Chapter 100.—227. Petilianus said: "But we who are poor in spirit2269
are not apprehensive for our
wealth, but rather feel a dread of
wealth. We, ‘as having nothing, and yet possessing all things,’
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look on our
soul as our
wealth, and by our punishments and
blood purchase to ourselves the
everlasting riches of
heaven. So again the same
Lord says, ‘Whosoever shall lose his substance, shall find it again an
hundred fold.’"
228. Augustin answered: It is not beside the purpose to inquire into the true meaning of this passage also. For where my purpose is not interfered with by any mistake which you make, or any false impression which you convey in quoting from the Scriptures, I do not concern myself about the matter. It is not then written, "Whosoever shall lose his substance," but "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake."
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And the passage about substance is not, "Whosoever shall lose," but "Every one that hath forsaken;"
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and that not only with reference to substance of
money, but many other things besides. But you meanwhile have not lost your substance; but whether you have forsaken it, in that you so
boast of
poverty, I cannot say. And if by any chance my colleague Fortunatus may know this, being in the same city with you, he never told me, because I had never asked him. However, even if you had done this, you have yet yourself quoted the
testimony of the
apostle against yourself in
this very
epistle which you have written: "Though I bestow all my goods to
feed the
poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing."
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For if you had
charity, you would not bring charges against the whole
world, which knows nothing of you, and of which you know no more,—no, not even such charges as are founded on the
proved offenses of the Africans. If you had
charity, you would not picture to yourself a false
unity in your calumnies, but you would
learn to recognize the
unity that is most clearly set forth in the words of the
Lord: "even in the whole
earth."
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But if you did not do this, why do you
boast as though you had done it? Are you really so filled with
fear of
riches, that, having nothing, you possess all things? Tell that to your colleague Crispinus, who lately
bought a
farm near our city of Hippo, that he might there plunge men into the lowest
abyss.
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Whence I too know this all too well. You perhaps are not aware of it, and therefore shout out in
security, "We stand in
fear of
riches." And hence I am surprised that that
cry of yours has been allowed to pass Crispinus, so as to reach us. For between Constantina, where you are, and Hippo, where I am,
lies Calama, where he is, nearer indeed to our side, but still between us. I wonder, therefore, how it was that he did not first intercept this
cry, and strike it back
so that it should not reach to our
ears; and that he did not, in opposition to you, recite in much more copious phrase a eulogy on
riches. For he not only stands in no
fear of
riches, but he actually loves them. And certainly, before you utter anything about the rest, you should rehearse such views to him. If he makes no corrections, then we have our answer ready. But for yourself, if it be true that you are poor, you have with you my brother Fortunatus. You will be more likely with such
sentiments to please him, who is my colleague, than Crispinus, who is your own.
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