thus expresses its approbation: "This article (Art.
XI.) that private and special absolution should remain, and be
preserved in the churches is _Catholic_. Yet two things must be required
of them, (of the Reformers,) that both men and women should attend
confession at least once a year, &c.; secondly, to confess all the sins
you _can_ recollect." [Note 6]

_Dr. Plank_, in his celebrated and elaborate History of the Origin and
Changes of the Protestant Doctrinal System, [Note 7] speaking of the
negotiations between the Reformers and Papists during the Diet of
Augsburg, says, "On the subject of the Confessional _there was an entire
agreement_, for they (the Reformers) had declared that they regarded
Confession as a very useful institution, and had no idea of suffering it
to fall, and also regarded it as good, that the people should be
accustomed to confess their sins," viz., at the confessional.

_Siegel_, in his Manual of Christian Ecclesiastical Antiquities,
[Note 8] after stating that Luther rejected _Auricular_ Confession, as a
sacrament, and a means of oppressing the conscience, adds: "But, on the
other hand, Luther was as unwilling as Melancthon, to have _private
confession_ abolished, and the latter had, in his Loci Theologici,
pronounced private absolution to be as necessary as baptism." In regard
to confession in the Lutheran Church of Germany, the fact is, that
private confession, which the Reformers so earnestly recommended, is
almost entirely abandoned and changed into a general (and public)
confession, which may with more propriety be termed preparatory services
to the Lord's Supper."

Finally, we will add the testimony of only one more witness, _Prof.
Jacobson_, in the excellent _Theological Encyclopedia of Dr. Herzog_,
now in progress of publication in Germany, who says, "Whilst the
compulsory part of the institution (private confession,) fell to the
ground, each one was left to judge whether and how much he would
confess. The institution itself _was retained_, and _private
confession_ especially recommended. The Augsburg Confession presupposes
it (private confession,) _as the rule:_" Our custom is not to give the
sacrament to those who have not first been confessed and absolved;" and
the Smalcald articles [sic] teach that Confession and
Absolution must by no means be allowed to be omitted in the church."
[Note 9]

After all this testimony, it may be regarded as incontestably
established, that the form