Page:Select historical documents of the Middle Ages.djvu/398

care, thou dost abound with a good will greater even than this very great ability; to our own and to the country's advantage. For from the faithful services of the past we are led to hope for still more faithful services in the future. We rely moreover on thy love not to let thy faithfulness disappoint our expectations; for from the loyalty of none of the princes or bishops of the land do we hope for greater things than from thine, rejoicing, as we have done, not only in the showing of the past but also in what thou hast led us to expect from thee in the future. Let, therefore, thy timely good will be present now with thy ability; for it is called for not only by our own straits but also by those of all thy fellow-bishops and brothers—nay, of the whole oppressed church. Thou art not ignorant, indeed, of this oppression; only see to it that thou do not withdraw thy aid from the oppressed church, but that thou do give thy sympathy to the kingdom and the priesthood. For in both of these, even as the church has hitherto been exalted, so now, alas, in both it is humiliated and bereaved. Inasmuch as one man has claimed for himself both; nor has he helped the one, seeing that he neither would nor could help either. But, lest we keep from thee any longer the name of one who is known to thee, learn of whom we are speaking—Hildebrand, namely, outwardly, indeed, a monk; called pope, but presiding over the apostolic see rather with the violence of an invader than with the care of a pastor, and, from the seat of universal peace, sundering the chains of peace and unity—as thou thyself dost clearly know. For, to mention a few cases out of many, he usurped for himself the kingdom and the priesthood without God's sanction, despising God's holy ordination which willed essentially that they—namely the kingdom and the priesthood—should remain not in the hands of one, but, as two, in the hands of two. For the Saviour Himself, during His Passion, intimated that this was the meaning of the typical sufficiency of the two swords. For when it was said to Him: "Behold, Lord, here are two swords"—He answered: "It is enough," signifying by this sufficing duality that a spiritual and a carnal sword were to be wielded in the church, and that by them every thing evil was about to be cut off—by the sacerdotal sword, namely.