Calvin, Institutes, Vol.3, Part 5
(... continued from part 4)
Chapter 4.
4. Penitence, as explained in the sophistical jargon of the
Schoolmen, widely different from the purity required by the Gospel.
Of confession and satisfaction.
The divisions of this chapter are, - I. The orthodox doctrine
of repentance being already expounded, the false doctrine is refuted
in the present chapter; a general summary survey being at the same
time taken of the doctrine of the Schoolmen, sec. 1, 2. II. Its
separate parts are afterwards examined. Contrition, sec. 2 and 3.
Confession, sec. 4-20. Sanctification, from sec. 20 to the end of
the chapter.
Sections.
1. Errors of the Schoolmen in delivering the doctrine of repentance.
1. Errors in defining it. Four different definitions
considered. 2. Absurd division. 3. Vain and puzzling questions.
4. Mode in which they entangle themselves.
2. The false doctrine of the Schoolmen necessary to be refuted. Of
contrition. Their view of it examined.
3. True and genuine contrition.
4. Auricular confession. Whether or not of divine authority.
Arguments of Canonists and Schoolmen. Allegorical argument
founded on Judaism. Two answers. Reason why Christ sent the
lepers to the priests.
5. Another allegorical argument. Answer.
G. A third argument from two passages of Scripture. These passages
expounded.
7. Confession proved not to be of divine authority. The use of it
free for almost twelve hundred years after Christ. Its nature.
When enacted into a law. Confirmation from the history of the
Church. A representation of the ancient auricular confession
still existing among the Papists, to bear judgment against
them. Confession abolished in the Church of Constantinople.
8. This mode of confession disapproved by Chrysostom, as shown by
many passages.
9. False confession being thus refuted, the confession enjoined by
the word of God is considered. Mistranslation in the old
version. Proof from Scripture that confession should be
directed to God alone.
10. Effect of secret confession thus made to God. Another kind of
confession made to men.
11. Two forms of the latter confession, viz., public and private.
Public confession either ordinary or extraordinary. Use of
each. Objection to confession and public prayer. Answer.
12. Private confession of two kinds. 1. On our own account. 2. On
account of our neighbor. Use of the former. Great assistance to
be obtained from faithful ministers of the Church. Mode of
procedure. Caution to be used.
13. The use of the latter recommended by Christ. What comprehended
under it. Scripture sanctions no other method of confession.
14. The power of the keys exercised in these three kinds of
confession. The utility of this power in regard to public
confession and absolution. Caution to be observed.
15. Popish errors respecting confession. 1. In enjoining on all the
necessity of confessing every sin. 2. Fictitious keys. 3.
Pretended mandate to loose and bind. 4. To whom the office of
loosing and binding committed.
16. Refutation of the first error, from the impossibility of so
confessing, as proved by the testimony of David.
17. Refuted farther from the testimony of conscience. Impossible to
observe this most rigid obligation. Necessarily leads to
despair or indifference. Confirmation of the preceding remarks
by an appeal to conscience.
18. Another refutation of the first error from analogy. Sum of the
whole refutation. Third refutation, laying down the surest rule
of confession. Explanation of the rule. Three objections
answered.
19. Fourth objection, viz., that auricular confession does no harm,
and is even useful. Answer, unfolding the hypocrisy, falsehood,
impiety, and monstrous abominations of the patrons of this
error.
20. Refutation of the second error. 1. Priests not successors of the
Apostles. 2. They have not the Holy Spirit, who alone is
arbiter of the keys.
21. Refutation of the third error. 1. They are ignorant of the
command and promise of Christ. By abandoning the word of God
they run into innumerable absurdities.
22. Objection to the refutation of the third error. Answers,
reducing the Papists to various absurdities.
23. Refutation of the fourth error. 1. Petitio principii. 2.
Inversion of ecclesiastical discipline. Three objections
answered.
24. Conclusion of the whole discussion against this fictitious
confession.
25. Of satisfaction, to which the Sophists assign the third place in
repentance. Errors and falsehoods. These views opposed by the
terms, - 1. Forgiveness. 2. Free forgiveness. 3. God destroying
iniquities. 4. By and on account of Christ. No need of our
satisfaction.
26. Objection, confining the grace and efficacy of Christ within
narrow limits. Answers by both John the Evangelist and John the
Baptist. Consequence of these answers.
27. Two points violated by the fiction of satisfaction. First, the
honor of Christ impaired. Secondly, the conscience cannot find
peace. Objection, confining the forgiveness of sins to
Catechumens, refuted.
28. Objection, founded on the arbitrary distinction between venial
and mortal sins. This distinction insulting to God and
repugnant to Scripture. Answer, showing the true distinction in
regard to venial sin.
29. Objection, founded on a distinction between guilt and the
punishment of it. Answer, illustrated by various passages of
Scripture. Admirable saying of Augustine.
30. Answer, founded on a consideration of the efficacy of Christ's
death, and the sacrifices under the law. Our true satisfaction.
31. An objection, perverting six passages of Scripture. Preliminary
observations concerning a twofold judgment on the part of God.
1. For punishment. 2. For correction.
32. Two distinctions hence arising. Objection, that God is often
angry with his elect. Answer, God in afflicting his people does
not take his mercy from them. This confirmed by his promise, by
Scripture, and the uniform experience of the Church.
Distinction between the reprobate and the elect in regard to
punishment.
33. Second distinction. The punishment of the reprobate a
commencement of the eternal punishment awaiting them; that of
the elect designed to bring them to repentance. This confirmed
by passages of Scripture and of the Fathers.
34. Two uses of this doctrine to the believer. In affliction he can
believe that God, though angry, is still favourable to him. In
the punishment of the reprobate, he sees a prelude to their
final doom.
35. Objection, as to the punishment of David, answered. Why all men
here subjected to chastisement.
36. Objections, founded on five other passages, answered.
37. Answer continued.
38. Objection, founded on passages in the Fathers. Answer, with
passages from Chrysostom and Augustine.
39. These satisfactions had reference to the peace of the Church,
and not to the throne of God. The Schoolmen have perverted the
meaning of some absurd statements by obscure monks.
1. I come now to an examination of what the scholastic sophists
teach concerning repentance. This I will do as briefly as possible;
for I leave no intention to take up every point, lest this work,
which I am desirous to frame as a compendium of doctrine, should
exceed all bounds. They have managed to envelop a matter, otherwise
not much involved, in so many perplexities, that it will be
difficult to find an outlet if once you get plunged but a little way
into their mire. And, first, in giving a definition, they plainly
show they never understood what repentance means. For they fasten on
some expressions in the writings of the Fathers which are very far
from expressing the nature of repentance. For instance, that to
repent is to deplore past sins and not commit what is to be
deplored. Again that it is to bewail past evils and not to sin to do
what is to be bewailed. Again, that it is a kind of grieving
revenge, punishing in itself what it grieves to have committed.
Again, that it is sorrow of heart and bitterness of soul for the
evils which the individual has committed, or to which he has
consented. Supposing we grant that these things were well said by
Fathers, (though, if one were inclined to dispute, it were not
difficult to deny it,) they were not, however said with the view of
describing repentance but only of exhorting penitents not again to
fall into the same faults from which they had been delivered. But if
all descriptions of this kind are to be converted into definitions,
there are others which have as good a title to be added. For
instance, the following sentence of Chrysostom: "Repentance is a
medicine for the cure of sin, a gift bestowed from above, an
admirable virtue, a grace surpassing the power of laws." Moreover,
the doctrine which they afterwards deliver is somewhat worse than
their definition. For they are so keenly bent on external exercises,
that all you can gather from immense volumes is, that repentance is
a discipline, and austerity, which serves partly to subdue the
flesh, partly to chasten and punish sins: of internal renovation of
mind, bringing with it true amendment of life, there is a strange
silence. No doubt, they talk much of contrition and attrition,
torment the soul with many scruples, and involve it in great trouble
and anxiety; but when they seem to have deeply wounded the heart,
they cure all its bitterness by a slight sprinkling of ceremonies.
Repentance thus shrewdly defined, they divide into contrition of the
heart, confession of the mouth, and satisfaction of works. This is
not more logical than the definition, though they would be thought
to have spent their whole lives in framing syllogisms. But if any
one argues from the definition (a mode of argument prevalent with
dialecticians) that a man may weep over his past sins and not commit
things that cause weeping; may bewail past evils, and not commit
things that are to be bewailed; may punish what he is grieved for
having committed, though he does not confess it with the mouth, -
how will they defend their division? For if he may be a true
penitent and not confess, repentance can exist without confession.
If they answer, that this division refers to repentance regarded as
a sacrament, or is to be understood of repentance in its most
perfect form, which they do not comprehend in their definitions, the
mistake does not rest with me: let them blame themselves for not
defining more purely and clearly. When any matter is discussed, I
certainly am dull enough to refer everything to the definition as
the hinge and foundation of the whole discussion. But granting that
this is a license which masters have, let us now survey the
different parts in their order. In omitting as frivolous several
things which they vend with solemn brow as mysteries, I do it not
from ignorance. It were not very difficult to dispose of all those
points which they plume themselves on their acuteness and subtilty
in discussing; but I consider it a sacred duty not to trouble the
reader to no purpose with such absurdities. It is certainly easy to
see from the questions which they move and agitate, and in which
they miserably entangle themselves, that they are pealing of things
they know not. Of this nature are the following: Whether repentance
of one sin is pleasing to God, while there is an obstinate adherence
to other sins. Again, whether punishments divinely indicted are
available for satisfaction. Again, whether repentance can be several
times repeated for mortal sins, whereas they grossly and wickedly
define that daily repentance has to do with none but venial sins. In
like manner, with gross error, they greatly torment themselves with
a saying of Jerome, that repentance is a second plank after
shipwreck. Herein they show that they have never awoke from brutish
stupor, so as to obtain a distant view of the thousandth part of
their sins.
2. I would have my readers to observe, that the dispute here
relates not to a matter of no consequence; but to one of the most
important of all, viz., the forgiveness of sins. For while they
require three things in repentance, viz., compunction of heart,
confession of the mouth, and satisfaction of work, they at the same
time teach that these are necessary to obtain the pardon of sins. If
there is any thing in the whole compass of religion which it is of
importance to us to know, this certainly is one of the most
important, viz., to perceive and rightly hold by what means, what
rule, what terms, with what facility or difficulty, forgiveness of
sins may be obtained. Unless our knowledge here is clear and
certain, our conscience can have no rest at all, no peace with God,
no confidence or security, but is continually trembling,
fluctuating, boiling, and distracted; dreads, hates, and shuns the
presence of God. But if forgiveness of sins depends on the
conditions to which they bind it, nothing can be more wretched and
deplorable than our situation. Contrition they represent as the
first step in obtaining pardon; and they exact it as due, that is,
full and complete: meanwhile, they decide not when one may feel
secure of having performed this contrition in due measure. I admit
that we are bound strongly and incessantly to urge every man
bitterly to lament his sins, and thereby stimulate himself more and
more to dislike and hate them. For this is the "repentance to
salvation not to be repented of," (2 Cor. 7: 10.) But when such
bitterness of sorrow is demanded as may correspond to the magnitude
of the offense, and be weighed in the balance with confidence of
pardon, miserable consciences are sadly perplexed and tormented when
they see that the contrition due for sin is laid upon them, and yet
that they have no measure of what is due, so as to enable them to
determine that they have made full payment. If they say, we are to
do what in us lies, we are always brought back to the same point;
for when will any man venture to promise himself that he has done
his utmost in bewailing sin? Therefore, when consciences, after a
lengthened struggle and long contests with themselves, find no haven
in which they may rest, as a means of alleviating their condition in
some degree, they extort sorrow and wring out tears, in order to
perfect their contrition.
