"Isserninus, which is as followeth

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A Christian

"who hath killed a man, or committed fornication, or gone unto a soothsayer after the manner of the "Gentiles, for every of those crimes shall do a year "of penance; when his year of penance is accomplished he shall come with witnesses, and after"wards he shall be absolved by the priest.' Usher " contends, however, for their having in so far "differed from the belief of the present Catholics, "that they did not attribute to the priest any more "than a ministerial power in the remission of sins."

Whatever is important here may be examined in connection with this note, which contains the penitential canon alluded to. Besides that we have had enough of "The Lives of the Saints," they are of no importance to us in this place, because of their date; and it is quite impossible to follow them up with any research, on account of the very general manner in which you have quoted them.

Your alleged acknowledgment by Usher requires, as in other instances of his admissions brought forward by you, to be set out at length, in order that its true nature may fully appear. You have coupled his admission with the old penitential canon, but you have entirely withheld his opening out of the true ancient meanings attached to confessions, to penances, and to absolutions. I cannot better remedy this evil, or correct this error or mis-statement, than by transcribing, from the chapter which you have referred to, the entire of what he has written upon the subject; observing only, that as it embodies a

reference to our mutually acknowledged authorities, I shall, by transcribing from him, give also what they allege, and thus be saved the necessity of intruding on your time by a separate reference to each of them.

His words are these "Upon special occasions "they did, no doubt, both PUBLICLY AND PRI"VATELY make confession of their faults; as well "that they might receive counsailes and direction for "their recovery, as that they might bee made par"takers of the benefit of the keys, for the quieting "of their troubled consciences." I shall refer to the original for some instances given in this place, in order that I may not unnecessarily encumber this extract-" Now the counsell," he thus proceeds, "commonly given unto the penitent after confession 66 was, that he should wipe away his sinnes by meet "fruits of repentance-(Confessa dignis PÆNITEN"TIE* fructibus abstergerent'-Bed. Ec. Hist. lib. "4. c. 27,) which course, Bede observeth, to have "been usually prescribed by our Cuthbert. For penances were then exacted, as testimonies of the sincerity of that INWARD REPENTANCE, which was necessarily required for obtaining remission of the "sinne; and so had reference to the taking away the

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* I might well have questioned the propriety of the use of the word penance as a translation of the word pœnitentia, in every place in which it occurs throughout this argument; and it should be remembered that all the writers from whom we quote wrote in Latin; but I shall not encumber the discussion with this worn-out matter, but acquiesce the rather in the use of the term penance, as Usher has done so in his arguments.

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guilt, and not of the TEMPORALL PUNISHMENT "remaining after the forgivenesse of the guilt, which "is the NEW FORMED use of penances invented

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by our later Romanists." He then produces the example of the old penitential canon, in the words which you have correctly and fully quoted, and proceeds thus: "These Bishops did take order, (we "see,) according to the discipline generally used in "those times, that the penance should first be per"formed, and when long and good proofe had bin given, by that means, of the truth of the parties repentance, they wished the priest to impart unto "him the benefit of absolution; whereas, by the new "device of sacramental penance, the matter is now "far more easily transacted: by virtue of the keyes "the sinner is instantly of attrite made contrite, and "thereupon, as soon as hee hath made his confession, "he presently receiveth his absolution: after this

some sorry PENANCE is imposed, which, upon "better consideration, may bee converted into PENCE, "and so a quicke end is made of many a foule "businesse.

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"But for the right use of the keys, wee fully accord "with Claudius: that the office of remitting and retaining sinnes, which was given to the apostles, 'is now, in the bishops and priests, committed unto "every church; namely, that having taken knowledge of the causes of such as have sinned, as many

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as they shall behold humble and truly penitent, "those they may now with compassion absolve from "the feare of everlasting death; but such as they

"discerne to persist in the sins which they have com"mitted, those they may declare to be bound over to "everlasting punishments.' And, in thus absolving "such as be truly penitent, we willingly yeeld, that "the pastors of God's church doe remit sinnes after "their manner, that is to say, ministerially and improperly; so that the priviledge of forgiving sinnes "properly and absolutely, be still unto God alone. "Which is at large set out by the same Claudius; "when he expoundeth the historie of the man sicke "of the palsey, that was cured by our Saviour in the

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9th of St. Matthew. For, following Bede, upon "that place he writeth thus- The scribes say true, "that none can forgive sinnes but God alone; who "also forgiveth BY THEM to whom hee hath given "the power of forgiving.'"

It is clear, therefore, that in the setting forth of this matter, which rests indeed chiefly in the proper explanation of terms, you have not either done justice to Usher, or to the subject itself. There is a vast difference, surely, between penance as 66 a sacrament," by which " we receive forgiveness of those sins com"mitted after baptism," (Catec. R. C. pa. 52;) and by the performance of which "we satisfy God;" and between auricular or sacramental confession made to the priest alone-all doctrines of the modern Romish church-and the penitential discipline enjoined by the old Irish canon ; the " coram omnibus qui ibidem “erant peccata sua confessus est"-" he confessed his "sins before all that were present,"-mentioned in Adamnan's Life of St. Columbkille, (lib. i. c. 16;)

and the declaration of the sinner's absolution there also recorded—“Rise up, son, and be comforted; thy "sins which thou hast committed are forgiven; be46 cause, as it is written, a contrite and humbled heart "God doth not despise."

Two unquestionable authorities still remain to demonstrate, that not only the Roman Catholic use of

confession, but other doctrines upon which you have

not touched, were unknown to, or else quite neglected by, the Irish church, even so late as the year 1140, about which time St. Malachy was Archbishop of Armagh-St. Bernard, in his life of that prelate, (c. 6.) distinctly asserts this fact. The other is to be found among the Letters of Alcuinus, (Ep. 71, edit. Quercitani.) This learned Irishman, and friend of Charlemagne, addressing the churches of the Scots(certainly some read it, of the Goths)-gives to both clergy and laity great praise; notwithstanding certain customs which were practised by them, to wit, that none of the laity were willing to make confession to the priests" Neminem ex laicis velle confessionem "sacerdotibus dare."

But upon this subject, penance, as upon that of pilgrimages, I have again to lament, that by the stamp of approbation which you have thoughtlessly put upon the practice of penances in Ireland, you conduce, as far as your influence lies, to do injury which it is not in the power of your talents to repair. If, as I have said before, you had ever witnessed, if you had ever read of, if you had reflected on, the degradations of the human intellect, the perversions of the human