'
For what was it in the old martyrs which made men look up to them, as
persons infinitely better than themselves, with quite unmeasurable
admiration; so that they worshipped them after their deaths, as if
they had been gods rather than men?
It was this. The world in old times had been admiring successful
people, just as it does at this day. Was a man powerful, rich? Had
he slaves by the hundred? Was his table loaded with the richest
meats and wines? Could he indulge every pleasure and fancy of his
own? Could he heap his friends with benefits? Could he ruin or
destroy any one who thwarted him? In one word, was he a mighty and
successful tyrant? Then that was the man to honour and worship; that
was the sort of man to become, if anyone had the chance, by fair
means or foul. Just as the world worships now the successful man;
and--if you will but make a million of money--will flatter you and
court you, and never ask either how you made your money, or how you
spend your money; or whether you are a good man or a bad one: for
money in man's eyes, as charity in God's eyes, covereth a multitude
of sins; and as long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak
well of thee.
But there arose, in that wicked old world in which St. Paul lived, an
entirely new sort of people--people who did not wish to be
successful; did not wish to be rich; did not wish to be powerful; did
not wish for pleasures and luxuries which this world could give: who
only wished to be good; to do right, and to teach others to do right.
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