thee," unite your hymns
of joy to the joyful songs of the angels of God; repeat into the ears of
that redeemed sinner the sentence just fallen from the lips of the Lamb,
whose blood cleanses us from all our sins; say to him, "Thy sins are
forgiven."

Sixth: "Come unto me all ye who labour, and are heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light." (Math. xi, 28-30.)

Though these words were pronounced more than 1800 years ago, they were
pronounced this very morning; they come at every hour of day and night from
the lips and the heart of Christ to every one of us sinners. It is just now
that Jesus says to every sinner, "Come to me and I will give ye rest."
Christ has never said and he will never say to any sinner: "Go to my
priests and they will give you rest!" But he has said, "Come to me and I
will give you rest."

Let the apostles and disciples of the Saviour, then, proclaim peace,
pardon, rest, not to the sinners who come to confess to them all their most
secretly sinful thoughts, desires, or actions, but to those who go to
Christ and Him alone, for peace, pardon and rest. For "Come to me," from
Jesus lips, has never meant, it will never mean, "Go and confess to the
priests."

Christ would never have said: "My yoke is easy and my burden light" if he
had instituted auricular confession. For the world has never seen a yoke so
heavy, humiliating and degrading as auricular confession.

Seventh: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up; that who soever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14.)

Did Almighty God require any auricular confession in the wilderness, from
the sinners, when He ordered Moses to lift up the serpent? No! Neither did
Christ speak of auricular confession as a condition of salvation to those
who look to Him when He dies on the Cross to pay their debts. A free pardon
was offered to the Israelites who looked to the uplifted serpent. A free
pardon is offered by Christ crucified to all those who look to Him with
faith, repentance and love. To such sinners the ministers of Christ, to the
end of the world, are authorised to say: "Your sins are forgiven--we
"clean" your leprosy."

Eighth: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever bel