"And if there be any of you whose conscience is troubled and grieved in anything lacking comfort or counsel, let him come to me or to some other discreet and learned priest taught in the law of God, and confess and open his sin and grief secretly, that he may receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort that his conscience may be relieved, and that of us (as of the ministers of God and of the Church) he may receive comfort and absolution to the satisfaction of his mind and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness: requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession not to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those also which think needful or convenient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly to open their sins to the priest, to be offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession to God and the general confession to the Church: but in all things to follow and keep the rule of charity, and every man to be satisfied with his own conscience, not judging other men's minds or consciences where as he hath no warrant of God's word to the same." In the present Prayer Book, all allusion to "auricular" confession is omitted. The minister simply exhorts that if any person cannot by his own confession to God, with full purpose of amendment of life and by reconciliation with any neighbours whom he may have offended, quiet his own conscience with a view to receiving Holy Communion, he should come to the incumbent of the parish, or to some other discreet and learned minister of God's word, and open his grief, "that by the ministry of God's holy word he may receive the benefit of absolution together with ghostly counsel and advice to the quieting of his conscience and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness." The procedure is clearly contemplated as exceptional, as respects (_a_) the persons who have recourse to it, (_b_) the occasions on which they do so, and (_c_) the sins or stumbling-blocks on which they consult the minister. 4. In addition to these more formal ministrations, a diligent clergyman will pay frequent visits to his parishioners, and hold interviews or correspondence with them on any questions of intellectual perplexity or of practical difficulty in their daily life in reference to which they may desire his counsel or assistance; but his action in these matters is not regulated by law, and lies outside the scope of the present treatise. Footnote