directly and absolutely, is a privilege only appertaining unto the Most High. "I," saith he of himself, "even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." "Who is a

God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?" saith the prophet Micahd; which in effect is the same with that of the Scribes, "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" And therefore, when David saith unto God, "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin ;" Gregory, surnamed the Great, the first bishop of Rome of that name, thought this to be a sound paraphrase of his words; "Thou, who alone sparest, who alone forgivest sins. For who can forgive sins, but God alone?" He did not imagine that he had committed any great error in subscribing thus simply unto that sentence of the Scribes; and little dreamed, that any petty doctors afterwards would arise in Rome or Rhemes, who would tell us a fair tale that "the faithless Jews thought as heretics now-a-days, that to forgive sins was so proper to God, that it could not be communicated unto man;" and that "true believers refer this to the increase of God's honour, which miscreant Jews and heretics do account blasphemy against God, and injurious to his majesty:" whereas in truth the faithlessness of the Jews consisted in the application of this sentence against our Saviour Christ, whom they did not acknowledge to be God; as the senselessness of these Romanists, in denying of the axiom itself.

But the world is come unto a good pass, when we must be accounted heretics now-a-days, and consorted with miscreant Jews, for holding the self-same thing that the fathers of the ancient Church delivered as a most certain truth, whensoever they had any occasion to treat of this

dimittere, nisi solus Deus? Gregor. exposit. 2. Psalmi pœnitential.

h Rhemists, annot. in Matt. chap. 9. ver. 5.

Rich. Hopkins, in the memorial of a christian life, pag. 179. edit. ann. 1612.

part of the history of the Gospel. Old Irenæus telleth us, that our Saviour in this place "forgiving sins, did both cure the man, and manifestly discover who he was. For if none (saith he) can forgive sins but God alone, and our Lord did forgive them, and cured men, it is manifest that he was the Word of God, made the Son of man: and that, as man, he is touched with compasssion of us; as God, he hath mercy on us, and forgiveth us our debts which we do owe unto God our Maker." Tertullian saith, that, "when' the Jews, beholding only his humanity, and not being yet certain of his Deity, did deservedly reason that a man could not forgive sins, but God alone:" he by answering of them, that "the Son of man had authority to forgive sins," would by this remission of sins have them call to mind, that he was " that only Son of man prophesied of in Daniel", who received power of judging, and thereby also of forgiving sins." St. Hilary, commenting upon the ninth of Matthew, writeth thus: "It" moveth the Scribes, that sin should be forgiven by a man. For they beheld a man only in Jesus Christ; and that to be forgiven by him, which the law could not release. For it is faith only that justifieth. Afterward the Lord looketh into their murmuring, and saith that it is an easy thing

k Peccata igitur remittens, hominem quidem curavit, semetipsum autem manifeste ostendit quis esset. Si enim nemo potest remittere peccata, nisi solus Deus, remittebat autem hæc Dominus, et curabat homines; manifestum est quoniam ipse erat Verbum Dei, filius hominis factus, &c. ut quomodo homo compassus est nobis, tanquam Deus misereatur nostri, et remittat nobis debita nostra, quæ factori nostro debemus Deo. Iren. adv. hæres. lib. 5. cap. 17. pag. 314.

Nam cum Judæi solummodo hominem ejus intuentes, necdum et Deum certi, qua Dei quoque filium, merito retractarent, non posse hominem delicta dimittere, sed Deum solum, &c. Tertullian. lib. 4. adv. Marcion. cap. 10. pag. 421. millum scilicet solum filium hominis, apud Danielis prophetiam, consecutum judicandi potestatem, ac per eam utique et dimittendi delicta. Id. ibid.

chap. 7. ver. 13, 14.

