Sermon 32
SERMO 32
OF GOLIATH AND DAVID
AND ON THE CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD
In the Scriptures, some things are hidden more secretly, others are manifested.
God and our Lord, caring for and healing every illness of the soul, has brought forth many remedies from the holy Scriptures, as if from certain storerooms of His, when divine readings are read. These remedies are to be applied by our ministry to our wounds. For we do not declare ourselves to be the children of the physician, by whom He deigns to heal others, so that we ourselves would no longer need necessary treatment. If we look to Him, if we present ourselves to Him with our whole heart to be healed, we will all be healed. Many things have been read, and great, and necessary. Although all things may be so, yet some are hidden more secretly in the Scriptures to exercise those who seek, while others are placed in open and evident places to heal those who desire them. This Psalm indeed contains great secrets, which, if we wished to treat each one individually, I fear that common weakness could not bear it, whether due to the temporal heat, the strength of the body, the slowness of understanding, or even because of our own insufficient ability. Thus, we will sample a few things from it, as much as we believe will be sufficient for our duty and for the intention of your Charity.
The Word of God must be listened to attentively.
First, its title is: To Goliath. Those who are not unacquainted with the divine Scriptures, who love to frequent this school, who do not hate the teacher like desperate children, and who offer a keen ear in church to the readers and open the receptacle of their heart to the flow of divine Scripture, who do not care for matters within the walls of their house and are not delighted by domestic stories, such that they gather to find with whom to talk about trifles, not with whom to listen to useful things, who do not love to speak of other people's matters when they have run out of their own, who therefore gather not in this way and frequently gather, are not unacquainted with the title of this psalm that is written: To Goliath. They know who Goliath was. Nevertheless, for others who are either now attentive or at another time less attentive, or perhaps have accustomed themselves to choke the word in their heart with the thorns of worldly affairs, that is, with the cares of worldly business, let us narrate even these very old and usual things to those attentive and diligent in the study of the Divine Letters.
David proceeds fearlessly against Goliath.
Goliath was one of the Philistines, that is, of the foreigners, who were waging war at that time against the children of Israel. At that time, the holy David, who authored this psalm, or rather, through whom the Holy Spirit administered this psalm, was a boy tending his father's sheep, of tender age, scarcely an adolescent. His brothers, already young men, were serving in the army of the king. He had brought them something from home, sent by their parents for their use. Thus, at that time, when fighting was going on, he was found in the army, not yet a soldier, but a servant and brother of soldiers. Then Goliath, of whom mention has been made, appeared: of immense physical stature, armed, trained in strength, and haughty with boasting, who proudly challenged the enemy people to a single combat, that is, one chosen from among them should come forth against him, so that the outcome of the entire war would depend on the duel, with an agreement and covenant added, that if any one of those two prevailed, victory would be granted to the entire side from which he had stood. The king of the Jewish people, the children of Israel, was Saul. He was distressed, agitated, seeking someone equal to him throughout the entire army. But he found none, neither in form nor in the boldness of the challenge. While he was agitated, this boy David dared, not presuming on his own strength, but in the name of his God, to go forth against him. It was reported to the king, not as the boldness of youth, but as the confidence of piety. And the king did not refuse, he did not decline. He understood, when he saw the daring boy, that there was something divine in him, and that such a tender age could not presume to such things without divine inspiration. He willingly accepted. He went forth against Goliath.
Therefore, in all who were in that part from which David came forth, there was no presumption except in God. However, in them, the whole hope was in the strength of one man. But what is man, except what is sung in this psalm? Man is likened to vanity, his days pass like a shadow. Therefore, their hope is vain, which is placed in a passing shadow. However, David was armed so that, since he was unequal in age and strength, he might be equal as if by arms. But the old arms did not aid, but rather burdened the new age. And this relates to what also the apostolic reading mentioned before the song of the psalm, saying: Put off the old man and put on the new. David did not wish for the oldness of arms. He cast them off. He said they were burdensome because they entangled him. He desired to proceed to battle very light, strong not in himself but in the Lord, armed not so much with iron as with faith.
Five stones symbolized the law.
