tian abbot, which I find also inserted amongst the canons collected for the use of the Church of England, in the time of the Saxons, under the title, De pœnitentia soli Deo confitenda: "Who" is it that cannot humbly say, I made my sin known unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid? that by this confession he may confidently adjoin that which followeth and thou forgavest the impiety of my heart. But if shamefacedness do so draw thee back, that thou blushest to reveal them before men; cease not by continual supplication to confess them unto Him from whom they cannot be hid: and to say, I know mine iniquity, and my sin is against me always; to thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee: whose custom is, both to cure without the publishing of any shame, and to forgive sins without upbraiding." St. Augustine, Cassiodor, and Gregory make a further observation upon that place of the thirty-second Psalm: "I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin;" that God, upon the only promise and purpose of making this confession, did forgive the sin. "Mark," saith Gregory," how great the swiftness is of this vital indulgence, how great the commendation is of God's mercy; that pardon should accompany the very desire of him that is about to confess, before that repentance do come to afflict him; and remission should come to the heart, before that confession did break forth by the voice." So St. Basil, upon those other words of the

Antiq. lib. canon. 66. titulorum, MS. in bibliotheca Cottoniana.

" Quis est qui non possit suppliciter dicere, Peccatum meum cognitum tibi feci, et injustitiam meam non operui? ut per hanc confessionem etiam illud confidenter subjungere mereatur : Et tu remisisti impietatem cordis mei. Quod si, verecundia retrahente, revelare ea coram hominibus erubescis, illi, quem latere non possunt, confiteri ea jugi supplicatione non desinas, ac dicere Iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, et peccatum meum contra me est semper: tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci: qui et absque ullius verecundiæ publicatione curare, et sine improperio peccata donare consuevit. Jo. Cassian. collat. 20. cap. 8.

* Attende quanta sit indulgentiæ vitalis velocitas, quanta misericordiæ Dei commendatio: ut confitentis desiderium comitetur venia, antequam ad cruciatum perveniat pœnitentia; ante remissio ad cor perveniat, quam confessio in vocem erumpat. Greg. exposit. 2. Psal. Pœnitential. op. tom. 3. par. 2. pag. 476.

Psalmist," I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart," maketh this paraphrase: "I do not confess with my lips, that I may manifest myself unto many; but inwardly in my very heart, shutting mine eyes, to thee alone, who seest the things that are in secret, do I shew my groans, roaring within myself. For the groans of my heart sufficed for a confession, and the lamentations sent to thee my God from the depth of my soul."

66

And as St. Basil maketh the groans of the heart to be a sufficient confession, so doth St. Ambrose the tears of the penitent. Tears," saith he, "do wash the sin, which the voice is ashamed to confess. Weeping doth provide both for pardon and for shamefacedness: tears do speak our fault without horror, tears do confess our crime without offence of our shamefacedness." From whence, he that glosseth upon Gratian, who hath inserted these words of St. Ambrose into his collection of the decrees, doth infer, that, "if for shame a man will not confess, tears alone do blot out his sin." Maximus Taurinensis followeth St. Ambrose herein almost verbatim. "The tear," saith he, "washeth the sin, which the voice is ashamed to confess. Tears therefore do equally provide both for our shamefacedness and for our health: they neither blush in asking, and they obtain in requesting." Lastly, Prosper,

y Psal. 38. ver 8.

2 Οὐ γὰρ ἵνα τοῖς πολλοῖς φανερὸς γένωμαι, τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐξομολογοῦ μαι. ἔνδον δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸ ὄμμα μύων, σοὶ μόνῳ τῷ βλέποντι τὰ ἐν κρυπτῷ, τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ στεναγμοὺς ἐπιδεικνύω, ἐν ἐμαυτῷ ὠρυόμενος. · Οὐδε γὰρ μακρῶν μοι λόγων χρεία ἦν πρὸς τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν. ἀπήρκουν γὰρ οἱ στεναγμοὶ τῆς καρδίας μοῦ πρὸς ἐξομολόγησιν, καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ βάθους ψυχῆς πρὸς σὲ τὸν Θεὸν ἀναπεμπόμενοι ὀδυρμοί. Basil. in Psal. 37. op. tom. 1. pag. 367.

