such persons to the communion of prayers and holy offices at least the Church may choose whether she will or no. The Church in her Government and Discipline had two ends and her power was accordingly apt to minister to these ends 1. By condemning and punishing the sin she was to doe what she could to save the criminal that is by bringing him to repentance a holy life to bring him to pardon 2. And if she could or if she could not effect this yet she was to remove the scandal and secure the flock from infection This was all that was needful this was all that was possible to be done In order to the first the Apostles had some powers extraordinary which were indeed necessary at the beginning of the Religion not onely for this but for other ministrations The Apostles had power to binde sinners that is to deliver them over to Satan and to sad diseases or death it self and they had power to loose sinners that is to cure their diseases to unloose Satans bands to restore them to Gods favour and pardon This manner of speaking was used by our blessed Saviour in this very case of sickness and infirmity Ought not this woman a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years be loosed from this band on the Sabbath day The Apostles had this power of binding and loosing and that this is the power of remitting and retaining sins appears without exception in the words of our blessed Saviour to the Jews who best understood the power of forgiving sins by seeing the evil which sin brought on the guilty person taken away That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins He saith to the man sick of the palsy Arise take up thy bed and walk For there is a power in heaven and a power on earth to forgive sins The power that is in heaven is the publick absolution of a sinner at the day of judgement The power on earth to forgive sins is a taking off those intermedial evils which are inflicted in the way sicknesses temporal death loss of the Divine grace and of the privileges of the faithful These Christ could take off when he was upon earth and his heavenly Father sent him to do all this to heal all sicknesses and to cure all infirmities and to take away our sins and to preach glad tidings to the poor and comfort to the afflicted and rest to the weary and heavy laden The other judgement is to be perform'd by Christ at his second coming Now as God the Father sent his Son so his holy Son sent his Apostles with the same power on earth to binde and loose sinners to pardon sins by taking away the material evil effects which sin should superinduce or to retain sinners by binding them in sad and hard bands to bring them to reason or to make others afraid Thus S. Peter sentenc'd Ananias and Saphira to a temporal death and S. Paul stroke Elymas with blindness and deliver'd over the incestuous Corinthian to be beaten by an evil spirit and so also he did to Hymenaeus and Alexander But this was an extraordinary power and not to descend upon the succeeding ages of the Church but it was in this as in all other ministeries something miraculous and extraordinary was for ever to consign a lasting truth and ministery in ordinary The preaching of the Gospel that is faith it self at first was prov'd by miracles and the holy Ghost was given by signs and wonders and sins were pardon'd by the gifts of healing and sins were retained by the hands of an angel and the very visitation of the sick was blessed with sensible and strange recoveries and every thing was accompanied with a miracle excepting the two Sacraments in the administration of which we doe not finde any mention of any thing visibly miraculous in the records of holy Scripture and the reason is plain because these two Sacraments were to be for ever the ordinary ministeries of those graces which at first were consign'd by signs and wonders extraordinary For in all ages of the Church reckoning exclusively from the days of the Apostles all the graces of the Gospel all the promises of God were conveyed or consign'd or fully ministred by these Sacraments and by nothing else but what was in order to them These were the inlets and doors by which all the faithful were admitted into the outer Courts of the Lords Temple or into the secrets of the Kingdome and the solemnities themselves were the keys of these doors and they that had the power of ministration of them they had the power of the keys These then being the whole Ecclesiastical power and the sum of their ministrations were to be dispensed according to the necessities and differing capacities of the sons and daughters of the Church The Thessalonians who were not furnished with a competent number of Ecclesiastical Governours were commanded to abstain from the company of the brethren that walk'd disorderly S. John wrote to the Elect Lady that she should not entertain in her house false Apostles and when the former way did expire of it self and by the change of things and the second advice was not practicable and prudent they were reduced to the onely ordinary ministery of remitting and retaining sins by a direct admitting or refusing and deferring to admit criminals to their ministeries of pardon which were now onely left in the Church as their ordinary power and ministration For since in this world all our sins are pardon'd by those ways and instruments which God hath constituted in the Church and there are no other external rites appointed by Christ but the Sacraments it follows that as they are worthily communicated or justly denied so the pardon is or is not ministred And therefore when the Church did binde any sinner by the bands of Discipline she did remove him from the mysteries and sometimes enjoyn'd external or internal acts of repentance to testify and to exercise the grace and so