sideration

cited state of feeling existing among Ca

tholics.

and in their excessive trepidation [*driven in confusion of the alarm- to and fro,*] and afraid even of your own presence. So ing preva- that in this state of uncertainty, some coming, some lence of heresy in Italy, again retiring as they came, they are veering about, and the ex-backwards and forwards, and are still a prey to fear. Sound then aloud [good] pope, the signal cry, the familiar call, of the true Shepherd; and stand between them and the wolves, that they may be divested of their alarms, and then at length recognise you as their shepherd indeed. For the people that I see [around me here] while supporting many heretics, are yet full of zeal, and are easily thrown into confusion like the affrighted sheep. And from such causes of terror they are but ill secured, seeing that Italy has been so infested with grievous wolves, that the destruction of all their whelps is a thing almost impossible, reared as they have been to such a monstrous growth in their native dens. [*Those dens may God extinguish, with the race of monsters reared in them, and his own flock may he nourish*] [and protect.] May he also put it into your heart to apply yourself with vigilance to your pastoral office, standing upon your watch day and night, [*and to keep a [constant] eye to that hazel rod, the [symbol of your office] that so you may be counted worthy to see it in a future day loaded, [like Aaron's rod] with abundant produce, on the arrival of that harvest time when the true fruits shall be gathered in.*]

Apostolic "In order then that you may not lack Apostolic honour, faithfulness preserve the Apostolic Faith; confirm it by your testithe true mony; support it with your pen; fortify it by [the defoundation cision of] a synod; so that none may be able, on rightful to apostolic grounds, to resist your authority. Slight not this little

for claims

honour.

word of advice offered by a stranger, from any feeling connected with your consciousness of being the teacher of him who is thus anxious on your behalf. The world is already verging to its close. The chief Shepherd is at

xii. 45.

hand. Beware lest he find you negligent, and beating S. Luke your fellow-servants with the stripes of a bad example, and eating and drinking with the drunken; lest you be s. Matt. x. overtaken by the consequences of such carelessness. 33. For he that knoweth not, shall not be known. To be concerned for your own case is not sufficient for you, seeing that you have made yourself responsible for the charge over many. For to whomsoever much is given, of S. Luke him shall the more be required.

xii. 48.

scientious

flock;

"Be vigilant then I implore thee, O Pope, be vigilant; Pastors reand again I say be vigilant! For it may be that there sponsible to was a want of proper vigilance on the part of Vigilius, God for conwho is loudly exclaimed against as having been the first vigilance in occasion of scandal, by those who are attaching blame the care of to you. Be vigilant, first in defence of the faith; then Christ's in inculcating the works of faith, and in suppressing vices. For vigilance on your part will prove the salvation of many; as on the other hand, carelessness on your part will bring many to destruction. Let Isaiah send thee forth upon the mountain, O thou that tellest good Isa. xl. 9, tidings to Sion! Yea, let God, [speaking] by Isaiah, marg. station thee, according to the interpretation of thy name, on the watch-tower of true contemplation, where placed as it were upon an eminence above all mankind, and raised near to the inhabitants of heaven, thou mayest lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and tell the people of thy lviii. i. ib. Lord, by Him committed to thy charge, their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. Be not afraid of incurring the charge of falsehood; for a message thou hast, which it is thy bounden duty to deliver. For, what is a still more serious evil, many souls in these parts have been destroyed through the carelessness of the pastors; and many have been deluded by the ruinous influences of prosperity and abundance.

and for fre

"Since therefore, according to the denunciations of quent the Lord, the blood of the saints is to be required at the preaching

of God's

hands of the Shepherds, a vigilant watch must be kept; holy Word. that is, there must be frequent preaching of the Word of the Lord, namely by the pastors of the Church, its watchmen and guardians; that no soul may perish through ignorance. For if any shall perish through carelessness, his blood shall be reckoned against his own head.

Ezek. xxxiii. 4, 6.

The anx

this letter

to be attri

admonitions

of Holy Scripture on the feelings of the

writer.

Heb. iv. 12.

