diligently examined himself, and explored
the recesses and hiding-places of his con-
science, he should confess those sins by
â– which he remembers that he has mortally
otfended his Lord and God. But the
other sins which do not occur to him when
taking diligent thought, are understood to
be included altogether in the same con-
fession ; and for these we faithfully say
with the prophet, ' Cleanse thou me, O
Lord, from my secret faults.' But the
difficulty of this sort of confession, and the
shame of uncovering sins, would, indeed,
appear grievous, if it were not lightened
by the so many and great conveniences
and consolations which are most assuredly
conferred by absolution upon all who
rightly approach this sacrament. But as
regards the manner of secretly confessing
to the priest alone, although Christ has
not forbidden any man from publicly con-
fessing his faults, in revenge for his sins,
and humiliation of himself, both by way of
example to others, and for the edification
of the Church which he has offended ; this
is not, however, a Divine command, nor
may it be advisedly enjoined by any human
law, that sins, especially secret ones, should
be disclosed by open confession. Where-
fore, since that secret sacramental confes-
sion which the holy Church has used from
the begnniing, and still uses, has always
been approved of by the holiest and most
ancient fathers, with great consent and
unanimity, the empty calumny is plainly
refuted of those who are not ashamed to
teach that it is contrary to the Divine com-
mand, and a human invention, which had
its origin with the fathers who were as-
sembled in the Lateran Council. For the
Church did not order by the Lateran Coun-
cil that Christ's faithful people should
confess, which she always had understood
to be necessary, and appointed by Divine
right, but that the command of confession
should be complied with at least once in
the year, by all and each who have come
to years of discretion ; whence now, in the
universal Church, that wholesome custom
of confessing in the sacred, and especially
acceptable, time of Lent, is observed with
great benefit to the souls of the faithful ;
which custom this holy synod highly ap-
proves, and receives as pious and worthy
to be retained."
Here an attempt is made to invest the
Christian priesthood with the prerogative
of the Most High, who is a searcher of the
hearts, and a discerner of the thoughts ; in
forgetfulness of the very distinction which
God drew between himself and all men —
" man lookcth to the outward part, the
Lord trieth the heart." As Christ has
invested his ministers with no poAvcr to do
this of themselves, the Tridentinc Fathers
have sought to supply what they must
needs consider a grievous omission on his
part, by enjoining all men to unlock the
secrets of their hearts at the command of
their priest, and persons of all ages and
sexes to submit not only to general ques-
tions as to a state of sin or repentance, but
to the most minute and searching ques-
tions as to their most inmost thoughts.
The extent to which the confessors have
thought it right to carry these examina-
tions on subjects concerning which the
apostle recommends that they be not once
named among Christians, and which may
be seen either in " Dens' Theology," or
"Burchard's Decrees," c. 19, Paris, lo49,
affords a melancholy, painful, and sicken-
ing subject for contemplation ; especially
when it is considered that they were Chris-
tian clergy who did this, and that it was
done in aid, as they supposed, of the Chris-
tian religion. The fearful eff'ects of these
examinations upon the priests themselves,
we will do no more than allude to ; he who
may think it necessary to satisfy himself
upon the point, may consult the cases con-
templated and provided for (among others)
by Cardinal Cajetan, in his Opuscula,
Lugd. 1562, p. 114. In the Bull of Pius
IV., Contra solicitantes in confessione, dated
Ap. 16, 1561, [Bullarium Mar/n. Luxemb.
1727, ii. p. 48,) and in a similar one of
Gregory XV., dated Aug. 30, 1622, {Gre-
fjory XV. Constit. Horn. 1622, p. 114,) there
is laid open another fearful scene of danger
to female confitents from wicked priests,
" mulicres paniitentes ad actus inhonestos
dum earum audiunt confcssiones alliciendo
et provocando." Against which flagrant
dangers, and the preparatory ste])s of sap-
ping and undermining the mental modesty
of a young ])crson by examinations of par-
ticular kinds, it is vain to think that the
feeble bulls of the bishops of Home can
aftbrd any security. These observations
api)ly to the system of the Koman Church,
peculiar to itself, of cumpeUimj the dis-
closure of the most minute details of the
AURICULAR CONFESSION.