3. If they say that this is calumny on my part, let them come
forward and point out a single individual who, by this doctrine of
contrition, has not either been driven to despair, or has not,
instead of true, opposed pretended fear to the justice of God. We
have elsewhere observed, that forgiveness of sins never can be
obtained without repentance, because none but the afflicted, and
those wounded by a consciousness of sins, can sincerely implore the
mercy of God; but we, at the same time, added, that repentance
cannot be the cause of the forgiveness of sins: and we also did away
with that torment of souls - the dogma that it must be performed as
due. Our doctrine was, that the soul looked not to its own
compunction or its own tears, but fixed both eyes on the mercy of
God alone. Only we observed, that those who labour and are heavy
laden are called by Christ, seeing he was sent "to preach good
tidings to the meek;" "to bind up the broken-hearted; to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;" "to comfort all that mourn." Hence the Pharisees were
excluded, because, full of their own righteousness, they
acknowledged not their own poverty; and despisers, because,
regardless of the divine anger, they sought no remedy for their
wickedness. Such persons neither labour nor are heavy laden, are not
broken-hearted, bound, nor in prison. But there is a great
difference between teaching that forgiveness of sins is merited by a
full and complete contrition, (which the sinner never can give,) and
instructing him to hunger and thirst after the mercy of God, that
recognizing his wretchedness, his turmoil, weariness, and captivity,
you may show him where he should seek refreshment, rest, and
liberty; in fine, teach him in his humility to give glory to God.
4. Confession has ever been a subject of keen contest between
the Canonists and the Scholastic Theologians; the former contending
that confession is of divine authority - the latter insisting, on
the contrary, that it is merely enjoined by ecclesiastical
constitution. In this contest great effrontery has been displayed by
the Theologians, who have corrupted and violently wrested every
passage of Scripture they have quoted in their favour. And when they
saw that even thus they could not gain their object, those who
wished to be thought particularly acute had recourse to the evasion
that confession is of divine authority in regard to the substance,
but that it afterwards received its form from positive enactment.
Thus the silliest of these quibblers refer the citation to divine
authority, from its being said, "Adam, where art thou?" (Gen. 3: 9,
12;) and also the exception from Adam having replied as if
excepting, "The women whom thou gavest to be with me," &c.; but say
that the form of both was appointed by civil law. Let us see by what
arguments they prove that this confession, formed or unformed, is a
divine commandment. The Lord, they say, sent the lepers to the
priests, (Matth. 8: 4.) What? did he send them to confession? Who
ever heard tell that the Levitical priests were appointed to hear
confession? Here they resort to allegory. The priests were appointed
by the Mosaic law to discern between leper and leper: sin is
spiritual leprosy; therefore it belongs to the priests to decide
upon it. Before I answer, I would ask, in passing, why, if this
passage makes them judges of spiritual leprosy, they claim the
cognizance of natural and carnal leprosy? This, for sooth, is not to
play upon Scripture! The law gives the cognizance of leprosy to the
Levitical priests: let us usurp this to ourselves. Sin is spiritual
leprosy: let us also have cognizance of sin. I now give my answer:
There being a change of the priesthood, there must of necessity be a
change of the law. All the sacerdotal functions were transferred to
Christ, and in him fulfilled and ended, (Heb. 7: 12.) To him alone,
therefore, all the rights and honors of the priesthood have been
transferred. If they are so fond then of hunting out allegories, let
them set Christ before them as the only priest, and place full and
universal jurisdiction on his tribunal: this we will readily admit.
Besides, there is an incongruity in their allegory: it classes a
merely civil enactment among ceremonies. Why, then, does Christ send
the lepers to the priests? Lest the priests should be charged with
violating the law, which ordained that the person cured of leprosy
should present himself before the priest, and be purified by the
offering of a sacrifice, he orders the lepers who had been cleansed
to do what the law required. "Go and show thyself to the priest, and
offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them." (Luke 5: 17.) And assuredly this miracle would be a
testimony to them: they had pronounced them lepers; they now
pronounce them cured. Whether they would or not, they are forced to
become witnesses to the miracles of Christ. Christ allows them to
examine the miracle, and they cannot deny it: yet, as they still
quibble, they have need of a testimony. So it is elsewhere said,
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for
a witness unto all nations," (Matth. 24: 14.) Again, "Ye shall be
brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them and the Gentiles," (Matth. 10: 18;) that is, in order
that, in the judgment of Gods they might be more filly convicted.
But if they prefer taking the view of Chrysostom, (Hom. 12 de
Muliere Cananaea,) he shows that this was done by Christ for the
sake of the Jews also, that he might not be regarded as a violator
of the law. But we are ashamed to appeal to the authority of any man
in a matter so clear, when Christ declares that he left the legal
right of the priests entire, as professed enemies of the Gospel, who
were always intent on making a clamour if their mouths were not
stopped. Wherefore, let the Popish priests, in order to retain this
privilege, openly make common cause with those whom it was necessary
to restrain, by forcible means, from speaking evil of Christ. For
there is here no reference to his true ministers.
5. They draw their second argument from the same fountain, - I
mean allegory; as if allegories were of much avail in confirming any
doctrine. But, indeed, let them avail, if those which I am able to
produce are not more specious than theirs. They say, then, that the
Lord, after raising Lazarus, commanded his disciples to "loose him
and let him go," (John 11: 44.) Their first statement is untrue: we
nowhere read that the Lord said this to the disciples; and it is
much more probable that he spoke to the Jews who were standing by,
that from there being no suspicion of fraud the miracle might be
more manifest, and his power might be the more conspicuous from his
raising the dead without touching him, by a mere word. In the same
way, I understand that our Lord, to leave no ground of suspicion to
the Jews, wished them to roll back the stone, feel the stench,
perceive the sure signs of death, see him rise by the mere power of
a word, and first handle hint when alive. And this is the view of
Chrysostom, (Serm. C. Jud. Gent. et Haeret.) But granting that it
was said to the disciples, what can they gain by it? That the Lord
gave the apostles the power of loosing? How much more aptly and
dexterously might we allegorize and say, that by this symbol the
Lord designed to teach his followers to loose those whom he raises
up; that is, not to bring to remembrance the sins which he himself
had forgotten, not to condemn as sinners those whom he had
acquitted, not still to upbraid those whom he had pardoned, not to
be stern and severe in punishing, while he himself was merciful and
ready to forgive. Certainly nothing should more incline us to pardon
than the example of the Judge who threatens that he will be
inexorable to the rigid and inhumane. Let them go now and vend their
allegories.
6. They now come to closer quarters, while they support their
view by passages of Scripture which they think clearly in their
favour. Those who came to John's baptism confessed their sins, and
James bids us confess our sins one to another, (James 5: 16.) It is
not strange that those who wished to be baptized confessed their
sins. It has already been mentioned, that John preached the baptism
of repentance, baptized with water unto repentance. Whom then could
he baptize, but those who confessed that they were sinners? Baptism
is a symbol of the forgiveness of sins; and who could be admitted to
receive the symbol but sinners acknowledging themselves as such?
They therefore confessed their sins that they might be baptized. Nor
without good reason does James enjoin us to confess our sins one to
another. But if they would attend to what immediately follows, they
would perceive that this gives them little support. The words are,
"Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another." He
joins together mutual confession and mutual prayer. If, then, we are
to confess to priests only, we are also to pray for them only. What?
It would even follow from the words of James, that priests alone can
confess. In saying that we are to confess mutually, he must be
addressing those only who can hear the confession of others. He
says, "allelous", mutually, by turns, or, if they prefer it,
reciprocally. But those only can confess reciprocally who are fit to
hear confession. This being a privilege which they bestow upon
priests only, we also leave them the office of confessing to each
other. Have done then with such frivolous absurdities, and let us
receive the true meaning of the apostle, which is plain and simple;
first, That we are to deposit our infirmities in the breasts of each
other, with the view of receiving mutual counsel, sympathy, and
comfort; and, secondly, That mutually conscious of the infirmities
of our brethren we are to pray to the Lord for them. Why then quote
James against us who so earnestly insist on acknowledgment of the
divine mercy? No man can acknowledge the mercy of God without
previously confessing his own misery. Nay, we pronounce every man to
be anathema who does not confess himself a sinner before God, before
his angels, before the Church; in short, before all men. "The
Scripture has concluded all under sin," "that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God," that God
alone may be justified and exalted, (Gal. 3: 22; Rom. 3: 9, 19.)
7. I wonder at their effrontery in venturing to maintain that
the confession of which they speak is of divine authority. We admit
that the use of it is very ancient; but we can easily prove that at
one time it was free. It certainly appears, from their own records,
that no law or constitution respecting it was enacted before the
days of Innocent III. Surely if there had been a more ancient law
they would have fastened on it, instead of being satisfied with the
decree of the Council of Lateral, and so making themselves
ridiculous even to children. In other matters, they hesitate not to
coin fictitious decrees, which they ascribe to the most ancient
Councils, that they may blind the eyes of the simple by veneration
for antiquity. In this instance it has not occurred to them to
practice this deception, and hence, themselves being witnesses,
three centuries have not yet elapsed since the bridle was put, and
the necessity of confession imposed by Innocent III. And to say
nothing of the time, the mere barbarism of the terms used destroys
the authority of the law. For when these worthy fathers enjoin that
every person of both sexes (utriusque sexus) must once a year
confess his sins to his own priest, men of wit humorously object
that the precept binds hermaphrodites only, and has no application
to any one who is either a male or a female. A still grosser
absurdity has been displayed by their disciples, who are unable to
explain what is meant by one's own priest, (proprius sacerdos.) Let
all the hired ravers of the Pope babble as they may, we hold that
Christ is not the author of this law, which compels men to enumerate
their sins; nay, that twelve hundred years elapsed after the
resurrection of Christ before any such law was made, and that,
consequently, this tyranny was not introduced until piety and
doctrine were extinct, and pretended pastors had usurped to
themselves unbridled license. There is clear evidence in historians,
and other ancient writers, to show that this was a politic
discipline introduced by bishops, not a law enacted by Christ or the
Apostles. Out of many I will produce only one passage, which will be
no obscure proof. Sozomen relates, that this constitution of the
bishops was carefully observed in the Western churches, but
especially at Rome; thus intimating that it was not the universal
custom of all churches. He also says, that one of the presbyters was
specially appointed to take charge of this duty. This abundantly
confutes their falsehood as to the keys being given to the whole
priesthood indiscriminately for this purpose, since the function was
not common to all the priests, but specially belonged to the one
priest whom the bishop had appointed to it. He it was (the same who
at present in each of the cathedral churches has the name of
penitentiary) who had cognizance of offenses which were more
heinous, and required to be rebuked for the sake of example. He
afterwards adds, that the same custom existed at Constantinople,
until a certain matron, while pretending to confess, was discovered
to have used it as a cloak to cover her intercourse with a deacon.
