that with the greatest Sorrow, and the trueft Contrition, for our Sins; with the moft ardent Defires, that he would be pleafed, for the Sake of Chrift Jefus our Lord, to forgive us the Guilt and Punishment of those Sins which we thus feriously repent of, and unfeignedly refolve to forfake, must have a very different Effect. This Manner of confeffing ourselves to God, which keeps us ftill penitent before that awful Majefty who we are fenfible knows our Hearts, and whether our Repentance is truly fincere or not, and whom we know we cannot deceive; I fay, this Doctrine and Practice must be much more productive of a holy Life, and of that Abhorrence which we ought to have for Sin; and be much more likely to make us careful to avoid the Commiffion of what requires fo ftrict and folemn an Humiliation and Repentance, than that of confeffing our Sins to a Prieft, at fuch and fuch fet Times, which, after we are a little used to, like plunging into the Water, ceases to be any Pain or Uneafinefs, and becomes familiar to us, and is looked upon, I am verily perfuaded, by most Perfons, to be Matter of mere Form. Further, the Notion of Absolution is impertinent and nonfenfical, if it be meant in any other Sense than that of being declaratory or optative; declaratory, in pronouncing that Almighty God, of his great Mercy, hath promifed Forgiveness of Sins to all them that with hearty Repentance, and true Faith, turn unto him (u); optative, in wishing

(u) The Form of Confeffion and Absolution in the Communion Service of the English Liturgy.

that

knowledge and bewail their manifold Sins and Wickedness, from time to time moft grievously committed, by Thought, Word, or Deed, against his divine Majefty; and praying, That he would pardon and deliver those who do earnestly repent, and are heartily forry for their Mifdoings, and whofe Sins are grievous, and an intolerable Burden, unto them: For, though there is another Form of Abfolution ufed by fome of our Minifters, when the fick Perfon heartily defires it (x), that carries with it seemingly a more pofitive Sense (the literal Wording whereof I cannot fo perfectly juftify) yet the Meaning of it is ftill the fame with the Two other Forms already mentioned; as we muft certainly conclude from hence, That, were it intended to be understood as abfolutely efficacious to the Salvation of the Perfon to whom it is fpoken (as the Words, without further Confideration, feem to imply) there would have been no need of the Collect or Prayer that (does not go before, but) immediately follows the pronouncing the Abfolution; in the ufing of which Prayer, the Prieft, by faying, Let us pray, exhorts and invites not only the fick Person himfelf, but likewife all the other Communicants that are there (if there be any other Persons prefent, as there most commonly is) to join with him in praying to God; who, according to the Multitude of his Mercies, puts away the Sins of

(x) Form of Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick. English Liturgy.

thofe who truly repent (y); that for as much as the Penitent puts his full Truft only in God's Mercy (not in the Abfolution he had received the Moment before from the Prieft) he (God) would not impute unto him his former Sins, but ftrengthen him with the blessed Spirit; and then concludes by praying, That, when he is pleased to take him hence, he would take him into his Favour (it is not faid for the Sake, or by Virtue, of the Priest's Abfolution, but) through the Merits of his most dearly beloved Son Chrift Jefus our Lord: I fay, the Notion of Absolution, in any other Sense than this, is impertinent and nonfenfical: Impertinent, to plague Mankind with obliging them to believe, that the Abfolution of a Priest is any otherwise neceffary than only, in general, by declaring, that God will forgive all those who bewail their own Sinfulness, and confefs themselves unto God, with full Purpose to amend their Lives; and, in particular, by wifhing or praying (z), That the Perfons, who cannot, perhaps, quiet their own Confciences, by Reafon of the Heinousness of their Sins (and therefore come to a Priest for Counsel and Comfort) may be of the Number of those who receive the Benefit of Abfolution according to the Miniftry of God's Word, who hath promised Pardon to all them that with hearty Repentance, and true Faith, turn unto him: Nonfenfical, to fuppofe that God would give away his own Power of pardoning a Sinner, and grant

(y) Collect next after the faid Abfolution. (z) Exhortation to prepare for receiving the Communion. English Common Prayer-Book.

fuch

fuch a fupereminent Privilege to his Ministers, as (if I may be allowed to ufe the Expreffion) would make a Divorce between his Power and his Juftice, or his Mercy; for that must be the Cafe, if the Minifter or Prieft hath an abfolute Option whether he will effectually grant a Sinner his Pardon in the next World, or not. Becaufe, if the Abfolution of a Prieft, pronounced ferioufly, and with Intention really to fave the Perfon confeffing, be abfolutely efficacious to procure him the Pardon of his Sins, by virtue of the Power which it is pretended was committed to the Priefts for that Purpose by Chrift (and if he hath not this Option, or that his Absolution be not abfolutely, but only conditionally (if God fees. fit) efficacious to the Salvation of the Sinner, fuch Popish Prieft, and his Abfolution, have really no greater Power or Virtue than what we allow to our Proteftant Minifters, and their Abfolution, which is to be declaratory or optative only; and then the Pother and Rout they make about this Matter is of no Moment, but is vain. and ridiculous; but, if it hath that Privilege of abfolutely pardoning) then the Sinner (whatever in the mean Time becomes of him in Purgatory, which fhall be confidered of hereafter) muft fooner or later go to Heaven: So that though God fees the Heart of the Perfon abfolved, and knows that he is an Hypocrite, and not truly penitent, yet he has it not in his Power to condemn him to Hell, or to difannul in the next World, the Pardon given him by the Prieft in this: And, on the contrary, feeing Penance and Abfolution are held neceffary to Salvation, if the Priest reI 2 fufes

fufes to abfolve a Sinner, or (which is all one with them) does not do it with a ferious and full Intention that the Penance he impofes, or the Abfolution he pronounces, fhould be efficacious to the Sinner's Salvation; though God fees his Heart, and knows that he is truly penitent, and that he intends to lead a new Life; and is one of thofe, who not only (a) confeffes with his Mouth the Lord Jefus, but believes in his Heart, that God hath raised him from the Dead; as likewife, that (b) he has recovered himself out of the Snare of the Devil, by Repentance, which God has vouchfafed him to the Acknowledgment of the Truth; yet the Mercy of God cannot be exercifed towards fuch a Sinner in the next World,, because he is precluded therefrom, by reafon that the Prieft, upon his Confeffion, did not impofe his Penance, and give him Abfolution, with Intent that they fhould be efficacious to his Salvation.

As to her Belief of the real Prefence; if flie means thereby, as I am afraid fhe does, what the Church of Rome does by Tranfubftantiation, viz. The Change, or Tranfubftantiation, of the Bread and Wine into the natural Body and Blood of Chrift; I hope I have faid enough already in the foregoing Part of this Letter, under the Head of Idolatry in adoring the Hoft, to convince her, both from Scripture and Reafon, that the Thing is not only impoffible, but that our Saviour never intended to have his Words understood in that Senfe; to which I fhall therefore refer her back, having there faid what I thought the Subject re

(a) Rom. x. 9. (b) 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.

quired,