Colet to Erasmus.‘London, 1511.[384]Colet agrees with Erasmus.‘“What! I shall not approve!” So you say! What is there of Erasmus’s that I do not approve? I have read your letter “De Studiis” hastily, for as yet I have been too busy to read it carefully. Glancing through it, not only do I approve everything, but also greatly admire your genius, skill, learning, fulness, and eloquence. I have often longed that the boys of my school should be taught in the way in which you say they should be. And often also have I longed that I could get such teachers as you have so well described. When I came to that point at the end of the letter where you say that you could educate boys up to a fair proficiency in both tongues in fewer years than it takes those pedagogues to teach their babble, O Erasmus, how I longed that I could make you the master of my school! I have indeedsome hope that you will give us a helping hand in teaching our teachers when you leave those “Cantabrigians.”‘With respect to our friend Linacre, I will follow your advice, so kindly and prudently given.‘Do not give up looking for an undermaster, if there should be anyone at Cambridge who would not think it beneath his dignity to be under the headmaster.The Scotists of Cambridge.‘As to what you say about your occasional skirmishes with the ranks of the Scotists on my behalf, I am glad to have such a champion to defend me. But it is an unequal and inglorious contest for you; for what glory is it to you to put to rout a cloud of flies? What thanks do you deserve from me for cutting down reeds? It is a contest more necessary than glorious or difficult!’
Colet to Erasmus.
‘London, 1511.[384]
Colet agrees with Erasmus.
‘“What! I shall not approve!” So you say! What is there of Erasmus’s that I do not approve? I have read your letter “De Studiis” hastily, for as yet I have been too busy to read it carefully. Glancing through it, not only do I approve everything, but also greatly admire your genius, skill, learning, fulness, and eloquence. I have often longed that the boys of my school should be taught in the way in which you say they should be. And often also have I longed that I could get such teachers as you have so well described. When I came to that point at the end of the letter where you say that you could educate boys up to a fair proficiency in both tongues in fewer years than it takes those pedagogues to teach their babble, O Erasmus, how I longed that I could make you the master of my school! I have indeedsome hope that you will give us a helping hand in teaching our teachers when you leave those “Cantabrigians.”
‘With respect to our friend Linacre, I will follow your advice, so kindly and prudently given.
‘Do not give up looking for an undermaster, if there should be anyone at Cambridge who would not think it beneath his dignity to be under the headmaster.
The Scotists of Cambridge.
‘As to what you say about your occasional skirmishes with the ranks of the Scotists on my behalf, I am glad to have such a champion to defend me. But it is an unequal and inglorious contest for you; for what glory is it to you to put to rout a cloud of flies? What thanks do you deserve from me for cutting down reeds? It is a contest more necessary than glorious or difficult!’
While Colet acquiesced in the view expressed by Erasmus as to the high qualities required in a schoolmaster, he gave practical proof of his sense of the dignity of the calling by the liberal remuneration he offered to secure one.
Salaries of Colet’s masters.Lilly headmaster of Colet’s school.An undermaster wanted.Story of a Cambridge doctor.
At a time when the Lord Chancellor of England received as his salary 100 marks, with a similar sum for the commons of himself and his clerk, making in all 133l.per annum,[385]Colet offered to the high-master of his school 35l.per annum, and a house to live in besides. This was practical proof that Colet meant to secure the services of more than a mere commongrammarian. He had in view for his headmaster, Lilly, the friend and fellow-student of More, who had mastered the Latin language in Italy, and even travelled farther East to perfect his knowledge of Greek. He was well versed not only in the Greek authors, but in the manners and customs of the people, having lived some years in the island of Rhodes.[386]He had returned home, it is said, by way of Jerusalem, and had recently opened a private school in London.[387]He was, moreover, the godson of Grocyn, and himself an Oxford student. He had at one time, as already mentioned, shared with More some ascetic tendencies, but, like his friend, had wisely stopped short of Carthusian vows. He was, in truth, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Colet and his friends, and, in the opinion of Erasmus, ‘a thorough master in the art of educating youth.’[388]Thus Colet had found a high-master ready to be fully installed in his office, as soon as the building was completed. But an under-master was not so easy to find. Colet had written to Erasmus, in September, 1511, wishing him to look one out for him,[389]and in the letter last quoted had again repeated his request. Erasmus wrote again in October, and informed him that he had mentioned his want to some of the college dons. One of them had replied by sneeringly asking, ‘Who would put up with the life of a schoolmaster who could get a living in any other way?’ Whereupon Erasmusmodestly urged that he thought the education of youth was the most honourable of all callings, and that there could be no labour more pleasing to God than the Christian training of boys. At which the Cambridge doctor turned up his nose in contempt, and scornfully replied, ‘If anyone wants to give himself up entirely to the service of Christ, let him enter a monastery!’ Erasmus ventured to question whether St. Paul did not place true religion rather in works of charity—in doing as much good as possible to our neighbours? The other rejected altogether so crude a notion. ‘Behold,’ said he, ‘we must leave all; in that is perfection.’ ‘Hescarcely can be said to leave all,’ promptly returned Erasmus, ‘who, when he has a chance of doing good to others, refuses the task because it is too humble in the eyes of the world.’ ‘And then,’ wrote Erasmus, ‘lest I should get into a quarrel, I bade the man good-bye.’[390]
This, he said, was an example of ‘Scotistical wisdom,’ and he told Colet that he did not care often to meddle with these self-satisfied Scotists, well knowing that no good would come of it.
It would seem that, after all, a worthy under-master did turn up at Cambridge, willing to work under Lilly, and thereafter to become his son-in-law;[391]so that with schoolmasters already secured, and schoolbooks in course of preparation, Colet’s enterprise seemed likely fairly to get under way so soon as the building should be completed in St. Paul’s Churchyard.
I. CONVOCATION FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF HERESY (1512).
Lollards go to hear Colet’s sermons.Two heretics burned at Smithfield.
Colet’s labours in connection with his school did not interfere with his ordinary duties. He was still, Sunday after Sunday, preaching those courses of sermons on ‘the Gospels, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer,’ which attracted by their novelty and unwonted earnestness so many listeners. The Dean was no Lollard himself, yet those whose leanings were toward Lollard views naturally found, in Colet’s simple Scripture teaching from his pulpit at St. Paul’s, what they felt to be the food for which they were in search, and which they did not get elsewhere. They were wont, it seems, to advise one another to go and hear Dr. Colet; and it was not strange if, in the future examination of heretics, a connection should be traced between Colet’s sermons and the increase of heresy.[392]That heresy was on the increase could not be doubted. Foxe has recorded that several Lollards suffered in 1511 under Archbishop Warham, and, strange to say, Colet’s name appears on the list of judges.[393]Foxealso mentions no fewer than twenty-three heretics who were compelled by Fitzjames, Bishop of London, to abjure during 1510 and 1511. And so zealous was the Bishop in his old age against them that he burned at least two of them in Smithfield during the autumn of 1511.[394]So common, indeed, were these martyr-fires, that Ammonius, Latin secretary to Henry VIII., writing from London, a few weeks after, to Erasmus at Cambridge, could jestingly say, that ‘he does not wonder that wood is so scarce and dear, the heretics cause so many holocausts; and yet (he said) their numbers grow—nay, even the brother of Thomas, my servant, dolt as he is, has himself founded a sect, and has his disciples!’[395]
It was under these circumstances that a royal mandate was issued, in November 1511, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to summon a convocation of his province to meet in St. Paul’s Cathedral, February 6, 1512.[396]
Convocation summoned.