Nevertheless, having disarmed, he chose something with which to fight. And this not without a sacrament. For you see as it were two kinds of lives, one old among foreigners, the other new among Israelites struggling against each other. On that side is the body of the devil, on this side the prefiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took five stones from the brook, from the river, and placed them in the shepherd's pouch in which milk is usually stored. Thus he proceeded armed. The five stones were the law; for the law is contained in the five books of Moses. And in that law are the ten saving precepts, to which the other commandments serve. Therefore, the law is prefigured both by the number five and the number ten. And so David fought with five, and sang with ten, saying: In the psaltery of ten strings I will praise you. Nor did he throw all five stones, but took one. For in the number of stones he showed the number of books, in one stone the unity of those fulfilling the law. For unity itself fulfills the law, that is, charity. Therefore, those five stones were taken from the river. What did the river signify at that time?
On the Allegories of the Scriptures and Their Significance.
For things are not always signified in the Scriptures by fixed realities. And your Holiness ought to know this on account of the other rules, so that you may also teach listeners who are docile. Those things which are presented allegorically in the Scriptures do not always signify the same thing. A mountain does not always signify the Lord, a stone does not always signify the Lord, a lion does not always signify the Lord, nor does it always signify good, nor does it always signify evil, but it depends on the places of the Scriptures, where the other circumstances of the reading pertain. Just as letters are repeated in so many thousands of words and speeches but are not increased. Words are infinite, but letters are finite. No one can count words; anyone can count letters, from which the multitude of words arises. When one letter is placed in various places, it has value according to the place, not representing a single thing. How different are things like God and the devil? Yet in the beginning, the letter D is there, when we say "God," and when we say "devil." Thus, just as a letter has value according to the place, the person is mistaken and very absurd and childishly obtuse, who, when he reads, for example, the letter D in the name of God, fears to place it in the name of the devil, as if he were injuring God. So too is the one who unskillfully hears the divine Scriptures, let us not depart from this very example, when he hears, for instance, a river placed allegorically, where it is said: "The streams of the river shall make glad the city of God" – it is said about the flood of the Holy Spirit, of which in another place the Prophet says: "They shall be filled with the abundance of your house, and you shall give them drink from the torrent of your pleasures" – when therefore he has taken the river in a good sense and praised it and has been delighted by it, when according to the place it is said to him that the river signifies men flowing and given to temporal things, passing away with the love of those passing away, he is terrified. Because in another place he had taken the river to signify something good, and he is troubled. Thus, he becomes mute in the Scriptures, just as he becomes mute in letters, if he does not want to transfer those very letters to other words, but holds them only in those words in which he first learned them.
From the river where David took the stones.
If your Holiness has understood this, what was said to you is, as we believe, very useful and which helps you greatly, not only to listen to our discourses but also to understand the very Scriptures, about which we are discoursing to you. Therefore, the river from which David took the five stones at that time did not signify something good. Indeed, I know it is possible for some to consider and understand that river in a good sense, as if someone might wish to understand it as baptism, so that stones lifted from baptism, that is, baptized men, are the strongest against the devil, who was signified by Goliath. However, due to the number five, the reason is established for us, because we said that the law is signified by the number five, due to the five books of Moses. What does it signify that they were taken from the river and placed in a shepherd's pouch? We have already said: by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that the devil would truly be conquered, the law passes to grace. What signifies grace more than an abundance of milk? However, those stones were taken from the river. The river signified the fickle people, devoted to temporal matters, loving transient things, and rushing to the sea of this world with the force of desire, like the old people of the Jews. They had received the law but trampled on the law and passed over the law and were carried into the sea, as a river flows over those stones. For those stones did not establish a limit for the river to set the river in place. If they had done so, they would signify the constraint of the law and those who, when they begin to flow with their pleasures and desires, coming to the precepts of the law, stop and restrain the impulses of their lusts. However, those stones were not like that, but in the river, over which the water flowed. Just as the transgressing people passed over the law. Therefore, from there the Lord took the law to grace, that is, he took it from the river and placed it in the shepherd's pouch.
By the grace of God, it is necessary to fulfill the commandments.
Whoever therefore wishes to fulfill the law, let him consider grace. Therefore, those ten commandments of the psaltery of ten strings are the same as those which were among that ancient people, but those ten commandments oppressed that people with fear. For in them there was not the charity which is through grace but there was fear. The commandments of the Lord were penal to that people, because they could not be fulfilled with love. They tried, but were overcome by desire. Therefore, when anyone has made the transition to grace, he does not fulfill other commandments, but those which could not be fulfilled by fear, are fulfilled by it. It is not, however, the power of the commandments, but the power of the grace of God. For if it were the power of the commandments of the law, it would fulfill those as well. He who passes over to Christ, passes from fear to love, and begins to be able to do through love what he could not through fear. And he who trembled in fear does not tremble in love. Therefore, this is in the ten commandments, because David signifies the man who passes over to grace when he says: In the psaltery of ten strings I will sing praises to you, now to sing in the commandments, that is, to fulfill the commandments joyfully.
