lord's
^ Rubric at the beginning of the Communion Service.
¦' Loc. cit.

vi PREFACE.
Table) is, solemnly to give them very fearful admo
nition, Avhat Avoes are perpendicularly hanging over
the heads of such as dare adventure to put forth
their unworthy hands to those admirable mysteries
of life, which have by rare examples been proved
conduits of irremediable death to impenitent re
ceivers ; whom, therefore, as we repel being known,
so being not known we terrify."
Again, let it be considered whether, among many
blessed death-beds, which God has vouchsafed to us
to see, this be not one chief ground of the complaint
which earnest Parochial Clergy find occasion to
make, that their ministrations to the dying poor
are often seemingly unproductive, or others come
in and, by a system of excitement, efface real re
pentance, — that the provision made by our Church
is neglected. At that hour, people want, if it may be had, some
special, present comfort, as belonging to themselves.
Such is furnished in their way by those who can
and do say, "Believe that you will be saved, and
you M'ill be saved." It is furnished by the Church,
which says, " Repent, pour out thy griefs before
God in presence of His Priest, and Christ will ab
solve thee, and wash thy soul in His own Blood."
And this painful review of sins, as it implies real
sincerity, so does it, by God's grace, tend much to
increase repentance, and love, and trust in God.
But if we are to bring people to a very painful
efibrt, we ought to offer them all to support them,
which we are empowered. While warning against

PREFACE. Vll
delays of repentance, the Minister of Christ must,
until the door is shut, both exhort to repentance
and tell of its rcM'ards, and encourage to it by the
earnest of its acceptance. Who knows what, even
in a brief space, God, Who needs no space, may not
work in a penitent's soul? "Because," Hooker says'*,
" to countervail the fault of delay, there are in the
latest repentance oftentimes the surest tokens of
sincere dealing ; therefore upon special confession
made to the minister of God, he presently absolveth
in this case the sick party from all hib sins by that
authority which Jesus Christ hath committed unto
him, knowing that God respecteth not so much what
time is .spent, as ivhat truth is .shewed in repentance.'''
Such were the cases which were chiefly before
the writer's mind; cases, of which every one who
has been called upon to minister to the sorrows of
men's souls, knows that there are too many. Not
the peace only, but the salvation of the soul, is now
often in peril. For despondency is Satan's deadliest
weapon, when men have deeply sinned ; and he uses
it too fatally to plunge men deeper in sin, or hold
them fast in it, as thinking that recovery is hopeless.
Yet such are not the only cases to which the pro
visions of our Church directly apply. She explicitly
contemplates another class, tender consciences, who
need comfort, and peace, and re-assurance of the
favour of their Heavenly Father. For (blessed be
God !) there are those who feel the weight of any
slight sin, more than others do "whole cart-loads;"
* vi. 4, 15.

Vin PREFACE.
and who do derive comfort and strength from the
special application of the power of the keys to their
own consciences. The words of our Church are very
large ; " a full trust in God's mercy and a quiet con
science," " if any by this means cannot quiet his own
conscience herein, but requireth further comfort
and counsel," " to the avoiding of all scruple and
doubtfulness." What Minister of Christ, then, should
take upon himself to drive away " His lambs," as if
persons were to have less of the Ministry of comfort,
the less they had offended God ? As if any thing
ought, in the estimation of the Christian Minister, to
be of slight account, which disturbs the peaceful
mirror of the soul, wherein it reflects God ! The
"benefit of Absolution," then, is intended by our
Church, not only for the penitent, who are by it
assured of God's acceptance of their repentance, and
often by it replaced in a state of grace, but for all
who can, through its ministry, approach with light
ened, more kindled hearts, to the Holy Communion.
Our Church, in leaving her children free, did not
mean to stint the use of the gifts entrusted to her,
to force all consciences to one level ; nor because
she does not refjiiire Confession, therefore, (as
some now would seem to interpret her,) by an oppo
site constraint to that which she laid aside, to hinder
or withhold them from it. It was beautifully said
in lier fii-.st Liturgy \ — " requiring such as shall be
satisfied with a general Confession not to be offended
with them that do use, to their further satisfying.
The Book of Common Prayer, &c., 1549.

PREFACE. IX
the auricular and secret Confession to the priest ;
nor those also which think needful or convenient,
for the quietness of their own consciences, parti
cularly to open their sins to the priest, to be
offended with them that are satisfied with their
humble confession to God, and the general con
fession to the Church ; but in all things to follow
and keep the rule of charity ; and every man to be
satisfied with his own conscience, not judging other
men's minds or consciences ; whereas he hath no
warrant of God's Word to the same." And in later
days, the principle of our Church was briefly charac
terized by a Bishop \ belonging to an acknowledged
English school. " It is confessed that private con
fession to a priest is of very ancient practice in the
Church ; of excellent use and practice, being dis
creetly handled. We refuse it to none, if men
require if, if need be to have it. We urge it, and
persuade it in extremes. We urge it in case of per
plexity, for the quieting of men disturbed in their
consciences." Such, then, are the cases contemplated by our
Church, the restoration of penitents, the relief of the
conscience, either in sickness or before the Holy
Communion, from the weight of grievous sin ; the
quieting of perplexed minds.
But, as was said, she restricted it not to the cases
in which she recommended it. She did not, there
fore, discourage it, when she ceased to urge it. We
must believe that she who encouraged it in these
^ Bp. Montague, quoted by Wordsworth, p. 77-

X PREFACE.
cases, would have recommended it in any other, if the
need had then arisen, when she was free to recom
mend any thing.
Such a deep need, then, has arisen in the case of
our youth. The " world" has ever thought, and will
think, that, because children are little, the sins of
children are of slight account. Not so conscience
and experience, or the Word of God. Every one
who has been called upon to minister in this way
to human souls, knows too well, how years of sin
and misery have mostly had their starting-point in
some sin of the child. Even amid the deepest
Avounds of later life, one, perhaps the first grave
offence of the child, lives ineffaceably in the memory
of the penitent. Years of forgetfulness of self and
of God haA^e not been able to blot it out from
the memory. As the freshness of early innocence,
Avhen the child, yet new from its Maker's Hands,
Avas also newly washed from original guilt, is a
bright, glad spot, over Avhich the soul ever after yearns
Avith a sacred unutterable longing, so that first breath
of graver sin, Avhich tainted that new paradise, leaves
a painful memory of its own, single in the soul's
history. It may seem strange, that after deep,
heathenish, sins, that one, in itself so much lighter
sin, should stand out so vividly in the memory. But
the fact may be of great moral value. It is not an
exaggeration, since it recurs again and again, and
seems stamped by the Hand of God upon the con
science. It is His AA-itness that childhood is a very
sacred age. How should it not be, Avhen He chose

PREFACE. Xl
it as a type of His disciples, and pronounced such a
heavy Avoe on any one who made " one of these little
ones to stumble ? " But it is more It is a M'itness
how fearful, beyond all thought, sin is, Avhen the first
grave sin, by which the soul rebelled against God,
wounds the soul so deeply; for deep must be the
Avound which after-years do not efface. Even Avhen
the soul has been covered over and over with sores,
it has still felt, with a special pain, the Avound of
that first childish sin. But more. The young need
to be Avarned, not only against sin Avhich they know,
but against sin which they scarcely suspect to be
sin. It Avill not be thought, that such strong lan
guage as has been used in this Sermon ', was used
lightly in the House of God, in His immediate Pre
sence, and as His Minister. It was founded on
extensive, painful, knoAvledge. People speak com
monly of the evils of Confession, as likely, or in
some cases actually having conveyed to the soul,
knowledge of evil. And it is painfully true that,
in unskilful hands, in other countries, conducted in a
dry technical way, it has ". But they forget that
there are those around youth by whom they are
more likely to be taught evil, than by the Priest ;
there is one nearer still to the soul, Avhose unceas
ing object it is, not to guard against it, but to instil
and suggest it. Evil is mostly diligent in propagat-
- p. 52 and 54.
° It is admitted with sorrow and indignation in Manuals, which
warn earnestly against carelessness so terrible, as Bailly, t. iv.
p. 257, sqq. ed. 6.

xii PREFACE.
ing itself; one evil companion does often a vi'orld of
evil ; the good are tacitly a burthen to the bad, so
the bad instinctively seek to make others like them
selves. It is a great trial not to be ashamed of
ignorance, even of evil. "Amongst my equals,"
says St. Augustine ' of his heathen youth, " I was
ashamed of a less shamelessness." Be the physi
cian removed, lest he inadvertently poison his pa
tients, if there be no risk, that the poison, intro
duced from other sources, .shall Avork more secretly
and more fatally ! But again this is not the fear
to which our nation is exposed ; it can be avoided
by ordinary caution and cleanness of heart. Purity of
soul is guarded by Him Who gives it ; it is not
easily injured even by one unskilful ; Avhere it
exists, it carries its own evidence ; it is not blighted
by all the foulness of the world, much less will it be
by the Priests of God.
But be it (as people think) a choice of evils, as
there must be evil, Avherever there is human in
firmity and ignorance, and this there must be in
things ministered by man. And yet let people
bring before themselves, that it is a choice of evil ;
that all evil and peril does not lie on the side of
sacred intercourse Avith God's Priests " ; that the Avorld
' Conf. ii. 7 and 17.
As much has been said of late very offensively on this sub
ject, it may be mentioned that, in the " Manuel des Confesseurs,"
there are given, from the "Pretre Sanctifie," special cautions as to
" les interrogations sur la purete avec les enfans, avec les adultes
et les personnes mariees." (p. 157, 158.) It is advised to risk
incomplete confession, rather than risk conveying knowledge of

PREFACE. Xin
and Satan are busy, and Avith dreadful success ; and
then let them Aveigh Avhich is safest, — to leave the
soul open to the inroads of the world and Satan, or
to guard it, even though " he who is to watch for
the soul " be liable to occasional error. The writer
is almost ashamed to say so much ; but the deep
suspicion fostered unhappily in the English mind, by
Avhich their holiest earthly affections are enlisted
against the very remedy for sore existing evil,
made it a duty to speak plainly, and to make one
strong protest against it. Let this be said ; they
Avho, through ministering to such as after sin have
again been brought back to God, have knoAvn their
AA'hole sorrowful history, have had no doubt, that,
humanly speaking, in most cases, early confession
would, by the blessing of Almighty God, have saved
them from their sin and misery ; and then let men
think whether it be not possible, that this suspicion
of confession may be sovs'ed by the father of lies
himself, in order to keep his own kingdom undis
turbed, and carry on his ravages in the soul unhin
dered. We do not disuse medicines for the body because
poisons have been administered through carelessness,
evil to one ignorant of it. Again, there and elsewhere, special
warning is given not to mention the circumstances of any such
sins. S. (Charles Borromeo gives cautions to the same effect, ib.
p. 196. The "Manuel" is the work chiefly used in Franco;
the " Pretre Sanctifie," has been sanctioned at Rome also. Bailly
(probably, in the passage lately referred to, to prove the contrary)
gives most earnest admonitions as to caution " ne juniores ea
doceantur quse feliciter ignorabant." — T. iv. p. 257. ed. 6.

xiv PREFACE.
or disorders wholly mistaken, and so treated as to
bring death, not life, or even the infection of mor
tal diseases been unsuspectingly conveyed ; nor do
men cease to take advice as to their estates, because
ignorant or dishonest laAvyers have at times ruined
their clients. People are content to run risks in
one case, because they value their lives or estates :
they magnify the risks in the other, because they
either value not their souls, or dislike the cure, or
think they cannot be lost. "One we must have,"
says Bp. Andrewes °, " to knoAv thoroughly the state
of our lands or goods ; one Ave must have, entirely
acquainted with the state of our body : in our souls
it holdeth not ! I say no more ; it were good it did !"
In every thing else, men appeal to experience as
the very test of truth ; Avhich, then, Avill they not
believe, — that men have been wounded ? but them
selves confess it ; or that they are noAv healed ? but
their liA'es show it ; or that this was not the means
of their healing? hoAv, then, is it, that up to this
time they were sick, ever sinking back into the
same si?is, and now are Avhole ? This is said, of
course, simply why people should not a priori speak
against truth Avhich they knoAv not, not as the
ground of that truth. Such facts bring the truth
home to us individually, as acts of the Providence,
or Justice, or Love of Almighty God impress more
deeply upon our souls the truths of nature or of
grace Avhich Ave before believed. The ground for
= Serm, iv. on Whitsunday, ad fin. quoted by Wordsworth,
p. 73, 74.

PREFACE. XV
belief that " Our Lord Jesus Christ hath left power
AA'ith His Church to absolve all sinners who truly
repent and believe in Him," is His OAvn words,
Avhicli the Church hath ever understood, as He, in
their plain meaning, spake them.
But in all this, nothing has been implied Avith
regard to the authoritative restoration of any system
of confession. In the abstract, indeed, " with us,"
as Hooker ' says, " the Church is not denied to have
authority either of abridging or enlarcjing the use and
exercise of that power." It is a matter of discipline,
open to the Church, to enforce public penance, as in
the Ancient Church, or private confession, as now
in the Roman Church; or to leave the exercise ofit
to the consciences of individuals. But no amount
of voluntary confession involves the restoration of
compulsory ; the one is the prompting of the con
science within, the other the provision of discipline
AA-ithout. And all the indications of God's Provi
dence, for some time past, point to the great restora
tion of inward life in this portion of His Church, as
the inward operation of God the Holy Ghost, not to
be promoted by any outward laws or discipline. We
need no organic change in the Church, no Convoca
tion, no laws, no enforcement of outward directions,
no public discipline. It were to begin at the wrong
end. What we need is, that men's hearts should be
restored, the longings after a more inward, or more
watchful, more devoted life, fostered, the desire of
greater strictness with self, and conformity to the
' See p. 12, note.

xvi PREFACE.
Will of God strengthened, the indistinct feeling
after a higher standard of duty confirmed and more
defined. The duty of the present day is not to
forestall, or calculate, or plan, for the future ; but
to do that for the present needs, Avhich God gives to
be done. Our duties lie severally to individuals, of
whom God assigns the charge to any ; as a Avhole, we
need to follow, not to guide ; for That AAdiich we
should follow is the only sure Guide, the deep Work
ing of the Holy Spirit, which is anoAv more fully
penetrating our whole Church, and lifting it up,
as a Avhole, as the Ark upon the waters.
What then was said in this sermon as to the
duties of the Clergy ^, had reference, not to the in
troduction of any neAv system, but to this only, hoAV
existing needs of the laity might be met. As was
stated in the sermon itself, the exercise of private
Confession and Absolution has arisen, not in the
recommendations of the Clergy, but in the needs
both of the Clergy and laity. And these needs must
increase, as, with deepening earnestness, the con
sciousness of past heavy sin becomes more burthen-
some, or persons become more alive to the evil of
all sin, and look out for every aid Avhich may, by
God's help, be a check upon it, or, through the
Blood of C'hrist, may cleanse from it.
It is then an entire perA^ersion of the Avhole ques-
Many of the Congregation, for whom University Sermons
are intended, necessarily being Clergymen, it has never been
thought beyond a Preacher's province to speak of our common
duties.

