PREFACE. There are twelve abuses of the world, namely: a wise man without works, an old man without religion, a young man without obedience, a rich man without almsgiving, a woman without chastity, a lord without virtue, a contentious Christian, a proud poor man, an unjust king, a negligent bishop, a populace without discipline, a people without law. Thus is justice choked. These are the twelve abuses of the world, by which the wheel of the world, if they be in it, is deceived and, with no support of justice hindering it, is rolled by the just judgment of God to the darkness of hell. A WISE MAN WITHOUT WORKS. First, if there be a wise man and a preacher without good works, one who neglects to fulfil by deeds what he teaches by word.
For the hearers despise the sayings of doctrine when they perceive the deeds of the preacher to be at variance with the words of his preaching; for the authority of the one preaching is never made effective unless he has fixed it in the heart of the hearer by the effect of the work—especially since even the teacher himself, if he has fallen into the love of vices, will little esteem the applying of another teacher's medicine to his own wounds. Whence the Lord Himself in the Gospel, wishing to instruct His disciples alike in doctrine and in good work as to what caution they should have in these things, admonished them, saying: 'If the salt shall have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?'—that is, if the teacher shall have erred, by what other teacher shall he in turn be corrected? 'And if the light that is in thee be darkness; how great shall that darkness itself be?'
For if the eye shall have ceased from its office of seeing, who shall demand that service from the hand or the foot or the rest of the body? Wherefore let teachers consider, lest they lie under the greater vengeance, if they more abundantly furnish an occasion for the ruin of very many. For Solomon too, when he incurred the transgression of his great wisdom, brought about the dispersion of the kingdom of the whole Israelite people by his own desert alone. To those, therefore, to whom much is committed, they lose the greater things if they have not rightly dispensed the gifts of their Ruler which they have received. For to whom more is committed, more is required of him. And the servant who, understanding his lord's will, does it not, shall be beaten with sharper and heavier scourges of vengeance. AN OLD MAN WITHOUT RELIGION.
The second degree of abuse is if an old man be found without religion, one in whom, while the members of the outer man grow old, the powers of the mind—that is, the members of the inner man—do not take on increases of strength. For it befits old men more than all others to give heed to religion, whom the flowering age of the present world, now spent, has forsaken. For just as among trees the tree itself is shown to be reprobate which after its blossoms does not present the choicest fruits to its cultivator, so also among men that man is reprobate whom the flower of youth has forsaken, and who yet in the old age of his body counts it a small thing to bring forth the ripe fruits of good works.
For what more foolish thing can be done, than that the mind should not strive to hasten toward perfection, when the whole condition of the body, worn out with old age, hastens toward destruction? While the eyes grow dim, the ear hears heavily, the hair falls out, the face is changed into pallor, the weary teeth are diminished in number, the skin grows dry, the breath smells unpleasant, the chest is choked, the cough cackles, the knees tremble, a swelling puffs up the ankles and feet: the inner man, who does not grow old, is weighed down by all these. And all these things swiftly foretell the house of the body already now on the point of falling. What then remains, but that, while the failing of this life draws near, each old man should aim to think of nothing else than how the entrance to the life to come may be prosperously secured?
For to the young the end of this life stands uncertain, but for old men a riper departure from this light is in every way in agreement. Two little members, therefore, are to be guarded by a man, which do not grow old in his flesh and which drag the whole man toward sinning: namely, the heart and the tongue; for the heart never ceases always to contrive new thoughts, and the tongue busily speaks whatever it has perceived the heart to be contriving. Let the aged season, then, beware, lest these ever-youthful little members beguile the whole harmony to themselves and, through unfitting matters, make sport of the gravity of the rest of the body. For each man must consider what is now worthy of his eminent age, so that he may do that which renders neither his life, nor his age, nor his ministry contemptible.
A YOUNG MAN WITHOUT OBEDIENCE. The third degree next is a young man without obedience, by which the world is corrupted from the right order of reason. For how shall he hope to be ministered to in old age, who in youth scorns to show obedience to his elders? Whence also it is held as a proverb among the ancients, that he cannot be served who first refuses to render service to another. On which account also the Lord Jesus, in the days of His flesh, while He had not yet attained to the lawful age of a teacher, obediently rendered ministration to His parents. As therefore in old men sobriety and perfection of manners is required, so in young men compliance and subjection and obedience is duly owed.
