Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add
virtue, the proper fruit of them both. Virtue seeks
and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all
good, and who must be in all things glorified;
otherwise, one who knows what is right yet fails
to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes
(Luke 12.47). Why? you may ask. Because he
has failed to put his knowledge to good effect,
but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed
(PS. 36.4); like a wicked servant, he has turned
aside to seize the glory which, his own
knowledge assured him, belonged only to his
good Lord and Master. It is plain, therefore, that
dignity without wisdom is useless and that
wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one
possesses virtue, then wisdom and dignity are
not dangerous but blessed. Such a man calls on
God and lauds Him, confessing from a full heart,
'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy
name give glory' (PS. 115.1). Which is to say, 'O
Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for
ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee all things
do come.'
