the measure in which he loves Him he will desire to be like Him, and will choose His lot.
Thirdly, he is bound to obedience. And that obedience has its rule in the laws of the Church and of the diocese, but it has its motive in the love of our Lord and of souls, and it has its obligation in the promise made in ordination in the hands of the Bishop.
But beyond these obligations, which come by spontaneous contract in receiving the priesthood, there is a law and an obligation which binds every member of the mystical Body of Christ, and above all the chief members of the body—that is, the Bishops and priests of the Church—namely, the law of liberty. S. James says: "So speak ye and so do as beginning (or being) to be judged by the law of liberty."[1] This law is anterior to all other laws, bonds, or vows; it is universal, and constrains every regenerate soul. It is supreme, and has no limit in its requirements except the power we have to fulfil it.
S. Paul, writing to the Galatians, calls the law of Moses the law of bondage, and the Gospel the law of liberty. Writing to the Romans, he says that the law of bondage is the law of sin and death. But S. James has a higher meaning.
- ↑ S. James ii. 12.
