14. In the second place, although a man has kept
himself pure from sin, even in a very high degree; I do not know that
even this is sufficient for one who is to instruct others in
virtue. For he who has received this charge, not only needs to be
free from evil, for evil is, in the eyes of most of those under his
care, most disgraceful, but also to be eminent in good, according to
the command, “Depart from evil and do good.” Ps. xxxvii. 27. And he must not only wipe out the
traces of vice from his soul, but also inscribe better ones, so as to
outstrip men further in virtue than he is superior to them in
dignity. He should know no limits in goodness or spiritual
progress, and should dwell upon the loss of what is still beyond him,
rather than the gain of what he has attained, and consider that which
is beneath his feet a step to that which comes next: and not
think it a great gain to excel ordinary people, but a loss to fall
short of what we ought to be: and to measure his success by the
commandment and not by his neighbours, whether they be evil, or to some
extent proficient in virtue: and to weigh virtue in no small
scales, inasmuch as it is due to the Most High, “from Whom are
all things, and to Whom are all things.” Rom. xi. 35.