have not only determined, that "sacramental confession must necessarily be premised" before the receiving of the eucharist; but also have pronounced them to be excommunicate ipso facto, that shall presume to teach the contrary.

:

The case then, if these men's censures were aught worth, would go hard with Nectarius, and all the bishops that followed him; but especially with St. John Chrysostom, who was his immediate successor in the see of Constantinople for thus doth he expound that place of the apostle: "Let every one examine himself, and then let him come. He doth not bid one man to examine another, but every one himself; making the judgment private, and the trial without witnesses :" and in the end of his second homily Of fasting (which in others is the eighth De pœnitentia) frameth his exhortation accordingly. "Within thy conscience, none being present but God who seeth all things, enter thou into judgment, and into a search of thy sins; and, recounting thy whole life, bring thy sins unto judgment in thy mind: reform thy excesses; and so with a pure conscience draw near to that sacred table, and partake of that holy sacrifice." Yet in another place he deeply chargeth ministers, not to admit known offenders unto the communion. "But if one (saith he) be ignorant that he is an evil person, after that he hath used much diligence therein, he is not to be blamed; for these things are spoken by me of such as are known." And we find both in him, and in the practice of the times following,

* Δοκιμαζέτω δὲ ἑαυτὸν ἕκαστος, καὶ τότε προσίτω. καὶ οὐχ ̓ ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ κελεύει δοκιμάσαι, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸν ἑαυτὸν, ἀδημοσίευτον ποιῶν τὸ dikaσTýρiov, άμáprvpov ròv čλeyxov. Chrysost. in 1 Cor. cap. 11. homil. 28. op. tom. 10. pag. 250.

b Ενδον ἐν τῷ συνειδότι, μηδενὸς παρόντος, πλὴν τοῦ πάντα ὁρῶντος Θεοῦ, ποιοῦ τὴν κρίσιν, καὶ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων τὴν ἐξέτασιν, καὶ πάντα τὸν βίον ἀναλογιζόμενος, ὑπὸ τοῦ νοῦ τὸ κριτήριον ἄγε τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, δίορθου τὰ πλημμελήματα, καὶ οὕτω μετὰ καθαροῦ τοῦ συνειδότος τῆς ἱερᾶς ἅπτου τραπέζης, καὶ τῆς ἁγίας μέτεχε θυσίας. Id. op. tom. 2. pag. 326.

• Ει δὲ ἠγνόησέ τις τὸν φαύλον πολλὰ περίεργασάμενος, οὐδὲν ἔγκλημα· ταῦτα γάρ μοι περὶ τῶν δήλων εἴρηται. Id. in fine hom. 82. in Matt. op. tom. 7. pag. 790.

that the order of public penance was not wholly taken away; but, according to the ancient discipline established by the apostles in the Church, open offenders were openly censured, and pressed to make public confession of their faults. Whereby it is manifest, that the liberty brought in by Nectarius, of not resorting to any penitentiary, respected the disclosing of secret sins only; such as that foul one was, from whence the public scandal arose, which gave occasion to the repeal of the former constitution. For to suffer open and notorious crimes, committed in the Church, to pass without control, was not a mean to prevent, but to augment scandals; nay the ready way to make the house of God become a den of thieves.

Two observations more I will add upon this part of the history. The one: that the abrogation of this canon sheweth, that the form of confession used by the ancient was canonical, that is, appertaining to that external discipline of the Church, which upon just occasion might be altered; and not sacramental, and of perpetual right, which is that our Jesuits stand for. The other: that the course, taken herein by Nectarius, was not only approved by St. Chrysostom, who succeeded him at Constantinople; but generallyd in a manner by the catholic bishops of other places: howsoever the Arians, and the rest of the sectaries (the Novatians only excepted, who from the beginning would not admit the discipline used in the Church for the reconciliation of penitents), retained still the former usage; as by the relation of Socrates and Sozomen more fully may appear. And therefore when, within some twenty-one years after the time wherein they finished their histories, and about seventy after that the publication of secret of fences began to be abolished by Nectarius, certain in Italy did so do their penance, that they caused a writing to be publicly read, containing a profession of their several sins, Leo, who at that time was bishop of Rome, gave order, that by all means that course should be broken off;

