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ALTOGETHER there are three kinds of things in the world; viz., good,
bad, and indifferent. And so we ought to know what is properly good, and
what is bad, and what is indifferent, that our faith may be supported by
true knowledge and stand firm in all temptations. We must then believe that
in things which are merely human there is no real good except virtue of
soul alone, which leads us with unfeigned faith to things divine, and makes
us constantly adhere to that unchanging good. And on the other hand we
ought not to call anything bad, except sin alone, which separates us from
the good God, and unites us to the evil devil. But those things are
indifferent which can be appropriated to either side according to the fancy
or wish of their owner, as for instance riches, power, honour, bodily
strength, good health, beauty, life itself, and death, poverty, bodily
infirmities, injuries, and other things of the same sort, which can
contribute either to good or to evil as the character and fancy of their
owner directs. For riches are often serviceable for our good, as the
Apostle says, who charges "the rich of this world to be ready to give, to
distribute to the needy, to lay up in store for themselves a good
foundation against the time to come, that" by this means "they may lay hold
on the true life." And according to the gospel they are a good thing
for those who "make to themselves friends of the unrighteous mammon."
And again, they can be drawn in the direction of what is bad when they are
amassed only for the sake of hoarding them or for a life of luxury, and are
not employed to meet the wants of the poor. And that power also and honour
and bodily strength and good health are indifferent and available for
either (good or bad) can easily be shown from the fact that many of the Old
Testament saints enjoyed all these things and were in positions of great
wealth and the highest honour, and blessed with bodily strength, and yet
are known to have been most acceptable to God. And on the contrary those
who have wrongfully abused these things and perverted them for their own
purposes are not without good reason punished or destroyed, as the Book of
Kings shows us has often happened. And that even life and death are in
themselves indifferent the birth of S. John and of Judas proves. For in the
case of the one his life was so profitable to himself that we are told that
his birth brought joy to others also, as we read "And many shall rejoice at
his birth;" but of the life of the other it is said: "It were good for
that man if he had never been born." Further it is said of the death of
John and of all saints "Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of
His saints:" but of that of Judas and men like him "The death of the
wicked is very evil." And how useful bodily sickness sometimes may be
the blessing on Lazarus, the beggar who was full of sores, shows us. For
Scripture makes mention of no other good qualities or deserts of his, but
it was for this fact alone; viz., that he endured want and bodily sickness
with the utmost patience, that he was deemed worthy of the blessed lot of a
place in Abraham's bosom. And with regard to want and persecution and
injuries which everybody thinks to be bad, how useful and necessary they
are is clearly proved by this fact; viz., that the saints not only never
tried to avoid them, but actually either sought them with all their powers
or bravely endured them, and thus became the friends of God, and obtained
the reward of eternal life, as the blessed Apostle chants: "For which cause
I delight myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am
strong, for power is made perfect in infirmity." And therefore those
who are exalted with the greatest riches and honours and powers of this
world, should not be deemed to have secured their chief good out of them
(for this is shown to consist only in virtue) but only something
indifferent, because just as to good men who use them well and properly
they will be found to be useful and convenient (for they afford them
opportunities for good works and fruits which shall endure to eternal
life), so to those who wrongfully abuse their wealth, they are useless and
out of place, and furnish occasions of sin and death.
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