leaders
in the state and in the church, abounding, too, in riches and living in
luxury and magnificence, and on the other hand sees worshipers of God
despised and poor._ A worshiper of self and of nature believes that
standing and riches are the greatest and the one felicity possible, thus
felicity itself. If he has some thought of God as a result of worship
begun in childhood, he calls them divine blessings, and as long as he is
not elated by them he thinks that there is a God and worships Him. But in
the worship there lurks a desire, of which he is unaware then, to be
advanced by God to still higher standing and to still greater wealth. If
he attains them, his worship tends more and more to externalities until
it slips away and at last he makes little account of God and denies Him.
The same thing occurs if he is cast down from the standing and loses the
riches on which he has set his heart. What, then, are standing and riches
to the wicked but stumbling blocks?

[2] To the good they are not, for these do not set their heart on them,
but on the uses or goods for rendering which standing and wealth serve as
means. Hence only a worshiper of self and of nature can confirm himself
against divine providence because the impious are advanced to honors and
become leaders in the state and in the church. Moreover, what is greater
or less standing, or greater or less wealth? Is this not in itself
imaginary? Is one person more blessed and happier than another for it? Is
a great man's standing, or even a king's or an emperor's, not regarded in
a year's time as a commonplace, no longer exalting his heart with joy but
quite possibly becoming worthless to him? Have those with standing a
larger measure of happiness than those with little standing or even the
least standing, like farmers and their hands? May not these enjoy more
happiness when it is well with them and they are content with their lot?
What is more unquiet at heart, more often provoked, or more violently
enraged than self-love? It happens as often as it is not honored to suit
the haughtiness of its heart or as something does not succeed at its beck
and wish. What, then, is standing except an idea, unless it attaches to
the office or the use? Can the idea exist in any other thought than
thought about self and the world, and does it not really mean that the
world is all and eternity nothing?

[3] Something shall be said now why divine providence permits the impious
at hear