side, as of Peter of old, thou hast risen up-thou hast girded thy loins-thou hast lighted thy candle-thon art eaten up with zeal for God! Now, what remains?-only this, the faith which thou believest, teach us: the way in which thou walkest, show to us all.

So, with God as thy Author, thou as the son of the persecuted-viz., the Prophets and Apostles, being our leader through difficult paths-all we, the sheep of Christ, committed to thy skill by Peter, may go on with inoffensive steps, and to the pleasant pastures of eternal life may merit happy entrance, Christ Himself opening the door, who delivered the keys of the kingdom to him and by him to yourself. May grace divine, my Lord, most holy Pope, conserve your apostleship for many years for the exaltation of this Church and the common salvation of all!

SHORT SYLLABUS OF THE DIFFERENT SESSIONS.

THE First Session contains the testimony of divers approved writings, in which it is shown that heretics who return from their heresy to the orthodox faith may be received and also those who since they have been or are now orthodox, but yet have received imposition of hands from heretics.

The Second Session contains the reading of the epistles of Adrian Pope of Rome, and the profession and declaration of agreement of all the High Priests present in the Council.

The Third Session contains the reception of the Bishops converted from heresy; the synodals of Tarasius and the answers of the Oriental High Priests; and also the subscriptions of the Bishops, who approved the letters of Pope Adrian, and the Priests of the East, and declared their agreement with them.

The Fourth Session brings forward the testimonies from holy writ and of divine fathers in defence of images.

The Fifth Session brings forward other testimonies, to show that the Iconomachi wrought and imagined things equally vile with reprobate heretics.

The Sixth Session brings forth the blasphemies of the heretics and their utter confutation.

The Seventh Session sets forth the definition of the holy Council and the subscriptions of the Bishops thereto; an epistle sent to the Emperors; another sent to the clergy of Constantinople; a laudatory sermon; and the canons promulged by the Council. Also an epistle of Tarasius to Adrian concerning the Synod, and another of the same to the same on Heresy; also a letter to John the Anchorite on the same business.

THE SACRED DIVALIS SENT FROM CONSTANTINE AND IRENE AUGUSTI TO HADRIAN MOST HOLY AND MOST BLESSED POPE OF OLD ROME.

THEY who receive the dignity of the empire, or the honour of the principal priesthood from our Lord Jesus Christ, ought to provide and to care for those things which please Him, and rule and govern the people committed to their care according to His will and good pleasure.

* The disapprobation of Charlemagne and his Divines with the Council commences with this letter, and he finds fault (" Lib. Car." i. c. 3), with the term "Divalis :"-" The error of Paganism, long since banished by the coming of Christ, seems to retain some footing with those who glory in having the highest rank in the faith and Christian religion, who introduce into the Church new and unheard-of constitutions, and who fear not, after the manner of the Gentiles, to style themselves Divi, and their proceedings Divalia. Surely their assumption is not unlike the promise of the old serpent, whereby our forefather Adam was deceived. For they who thus aspire to be higher than they are, are rejected by Him who beholds the proud afar off and soon become even inferior to what they were. Such was the case with those angels who kept not their first estate, whose fate, if we would avoid, we must avoid their crimes. If we avoid such evil, and embrace the opposite virtue of humility, then, as instruments of good, we may even become as gods, as was said to Moses, 'I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.' Essentially none is God but Jehovah only. Speaking less strictly, men and angels are so called; and lastly, after the blasphemies of the heathen, the vain deities of the heathen bear this title. The word Divalis is false; for it endeavours to bolster up sinners who deserve only wrath, with the idea that they have obtained divinity. But if the lovers of this name say that it has no connection with divinity, let them hear with what it has connection-namely, with the terms in use among the heathens who called indifferently dii or divi. Let the vain assumption of such name cease: let this mark of ancient error come to an end let this word of blind superstition perish: let this pride of insolent appellation be done away; and let the Gentile mendacity of transforming men amongst the divi be driven far from the faithful."

Therefore, O most holy man, it is due from us and from you that irreprehensibly we savour the things which be His, and that in these we be conversant, since from Him We have received the imperatorial dignity, and You the dignity of the chief priesthood.

But now to speak more to the point. Your paternal blessedness knows what hath been done in times past in this our royal city against holy images-namely, how in the three reigns immediately preceding, images were destroyed and disgraced-(O may it not be imputed to them, for it had been well for them had they not laid their hands upon the Church!) --and how they seduced and brought over to their own opinion all the people who live in these parts-yea, even the whole of the East, in like manner, up to the time in which* God hath exalted us to this kingdom, who seek His glory in truth, and hold that which has been handed down by His apostles together with all other teachers. Whence now with pure heart and unfeigned religion we have, together with all our subjects and our most learned divines, had constant conferences respecting the things which relate to God, and by their advice have determined to summon a General Council. And we entreat your paternal blessedness, or rather the Lord God entreats, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, that it will give itself to us

*The expression "God hath chosen us who seek His glory in truth," is censured in "Lib. Car." i. cap. 2. " According to the word of truth, he who speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; which they who are zealous for images seem so to seek and embrace that they fear not to set at nought their predecessors and parents with all their deeds. Despising and setting these at nought, they boast that themselves are seeking God's glory in truth, whom they should despise rightly enough if, indeed, they turned aside from that truth; which saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life.' But the worshippers of images are ever in error; nor is the error light when anything whatever is worshipped with the worship of adoration besides Him who said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.'