The King—under the instigation, it was thought, of Wolsey[397]—was just then entering into a treaty with the Pope and other princes with a view to warlike proceedings against France; and the King’s object in calling this convocation was doubtless to procure from the clergy their share of the taxation necessary to meet the expenses of equipping an army, which it was convenient to represent as required ‘for the defence of theChurchas well as the kingdom of England;’ but there was another object for which a convocation was required besides this of taxation—one more palatableto Bishop Fitzjames and his party—that of the ‘extirpation of heresy.’[398]
On Friday, February 6, 1512, members of both Houses of Convocation assembled, it would seem, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, to listen to the sermon by which it was customary that their proceedings should be opened.
Colet appointed to preach the opening sermon.
Dean Colet was charged by the Archbishop with the duty of preaching this opening address.
It was a task by no means to be envied, but Colet was not the man to shirk a duty because it was unpleasant. He had accepted the deanery of St. Paul’s not simply to wear its dignities and enjoy its revenues, but to do its duties; and one of those duties, perhapstheone to which he had felt himself most clearly called, had been the duty ofpreaching. Probably, there was not a pulpit in England which offered so wide a sphere of influence to the preacher as that of St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s Cathedral.St. Paul’s Walk.
The noble cathedral itself wasthen, in a sense which can hardly be realisednow, the centre of the metropolis of England. In architectural merits, in vastness, and in the beauty of its proportions, it was rivalled by few in the world; but it was not from these alone that it derived its importance. Under the shadow of its gracefully-tapering spire, 534 feet in height, its nave and choir and presbytery extended 700 feet in one long line of Gothic arches, broken only by the low screen between the nave and choir. And pacing up and down thisnave might be seen men of every class in life, from the merchant and the courtier down to the mendicant and the beggar.St. Paul’s Walkwas like a ‘change, thronged by men of business and men of the world, congregated there to hear the news, or to drive their bargains; while in the long aisles kneeled the devotees of saints or Virgin, paying their devotions at shrines and altars, loaded with costly offerings and burning tapers; and in the chantries, priests in monotonous tones sang masses for departed souls.
Colet had now preached at St. Paul’s seven years.
Inthiscathedral had Colet preached now for seven successive years. He had preached to the humblest classes in their own English tongue,[399]and, in order to bring down his teaching to their level, had given them an English translation of the Paternoster[400]for their use. He had seen them kneeling before the shrines, and had faithfully warned them against the worship of images.[401]He had preached to the merchants and citizens of London, and they had recognised in him a preacher who practised what he preached, whose life did not give the lie to what he taught; and he had done all this in spite of any talk his plain-speaking might create amongst the orthodox, and notwithstanding the open opposition of his bishop. If poor Lollards found in him an earnestness and simple faith they did not find elsewhere, he knew that it was nothisfault.It was nothewho was making heretics so fast, but the priests and bishops themselves, who were driving honest souls into heretical ways by the scandal of their worldly living, and the pride and dryness of their orthodox profession. And now, when he was called upon to preach to these very priests and bishops, was he to shrink from the task?
Colet had already, in his lectures at Oxford, given expression to the pain which ecclesiastical scandals had given him; and in his abstracts of the Dionysian treatises he had recorded, with grief and tears, his longings for ecclesiastical reform. These, however, had never been printed. They lay in manuscript in his own hands, and could easily be suppressed. It remained to be seen whether seven years’ enjoyment of his own preferment had closed his lips to the utterance of unpopular truths.
Condition of the clergy.
If it were possible so far to look behind the screen of the past as to see the bishops of the province of Canterbury with the sight and knowledge of Colet, as he saw them assembled at St. Paul’s on that Friday morning, then, and then only, would it be possible to appreciate fairly what it must have cost him to preach the sermon he did on this occasion.
The bishops and their benefices.
The Archbishop and some of the bishops were friends of his and of the new learning; but even some of these were so far carried away by the habits of the times, as to fall inevitably under the censure of any honest preacher who should dare to apply the Christian standard to their episcopal conduct. There might be honourable exceptions to the rule, but,as a rule, the bishops looked upon their sees aspropertyconferred upon them often for political services, or as the natural result of family position or influence. The pastoralduties which properly belonged to their position were too often lost sight of. A bishopric was a thing to be sued for or purchased by money or influence. It mattered little whether the aspirant were a boy or a greyheaded old man, whether he lived abroad or in England, whether he were illiterate or educated. There was one bishop, for instance, whom Erasmus speaks of as a ‘youth,’ and who was so illiterate that he had offered Erasmus a benefice and a large sum of money if he would undertake his tuition for a year—a bribe which Erasmus, albeit at the time anxiously seeking remunerative work of a kind which would not interfere with his studies, refused with contempt.[402]Then there was James Stanley, an old man, whose only title to preferment was his connection with the Royal Family and a noble house, who, in spite of his absolute unfitness, had been made Bishop of Ely in 1506, and was now living, it is said, a life of open profligacy, to the great scandal of the English Church, and of the noble house to which he belonged.[403]
There was a bishop, too, whom More satirised repeatedly in his epigrams, under the name of ‘Posthumus;’ at whose promotion he expresses his delight, inasmuch as, whilst bishops were ‘generally selected atrandom, this bishop had evidently been chosen withexceptional care. If an error had been made in this case, it could not certainly have arisen fromhastein selection; for had the choice been made out of a thousand, aworse or more stupidbishop could not possiblyhave been found!’[404]From another epigram, it may be inferred that this ‘Posthumus’ was one of the ignorant Scotists whose opposition the Oxford Reformers had so often to combat; for More represents him as fond of quoting the text, ‘The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,’—the text which is mentioned by Tyndale as quoted by the Scotists against the literal interpretation of Scripture;—and then he drily remarks, that this bishop was too illiterate for any ‘lettersto have killed him, and that, if they had, he had nospiritto bring him to life again!’[405]
The bishops and their benefices.
These may, indeed, have been exceptional or, at all events, extreme cases; but, however the bishops of the province of Canterbury had come by their bishoprics, their general practice seems to have been to use their benefices only as stepping-stones to higher ones. No sooner were they promoted to one see than they aspired to another, of higher rank and greater revenue. This, at least, was no exceptional thing. The Bishop of Bath and Wells had been Bishop of Hereford; the Bishop of Chichester had been translated from the see of St. David’s. The Bishop of Lincoln had been Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Audley had filled the sees of Rochester and Hereford in succession, and was now Bishop of Salisbury. Fitzjames had been first promotedto the see of Rochester, after that to the see of Chichester, and from thence, in his old age, to the most lucrative of all—the see of London. Fox had commenced his episcopal career as Bishop of Exeter; he had from thence been translated, in succession, to the sees of Bath and Wells, and Durham, and was now Bishop of Winchester. And be it remembered that these numerous promotions were not in reward for the successful discharge of pastoral duties: those who had earned the most numerous and rapid promotions were the men who were the most deeply engaged inpoliticalaffairs, sent on embassies, and so forth, whose benefices were thus the reward of purely secular services, and who, consequently, had hardly had a chance of discharging with diligence their spiritual duties. The Bishop of Bath and Wells was a foreigner, and lived abroad; and so also the Bishop of Worcester owed his bishopric to Papal provision, and lived and died at Rome. His predecessor and his successor also both were foreigners.[406]
Wolsey.Wolsey’s ambition.
