Also 4–7 with usual interchange of i and y, o and ou, (5 -fescione). [a. F. confession (12th c. in Littré), early ad. L. confessiōn-em, n. of action f. confitērī to CONFESS.]
I. The action of confessing.
1. The disclosing of something the knowledge of which by others is considered humiliating or prejudicial to the person confessing; a making known or acknowledging of one’s fault, wrong, crime, weakness, dishonor, etc.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 9. When we would bring him on to some Confession Of his true state.
1611. Dekker, Roaring Girl, Wks. 1873, III. 173. Confession is but poore amends for wrong, Vnlesse a rope would follow.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 240. Tortures, to force from their prisoners the confession of hidden treasure.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., VI. Isabel … did not forsee her own impulse to confession.
b. Law. Acknowledgement before the proper authority of the truth of a statement or charge; acknowledgement by a culprit of the offense charged against him, when he is asked to plead to the indictment. Confession and avoidance: admission of the truth of an adverse allegation, with the allegation of some new matter tending to avoid its legal effect.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, 37 b. Eyther he is villaine by prescripcion … or he is villain by his own confession in court of recorde.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 74. Which confession of the prisoner himselfe is the most certaine answer and best satisfaction that may bee given to the Judge to condemne the offendor.
Mod. The prisoner has made a full confession.
2. As a religious act: The acknowledging of sin or sinfulness; esp. such acknowledgement made in set form in public worship.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 27. He smote upon his breest, to figure true confessioun. Ibid. (c. 1440), Gesta Rom., i. 4. (Harl. MS.). Putte downe … thyne old lif of synne, and entre yn to the bathe of confessione.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. Make your humble confession to almightie God, and to his holy church here gathered together in hys name, mekely knelyng upon your knees.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. iv. § 6. Public confession they thought necessary by way of discipline, not private confession, as in the nature of a sacrament, necessary.
1720. Wheatley, Illust. Bk. Com. Prayer (1839), 113. Such as would pray effectually have always begun with confession.
1884. Blunt, Annot. Bk. Com. Prayer, 181. To place a public Confession and Absolution within the reach of all, day by day.
b. spec. The confessing of sins to a priest, as a religious duty; more fully, sacramental or auricular confession.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 176. How contricioun with-oute confessioun conforteth þe soule.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 468. Þei coueten confessions to kachen some hire, And sepultures also some wayten to cacchen.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 2083. If that thow at confessioune hath ben, And makith the of al thi synnis clen.
1549. 1st Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. Requiryng suche as shalbe satisfied with a generall confession, not to be offended with them that doe use … the auriculer and secret confession to the Priest.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., V. ii. 41. Besides she did intend Confession At Patrick’s Cell this euen.
1713. Steele, Englishm., No. 49. 314. I … have not for some months been at Confession.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xv. A lovely lass to a friar came, To confession a-morning early.
1865. Union Rev., III. 614. Confession, again, as it is ordinarily administered among us, is another stumbling-block.
3. Acknowledgement of a statement, claim, etc.; admission, concession.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wycket (1828), p. xiii. By youre owne confession muste it nedes be that we worshyppen a false god in the chalyce.
1605. Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, II. § 49. There are three grounds of friendship … and by all confessions, that is the surest which is upon vertue.
1628. Hobbes, Thucyd. (1822), 99. This year, by confession of all men, was of all other … most free and healthful.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. iv. I. § 19. There were two, who had by common confession reached a consummate elegance of style.
4. The recognizing or acknowledging (of a person or thing) as having a certain character or certain claims; declaration of belief in or adhesion to; acknowledgement, profession, avowal when asked; spec. the testimony rendered by a CONFESSOR (sense 2).
1382. Wyclif, 2 Macc. x. 38. Thei blessiden the Lord in ympnys and confessiouns.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect Trin. Sunday. By the confession of a true fayth to acknowlege the glorye of the eternall trinitie.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. vii. 96. Hee mad confession of you, And gaue you such a Masterly report, for Art.
1681. O. Heywood, Diary, 23 Aug., Wks. 1881, II. 21. Then Mr. Jo: Heywd made his Confession, &c. Then they proceeded to Imposition of Hands.
1795. J. Macknight, Epistles, Rom. x. 10. There is a difference between the profession, and the confession of our faith.
1833. Cruse, Eusebius, V. i. 172. But this blessed saint … in the midst of her confession itself renewed her strength.
II. That which is confessed, its matter or form.
5. That which is made known in confessing; the matter confessed.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 167. Seynte Austyn seythe in his booke of confessiones.
a. 1536. Tindale, Wks., 180 (R.). The bishop knoweth the confession of whom he lusteth throughout all his dioces.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iii. 130. His confession is taken, and it shall bee read to his face.
