burg, arrived at Trent. They were instructed to present the confession of faith prepared by Brentius, and to demand a safe-conduct for the divines, who were ready to enter the lists with their Roman-catholic opponents as soon as that document should be received. In the following month they were joined by the ambassadors from Strasburg and five other cities; among them was Sleidan, the celebrated historian. As they all engaged to act in concert, and refused the offer of a private audience with the legate, lest it should be construed into a recognition of the Pope's authority, their arrival was regarded with no small anxiety and alarm. In reply to a letter sent to the pontiff, his holiness instructed the legate to take particular care that the papal authority should not be infringed; to avoid mild measures and temporizing expedients ; if necessary, to transfer or dissolve the council, the odium of which measure he [the Pope] undertook to bear; to propose as many doctrinal questions as possible, partly that the Lutherans might despair of any accommodation without subjection to the council, and partly to furnish employment to the prelates, and prevent them from thinking on reform.* If he found himself compelled to yield to the bishops, in regard to the increase of their authority, he might do so, after having resisted as long as possible; because, should anything be done prejudicial to the interests of the court of Rome, it would be easy to restore things afterwards to their former state, if the papal authority were preserved uninjured.† The fourteenth session was held November 25. The decisions of the council on the subject of penance were expressed in the following terms :— 66 Although in the decree concerning justification many observations on the sacrament of penance were necessarily * Sarpi, lib. iv. s. 28. Vargas bears similar testimony. It was too evident to be unobserved, that the legate purposely protracted the doctrinal discussions, in order to abridge the deliberations on reform. "Tout cela n'est qu'un jeu premédité. Le concile ne peut rien faire par lui mesme. On l'a depouillé de son autorité. Il n'y a point de liberté. Le Légat est le maitre, il tient tout dans sa main."-Vargas, p. 203. "It is a surprising thing," said Vargas, "that God's affairs go on so badly. No one is on his side, no one dares speak for him. We are all dumb dogs, that cannot bark.". C'est une chose surprenante, que les affaires de introduced, on account of the connexion of the subjects; nevertheless, such is the multitude and variety of errors promulgated in our times on that point, that it will greatly tend to the public welfare to give a more exact and full explanation thereof, by which, through the assistance of the Holy Spirit, all errors may be exposed and eradicated, and the Catholic truth rendered more clear and illustrious: which explanation the sacred, holy, œcumenical, and universal Council of Trent, lawfully assembled, &c. doth now propound to all Christians, to be by them ever preserved. "CHAP. I. Of the necessity and institution of the sacrament of penance. "If, in all the regenerate, there were such gratitude to God that they always kept the righteousness received by his goodness and grace in baptism, there would have been no need to institute another sacrament for the remission of sins, besides baptism. But since God, who is rich in mercy, knoweth our frame, he hath provided a saving remedy for those who yield themselves again to the slavery of sin, and the power of the devil; namely, the sacrament of penance, whereby the benefits of the death of Christ are applied to those who sin after baptism.* Now, in order to obtain grace and righteousness, penance was always necessary for all men who had defiled themselves with mortal sin, even for those who sought to be Dieu se fassent si mal. Il n'y a personne qui se déclare pour lui, et qui ose parler. Nous sommes tous des chiens muets, canes muti non valentes latrare.” P. 247. *The word "penance" is used by Roman-catholic writers in a twofold sense:-1." Interior sorrow of heart" on account of sin; this is " penance as a virtue,” and it “consists in turning to God sincerely and from the heart, and in hating and detesting our past transgressions with a firm resolution of amendment of life, hoping to obtain pardon through the mercy of God." 2. "Exterior indication of such sorrow;" this is external penance, or the sacrament of penance; and it "consists of certain sensible things, significant of that which passes interiorly in the soul.” . . . . “ Pronouncing upon his own actions, every man has reason to question the accuracy of his own judgment, and hence, on the sincerity of interior penance, the mind must be held in anxious suspense. To calm this our solicitude, the Redeemer instituted the sacrament of penance, in which we cherish a well-founded hope that our sins are forgiven us by the absolution of the priest; and the faith which we justly have in the efficacy of the sacraments has much influence in tranquillizing the washed in the sacrament of baptism, that, renouncing and amending their perverseness, they might regard so great offences against God with utmost abhorrence and hatred, and pious grief of mind. Whence the prophet saith, Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin.' (Ezek. xviii. 30.) The Lord also said, 'Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.' (Luke xiii. 5.) And Peter, the prince of the apostles, recommending penance to those sinners who were about to be initiated by baptism, said, 'Do penance, and be baptized every one of you.' (Acts ii. 38.) Yet penance was not a sacrament before the coming of Christ, nor since his coming is it a sacrament to any before baptism. But the Lord specially instituted the sacrament of penance, when, after his resurrection, he breathed on his disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.' (John xx. 22, 23.) By this remarkable action, and by these express words, as the fathers have by universal consent always understood the same, the power of forgiving and retaining sins, in order to reconcile the faithful who have sinned after baptism, was communicated to the apostles and their lawful successors; and the Catholic church hath, with good reason, rejected and condemned as heretics the Novatians, who obstinately deny the power of forgiving.