250、②当看到不敬虔的人在政府和教会中位高权重，声名显赫，财富充足，生活奢侈；而敬拜神的人却穷困潦倒时，拜自己和自然的人就会确认反对圣治。拜自己和自然的人以为地位和财富是能被赐予的至高和唯一的幸福，因而是幸福本身。他若因儿时的宗教信仰而对神有所思想，就会称之为神性赐福；只要没有比这更高的抱负，他会认为神存在，甚至敬拜祂。但他的敬拜里面却隐藏着当时连他自己都没有意识到的某种东西，就是一种假设，假设神会把他提升到更高位置，赐予他更多的财富。如果他得偿所愿，他的敬拜就会越来越倾向于外在事物，甚至直到它如此远离，以致他最终藐视并否认神；如果他从心心念念的显赫富贵中跌落下来，结果也一样。在这种情况下，地位和财富对恶人来说，岂不成了绊脚石？
但对善人来说，它们不成问题，因为善人的心不在它们上面，而是在功用或服务、良善上面，地位和财富能帮助实现它们。因此，只有那些拜自己和自然的人，才会一看到不敬虔的人被赐予地位和财富，在政府和教会中获得权势就弃绝圣治。此外，何谓地位大小？何谓财富多寡？这一切本身不就是某种幻想之物吗？一个人难道就比另一个人更有好运、更幸福吗？一个大人物，即便是一个国王或皇帝，几年之后，不也视他的地位为极平常的东西吗？这种东西不再让他心生喜乐，甚至在他看来可能一文不值。地位高的人难道真的因此就比地位低的人，甚至没有任何地位的人，像农民，或他们的仆人，更幸福吗？当这些人一切顺利，满足于自己的命运时，他们或许更幸福。还有比自我之爱更让人心烦意乱，更常常受伤，动辄大发脾气的吗？每当它没有得到符合它内心骄傲的尊敬，每当事情没有照着它的意愿和愿望发生时，这种情形就会发生。如果地位不属于某种物质或功用，那么它不就是一个概念吗？除了在关于自己和世界的思维（这种思维本质上就是世界是一切，永恒什么都不是）中之外，这种概念能在任何思维中占有一席之地吗？
现在需要说一说圣治，为何它允许心里不敬虔的人被提升到高位，变得富有。不敬虔的人或恶人和敬虔的人或善人一样能发挥功用；事实上，他们更有热情，因为他们在功用中关注他们自己，视晋升为功用。因此，他们的自我之爱越强烈，他们为了自己的荣耀或名望而对发挥功用的欲望就越强烈。而虔诚的人或善人没有这种火，除非它被地位不知不觉地点燃。对于身居高位、心里不敬虔的人，主利用他们对自己名声的关切来控制他们，并激发他们为公众福祉或国家，为他们所生活的社区或城市，以及他们的同胞或邻舍发挥功用。这就是对这类人的治理，被称为圣治。因为主的国是功用的国；在很少有人为了功用而发挥功用的地方，主会把那些拜自己的人提到高位，激发他们通过自己的爱在这个职位上行善。
假如世上有一个地狱之国（尽管没有这回事），只有自我之爱在那里掌权，这爱本身是魔鬼，那么每个人出于自我之爱的火，为了自己荣耀的显赫而发挥功用的程度，岂不胜过任何国家的人吗？但公众利益都只是挂在每个人的口头上，各人心里只有自己的利益。他们都是为了晋升而仰望自己的领袖，各人都想成为最大的。像这样的人能看见有一位神存在吗？他们被笼罩在像火灾那样的浓烟中，属灵真理无法以自己的光穿透这浓烟抵达他们那里。我曾看见这浓烟笼罩着由这些人所组成的地狱。打着灯笼找找，看看今天各个国家有多少追求高位，又不爱自己和世界的人。在一千个人里面，你能找出五十个爱神的人吗？而在这些人当中，又只有少数人会寻求高位。既然爱神的人如此之少，爱自己爱世界的人如此之多，既然后者出于自己的火所发挥的功用，超过爱神的人出于自己的火所发挥的功用，那么谁又能因为恶人比善人更显赫富贵而确认反对圣治呢？
主的这些话说明了这一点：
主人就夸奖这不义的管家做事聪明；因为今世之子，在自己的世代较比光明之子更加精明。我又告诉你们，要藉著那不义的钱财结交朋友，到你失去的时候，他们可以接你们到永久的帐幕里去。（路加福音16:8-9）
这些话的属世意义是很明显的；但在属灵意义上，“不义的钱财”表示恶人所拥有的良善和真理的知识，他们只是利用这些知识来为自己获得地位和财富；而善人或“光明之子”则用这些知识为自己结交朋友，这些知识将把他们接到永久的帐幕里去。爱自己爱世界的人很多，爱神的人很少，主也以这些话教导了这一点：
引到灭亡，那门是阔的，路是宽的，进去的人也多；引到生命，那路既窄又狭隘，找着的人也少。（马太福音7:13-14）
地位和财富要么是诅咒，要么是赐福，以及它们对谁来说是诅咒，对谁来说是赐福，可参看前文（217节）。
250. (2) That the worshiper of self and worshiper of nature confirms himself against Divine providence when he sees impious people raised to positions of honor and becoming great men and prelates, abounding as well in riches and living in luxury and magnificence, while worshipers of God are held in contempt and live in poverty: The worshiper of self and worshiper of nature believes that advancements and riches are the highest and sole sources of happiness, thus the only real sources of happiness possible. If from having been initiated into worship from early childhood he gives some thought to God, he calls them Divine blessings, and as long as they do not inspire him too deeply, he believes that God exists and also worships Him. But concealed within that worship - something of which he is himself then unaware - is an ambition to be raised by God to still higher positions of advancement and to still greater riches; and if he attains them, his worship recedes more and more into outward appearances, until it slips away, and at last he has little regard for God and denies Him.
He does the same if he should lose the advancement and wealth on which he has set his heart.
