tisement, receive him, remembering that our Lord has said, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

CHAP. XIV. But if thou refusest to receive him that repents, thou exposest him to those who lie in wait to destroy: forgetting what David says, "Deliver not my soul, which confesses to thee, unto destroying beasts." Wherefore Jeremiah, when he is exhorting men to repentance, says thus: "Shall not he that falleth arise? Or he that turneth away, cannot he return? Wherefore have my people gone back by a shameless backsliding? and they are hardened in their purpose. Turn, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." Receive therefore him that repents without any doubting. Be not hindered by such unmerciful men who say that we must not be defiled with such as those, nor so much as speak to them: for such advice is from men that are unacquainted with God and his providence, as from unreasonable judges and unmerciful brutes. These men are ignorant that we ought to avoid society with offenders, not in discourse, but in actions; for "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." And again: "If a land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of bread upon it, and send famine upon it, and destroy man and beast therein, though these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel, were in the midst of it, they shall only save their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God." The scripture most clearly shows that a righteous man that converses with a wicked man does not perish with him. For in the present world the righteous and the wicked are mingled together in the common affairs of life, but not in holy communion; and in this the friends and favourites of God are guilty of no sin. For they do but imitate "their Father which is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise on the righteous and unrighteous; and sendeth his rain on the evil and on the good." And the righteous man undergoes no peril on this account: for those who conquer, and those who are conquered, are in the same place of running; but only those who have bravely undergone the race are where the garland is bestowed. And No one is crowned unless he strive lawfully." For every one shall give account of himself; and God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked; for with him it is a constant rule that innocence is never punished; for neither did he drown Noah, nor burn up Lot, nor destroy Rahab for company. And if you desire to know how this matter was among us, Judas was one of us, and took the like part of the ministry which we had; and Simon the magician received the seal of the Lord; yet both the one and the other proving wicked, the former hanged himself, and the latter, as he flew in the air in a manner unnatural, was dashed against the earth. Moreover, Noah and his sons with him were in the ark; but Ham, who alone was wicked, received punishment in his son. But if fathers are not punished for their children, nor children for their fathers, it is thence clear that neither will wives be punished for their husbands, nor servants for their masters, nor one relation for another, nor one friend for another,

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nor the righteous for the wicked; but every one will be required an account of his own doing: for neither was punishment inflicted on Noah for the world, nor was Lot destroyed by fire for the Sodomites; nor was Rahab slain for the inhabitants of Jericho, nor Israel for the Egyptians: for not the dwelling together, but the agreement in their sentiments alone could condemn the righteous with the wicked. We ought not, therefore, to hearken to such persons who call for death, and hate mankind, and love accusations, and, under fair pretences, bring men to death. For one man shall not die for another, "but every one is held with the chains of his own sins." And "Behold the man, and his work is before his face." Now we ought to assist those who are with us, and are in danger, and fall, and as far as lies in our power, to reduce them to sobriety by our exhortations, and so save them from death; for "the whole have no need of the physician, but the sick," since "it is not pleasing in the sight of your father that one of these little ones should perish." For we ought not to establish the will of hard-hearted men, but the will of the God and Father of the universe, which is revealed to us by Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

For 'tis not equitable that thou, O bishop, who art the head, shouldst submit to the tail; that is, to some seditious person among the laity, to the destruction of another, but to God alone. For 'tis thy privilege to govern those under thee, but not to be governed by them. For neither does a son, who is subject by the course of generation, govern his father; nor a servant, who is subject by law, govern his master; nor does a scholar govern his teacher, nor a soldier his king, nor any of the laity his bishop. For, that there is no reason to suppose such as converse with the wicked, in order to their instruction in the word, to be defiled by, or partaker of their sins, Ezekiel, as it were on purpose, preventing the suspicions of ill-disposed persons, says thus-" Why do you speak this proverb concerning the land of Israel? The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not henceforth have occasion to use this proverb in Israel. For all souls are mine; in like manner as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth it shall die. But the man who is righteous and does judgment and justice (and so the prophet reckons up the rest of the virtues, and then adds for a conclusion, 'Such an one is just ') he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. And if he beget a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and walks not in the way of his righteous father (and when the prophet had added what follows, he adds in the conclusion), he shall certainly not live; he has done all this wickedness, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him. Yet they will ask thee, Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father, or his righteousness, having exercised righteousness himself? And thou shalt say unto them, The soul that sinneth it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son;

