PENANCE THE SACRAMENT OF.

The Romanists define penance a sacrament, wherein a person, who has the requisite dispositions, receives absolution at the hands of the priest, of all sins committed since baptism. (See Auricular Confe ion , Satisfaction , Purgatory , Absolution .) The Council of Trent (se . 14, can. 1) has expre ly decreed, that every one is accursed who shall affirm that penance is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ in the universal Church, for reconciling those Christians to the Divine majesty who have fallen into sin after baptism; and this sacrament, it is declared, consists of two parts—the matter and the form: the matter is the act of the penitent, including contrition, confe ion, and satisfaction; the form of it is the act of absolution on the part of the priest. Accordingly it is enjoined, that it is the duty of every man, who hath fallen after baptism, to confe his sins once a year, at least, to a priest; that this confe ion is to be secret; for public confe ion is neither commanded nor expedient; and that it must be exact and particular, including every kind and act of sin, with all the circumstances attending it. When the penitent has so done, the priest pronounces an absolution, which is not conditional or declarative only, but absolute and judicial. This secret or auricular confe ion was first decreed and established in the fourth Council of Later an, under Innocent III., in 1215 (cap. 21). And the decree of this council was afterwards confirmed and enlarged in the Council of Florence, and in that of Trent, which ordains that confe ion was instituted by Christ ; that, by the law of God , it is nece ary to salvation, and that it has always been practised in the Christian Church. As for the penances imposed on the penitent by way of satisfaction, they have been commonly the repetition of certain forms of devotion, as Paternosters or Ave-Marias, the payment of stipulated sums, pilgrimages, fasts, or various species of corporeal discipline. But the most formidable penance, in the estimation of many who have belonged to the Roman communion, has been the temporary pains of purgatory. But, under all the penalties which are inflicted or threatened in the Romish Church, it has provided relief by its indulgences, and by its prayers or ma es for the dead, performed profe edly for relieving and rescuing the souls that are detained in purgatory. The reader need scarcely be reminded how entirely opposed all this is to the doctrine of the Church of England. The Church of Rome affirms “penance” to be a “sacrament,” instituted by Christ himself, and secret “confe ion” to be one of its constituent parts, instituted by the Divine law; and she anathematizes those who contradict her:—the Church of England denies “penance” to be a sacrament of the gospel; affirms it to have “grown of the corrupt following of the apostles;” and “not to have” the proper “nature of a sacrament,” as “not having any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God ;” and of course denies the sacramental character of “confe ion.” The Church of Rome pronounces, that, by the Divine law, “all persons” must confe their sins to the priest:—the Church of England limits her provisions for confe ion to “sick persons.” The Church of Rome pronounces that all persons are “bound” to confe :—the Church of England directs, that the sick “be moved” to make confe ion. The Church of Rome insists upon a confe ion of “all sins whatsoever:”—the Church of England recommends “a special confe ion of sins,” if the sick person “feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter.” The Church of Rome represents penance as instituted for reconciling penitents to God “as often as they fall into sin after baptism;” and imposes confe ion “once a year:”—the Church of England advises it on a peculiar occasion. And the purpose of the Church of England in so advising it evidently is the special relief of a troubled conscience: whereas the Church of Rome pronounces it to be “nece ary to forgivene of sin and to salvation;” and denounces with an anathema “any one who shall say, that confe ion is only useful for the instruction and consolation of the penitent.” And let it be observed, in the first place, that as the Church of England, in her Commination Service, speaks of the ancient ordinance of open penance as “a discipline” the restoration of which is “much to be wished,” she hereby recognises the ancient systems e entially different from that of Rome: namely, a public expre ion of sorrow and repentance, to satisfy the congregation, scandalized by the offence; not as a private purchase of indemnity to the individual: and, in the next place, when she uses the word penance , in the second exhortation in the same service, “Seeking to bring forth worthy fruits of penance,” she but quotes the words of John the Baptist, (St. Luke iii. 8,) and thus identifies penance with repentance , μετάνοια , that is, change of mind or heart. So that the outward penance is the mere outward symbol of the inward repentance.