which, if anyone should force upon them beyond their strength, they would perhaps be oppressed and weighed down, since the mind does not suffice to receive what is forced in—just as not even in little children does the bodily matter avail to digest foods too great for its strength—and they would feel even the loss and detriment of what they had before. But there are others who need wisdom, which is brought forth and preached among the perfect, and they can use loftier and stronger foods, inasmuch as they have their senses exercised to the discernment of good or evil, of truth and falsehood. To such it befits neither to be given milk to drink nor to be fed with herbs—that is, with weak and frail food;
otherwise they will by no means be strengthened in the fortitude of Christ, nor will they grow with that laudable increase whereby it behoves every perfect one to grow in him into a perfect man, into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 46. And who is fit for these things?
For we ought not to be like the very many who adulterate the word of God and mix water with wine—that is, to mingle a cheap discourse with the word that gladdens the heart of man, and creeping along the ground, such as either moves a jest or relates something temporal, so that we may seem to be peddling thereby some bit of carnal gain, when we so speak to individuals as they themselves delight to hear, and are as it were certain ventriloquists—that is, speaking from the belly and for the belly, and providing for the belly in all our words, which is truly to speak of the earth—that we may seem to please the powerful and the rich, whom rather we injure, nay whom we destroy, and whose innocent blood we shed; that is, we give over to perdition the life of simple souls, which assuredly will be required at our hands.
47. For all these reasons, therefore, I considered it much better to yield the reins of governing to others more skilled than to give a headlong chariot to ruin through inexperience, and rather to lend an ear to the hearing of obedience than to move an unskilled tongue. Reasoning thus within myself, and using myself as a counsellor not a bad one, as I think—or if not, certainly at least a diligent one—I preferred rather, while ignorant, to learn the words and deeds that pertain to piety than to teach them.
For it is desirable and very dear to me to go on learning even to the last old age, since indeed no age can suffice for learning thoroughly; but for one who is not sufficiently instructed to aspire to teach others seems to me a matter of the old proverb, 'to learn the potter's art on the wine-jar'—that is, to learn the doctrine of piety at the peril of souls. And such men seem to me either foolish enough or rash: foolish in this, if they are brutish to such a degree that they do not perceive that they are unskilled; rash, if they indeed understand, yet dare to approach the business. 48.
The elders of the Hebrews hand down that there was anciently among them a certain laudable observance of this kind: that not every Scripture was committed to every age either to be read or to be learned, for the reason that it was not expedient for all to learn all things quickly, since not all can grasp all things, and therefore they were rather harmed than helped, if, not yet capable, they should come to know those things which are more profound.
But all the rest indeed, whose historical narrative is not improbable, they learn straightway from boyhood; yet those Scriptures which under a cheap garment of the letter conceal within precious mysteries, it is committed to no one before the twenty-fifth year to learn or even to know—so that this might be, as it were, a certain prize set forth for the exercise of virtue to those in whom, at that age, both an approvable life and an adornment of morals and a capacity of understanding shall appear; who indeed may now be able well and confidently to ascend from the lower things of the letter to the higher and lofty things of the spirit. 49. What then? Among us shall there be no difference, no distinction between teaching and being taught? Nor shall any division be made between tribe and tribe?
Shall not those beyond the Jordan and these on this side of the Jordan receive their inheritance by lot? Shall no final boundary be given to our peoples?
