s; and
He hath placed in us _the word of reconciliation_; we are therefore
ambassadors for Christ." In this passage does the Apostle teach the
truth declared elsewhere: "Christ died for our sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in
the flesh."[26] Herein is it taught very plainly that we are redeemed
by Jesus, and that there is no other name under heaven given to men
whereby they must be saved. He alone paid the price of our redemption;
by His precious blood alone are we redeemed; and through Him alone is
sin forgiven.

But, in the same passage, St. Paul is equally explicit in declaring:
"He hath given to us"--namely, the Apostles--"the Ministry of
Reconciliation"--"the word of reconciliation."[27] In this there is no
pretension that the Apostles were the reconcilers by inherent right;
theirs is an agency of reconciliation, and hence does St. Paul speak
of their as ambassadors of Christ. And in virtue of this does the
Apostle, when exercising the office on the incestuous Corinthian,
unhesitatingly declare: "If I have forgiven anything, for your sakes
have I done it _in the person of Christ_."[28] What is here so
positively claimed and acted on by the Apostle was very definitely
instituted by our Lord, as is recounted in the Gospels.

To the Apostles and their successors did Jesus Christ impart the power
to baptize all nations. By baptism is man purified from original
sin--from his own personal or actual sins, if there be any; there is
infused into him habitual or justifying grace, accompanied by faith,
hope, charity, as well as the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and he is made
the adopted child of God. The efficient cause of such spiritual
regeneration is Jesus Christ; and yet it is by a Minister of
Reconciliation, pouring water and saying the words "I baptize thee in
the name of the Father," etc., etc., that the cleansing is effected.
It is passing strange that those who believe in baptism as the
appointed means, whereby a minister reconciles a soul in original sin
should hesitate to admit the ministerial power of forgiving actual
sin. The principle is the same. Nearly fifteen hundred years ago, St.
Ambrose, writing against the Novatians, said: "If it be not lawful for
sins to be forgiven by man, why do you baptize? For, assuredly, in
baptism there is remission of all sins. What matters it whether
priests claim this right as having been given them by means of baptism
or pen