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Chapter 49OdoC.3.49

Caput XLVIII

The Peril of Prosperity

Scripture and the example of King David show that prosperity is dangerous even for the elect, leading the righteous into grave sin when pressure is removed.

And what more? Sacred Scripture frequently drives home — both through its words and its examples — that prosperity is sometimes dangerous, as in the saying: "The prosperity of fools will destroy them" (Prov.✦1 1:32). And likewise: "The beloved grew fat and kicked" (Deut.✦ 32:15). There are indeed many examples, but — so that we may pass over the reprobate in silence — let King David, brought forward as a witness, show just how much prosperity tends to harm even the elect, for whom all things work together for good.✦23 David, then — as it is said in the Pastoral — was pleasing to the judgment of the Creator in nearly all his deeds. But as soon as he was free from the weight of pressure, he burst into the swelling of a wound. He became savagely harsh in the death of a man, because in the desire of a woman he had been weakly yielding. And one who had mercifully known how to spare the wicked afterward learned to pant after the slaughter of good men as well, without any hesitation to hold him back.456 Indeed, he did not wish to strike down the presumptuous man when he was first caught; and afterward, when his army was sweating with loss, he even destroyed a devoted soldier — one whom guilt would surely have dragged far from the company of the elect, had not scourges called him back to mercy.78

Holy Men Who Prayed for Trial

Recognizing prosperity's danger, the saints begged God for testing and affliction, as shown by the prayers of David and other holy figures.

Holy men knew how dangerous prosperity is, who, when adversity happened to be lacking, would implore it with prayers, as the aforementioned David said when he spoke: Test me, Lord, and try me (Ps.✦ 25, 2). Another: Let rottenness enter into my bones (Habac.✦ 3, 16). And another: Placed in the scourge, who began himself to crush me (Job VI, 9).✦ Another: Rebuke me, Lord, but not in your fury (Psal.✦ 6, 2). Another: Lord, you have been gracious to them (Psal.✦

The Mercy Hidden in Affliction

God's punishment in this life is an act of mercy, purging frailty now so that we may rejoice later—a truth confirmed by nature itself, which teaches us to weep at birth and reserve laughter for sleep.

98:8).✦ From this it becomes clear how gracious He has been to them, when it says: 'Avenging Himself against all their devices' (Ps. 98:8).✦ That is, He punishes in this present life whatever they have sinned through human frailty. So then, though we are girded with scourges and grieved in our flesh, let us rejoice in spirit, contemplating the benefit that affliction brings. Otherwise, nature itself should teach us that we ought to spend this life in sorrow and hope for joy in the life to come. Isn't this hinted at when each little one, being born into this light, sends forth its first cry weeping? But as for laughing — blessed Augustine asserts in his book of Confessions that the infant learns to laugh by sleeping, because through sleep death is signified, and through laughter joy. So while the infant entering the world weeps when awake, it laughs in sleep; and by this very law of nature it is shown that, as it is written: 'Man is born to toil' (Job 5:7), and so on.✦ When He gives sleep to His beloved, behold, the inheritance of the Lord —✦ (Ps. 126:2).✦

The Sinner's Brief Exaltation and the Saint's Eternal Joy

The wicked flourish only to fall at the last, while those who fear the Lord inherit unshakeable joy—a truth confirmed even by the pagan Zoroaster's ominous reversal of the natural order.

And likewise: those who fear the Lord will fare well in the end (Eccli. I, 13). Any sinner is exalted in present happiness, but as it is written: in the last his steps will be hemmed in (Job XVIII, 7).✦ But those who fear the Lord will fare well in the end, since, as it is also said: the mouth of the just will be filled with laughter (Job VIII, 21), and no one will take their joy from them (Joan.✦✦ XVI, 22). What is present, the Apostle says, our tribulation — momentary and light — produces in us, beyond measure and to an extraordinary degree, an eternal weight of glory (II Cor.✦ IV, 17). Zoroaster alone is said to have laughed before he wept — by the worst of omens.

Enough Bread, Enough Freedom

Given the miseries of this age, blessed Jerome reminds us that true sufficiency lies in having bread and freedom from servitude.

He himself, after all, was the inventor of the magical art. And yet, as blessed Jerome says, given the miseries of this present time, given the savage swords raging everywhere, rich enough is the one who doesn't lack bread, and exceedingly powerful is the one who isn't forced to serve.

Read the original Latin

Et quid plura? quod nonnunquam periculosa prosperitas sit, sacra Scriptura et verbis et exemplis frequenter inculcat, ut illud: Prosperitas stultorum perdet illos (Prov. I, 32). Et item: Incrassatus est dilectus, et recalcitravit (Deut. XXXII, 15). Exempla vero multa sunt, sed ut de reprobis taceamus, quantum ipsis electis, quibus omnia cooperantur in bonum, nocere soleat, Rex David ad medium deductus ostendat. Hic namque, sicut in Pastorali dicitur, Conditoris judicio pene cunctis actibus placens, mox ut pressurae pondere caruit, in tumorem vulneris erupit, factusque est in morte viri crudeliter rigidus, quia in appetitu feminae enerviter fuit fluxus, et qui malis ante noverat pie parcere, in bonorum quoque nece post didicit sine obstaculo retractationis anhelare. Prius quippe ferire deprehensum praesumptorem noluit, et post cum damno desudantis exercitus etiam devotum militem exstinxit: quem profecto ab electorum numero culpa longius traheret, nisi hunc ad veniam flagella revocassent.

