300 ANNALS OF EOGEE ΒΓ. HOVEDEN. A.D. 1167. In return for all these, even if they were to be doubled, ought I to peril the liberties of the Church of God, much less for the preservation of my own character, which has so frequently swerved from what is right ? If I have acted with greater forbearance towards others, in this I will spare neither you. nor any one else, not even an angel, if ho were to come down from heaven, but the instant I should hear him suggesting such a course, he should hear from me these words, ' Get thee behind me, Satan, thou savourest not the things that are of God !'" Far from me be such madness as that ! May the Lord avert such insanity from me, that any one should persuade me, by any baeksUding, to make a bargain about the body of Christ ; for, in such case, I should be likened to Judas, the seller of our Lord to the Jews, the buyers of Christ ! But as to my promotion, which you state in your letter to have taken place, the mother of my lord the king dissuading him therefrom, the kingdom exclaiming against it, and the Church, so far as she could, heaving sighs thereat, this I tell you in answer thereto. I did not hear exclamations on the part of the kingdom, but rather acclamations; and if there was any dissent on the part of my lord's mother, they did not come to the ears of the public. It might possibly be the case that some ecclesiastics did sigh upon that promotion, as aspirants" generally do, when they found that they were disappointed in the hopes they had once entertained. And, possibly, at this day, it is those same persons who, by way of revenge for their misfortune, are the authors and advisers of the present dissensions. But ' Woe to him by whom offences come !' Against the aforesaid obstacles, and against others, if any there were, the dispensations of God prevailed, as we may at this day perceive. For I am compelled by Him, who is justice itself, to postpone Him for nothing whatsoever, who in His mercy has plaeed me in this position. The points, also, which you seem to put forward, by way of justifying the king, I think ought not to be lightly passed over, or without some diseussion ; and I could only wish that he had not taken so wide a departure from justice, and that my complaints against him appeared less just. You say that he is, and always has been, ready to give me satisfaction. This you assert you can confidently say and maintain. Hold then a moment, and answer these ques 7 1 Matt. xiv. 23. 'a He seems to pun upon the resemblance of " suspiro," and " aspiro."