A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Auricular Confession As it is prescribed by the COUNCIL OF TRENT And practised in the CHURCH of ROME With a Post-script on occasion of a Book lately printed in France called Historia Confessionis Auricularis LONDON Printed by H. Hills Jun. for Benj. Tooke at the Sign of the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard and Fincham Gardiner at the Sign of the White-Horse in Ludgate-street 1648. OF Auricular Confession THE Zealots of the Church of Rome are wont to Glory of the singular advantages in the Communion of that Church especially in respect of the greater means and helps of Spiritual comfort which they pretend are to be had there above and beyond what are to be found amongst other Societies of Christians Which one thing if it could be as substantially made out as it is confidently asserted could not fail to sway very much with all Wise men and would undoubtedly prevail with all devout persons who were made acquainted with the secret to go over to them But if contrariwise it appear upon search that their pretensions of this kind are false and groundless and that the methods of Administring consolation which are peculiar to that Church are as well unsafe and deceitful as singular and unnecessary Then the same Prudence and Sincerity will oblige a man to suspect that Communion instead of becoming a proselyte to it and to look upon the aforesaid boastings as the effect either of designed imposture or at the least of Ignorance and Delusion Amongst other things that Church highly values it self upon the Sacrament of Penance as they call it and as deeply blames and condemns the Church of England and other Reformed Churches for their defect in and neglect of so important and comfortable an Office And under that specious pretext her Emissaries who are wont according to the phrase of the Apostle to creep into houses and lead Captive silly Women c. insinuate themselves into such of the People as have more Zeal then knowledge and now and then wheadle some of them over into their Society To that purpose they will not only harangue them with fine stories of the ease and benefit of it as of an Ancient and useful Rite but will also Preach to them the necessity of it as of Divine Institution and that it is as important in its kind as Baptism or the Lords Supper For that Confession to a Priest and his Absolution thereupon obtained is the only means appointed by God for the procuring of Pardon of all mortal sins committed after Baptism As for Original sin or whatsoever actual transgressions may have been committed before Baptism all those they acknowledg to be washed away in that sacred Laver. And for sins of Infirmity or Venial sins these may be done away by several easy methods by Contrition alone say some nay by Attrition alone say others by Habitual Grace says a third c. But for mortal sins committed after a man is admitted into the Church by Baptism for these there is no other door of Mercy but the Priests Lips nor hath God appointed or will admit of any other way of Reconciliation then this of Confession to a Priest and his Absolution This Sacrament of Penance therefore is called by them Secunda Tabula post naufragium the peculiar refuge of a lapsed Christian the only Sanctuary of a guâ—lty Conscience the sole means of restoring such a person to Peace of Conscience the Favour of God and the hopes of Heaven And withal this method is held to be so Soveraign and Effectual a remedy that it cures toties quoties and whatever a mans in fearriages have been and how often soever repeated if he do but as often resort to it he shall return as pure and clean as when he first came from the Font. This ready and easie way say they hath God allowed men of quitting all scores with himself in the use of which they may have perfect peace in their Consciences and may think of the day of Judgment without horror having their Case decided beforehand by Gods Deputy the Priest and their Pardon ready to produce and plead at the Tribunal of Christ What a mighty defect is it therefore in the Protestant Churches who wanting this Sacrament want the principal ministry of reconciliation And who would not joyn himself to the Society of that Church where this great Case is so abundantly provided for For if all this be true he must be extreamly fool-hardy and deserve to perish who will not be of that Communion from whence the way to Heaven is so very easie and obvious no wonder therefore I say if not only the loose and vicious are fond of this Communion where they may sin and confess and confess and sin again without any great danger but it would be strange if the more Virtuous and Prudent also did not out of more caution think it became them to comply with his expedient For as much as there is no man who understands himself but must be conscious of having committed sins since his Baptism and then for fear some of them should prove to be of a mortal nature it will be his safest course to betake himself to this refuge and consequently he will easily be drawn to that Church where the only remedy of his disease is to be had But the best of it is these things are so oner said then proved and more easily phansied by silly People then believed by those of discretion And therefore there may be no culpable defect in the reformed Churches that they trust not to this remedy in so great a Case And as for the Church of England in particular though she hath no fondness for Mountebank Medicines as observing them to be seldom successful yet she is not wanting in her care and compassion to the Souls of those under her guidance but expresseth as much tenderness of their peace and comfort as the Church of Rome can pretend to Indeed she hath not set up a Confessors Chair in every Parish nor much less placed the Priest in the Seat of God Almighty as thinking it safer at least in ordinary Cases to remit men to the Text of the written word of God and to the publick Ministry thereof for resolution of Conscience then to the secret Oracle of a Priest in a corner and advises them rather to observe what God himself declares of the nature and guilt of sin the aggravations or abatements of it and the terms and conditions of Pardon then what a Priest pronounces But however this course doth not please the Church of Rome for reasons best known to themselves which if we may guess at the main seems to be this they do not think it fit to let men be their own carvers but lead them like Children by the hand my meaning is they keep People as much in Ignorance of the Holy Scripture as they can locking that up from them in an unknown Tongue now if they may not be
