On the Lapsed 11

The truth, brothers, must not be concealed, nor the matter and cause of our wound kept silent. A blind love of their property deceived many; and those whom their means bound like fetters could not be ready or free to withdraw. Those were the bonds of those who remained, those the chains by which courage was held back, faith pressed down, mind bound, and soul shut in, so that those who clung to earthly things became prey and food for the serpent who, according to God's sentence, devours the earth. And therefore the Lord, the teacher of good things and warning for the future, says, “If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” If the rich did this, they would not perish through their riches; laying up treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and assailant in their own house. Heart and mind and sense would be in heaven if their treasure were in heaven; nor could one be conquered by the world who had nothing in the world by which to be conquered. He would follow the Lord unbound and free, as the apostles did, and many under the apostles, and some often, who, leaving their possessions and their parents, clung to Christ with inseparable ties.