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| Chapter XXI
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Chapter XXI.
When, then, the letter of the law promises riches
to the just, Celsus may follow the letter which killeth, and understand
it of worldly riches, which blind men; but we say that it refers to
those riches which enlighten the eyes, and which enrich a man “in
all utterance and in all knowledge.” And in this sense we
“charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not
high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who
giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be
rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to
communicate.”4715
For, as
Solomon says, “riches” are the true good, which “are
the ransom of the life of a man;” but the poverty which is the
opposite of these riches is destructive, for by it “the poor
cannot bear rebuke.”4716
And what has
been said of riches applies to dominion, in regard to which it is said,
“The just man shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to
flight.”4717
Now if riches
are to be taken in the sense we have just explained, consider if it is
not according to God’s promise that he who is rich in all
utterance, in all knowledge, in all wisdom, in all good works, may not
out of these treasures of utterance, of wisdom, and of knowledge, lend
to many nations. It was thus that Paul lent to all the nations
that he visited, “carrying the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem,
and round about unto Illyricum.”4718
And as the divine knowledge was given
to him by revelation, and his mind was illumined by the Divine Word, he
himself therefore needed to borrow from no one, and required not the
ministry to any man to teach him the word of truth. Thus, as it
had been written, “Thou shalt have dominion over many nations,
and they shall not have dominion over thee,” he ruled over the
Gentiles whom he brought under the teaching of Jesus Christ; and he
never “gave place by subjection to men, no, not for an
hour,”4719
as being himself
mightier than they. And thus also he “filled the
earth.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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