Shall no rule of living be fixed, but all things be held in confusion, and each one do what seems right in his own eyes, so that very many of us—not to say all—almost before they lay aside the first hairs of infancy, while they still lisp like children, scarcely having entered the Lord's halls, before they even know the very names of the sacred volumes, before they learn either the authors of the New or Old Scripture or recognize the style—for that I do not say, before they wash off the filth and lay aside the vices of the soul—; if perchance somewhere they have learned two or three discourses from the ancient expositors, and this perhaps more from hearing than from reading, or if we have learned a few psalms here and there from David, and then use a darker and
well-composed garment, or if we display a philosophy even down to the girdle of the belt—colouring for ourselves an appearance and face of piety by inventions of this kind—we straightway already wish to be objects of admiration and praise, we already think to preside over peoples, we seem to ourselves to be some Samuel consecrated from the very cradle, wise men too and teachers and initiates of divine things, and we rank ourselves among the scribes and doctors of the law, and walk about as though certain heavenly beings, seeking to be called by men Rabbi, saying:
'The letter is by no means to be received at all, but all things are to be understood spiritually'—otherwise they would seem certain ravings and dreams—; and moreover we are indignant unless we are vehemently and favourably praised? And these are the more kindly and simpler among us; but those spiritual ones are fastidious, judging individuals and condemning them and reckoning them as nothing at all, and, if it so please them, they even withdraw, refusing our communion as impious. 50. But if we should wish to approach any of them with gentler admonitions and to meet him with reasonable assertion, saying: 'I beseech you, O best of men, answer me:'
'Do you hold it to be some art or discipline to play the flute or to strike the lyre?'—without doubt he will admit that it is a discipline. 'What then do you think of the wise man and of wisdom itself, that is, of the discipline and knowledge of things divine and human?' They will concede this also. 'And what? Do we hold those arts to be better than wisdom, or that wisdom far excels all these?' I know that they will concede this also; and thus far they will keep faith in the truth of their answers. What then?
The discipline of the lyre and the flute will have its teaching and its instructions, and time will be given for learning it, and labour and study will be applied, and fees will be paid to the teachers; sometimes even, if somewhere a more skilled master is heard of, a long journey too is undertaken for this purpose, and whatever it is that pertains to polished erudition, even if it be costly, is endured and borne—but wisdom, which is both the chief of all things and the discoverer, and has in itself all things and contains them, by whose name God too rejoices to be called rather than by the other appellations which it is lawful for human speech to use, shall we esteem so light and of so little moment that we think anyone has only to will and is forthwith wise?
Is not this the mark of the utmost and desperate inexperience? If, then, we should propose to them such things or things like these or even stronger, with them we sow upon rocks and tell tales to deaf ears, so that they are not even wise in this, that, being at least admonished, they should acknowledge their inexperience. Whence it seems to me that the saying of Solomon may worthily and fitly be applied to them, where he says: 'There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, a man who seems to himself to be wise.' But this is doubtless far more wicked, if such a one is even appointed a teacher of others, who is ignorant that he himself is unskilled. 51. Which sickness needs tears in great abundance and mourning rather than words.
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undeetegofrequenterapudmemetipsummiseratussumhuiusmodihominessciensquoduelleuiderisapientemhocestomninononessesapientem. sedgrandeinpedimentumesthominibusaduirtutemfalsaeetinanisgloriaepraesumptio. cuiustamenmorbipenituseffugeremaculamPetrifortasseuelPaulisit, qui, cumuerbietsapientiaeetgubernationisgratiampercipereaChristomeruissent, omni-bustamenomniafactisunt, utomneslucrifacerent. nobisuerosatisest, siuelgubernarinosrectepatiamuretregiabhisquibusregendigratiagubernandiqueconcessaest. 52.
Whence I too have often within myself pitied such men, knowing that to wish to seem wise is altogether not to be wise. But the presumption of false and empty glory is a great impediment to men toward virtue. Yet to escape utterly the stain of this disease may perhaps belong to a Peter or a Paul, who, although they had deserved to receive from Christ the grace of the word and of wisdom and of governance, nevertheless became all things to all men, that they might gain all. But for us it is enough if we suffer ourselves to be rightly governed and ruled by those to whom the grace of governing and of steering has been granted. 52.
But since we have made mention of Paul and of the rest like him, omitting, if it seems good, all the others who presided over peoples whether through the giving of the law, or through prophecy, or through the magistracy of warfare, or through any administration of this kind—such as Moses or Aaron or Joshua, or Elijah or Elisha, and all the judges, Samuel too and David and the rest of the multitude of the prophets, John also the Baptist, and the twelve disciples of the Lord, and those who, whether with them or after them, with much labour and sweat presided over peoples each in their own times—omitting now for the present all these, we shall bring forward Paul alone for the support of our argument, and in him and through him we shall consider what and how great is the care and diligence of souls, and whether it requires but little labour and prudence, or demands but little counsel and toil.
