highly approves and receives as pious and worthy to be retained.

morem hæc sancta Synodus maxime probat, et amplectitur, tamquam pium, et merito retinendum.

CHAPTER VI.-Of the Minister of this Sacrament, and of Absolution.

Concerning the minister of this sacrament, the holy Synod declares that all those doctrines are false and plainly repugnant to the truth of the Gospel, which injuriously extend the ministry of the keys to any other men than bishops and priests, under the supposition that those words of the Lord, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;" and "Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained;" were spoken to all Christian believers indifferently and promiscuously, contrary to

Caput VI.-De Ministro hujus Sacramenti, et Absolutione.

Circa ministrum autem hujus sacramenti, declarat sancta Synodus, falsas esse, et a veritate Evangelii penitus alienas doctrinas omnes, quæ ad alios quosvis homines, præter Episcopos, et sacerdotes, clavium ministerium perniciose extendunt; putantes verba illa Domini, "Quæcumque alligaveritis super terram, erunt ligata et in cœlo; et quæcumque solveritis super terram, erunt soluta et in cœlo," et, "Quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis, et quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt," ad omnes Christi fideles, indifferenter, et promiscue, contra institutionem hujus sacramenti,

the institution of this sacrament, so that any person whatsoever has the power of remitting sins, those that are public, by rebuke, if he who is reproved shall acquiesce; and those that are secret, by spontaneous confession to any indifferent person. The Synod also teaches that even priests who are bound with mortal sin, exercise, as the ministers of Christ, the power of remitting sins, by the power of the Holy Spirit conveyed to them in ordination; and that those persons err in their opinion who contend that wicked priests have not this power. But although a priest's absolution is the dispensation of a benefit conferred by another, yet it is not a mere naked act of ministry in announcing the Gospel, or declaring that the sins are remitted, but is like a judicial act, in which sentence is pronounced by him as by a judge. And therefore a penitent ought not so to flatter himself of his own faith, as that, even if he have no contrition, or the

ita fuisse dicta, ut quivis potestatem habeat remittendi peccata, publica quidem per correptionem, si correptus acquieverit; secreta vero per spontaneam confessionem, cuicumque factam. Docet quoque, etiam sacerdotes, qui peccato mortali tenentur, per virtutem Spiritus Sancti, in ordinatione collatam, tamquam Christi ministros, functionem remittendi peccata exercere, eosque prave sentire, qui in malis sacerdotibus hanc potestatem non esse contendunt. Quamvis autem absolutio sacerdotis alieni beneficii sit dispensatio; tamen non est solum nudum ministerium, vel annuntiandi Evangelium, vel declarandi remissa esse peccata; sed ad instar actus judicialis, quo ab ipso, velut a judice, sententia pronuntiatur; atque ideo non debet pœnitens adeo sibi de sua ipsius fide blandiri, ut, ctiam si nulla illi adsit contritio, aut sacer

priest no intention of acting seriously, and truly absolving him, he should suppose that, on account of his faith alone, he is truly absolved before God; for neither may faith afford remission of sins without repentance, nor can he be otherwise than most careless of his salvation who should know that a priest only absolved him in joke, and not carefully seek out another to do so seriously.

doti animus serio agendi, et vere absolvendi desit, putet tamen se, propter suam solam fidem, vere, et coram Deo esse absolutum nec enim fides sine pœnitentia remissionem ullam peccatorum præstaret; nec is esset, nisi salutis suæ negligentissimus, qui sacerdotem joco se absolventem cognosceret, et non alium, serio agentem, sedulo requireret.

CHAPTER VII.-Of the Reservation of Cases.

Since then, nature, and the reason of judgment demand that sentence should only take effect upon inferiors, there was ever a persuasion in the Church of God, and this Synod confirms it as most true, that that absolution is of no avail which a priest confers upon one who is not under his ordinary or delegated jurisdiction. And it has seemed to our holy Fathers,

Caput VII.-De Casuum Reservatione.

Quoniam igitur natura, et ratio judicii illud exposcit, ut sententia in subditos dumtaxat feratur; persuasum semper in Ecclesia Dei fuit, et verissimum esse Synodus hæc confirmat, nullius momenti absolutionem.eam esse debere, quam sacerdos in eum profert, in quem ordinariam, aut subdelegatam non habet jurisdic

to pertain very much to the discipline of the Christian people, that the more atrocious and grievous crimes should not be absolved by any, but only by the chief priests; wherefore, the sovereign Pontiffs have deservedly been able, according to the supreme power given to them in the Universal Church, to reserve for their peculiar judgment some of the worst kind of offences. Nor is there room for doubt, since all things, which are of God, are ordained; but that this same is allowed to all the bishops in their several dioceses, "for edification and not for destruction," in respect of the authority over inferiors given to them above the rest of the inferior priests, especially as concerns those crimes to which the censure of excommunication is annexed. But it is agreeable to the divine authority that this reservation of offences should have effect not only in outward discipline, but also before God. But, lest any should perish by these means, it has been always piously guarded

tionem. Magnopere vero ad Christiani populi disciplinam pertinere, sanctissimis Patribus nostris visum est, ut atrociora quædam, et graviora crimina non a quibusvis, sed a summis dumtaxat sacerdotibus absolverentur: unde merito Pontifices Maximi pro suprema potestate, sibi in Ecclesia Universa tradita, causas aliquas criminum graviores suo potuerunt peculiari judicio reservare. Neque dubitandum est, quando omnia, quæ a Deo sunt, ordinata sunt; quin hoc idem episcopis omnibus in sua cuique diœcesi, "in ædificationem tamen, non in destructionem," liceat, pro illis in subditos tradita supra reliquos inferiores sacerdotes auctoritate, præsertim quoad illa, quibus excommunicationis censura annexa est. Hanc autem delictorum reservationem,

in the Church, that there should be no reservation at the point of death; and that, therefore, all priests should be able to absolve any penitents whatsoever, from every kind of sin and censure: except at such extremity, as the priests can do nothing in reserved cases, they should labour to persuade the penitents to have recourse to the superior and lawful judges, for the benefit of absolution.

consonum est divinæ auctoritati, non tantum in externa politia sed etiam coram Deo, vim habere. Verumtamen pie admodum, ne hac ipsa occasione aliquis pereat, in eadem Ecclesia Dei custoditum semper fuit, ut nulla sit reservatio in articulo mortis : atque ideo omnes sacerdotes quoslibet pœnitentes a quibusvis peccatis, et censuris absolvere possint: extra quem articulum sacerdotes cum nihil possint in casibus reservatis, id unum pœnitentibus persuadere nitantur, ut ad superiores, (et) legitimos judices pro beneficio absolutionis accedant.

CHAPTER VIII.-Of the Necessity and the Fruit of Satisfaction.

Lastly, as concerns satisfaction, which of all the parts of repentance, as it has been at all times recommended by our fathers to the Christian people, so now in our time, is chiefly impugned, under the highest pretence of piety, by those who teach a form

Caput VIII.-De Satisfactionis Necessitate, et Fructu. Demum quoad satisfactionem, quæ ex omnibus Pœnitentiæ partibus, quemadmodum a patribus nostris Christiano populo fuit perpetuo tempore commendata, ita una maxime nostra ætate, summo pietatis prætextu, impugnatur ab iis, qui speciem pietatis