in a certaine place sheweth, that not only the Bishop, but also the whole Clergie layed their handes on him. For thus he sayth. At the ful tyme they do penance, then they come to the Communion, and by the layeng on of handes of the Bishop and the clergie, they receiue power to par∣take of the Communion. Afterwarde by processe of tyme it came to this poynt, that beside publike penance they vsed this ceremonie also in pri∣uate absolutions. Hereupon came that distinction in Gratian betwene publike and priuate reconciliation. I iudge that same olde vsage of which Cypriane maketh mention, to haue ben holy and healthfull for the Chirch, and I would that it were at this day restored. As for thys later, although I dare not disallow it, or at least speake more sharpelye against it, yet I thinke it to be lesse necessarie. Howsoeuer it be, yet we se yt the layeng on of hādes in penāce is a ceremonie ordeined of men, not of God, which is to be set amōg meane things & outward exercises: and those verily which are not to be despised, but which ought to be in a lower degree, than those yt are cōmēded vnto vs by ye word of the Lord.
But ye Romanistes & ye scholemē, (which haue an ordinarie custome to [ 15] corrupt al things wt wrōg expoūding them) do here very carefully tra∣uail in fynding out a Sacramēt. Neither ought it to seme any maruel, for they seke a knot in a rush. But where they haue it best, they leaue a thing entāgled, in suspēse, vncertaine, & cōfounded & trobled wt diuersity of opiniōs. Thei say therfore either yt ye outward penāce is a Sacramēt, and if it be so, yt it ought to be takē for a signe of ye inwarde penance, that is, of the contrition of hart, which shalbe ye thing of ye Sacramēt: or that they both together are a Sacrament, not twoo Sacramentes, but one ful one. But, that the outwarde penance is only the Sacramēt: the in∣warde is both the thing & the Sacramēt: and yt the forgeuenesse of syn∣nes is the thing & not the Sacrament. Let them which kepe in remē∣brance the definitiō of a Sacrament which we haue aboue set, examine therby yt which these mē cal a Sacrament, & they shal fynd yt it is not an outward ceremonie ordeined of the Lord for the cōfirming of our faith. If they cauil yt my definitiō is not a law which they nede to obey: let thē heare Augustine, whō they faine yt thei esteme as most holy visible Sa∣craments (sayth he) were ordeined for carnal mens sakes, yt by degrees of Sacramētes they may be conueyed frō those things yt are seen with eyes to those thinges yt are vnderstāded. What like thing do either they thēselues see, or can they shewe to other in yt which they call the Sacra∣mente of Penance? The same Augustine sayth in an other place: It is therfore called a Sacramēt, because in it one thing is seen, & an other thing is vnderstāded. That which is seen, hath a bodily forme: yt which is vnderstanded, hath a spiritual frute. Neither doe these things in any wise agree with the Sacrament of penance, such as they faine it, where there is no bodily forme yt may represent a spirituall frute.
And, to kil these beasts vpō their own fightīg place, if ther be any Sa∣cramēt [ 16] here to be sought, may it not be much more colerably said yt ye ab∣solutiō of ye prest is a Sacramēt, thā penāce either inward or outwarde? For it might redily be said, yt it is a ceremony to assure our faith of ye for∣geuenesse of sines, & hath a promise of ye keyes as thei cal it, Whatsoeuer ye shal bide or lose vpō earth, shalbe boūd or losed in heauen. But some mā wold haue obiected, yt ye most part of thē yt are absolued of ye prestes,