CHAPTER XIV

CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST RELIGIOUS, ON THE GROUND THAT THEY RESIST THEIR DETRACTORS

We will next consider the arguments, whereby the assailants of religious try to prove that they are not justified in offering any resistance to such as detract them.

             1. The Gloss on the words (1 Cor. xii.), "No one can say the Lord Jesus," etc., has the following passage: "Christians ought to be humble, and to bear reproach, and not to desire to be flattered." Therefore, religious who do not endure reproach, prove that they are no true Christians.

             2. In 2 Cor. xii. 12, St. Paul says: "The signs of my Apostleship have been wrought on you in all patience." On which text the Gloss observes: "the Apostle makes special mention of patience, as being an essential of virtue." Hence, they who perform the apostolic function of preaching ought to be remarkable for their patience according to the words of the Psalmist (xci. 15), "Bene patientes, erunt ut annuncient." They ought to bear with the malice of their detractors and to offer no resistance to it.

             3. "Am I, then, become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" asks St. Paul (Galat. iv. 16). The comment of the Gloss on this verse runs as follows: "The carnal-minded man will not suffer himself to be reproved as though he were in the wrong." Hence, they who will not bear rebuke, show that they live according to the flesh. Again, on the words in Phil. iii., "Beware of dogs," the Gloss says: "Understand that such men are dogs; not because they lack reason, but because they are wont to bark at truth, to which they are unaccustomed." Again "as dogs," says the Gloss, "obey habit, rather than reason; so false apostles bark at truth, in an irrational manner, and rend it." They, therefore, who rage against such as reprove them for their vices, hereby prove that they are false Apostles.

             4. St. Gregory says, in his Pastorale: "He who is bent upon wrong doing, and desires that others should conceal his sin, shows that he loves himself better than truth. For, he will not suffer truth to be defended at his own cost." "God is truth" (John xiv.). They, therefore, who will not allow themselves to be corrected, show that they love themselves better than God. They are, consequently, in a state of damnation.

             5. What has been already said on the subject is further confirmed by the words of the Book of Proverbs (ix. 8), "Rebuke not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." It is, likewise, supported by the following passages from the Old and New Testament.

             "He that hateth to be reproved, walketh in the trace of a sinner" (Ecclus. xxi. 7). "Bless them that persecute you: bless and curse not" (Rom. xii. 14). "Bless them that curse you; pray for them that calumniate you" (Luke vi. 28). "We are reviled and we bless; we are persecuted and we suffer it" (1 Cor. iv. 12). All the texts which we have cited, seem to prove that it is the duty of perfect men, and especially of preachers of the Gospel, not to resist those that speak ill of them.

             It can however be shown that at times apostolic men are justified in opposing their calumniators, as we shall now see.

             1. "Not rather," says St. Paul (Rom. iii. 8), "(as we are slandered and as some affirm that we say) let us do evil that there may come good. Whose damnation is just." The commentary of the Gloss on this passage, runs as follows: "Certain perverse men, who misunderstand us, and who are inclined to blame us, assert that this is our teaching. Their damnation is just." In these words, the Apostle infers, that no credit is to be given to his detractors; and, thus, he resists them.

             2. In his 3rd Epistle (x.), St. John writes: "If I come, I will advertise his works which he doeth, with malicious words prating against us." On this verse, the Gloss comments in the following terms. "We ought not, by our own fault, to stir up detraction against ourselves, lest we cause our slanderers to perish. If our enemies, animated by their own malignity, revile us, we ought to endure such treatment patiently, to the increase of our merit. It is right, however, at times, to suppress their slanders; lest, by propagating evil reports against us, they gain the ear and harden the heart of those who would, otherwise, have listened to our preaching."

             3. In the following words St. Paul shows (2 Cor. x. 10) that he thought it right to resist those that slandered him. "For his epistles, indeed, say they are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak; and his speech is contemptible. Let such a one think this, that such as we are in word, by epistles, when absent, such also we will be in deed when present." The Apostle thus treats those who speak ill of him.

             4. St. Gregory in his Homily upon Ezechiel (ix. Part 1) says, "They who occupy so conspicuous a position, that their lives are regarded as an example for imitation, ought, if they can do so, to silence the detractions propagated against them. For these slanders may reach the ears of those who would, otherwise, have listened to their preaching. They may cause them to refuse to hear their words, and, thus, to become hardened in their sins." Now, they who practise a life of perfection, are regarded by all men as a model for imitation. It is, therefore, their duty, to suppress the calumnies set afoot against them.

             5. St. Augustine (II. de Trinit.), writes as follows: "Modest and gracious charity gladly admits of the kisses of the dove; but chaste and cautious humility avoids the dog's bite; solid truth, likewise, repels it." Hence, we see, that detraction is, at times, to be avoided, and, at times, is to be combated.

             6. We learn the same lesson from the example of a multitude of Saints. Thus Saints Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, Bernard, and many others wrote apologies and epistles defending themselves against the attacks of their enemies.

             In the matter of reproof, we must draw a distinction between those who rebuke others in a legitimate manner, and with a desire for their correction; and those who bring false charges against their neighbour. Men of the first class should be, not only tolerated, but loved. Those of the second category, must be patiently endured, when their calumnies do not cause much scandal, or produce much injury amongst those who hear them. At other times, however, they must, if possible, be suppressed; not on account of the personal reputation of their victims, but for the sake of the public welfare. But, if such detractions cannot be silenced, they must be borne with patience. Thus, St. Gregory says, in the Homily before quoted, "As just men, may, at times, without arrogance, acknowledge the good that they do; so they can, without undue solicitude for their personal reputation, silence the tongues of those that speak against them. But, when their slanderers cannot be silenced, they must be patiently endured. Calumny in itself is not to be feared. We must only be on our guard, lest the dread of being slandered, should cause us to desist from doing right."

             We will now examine, and refute, the arguments of our opponents.

             1. True Christians bear reproof, when administered to them for the sake of correction. They resist, however, accusations brought against them in order to overthrow their work. More especially do they resist, when such charges are blasphemies, directed not only against their person, but against the truth which they preach.

             2. Apostolic men ought certainly to practise patience. When they resist detraction, they do so, not out of impatience, but from love of truth.

             3. Carnal-minded men hate such as rebuke them in charity. It is not, however, carnal minded, to oppose those who calumniate the truth.

             4. The passage of the Gloss, quoted in the fourth argument, refers to men who, unreasonably, slander the truth, and injure its preachers. They who, under pretext of patience, permit falsehoods about the truth to be disseminated, are like the "dumb dogs, not able to bark," of which Isaias speaks (lvi. 10).

             5. If they who will not suffer the truth to be defended at their own expense, show that they love themselves more than the truth; they, equally, love themselves better than the truth, who, rather than suffer their own peace to be disturbed, leave the assailants of truth unanswered. Hence, it is love of truth which inspires holy men to resist its detractors.

             6. The following reply will serve as an answer to all the remaining objections. The authors, quoted in these objections, counsel us to love those that correct us justly, and they forbid us to pursue, with hatred or impatience, those that malign us. They advise us, on the contrary, to love and pray for our detractors. Holy men amply fulfil this duty; even while they refute the charges brought against them by their enemies.