to them--'Peace be with you; as my Father hath sent me, even so I send
you;' and when he had breathed upon them, he said unto them--'Receive
ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.' Now, Mary,
do you not plainly perceive that the power of forgiving sin was
conferred upon the Apostles?"

"Most assuredly I do; and avow my belief that they were enabled
to forgive sin, and at the same time other miraculous powers were
conferred on the 'Twelve.' 'Then he called his twelve disciples
together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to
cure diseases.' We know that they cast out devils, restored the blind,
and raised the dead. Power to forgive sin was one among many wonderful
gifts conferred upon them. Yet you do not believe that the power of
raising the dead was transmitted to posterity. How, then, can you say
the gift of absolution was?"

"But, Mary, Christ says in another place--'Thou art Peter: and upon
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not
prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.'"

"I perfectly agree with you, Florry, in believing that St. Peter had
miraculous powers bestowed on him by our Saviour; but it seems absurd
to suppose that these powers were perpetuated in the ministers of the
Roman Catholic Church. Our Saviour said, what 'Peter loosed, should
be loosed in heaven,' and not what Peter's successors loosed should be
observed and loosed in heaven. We should not judge of Christ's views