PREFACE. XVU
tion, that some have ventured to speak of " priestly
power," "spiritual independence," "sacerdotal rights,'
&c. If a physician goes about to minister to the
sick, bind up the broken, apply to the cure of diseases
the medicines which God has given him the know
ledge and the skill to use, no one speaks of " assump
tion of power;" no one thinks it a part of "indepen
dence " to die neglected. Why then speak of
"priestly power," when people ask the Ministers
of God to impart that with which God has en
trusted them ? Why is it undue " power " to
bind up the broken-hearted, to pour into their
wounds the wine and oil of penitence, to lift
them up Avhen desponding, to loose them, in
Christ's Name, from the chains of their sins,
and encourage them anew to the conflict? Why
but that to those who know not what the conflict
is, what sin is, who have no idea of mental sick
ness, or anxiety or distress, all, both sickness and
remedy, must seem a dream ? To minister to bodily
wants is accounted a benefit ; to minister to spi
ritual, which men know not of, is a reproach. In
the world, " they that exercise lordship over them
are called benefactors ; " but even an Apostle had
occasion to say, " Am I therefore become your
enemy, because I tell you the truth ? "
Yet one would fain hope, that some who do so
speak, do not mean this. It cannot surely be meant,
that if religious parents taught their children to con
fess their faults to themselves, and then, at a some
what riper age, transferred them to a minister of
a

xviii PREFACE.
God, to open their hearts to him'; or if they, who
are burthened with the memory of past, heavy sin,
and cannot get free from it, long to pour it out
before God in the presence of His Priest, and re
ceive through him the sentence of God's forgiveness;
or if people find that to take shame is a healthful
medicine, or that confes,sion is a quieting of the con
science, a check to the inferior will, that they fall
not again and again into the same faults ; or that it
keeps the heart clean, and that God thereby imparts
new energy to serve Him, — it cannot be meant that
willingness to minister to such cases is an assump
tion of priestly power, or that to recommend in spe
cific cases a known remedy, is to interfere between
the soul and God. Who shall venture to call that
" Priestcraft " Avhich is the channel of God's grace
to the soul?
Let those who are AA-hole (God grant that they be
found such in the Day of Judgment!) dispense with
a Physician ; let any Avho find it suffice to them to
bring their sicknesses before the Heavenly Physician,
accept their healing thankfully from His Hand, the
Good Samaritan ; they Avho do this habitually and
earnestly, aa'III be the last to blame those Avho seek
in any laAvful AA'ay to have the diseases of their souls
healed. But let not men declaim against remedies
Avhich they have not tried, nor seek to deter the
The pious Chancellor Gerson (a. d. 1400) in his " De Par
vulis ad Christum trahendis," with large experience, speaks of
the great peril of early corruption, and of confession as " directrix
efficacissima ad Christum."

PREFACE. XIX
wounded of Christ's flock from being bound up, lest
they draw doAvn upon themselves that woe, " Ye
neither enter in yourselves, and those who would
have entered in, you hinder." " For thus saith the
Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search My
sheep and seek them out : I will seek that whicli
was lost, and bring again that which was driven
away, and Avill bind up that which was broken, and
will strengthen that which was sick; but I will
destroy the fat and the strong ; I will feed them
with judgment ^"
It now remains only to state, that parts of the
Sermon were omitted in the delivery, since it
seemed likely, even thus, to reach the full limit
of University vSermons. These parts have been in
closed Avithin brackets, except that, AA'here the omis
sions consisted of half sentences, in which no doc
trine was contained, or the omission of texts of Scrip
ture, it AA'ould ha\'e been simply pedantic to mark it.
One word only of caution may be added to the
young, in Avhose hands this Sermon may fall, with
regard to the passages on Mortification in pp. 62, 64,
Avhich were the rather omitted in the delivery, lest,
without explanation, any should act upon them
indiscreetly. It is part of the humility of penitence
to feel one's self unable to guide one's self. For
there is much risk *, lest, in the first fervour of peni-
^ Ezek. xxxiv. 11. 16.
* See Mr. Newman's valuable Sermon, " Dangers to the Peni
tent," in the " Sermons on the Subjects of the Day."

XX PREFACE.
tence, a person should bind himself with rigid rules,
disproportioned to his weakness, which might injure
body or mind ; or entangle himself with indefinite,
or too minute, or unbending rules, which, under
altered circumstances, or in time, might become
unfitting or a snare to the conscience ; and then a
person grows AA'eary, or desponds, or loses the cheer
fulness of his penitence and goes on as a slaA^e, or
relaxes unduly and falls into carelessness, or is beset
by scruples, and tossed hither and thither, instead of
keeping, by the grace of God, a steady, onward
course. If a person must guide himself, it is better
to take some gentle rule at first, involving moral
discipline and restraint, correcting some wrong
temper or self-will, or to make the fasts of the
Church penitential, rather than to add bodily disci
pline, of his own mind. But it is better, of course,
not to be one's own physician, when the mind
which would have to prescribe for its own healing,
is itself the sick part of us. And God in His mercy
has given us, everyAvhere, those Avho have learnt of
Him how " to lift up the hands Avhich hang down,
and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for
the feet, lest that Avhich is lame be turned out
of the Avay, but that it rather be healed."
May He Who has begun a good work in us,
perform it unto the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ Church,
Septiiaaesima, IS-Ki.

A
SERMON,

St. John xx. 21 — 23.
" Then said Jesus unto them again. Peace be unto you. As My
Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had
said this. He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost : Whose soever sins ye remit, they are re
mitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained."
It will be in the memory of some that when, nearly
three years past, Almighty God (for " secret faults,"
which He knoweth, and from which, I trust. He willed
thereby the rather to " cleanse'' me,) allowed me to
be deprived for a time of this my office among you,
I was endeavouring to mitigate the stern doctrine of
the heavy character of a Christian's sins, by pointing
out the mercies of God which might reassure the
penitent, the means of his restoration, the earnests
of his pardon. And in so doing, it seemed best, first
to dwell upon the unfathomable mercies of God
in Christ, the exhaustless abyss of mercy in the
Infinite Fountain of Mercy ; — when it is not finally
shut out. Infinite as Himself, as being poured out from
His Infinity; and then, more directly, on all those

2
untold and ineffable mercies contained in the Inter
cession of our Lord, at the Right Hand of God, for
us. For so, I hoped, would the hearts of penitents
be the more fixed upon Him, the Source of all mer
cies, and their faith be strengthened, and they the
more hope that no depth of past sin could utterly
sever them from the love of Christ ; nay, could sever
them from no degree or fulness of His unspeakable
love. For Avhat limit shall there be to His tender
mercy. Who devised that Avondrous scheme of man's
redemption, and gave His Only-Begotten, Co-equal,
Son, that man, the work of His Hands, should not
perish ? What bounds to the compass of His love.
Who, being Eternal God, so compas,sionated us as to
take our nature upon Him, that He might die for
us ; and not die only, " but live to make intercession
for us"? What bounds to His power to restore. Who
hath " all power in heaven and in earth," and as yet
exerciseth that power to restore us ? What an infi
nite depth must there be in that love, which joined
our lowliness to His Majesty, took our misery, to im
part to us His Mercy, His Love, and His Joy ! And
so I hoped that both they, AA'ho, educated in imper
fect systems, suspect all Avho speak of the channels
of Divine Mercy, as though they forgot Him, Its
EverfloAving Source, might be less indisposed to the
truth ; and that they Avho received the truth, might
have their souls the more fixed upon Him, Who is the
Truth, and by Whom to us is all grace and truth.
And when, further, I began to speak of the means

by which God applies that grace, I wished to dwell
upon those sacred Gifts by which He vouchsafes to
impart it to us, before I spoke of those acts of our
OAvn, yet equally His Gifts in us, by AA'hich He work
eth it in us ; that so we might the more have it
impressed upon us, that all is of Him. And of these
Gifts, I spoke first of the Holy Eucharist, rather than
of the special application of the povi^er of the keys,
because I hoped that on that great Gift, whereof Ave
all habitually partake, we might be the rather one ;
and not dispute (as I never meant to speak contro
versially) upon the Gifts Which He left as "the
pledges of His love ;" Avhereas, since the special use
of the poAA'er of the keys Avas, in the last unhappy
century, so much laid aside, and has been but par
tially resumed, and the very language of our Divines
or the Reformers is so unfamiliar at least to men's
minds and sympathies, I could not but fear that it
might to many seem an unaccustomed teaching, dis
tinctly as i^ is OAvned by our Church. I dwelt then
first on the comfort of the Holy Eucharist to the
penitent, as a Sacrament and as a commemorative
Sacrifice. As a Sacrament, because, in the words
of our Liturgy, in It " our sinful bodies are made
clean by His Body, and our souls washed through
His most Precious Blood;" as a commemorative
Sacrifice, I will simply rehearse to you some of the
words of the Apostolic Bp. Wilson ', who, in his
' Sunday Meditations, before Service begins. Add ibid. " We
offer unto Thee, our King and our God, this Bread and this Cup.
B 2 C" We

Sacra PriA'ata, thus prays : "May it please Thee, 0
God, Who hast called us to this ministry, to make
us Avorthy to offer unto Thee this Sacrifice for our
own sins and for the sins of Thy people."
And noAv, brethren, I would proceed to speak of
that great authoritative act, AA^hereby God in the
Church still forgives the sins of the penitent.
For all forgiveness of sin, as every gift of mercy
" We give Thee thanks for these and for all Thy mercies ; be
seeching Thee to send down Thy Holy Spirit upon this Sacrifice,
that He may make this Bread the Body of Thy Christ, and this
Cup the Blood of Thy C-hrist ; and that all we, who are partakers
thereof, may thereby obtain a remission of our sins and all other
benefits of His Passion.
" May I atone => Thee, by offering to Thee, O God, by offering to
Thee the pure and unbloody Sacrifice, which Thou hast ordained
by Jesus Christ. Amen."
And ibid. Wed. Medit. Lent. Meditations proper for a.
Clergyman. " Give me such holy dispositions of ^oul whenever
I approach Thine Altar, as may in some measure be proportion
able to the holiness of the work I am about, of presenting the
prayers of the faithful, of offering a spiritual Sacrifice to God, in
order to convey the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ — the true
Bread of Life — to all His members. Give me, when I com
memorate the same Sacrifice that Jesus Christ once offered, give
me the same intentions that He had, to satisfy the justice of
God, to acknowledge His mercies, and to pay all that debt which
a creature owes to his Creator. None can do this effectually but
Jesus Christ: Him, therefore, we present to God, in this holy
Sacrament."

" Ed. 2. fol. 1782. Other Edd. have "atone unto Thee."
The above is probably correct ; " atone " being so used for to
" appease."

5
or of grace, by whomsoever or howsoever it comes
to us, is from Him. [He Who said, " Ye shall be
baptized Avith the Holy Ghost and with fire," Him
self baptizeth invisibly Avhom the Church visibly
baptizeth in His Name. He Who said, " It is not
ye AA'ho speak, but the Spirit of your Father Who
speaketh in you," Himself^ as He promised, calleth,
converteth, exhorteth, teacheth, guideth, through
those to whom He has given commission to do any
office in His Name. He Who said, " Comfort ye,
comfort ye My people, speak to the heart of Jeru
salem, and say to her, her sin is pardoned," Himself
is, through them. The Only Comforter. He Who
said, " Do this in remembrance of Me," Himself, by
His Word of Power, invisibly consecrates and sends
doAvn His Spirit. He Who said, " Whose soever sins
ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them ; " and Who,
as our Church says in her most solemn Absolution,
" hath left poAver Avith His Church to absolve all
sinners who truly repent and turn to Him," Himself
looseth the bands of sins which He commandeth
His servants Avho stand by to unloose in His Name ;
Himself absolveth in heaven those Avho, according to
His Will, are absolved on earth. In all things ^], the
Church 6r her Ministers are not instead of, but the
instruments of, Christ. [Even as the eyes, the hands,
the feet, act not instead of the soul, which in-
formeth the whole body and acteth through every por-
'' In preaching, this was abridged thus: " Baptizing, Absolv
ing, Teaching, Consecrating, the Church," &c.

6
tion and member of it, so the " goodly feet of those
who preach the Gospel of peace," or the "hands,"
which are "laid on" in the Name of Christ, or the
Voice, Avhich in Baptism jJi'onounces the Name of
the Holy Trinity upon us, or in Absolution saith,
" By His Authority committed unto, me, I absolve
thee from all thy sins," in the Name of the Same
Holy Trinity, avail, not of themselve,s, but as the
members, the feet, the hands, the voice of Christ.
And as Almighty God chose some created form, in
which to appear to man, and Avhat AA'as seen by the
Patriarchs, Avas a created appearance, yet He was
seen in the flame of fire in the bush, and heard on
Mount Sinai ; and again, " descended in a bodily
shape like a dove," and a voice AA'as heard, " This is
My Beloved Son;" and still man "hath neither
heard His Voice nor seen His Shape;"- — so in all
Avhich is performed according to His Will, He it is.
Who, "distributing to every man severally as He
AA'ills," Avorketh, through each member of His Mystical
body and His visible instruments, that Avhich He
commandeth to be done in His OAvn Name.J " God
Alone," says S. Pacian =, "can forgive sin. True!
But that also Avhich He doth through His priests,
is His own PoAver." " The Novatians," says S. Am
brose \ " say that they show reverence to the Lord,
reserving to Him Alone the power of forgiving sins.
' Ep. 1, ad Sympr. § 11, p. 325, O. T. add S. Firmilian, ap.
S. Cyprian, Ep. 75. § 4. p. 271.
* De Poenit. i. 2.

But indeed none do Him greater wrong, than they
Avho Avould rescind His commands, and cast back
upon Himself the office He committed to them.
For since the Lord Jesus Himself said in His
Gospel, ' Receive the Holy Ghost ; Whose sins ye
remit they are remitted unto them, and whose sins
ye retain, they are retained,' Avho honours Him most,
he Avho obeyeth Flis commands or he who resisteth ?
The Church in both obseiweth obedience, both in
binding and loosing sin." [" Why," he says again",
"baptize ye, if sins may not be remitted through
man? For in Baptism is the remission of all sins.
Where is the difference, whether through penitence
or through the laver the priests exert this power
given to them ? One is the mystery in both. But
thou sayest, that in the laver the grace of the
mysteries worketh. What in penitence? Worketh not
the Name of God?" And again", on those solemn
words, " It is impossible to renew them," " God is
able, when He willeth, to forgive us sins, even those
which we think cannot be forgiven. And, therefore,
Avhat to us seemeth impossible to be obtained, to
God it is possible to grant. — It seemed impossible
that water should wash away sin, or that sins
should be forgiven through penitence ; Christ granted
this to His Apostles, which from the Apostles was
transmitted to the offices of the priests; that, there
fore, was rendered possible Avhich seemed impos-
' Ib. i. 8, § 37, SS. ' lb. ii. 2.

8
sible." Once more ' : "It cannot be doubted that
the Spirit forgiveth sins, since the Lord Himself
saith, 'Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins ye
remit, they shall be remitted.' See how sins are
forgiven by the Holy Ghost. But to the remis
sion of sins, men supply their ministry, yet do not
exercise the right of any poAver; for they do not
foro-ive sins in their own, but in the Name of the
to
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They
pray, God giveth ; the execution is through man,
the richness of the gift is from the PoAver on High."
And Origen "^ on the same point : " He on Avhom
Jesus hath breathed ^ forgiveth whom God Avould
forgive, and retaineth incurable sins, ministering
' De Sp. S. iii. 18, § 137. ' De Orat. c. xxviii.
° Origen adds here : (" As the Apostles, and they who may be
known from the fruits as having received the Holy Spirit, and
become spiritual by being led by the Spirit, after the manner of a
son of God, to do each several thing according to the Word" or
" Reason"). But, apparently, he only means by this restriction
that such priests only as were spiritual persons would have the
gift of " discerning of spirits ; " and so, in their case, it might be
the more hoped that their judgment would be the same as His
Who " searcheth the heart." Shortly after, in answer to the
difficulty, why the Apostles, having the power, do not remit all
sins, he compares the " retaining" of " sins" under the Gospel to
those cases under the law in which the priest was not to offer
sacrifice ; and adds, " So then the Apostles or the priests likened
to the Apostles, after the Pattern of the Great High-Priest,
having received discernment as to the Service of God, know for
what sins they ought to offer sacrifices, and when, and in what
manner : and also for what they ought not so to do."

