Chapter CXIII. How that an order " on obedience " should not lightly be given

153. Therefore he deemed that an order should rarely be given "on obedience," and that the weapon which ought to be the last should not be hurled at first. He said that the hand must not quickly be laid on the sword; but that he who when ordered "on obedience" hastened not to obey neither feared God nor respected man. Nothing is truer than these words. For what is authority to command in a rash officer but a sword in the hand of a madman? And what is more hopeless than a Religious who despises obedience?