There was also, amongst the clergy of the province of Canterbury, a man who was to surpass all others in these particulars; who was to be handed down to posterity as the very type of an ambitious churchman; who was already high in royal favour, always engaged in political affairs, and considered to be the instigator of the approaching war; who had the whole charge of equipping the army committed to his care; who had lately been promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, and was waiting for the bishopric as soon as it should be vacant; who had already had conferred upon him, in addition to the deanery, two rectories, a prebend, anda canonry; who, before another year was out, without giving up any of these preferments, was to be made Dean of York; and who was destined to aspire from bishopric to archbishopric, to hold abbeys and bishopricsin commendam, sue for and obtain from the Pope a cardinal’s hat and legatine authority, and to rule England in Church and State—England’s king amongst the rest—failing only in his attempt to get himself elected to the Papal chair. This Dean of Lincoln, so aspiring, ambitious, fond of magnificence and state, was sure to be found at his place in a convocation called that the clergy might tax themselves in support of his warlike policy, and in aid of his ambitious dreams. Wolsey, we may be sure, would be there to watch anxiously the concessions of his ‘dismes,’ as Bishop Fitzjames would be there also, to await the measures to be taken for the ‘extirpation of heresy.’
It was before an assembly composed of such bishops and churchmen as these, that Colet rose to deliver the following address:—
Colet’s sermon.Need of reformation in the church.‘You are come together to-day, fathers and right wise men, to hold a council. In which what ye will do, and what matters ye will handle, I do not yet know; but I wish that, at length, mindful of your name and profession, ye would consider of the reformation of ecclesiastical affairs: for never was it more necessary, and never did the state of the Church more need your endeavours. For the Church—the spouse of Christ—which He wished to be without spot or wrinkle, is become foul and deformed. As saith Esaias, “The faithful city is become a harlot;” and as Jeremias speaks, “She hath committed fornicationwith many lovers,” whereby she hath conceived many seeds of iniquity, and daily bringeth forth the foulest offspring. Wherefore I have come here to-day, fathers, to admonish you with all your minds to deliberate, in this your Council, concerning the reformation of the Church.Colet’s modesty.‘But, in sooth, I came not of my own will and pleasure, for I was conscious of my unworthiness, and I saw too how hard it would be to satisfy the most critical judgment of such great men. I judged it would be altogether unworthy, unfit, and almost arrogant in me, a servant, to admonish you, my masters!—in me, a son, to teach you, my fathers! It would have come better from some one of the fathers,—that is, from one of you prelates, who might have done it with weightier authority and greater wisdom. But I could not but obey the command of the most reverend Father and Lord Archbishop, the President of this Council, who imposed this duty, a truly heavy one, upon me; for we read that it was said by Samuel the prophet, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Wherefore, fathers and most worthy sirs, I pray and beseech you this day that you will bear with my weakness by your forbearance and patience; next, in the beginning, help me with your pious prayers. And, before all things, let us pour out our prayers to God the Father Almighty; and first, let us pray for his Holiness the Pope, for all spiritual pastors, with all Christian people; next, let us pray for our most reverend Father the Lord Archbishop, President of this Council, and all the lords bishops, the whole clergy, and the whole people of England; let us pray, lastly, for this assembly and convocation, praying God that He may inspire yourminds so unanimously to conclude upon what is for the good and benefit of the Church, that when this Council is concluded we may not seem to have been called together in vain and without cause. Let us all say “thePater noster, &c.”’
Colet’s sermon.Need of reformation in the church.
‘You are come together to-day, fathers and right wise men, to hold a council. In which what ye will do, and what matters ye will handle, I do not yet know; but I wish that, at length, mindful of your name and profession, ye would consider of the reformation of ecclesiastical affairs: for never was it more necessary, and never did the state of the Church more need your endeavours. For the Church—the spouse of Christ—which He wished to be without spot or wrinkle, is become foul and deformed. As saith Esaias, “The faithful city is become a harlot;” and as Jeremias speaks, “She hath committed fornicationwith many lovers,” whereby she hath conceived many seeds of iniquity, and daily bringeth forth the foulest offspring. Wherefore I have come here to-day, fathers, to admonish you with all your minds to deliberate, in this your Council, concerning the reformation of the Church.
Colet’s modesty.
‘But, in sooth, I came not of my own will and pleasure, for I was conscious of my unworthiness, and I saw too how hard it would be to satisfy the most critical judgment of such great men. I judged it would be altogether unworthy, unfit, and almost arrogant in me, a servant, to admonish you, my masters!—in me, a son, to teach you, my fathers! It would have come better from some one of the fathers,—that is, from one of you prelates, who might have done it with weightier authority and greater wisdom. But I could not but obey the command of the most reverend Father and Lord Archbishop, the President of this Council, who imposed this duty, a truly heavy one, upon me; for we read that it was said by Samuel the prophet, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Wherefore, fathers and most worthy sirs, I pray and beseech you this day that you will bear with my weakness by your forbearance and patience; next, in the beginning, help me with your pious prayers. And, before all things, let us pour out our prayers to God the Father Almighty; and first, let us pray for his Holiness the Pope, for all spiritual pastors, with all Christian people; next, let us pray for our most reverend Father the Lord Archbishop, President of this Council, and all the lords bishops, the whole clergy, and the whole people of England; let us pray, lastly, for this assembly and convocation, praying God that He may inspire yourminds so unanimously to conclude upon what is for the good and benefit of the Church, that when this Council is concluded we may not seem to have been called together in vain and without cause. Let us all say “thePater noster, &c.”’
