were better content their sores should secretly fester and eat inward, than be laid so open to the eyes of many, blameth greatly their unwise bashfulness; and, to reform the same, persuadeth with them, saying, "Amongst thy brethren and fellow-servants, which are partakers with thee of one and the same nature, fear, joy, grief, sufferings, (for of one common Lord and Father we have all received one spirit) why shouldest thou not think with thyself, that they are but thine ownself? wherefore dost thou avoid them, as likely to insult over thee, whom thou knowest subject to the same haps? At that which grieveth any one part, the whole body cannot rejoice, it must needs be that the whole will labour and strive to help that wherewith a part of itself is molested."

St. Cyprian being grieved with the dealings of them, who in time of persecution had through fear betrayed their faith, and notwithstanding thought by shift to avoid in that case the necessary discipline of the church, wrote for their better instruction the book entitled De Lapsis; a treatise concerning such as had openly forsaken their religion, and yet were loth openly to confess their fault in such manner as they should have done: in which book he compareth with this sort of men certain others which had but a purpose only to have departed from the faith; and yet could not quiet their minds, till this very secret and hidden fault was confessed: a "How much both greater in faith (saith St. Cyprian), and also as touching their fear, better are those men who, although neither sacrifice nor libel could be objected against them, yet because they thought to have done that which they should not, even this their intent they dolefully open unto God's priests? They confess that whereof their conscience accuseth them, the burden that presseth their minds they discover; they forslow not of smaller and slighter evils to seek remedy." He saith they declared their fault, not to one only man in private, but revealed it to God's priests; they confessed it before the whole consistory of God's ministers.

Salvianus (for I willingly embrace their conjecture, who ascribe those homilies to him which have hitherto by common error passed under the counterfeit name of Eusebius Hom. 1. de Emesenus); I say, Salvianus, though coming long after Cydragesima. prian in time, giveth nevertheless the same evidence for this truth, in a case very little different from that before alleged. His words are these: "Whereas, most dearly beloved, we see that penance oftentimes is sought and sued for by holy souls, which even from their youth have bequeathed themselves a precious treasure unto God, let us know that the inspiration of God's good Spirit moveth them so to do for the benefit of his church, and let such as are wounded learn to inquire for that remedy whereunto the very soundest do thus offer and obtrude as it were themselves, that if the virtuous do bewail small offences, the others cease not to lament great." And surely, when a man, that hath less need, performeth, sub oculis ecclesiæ, in the view, sight, and beholding of the whole church, an office worthy of his faith and compunction for sin, the good which others thereby reap is his own harvest, the heap of his rewards groweth by that which another gaineth, and through a kind of spiritual usury from that amendment of life which others learn by him, there returneth lucre into his coffers.

The same Salvianus, in another of his homilies, " If faults Hom. 10. haply be not great and grievous (for example, if a man have offended in word, or in desire, worthy of reproof, if in the wantonness of his eye, or the vanity of his heart), the stains of words and thoughts are by daily prayer to be cleansed, and by private compunction to be scoured out: but if any man, examining inwardly his own conscience, have committed some high and capital offence, as if by bearing false witness he have quelled and betrayed his faith, and by rashness of perjury have violated the sacred name of truth; if with the mire of lustful uncleanness he hath sullied the veil of baptism, and the gorgeous robe of virginity; if, by being the cause of any man's death, he have been the death of the new man within himself; if, by conference with soothsayers, wizards, and charmers, he hath enthralled himself to Satan : these and such-like committed crimes cannot thoroughly be taken away with ordinary, moderate, and secret satisfaction; but greater causes do require greater and sharper remedies, they need such remedies as are not only sharp, but solemn, open, and public."a Again, "Let that soul (saith he) answer me, which through pernicious shamefacedness is now so abashed to acknowledge his sin in conspectu fratrum, before his brethren, as he should have been abashed to commit the same, what will he

Lib. ii. de

c. 9.

do in the presence of that Divine tribunal, where he is to stand arraigned in the assembly of a glorious and celestial host?" I will hereunto add but St. Ambrose's testimony; for the places which I might allege are more than the cause itself needeth: "There are many (saith he) who, fearing the judgment that is to come, and feeling inward remorse of conscience, when they have offered themselves unto penitency, and are enjoined what they shall do, give back for the only

scar which they think that public supplication will put them pœnitentia, unto." He speaketh of them which sought voluntarily to be penanced, and yet withdrew themselves from open confession, which they that are penitents for public crimes could not possibly have done, and therefore it cannot be said he meaneth any other than secret sinners in that place. Gennadius, a presbyter of Marseilles, in his book touching ecclesiastical assertions, maketh but two kinds of confession necessary: the one in private to God alone for smaller offences; the other open, when crimes committed are heinous and great. "Although (saith he) a man be bitten with conscience of sin, let his will be from thenceforward to sin no more; let him, before he communicate, satisfy with tears and prayers, and then putting his trust in the mercy of Almighty God, (whose wont is to yield to godly confession) let him boldly receive the sacrament. But I speak this of such as have not burdened themselves with capital sins. Them I exhort to satisfy, first, by public penance, that so being reconciled by the sentence of the priest, they may communicate safely with others." Thus still we hear of public confessions, although the crimes themselves discovered were not public; we hear that the cause of such confessions was not the openness, but the greatness, of men's offences; finally, we hear that the same being now held by the church of Rome to be sacramental, were the only penitential confessions used in the church for a long time, and esteemed as necessary remedies against sin.

