greater than this? The Father gave all power to his Son but this very power Christ has communicated to his Ministers.”-“ As much as heaven is more noble than the earth, and the soul than the body, so is this power as much above the temporal.-It were madness then to despise a power, without which we cannot obtain salvation, nor the possession of the promised goods. For if none can enter heaven, unless he be first regenerated by water and the Holy Ghost; and if he that eateth not the flesh of our Lord, and drinketh not his blood, is deprived of eternal life; and if it be by these holy hands—I mean the hands of the Priest—that all these things are effected: how can either the fire of hell be avoided, or the crowns prepared for us hereafter, be obtained without their help? They, and only they, are entrusted with these spiritual births, and that regeneration which is wrought by Baptism. By them we put on Christ; we are united to the Son of God; and we become members of his sacred flesh.” De Sacerd. L. iii.c.v. T. 1. p. 383.-—“ Priests do not judge of the leprosy of the body, as the priests did under the old law: they judge of that of the soul; and they do not enquire only whether souls be purified, but they have also power to purify them. Wherefore, they who despise them commit a greater crime, and deserve a more severe chastisement, than Datban and his companions.” Ibid. c. vi. p.384.
ST. JEROM, LC.-Commenting on the words: Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven, (Matt. xvi.) he says: “ Some Bishops and Priests of the new law, understanding not the sense of these words, do imitate the pride of the Pharisees, by taking to themselves a power to condemn the innocent, and to absolve the guilty.
