A good name is more excellent than money, and good favor is better than heaps of silver. Faith itself redounds to itself, sufficiently rich and more than rich in its possession. There is nothing which is not the possession of the wise person except what is contrary to virtue, and wherever he goes he finds all things to be his. The whole world is his possession, since he uses it all as his own.

The poor man and the rich have met each other. Where have they met each other? In this life. This one was born, that one was born, their lives were crossed, they have met each other. And who made them? The Lord. The rich man, to help the poor; the poor man, to test the rich. SERMON 39.6.^[1]

AUGUSTINE: The rich and the poor meet together. In what way, except in this present life? The rich and the poor are born alike. You meet one another as you walk along the way together. The poor must not defraud the rich; the rich must not oppress the poor. The one has need, the other has plenty, but the Lord is the maker of them both. The Lord helps the one in need by the one who has; by the one who has not the Lord tests the one who has.

Both of you are traveling the same road; you are companions on the journey. Lightly laden are the poor man’s shoulders, but yours are burdened with heavy luggage. Give away some of the load that is weighing you down; give away some of your luggage to the needy man—and you will thus afford relief both to yourself and to your companion. The Scripture says, The rich and the poor have met one another, but the Lord has made them both. Where have they met, except in this life? The one is now arrayed in costly garments, while the other is clad in rags. When did they meet? Both were born naked, and even the rich man was born poor. Let him disregard what he found when he had come; let him consider what he brought with him.

I beseech you, beloved brethren, be eager to engage in divine reading whatever hours you can. Moreover, since what a person procures in this life by reading or good works will be the food of his soul forever, let no one try to excuse himself by saying he has not learned letters at all. If those who are illiterate love God in truth, they look for learned people who can read the sacred Scriptures to them. This even illiterate merchants have learned to do, for they hire literate mercenaries and through their reading or writing acquire great profits. Now, if people do this for earthly wealth, how much more should we do it for the sake of eternal life? It often happens that a learned person may be poor in food or clothing, while one who does not know letters has more abundant wealth. The illiterate person who abounds in earthly goods summons the poor learned one, and they mutually give each other what they need. The one by reading feeds the other with the sweet word of God, while the other by giving material substance does not allow his neighbor to suffer want. The learned man should satisfy the soul of the rich man, while the latter should warm the body of the poor man with clothing and refresh him with earthly food. If this is done with charity, there will be fulfilled what is written: The rich and poor have met one another: the Lord is the maker of them both. Being pressed down with a heavy burden by possessing more than was necessary, the rich man was unable to walk, while the poor man perhaps was learned but was failing because of not having the necessities of life. For this reason, there was holy sharing on the part of both men. While the rich man gave the poor material wealth from his possessions, the poor man imparted the sacred lessons to the rich, and they both happily reach the eternal country on the road of this life.

Thus, here also it calls him a new child who was reborn through the washing of regeneration and educated and made childlike, who is made fit for the kingdom of heaven through this process in the same way. The book of Proverbs, therefore, provides training which imparts perception and understanding to the recently born child who is hungry for rational and genuine milk: a perception of present realities but an understanding of future realities. For the child is educated in human matters and given a perception of reality so that he would neither be enslaved to shameful desires nor long for the empty glory of this world. Beyond this, Proverbs confers an understanding of the coming age and encourages faith in the promises by its words.

It is well known that the Lord grants a great many in their old age to be changed and relieved of the vices that they had in their youth. It is also well known, on the other hand, that some abandon in their old age the virtues with which they were seen to be marked in their youth. But because people much more commonly follow the habits with which they were imbued as children for the rest of their lives, it became a proverbial saying that a man will not change in his old age whatever he began to do as a youth, even though it does not always happen that way. The proverb is formulated like this, therefore, to persuade its readers to be zealous for virtue in youth, lest they be unable as adults to learn the practices which they had despised to acquire at a tender age, for the odor of that with which a new vessel is imbued will endure for a long time.^[1]

If some persist in their disobedience, finding fault in secret and not openly stating their grievance, thus becoming the cause of quarreling in the community and undermining the authority of the commands given, they should be dismissed from the community as teachers of disobedience and rebellion. For the Scripture says, Cast out the scoffer from the council, and contention shall go out with him and also, Put away the evil one from yourselves, for a little leaven corrupts the whole lump.^[1]

The mouth of one speaking ill is a great pit, a steep precipice for the innocent, but steeper for one of ill will. An innocent person, though easily credulous, falls quickly,^[1] but when he has fallen rises again. The slanderer is thrown headlong by his own acts, from which he will never emerge or escape.

