42. And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43. And he took it, and did eat before them. 44. And he said unto them, These 21. Then said Jesus to them again, are the words which I spake unto Peace be unto you: as my Father you, while I was yet with you, that hath sent me, even so send I you. all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45. Then opened he their 22. And when he had said this, he understanding, that they might breathed on them, and saith unto understand the scriptures, them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 46. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47. And that repentance and 23. Whose soever sins ye remit, remission of sin should be preached they are remitted unto them; whose in his name among all nations, soever sins ye retain, they are beginning at Jerusalem. retained. Three things are evident from comparing the report of St. John and St. Luke:-- 1. They speak of the same event, though one of them gives certain details omitted by the other, as we find in the rest of the gospels. 2. The words of St. John, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," are explained by the Holy Ghost Himself, in St. Luke, as meaning that the apostles shall preach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ. It is just what our Saviour has Himself said in St. Matt. ix. 13: "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." It is just the same doctrine taught by Peter (Acts ii. 38): "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Just the same doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, not through auricular confession or absolution, but through the preaching of the Word: "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts xiii. 38). 3. The third thing which is evident is that the Apostles were not alone when Christ appeared and spoke, but that several of His other disciples, even some women, were there. If the Romanists, then, could prove that Christ established auricular confession, and gave the power of absolution, by what He said in that solemn hour, women as well as men--in fact, every believer in Christ--would be authorized to hear confessions and give absolution. The Holy Ghost was not promised or given only to the Apostles, but to every believer, as we see in Acts i. 15, and ii. 1, 2, 3.