In consequence of that crime, Nectarius, the bishop of that church -
a man famous for learning and sanctity - abolished the custom of
confessing. Here, then, let these asses prick up their ears. If
auricular confession was a divine law, how could Nectarius have
dared to abolish or remodel it? Nectarius, a holy man of God,
approved by the suffrage of all antiquity, will they charge with
heresy and schism? With the same vote they will condemn the church
of Constantinople, in which Sozomen affirms that the custom of
confessing was not only disguised for a time, but even in his own
memory abolished. Nay, let them charge with defections not only
Constantinople but all the Eastern churches, which (if they say
true) disregarded an inviolable law enjoined on all Christians.
8. This abrogation is clearly attested in so many passages by
Chrysostom, who lived at Constantinople, and was himself prelate of
the church, that it is strange they can venture to maintain the
contrary: "Tell your sins", says he, "that you may efface them: if
you blush to tell another what sins you have committed, tell them
daily in your soul. I say not, tell them to your fellow-servant who
may upbraid you, but tell them to God who cures them. Confess your
sins upon your bed, that your conscience may there daily recognize
its iniquities." Again, "Now, however, it is not necessary to
confess before witnesses; let the examination of your faults be made
in your own thought: let the judgment be without a witness: let God
alone see you confessing." Again, "I do not lead you publicly into
the view of your fellow servants; I do not force you to disclose
your sins to men; review and lay open your conscience before God.
Show your wounds to the Lord, the best of physicians, and seek
medicine from him. Show to him who upbraids not, but cures most
kindly." Again, "Certainly tell it not to man lest he upbraid you.
Nor must you confess to your fellow servant, who may make it public;
but show your wounds to the Lord, who takes care of you, who is kind
and can cure." He afterwards introduces God speaking thus: "I oblige
you not to come into the midst of a theatre, and have many
witnesses; tell your sins to me alone in private, that I may cure
the ulcer." Shall we say that Chrysostom, in writing these and
similar passages, carried his presumption so far as to free the
consciences of men from those chains with which they are bound by
the divine law? By no means; but knowing that it was not at all
prescribed by the word of God, he dares not exact it as necessary.
9. But that the whole matter may be more plainly unfolded, we
shall first honestly state the nature of confession as delivered in
the word of God, and thereafter subjoin their inventions - not all
of them indeed, (who could drink up that boundless sea?) but those
only which contain summary of their secret confession. Here I am
grieved to mention how frequently the old interpreter has rendered
the word confess instead of praise, a fact notorious to the most
illiterate, were it not fitting to expose their effrontery in
transferring to their tyrannical edict what was written concerning
the praises of God. To prove that confession has the effect of
exhilarating the mind, they obtrude the passage in the psalm, "with
the voice of joy and praise," (Vulgate, confessionis,) (Ps. 42: 4.)
But if such a metamorphosis is valid, any thing may be made of any
thing. But, as they have lost all shame, let pious readers reflect
how, by the just vengeance of God, they have been given over to a
reprobate mind, that their audacity may be the more detestable. If
we are disposed to acquiesce in the simple doctrine of Scripture,
there will be no danger of our being misled by such glosses. There
one method of confessing is prescribed; since it is the Lord who
forgives, forgets and wipes away sins, to him let us confess them,
that we may obtain pardon. He is the physician, therefore let us
show our wounds to him. He is hurt and offended, let us ask peace of
him. He is the discerner of the heart, and knows all one thoughts;
let us hasten to pour out our hearts before him. He it is, in fine,
who invites sinners; let us delay not to draw near to him. "I
acknowledge my sin unto thee," says David; "and mine iniquity have I
not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and
thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," (Ps. 32: 5.) Another
specimen of David's confessions is as follows: "Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness," (Ps. 51: 1.) The following
is Daniel's confession: "We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by
departing from thy precepts and thy judgments," (Dan. 9: 5.) Other
examples every where occur in Scripture: the quotation of them would
almost fill a volume. "If we confess our sins," says John, "he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins," (1 John 1: 9.) To whom
are we to confess? to Him surely; - that is, we are to fall down
before him with a grieved and humbled heart, and sincerely accusing
and condemning ourselves, seek forgiveness of his goodness and
mercy.
10. He who has adopted this confession from the heart and as in
the presence of God, will doubtless have a tongue ready to confess
whenever there is occasion among men to publish the mercy of God. He
will not be satisfied to whisper the secret of his heart for once
into the ear of one individual, but will often, and openly, and in
the hearing of the whole world, ingenuously make mention both of his
own ignominy, and of the greatness and glory of the Lord. In this
way David, after he was accused by Nathan, being stung in his
conscience, confesses his sin before God and men. "I have sinned
unto the Lord," says he, (2 Sam. 12: 13;) that is, I have now no
excuse, no evasion; all must judge me a sinner; and that which I
wished to be secret with the Lord must also be made manifest to men.
Hence the secret confession which is made to God is followed by
voluntary confession to men, whenever that is conducive to the
divine glory or our humiliation. For this reason the Lord anciently
enjoined the people of Israel that they should repeat the words
after the priest, and make public confession of their iniquities in
the temple; because he foresaw that this was a necessary help to
enable each one to form a just idea of himself. And it is proper
that by confession of our misery, we should manifest the mercy of
our God both among ourselves and before the whole world.
11. It is proper that this mode of confession should both be
ordinary in the Church, and also be specially employed on
extraordinary occasions, when the people in common happen to have
fallen into any fault. Of this latter description we have an example
in the solemn confession which the whole people made under the
authority and guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah, (Neh. 1: 6, 7.) For
their long captivity, the destruction of the temple, and suppression
of their religion, having been the common punishment of their
defection, they could not make meet acknowledgment of the blessing
of deliverance without previous confession of their guilt. And it
matters not though in one assembly it may sometimes happen that a
few are innocent, seeing that the members of a languid and sickly
body cannot boast of soundness. Nay, it is scarcely possible that
these few have not contracted some taint, and so bear part of the
blame. Therefore, as often as we are afflicted with pestilence, or
war, or famine, or any other calamity whatsoever, if it is our duty
to retake ourselves to mourning, fasting, and other signs of
guiltiness, confession also, on which all the others depend, is not
to be neglected. That ordinary confession which the Lord has
moreover expressly commended, no sober man, who has reflected on its
usefulness, will venture to disapprove. Seeing that in every sacred
assembly we stand in the view of God and angels, in what way should
our service begin but in acknowledging our own unworthiness? But
this you will say is done in every prayer; for as often as we pray
for pardon, we confess our sins. I admit it. But if you consider how
great is our carelessness, or drowsiness, or sloth, you will grant
me that it would be a salutary ordinance if the Christian people
were exercised in humiliation by some formal method of confession.
For though the ceremony which the Lord enjoined on the Israelites
belonged to the tutelage of the Law, yet the thing itself belongs in
some respect to us also. And, indeed, in all well ordered churches,
in observance of an useful custom, the minister, each Lord's day,
frames a formula of confession in his own name and that of the
people, in which he makes a common confession of iniquity, and
supplicates pardon from the Lord. In short, by this key a door of
prayer is opened privately for each, and publicly for all.
12. Two other forms of private confession are approved by
Scripture. The one is made on our own account, and to it reference
is made in the passage in James, "Confess your sins one to another,"
(James 5: 16;) for the meaning is, that by disclosing our
infirmities to each other, we are to obtain the aid of mutual
counsel and consolation. The other is to be made for the sake of our
neighbor, to appease and reconcile him if by our fault he has been
in any respect injured. In the former, although James, by not
specifying any particular individual into whose bosom we are to
disburden our feelings, leaves us the free choice of confessing to
any member of the church who may seem fittest; yet as for the most
part pastors are to be supposed better qualified than others, our
choice ought chiefly to fall upon them. And the ground of preference
is, that the Lord, by calling them to the ministry, points them out
as the persons by whose lips we are to be taught to subdue and
correct our sins, and derive consolation from the hope of pardon.
For as the duty of mutual admonition and correction is committed to
all Christians, but is specially enjoined on ministers, so while we
ought all to console each other mutually and confirm each other in
confidence in the divine mercy, we see that ministers, to assure our
consciences of the forgiveness of fins, are appointed to be the
witnesses and sponsors of it, so that they are themselves said to
forgive sins and loose souls (Matth. 16: 19; 18: 18.) When you hear
this attributed to them, reflect that it is for your use. Let every
believer, therefore, remember, that if in private he is so agonized
and afflicted by a sense of his sins that he cannot obtain relief
without the aid of others, it is his duty not to neglect the remedy
which God provides for him, viz., to have recourse for relief to a
private confession to his own pastor, and for consolation privately
implore the assistance of him whose business it is, both in public
and private, to solace the people of God with Gospel doctrine. But
we are always to use moderation, lest in a matter as to which God
prescribes no certain rule, our consciences be burdened with a
certain yoke. Hence it follows first, that confession of this nature
ought to be free so as not to be exacted of all, but only
recommended to those who feel that they have need of it; and,
secondly, even those who use it according to their necessity must
neither be compelled by any precept, nor artfully induced to
enumerate all their sins, but only in so far as they shall deem it
for their interest, that they may obtain the full benefit of
consolation. Faithful pastors, as they would both eschew tyranny in
their ministry, and superstition in the people, must not only leave
this liberty to churches, but defend and strenuously vindicate it.
13. Of the second form of confession, our Savior speaks in
Matthew. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember
that thy brother has ought against thee; leave there thy gift before
the altar; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
offer thy gift," (Matth. 5: 23, 24.) Thus love, which has been
interrupted by our fault, must be restored by acknowledging and
asking pardon for the fault. Under this head is included the
confession of those who by their sin have given offense to the whole
Church, (supra, sec. 10.) For if Christ attaches so much importance
to the offense of one individual, that he forbids the sacrifice of
all who have sinned in any respect against their brethren, until by
due satisfaction they have regained their favor, how much greater
reason is there that he, who by some evil example has offended the
Church should be reconciled to it by the acknowledgment of his
fault? Thus the member of the Church of Corinth was restored to
communion after he had humbly submitted to correction, (2 Cor. 2:
6.) This form of confession existed in the ancient Christian Church,
as Cyprian relates: "They practice repentance," says he, "for a
proper time, then they come to confession, and by the laying on of
the hands of the bishop and clergy, are admitted to communion."
Scripture knows nothing of any other form or method of confessing,
and it belongs not to us to bind new chains upon consciences which
Christ most strictly prohibits from being brought into bondage.
Meanwhile, that the flock present themselves before the pastor
whenever they would partake of the Holy Supper, I am so far from
disapproving, that I am most desirous it should be everywhere
observed. For both those whose conscience is hindered may thence
obtain singular benefit, and those who require admonition thus
afford an opportunity for it; provided always no countenance is
given to tyranny and superstition.
