He manifestly shows at once in the beginning of his Proverbs that he is establishing these foundations of true philosophy and an order of disciplines and institutions because the place of reason has not lain hidden or been rejected by him. First of all, he shows this by the very fact that he titled his book Proverbs, which name indicates that something is being said openly but something else is being indicated inwardly. The common use of proverbs teaches this fact. John too in the Gospel writes that the Savior says, I have spoken these things to you in proverbs; the hour will come when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will proclaim to you openly about the Father.^[1] Meanwhile, these things have been said in the very inscription of the book.

A proverb is a cryptic saying that has an indirect meaning. [Solomon] ruled in Israel, in order to understand wisdom and instruction. Wisdom is the spiritual knowledge pertaining to God, bodiless hosts and judgment; it also includes teaching about providence and unveils contemplation on the subjects of ethics, natural sciences and theology. Or rather, wisdom is the knowledge of both physical and spiritual worlds and of the judgment and providence pertaining to them. On the other hand, instruction is the disciplining of the passions of that passionate or unreasonable part of the soul. One who has advanced to the level of theology has learned wisdom.

A proverb is a saying such as, War is pleasant to the inexperienced, or A drop constantly falling hollows a stone. The name proverb derived from the fact that once roads were marked off with no signs. Now there are signs, which are called miliaria (milestones) by the Romans, while they were just called signs before. Ancient people set them in certain places and then inscribed them with certain information and questions. So they fulfilled two purposes. On the one hand, they indicated to the traveler the length of the journey. On the other, when one read the inscription and kept busy comprehending it, one was relieved of weariness. Therefore a road is called in Greek oimos, from which is derived the word paroimia, which means proverb.

Solomon, who seems to have served the will of the Holy Spirit in those three books, is called in Proverbs, Solomon, the Son of David, who ruled in Israel. . . . Therefore, in the first book, Proverbs, when he grounds us in moral disciplines, he is said to be king in Israel—but not yet in Jeruslem—because although we are said to be Israel because of our faith, nonetheless we have not yet arrived to that level so that we seem to have arrived at the heavenly Jerusalem.

The proverb, according to barbarian philosophy, is called a mode of prophecy, and the parable is so called, and the enigma in addition. Further also, they are called wisdom; and again, as something different from it, instruction and words of prudence, and turnings of words and true righteousness; and again, teaching to direct judgment and subtlety to the simple, which is the result of training, and perception and thought, with which the young catechumen is imbued.

Proverbs, therefore, are words of exhortation serviceable for the whole path of life; for to those who seek their way to God, these serve as guides and signs to revive them when wearied with the length of the road. These, moreover, are the proverbs of Solomon, that is to say, the peacemaker, who, in truth, is Christ the Savior. And since we understand the words of the Lord without offense, as being the words of the Lord, that no one may mislead us by likeness of name, he tells us who wrote these things and of what people he was king. [He does this] in order that the credit of the speaker may make the discourse acceptable and the hearers attentive, for they are the words of that Solomon to whom the Lord said, I will give you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has been none like you upon the earth, and after you there shall not arise any like unto you,^[1] and as follows in what is written of him. Now he was the wise son of a wise father; wherefore there is added the name of David, by whom Solomon was begotten. From a child he was instructed in the sacred Scriptures and obtained his dominion not by lot, nor by force, but by the judgment of the Spirit and the decree of God.

To know wisdom and instruction. One who knows the wisdom of God receives from him also instruction and learns by it the mysteries of the Word; and they who know the true heavenly wisdom will easily understand the words of these mysteries. Wherefore he says, To understand the difficulties of words,^[2] for things spoken in strange language by the Holy Spirit become intelligible to those who have their hearts right with God.

A proverb is a saying that, under the guise of physical things, signifies intelligible things.

