{Job xix. 21, 22.} But they were angered, and said: Go to, depart from us, thou miserable thing. We desire not the knowledge of thy Ways. And I answered and said unto them: Have {Luke xii. 15.} pity upon me, have pity upon me, at least, O ye, my Friends. Why do you persecute me without a Cause? Did I not tell you that your Ways and mine would not agree? It repenteth me that I have ever seen you. {Cant. vi. 12.} And the Word of the Lord came to me, saying: Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee. These are the Children of Wrath; they will not hear thee, because they will not hear Me. Their Hearts have become stubborn and unbelieving; they have departed and gone away, but they have not rejected thee without rejecting Me. For thou hast {Jer. xiii. 21.} taught them against thee, and instructed them against thine own Head, for if they had never received thee, they would never have been made rich. They pretended to love thee, so that having received thy Benefits, they might depart from thee. Wherefore under adverse Temptation they have turned away, and having laid {Jer. viii. 5.} hold on Lying, they would not return. Do not again believe those that speak thee fair, for they despise thee and seek thy Life. Do not offer Prayers or Hymns for them, for I will not hear thee: I have cast them off because they have despised Me. XX HOW THE LADY POVERTY SHOWED THE BLESSED FRANCIS THE PERFECT WALK IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. {Prov. iv. 25.} Lo! then, dear Brothers, I have told you a long story, so that your eyes may behold where you go, and that you may see what you should do. It is perilous to look back and attempt to deceive God. Remember Lot’s wife, and do not believe every Spirit. But I have {Luke xvii. 32, and 1 John iv. 1.} confidence in you, dearest Brothers, for I see better Things in you than in any others, and you are nearer to Salvation. You seem to have abandoned Everything, and to have freed yourselves from all Burdens. And the best proof is this, that you have ascended this Mountain, which it is given to so few to do. But I tell you, dear Friends, that the Wickedness of many others hath made me suspicious of the Virtues of the Good, for I have too oft had experience of ravening Wolves in Sheeps’ Clothing.