trusted with those Sacred Records so as to inform themselves of the terms of the New Covenant the conditions of the Pardon of sin and Salvation it is then but reasonable that the Priest should Judge for them and that they await their doom from his Mouth Yet I do not see why in a Protestant Church where the whole Religion is in the Mother Tongue the Old and especially the New Testament constantly and conscientiously expounded and the People allowed to search the Scriptures and to see whether things be so or no I see not I say Why in such a case the Priest may not in great measure be excused the trouble of attending secret Confessions without danger to the Souls of men But besides this there is a constant use of Confession and Absolution too in the Church of England in every Days Service which though they be both in general terms as they ought to be in publick Worship yet every Penitent can both from his own Conscience supply the generality of the Confession by a remorseful reflection upon his own particular sins as well as if he did it at the knees of a Priest and also by an Act of Faith can apply the general Sentence of Absolution to his own Soul with as good and comfortable effects as if it had been specially pronounced by his Confessor But this publick Confession doth not please the Romanists neither and they know a Reason for their dislike namely because this doth not conciliate so great a Veneration to the Priest-hood as when all men are brought to kneel to them for Salvation Neither doth this way make them to pry into the secret thoughts of Men as Auricular Confession doth wherein the Priest is not only made a Judge of mens estate but a Spy upon their behavior and is capable of becoming an Intelligencer to his Superiors of all the Designs Interests and even Constitutions of the People Moreover the Church of England allows of private Confessions also as particularly in the Visitation of the sick which office extends also to them that are troubled in Mind or Conscience as well as to the afflicted in Body where the Minister is directed to examine particularly the state of the Decumbents Soul to search and romage his Conscience to try his Faith his Repentance his Charity nay to move him to make a special Confession of his sins and afterwards to absolve him upon just grounds Nay further yet if besides the case of Sickness any Man shall either out of perplexity of Mind scrupulosity or remorse of Conscience or any other devout consideration think it needful to apply himself to a Priest of the Church of England for advice ease or relief he hath incouragement and direction so to do in the first Exhortation to the Holy Communion and may be sure to find those who will tenderly and faithfully as well as secretly administer to his necessities So that I see not what defect or omission can be objected to this Church in all this Affair or what Temptation any Man can have upon this account to go from us to the Church of Rome But all this will not satisfy them of the Church of Rome they are neither contented with publick confession nor with private no nor with secret neither if it be only occasional or voluntary It is the universality and necessity of it which they insist upon for it is not with them a Matter of Ecclesiastical Discipline to prevent the Scandal of the Society to conserve the Reverence of the Church or to rest rain men from sinning or much less an Office of Expediency and Prudence to be resorted to upon exigencies or such as may accidentally become necessary upon emergency as suppose upon the atrocity of some fact committed the scandalousness of some persons former life which may make him more doubtful of his Pardon the weakness of his Judgment the Melancholy of his Temper or the Anxiety of his Mind or any such like occasion but it must be the standing indispensable duty of all men as the condition of the Pardon of their Sins in one word it must be a Sacrament of Divine institution and of Universal Obligation For so the Council of Trent determins Sess 4. Canon 1. Si quis dixerit in Ecolesiâ Catholica poenitentiam nom esse verè propriè Sacramentum pro fidelibus quoties post Baptismum in peccata labentur ipsi Deo reconciliandi◠a Domino nostro institutum Anathema sit i. e. Let him be accursed who shall affirm that Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament instituted and appointed in the Universal Church by our Lord Christ himself for the reconciling those Christians to the Divine Majesty who have fallen into Sin after their Baptism And in the Doctrinal part of that Decree they teach and assert more particularly First That our Saviour instituted this Sacrament expresly Joh. 20. 22. 2. That this Sacrament consists of two parts viz. the Matter and the Form the Matter of the Sacrament or quasi materia as they cautiously speak is the act or acts of the Penitent namely Contrition Confession and Satisfaction the Form of it is the act of the Priest in these words Absolvote 3. That therefore it is the duty of every Man who hath fallen after Baptism as aforesaid to confess his sins at least once a year to a Priest 4. That this confession is to be secret for publick Confession they say is neither commanded nor expedient 5. That this confession of Mortal sin be very exact and particular together with all circumstances especially such as speciem facti mutant◠alter the kind or degree of sin and that it extend to the most secret sins even of thought or against the 9th and 10th Commandment 6. That the Penitent thus doing the Absolution of the Priest hereupon pronounced is not conditional or declarative only but absolute and judicial Now in opposition to this Doctrine and Decree of theirs and the practice of that Church pursuant thereof as well as in defence of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England in that particular I will here endeavor to make good these Three things 1. That our blessed Lord and Saviour hath neither in his Gospel instituted such an Auricular Confession as aforesaid nor much less such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome supposes in the recited Decree 2. That Auricular Confession hath not been of constant and universal use in the Christian Church as the Romanists pretend much less looked upon as of Sacramental and necessary Obligation 3. That Auricular Confession as it is now used in the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensome but in many respects very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion If the first of these appear to be true then at the worst the want of such an Auricular Confession in the reformed Churches can be but an irregularity and no essential defect If the
