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Second and subsequent Prayer Books. In the or-
dination service prescribed in the Prayer Book the
bishop is to speak the following words: "Receive
the holy ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the
Church of God now committed to thee by the Impo-
sition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive
they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain
they are retained ' ' .
The two "Books of the Homilies" are official docu- ments of the Protestant Church of England. The publication of homilies was much encouraged by Archbishop Cranmer and other leaders of the Refor- mation in England and by the sovereign. King Ed- ward VI. They were designed for the use of the clergy in their parish churches, mainly in order to put doctrine before the people in plain language. The first "Book of the Homilies" appeared in 1547. The reading of the homilies or one of them every Sunday in parish churches was enjoined by royal authority. They subsequently received sanction from the men- tion made of them in the Communion service con- tained in the Prayer Book. It is evident that it was intended that further homilies should be written later.
The second "Book of the Homilies" was published by the authority of Queen Elizabeth and was ap- pointed to be read in every parish church. It con- tains a homily on Repentance, the second part of which, definitely and with argument, condemns the doctrine of the necessity of auricular confession. The condemnation concludes as follows: "I do not say but that, if any do find themselves troubled in con- science, they may repair to their learned curate or pastor, or to some other godly learned man, and shew the trouble and doubt of their conscience to them, that they may receive at their hand the comfortable salve of God's word: but it is again.st the true Chris- tian liberty, that any man should be bound to the numbering of his sins, as it hath been used heretofore in the time of blindness and ignorance". We find, on the other hand, on the revival of Catholicism under Edward's successor. Queen Marj', some special men- tions of confession which appear to indicate that its practice was regarded as one of the tests of orthodoxy. In articles of visitation of his diocese by Bonner, Bishop of London, in lo54, we find the following in- quiry under Art. XX: "Whether any person have re- fused or contemned to receive the sacrament of the altar, or to be confessed and receive r.t the priest's hand ab.solution according to the laudable custom of this realm?" Among similar articles set forth in 1557 by Cardinal Pole for the visitation of his Arch- diocese ot Canterbury, we find the following : "Touch- ing the Lay People. III. Item, Whether they do contemn or despise by any manner of means any other of the sacraments, rites or ceremonies of the church, or do refuse or deny auricular confession?"
This may be said to constitute the official docu- mentary evidence of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England with regard to confession. It was not ranked as a sacrament, and the exercise of it was to be optional, the only instance with regard to which we find any imperative words used being that of a dying person who should feel his conscience troubled with "any weighty matter". It may be that these last words are a literal translation of the Latin "gravi materia" frequently used, and so, perhaps, may de- note, approximately, grievous or mortal sin. But even as to this occasion we find, as already pointed out, the words "shall make" altered to "shall be moved to make". It was not part of the doctrine of the Church of England as it continued established under Edward VI and, subsequently, from the acces- sion of Elizabeth onwards, that auricular confessi()n was necessary for forgiveness. The Statute of the Six Articles was repealed in the first year of Edward VI. The opinion and belief in the Protestant Church of
England during that and the succeeding centuries
were opposed to such a doctrine.
Anglican Canonists and Theologians. — Bishop Hooker, the Caroline divine, was opposed to obUga- tory confession. In the afore-mentioned "Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani" of Dr. Gibson, the writer characterizes as follows the Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction: "Title XXI. The Two Popish Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction". In the "Parergon Juris Canonici Angli- cani", published by Dr. John Ayliffe (London, 1726), we find in the introduction (p. XL) this passage: " Tho' several Titles of the Canon Law are out of use with us here in England by reason of the gross Idola- try they contain in them, as the Title of the Authority and Use of the Pall, the Title of the Mass, the Title of Relicts, and the Worship of the Saints, the Title of Monks and Regular Canons, the Title of keeping the Eucharist and Chrism, and such other of the like Quality: Yet these are retained in the general ". It is true that he does not include confession amongst these titles, but, on the other hand, he makes no reference to any laws as to it in the Church of England. More- over, in the chapter on public penance (p. 420) we find a statement that penance is distinguished by the Ro- manists and the canon law as (1) external which in- cludes confession to a priest, and that it is this first kind which they make a sacrament for the interest and advantage of the priesthood as it consists in the absolution of the priest. "But", Dr. Ayliffe con- tinues, "we Protestants who deny Penance to be a Sacrament say that it consists in sorrow, confessing to God in Foro Conscientiai."
In Wheatley's " Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, being the substance of everything liturgical in Bishop Sparrow, Mr. L'Estrange, Dr. Comber, Dr. Nichols, and all former Ritualists, Com- mentators or Others upon the same Subject, collected and reduced into one continued and regular method and interspersed all along with new observations", we find (p. 374) the following comment on the words con- tained in the service for the visitation of the sick, which have been set out above: "i. e. I suppose if he has committed any sin, for which the censure of the Church ought to be inflicted or else if he is perplexed concerning the nature or some nice circumstances of his crime". On the words of absolution we find this marginal note: "Seems only to respect the censures of the Church", which means, apparently, that it is not the imparting of a Divine forgiveness for the actual sin.
The only occasion in which the concealment of a confession is imposed as a duty by the Protestant Church of England seems to be in the canons which were made in 1603. Canon 113 deals with the sup- pression of evil deeds by the reporting thereof by the persons concerned with the administration of each parish. It provides for the presentment to the Or- dinary by parsons, vicars, or curates of the crimes and iniquities committed in the parish. It concludes with the following reservation: "Provided always. That if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him: we do not in any way bind the said minister by this our Constitution, but do straitly charge and ad- monish him, that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy (ex- cept they be such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life may be called into question for concealing the same) under pain of irregularity".
There are three points to be observed in the canon : First, the confession there referred to, from the like- ness of the words used to those ased in such parts of the liturgy as mention confession, which have been noticed above, seems to be the confession mentioned