to dispose them to pardon and when the penitents had given such testimonies which the Church demanded then they were absolved that is they were admitted to the mysteries For in the primitive records of the Church there was no form of absolution judicial nothing but giving them the holy Communion admitting them to the peace of the Church to the society and privileges of the faithful For this was giving them pardon by vertue of those words of Christ Whose sins ye remit they are remitted that is if ye who are the Stewards of my family shall admit any one to the Kingdom of Christ on earth they shall be admitted to the participation of Christs Kingdom in Heaven and what ye binde here shall be bound there that is if they be unworthy to partake of Christ here they shall be accounted unworthy to partake of Christ hereafter if they separate from Christs members they also shall be separate from the head
the effect so mischievous the nature of them so contradictory to the excellent laws of Christianity the Church many times could not give a competent judgement whether any man that had committed great sins had made his amends and done a sufficient penance and the Church not knowing whether their Repentance was worthy and acceptable to God she could not pronounce their pardon that is she could not tell them whether upon those terms God had or would pardon them in the present disposition For after great crimes the state of a sinner is very deplorable by reason of his uncertain pardon not that it is uncertain whether God will pardon the truly penitent but that it is uncertain who is so and all the ingredients into the judgement that is to be made are such things which men cannot well discern they cannot tell in what measures God will exact the Repentance what sorrow is sufficient what fruits acceptable what is expiatory and what rejected Pro. 20.9 according to the saying of Solomon Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin they cannot tell how long God will forbear at what time his anger is final and when he will refuse to hear or what aggravations of the crime God looks on nor can they make an estimate which is greater the example of the sin or the example of the punishment And therefore in such great cases the Church had reason to refuse to give pardon which she could minister neither certainly nor prudently nor as the case then stood safely or piously But yet she enjoyn'd Penances that is all the solemnities of Repentance and to them the sinners stood bound in earth and consequently in heaven according to the words of our blessed Saviour but she bound them no further She intended charity and relief to them not ruine and death eternal On this she had no direct power and if the penitents were obedient to her Discipline then neither could they be prejudic'd by her indirect power she sent them to God for pardon and made them to prepare themselves accordingly Her injunction of penances was medicinal and her refusing to admit them to the Communion was an act of caution fitted to the present necessities of the Church S Ambros lib. 2. de poenit c 9. Nonnullae ideò poscunt poenitentiam ut statim sibi reddi communionem velint Hae non tam se solvere cupiunt quà m sacerdotem ligare Some demand penances that they may have speedy communion These doe not so much desire themselves to be loosed as to have the Priest bound that is such hasty proceedings doe not any good to the penitent but much hurt to him that ministers This the Primitive Church avoided and this was the whole effect which that Discipline had upon the souls of the penitents But for their Doctrine S. Austin is a sufficient witness Enchir. 6. Sed neque de ipsis criminibus quamlibe◠magnis remitttendis in Sanctâ Ecclesiâ Dei desperanda est misericordia agentibus poenitentiam secundum modum sui cujusque peccati They ought not to despair of Gods mercy even to the greatest sinners if they be the greatest penitents that is if they repent according to the measure of their sins Onely in the making their judgements concerning the measures of Repentance they differ'd from our practises Ecclesiastical Repentance and Absolution was not onely an exercise of the duty and an assisting of the penitent in his return but it was also a warranting or ensuring the pardon which because in many cases the Church could not so well doe she did better in not undertaking it that is in not pronouncing Absolution For the pardon of sins committed after Baptism not being described in full measures and though it be sufficiently signifi'd that any sin may be pardon'd yet it not being told upon what conditions this or that great one shall the Church did well and warily not to be too forward for as S. Paul said I am conscious to my self in nothing yet I am not hereby justified so we may say in Repentance I have repented and doe so but I am not hereby justified because that is a secret which until the day of Judgement we shall not understand for every repenting is not sufficient He that repents worthily let his sin be what it will shall certainly be pardon'd but after great crimes who does repent worthily is a matter of harder judgement then the manners of the present age will allow us to make and so secret that they thought it not amiss very often to be backward in pronouncing the Criminal absolved But then all this whole affair must needs be a mighty arrest to the gayeties of this sinful age For although Christs blood can expiate all sins and his Spirit can sanctifie all sinners and his Church can restore all that are capable yet if we consider that the particulars of every naughty mans case are infinitely uncertain that there are no minute-measures of repentance set down after Baptism that there are some states of sinners which God does reject that