The Ruler Should Care for Both Inward and Outward Things

The ruler should not relax his care for inward things while he is busy among outward things, nor neglect to provide for outward things in his concern for inward ones. Otherwise, given over to outward things, he may fall away from his inmost concerns; or, taken up only with inward things, he may fail to give his neighbors outside himself what he owes them. For it often happens that some, as if they had forgotten that they were put over their brothers for the sake of their souls, devote themselves with all the effort of their heart to worldly business. When such business is at hand they delight in carrying it out; and even when there is none, they pant after it night and day in the seething of troubled thought. And when, perhaps for lack of opportunity, they are left in peace from it, their very peace wearies them all the more. They count it a pleasure to be worn out by activity, and they think it labor not to labor at earthly business. So it comes about that while they delight in being jostled by the world’s tumults, they do not know the inward things they ought to have taught to others. And from this cause, no doubt, the life of their subjects also grows numb. For though it wants to advance spiritually, it meets a stumbling block on the way in the example of the one set over it. When the head languishes, the members fail to thrive; and it is useless for an army to pursue the enemy swiftly if the very leader of the march goes astray. No exhortation upholds the minds of the subjects, and no rebuke punishes their faults, because while the guardian of souls carries out the office of an earthly judge, the shepherd’s attention is turned away from keeping the flock. And the subjects cannot grasp the light of truth, because while earthly pursuits fill the pastor’s mind, dust driven by the wind of temptation blinds the eyes of the church. [a]

To guard against this, the Redeemer of the human race, when he wished to keep us from gluttony, said, “Take heed to yourselves, that your hearts are not weighed down with overindulgence and drunkenness,” and at once added, “or with the cares of this life.” In the same place, meaning to add fear to the warning, he immediately said, “lest perhaps that day come on you unawares.” And he even declares the manner of that coming, saying, “For it will come as a snare on all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.” Hence he says again, “No one can serve two masters.” Hence Paul draws the minds of religious people away from fellowship with the world by summoning them, or rather enlisting them, when he says, “No one who serves as a soldier for God entangles himself in the affairs of this life, so that he may please the one to whom he has proved himself.” Hence too he both commends to the rulers of the church the pursuits of leisure and points out the remedy of counsel, saying, “If, then, you have worldly cases to judge, appoint those who are of least account in the church to judge them.” That is, the very people whom no spiritual gifts adorn should devote themselves to earthly duties. It is as if he had said more plainly, “Since they are unable to see into inmost things, let them at least busy themselves outwardly with necessary things.” Hence Moses, who speaks with God, is judged by the rebuke of Jethro, a man of a foreign race, because he gives himself with ill-advised labor to the people’s earthly affairs. And at once he is given counsel: that he should appoint others in his place to settle earthly quarrels, so that he himself might be freer to learn spiritual secrets for the instruction of the people.

Lower matters, then, are to be handled by subjects, and the highest things are to be thought about by rulers, so that no irritating dust may darken the eye that is set on high to look ahead to the steps before it. For all who preside are the head of those under them; and so that the feet may keep a straight course, the head must surely look ahead from above. Otherwise the feet will lag on their journey, the body bent from its uprightness and the head bowed to the ground. But with what conscience can the overseer of souls make use of his pastoral dignity among other people while he himself is caught up in the earthly cares that it was his duty to reprove in others? This indeed is what the Lord threatened through the prophet, in the anger of just retribution, saying, “And it will be: like people, like priest.” For the priest is like the people when one who holds a spiritual office acts as others do who are still under judgment for their fleshly pursuits. And the prophet Jeremiah, in the great sorrow of his love, laments this under the image of the destruction of the temple, saying, “How the gold has grown dim! The finest color is changed; the stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the top of every street.” [d]