66

My reason for insisting so keenly on points long famiious tone of liar to every body I shall assign in what follows. For these principles [which I am now stating] have an buted to the important relation to the details of the subject suginfluence of gested by me at the outset; the two being connected the solemn together in a mutual dependance upon one another; which makes it necessary for these principles to be cleared up in the first instance. For the man who has no concern about religion, has no concern about error, and on this depends the entire controversy, on this point turns the whole case [at issue.] Here it is that that two-edged sword, which pierces even to the dividing asunder of the flesh and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and which is a discerner of the heart and its intents, must cut thro' the nerves even to the bone. For this reason it is that my language is seasoned with the divine salt, it being commanded that every sacrifice should be salted with salt. For this reason it is that the sparks of that divine fire which the Lord came to send forth upon the earth, descend from heaven to burn up the wood, hay, stubble, that are unhappily builded by many upon the foundation. This is what may well be wondered at, that we Christians are so often builded upon other foundations than that beside which none can lay any; other foundations than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Alas what fuel for hell is preparing on every side in these unfortunate buildings; concerning the burning up of which has gone forth that kindling word of the Lord, issuing forth from the vast pile of those flames which never die; [and]

S. Mark ix. 49.

S. Luke xii. 49.

1 Cor. iii. 11, 12.

saying, Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be S. Luke overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of xxi. 34, 35. this life, and that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

much da

mage to the

11.

"You see what fearful warnings the Lord makes use of, Boniface's to arouse to vigilance our mischievous indifference and neglect of sluggishness. Therefore [it is that] I have been led to the duties belonging to cry, Awake to vigilance, good Pope! It is time to arise his primatial out of sleep. The Lord is at hand! and we are now office, a standing almost in the perilous days at the end [of the source of world.] Lo! the nations are in perplexity, the kingdoms are moved; therefore shall the Most High soon utter his Church. voice, and the earth shall melt away. Observing then, as Rom. xiii. I do, that the host of the enemy has beset us around on Philip. iv. every side, I feel myself impelled by fear, (for I am no 5 valiant warrior) to endeavour to arouse you, as the 2 Tim. iii. principal one among our leaders, even with importunate 1. cries; for on you devolves the responsibility of the dan- Ps. xlvi. 6. ger which now threatens the whole army of the Lord, fying torpid as it is in the field, when it should be engaged in the fight, and in part, what is still more melancholy, making submission to the adversary instead of offering resistance. Every thing is waiting for the signal from you, who are possessed of the legitimate power of regulating all details, arranging the war, arousing the leaders, ordering to arms, marshalling the lines, in fine opening the combat, yourself marching in the van. Alas that we, even we Christians, of this country, should have been so long subject to defeats in this spiritual warfare; first by reason of our carnal vices and proud conversation; then through the coldness of our wavering faith; the unsteadiness of which, while we perceived it not, has given occasion to our being surrounded by a triple file of the enemy-an enemy sent against us as a judgment for our luxurious apathy.

Columba

nus contrasts the

apathy observable among

in Italy

with the religious zeal of his own country

men:

"That such apathy should exist, is to me, I confess, matter of astonishment; and [to think] that almost every one should be subjected to the influence of such a fatal slumber! I cannot conceive what kind of hearts, of ears, of senses, [are those] that the kindChristians ling words of the Lord Himself have failed to arouse to vigilance and zeal ever-fervent, to contempt of the world, to [imitation of] the poverty of Christ; as those words have [already] influenced many nations [elsewhere]. For coming, as I do, from the remotest corner of the world, where I have seen our spiritual leaders engaged in fighting the battles of the Lord, and hoping in future to see more able and valiant leaders of this sacred cenflict;-and [then] finding matters as I do, [*when I look around me, and contemplate the slain upon the battle-field, as one who has had a share in the fight might do, when it is over,*] I feel stupified at the sight; and turning with pain and alarm to you [you] only, as the sole surviving hope among the chieftains, possessing [such] influence [as you do] through the honour due to the Apostle St. Peter, [to you] I address my lamentations over the destruction of so great an

after which

self to ap

nearly the

letter;

army.

"But seeing that the frail bark of my intellect has yet he sets him- been scarcely launched (according to the expression of the Lord) into the deep [of this question,] but has rather proach more been so far stationary in one spot; (for a paper [like this] proper sub- is insufficient to contain all that my mind was anxious, ject of this for various reasons, to include within the narrow compass of a letter; urged as I am by the king to express in detail to your clement ears the matters which give occasion to his grief: the trouble which he suffers being caused by the schism of the people about the queen, about his son, and perhaps himself too: for the report abroad is, that a statement was made to this effect, that if he were to be certain of the truth, he also would him