Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/330

326 here must wear cap and bells; for the ways of the world bring it with them that what is wisdom before God is to the world sheer folly. I saw, therefore, that many to whom God had granted His noblest gifts had to endure the contempt and derision of the others, often even of those who were nearest to them. Thus, I say, did it befall; but I saw also that the godly heeded this not, that they, indeed, gloried therein that the worldly stopped up their noses before them as before a stench, averted their eyes from them as from something loathsome, scorned them as fools, put them to death as malefactors. For they said that their watchword, by which it was known that they belonged to Christ, was "not to please the world." They said also that he who knows not how to suffer wrongs gain hath not yet fully the spirit of Christ; thus spake they of these things, and fortified each other. They also said that the world showed no indulgence likewise to those who belonged to it; indeed, it insulted, deceived, robbed, tormented them; if, then, it wished to do the same with the godly, it was well. "If," said they, "we cannot avoid this torment, we will endure it there, where, for the accidental injuries inflicted by the worldly, we are recompensed by the bountiful, generous kindness of God. Therefore do we consider their derision, injury, and ill-will as our gain."