the arrival to this state is by parts and undetermin'd steps of progression that no man can tell when any sin begins to be unpardonable to such a person and that if we be careless of our selves and easie in our judgements and comply with the false measures of any age we may be in before we are aware and cannot come out so soon as we expect and lastly if we consider that the Primitive and Apostolical Churches who best knew how to estimate the mercies of the Gospel and the requisites of repentance and the malignity and dangers of sin did not promise pardon so easily so readily so quickly as we doe we may think it fit to be more afraid and more contrite more watchful and more severe I end this with the words of S. Hierome Cùm beatus Daniel prascius futurorum de sententiâ Dei dubitot Ad Dan. rem temerariam faciunt qui audacter peccatoribus indulgentiam pollicentur Though Daniel could foretel future things yet he durst not pronounce concerning the King whether God would pardon him or no it is therefore a great rashness boldly to promise pardon to them that have sinned That is it is not to be done suddenly according to the caution which S. Paul gave to the Bishop of Ephesus 1 Tim. 5.22 Lay hands suddenly on no man that is absolve him not without great trial and just dispositions For though this be not at all to be wrested to a suspicion that the sins in their kinde are not pardonable yet thus far I shall make use of it That God who onely hath the power he onely can make the judgement whether the sinner be a worthy penitent or not For there being no express stipulation made concerning the degrees of repentance no taxa poenitentiaria penitential Tables and Canons consign'd by God it cannot be told by man when after great sins
both signifie the Gospel For the whole Gospel is nothing else but that glad tidings which Christ brought to all mankinde that the Govenant of Works or exact measures should not now be exacted but men should be saved by second thoughts that is by Repentance and amendment of life through faith in the Lord Jesus That is if we become his Disciples for that is the condition of the Covenant we shall finde mercy our sins shall be blotted out and we shall be saved if we obey heartily and diligently though not exactly This becoming his Disciples is called Faith that is coming to him believing him hoping in him obeying him and consequent to this is that we are admitted to Repentance that is to the pardon of our sins For him hath God exalted on his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 5.31 to give repentance and remission of sins This is the summe Total of the Gospel That we have leave to repent supposes that God will pardon what is past But then that we have leave to repent supposes us also highly bound to it It is in meer pity to our infirmities our needs and our miseries that we have leave to do it and this is given to mankinde by faith in Jesus Christ that is by becoming his Disciples for he hath power to pardon sins and to take them away and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness viz. which we have committed This is that which all the world did need and long'd for it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden mystery from all ages but revealed in Christ whose blood as S. Clement expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought to all the world the grace of Repentance This is the Gospel For the Gospel is nothing else but Faith and Repentance The Gospel is called Faith by S. Paul Gal. 3.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before that faith came we were under the law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed that is to the Gospel or the glad tidings of Repentance which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 2. the hearing of faith For Faith being here opposed to the Law that is the Covenant of Mercy to the Covenant of Works must mean the Covenant of Repentance And therefore although if we consider them as proper and particular graces and habits they have differing natures and definitions yet in the general and foederal sense of which I now speak Faith and Repentance are onely distinguished by relations and respects not by substance and reality Acts 20.21 Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ that is Repentance for having sinned against God a Repentance I say through faith in Jesus Christ that is a Repentance procured and preach'd and enjoyn'd by Christ being the summe of his Discipline And that it may appear Faith and Repentance to be the same thing and differing onely in name and manner of expression S. Paul confounds the distinction which he formerly made and that which he called Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus in his Sermons in Asia in his Epistles to the Hebrews he calls Repentance from dead works and faith in God And the words are used for each other promiscuously in S. Luke for that which the rich man in hell called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abraham called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one comes from the dead they will repent No said Abraham If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets then if one come from the dead they will not believe or be perswaded And S. 2 Pet. 3.9 15. Peter giving an account of the delaying of the coming of the Lord for the punishment of the obdurate Jews and enemies of Christ sayes it is because God of his infinite goodness expects even them also to be converted to the faith or becoming Christians as the whole design of the place infers this he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a coming to Repentance that is to the faith of Christ And therefore the Gospel is nothing else but an universal publication of Repentance