9
unto God, Who Alone hath the j^oAver of for
giving, even as the prophets ministered unto God,
in speaking not their own, but Avhat Avas of the
Divine Will." And S. Chrysostom ' : " Whatsoever
the priest hath entrusted to him is of God Alone
to give — And AA'hy say I priests? Neither Angel
nor Archangel can effect any thing as to the things
given by God, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
dispenseth all ; yet the priest lendeth his tongue
and affordeth his hand." And in like manner S. Au
gustine ^.
And this efficacy, we, to whom God has giAon our
lot in this portion of the Church, mtist in general
believe; our oaa-u acts of devotion bear witness to
us. For this was the express reason ', Avhy, in our
daily service, a solemn confession and Absolution pre
cede the use of the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms, that
so we might become fitter to use His Divine Avords,
and to praise Him ; Ave are directed to receive the
Absolution kneeling, both at the daily service and
at the Holy Communion, a humble posture, which we
do not use at any mere exhortation or declaration or
teaching ; itself is entitled, " The absolution or remis-
' In Johann. Hom. 86, fin.
^ Ench. c. 83. " The Holy Spirit, in Whom Christ remitteth
sins ; " speaking of those who " believe not that sins are remitted
in the Church." See at length below.
^ This fact is stated on the authority of the late Bp. Lloyd, at
the time when he was examining the origin of the several parts of
our Liturgy. Dr. Bisse mentions the same ground. Sermon TI.
" Beauty of Holiness ;" see at the end.

10
sion of sins, to be pronounced by the priest alone"
(for which, in a daughter-Church, " the declaration ^
of Absolution to be made by the priest alone," Avas
substituted in compromising times). " Almighty
God," it solemnly rehearseth, "hath given power
and commandment " to His ministers, not " to
declare" only, but " to pronounce to His people,
being penitent, the absolution and remission of their
sins:" noAV "power" implies an authoritative act;
and to " pronounce our pardon," if penitent, is a pre
sent act, not a mere abstract declaration, that God
forgiveth the penitent ^ Such is our least solemn
form of Absolution. And it has been often observed,
how, as the penitence may in each case be supposed
to be deeper, the Absolution by the Church becomes
more authoritative and fuller ; until, at last, in the
private absolution, Avhen the conscience most feels
its burden, and has laid it doAvn at the Feet of our
Lord, she speaks, Avith the full consciousness of the
* American Common Prayer-book. The restriction to " the
Priest alone" shows the intention to be the same.
^ Wheatley (I have since seen) insists, with much force, on
these and yet further points. 1. The Priest stands up, as with
authority, and pronounces. 2. The title " The Absolution," not
" a Declaration of Absolution." 3. The word " Pronounce," sig
nifying, as Pronuntiare, " to give sentence." 4. A Declaration,
exciting to repentance, would rather have preceded the Confes
sion. 5. The solemn preamble asserting the " power and com
mandment" given, followed by words which imply the exercise
of that power. 6. " His people, 6ez«y penitent ; " but the peni
tent are the objects of Absolution, the impenitent of exhortation.

11
authority, by Apostolic descent ti-ansmitted to her,
AVords, Avhich if not authorised, were blasphemy, " by
His authority committed unto me, I absolve thee from
all thy sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Nor can there be, in
this, any question of freeing from the censures of
the Church and of restoring to communion, from
which among ourselves, none, except on individual
responsibility, are in practice shut out, aa'Iio do not
shut out themselves. It is a private act between the
sinner's soul and God, in the presence of Flis priest,
the sinner seeking to have the burden of his sin re
lieved, the priest declaring, in the Name of the Holy
Trinity, " by His Authority, committed unto me, I
absolve thee." And to this, such among us as are
parochial ministers, are bound to invite their people,
to "open their grief," not in sickness only, but before
the Holy Communion, if they cannot " quiet their
OAvn consciences," that they " may receive the benefit
of Absolution ;" and in visiting the sick, our Church
directs those Avho will obey her, "to move the sick
person to make a .special confession of his sins, if he
feel his conscience troubled Avith any weighty mat
ter," not to Avait for him, but ourselves to "move
him thereto ; " and then, " if he humbly and heartily
desire it, thus to absolve him "." And " His Autho-
" Both of these provisions are omitted in the American Common
Prayer-Books. Both are insisted upon by Hooker, in a passage
very remarkable for the thoughtfulness with which it is worded ;
especially in that he concedes that the Church may order this

12
I'ity " so to do, AA'as, ye know, conveyed to us, in the
very words ', in which it was given by our Lord to
the Apostles ; so that Avhatever authority they con
veyed to the Apostles, they do, thus far, convey to
us also : "Avhich although," says S. Pacian ^ " for our
sins it be presumptuous to claim, yet God, who hath
granted unto bishops the name of even His Only
Beloved, aa'III not deny it unto them."
whole subject of private Confession and Absolution as she judges
best, and regards the course taken by the Church of England as
liable to revision by her — (" The Church of England hitherto hath
thought it the safer way," &c.) " And for private Confession
and Absolution, it standeth thus with us. The minister's power
to absolve is publicly taught and professed ; the Church not
denied to have authority either of abridging or enlarging the use
and exercise of that power ; upon the people no such neces.sity
imposed of opening their transgressions unto men, as if remission
of sins otherwise were impossible ; neither any such opinion had
of the thing itself, as though it were either unlawful or unprofit
able, saving only for these inconveniences, which the world hath
by experience observed in it heretofore. And in regard thereof,
the Church of England hitherto hath thought it the safer way to
refer men's hidden crimes unto God and themselves only : how
beit, not without special caution for the admonition of such as
come to the Holy Sacrament, and for the comfort of such as are
ready to depart the world." Eccl. Pol. bk. vi. 4. 15, where he
enlarges on both.
' " Receive the Holy Ghost [for the Office and Work of a
Priest now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands].
Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins
thou dost retain, they are retained," &c. — OflBce for the Ordering
of Priests.* Ep. i. § 13. p. 326.

13
[And while among us private Confession has been
left to the consciences of individuals, the Church has
both deepened the tone of the public Confession, and
made the public Absolution more solemn and more
authoritative, in that AA'here, in other Offices ", there
is a sort of mutual Absolution ofthe priest and people,
in ours the Absolution is confined to " the priest
alone."] And all this doctrine of our Church as to Absolu
tion is the more solemn, as not being a profession
only in the sight of men, but embodied in acts in
the Name of Almighty God Himself; in His daily
Avorship ; at the Holy Communion, or in earnest
preparation for it ; and when the soul is approaching
for its last conflict, for that moment which sums up
all the past, and shall decide eternity. The sacred
stillness at the Holy Communion, Avhen, after the
deep confession which our Church gives us, one
voice alone is heard, and we, the rest, in silence
receive it ; the intense earnest longing, with Avhich
the penitent awaits those Avords of awful comfort,
Avhich the Church commissions her priests to pro
nounce, or the thrill of awe which any of us must
ourselves haA^e felt, when Ave sinners had to take on
our lips her words, " by His Authority I absolve
thee," and that in the Name of the All-Holy Trinity,
may well make us think more deeply, how very
solemn the doctrine is, Avhich is so embodied.
° 111 the Breviary and Missal.

14
There is a further, in some sense more aAvful and
more painful, part of the doctrine of the keys, to
AA'hich our Church also bears witness, the power not
to loose only, but to bind ; not to remit only, but to
retain sin. She yearly expresses ' her sorroAv at the
loss of the "godly discipline," AA'hereby "persons who
stood convicted of notorious sin, Avere put to open
penance, and punished in this Avorld, that their souls
might be saved in the Day of the Lord;" and in her
Articles (Art. xxxiii.) she speaks of such, as being
" cut off from the unity of the Church," and to be
counted "as heathen," " until they be openly recon
ciled by penance." But this whole subject of discipline
does not belong to me. Nor need I speak of that
poAA'er of " binding," Avliich, equally with that of " loos
ing," is in our Church conferred on her priests in the
Name of the Holy Trinity ; since such a power is to
be exercised only toAvards the imjjenitent : our office
is chiefly Avith the penitent. The one object, as I
have ex]3lained, of this series of sermons, is to minister
to one class of souls, those Avhose consciences being
' Commination Service. It has been suggested to me to ob
serve, how " the mode of expression in the Commination Service
implies, that the Absolution after Penance is the way of healing
post-baptismal sin, and that we do without it for a time, only
until we can bear our cure." And this falls in with the re
peated and earnest attempts of Cranmer to bring in Church-disci
pline. See in Wordsworth's valuable collection. Appendix to
a Sermon on Ev.ingelical Repentance, p. 41, sqq. Parker,
1842.

15
oppressed by the memory of past sin, more or less
grievous, long to know how they may be replaced in
that condition, in which God once placed them;
and now, too, my object is, not to speak of discipline
in general, or what were best for the Church or for
her members generally, but of that mercy which, by
the power of the keys, God pours out upon the peni
tent. This, then, is probably one ground, why so little
needed to be said in the New Testament, as to the
forgiveness of sins of a Christian very grievously
fallen, that our Lord had left a living provision in
His Church, Avhereby all penitents, however fallen,
should be restored. In healthful times, Avhen discipline
AA'as observed, and people were in earnest about their
souls, and felt the pressure of their sins, and the dark
ness of the absence of Divine grace, and a health
ful fear of the wrath of God, there needed not proof
that sins could be forgiA'en, because their forgive
ness was seen, and witnessed, and felt, and shone
forth in the renoAved health and life of the soul.
When the Church " with whom," in the language of
a father ^, " there was one hope, one fear, one joy,
one suffering, because there is One Spirit from One
Lord and Father, grieved together" over the fall of
" one of her members," " together laboured for its
cure," and was gladdened by the holy conversation
of restored penitents, and their victories in conflicts
' Tert. de Pcen. c. x. p. 366, O. T.

16
wherein they had before been vanquished, she knew
that the gift of reconciliation was lodged in her, in
Avhich the Avhole body took part. Mourning with those
Avho mourned, she knew the rather that they were
comforted, Avhose restoration was furthered by her love
and deep sighs and prayers. The discipline underwhich
the penitent was brought and was humbled, was the
very token of his restoration. He felt the power
lodged in the Church to bind, and its very exercise
assured him that he might be loosed. He saw those,
once, with himself, oppressed by Satan, set free; and
he knew that the inward bonds by which Satan held
him, the cords of his sins and the iron chain of evil
habits, might be loosed. The Church could give
account of the source of her powers, to any who
might be entitled to ask her, and could appeal to
the commission given her by her Lord; the AA'orkings
of that poAver Avere the pledge to individuals. When
she, in her Lord's Name, said to the lame, " Arise,
and Avalk," and to the leper, " Be cleansed," and to
the blind, " Wash in the pool of Siloam, i.e. of Him
Who is sent," and the palsy of past sin AA'as healed,
and men "ran the Avay of God's commandments,"
the leprosy and defilement of sin fell off, and " their
flesh Avas turned to them like the flesh of a little
child;" and they Avho had been dried up by the de
crepitude of sin, became aneAv " like little children,"
" of Avliom is the kingdom of heaven ;" and the blind
through trespasses and sins, " saAv every thing clearly,"
and those Avhose very senses were defiled, could taste

17
anew the SAveetness of heavenly things, " and the
good word of God, and the powers of the Avorld to
come ;" — when through His gifts in the Church God
Avrought such spiritual miracles as these, no one
needed to ask, " By Avhat poAA'er or authority doest
thou these things ? " When by her healing she
shoAved that she was clad Avith the power of her
Lord, none needed to question whether she had the
authority of her Lord Who by her healed. When
the lame arose and AA'alked, none after that asked
Him, " Who is this that forgiveth sins also ? "
And if any ask her yet, when she hath said to one
crippled by sin, " In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth,
rise up and walk," — "By what power or by what
name have ye done this ?" her ansAver is still that
of St. Peter, " His Name, through faith in Flis
Name, hath made this man strong; yea, the faith
which is by Him, hath given him this perfect sound
ness in the presence of you all ^" His Name is it,
through faith in His Name, which healeth, although
pronounced by her, at His bidding.
Thus the practice of the Church became the com
ment upon Holy Scripture, upon which that practice
rested ; as, in other practice, the Apostolic rite of
infant baptism pointed out a meaning of our Lord's
words, — " Suffer little children to come unto me," —
about which we might otherwise have doubted ; or,
in doctrine, the Creeds, Avhich rest on Holy Scrip-
¦* Acts iv. and iii. 16.

ture, teach to us meanings of the Divine Word and
saving truths of faith, which, but for them, we
should never have perceived. [The possession of the
key at once opens to us what without it would have
been hidden from us. And so, even in human docu
ments, every one knows how difficult it is to define
the meaning of what has been long in disuse ;
whereas of what we use, we most often, perhaps,
forget the grounds of our usage, in the practice
whereof Ave never doubted. So far from needing strict
or full proof of any thing which through habitual
belief or practice has become part of ourselves, proof
is lost in knoAvledge, and intuitive perception displaces
reasoning. We think not of title-deeds when we are
in possession of our inheritance from above. We are
even startled, or perhaps for a moment perplexed,
by a question as to the ground of action, which, by
practice, had to us become of the nature of an
axiom, or is founded upon first principles ; or of
doctrine, which, from long belief, has been inA\'rought
into our souls. And, contrariwise, in the absence of
such practice, it must be expected that much will
become again obscure, and minds Avill be driven back
wards or forwards, not knoAving how much of Holy
Scripture to apply to their own case; sometimes speak
ing to themselves " peace when there is no peace ;" or
again, scarcely venturing to apply to themselves
words of comfort and mercy Avhich God intended
for them. As, in other doctrine, when people leave
the guidance of the Church, heresy, or Avhat the

19
ancient Church called "ungodly blasphemy," will
seem to them the most natural, or the only meaning
of Holy Scripture ; Avhile] to the belioAer, because he
believes, the full truth of the Gospel sheds its light
upon the Avhole of Holy Scripture, and is reflected
and flashes forth from it. The Church proposes,
faith receives, the Holy Ghost teaches. Scripture esta
blishes, holy living roots it fast in us, devotion makes
it part of ourselves ; or rather, the same Holy
Spirit worketh all in us, teaching us, and making
our hearts teachable ; imparting to us the truth,
in form in the Creeds, in substance in Holy Scrip
ture, and opening our hearts to believe, and love,
and worship, until through love and devotion we
live in and on that faith, as the breath of our
spiritual life, — ever, as in our natural life, renewed
and sustained by Him, ever unconsciously, anoAv
received by us, yet never parted with, until, as part
of ourselves, it passeth with us into that blessed
world, where it melts into sight of Him Whom
here, not seeing, it loved.
[Apart from the doctrine and practice of " the
power of the keys," there would be difficulty as to the
case of very grievous sin of the Christian. " What
is the amount of the restoration ? how may he know
that he is restored ? is his restoration complete ?
can he be restored after any degree of sin ? can he
have at once the full grace of Christ in the New
Testament to keep him from falling ; and, if he fall
deeply, are all the evangelic promises of the Old
c2

20
Testament his also, when he has had them once, and
has forfeited them ?" For the study of the N6w
Testament, could Ave imagine pursued apart from the
lio-lit Avhich Are derive unconsciously from the in-
structions of the Church, might Avell affright the
sinner. It speaks chiefly of holiness, as the path
of the Christian ; ho is " full of sin." The Epistle,
Avhich most fully sets forth the doctrine of grace
and the course of the Christian life, and its rela
tion to the laAv, most speaks of " Avalking according
to the Spirit," and of groAvth in holiness. " God," it
says *, " has set forth Christ Jesus to be a propiti
ation, through faith in His Blood, to declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins ;" but of
AA'bat sins ? — " of the sins that are past," (rwv vpoyi-
jov6to)v afxaprrifiarwi'), " in the forbearance of God,"
"in the times of ignorance at AA'hich God AA'inked."
" There is therefore," it ¦' opens its description of the
* Rom. iii. 25.
^ Ib. viii. 1. No one text is adduced out of the Epistle to the
Romans on " sin after Baptism," by any expositor of Art. xviii.
(see Wordsworth, App. p. 1, 2.) Of the passages cited from the
Epistles (see ibid.). Gal. vi. 1, St. James iii. 2, 1 John i. 8, 9 ;
ii. 1, 2, relate primarily to sins of infirmity in the Christian;
Eph. iv. 32, to past forgiveness; 1 Tim. i. 15, primarily to our
first acceptance (as do Acts iii. 19; v. 31.). 2 Cor. ii. 6 — 8,
and vii. 10 (as bearing upon it), directly refer to ministerial ab
solution, and the dispositions needed for it ; as do St. James v.
14 — 16. 20, to the ministerial office primarily ; in 2 Tim. iv. 2,
Tit. i. 13, censure implies restoration, but they are addressed to
Bishops, as are the exhortations in Rev. ii. iii. (quoted by Ter
tullian, St. Cyprian, St. Pacian, &c., and they do bear them out.

