tic should impose upon him. Such as refused to comply with these injunctions were to be excluded from the church in life, and to be denied Christian burial after death". This canon was allowed to give the law to Occidental Europe, and thus no longer were men at liberty to content themselves with that confession to God, which is enjoined in Scripture, or when labouring under the burthen of iniquity to select as their confidant, some minister of religion who might appear best qualified for affording them the desired relief. Every person of all ages, after infancy, and of all conditions, was driven to the necessity of exposing privately and periodically, to a particular individual, however qualified for such a confidence, all the moral obliquities which might have disgraced his carriage, or polluted his imagination, since he last made a similar disclosure. A more palpable departure from the ancient penitential discipline of the Church can hardly be conceived. Instead of public confession and penance being exacted from gross and notorious offenders alone, and a course of public humiliation being prescribed to such considerable, though

“Omnis utriusque sexus fidelis, postquam ad annos discretionis pervenerit, omnia solus sua peccata confiteatur fideliter saltem semel in anno proprio sacerdoti, et injunctam sibi pœnitentiam studeat pro viribus adimplere, suscipiens reverenter ad minus in Pascha Eucharistiæ Sacramentum, nisi forte de consilio proprii sacerdotis, ob aliquam rationabilem causam ad tempus ab ejus perceptione duxerit abstinendum: alioquin et vivens ab ingressu ecclesiæ arceatur, et moriens Christiana careat sepultura." Ibid. 367.

more concealed transgressors, as were impelled by the force of conscience to come forward and accuse themselves; every obscure ecclesiastic was now employed in raking amidst the vices and the frailties of his whole congregation; apportioning to every feature in the pitiable and disgusting picture, such a measure of private penance as he might consider necessary or expedient. A thoroughly enlightened and honourable mind can hardly have imposed upon it a task more revolting. Nor is there any thing more likely to confirm an existing moral taint, or to render inveterate a greediness for petty scandal, and an itch for interference in the affairs of others, than the habitual witnessing of these disgusting exposures. Were the confessional only used, as in the primitive Church, for voluntary penitents, it is obvious that clergymen ought to be selected for it with eminent caution and discrimination. But when the whole mass of young and old, of rich and poor, is thus compelled to strip morally naked at stated intervals before the eyes of a fellow

Bp. Jeremy Taylor observes of confession, that "it not only pollutes the priest's ears, but his tongue too, for lest any circumstance, or any sin be concealed, he thinks himself obliged to interrogate, and proceed to particular questions in the basest things." (Dissuasive from Popery. Polem. Works. 488.) The injuriousness of this practice upon the morals of vicious ecclesiastics is shewn by the following fact. "There are two bulls, one of Pius IV. to the Bishop of Seville, A. D. 1561, April 16: the other of Gregory XV. 1622, August 30, which bulls take notice of, and severely prohibit the confessors to tempt the women to undecencies, when they come to confession." Ibid.

mortal, the difficulty of finding a man eligible for such an employment must be of the most serious kind. Obviously no young man, no man who has not gained a very complete mastery over his own corruption, no meddling, prying busy-body, no novice in spiritual things, no one who has not acquired a profound knowledge of human nature, no one who is not possessed of a sound judgement, and of a practised discretion, is fitted for a confessor. It may be added, that even could a sufficient number of individuals properly qualified for such an employment be found, their occupation as the indiscriminate hearers of confessions would be any thing rather than advantageous to public morals. For the disclosure of hidden obliquities, in all cases, tends to blunt the edge of shame; and in many, it gives a substance to frailties which would otherwise have gradually died away under the discipline insensibly learnt by persons of tender consciences, from religion and the force of circumstances". Nor can it be

'If any one doubt the justice of this, let him consult Challoner's Garden of the Soul, pp. 213, 14, 15. Mr. Butler has lately said by way of apology for putting this scandalous trash into the hands of young people, that we put the Bible, which contains matters not adapted for their perusal, into such hands. But the cases are not parallel. For the parts of Scripture which one would not wish to meet the eyes of youth, are few and very far from obvious; and it may be presumed no one was ever formally examined as to his acquaintance with them. The instructions, however, for confession in Romish books of devotion are numerous, and are intended as guides for a periodical examination. Unhappily there is very little hope to be entertained that

doubted that absolutions and penances exert a most injurious influence over ordinary minds *. The periodical recurrence of these moral anodynes is very likely to render men insensible to the need of real holiness, and to persuade them that God looks with complacency upon a life of sin, if only its general tenor be broken by short intervals of ostentatious mortification.

Such considerations, however, were little likely to have much weight with Innocent, a pontiff, whose only aim appears to have been the aggrandisement of his see. This object was obviously likely to be promoted in a most effectual manner by subjecting the whole Romish mind to clerical scrutiny, since the monkish orders every where, were the mere tools of the Papacy, and the secular priesthood found its account in upholding that power. Regardless, therefore, of the objections attaching to the confessional, ecclesiastics, throughout the papal reign took effectual mea

the indecencies contained in these instructions will escape the eyes and the thoughts of many juvenile aspirants for absolution.

"The discipline generally used in ancient times was, that the penance should first be performed, and when long and good proof had been given by that means of the truth of the party's repentance, they wished the priest to impart unto him the benefit of absolution. Whereas by the new device of sacramental penance, the matter is now far more easily transacted: by virtue of the keys, the sinner is instantly of attrite, made contrite, and thereupon, as soon as he hath made his confession, he presently receiveth his absolution: after this, some sorry penance is imposed, which, upon better consideration, may be converted into pence, and so a quick end is made of many a foul business.” Abp. Usher's Anc. Rel. of the Irish and Scottish. 39.

sures for compelling an universal submission to its discipline. Stephen Langton, Innocent's Archbishop of Canterbury, busied himself, accordingly, in forcing his master's theology, or more properly policy, upon England. For the accomplishment of this undertaking, it was obviously necessary that the clergy should give to their lay brethren no reason to doubt their own belief in the doctrine now promulged at Rome. Many ecclesiastics, however, never came to confession, and some who did, retained the ancient system of revealing their moral diseases to individuals of their own choice, who perhaps were not such as the papal canons assigned for that purpose. For these acts of disobedience to Roman tyranny two reasons appear to have been alleged: one that there might be afforded to a clergyman no facilities for confessing in the manner prescribed by Innocent; the other arising as it was presumed a, from the natural reluctance of men, not reared from infancy in this degrading and disgusting discipline, to lay all their frailties open before the

* "Quoniam nonnunquam ob defectum confessorum, et quod quidam decani rurales et personæ erubescerent forte confiteri suo prælato, certum imminet periculum animarum: volentes huic morbo mederi statuimus ut certi confessores et prudentes et discreti ab episcopo loci per archidiaconum statuantur qui confessiones audiant ruralium decanorum, personarum, et presbyterorum." (Const. Prov. Steph. Cant. Archiep. 122.) The manner in which "forte" is here introduced gives ground to suppose that other objections to the yoke of confession were known to exist in the minds of the English clergy, besides those recited in the body of this canon.