[2] What then are advancements and riches to the evil but stumbling blocks? Not, however, to the good, because they do not set their heart on them, but on the useful services or good endeavors, for the performance of which advancements and riches serve as means.
Consequently the advancement of impious people to positions of honor and wealth and their becoming great men and prelates can lead only someone who is a worshiper of self and worshiper of nature to confirm himself against Divine providence.
Furthermore, what is a greater or lesser position of advancement or greater or lesser wealth? Is it not in itself something that exists only in the mind? Is one person any more fortunate or happier than another? In the case of a great man, indeed in the case of a king or emperor, does he not regard his position after a year's time only as something ordinary, which no longer exhilarates his heart with joy, and for which he in himself may even have little regard? Do they derive from their positions a greater degree of happiness than those do in a lesser position, indeed than those with very little status, such as farmers and also their servants? The latter may have a greater degree of happiness when things are going well for them and they are content with their lot.
What is more disquieted at heart, more often irate, and more deeply angered than love of self? This is the case as often as it is not honored in accordance with the exaltation of its heart, or as often as something does not go the way of its bidding or wish.
What, then, is advancement if it has no reality or use except in an idea of the mind? Can this idea be present in any other thought than thought of self and of the world, and in fact thought that in itself deems the world to be everything and eternity nothing?
[3] We will say something now about why Divine providence permits the impious at heart to be raised to positions of honor and to gain wealth. Impious or evil people can perform useful services just as well as pious or good ones, and indeed with greater fervor, for they regard themselves in the services, and the honors as the ends. Consequently the higher their love of self ascends, the more they are fired with a desire to perform useful services for the sake of their own glory.
The same fire is not found in pious or good people, unless it is kindled underneath by the honor they have.
The Lord therefore governs the impious at heart who are in positions of honor by the repute in which their name is held, and so spurs them to perform useful services for the commonwealth or country or the community or city in which they live, and also to the fellow citizen or neighbor with whom they are associated.
This is the Lord's government that we call Divine providence with people of that character. For the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of useful endeavors, and where there are but few who are performing useful services for the sake of the useful services, He causes worshipers of self to be raised to higher positions of authority, in which each is spurred by his love to render good service.