God gives strength so that what He commands can be fulfilled.
And so, Brothers, know that grace accomplishes this, no one should presume on their own strength. For this is to presume upon the grace of God. For God calls you and commands you to act, but He Himself gives strength so that what He commands can be fulfilled. However, you must embrace faith capably, so that with the abundance of grace you humble yourself, beg God, and presume nothing of yourself; strip yourself of Goliath, clothe yourself in David. This pertains to what is said in the same psalm, which we have already begun to mention: What is man? For this warns man not to presume upon himself. See now how he enchants against Goliath, who presumed upon himself; and commends to you David, who was weak among men but very strong in God. What is man? And it says what man is: Because you have made yourself known to him. This is the whole of man, if God is made known to him. But if God is not made known to him, man is nothing. What is man, to whom God has not been made known? Man is likened to vanity, his days pass like a shadow. Therefore, what is man, because you have made yourself known to him; and the son of man, that you care for him? What does it mean that you care for him? It pleased you to choose him and to place him in some superior and eminent position. This is due to your mercy, not his merits.
Ask what is proper to man, you will find sin. Ask what is proper to man, you will find a lie. Remove sin, and whatever you consider in man is from God. Therefore, let man not love what is his own. This might also pertain to what the Apostle says: Let no one seek what is his own. Sometimes people hear this from readers and are encouraged to take others' possessions. It matters who tells you: "Do not seek what is yours." Sometimes it is said by an evil advisor, sometimes by a good teacher. God is a good teacher. Therefore, when you hear from God: "Do not seek what is yours," do not take it as it is usually said. There is something good that God admonishes you for. As we were saying, seek what is yours, you will find sin. Therefore, do not seek sin, and you will not seek what is yours. Do not seek a lie, and you will not seek what is yours. For truth is from God, a lie is from yourself.
Let us close the doors of desire and fear to the devil.
And if the devil occasionally suggests something, he holds the consenting one, he does not compel the unwilling. For he does not deceive or drag anyone unless he finds someone partly already like himself. For he finds him desiring something, and desire opens the door to the devil's entering suggestion. He finds him fearing something, he advises him to avoid what he finds him fearing. He advises him to obtain what he finds him desiring. And through these two doors of desire and fear, he enters. Close them, and you fulfill what the Apostle said in today's reading: Do not give a place to the devil. For there the Apostle wanted to show that although the devil enters and possesses, the man still gave him a place to enter.
Therefore, because man is nothing to whom God has not made himself known and whom God does not esteem, He gives him His grace, finding in him what to condemn and giving all to the confessor, so that He may crown the believer. For what did the Lord find in men when He came except that which He would condemn? Absolutely, Brothers, consider and see, whether in that people of the Israelites, or among the Gentiles, He found nothing but what He would condemn. And therefore, He willed to come humbly to sinners, not as a judge, that He might spare them, so that first He might grant mercy by forgiving sins, and then afterward exhibit severity by punishing sins. Let us not abuse, that is, let us not misuse His mercy, and we will not feel His severity. Therefore, this is all that man is to whom God makes himself known, that He gives him His grace from which David presumed. But Goliath, proud, arrogant, and inflated, presumed from himself and his own strength, established the entire victory of his whole side in himself alone. And because all pride has the insolence of a brazen face, he was struck down on that very face by a coming stone. The brow that bore the insolence of his pride was overthrown, and the brow that bore the humility of the cross of Christ prevailed.
By what means do we bear the sign of the cross on the forehead?
Therefore, we also bear the very sign of the cross on our forehead. Who understands it? I say this, brothers, because many do it and do not wish to understand. God seeks the doer of His signs, not a painter. If you bear the sign of the humility of Christ on your forehead, bear the imitation of the humility of Christ in your heart. However, we said, brothers, about giving place to the devil by opening doors to him of desire or fear. But what kind of desire, or what kind of fear? For we also desire the kingdom of heaven, and we fear hell. But just as those doors, the desire for temporal things and the fear of temporal punishments, often lead to wickedness and give place to the devil, so the desire for eternal things and the fear of eternal punishments makes a place in the heart for the word of God.
