Chapter VII.—Grief of the Faithful at the Admission of Idol-Makers into the Church; Nay, Even into the Ministry.

A whole day the zeal of faith will direct its pleadings to this quarter: bewailing that a Christian should come from idols into the Church; should come from an adversary workshop into the house of God; should raise to God the Father hands which are the mothers of idols; should pray to God with the hands which, out of doors, are prayed to in opposition to God; should apply to the Lord’s body those hands which confer bodies on demons. Nor is this sufficient. Grant that it be a small matter, if from other hands they receive what they contaminate; but even those very hands deliver to others what they have contaminated. Idol-artificers are chosen even into the ecclesiastical order. Oh wickedness! Once did the Jews lay brands on Christ; these mangle His body daily.  Oh hands to be cut off! Now let the saying, “If thy hand make thee do evil, amputate it,”38    Matt. xviii. 8. see to it whether it were uttered by way of similitude merely. What hands more to be amputated than those in which scandal is done to the Lord’s body?

CAPUT VII.

Tota die ad hanc partem zelus fidei perorabit, ingemens christianum ab idolis in Ecclesiam venire, de adversarii officina in domum Dei venire, attollere ad Deum patrem manus matres idolorum, his manibus adorare quae foris adversus Deum adorantur , eas manus admovere corpori Domini , quae daemoniis corpora conferunt. Nec hoc sufficit. Parum sit, si ab aliis manibus accipiant quod contaminant ; sed etiam ipsi tradunt aliis quod contaminaverunt. Alleguntur in ordinem 0669B ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum. Pro scelus! Semel Judaei Christo manus intulerunt, isti quotidie corpus ejus lacessunt. O manus praecidendae! Viderint jam an per similitudinem dictum sit, Site manus tua scandalizat, amputa eam (Matth., VIII, 8). Quae magis amputandae, quam in quibus Domini corpus scandalizatur?