the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him: and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." And a little after he says, "When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, all his righteousness, by reason of all his wickedness which he has committed, shall not be mentioned to him. In his iniquity which he hath committed, and in his sin which he hath sinned, in them shall he die." And a little after he adds, "When the wicked turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doth judgment and justice, he hath preserved his soul; he hath turned away from all ungodliness which he hath done, he shall surely live; he shall not die;" and afterwards, "I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O House of Israel, saith the Lord God."

CHAP. XV. Observe, you are our beloved sons, how merciful, yet righteous, the Lord our God is; how gracious and kind to men; and yet most certainly " He will not acquit the guilty;" one that admits of the returning sinner, and revives him; leaving no room for suspicion to such as would be savage in judging, and utterly reject offenders, and not vouchsafe them so much as any exhortations which might bring them to repentance. In contradiction to such, God by Isaiah says to the bishops, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, ye priests: speak comfortably to Jerusalem." It therefore behoves you, upon hearing those words of his, to encourage those who have offended, and lead them to repentance, and afford them hope, and not vainly to suppose that you shall be partakers of their offences on account of such your love to them. Receive the penitent with alacrity, and rejoice over them, and with mercy and bowels of compassion judge the sinners; for if a person was walking by the side of a river, and ready to stumble, and thou shouldst push him and thrust him into the river, instead of offering him thy hand for his assistance, thou wouldst be guilty of the murder of thy brother; whereas thou oughtest rather to lend thy helping hand, as he was ready to fall, lest he perish without remedy; that both the people may take warning, and the offender may not utterly perish. It is thy duty, O bishop, neither to overlook the sins of the people, nor to reject those who are penitent, that thou mayest not unskilfully destroy the Lord's flock, or dishonour his new name, which is imposed on his people, and thou thyself be reproached as those ancient pastors were, of whom God speaks thus to Jeremiah: "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have polluted my heritage." And in another passage, My anger is waxed hot against the shepherds, and against the lambs shall I have indignation ;" and elsewhere, "Ye are the priests that dishonour my name."

CHAP. XVI. When thou seest the offender, with severity command him to be cast out; and as he is going out, let the deacons also treat him with severity; and then let them go and seek for him, and detain him out of the church, and when they come in let them entreat thee for him; for our Saviour himself entreated his Father for those who had sinned, as it is written in the Gospel, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Then order the

offender to come in; and if upon examination thou findest that he is penitent, and fit to be received at all into the church, when thou hast afflicted him his days of fasting, according to the degree of his offence, as two, three, five, or seven weeks, so set him at liberty, and speak such things to him as are fit to be said in way of reproof, instruction, and exhortation to a sinner for his reformation; that so he may continue privately in his humility, and pray to God to be merciful to him, saying, "If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? for with thee there is propitiation." Of this sort of declaration is that which is said in the book of Genesis to Cain, "Thou hast sinned, be quiet;" that is, Do not go on in sin. For that a sinner ought to be ashamed for his own sin, that oracle of God delivered to Moses concerning Miriam is a sufficient proof, when he prayed that she might be forgiven; for, says God to him "If her father had spit in her face should she not be ashamed? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterwards let her come in again.' We therefore ought to do so with offenders when they profess their repentance; namely, to separate them some determinate time according to the proportion of their offence; and afterwards, like fathers to children, receive them again upon their repentance.