The parables of Solomon, son of David, the king of Israel. What are called parables in Greek are called similes in Latin. Solomon gave this title to the book to encourage us to understand more deeply, not only according to the literal sense, because the Lord would speak to the crowds in parables,^[1] just as he also announces the everlasting kingdom of Christ and the church both in his own name and through the peaceful state of his kingdom, about which it is written: His rule will be multiplied and there will be no end to peace upon his throne and upon his kingdom.^[2] Likewise, by the construction and dedication of the temple, he insinuates the building up of holy church, which will be dedicated for eternity at the time of the resurrection. He was also declared to be the son of David himself and the spiritual king of Israel by the testimony of the crowds of people who greeted him with praises and palm branches upon his entry to Jerusalem.^[3] It must be noted, however, that the common translation of parables, which in Hebrew is māšlôt,^[4] is called parhoemias^[5] [in Greek], that is, parables. But this term is not inconsistent with the truth. For what are rightly called parables because they are mysterious can also not incongruously be called proverbs because such matters, often found in the course of conversation, ought to be contemplated and retained in memory. Proverbs are frequently so full of mystery that they can also be known as parables, as the Lord attests when he says, I have said these things to you in proverbs; the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but I will announce the Father to you plainly.^[6]

You ask me . . . why it is that sometimes in my writings I quote examples from secular literature and thus defile the whiteness of the church with the foulness of heathenism. I will now briefly answer your question. . . . Both in Moses and in the prophets there are passages cited from Gentile books, and . . . Solomon proposed questions to the philosophers of Tyre and answered others put by them. In the commencement of the book of Proverbs he charges us to understand prudent maxims and shrewd adages, parables and obscure discourse, the words of the wise and their dark sayings; all of which belong by right to the sphere of the dialectician and the philosopher.

The purpose for which the royal Father gave to the royal Son his judgment and his justice is sufficiently shown when he says, To judge your people in justice,^[1] that is, for the purpose of judging your people. Such an idiom is found in . . . the Proverbs of Solomon, for the purpose of knowing wisdom and discipline.

Even as there is one true God, and as there are many who are called gods by participation in him, and as there is one begotten Son of God, but others are called sons by adoption; so also there is one true justice—as it is written in the introduction of the Book of Proverbs—but the Lord loves the many acts of righteousness that are pronounced just because of their participation in true justice.

To confess that we are imperfect; that we have not yet laid hold of it; and that we have not yet obtained it. This is true wisdom in man: to know that he is imperfect; and, if I may so say, the perfection of all the just, living in the flesh, is imperfect. Whence, also, we read in Proverbs: To understand true justice. For unless there were also false justice, the justice of God would never be referred to as true justice.

According to Proverbs, That resourcefulness may be imparted to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion [is a statement that may be taken in a good sense but also] in a bad sense, as in the letter of the apostle: But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his guile, so your minds may be corrupted and fall from a single devotion to Christ.^[1]

What the Lord is saying, therefore, is this: My knowledge, deepest thought and the inmost desire of my heart was with me, not only in my heavenly mansions but also when I dwelt in the night of this world and in darkness. It remained in me as man, and it instructed me and never left me, so that whatever the weakness of the flesh was unable to achieve, divine thought and power accomplished.

There are, as you know, certain vices forming contraries to the virtues by a clear distinction, as imprudence to prudence. There are also some which are only contrary because they are vices but which have a sort of deceptive resemblance to virtues, as when we set against prudence, not imprudence, but craftiness. I am now speaking of that craftiness which is more commonly understood and expressed in an evil sense, not as our Scripture ordinarily uses it, which often gives it a good meaning; hence we have wise as serpents^[1] and to give subtlety to little ones. . . .

In the same way, injustice is contrary to justice by an evident antithesis, whereas the craving for vengeance puts on a show of justice but is a vice.

Those concepts which are expressed by the Holy Spirit in parables through their counterpart of speech become quite clear when one brings them before God with a faithful heart. For they understand the true righteousness which was announced by Christ.

