and whofoever's Sins ye retain, they are retained. What Power, I pray you, can be greater than this? God hath given all Power of Judgment unto the Son, and I fee it all delivered from the Son to them; who as if they were tranflated into Heaven, made fomething above Men, and exempt from human Affections, are advanced to this Princely Power. To be Short, If a King gives Power to any of his Subjes to caft Men into Prifon, and fet them free again, be is counted honourable, and regarded by all. But be that receives Power from God, So much greater, as Heaven is more excellent than the Earth, or the Soul than the Body, he feems to fome but to have receiv'd a little Honour, because he knows that fome of thofe to whom this Honour is committed, defpife the Gift of God. Oh Shame of this Madness! for it is manifeft Madness to defpife this fo great Princely Power, without which we can neither obtain Salvation, nor the Bleffings promis'd by God, &c. Upon which Account Priefts ought to be feared more than Princes, and Kings, and bad in more Honour than our Parents that begat us of Blood, and of the Will of the Flesh; but to them we are beholden for our Birth from God, that blessed Regeneration, and true Liberty, and gracious Adoption, whereby we become the Sons of God.

So in his vth Homily de Verbis Ifaia: Wherefore it is a Duty to reftrain that unreasonable Paffion with religious Reafon, which Ozias not doing, tranf greffed against the fupream Power of all. For the Priefthood is a Princely Power, greater, and more venerable than that of the Empire. Do not tell me of the Purple, or Diadem, or Golden Apparel of Kings, for thefe are all Shadows, and more vain than Spring Flowers. But if you would fee the Difference between them, and how much the King is Inferior to a Prieft; confider the Measure of Power delivered

delivered to them Both, and you shall fee the Prieft placed much higher than the Emperor: For tho the Emperor's Throne feems glorious to us from the Gemms, and Gold with which it is adorn'd, yet he has only the Adminiftration of Earthly Things, nor bath be any other Authority; but the Throne of the High Prieft is placed in Heaven, and he hath Power to judge of things there. And who faith this? The King of Heaven himself, in thefe Words, Verily, Verily I fay unto you, what foever you shall bind on Eath fhall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye fhall loofe on Earth, fhall be loofed in Heaven. What Honour is comparable to this? Heaven receives the Power of Fudging from Earth, for the Fudge fits upon Earth, and the Lord complies with his Servant; and ratifies the Sentences above, which he pronoun -ceth below. Wherefore the Priest stands Mediator be twixt God, and Man, bringing down Bieffings from him to us, and conveying our Petitions to him, by which God hath put the Emperor's Head under the Hands of the Priest, teaching us that he is a greater Prince, than be.

So in his lxxxiii. Homily on xxvi. Ch. of St. Mat thew's Gofpel, thewing that the Prieft ought to deny the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharift to prophane Perfons, faith he, Let no Judas, no Lover of Money be prefent at this Table. He that is not Chrift's Difciple let him depart from it. Let no inhuman; no cruel Perfon, no uncompaffionate Man, or who is impure, come thither. Ifpeak this to you that ad minifter, as well, as to you, who partake; for it is necessary I Speak thefe things to you, that you may take great Care, and use your utmoft Diligence to diftribute thefe Offerings aright. For your Punishment will be great, if knowingly you fuffer any wicked Perfon to partake of this Table; for his Blood shall be required at your Hands. Wherefore,

if any General, or Governor, or the Emperor himfelf be not worthy, repel him, for thou haft a greater

Power (or Authority) than he. This reminds me of what the holy Patriarch faid, in Anfwer to the Demand of the Emperor, when he required him to leave his Church. "Palladius tells us he refused to do it, faying, I received this Church from Chrift, to take Care of the Souls thereunto belonging, and I • must not relinquish it. But the Care of the City is yours, and if I must be gone, force me hence by your Authority, that I may have an Excufe for quitting my Poft.

Thus these two Fathers, Gregory, and John, who were Bishops of Conftantinople, fpake, and wrote of the Dignity of the Priefthood, or Epifcopal Office, and Power in the Imperial City, where the Emperors were refident: And yet was this DoErine never objected against either of them, becaufe it was the Doctrine of the Church. Had it been injurious to the Emperor, or againft his Prerogative,

ru Hence thefe Rules of Canon-Law, Lex Imperatorum non eft fupra Legem Dei, fed fubtus. Non licet Imperatori aliquid contra divina mandata prefumere, Imperiali judicio non possunt Ecclefiaftica jura diffolvi. Imperium non debet ufurpare, que Sacerdotibus Domini folum conveniunt.

De Vita Chryfoft. p. 81.

