be observed except in so far as it is caused by a divine command before exemplifying it.
And hence, it is, that no obedience made to a superior profits for merit except in so far as it leans towards obedience of the counsels and commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is clear, for obedience to Christ, owed or performed, is in and by itself a reason of merit which increases or diminishes with the degree of obedience or disobedience. Hence nothing is more religious than obedience unto God, as the Decretum 8: 1, Sciendum [Friedberg, 1: 593], teaches, where is noted what Samuel, the prophet, says, I Sam. 15:22: "To obey is better than sacrifice, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness as a crime."[1] "Obedience itself," says the Decretum, "is a virtue that possesses the merit of faith, and any one who is without it, is convicted of being an unbeliever, even though he seem to be of the faithful. The flesh of others, it says, is slaughtered in the case of sacrifices, but by obedience our own will is sacrificed." Here it appears, it is clearer than the light, that Samuel is speaking about obedience due to God, for he said to Saul: "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath rejected thee from being king, and Saul said unto Samuel, "I have sinned, because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, for I feared the people and obeyed their voice," I Sam. 15:23, 24. It is clear how much prelates of the people blaspheme who on the ground of Scripture and ecclesiastical law traffic in such obedience for themselves; secondly, from Augustine's authority, which the doctors quote for their side, Sermon 86, when he says: "If thou wilt fast, make prayer night and day, if thou wilt beg, or be in ashes, or if thou wilt do anything else but what is commanded in the Lord's law, and thou seemest wise to thyself and art not obedient to the Father [understand not the corporal Father, but the spiritual Father]—thou hast lost all the virtues. This is clear, because he who obeys
- ↑ The Vulgate adds: idolatriæ, of idolatry.
