On ConsiderationBook II

1. I remember, dear Eugenius, Father in God and best of men. the promise which I made, alas! too long ago. Now, late though it be. I propose to redeem my pledge. I should be ashamed of the delay if I were conscious of carelessness 01 contempt. This is not the case; but, as you yourself know, we have fallen on evil times; it seemed as though our social life, not to speak of our studies, was doomed to come to a standstill; it was as though the Lord, provoked by our sins, were almost judging the world before the time, with equity indeed, but forgetful of his mercy. He has not spared the people, nor His own Name. Do they not say among the peoples, Where is their God ?' And no wonder. The sons of the Church, and they who bear the Christian name, lie prostrate in the desert, slain with the sword, or perished with hunger. Floods of strife have overwhelmed our rulers, and the Lord has made them to wander in the waste, where there is no way. Tribulation and misfortune are in their ways, terror, sorrow, and confusion in the chambers of kings themselves. Confusion dogs the footsteps of those that bring tidings of peace, that announce good things! We said ' peace', and there is no peace; we promised good things, and lo! perplexity. It might be supposed we had therein been light or rash. We certainly ran therein not as uncertainly, but at your command, nay, rather at God's command given through you. Why then have we fasted, and He hath not beheld? humbled our souls, and He knew not? For in all these things His fury is not turned from us, but His hand is stretched out still. How patiently, meanwhile, doth He listen to the impious words of the blasphemous Egyptians, ' He craftily led them out that He might slay them in the desert.’ We all know that the judgements of the Lord are true. But this judgement is such a great deep that I could almost justify myself for calling him blessed who is not offended thereat.

2. Still, how strange it is that men are so rash as to dare to reprehend what they cannot possibly comprehend! Let us call to mind the judgements of former times, which have been since the world began, if haply we may find consolation in them. For one spoke on this wise, ' I have remembered thy judgements of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself.'" I speak of what everybody knew, and now nobody knows. Forsooth this is the way with the wit of man. Knowledge is sometimes superfluous: when we need it, we have it not. Moses, when about to lead the people out of the land of Egypt, promised them a better land. Otherwise, had they known that land only, were they ever likely to follow him? He led them out, but when they were led out he did not lead them into the land which he had promised. Nor can the sad and unlooked-for issue be attributed to the rashness of the leader. He did everything as the Lord commanded, the Lord working with him, and confirming his work by signs following. But that people, you say, was stiff-necked, always stubbornly opposing the Lord and his servant Moses. Well! they were faithless and rebellious; but what are these? Ask them. What need for me to say what they themselves confess? One thing I do say. How could they reach their journey's end who were always turning back on the road? Was there ever a time in their whole journey when they were not in their heart turning back into Egypt? But if they fell and perished on account of their iniquity, can we wonder that our contemporaries with the same conduct have the same experience? But was their fall contrary to the promises of God: No, nor has the fall of these latter been. For the promises of God never prejudice the righteousness of God. And something else I wish to say.

3. Benjamin hath sinned:] the other tribes gird themselves for vengeance, and not without God's approval. In fact He himself appointed the leader of the army. So they fight, relying both on the stronger force and on the better cause, and, what is more, on the divine favour. But how terrible is God in His purposes towards the children of men! 2 The avengers of wickedness gave their backs to the accursed, and the many fled before the few. But they return to the Lord, and the Lord bids them go up. They go up afresh, and again they are scattered and confounded. So at first with God's favour, and then at God's command, the righteous engage in a righteous contest, and nevertheless are overcome. But they were found as superior in faith as they were inferior in the fight. What do you suppose our forces would make of me if at my exhortation they were again to go up, and again be over come? Are they likely to listen to me if I were to advise them for the third time to march, and resume the work in which once and again they have been frustrated? And yet the 1 Judges n. fl, 2 P>. Ixvi. =. s Judges xx. 28.

I Israelites, taking no account of their double disappointment, obeyed for the third time, and were then victorious. But we shall perhaps be asked, ' How are to know that the word has gone forth from the Lord? What signs do you work, that we may believe you?' It is not for me to answer these questions; I must spare my modesty. Do you answer for me, and for yourself, according as you have heard and seen, or, at all events, according as God has given you inspiration.

