CHAPTER II Priests require to be more circumspect than monks
CHAPTER II
Priests require to be more circumspect than monks
504. The soul of the priest should be purer than the very solar rays, that the Holy Spirit may never leave him desolate, and that he may be able to say “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
505. For if they who dwell in solitude, and are not engaged in the city and the forum and their troubles, and enjoy continually the haven and a calm, will not put confidence in the security of such a mode of life, but provide a multitude of other protections, defending themselves all around; and are anxious to say and do all things very correctly, that they may draw nigh to God with assurance and unsullied purity, as far as man can do; what power and strength, think you, does the priest require, that he may keep his soul free from all defilement, and preserve its spiritual beauty unmarred?
506. Much greater purity is demanded of him than of them; and as more is demanded of him, he is more exposed than they are to necessary influences which must contaminate him, if he did not render his soul inaccessible to them by exercising constant denial and great firmness.
507. Handsome faces and delicate motions, an affected gait and a mincing voice, painted eyes and tinted cheeks, an array of tresses and dyed locks, sumptuous garments and variety of golden ornaments, beautiful jewels, sweetness of perfumes, and all that the female sex affects, are enough to agitate the mind when it is not mortified by great and wise austerity.
508. That a man should be disturbed by these things is nothing wonderful; but that the devil should be able to smite and shoot down the souls of men by what is quite the reverse of them, is a circumstance fraught with wonder and difficulty. For some who have avoided these snares have actually been caught in those which are very different from them. Even a neglected face and untended hair, sordid apparel and a slovenly appearance, homely manners and simple utterance, unstudied gait and unaffected voice, living in penury, and being despised, unpatronised, and in solitude, have first led the beholder to pity, and then to utter ruin.