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
of Rome is not countenanced in her practice of private and clancular Confessions by the general usage of the Church as they pretend 3. I observe concerning this Office of Penitentiary that as it was erected upon prudential considerations so it was upon the same grounds abolished by the same Authority of the Church which first instituted it and that after about Two hundred years continuance in the time of Nectarius as we have seen therein he was followed saith Sozomen by almost all the Bishops and Churches in the World this therefore was far from being thought either a Divine or Apostolical Constitution Petavius would here persuade us that it was only publick Confession and not private which was upon this occasion so generally laid aside as we have seen but this is done by him more out of tenderness of Auricular Confession than upon good reason and Valesius goes beyond him and will needs persuade us that neither publick nor private Confession were put down in this juncture but only that the lately erected Officer of Penitentiary was cashier'd but I must crave leave to say there is no sufficient reason for either of these conjectures but on the contrary plain Evidence against them for Socrates who is the first and principal relater of this whole story saith he was personally acquainted with this Presbyter Eudemon who gave the advice to Nectarius to make this change in the Discipline of the Church and that he had the aforesaid relation of it from his own Mouth and expostulated with him about it giving his reasons to the contrary and suggested his suspicions that the state of Piety would be much endamaged by this change and in plain words tells him that he had now bereft men of assistance in the conduct of their Consciences and hindred the great benefit men have or might have one of another by private advice and correption Now this fear of his had been the absurdest thing in the World if upon this counsel and advice of his only one certain Man in the Office of publick Confessioner had been laid aside but both the use of publick and private Confessions had been kept up and retained But after all for ought appears the Church of Rome kept her old Mumpsimus she tenacious of her own customs especially of such as may advance her Interest and Authority complies not with this Innovation or Reformation be it for better or worse but her Priests go on with their Confessions and turn all Religion almost into Clancular Transactions in despight of the example of other Churches It may be she met with opposition sometimes but she was forced to disemble it till the Heroick Age of the School-men and then those lusty Champions with their Fustian-stuff of videtur quod sic probatur quod non make good all her pretensions After them in the year 1215 comes the Fourth Lateran Council and that decrees Auricular Consession to be made by every body once a year at the least and last of all comes the Council of Trent and declares it to be of Divine Institution necessary to Salvation and the constant and universal custom of the Christian Church And so we have the Pedigree of the Romish Auricular Confession Sect. 4. I come now to the third and last Stage of my undertaking which is to shew that Secret or Auricular Confession as it is now prescribed and practised in and by the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensom in it self but also very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion For the former part of this charge if it be not evident enough already it will easily be made out from the Premises for they cannot deny that they make this kind of Confession necessary to Salvation at least as necessary as Baptism it self is supposing a Man hath sinned after Baptism now if it be neither made so by Divine Institution nor acknowledged to be so by the constant Opinion of the Church what an horrible imposition is here upon the Consciences of Men when in the highest and worst sense that can be they teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men and make Salvation harder than God hath made it and suspend mens hopes upon other terms then he hath done If it was prescribed by the present Church as a matter of Order and Discipline only or of convenience and expediency we should never boggle at it upon this account or dispute the point with them or if it was only declared necessary pro hîc nunc upon extraordinary emergency by the peculiar condition of the Penitent his weakness of judgment the perplexity of his Conscience his horrible guilt or extream Agonies we would not differ with them upon that neither but when it is made necessary universally and declared the indispensable duty of all men whatsoever who have sinned after Baptism when God hath required no such thing but declares himself satisfied with true contrition and hearty remorse for what is past and sincere Reformation for the time to come this I say is an intolerable Tyranny and usurpation upon the Consciences of Men. And that is not all neither for besides its burdensomness in the general it particularly aggravates and increases a Mans other burdens for instead of relieving perplexed Consciences which is the true and principal use of Confessions to Men this priestly Confession as it is prescribed by the Council intangles and afflicts them more for that injoyns that the Penitent lay open all his sins even the most secret although but in thought or desire only such as against the Ninth or Tenth Commandment according to their Division of the Decalogue now this is many times difficult enough but that 's not all he must also recount all the circumstances of these sins which may increase or diminish the guilt especially such as alter the species and kind of sin Now what sad work is here for a Melancholy Man All the circumstances are innumerable and how can he tell which are they that change the Species of the act unless he be as great a School-man as his Confessor Besides all this it may be he is not very skilful in the distinction between venial and mortal sins and if he omit one mortal sin he is undone therefore it is necessary for him by consequence to confess all venial sins too and then where shall the poor Man begin or when shall he make an end Such a Carnifieina such a rack and torture in a word such an Holy Inquisition is this business of Auricular Confession become And that Eminent Divine of Strasburgh of whom Beatus Rhenanus speaks seems very well to have understood both himself and this matter who pronounces that Scotus and Thomas had with their tricks and subtilties so perplexed this plain Business of Confession that now it was become plainly impossible And so much for that But as for the second part of this impeachment viz. That the Auricular Confession now used in the
