Page:Writings of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.djvu/82

Rh 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.' 'Thou shalt not kill.' A murderer cannot be with Christ. 'Whosoever hateth his brother is' termed 'a murderer.' Or, 'He who loveth not his brother abideth in death.' How much more guilty is he who has stained his hands with the blood of the sons of God—whom He lately acquired in the ends of the earth by the exhortation of our littleness!'

5. Was it indeed without God, or according to the flesh, that I came to Ireland? Who compelled me? I was bound by the Spirit not to see (again) any of my kindred. Do I not love pious compassion, because I act (thus) towards that nation which once took me captive, and laid waste the servants and handmaidens of my father's house? I was a free-man according to the flesh, I was born of a father who was a Decurio. For I bartered my noble-birth—I do not blush or regret it—for the benefit of others. In fine, I am a servant in Christ, (given over) to a foreign nation, on account of the ineffable glory of that perennial life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if my own friends do not acknowledge me:—'A prophet hath no honour in his own country.'

Perhaps (they think) we are not of the one sheepfold, nor have the one God as Father. As He says: 'He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth.' It is not fitting that 'one destroys, another builds.' I do not seek those things which are my own.

6. Not my grace, but God, indeed, hath put this desire into my heart, that I should be one of the