The Paternoster concluded, Colet proceeded:—
Text from Rom. xii.‘As I am about to exhort you, reverend fathers, to endeavour to reform the condition of the Church; because nothing has so disfigured the face of the Church as the secular and worldly way of living on the part of the clergy, I know not how I can commence my discourse more fitly than with the Apostle Paul, in whose cathedral ye are now assembled: (Romans xii. 2)—“Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may prove what is the good, and well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.” This the Apostle wrote to all Christian men, but emphatically to priests and bishops: for priests and bishops are the lights of the world, as the Saviour said to them, “Ye are the light of the world;” and again He said, “If the light that is in you be darkness, how great will be that darkness!” That is, if priests and bishops, the very lights, run in the dark way of the world, how dark must the lay-people be! Wherefore, emphatically to priests and bishops did St. Paul say, “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.”‘By these words the Apostle points out two things:—First, he prohibits our beingconformedto the world and becomingcarnal; and then he commands thatwe bereformedin the Spirit of God, in order that we may bespiritual. I therefore, following this order, shall speak first ofConformation, and after that ofReformation.Of ‘conformation.’‘“Be not,” he says, “conformed to this world.” By theworldthe Apostle means the worldly way and manner of living, which consists chiefly in these four evils—viz. indevilish pride, incarnal concupiscence, inworldly covetousness, and inworldly occupations. These things are in the world, as St. John testifies in his canonical epistle; for he says, “All things that are in the world are either the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, or the pride of life.” These things in like manner exist and reign in the Church, and amongst ecclesiastical persons, so that we seem able truly to say, “All things that are in theChurchare either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life!”Pride of life.‘In thefirstplace, to speak ofpride of life—what eagerness and hunger after honour and dignity are found in these days amongst ecclesiastical persons! What a breathless race from benefice to benefice, from a less to a greater one, from a lower to a higher! Who is there who does not see this? Who that sees it does not grieve over it? Moreover, those who hold these dignities, most of them carry themselves with such lofty mien and high looks, that their place does not seem to be in the humble priesthood of Christ, but in proud worldly dominion!—not acknowledging or perceiving what the master of humility, Christ, said to his disciples whom he called to the priesthood. “The princes of the nations” (said He) “have lordship over them, and those who areamongst the great have power. But it shall not be so with you: but he who is great among you, let him be your minister; he who is chief, let him be the servant of all. For the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” By which words the Saviour plainly teaches, that magistracy in the Church is nothing else than humble service.Lust of the flesh.‘As to the second worldly evil, which is thelust of the flesh—has not this vice, I ask, inundated the Church as with the flood of its lust, so that nothing is more carefully sought after, in these most troublous times, by the most part of priests, than that which ministers to sensual pleasure? They give themselves up to feasting and banqueting; spend themselves in vain babbling, take part in sports and plays, devote themselves to hunting and hawking; are drowned in the delights of this world; patronise those who cater for their pleasure. It was against this kind of people that Jude the Apostle exclaimed: “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”Covetousness.‘Covetousnessalso, which is thethirdworldly evil, which the Apostle John callsthe lust of the eye, and Paulidolatry—this most horrible plague—has so taken possession of the hearts of nearly all priests,and has so darkened the eyes of their minds, that now-a-days we are blind to everything, but that alone which seems to be able to bring us gain. For in these days, what else do we seek for in the Church than rich benefices and promotions? In these same promotions, what else do we count upon but their fruits and revenues? We rush after them with such eagerness, that we care not how many and what duties, or how great benefices we take, if only they have great revenues.‘O Covetousness! Paul rightly called thee “the root of all evil!” For fromtheecomes all this piling-up of benefices one on the top of the other; fromtheecome the great pensions, assigned out of many benefices resigned; fromtheequarrels about tithes, about offerings, about mortuaries, about dilapidations, about ecclesiastical right and title, for which we fight as though for our very lives! O Covetousness! fromtheecome burdensome visitations of bishops; fromtheecorruptions of Law Courts, and those daily fresh inventions by which the poor people are harassed; fromtheethe sauciness and insolence of officials! O Covetousness! mother of all iniquity! fromtheecomes that eager desire on the part of ordinaries to enlarge their jurisdiction; fromtheetheir foolish and mad contention to get hold of the probate of wills; fromtheeundue sequestrations of fruits; fromtheethat superstitious observance of all those laws which are lucrative, and disregard and neglect of those which point at the correction of morals! Why should I mention the rest?—To sum up all in one word: every corruption, all the ruin of the Church, all the scandals of the world, come fromthe covetousness of priests, according to the saying of Paul, which I repeat again, and beat into your ears, “Covetousness is the root of all evil!”Worldly occupation.Apostolic priests.Modern priests.‘Thefourthworldly evil which mars and spots the face of the Church is the incessantworldly occupationin which many priests and bishops in these days entangle themselves—servants of men rather than of God, soldiers of this world rather than of Christ. For the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “No man that warreth for God entangleth himself in the affairs of this life.” But priests are “soldiers of God.” Their warfare truly is not carnal, but spiritual: for our warfare is to pray, to read, and to meditate upon the Scriptures; to minister the word of God, to administer the sacraments of salvation, to make sacrifice for the people, and to offer masses for their souls. For we are mediators between men and God, as Paul testifies, writing to the Hebrews: “Every priest” (he says) “taken from amongst men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Wherefore the Apostles, the first priests and bishops, so shrank from every taint of worldly things that they did not even wish to minister to the necessities of the poor, although this was a great work of piety: for they said, “It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables; we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word of God.” And Paul exclaims to the Corinthians, “If you have any secular matters, make those of you judges who are of least estimation in the Church.” Indeed from this worldliness, and because the clergy and priests, neglecting spiritual things, involve themselves in earthly occupation, manyevils follow. First, the priestly dignity is dishonoured, which is greater than either royal or imperial dignity, for it is equal to that of angels. And the splendour of this high dignity is obscured by darkness when priests, whose conversation ought to be in heaven, are occupied with the things of earth. Secondly, the dignity of priests is despised when there is no difference between such priests and laymen; but (according to Hosea the prophet) “as the people are, so are the priests.” Thirdly, the beautiful order of the hierarchy in the Church is confused when the magnates of the Church are busied in vile and earthly things, and in their stead vile and abject persons meddle with high and spiritual things. Fourthly, the laity themselves are scandalised and driven to ruin, when those whose duty it is to draw menfromthis world, teach men to love this world by their own devotion to worldly things, and by their love of this world are [themselves] carried down headlong into hell. Besides, when priests themselves are thus entangled, it must end inhypocrisy; for, mixed up and confused with the laity, they lead, under a priestly exterior, the mere life of a layman. Also their spiritual weakness and servile fear, when enervated by the waters of this world, makes them dare neither to do nor say anything but what they know will be grateful and pleasing to their princes. Lastly, such is their ignorance and blindness, when blinded by the darkness of this world, that they can discern nothing but earthly things. Wherefore not without cause our Saviour Christ admonished the prelates of his Church, “Take heed lest your hearts be burdened by surfeiting or banqueting, and the cares of this world.” “By the cares (He says) of this world!” The hearts ofpriests weighed down by riches cannot lift themselves on high, nor raise themselves to heavenly things.Invasion of heretics.‘Many other evils there be, which are the result of the worldliness of priests, which it would take long to mention; but I have done. These are those four evils, O fathers! O priests! by which, as I have said, we are conformed to this world, by which the face of the Church is marred, by which her influence is destroyed, plainly, far more than it was marred and destroyed, either at the beginning by the persecution of tyrants, or after that by the invasion of heresies which followed. For by the persecution of tyrants the persecuted Church was made stronger and more glorious; by the invasion of heretics, the Church being shaken, was made wiser and more skilled in Holy Scriptures. But after the introduction of this most sinful worldliness, when worldliness had crept in amongst the clergy, the root of all spiritual life—charity itself—was extinguished. And without this the Church can neither be wise nor strong in God.Wicked life of priests the worst kind of heresy.