CHAPTER XIII

ACCUSATIONS LEVELLED AGAINST RELIGIOUS, ON THE GROUNDS THAT THEY RECOMMEND THEMSELVES AND THE ORDERS TO WHICH THEY BELONG, AND THAT THEY PROCURE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

As we have before said, religious are calumniated for performing actions, which, in themselves are perfectly indifferent. We will now, therefore, enquire into the grounds, on which these false charges are based. Religious are accused:

             1. Of commending themselves and their order; and of procuring from others letters of recommendation.

             2. Of refuting, instead of bearing with, the detractions of their enemies.

             3. Of going to law.

             4. Of causing their persecutors to be punished.

             5. Of desiring to please men.

             6. Of rejoicing in the good which God vouchsafes to effect by their instrumentality.

             7. Of frequenting the courts of kings and princes.

             1. The enemies of religious try to prove that they ought not to commend themselves, by quoting the verse of St. Paul (Rom. xvi.), "by pleasing speeches and good words," together with the following commentary on this passage, taken from the Gloss: "False Apostles commend their tradition, by fair words, which deceive the simple-minded." Hence, when religious commend their order, and thus attract others to join it, they prove themselves to be false apostles. They resemble the Pharisees, to whom Our Lord said: "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go round about the sea and the land, to make one proselyte" (Matt. xxiii. 15).

             2. We read (2 Cor. iii. 1), "Do we begin again to commend ourselves?" As if, says the Gloss, "we were obliged, by another, to do so. Far be this from us." Hence, religious have no right to commend themselves.

             3. In the same chapter we read: "Do we need (as some do) letters of commendation to you, or from you?" "The men here referred to," says the Gloss, "are false apostles, who have no virtue to commend them." Hence we see, that to require letters of recommendation, is to be a false apostle.

             4. Again, St. Paul says: "by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves" (2 Cor. iv.); "without," as the Gloss says, "comparing ourselves with our adversaries." Hence, religious who commend their own order in preference to others, are not true Apostles.

             5. In the same chapter (2 Cor. iv. 5) the Apostle, likewise, says: "For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ." They who commend themselves, preach themselves, and are, therefore, no true imitators of the Apostles.

             6. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (x. 12), we read the following words: "We dare not match, or compare ourselves, with some that commend themselves," i.e., says the Gloss, "that commend themselves falsely." Hence, they who commend themselves, would appear to be false apostles.

             7. Again, we read, (2 Cor. x. 18), "Not he who commendeth himself is approved, but he whom God commendeth." Therefore, those who commend themselves, are not commended by God.

             8. Again, "let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth; a stranger and not thy own lips" (Prov. xxvii. 2). "He that boasteth and puffeth up himself, stirreth up quarrels" (Prov. xxviii. 25). These two verses point out the unrighteousness of self-commendation.

             9. Our Lord says, (John viii. 54), "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing." Hence, men who commend themselves, do, most convincingly, prove their own nothingness.

             These are the chief arguments brought in support of the dictum, that no one is justified in commending, either himself, or his order. We shall now proceed to show, from the Old and New Testaments, that certain holy men have not hesitated to praise themselves.

             1. In the Second Book of Esdras (v. 18), Nehemias says, in commendation of his own conduct, "Yet I did not require my yearly allowance as governor; for the people were very much impoverished. Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done."

             2. Job says, (xxxi. 1), "I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin." Again (xxix. 14), "I was clad with justice; and I clothed myself with my judgment as with a robe." In both the chapters cited, the patriarch says many other things to his own praise.

             3. St. Paul says: "I dare not speak of any of those things which Christ worketh not by me" (Rom. xv.); and again in the same chapter, "From Jerusalem round about, as far as unto Illyricum, I have replenished the Gospel of Christ."

             4. The same Apostle, likewise, says, "I have laboured more abundantly than all they" (1 Cor. xv. 10); and, "If any man dare . . . I dare also" (2 Cor. xi. 21). In the same epistle he writes many other things to his own commendation.

             5. Writing to the Galatians (i. 16), he says, "I condescended not to flesh and blood." In this, and the following chapter, we find many similar utterances. We, also, see, that St. Paul commended his state of life. For (in 2 Cor. iii. 6) he says: "Who, also, hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not in the letter but in the spirit." In this chapter, again, he adds many other expressions in praise of the Apostolic dignity. Hence, a religious is justified in extolling his order, and in thus attracting others to enter it.

             6. St. Paul commends the perfection of virginity, and exhorts others to this state in which he himself lived, saying: "I would that all men were even as myself" (1 Cor. vii. 7). Hence, it is permissible for religious, living in a state of perfection, to commend their mode of life. Self-commendation, therefore, though at times reprehensible, is, likewise, on certain occasions, praiseworthy. St. Gregory in his Homily upon Ezechiel (ix. part I.), writes as follows: "Just and perfect men do, at times, extol their own virtues, and make known the favours which they have received. They are not inspired to act thus, by motives of ostentation, but from a desire to draw those to whom they preach, to a more perfect life, by means of their own example. Thus, St. Paul, in order to divert the attention of the Corinthians from false preachers, tells them how he was rapt to Paradise. When perfect men speak of their own virtues, they imitate Almighty God who extols His own magnificence to men, in order to make Himself known to them." St. Gregory proceeds to note the circumstances, in which men are justified in commending themselves. Then, in the following words, he warns his readers against rash and ill-considered self-praise. "We must remember," he says, "that perfect men never disclose their own good deeds, unless urged to do so by necessity, or by desire of their neighbour's profit. Thus, St. Paul, after narrating his virtues to the Corinthians, concludes by saying: 'I have become foolish; you have compelled me.' At times, good men are obliged to speak of themselves, if not for their neighbours' sake, at least for their own. Thus, holy Job, under the pressure of physical pain, and reproached by his friends for impiety, violence to his neighbour, and oppression, was driven to the verge of despair. Then, in self-defence, he called to memory his good deeds, saying: 'I was an eye to the blind,' etc. He did not enumerate his virtues from desire of praise, but, merely, to reanimate his confidence in God."

