A. When they feel their conscience troubled with any weighty matter.
Q. What is weighty matter?
A. Mortal sin certainly is weighty; sins of omission or commission of any kind that press upon the mind are so, too. Anything may be weighty that causes scruple or doubtfulness.
Q. At what times in particular does the Church so order?
A. In the time of sickness, and before coming to the Holy Communion.
Q. Is there any other class of persons to whom confession is profitable?
A. Yes; to those who desire to lead a saintly life. These, indeed, are the persons who most frequently resort to it.
Q. Is there any other object in confession, besides the seeking absolution for past sin and the quieting of the penitent's conscience?
A. Yes; the practice of confessing each single [pg 356] sin is a great check upon the commission of sin and a preservative of purity of life.[457]
Here we have the Divine institution of priestly absolution and the necessity and advantage of Sacramental confession plainly taught, not in a speculative treatise, but in a practical catechism, by a distinguished minister of the Church of England; taught by a minister who draws his salary from the funds of the Protestant Episcopal church; who preaches and administers in a church edifice recognized as a Protestant Episcopal church, and who is in strict communion with a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of England.