Ambrose of Milan : Surely it is better to merit a reward than to serve as a steward. Let us not be bound by the yoke of slavery, but let us serve in charity of spirit. — LETTER 47 Augustine of Hippo : Up to now I am so far restored in that glory that I confess I am ignorant not only how near I come to it but even whether I shall come to it at all. It is true I am a dispenser of eternal salvation along with my other innumerable fellow servants. "For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward." To be a dispenser of that salvation by word and sacrament is not at all the same as to be a partaker of it. Letter , To Audax. Origen of Alexandria : What then shall I do, to whom the dispensation of the word has been entrusted? Though I am an "unprofitable servant," I have nevertheless received from the Lord "the measure of wheat to be distributed to the Lord's household." — HOMILIES ON Genesis 10.1