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"If this passage of James were all we could adduce in favor of confession, I should think with you, Mary; yet it is not so When about to dismiss his Apostles on their errands of mercy, Christ said to them--'Peace be with you; as my Father hath sent me, even so I send you;' and when he had breathed upon them, he said unto them--'Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained' Now, Mary, do you not plainly perceive that the power of forgiving sin was conferred upon the Apostles?"

"Most assuredly I do; and avow ive sin, and at the same time other miraculous poere conferred on the 'Twelve' 'Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases' We know that they cast out devils, restored the blind, and raised the dead Power to forgive sin was one aifts conferred upon the the dead was transift of absolution was?"

"But, Mary, Christ says in another place--'Thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build ainst it And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven'"

"I perfectly agree with you, Florry, in believing that St Peter had miraculous powers bestowed on him by our Saviour; but it seems absurd to suppose that these poere perpetuated in the ministers of the Roman Catholic Church Our Saviour said, what 'Peter loosed, should be loosed in heaven,' and not what Peter's successors loosed should be observed and loosed in heaven We should not judge of Christ's views by isolated passages, but rather fros; for if we did, ould you say to the verse just below those already quoted, 'And he said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto s which be of God, but those that be of ustine's Confessions, though I ad to priests This passage alone appears: 'O Lord, thou knowest!--have I not confessed my sins to thee? and hast thou not pardoned the iniquity ofhis boyhood, he says he eagerly desired baptis to die, and his mother was about to comply with his request, when he quickly recovered Now, had he considered confession necessary, would he not have urged it upon all who read his Confessions, which you will mark, Florry, were not made to a priest, but obviously to God hi pause, while Florence dropped her face in her hands and sighed heavily