On Consideration

What service is worthy ', what unworthy ^ of the servants of God

5. And you must not confront me with the Apostle's saying, * Though I were free from all 1 made myself the bond servant of all.'8 That is far from being your case. Did he

1 Isa. xxviii. 19. Vtxatio ilat intellectum amlitui. K.V. has, ' It shall be nought but terror to understand the message (or report).' Chcyne translates the Hebrew, < It shall be simply a terror to understand the tidings.' AuditHs has the meaning re fort in St. John xii. 38.

a Prov. xviii. 3. 3 I Cor. ix. ly.

K 2

20 On Consideration

by this service make himself the slave of men in their acquisi tion of filthy lucre ? Did men full of ambition, avaricious, simoniacal, sacrilegious, keepers of concubines, incestuous, all sorts of human monsters such as these, come streaming to him from all over the world, so that by means of his apostolic authority they might obtain, or retain, ecclesiastical distinctions ? The reason why the man to whom to live was Christ, and to die was gain — the reason why he made himself a bondservant was that he might gain the more for Christ, not that he might increase the gains of avarice. You must not, therefore, make Paul's great shrewdness, zeal, and love so free, a plea for the life of a slave which you lead. How much more worthy of your apostleship, how much more wholesome for your conscience, how much more fruitful for the Church of God, if you would rather attend to his words elsewhere, 'Ye are bought with a price, refuse to be made the servants of men/ 1 What is more servile and unworthy, specially of the chief pontiff, than, I do not say every day, but almost every hour, to toil at such things, and for such people ? When, then, are we to pray ? when to teach our people ? when to build up the Church ? when to meditate in the law ? 1 know, of course, that the palace every day re-echoes with the sound of the laws, but they are the laws of Justinian,2 not those of the Lord. Is that as it ought to be ? See for yourself. Surely, the law of the Lord is undefiled, converting souls.3 But these are not so much laws as lawsuits and sophistical arguments subverting judgement. How is it then, pray tell me, that you the shepherd and bishop of souls can endure to have the law of the Lord stand dumb before you, while these laws never cease to chatter ? I am mistaken if this perversity does not cause you some anxiety. I suppose that sometimes it even makes you

1 i Cor. vi. 20. 2 See above, Hist. Introd. 3 Ps. xix. 7.

Book I, Chapter iv 21

cry to the Lord with the prophet, « The wicked have told me tales, but not according to Thy law.' l Go then, and dare to profess yourself a free man while you have this heavy load of inconsistency upon your shoulders, from which you cannot escape. For if you have the power and not the will, so much the more are you the slave of this very perverse will of yours. Is he not a slave who is ruled by iniquity ? He is the worst of all slaves. Unless, perchance, in your judgement there is less dishonour in being governed by a vice than by a man. What difference docs it make whether you serve willingly or against your will ? For though compulsory slavery be more pitiable, slavery deliberately sought is more lamentable. ' And what,' say you, ' do you wish me to do ? ' I would have you give yourself some respite from these occupations. 'Impossible,' you will perhaps reply; 'I could more easily bid farewell to the chair.' A good reply if I were urging you to break them off altogether, and not rather to have some break in them.