Earthly desire must be restrained.
Briefly then, Brothers: if we wish to live well, let us love more what God promises than what this world promises. And let us fear more what God threatens than what this world threatens. Is what we said something great or long? A temptation of some fraud comes to you. You want to commit fraud to acquire money. God promises eternal kingdoms of heaven to those who do not commit fraud. Greed for money overcomes you. For who is it that does not want the kingdoms of heaven? But to prefer earthly things more is to sin, to prefer what is present and not to believe what is future, to prefer what man sees and not to desire what God promises, when what man sees can also be taken away from his eyes, even that which is possessed can be lost; but what God promises cannot meanwhile be seen with the eye of the flesh, and when someone reaches God's promises he does not fear losing them, for no one is more powerful than He who gave them. Therefore, Brothers, adhere with love to God's promises, and the desires of the world will not overcome you.
Let us not fear the threats of men.
Again, the temptation of fear comes. Everyone says to you: "Give false testimony for me." First, he promises. But when he has not deceived, if by chance you prefer the promises of God to the promises of men, greed does not win. Through threat he tempts and begins to threaten horrible things. Perhaps he is powerful in the city, powerful in the world. He seems capable of doing what he threatens. The fear of present evil conquers you, which God could indeed avert from you, if it seemed advantageous to Him; and if He does not want to avert it, you should understand that He would not allow it to happen to you unless He knew it would benefit you. The same God diverted the fire from the three boys. Has God changed because He did not avert the sword from the martyrs? The same God of the three boys was the God of the Maccabees. Those escaped from the fire, those were tortured by flames. Both, however, conquered in the eternal God. For neither those were delighted by this temporal life, nor were those broken by temporal threats.
Therefore, do not fear the man threatening you. For what is man? He is likened to vanity, his days pass like a shadow. Either he will not harm you, and that shadow will pass before its sting can reach you; for God is powerful. Or if he is permitted to harm, he will harm only your shadow for a time, that is, your transient affairs, your temporal life, your old life. For up to the end of death we carry something of the old man. He can harm your temporal life, but no one can take away your eternal life from you. He will remove the impediments by which you are held here. And you will cling to God, to whom you are already bound by anticipated hope and love.
Therefore, it is most elegantly said in the Psalms about the evil man: "You have worked deceit like a sharp razor." Thus the Spirit of God mocks him. What does it observe in the razor? Not because men can be killed with a razor, but for what purpose the razor was made. However, it was made for shaving hair. What is so superfluous on the body as hair? With how much urgency, how much effort, how much caution, how much intention it is sharpened, so that it shaves hair. In the same way, the evil man takes himself aside, thinks, rethinks, devises plans, places fraud upon fraud, seeks machination, prepares accomplices, gathers false witnesses, sharpens the razor. What will he do to the just man, except shave off the superfluous?
We should not love those things that pass away.
Therefore, Brothers, if you want to be ready to follow the will of God, what we say to you, we first say to ourselves, indeed He who speaks securely says it to all, if we want to be ready to follow the will of God, let us not love the things that pass away, let us not think that happiness is found in that which is called in this age. For this is what those foreigners thought. They regarded all happiness in temporal things, all sweetness in the shadow, not in the light itself, not in the truth itself. So much so in this psalm, which is addressed to Goliath, pay attention to the latter parts of the psalm. In completely clear words and in the most unambiguous speech, which does not require an interpreter or expositor, but by the mercy of God, they are so placed that no one can say: "Behold, he said it as he wished, and interpreted it by his own wit, he perceived it as he wished," they are placed in such a way that no one can excuse themselves. These words are placed by David speaking, that is, by the new life, the life of Christ, the life given to us through Christ, mocking the old life, the old happiness of men, and those who place their hope in it, and those who achieve it and rejoice in it.
To whom and when God is to be called propitious.
For it seems that the righteous labor in this world, and the unjust live happily in this world. And as if God is sleeping, neglecting human affairs, those are often elevated with impunity, while these are often broken by infirmity and think it does them no good to live well, because they do not have those things with which sinners, wicked, and impious men seem to abound. And as long as they ask such things from God as if they are granted for their greatness, they are in error. And care must be taken lest they be given over to the power of their desires. For it is said: God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts. And God is more merciful when he does not grant the superfluous and trifling things one asks for, but listens in order to heal by not giving. For indeed, who does not see why men seek those things? That they may spend on their luxuries, on trifles, on the most insane spectacles, men ask to have these things from God.
