Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/224

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THE PRIEST'S OBEDIENCE.

an authority partial or ill-informed. Be all this true, yet the duty and grace of obedience remain unchanged, and a docile mind will obey. They who criticise authority are not docile. Even if they obey, they lose the grace of obedience; if they disobey, they must give account to God. The mind that was in Christ Jesus is the mind of obedience; and the mind of the Divine Head pervades the Body of Christ. The axiom, Sentire cum Ecclesia, means also to believe with the Church, to hope with the Church, to love with the Church, and therefore to obey with the Church. A priest is, above all, vir obedientiarum, a man of many obediences. He obeys the Father as a son, the Son as a priest, the Holy Ghost as a disciple, the Church as his mother, the Bishop as the visible witness and representative of all these, who, in God's name, receives his obedience in the person of Jesus Christ. Such an obedience dignifies a priest. It is the highest act of his will. It matters not whether the obedience be in a great thing or in a small. The same authority runs through all the commandments and laws of discipline, and speaks to us by the living voice of Him to whom we have promised obedience. Prudence is his duty, obedience is ours. Mental obedience does not argue, or object, or criticise. It obeys; and in