‘In these times also we experience much opposition from the laity, but they are not so opposed to us as we are to ourselves. Nor doestheiropposition do us so much hurt as the opposition of our own wicked lives, which are opposed to God and to Christ; for He said, “He that is not with me is against me.” We are troubled in these days also by heretics—men mad with strange folly;—but this heresy of theirs is not so pestilential and pernicious to us and the people as the vicious and depraved lives of the clergy, which, if we may believe St. Bernard, is a species of heresy, and the greatest and most pernicious of all; for that holy father, preaching in a certain convocation to the priestsof his time, in his sermon spake in these words:—“There are many who are catholic in their speaking and preaching who are very heretics in their actions, for what heretics do by their false doctrines these men do by their evil examples—they seduce the people and lead them into error of life—and they are by so much worse than heretics as actions are stronger than words.” These things said Bernard, that holy father of so great and ardent spirit, against the faction of wicked priests of his time; by which words he plainly shows that there be two kinds of heretical pravity—one of perverse doctrine, the other of perverse living—of which the latter is the greater and more pernicious; and this reigns in the Church, to the miserable destruction of the Church, her priests living after a worldly and not after a priestly fashion. Wherefore do you fathers, you priests, and all of you of the clergy, awake at length, and rise up from this your sleep in this forgetful world: and being awake, at length listen to Paul calling unto you, “Be ye not conformed to this world.”‘This concerning thefirstpart.Reformation.‘Now let us come to thesecond—concerningReformation.‘“But be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.” What Paul commands us secondly is, that we should “bereformed into a new mind;” that we should savour the things which are of God; that we should be reformed to those things which are contrary to what I have been speaking of—i.e.to humility, sobriety, charity, spiritual occupations; just as Paul wrote to Titus, “Denying ungodliness and worldlylusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”Must begin with the bishops.‘But this reformation and restoration in ecclesiastical affairs must needs begin withyou, our fathers, and then afterwards descend upon us your priests and the whole clergy. For you are our chiefs—you are our examples of life. To you we look as waymarks for our direction. In you and in your lives we desire to read, as in living books, how we ourselves should live. Wherefore, if you wish to see our motes, first take the beams out of your own eyes; for it is an old proverb, “Physician heal thyself.” Do you, spiritual doctors, first assay that medicine for the purgation of morals, and then you may offer it to us to taste of it also.Existing laws must be enforced.‘The way, moreover, by which the Church is to be reformed and restored to a better condition is not to enact any new laws (for there are laws enough and to spare). As Solomon says, “There is no new thing under the sun.” The diseases which are now in the Church were the same in former ages, and there is no evil for which the holy fathers did not provide excellent remedies; there are no crimes in prohibition of which there are not laws in the body of the Canon Law. The need, therefore, is not for the enactment of new laws and constitutions, but for the observance of those already enacted. Wherefore, in this your congregation, let the existing laws be produced and recited which prohibit what is evil, and which enjoin what is right.Wicked and unlearned men admitted to holy orders.‘First, let those laws be recited which admonish you, fathers, not to lay your hands on any, nor to admit them to holy orders, rashly. For here is the source from whence other evils flow, because if the entrance to Holy Orders be thrown open, all who offerthemselves are forthwith admitted without hindrance. Hence proceed and emanate those hosts of both unlearned and wicked priests which are in the Church. For it is not, in my judgment, enough that a priest can construe a collect, propound a proposition, or reply to a sophism; but much more needful are a good and pure and holy life, approved morals, moderate knowledge of the Scriptures, some knowledge of the Sacraments, above all fear of God and love of heavenly life.‘Let the laws be recited which direct that ecclesiastical benefices should be conferred on the worthy, and promotions in the Church made with just regard to merit; not by carnal affection, nor the acceptation of persons, whereby it comes to pass in these days, that boys instead of old men, fools instead of wise men, wicked instead of good men, reign and rule!Simony.‘Let the laws be recited against the guilt of simony; which plague, which contagion, which dire pestilence, now creeps like a cancer through the minds of priests, so that most are not ashamed in these days to get for themselves great dignities by petitions and suits at court, rewards and promises.Residence of curates.‘Let the laws be recited which command the personal residence of curates at their churches: for many evils spring from the custom, in these days, of performing all clerical duties by help of vicars and substitutes; men too without judgment, unfit, and often wicked, who will seek nothing from the people but sordid gain—whence spring scandals, heresies, and bad Christianity amongst the people.Worldly living of priests and monks.‘Let the laws be rehearsed, and the holy rules handed down from our ancestors concerning the lifeand character of the clergy, which prohibit any churchman from being a merchant, usurer, or hunter, or common player, or from bearing arms—the laws which prohibit the clergy from frequenting taverns, from having unlawful intercourse with women—the laws which command sobriety and modesty in vestment, and temperance in dress.‘Let also the laws be recited concerning monks and religious men, which command that, leaving the broad way of the world, they enter the narrow way which leads to life; which command them not to meddle in business, whether secular or ecclesiastical; which command that they should not engage in suits in civil courts for earthly things. For in the Council ofChalcedonit was decreed that monks should give themselves up entirely to prayer and fasting, the chastisement of their flesh, and observance of their monastic rule.Worldly bishops.‘Above all, let those laws be recited which concern and pertain toyou, reverend fathers and lords bishops—laws concerning your just and canonical election, in the chapters of your churches, with the invocation of the Holy Spirit: for because this is not done in these days, and prelates are often chosen more by the favour of men than the grace of God, so, in consequence, we sometimes certainly have bishops too little spiritual—men more worldly than heavenly, wiser in the spirit of this world than in the spirit of Christ!‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the residence of bishops in their dioceses, which command that they watch over the salvation of souls, that they disseminate the word of God, that they personally appear in their churches at least on great festivals,that they sacrifice for their people, that they hear the causes of the poor, that they sustain the fatherless, and widows, that they exercise themselves always in works of piety.‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the due distribution of the patrimony of Christ—laws which command that the goods of the Church be spent not in sumptuous buildings, not in magnificence and pomp, not in feasts and banquets, not in luxury and lust, not in enriching kinsfolk nor in keeping hounds, but in things useful and needful to the Church. For when he was asked by Augustine, the English bishop, in what way English bishops and prelates should dispose of those goods which were the offerings of the faithful, Pope Gregory replied (and his reply is placed in theDecretals, ch. xii. q. 2), that the goods of bishops should be divided into four parts, of which one part should go to the bishop and his family, another to his clergy, a third for repairing buildings, a fourth to the poor.Reform of Ecclesiastical Courts.‘Let the laws be recited, and let them be recited again and again, which abolish the scandals and vices of courts, which take away those daily newly-invented arts for getting money, which were designed to extirpate and eradicate that horrible covetousness which is the root and cause of all evils, which is the fountain of all iniquity.Councils should be held oftener.‘Lastly, let those laws and constitutions be renewed concerning the holding of Councils, which command that Provincial Councils should be held more frequently for the reformation of the Church. For nothing ever happens more detrimental to theChurch of Christ than the omission of Councils, both general and provincial.‘Having rehearsed these laws and others, like them, which pertain to this matter, and have for their object the correction of morals, it remains that with all authority and power theirexecutionshould be commanded, so that having a law we should at length live according to it.The bishops must first be reformed, then the clergy,‘In which matter, with all due reverence, I appeal most strongly toyou, fathers! For this execution of laws and observance of constitutions ought to begin withyou, so that by your living example you may teach us priests to imitate you. Else it will surely be said of you, “They lay heavy burdens on other men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them even with one of their fingers.” But you, if you keep the laws, and first reform your own lives to the law and rules of the Canons, will thereby provide us with a light, in which we shall see what we ought to do—the light,i.e.of your good example. And we, seeing our fathers keep the laws, will gladly follow in the footsteps of our fathers.then the lay part of the Church.