Whence it follows, that
Both are allowed to the

though, the power of doing both was given. one cannot be permitted, without the other. Church: neither is allowed to heretics; because it is a right conceded only to Priests. This right the Church claims to herself, since she alone possesses true Priests." St. Ambrose de Pœnit. lib. i, c. ii, t.

iv, pages 386, 387.

St. Pacian, about the year 399, refuting the same Novatians, says "But you Novatians will say, that only God can grant the pardon of sins. That is true: but what he does by his ministers, he does by his own power. What did he say to his Apostles? What you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and what you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. And why this, if sinners might be bound only, and not loosed? But, perhaps, the Apostles only had this power? Then they only, it must be said, had power to baptise to confer the Holy Spirit; and to purify the Gentiles from their sins: for, in the same place, where he gives them power to administer the sacrament of baptism, he also gives them the power to loose sinners. Either then these two powers were peculiarly reserved to the Apostles, or they both continued to their successors; and, therefore, since it is certain, that the power of giving baptism and unction descended to the Bishops, to them has likewise come the power of binding and loosing." Ep. i, ad Sympron. Bib. Patr. Max. tom iv, page 306, 307.

St. Cyril, of Alexandria, about the year 444, writes, "It seemed good to Christ, that they, who had within themselves his divine Spirit, should likewise possess the power of forgiving sins, and of retaining such, as they judged proper: that Holy Spirit himself, according to his good pleasure, forgiving and retaining, through the ministry of men.' In Joan. lib. xii. cap. i, tom. iv.

Concerning the particular confession of sins to the ministers of Christ, as a condition for obtaining pardon, we have the following among many other ancient testimonies.

St. Cyprian, about the year 258, writes, "Though some of these persons be remarked for their faith and the fear of God, and have not been guilty of the crime of sacrificing (to idols), nor of surrendering the holy scriptures; yet if the thought of doing it have ever entered their mind, this they confess, with grief and without disguise, before the Priests of God, unburdening the conscience, and seeking a salutary remedy." De lapsis, page 134.

"Every one must confess his faults, while he that has offended, enjoys life while his confession can be received, and while the satisfaction and pardon imparted by the Priests, are acceptable before God." Ibid.

"It is required that sinners do penance, for a stated time, that,

according to the rule of established discipline, they come to confession, and that by the imposition of the hand of the Bishop and Clergy, they be admitted to communion." Ep. xvii, page 39.* 3: 1 Origen, about the year 254, says, "There is yet a more severe and arduous pardon of sins, by penance, when the sinner washes his couch with his tears, and when he blushes not to disclose his sin to the Priest, and seek a remedy." Homil. ii, in Levit. tom.'ii. Here, this ancient writer clearly specifies two conditions required on the part of the sinner, that he may obtain pardon of his sins by penance, viz. contrition, “washing his couch with his tears," and confession, "when he blushes not to declare his sins to the Priest."

- To urge sinners to perform this arduous part of confession, Origen says, "At the last day all things will be revealed, whatever we shall have committed; what we have done in private; what in word only, or even in thought; all will be laid open. But, if while we are alive, we prevent this, and become our own accusers, we shall escape the designs of the accusing devil; for thus the Prophet says: let us be our own accusers." Hom. iii, in Levit. tom. ii, page 196.

Having stated how much they suffer, whose stomachs are loaded with humours and indigested food, he says, "So they who have sinned, if they hide and retain their sins within their breasts, are grievously tormented; but, if the sinner becomes his own accuser, while he does this, he discharges the cause of his malady. Only let him carefully consider, to whom he should confess his sin." Homil. ii. in psal. xxxvii, tom. ii p. 688.

They who are not holy, die in their sins. they feel their wounds; are sensible of their Priest; implore health; and through him, Homil. x, in Num. tom. ii. p. 302.

The holy do penance; failings; look for the seek to be purified."

1

Lanctantius, about the year 309, writes, "Now, as all heretical sects deem themselves particularly Christians, and think theirs is the Catholic Church, it should be known, that where is confession, and penance, by which the sins, to which weak men are subject, are cancelled, there is the true Church." Instit. lib. vii, p. 233.

St. Basil, about the year 379, writes, "Necessarily, our sins must be confessed to those, to whom has been committed the dispensation of the mysteries of God.". In Quæst. Brev. Reg. 288, tom.ii. p. 516.

Paulinus, the secretary of St. Ambrose, relates in the history of his life; That as often as any one, in doing penance, confessed his faults to him, he wept, so as to draw tears from the sinner. He seemed to take part, in every act of sorrow. . But as to the occasion, or causes of the crimes, which they confessed, these he revealed to no one, but to God, with whom he interceded.". In vita Ambrosii, n. 39, p. 10, in fine, tom. ii, operum ed. Paris, 1686.

Pope Innocent 1 in his canonical Epistle to Decentius, written in 416, speaks thus: "As to penitents.. if no sickness intervene, they must be absolved on the Thursday before Easter, according to the practice of Rome. But in estimating the grievousness of sins, it is the duty of the Priest to judge, attending to the confession of the penitent and the signs of his repentance; and then to order him to be loosed, when he shall see due satisfaction made. But if there be danger of death, he must be absolved before Easter, lest he die without communion." Can. vii. Conc. Gen. tom. ii. p.' 1247.

St. Augustin, before the year 430, writes, " Ye that have been guilty of the sin of adultery-do such penance, as is done in the Church, that the church may pray for you. Let no one say, I do it secretly; I do it before God; he knows my heart, and will pardon me. Was it then said without reason, what shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed in heaven? Were the keys then given to the church for no purpose?" Hom. 49, tom. x.

