sanguinem Domini devotè suscepit Eleâ—mosynam suam disposuit ipsius piâ petitione oleo sancto eum inunximus sic in pace quievit Hugo Rothmag Epist ad Innocent 3. extat apud Malmesb. hist Novell l. 1. p. 100. col 2. London He being surprised with a grievous sickness dâ—spatched a Post to us with all haste to come unto him we came and abode with him being full of pain for three dayes and as we advised him he confessed with his own mouth his sins and with his own hand beat his breast and put away his evil mind Through Gods counsel and ours and other Bishops he promised to observe and amend his life and by reason of our office we thrice in three dayes space absolved him He reverenced the Lords Cross devoutly received the Body and Bloud of the Lord gave almes at his request we anointed him with holy chrisme and so he rested in peace This Prince departed this world in the year of our Lord God MCXXXVI VI. Richard I. 1200. The like preparations of dying well were made by that Ceur de Lion King Richard I. who besieging the Castle of Gaillard in Normandy was wounded in the arme with a venemous * Poysoned arrow Caxton part 7. in Rich. 1. quarrel The Castle won by a sharp assault and the souldier that hurt him apprehended the King finding the wound to be mortal caused him to be brought into his presence And saith Caxton wen he come before the King the King axed him what was his name and he said mi name is Bartram Gutdon wherfor said the King hast tow me slayn sith that I did the never none harme Sir said he though ye did me never none harme ye your self with your hond killed my fadre and my brother and therfor I have quyte now your travel Tho said King Richard he that died upon the cros to bring mans soul from pyne of Hell foryef the my death and I also foryef it thee Tho commaunded he that no man should him misdo and the VI day after the King did shrive him Poenitentiâ malè hactenus actae vitae affectus de peccatis illicò ritè confessus est ac Eucharistiâ multa cum veneratione sumptâ percussori pepercit Pol. Virg. hist Angl. l. 14. p. 257. and sore repentance having of his misdedis and wos housled and anoynted Thus much out of that old Chronicler concerning the last demeanour and death of this heroical Prince forgiving him that was the author thereof He left this life when he had reigned IX years VIII moneths and odd dayes VII K. Richard II. A. D. 1400. And the miserable end of King Richard II. deprived first of his Crown and consequently of his life murdered at Pomfret-Castle by that wretch Sir Pierce of Exton and VIII villaines in harness is not impertinent where the King wrested a Bill out of the first mans hands and manfully defending himself had slain IV of the Assaylants was trayterously felled to the ground by Sir Pierce and then shortly rid out of the world saith my Historian without either confession or receipt of Sacrament Hall Chron. in Henry 4. pag. 14. 2. bewailing the loss of opportunity to prepare himself for death by confessing his sins and receiving the blessed Sacrament no less than the Parricide it self though most inhumane treacherous and barbarous And thus have I related what these Princes did at the evening and shutting up of their time casting up their audit unto God and making an account here that they might not be called to an after-reckoning wherein I doubt not but that other Princes did as they did though our Annalists may be silent therein and my small store-house and Adversaria be no better provided of more Collections Take these Laws and Examples in good part Gentle Reader and make the best construction thereof and of my self for the relation The Conclusion SO by Gods mercy and the guidance of his good Spirit we are now in the haven and at the end of this Treatise A journey hath been taken not long to speak truly nor tedious but dangerous and difficult spent rather in the beating of unknown paths or renewing of ancient tracts worn out and well-nigh defaced with desuetude than in following any usuall rode or beaten way before us for in this voyage we may boldly say not many Travellers especially that set out from home with us have kept us company And yet the subject matter as it concerns all Christians so I suppose is inferiour to none of those Mysteries in power and operation that are committed to the Lords Stewards much profiting but much opposing fleshly wisdome as the best potions are the most bitter and the more repugnant to the disease the more sanative The Spirit is contrary to the flesh and the work of Christianity is to deny our selves and to take up Christ's crosse You shall hardly see a man that will lay open his infirmities though I read of an Apostle * 2 Cor. 11.30 that gloried in his Our humour is naturally Pharisaical to make clean the outside of the Platter and who is he that will turn the worst side outward Very few will speak evil of themselves and fewer that will suffer others to do so with patience It is