he went first to the superior, confessing only the reserved. There are also many difficulties in the confession of such things, in which the sinner had partners: for if he confess the sin, so as to accuse any other, he sins; if he does not, in many cases he cannot confess the circumstances, that alter the nature of the crime. Some therefore tell him, he may conceal such sins till a fitter opportunity; others say, he may let it quite alone: others yet say, he may get another confessor; but then there will come another scruple, whether he may do this with leave, or without leave; or, if he ask leave, whether or no, in case it be denied him, he may take leave in such an accident. Upon these and many other like accounts, there will arise many more questions concerning the iteration of his confession; for if the first confession be by any means made invalid, it must be done over again. But here, in the very beginning of this affair, the penitent must be sure that his former confession was invalid. For if it was, he cannot be pardoned unless he renew it; and if it was not let him take heed; for to confess the same things twice, and twice to be absolved, it may be, is not lawful; and against it, Cajetano, after the scholastical manner, brings divers reasons. But suppose the penitent at peace for this, then there are very many cases, in which confession is to be repeated; and though it was done before, yet it must be done over again. As if there be no manner of contrition, without doubt it must be iterated; but there are many cases concerning contrition: and if it be at all, though imperfect, it is not to be iterated. But what is, and what is not contrition; what is perfect, and what is imperfect which is the first degree that makes the confession. valid, can never be told. But then there is some comfort to be had; for, the sacrament of penance may be true, and yet without form or life, at the same time". And there are divers cases, in which true confession, that is but materially half, may be reduced to that, which is but formally half: and if there be but a propinquity of the mind to a carelessness concerning the integrity of confession, the man cannot be sure, that things go well with him. And sometimes it happens that the church is satisfied, when God is not satisfied, as in the case of the informis confessio;' and then the

Quæst. quodlibet. quæst. 6 de Confess. P Cajetan. summ. v. Confessio..

man is absolved, but his sin is not pardoned; and yet, because he thinks it is, his soul is cozened. And yet this is but the beginning of scruples. For, suppose the penitent hath done his duty, examined himself strictly, repented sadly, confessed fully, and is absolved formally; yet all this may come to nothing by reason, that there may be some invalidity in the ordination of the priest, by crime, by irregu larity, by direct deficiency of something in the whole succession and ordination; or, it may be, he hath not ordinary, or delegate jurisdiction; for, it is not enough that he is a priest, unless he have another authority, says Catejan; besides his order, he must have jurisdiction, which is carefully to be inquired after, by reason of the infinite number of friars, that take upon them to hear confessions; or if he have both, yet the use of his power may be interverted or suspended for the time, and then his absolution is worth nothing. But here there is some remedy made to the poor distracted penitent; for by the constitution of the council of Constance, under Pope Martin the Fifth, though the priest be excommunicate, the confession is not to be iterated: but then this also ends in scruples; for this constitution itself does not hold, if the excommunication be for the notorious smiting of a clergyman; or if it be not, yet if the excommunication be denounced, be it for what it will, his absolution is void: and therefore the penitent should do well to look about him; especially since, after all this, there may be innumerable deficiencies; yea, some even for want of skill and knowledge in the confessor; and when that happens, when the confession is to be iterated, there are no certain rules, but it must be left to the opinion of another confessor. And when he comes, the poor penitent, it may be, is no surer of him than of the other for if he have no will to absolve the penitent, let him dissem ble it as he list, the absolution was but jocular, or pretended, or never intended; or, it may be, he is secretly an atheist, and laughs at the penitent himself too, for acting, as he thinks, such a troublesome, theatrical nothing; and then the man's sins cannot be pardoned. And, is there no remedy for all this evil? It is true, the cases are sad and dangerous, but the church of Rome hath (such is her prudence and indulgence) found out as much relief as the wit of man can possibly

4 Summ. verb. Absolutio.

invent. For though there may be thus many, and many more deficiencies; yet there are some extraordinary ways to make it up as well as it can. For, to prevent all the contingent mischiefs, let the penitent be as wise as he can, and choose his man upon whom these defailances may not be observed; for a man in necessity, as in danger of death, may be absolved by any one, that is a priest; but yet, if the penitent escape the sickness, or that danger, he must go to him again, or to somebody else; by which it appears, that his affair was left but imperfect. But some persons have liberty by reason of their dignity, and some by reason of their condition, as being pilgrims or wanderers; and they have greater freedom, and cannot easily fall into many nullities; or they may have an explicit, or an implicit license: but then they must take heed; for, besides many of the precedent dangers, they must know, that the license extends only to the paschal confessions, or the usual; but not the extraordinary or emergent: and moreover, they can go but to the appointed confessors, in the places where they are present; and because under these there is the same danger, as in all that went before, the little more certainty which I hoped for in some few cases, comes to nothing. But I go about to reckon the sands on the shore. I shall therefore sum this up with the words of a fainous preacher, reported by Beatus Rhenanus' to have made this observation, that "Thomas Aquinas and Scotus, men too subtle, have made confession to be such, that, according to their doctrines, it is impossible to confess;" and that the consciences of penitents, which should be extricated and eased, are, by this means, catched in a snare, and put to torments, said Cassanders; so that although confession to a priest, prudently managed, without scruple, upon the case of a grieved and an unquiet conscience, and in order to counsel and the perfections of repentance, may be of excellent use; yet to enjoin it in all cases, to make it necessary to salvation, when God hath not made it so; to exact an enumeration of all our sins in all cases, and of all persons; to clog it with so many questions and innumerable inextricable difficulties, and all this, besides the evil manage and conduct of

r Præfat. in lib. Tertul. de Pœniten.