4. But you are, perhaps, wondering why I take this line, so different from what I purposed. I do so, not because I have forgotten my purpose, but because I do not consider it foreign to my purpose. If I remember, the subject of my discourse to your Excellency was to be Consideration. And certainly the matter to which I have referred is important and requires much consideration. But if great matters ought to be considered by great men, who is so well qualified for the work as yourself, who have no equal upon earth? You will, I am sure, according to the wisdom and power given to you from above, deal with this matter. It is not consistent with my humility to tell you that such and such things should be done. It is enough for me to have intimated that something ought to be done for the consolation of the Church, and to stop the mouth of them that speak wickedly. Let these few remarks stand for my apology, so that whatever your conscience may tell you about me you may from my own lips know enough to excuse me, and yourself also. I cannot hope for this from those who judge by results, but with you I am safe. The testimony of a man's conscience is his only perfect and complete excuse. To me it is a very small matter that I should be judged by those who call good evil and evil good, who put light for darkness and darkness for light. And if one of the two things must 1 Isa. v. 20.

happen, I had rather that men murmured against us than against God. It is good for me if He condescends to use - a shield. I gladly welcome the tongues that speak against me, and the poisoned darts of blasphemers, if only they may not reach Him. I do not refuse to be dishonoured if only violence be not done to the glory of God. Who can give me the privilege of glorying thus,; For thy sake have I suffered reproach, shame hath covered my face '? My glory is to become a partner with Christ, who says, the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me.' Now at last my pen shall return to its proper work, and my discourse go on its way to the goal we set before us.

5. And first of all consider the word. I do not wish it to be regarded as exactly synonymous with contemplation, because the latter is concerned with the certainty of things, the former more fitly with their investigation. Accordingly, contemplation may be defined as the soul's true unerring intuition, or as the unhesitating apprehension of truth. But consideration is thought earnestly directed to research, or the application of the mind to the search for truth; though in practice the two terms are indifferently used for one another.

6. Now as regards the fruit of consideration, I think there are, as they occur to me, four subjects worthy of your consideration—yourself, things below you, things around you, and things above you. Let your consideration begin with yourself, lest, while you neglect yourself, you waste your energies on other things. What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your single self?* Though you be wise, you lack wisdom to yourself, if you do not belong to yourself. But how far do you lack wisdom? In my opinion, altogether. Though you know all mysteries, though you know the breadth of the earth, the height of the heavens, the depth of the sea, if you know not yourself, you will be like a man building without a foundation, and will succeed not in rearing an edifice, but in making a ruin. Whatever structure you raise outside yourself will be like a heap of dust before the wind. He, therefore, is not wise who is not wise to himself. The wise man will be wise to himself, and will first of all drink of his own well. Let, then, your consideration begin at yourself; and not only so, let it end there. Whithersoever it may roam, recall it to yourself, and it will bring with it the fruit of salvation. To yourself be first, to yourself be last. Copy the example of the Great Father of all, who both sends forth His word and keeps it with Him. Consideration is your ' word '; if it goes forth, let it not go away; let it so go on that it go not out; let it so go outside that it be not gone 1 St. Matt. xvi. 26.

altogether. In winning salvation let no one be nearer and dearer to you than the only one of your mother. Think of nothing contrary to your own salvation. In saying * contrary ', I have said too little; I ought to have said besides your salvation. Whatever offers itself to consideration, if it has not some bearing on your own salvation, ought to be rejected.

7. And this consideration of yourself falls into three divisions, if you consider what, who, and what manner of man, you are. The first refers to your nature, the second to your person, and the third to your character. If, for example. it be asked, what? a man; who? pope or chief pontiff; what manner of man? kind, gentle, and so on. The investigation of the first of these may be more the work of a philosopher than of an apostolic man; still, in the definition of a man as a rational mortal animal, there is something which you may, if you choose, carefully ponder. There is nothing in it contrary either to your profession or your rank, but there is something which may contribute to your salvation. For if you consider these two attributes together, rationality and mortality, you gather good fruit—the fact of your mortality humbles your reason, while your reason supports you under the thought of your mortality, and a prudent man will not neglect either side. If the point before us requires further consideration, it shall be dealt with later on, perhaps more profitably, when we pass the whole of our work under review.