a fringe of pride saith Gregory in a man freely to disparage himself and yet to take it ill at anothers hands that shall do so Superbiae vitium est ut quod de se fateri quisquis quasi sua sponte dignatur hoc sibi dici ab aliis dedignetur Greg. Mor. l. 22. c. 51. Pour monstre cette proprieté inclina de l'homme a se tenir close couvert en ses iniquitez la victoir qu'il avoit obtenu sur lui de s'accuser soi mesme c. D. Bes Caresme Tom. 2. p. 716 717. Certè sublimis apparet Job etiam in peccatis suis Ego in eo non minùs admiror confessionem humillimam peccatorum quà m tot sublimia facta virtutuÌ„ Unumquodque malum quamvis robustiùs vitetur tamen humiliùs proditur Greg. ib. If I covered my transgressions as Adam by hiding mine inâ—quities in my bosome Job 31.33 thereby intimating our natural inclination from the loyns of our first Parent to cover our sins and his victory over the same to be his own accuser Job was admired by all for his rare virtues But in my eyes he seemeth marvellous in his sins saith Gregory Let other men extoll his chastity commend his integrity praise the bowels of his pity and goodness for my part I no less wonder at the humble confession of his sins than so many famous exploits of his virtues it being as great a conquest to trample down fame and shame by laying open our sins as to resist and not commit them for though greater strength be shewed in shunning sin yet greater humility is discovered in confessing of sin for by the former our sins are conquered and
c. 5. that have made more Conscience of the safety of their Anointed Soveraign than of the secrecy of this seal A Gentleman in Normandy confessed unto a Franciscan how he had a purpose to have slain King Francis the first but that he repented thereof the Frier absolved him but kept not his counsel revealing the matter to the King who commended it to the Parliament at Paris where the cause was heard and the Traytor adjudged to suffer pains of death and the Frier not so much as questioned for the breach of the seal For the like offence and by the Arrest of the same Court Hist de Paris pag. 305. was the Lord of Haulte-ville executed who in the time of sickness being like to die confessed the like purpose of murdering his Prince he recovering of his sickness and being accused of his Confessor had judgment to die for Treason And not many years since one Peter Barriers was tormented upon the wheel by the Hist de Paris pag. 144. judgment of the Lord Steward of the Kings houshold for that at Lyons he had confessed unto a certain Jacobine a resolution to destroy his Soveraign the Confessor being not able to take him off from his hellish design revealed the same to the Secretary of State whereupon the Traytor was apprehended and deservedly executed And at home a Noble Historian mentioneth Lord Bacons hist of King Hâ—nry 7. pag. 125. that when Perkin Warbeck had personated Richard Duke of York smothered in his infancy so at life as he could hardly be discerned from the Duke himself and found many and great adherents Henry the VII that prudent Prince being lost in a wood of suspicious and not knowing whom to trust had intelligence with the Confessors and Chaplaines of great men Imagining that through those peâ—ping holes he might discern mens thoughts and take the depth of their hearts and sound their affections and as Confessors are too oft the bars to keep in so they may sometimes be the keys to unlock treacherous attempts And such was the fate and fall of a great Peer of this Land Hall Chron. An. RR. Henrici 8.13 He was executed May 17. 1522. Edward Bowhen Duke of Buckingham where a Monk instilled and induced the Duke to the treason and John Delacourt Priest his Confessor was one that accused him who by his Peers was found guilty and had judgment by the Duke of Norfolk then Lord high Steward and for that offence lost his head And lastly James Hamilton Arch-Bishop of Saint Andrews in Scotland was executed as accessary to the Parricide of the King of Scots Ex judicio sacrifici qui hoc quondam ex Regicidis inter confitendum se audivisse affirmarat Cambd. Eliz. ad An. Dom. 1571. pag. 192. Grandfather to our late Soveraign upon the accusatioÌ„ of a Priest who gave in evidence that some of the traytorous Parricides had in confession detected so much unto him For mine own part I confidently aver there is no honest Priest in offences of this nature that concern the safety of the sacred Person of his Soveraign or the State that will give sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eye-lids till he shall have unfolded the same to the Magistrate next at hand Action against F Garnet pag. 99. Yea Garnet himself arraigned for his treachery in this point openly said I willingly acknowledge such laws as forbid treasons to be concealed to be just and wholesome for it is not fit that the safety of the Prince depend upon another mans conscience and accordingly doth a Frier of their side