(1) To avoid this term "confession," especially in this place, whence the reader might easily gather" sacramental confession," they thus falsify the text. It is said a little before, "if any be sick, let him bring in the priests," &c. And then it follows, "confess your sins," &c. But they, to make sure work, say, acknowledge, instead of confess; and for priests, "elders," and for sins, they had rather say faults; "acknowledge your faults," to make it sound among the ignorant common people, as different as they can from the usual Catholic phrase, "Confess your sins." What mean they by this?" If this acknowledging of faults one to another, before death, be indifferently made to all men, why do they appoint in their common prayer-book, (a) (as it seems, out of this place,) that the sick person shall make a special confession to the minister; and he shall absolve him in the very same form of absolution that Catholic priests use in the sacrament of penance? And again, seeing themselves acknowledge forgiveness of sins by the minister, why do they not reckon penance, of which confession is a part, amongst the sacraments? But, I suppose, when they translated their Bibles, they were of the same judgment with the ministers of the diocess of Lincoln, (b) who petitioned to have the words of absolution blotted out of the common prayerbook; but when they visit the sick, they are of the judgment of Roman Catholics, who, at this day, hold confession and absolution necessary to salvation, as did also the primitive Christians. Witness St. Basil: "Sins must necessarily be opened unto those, to whom the dispensations of God's mysteries is committed." St. Ambrose: "If thou desirest to be justified, confess thy sin for a sincere confession of sins dissolves the knot of iniquity." (c) : (2) As for penance, and satisfaction for sins, they utterly deny it, upon the heresy of, " only faith justifying and saving a man." Beza protests, that he avoids these terms, ustavoiα, pœnitentia, and ustavosite, pœnitentiam agite, of purpose and says, that in translating these Greek words, he will always use, resipiscentia and resipiscite," amendment of life," and "amend your lives." And our English Bibles, to this day, dare not venture on the word penance, but only repentance; which is not only far different from the Greek word, but even from the very circumstance of the text; as is evident from those words of St. Matth. xi., and Luke x., were these words, "sackcloth and ashes," cannot but signify more than the word repentance, or amendment of life can denote ; as is plain from these words of St Basil, (d) (a) Visitation of the Sick. (b) Survey of the Common Prayer-Book. (c) St. Basil. in Regulis Brevior., Interrogatione 288. St. Amb., lib. de Pœnit., cap. 6. (d) St. Basil in Psalm xxix; St. Aug. Hom. 27. Inter50 H. et Ep. 108; Sozom., Lib. 7, cap. 16. See St. Hierom. in Epitaph. Fabiol. "Sackcloth makes for penance; for the fathers, in old time, sitting in sackcloth and ashes, did penance." Do not St. John Baptist, and St. Paul, plainly signify penitential works, when they exhort us to "do fruits worthy of penance?" which penance St. Augustine thus declares : "There is a more grievous and more mournful penance, whereby properly they are called in the church, that are penitents removed also from partaking the sacrament of the altar." And Sozomen, in his ecclesiastical history, says, "In the Church of Rome, there is a manifest and known place for the penitents, and in it they stand sorrowful, and as it were mourning, and when the sacrifice is ended, being not made partakers thereof, with weeping and lamentations they cast themselves far on the ground: then the bishop, weeping also with compassion, lifts them up; and, after a certain time enjoined, absolves them from their penance. This the priests or bishops of Rome keep, from the very beginning, even until our time." Not only Sozomen, but (e) Socrates also, and all the ancient fathers, when they speak of penitents, that confessed and lamented their sins, and were enjoined penance, and performed it, did always express it in the said Greek words; which, therefore, are proved most evidently to signify penance, and doing penance. Again, when the ancient Council of Laodicea (f) says, that the time of penance should be given to offenders, according to the proportion of the fault: and that such shall not communicate till a certain time; but after they have done penance, and confessed their fault, (g) are then to be received: and when the first Council of Nice speaks of shortening or prolonging the days of penance when (h) St. Basil speaks after the same manner; when St. Chrysostom calls the sackcloth and fasting of the Ninevites, for certain days, "Tot dierum pœnitentiam, so many days of penance :" in all these places, I would demand of our translators of the English Bible, if all these speeches of penance, and doing penance, are not expressed by the said Greek words? and I would ask them, whether