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Show IS THE CONFESSIONAL THE WORK OF CHRIST i Clearlv then, the Reformation was born with Confession in full sway. How did it cease It j was bound to cease from the very nature oi uu "Reformation." As the Priesthood was destroyed des-troyed there were no more confessors; and as the Protestant ministers took to llu-niselves wives-penitents wives-penitents ceased to appear. Confession fell, o one wanted it. The best thing to do was to declare de-clare it a human contrivance. There. was just one little difficulty in the way. Protestants had to prove the statement. Catholics called upon to name the time, the place, tin- .author of this Papist invention, the annals of the Church were ransacked. Finding thai the Council of Lateran, under Pope Innocent 111 in lir. ordered under J pain of excommunication, yearly confession and j communion, they strove to show that the Council , was the inventor of Confession. - - j Confounded by the testimony, of the ages preceding pre-ceding the times of Pope Innocet III, they turn to the sixth century. Routed there too, they then fell back to Ihe 4th cenlury, to the time when St. Leo the Croat abolished "public confession. Yanquishod ihere. they have to confess that thev cannot name the time, place noiwiuthor. Had we ihe tiir.e today, we might examine the tostuuonv of the great and illustrious Fathers of the Earlv Chureii on this point of the Church's teaching. St. Augustine in his ;W2d sermon says. "Let no sinner sav to himself: T have sinned m secret I shall treat mv affair in secret with God it is ithcient that, I weep iirmy heart in order -that God Mho sees all things in secret may pardon me' for if it is sullicient to confess thus 1o God, in vain did Christ sav to ihe Apostles: 'All that you shall loose on earth shall be loosened in heaven.'": "In the confession of the sins we have commit ted, says-St. says-St. Chrysostom; "we ought not to be ashamed of man but only to fear (iod; yet it is the. contrary 1 see. We fear not Him, Who will judge us one dav, and we tremble in the presence of those who cannot do us any harm, and we dread the shame that awaits us before them. Dangerous fear for ho who hlllsllOs; to tell a man the sin that he did not fear to commit before God. .Who" will not confess con-fess his sin and do penance, will be judg'xl at the last dav, not before one or two persons, but m.tiie i presence of the whole world. (Hem. 23, St. John. ) If we turn to the 3rd century and cxanimc the writings of Origen, he tells us, "Those who have their stomachs filled and laden 'with indigestible food, can find no relief except by vomiting. It is the same with sinners. As long as they hide, and keep within themselves their. sin they are jn a way stified by evil; but hardly have fhey decided to become be-come their own accusers and do actually accuse themselves and make their confession; than ihey vomit forth their crime and the. cause itself of their disease." Tertullian in ihe 2nd century teaches Utr the same truth, "Knowing then that after ; the first grace that you received at. baptism, you hove no other means- of escaping hell except, confession, why do you despise the means of your salvation . And the sinner will neglect confession which has been instituted by the Lord to- .give him back health." (On Penance, chap.- 9.) - " ' ."'" ' " We. have asked who is.. flip inventor of Confession? Confes-sion? We have traversed the ages and can find no man to whom, history points out: save one Jesus Christ. He has come to take away the sins of the World. He claimed the power of -.f orgiving sin. To prove that Ho had this power he bade the. man sick of the palsy to take up his bed and walk. The 'power that He had, He gave to' the Apostles rjn the Day of His Resurrection,; 'Teace be ..to yon-r-as the Father hath sent Me,. I .also .. bend you." ' ' 1 Then breathing upon them He said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins ye, shall retain, l hey are retained." Clearly a power is a bent to be given tar transcending. trans-cending. ihe strength of man. What is this power? What, bur a power that, the Jews denied to Our Lord Himself; the power of forgiving sins; j nav. niore. the powev of retaining sins. All sins, then, are not to be forgiven; some are to' be retained. re-tained. The choiee must, be made; no choice can be made until there is knowledge. There can v no knowledge till the delinquent avows them. Is an inquest to be held? "How odious it Ireats of public offenses. How useless impossible if it-treats it-treats of secret crimes.. There is only one remedy for remitting or retaining sins of pardoning or not pardoning it. is: lhat the .delinquent should confess them. Our Lord Himself and He alone j is the Author of Confession. J. A. M. |