It was hard to keep the early Church, on the same page. That's why Paul wrote so many letters. Another person, known as the Shepherd of Hermas wrote an important treatise. He, whomever he was, wrote of the problems in the Roman community. Rome was the capital of the Roman empire and the Christians there were not always behaving. What to do about that, is what the Shepherd of Hermas wrote about.
He was stern and well, full of "hell fire and brimstone." Hence, he was always haranguing about doing penance. Hence, Church history shows the sacrament of reconciliation, or penance, commonly known as Confession, was offered as a chance for salvation for repentant sinners, not only once, or once a year, at Yom Kippur, but as many times as the penitent thought he needed.
The Shepherd of Hermas was written in the second century, so it is not a canonical book, which are written by apostles and direct companions of the apostles, However, it is an example of early Christian writing.
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