De XII Abusionibus saeculi

XII. ON THE TWELVE ABUSES OF THE AGE. PREFACE. There are twelve abuses of the age. These are: a wise man without works, an old man without religion, a youth without obedience, a rich man without almsgiving, a woman without chastity, a lord without virtue, a contentious Christian, a proud pauper, an unjust king, a negligent bishop, a people without discipline, a populace without law. Thus justice is stifled: these are the twelve abuses of the age through which the wheel of the age, if they are present in it, is deceived and, with no hindering support of justice, is rolled by the just judgment of God into the darkness of Tartarus. THE WISE MAN WITHOUT WORKS. First, if a wise man and preacher is without good works, he who neglects to fulfill in deeds what he teaches in speech. For hearers despise the sayings of doctrine when they see the preacher’s works disagree with the words of his preaching: the authority of the preacher is never effective unless he has fixed it in the heart of the hearer by the effect of his work, especially since the teacher himself, if he has fallen into the love of vices, scorns to apply the remedy of another teacher to his own wounds. Hence the Lord Himself in the Gospel, wishing to instruct disciples concerning both doctrine and good work, warned what caution they should have in these matters, saying: “If the salt has lost its savor, with what shall it be salted?” That is, if the teacher has erred, by what teacher will he again be corrected? And if the light that is in you is darkness, how great will the darkness itself be?

if, for example, the eye should cease from its office of seeing, who would demand that service from the hand or foot or the rest of the body? Therefore, let teachers consider lest they be subject to greater punishment, if they provide more abundant occasion for the ruin of many. For even Solomon, when he incurred the transgression of great wisdom, brought about the dispersion of the entire Israelite people’s kingdom by his own merit alone. Therefore, those to whom many things are entrusted lose greater things if they do not rightly administer the gifts of their ruler which they have received. For to whom more is entrusted, more is demanded from him. And a servant who understands his master’s will but does not do it will be beaten with sharper and heavier lashes of punishment. AN OLD MAN WITHOUT RELIGION. The second degree of abuse is if an old man is found to be without religion, he whose limbs of the outer man grow old, while the strengths of the mind, that is, the limbs of the inner man, do not receive increases of strength. For it is fitting that old men, whom the flourishing age of the present world, now past, has left behind, should devote themselves to religion more than all. For just as in trees that reprobate tree appears which, after its flowers, does not show the best fruits to its cultivator, so also in men that man is reprobate whom the flower of youth has left, and yet in the old age of his body he scorns to bring forth the mature fruits of good works.

What, then, could be more foolish than for the mind not to strive to hasten toward perfection, when the entire condition of the body, worn out by old age, rushes toward destruction? While the eyes grow dim, the ear hears with difficulty, the hair falls out, the face changes to pallor, the weary teeth diminish in number, the skin withers, the breath does not smell sweetly, the chest is choked, a cough cackles, the knees tremble, swelling inflates the ankles and feet: the inner man, who does not grow old, is weighed down by all these things. And all these things quickly foretell the imminent ruin of the house of the body. What, therefore, remains, except that, as the decline of this life approaches, each old man should strive to think of nothing other than how to successfully grasp the entrance to the future life? For young men, the uncertain end of this life is imminent; for old men, however, a more timely departure from this light is at hand. Therefore, two parts of man must be guarded against, which do not grow old in his flesh and draw the whole man toward sinning, namely, the heart and the tongue: because the heart never ceases to devise new thoughts, and the tongue tirelessly speaks whatever it perceives the heart has devised. Therefore, let old age beware lest these youthful parts deceive its entire harmony and, through inappropriate matters, mock the gravity of the rest of the body. For each one must consider what is already worthy of his advanced age, so that he may do that which renders neither his life, nor his age, nor his office base.

