But to be a bad priest--there are other ways of being damned less
hurtful to the Church."
"To be a bad priest?" quoth I. "Is it possible to be a bad priest?"
"It is not only possible, my son, but in these days it is very frequent.
Many men, Agostino, enter the Church out of motives of self-seeking.
Through such as these Rome has come to be spoken of as the Necropolis of
the Living. Others, Agostino--and these are men most worthy of pity--enter
the Church because they are driven to it in youth by ill-advised parents.
I would not have you one of these, my son."
I stared at him, my amazement ever growing. "Do you...do you think I am in
danger of it?" I asked.
"That is a question you must answer for yourself. No man can know what is
in another's heart. I have trained you as I was bidden train you. I have
seen you devout, increasing in piety, and yet..." He paused, and looked at
me again. "It may be that this is no more than the fruit of your training;
it may be that your piety and devotion are purely intellectual. It is very
often so. Men know the precepts of religion as a lawyer knows the law. It
no more follows out of that that they are religious--though they conceive
that it does--than it follows that a lawyer is law-abiding. It is in the
acts of their lives that we must seek their real natures, and no single act
of your life, Agostino, has yet given sign that the call is in your heart.
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