Turco-Gr. p. 149. Christ Abfolve thee, (and by confequence all thofe other Prayers of the Greeks T. p. 315. above mention'd) non valent, fignify nothing. Arcudius (who fets up for 1.4.de Concord. another Reconciler of the two Churches) makes a wonderfull puzzling about Occid. & Orien. this Matter. He owns that the Greeks have a Form of Abfolution, but reckon. 4. P-434. b. ing up many, he knows not well which to fix upon. He confeffeth that they have no fet common Form, and therefore he exhorts them to pitch upon one, and infert it into their Euchologion or Common Prayer-Book. At laft he propounds this, as in his Judgment most certain or probable, I hold thee p. 428. b. Pardon'd, or Abfolved, which with him is all one with, I Pardon, or I Abfolve. First how fhall we Reconcile thefe Reconcilers? Can Dositheus and his Synod fay that the Greeks and Latins hold or obferve this pretended Sacrament alike; when (as Arcudius rightly obferve) the deprecatory Abfolution (which I have fhewn above to be in general use amongst the Greeks, and is alone own'd to be right by thofe great Men Cabafilas and Marcus Eugenicus, as Arcudius himself confeffeth,) quite deftroys the judiciary Sentence of the p. 407. b. Latin Priest? Therefore Arcudius allows their Form only in the Indicative, I hold thee Abfolved, to make it agree with the Latin, I Abfolve thee; But for one fuch example which he fhall produce, there are deprecatory ones enough, as I have fhewn above. He inftances in two Forms for the Phrafe, exw oe ouYXEχωρημένον, I hold thee Pardond, or ἔχω σε ἀφωρισμένον, I hold thee Excommunicated. The first is an Excommunication of Pachomius out of Crufius. But that was plainly, Meta Tñs iegas autê ouóde, not from himself alone, but by the Authority of a Synod with him, and therefore it fpeaks, Tws v ȧríæ àñoDo- T. p. 316. vóμela πvévμan, We, in the Plural,) thus decree in the Holy Ghoft; and exouer, we hold them Pardon'd, as it is the Sentence of the whole Synod. Then as for the Phrase, (notwithstanding all his long Criticisms there) exw and exquer, ἔχω ἔχομεν, may very properly there be rendred, our meanness declare or pronounce him; we declare him Excommunicated, that is, by the Authority of the Synod, or I in their name declare him fo; not that I, by my felf or my own Power and Authority, do this or that; or it may be only, I take him I look upon him or count him to be fuch; as in his own example, ex σe axowcontov, I look upon you as a dangerous Man, or not fit for company. As for his fecond example out of Crufius, our meanness, exe, declares Zygomata Pardon'd, can fignify p. 431. no more then the expected Fruits of his Prayer for him, for it is called in the P. 103. Title, ovxagnTM×ǹ eux, an Abfolutory Prayer, in which the Prelate begs for Tà owthgia, those things which belongs to the Penitents Salvation, and, væleTe, admonish him, or direct him, after the old Primitive way. And therefore that in Crufius ends thus, a dià all, whatever things (that is, Sins) be bath left unconfessed by forgetfulness, or through fhame, naxeva ourxœgnσay aura o éxénμær Jeos, may the Mercifull God forgive even thofe also. This, which is the Praying part, Arcudius hath craftily left out; that the Prelate might alone have the Glory of it. Now either in this Prayer (as it truly stands in Crufius) Abfolution is beg'd and to be received from God alone, or else the Prelate may pretend to claim fome part of it, and beg the other of God; but neither way will confift with the Latin judiciary Sentence of the Prieft; unIcfs a Man will be fo blafphemously bold, as with Arcudius to fay, that a Priest p. 424. a. in this cafe hath fuch a tranfcendent Judiciary Authority, as, Deo optimo imperat he commands the good God himself to obey him. But it is plain that this way of Praying for God's Abfolution was in Common ufe, from the account of it which Patriarch Jeremiah gave to the German Divines about Confession Refp. 1. p. 87i and Abfolution. First the Confeffors were to prefs the Penitent, and strictly enquire into his true Contrition and Repentance; and then, faith he, (almost in the very words of Crufius,) boa de dià now, what foever things he may have left unconfeffed through forgetfulness or