conclude in certain Articles maintained in the Vniversity of Paris Potest quis id quod novit sub sigillo Secreti manifestare si id quod novit vergit in detrimentum Reipublicae vel in perniciem totius communitatis Jacob. Lup. tract de Confes Propos 36. A Priest may discover that which he had notice of under the seal of secrecy if that which he knoweth tend to the detriment of the Common-wealth or to the destruction of the whole Commonalty Sins then or treacherous attempts against the dignity of the Crown or State or the fundamental laws thereof as dangerous or destructive of the publick good must be held in under no seal and folded up in no secrecy but brought into the light that the danger may be averted and the offender punished and all others warned to be faithful and obedient For in just fears even divine positive laws lose their hold and obligation Religion commanding such things which make ad lucrum custodiam charitatis saith Saint Bernard for the gain and preservation of charity But whatsoever and whensoever they prove contrary unto charity and destructive thereof Si contraria fortè charitati visa suerint nonne justâ—ssimum esse liquet ut quae pro charitate inventa fuerunt pro charitate verò ubi expedire videtur vel omittantur vel intermittantur vel in aliud fortè commodius demutentur Bern. tract de dispens praecepto It is very just that such ordinances as were made for the good of charity if they appear prejudicial to the same should be omitted or intermitted or for charities sake altered into better as the Father prudently adviseth And what greater breach can there be of charity than to rake up such offences under silence by the concealment whereof the King and State may be so highly impaired and the just laws thereof not executed upon the Malefactors Thou wilt say what must be done in these cases where the sinners conscience is perplexed and cannot be quieted without confession and absolution from a Priest and confess he dare not for fear of detection Indeed many are the reasons that fight for the seal but more that fight against it And in cases of this nature I say what have I to do to judge these things that are without the law of charity and secrecy and further say how I could heartily wish them known that the offenders may be made manifest and punished and the peace of the Realm secured Although the Casuists are generally concurrent in this That such sins may be omitted in Confession as would either scandalize the Confessor indanger the Penitent or defame a third person Setting aside then sins of this nature I could very well approve of a fitting privacy in the carriage and exercise of this Ministerial function P eâ—a râ—velantis Confession m quod ultra pâ—â—â—alum mâ—rtâ—â—â— lâ—bâ—t detâ—â—di in Monastâ—â—ium depoâ—i Sum. Angel verb. Confes ult nu 19. Marriage in the Clergie no obstacle to the seal and wish those Canons revived that punished the betrayers and publâ—shers thereof with deprivation and loss of all spiritual preferments and with incapability for attainiâ—g any future advancements It will be here said How can any penitent secure himself of such secrecy at the hands of the Married Clergie As if the relation of a husband were not distinct from the office of
title rehearsed by Doctor Bridges in his defence of the Government c. Afterwards King Alured wearing the Diadem of this land amongst the Ecclesiastical laws by him ordained and ratified by his Son and successor King Edward and Guthrune the Dane Confederate with Edward in the government of England in the fifth chapter is thus ordained If any Malefactor guilty of death earnestly require the space and speech of confession or shrift Gif deaþe scyldig-man scrift spraece gyrne ne forÆ¿yrne Him man naefre Si quis rei capitalis domnatus sua ingenuè Sacerdoti peccata confiteri cupiverit id ei conceditur Ita vertit Guil. Lambard ARXAION fol. 53. Londini ex officina Joan Daii ann 1568. no man shall ever deny him This favour extended to persons condemned to die argues the use of Confession commonly received and the good construction thereof as redounding in their opinion to the comfort of such miserable offenders Many are the laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil enacted by King Edgar A Prince of pious Rex decenter instructus passim improbos op pressit rebelles redarguit justos modestos dilexit destructas Dei Ecclesias renovavit dilatâ—vit ad laudem Creatoris summi monasteria constitui jussit Erat itaque vir discretus mitis humilis benignus liberalis armipoteâ—s jura Regni bellicâ potestate regaliter protâ—gens populum in obsequio principum principes ad justitiam imperiorum formavit leges rectas instituit regno tranquillimo potitus est Florent Wigorn. Chron. p. 355 356. and prudent education who curb'd the oppressors subdued the Rebels loved the just and humble repaired the decayed Churches and amply endowed them erected Religious places and Convents to