SOME Christian writers have labored to make it appear that this is
exclusively a Christian doctrine, while others have labored as hard to
get it out of their bible, or make the people believe that it is not
therein taught.
We shall show, upon scriptural and historical authority, that both are
wrong.
There can be no question as to this rite having existed outside of
Christianity, or of its being much older than Christianity. History
proves both. Nor can it be successfully denied that it is taught in the
Christian Scriptures, both the confessing of sins and that of forgiving
sins. The apostle James, with respect to the former, is quite explicit.
He enjoins, emphatically, "Confess your faults one to another." (James
v. 16.) The practice of forgiving sins is also enjoined. "Forgiving one
another" is recommended both in Ephesians (iv. 32) and Colossians. (iii.
13). "And whatsoever ye shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"
(Matthew xviii 18), is interpreted as conferring the power to forgive
sins.
And then we remark that the practices both of confessing and forgiving
sins are very ancient pagan rites and customs. Speaking of their
prevalence in ancient India, the author of the Anacalypsis remarks, "The
person offering sacrifices made a verbal confession of his sins, and
received absolution." Auricular confession was also practiced among
the ancient Mithriacs, or Persians, and the Parsees proper of the
same country. Mr. Volney tells us, "They observed all the Christian
sacraments, even to the laying on of hands in the confirmation." (211.)
And the Christian Tertullian also tells us that "The priests of Mithra
promised absolution from sin on confession and baptism," while another
author adds, that "on such occasions Mithra marked his followers (the
servants of God) in their foreheads," and that "he celebrated the
sacrifice of bread, which is the resurrection."
In the collection of the Jewish laws called "The Mishna," we are
told the Jews confessed their sins by placing their hands upon a calf
belonging to the priest, and that this was called "the Confession of
Calves." (See Mishna, tom. ii. p. 394.) Confessing sins was practiced in
ancient Mexico; also under Numa of Rome, whose priests, we are informed,
had to clear their consciences by confessing their sins before they
could offer sacrifices. The practice of confessing and forgiving sins
as recommended in the Christian bible, and practiced by some of
the Christian sects, has been the source of much practical evil by
furnishing a pretext and license, to some extent, for the commission
of crime and sin. While sins can be so easily obliterated they will
be committed--perpetrated without much remorse or restraint. "In China
(says the Rev. Mr. Pitrat, 232), the invocation of Omito is sufficient
to remit the punishment of the greatest crimes." The same author tells
us, "The ancient initiation of the pagans had tribunals of penance,
where the priests, under the name of _Roes_, heard from the mouth of the
sinners themselves the avowal of their sins of which their souls were
to be purified, and from the punishment of which they wished to be
exempted." (Page 37.) The granting of absolution for sin or misconduct
among the early primitive Christians was so common, St. Cyprian informs
us, that "thousands of reprieves were granted daily," which served as an
indirect license to crime. And thus the doctrine of divine forgiveness,
as taught by pagans and Christians, has proved to be demoralizing in its
effects upon society.