1603. B. Jonson, Panegyre Entr. James. And this confession flew from every voice, Never had land more reason to rejoice.
1632. Lithgow, Trav. (1682), x. 432. The Governer commanded me to subscribe my Confession, which I voluntarily obeyed. Ibid., 437. And now after long and new Examinations … they finding my first and second Confession so run in one, that the Governer swore, I had learned the Art of Memery.
1833. G. Waddington, Hist. Ch., 126. To proclaim … the nature of the confessions which they had received.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. of Fleet, I. 155. Kitty should enter these confessions in a book, said Esther.
6. A formulary containing a general acknowledgement of sinfulness, such as frequently forms part of public Christian worship.
1535. Marshall’s Primer, in 3 Primers Hen. VIII. (1848), 45. A General Confession for every sinner.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Morning. A general Confession, to be said of the whole Congregation. Ibid., Communion Service. Then shall this general confession be made.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 147, ¶ 2. The Confession was read with such a resigned Humility.
1815. Horsley, Bk. of Psalms (1821), I. 292. Psalm li, The Penitential Confession of the converted Jews.
1884. Blunt, Annot. Bk. Com. Prayer, 182. The general Confession appears to be an original composition of some of the revisers of 1552.
7. (More fully Confession of Faith.) A formulary in which a church or body of Christians sets forth the religious doctrines that it considers essential; an authoritative declaration of the articles of belief; a creed.
Sometimes applied to the ancient œcumenical creeds; but more usually to the formulated statements of doctrine put forth by the various Reformed churches in the 16th and 17th c., of which that of Augsburg (1530) was the earliest, and the first (1560), and second (1580–1) Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, and the Westminster Confession (1643–7), are most noted in the history of Great Britain.
1536. Taverner (title), The Confession of the Faith of the Germans, exhibited at Augusta; to which is added The Apology of Melancthon defending the said Confession.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Rubric to Athanasian Creed. Upon Trinitie Sonday, shalbe song or sayd … this confession of our christian fayth.
1561. (title) The Confessione of the fayth and doctrin beleved and professed by the Protestantes of the Realme of Scotland exhibited to the estates of the sam in Parliament.
1571. Northbrooke (title), A Breefe and Pithie Summe of the Christian Faith, made in Fourme of a Confession.
1580. (title) The Confession of Faith of the Kirk of Scotland or the National Covenant.
1612. Brerewood, Lang. & Relig., Pref. 22. The Confessions themselves are these, the Angelicane, the Scotiane, French, Helvetian former and later, the Belgick, Polonick, Argentine, Augustane, Saxonick, Wirtenbergick, Palatine, Bohemick or Waldensian Confession.
1632. J. Lee, Short Survey Sweden, 76. To professe the reformed religion, according to the confession of Ausbourg or Augustane confession.
1643. Acts Gen. Assembly Edinb., 19 Aug., Sess. 14. The union of this Island in one Form of Kirk-government, one Confession of Faith, one Catechism.
1827. Whately, Logic (1837), 371. The correctness of a formal and deliberate confession of Faith, is not always of itself, a sufficient safeguard against error.
1861. Stanley, East. Ch., iv. (1869), 149. The Nicene Creed remained the one public confession.
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 170. We see the same men … uttering assents to confessions of which they really reject every syllable—and who do not know they are acting a part, and making a mock both of their own reason and their own probity.
b. The religious body or church united by one Confession of Faith; a communion.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642). Those right learned … Clerks of his owne Confession.
III. 8. A tomb in which a martyr or confessor is buried, and, by extension, the whole structure erected over it; also, the crypt or shrine under the high-altar, or the part of the altar, in which the relics are placed. Called also CONFESSIONARY and † CONFESSIONAL.
1670–98. Lassels, Voy. Italy, II. 24. This place, as it conserves the body of St. Peter, is called the Confession of Peter. Ibid., II. 26. Near the Confession of S. Peter is an old brazen statue of S. Peter.
1844. Lingard, Anglo Sax. Ch. (1858), II. i. 36. A chest of oak or stone, sometimes called the confession, sometimes the sepulchre, had been prepared; in it he deposited three portions of the eucharist, together with the relics; the slab was then placed over it, and the masonry of the altar, if it were built of stone, hastily completed.
1847. Ld. Lindsay, Chr. Art, I. 66 (S. Mark’s). The confession, or ciborium, within the sanctuary, is also highly curious.
1885. Arnold, Cath. Dict., 207/1, s.v., If an altar was erected over the grave, then the name ‘confession’ was given to the tomb, the altar, and the cubiculum.
9. attrib., as confession-chair, -money, -seat.
1674. Blount, Glossogr., Confessionary … also, a Confession-seat.
1691. trans. Emillianne’s Obs. Journ. Naples, 319. Walking in their Churches about their Confession-chairs from Morning to Night.
1709. De Foe, Life Rozelli (1713), I. 29. I had sat myself down in a Confession-Chair.
1844. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 338. Twice a year the holy man collects confession money, under the denomination of Christmas and Easter offerings.
1865. Union Rev., III. 614. The confession-bell at the London oratory.
