DR.. Ryder's Lecture on Aurieular Confession


MT st. Peters Church, last sunday.
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MT st. Peters Church, last sunday.


goth Chap 81. John. aad and 2sd verses-"Rscsss y.
unto ihen and rhoss rims ye they refained


This evening my beloved brethren the practice of tho
ofconfsssng the ministers Of Almighty God, who
appointed to remit the sins which the members of that
my discourse This doctrine and prect,s Of the Gaso
lie world Ia understood by every Catholic to that
ment for the remission Of sins committed after he
ment OF baptism and that in the sacrament there
three acts to DO performed the part Of the person
fessing and one the part of Me minister On the
part OF the confessng the three acts necessary
his part contron ssion, and satisfaction
of the power remission There is no difficulty be-
tween US and orr dissenting brethren, any Of tho
first named points except the one Of confession which
in the Catholic church il termed aurcular confession
Now, what We understand by aurcular confession is
this, that it is institution founded by the Divine
Saviour obligation upon every Chts,ian by which
he - bound to confess the aims OF which he s guilty
Having promised the meaning of aurcuar COMES
scn, the question is is Wow Of this importaut point
the true one, or l. it system framed BY priests for tbs
purposes OF Ipquty an not by the Almighty
God We Catholics feel convinced that il is q divine
institution. and that confession in the manner
We believe moreover5 that the sacrament Of confes
sion i as necessary for the remission Of sin committed
aer the sacrament OF baptism the of bap


sm necessary for the remission sin committed pro-
viousiy Therefore, you will perceive at once the ne.
lesion Is divine institution not The words which


have quoted from ST. John, evidently convey. on
inc given 70 the minister Of religion for ad
and this power cannot be exercised unless there be
atve obligation on the part of the pentent for disclosing
the words Of divine Saviour are nuga,ory. Now
Saviour breathcs upon the apostles the Holy Ghost
should possess in order that they should become the
| peace makers bstween God and man. Thus he gives
by the Divine Spirit aud that they might Be 6ed with
mercy and charity. He then says what sins you fer
give forgiven, what sins you retain are sctsined
4 al xu,t
the power Of iorgiving and retaining SINS What sins
you forgive shall be forgiven that not sufficient and
he invests them with judicial power, and says what
sins you retain retained In these Christ
gives power to his apostles to reconcile God to and
Now, my beloved brethren, can't language more
explicit than the language made use Of by Divine
preston decarstory Of the power pardonng
than the expression used. There is no Limitation what
shall be retained" con.equsny the 1smi.non and re-
tention Of sins delegated to the apostles And yet
.hs! i be said tha. this unlimited power should tarn
trins of the Catholic church this important ques
ton is aot true What is the doctrine of the Ca,ho-
lie church, 1t is, that there is the power OF
hitting and retaining sins invested in the ministers
of the church, and that tina, power implies tho obli-
that the minister may that @ Our 1as dis
senng brethren deny this doctrine and say tha.
obligation on 81 sinner to confess to any but his
Maker He has merely to say that he is sinner. How,
is this to be understood If the sinner not bound
to confess to the minister Of religion, what
of the power conferred on the apostles How
can the power be exercised Suppose one
done then The apostles had the power, snd under
what circumstances could they exercise it, il there
no obligation on the part Of tho sinner to confess bis sins
to them The apostles could not exercise the power
because individual would submit their horiiy.
And play what authority is that can't be exercised
vine Saviour. suppose, for moment, that the Divine
Saviour gave to the apostles power that could be
exercised, would not have been act Of iuju,ce
Can suppose that the Divine Saviour would have
acted in that manner 2 Such idea is absurd it is
prcposterous and cannot be admitted for moment But
| am to understand that if there is obligation the
part OF the sinner to confess his sin that the power
suppose for an instant that Of these apostles invested
with this power, to entor into this assembly ana
say that he had the power Of forgivng and retaining
sirs; and If you supposed that there was obligation
on you to confess your sns what would you do You
would do nothing the vested in tho apostle could
not be exercised and he would stand in the attitude OF
idiot But let suppose that you conscious Of
the obligation, and the apostle appears He is invested
your confession and then exercise his authority
orgigng or retaining your sins In such the spos
invested with divine authority, snd you receive the
benefit of the exercise of the power. But in
ns s,asr osis you .0 01d ,hs, merely nay that
authorize the apostle to employ the authority
with which he is invested No, would not no could
not exercise his authority in such because the
apostle would not know wha, sins you committed He
would not know the circumstances Of your sins and
for absolution. t have your sins reiained You
might not be Fl. receive absolution and il apostle





be guilty Of perverting the Of the power with which
he was invested Suppose then, he were Of opinion
are sinner, but he will hot remit your SINS.
although you may be ansious to DO reconcisd
ister his power, and you would remain in sin
When all these were taken into consideration, the
Catholic view, all Catholics believe that there is
Apostle who has the power OF forgiving SINS The
Catholic approaches him in private-gves account
of his snsets him see the state Of his conscience
investigates and examines into It, and IL he deems il
|
was clear as to the relative duties between the Apostle
was granted TO them according TO the scriptures the
Saviour would be guilty Of having imposed upon the
Apostles BY granting them power which they meyer
again the words of the scripture Whose sins yoa
forgive they are forgvsn and whose sins you
expressly delegated, Of forgving sins = in language
and under authority not to be misunderstood. But


ting to the ordeal Of confession, in order obtain
mission of sim would be absurd to suppose that the
state Of the concence the nature Of the sin be
| RENTED through abscution and peDsncs, such a. he
would epjon and such as only could DO by
confession and it would be also contradiction to sup
pose that sins could be forgiven retained if there
isted no power Of remng retaining them. II they
science, the apostle could not say" forgive" He
submitted therefore, that according to the Ian
retaining aims, was no longer contradictory. More.
over, this doctrine OF sreainng and pardoning sirs,
lie church. was Of the most Injurious tendency, and
II may be the of subveriing the whole order
of society. II this power TO be exercised blndly
and Unfortunately y- an individual to come be-
fore them as community and say, ~ forgive all the
sins Of one portion Of you, and refuse to pardon the
sins Of the other portion, what would the
be What would the consequence be, he would ask
such person forward, and pardoned every spe
ces of abomination 10 species Of pocians and left
the other unpardoned1 Could he not. In such case
be made the plant tool Of administration, and may
therefore, countenance every species OF vllainy and
on the other band he may grind, under his authority,
the hearts and consciences Of the and vrtuous in
dividuas, who may be opposed to such an adminstra
ton Let him but suppose for moment that the ap0s
tie came again-hey could not change the apostlo-he
had his charter and was invested with his diploma and
he retained them and let him suppose that he was ap
preached by one in the community, and that he would
tell him to 60 forward and slander whom he pleased,
and whilst he vifyng his BRETHREN yet he would