A YOUTHFUL MAN WITHOUT OBEDIENCE. The third degree, then, is a youthful man without obedience, by which the world is corrupted from the right order of reason. For how will he who in youth scorns to show obedience to his elders hope to be served in his old age? Whence also there is a saying among the ancients in a proverb, that he cannot serve who first refuses to offer service to anyone. For this reason also the Lord Jesus, in the time of his flesh, while he had not yet reached the lawful age of a teacher, obediently showed service to his parents. Therefore, just as sobriety and perfection of character are required in the elderly, so in the young, deference, subjection, and obedience are rightly due. For this reason also, in the commandments of the law, first among those things which pertain to men, honor for father and mother is commanded, because although a carnal father may not have survived or may have been unworthy, it is shown that paternal honor is to be offered by sons to some worthy and living father until a fitting age. For fathers are called in four ways through the divine scriptures, that is, by nature, by race, by admonition, by age. For concerning a natural father, Jacob speaks to Laban: “Unless the fear of my father Isaac were present, you would have taken all that is mine.” But by race a father is called, when the Lord spoke to Moses from the bush, saying, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

elders, when he is of an age to be called father equally by age and admonition, as Moses speaks in the Song of Deuteronomy: “Ask your father, and he will tell you [your elders, and they will tell you].” Therefore, if the natural father is not surviving or is unworthy, obedience must still be shown by youths to one who admonishes or to an elder. For how will he appear honored in old age who has not endured the labor of discipline in youth? For whatever a man has labored, that he will also reap. Indeed, all discipline does not seem in the present to be of joy but of sorrow; afterward, however, the most peaceful fruit of the exercise of justice is rendered through it. Just as fruit is not found on a tree in which a shoot or flower has not first appeared, so too in old age he will not be able to attain legitimate honor who has not labored in the exercises of some discipline in youth. Therefore, how can discipline exist without obedience? Thus, a youth without obedience is a youth without discipline, since obedience itself, which is the mother of all disciplines, requires great exercise, so that it may display the standard of its zeal to Christ the Lord, who, obedient to his father, willingly endured the shame of the cross even unto death.

The Rich Man Without Alms. The fourth grade of abuse is the rich man without alms, who stores up the superfluities of his own use to be kept for the future, and does not distribute them to the needy and those who have nothing. By this it comes about that while he guards with diligent care what he has sought on earth, he loses the everlasting treasure of the heavenly fatherland. To which treasure the Lord Jesus, answering the rich young man who had questioned him about perfection, invited him thus: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Which treasure no man can ever have, unless he provides relief to the poor or is himself poor through his own person. Therefore, let nothing sleep in your treasures that could benefit the poor. For the rich man cannot alone enjoy what he has amassed, because the nature of one man does not avail for many things. What, then, is more foolish than to lose, for the sake of one man’s food and clothing, the whole everlasting joy of the heavenly kingdom and to undergo the eternal torments of hell without the prospect of consolation? Therefore, what must at some time be lost through necessity ought to be distributed voluntarily for the sake of eternal reward. For all things that are seen are temporal; but those that are not seen are eternal. For as long as we are temporal, temporal things serve temporal needs, and when we have passed from here, eternal comforts will be provided for eternal things.

Therefore we ought not to love those things which we shall not always possess, especially since the greedy rich man, devoid of reason, shows his treasure, his fields, and everything he has, loving with his whole heart's gaze those things which never love him in return. For if anyone loves gold and silver, fields and garments, foods and metals and brute animals, the very nature of things shows that all these cannot repay the love given to them. What is further from reason than to love that which cannot love you back, and to neglect Him who, with love, provides everything at your command? For this reason, therefore, God commands not that the world be loved, but that the neighbor be loved, because the neighbor can repay the love given to him, which the world is undoubtedly unable to do. Thus the Lord commands that even an enemy be loved, so that such love may turn that enemy into a friend. Therefore, any greedy rich man who wishes to have eternal riches should, by distributing to the needy, lose those riches that will not last. For if he does not sell what he loves, no one will be able to buy what he desires. For greedy men are called cursed in judgment by the most just judge, because those who passed by their dwellings did not say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we have blessed you in the name of the Lord." Unhappy, therefore, are the greedy rich, who, because of transitory things, fall into eternal damnation; and, on the contrary, blessed are the merciful, for they themselves will obtain mercy.