Wherefore also in the commandments of the law, the first among those which pertain to men is the honour of father and mother enjoined; because, although a carnal father may not survive or may be unworthy, yet the paternal honour is shown to be owed by sons even up to a fitting age to some worthy and living father. For fathers are called in the divine Scriptures in four ways, that is: by nature, by nation, by admonition, by age. For of a natural father Jacob speaks to Laban: 'Unless the fear of my father Isaac had been present, thou wouldst have taken away all that is mine.' But a father is spoken of by nation, when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying: 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.'
But by age and likewise by admonition a father is spoken of, when Moses in the song of Deuteronomy says: 'Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee thy elders, and they will tell thee.' If therefore the natural father be not surviving, or be unworthy, yet obedience is to be rendered by the young to one who admonishes or to an elder. For how shall he appear honoured in old age, who has not borne the labour of discipline in youth? For whatsoever a man shall have laboured, that also shall he reap. For all discipline in the present seems to be not of joy but of sorrow; yet afterwards it renders through itself the most peaceable fruit of righteousness to the exercised.
As therefore fruit is not found in a tree on which the tendril or the blossom has not first appeared, so also in old age he will not be able to obtain lawful honour who in youth has not laboured in the exercises of some discipline. How then can discipline come to be without obedience? A young man, therefore, without obedience is a young man without discipline: since obedience itself, which is the mother of all disciplines, has need of great exercise, that it may present the standard of its zeal to Christ the Lord, who, obedient to the Father, willingly bore even the ignominy of the death of the cross. A RICH MAN WITHOUT ALMSGIVING.
The fourth degree of abuse is a rich man without almsgiving, who, having a superfluity for his own use which he stores up to be kept for the future, does not distribute it to the needy and to those who have nothing; whereby it comes about that, while he guards with diligent care the things sought upon earth, he loses the everlasting treasure of the heavenly fatherland. To which treasure the Lord Jesus invited the rich young man who had asked Him about perfection, answering thus: 'If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.' Which treasure no man can ever have, save he who furnishes comforts to the poor, or who is himself poor. Let not that, then, sleep in thy treasures which can profit the poor.
For a rich man can by no means enjoy alone the things he has gathered, since the nature of a single man does not have recourse to many things. What then is more foolish than, for the sake of the food and clothing of one man, to lose the whole perennial joyfulness of the kingdom of heaven, and to undergo the eternal torments of hell without any awaiting of consolation? What therefore must at some time be lost through necessity, is to be distributed of one's own accord for an eternal recompense. For all things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal. For as long as we are temporal, temporal things serve temporal things; and when we shall have passed hence, eternal comforts shall be furnished to eternal beings.
For this reason we ought not to love those things which we shall not always possess, especially since they show a covetous rich man, devoid of reason, to be the slave of his treasure and his field and all that he has—one who with the whole gaze of his heart loves those things which never love him. For if anyone has loved gold and silver, fields and garments, foods and metals and brute animals, the very nature of things shows that all these cannot repay him love in return. What is further from reason than to love that which cannot love thee back, and to neglect Him who with love furnishes all things to thy command? Therefore, on this account, it is enjoined by God that not the world be loved, but the neighbour, because the neighbour can repay love in return, which the world can by no means do, as is not doubted.
For thus the Lord commands that even an enemy is to be loved, so that that love may make of that enemy a friend. Whosoever therefore is a covetous rich man, if he wishes to have eternal riches, let him lose in the meantime, by distributing to the needy, the riches that shall not abide. For if he sells not that which he loves, no one will be able to buy that which he desires. For the covetous are on this account called accursed in the judgment by the most righteous Judge, because those who passed by their dwellings did not say: 'The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.' Wretched, therefore, are the covetous rich, who for the sake of transitory things slip down into eternal damnation; and, on the contrary, blessed are the merciful, for they themselves shall obtain mercy.
Blessed is the merciful man, since in this virtue God requires not substance but disposition. A WOMAN WITHOUT CHASTITY. The fifth grade of abuse is a woman without chastity. For just as prudence procures and guards all good conduct in men, so chastity nourishes, fosters, and holds fast all honourable deeds in women. For chastity guards purity, restrains greed, avoids quarrels, softens anger, holds lust in check, tempers desire, chastens wantonness, silences drunkenness, does not multiply words, purges away the cravings of gluttony, and utterly condemns theft. Why say more? It restrains all vices and nourishes all virtues and whatever is praiseworthy in the sight of God and of good men.
