their own Churches and Provinces, but afterwards were approved and confirm- T. p. 257. ed by the publick Authority and Practice of all the reft. And therefore they are not now lookt upon as fuch ἓs & καθ ̓ ἑαυτόν τις, ἀλλὰ πλείονες ἅγιοι πατέρες Biaflares Pref. Guiórtes Netágarto, as only private Men made to themselves, but what hatha. i. b. been generally agreed upon and allow'd by Synods.

In thefe Moral Canons (as I fhall now call them) thofe pious Fathers, to fhew the heinoufnefs of Sins, and their deteftation of them, have fixt and appointed to every Sin certain Penalties or acts of Mortification; which the Prelate, and by his Order the Confeffor, might augment or diminish or quite remit, in proportion to the Fault, and according to the humble Submission, sincere Sorrow, and real Repentance of the Offender.

Most of these Penalties are Excommunication; Separation for some time from the facred Offices of the Church; Admiffion only to fuch and fuch places in the Congregation in time of divine Service; Fafting, or Living only on (EngoQayla) dry Meats, as they phrafe it, (that is, neither Eating of Flesh, nor Fish, nor Eggs, nor Cheefe, nor Butter, nor Oyl, nor Drinking of Wine) for a time prefixt; Watching fo many whole Nights and Days together, or so many in a Week; Making fo many Metanoie in an hour or a day (that is, Proftrations, falling on the Knees and Hands, and kissing the Ground and touching it with the Forehead, and faying every time, God be Mercifull unto me a Sinner,) from one hundred, to two, three or more, nay in fome cafes to a thoufand, as the greatness of the Sin deferves. They are advised to give Alms, but that being rather Voluntary, the measure or kind is not prefcribed, unless to the Rich, to whom under that point of Alms, it is often enjoin'd to procure at their own expence, uxexao, the Office of publick Anointing, of which more in another place. These penalties are to last, Months, Years, sometimes for the whole Life; and fome are fo egregiously extravagant as in my Canons I find this remark, ἀλλὰ πῆ τῆς σήμερον να εύρης άνθρωπον, να τοῦτον πληρώση και vova, but where can you find a Man now to perform fuch a Canon.

MS.

S. TO.

part 1. 24. b.

Ibid. §. 70.

In a MS. Canonarion of mine, amongst the reft I find this furprifing Penalty. . ibid. (for I must call it fo in a Greek) Every Monk is bound to fing the four stated hours in their Horologion, and if he be illeterate and cannot do that, then he is to make fifty Proftrations and fay, xúgie Xénoov, Lord have Mercy, fourty Ibid. §. *. times at every hour; but if he is not able to do that, he is to fay at every hour five hundred times this Prayer, Lord Jefus Chrift, thou Son of T. p. 258. God, have Mercy upon me a Sinner, through the Mother of God. Or instead of all this, let him turn over his, xoμroxóma, Beads, or Rosary, at mid-night ten time; at day-break twenty times; at all the other hours ten times each hour; every Rofary was to have 103 Beads. I must profess that I never faw Beads ufed by a Greek, nor ever before read or heard of any fuch thing, yet all this is there fet down, most ridiculously, as a Canon of St. Bafil himfelf. This is a very fair MS. written fince the death of Conftantine Cabafilas of Dyrrhachium, (for he is quoted in it,) who lived about the Year 1200. nay, it was written fince Simeon Theffalonicenfis, who died 1429. for he is quoted likewife. Now I am very apt to think that this Book was collect-Bevereg. Pref. ed and made by fome Cafuift or Confeffor at or about Theffalonica, which Leo Allat. de City we know was fold to the Venetians by Andronicus Paleologus, and was Laonic Chalco. govern'd by them very many Years before it was taken by Amurath; Now chond. 1. 4. P. thefe Greeks by converfing (as without doubt they often did) with the Latins, 109. might by degrees cafily follow fome of their Customs, as well as learn fome of their Opinions; as in many inftances I could prove it was fo; or perhaps Ms. part 2. it might be made by fome Latinized Greek after the return from the p. 77. b. 78. Council of Florence; for the Hand and Character fuits well with that time. St. Bafil was a Principal Dictator of thefe Moral Canons, and a grand promoter of an Afcetick or Mortified or Monkifh Life. All the Monks and Nuns λόγος ἀσκητικός in the Greek Church, are every where of his Order; and thefe Canons are T. 2.p. 232. d. particularly defign'd for them, and for all that enter into Holy Orders. Many agтnhundreds Ter,

I i2

xxx.. 2. b.