Blessed is the merciful one, for in this virtue God requires not substance but affection. A WOMAN WITHOUT CHASTITY. The fifth degree of abuse is a woman without chastity. For just as prudence procures and preserves all good habits in men, so in women chastity nourishes and fosters all honorable acts. For chastity guards chastity, restrains avarice, avoids quarrels, mitigates anger, occupies lust, tempers desire, chastises lasciviousness, checks drunkenness, does not multiply words, purges the desires of the gullet, and utterly condemns theft. What more? It restrains all vices and nourishes all virtues and whatever is praiseworthy before God and good men. A life without chastity expects neither praise from men in the present age nor reward from God in the future; but a chaste life possesses a good reputation among men and rejoices in the hope of future blessedness. It makes itself imitable to those present and leaves a lovable memory to posterity. It always delights in and consents to good morals and invigorates the soul with constant meditations and discourses on the Scriptures. It preserves the examples of good predecessors and joins inseparable companionships with the perfect. The exercise of true chastity consists, therefore, in two ways: that is, in the habit and outward appearance of the body and in the internal affection of the soul. Through the external, according to the Apostle, we provide examples before men; through the internal mode, we provide good works before God.

Chastity, indeed, is not to covet the possessions of another's body, to avoid all uncleanness, not to wish to taste before the proper hour, not to provoke laughter, not to speak vain and false words, to have a demeanor in all things orderly and suitable to one's station, both in hair and in garments, as is fitting, not to enter into companionship with the unworthy, to look at no one with a haughty glance, not to permit the eyes to wander, not to walk with a pompous and alluring gait, to appear inferior to no one in a good work once begun, to inflict insult or shame upon no one, to blaspheme no one, not to mock the elderly, not to envy the good, not to contend with a better, not to discuss things you do not know, and not to disclose even all that you do know. These things render a man amiable to his neighbors and make him acceptable to God.

Chastity, indeed, of the soul is: to do all good things more for the eyes of God than for the eyes of man; to restrain the appetites of base thoughts; to consider all others better than oneself; to envy no one; to trust nothing concerning oneself; to commit all things always to the help of God; to place oneself before the eyes of God; not to stain one’s understanding with heretical depravity; to agree with Catholics in all things; to cleave to God alone; to offer the chastity of the inner mind to the Lord Jesus Christ; to end all begun good works only with the limit of death; to despise present tribulations with fortitude of spirit; to love nothing on earth except one’s neighbors; to establish the treasury of all love in heaven; and to hope for a reward from God in heavenly things for every good deed. Chastity is the ornament of the noble, the exaltation of the humble, the nobility of the ignoble, the beauty of the base, the prosperity of the laboring, the solace of the grieving, the increase of all beauty, the glory of religion, the defense against crimes, the multiplication of merits, the friendship of God, the creator of all.

A LORD WITHOUT VIRTUE. The sixth degree of abuse is a lord without virtue, because it profits nothing to have the power of ruling if the lord himself does not also possess the rigor of virtue. But this rigor of virtue does not so much require the strength of an army, which is itself necessary for secular lords, as it ought to exercise the inner strength of the mind through good morals. For often the virtue of ruling is lost through negligence of the mind, as is proven to have happened in the case of the priest Eli. Who, because he did not restrain his sinning sons through the severity of judgment, the Lord did not spare him, as one consenting to their punishment. Therefore, those who rule ought to have three things: namely, terror, and order, and love. For unless the lord is both loved and feared, his ordering can by no means stand. Therefore, through benefits and affability he should ensure that he is loved, and through just punishments—not for a personal injury, but for the law of God—he should strive to be feared. For this reason also, while many depend on him, he himself ought to cleave to God, who established him in leadership, who strengthened him, as it were, as a stronger one to bear the burdens of many. For if a peg is not well fixed and firmly attached to something stronger, everything that hangs on it quickly falls, and it itself, loosened from the rigor of its own firmness, falls to the ground with its burdens: thus also a prince, unless he has pertinaciously clung to his founder, both he and all who consent to him quickly perish.