An unchaste life looks for no praise from men in the present age nor reward from God in the age to come; but a chaste life possesses a good name among men and rejoices in the resource of future blessedness. To those now living it makes itself worthy of imitation, and to posterity it leaves a beloved memory. It always delights in good conduct and consents to it, and it invigorates the soul with constant meditations upon the Scriptures and with their sayings. It keeps the examples of good men who have gone before, and it binds itself in inseparable fellowship with the perfect. The exercise of true chastity, therefore, consists of two modes: namely, in the bearing and outward appearance of the body, and in the inner disposition of the mind.
By the outward mode, according to the Apostle, we set forth examples before men; by the inward mode we provide good works before God. For the chastity of the body is not to covet another's goods, and to avoid all impurity.
It is: not to wish to taste food before the fitting hour, not to stir up laughter, not to speak empty and false words, to keep one's whole appearance orderly and befitting one's calling, both in hair and in clothing, as is seemly; not to enter into fellowship with the unworthy, not to look upon anyone with a haughty gaze, not to let the eyes wander, not to walk with a pompous and seductive gait, to appear inferior to none in beginning a good work, to inflict insult or shame upon no one, to blaspheme no one, not to mock the aged, not to envy the good, not to dispute with one's better, not to treat of things one does not know, and not even to utter all the things one does know. These things render a person beloved to his neighbours and make him acceptable to God.
But the chastity of the soul is: to do all good things more for the sake of God's eyes than of man's; to restrain the longings of base thoughts; to esteem all others better than oneself; to envy no one; to trust nothing in oneself; always to commit all affairs to God's help; to set oneself before the eyes of God; not to stain the mind with heretical depravity; to consent in all things with the catholics; to cling to God alone; to offer the purity of the inner mind to the Lord Jesus Christ; to bring every good work begun to its end only at the boundary of death; to make light of present tribulations with fortitude of soul; to love nothing on earth save one's neighbours; to lay up in heaven the treasure of all love; and to hope from God for the reward of every good deed in the heavenly places.
Chastity is the ornament of the noble, the exaltation of the humble, the nobility of the base-born, the beauty of the worthless, the prosperity of those who toil, the solace of the sorrowing, the increase of all beauty, the honour of religion, the defence against accusations, the multiplication of merits, and friendship with God, the Creator of all. A MASTER WITHOUT VIRTUE. The sixth grade of abuse is a master without virtue, for it profits nothing to have the power of ruling if the master himself does not also possess the vigour of virtue. But this vigour of virtue does not so much need the strength of an army, which is itself necessary to worldly masters, as it ought to exercise the inner fortitude of the mind through good conduct.
For often the virtue of ruling is lost through negligence of soul, as is shown to have happened in the case of Eli the priest. Since through the severity of judgment he did not restrain his sinning sons, the Lord did not spare him, as one consenting to their punishment. Those who rule, therefore, must have three things: namely, terror, order, and love. For unless a master is both loved and feared, his ordering can by no means stand firm. Through benefits and affability, then, let him take care that he be loved; and through just punishments, not of his own injury but of the law of God, let him strive that he be feared.
Therefore also, since many depend upon him, he himself ought to cling to God, who set him in leadership, who strengthened him as one stronger to bear the burdens of many. For a peg, unless it be well fixed and firmly cling to something stronger, whatever hangs upon it quickly slips, and it too, loosed from the vigour of its firmness, falls to the ground with its burdens; so also a prince, unless he clings persistently to his Creator, both he and everyone who consents to him quickly perish. For some, through the office of ruling, draw more solidly near to God; others, by the honour of dignity imposed upon them, become worse. For Moses, having received the leadership, enjoyed more familiar converse with God.
But Saul the son of Kish, after he received the scepters of the kingdom, offended God through the pride of disobedience. King Solomon, after he obtained the throne of his father David, God endowed him beyond all mortals, as it were for the governance of an innumerable people, with the gift of wisdom; but on the contrary, Jeroboam the servant of Solomon, after he received a portion of the kingdom of the house of David, drew the ten tribes of Israel that were in the region of Samaria to the worship of idols. By which examples it is clearly shown that some, in a loftier estate, grow to greater perfection, but some, through the arrogance of dominion, flow down to worse things.
By both of which it is understood that those who ascend to better things are able to do so through the virtue of soul and the help of God, and that those who turn aside to worse things go astray alike through weakness of mind and through negligence. Whence a master ought not to be made without virtue, which virtue he can by no means possess without the help of God. For he who guards many things, if he has not fortitude, is unable to carry it out, since great things are wont to labour under great assaults and adversities. Everyone therefore who presides should first of all take care, with the whole intent of his soul, that in all things he in no way doubt of the Lord's aid. For if he begins to have the Lord of lords as his helper in his acts, no man will be able to hold his dominion in contempt.