shame, euxóueda Tâ exenμon & Taroitigμονι θεῷ καὶ ταυτα συγχωρηθῆναι αὐτῷ, we pray to the Mercifull and All-comparfionate God, that these alfo may be forgiven him; which is as if he had said, as we pray for the forgiveness of what he Confeffeth, so we pray for the forgiveness of these alfo. Goar feems not to have thought either of these öoa P P 2 Forms ( P. 434. P. 421. a. T. p. 316. Forms or that, (which Arcudius quotes out of Gabr. Philadelph.) fit for his purpose; elfe he, who had read Arcudius, would have certainly inferted them all in his notes upon the Euchologion. Arcudius mentions feveral objections our of the Fathers, which directly juftify the Greeks Deprecatory Abfolution; which he could not anfwer, and therefore after his tedious way he only fhuffles them off. It is plain by what he quotes out of Dionyfius Areopag. that in thofe days, they pray'd for the Abfolution of Penitents, and of Perfons who died Excommunicated; and Prelates (as Arcudius is fo far in the right,) are in a double Capacity, first of Ministring from God to the People, next from the People to God; In the firft, they Baptize, Communicate, Preach, Rebuke, Comfort their Flock and the like; In the fecond they offer up the Peoples Prayers and Thankfgivings to God, and both publickly and Privately Pray to him for them, particularly as their feveral occafions require; and thus this Praying for their Forgivenefs is not only their Capacity, but their Duty. Thus far the Office alfo of every Pricft is extended; but a Prelate's Authority reaches yet farther, to Ordain, Confirm, to Excommunicate notorious Offenders, to T. p. 317. reflore the Penitent to the Church again; and all this and the like belong properly only to the Living; but if any one pretends to Abfolve or Restore the Dead, it must be done by Prayer alone; and yet for that, I fee neither Authority from Scripture nor truly primitive Practice. 415. P. 415. 416. a. Next he cites St. Ambrofe; Men contribute their Miniftry towards the Remiffion of Sins, but they do not exercife a Right of any Power, for Sins are forgiven not in their Name, but in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. Men pray, or ask; Divinity, or God, grants. Inftead of answering this, he plainly owns it to be St. Ambrofe his meaning, Men ask and pray, God grants; that is, faith he, Sacerdotes de fuo nihil aliud interponere poffe quam Preces, Priests can interpofe nothing of their own, but Prayers; but, I Abfolve thee, furely is not a Prayer, but all their own. Then he plainly fhews that in St. Auguftin's time the Pricft pray'd for the Abfolution of the Penitent laying their hand upon him, and that, I Abfolve thee, could not then be ufed. To answer this he quotes another place of the fame Father, which really is more fully against him. Auguftin rebukes a fort of haughty Hereticks for taking the Power of Abfolution upon themfelves, faying, Ego Dimitto, Ego Mundo, Ego Sanctifico, I Forgive, I Cleanse, I SanEtify; he tells them it is not they or their Merits but only the Holy Ghost which forgive Sins. The good Father feems to me by a Prophetick Spirit to have forefeen the prefent Pride and Arrogance of Rome, and here to have condemn'd it; for is it not the fame Spiritual Pride for a Latin Pricft to fay, I Abfolve thee, as it was for one of thofe Hereticks to fay, I Forgive, 1 Cleanse, I Sanctify.' Lastly, out of Leo the Great, God ordain'd his Will, or Teftament, ut non nifi Supplicationibus facerdotum Indulgentia peccatore obtineri poteft, that Pardon of Sins fhould not any ways be obtained, but by the Supplications of the Priefts. He fhuffles this off with a Scholaftifm of Bonaventure, thefe Supplications contain a true judicial Form; which to me feems a plain Contradiction, that the Prieft fhould at the fame time, and in the fame cafe, give his own Abfolution as a Judge, and yet beg the fame Abfolution from a Superior as his Supplicant. Give me leave here to advance a Notion of my own, which I hope may clear up many Questions and feeming Difficulties, if not quite determine the whole Point of Abfolution in Controverfy between us. Abfolution from Sin, truly Lomb.. 4. dit, and properly fo called (as is own'd by all) can be had from none but God alone. 