incense, or any spiritual oblation, and so it is rendered in the Holy Bible. Now both sacrifice and incense are figuratively used in the word of God to denote a purely spiritual oblation. “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of mine hands, as the evening sacrifice;" the Psalmist (Ps. exli. 2.) here speaks of the incense and sacrifice of prayer; why, therefore, must the word here be understood as alluding to a proper expiatory sacrifice? In Rev. v. 8. we read; "the four-and-twenty elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints." By odours we are to understand incense, which is a sweet perfume, and signifies that the prayers of the saints are sweet and acceptable to God. But wherever Christ has a church," from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof," there the "pure offering," and the "incense" of prayer ascend to the mercy seat; so that this prophecy is literally fulfilled, even though we repudiate the mass, as an unbloody ABOMINATION!

CHAPTER XXXIX.

TREATISE CONCERNING THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.

APPROBATION.

Many truly excellent theologians have hitherto thoroughly discussed the matter of the Sacrament of Penance, according to rule; so that it might appear superfluous to submit it again to the press. They have indeed proposed principles and foundations; but (saving their peace be it spoken,) the most of them have insisted on speculation rather than on practice. The venerable and most learned D. Archpresbyter, President of the Archepiscopal Seminary," (PETER DENS,) "being especially solicitous to train for pastoral duties, the theologians committed to his care, insists upon practice more than speculation. And therefore retrenching very many questions of little utility, he teaches the way by which his pupils may be able to lead to true penitence. Turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, and hence avoiding on the one hand, the rocks of Scylla, of too great severity, and on the other, the Charybdis of undue indulgence, he pursues the middle way, or the safe path of salvation, and insists steadfastly upon the

doctrine of holy mother Church, and the decrees of the apostolic See ; and according to his own and my judgment, whatever he has written or said, he submits entirely to the censorship of the supreme Vicars, of the same holy Mother, and of Christ. In reliance, therefore, upon these foundations, I think without hesitation, that this treatise on penance, and the other connected topics, will be worthy of the public light, and profitable to the readers. Mechlin, September 18th, 1758. "J. F. FOPPENS,

"S. T. L. Metropol. Mechl. Eccl. Canon. Grad. et Archidiac. Libr. Censor."

PREFACE.

DECREE OF THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE, FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE ARMENIANS.

"The fourth sacrament is penance, of which the acts of the penitent are, as it were, the matter, and these are distinguished into three parts; of which the first is, contrition of heart; to which pertains, that he be sorry for the sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning in future. The second is, the confession of the mouth; to which pertains, that the sinner confess entirely to his priest, all the sins of which he has any recollection. The third is, satisfaction for the sins according to the judgment of the priest; which, indeed, is made principally through prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. The words of absolution, which the priest pronounces, when he says, I absolve thee, &c., are the form of this sacrament. The minister of this sacrament, is the priest having either the ordinary authority of absolving, or by the commission of a superior. The effect of this sacrament is absolution from sins."

Canons of the Council of Trent, concerning Penance.

"1. Whoever shall say that penance in the Catholic Church, is not truly and properly a sacrament for the reconciliation of the faithful to God, as often as they fall into sins after baptism, instituted by Christ our Lord; let him be accursed!

"2. Whoever confounding the sacraments, shall say, that baptism itself is the sacrament of penance, as if these two sacraments were not distinct, and that, therefore, penance is not rightly termed, a second plank after shipwreck; let him be accursed!

"3. Whoever shall say, that those words of the Lord and Saviour: Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained: are not to be understood of the power of remitting and retaining sins in the

sacrament of penance, as the Catholic Church has always understood, from the beginning: but shall falsely apply them against the institution of this sacrament, to the authority of preaching the gospel; let him be accursed!

“4. Whoever shall deny, that three acts are required in the penitent for the entire and perfect remission of sins, constituting, as it were, the matter of the sacrament of penance, viz: contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which are called the three parts of penance; or shall say, that only two are parts of penance, to wit: the terrors by which the conscience is smitten by the sense of sin, and faith, produced by the gospel, or by absolution, whereby the person believes that his sins have been remitted to him by Christ; let him be accursed!

"5. Whoever shall affirm, that the contrition, which is produced by examination, enumeration, and detestation of sins, by which any one recounts his years in the bitterness of his soul, pondering the weight, multitude, and baseness of his offences, the loss of eternal happiness, and the desert of eternal damnation, with a resolution of leading a better life, is not true and profitable sorrow, and does not prepare for grace, but makes a man a hypocrite and a greater sinner, and that it is only a forced sorrow, and not free and voluntary; let him be accursed!