For there is no power except from God. He himself raises up the needy from the dunghill and makes him sit with the princes of his people; he casts down the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble, that the man cleansed may become subject to God in all things and hunger for the glory of God. A CONTENTIOUS CHRISTIAN. The seventh grade of abuse is a contentious Christian, who, though he has received a share in the name of Christ through faith and baptism, loves the fleeting delights of the world against the sayings and purpose of Christ. For everything that is contended for is sought either for the sake of love of that very thing about which one strives, or for the sake of love of another thing which lies hidden under a hateful appearance.
For example, war, though it be a hateful thing because of the fierce clash of combatants, is waged for the love of victory and liberty; and many other beloved things are sought quite contentiously under hateful toil or dread. Whence it is plainly understood that nothing is contended for except on account of an ensuing love, namely a beloved reward. He therefore who contends for the present world from whatever cause is clearly shown to love the world, which the words of the Holy Spirit forbid through John, in which he says: Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. For the love of the world and of God cannot dwell together in one heart, just as the eyes cannot look upon heaven and earth at the same time.
But it must be inquired whether there is truly anything in the world that ought to be loved, and what that world is which the divine words forbid to be loved. The earth, then, with the things born from it, and the metals, and the living creatures, and the beauty of garments, and the delights of foods, and the things pertaining to these, is commanded not to be loved; but our neighbour, for whose sake all these things were made, is commanded to be loved. For all these aforesaid things, as things that will not abide, cannot accompany those journeying to the heavenly homeland. But neighbours, as those who will abide, coheirs of the King, freely love one another in turn. That therefore which does not always abide in the world and will pass away together with the world, and the world itself, we are commanded not to love.
But the neighbour, who is a part of the heavenly kingdom, meanwhile on earth is not unfittingly loved by those who long for the kingdom of heaven, since in that supreme homeland he will be held as coheir for ever. For this reason, however, the present world is commanded not to be loved, lest anyone, as a lover of the age estranged from the love of God, be made such. That therefore ought not to be contended for which is not permitted to be loved. A Christian, therefore, who holds the likeness of the name of Christ, ought also to have the likeness of his conduct. For no one is rightly called a Christian except him who is made equal to Christ in conduct. And of Christ it is thus described through the prophet: Behold my child whom I have chosen, my elect, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him.
He will not contend, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. Behold, Christ did not contend nor cry out; and you too, if you desire to retain the likeness of Christ's conduct, do not contend, lest you be an abusive Christian in the Church. For Christ commanded his followers: Do not be called Rabbi, for one is your Master, who is Christ; and call no man father upon earth, for one is your Father who is in heaven. For you are all brethren. To whom, for making supplication, he commanded them to say: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. In vain, therefore, does he contend for a father on earth who professes to have a Father and a homeland in heaven.
Of which homeland no one becomes possessor except him who is held free from contention over an earthly homeland. A PROUD POOR MAN. The eighth grade of abuse is a proud poor man, who, having nothing, is lifted up in pride, whereas on the contrary the rich of the world are commanded through the Apostle not to be high-minded. What, then, can be done more foolish than that he who, through the lowest misery, cast as it were to the earth, ought to have walked lowest and humble and to have been saddened, should rear up his mind, puffed up with the haughty swelling of pride, against God? Through this vice they fell who had been established on the highest summit of heaven. What, then, does he wish to be proud of, as though powerful on earth, who ought to have appeared humble before all men?
But lest they have sadness over their poverty, let the poor attend to what they are to receive from God: for he himself says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For by a right dispensation the Merciful One commits the kingdom of heaven to those from whom he has taken away participation in the kingdom of earth among mortals, that he himself may appear rich in the seat of heaven who on earth procures nothing at all. But the poor must beware, lest, while through necessity they lose the kingdom of earth, they also, through imprudence of mind, lose the kingdoms of heaven. For when by God's dispensation they have received necessary poverty, it hangs upon their own judgment whether they be poor in spirit.
For the kingdoms of heaven are not promised to just any poor, but only to those whose lack of riches is accompanied by humility of soul. For the humble poor man is called poor in spirit, who, though he is seen to be needy outwardly, is never lifted up in pride; since for the attaining of the kingdoms of heaven, humility of mind avails more than the temporal poverty of present riches. For the humble, who rightly possess the riches they hold, can be called poor in spirit; and there is no doubt that the proud who have nothing are deprived of the blessedness of poverty. Concerning both of whom Holy Scripture thus speaks: There is one that is as it were rich, when he has nothing; and there is one that is as it were poor, when he is in many riches.
