De obedientia et subjectione.
The Safety of Subjection
Obedience and submission to a superior are presented as a great good and a safer path than exercising authority.
It is a very great thing to stand in obedience, to live under a prelate, and to be no longer one's own master. It is far safer to stand in subjection than in a position of authority.
Wholehearted Submission to God
Reluctant obedience leads to inner turmoil, and restless wandering from place to place cannot bring true peace.
Many live under obedience more from necessity than from love, and they suffer for it and grumble easily. They will never gain freedom of mind unless they submit themselves wholeheartedly to God.1 Run here or there — you won't find rest unless you do so in humble subjection under the governance of your superior. Imagining different places and moving around has deceived many.
Yielding Our Own Opinion for Peace
Natural human preference for like-minded company must yield to Christ's call to set aside personal opinion for the sake of peace.
It's true that each person naturally acts according to their own understanding and is drawn more toward those who share their views. But if Christ is among us, then we must be willing to set aside even our own opinion for the sake of peace.2
The Limits of Human Understanding
No one is wise enough to know all things, so we should not over-trust our own judgment but remain open to the counsel of others.
Who is so wise that they can fully know all things? So don't place too much confidence in your own understanding, but be willing to listen to the judgment of others as well.
The Gain of Setting Aside Our Will
Surrendering sound personal judgment for God's sake paradoxically yields even greater spiritual profit.
If your own judgment is sound, and you set it aside for God's sake and follow another's, you'll gain even more from it.3
Listening Over Commanding
It is spiritually safer to receive counsel than to impose it on others.
I've often heard it said that it's safer to listen and take advice than to give it.
The Stubbornness of Pride
Clinging to one's own good judgment when reason or circumstance calls for yielding reveals pride or stubbornness.
Now it can happen that what someone thinks is good — but then they refuse to yield to others when reason or the situation demands it — that's a sign of pride or stubbornness.
Read the original Latin
Valde magnum est in obedientia stare, sub Prælato se vivere, et sui juris non esse. Multo tutius est stare in subjectione, quam in prælatura. Multi sunt sub obedientia magis ex necessitate, quam ex charitate, et illi poenam habent, et leviter murmurant, nec libertatem mentis acquirent, nisi ex toto corde propter Deum se subjiciant. Curre hic vel ibi non invenies requiem, nisi in humili subjectione sub Prælati regimine. Imaginatio locorum, et mutatio multos fefellit.
Verum est quod unusquisque libenter agit pro sensu suo et inclinatur ad eos magis qui secum sentiunt. Sed si Christus est inter nos, tunc necesse est, ut relinquamus etiam nostrum sentire propter bonum pacis. Quis est ita sapiens, qui omnia plene scire possit? Ergo noli nimis in sensu tuo confidere, sed velis etiam aliorum sensum audire. Si bonum est tuum sentire, et hoc ipsum propter Deum dimittis, et alium sequeris, magis inde proficies.
Audivi enim sæpe, securius esse audire, et accipere consilium quam dare. Potest enim contingere ut bonum fit uniuscujusque sentire, sed nolle aliis acquiescere, cum id ratio aut causa postulat, signum est superbiæ aut pertinaciæ.
Notes
- 1 ↩charitate rendered as 'love' per lexeme policy (charitas → love by default); the contrast with necessity highlights the theological-virtue sense.
- 2 ↩nostrum sentire — literally 'our own thinking/feeling' — rendered as 'our own opinion' to capture the substantive force of the infinitive.
- 3 ↩tuum sentire — 'your own thinking/judgment' — parallels nostrum sentire in s2. Rendered as 'your own judgment' for clarity.