[4] Imagine - even though one does not exist - a hellish kingdom in the world, where only loves of self reign, love of self being itself the devil. Would not everyone be impelled by the fire of self-love and the luster of his own glory to perform useful services more than in any other kingdom? Yet among them all the public welfare would be something served with the mouth, and their own welfare with the heart. And because everyone would look to his superior to make him greater, aspiring as he would to become the greatest, would it be possible for such a one to see that God exists? He would be surrounded as though by the smoke of a conflagration, through which no spiritual truth with its light could pass. I have seen such smoke surrounding the hells of people like this.
Light a lamp and investigate how many people there are in the kingdoms of today aspiring to positions of advancement who are not personifications of loves of self and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are lovers of God, and among them other than a few who aspire to positions of advancement? So, since those who are lovers of God are so few in number, and the lovers of self and the world so many, and since lovers of the latter are spurred by their fires to perform more useful services than lovers of God by theirs, how then can anyone confirm himself against Divine providence in consequence of seeing more evil people than good having prestige and wealth?
[5] This, too, is corroborated by these words of the Lord:
The master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. So I say to you, make for yourselves friends of unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Luke 16:8-9)
The meaning of these words in the natural sense is apparent. In the spiritual sense, however, by unrighteous mammon are meant concepts of truth and good - concepts which the evil possess and which they use only to gain for themselves advancements and riches. It is these concepts which good people or the sons of light are to make friends of for themselves and which will receive them into everlasting habitations.
That many are lovers of self and the world, and few who are lovers of God, is something the Lord teaches, too, with these words:
... Wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. But narrow... and confined is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
That advancements and riches are either curses or blessings, and for whom, may be seen above in no. 217.
250. 2. People who worship themselves and the material world instead of divine providence feel justified when they see irreligious people raised to high rank, getting positions of power in government and the church, amply supplied with wealth, and living in ostentatious luxury, while people who worship God are living in disgrace and poverty. People who worship themselves and the material world think that rank and wealth are the highest possible joys, the only possible joys, joy itself. If they think at all about God because of their first childhood religion, they call these things divine blessings; and as long as they have no higher aspirations than this, they believe that God exists and worship him. However, there is something hidden in their worship that they themselves do not know about, an assumption that God will keep raising them to higher honor and greater wealth. If they do achieve this, their worship tends more and more into superficiality until it drifts away, and eventually they trivialize and deny God. They do the same if they lose the respect and wealth on which they have set their hearts.
In that case, what are rank and wealth but problems to these evil people?
[2] They are not problems to the good, because they do not set their hearts on them. They focus rather on the service or the good that respect and wealth can help them accomplish. Only people who worship themselves and the material world, then, can reject divine providence on seeing that irreverent people are given high rank and wealth and get positions of power in the state and the church.
Further, what is higher or lower rank; what is more or less wealth? Is it really anything but something we imagine? Is one person more contented or happier than the other? Look at a government official or even a monarch or emperor. After a few years, does their rank not become simply commonplace, something that no longer brings joy to the heart, something that can even seem worthless? Are people of high rank any happier on that account than people of lower rank, or even than people of no rank at all, like commoners or their servants? These can be even happier when things go well for them and they are content with their lot. What troubles the heart more, what is more often wounded, what is more intensely angered, than self-love? This happens whenever it is not given the respect to which, at heart, it raises itself, whenever things do not turn out the way it wills and wishes.
If rank is not a matter of substance or service, then, what is it but a concept? Can this concept have a place in any kind of thinking except thinking about oneself and the world, and precisely in the thought that the world is everything and eternity is nothing?
[3] I need now to say something about why divine providence allows people who are irreligious at heart to be raised to high rank and to become wealthy. Irreverent or evil people can be just as useful as devout or good people. In fact, they can be more ardent about it because they are focused on themselves in the good they do and regard advancement as intrinsically useful. The stronger their self-love grows, then, the more intense is their passion for service for the sake of their own renown. Devout or good people do not have this kind of fire unless it is subtly fueled by rank. So the Lord controls people of high rank who are irreligious at heart through their concern for their reputation. He inspires them to do what is good for the commonwealth or the country, for the community or the city in which they live, and also for their own fellow-citizens or neighbors. This is the Lord's government, his divine providence, with people like this. The Lord's kingdom is in fact an organized realm of constructive activities; and where there are only a few individuals who perform service for the sake of service, he works things out so that people who worship themselves are raised to the higher offices where they are inspired to do good by their own love.
