The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-09

was lowered into the house by way Of
the roof. He said to the man. Son. be
OF good heart; thy sins are forgiven thee
He thought his soul needed help more
than his body. The scribes and Pharl-
sees present made their objection. They
said, This man blasphemes; how can he
forgive sin; no one but God only. eChrist
said, That you may know the Son OF
Man can forgive sin say TO this man.
Arise, take up thy bed and walk The
people wondered that such power had
been given to a mantle power to for
give sin, as well as the power to heal the
body.
Now then, the point arrives, did Cnrist
ever confer upon other men the power
10 forgive sin? There Is a vital point
Some say No, he never did I certain
ly said he did. and viii prove il to you
from the Bible-from three parts. In the
sixteenth chapter of St Matthew. the
/ eighteenth chapter, and then in the
twentieth chapter of John. In the six
! teenth Matthew 1t is said that the Saw
Jour was surrounded by the Apostles. He
| said, Whom do you say l am? One
said. You are John the Baptist An
other said, Thou art Christ, the Son of
! Cod Christ said, Amen, I say to thee
/ flesh and blood have not taught you this,
/ but my Father which is in Heaven: upon
I N-A4| 4S~%A "-iA DAilu CItUIGli. never
/ before or since have such words been
! addressed to mortal man. Whatsoever
/ thou shalt find on earth thou wilt find
/ in heaven, and whatsoever thou lose up
on earth, that will We find in heaven,
/ He was speaking of losing the only bur
den man did not wish to carry. There is
only one burden-that OF sin. Christ final
ly gave to his disciples the power to for
! give sin.
II care not what you are. or who you
are. but defy you to formulate In clear
er words than Christ did this idea that
he had given to his disciples The power
to forgive sin. He said: Receive We the
Holy Ghost; whose sins We shall forgive
they are forgiven them. and whose sins
ye retain, they are retained He did not
say: Whose sins God forgave' No.
What he did say was: Whose sins you
you-you-forgive.' I ask now. did those
men have the power to forgive s,n Or
not? If you say they did not then you
do rot believe what Christ said. AS a
Christian. you will say, Certainly. these
men did have the power to forgive He
gave them judicial power. which he rati-
fes in heaven. Christ gave US judges
and he established court in his own
church. He appointed them to forgive
sin and pass judgment upon them. TIE
be judges they must have been appoint
ed
"a man will say that he viii confess
directly to God.
Christ has instituted this power IN
man, and all that a man must do is to
confess his sins before the judges OF
Christ and submit to their will, as he
would before the judges of the land. You
will now say you have proven that these
apostles received from Christ the power
to forgive sin, but the question IS about
the mission of the Catholic church today
and its confession of sins. It is 200
years since the power was given to man
The priests claim to have the same pow
err today. Then you ask of me, where die
you get that power to preach. say be
cause the Scripture says so. Where dit
you get the power to baptize2 We ge
that in the same way as the power Il
forgive sin. Christ established a church
a church that is stronger today than il
all. the previous 1000 years, though al
the world and Baal has combined agains
| her. The more she is prosecuted, tn
stronger she grows.
I'm every organized government or so
ciety, the power is handed down by thos
who succeed lawfully to the offices. TIL
governor of a state hands down the pow
er vested in him to his successor. H
| has the power to pardon criminal
Where does he get that power? The con
stitution of the state authorizes his acts
Christ was the first governor. Bishop
confess their sins 10 the priests, tn
priests to the bishops, and the people t
the priests Martin Luther made tn
first revolt against the church, and estah
Eshed the first Protestant church
Though Luther threw away many of tn
doctrines of the Catholic church, he clun
to the confession of sins, and demande
that the people continue to confess
Three hundred years ago, then, all Chris
tians in the world confessed their sins
Your forefathers confessed their sins
Go back to the ninth century. Sins wer
then confessed, and go on back throug
the various centuries, sins We're Away
confessed. Many people delay their con
fessions through shame. They are Xix
sick persons with secret diseases VIII
delay going to the physicians becaus
they, too, are ashamed.
There are objections made against tn
confession of sins to the priests. Som
say You Catholic priests hear confes
sions simply for the purpose Of maxim
money from these poor, ignorant people
just grinding the money from them
say that no one can ever say that
priest ever exacted penny from any on
for the confession of his sins. AnOthe
VIII say, L can imagine why you 20 /
the trouble of hearing confessions, unles
lit is just for the sake OF learning abou
other peoples troubles and lives
Let this objector come with me for
month, if he can stand it, and let m
rouse him every morning at 4. and let N
put him in the confessional box for tw
or three hours, and in another hour 70
two or three more, and perhaps he wi
come to believe that there is no fun i
it,"
And thus Father Boarman continue
his lecture, giving objections and explain
ing the position of the church agains
them. He spoke of the. question whic
people so often ask, I wonder how 1t
you priests have so much power over tn
people? He answered that it is becaus
the priests are the ministers Of God, an
that the people respect them and tn
power that IS over them IS the power c
love. As TO ex-priests who tell of tn
terrible things to be found in the Cath
g. Ollie church and the Horrors Of the Con
: fessional,' Father Boarnan says tina
there are corrupt men in every good OF
ganizatton. These men were eEcommU
nicated because they could not be re
tanned in the church. They were traitor
TO their calling. When eEcommunicat
they told the most infamous lies, and tn
hferger the lies the larger would be thai