CHAP XVII. But if the bishop himself be an offender, how will he be able any longer to prosecute the offence of another? Or how will he be able to reprove another? Either he, or his deacons, if by accepting of persons, or receiving of bribes, they have not all a clear conscience? For when the ruler asks, and the judge receives, judgment is not brought to perfection; but when both are companions of thieves, and regardless of doing justice to the widows, those who are under the bishop will not be able to support and vindicate him for they will say to him, what is written in the gospel, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Let the bishop therefore, with his deacons, dread to hear any such thing; that is, let him give no occasion for it: for an offender, when he sees any other doing as bad as himself, will be encouraged to do the very same things; and then the wicked one, taking occasion from a single instance, works in others, which God forbid; and by that means the flock will be destroyed. For the greater number of offenders there are, the greater is the mischief that is done by them for sin which passes without correction grows worse and worse, and spreads to others; since "A little leaven infects the whole lump ;" and one thief spreads the wickedness over a whole nation, and “Dead flies spoil the whole pot of sweet ointment;" and "When a king hearkens to unrighteous counsel, all the servants under him are wicked." So one scabbed sheep, if not separated from those that are whole, infects the rest with the same distemper; and a man infected with the plague is to be avoided by a!! men; and a mad dog is dangerous to every one that he touches. If therefore we neglect to separate the transgressor from the church of God, we shall make the "Lord's house a den of thieves." For it is the bishop's duty not to be silent in the case of offenders,

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but to rebuke them, to exhort them, to beat them down, to afflict them with fastings, that so he may strike a pious dread into the rest: for, as he says, "Make ye the children of Israel pious." For the bishop must be one who discourages sin by his exhortation, and sets a pattern of righteousness, and proclaims those good things which are prepared by God, and declares that wrath which will come at the day of judgment, lest he contemn and neglect the plantation of God; and, on account of his carelesness, hear that which is said in Hosea, "Why have ye held your peace at impiety, and have reaped the fruits thereof ?"

CHAP. XVIII. Let the bishop therefore extend his concern to all sorts of people; to those who have not offended, that they may continue innocent; to those who have offended, that they may repent. For to you does the Lord speak thus, "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones." It is your duty also to give remission to the penitent; for as soon as ever one who has offended says, in the sincerity of his soul, "I have sinned against the Lord,” the Holy Spirit answers, "The Lord also hath forgiven thy sin, be of good cheer, thou shalt not die." Be sensible, therefore, O bishop, of the dignity of thy place, that as thou hast received the power of binding, so hast thou also that of loosing. Having therefore the power of loosing, exert thyself, and behave thyself in this world as becomes thy place, as knowing that thou hast a great account to give; for to whom, as the scripture says, men have intrusted much, of him they will require the more. For no one man is free from sin, excepting him that was made man for us; since it is written, "No man is pure from filthiness, no not though he be but one day old." Upon which account the lives and conversations of the ancient holy men and patriarchs are described: not that we may reproach them from our reading; but that we ourselves may repent, and have hope that we also shall obtain forgiveness. For their blemishes are to us both security and admonition, because we hence learn, when we have offended, that if we repent we shall have pardon. For it is written, "Who can boast that he has a clean heart, and who dare affirm that he is pure from sin ?" No man, therefore, is without sin. Do thou, therefore, labour to the utmost of thy power to be unblameable, and be solicitous of all the parts of thy flock, lest any one be scandalized on thy account and thereby perish. For the layman is solicitous only for himself; but thou for all, as having a greater burden and carrying a heavier load. For it is written, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Thou and Aaron shall bear the sins of the priesthood." Since, therefore, thou art to give an account of all, take care of all; preserve those that are sound, admonish those that sin; and when thou hast afflicted them with fasting give thein ease by remission; and when with tears the offender begs readmission, receive him, and let the whole church pray for him; and when by imposition of thy hand thou hast admitted him, give him leave to abide afterwards in the flock. But for the drowsy and the careless, do thou endeavour to convert, and confirm, and warn, and cure them, as sensible how great a reward thou shalt have for doing so, and how great danger thou