There are indeed many who know how so to control their outward advancement as by no means to fall inwardly thereby. Whence it is written, God casts not away the mighty, seeing that he also himself is mighty.^[1] And it is said through Solomon, A man of understanding shall possess governments. But to me these things are difficult, since they are also exceedingly burdensome, and what the mind has not received willingly it does not control fitly. Lo, our most serene lord the emperor had ordered an ape to be made a lion. And, indeed, in virtue of this order it can be called a lion, but a lion it cannot be made. Wherefore his piety must . . . himself take the blame of all my faults and shortcomings, having committed a ministry of power to a weak agent.

He who accepts the doctrines of wisdom, sometimes, in addition to the first doctrines because of which he is already wise, takes up second doctrines in reference to which he was not formerly wise, and [then] he will be wiser, just as also it is said, For when a wise man has heard these things, he will be wiser.

He made darkness his cover, his pavilion around him: dark water in the clouds of the air.^[1] . . . Remember that darkness is used also in a good sense, as in this passage from Solomon’s Proverbs: He also understands a parable and a dark saying. All divine matters that we do not know about are dark to us, that is, deep and obscure, though they bask in continuous light. A hiding place, namely, the secret place of his majesty, which he reveals to the just when it falls to them to gaze face to face upon the glory of his divinity. His pavilion around him: this expression is explained as the glorious worthiness of the blessed, that those who have persevered faithfully in his church dwell beside him. Around him indicates his nearness, for he encircles and penetrates all things, but he is not encircled by anyone, because he is not able to be hemmed in by any place.

We must observe that not every time something is named darkness is it taken in a bad sense; there are times when it has also been used in a good sense. It is because the heterodox did not make this distinction that they accepted the most irreverent doctrines concerning the Creator and withdrew from him and abandoned themselves to the fictions of myths. We must now point out, therefore, how and when the term darkness is understood in a good sense.

Darkness, storm clouds and thunderstorms are said to surround God in Exodus,^[1] and in Psalm 17 it says, God made darkness his hiding place, his tent around him, dark water in the clouds of the air.^[2]. . .

But if someone takes offense at such interpretations, let him be persuaded both from the dark sayings and the dark, hidden, invisible treasures given to Christ by God.^[3]

It is universally admitted that the name of proverb, in its scriptural use, is not applied with regard to the evident sense but is used with a view to some hidden meaning, as the Gospel thus gives the name of proverbs to dark and obscure sayings. So the proverb, if one were to set forth the interpretation of the name by a definition, is a form of speech which, by means of one set of ideas immediately presented, points to something else which is hidden. Or [it is] a form of speech which does not point out the aim of the thought directly but gives its instruction by an indirect signification.

Since, therefore, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and this virtue can be had without wisdom, to whom belongs the beginning of fear? The blessed apostle Peter says, Grace to you and peace be accomplished in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord, who has now given us all things of his divine power, which appertain to life and godliness.^[1] Does he say, Who has excited in us by his help the seeds of virtues which we had naturally implanted? Rather, he says, Who has now given us all things which pertain to life and godliness. And in saying this, of what virtue has he placed the beginning in nature, which was not conferred by him who gave all things?^[2] Wherefore, St. Paul also says, For what have you that you have not received? And if you have received, why do you glory as if you had not received?^[3]

You should regulate your life and conduct by the commandments of God, which we have received to enable us to lead a good life, beginning with a religious fear, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, whereby human pride is broken down and weakened. Second, with a mild and gentle piety you should refrain from objecting to passages of the holy Scriptures which you do not yet understand and which seem to the uninstructed devoid of sense and self-contradictory. And you should not try to impose your ideas on the meaning of the holy books but submit and hold your mind in check rather than savagely attack its hidden meaning.