8. We must next notice 'who you are, and what your origin was. I have used the word ' origin ', but I think I had better pass that over and leave it to your perception. This I do say, that it would be an unworthy thing for you, knowing the perfection you have left, to stop short of the perfection which lies before you. Should you not blush to be a minnow among the whales when you remember that you were a whale among the minnows? You have not forgotten your first profession; it is taken out of your hands, but you still have some thought for it, and even affection. To keep it in view will not be unprofitable in the framing of your several commands, judgements, ordinances. This consideration makes you a despiser of honour even in the midst of honour. And that is a great thing. Lay it to heart; it is your shield to protect you from the arrow—' Man being in honour is without understanding'. Say, therefore, to yourself, I was of low estate in the house of the Lord. What means this, that, poor and lowly though I was, I am raised to rule over peoples and kingdoms? Who am], or what is my father's house, that I should sit above dignitaries He who said to me, ' Friend, go up higher ', surely trusts that I shall be a friend. If I am found less, it is not indeed well with me. He who has raised me up can also cast me down. Too late should I complain, Thou hast taken me up and dashed me to the ground.' There must be no flattery of your exalted rank, when there is more cause for anxiety. The rank magnifies the danger, the anxiety manifests the friend! Let us give good heed to this, unless we wish at length with shame to take the lowest place.

9. We cannot disguise the fact that we must most carefully observe why it is that you have been set above other men. I certainly do not think it is that you may exercise lordship over them. For even the prophet, when he was in like manner exalted, was told ' to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to plant '.' Which of these has the ring of pride in it? Is it not more correct to say that the labourer's task typifies spiritual toil? And if we are to think highly of ourselves, we should perceive that a burden of service is laid upon us, not the privilege of lordship bestowed. ' I am not greater than the prophet; and if haply I am his equal in authority, still there is no comparison between our deserts.' Speak thus to yourself, and do you who teach others teach yourself. Suppose you are as one of the prophets. Is not that enough for you? Yes, and more than enough. But by the grace of God you are what you are. What is that? Suppose you are a prophet,.ire you more than a prophet? If you are wise you will be content with the measure wherewith God hath measured to you. For what is 1 Pt. cii. 10. 2 Jer. i. IO.

more is of evil. Learn by the prophet's example to govern, not so much for the purpose of commanding as of doing what the time requires. Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you want is not a sceptre, but a hoe. The prophet does not rise to reign, but to root out the weeds. Do you not think that you, too, may find something to be done in your Master's field? Yes, and plenty of it. The prophets have surely not been able to clean all the ground; they left something for their sons, the apostles, to do; and your progenitors have left something for you. Nor will you prove equal to the whole task. You will assuredly leave something for your successor, and he for others, and 50 on to the end. Accordingly, we find that about the eleventh hour the labourers were rebuked for idleness, and sent into the vineyard. Your predecessors, the apostles, were told that ' the harvest was indeed plenteous, but the labourers were few Claim for yourself the inheritance of your fathers. For if you are son, then you are also the heir. That you may prove yourself to be the heir, diligently watch, and forgo sluggish ease, lest to you also it be said, Why standest thou here all the day idle? 10. Much less ought you to be found dissolved in luxury, or proudly exhibiting yourself. The will of the testator bequeaths to you nothing like this. Need I say that if you are content with its provisions you will inherit care and toil rather than glory and riches. Does Peter's chair flatter you? It is a watch-tower whence, in a word, you exercise supervision; the very name of ' bishop' reminds you not of lordship, but of duty. How fitting it is that you are set on high where you can view all things, inasmuch as you are appointed watch man over all. In very truth the legitimate issue of that prospect is not ease, but readiness for battle. Where ease is 1 St. Matt. ix. 37. - Gal. iv. 7. 8 St. Matt. xx. 6, unlawful, what occasion is there for glorying? And case is out of the question when you are burdened with the constant care of all the churches. It must be so; for what else did the holy apostle transmit to you? ' Such as I have/ he says, 4give I thee.' What is that? One thing I know—it is not gold, nor silver, for he himself says, -Sil\er and gold I have-not.' If you happen to have them, use them not for your own gratification, but to meet the necessities of the time. You will then be using them as though you used them not. In them-Kes as regards man's spiritual welfare, they are neither good nor bd; yet the use of them is good, the pose is bad; anxiety about them is worse; the greed of gain still more disgraceful. Suppose that on the strength of some other plea you may claim them, you cannot do so by apostolic right. For the apostle could not give what he did not himself possess. What he had, that he gave—the care, as I have said, of the churches. Did he bequeath to you lordship over them? Hear what he says, ' Not lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves example- to the Hock.' And do not suppose that the words were prompted by humility only, and are not based on truth. In the Gospel there is the Lord's warning, 'The kings of the Gentiles hau lordship over them, and they that have authority over them are called Benefactors.' * And then He adds, - But ye shall not be so.' It is quite clear; the apostles are forbidden to exercise lordship.

