PENANCE.
SACRAMENTS OF RECOVERY.
We deal now with the two last Sacraments under consideration--Penance
and Unction. Both are Sacraments of healing. Penance is for the
healing of the soul, and indirectly of the body: Unction is for the
healing of the body, and indirectly of the soul.
"Every Sacrament," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "has been instituted to
produce one special effect, although it may produce, as consequences,
other effects besides." It is so with these two Sacraments. Body and
Soul are so involved, that what directly affects the one must
indirectly affect the other. Thus, the direct effect of Penance on the
soul must indirectly affect the body, and the direct effect of Unction
on the body must indirectly affect the soul. We will think of each in
turn. First, Penance.
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_Penance._
The word is derived from the Latin _penitentia_, penitence, and its
root-meaning (_poena_, punishment) suggests a punitive element in all
real repentance. It is used as a comprehensive term for confession of
sin, punishment for sin, and the Absolution, or Remission of Sins. As
Baptism was designed to recover the soul from original or inherited
sin, so Penance was designed to recover the soul from actual or wilful
sin....[1] It is not, as in the case of infant Baptism, administered
wholly irrespective of free will: it must be freely sought ("if he
humbly and heartily desire it"[2]) before it can be freely bestowed.
Thus, Confession must precede Absolution, and Penitence must precede
and accompany Confession.
_Confession._
Here we all start on common ground. We all agree upon one point, viz.
the necessity of Confession (1) _to God_ ("If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins") {146} and (2) _to man_
("Confess your faults one to another"). Further, we all agree that
confession to man is in reality confession to God ("Against Thee, _Thee
only_, have I sinned"). Our only ground of difference is, not
_whether_ we ought to confess, but _how_ we ought to confess. It is a
difference of method rather than of principle.
There are two ways of confessing sins (whether to God, or to man), the
informal, and the formal. Most of us use one way; some the other; many
both.
_Informal Confession_.--Thank God, I can use this way at any, and at
every, moment of my life. If I have sinned, I need wait for no formal
act of Confession; but, as I am, and where I am, I can make my
Confession. Then, and there, I can claim the Divine response to the
soul's three-fold _Kyrie_: "Lord, have mercy upon me; Christ, have
mercy upon me; Lord, have mercy upon me". But do I never want--does
God never want--anything more than this? The soul is not always
satisfied with such an easy method of going to Confession. It needs at
times something more impressive, something perhaps less superficial,
less easy going. It demands more time for {147} deepening thought, and
greater knowledge of what it has done, before sin's deadly hurt cuts
deep enough to produce real repentance, and to prevent repetition. At
such times, it cries for something more formal, more solemn, than
instantaneous confession. It needs, what the Prayer Book calls, "a
special Confession of sins".
_Formal Confession_.--Hence our Prayer Book provides two formal Acts of
Confession, and suggests a third. Two of these are for public use, the
third for private.
In Matins and Evensong, and in the Eucharistic Office, a form of
"_general_ confession" is provided. Both forms are in the first person
plural throughout. Clearly, their primary intention is, not to make us
merely think of, or confess, our own personal sins, but the sins of the
Church,--and our own sins, as members of the Church. It is "we" have
sinned, rather than "I" have sinned. Such formal language might,
otherwise, at times be distressingly unreal,--when, e.g., not honestly
feeling that the "burden" of our own personal sin "is intolerable," or
when making a public Confession in church directly after a personal
Confession in private.
In the Visitation of the Sick, the third mode of {148} formal
Confession is suggested, though the actual words are naturally left to
the individual penitent. The Prayer Book no longer speaks in the
plural, or of "a _general_ Confession," but it closes, as it were, with
the soul, and gets into private, personal touch with it: "Here shall
the sick man be moved to make a _special_ Confession of his sins, if he
feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter; after which
Confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily
desire it) after this sort". This Confession is to be both free and
formal: formal, for it is to be made before the Priest in his
"_ministerial_" capacity; free, for the penitent is to be "moved" (not
"compelled") to confess. Notice, he _is_ to be moved; but then (though
not till then) he is free to accept, or reject, the preferred means of
grace.