the land honour of the great Creator A person of huge discretion humility and bounty of much valour and skill in feats of arms Royally protecting the Laws of his Kingdom with his Militia his people framed in subjection unto his Nobles and his Noble-men to the subjection of his sovereign commands preserving his State in peace and his just Laws in power such praises doth the Monk of Worcester heap upon him Amongst his geHadodra or Ordinances are extant Canons towards the end whereof is an Appendix or Post-script containing the total charge of Confession and the mutual duties requisite in the Penitent and Priest who granteth audience who is there styled scrift gastla laece a Shriver and Ghostly Physician and manna sapla laece the physician of mens souls The form of confession to be observed by the penitent the specifique enumeration of sins the unfeigned sorrow at the rehearsal thereof and the voluntary submission to the penance injoyned are therein delineated Let the Repentant person address himself to his shrift right humbly and say first Ealle þa synna besmitene purdone daedbote I believe in the Lord the Father most high who weldeth all things c. And after a brief recital of his faith And cÆ¿eðe þonne mid reoÆ¿sigendum mode eadmolice His andaetnessa to His scrifte onbugende Confiteor Deo omnipotenti confessario meo spirituali medico omnia peccata quae malorum spirituum inquinamâ—nto unquam perpetravi sive in facto sive in coâ—itatione sive cum masculis sive cum foeminis aliáve creaturâ sive secundum naturam sive contra naturam let him in a rufully-sighing mood make his confession full devoutly to his Confesseur and bowing down his head say I confess unto Almighty God and to you my shriver and Ghostly Physician all the sins which through the defilements of wicked spirits I have at any timâ— committed other in deed other in thought other with male other with female other with any kind of Creature naturally or unnaturally thence falling into a particular commemoration of such sins by name as boyled upon his conscience needing comfort and absolution And through all that Penitential it is very remarkable saith that Venerable Antiquary that among the several penances there mentioned Non est autem temerarium quod hÃc in injungendis poenitentiis nullum usquam ad imagines imperatur confugium nulla ad Sanctos unquam provocatio ne ad Virginem ipsam Beatissimam nec probare videtur author precariam illam Magnatum poenitentiam Romanâ uti perhibent fultam diligentiâ Dn. H. Spelman Concil p. 476. and whereof there are store there is no sending of the penitent to any Saint no Pilgrimage injoyned to any Shrine no news of any Indulgence or Commutation for striking off penance by money that age was not yet guilty of such deceits or recent-Roman impostures This glorious King Edgar began his reign according to the Savilian Fasti A. D. 959. and finished his reign and life A. D. 974. Also these Canons and Penitential yet remain entire Habentur Canones isti poenitentiale idiotismo Saxonico vetustissimè scripta in celebri Bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi Cantabrig Dn. Spelman ubi suprà in an old Saxon Copy and Language within that famous Library of Bennet College in Cambridge Circ an 1009. In a Synod held at Aenham under King Ethelred the XX Chapter is for making of Confession and taking of Penance thus Let each Christian man as is suitable to his profession have diligent care of his Christian state Gyme His CHristen domes georne geÆ¿unige gelomlice to scrift un for Æ¿andodlice His sinna gecyðe geornlice bete sÆ¿a sÆ¿a Him man taece pag. 518. Christiana quique colloquia frequentia salubria cum Sacerdotibus crebrò exerceant suáque sibi peccata inverecundè depromant ac confiteantur confessáque juxta Sacerdotis institutionem poeniteant atque emendent D. H. Spelâ—an Conc. p. 528. and that he usually frequent shrift and confession often entertaining Christian and wholesome conference with the Priest and laying shame aside confess his faults and carefully practise such rules for amendment as the Priest prescribeth The acts of this Synod both in the Saxon as also in the old Latin tongue and both revised and published by that diligent and noble Collector In a Capitular extant in Saxon and Latin are contained many Ecclesiastical Constitutions amongst which is Confession directed unto God in the first place humbly imploring for mercy and to the Priests likewise which so far availeth us as by means of the saving counsel we receive from them Seo andetnes þe þe maesse pâ—â—â— stum doþ ura synna þis Hâ—o to Gode þ on fongnum framâ—â— HalÆ¿endum geþeathum §. 30. pâ—g 605. and the observation of regular penance our souls may be fortified against sin and our iniquities done away Likewise in Paragraph 31. Coâ—fessio quam Sacerdotibus facimus hoc nobis adminiculum adfert qui accepto ab eis salutari consilio saluberrimis poenitentiae observationibus sive minutiis Leg. munimentis peccatorum maculas diluimus de peccatis in confessione enumerandis each particular offences are to be opened in confession to the Ghostly Father whatsoever in