18. 6. E. in fin. I fay then that fuch true real Abfolution is to be expected and obtained but S. F. Goar. Ponce; and that will only be at the general day of Judgment. I do not here fpeak of Abfolving of those who offend against the Doctrine or Difcipline of the Church, that is, taking off any of its Cenfures laid upon living Perfons But I fpeak of Abfolution only from the Guilt and Punishment of Sins in gene 680. ral T. p. 318. ral committed by us in this Life, against God, our Neighbour, or our Selves; T. p. 317. from thefe 1 fay there is no real or final Abfolution to be expected untill the general Day of Judgment. That faying of a wife Heathen, no Man is HapPy before his Death, is every good Chriftian's cafe. Our Life to its very end is but one probation State; we must not ferve God by fits, but we must be always Praying with all Prayer and Supplication, and we must be watching Eph. 6. 18. thereunto with all Perfeverance, to the day of our Death; and from thence we are still in the hands of God alone, and, (as I may fo fpeak,) as it were Sufpended, and waiting for the laft Sentence of the Supreme Judge, who will then Abfolve and Acquit us, or elle Condemn us. See the great Apostle St. Paul makes it not only his own but every good Chriftian's State and Condition. I have Fought a good Fight, faith he, I have finished my Course, I have 2 Tim. 4. 7,8. kept the Faith, (here is the cheerfull Teftimony of a good Confcience, which every true Chriftian muft furely know to himfelf better then the wifcft Confeffor can tell him) Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteoufnefs, (there is his Faith) which the Lord the righteous Judge fhall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them alfo that love his appearing; Here is his and our firm hope of our Abfolution by the last judicial Sentence of God, which will not be pronounced till that day; And therefore certainly the Apostle did not in this World defire, or would accept of any Priest's formal and infignificant Abfolution, no not of the great St. Peter himself, but Patiently and Chearfully (as we all ought to do by his Example) waited for that Day, of his and our laft Account. Now I must ask this Queftion here, if a Prieft or Confeffor is fo hardy as to fay boldly and without condition or referve, I Abfolve thee from all thy Sins; (let it be at the hour of Death or when it will) whether he doth not plainly Anticipate the Work of the day of Judgment, and take the Judicial Sentence, (from the Mouth of the true and only Judge) and arrogate it to himself? If the Prieft really and thoroughly Abfolve him, God hath no more to do with him at that great day; but if he be ftill fufpended, or obliged to appear before the Judgment-Seat of Chrift to receive Sentence for what he hath done in 2 Cor. 5. 10. his Body, he is yet in his guilty Sinfull State, and the Prieft's Abfolution, if it fignifies any thing, can be but Conditional; If all at the last day proves right in the Eyes of that great fearcher of Hearts; that is, if your Contrition, Confeffion, Repentance, appear fincere; Or as Chrift in his Cures faid, according to your Faith, fo the Pricft can fay no more really than this, according to your fincere Repentance, fo be it unto you. Our Abfolution in the Vification of the Sick is no otherwife then thus Hypothetically or Conditionally made; The Minifter fuppofing (as the Sick Perfon humbly and heartily defires) that he truly Repents and believes in Chrift (they are the very words in the Form as Chrift's Commiffion) by his Authority upon this Condition Abfolves him, or pronounces him Abfolved; and upon the very fame fuppofal, of his true Repentance, his Contrition, his Faith, or full trust in God's Mercy, he prays for God's Eye of Mercy upon him, and that his former Sins might not be imputed to him (therefore he was not by the Form Judicially and pofitively Abfolved) and that at the hour of Death he might be taken into God's Favour. All this therefore plainly fhew that our Church of England do not think that her Pricfts do judicially and definitively Abfolve her Penitents, but only Conditionally declare them fo, upon their true Contrition and Repentance, which is only Preaching to them ftill as hath been faid. Confonant to this notion of mine are all the abfolutory Prayers in the Greek Church. First for the state of the Dead; though the Greeks abfolutely renounce and laugh at the Latins Purgatory, yet they do own a middle State; that when a Man dies he is in fome measure happy or miferable, but fhall not receive his Doom or final Sentence, or be compleated in either Condition till that last day of Judgment; and therefore they pray for the Dead; not that God would bfolve them now, but that he would have Mercy upon them then; as T. p. 319. we T. p. 319. 