Whereunto also we may add, the relaxation of the censures of the Church, and prayer: for in these four the whole exercise of this ministry of reconcilation, as the apostle calleth it, doth mainly consist; of each whereof it is needful that we should speak somewhat more particularly.

That prayer is a means ordained by God for procuring remission of sins, St. Chrysostom observeth out of Job, chapter forty-two, verse eight; and is plain by that of St. James. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed: for the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The latter of which sentences hath reference to the prayers of every good Christian, whereunto we find a gracious promise annexed, according to that of St. John; "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." But the former, as the verse immediately going before doth manifestly prove, pertaineth to the prayers made by the ministers of the Church; who have a special charge to be the Lord's remembrancers for the good of his people. And therefore, as St. Augustine out of the latter proveth, that onea brother by this means may cleanse another from the contagion of sin; so doth St. Chrysostom out of the former, that priests do perform this, "not" by teaching only and admonishing, but by assisting us also with their prayers;" and the faithful prayers, both of the one and of the other,

w 2 Cor. chap. 5. ver. 18.

* Εντεύθεν γινώσκομεν, ὅτι εὐχὴ δικαίων περιαιρεῖ ἁμαρτίαν. Chrysost. in catena Græca, in Job. cap. 42. ver. 8.

y James, chap. 5. ver. 15, 16.

21 John, chap. 5. ver. 16.

a Quod etiam frater fratrem a delicti poterit contagione mundare. Augustin. in evangel. Johan. tract. 58. op. tom. 3. par. 2. pag. 662.

5 οὐ τῷ διδάσκειν μόνον καὶ νουθετεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ δι ̓ εὐχῶν βοηθεῖν. Chrysost. lib. 3. de sacerd, op. tom. 1. pag. 384.

are by St. Augustine made the especial means, whereby the power of the keys is exercised in the remitting of sins: who thereupon exhorteth offenders to shew their repentance publicly in the Church, "that the Church might pray for them, and impart the benefit of absolution unto them."

In the life of St. Basil, fathered upon Amphilochius, of the credit whereof we have before spoken, a certain gentlewoman is brought in, coming unto St. Basil for obtaining remission of her sins: who is said there to have demanded this question of her. "Hast thou heard, O woman, that none can forgive sins but God alone?" and she to have returned him this answer. "I have heard it, father: and therefore have I moved thee to make intercession unto our most merciful God for me." Which agreeth well with that which Alexanderf of Hales and Bonaventures do maintain; that the power of the keys extends to the remission of faults, by way of intercession only and deprecation, not by imparting any immediate absolution. And as in our private forgiving and praying one for another, St. Augustine well noteth, that "ith is our part, God giving us the grace, to use the ministry of charity and humility; but it is his to hear us, and to cleanse us from all pollution of sins for Christ, and in Christ; that what we forgive unto others, that is to say, what we loose upon earth, may be loosed also in heaven;" so doth St. Ambrose shew, that the case also standeth with the ministers of the Gospel, in the execution of that commission given unto them for the

e Augustin. de baptismo contra Donatist. lib. 3. cap. 17, 18.

d Id. serm. 392. Agite pœnitentiam qualis agitur in Ecclesia, ut oret pro vobis Ecclesia. op. tom. 5. pag. 1504.

e tom. 2. vit. sanct. ab Aloysio Lipomano edit. Venet. ann. 1553. fol. 298. Vit. patrum, ab Her. Rosweydo edit. Antverp. ann. 1615. pag. 160. Miscellan. a Gerardo Vossio. edit. Mogunt. ann. 1604. pag. 136.

f Alex. in summ. part. 4. quæst. 21. membr. 1.

g Bonaventur, in lib. 4. sent. dist. 18. art. 2. quæst. 1.

