healing of a palsy-stricken man as a
sign that he had a right to declare to a man that his sins were
forgiven.[309] So also of one woman it was said: "Her sins, which are
many, are forgiven, for she loved much."[310] In the famous Gnostic
treatise, the _Pistis Sophia_, the very purpose of the Mysteries is said
to be the remission of sins. "Should they have been sinners, should they
have been in all the sins and all the iniquities of the world, of which
I have spoken unto you, nevertheless if they turn themselves and repent,
and have made the renunciation which I have just described unto you,
give ye unto them the mysteries of the kingdom of light; hide them not
from them at all. It is because of sin that I have brought these
mysteries into the world, for the remission of all the sins which they
have committed from the beginning. Wherefore have I said unto you
aforetime, 'I came not to call the righteous.' Now, therefore, I have
brought the mysteries, that the sins of all men may be remitted, and
they be brought into the kingdom of light. For these mysteries are the
boon of the first mystery of the destruction of the sins and iniquities
of all sinners."[311]

In these Mysteries, the remission of sin is by baptism, as in the
acknowledgment in the Nicene Creed. Jesus says: "Hearken, again, that I
may tell you the word in truth, of what type is the mystery of baptism
which remitteth sins.... When a man receiveth the mysteries of the
baptisms, those mysteries become a mighty fire, exceedingly fierce,
wise, which burneth up all sins; they enter into the soul occultly, and
devour all the sins which the spiritual counterfeit hath implanted in
it." And after describing further the process of purification, Jesus
adds: "This is the way in which the mysteries of the baptisms remit sins
and every iniquity."[312]

In one form or another the "forgiveness of sins" appears in most, if not
in all, religions; and wherever this consensus of opinion is found, we
may safely conclude, according to the principle already laid down, that
some fact in nature underlies it. Moreover, there is a response in
human nature to this idea that sins are forgiven; we notice that people
suffer under a consciousness of wrong-doing, and that when they shake
themselves clear of their past, and free themselves from the shackling
fetters of remorse, they go forward with glad heart and sunlit eyes,
though erstwhile enclouded by darkness. They feel as though a bu