Subjects and Prelates

Admonition 5. Subjects are to be admonished in one way, and prelates in another: subjects, that subjection may not crush them; prelates, that their high place may not puff them up. Subjects, that they do not fail to carry out what they are commanded; prelates, that they do not command more to be carried out than is just. Subjects, that they submit humbly; prelates, that they preside with moderation. For this, which may also be understood figuratively, is said to the former: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.” But to the latter it is commanded, “And you fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” Let subjects learn how to order their inward thoughts before the eyes of the hidden Judge; let prelates learn how also to give outward examples of good living to those committed to them. For prelates ought to know that if they ever commit what is wrong, they deserve as many deaths as the examples of ruin they pass on to their subjects. So they must guard themselves from sin all the more carefully, since by the evil they do they do not die alone, but are guilty of the souls of others, whom they have destroyed by their bad example. So subjects are to be admonished, lest they be strictly punished if they cannot stand acquitted even on their own account; prelates, lest they be judged for the errors of their subjects, even though they find themselves secure on their own account. Subjects are to be admonished to live with all the more anxious care for themselves, since they are not entangled in the care of others; prelates, to carry out their charge of others in such a way that they do not give up the charge of themselves, and to be so ardent in caring for themselves that they do not grow sluggish in guarding those committed to them. [a]

To the one, who is free for his own concerns, it is said, “Go to the ant, you sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom.” But the other is fearfully admonished when it is said, “My son, if you have become surety for your friend, you have struck your hand with a stranger, and you are snared by the words of your mouth, and caught by your own speech.” For to become surety for a friend is to take charge of another’s soul at the risk of one’s own conduct. So the hand is struck with a stranger, because the mind is bound with the care of a responsibility it did not have before. And he is snared by the words of his mouth and caught by his own speech because, while he is compelled to speak good things to those committed to him, he must himself first keep the things he speaks. So he is snared by the words of his mouth, held fast by the demand of reason not to let his life slacken into anything that does not agree with his teaching. So before the strict Judge he is compelled to do in deed as much as he has plainly commanded others with his voice. So in the passage quoted above this exhortation is also added at once: “Do therefore what I say, my son, and free yourself, since you have fallen into the hands of your neighbor. Run about, hurry, rouse your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, and do not let your eyelids slumber.” For whoever is set over others as an example of life is admonished not only to keep watch himself but also to rouse his friend. It is not enough for him to keep watch by living well if he does not also free the one he is set over from the stupor of sin. For it is well said, “Give no sleep to your eyes, and do not let your eyelids slumber.” To give sleep to the eyes is to stop being earnest, so as to neglect the care of those under us altogether. But the eyelids slumber when our thoughts, weighed down by laziness, pretend not to see what they know should be reproved in those under us. For to be fast asleep is neither to know nor to correct the deeds of those committed to us. But to know what is to be blamed, and still, through laziness of mind, not to amend it by fitting rebukes, is not to sleep but to slumber. Yet the eye passes through slumbering into the deepest sleep; for very often, when one who is over others does not cut off the evil he knows, he comes in the end, as his negligence deserves, not even to know what wrong is done by his subjects.

So those who are over others are to be admonished to keep, through earnest watchfulness, eyes that are wakeful within and all around, and to strive to become living creatures of heaven. For the living creatures of heaven are described as full of eyes all around and within. So it is fitting that those who are over others should have eyes within and all around, so that they may both strive in themselves to please the inward Judge, and also, giving outward examples of life, find out the things in others that ought to be corrected. [e]

Subjects are to be admonished not to judge the lives of their superiors rashly, if they happen to see them act blamably in anything, lest, where they rightly find fault with evil, they should from that very point be sunk into lower depths by the impulse of pride. They are to be admonished that, when they consider the faults of their superiors, they do not grow too bold against them; but if any of their deeds are exceedingly bad, they should judge them within themselves in such a way that, held back by the fear of God, they still do not refuse to bear the yoke of reverence under them. We will show this better if we bring forward what David did. When Saul the persecutor had gone into a cave to relieve himself, David, who had suffered so long under his persecution, was inside it with his men. And when his men urged him to strike Saul, he cut them short with the answer that he ought not to put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed. And yet he rose unseen and cut off the border of Saul’s robe. For what does Saul stand for but bad rulers, and what does David stand for but good subjects? Saul’s relieving himself, then, means rulers carrying the wickedness conceived in their hearts out into deeds of wretched stench, and showing the foul thoughts within them by turning them into action. Yet David was afraid to strike him, because the devout minds of subjects keep themselves from the whole plague of backbiting and strike the life of their superiors with no sword of the tongue, even when they blame them for imperfection. And when, through weakness, they can hardly keep from speaking, however humbly, of some extreme and obvious evils in their superiors, they cut, as it were, the border of the robe in silence. For when they detract from the dignity of their superiors, even harmlessly and in secret, they disfigure, as it were, the garment of the king who is set over them. Yet they come back to themselves and blame themselves most severely for even the slightest slander in speech. That is why it is also well written in that place, “Afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off the border of Saul’s robe.” For the deeds of superiors are not to be struck with the sword of the mouth, even when they are rightly judged to deserve blame. But if the tongue ever slips even a little into censuring them, the heart must be brought low by the grief of penitence, so that it may come back to itself, and, since it has offended against the power set over it, may dread the judgment against itself of him by whom that power was set over it. For when we offend against those who are set over us, we go against the ordinance of him who set them over us. That is why Moses too, when he learned that the people were complaining against himself and Aaron, said, “For what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Lord.” [f]