19. Do you think that we suffer adversity equally with yourselves, when you see that the same adverse things are not borne equally by us and by you? Among you there is always a clamorous and complaining impatience; with us there is a strong and religious patience, always quiet and always grateful to God. Nor does it claim for itself anything joyous or prosperous in this world, but, meek and gentle and stable against all the gusts of this tossing world, it waits for the time of the divine promise; for as long as this body endures, it must needs have a common lot with others, and its bodily condition must be common. Nor is it given to any of the human race to be separated one from another, except by withdrawal from this present life. In the meantime, we are all, good and evil, contained in one household. Whatever happens within the house, we suffer with equal fate, until, when the end of the temporal life shall be attained, we shall be distributed among the homes either of eternal death or immortality. Thus, therefore, we are not on the same level, and equal with you, because, placed in this present world and in this flesh, we incur equally with you the annoyances of the world and of the flesh; for since in the sense of pain is all punishment, it is manifest that he is not a sharer of your punishment who, you see, does not suffer pain equally with yourselves.31 Or, “whom you do not see not to suffer with yourself.”
XIX. Putatis nos adversa vobiscum aequaliter perpeti, cum eadem adversa videatis a nobis et vobis non aequaliter sustineri? Apud vos impatientia clamosa semper et querula est; apud nos fortis et religiosa patientia, quieta semper et semper in Deum grata est; nec quidquam istic laetum aut prosperum sibi vindicat, sed mitis et lenis et contra omnes fluctuantis mundi turbines stabilis , divinae pollicitationis tempus exspectat. Quamdiu enim corpus hoc permanet, commune cum caeteris sit necesse est et 0558C corporalis conditio communis; nec separari generi humano ab invicem datur, nisi si istinc de saeculo recedatur. Iutra unam domum boni et mali interim continemur. Quicquid intra domum evenerit pari 0559A sorte perpetimur, donec, aevi temporalis fine completo, ad aeternae vel mortis vel immortalitatis hospitia dividamur. Non ergo idcirco compares vobis et aequales sumus quia, in isto adhuc mundo et carne hac constituti, mundi et carnis incommoda vobiscum pariter incurrimus: nam, cum in sensu doloris sit omne quod punit, manifestum est eum non esse participem poenae tuae quem tecum videas aequaliter non dolere.