attached to the outward observance of some given forms, committed to a ministry destined for that purpose; can we conceive the system so broken and unequal, that for this momentous object, no visible or outward means should have been instituted? On the contrary, if, in the less important case -viewed with reference to the character of the guilt—of original sin, in which we have no personal participation, He was not contented that the child or adult should attain his end, by any inward act of belief, or of any other virtue, formed by himself or another, but exacted that he should appear as an offender, and one seeking forgiveness and justification, that he should be interrogated and give promise of his fidelity, in the face of the Church, and make confession of his faith before mankind, and so come to that visible rite, whereby he is cleansed; can we believe that, in the more important case, where the greater end for which He came on earth is to be Fulfilled, in the wiping away of deeper and more enormous fences, actually committed by us, whereby His majesty and goodness have been more cruelly outraged, He should have ief no outward visible means, for the attaining of this mercy, tha He should not, as in the other case, have required by vard manifestations of sorrow, some compensation in the t of man! Now, on these grounds, even while approachthe subject from a distance, I am sure no one can conder it inconsistent with what we know of God's merciful dealings with us, of the natural line of His providential conduct towards fallen man, in the establishment of Christianity, to suppose that Christ left in His Church an express institution for the cancelling of sins, through the application of His all-redeeming and all-sufficient Blood.

We now come to examine what is the Catholic doctrine regarding the existence of such an institution. The Catholic Church teaches, that Christ did establish on earth a means whereby forgiveness should be imparted to wretched sinners-whereby, on the performance of certain acts, all who have offended God may obtain authoritative forgiveness. It is ge

nerally said, I mean by those who preach and write against our doctrines,—that the institution maintained by the Catholic Church to have been so established by Christ, is Confession. This, at the outset, is an error,-the Catholic Church believes that the institution left by our Saviour was the Sacrament of Penance, consisting of three parts, whereof confession is only one, and that one not the most essential. Here, then, is a manifest mis-statement or misrepresentation, however unintentional, of our belief. For I will proceed to show you, that the Catholic Church teaches and urges the necessity of every thing that any other Church requires; and that even in more complete perfection than any. We believe, therefore, that the Sacrament of Penance is composed of three parts,—contrition, or sorrow-confession, or its outward manifestationand satisfaction, which, in some respects, is also a guarantee of perseverance in that which we promise.

I. With regard to the first, the Catholic Church teaches that sorrow or contrition, which involves all that any other religion means by repentance, of which it is only a part, has always been necessary to obtain the forgiveness of God. It maintains, that without that sorrow, no forgiveness can possibly be obtained in the new law any more than in the old; that without a deep and earnest grief, and a determination not to sin again, no absolution of the priest has the slightest worth or avail in the sight of God; that, on the contrary, any one who asks or obtains absolution, without that sorrow, instead of thereby obtaining forgiveness of his sins, commits an enormous sacrilege, and adds to the weight of his guilt, and goes away from the feet of his confessor, still more heavily laden than when he approached him. Such is the Catholic doctrine with respect to this portion of the Sacrament.

But what is the contrition or sorrow which the Catholic Church requires? I believe that, if any one will take the trouble to analyse the doctrine of any reformed Church, on the exact meaning of the word repentance, distinguishing its different steps from the very act of forgiveness, that is, examining

closely the means by which we arrive at that last act, which purges us from sin, he will find it exceedingly difficult to resolve it into any tangible system, or any clear series of feelings or acts which will bear a strict examination. In the Articles, for instance, of the Church of England, every thing is laid down in the vaguest manner. We have it simply said, that "we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merits of Christ, by faith, and not for our own works; wherefore that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort," and we are referred to the homily on justifi- ration for farther explanation.* Again, we are told that there is a place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. If any one

