ould have you obey the prophet who says: "Disclose thy
self before God." Therefore confess your sins before God, the true
Judge, with prayer. Tell your errors, not with the tongue, but with the
memory of your conscience, etc. And the Gloss (Of Repentance, Distinct.
V, Cap. Consideret) admits that Confession is of human right only [not
commanded by Scripture, but ordained by the Church]. Nevertheless, on
account of the great benefit of absolution, and because it is otherwise
useful to the conscience, Confession is retained among us.

Article XXVI: Of the Distinction of Meats.

It has been the general persuasion, not of the people alone, but also of
those teaching in the churches, that making Distinctions of Meats, and
like traditions of men, are works profitable to merit grace, and able to
make satisfactions for sins. And that the world so thought, appears from
this, that new ceremonies, new orders, new holy-days, and new fastings
were daily instituted, and the teachers in the churches did exact these
works as a service necessary to merit grace, and did greatly terrify
men's consciences, if they should omit any of these things. From this
persuasion concerning traditions much detriment has resulted in the
Church.

First, the doctrine of grace and of the righteousness of faith has been
obscured by it, which is the chief part of the Gospel, and ought to
stand out as the most prominent in the Church, in order that the merit
of Christ may be well known, and faith, which believes that sins are
forgiven for Christ's sake be exalted far above works. Wherefore Paul
also lays the greatest stress on this article, putting aside the Law
and human traditions, in order to show that Christian righteousness is
something else than such works, to wit, the faith which believes that
sins are freely forgiven for Christ's sake. But this doctrine of Paul
has been almost wholly smothered by traditions, which have produced an
opinion that, by making distinctions in meats and like services, we must
merit grace and righteousness. In treating of repentance, there was no
mention made of faith; only those works of satisfaction were set forth;
in these the entire repentance seemed to consist.

Secondly, these traditions have obscured the commandments of God,
because traditions were placed far above the commandments of God.
Christianity was thought to consist wholly in the observance of certain
holy-days, rites, fasts, and vestures. These obser