is, after men have sinned, to obtain remission of sins. Whereof St. Hierome speaketh, and not of popish penance consisting of Contrition, Confession and Satisfaction, with their blasphemous Absolution." 1 There are other passages, which, though not naming Jerome's formula, yet bear closely upon it. Becon, writing in 1542, shows how, at that early date, some had rejected the doctrine which the secunda tabula had been made to bear. The passage is also noteworthy, because it illustrates the care of the Reformers to clear themselves from a charge of Novatianism: as though, in refusing the Roman Sacrament of Penance, they denied the lifelong efficacy of true repentance.❜ Becon has stated that "the true and unfeigned penance is the gift of God": and then proceeds to argue, against Novatians and Catabaptists, that "There is no sin in the world that doth not give place to the virtue of penance." Hebrews vi. 4-6 and x. 26 are quoted as the texts from which these men "gather their sinistral opinion." In 1 Calfhill had written against John Martiall's Blasphemous Treatise of the Cross, to which Martiall had replied. Ten years after Calfhill's death Fulke published a rejoinder. Fulke, ii. 170. I venture to bring one witness from the seventeenth century. Dr. F. White, writing in 1624, says, Protestants believe true repentance to be a 'second table after spiritual shipwreck,' and a necessary means of remission of sins committed after Baptism." This was in reply to the Jesuit Fisher. 2 See Hooker, VI. iv. 10 f. 66 the former passage the writer affirms that certain "1 and men cannot be renewed again by penance," St. Ambrose is quoted as understanding the words "not of penance but of Baptism": since the renewing by Baptism "cannot be made the second time." What Becon meant was that St. Ambrose did not refer the Apostle's words to the efficacy of Penance, but of repeated Baptism: for the efficacy of penance is the main burden of that Father's words. "The renovation. of holy Baptism cannot be made the second time . . . As [Christ] cannot die again, so cannot we be baptized again, except peradventure with the tears of penance, not with the regeneration of that fountain. What then, wilt thou say, Is there no penance? There is penance verily, but not another baptism. There is undoubtedly penance, and it hath much virtue . . . yea, even for him also that is very much drowned in sin." 2 66 But while Becon thus clears himself from Anabaptist error, he no less clearly interprets penance," both in the Apostle's writings and in St. Ambrose, to mean the virtue of repentance, and not the Sacrament of Penance. Although a renewal of Baptism is impossible, "yet," he says, "is not here penance denied unto them; but, sin they never so greatly, yet if they repent and turn to our Lord God, they shall surely find mercy and 1 πάλιν ἀνακαινίζειν εἰς μετάνοιαν. Heb. vi. 6. be saved." And (after quoting St. Ambrose's appeal," while there is time, to fly to the medicine of penance," 1) he adds, "These words declare openly, that so oft as we repent and turn, so oft shall we be forgiven. . . . Is not Christ a perpetual Saviour ? " 2 In another place Becon uses a new figure. "Now if, when they be once baptized, they do again offend then have they an holy anchor to fly unto, which is repentance. . . . So serveth to put away sins for ever and ever." " 3 Again, Latimer uses similar figures to express the same truth : "But may we do so? May we rise from sin? Yes, that we may for God hath provided a remedy for us. What is that? Forsooth, penance; we must have the staff of penance, and rise up withal. And this penance is such a salve, that it healeth all sores: if a man have done all the world's sin, yet when he taketh this staff of penance in his hand, that is to say, when he is sorry for it, and intendeth to leave them, no doubt he may recover; and God is that same physician which useth but one manner of salve to all manner of sores." 4 These quotations show with what wealth of illustration and variety of expression the efficacy of true repentance is urged. It is a "staff," "an holy anchor," a "medicine," a "salve"; or in the 1 Ibid. in Hebr. c. x. 3 Becon, i. 339. 2 Becon, i. 94 ff. earlier figure of Tertullian and Jerome, "a second plank after shipwreck," even for him who, as Ambrose puts it, in peccatis valde demersus sit, "is very much drowned in sin." It is evident that the Reformers, while fully accepting the statement that Penance was secunda post naufragium tabula, rejected the modern interpretation which had been placed upon it. They understood it of real spiritual repentance, not of secret confession, or of works of satisfaction to appease God's anger, in a word, of the virtue, not of the Sacrament of Penance. Holy Baptism It is impossible now to resist the conclusion The Sufficiency that Romish Penance, instead of strengthening of the two the true doctrine of the Sacraments, is plainly Sacraments inconsistent with it. Again and again the Reformers claim that Christ ordained a sacrament of repentance when He instituted Holy Baptism. To frame a Sacrament of Penance is to rob Baptism of its lifelong efficacy, and even to forget our Lord's express words when instituting the Holy Supper. The study of the two Sacraments in their relation to the "New Covenant," will establish their complete adequacy to meet the sinner's every need. Whatever may be our view of the grace conveyed in or by the two Sacraments of the Gospel, it is certainly true that they both 1 τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. Matt. xxvi. 28. C.A. 81 6 convey, in their several functions, the fullest possible promise of remission to those who truly repent. There is no place for any minor sacrament. We proceed to quote some witnesses to the sufficiency of the two Sacraments in this respect. Tindale, writing as early as 1528, says, "Confession is necessary all our lives long, as is repentance. [Both are] included in the Sacrament of Baptism. For we always repent, and always knowledge our sins unto God and remember that we are washed in Christ's blood: which thing our Baptism doth represent and signify unto us.” In 1531 Tindale writes: "In our baptism we receive the merits of Christ's death through repentance and faith, of which two Baptism is the sign: and though when we sin . . . after our baptism, we receive the sign no more, yet we be renewed again through repentance and faith in Christ's blood of which twain that sign of baptism . . . doth ever keep us in mind, and call us back again... and promiseth us forgiveness.' And again: "Our Baptism is the very sacrament or sign of repentance, or, if they will have it so called, penance." 1 Jewel holds the same doctrine. Harding had quoted St. Chrysostom to prove the necessity of priestly absolution "utterly to cleanse. . . the filth of the soul." To this Jewel replies: ... "In that whole place . . . there is no mention at all 1 Tind. i. 262, 466; ii. 160; iii. 171. |