Let us therefore see what Paul says concerning Paul, and from him let us learn what manner of task this is which we are treating. I pass over the recounting of his labors and vigils, the miseries he endured in thirst and hunger, in cold and nakedness; I pass over those who lay in wait for him from without and those who resisted him from within; I pass over the persecutions, the Jewish councils, the prisons, the chains, the accusers, the trials, the daily and momentary deaths; that he was let down through a wall in a basket, that he was stoned, that he was beaten with rods;
I pass over his journeys around the whole world, the perils on the sea, the perils on the land, the deep of day and night, the shipwrecks, the perils of rivers, the perils of robbers, the perils from his own kindred, the perils among false brethren, his livelihood sought by the labor of his hands, the gospel preached without charge; that he was made a spectacle both to men and to angels, he who stood as a mediator between God and men, sustaining on behalf of men struggles and contests, but for God preparing and acquiring a substantial people. Besides all these things, then, who could worthily expound his daily watchfulness over each individual and his solicitude for all the churches? Merciful toward all, toward all stretched out with brotherly affection:
who suffered offense, and Paul was made weak? who was made to stumble, and Paul did not burn? But shall I recount his zeal and labor in teaching? Or the variety of his cares? Or shall I tell of his gentleness, and again his severity, or the tempering of both, so that he neither galled by much harshness nor enfeebled by excessive kindness? He gives laws to slaves and masters, to rulers and subjects, to men and women, to parents and children, to the married and the unmarried, to the continent and the licentious, to the wise and the foolish, to the circumcision and the uncircumcision, to the Church and to the world, to the spirit and to the flesh. For some indeed he rejoices and gives thanks, but others he chastises and rebukes;
some he names his joy and his crown, but others he marks for their folly; with some indeed who run well he runs, but others who run badly he reins in and recalls. Now he separates from the Church, now he receives back and confirms his love; now he mourns over some, now he is gladdened by others; now he gives milk to drink, now he reveals mysteries; now he abases himself and makes himself equal with the lowly, now he raises the lowly up with himself and exalts them; now he sets forth the spirit of meekness, now he threatens the proud and arrogant with the rod of apostolic power; now he rises up against the haughty, now he becomes to his disciples as a nurse who cherishes her own little ones; now he is the least of all the apostles, now he promises a proof of himself through Christ who speaks in him;
now he desires to depart and to be with Christ, now he proves it necessary to abide in the flesh for the sake of those who have need; for he seeks not the things that are his own, but the things that belong to those sons whom he begot in Christ through the gospel. This indeed is to be observed in a singular way by those who are set over spiritual peoples, that in all things they may neglect and despise what is their own for the benefit of the rest. Paul therefore glories, but in his weaknesses and tribulations, and he is adorned as with some precious jewel by the mortification of Christ; he is higher than all that is carnal, but he exults in spiritual things and glories; and although he is not unskilled in knowledge, yet he says that he sees through a glass and in an enigma.
He trusts in the spirit, and yet he afflicts the body, destroying it as a secret adversary—teaching us by these things and instructing us in what, except that we should presume nothing from those things which are below, nor be puffed up by knowledge, nor lift up the flesh against the spirit? He fights therefore on behalf of all, prays for all, is zealous for all with the zeal of God, is kindled and inflamed for all, for those who are outside the law, for those who are under the law, the teacher of the Gentiles, the advocate of the Jews. For whom he even dares something beyond what is lawful, namely for his brethren according to the flesh, that I too may dare to say something similar. He strives beyond the commandment of God; for he loves his neighbors not as himself, but more than himself.
Finally, he even prays that, himself being cast away, they might be brought to Christ in his stead. O singular magnificence of mind! O heavenly ardor of spirit! In this too he imitates Christ, who was made a curse for us, who bore our infirmities and carried our griefs and chose, so to speak, to be made outside of godliness for the sake of godliness, while he suffers himself to be anathema from Christ, only that these might be saved. And why should I speak of each particular? He lives not for himself but for Christ and for the preaching of the word; he crucifies the world to himself and himself to the world; he counts all things small and trifling for the desire of Christ.
Even though from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum he should fill all with the gospel, even though he should be caught up and ascend to the third heaven, even though he should be led into paradise and there hear words which it is not lawful for men to utter, in all these things he glories not, save only in his weaknesses. But these things befit Paul and any who perchance are in spirit like him.
But as for us, I fear lest, according to that which is written, we be foolish princes of Tanis, or exactors gleaning the peoples, or pronouncing the people blessed to their seduction and confounding the paths of their feet; or even among those of whom it is said that mockers shall rule over them, and youths set as rulers, and children in their senses—we who perhaps have not even bread or clothing for this very purpose, that we should be rulers over some; or prophets teaching iniquity and who are called blessed in vain. Certainly much is lacking to us, that we should be priests speaking to the heart of Jerusalem. All these things Isaiah lays to their charge and reproaches them with—he whose lips are purified by the fiery coal through the Seraph.
