DISSUASIVE FROM POPER Y, &c. PART II. SECTION X.-Of the Seal of Confession. 1. I FIRST instance in their seal of confession; and the question is not, whether a priest is to take care of his penitent's fame, or whether he be not, in all prudent and pious ways, to be careful, lest he make that intercourse odious; for certainly he is-but whether the seal of confession be so sacred and impregnable, that it is not to be opened in the imminent danger of a king, or kingdom; or for the doing the greatest good, or avoiding the greatest evil, in the world: that is now the question, and such a broad seal as this, is no part of the Christian religion,-was never spoken of by the prophets or apostles, in the Old or the New Testament,-never was so much as mentioned in the books of the ancient fathers and doctors, not so much as named in the ancient councils of the church; and was not heard of, until after the time of Pope Gregory the Seventh. Now how this is determined and practised in the church of Rome, we may quickly see. The first direct rule in the western church we find in this affair, is the canon of the Lateran council; "cap. Omnis Utriusque *;" in which to confess at Easter was made an ecclesiastical law; and as an appendix to it, this caution; "Caveat autem omninò, ne verbo, aut signo, aut alio quovis modo, aliquatenus prodat peccatorem: sed, si prudentiore consilio indiguerit, illud, absque ullâ expressione personæ, requirat." This law VOL. XI. a Decretal. de Pœnitentiis et Remissionibus. B a b concerning them that do confess their secret sins to a priest, in order to counsel, comfort, and pardon from God by his ministry, is very prudent and pious; and it relates only to the person, not to the crimes: these may, upon the account of any doubt, or the advantage of better counsel and instruction, be revealed; the person, upon such accounts, may not, "nisi veritas aut obedientia aliud exigat," as St. Bonaventure said well; "unless truth or obedience require the contrary" for indeed the person is not often so material as to the inquiry of future counsel or present judgment, as the greatness, and other circumstances of the sin. But this was an ancient ecclesiastical rule, as we find it related by Sozomen: "Presbyterum aliquem vitæ integritate quam maximè spectabilem, secretorum etiam tenacem, ac sapientem, huic officio præfecerunt;" "A penitentiary priest was appointed for the penitents, a man that was of good life, wise, and secret." So far was well, and agreeable to common prudence, and natural reason, and the words of Solomond: "Qui ambulat fraudulenter, revelat arcanum; qui autem fidelis est, celat amici commissum." There is, in this case, some more reason than in ordinary secrets; but still the obligation is the same, and to be governed by prudence, and is subject to contradiction, by greater causes. The same also is the law in the Greek church, mentioned by St. Basil": "Our fathers permitted not, that women, that had committed adultery, and were penitent, should be delated in publicf." This is the whole ground and foundation, on which the seal of confession does, or can rely; save only, that, in several churches, there were several laws in after-ages to the same purpose, and particularly, in the eleventh canon of the church of England; adding also the penalty of irregularity, to every priest, that shall reveal any thing committed to him in private confession, but with this proviso; that it be not binding, in such cases where the concealment is made capital, by the laws of the kingdom: which because it is very strict, and yet very prudent, I shall make it appear, that the church of England walks wisely in it, and according to the precedents of the ancient catholic church, in command b In 3. dist. 21. d Prov. xi. 13. 1 Τὰς μοιχευθείσας γυναῖκας καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν. Α. D. 1603. c Lib. 7. cap. 16. Hist. Eccles. e Epist. ad Amphilochium. ἐξαγορευσάσας δι ̓ εὐλάβειαν δημοσιεύειν οὐκ ἐκέλευσαν ing the seal to be broken up in some cases; and yet she hath restrained it more than formerly was observed in the churches of God. Burchard expressly affirms, that before the Nicene council, the penitentiary priest might publish what he heard in confessions, if it were for the good of the penitent, or for the greatness of the crime, as it seemed fit to the confessor. And that he says true, we have sufficient testimony from Origen: "Tantummodo circumspice diligentius, cui debeas confiteri peccatum tuum.-Si intellexerit et præviderit talem esse languorem tuum, qui in conventu totius ecclesiæ exponi debeat et curari, ex quò fortassis et cæteri ædificari poterunt, et tu ipse facilè sanari, multâ hoc deliberatione et satis perito medici illius consilio procurandum est." By which words he affirms, 1. That it was in the power of the confessor to command the publication of certain crimes. 2. That though it was not lightly to be done, yet, upon great reason, it might. 3. That the spiritual good of the penitent, and the edification of others, were causes sufficient for the publication. 4. That of these, the confessor was judge. 