and pardon of sins in the Name of Christ that is procured for all them who are his Disciples and to this we are baptized that is adopted into the Religion into that Discipleship under which God requires holiness but not perfect measures sincerity without hypocrisie but not impeccability or perfect innocence And as the Gospel is called Faith and Faith is Repentance that is it is the same Covenant of Grace and Mercy with this onely difference that it is called Faith as it relates to Christ who procured this mercy for us Repentance as it signifies the mercy it self so procured So Baptism by the same analogy is called the Baptism unto Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Baptism of Repentance so it is called in the Jerusalem Creed that is the admission to the grace of the Gospel which the Fathers of CP in their appendage to the Nicene Creed thus express I believe one Baptism for the remission of sins that is to remission of sins we are admitted by Baptism alone no other way shall we have this grace this title but by being once initiated into the Gospel to be Disciples of Jesus Not that it is to be supposed that our sins are onely pardon'd when we are baptized but that by Baptism we are admitted to the state and grace of Repentance and pardon of sins And this is demonstratively certain not onely upon those many instances of baptized penitents admitted to pardon and baptized Criminals called upon in Scripture to repent but upon the very nature of the Evangelical Covenant and the whole design of Christs coming For if we were not admitted to Repentance after Baptism then we were still to be judged by the Covenant of Works not by the Covenant of Faith and we should inherit by the Law or not at all and not be heirs according to promise and then Christ were dead in vain we are yet in our sins and all the world must perish because all men have sinned and so none should go to heaven but newly baptized Infants or newly baptized Catechumens and how then could the Gospel be a New Covenant it being exactly the same with the Law for so it must be if it promise no mercy or Repentance to them that sin after our admittance to it * But Baptism is a new birth and by it we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renewed unto Repentance unto that state of life which supposes holiness and imperfection and consequently needs mercy all the way according to that saying Justus ex fide vivet The just shall live by faith that is all our righteousness all our hopes all our spiritual life is conserved by and is relying upon this Covenant of Mercy the Covenant of Faith or Repentance all his life time the just shall still need pardon and finde it if he perseveres in it that is endevours
repent speedily is certainly a duty The earth does not open and swallow up all Rebels in the day of their Mutiny but it did so once and by that God did sufficiently consign to all ages his displeasure against Rebelsion So it is in the deferring Repentance That some have smarted for it eternally is for ever enough to tell us that God is displeased with every one that does defer it and therefore commands us not to defer it But this consideration is sufficiently heightned upon this account For there is no sinner dies but he is taken away without one dayes respite For though God did many times forbear him yet now he does not and to his last sin or his last refusal to hear God either he afforded no time or no grace of Repentance S. Pauls discourse and treaty of the Corinthians is sufficient to guide us here he fear'd that at his coming again God would humble him that is 1 Cor. 12.21 afflict him with grief and sorrow to see it that himself should be forc'd to bewail many that is to excommunicate or deliver to Satan them that have sinn'd already and have not repented If they had repented before S. Pauls coming they should escape that rod but for deferring it they were like to smart bitterly Neither ought it to be supposed that the not repenting of sins is no otherwise then as the being discovered of theft The thief dies for his robbery not for his being discovered though if he were not discovered he should have escaped for his theft So for their uncleanness S. Paul would have delivered them over to Satan not for their not repenting speedily For the case is wholly differing here A thief is not bound at all to discover himself to the Criminal Judge but every man is bound to repent If therefore his repenting speedily would prevent so great a calamity as his being delivered over to Satan besides the procuring his eternal pardon it is clear that to repent speedily was great charity and great necessity which is that which was to be prov'd Satan should have power over him to afflict him for his sin if he did not speedily repent but if he did repent speedily he should wholly escape therefore to repent speedily is a duty which God expects of us and will punish if it be omitted Hodiè mihi credes vivere serum est Ille sapit quisquis Posthume vixit Heri Think it not a hasty Commandement that we are called upon to repent to day It was too much that yesterday past by you it is late enough if you do it to day 5. Not to repent instantly is a great loss of our time and it may for ought we know become the loss of all our hopes Nunc vivit sibi neuter Martial ep 20. lib. 5. heu bonosque Soles effugere atque abire sentit Qui nobis pereunt imputantur And this not onely by the danger of sudden death but for want of the just measures of Repentance Because it is a secret which God hath kept to himself onely and he onely knows what degrees of Repentance himself will admit of how much the sin provok'd him and by what measures of sorrow and carefulness himself will be appeased For there is in this a very great difference To