THE ANCIENT FORM. 159 to remit their curse and anathema according to Thy mercy. O LORD and Master, hear my prayers for Thy servants, for Thou art He that hath commanded us, saying, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," &c. Precisely similar in its character is the form of Absolution published by Illyricus and Cardinal Bona, from an old Latin Missal. "Qui mulieri peccatrici omnia peccata dimisit lachrymanti, et latroni ad unam confessionem claustra aperuit paradisi, ipse suæ redemptionis vos participes ab omni vinculo peccatorum absolvat et membra aliquatenus debilitata medicinâ misericordiæ sanata corpori sanctæ Ecclesiæ redeunti gratiâ restituat, atque in perpetuum solidata custodiat.” For assigning the date of from 1200 to 1230 to the introduction of the declaratory form of Absolution, we have the testimony of S. Thomas Aquinas, who is writing in defence of it. He says, that there was a learned man in his time, who found fault with the indicative form of Absolution then used by the Priest-"I absolve thee from all thy sins"—and "would have it to be delivered only by way of deprecation, alleging . . . . that only thirty years • were past since all did use this form only, Absolutionem et remissionem tribuat tibi Omnipotens DEUS.'"1 Aquinas is perfectly right in his defence, the doctrine was not modern, though the form of words might be so. The Church which was warranted by Scripture in authorising her Priests to say, "Child of wrath, I baptize thee "that is to say, I convey to thee a full and perfect remission of all sins, was certainly warranted in authorising those same priests to say, Child of grace, I absolve thee, or convey to thee a conditional remission of repented sins, upon the principle of omne majus in se continet minus; even if the Priest was not warranted in so doing, without any such express sanction, by the mere tenour of his commission, and the analogy of the two cases. And, the identity of the doctrine being shown, the Church of any particular 1 Aquin. Opusc. xxii. ch.5. Ussher's "Answer to the Jesuit." Bingham, Antiq. 160 BOTH RETAINED BY THE ENGLISH CHURCH, country has a perfect right to clothe it in any form of words which she may consider most fitting or most beneficial to her own children. But this admission of Aquinas proves thus much, that the two forms are intended to convey, and do convey, precisely the same meaning; because if they did not, then the more modern, expression would imply a doctrine which the Church had not recognised up to the time of its being adopted, and that, on the well known principle of S. Vincent of Lerins, would alone be sufficient to condemn it; but this argument, which would have fallen with crushing force in the thirteenth century, and which could not have escaped his opponents had there been the smallest ground for it, is not so much as hinted at. It is the new practice, not the new doctrine that is spoken of. It follows, therefore, that if the Church of England, acquiescing in this theory, has retained both these forms in her services; if the comparatively modern form "ego te absolvo" of the Visitation office, conveys precisely the same doctrine as the more ancient expression, Absolvat te Omnipotens DEUS, used in the Communion; then she considers that occasions may happen in which one or other of them will best convey the heavenly message to the soul of the sinner. In all cases, therefore, not absolutely specified in the Prayer Book, the English Priest is, and must be, perfectly at liberty to use whichever of the two modes of expression thus sanctioned by his Church he considers best adapted to the particular case before him. They both mean the same thing, but they have been modified by the Church, for the purpose of adapting that meaning to different comprehensions. But on this very same consideration he is also bound to weigh and consider the requirements of each particular case, and the character of each particular individual, not entirely by his own judgment, but with reference to the general intention of his Church; and to clothe the message of forgiveness in that particular form of words, which, according to his judgment, would be most in accordance, not with his own private ideas, but with the teaching of his Church in that particular case. Note.-It has been objected that this principle of "omne VALIDITY OF SCHISMATICAL BAPTISM. 161 majus in se continet minus," applied to Baptism and Absolution, would give a sanction to Lay Absolution, (which, in the case of the English Church, would be Schismatical Absolution,) from the fact that the Church does, on certain occasions, admit the validity of Lay Baptism. Whether in committing to her laity, under any consideration whatever, that which was committed to her priests alone by CHRIST, she has, or has not, the warrant of Scripture, is a point on which I do not feel myself competent to enter. I am content to take the decision of the Church as I find it, and to accept the validity of lay Baptism on the authority of the Church, though I can myself discover no authority for it in the Bible. Whether the sanction she has given to laymen, in the subject of Baptism, in order to meet cases of emergency and imminent danger, can properly be applied to cases of heretical or schismatical Baptism, where no such imminent danger or emergency of any kind exists; that is to say, whether the grace of GOD is to be obtained by a quibble, is a point on which it is not necessary for me now to speak, as it does not come within my subject. But admitting all this, admitting that the non-prohibition of Scripture, the very doubtful custom of the Church, and the possible emergency of the case, gives a sort of sanction to schismatical Baptism; this is no argument whatever in a different case, even though that case be one of less absolute importance, because in this case neither the warrant of Scripture, nor the custom of the Church, nor the emergency of the case can be pleaded, in order to justify the irregularity. THE PARSON'S NOTE-BOOK. MOST Parsons keep,-all ought to keep-a note-book of their catechumens; for as these come, and must come to him at irregular times, it is absolutely impossible for him to call to mind at once the subject of his last conversation, or even the necessary particulars of their respective situations, capacities, advantages, and peculiar temptations, unless he has some written memoranda to refer to. He ought, therefore, to keep a book in some place easy of access in his study, in which the names of the catechumens are arranged alphabetically, allowing a page for each, and putting the name plainly written on the top of each page. A common copy-book will answer the purpose. Under this he will write a short account of the catechumen in question. Where he resides-what is his present. employment-what class he belonged to at school-supposing him to be a parishioner; if not, as is generally the case with servants, where he has been educated-(and very frequently the entry here will be "nowhere, he is unable to read and write.") Whether they are or are not perfect in their Catechism-who and what are their fathers or their masters-whether they have sponsors alive, who will undertake to teach them-and at what days and hours their respective employments will permit them to attend the vicarage, the school-room, or the Church. A single glance at this, whenever the individual is announced, shows at once how to adapt the teaching or conversation to the catechumen as an individual, and prevents the Parson from falling into those generalities, THE PARSON'S NOTE-BOOK. 163 which, however useful in a lecture, are unsuitable for a private conference. The date of each visit must be noted down, and the subject of conversation. I say subject rather than subjects, for the Parson will always do well to confine himself to one subject at a time. Without some such note, the Parson would be altogether unable to take up the thread of his conversation at the next visit of his catechumen, as in all probability he will, before that happens, have seen thirty or forty others, and conversed with them on subjects totally different. After two or three conversations, the catechumen may be classed with five or six others of nearly equal abilities and similar habits; he may then be committed to the care of one of the catechists, a note of it being made in the Parson's book. This will not stop his visits to the parsonage, because the office of the catechist is simply instruction. As soon as the class is formed, the most intelligent of each party should be selected as a sort of choregus, to perform the mechanical part of the business, such as assembling the class, ascertaining about absentees, communicating between the Parson and the catechist, giving out the examination papers, and collecting the answers. Some such arrangement as this will be found to diminish very materially the labour both of the Parson and of the Curate. The catechist should, of course, be furnished with such extracts from the Parson's book, as he may think advisable to communicate to him, but he must also keep a small note-book of his own. A few extracts from an actual note-book would make this much more clear than any amount of description; but it is very difficult to select cases which may, without impropriety, be made public, because in every case a good deal of the conversation will turn naturally on the past sins of the individual in question, and the temptations incident to his particular situation in life: that is to say, will partake of the nature of the confessional, and must be held as sacred. On looking over my own note-book, for the purpose of selecting examples, it seems to me that all those extracts |