them, and everyone trembled under them. When he saw this, he protested that
CHAPTER 5: Persecution Reproach and the Worlds Praise
them, and everyone trembled under them. When he saw this, he protested that it was almost to make him fall away, had God not restrained him: but even then it was not that he succeeded at the first attempt. For he confesses that he was like a beast, that he was like a donkey, or like a calf, which would be so lost that it could not be held.
So our Lord Jesus Christ has provided for all these perplexities which could arise in our imagination. For this reason he said Woe, woe to all those who laugh today: Woe to all those who are very drunk: Woe to all those who are loved by the world: and it is so that we learn to wait for the outcome, and not judge things by present appearances. For the happiness that we judge to be in all wicked people is only a dream, like the present life, for what else is the present life? But still, it is necessary that the wicked, even if God would give them all their eases and delights, would sometimes feel very great bitterness in this world, because God already warns them that the good times will not last them forever. And he does this also to make them inexcusable, so that they recognize themselves, and that they prepare to give an account: and when they have such warnings, let it be to aggravate their condemnation so much more. So whatever may be, all the delights, the pomp, the sensual pleasures, the honors, the riches, and all the goods of the despisers of God, and profane people are only a dream which soon vanishes. But at first glance we do not estimate it. And this is what causes us to feel displeasure and sadness when we see them prosper.
For we envy them, and conclude from what we see today with the eye: and cannot let's not elevate our senses to look further. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore to remedy to this perverse judgment to which we are left too inclined, tells us that if we consider blessed those who laugh, those who are drunk, and who are rich, it is all the more so that we do not consider the outcome, that we are too light, as if to rush, and that with this haste so great, we cannot form a settled judgment. So this is how he holds us in check, as here before he said, Do not think that your condition is unhappy when you cry, when you are hungry and thirsty, even when you are hunted and persecuted: do not think that God has abandoned you yet, as if you were there miserable creatures. And why? For you must go beyond this world, and seek your reward in heaven, and think that it is to be children of God, when he declares himself to be your Father, and you claim him as such. When you have this (I say) your state is much more desirable than anything that men desire here on earth. Also now on the opposite side, you will see the wicked prosper and flourish, you will see them having all their sensual pleasures and delights, and living amid abundance. This is what you will