Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Confession And Absolution. TEXT: "God hath reconciled us to Himself by Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, and He hath placed in us the word of reconciliation; we are therefore ambassadors for Christ."—2 Cor. v, 18. NO more important question can be submitted for consider- ation to those who believe in the existence of God, in man's responsibility to his Creator, and in divine revelation, than what are God's conditions for pardoning sin committed after baptism. For however much men may doubt, deny, or dispute about religion, they can never impugn the fact that they are individually sinners. '"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;"1 " in many things we all offend;"2 even " the just man shall offend seven times." 3 Good sense, as well as faith, tells us that having willingly committed or consented to any thought, word, or deed prohibited by God, or having knowingly and wilfully omitted any duty imposed by the divine law, then have we revolted against our God. And should this be done with full knowledge and deliberation in a matter deemed grave by the Lawgiver, or grave in its own nature, or rendered so by circumstances, then has there been a grievous transgression of our duty to God. The moment we so act, are we and our crime abominable in the sight of the All Holy. " Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity;"4 and to the Lord "the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike."5 Our sin instantly merits eternal punishment: "If the just man turns himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live ? All his justices which he had done shall not be remembered."l " But the f...