glory, for by truth they cannot. Nowhere is promotion easier than in the camp of rebels, where the mere fact of being there is a merit. Thus one man is bishop to-day, another to-morrow: he is deacon to-day who to-morrow is reader, and he is presbyter to-day who to-morrow is lay- 5 man; for even on laymen they impose priestly functions.

The Roman Bishop's Edict.

I HEAR also that an edict has been issued, and that a decisive one. The sovereign Pontiff forsooth, the bishop of bishops puts forth his edict. 'I,' says he, 'to them that have done penitence remit the sins of both 10 adultery and fornication.' What an edict it is, to which we cannot add Well done! And where shall that gracious message be posted up? On the very spot, I suppose on the very door-posts of lust, beneath the advertisements themselves of lust. There ought penitence 15 of that sort to be published, where the offence itself shall dwell. There ought the pardon to be read, where men enter in the hope of it. But this-in the Church it is read, and in the Church pronounced, and-she is a virgin!

Inconveniences of a mixed Marriage.

LET us now recount the other dangers and wounds, as 20 I said, of faith foreseen by the Apostle as not to the flesh only, but likewise even to the spirit very grievous. . . . Without doubt she cannot satisfy the Lord according to discipline, when she has at her side a servant of the devil, an agent of his lord to hinder the works and duties of 25 believers; so that if there is a meeting to attend, her husband the first thing in the morning makes her an appointment for the baths; if there are fasts to be observed, her husband that same day gives a dinner; if she has to go out [on charitable errands], never is household 30

familiae occupatio obveniat. Quis enim sinat coniugem suam visitandorum fratrum gratia vicatim aliena et quidem pauperiora quaeque tuguria circuire? quis nocturnis convocationibus, si ita oportuerit, a latere suo adimi libenter E feret? quis denique sollemnibus Paschae abnoctantem securus sustinebit? quis ad convivium dominicum illud quod infamant sine sua suspicione dimittet? quis in carcerem ad osculanda vincula martyris reptare patietur? Iam vero alicui fratrum ad osculum convenire? aquam to sanctorum pedibus offerre? de cibo, de poculo invadere, desiderare, in mente habere? si et peregre frater adveniat, quod in aliena domo hospitium? si cui largiendum erit, horreum, proma praeclusa sunt. ... Moratur dei ancilla cum laboribus alienis, et inter illos omnibus honoribus 15 daemonum, omnibus sollemnibus regum, incipiente anno, incipiente mense, nidore thuris agitabitur. Et procedet de ianua laureata et lucernata, ut de novo consistorio libidinum publicarum; discumbet cum marito in sodalitiis, saepe in popinis; et ministrabit nonnunquam iniquis, solita zo quondam sanctis ministrare; et non hinc praeiudicium damnationis suae agnoscet, eos observans, quos erat iudicatura1?

XLIV.

ID. Ad Uxorem, ii. 3-6.

NAM iste primus ex Asia hoc genus perversitatis intulit Romae, homo et alias inquietus, insuper de iactatione 25 martyrii inflatus ob solum et simplex et breve carceris taedium, quando, etsi corpus suum tradidisset exurendum,

1 Cor. vi. 2.

business more in the way. For who would let his wife go round from street to street to other men's houses, and indeed to all the poorer cottages, for the sake of visiting the brethren? Who will willingly allow her to be taken from his side for nocturnal meetings, if her duty be so? 5 Who in short will bear without anxiety her absence all night for the ceremonial of Easter? Who will let her go without suspicion of his own to that Lord's Supper which they defame? Who will suffer her to creep into a prison to kiss a martyr's bonds? or indeed to meet one of the 10 brethren for the kiss? to offer water for the feet of the saints? to seize [for them] from her food or from her cup, to long for them, to keep them in mind? If a brother on a journey come, what welcome is there for him in an alien house? If there is a case for liberality, the granary and 15 the larder are shut up.. The handmaid of God dwells with alien labours, and amongst them she will be persecuted with the odour of incense at all the festivals of demons, all the ceremonials of kings, the beginning of the year, the beginning of the month. She will come forth 20 too from a laurelled gateway hung with lanterns as from some new abode of public lusts. She will dine with her husband in clubs, often in taverns, and sometimes she will minister to the unjust, who was used to minister to saints; and will she not recognize in this a sentence that carries 25 her damnation, as she attends on those whom she was to judge hereafter?

...

The Misdeeds of Praxeas.

FOR Praxeas it was who first imported from Asia to Rome this kind of perversity—a man in other ways unquiet, and moreover puffed up with pride of confessorship merely 30 on the strength of a short annoyance of imprisonment without further hardship; whereas even though he had given his body to be burned, he would have gained

nihil profecisset, dilectionem dei non habens, cuius charismata quoque expugnavit. Nam idem tunc episcopum Romanum agnoscentem iam prophetias Montani, Priscae, Maximillae, et ex ea agnitione pacem ecclesiis Asiae et 5 Phrygiae inferentem, falsa de ipsis prophetis et ecclesiis eorum adseverando et praecessorum eius auctoritates defendendo coegit et literas pacis revocare iam emissas et a proposito recipiendorum charismatum concessare. Ita duo negotia diaboli Praxeas Romae procuravit, prophe10 tiam expulit et haeresim intulit, paracletum fugavit et patrem crucifixit.

ID. Adv. Prax. 1.

XLV.

ITAQUE pro cuiusque personae conditione ac dispositione, etiam aetate, cunctatio baptismi utilior est, praecipue tamen circa parvulos. Quid enim necesse est, sponsores 15 etiam periculo ingeri, qui et ipsi per mortalitatem destituere promissiones suas possunt et proventu malae indolis falli ? Ait quidem dominus: Nolite illos prohibere ad me venire. Veniant ergo, dum adolescunt; veniant, dum discunt, dum quo veniant docentur; fiant Christiani, quum Christum 20 nosse potuerint. Quid festinat innocens aetas ad remissionem peccatorum? Cautius agetur in secularibus, ut cui substantia terrena non creditur, divina credatur.

ID. De Baptismo, 18.

XLVI.

Τοιαῦτα ὁ γόης τολμήσας συνεστήσατο διδασκαλεῖον κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οὕτως διδάξας, καὶ πρῶτος τὰ πρὸς

nothing by it, not having the love of God, whose gifts too he has fought against. For he it was again, who when the then bishop of Rome was ready to recognize the prophecies of Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla, and in consequence of that recognition to give his peace to the Churches of Asia 5 and Phrygia-he by making false statements about the prophets themselves and their Churches, and by urging the authority of the bishop's predecessors, obliged him to recall the letters of peace he had already sent out, and to give up his purpose of acknowledging the gifts. Thus 10 Praxeas managed two of the devil's businesses in Rome: he drove out prophecy and brought in heresy; he put to flight the Comforter and crucified the Father.

Infant Baptism.

THEREFORE according to the circumstances and temper and even age of each is the delay of baptism more profit- 15 able, yet especially in the case of little children. For where is the need of involving sponsors also in danger? They too through mortality may fail to perform their promises, or may be deceived by the growth of an evil disposition. The Lord says, indeed, Forbid them 20 not to come unto me. Let them come then when they are grown up; let them come when they have learned, when they are taught where they are coming; let them become Christians when they are able to know Christ. Why does an age which is innocent hasten to the remission of sins? 25 There will be more caution used in worldly matters, so that one who is not trusted with earthly substance is trusted with divine.

Misdeeds of Callistus.

THE impostor had the impudence to adopt opinions of this kind, setting up a school against the Church, and 30

K