There are things practiced in a vulgar style by some people, such as control over pleasures. For as among the heathen there are those who, from the impossibility of obtaining what one sees and from fear of men, and also for the sake of greater pleasures, abstain from the delights before them, so also, in the case of faith, some practice self-restraint, either out of regard to the promise or from fear of God. [Indeed] such self-restraint is the basis of knowledge, and an approach to something better, and an effort after perfection. For the fear of the Lord, it is said, is the beginning of wisdom.

Virtuous living is really the source and root of wisdom, just as all wickedness has its source in folly. I say this because the braggart and the slave of passion are taken captive by these vices as a result of a lack of wisdom. For this reason the prophet has said, There is no health in my flesh. My sores are foul and festering because of my folly,^[1] to indicate that all sin takes its beginning from a lack of wisdom; just as the virtuous person who fears God is wisest of all. That is why a certain wise man also says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If, then, to fear God is to have wisdom, and the evildoer does not possess this fear, he is really bereft of wisdom; and he who is bereft of wisdom is truly the most foolish of all.

To know goodness is not sufficient to reach blessedness, if one does not put goodness into practice with works. Piety toward God is actually the beginning of knowledge.

Piety toward God is a beginning [of discernment]. It acts as a fountain and source for discerning the divine, according to our inner being, so that we may see the true light, hear the secret oracles, be nourished with the bread of life, obtain the fragrance of Christ and learn the doctrine of this life. When we have piety, our senses too are allied with us, when neither our eyes see nor our mouth speaks evil.

He who fears the Lord departs from error and directs his ways to the path of virtue. Except a man fear the Lord, he is unable to renounce sin.

To the atheist is the name fool most accurately applied in truth and nature: if the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,^[1] lack of fear and denial of him would be the opposite of wisdom.

How extremely frequent is the intercourse which heretics hold with magicians, with mountebanks, with astrologers, with philosophers. The reason is that they are people who devote themselves to curious questions. Seek and you shall find, is everywhere in their minds. Thus, from the very nature of their conduct May be estimated the quality of their doctrine. They say that God is not to be feared; therefore all things are in their view free and unchecked. Where, however, Is God not feared, except where he is not present? Where God is not, there truth also is not. Where there is no truth, then, naturally enough, there is also such a discipline as theirs. But where God is, there exists the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Two things constitute the fear of the Lord: first, the servanthood which is called the beginning of knowledge or wisdom and, second, the friendship which accompanies the perfection of wisdom. Servile fear is the beginning of wisdom because whoever begins to taste it after the error of sins is corrected by this first divine fear, lest he be led into torments. But perfect love casts this fear out.^[1] Holy fear of the Lord then follows, remaining forever,^[2] and is augmented by charity, not removed by it. This is the fear with which the good son is afraid, lest he offend the eyes of his most loving father in the least degree. For the soul is still afraid with elementary servile fear, lest it suffer punishment from an angry Lord. But each fear will come to an end in the future life. Charity, however, never passes away,^[3] but will remain perpetually in the fulness of wisdom, which is to know the one, true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.^[4]

God is Father of the righteous. Whoever practices justice was born from God. Our mother is the church, whose bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our laws are the apostolic constitutions. Even though the concepts expressed above have a sublime meaning, they also apply to earthly parents when they educate their children in how to live piously before God. Since that teacher, who generates his children through the gospel, is a man, his wife and mother of his children is the church, or rather the ecclesiastical doctrine and way of life. If you, he says, listen to me as the author of the Proverbs—first in my role as the narrator of the father, and then as the narrator of wisdom and virtue (that is, of the mother)—you will be encircled with a crown of grace and your neck will be adorned with a necklace fashioned of intellectual gold and jewels. The material of the crown, with which the head of the interior man is encircled, is the circle of virtues, which are called graces. Accordingly, the golden necklace put around the neck of the soul (that is, around one’s obedience) must be understood as a part of the intellectual crown.