ὁ ἐπηκολούθησαν δὲ σχεδὸν οἱ πάντων ἐπίσκοποι. Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 16. e Ne de singulorum peccatorum genere libellis scripta professio publice recitetur cum reatus conscientiarum sufficiat solis sacerdotibus indicari confessione

"forasmuch as it was sufficient that the guilt of men's consciences should be declared in secret confession to the priests alone. For although (saith he) the fulness of faith may seem to be laudable, which for the fear of God doth not fear to blush before men; yet because all men's sins are not of that kind, that they may not fear to publish such of them as require repentance, let so inconvenient a custom be removed: lest many be driven away from the remedies of repentance, while either they are ashamed or afraid to disclose their deeds unto their enemies, whereby they may be drawn within the peril of the laws. For that confession is sufficient, which is offered first unto God, and then unto the priest, who cometh as an intercessor for the sins of the penitent. For then at length more may be provoked to repentance, if that the conscience of him who confesseth be not published to the ears of the people."

By this place of Leo we may easily understand, how upon the removal of public confession of secret faults, together with the private made unto the penitentiary, which was adjoined as a preparative thereunto, auricular confession began to be substituted in the room thereof: to the end that, by this means, more might be drawn on to this exercise of repentance; the impediments of shame and fear, which accompanied the former practice, being taken out of the way. For indeed the shame of this public penance was such, that in the time of Tertullian, when this discipline was thought most needful for the Church, it was strongly "presumed', that many did either shun

secreta. Quamvis enim plenitudo fidei videatur esse laudabilis, quæ propter Dei timorem apud homines erubescere non veretur : tamen, quia non omnium hujusmodi sunt peccata, ut ea, quæ pœnitentiam poscunt, non timeant publicare, removeatur tam improbabilis consuetudo: ne multi a pœnitentiæ remediis arceantur, dum aut erubescunt, aut metuunt inimicis suis sua acta reserare, quibus possint legum constitutione percelli. Sufficit enim illa confessio, quæ primum Deo offertur, tum etiam sacerdoti, qui pro delictis pœnitentium precator accedit. Tunc enim demum plures ad pœnitentiam poterunt provocari, si populi auribus non publicetur conscientia confitentis. Leo, epist. 80. ad episcopos Campaniæ, Samnii et Piceni.

f Plerosque tamen hoc opus, ut publicationem sui, aut suffugere aut de die in diem differre, præsumo; pudoris magis memores, quam salutis. Tertull. de pœnit. cap. 10.

this work as a publication of themselves, or deferred it from day to day, being more mindful (as he saith) of their shame, than of their salvation." Nay, St. Ambrose observed, that "somes, who for fear of the punishment in the other world, being conscious to themselves of their sins, did here desire their penance, were yet, for shame of their public supplication, drawn back after they had received it." Therefore the conjecture of Rhenanus is not to be contemned, that from this public confession the private took his original: which by Stapleton is positively delivered in this manner. "Afterward this open and sharp penance was brought to the private and particular confession now used, principally for the lewdness of the common lay-Christians; which in this open confession began at length to mock and insult at their brethren's simplicity and devotion:" although it may seem by that which is written by Origen, that the seeds of this lewdness began to sprout long before; howsoever Tertullian' imagined that no member of the Church would be so ungracious as to commit such folly.

