prian, but of Alcuinus' also, who lived eight hundred years after Christ, the reconciliation of penitents was not held to be such a proper office of the priest; but that a deacon, in his absence, was allowed to perform the same. The ordinary course that was held herein, according to the form of the ancient canons, is thus laid down by the fathers of the third council of Toledo; that the priest should "first suspend him that repented of his fault from the communion, and make him to have often recourse unto imposition of hands, among the rest of the penitents: then, when he had fulfilled the time of his satisfaction, as the consideration of the priest did approve of it, he should restore him to the communion." And this was a constitution of old, fathered upon the apostles: that bishops "should" separate those, who said they repented of their sins, for a time determined according to the proportion of their sin; and afterward receive them. being penitent, as fathers would do their children." To this penitential excommunication and absolution belongeth that saying, either of St. Ambrose or St. Augustine (for the same discourse is attributed to them both), "Heo, who hath truly performed his repentance, and is loosed from that bond wherewith he was tied, and separated from the body of Christ, and doth live well after his repentance whensoever after his reconciliation he shall

* Cyprian. epist. 12. op. pag. 22.

Alcuin. de divin. offic. cap. 13. in capite Jejunii.

m Ut secundum formam canonum antiquorum dentur pœnitentiæ, hoc est, ut prius eum, quem sui pœnitet facti, a communione suspensum, faciat inter reliquos pœnitentes ad manus impositionem crebro recurrere; expleto autem satisfactionis tempore, sicuti sacerdotalis contemplatio probaverit, eum communioni restituat. Concil. Toletan. III. cap. 11.

η τοὺς ἐφ ̓ ἁμαρτίαις λέγοντας μετανοεῖν ἀφορίζειν χρόνον ώρισμένον κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος· ἔπειτα μετανοοῦντας προσλαμBaviolaι, wç Tariрeç viovs. Constitut. apostolic. lib. 2. cap. 16.

• Qui egerit veraciter pœnitentiam, et solutus fuerit a ligamento quo erat constrictus, et a Christi corpore separatus, et bene post pœnitentiam vixerit; post reconciliationem quandocumque defunctus fuerit, ad Dominum vadit, ad requiem vadit, regno Dei non privabitur, et a populo Diaboli separabitur. Ambros. in exhortat. ad pœnitent. Augustin. serm. 393. op. tom. 5. pag. 1507. et inter Cæsarii Arclat. sermones, homil. 43, et 44.

depart this life, he goeth to the Lord, he goeth to rest ; he shall not be deprived of the kingdom of God, and from the people of the devil he shall be separated." And that which we read in Anastasius Sinaita: "Bind him, and till thou hast appeased God do not let him loose; that he be not more bound with the wrath of God; for if thou bindest him not, there remain bonds for him that cannot be broken. Neither do we enquire, whether the wound were often bound; but whether the binding hath profited. If it have profited, although in a short time, use use it no longer. Let the measure of the loosing be the profit of him that is bound:" and that exhortation, which another maketh unto the pastors of the Church: "Bind with separation such as have sinned after baptism, and loose them again when they have repented, receiving them as brethren: for the saying is true; Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed in heaven."

That this authority of loosing remaineth still in the Church, we constantly maintain against the heresy of the Montanists and Novatians, who upon this pretence among others, that God only had power to remit sins, took away the ministerial power of reconciling such penitents as had committed heinous sins; denying that the Church had any warrant to receive them to her communion again, and to the participation of the holy mysteries, notwithstanding their repentance were ever so sound.

• Δῆσον οὖν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἕως ἂν ἐξιλεώσῃ τὸν θεὸν, μὴ ἀφῇς λελυμένον, ἵνα μὴ πλέον δεθῇ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ὀργῇ· ἂν γὰρ μὴ δήσῃ τὰ ἄῤῥηκτα αὐτὸν μένει δεσμὰ· &c. ἀλλ ̓ οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ πολλάκις ἐπεδέθη τὸ τραῦμα, ζητοῦμεν, ἀλλ ̓ ἢ ὤνησέ τι ὁ δεσμὸς ; εἰ μὲν ὠφέληκε καὶ ἐν χρόνῳ βραχεῖ, μηκέτι προσκείσθω· καὶ ὅρος οὗτος ἔστω λύσεως τοῦ δεδεμένου τὸ κέρδος. Anastas. Sinait. quæst. 6.