5. That this was no otherwise done by the consent of the party, but because he was bound to consent, when the confessor enjoined it and the matter is evident, in the case of the incestuous Corinthian; who either was restored without private confession; or, if he was not, St. Paul caused it to be published in the church, and submitted the man to the severest discipline, and yet public, that was then or since in the world. The like to this, we find in a decretal epistle of Pope Leo1; for when some confessors, exceeding the ancient ecclesiastical rule, were not so prudent and deliberate in conducting their penitents, as formerly they were, but commanded that all their whole confessions should be written down, and publicly read; he says, "Though the plenitude of faith might be laudable, that is not afraid to blush in public, yet the confession is sufficient, if it be made in secret, first to God, and then to the priest:" and adds, "Non omnium hujusmodi sunt peccata, ut ea quæ pœnitentiam poscunt, non timeant publicari ;""All sins are not of that nature, that are fit to be 8 Lib. 19. Decreti sai, c. 37. Concil. Mogual. cap. 10. 21. : published:" and therefore "removeatur tam improbabilis consuetudo;" "let such a reprovable custom be taken away.' In which words of St. Leo, we find, 1. That the seal of confession, as at this day it is understood at Rome, was no such inviolable and religious secret; for by a contrary custom, it was too much broken. 2. That he blames not the publication of some sins, but that they indiscriminately did publish all. 3. That the nature of some sins did not permit it for, as he adds afterward, men by this means were betrayed to the malice of their enemies, who would bring them before tribunals, in some cases. 4. That this was not spoken in case of public crimes, delated, and brought into public notice, but such as were spoken in private confession. And here I cannot but desire, there had been some more ingenuity in Bellarmine *, who, relating to this epistle of St. Leo, affirms, that St. Leo says, 'It is against the apostolical rule, to reveal secret sins, declared in confession;' when it is plain, that St. Leo only blames the custom of revealing all ; saying, 'that all sins are not of that nature, as to be fit to be revealed.' And by these precedent authorities, we shall the easier understand that famous fact of Nectarius, who abolished the custom of having sins published in the church, and therefore took away the penitentiary priest; whose office was (as I proved out of Origen, Sozomen, and Burchard), to enjoin the publication of some sins, according to his discretion. It happened in Constantinople, that a foul fact was committed, and it was published in the ears of the people, and a tumult was raised about it; and the remedy was, that Nectarius took away the office and the custom together. "Consulentibus quibusdam, ut unicuique liberum permitteret, prout sibi ipse conscius esset et confideret, ad mysteriorum communionem accedere, pœnitentiarum illum presbyterum exauctoravit." Every man was thenceforth left to his liberty, according to the dictate and confidence of his own conscience, to come to the communion; and this afterward passed into a rite: for the manners of men growing degenerate, and worse sins being now confessed than, as he supposes, formerly they had been; the judges having been more severe, and the people more modest, it was fit enough that this custom, upon the occasion of such a scan k De Pœnitentiâ, lib. 3. cap. 14. Denique cum Secreta. dal, and so much mischief like to follow it, should be laid aside wholly; and so it was. Here is a plain story, truly told by Sozomen, and the matter is easy to be understood. But Bellarmine, seeing the practice and doctrine of the church of Rome pinched by it, makes a distinction, derived from the present custom of his church, of public confession and private, saying, that Nectarius took away the public, and not the private. This I shall have occasion to discuss in the next section. I am now only to speak concerning the seal of confession; which from this authority, is apparent, was not such a sacred thing, but that it was made wholly to minister to the public and private edification of the penitent, and the whole church. Thus this affair stood in the primitive church. In descending ages when private confessions grew frequent, and were converted into a sacrament; the seal also was made more tenacious; and yet by the discipline of the church, there were divers cases, in which the seal might be broken up. 1. There is a famous gloss in "cap. Tua nos, lib. 4. Decretal. tit. 1. de Sponsalibus et Matrimonio;" where the Pope, answering to a question concerning a pretended contract of marriage, says, that the marriage is good, unless the inquiring Bishop of Brescia could have assured him, that the man did never consent, or intend the marriage, "Quod qualiter tibi constiterit, non videmus." The gloss upon these words say, "Imò benè potuit constare: quia vir ille hoc ei confitebatur," "The bishop might well know it, because the man had confessed it to him; or because he had revealed it to him in penitential confession. For though, in judicial confession before a tribunal, no man is to be believed to the prejudice of a third person, yet, in penitential confession, he is to be believed; because it is not to be supposed, that he then is unmindful of his salvation."-Where the gloss observing that he did or might have received it in confession, and yet make use of it in consultation with his superiors, and upon that answer was to pronounce it to be, or not to be, a marriage, and to treat the persons accordingly; it follows that the thing itself might be revealed for the good of the penitent's soul; and this was done by the Cardinal of St. Lawrence in the case of a woman introducing a supposititious child to the inheritance of her husband; and this revelation |