Who has not been filled with deep compassion and pity for those poor idolaters of Hindustan who believe that they will secure to themselves a happy passage to the next life if they have the good luck to die when holding in their hands the tail of a cow? But there are people among us who are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and pity, for they hope that they will be purified from their sins and be for ever happy if a few magical words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from the polluted lips of a miserable sinner sent by the Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a cow and the magical words of a confessor to purify the souls and wash away the sins of the world are equally inventions of the Devil. Both religions come from Satan, for they equally substitute the magical power of vile creatures for the blood of Christ to save the guilty children of Adam. They both ignore that the blood of the Lamb _alone_ cleanseth us from all sin. Yes! auricular confession is a public act of idolatry, it is asking from a man what God _alone_, through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to sinners, "Go to this or that man for repentance, pardon, and peace"? No; but He has said to all sinners, "Come unto Me." And from that day to the end of the world all the echoes of heaven and earth will repeat these words of the merciful Saviour to all the lost children of Adam, 'Come unto Me.' When Christ gave to His disciples the power of the keys in these words, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviii. 18), He had just explained His mind by saying, "If thy brother shall trespass against thee" (v. 15). The Son of God Himself in that solemn hour protested against the stupendous imposture of Rome by telling us positively that that power of binding and loosing, forgiving and retaining sins, was _only_ in reference to sins committed against _each other_. Peter had correctly understood his Master's words when he asked, "How oft shall my brother sin _against me_ and I forgive him?" And in order that His true disciples might not be shaken by the sophisms of Rome, or by the glittering nonsense of that band of silly half-Popish sect called Tractarians, or Ritualists, the merciful Saviour gave the admirable parable of the poor servant, which He closed by what He has so often repeated, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." (Matt. xviii. 35). Not long before, He had again mercifully given us his whole mind about the obligation and _power_ which every one of His disciples had of forgiving "For if ye forgive even their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. vi. 14, 15).