‘The clerical and priestly part of the church being thus reformed, we can then with better grace proceed to the reformation of the lay part, which indeed it will be very easy to do, if we ourselves have been reformed first. For the body follows the soul, and as are the rulers in a State such will the people be. Wherefore, if priests themselves, the rulers of souls, were good, the people in their turn would become good also; for our own goodness would teach others how they may be good more clearly than all other kinds of teaching and preaching. Our goodness would urgethem on in the right way far more efficaciously than all your suspensions and excommunications. Wherefore, if you wish the lay-people to live according to your will and pleasure, you must first live according to the will of God, and thus (believe me) you will easily attain what you wish in them.‘You want obedience from them. And it is right; for in the Epistle to the Hebrews are these words of Paul to the laity: “Be obedient” (he says) “to your rulers, and be subject to them.” But if you desire this obedience, first give reason and cause of obedience on your part, as the same Paul teaches in the following text—“Watch as those that give an account of their souls,” and then they will obey you.‘You desire to be honoured by the people. It is right; for Paul writes to Timotheus, “Priests who rule well are worthy of double honour, chiefly those who labour in word and doctrine.” Therefore, desiring honour, first rule well, and labour in word and doctrine, and then the people will hold you in all honour.‘You desire to reap their carnal things, and to collect tithes and offerings without any reluctance on their part. It is right; for Paul, writing to the Romans, says: “They are your debtors, and ought to minister to you in carnal things.” But if you wish to reap their carnal things, you must first sow your spiritual things, and then ye shall reap abundantly of their carnal things. For that man is hard and unjust who desires “to reap where he has not sown, and to gather where he has not scattered.”‘You desire ecclesiastical liberty, and not to be drawn before civil courts. And this too is right;for in the Psalms it is said, “Touch not mine anointed.” But if ye desire this liberty, loose yourselves first from worldly bondage, and from the cringing service of men, and claim for yourselves that true liberty of Christ, that spiritual liberty through grace from sin, and serve God and reign in Him, and then (believe me) the people will not touch the anointed of the Lord their God!‘You desire security, quiet, and peace. And this is fitting. But, desiring peace, return to the God of love and peace; return to Christ, in whom is the true peace of the Spirit which passeth all understanding; return to the true priestly life. And lastly, as Paul commands, “Be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may know those things which are of God; and the peace of God shall be with you!”Conclusion.‘These, reverend fathers and most distinguished men, are the things that I thought should be spoken concerning the reformation of the clergy. I trust that, in your clemency, you will take them in good part. If, by chance, I should seem to have gone too far in this sermon—if I have said anything with too much warmth—forgive it me, and pardon a man speaking out of zeal, a man sorrowing for the ruin of the Church; and, passing by any foolishness of mine, consider the thing itself. Consider the miserable state and condition of the Church, and bend your whole minds to its reformation. Suffer not, fathers, suffer not this so illustrious an assembly to break up without result. Suffer not this your congregation to slip by for nothing. Ye have indeed often been assembled. But (if by your leave I may speak thetruth) I see not what fruit has as yet resulted, especially to the Church, from assemblies of this kind! Go now, in the Spirit whom you have invoked, that ye may be able, with his assistance, to devise, to ordain, and to decree those things which may be useful to the Church, and redound to your praise and the honour of God: to whom be all honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen!’
Text from Rom. xii.
‘As I am about to exhort you, reverend fathers, to endeavour to reform the condition of the Church; because nothing has so disfigured the face of the Church as the secular and worldly way of living on the part of the clergy, I know not how I can commence my discourse more fitly than with the Apostle Paul, in whose cathedral ye are now assembled: (Romans xii. 2)—“Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may prove what is the good, and well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.” This the Apostle wrote to all Christian men, but emphatically to priests and bishops: for priests and bishops are the lights of the world, as the Saviour said to them, “Ye are the light of the world;” and again He said, “If the light that is in you be darkness, how great will be that darkness!” That is, if priests and bishops, the very lights, run in the dark way of the world, how dark must the lay-people be! Wherefore, emphatically to priests and bishops did St. Paul say, “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.”
‘By these words the Apostle points out two things:—First, he prohibits our beingconformedto the world and becomingcarnal; and then he commands thatwe bereformedin the Spirit of God, in order that we may bespiritual. I therefore, following this order, shall speak first ofConformation, and after that ofReformation.
Of ‘conformation.’
‘“Be not,” he says, “conformed to this world.” By theworldthe Apostle means the worldly way and manner of living, which consists chiefly in these four evils—viz. indevilish pride, incarnal concupiscence, inworldly covetousness, and inworldly occupations. These things are in the world, as St. John testifies in his canonical epistle; for he says, “All things that are in the world are either the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, or the pride of life.” These things in like manner exist and reign in the Church, and amongst ecclesiastical persons, so that we seem able truly to say, “All things that are in theChurchare either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life!”
Pride of life.
‘In thefirstplace, to speak ofpride of life—what eagerness and hunger after honour and dignity are found in these days amongst ecclesiastical persons! What a breathless race from benefice to benefice, from a less to a greater one, from a lower to a higher! Who is there who does not see this? Who that sees it does not grieve over it? Moreover, those who hold these dignities, most of them carry themselves with such lofty mien and high looks, that their place does not seem to be in the humble priesthood of Christ, but in proud worldly dominion!—not acknowledging or perceiving what the master of humility, Christ, said to his disciples whom he called to the priesthood. “The princes of the nations” (said He) “have lordship over them, and those who areamongst the great have power. But it shall not be so with you: but he who is great among you, let him be your minister; he who is chief, let him be the servant of all. For the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” By which words the Saviour plainly teaches, that magistracy in the Church is nothing else than humble service.
Lust of the flesh.
‘As to the second worldly evil, which is thelust of the flesh—has not this vice, I ask, inundated the Church as with the flood of its lust, so that nothing is more carefully sought after, in these most troublous times, by the most part of priests, than that which ministers to sensual pleasure? They give themselves up to feasting and banqueting; spend themselves in vain babbling, take part in sports and plays, devote themselves to hunting and hawking; are drowned in the delights of this world; patronise those who cater for their pleasure. It was against this kind of people that Jude the Apostle exclaimed: “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
Covetousness.
‘Covetousnessalso, which is thethirdworldly evil, which the Apostle John callsthe lust of the eye, and Paulidolatry—this most horrible plague—has so taken possession of the hearts of nearly all priests,and has so darkened the eyes of their minds, that now-a-days we are blind to everything, but that alone which seems to be able to bring us gain. For in these days, what else do we seek for in the Church than rich benefices and promotions? In these same promotions, what else do we count upon but their fruits and revenues? We rush after them with such eagerness, that we care not how many and what duties, or how great benefices we take, if only they have great revenues.
‘O Covetousness! Paul rightly called thee “the root of all evil!” For fromtheecomes all this piling-up of benefices one on the top of the other; fromtheecome the great pensions, assigned out of many benefices resigned; fromtheequarrels about tithes, about offerings, about mortuaries, about dilapidations, about ecclesiastical right and title, for which we fight as though for our very lives! O Covetousness! fromtheecome burdensome visitations of bishops; fromtheecorruptions of Law Courts, and those daily fresh inventions by which the poor people are harassed; fromtheethe sauciness and insolence of officials! O Covetousness! mother of all iniquity! fromtheecomes that eager desire on the part of ordinaries to enlarge their jurisdiction; fromtheetheir foolish and mad contention to get hold of the probate of wills; fromtheeundue sequestrations of fruits; fromtheethat superstitious observance of all those laws which are lucrative, and disregard and neglect of those which point at the correction of morals! Why should I mention the rest?—To sum up all in one word: every corruption, all the ruin of the Church, all the scandals of the world, come fromthe covetousness of priests, according to the saying of Paul, which I repeat again, and beat into your ears, “Covetousness is the root of all evil!”
Worldly occupation.Apostolic priests.Modern priests.