Solomon counsels that what we read be transcribed in the heart in a threefold manner. I shall make known to your ears that which occurs to my mind, even beyond the things that we have said, and you yourself [should] do what is written: Let one speak and the rest judge.^[1] Therefore, as I speak what I perceive, you consider and judge if it is correct or not correct.

He who has opened his heart through purity, contemplates the words of God in their practical, physical and theological sense. Accordingly, the whole corpus of Scripture may be divided into three parts: ethical, physical and theological. Consequently, Proverbs corresponds to the first part, Ecclesiastes to the second, and Song of Songs to the third.^[1]

As human beings consist of body, soul and spirit, so also Scripture consists of the body of letters, by which the ignorant man is benefited; and that is called manual instruction. Second, it consists of soul, that is, a higher meaning,^[1] which the one who is higher in learning understands. It also consists of spirit, that is, a more sublime and spiritual contemplation which those who are perfect understand and speak.

There are three kinds of spiritual knowledge—tropological, allegorical, anagogical—of which we read as follows in Proverbs: But you describe these things to yourself in three ways according to the largeness of your heart.

A secluded and remote habitation also contributes to the removal of distraction from the soul. Living among those who are unscrupulous and disdainful in their attitude toward an exact observance of the commandments is dangerous, as is shown by the following words of Solomon: Do not be a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man, lest perhaps you learn his ways and take snares unto your soul.

Nonetheless, it is clear that many examples, which we never read in those Scriptures that we deem canonical but nonetheless are found in the apocryphal books and are shown clearly to have been taken from them, have been brought forth and inserted into the New Testament either by the apostles or the Evangelists. But we must not give credence to the apocryphal books even in this way, for the eternal boundaries, which our fathers erected, must not be moved. It could be that the apostles or the Evangelists, filled with the Holy Spirit, knew what had to be taken from those writings and what had to be refuted. But it is not for us to presume some such ability without danger, when we do not have such abundance of the Spirit.

Consider whether it would not be well to remember the words, You shall not remove the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set. Nor do I say this because I hesitate to examine the Jewish Scriptures, comparing them with ours and noticing their differences. This, if it is not arrogant to say it, I have already to a great extent done to the best of my ability, laboring hard to get at the meaning in all the editions and various readings. I paid particular attention to the Septuagint translation, lest I might be found to accredit any forgery to the churches which are under heaven and give an occasion to those who seek such a pretext for gratifying their desire to slander prominent persons and to bring forth some accusation against those who are outstanding in our fellowship. And I make it my endeavor not to be ignorant of their various readings, so that in my controversies with the Jews I may not quote to them what is not found in their copies and that I may make some use of what they accept, even if it is not found in our Scriptures. For if we are so prepared for them in our discussions, they will not, as is their manner, scornfully laugh at Gentile believers on the grounds that we do not know the true readings recorded in their texts.

The one who moves the boundaries of piety demonstrates either superstition or impiety. And the one who moves the boundaries of courage changes it into either audacity or cowardice. In the same manner, this applies to other virtues as well as to dogmas and other matters of faith. This especially pertains to the doctrine of the holy Trinity. Thus, whoever rejects the divinity of the Holy Spirit rejects baptism; and whoever names some others as gods introduces a whole pantheon of gods.

We do not permit the faith or the symbol of the faith defined by our holy fathers assembled in their day in Nicea to be shaken by anyone, and we do not trust ourselves or others to change a word of what was laid down there, or to depart from a single syllable of it. For we remember the one who said, Do not alter the everlasting boundaries which your fathers set. ^[1] VIOLATING THE ANCIENT BOUNDS. VINCENT OF LÉRINS: I cannot help wondering about such madness in certain people, the dreadful impiety of their blinded minds, their insatiable lust for error that they are not content with the traditional rule of faith as once and for all received from antiquity but are driven to seek another novelty daily. They are possessed by a permanent desire to change religion, to add something and to take something away—as though the dogma were not divine so that it has to be revealed only once. But they take it for a merely human institution, which cannot be perfected except by constant emendations, rather, by constant corrections. Yet, the divine prophecies say, Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which your fathers have set, and Judge not against a judge,^[1] and he that breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.^{[2] [3]}

We reject all the doctrines introduced recently either through letters or through pamphlets as confusing the common people, since we are content with the ancient legislation of the fathers and obey the one who said, Remove not the ancient landmarks which your fathers set up.

He has revealed to us what it was expedient for us to know, whereas that which we were unable to bear he has withheld. With these things let us be content, and in them let us abide, and let us not step over the ancient bounds or pass beyond the divine tradition.