572. 412. 37.p. 479.480. Bufenb. Medul. 1. 5. c. 1. d. 3. art. 2. p. m. 368. P. 438. b. we Pray and Wish for a Criminal in Prifon, that he may find Mercy at his Try- And this my notion of Abfolution is ftill more clear from the very Nature of Repentance, which must go before it. True Repentance is not a Momentary Lomb. ex Au fit or two, but from the firft ftroke or beginning must be one continued Act gust 1. 4. dift. thoroughout a Man's whole Life. From the first Conviction of Confcience, or 14. §. A. p. m. Remorie, for the committing of any Sin, our true Sorrow for it with our Amendment must be renewed every day, and our Hatred of it must every hour encrease and conftantly tend to perfection; The Beginning and Progrefs and Perfeverance in this new State of Life to the very hour of Death, is all but one Regg. fufius entire Act of Repentance; See Bafil's direction for our addreffes to God in all difp. interrog the hours of Prayer. As the Life of a wicked Man from his first committing of fome grievous Sin, till he hath enflaved himself to it, and made it habitual to him, and at laft it is become in a manner his very Nature, as all this is counted as one continued Courfe of defiance to God and his Commands; So if his Heart by the wonderfull Power of God fhould be then prickt with true Contrition, and he becomes by degrees at last a perfect Convert (fuppofe a Preaching Paul, from a Perfecuting Saul,) all this laft part of his Life, from the first stroke upon his awaken'd Confcience, to the finishing of his whole Courfe, is but one continued Fight, one continued Act of Repentance and new Obedience. And all this is allowed by Goar when it seems to make for his purpose. This was the Practice of David, I acknowledge my Tranfgreffions and my Sin is ever before me; And this is the Inftruction and Direction of Theodulphus in P. 51. 3. his Capitular, we must be often in Prayer, and in it we must daily ConUt fupr. c. 21. ・fefs our past Sins to God with Tears and Groans; we must be always amending our lives. And again, we ought every day in our Prayer to ConTp. 320. fefs our Sins to God either once or twice, or as much oftner as we can. If now our Repentance is, Res de ambulatoria, a thing that must be always going on, if it must be daily continued with Perfeverance and without interruption, and cannot be faid to be Ended, Perfect, or Compleat till the hour of our Death; what room then can there be for Abfolution in the mean time, when our Repentance is Imperfect and Unfinished? Will a Prieft Abfolve his Penitent at his firft Confeffion? He may perhaps have done his Penance, but as yet he hardly hath begun his Courfe of Newnefs of Life. Then if he trips or falls again, he is Abfolved again; and thefe proceedings are repeated again and again; can any Priest think really in his heart, that every one of thefe Abfolutions fully Pardon'd him and clear'd him from all his Sins to the very moment when they were given? Shall not the fearcher of all Hearts call him to another account at the great Day? What then doth thefe petty Abfolutions fignify now? Chryfoftom's method is far otherwife. A Penitent may all along repair to his Spiritual Father, and acquaint him with his prefent Condition, how he goes on in his new Courfe of Amendment and Obedience; and may receive his conftant Directions and Prayers to Almighty God, not only for his Affiftance to him in this great Work of Repentance, but also for his Pardon and Abfolution at the laft Day. This fort of treating a Penitent is plainly prescribed by the Primitive Fathers and by Christ himself, and is very c. 30. intelligible and obvious to