Simon Magus it was almost a desperate case If peradventure the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven It was worse to Esau There was no place left for his repentance It was so with Judas he was not admitted to pardon neither can any one tell whether it was not resolved he should never be pardon'd However it be for the particulars yet it is certain there is a great difference in the admitting penitents On some have compassion Jude 22 23. others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Now since for all our sins we are bound to ask pardon every day if we do so who dares say it is too much that it is more then needs But if to repent every day be not too much who can be sure that if he puts it off one day it shall be sufficient To some men and at some times God is implacably angry some men and at some times God hath in his fury and sudden anger seis'd upon with the apprehensions of death and saddest judgements and broken them all in pieces and as there is a reign and kingdome of Mercy so there are sudden irruptions of a fierce Justice of which God hath therefore given us examples that we may not defer Repentance one day But this mischief goes further For 6. So long as we lie in the guilt of one sin unrepented of though we do not adde heaps upon heaps and multiply instances of the same or equal crimes yet we are in so unthriving a condition and so evil a state that all that while we lose all the benefit of any good thing that we can do upon the interest of any principle whatsoever For so long as we are out of Gods favour under the seisure and arrest of eternal guilt so long we are in a state of enmity with God and all our actions are like the performances of Heathens nothing to eternal life but mis-spendings of our powers and prodigalities of reason and wise discourses they are not perfective of our being neither do they set us forward to heaven until our state be changing Either then we are not by a certain Law and Commandement bound every day to serve God and please him or else we are positively and strictly bound instantly to repent of all our sins because so long as a known sin is unrepented of we cannot serve God we cannot do any thing that shall be acceptable to him in Jesus Christ 7. Every delaying of Repentance is one step of progression towards final Impenitence which is not onely then esteem'd a sin against the holy Ghost when a man resolves never to repent but if by carelesness he neglects or out of tediousness and an irreligious spirit quite puts off or for ever pass by it is unpardonable it shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Now since final impenitence is the consummation and perfection of all sin we are to remember that it is nothing but a perseverance of neglecting or refusing to repent A man is alwayes dying and that which we call death is but the finishing of death the last act of it So is final impenitence nothing but the same sin told over so many dayes it is a persevering carelesness or resolution and therefore it cannot be the sin of one day unless it be by accident it is a state of sin begun as soon as ever the sin is acted and grows in every day of thy negligence or forgetfulness But if it should happen that a sinner that sinn'd yesterday should die to day his deferring his Repentance that one day would be esteem'd so and indeed really be a final impenitence It follows therefore that to
but another expression or word for the Commandement of Repentance For Confess your sins means acknowledge that you have done amiss that you were in the wrong way that you were a miserable person wandring out of the paths of God and the methods of heaven and happiness that you ought not to have done so that you have sinn'd against God and broken his holy laws and therefore are liable and expos'd to all that wrath of God which he will inflict upon you or which he threatned Confession of sins is a justification of God and a sentencing of our selves This is not onely certain in the nature of the thing it self but apparent also in the words of David Psal 51.4 Against thee onely have I done this evil ut tu justificeris that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged That is if I be a sinner then art thou righteous and just in all the evils thou inflictest So that Confession of sins is like Confession of faith nothing but a signification of our conviction it is a publication of our dislike of sin and a submission to the law of God and a deprecation of the consequent evils Confessio error is In Ps 135. professio est desinendi said S. Hilary a confession of our sin is a profession that we will leave it and again Confessio peccati ea est ut ià quod à te gestum est per confessionem peccati confitearis esse peccatum That is confession of sins not that we enumerate the particulars and tell the matter of fact to him that remembers them better then we can but it is a condemning of the sin it self an acknowledging that we have done foolishly a bringing it forth to be crucified and killed This is apparent also in the case of Achan who was sufficiently convict of the matter of fact by the Divine disposing of lots which was one of the ways by which God answered the secret inquiries of the Jews but when he was brought forth to punishment Joshua 7.19 Joshua said unto him My son give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him that is acknowledge the answer of God to be true and his judgement upon us not to be causless To this answers that part of Achans reply Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel There God was justified and the glory was given to him that is the glory of his Truth and his Justice but then Joshua addes and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Here it was fit he should