s Consult. art. 11. videatur etiam Johannes de Sylva in fine tractat. de jurejurando.

it, is the rack of consciences, the slavery of the church, the evil snare of the simple, and the artifice of the crafty: it was or might have been as the brazen serpent a memorial of duty, but now it is Nehushtan,' 'æs eorum;' something of their own framing.

And this will yet further appear in this, that there is no ecclesiastical tradition of the necessity of confessing all our sins to a priest in order to pardon. That it was not the established doctrine of the Latin church, I have already proved in the beginning of this section; the case is notorious; and the original law of this we find in Platina, in the life of Pope Zephyrinus." Idem prætereà instituit, ut omnes Christiani, annos pubertatis attingentes, singulis annis, in solenni die paschæ, publicè communicarent. Quod quidem institutum Innocentius Tertius deinceps non ad communionem solum, verum etiam ad confessionem delictorum traduxit." Platina was the Pope's secretary, and well understood the interests of that church, and was sufficiently versed in the records and monuments of the popes; and tells, that as Zephyrinus commanded the eucharist to be taken at Easter; so Innocent III commanded confession of sins. Before this there was no command, no decree of any council or Pope enjoining it; only in the council of Cabaillon t, it was declared to be profitable, that penance should be enjoined to the penitent by the priest after confession made to him. But there was no command for it; and in the second council of Cabaillon ", it was but a disputed case, whether they ought to confess to God alone, or also to the priest. Some said one, and some said another, "quod utrumque non sine magno fructu intra sanctam fit ecclesiam*." And Theodulfus, bishop of Orleans, tells the particulars : "The confession we make to the priests, gives us this help, that having received his salutary counsel, by the most wholesome duties of repentance, or by mutual prayers, we wash away the stains of our sins. But the confession we make to God alone, avails us in this, because by how much we are mindful of our sins, by so much the Lord forgets them; and on the contrary, by how much we forget them, by so much the Lord remembers them, according to the saying of the Prophet, and I will remember thy sins."" But the fathers of the council gave a good account of these particulars also. * In tom. 2. Concil. Gallic. c. 30. p. 219.

t Can. 8.

u Can. 33.

"Confessio itaque, quæ Deo fit, purgat peccata; ea verò quæ sacerdoti fit, docet, qualiter ipsa purgentur peccata: Deus enim salutis et sanitatis auctor et largitor, plerunque hanc præbet suæ potentiæ invisibili administratione, plerunque medicorum operatione:" which words are an excellent decla ration of the advantages of confession to a priest, but a full argument that it is not necessary, or that, without it, pardon of sins is not to be obtained. Gratian quoting the words, cites Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury; but falsely: for it is in the second council of Cabaillon, and not in Theodore's Penitential. But I will not trouble the reader further, in the matter of the Latin church; in which it is evident, by what hath been already said, there was concerning this no apostolical tradition. How it was in the Greek church, is only to be inquired. Now we might make as quick an end of this also, if we might be permitted to take Semeca's word, the gloss of the canon law; which affirms that, "Confession of deadly sins is not necessary among the Greeks, because no such tradition hath descended unto them." This acknowledgment and report of the Greeks, not esteeming confession to a priest to be necessary, is not only in the gloss above cited; but in Gratiana himself, and in the more ancient collection of canons by Burchard, and Ivo Carnotensis. Bellarmine fancies that these words "ut Græci" are crept into the text of Gratian out of the margent. Well! suppose that; but then how came they into the elder collections of Burchard and Ivo? That is not to be told; but creep in they did, some way or other; because they are not in the Capitular of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury; and yet from thence this canon was taken; and that Capitular was taken from the second Council of Cabaillon; in which also, there are no such words extant; so the Cardinal b. In which Bellarmine betrays his carelessness or his ignorance very greatly. 1. Because there is no such thing extant in the world, that any man knows and tells of, as the Capitular of Theodoré. 2. He indeed made a penitential, a copy of which is in Bene'tcollege library in Cambridge, from whence I have received some extracts, by the favour and industry of my friends; and

y Sola Contritione, ait glossa, ibid. et habetur de Poenit. dist. 1. cap. Quidam Deo. z De Poenit. dist. 5. c. in Poenit.

a De Pœnit dist. 1. c. Quidam Deo. b De Pœnit. lib. 3. cap. 5.