21
Christian life, " noAV no condemnation to those Avhich
are in Christ Jesus." But Avho are these ? " who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." The
parables of our Lord, of the prodigal son, or the
stray sheep '', do, according to the manifold meaning
of Holy Scripture which the Church warrants us in
applying to our comfort, relate, in their full blessed
ness, to any restoration of the penitent. But until
we find ourselves thus Avarranted, we might have
since the very question with the Novatians related to the Church's
power to restore). Acts viii. 22, speaks at once of the pos
sibility of restoration from such sins as that of Simon Magus,
and its extreme difficulty (see St. Athanasius and others in
Scripture Views of Holy Baptism, p. 235, n. 2). The strongest
passages are perhaps 1 John v. 16, as stating that the " sin unto
death" only was beyond the reach of ordinary intercession (and
yet this very text is one which, apart from the teaching of
the Church as to Absolution, most often harasses wounded con
sciences, lest theirs should be that very sin) ; and 2 Pet. iii. 9.
All this is not said to imply that such texts as I John i. 8, 9.
ii. 1, 2, &c. are not to be taken in their largest acceptation and
deepest comfort, as declaring God's forgiveness of all sin. The
question is not as to their meaning, but as to the evidence oi that
meaning from the mere context of Holy Scripture, apart from the
teaching of the Church, or to their application, independently of
the means of restoration which God in her has provided for the
penitent. " Tertullian, as a Montanist, in arguing against the application
of this text, found diflSculty in the practice of the Church,
which, by placing the figure of the Good Shepherd on her cha
lices, expressed her conviction that the assurance of mercy in
the parable belongs to fellow-Christians also ; see de Pudic. c. 7
and 10.

22
feared lest they belonged only to the first — the
restoration of man in his fallen estate ; — not if, when
he had been restored to the fold or to his Father's
house, he anew wandered. The promises of the Old
Testament seem to belong, in the first instance, to
the first Coming of the Redeemer, and to describe
the full forgiveness of those who receive Him:
they do not carry their own evidence, that they belong
to those who are fallen from grace, or, in the awful
language of the Noav Testament, " have crucified to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and counted the
Blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sancti
fied, an unholy thing, and done despite unto the
Spirit of Grace." And then, on the other hand,
are the terrible warnings that such " it is impossible
to renew unto repentance ;" that " if Ave sin wilfully
after Ave have received the knoAvledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a cer
tain fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery
indignation, Avhich shall devour the adversaries," and
our Lord's Avarning, " Sin no more, lest a worse
thing happen unto thee;" and Esau's lost birthright,
AA'hen " he found no place for repentance, though he
sought it carefully Avith tears;" and the threatenings
of Divine Wisdom, that there is a time Avhen " they
shall call upon ]Me, but I Avill not answer."
The very heresy of Novatian implies, that apart
from the Church's system, there is a diflSculty ; in
that his sect, from denying the Church's power to
forgive sin in certain cases, went on to deny all

23
poAver of restoration, and all the comfort from any
other Scripture to the penitent ^ For heresy does
not start gratuitously out of the mind ; in Avhatever
degree it ends by contradicting the Gospel, it starts
by some plausible corruption of it. Novatianism
never would have been, had the terms of the Gospel
and of Holy Scripture been as easy as modern reli
gious systems would make them. Again, these very
systems, by forced solutions, show that the letter of
Holy Scripture would lead to a very different result.
Thus, Luther, and Calvin ^ make remission to be
effected through the reminiscence of our Baptism ;
others, in these days, say, that on an act of faith sin
is forgiven ; others, again, speak of a covenant, into
which we enter by Baptism, in which sin is -par
doned. And it is, of course, a blessed truth, that by
Baptism we are made sons of God, and, as sons, have
the sins effaced, " which ", through man's frailty and
infirmity, we afterwards contract ; " and, if our
wounds be deeper, have been brought by the Good
Samaritan into that resting-place, where " sins ' are
afterwards, not taken away by regeneration, but
' See S. Pacian. Ep. ad Sympr. iii. init. &c.
° Luth. de Captiv. Babyl. cap. de Bapt. Calvin. Institt. 4. 15.
§ 3, 4 ; c. 19, § 17. Antid. Cone. Trid. Sess. 7. ad can. 10.
Whence Calvin, Institt. 4, 15,4, and 19, 17, and Melanchthon,
Loci, A. 1522, call Baptism "the Sacrament of Penitence." In
the Apol. Conf. Aug., penitence is admitted as a sacrament.
' S. Aug. de Nupt. et Concup. c. 26.
' Id. Ep. 98. ad Bonifac.

24
healed by another cure." Yet certainly there is not
one AVord in Holy Scripture of any remission of
grievous sins prospectively through the Sacrament
of Baptism ; none of its remembrance being available
to us ; or of our applying to ourselves the promises
of the Gospel ; and the new covenant of which
Jeremiah prophesied, and which St. Paul declared
to be fulfilled, Avas one in Avhich God's " law should
be written in their hearts, and God should be their
God, and they His people, and all should know
Him," not, as far as it appears from the letter of
Holy Scripture, one in which that law should be very
grievously broken, very grievous sin should con
tinually be renewed and continually pardoned. The
"sins and iniquities" Avhich "should be no more
remembered," are, apparently, past, not present or
future, sin ; for, in connexion with this very promise,
it is added, that " there ^ is no more sacrifice for
sins;" and, therefore, that " if Ave sin wilfully after
we have received the knowledge of the truth," since
" there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." there
remaineth only " a certain fearful looking for of
judgment." Not that those fearful warnings do belona: to all
Avilful sin ; blessed be God, they do not. I say this,
only to illustrate hoAv those AA'ho form to themselves
theories of remission of sin distinct from the pro
vision laid up by God in the Church, do "forsake
' Heb. x. 16—27-

25
the Fountain of living AA'aters, and hoAv them out
cisterns, broken cisterns, Avhich hold no water."
There are tAvo distinct commissions conveyed to
the Apostles, and through them to the Church, —
authority to baptize, and authority to remit sins to
the baptized ; the first not only remitting all sin, but
changing the Avhole man, making him another self;
before, out of Christ, now in Christ ; new-born, new-
created, a member of Christ, a son of God, new-
formed " after the Image of Him Who created him."
Such a re-creation there cannot again be. In Bap
tism, a man becomes a noAv self, and being another
man, has no more to do Avith his former sins, than if
they had been committed by another ^ except to love
and thank God Who had freed him from them ; by
Absolution, pardon is given, life is renewed, but the
penitent is the same as the sinner. In Baptism, sins
are suddenly and painlessly blotted out through
grace ; deep sins after Baptism are forgiven, but
upon deep contrition AA'hich God giveth ; and dee])
contrition is, for the most part, slowly and gradually
' S. Augustine speaks thus of his sins before Baptism : " Thou
revilest my past ills ; what great thing dost thou herein ? I am
severer against my ills than thou ; what thou revilest I have con
demned. Here we lived ill, which I confess; and in proportion
as I rejoice in the grace of God, so do I for my past sins — what
shall I say — grieve ? I should grieve, were it still I. But what
shall I say ? joy ? Neither can I say this ; for would it had
never been I ! Yet whatsoever I have been, in the Name of
Christ, it is past." (In Ps. 36. Serm. 36, § 19. See S. Aug.
Conf. p. 223, note, O. T.)

26
worked into the soul, deepening with deepening
grace, sorroAving still more, as, by God's grace, it
more deeply loves ; grieved the more, the more it
knows Flim Whom it once grieved, and through
that grief and love inwrought in it by God, the more
forgiven. So then, by the very order of God with
the soul, (except Avhen He leads it in some special
Avay, and by the Cross and His oaa'u overflowing love
blots out the very traces of past sin and its very
memory,) continued sorrow is not only the condition
of continued pardon, but the very channel of new
graces and of the renewed life of the soul. Sorrow, as
it flows on, is more refined, yet deeper. To part with
sorrow and self-displeasure would be to part with
love ; for it grieveth, and is displeased, because it
loves. Again, sins before Baptism come not into
judgment at all ; they belonged to one who is not ;
in Baptism he was buried and died, and a new man,
with a noAv life and a noAv principle of life, was raised
through the Resurrection of Christ. Grievous sins
aftOr Baptism are remitted by Absolution ; and the
judgment, if the penitent be sincere, is an earnest
of the Judgment of Christ, and is confirmed by
Him. Yet the same penitent has yet to appear
before the Judgment-seat of Christ, that, according
to his sincerity, the Lord may ratify or annul the
judgment of His servants.
Yet Avith these limitations, the pardon upon peni
tence is as absolute as in Baptism itself. Indeed,
the commission to set free from sins, has by ancient

27
fathers * been thought, in a secondary way, to in
clude the poAver of Baptism ; it is one poAver, and
one pardon, and One Blood '^ diversely applied.]
This commission, upon M'hich the authority of the
Church rests, as it has ever been understood by the
Church itself, Avas given, in part in different Avords,
at three different times. Before the Resurrection,
first to St. Peter, as a type of unity : " I give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and what
soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven ^ ;" and then, in the same
words', to all the Apostles; — both these in promise ;
and then to all in fulfilment ^ in that solemn in
auguration, the commencement of their Apostolate,
' S. Cyr. Al. ad loc. S. Cypr. Ep. 73, § 7, p. 247, O. T.
S. Firmilian, Ep. 75, § 17, p. 279. S. Pacian. Ep. ad Sympr.
i. § 11, 12, p. 325. S. Ambr. de Poenit. i. 8, § 36. S. Greg.
Mor. 28, § 18.
' "What is written, 'And the Blood of Jesus cleanseth us
from all sin,' is to be understood both of the confession of Bap
tism and ofthe clemency of penitence." S. Jer. c. Pelag. L. 2.
c. 7. Add c. Pelag. L. 1. c. 33. (explaining typically Deut. xix.)
" he is bid to flee to the city of refuge, and there to abide until the
High Priest die, i. e. until he be redeemed by the Blood of the
Saviour, either in the house of Baptism or in penitence, which
imitates the grace of Baptism through the ineffable clemency of
the Saviour, Who willeth not that any should perish, nor hath
pleasure in the death of sinners, but that they should be con
verted and live."
' Matt. xvi. 19. ' lb. xviii. 18.
' Euthym. ad loc.

28
with the visible token that the Comforter, Who pro
ceeded from Him, came upon them : " As My Father
hath sent Me, even so send I you." Full of majesty
and awe is the commission, full of instruction. The
greatness of the power intrusted to man might Avell
exceed our belief, and make us tremble to execute
it, and almost doubt, as men have doubted, Avhether
they had it. " What angel in Heaven," says our
OAvn Hooker ^, " could have said to man as our Lord
did to Peter, ' Feed My sheep : Preach, Baptize : Do
this in remembrance of Me. Whose sins ye retain,
they are retained ; and their offences in heaven
pardoned Avhose faults you shall on earth forgive?'
What think we ? are these terrestrial sounds, or else
are they voices uttered out of the clouds above?"
So then our Lord premises Flis commission with
those full brief words, conveying at once both the
extent of the commission, and a rule and guidance
in it. " As My Father hath sent Me, even so ' send I
' Eccl. Pol. V. 77, 1. Hooker continues, in the fervid pas
sage, so well known : " The power of the ministry of God
translateth out of darkness into glory ; it raiseth men from the
earth, and bringeth God Himself down from heaven ; by blessing
visible elements it maketh them invisible grace : it giveth daily
the Holy Ghost ; it hath to dispose of that Flesh Which was
given for the life of the world, and that Blood Which was poured
out to redeem souls ; when it poureth malediction upon the heads
of the wicked, they perish ; when it revoketh the same, they
revive. O wretched blindness, if we admire not so great power,
more wretched if we consider it aright, and, notwithstanding,
imagine that any but God can bestow it!"
' As far, then, as was possible for man, like Himself, in the

29
you." The very Avords are beforehand a comfort
to the penitent. For to Avhom Avas our Lord sent,
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to seek
and to save that which Avas lost, to " those who needed
a Physician" and knoAV their need, to " call not the
righteous but sinners to repentance'?" "He sets
forth at once," says S. Cyril \ " the dignity of the
Apostolate and the incomparable glory of the poAver
given them, and suggests, as it seems, the path of
Apostolic offices. For if He deemed right so to send
His OAvn disciples as the Father sent Him, hoAv must
not they who are to be folloAvers of them, needs have
in vieAv, to Avhat end the Father sent the Son ? — Com-
lihe end of their mission, the salvation of man (S. Cyril in the
text) ; in the like powers, intrusted to them, but inherent in Plim ;
in Him unerring, in the successors of the Apostles liable to error;
(" Those things peculiar to God Alone, to absolve sin, these
He promises Himself to give." S. Chrys. on St. Matt. xvi. 18,
and S. Ambr. in Ps. xxxviii. § 37 : " The Lord gave to the
Apostles what before was reserved to His own judgment, the
loosing of sins by the mercifulness of remission, that what should
speedily be loosed might not remain long bound ;) in the like
¦way ; (see S. Cyril below in the text.)
' Quoted by S. Cyril, ad loc.
^ Ad loc. S. Cyril unites the office of teaching as one part
of the object of this gift of the Holy Ghost, or rather he con
templates that gift, as a whole, in its varied bearings. Au
thority, power to forgive sins, working of miracles, wisdom, and
all the divers operations of the Spirit, are thus included in this
gift. Yet this does not, of course, involve any confusion. S. Cyril
passes from one to the other; Calvin, &c. resolve all into one,
teachinfr.

30
prehending then in few words the Apostolic office,
He said that He sent them as the Father sent Him,
that they might thence know that they ought to call
sinners to repentance, to heal the sick in body or in
spirit, in all the orderings of their doings not to seek
any how their own will ; and, as far as was possible,
by their Doctrine to save the world."
And as He Himself was " anointed by the Spirit
to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound," so when He sent them in His
stead, He imparted to them the Comforter, Who
being from Himself as from the Father, was to re
place Himself. " When He had said this. He
breathed upon them, and saith unto them. Receive
the Holy Ghost." As an earnest at once of the gift
to be bestoAved at the Day of Pentecost *, and a gift
of sanctification for this immediate office ^ and to
* " Then first after His Resurrection, which the Gospel calls
His ' glorifying,' He gave to His disciples His Holy Spirit.''
S. Aug. Tr. 32, § 6. " The Apostles had received the power of
remitting sins then also, when after His Resurrection He breathed
on them and said, ' Receive the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins,'
&c. " A larger grace and more abundant inspiration was reserved
for that perfection, which was to be bestowed upon the Apostles,
whereby they might both receive what they had not yet received,
and what they had received, might be able to have more surpass
ingly." S. Leo, Serm. 2. de Pentec. c. 4.
' S. Chrys. ad loc. "One would not mistake, who should say
that then also they received a certain spiritual power and grace,
but not so as to raise the dead and work miracles, but so as to

31
show that the Holy Spirit, Who should come from
above, is from Flim also, and Consubstantial from
Himself, and that lie Who created man in Flis
own Image, breathing into his nostrils the breath
of life, Avas now about to re-create them in a more
Divine and perfect way by union with Himself '^j
"He breathed upon them," and imparted to them
the Floly Ghost. And then Fie saith to them the
solemn words, " Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are
remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain,
they are retained."
[In this commission, weighty authorities have sup-
forgive sins. For different are the gifts of the Spirit. Where
fore, He added, ' Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted,'
showing what kind of operation he gave."
° S. Cyril Al. ad loc. S. Aug. ad loc. " By breathing on
them. He signified that the Holy Ghost was not the Spirit of the
Father, but His own also ; " and de Gen. ad lit. x. § 8. " That
Breath from the Body of the Lord was not the Substance of
the Holy Spirit, but it was signified that the Holy Spirit so
proceeded from Him, as that Breath from His Body."
' S. Cyril Al. ad loc. Euthym. ad loc. S. Aug. in Joh.
Tr. 32, § 6. " He breathed on their face. Who by His breath
quickened the first man, and raised him from the miry clay ;
by which breath He gave life to His limbs, signifying that He it
"was Who breathed on their face, that they should arise from the
mire and renounce miry works." S. Basil, de Sp. S. c. 16, § 39.
" The Lord, renewing man, and restoring to him the grace from
the in-breathing of God, which he had lost, when He had
breathed upon the face of the disciples, what saith He ? ' Re
ceive ye the Holy Ghost,' &c." Add S. Ambr in Ps. 118. Serm.
10. § 16, 17.