The proud poor man is as it were rich in the disposition of his mind, and the rich man is as it were poor in the humility of his mind. Riches amid want, therefore, is humility of mind, and foolish riches are the excess of souls. Provision must therefore be made for the poor, that they may understand of what sort they themselves are, and that they cease to be proud with swelling of mind over what they are unable to attain in things. AN UNJUST KING. The ninth grade of abuse is an unjust king. For a king ought to be not unjust but a corrector of the unjust. Whence he ought to guard in himself the dignity of his own name: for the name of king intellectually retains this, that he should provide the office of ruler for all his subjects. But how will he be able to correct others, who does not correct his own conduct that it be not unjust?
The justice of a king is: to oppress no one unjustly through power; to judge between a man and his neighbour without respect of persons; to be a defender of strangers and orphans and widows; to restrain thefts; to punish adulteries; not to exalt the wicked; not to nourish the unchaste and actors; to destroy the impious from the land; not to suffer parricides and perjurers to live; to defend the churches; to feed the poor with alms; to set just men over the affairs of the kingdom; to have old and wise and sober counsellors; not to attend to the superstitions of magicians and soothsayers and pythonesses; to defer anger; to defend the homeland bravely and justly against adversaries; to live in God through all things; not to lift up his mind in prosperity; to bear all adversities patiently; to hold the catholic faith in God; not to suffer his sons to act impiously; to persist in prayers at fixed hours; and not to taste food before the fitting hours.
For woe to the land whose king is a child and whose princes eat in the morning. These things bring about the prosperity of the kingdom in the present, and lead the king to the better heavenly kingdoms. But he who does not order his kingdom according to this law endures, without doubt, many adversities of his rule.
For on this account the peace of peoples is often broken, and offences are stirred up even from within the kingdom; the fruits of the earth also are diminished, and the services of peoples are hindered; many griefs also infect the prosperity of the kingdom; the deaths of dear ones and of children bring sadness; the incursions of enemies lay waste the provinces on every side; wild beasts tear apart the herds of cattle and flocks of sheep; the tempests of spring and winter forbid the fruitfulness of the lands and the ministries of the sea; and sometimes strokes of lightning burn up the crops and the blossoms of trees and the vine-shoots. But above all, the injustice of the king not only darkens the face of his present rule, but also obscures his sons and grandsons, that they may not hold the inheritance of the kingdom after him.
For on account of the sin of Solomon the Lord scattered the kingdom of the house of Israel from the hands of his sons. And on account of the justice of King David he left him always a lamp of his seed in Jerusalem. Behold how much the justice of a king avails for the world, it plainly appears to those who observe. It is the peace of peoples, the safeguard of the homeland, the immunity of the common folk, the defence of the nation, the care of the sick, the joy of men, the mildness of the air, the serenity of the sea, the fruitfulness of the earth, the solace of the poor, the inheritance of children, and for himself the hope of future blessedness. Yet let him know that just as he was set first upon the throne of men, so also in punishments, if he has not done justice, he will hold the primacy.
For all the sinners whom he had under him in the present, he will have above him, as it were in a scourging manner, in that punishment. A NEGLIGENT BISHOP. The tenth grade of abuse is a negligent bishop, who seeks the honour of his rank among men, but does not guard the dignity of his ministry before God, on whose behalf he discharges an embassy. First, then, let it be inquired of the bishop what the dignity of his own name holds: for a bishop, since it is a Greek name, is interpreted as watchman. But why he is set as a watchman, and what is required of a watchman, the Lord himself lays bare, when under the person of the prophet Ezekiel he announces to the bishop the reckoning of his office, saying thus: I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel.
Therefore, hearing the word from my mouth, thou shalt announce it to them from me. But if thou seest the sword coming, and thou announce it not, that the wicked man may turn back from his way, that wicked man indeed shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. But if thou announce it and he be not turned back, he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. It befits a bishop, therefore, who is set as watchman of all, to attend diligently to sins, and after he has attended, to correct them by word if he can and by deed; and if he cannot, according to the rule of the Gospel, to shun the workers of crimes. For if, he says in the Gospel, thy brother sin against thee, reprove him between thee and him alone.