The work indeed is so great and of such a kind and so laborious to a feeling heart, but is the danger light or none, and the fall contemptible? Indeed it threatens me with much fear. Hence the blessed Hosea, declaring that judgment is upon us priests and rulers, says: We have become, he says, a snare to the watchtower, and like a net spread out over Tabor, which has been spread by those who capture human souls. But he also threatens that the evil prophets are to be cut down and their judges consumed by fire. And that there must be a ceasing from anointing kings and ordaining rulers, because they set up kings for themselves and not through God.
Hence also the blessed Micah deters us, not enduring that Zion be built in blood and Jerusalem in the iniquity of her princes, who judged with bribes, and whose priests answered for hire, and whose prophets divined for money. On account of which iniquities, or others like them, he says that Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be left like a cottage in an orchard, and the mountain in which the house of God is shall be like a forest grove.
Mourning also that he finds but rarely any who walk uprightly, as if a stalk should be found here and there after the reapers, or a cluster after the grape-gatherers, he nonetheless at times rebukes both princes who covet and judges who speak words for favor, and almost in like manner he cries out as the blessed David: Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed. The blessed Joel also enjoins upon us lamentation and commands mourning upon those who minister at the altar, when the devastation of famine was threatening—so far is luxury and abundance forbidden amid the want of others—; finally they are bidden to sanctify a fast and to proclaim a healing, and to bring also the old men and the little ones, ages worthy of all compassion.
But they themselves also are bidden to go up to the temple and to prostrate themselves in ashes and sackcloth—since indeed the land has been made wretched, and the drink-offering and the sacrifice have been taken away from the house of the Lord—that through exceeding humility they might merit mercy. But what shall I say of Habakkuk? who, using more fervent words, turned his very speech upon God himself, and, as it were with confidence in the Lord's kindness, on account of the iniquity of the judges he inveighs against the Lord himself, if I may so speak, saying: How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not hear? Shall I cry to you, suffering violence, and you will not save? Why have you shown me labors and sorrows, that I should behold this misery and impiety? In my sight judgment has been done, and the judge takes a bribe.
Therefore the law is subverted, and judgment is not brought to its end. Then thereupon, for all these things, a threatening of this sort follows: Behold, you despisers, and see, and marvel at the wonders, and be utterly cast out, for I work a work. And what need is there to bring forth all that the threatening contains? Let us pass briefly over the more grievous things.
When therefore he had either bewailed the impious or in some measure called them back from their evils, he tries also to call back the wicked princes and teachers, forbidding them to give the flock turbid water to drink—that is, that they ought to use clear speech and lucid, sincere doctrine, and by no means to give the drunkenness of the law (that is, the errors of evil understanding) to drink to their neighbors, nor to prepare their caves as a dwelling for serpents and beasts—which is to inject evil thoughts into the souls of the hearers and to sink in venomous counsels. These indeed discourse such things to us and concerning such men. But how shall we endure Malachi, now most bitterly rebuking the priests, now even reproaching them that they despise the name of the Lord? who also adds, to those who ask him:
In what have we despised the name of the Lord? And he says: In this, that you have brought to the altar polluted bread and foods from plunder. And that they offered such votive victims to the King of all, even God, as, had they offered them to their own princes, would not have been received—namely, lame and diseased and corrupt and polluted animals. Then thereupon he also admonishes the Levites of the covenant of God—which is the covenant of life and peace—: that you should fear the Lord with fear and reverence before the face of his name: The law, he says, of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips.
In peace he was directed and walked with me, and he turned many away from iniquity; for the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord Almighty. But I would be unwilling to bring forth together with these also words of cursings, yet I fear to withhold anything from the truth. As much, however, as suffices and is expedient, I shall bring forth: I will no longer, he says, look upon your sacrifices, nor will I receive them from your hands. And so great is it, the injury of the priests that exasperates the Lord, that he even rejects and spurns the very sacrifices. But when I have called Zechariah to mind, I shudder at him who carries a sickle from heaven, who likewise testifies many things against the priests.
