S94 V1RS.I6. AnExpojition, withNottl Cx.&P·5· and narrow. I fuppofe the Apofile fpeaketh offuch fins as did moll: wound the Confcience in ficknefs, as the fpecial caufe of it ; and therefore joyneth this advice ofconfejfron with healing and prayer, this being a means mo£l: conducible to quicken others to aCtions of fpiritual relief, as the application of ape counfels, and the putting · up of fie prayers: Things fpoken at random have not ufually fuch objervat, an efficacy and comfort in them. The Note is, That there u afea– fon ofconfejfrng our fins, not one!y to qod, b11t to ml!ln, I will not digrefs into controverfie; I lhall briefly thew, I. The evils and inconvenienci.es of chat Confeffion which the Papi£l:s require. 2. The feafons wherein we mu£l: confefs eo man. Fir£l:, For Anricular Conjl-lfion, Oi that Confejfron which the Papifis require, I lhall defcribe it to you. The Papifis call it the Sacrament of Pcnnanct, by which a man is bound, at lc:aft oncea year, to conftfs to a Priefi all the fins he haeh committed ·fince be was lafi lhriven, with all the circumfiances of it ; q~eis, quid, ubi, qu~bJUauxibis,&c. and from this Law none are exempted, neither Pnnce nor King. no not the Pope himfelf; in it they place agreat deal ofmerit and opinion of fand:ity. The truth is, this is the great artifice and engine by which they keep the people in devotion to e s-cire velunt their Interefis; e knowlt::dg of fecrers rendering them the more {tcrcta dtJmm, f.eared . ow that which we dtfprove in it, is, I. The abfolute atqt~e inde ti.. ~eceJ!ity of it; conflffion to men being a thing only neccffary in men.Juvenal. fame cafes; in others confefsion to God may be enough: neceflity indeed is layd upon chat, 1 Joh. I. 9· z. The requiring of fucb a precfe and accurate enumeration of their fins, with all their cir– cumfiantes, under t_he pain of an AnAthema; which being impof;.~ fible, maketh it orx of thofe ~of1ut J'vu~d.>~t>61c£, thofe unfupport– able burthens, which neither we not our tathcrs were able to bear.. In (bore, this [crupulom ennmert~tion i~ nothing ellebut a rack to the Confcience, invented and exercifed without any Re~fon ; no nuns memory being fo happy as ro anfw~r the requiry, .Pf'a. 19.Iz~ 3• Their making of it a p.tirt ofa Sacrar1Jmt ofdivii~ · !nftitgtio~: the Jurc.. divini'J of it they pl€ad trom this p'~ace, bm:wretchedly. Oneof the moll mo;:{dl: of their owrrWrMrs,GrrgorJ de Jlaicntin~ s:eckohe-th up tmny Papcfis, that fay, th~ gtou dat ic ondy was Univ~rfal TradiEion; alchollgh indeefd it w'as.in ·.cured twelve hlln• drf'd years after Chrifi, amongother Sup't'rfri:tibn~, by hmd'&'tnt the thifd.. +-· Tae m~nocr at 'tlS , uf~, _and th~ t'O»felJ'IItfl~eJ .of it, make
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