[Inez by Augusta J. Evans]@TWC D-Link bookInez CHAPTER XVI 15/16
Our Saviour said, what 'Peter loosed, should be loosed in heaven,' and not what Peter's successors loosed should be observed and loosed in heaven.
We should not judge of Christ's views by isolated passages, but rather from all his teachings; for if we did, what would you say to the verse just below those already quoted, 'And he said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things which be of God, but those that be of men.' But this is wandering from the subject.
In St.Augustine's Confessions, though I admit somewhat abridged, I find nothing relating to confessing to priests.
This passage alone appears: 'O Lord, thou knowest!--have I not confessed my sins to thee? and hast thou not pardoned the iniquity of my heart ?' Speaking of a sudden illness during his boyhood, he says he eagerly desired baptism, fearing to die, and his mother was about to comply with his request, when he quickly recovered.
Now, had he considered confession necessary, would he not have urged it upon all who read his Confessions, which you will mark, Florry, were not made to a priest, but obviously to God himself," There followed a long pause, while Florence dropped her face in her hands and sighed heavily. "Florry, it is very late; our candle has burnt low--see, it is flickering in the socket; we have not heeded the lapse of time." She rose and replaced the books she had been consulting. "Mary, Mary! why have you shaken my faith? I had thought to find comfort in future, but you have torn my hope from me, and peace flies with the foundations which you have removed!" "Florry, you have been blinded, deceived.
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