• So the Rule of the Canon-Law, d. 2. c. 7. c. viii. Suo jure quis cedere non debet. Quam periculofum fit in divinis rebus, ut quis cedat jure fuo, & poteflate, Scriptura fanita declarat, cum in Genefi Efau primatus fuos inde perdiderit, nec recipere id poftmodùm potuerit, quod femel ceffit. Cyprian ad Jubaianum Epift. Quid ergo, quia & honorem Cathedra Sacerdotalis Novatianus ufurpat, num idcirco nos Cathedra renunciare debemus? An quia Novatianus altare collocare, & Sacrificia offerre contra fas nititur, ab altari, & Sacri ficiis ceffare nos oportet, ne paria, & fimilia cum illa celebrare videamur. Ibid. Epift. xlvi. ad Confeflcres. Nam cum unanimitas & concordia nofira fcindi omnino non debeat, quia nos Ecclefia dereli&a forås exire, & ad vos venire non poffumus, ut vos magis ad Ecclefiam matrem, & ad noftram fraternitatem revertamini, quibus poffumus hortamentis, petimus, & rogamus. See Epift. xlvii.

or

or any part of it, it would certainly have been taken notice of, especially to profecute the Latter; against whom the Court was ready to take any Advantage, for the Liberty he took in taxing the Vices of the Great, which procured him the Emperor's, and Emprefs's Displeasure, and fome of the greatest of the Clergy. This Doctrine, and thefe Principles were anfwerable to his Conduct; and the ftruggle he had with the Court, and his Court-Enemies for his Rights, and the Rights of the Church. In this Conteft a great part of his Flock, and almoft, all the Bishops, and Churches of the Empire adhered to him, when he was profcribed, and depofed by the imperial Power.

V. From the Bishops of the Greek Church let us go to thofe of the Latin, and fee how they fpeak of the Epifcopal Office, and Power. Cyprian Bifhop, and Martyr, in his lixth Epistle to Cornelius Bishop of Rome, against the Schifmaticks Feliciffimus, and Fortunatus, hath this Expreffion, There's an end of Epifcopacy, and of the fupream, and divine Power of governing the Church, if the Violence of wicked Men becomes terrible to Bishops, &c. In another Paffage he applies to Schifmaticks, who reject their lawful Bifhops, the Words of God to Samuel, They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me. And the Words of our Lord to the Apoftles, He that heareth you heareth me, and he that defpifeth you defpifeth me, and he that defpifeth me defpifeth him that fent me. There he alfo equals the Bishop in Place, and Dignity to the High Prieft among the fews, applying to him the Words of St. Paul, Acts xxiii. 4. Principem populi tui non maledices, in the Latin Tranflation of that Church, Thou shalt not revile the Prince of thy People. In

PA&tum eft de Epifcopatûs vigore, & de Ecclefia gubernanda sublimi ac divinâ poteftate, &c.

P. 3

another

another Paffage he speaks of the Bishop, as the Vi car of Chrift, and faith, that be who makes himself Fudge of the Bishop, makes himself Fudge of God. He alfo calls Bishops the Stewards of God, and faith, that he who is the Adverfary of the lawful Bifhop, is the Adverfary of God, with more to this Purpose. I recommend the ferious perufal of this Epiftle to you to inform you better about the Nature of thofe things which have been in Difpute between you, and me,

r

St. Ambrofe faith the Office of a Bishop is fuch an Honour, and a Dignity fo fublime, that it cannot be matched by any Comparifon; and that to liken it to the Splendor, and Diadems of Princes, is a more inferior Comparison than to compare Lead to fplendid Gold. In his Epiftle to the Emperor Valentinian he conjur'd him as a Bifhop by the Chriftian Faith not to hearken to the Petition of his Heathen Subjects, who defired leave to fet up Altars to their Gods, upon which they might Sacrifice to them; and faid if he did grant their Petition, the Bishops would neither fuffer nor connive at it, and that come to the Church when he would, be fhould either find no Prieft, or a Prieft to withstand him. What wilt thou anfwer the Bishop when he shall fay, The Church defires none of thy Offerings, who haft adorn'd the Temples of the Gentiles with Gifts? the Altar of Chrift refuseth thy Offerings, who haft made an Altar to Idols. Thy Speech, thy Hand, thy Subfcriptions are Evidence against thee: Our Lord Jefus refufes, and rejects iby Worship, because thou haft ferved Idols; for he bath told you, You cannot ferve two Mafters. In

Nec unus in Ecclefia Sacerdos, Judex vice Chrifti cagitatur, &c.

* Lib. de Dignitate Sacerdotali Cap. ii.

Epift. xi. Non licet Imperatori, vel cuiquam pietatem cuftodienti aliquid contra divina prafumere, aut quicquam, quod Evangelicis, Prophet cis, aut Apoftolicis regulis obviet agere. d. 1. 9. c. ii.

another