but slowly on to shrift in those dayes and what may we then think of the Laity A. D. 1240. The same Edmund who moderated the Church of Canturbury in the time of that first Legat Otho made a Constitution concerning the behaviour and deportment of the Confesseur or Ghostly Father In confessione audienda hâ—beat Sacerdos vultum humilem oculos ad terram dimissos nec faciâ—m respiciat Confitentis maximè Mulieris patienter audiat quicquid dixerit in spiritu lenitatis supportet eam ei pro posse suadeat pluribus modis ut integrè confiteatur Peccata inquirat usitata inusitata autem non nisi à longe pâ—r circumstantias expertis detur modus confitendi inexpertis non dâ—tur occasio delinquendi at the time of shrift That he should sit with an humble look his countenance downward not once beholding the penitents face especially if a woman to afford a patient audience unto whatsoever shall be said and to support with the spirit of lenity to use all perswasions to extract a plenary confâ—ssion to enquire after usual and customary sins punctually and after strange ones afar off and by circumstances and with that discretion as to teach the penitents how to confess not how to transgress And adviseth the Confessor to pick out the greater sins as Murder Semper majora crimina praecipue notoria Majoribus reserventur Linwood lib. â—de Poenit. remiss c. in Confess Sacrilege Incest sins against nature c. for such as are of greater place and set them by as reserved cases for the Pope nor to grant absolution therein but at the point of death and that upon condition of their recovery they present themselves at Rome with Letters testimonial from their own Confessors of the nature and quality of the offence the Popes it seems had then seised upon fat sins as well as the fat of the Land this constitution was made about the year of our Lord 1240. But Richard sirnamed the great his predecessor A. D. 1229. Richardus Magnus and one that should have taken place of him however the Compilers of the Constitutions have set him behind for he was sacred Arch-Bishop in the year of grace MCCXXIX He made a very pious and necessary law That forasmuch as the soul far excelleth the body Physicians are strictly charged Cum anima longè pretiosior sit corpore sub interminatione Anathematis prohibemus ne quis MedicoruÌ„ pro salute corporali aliquid suadeat aegroto quod in periculum animae convertatur ut aegrum ante omnia admoneat inducat ut Medicos invocet animarum ut postquam fuerit infirmo de spirituali provisum medicamine ad corporalis mâ—dicinae remedium salubrius procedatur Linwood lib. 5. de poen remiss cap. Cum anima sub interminatione Anathematis under pain of the Churches Ban curse to recommend no such thing unto their Patients for the recovery of their bodily health which may not be undertaken without danger to the soul but before all things to exhort them to send for the soul-Physician and after spiritual physick hath been prescribed and provided and administred to the soul then to proceed in the name of God to give Physick to the body A Canon which if duly observed by our Physicians I am perswaded their Physick would work much better than it doth But now the Spiritual Physician is hardly thought of and his visits accounted ominous as if sin were not worth the healing or he wanted the power and cunning For after Luke the Physician and Zeno the Lawyer we send for Barnabas the son of consolation when the soul is sensless of his help and Ghostly comfort Bonifacius Uncle to Queen Elenor A. D. 1244. wife to King Henry the third and advanced to that Metropolitical See An. MCCXLIV provided against those that molested or any way hindred such that would do penance and be confessed Praecipimus ne aliquis praesumat impedire quin sacramentum poenitentiae unicuique petenti liberè impendatur spatium liberum confitendi quod potissimè propter incarceratos suadetur quibus saepius inhumaniter ne dicamus infideliter denegatur Lindw l. 5. de poen remiss cap. Cum sacramentum and appointed that convenient time be allotted for that sacred action and specially to prisoners who many times inhumanly and unchristianly are denied the use hereof or else so little time afforded unto them as to put them rather into danger of discomfort and desperation than matter of spiritual joy and consolation A. D. 1279. John Peccam who sate in the See of Canturbury An. Dom. MCCLXXIX Ordered that Parish Priests should diligently take heed Parochiales insuper sacerdotes caveant ne alicui dent corpus Domini nisi prius constet ipsum confâ—ssum fuisse testimonio judicio fide-dignorum Lindw l. 3. de Missar celebr c. Altissimus de terra that they administred not the Body of the Lord to any Communicant except it might appear unto them that such a person was formerly