14. The power of the keys has place in the three following
modes of confession, - either when the whole Church, in a formal
acknowledgment of its defects, supplicates pardon; or when a private
individual, who has given public offense by some notable
delinquency, testifies his repentance; or when he who from disquiet
of conscience needs the aid of his minister, acquaints him with his
infirmity. With regard to the reparation of offense, the case is
different. For though in this also provision is made for peace of
conscience, yet the principal object is to suppress hatred, and
reunite brethren in the bond of peace. But the benefit of which I
have spoken is by no means to be despised, that we may the more
willingly confess our sins. For when the whole Church stands as it
were at the bar of God, confesses her guilt, and finds her only
refuge in the divine mercy, it is no common or light solace to have
an ambassador of Christ present, invested with the mandate of
reconciliations by whom she may hear her absolution pronounced. Here
the utility of the keys is justly commended when that embassy is
duly discharged with becoming order and reverence. In like manner,
when he who has as it were become an alien from the Church receives
pardon, and is thus restored to brotherly unity, how great is the
benefit of understanding that he is pardoned by those to whom Christ
said, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,"
(John 20: 23.) Nor is private absolution of less benefit or efficacy
when asked by those who stand in need of a special remedy for their
infirmity. It not seldom happens, that he who hears general promises
which are intended for the whole congregation of the faithful,
nevertheless remains somewhat in doubts, and is still disquieted in
mind, as if his own remission were not yet obtained. Should this
individual lay open the secret wound of his soul to his pastor, and
hear these words of the Gospel specially addressed to him, "Son, be
of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee," (Matth. 9: 2,) his mind
will feel secure, and escape from the trepidation with which it was
previously agitated. But when we treat of the keys, us must always
beware of dreaming of any power apart from the preaching of the
Gospel. This subject will be more fully explained when we come to
treat of the government of the Church, (Book 4 chap. 11, 12) There
we shall see, that whatever privilege of binding and loosing Christ
has bestowed on his Church is annexed to the word. This is
especially true with regard to the ministry of the keys, the whole
power of which consists in this, that the grace of the Gospel is
publicly and privately sealed on the minds of believers by means of
those whom the Lord has appointed; and the only method in which this
can be done is by preaching.
15. What say the Roman theologians? That all persons of both
sexes, so soon as they shall have reached the years of discretion,
must, once a year at least, confess all their sins to their own
priest; that the sin is not discharged unless the resolution to
confess has been firmly conceived; that if this resolution is not
carried into effect when an opportunity offers, there is no entrance
into Paradise; that the priest, moreover has the power of the keys,
by which he can loose and bind the sinner; because the declaration
of Christ is not in vain: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven," (Matth. 18: 18.) Concerning this power, however
they wage a fierce war among themselves. Some say there is only one
key essentially, viz., the power of binding and loosing; that
knowledge, indeed, is requisite for the proper use of it, but only
as an accessory, not as essentially inherent in it. Others seeing
that this gave too unrestrained license, have imagined two keys,
viz., discernment and power. Others, again, seeing that the license
of priests was curbed by such restraint, have forged other keys,
(infra, sec. 21,) the authority of discerning to be used in
defining, and the power to carry their sentences into execution; and
to these they add knowledge as a counselor. This binding and
loosing, however, they do not venture to interpret simply, to
forgive and wipe away sins, because they hear the Lord proclaiming
by the prophet, "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no
savior." "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions,"
(Isaiah 43: 11, 25.) But they say it belongs to the priest to
declare who are bound or loosed, and whose sins are remitted or
retained; to declare, moreover, either by confession, when he
absolves and retains sins, or by sentence, when he excommunicates or
admits to communion in the Sacraments. Lastly, perceiving that the
knot is not yet untied, because it may always be objected that
persons are often undeservedly bound and loosed, and therefore not
bound or loosed in heaven; as their ultimate resource, they answer,
that the conferring of the keys must be taken with limitations
because Christ has promised that the sentence of the priest,
properly pronounced, will be approved at his judgment-seat according
as the bound or loosed asked what they merited. They say, moreover,
that those keys which are conferred by bishops at ordination were
given by Christ to all priests but that the free use of them is with
those only who discharge ecclesiastical functions; that with priests
excommunicated or suspended the keys themselves indeed remain, but
tied and rusty. Those who speak thus may justly be deemed modest and
sober compared with others, who on a new anvil have forged new keys,
by which they say that the treasury of heaven is locked up: these we
shall afterwards consider in their own place, (chap. 5 sec. 2.)
16. To each of these views I will briefly reply. As to their
binding the souls of believers by their laws, whether justly or
unjustly, I say nothing at present, as it will be seen at the proper
place; but their enacting it as a law, that all sins are to be
enumerated; their denying that sin is discharged except under the
condition that the resolution to confess has been firmly conceived;
their pretence that there is no admission into Paradise if the
opportunity of confession has been neglected, are things which it is
impossible to bear. Are all sins to be enumerated? But David, who, I
presume, had honestly pondered with himself as to the confession of
his sins, exclaimed, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me
from secret faults," (Ps. 19: 12;) and in another passage, "Mine
iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too
heavy for me," (Ps. 38: 4.) He knew how deep was the abyss of our
sins, how numerous the forms of wickedness, how many heads the hydra
carried, how long a tail it drew. Therefore, he did not sit down to
make a catalogue, but from the depth of his distress cried unto the
Lord, "I am overwhelmed, and buried, and sore vexed; the gates of
hell have encircled me: let thy right hand deliver me from the abyss
into which I am plunged, and from the death which I am ready to
die." Who can now think of a computation of his sins when he sees
David's inability to number his?
17. By this ruinous procedure, the souls of those who were
affected with some sense of God have been most cruelly racked.
First, they retook themselves to calculation, proceeding according
to the formula given by the Schoolmen, and dividing their sins into
boughs, branches, twigs, and leaves; then they weighed the
qualities, quantities, and circumstances; and in this way, for some
time, matters proceeded. But after they had advanced farther, when
they looked around, nought was seen but sea and sky; no road, no
harbor. The longer the space they ran over, a longer still met the
eye; nay, lofty mountains began to rise, and there seemed no hope of
escape; none at least till after long wanderings. They were thus
brought to a dead halt, till at length the only issue was found in
despair. Here these cruel murderers, to ease the wounds which they
had made, applied certain fomentations. Every one was to do his
best. But new cares again disturbed, nay, new torments excruciated
their souls. "I have not spent enough of time; I have not exerted
myself sufficiently: many things I have omitted through negligence:
forgetfulness proceeding from want of care is not excusable." Then
new drugs were supplied to alleviate their pains. "Repent of your
negligence; and provided it is not done supinely, it will be
pardoned." All these things, however, could not heal the wound,
being not so much alleviations of the sore as poison besmeared with
honey, that its bitterness might not at once offend the taste, but
penetrate to the vitals before it could be detected. The dreadful
voice, therefore, was always heard pealing in their ears, "Confess
all your sins," and the dread thus occasioned could not be pacified
without sure consolation. Here let my readers consider whether it be
possible to take an account of the actions of a whole year, or even
to collect the sins committed in a single day, seeing every man's
experience convinces him that at evening, in examining the faults of
that single day, memory gets confused, so great is the number and
variety presented. I am not speaking of dull and heartless
hypocrites, who, after animadverting on three or four of their
grosser offenses, think the work finished; but of the true
worshipers of God, who, after they have performed their examination,
feeling themselves overwhelmed, still add the words of John: "If our
heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all
things," (1 John 3: 20;) and, therefore, tremble at the thought of
that Judge whose knowledge far surpasses our comprehension.
18. Though a good part of the world rested in these soothing
suggestions, by which this fatal poison was somewhat tempered, it
was not because they thought that God was satisfied, or they had
quite satisfied themselves; it was rather like an anchor cast out in
the middle of the deep, which for a little interrupts the
navigation, or a weary, worn-out traveler, who lies down by the way.
I give myself no trouble in proving the truth of this fact. Every
one can be his own witness. I will mention generally what the nature
of this law is. First. The observance of it is simply impossible;
and hence its only results to destroy, condemn, confound, to plunge
into ruin and despair. Secondly, By withdrawing sinners from a true
sense of their sins, it makes them hypocritical, and ignorant both
of God and themselves. For, while they are wholly occupied with the
enumeration of their sins, they lose sight of that lurking hydra,
their secret iniquities and internal defilements, the knowledge of
which would have made them sensible of their misery. But the surest
rule of confession is, to acknowledge and confess our sins to be an
abyss so great as to exceed our comprehension. On this rule we see
the confession of the publican was formed, "God be merciful to me, a
sinner," (Luke 18: 13;) as if he had said, How great, how very great
a sinner, how utterly sinful I am! the extent of my sins I can
neither conceive nor express. Let the depth of thy mercy engulf the
depth of sin! What! you will say, are we not to confess every single
sin? Is no confession acceptable to God but that which is contained
in the words, "I am a sinner"? Nay, our endeavor must rather be, as
much as in us lies, to pour out our whole heart before the Lord. Nor
are we only in one word to confess ourselves sinners, but truly and
sincerely acknowledge ourselves as such; to feel with our whole soul
how great and various the pollutions of our sins are; confessing not
only that we are impure, but what the nature of our impurity is, its
magnitude and its extent; not only that we are debtors, but what the
debts are which burden us, and how they were incurred; not only that
we are wounded, but how numerous and deadly are the wounds. When
thus recognizing himself, the sinner shall have poured out his whole
heart before God, let him seriously and sincerely reflect that a
greater number of sins still remains, and that their recesses are
too deep for him thoroughly to penetrate. Accordingly, let him
exclaim with David, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me
from secret faults," (Ps. 19: 12.) But when the Schoolmen affirm
that sins are not forgiven, unless the resolution to confess has
been firmly conceived, and that the gate of Paradise is closed on
him who has neglected the opportunity of confessing when offered,
far be it from us to concede this to them. The remission of sins is
not different now from what it has ever been. In all the passages in
which we read that sinners obtained forgiveness from God, we read
not that they whispered into the ear of some priest. Indeed they
could not then confess, as priests were not then confessionaries,
nor did the confessional itself exist. And for many ages afterwards,
this mode of confession, by which sins were forgiven on this
condition, was unheard of: But not to enter into a long discussion,
as if the matter were doubtful, the word of God, which abideth for
ever, is plain, "When the wicked shall turn away from all his sins
that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which
is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die," (Ezek.
18: 21.) He who presumes to add to this declaration binds not sins,
but the mercy of God. When they contend that judgment cannot be
given unless the case is known, the answer is easy, that they usurp
the right of judging, being only self-created judges. And it is
strange, how confidently they lay down principles, which no man of
sound mind will admit. They give out, that the office of binding and
loosing has been committed to them, as a kind of jurisdiction
annexed to the right of inquiry. That the jurisdiction was unknown
to the Apostles their whole doctrine proclaims. Nor does it belong
to the priest to know for certainty whether or not a sinner is
loosed, but to Him from whom acquittal is asked; since he who only
hears can ever know whether or not the enumeration is full and
complete. Thus there would be no absolution, without restricting it
to the words of him who is to be judged. We may add, that the whole
system of loosing depends on faith and repentance, two things which
no man can know of another, so as to pronounce sentence. It follows,
therefore, that the certainty of binding and loosing is not
subjected to the will of an earthly judge, because the minister of
the word, when he duly executes his office, can only acquit
conditionally, when, for the sake of the sinner, he repeats the
words, "Whose soever sins ye remit;" lest he should doubt of the
pardon, which, by the command and voice of God, is promised to be
ratified in heaven.
19. It is not strange, therefore, that we condemn that
auricular confession, as a thing pestilent in its nature, and in
many ways injurious to the Church, and desire to see it abolished.
