ON THE PRINCIPAL DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, DELIVERED AT ST. MARY'S MOORFIELDS, DURING THE LENT OF 1836, By NICHOLAS WISEMAN, D. D. PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ROME; FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE VOL. II. LONDON: JOSEPH BOOKER, 61, NEW BOND STREET. 1836. ADVERTISEMENT TO VOL. II. the In the Lectures which compose the following volume, a slight deviation has been made from the order in which they were delivered. The tenth Lecture was upon Real Presence, or Transubstantiation; but, as this subject was treated on three successive Sundays, on account of the greater numbers who could attend on that day, while other topics were discussed on the Wednesdays and Fridays, it has been thought expedient to proceed with these, and place the three Lectures on the Real Presence together, at the close of the series. A Discourse has been added on Indulgences. This was not delivered at Moorfields, from want of time. It had, however, been given at the Sardinian Chapel, in a short course delivered there during Advent, 1835; and a strong desire having been expressed by many who heard it, that it should be published, the author has been induced to write it from his notes, and add it as part of the present series. 54, Lincoln's Inn Fields, LECTURE THE TENTH. ON THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE. JOHN xx. 23. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained." I SHALL this day endeavour to explain to you, in the simplest manner, the doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding confession, or the forgiveness of sins, and the grounds whereupon she maintains this practice to be an institution of our Lord. It would, however, be necessarily unjust to the subject to enter into it alone, and detached from all those other important institutions, which are considered an essential part of the remedy established by Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It will, therefore, be necessary for me to enter, perhaps at some length, into other considerations connected with this subject, and endeavour rather to lay before you the entire form and substance of that sacrament, which the Catholic Church maintains, and believes, to be one of the most valuable institutions left by our Saviour to the ministration of his Church-that is to say, the sacrament of Penance, of which, indeed, confession is to be considered but a part. Nothing, I own, is more common than to separate our belief from our practice; and then, placing the latter before the consideration of mankind, as something which stands on independant grounds, and has no connexion with the former, to represent it as necessarily a human invention, devoid of authority in the word of God. In order to remove any impression that may have been made of this nature, it will be proper that I show you this institution as really prescribed in the Church of Christ, in connexion with other and still more important doctrines. I shall, therefore, endeavour to go through all parts of |