as he was man, he was a Mediator; in that he was the Word, he was not in a middle place, because equal with God, and God with God, and together (with the Holy Spirit) one God.

How hast thou loved us, O good Father, who "sparedst not thine only Son, but deliveredst him up for us ungodly!" (Rom. 8:32). How hast thou loved us, for whom, "he that thought it not robbery to be equal with thee, was made subject even to the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:6). He alone "free among the dead" (Ps. 88: 5), "having power to lay down his life, and power to take it again" (John 10:18): for us to thee both Victor and Victim, and therefore Victor, because the Victim; for us to thee Priest and Sacrifice, and therefore Priest because the Sacrifice; making us to thee sons instead of servants, by being begotten of thee, and becoming servant to us. Rightly then is my hope strong in him, that thou wilt heal all my infirmities" by him who "sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34), otherwise I should despair. For many and great are those infirmities of mine, many they are, and great; but thy medicine is greater. We might think that thy, Word was far removed from any union with man, and despair of ourselves, had he

not been "made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

Affrighted with my sins and the burden of my misery, I had devised in my heart, and purposed to "flee to the wilderness"; but thou didst forbid me, and strengthen me, saying, "Therefore Christ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them" (2 Cor. 5:15). See, Lord, I "cast my care upon thee" that I may live, and I will "consider the wondrous things of thy law" (Ps. 119:18). Thou knowest my unskilfulness, and my weakness; teach me, and heal me. He, thine only Son, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), hath redeemed me with his blood. "Let not the proud speak evil of me"; because I think upon the price of my Redemption, and eat and drink, and communicate it; and being "poor," I desire to be satisfied from him amongst those who "eat and are satisfied. And they shall praise the Lord that seek him" (Ps. 20:26).

SELECTIONS FROM

The Sermons of Leo the Great

BISHOP OF ROME

FROM THE TRANSLATION

BY

REV. CHARLES LETT FELTOE, M.A.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

SECOND SERIES, VOL. XII.

LEO I. (THE GREAT)

Was born in Tuscany and the year of his birth is unknown. He died November 10, 461. He succeeded Sixtus as pope in 440. He was an uncompromising foe of heresy. In the year 444 he laid down the principle that Peter had received the primacy and oversight of the whole Church as a requital of his faith and that thus all important matters were to be referred to and decided by Rome. At one time, when he felt that "the Roman universal monarchy was threatened, he appealed to the civil power for support and obtained from Valentinian III. the famous decree of June 6, 445, which recognized the primacy of the bishop of Rome, based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the decrees of Nicea (in their interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to his rulings, which were to have the force of law, should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of anyone who refused to answer a summons to Rome." According to Leo, the Church is built upon Peter, in keeping with the promise made in Matt. 16:16-19. "When Attila invaded Italy in 452 and threatened Rome, it was Leo who, with two high civil functionaries, went to meet him, and so imprest him that he withdrew. His intercession could not prevent the sack of the city by Genseric in 455, but murder and arson were represt by his influence." The English translation of selected letters and sermons is given in the "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," 2d Series, Vol. XII.

On the Feast of the Tenth Month

[THAT IS, OF THE ADVENT SEASON]

1. Restoration to the divine image in which we were made is possible only by our imitation of God's will. If, dearly beloved, we comprehended faithfully and wisely the beginning of our creation, we shall find that man was made in God's image, to the end that he might imitate his Creator, and that our race attains its highest natural dignity, by the form of the Divine goodness being reflected in us as in a mirror. And assuredly to this form the Savior's grace is daily restoring us, so long as that which in the first Adam fell is raised up again in the second. And the cause of our restoration is naught else but the mercy of God, whom we should not have loved unless he had first loved us and dispelled the darkness of our ignorance by the light of his truth. And the Lord foretelling this by the holy Isaiah says, "I will bring the blind into a way that they knew not, and will make them walk in paths which they were ignorant of. I will turn darkness into light for them, and the crooked into the straight. These things will I do for

By kind permission of Charles Scribner's Sons.