4 δήσατε ἀφορισμῷ τοὺς μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα ἁμαρτήσαντας, καὶ λύσατε αὐτοὺς πάλιν μετανοοῦντας, ὡς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοὺς προσδεχόμενοι. ἀληθὴς γὰρ ἔστιν ὁ λόγος" "Οσα ἂν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν τῷ ovpavy. Homil. in illud: Quæcunque ligaveritis &c. inter opera Chrysost. tom. 9. pag. 845.

r Hieron. epist. 54. contra Montanum, et lib. 2. advers. Jovinian. Tertullianus Montanizans, in lib. de pudicitia, cap. ult.

• Ambros. lib. 1. de pœnit. cap. 2. Socrat. lib. 1. hist. cap. 7. Sozom. lib. 1. cap. 21.

Which is directly contrary to the doctrine delivered by St. Paul, both in the general, "If a man be overtaken. in a fault, they who are spiritual should restore such a one in the spirit of meekness ;" and in the particular, of the incestuous Corinthian, who, though he had been excommunicated for such a crime "as" was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles;" yet upon his repentance the apostle telleth the Church, that they "ought" to forgive him, and comfort him, lest he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." Where that speech of his is specially noted and pressed against the heretics by St. Ambrose: "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also; for, if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes I forgave it, in the person of Christ." For" as "in the name, and by the power of our Lord Jesus," such a one was delivered to Satan; so Goda having given unto him repentance, to recover himself out of the snare of the devil, in the same name and in the same power was he to be restored again: the ministers of reconciliation standing" in Christ's stead ;" and Christ himself being "in the midst of them that are thus gathered together in his name," to bind or loose in heaven whatsoever they according to his commission shall bind or loose on earth. And here it is to be noted, that Anastasius (by some called Nicænus, by others Sinaita and Antiochenus), who is so eager against them which say that confession made unto men profiteth nothing at all, confesseth yet that the minister, in hearing the confession, and instructing and correcting the sinner, doth but give furtherance only thereby unto his repentance; but that the pardoning of the sin is the proper work of God. "Ford man" saith he, "cooperateth with man unto repent

t Galat. chap. 6. ver. 1.

w 2 Cor. chap. 2. ver. 7.

u 1 Cor. chap. 5. ver. 1.

Ambros. de pænit. lib. 1. cap. 16. op. tom. 2. pag. 413.

y 2 Cor. chap. 2. ver. 10.

a 2 Tim. chap. 2. ver. 25, 26.

c Matt. chap. 18. ver. 18, 20.

z 1 Cor. chap. 5. ver. 4, 5.

b 2 Cor, chap. 5. ver. 20.

4 "Ανθρωπος μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ συνεργεῖ εἰς μετάνοιαν, καὶ ὑπηρετεῖ,

ance, and ministereth, and buildeth, and instructeth, and reproveth, in things belonging unto salvation, according to the apostle and the prophet: but God blotteth out the sins of those that have confessed, saying: I am he that blotteth out thine iniquities for mine own sake, and thy sins, and will not remember them."

There followeth now another part of the ministry of reconciliation, consisting in the due administration of the sacraments: which being the proper seals of the promises of the Gospel, as the censurers are of the threats, must therefore necessarily also have reference to the "remission of sins." And so, we see, the ancient fathers do hold that the commission, "Whoses sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, &c." is executed by the ministers of Christ, as well in the conferring of baptism, as in the reconciling of penitents: yet so in both these, and in all the sacraments likewise of both the Testaments, that the ministry only is to be accounted man's, but the power God's. For, as St. Augustine well observeth, "it is one thing to baptize by way of ministry, another thing to baptize by way of power. The power of baptizing the Lord retaineth to himself; the ministry he hath given to his servants. The' power of the Lord's baptism was to pass

καὶ οἰκοδομεῖ, καὶ παιδεύει, καὶ ἐλέγχει τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν, κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστ τολον καὶ τὸν προφήτην. ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἐξαλείφει τὰς ἁμαρτίας τῶν ἐξομολογουμένων, λέγων· 'Εγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἀνομίας σου ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου, καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ, Anastas. quæst. 6.

e Acts, chap. 2. ver. 38. Matt. chap. 26. ver. 28.

