the absolving authority, of which Our Lord had spoken just before; "that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority upon earth to forgive sins." They acknowledged (being constrained to do so by the miracle, which had established His claim to it) that this authority was now deposited among men upon earth-given to Christ, by God the Father, for the behoof and benefit of the whole human race, of which He is the Head.

II. We now proceed to a further stage in the consideration of the subject. We have seen that while upon earth, His glory veiled from mortal eye by a body of humiliation, Our Lord, in His human nature, claimed the power of dispensing and conveying God's forgiveness. Did He make any mention of this same power, when He was no longer

2 The govoía in the eighth verse ("they glorified God, which had given such power unto men") must be the same as the govoía of the sixth verse ("that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins"); that is, it must be the spiritual authority to absolve, not the physical power of working miracles, which is expressed by dúvaμis, and rendered in our translation "virtue;" "There went virtue out of Him, and healed them all."—Luke vi. 19. Mark v. 30.

"upon earth," when He had put off the natural and put on the spiritual body? Yes: the mention of this power, and the delegation of it to the Apostles, to exercise it in His Name, as He had exercised it in the Father's, is one of the first words which fell from His lips after the Resurrection. On the first Easter Day, at evening, He came to His Apostles through closed doors, and having shown them His pierced hands and side, whereby remission had been meritoriously procured, He greeted them thus; "Peace be unto you: As My Father hath sent Me" (sent Me to herald and dispense forgiveness of sins), "even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

By these solemn words Absolution may be said to have been instituted, as an independent Ordinance of the Christian Church.

3

3 "This remission of sins granted here to the priest, to which God hath promised a confirmation in Heaven, is not the act of preaching, or baptizing, or admitting men to the Holy Communion. For this power of remitting sins, mentioned John xx., was not granted

Those great forty days, which elapsed between the Resurrection and the Ascension, seem generally to have been a time of Institutions. Our Lord, when He met His Apostles during those forty days, and "spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," was engaged in tracing the foundations of His Church. It was during this time, we know, that the Apostles were commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations, and so the foundation was laid of Christian Missions; that the Holy Sacrament

outline of the

(though promised Matt. xvi. 19) till now, that is, after the Resurrection, as appears by the ceremony of breathing, signifying that then it was given and secondly, by the word Receive, used in that place (v. 22), which He could not have properly used, if they had been endued with this power before. Therefore the power of remitting, which here God authorizes, and promises certain assistance to, is neither preaching nor baptizing, but some other way of remitting, viz. that which the Church calls Absolution."-Sparrow, as quoted in Hook's "Church Dictionary," Article

Absolution.

I believe Absolution to be the fundamental power of the Christian Ministry, granted at the earliest PostResurrection interview of Our Lord with the Eleven ; and that it pervades with its sweet fragrance the entire Ministry, both that of the Word, and that of the Sacraments, and that of Discipline.

of Baptism was formally instituted; and doubtless the other Sacrament (though of this we have no express notice) re-enforced; that the instruction of Christians in all things whatsoever Christ had commanded them (or, in other words, Preaching), was made a standing Ordinance of the Church. But the fundamental power, on which all these Institutions rested, was the remission of sins, purchased for man by Christ's Blood, and deposited on the first Easter Day with the inspired official representatives of the Christian Church. This fundamental power was therefore communicated in the first interview of Our Lord with the Eleven.

III. But it may be asked; "Even granting that the Apostles had this power, does it appear that there was any entail of it to those who should succeed them in the government of the Church?" And here I make my appeal to the Book of Common Prayer. I am not reasoning with Dissenters, but with Churchmen; and with Churchmen, if they are what they profess to be, the verdict of the Book of Common Prayer must be conclusive. The profession of Churchmanship, if it mean any thing, cannot mean less than this, that he who

makes it, accepts the Prayer Book as his commentary and interpretation of the Bible. Now the Book of Common Prayer directs the identical words, in which Our Lord delegated to His Apostles the power of Absolution, to be repeated separately to each man who is ordained priest. And further it provides for the periodical exercise of the power so conferred. It is to be exercised publicly every morning and evening, immediately after the general Confession. It is to be exercised publicly in a more solemn way after the deepertoned confession in the Office of the Holy Communion. It may be exercised privately on certain occasions (to be further adverted to presently) though never as a rule, but as an exception. And one can see that the making private absolutions exceptional is a most wise and judicious arrangement. Our Blessed Lord, who had a perfect insight into the human heart, might say to an individual, without misleading him, or giving him false hopes, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." An inspired prophet, assured by inspiration of the perfect sincerity of the soul with which he was dealing, might do the same. But a modern minister, enjoying only the ordinary