a Lavant lachrymæ delictum, quod voce pudor est confiteri. Et veniæ fletus consulunt, et verecundiæ: lachrymæ sine horrore culpam loquuntur; lachrymæ crimen sine offensione verecundiæ confitentur. Ambros. lib. 10. comment. in Luc. sec. 88. op. tom. 1. pag. 1523.

b Unde, etsi propter pudorem nolit quis confiteri, solæ lachrymæ delent peccata. Gloss. de Pœnit. distinct. 1. cap. 2. Lachrymæ.

c Lavat lachryma delictum, quod voce pudor est confiteri. Lachrymæ ergo verecundiæ consulunt, pariter et saluti; nec erubescunt in petendo, et impetrant in rogando. Maxim. homil. de pœnitent. Petri, tom. 5. biblioth. patr. part. 1. pag. 21. edit. Colon.

speaking of sins committed by such as are in the ministry, writeth thus: "Theyd shall more easily appease God, who, being not convicted by human judgment, do of their own accord acknowledge their offence: who either do discover it by their own confessions, or, others not knowing what they are in secret, do themselves give sentence of voluntary excommunication upon themselves; and being separated, not in mind but in office, from the altar to which they did minister, do lament their life as dead; assuring themselves, that, God being reconciled unto them by the fruits of effectual repentance, they shall not only receive what they have lost, but also, being made citizens of that city which is above, they shall come to everlasting joys." By this it appeareth, that the ancient fathers did not think, that the remission of sins was so tied unto external confession, that a man might not look for salvation from God, if he concealed his faults from man: but that inward contrition, and confession made to God alone, was sufficient in this case. Otherwise, neither they nor we do debar men from opening their grievances unto the physicians of their souls; either for their better information in the true state of their disease, or for the quieting of their troubled consciences, or for receiving further direction from them out of God's word, both for the recovery of their present sickness, and for the prevention of the like danger in time to come.

"Ife I shall sin, although it be in any small offence, and my thought do consume me, and accuse me, saying: Why

d Deum sibi facilius placabunt illi, qui non humano convicti judicio, sed ultro, crimen agnoscunt: qui aut propriis illud confessionibus produnt, aut nescientibus aliis quales occulti sunt, ipsi in se voluntariæ excommunicationis sententiam ferunt, et ab altari cui ministrabant, non animo sed officio separati, vitam tanquam mortuam plangunt; certi quod, reconciliato sibi efficacis pœnitentiæ fructibus Deo, non solum amissa recipiant, sed etiam cives supernæ civitatis effecti, ad gaudia sempiterna perveniant. Prosper, de vita contemplativa, lib. 2. cap. 7.

e Si peccavero, etiam in quocunque minuto peccato, et consumit me cogitatio mea, et arguit me, dicens: Quare peccasti? quid faciam? Respondet senex: Quacunque hora ceciderit homo in culpam, et dixerit ex corde, Domine Deus, peccavi, indulge mihi; mox cessabit cogitationis vel tristitiæ illa consumptio. Respons. patr. Ægypt, a Paschasio diacono Latine ver. cap. 11.

VOL. III.

H

hast thou sinned? what shall I do?" said a brother once to abbot Arsenius. The old man answered: "Whatsoever hour a man shall fall into a fault, and shall say from his heart, Lord God, I have sinned, grant me pardon ; that consumption of thought or heaviness shall cease forthwith." And it was as good a remedy as could be prescribed for a green wound, to take it in hand presently, to present it to the view of our heavenly physician, to prevent Satan by taking his office (as it were) out of his hand, and accusings ourselves first, that we may be justified. But when it is not taken in time, but suffered to fester and rankle, the cure will not now prove to be so easy it being found true by often experience, that the wounded conscience will still pinch grievously, notwithstanding the confession made unto God in secret. At such a time as this then, where the sinner can find no ease at home, what should he do but use the best means he can to find it abroad? "Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there?" No doubt but God hath provided both the one and the other, for "recovering of the health of the daughter of his people:" and St. James hath herein given us this direction, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. According to which prescription Gregory Nyssen, toward the end of his sermon of Repentance, useth this exhortation to the sinner. "Bek sensible of the disease

f Novit omnia Dominus, sed expectat vocem tuam ; non ut puniat, sed ut ignoscat: non vult ut insultet tibi diabolus, et celantem peccata tua arguat. Præveni accusatorem tuum: si te ipse accusaveris, accusatorem nullum timebis. Ambr. de pœnitent. lib. 2. cap. 7. op. tom. 2. pag. 428.