make a particular enumeration of the fact and so he did to Joshua saying Thus and thus have I done For to confess to man is another thing then to confess to God Men need to be informed God needs it not but God is to be justified and glorified in the sentence and condemnation of the sin or the sinner and in order to it we must confess our sin that is condemne it confess it to be a sin and our selves guilty and standing at Gods mercy S. In 1 Corhom 28. Chrysostom upon those words of S. Paul If we would judge our selves we should not be judged hath these words He saith not if we would chastise our selves if we would punish our selves but onely if we would acknowledge our sins if we would condemn our selves if we would give sentence against our sins we should be freed from that punishment which is due both here and there For he that hath condemned himself appeases God upon a double account both because he hath acknowledged the sins past and is more careful for the future To this confession of sins is opposed the denying our sin our hiding it from God as Adam did that is either by proceeding in it or by not considering it or by excusing it or by justifying it or by glorying in it all these are high provocations of Gods anger but this anger is taken off by confession Psal 95.2 Praeveniamus faciem eius in confessione said the Psalmist Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving so we reade it let us prevent his anger or let us goe before his face with confession so the old Latin Bibles which is a doing as the Prodigal did I will goe unto my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and this is the first act of exterior repentance but it is of that repentance that is indispensably necessary to salvation Acts 20.21 this is Repentance towards God which the Apostles preach'd in the first publication of Christianity But then besides this there is a Repentance towards men and a Confession in order to it If I have sinn'd against my brother I must ask his pardon and confess my error that is I must repent or confess to him for he that is the injur'd person hath a right over me I am his debtor and oblig'd and he can forgive me if he please and he may choose that is I must pay him the debt I owe him unless he will be pleased to remit it For God in his infinite wisdome and goodness and justice hath taken care to secure every mans interest and he that takes any thing from me is bound by Gods law to restore it and to restore me to that state of good things from whence he forc'd me Now because for the injury which I have already suffered he cannot make me equal amends because what ever he does to me for the future still it is true that I did suffer evil from him formerly therefore it is necessary that I doe what I can to the reparation of that but because what is done and past cannot be undone I must make it up as well as I can that is I must confess my sin and be sorry for it and submit to the judgement of the offended party and he is bound to forgive me the sin and I am bound to make just and prudent amends according to my power for here every one is bound to doe his share If the offending person hath done his part of duty the offended must do his that is he must forgive him that wrong'd him if he will not God will untie the penitent man and with the same chain fast binde him that is uncharitable But my brother may be hurt by me though I have taken nothing from him nor intended him injury He may be scandalized by my sin that is tempted to sin incouraged in his vileness or discontented and made sorrowful for my unworthiness and transgression In all these cases it is necessary that we repent to them also that is that we make amends not only by confession to God but to our brethren also For when we acknowledge our folly we affright them from it and by repentance we give them caution that they may not descend into the same state of infelicity And upon this account all publick criminals were
of it was sometimes by Deacons sometimes by themselves at home This therefore was the dispensation of the keys this was the effect of the powers of binding and loosing of re mitting or retaining sins according as the sense and practice of the Church expounded her own power The prayers of the Priest going before his ministration of the Communion were called absolution Isaac Lin. tit 1 c. 16. that is the beginning and one of the first portions of it absolutio Sacerdotalium precum so it was called in ancient Councels the Priest imposed hands and prayed and then gave the Communion This was the ordinary way But there was an extraordinary For in some cases the imposition of hands was omitted that is when the Bishop or Priest was absent and the Deacon prayed or the Confessor but this was first by the leave of the Bishop or Priest for to them it belong'd in ordinary And 2. this was nothing else but a taking them from the station of the penitents and a placing them amongst the faithful communicants either by declaring that their penances were performed or not to be exacted For by this we shall be clear of an objection which might arise from the case of dying penitents to whom the Communion was given and they restored to the peace of the Church that is as they supposed to Gods mercy and the pardon of sins for they would not chuse to give the Communion to such persons whom they did not believe God had pardoned but these persons though communicated Can. 78. non tamen se credant absolutos sine manus impositione si supervixerint were not to suppose themselves absolved if they recovered that sicknesse without imposition of hands said the Fathers of the 4th Councel of Carthage by which it should seem absolution was a thing distinct from giving the Communion To this I answer that the dying penitent