• Movet scribas, remissum ab homine peccatum. Hominem enim tantum in Jesu Christo contuebantur; et remissum ab eo, quod lex laxare non poterat. Fides enim sola justificat. Deinde murmurationem eorum Dominus introspicit, dicitque, facile esse filio hominis in terra peccata dimittere. Verum enim, nemo potest dimittere peccata, nisi solus Deus: ergo, qui remittit Deus est, quia nemo remittit nisi Deus. Deus, in homine manens, curationem homini præstabat. Hilar. in Matt. cap. 8. op. pag. 646.

for the Son of man upon earth to forgive sins. For it is true, none can forgive sins but God alone therefore he who remitteth is God, because none remitteth but God. God, remaining in man, performed this cure upon man." St. Hierome thus: "We read that God saith in the prophet; I am he that blotteth out thine iniquities. Consequently therefore the Scribes, because they thought him to be a man, and did not understand the words of God, accuse him of blasphemy. But the Lord, seeing their thoughts, sheweth himself to be God, who is able to know the secrets of the heart: and holding his peace after a sort speaketh; By the same majesty and power, wherewith I behold your thoughts, I am able also to forgive sins unto men:" or, as Euthymius expresseth it in his commentaries upon the same place: "In truth, none can forgive sins but one, who beholdeth the thoughts of men." St. Chrysostom likewise, in his sermons upon the same, sheweth that Christ here declared himself to be God equal unto the Father: and that, if he had not been equal unto the Father, he would have said; "Why do you attribute unto me an unfitting opinion? I am far from that power." To the same effect also writeth Christianus Druthmarus, Paschasius Radbertus, and Walafridus Strabus in the ordinary gloss upon the same place of St. Matthew; Victor Antiochenus upon the second of Mark; Theophylact and Bede upon the second of Mark, and the fifth of Luke; St. Ambrose upon the fifth of Luke: who in another place also bringeth this sentence of the Scribes, as a ground to prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost withal: forasmuch as

P Legimus in propheta dicentem Deum, Ego sum qui delco iniquitates tuas Consequenter ergo scribæ, quia hominem putabant, et verba Dei non intelligebant, arguunt eum blasphemiæ. Sed Dominus, videns cogitationes eorum, ostendit se Deum, qui possit cordis occulta cognoscere: et quodammodo tacens loquitur, Eadem majestate et potentia, qua cogitationes vestras intueor, possum et hominibus peccata dimittere. Hieronym. lib. 1. commentar. in Matt. cap. 9.

4 Vere nullus potest remittere peccata, nisi unus, qui intuetur cogitationes hominum. Euthym. cap. 13. in Matt.

· Εἰ μὴ ἴσος ἦν, ἐχρῆν εἰπεῖν, τί μοι προσάπτετε μὴ προσήκουσαν ὑπόληψιν; πόῤῥω ταύτης ἐγὼ τῆς δυνάμεως. Chrysost. in Matt. 9. hom. 29. op. tom. 7. pag. 343. Vid. etiam Basilium, lib. 5. contra Eunomium, op. tom. 1. pag. 299.

"none" forgiveth sins but one God; because it is written, Who can forgive sins but God alone?" as St. Cyril doth to prove the Deity of the Son: "Fort this only," saith he, "did the malice of the Jews say truly; that none can forgive sins, but God alone, who is the Lord of the law:" and thence he frameth this argument. "If" he alone, who is the Lord of all, doth free us from our sins, and this agreeth to no other, and Christ bestoweth this with a power befitting God; how should he not be God?"

The same argument also is used by Novatianus and Athanasius, to the self-same purpose. "For" if, when it agreeth unto none but unto God to know the secrets of the heart, Christ doth behold the secrets of the heart; if, when it agreeth unto none but unto God to forgive sins, the same Christ doth forgive sins:" then deservedly is Christ to be accounted God, saith Novatianus. So Athanasius demandeth of the Arians: "If the Son were a creature, how was he able to forgive sins? it being written in the Prophets, that this is the work of God. For who is a God like unto thee, that taketh away sins, and passeth over iniquities?" "But the Son," saith he, "said unto whom he would;

• Peccata nemo condonat, nisi unus Deus: quia æque scriptum est; Quis potest peccata donare nisi solus Deus? Ambros. de Spir. Sanct. lib. 3. cap. 18. op. tom. 2. pag. 693.

Istud enim solum malitia Judæorum vere dicebat, quod nullus potest dimittere peccata, nisi solus Deus, qui legis Dominus est. Cyrill. Alexandr. thesaur. lib. 12. cap. 4.

