the Lord's sheep, thou wast given over by the Lord's voice and authority to be fed; Christ Himself saying: "Peter, feed my sheep." And again: " To thee are given over the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed also in Heaven." Inasmuch as in his seat and apostolic ministration we, however sinful and unworthy, do act as the representative of his power: surely he himself has received whatever, through writing or in bare words, thou hast sent to us. And at the very time when we are either perusing the letters or listening to the voices of those who speak, he himself is discerning, with subtile inspection, in what spirit the instructions were issued. Wherefore thy Highness should have seen to it that no discrepancy of good will should have been found towards the apostolic chair in thy words and messages. And, in those things through which the Christian faith and the state of the church chiefly progress towards eternal salvation, thou should'st not have denied the reverence due, not to us, but to God Almighty—disregarding the fact that the Lord saw fit to say to the apostles and their successors: "Who hears you, hears me; and who scorns you, scorns me." For we know that he who does not refuse to show faithful obedience to God, does not scorn to observe our commands—even as if he had heard them from the lips of the apostle himself— and the things which, following the decrees of the holy fathers, we may have said. For if, out of reverence for the chair of Moses, the Lord ordered the apostles to observe whatever the scribes and Pharisees sitting above them should say: it is not to be doubted but that the apostolic and evangelic teaching, the seat and foundation of which is Christ, should be received—and observed—by the faithful with all veneration from the lips of those who have been chosen for the service of preaching.
In this year, indeed,—a synod being assembled around the apostolic chair, over which the heavenly dispensation willed that we should preside; at which, moreover, some of thy faithful subjects were present: seeing that the good order of the Christian religion has now for some time been falling away, and that the chief and proper methods of