But if the thing were in itself indifferent, yet, seeing it is of no
use or benefit, and has given occasion to so much impiety,
blasphemy, and error, who does not think that it ought to be
immediately abolished? They enumerate some of its uses, and boast of
them as very beneficial, but they are either fictitious or of no
importance. One thing they specially commend, that the blush of
shame in the penitent is a severe punishment, which makes him more
cautious for the future, and anticipates divine punishment, by his
punishing himself. As if a man was not sufficiently humbled with
shame when brought under the cognizance of God at his supreme
tribunal. Admirable proficiency - if we cease to sin because we are
ashamed to make one man acquainted with it, and blush not at having
God as the witness of our evil conscience! The assertion, however,
as to the effect of shame, is most unfounded, for we may every where
see, that there is nothing which gives men greater confidence and
license in sinning than the idea, that after making confession to
priests, they can wipe their lip, and say, I have not done it. And
not only do they during the whole year become bolder in sin, but,
secure against confession for the remainder of it, they never sigh
after God, never examine themselves, but continue heaping sins upon
sins, until, as they suppose, they get rid of them all at once. And
when they have got rid of them, they think they are disburdened of
their load, and imagine they have deprived God of the right of
judging, by giving it to the priest; have made God forgetful, by
making the priest conscious. Moreover, who is glad when he sees the
day of confession approaching? Who goes with a cheerful mind to
confess, and does not rather, as if he were dragged to prison with a
rope about his neck, go unwillingly, and, as it were, struggling
against it? with the exception, perhaps, of the priests themselves,
who take a fond delight in the mutual narrative of their own
misdeeds, as a kind of merry tales. I will not pollute my page by
retailing the monstrous abominations with which auricular confession
teems; I only say, that if that holy man (Nectarius, of whom supra
sec. 7) did not act unadvisedly when for one rumour of whoredom he
banished confession from his church, or rather from the memory of
his people, the innumerable acts of prostitution, adultery, and
incest, which it produces in the present day, warn us of the
necessity of abolishing it.
20. As to the pretence of the confessionaries respecting the
power of the keys, and their placing in it, so to speak, the sum and
substance of their kingdom, we must see what force it ought to have.
Were the keys then, (they ask,) given without a cause? Was it said
without a cause, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven?" (Matth. 18: 18.) Do we make void the word of Christ? I
answer, that there was a weighty reason for giving the keys, as I
lately explained, and will again show at greater length when I come
to treat of Excommunication, (Book 4, cap. 12.) But what if I should
cut off the handle for all such questions with one sword, viz., that
priests are neither vicars nor successors of the Apostles? But that
also will be elsewhere considered, (Book 4, 6.) Now, at the very
place where they are most desirous to fortify themselves, they erect
a battering-ram, by which all their own machinations are overthrown.
Christ did not give his Apostles the power of binding and loosing
before he endued them with the Holy Spirit. I deny, therefore, that
any man, who has not previously received the Holy Spirit, is
competent to possess the power of the keys. I deny that any one can
use the keys, unless the Holy Spirit precede, teaching and dictating
what is to be done. They pretend, indeed, that they have the Holy
Spirit, but by their works deny him; unless, indeed, we are to
suppose that the Holy Spirit is some vain thing of no value, as they
certainly do feign, but we will not believe them. With this engine
they are completely overthrown; whatever be the door of which they
boast of having the key, we must always ask, whether they have the
Holy Spirit, who is arbiter and ruler of the keys? If they reply,
that they have, we must again ask, whether the Holy Spirit can err?
This they will not venture to say distinctly, although by their
doctrine they indirectly insinuate it. Therefore, we must infer,
that no priestlings have the power of the keys, because they every
where and indiscriminately loose what the Lord was pleased should be
bound, and bind what he has ordered to be loosed.
21. When they see themselves convicted on the clearest
evidence, of loosing and binding worthy and unworthy without
distinction, they lay claim to power without knowledge. And although
they dare not deny that knowledge is requisite for the proper use,
they still affirm that the power itself has been given to bad
administrators. This, however, is the power, "Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Either the promise of
Christ must be false, or those who are endued with this power bind
and loose properly. There is no room for the evasion, that the words
of Christ are limited, according to the merits of him who is loosed
or bound. We admit, that none can be bound or loosed but those who
are worthy of being bound or loosed. But the preachers of the Gospel
and the Church have the word by which they can measure this
worthiness. By this word preachers of the Gospel can promise
forgiveness of sins to all who are in Christ by faith, and can
declare a sentence of condemnation against all, and upon all, who do
not embrace Christ. In this word the Church declares, that "neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers," "nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall
inherit the kingdom of God," (1 Cor. 6: 9, 10.) Such it binds in
sure fetters. By the same word it looses and consoles the penitent.
But what kind of power is it which knows not what is to be bound or
loosed? You cannot bind or loose without knowledge. Why, then, do
they say, that they absolve by authority given to them, when
absolution is uncertain? As regards us, this power is merely
imaginary, if it cannot be used. Now, I holds either that there is
no use, or one so uncertain as to be virtually no use at all. For
when they confess that a good part of the priests do not use the
keys duly, and that power without the legitimate use is ineffectual,
who is to assure me, that the one by whom I am loosed is a good
dispenser of the keys? But if he is a bad one, what better has he
given me than this nugatory dispensation, - What is to be bound or
loosed in you I know not, since I have not the proper use of the
keys; but if you deserve it, I absolve you? As much might be done, I
say not by a laic, (since they would scarcely listen to such a
statement,) but by the Turk or the devil. For it is just to say, I
have not the word of God, the sure rule for loosing, but authority
has been given me to absolve you, if you deserve it. We see,
therefore, what their object was, when they defined (see sec. 16)
the keys as authority to discern and power to execute; and said,
that knowledge is added as a counselor, and counsels the proper use;
their object was to reign libidinously and licentiously, without God
and his word.
22. Should any one object, first, that the lawful ministers of
Christ will be no less perplexed in the discharge of their duty,
because the absolution, which depends on faith, will always be
equivocal; and, secondly, that sinners will receive no comfort at
all, or cold comfort, because the minister, who is not a fit judge
of their faith, is not certain of their absolution, we are prepared
with an answer. They say that no sins are remitted by the priest,
but such sins as he is cognizant of; thus, according to them,
remission depends on the judgment of the priest, and unless he
accurately discriminate as to who are worthy of pardon, the whole
procedure is null and void. In short, the power of which they speak
is a jurisdiction annexed to examination, to which pardon and
absolution are restricted. Here no firm footing can be found, nay,
there is a profound abyss; because, where confession is not
complete, the hope of pardon also is defective; next, the priest
himself must necessarily remain in suspense, while he knows not
whether the sinner gives a faithful enumeration of his sins; lastly,
such is the rudeness and ignorance of priests, that the greater part
of them are in no respect fitter to perform this office than a
cobbler to cultivate the fields, while almost all the others have
good reason to suspect their own fitness. Hence the perplexity and
doubt as to the Popish absolution, from their choosing to found it
on the person of the priest, and not on his person only, but on his
knowledge, so that he can only judge of what is laid before him
investigated, and ascertained. Now, if any should ask at these good
doctors, whether the sinner is reconciled to God when some sins are
remitted? I know not what answer they could give, unless that they
should be forced to confess, that whatever the priest pronounces
with regard to the remission of sins which have been enumerated to
him will be unavailing, so long as others are not exempted from
condemnation. On the part of the penitent, again, it is hence
obvious in what a state of pernicious anxiety his conscience will be
held; because, while he leans on what they call the discernment of
the priest, he cannot come to any decision from the word of God.
From all these absurdities the doctrine which we deliver is
completely free. For absolution is conditional, allowing the sinner
to trust that God is propitious to him, provided he sincerely seek
expiation in the sacrifice of Christ, and accept of the grace
offered to him. Thus, he cannot err who, in the capacity of a
herald, promulgates what has been dictated to him from the word of
God. The sinner, again, can receive a clear and sure absolution
when, in regard to embracing the grace of Christ, the simple
condition annexed is in terms of the general rule of our Master
himself, - a rule impiously spurned by the Papacy, - "According to
your faith be it unto you," (Matth. 9: 29.)
23. The absurd jargon which they make of the doctrine of
Scripture concerning the power of the keys, I have promised to
expose elsewhere; the proper place will be in treating of the
Government of the Church, (Book 4, c. 12.) Meanwhile, let the reader
remember how absurdly they wrest to auricular and secret confession
what was said by Christ partly of the preaching of the Gospel, and
partly of excommunication. Wherefore, when they object that the
power of loosing was given to the Apostles, and that this power
priests exercise by remitting sins acknowledged to them, it is plain
that the principle which they assume is false and frivolous: for the
absolution which is subordinate to faith is nothing else than an
evidence of pardon, derived from the free promise of the Gospel,
while the other absolution, which depends on the discipline of the
Church, has nothing to do with secret sins; but is more a matter of
example for the purpose of removing the public offense given to the
Church. As to their diligence in searching up and down for passages
by which they may prove that it is not sufficient to confess sins to
God alone, or to laymen, unless the priest take cognizance, it is
vile and disgraceful. For when the ancient fathers advise sinners to
disburden themselves to their pastor, we cannot understand them to
refer to a recital which was not then in use. Then, so unfair are
Lombard and others like-minded, that they seem intentionally to have
devoted themselves to spurious books, that they might use them as a
cloak to deceive the simple. They, indeed, acknowledge truly, that
as forgiveness always accompanies repentance, no obstacle properly
remains after the individual is truly penitent, though he may not
have actually confessed; and, therefore, that the priest does not so
much remit sins, as pronounce and declare that they are remitted;
though in the term declaring, they insinuate a gross error,
surrogating ceremony in place of doctrine. But in pretending that he
who has already obtained pardon before God is acquitted in the face
of the Church, they unseasonably apply to the special use of every
individual, that which we have already said was designed for common
discipline when the offense of a more heinous and notorious
transgression was to be removed. Shortly after they pervert and
destroy their previous moderation, by adding that there is another
mode of remission, namely, by the infliction of penalty and
satisfaction, in which they arrogate to their priests the right of
dividing what God has every where promised to us entire. While He
simply requires repentance and faith, their division or exception is
altogether blasphemous. For it is just as if the priest, assuming
the office of tribune, were to interfere with God, and try to
prevent him from admitting to his favor by his mere liberality any
one who had not previously lain prostrate at the tribunicial bench,
and there been punished.
24. The whole comes to this, when they wish to make God the
author of this fictitious confession their vanity is proved as I
have shown their falsehood in expounding the few passages which they
cite. But while it is plain, that the law was imposed by men, I say
that it is both tyrannical and insulting to God, who, in binding
consciences to his word, would have them free from human rule. Then
when confession is prescribed as necessary to obtain pardon, which
God wished to be free, I say that the sacrilege is altogether
intolerable, because nothing belongs more peculiarly to God than the
forgiveness of sins, in which our salvation consists. I have,
moreover, shown that this tyranny was introduced when the world was
sunk in shameful barbarism. Besides, I have proved that the law is
pestiferous, inasmuch as when the fear of God exists, it plunges men
into despair, and when there is security soothing itself with vain
flattery, it blunts it the more. Lastly, I have explained that all
the mitigations which they employ have no other tendency than to
entangle, obscure, and corrupt the pure doctrine, and cloak their
iniquities with deceitful colors.
