the care of the poor, for mutual
edification, and preparation for Christ; and thus, as soon as the world
professed to be Christian, Christians at once set up among them a
witness against the world, and kings and monks came into the Church
together. And from that time to this, never has the union of the
Church with the State prospered, but when the Church was in union also
with the hermitage and the cell.

Moreover, in those religious ages, Christians avoided greatness in the
Church as well as in the world. They would not accept rank and station
on account of their spiritual peril, when they were no longer
encompassed by temporal trials. When they were elected to the
episcopate, when they were appointed to the priesthood, they fled away
and hid themselves. They recollected our Lord's words, "Whosoever will
be chief among you, let him be your servant;" and again, "Be not ye
called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are
brethren[11]." And when discovered and forced to the eminence which
they shunned, they made much lament, and were in many tears. And they
felt that their higher consideration in the world demanded of them some
greater strictness and self-denial in their course of life, lest it
should turn to a curse, lest the penance of which it would defraud them
here, should be visited on them in manifold measure hereafter. They
feared to have "their good things" and "their consolation" on earth,
lest they should not have Lazarus' portion in heaven. That state of
things indeed is now long passed away, but let us not miss the
doctrinal lesson which it conveys, if we will not take it for our
pattern.

Before I conclude, however, I must take notice of an objection which
may be made to what I have been saying. It may be asked, "Are not
these dangerous things the gifts of God? Are they not even called
blessings? Did not God bestow riches and honour upon Solomon as a
reward? And did He not praise him for praying for wisdom? And does
not St. Paul say, 'Covet earnestly the best gifts[12]?'" It is true;
nor did I ever mean to say that these things were bad in themselves,
but bad, for us, if we seek them as ends, and dangerous to us from
their fascination. "Every creature of God is good," as St. Paul says,
"and nothing to be refused[13];" but circumstances may make good gifts
injurious in our particular case. Wine is good in itself, but not for
a man in a fever. If our souls were in perfect he