AUTOCEPHALI.
most secret thoughts and actions. As to
encvuragbuf persons whose minds are hur-
thened Mith the remembrance of fearful
sins, to ease themselves of the burthen by
revealing it to one at whose hands they
may seek guidance, and consolation, and
prayer, it is a totally distinct question, and
nothing but wilful art will attempt to con-
found them. On tiiis point we see no reason
to withdraw a regret which we have before
exi)ress(.'d as to its disuse in the Church of
England ; for we cannot but believe that,
were it more frequently had recourse to,
many a mind would depart the world at
peace with itself and with God, which now
sinks to the grave under a bond of doubt
and fear, through Avant of confidence to
make use of ghostly remedies. — Perceval.
In the sixth canon of the Council of
Trent it runs thus:— "If any vshall deny
that sacramental confession was instituted
and is necessary for salvation by Divine
right, or shall say that the custom of con-
fessing secretly to the priest alone, which
the Catholic Church has always observed
from the beginning, and continues to ob-
serve, is foreign to the institution and
command of Christ, and is of human in-
vention, let him be accursed."
Here sacramental confession is affirmed
to be of Divine institution, and auricular
confession likewise, and he is accursed
who shall deny it. This is bravely said ;
yet the Tridentine Fathers might have
recollected that, in the Latin Church as
late as 813, it Avas matter of dispute whe-
ther there was need to confess to a priest
at all, as appears from the thirty-third
canon of the Council of Cabaillon, wliich
is as follows : " Quidam Deo solummodo
confiteri dcbere dicunt peccata, quidam
vero sacerdotibus confitenda esse percen-
scnt: quod utrumque non sine magno
fructu intra sanctam fit Ecclesiam. Ita
dumtaxat ut et Deo,qui Remissor est pec-
catorum, confiteamur peccata nostra, et
cum David dicaraus, iJelictum mewn coy-
nituin tibi feci, &c., et secundum institu-
tionem apostoH, confiteamur alterutrum
peccata nostra, et oremus pro invicem ut
salvemur. Cunfessio itaque qu» Deo fit,
pun/at jM'CcaUi, ea vero qutc sacerdoti fit,
docet qualiter ipsa purgentur peccata," &:c.
{Cone. vii. 1270.) Was Leo the Third
asleep, that he could suficr such heresy to
be broached and not denounced ? But all
the world knows, that, till 1215, no decree
ot pope or council can be adduced cnjoin-
nig tlie nccessanj observance of such a
custom. Then, at the Council of Late-
ran,^ Innocent III. commanded it. As the
Latin Church affords no sanction to the
assertion of the Tridentine Fathers, so is
it in vain to look for it among the Greeks,
for there, as Socrates {Hist. JEccies. v. 19)
and Sozomen {Hist. Eccles. vii. 16) inform
us, the whole confessional was abolished
by Nectarius, the archbishop of Constan-
tinople, in the 4th century, by reason of
an indecency which was committed on a
female penitent, when pursuing her pen-
ance ; which, sure, he Avould not have ven-
tured to have done had he deemed it a
Divine institution. Sozomen, in his account
of the confessional, says, that the public
confession in the presence of all the peo-
ple, Avhich formerly obtained, having been
found grievous, ^o^tikov wq elicbg, a well-
bred, si/e7it, and prudent presbyter was set
in charge of it ; thus plainly denoting the
change from public to auricular confes-
sions. It was this penitential presbyter
whose office was abolished by Nectarius,
who acted by the advice of Eudsemon,
cruy;^wpi}(Toi dk iKaarov, r</t j'^iV/j awii^oTi twv
fxvaTtjpiiov ntHxtiv. And the reason he as-
signed is one which the Church of Rome
would have done well to bear in mind;
oura> yap fioviog t^tiv rajv tKKXriffiav to ajSAac-
^ijurjTov. (See Perceval on Roman Schism.
Hooker, Eccl. Pol. book vi. Bp. Taylor,
Ductor Duhit. part ii. sect. 11.)
AUMBRIE. A little closet or locker.
(See Church.)
AURORA. The title of a Latin me-
trical version of several parts of the Bible,
by Petrus de Riga, canon of Rheims, in
the 12th century.
AUTOCEPHALI. AiroKs^paXoi, self-
headed, or independent. A name origin-
ally given to all metropolitans, as having
no ecclesiastical superior, and being amen-
able only to the judgment of a synod.
After the division of the Church into pa-
triarchates, it was given to such metro-
politans as preserved their independence,
and were not subject to any patriarch —
as the bishop of Constantia, or Salamis,
in Cyprus. I3ingham, book ii. chap. 18,
specifies three kinds of autocephali. 1. All
metropolitans, before patriarchates were
established. 2. Certain metropolitans after
the establishment of patriarchates, as those
of Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Iberia : and the
Churches of Britain before the coming of
St. Augustin. To which may be added
the Church of Ireland, before its submis-
sion to Rome in the 12th century. 3.
