CONFESSION AND PENANCE.
When the Evangelist Matthew is describing the ministry of John the
Baptist, he states that there "went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea,
and all the region round about Jordan; and were baptized of him in
Jordan, _confessing their sins._" [491:1] The ministry of Paul at
Ephesus produced similar results; for it is said that "fear fell" on all
the Jews and Greeks dwelling in that great capital, "and many that
believed came, and _confessed_, and shewed their deeds," [491:2]
The confession here mentioned obviously flowed spontaneously from deep
religious convictions. It was not a private admission of guilt made to
an ecclesiastical functionary; but a public acknowledgment of acts which
weighed heavily on the consciences of individuals, and which they felt
constrained to recapitulate and to condemn. Men awakened to a sense of
their sins deemed it due to themselves and to society, to state how
sincerely they deplored their past career; and, no doubt, their words
often produced a profound impression on the multitudes to whom they were
addressed. These confessions of sin were connected with a confession of
faith in Christ, and were generally associated with the ordinance of
baptism. They were not required from all, but were only tendered in
cases where there had been notorious and flagrant criminality; and they
must have been of a very partial character, only embracing such
transgressions as the party had some urgent reason for specializing.
In the time of the apostles those who embraced the gospel were
immediately baptized. Thus, the three thousand persons who were
converted on the day of Pentecost, were forthwith received into the
bosom of the Church; and the Philippian jailor, "the same hour of the
night" [493:1] when he hearkened to "the word of the Lord," "was
baptized, he and all his, straightway." But, soon, afterwards, the
Christian teachers began to proceed with greater formality; and, about
the middle of the second century, candidates were not admitted to the
ordinance until they had passed through a certain course of probation.
"As many," says Justin Martyr, "as are persuaded and believe that the
things which we teach and declare are true, and promise that they are
determined to live accordingly, are taught to pray, and to beseech God
with fasting to grant them remission of their past sins, while we also
pray and fast with them. We then lead them to a place where there is
water, and there they are regenerated in the same manner as we also
were; for they are then washed in that water in the name of God the
Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and
the Holy Spirit." [493:2]
These confessions and penitential exercises were repeated and enlarged
when persons who had lapsed into gross sin, and who had, in consequence,
forfeited their position as members of the Church, sought readmission to
ecclesiastical fellowship. It would be difficult, on scriptural grounds,
to vindicate the system of discipline enforced on such occasions; and
yet it is evident that it was established, at least in some quarters, as
early as the beginning of the third century. Tertullian gives a very
striking account of the course pursued by those called penitents about
that period. "Confession of sins," says he, "lightens their burden, as
much as the dissembling of them increases it; for confession savours of
making amends, dissembling, of stubbornness. ..... Wherefore confession
is the discipline of a man's prostrating and humbling himself, enjoining
such a conversation as invites mercy. It restrains a man even as to the
matter of dress and food, requiring him to lie in sackcloth and ashes,
to hide his body in filthy garments, to afflict his soul with sorrow, to
exchange for severe treatment the sins in which he indulged; for the
rest to use simple things for meat and drink, that is, for the sake of
the soul, and not to please the appetite: for the most part also to
quicken prayer by fasts, to groan, to weep, and to moan day and night
before the Lord his God; to throw himself on the ground before the
presbyters, and to fall on his knees before the beloved of God; to
enjoin all the brethren to bear the message of his prayer for mercy--all
these things does confession that it may commend repentance." [493:1]
When a man is overwhelmed with grief, the state of his mind will often
be revealed by the loss of his appetite. He will think little of his
dress and personal accommodation; and though he may give no utterance to
his feelings, his general appearance will betray to the eye of an
observer the depths of his affliction. The mourner not unfrequently
takes a melancholy satisfaction in surrounding himself with the symbols
of sorrow; and we read, accordingly, in Scripture how, in ancient times
and in Eastern countries, he clothed himself in sackcloth and sat in
ashes. [493:2] There is a wonderful sympathy between the body and the
mind; and as grief affects the appetite, so occasional abstinence from
food may foster a serious and contrite spirit. Hence fasting has been so
commonly associated with penitential exercises.
Fasting is not to be regarded as one of the ordinary duties of a
disciple of Christ,[494:1] but rather as a kind of discipline in which
he may feel called on to engage under special circumstances.[494:2] When
oppressed with a consciousness of guilt, or when anxious for divine
direction on a critical occasion, or when trembling under the
apprehension of impending judgments, he may thus seek to "afflict his
soul," that he may draw near with deeper humility and reverence into the
presence of the Divine Majesty. But, in such a case, every one should
act according to the dictates of his own enlightened convictions. As the
duty is extraordinary, the self-denial to be practised must be regulated
by various contingencies; and no one can well prescribe to another its
amount or duration.
