CHAPTER VII S. Paul was awestruck when he contemplated the magnitude of this office
CHAPTER VII
S. Paul was awestruck when he contemplated the magnitude of this office
200. No man loved Christ more than Paul, no one displayed a greater zeal than he, nobody has been counted worthy of more grace; and yet, after all this, he still fears and trembles, as well about this presidency, as about those who were presided over by him: for, said he, “I fear, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.” And again, “I was with you in fear and in much trembling.”
201. A man who had been caught up to the third heaven, and had participated in the unspeakable things of God, and endured as many deaths as he lived days after he believed in Christ! a man who would not even use the authority which had been given him from Christ, lest any one of those who believed should be stumbled!
202. If now he who went beyond the ordinances of Christ, and by no means sought his own advantage, but that of those whom he ruled over, was always so fearful, when he regarded the greatness of his rule, what shall we do who often seek our own, and who not merely do not go beyond the commands of Christ, but for the most part transgress them? “Who is weak,” says he, “and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?”
203. Such a one ought the priest to be, or rather, only such; for these things are little, and even nothing to what I am about to say.
204. And what is that? “I would,” says he, “that I might be accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen after the flesh.” If anybody could utter such a speech, if anybody had the soul which is equal to such a prayer, he would be justly accused if he drew back.
205. But if anyone should lack so much virtue,—as I do,—he would be justly odious, not when he drew back, but when he accepted.
206. If an election to some military dignity were about to take place, and those who had the power to grant the office, dragged forward a brazier, or a shoemaker, or some such artizan, and committed an army to him, I should not praise the unhappy man, unless he fled, and did everything to avoid thrusting himself into so much evident mischief.
207. If it suffices simply to be called a pastor and to perform the business as it may happen, and there be no danger in this, let whoso will accuse me of vain-glory; but if it behoves him who accepts this responsibility to have much understanding, and before understanding, great grace from God, and uprightness of conduct, and purity of life, and virtue more than human, deprive me not of pardon if I wish not to perish without cause and in vain.
208. If also any one brought me a great ship, full of rowers, and laden with a precious cargo, and then stationed me at the helm, and bade me cross the Ægean or the Tyrrhene sea, I should recoil at the first word; and if any one asked me why, I should say, “Lest I should sink the ship.”