Μὴ γὰρ σὺ, σαὐτὸν ἐὰν μὴ εἴπῃς ἁμαρτωλὸν, οὐκ ἔχεις κατήγορον τὸν διάβολον ; πρόλαβε καὶ ἅρπασον αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀξίωμα, ἐκείνου γὰρ ἀξίωμα τὸ κατηγορεῖν. τί οὖν οὐ προλαμβάνεις αὐτὸν, καὶ λέγεις τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἐξαλείφεις τὸ ἁμάρτημα, εἰδὼς ὅτι τοιοῦτον κατήγορον Exεis olyñoαi un dvváμevov; Chrysost. de pœnit. serm. 2. tom. 2. pag. 287. 8 Λέγε σὺ τὰς ἀνομίας σοῦ πρῶτος, ἵνα δικαιωθῆς. LXX. in Esai. cap. 43. ver. 26. et Proverb. cap. 18. ver. 17. h Jerem. chap. 8. ver. 22. * Εὐαίσθητος γένου πρὸς τὴν περιέχουσαν σε νόσον. σύντριψον σαυτὸν ὅσον δύνασαι. ζήτησον καὶ ἀδελφῶν ὁμοψύχων πένθος βοηθοῦν σοι πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. δεῖξόν μοι πικρὸν σοῦ καὶ δαψιλὲς τὸ δάκρυον, ἵνα

1 Jam. chap. 5. ver. 16.

wherewith thou art taken, afflict thyself as much as thou canst. Seek also the mourning of thy entirely affected brethren, to help thee unto liberty. Shew me thy bitter and abundant tears, that I may also mingle mine therewith. Take likewise the priest for a partner of thine affliction, as thy father. For who is it that so falsely obtaineth the name of a father, or hath so adamantine a soul, that he will not condole with his son's lamenting? Shew unto him without blushing the things that were kept close discover the secrets of thy soul, as shewing thy hidden disease unto thy physician. He will have care both of thy credit and of thy cure."

It was no part of his meaning to advise us, that we should open ourselves in this manner unto every hedgepriest; as if there were a virtue generally annexed to the order, that, upon confession made, and absolution received from any of that rank, all should be straight made up: but he would have us communicate our case both to such Christian brethren, and to such a ghostly father, as had skill in physic of this kind, and out of a fellow-feeling of our grief would apply themselves to our recovery. Therefore, saith Origen, "Look' about thee diligently, unto whom thou oughtest to confess thy sin. Try first the physician, unto whom thou oughtest to declare the cause of thy malady, who knoweth to be weak with him that is weak, to weep with him that weepeth, who understandeth the discipline of condoling and compassionating; that so at length, if he shall say any thing, who hath first

μίξω καὶ τὸ ἐμὸν. λάβε καὶ τὸν ἱερέα κοινωνὸν τῆς θλίψεως, ὡς πατέρα. τὶς γὰρ οὕτως πατὴρ ψευδώνυμος, ἢ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀδαμάντινος, ὡς μὴ συνοδύρεσθαι τοῖς τέκνοις λυπουμένοις; &c. δεῖξον αὐτῷ ἀνερυθριάστως τὰ κεκρυμμένα γύμνωσον τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπόῤῥητα, ὡς ἰατρῷ πάθος δεικνύων κεκαλυμμένον. αὐτὸς ἐπιμελήσεται. καὶ τῆς εὐσχημοσύνης καὶ τῆς θεραTelas. Greg. Nyssen. de pœnitent. op. tom. 2. pag. 175, 176.

Tantummodo circumspice diligentius, cui debeas confiteri peccatum tuum. Proba prius medicum, cui debeas causam languoris exponere; qui sciat infirmari cum infirmante, flere cum flente, qui condolendi et compatiendi noverit disciplinam: ut ita demum, si quid ille dixerit, qui se prius et eruditum medicum ostenderit et misericordem, si quid consilii dederit, facias et sequaris. Orig. in Psal. 37. hom. 2. op. tom. 2. pag. 688.

61700 A