‘Thefourthworldly evil which mars and spots the face of the Church is the incessantworldly occupationin which many priests and bishops in these days entangle themselves—servants of men rather than of God, soldiers of this world rather than of Christ. For the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “No man that warreth for God entangleth himself in the affairs of this life.” But priests are “soldiers of God.” Their warfare truly is not carnal, but spiritual: for our warfare is to pray, to read, and to meditate upon the Scriptures; to minister the word of God, to administer the sacraments of salvation, to make sacrifice for the people, and to offer masses for their souls. For we are mediators between men and God, as Paul testifies, writing to the Hebrews: “Every priest” (he says) “taken from amongst men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Wherefore the Apostles, the first priests and bishops, so shrank from every taint of worldly things that they did not even wish to minister to the necessities of the poor, although this was a great work of piety: for they said, “It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables; we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word of God.” And Paul exclaims to the Corinthians, “If you have any secular matters, make those of you judges who are of least estimation in the Church.” Indeed from this worldliness, and because the clergy and priests, neglecting spiritual things, involve themselves in earthly occupation, manyevils follow. First, the priestly dignity is dishonoured, which is greater than either royal or imperial dignity, for it is equal to that of angels. And the splendour of this high dignity is obscured by darkness when priests, whose conversation ought to be in heaven, are occupied with the things of earth. Secondly, the dignity of priests is despised when there is no difference between such priests and laymen; but (according to Hosea the prophet) “as the people are, so are the priests.” Thirdly, the beautiful order of the hierarchy in the Church is confused when the magnates of the Church are busied in vile and earthly things, and in their stead vile and abject persons meddle with high and spiritual things. Fourthly, the laity themselves are scandalised and driven to ruin, when those whose duty it is to draw menfromthis world, teach men to love this world by their own devotion to worldly things, and by their love of this world are [themselves] carried down headlong into hell. Besides, when priests themselves are thus entangled, it must end inhypocrisy; for, mixed up and confused with the laity, they lead, under a priestly exterior, the mere life of a layman. Also their spiritual weakness and servile fear, when enervated by the waters of this world, makes them dare neither to do nor say anything but what they know will be grateful and pleasing to their princes. Lastly, such is their ignorance and blindness, when blinded by the darkness of this world, that they can discern nothing but earthly things. Wherefore not without cause our Saviour Christ admonished the prelates of his Church, “Take heed lest your hearts be burdened by surfeiting or banqueting, and the cares of this world.” “By the cares (He says) of this world!” The hearts ofpriests weighed down by riches cannot lift themselves on high, nor raise themselves to heavenly things.
Invasion of heretics.
‘Many other evils there be, which are the result of the worldliness of priests, which it would take long to mention; but I have done. These are those four evils, O fathers! O priests! by which, as I have said, we are conformed to this world, by which the face of the Church is marred, by which her influence is destroyed, plainly, far more than it was marred and destroyed, either at the beginning by the persecution of tyrants, or after that by the invasion of heresies which followed. For by the persecution of tyrants the persecuted Church was made stronger and more glorious; by the invasion of heretics, the Church being shaken, was made wiser and more skilled in Holy Scriptures. But after the introduction of this most sinful worldliness, when worldliness had crept in amongst the clergy, the root of all spiritual life—charity itself—was extinguished. And without this the Church can neither be wise nor strong in God.
Wicked life of priests the worst kind of heresy.
‘In these times also we experience much opposition from the laity, but they are not so opposed to us as we are to ourselves. Nor doestheiropposition do us so much hurt as the opposition of our own wicked lives, which are opposed to God and to Christ; for He said, “He that is not with me is against me.” We are troubled in these days also by heretics—men mad with strange folly;—but this heresy of theirs is not so pestilential and pernicious to us and the people as the vicious and depraved lives of the clergy, which, if we may believe St. Bernard, is a species of heresy, and the greatest and most pernicious of all; for that holy father, preaching in a certain convocation to the priestsof his time, in his sermon spake in these words:—“There are many who are catholic in their speaking and preaching who are very heretics in their actions, for what heretics do by their false doctrines these men do by their evil examples—they seduce the people and lead them into error of life—and they are by so much worse than heretics as actions are stronger than words.” These things said Bernard, that holy father of so great and ardent spirit, against the faction of wicked priests of his time; by which words he plainly shows that there be two kinds of heretical pravity—one of perverse doctrine, the other of perverse living—of which the latter is the greater and more pernicious; and this reigns in the Church, to the miserable destruction of the Church, her priests living after a worldly and not after a priestly fashion. Wherefore do you fathers, you priests, and all of you of the clergy, awake at length, and rise up from this your sleep in this forgetful world: and being awake, at length listen to Paul calling unto you, “Be ye not conformed to this world.”
‘This concerning thefirstpart.
Reformation.
‘Now let us come to thesecond—concerningReformation.
‘“But be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.” What Paul commands us secondly is, that we should “bereformed into a new mind;” that we should savour the things which are of God; that we should be reformed to those things which are contrary to what I have been speaking of—i.e.to humility, sobriety, charity, spiritual occupations; just as Paul wrote to Titus, “Denying ungodliness and worldlylusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”
Must begin with the bishops.
‘But this reformation and restoration in ecclesiastical affairs must needs begin withyou, our fathers, and then afterwards descend upon us your priests and the whole clergy. For you are our chiefs—you are our examples of life. To you we look as waymarks for our direction. In you and in your lives we desire to read, as in living books, how we ourselves should live. Wherefore, if you wish to see our motes, first take the beams out of your own eyes; for it is an old proverb, “Physician heal thyself.” Do you, spiritual doctors, first assay that medicine for the purgation of morals, and then you may offer it to us to taste of it also.
Existing laws must be enforced.
‘The way, moreover, by which the Church is to be reformed and restored to a better condition is not to enact any new laws (for there are laws enough and to spare). As Solomon says, “There is no new thing under the sun.” The diseases which are now in the Church were the same in former ages, and there is no evil for which the holy fathers did not provide excellent remedies; there are no crimes in prohibition of which there are not laws in the body of the Canon Law. The need, therefore, is not for the enactment of new laws and constitutions, but for the observance of those already enacted. Wherefore, in this your congregation, let the existing laws be produced and recited which prohibit what is evil, and which enjoin what is right.
Wicked and unlearned men admitted to holy orders.
‘First, let those laws be recited which admonish you, fathers, not to lay your hands on any, nor to admit them to holy orders, rashly. For here is the source from whence other evils flow, because if the entrance to Holy Orders be thrown open, all who offerthemselves are forthwith admitted without hindrance. Hence proceed and emanate those hosts of both unlearned and wicked priests which are in the Church. For it is not, in my judgment, enough that a priest can construe a collect, propound a proposition, or reply to a sophism; but much more needful are a good and pure and holy life, approved morals, moderate knowledge of the Scriptures, some knowledge of the Sacraments, above all fear of God and love of heavenly life.
‘Let the laws be recited which direct that ecclesiastical benefices should be conferred on the worthy, and promotions in the Church made with just regard to merit; not by carnal affection, nor the acceptation of persons, whereby it comes to pass in these days, that boys instead of old men, fools instead of wise men, wicked instead of good men, reign and rule!
Simony.
‘Let the laws be recited against the guilt of simony; which plague, which contagion, which dire pestilence, now creeps like a cancer through the minds of priests, so that most are not ashamed in these days to get for themselves great dignities by petitions and suits at court, rewards and promises.
Residence of curates.
