Almighty God, our
heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of
sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto
him; Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins;
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting
life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The absolution, of course, is from the Holy Communion in the Prayer Book tradition, following the "general Confession".
On Sexagesima Sunday, I gave absolution to those who made their confession.
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live; and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel ...
Yes, it is the absolution from Mattins, following "a general Confession".
In the words of Hooker:
the difference of general and particular forms in Confession and absolution, is not so material, that any man's safety, or ghostly good should depend upon it - LEP VI.4.15.
Hooker here sets forth what would be an enduring feature of classical Anglican teaching: that general confession and absolution is no different in essentials and in grace from private confession and absolution. In both, "ministerial absolution" has the same effect:
Touching sin it only declareth us free from the guiltiness thereof, and restored into God's favour - LEP VI.6.5.
This understanding is dramatically emphasised in Sparrow's description of the absolution at Mattins and Evensong:
And this Absolution is an Act of Authority, by virtue of a Power and Commandment of God to his Ministers, as it is in the Preface of this Absolution. And as we read S. Iohn 20. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted. And if our Confession be serious and hearty, this Absolution is effectual, as if God did pronounce it from Heaven ... When therefore the Priest absolves, God absolves, if we be truly penitent.
He also insists that the three forms of absolution contained in the Book of Common Prayer are one and the same:
There be three several forms of Absolution in the Service. The first is that which is used at Morning Prayer. Almighty God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, &c. And hath given power and commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his people being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins. He pardoneth and Absolveth.
The second is used at the Visitation of the Sick. Our Lord Iesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners which truly repent, of his great mercy forgive thee: and by his Authority committed to me, I absolve thee, &c.
The Third is at the Communion. Almighty God our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn to him. Have mercy upon you: pardon and forgive you, &c.
All these several Forms, in sense and virtue are the same.
As Nockles has shown, this "doctrine of ministerial absolution" was a defining characteristic of the pre-1833 High Church tradition. Used to defending this understanding of Anglican practice against Low Church writers, post-1833 the High Church tradition had then to defend it against Tractarian promotion of regular private confession:
confession came to be advocated on the same grounds as ministerial absolution. The two became inextricably linked. Forgiveness was effectively made conditional upon the sacramental absolution administered by a priest in private confession in a way which the old High Churchmen deplored.
Even as the Tractarians promoted private confession, however, they could not entirely ignore the classical teaching. Thus Pusey, in his controversial 1846 sermon 'The Entire Absolution of the Penitent', admitted:
this I say, not (God forbid!) to lessen the comfort of such as have not been led by Him to desire any other than the general Absolution of all true penitents in the whole congregation, when confession has been made to God only.
And Keble could hardly forget his poem 'The Three Absolutions', celebrating the traditional High Church insistence that the three forms of absolution in the BCP are equally an exercising of the power of keys. As Keble had said of the absolution at Mattins and Evensong:
Each morn and eve, the Golden Keys
Are lifted in the sacred hand.
The High Church critique of the Tractarians had a deep - and enduring - pastoral significance. Nockles quotes one High Church critic declaring that at stake was the teaching that "a real gift is truly bestowed through the office of the priest ... What is before us, at present is the efficacy of absolution itself".
And this remains the issue. A belief that private confession and absolution is somehow of greater significance or bestows a deeper grace than general confession and absolution undermines the Anglican experience. For the vast majority of Anglicans, private confession and absolution plays no part in their Christian life. (Indeed, a relatively recent survey has indicated that only 2% of US Roman Catholics regularly use the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) Therefore, to believe that private confession and absolution is a fuller experience of the ministry of keys than general confession and absolution is to cut off vast swathes of Anglicans - both in the present and across the centuries - from a ministry and grace which the Risen Lord bestowed upon the Church.
This is the importance of the weighty general confessions at Mattins, Evensong, and Holy Communion, and the accompanying priestly Absolutions, "in sense and virtue" precisely the same as that used in the particular occasions requiring private absolution.
So, yes, along with very many other Anglicans on Quinquagesima Sunday, I was shriven. I received the effectual gift of absolution.
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