Archbp. CRANMER'S Catechism, ed. Oxon. 1829, p. 201. And this also is to be reproved, that some men, whiche continue in manyfest and open synne, and go not about to amend their lyfes, yet they will be counted Christen men, and interpoyse to receaue the same sacramentes that other do, to come to the Churche, to worship God, and to pray with other. Such muste be warned of their fautes, and yf they refuse to heare and amende, then they ought to be excommunicate and put out of the Christen congregation, vntil they repente and amende their lyfes; lest by suche manifest sinne and euil examples, other men might be provoked to do the lyke, and so at length many might be infected, and the Christen relygyon despised and euil spoken of, as though it were the worst relygyon, forasmuche as Christian men shoulde then leade a shameful and ungodly lyfe.

CHAP.

XIV.

CHAPTER XIV.

PRIVILEGES IN THE CHURCH.

Absolution.

Q. 1. You spoke of re-admission to the Visible Church or Kingdom of Grace; and, secondly, by its means, to the Invisible Church or Kingdom of Glory; how do the Ministers of Christ re-admit offenders into the Church or Kingdom of Heaven, both Visible and Invisible?

A. By disposing them to repentance by application of the salutary medicine of the promises to penitence, and threats against sin, revealed in the Word of God, and thus producing compunction and contrition in them; then by declaring, as God's heralds, His readiness to pardon all who truly repent and believe in Him; then, by pronouncing their pardon and restoring them, on their repentance and faith, and confession of sins,

I.

PART through the ministry of reconciliation, which has been appointed and entrusted to them as Ministers in the1 Church of God.

2 Cor. v. 19. Gal. vi. 1.

Matt. xviii.

18.

1 S. AUG. Serm. ccxiv. Ecclesia Dei vivi claves accepit regni cœlorum, ut in illâ per sanguinem Christi, operante Spiritu Sancto, fiat remissio peccatorum. In hâc Ecclesia reviviscit anima quæ mortua fuerat peccatis, ut convivificetur Christo, cujus gratiâ sumus salvi facti.

F. MASON, de Ministerio, v. 10. Minister Evangelicus dupliciter peccata remittit, dispositivè et declarative: dispositive, quia homines ad remissionem peccatorum consequendam disponit perducendo ad fidem et pœnitentiam; declarativè, quia jam pœnitentibus et credentibus peccatorum remissionem tanquam divinus præco declarat. Ita teneras conscientias cum peccatorum mole et desperatione luctantes per promissiones evangelicas spe veniæ erigimus, jamque pœnitentibus et credentibus remissa peccata pronunciamus. See also BARROW, de Potestate Clavium, p. 58.

Q. 2. By what other figure beside that of opening and shutting by the Keys does Christ describe the exercise of Church authority?

A. By that of binding and loosing. "WhoseJohn xx. 23. soever sins ye remit," says He to His Apostles, "they are remitted; and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained."

Mark ii. 7.

viii. 47. Rev. iii. 7.

Q. 3. Have men then the power of absolving their fellow-men from sin committed against God?

A. No; not originally and of themselves, but Luke v. 21. only derivatively and ministerially: for "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" They no more give pardon to the sinner, than the Physician gives health to the sick, or the Judge gives release to the accused but they apply the means appointed and given by God for its attainment.

1 S. CYPRIAN, de Lapsis, p. 129. Nemo se fallat, nemo se decipiat. Solus Dominus misereri potest. Veniam peccatis, quæ in ipsum commissa sunt, solus potest ille largiri, qui peccata nostra portavit, qui pro nobis doluit, quem Deus tradidit pro peccatis nostris.

S. AMBROSE in S. Luc. v. 19. Quis potest peccata dimit

tere nisi solus Deus, Qui per eos quoque dimittit, quibus CHAP. dimittendi tribuit potestatem? XIV.

Q. 4. Would it not then be more reverential to God to reserve the office of remitting sins to Him alone?

It

A. Obedience to God is true reverence. would be grievous disrespect to Him, and great wrong to His heritage, to rescind and refuse His gifts. The Church shows her reverence to God, by obeying Him, and by using them; i. e., by remitting and retaining sins.1

1S. AMBROSE, de Pœnitentiâ, lib. i. cap. 2. 6. Sed aiunt se Domino deferre reverentiam, Cui soli remittendorum criminum potestatem reservent. Immò nulli majorem injuriam faciunt, quam qui ejus volunt mandata rescindere, commissum munus refundere. Nam cum Ipse in Evangelio suo dixerit Dominus Jesus: Accipite Spiritum sanctum; quorum remiseritis peccata, remittantur eis; et quorum detinueritis, detenta erunt; quis est ergo qui magis honorat, utrum qui mandatis obtemperat, an qui resistit?

Ecclesia in utroque servat obedientiam, ut peccatum et alliget et relaxet.