to obtain Pardon at the Hands of God The other is of Theodorus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury whose words are these Confessio quae soli Deo fit purgat pecoata Ea vero quae Sacerdoti fit docet qualiter purgentur Confession to God properly obtains the Pardon of Sin but by Confession to Men we are only put into the right way to obtain pardon Thus they But now in the Church of Rome the case is otherwise there the Priest sustains the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ himself and is not so much his Delegate as his Plenipotentiary and his Pardon is as full and good as if the Judge of the World had pronounced it pro Tribunali so that if the most lewd and habitual Sinner have but the good fortune to go out of the World under the Blessing of his Ghostly Father that is to say either death came so soon after his last Absolution or the Priest came so opportunely after his last sin that he hath not begun a new score he is sure to go Heaven without more ado This I represent as the first mischief attending their Doctrine and Practice of Auricular Confession But this is not all for Secondly It corrupts and debauches the very Doctrine and Nature of Repentance which the whole Gospel lays so much stress upon Making Attrition which is but a slight sorrow for sin or a dislike of it in Contemplation of the Wrath of God impendent over it pass for Contrition which implies an hatred and detestation of it for its own moral evil and deformity with a firm resolution of amendment This they many of them are not ashamed to teach and their practice of Absolution supposes and requires it The Jesuites in particular who have almost ingrost to themselves the whole Monopoly of Confessions avow this as their Principle Father Bauny Escobar and Suarez declare their Judgment that the Priest ought to absolve a Man upon his saying that he detests his sin although at the same time the Confessor doth not believe that he does so And Caussin saith if this be not true there can be no use of Confessions amongst the greatest part of Men. These things it 's true are disliked by some others of the Romanists and the Curees of France are so honest as to cry shame of it before all the World for say they Attrition is but the work of Nature and if that alone will serve for Pardon then a Man may be pardoned without Grace But therefore say the others the Sacrament of Penance doth it alone and this is for the Honour of the Sacrament greatly for the Honour of it say I that it is of greater power then our Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel which cannot help a wicked Man to Heaven whilest he continues so but this Sacrament it seems can Nor can they excuse this matter by saying these odious assertions are but the private Opinions of some Divines For they are plainly favoured by the determinations of the Council of Trent I confess that Council delivers it self warily and cunningly in this point as it uses to do in such cases yet these are their words Illa vero contritio imperfecta quae attritio dicitur quamvis sine Sacramento Poenitentiae perse ad justificationem perducere peccatorem nequeat tamen eum ad Dei Gratiam in Sacramento Poenitentiae impetrandam disponit c. Which is as much as to say though Attrition or a superficial Sorrow for Sin barely alone and without Confession to a Priest will not justify a Man before God yet Attrition and Confession together will do it for then they are as good as true Repentance And in this sense Melchior Canus long since thought he understood the Council well enough Thirdly This business of Auricular Confession as it is practised in the Church of Rome is so far from being a means to prevent and restrain sin as it highly pretends to be and I am sure as it ought to be if it be good for any thing that contrariwise it is either lost labour and a meer Ceremony or it greatly incourages and imboldens and hardens Men in it both by the Secrecy the Multitudes and the Frequency of these Confessions by the cursory hypocritical and evasive ways of confessing by the slight Penances imposed and the cheapness easiness and even prostitution of Absolutions It were easy to be copious in instances of all these kinds but it is an uncomfortable subject and I hasten to a conclusion therefore I will only touch upon them briefly 1. For the privacy of these Confessions In the Ancient Church as I have noted before the Scandalous Sinner was brought upon the Stage before a great Assembly of Grave and Holy Men he lay prostrate on the ground which he watered with his Tears he crept on his Knees and implored the Pitty and Prayers of all present in whose countenances if for shame he could look up he saw abhorrence of his fact indignation at God's dishonour conjoined with compassion to his Soul and joy for his Repentance his Confession was full of remorse and confusion the remedy was as sharp and disgustful to Flesh and Blood as the Disease had been pleasant and the pain of this expiation was able to imbitter the sweet of Sin to him ever after Or if the Confession was not made before the whole Church but to the Penitentiary only yet he was a Grave and Holy Person chosen by the Church and representing it a Person resident in that Church and so able to take notice of and mind the future Conversation of those that addressed themselves to him a Person of that Sanctity and Reverence that he could not choose but detest and abhor all base and vile actions that should come to his knowledge Now it must needs be a terrible cut to a Sinner to have all his lewdness laid open before such an one and then to be justly and sharply rebuked by him to have his sins aggravated and to be made to see his own ugly shape in a true glass held by him besides to be enjoined the performance of a strict Penance of Fasting and Prayer and after all if this do not do to have the Church made acquainted with the whole matter as in the case of the Deacon aforesaid This course was likely to work something of remorse in the Sinner for what was past and to make him watchful and careful for the time to come But what is the way of the Church of Rome like to this Where a Man may confess to any Priest to him that knows him not and so cannot observe his future life and carriage nay perhaps that knows not how to value the guilt of sin or to judge which be Venial and which Mortal Sins or especially what circumstances do alter the species of it and it may be too he may be such an one that makes no Conscience himself of the sins I confess to him Now when all is transacted between me and such a
