billets, and putting them into a chalice
that stands upon the altar : when all are
put in, two cardinals are chosen by the
rest to read those openly who are named,
and to keep an account of the number of
each, and this is done till two-thirds join
for the same person ; but a pope is seldom
chosen after this manner. When it ap-
pears that after the scrutiny they do not
agree, they come to what they call an
accez or access, that is, a trial whether he
wdio has most voices in the scrutiny could
reach to two-thirds ; but it is observable
that they cannot give their suffrages in the
accez to those whom they have appeared
for in the scrutiny. If this does not
succeed, they have recourse to the way of
inspiration, (as they term it,) which is an
open declaration, or rather combination of
many cardinals to cry together such a
cardinal is pope. For example, Altieri
Papa is begun by one or two chiefs of a
party, w'hen they find suffrages enough to
assure them that this method will not fail,
and then the rest of the cardinals are
forced to join, that they may not incur the
pope's displeasure, who would be chosen
in spite of them. The scrutiny is managed
in the following manner : each cardinal
prepares his billet, wherein he writes his
own name and that of the person for whom
he votes, and another word of device ; the
cardinal's name is written under the fold
of the paper, and sealed with a seal for
that purpose. The name of the chosen is
written by the conclavist under another
fold without the seal, and the word by
which the cardinal knows that it is his
name which is read, is written on the
outside, as Deo volente, or the like; the
fold which covers the cardinal's name is
never opened until the pope be chosen,
who, to know those who voted for him,
unfolds all. The motto serves in the accez,
that it may appear that each cardinal has
given another besides that in the scrutiny,
seeing two billets with different persons
under the same name ; and at the end of
the scrutiny and accez, if the suffi'age be
not sufficient to complete the election,
they burn all the billetings that the elec-
tors' names may be kept secret. Each
cardinal during the conclave is allowed
but two servants, or three at most, and
this only to princes, or for some particular
privilege. Several seek for this employ-
ment because the new-elected pope gives
each conclavist three or four hundred
livres, and they have the pleasure of seeing
all that passes: yet the place is trouble-
some enough, because they must take in
their meat and cb'ink from a certain place
common to all that live in the same part,
must wait at table, and be as strictly con-
fined as their mai^ters.—Aufj/Ksti.
CONCORDANCE, a dictionary or in-
dex to the Bible, wherein all the leading
words are ranged alphabetically, and the
books, chapters, and verses wherein they
occur, referred to, to assist in finding out
passages, and comparing the several signi-
fications of the same word. The earliest
attempt at a Concordance is the collection
of parallel passages in the margin of the
5th volume of the Complatensian Polyglot.
The first English Polyglot was published
by John Merbeck, or Marbeck, a cele-
brated English musician, in 1550.
Of English Concordances, Cruden's is
well know^n and valued by every biblical
student.
Crutwell's " Concordance of Parallels" is
useful, but the number of parallel passages
referred to, and sometimes the slightness
of their connexion, renders the work less
useful on ordinary occasions than the mar-
ginal references in our Bibles.
Gastrell's " Christian Institutes," Locke
and Dodd's " Common-place Book of
Scripture," Strutt's work with the same
title, and Matthew Talbot's " Analysis of
the Holy Bible," all assume the character
of a concordance. The best Hebrew con-
cordance is Calasios. For the Septuagint,
Trommius, for the Greek Testament,
Schmidt, (a very beautiful 12mo edition of
which was edited by Mr. Greenfield in
1830,) and for the Vulgate, Cardinal
Hugo's Concordance may be consulted.
CONCORDAT. An instrument exe-
cuted in 1801, between Bonaparte and
Pope Pius VII., to w^hich the present
Gallican Church owes its origin, in a much
stronger sense that any in which the
Romanist can refer the origin of the
Church of England to the Reformation.
For an account of this concordat the
reader is referred to the article on the
Church of France. (See Church.)
CONCORDAT. There is also a much
earlier agreement between the crown of
France and the pope, generally known by
the same name, viz. the agreement of
Francis I. with Pope Leo X. in 1516,
CONCORDAT, GERMANIC.
CONFESSION.