was fully absolved in case he had receiv'd the first imposition of hands for repentance that is if in his health he submitted himself to penance and publick amends and was prevented from finishing the impositions they supposed that desire and endevour of the penitent man was a worthy disposition to the receiving the holy Communion and both together sufficient for pardon but because this was only to be in the case of such intervening necessity and God will not accept of the will for the deed but in such cases where the deed cannot be accomplished therefore they bound such penitents to return to their first obligation in case they should recover since God had taken off their necessity and restored them to their first capacity And by this we understand the meaning of the third Canon of the first Arausican Councel They who having received penance depart from the body it pleases that they shall be communicated sine reconciliatoriâ manus impositione without the reconciling imposition of hands that is because the penitential imposition of hands was imposed upon them and they did what they could though the last imposition was not though the last hand was not put upon them declaring that they had done their penances and compleated their satisfactions yet they might be communicated that is absolved quod morientis sufficit consolationi this is enough to the comfort of the dying man according to the definition of the Fathers who conveniently enough called such a Communion their Viaticum their Passeport or provision for their way For there were two solemn impositions of hands in repentance The first and greatest was in the first admission of them and in the imposition of the Disciplne or manner of performing penances and this was the Bishops office and of great consideration amongst the holy Primitives and was never done but by the superiour Clergy as is evident in Ecclesiastical story The second solemn imposition of hands was immediatly before their absolution or Communion and it was a holy prayer and publication that he was accepted and had finished that processe This was the lesse solemn and was ordinarily done by the superiour Clergy but sometimes by others as I have remonstrated other intermedial impositions there were as appears by the Creber recursus mentioned in the 3d Councel of Toledo above cited the penitents were often to beg the Bishops pardon or the Priests prayers and the advocations and intercessions of the faithful but the peace of the Church that is that pardon which she could minister and which she had a promise that God would confirm in heaven was the Ministery of pardon in the dispensation of the Sacrament of that body that was broken and that bloud that was powred forth for the remission of our sins The result is That the absolution of sins which in the later forms and usages of the Church is introduced can be nothing but declarative the office of the preacher and the guide of soules of great use to timerous persons and to the greatest penitents full of comfort full of usefulness and institution and therefore although this very declaration of pardon may truly and according to the style of Scripture be called pardon and the power and office of pronouncing the penitents pardon is in the sense of the Scripture and the Church a good sense and signification of power as the Pharisees are said to justifie God when they declare his justice and as the preacher that converts a sinner is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save a soul from death yet if we would speak properly and as things are in their own nature and institution this declarative absolution is only an act of preaching or opening and reading the Commission an effect of the Spirit of prudence and government entring upon the Church but the power of the keys is another thing it is the dispensing all those rites and ministeries by which heaven is opened and that is the word and baptisme at the first and ever after the holy Sacrament of the supper of the Lord and all the parts of the Bishops and Priests advocation and intercession in holy prayers and offices But as for the declarative absolution although it is rather an act of wisdom then of power it being true as S. Hierom said In 16 Mat. that as the Priests of the Law could only discern and neither cause nor remove leprosies so the Ministers of the Gospel when they retain or remit sins do but in the one judge how long we continue guilty and in the other declare when we are clear and free yet this very declaration is of great use and in many cases of great effect For as God did in the case of David give to the Prophet Nathan a particular special and extraordinary commission so to the Ministers of the Gospel he gives one that is ordinary and perpetual He had a prophetical evidence but these have a certainty of faith as to one of the propositions and as to the other some parts of humane experience to assure them 1. of Gods gracious pardon to the
