Chapter 17 — Religious are accused of seeking to find favour with men

Objections

We will, in this chapter, examine the arguments brought forward to prove that religious ought not to seek to please men.

Obj. 1: We read in Psalm 52:6, God has scattered the bones of those who please men; they have been confounded, because God has despised them.

Obj. 2: St. Paul says: if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ (Gal 1:10). Hence religious, who profess to be the servants of Christ, ought not to seek to please men.

Obj. 3: We read in 1 Corinthians 4:11 the following words: even to this hour we both hunger and thirst. On this passage, the Gloss says, the apostles, by preaching fearlessly and without flattery and by reproving the evildoers, won no favour with men. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at 1 Cor 4:11 (PL 191:1569A).) Hence religious, who are bound to preach the truth freely, ought not to seek to please men.

Obj. 4: He who is charged with the gifts of the bridegroom and seeks to find favour with the bride, commits adultery in his heart, says St. Gregory (Pastoral Rule). (Gregory the Great, Liber regulae pastoralis 2.8 (PL 77:42C).) Now the bride is the Church, the bridegroom being God’s minister. Therefore, religious who, although ministers of God, seek the friendship of men, are guilty of spiritual adultery.

Obj. 5: The desire to win human favour is the outcome of self-love; and, as St. Gregory remarks (Pastoral Rule), love of self renders a man indifferent to his Creator. (Gregory the Great, Liber regulae pastoralis 2.8 (PL 77:42C).) Hence, in so far as a man strives to render himself popular with his fellow-men, he becomes estranged from God.

Obj. 6: Religious ought to beware of anything savouring of vice; and, as popularity may render a man suspected of vice, as Aristotle says (Ethics, 4), (Aristotle, Ethics 4.14, 1126b11.) religious ought not to desire to be popular.

These are the chief arguments brought forward by those who seek to prove that religious ought, under no circumstances, to desire to win human favour.

Response

I answer that, It will now be our duty to expose the fallacy which underlies these objections. For St. Paul says: let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him (Rom 15:2).

He likewise says, give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God just as I try to please all men in everything I do (1 Cor 10:32).

St. Paul likewise says: providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in sight of all men (Rom 12:17). Now this exhortation would be meaningless if it were wrong for men to consider how they may please their neighbours. Therefore, everyone ought to take thought how he may please others.

We read in Matthew 5:16: let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Now men will not be moved to glorify God by the sight of good works which do not please them. Hence it is the duty of everyone to take care that his works may be such as will please his neighbour.

We must, however, remember that three circumstances may make it unlawful in us to seek to please men.

First, desire of human approbation must not be the primary motive of our actions. We ought to seek to please men for the sake of their salvation and for the glory of God. This is what is meant by the words in the Pastoral Rule of St. Gregory: good priests should seek to please men, not in order to be loved by them, but in order that by winning their esteem, they may draw them to the desire of truth. They ought to wish to gain the hearts of their hearers in order to lead them to the love of God. For it is very difficult for an unpopular preacher to gain an audience. (Gregory the Great, Liber regulae pastoralis 2.8 (PL 77:43C).) He adds, St. Paul points out this lesson in the words: "I please all men in all things.” (Gregory the Great, Liber regulae pastoralis 2.8 (PL 77:43D).) St. Paul likewise says: if I should please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Hence St. Paul did please men, and did not please them. For when he wished to please them, he desired to win their favour not for himself, but for the truth.

Second, we may not displease God in order to please men. This is the interpretation given by St. Jerome to the words in Galatians, if I should please men. He says, if we can please both God and men, we must please men. But if we cannot please men without displeasing God, we ought to please God rather than men. (Jerome, Commentary on Galations bk. 1, ch. 1, at ch. 1 verse 10 (CCSL 77A; PL 26:321A).)

Third, it happens at times that a man does all that in him lies, and yet he is rashly judged by others. If he does his best, and yet is misjudged by men, he ought to be content that his conscience assures him that he is approved by God, without distressing himself on account of the false judgments of men. The Gloss makes the following comments on the words, if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ (Gal 1:10): some men are false judges, backbiter, and fault-finders. They try to cast suspicion on what they do not see, and to asperse deeds on which no suspicion has alighted. Against such as these, the testimony of our own conscience is our best defence. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Gal 1:10 (PL 192:99A), from Augustine, Sermon 47, ch. 9, para. 12 (PL 38:302).)

Replies to objections

We shall have no difficulty in refuting the remaining objections.

Ad 1: God has scattered the bones of those who please men, is to be understood, as applying to those who make the favour of men the chief object of their ambition, and who, in order to please mortals, are ready to offend God.

Ad 2: The words of Galatians 1:10, if I should please men, are to be understood in the same sense.

Ad 3: Although preachers of the truth may be hated by sinners who are unwilling to amend their lives, they gain the favour of those who desire instruction: reprove a wise man, and he will love you (Prov 9:8).

Ad 4: The words of St. Gregory, quoted as an objection to our proposition, refer to those who make it their sole ambition to find favour with men, and who desire to be loved with a love due to God alone, even though they do not commit any overt offence against him. That this is the sense of the passage is clearly shown by its context, which runs as follows: he is an enemy to our Redeemer, who desires, for the sake of his good works, to be loved by the Church. (Gregory the Great, Liber regulae pastoralis 2.8 (PL 77:42C).)

Ad 5: The words of St. Gregory, quoted in the fifth objection, are to be understood, as referring to that inordinate self love which causes men to seek, merely for their own sake, to please their neighbour.

Ad 6: The word to seek popularity (esse placidum) used in the sixth objection, means not simply one who seeks to please men, but one who desires to an excessive degree to please them, and who is willing to do wrong for the sake of pleasing them. He who merely seeks to please others in an ordinate manner ought to be called a friend, and is so called by the Philosopher. (Aristotle, Ethics 4.14, 1126b21.)