{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>They, then, who lost their worldly all in the sack of Rome,\r\nif they owned their possessions as they had been taught by\r\nthe apostle, who himself was poor without, but rich within,—that\r\nis to say, if they used the world as not using it,—could\r\nsay in the words of Job, heavily tried, but not overcome:\r\n\"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I\r\nreturn thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;\r\nas it pleased the Lord, so has it come to pass: blessed be the\r\nname of the Lord.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_51_51\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_51_51\">[51]</a> Like a good servant, Job counted the\r\nwill of his Lord his great possession, by obedience to which\r\nhis soul was enriched; nor did it grieve him to lose, while\r\nyet living, those goods which he must shortly leave at his\r\ndeath. But as to those feebler spirits who, though they\r\ncannot be said to prefer earthly possessions to Christ, do yet\r\ncleave to them with a somewhat immoderate attachment, they\r\nhave discovered by the pain of losing these things how much\r\nthey were sinning in loving them. For their grief is of their\r\nown making; in the words of the apostle quoted above,\r\n\"they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.\"\r\nFor it was well that they who had so long despised these\r\nverbal admonitions should receive the teaching of experience.\r\nFor when the apostle says, \"They that will be rich fall into\r\ntemptation,\" and so on, what he blames in riches is not the\r\npossession of them, but the desire of them. For elsewhere he\r\nsays, \"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be\r\nnot high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the\r\nliving God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that\r\nthey do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute,\r\nwilling to communicate; laying up in store for themselves<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_16\">[Pg 16]</a></span>\r\na good foundation against the time to come, that they\r\nmay lay hold on eternal life.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_52_52\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_52_52\">[52]</a> They who were making such\r\na use of their property have been consoled for light losses by\r\ngreat gains, and have had more pleasure in those possessions\r\nwhich they have securely laid past, by freely giving them\r\naway, than grief in those which they entirely lost by an\r\nanxious and selfish hoarding of them. For nothing could\r\nperish on earth save what they would be ashamed to carry\r\naway from earth. Our Lord's injunction runs, \"Lay not up\r\nfor yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth\r\ncorrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay\r\nup for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor\r\nrust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor\r\nsteal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be\r\nalso.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_53_53\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_53_53\">[53]</a> And they who have listened to this injunction have\r\nproved in the time of tribulation how well they were advised\r\nin not despising this most trustworthy teacher, and most\r\nfaithful and mighty guardian of their treasure. For if many\r\nwere glad that their treasure was stored in places which the\r\nenemy chanced not to light upon, how much better founded\r\nwas the joy of those who, by the counsel of their God, had\r\nfled with their treasure to a citadel which no enemy can possibly\r\nreach! Thus our Paulinus, bishop of Nola,<a id=\"FNanchor_54_54\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_54_54\">[54]</a> who voluntarily\r\nabandoned vast wealth and became quite poor, though\r\nabundantly rich in holiness, when the barbarians sacked Nola,\r\nand took him prisoner, used silently to pray, as he afterwards\r\ntold me, \"O Lord, let me not be troubled for gold and silver,\r\nfor where all my treasure is Thou knowest.\" For all his\r\ntreasure was where he had been taught to hide and store it\r\nby Him who had also foretold that these calamities would\r\nhappen in the world. Consequently those persons who obeyed\r\ntheir Lord when He warned them where and how to lay up\r\ntreasure, did not lose even their earthly possessions in the\r\ninvasion of the barbarians; while those who are now repenting<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_17\">[Pg 17]</a></span>\r\nthat they did not obey Him have learnt the right use of\r\nearthly goods, if not by the wisdom which would have prevented\r\ntheir loss, at least by the experience which follows it.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FIRST."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-51"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"41b4f912b5c3a6bfbcf8a1767ba212cd32e00c1c71409ef5ecf1aaaa2107bc81","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"MAT","chapter":6,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Matt. vi. 19-21","verse":19,"verse_end":21}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_53_53","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_53_53","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_53_53\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_53_53\"><span class=\"label\">[53]</span></a> Matt. vi. 19-21.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_53_53","text_sha256":"a66d1915b591d206f1053d3a32c17249b133605e3133840aa9f704a360783f3a","verified":false,"work_id":null}