lays it out broad and fair, chiefly for us priests, who desire the statutes of men to be more carefully kept than the word of God. Why, when a priest, monk, or prelate is guilty of debauchery or adultery, he gets off scot-free! But let him teach anything that is due to individual judgment, and this will be looked into under threat of anathema. In like manner, the secular priests punish no one for disgracing God. But let a man say to them, “Conscript fathers,[1] you are condemning an innocent man” (which frequently happens), then they punish him with the sword for charging his judges with injustice.
However, I trust God that He will deliver you from these evils, so that you may keep His law more jealously than the statutes of men. When you observe that law, no one can harm you. Therefore, beloved, look to these things that are eternal and imperishable. For there are two alternatives, condemnation and life eternal. Condemnation means perpetual fire, darkness, terrible torture and everlasting burning in company with devils. In life eternal there is perfect joy and light, without pain or torture, and there is communion with God Himself and His angels. As St. Paul saith: Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man (mark here in its full meaning “of man”) what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.[2] We shall be blessed when we enjoy that bliss, in which there is perfect love. For there we shall see who is accursed, damned, and reprobate; there will the sins that lie hidden in men’s hearts be open to view; there shall we experience such
