to our Crimes. I do not only believe, that Jesus Christ instituted Confession, but I believe also, that he commanded us the Use of it as necessary; and a Sinner, who has committed a mortal Sin, cannot recover the Life of his Soul but by this Means. The Saviour of the World clearly demonstrated this Truth to us, when he express’d the Power of administring this Sacrament by the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and as ’tis impossible to enter into a Place that is shut up, but by means of the Person who has the Keys of it, in like manner nobody can enter into Heaven after he has caus’d himself to be shut out of it by Sin, unless the Priest, to whom our Lord has given the Custody of the Keys, open the Gates of it: Those Cases of Necessity must however be excepted, where perfect Contrition is sufficient without Confession: If it were otherwise, our Lord needed not to have said, Whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth, it shall be loosed in Heaven; nor would it have been necessary for Jesus Christ to have given the Keys of Heaven to the Church.
Finally, I believe Satisfaction to be absolutely necessary, and I take it to be of Two Sorts: The first is that, whereby we intirely satisfy God according to the utmost Severity of his supreme Justice for our Sins, of what Quality soever they be; and the Satisfaction by which we at last reconcile ourselves to God. ’Tis to our Lord Jesus Christ alone that we are oblig’d for this Satisfaction; ’tis he that has merited it for us by making full Satisfaction to God with the Blood which he shed upon the Cross, to redeem us from our Sins. There was no created Being, that could possibly discharge so great a Debt; but as St. John says, 1 Ep. Chap. ii. Ver. 2. He is the Propitiation for our Sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the Sins of the whole World. This Satisfaction, which flows from the Merits of Jesus Christ, is full and intire, and proportionable to the Enormity of all the Sins of Mankind.
I also receive and allow of a second Sort of Satisfaction, call’d Canonical, which is accomplish’d in a certain Space of Time prescrib’d by the Canons, and gives Power to the Priests to impose a Penance upon the Penitents, before they absolve them from their Sins, and this is that which worketh the Satisfaction.
Finally, I am persuaded, that Satisfaction is a sort of Remedy, which wipes out all the Stains which our Souls have contracted by the Foulness of Sin. By means of this Satisfaction we suffer the Punishment inflicted on us during a certain time for the Expiation of our Sins.
Upon the Whole I infer, that ’tis absolutely necessary that we should be excited to the Practice of this Satisfaction; for tho’ God remits to us in Penance the Guilt of Sin, and the Pains of everlasting Death, which are due to it, he does not therefore always remit to us the temporal Punishments which are due to Sin: This appears from several Instances in sacred Writ, as the Third Chapter of Genesis; the Twelfth and Twentieth Chapters of Numbers, and several other Passages, and especially in that which speaks of David: For tho’ the Prophet Nathan told him, that God had forgiven him his Sin, and assur’d him that he should not die, yet David voluntarily impos’d great Mortifications upon himself, and implor’d the Mercy of God in these Terms, Psalm li. Vcr. 2, 3. Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity, and cleanse me from my Sin: For I acknowledge my Transgressions, and my Sin is ever before me. Tho’ David had
perform’d that Act of Penance, tho’ he had so earnestly begg’d for the Pardon of his Sin, yet God punish’d him by the Death of that Son, who was the Fruit of his Adultery, by the Rebellion of his Son Absalom, whom he lov’d tenderly, and by several other Afflictions, which he had threaten’d him with before. As to the Reason, why all the Punishments for Sin are not remitted to us by the Sacrament of Penance, as well as that of Baptism, I think it but Justice, as the Council of Trent says, that they, who before Baptism have sinn’d thro’ Ignorance, should be pardon’d after one manner; and that they should be pardon’d after another manner, who having been once delivered from the Captivity of the Devil and Sin, and having also receiv’d the Holy Spirit, have not fear’d to grieve it. ’Tis owing to the Goodness of God that he does not suffer our Sins to be remitted without the making a Satisfaction for them, to the end that we might not imagine them to be less than they are, and that we might not fall into greater Disorders by an injurious Contempt of the Holy Spirit, and thereby heap up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. For really the Penalties of Satisfaction are as a Bridle to check us in our Sins; they are sure Marks of our Sorrow for having offended God; and finally, ’tis by those Punishments that we make Satisfaction to the Church our Mother, which we have highly offended by our Sins; for, as St. Augustin says, tho’ God does not reject a contrite and an humble Heart, yet, as the Sorrow we have conceiv’d in our Hearts for having offended God, can only be discover’d by Words and other external Signs, the Holy Fathers were in the Right to fix certain Times for Penance, to the end that we might make Satisfaction to the
Church, in whose Bosom our Sins were committed.
XXXIII. I thank God, for that after he had given me Entrance into the true Life by the Sacrament of Baptism, he also instituted the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, for my more easy Passage into Heaven, after my Departure from this Life. I believe, that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of extreme Unction, when he sent out his Disciples two and two before him into the Towns and Villages. ’Tis said, that they preach’d to the People, that they exhorted them to Repentance, that they cast out many Devils, and anointed several that were sick with Oyl, and cur’d them all. ’Twas our Lord that commanded them to perform this Unction, which he instituted rather for the Salvation of the Soul than for the Health of the Body, and he gave a Virtue to it which was altogether divine and supernatural: Several great Saints so evidently assure us of this Truth, that I have no room to doubt, but Extreme Unction is one of the Seven Sacraments of the Church, and that ’twas instituted for the Relief of the Sick when they are at the Point of Death: This is observable in the Epistle of St. James, Chap. v, Ver. 14, 15. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray aver him, anointing him with Oyl in the Name of the Lord: And the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed Sins, they shall be forgiven him. The Apostle, by telling us that Sins are forgiven by this Unction, gives us also to understand at the same time, that it is a true Sacrament: and this has
been the Decision of several Councils, but chiefly that of Trent.