[4] Imagine some hellish country on earth (though there is no such thing), where nothing but self-love held sway, where self-love itself was the devil. Would everyone not do more constructive things because of the fire of self-love and the radiance of his or her own renown than people did in any other country? While all of them mouthed off about the public good, they would have their own good at heart. All of them would be turning to their leader in order to be promoted, each one wanting to be the greatest. Can people like this see that God exists? They are enveloped by smoke like a burning building, and no gleam of spiritual truth can get through to them with its light. I have seen this smoke surrounding a hell made up of people like this.
Light your lantern and ask how many people there are in quest of high office in today's countries who are not loves for themselves and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are loves for God? And only a few of those will be looking for high office. Given the fact, then, that so few are loves for God and so many are loves for themselves and the world, and given the fact that these latter kinds of love inspire more acts of service with their fires than loves for God do with theirs, how can people justify their beliefs by the fact that more evil people than good people are eminent and wealthy?
[5] These words of the Lord lend their support: "The lord praised the unjust steward because he had acted prudently, for the children of this generation are more prudent than the children of light in their generation. So I tell you, make friends for yourself of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when you lose it they may accept you into eternal tents" (Luke 16:8-9).
The earthly sense of this is obvious. In its spiritual meaning, though, the mammon of unrighteousness means those insights into what is true and good that evil people have and that they use solely for gaining rank and wealth for themselves. It is these insights with which good people or children of light make friends, and which accept them into eternal tents.
The Lord tells us that there are many people who are loves for themselves and the world and few who are loves for God when he says, "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in through it; but tight and narrow is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). On rank and wealth as either curses or blessings, and for whom, see 217 above.
250. 2. The worshipper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine Providence when he sees the impious advanced to honours and become great in the state and leaders in the Church, and that they abound in riches and live in luxury and magnificence, while he sees the worshippers of God living in contempt and poverty. The worshipper of self and of nature believes that dignities and wealth are the supreme and the only happiness that can be granted, thus happiness itself. If in consequence of worship begun in infancy he has any thought of God, he calls them Divine blessings, and as long as he is not too puffed up by them, he thinks that there is a God, and even worships Him. But there lies hidden in the worship a desire, of which he is unaware at the time, that he may be raised by God to still higher dignities and to still greater wealth. If he attains these his worship tends more and more to outward things until it so falls away that at length he thinks God of little account 1and denies Him; and the result is the same should he be cast down from the dignity and opulence on which he had set his heart. What then are dignities and wealth to the wicked but stumbling-blocks?
[2] To the good, however, they are not so, for these do not set their heart on them but on the uses or goods in the performance of which dignities and wealth serve as means. Therefore, from the circumstance that the wicked are promoted to honours and wealth and become great in the state and in the Church no one but a worshipper of self and of nature can confirm himself against the Divine Providence. Moreover, what is greater and lesser dignity, and what is greater and lesser wealth? In itself is it anything but something imaginary? Is one person more blessed and happy than another? In the case of a great man in the state, even a king or an emperor, after a single year, is the dignity regarded as anything more than something common which no longer exalts his heart with joy but may become worthless in his sight? Are men by virtue of their high position any happier than those in a lower position, even the lowest of all, as farm-workers and their servants? It is possible that these may even enjoy a greater measure of happiness when things go well with them and they are content with their lot. Who is more restless at heart, more frequently provoked and more violently enraged than the lover of self and this as often as he is not honoured according to the pride of his heart, and when anything does not succeed according to his wish and pleasure? What then is dignity, if it does not pertain to some office or use, but an idea? And this idea can only exist in thought concerning self and the world, and in itself it is the idea that the world is everything and eternity nothing.
[3] Something will now be said concerning the reason why the Divine Providence permits the wicked at heart to be advanced to dignities and to acquire wealth. The impious or wicked can perform uses equally with the pious or the good; and, indeed, with greater zeal, for they have regard to themselves in the uses, and they regard the honours as uses. Therefore, whatever the height to which the love of self mounts up there burns within it the consuming desire of performing uses for the sake of its own glory. With the pious or good there is no such fire unless it is kindled from below by some feeling of honour. Therefore, the Lord governs the wicked at heart who are in positions of dignity by the reputation of their name, and moves them to perform uses to the community or country, society or city in which they dwell, and also to the fellow-citizen or neighbour with whom they associate. This is the Lord's government, which is called the Divine Providence, with such; for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses; and where there are but few who perform uses for the sake of uses He causes worshippers of self to be raised to the higher offices, in which everyone is moved to do good by means of his own love.
