earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. xviii. 15-18).”
This clear place, which is given as an instruction for all men, is expounded topsyturvy only because here is used the word ἐκκλησία, assembly, which later has received a different meaning, and is represented as a confirmation of an imaginary power of the hierarchy, which is that of remitting sins.
But, let us assume, contrary to the text and to common sense, that these words were addressed by Christ not to all men, but exclusively to his disciples; let us assume that he gave them the power to remit sins,—in what way does from that result the sacrament of repentance, which makes each who receives it an innocent man? Again there is the old trick: a sacrament, which was established after Christ, and of which no one in his time could have had any conception, is ascribed to Christ. Then follows the exposition of the rules of that sacrament.
223. Who may perform the sacrament of repentance, and who receives it. This sacrament, that is, the remission of sins, may be performed only by the priests.
224. What is demanded of those who approach the sacrament of repentance? Approaching repentance it is necessary to have: (1) contrition for sins. There is even a description of the character of that contrition: “As regards the nature of the contrition respecting the sins, it is necessary to see to it that it does not result merely from the fear of punishment for the sins, not from the conceptions in general of the deleterious consequences for us arising from them in the present and in the future life, but mainly from love for God, whose will we have violated, and from a living consciousness that with our sins we have offended our greatest benefactor and Father, have appeared ungrateful before him, and have become unworthy of him;” (2) an intention of not sinning again;