Listen, my son, to the discipline of your father, and do not reject your mother’s law. Thus far, it argues proverbially from each side. From here on, it begins assiduously to admonish whoever is faithful that he prefer the discipline of the divine law to the flatteries of the reprobate, for eternal death surely follows their crimes, while a crown is given to those who keep the law. Hence, it rightly calls him son whom the father was careful to instruct with solicitude. This statement can be accepted as coming from the person of God the Father but in the name of mother church, who was then called the synagogue, I understand. Observe also that it commands us to listen to the father’s instruction that we not reject the mother’s law for any reason. For it is not adequate that anyone claims to love God and to comply with his precepts if he does not also pursue the unity of the church with fraternal charity, or if he denies that the mother herself receives any of the grace of God whereby we are saved. Even among the Hebrews the spirit that grants grace is known by the feminine gender.

Through listening to paternal instruction and through observance of maternal law, grace is put on our head and a neck ring on our neck. For the more one gives heed to divine commands [and] strives to observe with greater diligence what one has learned in the unity of mother church, the more one may now ascend with greater worthiness to the honor of preaching and may in the future ascend with greater exaltation to the blessedness of reigning with Christ for ever.

The church is not truly called the pillar and foundation of truth^[1] if it is found unsound in the most basic mystery of human salvation. But because it is truly called the pillar and foundation of truth by the apostle, whatever according to the canons of the church itself is given and received within it, among the holy mysteries of human redemption and reconciliation, is given with firm truth and received with firm truth.

It is so commanded in Proverbs: Hear, my child, your father’s instruction and do not reject your mother’s teaching, so that we may never reject the general canons of holy mother the church, that is, those which the most harmonious assent of all the bishops confirms.

Our Lord . . . offers us his hand, takes part in the struggle, and seemingly in every way hands over our adversary to us in defeat, striving might and main that we may prevail and wrest the victory, so that he may place on our head the unfading crown. Scripture says, remember, You will receive a crown of graces upon your head. Whereas in the Olympic games the crown after victory is nothing more than a laurel wreath, or applause, or acclamation of the crowd, all of which disappears and is lost with the coming of evening, the crown for virtue and its struggles has nothing material about it. It is not subject to decay in this world but is everlasting, immortal, enduring for all ages.

If you preserve in your faithful heart the law of your Father and observe the commands of your mother, you will receive the crown of graces on your head and the golden necklace in the resurrection of the righteous ones. You will be glorified in the heavenly and imperishable kingdom and crowned by Christ if you fight in a manner worthy of such a crown. No athlete is crowned unless such a person has contended strongly and legitimately.^[1]

There is one text in Proverbs so far from being obscure that its relationship to Christ and his possession, the church, can be grasped without any such trouble. Wicked men are speaking: Let us unjustly hide away in the earth the just man, let us swallow him up alive like hell. Let us abolish his memory from the earth, let us lay hands upon his precious possession. This is very like what the Lord Jesus himself, in one of the Gospel parables, puts into the mouths of the wicked vinedressers: This is the heir; come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.^[1]

In the words of Solomon, My son, let not sinners lead you astray, do not walk in their ways. Do not walk if they entice you saying: Come with us, let us share innocent blood: let us hide the just man in the earth unjustly, let us swallow him up alive as in hell. This last passage is also a prophecy of the passion of the Lord.

It is not fair to be too hasty in casting out an offender but slow in receiving him when he returns; to be forward in cutting off but unmerciful when he is sorrowful and ought to be healed. For of such as these speaks the divine Scripture: Their feet run to mischief; they are hasty to shed blood.. . . Now the way of peace is our Savior Jesus Christ, who has taught us, saying, Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you,^[1] that is, give remission of sins, and your offenses shall be forgiven you.

It is good for the . . . feet . . . that they be not swift to shed blood or to run to evil, but that they be prompted to run to the gospel and the prize^[1] of the high calling, and to receive Christ who washes and cleanses them.

The Scripture says, Not unjustly are the nets spread out for the birds. This means that a man shall perish justly, who, having knowledge of the way of righteousness, thrusts himself into the way of darkness.