Simeonibus.

1432.

μάτων ἀπορίπ.

Blaftares. MS.

c. 15. p. 187.

d. e. f.

T. p. 258. hundreds of the Calogeri (or lay Brothers, as the Latins call them) and feveral of those which are of the leffer and greater Scheme or Habit, have been very wicked, defolute and abominable Sinners, but afterwards being feverely touched in Conscience have refolved upon a strict and mortified Life, and fo voluntarily coming under the Examination of the Abbot, or Confeffor of a Monaftery, have earnestly submitted themselves to the Penalties of the Canon prefcribed for all their Sins, and after a due time of Probation have been admitted, and there remain'd all days of their Life. As many more having been Croffed, Difappointed, Vexed or Haraffed with the Cares and Troubles of this World, have defired and chofen a quiet Monaftick Life, according to the Patriarch Jeremiah's advice, and declaring the various ftate of their former lives to their Confeffor, fer. Patriarch, have voluntarily taken upon them the strict obfervance of the Canon. All the ad Tubingens. Clergy at their first entrance were to be examin'd and undergo the Canon; but refp. 1. p. 108. if their Sins by it are judged too grevious they are quite excluded. The & Refp. 2. P. 259.& Formu-fame is the cafe of Nuns, nay, of all private Perfons, who refolve upon lam feu σvsα- auftere reserved Life, as Virgins, Widows, Votaries of all forts and

TIXÒv. Goar.

p. 679.

P. 11. c.

Sexes.

And here again I cannot but take notice that a Greek Confeffor ought to be an extraordinary and most exact Cafuift; at least to understand the Penalty of every Sin; He is enjoin'd by their Canon to be at least forty years old; and truly I cannot well fee how he can under that Age arrive to fo much Skill, as well as to those other qualifications abovefaid. However, as will by and by appear, a Greek Confeffor had no more to do but to Preach; that is, to declare the Canon, and advise, and pray for, his Penitent; as for example, have you committed this or that Sin? Then you are obnoxious to this or that Penalty, or act of Penance and Mortification. And the Bishop, or Confeffor, by his Authority can by the Canon (as is faid) increase or relax the Penance of Penitents as he fees Occafion, but he dare not pretend to remit the Sin; He only prays for them, to God to remit that, and gives them his best Advice and Counsel how they may obtain it. In Goar's Office the Confeffor owns thus much moft plainly, ἐχ ιχύω ἀφιέναι ἁμάρτημα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἰμὴ ὁ Θεὸς, I am not able, faith he, to remit Sins upon Earth, it is God that doth it, and then mentioning the words of Chrift, whofe Sins you remit, &c. (as if they fignified only that the Authority of a Confeffor was no more then to pray to God for his Penitent,) he faith, May God forgive you all your Sins in this World and in the World to come; for this is no more an Abfolution from the Pricft, then the fame words are at the Elevation of the Panagia; And of the Confeffors Prayers for their Penitents you fhall have instances enough prefently.

I

I will now give you fome account of the Method or manner of taking Confeffions; I have feen many Abridgments or rather Extracts out of Photius, and all other Prelates, their Canons, which have been made and received fince. Thefe they commonly call Canonaria; and in many of them there is a kind of Office or Method particularly fet down, (for I never faw one general standing Form) to be used by the Confeffor in taking Confeffions. have three or four of these Extracts my felf in MS. yet all these are very dif ferent from that in Goar, as they are alfo from one another. Which make me think (as I have already noted above concerning the various Forms of P. 197, 198, Chryfoftom's and others Liturgies, and concerning the feveral Forms of Ordination) that Confeffors had much the fame Canon, but for the Method or Form of taking Confeffions, almost every one had his own peculiar way to himfelf; whence this difference came which we now find of it. In one of mine The Penitent at his approaching is to make a Proftration before the Confeffor, and lying flat is to fay, Bless me, Pray for me, Pardon me, Ŏ honourable Father. I have Sinned by all my Senfes; Then he particularizes in every Sin that is in the Canons Catalogue, and Jay he hath been guilty of every particular one of them all. Then the Confeffor Jay the two Prayers

199. &c.