For some, indeed, through the office of ruling draw nearer to God more firmly; others, once the honor of authority has been imposed upon them, become worse. For Moses, after receiving the leadership, enjoyed more familiar converse with God’s words; but Saul, the son of Kish, after he took up the scepter of the kingdom, offended God through the pride of disobedience. King Solomon, after he obtained the throne of his father David, God endowed him beyond all mortals with the gift of wisdom, as it were for the governance of a countless people; on the contrary, however, Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, after he received a part of the kingdom of the house of David, drew the ten tribes of Israel that were in the region of Samaria to the worship of idols. Through these examples it is clearly shown that some in a higher station grow to greater perfection, while others, through the arrogance of domination, decline to worse things. Through both of these it is understood that those who ascend to better things are able to do so by virtue of mind and the help of God, and that those who turn aside to worse things err equally through weakness of mind and negligence. Hence a lord ought not to exist without virtue, which virtue he does not have at all without the help of God. For he who protects many things, if he does not have strength, is unable to do this, because great things are accustomed to labor under great attacks and adversities. Therefore, everyone who is in authority should first of all strive with the whole intention of his mind that he in no way doubt the help of the Lord in all things.

If, indeed, he begins to have the Lord of lords as his helper in his actions, no man will be able to hold his dominion in contempt. For power is from God alone. He himself raises the needy from the dung-heap and makes him sit with the princes of his people; he deposes the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble, so that the whole world may be subject to God and stand in need of the glory of God. THE CONTENTIOUS CHRISTIAN. The seventh step of abuse is the contentious Christian, who, having received a share in the name of Christ through faith and baptism, loves the fleeting delights of the world contrary to the words and purpose of Christ. For everything that is contended is sought either for the sake of the love of the thing itself which is in question, or for the sake of the love of another thing which lies hidden under a hateful appearance. Just as, for example, war, though it is a hateful thing in the spirited conflict of combatants, is undertaken for the sake of the love of victory and freedom, and many other beloved species are sought under hateful labor or fear in a sufficiently contentious manner. Hence it is clearly understood that nothing is contended except for the sake of a subsequent love, namely, a lovable reward. Therefore, whoever contends for the present world for any reason whatsoever is plainly shown to love the world, which the words of the Holy Spirit through John forbid, where it says: Do not love the world, nor those things which are in the world?

For the love of the world and the love of God cannot dwell together in one heart, just as the eyes cannot behold heaven and earth at the same time. But it must be inquired whether there is truly anything in the world that ought to be loved, and what that world is which divine scriptures forbid to be loved. Therefore, it is not commanded that the earth, with its plants, metals, animals, the beauty of garments, the pleasures of foods, and things pertaining to these, be loved, but rather the neighbor, for whose sake all these things were made, is commanded to be loved. For all these aforementioned things, as not enduring, cannot accompany those journeying to the heavenly homeland. But neighbors, as co-heirs of the king who will endure, may rightly love one another. Therefore, what does not remain in the world and will perish along with the world—and the world itself—is commanded not to be loved. But the neighbor, who is a part of the heavenly kingdom on earth, is not unsuitably loved by seekers of the kingdom of heaven, since in that ultimate homeland he will be held as a co-heir forever. For this reason, the present world is commanded not to be loved, lest any lover of the world become estranged from the love of God. Therefore, it should not be contended that what is not permitted may be loved. Thus, a Christian who holds the likeness of the name of Christ ought also to have the likeness of his conduct. For no one is rightly called a Christian unless he is equal to Christ in conduct.

