Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/276

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THE PRIEST'S LIFE.

exercituum est.[1] In every flock some will be found who, being called by God to the life of counsels, seek the science of the spiritual life from the lips of the priest. Let Us, therefore, give all heed, lest in the hidden life of God the sheep be found going before the shepherds."

The Auctor Incertus says: "It is truly great confusion for priests and all clerics, when laymen are found more faithful and more just than they: how can it not be confusion to them to be inferior to laymen, to whom it is great confusion even to be only equal."[2] S. Ambrose says: "Vides divisiones? Nihil in sacerdotibus plebium requiri, nihil populare, nihil commune cum studio atque usu et moribus multitudinis. Sobriam a turbis gravitatem, seriam vitam, singulare pondus, dignitas sibi vindicat sacerdotalis. Quo modo enim potest observari a populo, qui nihil habet secretum a populo? dispar a multitudine? Quid enim in te miretur, si sua in te recognoscat? Si nihil in te adspiciat, quod ultra se inveniat? Si quæ in se erubescit, in te quern reverendum arbitratur offendat? Supergrediamur igitur plebeias opiniones, … ac

  1. Mal. ii. 7. S. Jerome says: "Si sacerdos est sciat legem: si ignorat legem ipse se arguit non esse Domini sacerdotem."—In Aggæum.
  2. Auctor Operis Imperfecti inter Opp. Sti. Joan. Chrys. Hom. vi.