Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
Read Chapter 31
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
15. After the manner of Sacred Revelation we call it to ‘sow’ to preach the words of life. Thus it is hence the Prophet says, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. [Is. 32, 20] For the preachers of Holy Church he saw to ‘sow upon all waters’ because they bestowed the words of life, like grains of heavenly bread, upon all peoples far and wide. But to ‘eat’ is to be filled to the full with good works. Hence Truth saith by Itself; My meat is to do the will of Him That sent Me. [John 4, 34] So then, if the things that he gave forth, he forbore to do, he says; Then let me sow, and another eat. As though he said in plain words; ‘What my mouth utters let not me but another man put in practice.’ For the preacher who in his ways is at variance with his own words, sows going hungry what another may eat; because he is not himself fed by His own seed, when by wrong conduct he is made void of the rightness of his word. And because it very often happens that the disciples hear what is good to no ...
There is in my way of life, even in its details, as much exactness as in the arm [of a balance]. I have not overlooked the smallest detail. For this, I do not appeal to the testimony of a mortal, who may want to please and ignores many things, but to the testimony of God, who accurately knows all that is hidden and to whom nothing can escape. “The Lord,” he says, “knows my innocence, if my foot has turned aside out of the way or if my heart has followed my eye.” Is this a further detail? Yes, truly, it was important at that time as well as now. It is important, in fact, to overturn inordinate desires, and it is not less important, after receiving those desires, not to satisfy them. And proceeding further, he states something that is even more important, that is, that not even his eyes have ever accepted anything of that kind. - "Commentary on Job 31.6a–7"
