rinal code, the Thirty-nine
Articles, which each clergyman declares he accepts _ex animo_,
asserts that "Penance is not a sacrament of the Gospel." And in the
Book of Homilies, which the said Articles commend as containing "good
and wholesome doctrine," do we read: "We ought to acknowledge none
other priest for deliverance from our sins but Jesus Christ. * * * It
is most evident and plain that this auricular confession hath not the
warrant of God's word. * * * I do not say but that, if any do find
themselves troubled in conscience, they may repair to their learned
curate or pastor, _or to some other godly learned man_, and show the
trouble and doubt of their conscience to them, that they may receive
at their hand the comfortable salve of God's word; but it is against
the true Christian liberty that any man should be bound to the
numbering of his sins, as it hath been used heretofore in the time of
blindness and ignorance."[53] It is clear that both the Articles and
the Book of Homilies deny the power of absolution and the necessity of
confession as essential conditions, in the ordinary course of things,
for the forgiveness of sin.

The Book of Common Prayer--the Liturgy of the Anglican Communion--in
the office for visiting the sick, does urge the confession of the sick
person, and gives the form of absolution to be used by the minister.
It also bids the minister to exhort those approaching communion, who
cannot quiet their conscience, to seek absolution, together with
ghostly counsel and advice. In the Book of Common Prayer used by the
Episcopalians in the United States, these directions concerning
confession and absolution are omitted.

The result of the teaching of the Articles was the complete
destruction, in the mind of the people of England, during three
centuries, of the need of confession and absolution. And, until some
fifty years ago, it was unknown for Anglicans to go to confession.
They lived and died without the faintest conception that such an
ordinance was divinely instituted, or that it was necessary or even
advisable. A change came, and certain of the clergy of the Established
Communion began to teach the necessity of confession. This produced
open revolt in their camp; the matter became so serious that the
Convocation sitting in 1873 gave it consideration, and the Bishop of
Salisbury boldly said: "Habitual confession is unholy, illegal, and
full of mischief." The Bishop of Lichfield, in indignation, d