'Images, however, since they appear to be what they are not, or to do what they do not, are not the same thing with truth, of which it is said, 'and the truth shall make you free;' for that images are without sense and reason is true, but that they are men is false; but if any say they may be called men by law of universals, as it is said, Augustine was a great philosopher, Augustine is to be read: Augustine is in such a Church-Augustine is buried in such a place-let him consider that all these come from one original, that is, Augustine. And he alone is the true Augustine of whom it is said he was the great philosopher, and the rest are respectively-a book, an image, a corpse."

After much more of the same kind, in which he blames the Council as

and make no delay, but come up hither to aid us in the confirmation and establishment of the ancient tradition of veneble images. It is, indeed, incumbent on your holiness to do this, since you know how it is written-" Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, ye priests, saith the Lord," and "the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and the law shall go forth out of his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord of Hosts." And again, the divine apostle, the preacher of the truth, who, "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, preached the Gospel," hath thus commanded-" Feed the flock of Christ with discipline which He purchased with His own blood."

As then you are the veritable chief high priest, and presiden: in the place and in the see of the holy and superlaudable Apostle Peter, let your paternal blessedness come to us, as we have said before, and add your presence to those other chief priests who shall be assembled together, that thus the will of the Lord may be accomplished. For as we are taught

styling images truth, or holy and true, and not as did the fathers, images of holy and good men; and in which he much wishes to find out where is their boasted sanctity-" for it is not in the things themselves-the wood or the colours; nor is it introduced by anything afterwards done to them by imposition of hands, or any canonical consecration, and further to know when the images are worn out whence goes their holiness"-he concludes thus"As it is a fact that they have no sanctity, whoever styles them the truth or asserts that in and by them he seeks God's glory goes very far aside from the truth. It was not in manufactured images that David saw God's glory when he said, 'Thy glory is above the heavens; nor was it thus the heavenly army sung glory to God in the highest; nor was it in a fiction the Lord appeared to the people in the wilderness, or the glory of the Lord' covered the tabernacle."

The expression, "we entreat your paternity or rather "God, who will have none to perish entreats you," is censured in "Lib. Car." i. 4. The expression is considered to rise from the same spirit which prompted them to say, "God who reigns together with us," and to call their writing Divalia. The chapter is taken up with showing that to suppose God or Christ to ask anything of man is derogatory to His glory and dignity. "Adrian's Answer," p. 124, col, ii., is more than usually impertinent, alleging (2 Cor. v. 20).—" Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. It is undoubtedly a condescension, yet it is that which God is pleased to do-to beseech those whom He might command."

The point to be doubted is-Whether God would beseech the Bishop of Rome to come to Constantinople to confirm idolatry?

As to the expression," Per eum qui consignat nobis Deus," it is not found in the Divalis nor in any letter written by Irene, but in the close of the letter written by the Council to her, as found in the Seventh Session.

Adrian has vindicated this expression, more suo, in his " Answer," p. 127, col. 2.

in the Gospels our Lord saith- "When two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"let your paternal and sacred blessedness be certified and confirmed by the great God and King of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, and by us His servants, that if you come up hither you shall be received with all honour and glory, and that everything necessary for you shall be granted; and again, when the definition (capitulum) is made complete, which by the good pleasure of Christ our God we hope shall be done with honour and amplitude, we take upon us to provide for you every facility of return.

If, however, your blessedness cannot attend upon us (which we can scarcely imagine, knowing what is your zeal about divine things), at least, let it select for us men of understanding, having with them letters from your holiness, that they may be present in the person of your sacred and paternal blessedness; that so, when they meet with the other priests who are here, the ancient tradition of our holy fathers may be synodically confirmed, and every evil plant of tares may be rooted out, and the words of the Saviour may be fulfilled, that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against her." And after this, may there be no further schism and separation in the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of which Christ our true God is the Head.

We have had Constantine, beloved in Christ, most holy Bishop of Leontina in our beloved Sicily, with whom your paterna blessedness is well acquainted, into our presence; and, having spoken with him face to face, have sent him to you with this our present venerable letter of invitation. Whom, after that he hath seen you, forthwith dismiss, that he may come back to us, and write us by him concerning your coming —what time we may expect will be spent in your journeying thence and coming to us. Moreover, he can retain with him the most holy Bishop of Naples, and come up hither together with him; and, as your journey will be by way of Naples and Sicily, we have given orders to the Governor of Sicily about this, that he take due care to have ration made for that honour and rest which is necessary in every needful prepa