OF AVARICE
Avarice was this Rival’s name, and she is the Immoderate Desire of acquiring and holding Riches. But they called her by a holier Name, so that it might not seem that they had abandoned me, by whose Gift they had been raised from the Dust and lifted up out of the Mire. So they spake gently of her to me, but there was Craft and Anger in their Hearts. And though the Desolation of a City which is set upon a Hill ♦Matt. v. 14.♦ cannot be hid, yet they gave her the Name of Discretion or Foresight, though such Discretion were better named Confusion, and such Foresight a pernicious Forgetfulness of all Good Works. And they said unto me: Thine is the Power; thine the Kingdom: fear not. It is good to use Charity and labour for Good Ends, to succour the Needy and give to the Poor. But I answered: What you say is just, Brothers, but I beseech you, consider ♦1 Cor. i. 26.♦ your Calling. Do not look back. Do not come down ♦Matt. xxiv. 17.♦ from the house-top to take anything out of your Houses, neither return back from the fields to take your Clothes. Do not be busied about this World’s Affairs, nor be entangled again in its Pollution, ♦2 Pet. ii. 20, 21.♦ which you have escaped through the Knowledge of the Saviour. For those who are entangled therein a second time must needs be overcome, and the latter End is worse with them than the Beginning, if by a Pretence of Piety they turn from the Holy Commandment which has been delivered unto them. And after I had thus spoken, there arose a Dissension among them, for some said that I was good and spoke the Truth, but others that I desired to seduce them into following me, in that I was wretched, and wished to make them wretched with me.
XIV
HOW THE LADY POVERTY SPOKE OF GOOD RELIGIOUS
My Rival could not yet drive me out of their Land, for there were still many Men among them in all the great Zeal and Charity of their First Fervour, who assailed Heaven by their Cries, and penetrated to the Throne of God by their Perseverance in Prayer, rapt in Contemplation and despising all Things which were of the Earth. Then the ♦Eccli. xxiv. 12.♦ Creator of All Things commanded me, and He Who created me said: Let thy Dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel, and take thou Root in My Elect. All which Things I most diligently obeyed. And while I abode with them, and we walked together on the Royal Road, they became, on my ♦Wisdom viii. 10, 11.♦ account, of good Repute among the People, and admirable in the Sight of the Mighty. They were honoured by all Men, and reputed as Saints, though they could not endure to be thus called, remembering what the Son of God had said: I seek no ♦John viii. 50.♦ Glory from Man; therefore they refused all Honour offered them by Men.
XV
HOW AVARICE TOOK THE NAME OF DISCRETION
But whilst my Disciples were thus walking in so great Fervour of the Love of Christ, Avarice, taking to herself the Name of Discretion, spake and said unto them: Do not show yourselves so severe to Mankind, nor thus contemn their Honours, but have a kindly Countenance for them, and do not outwardly reject the Honours offered to you: be content to do so inwardly. It is a good thing to have the Friendship of Kings, the Acquaintance of Princes, the Intimacy of the Great, for if they honour and venerate you, if they rise up to meet you, many seeing this shall follow their Example, and be the more easily turned to God. And my Friends, acknowledging these advantages, but not guarding themselves from the Snare which ♦Ps. cxlii. 4.♦ had been set in the Way, in the End embraced Honours and Glory with all their Heart. They thought themselves to be inwardly such as they seemed outwardly, but they gloried in the Praises they received, and were like the Foolish Virgins without Oil, profitless servants upon the Earth. And Men who believed them to be interiorly that which they seemed exteriorly, freely offered them their Goods in Remission of their Sins. In the beginning they had counted all these ♦Phil. iii. 8.♦ Things as dung, saying: We are Poor Men and always desire to be Poor; we do not desire your goods but you. We have Food and wherewithal ♦1 Tim. vi. 8.♦ to cover ourselves and desire no more, for Vanity of ♦Eccl. i. 2.♦ Vanities and All is Vanity. Wherefore the devotion of Men towards them increased still more, so that many held in small Regard the Goods which they saw thus despised of the Saints.