225
to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction ; and
here we must observe, that Clothaire II.
issued an edict in 615, approved by all
the bishops of his kingdom, assembled
at the fifth Council of Paris, by which
he ordered that no bishop, though chosen
by the clergy and people, should be con-
secrated if the king did not approve of
him : and he that should be nominated by
the king should be accepted, if the metro-
politan found no just cause to reject him.
Now King Charles VII., in the Council of
Bourges, in 1439, established the Pragma-
tic Sanction, whereby part of the clergy,
without consulting with the people or tlie
archbishops, or other bishops of provinces,
chose their bishops, leaving the king the
privilege of consenting to and confirming
the election if he liked it. This the court
of Rome resented ; the court first desired,
and afterwards in the Lateran Council cited,
this king and the clergy of France to ap-
pear and give their reasons, why they did
not abolish that ordinance ; whereupon
King Francis I. made this agreement, called
a Concordat, with Pope Leo X., whereby
the king had the power to nominate such
as he thought fit for bishops, Szc. ; and the
pope, if he found no fault, either in respect
of the capacity or life of the person in no-
mination, was to issue the papal bull for
the consecration. The parliament, clergy,
and the university of Paris were much
against registering this agreement ; and,
though they consented to it at last, yet
they solemnly protested, that they did it
only in obedience to the king's repeated
commands. This concordat differed from
that of Clothaire, that the pope, by this,
had no power to examine the ability of the
person elected ; so that, in his time, they
consecrated their bishops, without troubling
themselves to send to Rome for bulls.
(See Praqmatic Scmctioti.)
CONCORDAT, GERMANIC, or the
Concordat of Germany. A treaty relating
to ecclesiastical affairs, made in 1488, be-
tween Pope Nicholas V. and the emperor
Frederick III., confirmed by Clement VIII.
and Gregory XIII. It comprehended
four parts ; in the first of which the pope
reserved to himself the conferring of all
vacant benefices at Rome, and 100 days'
journey from it, of whatever degree, either
secular or regular, which before went by
election, without exception of cardinals or
other officers of the holy see. The second
concerns the elections that are to be con-
firmed by the pope, as metropolises, cathe-
drals, and monasteries, depending imme-
diately on the pope, and having the
privilege of canonical election. The third
concerns livings that are successively given
by the popes and their proper patrons;
that the pope has the privilege to confer
both secular and regular livings, for the
months of January, March, May, July,
Se])tember, November ; and the bishop or
archbishop within the district of their dio-
ceses during the other months. The fourth
and last part speaks of the annates or first-
fruits, after the death or removal of the
incumbent.
CONDIGNITY and CONGRUITY.
Terms used by the schoolmen to express
their peculiar opinions relative to human
merit and deserving. The Scotists main-
tain that it is possible for man in his
natural state so to live as to deserve the
grace of GoD, by which he may be enabled
to obtain salvation ; this natural fitness
{conr/ruitas) for grace, being such as to
oblige the Deity to grant it. Such is the
merit of congrinty. The Thomists, on the
other hand, contend that man, by the Di-
vine assistance, is capable of so living as
to merit eternal life, to be worthy (condir/-
ni(s) of it in the sight of God. In this
hypothesis, the question of previous pre-
paration for the grace which enables him
to be icorthy, is not introduced. This is
the merit of condiynity.
Article XIII. " Works done before the
grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his
Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch
as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ,
neither do they make men meet to receive
grace, or (as the school-authors say) de-
serve grace of congruity : yea, rather, for
that they are not done as God hath willed
and commanded them to be done, we
doubt not but they have the nature of sin."
CONDUCT. A name given to chap-
lains of colleges in the university of Cam-
bridge and at Eton ; meaning a " Capel-
lanus conductitius." (See Chaplain.)
CONFALON, or GONFALON, Society
of the. So called from the Gonfalon, or
banner, bearing the figure of the Virgin
Mary, which was their ensign. — Raynaldus.
A confraternity of seculars in the Church
of Rome, called penitents, established first
of all by some Roman citizens in 1267:
and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII. in
1576. Henry III. began one at Paris in
1583, and himself assisted in the habit of
a penitent, at a procession wherein the car-
dinal of Guise carried the cross, and his
brother the duke of Mayenne was master
of the ceremonies.
CONFESSION. (See Auricular Con-
fession.) The verbal acknowledgment of
sin. The following are the ndes laid down
by the Church of England on this subject.
