8.  I was influenced besides by another feeling, whether base or noble I do not know, but I will speak out to you all my secrets.  I was ashamed of all those others, who, without being better than ordinary people, nay, it is a great thing if they be not worse, with unwashen hands,19    S. Mark vii. 5. as the saying runs, and uninitiated souls, intrude into the most sacred offices; and, before becoming worthy to approach the temples, they lay claim to the sanctuary,20    The sanctuary.  i.e. That which gave the right to a place in the sanctuary,—the priesthood.  Billius wrongly takes it of the episcopate. and they push and thrust around the holy table, as if they thought this order to be a means of livelihood, instead of a pattern of virtue, or an absolute authority, instead of a ministry of which we must give account.  In fact they are almost more in number than those whom they govern; pitiable as regards piety,21    Piety—for it is a mere external pretence, deceiving themselves as well as others.  εἰσέβαια here has the double sense of piety and orthodoxy—the former being the more prominent. and unfortunate in their dignity; so that, it seems to me, they will not, as time and this evil alike progress, have any one left to rule, when all are teachers, instead of, as the promise says, taught of God,22    Is. liv. 13; S. John vi. 45. and all prophesy,23    Numb. xi. 29; 1 Cor. xiv. 24. so that even “Saul is among the prophets,”24    1 Sam. x. 11; xix. 24. according to the ancient history and proverb.  For at no time, either now or in former days, amid the rise and fall of various developments, has there ever been such an abundance, as now exists among Christians, of disgrace and abuses of this kind.  And, if to stay this current is beyond our powers, at any rate it is not the least important duty of religion to testify the hatred and shame we feel for it.

Ηʹ. Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πρᾶγμα ἔπαθον, ἐκλαλήσω γὰρ πρὸς ὑμᾶς πᾶν τὸ ἀπόῤῥητον, οὐκ οἶδ' εἴτε ἄγροικον εἴτε ἐλεύθερον, ἔπαθον δ' οὖν: ᾐσχύνθην ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσοι, μηδὲν τῶν πολλῶν ὄντες βελτίους, μέγα μὲν οὖν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πολλῷ χείρους, ἀνίπτοις χερσὶν, ὃ δὴ λέγεται, καὶ ἀμυήτοις ψυχαῖς τοῖς ἁγιωτάτοις ἑαυτοὺς ἐπεισάγουσι: καὶ πρὶν ἄξιοι γενέσθαι προσιέναι τοῖς ἱεροῖς, μεταποιοῦνται τοῦ βήματος, θλίβονταί τε καὶ ὠθοῦνται περὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀρετῆς τύπον, ἀλλ' ἀφορμὴν βίου τὴν τάξιν ταύτην εἶναι νομίζοντες, οὐδὲ λειτουργίαν ὑπεύθυνον, ἀλλ' ἀρχὴν ἀνεξέταστον. Καὶ εἰσὶ σχεδόν τι πλείους κατ' ἀριθμὸν ἢ ὁπόσων ἄρχουσι: δείλαιοι τῆς εὐσεβείας, καὶ ἄθλιοι τῆς λαμπρότητος: ὥστε ἔμοιγε δοκοῦσι, προϊόντος τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τοῦ κακοῦ, μηδὲ ἔχειν λοιπὸν ὧν ἄρξουσι, πάντων διδασκόντων ἀντὶ τοῦ διδακτοὺς εἶναι Θεοῦ, ὥς φησιν ἡ ἐπαγγελία, καὶ πάντων προφητευόντων, ὥστε εἶναι καὶ Σαοὺλ ἐν προφήταις, κατὰ τὴν παλαιὰν ἱστορίαν καὶ παροιμίαν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω πολὺ κατ' οὐδένα καιρὸν οὔτ' ἐστὶν, οὔτ' ἐγένετο, ἄλλοτε ἄλλων ἀκμασάντων τε καὶ ληξάντων, ὡς νῦν Χριστιανοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ ὀνείδη καὶ ἁμαρτήματα. Ὧν εἰ καὶ στῆσαι τὴν φορὰν κρεῖσσον ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ τό γε μισεῖν καὶ αἰσχύνεσθαι μέρος εὐσεβείας οὐ τὸ σμικρότατον.