Bishops immediately subject to the patri-
arch of the diocese, mIio was to them as a
metropolitan. There were twenty-five such
subject to the bishop of Jerusalem. The
immediate suffragans of Rome are of the
same class. Bingham considers a fourth
AUTO DA FE.
AVE MARIA.
class mentioned by Valesius on Euseb. lib.
V. c. 23, as very doubtful ; viz. bishops
wholly independent of all others.
AUTO DA FE (Spanish) ; an Act of
Faith. In the Spanish Church a solemn
day is held by the Inquisition for the
punishment of heretics, and the absolution
of the innocent accused. They usually
contrive the Auto to fall on some great
festival, that the execution may pass with
the more awe ; and it is always on a Sun-
day. The Auto da Fe may be called the
last act of the inquisitorial tragedy ; it is a
kind of gaol delivery, appointed as often as
a competent number of prisoners in the
Inquisition are convicted of heresy, either
by their own voluntary or extorted con-
fession, or on the evidence of certain wit-
nesses. The process is this ; in the morn-
ing they are brought into a great hall,
where they have certain habits put on,
which they are to wear in the procession,
and by which they know their doom. The
procession is led up by Dominican friars,
after which come the penitents, being all
in black coats without sleeves, and bare-
footed, with a wax candle in their hands.
These are followed by the penitents who
have narrowly escaped being burnt, who
over their black coats have flames painted,
with their points turned downwards. Next
come the negative and relapsed, who are
to be burnt, having flames on their habits
pointing upwards. After these come such
as profess doctrines contrary to the faith
of Kome, who, besides flames pointing up-
wards, have their picture painted on their
breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all
open-mouthed, about it. Each prisoner
is attended by a familiar of the Inquisition ;
and those to be burnt have also a Jesuit
on each hand, who are continually preach-
ing to them to abjure. After the prisoners
comes a troop of familiars on horseback ;
and after them the inquisitors, and other
officers of the court, on mules ; last of all
the inquisitor-general on a white horse led
by two men with black hats and green hat-
bands. A scaff'old is erected large enough
for two or three thousand people ; at one
end of which are the prisoners, at the other
the inquisitors. After a sermon made up
of encomiums of the Inquisition, and invec-
tives against heretics, a priest ascends a
desk near the scaff'old, and, having taken
the abjuration of the penitents, recites the
final sentence of those who are to be put
to death, and delivers them to the secular
arm, earnestly beseeching at the same
time the secular power not to touch their
blood, or put their lices in danger. The
prisoners, being thus in the hands of the
civil magistrate, are presently loaded with
chains, and carried fii*st to the secular gaol,
and from thence, in an houi* or two,
brought before the civil judge, who, after
asking in what religion they intend to die,
pronounces sentence on such as declare
they die in the communion of the Church
of Home, that they shall be first strangled,
and then burnt to ashes ; on such as die in
any other faith, that they be burnt alive.
Both are immediately carried to the Ri-
bera, the place of execution, where there
are as many stakes set up as there are
prisoners to be burnt, with a quantity of
dry furze about them. The stakes of the
professed, that is, such as persist in the
heresy, are about four yards high, having
a small board towards the top for the pri-
soner to be seated on. The negative and
relapsed being fii'st strangled and burnt,
the professed mount their stakes by a
ladder, and the Jesuits, after several re-
peated exhortations to be reconciled to the
Church, part with them, telling them that
they leave them to the devil, who is stand-
ing at their elbow to receive their souls,
and carry them with him to the flames of
hell. On this a great shout is raised, and
the cry is, " Let the dogs' beards be made,"
which is done by thrusting flaming furzes,
fastened to long poles, against their faces,
till their faces are burnt to a coal, which is
accompanied with the loudest acclamations
of joy. At last fire is set to the furze at
the bottom of the stake, over which the
professed are chained so high, that the top
of the flame seldom reaches higher than
the seat they sit on, so that they rather
seem roasted' than burnt. The same dia-
bolical ceremony was observed in Portugal.
AVE MxlIlIA. A form of devotion
used in the Church of Rome, comprising
the salutation addi'essed by the angel Ga-
briel to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Luke
i. 28.) The words " Ave Maria " are the
first two, in Latin, of the form as it a])pears
in the manuals of the Romish Church,
thus: "Hail Mary, [Ave Maria,) full of
grace, the Lord is with thee," &-c. To
which is appended the following jietition :
"Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for
us sinners, now, and in the hour of our
death. Amen." Here we find, first, a
misappKcation of the words of Scripture,
and then an addition to them. It was not
used before the Hours, until the 16th cen-
tury, in the Romish olfices. It was then
introduced into the Breviary by Cardinal
Quignon. Cardinal Bona admits that it is
modern.
