picture the apostle Paul, who lived only for Christ, and under all circumstances and amid all trials by sea and land, among Jews and heathen, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in freedom and bonds, attested the divine power of the gospel for the salvation of the world. This ideal, however, Gregory found but seldom realized. He gives on the whole a very unfavorable account of the bishops, and even of the most celebrated councils of his day, charging them with ignorance, unworthy means of promotion, ambition, flattery, pride, luxury, and worldly mindedness. He says even : " Our danger now is, that the holiest of all ofiices will become the most ridiculous ; for the highest clerical places are gained not so much by virtue, as by iniquity ; no longer the most worthy, but the most powerful, take the episcopal chair." ' Though his descriptions, especially in the satirical poem " to himself and on the bishops," composed probably after his resignation in Constantinople (a. d. 381), may be in many points exagger- ated, yet they were in general drawn from life and from ex- perience.^ Jerome also, in his epistles, unsparingly attacks the clergy of his time, especially the Roman, accusing them of avarice and legacy hunting, and drawing a sarcastic picture of a cleri- ' Orat. xliii. c. 46 (Opera, ed. Bened. torn. i. p. 791), in the Latin translation: "Nunc autem periculum est, ne ordo omnium sanctissimus, sit quoque omnium maxime ridieulus. Non enim virtute magis, quam maleficio et scelere, sacerdotium paratur ; nee digniorum, sed potentiorum, throni sunt." In the following chapter, however, he represents his friend Basil as a model of all virtues. ^ Comp. UUmann : Gregor von Nazianz, Erste Beilage, p. 509-527, where the views of this church father on the clerical office and the clergy of his time are pre- sented at large in his own words. Also Gieseler, i., ii. § 103, gives copious extracts from the writings of Gregory on the vices of the clergy. § 51. MORAL CHAKAOTEb OF THE CLEKGY EST GENERAL. 253 cal fop, who, with his fine scented clothes, was more like a bridegroom than a clergyman.' Of the rural clergy, however, the heathen Ammianus Marcellinns bears a testimony, which is certainly reliable, to their simplicity, contentment, and virtue." Chrysostom, in his celebrated treatise on the priesthood,' written jjrobably before his ordination (somewhere between the years 375 and 381), or while he was deacon (between 381 and 386), portrayed the theoretical and practical qualifications, the exalted duties, responsibilities, and honors of this office, with youthful enthusiasm, in the best spirit of his age. He requires of the priest, that he be in every respect better than the monk, though, standing in the world, he have greater dangers and difficulties to contend with.* He sets up as the higliest object of the preacher, the great principle stated by Paul, that in all his discourses he should seek to please God alone, not men.