Christ spoke publicly on
the mount, yet no one said aught until He had finished His discourse.
How shall the hearer be otherwise than ridiculous? Nay, he will be
deemed a flatterer and his praise no better than irony, when he declares
that the teacher spoke beautifully; but what he said, this he cannot
tell. This has all the appearance of adulation. For when, indeed, one
has been hearing minstrels and players, it is no wonder if such has been
the case with him, seeing he looks not how to utter the strain in the
same manner; but where the matter is not an exhibition of song or of
voice, but the drift and purport of thoughts and wise reflections, and
it is easy for every one to tell and report what was said, how can he
but deserve the accusation, who cannot tell what the matter was for
which he praised the speaker? Nothing so becomes the church as silence
and good order.
Noise belongs to the theaters, and baths, and public processions, and
market-places; but where doctrines, and such doctrines, are the subject
of teaching, there should be stillness and quiet, and calm reflection,
and a haven of much repose.
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