20. There flourishes with us the strength of hope and the firmness of faith. Among these very ruins of a decaying world our soul is lifted up, and our courage unshaken:  our patience is never anything but joyous; and the mind is always secure of its God, even as the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet, and exhorts us, strengthening with a heavenly word the firmness of our hope and faith. “The fig-tree,” says He, “shall not bear fruit, and there shall be no blossom in the vines. The labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. But I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will joy in the God of my salvation.”32    Hab. iii. 17. He says that the man of God and the worshipper of God, depending on the truth of his hope, and founded on the stedfastness of his faith, is not moved by the attacks of this world and this life. Although the vine should fail, and the olive deceive, and the field parched with grass dying with drought should wither, what is this to Christians? what to God’s servants whom paradise is inviting, whom all the grace and all the abundance of the kingdom of heaven is waiting for? They always exult in the Lord, and rejoice and are glad in their God; and the evils and adversities of the world they bravely suffer, because they are looking forward to gifts and prosperities to come: for we who have put off our earthly birth, and are now created and regenerated by the Spirit, and no longer live to the world but to God, shall not receive God’s gifts and promises until we arrive at the presence of God. And yet we always ask for the repulse of enemies, and for obtaining showers, and either for the removal or the moderating of adversity; and we pour forth our prayers, and, propitiating and appeasing God, we entreat constantly and urgently, day and night, for your peace and salvation.

XX. Viget apud nos spei robur et firmitas fidei; inter ipsas saeculi labentis ruinas erecta mens est et immobilis virtus, et numquam non laeta patientia, et de Deo suo semper anima secura, sicut per Prophetam Spiritus sanctus loquitur et hortatur, spei ac fidei nostrae firmitatem coelesti voce corroborans: Ficus, 0559B inquit, non afferet fructum, et non erunt nascentia in vineis. Mentietur opus olivae , et campi non praestabunt cibum. Deficient a pabulo oves , et non erunt in praesepibus boves. Ego autem in Domino exultabo, et gaudebo in Deo salutari meo (Abac. III, 17-20). De Dei hominem et cultorem Dei, subnixum spei veritate et fidei stabilitate fundatum, negat mundi hujus et saeculi infestationibus commoveri. Vinea licet fallat et olea decipiat, et herbis siccitate morientibus aestuans campus arescat, quid hoc ad Christianos? quid ad Dei servos, quos paradisus invitat, quos gratia omnis et copia regni coelestis exspectat? Exsultant semper in Domino, et laetantur et gaudent in Deo suo, et mala atque adversa mundi fortiter tolerant, dum dona et prospera futura prospectant . Nam qui, exposita 0559C nativitate terrena, spiritu recreati et renati sumus, nec jam mundo sed Deo vivimus, non, nisi cum ad Deum venerimus, Dei munera et promissa capiemus. Et tamen pro arcendis hostibus et imbribus impetrandis, et vel auferendis vel temperandis adversis, rogamus semper et preces fundimus, et pro pace ac salute vestra propitiantes ac placantes Deum 0560A diebus ac noctibus jugiter atque instanter oramus.