←1345
←1345
See Solomon’s wise aphorism, Prov. 25.27. It is said of one of the ancient Fathers, that he would weep at the applause that was frequently given to his sermons. ‘I would to God’ (he said) ‘they had rather gone away silent and thoughtful!’ ‘Docente te in Ecclesia, non clamor populi, sed gemitus suscitatur. Lachrymae auditorum laudes tuas sunt.’ [You are teaching in the Church, not for the acclaims of the people, but for the groans of the wakened, the tears of your hearers.] —Hieron.. ad Nepot. ‘Libenter vocem audio, non qui sibi plausum, sed qui mihi planctum movet.’ [Glad to hear the voice, not of who applaud, but who my lamentation moves] Bern. Serm. 59. Cantic. ‘I love a serious preacher, who speaks for my sake, and not for his own, who seeks my salvation, and not his own vain-glory.’ Fenelon’s Letter to the French Academy, Sect. 4, p. 230. ‘Surely’ (exclaims Dr. Chalmers) ‘it were a sight to make angels weep, when a weak and vapouring mortal, surrounded by his fellow-sinners, and hastening to the grave and the judgment along with them—finds it a dearer object to his bosom, to regale his hearers by exhibiting himself, than to do the work of his Master in plain earnest, and urge the business of repentance and faith by the impressive simplicities of the Gospel!’ Sermons, ut supra. p. 25.