Chapter VI. That the Judiciary Power belongs more to Civil Magistrates than to the Prelates of the Church

But as touching the question of lawsuits, hear what the Apostle has to say : "Is it so," he asks, " that there is not among you any one wise man that is able to judge between his brethren ? " (i Cor. vi. 5). And again : " I speak to your shame : if you have judgments of things pertaining to this world, set them to judge who are the most despised in the Church " (ibid.). Therefore, in the judgment of St. Paul, it is unworthy of thee, as the successor of the apostles, to assume to thyself so vile an office, so contemptible a function. Listen to a bishop instructing a brother-bishop : "No man," so writes St. Paul to St. Timothy, " being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses " (2 Tim. ii. 4). " But I spare thee " (1 Cor. vii. 28), for I am asking nothing hard of thee, nothing thou canst not easily do. I do not require of thee to renounce the judicial office altogether. For thou knowest well what the men of this generation would think of thee if, when litigants came forward, contending for an earthly inheritance and demanding judgment from thy mouth, they received this answer in the words of the Lord, " Men, who hath appointed me judge or divider over you ? " (Luke xii. 14). Thou knowest what complaints such a reply would call forth. " What means this ignorant rustic ? He does not know his prerogatives as Supreme Pontiff ; he is a dishonour to this noble and supereminent See; his conduct is unworthy of the apostolic dignity/' And nevertheless I do not think that such censurers would be able to show where any one of the apostles ever acted as a judge between men concerning the fixing of boundaries or the division of lands. I have read indeed that the apostles were brought to judgment, but that they ever sat in judgment themselves I can nowhere find. The judicial office they have never yet exercised : they reserve that for the day of doom. Shall we suppose, therefore, that a servant degrades his dignity because he does not desire to be greater than his master ? Or an apostle, if he has no wish to appear greater than he that sent him (John xiii. 16) ? Or a son, unless he transgresses the limits appointed for him by his fathers ? " Who hath appointed Me judge ? " said He Who is Lord and Master. And shall the servant and the disciple consider himself dishonoured unless he acts as judge of the universe ? Surely nothing could be more ridiculous. Hence it reveals a lack of good sense, or of a proper appreciation of values, to regard it as a dishonour for the apostles and their successors (who have been constituted judges over matters of greater moment) not to sit in judgment concerning the things of earth. Why should they not disdain to give judgment about our contemptible earthly possessions, who are appointed to judge even angels in heavenly places (1 Cor. vi. 3) ? Consequently, it is on the sins of men, not with regard to their possessions, that thy judicial power ought to be exercised ; for it is on account of the former thou hast received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, not for the sake of the latter ; neither is it proprietors, but prevaricators thou art told to exclude. " That you may know," said Christ,

" that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then said He to the man sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house " (Matt. ix. 6). Tell me, which power and office dost thou consider to be the greater, that of forgiving sins, or that of dividing possessions ? But in truth there can be no comparison. These vile terrestrial things have their own proper judges, namely, the princes and rulers of the earth. Why then wouldst thou invade a province that belongs not to thee ? Wherefore put thy sickle into another man's harvest ? It is not that thou art unworthy to give judgment concerning such things, but rather this is unworthy of thee, who shouldst be occupied with matters of more consequence. Still occasion may sometimes require of thee to arbitrate civil suits. Whenever this happens, remember the words of St. Paul, " Know you not that the saints shall judge this world ? And if the world shall be judged by you ; are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters ? " (i Cor. vi. 2).