be found among you some, of whom it may truly be said, "I saw the wicked buried, who, when they were alive, were in the holy place, and were praised in the city, as if of righteous deeds."

souls.

munion re

But those also, who still live abroad in the world, Cure of demand a portion of your most anxious care, as we forewarned you in the beginning of this epistle; you should furnish them with competent teachers of the word of everlasting life, and among other things instruct them by what works they may render themselves most pleasing to God; from what sins those, who wish to please God, ought to abstain; with what sincerity of heart they ought to believe in God; with what devotion to supplicate the Divine mercy; with what frequent diligence to use the sign of the Lord's cross, and so to fortify themselves and all they have against the continual snares of unclean spirits; and how salutary it is for all classes of Christians to participate daily in Daily comthe body and blood of our Lord, as you well know is commended. done by Christ's Church throughout Italy, Gaul, Africa, Greece, and all the countries of the East. Now, this kind of religion and heavenly devotion, through the neglect of our teachers, has been so long discontinued among almost all the laity of our province, that those who seem to be the most religious among them, communicate in the holy mysteries only on the day of our Lord's birth, the Epiphany and Easter, whilst there are innumerable boys and girls, of innocent and chaste life, as well as young men and women, old men and old women, who without any scruple or debate are able to communicate in the holy mysteries on every Lord's day, nay, on all the birth-days of the holy Apostles or Martyrs, as you yourself have seen done in the holy Roman and Apostolic Church. Moreover, if married, and any one point out to them the measure of continence, and hint to them the virtue of chastity;

These

abuses arise

the love of

money.

castitatis insinuet, idem et licenter possint, et libenter facere velint.

Hæc tibi, sanctissime antistes, et tuæ dilectionis chiefly from intuitu et generalis gratia utilitatis breviter adnotare studui, multum desiderans multumque exhortans, ut gentem nostram a vetustis abstrahere cures erroribus, et ad certiorem et directiorem vitæ callem reducere satagas; et si sunt aliqui cujuslibet gradus sive ordinis viri, qui bona tua cœpta retinere atque impedire conentur, tu tamen propositum sanctæ virtutis, supernæ memor retributionis, ad firmum usque finem perducere contendas. Scio namque nonnullos huic nostræ exhortationi multum contradicturos, et maxime eos, qui seipsos illis facinoribus, a quibus te prohibemus, esse sentiunt irretitos; sed meminisse te decet apostolicæ Act. v. 29. responsionis, "Quia obedire oportet Deo, magis quam Luc. xii. 33. hominibus." Mandatum quippe est Dei, “Vendite quæ possidetis, et date eleemosynam. Et nisi quis renunciaverit omnibus quæ possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus." Traditio autem moderna quorundam est, qui se Dei famulos esse profitentur, non solum possessa non vendere, verum etiam comparare non habita. Qua ergo fronte audet quisquam ad servitium Domini accessurus, vel ea, quæ in seculari vita habuerat, retentare, vel sub prætextu vitæ sanctioris illas, quas non habuerat, congregare divitias; cum etiam apostolica sit notissima censura, quæ Ananiam et Sapphiram hoc facere molientes, non ullo pœnitentiæ vel satisfactionis remedio corrigere, sed ex ipsa statim mortis ultricis acceleravit damnatione puniri? et quidem illi non aliena colligere, sed sua incongrue retinere maluerunt. Unde manifeste patet, quam longe abstiterit animus apostolorum a suscipiendis pecuniarum acquisitionibus, qui Matt. v. 3. sub illa proprie regula Domino serviebant, "Beati pauperes, quia vestrum est regnum Dei ;" et e contra, par

let them in this both have power to act, and be ready to submit thereto.