i i. Go then, if you dare, and either, as a lord over God's heritage, assume the office of an apostle, or as an apostolic man exercise lordship. It is clear that you are debarred both. If you wish to have both together, you will lose both. You must otherwise think yourself excepted from the number of those of whom God thus complains, ' They have reigned, but not by me; they have been princes, and I knew it not.' Now if you like to reign without God, you have whereof to glory, but not before God. But if we uphold the prohibition, let us give heed to the commandment, ' He that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.' Here is the apostolic pattern; lordship is forbidden, service is enjoined; and this latter is also commended by the example of the Lawgiver Himself, who immediately adds, ' but I am in the midst of you as he that sen eth.' Who, then, would think he has nothing whereof to glory when he bears the title by which the Lord of Glory distinguished Himself? Rightly doth Paul glory therein when he says, 'Are they servants of Christ? so am I.' And then he adds, ' I speak as one beside himself, I more. In labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.' Oh! splendid service. What sovereignty does it not excel in glory? If you must glory, the pattern of the saints is set before you, the glory of the apostles is your model. Does that seem to you insignificant.? Oh! that some one would give me the power of becoming like the saints in glory! The prophet cries aloud. * Thy friends, O God, are too honourable for me, their sovereignty hath grown too strong.' The apostle exclaims, ' God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 12. I would have you always glory in this the best sort of glory, that which apostles and prophets chose for themselves, and handed on to you. In your abundant labours, in the cross of Christ, recognize your inheritance. Happy was the man who could say, 'I laboured more than all.' Here is glorying, but there is in it no vanity, no softness, no pride. If the work alarms, the reward invites. For every man shall receive according to his work. And if he laboured more than all, still he did not do all that was to be done, and there is yet room. Go into your Lord's field, and diligently consider the dense thicket of thorns and thistles which, according to the ancient curse, covers the ground even to this day. Go out, I say, into the world; for the field is the world, and it is given into your charge. Go into it, not as a lordly owner, but as a steward, that you may see and attend to that whereof you must give account. Go, I would say; traverse it with steps of zealous care, and careful zeal. For even they who were bidden go into all the world did not compass it with bodily presence, but with their forethought. And do you lift up as it were the eyes of your consideration, and see the lands, if they are not rather dry for burning than white for harvest. How often will what you took for the fruits of the earth, if you examine them carefully, prove to be briars; nay rather, not even briars; they are old and rotten trees, but certainly not fruit trees; their only fruit is swine's food, acorns and husks. How long are they to cumber the ground? If you go out, and clearly see them, will you not be ashamed that your axe is idle? Will you not be ashamed to have had the apostolic sickle put into your hand for nothing?

13. Once upon a time the patriarch Isaac had gone into this field; it was when Rebecca first met him; and, in the words of Scripture, ' he had gone out to meditate.' He went to meditate, you must go to extirpate. In your case meditation should already have led the way: the time for acting is i Cor. xv. io. 2 Gen. xxiv. 63.

at hand. If you now begin to hesitate, it will be too late.

According to the Saviour's counsel, you should have first sat down, and estimated the work, gauged your strength, weighed your wisdom, ascertained the relative value of things, and calculated the cost of virtue. Come then, reckon that there is still time for casting up the account, although the time for meditation on the plan has gone by. If you have given your heart to the work, you must now give your tongue and hand as well. Gird on your sword, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Glorify your right hand and arm by taking vengeance upon nations, by rebuking peoples, by binding their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron. If you do these things, you honour both your ministry and yourself the minister. That is no ordinary sovereignty. In virtue of it you drive out evil beasts from your borders, so that your flocks may be safely led into their pastures. You will vanquish the wolves, but not lord it over the sheep, the care of which you of course undertook that you might feed them, not oppress them. If you have well considered who you are, you are not ignorant that this is your duty. Moreover, if you know and do not, it is sin to you.

You have not forgotten the passage, ' the servant who knew his master's will, and did unworthy things, shall be beaten with many stripes.' The prophets and apostles were wont to do as I suggest. They were brave in war, not voluptuaries robed in silk. If you are a son of apostles and prophets, do as they did. Prove the nobility of your descent by conduct such as theirs; the only source of their nobility was the ingenuousness of their character, and the fortitude of their faith. Through this they conquered kingdoms, wrought righteousness, gained promises in return. Here is the conveyance of the inheritance of your fathers: I have put it before you, and in it you may see the portion which falls to you. Beclad with fortitude, and the inheritance is yours. Have faith, have wisdom, but the wisdom of the saints, which is the fear of the Lord, and you have what belongs to you. The whole ancestral estate is yours by clear right. Virtue is the richest estate. Humility is a good estate; founded thereon the whole spiritual edifice grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Through humility some have even possessed the gates of their enemies. For which of the virtues is so mighty to subdue the pride of demons and the tyranny of men? But though it be to every person alike a tower of strength from the face of the enemy, somehow or other, the greater the man the greater its acknowledged influence; the more distinguished its possessor. the more distinction it confers. It is eminently so in the case of the chief pontiff. No gem in all his gorgeous attire shines with a clearer and a purer light. For the higher he is above his fellows, the more through his humility he conspicuously surpasses not only other men, but himself also.