25. In repentance they assign the third place to satisfaction,
all their absurd talk as to which can be refuted in one word. They
say, that it is not sufficient for the penitent to abstain from past
sins, and change his conduct for the better, unless he satisfy God
for what he has done; and that there are many helps by which we may
redeem sins, such as tears, fastings oblations, and offices of
charity; that by them the Lord is to be propitiated; by them the
debts due to divine justice are to be paid; by them our faults are
to be compensated; by them pardon is to be deserved: for though in
the riches of his mercy he has forgiven the guilt, he yet, as a just
discipline, retains the penalty, and that this penalty must be
bought off by satisfaction. The sum of the whole comes to this: that
we indeed obtain pardon of our sins from the mercy of God, but still
by the intervention of the merit of works, by which the evil of our
sins is compensated, and due satisfaction made to divine justice. To
such false views I oppose the free forgiveness of sins, one of the
doctrines most clearly taught in Scripture. First, what is
forgiveness but a gift of mere liberality? A creditor is not said to
forgive when he declares by granting a discharge, that the money has
been paid to him; but when, without any payment, through voluntary
kindness, he expunges the debt. And why is the term gratis (free)
afterwards added, but to take away all idea of satisfaction? With
what confidence, then, do they still set up their satisfactions,
which are thus struck down as with a thunderbolt? What? When the
Lord proclaims by Isaiah, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,"
does he not plainly declare, that the cause and foundation of
forgiveness is to be sought from his goodness alone? Besides, when
the whole of Scripture bears this testimony to Christ, that through
his name the forgiveness of sins is to be obtained, (Acts 10: 43,)
does it not plainly exclude all other names? How then do they teach
that it is obtained by the name of satisfaction? Let them not deny
that they attribute this to satisfactions, though they bring them in
as subsidiary aids. For when Scripture says, by the name of Christ,
it means, that we are to bring nothing, pretend nothing of our own,
but lean entirely on the recommendation of Christ. Thus Paul, after
declaring that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," immediately adds
the reason and the method, "For he has made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin," (2 Cor. 5: 19, 20.)
26. But with their usual perverseness, they maintain that both
the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation take place at once when
we are received into the favor of God through Christ in baptism;
that in lapses after baptism we must rise again by means of
satisfactions; that the blood of Christ is of no avail unless in so
far as it is dispensed by the keys of the Church. I speak not of a
matter as to which there can be any doubt; for this impious dogma is
declared in the plainest terms, in the writings not of one or two,
but of the whole Schoolmen. Their master, (Sent. Lib. 3, Dist. 9,)
after acknowledging, according to the doctrine of Peter, that Christ
"bare our sins in his own body on the tree," (1 Pet. 2: 24,)
immediately modifies the doctrine by introducing the exception, that
in baptism all the temporal penalties of sin are relaxed; but that
after baptism they are lessened by means of repentance, the cross of
Christ and our repentance thus co-operating together. St. John
speaks very differently, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation
for our sins." "I write unto you, little children, because your sins
are forgiven you for his name's sake," (1 John 2: l, 2, 12.) He
certainly is addressing believers, and while setting forth Christ as
the propitiation for sins, shows them that there is no other
satisfaction by which an offended God can be propitiated or
appeased. He says not: God was once reconciled to you by Christ;
now, seek other methods; but he makes him a perpetual advocate, who
always, by his intercession, reinstates us in his Fathered favour -
a perpetual propitiation by which sins are expiated. For what was
said by another John will ever hold true, "Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sins of the world," (John 1: 29.) He, I say,
took them away, and no other; that is, since he alone is the Lamb of
God, he alone is the offering for our sins; he alone is expiation;
he alone is satisfaction. For though the right and power of
pardoning properly belongs to the Father, when he is distinguished
from the Son, as has already been seen, Christ is here exhibited in
another view, as transferring to himself the punishment due to us,
and wiping away our guilt in the sight of God. Whence it follows
that we could not be partakers of the expiation accomplished by
Christ, were he not possessed of that honor of which those who try
to appease God by their compensations seek to rob him.
27. Here it is necessary to keep two things in view: that the
honor of Christ be preserved entire and unimpaired, and that the
conscience, assured of the pardon of sin, may have peace with God.
Isaiah says that the Farther "has laid on him the iniquity of us
all;" that "with his stripes we are healed," (Isa. 53: 5, 6.) Peter
repeating the same thing, in other words says, that he "bare our
sins in his own body on the tree," (1 Pet. 2: 24.) Paul's words are,
"God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for
sin condemned sin in the flesh," "being made a curse for us," (Rom.
8: 3; Gal. 3: 13;) in other words, the power and curse of sin was
destroyed in his flesh when he was offered as a sacrifice, on which
the whole weight of our sins was laid, with their curse and
execration, with the fearful judgment of God, and condemnation to
death. Here there is no mention of the vain dogma, that after the
initial cleansing no man experiences the efficacy of Christ's
passion in any other way than by means of satisfying penance: we are
directed to the satisfaction of Christ alone for every fall. Now
call to mind their pestilential dogma: that the grace of God is
effective only in the first forgiveness of sins; but if we
afterwards fall, our works co-operate in obtaining the second
pardon. If these things are so, do the properties above attributed
to Christ remain entire? How immense the difference between the two
propositions - that our iniquities were laid upon Christ, that in
his own person he might expiate them, and that they are expiated by
our works; that Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and that
God is to be propitiated by works. Then, in regard to pacifying the
conscience, what pacification will it be to be told that sins are
redeemed by satisfactions? How will it be able to ascertain the
measure of satisfaction? It will always doubt whether God is
propitious; will always fluctuate, always tremble. Those who rest
satisfied with petty satisfactions form too contemptible an estimate
of the justice of God, and little consider the grievous heinousness
of sin, as shall afterwards be shown. Even were we to grant that
they can buy off some sins by due satisfaction, still what will they
do while they are overwhelmed with so many sins that not even a
hundred lives, though wholly devoted to the purpose, could suffice
to satisfy for them? We may add, that all the passages in which the
forgiveness of sins is declared refer not only to catechumens, but
to the regenerate children of God; to those who have long been
nursed in the bosom of the Church. That embassy which Paul so highly
extols, "we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God," (2
Cor. 5: 20,) is not directed to strangers, but to those who had been
regenerated long before. Setting satisfactions altogether aside, he
directs us to the cross of Christ. Thus when he writes to the
Colossians that Christ had "made peace through the blood of his
cross," "to reconcile all things unto himself," he does not restrict
it to the moment at which we are received into the Church but
extends it to our whole course. This is plain from the context,
where he says that in him "we have redemption by his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins," (Col. 1: 14.) It is needless to collect more
passages, as they are ever occurring.
28. Here they take refuge in the absurd distinction that some
sins are venial and others mortal; that for the latter a weighty
satisfaction is due, but that the former are purged by easier
remedies; by the Lord's Prayer, the sprinkling of holy water, and
the absolution of the Mass. Thus they insult and trifle with God.
And yet, though they have the terms venial and mortal sin
continually in their mouth, they have not yet been able to
distinguish the one from the other, except by making impiety and
impurity of hearts to be venial sin. We, on the contrary, taught by
the Scripture standard of righteousness and unrighteousness, declare
that "the wages of sin is death;" and that "the soul that sinneth,
it shall die," (Rom. 6: 23; Ezek. 18: 20.) The sins of believers are
venial, not because they do not merit death, but because by the
mercy of God there is "now no condemnation to those which are in
Christ Jesus" their sin being not imputed, but effaced by pardon. I
know how unjustly they calumniate this our doctrine; for they say it
is the paradox of the Stoics concerning the equality of sins: but we
shall easily convict them out of their own mouths. I ask them
whether, among those sins which they hold to be mortal, they
acknowledge a greater and a less? If so, it cannot follow, as a
matter of course, that all sins which are mortal are equal. Since
Scripture declares that the wages of sin is death, - that obedience
to the law is the way to life, - the transgression of it the way to
death, - they cannot evade this conclusion. In such a mass of sins,
therefore, how will they find an end to their satisfactions? If the
satisfaction for one sin requires one day, while preparing it they
involve themselves in more sins; since no man, however righteous,
passes one day without falling repeatedly. While they prepare
themselves for their satisfactions, number, or rather numbers
without number, will be added. Confidence in satisfaction being thus
destroyed, what more would they have? How do they still dare to
think of satisfying?
29. They endeavor, indeed, to disentangle themselves, but it is
impossible. They pretend a distinction between penalty and guilt,
holding that the guilt is forgiven by the mercy of God; but that
though the guilt is remitted, the punishment which divine justice
requires to be paid remains. Satisfactions then properly relate to
the remission of the penalty. How ridiculous this levity! They now
confess that the remission of guilt is gratuitous; and yet they are
ever and anon telling as to merit it by prayers and tears, and other
preparations of every kind. Still the whole doctrine of Scripture
regarding the remission of sins is diametrically opposed to that
distinction. But although I think I have already done more than
enough to establish this, I will subjoin some other passages, by
which these slippery snakes will be so caught as to be afterwards
unable to writhe even the tip of their tail: "Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel, and with the house of Judah." "I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more," (Jer. 31: 31, 34.)
What this means we learn from another Prophet, when the Lord says,
"When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness" "all his
righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned." "Again, when
the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he has
committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save
his soul alive," (Ezek. 18: 24, 27.) When he declares that he will
not remember righteousness, the meaning is, that he will take no
account of it to reward it. In the same way, not to remember sins is
not to bring them to punishment. The same thing is denoted in other
passages, by casting them behind his back, blotting them out as a
cloud, casting them into the depths of the sea, not imputing them,
hiding them. By such forms of expression the Holy Spirit has
explained his meaning not obscurely, if we would lend a willing ear.
Certainly if God punishes sins, he imputes them; if he avenges, he
remembers; if he brings them to judgment, he has not hid them; if he
examines, he has not cast them behind his back; if he investigates,
he has not blotted them out like a cloud; if he exposes them, he has
not thrown them into the depths of the sea. In this way Augustine
clearly interprets: "If God has covered sins, he willed not to
advert to them; if he willed not to advert, he willed not to
animadvert; if he willed not to animadvert, he willed not to punish:
he willed not to take knowledge of them, he rather willed to pardon
them. Why then did he say that sins were hid? Just that they might
not be seen. What is meant by God seeing sins but punishing them?"
(August. in Ps. 32: 1.) But let us hear from another prophetical
passage on what terms the Lord forgives sins: "Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool," (Isa. 1: 18.) In Jeremiah again we
read: "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins
of Judah, they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I
reserve," (Jer. 50: 20.) Would you briefly comprehend the meaning of
these words? Consider what, on the contrary, is meant by these
expressions, "that transgression is sealed up in a bag;" "that the
iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid;" that "the sin of
Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a
diamond." If they mean, as they certainly do, that vengeance will be
recompensed, there can be no doubt that, by the contrary passages,
the Lord declares that he renounces all thought of vengeance. Here I
must entreat the reader not to listen to any glosses of mine, but
only to give some deference to the word of God.