[4] Suppose there were an infernal kingdom in the world, although there is none, where only self-love prevailed, and self-love itself is the devil, would not everyone perform uses from the zeal of self-love and the splendour of his own glory to a greater extent than in any other kingdom? Now with all such the public good is on the lips but their own good in the heart. As each one looks to his own prince for his own advancement, for he aspires to be greatest, can he see that there is a God? A smoke like that of a conflagration surrounds him, through which no spiritual truth in its own light can pass. I have seen that smoke about the hells of such. Light your lantern and seek out how many there are in the kingdoms of the present day who aspire to dignities who are not lovers of self and the world. You will not find fifty in a thousand who are lovers of God, and among these only a few who aspire to dignities. Since then there are so few who are lovers of God and so many who are lovers of self and the world, and since the lovers of self and the world from their zeal perform more uses than do the lovers of God from theirs, how can anyone confirm himself against the Divine Providence from the fact that the wicked are in greater eminence and opulence than the good?
[5] This is established also by these words of the Lord:
The lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this age (A.V. world) are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Luke 16:8-9.
It is clear what is meant by these words in the natural sense; but in the spiritual sense by the mammon of unrighteousness are meant the rational conceptions of truth and good possessed by the wicked, which they employ solely to acquire for themselves dignities and wealth. It is these knowledges of which the good or the children of light are to make themselves friends, and which shall receive them into everlasting habitations. That many are lovers of self and the world, and that few are lovers of God, the Lord teaches in these words:
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: but narrow and strait is the way (A.V. because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way) which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:13-14.
It may be seen above (n. 217) that dignities and wealth are either curses or blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other.
Footnotes:
1. The Original Edition has "vilipendet;". Tafel's Latin edition (1855) and Worcester's Latin edition (1899) have "vilipendat."
250. (2) The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees the impious exalted to honors and to high offices in church and state, also abounding in wealth and living in luxury and magnificence, while he sees the worshipers of God despised and poor. The worshiper of himself and of nature believes dignities and wealth to be the highest and the only happiness that can be granted, thus happiness itself; and if he has any thought of God from a sense of worship instilled in infancy he calls them Divine blessings; and so long as he is not puffed up by them he thinks that there is a God, and even worships God. But there lies hidden in the worship what he is himself then ignorant of, an aspiration to be raised up by God to still higher dignities, and to still greater wealth; and when he reaches these his worship tends more and more to outward things, even until it falls away, and at length he despises and denies God; and he does the same if he is cast down from the dignity and opulence on which he has set his heart. What, then, are dignities and wealth to the wicked but stumbling-blocks?
[2] But to the good they are not so, because they do not set their hearts on them, but on the uses or the goods in the performance of which dignities and wealth are of service as means. Therefore only he that is a worshiper of himself and nature can confirm himself against Divine providence because of the advancement of the impious to honors and wealth and to high offices in church and state. Moreover, what is dignity greater or less? And what is opulence greater or less? In itself is it anything but an imaginary something? Is one person more fortunate or happier than another? Does a great man, or even a king or emperor, after a single year, regard the dignity as anything more than something common, which no longer exalts his heart with joy, but may even become worthless to him? Are such by virtue of their dignities in any greater degree of happiness than those who are in less dignity, or even in the least, like farmers and even their servants? These, when all goes well with them, and they are content with their lot, may have a greater measure of happiness. What is more restless at heart, more frequently provoked, more violently enraged, than self-love; and this as often as it is not honored according to the pride of its heart, and as often as anything does not succeed according to its wish and whim? What, then, is dignity, if it does not pertain to some matter or use, but an idea? And can there be such an idea in any thought except thought about self and the world, which essentially in itself is that the world is everything and the eternal nothing:
[3] Something shall now be said about the Divine providence, why it permits the impious in heart to be raised to dignities and enriched with possessions. The impious or wicked can perform uses equally with the pious or good, and even with greater zeal, for they have regard to themselves in the uses, and to the honors as the uses; therefore to whatever height the love of self climbs the lust of performing uses for the sake of its own glory burns in it. With the pious or good there is no such fire, unless unconsciously kindled by some feeling of honor. Thus the Lord governs the impious in heart who are in places of dignity, by the glory of their name, and incites them to the performance of uses to the community or country, to the society or city in which they dwell, and to their fellow-citizen or neighbor with whom they are associated. This is the Lord's government, which is called the Divine providence with such; for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses; and where there are but few who perform uses for the sake of uses He causes the worshipers of self to be raised to the higher offices, in which each one is incited to do good by means of his own love.