226
CONFESSION.
The Warning for the Celebration of the
Holy Communion : " Because it is requisite
that no man should come to the holy com-
munion but with a full faith in God's
mercy, and with a quiet conscience ; there-
fore, if there be any of you who by this
means cannot quiet his conscience therein,
but requireth further comfort or counsel,
let him come to me, or to some other dis-
creet and learned minister of God's word,
and open his grief, that by the ministration
of God's holy word he may receive the
benefit of absolution, together with ghostly
counsel and advice to the quieting of his
conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and
doubtfulness." Ruhric, in the Office for
the Visitation of the Sick : " Here shall
the sick person be moved to make a special
confession of his sins, if he feel his con-
science troubled with any weighty matter.
After which confession, the priest shall
absolve him (if he humbly and heartily
desire it) after this sort." By the 113th
canon, empowering ministers to prevent
offences at the court of \dsitation, it is pro-
vided that " if any man confess his secret
and hidden sins to the minister, for the
unburdening of his conscience, and to re-
ceive spiritual consolation and ease of
mind from him, he shall not in anywise
be bound by this constitution, but is
strictly charged and admonished that he
do not at any time reveal and make known
to any person whatsoever, any crime or
offence so committed to his trust and
secrecy, (except they be such crimes as, by
the laws of this realm, his own life may
be called in question for concealing the
same,) under pain of irregularity."
In the primitive Church, no other con-
fession of sins was required in order to
receive baptism than the general renunci-
ation of the devil and all his works.
Nor did the Church lay any obligation
on the consciences of men, to make either
public or private confession of their sins
to any but God, in order to qualify them
for the coynmunion. The confessions of the
primitive Christians were all voluntary,
and not imposed upon them by any laws
of the Church. Notwithstanding which it
must be owned, that private confession,
though not absolutely required, yet was
allowed and encouraged by the ancients,
in some cases, and upon special occasions.
For, first, they advised men, in case of
lesser sins, to make confession mutually to
each other, that they might have each
other's prayers and assistance, according to
the advice of St. James, " Confess your
faults one to another, and pray for one
another, that ye m«ay be healed." Which,
though it be produced by the Romanists
in favour of auricular confession to a priest,
yet the ancients understood it only as a
direction to Christians to confess mutually
to each other. 2. In case of injuries done
to any private person, it was expected that
the offender should make a private confes-
sion of his fault to the person injured. 3.
"When men were under any perplexities of
mind, or troubles of conscience, this was
another case in which they were directed
to have recourse to some pastor, and to
take his counsel and advice. 4. Origen
gives another reason for confessing private
sins to the priest, which is, that he was the
fittest judge when it was proper to do
public penance for private offences. (See
Penitentiary.) — Bingham, b. xv. ch. 8, § 6.
The Romish Church not only requires
confession as a duty, but has advanced it
to the dignity of a sacrament ; and this
greatly adds to the power of the clergy of
that Church over the laity. " Confession
submits a fearful penitent, whose con-
science is oppressed with scruples, loaded
with remorse, and weakened by the re-
membrance of its sins, to the absolute wiU
of a cunning priest, who beholds sceptres
at his feet, humbles crowns, and makes
those tremble who strike terror into whole
nations." Confession, in the Church of
Rome, must be made in the day-time, and,
if possible, when there are people in the
church. As soon as the penitent comes
up to the confessional, or the seat of the
priest who confesses, he makes the sign of
the cross, and asks the confessor's blessing.
Then the penitent kneels, with his hands
clasped and uplifted. The confessional is
open before, and has two lattice windows
in it, one on each side. The confessor
sits with his cap on his head, and his ear
stooped towards the penitent, in which
posture he receives his confession in a
whisper ; whence it is called auricular con-
fcssioji. This ended, the priest uncovers
himself, and stretching out his right hand
towards the penitent, pronounces the ab-
solution. (See Penance.) — Casal de Veter.
Christ. Ritib. Alefs Ritual.
That confession is a custom observed in
the Greek Church is past all dispute.