Give me a man from the world; let him ask wealth from God, let it be given, and observe the innumerable snares of his death that follow. Then he oppresses the poor, a mortal man becomes proud over an equal human being, he seeks vain honors from men. In order to acquire them, he displays to them the frivolities of wickedness, the frivolities of evil desire. He buys games and bears, gives his property to wild-beast fighters, while Christ hungers in the poor. What need is there to say more, brothers? You yourselves think about what we are silent on, how many evils men commit with their superfluous things when the providence of these things happens to them. Is it not better, when such a person is able to use the abundance of present things in this way, that God takes it away from him rather than gives it to him? Is it not then mercy?
And he will say: "I have acted rightly and have taken nothing that was not mine, and you have not heard me. From what I have, I give to the needy, I take from no one. I ask from you, you give." As if indeed he gives you a villa unless another loses a villa. If it is said to you: "Sell your villa," you shudder as if at a curse, you think an injury has been done to you. You hold hatred in your heart, because you heard from a man that you should sell a villa as if you could buy unless another sells. Therefore, what you very much desire to buy and wish to buy, if it is evil to sell, you seek evil for another. It is good to find a chapel of solidi on the road, which when you have found, you say: "God gave it to me," as if you could find it unless another loses it. Why then do you not desire the good of those treasures, which all can possess with you without distress? You desire gold, desire justice. You cannot have gold, unless another loses. You both embrace justice, and you both are expanded.
Earthly happiness must be despised, heavenly things must be desired.
Let us return therefore to the psalm, so that your Charity may understand that they are foreigners who think that all happiness is merely present. But do you judge yourself worthy that God should give even these? Consider how you use them. If He did not give, know that it is beneficial for you because the Good Father did not give. For when your son cries to give him a beautiful knife with a gilded handle, no matter how much he cries, you do not give him that which would harm him. "Lord, deliver me from the hand of foreign sons, whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity." And he explains what vanity he speaks of and what right hand. For he calls the right hand of iniquity the happiness of this age. Not that it is not found among the good, but when the good have it, they have it in the left hand, not in the right hand. They have eternal happiness in the right hand; they have temporal happiness in the left hand. However, the desire for eternal things and eternal happiness should not be mixed with the desire for temporal things, that is, present and temporal happiness. And this is: "Let not your left hand know what your right hand does." Therefore: "Their right hand is a right hand of iniquity."
Listen now to how they have spoken vanity, and how they have the right hand of iniquity. Let us all listen, it benefits you. Let us listen, so that you do not say you have not heard, because it was said to the servant: "You should give, and I would demand." And we said yesterday that we are the servants who give; there is another who demands. Our sisters, unwilling to listen, as if they do not want to endure the exactor. In vain, my brothers, no one should flatter themselves here. It is one thing not to have received, another to have refused to receive. He who refuses the gift of God is held guilty of that refusal. For just as it was said to the steward servant: "Why did you not give?" so it shall be said to the servant to whom it was appointed to dispense: "Why did you not receive?" If there was no one to give, you will excuse yourself. But if the readers sound forth, even when the expounders are silent—and the word of God is preached everywhere, and truly it is said: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and the heat of the word of God is spread everywhere, and there is no one who can hide from its heat—there will be nothing to say in the judgment of God. Brothers, let us hear and do. If we want to have hope, let us not excuse ourselves. Often a beggar, requesting a single coin, will
The door sings to you the commandments of God.
Let us hear then: Whose mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. Behold the happiness of the world, where those who speak vanity place their hope, and whose right hand is of iniquity. For thus it begins to say: Whose sons are like well-established saplings. Happiness is lawful. Here he does not speak of frauds, perjuries, robberies, crimes. He speaks of happiness as if of the innocent. And if this is to be despised, how much more should they be mourned who also commit robberies, who commit thefts, who commit crimes, who commit murders, who commit adulteries and other things which even worldly happiness condemns?
Psalm 143 is explained.
