A.D. 1187. LETT EE OF POPE GREGORY. 73 as well, because you are not of yourselves, nor have you anything of yourselves, who are not able to make so much as a single fly upon the earth. And we do not say, ' leave behind you,' but rather ' present beforehand' to the garner of heaven what you possess, and lay it up with Him, with whom ' neither rust nor moth destroy, nor thieves break through and steal,' labouring for the recovery of that land in which for our salvation the Truth of the earth was born, and did not disdain for us to bear the cross. And devote not your thoughts to lucre or to temporal glory, but to the will of God, who in His own case has taught you to lay down your lives for your brethren, and give unto Him your riches, which, whether willingly or unwillingly, you know not to what heirs you are at last to leave. Por indeed it is no new thing that that land is chastised, nor in fact is it unusual that scourgings and chastisements should accompany mercifulness. God indeed by His will alone can save it ; but still, we have no right to ask him why He has acted thus : for perhapsHe has wished to make trial, and to place this before the notice, of others, if any there are who are of good understanding or who seek for God, and who will with joy embrace the opportunity offered them for repentance, and, laying down their lives for their brethren, will compress and include the deeds of a long life in a small compass. Consider how the Maccabees, influenced with zeal for the Divine law, submitted to every extremity of peril for the purpose of liberating their brethren, and showed how that, for the safety of their brethren not only their substance but also their lives were to be laid down, exhorting one another, and saying, ' Arm yourselves, and be valiant men Por it is better to die in battle than to behold the calamities of our people and of our sanctuary.'69 And yet these were under the control of the law only, whereas you, through the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, being led by the fight of truth, and being instructed by many examples of the Saints, ought to act without any hesitation, and not to fear to give your earthly things, few in number, and destined to last for a short time only ; you to whom those good things have been promised and reserved, which ' Neither eye hath seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man;'"0 and as to which the Apostle says, ' The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'7 1 "Where·» 1 Mace. iii. 08, 59. i» 1 Cor. ii. 9. 1 1 Rom. viii. 18.