C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Absolution
No man taketh away sins (which the law, though holy, just and good, could not take away), but He in whom there is no sin.
It appertaineth to the true God alone to be able to loose men from their sins.
He alone can remit sins who is appointed our Master by the Father of all; He only is able to discern obedience from disobedience.
Neither angel, nor archangel, nor yet even the Lord Himself (who alone can say “I am with you”), can, when we have sinned, release us, unless we bring repentance with us.
It is not the ambassador, it is not the messenger, but the Lord Himself that saveth His people. The Lord remaineth alone, for no man can be partner with God in forgiving sins; this office belongs solely to Christ, who taketh away the sins of the world.