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But that you may learn that this also teaches us to consider those blessed whom we ought to consider blessed, is evident from hence. For when you hear Paul saying, "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffetted, and have no certain dwelling place." ¹ And again; "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth;" ² it is certain that it is not those who are enjoying quietness, but those who are in affliction for God's sake, and who are in tribulation, whom we must applaud, emulating those who live virtuously, and cultivate piety. For so speaks the prophet: "Their right hand is a right hand of iniquity. Their daughters beautified, ornamented after the similitude of a temple. Their garners full, bursting from one into another; their sheep fruitful; abundant in their streets; their oxen fat. There is no breaking down of the fence, nor passage through; nor clamor in their streets. They call the people blessed whose affairs are in this state." ³ But what dost thou say, O prophet? "Blessed," saith he, "the people whose God is the Lord;" not the people affluent in wealth, but one adorned with godliness; ⁴ that people, saith he, I esteem happy, although they suffer innumerable hardships!