confessed by the testâ—mony and judgment of credible persons A. D. 1312. The next law or Constitution is of Walter Reginald who possessed the place at Canturbury in the year of our Lord MCCCXII He willeth the Priest to rip up the nature of the diseases Diligenter attendat sacerdos circumstantias criminis qualitatem personae tempus locum causam moram in peccato Sacerdos ad audiendum confessiones communem sibi locum eligat in locis absconditis non recipiat alicujus confessiones maximè mulieris talem injungat uxori poenitentiam ut viro suo non reddatur suspecta ne aliquibus injungat poenitentiam nisi cum restitutione consulat Episcopum vel alium qui vices ejus gerit aut provectos discretos viros quorum consilio certificatus sciat quos qualiter ligare possit absolvere manus absolutionis non imponi nisi se corrigentibus c. Lind. l. 5. de poen remis c. Sacerdos and to sift the circumstances of sin such as are the condition of the person the quality of the offence the time and place when and where the sin was committed all which must be spoken of in Confession He also appointed an open and visible place for shrift to cut off all occasion of scandal and suspicion especially when women make their approches admonisheth that Priests impose no such penance to the wife as to cause suspicion in the husband To be careful the nature of the offence requiring to injoyn such penance as may imply restitution to the party grieved To consult with the Bishop or his Suffragan or with experimented discreet Priests that he may know the better whom and what to bind and loose and where he seeth no probable signs of sincere contrition and no purpose of abandoning the sin confessed to suspend his absolution and to dismiss the sinner for
that season with admonitions tending to unfeigned repentance Prohibemus ne ullus sacerdos lapsus in peccatum mortale ad altare praesumat accedere celebraturus antequam confiteatur nec puto ut quidam errantes credunt quod mortalia deleantur per confessionem generalem Lindw l. 3. de celebr Mis cap. Lintheamina The same Arch-Bishop also forbad Priests that had fallen into mortal sin to approch unto the Altar there to celebrate without making their confession adding that he could not suppose as some others erreneously believed that mortal sins could be washed away by a general confession Where by the way note that Parenthesis good Reader as some believe intimating that there were in those dayes some that so believed viz. that general Confession might procure remission of sins and were not perhaps so punctual for private particular confession whose belief that Prelate censured for erroneous By the same man are Ghostly Fathers under a great penalty conjured to secrecy and silence Nullus sacerdos irâ odio metu etiam mortis audeat detegere quovis modo alicujus confessionem signo motu vel verbo generaliter vel specialiter Et si super hoc convictus fuerit sine spe reconciliationis non immeritò debet degradari Lin. l. 5. de poen remis c. Prohibemus That if at any time or by any means or upon pâ—ssion of hatred or fear of death shall lay open by signs motions or words either generally or specially what hath been privately deposited in Confession and shall be convicted thereof he shall be degraded without hope of reconciliation Also another Constitution of the same mans doing for the reviving of Publick penance for notorious scandalous offences Ut peccata graviora vulgatissimo suo scandalo totam commoventia civitatem sint solenni poenitentiâ castiganda Lindw l. 5. de poen remis c. Praeterea complaining that by the neglect of the ancient Canons the same hath been long buried in obliviâ—n whereby heynous sins have been the more frequented and the reynes and rigour of Christian discipline too much remitted And a * Lindw lib. 5. de poen remiss c. Licet fourth for the substitution of a grave and learned Penitentiary in every Deanry to take the Confessions of the Clergy residing within the same John Stratford Arch-Bishop of Canturbury MCCCXXXIV A. D. 1334. made a Provisional Law that Priests should not be cited juridically and thereby forced either to detect such arcana Et illis ex tunc Parochiani peccata renuunt confiteri Lind. l. 2. de Judiciis c. Exclusis infra as they received under the seal of Confession or else offer violence to their consciences lest thereby Parishioners might refuse to come to confession It seems equivocations mental reservations and such juglings devised to cheat justice were not up nor thought on when this course was taken that Judges should forbear to examine them The last of these Metropolitans that made any law for Confession is Simon Sudbury who was preferred to that eminency A. D. 1375. An. MCCCLXXV Confessiones mulierum audiantur in propatulo quantum ad visum non quantum ad auditum Moneantur Laici in principio Quadragesimae â—ito post lapsum consiteri ne peccatum suo pondere ad aliud trahat Lind. l. 5. de poen remis