and this is the full sense of the power given by Christ to his Church concerning sins and sinners called by S. Paul the word of reconciliation For as for the other later and superinduc'd Ministery of pardon in judicial forms of absolution that is wholly upon other accounts of good use indeed to all them that desire it by reason of their present perswasions and scruples fears and jealousies concerning the event of things For sometimes it happens what one said of old Mens nostra difficillimè sedatur Deus faciliùs God is sooner at peace with us then we are at peace with our own mindes and because our repentances are always imperfect and he who repents the most excellently and hates his sin with the greatest detestation may possibly by his sense of the foulness of his sin undervalue his repentance and suspect his sorrow and because every thing is too little to deserve pardon he may think it is too little to obtain it and the man may be melancholy and melancholy is fearful and fear is scrupulous and scruples are not to be satisfied at home and not very easily abroad in the midst of these and many other disadvantages it will be necessary that he whose office it is to separate the vile from the precious and to judge of leprosie should be made able to judge of the state of this mans repentance and upon notice of particulars to speak comfort to him or something for institution For then if the Minister of holy things shall think fit to pronounce absolution that is to declare that he believes him to be a true penitent and in the state of grace it must needs adde much comfort to him and hope of pardon not only upon the confidence of his wisdome and spiritual learning but even from the prayers of the holy man and the solemnity of his ministration To pronounce absolution in this case is to warrant him so farre as his case is warrantable That is to speak comfort to him that is in need to give sentence in a case which is laid before him in which the party interested either hath no skill or no confidence or no comfort Now in this case to dispute whether the Priests power be Judicial or Optative or Declarative is so wholly to no purpose that this sentence is no part of any power at all but it is his office to do it and is an effect of wisdom not of power it is like the answering of a question which indeed ought to be askt of him as every man prudently is to inquire in every matter of concernment from him who is skill'd and experienced and profest in the faculty But the Priests proper power of absolving that is of pardoning which is in no case communicable to any man who is not consecrated to the Ministery is a giving the penitent the means of eternal pardon the admitting him to the sacraments of the Church and the peace and communion of the faithful because that is the only way really to obtain pardon of God there being in ordinary no way to heaven but by serving God in the way which he hath commanded us by his Son that is in the way of the Church which is his body whereof he is Prince and Head The Priest is the Minister of holy things he does that by his Ministery which God effects by real dispensation and as he gives the Spirit not by authority and proper efflux but by assisting and dispensing those rites and promoting those graces which are certain dispositions to the receiving of him just so he gives pardon not as a thing does it nor yet as a Messenger that is not by way of authority and real donation nor yet only by declaration but as a Rhysician gives health that is he gives the remedy which God appoints and if he does so and if God blesses the medicines the person recovers and God gives the health For it is certain that the holy man who ministers in repentance hath no other proper power of giving pardon then what is now described Because he cannot pardon them who are not truly penitent and if the sinner be God will pardon him whether The Priest does or no and what can be the effect of these things but this that the Priest does only minister to the pardon as he ministers to repentance He tells us upon what conditions God does pardon and judges best when the conditions are performed and sets forward those conditions by his proper ministery and ministers to us the instruments of grace but first takes accounts of our soules and helps us who are otherwise too partial to judge severe and righteous judgement concerning our eternal interest and he judges for us and does exhort or reprove admonish or correct comfort or humble loose or binde So the Minister of God is the Minister of reconciliation that is he is the Minister of the Gospel for that is the Word of Reconciliation which S. Paul affirms to be intrusted to him in every office by which the holy man ministers to the Gospel in every of them he is the Minister of pardon But concerning that which we call Absolution that is a pronouncing the person to be absolved it is certain that the forms of the present use were not used for many ages of the Church In the Greek Church they were never used and for the Latine Church in Thomas Aquinas his time they were so new that he put it into one of his Quaestiones disputatae whether form were more fit the Optative or the Judicial whether it were better to say God of his mercy pardon thee or by his authority committed to me I absolve thee and in Peter Lombards days when it was esteemed an innocent doctrine to say that the Priests power was only declarative it is likely the form of absolution would be according to the power believed which not being then universally believed to be Judicial the Judicial form could not be of universal use and in the Pontifical there is no Judicial form at all but only Optative or by way of prayer But in this affair besides what is already mentioned I have two great things to say which are a sufficient determination of this whole article 1. The first is that in the Primitive Church there was no such thing as a judicial absolution of sins used in any Liturgy or Church so far as can appear but all the absolution of penitents which is recorded was the meer admitting them to the mysteries and society of the faithful in religious offices the sum and perfection of which was the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper So the fourth Councel of Carthage Can. 76. makes provision for a penitent that is neer death reconcilietur per manus impositionem infundatur ori ejus Eucharistia let him be reconciled by the imposition of hands and let the Eucharist be poured into his mouth that was all the solemnity even when there was the greatest need of the Churches