Concerning Christ, it is truly described through the prophet thus: “Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my chosen one; my soul has taken pleasure in him; I will place my spirit upon him. He will not contend, nor will he shout, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.” Behold, Christ does not contend nor does he shout; and you, if you wish to retain the likeness of Christ’s character, do not contend, lest you exist as an abusive Christian in the Church. For Christ commanded his followers: “Do not call yourselves Rabbi; for your one teacher is Christ; and do not call anyone father on earth; for your one father is in heaven. For you are all brothers.” He commanded those who are to pray to say: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Therefore, he who contends for a father on earth does so in vain, he who professes to have his father and his fatherland in heaven; no one becomes a possessor of that fatherland unless he is held secure from contention over an earthly fatherland.

THE PROUD POOR MAN. The eighth step of abuse is the proud poor man, who, possessing nothing, is puffed up with pride, whereas, on the contrary, the apostle commands the rich of this world not to think arrogantly. What, therefore, can be more foolish than that he who, on account of his abject misery, ought to walk as if cast down to the earth, lowly and humble, and to be sad, should, with the swelling of haughty pride, raise his inflated mind against God? Through this vice did those who were established at the highest summit of heaven fall. Why, then, does he wish to be arrogant on earth as if he were powerful, he who, above all men, ought to appear humble? But lest the poor be saddened by their poverty, let them consider what the poor are to receive from God: for He Himself says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” For by a just dispensation, the merciful God entrusts the kingdom of heaven to those to whom He has denied participation in earthly kingdoms [among mortals], so that he who procures nothing at all on earth may appear rich in the seat of heaven. But the poor must beware lest, while through necessity they lose the earthly kingdom, through imprudence of mind they also lose the kingdoms of heaven. For since, by God’s dispensation, they have received necessary poverty, it depends on their own choice whether they are poor in spirit. For the kingdoms of heaven are not promised to any poor men whatsoever, but only to those whom humility of spirit accompanies in their lack of riches.

For the poor man who is humble is called poor in spirit, who, though he is seen to be needy outwardly, never rises up in pride: because for seeking the kingdoms of heaven, humility of mind is worth more than the temporal poverty of present riches. Indeed, the humble who possess riches well can be called poor in spirit, and the proud who have nothing are undoubtedly deprived of the blessedness of poverty. Concerning both of these, sacred Scripture speaks thus: "He is as if rich, when he has nothing, and he is as if poor, when he is in many riches." The proud poor man is as if rich by the affection of his mind, and the rich man is as if poor by the humility of his mind. Therefore, humility of mind is wealth in poverty, and the enormity of souls is useless riches. Care must therefore be taken for the poor, that they understand what they themselves are like, and that they cease to be puffed up with pride of mind, which they cannot attain by means of material goods. THE UNJUST KING.

The ninth step of abuse is an unjust king. For a king ought to be not unjust, but a corrector of the unjust. Hence he must preserve in himself the dignity of his name: for the name "king" intellectually retains this, that he should provide the office of a ruler to all his subjects. But how will he be able to correct others who does not correct his own conduct so that it is not unjust? For the throne of a king is exalted by justice, and the governance of peoples is strengthened by truth. Now the justice of a king is: to oppress no one unjustly through power; to judge without favoritism between a man and his neighbor; to be a defender of strangers, orphans, and widows; to restrain thefts; to punish adulteries; not to exalt the unjust; not to support the shameless and actors; to destroy the impious from the land; not to allow parricides and perjurers to live; to defend churches; to support the poor with alms; to appoint just men over the affairs of the kingdom; to have counselors who are old, wise, and sober; not to attend to the superstitions of magicians, soothsayers, and pythonesses; to defer anger; to defend the homeland bravely and justly against adversaries; to live in all things in God; not to lift up the spirit in prosperity; to bear all adversities patiently; to have the Catholic faith in God; not to allow his sons to act impiously; to persist in prayers at fixed hours; not to taste food before the appropriate hours. For woe to the land whose king is a child and whose princes eat in the morning.

