cessary, but they enjoined that this precept should be observed at least once a year, by all and each one of the faithful, as soon as they had arrived to years of discretion.

It is for this reason, that this salutary custom of confession is now observed in the Catholic church with so great fruit by faithful souls, and more particularly during the holy and favourable time of Lent: which custom this holy Syuod adopts and highly approves of as being replete with piety and worthy of being retained in the church.

CHAP. VI.

OF THE MINISTER OF THIS SACRAMENT, AND OF ABSOLUTION.

With regard to the minister of this sacrament, the holy Synod de élares all doctrines false and repugnant to the truth of the Gospel, which by a pernicious error extend the Ministry of the Keys to all men indiscriminately, Bishops and Priests alone excepted, explaining these words of our Saviour: Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: And whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven, Matt. 16. and 19. And whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: And whose sins you shall retain, they are retained, John, 20. As addressed to all Christians indifferently and promiscuously, contrary to the institution of this sacrament, so that each one has power to remit public sins, by reprehension, if the person reprehended submit himself to reproof, and private ones, by a voluntary confession to any person whatsoever.

It likewise teaches that even Priests who are in mortal sin, exercise the power of remitting sin as ministers of Christ, through the virtue of the Holy Ghost received in ordination; and that the opinion of those is erroneous, who contend that this power is forfeited by wicked Priests.

But although the Absolution of the Priest be a dispensation of the benefit of another, it is not however a simple ministry, or a simple commission to announce the Gospel, or to declare that the sins are remitted; but a species of judicial act, by which the Priest as judge pro nounces sentence: And hence the penitent should not flatter himself, or confide so far in his own faith, as to think, that even without contrition ou his part, or without any intention on the part of the Priest to act se

riously and absolve really, he will nevertheless from his faith alone, be really absolved before God; for faith without penance can produce no remission whatsoever of sins; Nor can a person be otherwise than deemed extremely negligent of his salvation, who perceiving that a Priest absolves him in joke only, does not anxiously seek another, to discharge that duty seriously.

CHAP. VII.

[As this chapter treats wholly of reserved cases, it's insertion is deemed unnecessary.]

CHAP. VIII.

OF THE NECESSITY AND ADVANTAGES OF SATISFACTION.

FINALLY, with regard to satisfaction, which of all the parts of penance has been in all ages the most earnestly recommended to Christians by the holy Fathers: and which nevertheless under a specious pretext of piety is the most combatted in our days, by men who carry with them indeed the appearance of piety, but who have totally extinguished its virtue: This holy Synod declares, that it is every way false and repugnant to the word of God, to say that no fault has ever been remitted by our Lord without the whole penalty being likewise remitted; for independently of divine tradition, remarkable and illustrious examples may be found in the sacred writings, by which this error is manifestly refuted.

Moreover the course of divine justice seems also to require, that those who before Baptism have sinned through ignorance, should be received into favour differently from those, who having been once delivered from sin and the slavery of the devil, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost have not apprehended to profane deliberately the temple of God, 1. Cor. 3. and to contristate the Holy Ghost, Ephes. 4. And it is in every respect consistent with the divine clemency, not to forgive us our sins without some satisfaction, lest we might take occasion therefrom to consider them of less moment, and by an ungrateful and injurious conduct towards the holy spirit, fall into crimes more enormous, treasuring to ourselves wrath against the day of wrath,

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Rom. 2. 5. For it is certain that these punishments imposed as a satisfaction for sin, render penitents more cautious and vigilant in future, withdraw them in a special manner from sin, and keep them within bounds, so as to destroy, by the practice of contrary virtues, those sinful habits contracted by a disorderly life.

It is moreover certain that there has never been considered in the church of God, a more salutary and effectual way of averting those chastisements with which God continually threatens the sinner, than that of having frequent recourse to these works of penance, with sincere and heartfelt sorrow. Add to this, that whilst by satisfaction we suffer for our sins, we become conformable to Jesus Christ, who has satisfied for our sins, having from thence a certain pledge, that if we partake in his sufferings, we shall likewise partake in his glory..

