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THESE then try to make out a case for their original avarice, by some
authority from Holy Scripture, which they interpret with base ingenuity, in
their desire to wrest and pervert to their own purposes a saying of the
Apostle or rather of the Lord Himself: and, not adapting their own life or
understanding to the meaning of the Scripture, but making the meaning of
Scripture bend to the desires of their own lust, they try to make it to
correspond to their own views, and say that it is written, "It is more
blessed to give than to receive." And by an entirely wrong
interpretation of this they think that they can weaken the force of that
saying of the Lord in which he says: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all
that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me." And they think that under colour of this
they need not deprive themselves of their riches: declaring indeed that
they are more blessed if, supported by that which originally belonged to
them, they give to others also out of their superabundance. And while they
are shy of embracing with the Apostle that glorious state of abnegation for
Christ's sake, they will not be content either with manual labour or the
sparing diet of the monastery. And the only thing is that these must either
know that they are deceiving themselves, and have not really renounced the
world while they are clinging to their former riches; or, if they really
and truly want to make trial of the monastic life, they must give up and
forsake all these things and keep back nothing of that which they have
renounced, and, with the Apostle, glory "in hunger and thirst, in cold and
nakedness."
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