If then nets are not wrongfully stretched for birds, as it is said in Proverbs, but God justly leads men into the snare, as it is said, You led us into the snare,^[1] and if not even a sparrow, cheapest of birds, falls into the snare without the will of the Father^[2] (its fall into the snare being due to its failure to use properly the power of its wings given to it to soar), let us pray to do nothing to deserve being brought into temptation. By God’s righteous judgment, the wicked are delivered to uncleanness by God into the lusts of their own heart; or are delivered unto shameful affections; or, having not proved to have God in full knowledge, are delivered to a reprobate mind to do that which is disgraceful.^[3]

It is written: Wisdom is made known in death, that is to say, the life of the wise man is praised at the end of his life. Wherefore we read also in another place: Do not praise a man during his lifetime and again, Praise not any man before death.^[1] Now suppose someone says: praise a man after death, for in the praise of the living there is a possible occasion of vain exultation for the object of the laudation and a note of flattery is attached to the one bestowing it. In many ways, however, it is useful to praise the dead: in the first place, because, while the one is absent who might be gratified by our praise, it is necessary that the whole glory be referred to the bestower of grace; second, because only admiration for his virtue remains when the suspicion of flattery is removed. Therefore, praise of the dead which is proclaimed in the holy congregation of the faithful is full of edification and utterly free from ostentation. LIFE OF ST.

What about this saying: He who shall have persevered to the end, shall be saved,^[1] or that oracle of the divine word in the sacred proverbs: Wisdom is proclaimed at the moment of departure? These sayings show that, though wisdom is helpful in every age, all people should be particularly wise when they are leaving this world, because the wisdom of past years will not fully deserve praise if it does not terminate in a good end. Wisdom is proclaimed at the moment of departure.

For where at all have they found in divine Scripture, or from whom have they heard, that there is another Word and another wisdom besides this Son, that they should frame to themselves such a doctrine? True, indeed, it is written, Are not my words like fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?^[1] and in the Proverbs, I will make known my words unto you. But these are precepts and commands, which God has spoken to the saints through his proper and only true Word, concerning which the psalmist said, I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your words.^[2] Such words accordingly the Savior signifies to be distinct from himself, when he says in his own person, The words which I have spoken unto you.^[3] For certainly such words are not offsprings or sons, nor are there so many words that frame the world, nor so many images of the one God, nor so many who have become men for us, nor as if from many such there were one who has become flesh, as John says. He was preached by John as being the only Word of God: the Word was made flesh, and all things were made by him.^[4] Wherefore of him alone, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his oneness with the Father, are written and set forth the testimonies, both of the Father signifying that the Son is one, and of the saints, aware of this and saying that the Word is one, and that he is Only-begotten.

So, then, let us obey his most holy and glorious name and escape the threats which wisdom has predicted against the disobedient. In that way we shall live in peace, having our confidence in his most holy and majestic name. Accept our advice, and you will never regret it. For as God lives, as the Lord Jesus Christ lives and the Holy Spirit (on whom the elect believe and hope), the man who with humility and eager considerateness and with no regrets does what God has decreed and ordered will be enlisted and enrolled in the ranks of those who are saved through Jesus Christ. Through him be the glory to God for ever and ever. Amen. 1

The correction of the Lord is very beneficial. He calls the same people, through David, also, a perverse and exasperating generation, a generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.^[1] These are the reasons for his exasperation, and for these reasons he will come as judge to pass sentence on those who are unwilling to preserve goodness in their lives. Therefore, he treats them severely in the hope that perhaps he might curb their impulse toward death. . . . He knew that they repented out of fear, after neglecting his love; as a general rule, men always neglect the good that is kind, but serve it with loving fear if it keeps recalling justice.