30. What, pray, did Christ perform for us if the punishment of
sin is still exacted? For when we say that he "bare our sins in his
own body on the tree," (1 Pet. 2: 24,) all we mean is, that he
endured the penalty and punishment which was due to our sins. This
is more significantly declared by Isaiah, when he says that the
"chastisement (or correction) of our peace was upon him," (Isaiah
53: 5.) But what is the correction of our peace, unless it be the
punishment due to our sins, and to be paid by us before we could be
reconciled to God, had he not become our substitute? Thus you
clearly see that Christ bore the punishment of sin that he might
thereby exempt his people from it. And whenever Paul makes mention
of the redemption procured by him, he calls it "apolutrosis", by
which he does not simply mean redemption, as it is commonly
understood, but the very price and satisfaction of redemption. For
which reason, he also says, that Christ gave himself an "antilutron"
(ransoms for us. "What is propitiation with the Lord (says
Augustine) but sacrifice? And what is sacrifice but that which was
offered for us in the death of Christ?" But we have our strongest
argument in the injunctions of the Mosaic Law as to expiating the
guilt of sin. The Lord does not there appoint this or that method of
satisfying, but requires the whole compensation to be made by
sacrifice, though he at the same time enumerates all the rites of
expiation with the greatest care and exactness. How comes it that he
does not at all enjoin works as the means of procuring pardon, but
only requires sacrifices for expiation, unless it were his purpose
thus to testify that this is the only kind of satisfaction by which
his justice is appeased? For the sacrifices which the Israelites
then offered were not regarded as human works, but were estimated by
their anti type, that is, the sole sacrifice of Christ. The kind of
compensation which the Lord receives from us is elegantly and
briefly expressed by Hosea: "Take with you words, and turn to the
Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us
graciously," here is remission: "so will we render the calves of our
lips," here is satisfaction, (Hos. 14: 2.) I know that they have
still a more subtile evasion, by making a distinction between
eternal and temporal punishment; but as they define temporal
punishment to be any kind of infliction with which God visits either
the body or the soul, eternal death only excepted, this restriction
avails them little. The passages which we have quoted above say
expressly that the terms on which God receives us into favor are
these, viz., he remits all the punishment which we deserved by
pardoning our guilt. And whenever David or the other prophets ask
pardon for their sins, they deprecate punishment. Nay, a sense of
the divine justice impels them to this. On the other hand, when they
promise mercy from the Lord, they almost always discourse of
punishments and the forgiveness of them. Assuredly, when the Lord
declares in Ezekiel, that he will put an end to the Babylonish
captivity, not "for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy
name's sake," (Ezek. 36: 22,) he sufficiently demonstrates that both
are gratuitous. In short, if we are freed from guilt by Christ, the
punishment consequent upon guilt must cease with it.
31. But since they also arm themselves with passages of
Scripture, let us see what the arguments are which they employ.
David, they say, when upbraided by Nathan the Prophet for adultery
and murder, receives pardon of the sin, and yet by the death of the
son born of adultery is afterwards punished (2 Sam. 12: 13, 14.)
Such punishments which were to be inflicted after the remission of
the guilt, we are taught to ransom by satisfactions. For Daniel
exhorted Nebuchadnezzar: "Break off thy sins by righteousness, and
thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor," (Dan. 4: 27.) And
Solomon says, "by mercy and truth iniquity is purged" (Prov. 16: 6;)
and again, "love covereth all sins," (Prov. 10: 12.) This sentiment
is confirmed by Peter, (1 Pet. 4: 8.) Also in Luke, our Lord says of
the woman that was a sinner, "Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven; for she loved much," (Luke 7: 47.) How perverse and
preposterous the judgment they ever form of the doings of God! Had
they observed, what certainly they ought not to have overlooked,
that there are two kinds of divine judgment, they would have seen in
the correction of David a very different form of punishment from
that which must be thought designed for vengeance. But since it in
no slight degree concerns us to understand the purpose of God in the
chastisements by which he animadverts upon our sins and how much
they differ from the exemplary punishments which he indignantly
inflicts on the wicked and reprobate, I think it will not be
improper briefly to glance at it. For the sake of distinction, we
may call the one kind of judgment punishment, the other
chastisement. In judicial punishment, God is to be understood as
taking vengeance on his enemies, by displaying his anger against
them, confounding, scattering, and annihilating them. By divine
punishment, properly so called, let us then understand punishment
accompanied with indignation. In judicial chastisement, he is
offended, but not in wrath; he does not punish by destroying or
striking down as with a thunderbolt. Hence it is not properly
punishment or vengeance, but correction and admonition. The one is
the act of a judge, the other of a father. When the judge punishes a
criminal, he animadverts upon the crime, and demands the penalty.
When a father corrects his son sharply, it is not to mulct or
avenge, but rather to teach him, and make him more cautious for the
future. Chrysostom in his writings employs a simile which is
somewhat different, but the same in purport. He says, "A son is
whipt, and a slave is whipt, but the latter is punished as a slave
for his offense: the former is chastised as a free-born son,
standing in need of correction." The correction of the latter is
designed to prove and amend him; that of the former is scourging and
punishment.
32. To have a short and clear view of the whole matter, we must
make two distinctions. First, whenever the infliction is designed to
avenge, then the curse and wrath of God displays itself. This is
never the case with believers. On the contrary, the chastening of
God carries his blessing with it, and is an evidence of love, as
Scripture teaches. This distinction is plainly marked throughout the
word of God. All the calamities which the wicked suffer in the
present life are depicted to us as a kind of anticipation of the
punishment of hell. In these they already see, as from a distance,
their eternal condemnation; and so far are they from being thereby
reformed, or deriving any benefit, that by such preludes they are
rather prepared for the fearful doom which finally awaits them. The
Lord chastens his servants sore, but does not give them over unto
death, (Ps. 118: 18.) When afflicted, they acknowledge it is good
for them, that they may learn his statutes, (Ps. 119: 71.) But as we
everywhere read that the saints received their chastisements with
placid mind, so inflictions of the latter kind they always most
earnestly deprecated. "O Lord, correct me," says Jeremiah, "but with
judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Pour
out thy furry upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the
families that call not on thy name," (Jer. 10: 24-25.) David says "O
Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot
displeasure" (Ps. 6: 1.) There is nothing inconsistent with this in
its being repeatedly said, that the Lord is angry with his saints
when he chastens them for their sins, (Ps. 38: 7.) In like manner,
in Isaiah, "And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise
thee: though thou west angry with me, thine anger is turned away,
and thou comfortedst me," (Isa. 12: 1.) Likewise in Habakkuk, "In
wrath remember mercy," (Hab. 3: 2;) and in Micah, "I will bear the
indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him," (Mic.
7: 9.) Here we are reminded not only that those who are justly
punished gain nothing by murmuring, but that believers obtain a
mitigation of their pain by reflecting on the divine intention. For
the same reason, he is said to profane his inheritance; and yet we
know that he will never profane it. The expression refers not to the
counsel or purpose of God in punishing, but to the keen sense of
pain, endured by those who are visited with any measure of divine
severity. For the Lord not only chastens his people with a slight
degree of austerity, but sometimes so wounds them, that they seem to
themselves on the very eve of perdition. He thus declares that they
have deserved his anger, and it is fitting so to do, that they may
be dissatisfied with themselves for their sins, may be more careful
in their desires to appease God, and anxiously hasten to seek his
pardon; still, at this very time, he gives clearer evidence of his
mercy than of his anger. For He who cannot deceive has declared,
that the covenant made with us in our true Solomon stands fast and
will never be broken, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not
in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to
fail," (Ps. 89: 31-34.) To assure us of this mercy, he says, that
the rod with which he will chastise the posterity of Solomon will be
the "rod of men," and "the stripes of the children of men," (2 Sam.
7: 14.) While by these terms he denotes moderation and levity, he,
at the same time, intimates, that those who feel the hand of God
opposed to them cannot but tremble and be confounded. How much
regard he has to this levity in chastening his Israel he shows by
the Prophet, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I
have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction," (Isa. 48: 10.)
Although he tells them that they are chastisements with a view to
purification, he adds, that even these are so tempered, that they
are not to be too much crushed by them. And this is very necessary,
for the more a man reveres God, and devotes himself to the
cultivation of piety, the more tender he is in bearing his anger,
(Ps. 90: 11; and ibid. Calv.) The reprobate, though they groan under
the lash, yet because they weigh not the true cause, but rather turn
their back, as well upon their sins as upon the divine judgment,
become hardened in their stupor; or, because they murmur and kick,
and so rebel against their judge, their infatuated violence fills
them with frenzy and madness. Believers, again, admonished by the
rod of God, immediately begin to reflect on their sins, and, struck
with fear and dread, retake themselves as suppliants to implore
mercy. Did not God mitigate the pains by which wretched souls are
excruciated, they would give way a hundred times, even at slight
signs of his anger.
33. The second distinction is, that when the reprobate are
brought under the lash of God, they begin in a manner to pay the
punishment due to his justice; and though their refusal to listen to
these proofs of the divine anger will not escape with impunity,
still they are not punished with the view of bringing them to a
better mind, but only to teach them by dire experience that God is a
judge and avenger. The sons of God are beaten with rods, not that
they may pay the punishment due to their faults, but that they may
thereby be led to repent. Accordingly, we perceive that they have
more respect to the future than to the past. I prefer giving this in
the words of Chrysostom rather than my own: "His object in imposing
a penalty upon us, is not to inflict punishment on our sins but to
correct us for the future," (Chrysost. Serm. de Poenit. et Confess.)
So also Augustine, "The suffering at which you cry, is medicine, not
punishment; chastisement, not condemnation. Do not drive away the
rod, if you would not be driven away from the inheritance. Know,
brethren, that the whole of that misery of the human race, under
which the world groans, is a medicinal pain, not a penal sentence,"
(August. in Psal. 102, circa finem.) It seemed proper to quote these
passages, lest any one should think the mode of expression which I
have used to be novel or uncommon. To the same effect are the
indignant terms in which the Lord expostulates with his people, for
their ingratitude in obstinately despising all his inflictions. In
Isaiah he says, "Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt
more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint,"
(Isa. 1: 5, 6.) But as such passages abound in the Prophets, it is
sufficient briefly to have shown, that the only purpose of God in
punishing his Church is to subdue her to repentance. Thus, when he
rejected Saul from the kingdoms he punished in vengeance, (1 Sam.
15: 23;) when he deprived David of his child, he chastised for
amendment, (2 Sam. 12: 18.) In this sense Paul is to be understood
when he says, "When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord,
that we should not be condemned with the world," (1 Cor. 11: 32;)
that is, while we as sons of God are afflicted by our heavenly
Father's hand, it is not punishment to confound, but only
chastisement to train us. On this subject Augustine is plainly with
us, (De Peccator. Meritis ac Remiss. Lib. 2 cap. 33, 34.) For he
shows that the punishments with which men are equally chastened by
God are to be variously considered; because the saints after the
forgiveness of their sins have struggles and exercises, the
reprobate without forgiveness are punished for their iniquity.
Enumerating the punishments inflicted on David and other saints, he
says, it was designed, by thus humbling them, to prove and exercise
their piety. The passage in Isaiah, in which it is said, "Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of
the Lord's hands double for all her sins," (Isa. 40: 2,) proves not
that the pardon of sin depends on freedom from punishment. It is
just as if he had said, Sufficient punishment has now been exacted;
as for their number and heinousness you have long been oppressed
with sorrow and mourning, it is time to send you a message of
complete mercy, that your minds may be filled with joy on feeling me
to be a Father. For God there assumes the character of a father who
repents even of the just severity which he has been compelled to us,
towards his son.
34. These are the thoughts with which the believer ought to be
provided in the bitterness of affliction, "The time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God," "the city which is called
by my name," (1 Pet. 4: 17; Jer. 25: 29.) What could the sons of God
do, if they thought that the severity which they feel was vengeance?
