The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1909-12-10
The CONFESSIONAL.
an INTERESTING LECTURE on tbs
IMPORTANT SUBJECT.
Has Sinful Man Power to forgive Sias'

The second IN the series Of the lee
lures which were given in our town IN
defence of the Catholic faith, was de
livered IN the Armory on Mondzy
evening Of last week. the subject BE-
ING the Confessional The lectursx
began by saying as preliminary TO AID
preparation for the solemn act there
must be searching introspection 0a
the part of the penitent penanse
rather than mere repentance, and -
this frame of mind the Catholic enters
the Confessional closet which is AZ
ranged for and dedicated TO the SOl
emn service. This closet is divideA
into compartments, the priest occupy
ing one of them and the penitent the
other Through a small sliding wiz
dow the penitent whispers his confes
sion and the priest first satisfied that
the subject has come in proper frame
of mind and heart, whispers back the
soul-moving. heart satisfying absolu
ton, in latin, though nine tenths of
the Catholics of America must be
strangers to the latin tongue; ndthes
the party retireS in confident assur-
ance OF sins forgiven. If this isn't
fair statement of what was SAID by
the lecturer we beg to be corrected.
And now our objections to the cere
mony How can the officiating priest,
a sinner himself and not endowed
with the power Of reading the secrets
Of any human heart, know that the
proper preparation of penance has
been made How can he know
whether or not the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth" has
been told? And what Of the uncon
fessed sins And as confession Is
only required by the rules OF the
church once in twelve months, whs
absolves from the sins Of the rest Of
the year? And as such confessions
we're made in public in the early his
tory of the church, why now in =
closet and in secret These import
ant questions were not answered by
the speaker The gospels by
Matthew and by John were quoted as
sanctioning the ordinance, and in the
one il is written. l will give to you
the KEYS. Gee. and in the other
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatso
ever ye shall retain shall be retained.
See " The promise of the keys was
made to Peter and when was the
promise confirmed?
Was it not on the day Of pentecost
when the power of the Holy Spi it
was given not only to Peter but to
B. 900 on the same day The agoniz
ING PRAYER Of the solemn and memo
rable day was Men and brethren,
what shall we do2' and the answer
was. Repent and BEE baptized every
one of you in the name OF Jesus
Christ. for the remission of v0ur sins,
and We shall receive the gift Of the
Holy Ghost. Believe not in priest,
not IN pope but in the name of Jesus
Christ. What, then has the priest
more to do with the great transaction,
than have the preachers Of our pro
testant pulpits Preach the Gospel
proclaim the glad tidings and point to
the Christ in the one and only com
mission. There is none other
name. and the blood Of the crucified
one alone cleanses from sin.
No fair minded nor honest reader
of the Bible can deny that Peter Paul
and the rest of the Apostles were
endowed with peculiar power, power
il may be to bind and unbnd' and
that what they did in the name OF the
Christ was ratified in heaven, but
that they have successors now living
who are endowed with all the powers
oiven TO them, we must continue to
doubt so long as we know OF no priest
nor pope. who can raise the dead or
cause by spoken word the lame to leap
for ioy.. Confess your sins one TO
another, is Godgiven command
enter into thy closet and close the
door close it against priest and all
other persons, comes direct from
heaven. and we do well TO obey all
commands of Almighty God.
There is no more serious mistake
made by the readers Of the Bible than
TO select some one verse and upon II
hinge a doctrine or a dogma
Search the scriptures from zen
esis to Revelations and know the truth,
the whole truth and it shall make
Won free 80