An account of all the proceedings of the commissioners of both persuasions appointedAn accompt of all the proceedings of the commissioners of both persvvasions appointed

The lapsed that truly repented, were to remain among the penitent for three years, and seven years more, if they were fideles, &c. ab omnibus vero illud precipue observetur ut animus eorum, & fructus poenitentiae attendatur, quicunque enim cum omni timore, & lacrimis perseverantibus, & operibus bonis Conversationem suam, non verbis solis sed opere, & veritate demonstrant, cum tempus statutum etiam ab his fuerit impletum, & orati•nibus jam coeperint communica•e, licebit etiam Episcopo humanius circa res aliquod cogitare:) We know this rigour as to time, was unjust, and to the dying it was abated; but you see here that bare words that were not by seriousness, and by deeds made credible, were not to be taken as sufficient marks of penitence, of which it was not the person himself that was to be the Judge.

The lapsed that truly repented, were to remain among the penitent for three years, and seven years more, if they were fideles, &c. ab omnibus vero illud precipue observetur ut animus eorum, & fructus poenitentiae attendatur, quicunque enim cum omni timore, & lacrimis perseverantibus, & operibus bonis Conversationem suam, non verbis solis sed opere, & veritate demonstrant, cum tempus statutum etiam ab his fuerit impletum, & orati•nibus jam coeperint communica•e, licebit etiam Episcopo humanius circa res aliquod cogitare:) We know this rigor as to time, was unjust, and to the dying it was abated; but you see here that bare words that were not by seriousness, and by deeds made credible, were not to be taken as sufficient marks of penitence, of which it was not the person himselfe that was to be the Judge.

The form of absolving in the Liturgy,¹ is more agreeable in the Scriptures then that which they desire, it being said in St. John 20 Whose sins you remit, they are remitted; not, Whose sins you pronounce remitted; and the condition needs not to be expressed, being alway necessarily understood.