They approve what has been done in the city to insure to each man
enjoyment of the riches he may have acquired. They support the
established order of things, and are ready to fly to arms to defend the
same. For the duty of the poor is to defend the good things belonging to
the rich; and this is how the union betwixt citizens is maintained. This
is goodness and good order. Again, the rich man has his serving-man
bring out a basket full of bread, which he distributes to the poor; and
this is goodness again.' These are the lessons this rough, ignorant
fellow required to be taught."

Having so said, the Dean sat down, and the crowd of poor folks raised a
murmur of approval. But Fra Giovanni, stepping on one of the stools
that had been thrown at his head with contumely and insult, addressed
them all and said:

"Hear the words of comfort! Goodness resides not in men, for men know
not of themselves what is good. They are ignorant of their own nature
and destiny. What seems good, may be evil all the while; and what is
deemed useful, harmful. No man can choose the things meet for him,
because he knows not his own needs, but is like the little child sitting
in the meadows, that sucks for wholesome milk the juice of the deadly
nightshade. The babe does not know that the nightshade is a poison; but
its mother knows. This is why goodness is to do the will of God.

"It is false to say, 'Tis I teach goodness, and goodness is to obey the
city laws.' For the Laws are not of God; they are of man, and share in
man's craft and cunning and imperfection. They are like the rules
children make in the Square of Viterbo, when they are playing ball.
Goodness is not in customs nor in laws; it is in God and in the
accomplishment of God's will upon earth, and it is neither by law-makers
nor magistrates that God's will is accomplished upon the earth.

"For the great men of this world do their own will, and their will is
contrary to God's. But they who have stripped off pride and know there
is no goodness in them, these men receive noble gifts, and God Himself
distils His sweetness within them like honey in the hollow of the oaks.

"And we must be the oak-tree full of honey and dew. Humble, ignorant and
simple folks, these have knowledge of God; and by them shall God's
kingdom be stablished on earth. Salvation is not in the strength of laws
nor in the multitude of soldiers; it is in poverty and humbleness of
spirit.

"Say not, 'Goodness is in me