The public confession therefore of secret sins being thus abolished by Nectarius first, for the scandal that came thereby unto others; and by the rest of the catholic

Nam plerique, futuri supplicii metu, peccatorum suorum conscii, pœnitentiam petunt et cum acceperint, publicæ supplicationis revocantur pudore. Hi videntur malorum petiisse pœnitentiam, agere bonorum. Ambr. de pœnitent. lib. 2. cap. 9. op. tom. 2. pag. 434.

h Porro non aliam ob caussam complurium hic testimoniis usi sumus, quam ne quis admiretur Tertullianum de clancularia ista admissorum confessione nihil locutum : quæ, quantum conjicimus, nata est ex ista exomologesi per ultroneam hominum pietatem, ut occultorum peccatorum esset et exomologesis occulta. Nec enim usquam præceptam olim legimus. B. Rhenan. argument. in lib. Tertull. de pœnit.

i in his Fortress, part 2. chap. 4.

k Si ergo hujusmodi homo, memor delicti sui, confiteatur quæ commisit, et humana confusione parvi pendat eos qui exprobrant eum confitentem, et notant vel irrident &c. Origen. in Psalm. 37. homil. 2. op. tom. 2. pag. 686.

Certe periculum ejus tunc, si forte onerosum est, cum penes insultaturos in risiloquio consistit ; ubi de alterius ruina alter attollitur, ubi prostrato superscenditur. Cæterum inter fratres atque conservos, ubi communis spes, metus, gaudium, dolor, passio; quid tu hos aliud quam te opinaris? Quid consortes casuum tuorum, ut plausores fugis? Non potest corpus de unius membri vexatione lætum agere. Tertull. de pœnitent. cap. 10. op. pag. 127.

bishops after him, for the reproach and danger, whereunto the penitents by this means were laid open: private confession was so brought in to supply the defect thereof, that it was accounted no more sacramental; nor esteemed, at least generally, to be of more necessity for the obtaining of remission of sins, than that other. So that whatsoever order afterward was taken herein, may well be judged to have had the nature of a temporal law, which, according to the definition of St. Augustine," althoughTM it be just, yet in time may be justly also changed." Nay we find that Laurence bishop of Novaria, in his homily De pœnitentia, doth resolutely determine, that, for obtaining remission of sins, a man needeth not to resort unto any priest, but that his own internal repentance is sufficient for that matter. God, saith he, "after" baptism hath appointed thy remedy within thyself, he hath put remission in thine own power, that thou needest not seek a priest when thy necessity requireth; but thou thyself now, as a skilful and plain master, mayest amend thine error within thyself, and wash away thy sin by repentance." "He hath given unto thee," saith another, somewhat to the same purpose, "the power of binding and loosing. Thou hast bound thyself with the chain of the love of wealth; loose thyself with the injunction of the love of poverty. Thou hast bound thyself with the furious desire of pleasures; loose thyself with temperance. Thou hast bound thyself with the misbelief of Eunomius; loose thyself with the religious embracing of the right faith."

Appellemus istam legem, si placet, temporalem; quæ, quamvis justa sit, commutari tamen per tempora juste potest. Augustin. de ib. arbitr. lib. 1. cap. 6. op. tom. 1. pag. 575.

n Post baptisma, remedium tuum in te ipso statuit, remissionem in arbitrio tuo posuit: ut non quæras sacerdotem cum necessitas flagitaverit; sed ipse jam, ac si scitus perspicuusque magister, errorem tuum intra te emendes, et peccatum tuum pœnitudine abluas. Laur. Novar. tom. 6. biblioth. patr. part. 1. pag. 337. a. edit. Colon.

• Σοὶ δέδωκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ δεσμεῖν καὶ λύειν. σαὐτὸν ἔδησας τῷ σειρᾷ τῆς φιλαργυρίας, σαὐτὸν λύσον τῇ ἐντολῇ τῆς φιλοπτωχίας, σαὐτὸν ἔδησας τῷ οἴστρῳ τῶν ἡδονῶν, σαὐτὸν λύσον τῇ σωφροσύνῃ. σαὐτὸν ἔδησας τῇ Εὐνομίου κακοπιστίᾳ, σαὐτὸν λύσον τῇ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας εὐσεβεία. Auth. homilia in illud, Quæcunque ligaveritis, &c. intra opera Chrysostomi, tom. 9. pag. 845.