In Confession in the Church of England Since the Reformation, Berkeley William Randolph puts forth evidence to show that private confession has constantly been looked upon, not as a party question, but rather as a legitimate Church of England practice and a true part of its heritage. He argues that it is the duty of the clergy to put it before their people, so long as they do so with a due sense of proportion—not as if it were necessary that everyone should go to Confession, or as if a high degree of spiritual life were unattainable without it—but rather as a medicine and a means of grace of which church-people are perfectly free to avail themselves, and which under certain circumstances they are even recommended, or even urged, to use.
Berkeley William Randolph (1858–1925) was educated at Haileybury and Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1882. He was a fellow of St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, from 1880 to 1883, and principal of St. Stephen’s House, Oxford, from 1884 to 1885. He was then appointed principal of Ely Theological College in 1891.