To this end it prefixes to the daily offices of morning and evening prayer, as they were in the book of 1549, a form of confession for all the congregation, followed by a public "absolution to be pronounced by the minister alone;" both the confession and absolution intended, as St. Basil said of the like portions of the service in the early days, to be applied by each of those present "to his own repentance."

And that there might be no doubt as to either the intent of these offices or their efficacy, the minister is directed to begin the service with certain appointed words of Holy Scripture declaring the Divine offers of forgiveness on the repentance of any sinner, and after that to read to them an exhortation which sets forth the mind and teaching of the Church on the import and full sufficiency of the confession and Divine promise of pardon which are to follow, if accompanied in the worshiper with "an humble, penitent and obedient heart."

And the chief object of the exhortation beginning "dearly beloved," etc., is not, as we are often told, to give us a little sermon on the duty and benefits of attending church; these are alluded to in a casual way, indeed, in the course of the exhortation; but its pervading purpose, as will be evident on a careful reading, is to declare in the most unmistakable and authoritative manner that the only confession that man in his ordinary life requires is to Almighty God" alone; that this may be done anywhere and in any mode; but nowhere is it more effectual than when we are assembled as His children in His Church; then ought we "chiefly so to do;" and

when we have with fitting repentance so confessed them there, we there "obtain forgiveness of the same by His infinite goodness and mercy." The whole tenor of this declaration is to assert, upon the basis of Holy Scripture, the efficiency of confession to God alone; and the absolution that follows it enforces this assurance by its declaration that as "God hath given power and commandment to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His people the absolution and remission of their sins," so "He (God) pardoneth and absolveth all them which truly repent and unfeignedly believe His Holy Gospel." Hence there is no necessity for priestly absolution as a private act, nor any call for "sacramental confession," as either a teaching of the Bible or a doctrine of the Church of England. She has not only avoided all reference to it as means of the needed discipline of the Christian life, but has placed in the very fore-front of her daily prayers for all time her declaration that the Church's authorized provision in her public service is abundantly sufficient for all the Christian's ordinary needs.

In the book of 1552, the form "I absolve thee," in the Office for Visitation of the Sick, etc., as given in the revision of 1549, is still retained, but with one extremely significant change in the Rubric. The office of 1549, referring to the confession of the sick person, adds, "and the same form of absolution shall be used in all private confessions;" these words are omitted in the Rubric of 1552 and in all the later revisions; and in all the forms of "The Visitation," etc., from 1549 down, the confession of the sick, like that referred to in the Communion office, is presented

as something only desirable in peculiar and exceptional cases. In the words of Mr. Blunt (" Annotated Prayer Book," p. 284): "The Church interposes a con"dition, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter,' which implies that only in special cases, even in sickness, is confession to be urged as "absolutely necessary to the health of the soul."

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There were some slight changes made in the language of the Visitation office in the several revisions from 1549 to 1662; but with the exception of the significant omission of all reference to "other private confessions" already noticed, there was no important modification of the form as given in the first Book of Edward VI.

But when the American Convention of 1789 came to deal with this subject, it made very important and most suggestive alterations in all the forms wherein confession had been mentioned in the English revisions, and all these changes were in the direction of a more thorough obliteration of what Bishop Hopkins calls "the novel additions" of the Middle Age theory (p. 241, "History of the Confessional"), and a nearer return to the primitive and Scriptural teachings on confession, etc., than had been made in the English Prayer Book.

In the warning to come worthily prepared to the Communion the words "benefit of absolution" of the English form are rejected, leaving only "that he may receive such godly counsel and advice," etc., etc. The formula, "I absolve thee," etc., and all that is connected with it, are removed from the Visitation office; while in the daily order the ancient form of a prayer,

the same as given in the Communion service, is added as an alternative to the form of the English book, and the title of the latter is changed from "The Absolution," etc., to "The Declaration of Absolution, etc., to be made by the priest alone."

The character and undoubtedly the intention of all these changes was, in connection with the historical facts," a plain condemnation by our Church of auricular confession coupled with and to obtain absolution.” As has been abundantly shown, private sacramental absolution was unknown to the primitive Church; the power of absolving as an inherent function of the priesthood unheard of for centuries; the necessity of confessing to a priest at all was not imposed as a law until 1215, and the form of authoritative absolution not introduced into the West until nearly twelve hundred years after Christ, nor is it used in the Churches of the East even to-day. All these concur to prove that every change made in this matter by our offices is a nearer return to the primitive doctrine and primitive practice than the corresponding portions of the English services; hence we may truly say of the whole system of "sacramental confession," which these parts of the English book are sometimes distorted to uphold, with Bishop Hopkins (p. 48), "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States has wisely

"The Ritual Law of the Church," by Murray Hoffman, p. 59.

2 Of the references to confession for the obtaining of absolution in the English book, Bishop Hopkins says, p. 267: "In vain shall we endeavor to defend (its introduction into our Church) by the authority of our venerable mother, because she only permitted it under peculiar circumstances, when earnestly desired by the laity themselves, and never recommended, much less urged it."

omitted every trace of this abuse, and I rejoice that she has done so" (p. 269); "It was most wisely left out of our ecclesiastical system, and never can be grafted on it hereafter." Indeed, I cannot better conclude the whole subject than in his wise and weighty summary: "No mistake could be more fatal than to imagine that "the apathy and worldliness of the age may be removed "by urging men to confess their sins to us, and giving "them our private absolution. The remedy would

prove worse than the disease. Neither have we any "right to arrogate the prerogative of improving the "original plan of discipline." "The spirit of inno"vation is the spirit of the age, and we may be well "content to let it have its full range elsewhere, but we "may not suffer it to touch the work of our redemp"tion" (p. 271). "Let us be devoutly thankful to that almighty Saviour whose precious providence has re"stored to us, whole and undefiled, our Apostolic heri"tage" (p. 272).

The historical evidence shows clearly that we have preserved in this, as in our Liturgy and daily services, all that was essential, both in doctrine and form, of "the faith once for all delivered to the saints," and hence, that in all the great lines of Church life and Church order, the Eucharist, the Common Prayer of the people, and the means of discipline of the soul, our Prayer Book has returned in all that was fundamental, to the truths of Scripture, as these were received from Christ by the Apostles, and as they were embodied and handed on by the Church, which these chosen men -filled with His Spirit-founded and taught in His

name.