[4] Suppose an infernal kingdom in the world (although there is none such) where none but the loves of self rule (and the love of self is itself the devil), would not every one perform uses from the fire of self-love and for the splendor of his own glory, to a greater extent than in any other kingdom? But there the public good would be in every mouth, but his own good in every heart. And as each one would look to his own chief for his advancement (for each one would aspire to become greatest), could such a man see that there is a God? A smoke like that of a conflagration would surround him, through which no spiritual truth in its own light could pass. I have seen that smoke about the hells of such. Light your lamp and search, and see how many there are in the kingdoms of the present day who aspire to dignities and who are not loves of self and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are loves of God, and among these some, perhaps, who aspire to dignities Since, then, there are so few who are loves of God, and so many who are loves of self and the world, and since the latter loves from their fire perform uses more than the loves of God from theirs, how can anyone confirm himself [against the Divine providence] because the evil are in eminence and opulence more than the good?
[5] This is shown in these words of the Lord:-
The Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely; for the sons of this age are in their own generation wiser than the sons of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles (Luke 16:8-9).
The meaning of this in the natural sense is clear; but in the spiritual sense "the mammon of unrighteousness" means the knowledges of truth and good possessed by the evil, which they employ solely in acquiring for themselves dignities and wealth; out of these knowledges the good, or "the sons of light," must make to themselves friends; and these are what will receive them into the eternal tabernacles. That many are loves of self and the world, and that few are loves of God, the Lord also teaches in these words:-
Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many be they that enter in thereby; but narrow and straitened is the way that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
That dignities and wealth are either curses or blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other, may be seen above (217).
250. II. Quod cultor sui et cultor naturae se contra Divinam Providentiam confirmet, cum videt impios ad honores evehi, ac fieri magnates et primates; tum etiam abundare opibus, ac vivere in lautis et magnificis, et cultores Dei in contemtu et paupertate: cultor sui et cultor naturae credit dignitates et opes esse summas et solas, ita ipsas felicitates, quae dari possunt; et si ex cultu ab infantia initiato aliquid cogitat de Deo, vocat illas benedictiones Divinas; et quam diu ex illis non spirat altius, cogitat Deum esse, et quoque colit Ipsum; sed in cultu latet, quod ipse tunc nescit, ut a Deo evehatur ad dignitates adhuc superiores, et ad opes adhuc ampliores, et si in illas venit, abit cultus ejus ad exteriora magis et magis, usque dum elabitur, et tandem ut Deum vilipendat 1et neget: simile facit, si a dignitate et opulentia, in quibus cor suum posuit, dejiceretur.
[2] Quid tunc dignitates et opes, nisi offendicula malis, non autem bonis, quia hi non cor in illis ponunt, sed in usibus seu bonis, ad quae praestanda dignitates et opes inserviunt pro mediis: quare per quod impii ad honores et opes promoveantur, et fiant magnates et primates, non alius potest se contra Divinam Providentiam confirmare, quam qui cultor sui et cultor naturae est. Praeterea, quid dignitas major et minor, et quid opulentia major et minor; num aliud in se est quam quoddam imaginarium; num faustior et felicior unus quam alter est; numne dignitas apud magnatem, imo apud regem et imperatorem post annuum tempus spectatur aliter quam sicut commune quoddam, 2quod non amplius gaudio exaltat cor ejus, et quod etiam potest apud illum vilescere; num illi ex suis dignitatibus in majori gradu felicitatis sunt, quam qui in minori, imo in minima dignitate sunt, 3sicut sunt coloni et quoque famuli illorum; possunt hi in majori gradu felicitatis esse cum bene illis est, et contenti sunt sua sorte: quis plus corde inquietus est, quis saepius indignatur, et quis gravius irascitur, quam amor sui; hoc fit quoties non secundum cordis sui exaltationem honoratur, et quoties aliquid ei ad nutum et votum non succedit: quid ergo dignitas, 4si non sit rei aut usus, nisi idea: num talis idea potest in alia cogitatione esse quam in cogitatione de se et de mundo, ac ipsa in se quod mundus sit omne, ac aeternum sit nihil.