14. I shall perhaps be blamed for leaving the first part of my subject inadequately treated, and going off into the second; it will be said that my pen is beginning to tell what manner of man you ought to be, though it has not fully stated who you are. I suppose it blushed to see a man standing naked on the pinnacle of power, and hastened to clothe him in the robes of office. Without these the more clearly you are seen the more unseemly you appear. Can the desolation of a city that is set on a hill be hid? or the smoke of a lamp extinguished on the stand escape detection? We remember ' An ape upon the house-top: a silly king upon the throne '. Now lend me your ears as I sing my song; it may not be altogether pleasant, but it will do you good. The union of exalted rank with a base spirit is a monstrosity; so is the joining together of the chief seat and the lowest life; or of a tongue that speaketh great things, and an idle hand; or of much talk, and no fruit; or of a severe look, and light conduct; or of great authority, and no steadfastness. There is the mirror: let the foul countenance recognize itself, but you may rejoice that no resemblance to it is found in yours. Still I would have you look into the mirror lest haply, although you may have good grounds for self-satisfaction, there may not be wanting reasons for dissatisfaction. I would have you glory in the testimony of your conscience, but none the less I would have you humbled by that same testimony. It is seldom a man can say ' I know nothing by myself You walk more warily in the ways of goodness if you take care that evil does not lurk there. Wherefore, as I have said, you should know yourself, so that in the difficulties of your position, and such difficulties do exist, you may not only enjoy a good conscience, but, what is more, may also learn your defects. For who is free from defects? He lacks everything who thinks he lacks nothing. What if you are sovereign pontiff? Does it follow that because you are sovereign pontiff you are supremely perfect? Let me tell you that you are at the bottom if you think you are at the top. Who is at the top? He to whom nothing can i Cor. iv. 4.

be added. You greatly err if you think you are the man. God forbid! You are no of those who make dignities identical with virtues. You knew what virtue was before you were acquainted with rank. Let emperors and others who have not been afraid to be worshipped as divine enjoy that opinion:l Nebuchadnezzar for example, Alexander, Antiochus, Herod. As for yourself, consider that you bear the title of * supreme' not absolutely, but relatively. And when I say this, do not suppose that I am comparing your merits with other men's. I refer to functions of the ministry. Let a man so account of you as of a minister of Christ, and, without prejudice to the holiness of any one, beyond dispute the chief of ministers. I would you strove to be supreme in other respects, and did not think yourself supreme, or wish to be so regarded before you are. For how can you be proficient if you are already self-sufficient? It follows that there must be no reluctance to find out what is lacking, or you will have to confess that you lack modesty. Say with your predecessor, Not as though I had received, or were already perfect.' And again, ' I count not myself to have apprehended.' 3 This is the knowledge of the saints; it is far from that which puffeth up. He who adds this knowledge adds sorrow, but it is a sorrow which no wise man ever seeks to escape'. It is, forsooth, a healing sorrow, by means of which the deadly stupor of a hard and impenitent heart is excluded. This is why we deem him a wise man who could say My sorrow is ever in my sight I must now gather up the fragments, if any remain, of the topic from which not long ago we turned aside.

