Calvin on private absolution

One of the interesting things about reading Calvin is that from time to time there are things that might surprise us contemporary evangelicals. For example, he says:

The utility of private absolution it is not my purpose to deny. But as in several passages of my writings I commend the use of it, provided it is optional, and free from superstition, so it is neither lawful, nor even expedient, to bind it upon consciences by a law.

'Second Defence of the Sacraments in Answer to the Calumnies of Westphal' (1556) Calvin’s Tracts Calvin Translation Society Translated by Henry Beveridge Edinburgh 1844 (Eugene, Wipf and Stock, 2002)Volume 2 p321