ment of repentance; by which the benefit of the death of Christ is applied to those who have fallen into sin after baptism. Repentance, indeed, was at all times necessary for all men, who are stained with any mortal sin, in order to the obtaining grace and justification, even for those who should seek to be washed by the sacrament of baptism, that casting aside and amending their perverseness, they might, with hatred of sin, and pious grief of mind, detest such great offence of God: wherefore the prophet saith, "Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, and iniquity shall not be your ruin.” The Lord also said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." And the prince of the Apostles, Peter, recommending repentance to sinners, who were to be initiated in baptism, said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you." Moreover, repentance was no sacrament before the coming of

licet, pœnitentiæ; quo lapsis post baptismum beneficium mortis Christi applicatur. Fuit quidem pœnitentia universis hominibus, qui se mortali aliquo peccato inquinassent, quovis tempore ad gratiam et justitiam assequendam necessaria, illis etiam qui baptismi sacramento ablui petivissent, ut perversitate abjecta et emendata, tantam Dei offensionem, cum peccati odio, et pio animi dolore detestarentur: unde propheta ait, "Convertimini, et agite pœnitentiam ab omnibus iniquitatibus vestris, et non erit vobis in ruinam iniquitas." Dominus etiam dixit, “Nisi pœnitentiam egeritis, omnes similiter peribitis." Et princeps Apostolorum, Petrus, peccatoribus baptismo initiandis, pœnitentiam commendans, dicebat, "Pœnitentiam agite, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum." Porro nec ante adventum Christi pœnitentia

Christ, nor since His coming, to any one before baptism. But the Lord then chiefly instituted the sacrament of repentance when, after being raised from the dead, He breathed on His disciples, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." The consent of all the Fathers has always understood that by this remarkable action, and these plain words, the power of remitting and retaining sins, in order to reconcile the faithful who have lapsed after baptism, was communicated to the apostles and their lawful successors: and when formerly the Novatians pertinaciously denied the power of remission, the Catholic Church, with great reason, rejected and condemned them as heretics. Wherefore this holy Synod approving and receiving this most true meaning of those words of the Lord, condemns the lying inter

erat sacramentum, nec est post adventum illius cuiquam ante baptismum. Dominus autem sacramentum pœnitentiæ tunc præcipuè instituit, cum a mortuis excitatus, insufflavit in discipulos suos, dicens, "Accipite Spiritum Sanctum; quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis; et quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt." Quo tam insigni facto, et verbis tam perspicuis, potestatem remittendi et retinendi peccata, ad reconciliandos fideles, post baptismum lapsos, Apostolis et eorum legitimis successoribus fuisse communicatam, universorum Patrum consensus semper intellexit et Novatianos, remittendi potestatem olim pertinaciter negantes, magna ratione Ecclesia Catholica, tamquam hæreticos, explosit atque condemnavit. Quare verissimum hune illorum verborum Domini sensum sancta hæc Synodus probans

pretations of those who falsely misapply those words to the power of preaching the word of God, and announcing the Gospel of Christ, against the institution of this sacrament.

et recipiens, damnat eorum commentitias interpretationes, qui verba illa ad potestatem prædicandi verbum Dei, et Christi Evangelium annuntiandi, contra hujusmodi sacramenti institutionem, falso detorquent.

CHAPTER II.-Of the difference between the Sacrament of Baptism and that of Repentance.

But this sacrament is discerned to differ in many ways from baptism; for besides that the matter and form, by which the essence of the sacrament is effected, are very far from agreeing, it plainly appears, that the minister of baptism need not be a judge, since the Church exercises no judgment upon any one who has not first entered it by the gate of baptism. "For what have I to do," saith the apostle, "to judge them that are without?"

Caput II. De differentia Sacramenti Pœnitentiæ et Baptismi.

Cæterum hoc sacramentum multis rationibus a baptismo differre dignoscitur; nam præterquam quod materia et forma, quibus sacramenti essentia perficitur, longissime dissidet, constat certe, baptismi ministrum judicem esse non oportere, cum Ecclesia in neminem judicium exerceat, qui non prius in ipsam per baptismi januam fuerit ingressus. "Quid enim mihi," inquit Apostolus, "de iis, qui foris sunt, judicare?" Secus est de

But it is otherwise concerning the servant of faith, whom the Lord Christ has once made members of His body, by the laver of baptism; for if these shall afterwards pollute themselves with any crime, He did not wish them to be cleansed by a repetition of baptism, since that may by no means be allowed in the Catholic Church, but to be placed as guilty persons before this tribunal, that by the sentence of the priests they may be released from their sins, not once only, but as often as they shall fly to it in repentance. Again, the fruit of baptism differs from the fruit of repentance; by baptism when we put on Christ, we are made altogether a new creature in Him, obtaining a full and entire remission of all our sins; to which newness and integrity we can by no means arrive by the sacrament of repentance, without much tears and labours on our part, which the divine justice demands: so that repentance is well

domesticis fidei, quos Christus Dominus lavacro baptismi sui corporis membra semel effecit; nam hos, si se postea crimine aliquo contaminaverint, non jam repetito baptismo ablui, cum id in Ecclesia Catholica nulla ratione liceat, sed ante hoc tribunal, tamquam reos sisti voluit, ut per sacerdotum sententiam non semel, sed quoties ab admissis peccatis ad ipsum pœnitentes confugerint, possent liberari. Alius præterea est baptismi, est alius pœnitentiæ fructus; per baptismum enim Christum induentes, nova prorsus in illo efficimur creatura, plenam et integram peccatorum omnium remissionem consequentes; ad quam tamen novitatem et integritatem per sacramentum pœnitentiæ, sine magnis nostris fletibus et laboribus, divina id exigente justitia, pervenire nequaquam possumus: ut merito pœnitentia laboriosus

styled by some of the holy Fathers a laborious kind of baptism. But this sacrament of repentance is necessary for salvation to them who have lapsed after baptism, as baptism itself is to them who are not yet regenerate.

quidam baptismus a sanctis Patribus dictus fuerit. Est autem hoc sacramentum pœnitentiæ lapsis post baptismum ad salutem necessarium, ut nondum regeneratis ipse baptismus.

CHAPTER III.—Of the Parts and Fruits of this Sacrament.

Moreover, the holy Synod teacheth, that the form of the sacrament of repentance in which its chief force consists, is contained in those words of the minister, "I absolve thee," &c. To which, indeed, according to the custom of holy Church, certain admirable prayers are added; but these by no means affect the essence of the form itself, nor are they necessary for the administration of the sacrament. But, by way of the matter of this sacrament, there

Caput III.-De Partibus et Fructibus hujus Sacramenti. Docet præterea sancta Synodus, sacramenti pœnitentiæ formam, in qua præcipue ipsius vis sita est, in illis ministri verbis positam esse, "Ego te absolvo," &c. Quibus quidem de Ecclesiæ sanctæ more preces quædam laudabiliter adjunguntur; ad ipsius tamen formæ essentiam nequaquam spectant, neque ad ipsius sacramenti administrationem sunt necessariæ. Sunt autem quasi