Ricaut calls this practice " One of the fun-
damental pillars of the Eastern Churches ;
the axis upon which their whole ecclesias-
tical polity turns, and that without which
the clergy would no longer have any
authority or influence over the consciences
of the people, and would very seldom be
able to reprove them in a country where
they could fly to the arms of infidels for
shelter and protection against the censures
CONFESSION.
227
and reprehensions of their own pastors."
There are four stated times in the year for
confession. The penitent withdraws with
the priest to some remote corner of the
church, where he sits down, with his head
uncovered, and the confessor assures him,
the angel of the Lord is there present to take
his cotrfessio?!, exhorting him at the same
time to conceal none of his sins. After
confession, the penitent receives absolu-
tion, and gives the priest a small gratuity
of money for his trouble. If we may credit
a judicious and learned traveller, the prac-
tice of confession is enormously abused by
the Greeks. If a penitent acknowledges
he has robbed another, the priest asks him
whether the person injured be a native of
his own country, or a Frank : if the peni-
tent answers, the latter, " Then there is no
harm done," says the priest, " provided we
share the booty between us." These are
natural consequences of the ignorance and
poverty of the Greeks in general. — Tourne-
forVs Voyac/es.
" It standeth with us in the Church of
England," saith Hooker, " as touching pub-
lic confession, thus : First, seeing day by
day we in our Church begin our public
prayers to Almighty God with public ac-
knowledgment of our sins, in which con-
fession every man, prostrate before his
glorious majesty, crieth against himself,
and the minister with one sentence pro-
nounceth universally all clear whose ac-
knowledgment hath proceeded from a true
penitent mind, what reason is there every
man should not, under the general terms
of confession, represent to himself his
own particulars whatsoever, and adjoining
thereto that affection which a contrite
spirit worketh, embrace to as full effect
the words of Divine grace, as if the same
were severally and particularly uttered,
with addition of prayers, imposition of
hands, and all ceremonies and solemnities,
that might be used for the strengthening
of men's affiance in God's peculiar mercy
towards them ? The difference of general
and particular forms in confession, is not so
material that any man's safety or ghostly
good should depend upon it." "As for
private confession," says Bishop Jewel,
" abuses and errors set apart, we condemn
it not, but leave it at liberty." — Brough-
ton. Bingham.
All that can plainly be deduced from
the scriptural doctrine concerning confes-
sion is this, that, in common or ordinary
sins, we are to acknowledge them before
Almighty God, either particularly in our
private, or generally in our public devo-
tion ; but as for some sins of a more ex-
Q 2
traordinary kind, the heinousness whereof
ordinary Christians may not be sufficiently
apprized of, or which may be attended
with such nice circumstances as perplex
their consciences, here resort is proper to
be made to the ministers of the Church,
who, as physicians of the soul, are best
able to advise the fittest remedies upon
such uncommon emergencies. Matters of
this kind stood within these limits for
a considerable time after the fii'st pro-
pagating of the gospel ; but, during the
piety of very early times, another sort
of confession came in use, for it having
been the practice for excommunicates,
before their reception into the Church, to
make a solemn confession of their faults
before the whole congregation, some per-
sons who had fallen into a great sin, though
they had never been censured for it,
thought it a part of their duty to take
upon themselves a public shame for it,
by discovering it to the whole congre-
gation they were members of, and to
desire their prayers to GoD for their par-
don. Some difficulties and inconvenience
arising from this practice, about the year
360, the office of a public penitentiary in
the Greek Church began, who was to be
a presbyter of good conversation, prudent,
and one who could keep a secret ; to
whom those who were lapsed into any
greater sin might confess it ; and he, ac-
cording to his discretion, was to enjoin a
penance for it. But still there was no
command for all people to confess their
sins to this presbyter. In the Latin
Chui'ch, the practice of public confession
to the whole congregation continued 100
years longer, viz. till the time of Pope
Leo, which was about the year 450, who,
by an injunction of his, did abrogate it;
and, after some time, the Greek Church
began to grow weary of this private con-
fession to a penitentiary, and so laid it
aside. But whilst private confession to
ministers was practised, in some of the
earlier ages of the Church, recourse was
had to them only as spiritual physicians
and counsellors, as appears by many pas-
sages of antiquity. In the Council of
Lateran, A. d. 1215, every person, of each
sex, was obliged once in a year to confess
to the minister of his parish, the sins
which he had been guilty of. Auricular
confession to the priest being thus estab-
lished, some of the school divines of the
Bomish Church carried it to further
lengths, making it to be an article of faith ;
to be received by the priest, not minis-
terially, but j udicially and authoritatively ;
that every smgle sin must be discovered
228
CONFESSION.
to them, with all its aggravating circum-
stances, &c. All -which horrible tp-anny
over men's consciences, and diving into
the secrets of families and governments,
was confirmed by the Council of Trent.
