A.D. 1198. LETTER OF POPE LTTXOCEÎÏT. 417 to all the archbishops and bishops of England and Scotland to the following effect :— The Letter of pope Innocent on tìie occasion of his Election. "Innoeent, bishop elect of the Apostolic See, servant of the servants of God, to all his venerable brethren, the archbishops and bishops throughout England appointed, health and the Apostolie benediction. The ineffable wisdom of the Deityhath so, in His exalted counsels, disposed all things from everlasting, and, by His wondrous dispensation, so rules them through the vicissitudes of ages as they roll on, that there occurs neither error in the order thereof, nor defeet in the workmanship ; inasmuch as, Holy Scripture testifying the same, He has made every thing by weight, by number, and by measure. Wherefore, although he ordains nothing upon earth without a certain cause, and appropriate reason for the same, still, the imperfect state of human nature, not only fails in investigating the causes of His works, but, even in viewing the results themselves of those causes, can hardly be sufficiently astounded [at the marvellousness thereof] ; indeed, it was while considering this, that the Apostle exclaimed, ' Ο the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out I'72 Eor, although, the prophet bearing testimony thereto, 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,' ". and ' All His works are done in truth,' " still, to such a degree does the right hand of the Lord, great though it is, work out the successes of mankind, both their humiliation and their exaltation, that it is a cause to ourselves of no slight astonishment that, in the bestowal of power, He sometimes places the younger before the elder ones, and, as the prophet says, ' Sons are born in place of the fathers,' who, being appointed to govern all the earth, are to remember the name of the Lord. And so in our case, ' This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.'7 5 Eor Celestinus, of blessed memory, our father and predecessor, having gone the way of all flesh, on the sixth day before the ides of January, and having been honorably interred, according to custom, in the church of the Lateran, our brethren, that is to say, the cardinal bishops, priests, and deacons, and ourselves with them, met together, that with the more freedom and safety, 72 73 Rom. xi. 33. Psalm xxv. 1U. " Psalm xxxiii. 4. 7 5 Psalm cxviii. 23, St. Matt. xxi. 42, St. Mark xii. 11. VOL. I. EE