If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother; if he hear thee not, take with thee yet one or two witnesses, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand; if he hear them not, tell it to the church; if he hear not the church, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican. By such order is he to be expelled who has refused to cling to any teacher or bishop. And he who has been expelled by such order ought not to be received by any other teacher or bishop. Of the priest it is written in the law: He shall not take a widow or one that is repudiated for a wife. He therefore who receives one excommunicated by a catholic, without that catholic's permission, acts against the statutes of Scripture and exceeds the laws of the holy priesthood, into which the race of Christians has been chosen.
In this manner ought a bishop to be toward those over whom he is set in watch. But of what sort he ought to be in himself, the Apostle Paul sets forth: that coming to the grade of the episcopate he be sober, prudent, chaste, wise, modest, hospitable, having his children subject with all chastity, having a good testimony from those who are without, preferring the faithful word of doctrines, having before the episcopate no more than one wife; no striker, no double-tongued, no drunkard, no neophyte, that through these things he may first show in work what he teaches others in the word of doctrine. Let negligent bishops therefore beware of that which, in the time of vengeance, the Lord complains through the prophet:
The dumb shepherds have destroyed my people, and the shepherds did not feed my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves. But rather let these provide, in that to which the Lord has appointed them over his household, to give them their food in due season, the measure of wheat, namely pure and approved doctrine, so that when the Lord comes they may deserve to hear: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. A PEOPLE WITHOUT DISCIPLINE. The eleventh grade of abuse is a people without discipline: for while it does not serve the exercises of discipline, it binds itself with the common snare of perdition; for it does not escape the wrath of the Lord without the rigour of discipline.
And therefore it is proclaimed to the undisciplined people in the words of the psalmist: Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry. Discipline, moreover, is the ordered correction of conduct and the observance of the rules of the elders who have gone before. Of which discipline the Apostle Paul speaks thus, saying: Persevere in discipline; God offers himself to you as to sons. But if you are outside discipline, whereof all have been made partakers, then are you adulterers and not sons. Those therefore who are adulterers and without discipline do not receive the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom; but sons bear the corrections of their father's discipline, and do not despair of being able at length to receive the inheritance.
Of which discipline also Isaiah preaches to that same undisciplined people, saying: Cease to act perversely, learn to do well. And to the same the psalmist sings in harmonious voice, saying: Turn away from evil and do good. Unhappy, therefore, is he who casts off discipline. For he dares something outside the soldiers, who, though those crucifying the Lord did not cut his tunic, cuts the discipline of the Church of Christ. For just as by the tunic the whole body is covered except the head, so discipline is over all in the Church except Christ. He therefore who is under discipline in the Church is protected and adorned. But that tunic was woven from above throughout, because the same discipline of the Church is bestowed and made whole by the Lord from heaven.
Of which the Lord, when he had ascended to the Father after he rose from the dead, spoke to his apostles: But sit you in the city, until you be endued with power from on high. The tunic of the body of Christ, therefore, is the discipline of the Church; but he who is outside discipline is estranged from the body of Christ. Let us not, then, rend it, but let us cast lots for it; let us not loose anything of the commandments of Christ, but let each one, in that wherein he was called, abide therein with God. A PEOPLE WITHOUT LAW. The twelfth grade of abuse is a people without law, who, while they despise the sayings of God and the decrees of the laws, run into the same snare of perdition through the diverse ways of errors.
Of which ways the prophet, under the person of the transgressing people, thus laments the human race: But we, like sheep, have gone astray; everyone has turned aside into his own way. Of which the same Wisdom also speaks through Solomon: There are many ways that seem right to men, but their ends lead to death. Which many ways of perdition are then trodden, when the one royal way, namely the law of God, which turns aside neither to the right nor to the left, is deserted through negligence. Of which way the Lord Christ, who is the end of the law unto justice to everyone that believes, declares: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me. To which way he invites all men in common, saying:
Come to me all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. For there is no respect of persons with God, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male and female, slave and free, barbarian and Scythian, but Christ is all in all: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Since, therefore, Christ is the end of the law, those who are without the law become without Christ. Therefore a people without law is a people without Christ.
It is therefore an abuse that in the times of the Gospel a people should become without Christ, when to the apostles the freedom of preaching to all nations has been given, when the thunder of the Gospel has resounded through all parts of the world, when the nations that did not follow after justice have laid hold of justice, when those who were far off have been made near in the blood of Christ, who were once not a people, but now a holy people in Christ, when it is the acceptable time and the day of salvation and the times of refreshing in the sight of the Most High, when every nation has a witness of the resurrection, when the Lord protests: Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the age.