c. Confessiones mulierum He ordained women to be shriven in an open place where they may be seen of all but not heard And to admonish the Laity to repair unto Confession every year about the beginning of Lent and whilest their sins are green in their memory lest the weight of one sin press them upon another He ordained likewise to confess and communicate three times a year viz. at the three solemn Feasts of Christmas Easter and Whitsontide And to prepare themselves with such abstinence as the Priest should prescribe Prius tamen se praeparent per aliquam abstinentiam de consilio sacerdotis faciendam vivens ab ingressu ecclesiae arceatur moriens christianâ careat sepulturà Lind. l. 5. de poen remis c. Confessiones And all and every such Persons as should not come to confession and to the communion once a year at the least to be debarred from entring into the Church in his life time and after death his body not to be interred in Christian Burial By which constitutions we see how other times were appointed for Confession as well as Easter but then chiefly required for four causes and at those times is Confession required 1. Ratione sacramenti sc si vult celebrare vel communicare vel sacrum ordinem suscipere c. 2. Ratione periculi si est in periculo mortis 3. Ratione conscientiae ut si dictet sibi conscientia quod statim teneatur consiteri 4. Râ—tione dubii ut si nunc habeat confessoris copiam caeterum per totum annum non habiturum Lindwood supra saith Lindwood 1. In respect of the Sacrament whensoever the same shall be celebrated and received so upon admission into holy Orders c. 2. In respect of the danger or dread of death 3. In respect of the Conscience if a mans heart shall tell him that he hath present need of Confession 4. If it be doubtful a Confessor cannot be had within a year to take him while we may Some of these Canonical reasons we have before examined and censured A. D. 1533. A book of Religion entituled Articles devised by the Kings highness set forth an Reg. Henrici 8. 28. These were Ecclesiastical Constitutions made by several Church-men in their times But when Henry VIII had wrested the Supremacy of Spiritual causes from forraign Usurpation and annexed it to the Crown then for essayes of that new authority was substituted a Vicegerent for the Clergie Articles of Religion set forth and said to be devised by his Highness which caused the commotion of the * April 28. an RR. Hen. 8. 31. Hall Chron. p. 228. Lincoln-shire men And in a Parliament held at Westminster was established (a) Hall fol. 224. the act of the six articles which was named the bloudy statute and the whip of six strings which drew so much bloud upon poor Christians and whereof Auricular Confession was one of the strings The procurer of that Draconical law together with the occasion thereof is particularly described by our Ecclesiastical Annalist Mr John Fox whoever was the chief doer therein Ecclesiastical persons were the chief sufferers The King upon some distaste to his Clergy was willing to sharpen the edge of the Law against them and his minde being known there wanted not abbetters to whet him thereunto So fearful is the condition of the Church if once removed from under the shadow of the Crown and wings of the Royal Scepter and would soon become a prey to the little foxes if the Kingly-Lion should not protect And as in that Princes
dayes the truth began to take place in the hearts of many so that party which stood for the old Mumpsimus as well as the other that imbraced the new Sumpsimus Adeo ut uno eodemque lâ—co tempore in Pontificios laqueo dilaniatiâ—n in Protâ—sâ—aÌ„tes vivicomburio saevirâ—tur Cambd. Appar ad Elâ—zabeth pag. 6 7. escaped not the penalty of his rigorous Statutes that it was no strange spectacle to behold at once a Protestant at the stake and a Papist at the Galhouse By that law Incontinency in Priests and Marriage were equally made felony and death in their persons either to use the sin or the remedy and the benefit of the Clergy otherwise a privilege was to them a snare and that offence capital in Church-men which then was scarce criminal in the Laity A man that shall survey the Acts of Parliament under that Prince shall find that they were truly under him Uâ—â—e domi terribilis soâ—â—s tyraâ—â—â—â—uâ— hâ—beretur Camb ibid. who melted the courage of both those Houses as wax making them capable of any impression and his Will a Law But of him and his memory enough as also of such Laws and Constitutions which have to my observation been enacted in this point of Confession and of what force they are at this present it were much to be wished the Reverend of that profession would determin I will add hereunto such instances as have obviously occurred unto me of those Princes that have worn the Diadem of this Kingdome and yet not abhorred from this exercise of Piety Sundry Princes of England that used confession but have confessed their sins unto Spiritual