Cypr. Epist.

They which will find auricular confessions in Cyprian, therefore, must seek out some other passage than that which Bellarmine allegeth; "Whereas in smaller faults, which are not committed against the Lord himself, there is a competent time assigned unto penitency, and that confession is made, after that observation and trial had been had of the penitent's behaviour, neither may any communicate till the • Inspecta vita ejus qui agit pœnitentiam.

par. 2. c. 12. Pro

versatione

bishop and clergy have laid their hands upon him; how much more ought all things to be warily and stayedly observed, according to the discipline of the Lord, in these most grievous and extreme crimes ? St. Cyprian's speech is against rashness in admitting idolaters to the holy communion, before they had shewed sufficient repentance, considering that other offenders were forced to stay out their time, and that they made not their public confession, which was the last act of penitency, till their life and conversation had been seen into, not with the eye of auricular scrutiny, but of pastoral observation, according to that in the council of Nice, where thirteen years being set for the penitency of certain offenders, the severity of this decree is mitigated with special caution: "That in all such cases, the mind of the penitent, and the Con. Nic. manner of his repentance, is to be noted, that as many as with fear and tears, and meekness, and the exercise of good fide et conworks, declared themselves to be converts indeed, and not pœnitenin outward appearance only, towards them the bishop at his tium. discretion might use more lenity." If the council of Nice suffice not, let Gratian, the founder of the canon law, expound Cyprian, who sheweth, that the stint of time in penitency is either to be abridged, or enlarged, as the penitent's faith and behaviour shall give occasion: "I have easilier De pœnifound out men (saith St. Ambrose) able to keep themselves tent. dist. free from crimes, than conformable to the rules which in pe- mensuram, nitency they should observe." St. Gregory, bishop of Nice, Ambr. de complaineth and inveigheth bitterly against them, who in lib. ii. cap. the time of their penitency lived even as they had done al- 10. ways before: "Their countenance as cheerful, their attire as Orat. in neat, their diet as costly, and their sleep as secure as ever, er their worldly business purposely followed, to exile pensive dicant. thoughts from their minds, repentance pretended, but indeed nothing less expressed." These were the inspections of life, whereunto St. Cyprian alludeth; as for auricular examinations, he knew them not.

Were the fathers then without use of private confession as long as public was in use? I affirm no such thing. The first and ancientest that mentioneth this confession is Origen, by whom it may seem that men, being loth to present rashly themselves and their faults unto the view of the whole church, thought it best to unfold first their minds to some one special man of the clergy, which might either help them

1. cap.

pœnitentia,

Greg. Niss.

eos qui alios Origen,

Ps. xxxvii.

himself, or refer them to an higher court, if need were. "Be therefore circumspect (saith Origen) in making choice of the party, to whom thou meanest to confess thy sin; know thy physician before thou use him : if he find thy malady such as needeth to be made public, that others may be the better by it, and thyself sooner helped, his counsel must be obeyed." That which moved sinners thus voluntarily to detect themselves, both in private and in public, was fear to receive with other Christian men the mysteries of heavenly grace, till

God's appointed stewards and ministers did judge them worAmbr. de thy. It is in this respect that St. Ambrose findeth fault with pænitentia, certain men which sought imposition of penance, and were

cap. 9.

not willing to wait their time, but would be presently admitted communicants. " Such people (saith he) do seek, by so rash and preposterous desires, rather to bring the priest into bonds than to loose themselves." In this respect it is that St. Augustine hath likewise said, "When the wound of sin is so wide, and the disease so far gone, that the medicinable body and blood of our Lord may not be touched, men are by the bishop's authority to sequester themselves from the altar, till such time as they have repented, and be after reconciled by the same authority."

Furthermore, because the knowledge how to handle our own sores is no vulgar and common art, but we either carry towards ourselves, for the most part, an over-soft and gentle hand, fearful of touching too near the quick; or else, endeavouring not to be partial, we fall into timorous scrupulosities, and sometime into those extreme discomforts of mind, from which we hardly do ever lift up our heads again; men thought it the safest way to disclose their secret faults, and to crave imposition of penance from them whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath left in his church to be spiritual and ghostly physicians, the guides and pastors of redeemed souls, whose office doth not only consist in general persuasions unto amendment of life, but also in private particular cure of diseased minds.

Howsoever the Novatianists presume to plead against the pæniten- church (saith Salvianus), that " every man ought to be his own penitentiary, and that it is a part of our duty to exercise, but not of the church's authority to impose or prescribe repentance;" the truth is otherwise, the best and strongest of us may need, in such cases, direction: "What doth the church a Si non tam se solvere cupiunt quam sacerdotem ligare. Aug. in hom. de pen.