every Pious and well confidering Man; But for the T. p. 320. Prieft, time after time, to Abfolve him, that is, Pardon him and Forgive him all his then paft Sins and Trefpaffes against God; and that only upon his own Narration or Confeffion (for the Priest knows nothing of the matter more then this,) I fay this feems to me as abfurd as if a Steward fhould in the name of his Mafter give Acquittances and full Difcharges to the Tenants meerly upon their own word, when he knows nothing either of the real Rents which they are to pay; or of the Repairs which are done or ought to have been done; or of what Deductions and Allowances are to be made; the Landlord having the Leafe lockt up and fecretly kept and known only to himself; will not a wife Master or Landlord in fuch a cafe ftrictly examine the whole Account himself, and never allow what his ignorant Steward hath carelefily done. 1. 4. dift. 17. T. p. 321. It is the Doctrine and Custom of the Latins, that a Penitent having confest a Sin and been once Abfolved from it, need not any more repeat that Confeffion to his Confeffor. It was the Opinion of their grand Mafter of the Senten ces, Sufficit ubi crimen occultum eft Soli Deo per Sacerdotem dicere, & femel. §. F. When a Sin is hidden, or fecret, it is enough to tell it to God alone by a Prieft, and that once; and it is alfo in their Catechifin as I have mention'd p. 266. it before. I pray God many Thousands do not split upon this blind Rock; and when they are once Abfolved by the Priest, with the Adulterous Woman they do not Eat and Drink fecurely and wipe their Mouth and say, we have done no Wickedness. I am fure moft are perfwaded that then all is well, and they never think of it more. I remember at Rome on an Eafterday feveral of us Proteftants were met together, and one of our Countrymen, (a Papift but a very honourable Gentleman) came in and in a very odd kind of droling yet feemingly ferious way he faid, Well, good People, I am grieved at my very heart to think that fo many Sweet, good natured, worthy Perfons, fhould die in their Sins and go to the Devil as Heriticks; I blefs God I have been Confeft and done my Penance in Lent, and have been Abfolved, and have this day eaten the Lord's Body, and am now as free from all my Sins, as I was at the day of my Birth. A pleasant Friend of his more intimate acquaintance, faid, well, well, honeft Lad, it is ten to one but will begin a new fcore in a day or two; Quoth he, it you be may fo, but in our Church we have a Remedy for that, for want of which you are all loft. It is plain that he had not fet Penitent David's example before him, Repeating the acknowledgment of his Sins, da zavròs, again and again continually; I much queftion whether his Abfolution and his Eating the Passover that day had quite Purg'd out the old Leaven of Sin. Chryfoftom's method of Confeffion plainly tends to the main end, the Purging Heb. 9. 14 of Mens Confciences from dead works to ferve the living God; But the way of the Latins is a mcer Opiate to lull them afleep; Their cafing of them only for the prefent muft certainly either harden them, or make them careless, and feemingly fecure, crying to themfelves Peace, Peace, when, God knows, there is no Peace. Befides all this, their Confeffions and Abfolutions are too too often made a meer Jeft or piece of Mockery; I am very loath too much to discover the blots of an Enemy, (as a great Man hath Phrafed it) Sandy's Survey. yet I must take leave to relate one paffage more amongst many others which I could add of my own knowledge. Some Priefts of my Acquaintance, in the Carnival, had been all night, Fratres in Malo, Companions in Lewdness and Debauchery; but notwithstanding this, next Morning they all went, and, as ufual, faid every one their Mafs very Devoutly; An hour after a Gentleman in our Company flightly but merrily told them of it; Oh! faid one of them. (by way of Excufe,) but we firft Confeft and Abfolved our felves, before we went to the Altar; and there it ended. I fuppofe they meant the formal and mutual Confeffion and Abfolution of the Priests, which they have prefcribed, In the Order of the Mafs, before they go to fay it. 1 fhall 1. Cor. 5. 7. Edit. Ant. 1635. P. 255. |