‘If thou wilt obey the mandates and exhortations of thy father, thou wilt gain great merit with God, and, by inclining thyself to the holy apostolical see, much praise from man. Beloved son, be on thy guard against deceivers. We will also, that thou shouldst know, and by these presents do make known to thee, that beside the pains and punishments pronounced by the law, we have lately made other constitutions, which we send thee with our bull, by which thyself and all other such delinquents and disobedient children (which God avert!) will be punished. We have done this to preserve thee and other princes from the heinous offence of high treason, so great is our paternal love toward thee and them, in order that at the day of judgment we may be blameless, by endeavouring to prevent, as much as in us lies, any soul from perishing. ‘Given at Porto Venere, in the diocese of Genoa, the 23d day of March, in the 14th year of our papacy.’ THE BULL OF THE POPE DELLA LUNA, BY WHICH HE EXCOMMUNICATES THE KING OF FRANCE AND OTHERS. ‘Benedict, bishop and servant of the servants of God, in perpetual memory of the increase of wickedness among mankind,—We behold the world daily becoming worse, and the thoughts of mankind so bent on evil that they add crime to crime,—That the good who may be intermixed with the bad may not be corrupted through malice and error, and that the boldness and presumption of vice may be somewhat restrained by fear of punishment. ‘It has come to our knowledge by public report, that certain children of perdition, as well churchmen as seculars, who, ambitious of rising higher than becomes them, may thence dangerously fall, having been deceived by him who changes himself into the form of an angel of light that he may afterward deceive others, have given great scandal to the simple and weak, and much offence to those of firmer minds, from their attempts to destroy and divide the catholic church by schism, and to prevent the re-union of it, which was taking place when we were elected sovereign and apostolical bishop. ‘Two years before this period, when we were of mature age[122], we laboured hard to put an end to this schism, which has divided the church of God for nearly thirty years, to the great grief of all sincere Christians, and it still continues through the perverseness of man. ‘We have declared to Angelo Corrario, (who has thrust himself into the apostolical chair, and is called by those under his obedience by the name of Gregory,) the mode of renunciation frankly and sincerely offered by us, and which in our apostolical letters, given at Marseilles the 2d day of February of the aforesaid year of our papacy, is more fully explained. We have again offered to Angelo Corrario to appear in person at a proper and convenient place, that measures may be the more speedily adopted for the success of so desirable an event as the re-union of the holy church.