Behold what kind of man He wants to be of new life, what kind of man He wants to be belonging to pastoral vessels, and to the grace of God, and to the milk by which we are nourished. Pay attention now: Their sons are like newly established shoots; their daughters adorned as if in the likeness of a temple. Perhaps this is why the sisters did not want to listen. Therefore, let them hear, whether they want to or not, and learn to come to the Lord's house, not in the pride of Goliath but in the humility of David. Are these things really to be explained? Are they obscure? Men speak vanity, and they are called foreigners. They do not belong to the inheritance of Christ, to His kingdom to whom we say: Our Father. They are counted as foreigners. And what happiness do they declare? Their sons are like newly established shoots, as if a propagation of propagations. "He has many sons, many grandsons; he is secure against the accidents of death." As if a single event doesn't often wipe out thousands of men. Their sons are like newly established shoots. Behold, suppose the sons are indeed like newly established shoots. Do not the nearby forest fires sometimes consume even the young shoots in the woods? Their daughters are adorned as if in the likeness of a temple. Let us swiftly move on from here. It is necessary to consider the modesty of women. They should recognize by their own possession what they have, which we are ashamed to mention. Their daughters are adorned as if in the likeness of a temple. Their storehouses full, overflowing from one into another, just as we say of the abundant: "He has nowhere to put it, he doesn't know what he has." One storehouse is filled and the fruits overflow; the possessions are abundant, the storehouses overflow from one into another.
Their sheep, fertile, multiplying in their goings out. Few enter; they give birth, and many go out: multiplying in their goings out. In the previous year there were so many, this year there are so many. There is rejoicing and exulting. Goliath swells, and proudly challenges to combat in such prosperity: "Who can confront me? Who dares?" If men to whom these things abound do not say that, if each one does not feel it daily within himself? He has something more than his neighbor. Does he not say: "Who can confront me? Or if this neighbor has wronged me, will I not show him?" See if it is not Goliath challenging to combat. But David advances, unarmed with weapons of war, armed with a few stones. All pride will be overthrown, that is, the just man; as the martyrs did, they overthrew the unjust. And at that time when they seemed to be vanquished, they were themselves victorious, when in them their leader, the devil, was overcome.
Let us wish for and love lasting goods.
But observe that happiness: their sheep multiplying in their goings, their oxen fat. There is no ruin of the fence. For the fence is often accustomed to be a hedge. There is no ruin of the fence, nor an exit. Everything whole, everything perfect, everything full. Nor is there a cry in their streets: no disputes, no tumults. See what kind of happiness he describes as if of the innocent, lest anyone say: "But he said this about those who seize the belongings of others." Nothing is said of this here, elsewhere there is mention of such. For it is manifest that the wicked are to be punished. And from here they should understand what punishment awaits them, when anyone innocent uses these things proudly and immoderately, he is revolted by God and counted among the children of foreigners. For that rich man was not seeking foreign fruits, to whom the region succeeded in its fruits, and when he was burning, having nowhere to gather the worldly fruits, and did not see the poor in whom he might store treasure in heaven: "I will destroy," he says, "my barns, and build larger ones and I will fill them." From where if not from his own fruits? And I will say to my soul: "You have many goods, be satisfied." But God said to him: "Fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Whose will these things be which you have prepared?" Just as in the Gospel, Brothers, the man rejoicing in temporal happiness was rebuked, although that happiness was from his own field, not from the spoils of others, so also in this psalm temporal happiness is rebuked, so that the soul renewed and regenerated by the grace of milk may learn to desire that perpetual and eternal blessedness. Therefore see how he connects it: Whose sons are as newly planted. Their daughters decorated as the likeness of a temple. Their storerooms full, spilling from one to another. Their sheep fertile, multiplying in their goings; their oxen fat. There is no ruin of the fence, nor exit, nor cry in their streets. Blessed they said is the people who have these. But who said it? Whose mouth spoke vanity. For above they are described.
But what do you say? For they call blessed the people who have these things. What do I say? Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Therefore, blessed is that people, who, for their sons and daughters adorned, for the fatness of oxen, for the fertility of sheep, for the fullness of cellars, for the integrity of buildings, for peace and civil disputes and quarrels, for all this happiness, wishes to possess their God, so that they have Him for everything, who created all things, and say: But it is good for me to cling to God. Let him worship Him freely. Let him worship when He gives these things, and when He takes away, and when He does not give, and let him fear nothing as much as that He takes Himself away. And so the Christian people, Brothers, who say in their hearts: "Let Him take away whatever He wants, as long as He does not take Himself away from me," blessed is the people, whose God is the Lord.