Noverant sancti viri quam periculosa prosperitas sit, qui adversitatem, cum forte deerat, precibus implorabant, ut praedictus David cum diceret: Proba me, Domine, et tenta me (Psal. XXV, 2). Item alius: Ingrediatur putredo in ossibus meis (Habac. III, 16). Et alius: In flagello positus, qui coepit ipse me conterat (Job VI, 9). Item alius: Argue me, Domine, sed non in furore tuo (Psal. VI, 2). Item alius: Domine, inquit, tu propitius fuisti eis (Psal.

XCVIII, 8). Unde eis propitius fuerit manifestat cum dicit: Ulciscens in omnes adinventiones eorum (Ibid.) , id est, puniens in praesenti quidquid per humanam fragilitatem peccaverunt. Nos ergo flagellis cincti quamvis ex parte carnis contristemur, tamen spiritu laetemur, afflictionis utilitatem contemplantes. Alioquin ipsa natura nos instruat, quod debeamus hanc vitam in moerore expendere, et in sequenti gaudium sperare. An non innuitur hoc cum parvulus quisque in hanc lucem nascens primam vocem emittit plorans; ridere vero, ut beatus Augustinus in libro Confessionum perhibet, dormiendo discit, ut quia per somnium mors, et per risum laetitia solet signari; dum infans ingrediens mundum plorat, dormiens autem ridet, hoc per ipsam naturae legem demonstratur, quod ut scriptum est: Homo nascitur ad laborem (Job V, 7), etc. Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum, ecce haereditas Domini (Psal. CXXVI, 2).

Et item: Timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis (Eccli. I, 13). Peccator quilibet in praesenti felicitate extollitur, sed ut scriptum est: In novissimo arctabuntur gressus ejus (Job XVIII, 7). Sed timenti Dominum in novissimis bene erit, quoniam, ut item dicitur: Os justorum implebitur risu (Job VIII, 21), et gaudium illorum nemo tollet ab eis (Joan. XVI, 22). Quod in praesenti est, inquit Apostolus, momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis (II Cor. IV, 17). Solus Zoroastres ante ploratum risisse fertur, pessimo siquidem prodigio.

Siquidem ipse fuit magicae artis inventor. Caeterum, ut ait beatus Hieronymus, juxta miserias hujus temporis, juxta saevientes ubique gladios, satis dives est qui pane non indiget, nimiumque potens ille, qui servire non cogitur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Prov.1.32 — For the turning back of the simple will kill them, and the ease of fools will destroy them.
  2. ↩Deut.32.15 — But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked — you grew fat, you grew thick, you grew sleek — and he forsook God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
  3. ↩Rom.8.28 — And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good — for those who are called according to his purpose.
  4. ↩Ps.25.2;Ps.27.2 — My God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me. Ps.27.2 — When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh—my enemies and foes who pressed in on me—they stumbled and fell.
  5. ↩Hab.3.16 — I heard, and my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones, and beneath me I trembled — that I might rest in the day of distress, when he comes up against the people who invades them.
  6. ↩Job.6.9 — And would that God would crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off.
  7. ↩Ps.6.2;Ps.6.1 — LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, and do not discipline me in your wrath. Ps.6.1 — For the director of music. With stringed instruments. On the Sheminith. A psalm of David.
  8. ↩Ps.84.12;Ps.86.1 — For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory. He does not withhold good from those who walk in integrity. Ps.86.1 — A Prayer of David. Incline your ear, O LORD, answer me, for I am poor and needy.
  9. ↩Ps.98.8 — Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains sing together in joy.
  10. ↩Ps.98.8 — Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains sing together in joy.
  11. ↩Job.5.7 — Yet man is born to trouble, as surely as sparks fly upward.
  12. ↩Ps.127.2 — It is futile for you—rising early, staying late, eating the bread of anxious toil—for so He gives sleep to His beloved.
  13. ↩Ps.127.2 — It is futile for you—rising early, staying late, eating the bread of anxious toil—for so He gives sleep to His beloved.
  14. ↩Job.18.7 — His strong steps are hemmed in, and his own counsel throws him down." This is tighter aloud than "the steps of his strength.
  15. ↩Job.8.21 — He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
  16. ↩John.16.22 — So now you have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
  17. ↩2Cor.4.17 — For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The connective ut here introduces a result clause ('so that…'), rendered as 'as in the saying' to preserve the logical force while reading naturally.
  2. 2 ↩The connective sed ('but') introduces a contrast with what precedes; ut here is purpose ('so that we may be silent about the reprobate'); quantum ('how much/just how much') introduces an indirect question rendered as an exclamatory clause.
  3. 3 ↩The phrase 'for whom all things work together for good' echoes Romans 8:28, embedded in the Latin as quibus omnia cooperantur in bonum.
  4. 4 ↩'The Pastoral' (Pastorali) refers to a pastoral or ecclesiastical source text; the exact reference is uncertain and left as a proper title.
  5. 5 ↩The connective namque ('then/for') is rendered as 'then' to mark the explanatory turn. Ut here is temporal ('as soon as'). Quia ('because') is rendered causally. Et ('and') links the final clause.
  6. 6 ↩The phrase 'in the death of a man' (in morte viri) refers to David's role in the death of Uriah; 'the desire of a woman' (in appetitu feminae) refers to Bathsheba. The Latin is kept general; the translation preserves that generality.
  7. 7 ↩Et ('and') links the two temporal phases. Post ('afterward') marks the shift. Cum ('when') is temporal. Nisi ('had not / unless') introduces the conditional rescue.
  8. 8 ↩The 'presumptuous man' (praesumptorem) and 'devoted soldier' (devotum militem) refer to David's dealings with others in the context of his sin; the passage alludes to the aftermath of the Bathsheba affair and the subsequent events in David's reign.

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