A. 46.

in Goar, and another, (which I find not there) to this effect, à Seds huar, 'Adeλpè, T. p. 259. βοηθήση σοι καταξιώση σε εἰς τὸν κλῆρον ποιηση σε ἄξιον Brother may our P. 674. God help you may be vouchsafe to admit you into the inheritance,may be make you worthy then he takes him up and Kiffes him, and fays, ἔφωσαν ταυτα ἀπὸ τῶ ομῦ, ἀδελφὲ, λελυμένα ἁπάντα, My Son, may all the fe things from this minute be loofed. Then they both fet down. The Confessor asks him which of the three Penances he will chufe, Fafting, Watching, Proftration and Praying; and to give him the Canon. Such a Confeffion as this you will find exactly fet down in King Edgar's Canons, where the Penitent T.9. conc. Lab. makes himself guilty of all the Sins that are; and in a Prayer of Simeon. P. 688. Metaphraftes in the Greeks Horologium, where to God alone he makes himself goy. Ven. guilty of all particular Sins imaginable. But this Confeffion cannot be thus made by an illiterate or ignorant Man; therefore there is there also another Form, wherein the Confeffor going through the Catalogue of Sins, asks upon every one, have you done this, have you done that, to the very end. And truly this is as fcandalous, as feveral Confeffionaries in the Latin Church (which I could name) for they all plainly teach ignorant Men, and put them upon Practif T. p. 260. ing, many abominable and horrid Sins, which they never heard of or thought of before.

1678. p. 622.

2.

In another Canonarion of mine, is first fet down a long but grave and excellent Admonition to the Confeffor, made by the Patriarch of Archbishop, who first Nomoc. p. 425. created him, according to which the Confeffor is to proceed. Then he must p. 439 take the Confeffion in fome Venerable and holy Place. The Penitent must come not with a fower look or Surliness, or ill Habit or Behaviour, but with a clear Countenance and a divine Fear, and the Confeffor must receive him chearfully. Then a little Office follows of fome Suffrages, and Verficles, and the Lord's Prayer &c. but different from Goar's. Then the Confefsor makes a fhort exhortation, telling the Penitent, that he is in the prefence of Christ, and bid him tell all his Sins fincerely, that he may receive Forgiveness and Blessing from Christ our Lord. Then he asks him of every particular Sin in the whole Catalogue, beginning with the deadly Sins, and at the end fets him his Canonical Penance, καθῶς βλέπει τὴν ἀρετὴν ἢ τὴν προαίρεσιν, according as he fees his Virtue or Sincerity, and his free voluntary Dealing or Confeffion.

3.

In another Canonarion of mine, is first fet down the Qualification of a Confeffor and his Duty; Then follows a fhort and grave Admonition to him, part 1. p. 19. but quite different from the former; which he is to confider to himself.

66

66

66

"He

brings the Penitent uncovered before fome Picture or Image of Chrift; Then perform a little Office of fome Suffrages and Verficles, and Supplications, and the Lord's Prayer, and the 50th. Pfalm. Next, he bids him tell "all his Mifdeeds, that he may receive, apron, Remission from Chrift, before whofe Image he ftands; with much the fame fenfe with the former, but far different words. Then he runs over the whole Catalogue of Sins, "and asks upon every one of them, my Son haft thou done this, haft thou "done that, and fo on upon every particular Sin, staying for the Penitents anfwer to every particular. This Catalogue is very long, and many many, foul, abominable Sins, are there mention'd, which were fcarce ever heard of, I hope were never Practifed amongst Proteftants; "and when all this is over "he faith, from hence forward you must beware of all these things, inè δέυτερον ἄρτι βαπτίζεσαι (Sic. pro βαπτίζη aut βαπτίζεται) βάπτισμα, for now you receive (or there is given) a fecond Baptifm. Then the Confeffor gives him good Counsel; Then the Penitent bows down his Head, and the Confeffor faith the Prayer, which you have in Goar, xúgie o Jeds Tñs owin'Of which more by and by.

gias.

When I reflect upon the Qualifications and the Duty of Confeffors, thus fet down in the Arch-bishops Admonitions to them, when they are first Instituted by him, I cannot but take great Notice of a paffage in one of my Canonarions.

Out

MS. part 2.
P. 29.

