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OF those then who say that they have renounced this world, and
afterwards being overcome by want of faith are afraid of losing their
worldly goods, a charge is given mystically in Deuteronomy. "If any man is
afraid and of a fearful heart let him not go forth to war: let him go back
and return home, lest he make the hearts of his brethren to fear as he
himself is timid and frightened." What can one want plainer than this
testimony? Does not Scripture clearly prefer that they should not take on
them even the earliest stages of this profession and its name, rather than
by their persuasion and bad example turn others back from the perfection of
the gospel, and weaken them by their faithless terror. And so they are
bidden to withdraw from the battle and return to their homes, because a man
cannot fight the Lord's battle with a double heart. For "a double- minded
man is unstable in all his ways." And thinking, according to that
Parable in the Gospel, that he who goes forth with ten thousand men
against a king who comes with twenty thousand, cannot possibly fight, they
should, while he is yet a great way off, ask for peace; that is, it is
better for them not even to take the first step towards renunciation,
rather than afterwards following it up coldly, to involve themselves in
still greater dangers. For "it is better not to vow, than to vow and not
pay." But finely is the one described as coming with ten thousand and
the other with twenty. For the number of sins which attack us is far larger
than that of the virtues which fight for us. But "no man can serve God and
Mammon." And "no man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is
fit for the kingdom of God."
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