* Wherefore this holy synod, approving and receiving the above most evident sense of those words of our Lord, condemns the troubled conscience, and giving peace to the soul. The voice of the priest, who is legitimately constituted a minister for the remission of sins, is to be heard as that of Christ himself, who said to the lame man, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee."" ..... "Moreover, as salvation is unattainable but through Christ and the merits of his passion, the institution of this sacrament was in itself accordant to the views of divine wisdom, and pregnant with blessings to the Christian. Penance is the channel through which the blood of Christ flows into the soul, washes away the stains contracted after baptism, and calls forth from us the grateful acknowledgment, that to the Saviour alone we are indebted for the blessing of a reconciliation with God."-Catechism, pp. 253-257. * The Novatians first appeared in the third century. They held that those who had lapsed in the time of persecution were not to be restored to the fellowship of the church, although they did not deny the possibility of their repentance and final salvation. vain interpretations of those persons who falsely restrict them to the power of preaching the word of God and publishing the gospel of Christ, in opposition to the institution of this sacra ment.* "CHAP. II. Of the difference between the sacrament of "But this sacrament is known to differ from baptism in many respects. For besides that the matter and form in which the essence of a sacrament consists, are exceedingly different, it is very plain that the minister of baptism cannot be a judge, since the church exercises judgment only on those who have first entered into her by the gate of baptism. For what have I to do,' saith the apostle, ‘to judge them who are without?' (1 Cor. v. 12.) But it is otherwise with those who are of the household of faith, whom Christ the Lord hath made members of his body in the laver of baptism. For if these afterwards defile themselves by any transgression, it is not his will that they should be cleansed by a repetition of baptism, which is on no account lawful in the Catholic church; but they should be placed as offenders before the tribunal of penance, that they may be absolved by the sentence of the priests, not once only, but as often as they penitently flee thereto, confessing their sins. The fruit of baptism is also different from the fruit of penance; for in baptism we put on Christ and are made new creatures in him, obtaining the full and entire remission of all our sins; but divine justice requires that we should not be able “That penance is a sacrament the pastor will not find it difficult to establish; baptism is a sacrament because it washes away all, particularly original sin; penance also washes away all sins of thought or deed committed after baptism: on the same principle, therefore, penance is a sacrament. Again, and the argument is conclusive, a sacrament is the sign of a sacred thing, and what is done externally, by the priest and penitent, is a sign of what takes place internally, in the soul; the penitent unequivocally expresses, by words and actions, that he has turned away from sin: this is also clearly evinced by these words of the Saviour, ‘I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever sins you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.' The absolution of the priest, which is expressed in words, seals therefore the remission of sins, which it accomplishes in the soul, and thus is penance invested with all the necessary conditions of a sacrament, and is, therefore, truly a sacrament.”—Catechism, p. 257. again to attain this new and perfect state, through the sacrament of penance, without many tears and great efforts, so that penance was deservedly called by the holy fathers a kind of laborious baptism. And the sacrament of penance is as necessary to salvation for those who have sinned after baptism, as baptism itself for the unregenerate.* "CHAP. III. Of the parts and fruit of this sacrament. "The holy council further teaches that the form of the sacrament of penance, in which its power chiefly lies, resides in the words of the minister, 'I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' To which words certain prayers are added, by a laudable custom of holy church; yet they do not belong to the essence of its form, nor are they necessary to the administration of the sacrament itself. Moreover, the acts of the penitent,—namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction,-are the matter, as it were, of this sacrament ;† which, inasmuch as they are required by divine appointment in order to the completeness of the sacrament, and the full and perfect remission of sins, are for this reason called the parts of penance. And, assuredly, the substance and effect of this sacrament, as far as relates to its * "To it belongs, in so special a manner, the efficacy of remitting actual guilt, that without its intervention we cannot obtain or even hope for pardon."-Catechism, p. 261. 6 "When the holy synod says that they are the matter as it were,' it is not because they are not the real matter, but because they are not, like water in baptism, and chrism in confirmation, matter that may be applied externally. With regard to the opinion of some, who hold that the sins themselves constitute the matter of this sacrament, if well weighed, it will not be found to differ from what has been already laid down; we say, that wood which is consumed by fire is the matter of fire; and sins which are destroyed by penance may be also called, with propriety, the matter of penance."-Ibid. p. 258. "To this sacrament it is peculiar that, besides matter and form, which are common to all the sacraments, it has also what are called integral parts of penance, and these integral parts are contrition, confession, and satisfaction. These component parts of penance are such as we say are necessary to constitute a whole. The human form, for instance, is composed of many members, of hands, of feet, of eyes, &c., of which, if any are wanting, man is justly deemed imperfect, and if not, perfect. Analogous to this, penance consists of the three parts which we have already enumerated; and although, as far as |