According to the Mosaic law, only one day in the year--the great day of
atonement--was required to be kept as a national fast.[494:3] There is
now no divine warrant for so observing any corresponding day, and for
upwards of a hundred years after the death of our Lord, there is no
evidence that any fixed portion of time was thus appropriated under the
sanction of ecclesiastical authority. But towards the close of the
second century the termination of the Paschal week was often so
employed--the interval, between the hour on Friday when our Lord expired
and the morning of the first day of the week, being spent in total
abstinence.[494:4] About the same time some partially abstained from
food on what were called stationary days, or the Wednesday and Friday of
each week.[494:5] At this period some began also to observe Xerophagiae,
or days on which they used neither flesh nor wine. [495:1] Not a few saw
the danger of this ascetic tendency; but, whilst it betokened zeal, it
had also "a show of wisdom," [495:2] and it silently made great
progress. Towards the close of the third century the whole Church was
already pervaded by its influence.
Fasting has been well described as "the outward shell" of penitential
sorrow, and is not to be confounded with its spiritual elements. It is
its accidental accompaniment, and not one of its true and essential
features. A man may "bow down his head as a bulrush," or fast, or clothe
himself in sackcloth, when he is an utter stranger to that "repentance
to salvation not to be repented of." The hypocrite may put on the
outward badges of mourning merely with a view to regain a position in
the Church, whilst the sincere penitent may "anoint his head and wash
his face," and reveal to the eye of the casual spectator no tokens of
contrition. As repentance is a spiritual exercise, it can only be
recognised by spiritual signs; and the rulers of the ancient Church
committed a capital error when they proposed to test it by certain
dietary indications. Their penitential discipline was directly opposed
to the genuine spirit of the gospel; and it was the fountain from whence
proceeded many of the superstitions which, like a river of death, soon
overspread Christendom. Whilst repentance was reduced to a mechanical
round of bodily exercises, the doctrine of a free salvation was
practically repudiated.
In connexion with the appearance of a system of penitential discipline,
involving in some cases a penance of several years' continuance, [495:3]
the distinction of venial and mortal sins now began to be recognised.
Venial sins were transgressions which any sincere believer might commit,
whilst mortal sins were such as were considered incompatible with the
genuine profession of Christianity. Penance was prescribed only to those
who had been guilty of mortal sins. Its severity and duration varied
with the character of the offence, and was soon regulated according to
an exact scale arranged by the rulers of the Church in their
ecclesiastical conventions.
About the middle of the third century a new arrangement was introduced,
with a view to promote the more exact administration of penitential
discipline. During the Decian persecution which occurred at this time,
many were induced by fear to abandon the profession of the gospel; and,
on the return of better days, those who sought restoration to Christian
privileges were so numerous that, in the larger churches, it was deemed
expedient to require the lapsed, in the first instance, to address
themselves to one of the presbyters appointed for their special
examination. The business of this functionary, who was known by the
designation of the _Penitentiary_ [496:1] was to hear the confessions of
the penitents, to ascertain the extent and circumstances of their
apostasy, and to announce the penance required from each by the existing
ecclesiastical regulations. The disclosures made to the Penitentiary did
not supersede the necessity of public confession; it was simply the duty
of this minister to give to the lapsed such instructions as his
professional experience enabled him to supply, including directions as
to the fasts they should observe, and the sins they should openly
acknowledge. Under the guidance of the Penitentiaries the system of
discipline for transgressors seems to have been still farther matured;
and at length, in the beginning of the fourth century, the penitents
were divided into various classes, according to their supposed degrees
of unworthiness. The members of each class were obliged to occupy a
particular position in the place of worship when the congregation
assembled for religious exercises. [497:1]
It must be obvious from these statements that the institution known as
Auricular Confession had, as yet, no existence. In the early Church the
disciples, under ordinary circumstances, were neither required nor
expected, at stated seasons, to enter into secret conference with any
ecclesiastical searcher of consciences. When a professing Christian
committed a heinous transgression by which religion was scandalized, he
was obliged, before being re-admitted to communion, to express his
sorrow in the face of the congregation; and the revelations made to the
Penitentiary did not relieve him from this act of humiliation. It must
also be apparent that the whole system of penance is an unauthorized
addition to the ordinances of primitive Christianity. Of such a system
we do not find even a trace in the New Testament; and under its
blighting influence, the religion of the Church gradually became little
better than a species of refined heathenism.
The spiritual darkness now settling down upon the Christian commonwealth
might be traced in the growing obscurity of the ecclesiastical
nomenclature. The power and the form of godliness began to be
confounded, and the same term was employed to denote penance and
repentance. [497:2] Bodily mortification was mistaken for holiness, and
celibacy for sanctity. [497:3] Other errors of an equally grave
character became current, for the penitent was described as _making
satisfaction_ for his sins by his fasts and his outward acts of self
abasement, [497:4] and thus the all-sufficiency of the great atonement
was openly ignored. Thus, too, the doctrine of a free salvation to
transgressors could no longer be proclaimed, for pardon was clogged with
conditions as burdensome to the sinner, as they were alien to the spirit
of the New Testament. The doctrine that "a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law," [498:1] reveals the folly of the ancient
penitential discipline. Our Father in heaven demands no useless tribute
of mortification from His children; He merely requires us to "bring
forth fruits meet for repentance." [498:2] "Is not this the fast that I
have chosen?" saith the Lord, "to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo
the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break
every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou
bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the
naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine
own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine
health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go
before thee: the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward." [498:3]