I understood, secondly, that the enemies of the truth begin to be alarmed. Thirdly, I recognized the charitable order, the intrepid firmness, with which you confess the truth; and, lastly, I saw with joy that you wished to put an end to the vanities and laborious servitude of the age, and combat for our Lord Jesus Christ; to serve whom, is, as St Gregory expresses it, to reign. He who faithfully serves him will be served by him in the celestial realms. He has said, “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” The kings of this world do not act in this manner towards their servants; they love them only as long as they are useful and necessary to them. This is not the conduct of Jesus, the King of Glory, who crowned the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, introducing the former into the celestial kingdom by crucifixion, &c, the latter by decapitation; the first after having been imprisoned four times, and delivered by an angel; the second after having been beaten thrice with rods, once stoned, often afflicted, and twice shipwrecked, and having lingered two years in prison. Now they no longer suffer anxieties and torments, but enjoy a sweet and unchangeable peace, as well as infinite joy: Peter and Paul reign already with the King of Heaven; they are already among the angelic choir, they behold the King of kings in his magnificence; no sorrows afflict them, and they are filled with ineffable