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Here St. Augustin declares, that it is not sufficient for the sinner to do penance before God, but that he must do it as it is done in the church, by manifesting his guilt to those who have power to loose the penitent sinner, by absolution, and who have the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Pope Leo, the Great, about the year 450, writes thus: "Christ gave power to them, who are appointed to govern his church, to prescribe a course of penance to such as confess their sins, and to admit them through the gate of reconciliation to the communion of the sacraments, after they have been purified by a salutary confession. Epist. cxxxii.

The practice of confession, for the purpose of obtaining the remission of sin, by the absolution of the Priest, has constantly been observed in the Greek Church, as well as in the Latin, from the earliest ages; as appears from their ancient Penitentials, and books of the administration of the sacraments, as well as from the testimonies of the Greek Fathers cited above.

In the primitive times of Christianity, the necessity of having frequent recourse to confession was less than in later ages, when the fervour of Christians was diminished and they became less diligent in observing the precepts of the gospel. In the beginning, they were severely tried, and were well instructed and exercised in the rules and duties of Christian morality, before they were admitted to the sacrament of baptism. Their zeal to maintain the purity of their character was great, as was also their horror of whatever might defile that purity. Living in times of persecution, they were less exposed to dangerous occasions of sin in the world, and they gave

their

their attention more to God, and the great affair of the salvation of their souls, having their conversation in heaven. 215

Yet, even in those times of fervor, many fell into sing who having lost the innocence imparted by their first baptism, could only recover grace and find salvation, through the second baptism of true penance. For the regulation of the practice of doing penance, penitential ca nons, or rules prescribing a proportioned penance for different kinds of sins, were formed so early as the second century. The disci pline of canonical, penances was in force, both in the Eastern and Western Churches, in the second century, and is treated of at large in whole volumes by Tertullian, the oldest Latin ecclesiastical writer, by St. Cyprian, and others. We have extant the canonical epistle of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, in the East, written in the year 250, sa called, because in it, he prescribes Canons or rules apportioning penances to the quality and enormity of sins. We have also, in that and the following century, the canonical epistles of St. Dionysius, of St. Peter of Alexandria, of St. Basil, and of St. Gregory of Nyssa, and the penitential canons of many councils. These canonical epistles of the Greek Church are published by Bp. Beveridge, in his Canonés Ecclesiæ Græcæ, tom. ii. In England, St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 690, and Egbert, Archbishop of York, in the year 740, published their Penitentials. This discipline, though with some mitigations in several places, was enforced both in the Latin and Greek Church, for the space of twelve hundred years.

In the long list of sins which the canons detail, and for which specific penances were enjoined, some are such, as could have been known only by the voluntary confession of the sinner. Therefore the enforcement of the canons, and the enforcement, or duty, of confession, public or private, went together. Penitents, before Lent, confessed their sins to the Bishop, or some of the Priests approved by him for this function. The very name of Shrovetide signifies, in the languages of our Saxon ancestors, the time of confessing of sins, which they did, before the beginning of Lent. If the Priest, who received the conq fession, found any case to require canonical penance, the penitents was remitted to the Bishop, or his Penitentiary, who enjoined the terms and conditions of the penance, according to the canons. Those who were guilty of public scandalous sins, were ordered to make a public confession of them. But a public confession of secret sins was not required. The manifestation of some was strictly forbidden. Yet even those who had privately confessed their secret sins, might perform a course of penance, without betraying their guilt; as in those times, many, innocent of any crime, voluntarily subjected themselves, out of devotion, to a course of penance such as the canons prescribed for sinners.

If a woman had been guilty of adultery, and her sin was secret, it was forbidden to subject her to such a course of penance, as would raise any suspicion of her crime. St. Basil declared, in his canonical epistle to St. Amphilochius, "That women guilty of adultery, and who had confessed it, should not be exposed to public notice, agreeably to what the Fathers had appointed; lest it should be an occasion of her death." St. Basil ep. 199, ad. Amphiloc. Can. 34, t. ii. p. 171, or tom iii. J 295.

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When some had indiscreetly required sinners to make a public confession of secret sins, St. Leo condemned their presumption, which he calls unjust, and contrary to the apostolic rule," Since it is enough," says he, "to discover the guilt of consciences in secret confession, to the Priests alone." St. Leo, ep. 186.

It is evident therefore that the secret, as well as public confession of sins was practised, in the Christian Church, both in the East and West, during the twelve-hundred years, beginning with the second century, that the penitential canons were in force. This confession was made with a view of obtaining sacramental absolution of the sins confessed, which, according to the practice of Rome, was given to public penitents, on the Thursday before Easter, as Pope Innocent I. testifies, in his canonical epistle to Decentius, cited above.

NOTE [L], page 99.

THE FAST OF LENT, AN APOSTOLICAL INSTITUTION, OBSERVed, IN THE EARLIEST AGES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, AS A DUTY OF CONSCIENTIOUS OBLIGATION.

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Ir we trace back the religious observance of Lent, in the Christian Church, through every age from the present time, we shall find it clearly mentioned in the councils and ecclesiastical writers of every century, up to the very first. These monuments and vouchers, in all parts of the church, evidently carry it as high as any such monuments are extant, that is to the time, when the immediate disciples of the Apostles were living and governed the chief sees.

The dispute which was raised in the second century about the day on which the feast of Easter was to be kept, was called by Eusebius (lib. v, Hist. cap. 23) the question about the time, "when the solemn. fast was to be closed." St. Polycarp went to Rome to confer with Pope Anicetus on this subject, in the year 158.

Origen, about the year 254, writes: "We have the days of Lent consecrated to fasting. Also the fourth and sixth days of the week, on which we solemnly fast. Homil. xi, in Levit. t. ii. In Homil. x he names the " forty days fast of Lent."