Nostrum est, donante ipso, ministerium charitatis et humilitatis adhibere : illius est exaudire, ac nos ab omni peccatorum contaminatione mundare per Christum, et in Christo; ut quod aliis etiam dimittimus, hoc est, in terra solvimus, solvatur et in cœlo. Augustin. in fine tractat. 58. in evangel. Johann.

remitting of sins'. "They make request," saith he; "the Godhead bestoweth the gift: for the service is done by man, but the bounty is from the power above." The reason which he rendereth thereof is, because in their ministry it is the Holy Ghost that forgiveth the sin; and it is God only that can give the holy Ghost. "For this is not an human work," saith he in another place, "neither is the Holy Ghost given by man; but, being called upon by the priest, is bestowed by God: wherein the gift is God's, the ministry is the priest's. For if the apostle Paul did judge that he could not confer the Holy Ghost by his authority, but believed himself to be so far unable for this office, that he wished we might be filled with the Spirit from God: who is so great as dare arrogate unto himself the bestowing of this gift? Therefore the apostle did intimate his desire by prayer, he challenged no right by any authority: he wished to obtain it, he presumed not to command it." Thus far St. Ambrose; of whom Paulinus writeth, that whensoever any penitents came unto him, "them crimes which they confessed unto him, he spake of to none, but to God alone, unto whom he made intercession; leaving a good example to the priests of succeeding ages, that they be rather intercessors for them unto God, than accusers unto men." The same also, and

i John, chap. 20. ver. 23.

k Isti rogant, Divinitas donat. Humanum enim obsequium, sed munificentia supernæ est potestatis. Ambros. de Spir. Sanct. lib. 3. cap. 18. op. tom. 2. pag. 694.

1 Non enim humanum hoc opus, neque ab homine datur: sed invocatus a sacerdote, a Deo traditur : in quo Dei munus, ministerium sacerdotis, est. Nam si Paulus apostolus judicavit, quod ipse donare Spiritum Sanctum sua authoritate non posset; et in tantum se huic officio imparem credidit, ut a Deo nos Spiritu optaret impleri: quis tantus est, qui hujus traditionem muneris sibi audeat arrogare? Itaque apostolus votum precatione detulit, non jus authoritate aliqua vindicavit impetrare optavit, non imperare præsumpsit. Id. ibid. lib. 1. cap. 8. op. tom. 2. pag. 619.

m Causas autem criminum, quas illi confitebantur, nulli nisi Domino soli, apud quem intercedebat, loquebatur: bonum relinquens exemplum posteris sacerdotibus, ut intercessores apud Deum magis sint, quam accusatores apud homines. Paulinus, in vita S. Ambrosii.

in the self-same words, doth Jonas" write of Eustachius, the scholar of Columbanus our famous countryman.

Hitherto appertaineth that sentence cited by Thomas Walden out of St. Hierome's exposition upon the Psalms, that the voice of God" cutteth' off daily in every one of us the flame of lust, by confession and the grace of the Holy Ghost, that is to say, by the prayer of the priest maketh it to cease in us;" and that which before hath been alleged out of Leo, of the confession offered first to God, and then to the priest, "who cometh as an entreater for the sins of the penitent;" which he more fully expresseth in another epistle, affirming it to be "very' profitable and necessary, that the guilt of sins (or sinners) be loosed by the supplication of the priest, before the last day." See St. Gregory, in his moral exposition upon 1 Samuel, chapter 2. verse 25. Anastasius Sinaita or Nicænus, in his answer to the one hundred and forty-first question (of Gretser's edition); and Nicolaus Cabasilas, in the twentyninth chapter of his exposition of the liturgy: where he directly affirmeth, "that remission of sins is given to the penitents by the prayer of the priests." And therefore, by the order used of old in the Church of Rome, the priest, before he began his work, was required to use this prayer, "O Lord God almighty, be merciful unto me a sinner,

66

n Jonas, in vita S. Eustachii Luxoviensis abbatis, cap. 1. apud Surium, tom. 2. Mart. 29.

Tho. Waldens. tom. 2. de sacramentis, cap. 147.