God never handcuffs Sacraments and souls. Sacraments are open to all;
they are forced on none. They are love-tokens of the Sacred Heart;
free-will offerings of His Royal Bounty.
These, then, are the two methods of Confession at our disposal. God is
"the Father of an infinite Majesty". In _informal_ Confession, the
sinner goes to God as his _Father_,--as the Prodigal, after doing
penance in the far country, went {149} to his father with "_Father_, I
have sinned". In _formal_ Confession, the sinner goes to God as to the
Father of an _infinite Majesty_,--as David went to God through Nathan,
God's ambassador.
It is a fearful responsibility to hinder any soul from using either
method; it is a daring risk to say: "Because one method alone appeals
to me, therefore no other method shall be used by you". God multiplies
His methods, as He expands His love: and if any "David" is drawn to say
"I have sinned" before the appointed "Nathan," and, through prejudice
or ignorance, such an one is hindered from so laying his sins on Jesus,
God will require that soul at the hinderer's hands.
_Absolution._
It is the same with Absolution as with Confession. Here, too, we start
on common ground. All agree that "_God only_ can forgive sins," and
half our differences come because this is not recognized. Whatever
form Confession takes, the penitent exclaims: "_To Thee only it
appertaineth to forgive sins_". Pardon through the Precious Blood is
the one, and only, source of {150} forgiveness. Our only difference,
then, is as to God's _methods_ of forgiveness. How does God forgive
sin? Some seem to limit His love, to tie forgiveness down to one, and
only one, method of absolution--direct, personal, instantaneous,
without any ordained Channel such as Christ left. Direct, God's pardon
certainly is; personal and instantaneous, it certainly can be; without
any sacramental _media_, it certainly may be. But we dare not limit
what God has not limited; we dare not deny the existence of ordained
channels, because God can, and does, act without such channels. He has
opened an ordained fountain for sin and uncleanness as a superadded
gift of love, and in the Ministry of reconciliation He conveys pardon
through this channel.
At the most solemn moment of his life, when a Deacon is ordained
Priest, the formal terms of his Commission to the Priesthood run thus:
"Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the
Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands.
Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou
dost retain, they are retained." "_Now_ committed unto thee." No
Priest dare hide his commission, play with {151} the plain meaning of
the words, or conceal from others a "means of grace" which they have a
blessed right to know of, and to use.
But what is the good of this Absolution, if God can forgive without it?
God's ordinances are never meaningless. There must, therefore, be some
superadded grace attached to this particular ordinance. It was left to
be used. It is not left merely to comfort the penitent (though that it
does), nor to let him hear from a fellow-sinner that his sins are
forgiven him (though that he does); but it is left, like any other
Sacrament, as a special means of grace. It is the ordained Channel
whereby God's pardon is conveyed to (and only to) the penitent sinner.
"No penitence, no pardon," is the law of Sacramental Absolution.
The Prayer Book, therefore, preaches the power of formal, as well as
informal, Absolution. There are in it three forms of Absolution,
varying in words but the same in power. The appropriating power of the
penitent may, and does, vary, according to the sincerity of his
confession: Absolution is in each case the same. It is man's capacity
to receive it, not God's power in giving it, that varies. Thus, all
three Absolutions in the {152} Prayer Book are of the same force,
though our appropriating capacity in receiving them may differ. This
capacity will probably be less marked at Matins and Evensong than at
Holy Communion, and at Holy Communion than in private Confession,
because it will be less personal, less thorough. The words of
Absolution seem to suggest this. The first two forms are in the plural
("pardon and deliver _you_"), and are thrown, as it were, broadcast
over the Church: the third is special ("forgive _thee_ thine offences")
and is administered to the individual. But the formal act is the same
in each case; and to stroll late into church, as if the Absolution in
Matins and Evensong does not matter, may be to incur a very distinct
loss.
When, and how often, formal "special Confession" is to be used, and
formal Absolution to be sought, is left to each soul to decide. The
two special occasions which the Church of England emphasizes (without
limiting) are before receiving the Holy Communion, and when sick.
