rom Satan, for they equally substitute the magical power of vile
creatures for the blood of Christ to save the guilty children of Adam. They
both ignore that the blood of the Lamb _alone_ cleanseth us from all sin.

Yes! auricular confession is a public act of idolatry, it is asking from a
man what God _alone_, through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of
sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to sinners, "Go to this or
that man for repentance, pardon, and peace"? No; but He has said to all
sinners, "Come unto Me." And from that day to the end of the world all the
echoes of heaven and earth will repeat these words of the merciful Saviour
to all the lost children of Adam, 'Come unto Me.'

When Christ gave to His disciples the power of the keys in these words,
"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviii. 18), He
had just explained His mind by saying, "If thy brother shall trespass
against thee" (v. 15). The Son of God Himself in that solemn hour protested
against the stupendous imposture of Rome by telling us positively that that
power of binding and loosing, forgiving and retaining sins, was _only_ in
reference to sins committed against _each other_. Peter had correctly
understood his Master's words when he asked, "How oft shall my brother sin
_against me_ and I forgive him?"

And in order that His true disciples might not be shaken by the sophisms of
Rome, or by the glittering nonsense of that band of silly half-Popish sect
called Tractarians, or Ritualists, the merciful Saviour gave the admirable
parable of the poor servant, which He closed by what He has so often
repeated, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
(Matt. xviii. 35).

Not long before, He had again mercifully given us his whole mind about the
obligation and _power_ which every one of His disciples had of forgiving
"For if ye forgive even their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also
forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. vi. 14, 15).

"Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful, forgive and ye
shall be forgiven" (Luke vi. 36, 37).

Auricular Confession, as the Rev. Dr. Wainwright has so eloquently put it
in his "Confession not Auricular," is a diabolical caricature o