Of not troubling ourselves about outward things
“My Son, in many things it behoveth thee to be ignorant, and to esteem
thyself as one dead upon the earth, and as one to whom the whole world
is crucified. Many things also thou must pass by with deaf ear, and
must rather think upon those things which belong unto thy peace. It is
more profitable to turn away thine eyes from those things that
displease, and to leave each man to his own opinion, than to give
thyself to discourses of strife. If thou stand well with God and hast
His judgment in thy mind, thou wilt verily easily bear to be as one
conquered.”
2. O Lord, to what have we come? Behold a temporal loss is mourned
over; for a trifling gain we labour and hurry; and spiritual loss
passeth away into forgetfulness, and we rarely recover it. That which
profiteth little or nothing is looked after, and that which is
altogether necessary is negligently passed by; because the whole man
slideth away to outward things, and unless he quickly recovereth
himself in outward things he willingly lieth down.