He who, smitten by the hand of God, thinks that God is a judge
inflicting punishment, cannot conceive of him except as angry and at
enmity with him; cannot but detest the rod of God as curse and
condemnation; in short, Can never persuade himself that he is loved
by God, while he feels that he is still disposed to inflict
punishment upon him. He only profits under the divine chastening who
considers that God, though offended with his sins, is still
propitious and favorable to him. Otherwise, the feeling must
necessarily be what the Psalmist complains that he had experienced,
"Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all
thy waves." Also what Moses says, "For we are consumed by thine
anger, and by thy wrath we are troubled. Thou hast set our
iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy
countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend
our years as a tale that is told," (Ps. 90: 7-9.) On the other hand,
David speaking of fatherly chastisements, to show how believers are
more assisted than oppressed by them, thus sings "Blessed is the man
whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; that
thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit
be digged for the wicked," (Ps. 94: 12,13.) It is certainly a sore
temptation, when God, sparing unbelievers and overlooking their
crimes, appears more rigid towards his own people. Hence, to solace
them, he adds the admonition of the law which teaches them, that
their salvation is consulted when they are brought back to the right
path, whereas the wicked are borne headlong in their errors, which
ultimately lead to the pit. It matters not whether the punishment is
eternal or temporary. For disease, pestilence, famine, and war, are
curses from God, as much as even the sentence of eternal death,
whenever their tendency is to operate as instruments of divine wrath
and vengeance against the reprobate.
35. All, if I mistake not, now see what view the Lord had in
chastening David, namely, to prove that murder and adultery are most
offensive to God, and to manifest this offensiveness in a beloved
and faithful servant, that David himself might be taught never again
to dare to commit such wickedness; still, however, it was not a
punishment designed in payment of a kind of compensation to God. In
the same way are we to judge of that other correction, in which the
Lord subjects his people to a grievous pestilence, for the
disobedience of David in forgetting himself so far as to number the
people. He indeed freely forgave David the guilt of his sin; but
because it was necessary, both as a public example to all ages and
also to humble David himself, not to allow such an offense to go
unpunished, he chastened him most sharply with his whip. We ought
also to keep this in view in the universal curse of the human race.
For since after obtaining grace we still continue to endure the
miseries denounced to our first parent as the penalty of
transgression, we ought thereby to be reminded, how offensive to God
is the transgression of his law, that thus humbled and dejected by a
consciousness of our wretched condition, we may aspire more ardently
to true happiness. But it were most foolish in any one to imagine,
that we are subjected to the calamities of the present life for the
guilt of sin. This seems to me to have been Chrysostom's meaning
when he said, "If the purpose of God in inflicting punishment is to
bring those persisting in evil to repentance, when repentance is
manifested punishment would be superfluous," (Chrysos. Homily. 3 de
Provid.) Wherefore, as he knows what the disposition of each
requires, he treats one with greater harshness and another with more
indulgence. Accordingly, when he wishes to show that he is not
excessive in exacting punishment, he upbraids a hard hearted and
obstinate people, because, after being smitten, they still continued
in sin, (Jer. 5: 3.) In the same sense he complains, that "Ephraim
is a cake not turned" (Hos. 7: 8,) because chastisement did not make
a due impression on their minds, and, correcting their vices, make
them fit to receive pardon. Surely he who thus speaks shows, that as
soon as any one repents he will be ready to receive him, and that
the rigor which he exercises in chastising faults is wrung from him
by our perverseness, since we should prevent him by a voluntary
correction. Such, however, being the hardness and rudeness of all
hearts, that they stand universally in need of castigation, our
infinitely wise Parent has seen it meet to exercise all without
exception, during their whole lives, with chastisement. It is
strange how they fix their eyes so intently on the one example of
David, and are not moved by the many examples in which they might
have beheld the free forgiveness of sins. The publican is said to
have gone down from the temple justified (Luke 18: 14;) no
punishment follows. Peter obtained the pardon of his sin, (Luke 22:
61.) "We read of his tears," says Ambrose, (Serm. 46, De Poenit.
Petri,) "we read not of satisfaction." To the paralytic it is said,
"Son, be of good cheer; thy sina be forgiven thee," (Matth. 9: 2;)
no penance is enjoined. All the acts of forgiveness mentioned in
Scripture are gratuitous. The rule ought to be drawn from these
numerous examples, rather than from one example which contains a
kind of specialty.
36. Daniel, in exhorting Nebuchadnezzar to break off his sins
by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor,
(Dan. 4: 27,) meant not to intimate, that righteousness and mercy
are able to propitiate God and redeem from punishment, (far be it
from us to suppose that there ever was any other "apolutrosis"
(ransom) than the blood of Christ;) but the breaking off referred to
in that passage has reference to man rather than to God: as if he
had said, O king, you have exercised an unjust and violent
domination, you have oppressed the humble, spoiled the poor, treated
your people harshly and unjustly; instead of unjust exaction,
instead of violence and oppression, now practice mercy and justice.
In like manner, Solomon says, that love covers a multitude of sins;
not, however, with God, but among men. For the whole verse stands
thus, "Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins,"
(Prov. 10: 12.) Here, after his manner, he contrasts the evils
produced by hatred with the fruits of charity, in this sense, Those
who hate are incessantly biting, carping at, upbraiding, lacerating
each other, making every thing a fault; but those who love mutually
conceal each other's faults, wink at many, forgive many: not that
the one approves the vices of the other, but tolerates and cures by
admonishing, rather than exasperates by assailing. That the passage
is quoted by Peter (1 Pet. 4: 8) in the same sense we cannot doubt,
unless we would charge him with corrupting or craftily wresting
Scripture. When it is said, that "by mercy and truth iniquity is
purged," (Prov. 16: 6,) the meaning is, not that by them
compensation is made to the Lord, so that he being thus satisfied
remits the punishment which he would otherwise have exacted; but
intimation is made after the familiar manner of Scripture, that
those who, forsaking their vices and iniquities turn to the Lord in
truth and piety, will find him propitious: as if he had said, that
the wrath of God is calmed, and his judgment is at rest, whenever we
rest from our wickedness. But, indeed, it is not the cause of pardon
that is described, but rather the mode of true conversion; just as
the Prophets frequently declare, that it is in vain for hypocrites
to offer God fictitious rites instead of repentance, seeing his
delight is in integrity and the duties of charity. In like manner,
also, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, commending kindness
and humanity, reminds us, that "with such sacrifices God is well
pleased," (Heb. 13: 16.) And indeed when Christ, rebuking the
Pharisees because, intent merely on the outside of the cup and
platter, they neglected purity of heart, enjoins them, in order that
they may be clean in all respects, to give alms, does he exhort them
to give satisfaction thereby? He only tells them what the kind of
purity is which God requires. Of this mode of expression we have
treated elsewhere, (Matth. 23: 25; Luke 11: 39-41; see Calv. in
Harm. Evang.)
37. In regard to the passage in Luke, (Luke 7: 36, sq.) no man
of sober judgment, who reads the parable there employed by our Lord,
will raise any controversy with us. The Pharisee thought that the
Lord did not know the character of the woman whom he had so easily
admitted to his presence. For he presumed that he would not have
admitted her if he had known what kind of a sinner she was; and from
this he inferred, that one who could be deceived in this way was not
a prophet. Our Lord, to show that she was not a sinner, inasmuch as
she had already been forgiven, spake this parable: "There was a
certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred
pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he
frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will
love him most? The Pharisee answers: "I suppose that he to whom he
forgave most." Then our Savior rejoins: "Her sins, which are many,
are forgiven; for she loved much." By these words it is plain he
does not make love the cause of forgiveness, but the proof of it.
The similitude is borrowed from the case of a debtor, to whom a debt
of five hundred pence had been forgiven. It is not said that the
debt is forgiven because he loved much, but that he loved much
because it was forgiven. The similitude ought to be applied in this
way: You think this woman is a sinner; but you ought to have
acknowledged her as not a sinner, in respect that her sins have been
forgiven her. Her love ought to have been to you a proof of her
having obtained forgiveness, that love being an expression of
gratitude for the benefit received. It is an argument a posteriori,
by which something is demonstrated by the results produced by it.
Our Lord plainly attests the ground on which she had obtained
forgiveness, when he says, "Thy faith has saved thee." By faith,
therefore, we obtain forgiveness: by love we give thanks, and bear
testimony to the loving-kindness of the Lord.
38. I am little moved by the numerous passages in the writings
of the Fathers relating to satisfaction. I see indeed that some (I
will frankly say almost all whose books are extant) have either
erred in this matter, or spoken too roughly and harshly; but I
cannot admit that they were so rude and unskillful as to write these
passages in the sense in which they are read by our new
satisfactionaries. Chrysostom somewhere says, "When mercy is
implored interrogation ceases; when mercy is asked, judgment rages
not; when mercy is sought, there is no room for punishment; where
there is mercy, no question is asked; where there is mercy, the
answer gives pardon," (Chrysos. Hom. 2 in Psal. 50.) How much soever
these words may be twisted, they can never be reconciled with the
dogmas of the Schoolmen. In the book De Dogmatibus Ecclesiasticis,
which is attributed to Augustine, you read, (cap. 54,) "The
satisfaction of repentance is to cut off the causes of sins, and not
to indulge an entrance to their suggestions." From this it appears
that the doctrine of satisfaction, said to be paid for sins
committed, was every where derided in those ages; for here the only
satisfaction referred to is caution, abstinence from sin for the
future. I am unwilling to quote what Chrysostom says, (Hom. 10 in
Genes.) that God requires nothing more of us than to confess our
faults before him with tears, as similar sentiments abound both in
his writings and those of others. Augustine indeed calls works of
mercy remedies for obtaining forgiveness of sins, (Enchir. ad
Laur.;) but lest any one should stumble at the expression, he
himself, in another passage, obviates the difficulty. "The flesh of
Christ," says he, "is the true and only sacrifice for sins - not
only for those which are all effaced in baptism, but those into
which we are afterwards betrayed through infirmity, and because of
which the whole Church daily cries, 'Forgive us our debts,' (Matth.
6: 12.) And they are forgiven by that special sacrifice."
39. By satisfaction, however, they, for the most part, meant
not compensation to be paid to God, but the public testimony, by
which those who had been punished with excommunication, and wished
again to be received into communion, assured the Church of their
repentance. For those penitents were enjoined certain fasts and
other things, by which they might prove that they were truly, and
from the heart, weary of their former life, or rather might
obliterate the remembrance of their past deeds: in this way they
were said to give satisfaction, not to God, but to the Church. The
same thing is expressed by Augustine in a passage in his Enchiridion
ad Laurentium, cap. 65. From that ancient custom the satisfactions
and confessions now in use took their rise. It is indeed a viperish
progeny, not even a vestige of the better form now remaining. I know
that ancient writers sometimes speak harshly; nor do I deny, as I
lately said, that they have perhaps erred; but dogmas, which were
tainted with a few blemishes now that they have fallen into the
unwashed hands of those men, are altogether defiled. And if we were
to decide the contest by authority of the Fathers, what kind of
Fathers are those whom they obtrude upon us? A great part of those,
from whom Lombard their Coryphaeus framed his centos, are extracted
from the absurd dreams of certain monks passing under the names of
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom. On the present subject
almost all his extracts are from the book of Augustine De
Paenitentia, a book absurdly compiled by some rhapsodist, alike from
good and bad authors - a book which indeed bears the name of
Augustine, but which no person of the least learning would deign to
acknowledge as his. Wishing to save my readers trouble, they will
pardon me for not searching minutely into all their absurdities. For
myself it were not very laborious, and might gain some applause, to
give a complete exposure of dogmas which have hitherto been vaunted
as mysteries; but as my object is to give useful instruction, I
desist.
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 3, Part 5
(continued in part 6...)
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