Cyprian. epist. 76. op. pag. 155. Cyrill. Alexandr. in Johann. lib. 12. cap. 56. Ambros. de pænitent. lib. 1. cap. 7. Chrysost. lib. 3. de sacerdot. op. tom. 1. pag. 383. Vid. et tom. 9. pag. 845.

John, chap. 20. ver. 23.

h Augustin. quæst. in Levitic. cap. 84. Optat. lib. 5. contra Donatist. Chrysost. in Matt. cap. 26. homil. 82. op. tom. 7. pag. 789. in 1 Cor. cap. 3. homil. 8. op. tom. 10. pag. 66. et in 2 Tim. cap. 1. homil. 2. op. tom. 11. pag. 671.

i Aliud enim est baptizare per ministerium; aliud baptizare per potestatem. Augustin. in evang. Johan. tract. 5. op. tom. 3. par. 2. pag. 322.

k Sibi tenuit Dominus baptizandi potestatem; servis ministerium; dedit. Id. ibid. pag. 323.

1 Potestatem dominici baptismi in nullum hominem a Domino transituram, sed ministerium plane transiturum; potestatem a Domino in neminem ministrorum, ministerium et in bonos et in malos. Id. ibid.

from the Lord to no man, but the ministry was; the power was to be transferred from the Lord unto none of his ministers, the ministry was both unto the good and unto the bad." And the reason which he assigneth hereof is very good: "that the hope of the baptized might be in him, by whom they did acknowledge themselves to have been baptized. The Lord therefore would not have a servant to put his hope in a servant." And therefore those schoolmen argued not much amiss, that gathered this conclusion thence: "It is a matter of equal power to baptize inwardly, and to absolve from mortal sin. But it was not fit, that God should communicate the power of baptizing inwardly unto any: lest our hope should be reposed in man. Therefore by the same reason it was not fit, that he should communicate the power of absolving from actual sin unto any." So Bernard, or whosoever was the author of the book intituled Scala Paradisi, "The office of baptizing the Lord granted unto many, but the power and authority of remitting sins in baptism he retained unto himself alone: whence John, by way of singularity and differencing, said of him, He it is which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." And the baptist indeed doth make a singular difference, betwixt the conferrer of the external, and the internal baptism, in saying: "IP baptize with water; but it is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." While John "did his service, God did give, who faileth not in giving and now, when all others do their service, the

m Hoc noluit ideo, ut in illo spes esset baptizatorum, a quo se baptizatos agnosNoluit ergo servum ponere spem in servo. Id. ibid.

cerent.

n Paris potestatis est interius baptizare, et a culpa mortali absolvere. Sed Deus non debuit potestatem baptizandi interius communicare; ne spes poneretur in homine; Ergo pari ratione nec potestatem absolvendi ab actuali. Alexand. de Hales. summ. part. 4. quæst. 21. memb. 1.

• Officium baptizandi Dominus concessit multis, potestatem vero et authoritatem in baptismo remittendi peccata sibi soli retinuit: unde Johannes antonomastice et discretive de eo dixit; Hic est qui baptizat in Spiritu Sancto. Scal. Paradis. cap. 3. app. tom. 6. operum Augustini.

P Mark, chap. 1. ver. 8. John, chap. 1. ver. 26, 33. Illo operante dabat Deus, qui dando non deficit. cunctis, humana sunt opera, sed Dei sunt munera. natist.

Et nunc operantibus Optat. lib. 5. contra Do