Q. 5. But if no one can forgive sins but God, how can men be said to bind or loose?

A. The Priest is like a civil Judge, who does not sit on the judicial tribunal to make laws, but to administer them. He does not pronounce sentence of forgiveness, in his own name, or on his own authority, but in that of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and upon the conditions of repentance and faith prescribed by Christ, and required and ascertained after careful investigation by the Priest in the exercise of his ministry. The penitent must resort to the Priest, and the Priest must examine, exhort, and make trial of his since- Acts x. 43. rity. Christ's power is here auroxpatopixn, or impe- 21. rial; the Priest's is diazovin, or ministerial. CHRIST who raises the sinner from the death of 2 Cor. v. 20. John xi. 43, sin; but when He has raised him by His Spirit,

xiii. 38. XX.

It is Mark xvi. 16

Acts iii. 19.

PART

I.

Matt. vii. 6.

His word, or His ministry, He further says to His
Ministers, "Loose him and let him go."

1 F. MASON, de Ministerio, v. 10. Absolutio non est declaratoria tantum, est etiam judicatoria: Sacerdotem judicem esse fatetur Apologia Ecclesiæ Anglicana (non longè a principio;) requiritur autem judicium non discretionis modo sed authoritatis etiam et potestatis; siquidem personæ absolvendæ fidem suam et pœnitentiam palam profitentur, hic est causæ cognitio; dein Minister iisdem peccatorum indulgentiam declarat et obsignat; hìc est sententiæ dictio.

2 S. CHRYS. in S. Joann. p. 923, Savil. Пarηp xai d Υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα πάντα οἰκονομεῖ, ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δανείζει γλῶσσαν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ παρέχει χεῖρα.

S. AMBROSE, de Pœnitentiâ, cap. 2. Munus Spiritûs Sancti est Officium Sacerdotis; jus autem Spiritûs Sancti in solvendis ligandisque criminibus est. Cap. 8. Omnia. dedit Christus discipulis suis; sed nulla in his hominis po testas est, ubi divini muneris gratia viget.

Per

3 S. AUG. Serm. ccxcv. Quatriduano mortuo dicitur, Lazare, prodi foras. Excitat Dominus, si cor tangit. se excitat, per discipulos solvit.

Q. 6. Are then all who are absolved by Christ's minister pardoned by Christ? or are all they who are condemned by Christ's minister condemned by Christ?

1

A. No; a right sentence is the only one which Christ has authorized, and the only one which He will ratify, by giving it validity, spiritually and internally. "Clavis potestatis nihil operatur sine clave scientiæ." The key of knowledge or discretion is necessary to give effect to that of power. No one can be admitted through the door of Pardon, who has not passed through that of Penitence. Rev. ill. 7.] Christ alone "openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth ;" and He turns the key in the hand of His minister only when it is moved aright.

1 HOOKER, VI. VI. 2. Whether they remit or retain sins, whatsoever is done by way of orderly and lawful proceeding, the Lord Himself hath promised to ratify.

2 PETRUS ASILUS, de Tyr. Pont. cap. v. p. 107, ex Wes- CHAP. selio.

Q. 7. If this be so, is not the sentence of the Priest superfluous?

XIV.

John ix. 7.

xxii. 16.

A. No; for God, in this as in other cases, is Wisd. xvi. 7. pleased to work by means, and to use the agency of His creatures, especially of men, as instruments in conferring His benefits upon other men; and though His power is not tied to means, yet, when He has appointed certain means for dispensing His grace, our salvation is restricted to the due and reverent use of them. He remits the punishment of Acts ii. 38. original sin' by means of the Sacrament of Bap- Rom. vi. 2-7. tism ; and in the case of actual sin, He confers the grace of His own pardon by the instrumentality of priestly Absolution, ordinarily and where it may be had, and whenever justly pronounced and duly received; and thus He makes repentance available to the true penitent, through the declaration and pronunciation of pardon by the Minister of Christ, acting by His authority, at His command, and by His power. Absolution does not give repentance, but makes it effectual; as the loosing of Lazarus did not give him life, but the full and John xi. 43, free use of it.

1 S. AMBROSE, de Poenit. lib. i. cap. 8. Cur præsumitis aliquos a colluvione diaboli per vos mundari posse? Cur baptizatis, si per hominem peccata dimitti non licet? In Baptismo utique remissio peccatorum omnium est; quid interest, utrum per poenitentiam, an per lavacrum hoc jus sibi datum sacerdotes vindicent? Unum in utroque mysterium est.

S. AUG. Tractat. in S. Joann. XII. iii. p. 1815. Regeneratio spiritualis una est, sicut generatio carnalis una est: sicut ad nativitatem carnalem valent muliebria viscera ad semel pariendum, sic ad nativitatem spiritualem valent viscera Ecclesiæ, ut semel quisque baptizetur.

Ibid. p. 1830. Quomodo non caruit populus Israel pressurâ Ægyptiorum, nisi cum venisset ad mare Rubrum, sic pressurâ peccatorum nemo caret nisi cum ad fontem Bap

44.