Chapter XXIX. The Priesthood. 369 He is a shepherd, because he leads his flock into the delicious pastures of the Sacraments and shelters them from the wolves that lie in wait for their souls. He is a father, because he breaks the bread of life to his spiritual children, whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.501 He is a judge, whose office it is to pass sentence of pardon on self-accusing criminals. He is a physician, because he heals their souls from the loathsome distempers of sin. St. John, in his Apocalypse, represents the Church under the figure of a city. "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."502 Our Savior is the Architect and Founder of this celestial city. The Apostles are its foundation. The faithful are the living stones of the edifice. The anointed ministers of the Lord are the workmen chosen to adjust and polish these stones, that they may reflect the beauty and glory of the sun of justice that perpetually illumines this city. The Priests are engaged in adorning the interior of the heavenly Jerusalem by enriching, with virtue, the precious souls entrusted to their charge. "God [392] gave some, indeed, Apostles, and some Prophets, and others Evangelists, and others Pastors and Doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,"503 which is His Church. What an honor is this to the Priest of the New Law! Surely God "hath not done alike to every nation, and His judgments He hath not made manifest to them."504 With how much more force may we apply to the successors of the Apostles the words which God spoke to the Priests of the 501 I. Cor. iv. 15. 502 Apoc. xxi. 2. 503 Eph. iv. 11,12.