But he also brings in Jesus himself, the great priest, in filthy garments, which being removed, he clothes him in white and priestly vestments. And whatever the angel speaks to him—although these seem greater than what pertains to men, and to surpass the state of human priesthood, and therefore to be covered in silence—yet in some manner the devil is said to stand at the right hand of Jesus himself and to oppose him. This thing assuredly strikes into me, a frail man, much greater fear, and proclaims a warning of caution. But how much does he accuse and blame the other shepherds, how much does he chastise and rebuke! Who is so stony of heart and of adamantine hardness as not to tremble when he hears it?
The voice, he says, of the shepherds lamenting, for their glory has been made wretched: the voice of roaring lions, for they have suffered these and these things. And as if in their very presence and before his eyes he sets the lamentation and mourns over those who suffer unworthy things. Then thereupon a little more invidiously he repeats and follows on more bitterly, saying: Feed the sheep of slaughter, which they who buy them slay and feel no repentance. And those who sell them say: Blessed be the Lord, for we are made rich. And their shepherds suffered nothing nor grieved for them. Therefore I will no longer spare those who inhabit the land, says the Lord. And again he says: Arise, O sword, against the shepherds, and smite the shepherds, and snatch away the sheep, and I will bring my hand upon the shepherds, and:
My fury was kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon the lambs. He adds also many things both against the people and against the leaders of the people, with mighty threats. But I am afraid lest I seem too tedious in numbering all in order, and therefore I omit to weave out more. I pass over also those two elders who are spoken of in Daniel, concerning whom the Lord had foretold: that iniquity went forth from Babylon from the elders, who seemed to govern the people.
Ezekiel indeed I cannot wholly pass over, who sees things so illustrious and so magnificent, who declares mysteries so hidden, how he commands the watchmen that they keep not silent about the wickedness in the city and the sword coming upon it, because neither does it profit them to keep silent, nor did it profit those who transgress not to hear. But to those is appointed the penalty of their silence, and these their destruction does not delay. But also in another place how he brings in a certain mourning over the shepherds, saying: Woe upon woe shall there be, and message upon message, and a vision shall be sought from the prophet, and the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. And again: Son of man, say to her: You are a land upon which it has not rained, upon which no shower has descended in the day of wrath;
and in your midst your princes are like roaring lions, snatching prey and devouring souls by their power. And a little later again: The priests, he says, despised my law and polluted my holy things; between the unclean and the holy they did not distinguish, but all things were one to them, and from my sabbaths they veiled their eyes. He threatens also to bring the wall to completion, and those who plaster or smear it—who are those who sin and those who cover over their sins and conceal them; which surely is said of evil princes and priests, who turn aside, he says, the house of Israel according to their own heart, which has been estranged in their lusts.
I pass over indeed to mention whatever he says of those who feed themselves, who eat the milk and are clothed with the wool, who slaughter what is fattest and feed themselves and feed not the sheep, who strengthen not the weak, who bind not up the broken, who recall not that which strays and seek not that which has perished and preserve not that which is more sound, but afflict and consume and scatter, so that the sheep are scattered through all the fields and through all the mountains, because there are no shepherds, and the sheep are made a prey to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth, while there is none who seeks nor any who turns them back. Whence also the prophetic word thus says:
As I live, says the Lord, because these things are thus, and my sheep have been made a prey, behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hands. And those sheep indeed he says he will gather to himself and restore, but those shepherds shall suffer the things which are prepared for evil shepherds. But lest, numbering each one of the sayings of the prophets, I draw out my discourse too far, making mention now of one prophet only—namely of him who, before he was formed in the womb, was known, and before he came forth from the womb was sanctified (this is Jeremiah)—I shall pass over the rest. He seeks water for his head and for his eyes a fountain of tears, that he may worthily bewail Israel, or the wickedness of those who are set over it.
For the Lord says to him concerning the priests: The priests said not, Where is the Lord? And those who hold my law knew me not, and the shepherds acted impiously against me. Then thereupon he says: The shepherds were imprudent and did not seek the Lord. And therefore the whole flock had no understanding and was scattered. And again: Many shepherds have corrupted my vineyard and polluted my portion, which was desirable; they made it a desert and inaccessible. And again he is moved against them and says: O shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my flock! Therefore thus says the Lord against the shepherds: You have scattered my people and driven out my sheep, and you have not sought after them.