32
posed the poAver of baptizing also to be included.
And, according to that fulness of Holy Scripture,
whereby, beyond the immediate object of the words,
they, like the Eyes of the Lord, look every Avay, they
may include all forgiveness, wheresoever or Avhen-
soever sins are remitted through the agency of man.
And so in those other words, " Whatsoever ye shall
loose on earth," it may aa'oU be thought that Avords of
larger meaning Avere purposely chosen, to express the
fulness of the authority given ; and so that not the
poAver to remit sins only, but that also AA'as included
AA'hich the Apostles and the Church have since exer
cised, to change customs and rites, fasts and holy-days
and public Avorship, make Avhat they saw to be for edi
fication binding upon the conscience, and Avhat (not
being essential) ceased so to be, to loose. But the
largeness of the meaning of Holy Scripture hinders
not its definiteness. Light from the Father of
lights, it envelopes all in its brightness, yet rests in
its full intensity upon each single spot Avhich it
lightens. So far from this union Avith Holy Bap
tism any hoAv diminishing from the power of the
keys, it increases its solemnity : for it brings it the
nearer to the greatness of that Sacrament \ Avhich,
' See S. Ambrose (above, p. 7). S. Cyril Al. ad loc. :
" Guided by the Spirit they remit or retain sins, in two ways, as
I suppose. For either they call those to Baptism, who, for the
seemliness of their life and their approved faith, ought to obtain
it, or they hinder and exclude from the Divine Grace [i. e. from
Baptism] some who are not as yet worthy of it. Or in .mother

33
issuing from our Lord's Side, unites Avith Himself.
The power of the keys is not thereby excluded (as
Novatian taught), if Baptism be therein included ;
but if they be thus joined together, then Absolution,
as a second poAver of remission lodged with the
Church, partakes the more of the character of the
first, restoring the returning penitent to the state of
grace from which he had fallen, cleansing aneAv the
Avhite robes Avhich he had defiled, remitting the
guilt, and opening the avenues to the full inflow of
grace AA'hich sin had choked. Yet, hoAvever the
solemn words may be supposed also to include the
remission in Baptism, it is even more natural to un
derstand them primarily, of some distinct gift of
remission. For every thing, in the action of our
Blessed Lord and His Avords, is distinct from His
commission to baptize, whereas the very words point
to that other promise of our Lord, also recorded by
St. Matthew, " Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth,
shall be loosed in heaven." Our Lord gave to His
Apostles the authority to teach, to baptize, to remit
way, they remit and retain sin, correcting the children of the
Church when sinning, and pardoning them when repenting ; as
Paul delivered the fornicator at Corinth to Satan for the destruc
tion of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved, and again re
ceived him," &c. S. Leo, Ep. 108, ad Theod. c. 1: "The
manifold mercy of God in such wise succours man in his fall, that
not only by the grace of Baptism, but also by the medicine of
penitence, the hope of eternal life is restored." (See the whole
passage, note M on Tertull. p. 391.) S. Chrys. de Sacerdot. (in
the text below, p. 46.) D

34
sins ; yet although to preach is to bid men " repent
and be converted, that their sins be blotted out ;"
and Baptism is " for the remission of sins ;" He
calleth each by its own name, and no where doth
He call the office of baptizing to " forgive, or remit
sins." In giving "the poAver of keys," He speaks
of it also as a strictly personal office ; " Whatsoever
ye shall loose," " Whose soever sins ye shall remit ?"
He gives them special authority to this end ; " As
My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." He
giveth them the Floly Ghost ; " He clotheth them
with poAver," says S. Cyril, " and transformeth them
into somewhat other than they have been." To per
form a Divine oflfice. He clotheth them with a Divine
power ' ; and to fit them for the ministry of their office,
He imparteth the Holy Ghost, Whose is the right ^
° " What the priests perform below, that God confirms above ;
and the Lord ratifies the sentence of the servants. What then
hath He given them but all the heavenly power ? For He saith,
' Whose soever sins ye remit,' &c. What power can be greater
than this ? ' The Father hath given all judgment to the Son.'
But I see them intrusted with the whole by the Son." S. Chrys.
de Sacerd. iii. 5. See Theoph. ad loc. and p. 29, note 1 above,
and Hooker, above, p. 28, n. 9.
' Consider this, too, that He Who hath received the Holy
Ghost, hath received also the power of binding and loosing sin.
For so it is written, ' Receive the Holy Ghost ; whose soever sins
ye remit, they are remitted ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they
are retained.' The man who cannot forgive sins hath not the
Holy Ghost. The gift [munus] of the Holy Ghost is the ofiice
of the priest ; but the power [jus] of the Holy Ghost is in loosing
and binding sins ; how then do they [the Novatians] claim His

35
and the poA^'er to forgive sins. It was one of the
expedients to which the Novatians were brought,
when the Church, against their hard-hearted heresy,
urged her Divine commission to remit sins, that they
limited our Lord's words to the commission to bap
tize, although in these words He saith nothing of
that commission, and in giving that commission He
used none of the words or actions which He here
employeth. They interlaced the two narratives of
the Gospels, in order that no power might seem to
be conveyed by the one, besides what was given in
the other. " Thou joinest together," says S. Pacian ^
gift, Whose right and power they mistrust ? St. Ambr. de Poenit.
1, 2, §8. "In that He said, 'Receive the Holy Ghost,' it
appears plainly, that they do not this thing of themselves, but
the Holy Spirit through them, as He saith in another place, ' It
is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh
in you.' But the Holy Ghost is in such wise present in the Pre
late or Minister of the Church, that if he be not a hypocrite,
the Spirit worketh through him, and his reward to everlasting
salvation, and their regeneration or edification, who, through him,
are either consecrated, or have the Gospel preached. But if he
be a hypocrite, (since most truly is it written, ' the Holy Spirit
of discipline will flee the deceitful,') the Holy Spirit is wanting to
his salvation, withdrawing Himself from thoughts which are
ivithout understanding, but He forsaketh not His ministry,
whereby through him He worketh the salvation of others."
S. Aug. c. Ep. Farm. ii. § 24.
^ Ep. 3, ad Sympr. § 25, p. 347, (where he argues more at
length). The Novatian is exactly followed by Chemnitz, Exam.
Concil. Trid. 6 ; Sess. 4, Can. 1, 2, and Zwingli (see note B, p. 75).
Calvin also limits John xx. 28, to Baptism ; Antid. Cone. Trid.
sess. 4, c. 15 ; Opp. T. 8. p. 247.
D 2

36
to the Novatian, " clauses from two Evangelists, so
as to seem one. What sayest thou ? Do the two
Evangelists relate meanings, mutually halved between
them, and but half entire ? Were they mutually
deficient in language or in reason ? Or did not in
each the Holy Spirit fill the whole man, carrying out
entirely the sense proposed, and defining the words
even to the full ? "]
But Avhen we understand our Blessed Lord in
the plain meaning of His words, of a power lodged
in His Church to forgive sins in Flis Name, then
the very words themselves expre,ss the fulness of
the pardon. As our Lord sent His Apostles in
the same way in Avhich the Father had sent Him,
so the word by which He expresses the power
to forgive, is the very word by Avhich He Him
self forgave. " Whose soever sins ye forgive, they
are forgiven unto them" (cKpewvrai), is the blessed
echo of His OAvn words ; " Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins are forgiven thee " {ci(j)io>vrai) — the very
word, by which He prayed for His murderers and
all penitents upon the Cross, and teaches us in His
own prayer, Avhen we pray, to ask for forgiveness ;
the very word under which He declared that " all
sins and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ;"
spake of the entire forgiveness by our Heavenly Fa
ther to those who forgive ; for the fulness of which
the Scribes disputed His authority, " Who is this that
forgiveth sins also?" by Avhich He claimed that poAver
to Himself, " That ye may know that the Son of Man

37
hath poAver upon earth to forgive sins';" and now
in the same words He leaves it to those, AA'hom He
left in His Name to carry on His work on earth.
But if any would restrain this to the Apostles only,
" why," as S. Pacian * says, " do they not in the like
way restrain Baptism also ?" Either, both were con
fined to the Apostles only, or both Avere committed
to that Church Avith which our Lord promised to be
" always to the end of the Avorld ; " by Baptism, to
remit all sin original or actual ; by Absolution, to
remit all which, by the frailty of our nature, any may
afterAvards contract ; by Baptism to bring into His
fold, by Absolution to restore those who had wan
dered from it.
What sins then may there be remitted? All
which are not excepted ; and these are none. " He
saith," says S. Pacian ^ " ' whatsoever ye shall loose.'
He excepted nothing whatever. ' Whatsoever,
He says, great or small." [" God," saith S. Am
brose ^ " maketh no distinction, Who promised His
mercy unto all, and without any exception granted
to His priests the power of loosing. Only whoso
hath heaped up sin, let him heap up penitence ; for
greater sins are washed away with greater tears."]
All may be forgiven, for which God puts into the
heart the desire to be forgiven. The unpardonable
' Matt. ix. 2, &c. Luke xxiii. 24. Matt. vi. 12, &c. xii. 31,
&c. vi. 12. 14, 15. Luke vi. 37. vii. 49. Matt. ix. 6, &c.
* Ep. 1, ad Sympr. § 11, 12.
' Ep. iii. 27. ° De Poenit. i. 3, § 10.

38
sin is therefore alone not forgiven \ (S. Augustine
says,) because the sinner asks not for forgiveness.
Nothing can be more absolute than the words,
" Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them." No sin then is excepted for its greatness ;
none for their multitude. He saith, " Whatsoever
ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ;" no
sinner is excepted, however deeply ingrained by old,
inveterate, accumulated sins ; though his sins be
upon him and weigh him down that he be not able
to look up, and defile his memory, and cloud his
faith, and destroy the power of other ordinances, and
chill the heart, and weaken the will, or even bring
on him relapses, let him, with earnest purpose, lay
down his sin at our dear Lord's Feet, hating them for
His love's sake Who has so loved him; and He has
said, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them."
Nor again doth He put us off for that forgiveness
to a distant day. The effects of sin upon the soul may
often be to be worked out by sorrow and toil ; the
forfeited crown and larger favour of Almighty God
to be gained by subsequent self-denial or suffering
for Him or devoted service. But we have the very
' Enchir. c. 83. " But he who, not believing that sins are re
mitted in the Church, despises so great bountifulness of the
Divine gift, and in this obstinacy of mind closes his life, is guilty
of that unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, in Whom
Christ forgiveth sins." Add Fulgent, de Rem. Pecc. i. 24,
B. P. ix. p. 219. See further, "The Unpardonable Sin," a
sermon by the author.

39
craving of our hearts. Our sins, when we are fit to
receive the blessed words, are forgiven at once.
" They are" our gracious Lord says, " forgiven unto
them (a(/)£wvra() ;" as though Fie would express the
swiftness of His pardon, in the same way as it is
promised in the Prophet, "Thou shalt call and the
Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry and He shall say,
Here I am ;" so now, so soon as His Priest has, in
His Name, pronounced His forgiveness on earth,
the sins of the true penitent are forgiven in Heaven,
"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them."
[All then combines to induce us to receive un
hesitatingly the heavenly gift. Every thing in and
around our Blessed Lord's words, the solemn invest
ment of the Apostles with His own power, " As My
Father sent Me, even so send I you : " the imparting
of the Holy Spirit for this office, which is the work
of the Spirit ; the solemn simplicity and absolute
distinct meaning of His words, which, taken plainly,
cannot fall short of the sense in which the Churcli
has ever understood them ; the unvarying agreement
of the Church in so understanding them, assure our
faith that He hath not left us comfortless, but hath
left others with His authority, to convey to sinners
in His Name the forgiveness of their sins. And
with this key, all which we might have doubted
about or feared as to other Scripture, is opened to
us. The fulness of the words with which our Lord
gives power to remit sins, is the very antidote to the

40
heresy of Novatian ; and those awful passages which
shut out some sin, cannot exclude any sin which can
sue for pardon, since He has said, " Whose soever
sins ye remit." We see that the parables of our
Lord's love for sinners apply to those too who have
anoAv perished, since He has Himself provided for
the restoration of penitents ; we see that they may
be at once forgiven, and so to us too belong those
promises of the swift forgiveness of our sins ; and we
may take boldly David's words, " I said, I will con
fess my sins unto the Lord, and so Thou forgavest
the Avickedness of my sins." He provides for their
complete, absolute remission ; so to us also are said
the comfortable words of the Prophet, "Though thy
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."]
The word arpeojvTai contains in one a AA'hole Gospel of
forgiveness — a whole volume, filled within and with
out, and traced by the finger of our God and Saviour
Jesus Christ, all that the penitent's heart craves for, full,
present, absolute, universal forgiveness and release.
And then, too, the Psalms which the Church daily
puts into our mouths; the histories of penitents
which she recites to us as ensamples ; the Evangehc
prophet ; all, Avith the depth of their sorrows and
the gladness of their restoration, may belong to us;
all, in the words of our good Bishop Andrewes, "The
AA-ritings of the laAv, the oracles of Prophets, the
melody of Psalms, the instruction of Proverbs, the
experience of Flistories," each supply some separate
note in the Divine harmony of that Angel-chorus,

41
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good-AA'ill toAA'ards men."
Surely, then, our reverent Hooker ^ has Avell said,
" I hold it for a most infallible rule in expositions
of sacred Scripture, that when a literal construc
tion Avill stand, the farthest from the letter is com
monly the Avorst." [Hoav is it consistent with rever
ence for our Blessed Lord, Avhen He has said,
" Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them," to go about for meanings of His words,
other than they seem to mean ? Can we think that
He Avould have used Avords which seem to mean so
much, had He meant so little as some would under
stand by them ? Would He who " knew what was
in man," and who came to teach us lowliness, have
given to the stoAvards of Flis mysteries their com
mission in words so lofty, and which (as men noAv
think) must, if taken as He spake them, foster pride ?
It Avas no new thing of which our Blessed Lord was
speaking, but what He had Himself used " on earth,"
the "power to forgive sins." And now He saith to
His Apostles ,"As My Father hath sent Me, even so
send I you," and Fie who on earth forgave sins, says
to those whom He sent in His Name, " Whosesoever
sins ye forgive, they are forgiven." Our Lord ex
ercised on earth tAvo personal offices, to " jM-each the
Gospel to the poor," and to " forgive sins." Can we
think that Fie would have given His Apostles their
oflfice in terms which express the one only, had He
» Eccl. Pol. V. 59, 2.