T. p. 260.

Out of the fecond Canon of the fecond Council of Nice, are fet down the Qualifications of a Bishop, viz. That he should be well acquainted with the Pfalter (which by the Greeks is publickly read over once every week) and with the whole new Teftament, and all other holy writ; and that he should be well Skill'd in the Canons; then there are added in the Text thefe very words, άmà Tổ Thy onμegov TOIST; But where shall we find fuch a one now? Τ. p. 261. And immediately follows, Ως δοκεῖ μοι ἁρμόζει τῦτο τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ εἰς τὰς γενομένες πνευματικές, ἀγραμμάτες, μὴ γινώσκοντας τες θείες νόμες, In my opinion this Chapter, faith my Author, (or Canon) may be very well applied to those who are made Confeffors, Illiterate, and Ignorant of the divine Laws. Nay, I find it there a little farther expreffly faid of them, that a Learned honeft Laic, may make a better Guide and Confeffor then an Ignorant Prieft. This Book (where I find this,) I guess (as above) may be written about two hundred and fifty Years ago; but if Bishops and Confeffors amongst the Grecks were fo meanly furnished with all this Learning then, I will confidently lay that to my knowledge this cafe is far worse with them now. How therefore this business of Confeffion goes on now, you may gather from the whole train of this discourse, which I fhall now pursue according to their Canon.

P. 9. 10.

Lab. conc. T.7.

B.

That a Catalogue of Sins fhould always be before a Confeffor's Eyes, is very right, (for it should be fo before every good Man to keep up his deteftation of them, and remind him of his guilt.) And I find in the Venetian Confeffionary alfo this Reafon truly given for it; many Greeks (and Latins too,) are fo very Ignorant that, μήτε νὰ ἀρχίζει, ἀλλ ̓ ἐδὲ νὰ τελειώσειν τὰ ἁμαρτηματάτες ἐξεύρε σιν, ἀμὴ ἐκδέχονται τὸν πνευματικὸν νὰ τὲς εἰπῆ τὰ ἁμαρτηματάτες, they know neither how to begin nor how to end (the account of) their Sins, but want the Confeffors help to put every Sin into their Mouths. There is there in the middle of the Book, a little expofition of the ten Commandments, pretended for the use, I fuppofe, of those that can read and thereby Examin themselves; But at the end there is a fhort Catalogue of Sins fet down for the Penitent and the Confeffor to confult about; there are many Sins mention'd out of the Greek Canon, fome out of Latin Books, many in general terms, many not liable to any Canon or ftated Penance at all; and all others, not mention'd there, are left to the Inquifition and Discretion of the Confeffor. I find fuch a practice in Theodolphus Capitular; Nominatim poenitenti debet facerdos, the Confeffor c. 31. p. 1144.ought to tell, or recount, all and every Sin by name to the Penitent; and take his Confeffion of every particular. And in many of our pious Books, fet forth to prepare good People for the Communion, there are judicioufly fet down all the Tranfgreffions and Sins against every particular Commandment in the 1 Cor. 11. 28. Decalogue; that every one may thereby know (according to St. Paul) how to Examine himself before he Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup. And no good Man can find fault with a Greek Confeffor for Inftructing (but for Debauching) a poor purely ignorant Man, in what are the Tranfgreffions of Chrift's commands; by repeating to him all the Decalogue, or by hearing him do it, (for he must be very Ignorant indeed if he cannot do that) and as they gently go on, by fhewing him the feveral Breaches of every Commandment, as our good Books do; and truly I am apt to think that fomething like this was the very way of the Antient Greeks themselves, before they fell into this wild way, either of putting their Penitents in mind of Sins which they never heard of, by asking them about them; or of hearing them accuse themselves of every particular Sin in the whole Catalogue. That counfel of St. Paul is 1 Thef. 5. 14. part 7. c. 35. Very aptly apply'd to Confeffors in the first Council of Colen. Warn them Labb. conc. T. that are Disorderly; Comfort the Feeble minded; Support the Weak; Be 14. P. 54°. patient towards all Men. The good Fathers their plainly fhew, that the Duty of a Confessor is (not to Abfolve, but) to Comfort the Weak or Dif pairing Heart with difplaying God's everlafting Mercies to them; To correct and curb the Bold or Refractory, by declaring God's dreadfull Judgements against them; And like a judicious Physician, to apply a fuitable Cure to

