XII
OF THE FOLLOWERS OF A SPURIOUS POVERTY
♦1 John ii. 19.♦ Finally there rose up among us Men who were not of us, certain Sons of Belial speaking Vain Things, working Iniquity, calling themselves Poor Men when they were not Poor, despising and dishonouring me who had been loved with Whole-heartedness by those glorious Men of whom I have spoken, following the Way of Balaam, the Son ♦2 Pet. ii. 15.♦ of Bosor, who loved the Wages of Sin, Men of a corrupt ♦1 Tim. vi. 5.♦ Mind, devoid of Truth, supposing Gain to be Godliness, Men who in assuming the Habit of Holy Religion, did not put on the New Man, but sought to hide the Old. They derided their Elders, and in secret scoffed at the Life and Character of those who had begun the Way of Holy Conversation, saying that they were imprudent, merciless, and cruel, and that I, whom these holy ones had taken into their Company, was idle, empty, base, rude, lifeless, and feeble. ’Twas my great Rival who zealously worked all this, hiding under a Sheep’s Clothing the Cunning of a Fox and the Fierceness of a Wolf.