CHAPTER XII A priest ought to be a very wise man
CHAPTER XII
A priest ought to be a very wise man
240. This one motive then, is not a slight one; but if it had happened to be alone by itself, it would have been enough to keep me from the dignity.
241. There is however, another to be now added not less than this; and what is it? That a priest must be sober-minded, and clear-sighted, and have a myriad of eyes in every direction; as one who lives not for himself alone but for so great a multitude.
242. But I am sluggish, and remiss, and scarcely sufficient for my own salvation, as even you would confess, who most of all are eager to hide my failings, through love to me.
243. Speak not to me here of fasting and watching, of sleeping on the ground, and other hard discipline of the body; for you know how far I come short in these things; and even if they had been regulated to a nicety, would have been unable, with my present sluggishness, to benefit me in the least in respect to such a post of authority.
244. Such things might confer advantage upon a man who is shut up in some cell, and who only concerns himself about his own interests; but when a man is divided among so great a multitude, and has inherited the private cares of all that are under his direction, what appreciable gain to their improvement would he be able to contribute, unless he were endowed with a robust and vigorous soul?