he serves himself rather than the sheep,[1] none the less he leads an innumerable company of people in flocks with himself to be beaten together with himself, as the property of hell, with many stripes throughout eternity." Nor is it necessary to refer to many saints, for the Chief Pontiff, the holiest of the holy said: "All that came before me are thieves and robbers," John 10:8. Again he said to his disciples: "Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted . . . it is neither useful for the land nor for the dunghill, but it is cast out," Matt. 5:13; Luke 14:34.
Wishing to impose this judgment upon the minds of men, that most good Saviour and best of masters immediately added: "Who hath ears to hear let him hear." Therefore, let every priest see to it, if he has entered well, that he live pure of offense, with the sincere purpose of honoring God and profiting the church, and in case he demean himself well, that he lay little store by mundane honors and the world's lucre. For, otherwise, he is a lying antichrist, and the higher his office the greater antichrist he is. Let the humble pilgrim look at Christ who said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life," John 14:6. Behold he who wants to go, hath the way, for Christ is the way, and whither he wants to go, for Christ is the truth, and where he wants to abide, for Christ is the life.
- ↑ The Decretum has omnibus instead of ovibus.