Priest in a corner and that under the inviolable Seal of Confession what great shame can this put me to What remorse is it likely to work in me What shall discourage me from going on to sin again if no worse thing happen to me 2. And then for the multitude of Confessions in the Church of Rome that also takes off the shame and weakens the efficacy of it so that if it do no harm it is not likely to do any good for who is concern'd much in the doing that which he sees all the World do as well as himself if only notorious Sinners were brought to Confession as it was in the Primitive Church then it might probably and reasonably provoke a blush and cause a remorse in him to whom such a remedy was prescribed but when he sees the whole Parish and the Priest too brought to it and Men as generally complying with it as they approach to the Lord's Table What great wonders can this work What shame can it inflict upon any Man What effect can be expected from it but that it ordinarily makes Men secure and careless and grow as familiar with sin as with the remedy or at least think as well of themselves as of other Men since it seems they have as much need of Confession and absolution as himself 3. To which the frequency and often repetitions of these kind of Confessions adds very much it is very likely that modesty may work much upon a Man the first or second time he goes to Confession and it may something discompose his Countenance when he lays open all his secret miscarriages to a Person especially for whom he hath a Reverence for we see every thing even sin it self is modest in its beginnings and no doubt it is some restraint of sin whilst a Man is sensible that he must undergo a great deal of pain and shame in vomiting up again his sweet Morsels which he eats in secret But by that time he hath been used to this a while it grows easie and habitual to him and custom hath made the very punishment pleasant as well as the sin especially if we add 4. The formal cursory hypocritical and illusive ways of Confession in frequent use amongst them as that a Man may choose his own Priest and then to be sure the greatest Sinner will have a Confessour right for his turn that shall not be too severe and scrupulous with him that a Man may confess in transitu in a hurry or huddle and then there can be no remark made upon his Person nor his sins that a Man may make one part of his Confession to one Priest and reserve the other part for another so that neither of them shall be able to make any thing of it that he may have one Confessour for his Mortal sins and another for his Venial so that one shall save him if the other damn him nay for failing the forgetful sinner may have another Man to confess for him or at least he may confess that he hath not confessed these and abundance more such illusive Methods are in daily use amongst them and not only taken up by the licentious and unconscionable People but allowed by some or other of their great Casuists now let any Man judge whether this be a likelier way to restrain sin or to encourage it whether the easiness of the remedy if this be one must not of necessity make the Disease seem not very formidable in a word whether this be not a ridiculing their own Religion and which is worse a teaching Men to be so fool hardy as to make a mock of sin 5. This sad reckoning will be inflamed yet higher if we consider the slight Penances usually imposed by these Spiritual Judges upon the greatest Crimes The Council determines that the Confessour must be exactly made acquainted with all the circumstances of the sin that so he may be able to adjust a Penance to it now when some great sin is confessed and that in very foul circumstances if the Penance proportioned to it by the Priest be to say two or three Pater Nosters or Ave-Maria's extraordinary to give a little Money in Alms to the Poor or some Pious use to kneel on his bare knees before such a Shrine to kiss such an Image to go on Pilgrimage a few Miles to such a Saint or at most to wear an Hair Shirt or it may be to fast with Pish and Wine and Sweetmeats c. doth not this make that sin which is thus mawled and stigmatized look very dreadfully can any Man find in his Heart to sin again when it hath cost him so dear already Oh but they will tell us these Penances are not intended to correspond with the guilt of the sin but only to satisfy the debt of Temporal punishment But we had thought that the end of Penance had been to work in the Penitent a disposition for Pardon by giving him both opportunities and direction to express the sincerity of his Repentance and this was the use of Penance in the Primitive Church together with the taking off the Scandal from the Society and for that other end how doth the Church of Rome know so certainly that there is a debt of Temporal punishment remaining due after the sin is pardoned before God it is true God may pardon so far only as he pleases he may resolve to punish temporally those whom he hath forgiven eternally as we see he did in the case of David but that this is not his constant Method appears by this that our Saviour releases the Temporal punishment to many in the Gospel whose diseases he cured saying to them Your sins are forgiven you when as yet it did not appear that all Scores were quitted with God so but that they might have perished eternally if they did not prevent it by Faith and Repentance 6. But lastly to come to an end of this sad story the easiness and prostitution of their absolutions in the Church of Rome contributes as much to the encouraging of Vice and carelesness in Religion as any of the former for what else can be the natural effect and consequence of that ruled case among their Casuists as I shew'd before that the Priest is bound to absolve him that confesses and saith he is sorry for his sin though he doth in his Heart believe that he is not contrite but that either the Priests Pardon is a very cheat or else that Pardon is due of course to the most impenitent Sinner and there is no more to do but Confess and be Saved or what is the meaning of their common practice to absolve men upon their Death-beds whether they be contrite or attrite or neither at least when they can give no Evidence of either If they intended this only for absolution from the Censures of the Church it might be called Charity and look something like the practice of the Primitive Church which released those upon their Death-beds whom it