P Quotidie in unoquoque nostrum flammam libidinis, per confessionem et gratiam Spiritus Sancti, intercidit, id est, per orationem sacerdotis facit cessare. Hieronym. in exposit. Psal. 28. op. tom. 2. app. pag. 190.

Qui pro delictis pœnitentium precator accedit. Leo, in fin. epist. 80. ad episc. Campan.

r Multum enim utile ac necessarium est, ut peccatorum reatus ante ultimum diem sacerdotali supplicatione solvatur. Id. epist. 91. ad Theodor. episc.

Gregor. in 1. Reg. lib. 2. cap. 3. ad illud: Si peccaverit vir in virum, &c. op. tom. 3. par. 2. pag. 84.

Domine Deus omnipotens, propitius esto mihi peccatori, ut condigne possim tibi gratias agere; qui me indignum propter tuam misericordiam ministrum fecisti sacerdotalis officii, et me exiguum humilemque mediatorem constituisti ad orandum et intercedendum ad Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, pro peccatoribus ad pœnitentiam revertentibus. Ideoque dominator Domine, qui omnes homines vis salvos ficri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire; qui non vis

that I may worthily give thanks unto thee, who hast made me an unworthy one, for thy mercy's sake, a minister of the priestly office; and hast appointed me a poor and humble mediator, to pray and make intercession unto our Lord Jesus Christ, for sinners that return unto repentance. And therefore, O Lord the ruler, who wouldest have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth; who dost not desire the death of a sinner, but that he may be reconciled and live; receive my prayer, which I pour forth before the face of thy mercy, for thy servants and handmaids, who have fled to repentance, and to thy mercy." Add hereunto the prayer of Damascene, which is still used in the Greek Church before the receiv

ing of the communion. "Ou Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who alone hast power to forgive sins, in thy goodness and loving kindness pass by all the offences of thy servant; whether done of knowledge or of ignorance, voluntary or involuntary, in deed, or word, or thought :" and that which is used after in the liturgy ascribed to St. James, wherewith the priest shutteth up the whole service; "I beseech thee, Lord God, hear my prayer in the behalf of thy servants, and as a forgetter of injuries pass over all their offences. Forgive them all their excess,

mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur et vivat; suscipe orationem meam, quam fundo ante conspectum clementiæ tuæ, pro famulis et famulabus tuis, qui ad pœnitentiam et misericordiam tuam confugerunt. Ordo Roman. antiqu. de officiis divinis, pag. 18. edit. Rom. ann. 1591. Baptizatorum et confitentium ceremoniæ antiquæ, edit. Colon. ann. 1530. Alcuin. de divin. offic. cap. 13. in capite Jejunii.

Η Δέσποτα κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, πάριδε πάντα τὰ ἐν γνώσει καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ πλημμελήματα, τὰ ἑκούσια καὶ τὰ ἀκούσια, τὰ ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ κατὰ διάνοιαν. Eucholog. Grac. fol. 217.

* Ναὶ δέσποτα Κύριε, εἰσάκουσον τῆς δεήσεώς μου ὑπὲρ τῶν δούλων σου, καὶ πάριδε ὡς ἀμνησίκακος τὰ ἐπταισμένα αὐτῶν ἅπαντα· συγχώρη σον αὐτοῖς πᾶν πλημμέλημα ἑκούσιόν τε καὶ ἀκούσιον· ἀπαλλαξον αὐτοὺς τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως. σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ ἐντειλάμενος ἡμῖν λέγων, ὅτι, ὅσα ἂν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· καὶ ὅσα ἂν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, Θεὸς τοῦ ἐλεεῖν καὶ σώζειν καὶ ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας δυνάμενος· καὶ πρέπει σοι ἡ δόξα σὺν τῷ ἀνάρχῳ πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ ζωοποιῷ πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Αμήν. Liturg. Jacobi, in fine.