10 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN. Some suchlikewe see now in the church,whose closedears and darkened heartsadmit no lightfrom spiritualand saving warnings,of whom we need not wonder that they contemn the servantin hisdiscourses,when we seethe Lord Himself despisedby such. 13. Wherefore do you applaud yourselfin thosevain and sillyconceits,as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitudefor the future? Why do you lay out before you certainshadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confesswhat isthe truth; and sinceyou cannotdeceive those who know,1 utterforth the secretand hidden things of your mind. The gloom of barrennesshas besiegedyour mind ; and whilethe lightof truth has departedthence,the deep and profound darkness of avaricehas blinded your carnalheart. You are the captiveand slaveof your money ; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom Christ had once loosed,are once more in chains. You keep your money, which, when kept,does not keep you. You heap up a patrimony which burdens yon1 with itsweight; and you do not remember what God an swered to the richman, who boastedwith a foolishexultation of the abundance of his exuberant harvest: " Thou fool," saidHe, " thisnight thy soulisrequiredof thee; then whose shallthosethingsbe which thou hastprovided?"3 Why do you watch in lonelinessover your riches? why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that,in proportionas you are rich in thisworld, you may become poor to God? Divide your returnswith the Lord your God ; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partnerwithyou in your earthlypossessions,thatHe alsomay make you a fellow-heirwith Him in His heavenlykingdom. 14. You are mistaken,and are deceived,whosoever you are,that think yourselfrich in thisworld. Listen to the voiceof your Lord in the Apocalypse,rebuking men of your 1 " Him who knowsit,"Oxfordtranslation. 2 AccordingtoManutius,Pamcliua,and others," tooheavily"ishere added. 3 Luke xii.20.