42
meant only the other ? Had He meant (as men have
said), " To ' Avhomsoever ye preach the Gospel and
they believe it," or " to ^ whomsoever ye shall an
nounce remission of sins, and they shall believe the
Gospel preached by you," or " to ' whomsoever ye
attest the remission of sins," or " when^ ye confirm
pious consciences by the promises of the Gospel in the
hope of freedom and remission," who can think that
Fie would have expressed this by words which sound
so different ? A reverent mind Avould hardly so prac
tise upon His words, as to say, (to which all these ex
planations come,) that " Go preach the Gospel " and
"Avhose sins ye remit" are one and the same thing I]
Why then do men shrink back from this plain
meaning of our Lord's words ? Why but for some
imaginations of inherent unfitness, that they cannot
reconcile to themselves hoAv Ave should have such
treasure in earthen vessels, Iioav this power should
be intrusted to those who might not use it aright, or
might make it but an occasion of sin.
[It is indeed an aAvful " honour," to use the words
of St. Chrysostom *, " vvhich the Holy Spirit hath
vouchsafed to His Priests. — While conversant here
on earth, they are commissioned to dispense the things
of heaven, and receive a power which God hath not
" Zwingli, ad loc. See note B at the end.
' Musculus and Calvin, ad loc.
' Calv. Instt. iv. 1, 22.
¦' Zwingli, 1. c. and P. Martyr, Serm. in loc.
* De Sacerdot. iii. 5. init. See Hooker, above, p, 28,

43
conferred on Angels or Archangels ; for to them hath
it not been said, ' Whatsoever ye shall bind on
earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye
shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Fleaven.'"] But
is it then a new thing for God to " perfect praise
through babes," or overcome wisdom by folly, or
make weakness His strength ? " O wretched un
belief," says a father % " who deniest to God His own
proper qualities, simplicity and power ? " Is it not,
on that very account, more according to all the
analogy of God's dealings since the foundation of
the world? Hath not He, Who hung the earth
upon nothing, and has made sand the bound of the
proud waves of the sea, and man, of all the weakest,
the Lord of this earthly creation, when He had breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and cast around
him the robe of original innocency, hath not He ever
shown His Almightiness in seeming weakness, that it
might be seen that the excellency was of Him? [What
were the ark of Noah, and the rod of Moses, and
his feeble, upstayed, arms, which won victory over
Amalek, but types of the Cross, mighty and victo-
' Tert. de Bapt. c. 2. p. 256, O. T. He proceeds : " What
then ? Is it not wonderful that death should be washed away by
a mere bath ? Yea, but if, because it is wonderful, it be there
fore not believed, it ought on that account the rather to be
believed. For what else should the works of God be but above
all wonder ? We ourselves also wonder, but because we believe :
while unbelief wondereth and believeth not ; for it wondereth at
simple things, as foolish, and at great things, as impossible."

44
rious in Aveakness ? What the line of the Redeemer's
descent through the younger, as Seth, and Shem,
and Abraham, and Isaac, begotten " of one as good as
dead," and Jacob, and Judah, and David, and Solo
mon, but an image that God would choose " the weak
things of the Avorld to confound the mighty ? "] When
has He not used means, inadequate, in order to bring
about His ends ? [What was Israel itself, who were
as grasshoppers in their own sight, to subdue the seven
nations, images of the seven deadly sins AA'hich Avar
against the soul, or the stone and sling of David, or
" the SAVord of the Lord and of Gideon," or Jael, or
the hornet which He sent before Israel, or the
children of the barren, as Isaac, and Samuel, and John
Baptist, or the "feeble Jcavs," through whom He re
stored Israel after the captivity, but preachers of the
one great truth, that God brings not about His ways
as our Avays ? So that if in any case He makes use of
might, ITe either subdues it, and Samson's strength
becomes available through the Nazarite's vow, and
Moses' through old age, or it is a type of Anti-Christ,
hating Him, while serving Flis ends in purifying His
people. What more strange thing is it, that He,
through the voice of a man, should forgive sins, than
that through clay, which Avould blind, He should give
sight, or, through stopping the ears, should open them:
or that His Voice should aAA'aken the dead, who of
themselves could not hear it ; or that Fie should com
mand the winds and sea, and they should obey Him ?]
How is it stranger than that the Lord should

45
hearken to the voice of a man, and the sun obey
the voice of him who said, " Sun, stand thou still ;"
or that, through the indwelling of His Spirit, the
voice of the tent-maker in bonds should make Felix
tremble, and almost persuade a king in his pomp to
belong to the " sect every where spoken against," or
subdue the Imperial City, and silence the wise of
this Avorld, and run through the Avorld, making Jew,
and Greek, and Barbarian, obedient to the faith ^ ?
"• It is not ye that speak," saith our Lord, " but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."
" That man from the earth," says S. Gregory the
Great \ " might have so great power, the Creator of
heaven and earth came to earth from heaven, and
that the flesh might judge spirits, the Lord, made
Flesh for man, vouchsafed to bestow this upon
him, because thereby did human weakness rise
beyond itself, that Divine Might Avas made weak
below Itself." It may be one of the fruits of the
Incarnation, and a part of the dignity thereby con
ferred upon our nature, that God Avould rather work
His miracles of grace through man, than imme
diately by Himself. It may be part of the Mystery
of the Passion, that God would rather bestoAV Its
* See the magniflcent passage of S. Chrys. Hom. 32, on Rom.
xvi. 24. p. 506, sqq. Oxf. Tr.
' Dial. ii. 23, add S. Hilary, in Ps. 67, § 35. "When He
saith to Peter, and the rest of the Apostles, ' Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,' it is a Voice full of
power, to be able to bestow so much on human weakness."

46
fruits, through those who can suffer with us, through
toil and suffering, than without them. It may be part of
the purpose of His Love, that love should increase
while one member suffers AAdth another, and relieves
another. [Yet certainly such a " ministry of recon
ciliation" He hath not committed to the Angels
who rejoice over it, as neither by them, but
"through the Priests of God," says S. Chrysostom*,
" do we put on Christ, are buried with the Son of
God, and become members of that Blessed Head,"
Christ Jesus; "by them," he says, "we are not only
regenerated, but the sins after this they have power
to remit."]
God, indeed, Avhen He intrusteth man Avith His
Divine Authority, doth not part with it so as to con
firm that which through the sin, either of him who
useth it, or him for whom it is used, is done con
trary to His Will. " Pardon," says S. Pacian ', " is
in such wise not refused to true penitence, as that
no one thereby prejudgeth the future Judgment of
Christ." " We do not," says S. Cyprian ', " anticipate
the judgment of the Lord Who will come to judge,
but that, if He shall find a sinner's penitence full
and entire, He will then ratify what has been
determined by us. But if any have deluded us by
a feigned penitence, God, Who ' is not mocked,' and
" De Sacerdot. iii. 6.
" Ep. 1, ad Sympr. fin. p. 327.
' Ep. 55, § 15, p. 126. Comp. § 24, p. 135. Ep. 57, § 3,
p. 139 and 30, § 11, p. 68.

Who ' looketh on the heart' of man, will judge of
those whom Ave have not seen through, and the
Lord will correct the sentence of His servants."
Yet doth not God less, through Flis servants, what
is done aright in His Name, because others speak in
that Name perversely. He spake through His true
Prophets, although others whom He sent not, in His
Name " prophesied deceits ;" He said to His Priests,
" Ye are gods," giving sentence through the Name
of God ; although to such as judged unjustly. He
said, "Ye shall die like men." Baptism is not less " the
laver of regeneration," because it benefits not those
who receive it feignedly ; nor is the Holy Eucharist
less the Bread of Life, because to those " who will
presume to receive it unworthily," " it doth nothing
else than increase their damnation," He doth not the
less speak through those who preach His Gospel,
because others " proclaim" or preach " Christ out of
envy and strife ;" nor doth He less by the Church
loose true penitents, because they who come feign
edly to His Ordinance, do, by this fresh sin, but
rivet all their former sins faster upon them.
My whole object, brethren, in all this Avhich I
would say, is the comfort of penitents, according
to the provisions which our Church has made for
them. Elsewhere ^ I have sought, from the practice
of primitive Antiquity, to vindicate the practical
' Note M on Tertullian, p. 379, sqq. (Library of the Fa
thers.)

48
state of our Church, in which confession is dispensed
with as matter of necessity, and left to the consciences
of individuals. Yet certainly they who leaving
private confession discretionary, put their hand to
the work of restoring public discipline, thought not
that things Avould be amongst us as they noAv are ;
for Ridley spake of public discipline as " one ^ of
the marks whereby the true Church is known in this
dark world," and Latimer* (Avith others) saith, " To
speak of right and true Confession, I would to God
it Avere kept in England ; for it is a good thing."
Yet God, Who in His Wisdom suffered their
designs to come to nought \ has thereby the more
cast the Church upon herself, and we may trust,
would make her discipline the purer, in that He
has deprived her of all outward aid in restoring
it. And we may even be thankful that the rules
which remain °, requiring all her members to par
take of her ordinances, have passed into disuse.
For this is most certain, that to encourage in
discriminately the approach to the Floly Com
munion, AA'ithout a corresponding inward system

^ Certaine Conferences betwene Dr. N. Ridley and Mr. H.
Latimer, quoted in Wordsworth, App. p. 135.
¦* Serm. on the Third Sunday after Epiph. quoted by Words
worth, App. p. 69, and Ridley, ib. p. 71.
* See the account of the several attempts to restore public
discipline frustrated, Wordsworth, App. p. 41, sqq.
° See 8th Rubric, at the end of the Communion Service, and
Can. 22.

49
whereby they, who are entitled so to do, should
know intimately the hearts of those Avhom they so
encourage, has brought Avith it an amount of care
lessness and profanation, Avhich, if known, Avould
make many a heart of those Avho have so done, sink
and quake.
It is, then, Ave may trust, of God's manifold mercy
to this portion of His Church, that He has, at the
same time, by His Providence allowed almost all
remains of that outward compulsory system to be
broken down ; and by His Spirit within has aroused,
and is arousing, people's consciences more and more,
to desire the full provisions Avhich He has laid up in
her for wounded souls. For so shall the Avhole be
the more seen to be His work, and discipline be not
the constraint ofthe disobedient, but, as oftentimes
in the oldest times \ the longed-for refuge of earnest
minds, the binding-up of the broken-hearted, the
austere yet loved chastisement of the flesh, "that
the soul may be saved in the Day of the Lord." We
can bear no sudden restoration. But in this and all
things Ave need but patiently to wait for Flis Hand,
Who is so graciously and wonderfully restoring us.
That type of fatherly rule must be the characteristic
of our Church; "volentes per populos dat jura."
"The people shall be willing in the day of Thy
power." ' See notices of voluntary confession with a view to public
penitence, in note M on Tertullian, S. Aug. de quasstt. 83.
q. 26. Serm, 232, § 8. 351. de Poenit. § 7, and Hooker, vi. 4. 6.
E

50
We must patiently await, until God gives to
parents more anxious care for their children, or
more confidence in her ministers, or to us more
skill in guarding the souls of youth. All will be
well with our Church, if man outruns not by his im
patience the deep, orderly movements of the Spirit
of God. Yet since on this very subject, unhappily
a vague suspicion in general prevails among us, and
this is fostered now by the circulation of the work
of an infidel ' of impure mind in another land, we
need the more the common warning, AA'hich has been
raised again and again during the three last centu
ries ^ that amid any corrupt abuses, through man's
* Michelet. His work bears no appearance of being founded
upon facts as to the abuse of this sacred office. It is the theory
of an irreligious mind passing judgment upon holy relations,
which, being unholy, it cannot understand (1 Cor. ii. 14) ; view
ing spiritual things through the medium of a carnal mind, and
hating the Priestly Office, as being an opposing influence, neces
sarily, if it is faithful, at war with " the world."
' See in Wordsworth's Sermon and Appendix, Bp. Andrewes
(p. 73), Overall (p. 74), Moreton (p. 76), Dr. Donne (p. 78),
Abp. Ussher, Bramhall (p. 79), Bp. Cosin (p. 81), Heylin,
Hammond (p. 83), Bp. Taylor (p. 89), South, Hickes, Collier,
Marshall, and add Bp. Sparrow (Serm. on Confession of sins and
the power of Absolution). " Confess, as the Church directs us ;
confess to God, confess also to the Priest, if not in private in the
ear, since that is out of use {male aholetur, saith a devout Bishop,
it is almost quite lost, the more is the pity) ; yet, however, con
fess as the Church appoints, publicly before the congregation,
that so we may, at least by this, reap the great benefit of Abso
lution." Hooker's description of the ground of voluntary Con-

51
Avickedness, of the individual application of the power
of the keys, we ourselves lose not its healthful use.
According to the state of the Church, the influence
of the Clergy must raise or depress the people com
mitted to their charge ; they will, by God's appoint
ment and gracious help, aid to lift them up towards
Heaven, or Avith them they Avill sink deeper into
Hell. And the more sacred and nearer the inter
course, the more blessed must it be, or the more
deadly. But whatsoever may be conceived of evil,
in any state of the Church, from men of corrupt

fession in the Ancient Church implies much sympathy with it
(vi. 4. 7). " Because the knowledge how to handle our own
sores is no vulgar or common art, but we either carry towards
ourselves for the most part an over-soft and gentle hand, fearful
of touching too near the quick ; or else, endeavouring not to be
partial, we fall into timorous scrupulosities, and sometimes into
those extreme discomforts of mind, from which we hardly do lift
up our heads again ; men thought it the safest way to disclose
their secret faults, and to crave imposition of penance from them
whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath left in His Church to be spi
ritual and ghostly physicians, the guides and pastors of redeemed
souls, whose oflSce doth not only consist in general persuasions
unto amendment of life, but also in the private particular cure
of diseased minds." The case in which he recommends Confes
sion, he thus describes (vi. 4. 16). " If peace with God do not
follow the pains we have taken in seeking after it, if we continue
disquieted, and not delivered from anguish, mistrusting whether
what we do be sufficient : it argueth that our sore doth exceed
the power of our own skill, and that the wisdom of the pastor
must bind up those parts, which, being bruised, are not able to
be recured of themselves."
E 2

52
minds, ravening wolves in sheep's clothing, there is
the less fear, Avhen God is restoring her; whatever
danger there may be, in any case, lest an unskilful
Priest should convey knoAvledge of evil to the soul,
instead of guarding it, (and too scrupulous tender
care of this there cannot be, aided by constant
prayer to God,) our peril lies not here. We are
not in peril Avhere a\ e fear, but AA'here Ave fear not.
Our peril is from that, which Satan through these
fears would the more hide from us, the unhindered
tide of corruption, which SAveeps away its tens of
thousands, AA'here the heart, unopened to parent or
Priest, does lie open to Satan's snares. Meantime,
there is the more exceeding reason for more
earnest prayer to God, to break this power and
malice of Satan, and strengthen Flis oa^'u kingdom
in the hearts of men.
But, meantime, neither this nor aught besides
for Avhich our good Bishop AndroAves prayed, as
things yet " lacking to us'," should have any Aveight
in diminishing the comfort of any in this our portion
of the Church, in which God has bestoAved upon us
so many blessings from our childhood until uoav.
It has been Avell said, " Pray to God for a guide,
and He Avill give thee a guide, or Himself Avill guide
thee." He Who is stirring people's souls to long to
disburthen themselves, Avill not fail, among us, the

' Devotions, 2nd day. See Serm. iv., on Whitsunday, quoted
by Wordsworth, App. p. 73, &c.

53
hearts which He hath stirred. He Avill not, through
our unskilfulness, be AA'anting to Flis own Ordinance.
Meantime, it is certain by the consent of the
Universal Church, that Avhoso is truly contrite of
any the most deadly sin, — all, which the Ancient
Church subjected to years of penitence, and then
by imposition of hands formally restored, yea, if
he had on him the sins of the whole world,
and longeth for Absolution, is absolved. And if
the comfort is for a time withheld, while as yet
he knows not to AA'hom to turn, who knoAvs what
deeper penitence God may not amid this suspense
be working in his .soul ? God's delays are man's
benefits. " Ask, and ye shall receive."
Then, too, as penitence deepens, the daily and
Eucharistic absolutions will come with greater power
to the soul. If noAv to many they seem to avail but
little, it is not that the Absolution is poAverless, but
that repentance, upon which alone it is bestowed, is
cold. If, indeed, " with hearty repentance and true
faith we turn unto Him," if " the remembrance of our
sins is indeed grievous unto us, and the burden of
them intolerable," His mercy Avill not be wanting to
us. His absolving sentence belongs directly to us.
"When," in the Avords of Hooker ^ "in the con
fession, every man prostrate, as it were, before His
glorious Majesty, crieth 'guilty' against himself,
and the minister with one sentence pronounceth
^ B. vi. 4. 15. Comp. Dr. Bisse, note A at the end.

