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IN leaving then these visible goods of the world we forsake not our own
wealth, but that which is not ours, although we boast of it as either
gained by our own exertions or inherited by us from our forefathers. For as
I said nothing is our own, save this only which we possess with our heart,
and which cleaves to our soul, and therefore cannot be taken away from us
by any one. But Christ speaks in terms of censure of those visible riches,
to those who clutch them as if they were their own, and refuse to share
them with those in want. "If ye have not been faithful in what is
another's, who will give to you what is your own?" Plainly then it is
not only daily experience which teaches us that these riches are not our
own, but this saying of our Lord also, by the very title which it gives
them. But concerning visible and worthless riches Peter says to the
Lord: "Lo, we have left all and followed thee. What shall we have
therefore?" when it is clear that they had left nothing but their
miserable broken nets. And unless this expression "all" is understood to
refer to that renunciation of sins which is really great and important, we
shall not find that the Apostles had left anything of any value, or that
the Lord had any reason for bestowing on them the blessing of so great
glory, that they were allowed to hear from Him that "in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." If then those,
who have completely renounced their earthly and visible goods, cannot for
sufficient reason attain to Apostolic charity, nor climb with readiness and
vigour to that third stage of renunciation which is still higher and
belongs to but few, what should those think of themselves, who do not even
make that first step (which is very easy) a thorough one, but keep together
with their old want of faith, their former sordid riches, and fancy that
they can boast of the mere name of monks? The first renunciation then of
which we spoke is of what is not our own, and therefore is not enough of
itself to confer perfection on the renunciant, unless he advances to the
second, which is really and truly a renunciation of what belongs to us. And
when we have made sure of this by the expulsion of all our faults, we shall
mount to the heights of the third renunciation also, whereby we rise above
not merely all those things which are done in this world or specially
belong to men, but even that whole universe around us which is esteemed so
glorious, and shall with heart and soul look down upon it as subject to
vanity and destined soon to pass away; as we look, as the Apostle says,
"not on those things which are seen, but on those which are not seen: for
the things that are seen, are temporal, and the things which are not seen
are eternal;" that so we may be found worthy to hear that highest
utterance, which was spoken to Abraham: "and come into a land which I will
show thee," which clearly shows that unless a man has made those three
former renunciations with all earnestness of mind, he cannot attain to this
fourth, which is granted as a reward and privilege to one whose
renunciation is perfect, that he may be found worthy to enter the land of
promise which no longer bears for him the thorns and thistles of sins;
which after all the passions have been driven out is acquired by purity of
heart even in the body, and which no good deeds or exertions of man's
efforts (can gain), but which the Lord Himself promises to show, saying
"And come into the land which I will show to thee:" which clearly proves
that the beginning of our salvation results from the call of the Lord, Who
says "Get thee out from thy country," and that the completion of perfection
and purity is His gift in the same way, as He says "And come into the land
which I will show thee," i.e., not one you yourself can know or discover by
your own efforts, but one which I will show not only to one who is ignorant
of it, but even to one who is not looking for it. And from this we clearly
gather that as we hasten to the way of salvation through being stirred up
by the inspiration of the Lord, so too it is under the guidance of His
direction and illumination that we attain to the perfection of the highest
bliss.
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