             It is clear, then, from what has already been said, that men are justified in commending themselves; not from motives of vanity, but for the sake of their own spiritual advantage, or that of their neighbour. The most cogent reason which should induce a perfect man to commend his state of perfection, is, the wish to enkindle in others, a desire for the same perfection. Thus, it is permissible for a Christian to commend Christianity to infidels, in order to convert them to the Faith; and in proportion to the sanctity of men, we see them possessed with this zeal for souls. Thus St. Paul said, (Acts xxxvi. 29), "I would to God, that both in a little and in much, not only thou, but also all that hear me, this day should become such as I also am."

             We now proceed to reply to the objections adduced against religious.

             1. The words quoted from the Gloss on Rom. xvi., about such as falsely commend their traditions, refer, as we see by the context, to the traditions of such false preachers as endeavoured to induce the Gentiles to follow Hebrew customs, and tried, by their fluent language, to commend these rites to the ignorant heathens. The word "tradition" is not applied to any state of true religion, but to false doctrine and heresy.

             2. Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees, (Matt. xxiii.), not for their anxiety to make proselytes, but for imbuing their converts with erroneous ideas, or for setting them so bad an example, that, at the sight of their vices, their proselytes relapsed into paganism. For this cause, the Pharisees deserved greater condemnation (see Gloss on Matt. xxiii.). The words, again, quoted from 2 Cor. iii., "Do we begin to commend ourselves," mean, that the Apostles extolled themselves, not from vain glory, but inspired by the motives mentioned by St. Gregory above.

             3. To the third argument we reply, that St. Paul, did not prohibit the use of letters of recommendation. He merely showed that they were not needful for true Apostles, as they were for false teachers, who had no virtues to commend them as the Gloss explains. At times, however, holy men do need letters of recommendation. They want them, not on their own account, but for the sake of others, who know neither their virtue nor their authority. Thus, St. Paul commended Timothy, saying: "Now if Timothy come, see that he be with you without fear. For he worketh the work of the Lord" (1 Cor. xvi. 10). Again, in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, (19), he says: "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy unto you shortly . . . for I have no man so of the same mind." Again, in the Epistle to the Colossians (iv. 10), he writes, "Mark, the cousin german of Barnabas, touching whom you have received commandments." And writing to the Romans (xvi. 1) he says: "I commend to you Phoebe, our sister," etc. Thus, we see, that in the Apostolic times, it was customary to provide teachers, or other persons who might be sent to distant churches, with testimonials, or letters of recommendation.

             4. To the fourth argument, we answer that, as holy men do not commend themselves, for the sake of their own glory, but for the advantage of others, so they, likewise, sometimes prefer themselves to others. Thus, just men prefer themselves to sinners; in order that sinners may be avoided and justice imitated. Thus, St. Paul says, (2 Cor. ii. 23), "They are the ministers of Christ: (I speak as one less wise) I am more." Sometimes, also, good men commend themselves, in order that they may be held in credit by men; for if they are despised by those to whom they preach, they cannot influence them. We know that St. Paul preferred himself, in one point, to the other apostles, though they were true apostles. For he says (1 Cor. xv. 10), "His grace in me hath not been void; but I have laboured more abundantly than all they." Now, they are the less reprehensible who prefer their state to one less perfect, in proportion as such a comparison is divested of aught that savours of vain glory. In this manner, St. Paul (2 Cor. iii.), compares the ministers of the New Testament to those of the Old Law; and he prefers the status of Doctor, to which he belonged, to the other ranks in the Church. On this point he says (1 Tim. v. 17), "Let the priests that rule well, be esteemed worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." It may be said, that the Gloss, on this passage, as quoted above, is misinterpreted. For St. Paul speaks of the recommendation, not of words, but of deeds; whereby the Apostles commended themselves to the conscience of men. He shows, likewise, that the true Apostles proved themselves, by their works, to be better than the false Apostles. Hence, when the Gloss says, "without comparing them to their adversaries," the signification is, that the Apostles did incomparably more than their adversaries. Hence, the true meaning of the Gloss, is the exact contrary of that assigned to it.

             5. The answer to the fifth objection is given in the following words of the Gloss. "We preach not ourselves, i.e., our preaching is directed not to our own honour or advantage, but to the glory of Christ." Now, the Saints, at times, commend themselves; but they do so, not for their own glory, but to the praise of God, and for the spiritual benefit of their neighbour.

             6. 7. The sixth argument is answered, by the following words from the Gloss. "We do not communicate with certain other men, (i.e., false apostles), who are not sent by God, nor approved by Him, but who commend themselves by certain actions." From these words, we cannot conclude, that they who are sent by the prelates of the Church, may not commend themselves, when God commends them, so munificently, by bestowing the gifts of grace upon them. This is, likewise, the answer to the seventh objection.

             8. 9. To the eighth and ninth objections we reply, that the authors cited in them, speak of the self-praise, whereby some men commend themselves, inspired by motives of vain glory.

             10. The tenth objection is answered by the following passage from the interlinear commentary on the words, "If I glorify only myself," etc. The glory of them that glorify themselves is nothing. But the case is far otherwise with those whom God glorifies, by the bestowal of His heavenly favours.