said under the former head doth very much depend upon this and that Discourse will be confirmed or impaired respectively to what shall be evidently made out in this second point Forasmuch as if on the one side it be made apparent that such a Rite hath been of constant use in the Christian Church it will afford a great presumption that it took its rise at first from Divine Institution notwithstanding all we have offered to the contrary So on the other side if the Evidence here answer not the Pretension and no sufficient footsteps of constant and universal practice appear Then will all that which we have hitherto discoursed be greatly strengthened and confirmed because it is by no means probable that if there had been a Divine Law in the case that such a thing would have been generally neglected by the Christian Church Now for the clearing of this though I am here only upon the defensive and so bound to no more then to examine the proofs which the Romanists bring for their pretensions yet I will deal ingenuously as seeking not to find Flaws but to discover the Truth and therefore give these instances as so many reasons for the Negative In the first place I crave leave to premise this If Auricular Confession were so great a Gospel mystery so wonderfully efficacious a method of saving Souls as to be typified in the Law as the Romanists teach as well as instituted in the Gospel and practised by the whole Church one might seem justly to wonder how it comes to pass that there should be no mention nor appearance of it in the whole course of our Saviours own Ministry he used to be an example as well as a Law-giver to the Church he washed his Disciples Feet before he enjoined them to wash one another he exemplified the other Sacraments before he prescribed his Apostles to administer them one would have thought such an Instance of his example had been more necessary in this business of Penance rather than any other if it had been but to make way for the Understanding of so obscure an Institution since especially one would have thought to find some Traces of this in the Ministry of our Saviour because he daily conversed with sinners he reproved them instructed them healed them pardoned them but never brought any of them to such a Confession as we are treating of viz. To a particular enumeration of their sins with the circumstances nor upon so doing formally absolved them His very Disciples some of which had been great sinners were admitted without it the Woman of Samaria was told by him all that ever she did but she was not brought on her knees to make her own Confession but most strange of all it is that the Woman taken in Adultery when he had made her accusers slink away was not privately brought to it it may be they will say there was no need of Confession to him who knew all before but yet it might have been necessary to bring these Sinners to be ashamed of themselves by that means to work Repentance and fit them for Pardon at least if this Method had been of such mighty use and wonderful necessity as is pretended 2. But to let pass that in the next place it is matter of wonder that nothing of this practice appears in the Ministry of the Apostles they went about preaching the Gospel calling Men to Repentance erecting and governing Churches but never set themselves down in a Confessors Chair for penitents secretly to tell them in their Ear the Story of their vicious Lives indeed we read Acts 19. 18. That some came in and shewed their deeds but first it was voluntary and in a fit of Holy Zeal for we cannot find that they were required to do it as of Sacramental Obligation besides the Confession was publick before the Church not clancular and whispered in secret it is true also that St. James chap. 5. 16. advises the Christians to confess their faults one to another which is made a mighty evidence in this Case but it is as true that this was spoken in an extraordinary Case as appears v. 14. in bodily sickness and distress of Conscience they are advised to lay open their condition in order to relief and succour by the more ardent and affectionate Prayers of those who should be made privy to it but it is not made a standing and universal rule for all Men to comply with whether they be sick or well in prosperity or adversity perplexed or quiet in their Consciences much less of Sacramental and Necessary Obligation as in the Roman Church 3. Let us go on in the next ages after the Apostles for about two hundred years we find not one word of this kind of Confession which we enquire for Indeed the writings of that time which are extant are not many but if this business had been of such consequence as is pretended it is strange that those Holy Men Ignatius Clemens and Justin Martyr should not have any mention of it Indeed Bellarmine brings us one instance within this Period and that is from Irenaeus who speaking of Certain Women who had been abused by Marcion the Heretick saith they afterwards came and Confessed all with shame and sorrow to the Church But what is this to the purpose We dispute not against publick Confession which is acknowledged to be truly Primitive and we wish it had been constantly maintained in after ages it is only the necessity of Clancular Confession that we are unsatisfied in and this passage speaks nothing at all to that Case 4. In Tertullians time which was also much about Two hundred Years after our Saviour we find great things said of Confession but it is of that which was publick and in the face of the Church not to a Priest in a Corner and this indeed was greatly incouraged and required by the Holy Men of those times as that which in the Case of open and scandalous sins freed the Church both from the guilt and from the reproach of them and in the Case of secret sins was a means by open shame to bring Men to Repentance and so to Pardon And the Confession was principally directed to God who was the person offended by the sin yet it was made before Men to raise a fervency in their Prayers as is noted before and to obtain their effectual intercession with God on behalf of the penitent This that Ancient writer makes manifest to be his Sense in his Book de Poenitentia in these words Plerumque vero jejuniis preces alere ingemiscere lachrymari mugire dies noctésque ad Dominum Deum tuum Presbyteris advolvi aris or rather charis dei adgeniculari omnibus fratribus legationes saae deprecationis injungere haec omnia ex homologesis ut poenitentiam commendet c. the penitent often joyns Fasting to his prayers weeps wails and moans night and day before God casts himself at the feet of the