Thus much, most holy Prelate, have I attempted briefly to express, both for the love of you, and for the sake of general utility, with many wishes and exhortations that you endeavour to rescue our nation from its old errors, and bring it back to a more certain and direct path; and that, mindful of a heavenly reward, you persist in bringing to perfection this holy and excellent work, whatever be the rank or condition of those who attempt to impede or hinder your good exertions. For I know that there will be some who will oppose these my exhortations, and especially those who feel that they are themselves involved in the crimes against which I warn you: but you must remember the apostolic answer, "We must obey God rather than man." For it is a command of God, "Sell what ye have and give to the poor; and, unless a man shall renounce all things which he possesses, he cannot be my disciple." But there is in these days a tradition among some men, who profess themselves to be servants of God, not only not to sell what they possess, but also to procure what they have not. How, then, In a relican a man dare, if he would enter God's service, either munity all to retain those things, which he possessed whilst he should bewas in the secular life, or under the cloak of a more community. holy life, heap together riches which before he had not? Since, also, the rebuke of the Apostle is well known, whereby Ananias and Sapphira, attempting so to act, were not corrected by any measure of penance or retribution, but were punished by sentence of death: and yet they sought not to gain what belonged to others, but unseemingly to retain their own. Wherefore it is manifest, how far the thoughts of the Apostles were from making acquisition of money, whose rule in God's service was this, "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." And, on the other

gious com

things

long to the

tis sinistræ proposito nihilominus instituebantur exemLuc. vi. 24. plo, "Væ vobis divitibus, quia habetis consolationem vestram." An forte errasse ac mendacium scripsisse

putamus apostolum, quum nos admonens dicebat, 1 Cor. vi. 10." Fratres, nolite errare," statimque subtexuit, "Neque avari, neque ebriosi, neque rapaces, regnum Dei posEph. v. 5. sidebunt." Et iterum, "Hoc autem scitote, quod omnis fornicator, aut immundus, aut avarus, aut rapax, quod est idolorum servitus, non habet hereditatem in regno Christi et Dei." Quum ergo apostolus avaritiam et rapacitatem idololatriam manifeste cognominet, quomodo putandum est eos errasse, qui vel subscriptioni avari mercatus, rege licet imperante, manum subtraxerint, vel ad eradendas inutiles scripturas ac subscriptiones, eorum manum apposuerint?

Et quidem miranda est temeritas stultorum, vel potius deflenda miseria cœcorum, qui cum sine ullo respectu superni timoris, passim ea, quæ apostoli et prophetæ afflatu Sancti Spiritus scripserunt, rescindere ac nihili pendere probantur, illud e contra, quod ipsi vel similes ipsorum instinctu avaritiæ vel luxuriæ scripserunt, quasi sanctum ac divinitus cautum eradere atque emendare formidant, in morem, ni fallor, ethnicorum, qui contemto Dei cultu ea, quæ ipsi sibi de corde suo finxerunt ac fecerunt, numina venerantur, timent, colunt, adorant et obsecrant, dominica illa insectatione dignissimi, qua Pharisæos cum suas deuteroses legi Dei præponerent, redarguit, dicens, Matt. xv. 3. "Quare et vos transgredimini mandatum Dei propter traditionem vestram ?" Qui si etiam chartas protulerint in defensionem concupiscentiarum suarum

hand, they were alike instructed by a warning of the opposite tendency; "Woe to you rich, for you have your consolation." Or, must we suppose that the Apostle erred, and wrote a falsehood, when he admonished us, saying, "Brethren, be not deceived," and immediately after added, "Neither the covetous, drunkards, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God." And again, "But know ye this, that every one who is a fornicator, or unclean, or covetous, or rapacious, which is the service of idols, has no inheritance in the kingdom of God or Christ." Since, therefore, the Apostle expressly names covetousness and rapacity to be idolatry, how can those be wrong, who either have kept back their hands from signing a deed of wicked trafficking, even in defiance of the king's command, or who have also offered their hands to cancel former unjust writings and subscriptions?

And, indeed, we must wonder at the rashness of those foolish men, (or rather we should call them blind, and pity their wretchedness,) who, without any regard to the fear of God, are proved to cancel and set at nought what they, the apostles and prophets, have written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but nevertheless are afraid to erase or annul what themselves, or men like themselves, have written from the dictates of covetousness or luxury, as if, forsooth, it were sacred and sanctioned by Heaven itself. In this, unless I am deceived, they imitate the Gentiles, who despise the worship of God, but bow down before the deities which they have conceived in their own minds, and which their own hands have made. These they fear, worship, adore, and pray to, being indeed worthy of that rebuke of our Lord's whereby he reproved the Pharisees, when they preferred their own secondary precepts to the Law of God: "Why do ye also transgress the word of God through your traditions?" But if they shall even produce writings got up in defence