will read over that homily, he will find it repeated, again and again, that men are to be justified by faith alone without works. We find, indeed, that love is spoken of as an ingredient in this faith. But we are never told how the sinner is conducted to it. We are never informed how his return, like that of the prodigal son, is to be accomplished, when he becomes sensible of his guilt: in what way he is to be gradually conducted to that faith which justifies the sinner. We are not even told in what that faith consists. Are we simply to be satisfied with the firm persuasion or conviction, that the merits of Christ are sufficient to purge us from all sin? Or, are we to believe that His Blood has been applied to us all, and that we are forgiven? Or is there a more individual application to each one, whenever sin is regretted? What are the criterions of that faith, its tests, whereby the true may be discerned from the imaginary or false? What is its process?—is it one of simple conviction? What is to authorize you to feel that conviction? What are the previous steps which make you worthy of it, which can

make you suppose that you have obtained it? On all this we

are left completely in the dark. Each one gives us the opinions or devices of his own mind; and hence we find as many dif ferent ideas, when we come to investigate the subject, as there are persons who have written on it.

But if we look into the works of the foreign reformers,—if we examine the writings of those who may be considered the fathers and founders of the Reformation, although there is considerable contradiction and inconsistency, we yet have an attempt made to show the steps whereby the justification of the sinner is attained. We are told constantly, both in the works of Luther, and in the articles of faith of several Churches, that the first step is the terror of conscience; that the soul, contemplating the dreadful abyss of misery whereby it is surrounded, seeing itself necessarily on the brink of eternal destruction, is excited to a deep sorrow for its sins, and returning, through the merits of Christ and faith in Him, its sins are covered, and taken away in the sight of God. The preliminary step is simply terror, or dread of God's judgment,— the next and final step, is an act of faith in the power of Christ, to redeem and save by the efficacy of His Blood.* Now, not only does the Catholic Church require all these dispositions, but it considers them as mere inchoative acts, mere embryos which must be farther matured before confession can be valid. The Council of Trent lays down a most beautiful and philosophical doctrine on the nature of this introductory act; it traces the steps whereby the soul is brought to turn away from sin by the desire of reconciliation with God. It does, indeed, represent the soul as terrified and struck with horror at the awful state to which guilt has reduced it; but this is far from immediately preceding justification,—it is but the imperfect germ which appears, before the full Christian virtue can come into bloom. For the sinner, awe-struck by the sense of God's judgment, is for a moment lost in fear and apprehension, till turning naturally to look round him for relief, he sees on the other hand, the immense mercy and goodness of God, and balancing that with His more awful attributes, is buoyed up with the hope of mercy,-that he yet may rise and return, like the prodigal, to his father's house, with the prospect of being, at least, one of the last and lowest

* See the admirable chapter on this subject in Möhler's Symbolik.

of his servants. Yet, is even this only another step towards the feelings of affection naturally excited, at thinking that God is so good, that His kindness to us extends so far as to receive such wretched beings into His arms; and then love becomes mingled with our fear, which thus becomes the fear of the child not of the slave; till at last the soul, inflamed with an ardent love of God and determined never more to offend Him, is brought into that state which we find described in the New Testament, as the immediate precursor and cause of forgiveness. Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much."*

Thus, while faith is the principal root of all justification, there are yet other acts and other feelings of virtue, more conformable to the attributes of God, and more consistent with the order of His institutions in the New law, through which the soul passes, up to that last act which seals its justification. St Paul tells us again and again, that except through faith, no man can be justified, and that all justification is through Christ and through faith in Him; and so this progress of justification begins in that faith, and ends in the application of the Blood of our Redeemer, as the only means of salvation.

Thus far, therefore, we have every thing included in the order, progress, or purport of the acts of forgiveness, required by any other religion for the justification of the sinner. And I will simply ask, before I come to treat of the other parts of the Sacrament, can it be said that this is a system favourable to crime? Can it be said, that the Catholic holds forgiveness or absolution to be so completely attached to an outward act, that he is reckless of the commission of offences, because he believes that his soul can be as easily cleansed from sin, as his body from outward defilement? that his penance is a bath or laver, wherein, by a plain and easy application, offences are washed away, and the soul restored to its original purity?

But we are not yet arrived at the close of this important subject: for it must be observed, that these are only the ingre

*Luke vii. 47. Conc. Trid. Sess.vi. c. vi. Catech. Rom. Pa. ii. c. v.