II. 1.

I now proceed to the passage in " The Book of the Roman "Catholic Church," respecting Sacramental Absolution, which is criminated by Dr. Phillpotts.

I shall first transcribe all that is said on this subject in "The Book of the Roman Catholic "Church."

Addressing myself to Doctor Southey, I there thus express myself:-"In respect to Auricular "Confession, I hope you will be convinced, that it "does not deserve a bitter word, when you have perused the following testimonies in its favour.

"The Lutheran," says Dr. Milner, in his End of Controversy, "who are the elder branch of the "Reformation, in their confession of faith, and "apology for that confession, expressly teach, that "absolution is no less a sacrament than baptism, "and the Lord's supper; that, particular absolu❝tion is to be retained in confession; that, to reject "it, is the error of the Novatian heretics; and "that, by the power of the keys, (Matth. xvi. 9), "sins are remitted, not only in the sight of the "church, but also in the sight of God.* Luther "himself, in his catechism, required that the peni "tent, in confession, should expressly declare, that "he believes the forgiveness of the priest to be the forgiveness of God. What can Bishop Porteus, "and other modern Protestants, say to all this,

"Confess. August. Art. XI. XII. XIII. Apol."

+In Catch. Parr. See also Luther's Table Talk, c. xviii. on Auricular Confession."

except that Luther and his disciples were infected "with Popery? Let us then proceed to inquire "into the doctrine of the most distinguished heads. "In the order of the communion, composed by Cranmer, and published by Edward VI. the parson, vicar or curate, is to proclaim this among "other things, 'If there be any of You, whose "conscience is troubled and grieved at any thing,

lacking comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or "to some other learned priest, and confess and open "his sin and grief secretly, &c. that of us, as a "minister of God, and of the church, he may re"ceive comfort and absolution.* Conformably with "this admonition, it is ordained in the Common

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Prayer Book, that, when the minister visits any "sick person, the latter should be moved to make 66 a special confession of his sins, if he feels his "conscience troubled with any weighty matter; "after which confession, the priest should absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after "this sort: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left

power to his church to absolve all sinners, who

truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy,

forgive thee thine offences; and by his authority, "committed to me, I ABSOLVE THEE from all thy “sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, "and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. † I may add,

Bishop Sparrow's Collect. p. 10.

+"Order of the Visitation of the Sick.-N. B. To encourage "the secret confession of sins, the Church of England has "made a canon, requiring her ministers not to reveal the same. "See Canones Eccles. A. D. 1693. D. 113."

"that soon after James I. became, at the same

time, the member and the head of the English Church, he desired his prelates to inform him, in the conference at Hampton Court, what autho

rity this church claimed in the article of abso"lution from sin. When Archbishop Whitgift

began to entertain him with an account of the general confession and absolution, in the com"munion service, with which the King not being

satisfied, Bancroft, at that time Bishop of Lon"don, fell on his knees, and said, it becomes us to "deal plainly with Your Majesty. There is also " in the book, a more particular and personal ab"solution in the Visitation of the Sick. Not only

the confession of Augusta, (Augsburg), Bohemia "and Saxony, retain and allow it, but also MR. "CALVIN DOTH APPROVE BOTH SUCH A GE(" NERAL AND SUCH A PRIVATE CONFESSION AND AESOLUTION." To this the King answered, "I exceedingly well approve of it, being an apos"tolical and godly ordinance, given, in the name "of Christ, to one that desireth it, upon the clearing of his conscience.

* "Fuller's Ch. Hist. B. x. p. 9.-See the Defence of Bancroft's successor in the see of Canterbury, Doctor Laud, who endea"voured to enforce auricular confession, in Heylin's Life of Laud,

part 2, p. 415. It appears from this writer, that Laud was "confessor to the Duke of Buckingham; and from Burnet, that "Bishop Morley was confessor to the Duchess of York, when a "Protestant." Hist. of his own Times.-[Since the publication of the first edition of the present work, the Rev. John Garbett, of Birmingham, has published "A Letter to the Right Reve"rend John Milner, upon certain erroneous Statements and

{ Thus far Dr. Milner :-The Book of the Roman Catholic Church, then proceeds immediately,-and without any comment,-as follows:

"I beg leave to add the words of the ' immortal* "Chillingworth,' for by this epithet, he is frequently distinguished by Your writers."

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"Can any man be so unreasonable as to imagine, "that when our Saviour in so solemn a manner,"having first breathed upon his disciples, thereby

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conveying and insinuating the Holy Ghost into "their hearts,-renewed unto them, or rather con"firmed that glorious commission, &c. whereby "he delegated to them an authority of binding and "loosing sins upon earth, &c. Can any one "think, I say, so unworthily of our Saviour, as "to esteem these words of his for no better than compliment? Therefore, in obedience to his gracious will, and as I am warranted and enjoin"ed by my holy mother, the Church of England, "I beseech you, that by your practice and use,

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you will not suffer that commission, which Christ "hath given to his ministers, to be a vain form of "incorrect Quotations respecting the Character of eminent "Divines of the Church of England, in a book, entitled "The End of Religious Controversy."-Among other animadversions, it contains one on the passages cited from Doctor Milner's work,-and some on the present writer's Book of "the Roman Catholic Church."

* One of my opponents accuses me of having used this epithet sneeringly.--I assure him, I did not. I used it to notice the high authority of Dr. Chillingworth in the church of England.

"words, without any sense under them. When

you find yourselves charged and oppressed, &c. "have recourse to your spiritual physician, and "freely disclose the nature and malignancy of your "disease, &c. and come not to him only with such "mind as you would go to a learned man, as one "that can speak comfortable things to you; but as to one that hath authority delegated to him from "God himself, to absolve and acquit you of your sins."*

"To these testimonies," (I thus say, in the "Book of the Church," continuing my address to Doctor Southey),—" which should have so much "weight with you,-I shall only add the same ob"servation as I have just made on our doctrine "of prayers for the dead; that in the Greek "church, and in the numerous oriental churches "of the Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monothelites, "who separated from the Church of Rome in an

early age of Christianity, Auricular Confession "is retained and practised. Does not this circum"stance incontrovertibly prove its early admission "into the church? In ecclesiastical doctrine and discipline is not such early antiquity always respectable?"

II. 2.

Doctor Phillpotts's Crimination of the passage in the "Book of the Roman Catholic Church," respecting Sacramental Absolution.

"We have just seen the doctrine of your "church respecting Confession and Absolution.

*Serm. vii. Relig. of Prot. pp. 408-409.