[3] Nunc aliquid dicetur de Divina Providentia, cur permittit, quod impii corde evehantur ad dignitates et lucrentur opes: impii seu mali aeque possunt usus praestare sicut pii seu boni, imo ex fortiori igne, nam se spectant in usibus, ac honores ut usus; quare in quo gradu amor sui scandit, in eo accenditur libido faciendi usus suae gloriae causa: talis ignis non datur apud pios seu bonos, nisi fomentatus 5sit subter ab honore: quare Dominus impios corde, qui in dignitatibus sunt, per famam nominis eorum regit, et excitat ad faciendum usus Communi seu Patriae, Societati seu Civitati in qua sunt, et quoque concivi seu proximo cum quo sunt: hoc est regimen Domini, quod vocatur Divina Providentia cum talibus: est enim Regnum Domini Regnum usuum, et ubi non dantur nisi quam pauci qui usus praestant propter usus, facit ut cultores sui ad eminentiora officia evehantur, in quibus quisque ad bonum faciendum per suum amorem excitatur.
[4] Pone aliquod Regnum infernale in Mundo, tametsi non datur, ubi non nisi quam amores sui regnant; ipse Amor sui est diabolus; annon quisque usus faciet ex igne amoris sui, et ex splendore gloriae suae, plus quam aliud regnum; at apud omnes illos ore fertur bonum publicum, sed corde bonum suum; et quia quisque spectat principem suum ut major fiat, spirat enim ut maximus, num talis potest videre quod Deus sit; est fumus sicut incendii qui circumstipat, per quem non potest aliquod verum spirituale in sua luce transire; vidi illum fumum circum inferna talium. Accende lucernam, et inquire, quot in Regnis hodie sunt, qui aspirant ad dignitates, qui non sunt amores sui et mundi; num inter mille invenies quinquaginta, qui amores Dei sunt, et inter hos modo aliquos, qui ad dignitates aspirant; cum itaque tam pauci numero sunt, qui amores Dei sunt, et tam multi qui amores sui et mundi, et cum hi amores ex suis ignibus plus usus praestant, quam amores Dei ex suis, quomodo tunc potest aliquis se [contra Divinam Providentiam] confirmare per id quod mali in eminentia et opulentia prae bonis sint.
[5] Hoc etiam confirmatur per haec Domini verba, "Laudavit Dominus oeconomum injustitiae, quod prudenter egerit; nam filii hujus saeculi prudentiores sunt supra filios lucis in generatione sua. Sic Ego vobis dico, facite vobis amicos ex Mammone injustitiae, ut quando defeceritis suscipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula," Lucas 16:8-9; quid per haec in sensu naturali intelligitur, patet: in sensu autem spirituali per Mammonem injustitiae intelliguntur cognitiones veri et boni, quas mali possident, et quibus ad dignitates et opes sibi comparandas solum utuntur; illae cognitiones sunt, ex quibus boni seu filii lucis sibi amicos facient, et quae suscipient illos in aeterna tabernacula. Quod multi sint amores sui et mundi, ac pauci amores Dei, etiam docet Dominus his verbis, "Lata porta et spatiosa via est, quae ducit ad interitum, et multi sunt qui intrant per illam: sed angusta et stricta via est, quae ducit ad vitam, et pauci sunt qui inveniunt illam," Matthaeus 7:13-14.
Quod dignitates et opes sint vel maledictiones vel benedictiones, et apud quos, videatur supra 217.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: vilipendet
2 Prima editio: quod dam,
3 Prima editio: sunt;
4 Prima editio: dignitas,
5 Prima editio: fomenratus