" I cannot but observe," says Bingham,
" that among all the short prayers used by
76
AVOIDANCE.
BACIIELOIl.
the ancients before their sermons, tliere is
never any mention made of an Ave Mary,
now so common in the practice of the
Romish Church. Their addresses were all
to God ; and the invocation of the Holy
Virgin for <^race and assistance before
sermons was a thinj? not thought of. They
who are most concerned to ])rove its use
can derive its original no higher than the
beginning of the lifteenth century." But
Mosheim (Keel. Hist, Cant. xiv. Part ii.
eh. iv.) savs that Pope John XXII. [I0I6
— oS) ordered Christians to add to their
prayers those words with which the angel
Gabriel saluted the Virgin Mary.
AVOIDANCE. Avoidance is wdiere
there is a want of a lav.fid incumbent on a
benefice, during which vacancy the Church
is (jwiai riduata, and the possessions belong-
ing to it are in abeyance. There are many
ways by which avoidance may happen ;
by "death; by cession, or acceptance of a
benefice incompatible ; by resignation ; by
consecration ; for when a clerk is jjro-
moted to a bishopric, all his other pre-
ferments are void the instant he is con-
secrated, and the right of presentation
belongs to the Crown, unless he has a dis-
pensation from the Crown to hold them in
coniincndam : by deprivation, either first by
sentence declaratory in the ecclesiastical
court for fit and sufficient causes allowed
by the common law, such as attainder of
treason or felony, or conviction of other
infamous crimes in the king's courts ; for
heresy, infidelity, gross immorality, and the
like ; or secondly, in pursuance of divers
penal statutes, which declare the benefice
void, for some nonfeasance or neglect, or
else some malfeasance or crime ; as for
simony; for maintaining any doctrine in
derogation of the king's supremacy, or of
the Thirty-nine Articles, or of the Booh of
Common Pra>/cr ; for neglecting after in-
stitution to read the liturgy and articles in
the church, or make the declarations against
Popery, or take the abjuration oath; for
usinrj any other form of prayer than the
liturgy of the Church of England ; or for
absenting himself sixty days in one year
from a benefice belonging to a Popish
patron, to which the clerk Avas ])rcsented
by either of the universities ; in all which,
and similar cases, tlie benefice is ipso facto
void, without any formal sentence of de-
privation. No person can take any dignity
or benefice in Ireland until he has resigned
all his preferments in England; and by
such resignation the king is deprived of
the presentation.— .S'/<7;/ieM,s on the Laics
rchttiny to the Clergy, p. 01.
AZYMITES. A name given to the
Latins, by those of the Greek Church, be-
cause they consecrate the holy eucharist in
unleavened bread {tv d^vfioig). The more
ancient custom was to consecrate a portion
of the oblations of the faithful, and there-
fore of course in leavened bread. The
wafer, or unleavened bread, is still retained
in the Church of Home, although the
catechism of the Council of Trent admits
that the eucharist may also be consecrated
in common bread. In the Church of Eng-
land unleavened bread was prescribed by
Queen Elizabeth's injunctions, and was
generally used throughout her reign. At
AVestminster, it was retained until 1642,
nor has it since been forbidden ; but the
use of leavened bread is now universal, as
in the primitive Church.
BACHELOR. In the universities of
the Church, bachelors are persons who
have attained to the baccalaureate, or
taken the first degree in arts, divinity, law,
or physic. This degree in some univer-
sities has no existence, in some the Can-
didatus answers to it. It was first intro-
duced in the thirteenth centvn-y, by Pope
Gregory IX., though it is still unknown
in Italy. Bachelors of Arts are not ad-
mitted to that degree at Oxford and Dub-
lin till after having studied four years at
those universities. At Cambridge, the
regular period of matriculation is in the
October term ; and an undergraduate w^lio
proceeds regularly Avill be admitted to his
B. A. in tlu-ee years from the following
January. Bachelors of Divinity, before
they can acquire that degree either at
Oxford or Cambridge, must be of four-
teen years' standing in the university.
