APPENDIX.

THERE is perhaps no dogma of the Catholic church, which has been less correctly understood, and more grossly misrepresented by her adversaries, than that of the sacrament of penance. For these three centuries past, volumes have been written, and industriously circulated in every country, where the reformed churches have been established, or protected, in order to arrest, this Popish imposition, as they have been pleased to term it, and to purge Christianity of this most licentious practice, viz. Confession. No stone has been left unturned, no calumny has been thought too gross, which could warp the mind into a belief of its demoralizing effects. Hence we need not be surprised to see the minds of Protestants in general so prejudiced, and embittered against it, especially those of the United States, where the opportunity of reading such books is greater, and the means of correct information on the subject fewer, as well from the comparatively small circulation of Catholic books, as from the little regard that is paid to the reading of what is conceived, from a biassed education, to be false and dangerous. Few examine beyond report; and very few consequently are acquainted with the genuine and real doctrines of the Catholic church. Yet it is an undeniable fact, and which our adversaries seem to have but too well known, that the Catholic doctrine can never be attacked with any success, but by misrepresentation, and that it wants only to be known, to obtain the suffrages of upright men, and to silence the most inveterate of its ene

mies.

The public are presented in the subjoined Appendix, with a true exposition of the whole doctrine of the Catholic church, relating to confession, in order that the world may see how much she has been injured, and how very unlike she is to that many-headed monster which has been generally exhibited for her. The Catholic is far from being ashamed of his tenets when they are properly represented; and still less afraid to propose them to the public. He knows they are such as have stood the test of eighteen hundred years, and will re

main unshaken to the end of the world; such as will strike conviction into every mind that will give them a fair perusal, and weigh the arguments by which they are supported; such in fine, as the divine founder of Christianity has himself established, and which have been handed down pure and uusullied through the channel of tradition, to the present day, and will continue through the same unpolluted stream to the consummation of ages.

Particular care will be taken through the whole of the Appendix to mark the authorities, and not to assert or hazard any thing from memory; in order that every point may be fairly and correctly stated.

NEW-YORK, JULY 14th, 1813.

A TRUE

EXPOSITION

OF

THE DOCTRINE

OF

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH,

TOUCHING THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, WITH THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS DOCTRINE IS FOUNDED.

Ir will not be amiss, in giving this exposition, to present the public previously, with a general notion of the sacramants, as they are understood and taught by the Catholic church; as it may serve to throw some light upon some of the matter contained in the preceding trial, and answer to some of the references.

SECTION I.

OF THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL.

THE Catholic church has always uniformly taught, that, besides. the graces which Jesus Christ diffuses immediately by himself without the ministry of the church, there are others which he has put as it were, into the hands of his first Pastors and their lawful successors, the Bishops and Priests of his church, by the institution of certain ceremonies which produce these graces, when they find in us the requisite dispositions. We call these ceremonies, sacraments; and reckon seven in number, viz. Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, Matrimony. This number is suited to all states and degrees, and serve to all the necessities of our souls, correspondent to those of our bodies: For as to our corporal necessi

ties, we must first be born into the world; and to this Baptism answers, whereby we are regenerated, or born anew to God. 2. We must gain strength and growth, thereby to become perfect men: and to this answers confirmation, whereby we are made strong and perfect Christians. 3. We must have a daily competent sustenance for life; and to this the blessed eucharist corresponds, whereby our souls are fed and preserved to everlasting life. 4. When sick, we must have medicine and remedies to cure our wounds and diseases; and to this the sacrament of penance answers, whereby all the diseases and wounds made in our souls by sin, are healed. 5. We must have cordials and restoratives against the agonizing fits and pangs of death; and to this corresponds extreme unction, whereby our souls are strengthened in their agony, against despair, and the last assults of the devil. 6. We must be governed by laws and magistrates, to avoid injustice and confusion; and to this answers holy orders, whereby we are provided with pastors and spiritual superiors, to guide, govern and direct our souls. 7. We must increase and multiply, in a lawful and natural way, by marriage; and to this answers the sacrament of matrimony, whereby the married state is blessed and sanctified, not only to the having of children, but to the having and educating them to life everlasting.

The seven sacraments were instituted by Christ our Lord; because, he only who is the author of grace and nature, is able to give to natural things the virtue to produce supernatural effects of grace. They were ordained to sanctify our souls; that is, to render them holy and agreeable to God, while sin is blotted out, and sanctifying grace is given or increased in them.

St. John the Baptist administered a baptism of penance: but this baptism, as well as the other legal purifications, had no efficacy of itself; it was a mere symbolical ceremony to prepare to another baptism foretold by the holy Precursor. Jesus Christ after having received the baptism of John the Baptist, instituted a new baptism for the remission of sins, Acts 2. 38. He commanded his apostles to teach and Baptise, (Math. 28. 19.) declaring to them that he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved, Mark 16. 16.

Confirmation strengthens the faithful in the profession of the true faith, by a special communication of the Holy Ghost. We find an example of this in the acts of the Apostles. The new Christians of Samaria had not yet received the Holy Ghost, but had been baptized only in the name of Jesus Christ, when St. Peter and St. John laid their hands upon them and thereby caused the Holy Ghost to descend

upon them. Acts 8. 17. This grace which was imparted to them at that time through the imposition of hands, was therefore different from the grace of baptism. We call it the grace of Confirmation, because it confirms or strengthens us in the faith. It was in consequence of their having principally received this grace, that so many martyrs triumphed over the most cruel torments,

Jesus Christ has declared that his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed; for adds he, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him, John 6. 56, 57. Now, we partake truly of his body and precious blood in holy communion. This sacrament is called the Eucharist, because the primitive church and the holy Fathers (vid. S. Just. S. Irenæus, Tertul. S. Cyprian. Concil Niceu. 1.) usually called it so; which word in the Greek signifies thanksgiving and is applied to this sacrament, because of the thanksgiving which our Lord offered in the first institution of it; St. Matt. 26. 27. St. Mark 14., 23. St. Luke 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 24. And because of the thanksgiving with which we are obliged to offer and receive this great sacrament and sacrifice, which contains the abridgment of all the wonders of God, the fountain of all grace, the standing memorial of our redemption, and the pledge of a happy eternity.

He has given to his Apostles the power of forgiving and retaining sins, with a promise that whatsoever they should bind on earth, should be bound in heaven; and whatsoever they should loose on earth, should be also loosed in heaven. John 20. 23. Matt. 16. 19. But his apostles and ministers cannot exercise this power with discernment, without knowing the state of the sinner; and they cannot know the state of the sinner, unless the sinner declare it. Hence, the obligation incumbent on him to make an avowal of the faults committed after Baptism, to obtain the remission of them in the sacrament of penance. Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the Priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him. James 5.14, 15. Such is the effect of the sacrament of Extreme Unction, which at the same time that it confers grace, procures also the health of the body, when this health is conducive to the sanctifiation of the sick.

St. Paul makes mention of the grace which Timothy had received with the Apostolic mission through the imposition of the hands of the Priesthood, 1 Timothy 4, 14. c. 5. 28. 2. Tim. 1. 6. The Bishops,