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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A33917 A reply to The absolution of a penitent, according to the directions of the Church of England, &c. Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726. 1696 (1696) Wing C5261; ESTC R18890 7,546 11

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and Estate Secondly There are several Circumstances peculiar to a condemn'd Person which alter the common Case For 1st There is no danger that the Penitent will discover his own Confession neither if he should is he a legal Witness without a Pardon And this Favour he is in no likelihood of receiving only for the Merit of being False to his Confessor But not to insist upon this I argue Thirdly That the Law is founded upon Reason and therefore no Punishment ought to be stretched beyond the reason of the Case and the clear Intention of the Legislators Now the reason why the Concealing a Practice which is Treason in the Design is made Criminal is because by such Concealment the Guilty Person may be left in a Condition either to execute the Design or escape being punish'd But neither of these Inconveniences can happen from a condemn'd Person Such a one is disabled from finishing his Design though his Inclinations should continue And being under Restraint he may be punish'd at pleasure So that nothing either of danger or impunity can follow from such a Concealment And when a Plot is perfectly broken and most of the Persons concern'd either Executed or in Prison the reasons for discovering such a Confession sink still lower if 't is possible Thus I have argued from the largest Grounds and Suppositions and made it evident that the Canon did not oblige me to reveal the Assassination-part of the Confession provided I had been acquainted with any such Thing And as I observed in my Second Paper what the Canon does not oblige me to Discover it obliges me not to Discover And if I was bound up to Silence in this point I desire to know which way I could publickly press Sir William to an Acknowledgement without laying open the Secret and breaking the Canon 'T is true such a Violation seems to sit lightly upon the Director's Spirits He tells us very entertainingly That he who falls under that Curse is for ever uncapable of giving any more Absolutions Absolut p. 6. I own I have not the Director's Courage I dare not say any thing that looks like Burlesquing the Authority of the Church and Drolling upon the Power of the Keys I believe the Church a more Noble Society than the State that her Original is as Divine her Commission as Unquestioned her Powers as Significant and the Ends of her Institution more Important I say more Important as much as Time is outstretched by Eternity and Heaven is better than an Estate and Hell is more dreadful than the Gallows For these Reasons I shall always desire to have a great Regard for Ecclesiastical Laws and the Orders of my Spiritual Superiours Besides the Canons are Ratified by the King and can't be broken without insulting the Civil as well as the Sacred Authority However the Director thinks it somewhat extraordinary that a Man who stood Sentenced as a Contriver of the most Barbarous and Ungenerous Design c. should receive so easie and so glorious an Absolution p. 2. I have already given him a Reason why the Absolution was so Glorious as he calls it First Defence p. 2. Therefore if he pleases he may Expostulate upon this Head with some Body else And as for the Easiness of the Absolution how comes he to know that No Person ought to accuse without Certainty That is the lowest requisite Well! He guesses at it because there was no publick Abhorrence of the Intention c. This Director sure has not seen the Report of the Committee Apr. 2d The not minding of which he charges as a great omission upon me The Votes of that Day tells us That Sir William confess'd himself privy to the intended Assassination and thought 't was a fault that he approv'd it I hope the Director will not dispute the Testimony of the Committee And if not the two main Articles of his Charge must be drop'd For First This Confession implies Repentance as to the Assassination part For when a Man thinks he is in a Fault he must repent of course if he is in earnest I say he must do this unless he is an Atheist and such People don't use to press for Divines to Visit them Secondly Here is publick Repentance too and I suppose such a one as the Director will not be so hardy as to except against Will he deny the Committee to represent the Commons or the Commons the Kingdom If not which way could an Acknowledgment be made more publick or convey'd with better Advantage Is Confession good no where but at the place of Execution Let him produce any Law of Church or State for such an Assertion If he cannot the Objection is at an end unless he prefers the Authority of the Crowd to that of St. Stephen's Chappel If the Director replys That what Sir William own'd to the Committee can do me no Service because I endeavour to represent my self Ignoramus as he decently expresses it Pag. 7. My Answer once more is That this is concluding too fast I grant I did say in my first Defence That I never saw Sir William after his Examination till Friday Noon nor the Votes that mentioned it till after that Time And upon this I asked How I could know what Sir William had confess'd And what of all this The direct Affirmations are all Truth And for the Question it can be no disadvantage for it asserts nothing Questions don 't always imply a determined sence They are sometimes put to silence an over-inquisitiveness and check an unreasonable Accusation Tho I did not see Sir William after his Examination till the time he Suffer'd yet there are other ways of Communication besides Visiting I never affirm'd I had no Correspondence with him by Letters or Message after I was refused to see him So that notwithstanding any thing that appears Sir William might acquaint me with what passed between him and the Committee he might repeat the regret he had there acknowledged and receive Absolution upon that Score The case might happen thus for ought the Director knows to the contrary For my part I affirm nothing My Office does not give me leave neither does my Defence require it But Sir William made no Reparation in one respect but what he was forced to which made up his Resignation and compleated his Penitence Absolut P. 5. Most Divinely said This Man seems to relish an Execution extreamly what else could make him insult the last Misfortunes of Gentlemen and play upon the Agonies of the Dying These are Excesses of Charity and admirable stroaks of Humanity and good Nature His saying that I Absolved both without and against Authority Pag. 8. is like the rest To argue upon the Director's Principles I desire to know Whether the Priesthood is not a sufficient Authority for Absolution Had the Apostles their Power of Binding and Loosing from the Civil Establishment If not where lies the Necessity of a Lay-permission If the Church is not sui juris in matters purely Spiritual and Independent in the Exercise of the Keys Christianity lies at the Mercy of the State and may be extinguish'd at pleasure Call you these Directions according to the Church of England God forbid This Divinity comes from Selden or Erastus or else from Hobbs's Leviathan and makes Religion look like a Court-invention and a Politique Design And now at parting I should call the Director to an account for his ill Language and return him his Present But I hope I have learned Religion to better purpose and besides I scorn the Meanness of such a Contest In short If the Director thinks it worth his while to Misreport and Inflame and Sharpen the Edge of Severity I shall never envy him the Advantage but heartily wish him a better Employment I. C. May the 20th 1696. FINIS