Prologue: One Exhortation Does Not Suit Everyone

Now that we have shown what kind of man the pastor ought to be, let us set out how he should teach. For, as Gregory Nazianzen of revered memory taught long before us, one and the same exhortation does not suit everyone, since all are not bound together by the same character. What helps some often harms others. In the same way, herbs that feed some animals are often deadly to others; the soft hiss that calms horses excites puppies; the medicine that relieves one disease makes another worse; and the bread that strengthens the life of the strong kills little children. Therefore the discourse of teachers ought to be shaped to the quality of the hearers, so as to suit each and all in their several needs, and yet never to depart from the art of building up all together. For what are the attentive minds of hearers but, so to speak, the tightly stretched strings of a harp, which a skilled player strikes in different ways so as to bring out a tune that does not clash with itself? And the strings give back a harmonious melody for this reason: they are struck with one plectrum, but not with one kind of stroke. So every teacher, in order to build up all in the one virtue of love, ought to touch the hearts of his hearers from one doctrine, but not with one and the same exhortation. [a]