13. Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out before you certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confess what is the truth; and since you cannot deceive those who know,37    “Him who knows it,” Oxford translation. utter forth the secret and hidden things of your mind. The gloom of barrenness has besieged your mind; and while the light of truth has departed thence, the deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of 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.38    [Prov. i. 19. “The eagle stole a lamb from the altar,” say the Rabbims, “to feed his young; but a coal from the altar came with it, and burnt up nest and all.”] You heap up a patrimony which burdens you39    According to Manutius, Pamelius, and others, “too heavily” is here added. with its weight; and you do not remember what God answered to the rich man, who boasted with a foolish exultation of the abundance of his exuberant harvest: “Thou fool,” said He, “this night thy soul is required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”40    Luke xii. 20. Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that, in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God? Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.

XIII. Quid tibi in istis ineptis et stultis cogitationibus 0610C plaudis, quasi metu et sollicitudine futurorum ab operibus retarderis? Quid umbras et praestigias quasdam vanae excusationis obtendis? Confitere immo quae vera sunt; et quia scientes non potes fallere, secreta et abdita mentis exprome. Obsederunt animum tuum sterilitatis tenebrae, et, recedente inde lumine veritatis, carnale pectus alta et profunda avaritiae caligo caecavit. Pecuniae tuae captivus et servus es, catenis cupiditatis et vinculis alligatus es, et quem jam solverat Christus, denuo vinctus es. Servas pecuniam, quae te servata non servat. Patrimonium cumulas, quod te pondere suo onerat ; nec meministi quid Deus responderit diviti exuberantium fructuum copiam stulta exultatione jactanti: 0611A Stulte inquit, hac nocte expostulatur anima tua a te. Quae ergo parasti cujus erunt (Luc. XII, 20)? Quid divitiis tuis solus incubas? quid in poenam tuam patrimonii tui pondus exaggeras, ut quo locupletior saeculo fueris, pauperior Deo fias? Redditus tuos divide cum Domino Deo tuo, fructus tuos partire cum Christo, fac tibi possessionum terrestrium Christum participem, ut et ille te sibi faciat regnorum coelestium cohaeredem.