It also bids the minister to exhort those approaching communion, who
cannot quiet their conscience, to seek absolution, together with
ghostly counsel and advice. In the Book of Common Prayer used by the
Episcopalians in the United States, these directions concerning
confession and absolution are omitted.

The result of the teaching of the Articles was the complete
destruction, in the mind of the people of England, during three
centuries, of the need of confession and absolution. And, until some
fifty years ago, it was unknown for Anglicans to go to confession.
They lived and died without the faintest conception that such an
ordinance was divinely instituted, or that it was necessary or even
advisable. A change came, and certain of the clergy of the Established
Communion began to teach the necessity of confession. This produced
open revolt in their camp; the matter became so serious that the
Convocation sitting in 1873 gave it consideration, and the Bishop of
Salisbury boldly said: "Habitual confession is unholy, illegal, and
full of mischief." The Bishop of Lichfield, in indignation, declared:
"I would rather resign my office than hold it, if it was supposed that
I was giving young men the right to practice habitual confession." The
Archbishop of Canterbury said: "I am ready to revoke the license of
any curate charged with hearing confessions." And the Bishop of Ely
declared: "In no other communion would it be possible for a man to set
himself up as the general confessor of a district, without any other
authority than his own."

The assembled bishops, who of course represented the living teaching
body of the Establishment, published a formal document, wherein they
declare: "The Church of England, in the Twenty-fifth Article, affirms
that penance is not to be counted for a sacrament of the Gospel, and,