These things bring prosperity to the kingdom in the present and lead the king to better celestial realms. But he who does not administer the kingdom according to this law undoubtedly endures many adversities of rule. For often, for this reason, the peace of the peoples is broken, and stumbling blocks are also stirred up against the kingdom; the fruits of the earth are diminished, and the services of the peoples are hindered; many sorrows also infect the prosperity of the kingdom; the deaths of loved ones and children bring sadness; incursions of enemies lay waste to provinces on all sides; beasts tear apart the herds of cattle and flocks; storms of spring and winter hinder the fertility of the earth and the services of the sea; and sometimes thunderbolts burn up the crops, the blossoms of trees, and the vine-shoots. But above all, the injustice of the king not only darkens the face of the present rule but also obscures his sons and grandsons, so that they do not hold the inheritance of the kingdom after him. For on account of the sin of Solomon, the Lord scattered the kingdom of the house of Israel from the hands of his sons. And on account of the justice of King David, he always left a lamp from his seed in Jerusalem. Behold, how much the justice of a king avails in the world is clearly evident to those who observe. It is the peace of peoples, the protection of the fatherland, the immunity of the populace, the bulwark of the nation, the care of the sick, the joy of men, the temperateness of the air, the serenity of the sea, the fertility of the earth, the solace of the poor, the inheritance of sons, and for himself the hope of future blessedness.

yet let him know that just as he was established as the first among men on the throne, so also in punishments, if he has not done justice, he will hold the primacy. For all the sinners whom he had under him in the present, he will have above him in that punishment in a plague-like manner. A NEGLIGENT BISHOP. The tenth degree of abuse is a negligent bishop, who demands the honor of his rank among men, but does not guard the dignity of his ministry before God, for whom he acts as legate. First, let it be inquired what the dignity of his name holds for a bishop: since "bishop" is a Greek name, it is interpreted as "overseer." But why "overseer" is set and what is required of an overseer, the Lord himself reveals when, through the person of the prophet Ezekiel, he announces to the bishop the rationale of his office, speaking thus: "I have given you as an overseer to the house of Israel. Therefore, hearing the word from my mouth, you will announce it to them from me. But if you see a sword coming and you do not announce it so that the impious one may turn back from his path, the impious one will indeed die in his iniquity, but I will demand his blood from your hand. But if you announce it and he has not turned back, he will indeed die in his iniquity, but you have freed your soul.

It is fitting, therefore, that the bishop, who is placed as the overseer of all, should diligently attend to sins, and after he has attended to them, should correct them by word, if he can, and by action; and if he cannot, according to the rule of the Gospel, he should avoid the workers of crimes. For if, it says in the Gospel, your brother has sinned against you, correct him between yourself and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother; if he does not listen to you, take with you one or two more witnesses, so that every word may rest on the mouth of two or three witnesses; if he does not listen to them, tell the church; if he does not listen to the church, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican. In such an order is he to be expelled who is unwilling to adhere to any teacher or bishop. And he who has been expelled in such an order ought not to be received by any other teacher or bishop. Concerning the priest it is written in the law: he shall not take a widow or a divorced woman as wife. Therefore, he who receives an excommunicated person against the will of that catholic [bishop] who does not permit it, acts against the statutes of Scripture and exceeds the rights of the holy priesthood, into which kind of Christians it is elected. For this reason, the bishop ought to be to those over whom he is placed in oversight.