But this satisfaction by which we atone for our sins, is not so much ours, as that it is not effected through Jesus Christ. For who of us can do any thing, of ourselves but with the assistance of him who strengthens us, we can do all things. Thus, man has nothing in which he can glory, but all our glory is in Christ, in whom we live, in whom we merit, in whom we satisfy, bringing forth worthy fruits of penance, which derive their force and efficacy from him, are offered to the Father by him, and through him are received and accepted by the Father.

The Priests of the Lord ought therefore, as far as the Holy Ghost and their own prudence shall suggest, to enjoin a salutary and proportionate satisfaction, suitable to the quality of the crime and the circumstances, state and condition of the penitent; lest it should happen that by conniving at the sins of, and acting too indulgently with penitents, by enjoining a slight satisfaction for the greatest crimes, they themselves become partakers of the sins of others. They should always reflect that the satisfaction which they impose, is not only a preservative in their new state of life, and a remedy for their infirmities, but likewise a retribution and a punishment for their past sins.

For the ancient Fathers of the church always believed and taught that the keys were given to Priests, for the purpose of binding as well as loosing, nor did they think that the sacrament of penance was a tribunal of wrath, or of torments, which no Catholic ever thought, or that by our satisfactions, the virtue and efficacy of the merit and satisfaction of our Saviour Jesus Christ, was in the least weakened or diminished. But whilst innovators did not wish to understand this, they taught, that a change of life was the best penance, that they might thús destroy the entire efficacy and practice of satisfaction.

CHAP. IX.

OF WORKS OF SATISFACTION.

THE holy council teaches moreover, that so great is the bounty and liberality of God, that we can satisfy God the Father through Jesus Christ not only by the punishments we voluntarily embrace, as a chastisement for our sins, or which are enjoined us by our confessor according to the measure of our fault; but also as the last pledge of his love, by suffering with patience the temporal afflictions, he is pleased to send us in this world.

SECTION III.

HAVING for the information of the public, fully shown what the real tenets of the Catholic church are, concerning the sacrament of penance, as they are explicitly laid down in the above mentioned session of the council of Trent, and held throughout the whole Catholic world, I shall now proceed, for a further elucidation of this interesting matter, to exhibit the principal grounds upon which the doctrine of sacramental confession is founded, and the testimonies by which it is supported. I shall first produce the passages of the Gospel proving it to be divinely instituted; secondly, shew how the holy Fathers, who certainly ought to be acknowledged the best interpretors of the sense of the scripture, have understood these passages; thirdly, how the councils, as well general, as particular, have always understood them; fourthly, what the universal practice of the church is, and has been in all ages, from the times of the Apostles down to our present time; and, finally, the opinions and belief of many of the Reformers themselves touching this all important matter.

CHAP I.

THE OBLIGATION OF CONFESSION PROVED FROM THE

GOSPEL.

THE holy council of Trent in the fifth chapter of the 14th session, declares the confession of all mortal sins to the Priests of the church, the lawful successors of the Apostles, to be* necessary, by the divine law, to all who fall after Baptism.

To proceed with method, I shall condense the whole force of the divine testimonies in favour of the above doctrine into the following syllogistic form:

MAJOR. All who have fallen into mortal sin, are bound by the divine Jan to do penance, and to seek a reconciliation with God:

MINOR. But the necessary means to a reconciliation with God after Baptism is the confession of all mortal sins to a Priest:

CONCLUSION. Therefore, all who have fallen into mortal sin after Baptism, are bound by the divine law, to confess all mortal sins to a Priest.

Proof. The Major proposition viz: All who have fallen into mortal sin are bound by the divine law to do penance, and to seek a reconciliation with God; is proved from these and innumerable other texts of the divine Scripture: Do penance, Mat. 3. 2. Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish, Luke 13. 3. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities; and iniquity shall not be your ruin, Ezek. 18. 30. As this proposition is denied by no one; I shall proceed immediately to the proof of the Minor, couched in these words: But the necessary means to a reconciliation after Baptism, is the confession of all mortal sins to a Priest. This is the great point in question; to prove which, I shall again reduce my argument into a syllogistic form, viz:

MAJOR. Christ has instituted the Apostles and their lawful successors, the Priests of his church, to be judges upon earth, invested with a

* The sense of the council is: that confession is necessary to all generally; for where confession is impossible, as for example, where a Priest cannot be had, contrition with a desire of confession, suffices to salvation, as the council expressly says in the fourth chap. of the same session.