Before Communion, the Prayer Book counsels its use for any disquieted
conscience; and the {153} Rubric which directs intending Communicants
to send in their names to the Parish Priest the day before making their
Communion, still bears witness to its framers' intention--that known
sinners might not be communicated without first being brought to a
state of repentance.
The sick, also, after being directed to make their wills,[3] and
arrange their temporal affairs, are further urged to examine their
spiritual state; to make a special confession; and to obtain the
special grace, in the special way provided for them. And, adds the
Rubric, "men should often be put in remembrance to take order for the
settling of their temporal estates, while they are in health"--and if
of the temporal, how much more of their spiritual estate.
_Direction._
But, say some, is not all this very weakening to the soul? They are,
probably, mixing up two things,--the Divine Sacrament of forgiveness
which (rightly used) must be strengthening, and the human appeal for
direction which (wrongly used) may be weakening.
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But "direction" is not necessarily part of Penance. The Prayer Book
lays great stress upon it, and calls it "ghostly counsel and advice,"
but it is neither Confession nor Absolution. It has its own place in
the Prayer Book;[4] but it has not, necessarily, anything whatever to
do with the administration of the Sacrament. Direction may, or may
not, be good for the soul. It largely depends upon the character of
the penitent, and the wisdom of the Director. It is quite possible for
the priest to over-direct, and it is fatally possible for the penitent
to think more of direction than of Absolution. It is quite possible to
obscure the Sacramental side of Penance with a human craving for
"ghostly counsel and advice". Satan would not be Satan if it were not
so. But this "ghostly," or spiritual, "counsel and advice" has saved
many a lad, and many a man, from many a fall; and when rightly sought,
and wisely given is, as the Prayer Book teaches, a most helpful adjunct
to Absolution. Only, it is not, necessarily, a part of "going to
Confession".
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_Indulgences._
The abuse of the Sacrament is another, and not unnatural objection to
its use; and it often gets mixed up with Mediaeval teaching about
Indulgences.
An _Indulgence_ is exactly what the word suggests--the act of
indulging, or granting a favour. In Roman theology, an Indulgence is
the remission of temporal punishment due to sin after Absolution. It
is either "plenary," i.e. when the whole punishment is remitted, or
"partial," when some of it is remitted. At corrupt periods of Church
history, these Indulgences have been bought for money,[5] thus making
one law for the rich, and another for the poor. Very naturally, the
scandals connected with such buying and selling raised suspicions
against the Sacrament with which Indulgences were associated.[6] But
Indulgences have nothing in the world to do with the right use of the
lesser Sacrament of Penance.
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_Amendment._
The promise of Amendment is an essential part of Penance. It is a
necessary element in all true contrition. Thus, the penitent promises
"true amendment" before he receives Absolution. If he allowed a priest
to give him Absolution without firmly purposing to amend, he would not
only invalidate the Absolution, but would commit an additional sin.
The promise to amend may, like any other promise, be made and broken;
but the deliberate purpose must be there.
No better description of true repentance can be found than in
Tennyson's "Guinevere":--
_For what is true repentance but in thought--_
_Not ev'n in inmost thought to think again_
_The sins that made the past so pleasant to us._
Such has been the teaching of the Catholic Church always, everywhere,
and at all times: such is the teaching of the Church of England, as
part of that Church, and as authoritatively laid down in the Book of
Common Prayer.
God alone can forgive sins. Absolution is the conveyance of God's
pardon to the penitent sinner by God's ordained Minister, through the
ordained Ministry of Reconciliation.
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Lamb of God, the world's transgression
Thou alone canst take away;
Hear! oh! hear our heart's confession,
And Thy pardoning grace convey.
Thine availing intercession
We but echo when we pray.
[1] Cf. Rubric in the Baptismal Office.
[2] Rubric in the Order for the Visitation of the Sick.
[3] Rubric in the Order for the Visitation of the Sick.
[4] See the First Exhortation in the Order of the Administration of the
Holy Communion.
[5] St. Peter's at Rome was largely built out of funds gained by the
sale of indulgences.
[6] The Council of Trent orders that Indulgences must be granted by
Pope and Prelate _gratis_.
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