15. Come, let us still more closely investigate 'what you are, that is to say, the character you represent for a time in the Church of God. Who are you? the chief priest, the sovereign pontiff. You are the prince of bishops, the head of the apostles; in priority you are Abel, in government Noah, as a patriarch you are Abraham, in order Melchisedech, in rank Aaron, in authority Moses, as a judge you are Samuel, in power Peter, in virtue of your anointing you are Christ. You are he to whom the keys have been committed, and the sheep entrusted. There are, indeed, other door keepers of heaven, and other shepherds of flocks, but as you have received both names in a manner different from the rest, so for you they bear a more glorious meaning. Other pastors have each their several flocks assigned to them; to you all the flocks have been entrusted, one flock under one shepherd. Do you ask for proof of that? It is the Lord's word. For to which, I will not say of the bishops, but of the apostles, have all the sheep been committed so absolutely and unreservedly? ' If you love me, Peter, feed my sheep.'! What sheep? Are we to say the people of such and such a city, or region, or, at all events, kingdom? ' My sheep ', He says. Is it not clear that He has not specified some, but committed to him all? There is no exception where there is no distinction. And perhaps the fellow disciples of Peter were present when our Lord by charging him, and no one else, with the care of all the flocks, commended to them all the unity of one flock and one shepherd, according as it is written, * My dove, my beautiful, my perfect, is but one.' Where there is unity there is perfection. The other numbers are not perfect, but admit of division, falling short of unity. Hence it is that other bishops, understanding the mystery, have shared the various nations between them. In fact, James, who seemed to be a pillar of the Church, was content with Jerusalem, and gave up universal dominion to Peter. Admirably was James placed there to raise up seed to his dear Brother in the place where his Brother was slain, for he was the Lord's brother. Now if the Lord's brother yielded to Peter, what other man can dare to trespass on Peter's prerogative?

16. So then, according to your own authorities, other bishops are called to a share in responsibility, you are called to the exercise of plenary power. The power of other men is confined within fixed limits; yours extends to those who have power over their fellows. Have you not power, for sufficient reason, to shut heaven against a bishop, and even deliver him to Satan? Your prerogative, therefore, whether the power of the keys or the pastorate of the Hocks, is unassailable. Let me point out something else no less confirmatory of your prerogative. The disciples were in a boat when our Lord appeared, and, which was more delightful still, appeared in His risen body. Peter, knowing that it was the Lord, cast himself into the sea, and thus reached his Master, while the rest came in the boat. What does that mean? It was surely a sign of the unique pontificate of Peter, intended to show that while the others had charge, each of his own ship, he was entrusted with not one ship, but the government of the whole world. For the sea is the world, and ships are churches. Hence it is that on another occasion, like his Lord, he walked upon the water, and thus proved himself the one and only Vicar of Christ, destined to rule over not one people, but all, that is if the "many waters ' are ' many peoples So then while each of the other bishops has his own ship, you are in command of the greatest, the Universal Church throughout the world, the sum of all the other churches put together.

17. Now we see tube you are; but do not forget what you are. I, at all events, have not forgotten my promise to return to that point on a fitting occasion. And is it not most fitting to combine the consideration of who you are with the consideration of what you previously were? Why do I say 'were? You are still what you were. Why cease to regard what you have not ceased to be? What you have been, and what you are, is one and the same consideration; your new official character is a different matter. In the scrutiny of yourself the one should not exclude the other. For you are, as I have said, still what you were, and no less what you were than what you have since become, perhaps even more. In fact you were that by nature; this you have borrowed; you have been changed into it. The former is not thrown away, the latter is thrown in. Let us treat them both together; for, as I remember saying before, when they are compared one with the other they will both become more useful. When, 1 Apoc. xvii. 15.

father back, you were considering what you are, I told you to consider your nature as a man: for you were born a man. Moreover, if a person inquire who you personally are, the answer will be the name of the character you sustain, viz. a bishop, and this you have become: that you were not by birth. Now which of these seems to you to be absolutely your own, and above all else to belong to you? That which you have become, or that which you were born? Must we not say that which you were born? I therefore counsel you to mainly consider what you mainly are, that is to say, a man; such you were by birth.

18. Nor should you only observe what you were born, viz., a man, but also what manner of man, if you do not wish to be defrauded of the fruit and profit of your consideration. Away then with these hereditary girdles which have been accursed from the beginning. Tear to pieces the covering of leaves that conceal the shame but do not cure the wound. Strip off the disguise of this fleeting honour, and the tinsel of this sham glory, so that you may consider yourself in your bare naked ness, for naked you came out of your mother's womb. Did you then wear the sacred fillet? Had you then the glittering gems about your person? Were you robed in flowery silks? Did the plumes then wave upon your head? Were you decked with gold and silver? If you scatter all this like morning clouds quickly passing by and soon to altogether pass away, if you blow them from before the face of your consideration, you will behold a man naked, poor, wretched, pitiable; a man grieving that he is a man. blushing at his nakedness, weeping that he is born, complaining that he is a man born to toil, not to honour, born of a woman and thereby a guilty creature,' living but a little while and therefore in constant 1 Job i. 21. 2 Ibid. v. 7. Ibid. xiv. I.

