“Certainly I cannot describe or enumerate the blessings which God in His heavenly bounty has bestowed upon me, His servant. I rejoice exceedingly, therefore, that after this most just enquiry you have recalled to better hope and future those whom the malignity of the Devil seemed to have seduced away by his miserable persuasion from the clearest light of the Catholic law. O truly conquering Providence of Christ, our Saviour, solicitous even for these who have deserted and turned their weapons against the truth, and joined themselves to the heathen. Yet even now, if they will truly believe and obey His most holy law, they will be able to see what forethought has been taken in their behalf by the will of God. “And I hoped, most holy brethren, to find such a disposition even in the stubbornest breasts. For not without just cause will the clemency of Christ depart from those, in whom it shines with a light so clear that we may perceive they are regarded with loathing by the Divine Providence. Such men must be bereft of reason, since with incredible arrogance they persuade themselves of the truth of things, of which it is neither meet to speak nor hear others speak, abandoning the righteous decisions which have been laid down. So persistent and ineradicable is their malignity. How often already have they shamelessly approached me, only to be crushed with the fitting response! Now they clamour for a judgment from me, who myself await the judgment of Christ. For I say that, as far as the truth is concerned, a judgment delivered by priests ought to be considered as valid as though Christ Himself were present and delivering judgment.[84] For priests can form no thought or judgment, unless what they are taught to utter by the admonitory voice of Christ. “What, then, can these malignant creatures be thinking of, creatures of the Devil, as I have truly said? They seek the things of this world, abandoning the things of Heaven. What sheer, rabid madness possesses them, that they have entered an appeal, as is wont to be done in mundane lawsuits?... What do these detractors of the law think of Christ their Saviour, if they refuse to acknowledge the judgment of Heaven and demand judgment from me? They are proven traitors; they have themselves convicted themselves of their crimes, without need of closer enquiry into them.... Do you, however, dearest brothers, return to your own homes, and be ye mindful of me that our Saviour may ever have mercy upon me.” ----- Footnote 84: _Meum judicium postulant qui judicium Christi expecto. Dico enim, ut se veritas habet, sacerdotum judicium ita debet haberi ac si ipse Dominus residens judicet._ -----