in these places, where there is mentioned a proscribed time of satisfaction for sin, by such and such penal means, they will translate repentance and amendment of life only? Moreover, the Latin Church, and all the ancient fathers thereof, have always read, as the Vulgate Latin interpreter translates, and do all expound the same penance, and doing penance: for example, see St. Augustine, among others; (i) where you will find it plain, that he speaks of " penitential works, for satisfaction of sins.” (e) Socrat., lib. 5, cap. 19. (f) Council of Laodicea, Can. 2, 9, et 19. (g) 1 Council of Nice, Can. 12. (h) St. Basil, cap. 1, ad Amphiloch. (i) St. August., Ep. 108. THE HONOUR OF OUR BLESSED LADY AND OTHER SAINTS. (1) THE most blessed Virgin, and glorious mother of Christ, has by God's holy Church always been honoured with most magnificent titles and addresses. One of the first four general councils gives her the transcendent title of the mother of God. (a) And by St. Cyril of Alexandria, she is saluted in these words, "Hail! holy mother of God, rich treasure of the world, evershining lamp, crown of purity, and sceptre of true doctrine; by thee the holy Trinity is every where blessed and adored, the heavens exult, angels rejoice, and devils are chased from us who so surpasses in elegance, as to be able to say enough to the glory of Mary?" Yea, the angel Gabriel is commissioned from God to address himself to her with this salutation," Hail! full of grace."(b) Since which time, what has ever been more common, and, at this day, more general and useful in all Christian countries, than in the Ave Maria to say, gratia plena, "full of grace?" But, in our miserable land, the holy which every child used to say, is not only prayer, banished, but the very text of scripture wherein our blessed Lady was saluted by the angel, "Hail! full of grace," they have changed into "Hail! thou another manner of salutation, viz., that art freely beloved," or, "in high favour." (c) I would gladly know from them, why this, or that, or any other thing, rather than "Hail! full of grace ?" St. John Baptist was full of the Holy Ghost, even from his birth; St. Stephen was "full of grace,(d) why may not then our Lady be called "full of grace," who, as St. Ambrose says, "only obtained the grace which no other woman deserved, to be replenished with the author of grace?" If they say, the Greek word does not signify so: I must ask them, why they translate noμévoo, (e) ulcerosus, "full of sores," and will not translate x8xαqıτwμavn, gratiosa, "full of grace?" Let them tell us what difference there is in the nature and significancy of these two words. If ulcerosus, as Beza translates it, be "full of sores," why is not gratiosa, as Erasmus translates it, "full of grace?" seeing that all such adjectives in osus signify fulness, as periculosus, ærumnosus, &c., as every school-boy knows. What syllable is there in this word, that seems to make it signify "freely beloved?" St. Chrysostom, and the Greek doctors, who should best know the nature of this Greek word, say, that it signifies to make gracious and acceptable. St. Athanasius, a Greek doctor, says, that our blessed Lady had this title, xsxaqirwμέvn, because the Holy Ghost descended into her, filling her with all graces and virtues. And St. Hierom reads gratia plena, and says plainly, she was so saluted, "full of grace," because she conceived him in whom all fulness of the Deity dwelt corporally. (f) (2) AGAIN, to take from the holy mother of (b) St. Luke i. 18. 61. our that "he (viz. Joseph) called his name Jesus." (3) How ready our new controllers of antiquity "her (4) WHERE the scripture, in the original, is ambiguous and indifferent to divers senses, it ought not to be restrained or limited by translation, unless there be a mere necessity, when it can hardly express the ambiguity of the original. As for example, in this where St. Peter speaks so ambiguously, either that he will remember them after his death, or that they shall remember him. But the Calvinists restrain the sense of this place, without any necessity; and that against the prayer and intercession of saints for us, contrary to the judgment of some of the Greek fathers; who concluded from it, "that the saints in heaven remember us on earth, and make intercession for us." (5) IN fine, this verse of the Psalms, (i) which is by the church and all antiquity read thus, and both sung and said in honour of the holy apostles, agreeably to that in another Psalm, "Thou shalt appoint them princes over all the earth," they translate contrary both to the Hebrew and the Greek, which is altogether according to the said ancient Latin translation, "How are the heads of them strengthened, or their princedoms?" And this they do, purposely to detract from the honour of the apostles and holy saints. (g) Rabbi Abraham et Rabbi David. (h) See the Annot. upon this place in the Doway Bible (i) Oecum. in Caten. Gagneius in hunc locum, Psa xliv |