what God has said, through Moses, to the priests of the old
law, in reference to the bodily leprosy, face to face with what God has
said, through his Son Jesus, to his apostles and his whole church, in
reference to the spiritual leprosy from which Christ has delivered us on
the cross.

Septuagint Bible, Levit. xiii. | New Testament, John xx., 23.
|
"And the Priest shall look on the | "Whose soever sins ye remit, they
plague, in the skin of the flesh, | are remitted unto them; and whose
and when the hair in the plague is | soever sins ye retain, they are
turned white, and the plague in | retained."
sight be deeper than the skin of |
his flesh, it is a plague of |
leprosy: and the priest shall look |
on him and UNCLEAN HIM (_mianei_). |
|
"And the Priest shall look on him |
again the seventh day, and if the |
plague is somewhat dark and does |
not spread on the skin, the Priest |
shall CLEAN HIM (_katharei_): and |
he shall wash his clothes and BE |
CLEAN," (katharos.) |

The analogy of the diseases with which the Hebrew priests and the disciples
of Christ had to deal, is striking: so the analogy of the expressions
prescribing their respective duties is also striking.

When God said to the priests of the Old Law, "You shall clean the leper,"
and he shall be "cleaned," or, "you shall unclean the leper," and he shall
be "uncleaned," He only gave the legal power to see if there were any signs
or indications by which they could say that God had cured the leper before
he presented himself to the priest. So, when Christ said to his apostles
and his whole church, "Whose soever sins ye shall forgive, shall be
forgiven unto them," He only repeated what Moses had said in an analagous
case: He only gave them the authority to say when the spiritual lepers, the
sinners, had reconciled themselves to God, and received their pardon from
Him and Him alone, previous to their coming to the apostles.

It is true that the priests of the Old Law had regulations from God,
through Moses, which they had to follow, by which they could see and say
whether, or not, the leprosy was gone.

"If the plague spread not on the skin ... the priest shall clean him ...
but if the priest see that the scab spread on the skin, it is leprosy: he
shall "unclean" him. (Septuagint, Levit. xiii. 3. 6.)

So Christ had given t