, did God come visibly
to their rescue? No; but Moses struck the rock, from which the water
instantly issued. When Paul, breathing vengeance against the Christians,
was going to Damascus, did our Savior personally restore his sight,
convert and baptize him? No; He sent Paul to His servant Ananias, who
restored his sight and baptized him.

The same Apostle beautifully describes to us in one sentence of his
Epistle to the Corinthians the arrangement of Divine Providence in the
reconciliation of sinners: "God," he says, "hath reconciled us to Himself
through Christ, _and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation_....
For Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors; God, as it were, exhorting
through us."(438) That is to say, God sends Christ to reconcile sinners;
Christ sends us. We are His ambassadors, reconciling sinners in His name.

When I think of this tremendous power that we possess I congratulate the
members of the Church, for whose benefit it is conferred; I tremble for
myself and my fellow-ministers, for terrible is our responsibility, while
we have nothing to glory in. Christ is the living Fountain of grace: we
are but the channels through which it is conveyed to your souls. Christ is
the treasure; we are but the pack-horses that carry it. "We bear this
treasure in earthen vessels." Christ is the shepherd; we are the pipe He
uses to call His sheep. Our words sounding in the confessional are but the
feeble echo of the voice of the Spirit of God that purified the Apostles
in the cenacle of Jerusalem.

But have we Gospel authority to show that our Savior did confer on the
Apostles and their successors the power to forgive sins?

We have the most positive testimony, and our Savior's words conferring
this power are expressed in the plainest language which admits of no
misconception. In the Gospel of St. Matthew our Savior thus addresses
Peter: "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church.... And I
will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven."(439)

And to all the Apostles assembled together on another occasion He uses the
same forcible language: "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound
also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed
also in heaven."(440) The soul is enchained by sin. I give you power, says
our Lord, to