* Εἰ μόνος ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλάττει ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς πλημμελημάτων, ἑτέρῳ πρέποντος τούτου μηδενὶ, χαρίζεται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο Χριστὸς μετ' ἐξουσίας θεοπρεποῦς, πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴη θέος; Id. in lib. de recta fide ad reginas.

* Quod si, cum nullius sit nisi Dei cordis nosse secreta, Christus secreta conspicit cordis quod si, cum nullius sit nisi Dei peccata dimittere, idem Christus peccata dimittit: &c. merito Deus est Christus. Novatian. de Trinitat. cap. 13.

* Πῶς δὲ, εἴπερ κτίσμα ἦν Λόγος, τὴν ἀπόφασιν τοῦ θεοῦ λύσαι δυνατὸς ἦν καὶ ἀφεῖναι ἁμαρτίαν, γεγραμμένου παρὰ τοῖς προφήταις, ὅτι τοῦτο Θεοῦ ἐστὶ; τίς γὰρ θεὸς ὥσπερ σὺ ἐξαίρων ἁμαρτιάς, καὶ ὑπερβαίνων ἀνοpías; Athanas. orat. 2. contr. Arian. op. tom. 1. pag. 535.

* Ο δὲ υἱὸς ἔλεγεν οἷς ἤθελεν, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου. ὅτε καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων γογγυζόντων, ἔργῳ τὴν ἄφεσιν ἐδείκνυε, λέγων τῷ παραλυτικῷ, ἔγειραι, ἆρον τὸν κράββατόν σου, καὶ ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. Id. in epist. de synodis Arimin. et Seleuc. pag. 763. Vid. etiam orat. 3. contra Arrian. pag. 554, et 590.

Thy sins are forgiven thee: and when the Jews murmured, did demonstrate also this forgiveness indeed, saying to the man that was sick of the palsy; Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." And therefore Bede rightly inferreth, that "the" Arians do err here much more madly than the Jews: who, when they dare not deny, being convicted by the words of the Gospel, that Jesus is both the Christ, and hath power to forgive sins; yet fear not for all that to deny him to be God:" and concludeth himself most soundly; that, "if he be God according to the psalmist, who removeth our iniquities from us as far as the east is from the west, and the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins; therefore the same is both God and the Son of man: that the man Christ by the power of his divinity might forgive sins; and the same Christ God by the frailty of his humanity might die for sinners." Whereunto we will add another sweet passage, borrowed by him from an ancienter author: "Nob man taketh away sins (which the law, although holy and just and good, could not take away), but he in whom there is no sin. Now he taketh them away, both by pardoning those that are done, and by assisting us that they may not be done, and by bringing us to the life where they cannot at all be done."

Peter Lombard allegeth this as the saying of St. Augustined; the former sentence only being thus changed:

z Sed multo dementius errant Ariani, qui, cum Jesum et Christum esse, et peccata posse dimittere, evangelii verbis devicti, negare non audeant; nihilominus Deum negare non timent. Bed. in Marc. lib. 1. cap. 10.

a Si et Deus est juxta psalmistam, qui quantum distat oriens ab occasu elongavit a nobis iniquitates nostras, et filius hominis potestatem habet in terra dimittendi peccata: ergo idem ipse et Deus et filius hominis est; ut et homo Christus per divinitatis suæ potentiam peccata dimittere possit, et idem Deus Christus per humanitatis suæ fragilitatem pro peccatoribus mori. Id. ibid.

b Nemo tollit peccata (quæ nec Lex, quamvis sancta et justa et bona, potuit auferre), nisi Ille in quo peccatum non est. Tollit autem, et dimittendo quæ facta sunt, et adjuvando ne fiant, et perducendo ad vitam ubi fieri omnino non possint. Id. in 1 Johan. cap. 3.

c P. Lombard. lib. 4. sentent. distinct. 18. d.

d in quo etiam eandem demum repperi, lib. 2. contra posteriorem Juliani respons. num. 84. op. tom. 10. pag. 986.