The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-08-28
SUNDAY, 49,

ING STAR AND CATHOLIC nj
Prissthood-Power Of Forgiving SINS
We give the following extracts from the
second lecture of Mgr. Capel on the "Pow-
ers of the Catholic Priesthood"
And now to speak of the instance in
which the power of forgiving was commu-
nicated by our Lord to those who came i'm
mediately after Him. Late in the same
day that He had risen from the dead, He
came and stood in the midst of His dis
ciples in a secret place where they had
gathered together for fear of the jews. He
addressed to them the salutation, Peace
be to you,' His ordinary salutation after
His resurrection, expressing that power of
giving peace to men of good will which was
His in virtue of the sacrifice of Calvary; for
this was His COMMISSIONS give peace; to
this end He was sent; with this intent does
He teach as being sent and forgive sins as
man. Then He adds Gas my Father hath
sent me SO send 1 you" Here are two
clauses which must have q similar signifi-
cation in consequence of the conjunctions
s'as' and $50" which unite them. The
mission of Christ was not of such nature
as to terminate in himself, but was to be
communicated to others; and the apostles
were not sent in any way but the precise
way in which He had been sent by the Fa-
Their. The essence of a mission is in it's
powers. These powers must, therefore, be
the powers of Christ as commissioned, as
distinguished from the inherent might He
had as God |; for Christ as God was not the
minister of His Father, or, in other words,
commissioned. 1t was as man, therefore,
that He was commissioned.
In these words they received then their
commission. At the same time they re-
ceived the powers necessary to execute it
" Receive ye," He said, sThe Holy Ghost"
The powers, then, We're not natural, but
supernatural they did not arise from the
natural abilities or goodness of the men
whom He addressed'or in the fact of their
having been His companions. There were
something superadded to all this-something
not inherent in them, but communicated
from without, as the act of breathing testi-
ies. What, then, was the supernatural
power that was communicated to them 7
1t was not the power of working miracles
that had been indicated before; it was not
inspiration-that was given only at Pente-
cost. After it they were the same persons
as before, with their personal adjuncts and
particularities there were Peter, James,
John before; there We're Peter, James,
John and the rest after there is no reason
to suppose that it made them saints all of
a sudden. What was given was power
given, not for their own sakes, but for the
sakes of others, which would have been an
had it not been natural
power, but in which there is no impossible
ity if it is supernatural. ''Whose sins you
shall forgive, they shall be forgiven them;
and whose sins you shall retain, they are
retained"
Observe that this power is given in two
cases; there is first a power Of remitting,
and afterwards a power of retaining sins,
of denying this forgiveness. Thus it was
a judicial power. Of course the forgive
ness OF denial of forgiveness had to be rati-
fed in heaven but that does not interfere
with the fact that there was a real power
given, and there was promise that this
should ensue. Of course, again,
it had to be exercised in conformity with
certain laws; but every power has to be so
exercised. Thus the power of a judge in
court OF law is not merely to acquit-in
which case it would not be a judicial power
but to sentence or acquit in conformity to
certain laws in which his decision is ratified
by the higher courts, if the cause should
come before them. And now the only con-
elasiea- tAat-ean- Iegitimately drawn
from the words of Christ is that He intend
ed to communicate to those tc whom He
spoke power of removing or refusing to !
remove sin, according to certain laws
which He would impose or had imposed.
Thus this power was not arbitrary, as we
are often supposed to imagine it to be, but
regulated by law. On two previous occa-
sions it had been promised on the first to
st. Peter Matt. xvi.) on the second to the
other apostles, and again to him conformity
with him Matt. xviii 81. This is extremely
clear; our Lord prepares the way by a |
and gives the power in direct |
and unfgurative language. l shall notice |
these two passages by way of replying to
an objection that is sometimes taken to |
them, that they are metaphorcal, and |
therefore obscure. I grant that they are
l deny that they are there
fore obscure. For metaphorical language,
instead of being broad in it's meaning, as
direct language often is, on account of the
shades in the meaning of words, is the very
of language known. The meta
phor is used for the sake of being impress
i've, and is, therefore, to be taken in it's full
it directs the mind to some
well-known thing, generally n material OBJ !
ject, of which we have clear and distinct
idea, and, therefore, makes the matter
clearer than direct expressions. Thus che |
is as strong as liOn," gives much |
fuller idea Of the strength of the person /
spoken of than the simple, che is strong ;" |
aud when our Lord says of Herod, ''Go tell
that for," we have a better idea of the char
acter of the King of Judea than could have
been given by long series of unmeta-
phorical propositions describing him.
Again, it is obvious that in investigating
the meaning of a metaphor used in a Lam
guage, and a fortiori by race, different
from our own, we must have regard, not to
the genius of our own language, but to the
idioms of the people with whom it occurs.
Thus, to take familiar example, we
have an expression bdcEbitin1, Now SUD-