‘Let the laws be recited which command the personal residence of curates at their churches: for many evils spring from the custom, in these days, of performing all clerical duties by help of vicars and substitutes; men too without judgment, unfit, and often wicked, who will seek nothing from the people but sordid gain—whence spring scandals, heresies, and bad Christianity amongst the people.
Worldly living of priests and monks.
‘Let the laws be rehearsed, and the holy rules handed down from our ancestors concerning the lifeand character of the clergy, which prohibit any churchman from being a merchant, usurer, or hunter, or common player, or from bearing arms—the laws which prohibit the clergy from frequenting taverns, from having unlawful intercourse with women—the laws which command sobriety and modesty in vestment, and temperance in dress.
‘Let also the laws be recited concerning monks and religious men, which command that, leaving the broad way of the world, they enter the narrow way which leads to life; which command them not to meddle in business, whether secular or ecclesiastical; which command that they should not engage in suits in civil courts for earthly things. For in the Council ofChalcedonit was decreed that monks should give themselves up entirely to prayer and fasting, the chastisement of their flesh, and observance of their monastic rule.
Worldly bishops.
‘Above all, let those laws be recited which concern and pertain toyou, reverend fathers and lords bishops—laws concerning your just and canonical election, in the chapters of your churches, with the invocation of the Holy Spirit: for because this is not done in these days, and prelates are often chosen more by the favour of men than the grace of God, so, in consequence, we sometimes certainly have bishops too little spiritual—men more worldly than heavenly, wiser in the spirit of this world than in the spirit of Christ!
‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the residence of bishops in their dioceses, which command that they watch over the salvation of souls, that they disseminate the word of God, that they personally appear in their churches at least on great festivals,that they sacrifice for their people, that they hear the causes of the poor, that they sustain the fatherless, and widows, that they exercise themselves always in works of piety.
‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the due distribution of the patrimony of Christ—laws which command that the goods of the Church be spent not in sumptuous buildings, not in magnificence and pomp, not in feasts and banquets, not in luxury and lust, not in enriching kinsfolk nor in keeping hounds, but in things useful and needful to the Church. For when he was asked by Augustine, the English bishop, in what way English bishops and prelates should dispose of those goods which were the offerings of the faithful, Pope Gregory replied (and his reply is placed in theDecretals, ch. xii. q. 2), that the goods of bishops should be divided into four parts, of which one part should go to the bishop and his family, another to his clergy, a third for repairing buildings, a fourth to the poor.
Reform of Ecclesiastical Courts.
‘Let the laws be recited, and let them be recited again and again, which abolish the scandals and vices of courts, which take away those daily newly-invented arts for getting money, which were designed to extirpate and eradicate that horrible covetousness which is the root and cause of all evils, which is the fountain of all iniquity.
Councils should be held oftener.
‘Lastly, let those laws and constitutions be renewed concerning the holding of Councils, which command that Provincial Councils should be held more frequently for the reformation of the Church. For nothing ever happens more detrimental to theChurch of Christ than the omission of Councils, both general and provincial.
‘Having rehearsed these laws and others, like them, which pertain to this matter, and have for their object the correction of morals, it remains that with all authority and power theirexecutionshould be commanded, so that having a law we should at length live according to it.
The bishops must first be reformed, then the clergy,
‘In which matter, with all due reverence, I appeal most strongly toyou, fathers! For this execution of laws and observance of constitutions ought to begin withyou, so that by your living example you may teach us priests to imitate you. Else it will surely be said of you, “They lay heavy burdens on other men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them even with one of their fingers.” But you, if you keep the laws, and first reform your own lives to the law and rules of the Canons, will thereby provide us with a light, in which we shall see what we ought to do—the light,i.e.of your good example. And we, seeing our fathers keep the laws, will gladly follow in the footsteps of our fathers.
then the lay part of the Church.
‘The clerical and priestly part of the church being thus reformed, we can then with better grace proceed to the reformation of the lay part, which indeed it will be very easy to do, if we ourselves have been reformed first. For the body follows the soul, and as are the rulers in a State such will the people be. Wherefore, if priests themselves, the rulers of souls, were good, the people in their turn would become good also; for our own goodness would teach others how they may be good more clearly than all other kinds of teaching and preaching. Our goodness would urgethem on in the right way far more efficaciously than all your suspensions and excommunications. Wherefore, if you wish the lay-people to live according to your will and pleasure, you must first live according to the will of God, and thus (believe me) you will easily attain what you wish in them.
‘You want obedience from them. And it is right; for in the Epistle to the Hebrews are these words of Paul to the laity: “Be obedient” (he says) “to your rulers, and be subject to them.” But if you desire this obedience, first give reason and cause of obedience on your part, as the same Paul teaches in the following text—“Watch as those that give an account of their souls,” and then they will obey you.
‘You desire to be honoured by the people. It is right; for Paul writes to Timotheus, “Priests who rule well are worthy of double honour, chiefly those who labour in word and doctrine.” Therefore, desiring honour, first rule well, and labour in word and doctrine, and then the people will hold you in all honour.
‘You desire to reap their carnal things, and to collect tithes and offerings without any reluctance on their part. It is right; for Paul, writing to the Romans, says: “They are your debtors, and ought to minister to you in carnal things.” But if you wish to reap their carnal things, you must first sow your spiritual things, and then ye shall reap abundantly of their carnal things. For that man is hard and unjust who desires “to reap where he has not sown, and to gather where he has not scattered.”
‘You desire ecclesiastical liberty, and not to be drawn before civil courts. And this too is right;for in the Psalms it is said, “Touch not mine anointed.” But if ye desire this liberty, loose yourselves first from worldly bondage, and from the cringing service of men, and claim for yourselves that true liberty of Christ, that spiritual liberty through grace from sin, and serve God and reign in Him, and then (believe me) the people will not touch the anointed of the Lord their God!
‘You desire security, quiet, and peace. And this is fitting. But, desiring peace, return to the God of love and peace; return to Christ, in whom is the true peace of the Spirit which passeth all understanding; return to the true priestly life. And lastly, as Paul commands, “Be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may know those things which are of God; and the peace of God shall be with you!”
Conclusion.
‘These, reverend fathers and most distinguished men, are the things that I thought should be spoken concerning the reformation of the clergy. I trust that, in your clemency, you will take them in good part. If, by chance, I should seem to have gone too far in this sermon—if I have said anything with too much warmth—forgive it me, and pardon a man speaking out of zeal, a man sorrowing for the ruin of the Church; and, passing by any foolishness of mine, consider the thing itself. Consider the miserable state and condition of the Church, and bend your whole minds to its reformation. Suffer not, fathers, suffer not this so illustrious an assembly to break up without result. Suffer not this your congregation to slip by for nothing. Ye have indeed often been assembled. But (if by your leave I may speak thetruth) I see not what fruit has as yet resulted, especially to the Church, from assemblies of this kind! Go now, in the Spirit whom you have invoked, that ye may be able, with his assistance, to devise, to ordain, and to decree those things which may be useful to the Church, and redound to your praise and the honour of God: to whom be all honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen!’
Comparing this noble sermon with the passages quoted in an earlier chapter from Colet’s lectures at Oxford and his Abstracts of the Dionysian writings, it must be admitted that what, fourteen years before, he had uttered as it were in secret, he had now, as occasion required, proclaimed upon the housetops. What effect it had upon the assembled clergy no record remains to tell.