every Infirmity; and therefore it is there order'd at last, that every, Paro. T. p. 261. chus, Parish Prieft (who can take Confeffions, ) is to have by him certain common places (or Catalogue) drawn out of the Scriptures, as his Canon, whereby he may thus deal with his Penitents. Now all this (which to me seems to be the true Antient, and I may say, the only End and Duty of a Confeffor) is nothing else but Preaching ftill; that is, examining Mens Lives by the only Canon of Scripture, and the declaring the Effects of true Repentance and its Fruits on one fide, and the difmal end of Impenitency on the other. Thofe, who do this, my Canonarion calls them, res nugías àλnfãs MS. part 1.p voμíμes arevμanine's, most properly and truly legitimate Confeffors. And here 47. once again appears good reason, that every ordinary Prieft is not fit to be made a Confeffor; but how then can be Abfolve, whom he knows not how regularly to confefs? I know there are, in the Church of Rome, fome folemn Confef- T. P. 262. fors, approved and appointed by publick Authority, (as I have fhewn that it is in the Greek Church,) and I have often feen them in St. Peter's Church and elsewhere. Now if they allow only the Confeffion made to them, and their Abfolution to be Sacramental; what fignifies the Confeffion made to a common Priest? Both it and his Abfolution that follows it, are meer Jefts, or empty pieces of fruitless and impertinent Formality; what makes one of these Confeffions Sacramental, the other a meer idle Ceremony? Truly it feems to me a kind of Contradiction or Abfurdity in the Latin Church, (if all this is only her Command,) to give to every Prieft at his Ordination this Key of Confef- Conc. Trid. T. fion and Abfolution, and then afterwards to forbid the use of it, or reftrain it 14. p. 869. e. to very few.

upon a

Labb.

Next we may well remark from this practice of the Greek Confeffors, what I have faid above, if one Confeffion must take up fo much time whilft the whole p. 259. Catalogue of Sins is examin'd and cenfur'd, how will it be poffible for fo few Confeffors to difpatch fo many Millions, if all of juft Age were bound to come to them once in the beginning of every one of the four Lents or Fafts of the Year? But I have told you that only Votaries (such as have refolved strict or reserved Life) or old Men, or Widows, or Virgins and the like, as alfo the Rich and better fort of the People, come to thefe Commission'd Confeffors; There are hundreds to one of thefe (out of Monafteries) who never trouble themselves with it. And truly fince none are forced to confession amongst them, (as none are forced with us) these Volunteers have a very great encouragement amongst them. For there is a very great diftinction made in the cenfure or Penalties laid upon a free Confeffion, in refpect to that which is any ways urged or forced. All my Canonaria agree with what we find in PatriRefp. ad Tub. arch Hierimiah, and Blaftares, that he who freely of himself fhall come to . c. 1. p. 88. confefs his fecret Sins, fhall be lookt upon as one who is already weary of his Lit. m. c. 7. Sins, and is really enter'd upon true Repentance, and therefore ought to have P.179. My MS. a much lighter Penance laid upon him; whereas he that is brought to it by be- verf. 41. ing openly overtaken in a Fault, or by being fhrewdly fufpected of it, or any ways by being difcover'd or convicted of it, he comes, (as we fay,) with an unwilling willingness at beft, and therefore ought to be more roughly handled; yet a good and hopefull behaviour in him alfo is to be regarded; we ought not, faith the Patriarch, TT8s & dû 7' lons imμãr, to treat thefe Men alike. And King Edgar's Canons makes the fame diftinction. Thus he that comes to aut fupra. c. 3. Monaftery and freely Confeffing turns Calogero or Lay-Brother, fhall be for- part 1, 25, 26. given fome good part of his Penance; but if he turns Monk, and takes upon him the leffer or greater, nua, Habit, he shall be excufed one half of it. For a Monaftick Life, faith the Patriarch, Tйs Metavoías évéxugov üæágya, is a Ibid. p. 79. & pledge of Repentance, 'tis a fecurity for to live a Penitent all the days of ones Rep. 2. p. 242. Life; And therefore it is called by Simeon Theffalon. Tas μetavóias erdvua, the Contra Haref Vesture or Garment of Repentance, and the angelick Habit. Next the Bishop c. 52. or Confeffor can remit or leffen the Canon as he fhall think fitting, and therefore they who offer themselves freely, (because we ought to think they do it 2. c. 8. Bafil.

part 1. p. 25.

Blaflar. ibid.

P. 177. & lit.

out

c. 84.