I have somewhere heard it said of the Roman Emperor, Maximilian Augustus, that he was so overwhelmed with his public duties that he never gave himself sufficient time for eating his meals. He was therefore sometimes compelled to withdraw from his State labors, and seclude himself in the woods to indulge in hunting. Sometimes also he would change his raiment and mingle with private society so that he might enjoy greater freedom in conversation. And though this occupation of hunting was sometimes considered a vice in that Emperor, yet those who really knew the extent of his labors and the reality of his daily life considered that this amusement was adopted by him of necessity and not for pleasure. What labors of the plow then, what labors of the spade, what other toils of a rustic life, will you bring into comparison with that "sweat" which the government of such a mighty empire as that of Rome demanded? Wherefore the palaces of kings and princes do indeed bear their names as such, while the kings and princes themselves are the hardest worked of all servants. Hence monks and the whole confederacy of the Pope are the only beings that really live a royal life, because they leave all labors, all business affairs and all the perils of them to others, while they themselves enjoy all the comforts of life in perfect indolence.
These same observations apply equally to the pastoral charge in the Church which charge is to be considered the heavier since the duties are more important which a pastor has to perform. For are we to suppose that Augustine lived at ease and gave himself up to his pleasures only, surrounded as he was by so great a multitude of adversaries, against whom he had daily to contend to prevent them from wholly subverting as they would have done the doctrine of Christ? For such were the Pelagians, the Donatists, the Manicheans and other like disturbers of the churches. Likewise I in this day by the grace of God so perform my duties as to leave no one, I believe, to envy such a laborious life of ease as I daily pass. It is the height of folly that fanatics urge on all persons the necessity of manual labors, which nevertheless are useful for the health of the body. Whereas on the contrary, those great labors of the State and Church, which we have just described, wear out the body and exhaust as it were all the moisture of the very bones and their inmost marrow.
Let us therefore duly and rightly distinguish this "sweat" as it ought to be distinguished. The household "sweat" is great, the civil or political "sweat" greater still, but the Church "sweat" is the greatest of all. Only look at the Apostle Paul and you will at once see the greatness of his sweat. For seeing that the Church is in all ages infested with devils and harassed by heresies, scandals and great sins, by the unrighteous violence of tyrants and by evils of every description; will any man say that there are no labors and no sweats in the Church? Will any one affirm that those who rule in the Church are not well deserving the provision which they receive?
We may say this of the Pope and the Cardinals, and of all that congregation of the wicked who do no work at all, consult only their belly and their ease, spending the greatest wealth. These are they of whom we may rightly say with Paul, "If any one will not work, neither shall he eat," 2 Thess. 3:10. Now the work of the Church is to teach the Word, to administer the Sacraments, to war with fanatics, to remove scandals out of the way, to build up the godly in the faith, etc. Of those who really do this Christ says, "The laborer is worthy of his hire," Luke 10:7.
Now the condition of Adam, the first sinner, was if rightly considered worse than ours. For while we all sweat separately, each one in his own order and station, Adam was compelled to endure at one and the same time the sweat of the household rule, the sweat of the political rule and the sweat of the Church rule. He alone performed all these duties to his family and posterity as long as he lived. He provided for his family and ruled it. He trained them in piety and was at the same time their father, their king and their priest. And how full of pain and peril each one of these duties is, universal experienceteaches.
Wherefore we need great consolation to support us against all these evils, and we should exercise our minds in much patience, seeing that we find these calamities to be laid even on the elect also, who possess the hope of a resurrection and of eternal life. As therefore this hope is thus left to us afflicted men, it becomes us to be of a courageous mind and to overcome our evils by means of this hope, because we are not destined to live here forever. Just as men, who when traveling happen to find a miserable lodging and a covetous host, console themselves with the thought that though their food be bad and their bed hard, their misery will last for one night only. Such ought our thoughts to be in the midst of our calamities on account of the sin of the fall. For what are our two or three years of life, almost the half of which we pass in insensible sleep, when compared with eternity!
Let afflictions and adversities come therefore as the Lord shall be pleased to appoint them to each of us, whether they be the sweat of the home rule, of the state rule, or of the Church rule; we will not suffer ourselves to be moved by them to impatience. We will not cast aside our home duty, or our state duty, or our Church duty. Such woman-like weakness as this becometh not brave soldiers. It is unworthy them to throw away their arms, and to flee at the first onset. And what of pleasures and of ease? We are not appointed unto them, but unto labor and active life. Hence the poet of old says:
| Tu ne cede malis; sed contra audentior ito. Yield not to ills; but bolder grow, as these Are seen t' increase.—Virg. Aen. 6, 96. |
And this shall we be able to do, if we set against these temporal afflictions the hope of a resurrection and of eternal life. As therefore no one would willingly lose this hope, so let all men consider that they are bound not to forsake that calling and station of life where they have been placed by God. Let him who is called to teach the churches, do it with a magnanimous spirit, moved neither by his own perils nor by the lazy life of popes, who, when they ought to be preaching the Gospel, ruling the churches, hearing sacred causes and judging controversies concerning doctrine and helping the churches that have need of help, cast off all these highest duties and leave them to the useless monks, while they themselves are occupied in accumulating monies and making provision for fulfiling their lusts, Rom. 13:14. As these therefore escape the sweat, they shall not have the cooling refreshment. As they will not suffer with Christ, they shall not reign with him, Rom. 8:17.
On the other hand let all of us who endure this sweat, each one in his station, always think that, although we may have a bitter burden to bear, these afflictions will have their certain end. Hence Moses now adds the following consolation under any affliction however hard: