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the author beyond his limits, were he to enter on the proof, that the Scriptures were contemplated from the beginning as the rule of faith. This, however, will be briefly attended to in another dissertation. At present, the subject shall be limited to the position, that there arise insuperable objections to the affirmed infallibility, in the manifest want of agreement of its advocates, as to the seat of its residence; and in the circumstance, that of the theories invented for the purpose, each calls for the aid of another; so that to constitute among them the infallibility in question, the different parts meet as in a circle.

One of the theories, lodges the questioned infallibility in the succession of bishops in the Román chair: and this they are supposed to have inherited from St. Peter, whom St. Paul "withstood to the face because he was to be, blamed,"* in a matter in which Christian verity was concerned. It must be acknowledged, that papal infallibility is the only scheme, which can answer the purposes of those who demand a living judge; because there alone can such a resource be found, to be repaired to at all times. This opinion, however, is here supposed to be generally, at the present period, abandoned by all intelligent subjects of the see of Rome; however violently it may have been stickled for in some times and places. In short the errours of some popes have been too glaring to admit a veil. In the instance of Liberius in the fourth century, there was a deposition for heresy. In the seventh century, Honorius another bishop of Rome, was censured for the same.† And in the fourteenth century, John the twentysecond adopted and propagated a tenet deemed

Gal. ii. 11.

The condemnation of Honorius, was by the sixth of the councils called general Both Fleury and Dupin acknow ledge the fact; and the latter defends the acts of the council at large, against Baronius: contending, that the charge was true, and that the Pope was properly denominated a heretick.

heretical; which however he retracted-it is said a few moments before his deathans batea for it Accordingly, it is not surprizing to find infalli bility rested on the ground of the decisions of a general council, in conjunction with the Pope as their head. Here occur several difficulties: such as the subsistence of the Church for three hundred years without councils their being called by emperours and not by popes, and their independence on the latter, for the sanction of their decreesus

But the ground of general councils is thought to be strengthened, by the prop of the acceptance of their decrees by the individual Churches: and this is here supposed to be the sentiment of the most moderate of the advocates of the Roman see. The obvious result, would seem to be the inefficiency of the determinations, in regard to all the Churches by which the assent is withheld: and in that case, what claim, in the light of conditions of communion, have all the decrees of the councils called general, on all the numerous Churches of the East, ever since their separation? But here, to make good the theory, another principle is brought in, thus completing the circle at the point in which it beganThe limiting of the necessary acceptance, to the Churches in union with the bishop of Rome. It is thus, that the three schemes, although they have their several partisans, are made to constitute together a ground of infallibility; while each of them, resting on its peculiar merits, is perceived to be insufficient.

Even when they are taken together, it is difficult to see how they clothe with authority the decrees of the council of Trent, as they respect the countries of France and Hungary; wherein they have not been ratified to the present day.

There is not here unknown, the distinction taken between the decrees relating to doctrine, and those relating to discipline; the former of which were declared in France to establish points, which

the Church of that country had always held. Still, they had rested and now remain on different ground than that of the decrees of Trent, or any other general council. Besides, this distinguishing between doctrine and discipline, is not so easy as is by some supposed. One of the objections in France to the adoption of the decrees, was their being made dependent on the confirmation of the Pope,* and the saving of the authority of the papal see. In these particulars, there were evidently doctrine and discipline united..

From all this, there is still a retreat in the doctrine of tradition; which is supposed to have brought down the truths of Christianity, through the Episcopal succession. Of this, it is proposed to treat in a subsequent dissertation. Only let it be remarked, how entirely on this ground, infallibility would become lost in the known discrepancy of opinion; were it not, that the possession of the gift is supposed to be confined to those, who are united to the Roman chair-that chair, in which errour has been confessedly sometimes seated. As oneness was brought round through the circle of general councils and general consent, to the point of the papacy; so infallibility comes round to the same, through another circle-that of tradition.

* Session XXV. Chapter 22.

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Section I.-Auricular Confession.-Texts against it.Fathers against it.-Origin of the Practice.-Silence of the Fathers.--Bad Consequences.-Section II-Assurance.Texts misunderstood.-Texts against it.--Objections to the Doctrine.

THE object of this dissertation, is twofold: to enlarge on what has been said in the lecture; first, on the subject of auricular confession; and secondly, on what is held by some Protestants, in relation to inward

assurance.

SECTION I.

OF AURICULAR CONFESSION.

In the lecture, remarks were made on the power to remit or to retain sins, as given in John xx. 23. The other passages quoted in favour of auricular confession, are Acts xix. 18, and James v. 16. In the former it is recorded, that on St. Paul's first preaching and performing of miraculous works in Corinth, "many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds." It means no more, than that their application to the apostles to be received to Christian communion, was accompanied by an acknowledgment of their former vicious courses; a matter not uncommon in every Protestant communion, at the present day. But that a special confession of all past miscarriages was not a prerequisite of initiation into the Church by baptism, may be presumed from the many places, in which it might otherwise have been expected to appear-as in the baptism of the

*See Lecture II.

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eunuch-in that of Cornelius and his household, and -in that of Jairus and his household.

The other passage is-" Confess your sins one to another." It is not-to a priest, as having an authoritative and judicial tribunal; but to one another: meaning with candour, in opposition to the palliating or justifying of what was faulty in their respective characters. For that the passage went beyond this, to a disclosure of the movements of the mind, does not appear.

On the present subject, the works of the early fathers have received a similar treatment with the holy Scriptures: that is, the absolute duty of confession to God, and the occasional use of opening the heart to the ministers of his word, has been confounded with the indispensable necessity of the latter, as a condition of divine pardon. Thus, Tertullian is introduced as to the purpose; because in his treatise concerning patience, among many animated exhortations to persons fallen from the peace of the Church, he counsels them to implore, on bended knees, the prayers of the Presbyters, and of all others who were dear to God. Cyprian and Origen are quoted to the same effect, and on similar occasion given. But on the other hand, it would be easy to bring passages from the fathers-from St. Chrysostom in particular, in various passages of his works-prescribing confession to God in such a way as to show, that they thought no other necessary to the pardon of sin. Even in the legitimate releasing from Church censures; there are sundry fathers who maintain, that the act of the minister is not judicial, but declaratory.

The doctrine of auricular confession originated in the following manner. After the lapse of some centuries, sins of a publick and glaring character were acknowledged openly before the Church: and this practice, with the advantage which it was thought to possess of securing the prayers of the clergy and of all the faithful, drew after it the unveiling of transgressions, which could be known only to the parties; but confessed by them voluntarily, and not drawn from them

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