Bachelors of Laws, to acquire the degree
in Oxford or Cambridge, must have pre-
viously studied the law six years. Bache-
lors of Canon LaAV are admitted after two
years' study, and sustaining an act accord-
ing to the forms. Bachelors of Medicine
must have studied two years in medicine,
after having been four years ^I. A. in the
university, and must have passed an ex-
amination ; after which they are invested
with the fur in order to be licensed. Ba-
chelors of ]\Iusic in the English and Irish
universities must have studied musie for
a certain number of years, and are ad-
mitted to the degree after the composition
and performance of a musical exercise.
Anciently the grade of Bachelor, at least
in arts, was hardly considered as a degree,
but merely a step towards the Doctorate
or Mastership. In fact, Bachelors in any
faculty, as such, have no voice in the uni-
versity convocations or senates. ' Bachelors
BAMPTON LECTURES.
BANNER.
77
in Divinity have, because they must neces-
sarily have been Masters of Art previously.
But Bachelors of Law and Medicine have
no votes, unless they happen to be Mas-
ters of Arts also. In the French, as in
the Scotch universities, the degree of Ba-
chelor of Arts was taken while the student
was still in static jnipillan', and in fact cor-
responded very much to the Sophisters in
our universities, the A. M. in these places
practically correspond to our degree of
A. B.
BAMPTOX LECTURES. A course
of eight sermons preached annually at the
university of Oxford, set on foot by the
Reverend John Bampton, canon of Salis-
bury. According to the directions in his
will, they are to be preached upon any
of the following subjects: — To confirm
and establish the Christian faith, and to
confute all heretics and schismatics ; upon
the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures ;
upon the authority of the writings of the
primitive fathers, as to the faith and prac-
tice of the primitive Church ; upon the
Divinity of our LoiiD and Sayiouh Jesus
Christ ; upon the Divinity of the Holy
Ghost ; upon the articles of the Christian
faith, as comprehended in the Apostles'
and Nicene Creeds. For the support of
this lecture he bequeathed his lands and
estates to the chancellor, masters, and scho-
lars of the university of Oxford for ever,
upon trust that the vice-chancellor, for
the time being, take and receive all the rents
and profits thereof; and, after all taxes, re-
parations, and necessary deductions made,
to pay all the remainder to the endowment
of these divinity lecture sermons. He also
du-ects in his will, that no person shall be
qualified to preach these lectures, unless
he have taken the degree of iNIaster of
Arts, at least, in one of the two universities
of Oxford or Cambridge, and that the
same person shall never preach the same
sermon twice. A number of excellent
sermons preached at this lecture are now
before the public.
BAND. This part of the clerical dress,
which is too well known to need descrip-
tion, is the only remaining relic of the
ancient amice. (See Amice.) When the
beard was worn, and when ruffs came in,
this ancient part of clerical dress fell into
disuse, but it was generally resumed after
the Restoration. The band is not, how-
ever, an exclusively clerical vestment, be-
ing part of the full dress of the bar and of
the universities, and of other bodies in
which a more ancient habit is retained,
as in some schools of old foundation.
Formerly it was worn by graduates, and
even under-graduates, at the universities ;
nor was the custom altogether extinct
within memory. It is still worn by the
scholars at ^Winchester, is:c., and was an-
ciently worn Avith the surplice by lay vicars,
singing men, and sometimes by parish
clerks.
BANGORIAN CONTROVERSY.
This was a celebrated controversy within
the Church of England in the reign of
George L, and received its name from
Hoadly, who, although bishoj) of Ban-
gor, was little else than a Socinian here-
tic. Hoadly published " A Preservative
against the Principles and Practice of the
Non-jurors,"and soon after, a sermon, which
the king had ordered to be jjrinted, en-
titled, "The Nature of the Kingdom of
Christ." This discourse is a very confused
production ; nor, except in the bitterness
of its spirit, is it easy, amidst the author's
" periods of a mile," to discover his precise
aim. To the perplexed arguments of Bishop
Hoadly, Dr. Snape and Dr. Sherlock
wrote replies ; and a committee of convo-
cation passed a censure upon the discourse.
An order from government arrested the
proceedings of the convocation. Snape
and Sherlock were removed from their
office of chaplains to the king ; and the
convocation has never yet been again per-
mitted to assemble for the transaction of
business. But the exertion of power on
the part of the government was unable to
silence those Avho were determined, at any
sacrifice, to maintain God's truth. This
controversy continued to employ the press
for many years, until those who held Low
Church views were entirely silenced by the
force of argument. Of the works produced
by the Bangorian Controversy, perhaps
the most important is Lau-^s Letters to
Hoadly, which were reprinted in " 'The
Scholar Ai'metl,'^ and have since been re-