fear, full of misery and therefore ever bathed in tears. And, truly, miseries abound, for they are those of body and soul together. How can he escape calamity who is born in sin, with a frail body and a barren mind? Of a truth he must be full of misery, who through transmitted corruption, the sentence of death, bears the double load of weakness of body and foolishness of heart. It will do you good to unite these two considerations. While you think of yourself as supreme pontiff, bear in mind as well that you not only were, but are, worthless ashes. In your thinking, imitate nature; and, which is worthier of you, imitate the Author of nature, by associating the highest and the lowest things. Has not nature in the person of man bound together poor clay and the breath of life? Has not the Author of nature in His own Person tempered together the Word and clay? Take then for your pattern both our original constitution and the mystery of our redemption, in order that, though you sit on high, you may not be high-minded, but may think lowly of yourself, and condescend to men of low degree.

19. Accordingly, if you consider how great you are, think also, and above all, what manner of man you are. This consideration keeps you well within yourself; it surfers you not to fly from yourself, nor to walk in great matters, or in things too wonderful for you. Take your stand within yourself; you will not then sink beneath your level, nor rise above it, you will not go too far, nor spread out too wide. Keep to the middle if you wish to keep moderation. The mid way is the safe way. Moderation abides in the mean, and moderation is virtue, livery abiding place outside the bounds of moderation is only exile to the wise man. Wherefore, he will not dwell in the length, that is, beyond moderation; nor even in the breadth, that is, outside it; nor, again, in the height, or in the depth, one of which is above moderation, the other beneath it. In fact ' length' mostly implies going beyond bounds; breadth ' may mean a rent, ' height ' a fall, and 'depth' an abyss. I say these things the more plainly that you may not think I am repeating the apostle's exhortation to comprehend with all saints the length, and breadth, and height, and depth. This belongs to another sort of discussion, and a different occasion. Just now by ' length ' I mean a man's promising himself a long life; by breadth ', his being racked with superfluous cares; by ' height ', his trusting too much in himself; by 'depth', his being unduly depressed. Well then, if a man measures out for himself distant times, is he not really starting to go too far? Is he not in his far-reaching anxiety passing the bounds of life? Thus it is that men, exiled from themselves in this present life through forgetfulness, are led by useless anxiety to migrate to distant ages, which will not profit, nay rather, may never be. Likewise, the heart which is spread over many things must of net be torn by many cares, and once it is too thin there comes a rent. Further, if a man have overweening confidence in himself, what is there for him but a headlong fall? For you have read what is written, Before a fall the heart is lifted up.M And on the side of excessive timidity, what is depression but in a sense the loss of oneself in despair? A brave 1 Kph. iii. 18. 2 Prov. xviii. 13.

man will not be so far depressed. A prudent man will not be misled by the uncertainty of a long life. A modest man will moderate his cares; he will refrain from superfluities, and will not deny himself what is necessary. A righteous man, moreover, will not venture on what is above him, but will say with righteous Job, ' If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head.'

20. Let me beg you, then, in this consideration of yourself to walk with caution. Let perfect equity be your companion, so that you may not allow yourself more than is due, nor deprive yourself of more than is right. Now you fall into the first of these errors not only by claiming goodness which you have not, but also by taking credit for goodness which you have. Carefully distinguish how far you are what you are through your own efforts, and how far through the gift of God, and let there be no deceit in your spirit. Deceit there will be unless you faithfully separate what belongs to yourself, and honestly surrender to God the things which are God's. I do not doubt that you are fully convinced that what is evil in you comes from yourself, your goodness from the Lord. Certainly while we consider what manner of man you are, we must also recall to memory the sort of man you were; we must compare the end with the beginning. We must see whether you have advanced in virtue, in wisdom, in understanding, in sweetness of character, or whether, which God forbid you have fallen away. We must note whether you 1 Jobx. 15.

