him to do public penance. Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. L. v. c. 18. p. 217.
Paulinus, the secretary of St. Ambrose, relates in the history of his life; “ That as often as any one, in doing penance, confessed his faults to him, he wept so as to draw tears from the sinner. He seemed to take part in every act of sorrow. But as to the occasions or causes of the crimes which they confessed, these he revealed to no one but God, with whom he interceded; leaving this good example to his successors in the Priesthood, that they should be intercessors with God, not accusers before men.” In Vita Ambrosii, n. 39, p. 10. in Append. T. ii. Operum. Ed. Paris. 1686.
ST. PACIANUS, L. C.-He writes to Sympronianus, a No vatian : “ May it please God, that none of the faithful ever stand in need of penance; that no man after baptism ever fall into the precipice of sin; that so the Ministers of Christ may never be obliged to preach, and apply long and tedious remedies, for fear of patronising the liberty of sinning by flattering sinners with their remedies.” Ep. 1. ad Sympron. Bibl. PP. Max. T. iv. p. 306.—“But you object, that I forgive sin, whereas this can be done alone in baptism. To myself I take not this power : it belongs alone to God, who in baptism pardons sin, and rejects not the tears of penitents. And what I do, I do not by my own right, but by that of the Lord. We are God's coadjutors, says the Apostle; it is his building. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase : so then neither he that planteth is any thing, nor he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (1 Cor. iii. 6, 7, 9.) Therefore, whether we baptise, or cause sinners to do penance, or we pardon their sins, we do it by the power of Christ. I leave it to you to consider, what the power of Christ is, and whether he can pardon, or has par-
