This Section teaches —

1st. That every man should make private confession of all his sins to God, and that God will certainly pardon him when his sorrow and his renunciation of his sins are sincere. This is all included in what has already been said as to the nature and effects of genuine repentance; and it is expressly declared in Scripture: " If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9.

2d. That when a Christian has personally injured a brother, or scandalized by his unchristian conduct the Church of Christ, he ought to be willing, by a public or a private confession, as the case may be, to declare his repentance to those that are offended, is also a dictate alike of natural reason and Scripture. If we have done wrong, we stand in the position of one maintaining a wrong until, by an expressed repentance and, where possible, redress of the wrong, we place ourselves on the side of the right. The wrong-doer is plainly in debt to the man he has injured to make every possible restitution to his feelings and interests, and the same principle holds true in relation to the general interests of the Christian community. The duty is expressly commanded in Scripture. Matt. v. 23, 24; James v. 16; Matt, xviii. 15-18.

3d. That it is the duty of the brethren or of the Church, when offended, to forgive the offending party and restore him fully to favour upon his repentance, is also a dictate of natural conscience and of Scripture. All lionourable men feel themselves bound to act upon this principle. The Christian is, in addition, brought under obligations to forgive others by his own infinite obligations to his Lord, who not only forgave us upon repentance, but died to redeem us while we were unrepentant. As to public scandals, the Church is bound to forgive them when the Lord has done so. As genuine repentance is the gift of Christ, its evident exercise is a certain indication that the person exercising it is forgiven by Christ and a Christian brother. liuke xvii. 3, 4; 2 Cor. ii. 7, 8; Matt. vi. 7.

The E-omish Church teaches that, as an element of penance and evidence of true repentance, the Christian must confess all his sins without reserve, in all their details and qualifying circumstances, to a priest having jurisdiction ; and that if any mortal sin is unconfessed it is not forgiven ; and if the omission is wilful, it is sacrilege, and greater guilt is incurred.* And they maintain that the priest absolves judicially, not merely declaratively, from all the penal consequences of the sins confessed, by the authority of Jesus Christ.

This is an obvious perversion of the scriptural command to confess. They bid us simply to confess our faults one to another. There is not a word said about confession to a priest in the Bible. The believer, on the contrary, has immediate access to Christ, and to God through Christ (1 Tim. ii. 5 ; John xiv. 6 ; v. 40 ; Matt. * Cat. B >m., Part ii., ch. v., Qs. 33, 34, 42.

xi. 28), and is commanded to confess his sins immediately to God. 1 John i. 9. No priestly function is ever ascribed to the Christian ministry in the New Testament. The power of absolute forgiveness of sin belongs to God alone (Matt. ix. 2-6), is incommunicable in its very nature, and has never been granted to any class of men as a matter of fact. The authority to bind or loose which Christ committed to his Church was understood by the apostles, as is evident from their practice, as simply conveying the power of declaring the conditions on which God pardons sin, and, in accordance with that declaration, of admitting or of excluding men from sealing ordinances.

In this section we are taught —

1. That every man ought to make private confession of his Bins to God. We cannot discover to God anything that was previously concealed from his omniscient eye; but by confessing our sins we give glory to God, as well as take shame to ourselves. Hence Joshua said unto Achan : " INIy son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him." — Josh. vii. 19. To cover our sins is to dishonour God, as if he either did not see, or could not punish them; whereas, to confess our sins is to honour God's holy law, which we have violated — to honour his omniscience, which beheld all our transgressions — to honour his justice, which might have taken vengeance upon them — and to honour his patience and long-suffering, which have forborne to execute tlie merited punishment.

2. That those who privately confess their sins to God, and

forsake them, shall find mercy, though they do not. also confess all their sins to a priest. This is -amply confirmed by that inspired declaration : " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper ; hut whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." — Pro v. xx^-iii. 13. The experience of David corresponded to this declaration. — Ps. xxxii. 5. But the Church of Rome holds that the auricular confession of sins to a priest, and his absolution thereupon obtained is the only means appointed by God for the procuring of pardon of all mortal sins committed after baptism.* For such a confession there is neither example nor command in Scripture, The text on which Romanists chiefly rely (John xx. 23) says nothing of the confession of sins in the ears of a priest ; and the ministers of religion can only remit sins dedaratively, not authoritatively. They can absolve from the censures of the Church, but not from the guilt of sin, as committed against God. In one place we are enjoined to " confess our faults one to another" (James v. 16) ; but this confession is mutual, not a confession by the people to the priest. Christians ought to confess their faults to those whom they have injured ; but the confession of all their sins in private to a priest, as required by the Church of Rome, is wholly unauthorised by Scripture, and it has been the occasion of flagrant abuse. " Not only is auricular confession productive of much inconvenience to society, by giving the ministers of religion an undue and dangerous influence over the minds of the people in their most secret affairs ; but it perverts their notions of the justification of a sinner, and it provides^a method of quieting their consciences, which is so easy of access that it encourages them to sin with little fear."f

3. Though Christians are only required to confess their secret sins to God, who seeth in secret, yet, if they have wronged a Christian brother, in his property or good name, they are bound to confess their offence to him, and to make all the reparation in their power for the injury they have done to him ; and upon their repentance he is bound to forgive them. — Matt. v. 23, 24 ; Luke xvii. 3, 4. When Christians fall into public scandal, they should be willing to make a more public confession of their offence, that they may openly honour that God by their confession, Avhom they have openly dishonoured by their conduct ; and the Church, upon their repentance, ought in love to receive them, and restore

* Some of the grossest corruptions of the Church of Rome respect the doctrine of repentance. According to the tenets avowed in the standards of that Church, repentance consists cf three acts — confession of sins to a priest, contrition, or attrition, and satisfaction.

t Hill's Lectures in Divinity, pp. 292, 293. L

1 62 CONFESSION OF FAITH. [[ciIAP. XVI.

tliem to all their Christian privileges. The Novatians maintained that such as had fallen into grievous transgressions, especially those who had apostatized from the faith, in a time of persecution, were not to be again received into the bosom of the Church * But this opinion is contrary both to the precepts and examples of Scripture. If a man be overtaken in a fault, they who are spiritual are enjoined to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering themselves, lest they also be tempted — Gal. vi. 1. The Church at Corinth was required to forgive the incestuous person, upon his repentance, and receive him again into communion, lest he should be swallowed up with over much sorrow.— 2 Cor. ii. 7, 8.