"6. Whoever shall deny that sacramental confession has either been instituted by divine command, or is necessary to salvation; or shall say that the mode of secretly confessing to a priest alone, which the Catholic Church always has observed from the beginning, and still observes, is foreign from the institution and command of Christ, and is a human invention; let him be accursed!

"7. Whoever shall affirm, that in the sacrament of penance, it is not necessary by divine command, for the remission of sins, to confess all and every mortal sin, of which recollection may be had, with due and diligent premeditation, including secret offences, and those which are against the two last precepts of the decalogue, and the circumstances which change the species of sin: but that this confession is useful only for the instruction and consolation of the penitent, and was anciently observed, only as a canonical satisfaction imposed upon him: or shall say, that they who endeavour to confess all their sins, wish to leave nothing for the divine mercy to pardon; or finally, that it is not proper to confess venial sins; let him be accursed!

"8. Whoever shall say, that the confession of all sins, such as the Church observes, is impossible, and that it is a human tradition, to be abolished by the pious; or that all and every one of Christ's faithful,

of both sexes, are not bound to observe it once in the year, according to the constitution of the great Lateran council, and that for this reason, Christ's faithful should be advised not to confess in the time of let him be accursed!

Lent;

"9. Whoever shall say, that the sacramental absolution of the priest is not a judicial act, but a mere ministry to pronounce and declare, that sins are remitted to the person making confession, provided that he only believes that he is absolved, even though the priest should not absolve seriously, but in joke; or shall say, that the confession of a penitent is not requisite, in order that the priest may absolve him; let him be accursed!

“10. Whoever shall say, that priests who are living in mortal sin do not possess the power of binding and loosing; or that the priests are not the only ministers of absolution, but that it was said to all and every one of Christ's faithful: Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven; and whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained: by virtue of which words, any one may forgive sin; public sins, by reproof only, if the offender shall acquiesce; and private sins, by voluntary confession; let him be accursed!

"11. Whoever shall say that bishops have not the right of reserving cases to themselves, except such as relate to the external polity of the Church, and therefore that the reservation of cases does not hinder the priest from truly absolving from reserved cases; let him be accursed!

“12. Whoever shall say that the whole penalty, together with the guilt, is always remitted by God, and that the satisfaction of penitents is nothing else than the faith by which they apprehend that Christ has satisfied for them; let him be accursed!

"13. Whoever shall say that satisfaction is by no means made to God, through Christ's merits, for sins as to their temporal penalty, by punishments inflicted by him, and patiently borne, or enjoined by the priests, though not undergone voluntarily, as fastings, prayers, alms, or also other works of piety, and therefore that the best penance is nothing more than a new life; let him be accursed!

"14. Whoever shall say that the satisfactions by which penitents redeem themselves from sin through Jesus Christ, are no part of the service of God, but traditions of men, obscuring the doctrine concerning grace, and the true worship of God, and the actual benefit of Christ's death; let him be accursed!

"15. Whoever shall say that the keys of the Church were given

only for loosing, not also for binding, and that therefore, the priests when they impose punishments upon those who confess, act against the design of the keys, and contrary to the institution of Christ; and that it is a fiction, that when by virtue of the keys the eternal penalty has been removed, the temporal punishment may still often remain to be suffered; let him be accursed!"

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Penance is defined as a sacrament of the new law, by which absolution of sins is given by a priest having jurisdiction, to baptized persons who have relapsed, are contrite, and have made confession." This sacrament is known by various names; the Council of Trent terms it, the second plank after shipwreck; and it is also commonly called confession, from its material part. (No. 1.)

It is PROVED to be a sacrament, 1. From the Councils of Florence and of Trent, by which an anathema is inflicted on all who deny that penance is a sacrament. And 2. From the words of Christ; Receive the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven to them, and whose ye retain they are retained. John xx. 22. In which words Christ designated all things that are essential for the sacrament of penance; he designated the minister, when he conceded this power to the apostles only, whom he addressed; the form of the sacrament is indicated in the words, you shall forgive, by which is intimated that the remission should be effected by the words of the priest; the remote matter is expressed by the word, sins, contrition, or the disposition is insinuated by the fact that the sins of some penitents are to be forgiven, but of others to be retained; lastly, the confession of every sin in particular is taught by this, that the priests are there constituted judges; for it is entrusted to their judgment to remit or retain all sins; but now no one can be a judge in a case that is unknown to him; therefore he ought to know the offences; but he cannot become acquainted with them except through the sinner's own confession; because the sinner alone knows the offences, inasmuch as they are in his conscience; therefore his confession is requisite in order that the confessor may judge of the of fences as they are in the sinner's conscience. To the objection that God alone can forgive sins, the reply is made that God alone can remit principally, and by his own authority; but the priests forgive ministerially. (No. 2.)