64
universally all cl«ir, whose acknowledgment so
made hath proceeded from a true penitent mind ;
what reason is there every man should not, under
the general terms of confession, represent to him
self his own particulars AA^hatsoever, and adjoining
thereunto that affection which a contrite spirit
worketh, embrace to as full effect the words of
Divine Grace, as if the same were severally and
particularly uttered Avith addition of prayers, im-
jjosition of hands, or all the ceremonies and solem
nities that might be used for the strengthening
of men's aflfiance in God's peculiar mercy towards
them ?"
Yet this very restoration brings new and difficult
duties upon us to whom God has entrusted that
most solemn and Divine office. There is no choice.
Consciences are daily awakened by God's Spirit,
some to the knowledge of a frightful past, others, it
may be, are unduly burthened. Satan, in the absence
of skilful advisers, who might guard the soul against
evil, at first subtle, but very desolating, has spread
his snares with a dreadful wisdom. Luxury, and
the sins of a self-indulgent people, the corruption
transmitted from one brief generation of youth to
another, or self-originated through the early deceits
of Satan, have spread among us a Avidely-wasting
mass of evil, unknown mostly, unwarned against,
and therefore the more destructive. Too many
know how sin, commenced Avith scarce the knoAv-
ledge that it was sin, has, for years of life, cankered

55
every purpose of good ; ])erhaps prepared for deeper,
more overt, deadly sin !
Yet, whether of such or of any other sins, the
more God brings before the souls of men the awful
reality of our existence, and the endless bliss or woe
Avhich hangs upon this life's breath, the deeper and
more frequent must be the longing of men to dis
burthen their souls. With deeper sense of the sin
fulness of sin, needs, iioav to us, but for which our
Church provides, have sprung up. And we, in
our soA'eral callings, must not (if we would have
the blessing of God) be Avanting either to the
Church, or to " the sheep ^ of Christ whom He
bought with His Death, and for whom He shed
Flis Blood." Yet, blessed as the office is, and like
our Blessed Lord's own, to relieve the burden of the
clogged and choked heart by receiving it, still, from
the experience of those who have exercised that
holy ministry, it must be said that there is none so
full of peril to those who have not, by penitence and
mortification, or the continual sanctifying grace of
God, or some sharp, penetrating, severing stroke,
been deadened to the things of time, and, in the full
aim and desire of their heart, are seeking to live to
God. Sin is an awful thing to handle. To hear of
it continually, and not be defiled with it nor dulled
to it ; to compassionate a fellow-sinner and be austere
with self ; to hear of the defilement of every sense,
^ Exhortation in " The Ordering of Priests."

56
and keep watch over his OAvn, comes not from man
himself, but from the continued, preserving, guard
ing, refreshing grace of God, which keeps the whole
man stayed upon, looking to, sealed by. Him. It is,
then, a call the more to us so to cleave fast to God,
that those committed to our charge may rightly
place trust in us, to be jealously watchful over our
selves, guard speech * habitually, if we are to receive
the solemn secrets of men's inmost souls ; train our
selves in holy discipline, that aa^o may be fitted to
train others, not be blind leaders of the blind ;
strict with ourselves, that we may knoAV how to be
tenderly careful of others ; hate all the motions of
sin in ourselves, that Ave may teach others to hate
it with a holy shrinking ; be fervent ourselves, that
Ave may inspire others Avith a holy fervour ; love Him
much. Who, Ave trust, hath forgiven us, that Ave may
teach others, being much forgiven, much to love ;
and study deep humility and fervent prayer, lest Ave
fall into any snare of the Devil. For as the reward
is great, so is the peril. And it may often be de-
' This is a general caution only to persons, who may as yet not
have exercised the office. It does not imply (as a Roman Catho
lic writer has interpreted it) any misgiving, that the sacredness
of confession would not be kept among us. Violation of confes
sion would be avoided like any other sin, and hindered by the
grace of God. But there are many ways, short of any thing so
shocking and inconceivable, as direct violation of such a secret,
against which all writers on Confession give cautions, as the
Pretre Sanctifie, Liguori, S. Charles Borromeo, B. Leonard in
the " Manuel des Confesseurs," p. 467, sqq.

57
sirable that before any exercise the Physician's
oflfice, (although none from the sense of their own
unworthiness should refuse it in case of need,) he
should himself lay open some festering, oppressive,
sin of his own bosom.
Nor is this increase of the individual application
of the " power of the keys" among us, any (so to
speak) new and untried use of what lies in the letter
of our Liturgy. It AA'as used in times past, nor ever
AvhoUy disused, hoAvever overlaid in the lukewarm
ness of the last century, or overlooked in the revival
of piety, Avhen, at first, it took a direction too little
influenced by the provisions of our Church. And
noAv, again, its increased use has not been the result
of any theory, or of any wi,sh on the part of any of
the priesthood, to restore Avhat they thought to be
for the benefit of the Church, It originated not in
the agency of man, but in the Grace and Providence
of Almighty God, shaking the inmost souls of peni
tents, and giving them the longing for that relief
which He has appointed.
And as this, amidst the manifold distresses of this
time, is a great encouragement ^ and hope for the
future, (for what is from Flim must prosper,) so too
are the blessed fruits, which all have seen who in
' " The Church rightly claims the power of binding and loosing,
as having true priests ; heresy cannot claim it, not having priests
of God. And by not claiming, it pronounces against itself, in
that, not having priests, it dare not claim to itself the priestly
rights." S. Ambr. de Sacr. i. 2. § 7.

58
these later days have been called upon to exercise
this sacred ministry. For gifts of grace are not of
man, but the operation of our Blessed Lord, through
the Floly Spirit, sanctioning among us the commis
sion which He gave. [And so, too, may they who
have Avitnessed this grace and gift of God^ perhaps
speak more to the hearts of the penitent. For it is
one thing to have heard by the hearing of the ear
that such gifts are owned and imparted by the
Church ; another to know Avhat God hath wrought
by them for human souls : one thing even (as all we
AA'ho have received the holy office of the Priesthood)
to have heard those solemn words, the continual
echo of our Blessed Lord's, yea, His OAvn by His ser
vants the Bishops to us, by Avhich it Avas conveyed to
each of us, and at which our souls stood in awe and
were amazed : " Receive the Holy Ghost for the
office and work of a Priest in the Church of God,
noAv committed to thee by the imposition of our
hands : Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are for
given ;" one thing to have received this holy office,
as a dormant poAver though inherent in us, another
to have seen the fruits of the gift of God, although
imparted through a sinner's hands. In this way, the
Ministers of Christ may venture to say, " We speak
that we do knoAA', and testify that Ave have seen."]
And if any here feel the burden of past sin,
some single, heavier sin, as a load upon his con
science, or some enduring evil habit, or a subtle
ensnaring offence, again and again rising up against

59
him, and mastering him, or some hateful spell of
past evil doing, Avhich seems to leave his soul
in darkness, and paralyze him as to all more holy,
devoted purposes ; — it may be a blessed knowledge
that others, like him, were once bound, and now
have by God been loosed; they, like him, Avere
once burdened, and now their lightened hearts
mount up in love and thankfulness : they were once
slaves of sin, now are the freedmen of God : they
once strove ineffectually, struggling for a while, yet
ever in the end dragged captive; now they strive
victoriously in the Peace, and Light, and Love of
God. It is one of the especial blessings of this place
that each is assigned to the care of one who, by
his sacred office, is bound to care for his soul.
Blessed as that relation has been to many of us,
more blessed far might it be to the young, Avould
they recollect that they, with AA'hom they are brought
into this relation, are not mere guardians of disci
pline, but Ministers of God. And if the soul of any
be burthened, they are, by the very name of their
office ^ protectors, guardians, and in the place of
parents. We need no noAV relations, but to bring
into fuller life what God has given us.
Great is the grace which God oftentimes bestows,
through the poAver of the keys, upon true penitence,
which loveth or but longeth to love. He Who
giveth to every one severally as He willeth, dealeth
^ Tutores.

60
with each as He, in His Infinite Mercy and Wisdom,
sees best for the needs of each, or as each is at the
time fitted to receive of His Goodness. Nor must
any be disappointed, if, for the time, he be OA'en
rather bewildered Avith the memory and multitude
of his sins, or with the shame of their confession,
than perceive any instant relief. Yet none in ear
nest ever " asked bread" of our " Heavenly Father,"
and " He gave them a stone ;" none ever Avith peni
tent heart approached His Ordinances in His Church,
and Avas " sent aAA'ay emj)ty." He giveth according
to our longing. Fie Himself hath said, " Open thy
mouth Avide, and I Avill fill it :" the greater our
longing for His grace, the larger Flis grace. Flis
Infinite Love has no bounds, but the narrowness of
our souls, Avhich, if Ave crave it, He will enla,rge.
To some He sheddeth rays of light on their dark
ness ; to others He gives large, sensible influxes of
grace, so that they seem borne along it as upon a
tide ; to others He poureth in the gift of love ;
to some He giveth another heart and maketh them
other men, so that former sins, former besetting
temptations, are, as it Avere, passed aAvay ; to others
He giveth the grace of strength ; to others a loA'ing
penitence ; to others deep humility and loathing of
sin ; to others the brightness of His Presence, and
the souls as of a little child. Yet all such gifts
are of God's overfloAving mercy ; one only gift doth
the ])enitent seek after, the Face of God ; that He
Who turned His Face aAvay amid his sins, Avill

61
"show the Light of His Countenance upon him,
that he may be AA'hole."
The restoration, on the part of God, if Ave be sin
cere, is complete. " I set before you," says S.
Chrysostom \ " not one, two, three, but many thou
sands, ulcered, Avounded, laden Avith countless sins,
which can be so made Avhole through penitence, as
not to have trace or scar of their former Avounds."
" Scars remain ' in the body ; God, Avhen He effaces
sin, alloAvs neither scar nor trace to remain, but Avith
health gives freshness of beauty ^ too ; with freedom
from punishment, righteousness also ; and makes the
sinner equal to those Avho had not sinned ;" nay, not
" equal" may he be, but, says S. Gregory '", " a life
on fire with love after sin, becometh more pleasing
to God than innocence Avhich through security is list
less." Only be it an ardent, kindled, fiery life, Avhich
willeth not that any of its dross, any thing dead,
remain unconsumed.
A^'hat the Church offers, is not to replace peni
tence (as many modern systems do), but to secure
its fruits ; not to diminish sorroAV for past sin, but
to make it joyous ; not to offer easy terms, but to
invite to the yoke of Christ, easy, but as freeing
thee from the heavy yoke of sin; easy, because
He Who placeth it upon thee, shall by it uphold
thee. The Church every Avhere has in later times
' De Poenit. Hom. 8, § 3. ° Ibid. § 2.
» Ei/xop^ia. '° Past. c. 28.

62
mitigated her strictness ', and because she could
not bring us to the severe self-discipline of the
Ancient Church, would invite us, as children with
weak wills, to do what we can.
She abridges the long-protracted period of peni
tential acts ; admits at once, or rarely excludes from
communion ; disuses almo,st every Avhere the recom
mendation of the stern instruments of ancient peni
tence, [such as even the loving, though earnest, S. Cy
prian' speaks of, and of which our own Church'' spoke
with reverence at the beginning of the last century,
" to spend nights in vigils and Aveeping, lie stretched
on the ground, prostrate themselves amongst ashes,
sackcloth, and dust," or long-continued fastings.]
In compassion to the weakness of her children, she
' " The Apostle doth not speak contrary to the Lord, in that he
says, ' Those that sin rebuke before all, that others also may
fear,' whereas He saith, ' Rebuke him between him and thee
alone.' Both are to be done, as the difference of the infirmity of
those suggests, whom we have received in charge, not to be
destroyed, but to be corrected and cured ; for one is to be healed
one way, another another." S Aug. de Fid. et Op. § 4.
' De Laps. § 21, p. 175, Oxf. Tr.
' Form of Excommunication approved by Convocation, a.d.
1712. Archiep. Cant. Th. Tenison, 20 Reg. Ang. Ann. 13, quoted
by Wordsworth, App. p. 35. It refers to the yet stronger language
of Origen, Tertullian, and S. Ambrose (ibid. p. 37). The language
of Tertullian is quoted with respect by Bishop Hall (against the
Brownists), on the Right Use of the Church. P. ii. p. 162.
(Ibid. p. 78.) See also Bp. Sparrow, Sermon on Confession and
Absolurion (atthe end of his Rationale), p. 307, ed. 1722,

63
puts them not to open shame, nor lays upon them
the burden of a heavy discipline. But God changeth
not ; His holy '^'^'ord remains, Avhich counts self-
"revenge" among the fruits of " sorrow after a godly
sort :" the Church still rehearses to us from it the
austere humiliation of Ahab and Nineveh ; she still
teaches us to say Avith the royal penitent, " every
night wash I my bed, and water my couch with my
tears;" " my beauty is gone for very trouble ; " "I for
get to eat my bread ;" " for the voice of my groan
ing, my bones Avill scarcely cleave to my flesh ;" she,
yea, God by her, still calls to us through the Pro
phets, to " turn to the Lord with weeping, and Avith
fasting, and with mourning." Not the Nature of
the Unchangeable God, nor of Flis and our un
changed adversary, fixed in everlasting hate of both,
and hating us the more, as bearing the image of
God; not the deadly nature of sin, nor the true
character of healthful penitence are changed; not
what would be good for us, if Ave could bear it, but
what our sickly wills (and in some cases, weaker
frames) will bear. Better to repent any how, than
not to repent at all. Yet surely they may most hope
that their penitence is sincere whom it costs most ;
"the pains ofthe penitent," says S. Augustine^ "are
birth-pangs of a woman Avith child ; " yielding, for
short present pain, abiding joy. They surely, who
mourn most deeply, shall be most deeply comforted;
' In Ps. xlvii. § 5.

64
" they Avho soav in tears, shall reap in joy ; " they Avho,
" Aveeping, bear forth good seed, shall come again"
to their Father's everlasting home " Avith joy," and
shall find their sheaves laid up in His garner. They,
AA'ho have deeply fallen, or have turned aside, must
gird themselves the more resolutely, and strip them
selves of every Aveight, and press the more earnestly
in His Blessed Steps Who hath anew called them,
Avould they gain the Prize they once forfeited, the
full Brightness of Flis Presence in bliss, and recover
the jewels of that croAvn which they once tarnished,
or " cast on the ground, profaning it down to the
dust," and the mire of concupiscence !
[Who among us shall dare to say that that, if it
can be borne, is Avithout its use, Avhich the whole
Church so earnestly commended to penitents, to
further their salvation, iu those centuries, to which,
on this very matter of discipline, our OAA'n Homilies
refer, as "the ^ days when religion AA'as the most pure?"
Which is most like the penitence of Holy Scripture
or our own Commination Service, that which speaks
of " prayers " Avithout ceasing, frequent fastings,"
" to groan, to weep, to moan day and night before
the Lord his God ;" " as Ave have sinned greatly,
greatly to weep ;" or even those more painful, hu
miliating acts, the sackcloth and ashes Avhich God
accepted in Nineveh, and which our Lord names as
'' Homily of the right use of the Church, Pt. 2.
° Tertull. de Poenit. c. 9, quoted in the Form of Excommu
nication, 1. L-., and S. Cyprian, 1. c.

65
tokens of humble, acceptable penitence ' ; or that
AA'hich holds, that the guilt of having " defiled the
temple of the Holy Ghost," " crucified the Son of
God afresh, and put Him to an open shame, and
done despite to the Spirit of grace," may be effaced
by a simple act of faith, without deep, searching,
because loA'ing, penitence ? Did the Saints and
Fathers of the Church set the penitents they
cherished on useless toils ? Were all those peniten
tial tears not stored up in His bottle, those sighs not
recorded in His Book ? Those cries for mercy, were
they needless or unheeded ? Had penitents of old
no reward, and was all they did and sought for a
dream ? or are we losing our reward, and, in our
self-indulgence, "walking to and fro in a vain show,"
a dreamy existence, which, " in the Awakening, God
will despise ? "]
God is anew calling aloud to penitence. Evil
days, perhaps the last strife before His Coming, are
gathering thick upon us. He, by the manifold
evils around us, is telling us where any, who, when
called by Him to work, once said, " I will not," and
have "not kept their own vineyard," may now, if
they repent, go and work in the vineyard of the
Lord. Every where around, our crowded cities, our
mines, our ports, our manufactories, are one Avide
desolation, often, except in the suspension of punish
ment, the types of Hell, for lack of devoted, self-
' Matt. xi. 12. Luke x. 13.