For what is meant by gold, which surpasses all other metals, but the excellence of holiness? What by the finest color, but the reverence that surrounds religion, lovely to all? What do the stones of the sanctuary signify, but people in sacred orders? What is pictured by the name of streets, but the breadth of this present life? For since in Greek the word for breadth is platos, streets, plateae in Latin, have taken their name from their breadth. And the Truth himself says, “Broad and spacious is the way that leads to destruction.” Gold, therefore, grows dim when a life of holiness is soiled by earthly dealings. The finest color is changed when the earlier good name of people who were believed to be living religiously is lessened. For when anyone, after a habit of holiness, mixes himself up in earthly dealings, it is as though his color were changed, and the reverence that surrounded him grew pale and was disregarded in the eyes of men. The stones of the sanctuary are also poured out into the streets when those who, for the adornment of the church, should have been free to go deep into inward mysteries, as it were in the secret places of the tabernacle, go out seeking the broad ways of worldly causes. For they were made stones of the sanctuary for this very purpose: that they might appear on the vestment of the high priest within the holy of holies. But when ministers of religion do not, by the merit of their lives, win from those under them the honor due to the Redeemer, they are not stones of the sanctuary in the adornment of the high priest. And truly these stones of the sanctuary lie scattered through the streets when people in sacred orders, given over to the breadth of their own pleasures, cling to earthly business. Notice too that they are said to be scattered not in the streets but at the top of the streets, because even when they are busy with earthly matters they want to appear topmost. So they would occupy the broad ways in their enjoyment of pleasure, and yet be at the top of the streets in the dignity of holiness.

Further, nothing stops us from taking the stones of the sanctuary to be the stones of which the sanctuary itself was built. These lie scattered at the top of the streets when men in sacred orders, in whose office the glory of holiness had seemed to rest before, give themselves by preference to earthly dealings. Worldly occupations, therefore, though they may sometimes be put up with out of compassion, should never be sought out of love for the things themselves; lest, weighing down the mind of the one who loves them, they sink it, overcome by its own burden, from heavenly places to the lowest. But on the other hand there are some who take on the care of the flock, but want to be so free for their own spiritual concerns that they are not busy with outward things at all. Neglecting all care for what concerns the body, such people do not meet the needs of those put under them. And their preaching is mostly despised; for they find fault with the deeds of sinners and yet do not give them what they need for this present life, and so they are not at all willingly heard. The word of teaching does not get into the mind of a needy person unless the hand of compassion commends it to his heart. But the seed of the word springs up readily when the preacher’s loving-kindness waters it in the hearer’s breast. So for a ruler to be able to pour in what will help inwardly, he must also, with blameless care, provide for outward things. [g]

Let pastors, then, so glow with zeal for the inward affections of those in their charge that they do not give up providing for their outward life too. For, as we have said, the heart of the flock is, as if by right, set against preaching if the pastor neglects the care of outward help. That is why the first pastor anxiously urges, “I beg the elders who are among you, I who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a sharer in the glory that will be revealed: feed the flock of God that is among you.” In this place he showed whether it was the feeding of the heart or of the body that he was commending, when he at once added, “providing for it not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.” In these words pastors are kindly warned not to kill themselves with the sword of ambition while they supply the wants of those under them, nor to go fasting from the bread of righteousness themselves while their neighbors are refreshed through them with help for the flesh. Paul stirs up this concern in pastors when he says, “If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In the midst of all this, then, they should fear, and watchfully take care, that while busy with outward care they are not swept away from inward attention. For usually, as we have already said, the hearts of rulers, while they carelessly give themselves to the concerns of this passing time, grow cold in inward love; and, carried this way and that outside themselves, they do not fear to forget that they have taken on the government of souls. So the concern spent on those put under us must be kept within a certain measure.

That is why it is well said to Ezekiel, “The priests shall not shave their heads, nor let their locks grow long, but let them keep their heads clipped.” They are rightly called priests who are set over the faithful to give them holy guidance. And the hairs outside the head are thoughts in the mind. Since they spring up unnoticed above the brain, they stand for the cares of this present life; and because our perception is careless, these sometimes come out at the wrong time and advance, as it were, without our feeling them. Since, then, all who are over others ought indeed to have outward concerns, and yet should not be fiercely bent on them, the priests are rightly forbidden either to shave their heads or to let their hair grow long. So they neither cut off thoughts of the flesh from themselves entirely, for the sake of the life of those under them, nor let them grow too much. Thus it is well said in this passage, “let them keep their heads clipped”: that is, the cares of worldly concern should both reach as far as need requires, and yet be cut back soon, lest they grow beyond measure. When, therefore, life is protected by provident care for bodies, applied outwardly, and again, through a measured attention of the heart, is not hindered, the hairs on the priest’s head are both kept to cover the skin and cut short so as not to veil the eyes.