are more patient or more impatient than you were wont to be; more prone to wrath, or more gentle; more insolent, or more humble; more affable, or more austere; more easily entreated, or more obstinate; more pusillanimous, or more magnanimous; more earnest, or somewhat more careless; more filled with the fear of God, or, it may be, more confident than you ought to be. What a wide field lies before you in this kind of consideration! I therefore mention a few points, indicating, as it were, some seed plots, though I am not myself the sower, but only the giver of seed to the sower. You should have a clear idea of your zeal, your clemency, and also your discretion, which is the regulator of both those virtues; you should see what you are like in forgiving injuries and in avenging them; how far on both sides you prudently regard degree, place, and time. In the practice of these three virtues these three things must be thoroughly considered, lest if the conditions be not satisfied the ' virtues ' cease to be virtues; for there is nothing in their nature to make them virtues; they are such only by the right practice of them. They themselves tell us that they are ' indifferent'. It is possible for you, either by abusing them, or by confounding them with one another, to turn them into vices; on the other hand you may by the good and methodical use of them make them virtues. When the eye of discretion is darkened, they are wont to jump to conclusions and occupy their own stand points. Now there are two causes of this dim sight—anger and excessive tenderness. The rebuke of judgement is enfeebled by the latter, precipitated by the former. Must not a pious clemency be endangered on the one side, or a righteous zeal on the other? The eye that is disordered through anger views nothing in the light of clemency; the eye bedewed with tears of womanly tenderness does not see straight. You will not be innocent if you either punish him to whom, it may be, mercy should be shown, or spare him who ought to have been punished.

21. And I would not have you disguise the manner of man you have found yourself in tribulations. If you have found yourself steadfast in your own, sympathetic in other men's, rejoice. Here you have evidence of an upright heart. On the contrary, if perchance you are found to be impatient in your own trials, and are nevertheless seen to be by no means compassionate in other men's, this is a mark of a heart full of perversity. How has it been with you in prosperity? Is there nothing to call for consideration? Of course there is, if you carefully observe how seldom you find a man who does not, at least to some extent, in time of prosperity relax his vigilance and self-discipline. As regards discipline, when was not prosperity to the unwary what fire is to wax, or the rays of the sun to snow and ice? David was wise, Solomon wiser; but, flattered by unlooked-for success, the one in part and the other altogether acted foolishly. He is a great man, who, when he falls into adversity, does not fall away at least a little from his wisdom; and he is as great who has been favoured with the smiles of Fortune without becoming the butt of her ridicule. And yet it is easier to find men who have kept their wisdom when fortune was against them, than it is to find men who have not lost it when fortune was on their side. He deserves our choice, and he is a great man, who in the days of prosperity has at all events withstood the stealthy approaches of unbecoming laughter, or rudeness of speech; who has not bestowed too much attention upon dress, or pampered the body.

22. The wise man rightly admonishes us that if we are to write words of wisdom we must have leisure;* still we must be on our guard even against leisure itself. We must accordingly shun idleness, the mother of trifles, the step-mother of virtues. With men of the world trifles are trifles; in the mouth of a priest they are blasphemies. Yet, if sometimes they occur in conversation, we must perhaps put up with them; reply to them in the same strain we never ought. Rather we ought cautiously and prudently to put a stop to trifling. We should do our best to break out into something serious to which the company would listen not only with profit, but with pleasure, and refrain from idle talk. You have consecrated your mouth to the Gospel; to open it for such things is unlawful, to accustom it to them is sacrilege. ' The lips of the priest,' says one, ' keep knowledge, and men look for the law from his mouth ';a certainly not trifles, or idle tales. It is not enough that buffoonery, which they glorify as wit and polish, be removed far from your mouth; it ought also to be banished far from your ear. It is an abomination that you are moved to laughter, it is more abominable for you to move others. But whether it is more damnable to disparage a man, or listen to a disparager, I could not easily tell.

23. I need not trouble you to look at avarice, for you are said to value money no more than chaff. There is, assuredly, no reason to dread your judgements on that account. But there is a lurking danger which no less frequently, and no less banefully, besets the judgement seat; and as regards this, I should be very sorry if any mischief were latent in your conscience, and you were unaware of it. Do you ask to what I refer? The acceptance of men's persons. Consider yourself guilty of no small sin if you welcome sinners, and do not rather decide the causes of the deserving. There is also another vice; if you feel yourself to be free from it you will in my opinion sit in solitary state among all those whom have known to occupy the chair, because you have really, in a singular measure, raised yourself above yourself as the prophet says. I mean an easy credulity, a very crafty little Booh 11, Chapter xi 65 fox, against whose tricks, so far as I have ascertained, not one of our great men has taken adequate precaution. That was why they were so often angry, all for nothing; that was why they frequently abandoned the innocent, and delivered premature judgements against men who were not in court. But I congratulate you (and I am not afraid that you will brand me as a flatterer), I congratulate you, I say, on having hitherto presided without much complaint about any of these things; whether you are also free from fault, see for yourself. Now your consideration must be directed to those things which are below you. But here we start afresh; for, bearing in mind your many occupations, the shorter the discourse the better.