The excellent compilers of our liturgy,
willing to settle this upon the ancient
bottom, ordered only a general confession
of sins to be pronounced by all persons
indifferently, not requiring any particular
confessions to be made, thereby coming
much nearer to the apostolical practice
than the Roman liturgy can pretend to,
in all which service there is no confes-
sion which the people share in ; for their
" Conjiteor tibi, Domijie,^^ &c. in the mass,
relates to the priest, and the " Conjiteor
Deo omnipotenti" " JSeatce Marice" &c. in
the breviary, is the confession only of the
clergy. — NichoUs.
Forms of confession are generally to be
met with in the liturgies of antiquity, but
a form superior, or equal, to our own is
nowhere to be found. Our confession,
like the prayer which Jesus taught us,
though concise, is comprehensive and full.
It is conceived in general terms, yet at
the same time it is so particular, that it
includes every kind of sin. Where the
minister is not too precipitate, when he
allows the congregation time to repeat it,
with such deliberation, that their hearts
may go along with their words, each indi-
vidual may, and ought, under the general
form, to make a particular mental confes-
sion of his own personal sins, known only to
God and his own conscience. — Shepherd.
At the time of the review of the liturgy,
A. D. 1661, it was objected by the Pres-
byterian clergy against this Confession,
that there was no preparatory prayer for
God's assistance and acceptance ; and that
it was defective in not clearly expressing
" original sin," nor enumerating actual sins
with their aggravations. To which it was
answered by the Episcopalian commission-
ers, that the preparatory sentences, and
the preceding exhortation, amply supplied
this ; and that the form being so general
is rather a perfection than a defect, as in
such case all may join, since in many
things we offend all. And as to the notice
of original sin, they conceived that to be
sufficiently acknowledged in the sentence,
(with others, as the " devices and desires
of our own hearts," &c.,) " and there is no
health in us." With respect to the general
terms used throughout the Common Prayer
Book, dissenters have complained of such
expressions as, "that we may do God's
will" — "that we may be kept from all
evil," &c. ; to which the Episcopalians pro-
perly remark, " these are almost the very
terms in the Lord's Prayer ; so that they
must reform that, before they can pretend
to amend our liturgy in these petitions."
The reader may judge how far the ob-
jections are worthy of notice, by the form
composed by Calvin himself, and used by
the French reformed Churches, which is
as follows : — " O Lord God, eternal and
almighty Father, we acknowledge and
confess before thy sacred Majesty, that we
are miserable sinners, conceived and born
in sin and iniquity ; prone to evil, and in-
disposed to every good work; and that
being vicious, we make no end of trans-
gressing thy holy commandments. Here-
by we call destruction upon ourselves from
thy just judgment. But yet, O Lord, we
are heartily sorry for having offended thee,
and we condemn ourselves and sins by
true repentance, desiring thy grace may
relieve our misery. Therefore, O God,
merciful Father, vouchsafe us thy mercy,
in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ our
Lord. Blot out our sins, and purge away
all our filth, and daily increase in us the
gifts of thy Holy Spirit. That we, ac-
knowledging our iniquity from the bottom
of our hearts, may more and more dis-
please ourselves, and be excited to true
repentance ; which, mortifying us and all
our sins, may produce in us the fruits of
righteousness and innocence, acceptable
unto thee through the same Jesus Christ
our Lord." It appears, indeed, that our
Confession was in great measure suggested
by this form, or rather by the translation
of it made by Valerandus Pollanus, for
the reformed congregation of Strasburg.
— See Laurence^s Batrqyton Lectures.
There is hardly anything in public wor-
ship which requires more caution and
prudence in the ordering of it, than that
confession of sin which is to be made by
the whole congregation ; it may be too
loose and general on the one side, or it
may be too particular and distinct on the