# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1860_S55
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— Page 55 —

...grabs it, has it. But with private absolution it is as if the rich
man's servant pressed the gold coin into the hand of a timid person
who does not dare to grab it himself. Just as here the individual has
no better coin than the others, so too private absolution gives
nothing different or better than the sermon does. A false distinction
is often drawn, namely that in preaching the treasure of the
forgiveness of sins is only proclaimed, or merely offered, while in
private absolution it is actually imparted. When Dr. Luther speaks of
a greater certainty of forgiveness in private absolution, he means
nothing more than this: it is harder for the believer to appropriate
the comfort in general preaching than in private absolution. To the
objection that private absolution surely gives a particular comfort
that the preaching of the Gospel does not provide, it was answered:
how could anything give a particular comfort, when the Gospel is
itself the fullness of all comfort? The sacraments are nothing other
than a visible word; their content is therefore exactly the same as
that of the word. That God, alongside the word, has also ordained the
sacraments, in which he deals with the individual, shows that he has
taken the condition of believers into account; because, given the
weakness of this life, it is harder for the believer to appropriate
the comfort when it is proclaimed only in general to the crowd,
therefore God, as Luther says, is not so stingy, but has ordained
that comfort be offered to the believer in every possible way. We
see in this, then, God's wonderful condescension to the weakness of
his believers; because he knows how hard it is for them to grasp the
comfort in general preaching, he has therefore given private
absolution, baptism, and the Supper for individuals, so that each one
may know: here I am the person with whom God speaks and deals.

The question raised here, whether Christ, in the words "Whosesoever
sins ye remit" etc., instituted private confession, was answered with
a definite No; it was likewise noted that in the passage James 5:16,
"Confess your faults one to another," which the papists use to prove
the divine institution of their auricular confession, the reference
is only to the mutual confession of offenses and sins committed
against one another among Christians; it was, however, affirmed that
in Christ's words at John 20:23 private absolution is instituted.
This latter point was proven as follows: the Lord has commanded that
his people be comforted with a certain comfort; he wills that all be
saved; the Gospel is to be preached to every creature — if the
preaching of the Gospel is thereby commanded for all, how much more
for the individual! Even if the words "Whosesoever sins ye remit" etc.
are nothing other than a further elaboration of Christ's command, "Go
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," and thus
only an unfolding of the treasures of the Gospel as offered through
preaching, one still cannot deny that the Lord specifically commanded
private absolution in those very words. It [private absolution] is,
to be sure, already contained in the general command, "Preach the
Gospel to every creature," but because we might easily think it is
not contained there, the Lord has, in that other word, as the more...