Moreover, the apostle Paul sets forth what sort of man he ought to be in himself, so that, coming to the rank of bishop, he should be sober, prudent, chaste, wise, modest, hospitable, having children subject to him with all chastity, bearing good testimony from those who are outside, preferring the faithful word of teachings, having had not more than one wife before the episcopate. He should not be a striker, not double-tongued, not a drunkard, not a neophyte, so that through these things he himself first shows in deed what he teaches others in the word of doctrine. Therefore, negligent bishops should beware, for in the time of vengeance the Lord complains through the prophet: "Mute shepherds have destroyed my people, and the shepherds did not feed my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves." Rather, let them attend to that for which the Lord placed them over his household: to give them food in its time, the measure of wheat—that is, pure and proven doctrine—so that when the Lord comes, they may deserve to hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant, because you were faithful over a few, I will place you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord.

A people without discipline. The eleventh grade of abuse is a people without discipline: which, because it does not serve the exercises of discipline, binds itself with a common snare of perdition; for it does not escape the wrath of the Lord without the rigor of discipline. And therefore it is proclaimed to the undisciplined people by the words of the psalmist: "Seize discipline, lest the Lord grow angry." Discipline, moreover, is the ordered correction of morals and the observance of the rules of preceding elders. Concerning this discipline, the apostle Paul speaks thus, saying: "Persevere in discipline: as to sons, God offers himself to you. But if you are outside discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are adulterers and not sons." Therefore, those who are adulterers and without discipline do not receive the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom; but sons bear the corrections of paternal discipline and do not despair of being able to receive the inheritance at some time. Concerning this discipline, Isaiah also proclaims to the same undisciplined people, saying: "Cease to act perversely, learn to do good." And to the same, the psalmist sings in a harmonious voice, saying: "Turn away from evil and do good." Unhappy, therefore, is he who casts aside discipline. For he dares something beyond the soldiers who, crucifying the Lord, did not tear his tunic, who rends the discipline of Christ's Church. For just as the tunic covers the whole body except the head, so discipline is for all in the Church except Christ.

Whoever is under the discipline of the Church is protected and adorned. But that tunic had been woven together throughout, because the same discipline of the Church is granted and made whole by the Lord from heaven. Concerning this, when the Lord had ascended to the Father after rising from the dead, he spoke to his apostles: "But you sit in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Therefore, the tunic of the body of Christ is the discipline of the Church: whoever is outside discipline is a stranger to the body of Christ. Let us not, therefore, tear it, but let us share in it; let us not loosen anything from the commands of Christ, but let each one, in that to which he is called, remain with God. A PEOPLE WITHOUT LAW. The twelfth grade of abuse is a people without law, which, because it despises the words of God and the decrees of laws, incurs the same snare of perdition through various paths of error. Concerning these paths, under the figure of a prevaricating people, the prophet laments the human race thus: "But we, like sheep, have gone astray; each one has turned aside into his own way." Concerning these, the same wisdom also speaks through Solomon: "Many ways seem right to men, and their ends lead to death." Those many ways of perdition are certainly trodden when the one royal way, namely the law of God, which declines neither to the right nor to the left, is abandoned through negligence.

Concerning which way, of course, the Lord Christ, who is the end of the law, proclaims to every believer for righteousness: I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me. To which way he invites all men in common, saying: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Because there is no acceptance of persons with God. Where there is not Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free, barbarian and Scythian, but all things in all are Christ: for all are one in Christ Jesus. Therefore, since Christ is the end of the law, those who are without the law become without Christ. Thus a people without the law is a people without Christ. It is therefore abusive in the times of the Gospel for a people to be without Christ, when permission for preaching was given to the apostles among all nations, when the thunder of the Gospel resounded through all parts of the world, when the nations which did not pursue justice seized justice, when those who were far off became near in the blood of Christ, who once were not a people, but now are a holy people in Christ, when it is an acceptable time and a day of salvation and times of refreshment in the sight of the Most High, when each nation has a witness of the resurrection, when the Lord declares: Behold, I am with you all days until the consummation of the world. Let us not, therefore, be without Christ in this transitory time, lest Christ begin to be without us in the future.