Saint Jerome: “The teachers and Bishops, then, look well to it, seeing that mighty men shall be mightily tormented, Wisd. vi. 7. And there is no help for them, but they fall into hell with a greater crash.“

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew Matt 5:13-19 on the feast of Saint Jerome

At that time Jesus said unto His disciples: Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? ...

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem. Book i. Comm. on Matth. v.

Apostles and teachers are called salt, for it is by them that the whole mass of mankind is seasoned. But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? If the teacher have gone astray, by what other teacher is he to be corrected? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. This is a figure taken from farming. Salt is used to savour food withal, and to preserve meat, but it hath no other use. In sooth, we read in the Scriptures of some cities which were sown with salt in the fury of their conquerors, that no bud of life might ever spring there again.

The teachers and Bishops, then, look well to it, seeing that mighty men shall be mightily tormented, Wisd. vi. 7. And there is no help for them, but they fall into hell with a greater crash. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all that are in the house. Here He teacheth boldness in preaching, lest the Apostles should shrink away from fear, and be like unto candles under a bushel; but contrariwise should come forward with all freedom, and should proclaim upon the house-tops that which had been spoken in the ear in closets. Luke xii. 3.

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