If there is someone who meditates in the law of the Lord day and night,^[1] and if there is someone who is like the mouth of the just because he meditates on wisdom,^[2] he will be able to investigate diligently and find these things. If nonetheless he has rightly sought and by his seeking knocked on the door of wisdom, asking from God to open it for him, he also deserves to receive the Word of wisdom and the Word of knowledge through the Holy Spirit and to become a participant of that wisdom which said, For I stretched out my words and you did not hear.^[3] And rightly he said that he stretched out words in his heart, to whom God had given, as we said above, the breadth of the heart.^[4] For the heart is made broad of that man who can explain those things that have been said briefly in figurative language, taking assertions from the divine books with a broader teaching.

How then is the heaven stretched forth? Wisdom stretches it forth. For it is clear that wisdom stretches it forth in the text: Since I stretched forth words and you did not pay attention. He speaks of words being stretched forth; in this way the heaven is stretched forth.

Then they will call upon me, and I will not listen; they will arise early in the morning and will not find me. You see how they cry out that it be opened for them; driven by sorrow at their rejection, they call twice upon him who has dominion over them, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.^[1] They offer entreaties, but they are unknown to him. God abandons them as unknown persons. He does not recognize them now because of their sins.

What is it then which Scripture says in many places: They shall call, and I will not hear them? Yet surely you are merciful to all who call upon you. . . . Some call, yet call not upon him of whom it is said, They have not called upon God.^[1] They call, but not on God. You call upon whatever you love: you call upon whatever you draw to yourself, whatever you wish to come to you. Therefore if you call upon God for this reason, in order that money may come to you, that an inheritance may come to you, that worldly rank may come to you, then you are calling upon those things that you desire may come to you; but you are making God the helper of your desires, not the listener to your needs. God is good, if he gives what you wish. What if you wish ill, will he not then be more merciful by not giving? Then if he gives not, then is God nothing to you; and you say, How much I have prayed, how often I have prayed, and have not been heard! Why, what did you ask? Perhaps that your enemy might die. What if he at the same time was praying for your death? God who created you, created him also. You are a human, your enemy also is human. But God is the judge: he hears both, and he grants the prayer to neither. You are sad, because you were not heard when praying against your enemy. But be glad, because his prayer was not heard against you.

What room is there for just complaint when each suffers according to his deeds? There is this exception which I can easily prove, namely, we never suffer in proportion to our deeds, and God deals with us much more leniently than we deal with him. But, in the meantime, let me [continue]. . . . Thus spoke the Lord himself: I have cried unto you, and you have not heard me; and you shall cry unto me, and I shall not hear you.^[1] What is more suitable and just than this? We have not heard; therefore, we are not heeded. We have not looked; therefore, we are not noticed.

The mind fluctuates between hope and despair. It must be feared lest hope slays you; and when you hope for too much from mercy, you fall into judgment. Again, it must be feared lest despair slays you; and when you think that you cannot now be forgiven for grave sins you have committed, you do no penance and you encounter the judge, wisdom, which says, And I will laugh at your doom.

What, then, has the Lord to do with those endangered by these diseases? To those who are endangered by hope, he says this: Delay not to be converted to the Lord; and put it not off from day to day; for suddenly his wrath will come, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you.^[1] To those who are endangered by despair, what does he say? On whatever day the wicked man is converted, I shall forget all his iniquities.^[2] Therefore, because of those who are endangered by despair, he has proposed the harbor of forgiveness; because of those who are endangered by hope and deluded by delays, he has made the day of death uncertain. You do not know when the last day may come. Are you ungrateful because you have today, in which you may be corrected?

Solomon says, The turning away of the simple shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. So Paul admonishes, saying, They that buy will be as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not.^[1] So may the things that are supplied be of service to us outwardly only so as not to turn our minds away from desire of supernal delight; and thus the things that afford us comfort in our state of exile may not abate the mourning of our soul’s pilgrimage. May we, who see ourselves wretched in our severance from the things that are eternal, not rejoice as though we were happy in the things that are transitory.