(63) Jesus said, "There was a rich man who had much money. He said, 'I shall put my money to use so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouse with produce, with the result that I shall lack nothing. Such were his intentions, but that same night he died. Let him who has ears hear."

(95) Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, And from your riches shall ye depart, Because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches.

(110) Jesus said, "Whoever finds the world and becomes rich, let him renounce the world."

(56) Accordingly he has not forbidden us to be rich in the right way, but only a wrongful and insatiable grasping of money. For "property gained unlawfully is diminished." "There are some who sow much and gain the more, and those who hoard become impoverished." Of them it is written: "He distributed, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures for ever." For he who sows and gathers more is the man who by giving away his earthly and temporal goods has obtained a heavenly and eternal prize; the other is he who gives to no one, but vainly "lays up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt"; of him it is written: "In gathering motley, he has gathered it into a condemned cell." Of his land the Lord says in the gospel that it produced plentifully; then wishing to store the fruits he built larger store-houses, saying to himself in the words dramatically put into his mouth "You have many good things laid up for many years to come, eat, drink, and be merry. You fool," says the Lord, "this night your soul shall be required of you. Whose then shall be the things you have prepared?"

(55) And again: "Let not your almsgiving and faithfulness lapse." And: "Poverty brings a man low, but the hands of the energetic are made rich." And he adds: "Behold the man who has not given his money on usury is accepted." And does he not declare expressly, " A man's wealth is judged to be his soul’s ransom"? Just as the world is composed of opposites, of heat and cold, dry and wet, so also is it made up of givers and receivers. Again when he says, "If you would be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor," he convicts the man who boasts that he has kept all the commandments~ from his youth up. For he had not fulfilled "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Only then was he taught by the Lord who wished to make him perfect, to give for love's sake.

(43) Therefore said Christ; A rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; because they take such Delight in Pride, Haughtiness, and fleshly Voluptuousness, and the noble Mind is dead to the Kingdom of God, and continues in the eternal Darkness. For the Image of the Spirit of the Soul sticks in the Mind; and to whatsoever the Mind inclines and gives up itself, in that is the Spirit of the Soul figured by the eternal Fiat.

(66) Yet it is seen that some wealthy People drew near to Christ, whereby it may be perceived, that the Kingdom of Heaven consists not in Misery only, but in Joy in the Holy Ghost; and none ought to esteem himself happy, because he is poor and miserable; he is in the Kingdom of the Devil notwithstanding, if he be faithless and wicked. Also none that is rich ought therefore to cast his Goods and Wealth away, or give them to be spent lavishly, in hope to be saved in so doing; no, Friend, the Kingdom of God consists in Truth, and in Righteousness, and in Love towards the Needy; to be rich damns none that use it aright; thou needest not to lay down thy Scepter, and run into a Corner, crying; that is but Hypocrisy. Thou mayest do Righteousness, and better Service to the Kingdom of God in holding thy Scepter, by helping the Oppressed, protecting the Innocent, and granting Right and Justice, not according to thy Covetousness, but in Love, and in the Fear of God; and then thou art also a Brother to Joseph of Arimathea, and shalt shine brighter than others, as the Sun and Moon compared with the Stars. It is only the Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Falshood, and Anger, that is the Crown of the Devil; therefore conceive it right. Of Christ's Rest in the Grave [or Sepulchre.]

(63) O danger upon danger! as our King Christ also saith; [Matth. xix. 24] It is very hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. A camel will easier go through the eye of a needle, than a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven.

(12) When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly.

(81) Jesus said, "Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce it."

(65) And now if we consider the Scornings, Despisings, and Mocking of Christ, and that all was done by the Instigation of the great Ones; and that commonly they were the poor simple People that followed him, except some few that were wealthy; we then clearly find that which Christ said, That a rich Man will hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is not meant concerning their Riches, but concerning their vain, glorious, proud, and covetous Life, whereby they consume the Sweat of the Needy in Pride, and forget God. O how hard it is for one that is proud, to humble himself before God and Man; and the Kingdom of Heaven consists only in the Virtue and Power of Humility.