Fifth: "And when he (the prodigal son) came to himself, he said: ... I will arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee: and I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran; and he fell on his neck and kissed him.
"And the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy son.
"But the father said to his servants: Bring forth his best robe, and put it on him: put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fat calf. For this my son was dead, and he is alive again, he was lost and he is found." (Luke xv, 17-24.)
Apostles and disciples of Christ, wherever you will hear, on this land of sin and misery, the cry of the Prodigal Son: "I will arise and go to my Father" every time you see him, not at your feet, but at the feet of his true Father, crying: "Father I have sinned against 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.)