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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: he went to the palace gate, weeping and lamenting. The king
fetched him in, and seeing him in tears, said, `O fool, and slow
of understanding, how didst thou, who hast had such dread of the
herald of thy peer and brother (against whom thy conscience doth
not accuse thee of having committed any trespass) blame me for my
humility in greeting the heralds of my God, when they warned me,
in gentler tones than those of the trumpet, of my death and
fearful meeting with that Master against whom I know that I have
often grievously offended? Lo! then, it was in reproof of thy
folly that I played thee this turn, even as I will shortly
convict of vanity those that prompted thy reproof.' Thus he
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