Fathers and Pastors in hope of absolution I. King Edred reigned 10. years died A. D. 955. the first is King Edred who ended his reign and life in the year of the Worlds redemption DCCCCLV of whom Florentius Wigorniensis writeth thus The glorious King of England Edred fell sick in the tenth year of his reign and despairing of recovery sent away with all speed for holy Dunstan the Abbot Qui missa celeri legatione confessionum suarum Patrem Beatum Dunstanum scil Abbatem accersivit Vox desuper clarè sonuit Rex Edredus nunc in pace quiescit Florent Wigorn. ad ann 955. pag. 353 354. and Father of his confessions who in all haste resorted to the Court and having come half his journey a voice from heaven sounded cleer in his ears King Edred resteth now in peace At which voice the horse whereon he sate not able to bear the burden sunk under him to the ground without any harm unto him upon the back The Kings body was brought to Winchester II. William Conqueror Resumpto animo quae christiani sunt executus est in confessione viatico Malmsb. de Will. 1. pag. 63. col 2. Lon. and there by Abbot Dunstan decently interred By which it seemeth Dunstan was the Kings Ghostly Father though he came too late to take his Confession The second Prince is William the Conqueror whose sickness increasing at Roan and the Physicians upon inspection of his Urine had judged his death to be at hand upon the hearing whereof saith William of Malmesbury he filled the room with lamentation that death had prevented him long bethinking how to amend his life But pulling up his spirits he did the duty of a Chrâ—stian in confessing and receiving the blessed Sacrament III. Margaret Q. of Scoâ—s The third is Margaret the Queen of Scots but extracted of the * Sister to Edgar Ethling Presbyteris ad se accersiâ—is eisque peccata sua confessa oleo se perungi coelâ—stique viatico muniri fecit Rog. Hoved. Pars prior Annal pag. 266. Edit Lond. A. D. 1093. English bloud having heard the fatal news of the death of King Malcolme her husband and Prince Edward her son slain by the English as they were invading the Marches of Northumberland she took it so much to heart saith Roger Hovedon as suddenly she fell into a great infirmity and without delay having sent for her Priests she went into the Church and there made confession of her sins unto them caused herself to be anointed and to be houslâ—d by receiving the Sacrament beseeching the Lord with fervent and daily prayers that he would not permit her any longer to live in this sorrowful life and her prayer was heard for the third day after the slaughter of her husband being dissolved from the bonds of flesh as is believed to the joys of eternal salvation This sad accident fell out in the year of Grace MXCIII and the VI. year of William Rufus The next is William Rufus IV. William Rufus A. D. 1102. who came to an unfortunate end by the glance of an arrow whether aimed at him or no is uncertain or whether he stumbled upon the same but by the wound thereof he took his death as he was hunting in the New Forest called YTENE 2d day of August In Nova Forresta quae linguâ Anglorum Ytene nuncupatur à quodam Franco Walrero Tyrello sagittâ incautè directâ percussus vitaÌ„ finivit 4. Non. Augusti â—er 5. indict 8. Florent Vigorn Chron. p. 469 470. and in the XIII year of his Reign which sudden accident was the more lamentable as preventing his repentance and confession and other comforts his soul might have found if sickness had given him notice of his approching end The want whereof Eadmer a grave Historian thus lamenteth Vpon the second day of August he fetched his last breath Secunda dies Augusti vidit eum expirantem siquidem illa die mane pransus in sylvam venatum ivit ibique sagittâ in corde percussus impoenitens inconfessus è vestigio mortuus est omni homine mox derelictus Eadmer hist Nov. l. 2. p. 54. for upon that day breaking his fast he came into the Forest to hunt and there was wounded with an arrow and forthwith died impenitent and unconfessed and was immediately abandoned of all men The want of Confession had not been worth the noting if the use thereof at the last close had not been generally received To him succeeded his Brother Henry I. a moderate V. Henry I. Beauclerk and as those times afforded a learned Prince who after he had swayed the Scepter full XXXV years and odd moneths then being in Normandy sickned of that disease whereof he died And perceiving his own weakness sent for Hugh whom he had constituted his first Abbot at Reading where he founded a goodly Abby and there lieth interred and after advanced him to the Metropolitical See at Roan which Arch-Bishop in an Epistle to Pope Innocent relateth the pious end of that Prince thus Prout ei dicebamus ipse ore proprio sua confitebatur peccata manu propria pectus suum percutiebat malam voluntatem dimittebat pro nostro officio tertio eum per triduum absolvimus Crucem Domini adoravit corpus