C 0 N F E S S I 0 N fun of the fair is to be found there, and the scene on a fine Sunday in summer beggars description. Confession.—The confession of sins is commanded in the New Testament (James v. 16; 1 John i. 9); and it has always formed part of Christian worship. But further questions arise. To whom is the confession to be made 1 To the Church, or to a priest, or to one’s neighbour : or is it due to God alone 1 Must all sins be confessed, or only the most heinous? Must they be ■counted up, and specified in detail 1 Again, all Christians agree that God forgives the sins of the penitent, and baptism is generally regarded as the sacrament of forgiveness; but is there further provision for sins ■committed by baptized Christians, who (it is agreed) cannot be baptized again ? Has any authority to convey and apply God’s pardon been given to man beyond the ■command to baptize 1 Once more, it is generally agreed that to the Church or her ministers belong the right and the duty of excommunicating notorious sinners ; and therefore (as most have thought) of readmitting them to communion, when satisfied of the genuineness of their repentance. But disputes on this subject gave rise to bitter struggles in early days (see Ency. Brit, 9th ed., arts. Montanism, Novatian, Donatists), and the modes of exercising discipline and ascertaining penitence have varied widely in the Church. Moreover, the most deadly sins are by no means always notorious, and the publication of some offences would only produce further scandal and mischief ; and so there grew up a sort of compromise between public discipline and private confession to God alone; and the existing penitential systems of the Roman and Greek Churches have their roots rather in Church discipline and questions of admission to, and refusal of, communion than in the need the pious sinner feels of being personally reconciled to God. In the Middle Ages a theory that each sin, even though the sinner be forgiven by God, entails a definite quantity of purgative punishment, and so constitutes a debt to be discharged either in this world or the next, caused the idea of the reconciliation of the penitent to be further obscured by that of assessing his penalty; and in consequence it was necessary that he should in his confession enumerate all his “ mortal ” sins, reckoning up as precisely as possible the exact number of times he had been guilty of each. And it was even held that provided the sinner thus submitted to the tribunal of penance, it •did not matter whether he was really contrite or not. But the intricate subject of mediaeval teaching on “ satisfaction ” and on the sacramental character of penance fall beyond the scope of this article. Teaching of the Book of Common Prayer.—The Church of England holds since the Reformation a central position in this as in many other matters; and to draw out her teaching will sufficiently illustrate the different views that are held. The Prayer-Book does not appoint that any public confession of sins shall be made by the adult candidate for baptism, and all it says on the subject is concerned with post-baptismal sin, which (it is implied) can be forgiven, however heinous. Confession of some sort is clearly regarded as a necessary element in the life of every Christian, for (since 1552) it forms part of each of the regular public services of the Church, and this ■acknowledgment of sin is to be made not merely in private to God, but twice daily (at least by the clergy) in the presence of the congregation. Though these confessions are naturally expressed in general terms, the rubric in the Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea (a service added in 1661) indicates that each person is intended to apply the words to his own case—“ in which (humble confession)
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everyone ought seriously to reflect upon those particular sins of which his conscience shall accuse him.” Moreover, at the beginning of the Communion service the Ten Commandments are recited one by one, and each is followed by a petition for pardon, in such a way as plainly to imply that each person is secretly to remember and confess his own breaches of each Commandment in turn. Thus the method of confession adopted in the public services of the Church of England, with which the Book of Common Prayer is primarily concerned, may be described as one of general confession to God in the face of the Church, to be in secret used by each member of the congregation for the confession of his own particular sins, and to be followed by public absolution. But three other methods of confession for private use are mentioned in the exhortations in the Communion service, which constitute the principal directory for private devotions among the authoritative documents of the English Church. First, all men are urged to practise secret confession to God alone. Ye are “to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life.” Here clearly the sins are to be acknowledged in detail. Secondly, where the nature of the offence admits of it, the sinner is to acknowledge his wrong-doing to the neighbour he has aggrieved, and so far as he can to make restitution. And thirdly, and here we reach the chief point of controversy, the sinner who cannot satisfy his conscience by these other methods, is invited to open his grief to a minister of God’s Word. Similarly, the sick man is to be moved (this word was inserted in 1661) to make a special confession of his sins if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. The PrayerBook does not absolutely require that in this case the penitent should enumerate every sin he has committed; but evidently he is to unfold the whole of that which burdens his conscience. The priest is bound under the most stringent penalties never to divulge what he has thus learnt. See the 113th Canon of 1604, which, however, excepts crimes “such as by the laws of this realm the priest’s own life may be called into question for concealing the same.” The history of the passages in the Exhortations about private confession is interesting. The first Prayer-Book of Edward VI. (1549) gives direction as followsAnd if there be any of you whose conscience is troubled and grieved in anything, lacking comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned priest, taught in the law of God, and confess, and open his sin and grief secretly, that he may receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort that his conscience may be relieved, and that of us (as of the ministers of God and of the Church) he may receive comfort and absolution, to the satisfaction of his mind, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness ; requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession not to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those also which think needful or convenient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly to open their sins to the priest, to be offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession to God, and the general confession to the Church.” This was considerably shortened in the second Prayer-Book (1552). The word minister was substituted for priest. The objects of the private ministration are thus described: “that he may receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort as his conscience may be relieved ; and that by the ministry of God’s Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution, to the quieting of his conscience and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness.” And the words about mutual toleration weie unfortunatelyr cut out. Further changes were made in 1661, when the passage w as brought into its present shape. As regards discipline, the rubrics upon the Communion service provide for the exclusion of notorious sinners, and the Commination service regrets the disuse of the public