66
denying service. Let those follow easy paths, who
have ever trod the paths of God! let those who have
ever led blameless lives, and have little stained
their Baptismal robes, if God call them not, pos
sess in thankfulness, life's pure, peaceful, joys ! But
if thou trustest that God has forgiven thee, or will
forgive thee, much, then seek how thou mayest show
forth to Him much contrition and much love ;
if thou trust that thou art " a brand plucked out of
the fire," then see hoAv, by what self-denial, parting
with this world's goods or comforts, thou mayest,
under God, aid to pluck others out of that fire
which thou feelest that thou didst deserve : if thou
hope, that when thou hadst made thyself " a vessel
of wrath fitted for destruction," " dishonouring thine
own self," " Jesus Christ" willing to " show forth
in" thee " all long-suffering," would make of thee
" a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory," " sanctified
and meet for the Master's use," — then, like him, the
chief of penitents, the " chosen vessel to bear" his
Redeemer's " Name before the Gentiles," be thou
ready to "suffer for" His " Name's sake :" be thou
" in labours more abundant ; in Aveariness and pain-
fulness ; in watchings often ; in hunger and thirst ;
in fastings often; in cold and nakedness;" yea,
blessed shalt thou be, if, with him, thou be " in
deaths oft ;" that so in that body, which thou once
didst "yield as the instrument of unrighteousness
unto sin," and through " sin, unto death," thou
mayest now " bear about the dying of the Lord

67
Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made mani
fest in thy body," and Avhile "death worketh in"
thee, "life may Avork" in them who through thee
shall know Him. Turn thy self-affliction to the good
of thy brethren : show unto Christ, in His and thy
brethren, the love wherewith thou hopest He hath
loved thee ; and thy displeasure at thy sins shall be
the good pleasure of thy God ; thy labour to efface
thy past foulness, shall, through the Blood of Christ,
win for thee everlasting beauty and glory : He
Whose strength is made perfect in weakness, shall
make thy past weakness the means of thy future
strength : the memory of past sin, when thou art
loosed from it, shall be, not a clog to hold thee
back, but a spur to goad thee : He Who now saith,
" When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,"
shall own the good deeds which Fie gave thee strength
to do : He Who shall noAv say to thee by His Minis
ter, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven
thee," shall, in the awful Day, when He shall be
revealed in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those
who obey not His Gospel, but to be glorified in His
Saints, — He shall by Himself say unto thee, " Well
done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord."
Unto which He, of Flis infinite Mercy, bring us
sinners, to Whom with the Father, &c.

F 2

NOTES.

NOTE A.

The following passage from Dr. Bisse's Sermon " on the Beauty
of Holiness '," reached the writer from an unknown friend. It
takes the same view of tlie public absolution as Hooker (p. 53),
and is the rather added, because until individual confession is
more common, it may often be a very great comfort thus to in
clude each person's own burden of sin in the general Confession ;
it will be more real, and the absolution more availing. And
also any one who does use private Confession, will still, in any
interval, find it very useful and comfortable to include specially
the sins of the day or week in the public Confession, then receiv
ing the Absolution as said to himself.
" This Confession is in its form most solemn, in its extent
most comprehensive ; for it takes in all kinds of sin, both of
omission, in ' leaving undone those things which we ought to have
done;' and of commission, in 'doing those things which we
ought not to have done.' And whilst every single person makes
this general Confession with his lips, be may make a particular
Confession with his heart ; I mean of his own personal sins,
knovv'n only to God and himself, which if particularly, though
secretly, confessed and repented of, will assuredly be forgiven.
For every Church or House of Prayer is dedicated to God, with
the same privileges as was Solomon's temple, to wit, [1 Kings
viii. 38,] that ' Whatever supplication be made by any man, or

' Sermon ii. page 25, (Edition, London, 1716.)

70
by all Thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague
of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands towards this
house, then hear, 0 Lord, from heaven, and forgive : for Thou,
even Thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of Men.' This
then is the privilege of our Confession, that under the general
form every man may mentally unfold ' the plague of his own
heart,' his particular sins, whatever they be, as effectually to
God, Who ' Alone knoweth his heart,' as if he pronounced them
in express words  (page 28.) This Confession
of Sins being duly made by the whole congregation, then the
Priest standing up, doth, in the Name and by the Commission of
God, pronounce the Absolution ; which, if rightly understood,
believed, and embraced by the Confessing Penitent, ought to be
of like comfort to him, as that declaration of Christ was to the
man sick of the palsy [Matt. ix. 2], ' Be of good cheer : thy
sins be forgiven thee.' For all the three forms of Absolution in
our service, namely, this now before us, and that in the Com
munion, and the other in the Visitation of the Sick, though
differing in expression, are by the best expositors on our Liturgy
judged to be of equal signification. ' All these forms,' (saith
Bishop Sparrow,) ' are but several expressions of the same
thing, in the sense and virtue are the same, and are effectual to
the penitent by virtue of that commission, (mentioned John xx.
23,) ' Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted.' And 'tis upon this
account that the Church hath not allowed this form of Absolution
to be pronounced by a Deacon, to whom that Commission is not
given ; but hath reserved it to the Priests, who at their Ordina
tion are invested with that authority 
(p. 35.) But before we enter upon it, let us observe the fitness
and the necessity of this order, which appoints confession of sin
with Absolution to bear the first part in our public worship. For
till our persons be sanctified, absolved, and reconciled unto God,
all we do in His sanctuary will be unacceptable 
(page 36.) Confession of sin, then, strengthened by Absolution,
being the main groundwork of public worship, upon which the

71
acceptableness of the following service regulariy depends ; as I
hope this will excuse my being so full and particular upon these
heads, so I must crave leave, before I proceed, to leave upon
your minds two exhortations.
" First, to thank God that in our worship this groundwork is not
only of a tried soundness and of a just breadth, but also laid in
its proper place  (page 37.) Secondly, let me
exhort you to come to Church before the Confession, otherwise
you lose the great benefit of Absolution. For though there be
other short Confessions of Sin, as in the Litany, yet there is
appointed no other Absolution. I call the benefit of Absolution
great, because it sanctifies your persons, which sanctifies all your
offerings. To set .this in a true emblem before you, which may
justly affect and last upon your thoughts : every person, when he
stands before God, is to be looked upon, like Joshua the High
Priest, as 'clothed in filthy garments.' But after he hath con
fessed and repented of his sins, then the Lord saith to the Priest
appointed to pronounce the Absolution, — as he did to those that
stood by Joshua, — 'Take away the filthy garments from him'
(Zech. iii. 4). And to the person himself thus absolved he saith,
as he did to Joshua, ' Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass
from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.' They
therefore that come in after Absolution, — however they may
come prepared and arrayed in their own righteousness, — yet
ought to look upon themselves still as ' clothed in filthy garments.'
For, what is all our righteousness in the sight of God ? The
Prophet answers (Isa. lxi v. 6), it is ' as filthy rags.' "
NOTE B.
Reformed and Socinian Expositions of our Lord's words on the
" power of the keys," on p. 42.
Zwingli does give this as an actual paraphrase of our Lord's
words. " It is as though Christ said, ' To whomsoever ye preach
the Gospel, and they receive it, to them sine are remitted.' For,

72
in the last chapter of Mark, He expresses this more clearly :
' Preach the Gospel to every creature ; he that believeth shall be
saved;' i.e. whoso believeth the Gospel preached by you. The
remitting of sins then is ascribed to the Apostles, because they
preach that through which sins are remitted ; for they preach the
Gospel, or Christ Himself, or the grace of God through Christ,
by which sins are remitted. The meaning then is, ' Whose sins
ve remit,' i. e. ' to whom ye shall announce the remission of sins,
and they shall believe the Gospel preached by you, to them sins
are remitted.' " (In Hist. Dom. Res.) Calvin very remarkably
avoids any thing like an attempt to adapt such a sense to the
words, and uses general terms only; as (Institt. iv. 1. 22) "by
the ministry of the Church sins are continually remitted to us,
when Presbyters or Bishops, to whom this office is intrusted,
confirm pious consciences, &c. (as in the text) ch. iv. 11. 1.
" This command, as to remitting or retaining sins, and that promise
to Peter, as to binding or loosing, ought to be referred to nothing
else than the ministry of the word, whicli when the Lord com
mitted to the Apostles, He therewith bestowed on them this office
of binding and loosing. For what is the substance of the Gospel,
except that we all, being the servants of sin and death, are loosed
and freed through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus 1 — It
is clear that in those places (]Matt. xvi. John xx.) the power of
the keys is simply the preaching of the Gospel." The nearest to
an attempt to paraphrase the words occurs ad loc. " He com
mands them to attest the remission of sins iu His Name, so that
He should through them reconcile men to God."
In like way, Chamier (Panstrat. 4. 15. 3.) says that "by those
words of Christ is meant the general effect ofthe whole preaching
of the Gospel; " and Peter Martyr (Serm. in Joann. xx). " The
key is twofold ; the one of preaching the Word of God, the other
of believing it, when heard. One doth not open nor remit sins
without the other. That key is in truth nothing else than the
Word of God ; not given to priests more than to others, but to all
Christians. And that Word of God is breathed upon by the

73
Holy Spirit, and is partly preached, partly believed ; and thus
sins are remitted. — The keys are the Word of God; so then the
Priests need not so to boast. For there are two keys, one of teach
ing, the other of believing. They [the Priests] use their key ;
yet it is not enough to open the kingdom of heaven, unless he,
too, who hears, uses his and believes. The Holy Spirit is the
Author of both ; for, except v/ith His aid, people neither preach
nor believe aright. Yea, when Christ preached, heaven was not
opened to all by His preaching, nor were sins remitted to all,
but to those only who used their key and believed. We own
that by whomsoever the word of God is spoken, it is as if it was
spoken out of the mouth of God ; but it does not follow from
this, that all have the keys. For of those who believe and hear
it is said, ' He gave them power to become the sons of God.' —
Nor is the key of using the Word of God given to the Priests
alone, but to the whole Church. Whence it is the Holy Spirit
who giveth the keys ; but all the believers have the Spirit of
Christ, else are they none of His ; therefore all have the keys.
Yet all ought not, as to the outward function, to preach and
administer sacraments ; but Paul wisheth all to be done in order.
Therefore certain, more learned and better, are chosen, who act
for the whole Church, and are called ministers of the Church.
For if we would all preach together, it would be a croaking of
frogs. But privately every one hath the keys towards his neigh
bours, and can deal with him through the Word of God, and if he lay
open to him his sin, can comfort, admonish, exhort him out of the
Word of God : which Word of God, if he believe, his sins are
forgiven him and heaven is opened ; but if he believe not, sins
are retained, and he is bound." Chemnitz (Exam. Cone. Trid.
Sess. iv. c. 1, 2). The remission and retaining of sins takes place
through the ministry, (Joh. xx ;) by the preaching of the word,
Luke xxiv. Aretius (ad loc.) says, " the remission of sins is —
that whereby we pronounce men free from the penalties of sins
which the Divine vengeance would deservedly inflict. This con
sists wholly in the teaching, whereby men are taught to believe in

Christ, if they would have that remission, and besides this, there
is no lawful usage of remission."
The Reformed school is in this exactly followed by the
early Socinian, so that (as in the case of the texts of the
Scripture on Baptism, see Tracts on Holy Baptism, Note P,
ed. 1) they can often not be distinguished. Thus Schlichting
(ad loc. Fratr. Pol. t. 6, p. 143) : " They remitted sins to all
those who believed in Jesus Christ, and led a life conformably
to this faith. The Apostles remitted and retained sins, both
generally and in particular. In general, they remitted sins
simply to all, who believed in Christ with a true and efficacious
faith. In like way, they simply retained the sins of all who
would not believe in Christ. Individually, they remitted sins
with an ' if,' if any one professed the true faith, and had that
piety which follows it," &c. (Calvin uses the same formula).
" Some say that in this way any woman could remit and retain
sins. This [as to the need of belief in Christ] any woman
taught by the Apostles, can and ought to say and repeat ; but the
remitting and retaining of sins does not follow from the force of
her saying, but it does from that of the Apostle's saying and
teaching." Wolzogen (ad Matt. xvi. Fratr. Pol. t. 7. p. 316)
" This their power consists solely in this, that, by the authority
of their office, which they administered as the ambassadors of
Christ, they were to announce to some, remission of sins, to all
namely, who should believe in Christ." Socinus (in Matt. xvi.
19. Fratr. Pol. t. i. p. 337). "I conclude, then, that the
keys of the kingdom of heaven promised by Christ to Peter, are
the commission to declare and pronounce as to all and every
thing, which ought to be in those who appertain to the kingdom
of heaven. But that the Apostles also had this same power, is
very plain from what we have just said ; nor is any thing more
certain than that each of the Apostles had the office of preaching
the Gospel. Moreover, we read that Christ Himself gave not to
Peter only, but to the other Apostles also, this authority, that
whose sins they should remit, &c., which, as it means the same as

75
to have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, so also does it mean
the same which we said was intended by those keys ; since, by
the unalterable decree of God, sins are remitted to no one who
believeth not in Christ, but to every one who believeth in Christ
sins are remitted ; and, consequently, to the one the kingdom of
heaven is opened, to the other shut. This remission, then, and
retaining of sins, which, being done by the Apostles, God should
approve, we must needs so interpret that it should not be the act
itself, but the declaration and pronouncing ofit."
On the whole, the Socinian seems, on this point, rather the
higher teaching ; certainly higher than that of Peter Martyr.
It may further illustrate this unnatural way of interpreting
Holy Scripture, to observe the violence which is done to the
Sacred Narrarive. S. John (xx. 19—23) relates that our Lord
gave this commission to His Apostles to "remit sins" on the day
of His resurrection. " Then the same day at evening . . came Jesus
and saith, Peace be unto you . , . Then said Jesus to them again.
Peace be unto you ; As My Father," &c. S. John places it also
distinctly before the appearance when S. Thomas was present —
" But Thomas .... was not with them when Jesus came," &c.
Zwingli, following herein the Novatian censured by S. Pacian
(see above, pp. 35, 36), in order to identify this commission with
that in S. Matt, xxviii. 18, actually rends the latter half of S. John
XX, 21, from the former, and inserts it, together with v, 22, 23,
between S. Matt, xxviii. 18 and 19, Thus, whereas S, John re
lates the history, xx. 19 — 23, as one, Zwingli arbitrarily divides
it into two : whereas S, John says that it took place before the
occasion when S, Thomas was present, Zwingli places the
latter part afterwards : and whereas S. John relates our Lord's
words thus, v. 21, " Then said Jesus unto them again. Peace be
unto you, as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you ; "
Zwingli says that they were said on two different occasions ;
that the words, " Then said Jesus unto them. Peace be unto
you," were said on the day of the Resurrection, {before " He
showed to them His Hands and His side,'' although S. John

76
says it was after,) and the latter part of the words forty days
afterwards ! Such is his " history of the Resurrection of the
Lord!" (Hist. Dom. Res. Opp. t. 3. p. 395 and 400.)
As the absence of S. Thomas may, and has giA'en rise to fresh
cavil, S. Cyril's answer to cavillers in his day may be added,
that " Christ gave the Holy Ghost, not to certain individuals, but
to the whole of the disciples. Therefore, although not present,
they received It, the bounty of the Giver not being contracted to
those present, but extending to the whole band of the holy
Apostles." He illustrates this by the analogy of Eldad and
Medad, which was itself a type.

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A DEFENCE AND VINDICATION OF THE HARMONY.

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A COURSE OF SERMONS
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